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Confusion over ‘missing’ 2016 budget

N1.04trn fine: Court bars MTN from moving money out of Nigeria

...We are not aware –Saraki ...I’ve not withdrawn it –Buhari George Oji and Rotimi Fadeyi

Saraki

Vol. 5 N0. 1285

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he Presidency yesterday said President Muhammadu

Buhari has not withdrawn the 2016 budget from the National Assembly The social media has been awash with rumours that the N6.18trn 2016 Ap-

propriation Bill, which was presented before the joint session of the National Assembly last December 22 by President Continued on Page 2>>

Malami

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National Mirror Online @NationalMirror N150 Wednesday, January 13 , 2016

No apology over victims of anti-graft war –APC ...as PDP Reps give FG 48hrs to free Metuh George Opara and Rotimi Fadeyi

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ational Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief John OdigieOyegun, has said the party does not owe anybody apology if caught in the fight against corruption Continued on Page 2>>

Constitution Review Panel gets June deadline P.7

Osun to sack 204 academic, non-academic staff P.4 9 killed, 18 injured in Ogun, Oyo auto crashes P.8

Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, arriving the lower chamber at the resumption of plenary after the holidays in Abuja, yesterday.

FG deploys BVN to track ghost workers, says Adeosun Arrest Nwobodo now, Ohanaeze tells EFCC

P.5 P.7

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Confusion over ‘missing’ 2016 budget CONTINUED FROM Page 1

Buhari had been withdrawn and missing.

Reacting to enquiries on reports that the budget was missing, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, in a statement said once the budget had been submitted to the National Assembly, it ceased to be the property of the Presidency.

According to him, nobody except the President could withdraw the budget, stressing that he had not taken such action.

He stated that enquiries should be directed to the

appropriate quarters, apparently referring to the National Assembly.

The statement said: “Nobody except the President can withdraw the budget. As far as we know, he hasn’t done that.

“The copies in their hundreds have been delivered to both chambers of the National Assembly.

“By tradition, once the budget is submitted, it ceases to be our property.

Enquiries as to where it is should be directed to the appropriate quarters.”

The Senate also, yesterday, refuted the alleged missing of the budget.

The Senate, which resumed from a three week Christmas and New Year break yesterday commenced the session with a closed door meeting, which lasted more than two hours.

There were rumours that the alleged missing of the budget formed a part of the issues that engaged the lawmakers during their exclusive session.

Unfortunately, the outcome of the closed door meeting remained in the realm of conjecture as there was nobody that briefed journalists on the outcome of the meeting.

Senate President, Bukola Saraki, merely announced after the session that the Senate discussed matters of urgent national importance.

But Chairman, Senate Committee on Information and Public Affairs, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, who spoke to our correspondent on the phone said he was not aware of any missing budget.

“All I can say is that, I do not know anything about the missing of any budget. Right now, we are preparing to resume the consideration of the budget, which was submitted

to us by Mr. President before we went on our last break. ”We are awaiting the production of copies of the budget to be made available to every senator so that we can go into its consideration.”

“To us, it is a rumour.

How can anybody be talking about missing budget?

Does the budget have a leg or arm? It is human beings that have arms and legs and can miss,” he said.

The Senate President, who met with President Buhari at the Presidential Villa, yesterday refused to comment of the subject.

Saraki, who was in the

L-R: Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr Ado Muhammed; Director-General, National Orientation Agency, Mr Mike Omeri; Minister of State for Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire; Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, and Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai mohammed, during a joint Ministerial news conference to give update on the outbreak of Lassa fever in Nigeria, in Abuja, yesterday.

Villa for close to an hour declined comment when asked by State House Correspondents on whether the budget was actually missing.

As soon as he emerged from the office of the President, Saraki was confronted by State House Correspondents on the issue.

The Senate President quickly rushed into his vehicle and declined to make any comment.

Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Ita Enang, was also sighted at the Presidential Villa.

However, it was not certain whether his visit was in connection with the budget.

It would be recalled that Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, had last Wednesday, while briefing State House Correspondents after the Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting denied reports that the budget had been withdrawn from the National Assembly.

Speaking further on the issue at the briefing, Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, said the Appropriation bill had been presented before the National Assembly and would go through the normal process whereby MDAs defend their budgets.

She, however, said that there could be amendments to the bill when government agencies defend their budgets.

No apology over anti-graft victims –APC CONTINUED FROM Page 1

by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Oyegun spoke after he led members of the National Working Committee, NWC, of the party to a meeting with Buhari on Monday night at the Presidential Villa.

According to him, the issue of whether somebody belonged to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, or not did not arise.

He stated that President Buhari had committed himself to waging war against corruption, stressing that the APC

was solidly behind him.

Oyegun said APC was not apologetic over the arrest of National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Olisa Metuh.

He was specifically reacting to the criticism that his party was tending towards a one party state.

“The APC is not in any way apologetic. We promised change and there is a lot of rot in the system.

This must be cleansed and whoever and whatever ox is being gored, where ever the tree is going to fall, so, let it be.

“We must get used to the fact that in the process of cleansing this nation, there is going to be a lot of

bullet to bite.

“The APC has not been in office at national level in the last 10 to 16 years.

So, the issue of whether somebody is PDP or not PDP does not arise. We have a nation to cleanse.

“The president has committed himself to that and we should support it whatever way it comes.

We are not being apologetic about that at all.

“It has nothing to do with witch-hunting. It just happened that the dramatist personae of the period all happened to be on one side of the political divide.

“We have absolutely no intention to pressurise

any group or any nation towards a one-party state.

It is not in our interest so to do because we need a vibrant opposition.

“We need an opposition that will contribute constructively to national discourse; that will make us sit up and deliver to the people what we promised.

But the task is enormous and if anybody is ready to help to discharge these responsibilities, he is most welcomed,” he said.

On last Saturday’s concluded gubernatorial election in Bayelsa State, Oyegun expressed regret that many people lost their lives, stressing that the party had a lot of reserva-

tions over the conduct of the election.

According to him, APC would examine the conduct and outcome of the election and decide on the next step to take.

On the political situation in Kogi State, Oyegun said the party would leave the petitions and grievances on the matter for the court to decide.

Meanwhile, the PDP caucus in the House of Representatives yesterday demanded the release of Chief Metuh within 48 hours.

The PDP lawmakers, led by Minority Leader, Leo Ogor, addressing journalists, demanded the

release of Metuh either through administrative bail as was the case with former administrator of Kaduna State, Jafaru Jafaru, or be arraigned before any court of competent jurisdiction.

The party said the continued detention of Metuh in disobedience to the law of the land amounted to political witch-hunt and application of different strokes for different folks.

The caucus said although it had nothing against the on-going antgraft war of the present administration, it would never support any actions or attitude meant to perContinued on Page 5>>

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NEWS

L-R: Captain, January 9 Collective (J9C), Seun Soyinka; Mr. Adekunle Shonola; Founder, Leap Africa, Mrs. Ndidi Nwuneli; Lagos State Commissioner for Commerce, Prince Rotimi Ogunleye; Managing Director, Accion, Mrs. Olubunmi Lawson and Commercial Director, Air France/KLM, Mr. Arthur Dieffenthaler, during the 4th Anniversary Lecture of J9C in Lagos, yesterday. PHOTO: SAMUEL ADETIMEHIN

L-R: Director of Delegation of German Industry & Commerce, Dr. Michael Blank; Deputy Consul General of Germany ,Mr. Aron Mir Haschemi; Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mr. Oscar N. Onyema, OON; Consul General of Germany, Mr. Ingo Herbert and Commercial, Cultural and Political Attaché, Mr. Rene Marco Siebenhaar, at the Closing Gong Ceremony the Nigerian Stock Exchange, yesterday.

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L-R; Kwara State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed; Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbe and Vice President, Dangote Group, Lagos, Alhaji Sani Dangote, during the Flag-Off of Second Phase of Agricultural Equipment Hiring Enterprise at the National Centre for Agricultural Mechanization (NCAM), Ilorin, yesterday.

L-R: Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed; Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase and Deputy Inspector General of Police, Logistics and Supply, Mr. Mamman Tsafe, during a working visit of the Minister to the IG’s office in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA

National News

Buhari’s anti-graft fight’ll make Nigeria great again –Osinbajo A za Msue Kaduna

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ice President Yemi Osinbajo yesterday in Kaduna said the Federal Government was committed to making the nation great again and the only way to do so is to root out corruption from the country.

Osinbajo added that the eradication of corruption would ensure the growth and development of Nigeria, adding that he was happy that Nigerians could see what the present administration is doing to end corruption.

Professor Osinbajo was speaking in Kaduna at the foundation laying ceremony of 2,000 housing units and the groundbreaking of Galaxy Mall and Galleria.

He praised Kaduna State governor for his developmental strides, saying Governor Nasir elRufai was an example of

the face of change.

He said the All Progressives Congress, APC, promised change and that change was already taking place in Kaduna.

“In the last election APC promised change and the people voted for us because they believed in change and they want change and change is already taking place in Kaduna,” he said.

According to him, the projects - the housing units, the mall and galle-

ria and others, show that change has come to Kaduna, adding that change is possible and the APC government is ready to serve the people.

Osinbajo stated that Governor el-Rufai represents the change the APC was talking about and that he believes strongly that Kaduna State would be great again.

“The facilities that will be here will create jobs for the people and that is so important because as a gov-

ernment we promised to create jobs,” he added.

The VP also said the first two million jobs that would be created by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, would be in the area of teaching.

His words: “We want to ensure the enabling environment and capital for business people; Nigeria can be great if we end corruption, and you can see that this government is fighting corruption.

“Government believes

that Nigeria has the resources for us all to live reasonably comfortable.

“I believe in El-Rufai; anything he says he would do. El-Rufai is a man of his words, and I am looking forward to coming here again to commission these projects when they are completed.”

He commended the Kaduna State government and the state House of Assembly for collaborating for the rapid growth and development of the state,

adding that “I am happy with the relationship between the executive and the legislature in Kaduna State.”

On his part, Governor El-Rufai explained that “the shopping mall project is a public-private partnership between the Kaduna State government and the UAC Property Development Company, UPDC. One of the first corporate bodies to demonstrate confidence in our government is the UPDC.

Osun to sack 204 academic, non-academic staff of tertiary institutions

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o fewer than 204 academic and nonacademic staff in Osun State-owned tertiary institutions would be disengaged from service, according to the provosts and rectors of colleges of education and polytechnics.

The provosts and rectors made this known yesterday when they ap-

peared before the Osun State House Assembly in Osogbo.

They said the staff would be disengaged on grounds of redundancy, inappropriate qualification, disciplinary matters and poor personnel records, among others.

According to data obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, about

100 academic and 104 nonacademic staff would be affected.

Rector of the state polytechnic, Iree, Dr. Sola Agboola, said about 22 academic staff and 46 nonacademic staff would be affected in his institution.

Similarly, the provost, College of Education, EsaOke, Dr. Augustus Oke, said 15 teaching staff and 10

non-teaching staff would be affected in the college.

Provost of Ilesha College of Education, Mr. Kadir Adegoke, said 17 teaching staff and 22 non-teaching staff would be affected in his institution; while the provost of Ila College of Education, Mr. Clement Akanni, put the number to be affected in his institution at 46 teaching and

26 non-teaching staff.

Akanni said the exercise was not intended to witch-hunt anybody but aimed at improving the standard of education in the state.

The officials said the state government is not part of the disengagement plan, stressing that it was the decision of the governing councils.

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Wednesday, January 13, 2016

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FG deploys BVN to track ghost workers –Adeosun Chidi Ugwu, Abuja

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ederal Government yesterday said it had successfully completed a pilot programme which uses Bank Verification Number, BVN, details to check for ghost workers and identify duplicate and other irregular entries on the payroll.

A statement issued by the Director of Press, Federal Ministry of Finance, Marshall Gundu, indicated that the pilot project was initiated as a solution to the slow pace of progress being encountered in the enrollment of employees on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS The statement stated that the strategy of using BVN rather than requiring the physical presence of each member of staff had significantly simplified and accelerated the progress of the project and at a lower cost than previously incurred.

“The use of BVN rather than requiring physical presentation as a first line check on the integrity of our payroll is a cost effective and efficient measure.

“This will accelerate the pace of enrollment on IPPIS as well as identify anomalies which can be flagged for further investigation and review,” Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, was quoted as saying in the statement.

According to the minister, since it was started five years ago, only 20 per cent of public employees had actually been enrolled onto IPPIS to date, due to various reasons.

Adeosun restated the commitment of the ministry to scrutinising the

largest single expense item, adding that personnel related costs account for over 40 per cent of government expenditure and must be prudently managed to ensure the validity of every payment.

She explained further that government was determined to ensure that everyone who collects a salary from the federal purse is on the IPPIS system.

While commending the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement Plc (NIBBS) for their co-operation in the exercise, the minister noted that under BVN more than 30 million biometric and personal data records had been captured.

“The BVN provides a pool of reliable data against which records held on the Federal Government’s payroll will be cross checked to identify inconsistencies, including duplicate payments, payments to dormant accounts, multiple payments to a single account holder, non-matching of data provided, among others.

“Genuine staff have nothing to be concerned about but those who are collecting multiple salaries and those engaged in any type of payroll fraud are guaranteed to be caught out,” the minister assured.

As part of the ministry’s initiatives to enhance prudence in public finance at the federal level, Adeosun disclosed that her ministry also has in-built controls to counteract those seeking to transfer their salary receiving accounts to microfinance, mortgage bank and other non BVN accounts in order to evade detection.

“Since the advent of BVN we have seen a trend of such requests for trans-

No apology over anti-graft victims –APC CONTINUED FROM Page 2

petrate selective justice.

It added that the actions of the ruling party suggested dictatorship and that it would continue to battle any undemocratic actions until the rights of everybody in the country was respected.

When asked why Metuh had not refunded any money like Isa did, Ogor said it was not the duty of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,

EFCC, to ask for refund of any money but a competent court of jurisdiction where necessary.

Metuh was alleged by EFCC to have own up to collecting N400m from former National Security Adviser, NSA, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd).

His continued detention, according to EFCC, was due to his refusal to refund the money, opting instead to go on hunger

fer from commercial bank accounts to non-BVN accounts.

“Accordingly, we plan to undertake a detailed review of all persons who have requested such transfers in the last 12 months,” she said.

Similarly, she explained that the ministry was also working closely with

NIBBS to finalise plans to roll out BVN to capture non-BVN bank institutions with a significant number of Federal Government salary accounts.

This is even as she explained that in line with the commitment made by President Muhammadu Buhari in his budget speech, the ministry had set up a

“Continuous Audit” team with the sole function of undertaking detailed, programmed audits on payroll.

The team, whose responsibility is to undertake programmed risk-based audits of the payroll to strengthen the controls framework, is to be based in the office of the minister and is to be headed by one of the most

senior accountants in the office of the Accountant General, Mr. M. Diqua, who was hitherto Director Funds.

The minister also pointed out that based on preliminary work undertaken so far, government anticipated that billions of naira would be saved as a result of the various initiatives.

L-R: Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo; Managing Director, UACN Property Development Company, Mr Hakeem Ogunniran and Managing Director, United Integrated Construction Limited, Mr Faved Azize (right)at the foundation laying ceremony of Galaxy Mall and Galleria, in Kaduna, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

Boko Haram: UN allocates $31m to Nigeria, others for humanitarian response

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N Officer for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, Mr Stephen O’Brien, has allocated $31m from the Central Emergency Response Fund, CERF, to support humanitarian partners in Nigeria and the Lake Chad Basin region.

This was contained in a statement issued by Mr. Jens Laerke, from OCHA, in New York yesterday.

The allocation is to assist Nigeria in the humanitarian situation, which is worsening due to violence perpetrated by Boko Haram.

The CERF funding, he said, would provide lifesaving assistance to almost 1.7 million affected people in the four countries.

Some $10m, it added, would bolster relief efforts in Nigeria.

It said women and girls kidnapped by Boko Haram have been subjected to physical and psychological abuse, forced labour, forced marriage and sexual slavery.

Boys, OCHA said, have been forcibly enrolled as combatants.

It added that the CERF funding for Nigeria would

also be critical for providing emergency shelter, health care, safe drinking water and sanitation and nutrition for affected people currently living in overcrowded camps, in the North East of the country.

It stated that humanitarian partners in Cameroon, Chad and Niger would receive $7m each.

OCHA estimated that 2.7 million people, of whom 1.5 million children, had been

displaced in the region, making it the fastest growing displacement crisis in Africa.

It added that people affected by the ongoing crisis were in urgent need of food, drinking water, shelter, health care, protection and education.

The UN’s global humanitarian fund provides immediate funding for life-saving humanitarian action at the onset of emergencies and

for neglected crises that have not attracted sufficient funding.

Since its inception in 2006, 125 UN member states and observers, privatesector donors and regional governments have supported the Fund.

To date, CERF has allocated almost $4.2bn in support of humanitarian operations in 94 countries and territories.

the fire was unknown.

“No one can really say what actually caused the fire outbreak; the tanker came with the product and was off-loading its product when it suddenly caught fire,” he said.

He said prompt arrival of men of the Fire Service prevented the fire from engulfing the filling station and other properties in the neighborhood.

An eyewitness, Mr. Monday Osadolor, said men of the fire service were able to contain the fire because the station was not selling

fuel when the incident occurred.

“If it was a normal day when there are many cars around this road, many people would have lost their lives,” he said.

Operations Commander, Federal Fire Service, Mr Jaji Abdulganiyu, who led his men to the scene, said the service was committed to put fire outbreaks under control in the FCT. “Our officers will always respond promptly whenever they are called upon for emergency situations like this,” he said.

NNPC tanker catches fire while discharging fuel in Abuja

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petrol tanker belonging to Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, with 45,000 litres of petrol, caught fire yesterday while discharging product at a filling station along Abdulsalami Abukakar Way, Apo, Abuja.

It was learnt that there was no loss of life but the tanker was completely burnt down, while the filling station was partly affected.

Branch Manager, NNPC Mega Station, Mr Jeremiah Abimaje, said the cause of

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Court bars MTN from moving money out of Nigeria

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ederal High Court in Lagos on Tuesday barred MTN Nigeria Communications Limited from moving any funds abroad it may have in Nigerian banks until the hearing of its suit challenging the N1.4 trillion fine imposed on it by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

The Federal Government brought a motion to restrain the 21 commercial banks, in which MTN has funds, from releasing money to the telecommunications giant.

“The FG seeks an order of Mareva injunction [a court order which requests assets be frozen] restrain-

ing the aforementioned banks from releasing, making a sale, transferring, or paying any of the monies maintained by the plaintiff MTN,” the motion read in part.

In October, the telecommunications giant was originally hit with a massive $5.2 billion fine by the NCC for failing to disconnect unregistered subscribers. This failure was in direct violation of regulations put in place by the NCC in order to combat the uptick in kidnappings and the Boko Haram insurgency, both of which often involve the usage of cell phones.

The fine was eventually

reduced to $3.9 billion in December. However, MTN is suing the NCC and the Attorney General of Nigeria, Abubakar Malami, contending that as a regulatory body the NCC does not have the right to assume all the functions of the state.

The Court however refused an application filed by the Federal Government seeking to freeze the account of MTN Nigeria Communications Limited in 21 commercial banks in Nigeria.

The application of mareva injunction, filed by Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami

(SAN), was to stop MTN from boycotting payment of the N1.04trn fine imposed on it by the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, for its failure to deactivate unregistered subscribers.

Justice Idris Mohammed turned down the application on ground that the AGF had not shown enough facts to prove that MTN was about to empty its bank accounts and move its funds out of the country.

The AGF had expressed fear that MTN could move all its funds out of the country before the N1.04tn fine could be enforced.

Consequently, he sought an order directing all the 21

Reps seek early presentation of budget Ubong Ukpong Abuja

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ouse of Representatives has announced plans to ensure the President prepares and presents budgets three months ahead of all fiscal year endings, in the upcoming constitution amendment.

The Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, who made the proposal in his address to the House at the resumed plenary yesterday, however, urged members to brace up and ensure there was proper implementation of budgets henceforth by the executive arm.

Dogara, who had before the recess complained that the constitution was not very specific about the fi-

nancial year clause provision, also said the constitution would be amended to stipulate that a financial year shall begin from the date budget is signed into law.

The Speaker declared that the lack of clarity on this matter in the constitution was largely responsible for abuse of the processes by past governments.

“In order to ensure an orderly and predictable budgeting system in Nigeria, it may be necessary to introduce some constitutional amendments.

Specifically, Section 81(1) may be amended to read that “The President shall cause to be prepared and laid before each House of the National Assembly not

later than 90 days before the end of the financial year, estimates of the revenues and expenditure of the Federation for the next following financial year,” the Speaker said.

He stressed that submitting a budget at least three months before the end of a financial year was consistent with international best practices and allows the parliament enough time to scrutinise and pass the budget early, before the commencement of a financial year.

He told the members that crucial duties beckoned as they resumed, as the 2016 Appropriation Bill deserves expeditious consideration on their part so as to facilitate early commencement

Saraki gives constitution review c’ttee June deadline George Oji Abuja

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enate President Bukola Saraki has issued a marching order to the Senate adhoc committee on review of the 1999 constitution, directing it to ensure it turns in the final draft copy of the bill on or before June 30, to the Senate plenary for final deliberation and eventual passage.

Saraki noted that since the 7th National Assembly had already exhaustively considered and passed key areas of the

review, all the committee should do is to ensure the process is expedited and the cost reduced significantly in line with the Senate fiscal consolidation objectives.

Accordingly, the Senate president directed the committee to eliminate all unnecessary travels and tours and go straight to the heart of the matter.

Saraki gave this directive in his welcome speech to mark the resumption of the Senate from their Christmas and New Year vacation.

The Senate president constituted the 38-member ad-hoc constitution

review committee headed

by Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, shortly before the lawmakers commenced their Christmas and New Year break.

Saraki stated that in 2016, the senate would be judged and assessed on the balance of efficacy and accountability, insisting, “2016 must be a year of transparency and delivery.”

Saraki also yesterday reiterated the need for the senators to raise the bar on its oversight of activities of the executives, especially by the various committees.

of its implementation.

The Speaker, reminding that the welfare of citizens depends largely on this instrument, stressed: “We must therefore pass the 2016 budget which includes Mr. President’s proposals on job creation early, to restore confidence in existing obligations and the economy generally.”

banks to open a special interest-yielding account in the name of the Chief Registrar of the Federal High Court and move N1.04tn out of whatever funds that was standing to MTN’s credit in their possession.

Counsel to the AGF, Mr. Dipo Okpeseyi (SAN), in a 14-paragraph affidavit deposed to by his junior, Steve Nwabueze, had argued that MTN was in the habit of regularly repatriating its funds out of Nigeria.

He noted that between October 2007 and May 2009, a period of 19 months, MTN moved over $7.7bn of the money made in Nigeria to a foreign account.

He further pointed the court’s attention to an instance when in one day, specifically on February 8, 2008, MTN transferred over $936m out of Nigeria to accounts in Mauritius, Cayman Island and British Virgin Island.

Okpeseyi maintained that MTN was under an obligation to pay the N1.04tn fine, because it was NCC’s administrative decision, which remained final unless it was reviewed by the

commission or nullified by the court.

He said though NCC had earlier given MTN concession on the fine and reduced it to N780bn, but since MTN had neglected or failed to pay on or before December 31, 2015, the fine remained N1.04tn.

Okpeseyi urged the court to grant the application in the interest of justice to prevent the court’s decision from being rendered nugatory if it went in the favour of NCC and AGF. In his ruling, Justice Mohammed held that the case was sensitive and of public interest, adding that he would rather hear the case filed by MTN to challenge the fine and give a judgment within a short time.

Justice Mohammed ordered parties to maintain status quo ante bellum pending the determination of the suit and adjourned till January 22 for hearing.

MTN had assembled seven Senior Advocates of Nigeria, led by Chief Wole Olanipekun, to challenge the N1.04tn fine imposed on it by NCC.

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How global oil price can be stabilised – Onyeama George Oji Abuja

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L-R: Deputy Head of Mission, Italian Embassy, Dr Luca Attanasio; Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi; Italian Ambassador to Nigeria, Dr Fulvio Rustico and Minister of State, Solid Minerals, Hon Abubakar Bwari, during a meeting with the minister in Abuja, yesterday.

Arrest Nwobodo now, Ohanaeze tells EFCC Emmanuel Ezeh Enugu

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hanaeze Ndigbo has asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to arrest former Governor of old Anambra State, Senator Jim Nwobodo, over his reported involvement in the controversial $2 billion arms money.

Nwobodo, who was named by former NSA, Sambo Dasuki, to have received N500 million, has defected to the All Progressives Congress, APC, a move many described as a move to shield himself from EFCC prosecution.

However, in a joint press briefing addressed yesterday by National President of Ohanaeze Youth Council, OYC, worldwide and the Na-

tional Secretary, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro and Okwu Nnabuike, respectively, they called on Nwobodo to immediately tell Nigerians the beneficiaries of the said sum.

The group said if he failed to disclose the beneficiaries within the next 21 days, it would take appropriate action to ensure the full weight of the law descended on him.

The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation said, “We charge Nwobodo to let Nigerians know how he disbursed the N500m he received from Dasuki.

“He should take a cue from Dasuki as well as Chief Tony Anenih, who have since disclosed how they shared money made available to them.

“Since Nwobodo said the money was meant for Jona-

than’s mobilisation campaign in the South-East, he should let the world know how he disbursed the money; he should disclose identities of all the South-East leaders and politicians who received money from him and how much he gave to each of them. If he pocketed the money, he should also let the world know.”

Speaking further, the OYC maintained that defecting to the APC would not save any person who had participated in sharing the nation’s common wealth.

“We are aware that he has decamped to the APC, and we agree with Nigerians, even members of the APC, who have viewed his defection as a ploy to evade justice.

“However, we want to tell him, including other politi-

cians who are considering such defection as a way of escaping justice, that there is no escape route. If they like, let them change their surname to Muhammadu, it will not save them from going to jail.

“We also wish to remind him that President Muhammdu Buhari jailed him as a military head of state and so history is about to be made as the same president may jail him again; this time, he may bag longer sentence.

“The EFCC should not hesitate to arrest all the people who had in one way or the other contributed to running this country’s economy down. All we ask the commission is that it should be total and thorough in its arrest and prosecution. No looter should go unpunished.”

8 suspects in police net over OAU lecturer’s death Boladale Bamigbola Osogbo

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ight suspects believed to have murdered a lecturer of the Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU, Osun State, Dr. Adedeji Adejobi, last year July in his residence, have been apprehended by police in the state.

Addressing newsmen in Osogbo yesterday on activities of the police in 2015, Police Commissioner, Mr. Kola Sodipo, gave the names of those arrested as Abiodun Damilola Jawefa, Adegoke Adeolu, Sunday Okoro, Abiodun Ayeni, Faisal Musa, Bilkiaminu Alasan, Sule Victor and Bobby Eric.

He added that during the

operation, a member of the gang, identified as Okoro, now at large, used his locally made barrel gun to kill the night guard on duty at the residence of the lecturer.

Before attacking Adejobi’s residence in Ile Ife, Shodipo said the suspects had robbed a man of his Toyota Corolla car in Ilesa, and used the vehicle to trail the lecturer to his residence in Ife and robbed him of a Toyota Venza, HP Laptop computer, Blackberry handsets and cash, and later killed him.

According to the police boss, police had recovered items that include the following from the one of the suspects; Laptop computer,

Plasma television, two locally made cut size single barrel guns, one live and 3 expended cartridges, and one empty shell of 9mm pistol ammunition.

Also last year, the commissioner said the command arrested four robbery suspects and recovered large cache of arms from them.

The suspects, whose identities were given as; Ifedayo Adeniyi, Semiu Taofeeq, Ogunwale Afolabi and Mukaila Oyeleke, were arrested when they attacked and robbed one Fabiyi Adebayo of his Lexus Jep RX 300 at gun point.

He added that during the arrest, one locally made dou-

ble barrel pistol with one live cartridge and cutlasses was recovered from them.

As part of the success story of the command last year, Shodipo said one Bamitale Fisayo who broke into a house and carted away sum of N30,130, one Acer laptop, two Infinix handset, one Blackberry touch handset, one Itel phone, one Nokia phone, one power bank with charger and other items, was apprehended and charged to court by the police.

The commissioner said 18 vehicles and 8 motorcycles were recovered by the command from various suspects between September and December 2015.

igeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr. Geoffrey Onyema, yesterday in Abuja said the only way to rescue the declining global price of crude oil is for the world to work towards attainment of peace in the troubled Middle East.

The minister made the remark when Iranian Ambassador to Nigeria, Saheed Koozechi, paid him a courtesy visit at the headquarters of Foreign Affairs Ministry in Abuja.

A statement issued by the media office of the ministry quoted the minister as saying that peace in the Middle East, especially between Iran and Saudi Arabia, would further strengthen ties among oil producing countries.

Onyema urged Iran to continue to pursue peace irrespective of the setback the recent killing of Shiite scholar might have caused the nation, restating that Nigeria would always support peace in the Middle East.

Onyema, however, regretted the shortfall in the oil industry, attributing the severed relation-

ship between Iran and Saudi Arabia partly to the problems confronting the industry.

The minister, who enjoined Iran to assist the country in its resolve to fight insecurity, corruption and to revive the dwindling economy, said the visit of Nigerian delegation to Tehran was mainly to pledge its unwavering support for peace and development of the world’s economy.

In his response, Iranian Ambassador, Mr Koozechi, expressed displeasure of his country over the tension brewing with Saudi Arabia, stating that a coalition with Nigeria would be a welcome development as the two countries have a lot to benefit from each other.

He said President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to Tehran was a milestone and a roadmap to a brighter future for the two nations.

The envoy, however, used the medium to appeal to its neighbours in the Middle East to embrace its arrangement with the international community in order to attract peace and stability in the region.

Cocaine import: NDLEA quizzes staff, 4 others Olusegun Koiki

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ational Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, says it is currently interrogating one of its operatives over alleged conspiracy to import cocaine from Brazil.

The investigation, which commenced after an abandoned luggage from Brazil was found to contain 2.24kg of cocaine at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja, Lagos, had already led to the arrest of five suspects.

Those being interrogated include Ali Bala Adamu, a staff of NDLEA, Ijeoma Ojukwu, a niece to the late Nigerian politician, Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, and three others, Victor Umeh, Uche Igwelo and Egbuche Fidelis Osita.

Reacting to the arrest, Acting Chairman of the

NDLEA, Mrs. Roli BodeGeorge, said the agency would prosecute whoever was found cupable.

The NDLEA boss added that the agency would maintain its culture of integrity, stressing that if the officer being interrogated was found culpable, the law would run its full course.

According to Roli, “NDLEA will not compromise its high standard of operation. We are working very hard with international and local collaborators in projecting the image of Nigeria in drug control programmes. Any attempt by any person or group of persons to sabotage this great achievement shall be resisted.

Probity and strict law enforcement shall be sustained,” she added.

NDLEA Commander at the Lagos Airport, Mr. Ahmadu Garba, said the cocaine seizure was the first in the New Year.

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National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

9 killed, 18 injured in Ogun, Oyo auto crashes KEMI OLAITAN AND FEMI OYEWESO

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t least, five people have been confirmed dead, while 13 others were critically injured yesterday afternoon in an accident at the ever-busy Lagos-

Ibadan Expressway.

The auto crash, which occurred at Eldorado axis, Ayetoro village in Mowe corridor of the expressway at Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State, involved a DAF truck marked (OYO) GNN 774 XA and a white Mazda passenger bus marked

(LAGOS) APP 36 XA. National Mirror gathered that the accident was caused by the white Mazda passenger bus travelling out of Lagos on top speed, which rammed into the stationary DAF truck.

Eyewitness account revealed that a nursing mother with two

of her children, were among those who died in the auto crash that occurred about 1:20pm.

The accident resulted in heavy traffic gridlock on the expressway. Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, Adegoke Adetunji, and Public Relations Officer, PRO, of Ogun

L-R: Lagos State Commissioner for Local Governments and Community Affairs, Mr. Muslim Folami; Chairman, Conference of Local Governments and Local Council Development Areas (Conference 57), Mr. Kolade Alabi and Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, at a media briefing on Commencement of Construction of 114 roads by the Lagos State government, yesterday.

FG to partner Lagos on solid minerals development AYO ESAN

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ederal Government says it is prepared to partner Lagos State government in geological data and geo-chemical investigation to realise the state’s aspirations on solid minerals development and safe environment.

Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, stated this when Lagos State Commissioner for Energy and Natural Resources, Mr Olawale Oluwo, paid him a courtesy visit in Abuja.

Aside assisting the state with geological data to determine the quantity and quality of its minerals deposits, the Ministry of Solid Minerals Devel-

FRANCIS SUBERU

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hairman of Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences Unit, Olubukola Abe, has said enforcement of traffic regulations that restricted Bus Rapid Transit, BRT, routes in the state is non-negotiable, and that

opment, according to Fayemi, is also prepared to assist in the area of environmental impact arising from mining activities.

Fayemi said there was no way the country can succeed in the plan to diversify the economy through solid minerals if there was no partnership and collaboration between Federal Government and the states.

The minister noted that while solid minerals exploitation was exclusive to the Federal Government, land ownership, in reality, is exclusive to state governments.

The minister also alerted the Lagos State government to indiscriminate dredging going on in many parts of the state, with its attendant envi-

ronmental hazards and developmental challenge.

Earlier, the commissioner had disclosed that the state had a huge deposit of minerals like limestone, silica, sand and clay in the eastern part.

Oluwo also said the preliminary reports of geological assessment conducted revealed salt water intrusion of clean water mixed with salt.

This, he said, is seen as a major health challenge to the population.

He said the geo-chemical investigation of top soil and road dust showed traces of heavy metal which can be very hazardous if not checked. He also said the most significant one is on reconnaissance investigation which

revealed traces of radioactive materials within Lagos axis.

Fayemi said the findings and availability of industrial minerals in Lagos State such as limestone, silica and clay can assist the ministry to achieve import substitution if put to good use, using cement exportation as an indication of almost self-sufficiency in limestone exploitation.

He said silica and clay were yet to be put to proper use as these are important minerals useful in the pharmaceutical sector. He promised that the relevant agencies will verify the quantity of the mineral deposits in response to the state’s request and the overall interest of the country.

State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Agency (TRACE), Babatunde Akinbiyi, who confirmed the auto crash, stated that the five killed were four men and a woman.

TRACE PRO, Akinbiyi, in a chat with our correspondent attributed cause of the accident to over-speeding and reckless driving on the part of the Mazda passenger bus driver.

Akinbiyi explained that the driver of the Mazda bus “wrongly” overtook another vehicle on the expressway before crashing into the truck already parked by the roadside.

In his account, FRSC Sector Commander, Adetunji, explained that 23 people were involved, out of which five persons lost their lives and 16 others were critically injured.

The FRSC chief further stated that the driver of the Mazda passenger bus violated the speed limit, wrongly overtook other vehicles, lost control and eventually crashed into the moving truck from the rear.

While the 13 critically injured were rushed to the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, OOUTH, in Sagamu by TRACE officers, corpses were also evacuated to the morgue of the same hospital by FRSC personnel, who also cleared the road to ensure smooth traffic flow.

In a related development, tragedy struck on Monday night as four passengers died at old Ibadan-Lagos Expressway in a ghastly motor accident that left five others severely injured.

National Mirror learnt that the accident involved one Volvo truck marked Lagos LND 221 SA, a commercial motorcycle, and five other

vehicles.

Commander, Oluyole Unit of FRSC, Mrs. Oladayo Odeleye, while speaking with journalists, described the accident as very unfortunate.

She said the accident happened as a result of brake failure, leading to the death of four passengers comprising three females and a male.

Many, who visited the scene, broke down helplessly in tears as they watched the mangled bodies of the victims.

An eyewitness, who said five other people that sustained varying degrees of injuries were rushed to a nearby hospital where they are currently receiving treatment, called on the Federal Government to look into the dualisation of the Ibadan-Ijebu-Ode road to prevent further accidents and loss of lives.

“I know this road is one of the oldest in the country, yet it has remained a single lane since. The government should help the people by dualising this road. Many have died because the road is very busy and too narrow.

“The truck was descending on high speed when it crashed into oncoming vehicles and an Okada. They said the truck driver was sleeping while driving, thereby killing innocent people,” an eyewitness, Pa Daniel Iroha said.

It was further learnt that scores of people were attracted to the accident scene that night, bearing torches to assist in the rescue operation.

It was also gathered that men of the FRSC and police officers came from Tollgate station to salvage the situation while the deceased have been deposited at the Adeoyo state hospital by the police.

Lagos insists on BRT routes restriction any defaulting motorist would be dealt with according to the law.

The taskforce chairman stated this while addressing journalists on the unwholesome activities of motorists on the restricted BRT routes in the metropolis.

He said motorists in the state should brace up for more stringent traffic enforcement from Task Force Officers, especially on BRT routes at Mile 12/Ikorodu axis.

Abe, a Superintendent of Police, said full enforce-

ment would soon commence on the newly commissioned Ikorodu to Mile 12 BRT lane where motorcyclists and commercial buses have turned deaf ears to operating on these forbidden routes.

The chairman declared

that all those commercial buses operating illegal garages around Mile 12 under-bridge axis should vacate immediately to enable free vehicular movement around that area as any commercial bus arrested would be impounded by

the agency.

Abe further warned market leaders across the state to ensure traders are not encouraged to display their wares on road setbacks and walkways contrary to Lagos environmental laws.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

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Wednesday, January 13, 2016

9

Man arraigned over N85m theft MATTHEW IRINOYE

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State of a pedestrian bridge at Queens Cinema Ibadan, Oyo State, yesterday.

PHOTO:NAN

Lagos to spend N17.5bn on 114 inner roads ... Sets six months completion period FRANCIS SUBERU

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agos State government yesterday revealed that about N17.5 billion would be spent on the 114 inner roads to be constructed across the state in the next six months, adding that contractors have already been mobilised to sites with 30 per cent upfront payment.

Speaking at a press conference held at Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre, Alausa, Ikeja, yesterday, Chairman, Lagos State Local Government/Local Council Development Areas, Hon. Kolade Alabi, noted that construction

has commenced in all the selected sites.

“You will recall that during the election campaign of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode in 2015 he promised to improve on access and inner roads in the local government areas/local council development authorities, hence, his decision to pay more attention to local government areas by providing world-class roads equipped with streetlights, sidewalks and covered drains,” Hon Alabi said.

He said the construction would go on simultaneously in all the 20 local governments and 37 council development areas and the roads would adhere to acceptable standards as

provided by the state government.

According to him, in executing the projects, a unique model of ‘bottom up’ infrastructural development style and inclusive governance which involve the CDAs and other stakeholders in the preparation, implementation and monitoring of the project is already in place.

Hon. Alabi commended Governor Ambode for the initiative, saying the governor is leaving no stone unturned as he marches on to deliver on his promises to Lagosians.

He said: “This is no doubt unprecedented, not only in the history of Lagos State but in the entire nation. I salute His Excellency’s vision, sense of

commitment and dedication to grassroots’ development. He is indeed taking Lagos to the next level.”

Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, had in his address said the project was conceived and initiated seven months ago and that it is officially flagging off yesterday, noting that such projects would be a continuous exercise in the state.

Also speaking, Commissioner for Local Government and Community Affairs, Hon. Muslim Coker Folami, said the commencement of the project is a clear indication that Governor Ambode is a man of his words, urging Lagosians to continue to support him.

How court’s stamp was forged on public notice –Witness WALE IGBINTADE

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ssistant Chief Registrar, Lagos High Court, Mr. Adeniyi Hezekiah, yesterday told a Chief Magistrate’s Court, Ogba, how the official stamp and signature of the principal registrar of the court was smuggled onto a public notice.

The purported public notice was allegedly issued by Justice Ibironke Harrison of the same court.

Hezekiah was among two prosecution witnesses in the trial of four Oluwa princes over alleged forgery.

The four Oluwa princes, who had earlier been

docked and granted bail, are Abayomi Shamsideen Oluwa (62), Ismaila Abayomi Oluwa (67), Tajudeen Ototo Oluwa (58), and Muse Adegboyega Oluwa (56).

They are being accused of threatening the life of the incumbent Oluwa of Lagos and Apapa, Chief Mukaila Lawal Oluwa, and forging the signature of the principal registrar and stamp of Lagos High Court.

In his testimony, Hezekiah told the court that he was the registrar on Litigation whose duty was to certify documents, ruling, judgments and other things relating to court issues at the high court.

He told the trial magis-

trate, Mr. A.A. Adesanya that in 2003, the then registrar to Justice Harrison, one Akinola (Mrs.), brought an order of two pages from the judge to be certified by him, which he did.

He said he later discovered that the certification on the order was lifted, probably electronically manipulated, and put on the public notice together with the signature of the principal registrar for which the defendants are standing trial.

Police Corporal Ganiyu Adekunle attached to AIG office, Zone 2, Onikan, Lagos, in his testimony, said having discovered the forgery, he effected the arrest of the defendants.

Earlier, Magistrate Ade-

sanya had struck out an application urging the court to commit the complainant (PW1) to prison, describing it as an attempt calculated to delay trial.

According to the magistrate, the attitude of the defence counsel could be likened to the tale of Alice in Wonder Land, stressing that where an “exhibit had been tendered without any objection, at that crucial and important stage, same document cannot be evaluated in between trial proceedings until both parties have rested their cases wherein the court goes to evaluate the case and the attached for admissibility of such documents.”

33-year-old man, Oyebuchi Okadigbo, was yesterday arraigned before a Lagos State High Court, Ikeja, for allegedly stealing N85 million belonging to one Alhaji Muhammed Adio.

The defendant, who was arraigned on twocount charge bordering on conspiracy to commit armed robbery, pleaded not guilty when the charges were read to him.

According to the lead counsel from the office of Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP, Mrs. Mosunmola Balogun, the defendant who gave his address as ‘Beside Poultry, Alawuro Street, Badagry-Lagos Expressway, and others at large,

committed the offense on November 14, 2014.

She added that the defendant and others at large robbed the victim in his resident near Lagos-Badagry Expressway.

The prosecution counsel added that the defendant, after collecting the N85 million also went away with the victim’s Black Berry Curve 5, clothes and an ECOWAS international passport.

The lawyer said the offense is contrary to Section 297 and 295 (2) (a) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2011.

Presiding judge, Justice Sedotan Ogunsanya, however, ordered that the defendant be remanded in prison and fixed March 24 for commencement of trial.

Ekiti to monitor beneficiaries of N500m SMEs loans ABIODUN NEJO ADO EKITI

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kiti State government is to monitor the 4,564 beneficiaries of the N500 million small and medium enterprises, SMEs, loans to ensure the money is spent judiciously and prevent default as in previous experiences.

It also warned the community and micro finance banks in charge of disbursement against shady deals, saying anyone who fails to live up to expectations would be punished.

The governor, who said the state government stood as surety for the beneficiaries, said the Central Bank of Nigeria would release the balance of N2 billion based on how the N500 million first tranche was utilised.

A statement by the governor’s chief press secretary, Mr. Idowu Adelusi, said the governor made the disclosure at a meeting with management of community and micro finance banks in the state, which are to serve as the media of disbursing the loans to beneficiaries.

Disbursement of the N500 loan, which is the first tranche of the N2 billion the CBN earmarked for the support of SMEs

in the state begins today with each of the 4,564 beneficiaries getting between N50,000 and N1 million.

The governor said: “The first tranche of N500 million has been given to the state from the N2 billion we are expecting to help SMEs grow in our state. The release of the remaining sum is predicated on how well this first payment is utilised.

“On the part of the state government, we will ensure that beneficiaries utilise the loans judiciously. This is not going to be seen as a largesse from government or the so-called national cake.

“Beneficiaries will be adequately monitored as the state government is the one that guaranteed the loan. There is no room for any shady deal.

We want judicious use of the funds for the economic growth of our dear state.”

Adelusi added that the governor would also meet beneficiaries of the loan at the Governor’s Office later in the week.

The state’s Commissioner for Finance, Chief Toyin Ojo, said a monitoring and recovery team has been set up and that every effort would be made so that beneficiaries would not default.

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National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Quiz HURIWA over Buhari assassination prophesy –Mbaka Emmanuel Ezeh ENUGU

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nugu Catholic priest, Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka, has said security agents should investigate the coordinator, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, and its National Media Affairs Director, Miss Zainab Yusuf, over their threat to sue him concerning his New Year prophesy on plot to assassinate President Muhammadu Buhari.

The rights group had asked the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, CBCN, to sanction Mbaka within 21 days “for abandoning his sacred vocation and deviating into mundane roadside career of politics, while hiding under the canopy of his priestly vocation, failing which he would be dragged to the Holy Father Pope Francis.”

But in a reaction yes-

terday through his media aide, Maximus Ugwuoke, the cleric said it beats every imagination why HURIWA should single out his prophesy concerning Buhari’s life, stressing that such meant the rights group should be considered by investigators as prime suspects.

Ugwuoke, who is Media Chief, Adoration Ministry, Enugu, stated: “One vital question Nigerians should not fail to ask is why this group of democratic miscreants is not perturbed by all other prophesies of Fr Mbaka this year except the plot against Mr President?”

He said the ministry had noted with great disappointment the statement credited to the rights group in a section of the media threatening to drag Mbaka to the pope if the CBCN fails to reprimand and stop him from actively associating with politicians.

While describing HURIWA’s statement as careless,

he asked: “Are they guilty or privy to the plot the man of God exposed? The laborious manner with which they attacked the prophetic message in an attempt to filibuster and water it down should make them prime suspects in the list of the nation’s intelligence team.”

On the necessity of the prophesy, he stressed that “we love our President and his life means so much to us, especially at this point of the nation’s history where he is fighting the most dreaded wars in the world – the hydra-headed war against corruption and

insurgency.

“Besides Fr Mbaka’s prophesy of the plans of enemies against him, no goodthinking citizen of this country would believe the victims of Mr President’s anti-corruption war would be smiling at him. That is why we should not relent in praying for Mr President and will never spare any one or group of persons that may want to distract Fr Mbaka and his commitment to the spiritual welfare of this nation.

“If the constitution which gave every citizen of this country the right

to worship did not prohibit him from declaring the message he receives from the God he worships, we then wonder why a priest of God and a citizen of this country should be threatened for exercising his constitutional right.

“A situation where the fundamental human rights which is tenet of the ideals of democracy is bastardised by an acclaimed human rights group that is meant to protect same, is indeed worrisome and makes mockery of nomenclature. It is for this reason that we believe that such

a threat against Fr Mbaka can only come from a colossus of political agents of destabilisation, and rabblerousers masquerading as an NGO and a pro democracy group.

“We view their threat as a likelihood of infringement to exercise Fr Mbaka’s right to freedom of religion, association and expression which section 46 of this country and enabling legal frameworks gives us the latitude to seek redress. We therefore call on the group to withdraw that threat forthwith or face the legal consequence.”

Imo law officers raise alarm over sack threat Chris Njoku OWERRI

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aw Officers’ Association of Nigeria, LOAN, Imo State chapter, yesterday expressed concern over threat by the state government to sack them following insistence to collect their nine months salary arrears.

The law officers, who had been on strike since last December, are also protesting the unlawful suspension of 11 legal directors.

Chairman of the association, Pius Nwanyanwu, in a chat with newsmen yesterday in Owerri, decried the nonpayment of their outstanding salaries, adding that rather than find solution to their plight, Governor Rochas Okorocha “is planning to dismiss us”.

“We thought the government would have ameliorated the situation, but nothing at all has been done. In fact, the situation is worse today. All we hear is that the governor is now threatening to dismiss all law officers in the

state’s civil service.”

He maintained that there was no going back on the industrial action until the government meets their demands, though the government had threatened to dismiss the law officers and replace them with new officers.

Nwanyanwu implored that no lawyer should take such position, adding that the protesting law officers in the state are not in any way at war with the government.

“However, we condemn any threat by the governor to sack all law officers.

“Our position is that we are not fighting the government in power, but we are asking that all outstanding arrears of nine months be paid,” he stated.

According to him, the law officers are not averse to government policy on salary reduction, but such should be done properly according to rules and constitution.

He appealed to the governor to reconsider his decision and pay them their salaries in the interest of the profession.

Suspected armed robbers and kidnappers paraded by Imo Police Command in Owerri, yesterday.

PHOTO:NAN

Police record high rate of kidnappings • 88 suspects arrested in Imo

Chris Njoku OWERRI

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ndication emerged yesterday of a rise in abduction cases in Imo State as the state police command arrested 88 suspects between September 2, 2015, to date.

Also on the rise is the number of armed robbery cases in the state, which was estimated at 41.

Disclosing this to newsmen in Owerri yesterday, Commissioner of Police, Taiwo Lakanu, said the police recorded over 24 child trafficking cases during the period under review.

He said 16 kidnap victims were, however, rescued, while seven chil-

dren were recovered from child traffickers.

According to him, 32 arms were recovered, including eight stolen vehicles in the period under review.

He said his anti-kidnapping unit painstakingly smashed the notorious syndicate involved in the kidnap of “a civil commissioner” in the state, who was abducted from her residence on October 11, 2015.

Lakanu said the suspects: Arinze John Ibeabu, 43, from Nkwuakuma, Akata in Oru West Local Council, Imo State; and Joseph Olakunle, 53, from Ekole Ekiti North Council Area of Ekiti State, sent several threat text mes-

sages demanding ransom from the victim before they were nabbed.

Also, he said four suspects, Gift Emeka, 26, Sunday Uchenna, 28, Emeka Chinedu, 27, and Peter Obido, 28, from Awara in Ohaji/Egbema Local Council, Imo State, had admitted culpability for the kidnap and murder of one Madam Ogo-Omereji, 63, who was kidnapped from her farm last year.

He, however, boasted that the indigenes, who returned from abroad for the Christmas and New Year festival enjoyed the festive period without hindrance, adding that his command engaged in systematic and coordinated operations around the

state.

The police boss warned criminals, especially kidnappers and armed robbers to stay away from the state in their own interest as the command has mapped out strategies to secure the entire state.

Arase

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

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Wednesday, January 13, 2016

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Human trafficking: Immigration arrests two

suspects, rescues 29 victims Richard Ndoma

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igeria Immigration Service, NIS, has arrested two suspected human traffickers alongside 29 victims found with them.

Comptroller of Immigration in Cross River State, Mrs Funke Adeuyi, stated this yesterday in Calabar while addressing journalists, stressing that the suspects were caught with 29 victims on January 10, 2016.

Adeuyi said they were arrested by officers and men of the NIS on border patrol at Itigidi in Abi Local Government Area of Cross River State.

“On January 10, the immigration border patrol officers at Itigidi intercepted two buses containing 29 youth, which we found were victims of human traffickers.

“On first line interrogation, we discovered that a lot of them were going to an unknown destination.

“We have profiled them and have reasons to suspect that they were about to be trafficked to an unknown destination.

“The detailed information on where they intend to traffic them would be unraveled when we hand them over to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons,” she said.

The state comptroller added that the two suspects nabbed by the immigrations authority had some monies with them, while some of the victims only had their mobile phones with them.

“The victims told us during our first line investigation that they were being taken to a place where they would work and get some money.

“We reliably gathered from some of the victims that their parents were aware that the suspected traffickers were taking them away to do menial jobs that would earn them some money.

“We would hand them over to NAPTIP for further investigation on the matter’’ Adeuyi maintained.

She advised parents to

be careful in giving out their children/wards to people whom they don’t know much about.

While receiving the victims and the suspected traffickers, Mr Victor Odudukudu, an official from NAPTIP, assured that the agency would continue with the investigation.

“We are going to interview the victims and interrogate the suspects.

“We are also going to trace their family members and find out if they actually gave out their children to the suspects,’’ he said.

One of the suspects, Mr Denis Agbor, said he was taking the victims to Akure, Ondo State, to work in his restaurant.

According to Agbor, he took the victims from Yakurr Local Government area of the state.

“When I was about going back to my base in Akure, these people met me and appealed that I take them along with me and engage them in menial jobs.

“I agreed to their appeal and promised that I will be paying those that will work in my restaurant some token while I will engage others elsewhere.

NMA threatens strike, as gunmen kidnap 2 doctors in Rivers Dennis Naku Port Harcort

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nknown gunmen have kidnapped two medical doctors at different locations in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, has threaten to withdraw its services if nothing was done to free its abducted colleagues within 48 hours.

This body said 21 of its members were kidnapped in various circumstances in 2015.

The latest victims of kidnap are Dr. Isaac Opurum (male) and Dr. I.B Aprioku (female).

Dr. Opurum, who is Director, Community House Services, Rivers State Primary Healthcare Board, was abducted at about 3am at his residence in Port Harcourt on Tuesday.

His colleague, Dr. Aprioku, who works with the state-owned Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital, BMSP, was kidnapped on Sunday on her

way to church in company of her children.

It was gathered that the gunmen had laid siege to the church premises (name withheld), and subsequently seized her while attempting to run away, after noticing that she was being trailed.

Her children were said to have been abandoned in the vehicle, while she was whisked off to an unknown destination.

State Chairman of NMA, Dr. Furo Green, while reacting to the abduction, decried the spate of kidnapping targeted at medical doctors in the state.

Green stated that doctors were afraid to report to work because they have become targets.

The NMA chairman said that in 2015, 21 of their colleagues were kidnapped in the state, adding that members of the families of the victims, who paid ransoms before they were released, have not been able to offset the monies borrowed for ransom a year after.

INEC National Commissioner in charge of South-South, Dr Mustapha Lecky (left)presenting Certificate of Return to Hon. Nwaobi Emeka Emmanuel, representing Aniocha North at Delta State House of Assembly, at INEC office, Abuja, yesterday.

Police declare council boss wanted …place N1m reward on him Amour Udemude Asaba

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ollowing the invasion of Shoprite outlet in Warri last week by youths suspected to be loyal to suspended council chairman of Uvwie Local Government Council, Mr. Henry Baro, as a result of scuffle between the chairman and two Naval personnel attached to Shoprite, the Delta State Police Command has declared the council boss and Chairman of Central Motor Park, Effurun, Mr Napoleon Odibu, wanted over the invasion.

It would be recalled that last week Friday hoodlums believed to be loyal to the suspended chairman of Uvwie Lo-

cal Government Area of Delta State, Mr. Henry Baro, invaded the popular Shoprite outlet and surrounding stalls in Warri, with the hoodlums taking advantage of the attack to cart away goods worth millions of naira following a scuffle between the chairman and some Naval personnel attached to the Shoprite outlet.

The invasion, according to source, however, left several people dead and others injured, while goods worth several millions of naira were also destroyed with sporadic gun shooting by the hoodlums who took advantage of the invasion to cause mayhem.

Declaring the suspended council boss wanted during a press briefing yesterday in his office, Commissioner of Police, Mr. Alkali Baba

Usman, stated that preliminary inquiries revealed that the hoodlums, who took advantage of the situation, damaged and looted various items such as laptops and handsets from the shopping complex.

The commissioner of police, who placed a reward of a million naira for anyone with useful information that could lead to the arrest of Mr. Baro and Odibu, however, noted that the crisis was as a result of an altercation between Mr. Baro and two Naval officers attached to the Shoprite outlet, adding that the hoodlums after leaving Shoprite embarked on a protest in some streets in Warri, shooting sporadically and in the process, one Mr. Afor Emero was hit and killed by stray bullet.

The CP disclosed that a suspect who was caught has confessed the principal actors behind the invasion while 18 other suspects are currently cooling off in various police stations in Warri.

Meanwhile, the state police boss also used the medium to announce that about 24 kidnap and armed robbery suspects were arrested by his command at different locations across the state.

Meanwhile, in a swift reaction, the suspended council chairman, Mr Henry Baro, said he was not evading police invitation, but has lost confidence in the Delta State Police Command, alleging that the state police command was being used by his political detractors to undo him.

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North

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Lassa fever: Senate urges FG to distribute free rat killers •Minister blames states for spread, declares free treatment for victims worried because, since the •one dies, 4 new cases identified in Nasarawa reported outbreak of the GEORGE OJI, JOEL AJAYI, ADEOLA TUKURU AND IGBAWASE UKUMBA

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enate has asked the Federal Government to commence issuance of free rat killers to Nigerians as a way of reducing or eradicating rats from our environment and checking the spread of Lassa fever in the country.

In addition to the Federal Government, the senators have also appealed to corporate bodies and wealthy Nigerians to support the free rat killer initiative by sponsoring the purchase of rodent killers for free distribution to all citizens.

This was also as the sen-

ators urged Nigerians to be very conscious and adhere to the rules of personal hygiene and put in more efforts to get rid of rodents and rats from their environment to prevent spread of the disease and report any case of persistent high fever not responding to standard treatment for malaria and typhoid fever to the nearest health centre.

The senators came up with this resolution following a motion moved by Senate Committee chairman on health, Senator Olanrewaju Tejuoso (Ogun Central) and co-sponsored by five other members of the committee.

Other resolutions reached by the senators include the need to condole

with families of Nigerians who have lost their relations to the disease, commend the Minister of Health for his proactive measures so far, and invite him and other relevant health agencies to brief the Senate on the outbreak of the disease, including how far the ministry has gone in its efforts to curb its continued spread.

Lassa fever was reported in Bauchi State late last December and the disease has so far spread to about 10 states of the federation.

The states so far affected by the disease are Niger, Taraba, Edo, Kano, Rivers, Plateau, Gombe and Oyo. In his lead presentation, sponsor of the motion, Tejuoso said the Senate is

disease, the total number of suspected cases has risen to 76, with 35 deaths and a fatality rate of 46 per cent as confirmed by the Federal Ministry of Health.

He disclosed that there was a similar outbreak of the disease in the first quarter of 2014, with at least, 15 states affected, and roughly 319 cases and 20 deaths recorded.

According to the senator, the Senate is concerned that since the 2014 incident, nothing has been done to check further outbreak, and that something should be done immediately to curtail further outbreak and spread of the disease so that it does not reach a magnitude where it could be declared a na-

Bauchi State Governor Muhammed Abubakar (left), presenting a souvenir to DHL Visa-Sports Leader, Sharon Abott, during the courier team’s inspection of Sports facilities in Bauchi, yesterday. PHOTO:NAN

Pastor abducted on pulpit in Kogi WALE I BRAHIM LOKOJA

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astor of Redeemed Church in Kogi State, Pastor Ayo Funsho Raphael, has been abducted while preaching on pulpit.

Raphael was pastor in charge of the Resurrection Parish of the church at Kabba Junction, Adavi Local Government Area of the state.

The pastor was

preaching in the church at about 9:30am when he was whisked away.

It was gathered that the kidnappers, numbering about 10, who shot into the air sporadically to announce their presence, ordered everybody in the church to lie face down while the pastor, who was on the pulpit, was dragged bare-footed into the bush.

An eyewitness stated that nobody was injured, but several members of the church were

said to have sustained bruises due to panic.

The kidnappers have kept the pastor since Sunday morning but opened a line of communication with the church’s elders on Monday evening, demanding N50 million ransom before the pastor could be released.

Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, in the state command, ASP Williams Aya, who was contacted, stated that they were yet to be

briefed by the officer in charge of the area.

It would be recalled that the ugly incidence of kidnapping reared its ugly head in the state when Chinese contractors were kidnapped and an American missionary was whisked away by suspected gunmen last year.

The situation has g o n e b e yo n d i m a g i nation as Fulani h e r d s m e n h ave b e come kidnappers o ve r n i g h t .

tional emergency.

Meanwhile, Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, yesterday identified the failure of state governments to report the outbreak of the disease as the sole reason for its widespread.

The minister who stated this in Abuja, during a joint ministerial press briefing with Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, noted that government is working tirelessly to prevent further spread of the disease.

According to him, the Federal Government has deployed frontline workers to all affected states; distributed Information Education and Communication, IEC, materials and provided Ribavarin anti-viral drugs for prompt treatment of cases.

He advised health workers on universal precautions including barrier nursing to prevent nosocomial infection.

“In the last 48 hours government has raised a four-man expert committee headed by Professor Michael Asuzu (a professor of Community Medicine and the current president of the Society of Public Health Practitioners of Nigeria) to visit Niger, Kano and Bauchi, the three most affected states in the country.

“The committee will embark on a fact-finding mission, assess the current situation, document response experiences, identify gaps and proffer recommendations on how to prevent future occurrences.

“We wish to assure all that the task of this committee is not to apportion blames but rather to document lessons learnt for better planning of an effective response,” he said.

According to him, “Nigerians should not panic as we use this medium to inform them that this country has been leaving with this endemic disease for close to 50 years.

“As at today, records from our surveillance team show that the number of suspected cases is 93; number of laboratory confirmed cases is 25 and the number of reported deaths is 41, with a fatality rate of 44.0 per cent.

“We will like to state

that given the high index of suspicion, the increasing number of suspected cases may not be out of place, as health practitioners are more likely to include Lassa fever as a differential diagnosis in their health care facilities.

“However, the good news is that there have been no new confirmed cases or deaths in the last 48 hours. This is a reflection of our coordinated response and advocacy to all states.

“We wish to acknowledge the efforts of all stakeholders, state and local governments, development partners and gentlemen of the press for their efforts in helping to curtail this health challenge. We will plead that we maintain heightened vigilance and sustain our preventive messages and practices.

We are confident that we will surely defeat this outbreak.

“As part of our longterm response, we plan to establish an inter-ministerial committee, comprising the Ministers of Education, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Environment, Information and Culture as well as Health to deliver a final blow on Lassa fever and other related diseases,” he said.

In Nasarawa State, one out of the two patients earlier confirmed to be suffering from the disease has died.

Chief medical director, CMD, of Dalhatu Araf Specialists Hospital, Dr. Ahmed Yakubu Ashuku, disclosed this to journalists in Lafia, the state capital, adding that the other patient is responding to treatment.

The CMD however disclosed that four new suspected cases have been recorded in the hospital out of which three are confirmed negative while the fourth case is still undergoing laboratory tests.

He assured that contacts of all confirmed cases are under surveillance for proactive response in case of any suspected development among them.

He praised the efforts of both the federal and state governments towards tackling the disease in Nasarawa State by putting in place necessary measures to prevent its outbreak.

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

13

Politics

FG should not treat Biafra’s agitation with levity —Unoh Chief Usetu Unoh is the former Chairman of Biase Local Government Area of Cross River State. Unoh who is also regarded as godfather to many politicians in the state also held the position of Chairman, Cross River State Sanitation and the Calabar City Waste Management Agency. In this interview with RICHARD NDOMA, he speaks on Buhari administration’s fight against corruption and the agitation for Independent State of Biafra among other issues of national importance. Excerpts: Buhari said that embracing corruption will only take us backward, soil our good name and perhaps destroy our common heritage. Do you see him as a president with the might to stem the tide of corruption?

Buhari won the elections basically because of mantra of change which he preached, his anti corruption posture which was everywhere and secondly the insurgency issue which was everywhere. Now corruption is a human problem. One of the human problem is greed. Excessive greed is a psychological problem, one man alone even if he were to be a saint but lives among very corrupt people cannot change the entire systerm. I had been in office as an elected council chairman very determined to change things around me.

What year was that?

Between 1996/1997, I was the Council Chairman of Biase.

I was very determined to change things around me but in a democratic setting like ours, you have so many institutions that you have to work with, so many persons of variegated backgrounds that you have to work with. I just pity Buhari because the nation called Nigeria is very complex. Because most of the things that trouble this country is ethnicity and religion. You see Nigeria as our nation except it is our community based. When you go to the National Assembly everyone is thinking about his constituency and his home and if you look at the quality of those Buhari appointed as ministers you will discover that they are all recycled people. The quality of these people has a background of the PDP. They have been in government under PDP so what is the new thing that they are going to bring on board that we haven’t seen before? If the leader is up there very clean with a clear cut direction, is he going to change the civil service overnight? He had already said it that the politicians are noise makers. He said the real people doing the job were civil servants who are institutionalized.35years ago when he was the head of state, the civil servants who are technocrats have been there. Even though at that time he was a military head of state who could give out authoritarian order and it is obeyed but today he can’t do that because such authoritarian orders won’t work like that. The National Assembly and the courts are there to help him if he wants to convict any erring person. To accuse a person of corruption is one thing, to convict the person is a different story because in law it is a different story because the law will take its course and the wheel of justice is very slow to grind. If you want to face the business of prosecuting them you have to be prepared to be following them for the next four years.

Are you saying Buhari should not pursue the cor-

to stop their trials. It is not going to be easy. I think what Buhari ought to do is put up a machinery on ground to get his administration moving. See this corruption is not fight to get the money that is stolen back alone but everywhere.

Have they visited our tertiary institutions and indeed the secondary schools? Teachers collecting salaries without attending schools? Take for instance, teachers in Cross River State Secondary and Primary schools teachers half of them do live in Calabar and if they are living in Calabar what happens to our pupil and students in the hinterlands ? Are they really attending schools to teach our children? Do supervisors of school really supervise these crop of teachers? Do the teachers really do their jobs? And the Universities are the worst. What is in vogue now is that you see female students graduating with good grades whereas if you critically investigate these graduate some of them don’t merit the grade given them, because some of them don’t even stay in school to study or read very hard to merit the result awarded them by lecturers. You see lecturers driving big jeeps and erecting big story buildings within the shortest space of time, from which salary? Where do they get the money from? Yet these same people do accuse the police of receiving bribe. Let me tell you that corruption is not only peculiar with the police alone. It is also in the academics, the hospitals, it is everywhere, corruption is everywhere. We used to spend time in those days at Zik library at the University of Nigeria Nsukka.

Novels are now not being read whereas the whole gamut of knowledge is in the pages of papers. What is Buhari going to do now to stamp corruption out, is he going to bring the War against Indiscipline he introduced some years back. ago? He should remain focus.

Are you advocating for the introduction of the War Against Indiscipline which Buhari initiated with Idiagbon several years ago?

Well, no problem if that is going to solve the corruption problem.

Unoh rupt people?

No I haven’t said so except that Buhari might not be able to do all that he intended to execute within the shortest possible time.

Don’t you think he will use the courts to get them prosecuted which means he can do it without affecting his job as president?

Yes that I know but you know the courts won’t change their tradition overnight. The panels and military tribunals he used to in those days would no longer be there to assist him do prosecution with speed. This one is a due process, from the High court to Court of Appeal and perhaps to Supreme Court where proceedings are highly observed couple with the fact that people would resort to putting injunction

But don’t you think that you too is going to be held responsible for the corruption problem in this country?

No, let me tell you a story, there was a time I took my daughter to a particular secondary school to sit for entrance examination to enable her begin secondary school and on getting to the school, I met an advance man who looked so restless and he walked up to me and said to me that if I knew anyone who can help his daughter who is also going to sit for the same examination with my daughter to secure admission and that he was willing to pay the person whatever amount the person wants him to part with and I asked him what his name was and he replied that he was “Justice so so and so, right from that moment I lost faith in that school and took my daughter home without returning to that school even though my daughter qualified for the admission. Because when I saw a judge trying to bribe for admission now tell me the kind of cases this kind of judge would preside over, a man who had no credibility? These are the kind of things we are talking about. We are not discipline in this country. I pity Buhari because he is the only man who knows where he is going to, the rest of us do not know where we are going to. I just believe he alone may not be able to win CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

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Politics

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

APC suspends Oyegun, others shun Ekwunife Edo Vice —Chairman at APC national secretariat T Obiora Ifoh ABUJA

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he drama surrounding the controversial defection of Senator Uche Ekwunife, yesterday took another dimension as she was shunned by the National Chairman of the party, Chief John OdigieOyegun and other members of the National Working Committee, NWC when she visited the party national Secretariat in Abuja.

Ekwunife who formally announced her defection to

APC at the weekend from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP made a surprise appearance at the national Secretariat of APC at about 1.00pm in a Mercedes Viano black colour car with registration number BWR 180 RP and was seen moving from one office to the other without any of the party officials attending to her.

Dependable sources at the party headquarters told newsmen that the national chairman of APC was not billed to see the former senator.

One of the sources said that the former senator was at the party Secretariat to lobby the party leaders for her to secure Anambra senatorial ticket without going through the primary.

When newsmen approached her to clarify some issues regarding her defection she simply look the other way and said she was not in the mood to talk.

Ekwunife at the weekend revealed that she joined the APC because the PDP was no longer interested in winning the Anambra Central

senatorial election which is expected to hold in March.

She said part of her reason was to ensure that her people are well and equitably represented and have a voice in the national government.

Reacting to the development, Minister for Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, had however said that the former PDP senator will not be given an automatic ticket to contest for the Anambra Central Senatorial election in March 2016.

he All Progressives Congress, APC in Edo State has suspended the State Vice -Chairman, and Senatorial Leader in Edo South, Mr. Gentleman Amegor for alleged anti-party activities.

In a statement signed Pa Ogbomo, Hon Henry Okhuarobo, Hon Henry Idahagbon, Mr Vincent Uwadiae, Chief Benson Osifo, among other leaders, the party said its decision was reached at a meeting held on Tuesday, January 12, 2016.

In the statement, the party said: “the leaders lamented the lackluster leadership of the party at the Senatorial District and observed that the State Vice - Chairman and Senatorial leader, Barr Gentleman Amegor failed woefully in implementing

the laudable objectives contained in the party’s constitution.”

The allegations leveled against Gentleman Amegor include “failure to convene regular meetings of the district to discuss and resolve issues affecting the development of the party.

“Anti-party activity committed during the last Presidential elections which led to the loss of his unit and consequently his Local Government.”

The party has set up a five-man disciplinary committee chaired by Rev. Michael Egharevba, to investigate the allegations. Hon Uyi Igbe will serve as Secretary.

Meantime, Secretary of the Party, Chief Osaro Idah will coordinate the activities of the party in the district.

DPC attributes Nigeria’s image problems to arms scandal

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Former Senate President David Mark (m), with executive members of the Idoma Young Professionals, during their endorsement visit to Sen. Mark, in Abuja yesterday.

Bauchi assembly screens commissioner-nominees Ezekiel Titus BAUCHI

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auchi state House of Assembly has screened the commissioner- nominees presented before it by Governor Mohammed Abubakar for confirmation This was just as the first son of the state civilian governor, Late Tatari Ali was asked to take a bow in recognition of his father’s contribution to the state development.

Those screened are Nasirudeen Mohammed from Tafawa-Balewa LGA, Abubakar Tatari Ali, Zaki LGA, Ibrahim Yakubu Umar, Toro LGA among others.

The speaker of the house said the house had received a letter from the executive to screen and confirm the nominees in line with APC change mantra During the screening

exercise, several questions were thrown to the nominees apparently to substantiate their capability towards ensuring the development of the state.

In the same vein, the son of the first civilian governor

of the state, late Tatari Ali was among the commissioner -nominees and was asked to take a bow following the giant strides of his late father Ali Abubakar Tatari who was cynosure of all eyes re-

ceived accolades when he was asked to take a bow.

The speaker said that, the house of assembly building was constructed by his father and therefore solicited the support of members in his favour.

Senator urges INEC to replicate Bayelsa success in future elections Olubunmi Omoogun

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he Senator representing Bayelsa West consisting of Sagbama and Ekeremor at the National Assembly, Senator Foster Ogola has said that INEC’s guideline used at the January 9, 2016 supplementary election in Bayelsa state was a productive measure Nigeria should adopt in subsequent elections.

Ogola said this in a chat

with National Mirror in his office on Tuesday.

“The issue of delaying voting till evening is counter -productive. That you want people to vote in the dark without providing light or generator is unwarranted”.

“The system where people will get accredited and asked to wait or hang around, are you going to provide them foods”.

INEC, the Nigeria’s electoral body had asked the electorates to get accredited and

vote on the spot. This system was agreed by the political parties and adopted by INEC to save time and to avoid voting to go into the night.

He however advised INEC to think of deploying their own boats in subsequent elections especially in a terrain like Bayelsa state that is mostly riverine.

The Senator said “INEC should have their own boats to transport sensitive electoral materials to riverine areas”.

ational Chairman of the Democratic People’s Congress, DPC, Olusegun Peters, has said that Nigeria’s poor global image has been further tainted by the arms scandal by supposed leaders of the country who shamelessly sold their integrity, dignity and honour for a mess of arms porridge.

In a press statement in Abuja, Peters said it is time to redirect the ship of Nigeria state to the path of rectitude, development and advancement.

“It is time to sanitize the polity, governance and electoral process. “ It is time to enforce political campaign financing as enshrined in the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended).

“It is time to elect Godfearing leaders who will provide abundant dividend of democracy to the longsuffering populace, not carnage.

It is time to lead Nigerians to the promised land of peace, love, unity and progress”, Peters said.

He urged President Muhammadu Buhari to dig deeper into the arms deal with a view to identifying and prosecuting the culprits to serve as a deterrent to all those who would attempt this heinous crime against the fatherland.

DPC, he said is amazed that the $2.1 billion appropriated to fight the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East and other parts of the

country including Abuja where thousands of soldiers and innocent civilians were killed, wounded and abducted, and millions of people displaced from their homes could be brazenly looted by eminent public officers and their cronies.

There is no moral justification for the sharing of this blood - money by the former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Mohammed Dasuki (Rtd) and his collaborators in crime.

“Our hearts bleed that eminent Nigerians entrusted with the security and welfare of the citizenry could be so heartless to divert, misappropriate and embezzle $2.1 billion dollars for procurement of weapons to fight Boko Haram insurgents when our gallant soldiers protested that they were not well equipped and were Court Marshaled for refusing to fight the insurgents.

“While some of the soldiers and their commanders were dismissed from the Army, others were imprisoned and some sentenced to death.

“Irked by Government’s lukewarm attitude in the war against Boko Haram, many foreign countries including the United States of America withdrew their support which spurred the insurgents to ravage, ravish and plunder the North East in particular and neighboring countries of Cameroon, Chad and Niger,” he said

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Politics

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

15

‘Unfulfilled promise led to Jonathan’s loss’

Kemi Olaitan IBADAN

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L-R: House of Representatives’ Minority Leader, Hon. Leo Ogor; Hon. Jerry Alagbaoso and Hon. Lovett idisi, at a news conference by the PDP caucus in the House of Representatives on the detention of PDP Spokesman, Olisa Metuh, in Abuja yesterday

Police draft 7,000 officers for Niger LG poll Priscilla Dennis MINNA.

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iger State Police Command has said that to ensure hitchfree Local Government elections, it has concluded plans to dispatch a total of 7,000 policemen for the Saturday exercise.

Against this backdrop, the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, ASP Bala Elkana told newsmen in Minna that the officers and men are currently undergoing training on how to conduct themselves before, during and after the elections.

According to him, two policemen will be stationed in each polling units of the 25 councils of the state, just as armed policemen would be policing the streets and targeted hot areas.

He warned people to stay clear of perpetrating any violence during the polls, saying the police are prepared to arrest any individual caught inciting violence in the state.

Elkana stated, “ Whoever does not call his supporters to order should be ready to face the law. We are ready to curb any eventuality. We did it during the last general elections and we are ready and prepared to do it again.”

On the recent clash between the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Suleja Local Government Area of the state, the PPRO, explained that though, no arrest has so far been made, but noted that anyone found wanting would be dealt with no mat-

ter his or her position.

He said the command will not tolerate or encourage impunity, adding that the member of the House of Representatives said to be involved in the crisis will be brought in to explain his role in the incident.

“No arrest has been made but whoever is found culpable will be made to face the law no matter how highly placed the person is.

The member in the House of Representatives fingered to be involved in the crisis will be brought in to explain his role in the incident.”

He further added that the DPO and other policemen that sustained injuries during the fight between supporters of the two parties are responding to medical treatment and would be dis-

charged soon.

It would be recalled that on Monday, APC and PDP supporters clashed at Kwamba in Suleja town inflicting injuries on many people, cars belonging to the opposition PDP were smashed and properties of shop owners were looted.

It was gathered that when APC supporters heard that the PDP local government campaign train led by former governor, Engr Abdulkadir Abdullahi Kure had arrived for their rally, the APC youths quickly mobilized and blocked Kwamba road to prevent him and the party supporters from entering the town.

This resulted in the fight between the two major parties in the state, ahead of the Saturday LGs elections..

... Arrest APGA deputy scribe over N1M scam Aliuna Godwin ABAKALIKI

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he National Deputy Secretary of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, and former deputy governorship candidate of the party in Ebonyi state in the 2015 general election, Chief Jerry Obasi was on Monday arrested by police over alleged N1million scam.

It was gathered that Obasi has been in detention since Monday afternoon when he was arrested by the operatives of the Ebonyi state po-

lice Command.

Investigation revealed that Obasi allegedly collected N1million from one Mr. Peter Udude who contested for Ebonyi north senatorial zone under APGA platform in the 2015 general election to allegedly rectify the problem Udude had with the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. Although, Udude’s name was said to have missed in the list of senatorial candidates shortlisted by INEC ahead of the last 2015 general election and he needed to rectify it, hence he gave Obasi

the money to assist him rectify the problem.

But Obasi after receiving the money failed to fulfill his own part of the agreement till the end of the election; thereby making Udude to fail to realise his senatorial ambition.

It was also learnt that when Udude demanded for a refund, Obasi reportedly declined which made him (Udude) to run to police for help.

A police source who spoke to National Mirror under anonymity said since last year, the Command has been trail-

ing Obasi who he claimed had been at large until Monday when he was arrested..

Obasi tried to explain the reason for his arrest to Journalists but the explanation was interrupted midway by police officers who claimed he had no such opportunity; however, he was able to tell Journalists that the matter in which he was arrested was already before the Federal High Court Abakaliki.

When contacted the spokesman of Ebonyi police command, ASP George Okafor requested for time to enable him get the details of the matter.

en months after the last general elections, an Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the University of Ibadan, Prof. John Ayoade, yesterday said the failure of former President Goodluck Jonathan to fulfil all his campaign promises led to his defeat in the elections.

He said this in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, while delivering this year’s maiden monthly lecture of the Nigeria Institute of Social and Economic Research , NISER. He said the former President had all he can employ to win the elections but failed to do so due to number of reasons.

According to him, Jonathan had the period of 2011 and 2015 to campaign based on his programmes but failed to do so, insisting that he failed on his promises.

He added that he had all the resources and manpower to turn around the system but failed to do so.

He said, “Apart from hands-on advantage, the incumbent has other electorally functions advantages, such as higher early

name recognition, better and more frequent relations with the media, more experienced staff (not paid at his expense), better finances, more volunteers, superior connections with parties and interest groups, ability to dispense favors and state patronages, case work by staff, credit for government projects, appropriation of state security resources and better and tested experience, exposure and prospects in fundraising.”

The Political Scientist declared that it was when the former President was campaigning for another term that he said he will construct the second Niger bridge.

He said another factor why he lost the election was the contributions of the former first lady, Dame Patience Jonathan.

“Jonathan’s surrogates messed up his election chances further, some dreggier put the sacred to the service of the secular,.. the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN), was a bundle of political contradictions-claim to be non-political but promised to build ten (10) cottage industries in each state and create one million jobs in the next four years.

2018: Ekiti APC Chieftain calls for reconciliationgroup being led by Minister Abiodun Nejo ADO EKITI

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hieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC in Ekiti State, Mr. Olusegun Osinkolu, has tasked the party leadership to begin a process of genuine reconciliation of the different groups.

Osinkolu lamented that the factionalisation of the party into groups, if not resolved, was capable of resulting in yet another loss for APC in the 2018 governorship election.

Consequently, he urged the APC National Vice Chairman (South) and former Governor of the State, Mr. Segun Oni, to take up the task of reconciling all groups for the party to be well fortified to confront the incumbent governor’s political machinery in 2018.

The APC chieftain said in Ado Ekiti yesterday that “as of now, the party is polarized into three major groups - one

of Solid Minerals, Dr Kayode Fayemi; another led by a former member of the House of Representatives, Hon Opeyemi Bamidele; and APC Action group being propelled

by Senator Ojudu, among other splinter groups”.

Osinkolu said the slow pace in which the Chief Jide Awe-led State Executive is prosecuting the unification of the groups in Ekiti APC was dangerous to the chances of the party in 2018, saying: “The reconciliation process is becoming too slow for my liking. The APC leaders need to act fast on this issue of reconciliation”.

According to him, the unsavoury comments from notable members of the party against the appointments of Fayemi as minister and Senator Babafemi Ojudu as Special Adviser, Political Matters by President Muhammadu Buhari, were enough reasons for the party leaders to take quick action.

Mail Mirror

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Politics

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Dickson’s victory saved Nigeria from sliding into dictatorship —Mikko

Osahon Julius YENAGOA

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he National Coordinator of the National Legacy Group, Hon. Bernard Mikko, yesterday hailed the victory of Hon. Seriake Dickson, saying that his re-election has not only deepened democracy but has given hope to minorities across board and saved the coun-

try from sliding into a one party state and dictatorship.

He said denying Dickson victory would have had a domino effect on the pendulum of elections in the Niger Delta region and other minority states in favour of the APC, which would have spell doom for Nigeria growing democracy Mikko, who was a for-

mer member of the House of Representatives representing the Ogonis in River state, said the victory will help people have confidence in the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, against the notion before now that All Progressive Congress, APC, was going to capture Bayelsa state and put the county into dictatorship.

He said, “this election

has taken place and I cannot go into detail on how that was done but now the results is that he (Dickson) has won this election.

I think that he has given us a level of confidence in staying together as a people in understanding the concerns of one another.’

“If this election has gone the other way, it would have confirmed the fears of the people

Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom briefing State House correspondents after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, yesterday.

of Bayelsa state because the comments from the ruling party at the centre was that votes don’t count, that they will use federal might. But with these elections it has shown that no matter how they try in any society not only in Bayelsa that it cannot force, suppress the resolve, resilience, the commitment of a people when they are determined to elect their leader.”

“So we want to commend Dickson and people of Bayelsa, this victory doesn’t come cheap, it came with trust, confidence; he has been in the office for almost four years now and the people have seen his hardwork in education. He has opened up their mind to diversify their thinking, he has trained people, and he has of course tolerated the opposition in this state.”

Also speaking, elder statesman, Chief TKO Okorotie, believes were it not for the trust Bayelsans

have for the governor as a result of his visionary, purposeful and pragmatic leadership, the rampaging All Progressives Congress, APC would have captured the state.

Aside these, Okorotie stressed that Governor Dickson’s long years in opposition politics and commitment to the Ijaw cause within the context of national interest and above all, his mobilization of Bayelsans from all spheres of life to vote massively for the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, helped in no small measure to chase the APC away from the state in the just concluded election.

Okorotie said: ‘‘Governor Seriake Dickson has developed Bayelsa State, more than any other governor before him for which we as a people are eternally grateful. Dickson is indeed man of the people. It is on record that Dickson is the first governor ever to have campaigned and

FG should not treat Biafra’s agitation with levity —Unoh CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13

this war.

He is working with people and those who are working with him have their own agenda. He should not think that centralizing everything in government is the best in the first place. He has appointed ministers and I may ask where will these ministers take money to settle the boys? From their own salaries, no way! I think he has to get the appointees empowered. Those who supported him deserved to be given contracts to execute so that they can afford to service their political machines.

Infrastructure will be built yes for who, for those who will die of hunger? like Fayose did in Ekiti state, he called it the politics of stomach infrastructure. welfare infrastructure. Look at what is happen all over the country in this Christmas period with no food to eat and you tell me you are going to build roads and all sort of infrastructure.

What if the people die of hunger, would they resurrect from the graveyard to come and enjoy the infrastructure? That is the reasoning of avearge Nigerian. Every other thing is equal to zero. That is why Ayo Fayose used to win his elections any time any day because he understands the psychology of Nigerians.

Because when you say go and construct this road, the beaureaucrats will want him to do the project according to specification and perhaps also want to get something from the contractor and there is no how that contractor will not tamper with the quality

of the project now that they want him to give them something from what source? He must cut corners , that is what is happening in Nigeria. So I wish Buhari well.

How will you react to his promise that insurgency was to end by last December One of the major problems we have as human beings is that we do not separate propaganda from reality particularly when one is seeking for office especially when there is someone who already occupying the office and you want that same office.

The person seeking for the same office might not know what the man who is on that throne is going through. When Jonathan was in charge, a lot of people thought Boko Haram was a joke, or a small show, little did they know that it had international link with ISIS, operating within the regions that is close to Nigeria. So if you are outside federal government, you will think that you can just pinpoint them easily. I think former president, Jonathan mentioned it that these people have their links even in Aso Rock When Jonathan went touring our neighbouring countries to gather support those who didn’t know what it is, kept criticizing him but today what is now happening.

I think these desperate and radical Boko Haram sect don’t have a stationary target to say this is where they are. They are moving targets so no man should tell you that he can contain them in two days and you go ahead to believe him because the Boko Haram

can even be your brother in your household without you knowing that he is one. By the time the army chief was planning to travel to Kaduna the man who is one of his guard must have leaked the information of his itinerary to the Boko Haram otherwise how could they have known that the man was going to take that route ? These guys are moving targets, it must be a close confidants who may have give the information to the rascals. Until we are able to know why they are bent on destroying this country we won’t get it right. catching one leader or Boko Haram member and imprisoned or killing him would not solve the problem. This thing is like a witchcraft.

So if you are to advise the current federal government what will be your advice.

with this matter.

What is the way forward?

I don’t know more than what I had just said.

Running after them is like pursuing your shadow. As you move the shadow is moving it is an international gang up. Even the Americans may not be able to handle it. That destructive spirit being preached in Syria, Afganistan , Teran, Jordan and Yemen, until we know their source of funding. They are highly train and they fund them, who fund and train them?.

These are the salient questions the security agents ought to beam their searchlight on. In most cases they behave as if they have become more sophisticated than the military men and their training ground. Who are the people giving this military might in them. We hear even non- Moslem are being indoctrinated into the sect. The federal government should not joke

How would you assess Governor Ben Ayade in the last seven months ?

Ayade has done well. He has tall dreams.

Seven months into office is just too small for us to begin to grumble. He wants to execute dual carriage super highway to reduce the suffering of the people of Cross River State.

What about the agitation for Biafra .

How do you see the agitation?

Federal Government shouldn’t sleep over this matter even though I was young at that time, it is a thing one shouldn’t embrace . I saw what happened it was quite bad and dangerous. Now that these people are murmuring it looks as if it is a child`s play but it is a terrible situation. Nobody should call for war. I won’t be part of it even though I have Ibo ancestral link , we rather prefer to die in Nigeria we won’t be part of it, this can put the country in economic mess.

How we manage ourselves also matters we won’t take everything at one swoop.

Given the lean resources of the state, don’t you think his signature projects would at the end of the day be declared by his critics as wild elephant projects?

Ayade himself had been a successful businessman who had made strides in his personal life. In my opinion, he should be given time to prove his mettle. I believe that his travelling in and out of the country is to seek for investors to come and invest in the state

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Wednesday, January 13, 2016

17

On the ban on use of debit cards abroad ABBA MOHAMMED BASHIR SHUWA

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t a crucial point in a nation’s life, there comes the moment for taking painful but inevitable decisions for its ultimate survival. Such decisions, no doubt, would hurt and cause hardship for the citizens in the interim, however, in the long run, the nation would laugh last.

President Muhammadu Buhari, fully aware of the enormity of the challenges Nigeria is facing from a shattering economy, serious security challenges and a dwindling revenue base , was determined to bolster through the debris of a looming catastrophe. For example, as a step to minimising waste and outright stealing of public funds, the administration adopted a Treasury Single Account (TSA), by which it is meant that all revenue generating ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of government are to pay such into one single account of the government.

Similarly, the Central Bank introduced Bank Verification Number (BVN), a system that helps bring sanity into the banking system through elimination of sharp practices, money laundering and related financial crimes in the banking sector.

However, what informed this write up is the decision of the administration to ban the use of Master Card (ATM) outside the country on the ground that this has been abused by the unscrupulous ones. The decision has polarized the country into

pro and against. This is more for some parents who complained that they were finding it difficult to remit money to their wards studying abroad. The agitation to reverse the decision is still ranging.

At the recent media chat, President Buhari promised to advise the CBN, Ministry of Finance, and Ministry of Education officials to meet with a view to addressing the concerns of parents whose wards are already studying abroad to avoid disruption of their academic career. Personally, I shared the sentiments of the parents concerned and the reaction of the President.

However, we must call a spade a spade and not the digging instrument: The use of Master Card (ATM) by Nigerians abroad has been seriously abused to rape the country. I have a dual Nigerian/British citizenship. I schooled abroad. Thus, I am privy to the reckless abuse of the master card by Nigerians abroad. There are some Nigerians abroad, especially students who have at their disposal several master cards of various banks and which they use to withdraw money at alarming rate. Certainly, such withdrawals outweighed the needs of such students.

I still remember that as a student while studying abroad, there were/are two categories of Nigerian students.

They are either government sponsored or private. For the government sponsored students all their financial obligations with regards to their academic pur-

T HERE

HAVE BEEN

STORIES OF SEVERAL MILLIONS OF DOLLARS ALLEGEDLY DISCOVERED IN THE ACCOUNTS OF SOME STUDENTS ABROAD suit are remitted by the federal or state government concerned to our respective embassies for onward transmission of same to the institutions concerned on behalf of the students. For the private students, the parents filled “Form M” of their respective banks with regards to the financial obligations of the students concerned and returned same to the banks, which would forward same to the CBN for approval of the amount required by the private students concerned.

With the approval given, the commercial banks would send the money directly to the institution concerned. Through these methods, the process was hardly abused as there were checks and balances. This is not the same with the use of master.

It has severely been abused. There have been stories of several millions of dollars allegedly discovered in the accounts of some students abroad. The question is how come the millions, and for what purpose? Where does the money for the flamboyant and offensive life styles of some of these students come from? What of the massive expensive houses said to

have been purchased by some Nigerian students or proxies of some so called Nigeria businessmen or politicians?

Let Mr. President remember that his measures so far are commendable and should ignore the hues and cries from unpatriotic Nigerians, who are now feeling the blockade of the continued looting process of the country’s hard earned foreign currencies. Genuine parents and governments sponsoring students abroad must follow the process of remittance of funds to their ward as laid down. The Federal Government is not depriving the students abroad of their legitimate right to education, but only plugging the loopholes used to bleed the nation.

President Buhari should know that it is not possible to please all. Being kind is not the same as being just. He has embarked on a just cause, so he has the blessings and support of patriotic Nigerians. He must not waiver nor falls to the pressure of the elite to abandon his pursuit of justice. If he listens to the elite and abandons the noble cause he has embarked upon and eventually fails, the elite would gladly abandon him and move on to a new leader in the process called “dynamic conservatism”. May this not be the portion of President Buhari. Amen.

Mr President, be rest assured the masses are with you in your current mission to salvage Nigeria.

Shuwa wrote from Leeds, the United Kingdom

Bailout fund: Amosun as a study in prudence

ADEJUWON SOYINKA

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rudence is usually associated with wisdom, insight, and knowledge.

Little wonder, therefore, that it was considered by the ancient Greeks and later on by Christian philosophers, most notably Thomas Aquinas, as “the cause, measure and form of all virtues.”

In other words, prudence is the mother of all virtues. It also refers to the exercise of good judgment, informed by intelligence and good character. Prudence requires the consideration of long term choices and implications of decisions, and the avoidance of biases that make us focus on instant gratification.

This, perhaps explain why, economists would describe a consumer as prudent if he/she saves more when faced with riskier future income. This additional saving is called precautionary saving.

Judging from this premise, therefore, one can then logically come to the conclusion that no other word can better describe the decision of Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State to opt for a 10-year repayment schedule for the recent bailout fund provided to states by the Federal Government.

Whereas the Federal Government had offered to the states a 20-year repayment schedule, Governor Amosun, has chosen to repay the bailout fund in 10 years. Of course, that decision has placed Ogun State in a class of its own. If the state had

OGUN STATE HAS A MULTI-PRONGED STRATEGY TO DRIVE ITS REVENUES AND COVER RECURRENT EXPENDITURE played along with the 20-year repayment plan, the current monthly deductions from its allocations would have been reduced by an amount in excess of N400 million. But that would have been a short-sighted decision. The governor knew that what was required of him is a consideration of long term choices in a manner that avoid biases that often make the average person focus on short term rewards, while ignoring the long term implications.

So, by choosing a 10-year repayment plan, the governor is in the long run saving the good people of Ogun State over N80 billion in debt service costs that would have been incurred over the period of the loan. He is in fact not stopping there; Amosun is also working very hard to ensure that he saves more for Ogun State by exercising the option of making lump sum repayments of the principal whenever the state has the capacity to do so. By so doing, he intends to fully repay the bailout loan before the end of his tenure of office.

“We don’t intend to leave any debt to the administration that will succeed

us. Despite the apparent squeeze that this incremental repayment places on our finances in the short term, we think it is the best decision for the people of Ogun State to have a much lower cost of debt overall, allowing financial resources to instead be directed towards the further development of our state,” the governor said.

So, where is this confidence coming from in an era where resources are dwindling and some states have started calling for a reduction of the national minimum wage? Well, the answer again, lies in the meaning of the word prudence. “We took this decision because we are confident that the efforts we have made to date to diversify our revenue sources and strengthen our IGR base will continue to bear fruit as we proceed through our second term.

“Indeed, it is the fruit of these efforts that has enabled Ogun State to continue to pay salaries and pensions as and when due, despite the notable reduction of funds from the Federation Account,” Governor Amosun said. This also explains why the governor was able to pay the December, 2015 salaries and of all civil servants in the state and 10 percent bonus before Christmas Day. The administration has assured it is not considering a reduction of the minimum wage or staff retrenchment as a result of the dwindling finances of the state.

Moving forward, the governor is not relenting in his administration’s drive towards further raising IGR through the provision of services to the people.

Ogun State has a multi-pronged strategy

to drive its revenues and cover recurrent expenditure. For instance, the administration has been hugely successful in attracting major industries to Ogun State, and this has had the effect of creating jobs for the people and increasing government revenues from taxes.

The governor has also repeatedly stated his administration’s resolve to make agricultural production and industrialisation, one of the five cardinal programmes of his administration, a major source of job creation and invariably a source of revenue for the government.

With the advantage of proximity to Lagos, the biggest market in Nigeria; being the gateway to the rest of Nigeria as well as proximity to the markets of the West African sub-region, Ogun State, in fact, holds the potential of seeing its revenue base grow steadily over the years.

This growth is even further guaranteed by prudent and effective management of resources, which is one of the major hallmarks of the Governor Amosun-led administration.

Soyinka, a multiple award-winning journalist, is the Senior Special Assistant (Media) to Governor Ibikunle Amosun 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

18

Editorial

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

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

SUNDAY OLAJIDE MANAGING DIRECTOR/CEO BEN MEMULETIWON ACTING DAILY EDITOR GBEMI OLUJOBI SATURDAY EDITOR AYO OLESIN SUNDAY EDITOR DOZIE OKEBALAMA COORDINATOR, EDITORIAL BOARD CALLISTUS OKE EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR OBIORA IFOH ACTING ABUJA BUREAU CHIEF

IMF boss’ visit, higher VAT rate and Nigeria today

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anaging Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ms. Christine Lagarde, came calling recently with the message that Nigeria faces hard choices in her strive to move forward economically. Contrary to public expectations, she said her visit had nothing to do with negotiating loans for Nigeria, but to review her economy and its impact on neighbouring countries. Nigeria, the IMF boss stated, had managed to create a large and diversified economy that had been growing by about seven per cent annually over the last decade, a remarkable achievement and testament to her immense potential.

But she said the outlook had become weak, with growth in 2015 estimated at about 3.2 per cent, the slowest since 1999, while a modest recovery is expected this year.

“For a country with a rapidly increasing population, this means almost no real economic growth in per capita terms. Low fiscal savings and reserves restrict the ability to manage shocks. And the weakening oil sector could stress balance sheets and put pressure on the banking system”, Lagarde said. Among the options she recommended to policy makers as ways of navigating through the economic grim include stepping up revenue mobilization through the broadening of the nation’s tax base; reducing

GOING FOR A HIGHER VAT RATE AT PRESENT SEEMS INAUSPICIOUS

AND CAN BE COUNTERPRODUCTIVE UNTIL…

leakages by improving compliance and enhancing collection efficiency, as well as further bolstering of the current five per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) rate, which she described as among the lowest in ECOWAS member-states and the rest of the world. She cautioned against borrowing, saying debt weighs heavily on the public purse, as already, about 35 kobo of every naira collected by the Federal Government is used to service outstanding public debt.

In addition, Lagarde said the quality and efficiency of every naira meant for capital expenditure could be best guaranteed by investing in high-impact and high value-added projects, adding that streamlining recurrent expenditure via improvement on the cost of running government and efficiency of public service delivery across the federal and state governments were of critical importance, among others.

President Muhammadu Buhari, who hosted Lagarde in Abuja, said his government was looking inwards in addressing Nigeria’s economic problems. In a statement

through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, Buhari said his administration would enforce greater discipline, probity and accountability in all revenue generating agencies of the FG; and that all heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government would fully account for all funds that got into their coffers.

His words: “We have just come out of budget discussions after many weeks of taking into consideration the many needs of the country, and the down turn of the economy with falling oil prices and the negative economic forecasts. We are working very hard; and with the budget as our way forward, we will do our best to ensure that our country survives the current economic downturn”.

Besides, Buhari had related his understanding of the Nigerian economic dilemma in a report published in a recent special edition of ‘The Economist’ magazine: “In 2014…the then government rebased our country’s GDP. Now, by internationally recognised metrics, we possess the largest economy in Africa.

While this should be a source of pride for Nigerians, it goes no way to addressing the deep structural challenges our economy faces; nor does it put more money in the pockets or more food on the table of millions of our citizens who go without, every day. To achieve dynamic and

ON THIS DAY January 13, 1985 A passenger train plunged into a ravine in Ethiopia, killing 428 people and injuring about 500 others.

The express train was carrying seven cars and an estimated 1,000 people; and was heading to Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, when it derailed on reaching a curve 125 miles east of the capital. It was suspected that the train engineer failed to reduce speed while approaching the curve.

January 13, 2001

An earthquake hit El Salvador. At least 944 people were killed and 5,565 others injured. About 585 of the deaths were caused by large landslides in Santa Tecla and Comasagua. About 108,261 houses were destroyed, with another 169,692 well damaged. Landslides wreaked significant damage, too. As of February 2, 2001, more than 2,500 aftershocks had hit El Salvador.

sustainable economic growth; and to eradicate poverty, we need as a nation to undertake serious economic reforms. Some will be painful, but all are necessary. I am determined that if my government stands for anything, it is the complete breaking of the cycle of gross corruption and theft that have caused investors to look first anywhere but Nigeria when considering business opportunities in Africa”.

It does seem the FG, IMF, organised private sector (OPS), the Nigerian public and other stakeholders are on the same page concerning the nation’s economic woes and the major causes and are now agitated about how best to achieve genuine recovery and remaining on the path of economic progress. All project rough times ahead; and many have strongly recommended the plugging of all revenue leakages and ensuring accountability to the greatest possible extent. Consequently, looking inward and enforcing a radical tax regime should be the watchword. But going for a higher VAT rate at present seems inauspicious and can be counter-productive until all loopholes, leakages, barefaced frauds and ineptitude in the collection chain of existing taxes, including VAT, and the remittance of other government revenues, are sufficiently dealt with.

January 13, 2012 Passenger cruise ship, ‘MS Costa Concordia’, sank off the coast of Italy. Of the 3,229 passengers and 1,023 crew known to have been aboard, 30 people died; while two others missing were presumed dead. The cruise ship was built in 2004 by the Fincantieri’s Sestri Ponente yards in Italy; and was operated from 2005 until 2012 by Costa Crociere (a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation).

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

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Health & Wellbeing Your baby’s endless cry could be colic

Lassa fever update: Red alert in states 21

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Lassa fever is here again! … Health Ministry urges people to keep their homes rodent-free

Sam Eferaro

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s at Friday January 8, no fewer than 40 deaths have been reported. According to the Minister of health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, 86 cases have been reported so far in 10 states of the federation and the virus is still raging. The deadly Lassa haemorragic fever is in the news again.

According to the Minister, the first case of the current outbreak was recorded in Bauchi in November, 2015 followed by cases from Kano and other states. Also, sources at the Lassa Fever Research and Control, Irrua, Edo State say Nigeria records well over 50,000 deaths from Lassa fever every year but the figure could be far higher this year, going by the current rate of infection across the states.

Already, the Federal and state governments have rolled out measures aimed at controlling the dreaded disease to ensure it does not claim too many lives as it does normally when it strikes. Prof. Adewole announced last week that he had ordered the “immediate release of adequate quantities of ribavirin, the specific antiviral drug for Lassa fever to all the affected states for prompt and adequate treatment of cases” as part of the health ministry’s response to the outbreak.

He also announced that the ministry had deployed rapid response teams from the Ministry to all the affected states to assist in investigating and verifying the cases and tracing of contacts qwhile also deploying clinicians and relevant healthcare workers sensitized and mobilized in areas of patient management and care in the affected states.

Prof. Adewole

RESERVOIR: The Mastomys rat

“Affected States have been advised to intensify awareness creation on the signs and symptoms and general hygiene,” the minister further said.

However, a major preventive method being emphasized by the government is the role of the general public. Incidence of Lassa fever is closely linked with dirty environment and poor personal hygiene hence the advice for people to keep their homes free of rodents. The health ministry has also announced some hotlines: 08093810105, 08163215251, 08031571667 and 08135050005 for enquiries and report of suspected cases.

WHO describes Lassa fever is a zoonotic disease, meaning that humans become infected from contact with infected animals.

It is spread by exposure to and eating of foods contaminated with rat dropping or urine. It is also spread by direct contact with the blood, urine, faces or other bodily secretions of person with Lassa fever.

The Mastomys rat has been identified as the reservoir, or host, of Lassa virus. On its own, according to the experts, the mastomys rodents, when infected with Lassa virus, do not become ill, but they can shed the virus in their excreta (urine and faeces) which can be dangerous when it is done on foods and drinks for humans. They must therefore be kept far away from homes and communities for individuals to avoid con-

tacting Lassa fever.

Lassa fever is a deadly disease with a history of huge fatality in Nigeria. The disease was first identified in 1969 following the strange illness of two mission nurses working in Lassa town near Jos. One of the nurses died while the second was repatriated to the US where she recovered.

Apart from Nigeria, the disease is known to be endemic in many West African countries such as Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone among others.

According to the world Health Organisation (WHO), death from Lassa fever usually occurs within 14 days of onset in fatal cases. “The disease is especially severe late in pregnancy, with maternal death and/or fetal loss occurring in greater than 80% of cases during the third trimester.”

Signs and symptoms to watch According to WHO, About 80% of human infections are asymptomatic, that is, the carry the virus but do not exhibit symptoms of the disease though they are capable of transmitting the disease. The remaining cases have severe multi-system disease, where the virus affects several organs in the body, such as the liver, spleen and kidneys.

The incubation period of Lassa fever ranges from 6-21 days. The onset of the dis-

ease is usually gradual, starting with fever, general weakness, and malaise. After a few days, headache, sore throat, muscle pain, chest pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, cough, and abdominal may follow. Severe cases may progress to show facial swelling, fluid in the lung cavity, bleeding from mouth, nose, vagina or gastrointestinal tract, and low blood pressure.

Protein may be noted in the urine. Shock, seizures, tremor, disorientation, and coma may be seen in the late stages. Deafness occurs in 25% of patients of whom half recover some function after 1-3 months.

Transient hair loss and gait disturbance may occur during recovery.

Health workers beware!

WHO warns family members and health care workers should always be careful to avoid contact with blood and body fluids while caring for sick persons.

Routine barrier nursing precautions probably protect against transmission of Lassa virus in most circumstances. However, for added safety, patients suspected to have Lassa fever should be cared for under specific “isolation precautions,” which include the wearing of protective clothing such as masks, gloves, gowns, and face shields, and the systematic sterilization of contaminated equipment.

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Health & Wellbeing

Nutrition for Health

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Diet to prevent hypertension

normal, the greater the health risks.

High blood pressure Chizoba Benson often has no warning signs. Once it occurs, it chizobanwobu@yahoo.com 08120807588 (sms only) usually lasts a lifetime.

Headache, unexplained ypertension or high tiredness, dizziness, impaired blood pressure may vision, failing memory, shortbe described as an elness of breath, pain over the evated blood pressure. Hyperheart and gastrointestinal tension is dangerous because it makes the heart work too disturbance are some of the hard. It impairs the pumping symptoms.

There are however, different function of the heart and if uncauses of hypertension. They treated, it can damage arteries are: cardiovascular disease, reand organs such as the heart, nal disease, brain tumors, diskidneys, brain, and eyes which eases of the ovaries, etc.

Other can lead to heart and kidney disease, stroke, and blindness predisposing factors include: stress, heredity, obesity, smokif uncontrolled.

It is measured in millime- ing, narrowing of the main ters of mercury (mmHg) and blood vessels due to hormone recorded as two numbers—sys- secretions, etc.

Studies have shown that tolic pressure (when the heart blood pressure can be lowered beats) over diastolic pressure by having the right eating plan (when the heart relaxes beand a reduced sodium intake. tween beats).

This gives the biggest benefits According to Dietary Apand may help prevent the deproaches to Stop Hypertension velopment of high blood pres(DASH) eating plan, blood pressure. sure can be unhealthy even It is therefore necessary if it stays only slightly above to maintain a normal body the normal level of less than weight of Body Mass Index 120/80 mmHg. The more your (BMI) of 18.5-24.9 and this blood pressure rises above

H

could be achieved by being moderately physically active on most days of the week. Activities such as jogging, walking, swimming, etc, will help you shed pounds and stay trim for the long term. You can do an activity for 30 minutes at one time, or choose shorter periods of at least 10 minutes each. To avoid weight gain.

Try to total about 60 minutes per day.

Secondly, consume the right diet and observe the right food portions consumed. Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) recommends 7-8 daily servings of whole grains such as bread, brown rice, etc; 4-5 daily servings of vegetables

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such as broccoli, potatoes, green peas, etc; 4-5 daily servings of fruits such as bananas, apples, mangoes, etc; 2-3 daily servings low-fat or fat-free dairy products, 2 or fewer servings a day of lean meat, poultry, and fish; 4-5 servings per week of nuts, seeds, and legumes; 2-3 daily servings of fats and oils such as vegetable oil or soft margarine, low-fat mayonnaise, etc and less than 5 servings per week of sweets such as jam, etc.

It is also vital to follow a healthy eating plan, which includes foods low in sodium or salt. Processed foods make up most of the salt and sodium.

They include baked goods (biscuits, cakes, breads, pastries), certain cereals, soy sauce, seasoned salts, monosodium glutamate (MSG), baking soda, and some antacids. It is however, necessary to always read food labels to choose products lower in sodium. Look for the sodium content in milligrams

and the Percent Daily Value.

Aim for foods that are less than 5 percent of the Daily Value of sodium. Foods with 20 percent or more Daily Value of sodium are considered high.

Consume minerals such as calcium, magnesium and potassium-rich foods. Potassium’s role in hypertension or high blood pressure is actually a result of a complex interplay with sodium, calcium and magnesium found in the blood of all living organisms.

Research suggests that the risk of stroke, a common consequence of high blood pressure, relates inversely with the amount of potassium in the diet. But be sure to get your potassium from food sources, not from supplements. Many fruits and vegetables, some milk products, and fish are rich sources of potassium. And if you drink alcoholic beverages, do so in moderation. Limit to no more than 2 drinks per day.

Bear in mind that if you are overweight or obese, even a small weight loss will help to lower your risks of developing high blood pressure and other serious health conditions

SCIENCE

Compiled by Franka Osakwe

Green tea promotes brain function

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good cup of tea can clear your head and help you think more clearly.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have been studying how green tea influences brain function and boosts memory. Now Chinese researchers have confirmed findings that Green tea favorably affects the generation of brain cells and provides benefits for memory and spatial learning.

The main ingredient in green tea responsible for the benefits is a chemical called epigallocatechin-3 gallate (EGCG). It’s an antioxidant that improves cognitive function by promoting neuron (nerve) cells in the brain.

In addition, green tea helps combat degenerative diseases related to aging, as well as memory loss.

D

Daily alcohol drinking increases liver damage

rinking every day appears to add significantly to the danger of developing alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver, researchers claim.

Until now scientists had thought that the disease is mainly caused by taking excessive amount of alcohol.

But the Danish study of 56,000 people, aged between 50 and 64, is the first to reveal the difference in risk between drinking daily and drinking on five or six days a week.

The results are published in the Journal of Hepatology.

Lead investigator Dr Gro Askgaard, from Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark, said: “The details of alcohol induced liver injury are unknown.

“We can only speculate the reason may be that daily alcohol exposure worsens liver damage or inhibits regeneration of the liver.”

Staying positive helps you live longer

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taying positive is the key to a longer life, scientists have found.

Research suggests it can slash the risk of a heart attack by half.

Obesity, smoking and stress have long been associated with heart disease but a new British study shows a positive mental ¬attitude can prevent the onset of the killer condition and have a pro-

tective effect.

The British Heart Foundation and University College London studied the mental attitudes of 369 patients admitted to hospital with unstable angina and heart attacks and monitored their health for 46 months.

They found the most pessimistic patients were twice as likely to die or need further ¬surgery over the next four years compared with the most

optimistic.

Half the most pessimistic patients who smoked had failed to kick the habit a year after going to hospital.

In contrast, 85 per cent of the optimistic smokers had given up 12 months on.

The research also showed optimistic patients were twice as likely to increase their consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables after a

heart attack.

Forty per cent were eating the ¬recommended five or more portions a day while only 20 per cent of the most pessimistic were doing the same.

Professor Andrew Steptoe, who led the study, said the research shows optimistic people are more likely to take advice about lifestyle changes on board, like quitting smoking and eating more healthily, and these re-

sults in better outcomes.

In their decade-long study, the researchers found 37 per cent of the most -pessimistic patients went on to suffer further heart attacks, heart ¬surgery or death in the four years after they were discharged from hospital compared with 19 per cent of the most optimistic.

The findings are published today in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Health & Wellbeing

Lassa fever update: Red alert in states Sam Eferaro

M

ore states in the country have put their citizens on red alert following the outbreak of Lassa fever in 10 states of the federation. While a few of the states initially listed to have recorded cases, such as Oyo and Bauchi, announced that the disease had not spread to their shores, National Mirror investigations however showed that most states have adopted measures to curtail the spread of the disease, as indicated in the updates below:

Yobe sensitises health workers

H

ealth workers in Yobe have been put on alert to watch out for patients with high grade fever and other symptoms of Lassa fever.

Dr Bello Kawuwa, the state Commissioner for Health, stated this on Monday in Damaturu at the inauguration of the Task Force on Immunisation and Primary Healthcare.

He charged members of the public and medical practitioners to observe universal precautions in handling excreta, vomits and other fluids of patients.

The commissioner assured that Yobe government would liaise with other stakeholders in handling any possible outbreak “like we partnered during the Ebola threat.”

Edo discharges 3

Three persons infected with Lassa fever have been treated and discharged from the Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital in Edo State, according to the state commissioner for Health, Dr. Heregie Aihanuwa. The commissioner also confirmed that the state had recorded one death from the disease while another patient is still on admission at the hospital.

Dr. Aihanuwa said the state government had begun sensitization programme on Lassa fever to rural communities. Also, health workers in the state have been instructed to look out for symptoms of Lassa fever and refer suspected cases.

The Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital Nigeria’s also hosts the nation’s Lassa Fever Research and Control centre.

Oyo denies outbreak, cautions citizens against rodents consumption Acting Director of Public Health, Oyo state, Dr Taiwo Ladipo, has denied reports of Lassa fever outbreak in the state, saying the three suspected cases reported and diagnosed at the University College Hospital (UCH) had no feature of the disease.

Dr. Ladipo however cautioned citizens of the state against consumption of rodents and urged them to avoid contact with the blood, urine and faeces of rats when killing them as a preventive measure against Lassa fever.

He also disclosed that an emergency preparedness team of stakeholders had met to prepare a response protocol in case of any outbreak of the disease.

The Acting Director of Public Health disclosed that the state’s ministry of health had supplied ribavirin, the specific antiviral drug for Lassa fever treatment, as well as protective apparels to UCH to reduce contact between healthcare workers and potential cases.

Dr. Ladipo advised citizens to avoid eating rodents and keep them away from their homes.

“Food items should preferably be kept in sealable containers to prevent contamination with urine or faeces of rodents. There is the need for proper personal and household management of refuse. Indiscriminate dumping of refuse should be avoided as these are potential breeding grounds for vermin.”

A Lassa fever patient receiving medical attention

Ogun to introduce vaccination

Although no known vaccine has been found for the prevention of Lassa fever, the Ogun State government has announced it would be taking delivery of a vaccine with a potential to cure the disease.

In an interview with journalists last week at a sensitization meeting for the 2016 Measles Follow-Up Campaign in the State, the State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Babatunde Ipaye said: “ I have spoken with the Minister for Health on how to get the vaccines and he has assured us of the delivery of a type of vaccine that has the potential to cure the diseases permanently.”

The Commissioner said the state government would increase awareness on how to prevent the disease from spreading across the state. He also pleaded with council bosses to spread the campaign against the disease across the state saying he had directed the health ministry’s Directorate of Public Health, to embark on a vigorous campaign in both the print and electronic media so as to sensitise citizens of the state on how to combat the disease.

Benue on ‘Watch Out’

Even with a suspected case under investigation health officials in Benue state told the News agency of Nigeria no confirmed case of Lassa fever has been reported in the state. But the Benue State University Teaching Hospital (BSUTH said it had received a case suspected to be Lassa fever and had commenced immediate investigations.

Prof. Abraham Malu, the hospital’s Medical director, said that the blood sample of the patient had been taken to a laboratory outside the state for confirmation, adding that the hospital was treating the patient for other aspects of Malu however said that the hospital was ready for any eventuality, as there was a team on ground for such emergencies.

His counterpart at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Makurdi, Dr Peteru Inunduh, also confirmed that no case of Lassa fever has been reported in the hospital, “We are on the watch out. We have a team on ground to monitor all patients 24 hours daily to detect cases that may be similar to Lassa fever for quick action,” he said.

The two hospitals are the main tertiary institutions in the state with the equipment for the treatment of such a disease.

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4 suspected cases in Bauchi Briefing journalists in Bauchi, the Permanent Secretary in the state Ministry of Health, Saidu Gital, disclosed that the state had four suspected cases. Three of the cases, according to him were found to be negative while the laboratory result on the fourth case was pending.

“The fourth person accidentally came from Kanam Local Government Area of Plateau, but the result is being awaited,” he said.

The Permanent Secretary however disclosed that the Federal Ministry of Health had supplied the state with protective equipment and Ribavirin tablets as well as injectable drugs for use when any case was confirmed.

Lagos out with public notice Any sick person with symptoms such as fever, headache, chills, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, sore throat, backache, and joint pains, should be suspected for Lassa Fever, Lagos State ministry of health, have said.

This was contained in a recent released by its Permanent Secretary, Dr. Adeola Salako. According to the statement, any persons who present with above symptoms with a positive history of being in contact with a suspected or infected person, or health worker who had treated either suspected or confirmed infected person, could be carrying the disease until proven otherwise.

“The public should also report any cases of above symptoms or persistent high fever not responding to standard treatment for malaria and typhoid fever to the nearest health center.

Early symptoms of the disease which occur within 3 weeks of coming in contact with the virus includes; fever, headache, chills, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, sore throat, backache, and joint pains.

“Late symptoms include bleeding from the eyes, ears and nose, bleeding from the mouth and rectum, eye swelling, swelling of the genitals and rashes all over the body that often contain blood. It could progress to coma, shock and death. Those at the highest risk include health workers, families and friends of an infected person in the course of feeding, holding and caring for them”, it said.

For prevention and control of Lassa fever, the Lagos Ministry of Health advises people to: avoid contact between rats and human beings, observe good personal hygiene, Dispose wastes appropriately and clean their environment well in other to prevent rats from entering the house, store foods in rat proof containers and cook all foods thoroughly before eating, discourage rodents from entering the house by blocking all possible entry points. It also called on food manufacturers and handlers, not to spread food where rats can have access to it.

The statement warned against direct contact with a sick person’s blood or body fluids, since the disease can be contracted through body fluid. “All fluids from an infected person are extremely dangerous. Health workers are also advised to be at alert, wear personal protective equipment, observe universal basic precautions, nurse suspected cases in isolation and report same to the LGA or Ministry of Health immediately. For more information please contact the Directorate of Disease Control, Lagos State Ministry of Health on 08037170614, 08023169485”. –Franka Osakwe

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Health & Wellbeing

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Your baby’s endless cry could be colic Franka Osakwe

F

ew months ago, Rashida Chowdhury, 21, from Queens, New York, reportedly threw her one month old baby, Rizwan, out of a fourth floor window because, he wouldn’t stop crying. The baby had kept crying for over three hours a day repeatedly for weeks, pushing the depressed Rashida to the limit. She told police the baby was possessed by an evil spirit so she wanted to save him the agony he is going through. Though Rashida’s action may be adjudged as crazy and extreme, one can understand her feeling of frustration and depression at her baby’s unabated anguish, also shared by many parents of colic babies.

For Titi, she and her husband had resorted to prayers when their two months old baby boy-Emmanuel had crying episode for over one month. “Sometimes, my husband and I would watch helplessly as Emmanuel with a flushed face, clenched hands, and wrinkled brow, would pull his legs up to the stomach and cry in a high pitched piercing tune. For me, it was as if the end had come.

Sometimes, when tears ran down my face, my husband would quickly carry him and apply ‘anointing oil’ on his hairs and eyes¸ while rocking him endlessly, all to no avail.”

But experts say the condition is not actually due to evil spirit or any serious medical issue. Infant colic, is the most common and sometimes the most distressing condition suffered by babies, experts concludes. A US based Consultant paediatrician, Dr Osunbunmi Adeniyi, described it as episodes of crying that lasts for more than 3 hours a day, continues beyond 3 days a week for 3 weeks, in an otherwise healthy child between the ages of 2 weeks and 4 months.

According to him, Colic, is estimated to affect at least 20 per cent of babies during their first few months, with an attack of crying and abdominal pain. The condition is common in both breast fed and spoon fed infants and is usually accompanied by painful expression, flushing, distended abdomen and flatulence, he said.

“Colics can begin as early as two weeks of age and it often disappears when the baby is three to four months old, but can last up to one year. There are no long term problems associated with the condition. The cause of the colic is generally unknown. Less than 5% of infants with excess crying have an underlying organic disease”, he said.

Adeniyi listed some of the causes as immaturity of the gut, hypertonicity of the gut, inadequate maternal infant interaction, maternal anxiety and difficult infant temperament, dietary factors and birth complications, which may have a direct impact on the infant.

“It appears that there is a correlation between childbirth complications and amount of infant crying,”he added.

Instead of going for spiritual solution or administering all sorts of drugs, a Consultant Paediatrics and Gastroentrologist at University College Hospital Ibadan (UCH), Dr. Adepoju Akinlolu, advises parents to use some pharmacological treatments such as simethicone to reduce gas production, and anticholinergic agents that could reduce crying during colic episodes in breast-fed infants.

“Administering different kinds of drugs on the baby could cause more harm than provide solution. The use of substances like paracetamol, gbomoro, teething powder, salt water, buscopan, gripe water etc are often unnecessary and harmful” he said.

Instead of such common management methods, Akinlolu said parents should first carry out a complete physical examination. “It is important to evaluate if the infant is correctly fed or gaining weight. Examine if there are signs and symptoms such as eczema, diarrhoea and gastro-oesophageal reflux or more uncommon but life-threatening causes such as bowel intussusceptions.”

Most importantly, before looking to treat your baby’s

colic, the expert said it is necessary to have him or her thoroughly examined by a paediatrician, to check for a medical reason for the crying and fussiness. One of the earliest signs of Colic according to him, is that the baby is always uncomfortable, often seems in pain and the stomach may appear distended with gurgling noises heard in the abdomen.

“The baby may arch their back and bring their knees up towards the stomach to try to relieve pain. Often the baby may cry inconsolably for several hours often in the late afternoon or evening. Babies wilh low level colic may also show signs of being restless and uncomfortable but not actually crying. Most babies will improve

One of the earliest signs of Colic is that the baby is always

uncomfortable, often seems in pain and the stomach may appear distended with gurgling noises in the abdomen.

naturally within 3 months and nine out of ten will have improved by 6 months”, he said.

He advises mothers to exclude trigger foods including cow’s milk products from infants’ diet and not to discontinue breast feeding while switching to the hypoallergenic maternal diet. They should try using glucose solution because it has positive effects in relieving symptoms, he said.

While there are many theories of what may cause baby colic, studies published in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics and another study reported on the British Journal of Community Nurses, have shown that nearly half the babies suffered colic due to lactase deficiency. Their symptoms had seized or significantly reduced upon treating milk with lactase enzyme.

In lactase deficiency, babies do not yet produce enough lactase enzymes to break down lactose, the sugar found in milk. Lactose remains unabsorbed and once it reaches the large intestines of the baby, bacteria that live naturally there make a feast out of it producing gases in return. Unfortunately this results in wind, cramps, and great discomfort to the baby and parents.

For relief, experts advise on; using lactase drops to help with the breakdown of milk lactose, giving smaller frequent feeds to reduce the amount of lactose a baby takes each time, feeding the baby in different positions.

Once you’ve finished feeding, try holding your baby in an upright position as this can help reduce discomfort.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

23

Arts Lounge I want to give people what they want –Akpede

Final hours of David Bowie

26

25

Bringing decency into music videos Rather than music videos celebrating values, indecent exposure seems to be driving the trade.

Tosin Adams

I

f you have watched music videos coming out of the vibrant Nigerian music industry lately, you would notice that there is a subtle revolution about showing skin and romanticising lyrics.

Yes, it drives the trade, but to whose advantage and disadvantage?

Sly Ojigbede, On Air Personality/ Morning Show Host, discloses to Art Lounge that the suation has gotten worse to the extent that most vulgarised and nude music videos are now aired on daytime television nowadays as compared to the past when it was only aired at night.

“I do not aim to challenge the rights to ‘freedom of expression’ possessed by every individual, but to understand the basis for permitting offensive language, semi nudity and violence to be aired on “daytime television” as seen on various music channels on satellite TV. Recollecting teenage years when the ‘foreign’ influence in the media material exposed to individuals had received a major boost with the introduction of the very popular ‘Cable TV’, such ‘music videos’ with explicit content, whether violence, nudity or strong language were mostly aired at night.

To me this gesture was certainly positive, even though not ‘100% full proof ’, as the stubborn nature of teenagers would lead to late night ‘SNEAK TV’. Nowadays, such a gesture doesn’t really seem to hold water anymore, and even though sometimes, attempts are made at blurring out a few really indecent material such as naked breasts, the foul language involved is simply untouched, which seems like a ‘half baked’ approach but to say the least.

Music journalist and writer, Osayimwen Osahon George, agrees with Mr Ojigbede’s comment, adding that music videos in Nigeria have become a subtle instrument for seduction.

“Watching Nigerian music videos is the easiest and unconscious way of turning yourself on. Several ladies are paraded in a semi-nude state mostly in skintight clothes without pants. They are directed to shake their future husband’s treasures shamefully before the camera for money while the artiste flaunts his wealth like a supreme King around them.

Nigerian artistes portray ladies as sex slave or toys that could be controlled at will with a key or remote device called money.

Flavour and Chidinma in Ololufe

A study of artistes like Olamide, Reminisce, Dbanj, Lil Kesh, Timaya, Flavour, Banky W, Wizkid, Davido, Phyno (his Yayo video is a case in hand) and others will convince doubters about my claim.

Money has become the goal rather than the usage of music as a tool to fix the society. All songs are linked to sex either directly or indirectly. All we get is the same old and common dance beats with different lame lyrics to lace them up.

In an interview with movie thespian, Taiwo Ajayi Lycett, she revealed to Art Lounge that the impacts of these videos have been highly detrimental to morality in the society.

“Ladies rely on these videos flaunted on agents of mass media for the latest fashion trends. Most ladies can’t distinguish between costumes used on set for a cinematographic idea from a normal wear. This has promoted the madness of indecent dressing among ladies. The resultant effect is an increase in the rate of sexual abuses and subsequent rape.

Rape is an offence and there is no excuse for it but you will not blame a man that keeps fried pieces of fish in the custody of a cat.

“Nigerian music has lost the golden representation given by music greats in the class of Chief Ebenezer Obey, King Sunny Ade, Victor Uwaifo, the late Fatai Rolling Dollar, Christy Essien Igbokwe, Onyeka Onwenu, Chief Dr. Oliver De Coque Nigeria’s King of Guitar, Osita Osadebe and a host of others who passed words of wisdom to the audience in a melodious style. Through their super sounds, the socialization process was en-

Onwenu and KSA doing Wait for Me

hanced.

“Back in the days, music videos used to be so entertaining with a drama interplay that improves knowledge and wisdom. Though the society then wasn’t perfect but it was saner than what we experience today. Much value and respect was given to African women. Those days portrayed women as highly exalted creatures, the treasure of every successful man, home-builders and the backbone of men. The recent trends of music videos have altered everything negatively” The showcasing of nude ladies is a mind-controlling technique used to get the attention of innocent listeners. A vivid case as when British prolific singer Adele Laurie Blue Adkins popularly known as Adele was set to drop her album in 2011, her manager instructed her to hit the gym and shed some weight.

Adele knowing her onions and understanding what he was driving at bluntly responded that she was singing for the ears and not the eyes. Music artistes are exploiting the loopholes of a man. It is medically proven that a man’s brain performs below optimum level when he is sexually aroused. Such a man is bound to make poor decisions and becomes highly vulnerable. During this process, the man ignores the poor lyrical quality of the songs, the artiste’s vocal prowess and gets lost in his own world of fantasies and imaginations.

While people complain about the trend, talented artiste, May D, whose music video, Soundtrack was banned by the NBC in 2012 refers to the trend as art and creativity

I’d say its creativity and art basically. Art has no limits. We are doing this to sell our music to the world

“I’d say its creativity and art basically.

Art has no limits. We are doing this to sell our music to the world. When you do music, you do it for the world. If some parts of Africa don’t accept it, leave it like that but there are other places that it’s accepted” Erstwhile director, Adasa Cookey on the other hand reveals why nudity is prevalent in today’s Nigerian Music videos.

“I will attribute the use of nudity in videos as laziness on the part of the director and the artiste. Artistes and directors tend to shoot obscene videos because they want to hit it big fast. It also boils down to the fact that directors are not thinking outside the box, the artistes and the audience keep demanding for it.

These directors want to be noticed quickly and they also lose the attention quickly.

I have executed some videos that had absolute zero nudity. There is a lot of nudity in Nigerian music video these days and it’s very wrong. Truth is, Nigerians are disgusted by vulgar but appreciate sexy- that involves less skin. Sexual content can get the attention because sex sells but it may not make the impression you deserve” Sly Ojigbede, reveals further that the most likely ‘counter-argument’ would be the ability to activate the ‘parental control’ sequence available to pay/satellite TV subscribers but explains that the measure is certainly losing its power, while calling on the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation to stop the menace.

“But exactly how long could such a measure be upheld? The development of well rounded individual usually involves exposure to various spheres of life ranging from music, the arts, science, technology and so on from as far back as childhood and total restriction from a ‘music channel’ might be seen as harsh, and may warp the youth’s development.

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Arts Lounge

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

VOICES

How Nollywood redefined conversations on African culture Ekenyerengozi Chima

T

he Nigerian film industry is currently the biggest and largest film industry in Africa, because of the development of Nollywood in over two decades. Nollywood has become an African magic story with the popularity of home video movies produced in Nigeria and widely distributed locally and internationally by both the legitimate marketers and movie pirates who sold Nollywood home videos from shops to the streets of major cities in Nigeria; Lagos, Ibadan, Abeokuta, Onitsha, Asaba, Enugu, Owerri, Aba, Port Harcourt, Benin, Warri, Uyo, Calabar, Kano, Kaduna, Jos, and then exported to the towns and cities in other countries in Africa.

The phenomenon of Nollywood attracted the western media with countless reports on the African magic of Nollywood that “churns out about 50 full-length features every week, making it the world’s second most prolific film industry after India’s Bollywood, reported The Economist. The New York Times, BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera, ABC, Fox and many others have done their own major stories on Nollywood.

‘Nollywood: Lights, camera, Africa’ by The Economist of Dec 16th 2010 is the best report so far and a must read for Nollywood fans, movie buffs, students, scholars and others.

There are currently over 50 books on Nollywood, including, “Nollywood: The Video Phenomenon in Nigeria” by Pierre Barrot (2010), “Viewing African Cinema in the Twenty-First Century: Art Films and the Nollywood Video Revolution” by Mahir Saul and Ralph A. Austen (2010), “Moviedomthe Nollywood Narratives: Clips on the Pioneers” by Shaibu Husseini (2010), “Nollywood Video Film: Nigerian Movies as Indigenous Voice” by Uchenna Onuzulike (2010), “Representations of Nigerian Women in Nollywood Films” by Naomi Brock (2012), “Global Nollywood: The Transnational Dimensions of an African

Ekenyerengozi

Video” by Matthias Krings (2013), “African Movie Time: Watching Nollywood, Ghallywood and Beyond” by Lipamboli Molongi (2014), “NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® series “ by Michael Chima Ekenyerengozi (2013 and 2014).

The most expensive book on Nollywood is “Nollywood” by Pieter Hugo, (2009).

Nollywood has become an influential cultural and political medium in Africa as it was reported that Ivorian rebels in the bush stopped fighting when a shipment of Nollywood DVDs arrived from

Lagos during the First Ivorian Civil War. Kenyan and Zambian mothers said that their children now talk with accents copied from Nollywood movies.

When the President of Sierra Leone lured famous Nollywood diva Genevieve Nnaji to join him on the campaign trail, he attracted record crowds at his political rallies.

Nollywood spurred Ghanaian filmmakers to develop their own Ghollywood and Riverwood in Kenya, Ugawood in Uganda and Bongowood in Tanzania.

The Gambian government has engaged

Nigerian box office revenues, which have nearly doubled since 2009, are projected to grow an additional 70 percent by 2018, to $171 million a year

Memorable Reads What is your favourite book?

My favourite book is Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do. Who is the author?

The author is Dr. Robert Schuller, a master in motivational books.

What is unique about the book?

Like its title suggests, it is a book that is designed to help you resist the temptations that come with downfall. The author outlined the steps one should follow in the face of adversity, and I tell you it works. The book puts your mind at work to realize your potentials.

When did you encounter the book?

I stumbled on it many years ago. Actually, I had been hearing people using the title as a phrase, but something happened that pushed me to actually read the book. And it was worth the effort.

What other kinds of books do you like?

Chizzy Ani

Radio presenter

I like fiction, especially when it has to do with culture. I guess it is because of what I do, which is essentially to promote Igbo culture, through television. I also admire a host of writers in Igbo language, who are doing a lot to make sure the language is sustained.

I mean people like Prof. Donatus. Ibe Woga.

He did a lot for Igbo language while he was living.

If you should write a book what will it be about?

I am working on a collection of poems in Igbo language at the moment. I am just concerned with making sure that the language grows more and more.

How much do books cost you in a year?

I don’t have the accurate figures, but I buy according to needs and resources.

Nollywood filmmakers to produce movies in the Gambia and help to develop the Gambian film industry since 2007. President Dr. Yahya AJJ Jammeh of Gambia said: “Nollywood and Ghollywood have been able to capture and tell our stories better than any outsider can do. Africans relate to your stories and same with those in the diaspora and the Caribbean and around the world. You are great African ambassadors and you must continue to achieve and surpass what you have today as you have made us proud.”

Obi Emelonye’s 2011 award winning fantasy film “The Mirror Boy” was shot in the Gambia and UK and co-sponsored by the Gambian government. Another Nollywood Gambian movie is “My Gambian Holiday” directed by Kensteve Anuka and produced by Tom Oviawe and starring top Nollywood star Desmond Elliot with Gambian stars Gaviva Tamakloe, Awa Gassama, Modou Musa Ceesay, Oley Saidy Khan.

The popularity of Nollywood in Kenya is legendary with Nollywood diva Rita Dominic as the most celebrated Nigerian movie star in Kenya and played the leading role in Kenya’s award winning movie “Shattered” for which she won the Best Actress award at the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) in 2012 and at the 2012 Kalasha Film and Television Awards in Kenya.

“The popularity of Nigerian films in Kenya is massive especially among the ladies. They have grown in this country to a level where some local TV stations have even dedicated the majority of airtime to them. As if that is not enough, Kenyans are even picking up the Nigerian accent and it has now become a commonality to find people in the streets or around you speaking like Nigerians as if they were born in the most popular country in Africa. Words like “oga” and “chineke” have become standard words in the streets.

You also won’t be surprised to find that Kenyans know almost all Nigerian actors and their full biographies and yet they hardly know our own actors.”

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Arts Lounge

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

25

ARTISTE UNCENSORED

I want to give people what they want –Akpede For Austin Akpede, fusing gospel with juju is an inspiring venture.

A

ustin Akpede started singing since he was seven but nobody in his family would hear of his desire to go into music so he studied Business Administration at the Polytechnic in Ilaro, Ogun State instead. When he graduated in 1995 with a Higher National Diploma (HND), he picked a job but kept on doing music on the side by performing at church concerts and other events.

But he had to go into music full-time in 1999 because the arrangement just didn’t work out and his desire has always been to sing.

“I never wanted to take music as a fulltime career but as time went on I knew I had to go into music, which demands total attention because if you are doing something else and music, it just won’t work. It’s either you do the job or pick music. Around 1999 I decided to do music fully. Before then I had been singing in churches and was already known as a musician,” he recalled.

Incidentally, he was inspired by his father, who has a great singing voice and used to bring home albums of different types, to go into music. Ironically, it took a very long time for his father to finally accept the idea that his son would do nothing other than music.

Austin, who runs a 20-member band released an album titled Iyana Ma Sele (Miracle will happen) in the Gospel Juju genre of music with three dance praise tracks.

This is not his first album but he is very proud of this effort whose songs he said he composed many years ago.

His first album was a joint effort produced around 2003 for his church and it was not in the gospel juju genre he has now embraced.

“I felt I could do better than that, besides, I want to give people what they

want. That’s why I said why not introduce gospel juju so that people can listen to it and enjoy it inside and outside the church,” he explained.

Since the release of Iyanu Ma Sele, Austin said the reception from his audience has been impressive all thanks to the Almighty God who has done a lot in his life.

“God has done a lot for me, he has always been there for me and I would say I’m making progress. Whenever I go out to churches to perform the response is very good with people telling me that they really enjoy my music. I do indoor and outdoor shows in churches, concerts, praise night or when they are having celebrations like harvest or anniversaries,” he stated.

He has indeed come a long way from the time when his family members did not want to hear of his music career to a time when his father and his siblings have either given him money for studio time or encouraged him to keep singing.

Austin counts the whole experience as a miracle that is why he tilted this album Iyanu Ma Sele.

What is no miracle for Austin who is not Yoruba but sings fluently in the language is that he had to consciously choose the juju genre of music which he believes will best project his message.

“I have listened to so many types of music and told myself that I have to come out in a different style, make people feel the message I’m passing across. That is it; people have to understand what I’m saying. They may be thinking for instance that I’m not Yoruba so can he do a convincing Yoruba song? But I said that with God all things are possible. So

Akpede

I went into the studio cooked this up and this is what happened,” he said.

He said he is not going to stop experimenting with music because after this album, which is a way of introducing himself to the world, he would infuse hip-hop

Whenever I go out to churches to perform, the response is very good with people telling me that they really enjoy my music. I do indoor and outdoor shows in churches

MIDWEEK JUMP

Calibre Prize calls for entries

BSFA Awards 2015

F

and even reggae in his next offering.

“As a matter of fact, I wanted to do it that way in the first album but I was advised that it is better to do the juju first,” he said.

or the 2015 British Science Fiction Association, BSFA, competition, Sarah Lotz has been nominated in the Best Novel category for Day Four, the follow-up on her bestsellerThe Three.

Chinelo Onwualu of Nigeria has been nominated in the Best Non-fiction category for her essay “Race, Speculative Fiction And Afro SF”, published by the New Left Project. The Best

Short Fiction category features four other African nominations: • Nnedi Okorafor’s novella Binti, published

by Tor.com in September 2015 • “A Short History of Migration in Five Fragments of You” by Wole Talabi, published in Omenana in June 2015 • Richard Oduor Oduku’s story “eNGAGEMENT“, published in Jalada 02: Afrofuture(s), the 2015 collection of short stories and poems published

by Jalada Africa • Sofia Samatar’s story “A Brief History in Nonduality Studies”, also published in Jalada 02: Afrofuture(s)

A

ustralian Book Review welcomes entries to the tenth Calibre Prize for an Outstanding Essay, which is worth $5,000. Calibre is Australia’s premier award for an original essay.

Anyone writing in English is eligible, regardless of where they live.

Essays must range from 3,000 to 7,000 words and must be written in English.

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Arts Lounge

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

FAR AND NEAR

Final hours of David Bowie T

David Bowie’s painting

he British musician David Bowie died on Sunday after an 18-month battle with cancer, two days after his 69th birthday.

The artiste’s verified Facebook and Twitter accounts were the first to post the news, which his son, Duncan Jones, then confirmed to Sky News.

Bowie was one of the most celebrated musicians of modern times and for many years a figurehead of pop’s avant-garde. He was born David Robert Jones in South London in 1947 and used this surname in the early days of his career, but by 20, he was Bowie: the svelte, almost foppish pop singer increasingly keen on melding the traditions of rock ’n’ roll with the stylistic affectations of camp. Two years later, on his eponymous second album, he released Space Oddity, the track still praised as one of his masterpieces and the one that introduced the world to Major Tom, the astronaut who wistfully sets off to explore the cosmos.

He was a willful shape-shifter. Major Tom was one in an ensemble of alter egos, which contributed in part to the legendary theatricality of his stage shows. There was, in 1972, Ziggy Stardust, who affirmed the popular image of Bowie as a dazzling androgyne; a year later, there was Aladdin Sane, a darker iteration of Ziggy, haunted by the scepters of fame and drug addiction; in 1976, we met the Thin White Duke, whom writer David Buckley later described as a debonair “barman from hell” inspired by the artist’s penchant for cocaine.

By the early 1980s, after a decade of hit singles like “Young Americans” and “Fame,” he was “music’s most exquisite artifact,” as TIME critic Jay Cocks wrote in 1983. That year, when new-wave sounds of bands like New Order and Duran Duran were setting the tenor of pop, his album Let’s Dance propelled him to a new stratosphere of fame.

Nollywood has ignored stories on boxing –Emelonye Ogah Ocheche

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ith the huge successes recorded by films with boxing themes, like Cinderella Man and The Rocky series, Nollywood, has largely neglected such interests.

It is on account of this that Obi Emelonye, an award-winning filmmaker who has produced such blockbusters as The Last Flight to Abuja and The Mirror Boy, went on location in London to shoot Oxford Gardens.

“Nigeria has produced great boxers, old and new. However, for some reason, Nollywood has ignored stories around boxing in spite of boxing’s gritty nature that would lend itself easily to cinematography. Boxing films over the years have been hugely successful globally because they stir potent emotions in audiences. In Oxford Gardens, I have attempted to tell a moving love story, wrapped in boxing gloves. ” In order to realise this, Emelonye said he made contacts with Ngoli Okafor, a two-time Golden Gloves Boxing champion in United States, who played the lead role in the movie, which also starred Ngozi Igwebike, Savanah Roy, D’Richy Emelonye and Priness Abiye.

The new work which tells the story of a cancer patient who escapes from the hospital to Oxford Gardens where she meets a frustrated retired boxer, where both of them decide to make the best of her last moment on earth, is a joint production between the Africa Magic and The Nollywood Factory.

The work whose trailer stirred a lot of interests owing to the realism achieved in an accident scene is one of the works being facilitated under the Africa Magic Original Films (AMOF) initiative.

Talking about this partnership, Emelonye said, “AMOF is aimed at supporting the industry in a period of dwindling returns on investment because of the demise of the DVD and stunted development of the cinema sector. Africa Magic would provide budget for film projects and share the ensuing rights with the producers and directors. This kept filmmakers and artistes in work and devised a more sustainable but frankly speaking, more expensive means of content acquisition for Africa Magic.”

Obi Emelonye

AGN seeks help for ailing colleague

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t was an emotional moment recently when top actor, Victor Osuagwu led members of the Lagos State chapter of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) on a visit to one of their sick members, Prince James Uche.

The infirmed thespian, who is battling acute renal failure has been on admission for over a year at Godspower Specialist Hospital, Festac, Lagos.

Osuagwu, the chairman of AGN Lagos, was warmly received by the Chief Medical Director of the Hospital, Dr. Ihekuna. The top entertainer and philanthropist, who gave a moving speech at the hospital, also presented an undisclosed amount of cheque to his sick colleague on behalf of himself, family and

James Uche

Lagos AGN. Osuagwu, also called on well-meaning Nigerians to immediately come to the aid of the thespian who is currently struggling to stay alive and has completely gone blind, due to the severe nature of his ailment.

“We are here today to sympathise and give hope to one of our own, Prince James Uche. We do not have much to take care of his whole expenses, but have decided to support his very expensive treatment with the little at our disposal. We are calling on well meaning Nigerians and corporate organizations to urgently come to his aid. He needs our collective support to stay alive,” he appealed in an emotion-laden voice.

While responding, Prince James Uche, who cried throughout the memorable visit and was able to recognize some of his colleagues by their voices, thanked his visitors for remembering and visiting him at this tough period in his life.

Prince James Uche passionately pleaded with his colleagues to assist in sourcing the funds needed for his transplant outside the country. “Please help me, I want to act again and live a normal life,” he cried.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Adekunle Gold, Tekno make Spinlet List 2016 Olaseni Damilola

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pinlet is pleased to announce the release of its annual listing of up and coming music artistes who are likely to shape the industry in 2016. The list includes Adekunle Gold, Lil Kesh and Tekno amongst others.

The Spinlet Sound of 2016, according to a statement is a list compiled by popular artistes, DJs, industry executives, OAPs, club promoters and critics, and published by Spinlet as a prediction of the biggest and most influential music acts for the upcoming year. It’s aimed at showcasing rising stars and appreciating their work so far. This year’s shortlist attracted artistes from Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt.

Speaking on the selection process, Rotimi Fawole, Head of Business Development, Spinlet said that, “the artistes are nominated by a panel of music experts and the artistes with the most nominations from these music experts make the list. These experts include OAPs, DJs, Producers, Club promoters and music critics. We looked to music experts who are the most genuine, enthusiastic and passionate about good music and particularly, up and coming acts. Each of our panellists then furnished us with a top 10 list of acts, which in their opinion, were eligible for the Sound of 2016 list. We tallied the nominations based on a combination of frequency and ranking. (So an artiste nominated twice or thrice and ranked number 1 would out rank an artiste nominated once for the same ranking, and so on and so forth.) It was by this process of elimination, that we arrived at the following list,” Fawole said.

Adekunle Gold

Business

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

60% world’s population excluded from digital economy –World Bank 30

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Electricity drops as tariff regime, other hiccups hamper supply nationwide33

Unclaimed dividends hit N90bn –SEC

Johnson Okonlawon

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idated using the Nigeria Inter - Bank Settlement System portal where the e - dividend form is actually located,’’ Adekunle added.

He said that after a successful validation, the completed forms would be sent to the registrars of the various companies, who would consolidate all the investors’ dividends and commence payment accordingly.

Adekunle explained further that the objective of the initiative was to make sure that the N90 billion unclaimed dividend is depleted within

the next six months after the completion of the awareness exercise.

According to him, the exercise will be free for about three months and close in March.

He said that the exercise would continue afterward but investors would be required to pay N100 which was not subject to review, adding that the investor does not need to bother because they will just debit their account without knowing they are paying anything.

While explaining that the fee is

Fiscal, monetary policies may dip import revenue by 70% in 2016 –Nwabunike28

necessary for the maintenance of the portal and for bank administrative processing charges, the Commission’s chief marketer said that once an investor was successfully validated electronically, the investor did not need to bother to do any other form of validation afterward.

He said that the exercise when fully implemented would aid to Direct Cash Settlement regime, increase market velocity and attract foreign investors.

he Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday said that there was N90 billion unclaimed dividends at the end of September, 2015.

The Head, Marketing Development of the Commission, Mr Henry Adekunle, disclosed this during a Sensitisation Road Show by the commission on E-Divided Registration in Abuja.

Adekunle said that the three-day sensitisation walk was organised to encourage investors to provide necessary information to enable them claim their dividends electronically.

According to him, the campaign is targeted at all investors in the nation’s capital market to register in order to enable them collect their dividend electronically in their preferred banks.

He elaborated: “All that we expect from an investor is to go to the bank and fill a form, which will contain certain information. You will be required to give certain information like your passport, account number whether savings or current and then your BVN. “Your Central Securities Clearing System number will be required if you are already dema- L-R: Managing Director, Petroleum Product Marketing Company, Mrs Ester Ogbue; Minister of State terialised. But if you are not, you for Petroleum Dr Emmanuel Ibe Kachukwu and Director, Department of Petroleum Resources, Mr. Mowill go with your share certificate decai Ladan, during a Press Conference on Petroleum Pricing Regulation Modalities in Abuja. number after which you will be val- PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA

MainOne announces Nigerian-Cameroun Submarine Cable system completion

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ainOne, a leading telecoms and network services provider in West Africa, has announced that the high capacity Nigerian-Cameroun Submarine Cable System (NCSCS) connecting Lagos, Nigeria and Kribi, Cameroun has been completed and went live last month.

An online publication on the project stated that the new submarine cable system would address increasing demand for reliable broadband connectivity in Cameroun, and is a key component of the country’s strategic plan to provide internet access to its citizens via a National Broadband Network.

Commenting on the completion and activation of the cable, the company’s Regional Executive for West Africa, Kazeem Oladepo, reiterated the company’s vision for a better connected West Africa.

He explained: “This is an excellent ad-

dition to our network and is added proof of our commitment to expand broadband, improve quality and drive down cost of internet services in West Africa. As part of our strategy to boost West Africa’s economic and commercial development, we will continue to make deliberate and significant investments in connectivity projects that will facilitate increased access to broadband.

“The proposed extension of our submarine system to the Niger Delta region is particularly important for further development of the oil producing region of Nigeria, and will aid the region’s rapid transition from an oil-dependent economy to a knowledge-focused one.

“We have seen phenomenal changes across other areas with internet infrastructure such as Lagos, Nigeria where Yaba’s Silicon Hub continues to provide op-

27

portunities for jobs, increased investor funding, and enhanced social entrepreneurship which is pushing the frontiers of eCommerce in Nigeria. Nigeria’s South-South region and Cameroun now have the platform to leverage the same quality of access to the Internet to catalyze social, economic and technological development”, Oladepo said.

Similarly, General Manager, Cameroon Telecommunications Corporation (CAMTEL), David Nkoto Emane, described the activation of the cable as a major milestone, adding that “the NCSCS system enables us to provide users with faster bandwidth connectivity at a significantly lower cost.

“By providing direct connection to Nigeria, the cable system will also serve to enhance Cameroon’s position as the major bandwidth hub in the region and internationally to Europe and beyond”, Emane said.

AIRLINES’ FLIGHT SCHEDULES Med-View Airline Lagos- Abuja (Mon-Fri): 07.00, 08.50, 12.00, 16.30. Abuja- Lagos (Mon-Fri): 09.00, 14.00, 15.00, 18.30. Lagos-Yola (Mon-Fri): 8.50am. Yola-Lagos (Mon-Fri): 13.00. Lagos- PHC (Mon-Fri): 17.00. PHC-Lagos: 19.00. Abuja-Yola: 11.00. Yola-Abuja: 13.00.

Lagos-Abuja (Sat): 08.00, 08.50.

Abuja-Lagos (Sat): 10.00, 15.00.

Lagos-PHC (Sat): 17.00. PHC-Lagos (Sat): 19.00. Lagos-Yola (Sat): 08.50. Yola-Lagos (Sat): 13.00

Dana Air Abuja-Lagos 9am, 1pm, 5.28pm daily Lagos-Abuja 7am, 11am, 1.23pm,3.30pm daily Lagos-PH: 7.20AM, Ph-Abuja9.54am, Abuja-ph: 3.30pm and Ph-Lagos: 5.28pm daily Lagos-Uyo: 9.20am, Uyo-Abuja: 11.07am, Abuja-Uyo 1.05pm, Uyo-Lagos: 3pm daily Weekends Lagos-Abuja: 7.02am, 9am, 3.30pm Abuja-Lagos: 9am, 2.20pm and 5.28pm Lagos -Phc: 11.07am Phc-Lagos: 1.05pm Phc-Abuja: 12.51pm Abuja-Phc: 10.50am Lagos-Uyo: 9.18am Uyo-LOS -3.03pm Uyo-Abuja: 11.07am Abuja-Uyo: 1.05pm

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) Lag-Benin: 07.45, 11.00, 15.30 (Mon-Fri/Sat/ Sun) 12.30 (Sun 15.30 (Sat) Ben-Lag: 09.15, 12.30, 17.00 (Mon-Fri/Sat/Sun) 17.00 (Sat) 14.00 (Sun)Lag-Owe: 7.45am, 2pm daily

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Executive Discourse

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Fiscal, monetary policies may dip import Current fiscal and monetary policies as well as dwindling exchange value of the Naira have been identified by economic analysts as posing serious challenges to Federal Government’s ongoing efforts to sustain the nation’s macroeconomic stability this year even as prospects for the economy’s rebound remain dim in the years ahead. The former chairman, Council for Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria CRFFN, and CEO Mac Tonnel Nig. Ltd, Iju Tony Nwabunike, in this interview with FRANCIS EZEM, says import volumes might further decline by over 70 per cent in 2016 if some monetary measures, including that which excluded importers of some items from official forex window, are not reviewed.

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hat urgent issues do you think the new Minister of Transport should address, especially given the current challenges plaguing the industry?

To begin with, we welcome the new Minister, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi to the industry. We also think that his appointment is in order, given that the transport sector, especially the maritime industry is not totally strange to him. But there are urgent issues that the Minister needs to handle with dispatch. The most important is the current import policies. We appreciate the fact that the import policies do not completely fall under his purview, but he needs to liaise with other sister Ministries such as Finance and Trade and Investment and also some agencies such as the Nigerian Shippers Council, the economic regulator for the ports to address these issues because of the negative effects they have on the maritime industry.

Specifically, what aspects of the import policies are you referring to?

Like I told you earlier, he needs to liaise with the Ministry of Finance and also the Nigeria Customs Service towards streamlining the nation’s import tariff structure. Nigeria operates the highest import tariff structure not only within the Economic Community of West African States ECOWAS but also probably one of the highest in the world.

This accounts for the massive diversion of Nigeria-bound imports to neighbouring countries. For instance, the tariff on polished and parboiled brown rice and the tariff on imported vehicles under the new Automotive Policy are typical examples. You will also agree with me that a larger chunk of these two categories of imports come through neighbouring West African countries, through which the Federal Government loses hundreds of billions of import revenue, which ordinarily would have accrued to the nation’s government. This is because these goods are consumed in Nigeria. You will also observe that Nigeria has the highest number of prohibited items. This promotes smuggling and increases the pressure on the Customs in terms of resources deployed towards manning the

Nwabunike

nation’s numerous and porous borders.

How do you assess the foreign exchange policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN? This is one of the issues I told you the Minister of Transport needs to tackle with all amount of urgency with other ministries and government agencies such as the CBN. You will observe that the volume of imports into the country has declined by more than 50 per cent. This also means that non-oil revenue, which comes largely from imports declined by over 50 per cent in the review period. If this of issue of foreign exchange restric-

tion is not properly handled, the volume of imports into the country will further decline by more than 70 per cent in this year 2016. You will recall that the same Federal Government, which imposed this foreign exchange restrictions also projects non-oil revenues of N1.45 trillion comprising Value Added Tax VAT, Customs and Excise duty and Federation Account levies, which will come from imported goods. This is probably why the affected ministries and agencies should put heads together to look at these issues critically so that these revenue projections would be met.

Apart from the conventional ones, you still find agencies such as the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control NAFDAC, Standards Organisation of Nigeria SON and the National Plants Quarantine Service NPQS, among several others. There is need therefore to streamline the operation of these agencies because most of the functions are overlapping

The Apapa gridlock has persisted and seems to defy possible solutions.

How do you think this lingering problem could be solved?

The problem of the poor state of the port access roads partly falls within the purview of the Minister of Transport and partly his Works and Housing counterpart. So that is why I told you that there is so much work for the Minister of Transport. The port access roads are so dilapidated and this makes it almost impossible for vehicles to move on such roads without hitches and so such gridlock must occur in the face of the poor state of the roads and the unserviceable state of some of the trucks, most of which breakdown frequently, thus inhibiting a free flow of traffic.

What is your assessment of ports’ efficiency, especially in terms of timely cargo delivery?

Now with the poor state of the port access roads and the attendant gridlocks, it is impossible for cargo to move in and out of the ports smoothly. Secondly, there are still too many agencies of the government that participate in the process of examining imported cargo. Apart from the conventional ones, you still find agencies such as the National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control

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Executive Discourse

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

revenue by 70% in 2016 –Nwabunike NAFDAC, Standards Organisation of Nigeria SON and the National Plants Quarantine Service NPQS, among several others. There is need therefore to streamline the operation of these agencies because most of the functions are overlapping.

It has also become a regular routine for the operatives of SON to lay siege on the roads for containers that have been genuinely examined and cleared from the seaports, most of which are subjected to fresh examination. All these and several other challenges combine to make the cargo delivery process cumbersome, slow and more costly.

Many clearing agents and freight forwarders have also complained about the activities of some Customs officers, who are in the habit of delaying import documents and thereby causing unnecessary delays. Do you share this view?

Yes I do. It is a common practice for an officer of the service to hold on to your import documents to deliberately delay you so that you would be compelled to give him money. But what such officers forget is that they are public servants, whose primary duty is to ensure that cargo documents are treated with dispatch so as to promote trade facilitation. This is a challenge the Comptroller General of the service, Col. Hameed Ali should address urgently in line with his anticorruption crusade. The CG also needs to address the issue of operatives of the Federal Operations Unit FOU of the service who mount roadblocks in search of containers and vehicles already cleared and released from the ports. Apart from what you find on some roads in Lagos, such roadblocks, which have assumed an alarming proportion are common on South Eastern, South-West and SouthSouth expressways. Apart from constituting a nuisance to the general public, these FOU operatives end up causing traffic jams, thus delaying people who are just undertaking their personal activities. It is high time the Customs CG stepped into this matter because the service is one and so one unit should not work against the others.

The Nigerian Shippers Council has tried to stabilise charges by the terminal operators. What is the situation now?

Yes the NSC has done its best in that regards and we commend the management for its efforts. But you still find out that some of the terminal operators still device means to impose arbitrary charges on port users. You find out that even at weekends and public holidays, importers are meant to pay rent on their cargo at the terminals unlike what is obtained in other West African countries such as Benin Republic, Togo and even Ghana. It is also a well known fact that charges on each unit of container is still high compared to other ports in the sub-region.

These are serious issues that beg for urgent attention and like I told you earlier, the Minister has so much work to do.

The situation with poultry products is the same with parboiled rice and automobiles. These

products would continue to be smuggled because there is ready market for them. Government can only check this by providing local

alternatives. For instance, how many Nigerians can afford brand new vehicles including the ones assembled in Nigeria?

How do you rate the performance of the ports in 2015?

The industry was in a terrible and sorry state in the year under review. You remember that this is about the first time the Federal Government would introduce such discriminatory foreign exchange restriction policy and it has had far reaching negative effects on the industry, causing a decline in the volume of imports by over 50 per cent. You can also agree with me that the Apapa gridlock got to its peak in 2015, which made it impossible for operators to get to their offices sometimes not to talk of going to ports to clear cargo.

We also saw that in 2015, a truck could be on the gridlock for several days trying to drop empty containers or leave the ports after picking containers. All these challenges got to the peak in 2015 and they have had serious negative implications on the industry and consumers of the imported goods ranging from additional cost implication, inefficient port system to inflation. Also, the automotive policy took off in 2015 with the attendant negative effects on the price of automobiles in the country, the various Roll-On-Roll-Of port facilities, many of which are at the verge of closing shop with the resultant loss of jobs etc. All these happened within year 2015 and no stakeholder would forget the effects in a hurry. You would also recall that the importers, freight forwarders and customs brokerage agents experienced frequent breakdown of the server of the Automated System for Customs Data ASYCUDA of the Nigeria Customs Service. This had serious negative impacts on efficient cargo released with the attendant higher cost of clearing the cargo.

In the light of all this, what are your expectations in 2016?

We expect a review of many of these unfavourable policies. I told you of the negative effects of the CBN foreign exchange policy restricting 41 items from sourcing foreign exchange through the official market. The problem here is that government is trying to maintain an artificial value of the naira, which is not sustainable. The best way to go is to diversify the economy and increase foreign exchange earnings as against the current overdependence on crude oil, which has failed the nation and would continue to fail given the uncertainties and volatility of the global oil market. What the government should do is to encourage the

real sector of the economy so that manufacturing and export activities would increase because the country is still predominantly an importing nation. With the right policies in place, there might not be any reason to restrict access to foreign exchange for certain import products, which government believes can be produced locally.

We also urge the Ministers of Transport and Works to collaborate to fix the port access roads. Those roads were constructed when the cargo throughput of the ports was probably less than four million metric tonnes per annum and this volume has more than doubled, an indication that those roads need to be expanded and upgraded to accommodate the increased human, vehicular and cargo traffic. We also expect that the relevant government agencies, especially the Nigerian Ports Authority should adopt traffic management strategies to control the influx of trucks and tankers into Apapa. I do not want to believe that all the trucks that litter around the port

Nwabunike

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environment have appointments to lift or drop containers. So a measure of control and regulation should also be put in place between NPA and Shippers Council. This also brings to fore the need to establish truck terminals and truck holding bays by shipping companies for their empty containers.

Even with the blanket ban placed on the importation of poultry products you still find them being freely sold in the open markets nationwide.

How do you react to this ugly situation?

The simple logic or answer to this is that Nigeria does not produce enough of these products for the citizens and so there is a vacuum. You cannot ban what you know your people need and which you cannot produce enough quantity. When you ban such items, you make them attractive to smugglers. Another serious challenge in this regard is the porous nature of the borders with the existence of over 200 unapproved routes.

This puts serious pressure of Customs in terms of its anti-smuggling campaign.

The situation with poultry products is the same with parboiled rice and automobiles. These products would continue to be smuggled because there is ready market for them. Government can only check this by providing local alternatives. For instance, how many Nigerians can afford brand new vehicles including the ones assembled in Nigeria? So government needs to adopt realistic and pragmatic approach towards these issues, which would go a long way in building the nation’s economy, which remains the best for the citizens.

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Business News

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

60 % world’s population excluded from digital economy –World Bank Isaiah Erhiawarien

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espite the rapid growth of digital technology, 60 per cent of the world’s population remains excluded from the ever-expanding digital economy.

According to a new World Bank report published yesterday, the increasing number of digital technologies such as the adoption of internet in business, and the development of smart devices does not match the number of the world’s population who have embraced digital technologies, particularly in the developing world.

The report stated that the anticipated digital dividends of higher growth, more jobs, and better public services have fallen short of expectations.

The new ‘World Development Report 2016: Digital Dividends,’ which was authored by Co-Directors, Deepak Mishra and Uwe Deichmann and team, revealed that the benefits of rapid digital expansion have been skewed towards the wealthy, skilled, and influential around the world, who are better

positioned to take advantage of the new technologies.

It also indicated that though the number of internet users worldwide has more than tripled since 2005, four billion people still lack access to the internet.

Commenting on the report, President of the World Bank Group, Jim Yong Kim, noted that digital technologies are transforming the worlds of business, work, and government stressing that “We must continue to connect everyone and leave no one behind because the cost of lost opportunities is enormous.”

He said that for digital dividends to be widely shared among all parts of society, countries also needed to improve their business climate, invest in people’s education and health, and promote good governance.

Kim observed that although there are many individual success stories, the effect of technology on global productivity, expansion of opportunity for the poor and middle class, and the spread of accountable governance has so

FG restates commitment to boost agric sector productivity …as PZ Wilmar unveils $650m investment plan Abolaji Adebayo

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he Federal Government has reaffirmed its commitment to support sustainable local production of agricultural products in the country in order to reduce the high demand for foreign exchange as a result of huge importation of food items to the country.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh said this in his office during a meeting with the management team of PZ-Wilmar Company Limited led by its Chairman, Chief Kola Jamodu.

Ogbeh decried the high demand for foreign exchange in the country, which he put at $1.5billion per week as a result of high importation of food items into the country.

He said the present administration was working on reforms and initiatives to ensure that governments at all levels support local production of agricultural products.

The minister said his Ministry would collaborate with the Ministries of Finance and Industry, Trade and Investments to brainstorm on the challenges militating against local production of food items due to the Free Trade Zone policy.

He commended the delegation for their efforts in wealth and job creation through the local production of palm oil in the country. He charged them on the need to evolve measures that would expand the operations of out growers in the industry.

Earlier in his remarks, the Chairman, PZ-Wilmar Company Limited and leader of the delegation, Chief Kola Jamodu, said his team’s visit to the ministry was to seek more support and cooperation for their investments in the nation’s agricultural sector.

While soliciting support of the ministry in the aspect of Nigeria’s Backward Integration Policy, which he said should apply to palm oil production because of its economic potentials to the country, the industrialist also urged government to review the Free Trade Zone policy which, he claimed, had negatively affected the backward integration policy of the government.

The Chief Executive Officer, PZ- Wilmar Company Limited, Christos Ginnopoulos said PZ Wilmar, established in 2010 as a joint venture between two international businesses with connections in Nigeria, was committed to building a sustainable future for palm oil in Nigeria.

far been less than expected.

He explained that digital technologies are spreading rapidly, but digital dividends growth, jobs and services have lagged behind.

The World Bank Chief Economist, Kaushik Basu in his reaction said that the digital revolution is

transforming the world, aiding information flows, and facilitating the rise of developing nations that are able to take advantage of these new opportunities.

Basu said that it was an amazing transformation that today 40 per cent of the world’s population

is connected by the internet but warned against creating a new underclass saying that “with nearly 20 per cent of the world’s population unable to read and write, the spread of digital technologies alone is unlikely to spell the end of the global knowledge divide.”

L-R: Technical Manager, EPC2, ExxonMobil, Dr. Tunji Obawole; Chairperson, Ondo State Micro-credit Agency, Princess Banke Sutton; Iyaloja of Igbo-egunrin, Mrs. Grace Moneyin and Odede of Igboegunrin, HRM Oba (Dr.) Philip Kalejaye, at the Commissioning of Igboegunrin Water BoreHole donated by ExxonMobil under its EPC2 Community Assistance Program in Ondo State, on Monday.

Payment frauds cost air travels $858m yearly –IATA Olusegun Koiki

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he International Air Transport Association, IATA, has said that payment fraud in air travel costs the sector about $858 million annually worldwide.

This is as the association said that plans were underway to curb such fraudulent activities in the sector this year.

IATA in its statistics hinted that approximately $639 million of the $858 million fraud payment is borne by airlines and the remainder by other participants in the travel value chain, including travel agents.

Subsequent to this, IATA is cooperating with Ypsilon Net AG, an integrated IT and payment solutions provider for the travel industry to make its Argus Fraud Manager (IATA Argus) available to airlines and travel agents.

While some airlines already use a range of systems to reduce fraud activity in their direct sales, IATA Argus offers a unique, fully-integrated and automated payment fraud detection and management solution for both travel agents and airlines.

“IATA is committed to helping the industry fight fraud.

Our partnership with Ypsilon Net AG brings a modern fraud prevention solution that meets the needs of both airlines and travel agents to reduce fraud and increase the confidence in generating new sales via all

available distribution channels,” said IATA’s Senior Vice President Financial and Distribution Services, Aleks Popovich.

By accessing information available in global distribution systems, IATA Argus is able to detect suspect transactions from as early as the booking request stage, and flag them or even cancel them as appropriate.

It can notify the agent or airline of a suspicious booking, and automatically take action to void, suspend or cancel a ticket.

“You cannot segregate fraud occurring on airline direct channels from fraud generated through travel agency or online travel agency channels.

IATA Argus combines ease of implementation and cost efficiency in a system that protects all channels effectively and provides full automation,” said CEO of Ypsilon Net AG, Hans-Joachim Klenz.

IATA Argus can also integrate systems including, but not limited to, IATA Perseuss and Ethoca and uses the provided information to enhance fraud scoring.

Alcoa gets $1.5bn supply contract from GE’s aviation unit

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lcoa Inc said on Monday it had signed a $1.5 billion long-term contract with General Electric Co’s aviation unit to supply components used in aircraft engines.

The aluminum producer will provide advanced nickelbased superalloy, titanium and aluminum components for engines and parts made by GE. The company did not specify the period covered by the contract, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Alcoa said it would make the parts in six U.S. states as well as in France and Canada.

Alcoa, which reports fourthquarter results later on Mon-

day, said in September it would break itself in two, separating its faster-growing aircraft and car parts business from its traditional smelting operations as shareholders seek higher returns amid a slump in metal prices.

The company said last week it would close its 269,000 tonneper-year Warrick smelter in Evansville, Indiana - the largest operating smelter in the United States.

The closure will leave Alcoa with just one active U.S. smelter, the 130,000 tonne-per-year Massena West plant in New York state.

(Source – Reuters.com)

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Business News

31

BUA divests from flour business, partners Olam in $275m deal Abolaji Adebayo

B

UA Group, one of Nigeria’s largest foods and infrastructure conglomerates has announced the divestment of its flour business in partnership with Olam International in a deal worth $275million.

Speaking at the signing ceremony over the weekend, the industrialist and Founder, and Executive Chairman, BUA Group, Alhaji Abdulsamad Rabiu said that the partnership marked a major milestone in the company’s medium term strategy.

Having run one of the largest and most efficient flour milling businesses in Nigeria Rabiu said the Group’s strategic focus would now be to diversify to business areas with greater potential for export where the sourcing and utilisation of foreign exchange is less and most of the materials needed for production can be sourced locally whilst also positioning its current line of Foods and Infra-

structure businesses for market leadership.

He explained that expanding the backward integration of its sugar plantations in Kwara and Kogi Sates was a ksey tothe Group’s medium term growth strategy.

Rabiu further said that extensive work was ongoing in Lafiagi, Kwara state with over 20,000 hectares and another 50,000 hectares of farmland in Bassa, Kogi.

According to him, the two operations formed the fulcrum of the firm’s backward integration programme for Sugar, which would further reduce the country’s dependence on imported raw sugar while supporting the value chain in sugar production within Nigeria.

“Similarly, we expect to replicate the successes we have recorded through the deep integration of our cement operations.

“With most raw materials for cement currently being sourced locally, we have been able to scale

up operations significantly with minimal dependence on foreign exchange and will soon start exporting to neighboring countries from both our Obu and Sokoto plants which are currently undergoing 3.5million MTPA and 1.5million MTPA capacity expansions respectively to bring the Group’s cement production capacity to around 10million MTPA by 2018,”

he added.

The industrialist pointed out that with global prices of crude oil coming down and demand for foreign exchange going up the projects would help create the needed jobs in Nigeria, diversify BUA’s business further, and stimulate the Nigeria’s economy as well as support the government’s roadmaps for agriculture and extractive in-

dustries.

In his comments, Olam’s Managing Director/CEO for Grains, K. C. Suresh, said that the deal would significantly boost Olam’s flour and wheat milling operations in Nigeria to meet consumer needs as well as consolidate its position as a market leader in the foods industry.

Banks to set up solid minerals desks –Minister Group petitions Customs Board over

Staff of Security Exchange Commission (SEC) during a e- dividend registration rally exercise in Abuja, yesterday.

AYO ESAN

D

eposit Money Banks in the country are expected to set up Solid Minerals Desks in their branches before the end of the year, the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has disclosed.

The Minister said that the planned initiative was in furtherance of Federal Government’s plans to diversify the economy though solid minerals development.

Fayemi, who gave this hint when the Council members of the Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society (NMGS), led by its President, Prof. Gbenga Okunlola, paid courtesy visit to his office in Abuja, he had secured the assurances of banks’ chief executives on the proposed initiative during a recent meeting with them.

According to him, the banks’ solid minerals desks when set up would greatly assist the sector as investors would have access to funds and professional counselling.

He therefore urged the NMGS leadership to avail the sector with expert and objective analysis of issues even as he expressed the readiness of the ministry to collaborate with them to move the sector forward.

Noting that it will no longer business as usual as government is determined to implement the Nigerian Mining and Minerals Act (2007) to the letter, the minis-

ter appealed to the NNGS members to help in the strengthening of institutions and capacity building.

Earlier, Prof Okunlola had pledged the support of the NMGS towards the efforts of the ministry in the collective drive to diversify the economy and create jobs through solid minerals development.

The council members also congratulated the minister on his appointment, adding that they are convinced that he would bring the desired turn around to the sector based on his antecedence as a public servant with a knack for development.

alleged imports seizure FRANCIS EZEM

T

he National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders NAGAFF has written the Minister of Finance and chairman of board of the Nigeria Customs Service over the increasing cases of seizure of trade goods genuinely inspected, cleared and released from the sea ports.

In a letter dated January 8, 2016, addressed to the Minister and signed by its president, Dr. Eugene Nweke, the association frowned

BP announces 4,000 job losses

U

K oil firm BP has announced it is cutting 4,000 jobs globally, 600 of which will be lost from its North Sea operations.

It comes as profits continue to suffer as a result of a 70% collapse in oil prices leading to a big cutback in investment across the oil industry.

The North Sea job cuts are expected to take place over a twoyear period.

BP said all the job losses would occur in its oil exploration and drilling business.

“We want to simplify structure and reduce costs without compromising safety. Globally, we expect the headcount in upstream to be below 20,000 by the end of the year,” a company spokesman said.

The job losses amount to around 5% of BP’s total global workforce of 80,000. BP currently employs around 3,000 people in the UK. BP said it remained committed to the North Sea and will invest around $4bn (£2.7bn) there this year.

But in a statement, the oil firm said given the “challenges” of operating in the North Sea and in “toughening market conditions” it needed to “take specific steps to ensure our business remains competitive and robust”.

It added: “An inevitable outcome of this will be an impact on headcount and we expect a reduction of around 600 staff and agency contractor roles by the end of 2017, with the majority of these taking place this year.

at the rampant cases where operatives of the Federal Operations Unit of the service would lay siege on major roads in Lagos and other port locations across the country for containers already examined and released by relevant units of the same service was unlawful.

According to the letter, this regular activity of the operatives of the FOU runs foul of the relevant legislations that set up the service and guide its operations, especially the Customs and Excise Management Act CEMA. It was also gathered that in addition to running foul of some sections of the CEMA, this practice also contravenes the 2006 Import and Export Guidelines.

The letter reads in part: “We do expect that the Honourable Minister of Finance shall undertake a critical study of sections four, five, and six of CEMA, which deal the powers of the Board to make regulations in relation to Customs matters”.

The association warned that ongoing arbitrary and inappropriate seizures of trade goods need to stop, insisting that it violates the 2006 Import and Export Guidelines.

“This practice of seizing already inspected and released goods also whittle down the inherent punishments contained under sections 46, 47, 161 and 164 of the CEMA, as it favours only seizure

of the traded goods as against the imposition of additional duty.

Investigations also show that more than 25 per cent of penalties imposed on imported goods is usually applied against such imports seized on the roads, as they are viewed as minor trade offences.

The association expressed surprise over the spate of seizures being made at the FOU in Lagos arising from matters that Customs officers played a leading role against the law.

The association also argued that these goods being seized by the FOU operatives have been examined and released by the appropriate and relevant units of the service charged with the responsibility of inspecting and releasing the said goods after the prescribed duty and fees have been paid on them.

While urging the Minister to use her good office to look into the issue with a view to addressing the inherent challenges, the association called for a change in values in line with the change mantra of the ruling party.

It also argued that a situation whereby an importer or his agent would be subjected to the harrowing experience of seizure of his consignments after duty and prescribed fees have been paid and goods released for no fault of his was unprofessional and rather unfortunate.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Commerce & Industry

32

Experts task govt over influx of foreign steel products As with most sectors in the manufacturing industry especially textile, the steel sector is facing unbridled influx of foreign steel products importation challenges that require urgent attention from government. Apart from the job losses associated with the ugly trend; experts believe that foreign products’ influx may drive Nigeria’s steel sector to complete comatose, if not urgently curbed, ABOLAJI ADEBAYO reports

J

ust like other aspects of real sector, a country’s steel industry is at the heart of its industrial revolution and economic development. However, Nigeria is grossly lacking both in capacity and efficiency in this sector.

Experts argue that unchecked influx of foreign products has remained the major challenge besetting the real sector of the economy and could further jeaopardise any effort geared towards development of the nation’s economy.

Reports have shown that over 7000 people in the employment of Africa Foundries Limited and an estimated 13,000 other employees scattered in other existing private steel producing companies across the country are under threat. This has prompted a call on the Federal Government to urgently prevent the industry from collapse going by the challenges confronting it.

During an interactive session with journalists in Lagos, stakeholders in the sector were strongly of the opinion that President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Assembly should, as a matter of urgency, take a critical look into some of the factors besetting steel manufacturing industry in the country, with the aim of adjusting government policies towards saving it from imminent collapse.

The industry currently employs not less than 20,000 people with an estimated N100 billion investment and the capacity to offer more if provided with the enabling environment and necessary protection through government policies.

Leading the campaign to ‘save the soul’ of the private steel manufacturing industry in the country, African Industries Group’s the Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Sanjay Kumar, said unless and until the Federal Government intervened in the steel sector, a major backbone and main thrust of any economy in the world, the country would face hard times in its quest for development.

While describing the current challenges facing steel manufacturers in the country, Kumar said that there were over 30 private steel plants producing different steel products in

Iron and Steel

Solid Minerals Development Minister, Kayode Fayemi

MAN DG, Aderemi Ogunmefun

ALL OVER THE WORLD, DUE TO IMPORTANCE OF STEEL IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ECONOMY, THE VIEWS AND OPINIONS OF THE KEY PLAYERS FROM STEEL INDUSTRY ARE USUALLY SOUGHT AND OBTAINED BY THE GOVERNMENT IN THE FORMULATION OF ECONOMIC POLICIES AS BEING DONE FOR OIL OR FINANCIAL SECTORS. UNFORTUNATELY IN NIGERIA, THE STEEL SECTOR HAS BEEN LEFT OUT ALL THESE YEARS Nigeria with an investment that is well over N100 billion since inception, lamenting however that the investment is in danger if nothing meaningful is done by government to address the serious threats facing the sector.

Appealing to President Buhari to ensure the survival and resuscitation of steel manufacturing industry, Kumar noted that Nigeria steel products ranked among the best in the world.

He explained that the influx of foreign steel was threatening locally made steel products. This, he blamed on the waiver/concession policy of the government that has given room for Nigeria as a dumping ground for

foreign steel.

According to him, initiatives like creation of a local content policy, which would ensure the use of made-in-Nigeria iron rods in all small and big government projects and prevention of dumping of steel products in the country would be a step in the right direction to sustain the industry.

He also urged government to create special power tariff for the steel industry and to also make available an intervention fund at lower interest costs to prevent the immediate collapse of private steel industry.

According to him, many companies are currently operating below 30 per cent capacity and overburdened with high interest costs.

He further suggested the need for the Federal Government to review its waivers/ concession, which must be reconsidered for certain infrastructural development. He was of the view that the portion of iron rod importation in any waiver should be expunged and that the government should consider curtailing multiple taxation imposed by the federal, state and local government agencies and also review the high cost of gas considering that Nigeria has huge gas reserves.

Kumar posited that African Industries alone had invested well over N20 billion in steel manufacturing in Nigeria.

He noted that after agriculture, the steel sector is the highest employer of labour in the country, adding that the livelihood of more than one million people depends on these private steel companies but it is currently at the verge of total collapse just like what hap-

pened to the textile industry, if the government does not come to its rescue urgently.

He disclosed that about four steel plants have completely shut down and more are likely to follow soon because many are currently operating below 30 per cent of production capacity.

According to him, most of these steel plants are now operating two weeks a month and are closed for the remaining two weeks of the month due to lack of demand.

He declared that dumping was actually drawing demand below supply, which poses a serious threat to the industry.

He explained that the cost of restarting each time is very high and adds to the cost burden of the ailing steel companies. To him steel consumption could only be driven by government, urging that government should make a definite policy of patronizing made-in-Nigeria steel products (iron rods) for all government projects and give specific directive to all their contractors to buy made-in-Nigeria iron.

Also of importance is the involvement of players in the steel sector in the formulation of Nigeria’s industrial policy as he said.

He said: “All over the world, due to importance of steel in the development of the economy, the views and opinions of the key players from steel industry are usually sought and obtained by the government in the formulation of economic policies as being done for oil or financial sectors. Unfortunately in Nigeria, the steel sector has been left out all these years.”

In his remarks, the Director General, Manufacturing Association of Nigeria, MAN, Mr. Remi Ogunmefun called on the government to prevent dumping of steel products in the country. He emphasised protecting local industries in the country, saying the Nigerian steel, as certified by the Standard Organisation Nigeria, SON, could compete with any other across the world.

Ogunmefun tasked government to create special power tariff for the steel industry.

He said government should also look into the challenges of road infrastructure and power as they affect the steel industry.

He also urged government to address the issue of communities interfering with the daily activities of steel manufacturers in the country, saying that “it is painful that most chieftains and land grabbers in most of the communities where these steel companies are located interfere, with the aim of extorting money from the companies.

Also, the Director of Inspection and Compliance, SON, Mr. Bebe Obayi said SON had successfully carried out a classification exercise of all the private steel producers in Nigeria, which had enabled the Organisation to have proper identification of each product in case of disaster, which he said could not be done in case of foreign steel products.

He said one of the dangers of dumping is that most foreign steels brought into the country are not better than locally produced ones.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

EnergyWeek Wednesday, January 13, 2016

PENGASSAN picks holes in proposed bills 36

Oil exploration drops on dwindling investments 35

33

BUA divests from flour business, partners Olam in $275m deal 31

Electricity drops as tariff regime, other hiccups hamper supply nationwide The country experience a fairly improved power supply, especially towards the end of last year, due to gas supply boost to power plants.

Today, the trend appears unsustainable as sundry problems, including tariff regime faceoff between operators and electricity consumers, are taking huge toll on government’s efforts to raise power generation and distribution nationwide. In this analysis, UDEME AKPAN captures why and how the sector’s performance remains low still.

W

ith the rise of electricity supply from about 3, 600 megawatts, mw to 3,913.63 megawatts in December, 2015, observers had expected that the nation would continue to witness improvement at least for some reasons.

First, operators in the oil and gas industry had expressed strong commitment to pumping more gas for generation. Second, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC had granted licence to eight companies with a combined capacity to generate 1,648.25 mw electricity and a distribution company.

The licences were a mixture of ongrid, off-grid, embedded generation and distribution of electricity. One of the licensees, Ossiomo Offistes and Utilities/ Ossiomo Power &Infrastructure, based in Edo state was licensed to engage 55 mw of electricity.

The Anambra state Independent Power Generation Company Limited, located in Onitsha was licensed to generate 528mw. Other licenses were presented to Cummins Power Generation, Nigeria Limited (NBC) Ikeja to generate 3.5mw off- grid and another 1.7mw to serve A&P Foods, in Agege, Lagos.

NERC issued another licence to

Sinosun Investment Limited, based in Jibiya, Kastina state to generate 100mw. In the same vein, LR-Aaron Power Limited, located in Gwagalada was licensed to generate 100mw of solar. Lafarge Africa Plc was granted license to generate 260 mw in Ewekoro, Ogun state.

Azikel Power Limited was licenced to generate 500mw in Obunagha, Bayelsa state while Middle Band Solar One Limited from Kogi State, was granted an on-grid licence for 100mw. The event which took place at the Commission headquarters in Abuja, thus raising hope in medium and long term.

But this was not to be.

Investigations showed that the na-

tion’s power generation currently hovered at 3,880.09 megawatts, mw because of decline in gas supply.

The Presidential Task Force on Power indicated in its latest report that out of the 3,880.09 mw generated, 3,800.21 mw was distributed while the balance was conserved to stabilise the system.

Besides, the nation’s poor power situation has also been attributed to ‘force majeure’ which Electricity Distribution Companies, DISCOs have declared.

The investors, who took over power distribution assets from the Federal Government on November 1, 2013, have demanded a refund of their investments if nothing is done to address

NERC pointed out that the new approach represents a departure from the old practice which prescribed that customers should first settle the bill while dispute resolution process progresses, adding

that no electricity distribution company would be allowed to connect new customers without meters

what they called “the havoc, which the non-cost-reflective tariff has wrecked on their businesses.”

In a letter sent the minister of power, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, the DISCOs tasked the government to adhere to the agreement they signed with them before the takeover and demanded a refund of their monies if nothing was done to address the problems which government’s inability to meet up its part of the contract had caused.

“There are some crucial issues. But one of them is the backlog of debts of about N45 billion, which the police and military, ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of government owe them. The tariff, which is not cost-reflective, the hold back of N216 billion intervention funds from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN is some of the issues to be addressed.”

“Already, a letter has been sent to the government in which the DISCOs declared that henceforth, they may not be able to meet their contractual agreement with the Federal Government on power distribution,” an operator said.

Recently, NERC approved the new electricity tariff regime which reCONTINUED ON PAGE 34

34

Energy Week

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Electricity drops as tariff regime, other hiccups hamper supply nationwide CONTINUED FROM PAGE 33

moved fixed charges for all classes of electricity consumers.

The Commission maintained that henceforth, distribution companies will no longer charge their customers monthly fixed charges. Fixed charge is that component of the tariff that commits electricity consumers to paying an approved amount of money not minding whether electricity is consumed during the billing period.

It indicated that under the new tariff regime, electricity consumers will only pay for what they consume from month to month.

According to the immediate past Chairman of the Commission, Dr. Sam Amadi, the new tariff regime was good news for electricity consumers who have long asked for a more just and fair pricing of electricity.

“The regulatory commission had promised to address all the complaints against fixed charges through a regulatory process that promotes investments in the electricity industry without unfairly burdening electricity consumers. This is in line with NERC’s mandate to be fair in all its regulatory interventions”, he said.

“Although, the new tariff regime comes with an increase in energy charges, all electricity consumers (residential as well as commercial) will no longer pay fixed charges. Their total bills will depend on the electricity they actually consume and may be reduced when they conserve electricity.

Consumers will no longer be spending money every month to pay for fixed charges even when they do not receive electricity in their homes and business.

According to the former chairman of NERC, “The objective of the new tariff is to enable prudent consumers to save money on electricity bill as they can now control their consumption and not pay monthly fixed charges”.

“For instance, residential customer classification (R2) in Abuja Electricity Distribution Company will no longer pay N702.00 fixed charge every month.

Their energy charge will increase by N9.60kwh. Also, residential customers (R2 customers) in Eko and Ikeja electricity distribution areas will no longer pay N750. 00 fixed charges. They will be getting N10kwh and N8kwh increase respectively in their energy charges.

Similarly, the burden of N800.00 and N750.00 fixed charges would be lifted off the shoulders of Kaduna and Benin electricity consumers. These consumers will see an increase of N11.05kwh and N9.26kwh respectively in their energy charges,” he added.

He maintained that the new tariff is also good news for commercial consumers.

For example, commercial customers’ classification C2 in Ibadan and

Buhari

Amadi

Enugu will no longer pays fixed charges of N17, 010. 00 and N22, 141. 00. He indicated that their energy charge will increase by N12.08kwh and N13.35kwh respectively.

Amadi noted that in line with the transparent disposition to its operations full details of the new tariff regime would be advertised in major national dailies and Commission website within the next 24 hours.

The Commission pointed out that besides cost saving element, the new tariff regime comes with renewed commitments by the electricity distribution companies (discos) to rapidly improve on the downtime and quality of electricity supply, adding that these commitments were contained in service level agreements, which are based on the performance level agreements submitted by the new owners during the bid process.

It harped that the tariff order also encourages the distribution companies to develop new sources of supply within their franchises to increase the amount and quality of supply to target customers on a willing buyer willing seller basis. The Commission indicat-

ed that the measures were necessary to improve electricity supply across Nigeria and ensure that the distribution companies demonstrate strong commitment to increasing investments in the sector.

The Commission stated that henceforth every disco should meter all its customers and that the metering policy will be strictly enforced.

The Commission noted that for willing electricity customers who paid for meters under the Cash Advance Payment Metering Initiative (CAPMI) but have not yet been metered within the allowable 60 days would no longer be billed by the electricity distribution companies under the new tariff regime.

It indicated that there is zero tolerance for overbilling of customers as any unmetered customer, who is disputing his estimated bill, would not be expected to pay the disputed bill. It stressed that such a customer would pay his or her last undisputed bill as the contested bill go through the dispute resolution process.

NERC pointed out that the new approach represented a departure from the old practice which prescribed that

Investigations showed that not much has changed in the sector. In other words, the sector is haunted by many vices, including epileptic supply, overbilling of consumers, extortion and electrocution

customers should first settle the bill while dispute resolution process progresses, adding that no electricity distribution company would be allowed to connect new customers without meters.

It indicated that the measure is desirable to close the wide metering gap of over 50 per cent and reduce high incidence of collection losses in the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry, NESI. According to the Commission, “the new tariff regime is the result of a transparent, rigorous and credible rate review process. The tariffs will lead to greater reliability in the provision of electricity. More people will progressively have access to the grid, more meters will be deployed and the need for self generation would be gradually reduced.”

The Commission harped that it would hold the electricity distribution companies responsible for poor services delivery in the sector. Investigations showed not much has changed in the sector. In other words, the sector is haunted by many vices, including epileptic supply, over-billing of consumers, extortion and electrocution.

However, many individuals, households and organizations have devised various ways and means to generate their power at higher cost. Plans are also underway for manufacturers to generate their power.

The president of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Dr. Frank Jacob, recently noted that electricity challenge to industries could be surmounted if a legal framework is provided to help the association reduce cost of production.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Energy Week

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

35

Oil exploration drops on dwindling investments STORIES: UDEME AKPAN

O

il and gas Oil exploration has dropped significantly in many parts of the world as a result of low investment.

The low investment is said to have affected the capacities of operators to explore for oil and gas.

Baker Hughes Incorporated has indicated that the international rig count for December 2015 was 1,095, down 14 from the 1,109 counted in November 2015, and down 218 from the 1,313 counted in December 2014.

It maintained that the international offshore rig count for December 2015 was 250, down 9 from the 259 counted in November 2015, and down 88 from the 338 counted in December 2014.

The organisation disclosed that the average U.S. rig count for December 2015 was 714, down 46 from the 760 counted in November 2015, and down 1,168 from the 1,882 counted in December 2014.

It maintained that the average Canadian rig count for December 2015 was 160, down 18 from the 178 counted in November 2015, and down 215 from the 375 counted in December 2014.

The organisation indicated that the worldwide rig count for December 2015 was 1,969, down 78 from the 2,047 counted in November 2015, and down

Oil rig

1,601 from the 3,570 counted in December 2014.

It maintained that the Baker Hughes Rotary Rig Counts are counts of the number of drilling rigs actively exploring for or developing oil or natural gas in the U.S., Canada and international markets.

The organisation indicated that Baker Hughes has issued the rotary rig counts as a service to the petroleum industry since 1944, when Hughes Tool Company began weekly counts of the U.S. and Canadian drilling activity.

“The North American rig count is

scheduled to be released at noon Central time on the last working day of each week. The international rig count is scheduled to be released on the fifth working day of the month at 5:00 a.m.

Central time.”

“Baker Hughes is a leading supplier of oilfield services, products, technology and systems to the worldwide oil and natural gas industry. The company’s 46,000 employees today work in more than 80 countries helping customers find, evaluate, drill, produce, transport and process hydrocarbon resources,” it added.

Shell sustains investments amid low oil prices

S

hell has continued to invest in oil and gas projects despite the current lull in global market.

The Chief Executive Officer of Shell, Mr. Ben van Beurden said the company haddecided to go ahead with the Appomattox deep-water project in the Gulf of Mexico.

He indicated that it makes strong business sense, even in a low oil price environment, because the company has worked hard to make it very cost-competitive.

Beurden said the company also started production from the third phase of our Bonga deep-water project off the coast of Nigeria, adding valuable production to this major facility.

He remarked that lower oil prices boosted refining earnings, underscoring the benefit of being an integrated

energy company.

Beurden maintained that the company desire to increase efficiency and reduce costs helped performance in Downstream as well.

He noted that the company also took final investment decisions to build a major unit at our Pernis refinery in the Netherlands and expand our Geismar chemical plant in the USA. Beurden said that the BG deal is ontrack for completion in early 2016.

He said that the recommended combination is expected to enhance our cash flow, create a leader in liquefied natural gas (LNG) and deep water among international oil companies, and help make us more focused and profitable.

Beurden said the lows were that we suffered several fatalities during the

year.

He maintained that there was also a fire at one of our facilities in Singapore that left several people seriously injured.

Beurden said that incidents such as these are the low points of any year, and show that the company must stay vigilant.

“Our share price has largely moved with the rest of the oil and gas sector.

Our industry is struggling in the eyes of investors, largely because of the sharp fall in oil prices. International oil companies have all seen their share prices fall. You could say that Shell’s share price has fallen a bit further.

Many companies have taken dramatic measures, with announcements of big cost cuts and job losses. We too are taking many steps, including cutting capi-

Commodity

Units

Price

Change

% Change

Time(ET)

Crude Oil (WTI)

USD/bbl.

32.32

-0.84

-2.53%

10:08:03

Crude Oil (Brent)

USD/bbl.

32.56

-0.99

-2.95%

10:07:32

TOCOM Crude Oil

JPY/kl

25,010.00

-970.00

-3.73%

2016-01-09

NYMEX Natural Gas

USD/MMBtu

2.39

-0.08

-3.20%

10:08:09

Source: Bloomberg as at January 11, 2016

tal spending, reducing operating costs, and even halting projects that have become uncompetitive and unaffordable.

Our response has been measured, but we will continue to be tough.”

“It has been a difficult year. But our financial strength before the downturn has helped us through the rough market conditions over the last year. Our main focus has been to live within our means during this period of low energy prices. In 2015, we reduced combined operational costs and capital spending by $11 billion, compared to 2014. Being highly competitive is even more important in the current environment. We have worked very hard to reduce our costs to make our operations more competitive. In some cases we had to decide to exit positions in order to keep investing in areas where we are better placed.

So it’s not just about cutting spending, it’s about investing wisely. It’s all about getting the most competitive portfolio possible,” it added.

36

Energy Week

Chevron, China Huadian seal new LNG supply pact

C

hevron Corporation has announced that its whollyowned subsidiary, Chevron U.S.A. Inc., has signed a non-binding liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply Heads of Agreement (HOA) with China Huadian Green Energy Co., Ltd. It indicated that when the agreement is finalized, China Huadian Green Energy is expected to receive up to 1 million metric tons per annum (MTPA) of LNG over 10 years starting in 2020.

“This is an important step in the commercialization of Chevron’s natural gas holdings in Australia and the establishment of our global liquefied natural gas portfolio,” said Pierre Breber, executive vice president, Chevron Gas and Midstream.

“As Chevron continues to grow into one of the world’s largest LNG suppliers, this agreement represents further progress and diversification of our sales portfolio.”

“We welcome the opportunity to supply LNG to China Huadian and look forward to building lasting relationships with our customers in the region as the Chevron-operated Gorgon and Wheatstone projects move into operations,” said Roy Krzywosinski, managing director, Chevron Australia.

“The China Huadian agreement demonstrates Chevron’s equity gas from Australia is well-placed to meet the growing demand for natural gas in the Asia-Pacific region.”

The Asia Energy is one of Chevron’s new liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers constructed to support the company’s growing LNG operations.

China Huadian Green Energy Co. Ltd. is a subsidiary of China Huadian Group, which is one of the largest state-owned power generation companies and has a leading role in gas-fired power generation in China.

The Gorgon Project is a joint venture of the Australian subsidiaries of Chevron (47.3 per cent), ExxonMobil (25 per cent), Shell (25 percent), Osaka Gas (1.25 per cent), Tokyo Gas (1 percent) and Chubu Electric Power (0.417 per cent).

The Gorgon Project combines the development of the Gorgon Field and the nearby Jansz-Io Field.

Facilities being built on Barrow Island include an LNG facility with three processing units capable of producing 15.6 MTPA of LNG, a carbon dioxide injection project and a domestic gas plant.

Chevron’s subsidiaries in Australia are also developing the Wheatstone Project as an LNG and domestic gas operation near Onslow, in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

The project’s initial capacity is expected to be 8.9 MTPA of LNG. The project also includes a domestic gas plant.

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

PENGASSAN picks holes in proposed bills STORIES: CHIDI UGWU ABUJA

O

il workers, under the auspices of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), have pointed out inconsistencies in the proposed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), describing it as anti-labour.

Some of the inconsistencies noted by PENGASSAN in the draft bill include what the union called a subtle ploy in Section 87 (Transfer of Staff) to retrench or drop some of the work force transiting to the new Nigeria Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NPRC) with the contentious clause ‘’transfer of certain employees’’.

Others are, inability to specify the role or status of the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (Management Board) which hitherto is vested with the responsibility of ensuring uniform pricing of petroleum products in Section 3 of the draft Bill.

According to the association, apart from the uncertainty of the agency’s institutional role, the

draft bill as currently drafted will create job loss as no provision for absorption or transfer of service for the work force is contemplated.

They also stated that cessation of employment and transfer of staff should be automatic and guaranteed as provided by the Public Service rules and constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

PENGASSAN therefore called on the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources to engage the national body of the union as a matter of priority on the anomalies noticed in the draft Bill and quickly address the contentious sections of concerns to the unions, especially as it affects job loss, so as to avert industrial crisis in the industry.

The workers vowed to resist the plan by the Federal Government to retrench workers, especially employees of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as a result of the restructuring in the proposed PIB. They argued that the planned sack was not in tandem with the “change” that the Government promised Nigerians, especially in

the area of job creation.

Reacting to the official release of the proposed draft institutional and legal frameworks for reforms in the oil and gas industry by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, who is also Group Managing Director (GMD) of the NNPC, the PENGASSAN acting General Secretary, Comrade Lumumba Okugbawa, said that the provisions in the proposed PIB are not only anti-labour but also not in the national interest.

The PENGASSAN scribe, who commended the renewed effort by the Minister to rejuvenate the re- Kachikwu forms after several failed attempts Okugbawa said that the plan if carried in the past, noted that PENGAS- out will further compound the unemploySAN has always been in support of ment situation in the country, adding that the reforms in the oil and gas indus- there is nothing wrong with the unbuntry but with a caveat that it must be dling of the NNPC to bring about greater transparently done to make sure efficiency and effectiveness, adding that that stakeholders in the oil and gas the unbundling and repositioning of the industry are carried along. corporation should be done with human He, however, added that the face.

PENGASSAN will not support any “We have said on many occasions reforms that jeopardises the wel- that the problem of the NNPC is not the fare of its members, noting that the workers but the high level of political inrestructuring will be resisted if it terference in the corporation and we are negatively affects the Association’ satisfied that the current government members. has promised to give the corporation free On the planned to sack half of hand to operate for better service delivery the current NNPC’s employees, to the Nigerian nation.

NEMSA, Fire Services partner to curb fire incidents

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he Nigerian Electricity Management Services Authority (NEMSA) has disclosed plans to form partnership with the Nigerian Fire Services (NFS) in order to combat electrical fire incidents across the country.

The managing director of NEMSA, Engr. Peter Ewesor, who gave the hint in a chat with journalists said the partnership will enable both agencies do joint inspections and analyses of fire incidents with a view to prescribing methods of preventing incidents of electrical fire accidents in future.

“We shall be partnering with Fire Service to ensure that when there is fire incident, we can jointly analyse to know the curse. The purpose of investigation of electrical fire incident or fire incident is to know the curse because if the curse is not known there is no way to know what to prescribe to prevent future occurrences.

Fire

We will be doing that with fire service and our collaboration is on and we are already working together” he said.

Ewesor said that investigations show that most fire incidents ascribed to electrical curses were not caused by electrical faults, adding that all efforts would be directed at cleaning the power sector of all wrong installations and connections.

He also said it has concluded plans to outlaw wooden poles to forestall bad installation practices in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).

According to Ewesor, there is no where good, well treated wooden pole that can stand the test of time are produced in the country, stressing that banning the use of wooden poles is one of the first things the agency will do in 2016.

“I want to tell you there are some bad installation practices in this country. We are going to make sure that we outlaw some of them. I will give you one; you will find out that we have what we call firewood type of wooden poles. Today

in Nigeria there is no where you have good factory producing good, well treated poles, the simple reason is that these unscrupulous wooden pole producers produce poles that are cheap, because they have not been treated, there are procedures of treating wooden poles,…. So we are going to outlaw the use of wooden poles in 2016. It will be one of the first things we are going to do, because bad wooden poles have caused a lot of accidents in the power sector” He also said NEMSA is intensifying collaboration with the Standards Organization of Nigeria, the Consumer Protection Council (CPC), and indeed other relevant agencies to ensure that defective electrical equipments do not find their ways into the country.

The NEMSA boss maintained that electrical accidents can be reduced to the barest minimum if practices are done according to the rule, and also meets the international best practices in the industry.

He said that the agency must ensure that any new project that is going to be embarked upon this year must meet the international best practices, according to the design and specifications, with respect to planning and execution.

Ewesor said such projects must be carried out in such a way the maintenance would be easy for sustainability.

He added that part of the plans for the year is to create a platform that would enable every Nigerian to easily report any impending danger through easy information to NEMSA. He expressed gratitude to the media

for always dishing out information to the public which helped the organization the easily get the backing of an Act of establishment.

“We had our bill passed into law on 26 May 2015 and it is one of the fastest bill ever passed in this country. For your information, we have today in NEMSA, the only agency in power sector that has its own full Act of its own. The EPRS Act is for all us because it is a participatory reforming Act which covers every area of the power sector reform, every agency that has been established.

But, today we have an Act that is specifically meant for enforcement of technical standards and regulations, inspections, testing and certification and I do not think that there is any better than this that should have happened to a nation like Nigeria” he stated.

According to him, today people understand what they call enforcing standards in the power sector, inspection, testing and certification in the sector, and the overall importance of an agency like NEMSA because of the concerted efforts of the media.

He said NEMSA ensures that the distribution and utilization of electrical energy is given at the right quality and specification, stressing that would have been quite enormous if such agency were not there, the issue of finding out whether any system put in place had been properly designed and executed to carry out the specific services.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

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Wednesday, January 13, 2016

From The Civil Service Lassa fever: FG blames failure of states to report cases for spread •Declares free treatment for affected persons Joel Ajayi and Adeola Tukuru Abuja

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he Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, yesterday, identified state governments’ failure to report the outbreak of Lassa Fever as sole reasons for the widespread of the disease that recently claimed the lives of 41 Nigerians.

This is even as the government disclosed that preventive and control measures to ensure that all patients were treated free of charge had been put in place.

The minister stated this on Tuesday in Abuja, in a joint ministerial press conference with the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on the update of Lassa Fever outbreak in Nigeria.

He assured that government was working tirelessly to prevent further spread of the infection, while ask-

L-R: Special Adviser to the Minister of Information and Culture on Media, Mr. Segun Adeyemi; Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, and Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Ayotunde Adesugba, during the minister’s meeting with members of Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON) in Abuja, recently.

ing Nigerians not to panic.

“Let me use this medium to inform Nigerian that this country has been living

with this endemic disease close to 50 years,” he said.

He said further: “The first case was recorded

in 1969. Also, in 2015, 441 cases were recorded with 40 deaths. But I must state this clearly that what has

made the current Lassa Fever outbreak unusual was that in some of the affected states information was not

sent to federal government on time.

“They failed to report the outbreak for a long time and we consider this to be very unfortunate,” he said.

While highlighting the efforts of the present administration on the case, the minister explained that so far, the federal government had deployed frontline workers to all affected states.

Also, information, education and communication materials among other things were provided for prompt treatment of cases, Prof Adewole said.

He further urged Nigerians to desist from eating contaminated food, carry out adequate washing of their hands, and desist from blood and body fluid.

According to him, those were parts of effort of the government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure that welfare of Nigerians were not compromised.

Benue, NIHOTOUR sign pact to boost hospitality industry Joel Ajayi, Abuja

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s part of its determination to boost Nigeria’s ailing economy, the Benue State government has signed a pact with the National Institute of Hospitality and Tourism, NIHOTOUR, to propel a rapid growth and development in the hospitality industry in the state.

While speaking during the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, at the weekend, in Abuja, the Director General of NIHOTOUR, Mrs. Chika Balogun, explained

that the interest of agency to work together with state to promote and add value to citizen of the state.

Mrs. Balogun adjudged Benue State as one of the most hospitable states in country.

She maintained that with re-creation centres in Benue State and other parts of the country, Nigerians did not need to travel to Dubia or anywhere because of hospitality, adding that, all what Nigerians needed was to develop those centres to attract Nigerians and even foreigners to the state.

According to her, the greatest desire of the insti-

C’River: Suspected human traffickers with 29 victims arrested

P.38

tute was to be able to train and expose more Nigerians towards the industry taste here in Nigeria.

She said: “Benue State recognizsd tourism as one of the three pillars of job creation globally, and decided to take tourism sector very serious, but they don’t want to do it anyhow, they decided to do it in scientific way and get the result that they desire. They realised that bedrock of hospitality and tourism system depend on training and quality of training of the people who will run the sector forward.”

While she explained the

nature of the MOU, Mrs. Balogun highlighted: “We are going to conduct capacity development trainings of workers in Nigeria hotels, cuisines amongst others to promote tourism in Nigeria and make Benue State a tourist destination for foreigner and Nigerians.”

Balogun added that with the security situation in the country, the institute had partnered with CBN and Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution, IPCR, on additional course on entrepreneurship study and course on the need for Nigerians to live in peace and harmony.

Lagos to host energy summit for stakeholders

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She said that NIHOTOUR had been engaged in Public-Private-Partnership, PPP, to develop the industry.

She expressed that the synergy between the state government and the NIHOTOUR would attract local and foreign investors to the state and would help to rejuvenate its tourism and hospitality sector.

“This will be achieved by training government officials, private and public investors, operators and other stakeholders on tourism development and its investment opportunity,” she said.

NIHOTOUR boss then

called on graduates and fresh students in the state to make use of the opportunity and add value to themselves, and as well become employers of labour.

The programmes that are expected to kick off in February this year will have a direct student and train the trainers who will be the staff of Benue State.

The Executive Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, described tourism sector as the only way out of the present economic meltdown in Nigeria.

CSOs calls for probe of alleged blackmail against NOUN

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Civil Service

Richard Ndoma

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he Nigeria Immigration Service has arrested two suspected human traffickers alongside with 29 victims found with the traffickers.

The Comptroller of Immigration in Cross River State, Mrs. Funke Adeuyi, stated this yesterday in Calabar while addressing media men stressing that the suspects were caught with 29 victims on January 10, 2016.

Adeuyi averred that they were arrested by officers and men of the NIS on border patrol at Itigidi in Abi local government area of Cross River State.

Abuja

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he National Electronic Identity Card issued by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has once again been recognised and given awards of excellence across the shores of Nigeria.

In separate ceremonies held in December of 2015 in Bangladesh and in Indonesia, the state of the art innovation and vision of the electronic identity card, which is presently being issued in Nigeria, was recognised by frontline industry players and watchers.

This was contained in a statement signed

by NIMC’s Corporate Communications, Chika Loveday.

According to statement, the Commission was recognised at the Radiant e-ID Award in the category of innovation and Vision in e-ID Solutions and Technology at the PAN Pacific Sonargaon, Dhaka, Bangladesh on December 1, 2015.

“The Radiant Vision Awards recognises forward thinking ideas that have led to significant innovations in how national electronic identity schemes are planned, designed, developed or deployed.

Parameters for arriving at the winning entries included vision, foresight and imagination of identity

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

C’River: Suspected human traffickers with 29 victims arrested

``On January 10, the immigration border patrol officers at Itigidi intercepted two buses containing 29 youths who we found out were victims of human traffickers. ``On first line interrogation, we discover that a lot of them were going to an unknown destination. ``We have profiled them and we have all cause to suspect that they were about to be trafficked to an unknown destination. ``The better information on where they intend

NIMC bags international awards Joel Ajayi

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

systems, including but not limited to architectures, processes and technologies.”

The press release reads further: “In the same vein, on the 8 of December, 2015 in far away Jakarta, Indonesia, NIMC and the Nigeria National e-ID Card bagged the High Security Print Asia Awards for best-in-class as the Regional ID Document of the Year 2015.

“The award was presented at the High Security Print Asia conference held in Jakarta and aims to promote the best in security printing, system infrastructure and implementation of a government passport, identity or other security card scheme.

“Other international merit awards won by the ambitious Nigerian National e-ID Card in 2015 included The Cards & Payments Awards 2015 held at the International Convention and Exhibition Centre, in Dubai UAE. The NIMC, entered for the prestigious awards, was nominated in the “Best Payment Initiative Africa” and emerged winner.

“The Nigeria Electronic National Identity Card was unveiled at a colourful launch event in August and is issued to Nigerians and legal residents who have been enrolled into the National Identity Database and issued the National Identification Number.”

to traffic them to would be better unraveled when we hand them over to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons’’, she said.

The State Comptroller added that the two suspects nabbed by the immigrations authority had some monies with them, while some of the victims only had their mobile phones with them. ``The victims told us during our first line investigation that they were being taken to a place where they would work and get some money. ``We reliably gathered

from some of the victims that their parents were aware that the suspected traffickers were taking them away to do menial jobs that would earn them some money. ``We would hand them over to NAPTIP for further investigation on the matter,’’ Adeuyi maintained.

She advised parents to be careful in giving out their children/wards to people whom they don’t know much about.

While receiving the victims and human traffickers suspects, Mr. Victor Odudukudu, an

official from NAPTIP, assured that the agency would continue with the investigation. ``We are going to interview the victims and interrogate the suspects. ``We are also going to trace their family members and find out if they actually gave out their children to the suspects,’’ he said.

One of the suspects, Mr. Denis Agbor, said that he was taking the victims to Akure, Ondo State, to work in his restaurant.

According to Agbor, he took the victims from Yakurr local government

area of the state. ``When I was about going back to my base in Akure, these people met me and appealed that I take them along with me and engage them in menial jobs. ``I agreed to their appeal and promised that I will be paying those that will work in my restaurant some token while I will engage others elsewhere. ``I am not taking them for anything bad; I was only trying to help them earn a living and I even know some of their parents,’’ he added.

L-R: National Social Welfare Officer, National Association of Small Scale Industralists (NASSI), Mrs. Momoh Helen; Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, Dr. Lawal Habiba; Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu; National President of NASSI, Mr. Essien Ezekiel, and the Acting Director-General of NASSI, Mr. Solomon Vongfa, during the courtesy visit of Nassi’s delegation to the Minister of Science and Technology in Abuja, recently.

Science and technology, key to national growth –Stakeholders Regina Otokpa Abuja

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takeholders in relevant government parastatals have continued to drum the importance of science, technology and Information Communication Technology (ICT), to the development of the country.

Speaking recently in Abuja, the Minister of Communication, Barrister Adebayo Shittu, noted that improved utilisation of ICT in the country would enhance job cre-

ation, improve lives and sustain the wellbeing of the citizenry.

Lamenting the rate of unemployment amongst 25% of youths out of a total of 43%, he urged Nigerian universities to ensure that they graduate quality students who were ICT literate into the labour market.

According to him, there was need for ministers, youths and students alike to continually be abreast with global trends in research and development.

He further advised

universities to embrace demands for research and development, pay attention to ICT even as they work towards harnessing veritable platforms for interaction and networking.

The Executive Secretary, Nigerian University Commission, Prof. Julius Okojie, in his remarks stressed the need to explore and exploit the nation’s natural resources through the use of science and technology.

According to him, Nigeria though blessed with human and natural

resources had continued to grapple with hunger and access to adequate health facilities due to poor utilisation of science and technology across all strata.

He said, “The role of science and technology in the development of any nation state cannot be overemphasized.

“For us to develop in all spheres of our national life, we must seriously consider advancements in science and technology to overcome all our challenges,” Okojie added.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Govt donates anti-snake venom to Plateau communities Adeola Tukuru, Abuja

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he Federal Ministry of Health has donated quantities (Vail) of Anti-Snake Venom (ASV) to the Plateau State government in order to contain the rampant incidents of snakebites in Kanke, Panshin and shendam communities of Plateau State.

Presenting the drugs at the Jos University Teaching Hospital, JUTH, recently, the Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, stated that the donation was in response to the outcry from the people in the affected communities and as part of government’s intervention efforts in stemming the scourge which had been ravaging the region since August 2015.

The minister, represented by an assistant director, Mr. Fatai Oyediran, who led a team of medical experts and environmental scientists from Federal Ministry of Health to Plateau State informed that his team was in the state to confirm the complain, assess the current status of the snakebite and

Civil Service 39

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

carry out a sensitisation and awareness campaign aimed at raising the bar in terms of prevention and control of the scourge.

In a press statement signed by the Director of Press, Boade Akinola, explained that a survey to determine the most effective ways to control the incident within each locality would also be carried out by the experts.

Responding, the Plateau State Commissioner for Health, Dr. kuden Kamshak Deyin, commended the federal government for her laudable assistance to the state.

He further called on the federal government to decentralize the Zamko JUTH treatment centre and upgrade it to a research center as that would reposition the center to cope better with the big health burden the center was saddled with.

Commenting, the Permanent Secretary, Plateau State Ministry of Health, Pharmacist Abel Hamila Guyatan, appealed to the medical experts to do justice to the snakebite challenge noting that the whole geographical Plateau State was a snake endemic area.

Lagos to host energy summit for stakeholders …Unveils plans to harness minerals potentials

Chidi Ugwu, Abuja

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he Lagos State Commissioner for Energy and Minerals Resources, Mr. Olawale Oluwo, has disclosed plans by the state to host a National Energy Summit in the state to map out strategies on how to harness the vast solid mineral resources in the state.

Oluwo said the conference would capture strategies to ensure a sustained 24 hours electricity supply for residents, adding that the government had concluded plans with major stakeholders in the energy sector comprising oil and power to open up the mineral sector with the provision of infrastructure for

the processing of those minerals.

Speaking in Abuja Monday when he visited the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Mr. Oluwo stated that the Lagos State government had discovered about three major minerals like Llmestones in the region of 12m tones, silica sound clay 180bn metric tons.

He stated that it is so far conducting geological survey into other minerals.

“The ministry is four years old and we are making solid minerals our priority. We are working on salt intrusion, also conducted a geophysical study and further geochemical analysis done to be able to ascertain the quantity,” he said.

The Minister of Solid Minerals, Dr Kayode Fayemi, in his remark commended the commissioner for the quick call to his office, noting that mining activities all over the world are not done without partnership with key stakeholders like states where those minerals are found as well as the investors.

“In this case, we need to work in appropriate manners such that the affected communities are protected with their environments even though the lands and minerals belong to the federal government.

We will ensure protection of communities affected’, he stated.

He said government would be interested to

partner with the state to harness the quantity of the mineral resources in the state, stressing that even though mineral is exclusive to the federal government, nothing stops them from opening up for private participation.

The minister said government’s primary interest was to see that solid minerals resources were exploited, adding that “when that is done government will benefit from taxes fines employment among other things.”

He decried the indiscriminate manner in which dredging takes place in Lagos.

According to him, people do that daily without paying attention to the minerals in that state.

More sensitisation needed on fire safety regulation –NOA Joel Ajayi, Abuja

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he National Orientation Agency, NOA, has advocated an intense and sustained sensitization as panacea to the non-compliance of Ministries, Departments and Agencies as well as the general public to fire safety regulations.

NOA Director General, Mike Omeri, made this remark in Abuja when he led the agency’s management team to the headquarters of the Federal Fire Service, FFS. Omeri described as alarming the non-compliance of most public and private buildings in the country to the National Fire Code which many property owners and developers deliberately circumvent, pointing out that compliance was in the best interest of all.

He identified the need for a more robust public sensitisation on fire safety which he said informed the visit aimed at building synergy between NOA and FFS. NOA boss also revealed that the state directorates

of the agency had been directed to work closely with the fire departments in their respective states to ensure that Nigerians were enlightened on how to avoid firesdisasters and what to do in the event of a fire outbreak.

This, he said, would contribute toward ensuring that the sacrifices of fire men who had lost their lives in emergency responses, to whom he also paid tribute, would not have been in vain.

In his remark, the Comptroller General of Federal Fire Service, FFS, Joseph Garba Anebi, who described the visit as a welltimed and welcome intervention, disclosed that out of over 80 MDAs and public buildings inspected by the Service in Abuja, only two, representing less than 2.5%, were compliant with fire safety regulations.

He noted that the operations of the fire service went beyond fire-fighting and included fire prevention through fire safety compliance assessment of properties, safety installations and fire code enforcement.

Representative of the Director-General, National Agency for the Control of Aids (NACA), Mr. Dozie Ezechukwu (2nd l), Chairman, Governing Council, Civil Society for HIV/AIDS in Nigeria, Mr. Remi Obinatu (3rd right), with executive members of the civil society during a news conference on ending AIDS in Nigeria by 2030 in Abuja.

CSOs calls for probe of alleged blackmail against NOUN Joel Ajayi, Abuja

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he Coalition of Civil Society Organisations, CSG, has called on Nigeria security agencies to commence proper investigation into an alleged case of blackmail against the leadership of the National Open University of Nigeria, NOUN. The president of the coalition, Comrade Etuk Bassey Williams, made the call while addressing the press yesterday in Abuja.

He said findings had revealed that some students of the university with unresolved disciplinary problems were behind the blackmail to taint and discredit

the image of the institution and its leadership.

Bassey, wondering why some students would want to run down an institution like NOUN which he said remained one of the cheapest distant learning institutions in the world despite it comparably world standard just for personal reasons.

He maintained that the importance of the institution to Nigerians was the major reason the coalition took time to investigate the allegations, adding that the allegations were pure blackmail bereft of facts as all payments to the institution were done online, which implied that records of payments made to the institution by students were

traceable.

According to him, education is indeed a necessity and condition precedent for building a sustainable socio-economic and political development.

“The several innovations brought to bear on the institution by Prof. Vincent Tenebe are legendary and should be embraced by all.

“We condemn in its entirety the continuous media blackmail of the institutions’ leadership by these students and their sponsors with the aim of discrediting the good work so far achieved in this institution.

This unethical conduct of blackmailing credible and hardworking Nigerians is fast becoming the order of

the day and its time this is nipped in the bud because of the unquantifiable damage this would have on the reputation of upright and committed individuals since not all government officials are corrupt.

“All fees paid to the institutions are legally approved statutory fees payable online only to the institution’s account and all expenditure spending follows due process.

“NOUN, based on our findings, remains one of the cheapest distant learning institutions in the world thereby affording Nigerians not only the opportunity to work and learn but access to cheap and qualitative education.”

National Mirror National Mirror 13, 2016 47 Tuesday,Wednesday, February 4,January 2014 www.nationalmirroronline.net www.nationalmirroronline.net

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Community Mirror Any agitation or movement for secession is not what Ebonyi State or the South-East zone is prepared to support because it is not a modern agenda for Nigeria and the South-East.

–Governor of Ebonyi, David Umahi

Femi Oyeweso, Abeokuta

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en of Ogun State Command of Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), has arrested a 72-year-old man identified as Joseph Salako for vandalising communication facilities belonging to Nigerian Telecommunication (NITEL) in Ilaro area of Yewa South Local Government of the state.

The 72-year-old Salako was arrested with eight others, including 36-year-old Isiaka Kadiri, lsmail Adebayo (25), Akinola Oyetakin (40), Idris Lobito (29), Jamiu Hammed (33) and Olaniran Ojo (43).

NSCDC Public Relations Officer (PRO), Kareem Olanrewaju, who confirmed the identity of the suspects further said the 72-year-old Salako was the security officer manning the NITEL facility at the post office road in Ilaro, headquarters of Yewa South Local Government.

Olanrewaju further explained that the corps Divisional Officer (DO) in Ilaro had been on a surveillance of the communication facilities following a tip-off about vandalisation activities going on

NSCDC nabs man, 72, eight others over NITEL facilities

N

ational Coordinator of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) and Chief Promoter of Olokun Festival Foundation (OFF), Otunba Gani Adams, has urged members of the organisation to rely more on the power and support of God, emphasising that God’s power is the ultimate.

Adams made the call yesterday during the annual Thanksgiving service for the organisation, held at the prestigious Ettal Hotel and Suit, Oregun, Lagos.

Adams said the programme, which attracted a large crowd and leaders of the three religious organisations, was organised to thank God and appreciate God’s love and support for the group.

He explained that the service was arranged to involve the three major religions in the land because the OPC was a non-religious organisation.

“The OPC is not a religious organisation. Hence, we are here to

Francis Suberu

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Caravan of carmels in Maiduguri

in the area.

“The suspects were caught in the act and could not give any reasonable explanation as to why they were vandalising the facility,” Olanrewaju stated, adding that the NSCDC

Commandant in Ogun, Aboluwoye Akinwande, has directed a comprehensive investigation of the issue with a view to charging the suspects to court.

Items recovered from the suspects included different

types of cables, three industrial fans, metre, four cylinder, big blower, tool box, hammer, hose, assorted phones, documents and other materials whose value runs into several millions of naira.

OPC holds 2016 thanksgiving service Robert Awokuse

Group to prevent influx of unhealthy products in Lagos markets

thank God and to appreciate His goodness in the lives of our members in the three major religions in the land.”

The OPC leader restated the need for the people to continue to promote the culture and tradition of Yoruba people, saying that culture was a very important aspect of a man’s life. “Any man who loses his culture has lost all there is to live for. Your culture is the totality of who and what you are, therefore, culture plays very important role in the life a man.”

He described as ignorant people who claim that members of OPC do not worship God. According to him, most of the festivals organised by OPC were to honour God. “It is funny that some people still believe that members of the OPC do not worship God, and that we are idol worshippers.

But nothing can be farther from the truth than this. All our programmes are designed to honour God. We also need to inform them that Olodumare festival, a

21-day programme, is organised in honour of the Almighty. You’ll agree with me that most of those who criticize and condemn us don’t do asmuch as this in the service of God.” He thanked the religious leaders, who one after the other offered prayers and thanksgiving, for refusing to heed the false claims and rumours being spread against the OPC by its enemies.

He said the world was now going back to herbal medicine, and wondered why black people continue to deceive themselves about the usefulness of herbs.

“It is unfortunate that our people have refused to understand the power of herbs. Meanwhile, the West is taking us back to herbal medicine and we now spend millions of foreign currencies to buy them.

For how long would we continue to deceive ourselves? For how long do we continue to live in self- denial about God’s gifts to our race?”Adams asked.

He also used the opportunity

to announce the organisation’s programmes for the year. The programmes, all totaling 34, include Olokun festival, billed for October; Osun Oshogbo festival in August; Okota festival in July and Eledumare festival in March.

Others include Olumo festival, Oranimyan festival, Oodua festival and Ogun festival, among other programmes lined up for the year.

Top dignitaries at the event included ace Nollywood actor, Yomi Fash Lanso; gospel act, Lanre Teriba; Alhaji Olufunsho Odutola, OPU coordinator, Italy; Hon Fatima Muhhamed and Chief Ganiu Oshidele, OPU coordinator in Scandinavia, among several others.

The men of God, who presided over the service, included Primate Peter Oyewole of Iretiogo C&S, Ikotun, Lagos; Prophet Kehinde Oludare of CAC Fire Ministry International Ejigbo, Lagos; Imam Saheed Abdulahi, Akoibu Islamiyah, Ijanikin, Lagos, and Chief Ifakayode Anipupo, among others.

n a renewed determination to sanitise markets in Lagos State and make them free of unhealthy produce, Perishable Goods Dealers and Sellers Association of Lagos State has said it will prevent the influx of unwholesome goods into all markets within the metropolis.

Hence, the association said it will activate its Produce Tracking, Sales and Distribution (PTSD) system across the state.

This was arrived at during an emergence joint meeting of the executive and Board of Trustees meeting of the association recently.

According to President of the association, Chief Amos Edun, and Chairman, Board of Trustees of the association, Chief Sheu Salami, in a statement issued on Tuesday, the association has identified the need to sanitise the markets considering the unfolding events in the country and Lagos in particular.

The statement said at the meeting the association made a general review of the event in the country, the zeal of Lagos State government to ensure a clean and secure environment together with security challenges in the country vis-à-vis the business of perishable and farm produce trading in the country.

“As a result, the PTSD strategy of the association, which demands that all perishable goods entering Lagos will be tracked, monitored and checked from its source down to the borders of Lagos State, will be activated directly. The mechanism also makes it impossible for any perishable fruits marketer to bring in fruits into Lagos market outside the scheduled period approved for such.

The association said it would henceforth ensure that no market in Lagos State becomes a dumping ground for unwholesome and unripe fruits any longer, a practice that had for years turned perishable goods traders to the most refuse producers in the state.

It stated that strategy had been put in place for reasonable flow of perishable goods into various markets in the state.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Capital Market

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

41

AMCON to divest from PAN Nigeria, seeks bidders for equity Johnson Okanlawon

T

he Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON, yesterday said it was making plans to sell its majority stake in Peugeot Automobile Nigeria, PAN, Limited, a local joint venture with the major French automaker, and is seeking bids from investors.

Peugeot Citroen is the technical partner to the Nigerian assembly plant, which has capacity to assemble 240 cars a day, PAN said on its website.

The Corporation stated it owned 79.3 per cent of PAN Nigeria Limited, having acquired the stake four years ago after

purchasing the company’s debt and taking some as equity.

PAN Nigeria Limited was set up in 1972 as a joint venture between the Nigerian government and France’s Peugeot, with an annual production of 90,000 cars by the 1980s.

But operations nosedived and the company accumulated bad loans shortly after the government sold its stake via a privatisation to local core investors in 2006.

AMCON said PAN Nigeria had assets totaling N24.96 billion as of December 2014 and equity of N11.98 billion, and was seeking investors with experience in automobile manu-

facturing to buy the stake on offer.

According to the statement, bids will close on January 26.

In November, President Muhammadu Buhari met Peugeot’s Executive Vice President for Africa and the Middle-East, Jean-Christophe Quemard, to discuss the revival of local production.

The government under a National Automotive Industry Development Plan has ordered local car distributors to come up with plans for new assembly plants, along with threats of imposing prohibi-

tive import duties.

US carmaker, Ford Motor Co’s partnership with a local car dealer has built its first model in Nigeria at a new assembly plant in November and said it will produce an initial 10 vehicles a day for the domestic market.

The Corporation was set up to absorb bad loans from banks after a $4 billion bailout in 2009 rescued nine lenders from collapse. It then acquired the toxic loans at a discount in exchange for government-backed bonds and has since been selling off collaterals against those loans to pay bondholders.

Equities drop 1.19% on sale pressure from investors Johnson Okanlawon

T

he downward pressure on equity prices was sustained on the Nigerian Stock Exchange yesterday as the sell-off continued.

The All Share Index fell 1.19 per cent to close at 26,034.93 points, compared to the decline of 2.51 per cent to close at 26,350.18 points.

Market capitalization depreciated N109 billion to close at N8.953 trillion, compared to the drop of N233 billion recorded the preceding day to close at N9.062 trillion.

As most equities continue to trade in the red amidst tepid

trading activity, investment analysts at DLM Securities Limited noted that it may signal another challenging year for the market.

“In our view, depressed crude oil prices and concerns about the near term outlook for the local currency and corporate earnings seem to be overriding investors’ interest in currently low equity prices.

“Given that crude oil price is not likely to rebound in the short term, we are of the view that the market is likely to remain volatile in the interim,” the firm added.

May and Baker Plc led the gainers’ table with five kobo

or five per cent to close at N1.05 per share, followed by Champion Breweries Plc with 16 kobo or 4.97 per cent to close at N3.38 per share.

Eterna Oilc Plc gained eight kobo or 4.97 per cent to close at N1.69 per share, while Portland Paints Plc appreciated 19 kobo or 4.82 per cent to close at N4.13 per share.

Transnational Express Plc gained four kobo or 3.60 per cent to close at N1.15 per share, while Learn Africa Plc was up two kobo or 2.35 per cent to close at N1.15 per share.

On the flip side, Live stocks Feeds Plc depreciated 12 kobo or 8.96 per cent to close at N12

kobo per share, while Tiger Brands Plc lost eight kobo or 8.51 per cent to close at 86 kobo per share.

Nahco Plc shed 18 kobo or five per cent to close at N3.42 per share, while UAC-Properties Plc dropped 29 kobo or five per cent to close at N5.51 per share.

Cadbury Plc was down 81 kobo or 4.97 per cent to close at N15.49 per share, while Zenith Bank Plc dipped 63 kobo or 4.96 per cent to close at N12.08 per share.

A total of 223.4 million shares valued at N2.51 billion were exchanged in 2,776 deals.

Shares rebound as Europe shrugs off China market surge

S

tocks rose in Europe yesterday, lifted by a recovery in oil prices, but after a slump in crude to a fresh 12year low and a dramatic surge in offshore Chinese yuan deposit rates had earlier rattled investors.

Weak British industrial production figures were the latest in a line of economic data that suggests interest rates in the developed world may not rise as quickly as had been thought.

The prospect of easier central bank policy for longer also supported the stock bounce.

A rally in the European retail sector led by strong seasonal updates from British companies pulled the FTSEuroFirst 300 up from a three-month low.

The index was last up 1.5 per cent, on for its biggest rise in over two weeks.

US futures pointed to a rise of around 0.5 per cent at the open on Wall Street, having earlier indicated a fall of around

0.3 per cent.

“There is a notion, perhaps misplaced, that oil may find a floor at present levels as it’s already down 17 percent so far this year,” said Brenda Kelly, head analyst at London Capital Group.

“The cheap and easy money is not here to stay but it seems it may be here for some time yet. A combination of bargain hunting and technical buying is also contributing.”

Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 1.6 per cent, and Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 both rose 2.1 per cent.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.3 percent and was just shy of its lowest level in four years. It is down more than nine per cent since the start of 2016.

Japan’s Nikkei closed 2.7 per cent lower at its lowest level in almost a year.

With investors still licking

their wounds from last year’s plunge in global commodity prices and a sharp sell-off in Chinese markets, 2016 has brought more pain for investment portfolios in the form of a deepening slowdown in the global economy and volatile Chinese markets.

Beijing set another firm fix for its currency, eliminating the gap between offshore and onshore yuan exchange rates.

This was done by encouraging state banks to buy up yuan in Hong Kong, driving up the overnight deposit rate fixing to 66.8 per cent.

“China is continuing to instill a degree of stability after the sharp volatility at the beginning of the month by announcing stable to firmer fixings,” said Mitul Kotecha, currency strategist at Barclays in Singapore.

“Tighter liquidity has contributed to a squeeze on long USD/CNH positions and will

mean investors are wary of shorting CNH in the near term,” he said.

The weakness in commodities since the start of the year showed glimmers of dissipating. Brent and US crude futures both slumped to new 12-year lows.

Source: NSE

Market indicators All-Share Index 26,034.93 points Market capitalisation 8.95trn

Stock Updates GAINERS COMPANY

OPENING

CLOSING

CHANGE

% CHANGE

MAYBAKER

1.00

1.05

0.05

5.00

CHAMPION

3.22

3.38

0.16

4.97

ETERNA

1.61

1.69

0.08

4.97

PORTPAINT

3.94

4.13

0.19

4.82

TRANSEXPR

1.11

1.15

0.04

3.60

LEARNAFRCA

0.85

0.87

0.02

2.35

ACCESS

4.55

4.60

0.05

1.10

INTBREW

15.74

15.75

0.01

0.06

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

CHANGE

% CHANGE

LOSERS COMPANY

OPENING

LIVESTOCK

1.34

1.22

-0.12

-8.96

TIGERBRANDS

0.94

0.86

-0.08

-8.51

NAHCO

3.60

3.42

-0.18

-5.00

UAC-PROP

5.80

5.51

-0.29

-5.00

CADBURY

16.30

15.49

-0.81

-4.97

ZENITHBANK

12.71

12.08

-0.63

-4.96

OANDO

5.13

4.88

-0.25

-4.87

PZ

22.21

21.13

-1.08

-4.86

TRANSCORP

1.25

1.19

-0.06

-4.80

BERGER

10.50

10.00

-0.50

-4.76

FGN Bonds

8.2

MPR

13

Crude oil price

$58.96

Exchange

Rates (N)

WAUA

270

USD

196.96

EURO

214

CFA

0.32

YEN

1.64

SWISS FRANC

202

POUNDS STERLING

293

SDR

273

Offer

Bid Description

Price

Yield

Price

Yield

15.10 27-APR-2017

1.29

103.76

11.83

104.76

11.00

16.00 29-JUN-2019

3.46

110.44

12.21

111.44

11.87

15.54 13-FEB-2020

4.09

109.34

12.54

110.34

12.24

16.39 27-JAN-2022

6.04

116.90

12.33

117.90

12.12

14.20 14-MAR-2024

8.17

108.38

12.52

109.38

12.34

10.00 23-JUL-2030

14.53 83.18

12.54

84.18

12.37

Rate (%) Inflation

CLOSING

Closing Market Prices of January 12, 2016

Treasury Bills Maturity Date

Bid

Offer

14-Apr-16

4.47

4.53

14-Jul-16

7.36

7.65

05-Jan-17

8.85

8.85

NIBOR Tenor

Rate (%)

O/N

1.5417

1M

8.7663

3M

10.0460

6M

11.6880 CBN Clearing Rates of January 7, 2016

42

North

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Katsina retirees get pension, gratuities worth N11bn JAMES DANJUMA KATSINA

M

Cross section of victms of Boko Haram attack at the IDP camp in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA

Ex-Katsina council chairmen to be arraigned over missing trucks JAMES DANJUMA KATSINA

T

wo former local government council chairmen in Katsina State are to be prosecuted over the disappearance of trucks worth more than N32 million.

The council chairmen are those of Bindawa, Sirajo Sani, and Kusada, Mansur Murnai.

Both men alongside 32 others, were elected in September 2014 on the plat-

form of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. They were, however, removed from office after the All Progressives Congress, APC, administration dissolved the third arm of government in the state last year.

It was gathered that before the trucks went missing, the two council chairmen had leased them to a company in neighbouring Kano State.

The trucks were, however, said to have been driven

to Gujiba Council Area in Yobe State and used for sand evacuation, but were later hijacked by members of the Boko Haram sect.

Speaking yesterday on the issue, Governor Aminu Bello Masari said the two former council chairmen would face the law over the disappearance of the trucks.

Masari was speaking during inspection of some heavy duty machinery at the state’s Ministry of Local Government and Chief-

taincy Affairs.

The governor said his administration would not condone misuse of public property, insisting that the administration would be severe on the matter, to serve as deterrent to other public office holders.

Masari lamented that most of the tippers, trucks and rollers allocated to council areas by the past state administration were not properly utilised for purpose they were intended, but were used for personal benefit.

GOMBE

F

ederal Government says it has set aside over N1.5 billion health intervention funds to be expended on resuscitating health facilities in Borno, Yobe, Adamawa and Gombe states.

Minister of Health, Pro-

fessor Isaac Folorunso Adewale, stated this yesterday in Gombe while inspecting health facilities in the four states ravaged by insurgents.

According to the minister, the visit was prompted by a directive from President Muhammadu Buhari to assess the situation and also take a look at the ravaging Lassa fever epidemic in

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THE TRUSTEES ARE: 'U $EGXOODKL 6DLGX $PD]D 0RKDPPHG $ZXOX $GDPD 8PDUX -RKQ ,VOPDLOD $OKDVVDQ 6DQL 5LGZDQ ,QXVD 5DKLOD ,OL\D 0DUWKD %D\HUR +DODGX $KDPDG 8PDU 1DVLUX 0RKDPPDG 'DVKL -DPHV 7KRPDV AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: 7R DVVLVW LQ EULGJLQJ WKH JDS EHWZHHQ WKH ULFK DQG SRRU PDVVHV E\ SURYLGLQJ VNLOOIXO DFTXLVLWLRQ to the youth in the society 7R PLQLPL]H WKH DWWLWXGH RI LQGLVFLSOLQH DPRQJ WKH \RXWKV HVSHFLDOO\ LQ WKH DUHDV RI GUXJV DGGLFWLRQ DV ZHOO DV GD\ OLJKW WKXJJHU\ DQG RWKHU VRFLDO YLFHV WKDW DUH UDPSDQW WRGD\ $Q\ REMHFWLRQ WR WKH UHJLVWUDWLRQ VKRXOG EH IRUZDUGHG WR WKH 5HJLVWUDU *HQHUDO &RUSRUDWH $IIDLUV &RPPLVVLRQ SORW 7LJULV &UHVFHQW RII $JXL\L ,URQVL 6WUHHW 0DLWDPD $EXMD ZLWKLQ GD\V RI this publication SIGNED: Secretary

some states of the federation. The findings, according to the minister, are expected for a prompt action by the presidency.

The minister expressed appreciation to Gombe State Governor, Dr. Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, whom he said, had taken appropriate steps towards curbing the spread of Lassa fever CHANGE OF NAME

J USTIN TYOPUUSU JALINGO

T

as well as ensuring there was adequate protection for citizens of the state from the ravaging disease.

He added that he was to see how the Federal Teaching Hospital, Gombe, could be relieved or assisted out of the enormous stress due to health needs of the Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, in the state.

CHANGE OF NAME

CORRECTION OF NAME

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Taraba APC task Assembly on new speaker araba State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, yesterday challenged members of the House of Assembly to elect a new speaker or face sanctions from their constituencies.

State chairman of the party, Alhaji Ardo Jika, who made this known while speaking with journalists in Jalingo, regretted that for the first time in the history of the country, the house adjourned sine die without date of resumption just to protect the interest of the former speaker, who is not even a member of the

FG readies N1.5bn health intervention for North East WILLIAMS ATTAH

ore than 1,000 civil servants in Katsina State are to receive their pension and gratuities worth more than N11 billion.

The payment is to cover retired civil servants in both state and local government that had left service from 2013 to 2015.

The payment followed the release of N11.8 billion in bailout fund to the state from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, some months ago.

Briefing newsmen yesterday, Commissioner for Finance, Muhtari Abdulkadir, said the payment would be carried out in batches.

Abdulkadir said a

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committee that was set up for verification of pensioners had screened 1,226 retired civil servants in the state, adding that those screened fell under state civil service, while screening of their counterparts at the local government level would commence in due course.

The commissioner said 406 retired civil servants would collect their outstanding pension and gratuity within the week.

He further stated that the entire screening and payment to beneficiaries would be completed before the end of next month.

Abdulkadir, however, appealed to retired civil servants to be patient and cooperate with government for the success of the exercise.

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house. “In the situation we find ourselves, Taraba electorates should not just sit and watch what is happening. The laws of this country are meant for us, including members of the House and we must operate within the confines of the law. “We are calling on members of the House to reconvene and elect a new speaker. We are not lobbying for anybody, but we want a leadership in the house. There must be checks and balances, but it’s unfortunate that members of the House have become subservient at the dictates of the governor,� he said.

CHANGE OF NAME

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CHANGE OF NAME

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CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as ESTHER NNEOMA EDEH now wish to be known and addressed as ESTHER NNEOMA ALFRED. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as SULEMON FATAI AWEDA now wish to be known and addressed as SULAIMON FATAI AWEDA. All former documents remain valid, general public should please take note

CHANGE OF NAME I FORMERLY KNOWN AS MRS. BOSEDE ADESINA NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS MRS. FELICIA BOSEDE ADENIYI. ALL FORMER DOCUMCENTS REMAIN VALID. WEMA BANK PLC. AND GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD TAKE NOTE.

CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and address as Seyi Ademola now wish to be known and address as David Sunday Afolayan. All formal documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

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CHANGE OF NAME

MAIKWOTO: Formerly known and addressed as Maikwoto Hajara, now wish to be known and addressed as Maikoto Hajara. All former documents remain valid.

College of Agriculture, Lafia and general public take note please.

CHANGE OF NAME

I formally known and addressed as Nwachi lkechukwu Samuel now wish to be known and addressed as Akpu lkechukwu Samuel. All former document remain valid, general public should please take note.

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I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Titilayo Elizabeth ONI henceforth, wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Titilayo Elizabeth OGUNLADE. All former documents remain valid.

FBN General Insurance and General Public please take note.

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I formerly known and addressed as Samsondeen Abolore, now wish to be known and addressed as Samsondeen Abolore Animashaun. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

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Formerly known and addressed as Ibikunle Zainab Toyosi now wish to be known and addressed as Ibikunle Zainab Oyindamola.

All former documents remain valid. Moshood Abiola Polytechnic and General public take note

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CONFIRMATION OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as Nwaogwugwu Esther Oma now wish to be known and addressed as Nwaogwugwu - Sylvanus Esther Oma. All former documents remain valid. Moshood Abiola Polytechnic and General public take note

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43

Wednesday, January 13, 2016 CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed ad Miss Oladunjoye Kemisola Arinola. Now to be addressed as Mrs. Adeseko Kemisola Arinola. All former documents remain valid, general public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME I formerly known and addressed as Miss. Ajayi Oluwabukola Bosede now to be addressed as Mrs. Akintoye Oluwabukola Elizabeth. All former documents remain valid, general public take note.

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CONFIRMATION OF NAME

AGBOGU: Formerly known and addressed as Miss AGBOGU UZOAMAKA EBELE, now wish to be called and addressed as Mrs. OPARA UZOAMAKA EBELE. All former documents remain valid. All authority concerns and general public take note.

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Formerly known and addressed as AKOMOLAFE TITUS OLUWABUSOLA now wish to be known and addressed as AKOMOLAFE OLUWABUSOLA TITUS. All former documents remain valid. FBN , ZENITH ,UBA,UNION BANK PLC and GENERAL PUBLIC TAKE NOTE.

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I formerly known and addressed as FRANK OHON EGBAI now wish to be known and addressed as KOKOETTE OHON EGBAI. All former documents remain valid, Access Bank and the other general public should take note

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I, formerly known and addressed as BAWA-ALLAH SHEWU KAYODE , now wish to be known and addressed as Mr BAWAALLAH SHEU KAYODE. All former documents still valid, general public should please take note

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OLAIYA: Formerly known and addressed as Miss OLAIYA ABIMBOLA PRECIOUS, now wish to be called and addressed as Mrs. LAWAL ABIMBOLA PRECIOUS. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

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I formerly known and addressed as BUSARI HAMEED ATANDA now wish to be known and addressed as LAMIDI JIMOH BUSARI. All former documents remain valid, general public should please take note

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I formerly known and addressed as Miss. Udeagbala Ijeoma Juliet, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Benjamin –Okeke Ijeoma Juliet. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Taiwo Adekunbi Adewoyin, now wish to be known and addressed as Taiwo Asanat Adewoyin. All former documents remain valid.

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Formerly known and addressed as Nwagbogu Priscilla Ngozi, now wish to be known as Johnson Priscilla Ngozi. General public please take note.

Formerly Known and addressed as Akande Blessing Afolashade now wish to be known and addressed as Akande Folashade Moyosoluwa.

All former documents remain valid.

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CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as Miss Bodude Adeola Julianah now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Adebiyi Adeola Julianah. All former documents remain valid.

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CHANGE OF NAME

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This is to notify the general public that I ANTHONY ABRAHAM EJEH is the same person as ANTHONY ABRAHAM EGAJI. All former documents remain valid.

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Formerly known and addressed as Mr Josiah Joseph Olusegun now wish to be known and addressed as Mr Josiah Joseph Oluwasegun.

All former documents remain valid.

Banks and General public take note

FORMERLY KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS MISS ADEAGBO OMODASOLA SERIFAT. NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS MRS. OSHO OMODASOLA SERIFAT. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. GENERAL PUBLIC TAKE NOTE

FORMERLY KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS NWOZAKU OGECHUKWU LUCY. NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS NWOZAKU OGECHI LUCY. ALL FORMER DOCUMENT’S REMAIN VALID. GENERAL PUBLIC TAKE NOTE.

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CHANGE OF NAME I formerly known and addressed as Miss BASIRI IPUE now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs BASIRI BARIMENE BENJAMIN. All former documents remain valid, general public should take note

CHANGE OF NAME

I FORMERLY KNOWN AS MISS FADOLAPO TOLULOPE NIKE NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS MRS. JEGEDE TOLULOPE NIKE. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID AND GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD TAKE NOTE.

CHANGE OF NAME

I formerly addressed and known as MISS AYANGBEMI OLUWASEUN ANIKE now wish to be known and addressed as MRS OYEWOLE OLUWASEUN ANIKE. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as Miss Adeniji Adebola Mofolashade now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Akindele Adebola Mofolashade. All former documents remain valid. General public take note

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as Igwe Rebecca Oluchi now wish to be known and addressed as Igwe Peace Becky. All former documents remain valid. MAPOLY and General public take note

CHANGE OF NAME

DAVIES: I formerly known and addressed as MISS OGUNBIYI TEMITOPE ABIOLA.Now wish to be known and addressed as MRS DAVIES TEMITOPE ABIOLA. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note

ADDITIONAL OF NAME

ADEGBULU: I formerly known and addressed as AYODELE JOSEPH. Now wish to be known and addressed as ADEGBULU AYODELE JOSEPH. All former documents remain valid.

Skye Bank and the general public should please take note.

SADE: I Formerly known and addressed as MISS SADE FATIMO ADEFILA . Now wish to be known and addressed as MRS SADE FATIMO OBANIYI. All former documents remain valid.General public should please take note.

ADE: I formerly known and addressed as ADEJUGBE AJIBOYE. Now wish to be known and addressed as ADE AJIBOYE ANTHONY. All former documents remain valid.General public should please take note.

SUYANBOLA: I formerly known and addressed as OLUFEMI OLUSEGUN ADENIYI. Now wish to be known and addressed as SUYANBOLA OLUSEGUN ADENIYI.All former documents remain valid.General public should please take note.

AMUSAN: I formerly known and addressed as AMUSAN OLAYEMI FUNKE. Now wish to be known and addressed as AMUSAN HANNAH OLUWAFUNKE.All former documents remain valid.First Bank and the general public should please take note.

AKINDOLIRE: I formerly known and addressed as DAVID OJO. Now wish to be known and addressed as AKINDOLIRE DAVID OJO.All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

CORRECTION OF NAME/ DATE OF BIRTH

CONFIRMATION OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as Asifor Oweitobou Kingsley, now wish to be known and addressed as Ayadi Kingsley Asifor. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as Saminu Saidat Kikelomo, now wish to be known and addressed as Toafeq saidat Kikelomo. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

Formerly known and addressed as Miss Ajayi Oluremi Grace, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ogunbabatope Oluremi Grace. All former documents remain valid. Federal Polytechnic Ado-Ekiti and General public take note.

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CHANGE OF NAME AUDU: Formerly known and addressed as NAOMI AUDU now wish to be known and addressed as NAOMI ABRAHAM. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

TEMITAYO: I, FORMERLY KNOWN AND ADDRESS AS TOHIRU TEMITAYO OLUKAYODE, NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AND ADDRESS AS AKINWANDE TEMITAYO OLUKAYODE. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD PLEASE TAKE NOTE.

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Odedairo Oluwayemisi Oluwaseun.

Now to be addressed as Mrs. Adeusi Oluwayemisi Oluwaseun. All former documents remain valid, Ekiti State University teaching hospital, ado Ekiti and general public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CONFIRMATION OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as Alabi Surajudeen Opeyemi now wish to be called and known as Alidu Surajudeen Opeyemi.

All former documents remain valid, general public should please take note.

Formerly addressed and known as Afolabi Gbolagade Adeniyi now wish to be called and known as Adisa Samson Adeniyi. All former documents remain valid, general public should please take note

I hereby notify the general public that my names were wrongly written as Agbo Evelyn Nkemdiri instead Agboeze Evelyn Nkemdire. my correct date of birth is 23rd September 1989 and not 20th August 1989 as documented. First Bank, Fidelity Bank and general public please take note.

This is to confirm that I, Ifedigbo Ogochukwu Sylvia O. is the same person as Ifedigbo Okwy Okwuchukwu Ogechukwu Chinaza. All former documents bearing the above names are and valid. General public please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as Miss Olotin Adejoke, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Famoni Adejoke.All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

Formerly known and addressed as Abejide Yemisi Comfort, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ijansunsola Yemisi Comfort. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME This is to confirm that the name MARYAM LABI and MARYAM S.U. LABI and also LABI PAMA MARIAM is one as they appear in documents, but now wish to be known and addressed as MARYAMU USMAN LABI. All former documents remain valid. Authorities concerned and General public should please take note.

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CHANGE OF NAME

DONATUS: Formerly known and addressed as EMMANUEL EZIKIEL DONATUS now wish to be known and addressed as SAKO EMMANUEL DONALD. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

PUBLIC NOTICE

ARO-IKPA DEVELOPMENT UNION The General Public is hereby notified that the above named Union has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for registration under Part “C” of the companies and Allied Matters Act, 2004 TRUSTEES ARE 1. HRH Ernest O. Green Onwuka 3. Eze Ogo Ernest Onwuka 5. Barr. Obiy J. Nwosu

2. Mazi Obasi Nwankwo 4. Mazi Onubuogu Nwafor

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES a. To promote peace, love, unity, tolerance, resourceful, charity, progress and

understanding among Aro-Ikpa indigenes. b. To awaken the spirit of patriotism towards educational, infrastructural, social and moral development in Aro-Ikpa. c. To promote peace and healthy co-existence with other neighbouring towns/

communities, and the general public. d. To seek avenues for the improvement of the welfare of members of the Union.

Any objection to the registration should be forwarded to the Registrar-General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, Off Aguiyi Irons Street Maitama, P.M.B 198, Garki, Abuja within Twenty-eight days from the date of this publication.

Signed: Obiy J. Nwosu Esq. (Solicitor)

Formerly known and addressed as Azih Chika ANTHONIA, now wish to be known and addressed as Onuigbo Nkeiruka Anthonia.

All former documents remain valid.

Financial Institutions & general public take note.

MUHAMMAD : Formerly known and addressed as SULAIMAN DAHIR now wish to be known and addressed as SULAIMAN DAHIR MUHAMMAD. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

This is to certify that ADEBAYO OLUWATOYIN is the same one person as BABALOLA OLUWATOYIN ELIZABETH. Henceforth wish to be addressed as BABALOLA OLUWATOYIN ELIZABETH. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note

PUBLIC NOTICE

FESOJAB GLOBAL HEALTH INITIATIVE THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE TRUSTEES OF THE ABOVE NAMED FOUNDATION WITH HEADQUARTERS IN LAGOS WISH TO APPLY TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER ‘PART C’ OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE 1. Aina Olusola Adio 2. Asimolowo Olufunke Stella 3. Ladipo Olugbenga

…………… Chairman ………….

Secretary …………

Member

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1. To provide intervention for individuals with alcohol and substance abuse.

2. To fully engage the individuals with alcohol and substance abuse and work on their recovery.

3. To campaign against HIV/AIDS transmissions.

ANY OBJECTION TO THE REGISTRATION SHOULD BE ADDRESSED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION PLOT 420 TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS FROM THE DATE OF THIS PUBLICATION. …………………………………..

JULIUS ADEOSUN Olaosebikan Adeosun & Co. Barristers, Solicitors and Notary Public, 229 Ikotun Idimu Road, Idimu, Lagos State 07068971207

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

FORMERLY KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS SOETAN OLANREWAJU OLAOSEBIKAN, NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS SOETAN OLANREWAJU BAMIDELE. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. MAPOLY AND GENERAL PUBLIC TAKE

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as Ikwesi Henrietta Nkechi, now wish to be known and addressed as Ajibola Henrietta Nkechi. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

NWAKWO: I formerly known and addressed as Nwakwo Anthony, now wish to be known and addressed as Anakar Anthony Emeka. All former documents remain valid.

Ecobank Plc and general public please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

DAVID: I formerly known and addressed as Odusanya David Oluseyi, now wish to be known and addressed as Odusanya Oluwaseyi Kunle. All former documents remain valid. UBA Plc, Diamond bank Plc and general public please take note.

Formerly known and addressed as OKWUDILI ABIGAIL LEBECHI, now wish to be known and addressed as ANI LEBECHI ABIGAIL‎. A ‎ ll former documents remain valid. General public please take note.‎

CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as Miss Adebola Ayorinde‎, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Adebola Ayorinde-Sopeyin‎. A ‎ ll former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME

To confirm that I am one and same person bearing NWAOKORO CHINOSO SMART and LIVINGSON CHINOSO as obtainable in some of my documents.

44 CHANGE OF NAME

Wednesday, January 13, 2016 CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as NNEDE JAMES, now wish to be known and addressed as EME JAMES ONYEAMECHI. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as ABEY ISMAILA, now wish to be known and addressed as OGUNJIMI ISMAILA. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as OGBOMOIDE MAUREEN, now wish to be known and addressed as OYAREKUA MAUREEN. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as EGUABOR PATIENCE, now wish to be known and addressed as EMOUVON PATIENCE ENOMHANTUHEN. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CORRECTION OF NAME I hereby notify or declare to the public that my name was wrongly spelt or written as Dada Deborah Olanrewaju, Instead of Dada Oluwaremilekun.

All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

Formerly known and addressed as LUKMAN OLORUNERO, IMURAN LOOKMAN, now wish to be known and addressed as PRINCE OLORUNERO IMURAN LUKMAN. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly known and addressed as JOHN DAVID, now to be addressed as DAUDA YUHANA. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly known and addressed as Miss NKOLOENYI OGECHI VALERIE, now to be addressed as Mrs.UDE OGECHI VALERIE. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and address as Prince Daniel Nweke, now wish to be known and address as Prince Daniel Ekuma. All formal documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

Formerly known and addressed as ABAYOMI OLUSEGUN ELEBUTE. Now wish to be known and addressed as ABAYOMI OLUSEGUN THOMPSONELEBUTE. All formal documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

UDOH: Formerly known and addressed as UDOH HANNAH NSEOBONG now wish to be known and addressed as UDOH HANNAH BEN . All former documents remain valid. General public take note

EMEDO: Formerly known and addressed as MISS EMEDO CLARA LUCY now wish to be known and addressed as MISS EMEDO LUCIA ONYINYECHI. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note..

NKPOKOR: known and addressed as NKPOKOR NNEKA JOY now wish to be known and addressed as EHIWARIO NNEKA JOY. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME FRANK: Formerly known and addressed as FRANK FELIX FRANCES now wish to be known and addressed as FRANCIS ALEX. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

Formerly known and addressed as ITUNU OLUWATOBI IJITUSIN, now wish to be known and addressed as ITUNU OMONIYI IJITUSIN. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

Formerly known and addressed as ADEOSUN ADELOWO OLUWASEUN, now wish to be known and addressed as ADEOSUN ADELOWO DAVID OLUWASEUN. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as ENUOFU HELEN CHUKUDI, now wish to be known and addressed as ABAZIE HELEN. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

Formerly known and addressed as AKINNASO ABAYOMI FELIX, now wish to be known and addressed as OGUNDOLIE FELIX. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

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OLUCHI: I formerly known and addressed as OFFOR OLUCHI, now wish to be known and addressed as NELSON OFFOR OLUCHI. All former documents remain valid, NYSC and the general public please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as SENI EMMANUEL OCHEFIJE. Now to be addressed as RAPHAEL OCHEFIJE OSENI. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

ADDITION OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as COMFORT TITUS, now wish to be known and addressed as EMEM LOUIS ANDREW. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

I formerly known and addressed as JOE MARTINS, now wish to be known and addressed as AKPOMUDARI TEBITE. All former documents remain valid.

Authorities concerned and General public should please take note.

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Formerly known and addressed as Miss. Ayorinde Dorcas Idris Rukayat, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Afolabi Idris Dorcas Oluwatoyin Rukayat. All former documents remain valid. First Bank, UBA, Access Bank and general public take note.

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CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as OBI NGOZI, now wish to be known and addressed as IWUCHUKWU IJEOMA. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as Miss. Endy Gold Ogba, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ndy Gold Ifegwu. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as DESTINY ENUNEKU, now wish to be known and addressed as IKPEGBUE DESTINY ASHINEDU. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

AYOBAMI: Formerly known and addressed as MISS AYOBAMI OMOTAYO OMOSEHIN. now wish to be known and addressed as MRS AYOBAMI OMOTAYO AKINYE. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note..

ANITA: Formerly known and addressed as MISS ANITA CHINWA EZELI now wish to be known and addressed as MRS ANITA CHINWA OKONKWO.All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

ODUDU: Formerly known and addressed as ODUDU AUSTIN KEVWE now wish to be known and addressed as DAUDU AUSTIN KEVWE . All former documents remain valid. General public take note..

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CHANGE OF NAME JAMES: Formerly known and addressed as JAMES MICHAEL now wish to be known and addressed as MONDAY ALIYU. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CONFIRMATION OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

FRANK: This is to confirm that FRANK AKPO and SAMUEL OKODI refer to one and same person..All documents reflecting any of the Stated names remain valid and should be treated as one person. general public should please take note

Formerly known and addressed as JIMOH IBRAHIM TEMITOPE now wish to be known and addressed as JIMOH-KUKU IBRAHIM TEMITOPE. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME formerly known and addressed as OSITA NZEWI, now wish to be known and addressed as VINCENT EKEJIKWU NZEWI. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

Formerly Miss Oladepo Fatimo Ajoke Now Mrs Babalola Fatimo Ajoke Former Documents Remain Valid Emmanuel Alayande College of Education Oyo And My Bankers Should Please Take Note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CONFIRMATION OF NAME

Fayobi Adijat Oritoke is same person as Hadijat Oritoke Akinwunmi now which to be known and addressed as Mrs Adijat Fayobi Akinwunmi all former documents remain valid and general public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME Ominyi Augustine Obidikwu is same person as Obidikwu Ominyi now which to be known and addressed as Oluchukwu Augustine All former documents remain valid and general public take note .

Formerly known and addressed as miss Saliu Temitope Beatrice now which to be known and addressed as Mrs Akomolafe Temitope Beatrice all former documents remain valid Ogun state Teaching service commission Abeokuta and general public take note

Formerly known and addressed as miss Oyebade Christiana Oyebola now which to be known and addressed as Mrs Ayodele Christiana Oyebola all former documents remain valid and general public take note .

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CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as Adenuga Taiwo Oluwakemi now which to be known and addressed as Mrs lawal Taiwo Oluwakemi all former documents remain valid and general public take note.

Abdul Omotola Ismail is same person as Ojosipe Harry Tola, Ojosipe Harry Omotola, Abdul Omotola I., Abdul Omotola Ismail but now which to be known and addressed as Abdul Omotola Ismail all former documents remain valid Banks and general public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as MALIK OHUNENE OLUWAPELUMI now wish to be known and addressed as SALAUDEEN OHUNENE OLUWAPELUMI. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as Omotehinse Deliah now which to be known and addressed as Omotehinse Ayodele Stella . all former documents remain valid and general public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as Karim Adeleke now which to be known and addressed as Karim Adekunle all former documents remain valid Flour mills of Nigeria and general public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME SULE: FORMERLY known and addressed as SULE MOHAMMED NOW JOSEPH SOJAH EDIMEH . All former documents remain valid, General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as MISS KEHINDE ENIOLA ZUBAIR, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS KEHINDE ADAMAT EDU. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as Mrs Omotayo Oyinlola Victoria now which to be known and addressed as Mrs Adena Victoria Omolola all former documents remain valid Access bank and general public take note.

Formerly known and addressed as miss Adeniji Omolara Zainab now which to be known and addressed as Mrs Odunaike Omolara Aderonke all former documents remain valid and general public take note.

Formerly known and addressed as miss Olasore Olush ola Dorcas now which to be known and addressed as Mrs Olofin Olushola Dorcas all former documents remain valid and general public take note.

Formerly known and addressed as miss Olusegun Monsurat Oluwaseun now which to be known and addressed as Mrs Odulana Monsurat Oluwaseun all former documents remain valid and general public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME This is to confirm that DANIEL GABRIEL ADOLE and AGBO GABRIEL refers to one and the same person. All former documents remain valid and the general public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME My name was wrongly written as

CHANGE OF NAME AWODIRAN: FORMERLY known and addressed as MISS ENIOLA SANDRA AWODIRAN NOW MRS ENIOLA SANDRA WHITE ADENIYI. All former documents remain valid, General public take note

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as MR. OJELOWO OLUWAFEMI YEMI, now wish to be known and addressed as MR. ADEBAYO OLUWAFEMI YEMI. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

Formerly known and addressed as , now wish to be known and addressed as SANUSI SIKIRATT BUKOLA, now wish to be known and addressed as SANNIOWO SIKIRAT. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note

CHANGE OF NAME

BABATUNDE AKINADE LAWRENCE instead of BABATUNDE

‘WANDE

LAWRENCE. All former documents remain valid. General public take note

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Formerly known and addressed as miss Ogunmosu Oluwafunke Deborah now which to be known and addressed as mrs Lawal Oluwafunke Deborah all former documents remain valid Banks and general public take note.

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CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME FRANKLIN: FORMERLY known and addressed as FRANKLIN UBA NWAKAMA NOW NNOCHIRI EZEKIEL UBA . All former documents remain valid, General public take note

CHANGE OF NAME ADELEKE: FORMERLY known and addressed as ADELEKE ISAIAH IBUKUN NOW ORIMAKINDE ISAIAH IBUKUN .

All former documents remain valid, General public take note

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as KAZEEM ALEJO, now wish to be known and addressed as KAZEEM JEBODA. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Ruby Anne York WT Travel Passport Number : M9596752 Now wish to be known, called and addressed as Ruby Anne Pius All documents and certificates bearing my former names remain valid. General public and relevant authorities should please take note

CHANGE OF NAME I formerly known and addressed as EMMANUEL GODDAY. Now wished to be known and addressed as OCHE NGBEDE. All former documents remain valid. W.A.E.C. and the general public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME I formerly known and addressed as MISS. AKOMOLAFE HELEN FOLUKE. Now wished to be known and addressed as MRS. EMMANUEL HELEN FOLUKE. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as SHADIYA OMOBOLANLE OLUWASHEYE, now wish to be known and addressed as HALIMOT SHADIA MOBOLANLE AWUNI. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as THOMPSON OLUSEGUN OLAJIMI OGUNYALE Now wish to be known, called and addressed as CHARLES OLUSEGUN FOLAJIMI OLAIDE All documents and certificates bearing my former names remain valid.General public , MILITARY PENSION BOARD and relevant authorities should please take note

I formerly known and addressed as ADESAN JULIANA ABOSEDE Now wish to be known , called and addressed as SHOTOLA JULIANA ABOSEDE All documents and certificates bearing my former names remain valid. General public and relevant authorities should please take note

Formerly known and addressed as MISS. OLUYEBA OLUWADAMILOLA MARY. Now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. OLOWOOKERE OLUWADAMILOLA MARY. All former documents remain valid. General Hospital Iyin Ekiti and general public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME I formerly known, called and addressed as ADEGBOLA ROSEMARY now which to be known, called and addressed as OGIE MARIA MOHAMET. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME IYIDA: I, formerly known and addressed as IYIDA PATRICIA, now wish to be known and addressed as OBASI PATRICIA. All former documents remain valid.

General public should take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME This is to confirm that I, IBIDAPO FOLUKE FLORENCE is one and same person as IBIDAPO FOLUKE AYOKEMI. Henceforth wish to be known and addressed as IBIDAPO FOLUKE FLORENCE. All former documents remain valid. Skye Bank Plc., UBA Plc and general public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME I formerly known and addressed as Sanni Folake, now wish to be known and addressed as Amao Folake. All former documents remain valid and general public take note

CHANGE OF NAME Formerly Marian Kehinde Fakeye now which to be known, called and addressed as Mary Kikelomo Fakeye. All former documents remain valid.

General public to please note.

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly known and addressed as PATIENCE UTERE, now to be addressed as PAMELA JOHN. All former documents remain valid, general public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME UDEH: I, formerly known and addressed as MISS NNENNA UDEH JULIET, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS OKAFOR NNENNA JULIET . All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

CHUKWU: I, formerly known and addressed as CHUKWU EZEKIEL EMEROLE, now wish to be known and addressed as CHUKWU EZEKIEL CHRISTOPHER. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

AGU: I, formerly known and addressed as AGU CHIOMA GODSFAVOUR, now wish to be known and addressed as AGU CHIOMA FAVOUR. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

OGBODO: I, formerly known and addressed as MISS OGBODO ELIZABETH UZOAMAKA, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS UGWU ELIZABETH UZOAMAKA. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME Formerly Miss AKINSOLA,OLAJUMOKE OLUWATUNMISE now to be known as MRS OLADELE, OLAJUMOKE OLUWATUNMISE. All former documents remain valid. General public to please note.

CHANGE OF NAME

EBENYI: I, formerly known and addressed as EBENYI ALEXANDER EMEKA, now wish to be known and addressed as NNAJI ALEXANDER EMEKA. All former documents remain valid. Nigeria Breweries, Banks and general public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

OGBE: I, formerly known and addressed as MISS OGBE IJEOMA, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS OKECHUKWU IJEOMA ESTHER. All former documents remain valid. Local Governmemt Service Commission Enugu and general public should please take note.

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CHANGE OF NAME

UBA: I, formerly known and addressed as UBA SABASTINE ONYEKACHI, now wish to be known and addressed as OKOLO SABASTINE ONYEKACHI. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

OKOLO: I, formerly known and addressed as OKOLO GEORGE IKENNA, now wish to be known and addressed as OKOLO GEORGE OKOLO. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

JOHN: I, formerly known and addressed as JOHN ILODIGWE OKO and JOHN.I . OKO, now wish to be known and addressed as JOHN IFESINACHI OHAGWU OKO.All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note

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CHANGE OF NAME

EDE: I, formerly known and addressed as EDE CLEMENT U, now wish to be known and addressed as EDE CLEMENT OGBUANI. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

UCHE: I, formerly known and addressed as UCHE UJUNWA CALISTA, now wish to be known and addressed as NGWU UJUNWA CALISTA. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

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CHANGE OF NAME

OSUJI : I, formerly known and addressed as OSUJI MICHAEL OKECHUKWU, now wish to be known and addressed as IHEANACHO MICHAEL OKECHUKWU. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

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CHANGE OF NAME

ONOVO: I, formerly known and addressed as MISS CHINYERE ONOVO MAUREEN, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS CHINYERE MAUREEN EDEH. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

AGBOZOR: I, formerly known and addressed as AGBOZOR OGBONNA BARTHOLOMEW, now wish to be known and addressed as MATTEW OGBONNA BARTHOLOMEW. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

AUGUSTINE : I, formerly known and addressed as AUGUSTINE CHARLES, now wish to be known and addressed as NWORGU CHARLES CHINENYE OMENI. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME EGO: I, formerly known and addressed as EGO PEACE AJOMIWE, now wish to be known and addressed as EGO IHEUKWUMERE. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly known and addressed as AMODU JADESOLA MARTINA, now to be addressed as BOLAJI JADESOLA MARTINA. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as EIREMIOKHAE ELIZABETH UWAFETALOR, now to be addressed as IKHUMEN ELIZABETH UWAFETALOR. All former documents remain valid.

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CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly known and addressed as ADAMS NIMOTA, now to be addressed as SULAIMAN TITILYO NIMOTA . All former documents remain valid.

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I, formerly known and addressed as OBADIAH GODWIN SINBO , now to be addressed as ENIKUOMEHIN NAPHIOUS GODWIN. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME Formerly Olofinsawe Alabi Ebenezer now Akinlehin Alabi Ebenezer. All former documents remain valid , Federal Polytechnic Ile-Oluji and general public take note.

Formerly Miss Ayodeji Evelyn Oluwaseun now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Akinsowon Evelyn Oluwaseun.

All former documents remain valid ,general public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as NNEOMA FIDELIS , now wish to be known and addressed as CATHERINE UGOMMA MADUEKE. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note

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Formerly Miss Ayanleke Omolola Abiodun now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Akintaju Omolola Abiodun. All former documents remain valid ,general public take note

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CHANGE OF NAME

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CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as Edu Kofoworola Kadijat now wish to be known as Ola Kofoworola Olayemi. All former documents remain valid general public note

I FORMERLY KNOWN AS IKPEOHA NWAOKOMA CHIBUIKE . NOW WANT TO BE ADDRESSED AS I KPOHA NWAOKOMA CHBUIKE ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID GENERAL TAKE NOTE.

CORRECTION OF NAME My name was duly registered as Jimoh Fatimoh Busayo but I now wish to correct my name as Bamore Fatimoh Busayo.All former documents remain valid general public note

CHANGE OF NAME h My registered name is Abass Alidu but my real name is Abbas Alidu.All former documents remain valid general public note

CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as Roli Ogbodu Nwobodo now wish to be addressed as Roli Patience Arinze.All former documents remain valid general public take note

CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known as Rasak Omotolani now to be addressed as Rasak Omotoni Boluwatife.All former documents remain valid general public note.

SOLOMON: I, formerly known and addressed as VICTOR SOLOMON, now wish to be known, called and addressed as VICTOR IHONVEA IKHUOSHIO. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

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Formerly known and addressed as ADAMS NIMOTA, now wish to be known and addressed as SULAIMAN TITILAYO NIMOTA. All former documents remain valid.

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CHANGE OF NAME

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EKPO: I, formerly known and addressed as MBAKABASI THOMPSON EKPO, now wish to be known, called and addressed as MBAKABASI DANIEL EDEMEKONG. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

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Formerly known and addressed as OBADIAH GODWIN SINBO. now wish to be known and addressed as ENIKUOMEHIN NAPHIOUS GODWIN. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

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Formerly known and addressed as ADEBAYO KUDIRAT OPEOLUWA. now wish to be known and addressed as AWE KUDIRAT OPEOLUWA. All former documents remain valid.

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Formerly known and addressed as ONITOOLO WOSILAT, now wish to be known and addressed as KILANI WOSILAT. All former documents remain valid. SKYE BANK/ General public please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as SANYAOLU OYEYEMI ANIKE, Now wish to be known and addressed as OSHADIPE OYEYEMI ANIKE. All former documents remain valid.

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Formerly known and addressed as MISS. ADEDOKUN TITILAYO AJOKE. Now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. ADEDOKUN TITILAYO AJOKE. All former documents remain valid. UNITED BANK OF AFRICA PLC/ General public please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME GBINIJE: I, formerly known and addressed as ELLEON NONYE GBINIJE, now wish to be known, called and addressed as ELLEON OLUWATOBI SHOTE. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

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JOSIAH: I, formerly known and addressed as SARAH TOSIN JOSIAH, now wish to be known, called and addressed as SARAH TOSIN GBONJUBOLA. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

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ABDULLAHI: I, formerly known and addressed as ABDULLAHI MARIATU, now wish to be known, called and addressed as MARIA AWUDU. All former documents remain valid.

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EMEREKONYE :I, formerly known and addressed as EMEREKONYE CLAISTER NKIRU, now wish to be known, called and addressed as MADU CLAISTER NKIRU. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

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FORMERLY KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS OJOYE JIBOLA IPADEOLA NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AS OJOYE JIBOLA RACHEAL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID GENERAL PUBLIC NOTE

CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as Buhari Raheem Owolabi now wish to be addressed as Ishola Abdulraheem Owolabi.

All former documents remain valid general public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly known and addressed as PRECIOUS AYIAYI EMILIA UDO THOMAS , now to be addressed as PRECIOUS AYIAYI. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and add as MISS TELEJAYE BOSEDE. now wish to be known and add as MRS LIKINYO BOSEDE. all former documents remain valid.

General public take note

OJORA: Formerly known and addressed as Miss Ojora Kafayat Adeola now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Mukaila Ojora Kafayat Adeola.. All former documents remain valid. Banks, Dental Therapists Registration Board of Nig. and the general public should please take note

OLADIMEJI: I, formerly known and addressed as KOLAWOLE OLADIMEJI, now wish to be known, called and addressed as ABIMBOLA KOLAWOLE OLADIMEJI. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

UGWU: I, formerly known and addressed as UGWU BENEDETTA, now wish to be known and addressed as ODO AUGUSTINA NKECHINYERE BENEDETTA. All former documents remain valid. ENSUBEB, UDENU L.G.A. and general public please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME I formerly known and addressed as JEGUN WURAOLA BLESSING now wish to be known and addressed as AKINNIRAN WURAOLA all former documents remain valid. Authority concern and general public take note.

Formerly known and addressed as Micheal K. Chinedu Okechukwu now wish to be known as Chinedu K. Okechukwu Kentoa and that K mean Kingsley and Kentoa my surname.All former documents remain valid general public note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly known and addressed as AMUCHIE NGOZI ABOSEDE , now to be addressed as AMUCHIE NGOZI NKERU. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

AGADA: I, formerly known and addressed as MISS AGADA JOY CHINASA, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS CHUKWUEKEZIE JOY CHINASA All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

Formerly known, called and addressed as MISS LEKE VERONICA OTAYOMI now want to be known, called and addressed as MRS OFOESUWA VERONICA OTAYOMI. All former document remain valid. first bank and general public take note.

Formerly known and addressed as Ogechi Okafor now wish to be known as Ogechukwu Cynthia Okafor.

All former documents remain valid,general public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

ODEZULU: I, formerly known and addressed as MISS ODEZULU EVELYN RACHAEL ONYINYE, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS NKPUME EVELYN RACHAEL ONYINYE. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

LAWAL:Formerly known and addressed as Lawal Momodu now wish to be known and addressed as David Ishado. All former documents remain valid. Banks and general public should please take note

Formerly known and addressed as John Shedrack Augustine now wish to be known as Friday John Augustine.All former documents remain valid,general public take note.

Formerly known as Abdul Rauf Olaitan Billis A.now to be addressed as Abass Balikis Olaitan.All former documents remain valid general public note

CHANGE OF NAME

IKE:I, formerly known and addressed as IKE CHIEBONAM FELICIA, now wish to be known and addressed as IKEDIOBI CHIEBONAM FELICIA. All former documents remain valid .key stone bank general public please take note.

NWEKE: I, formerly known and addressed as MISS NWEKE NANCY CHINYERE, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS NWOGA NANCY CHINYERE. All former documents remain valid.

NYSC and general public please take note.

Formerly known called and addressed as Rikatu Bulus now wish to be known called and addressed as Rifkatu Yusuf Daniel.

Former documents remain valid.

General public note

CHANGE OF NAME

AGBO: I, formerly known and addressed as MISS AGBO HELEN ONYINYE, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS IGBOKE HELEN ONYINYE. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

UDEJI: I, formerly known and addressed as MISS UDEJI FAVOUR CHIAMAKA, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS ONYEKWERE FAVOUR CHIAMAKA. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

ILOABUCHI-EZEKA: I, formerly known and addressed as MISS ILOABUCHIEZEKA CALISTA OBIANUJU, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS OHANEJE CALISTA OBIANUJU. All former documents remain valid. FCMB, ACCESS BANK, NYSC and general public please take note.

AMAEFULE: I, formerly known and addressed as MISS AMAEFULE KASARACHI.S., now wish to be known and addressed as MRS UGODU KASARACHI. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

45

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

CHANGE OF NAME

OLUFOWOBI: I, formerly known and addressed as MISS OLUFOWOBI ABIODUN OLUWATOYIN, now wish to be known, called and addressed as MRS. RAIMI ABIODUN OLUWATOYIN . All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME ARIDOMO: I, formerly known and addressed as LINDA ARIDOMO, now wish to be known, called and addressed as LINDA OMENE. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

OGUNKINLE: I, formerly known and addressed as FLORENCE OGUNKINLE, now wish to be known, called and addressed as MRS. OJO BADIRAT MOTUNRAYO. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

LADU: I, formerly known and addressed as TIMOTHY LECKNANG LADU, now wish to be known, called and addressed as TIMOTHY SILA LADU. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME MADU: I, formerly known and addressed as MADU LOUISA IFENYINWA, now wish to be known, called and addressed as ONUOHAJ LOUISA IFENYINWA. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME

I Abubakar Garuba is the same person bearing Garuba Daurma.All former documents remain valid general public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as Osingunwa Abudu Raheem and Oshigunwa Abdul Raham now to be addressed as Oshigunwa Abdul Raman.All former documents remain valid general public note

CHANGE OF NAME

JORGE: I, formerly known and addressed as JORGE RAYMOND, now wish to be known, called and addressed as TONGSHAK PAUL. All former documents remain valid.

General public and Authorities Concerned should please take note.

EJIKEONYE: I, formerly known and addressed as CHIZOBA LIVINA EJIKEONYE, now wish to be known, called and addressed as CHIZOBA LIVINA IBE. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME

CONFIRMATION OF NAME This is to confirm that I, UMEH CONSTANT CHIDINMA, is one and the same person known, called and addressed as UMEH CONSTANCE CHIDINMA. All former documents bearing both names are mine and remain valid. General public take note.

TESLIM SHARAFA KAZEEM is one and same person known and addressed as TESLIM SHARAFA. All former documents remain valid.

The general public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly known and addressed as FRANCIS PETER OFUE, now wish to be known, called and addressed as OSAR OFUE FRANCIS. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

AILERU: I, formerly known and addressed as APINKE TOLA AILERU, now wish to be known, called and addressed as HAJIYA FATIMA ZAKARI ABDULLAHI. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME PAUL: I, formerly known and addressed as PAUL KELVIN ALEXANDER, now wish to be known, called and addressed as ODENE PAUL ADI. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME I formerly known as SADU FATIMOH now wish to be known and addressed as SAHEED FATIMOH. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

I FORMERLY MISS YETUNDE VICTORIA ADEDIGBA NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS MRS YETUNDE VICTORIA NZEI. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. GENERAL PUBLIC TAKE NOTE.

CHANGE OF NAME AIGBE: I, formerly known and addressed as ABEL AIGBE, now wish to be known, called and addressed as ANTHONY AGHO. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

46

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

We’ll reward athletes, win more laurels –Dalung

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Sport

Football is like a car. You’ve got five gears and the trouble with England teams is that they drive all the time in fourth or fifth.

47

–Ruud Gullit (1995)

Wolves free Egwuekwe, Etebo

T

Egwuekwe, freed by Warrri Wolves

CHAN

Eagles ready for fight –Oliseh

Joel Ajayi, Abuja

S

uper Eagles coach, Sunday Oliseh, has said he expects the other teams at this year’s African Nations Championship (CHAN) beginning this weekend in Kigali to come out fighting when they face the Nigeria Team B. The Eagles will be in Rwanda for their second CHAN appearance after they made their debut in 2014 in South Africa and fin-

ished third.

“Everyone will be out to fight us (in Rwanda). But we’re on track, the boys are in high spirit and physically okay,” Oliseh predicted Nigeria begin their 2016 CHAN campaign on Monday, January 18, against Niger. The Eagles will also battle Tunisia and Guinea in the group stage.

Oliseh’s team finalised their build-up for the CHAN with a heart-warming 1-0 win over an-

other CHAN-bound team, Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire.

“The boys gave it a shot. We created loads and loads of scoring chances and hope they can tap them home next time,” he said after the match.

Similarly, defensive midfielder, Paul Onobi, who spoke to National Mirror before the Eagles left Nigeria to their South Africa camp assured of their determination to win.

“No doubt we are ready, and

we are working hard to start year 2016 on a good note for the country, and I believe with the calibre of players we have in camp if we get to Rwanda, the sky will not even be our limit because some of us have the experience in the national team,” Onobi said.

His teammate, Ikechukwu Ibenegbu, said, “I think for the past two weeks now we have been together in camp. The assessment is that the team is good to go. We have blended and we shall con-

he duo of Azubuike Egwuekwe and Oghenekaro Etebo will leave Warri Wolves for new clubs ahead of the upcoming Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) season.

Egwuekwe has been severally tipped to leave for Europe while Etebo is said to be attracting interest from foreign clubs after he finished as top scorer at the 2015 Africa Under-23 Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Senegal.

Wolves chairman, Moses Etu, disclosed that he does not see both players remaining at the club after impressive displays from the duo in 2015.

“For Azubuike (Egwuekwe), we have always known he will leave the club sooner than later. He has been a loyal servant; helping us gain promotion from the second division and playing for us all these years,” Etu told supersport.com.

“If he tells us he wants to leave, we will respect the decision and wish him well. We know it will be a foreign club because he will never play for another Nigerian club apart from Wolves.

“It is a similar thing with Etebo and it is very likely that he will leave for another club,” the Wolves boss added.

He, however, insisted that the club has“ adequate replacements” for the two players should they eventually decided to move to pastures new.

Wolves will represent Nigeria in the 2016 CAF Champions League.

tinue to jell well and by the time we get to Rwanda we are going to come back with the trophy by the grace of God.” On the level of cooperation and team spirit in camp, captain and Sharks FC player, Chima Akas, added, “There is nothing like pressure here. We just need to be ourselves and work very hard.

We have been in camp for weeks.

I don’t see any pressure. We all are determined to go to Rwanda and win the cup.”

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Sports

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

47

EPL: Klopp plans to dispossess Arsenal

L

iverpool cannot match Arsenal’s brand of possession football and they will not try that either in today’s Premier League clash, manager Jurgen Klopp has said.

Liverpool have lost three of their last six league matches and are currently eighth going into the match against the table-topping Gunners.

“Arsenal and Arsene (Wenger) have their own style, it’s possession football, so it’s clear that if we want to play the same way we will be without a chance because they’ve been doing it for longer,”

Klopp told British media yesterday.

The job is not easy for a Liverpool team smarting from last Friday’s disappointing 2-2 FA Cup draw with fourth-tier side, Exeter City, but Klopp is ready for the challenge.

“Arsenal are not only a good possession team, that’s the problem, they have good counter-attacks too and that’s what you have to be aware of.

“It’s a job but it’s a really nice job to think about solutions and how to stop them coming through with their plan. I like things like this,” Klopp added.

‘Lukaku fit for City clash’

EPL fixtures today Aubameyang

Chelsea

vs West Brom

Man City

vs Everton

Southampton vs Watford Stoke

vs Norwich

Swansea

vs Sunderland

Liverpool

vs Arsenal

Tottenham vs Leicester

Glo-CAF Awards

Aubameyang

shrugs off Yaya’s ranting

B

orussia Dortmund and Gabon striker, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, says he’s not interested in what Manchester City’s Yaya Toure has said about him.

Quoted by ESPN, Aubameyang responded to the Cote d’Ivoire skipper who had questioned the award criteria by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) after the Gabonese won the 2015 CAF Footballer of the Year award last week in Abuja.

‘Auba’ has spoken for the first time since Yaya’s utterances saying he’s “not interested” in criticism from Toure.

Toure had won the award three years in a row, but was beaten by Aubameyang to the 2015 honour, leaving the City midfielder questioning the award criteria after the ceremony.

“I’m very, very disappointed. It’s sad to see Africa react this way, that they don’t think African achievements are important,” Toure told RFI. “I think this is what brings shame to Africa, because

to act in that way is indecent. But what can we do about it?

“Us Africans, we don’t show that Africa is important in our eyes. We favour more what’s abroad than our own continent - that is pathetic.”

Toure was angered to not get the gong after leading the Elephants as they claimed the 2015 African Nations Cup last year, while Gabon were eliminated in the early stages.

However, Aubameyang’s displays in the German Bundesliga and the Europa League were enough to end Toure’s reign as the best African player.

Speaking to Sport Bild at Dortmund’s winter training camp in Dubai, Aubameyang said he won’t let Toure spoil his achievement.

“I really don’t know why he said that in the first place.

But I don’t get annoyed with it, and by now I don’t even care about it. I am not interested in it,” said Aubameyang.

E

verton striker, Romelu Lukaku, will be fit for today’s Premier League clash against thirdplaced Manchester City, manager Roberto Martinez said yesterday.

Lukaku, who netted the winner in the 2-1 win over City in the first leg of the League Cup semifinal last week, missed Saturday’s 2-0 FA Cup win over fourth tier side Dagenham and Redbridge with minor ankle problem.

The Belgium international has been pivotal to Everton this campaign, having scored 15 goals from 20 league starts, the joint-highest in the league along with Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy.

Lukaku

“He trained well and is very much ready to play tomorrow,” Martinez told reporters yesterday.

Martinez remained coy over the future of Steven Naismith, after he admitted last month that the striker could leave the team in search of firstteam playing time.

Ghana FA boss re-elected WAFU president ...Pinnick 2nd VP

P

resident of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Mr. Amaju Pinnick, yesterday presided over the Congress of the West African Football Union (WAFU) Zone B in Accra, at which Ghana FA President, Kwesi Nyantakyi, was re-elected for another four-year term.

Incumbent Nyan-

Pinnick

takyi pipped Djibrilla Hima Hamidou of Niger Republic by four votes to three, and will remain in office till year 2020.

Nyantakyi only last year won a fresh term of office as President of the Ghana Football Association – a position he has occupied since 2006.

Earlier, the presidents and general secretaries of the countries in the WAFU Zone B had observed a one-minute silence in honour of slain Head of Protocol of Nigeria Football Federation, Mr. Ibrahim Abubakar.

Abubakar was killed on Wednesday last week by gunmen who invaded his house in Kado Estate, Gwarinpa, Abuja.

WORLD RECORD

Fastest sandwich made using feet Vol. 05 No. 1285

N150

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Using just his feet, Rob Williams of Austin, Texas, USA, made a Bolo gna, cheese and lettuce sandwich, complete with olives on cocktail sticks, in 1 min 57 sec

Change: From political slogan to educational reform Continued from last Wednesday

O

ne way of driving this change in the education sector is for the federal and state governments to set up visitation panels to all their tertiary institutions – universities, colleges of education, polytechnics and other allied institutions.

The visitation panels will help unearth all the problems that have made it impossible for the institutions to deliver on their sacred mandate in spite of the huge sums of money sunk into them. The sector has hitherto received a mere scratch on the surface instead of a complete and detailed forensic examination of the books.

The National Universities Commission (NUC), the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) should be

Guest Columnist asked to justify their existence, when placed side-by-side with the problems in the country’s education sector. Pertinent questions to ask will be: Have they delivered on their mandates or do they need to be disbanded for some other arrangements that will work better? Next, the governments should ask the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) to justify its continued relevance in the face of the several problems it has created in the admission process into tertiary institutions in the country. For example, is JAMB still relevant in the present day Nigeria, where almost all the states in the federation now have a federal university? Or what is wrong in UTME results not being valid for close to five years before candidates are required to sit for another examination?

Whose interest is JAMB serving with the present arrangement where applicants who are not guaranteed admission sit for UTME examination every year, pay the appropriate fees and end up not being admitted? Can the government that promises change in all the aspects of the nation overlook the challenges posed by JAMB and other parastatals?

The reform in the education sector being canvassed in this piece is such that will pay close attention to secondary education sector in particular. For example, there is a need to revisit the new senior secondary school curriculum, because it has created more problems in the sector than it set out to solve in the first instance. Today, students are made to offer some funny trade subjects – subjects that should have been left for technical col-

Balotelli returns to action today

A

C Milan striker, Mario Balotelli, is set to return from a four-month injury lay-off in today’s Coppa Italia quarterfinal against Carpi, according to Coach Sinisa

Olusegun Kolawole

Mihajlovic.

“Balotelli is available and should be in the squad tomorrow (today),” said Mihajlovic during yesterday’s press conference.

Balotelli, on loan

IS JAMB STILL RELEVANT IN THE PRESENT DAY

NIGERIA,

WHERE ALMOST ALL THE STATES IN THE FEDERATION NOW HAVE A FEDERAL UNIVERSITY?

leges. As a consequence of this confusion, students register for subjects that most universities do not offer or do not accept for basic courses such as medicine, engineering, law, pharmacy, etc. The trade subjects were introduced without adequate attention being paid to how they are to be taught in terms of availability of qualified teachers and adequate infrastructure. The way the curriculum is being currently implemented will lead to problems instead of facilitating the production of entrepreneurs. Another question that one needs to ask is at what age does one expect these secondary school graduates to become entrepreneurs, a major reason for introduction of the curriculum?

It is not possible for the Federal Government (just like it did in 1973 when it introduced the National Youth Service Scheme as a means of promoting national integration) to once again introduce another programme that will make it compulsory for

all graduates of senior secondary schools to undergo a mandatory one year programme in technical institutions across the nation to provide them with the opportunity to acquire skills needed to make them entrepreneurs before they proceed to higher institutions to pursue their chosen course of study? Will this arrangement not be more effective than what is currently being implemented albeit, haphazardly? Can the problems of secondary education be solved by mere introduction of trade subjects, when the system is battling with low quality and quantity of teachers and inadequate supervision of what goes on there now?

As much as I appreciate the fact that one cannot effectively highlight and tackle all the problems the nation’s education sector is currently facing in just one piece, I believe that my effort here represents an attempt at drawing governments’ urgent attention to the very important sector. One hopes this attention will help the governments to beam a searchlight of change into the education sector with a view to promoting a transformation there.

I am happy to note the efforts being made by Kaduna State governor, who has a state of emergency in the education sector.

There is no doubt a change agent is in the saddle. Similarly, I am aware of the various efforts being made by some other state governments to reposition education in their states. The promise by the Federal Government to promote a synergy among state and local governments that will facilitate the employment of close to 500,000 teachers into the system is a welcome development. This is because it is one sure way of addressing one of the serious problems in the sector.

The Honourable Minister of Education should see the imperative of beaming the ‘change’ searchlight into the education sector to ensure the ‘change mantra’ does not just remain a political slogan – it must be a slogan that will promote meaningful reform in the nation’s education sector.

Concluded Prof Kolawole (fcepacs, mtrcn) wrote via kocycool57@yahoo.com

Sport Extra from Premier League side, Liverpool, has not played for Milan since September 27, 2015 because of a groin injury and underwent surgery last November. He has appeared in just four

games this season, scoring once.

Mihajlovic added that French winger, Jeremy Mene z, was also nearing a comeback, having yet to feature in Serie A this

season due to a back injury. “ I h o p e t h a t J e remy will retur n soon.

He could be back p l ay i n g by t h e e n d o f J a n u a r y, ” s a i d M i h a j l o v i c.

Balotelli

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