Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Boko Haram lacks knowledge of Islam –Soyinka

My regrets over postelection violence report –Lemu

...says Nigerian leaders are ritualists SAM OLUWALANA PORT HARCOURT

Sultan

Vol. 31 N0. 585 115

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obel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, yesterday decried the activities of the Boko Haram sect, accus-

ing their members of lacking requisite knowledge about Islam under which cover they perpetrate CONTINUED ON PAGE 5>>

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Tuesday, Tuesday,June March 7, 2011 26, 2013

N150 N150

2015: INEC denies APC registration

Ojukwu’s property:

...cites irregularities

Court strikes out N140m suit against Bianca

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ANPP resolves to pursue merger talks

OBIORA IFOH ABUJA

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he Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has denied the controversial African People’s Congress, APC, registration.

This is on the account of irregularities in the addresses of its national officers which is one of the requirements of the electoral body for registering parties.

There have been controversies over the authentic owner of the acronym “APC” with two other groups laying claim to it.

The opposition parties have floated the All Progressive Congress, APC, while the All Patriotic CitiCONTINUED ON PAGE 2>>

Sanusi

Cashless: One-day cheque clearance underway –CBN

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Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi (left) and Prof. Wole Soyinka at the Rivers Education Summit in Port Harcourt, yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

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Proposed fuel price hike: NLC, TUC mobilise for mass protest

Terrorists burn police station, destroy telecoms masts in Yobe

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FG takes over lawmakers’ N100bn constituency projects

Set April 10 date

Abubakar

Five killed in Lagos cult war

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Tuesday, March 26, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Proposed fuel price hike: NLC, TUC mobilise for mass protest MESHACK IDEHEN

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he Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC and the Trade Union Congress, TUC, alongside their affiliates will begin nationwide mass protests on April 10 over the planned increase in the prices of petroleum products.

Both labour centres, and oil workers under the aegis of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, Petroleum Tanker Drivers, PTD and Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers Senior Staff Association, PENGASSAN, as well as civil servants have also vowed to join the protests.

The protest could be a repeat of the mass action that paralysed the nation following the fuel price hike on January 1, 2012 and forced the government to back down.

President Goodluck Jonathan had said last week in Lagos that the government would still remove fuel subsidy after due consultations with Nigerians while speaking at the Nigeria Summit organised by The Economist.

According to him, “We cannot continue to waste resources meant for a greater number of Nigerians to subsidise the affluent middle class, who are the main beneficiaries (of fuel subsidy).”

The Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, in defence of President Jonathan, had said the removal of subsidy on fuel is inevitable if the nation is to witness sustainable socioeconomic transformation.

Addressing a press conference in Lagos yesterday, however, President-General of TUC, Mr. Peter Esele, said that the decision for the mass protest has already been taken at the last National Executive Council meeting of the congress and that labour, working with civil society groups, have already started mobilising for protest.

He said that organised labour have also demanded the resignation of the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, who is a foremost advocate of fuel subsidy removal on the grounds that she has told Nigerians “too

many contradicting stories on fuel subsidy.”

According to him, the Finance Minister last year claimed that N1.2trn had fraudulently gone into subsidy, and that the government will continue to pay subsidy until all the nation’s refineries are repaired and made to work at optimal capacity, and all the depots rehabilitated.

Reiterating their readiness to embark on protests on said date, Esele maintained that Nigerians will resist any new increase in petroleum products prices with “everything humanly possible”.

The NLC had earlier called on Jonathan to drop the plan, which it insisted would deepen the suffering of several members of organised labour and other Nigerians who are not part of “the affluent middle class.”

It said that even though it did not know the form the consultations the President spoke about would take, it had a position that fuel price increase was inimical to the well-being of Nigerians.

NLC Vice-President, Comrade Promise Adewusi, had said that Labour’s opposition to fuel subsidy removal could only change if Nigerians took a decision to embrace suffering.

He had said, “We have a subsisting position on the issue of the removal of fuel subsidy. Our position is that the issue of fuel increase is something that Nigerians cannot live with; the President should drop it.

“We do not know the mode of the consultations that the Federal Government intends to take. However, unless Nigerians decide to swallow hardship, then it could happen. Our disagreement is not just to disagree but because of our members, and other Nigerians who we feel will suffer from an increase in fuel price.

“They want to consult with Nigerians; and you can see that they are going beyond labour. Let us wait; maybe there is going to be a referendum or a plebiscite so that it would not be as if you are fighting the removal when the people you are fighting for are supporting it.”

PENGASSAN President, Comrade Babatunde Ogun, told National Mirror yester-

day that it is not possible for government to increase fuel price now, considering that there are too many unanswered questions including the subsidy claims, position of the refineries, the Petroleum Industry Bill and other issues, adding that government needs to further engage all stakeholders on the project.

However, Ogun said should government go ahead to increase fuel price, PENGASSAN will join Nigerians to resist the move, while at the same time expressing surprise why government is proposing fuel price increase when workers are preparing to meet the government for upward review of salaries.

Opposition political par-

ties and some elements of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, have also expressed misgivings about the planned fuel price hike.

The All Nigerian People’s Party, ANPP, had said Jonathan would see the wrath of Nigerians if he increased the price of petrol again.

“We don’t think that the President will do that again going by what happened when he did that the other time. Maybe his time has come to see the wrath of Nigerians fully. He will see it if he does that.

“Nigerians are waiting for him and if he wants to see their red eyes, let him do it. He wants to contest in 2015 and he won’t stop making life difficult for the

people he wants to govern.

That is wickedness,” ANPP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Emma Eneukwu, said.

The Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, also slammed Jonathan for making such a statement when Nigerians were still mourning bomb blasts victims in Kano.

Describing the President as “uncaring,” the CPC said since he had once said he did not give a damn; “Nigerians should expect anything from him.”

Sources within the PDP have also reportedly said the fuel subsidy removal was a suicidal gamble for the party ahead of the 2015 polls as the opposition could easily take advantage

of the widespread disenchantment to secure an upset at the polls.

The Federal Government had on New Year’s Day in 2012 increased petrol price from N65 per litre to N141 per litre sparking a week of mass protests called by labour and civil society groups that grounded all economic activities nationwide.

The protests were called off after the government backed down and cut the price by 50 per cent to N97 per litre but fuel is still sold above the official price in some parts of the country especially in the South East.

In another development, the NLC has called on the management of Aero AirCONTINUED ON PAGE 5>>

An NYSC corps member, Miss Agunbiade Adedolapo, stabbed by unknown person in Abia, yesterday. Story on page 11.

2015: INEC denies APC registration CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

zens, APC, surfaced in the midst of the crisis.

The commission stated its position in a letter, which is in possession of National Mirror, written by the INEC’s Secretary, Abdullahi A. Kaugama, with reference number INEC/DPPM&L/ APC/490/V.1/76 and addressed to the Chairman of the proposed African People’s Congress.

The letter dated March 21, 2013 and received by the APC yesterday titled ‘Re-application for Registration as a political party’ states: “Your application for registration as a political party dated 28th February, 2013 refers.

“The Commission has observed that your as-

sociation is in breach of section 222 (a) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) which stipulates as follows: “No association by whatever name called shall function as a political party unless (a) the names and addresses of its national officers are registered with the Independent National Electoral Commission.

“A close observation of your submitted form PA 1 established that it does not contain the addresses of your national officers as stipulated in the provision above.

“Consequently, the commission shall not register the proposed African People’s Congress as a political party.”

But in a swift reaction, the acting National Chairman of the association, Chief Onyinye Ikeagwuonu, said if INEC goes ahead to deny APC the registration, it will amount to a rape of democracy. He vowed that such move will be resisted.

At a press conference in its Abuja headquarters yesterday, the acting chairman said that INEC documents did state residential address or phone numbers, a requirement it has complied with.

He also said the party has briefed its lawyers in anticipation of such action from INEC “to put in motion processes to legally challenge this antidemocratic plot even up to the Supreme Court.

“It will be recalled that

diverse efforts had been deployed to thwart our registration but had all come to nothing. They had earlier alleged that our documents were fake; they had earlier alleged that no payment had been made by the party for the administrative and processing fee. All these allegations have been emptied,” he said.

Meanwhile, the All Nigeria People’s Party, ANPP, has said that the opposition coalition has not received any formal communication from INEC on the issue of clash of acronym on the newly floated All Progressives Congress, APC. The Chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees, BoT, Senator Ali Modu CONTINUED ON PAGE 5>>

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

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Photo News

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

L-R: Managing Director, Nigerian Airspace Management Authority, Mr. Mazi Nnamdi Udoh; Managing Director, Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, Mr. George Uriesi; Chairman, House Committee on Aviation, Hon. Nkiruka Onyejiocha; Hon. Ezekiel Adoji and Hon. Deji Jakande, during an oversight function of the lawmakers at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos, yesterday.

L-R: Country Representative, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Ms Mariam Sissoko; Director-General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Dr. Paul Orhii and Chairman, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Alhaji Ahmadu Giade, during the inauguration of 2012 International Narcotic Control Board’s Report in Abuja, yesterday.

PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

L-R: Lagos State Commandant, Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, Nsebong Akpabio; Country Director, RLG Communications Nigeria Ltd, Tosin Ilesanmi and RLG’s Chief Operating Officer, Latilo Taiwo, at the charity event tagged: “A smile on their Faces” sponsored by Rlg Communications Nigeria Ltd in Lagos recently.

L-R: Managing Director, UBA Foundation, Ms Ijeoma Aso; Group Managing Director, UBA Plc, Mr. Phillips Oduoza and other marathoners, during the flag-off of UBA Foundation Mini Marathon for Prostrate Cancer Awareness by Oduoza in Lagos on Saturday.

National News

Initiate contact with Boko Haram, Okupe tells proponents of dialogue

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he Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr Doyin Okupe, yesterday, challenged proponents of amnesty for members of the Boko Haram to initiate contacts with the leadership of the sect.

Okupe, in a statement in Abuja, also cautioned against politicisation of the issue, noting that those in favour of amnesty for the sect members should take a cue from how the same programme in the Niger Delta was brokered.

According to him, there was the need to convince the leadership of the sect to come out in the open and dialogue with government.

According to Dr Okupe, President Goodluck Jonathan has nothing to gain from the prolongation of the wanton destruction of lives and property by members of the sect.

He noted that the President expects leaders of thought in the region to prevail on the leadership of the sect to abandon their destructive pursuit and embrace dialogue like the militants in the Niger Delta

did before amnesty was granted.

Okupe warned against politicising the issue to blackmail the President, whose overriding desire is the peaceful and harmonious co-existence of all Nigerians irrespective of their social, religious and political leanings.

“There is, therefore, no need for the over politicization of the demand for amnesty, nor to blackmail the President for taking strong, patriotic, but contrary views to those of our respected elders. Such, sometimes is the nature of statecraft and in many parts of the civilized world, situation like this are handled with equanimity and further deepening of consultation, certainly not acrimonious misunderstanding or open hatred.

“The true expectation is that our respected leaders will go back to the drawing board and increase internal consultation and networking with the aim of reaching out to the leadership of the insurgents and convincing them to do the needful and step out to be

counted,” Okupe said.

The president’s aide recalled that prominent leaders of the Niger Delta cooperated fully with the late President Musa Yar’Adua by visiting militants’ camps and persuading them to lay down their arms and allow government address their grievances in a civilized manner.

“This was the way and manner a successful amnesty programme was hatched and effected.

Many local leaders and stakeholders bought into the government’s amnesty programme. It was carefully planned, properly structured and effectively implemented with co-operation and willing support of elders, stakeholders and well known and nationally acknowledged leadership of the militants.

“These include Asari Dokubo, Boyloaf, Tompolo, Atake Tom, Tamuno George, Soboma George to mention a few. They were clearly identified and they negotiated openly and transparently with the government.

“It is for these reasons

that there is need for a great restraint when we advocate for amnesty for those amongst us, who have actually, through criminality engaged in wanton destruction of innocent lives, public and private properties, especially when their activities are based on ethnic and religious ideologies that actually strike at the foundation of our mutual co-existence.

“We also need to be mindful that we have other ethnic militias in the country, who have remained essentially peaceful, and who may by these calls for amnesty be encouraged to now pursue violence.

“Grandstanding, undue politicization, blackmail and insincerity will not help us as a nation. We are a nation of strong-willed, socio-culturally well differ-

entiated society, with long standing historical ties, and we are one people with a clear destiny to lead Africa and the world.

“We must at times like this show exemplary mutual respect, affinity and cohesion strong enough to lift us together as one strong and united people, out of this quagmire and national misadventure,” he said.

FG takes over lawmakers’ constituency projects OMEIZA AJAYI AND JOEL AJAYI

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he Federal Government said it has taken over the constituency projects of members of the National Assembly in order to ensure that they are completed on time.

The Assembly is made up of 109 senators and 360 members in the House of Representatives and each lawmaker has a budget for some projects in his or her constituency.

Minister of Special Duties and Inter governmental Affairs, Alhaji Kabiru Tura-

ki, speaking in Abuja yesterday said the move became necessary in order to ensure that the dividends of democracy gets to all Nigerians.

Turaki said the ministry has obtained the approval of President Goodluck Jonathan to take over the constituency projects as contained in the 2013 Appropriation law for effective implementation.

According to him, the sum of N30 billion out of the N100 billion budgeted for constituency projects this year have already been approved.

He said: “We have the mandate to not only give

out the jobs, but to monitor implementation and make sure that they are properly implemented.”

This, he said is because the president has interest in the projects, which have direct bearing on the administration’s transformation agenda.

The minister noted that agreement has been reached between the president and the leadership of the National Assembly on the takeover.

He added that the lawmakers are unanimously in support of the takeover since they have realised that it will make for better project execution.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

News

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

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Boko Haram lacks knowledge of Islam –Soyinka CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

violent acts which have resulted in the deaths of scores of Nigerians and dozens of foreigners.

He also accused Nigerian leaders of relying on occultism in their quest for power.

Speaking at a two-day education summit in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Soyinka took a swipe at the sect members for being ignorant of the primary tenets of their religion “Those who call themselves Boko Haram, for

instance, claim to be educated, educated to mean books and they are not sufficiently educated, even about their religion to know that some of the greatest philosophers came from that religion. Some of the greatest mathematicians were the Moslems, Islamic scholars.

“So, these killers roaming around saying that they hate western education, they are uneducated; but they think they are educated. They have been taught on a monorail, one track

lane. They need to be reeducated even about their own history, their own culture. So, when people talk about the multi-pronged approach, yes, I agree and I approve of the attempts being made to create the so-called almajiri schools, which should be supervised, the content and the method of teaching should be supervised,” he said.

Soyinka also suggested ways of re-orienting the sect members. “At the same time however, to impact knowledge, you have

to have the heads where they belong for the knowledge to be impacted. So, at the same time talk about amnesty as much as you want, but you have to catch those who are trying to take the heads off where we are supposed to impact knowledge. So, it is a multi-pronged approach. When you catch them, you’ve got to re-educate them very seriously.

If they refuse to be re-educated, you must punish them. I am not sentimental at all,” he said.

President Goodluck Jonathan (right) congratulating the new Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Alhaji Bukar Aji, during his swearing-in in Abuja, yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

Proposed fuel price hike: NLC, TUC mobilise for mass protest CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

lines to recall the over 600 workers sacked over industrial dispute.

Acting National Secretary, Mr Emma Ugboaja, in a statement titled, “Don’t Provoke Nigerian Workers”, accused the airline of ignoring all industrial relations mechanisms available in the sector to mediate between it and the workers, and that the airline instead decided to terminate the workers appointments.

The NLC scribe threatened that the Nigerian workers would rise against the airline if its management did not rescind its decision and recall the workers.

In the statement, Ugboaja said: “NLC and Nigerian workers are surprised that despite huge opportunities provided by the existence of vibrant, well informed, matured and responsible trade unions in the aviation sector, the management of Aero Con-

tractors decided to ignore all available industrial relations mechanisms by dismissing over 655 employees of the company and locked out the entire workforce since March 13.

“Before the management carried out these illinformed actions, they had approached the National Industrial Court for an injunction that will provide the management an opportunity to take anti workers decisions without consultation with the unions, the National Union of Air Transport Employees and the Air Transport Senior Staff Association of Nigeria”.

According to the NLC, the basic intention of the management of the airline was to ultimately circumscribe workers rights to belong to the unions as well as casualise the entire workforce.

Furthermore, NLC said the action taken by the airline is totally unaccept-

able to the congress, and that NLC and its affiliates will do everything possible to defend the rights of the workers.”

“While we applaud the steps taken so far by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, which grounded the airline since safety cannot be guaranteed with an airline that has caused itself avoidable industrial crisis. All employees of airlines all over the world are key to security and safety of flights.

“We call on the management of the airline to recall all those dismissed and reopen their offices immediately. While we will not hesitate to take appropriate solidarity actions in defence of the workers should the management refuse to reverse its decisions, we urge the workers to continue to take all necessary actions, together with their unions, until the decisions are reversed,” the letter said.

To ensure survival, he also suggested that the society must first of all protect itself and the citizens must be taught on how to protect their society.

He also warned against being sentimental about a sensitive issue like violent acts that affects education in the land.

“Let’s not be sentimental at all about this. I want to see the head into which I can put in the material. I want to be sure that teachers are not being slaughtered for following their vocation. Those teachers must be protected. The universities must be reopened, the schools must be reopened,” the Nobel Laureate said.

Soyinka also accused Nigerian leaders of consulting marabouts to perpetrate themselves in office.

He also doubted if there is any President in the country that has never consulted marabouts, prophets and sacrificed animals to remain in power as long as possible.

“Give me the name of any Head of State who hasn’t been consulting marabouts and prophets and so on, sacrificing goats, animals in the dead of night to remain in office and so on

and then you start blaming students.

“They (students) are imitating the same thing, the infirmity society itself has become,” he said.

According to him, there have been distortions in understanding normal university cultures like fraternities which is being translated to mean cultism “as if we don’t know what fraternity was and what it is today.”

Soyinka opined that the rot in the country’s education system has trickled all the way down to secondary and primary schools, adding that “things have reached up to a stage that the whole nation is trying to be literate.”

Earlier in his welcome address, the Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi accused some heads of schools of collecting illegal fees and levies from indigent students despite the fact that the state government operates a free education system.

He, however, instructed that appointment letters should be dispatched to the 13,000 applicants who were successful in the employment exercises organised by the state recently.

2015: INEC denies APC registration CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

Sheriff, who addressed journalists shortly after the meeting of the board yesterday in Abuja, said the matter is for INEC to decide and that so far, the commission has not informed the merging parties officially concerning the emergence of another rival group claiming the acronym, APC. “INEC has not informed us as a political party on what is its decision. It is when we submit our own registration request then we hear from the commission. As at now, there is no official communication between us and INEC on the issue,” he said.

On whether ANPP is satisfied with the progress made so far on the merger process, the former governor of Borno State said since the process is still ongoing it will be too early to make assessment on it now.

Sheriff said the BoT resolved to still support the merger talks between

it and other members of the opposition coalition which are the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, and a splinter group from the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA. “The party has decided that their merger committee should continue with discussions for the merger of opposition parties.

We have agreed that the talks should go on till the consummation of the merger. We are not going back on the merger. The talks must continue,” he said.

Those who attended the BoT meeting included the ANPP National Chairman, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, Governors of Borno and Yobe states, the National Secretary of the party, Alhaji Tijani Tumsa, Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim, Senator Ahmed Yerima and Secretary of ANPP’s merger committee, Chief George Muoghalu.

Meanwhile, the ACN has disagreed with INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, on the registration crisis trailing the APC. The merger committee chairman, Chief Tom Ikimi, yesterday said that the electoral commission was wrong to have said that the merging parties only wrote to inform the commission of their new party four days ago.

Reacting to a statement credited to the INEC boss during a radio interview in Kaduna where he was quoted as having asked the merging parties to look for another name for their merger party, Ikimi who spoke to National Mirror on the telephone said the opposition coalition had informed the Commission of the new party immediately it was floated on February 6.

He said ever since then the merging parties have followed up by writing to the commission to inform of their plans to dissolve into one platform.

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Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Cashlite: Nationwide one-day cheque settlement begins soon KUNLE AZEEZ

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he Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has intensified efforts to realise its quest to shorten the settlement cycle of a cheque to one day nationwide.

This is in line with the “cashlite” policy of the apex bank.

CBN is working with the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement Systems, NIBSS, and the country’s leading financial services software provider, Precise Financial Systems, PHS, to achieve this objective.

When fully implemented, the scheme is expected to ensure that cheques presented for settlement are resolved within stipulated date across the country.

The policy, coming under the cheque truncation

scheme of the CBN for the banking industry, is being implemented by PFS. “PFS and NIBSS have enabled the CBN to execute the project, as the cheque truncation platform has gone live in Lagos and Abuja,” PFS said in a statement yesterday.

The statement added that other branches of the CBN would be concluded by the end of the month to make the application of the cheque truncation system nationwide.

According to the statement, the cheque truncation system will allow all branches of the CBN to capture all cheques in the respective branches and maintain them in a central server in Lagos.

The system then allows all captured cheques from the bank to be transmitted to the clearing house from Lagos.

Speaking on the scheme,

the Managing Director of PFS, Mr. Yele Okeremi, said the system was responsible for the processing of all inward cheques and NEFT transactions of banks.

While it would address all required management reporting, its controls are guided “as the system implements all required maker checker rules of the banks,” he added.

Okeremi said with the activation of cheque truncation regime, through iTELLER platform in Nigeria, one important challenge the system had addressed was the ability of the CBN to meet the deadline for cheque truncation nationwide.

He said: “Aside, the platform has also assisted the CBN to reduce cost, time and the stress involved in its cheque clearing operations, as the system removes all lo-

gistics costs associated with clearing.”

While enumerating on the benefits of cheque truncation system, Okeremi said before the new regime, banks would have to send their outward cheques to respective central clearing departments by dispatch riders or bullion vans.

He said: “There would not be any need for that again, as cheques can be truncated directly at the branch of deposit.

“This removes time-wasting collation and photocopying exercises usually carried out at the bank branches.

It also removes the need to post-encode cheques, and this provides the platform to use more agile cheque scanners for image and Magnetic Ink Character Recognition capture, a character recognition technology.”

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Senate berates Aganga for shunning public hearing EMMANUEL ONANI ABUJA

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he Senate yesterday lambasted the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, for not appearing at a public hearing organised by the Committee on Investment.

Describing the development as “unfortunate,” the Chairman, Senate Committee on Investment, Esther Nenadi Usman, regretted that a deputy director appeared before the committee to make presentation.

The public hearing was meant for stakeholders to make presentations on “A Bill for an Act to make it mandatory for government Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, to give priority to local manufacturers and indigenous companies in the procurement of goods, works and services and to prohibit the exclusion of locally produced goods in the procurement process and for other related matters”.

This is even as the Senate

President, David Mark, has pledged the readiness of the Upper Chamber to “provide all the legislative support to industrialise Nigeria,” adding that “we are already working on a Bill to ensure that made in Nigeria goods are patronised to satisfy local consumption and also export.”

Mark spoke through the Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba, who declared the hearing open.

On Aganga’s absence, Usman said: “It is unfortunate that the minister of Trade and Investment is not here...

I don’t think they know the extent or importance of the bill.

“A ministry that has a substantive minister, a minister of state and a permanent secretary and directors, and none of them could come here to submit a memorandum on behalf of itself...

“Today, they sent a deputy director to come... I know that Nigerians are very happy with this bill and they are watching to see the outcome and how it will affect the life of the ordinary Nigerians...”

Lawmakers seek executive, parliamentary unity GEORGE OJI ECUADOR

T L-R: Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga; Head, Investment Policy Review Africa, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Mr. Alexandre Crombrugghe and Team Leader, Growth and Employment in States, Mr. Obinali Egele, during the inauguration of Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development-Policy Framework for Investment in Abuja, yesterday.

PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA

Rep in certificate forgery scandal TORDUE SALEM ABUJA

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member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Muhammed A. Sanda Mgamdu, has been accused of forging certificate to contest election in 2011.

Mgamdu represents Kaga/Gubio/Magumeri Federal Constituency of Borno State.

The I999 Constitution stipulates that a public office seeker must possess at least a secondary school certificate or its equivalent, before he or she is qualified to con-

test an election.

But Hon. Fanta Baba Shehu, who contested the House of Representatives seat with Mgamdu in 2011, said in a suit with file number FHC/ MG/CS/27/2011 at a Federal High Court sitting in Maiduguri that her opponent was not qualified to be in the Green Chamber.

Shehu said Mgamdu allegedly presented a forged secondary school certificate to contest election into the Borno State House of Assembly in 2007.

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, which the plaintiff

said cleared Mgamdu on the basis of a forged secondary school certificate, is also joined in the suit.

In the application, which is yet to be heard, Shehu declared that: “The statement of the result stamped and dated the 20th day of November 1984 presented by the 1st defendant (Hon. Ngamdu) to the 2nd defendant (INEC) for the purpose of contesting the 2007 Borno State House of Assembly election is forged.”

She prayed the court to sack the lawmaker, because, according her, “the first defendant did not possess any

secondary school certificate from the West African Examination Council, WAEC, after completing his secondary education at the Government Secondary Technical School, Benesheik in 1984.”

A certified true copy of Ngamdu’s secondary school certificate obtained by the plaintiff from INEC showed that he obtained three credits including Economics, History and Islamic Studies and a pass in English, but a result made available to the plaintiff by the WAEC, showed that the lawmaker recorded F9 in the said subjects he claimed he had credits in, as submitted to INEC office in Borno State.

he House of Representatives Deputy Speaker, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, and senators attending the ongoing 128th session of the Inter-Parliament Union Conference in Ecuador, have called for cooperation between the executive and legislative arms of government to achieve meaningful development.

The lawmakers, who spoke separately on the sideline of the conference, agreed that the drive to bring about development to the people would be a mirage if the two arms of government continued to engage in meaningless rivalry.

Commenting on the theme of the conference, which entered its second day yesterday, “From unrelenting growth to purposeful development: new approaches new solution,” Ihedioha said the lawmakers had often extended their hands of friendship to the executive for collaborative partnership for the good of the Nigerian people.

He said: “Speakers after speakers have emphasised

the need for the legislature to take the leading role in providing the basis for equity for the nationals of the world, it is in that way that sustainable peace and development can be sustained, and Nigeria is out for that.

“Of course you know that in Nigeria the legislature has been out there for the Nigerian people. We will beckon on the executive and Nigerians to buy into the idea and create an economic environment of equity.

“The legislature has shown readiness to partner with the executive and with the Nigerian people.

We are asking the executive to show understanding because the people is a collective.”

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Inter-Parliamentary Affairs, Senator Abdullazeez Usman, also said that the discussions at the conference had made the collaboration between the executive and legislature imperative.

He noted that for development to reach the people, the two arms of government must see themselves as partners, rather than opponents.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

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National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Two policemen to die by hanging for murder in Ekiti ABIODUN NEJO ADO EKITI

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n Ado-Ekiti High Court has sentenced two policemen to death by hanging over the killing of two members of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)

following a fight over defacement of party posters on March 23, 2011.

Justice Abiodun Adesodun, who found the two policemen, Mr Ameh Richard and Akinyede Olaiya, guilty of murder in his judgement yesterday, said there were sharp

contradictions in their evidence.

Justice Adesodun, however, said the evidence supplied by the prosecution counsel, Messrs Femi Onipede and Omope Oluwanitemi, were overwhelming and convincing enough for him to grant

their reliefs.

The judge ruled: “The prosecution counsel have proved their case beyond reasonable doubt and the accused persons are hereby sentenced to death by hanging”.

It will be recalled that the two PDP members,

L-R: Ogun State Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Mr. Olamilekan Adegbite; Governor Ibikunle Amosun and Project Manager, Mr. Achan Dal, during the inspection of the 105km Ilara-Ijoun-Egua-Oja Odan Road, yesterday

Govt to demolish Lagos Boko Haram building FRANCIS SUBERU

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he Lagos State Government has concluded plans to demolish the building in which bombs and Ak47 rifles were recovered last Thursday in Ijora area.

National Mirror gathered yesterday from the monarch of Ijora, Oba Fatai Ojora, during a visit by Arewa leaders in Lagos to his palace that effort to demolish the building by the Lagos State Government

is on top gear.

The Ijora monarch said that the building belonged to the Bayelsa State Government.

Condemning the suspected members of the Boko Haram, who he described as ungrateful, Oba Ojora warned them to stay away from Ijora and other parts of Lagos State.

He said effort had begun to demolish the building.

“The incident is bad; it was prayer that saved

us,” the monarch said, insisting: “Foreigners were staying in the midst of Hausa.”

The Seriki Hausa and the chairman of Arewa Council of Chiefs in Lagos State, Alhaji Sanni Kabir, described the incident as unfortunate and urged the Seriki Hausa in all the Hausa communities to remain vigilant.

According to him, Hausa leaders in the state had had an emergency meeting and dissociated themselves from the dastardly

act He also called on the federal and state governments to intensify efforts in the provision of security for Nigerians, urging Hausa leaders to report any strange activity to the monarch.

Meanwhile, the Lagos State Command Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide, said the police had fully taken over the security of the building in question until it is finally demolished by the government.

Governors didn’t boycott PDP’s reconciliation tour –Akpabio, Tukur OBIORA IFOH AND ROTIMI FADEYI

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kwa Ibom State Governor and Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors’ Forum, Chief Godswill Akpabio and the National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, yesterday denied that 16 governors boycotted Sunday’s grand finale of the party’s reconciliation tour.

Akpabio told journalists in Abuja that many governors could not attend the event because it was not

well publicized.

Akpabio said: “I think it was more or less a slightly rushed affair that was no well publicized, so you cannot blame any governor that did not attend the event, no governor elected on the PDP platform could be blamed.”

The governor, however, said that the newly formed Alliance for Progressives Change (APC) was not a threat to PDP, saying that the PDP remained a big, strong and coordinated party that would not lose sleep over coalition of opposition parties.

Akpabio said PDP was poised to even woo more

governors and membership from the opposition parties to its fold.

In his own reaction, Alhaji Tukur said that some of the governors elected on the PDP platform were not in Nigeria at the weekend.

He said others contacted the national headquarters of the party about their inability to attend the event.

Tukur stressed that the reconciliation meetings across the six zones of the country and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were meant for members, most especially those aggrieved.

He said the meetings were not necessarily meant

for governors, who he said had played their parts meaningfully in the party’s reconciliation agenda.

Describing the reconciliation initiative as a huge success, Tukur appealed to the media to show deeper understanding in the party’s efforts aimed at promoting democracy, inclusiveness and a sense of harmony among members.

He said: “PDP is the best political instrument for deepening democracy in Nigeria.”

Tukur, however, said PDP would not succumb to blackmail by those he described as the party’s virulent opponents.

Kehinde Faluyi and Michael Ipinlaye, were shot dead during a fracas that broke out between their party and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) on March 23, 2011 at Kota Junction in Omuo-Ekiti over alleged defacement of PDP aspirants’ posters in the community.

The two policemen, who were among the security men deployed to the community during the crisis, were accused of firing the shots that killed the two PDP members.

Following the murder, a PDP chieftain in the community, Hon Femi Bamisile, alongside a crowd of PDP supporters stormed the Governor’s Office with the body of one of the victims and accused the state government of complicity in the matter.

Consequently, the policemen accused of killing the victims were arrested and prosecuted.

Easter: FG declares Friday, Monday public holidays

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he Federal Government has declared Friday, March 29th and Monday, April 1st, 2013 as Public Holidays to mark the celebration of Good Friday and Easter Monday respectively.

Director, Citizen and Business in the Federal Ministry of Interior, Adetayo Sode, in a statement issued on behalf of the minister, Mr Abba Moro, said the government “urges all Nigerians irrespective of their religious belief to use the occasion for sober reflection and pray for the continued prosperity and progress of the nation.”

The statement added: “The Minister of Interior, Mr. Abba Moro, heartily congratulates all Christians on the joyous occasion and enjoins them to remain committed to the exemplary attributes of love, tolerance and peaceful co-existence which Jesus Christ exhibited during his life course on earth.”

Pete Edochie weeps over Achebe’s death •Flays critics of There was a Country NGOZI EMEDOLIBE

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ollywood Actor Pete Edochie, who played the role of Okonkwo in the adaptation of Things Fall Apart, has said that he would not stop weeping over the death of the renowned literary giant, Prof. Chinua Achebe.

Prof. Achebe died last Friday at the age of 82.

In a telephone interview with National Mirror, Edochie said the fact that he did not know that Achebe was sick before the shocking news of his death saddened him.

Edochie said that he had a cordial relationship with the late Achebe, who he claimed personally influenced his acting career by telling the world that he (Edochie) correctly interpreted Okonkwo’s character.

He said: “There were other adaptations of Things Fall Apart, but he specially boosted my career by telling the world that I gave the character the best possible interpretation of all the actors who played the role.

That was a great boost for my career, which was why I was sad when I got the news of his death because I did not know he was sick.”

Edochie, however, flayed those who poured vituperations on Achebe following the release of his last book: There was a Country.

Describing the critics as little minds, the actor said he was not only old enough, but also witnessed some of the incidents described in the book.

He said he could still recollect vividly what the principal actors in the civil war said.

Edochie said: “Gen. Yakubu Gowon then said ‘It has pleased God to restore power back to the North and the Western region said, ‘If the East goes, we shall go’, these facts happened. Incidentally, people pouring vituperations on Achebe are younger people, little minds who never witnessed these incidents or were too young to do so.

“I just turned 66, and by the grace of God, I will go to bury Achebe, who was the most readable author in terms of comprehensibility and sales, with the drums.

“He was a luminous star and remained modest in spite of his huge image around the world. He was a great Nigerian. But I regard Adekunle Fajuyi as the greatest Nigerian that has ever lived because of his courage”.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

South West

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Murder: Police quiz, detain Ondo monarch OJO OYEWAMIDE AKURE

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olice in Ondo State police yesterday quizzed the Olu of Igbokoda, Oba Afolabi Odidiomo, for his alleged involvement in the gruesome killing of Prince Titiola Lebi.

Odidiomo was invited by the police following a petition sent by the lawyer to the deceased, Chief Juwon Shemudara, accusing him of complicity in Lebi’s murder.

The police had earlier arrested eight suspects and vowed not to spare anyone linked to the murder, irrespective of his status.

The monarch who, according to a police source, arrived the state police headquarters on Igbatoro Road, Akure, about 12:15pm, was brought in a black Siena bus.

On arrival, Odidiomo was led to the office of the Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of Criminal Investigation Department, CID, where he was quizzed for several hours.

The monarch was still being interrogated and there was no indication that he would be left off the hook at the time of filing this report.

A senior police offi-

cer, who did not want his name mentioned, said: “I don’t think the man will be allowed to go home today because the allegation against him is serious. We have to do our job properly and ensure that justice is done. We are not saying that the monarch is guilty or not. But his interrogation will throw more light on the issue.”

The late Lebi and three of his friends, according to Shemudara, were allegedly seized by some people identified as palace boys at Igbokoda on March 13, 2013 and taken to Odidiomo’s palace, where they were brutalised.

Shemudara said he later informed the police at Igbokoda, who stormed the palace to rescue the boys, adding that only two of them regained their freedom while the deceased could not be found.

Lebi’s corpse was later found floating in the Igbokoda river three days after he had been declared missing, a development which led to the invasion and destruction of the palace by irate youths in the town.

When contacted on phone, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Wale Ogodo, said he had not been briefed about the development.

Robbers bag 21 years jail each KENNY ODUNUKAN

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27-year-old security man, Kazeem Jaiyesimi, and a 33-yearold Indian hemp seller, Babajide Popoola, will spend the next 21 years in prison for engaging in robbery.

Delivering judgement yesterday, Justice Lateefat Okunnu of an Ikeja High Court said she was convinced beyond reasonable doubt that the defendants were guilty of the two-count charge brought against them.

Accordingly, she sentenced the defendants to 21 years imprisonment on each of the counts. The sentence would, however, run concur-

No crisis can separate Ife, Modakeke –Osun gov

rently.

The defendants conspired with others still at large to rob one Mr. Adegbite Okunlade of his property.

The prosecution had said that Popoola and Jaiyesimi forcefully gained entry into the victim’s house about 11.05pm on December 7, 2009, when the victim and his family were in the living room at their Ikorodu residence.

In his evidence during the trial, the complainant, Okunlade, said on the day of the incident, two armed robbers gained access through the window of his living room and pointed two guns at his head while the other two robbers outside ordered his wife to go and open the door for them to come in.

Money laundering: Court rejects Ikuforiji’s bid to stop trial KAYODE KETEFE

ADEOLU ADEYEMO OSOGBO

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sun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola yesterday said that no human factor could separate Ife and Modakeke communities.

Aregbesola, who said this at the presentation of a book entitled: “At the City Gate,” held at the Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding in Osogbo, maintained that the two communities had, over decades, become one and could not be outdone by any crisis.

Speaking through the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Sunday Akere, the governor described Ife and Modakeke as “two communities” that would remain one as they had many things in common.

Aregbesola described the author, Abiola Oluyemi, whose root straddles both communities, as a living example of the unbreakable bonds between Ife and Modakeke.

According to him, this bond lives on in the author’s being and mind as well as many others who share similar roots with her.

The book chronicle the historical feud between the communities, the little historical misunderstanding that eventually culminated in a modern day tragedy.

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L-R: Osun State Acting Chief Judge, Justice Oyebola Adepele Ojo; former Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Wale Afolabi; Commissioner for Rural Integration and Special Duties, Hon. Ajibola Bashir; Governor Rauf Aregbesola and his Deputy, Mrs. Titi Laoye-Tomori, during the commissioning O-Mediation, at Fagbewesa area, Osogbo, Osun State, yesterday.

Access to justice, key to law, order –Aregbesola ADEOLU ADEYEMO OSOGBO

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overnor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State has said that access to justice was a cardinal need of every human being in any society.

Aregbesola said this yesterday in Osogbo during the inauguration of Osun Citizens Mediation Centre, O’Mediation.

According to him, when people are denied the right to express their grievances and resolve their dispute amicably, it is usually tantamount to inviting chaos, lawlessness and disorderliness.

He said: “When we deny the landlords and tenants;

creditors and debtors; complainants and respondents the opportunity to ventilate their grievances in a structured manner and with a view to mutually acceptable resolution, we would have an explosion of court cases and more frustration with the judicial system as cases may not be attended with the anticipated dispatch the parties desire.

“This is aside the possible resort to self-help which always leads to break-down of law and order.”

The governor averred that mediation method of resolving dispute was not alien to Yoruba and African cultures.

Aregbesola argued that

“village and palace squares have been since time immemorial veritable venues of dispute settlement. Many disputes at these levels have been settled through conciliation and mediation in these squares for a very long time.”

He said this manner of peaceful resolution of conflict was in tandem with the “Omoluabi” ethos being espoused by his administration.

According to him, the concept goes to the root of “our very existence. It is what we are as a race, and it transcends our dialectal and communal boundaries as widespread Yoruba people. It is the essence of the totality of our culture,

beliefs, values and mores.”

In his own speech, the Commissioner for Regional Integration and Special Duties, Hon. Ajibola Bashiru, described O’Mediation as fulfilling the social contract as contained in his Green Book.

He said the Alternative Dispute Resolution, ADR, would assist in amicable resolution of disputes thereby relieving the regular courts of burden.

Also, the state acting Chief Judge, Hon. Adepele Ojo, gave kudos to Aregbesola for moving the state judiciary forward as demonstrated in the sponsoring of judges to seminars in the United States in 2012.

rial of the Lagos State House of Assembly Speaker, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, and his aide, Oyebode Atoyebi, will continue despite the continued absence of the prosecution, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. This was the position taken yesterday by Justice Okechukwu Okeke of a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, when the defence lawyers applied to the court that the case should be struck out.

Ikuforiji and Atoyebi are standing trial for alleged money laundering. e The lawyer representing the Speaker, Mr. Tayo Oyetibo (SAN), and Atoyebi’s lawyer, Mr. Tunde Akinrimisi, had urged the court to strike out the money laundry charge against their clients on the grounds that the EFCC, represented in the case by Mr. Godwin Obla, had persistently been absent from court.

Obla was also absent in court on three previous consecutive occasions on November 6 and 20, 2012 and February 18, 2013.

He had kept sending letters of apology to the court while requesting that the matter should be adjourned to another dates.

Relying on these facts, the two defence lawyers insisted that it would be in the interest of justice if the case against the Speaker and his aide was struck out.

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South West

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

National conference still solution to nation’s insecurity –Group SINA FADARE

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he Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), has called on the Federal Government to organise a national conference as one of the major ways to stop the insurgence enveloping the country.

ARG made the call yesterday in a press conference addressed by its Chairman, Hon. Wale Oshun, saying: “If we continue to run away from the national dialogue, we may be signing the death warrant of the country.”

According to him, the powers-that-be could no

longer pretend to sit on the fence in the face of intimidating security challenges which are threatening the country’s unity.

Oshun said: “There must be a level playing ground where all the aggrieved people should come together to table their grievances and

fears without any intimidation and proffer a lasting solution.”

Stressing that Nigeria is conveniently sitting on a keg of gun powder, the group said any attempt to delay the convocation of the national conference may explode the country any moment

from now.

The group said: “Amnesty will, therefore, be another attempt not only to create an opportunity for anarchists, but to further postpone the evil days, considering the structural deficiency of the country; it is not likely that we would see an end to the use of am-

nesty.”

ARG, which flayed the recent bomb explosion in Lagos State, described it as strange development, saying: “This type of tendency is alien to us in Yoruba and it will not be permitted, it will be resisted by our people; it will never be allowed to have a foothold.”

600 people to benefit from NDDC’s free surgical services HAKEEM GBADAMOSI AKURE

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L-R Lagos State Head of Service, Prince Adesegun Ogunlewe; newly sworn in Auditor-General, Mrs. Helen Deile; Governor Babatunde Fashola; newly sworn in Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Mr. Akeem Ogunbambi and Deputy Governor, Mrs. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, at the swearing-in in Lagos, yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

bout 600 people from the coastal area of Ondo State will benefit from the free surgical services organised by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in the state.

The free medical services tagged: "festival of surgery" was organised to take care of some health challenges confronting residents of the coastal area.

Speaking at the inauguration of the free surgical at Igbokoda in Ilaje Local Government Area of the state, the Commissioner representing the state

on the Board of NDDC, Mr. Dele Omogbemi, said about 417 people had already been screened from the two local government areas of Ilaje and Ese-Odo. He said the programme was part of the NDDC’s efforts to alleviate poverty in the coastal area and also to give hope to the people.

Omogbemi said the programme would cover surgery on various diseases which include hyenea, eye diseases like cattaract and others.

He said: "Health is wealth; a healthy person is a wealthy person. There is the need to put all parts of the body in place to make sure that every part of the body is okay.

My experience with kidnappers unpleasant Four-year-old girl crushed in Ondo –NTA newscaster •Victim’s father demands justice

OJO OYEWAMIDE AKURE

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female journalist with the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) in Akure, Olubunmi Oke, has described her experience in the hands of abductors as unpleasant.

Oke, who regained her freedom from the kidnappers last Saturday, is the Assistant Manager (News) in NTA. She said no ransom was paid for her freedom, adding that the kidnappers decided to release her when they discovered that she was a journalist and when the news of her abduction spread.

Narrating her ordeal, Oke said: “The State Security Service (SSS) officials took charge of the situation. So, we did not pay. The fact that they got to know that I am a journalist and that the news was everywhere hastened my release.

“My experience in the kidnappers’ hands was not palatable. It was a very terrible experience. For days, I could only drink water. I could not eat.

“As I was coming home

from NTA office along Ondo Road on Thursday at about 8:30, I noticed a car following me after Mobil filling station on Oba Ile-Akure Road. So, I had to increase the speed with which I was driving and I rolled up my class.

Very close to Jojein hotel, I slowed down to carefully maneuver potholes. It was at that point that they leveled up with me and I was double crossed.

“I asked them what my offence was. I even offered them my car keys, but the three armed men dragged me into their car. One of them got into my car and drove behind us.

“They drove through Owode to FUTA and to Ondo.

They told me that they were taking me to Delta State, but when we got to Ore, they covered my eyes. They blindfolded me from that Thursday night till Saturday night before they released me. So, it was impossible for me to know where I was.

“My housemaid and baby were in car with me.

They dropped them on the road before driving my car

away. The housemaid and the baby later went home in a public transport. I learnt that the kidnappers later dropped my car at Igbara Oke in Ifedore Local Government Area of Ondo State. At present, the car is with the State Special AntiRobbery Squad (SARS).

When I was released on Saturday, they gave me my car keys. I hope to get the car during the week.”

Oke said the incident was just a case of random kidnapping, adding that the way her kidnappers related with her did not portray that they were sent directly to her.

“Nobody sent them to me. It was a case of random kidnapping. I just walked into their hands. I do not want to believe anyone sent them to me because when they got me, they were asking me series of questions. Where do you work?

Who are you? I think that showed clearly that they did not know anything about me. I think the kind of car I was driving coupled with the way I was dressed attracted them."

HAKEEM GBADAMOSI AKURE

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four-year-old girl was yesterday crushed to death by a driver in Akure, the Ondo State capital.

According to an eyewitness, the incident occurred as the driver, who just left a beer parlour lost control of his Hilux van marked: OD 259 A08 and hit two children in front of their house.

The eyewitness said one of the little girls, identified as Precious Oluwatoba,

died instantly, while the other was critically injured.

The injured victim has been taken to the hospital.

The eyewitness said: "The driver was drunk; he killed the girl after losing the control of the vehicle.”

It was gathered that the driver was rescued by policemen as some residents pounced on him after the incident and beat him to stupor.

Confirming the incident, the police spokesman, Mr. Wole Ogodo, said the driver had been detained at the 'B'

Division Police Station in Akure.

Ogodo said "The suspect has been arrested and one of the victims is dead and the other one is receiving treatment at the hospital.”

Meanwhile, the father of the deceased, Mr. Olaniyan Oluwatoba, has demanded justice.

Oluwatoba said: "I am begging the government to intervene in this matter, I wonder why a drunkard will be allowed to be driving government vehicle.

Government needs to know the type of person to employ as driver.”

TASUED’s licence not withdrawn, says Registrar

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he management of Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED) yesterday denied a media report that the institution’s licence has been withdrawn.

“It is far from the truth that the Ogun State Government has delisted TASUED as one of the institutions owned by it,” a statement signed by the university’s registrar,

Mr. Femi Kayode, said.

The management said the institution is still

funded and maintained by the Ogun State Government.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

GEORGE OPARA ABIA

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embers of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, serving in Bende Local Government Area of Abia State have cried out over threat to their lives.

The corps members said one of them, Miss Agunbiade Adedolapo, was stabbed in the back by unknown assailants as she was returning to their lodge from a trip to Umuahia.

The incident, they said, occurred about 7.pm on March 7, adding that the Lo-

South East

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Abia: Our lives in danger –Corps members cal Government Inspector of NYSC in Bende, Mr. Chinedu Ugbagu, evacuated them from the community the following day.

The corps members, however, alleged that the NYSC was forcing them to return to the community without making any security arrangement for their savety.

“We are calling on human rights organisations to come to the aid of corps members serving in Bende. As it stands, the state is insensitive to our plights,” one of

them said.

The corps members, who craved anonymity, said they were being forced to return to the community, just to create the impression that the place is safe for the next batch of corps members.

“After making empty promises to provide security, we were ordered like sheep to return to the den of lions and wolves, a day after Adedolapo was discharged from the Federal Medical Centre, FMC, Umuahia, where she was rushed to when she was

stabbed.

“Nothing, absolutely nothing, has been done to beef up security around the lodge.

Street urchins are openly smoking Indian hemp, threatening and harassing us without any reason.

“We now live in constant fear. Our bosses are now intimidating us into keeping our mouths shut otherwise our NYSC certificates would be seized.

“Please do come to our rescue! We cannot fold our arms and die serving our fa-

L-R: The late Prof. Chinua Achebe’s first son, Dr. Ike Achebe; Anambra State Governor Peter obi and Achebe’s first daughter, Dr. Chinelo Achebe Ejueyitchie, when the governor visited them in the USA, yesterday.

Ojukwu’s property: Court strikes out N140m suit against Bianca public figure, had been derided in most national newspapers when the suit was filed.

He said: “Considering the status of the defendant (Bianca), I ask for N100,000 ask cost against the claimant.

The respondent got to know of the suit while in Spain as an ambassador to the country. Most national newspapers carried the story when the suit was filed.’’

But in her ruling, Oyebanji awarded N5,000 cost against Ojukwu Transport Limited but declined to award cost in the sister suits since the defendants are unknown persons.

Ojukwu Transport Lim-

ited had in suit LD/1680/2012 demanded payment of N40 million being expected rentable value per annum of the said premises from September 27 until the defendant (Bianca) gives up possession of the property.

The claimant, represented by one of its directors, Dr. Ike Ojukwu, is also asking for N100 million as damages from the widow of the late Biafran warlord.

The claimant, in its statement of claim, said by a letter of attorney dated May 4, 2012, it appointed Mr. Massey Udagbe of Massey Udegbe & Co as its agent to manage the property in dispute.

ustice Adedayo Oyebanji of a Lagos High Court yesterday struck out three separate suits filed

by Ojukwu Transport Limited against Bianca Odumegwu Ojukwu, the widow of the late Biafran warlord, Chief Emeka OdumegwuOjukwu and two unknown persons.

Specifically, Bianca was sued in respect of a two-storey detached house located at No 29 Queens Drive, Ikoyi Lagos.

Oyebanji struck out the suits following a Notice of

Discontinuance dated February 5 filed by the claimant’s lawyer, Ike Ubahakwa.

The court also struck out two other suits (LD/1681/12 and LD/1682/12) filed against unknown persons occupying two separate properties of the firm, following two separate Notices of Discontinuance filed by the claimant.

Oyebanji ruled that “pursuant to the notice of discontinuance dated February 5, 2013, this suit is hereby struck court.”

However, counsel to Bianca, Nick Omeye, prayed the court to award N100,000 as cost against the claimant, arguing that Bianca, being a

GEORGE OPARA

Teachers decry non-payment of salary

WALE IGBINTADE

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ABIA

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rimary and post-primary school teachers in Abia State are grumbling over the non-payment of their salaries since the beginning of the year.

The teachers wondered why the government was not treating them like other civil servants in the state ministries who enjoyed

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prompt payment of their salaries.

Some of the teachers, who craved anonymity, said they were disturbed by the disposition of the administration of Governor Theodore Orji towards them.

When contacted on phone, the Commissioner for Education, Dr. Monica Phillips, said she was in Abuja.

Phillips said she was not aware if teachers were not paid their salaries since January.

She refereed our correspondent to the commissioner for finance who she said should be in a better position to explain whether or not the teachers had been paid.

In another telephone conversation later, Phillips

told National Mirror that the Chairman of Abia State Universal Education Board, ASUBEB, Mr. Micah Onyebuchi, informed her that the teachers had received their January salary and that he was going to pick the cheque for their February salary.

But the teachers insisted that they had not been paid this year.

ther land.

“Before now, there have been cases of burglary, which we reported to the police at Bende but nothing was done.

“On the day the incident, we went to call the police to take the victim to the hospital but they were reluctant and wasted about 20 munities. After we had made private arrangement, they now came and conveyed us to the hospital.

“The most painful aspect is that the NYSC local government inspector said they had gone to ‘the bad guys’ in Bende and they said that they were not responsible for the incident. They now alleged that the attack came from one of us.

“When we told the state coordinator, Bossey Okaku, and the Director-General, who all visited Adedolapo at FMC that we would not go back to Bende until adequate security is provided, they took some of us to Item Camp and some to Umuahia.

“But suddenly, they are now forcing us back to the place they rescued us from, without adequate security arrangement. They are threatening that if we refuse

to go, they would seize our discharge certificates.

“The culprits have not been arrested and security has not been beefed up at the place but they are asking us to go back there. We wanted to go on peaceful protests, but the coordinator warned against it.

“Today, out of fear, we are going back to the place which was deserted when the lady was stabbed. The lady was discharged on Thursday but the following day, they are forcing us to go back to the same community.

“Even during the day, we cannot go out freely, unless we go out in a group of three or four.

“Tomorrow, March 26 (today), they will be welcoming the new batch, so they want us to stay there so that it will seem as if nothing is wrong at the place,” another corps member said.

But Ugbagu said he was not aware that anybody was being forced to go back or being threatened with seizure of his discharge certificate.

He said: “I am not in a position to answer your question; it is the duty of the state coordinator.

Appeal Court rules on Umeh’s application, April 8 DENNIS AGBO ENUGU

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he Appeal Court sitting in Enugu yesterday fixed April 8 for ruling on application brought by the National Chairman of All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Chief Victor Umeh.

Umeh is asking for stay of execution of the February 8 judgement of an Enugu High Court which removed him as the national chairman of APGA. He is also asking for the status quo to be maintained pending the determination of his appeal.

The three-man panel Appeal Court headed by Justice Paul Galinje also adjourned to April 8, a fresh application filed by some interest group of APGA members seeking to be joined in the suit.

At the resumed hearing of Umeh’s appeal, the court asked all the parties in the case to abide by the rule of the court, promising to accelerate hearing on the matter.

Moving the application for a stay of execution dated February 28, which was based on eight grounds and backed by

25-paragraph affidavit sworn to by the appellant, Umeh’s lead counsel, Mr. Patrick Ikweto (SAN), asked the court to make an order staying the exaction of the trial court presided over by the Enugu State Chief Judge, Justice Innocent Umezulike, on the grounds that he had no jurisdiction to entertain the case.

He drew the attention of the court to Umezulike’s judgement particularly where he ruled that the APGA national chairman be restrained from functioning in his capacity on the grounds that he was not validly elected at the party’s National Convention of 2010.

Ikweto said by that decision, APGA was denied of a valid leadership which was tantamount to paralysing the party.

The lawyer pleaded with the appellate court to protect the res, by restoring Umeh and his executive to office, pending the determination of the substantive appeal, noting that the ruling of the lower court sacking Umeh and the entire APGA executive was done in gross violation of the party’s constitution.

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South South

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Oyerinde: More questions as police, SSS reports differ SEBASTINE EBHUOMHAN BENIN

A

s the technical analysis of the reports turned in by both the Nigeria Police and the Department of State Security, DSS, continued in the bid to unmask the real killers of the Principal Private Secretary to the Governor of Edo State, Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde continues, more posers have been unearthed by a deeper study of the reports.

One of the posers is the glaring difference in the

telephone records of both security agencies saddled with both the protection of lives as well as the investigation of deaths.

National Mirror correspondent’s follow-up on the murder, revealed that while both the police and SSS got the two telephone SIM card numbers of the late Oyerinde correctly as: 08035137162, 07051676455 and that of his wife, Funke, correctly as: 08066278666, there is a difference, however, in the agencies’ records of his International Mobile Equipment

Identity, otherwise known as IMEI and PIN number.

According to the presentation of the DirectorGeneral of the SSS that was presented to the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions last month in Abuja, the IMEI records of the telephone numbers of Oyerinde that the SSS said it recovered and handed over along with its suspects is different from the ones the police listed in its report.

In the verbatim presentation, the SSS director-gener-

al gave the “Mobile forensic analyses of the phones belonging to the victim, his wife, his brother-in-law, Adeyinka Oletubo, who was staying with them.

“The phone numbers are: 08035137162 belonging to Oyerinde and 07051676455 belonging to Oyerinde, 08066278666 - Funke Oyerinde’s phone and 08033058580 belonging to Adeyinka.

“The call data records of late Oyerinde GSM line 07051676455 with phone international, you know when you remove a SIM card

L-R: Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson; Commissioner of Education, Chief Salo Adikumo and the Chairman of the State Education Inspectorate Committee, Dr. Stella Ugolo, after the committee's inauguration at the Government House in Yenagoa, yesterday.

‘How electoral officer got drowned during LG poll’ EMMA GBEMUDU YENAGOA

C

hairman of the Bayelsa State Electoral Commission, BYSIEC, Chief Blessing Izagara, yesterday described how one of their ad hoc staff and an undergraduate of the Niger Delta University, NDU, Miss Teller Francis, got drowned during last Saturday’s council poll in the state.

Chief Izagara, who spoke with journalists yesterday in Yenagoa, said the deceased, a second year Political Science student of the NDU, died during a boat mishap in Akassa River, Okpoama, Brass Local Government Area of the state, an incident he described as painful and unfortunate.

Izagara attributed the undergraduate’s death to her alleged refusal to wear a life jacket.

His words: “The deceased refused to wear a life jacket.

Even when she was compelled to put on the jacket

at a Nigerian Navy checkpoint, she removed it later, just before the mishap.”

It was learnt that the corpse of the ad hoc staff has been deposited at the morgue of the Federal Medical Centre, FMC, Yenagoa.

Izagara said the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, won all the chairmanship and councillorship poll in the eight councils, except in ward four in Okpoama, Brass Local Government where election was postponed.

D

gave the IMEI records of Oyerinde’s 08035137162 as 356841048771569 with PIN number 28E435B2 and his 07051676455 as 354695043258440. The police also gave the IMEI record of Oyerinde’s wife’s telephone line, Funke’s 08066278666 as 355465048835860 with PIN number 26A284FB. Observers are anxiously waiting to know which of the two agencies’ reports is true and correct even as the police are yet to release the transcripts of alleged conversations between Ugolor and other police principal suspects till now.

Reacting to the contrasting reports, a police principal suspect in the murder case, whose innocence has since been affirmed by the court of law that also fined the police for his unlawful detention, Rev. David Ugolor, dismissed the later report.

He founded his opinion on his alleged framing by the police for reasons he said were best known to the security agency.

It will be recalled that Oyerinde was murdered in his house at 2nd Ugbor Street in Benin City early May 4, 2012, a day before Oshiomhole’s re-election campaign was to begin.

Supreme Court to decide Ogboru’s appeal June 21 EMMANUEL ONANI ABUJA

T

he Supreme Court has fixed June 21, to deliver its ruling on an appeal lodged by the governorship candidate of the Democratic Peoples Party, DPP, in the April 2011 election in Delta State, Chief Great Ogboru.

Ogboru urged the apex court to set aside its judgement of March 21, 2012, which affirmed the victory of Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, as governor of the state.

In his submission, counsel to Ogboru, Dr. Dickson Osuala, contended that the Supreme Court erred when it strike out the appellant’s initial appeal challenging Uduaghan’s return, notwithstanding their position that the decision of the Court of Appeal was a nullity.

He further argued that the court ought to have heard the appeal on merit, or in the alternative, made a consequential order remitting the petition to the Delta State governorship election petition tribunal that sat in

Dickson releases N302m for WAEC/NECO fees

etermined to push through its free educational policy, the Bayelsa State government has released N302 million for the payment of the 2012/2013 WAEC and NECO examination fees for students in the state.

Presenting the cheque to the Commissioner for

from a phone; every phone has international mobile equipment identity so that even when you put in another SIM card, that international mobile equipment identity can always record.

So, the international mobile equipment identity of Oyerinde’s phone 35469504311887 was obtained.”

“The CDR of Funke Oyerinde’s line 08066278666 registered as Labake Oyerinde with international mobile equipment identity number 35546504883586 was obtained from MTN Nigeria Network.”

The SSS further explained, “Also from this network was the CDR of Oyerinde MTN line of 08035137162 with international mobile identity number 357696041479100, the investigation team phone forensic analyses reveal that Oyerinde’s phone with international mobile identity number 35469504311887 was a blackberry 9800 and was used on May 5, 2012.

He was killed on May 4; his phone came up on May 5, by one Hassan Bashiru with GSM number 08035555536 between 13:36 hours and 17:20 hours in Benin City, Edo State.”

But in its contrasting report, the police

Education, Chief Salo Adikumo, at the Government House, Yenagoa, Governor Seriake Dickson, said part of the fund was meant for the procurement of science materials needed for the conduct of the May/ June O’Level examinations.

Governor Dickson,

who reiterated his administration’s commitment towards revamping the education sector in the state, warned parents and guardians to be wary of extortionists, as government attaches seriousness to its free education policy for primary and secondary schools in the state.

Asaba.

“The applicant/appellant brought to the knowledge of this court that they never instructed Hon to withdraw the appeal. Mr. Hon misrepresented the position of the appellant,” he stressed.

However, Chairman of the panel of justices, Justice Ibrahim Tanko, said the apex court did not agree with Ogboru that the decision of the Court of Appeal was a nullity.

According to Justice Tanko; “I was on the panel and I happened to write the lead judgement and there is nowhere in my judgment that I said the appeal succeeded. What I said was that the preliminary objection sustained, and the appeal struck out. In law, what is the effect of striking out?

“The decision of the lower court was a nullity based on some things that were not done, not because of any issue raised in the appeal,” Justice Tanko said."

Justice Tanko asked whether the appeal was not an abuse of court process

because the Supreme Court had earlier struck it out on October 12, 2012, when Sebastine Hon, SAN, who represented Ogboru, withdrew it.

In his response, Osuala said his client did not authorise Hon to withdraw the appeal. He added that Ogboru had written a petition to the Chief Justice of Nigeria over the development.

In his preliminary objection, counsel to Uduaghan, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, said Hon has the right to withdraw the appeal.

“A counsel who is briefed to handle any matter is dominus litis - he is not the steward or servant of the client.

“When he is in court, he does not need the authority of the client to make a compromise or concession.

“May the day never come when the counsel will have to look over his shoulders to get instructions from the client before making any move in court,” Olanipekun stated.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

SUPER TUESDAY

13

Politics

Fresh crisis brews over 2013 Budget, Oteh

My regrets over post-election violence report –Lemu

14&15

43

Ondo guber: Waiting for judgement In a couple of weeks, the Ondo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal is expected to wind up and deliver its judgement on the petitions filed against the victory of Governor Olusegun Mimiko in the October 20, 2012 election.

With both the petitioners and respondents closing their cases, the parties and the people of the state are now waiting for the judgement day.

OJO OYEWAMIDE writes.

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he Ondo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal is inching towards the end of its assignment as both petitioners and respondents have closed their cases. The tribunal, which had its inaugural sitting on November 22, 2012, has been working round the clock in order to meet the time limit set out in the extant Electoral Law. The law says election petitions must be determined within 180 days.

In a couple of weeks, the three-man panel, headed by Justice Aondover Kaka’an with Justices H.S. Mohammad and Kadi M.M. Alkali as members, is expected to wind up and deliver its judgement on the petitions challenging the victory of Governor Olusegun Mimiko in the October 20 governorship election.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Mimiko, the Labour Party (LP) candidate, winner of the election with 260,191 votes ahead of Olusola Oke, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 151,961 votes and Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) with 143, 512 votes.

Tribunal option Dissatisfied, five political parties, ACN, PDP, Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Peoples Democratic Congress (PDC) and Accord Party (AP), headed for the tribunal to challenge the victory of Governor Mimiko. While the PDP, ACN and CPC contested the outcome of the election on grounds of corrupt practices and non-compliance with the Electoral Act, the Accord Party challenged the exclusion of its candidate, Olawale Ojo, from the electoral contest. The PDC contested the ownership of the father-mother-and-child logo with the LP, saying it was the original owner. The party claimed that a logo mix-up by INEC prevented its supporters from voting for the candidate of the party.

PDC’s capitulation

Mimiko

TOP STORY The leadership of the PDC decided to withdraw its petition before the commencement of the legal fireworks at the tribunal. One Barrister Igwe Emeka from the National Secretariat of PDC and the party’s candidate, Oluwaremi Victor Adetunsi, signed and filed the application for the withdrawal of the petition. The party said having studied the replies of the respondents to its petition; there was no legal reason to continue to prosecute the case.

The tribunal chairman struck out the petition, ruling that “having carefully perused the affidavit by the respondents against the illegal withdrawal and having read the application to withdraw the petition, we therefore grant the petitioners order to withdraw the petition of the PDC against INEC and others. The petition is therefore struck out.” The withdrawal of the petition generated a number of snide remarks, with many insinuating that Oretunsi had been compromised.

Consolidation of petitions

Akeredolu

Oke

Petitioners and respondents’ lawyers agreed to consolidate all the petitions at the pre-trial conference. The decision stemmed from the volume of cases before the tribunal and the limited time granted by the Electoral Act for the determination of the cases.

Former Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Akin Olujimi (SAN), who led the ACN legal team, said the decision to consolidate the petitions was supported by all the counsels of the various parties. Olujimi said consolidation was meant to bring all the cases together and that the procedure would shorten the time that would be spent on each of the cases, adding that the law gave only 180 days to answer the petitions. The former minister stated there was no way the tribunal could cope with the volume of cases that it had to treat if they were not brought together.

istic of all the cases and capable of causing a reversal of fortune for the LP. While the petition inspired hope in the camp of the opposition, it elicited fear in the ruling LP. However, the AP petition could not survive the pre-hearing stage, as it was struck out by the tribunal. The AP candidate, Olawale Ojo, was challenging his alleged exclusion from the governorship election, having been validly nominated by his party. But the Justice Kaka’an-led tribunal ruled that Ojo abused the court process and struck out his petition.

Curious was the role played by the national leadership of the AP in frustrating the petition of Ojo, a development many described as a sad commentary on party solidarity and camaraderie in the current political dispensation in the country.

The National Executive Committee of the party led by its National Chairman, Mohammed Nalado, was at the pre-hearing session to help nip the petition in the bud.

The party argued that it presented no candidate for the election and, therefore, had no case against the victory of Mimiko.

The court also dismissed the petition of the CPC, describing it as a mere academic exercise. It struck out the petition of the PDP on the ground that it hired a non-party executive member, one Omotule, to sign the party’s petition. The panel, however, admitted Oke’s petition but ruled that the party’s name should be removed from all the paragraphs where it was mentioned.

Also struck out were the paragraphs in the ACN and Oke’s petitions where criminal allegations were made against persons and institutions including security agents, who were not joined in the petitions. The tribunal ruled that not joining them constituted infraction of their rights. While striking out about 150 paragraphs from the ACN and Oke’s petition, the tribunal CONTINUED ON PAGE 41

AP, CPC petitions dismissed The petition of the Accord Party was the shortest, and the party was the least popular among those contesting the victory of Mimiko. But it was the most sensitive and contentious. It generated a lot of public interest, because it was seen as the most real-

VIRTUALLY ALL THE WITNESSES CONFIRMED FROM THE VOTERS’ REGISTER AND THE RESULT SHEETS THAT SOME PEOPLE IDENTIFIED VOTED

TWICE.

THEY ALSO CONFIRMED THAT SOME OTHER

PERSONS VOTED EITHER WITHOUT ACCREDITATION

ELECTORAL LAW. THEY ALSO CONFIRMED OVERVOTING, MANIPULATION OF THE VOTERS’ REGISTER AND FORM EC8A OR FINGERPRINTS AGAINST THE

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Politics

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

My regrets over post-election Says, report didn’t indict Buhari

Dr. Shiekh Ahmed Lemu was the chairman of the 2011 postelection violence panel. The 84-year-old renown Islamic scholar, who is a History graduate of the University of London, is a trustee and president of the Islamic Education Trust.

In this interview with PRISCILLA DENNIS, Lemu speaks on his pains over the non-implementation of his panel’s report five months after submission, the Boko Haram insurgency and why the sect should be granted amnesty.

Can you give an insight on the report of the post-election violence and civil disturbances in some parts of the country, which you submitted to Mr. President in October 2012?

I don’t have anything than what I said when presenting the report to Mr. President last year. This is so because the details of all the reports are entirely the property of Mr. President.

There are certain things we would not like to say in the public. What I gave in my presentation speech was all the journalists that were there on the day of the presentation reported as they managed to get a copy of it. Even now, I will not say more than what I said in the public during the presentation in front of the President.

We gave our recommendations on some of the fundamental causes of the violence and disturbances. And everything we said, was published word for word in all the papers. The presentation contains the cause: all the root causes of the violence and disturbances; it also contains all the recommendations on our findings.

How do you feel that five months after submitting the report, the Federal Government is yet to implement your recommendations?

I feel very bad about it. But who am I to query the President and ask why he has not done anything about our report? I feel naturally bad, but silently of course.

I’m sad about the non-implementation of the report because of the manner of commendations we received from the South, East, West and North over what we did and even on the pages of newspapers from friends.

Few days ago in Lagos, I met one of the top lawyers there, who was still congratulating me on our report. So, I can’t say anything; whether the President took some actions and they were not made public.

So if you are asking about how I feel, I feel silently bad, because of how we risked our lives and conducted investigations to get true information. I remember, for instance, meeting some very top people one-on-one, so that we could have heart to heart discussions with them. In the course of the assignment, I got on one-on-one with stakeholders to get their opinion and advice so as to enrich our work and facilitate effective recommendations.

Shortly after presenting your report, there were allegations by the Congress

for Progressive Change (CPC) that your report was meant to be used by the Federal Government to indict former Head of State, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. What is your take on this?

Our courts are there; we didn’t indict anybody in the report. It is all politics.

Let them go and play the game themselves and leave us alone. I have nothing to say on it because whoever is not satisfied with our work can take the matter to court to decide. That is just it. I will say nothing.

There were also comments alleging that you were used by government in the course of the panel’s work. What is your view on this?

If they see any sign or trace of government using me, let them come out and say it. In what way was the government using me? Is it someone like me they would use? In what way? I recall, the night the government appointed me, I told Mr. President one thing in reply: that many of us are in our 80s; I was 82 years then.

I told the President that we were there like passengers who have collected their boarding passes to board an aircraft, and already seated on the departure lounge waiting for the call to board the plane and we prayed that our destination will be paradise. That was what I said that night to the President.

Therefore, I told him we were ready to do the job without fear or favour. I asked the President another thing: that he take all the necessary measures to prevent anybody from interfering with our work.

And believe me, nobody interfered and I even told him including yourself.

So, your work was done without any interference from the Presidency or any of the stakeholders?

Absolutely! Nobody interfered with our work from the beginning to the end of those five months that we worked. So, we have done our job, we submitted the report and we gave our recommendations and it was adequately reported in the papers then. Who will use the 27 of us? When I have made it clear that I am now on the onward journey to God. And for me to be used for what?

What will suggest to anyone that we have been used? Is it Justice Uwaifor, the vice chairman, who was a retired Justice of the Supreme Court that could be used?

Lemu

And in what way could we be used? That is the problem with Nigeria; when you tell the truth, those that don’t want it will look for a way to malign you.

And I don’t care, because in my attitude it’s always God first. My concern is what will Allah say to me tomorrow, especially at my age that I am close to the destination. It’s up to them. I don’t care what they say.

How do you feel about the state of the nation with the insurgence in the North and kidnapping in the South?

The state of insecurity is very bad for Nigeria. I feel sad for any part of Nigeria to be in crisis because people are suffering. The Boko Haram thing is not a Northern problem but that of Nigeria.

Even when the Niger Delta problem was going on, I felt terribly bad, because of the negative image about Nigeria. Previously, it was South-South, now it is North, who knows when it will stop. I feel for Nigeria.

Do you think the Islamic sects, Boko Haram and Ansaru, are really fighting the cause of Islam?

Good. Now I have a Quaran here with me. I will show you what God said in the Holy Quaran even on cases like the Boko Haram. Now, you read the English translation for yourself. Read Quaran Chapter 5, verses 33-34: ‘The punishment of those

I FEEL NATURALLY BAD, BUT SILENTLY OF COURSE. I’M SAD ABOUT THE NONIMPLEMENTATION OF

THE REPORT... BECAUSE OF HOW WE RISKED OUR LIVES AND CONDUCTED INVESTIGATIONS TO GET TRUE INFORMATION who run around and spread mischief about Allah and His Messenger is this: they should be put to death or crucified or should be bound or their feet should be cut off or be banished from the land.

And this is the ignominy for them in this world. And there in store harsher torment in the here after except you repent.

For you should know that Allah is forgiving and compassionate.’

The Quaran does not condone all they are doing. The perpetrators should come forward and seek forgiveness. We don’t like what they are doing. Severe punishment is there, but if before you get hold of them (Boko Haram), they offer themselves, saying they are repenting, they

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Politics

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

violence report –Lemu not necessarily the best advised. So, I pity him. As a religious teacher and preacher, my opinion is what the Quaran said. Deal with the culprits very severely, but before you get hold of them, if they ask for forgiveness and want to dialogue, give them a chance, forgive them.

I read what a certain professor said in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, in front of the president and I read the remark by the representative of the elders, saying that the professor has spoken their minds that what they wrote they will not need to read it again. I read about the President’s response to them. So, if you ask for my opinion, I am in support of what God has said. Deal severely with the culprits, but if before you get hold of them, they repent, offer them amnesty but monitor them very closely.

want dialogue, God will forgive them.

What government should do is to find out the root causes of this act of violence, insurgency that is spreading.

What are the causes, and some of the root causes were exposed during the commission of inquiry. My panel exposed the causes and the remedies as well. The ball is now in the court of the Federal Government. The unfortunate thing is that the government is not truly committed to implementing the recommendations; not only ours, but several others before ours.

And we mentioned it in our presentation speech. We gave a list of recommendations and it’s left for the government to see what is recommended; we mentioned them. It was not secret; the ball is in the court of the government and like the case of Boko Haram and so forth. You heard what God said. They should be treated very seriously.

Now, if the president is saying no amnesty to Boko Haram, he is the most informed single individual in this country because of his sources of information.

Nobody has those kind of access as much as he has. Is it the State Security Service (SSS), the Police, the Military Intelligence, name them all, they have access to him and to inform him.

So, he is the most informed, but not necessarily the best informed in quality of information that comes to him. And

The President hinged his refusal to grant amnesty to Boko Haram members on the strength that they are faceless.

These people are not faceless as such.

Now, let me tell you, the Nigerian security officers, the SSS, the Police, the Military Intelligence and so forth know how to get them. The Boko Haram members have where they train and where they get their weapons from. And mind you, they are becoming stronger and stronger as they are getting arms and ammunition day by day.

We saw what was reported in the papers about the fight between the Boko Haram and the Joint Task Force (JTF), after the visit of the President, especially the arms and ammunition, including those that can bring down an aircraft. These people are getting more dangerous. These people are getting more and more sophisticated; though their number may be diminishing, still they are becoming more and more dangerous. They are not stupid to unveil themselves; they don’t trust the government.

in the Quaran. If they agree to lay down their arms, I will forgive but if government gets hold of them before that, they should be dealt with.

Should they be granted amnesty?

Yes. That is the way of the Quaran. If they see the willingness on the part of government that it is ready to offer amnesty, when this condition is there, they will come to the stage, where they will come face to face and government will know who it is dealing with. But, when the way to reach that stage is dismissed, they will not come out.

There was a report that Northerners control 83 per cent of oil blocks in the country. What is your comment on this?

I don’t want to discuss the issue because they are all politics. People who own the oil will continue to demand more and more allocation at the expense of the whole country. And the rest of the country will demand more and more allocation. So, it’s all a circle of demand, everybody is demanding and I am not a politician.

How do you feel about the crises among the political parties?

I told you, it’s all politics. Sincerely, I am not interested in politics because politicians are not straightforward; politicians are selfish and they are after power.

Personally, I am not interested in their politics. I don’t trust any of them.

Let them continue to play their do-ordie politics; they are the ones to die. Every one of them scrambling for political office, yet when they get there they don’t do anything for the people. The whole nation knows that because of their recklessness, things are not working. All they are after is money; they want money and power. The space is wide open for all to play. They should go and continue to play their politics and as far as I am concerned, I will continue to pray to Allah to save us.

How do you feel about the allegation that President Jonathan signed a one- term agreement with PDP governors?

To me, it’s all politics. But one thing I wish for Nigeria and I wrote it in the report to Mr. President is to encourage God-fearing people in politics. Even, if the present group of politicians behave like lost sheep as far I am concerned, if you initiate the programme of ethical reform, the future politicians will have God-fearing members among them.

And when any of them comes to power, you will see changes. That is if an ethical reform programme can be initiated at all levels and this is what I am personally working on. And we have started work on it and I am not talking about ethical reform among Muslims.

Within that reform, there is a provision for dialogue, for dissemination of information, for mutual understanding between Christians and Muslims, and even the atheist.

MY PANEL EXPOSED THE CAUSES AND THE REMEDIES AS WELL. THE BALL IS NOW IN THE COURT OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. THE UNFORTUNATE THING IS THAT THE GOVERNMENT IS NOT TRULY COMMITTED TO IMPLEMENTING THE

RECOMMENDATIONS; NOT ONLY OURS, BUT SEVERAL OTHERS BEFORE OURS

Are you saying the major reason why they refused to come out publicly is as a result of lack of trust in the Federal Government?

Yes. The belief is that they can come out and then the security forces can arrest them and expose their faces.

Therefore, the few that come out, deal with them in whatever manner and through them, government can get to their big bosses, but government is saying, no ‘we want to see their faces’, they are not stupid. The government cannot trust them, they too can’t trust government.

To me, if one side of the terrorists step forward or offer willingness to put down or surrenders their arms, allow them instead of saying you don’t trust them. So, you have to think of the right way, the right approach out of the problem.

If you were in the shoes of Mr. President, what course of action would you take as a way out of the problem the nation is currently facing over the Boko Haram issue?

Honestly, I will go by what God said

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Lemu

16

Politics

Arthur Eze’s spiritual dimension to Alamieyeseigha’s pardon

ASO ROCK FILE with

Rotimi FADEYI

FG, states await sharing of $2bn booty

I

n the next few weeks, it would be another time to share the booty from the excess crude account with the federal, states and local government getting $2 billion.

In January, a sum of $1 billion was released to the three tiers of government when governors demanded for the money to meet payment for ongoing projects in their states.

This is in spite of the fact that there is a pending case instituted by the states and yet to be determined by the Supreme Court over the spending from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) by the Federal Government.

The National Economic Council (NEC) which is the highest economic decision making body for the country usually presided over by the Vice President at its 49th meeting at the Presidential Villa agreed to the sharing of the money, even though there are complaints from Nigerians that they never get to see anything that the three tiers of government are doing with the money that are of immense benefit their lives and well being in general.

Akwa Ibom State governor, Godswill Akpabio said the money would facilitate key critical projects in the country.

“The Council was also briefed on the plan to share between $1 and $2 billion next month to facilitate various devel-

opment projects being executed by the different tiers of government across the country,” Akpabio said.

He said the Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Yerima Ngama informed the council that $7.82 billion was left in the ECA after sharing $1 billion by the three tiers of government earlier in the year and payment of fuel subsidy commitments.

President Goodluck Jonathan had approved the release of the $1 billion from the ECA at the January 30 meeting of NEC.

T

he raging controversy generated by the presidential pardon granted former Bayelsa State governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, and other ex-convicts

by President Goodluck Jonathan at the National Council of State (NCS) meeting on Tuesday, March 12 is yet to lose steam.

Jonathan at the Council meeting attended by three former leaders of the country granted pardon to his kinsman and political benefactor believed to be the main target of the pardon while others were included in the list for the purpose of giving the action a semblance of credibility.

Also granted pardon along with Alamieyeseigha were former Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters, late Major General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua; former Chief of General Staff, Lt. General Oladipo Diya; former Works Minister, late Major General Abdulkareem Adisa; former Minister of Communications, Ma-

W

jor General Tajudeen Olanrewaju and Major Segun Fadipe.

Others were Major Bello Magaji; Mohammed Lima Biu, former Managing Director of the defunct Bank of the North, Shettima Bulama and Dr. Chiichii Ashwe.

But multi-billionaire businessman, Prince Arthur Eze had a different dimension to the presidential pardon, particularly the case of Alamieyeseigha Eze introduced a spiritual dimension to the issue, saying that it was an act of God. He said that it was God that instructed Jonathan to grant Alamieyeseigha presidential pardon.

Speaking on the pardon when he came to the State House last week, Eze said that the criticisms that had trailed the pardon are misplaced.

Eze, who spoke in defence of Jonathan for granting the pardon, said the President acted in line with God’s dictates.

He explained that what Jonathan did was what a man who fears God would do, saying that if he was given the opportunity to be the President of Nigeria, he would show sympathy to anyone in the world.

Eze said he believed Jonathan takes advice from God and God only can tell him what to do, which is to show sympathy and mercy, knowing that those who show mercy shall obtain mercy.

Presidential Villa’s visitors

L-R: Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Power, Dr. Godknows Igali; Delta State Deputy Governor, Prof. Amos Utuama (SAN); Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam and Managing Director Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), James Olotu at the meeting of the Board of Directors of the company at the State House.

Power sector reform gets another boost in June

ith the inauguration of 10 thermal power plants coming up in June, the privatisation process of the power sector reform would get another boost.

The power plants are those under the National Integrated Power Projects (NIPP) and coordinated by the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC).

Benue State governor, Gabriel Suswam, who spoke at the end of the 27th meeting of the Board of Directors of NDPHC, which held at the State House, disclosed that the projects will cover that of generation, distribution and transmission of power.

According to him, virtually all the integrated power projects would be inauguarated from June in phases, stressing that most of the power plants are thermal plants that are at various stages of completion.

Suswam further said that the privatisation of power companies after the inauguration of the projects was for efficient management.

He, however, said that before the privatisation of the projects, the government would embark on a road show to different countries and regions of the world to market the companies.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

The road show was considered as part of the necessary step to be taken before the privatisation, in order to generate interest and find very competent companies or enterprises that would be able to manage the companies properly.

The governor explained that a committee would be set up by the board of

NDPHC to handle the privatization of the companies.

Also speaking at the briefing, the Managing Director of NDPHC, James Abiodun Olotu, noted that the road show would involve as many countries as possible in order to have good international representation.

1.

Chairman of PDP Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih

2.

Former Chairman of the PDP, Dr. Ahmadu Ali

3.

Prince Arthur Eze

4.

Governor Godswill Akpabio

5.

Governor Liyel Imoke

6.

Governor Peter Obi

7.

Presidential Adviser on National assembly Matters, Senator Joy Emordi

8.

Governor Gabriel Suswam

9.

Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo

10.

Governor Ibrahim Shema

11.

Managing Director, Niger Delta Power Holding Company, James Abiodun Olotu

12. Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Power, Godknows Igali

Fuel subsidy removal re-echoes

T

he first attempt in January 2012

by President Goodluck Jonathan to implement full deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector was met with stiff opposition from labour unions and civil society groups.

But the government has not given up on the deregulation policy, which it said is the solution to the country’s economic problems and to end the fraud in subsidy payment to oil marketers who fleece the country of billions of naira.

Jonathan broached the idea again last week at the Economist Magazine’s Lagos Summit during an interactive session on the possible solution to the poor economic situation in the African region.

The issue ignited reactions from labour unions, civil society groups and

opposition parties, warning Jonathan not to attempt any increase in the pump price of fuel.

Information Minister at the post Federal executive Council (FEC) briefing last week also defended government’s position on the issue, saying that the economy faces the risk of imminent collapse without total deregulation of the downstream oil sector.

He said that despite the criticisms of the policy by some Nigerians, an overwhelming majority are satisfied that its implementation is crucial to improve the oil and gas sector to eliminate corruption and fraud.

“Without deregulation, there will not be a regulated downstream sector, currently government is losing, the people are losing because we cannot gener-

ate jobs. The potential that the oil and gas sector could have unleashed on the country was completely truncated. But the effort is continuous. Governemnt will not relent to convince Nigerians so as to reverse the trend of Nigerians suffering as a result of the subsidy of fuel,” Maku said.

According to him, the issue of deregulation in the downstream oil sector was one of the first major challenges the Ministry of Information had to contend with last year during the fuel subsidy protests, saying that the ministry had to sensitise Nigerians on the benefits deregulation would bring to the economy.

MORE POLITICS STORIES ON PAGES 41-43

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Views

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

17

Reengineering politics for national renewal J.K. RANDLE

WE HAD WRONGLY ASSUMED THAT SUCH

Continued from last Wednesday

A

las, economic growth is inconceivable without stability, peace, and most especially security. We also know that as professionals we cannot grow our businesses or advance our professional careers if bombs are going off all over the place and all we see on CNN; BBC; AL Jazeera and the local television stations are reports of latest massacres and decapitation of innocent victims. All these are in addition to armed robbery galore as well as kidnapping of very senior government officials, businessmen and women (or their relatives).

Hence, it is safe to conclude that just like our colleagues in other parts of the world, we as professionals have a non-negotiable and legitimate interest in security matters without meddling with the operations of those who are directly charged with the onerous task of ensuring enduring peace, stability, and security within our borders.

Over the last two years, I have attended conferences and delivered papers in different parts of the world. Everywhere, the issue of security as a principal factor in risk assessment and mitigation has been universally recognized. I was amazed by the degree of mutual trust, respect, confidence and frankness between business/professional leaders in advanced countries and the heads of their security apparatus, largely because they share a common purpose, namely: “ReEngineering Politics For National Renewal

AN ISSUE WOULD COMMAND THE HIGHEST ATTENTION AND ENTHUSIASTIC

CO-OPERATION OF THE RELEVANT AGENCIES And Economic Growth: The Role Of the Professional.”

They jointly and co-operatively review the operational lapses and resource gap, which would otherwise cripple investment and undermine business activities. Indeed, it was at one of the international meetings that my attention was drawn to the problem festering in Mauritania and Mali regarding drugs, as well as arms flowing in from Libya alongside the imposition of Sharia law with the road map already drawn to ensure a clean sweep through the northern belt of West Africa with northern Nigeria already targeted.

It was against this background that my firm organized a SECURITY SUMMIT on 13th January 2011. The theme was Security of Lives and Property (on the Land; in the Air and at Sea). We had wrongly assumed that such an issue would command the highest attention and enthusiastic co-operation of the relevant agencies. However, we were fortunate to have the presence of the then National Security Adviser, late

General Andrew Owoeye Azazi.

Thereafter, there was neither encouragement nor commendation. Not even a postmortem. We got the message and we learnt to hold our horses. The government would prefer to keep matters to itself rather than share the burden.

Anyway, six months later we were all severely jolted when Boko Haram, the dreaded Islamic sect, struck on June 3, 2011.

Their target was the Inspector-General of Police, right inside Police Headquarters in Abuja, using a suicide bomber as a decoy.

A bomb was detonated with devastating consequences. Thereafter, matters rapidly got out of hand. The suicide bombers went international when they bombed the UN Building on 26th August 2011. The building houses offices of a number of UN agencies, including the UN Development Program, UNICEF and the UN Population Fund; and about 400 employees of the United Nations work there.

That month, the commander for US military operations in Africa, General Carter Ham, said Boko Haram might be trying to link with two Qaeda-linked groups in other African countries to mount joint attacks in Nigeria. Ham said on August 17 during a visit to Nigeria that “multiple sources indicated Boko Haram had made contacts with Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which operates in northwest Africa, and with Al Shabab in Somalia.

Last year, a militant group from the Niger Delta blew up car bombs in the capital during Nigeria’s 50th Independence Anniversary ceremony, killing at least 12. Whether we are professionals or politicians (or a hybrid),

our colleagues, the quantity surveyors have invited us to accompany them on a site visit – to assess what is on the ground and what it would cost us to redress the colossal tragedy of unfulfilled expectations. Thankfully, we are in a democracy. Hence, we should feel sufficiently free to speak frankly to each other. Regardless, we must be mindful of Winston Churchill’s eternal caveat and gem of wisdom: “Democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others.”

Nearer home, the irrepressible Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah of Sokoto Catholic Diocese has delivered a lesson drawn from our nation’s brief history: “I have identified from AlhajiTafawa Balewa right through to President Goodluck Jonathan that somehow every Nigerian head of state or President has come to power purely and simply by accident. Their good luck may have been our bad luck. But the point needs to be underscored, because it is important for our understanding, how we might begin to recruit leadership in a way and manner that can guarantee us a future.”

The professional report of the quantity surveyors following their site visit is eagerly awaited by the nation. However, some of the sordid aspects are already leaking out into the public domain – white elephant projects; phoney contracts; phantom bridges, dams and roads. The list is endless.

To be continued Bashorun Randle (OFR, FCA) delivered this address during the Presidential Award of the Nigerian Institute of Surveyors held recently in Lagos

For Louis Odion at 40 PRECIOUS IGBONWELUNDU

I

happened to be present sometime ago when he walked into a gathering of his media colleagues and the shouts of ‘Capacity!’, ‘Capacity!!’ rent the air. What a queer sobriquet, I said to myself. I could not help wondering what informed that. When I probed deeper, what came out is a rather funny story.

Once upon a time, a group of senior journalists left their Lagos base on a facility tour of another state. Each time the group ate together in the restaurant, it was observed that Louis Odion often took extra portion. To those who had raised eyebrows, he jovially defended that he really needed all the nourishments since ‘I function at full installed capacity’. To that, everyone burst into a delirious laughter. So, began the legend of ‘Capacity’.

Indeed, no one was in doubt. Those who climbed the newsroom ladder with Louis would attest to his boundless energy for work. From the additional insight I gathered, I dare say that same nickname also speaks to an uncommon trajectory of destiny.

Born on March 25, 1973 in Ikare-Akoko, Ondo State, Louis’s story is perhaps a gripping illustration of the old saying that hard work pays and that talent ultimately finds a way. For a guy who had a meteoric rise from the bottom of the newsroom as reporter to the apex as editor and later the commanding height of newspapering as Managing Direc-

tor/Editor-in-Chief, how many would believe he actually started as a trainee secretary.

He began his working career with Concord Press as a confidential secretary in 1992.

But seven years later, through sheer industry, self-education, focus and - some may add - mother luck, he had risen phenomenally to become the deputy editor of the famous Sunday Concord once edited by journalism legend, Dele Giwa.

By 1992, the management of Concord Press had set university degree as minimum entry qualification for journalists. But recognising Louis’ exceptional abilities, Concord management bent its own rule to admit the then OND holder into its stable in 1993 as reporter. Realising that talent was not enough, Louis resolved to improve himself academically while working full-time and would add to his resume a Bachelor of Arts with 2.1 (1999)and a Master’s Degree in International Law and Diplomacy (2005) both from UNILAG. Barely a month after he graduated he was promoted Deputy Editor of Sunday Concord.

In year 2000, he joined THISDAY and at various times was Deputy Editor of THISDAY on Saturday, THISDAY ON SUNDAY and finally the daily paper in 2001. When THISDAY commenced simultaneous printing in Lagos and Abuja in April 2002, he was the pioneer Abuja Editor.

Ever thirsting for new challenges, in November 2002, he again left THISDAY for a start-up newspaper, The Sun, as the Editor of Sunday Sun. In no time, The Sun had made a big impact on Nigeria’s media landscape.

VERY ENGAGING, HE WRITES WITH THE RIGOUR OF A THOROUGH-BRED

PROFESSIONAL, FLOWER OF A POET AND THE INSIGHT OF AN INSIDER Thanks to its unique human-interest stories, Sunday Sun, which Louis nurtured from the scratch as Editor in March 2003, was adjudged the widest-selling newspaper in Nigeria by the time he resigned in 2008.

Louis is not only a resourceful features writer but also a respected columnist. Very engaging, he writes with the rigour of a thorough-bred professional, flower of a poet and the insight of an insider. No wonder he was adjudged the ‘Columnist of the Year’ by the prestigious Nigerian Media Merit Award (NMMA) in 2007, which he again won in 2009.

In a tribute, this is what a UK-based Nigerian journalist, Mr. Johnson Ekeh, had to say of Louis: ‘Odion is arguably the best newspaper columnist I’ve seen in my entire twelve years of practice as a journalist. He compares admirably with Carlson Lizman of the New York Times, Petre Bronetli of the Sydney Citywatch and Magnus Capaniolli of Japanese Newspaper, Tokyo Today. But I give him the edge over these three on two scores. He has defined the… suffocating atmosphere of the

Nigerian environment which includes brazen persecution and lack of motivation… Secondly, he handles this issue with warmth that is rare to find. He says it as if he is involved.’

Perhaps in recognition of his leadership qualities, Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos named him Lagos State Ambassador for Environment in 2009. The following year, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) also decorated him as Celebrity Special Marshall. And just last month, the Press Club of the Akure Police College named him its Grand Patron.

After Sun, Louis was the pioneer Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of National LIFE Newspaper in July 2008 till July 2011 when he was invited by Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State to serve his native state as Commissioner for Information.

In the line of duty, he narrowly escaped assassination in Benin City in the early hours of April 29, 2012. Just last month he was reappointed Information Commissioner.

As ‘Capacity’ enters the age of wisdom, here is wishing him many more fruitful years in the service of this country and mankind at large.

Igbonwelundu is a Lagos-based journalist Send your views by mail or sms to PMB 10001, Ikoyi, or our Email: mail@ nationalmirroronline.net mirrorlagos@ yahoo.com or 08164966858 (SMS only). The Editor reserves the right to edit and reject views or photographs.

Pseudonyms may be used but must be clearly marked as such.

Editorial

18

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

All the Facts, All the Sides A PUBLICATION OF GLOBAL MEDIA MIRROR LTD BARRISTER JIMOH IBRAHIM, OFR PUBLISHER

STEVE AYORINDE

MD/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

YELE AKINROLABU

ED OPERATIONS

SEYI FASUGBA

DAILY EDITOR

BOLAJI TUNJI

SUNDAY EDITOR

GBEMI OLUJOBI

SATURDAY EDITOR

DOZIE OKEBALAMA

COORDINATOR, EDITORIAL BOARD

ADESOYE ADEKOYA

CONTROLLER, PRODUCTION

CALLISTUS OKE

EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR

ISE-OLUWA IGE

ABUJA BUREAU CHIEF

KAYODE BALOGUN JNR

SM, STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT

FRANK OBOH

HEAD, GRAPHICS

T

The oil blocs embarrassment

he gobbledygook management of the nation’s oil and gas resources became more electrifying recently when Senator Ita Enang, who chairs the Senate Committee on Business and Rules, stunned the nation with the revelation that some privileged Nigerians from the northern part of the country owned 83 percent of the entire oil blocs in the Niger Delta region. Enang broke the news on the heels of strident opposition by northern senators to Sections 116-118 of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), which recommends the remittance of 10 percent of net profits of oil companies to a Host Community Fund (HCF) for the benefit of host/oilproducing communities in the Niger Delta.

The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) records indicate that the nation has 388 oil blocs, out of which 173 are active. Of the 173 active blocs, Nigerians own 90 (representing 52 percent) while foreigners own 83 (48 percent).

In other words, of the 90 oil blocs owned by Nigerians, 83 percent goes to the North, leaving the remaining 17 percent for southerners. It is roughly a month Enang made this shocking revelation. But no convincing attempt has been made to refute the allegation,

to public knowledge. It may be then stated that contrary to the distracting claims of marginalization in the sharing of the country’s oil wealth, northerners have, indeed, been reveling with the lion’s share of the oil resources through grossly unfair distribution of marginal fields, Oil Mining Licenses (OML) and Oil Prospecting Licenses (OPL) allegedly conceded to them by the military regimes of retired Generals Ibrahim Babangida, Sani Abacha (deceased) and Abdulsalami Abubakar.

Of no less concern, however, is the issue raised recently by a DPR Director, Mr. Osten Olorunshola, that many of the Nigerian beneficiaries of oil blocs are not making good use of them. Olorunshola says that only 150,000 barrels of crude oil per day (representing six per cent of the nation’s total crude production) come from the combined efforts of all Nigerians owning oil blocs, while foreign oil companies account for 2.35 million bpd or 94 per cent of the total output. It may rightly be reasoned, therefore, that if the 90 locally owned oil blocs yield a miserable 150, 000 bpd, while the 83 owned by foreign oil companies contribute 2.3 million bpd to the total national output, there is no justification to allow the current allocation status to stand.

FOREMOST RECOGNITION OUGHT TO BE GIVEN TO MAJOR PLAYERS IN THE NATION’S ECONOMY IN OIL

BLOC ALLOCATION, AND NOT TO POLITICIANS THAT HAVE BECOME CHRONIC RENT SEEKERS It is either the blocs were allocated to incompetent political cronies, friends and family members as patronage, or that the beneficiaries lack the technical and other requisite wherewithal needed to maximise the gains of the oil blocs.

Indeed, apart from the urgent need to redress the proven injustices in the allocation of oil blocs, the Federal Government should ensure that the allocation of blocs is premised more on the capacity and capability of bloc owners to optimise the gains from each bloc, oil being the mainstay of the nation’s economy, than on dubious political considerations.

If need be, provision should be inserted in the relevant laws for the revocation of allocated blocs that are under-utilised.

There may be no better time to right the wrongs of the past in this respect than now that the PIB is still under the scrutiny of the National Assembly. It is widely acknowledged, locally and internationally, the fact that the allocation of oil blocs in Nigeria is highly politicized. A regime of due process has now become imperative.

The nation has notoriously failed to respect the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) Convention on Transparency and Accountability which it subscribed to since 2003. It is high time transparency ruled the country’s oil and gas industry.

Oil blocs should be reallocated to Nigerians, irrespective of ethnic and religious divides; that have the capability, expertise and financial muscle to maximally explore them, to help douse public resentment and restiveness occasioned by the misuse of oil resources.

In our candid opinion, foremost recognition ought to be given to major players in the nation’s economy in oil bloc allocation, and not to politicians that have become chronic rent seekers. The FG should put a stop to this perversion of entrepreneurship.

ON THIS DAY March 26, 2005 The Taiwanese government called on one million Taiwanese to demonstrate in Taipei in opposition to the Anti-Secession Law of the People’s Republic of China. Around 200,000 to 300,000 attend the demonstration. The Anti-Secession law was passed by the third conference of the 10th National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). It was ratified on March 14, 2005, and went into effect immediately.

March 26, 1977 Thirty-nine bodies were found in the Heaven’s Gate cult suicides. Heaven’s Gate was an American UFO religion doomsday cult based in San Diego, California, founded in the early 1970s and led by Marshall Applewhite (1931–1997) and Bonnie Nettles (1927–1985). On March 26, 1997, police discovered the bodies of 39 members of the group who had committed mass suicide in order to reach what they believed was an alien space craft.

March 26, 1975 The Biological Weapons Convention came into force.

The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction (usually referred to as the Biological Weapons Convention, BWC, or Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, BTWC) was the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning the production of an entire category of weapons.

Stakeholders, professionals call for more vigilance at airports

Low oil, gas insurance patronage worry stakeholders 37

SUPER TUESDAY

35

www.nationalmirroronline.net

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Rising interest in penny stocks reflects shifting investors’ focus A

fter some sell-offs by mostly speculative investors a fortnight ago, equities trading on the Nigerian Stock Exchange closed last Friday with the basic indicators closing green and the year-todate growth of the index stood at 19.3 per cent.

Though rally recorded by blue chips companies such as Dangote Cement, Nigerian Breweries and Nestle Nigeria, buoyed the index, the robust gains recorded mostly by penny stocks lifted the indicator.

Penny stocks in the capital market parlance are equities with relatively lower prices, in which investors can make money quickly in terms of capital appreciation or better returns in terms of dividend or bonus issues. The stocks are selling below N10 in Nigeria.

On the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, a penny stock trades at a very low price, usually below Rs 10, or is issued by a company whose market capitalisation is less than Rs 100 crore.

The term originated in the United States and was used for stocks below $5.

As at Friday, March 22, 2013, National Mirror tracked the highest performing penny stocks on the NSE from the beginning of the year in terms of price appreciation.

Wema Bank Plc led the gainers’ table with 84 kobo or 157 per cent to close at N1.34 per share, from the opening figure of 52 kobo per share on January 3,

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LAGOS: 08037272933 01-8446073, 08094331171, 08023133084, 08034019884

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Investors’ recent scramble for penny stocks has confounded market analysts, who have, however, made cautionary statements over the development. JOHNSON OKANLAWON reports.

Arik Air Lag-Abj:07.15, 09.15, 10.20, 13.05, 15.20, 16.20, 16.50,18.45 (Mon-Fri/Sat/Sun).

Abj-Lag: 07:15, 09.40,10.20, 12.15, 15.15, 16.15,17:10, (Mon-Fri/Sat/Sun); 12.15, 15.15, 16.15 (Sun)Lag-PH: 07:15, 11.40, 14.00, 16.10, 17.15 (Mon-Fri) 07.30, 11.40, 15.50 (Sat) 11.50, 3.50, 17.05 Sun) Abj-PH: 07.15, 11.20, 15.30 (Mon-Fri) 07.15, 16.00 (Sat) 13.10, 16.00 Sun) PH-Abj: 08.45, 12.50, 17.00 (Mon-Fri) 08.45, 17.30 (Sat) 14.40, 17.30 (Sun) AbvBeni:08.00, 12.10 (Mon-Fri/ Sat)08.56, 12.10(Sun)

Aero Contractors Lag-Abj: 06.50, 13.30, 16.30, 19.45 (Mon-Fri/Sat/Sun), 12.30 (Sun) 16.45 (Sat) Abj-Los: 07.30, 13.00, 19.00 (Mon-Fri/Sat, 10.30, 14.30, 19.30 (Sun, 18.30 Sat) LagBenin: 07.45, 11.00, 15.30 (MonFri/Sat/Sun) 12.30 (Sun 15.30 (Sat) Ben-Lag: 09.15, 12.30, 17.00 (Mon-Fri/Sat/Sun) 17.00 (Sat)

Nigerian Stock Exchange

Company

opening price

closing price

Wema Bank Plc

0.52

N1.34

Wapic Insurance

0.58

N1.34

difference

percentage

0.84

157.7

0.76

131

United Bank for Africa

N4.56

N8.53

N3.97

87.1

Eterna Oil Plc

N1.99

N3.47

N1.48

74.4

Unity Bank Plc

0.50

0.84

0.3

68

NEM Insurance Plc

0.55

0.90

0.35

63.6

Fidson Healthcare Plc

N1.06

N1.68

0.62

58.5

May and Baker Plc

N1.55

N2.38

0.83

53.6

Livestocks Feeds Plc

N1.44

N2.11

0.67

46.5

RT Briscoe Plc

N1.52

N2.21

2013, followed by Wapic Insurance Plc with 76 kobo or 131 per cent to close at N1.34 per share, from 58 kobo per share at which it opened the year.

United Bank for Africa Plc closed at N8.53 per share, from N4.56 at which it opened the year, an increase of N3.97 or 87.1 per cent, while Eterna Oil Plc rose by N1.48 or 74.4 per cent to close at N3.47 per share, from N1.99 per share from the

0.69

beginning of the year. Unity Bank Plc appreciated by 34 kobo or 68 per cent to close at 84 kobo per share on Friday, from the opening figure of nominal value of 50 kobo per share.

To the President of the Association for the Advancement of the Rights of Nigerian Shareholders, Dr. Farouk Umar, people are generally showing interest in penny stocks because of their relatively lower prices.

45.4

IRS Lagos-Abuja 7.30 8.30 7.45 8.45 09.30 10.30 10.30 11.30 12.30 13.30 14.30 15.30 16.30 17.30 Lagos-Kano 08.00 09.15 10.30 11.45 14.30 15.40 18.15 19.30 Los-Maid&Yola (Mon-Thur) 09.30 11.30 Fri- Sun 10.30 12.30 Kano-Lagos 07.30 08.45 14.00 15.15 17.30 18.45 Kano-Abj 10.45 11.30 Abj-Lagos 09.00 10.30 11.00 12.00 12.00 13.00

He said, “People are more interested in penny stocks nowadays because of their lower prices. People can afford to buy more even with little money.

Foreign investors are coming to the market, and some stocks are growing tremendously.”

However, the Managing Director of Capital Assets Limited, Mr. Ariyo Olusekun, who is CONTINUED ON PAGE 20

Agric sector’s contributions to GDP rose to N13.4trn in 2012

How to develop ‘hire appeal’ as a job seeker

Lagos Tenancy...

One year after

21

23

25

20

Business & Finance

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Rising interest in penny stocks reflects shifting investors’ focus CONTINUED FROM PAGE 20 the President of Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers, cautioned investors on the need to look at the fundamentals of every company before taking their investment decisions.

He said, “Investment decisions should be taking only when investors know much about the companies they are buying into. It is important.”

Meanwhile, domestic investors, who seemed to be wary of embracing the market, have begun showing increased interest in the Nigerian equities markets. Figures from the Exchange website on Friday showed that domestic investors have increased their market share to 61 per cent.

Analysts said compared to other frontier and emerging markets, the increased returns on investments in the Nigerian equity markets were higher, which led to increased investments by both foreign and local investors.

Meristem Nigeria Limited, an investment firm, noted that apart from the attractiveness of the returns from the equities market, the yields from the bond market were also an upside for the equities market. The firm added that the absence of the declining yield expectation in the last few weeks had made investible funds to find their way into other high return investible financial assets such as the equities market.

The firm said, “Considering the sensitivity of yields to bond prices, the uptrend in yields in the previous week suggests possible profit-taking within the fixed income arm. While the equities market remains relatively bullish at the moment, funds may be finding their way to the equities market from the fixed income market.

“The nature of the attractiveness of return on investment in Nigeria relative to other emerging and frontier markets lends credence to huge funds flow to equities as an alternative asset. The low price to earnings multiple, robust revenue growth potential and higher earnings growth are some of the factors that make equity investment attractive in Nigeria.”

On Wema Bank that led the gainers’ table so far, investigation showed that investors might be taken position on the bank based on the information that N30bn fresh capital will be injected into the bank to enhance its operations.

“It may therefore not be impossible that investors are taking position ahead of the juicy fruits expected from the capital infusion, for which shareholders have already given their blessings, and is now awaiting regulatory nod, “analyst at Dunn Loren Merrifield, another investment firm, said.

According to the firm, the funds injection is expected to raise the bank’s capital from N6.7bn as of September 2012. It added that the bank is planning to upgrade its operating licence from regional (requiring N10bn) to national (N25bn.

The analyst said that the ratio of nonperforming to total loan book has reduced significantly to 4.7 per cent from a high of 50 per cent, helped by the 2012 third quarter balance sheet clean out.

Onyema

Ariyo

INVESTMENT DECISIONS SHOULD BE TAKING ONLY WHEN INVESTORS KNOW MUCH ABOUT

THE COMPANIES THEY ARE BUYING INTO. IT IS IMPORTANT The Chief Executive Officer of the bank, Mr. Segun Oloketuyi, had assured that the fresh funds will also enable the bank to take advantage of opportunities in other commercial hubs in the country, expressing the long-term desire by the bank to maintain robust liquidity and ensure efficiency in investments.

Besides, the partnership with various local and international organisations on provision of information on penny stocks, to draw investors’ attention and enhance their performance, is yielding results.

Speaking to stockbrokers recently, the Chief Executive Officer of the NSE, Mr. Oscar Onyema, had hinted that an independent research firms (not attached to any brokerage firm or market operator), have been engaged to produce company reports for the investing public.

“Our focus is on less visible listed companies that are not covered by sell side analysts. We aim to raise these companies’ profile and visibility amongst investors to ultimately engender more interest and activity on their shares.”

According to him, unlike reports from sell side analysts, the NSE’s research would not include the ‘sell,’ ‘buy,’ or ‘hold’ on any given stock, as is usual with analysts report from brokerage firms.

He assured that company and individuals wishing to access the reports, training and others services offered by these partners, would pay a heavily subsidized price.

Onyema noted that top exchanges across the globe offer some kind of value adding propositions, geared towards ensuring that listed companies reap some form of benefits, besides ensuring that people no longer buy stocks blindly.

The top 50 stocks on the Exchange, he said, already have investor relations department or desk, a luxury most companies in the bottom 150 cannot afford, hence the decision of the NSE to provide

a platform for such to tell their own stories at a relatively cheap price.

He explained that investors’ relation is a well designed programme that will help to enhance the understanding of a company’s strategic direction by the investing public, encourage informed deliberation and analysis among investors and analysts on a company’s performance through provision of timely, appropriate and accurate information, thereby improving a company’s market reputation and visibility.

The Executive Director, Business Development of the NSE, Mr. Haruna Jalo-Waziri, also stressed that the new management team at the Exchange, are expected to take the NSE’s market capitalisation to $1bn by 2016.

The value added services, he said, are tailored towards creating activities and more investor interest he noted, stressing that the 200 listed companies, and particularly those in the bottom 150 by helping to restructure them and their service offerings, and then exposing them to investors who are then better able to see their potentials even through the challenges they now face.

“Whatever will create activity (around the quoted companies) is what we would be interested in. We have to expose the companies to standards that are international acceptable.

“We want to get the companies to understand and get the investors to know what these companies are up to, not waiting for their annual general meeting,” Waziri Jallo added.

One of the partners to the Exchange on value added services, Mrs. Mope Abudu, who is the Vice President at Nextzon Business Services, said that the introduction of the services would help transform them from sole proprietorship that they currently are, to properly structure institutional businesses and organisations that would stand the test

Oloketuyi

of time. The efforts, she added, would give them access to funding, which they lack because such companies are unable to assure the banks that they are being properly run.

The plan, she assured further, is to make these bottom 150 companies put in place what investors are looking for, including that they are healthy and sustainable in the long-term, become successful African giants, growing into conglomerates.

To enhance access to funding, such companies, Abudu added, may need to give assurance that they have capacity to repay, and not divert such to other activities.

An analyst, Mr. Jude Fejokwu, who is partnering with the NSE to provide independent equities analysis on the project, said the current efforts would allow for independent analysis of a company, which is better than the current situation where information about a quoted company is sourced from interested parties.

This, he said, gives rise to conflict of interest, as investors may be easily misled by such, adding that it is important for investors to have information on the market from persons no directly linked to the market. “The reports will keep you informed so that you can proceed to make your own decisions,” he added.

Information for the research work, he said, were sourced from the figures provided by the companies, history, and discussions with their management, and on the value adding propositions of such effort, Fejokwu believed that the reports would give credibility to the NSE, value for money, and lead to greater market activity.

The Executive Director, Investment Banking and Public Sector at Deap Capital, Mr. Jacob Esan, agreed with Fejokwu, stressing that since an Exchange is a market discovery platform for purchase and sale of stocks, the effort would expand investor base and increase the number of listed companies.

“We have to move our market and companies from where they are, to where they should be,” he added.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Business & Finance

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

21

Agric sector’s contributions to GDP rose to N13.4trn in 2012 TOLA AKINMUTIMI ABUJA

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espite a slight slowdown in its growth rate in 2012, agricultural sector’s contributions to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) still accounted for non-oil sector’s most impactful with its contributions at Current Basic Prices value which stood at N13.41 trillion by year end. The sector’s total GDP value at the end of 2011 stood at about N11.03 trillion. Out of the amount, sub-sectoral contribution from crops accounted for about N11.97 trillion compared to the 2011 production value of about N10.32 trillion. The 2012 figures represented about 33.09 per cent of the total GDP’s current basic prices.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics’ (NBS’) just published Revised 2011 and Estimates for Q1-Q4 2012 GDP Report for the country, the crop production figure represents about 30 per cent of the GDP prices, coming second to Crude Oil and Natural Gas sector’s

L-R: International Correspondent, CNN and Panel moderator, Vladimir Duthiers, Chairman, Vigeo Holdings, Victor Gbolade Osibodu; Chief Executive Officer, Coca-Cola Nigeria Ltd, Adeola Adetunji and Group Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Shoreline Energy International, Kola Karim, at a panel discussion of the Economist Conferences- Nigeria Summit 2013 in Lagos recently.

contributions of N12.4 trillion, which represent about 36 per cent of the GDP. According to the NBS, the sector’s performance could probably have been better but for a combination of factors, with the flooding crisis which was experienced in the year accounting for the not-too-impres-

Naira heads for 2-week high on expected dollar sales JOHNSON OKANLAWON WITH AGENCY REPORT

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he naira gained for a third day and headed for its strongest in more than two weeks on speculation that the country will sell dollars to meet month-end expenses.

The currency rose less than 0.1 per cent to N158.15 per dollar, poised for the highest close since March 8, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Oil producers, which sell dollars to meet local expenses around the end of the month, are the second-biggest source of foreign currency after the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The CBN sells dollars at auctions on Mondays and Wednesdays to help manage the exchange rate.

“We anticipate appreciation of the naira in the forex market amid dollar sales by multinationals to meet month-end obligations,” analysts at Cowry Asset Management Limited led by Edgar Ebinum, told investors yesterday.

The yield 16.39 per cent domestic bonds due January 2022 dropped four basis points to 11.20 per cent in the secondary market, according to March 22 data compiled on the Financial Markets Dealers Association website.

Yields on the $500m of Eurobonds due January 2021 declined

nine basis points to 4.24 per cent.

Meanwhile, a U.K. based oil and gas company focused on West Africa and Iraq, has said it will expand reserves by 29 per cent after increasing its stake in a Nigerian explorer.

Proven and probable reserves will climb to 270 million barrels of oil equivalent from 210 million barrels, the London- based company said yesterday in a statement.

Afren agreed to pay about $37m for 10.4 percent of First Hydrocarbon Nigeria Company, raising its stake to about 55 per cent.

Oil companies are adding reserves to gain from a four-year increase in prices and Nigeria accounted for 92 per cent of Afren’s sales in 2011, data compiled by Bloomberg showed.

The country provides cash to invest in other regions including East Africa and the Middle East.

The Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mr. Osman Shahenshah said, “We are currently drilling very exciting wells in Kurdistan, which are going very well. In Africa, the company is adding a whole suite of wells in Kenya, Tanzania and Madagascar.”

Afren advanced as much as 3.2 per cent to 152.3 pence in London trading, the highest in a month.

The stock was at 152 pence as of 9:59 a.m. local time, extending its gain this year to 16 per cent.

sive contributions to the GDP. Reflecting specifically on the Q4, 2012 performance of the sector, NBS reported: “In furtherance to the earlier information provided in our third quarter GDP reports several assessments of the effect of flooding that occurred in year 2012, indicates that agricultural activities which comprise of

crop production, livestock, fishing, and forestry were affected in varied degrees. The impact especially on crop production was unevenly distributed across farms of different crop types.

“The moderated effect of the flood on crop were witnessed was because some crops were harvested already before the

flood while others were to be plaanted after the flood receded.

Most of the major crops are planted across most of the states in Nigeria as a result of which actual losses from affected states, were supplemented by production in the state that were not adversely affected.

“The fourth quarter GDP for 2012 is a reflection of the above scenario In terms of output, the real agricultural GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2012 stood at 3.62 per cent, a decline from the 5.68 per cent in the corresponding period of 2011. The growth in this sector was also relatively lower that the growth rate of 3.89 percent in the third quarter of 2012”, the report added.

On the contributions of the Crude Oil and Natural Gas to the GDP at Current Basis Price, the Bureau reported a slight dip in the sector’s performance comparative to the 2011 period with N15.0 trillion in 2012 and N15.29 trillion in 2011.

NACCIMA, NEXIM partner on sea link Project STANLEY IHEDIGBO

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n order to enhance transportation of persons and goods across the West and Central African region, an efficient coastal transportation system has been identified to serve as a complimentary transportation solution to the congested road systems in the West /central African link roads.

According to the statement made available to National Mirror, the project is expected to be driven by the Nigerian Private Sector with the support of the Nigerian

Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) through the setting up of dedicated regional Shipping Company that would operate across the ECOWAS member States and Central Africa.

NACCIMA as the apex business association in Nigeria is to champion the setting up of the company through the mobilization of business operators for the raising of start up share capital for the shipping company with a view to facilitate regional cooperation and integration.

Consequently, the association in collaboration with the NEXIM Bank is organizing a one-day sensitization/Pre-

Investors’ Forum to enlighten business operators and other interested investors on the importance of the Sea link Project to the Nigeria Economy.

The Federation of West African Chambers of Commerce and Industry will coordinate the involvement of other Chambers of Commerce in the West African countries.

Managing Director, NEXIMA Bank Mr. Roberts Orya will speak at the event, while important organisation will be represented include; FEWACCI, ECOWAS Commission, FBN Capital, Banks/Insurance Companies, Shippers, Forwarders among others.

Expert charges FG on infrastructure development UDO ONYEKA

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ice-president and Managing Director, Procter & Gamble West Africa, Mr Manoj Kumar, has said the implementation of various policies articulated at the Nigeria Summit 2013 would help in enabling a competitive environment in the country.

Speaking recently in Lagos at Nigeria Summit 2013, organised by The Economist, Kumar said that the issue of how soon these plans would be implemented was still bordering everyone, but the implementation of the policies would help in

enabling a competitive environment in the country.

He said the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s promise to implement the trade assistance in the economy would help companies doing business in Nigeria.

He noted that if companies could get such assistance across countries in the region, it would go a long a way in boosting businesses in Nigeria and the continent would be better off.

The P & G boss said another factor affecting businesses in Nigeria is infrastructure challenge, adding that if a manufacturer wants to send goods to neighbouring African coun-

tries from Nigeria, the goods will have to go to Spain first, before coming back to the African country of destination and so, there is need to improve the infrastructure by these countries coming together to make a regional pool of fund and infrastructure plan, and this will also increase trade among the countries of the region.

“The challenges in Nigeria are very well known and we have talked about them many times.

Manufacturing here is a bit difficult because of power challenge and that makes production 30 per cent more expensive here, according to the minister of trade and investments. Road infrastructure too is another big challenge.

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Business & Finance

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Nigeria’s active phone lines hit 114.1m KUNLE A ZEEZ

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ctive telecoms subscriber base in Nigeria has further increased to hit 114.1 million as at the end of January, 2013, resulting in a teledensity of 81.78 during the same period.

This was contained in the latest telecoms industry’s subscriber base data released by the industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission.

According to the data, telecoms operators recorded additional 1.3 million active telephone lines in January 2013 alone, bringing the industry total to 114.4 million at the end of the month.

The 2012, the industry ended the year with combined industry subscriber base of 113.1 million up from 95.8 million active subscriptions in January, 2012.

However, the latest data did now contain information for the

month of February, 2013.

According to the NCC data, only Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) operators such as MTN, Glo, Airtel and Etisalat contributed the additional 1.3 subscribers, as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) operators and fixedline operators further recorded decline in their ever-dwindling subscriber base.

The CDMA operators comprising Visafone, Multi-Links, Starcomms and the dormant Zoom Mobile experienced reduction from 2.9 million in December, 2012 to 2.8 million at the end of January, 2013.

This means about 100, 000 telecoms subscribers hitherto on the CDMA networks dropped their lines in January alone.

Also the fixed line networks, which had active 418, 166 subscriber base in December, 2012, a marginal reduction was also recorded on their networks as their subscriptions fell to 406, 222 lines in January, 2013.

Meanwhile, the NCC data has revealed an increase from teledensity from 80.85 in December 2012 to 81.78 as at the end of January, this year.

Teledensity is the percentage of connected lines in relation to the population at a given period of time and its growth is proportional to the growth in subscriber base.

Highlights of the latest industry data also revealed that telecoms firms continue to spend on network expansion to be able to accommodate more subscribers on their networks.

According to the data, telecoms industry installed capacity increased from 211.8 million at the December, 2012 to reach 226.6 million at the end of January, 2013.

Installed capacity is the total number of telephone lines which telecoms networks have build their network capacity to accommodate at a particular period of time.

L-R: President and Chief Executive Officer, Global Philanthropy Forum , Ms. Jane Wales; Director Oando Foundation, Mrs. Tokunbo Durosaro; Senior Program Officer, Ms. Britt-Marie; Corporate Social Responsibility Manager, Oando Foundation, Mrs. Adekanla Adegoke and Head Corporate Communications Oando Plc, Mr. Meka Olowola, during a courtesy visit by Global Philanthropy Forum to Oando Foundation in Lagos at the weekend.

Local Content: ‘Nigeria can retain 85% earning from oil and gas’ FRANCIS EZEM

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igerian Chamber of Shipping has said that full implementation of the Local Content policy in the oil and gas sector and the Coastal and Inland Shipping Act in the maritime industry would enable the country retain over 85 percent of her foreign earnings from oil and gas.

The chamber is a private sector advocacy group, which has demonstrated its commitment towards enlightening Nigerians including the government on the need for Nigerian operators to participate actively both in the maritime industry and the oil and gas sector of the economy.

Federal Government had enacted the Cabotage Act 2003, which is aimed at enhancing the participation of indigenous ship-

ping firms in the lifting of refined products within the coastal and inland region while the Local Content Act 2010 was designed to enhance indigenous operators’ participation in the sector, which has been a preserved for foreign operators.

President of the chamber, Mr. Mike Akhigbe, spoke at the ongoing four-day training workshop organised by the chamber entitled: ‘Understanding the Cabotage and Local Content in the Nigerian oil and gas industry (industry), restated the commitment of the chamber towards the realization of the aims of the Cabotage and local content policies.

According to him, as a big oil producing nation and an oil based economy, the earnings in this sector no doubt galvanizes other sectors of the Nigerian

economy.

Akhigbe said: “This makes it very imperative that Nigeria harnesses her potential to be able to retain at least 85 percent of the foreign exchange earnings from the sector and determinedly reverse the existing trend” “By this call to ensure the implementation of the Cabotage and Local Content laws, we are equally asking for a concerted commitment towards learning and having a deeper knowledge, which should aid our patriotic quest to entrench international standards in the way that strengthens our competitive and comparative abilities”, he also said.

He however noted that considering Nigeria’s level of development and competence, something has to give in not the way Cabotage waivers are granted in the maritime industry and not in the ‘sell-off ’ to foreign concerns but in practical, qualitative and legal ways.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

MTN champions entrepreneurship via Link Forum KUNLE A ZEEZ

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igeria’s largest telecoms firm, MTN, has restated its commitment towards making young entrepreneurs in Nigeria succeed through a new platform of interaction.

Tagged ‘Link Forum’, the platform brings accomplished entrepreneurs together with young promising entrepreneurs, where the latter are able to garner knowledge on making a success of their businesses.

Speaking on the objective of the MTN Link Forum, which held in Lagos recently, General Manager, Consumer Marketing, MTN, Mr. Kola Oyeyemi, stated that: “MTN is

committed to initiating ideas that enrich lives. The MTN Link Forum is one of these ideas. It is a platform that provides young, budding entrepreneurs and professionals the opportunity to connect to their dreams.”

Apart from Lagos, other cities where the MTN Link Forum train will stop, are Abuja, Calabar, Kaduna, Port Harcourt, Onitsha and Benin.

Oyeyemi said the idea behind the project was to create a platform where they can engage and interact with accomplished entrepreneurs and role models, so as to garner insights and knowledge on making a success of their businesses irrespective of the prevailing operating challenges in Nigeria.

Nigerian IT firm drives Uganda’s banking operation KUNLE A ZEEZ

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igeria’s leading systems integration company, Computer Warehouse Group, is set to discuss new cutting-edge technology with financial services institutions’ executives in Uganda to drive operational efficiency in the country’s banking sector.

To achieve this, CWG, through its Uganda operation, is collaborating with International Business Machine, a renowned leader and pioneer in the IT industry and Infosys, as the leading universal banking solutions provider.

The Finacle Core Banking Application on IBM Power7 and storage has contributed immensely to the success of major banks in West Africa and this would be discussed with financial services institutions executives in Uganda this week.

In a statement, the three companies said through the partnership, they were committed to the diffusion of same cutting-edge technology to the banks in other parts of Africa that will truly make them more efficient, competitive and deliver best in class customer service.

The forum will provide an excellent opportunity to discuss and understand how Finacle core banking application on IBM Power systems and Storage can be a true enabler of the banks’ business growth agenda.

The statement said seasoned speakers from world renowned companies who are experts in different Information Technology disciplines will enlighten the participants on the following topics; core banking transformation; IBM STG solutions to accelerate the banking transformation projects with Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) cloud technology.

‘Dearth of manpower stalls maritime growth’ FRANCIS EZEM

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oremost maritime lawyer and senior partner, Mike Igbokwe (SAN) & Co,, Mr. Mike Igbokwe (SAN), has said that the dearth of the required human capacity was one of the greatest problems plaguing Nigeria’s maritime industry.

The Senior Advocate, who spoke in Lagos, noted that the biggest single problem facing the Nigerian maritime industry, which has also stalled its growth is the short supply in manpower.

“Clearly, one of the clogsin-the-wheel of doing maritime business in Nigeria is the dearth of manpower in the industry. An industry without competent maritime manpower that is well educated and trained in accordance with in-

ternational standards is dead”, he regretted.

He said: Section 27 of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Act allows the agency to register and provide training and regulate the certification of seafarers.

Igbokwe however noted that presently, the indigenous shipping industry lacks sufficient manpower and all the capacities with the attendant unemployment of Nigerians in technical, manning, technological, and managerial/operational areas which are needed to successfully run wholly Nigerianmanned and owned maritime business activities.

He blamed this problem on the fact that most of the Nigerian seafarers were trained in the days of the National Shipping Line, many of who are too old now

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Jobs & Career

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

23

How to develop ‘hire appeal’ as job seeker Many job seekers attend interviews, not so sure if they will be called upon or not by employers. However, experts say having a hiring appeal that interviewers and employers require will go a long way towards securing the target job, writes, MESHACK IDEHEN.

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n a recent interview with National Mirror, Author of Conceptual Framework in Human Resource Management, Mr. Kunle Rotimi, said over 80 percent of Nigerian graduates are not aware of, and do not have a ‘hire appeal’, hence, many jobs that were supposed to have been filled by employers remain vacant.

According to him, most job seekers submit applications to organisations, or attend various stages of interview without their knowing the probability of being hired. Hence, one pertinent question job seekers need to ask is what hiring appeal do they have that can make their goal of securing a job much easier.

Rotimi,who is the Managing Partner of Soreb Consulting International had explained that job seekersmust know and understand what they have that makes them stand out, adding that employment hopefuls must check themselves if they have the traits of the successful candidate and characteristics that depict success and excellence.

Speaking with National Mirror on why job seekers must have a hire appeal in order to end unemployment, Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (CIPM), Mr. Sunday Adeyemi, said having a hire appeal by job seekers comprises mostly of having human factors that enable people to work well with co-workers and others within or outside the organization.

Listing some of the traits that hire appeal comprises of, Adeyemi said appearance is key, and that it was possible for a qualified candidate to lose a job opening to a less qualified, due to the appearance factor.

He explained that employer’s reaction to people, including job seekers coming for oral, aptitude and competence tests are usually based on appearance, saying also that an employment hopeful whose physical characteristics that includes dressing and presence is pleasant, smart and attractive starts off on the right footing in most interpersonal meetings.

Speaking further, the CIPM scribe explained that self confidence is also a critical factor in having a hire appeal for a job seeker, adding that self confidence is about believing in self and not being afraid to talk about past failures.

“Self confidence as a form of hire appeal also means that you mention your accomplishments while not bragging about them. Project an image of being secure.

Make use of an open body language. Be expressive and

Human Resources Expert, Femi Mokikan

SELF CONFIDENCE AS A FORM OF HIRE APPEAL FOR A JOB SEEKER ALSO MEANS THAT YOU MENTION YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS WHILE NOT BRAGGING ABOUT THEM.

PROJECT AN IMAGE OF BEING TOTALLY SECURE. MAKE USE OF AN OPEN BODY LANGUAGE. BE EXPRESSIVE AND MAKE GESTURES WITH YOUR HANDS WHEN NECESSARY make gestures with your hands when necessary”, Adeyemi added.

On his part, Hiring Expert, and Managing Director of Prot Consulting International, Mr. Sunny Agboju, said alertness and a sense of humour by a job seeker can also serve as a form of hire appeal.

Agboju explained that the ability to communicate effectively is an essential ingredient in most jobs, adding that being grounded in the language and being armed

President, CIPM, Abiola Popoola

with statistics are examples of applications that cannot be underestimated.

According to him, job seekers must be alert, considering that, “sparkling job applicants are usually very dynamic and exciting people who give 100 percent to their jobs. Listen attentively and react to questions and comments with lively facial expressions and gestures”, he said.

He added that a sense of humour is a great asset in having a hire appeal, and almost all employers are agreed it is easier and much more fun to work with and supervise a person who has a sense of humour.

According to him, during any stage of the interview, smile when necessary and lighten up the meeting when given the chance, while also saying on the other hand, that applicants who are too frivolous, who crack inappropriate jokes, laugh wildly and uncontrollably or act inconsistently may be considered immature.

Above all, the Prot Limited managing director said it is important for job seekers to be sensitive to feedback as a form of hire appeal, explaining that the applicant who understands what is being projected not only in questions and comments, but with body language, will probably do well on the jobs.

“This is an invaluable asset. It shows that you are trainable, can readily accept criticisms, implement instructions and work well with their peers”, he explained.

How to keep your job

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here are many qualified and interested job seekers that are praying to be employed. Some are indeed qualified but due to a number of reasons, they are still unemployed. Remember you were once like that, until your prayers and dreams became a reality.

Your focus should remain on working hard for the company and keeping your current job by increasing your value to profit the company (note that companies do not lay off their best employees unless the employees’ works in a non-critical position or the company is suffering financially).

Any responsible and reasonable employee is expected to adhere to the following tips now he/she is employed. If you have passed the probation stage and confirmed as a full worker, these tips will help you keep your job.

Be the indispensable person who has needed organization knowledge - Make yourself indispensable to your company, always be an overachiever (have a hard to find skills and character, and contribute to help without a request from anyone).

Make your contributions measurable and visible to the right people-Keep an ongoing ‘kudo file’:- put in more commitment

and make money for the company, contribute to revenue generation, sales and profits.

Participate in industry and networking organization- Join the professional groups in your industry and volunteer to better the company. Embrace social media like LinkedIn, facebook, twitter, etc and learn which service will help you advance your career the best that your company will benefit.

Update yourself and your resume- Always stand ahead of the knowledge curve.

Keep your personal and professional skills growing and developing. Take your talent and skills to an enviable height. Put more

commitment, work long hours and make sure right people notice it but don’t practice eye-service.

Ask for more work and more challenging assignments- No complaining and show willingness always to work. Be a good team player. Cooperate with coworkers to achieve goals and success for all. Be self reliance, always have faith in yourself. Always dress moderately and professionally. Ensure your employer and co-workers like you. Work hard to impress your employer and for the profit of the company.

Source:yahoojob.com

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Jobs & Career

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Job vacancies

Career development tips for professionals

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truggling to advance your career? Career development isn’t as straightforward as it used to be. The modern workplace is littered with barriers to advancement and unless you have a strategy, it can be difficult to accomplish vocational objectives. These tips from (www.mudgoodjobs. com) will come in handy.

Know your target positionIt is important to identify the title and location of the next job in your career progression. If you are planning a career transition, familiarize yourself with career paths in your new field.

Get educated about your target job- For most professionals; the next step is to learn everything you can about your next job through job postings, Google searches, professional/ online networking and other strategies.

Acquire necessary skillsAfter you have identified you next career step, it’s likely that you will need to acquire neces-

sary skills through internships, coursework and possibly even on-the-job training in your current position.

Broaden your knowledge base- Expand your base of knowledge about your target job through self-directed learning, reading and talking with leaders or co-workers you respect.

Hone your personality-It’s possible that your next position will require you to beef up your public speaking chops, teambuilding capabilities or other personality-driven skills. If necessary, seek assistance from coaches, instructors and others.

Understand the culture around your target jobLikewise; it’s important to understand the culture that surrounds your target job. Typically, the best way to accomplish this is by communicating with current employees in the department, division or company where you want to work.

Create network- It’s never too early to develop a profession-

al network around your target job. Begin to create your network through career fairs, online networking opportunities, conferences and company events.

Tailor your resume to your target job- Research the job requirements for your target position and tailor your resume accordingly, making sure to connect your experience and skills to the types of tasks the job requires.

Identify the selection process- As much as possible, research the application process early and identify the hiring manager or decision-maker who will be responsible for filling the position.

Land the position- As you prepare to apply and interview for the position, thoroughly research the company, the department and the position, preparing a list of questions and discussion items you can use during the interview process.

Source: www.mudgoodjobs. com

ASSBIFI signs pact to pay workers within four weeks MESHACK IDEHEN

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acked workers of Mainstreet Bank Limited got relief as the management of the bank and the Association of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI), have signed a pact to pay workers their entitlement within one month.

The pact which was signed in the Conference room of the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Mr. Emeka Wogu by the Director of Mainstreet Bank Limited, Mr. Anogwu Ayanwu, Mr. Tayo Ogunbanjo, Head Internal Control, Comrade Oyinkan Olasanoye.

Others who signed the agreement are the 1st Deputy President of ASSBIFI, Comrade Friday Inegbedion, Senior Assistant Secretary General of ASSBIFI, Comrade Danjuma Musa, National President of National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions Employees (NUBIFIE), Comrade Mohammed Shaik, General Secretary of NUBIFIE, Comrade Chinedu Wordu, Unit President of NUBIFIE’s Mainstreet Bank Limited, and was witnessed the representative of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity, Mrs. Chinedu Dike.

Addressing journalists on the importance of the agreement”, the 1st Deputy President of ASSBIFI, Comrade Olasanoye, said the agreement was to the effect that all members inherited by Mainstreet Bank Limited from the defunct Afribank Plc and are still in employment of the bank till date shall be entitled to 100%

Wogu

payment of their gratuity for the years of service in the defunct Afribank Nigeria Plc. “But for those members, or staff, though inherited by Mainstreet Bank Limited from the defunct Afribank Nigeria Plc, but have exited from service by Mainstreet Bank limited, shall also be entitled to 100% payment of their gratuity for thei years of service in Afribank Nigeria Plc plus other payments to cushion the effects of exiting from service and be able to restore and refocus them in their other and respective endeavours”, she affirmed “And by this agreement, the management of Mainstreet Bank Limited has within one month from March 22, 2013 of the agreement to settle all affected workers their entitlements”, she declared According to Olasanoye on August 5, 2011, the Federal Government through the Central

Bank of Nigeria (CBN) nationalised three banks, namely Afribank Nigeria Plc, Bank PHB and Spring Bank Plc and subsequently set up three bridge banks, thus Mainstreet Bank Limited, Keystone Bank Limited and Enterprise Bank Limited with all assets and certain liabilities duly transferred to the said bridge banks.

“While the newly set up banks were harmonising and consolidating their functions, management of Mainstreet Bank Limited rationised some of our members without due process, as set out by the industry wide collective agreement”, she said “As expected, ASSBIFI as the trade union for the disengaged senior staff decided to challenge the wrongful and unlawful termination of our members’ appointment by the management of Mainstreet Bank Limited”, she added

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

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n presenting available local and international job vacancies for the week, it is important to stress that job seekers be mindful of the existence of job scammers out to dupe unsuspecting individual, hence, the need to do proper background check on prospective employers.

For this week, the position of a (Senior Media Manager) (www.gulftalents.com) to be based in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates is available.

The role, amongst others, requires experience of between 3-5 year, will also include the need to research, present, execute and operate media and marketing campaigns in the territories the company operate in.

Furthermore, the will be required to lead the media team to successfully plan, buy and execute media campaigns for our clients, meet regularly with media suppliers to obtain market knowledge, new information and the best possible rates in the market and work with the client services team to fully understand the client’s industry, business objectives and marketing strategy, in order to provide the most effective and efficient media plan other roles are to be upto-date with industry research figures, including distribution figures (newspapers and magazines) and audience figures (TV and radio) and negotiating with media owners/sales representatives to obtain the best rates and most appropriate media spaces in online, broadcast, print and outdoor advertising; Ideally, the successful candidate will have media agency experience including in the UAE, significant contacts with media suppliers, high level of confidence to negotiate rates and added value offerings for our clients and excellent communication skills and speed of response On the other hand, the position of a (Head, Business Development) (www.jobberman. com) to be based in Lagos is also available.

With specialisation in the oil, gas, mining and energy sectors, some of the responsibilities that comes with the post are to manage the company’s business development activities in all sectors of the Nigerian oil and gas industry, and develop and maintain excellent relationships with clients and partners, while also keeping abreast of market trends in order to clearly identify business opportunities, and convert such opportunities to the company’s advantage.

Other responsibilities are to establish and gain an in-depth technical and commercial un-

derstanding of general client needs and preferences in the products and services areas and conduct and evaluate all activities as they relate to each product/service to ensure that marketing achievements are closely monitored, deviations identified and analyzed, and appropriate action taken.

Minimum qualification required is a degree, while required experience is between 5 - 7 year. To be noted is that the Degree must be in engineering or other related discipline with relevant professional qualifications that includes the possession of an MBA or relevant second degree will be an advantage and minimum of five (5) years post-graduation experience in a similar position, alongside extensive technical experience in the oil and gas Industry.

Team player, strong financial and analytical skills; sound management skills coupled with good commercial acumen and good networking ability Still from the local scene are urgent vacancies from (www. protlimited.com) for positions a (Head of Finance and Administration) who must be a chartered accountant with minimum of 7 years experience.

Other positions from prot. com are for Accounting officers that must have OND and basic bookkeeping experience, (Medical Sale Representatives), who must be graduates with medical background and minimum 3 yrs marketing experience, (Market developers) who must be graduates with Business Administration and any other social sciences with minimum 3 years marketing experience and (Logistics officers) for candidates that must be graduates with Business Administration or any other social science.

All positions are located in Lagos State. Only qualified candidates need apply for all positions. CVs can be sent to (careers@protconsulting.com) using position applied for as subject of email.

From (www.jobsindubai. com) comes positions of Heavy Duty Mechanics under the heavy equipment division of a major outfit.

With the minimum education required being a Bachelors Degree with experience of between 1 - 5 years needed, the firms said also that Plumbing Draftsman, whose responsibilities are to prepare shop drawings, make alterations and fine tune with respect to the site conditions and preparation of plumbing internal and external services are also needed.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

25

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Real Estate & Environment dayoayeyemi@yahoo.com 08033312578

Lagos Tenancy Law ... One year after

A housing estate in Lagos.

I

t was a bitter pill to swallow, especially for landlords, property developers and investors when the Lagos State government, had, in the last quarter of 2011, introduced the controversial Tenancy Law barring landlords in the state from collecting rent in excess of one year in advance from a new tenant and in excess of six months from old tenants.

Over one year after the promulgation of the law, investigation by National Mirror revealed that rather than lessen the burden of tenants in the payment of rent, the law has encouraged ‘callous’ landlords who now jerk up rent abnormally.

For example, the rent of Mr. Jaiyeola Segun, who lives in a room and parlour apartment in Ogba, Lagos has just expired and was in the process of renewing it when his landlord told him to quit the apartment on the pretence that he (landlord) wants to carry out major renovation of the building.

Segun, having received the notice, went to appeal to the landlord to give him enough time to secure another accommodation.

To his shock, the landlord told him that if he wants to stay in his house, he should be prepared to pay two years advance rent saying he needs money to pay his health bill.

He said, “When I was trying to appeal to him that the law regulating rent in Lagos State stipulates only three months and if I must help him out, I cannot afford more that six months, my landlord bluntly told me to leave his house and go to the state government to secure a house.”

This is one of the scenarios that have

Over a year after the promulgation of the Lagos Tenancy Bill, stakeholders, comprising tenants, landlords, estate agents and developers say the law has failed to achieve its set objectives, suggesting ways to increase housing stock in the state. DAYO AYEYEMI, writes.

AS A LANDLORD WHO BORROWED MONEY FROM THE BANK TO BUILD,

I NEED TO

COLLECT MORE THAN ONE YEAR RENT TO BE

ABLE TO PAY BACK.

IT

IS NOT THE LAW THAT MATTERS, BUT THE

ABILITY TO PROVIDE ALL THESE FACILITIES Fashola

unfolded since the promulgation of the Lagos State Tenancy Law over a year ago.

Another tenant, Mrs. Mosunmola Adagunduro, a trader, recently raised the alarm at Oshodi when someone informed her that thugs, hoodlums and fake policemen were at her residence in a move to eject all the tenants in the 18-room storey building.

She narrated how she abandoned her wares and rushed home only to meet other tenants and their properties outside the house.

Thereafter, the landlord was promptly arrested and detained at the police headquarters.

Another tenant, who identified herself simply as Mary, said the law had done more harm than good.

She said most lawyers never obeyed the law while landlords simply decided to punish tenants by inflating rents in order to obtain one-year rent.

A landlord in Ipaja, Mr. Jonathan Eze, said paying for more than a year would

give tenants advantage as they need not worry about rent within a short time.

He said the law would work, adding that the state government cannot dictate what he would collect as rent.

The Lagos State Government had, over a year ago, introduced the Tenancy Law to regulate rent in the state. By the reason of the law, landlords in Lagos State who collect rent in excess of one year in advance from a new tenant risked prosecution by the state government and upon conviction, face three months in jail.

The law also stipulates that it is unlawful and criminal for a landlord or his agent to demand or receive from a sitting tenant, rent in excess of six months in respect of any premises without prejudice to the nature of tenancy.

This means that those who are already tenants are not expected to pay more than six months in advance to their landlord.

Section 4 of the law that deals with the issue of advance rent states: “It shall be unlawful for a landlord or his agent to demand or receive from a sitting tenant rent in excess of three (3) months in respect of any premises.

“It shall be unlawful for a sitting tenant to offer or pay rent in excess of three (3) months in respect of any premises.

“Any person who receives or pay rent in excess of what is prescribed in this section shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to a fine of one hundred thousand naira (N100,000.00) or to three (3) months imprisonment or any other non-custodial disposition.”

Assessing compliance with the law since CONTINUED ON PAGE 26

26

Real Estate & Environment

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Lagos Tenancy Law ... One year after CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25 its promulgation, a Lagos based estate surveyor and valuer, Mr Stephen Jagun, said the law has not been effective and that the slow judicial system has compounded the problem.

According to him, tenants that were going to court have to wait for two years before getting judgement, adding that in some areas, landlords have increased their rents.

He said, “I was in court last week and so many landlords were there. The law takes long time to enforce, though some tenants are owing two years’ rent and are taking the advantage of the law. Abroad, it takes only two months. Tenants are now taking landlords to court.”

He called for the introduction of rent tribunals to settle the case between landlords and tenants as regard rent in two months.

Jagun observed that instead of investing in residential apartments, investors have found new love in commercial properties such as mall and hotels as a result of the tenancy law.

“There is shortfall in houses and government is not increasing the housing stock. The houses that government is building are being sold at high prices,” he stated.

To increase the housing stock in the country, he urged government at all levels to provide site and services for the people to build; and that law should not be promulgated to whip up sentiments.

Chairman, Estate Rents and Commission Agents Association of Nigeria, Ipaja branch, Mr. Sunday Agbabiaka, said what has become a common trend since the introduction of the law is that landlords now

Jagun

have a way of collecting their rents without involving estate agents.

In Ipaja, he said the tenancy law has been working and that his members have complied except for quacks parading as agents.

“Agents under our association have been instructed not to collect more than one year rent because government is monitoring us,”he said.

He said though, a few landlords have a way of forcing two year rents on accommodation seekers but his members always turn down the offer.

Chairman, Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), Lagos Branch, Mr. Sola Fatoki, told National Mirror to direct all inquiries to the tenants to know whether the tenancy law is effective.

But from the look of things, he said the law has not achieved what it was set out for.

He said,”It can never work because the issue of rent is about demand and supply.

It is basic economic theory and if prices go

up, there will be scarcity.”

As a professional, he said his concern was to ensure the success of the law, but with the shortage of dwelling units in Lagos, it is not reasonable to enforce it.

To drive the implementation of the law, Fatoki explained that government should, as a matter of urgency, increase the housing stocks in the state.

He pointed out that other determining factors for its success would include access to cheap land and fund, infrastructure, reduction of cost of labour and building materials through deliberate policy on research and adoption of home grown building materials.

He said it would be difficult for the law to work in Lagos where the process of land acquisition has remained about the most cumbersome in the world.

He said, “The cost of land acquisition in Lagos is the highest in the world. Cost of perfecting title and other documents is also high and this borders on the Land Use Act. The act should be removed from the constitution for easy amendment.”

He enjoined government to create sites and services schemes for people to build houses, explaining that the country needs an enduring and workable mortgage system to boost housing stock and increase home ownership among Nigerians for the tenancy law to work.

“As a landlord who borrowed money from the bank to build, I need to collect more than one year rent to be able to pay back. It is not the law that matters but the ability to provide all these facilities.

We need mass houses like 1004 flats in locations such as Ikorodu, Epe, Igando, Badagry and Alimosho,” he said.

According to him, its would be difficult for the law to achieve it set targets if

Firm to launch REIN at property buyers’ forum

L-R: Managing Director of Platinum Mortgage Bank Limited, Mr. Emmanuel Mbaka; Managing Director of Trademoore Estate Limited, Mrs. Ngozi Mbaka; Managing Director of Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Gimba Ya’u Kumo; and Minister for Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Ms. Amal Pepple; during an inspection tour of some estates last week.

O

ne of Nigeria’s emerging real estate investment service companies, 3Invest Limited is set to launch a revolutionary model called REIN (Real Estate Investor Network).

REIN is a platform that allows its members to close the funding gap in quality real estate transactions by successfully accessing funding and allowing them to diversify their investment portfolio through investing in income producing commercial real estate yielding competitive returns.

Speaking, the Managing Director, Ms.Ruth Obih stated that the platform, which is set to be launched on April 18, 2013 at the Property Buyers’ Forum (PBF) organised by the company would not only provide a superior networking enterprise,

but would allow qualified investors to collectively fill funding gaps in quality real estate transactions.

She added that the platform would continue to assess additional ways to expand and broaden sources for funding within the model.

The REIN model is established on the fundamentals of crowd funding, which is a collective effort of individuals who network and pool their money, usually via the Internet, to support efforts initiated by other people or organisations.

To be held at the Porsche Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, PBF is a real estate market place designed to help developers sell investment portfolios through exposure, to high net worth individuals, medium – high

income investors, who have expressed an interest in investing in viable real estate transactions.

REIN, she said was in pursuance of 3Invest’s brand promise of working with stakeholders to ensure that Nigeria’s real estate create more wealth, increases employment and meets the real estate requirements of millions of private and corporate citizens.

When fully operational, she explained would contribute significantly to the execution of additional projects by coordinating investors’ funds in the network in order to develop and operate income-producing real estate assets for the benefit of members of the network.

She said, “Having operated in the sector over the years and through our intelligence gathering, it is clear that Nigeria’s real estate can contribute far beyond its current 3 per cent to the nation’s GDP. Besides, other challenges such as land titling, skewed policy frame work, and a fluctuating investment environment; one major challenge that impacts development in the industry is the unavailability of reasonable investment funds.”

Obih further stated: “Real estate has proven over the decades to be one investment window with competitive advantage over others because of its proclivity to great returns in the face of value depreciation, economic crunches and di-

the problem of infrastructure deficit is not attended to by government.

He said, “Eighty per cent of building materials are imported. There should be research into locally made materials like clay for building purpose.”

Former president, Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, Mr. Bode Adediji, maintained that the Lagos State Tenancy Law would not work because of insufficient housing units and inadequate infrastructure.

Adediji urged government to muster the same political courage it used in promulgating the law to produce more houses for the people.

He stated that as long as the problem of insufficient housing units persist, there would be a mismatch between demand and supply, which would translate into high rents.

On the way forward, Mr Bamidele Jonathan, an architect, corroborated others saying there is need to increase housing stock, pointing out that the rate at which stock of houses increase cannot guarantee an increase in stock that is proportional to housing needs.

He said, “Many houses that are built by individuals take almost a life span and requires the bulk of their income.

The alternative is to remain in the hand of the landlords whose only purpose of building houses is to make profit on investment. The government’s housing schemes and houses provided by private developers are actually out of the reach of the needy especially for low-income class forming not less than 50 per cent of those who need house in Lagos. Therefore, the landlords who are having the purchasing power buy over the new housing units for letting.” minishing rates of return on investment in other sectors”.

She noted that REIN has come to increase investment in Nigeria’s real estate; saying, “we have decided to use all means available, both in media and advocacy to make funds available for projects. We understand the problems developers face to get funds, we understand the paucity of funds in the system, and we also understand the fears of investors to put money into Nigeria’s not-very-friendly investment environment. With REIN, it is our commitment to mitigate these challenges. The sponsor will know the investors and vice versa and both parties can work together as members of the same network, and the risk, where it cannot be mitigated; is shared.

“In addition, we have decided to launch this network at the Property Buyers’ Forum because we intend to start signing up members at that event.” The Property Buyers Forum will host at least 100’s preprofiled A-list celebrities and high network individuals who are interested in buying investment from the PBF. “On the other hand, it will host developers who want to sell their investment portfolio. So we intend to sell this idea to our audience at the PBF. Real Estate remains the most tangible investment vehicle, especially as more foreign investors look to Africa for sustainable returns.”

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

AYAC Warri 2013: Osheku tips Team Nigeria 30

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

27

Sport

I believe Nigeria will bounce back in the World Cup qualifier. I think we just have to be focused - Super Eagles’ defender, Godfrey Oboabona

Fashola redeems N54.5m donation to Eagles EVEREST ONYEWUCHI

L

agos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has redeemed the N54.5million donation he announced while hosting the Super Eagles for winning the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa, in February.

Media Officer of the Eagles, Ben Alaiya, informed National Mirror yesterday that Fashola fulfilled his promise to players and coaching crew of the senior national team in Calabar, last weekend before the World Cup qualifier against Kenya.

“Despite reports that Super Eagles players planned a boycott of the encounter against Harambee Stars of Kenya at the weekend, it was all smiles and joy for the team as promises earlier made to the team and those made even after the match in Calabar were fulfilled with players and officials grinning from ear to ear.

“First to make his promise true was the Executive Governor of Lagos State, His Excellency Babatunde Raji Fashola, who personally sent a top official of the Lagos State Youth, Sports and Social Development Ministry, Mrs. Oluyomi Oluwasanmi,

to deliver cheques to the players and officials ahead of the game against Kenya.

“Mrs. Oluwasanmi said in a chat that she was specifically instructed by Governor Fashola to make the cheques personally available to the players and officials before they played against Kenya,” Alaiya said.

Fashola had, while hosting the victorious team at the Government House in Ikeja, announced a gift of N2.5m to Coach Stephen Keshi, N2m to his deputy, Daniel Amokachi, N1.5m to each of the other assistant coaches, N1.5m to captain Joseph Yobo, N1m to each of the other 22 players, N15m for all the backroom staff and N500, 000 to each of the scorers of the Eagles’ 11 goals scored at the AFCON. The Lagos State governor also announced a donation of N4m to the Nigeria Supporters Club.

After presenting the cheques to the players and their officials, Mrs. Oluwasanmi said, “Despite the draw (with Harambee Stars) you can see that the players were really excited with our governor and the people of Lagos and it will continue like that because our governor apart from being a Vicent Enyeama footballer, is a true lover of youth development at all levels.”

I’m glad Harambee didn’t spoil my debut – Ogu IKENWA NNABUOGOR

A

cadémica de Coimbra of Portugal midfielder, John Ogu, has expressed happiness for finally playing for Nigeria, saying he could not hide his joy after making his international debut against the Harambee Stars on Saturday in a World Cup qualifying match.

The Lagos-born star played the last three minutes including the five minute added time after replacing Chelsea midfielder, Victor Moses Ogu said he was thankful to God that the impressive Kenyans did not spoil his debut

after coming close to running away with valuable victory. ‘’The outcome of the match did not spoil my debut for the Eagles. It would have been bitter if we had lost. But at the end, it was something I am proud of.’’

Ogu cited influential Super Eagles midfielder, Mikel Obi, as his role model in the Super Eagles and relishes the rare opportunity of fraternising with the Chelsea star. ‘’The first day at training, we met and talked about our respective teams. I told him how happy I am to be alongside him on the pitch and the dressing room,’’ Ogu told National Mirror.

President Francois Bozize

Coup forces CAR team to delay return

C

We will make up in Kenya –Enyeama

S

uper Eagles’ acting skipper, Vincent Enyeama, was full of praises for his mates after the team pulled off a late 2014 World Cup qualifying match equaliser against the Harambee Stars of Kenya at the UJ Esuene Stadium in Calabar, last Saturday.

Enyeama, who said the team had an unlucky day despite having better possession of the ball declared that the Eagles would make up for the 1-1 flop with a resounding result when both teams meet in the return leg in Nairobi.

“We tried all we could in Calabar, but it was simply one of those days when you can’t explain what really went wrong. We did all the playing and all the possession but they scored a shock goal and made us chase the game. But the promise we will give is that in the return leg we will pay them back with a better result for Nigerians,” the goalkeeper said.

He also praised his teammates for

their fight back spirit.

“Some teams would have given up in the second half, but our players kept fighting and eventually the goal came. I trust that if we had a few more minutes we would have won the game, but we have a return leg to play and we would be ready for them.”

On his part, Coach Stephen Keshi said the draw was a wake-up call to the players and his technical crew.

Addressing the players and officials immediately after the tie, Keshi said he was impressed by the players’ output, but noted that the Kenyans came with a match plan to frustrate the Eagles.

“From the airport in Lagos they were complaining and they came to Calabar with the same attitude, but we still held our own against them. Being champions is not an easy thing and I think we now know how to play like champions when next we meet them in Nairobi.”

entral African Republic (CAR) national team has delayed its return from a World Cup qualifying match in South Africa at the weekend after rebel forces invaded their home country’s capital, Bangui.

Rebel soldiers overthrew CAR President, Francois Bozize, on Sunday, taking over the palace and forcing him to flee.

The Europe-based players flew to Paris yesterday, while domestic players head to Douala, Cameroun today.

The team was beaten 2-0 by Bafana Bafana in Cape Town on Saturday. Team manager, William Kongo, said players usually transferred through western neighbor, Cameroun on their way home, but would stay over in Douala for longer than a couple of days to see if it was safe to go home.

The home-based players still wanted to go home, according to Kongo, and had no reservations about returning.

They would probably still go back this week, he said.

“It’ll take one to two weeks for everything to be OK,’’ Kongo told The Associated Press by telephone from Cape Town, South African Football Association (SAFA) said it was too early for it to talk to the Confederation of African Football or football’s world governing body, FIFA, about whether to move the countries’ return qualifier in CAR in June.

AYC s/finals today Egypt

v

Nigeria

Mali

v

Ghana

28

Sport

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

About Cup ti

Reds hope fades on Saurez

L

Ferdinand

Shilton hands Ferdinand warning F ormer England goalkeeper, Peter Shilton, says defender Rio Ferdinand will come to regret his England snub.

England boss Roy Hodgson recalled the Manchester United defender for the World Cup double-header against San Marino and Montenegro. But Ferdinand then pulled out in order to follow a pre-planned fitness routine designed to help him manage his long-standing back problems.

The 34-year-old later compounded the controversy by flying out to Doha to appear as a TV pundit to analyse the San Marino match.

“Playing for your country, for me, was the ultimate but that seems to have changed a little bit,” Shilton, who holds England’s record appearance with

125 caps, said yesterday.

“I don’t know the circumstances of what went on but I wanted to get every cap I could. To play in the World Cup and try to win something for England was the ultimate.

“I don’t know why Rio isn’t playing, whether it’s an injury or not, but if he has just pulled out for no reason then I totally disagree with that.”

Shilton says he would not have relished playing San Marino, with current number Joe Hart a virtual spectator in the 8-0 hammering last Friday.

“I wouldn’t have enjoyed it as a goalkeeper. Those games are a waste of time in a sense, although you have to be on your toes as you don’t want to concede against San Marino. But it will have been a good confidence booster for the game on Tuesday”, he said.

… Smalling eyes ‘regular spot’

E

ngland defender, Chris Smalling, is relishing the challenge as he looks to cement a place in the side after starting the last two matches against Brazil and San Marino.

The Manchester United player has recovered from the groin and foot injuries which checked his progress with club and country.

“I take each chance that I can get and the bigger the game, the better for me,” Smalling said yesterday.

“I’ll be ready if I’m selected on Tuesday (today) for the massive game.

“I think if we stay level-headed and try to keep the crowd quiet,

then it will be to our advantage.

This is the big one of the season against a team which is arguably fighting for top spot with us.”

Smalling

iverpool hopes to hang on to wantaway striker Luis Suarez but the Reds are mindful of the player’s longing nging for Champions League football and hiss agent’s possible influence on what promises to be this summer’s most intriguing transfer battle. attle.

Bayern Munich is ready to play its ts trump card in a three-way battle to land Suarez arez after it emerged that the brother of new coach Pep Guardiola, Pere Guardiola, is advising ng the Liverpool striker on his future.

Reliable sources at Juventus also so confirmed the Italian club’s intention n to join the bidding for £40million-ratted Suarez, while Guardiola’s old club ub Barcelona is also in the frame.

But Juve has privately admitted Bayern is in pole position, due to Guardiola’s brother rother being Suarez’s agent.

Guardiola, who has been promised ised substantial transfer backing after agreeing eeing two months ago to replace Jupp Heynckes kes at the end of the season, and has earmarked ked Liverpool’s prolific frontrunner as his main in target.

Bayern’s seemingly unassailable lead at the top of the Bundesliga guarantees Champihampions League football next season, while hile Pere seems certain to nominate the e Allianz Arena, should Suarez seek his advice over choosing a new club Saurez in the summer.

EPL clubs chase Bony

What challenges hav a competitive nation The tragedy in Egyptians, and it football community ter that was to give them and try to su We tried to use eve camps, and what we that was to establis communicating. W that we have this s people in Egypt had get to the World Cup was our responsibil

Bruyne stuck on Bridge

P

remier League clubs are battling each other race to sign scoring sensation Wilfried Bony, who is pushing for a move to the English top flight next season.

The Ivory Coast striker, rated at around £12million, has been in prolific from for Vitesse Arnhem this season and is the top scorer in Holland with 26 goals in 24 league games.

His contract runs until 2015 but it is understood that his agent is in talks with at least four Premier League clubs: West Ham, Fulham, Stoke and Everton, and hopes to complete a deal by the end of the week.

The 24-year-old tried to leave Vitesse in January, but the club held firm and insisted he continued to help push for a Champions League spot for next season.

Bony has scored 46 times in 63 appearances for Vitesse since his £4million move from Sparta Prague at the beginning of 2011, including an amazing recent run which has seen him net 10 goals in his last six games.

Bony learned the game by playing street football called ‘Maracana’, competing in city competitions before spending three years at the Cyrille Domoraud football Academy located in the city of Bingerville, in south-east Ivory Coast.

Revolution, rio greeted Ameri of the Pharaoh months. But th World Cup fina Egypt to the ne

C

Lescott

Lescott weighs options

J

oleon Lescott is going to address his Manchester City future at the end of the season after his 2014 World Cup dreams faced threat.

The centre-back has fallen out of contention at club level and his lack of playing time is risking his hopes of a place in Brazil next year.

Lescott’s limited chances at City have led to speculation he could leave in the summer and the defender has indicated he wants to resolve the situation.

“If I can play more regularly at club level, then I think I’ll be at the World Cup. I’ll address that towards the end of the season. But for now, I’m fully focused on England,” the defender said.

helsea loanee, Kevin De Bruyne, is unsure over his future at Stamford Bridge, but believes competing alongside club team-mate Eden Hazard for Belgium is proof he could cut it in the Premier League.

De Bruyne, 21, is currently on a season-long loan at Werder Bremen following his £6.7 million move to West London from Genk last year, and has yet to make an appearance in a Chelsea shirt.

However, the Belgium international is keen to kick-start his Blues career and is targeting a return to England once his loan spell comes to an end.

“I wanted to show everybody at Chelsea that I can play there,” he said.

“For the moment I don’t know what Chelsea want to do with me, so it’s difficult to say what’s going to happen with me in the next year or so. I’ll have to just wait.

“In the end I played like five or six different positions this year, I’m doing what I can. I try to play my best football, it’s not always easy to change position but I think it’s okay.”

Belgium currently boasts a selection of midfielders who ply their trade throughout the biggest leagues in world football, including De Bruyne’s club counterpart Eden Hazard.

And how did the gro I’ve said over and of the players thro and the belief that t incredible and that They y deserve congr g them em had moments what hat was happenin have ve tremendous r through rough this whole p

Is it fair to say there transition nsition to a new With all of the su players ayers have had at Nations ations or especial Ahly hly, the simple fac what’s hat’s missing for t a World Cup. Ther some me really tale youngsters ungsters like hamed med Salah, Ahm Hegazy gazy, Mohamed Nenny nny and Moham Ibrahim rahim but it’s al important portant to kee mind nd that for player Mohamed ohamed Abou this is is their last c to go to a World C key y for experienced that at urgency acros guys. ys. Their motiva the e transition that experience perience of this g of players but also m right ght young guys w play ay important roles

How ow important is A dream? eam?

When I first got h ion n from a lot of pe a new team, that so old. d. Aboutrika was n I arrived, and we d forr our first friendyou u know his resaid id everything hiss character and tegrity grity. He never

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Sport

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

trika, key to World icket –Egypt’s coach Z

WITH AGENCY REPORT

ots and suspension of the domestic league has ican Bob Bradley since he took over as coach hs who have witnessed a dip in fortune in recent he experienced gaffer, who led the USA to the 2010 als in South Africa, tells FIFA.com that he can take ext World Cup in Brazil

ve you faced in building nal team for Egypt?

Port Said touched all certainly impacted the y. The first challenge afplayers time and talk to upport them in any way. ery opportunity to have e were able to do through sh a trust and a way of We talked about the fact pecial opportunity; that d this hope and dream to p and that ultimately that lity.

oup react? d over that the response ough the whole period, they have had, has been t’s been our foundation. ratulations because all of where they weren’t sure ng with their careers. I respect for all of them period.

e has been a significant generation? uccess the older t the Cup of lly with Al ct is that them is re are ented Momed Elmed lways ep in rs like utrika, chance Cup. It’s d players to get ss to younger ation is part of t builds on the great generation moves along the who are ready to s.

boutrika to that

here, I got the opineople that we needed ome players were too not playing much when did not d no n ot select him ly, and sponse about his inc o m -

W/Cup qualifier: Warriors dare wounded Pharaohs

AFOLABI GAMBARI

ABOUTRIKA IS WITHOUT A DOUBT THE MOST EXPERIENCED AND INTELLIGENT PLAYER IN THE GROUP plained, and he realised that it was up to him to show that he could still play a big part in the team. After that he started playing more, and I could see he still brought intelligence and vision and talent. He is without a doubt a leader for us, and he brings experience and intelligence in a way that can make a very big difference in the group.

Where does the team stand for the match against Zimbabwe on March 26 (today)?

The good news is the league has started again and we feel good about it all.

We have Zimbabwe coming up and then two matches in June, and then the final match in September.

We haven’t gotten ahead of ourselves but we feel good about our first two results with victories over Mozambique and Guinea and we have got something going that we believe in.

We’re excited to get back into World Cup qualifying after nine months.

How did you form a great bond with the team?

When I started talking to people about taking this job, I realised that it would be a unique and amazing challenge and an incredible experience.

Of course, the one thing that nobody could have ever predicted was the tragedy in Port Said. But we have now understood that we have a group and we’re committed to what we’re trying to achieve, that is, reaching the World Cup in Brazil.

imbabwe will this evening in Alexandria, Egypt put their rebuilding process to test as they tackle the Pharaohs in a delayed Group G game of the Brazil 2014 World Cup qualifier.

The Warriors, who have been in the Egyptian capital since last Wednesday, have just one point from two games while their hosts are unbeaten in same number of matches.

It is the first time that the newlook Warriors replete with youngsters will be playing a competitive game under their new coach KlausDieter Pagels.

But despite having beaten Guinea 3-2 in Conakry and Mozambique at home, the Pharaohs had not proved convincing in their last few warm-up matches against Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Chile and Qatar, all of which they lost.

Young striker Knowledge Musona (in front) will spearhead the Warriors’ attack in Cairo today

Pagels, however, appeared more concerned about his own team and the players’ condition after injury scare rocked the camp earlier last week.

“The morale is very high and

Hockey: 5-Aside sponsor pledges progress AFOLABI GAMBARI

I

mpressed by the outcome of the two-day NHF/SHI Indoor 5-Aside Tournament in Ilorin, Kwara State over the weekend, Chief ExecS utive Officer of SHI, Rotarian Mike u Omotosho, has promised to make it O an annual event. a Omotosho said the impressive outcome of the two-day tournament o had encouraged the sponsor not to h llook back on his resolve.

“I would also like to make it bigger and better organised next year,” g Omotosho assured.

O Meanwhile Talba Hockey Team ffrom Niger State has emerged winner of the maiden NHF/SHI Indoor n 55-Aside Hockey Tournament.

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NHF boss, Ukah

Talba defeated Union Bank Hockey side 3-1 at the well attended final to lift the trophy in addition to a cash prize.

Edo Flickers also defeated Kutigi Hockey Team 5-2 in the third place match played before the final.

In the female event, Edo Queens beat Kwara Female Team 4-0 to

the boys are upbeat and I am really optimistic,” the German said yesterday, stressing that his charges would not be intimidated at the prospects of facing the fivetime African champions. cart home the winner’s trophy.

President of Nigeria Hockey Federation (NHF), Patrick Ukah, said at the occasion that the federation planned to re-ignite the sport in all traditional hockey states, beginning with the just-ended SHI Indoor 5-Aside in Ilorin.

“Plans have been concluded also to stage the Abba Buka Ibrahim Tournament while CMS Lagos and Government College Ibadan old Boys are working to bring back the good old days of hockey in Nigeria,” Ukah added.

The tournament attracted top dignitaries led by CEO of SHI and key figures in Rotary Club of Ilorin and its environs, as well as Chairman Kwara State Hockey Association, Hon. N.O Ayilara, General Secretary of the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) Tunde Popoola , President, Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), Kayode Abdulwahab Omotoshe and officials of the Kwara State Sports Council.

Shell rains cash on students AFOLABI GAMBARI

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urple Krown College, Enugu who emerged winner of the 15th the NNPC/Shell Cup after t edging Government Secondary School, Wuse 1-0 at the Teslim BaloS gun Stadium, Lagos on Sunday got g N2.5milllion for its effort as curtain N was w drawn on this year’s competition. t Each player of the winning team also got N50, 000 while the runnersa up u carted home N1.4million as each player got N45, 000. p Third place winner, Government Arabic College, Gwale, Kano won A N500, 000 with each player taking N N40, N 000 while fourth placed Government College, Ibadan got N400, 000 as m each player took N35, 000 and all pare ticipants got testimonials. t

The historic feat for Purple Krown, whose striker Uzordima Emmanuel scored the lone goal in the final to earn the Most Valuable Player of the competition, also earned the school a place at the Invitational School Football Competition in the United States of America. The Nigeria School Sports Federation (NSSF) will organise the team’s participation in the cross-continental event later in the year.

Meanwhile, sponsor of the competition has expressed delight that the annual talent discovery event would prove worthier in the coming years.

“The quality of talent has improved yearly and we are highly impressed,” Country Chair of Shell Companies in Nigeria and Managing Director, Shell Petroleum Development Company, Mutiu Sunmonu, said at the Sunday’s final attended

by football stakeholders that include Sports Minister, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi and other top government officials.

“This development has made us more proud than we have ever been,” Sunmonu added, stressing, “As much as we help the kids underscore the essence of education, we also make them understand that sports participation will make them complete.”

According to Sola Akinwale of Worldwide Sports, consultants to the NNPC/Shell Cup, the organisers have always targeted the rise of the talent discovered to international stardom.

“Over the years, the competition has produced notable names such as Chinedu Obasi, Ambrose Vanzekin and many others who have represented Nigeria in international football competitions,” Akinwale said.

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Sport

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

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On the track with

YEMI OLUS danyella172003@yahoo.com

Olowora rues marathon finish

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riple gold medallist at last year’s National Sports Festival, Aminat Olowora, has expressed disappointment over her fourth place finish at the annual 42km Splash FM/ICPC Integrity Marathon Race which took place in Ibadan, Oyo State on Sunday.

The 18-year-old, who expected to dominate the competition after winning the 1,500m event last week at a meet in Ijebu Ode,had finished in second position during last year’s edition of the marathon.

Nigeria Securities and Civil Defence Corps runner, Deborah Pam, emerged as the winner of the women’s category of the race which was flagged off by the Sports Minister, Bo-

Athletes burning the tracks in a recent event are ready for the Warri meet starting tomorrow. Inset: Coach Tony Osheku

Onakoya upbeat on outdoors

AYAC Warri 2013: Osheku N tips Team Nigeria A

thletics coach, Tony Osheku, believes that the team selected for the maiden Africa Youth Athletics Championship holding from March 27 to April 1 at Warri in Delta State will excel in the four-day event.

Osheku, who coached African record holder in the women’s 400m, Falilat Ogunkoya, to a bronze medal at the Atlanta ’96 Olympics, attended the first two meets of the season organised by the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) after which he reckoned that the young athletes would surpass expectations.

“I think Nigeria will do very well at the first African Youth Championship based on what I saw at the D.K. Olukoya Athletics Championships at the Yaba College of Technology,” the veteran coach said.

“I saw some performances that I don’t think other athletes from the continent will match, especially in the 100m boys. Some of them were running times like 10.5, 10.6 while Ese Brume who won the long jump and high jump was very impressive.”

The former athlete disclosed that staging a championship of this calibre is a good development which must be sustained by Africa in order to lay a solid foundation for the up-and-coming athletes as is done currently in Jamaica.

“All along we’ve been having the World Youth Championships,” he further said, add-

ing, “Another edition comes up later this year in Ukraine so it has kept the younger athletes busy. However, we should have had such in Africa but for one reason or the other, we didn’t.

Hosting this is good for Nigeria. From what I heard, after this edition, the championship will hold every other year.”

… Ogba challenges athletes

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eam Nigeria to the Africa Youth Athletics Championship in Warri has been tasked to win the maiden continental and lead Nigeria out of the athletics wood.

Nigeria will be represented by 59 athletes.

“You are the stars of tomorrow and I want to assure that most of you will be in the World Junior Championships if you perform well,” President of the Athletic Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Solomon Ogba, told the athletes on their arrival in Warri yesterday.

“I know that you can make it and you have to do your best to

win. This is the maiden edition, so you must set records, bearing in mind that this can earn you scholarships abroad. A good performance here can earn you a trip to the World Championship as a junior observer.

“Nigerians are behind you and I have told them that you shall win.’’

LOC Chairman, Amaju Pinnick, accompanied Ogba to the athletes’ reception at the oil city.

Meanwhile, the team captains of the Nigerian contingent, Atuma Ifeanyichukwu and Chinyere Anwulika, have promised the country of a brilliant outing at the two-day event.

laji Abdullahi, at the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium with over 600 athletes in participation.

“My performance left much to be desired, although the fact that I have not trained with my coach for quite a while, also affected my outing,” the young athlete said.

Pam, who is from Plateau State, ran a time of 3:06;51 while Haris Ismail also from the same state emerged the new male champion with a time of 2:39;58 and was followed by Philip Shaburutu and Danjuma Gyang, former winner of the Obudu Mountain race.

Aderonke Olumudi and Elizabeth Nuhu placed second and third respectively in the women’s race.

Genevieve Njoku won the previous four editions of the race but it was yet to be ascertained if she participated in the marathon over the weekend.

igerian quarter miler, Abiola Onakoya, is confident of surpassing the achievements of previous seasons, even as he gets set to compete at the Stanford Invitational and Texas Relays later this week.

Last month, Onakoya who has a Personal Best of 45.89 over 400m, placed third with a time of 21.82 in the 200m at the New Mexico Classic. He claimed bronze in the 400m at the Conference USA Indoor Championships with 48.62.

He also anchored the 4x400m relay team which included Carnell Horn, A-Shawni Mitchell and Daniel Tarango to a first place finish after sprinting out of the final 200m and eventually posted a time of 3:14.02.

Last week he clocked in the 8th-fastest time in the nation

with a time of 47.81 at the UTEP Springtime meet which was his first outdoor meet.

“I am not an indoor person but yet I performed better than last year. I won gold and bronze medals and my performance is a good preparation for the outdoors,” Onakoya said.

“Last year I ran 48.3 and this year it was a 47.40. I would combine the 200 and 400 just like I did last season and I expect everything to go smoothly”.

The sophomore was, however, evasive regarding his plans to compete in the World Championships holding in Moscow, Russia in August.

The 22-year old took gold in the 4x400m relays at the Conference USA Indoor Championships last season with a meet record of 3:11.64 while he finished fourth in the 400 time of 48.31.

Abiola Onakoya (r) and other medallists after an Indoor event last month

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Real Estate & Environment

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

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‘Lack of understanding of real estate, bane of economic growth’ Mr. Bode Adediji, is immediate past President of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, (NIESV). In this interview with DAYO AYEYEMI recently, he spoke on various issues affecting the growth of real estate sector, mortgage system and national economy.

What hope does this year hold for the sector now that we have the National Housing Policy in place?

I think the problems that beset this sector have even gone beyond mere formulation of housing policy. Sincerely speaking, you and I know that the problem that Nigeria faces is not of formulation of policy, but its implementation. If the newly enacted housing policy is faithfully and practically implemented, there will be some respites here and there; but if it is just a document like the past guidelines, we should not expect any good thing.

However, I will say that whatever we are going to see as either fortune or misfortune of the housing sector, real estate sector/ construction sector in 2013 will largely depend on the health of overall economy of the nation. If for instance both macro and micro policies of the government are effective, if the performance in the international oil market is favourable, and if the government can actually spearhead the restructuring of the economy to dwell more on the revamp of the economy more than any other issue, Nigeria has a lot of prospects in 2013.

However, if the government still embarks on business as usual with so much talking but less action, I’m afraid we are going to see worst consequences than what we had in 2012.

What are these worst consequences?

The first one the ordinary men and women should not joke with even if the government jokes with it is the youth unemployment. For as long as we do not synergise or embark on pragmatic collaboration between the public and the private sector, no amount of policy delivery will have any influence whatsoever on the present unemployment landscape.

On this hangs all other policies being political, security and other policies because a nation that is populated largely with idle youths cannot progress on major policies of security and nation building.

All of us must put hands must be on deck to ensure that we contribute towards ameliorating the unemployment problem.

Is it appropriate for government to intervene in the real estate sector just the way it did in aviation and agriculture sectors?

I am not saying that housing sector is the most significant of all sectors of the economy; but unfortunately for us as a nation, I want to be quoted, from one regime to another in the last 20 to 25 years, we had Babangida’s era, no single leader in this country had the ability to understand the importance of real estate sector on the overall well being of the economy. This is why from year to year, allocation of government to the housing sector has always been very minimal. Let us simplify matter. Why do economies or nations that do well elsewhere in the world absolutely lay emphasis on the housing and construction sector, and country that stagnate year in year out are always found wanting?

I have been attending economy summit for so many years until I discovered that there is a disconnect between what Nige-

Adediji

IF YOU DON’T HAVE A VIRILE NATIONAL BUREAU OF STATISTICS AND VARIOUS WATCHDOG AGENCIES, YOU CANNOT IMPLEMENT MORTGAGE SYSTEM BECAUSE THE ISSUE OF FIDELITY IS SACROSANCT TO THE HELP AND LONGEVITY OF ANY MORTGAGE SYSTEM rians say and what we end up doing. You do not need any major seminar, summit or brainstorming to know that if countries are going to drive their economy, those sectors that are responsible for the engagement of agile youths in the population should be given priority.

If government of this nation in last 20 years had given 10 per cent of the attention it gave to trading to real sector, we would not be where we are today. And while did they do that? To import anything to this country, you don’t have to sweat because you have a ready market for it.

But the implication is simple; the youth of the country you import from will never be idle while the youth of country you import to will never be employed.

A nation that cannot feed itself internally has no business sitting in the community of countries of modern world. A country that is largely dependent on the importation of rice, wheat or anything whatsoever can never make it among the committees of civilised countries anywhere in the world.

Nigeria has come to a stage where people like us must speak the truth at all times.

Let’s look at the issue of lack of robust mortgage financing for housing in the country. Why is it difficult for government to invest the pension fund, unclaimed dividends and other idle funds in the mortgage sector?

It is all about awareness and sincerity.

Let me tell you, I have not come across any

document that can actually transform the country from the current abysmal low level to the highest anyone can think of other than Vision 20:2020. The good about the document is that the ABC of transforming the nation is contained therein. Notable in this document is how to introduce the regime of mortgage trading economy, and I believe it is due to lack of understanding of what the eminent men and women put together in the paper by those in government that is responsible for the lukewarm attitude towards its implementation.

So if you look at mortgage, it should be seen as an institution which help and impact on all spheres of life. I am expecting that with the experience the entire world had four years ago. Country like Nigeria by now should have paid adequate attention to mortgage institution. American economy had survived on a very formidable and virile mortgage system. It was the abuse of that mortgage system that led to the world’s collapsed economy. That is just to show you how strategic the issue I raised is. So what I am trying to say is that once the country is not serious minded about mortgage institution, housing and manufacturing sectors, quote me anywhere, such country or government will never serious about anything.

For instance today, if you are going to really introduce a regime of workable mortgage system, it is beyond pumping money otherwise, if you look at major key sectors that government has tried to intervene in the past, what was their score? Zero! You

have to look at something you want to revive from the holistic angle. Without a fair and credible judiciary, we cannot actually prosecute the national agenda on mortgage system. If you don’t have a virile National Bureau of Statistics and various watchdog agencies, you cannot implement mortgage system because the issue of fidelity is sacrosanct to the help and longevity of any mortgage system to the extent that those who put their money down to lend to those who want to borrow would not want to see someone trying to reap where he or she has not sowed. Also for government officials who are going to implement these things, we must see action of faith in whatever they are going to do.

What is your response to cement glut’s claims by Dangote despite high price?

You have just spoken of an issue that I will like us to look at from two sides. First and foremost, I will like to commend the initiative effort and sacrifice of the young guy called Aliko Dangote, not because he is my friend but simply because he has become one major name in Nigeria. Where there is political will, there will be way.

In the power sector today, as chaotic or uninteresting it is, where there is political will to roll out energy into Nigeria system, there will be way. Where there is political will to refine oil in this country within three years without any external importation, there will be way. If you look at a country called Nigeria, what should actually baffle everybody is this; could God have made a mistake by over-endowing Nigeria? And until we see the President who can actually answer the question, we will not solve one little of our problem. Could God have made a mistake by over-endowing Nigeria as a nation? The answer is no. But when we see vested interest, that is, what affects my interest whether millions of Nigeria are suffering is irrelevant to me, until we have political will to crush those interests, we will just be crawling in darkness. Why I went to that digression is this, we were faced with a problem of industrial capacity in cement production before, when the government summoned political will and assisted in providing enabling environment to those who want to take risk in that sector, the issue of production had come and gone.

However, we always want to see many of these strategic policies and programmes in isolation of other subordinate policies that, if you don’t show the same seriousness to rectify all the anomalies in all those supporting systems, the problems you have cured will vanish.

I will mention the victory to you, if you have 10,000 Dangotes in the country to produce cement, we only have a glut and glut does not respond to price crash.

Two, if you have cement everywhere in the city today and your National Assembly keeps mute on Land Use Act without knowing all the noise everybody has made to ensure that this document is overhauled right the day one during Obasanjo regime, access to land cannot serve as an intention of people to build house. Without land liberally available, the gravity in cement production is a fact because it is just a simple economy of demand and supply. You have it supplied now, the demand is not there, and when the demand is not there, that means there is a supporting instrument you have wasted time in resolving.

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Real Estate & Environment

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Realising your dream kitchen

Your kitchen is where you nurture your loved ones’ souls as well as their bodies. So you want it to be as efficient, comfortable, and just plain beautiful as possible! But where do you start? The ideas and suggestions in this article will help you make that perfect new kitchen happen.

A

ssessing your kitchen needs: Before any kitchen project can begin, you have to access what you want, what you can actually have, and what would work best for you.

Consider remodelled kitchen: If your old kitchen is falling apart and is not inspiring you any longer. This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to tear the whole room apart and start from scratch. A few decorative changes can go a long way to revitalizing your kitchen.

Designing a kitchen on a budget: It’s easy for home projects to spiral out of control. Whenever you are rebuilding or renovating a room there are always hundreds of small expenses you never considered when you were in the planning stage. While these costs are unavoidable, there are ways to keep the price down.

Hiring a professional to design a kitchen: While designing your kitchen

will save you money, the headache it causes might not be worth the extra dollars. A professional who designs kitchens for a living can really simplify the process.

Basic tips for kitchen remodelling: Once you have assessed your kitchen needs and decided how you want to go about executing them, it’s time to put pen to paper and start designing your new kitchen.

Despite the picture of the dream kitchen you have in your head, the actual space you have in your house might not be compatible with your ideal. As with any home project, you have to balance practicality with your grandest wishes.

Next to size, the shape of your kitchen space can be your biggest design headache. There are three main types of kitchen shapes: The U shape, L shape, and G shape.

Courtesy: www.ehow.com/leather-sofa-buying-guide

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National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Real Estate & Environment

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Accelerate access to safe drinking water, sanitation, FG urged DAYO AYEYEMI

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he Water and Sanitation Media Network, a coalition of journalists reporting water and sanitation issues in Nigeria has called on the Federal Government to accelerate access to safe drinking water and sanitation services by fulfilling the commitments it made at meetings to leverage additional financing to develop Nigeria’s water and sanitation sector.

In a statement released at the weekend to mark World Water Day, the group noted with regret that the Federal Government has failed to fulfill any of the 26 commitments it made at the high level meetings.

Some of these unfulfilled commitments include: Harmonisaiton of water and sanitation policies; promoting WASH in schools; intensify increasing water and sanitation budgets by 15 per cent; ensuring at least 0.5 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product to promoting sanitation and hygiene; declaring access to water and sanitation a human right.

Others include, encouraging state and local governments to create budget lines for sanitation; scaling up community led total sanitation in the 36 states; increasing national access to improved sanitation to 65 per cent by 2015; and increasing national access to improved water by at least 5 per cent by 2014.

The group said, “Nigeria has not fully achieved any of the 26 WASH commitments it voluntarily made in several high level meetings between 2000 and 2012. These commitments made at four high level meetings between 20002012: the World summit in Johannesburg 2000, United Nations Assembly, New York in 2010, African Sanitation and Hygiene conference, eThekwini in 2011, and the Sanitation and Water for All meeting in Washington in 2012; but none of them have been fulfilled so far by the Nigerian Government.”

Chairman, Water and Sanitation Media Network, Babatope Babalobi, said the delay explained why 35 million Nigerians still defecate in the open, about 90 million are without access to safe

In search of water

NIGERIA HAS NOT FULLY ACHIEVED ANY OF THE 26 WASH COMMITMENTS, IT VOLUNTARILY MADE IN SEVERAL HIGH LEVEL MEETINGS BETWEEN 2000 AND 2012 drinking water and 130,000 under five Nigerian children die annually from preventable water borne disease.

The body therefore, called on the Federal Government to keep its promises and initiate practical policies, programmes and projects to develop the country’s WASH sector and improve access to WASH services.

The Water and Sanitation Media Network note that, “Access to improved water and sanitation still remains a major challenge in Nigeria.

“Water and Sanitation coverage in Nigeria are amongst the lowest in the

world. According to the 2008 report of the WHO/UNICEF JMP Joint Monitoring Programme, Nigeria is in the bottom 25 countries worldwide in terms of water and sanitation coverage. At current rates of progress Nigeria is predicted to meet the water MDG target in 27 years but may not meet the sanitation MDG target for 124 years.

“The Nigerian Government MDG national targets are 82 per cent for water and 65 per cent for sanitation. Estimates of the investment in water supply and sanitation required to meet these MDG based targets range from

$2.5 billion (MDG office) to $4 billion annually ($1.7 billion for water supply and $2.3 billion for sanitation—CSO2 costing). Out of the calculated $2.5 billion annual investment required to meet the MDG targets, only about $550 million is being injected by the Nigerian Government due to limited resources and competing needs, leaving a huge investment gap to achieve these targets.”

The group urged the Nigerian government to stop ‘talking the talk’ but start ‘walking the talk’, because about ‘33 million people are without toilets, over 868,000 Nigerian children die each year, about a quarter of which are from water related and vaccine preventable diseases such as pneumonia, diarrhea, meningitis and measles; and according to a UNDP report, Nigeria may not achieve the MDG water target before 2046 and that of sanitation by 2076.

Researchers to reveal links between conservation and land grabs

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esearchers will meet at London Zoo today and tomorrow to join the dots between large land deals, conservation, land rights and efforts to tackle poverty in poor communities worldwide.

According to report from the International Institute for Environment and Development, IIED, speakers will present research on both impacts of land grabs on conservation and its reverse – the role of conservation as a driver of land grabs. They will also share studies that show how stronger land rights can improve conservation outcomes.

The issues are burning because worldwide large land deals are on the

increase, and they often take place in areas that are home to both large numbers of poor people and important biodiversity. People and wildlife can lose out when investors acquire land for large scale agriculture.

At the same time, there are growing threats from ‘green grabs’ that displace communities in order to conserve wildlife or gain value from eco-tourism, biofuels or the carbon that forests store in their wood.

The meeting in Londo organised by IIED, the International Land Coalition, the Zoological Society of London and Maliasili Initiative, is the international symposium of the Poverty and Conservation Learning Group.

Speakers are expected to present case studies from Cameroon, Uganda, Chile, Kenya, Mongolia, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Ethiopia, Liberia and Cambodia.

“The global rush for land threatens to squeeze out both poor communities with weak land rights, and wild species and habitats that we should be conserving,” says Dilys Roe, a senior researcher at IIED, which convenes the Poverty and Conservation Learning Group. “It is in the interests of both the conservation and land rights communities to tackle the land rush. One solution is for them to work more strategically together to secure or strengthen local land rights in ways that bring both con-

servation and development benefits.”

“Secure land tenure is a foundation of community-driven conservation efforts around the world,” says Fred Nelson, Executive Director of Maliasili Initiatives, which supports sustainable natural resource management efforts in Africa.

“The current land crisis provides an opportunity for conservation, development, and human rights groups to work together to address historicallyrooted weaknesses in the recognition of local communities’ land rights, and to enable communities to better secure their territories and the natural resources on which their livelihoods depend.”

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Real Estate & Environment

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

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BCPG moves campaign to end building collapse to town planners DAYO AYEYEMI

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hat once looked like child’s play is gradually becoming a household name in the built environment as concerned professionals, under the umbrella of Building Collapse Prevention Guild (BCPG), took its campaign to the town planners in Lagos, last week.

The occasion, which coincided with the monthly meeting of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP), Lagos chapter, saw BCPG mobilisers, led by its President, Mr Kunle Awobodu, revealing details of how the initiative came into being, its purpose and ways to achieve its set target to put an end to incidents of building collapse in Lagos State and Nigeria in general.

Others members in attendance included the President of Nigerian Institution of Structural Engineers, Mr. Busola Awojobi, first female town planner in Nigeria, Mrs Kehinde George, Mr. Akinola George, Mr. Adegoke Alani, Niyi Fatokun, Angela Jagun, Chike Enenmoh and Aiteobhor Lynus Awobodu told the town planners some of the activities the group has embarked on on to show its seriousness, which he said included sensitisation and trainings of bricklayers, concrete workers and other artisans in the state toward eradicating the menace.

He stated that professionals in the built environment have to work together to monitor construction activities in Lagos and report to the appropriate authorities where errors that could lead to collapse of building are found on construction sites.

He said the visit of BCPG was to let town planners see the need to join the group, adding that other professional bodies in the built environment have joined.

He allayed their fear, saying that BCPG was not out to compete with them, but to complement their activities in the area of

Practical demonstration by concrete workers during a training workshop by BCPG in Lagos recently.

building control and monitoring.

Awobodu disclosed that members of BCPG who are experts in the built environment have been distributed to monitor physical development in all the 57 local council development areas in Lagos State and report where they discover shoddy jobs to the relevant government agencies.

BCPG members comprised professionals in the built environment which include land surveyors, architects, engineers, builders, quantity surveyors, town planners and estate surveyors.

They are to monitor physical development in their area and to check whether the building owners or contractors are using the right construction method, materials, designs and professionals in order to eradicate building collapse in the state.

Responding, Chairman of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP), Lagos

Property buyers opt for real estate in emerging economies, research suggests

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lobal billionaire activity in world real estate markets has been so intense over the past seven years that it has led to a doubling of residential property values in this sector, a new report reveals.

Although overall, according to Property Wire, aggregated world values fell after 2007 and price movements seem volatile, recovery has been significant since 2009. As a result, billionaire markets have exceeded the growth seen in the mainstream markets of the same cities, according the latest Savills World Cities Review.

According to Yolande Barnes, director of residential research at Savills, the activity of billionaires in international real estate markets reflects the creation of global wealth and the economic success of particular regions and cities. This means that the cities in newly emerged economies have significantly outperformed those in the old world economies of the US, Japan, Australia and Europe.

Only London’s ultra prime market stands out among the old world cities as having shown significant growth since 2005, totalling 107 per cent . New York’s billionaire real estate stands only 47% higher and Tokyo ultra prime residential is only 8

per cent more expensive in local currency than it was in 2005.

The report shows that rising commodity prices and the creation of new, ultra rich classes in China and Asia have precipitated the highest growth in ultra prime real estate values. Singapore and Mumbai stand out as having seen the highest growth in ultra prime values since 2005 at 232% and 176% respectively. Both grew from relatively low base values.The highest overall values are seen in Hong Kong. The record deal there was £8,200 (US$13,100) per square foot for a house in Deep Water Bay Road in 2011.

The report also shows that billionaire activity has been concentrated on high end urban centres rather than leisure properties in the surrounding countryside or regional sunbelts. Consequently, the index for billionaire leisure homes has not yet quite recovered to its former 2007 peak and only stands 34% higher than it did in June 2005.

‘Last year saw significant curbs imposed on billionaire buyers in some cities. This has resulted in slowdowns rather than falls in most of them. Singapore’s ultra prime growth slowed to about 5% in the year, while Hong Kong’s stalled and London’s also slowed significantly, both in the second half of 2012,’ said Barnes.

chapter, Mr Ayo Adediran, commended BCPG for various sensitisation and training programmes for artisans and concrete workers it undertook recently.

He said his members are ready to join BCPG, but urged Awobodu, to take a step further in following due process by registering the platform according to the law of the state.

Other town planners that spoke at the occasion lauded the initiative and collected registration forms to allow easy access to join the platform.

Commenting on the visit, Mr Chike Enenmoh, a quantity surveyor, said it was part of the collaboration with different professional bodies within the built environment to enable them carry out the crusade.

According to him, BCPG has provided the platform for professional bodies to work in harmony towards providing value

for money to the clients.

He said the platform would help to deemphasise the issues of rivalry among professionals in the built enviro0nment.

He said, “The issue of building collapse is a menace within Lagos environs and Nigeria, and BCPG has provided the platform for professionals to work together to put an end to it. We are getting good responses.

We need to counsel people and carry them along for us to achieve the aim.”

Another member, Mrs Angela Jagun, a builder, said the essence of the visit was to carry out evangelism aimed at putting an end to incidents of building collapse to the town planners, and to let them know what the platform has to offer and see area of collaboration.

She described responses recorded from the meeting as impressive, saying some of the town planners have even collected forms to become members.

FCMB joins 4,000 cities to observe Earth Hour DAYO AYEYEMI

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n furtherance of its campaign on environmental sustainability, First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Plc, in collaboration with World Wildlife Fund (WWF), at the weekend joined millions of people, 4,000 cities, heritage sites, royal palaces, schools, cafes and corporations from all over the world in observing the Earth Hour.

This global event, which is celebrated in the last week of March annually, requires households and businesses to turn out their non-essential lights and other electrical appliances between 8.30pm and 9.30pm on the day.

To ensure compliance, Group Head, Marketing and Communications, FCMB, Mr. Ikechukwu Kalu said, at exactly, 8.30pm, all non-essential lights were turned off to observe the lights-out global exercise, creating a sharp contrast to the usual beauty of the iconic building.

He said, “At exactly 7.30pm, Saturday, March 23, the FCMB community, customers and some friends in Lagos gathered at the First City Plaza, Marina Lagos, Nigeria which is the recognised iconic building for Earth Hour.”

He noted that during the lights-out, the community listened to comments made by environmental experts, including one of the professionals from the Nigerian Conservation Foundation, Mr. Desmond Majekodunmi, among others.

Kalu pointed out that during the event, issues bordering on saving the earth, environmental protection, energy conservation and the survival of humanity were featured to educate participants and raise awareness.

He also explained that as part of FCMB’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy in support of environmental protection and healthy living among its host communities nationwide, the bank partners with other local and international agencies to sponsor Earth Hour annually.

The Earth Hour is aimed at promoting the practice of energy conservation and emission reduction through public awareness by educating and uniting people on the risks of climate change in order to enable them imbibe corrective measures.

FCMB in collaboration with WWF had ahead of this year’s Hour, organised a community sensitisation exercise in Lagos.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Aviation

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

35

Airport security:

Stakeholders, professionals call for more vigilance Stakeholders and professionals in the aviation industry are worried about the percieved insecurity at the nation’s airports. They say more resources need to be deployed to ensure that safety at the airports. OLUSEGUN KOIKI writes.

A

irport environment worldwide are expected to be protected with sophisticated security gadgets and procedures to enhance safety of the users, but it seems the reverse is the case in Nigeria.

The recent armed robbery attack at the Terminal Zero Car Park of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA)), Lagos with no fewer than three casualties on the part of the police and one armed robber killed, is one of the numerous breaches on the airport in recent times.

While most airport users are quick to put the blame on the airport landlord, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), for not providing security at the airports, most aviation professionals and stakeholders said rather than blame the agency, the various security agencies at the airports, who they alleged are not coordinated, should be blamed.

For instance, the Aviation Security (AVSEC) personnel of FAAN are not allowed to carry weapon in the course of their duties unlike the officials of the Nigerian Police, State Security Services (SSS), the Air Force and other security agencies at the airports.

But, in a bid to enhance security networks at the airports with the increasing cases of bombings in some parts of the country, the Federal Government, in May 2011, through the former National Security Adviser to the President, late Gen. Andrew Azazi, commenced the installation of Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras at strategic places within the airports including the car park that was recently attacked.

In all, there are 32 CCTV cameras mounted at the Lagos Airport alone apart from those at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA) and other strategic airports in the country.

On installation, stakeholders, and users of the airports heaved a sigh of relief that the required safety gadgets has eventually been installed at the airports and commended the Federal Government for being proactive.

Then, a security expert had confided in National Mirror that the cameras were likely the type called bullet cameras, since some of the poles on which they were fixed had antennas. The expert explained that they could be Internet protocol outdoor surveillance cameras.

He said, “They are the modern type; they are called bullet cameras. They can pan, tilt and zoom objects. Each pole covers about 360 degrees space. Each of the three or four cameras on each pole sometimes cover about 89 degrees. They are more focused.”

Since the equipment were installed, the belief of every user of the airport was

CCTV Camera

ALSO, LET US HAVE IT AT THE BACK OF OUR MINDS THAT OUR RESPONSIBILITY AS FAAN IS

TO RUN COMFORTABLE AND EFFICIENT AIRPORTS, THE PROVISION OF SECURITY IS EMBEDDED UNDER THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THOSE THAT HAVE THE Yakubu

that apart from the fact that the equipment were working optimally, every aspect of the airports were adequately covered by the equipment, but the recent happenings at the airport where footage of criminal activities could not be retrieved from the cameras is creating doubts on the functionality of the cameras.

Speaking on the issue, a former pilot with the defunct national carrier, Nigeria Airways Limited, Capt. Tito Omaghomi, said there is a weak security chain when one takes a critical look at the activities of terrorist organisations in the world.

He emphasised that unlike at other airports worldwide with proper identification of the airport users, the same can not be said of the country. He however declined to blame FAAN for the situation rather faulted the security agencies for the porosity of the airport.

Omaghomi explained that AVSEC workers are disallowed from carrying weapons, which limited their performance, adding that the government is not proactive in combating criminal activities not just at the airports, but in the country at large.

He said: “We don’t have enough security at the airport. We only wait for a disaster to happen before we act in this country. We don’t really have to blame FAAN for the porosity of security network at the airport.

Blame the various security agencies like the Police, SSS, Air Force, Army whose personnel are allowed to carry weapons to tackle criminals.

“But the question we should ask ourselves is how have these organisations performed in the discharge of their duties? As for me, they have performed below average despite the fact that they are even many at our airports. We need to do something about our security at the airport because we are not doing enough in this area.”

A security expert, Mr. Umar Ibrahim though, could not confirm or deny the functionality of the cameras, but explained

CONSTITUTIONAL POWER that its non-functionality especially at the airports portend danger for the airport environments, which welcome various passengers and users daily.

Like Omaghomi, he refused to blame FAAN for the lapses in general security at the airports, maintaining that it is the responsibility of security agencies posted to the airport to ensure total security of users within the environment.

He said, “Every country where you have CCTV cameras, their major functions is to capture activities within their coverage and when unlikely events occur, they are play back to reveal the perpetrators of the dastardly act, but in Nigeria, the case might be different with some stories circulating around that they are not functioning.”

The General Manager, Corporate Communications, FAAN, Mr. Yakubu Datis recalled that before the present administration came on board, infrastructure at the Nigerian aviation industry have been neglected for over 30 years by the successive ministers.

Dati explained that the present administration in the sector had put in place lots of security gadgets and training for AVSEC both in the country and abroad to help improve safety at the airports, but noted that unlike the traditional security agencies, AVSEC are not allowed to carry weapons, which he said limited their performance.

He, however, said that despite this, AVSEC works in collaboration with other security agencies at the airports in order to boost safety, but noted that the robbery recent robbery attack occurred at the fringe of the car park, which was about 200 metres away from the terminal building.

He said, “Well, I want to say that when this present administration came on stream, everything was already dilapidated, the infrastructure was an eyesore and they never reflected us as a country.

Whenever most Nigerians come in, they feel ashamed that this is what we had at the airport. The safety measures were nothing to write home about. So, these were all problems that were on the ground and this was what informed the aviation master plan, which is to see a situation where we can develop and meet up with the failing infrastructure that have been neglected for the past 30 years.

“That is why the transformation is taking place one step after the other. As we are doing it, safety is going on, remodelling of the airports is going on and there are also plans to build a multi-storey car park that would be fitted with other infrastructure.

So, these are things that we are looking at one step at a time to be able to move forward. We can’t do everything that has been neglected for the past 30 years in a jiffy and so far, we are moving forward with our plans.

“Also, let us have it at the back of our minds that our responsibility as FAAN is to run a comfortable and efficient airports, the provision of security is the responsibility of those that have the constitutional power, which is the police, army and other security agencies and they have a command at the airport.

“The AVSEC that we have do not even have a baton. So, we need to separate this and understand issues. We should be able to know the responsibility of FAAN and that of the security agencies. Where there is a failure of security, you should know who to ask, but in a situation where we blame everything on FAAN, we are not being fair to the agency at all.”

He declined to confirm the functionality of the cameras, saying that the information would not be accessible because of security implication. “Talking too much about the CCTV cameras; where they are located or working or not, we will be exposing the security details at the airport.”

36

Aviation

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

FG to complete new terminals within 24 months STORIES: OLUSEGUN KOIKI

NAMA, can this be true?

A Abuja Airport

by the Chinese and the Nigerian government. In the interim, Government is not folding its hands, we are trying to bring alive, this terminal that has been there and abandoned for over 30 years.

“By the time these new terminals are built, it will take over the problems we are experiencing now because we are trying to upgrade facilities that have been built over 30 years ago and when you are renovating, there are some problems that you may not be able to overcome. It’s cheaper to build a new house than to renovate, which we all know.”

On the issue of recent power outage at the airports, Dati informed that the management of FAAN was already working in resolving the challenge.

At present, he said FAAN had improved generation of power across all the airports by putting down the cables for preliminary test and assured that very soon, the issue of power outages

at the airports would be a thing of the past.

He said, “Those things are there and are being test run.

Just last week, we were able to transmit in Abuja the generators we have. Now, we have a back up to a back up, which has been completely done in Abuja.

So, we are going to come and do such as well in Lagos.”

He added that plans are also underway to increase the conveyor belts at the baggage reclaim areas of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos to 15 soon.

“We are beginning to expand and we are going to expand to have about 15 of the belts at MMIA alone. We are expanding the E-wing and at the end of the day, even the immigration counters that are about five now will have 40 each and the conveyor belts as much. We are transmitting to a better organisaiton and I believe that gradually, we will overcome the present challenge at the baggage reclaim area.”

Delta to transform customers’ experience for Nigerian passengers

Bryan

D

elta Air Lines says it is transforming the customer experience on flights between Nigeria and the United States with more than $3 billion investment through 2013 in airport facilities and global products, services and technology.

Speaking at the annual Business Traveller Africa Expo and Conference, the Delta’s Commercial Manager East and West Afri-

Airside shegzzy4live2000@yahoo.co.uk 08186007273

T

he Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), has said that the planned construction of six airport terminals by the Federal Government in conjunction with some Chinese companies will be completed within two years.

New terminals are expected to be constructed in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano, Enugu and Owerri. The exercise is expected to commence by July this year.

Speaking with National Mirror in his office last week, the General Manager, Corporate Communications, Mr. Yakubu Dati said the new terminals would pave way for the aerotropolis concept designed to turn around the fortunes of the nation’s airports.

Dati said the authority’s quest was to transform Nigerian airports into ideal airports with state-of-the-art facilities, adding that the efforts of the Aviation Minister, Princess Stella Oduah to transform Nigerian airports was beginning to yield the desired results.

He noted that the Federal Government through the Ministry of Aviation has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Chinese companies expected to carry out the construction of the new terminals.

He said, “In the long term, in the next two years, we are going to have brand new terminals in Lagos and others. We are starting by the middle of this year.

Already, MoU has been signed

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

ca, Mr. Bobby Bryan, highlighted a range of in-flight and on the ground benefits to improve the product offering for customers flying on Delta’s daily nonstop service between Lagos and the U.S. He said, “Delta introduced its new fully flat-bed seat between Lagos and Atlanta in September 2012 and we currently offer 500 weekly business class seats,” said Bryan. “Nigeria was one of the first markets to receive the new BusinessElite product, which reflects the value of the Nigerian market to Delta.”

In June, Delta’s BusinessElite passengers will see the introduction of the Westin Heavenly inflight bedding transforming the sleep experience in the air.

The luxury bed quilt is designed and manufactured exclusively for Delta by Westin Hotels & Resorts. In addition Delta has also introduced a new BusinessElite amenity kit featuring celebrated travel accessory brand, Tumi and

Malin+Goetz products.

Delta is continuing its investment in new technology to simplify the customer journey and provide greater control over the travel experience including the launch of the Fly Delta App for iPad and improvements to delta.com. Delta currently operates the world’s largest fleet of Wi-Fi ready aircraft and will begin to roll out Wi-Fi for its longhaul services in 2014.

Enhancements are also being rolled out on the ground.

Delta’s Sky Priority passengers enjoy streamlined services at check-in, security and baggage claim as well as access to Delta’s award-winning lounges.

Last year, Delta opened its new international terminal in Atlanta creating a state-of-the art gateway. This May Delta will unveil its $1.4 billion new terminal 4 at New York JFK airport where Delta has established itself as the leading US airline.

national daily recently exposed recruitment racketeering at the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA). According to the paper, the recruitment exercise took place between September 2012 and February this year.

The paper reported that the exercise was manipulated in favour of some states at the expense of Federal Character. It revealed that no fewer than 64 people were employed from two states of the federation out of the 292 persons employed while some states were not given any slots.

Airside waited so long to comment on this issue think-

ing that the proactive management of NAMA will rebut the racketeering allegation and put the record straight, but unfortunately, the management has remained silent.

Airside calls the attention of the Federal Government and the Ministry of Aviation to this issue and challenges them to redress the anomaly accordingly. Inasmuch as Airside does not in any way support Federal Character in either engagement or disengagement of workforce in the sector, merits should be considered in giving employment to people, rather than ‘man knows man’ which has become prevalent in the sector in recent time.

How not to manage an airline

N

o one in the Nigerian aviation industry thought the industrial action, which paralysed activities at Aero could linger for about two weeks. Many players in the sector thought the issue would be settled amicably within 24 hours, but everybody was wrong.

It is unfortunate that the management allowed the industrial action to continue with losses of over a billion naira so far in ticket sales. Airside thinks this is a lesson for other airline operators.

Airline management is not about speaking ‘big grammar but about the performance of

the airline, the technical expertise and giving professionals free hand to work goes a long way in efficient management of an airline.

With this halt of operations, Aero has, no doubt, lost the confidence of some members of the flying public. One hopes it will improve its image when the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), eventually grants it permission to return to service. Also, NCAA should take a decisive action on how to propel the airline sub-sector forward and avoid the embarrassment caused the nation by the frequent suspension of operations

Etihad Airways partners Air Seychelles, posts $1m net profit in 12 months

O

ne of the partners of Etihad Airways, Air Seychelles has posted a turn around of $1m barely 12 months the former acquired 40 per cent stake in the latter.

Before the acquisition, Air Seychelles had posted had posted three years of losses. Etihad signed a fiveyear agreement contractual agreement with the airline to provide strategic support and management expertise in reshaping the airline as a sustainable commercial entity.

An online statement sent by the airline’s media agent in Nigeria stated that the result marks a dramatic change of fortune for the Indian Ocean carrier, which had made heavy losses for past three years.

Etihad Airway’s Chief Executive Officer, James Hogan said the challenges in the global economy meant it is still a very tough environment for

airlines, stressing that against that backdrop, the result was an impressive result.

He said, “This performance validates the strength of our equity alliance proposition in which closer committed commercial collaboration drives revenue growth, and the integration and consolidation of key functions, achieves economies of scale and cost savings.

“It is also testament to the hard work and willingness of the Air Seychelles team to embrace change and make the tough decisions required in reshaping their business.”

Network and fleet planning centralised in Abu Dhabi has resulted in a new network plan, which will support the hugely important tourist sector in Seychelles more effectively with good connections and broader choice for visitors to the archipelago.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Insurance

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

37

Low oil, gas insurance patronage worry stakeholders Oil and gas sector, according to experts, represents the biggest and most lucrative playing field for insurance operators in Nigeria. However, the alleged dismal performance of many local firms in the energy insurance business has left stakeholders worried. MESHACK IDEHEN, writes.

T

hat oil and gas insurance remains one of the most lucrative aspects of insurance business the world over, and that, that aspect of insurance business in Nigeria is mostly underwritten by foreign firms is a reality that many indigenous firms have been and are still grappling with.

Citing the huge funding capacity that is required of companies involved in oil and gas insurance as a major hindrance to insurance firms profitable participation in the energy sector over the years, insurance experts are of the view that the poor state of insurance business and appreciation in Nigeria, alongside its low penetration amongst the populace are traceable to the inability of insurance firms to latch on the goldfield that operating in the oil and gas insurance sector is.

Thus, to many watchers of the sector, the pronouncement recently made by the sector regulators, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), that it was set to establish the Nigerian Oil and Gas Insurance Pool with an initial $20 million funding in order to increase local underwriters’ stake in what many see as the juicy business of energy insurance in Nigeria did not come as a surprise.

However, despite this move by NAICOM which analysts said was long overdue, Insurance Practitioner, Mr. Joachim Adenusi, told National Mirror that claims that arise from losses associated with oil and gas sector insurance are usually enormous; and that it was mainly for this reason that many insurance companies shy away from the business.

While emphasising the need for indigenous firms to fix their eyes on the objective instead of dwelling on the challenges of operating fully in the energy insurance sector, Adenusi said local underwriters can become more active in the energy insurance business if they so choose, and by so doing, will be able to reverse capital flight from the country, considering that other insurance stakeholders, particularly the foreign owned and operated insurance companies comply with NAICOM’s guidelines for the local retention rate targeting 10 per cent, 45 per cent, and 70 per cent that has been set to be achieved between 2006 and 2011.

Furthermore, Adenusi explained that the inability to achieve that target by local insurance firms can also be traced to the failure of government agencies like the Nigerian Local Content Monitoring Board to effectively stamp its authority and enforce the direc-

President, Chartered Insurance Institute, Wole Adetimehin

WHERE THE MAGNITUDE OF THE RISK DEMANDED

IT, SOME COMPANIES HAD FORMED CONSORTIUM AND THAT HAD BEEN APPROVED BY

NATIONAL INSURANCE COMMISSION (NAICOM)

THE

TO ENSURE THE POOLING OF RESOURCES UNDER ONE UMBRELLA TO WRITE THE

RISKS,”

CHIEJINA EXPLAINED

tive of government that indigenous insurance firms be given a major slice of the energy insurance business in the country.

While also admitting that the establishment of the Nigeria Oil and Gas Insurance Pool has become pertinent because of the many opportunities and challenges in the implementation of the Nigerian Content Policy, the Commissioner for Insurance, Mr. Fola Daniel, noted that the move will also boost the local content in the insurance industry.

According to the NAICOM boss, technical capacities, low retention limits of local insurance companies and dearth of financial capabilities amongst

Chairman, Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, Ngozi Olojeme

other challenges, has made the targets remained unrealistic, prompting the commission to look for a more proactive approach to tackling the problem.

On his part though, former Director-General of the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA), Mr. Ezekiel Chiejina, said local insurance does not lack the capacity to underwrite oil and gas insurance account, and that insurance companies in Nigeria have the requisite financial muscle to underwrite oil and gas risks, and have been doing so.

He said over the years, insurance companies have upped the ante of their participation in oil and energy insurance business in Nigeria and in Africa, with the country’s underwriters leading the top five oil accounts on the continent with over N34.6billion.

According to him, the recapitalisation exercise the industry embarked upon has increased the capital base of insurance companies and strengthened them for global competitiveness, with improved capacity to underwrite insurance of oil & gas business.

It was also gathered that the top five oil insurance accounts in the continent are operated by local insurance firms, with Lasaco Assurance Plc leading with the USAN oil fields. Other active local insurance firms operating in the energy sector are Leadway Assurance Plc, Guarantee Trust Assurance (GTA), and International Energy Insurance (IEI) amongst others.

“Where the magnitude of the risk demanded it, some companies had formed consortium and that had been approved by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to ensure the pooling of resources under one umbrella to write the risks,” Chiejina explained.

CIIN takes insurance to schools

T

he President of Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN), Dr. Wole Adetimehin, said the institute is determined to continue with its efforts to encourage and ensure insurance awareness and penetration in Nigeria He said CIIN which is the education arm of the industry in the country, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Education is also working out ways to get states’ ministries of education to enforce the introduction of insurance cur-

riculum in secondary schools.

Disclosing this in an interview in Lagos, Adetimehin said as part of the institute’s strategic action plans, to move round all ministries of education across the nation to canvass for the implementation of the policy.

He said it was in favour of the institute and the industry that the Federal Government made insurance one of the subjects to be examined by West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and National Examinations Council

(NECO), adding that students now have to offer insurance from senior secondary one to three.

“As part of our strategic action plans, we intend moving round all ministries of education across the nation to canvass the implementation of this policy.

We have been to the Federal Ministry of Education and we have gotten the entire curriculum for the schools, now we are partnering the Federal Ministry of Education in enforcing or compelling all the states’ ministries of educa-

tion to implement this new agenda,” he added.

He said the institute is commissioning people to write text books on insurance in line with the curriculum, adding that the effort would create jobs for members of the institute.

It would be recalled that the Federal Government in a bid to deepen insurance awareness, last year, introduced a curriculum that would enable students acquire insurance knowledge at the secondary school level.

38

Insurance

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

NAICOM warns operators over huge expenses STORIES: MESHACK IDEHEN

T

he National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), said more than 80 percent of the income of insurance companies operating in the country are spent on management expenses and other frivolous issues NAICOM Deputy Commissioner in charge of Technical, Mr. Ibrahim Hassan, said in that regard, that Nigerian insurance firms have the highest operational cost among their counterparts in Africa.

Speaking at a workshop for executives of shareholders association and independent directors of insurance companies in Lagos on the theme, “Improving investment attractiveness of the Nigerian insurance industry,” Hassan said there is nowhere in Africa where management expenses for the insurance industry are

Fola Daniel

as high as it is in Nigeria.

He said that many companies spend huge part of the funds, sometimes amounting to over 80 per cent of the income of the firms on management expenses adding that there was the need

for owners of the companies and shareholders to question huge expenses of the firms.

While condemning what he describes as frivolous expenses, he explained any expenses that would be unproductive or that do not generate funds for the insurance companies should not be incurred.

According to him, “Some of the things the insurance companies in Nigeria expend money on are frivolous. Some of the trips are not necessary. They don’t need to embark on trips that are not valueadding. You need to tie every spending to something that should generate income for the company.

“How can you create surplus when you are not spending to invest or expand or make the firm attractive?” he asked.

He noted that the adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS), would improve financial reporting in the industry.

First Bank to float insurance firm

F

irst Bank of Nigeria Plc said it has concluded plans to float a general business arm, and that the bank will soon announce its position on the new underwriting firm it intends to establish.

Having earlier established a life insurance business with Sanlam Emerging Markets of South Africa, insurance sources said the bank has been putting together necessary requirements for the smooth take-off of the firm.

According to the source who asked

not to be named,” We are still working on it, before the end of next month; we will make a formal announcement. At the moment, we can’t say much for we are bound by some level of confidentiality.

When we get to that stage, we will make a formal announcement.”

It would be recalled that FBN Life, a joint venture between First Bank of Nigeria Plc and Sanlam Emerging Markets of South Africa, was licensed to transact life insurance business in Nigeria, start-

ed operations on September 1, 2010 in the joint venture, First Bank of Nigeria Plc owns 65 per cent of FBN Life, while Sanlam owns 35 per cent.

Managing Director, First Bank of Nigeria Life Assurance Limited, Mr. Val Ojumah, said by the middle of this year, that the bank would have acquired a non-life licence either by buying a non-life company or by getting a fresh licence, adding the company is approaching the issue with both hands.

Niger Insurance targets N16bn premium

T

he Managing Director, Niger Insurance Plc, Mr. Kola Adedeji, said the company is targeting a rise ofN16 billion in its premium this financial year.

Speaking during a press conference in Lagos, Adedeji said the company would have a stronger group that will be more responsive to the needs and yearnings of customers and that will be efficiently run in the way of Niger Insurance.

He said in the last one year, the firm had embarked on transformation by xraying the organisation from the board of directors to the employees, while also adding that it did a revaluation of its people, processes, management staff and pipeline staff in an attempt to make the company stronger.

In doing this, Adedeji said the firm employed the services of a consultant who

reviewed its people, processes and products, saying also that the company had reviewed its Information and Communication Technology processes and that the business model will be to be driven

by ICT He said that recently, Niger Insurance got approval from the National Insurance Commission to roll out annuity products, explaining the company is also working on other traditional products to make them more user-friendly because the focus of the firm is now is on the customers.

“What we are trying to do is for them to always come back to make repeat purchase; we want to have satisfied customers, because here, the customer is king,” he said, while noting that the shareholders of the firm were important stakeholders and the management had to create wealth for them.

T

The commission said compliance with the Pension Act, at the minimum, includes ensuring that all employees open Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) with Pension Fund Administrators of their choice; remitting both employer and employee pension contributions to the appropriate Pension Fund Custodian not later than seven days from the date of payment of salaries and transferring pension funds and assets prior to the commencement of the Pension Act to licensed pension operators.

Tips for selling insurance policies to big businesses

M

any small businesses make some basic blunders in trying to sell to Fortune 500 companies. Here are tips on how to land a big corporate account.

Do your homework- Prepared entrepreneurs know what products or services the prospect is already using that they might be able to provide. They have scoped out the competition and are ready to explain why doing business with their small business will be better.

Be ready with your short pitch- The “elevator pitch” is alive and well in the halls of big-company vendor departments, especially on mass “supplier day” events. Be ready to explain what you do and why you are a better alternative within 30-60 seconds.

Have your financials in order- Know that big-company buyers will investigate your credit, both when you land the account and on a regular basis. They are looking at doing business with you as a risk. If your review shows you’re in the red, you could lose the account.

Be able to deliver- If you don’t have the manufacturing capacity to sell a big national chain your product, make that clear at the outset. Big companies want to form ongoing relationships, not make spot buys, so be sure you can provide the volume they need.

Plan to follow up- Buyers are busy. Be a little persistent -- but not a pest -- and buyers will get the picture that you’re serious. Leave your meeting by asking. What is the best way for me to follow up with you?

Source: www.entrepreneur.com

Auto insurance tips you need to know

D

Adedeji

Lamenting though that despite the huge population of Nigeria that the participation of insurance is still low. He said the firm is committed to marketing retail insurance through well-trained agency system.

317 firms for govt’s contracts, says PenCom

he National Pension Commission (PenCom), said 317 private sector organisations have been okayed for government contracts, and that by this certification, the companies can bid for contracts with the Federal Government, its Ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).

According to PenCom, this development is by virtue of the certificate of compliance issued to these organisations

by PenCom, after having provided evidence of complying with provisions of the Pension Reform Act (2004).

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

The Compliance Certificate replaces the erstwhile Letters of Compliance that were issued to organisations bidding or soliciting for contracts with Federal Government MDAs. Earlier, PenCom had brought it to the attention of all organisations and the public that any supplier, contractor or consultant bidding or soliciting contract or business from any MDA must fulfil all its obligations on pensions, and that the commission has been updating the list of organisations that have been issued compliance certificates.

o you drive a car? The chances are if you are reading this then you do. Keeping a car running can be expensive. Between gas and repairs you can end up paying for one twice over. Here are four auto insurance tips that might just help cut the cost of running that car.

Get rid of unnecessary policies - If you have an unpaid loan on a car, the loan issuer will require that you have collision insurance to cover any damage done to the car. If you have an old car that you’ve fully paid for or you have saved enough to buy a new one, collision insurance is unnecessary. The cost of repairing damage to an old car will probably end up costing more than the car itself, due the depreciation in its value.

Defensive driving - Most insurance companies will give you a cheaper quote if you have taken a recognised defensive driving course. Some defensive driving and accident prevention courses can also take points off your licence. Remember, before you run out the door waving this auto insurance tip around, that you should ask your insurance agent how much it can cut from the cost of your premium first.

Use public transport - When you sign up for car insurance, one of the questions you will be asked is how many miles you drive on average per year. If you exclusively use your car to travel, you can save on auto insurance by taking public transport every now and then. Once again, remember to ask your insurance agent how many miles fewer you would have to travel to begin saving.

Source: (www.smallbusiness.yahoo.com)

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Capital Market

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

39

NSE to appoint supplemental market makers • Equities slide by 0.12% DAMILOLA AJAYI

F

ollowing the completion of the sixmonth roll-out period for primary market making in equities, the Nigerian Stock Exchange is set to appoint supplemental market makers.

The Executive Director, Market Operations and Technology of the NSE, Mr. Adeolu Bajomo, disclosed this yesterday in Lagos that each stock quoted on the NSE’s Daily Official List will have one primary marker and two supplemen-

tal market markers from next week.

He said, “As we are all aware, the activities of primary market makers began last September, in which they were 10 companies that made market for a couple of stocks for a period of six months. We are glad to announce to you that the roll-out period will elapse by the end of this month.

“Therefore, we want to announce that the activities of the supplemental market makers would begin as from Tuesday, April 2, 2013, and these firms will act as a backup and

will compliment the firms who are already primary market makers.”

Meanwhile, profit taking by some investors dragged down the benchmark index of equities on the Exchange.

Specifically, the All Share Index dropped by 0.12 per cent to close at 33,467.78 points, as against the rise of 0.43 per cent recorded on Friday to close at 33, 506.88 points.

Market capitalisation shed N2bn to close at N10.70trn, in contrast to the increase of N5bn recorded on Friday to close at N10.72trn.

The Insurance index

led the sectorial indices with 1.32 per cent to close at 155.59 points, followed by the Banking index with 0.29 per cent to close at 407.11 points.

The NSE 30-index shed 0.15 per cent to close at 1,595.03 points, while the Consumer Goods index depreciated by 0.46 per cent to close at 960.07 points.

The Oil and Gas index lost 0.45 per cent to close at 194.99 points, while Lotus Islamic index declined by 0.46 per cent to close at 2,174.29 points.

A total of 481.6 million shares valued at N2.83bn were traded in 5,013 deals.

Source: NSE

FBN commends FG, NSE on tax regime for holding companies JOHNSON OKANLAWON

F

irst Bank of Nigeria Holdings Plc has expressed delight at the timely resolution of tax issues which has engendered an equitable taxation regime for bank holding companies.

The bank holding companies emerged in compliance with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s directive, requiring the separation of commercial banking business from other financial services businesses.

A statement from the bank yesterday quoted the Chief Executive Officer of FBN Holdings Plc, Mr. Bello Maccido, as saying

that the holding companies at inception faced a major concern over possible interpretation of existing tax statutes that would lead to the double taxation of dividends.

According to him, there was also a concern about the magnitude of transaction costs that would be incurred by the banks in responding to the change in regulations.

He said, “It was therefore necessary for bank holding companies to seek mitigation of some of these costs through waivers and concessions from the regulatory authorities. It was very clear that without government’s intervention, the companies would have

faced possible challenges in this regard.”

Maccido said the Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi OkonjoIweala in concert with the Federal Inland Revenue Service team was very instrumental to ensuring that the tax issues were heard and resolved in good time to meet the CBN deadline.

He noted that the Securities and Exchange Commission, Nigerian Stock Exchange and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) were equally very receptive to discussions on reduction of transaction costs for bank holding companies.

According to Maccido, the leadership of the Fed-

eral Ministry of Finance and the FIRS had through the resolution of the tax issues demonstrated their commitment to ensuring greater good of the economy and stimulation of economic activity.

“We salute the professionalism and insight of Okonjo-Iweala, and the FIRS team for the progress so far recorded,” he added.

Maccido said the holding company structure would enhance the group’s competitiveness, streamline and coordinate various operations across nonbank financial services and further exploit opportunities for synergies between subsidiaries.

SEC approves Nasdaq’s $62m settlement for Facebook

R

egulators cleared Nasdaq OMX Group Incorporation’s plan to pay $62m to compensate brokers for its mishandling of Facebook Incorporation’s public debut, dealing a defeat to Wall Street firms that say they lost many times that amount.

Nasdaq’s proposal was opposed by Citigroup Incorporation and UBS AG, which said in letters urging the SEC to reject it that losses within their market-making units exceeded $62m.

Nasdaq, balancing its role as an organization with legal immunity for technology breakdowns with its obligations to members, said the pool covers objective, discernible losses suffered by bro-

kers.

While agreeing the proposal won’t compensate all purported losses, the SEC said it provides significantly more compensation for eligible claims, outside of litigation, than would otherwise be available.

The commission said, “Accordingly, approval of the proposed rule change will make more funds available to compensate investors and Nasdaq members under Nasdaq rules, which the commission believes is in the public interest.”

Bloomberg reported yesterday that Citigroup spokesman, Mr. Scott Helfman, declined to comment on the settlement.

The New York-based spokeswoman for UBS,

Mr. Megan Stinson, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Under existing rules, Nasdaq’s liability for losses related to computer malfunctions is $3m, and may have been as low as $500,000 in the Facebook case, the SEC said in its order.

“We’re pleased that the Securities and Exchange Commission has approved our accommodation plan, which will enable our customers and members and market participants to receive appropriate restitution as FINRA promptly begins processing claims,” Joseph Christinat, a spokesman for Nasdaq OMX, said.

The pricing of the first public transaction on May 18, a trade known as

the IPO cross, took a half hour longer than Nasdaq planned because of technical malfunctions.

In May, Nasdaq OMX Chief Executive Officer Robert Greifeld acknowledged poor design in software put the opening auction into a loop that delayed its completion.

Nasdaq’s handling of the Facebook IPO may still end up in court. In approving the rule change needed to accommodate the payouts, the SEC said the question of whether Nasdaq is entitled to regulatory immunity in its handling of the offering is outside the scope of the decision.

Nasdaq has made releasing it from legal liability a condition for receiving compensation.

Source: FMDA

Market indicators All-Share Index 33,467.78 points Market capitalisation 10.71 trillion

Stock Updates GAINERS COMPANY

OPENING

CLOSING

CHANGE

AIRSERVICE

5.00

5.50

0.50

% CHANGE 10.00

ABCTRANS

0.55

0.60

0.05

9.09

PRESTIGE

0.73

0.78

0.05

6.85

WEMABANK

1.47

1.55

0.08

5.44

OKOMUOIL

61.00

64.04

3.04

4.98

LIVESTOCK

2.21

2.32

0.11

4.98

MANSARD

2.51

2.63

0.12

4.78

JAPAULOIL

0.65

0.68

0.03

4.62

ASHAKACEM

23.91

25.00

1.09

4.56

WAPIC

1.40

1.43

0.03

2.14

CHANGE

% CHANGE

LOSERS COMPANY

OPENING

CLOSING

VITAFOAM

3.86

3.51

0.35

-9.07

INTBREW

21.85

20.16

1.69

-7.73

RTBRISCOE

2.25

2.09

0.16

-7.11

DNMEYER

1.95

1.85

0.10

-5.13

CADBURY

34.95

33.21

1.74

-4.98

ETERNA

3.63

3.45

0.18

-4.96

IPWA

0.81

0.77

0.04

-4.94

NPFMCRFBK

1.04

0.99

0.05

-4.81

IKEJAHOTEL

0.86

0.82

0.04

-4.65

Primary Market Auction TENOR

AMOUNT (N’mn)

RATE (%)

DATE

91-Days

31,838.51

11.70

28-Mar-13

182-Days

49,081.14

13.00

28-Mar-13

-

-

-

-

Open Market Operations TENOR

AMOUNT (N’mn)

RATE (%)

DATE

350-Days

32,549.40

15.05

28-Mar-13

335-Days

92,093.70

14.50

28-Mar-13

Wholesale Dutch Auction System AMOUNT OFFERED

MARKET DEMAND

AMOUNT SOLD

DATE

$300m

N/A

$276m

25-Mar-13

$280m

N/A

$280m

20-Mar-13

40

Capital Market

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Stock exchange daily equities summary Equities as at March 25, 2013 1st Tier Securities

1st Tier Securities Sector

Company name

No Of Deals

Quotation(N)

Quantity Traded

Value of Shares(N)

Sector

Company name

No Of Deals

Quotation(N)

Quantity Traded

Value of Shares(N)

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Politics

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Ondo guber: Waiting for judgement CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13

described them as “vague, generic, speculative and nebulous.”

ACN/Akeredolu’s case ACN and its candidate, Akeredolu, were the first to present their case at the tribunal. For about seven days, the petitioners strived to persuade the court that the election was characterised by irregularities and that it should be nullified. They presented 41 witnesses out of 80 listed including the party’s candidate and one of the experts employed to obtain and analyse data from INEC, just as they brought documents in 18 Ghana-must-go-bags to strengthen their case.

All the ACN witnesses told the tribunal that the conduct of the election was fraught with several malpractices. But most revealing was the testimony of the party’s expert witness, Sunday Afolayan. The graphic expert told the court that he analysed in his report that there was a total number of 164, 072 names injected into the 2012 voters’ register used in the election.

Afolayan added that the findings further revealed that injections into the 2012 voters’ register as used for the October 20, 2012 election occurred in 2,021 polling units and that 4,158 names that were in the 2011 register disappeared from the 2012 register.

He said: “Further examination of this subset of data revealed that they are indeed deliberate voters’ data injection into the R2012 Register. In R2012 Register, we found cropped pictures/photographs instead of directly captured photographs used in voter’s registration. Such is abnormal and it reflects voters’ data injections.

“Two hundred and seven names that were duplicated in the R2011 Voters’ Register have been reduced to a single entry in the 2012 register. 50, 180 names that were single entry in the R2011 voters’ register had their records duplicated in the 2012 voters’ register.

“Data cleaning was done in a questionable manner. Duplicate records in the R2011 register still found their way into the R2012 while some duplicate records in 2011 were eliminated from 2012 register. The magnitude of the evidence gathered in our opinion conclusively proves that there were gross deliberate voters’ data injections into the voters’ register used for the October 20, 2012 gubernatorial election.”

The report signed by a six-man team of experts was admitted in evidence by the tribunal and marked as exhibits. But the court rejected the petitioners’ prayer that Afolayan be allowed to demonstrate by use of electronic gadgets how the 2012 voters’ register was manipulated by the INEC. The attempt by Akeredolu to further demonstrate and explain the content of the expert report was met by serious opposition by the respondents and consequently disallowed by the tribunal.

The ACN candidate alleged that there were cases of ballot hijacking, ballot box stuffing, massive multiple thumb-printing of ballot papers by the LP agents on the election day and that the election was marred by irregularities, non-compliance with the electoral act, glaring violence, malpractices and allocation of votes to LP.

Oke’s case Almost immediately after ACN and Ak-

HE (MIMIKO) HAD LISTED 850 WITNESSES TO PROVE HIS CASE. BUT AFTER CALLING 15 WITNESSES OUT OF WHICH TWO WERE

REJECTED, COUNSELS TO THE GOVERNOR AND

LP SHOCKED

THE COURT BY

WITNESSES eredolu closed their case, Olusola Oke of the PDP opened his case. For eight days, 45 witnesses, including Oke, testified for the PDP candidate, all of who claimed the election was rigged in favour of Governor Mimiko. Oke also tendered through his counsels, some of the documents used by INEC in the conduct of the election to prove that over 100, 000 names were illegally injected into the 2012 voters’ register; that 150, 000 people voted without accreditation and other sundry allegations.

The tribunal threw out the application of Oke for the production and tendering of the original copy of the 2011 voters’ register, saying it lacked merit. Oke’s counsel, Dr. Kayode Olatoke, later applied that since the 2011 voters’ register had been tendered in ACN’s petition and marked as exhibit P101-P117, the court should admit it and marked same as exhibit P101-P117 in Oke’s petition because of the two consolidated petitions. Despite the vehement opposition by Eyitayo Jegede, who appeared for Mimiko, the tribunal granted the application.

The panel also rejected 12 volumes of documents containing expert analyses on the 2011 and 2012 voters’ registers brought by Oke. It also disallowed Oke from tendering the documents through his lead counsel, Alhaji Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), on grounds that the documents were neither signed nor were they pleaded in the petition. The documents contain details of the injected names into the 2012 voters’ register.

The PDP candidate told the panel that election in all the 16 local governments he was challenging was a monumental failure and an embarrassment to the nation. He said the people were recorded on form EC8A as having voted while the accreditation list showed lesser number as accredited voters.

Akeredolu, tribunal chairman’s altercation There was a drama the day Mimiko opened his defence as Akeredolu and the tribunal chairman engaged in a serious altercation. The altercation occured during the cross-examination of one of Mimiko’s witnesses, Benson Aluta, from Ward 10, Unit 1, Ondo East Local Government Area of the state. Counsel to the ACN candidate, Lasun Sanusi, had requested the chairman to read out his record owing to a disagreement between him and Mimiko’s lawyer over the cross-examination of the witness.

election day and that the election was not marred by irregularities, non-compliance with the Electoral Act, glaring violence, malpractices and allocation of votes to LP. But the story changed when the witnesses were confronted with the contentious voters’ register used for the election and results sheets of their respective polling units which had earlier been admitted as exhibits by the tribunal. Virtually all the witnesses confirmed from the voters’ register and the result sheets that some people identified voted twice. They also confirmed that some other persons voted either without accreditation or fingerprints against the Electoral Law. They also confirmed overvoting, manipulation of the voters’ register and form EC8A.

Sudden closure of defence

WITHDRAWING FROM FURTHER PRESENTING

41

Olujimi

Olanipekun

To settle the matter, Justice Kaka’an read out his record which was followed by murmuring and side talks.

Irked by the development, Justice Kaka’an handed down a warning, saying “This tribunal will not entertain any side talk. We are here for a serious business and we need to conduct ourselves properly before this tribunal as honourable members of our noble profession.”

But Akeredolu, who stood up to express his displeasure, replied: “I was the one that made the statement. What I said was that the tribunal chairman did not record correctly the statements of the witness. What was recorded was different from what the witness said. We are prepared to challenge this proceeding at a higher court because this is not the final court on the matter.”

Justice Kaka’an, who was apparently embarrassed, said Akeredolu, being a senior member of the bar, could petition the National Judicial Commission (NJC) and ask for the dissolution of the panel. He said it would not be the first time tribunals would be dissolved, adding that they would be happy to go to their homes if they were sacked.

Counsel to Mimiko, John Baiyeshea, apologised to the tribunal members to prevent the matter, which halted proceedings for a few minutes, from escalating.

Mimiko’s witnesses in the box Governor Mimiko called 13 witnesses in the case of ACN and Akeredolu and 13 others in that of Oke. All the 26 witnesses claimed that the election was free and fair, saying that there were no multiple voting, thump printing of ballot papers by the LP agents on the

Against all expectations, Governor Mimiko’s defence could not last more than two days. The governor was given five days to persuade the court that his victory was not vitiated by fraud. He had listed 850 witnesses to prove his case. But after calling 15 witnesses out of which two were rejected, counsels to the governor and LP shocked the court by withdrawing from further presenting witnesses and tendering evidence in defence of the victory of Mimiko in the election.

Baiyeshea told the court that “we have taken analysis of the matter and we found it legally convenient and prudent to close our case for the 1st respondent.” Ayo Olanrewaju, counsel to LP, aligned with the position of Baiyeshea and told the court that he would neither call any witness nor tender any document. The development dazed counsel to INEC, Tunde Falola, who described it as surprising but a welcome one.

LP, which ought to have opened its case after Mimiko, did not tender any evidence before the tribunal.

Following the sudden closure of Mimiko and LP’s defence, INEC was asked to open its case but the counsel to the commission asked for more time to prepare. The electoral body, which was expected to call 130 witnesses to justify its position that the election was free and fair, however, finally closed it case after two adjournments without calling any witness or tendering any document. Counsel to INEC, Chief Gboyega Awomolo (SAN), informed the court that the commission would not call any witness to defend itself, pointing out that most aspect of the petition that concerned the electoral body had been struck out by the tribunal on February 4, 2013. He added that evidence derived under cross-examination of witnesses would be relied upon as they were sufficient enough.

All the respondents also suddenly closed their defence against the petition of Oke. Olanipekun, counsel to Mimiko, who opened his defence shortly after INEC closed its case against the petition of ACN, told the tribunal that his client would be closing his case after calling 13 witnesses.

In the same vein, counsel to LP, Yusuf Ali, and that of INEC, Dr. Ifeanyi Ikpeazu, said they would not call any witness as they would rely on the evidences of the witnesses brought by Mimiko.

Excitement in the opposition camp The premature closure of the respondents’ defence elicited wild jubilation in the camps of the opposition parties, as they saw it as a sign that Mimiko and his CONTINUED ON PAGE 44

42

Politics

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Fresh crisis brews over 2013 Budget, Oteh THE

PARLIAMENT Following the letter written by President Goodluck Jonathan to the National Assembly seeking a review of the 2013 Budget, the House of Representatives has once again passed a resolution demanding for the removal of the Director General Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ms. Arunma Oteh.

TORDUE SALEM reports on the development.

T

he 2013 Budget which was signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan three weeks ago, like other budgets in recent past, may face implementation problem.

But before the implementation process begins, the House of Representatives has to grapple with the decision of President Jonathan to throw back the 2013 Budget at the parliament, insisting that the hallowed chambers must include an allocation for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), lower the benchmark and rejig certain sub-heads that have largely to do with constituency projects.

President Jonathan in a letter to the National Assembly, last week, had listed a number of injurious clauses in the 2013 Budget and subsequently asked the National Assembly to amend those sections of the law.

The clauses, according to the President, are injurious to the spirit of separation of powers and if not amended, could hamper the work of the executive arm of government concerning the implementation of the budget.

The affected clauses include clause 6(ii), which states that, “The Accountant General of the Federation shall forward to the National Assembly full details of funds released to the government agencies immediately such funds are released.”

Also clause 9, which states that, “All accounting officers of ministries, parastatals and departments of government who control heads of expenditure shall upon the coming into effect of this act furnish the National Assembly on quarterly basis with detailed information on the internally generated revenue of the agency in any form whatsoever.”

According to the President, these clauses run counter to the established chain of reporting.

The President also complained about clause 7, which states that, “The Minister of Finance shall ensure that funds appropriated under this act are released to the appropriate agencies or organ of government as and when due, provided that no funds for any quarter of the fiscal year shall be deferred without prior waiver from the National Assembly.”

The other clause, which the President found objectionable is clause 10, which states that, “All revenue however described, including all fees received, fines, grants, budgetary provisions and all internally generated revenue shall not

Tambuwal

Oteh

IF OUR MOTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS DO NOT HAVE ANY EFFECT...

THEN LET US CLOSE THIS CHAMBER AND GO AWAY be spent by the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) for current or capital purpose or for any other matters, nor liabilities thereon incurred except with prior appropriation and approval by the National Assembly.”

On this, the President noted that considering the fact that the budget of SEC does not form part of the core 2013 federal budget as presented to the National Assembly, this clause ought not to have been inserted in the 2013 Appropriation Act in the first place.

Secondly, the President stated that the import of the clause was tantamount to shutting down the business of the commission with a potential negative impact on the capital market.

The National Assembly had given SEC a zero allocation, insisting that there won’t be money for the agency, until Jonathan sacked its Director General, Ms. Arunma Oteh.

The National Assembly, especially the House of Representatives sees the Presidency’s insistence on a rejigged budget to accommodate the SEC as a decoy to imperil the budget.

Based on that understanding, the House, instead of proceeding to amend the money law, urged President Jonathan to sack Oteh from office.

The motion to sack Oteh was sponsored by Deputy Minority Whip, Hon. Garba Datti, titled: Motion on the “Blatant Disregard of Resolutions of the House of Representatives.”

In his the motion which was summarily passed, Datti noted “with grave concern the persistent and blatant disregard of the resolutions of the House of Rep-

resentatives,” by the Presidency. He said he was aware “that most of these resolutions, though products of motions, hinge on fundamental public duty placed on public officers by the constitution under the fundamental objectives and directive principles of state policy.”

The lawmaker observed that “the motion urging the removal of Oteh, for instance, hinged on the fact that her appointment as Director General of SEC was a gross violation of the Commission Act as she does not possess the minimum professional qualification prescribed for appointment to that position.”

He said he was surprised “that recently the executive has adopted the dangerous and vexatious approach of picking and choosing the implementation of resolutions of the Senate on the removal of Abdulrasheed Maina, the Pension Task Force boss, while still disregarding the long pending motion on the removal of the Director General of SEC.” The lawmaker noted that “resolutions bordering on the breach of extant legislations should not be treated with levity as such tends to portray government in bad light.”

Hon. Aminu Suleiman (PDP-Kano), Chairman of the House Committee on Education, in his contribution, said: “If our motions and resolutions do not have any effect, if we cannot pass resolutions and it be complied, then let us close this chamber and go away.

“If this action taken against Oteh is in the best interest of this country, let us do so.”

In his intervention, the Minority Leader, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila (ACNLagos), said: “This motion is provoked by the letter Mr. President sent yesterday stating clearly that the House has gone outside its purview because of SEC. It has opened a can of worms again. Let us draw Mr. President’s attention to section 21 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act and he will know that his refusal to comply with the provisions is what shut SEC down.”

The House presided over by Speaker Aminu Tambuwal, directed the “House

Committee on Legislative Compliance to monitor and revert to the House within 21 days.”

In a chat with National Mirror, a member of the House who does not want his name in print, said the motion is a “direct response to Mr. President’s insistence that the SEC must be included in the 2013 Budget.”

He added that: “I think the President is sending a divisive signal in the sense that some people are untouchable and cannot be removed. But the same President removed former NCAA DG, Dr. Harold Demuren, when we recommended that he should do so. He also removed Abdulrasheed Maina, the former assistant director in the Pension office, so why is Oteh’s case so special and different. It is curious to us,” he submitted.

The House, like the Senate has always rightly claimed authority over the budget as stipulated in sections 80, 83 and 162 of the 1999 Constitution, but a motion the House passed last week betrayed a House that is in a pitiable self-doubt. That motion also exposed the underlying reasons why budget spats persist between the executive and the National Assembly.

Last week, the House set up a joint committee to take an audit of power generating and distribution companies and to also negotiate for an allocation in the 2013 Budget for them.

The House had through a motion sponsored by the Chairman of the Power Committee, Hon. Patrick Ikhariale (PDPEdo), queried the Ministry of Finance for not voting some money in the budget for the companies.

Ikhariale warned that if the zero allocation is sustained, there would be a rollback of the gains so far recorded by those divisions in the power supply or production chain.

After a short debate, the Green Chamber passed a resolution urging the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to accommodate the financial needs of all the Power Distribution Companies (DISCOS) and Power Generation Companies (GENCOS) in a supplementary budget to assist them in the discharge of their function of electricity supply to Nigerians while the privatisation process lasted.

The motion was adopted and referred to the Committees on Power, Privatisation and Government Reforms.

The decision of the House to take such a motion and set up an unnecessary probe to find out why money was not allotted in the budget for these electricity companies therefore meant that the House doubted its powers to create sub-heads in the budget for agencies.

The argument that the power companies were yet to be fully privatised and therefore needed to be sustained by government, made sense. But that this motion contradicted its constant position that the National Assembly has power over appropriations did not help that claim.

Passing motions to insist that the President respects the authority of the National Assembly on the budget and turning around to deplete one’s authority by questioning the Presidency’s decision not to include a sub-head in a budget can give room for a breach of the Appropriation Act and disrespect of the National Assembly authority.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Politics

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

From all indications, the state of the nation address bill, which was passed by the Senate last week is nothing but the outward expression of the anger of the lawmakers over the president’s penchant for treating the resolution and bills passed by the National Assembly with disdain, writes GEORGE OJI.

Again, Senate passes State of the Nation Address Bill

I

n all intents and purposes, what the Senate did last week was to legislate the breach of the State of the Nation Address by the president as an impeachable offence. The bill gives the National Assembly powers to summon the president to appear before the parliament every year to render account of his stewardship. The bill, no doubt, is a way of sending a strong message to the president that the National Assembly was no longer comfortable with him choosing which laws of the parliament to obey or not.

The bill, which is a harmonised version of that of the House of Representatives and of the Senate provides that, “Where the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria fails, neglects or refuses to render account of his stewardship within the time stipulated by section 1 of this bill, the National Assembly may by resolution supported by 2/3 majority votes of members of each house of the National Assembly, summon the president to address the nation pursuant to the provisions of this bill.” With this, the National Assembly is no doubt heading for a head-on collision with the president because it is clearly foreseeable that the president will withhold his assent to the bill.

Essentially, the State of the Nation Address Bill, seeks to compel each sitting president to, once every year, deliver an address before the joint sitting of the National Assembly. The address will appraise the administration’s performances on critical issues of the polity.

The bill, which was passed last week by the Senate when it becomes fully operational will make it mandatory for the president of the country at any given time to deliver a state of the nation address annually before a joint sitting of the two chambers of the National Assembly. The address, which is to be delivered on the first legislative day of July every year, is different from the annual budget address.

The president in the national address is to focus on such issues as national security, the economy, foreign policy and social justice. The bill also provides that each chamber of the National Assembly shall debate the issues raised within 14 days following the presentation of the state of the nation address.

It also provides that the National Assembly shall pass a resolution after debating the address and shall communicate the resolution so reached to the president within 60 days from the date of such address.

In other jurisdictions of the world where the state of the nation address is practiced, it is doubtful whether the practice is compulsive. Historically, in the United States of America where the practice has its root, it was the legendry late George Washington, who was the first America president

Mark

Ekweremadu

THE STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS WOULD BE AN OPPORTUNITY FOR THE PRESIDENT TO PRESENT THE MID-TERM REPORT OF HIS GOVERNMENT,

ENLIGHTEN THE PEOPLE ON A NUMBER OF ISSUES AND THUS HELP IN DOUSING TENSION to deliver the State of the Union address.

That very eventful event took place at the Federal Hall, New York. The address was before a joint session of the United States of America parliament, comprising the Senate and House of Representatives.

As a result of the limitations of technological development then, it was not possible to transmit the address beyond the precincts of the congress hall. However, with the advent of the electronic media, the state of the union address of the United States of America has since been transmitted beyond the congress. It has become an opportunity for the United States President to communicate with American people and the whole world at the same time. President Calvin Coolidge’s address in 1923 became the first to be broadcast on radio while that of Harry Truman in 1947 was the first to be broadcast on television.

It was many years later that the state of the nation address practice was enshrined in the American Constitution. The American Constitution in article Article 11, section 3, merely provides that, “The President shall from time to time give to congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.”

In South Africa, former President Nelson Mandela is reputed as the first to deliver the state of the nation address before the first democratically elected legislature on May 24, 1994. Up till date, the state of the nation address is yet to form part of the constitution of the South African country.

In Africa, it is only in Ghana and Zimbabwe that have been able to entrench the state of the nation address as part of their constitution.

All around the world, countries are us-

ing the opportunity of the state of the nation address to, “advance good governance and the well-being of their people.”

The state of the nation address bill, which was first introduced by the Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu in 2004 has undergone through very tortuous journey. First, the bill could not survive the 5th National Assembly. This was because of the provisions of section 64 of the 1999 Constitution, which states that the Senate and the House of Representatives shall each stand dissolved at the expiration of a period of four years commencing from the first sitting of both houses.

But during the 6th National Assembly, precisely in 2010, the bill was successfully passed by both chambers of the parliament and transmitted to President Goodluck Jonathan for his assent. But for some inexplicable reasons, the president withheld his assent to the bill. As a result, it did not survive the 6th National Assembly.

Determined to make the bill a part of the nation’s laws, both arms of the National Assembly upon resumption, immediately reintroduced the bill in the 7th National Assembly. In the House of Representatives, it did not take time to be passed by the lawmakers and transmitted to the Senate for concurrence.

The day the bill was slated for second reading, the senators could barely conceal their anger with President Jonathan’s failure to assent to the bill when it was first sent to him for his signature. Indeed, it took the personal intervention of the Deputy Senate President who presided at the days plenary to calm the angry senators.

The summary of the opinion of the senators that day was that debating the bill again after it had gone through all the whole gamut of legislative processes was

43

nothing but a waste of the precious time of the parliament. They made it clear that the legislature would not condone the waste of its time and resources by the President by refusing to assent to the bills passed by the Senate.

Ekweremadu, who first introduced the original bill in 2004, explained that in 2007, he took pains to personally explain the imports of the bill to the late President Umaru Yar’Adua. According to him, it did not take time for the late president to buy into the bill and looked forward to being the first president of Nigeria that would deliver the first state of the nation address. Unfortunately, Yar’Adua could not live long enough to accomplish that aspiration.

Ekweremadu, who expressed surprise at the unwillingness of Jonathan to assent to the bill when it was passed by both arms of the National Assembly in 2010, however recalled that during the public hearing on the bill, representatives of the executive, particularly the Attorney General and Minister of Justice were part of the process. He said government raised the concern that the bill was not necessary given that sections 81 of the constitution already contained provisions that required the president to lay similar address before the National Assembly. He said the lawmakers took time to explain why the bill was different from the constitutional provisions and expected the executive to have been convinced by the position of the parliament.

The position of the parliament was succinctly stated by the Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba in his lead presentation: “What the state of the nation address bill seeks to do, therefore, is to recognise that as a convention; an annual presidential budget speech now exists; and to make that convention, an act of the National Assembly is required so that it becomes binding, mandatory and enforceable.”

According to Ndoma-Egba, “the state of the nation address bill does not therefore seek to foreclose presentation of the annual budget speech nor to duplicate that function.” On the contrary, the lawmaker explained that, “It seeks rather to enshrine a forum where the president, in company of the vice-president and the head of the judicial arm of government (the Chief Justice of the Federation) presents to a joint sitting of the National Assembly an address on the critical issues, comprehensively appraising and reflecting on government performance in the past year and setting goals and agenda for the ensuing year through broad ideas and specific details.”

The Senate Leader further remarked that most of the advanced and a number of emerging democracies around the world have entrenched this in their governance process even as a constitutional obligation.

For Senator Eta Enang, the state of the nation address would be an opportunity for the president to present the mid-term report of his government, enlighten the people on a number of issues and thus help in dousing tension between the executive and the parliament.

44

Politics

UCHE IGWE, a Doctoral Researcher at the University of Sussex, takes a critical look at the book - Conscience and History – written by former governor of Rivers State, Dr. Peter Odili.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Of Peter Odili’s conscience or lack of it

Y

et another book has been written about the politics of the recent past. Now their action is over what they seem to believe it is time to tell their stories. Everyone has the right of free expression, at least in Nigeria, and so they should go ahead and tell their stories. As someone put it, ‘If you do not agree with what was written, then, write your own story’.

This time, I had to borrow a copy of the new book ‘Conscience and History’ written by former governor of Rivers State, Dr. Peter Odili. I have never met the man in person. The closest I came to meeting him was a condolence visit to the Rivers State Government House, led by the former Minister of Education Oby Ezekwesili after the Sosoliso airline crash in 2005 in which both the then President of PENGASSAN, Comrade Uche M. Okoro and Odili’s relation lost their lives. Unfortunately I could not go in with the delegation to see the governor as I was submerged in other logistics. So all I know about him come from the general public perception and from the bits and pieces of information that I pick up in the media.

Those who know Dr. Odili better than I do say he is a generous man. Some say, even to a fault. Many believe that this actually became his Achilles hill as he allegedly failed to differentiate between state funds and private funds in pursuit of his generosity and philanthropic inclinations. In the process, he acquired an illusory legitimacy among the elite for whom it became an article of faith that ‘Peter pays’. Granted, some of his donations were for worthy causes, yet how can one explain that Rivers State alone donated N350 million out of a total of N405 million collected for the building of the National Christian Centre in Abuja. Despite all these, ‘Donatus’ was still allegedly alienated from the ordinary people that he was elected to govern.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Odili

Pundits proclaim that the tragedy of Odili’s book is that of timing. If it is designed as a public relations offering, then it came a little too late. Many Nigerians have obviously already made up their minds about the author, and there is some unwritten consensus about what his name conjures in the political arena. Rightly or wrongly.

Reading his story produced mixed feelings as one got the impression of a hastily assembled selective narrative by someone extremely unhappy with his place in history. The fact that the book contains almost 70 pages of pictures may lead some people to dismiss it as a desperate and distorted effort by the author to launder his battered image. I feel differently about it though. Clearly, I have learnt a lot reading the book. No book on Nigerian politics is a waste of time, no matter how partisan or self-serving. In his book, Dr. Odili revealed himself as an astute and very experienced politician that went through a lot of grooming on the art of politics; an accomplished medical practitioner, and a self made man.

I was amazed to learn that he was an ex-Biafran soldier, a member of both the Constituent Assembly in 1988/89 and the Constitutional Conference in 1994/95 even before he emerged as a Deputy Governor.

Three things jumped at me which I hope to talk about in this review. The first is the outstanding entrepreneurship acumen of the author. Imagine starting life with only one pound after the civil war and multiplying it through hard work. I wonder why he omitted the name of the person who provided him such a lifeline in his book. I commend the resilience evident in his account of how he conquered poverty early in life and rose from a pauperised background to relative comfort even while still in the medical school at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

The second point is the author’s gracious description of former Head of State Abdulsalami Abubakar. In his own words: “Abubakar must be remembered kindly in history and commended for being the shortest military regime in Africa with an unquestionable noble commitment to return to democratic governance. He resisted the trap of an extended transition and rebuffed entreaties for some prolongation under one guise or another.” Though I concur with the author on this point, a few more knowledgeable people hold the view that the former Head of State merely responded to domestic and international pressure at that time.

The third and probably most important thing was the articulate vision that Dr. Odili had before he resumed office and what

HE ACQUIRED AN

ILLUSORY LEGITIMACY AMONG THE ELITE FOR WHOM IT BECAME AN ARTICLE OF FAITH

‘PETER PAYS’...

DESPITE ALL THESE, ‘DONATUS’ WAS STILL THAT

ALLEGEDLY ALIENATED FROM THE ORDINARY PEOPLE THAT HE WAS ELECTED TO GOVERN

Ondo guber: Waiting for judgement CONTINUED FROM PAGE 41 party had thrown in the towel. This, however, led to a fracas involving supporters of LP, ACN and PDP in which a number of people were injured.

But a legal practitioner and human rights activist, Barrister Yemi Adetoyinbo, told National Mirror that there was nothing wrong for a party to close his case at any point in time if he deems it necessary. According to him, the respondents’ lawyers must have had their reasons for choosing to close their defence against popular expectations.

The contentious voters’ register Before the election, INEC said 1,654,205 eligible voters would be participating in the governorship election. The INEC Director of Voters’ Registration, Mr. Emmanuel Akem, stated this in Akure at the public presentation of soft copies of the voters’ register. But the Akeredolu Campaign organization (ACO) challenged the commission to explain how it came about 1,654,205 registered voters in the state. Speaking through its Director of Media, Publicity and Strategy, Mr. Idowu Ajanaku, ACO said it wondered if the electoral body was not saying that the Mimiko-led administration had succeeded in smuggling the result of its biometric registration exercise into the data base of INEC.

The State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Akin Orebiyi, had earlier said that apart from the 55 persons who transferred their voters’ cards either from outside or within the state 60 days before the election, the voters’ register would also have an addendum made up of those who were not able to vote during the 2011 election.

The addendum figure, according to the commission, was 7, 539. The total number of registered voters in 2011 was 1, 546,081. If the addendum of 7, 539 and 55 who transferred their registration is added, the total ought to have been 1, 551,620. The question being asked is how did the figure rise to 1,654,205?

It would be recalled that several allegations were made against the commission before the election. In July 2012, the Ondo State Chairman of the PDP, Ebenezer Alabi, at a press conference in Akure alleged that the state government and LP leaders in collaboration with some functionaries of INEC in the state were engaging in an illegal voter registration exercise.

Waiting for judgement All the parties have presented their cases before the court and they have been told to begin the compilation of their written addresses. The Electoral Law stipulates that

came out of it at the end. Reading pages 87-115 of the book left one in no doubt that the author understood the problems of his state and marshalled out a very comprehensive strategy to solve them. From traffic congestion, to insecurity, infrastructural decay, public transportation, housing, revenue generation, power etc. There was a detailed multi-sectoral plan of action that was aimed at transforming his state. Odili narrated how he wanted to run an open, accountable government that will be frugal in spending, responsive to the yearnings of his people and committed to take actions that will improve their lives. According to his story, he wanted to run a government devoid of profligacy, fiscal banditry and corruption. He canvassed prudent management of resources, uncompromising respect of the rule of law and unwavering commitment to good governance. So what happened?

What he made of those elaborate plans now remains a subject for history. I seldom visited Rivers State at the time Odili was in office, but those who had firsthand experience of the ‘reign’ of Odili have very strong views about his record in implementing these principles he professed initially, and those views are not exactly very positive.

There is a remarkable display of equanimity in the book as the author owned up to his mistakes, a leader who aspired to high office inspired by great ideals but ended leaving behind a pile of unfinished business.

So when do you listen to your conscience as a politician? In power or out of power?

In all, what legacy did Dr. Odili leave behind despite his talent, industry and political endowment? Candidly, what could be going on in his innermost mind now even after writing the book? What about those who allegedly truncated his bid for Presidency? Could he have made a better or worse President than what we have now?

Where are the journalists who crowned him the ‘Golden Governor’?

So many unanswered questions. But as the author said on page 124 of his book, ‘history and conscience are the ultimate judges of man’- so shall it be not only for Peter Odili but unto all of us.

the respondents have 10 days to file their written addresses while the petitioners have seven days to reply to the addresses and another five days for respondents to reply on point of law. The tribunal ruled that the parties should return to court on April 23 to adopt their addresses preparatory to the delivery of judgement on the petitions.

The people of the state are now waiting for judgement.

While the public expects the tribunal to be fair in their judgement, each of the parties believes it deserves victory since it has convinced the court about its case.

Through its State Publicity Secretary, Wale Ozogoro, the PDP said: “We are convinced that we shall get justice and our stolen mandate recovered from the temporary interlopers, as they have demonstrated genuine unwillingness to defend the uncontroverted and daylight robbery they perpetrated during the election.” Against this backdrop, the party urged the tribunal members to be fearless in dispensing justice in the interest of Ondo State people.

Also, the ACN State Publicity Secretary, Rotimi Agbede, said his party was hopeful that it would get justice at the tribunal since the case against the victory of Mimiko had been proved. But LP members are of the opinion that their party and Mimiko will triumph, saying nothing has been proved against the outcome of the last election. It is just a matter of weeks to know where the pendulum of justice will swing.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

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Community Mirror Man arrested for aiding rape of sisters

20 convicted for flouting sanitation laws ABIODUN NEJO ADO EKITI

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he Ekiti State Waste Management Board has convicted 20 persons for violating the state monthly environmental sanitation law.

The agency chairman, Hon. Adebayo Morakinyo, said they were among the more than 80 persons arrested for breaking the environmental laws in the period under review.

He said the offences include non possession of standard waste bins, blocking of erosion channels, defecation in open places and indiscriminate refuse dumping.

The agency boss, who said all hands must be on deck to stave off epidemic in the state, said: “We must begin to maintain the culture of cleanliness and hygienic environment in our daily lives. Sanitation should not be seen as government policy alone, but what individuals should take as part of their daily activities”.

Morakinyo, said the government has invested heavily to ensure cleanliness and good health, even as multimillion naira equipment had been procured to ensure the state capital is clean.

He said part of the equipment include two roll-onroll-off vehicles and three tipper trucks,even as the private sector has been enlisted for the maintenance of refuse disposal , adding that the government has established three disposal sites at Ado and Ikere Ekiti.

According to him, 624 sweepers have been employed to clean the highways and other roads in six local government areas.

He reiterated the government’s zero-tolerance for indiscriminate dumping of sewage, saying that efforts were underway to create more disposal sites in the 16 council areas of the state.

“Development should be bottom-up and not top-down. ” SENATE PRESIDENT, DAVID MARK

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Five killed in Lagos cult war FRANCIS SUBERU

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o fewer than five persons, including a university undergraduate in Benin Republic and chairman of the Ojuelegba branch of tricycle operators have lost their lives in a raging cult war in Mushin, Lagos State.

The undergraduate, Adeolu Otenaike, of the North American University, Benin Republic was, last week, hacked to death

by suspected cultists , who invaded a drinking bar at Railway Line,Empire area of Mushin.

The tricycle unionist was also shot and killed at Ojuelegba , in what is suspected to be a reprisal attack from one of the cult factions in Mushin and Ojuelegba areas.

A resident of Mushin, who spoke with Community Mirror under condition of anonymity said that Eiye , Aiye and Black Axe confraternities have, in the last few weeks, been at logger-

heads over undisclosed misunderstandings.

The deceased undergraduate had accompanied some of his friend to a drinking bar at Empire area to celebrate the purchase of a new car, when he was shot and killed.

However, other reports claim the deceased undergraduate may have been fraternizing with one of the warring cult groups.

A source said that the corpse of Adeolu was later taken away

Visitors at a fruits stand at the Agriculture Fair to mark the Silver Jubilee of Federal University, Abeokuta, Ogun State.

by a five man gang that consisted of the leader, Taiye aka ‘Sogbe’ , Igimu , ‘small bobo’ , Kaka’ and Bajomo.

The transport unionist, identified as Lekan Lawal was on the same day accosted by a gang of suspected cultists who killed him and fled to unknown destinations.

When contacted, the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide , denied being aware of any such killings.

PHOTO: NAN

Judge demands jail for Ogun monarch FEMI OYEWESO ABEOKUTA

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n Ogun State High Court sitting in Ota has insisted that the claimant to Onijoko of Ijoko in Ado – Odo/Ota Local Government, Chief Lasisi Ogunseye serve imprisonment for contempt.

At the resumed hearing of the legal tussle over the right to the vacant stool of Onijoko of Ijoko between Chief Alani Matanmi and Lasisi Ogunseye, Justice Mobolaji Ojo insisted that Ogunseye must spend three months in jail for defying his previous judgement.

Community Mirror recalled

that Justice Ojo had at a previous ruling on February 14, 2011, ordered Ogunseye to stop parading himself as the Onijoko, affirming that Alani Matanmi is the rightfully installed ruler of the community.

While Ogunseye was a coronet Oba installed in 2006 by the Olowu of Owu kingdom in Abeokuta, Oba Adegboyega Olusanya Dosunmu , Matanmi was installed by the Alake and Paramount ruler of Egbaland, Oba Aremu Adedotun Gbadebo.

As the controversies generated by the purported installations went into litigations, the Ota High Court ordered Ogun-

seye to stop parading himself as Oba of the community.

Following refusal of Ogunseye to heed the order, Matanmi filed a contempt charge against him on May 17, 2012 that earned the former a three month jail term.

The court lamented that Ogunseye had refused to show up in court to answer to the contempt charge, or send a representative as demanded by the law.

Justice Ojo, also struck out an application of bail dated March 13, 2013 filed by Ogunseye’s counsel, F.A Aigbadumah over ability to state the whereabouts of his client.

When the judge asked on

the whereabouts of his client, Aigbadumah said he could not tell, adding that he last he saw him on March 13 this year.

The judge wondered how he could make such statement,even as he disclosed that the bail application filed on behalf of his client stated that Ogunseye, had been admitted into the intensive care unit of a private clinic.

In his reaction,Adegoke promised to serve copy of the ruling to all necessary quarters to aid speedy enforcement of the judgement.

The Judge however, gave Ogunseye another opportunity to file a fresh application at the expiration of his jail term.

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Community Mirror

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Man arrested for aiding rape of sisters FEMI OYEWESO ABEOKUTA

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40-year-old man identified as Lekan Sabiu has been arrested by the Ogun State Police Command for allegedly aiding the rape of his two sisters at Ijebu-Ososa in Odogbolu Local Government Area of the state.

Sabiu, was said to have been arrested along with two others; Jonathan Kaigbon and Gbenga Adekoye who defiled and eventually robbed the teenagers.

The Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, in the state, Muyiwa Adejobi, who made this known to journalists in Abeokuta, explained that Sabiu hired Kaigbon and Ad-

ekoye , to harass, molest and threaten his two sisters who disagreed with him over the sharing of their late parent’s estate.

Adejobi said, Sabiu gave the two other suspects the sum of N80, 000 to threaten his siblings into accepting his formula for their parents’ estate but ended up in raping and

robbing them.

Speaking to newsmen, Sabiu confessed to hiring the suspects to intimidate his junior sisters over their parents’ properties.

“I just asked them to threaten my sisters so that they will leave all the properties to me; I never paid to rape them as they have done”, he claimed.

Wife of the the traditional ruler of Bachama, Mbamtu Bachama in front and her entourage at this year’s Kwete Cultural Festival in Lamurde, Adamawa State.

Group petitions Gov. Obi over crisis Council chairman presents N3.5b CHARLES OKEKE AWKA

A

group under the umbrella of Concerned Indigenes of EnugwuUkwu has petitioned Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi over the alleged attempt by some individuals to deepen the crisis in the town by introducing religion and politics.

The group also complained of the attempt to bring back the dissolved 7-man Caretaker Committee of Enugwu-Ukwu Town Union.

The group led by Honourable Francis Chidozie Okoye, 1st Vice President of Enugwu-Ukwu Development Union,ECDU and Hon.Bonny Ozo Nkwuaku had in a letter of appreciation addressed to Governor Obi wherein they thanked him over the way the government is handling the town’s union crisis, stated that they were saddened by the fact that some persons acting the script of the royal cohorts wanted to impose synod decision on the town.

In the said letter which was released to journalists, the group contended that EnugwuUkwu being a secular community is not interested in anybody’s religion and would not condone “religious-politics” in the town as its crippling effect is always hazardous.

The group who pleaded with the Governor to note that it would be myopic for anybody to think of reverting to the highly criticised 7-Man Committee as a body that will conduct the town union election, applauded the appointment of a 13-man Caretaker Committee to manage the affair of Enugwu-Ukwu Town union government.

They thanked Governor Obi for setting up an acceptable caretaker committee headed by Sir Gil Okolocha, saying, “the assemblage of this team of highly respected and impeccable gentlemen has been greeted in the town with joy and satisfaction, and had sent jitters to the town’s political maneuvers who find them impenetrable”

appropriation bill

TONY ANICHEBE UYO

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he Chairman of Esit Eket Local Government Area, Hon. Ibanga Etang has presented a budget of N3, 591,100,000 to the legislature for 2013 fiscal year.

Presenting the Appropriation Bill entitled “Budget of a New Dawn” at the Council Legislative Chambers, the chairman said the budget was predicated on his desire to achieve a considerable level of macroeconomic stability geared towards creation of wealth, poverty reduction, employment generation, achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and a total transformation of the area.

He explained further that the 2013 budget was 15 percent higher than that of 2012 he inherited which stood at N3, 121,000,000.

Giving a breakdown of

the bill, Ettang said, “the 2013 Budget consist of estimated recurrent revenue of N3,345,000,000 and a total estimated Capital Receipts of N246,100,000”.

He added that out of the total budget size, non debt recurrent expenditure is expected to gulp a N1,730,000,000 while capital expenditure is proposed to stand at N1,861,100,000 is expected to be spent on capital projects in the 2013 fiscal year.

Analyzing the recurrent expenditure, the local council boss stated that a total of N320, 000,000 is meant to service personnel cost while overhead cost is expected to gulp the sum of N360, 000,000.

Receiving the bill after due legislative procedures, leaders of the House, Hon. Emem Peters thanked the chairman and promised that the appropriation would be attended to within 30 days.

NGO urges understanding on virginity OKAY OSUJI

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or a better public image and acceptance, an NGO- ‘The Nigerian Virgin Girls, NVG, has changed its concept of “Celebrating Virgins” to what it calls “Encouraging Virgins”.

The CEO and founder of the group, Princess Adediran Adunni made this known at the wedding of her daughter, Mojirayo Ogunlana at the Frankids Centre in FESTAC Area of Lagos State.

According to her, under the new concept, the process of conducting virginity tests on young virgins which was the past practice will not be done any longer. She said issues that have to do with virgins attract so much curiosity and therefore must be handled with utmost carefulness too. “You see, we have decided to change the concept so that it will be more appealing to Nigerians. Besides, some people are out to criticise any step and even engage in character assassination. This is why we decided to change the approach”, Princess Adediran said.

Under the new focus, the annual Miss Virginity Beauty Pageant would be continued, while seminars, workshops and counselling programmes will be organised for virgins at intervals in any given year. She said, this would help them to be properly educated on how to live responsible and productive lives in the society.

On how to genuinely determine female virgins since there would no longer be the usual virginity test, she said “we will handle that; this time we will assess them through close talks and sometimes through interviews”.

She criticised the recent report in some national dailies of 14 year -old girl who was a victim of virginity test allegedly conducted on students of Ajuwon Senior High School , Ogun State by their principal.

According to her, any virginity test must be done by a qualified and competent gynaecologist which has been the usual practice of her NGO in the past.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

North

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Terrorists strike in Yobe, kill policeman, raze station, telecom masts INUSA NDAHI MAIDUGURI

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unmen yesterday morning attacked the Bara Divisional Police Station in Yobe State, killing one policeman.

Bara is the headquarters of Gulani Local Government Area of the state.

Sources said that the attack began at about

1:00a.m and lasted for two and a half hours.

The attackers burnt the police station and went away with the three cars parked in premises.

The Yobe State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Sanusi Rufai, who confirmed the incident to journalists in Damaturu, the state capital, said though the police station

was burnt with a rocket propelled launcher and explosive devices, the attack was repelled by security operatives.

He also said the policeman killed was a corporal, adding the slain victim was slaughtered by the gunmen in his residence at about 5:00a.m after the attack on the police station.

The attackers, accord-

ing to the police boss, also destroyed the MTN and the Glo telecom masts.

The gunmen also carted away three local government vehicles.

The commissioner, however, said no arrest had been made in connection with the attack and no individual or group had claimed responsibility for it.

Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima interacting with students of the Arabic Teachers College, Maidugri, during an unscheduled visit to the college in Maiduguri, yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

Tanker explosion claims two lives in Kano AUGUSTINE MADU-WEST KANO

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wo people died yesterday in a tanker explosion that occurred in Kabuga, Kano State.

Many others were also injured in the incident.

The explosion, which occurred some metres away from the new campus of Bayero University Kano, caused stampede as residents scampered for safety as they mistook the explo-

sion for another bomb blast.

Sources said that the explosion occurred when two petrol-laden tankers collided and immediately went up in flames.

One of the tankers involved in the accident belongs to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and was on its way to discharge fuel at one of the NNPC mega stations in Kano city.

It was not certain as the time of this report whether

the victims were occupants of the ill-fated tankers or passers-by, but sources said that two charred bodies were found in the location of the explosion, Also affected by the explosion were some buildings around the accident’s scene.

Owner of Abul Islam Steel and Aluminum, one of the property affected by the explosion, Alhaji Garba Ismail Muhammed, said that he received a distress call while in the Mosque

that his property has been razed.

Fire fighters battled with difficulties to combat the fire, which apart from burning the two tankers, also affected some buildings around the scene.

The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) Head of Operations, Kabiru Nadabo, told journalists that two charred bodies were recovered from the ill-fated NNPC tanker and had been deposited in the morgue.

Jonathan, Kaduna elders hold closed-door meeting ROTIMI FADEYI

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resident Goodluck Jonathan yesterday held a closed-door meeting with Southern Kaduna Elders at the State House, Abuja.

Addressing journalists after the meeting, the leader of the group, Maj-Gen. Zamani Lekwot, said that the elders came to seek the assistance of the Federal Government for the development of Ka-

duna State.

According to him, Kaduna State has communities that need electricity.

Lekwot said: “The Kaduna Eastern Bypass, which is a very important road, also needs attention because Kaduna has become suddenly congested due to influx of vehicles.

“Another point we made had to do with the Kaduna International Airport because of the strategic location of the city. If the airport

is upgraded to international standard, we can start exporting agricultural produce to the international market.”

He added that the elders used the opportunity to express appreciation for what the government had done in the grassroots, especially the Gurara Dam project.

Lekwot said: “We are proud it has become a major source of water supply to Abuja through the lower Usman Dam. Being the source of the dam, we felt like com-

ing to thank the government for choosing that site for Gurara dam not to talk of the hydro aspect and irrigation.

“We also have some infrastructural problems; our NTA sub-station in Kafanchan is comatose. So, we have appealed for something to be done so that our community can be on the network in order to follow both local and international programmes.”

On insecurity in Kaduna State, Lekwot admitted that the issue was complex.

Why corruption persists in Nigeria –Akanbi WOLE ADEDEJI ILORIN

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ormer Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences (ICPC), Justice Mustapha Akanbi (rtd), has explained why it is difficult to tackle corruption in Nigeria.

Justice Akanbi blamed the reason on lack of political will by the nation’s leaders to tackle the menace.

He, however, urged the nation’s leaders to diligently demonstrate the political will tackle the problem.

Justice Akanbi spoke yesterday in an interview with journalists at the 6th Annual MMA Akanbi Public Lecture organised by the Faculty of Law, University of Ilorin.

He said: “If the leaders have the political will to fight corruption, then we would have gone half way in trying to solve the problem of governance.

“But if corruption is entrenched or we take steps that give the impression that we have no regard for the eradication of corruption, then we are in trouble.

Quite a number of people have condemned it except those who belong to the same political party.

“My own view is that we should not be despondent, we should be more determined to fight corruption.

This is a passing phase. “In the fullness of time, those who are corrupt will suffer petitions, that is my belief.

So, I don’t bother my head”.

Justice Akanbi wondered how members of the National Council of State could be reported to have all supported the granting of amnesty to those openly convicted for corruption.

He said: “But when I looked round, many of them, especially the retired judges, many of them were not there. Even some of the former Heads of State were not there. So, whatever is the case, it is a decision taken by the President in his wisdom.

“When I was a young lawyer, I dealt with the issue of prerogative of mercies as a junior state counsel, “We worked out what are the facts justifying grant of pardon, what are the facts against and if on balance we take public opinion into consideration

47

and where we see that the man at stake, for instance, committed murder that there are no facts justifying the grant of pardon, we don’t grant pardon.

“But I don’t know what they do now, what is the criterion, what is the yardstick. It is not a question of acting on whims and caprices; it is a question of the hard facts on the ground.

“We look at each case in its own merit before we take a decision. But in this case, a decision has already been taken. There is no much we can do other than to say, okay, what is the effect on me?

“Like me as Akanbi, the effect is that I will be more determined to fight corruption than ever before.

When we fight it, it will go down in history that we have fought corruption. If the other people don’t believe in fighting it, it will go down in history that they did not.

“So, I don’t think it is something we should make noise about, it is a question of you the journalists, we the ordinary people who read the papers to put our heads together to keep the struggle going as they say, ‘Aluta continua’”.

In his paper entitled: “Challenges of Administration of Justice in the Sustenance of Good Governance in a Trans National Era: Hindsight, Insight and Progress,” the guest lecturer, Justice Chima Centus Nweze, said the function of the court is to interpret laws made by the legislature.

Justice Nweze, who was represented by Mr Abeni Muhammed (SAN), said judges are not robots or zombies who have no mind of their own except to follow precedents.

He said: “Judges are intrepid by their learning and training and can distinguish in order to render Justice to those it is due.”

Justice Akanbi

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North

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

EFCC arraigns fake commissioner, five others in court JAMES ABRAHAM JOS

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he Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, yesterday arraigned one Simon Dalong and five others in court for allegedly parading himself as a commissioner and drawing salaries as same from the Plateau State government.

The names of the other five accused persons are Luka Dapal, Mary Wakkias, Mary Alkali, Esther Gonung and Nancin Philibus. They were on the employment of the state government before their arraignment.

The six accused persons were dragged before Justice Yargata Nimfa, of Jos High Court 4 by the EFCC and were being tried on a six-count charge of conspiracy, theft and forgery.

When the case came up for hearing yesterday, Mr. Bitrus Rimven, counsel to Dalong and Dapal (1st and 2nd accused) and Mr. Ed-

Flood victims get relief materials JAMES DANJUMA KATSINA

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undreds of victims of last year’s flooding in Katsina State have started receiving Federal Government-financed relief materials from the state government.

About N300 million has been earmarked by the Federal Government as assistance to the state for the affected flood victims in 18 of the 34 council areas of the state.

The flooding, which displaced about 10, 000 people and destroyed property worth hundreds of millions of naira, also saw the death of about 10 people from the affected council areas.

Speaking during the distribution of the relief materials yesterday, Katsina State Deputy Governor, Garba Faskari, said the relief materials were distributed to alleviate their sufferings.

Faskari said a committee would be set up to ensure that the relief materials get to all those affected with a call on the victims to make judicious use of the materials donated to them.

win Mulang, counsel to the women (3rd to 6th accused), applied for their bail in two separate motions.

The counsel argued that the offences for which they are being tried are bailable and that the accused won’t jump bail.

But the prosecution counsel, Mr. Joseph Uzor,

in two separate counter affidavits, objected to their applications on the ground that the offences were very serious and that the accused may jump bail.

Rimven and Mulang in their arguments, faulted Uzor’s claims noting that he (prosecutor) could not advance any ‘flight risk’ to

buttress his claims and so asked the court to disregard his counter affidavits.

“My Lord, the prosecution counsel failed to convince this honourable court with any flight risk to warrant any refusal of bail to the accused persons,” Mulang argued.

In her ruling, Nimfa said

the prosecution could not give any strong evidence in his objection to the bail applications.

“The offences they are being tried for are not so grievous and they are bailable.

“It is on record that the administration bail earlier granted them wasn’t flouted.

“However, I hereby grant the accused bail; each of

Gombe State Governor, Ibrahim Dankwambo (left), welcoming the new GOC 3 Division, Maj.-Gen. Ebobowei Awala, to his office in Gombe, yesterPHOTO: NAN day.

them must produce a surety in the person of a director in the public service or a clergy or a traditional ruler who must have a property here in Jos,” she declared.

Earlier, the Commissioner for Information, Mr. Abraham Yiljap and the former Head of Service, Mr. Moses Gwom, had testified on the case, stating what they know about the case.

Yiljap said he did not know the accused persons or the issue of fake commissioner until it was raised at the state executive council meeting in April last year.

Gwom said he knew the accused persons very well having investigated the matter and had testified before EFCC when called upon.

He, however, could not be discharge because Uzor got stalked when he couldn’t produce the alleged appointment letter of the fake commissioner and other documents involved in the investigation carried out by the office of the head of service.

'Why Nigerians seek higher education abroad' WOLE ADEDEJI ILORIN

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Professor of African Religious Traditions at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, Jacob K. Olupona, has described the search for quality education abroad by Nigerians as a sign of the decline in country's education sector.

The United States-based Nigerian scholar holds twin chairs of African and African American Studies as well as African Religious Traditions of Har-

vard Divinity School.

Speaking while delivering the University of Ilorin public lecture entitled, “Rethinking Higher Education in Contemporary Nigeria: Reforms, Challenges and Possibilities,” he said; “The tragic decline in the quality of education is responsible for the high rate at which Nigerians flock to other countries for educational pursuits.”

The professor explained that there can be no clearer sign of the decline of the Nigerian education sector than the number of students

who turn to universities abroad for their education.

He noted that; “available statistics suggest that this figure is astronomical, and of course, we know for sure that those who have the means to go abroad are the children of the elite.”

He lamented that “the high demand for education abroad is a response to the poor quality of education we provide at home, as well as the pitiable access to higher education offered in the country.”

Prof.

Olupona ex-

pressed the views that; “Nigerians seek to reap the benefits of others’ labour without seeking to transform our own institutions into ones that will attract others to Nigeria.”

The lecture, organised by the Centre for International Education, CIE, University of Ilorin, Olupona who is also a Fellow of Walter Channing Cabot, stressed that foreign institutions made sacrifices in building their institutions and advised Nigeria to do the same.

In order to correct the

decline and rot in the country’s education system, Prof. Olupona called for an urgent rethink of public education in the country “as an honourable and worthy goal to pursue.”

Wondering why the nation’s political leaders would not consider education a significant place to invest for the future of our children, the guest lecturer decried “the situation where education has been so largely relegated to the for-profit sector, as we see in the private universities.”

FG, Nasarawa sign MoU on Technology Incubation Centre IGBAWASE UKUMBA LAFIA

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he Nasarawa State government yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, with the Federal Government on the establishment of a Technology Incubation Centre in Lafia, the state capital.

Presiding over the ceremony on behalf of Governor Umaru Tanko AlMakura in Lafia, the state Deputy Governor, Dameshi Luka, said government’s

action was aimed at harnessing the enormous potentials in the state.

His words: “Government’s efforts are meant to create the needed opportunity for the realisation of individual aspirations and the overall socio-economic development of the state as it will provide a convenient platform to nourish the startup of small enterprises, whose preoccupation is the addition of value to technology-related activities in Nasarawa and its

environment.”

The deputy-governor said the centre will serve as a catalyst for the sharpening and promotion of indigenous potentials for entrepreneurship and innovation at the small and medium enterprise levels.

Luka said; “The present administration in the state has since evolved a policy that focuses on capacity building, skills acquisition and provision of incentives to individuals and groups for the holistic development of the state.

“It is against this background that today’s event is very significant as it will go a long way in availing our teeming unemployed young persons in the state the rare opportunity of shaking off idleness and engage themselves in productive ventures that will enhance their economic wellbeing and prosperity.”

The Director-General of the National Board for Technology Incubation, NBTI, Prof. Gambo Laraba Abdullahi, said at the

event that the Technology Incubation Programme is a partnership programme between the Federal Government and the Nasarawa State government in which the state government is to provide the facility for centre.

Her words: “Our main raw materials are the research and discovery output of institutions like polytechnics and universities or research work that can be translated for the benefits of the society.”

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

FEMI OYEWESO ABEOKUTA

O

gun State Police Command yesterday dispelled the report being circulated on social media that suspected ritualists dropped headless corpses of three females suspected to be university students along the Ijebu-Ode/Ibadan highway in the state.

The command declared the report as a rumour and a calculated attempt to create fear in the minds of Nigerians, urging the general pub-

News

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Police dispel rumour of headless corpses lic to disregard such.

A statement issued yesterday in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital by the command’s spokesperson, Muyiwa Adejobi, stated that the command has carried out a thorough search of all the nooks and crannies of IjebuOde, as well as other parts of the state with no record of such headless bodies.

National Mirror recalled that the social media, facebook and blackberry messag-

es were awash with reports that three beheaded corpses suspected to be females were thrown from an unidentified Range Rovers Sport Jeep along the Ijebu-Ode/Ibadan highway in the early hours of Sunday.

The said report further had it that documents found on the beheaded corpses identified two of the victims, one Yetunde Ajao, as an undergraduate of the University of Lagos as well as one Oy-

indamola Esan, said to be a student of Olabisi Onabanjo University, OOU, Ago Iwoye, in the state, while the third victim, according to the report, could not be identified.

But the Police PRO in a release: AZ:5310/OGS/PRO/ VOL.4/102 dated March 25, 2013, said there was no iota of truth in the report.

“The command wishes to state categorically that the rumour is the handiwork of mischief makers and should

disregarded the general public.”

The state Commissioner of Police, Ikhemefuna Okoye, who spoke with journalists in his office at the command’s headquarters, Eleweran, also lamented that the report was giving the police serious concern.

The commissioner of police, who said his men were on the road throughout in search of those bodies but to no avail, added that; “In fact,

More charges brought against ex-CAC President, others

the Area Commander just left my Ooffice now. I was worried when I got the information too.”

The commissioner, however, hinted that the only lifeless body found across the state was along the Abiola Way in Abeokuta metropolis.

Okoye further stated that contrary to having the head removed, the head was intact and must have been killed by a hit and run truck.

Cocaine trafficking hits $900m profit – Report MARCUS FATUNMOLE ABUJA

KEMI OLAITAN

T

IBADAN

T

he trial of the immediate past President of the Christ Apostolic Church, CAC, Worldwide, Pastor Elijah Olusheye and three others, over forgery allegation at the Federal High Court, Ibadan, took another dimension yesterday as the prosecution counsel led by Mr. K. A. Salawu, filed an amendment to increase charges against them to nine.

The other accused persons are the current Oyo State Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Pastor Ayo Olabisi; the General-Secretary of the church, Pastor Gideon Okegwemeh and a senior officer of the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, Mr. Abdul Hameed Mohammed.

At the resumed hearing yesterday, the defence counsel while opposing the application to increase the charges argued that it would amount to injustice against the defendants if the court allowed the application after the prosecution had closed its case following the conclusion of evidences given by all witnesses.

The counsel led by Mr. Gbenga Olatunji, further reminded the court that the prosecution closed its case on January 11, 2013 after calling all witnesses, maintaining that the defence team thereafter applied to file a “No case” submission.

He added that counsel to both parties agreed that a written application should be filed by the defence but that the prosecution counsel did not tell the court their intention to file for amendment.

49

L-R: Chairman, Board of Trustees, Society for Peace Studies and Practice (SPSP), Prof. Olawale Albert; Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi and Chairman of the occasion, Mallam Yusuf Ali, SAN, during the 7th International Conference and General Assembly of the society, in Ado-Ekiti, yesterday.

Danger as 850 pupils learn under dilapidated structure MURITALA AYINLA

T

he lives of 850 pupils of Kadara Junior Grammar School, Ebute-Metta, Lagos, is now in danger as the classroom block under which they are learning could cave in any time.

The structure, which also serves as office to some of the teachers in the school, including the principal could, at any time from now, collapse according to building experts.

Some of the pupils and residents of the area, said the crack on the walls and the persistent vibration of the building is enough for government to relocate the

ROTIMI FADEYI ABUJA

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resident Goodluck Jonathan yesterday gave marching orders to the new Head of Civil Service of the Federation, HoCSF, Alhaji Bukar Goni Aji, to tackle the issue of corruption in the civil service to enhance discipline and bring sanity to the activities of gov-

pupils to avert the looming calamity that may come from such collapse.

Speaking with National Mirror, a staff of the school, who did not want to be mentioned, said the school management had, on several occasions, appealed to the state government to rehabilitate the school, but was yet to get any favourable response.

It was gathered that the buildings, which were separated initially, were merged by the Schools’ Rehabilitation Programme, an agency under the state Ministry of Works and Infrastructure.

National Mirror investigation also revealed that each of the 12 classrooms has between 85 to 94 pupils.

An official of the school said the school management had been told not to worry about the crack.

“They came here from Alausa to tell us that the crack was as a result of the joint, because the buildings were initially separated before it was joined together.”

But a JSS3 pupil told National Mirror that the building vibrates intermittently, adding that they are scared of its imminent collapse.

She confirmed that about 87 pupils are in each class.

When National Mirror visited the school premises, it was observed that some pupils are oblivious of the danger around them.

“Each time we are in the class, especially when

heavy duty trucks are passing by, the building would vibrate. We don’t know why the school management or the state government has not done anything about it.”

Meanwhile, residents of Cemetery Street have raised concern about the building, wondering why the crack of a classroom block will be left unattended to by the state government.

Efforts to get government officials in the Ministries of Works and Infrastructural Development and Education to react to this, proved abortive as officials declined to comment, saying they had been barred from talking to journalists.

Jonathan tasks new HoS on corruption

ernment.

Speaking shortly after swearing in Aji at the State House, Jonathan told the new Head of Service to pursue with vigour the implementation of the performance management system in the civil service.

According to him, the full implementation of the performance management

system would positively improve the ability of civil servants to discharge their responsibilities.

Jonathan said the civil service was historically acknowledged as the citadel of excellence where the best brains, equipment and strategies are engaged, stressing that Aji must work hard to bring back

that type of civil service in the interest of the nation.

The President appealed to all civil servants to lend their support to Aji, especially the permanent secretaries that would work with him, saying that they should cooperate in the movement of greater efficiency, dedication, patriotism in service.

he value of cocaine trafficking in the West African sub-region is now put at $900 million (about N140 billion), says the 2012 report of the International Narcotics Control Board, INCB. The board made the disclosure at the launch of its 2012 Annual Report in Abuja, yesterday.

The report showed that despite efforts by the Federal Government to fight drug trafficking, the country remained a transit nation for illicit drugs on the continent and lacked epidemiological studies on the extent of drug abuse.

Highlighting the report yesterday, the Representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, UNODC, Ms. Mariam Sissoko said; “West Africa as a whole continues to remain a transit area for the trafficking of cocaine from South America to European markets.

Cocaine trafficking is estimated to generate nearly $900 million in profit annually for criminal networks targeting West Africa.

“The report indicates that trafficking in heroin and methamphetamine has been increasing in the region, with methamphetamine increasingly produced locally, particularly in Ghana and Nigeria.

The illicit manufacture, trafficking and abuse of amphetamine-type stimulants, specifically methamphetamine, which appeared to be confined to Southern Africa, has now spread to West Africa with the locally substance trafficked to East and SouthEast Asia.

Cocktail

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x

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

FOR YOUR SUCCESS

WITH DR. DEJI FOLUTILE

Today's Tonic (116)

Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever you can.”

–John Wesley * * * Give And You Will Receive Few if any are ever known for what they received, but history is replete with heroes and heroines that gave, gave and gave to better humanity.

It will be better for us if we can live our lives to give, give and give. There is nobody too poor to give. Giving is much more than giving money. We can give a loving smile to the hurting. We can give prayer to the troubled.

We can encourage the downcast.

Let no one say I have nothing to give daily because it is not true. Look around you. Search within you. You will see and know that there are so much that you can give daily to make this world a better place.

TEL 08104942999 E-MAIL deji.folutile@gmail.com Follow me @TwitterOWOTIDE

Iraqi man jailed for faking wheelchair need

A

n Iraqi-born Swedish man was sentenced to four years in prison for receiving disability benefits even though he spent a holiday climbing the pyramids in Egypt.

The man, whose name was not reported, claimed $806,000 in benefits from

the Social Insurance Agency between 2006 and 2012, TheLocal.se reported Saturday. He told his doctors he could not walk, eat or get dressed by himself because he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and chronic pain disorder after traumatizing experiences in Iraq.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Oddities

Portuguese sign petition against ex-PM Socrates TV show

P

ortuguese state television channel RTP’s plan to give former premier Jose Socrates a weekly commentary spot has sparked outrage, with 100,000 people signing a petition citing his “bad management” that led the country to take a bailout in 2011.

“We, citizens and taxpayers, declare that we reject the presence of former Prime Minister Jose Socrates on any programme at RTP, television paid for by public funds of taxpayers suffering from the bad management of this gentleman,” the Internet petition said.

Many comments said the plan was “shameful”.

A counter-petition in favour of Socrates’ TV commentary, to start next month, and defending the democratic right to free expression, garnered around 5,300 signatures on Friday.

That view was also backed by RTP director Paulo Ferreira who said he

understood the controversy but “the pluralism of opinions in public media” was an important democratic principle.

He would not reveal the details of the deal, but Diario de Noticias newspaper said

Socrates

Socrates would be working for free.

By gathering more than 4,000 signatures, both petitions will have to be discussed by parliament.

Socrates’ Socialist government collapsed two

years ago amid an escalating debt crisis, and one of his last decisions was to request a bailout from the European Union and IMF, forcing the country to implement tough austerity and structural reforms.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

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World News

Australian PM names new Cabinet, emphasises loyalty

52

“Rape is often used as a weapon of war in conflict zones around the world. It destroys people’s lives and communities in the most horrific manner imaginable.”

- British Foreign Secretary, William Hague

PAUL ARHEWE

WORLD BULLETIN

A

EU suspends sanctions against Zimbabwe’s officials

WITH AGENCY REPORTS

rebel leader in Central African Republic pledged to name a power-sharing government after seizing the capital Bangui on Sunday and declaring himself president, a spokesman said, in a bid to defuse international outcry over the coup.

The seizure of power by the Seleka rebel coalition - the latest in a series of coups and rebellions since the mineral-rich nation won independence from France in 1960 - was swiftly condemned by the United Nations and the African Union.

The United States, France and regional powerbroker Chad called on Seleka leader Michel Djotodia to respect the terms of a January power-sharing agreement signed in the Gabonese capital Libreville.

The agreement had created a government drawn from rebel leaders, the civilian opposition and loyalists of former president Francois Bozize. It was led by Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye, a former lawyer and member of the civilian opposition.

“We will respect the Libreville accord: a political transition of 2 to 3 years before elections,” Seleka spokesman Eric Massi said by telephone. “The current prime minister remains in place and the cabinet will be slightly reshuffled.”

Massi said the riverside capital Bangui was calm yesterday morning, though Seleka was still seeking to contain sporadic looting which broke out on Sunday after Bozize’s fall.

Meanwhile, the president of Central African Republic fled to neighbouring Cameroun yesterday, as the rebels who overthrew

Michel Am-Nondokro Djotodia (L), leader of Central African Republic’s (CAR) Seleka rebel alliance, stands beside CAR’s President Francois Bozize during peace talks in Libreville, recently Photo: Reuters

CAR rebel chief to name power-sharing government • •

President Bozize takes refuge in Cameroun 13 South African soldiers killed during clash

him began squabbling who would now lead the impoverished nation long wracked by rebellions.

South Africa said 13 of its soldiers were killed in a fight against the Seleka rebels over the weekend as up to 3,000 fighters attacked its troops while advancing through the capital, Bangui. It was one of South Africa’s heaviest losses in combat in nearly two decades and prompted criticism about why the country’s forces had intervened in such a volatile conflict.

One of the Seleka rebel leaders, Michel Djotodia, said yesterday he considers himself to be the new head of state.

But another rebel leader told reporters his group does not recognize Djotodia as president, and says they will challenge his attempt to install himself at the helm. The move raises the spectre of continuing unrest, amid reports of chaotic and violent looting in the capital, Bangui.

The United States is “deeply concerned about a serious deterioration in the security situation” in Central African Republic, said U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement Sunday.

“We urgently call on the Seleka leadership which has taken control of Bangui to establish law

and order in the city and to restore basic services of electricity and water,” the statement said.

Seleka, a loose coalition of five rebel groups whose name means ‘alliance’ in the Songo language, had accused Bozize of breaking the January agreement by failing to integrate their fighters into the army.

They launched hostilities on Thursday, quickly sweeping south to seize the capital, brushing aside a South African force of 400 troops which attempted to defend Bangui. A Reuters witness said at least nine South Africans were killed, in a setback to its efforts to project its influence on the region.

Zambia arrests ex-president over oil deal

Z

ambia officially charged former President Rupiah Banda for abuse of authority over a Nigerian oil deal, a government spokeswoman said yesterday.

Banda, who has been accused of misappropriating more than $11 million during his three years in office, was arrested and then later released on a bond, said Namukolo Kasumpa, a spokeswoman for the government’s investigation

team.

He will appear in court again on Tuesday, she said.

Zambia this month stripped Banda of immunity from prosecution, a sign it was getting closer to bringing formal charges against him.

Banda, who led Africa’s top copper producer from 2008 to 2011, has maintained his innocence.

The former president was questioned for nearly three hours after his ar-

rest, his lawyer Sakwiba Sikota said, adding that Banda had done nothing wrong.

Banda later appeared before supporters telling them to remain calm and that he would win his case in court.

Banda was defeated in 2011 by rival Michael Sata, whose government has launched several high-profile corruption probes into deals struck by the former administration.

Banda

The European Union has suspended sanctions against 81 officials and eight firms in Zimbabwe.

The decision followed a “peaceful, successful and credible” referendum on a new constitution earlier this month, the EU said in a statement.

However, sanctions will remain in force against Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe and 10 of his top aides, an EU source told Reuters news agency.

The EU imposed sanctions, including a travel ban, in 2002.

It said it was in response to human rights abuses and political violence under Mr Mugabe’s rule.

Mugabe and his rival, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, have been sharing power since disputed elections marred by violence in 2008.

Kenyan court orders partial recount in presidential vote Kenya’s Supreme Court has ordered the election commission to recount votes in some constituencies in regard to the country’s March 4 presidential election.

The court yesterday heard arguments from civil society groups and the legal team of Prime Minister Raila Odinga over what they say were failures by the election commission to conduct a free and fair election.

The court ordered the election commission to recount votes in 22 of the country’s 291 constituencies to see if any of the tallies exceed the number of registered voters, one of the complaints from Odinga’s team.

The court also ordered scrutiny of the 33,400 forms which were used for to record election results.

Gunmen kill female journalist in Somalia A media colleague says that gunmen in Somalia have shot and killed a female Somali journalist.

Abdikarim Ahmed Bulhan, the director of Abudwak radio in central Somalia, said yesterday that two men armed with pistols killed 25-year-old Rahmo Abdulqadir Farah in Mogadishu on Sunday evening. Her murder brings the number of journalists killed in Somalia this year to three.

Somalia is one of the world’s most dangerous places for journalist to operate. Last year 18 media workers were killed, mostly in targeted murders.

Bulhan called it an “outrageous killing” of an aspiring journalist. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the killing.

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World News

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

EU agrees deal for Cyprus bailout

WORLD BULLETIN

US army hands over prison to Afghanistan The US has handed over to Afghanistan the only prison still under American control, resolving an issue that has strained ties between the countries.

A transfer ceremony took place at the prison, which was renamed the Afghan National Detention Facility at Parwan.

It had been delayed while the two sides finalised a deal over the fate of prisoners considered dangerous.

The handover came as US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Afghanistan on an unannounced visit.

He is to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai to discuss a series of issues, such as the transfer of security to Afghan forces.

Bagram jail has a chequered reputation, having been at the centre of a number of prisoner abuse allegations.

Britain to curb benefits to migrants Europeans will have to prove they are “genuinely seeking employment” to claim UK jobless benefits for more than six months, David Cameron has said.

The prime minister said it was among measures to ensure people came to the UK “for the right reasons” after the UK became a “soft touch” under Labour.

He also announced private landlords would face fines if their tenants were found to be illegal immigrants.

Labour warned against overblown rhetoric and failings in the system.

Migrants from the European Economic Area - the EU member states plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway - currently have to show they have a “reasonable chance” of finding a job to receive unemployment benefit for more than six months.

Downing Street said they would now face a more rigorous test to assess whether they had a “realistic prospect” of getting a job, with the ability to speak English one of the criteria.

Israel to resume tax transfers to Palestinians Israel’s government says it will resume transferring tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the statement on the eve of the Jewish Passover holiday yesterday.

The transfers were frozen to punish Palestinians after the U.N. endorsed a de facto Palestinian state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza in November.

Some of the money was released, but not on time and it appeared to be handed over as a result of international pressure.

The money, as much as $100 million a month, is key to the Palestinians’ ability to pay tens of thousands of civil servants, the backbone of the Palestinian economy.

Jamal Zakout, adviser to Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, says it’s believed that Israel will now transfer the money regularly.

E

prime minister if Rudd regained the leadership. Reports have said ministers urged Albanese not to resign because he was too important to the government.

Gillard promoted Albanese by giving him the portfolios Regional Development and Local Government. Those ministries had been held by Simon Crean, whom Gillard dumped for publicly calling for a leadership ballot.

Gillard said she was confident of Albanese’s loyalty.

“I have always been able to work with Minister Albanese well,” she said. “He’s been very central to the life of this government and I believe he will serve very well and with a very strong sense of loyalty into the future.”

urozone finance ministers have agreed a 10bneuro bailout deal for Cyprus to prevent its banking system collapsing and keep the country in the eurozone.

Laiki (Popular) Bank - the country’s second-biggest - will be wound down and depositholders with more than 100,000 euros ($130,000; £85,000) will face big losses.

However, all deposits under 100,000 euros will be “fully guaranteed”.

Officials warn the island faces a deep recession with many businesses to shut.

The European Central Bank had set a deadline of Monday for the deal, which came a week after the Cypriot parliament rejected a proposed bank levy on small and large deposits.

The new deal will not be put to a vote in the Cyprus parliament.

IMF head Christine Lagarde said the bailout deal agreed was “a comprehensive and credible plan” to help restore trust in the banking system.

Cypriot Finance Minister Michalis Sarris said he believed the possibility of bankruptcy had been averted.

There may be some relief that smaller savings no longer face a 6.7% levy, but Cypriot citizens may over time end up feeling more than 6.7% poorer as a result of this so-called bailout”

only way to break the Syrian regime,” al-Asaad told The Associated Press in October 2011, soon after his group was formed.

At the time, most Syrian activists were inspired by the uprisings that had successfully toppled dictators in Tunisia and Egypt and thought popular protests would bring about the same result in Syria. But the Syrian government’s vast, violent crackdown on opposi-

tion caused many to resort to arms.

Today, hundreds of independent rebel groups are fighting a civil war against Assad’s forces across the country and many activists no longer bother to stage unarmed protests. The U.N. says more than 70,000 people have been killed since the first protests in March, 2011.

During that transition, alAsaad, who spent most of his time in a refugee camp in Turkey, never managed to build effective links with most rebel groups or provide the support that would have made them recognize him as their leader.

While most fighters in Syria refer to themselves as part of the “Free Army,” those who say they follow al-Asaad are rare.

More recently, al-Asaad’s group has been superseded by the Office of the Chiefs of Staff, which is associated with the opposition Syrian National Coalition and led by Gen. Salim Idris. That body, too, has failed to project widespread authority inside Syria, where most groups still cobble together their own funding and arms.

L-R: Australian ministers Sharon Bird and Jan Lucas, Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Governor-General Quentin Bryce and minister Catherine King yesterday, at Government House in Canberra after the new Cabinet was sworn in.

Australian PM names new Cabinet, emphasises loyalty P rime Minister Julia Gillard emphasized loyalty over experience in new Cabinet selections named Monday after a bungled leadership challenge laid bare intra-government turmoil further damaging her party’s image months before an election.

Five ministers resigned or were sacked from their executive jobs for promoting a challenge

by Gillard’s predecessor Kevin Rudd that failed when he decided against running on the ballot within the ruling Labor Party.

Gillard called the leadership mess “appalling” in remarks yesterday to reporters.

“It was an unseemly display,” she said. “Today as a government

we can be united and with a sense of purpose,” she added.

Most of the lawmakers whom Gillard promoted were known loyalists in the longstanding rivalry between Gillard and Rudd.

The Resources and Energy Ministry, crucial to Australia’s mining-oriented economy, was given to Special Minister of State Gary Gray, a former gas company executive from resource-rich Western Australia state. The position had been filled to acclaim by Rudd supporter Martin Ferguson since the Labor government was first elected under Rudd’s leadership in 2007.

Transport Minister Anthony Albanese stayed, even though he had been tipped to be deputy

Photo: AP

Top Syrian rebel leader injured in bomb attack

A

rebel military leader who was among the first to call openly for armed insurrection against President Bashar Assad was wounded by a bomb planted in his car in eastern Syria, rebels and activists said yesterday.

Col. Riad al-Asaad, leader of a now-sidelined rebel umbrella group known as the Free Syrian Army, had his right foot amputated following the blast late on Sunday, according to an activist in the town of Mayadeen where the attack took place.

Calls to al-Asaad’s cell phone went unanswered.

Louay Almokdad, a rebel spokesman, confirmed the attack to The Associated Press by phone and said the extent of the injury meant that amputation was likely, though he had not received confirmation it had been carried out.

He said Al-Asaad was in stable condition in Turkey.

Riad al-Asaad

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Al-Asaad, a former colonel in the Syrian air force who defected and fled to Turkey in 2011, became the head of the Free Syrian Army, a group of army defectors who were among the first to declare armed struggle the only way to topple Assad.

“They will soon discover that armed rebellion is the

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

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Features

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

CBD: When traders lament extortion from a taskforce

A CBD patrol van loaded with impounded items

CBD officers watch as their colleague in mufti collects money from a road side meat seller.

PHOTOS: OLUFEMI AJASA

In the bid to foster environmental cleanliness and bring order to the chaotic street trading on Lagos Island, the state government established a taskforce for the Central Business District (CBD). But this noble idea is being exploited by some of the personnel to extort money and line their private pockets as LEONARD OKACHIE reports.

R

oadside traders on Lagos Island have lamented the continuous extortion by personnel of Lagos Central Business Districts, CBD, saying they harass and confiscate their wares and extort money from them before releasing their goods.

They alleged the officials are always forcing them to make weekly payments of N500 per trader as bribes in order to let them display their wares, even as they are not issued with any official receipts.

The Lagos CBD was established by Governor Babatunde Fashola administration to address the challenges of maintaining the overwhelmed infrastructure and create a conducive business environment.

Their area of operation extends to Carter Bridge, through Adeniji Adele Road to Marina, up to Tafawa Balewa Square,TBS. It also stretches to Broad and Odunlami streets, including Tinubu Square, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Idumagbo, Ereko, Martins and Balogun streets.

But the CBD officials have been accused of deviating from such lofty ideals as investigations revealed massive extortion.

A visit to CBD building at Onikan, showed that confiscated goods littered the front of the office,as some traders were seen carrying away their wares from the premises after paying some bribes to senior officials. The amount paid by each trader for release of their goods is dependent on the quantity and negotiating power. Some traders whose wares were confiscated were seen milling around the compound and pleading with the officials to take into consideration their financial plight while demanding for large bribes.

A trader who said he was waiting to negotiate the release of his wares told our undercover to approach the office and see the boss if he wanted his wares releases in good time. After, two women came out of the office carrying their released wares that included Aso Oke textile materials. “Go inside and meet the oga .Talk with him. He will ask you to pay some money after you have begged him,” the one with Aso Oke told our correspondent.

She confirmed that they were not issued with any official receipt neither were they prosecuted in any court, even as she did not disclose the amount paid.

A CBD officer changing into mufti to enable him extort money incognito from traders.

YOU CAN BE ASKED TO PAY FROM N5,000, N10, 000 OR N20, 000, DEPENDING ON QUANTITY OF THE CONFISCATED GOODS She continued thus: “You can be asked to pay from N5, 000, N10, 000 or N20, 000, depending on quantity of the confiscated goods. Once you do that, your wares will be released to you. Here, they do not charge anyone to court. Just give them some bribes and you will be free”.

Another trader who simply identified himself as Chibuzor, said his goods had been confiscated on several occasions along Broad Street, adding, “They mix up our goods when taking them in their vehicles. When you get to their office, they will demand that you identify your wares. The problem is that some goods are usually stolen or misplaced in the process. For instance, I sell jean trousers and there was a time my goods were mixed up with other people who sell similar things. So that makes it often difficult to identify. At times, you come only to discover that some of your goods are missing and the officials will not do anything about it.”

A young man who sells stockings, wallets and hand-

kerchiefs in a wheelbarrow on Nnamdi Azikiwe Street, Idumota told our correspondent thus: “There are three groups that usually come here to impound our goods: KAI, Task Force and CBD. You can get your goods back after payment if they are seized by KAI or CBD but you cannot get it back if they are ceased by Task Force.

The Task Force will take it straight to the Lagos State Secretariat at Aluasa, Ikeja. Those ones don’t collect money”.

“Here each of us contributes N500 every week to CBD .The money is given as bribes to those monitoring the area, as they are allocated different spots. Our fear is that we do not know whether the money gets to their bosses. For instance, there are officials in charge of Tinubu Square and so on. One of them regularly comes here to collect the bribes on their behalf. Once you have paid, they will not harass you but would tell you to be on the lookout for their patrol teams as they could swoop on the place any time to confiscate wares and carry them to their office. But when you do not comply they won’t allow you to display your wares.”

His allegations were corroborated by another man selling female clothing at Leventis Bus Stop, Marina.

“Oga you can see where we are staying now because of CBD. We were staying outside before but they have pursued us. Now we have no place to put our goods.

Some of them do come around to collect bribe from us.

Those ones are now our friends, so every weekend we contribute N500 each to give to them.

“So those ones always inform us whenever their personnel are coming from their office with their vehicles to impound our goods. With that we are always at alert.

Even though I don’t know how many of them that does share out of the money weekly, I am not sure it reaches their office.

Asked if official receipts are issued when collecting back their goods, he quickly responded: “They don’t issue us with receipts. Those who patrol will come and confiscate our goods and even mix them up with other people’s goods while taking them to their office at Onikan. When you get there, they will tell you how much to pay as bribes before getting back your wares. Most times we pay up to N5,000 but when you go down on your knees to plead, they may take something in the neighbourhood of N2,000 or N3,000 but without official receipts”.

Most of the traders interviewed shared similar experience, as they added that they now live in perpetual fear of these law enforcement operatives. They stressed that they now take to their heels whenever they see any KAI, Task Force and CBD vehicles or officials approaching.

Despite several visits to the Onikan office to get CBD officials to respond to the allegations proved abortive, as they insisted that those charged with dealing with public queries are not on seat.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Features

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

55

Kalaba: A community ravaged by curse of oil The Kalaba community in Bayelsa State has been grappling with oil spills that have not only polluted their only source of drinking water but also destroyed marine lives and all other means of livelihood. EMMA GBEMUDU visited the community following the recent spills and reports on the agonies of the people.

Polluted creeks

An oil well head

F

resh oil spills is ravaging the Kalaba community in Okordia clan of Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State .Investigations show that six spills occurred on February 14, 2013 at different places of pipelines belonging to the Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC). Five of the oil spills occurred in the community, while occurred at the Taylor creek.

The residents are lamenting that their only source of drinking water, the Taylor creek, had been polluted with crude oil .Not done, the community’s creeks ,aquatic life and farmlands have also been polluted by the spills. Incidentally, the cause of the spills is yet to be confirmed. When our correspondent visited the sites during an offensive odour was emitting in the environment. There are fears of an epidemic if NAOC fails to clean up the spills urgently.

The people could be described as traumatised owing to the unending oil spills that have devastated this sleepy community, even as the company officials had visited scenes of the spills. It would be recalled that the community had experienced several spills in the past two years recording one of the highest among communities in the state. The major occupations of Kalaba people are logging, fishing and farming.

Incidentally, NAOC has been operating in the community for more than 28 years but the people alleged there nothing on ground to showfor its presence in the area. They claimed that infrastructural Development has remained elusive.

Efforts to reach the Spokesman of NAOC in Port Harcourt, proved abortive, but a staff of the oil firm who pleaded anonymity, alleged that the spills may not be unconnected with sabotage. The official however, said the company would conduct a JIV report to determine the cause.

Speaking in an interview, a community leader, Chief Obi Atama,expressed resentment on the fresh oil spills which are polluting the environment ,describing it as worrisome.

He said:”I cannot determine the cause

THERE IS GROWING CONCERN AMONG STAKEHOLDERS AND THE PEOPLE AT THE FREQUENCY OF OIL SPILLS IN THE AREA of the oil spills .Whenever they occur, we are always the losers because it kills our snails, fishes and destroys the ponds, swamps, farms and farmlands. Agip Oil Company hardly embarks on cleanup of the impacted areas, and would refuse to pay compensation. We depend on this environment for our livelihood. “ Atama, called on NAOC to convene a stakeholders meeting to seek ways of ameliorating the problems. The community leader said the company should seek for means of protecting its pipelines in the area.

Corroborating this view, the Public Relations Officer of Kalaba Youths Association, Mr. Samuel Numoipre ,said the oil spills are destroying their environment, even as he regretted that the company had been operating in the area for more than 28 years ,stressing that it had been unfair to the community in terms of infrastructure development. Numoipre, lamented that its only source of drinking water, the Taylor creek has been polluted by the spills.

“From what I have heard, the oil spills occurred at five places, behind the community and one across the creek. This is the only source of drinking water, and it is now polluted”he explained.

“But, as a company and host community, there is the need for both parties to discuss on how to proffer lasting solution to this recurring issue. I know some of the spills were as a result of sabotage, while some are due to equipment failure and corrosion. I was among the signatories that signed one of the Joint Inspection

One of the areas affected by the oil spill.

Team,JIV, report sometime ago on corrosion related oil spills. So, some of them in this environment are due to equipment failure, with few sabotage cases, “Numoipre noted.

The PRO said crops no longer grow in the community owing to constant oil spills that have ravaged the environment, noting that the polluted ponds are now without fishes.

He continued:”Even our economic trees are being affected. I know Agip is also losing, but we should be the ones to complain and be compensated. Besides, the local content law is not hidden; we all know it. We are aware that NAOC is awarding pipeline surveillance jobs to persons outside the community which is against our interest. I learnt Agip gave the surveillance of the pipeline across the Taylor Creek up to someone from the neighbouring community. “ In the same vein, the Paramount Ruler of Kalaba, Chief Idoniboye Nwalia, said he is still dumbfounded on these new oil spills in the community.

“If we know the source, we then can strike at that point and correct it. So, without knowing the details; we can only indulge in guessing. Sometimes, when spills occur, we suspect that youths from the community could be responsible. Then we also feel that most of the spills may have been caused by hoodlums from neighbouring communities.”

In an interview, the state Projects Officer of Environmental Rights Action (ERA) Alagoa Morris, observed that there has been frequent oil spills in Kalaba in the past two years.

“Ordinarily, one should expect a stake-

holders meeting between Agip and the communities, especially Kalaba for a dialogue to seek ways of preventing oil spills that are becoming a frequent occurrence, even though the negative impacts brings no gain to stakeholders; including Agip, owners of the oil bearing pipelines, “he explained.

Morris urged the management of NAOC to expedite action in mopping up the spill sites spewing into the environment and also clamping it.

“Agip should take further positive steps with a view to bringing to an end the continuing oil spill accidents in this community. The company should engage in robust community relations practice and amend certain policies that prevents it from being so disposed, “he said.

“The leadership of Kalaba should continue to preach the need for the people to desist from engaging in acts of sabotage.

This is for the general good of the people and their environment. The relevant agencies of government should also step in and play positive roles expected of them.”

Environmental and human rights groups, including the media should assist in finding solutions to the frequent oil spills in Kalaba community. Moreover, are there is no illegal bunkering or oil refining activities within the environment? Every problem has a solution and, this should not be an exception, “Morris said.

Oil spills in communities in Okordia clan have been on the increase in recent times .There is growing concern among stakeholders and the people at the frequency of oil spills in the area. Notably, the state government appears to be helpless on the sad development.

WORLD RECORD

Oldest pinned insect specimen

Vol. 03 No. 585

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

N150

The oldest known pinned insect specimen, still on its original pin, is a Bath white butterfly (Pontia daplidice), which was collected near Gamlingay, Cambridgeshire in May 1702.

Bayelsa’s fight against rumour mongers

B

ayelsa State made a move which is a reflection of the minds of those in power even as the people await the outcome of the assignment given the Rumour Management Committee recently inaugurated

by Governor Seriake Dickson. This will be followed by a bill to the House of Assembly which will prescribe punishment against rumour mongers and the business of rumour mongering.

Among others, the committee’s task was to also assist the state to fight against malicious rumours and misinformation.

There is no doubt that the task be-

WHAT HAPPENED TO WATER FOR ALL?

T

he draw for the 19th FIFA U-20 World Youth Championship (WYC) finals was held last night in Istanbul, Turkey.

And if the Flying Eagles that play Egypt later today in the semi-finals of the ongoing CAF U-20 Championship overcome the Junior Pharaohs and eventually retain the AYC trophy, Nigeria

TALKINGPOINT Seyi Fasugba

seyifasugba@yahoo.com 08053069514 (sms only)

fore the state and the panel is enormous and it will be very interesting to know how the committee intends to set out the parameters to achieve this.

The government is not stopping at that, but also seeks penalties for offenders. It may appear premature to assume what the penalty would be and how the culprits would be classified. But one will be curious to know how offenders will be apprehended and what qualifies for a rumour and the punishment it attracts.

To key observers of events, the move may have been a reaction to certain developments, perhaps a covert moves to curtail some anti-government elements and attempts by the opposition to undermine the influence of state functionaries. That the government is in dire need of a solution to a bugging problem cannot be underestimated, particularly in this circumstance. But it is one thing to identify a problem, analyse, diagnose and another thing to find the correct approach in handling the challenges. That you have perfectly gone through these stages is not also a guarantee that the solution will be an all purpose one, more so when the challenges are dynamic. And they are bound to be so given that human beings are also dynamic.

For the government to have been bordered by rumours clearly indicates that there were, indeed, missing links in get-

HOW WILL THAT SOLVE THE MYRIADS OF PROBLEMS CONFRONTING SUCH A STATE STILL GRAPPLING WITH THE CHALLENGES OF DEVELOPMENT...?

ting the public informed. Nature abhors vacuum and in the absence of direct and genuine channels of communication, there are bound to cacophony of noises.

In the management of relationships, the way and manner of handling information, the channels etc, are germaine to the survival or otherwise of any venture. Either way, people are bound to circulate information in order to feed their needs per time. For rumours to thrive, there must have been an established case of the absence of the right information or a deliberate effort not to release what the people need to hear or know.

Again, how the government intends to go about it without infringing on the right of the people of the state to

freedom of speech as enshrined in the constitution and also acclaimed internationally, remains to be seen. Beyond this, however, the signal this action has sent to the outside world is that more often, certain individuals find themselves at the corridors of power without an idea of what to do to engage their time while in office and how to affect lives and meet the yearnings of the people. The fight against rumour creates an impression that both the governor and his aides are not only idle, but also not occupied enough to have time for distractions.

Without being told, the project is to protect the interest of the governor and his caucus in government. How will that solve the myriads of problems confronting such a state still grappling with the challenges of development, where there are still youth unemployment with limited opportunities to engage their talents, low school enrolment among pupils and where the infrastructural development is begging for attention?

That the money for this kind of project can better be utilized to develop the people in order to end rumour mongering needs not be overemphasized. To legislate against it will be reminiscent of the infamous Decree Four of the Buhari/Idiagbon regime which came and ended with the military junta without providing any solution, rather than making the author of the draconian law, the most unpopular regime ever in the history of military interventions.

Policies targeted at the people are clear indications that advocates of such have lost touch with the electorate who willingly surrendered the mandate in the first instance and with who the ultimate power resides. Former governor Timipre Sylva who also spent considerable time fighting rumour mongers could not survive the tide when public opinion rose against him. This indeed, is a serious lesson in leadership and governance.

Sport Extra

Turkey 2013: F/Eagles may face England would be in Group E with Chile, England and Iraq.

FIFA will conduct another draw for the second, third and fourth finishers in the ongoing competition in Algeria at the end on March 30, to fill African spaces

in Groups A, B and D. Cuba will play Korea Republic in the opening match on June 21, while host Turkey will face El Salvador on the second day.

Group A: France, CAF, USA, Spain; Group B: Cuba, S/Korea,

CAF, Portugal; Group C: Turkey, El Salvador, Colombia, Australia; Group D: Mexico, Greece, Paraguay, CAF; Group E: Chile, CAF champions, England, Iraq; Group F: OFC champions, Uzbekistan, Uruguay, Croatia.

Coach John Obuh

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