Dec 9 2016 by GLOBAL MEDIA MIRROR LIMITED

Falana to US govt: Return Nigeria’s $450m looted funds now

Falana

s the world marks this year’s International Anti-Corruption Day, human rights laywer, Mr Femi Falana, has called on the United States (US) to repatriate the $450m Nigeria’s stolen funds in the country.

Falana, who made the call yesterday during a roundtable discussion in commemoration of the International Anti-Corruption Day organised by US Embassy in Abuja, said the Federal Government needs to take

Court grants order seeking to sack Amaechi, Onu

aggressive measures to ensure the repatriation of the money to Nigeria. According to him, except Nigerian government adopts aggressive policy CONTINUED ON PAGE 2>>

Amaechi

Reps ask FG to suspend ban on vehicle imports Vol. 6 N0. 1490

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N150

Ubong Ukpong and George Opara

ouse of Representatives yesterday asked President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately suspend the ban on the importation of vehicles through land borders in the country. Nigerian Customs Service, NCS, had on Monday released a statement, prohibiting the importation of new and used vehicles through land borders with effect from January 1, 2017. However, adopting a motion yesterday, the House presided over by Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, urged the executive to ensure that law enforcement agencies, especially those working at the borders, are diligent in their duties A cross-section of security officers at the briefing of Inspector-General of Police Ibrahim Idris with officers and men deployed for the forthcoming Legislative Re-run Election in Port Harcourt, Rivers State yesterday. PHOTO: CHIDI OHALETE/BJO/NAN

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Reps ask FG to suspend ban on vehicle imports CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

by ensuring that due import charges are remitted to the government. The House also suggested that surveillance equipment for effective monitoring be installed to address smuggling. It also enjoined government to expand its plan on youth empowerment programmes by developing skills acquisition programmes in border areas. Although, the House acknowledged that the Federal Government has the powers, under section 18 of the Customs and Excise Management Act, to restrict the movement of goods into the country either by land or inland waterways, it noted that such exercise on importation of rice had occasioned untold hardship on Nigerians. The member, representing Gwadabawa/Illela State constituency of Sokoto State, Abdu-

lahi Balarabe Salome, in the motion noted that the ban will cause more harm than good as it will certainly lead to increase in smuggling and deprive poor Nigerians access to vehicles at the same time skyrocket the price of vehicles. “Similar exercise of such powers on rice importation through the land borders in April 2016, has occasioned untold hardship on Nigerians, as a bag of rice now sells for between N20, 000 - N23, 000 as against N8,000 a few months ago,” he said.” Salome observed in the motion that statistics of Nigerians, who could afford cars had declined drastically, following the decline in the value of naira, inflation, unemployment and high cost of living. He also noted that government did not provide an alternative measure to ensure that Nigerians will have access to cars since

it is cheaper to buy from neighbouring countries. He also said that the policy would further increase suffering of the masses in the current dwindling economic fortune. “Despite the pitiable state of most Nigerians, occasioned by unemployment, lack of funds for survival and high cost of living, which has sent

many into their early grave, the government is adopting a policy that will further increase the suffering of the masses at this critical time the country is in recession,” Salame added. Meanwhile, Second Hand Car Dealers Association, Northwest, yesterday called on the Federal Government to review its decision banning impor-

tation of vehicles through land borders. Chairman of the association, Alhaji Muktari Mapia, said in Minna, Niger State that the ban would create negative effect on revenue generation through the land borders. He said that not all Nigerians had the financial capacity to import cars through the ports.

Mapia explained that prohibiting the importation, new or old, through land borders was not in the best interest of ordinary Nigerians. He said that considering the nation’s financial challenges, there was the urgent need for the Federal Government to reconsider its decision due to the adverse effect on the well-being of Nigerians.

Falana to US govt: Return Nigeria’s $450m looted funds now CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

to get the stolen funds it will be difficult for it to be returned. He decried the approach in which the government was pursuing the stolen funds, adding that the beggish approach of the Federal Government will be an effort in futility if it continues. “$450m has been forfeited in the US and Nigeria government has filed applications to get this money back which is in New Jersey. The ruling was in favour of Nigeria but US refused, claiming the money and saying that the money should be banked in US so that they can manage it for us. “We are asking for assistance in this direction because David Cameron has gone and very soon Obama will go in January and yet they promised to return our stolen funds,” he added. Speaking, the US Deputy Chief of Mission, David Young, said his country is committed to working with Nigeria to fight corruption, especial-

ly in repatriating stolen funds abroad. According to him, US was happy to partner with Nigeria to fight corruption. He said that corruption was an impediment to development. “We celebrate the US and Nigeria’s partnership in the efforts to eliminate corruption and improve government accountability and transparency and hope that today’s event will positively contribute to our ongoing efforts,” he added. Prof. Humphrey Asobie from University of Nigeria, Nsukka, explained that corruption in Nigeria is systemic, adding that it is something that has pervaded institutions, including anti-corruption institutions. According to him, corruption is an enemy of development. “Anti-corruption agencies should complete the production of a National Strategy to combat corruption both on long and medium term strategic plans,” he said.

L-R: Hassan Sunmonu of the Ahmadiyya Nigeria; Amir Nigeria Ahmadiyya Muslim Nigeria, Dr. Mashhud Adenrele Fashola, and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo during a courtesy call on the Vice President by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at Nigeria at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO:STATE HOUSE

Nigeria borrowing solely to fund infrastructure projects – Udoma

inister of Budget and National Planning, Mr Udoma Udo Udoma, said Nigeria is borrowing solely to fund infrastructure projects. The minister’s Media Adviser, Mr James Akpandem, stated this in a statement in Abuja yesterday. The minister made the statement when he briefed the Assistant Secretary for Multilateral Affairs of Trade and Policy Department of France, Mr. Guillaume Chabert. Udoma said as international development partners explored areas of support to help Nigeria grow a sustainable econ-

omy, the Federal Government would consider borrowing to fund targeted infrastructure projects. He said the effect of investing in infrastructure was enormous and the surest way of setting the country on the part of growth and sustainable development. The minister said the Nigerian government was working on a National Economic Recovery and Growth Plan which was tailor-made to move the economy out of recession. He said the plan was also designed to set the country on the path of growth. “Our plan is that we

should be able, within that plan period (2017 – 2020) to achieve not less than seven per cent growth. “For one, to get out of economic recession, we will need to harness resources by plugging revenue leakages. “We will also be looking at new revenue sources in order to generate the resources required to spend our way out of recession,” Udoma said. He said that while government was exploring other means of generating revenue internally, it would need to borrow, part of which had to be sourced internationally. The minister said the

money had to be borrowed internationally from sources that could lend on concessionary terms, such as International Monetary Fund, IMF, and World Bank. In addition, Udoma said government was going into partnership with the private sector in critical areas of infrastructure provision and concession. “Our intention is to make the private sector to lead the way in social housing; we will kick-start the process and intend to make some provision for it in the 2017 budget. “Then, we are also looking at manufacturing. CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

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Court grants order seeking to sack Amaechi, Onu Doosuur Iwambe ABUJA

ustice Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court, Abuja has granted an order seeking the arrest and immediate sack of the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, and his Science and Technology counterpart, Mr. Ogbonnaya Onu, over recent allegations leveled against them by two Justices of the Supreme Court. The applicant, Human Rights Foundation International, in its substantive suit, asked the court to make an order of mandamus compelling the Department of State Services, DSS, and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to

“perform their statutory obligation” by immediately arresting and prosecuting the two ministers. The group also sought an order of mandamus compelling President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately sack both ministers “in public interest and public morality” based on allegations of attempts to influence court decisions as recently alleged by the two Justices of the Supreme Court. A copy of the enrolled order made by Justice Mohammed on December 1, 2016, granting leave to the plaintiff to go ahead with the suit, was made available to journalists in Abuja yesterday. A plaintiff seeking an order of mandamus under the judicial review of administrative action/inaction procedure is required

to first seek and obtain the leave of court through an ex parte application to properly commence the suit. It would be recalled that Justices Sylvester Ngwuta and Inyang Okoro, both of the Supreme Court, had accused Amaechi and Onu of attempts to influence court decisions in some election cases between 2015 and 2016. Ngwuta and Okoro levelled the allegations against Amaechi and Onu in their separate letters addressed to the then Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, following their arrests alongside other judicial officers by DSS on allegations of corruption between October 7 and 8, 2016. They both claimed that their refusal to help the ministers was the reason

their arrests were instigated. Ngwuta had in his letter, alleged that Amaechi had delivered to him a purported instruction from President Muhammadu Buhari, asking him to help to sway the judgments of the Supreme

Court on Ekiti and Rivers state governorship elections in favour of their party the All Progressives Congress, APC. The apex court justice, who is now being prosecuted by the Federal Government on charges of corruption, also alleged

that Onu sought his help to influence the decision of the Court of Appeal in favour of Labour Party candidate in last year’s governorship election in Ebonyi State. The matter has been fixed for 15, December, 2016 for mention.

November inflation rate may increase to 18.45%-FSDH

SDH Research, an investment analyst company yesterday said the November 2016 inflation rate (yearon-year) might increase further to 18.45 per cent. News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reports that the figure represented an increase of 0.12 per cent from 18.33 recorded in the month of October 2016. National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, is expect-

ed to release the inflation rate for the month of November 2016 on December 15, 2016 based on the data calendar on its website. The company said that the expected increase in the inflation rate would be driven by higher prices within the Food and Nonalcoholic Beverages Division. It also said that the depreciation in the foreign exchange rate during the

month would also be an influence. The company said that the Food Price Index (FPI) on Thursday December 8 by the Food and Agriculture Organisation, FAO, showed that the FPI trended downward in November. The Index was down by 0.43 per cent, compared with the revised October figure.

Reps halt NHIS’s funds release to HMOs

ouse of Representatives, yesterday, called on the National Health Insurance, NHIS, to put on hold further quarterly release of funds to the Health Maintenance organisations, HMOs, pending the outcome of its investigation. The House also mandated its Committee on Health Care Services to commence investigation into the activities of the HMOs and healthcare providers for the past eight years. This is with a view to identifying their level of compliance with the relevant provisions of the Act and determines the reasons for the poor state of services to enrollees. The resolutions of the House followed the adoption of a motion on the urgent need to investigate the compliance rate of funds by the healthcare providers and inhuman treatment of enrollees, moved by Rep. Chike Okafor (APC-Imo). Leading the debate, Okafor noted that NHIS was set up to provide health care for Nigerians at affordable cost through various pre-payment systems. The lawmaker also noted that one of the cardinal responsibilities of the scheme was to maintain

high health care standard to beneficiaries. He expressed dismay that enrollees were being short changed and used as conduit pipes to raise money for the HMO’s and healthcare providers. The lawmaker said: “Enrollees are treated like lepers while trying to access the services that many strategies have been adopted by healthcare providers and HMOs to deprive them their right to quality treatment and attention.” Okafor claimed that the HMOs had received over N351bn from the scheme since its inception in 2005. “It is regrettable to realise that the service covers less than four per cent of Nigerians and there are reports of alleged diversion of contributions amounting to billions of naira,” he added. He further revealed that the scheme paid HMOs three months upfront to enable them provide timely and qualitative health care services to enrollees. “The reverse is the case as enrollees are being short changed and the services remain poor,” the lawmaker said. The Committee on Health Care Services is expected to report its findings to the House with four weeks.

L-R: US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Stuart Symington; Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and US Consul General in Lagos, Mr. John Bray, during a courtesy visit to the Governor at the Lagos House,Ikeja, yesterday. PHOTO:SUPO OLOSUNDE/NAN

Father, mother and son missing as two boats collide in Badagry

olice in Lagos yesterday declared missing a father, mother and son after two boats collided in Badagry area of the state. A statement by the police spokesperson in Lagos State, Dolapo Badmos,

said the actual number of passengers aboard the illfated boats was yet to be ascertained. “At about 8: 30 p.m. on December 7, a canoe with passengers that took off from Pathfinder Jetty on Badagry Marina heading to Gberefu Beach collided

with another fibre boat coming from Iyafin area in Badagry. “The two boats capsized while the two operators were safe but the passengers are yet to be recovered. “Effort is ongoing with

local divers to recover the passengers. “While the case is under investigation, three persons suspected to be father, mother and son are suspected to be among the missing passengers,” Badmos said.

Nigeria borrowing solely to fund infrastructure projects – Udoma CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

“One of the ways is by developing export processing zones where we will have all the required infrastructure, including power, rail and security,

to encourage manufacturers to relocate to Nigeria,” Udoma said. The minister, however, expressed appreciation for the support by the French Government, particularly

in terms of bilateral and multilateral support, directly and through the European Union. Chabert said the French government would be willing to sup-

port Nigeria surmount its challenges. He also promised to make some input into the country’s economic plan once the framework was made available.

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Dasuki urges Supreme Court for accelerated hearing on bail applications D oosuur I wambe ABUJA

etained former National Security Adviser, NSA, Col. Mohammed Sambo Dasuki (rtd) has pleaded with the Supreme Court to grant him accelerated hearing in his pending two appeal cases for bail in the criminal charges brought against

him by the Federal Government. Dasuki who claimed to have been dumped in detention by the Department of the State Security Service, DSS, since December last year is praying the apex court to give his two cases on bail quick determination in order to stop government from further infringing on his funda-

mental human rights. In a special plea letter to the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Walter Onnoghen, the ex-NSA claimed that his two appeal cases for bail were filed in compliance with the Supreme Court practice directions in August this year and have since been pending for hearing.

In the letter dated November 30, 2016 and received by the apex court on December 6, written by his lead counsel, Mr. Joseph Daudu (SAN), Dasuki asked the court to exercise its discretion in his favour by granting quick determination of the two appeals because of their peculiar nature. Daudu in the letter

Students of School Master Academy, Lekki Peninsula, during an excursion visit to National Mirror headquarters in Lagos, yesterday. PHOTO:ADEMOLA AKINLABI

recalled that his client was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on charges of breach of trust, criminal misappropriation and sundry offences before two high courts of the Federal Capital Territory between September and December last year. The counsel claimed that following a not guilty plea by his client, the two courts granted him bail and the conditions perfected by the appellant. The letter explained that no sooner had Dasuki perfected his bail conditions than the DSS operatives swooped on him and abducted him at the Kuje prison gate and have since kept him in detention without trial at an unknown location. Daudu asserted that since the detention, the only reason given by government to justify the abduction and which is not backed by any law was that Dasuki is a security risk. The letter reads in part: “The same government having breached his right to fair trial by not allowing him proceed on bail to have ade-

quate time and facilities to prepare his defense, interfered with his constitutionally guaranteed presumption of innocence by continuing to detain him without trial has insisted on several occasions to proceed with the charges afore described, knowing fully well that the appellant has no access to documents with which he would wish to defend himself. “Secondly, the appellant has no access to consult freely and confidentially with learned counsel of his choice. It was in the face of these flagrant assault on the rule of law that the appellant filed an application to both courts of the FCT praying that their orders of bail having been infringed in clear disobedient circumstances the courts should exercise their disciplinary jurisdiction to shut out the state from further proceeding with the matter until it has complied with the order releasing the appellant on bail and provided a level playing field for the trial of the applicant to proceed with his trial.”

NERC slams TCN with N47.6m fine over audit reports Chidi Ugwu, ABUJA

or failure to submit its 2013 and 2014 audited financial statements the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, has slammed the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, with a fine of N47.6m. In a statement signed by the regulatory agency’s head, Public Affairs Department, Dr. Usman Abba Arabi, and made available to newsmen in Abuja yesterday, NERC gave TCN a maximum of two weeks to pay up the fine. The document with reference number NERC/Directive/160 was co-signed by the acting chairman, Dr. Anthony Akah, and general manager, Legal, Licensing and Enforcement, Mrs. Olufunke Din-

neh. It stated that TCN has up to two weeks to pay the fine beginning from December 2, 2016 when the directive was signed. The fine attracts five per cent interest daily after the due date. Providing justification for the sanction, NERC said TCN, for failure to submit audited financial report, has violated “Section 63 (1) of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act, 2005 that stipulates: “A licensee shall comply with the provisions of its license, regulations, codes and other requirements issued by NERC from time to time.” Other infractions as contained in Directive 160 include Conditions 4 and 5 of TCN’s Transmission Licence. Condition 4 stipulates that “Licensee shall furnish to the commission information, in

such a manner and at such times as the commission may require” at the time and format as may be required by the commission to perform its regulatory functions. Condition 5 of TCN’s licence further directs it to submit audited financial reports to the commission as detailed in its Transmission Licence. Consequently, TCN is liable to N10,000 fine daily on each of the three grounds of infractions beginning from April 1, 2014 for failure to submit 2013 audited financial report and April 1, 2015 for 2014 audited financial report being the dates those reports were due for submission till December 2, 2016 when Directive 160 was signed. “This gives a total fine of forty seven million, six hundred and seventy thousand Naira, which

shall be paid by TCN within two weeks from the date of this Directive. Failure to pay the fines within stipulated time shall attract additional interest of five per cent per day until the total fine is paid,” the commission stated. Directive 160 stated further, “Take note that this Directive is without prejudice to other enforcement powers of the commission, as contained in its extant laws, rules and regulations.” In a summary of findings on the grounds of infractions, Directive 160 stated that NERC severally reminded TCN of its obligations to submit audited financial accounting statements for years 2013 and 2014. However, NERC stated that TCN was found to have persistently refused or neglected to comply

with the commission’s written requests, adding that the commission, thereafter, issued a Notice of Intention to Commence Enforcement, NICE, dated November 17, 2016 requesting TCN to explain why it should not be sanctioned. In its response, TCN said the audit exercise has “since commenced and is reaching its final stage” and that the documents would be submitted once the exercise was concluded. It, however, failed to provide detailed breakdown of activities and time schedule for the completion of the audit exercise so as to guide the commission to decide on its request for extension of time. “The commission finds these responses inadequate and unsatisfactory,” according to Directive 160, hence the sanction.

Meanwhile, the acting chairman, “has admonished all licensees in the sector to abide by their terms and conditions of licence because the era of treating the commission’s orders, directives and regulations with levity is over.” He added: “Any licensee that defaults would be sanctioned and to those that refuse to pay this fine, stiffer enforcement actions would be meted with in line with the commission’s regulations and directives.” Akah also observed that there has been observed significant improvement in the level of compliance by the licensees “to our regulations especially on customer related issues.”

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L-R: Group Executive Chairman, Jagal, Mr. Anwar Jarmakani; Executive Director, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Engr. Simbi Wabote; Director, Corporate Affairs, Jagal, Mrs. Joy Okebalama and Group Chairman, Jagal Energy, Mr. Chris Bennett during the courtesy visit/facility tour of the Executive Chairman of NCDMB to Nigerdock Nigeria Plc. in Lagos.

L-R; President/Chairman of Council, Mr. Anthony Arabome; Director, Human Resources, Airtel Nigeria, Gbemiga Owolabi; Registrar/CEO, Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (CIPM), Mr Sunday Adeyemi, and immediate Past President, CIPM, Mr. Victor Famuyibo, during the conferment of Fellowship Award ceremony at the 48th Annual Conference of CIPM in Abuja recently.

L-R: Chief Executive, Stanbic IBTC Nominees Limited, Mr. Akeem Oyewale; Executive Director, Business Development, Nigerian Stock Exchange, Mr. Haruna Jalo-Waziri; Member, Governing Council, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, Mr. Abdulrahman Yinusa; and Deputy Managing Director, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Dr. Demola Sogunle; during a forum on custody services organized by Stanbic IBTC in Lagos.

L-R: Head of Editorial Operations, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mr Ogundele Bodunde; Director and head of Lagos Operation of NAN, Mrs Kate Popoola; Registrar of the West Africa Examination Council, WAEC, Dr Iyi Uwadiae; and head of Test Administration of WAEC Nigeria, Mrs Florence Iweha-Onukwu, during a courtesy visit by the WAEC delegation to NAN Lagos office yesterday.

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Court varies Justice Ajumogobia, Obla’s bail conditions Ayodele Olalere

ustice Hakeem Oshodi of a Lagos High Court Thursday varied the bail condition earlier granted Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia of a Federal High Court, Ilorin, and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Godwin Obla. The two are facing charges preferred against them by Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC, bordering on perversion of justice. The judge arrived at the decision after entertaining arguments from lawyers of the defendants, Olawale Akoni, SAN, for Ajumogobia, and Ifedayo Adedipe, SAN, for Obla, on the application for the variation of the bail conditions initiated by the defendants. Justice Oshodi held that he had no choice than to exercise his discretionary powers in favour of the duo in view of the fact that

...enters N20m bond

EFCC did not raise any objection to the application for bail variation. The trial judge therefore granted the request

of the defendants to carry out a N20m bail bond with the Chief Registrar of the Lagos State High Court instead of cash deposit of

N20m. While also directing the defendants to swear to affidavits of means, Justice Oshodi declared that the prayer of the defendants asking for an order mandating the EFCC to im-

mediately surrender their passport to the court’s registrar was not well founded because the passports were already in the custody of the court. It would be recalled that EFCC had arraigned the

defendants on a 30-count charge that touches on bribery, conspiracy, unlawful enrichment, and giving false information. But the defendants pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

We need N5bn to harmonise national identity card —NIMC boss Rotimi Fadeyi ABUJA

irector-General, National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, Aliyu Aziz has said that N5bn would be required for the harmonisation of the national identity card. Aziz disclosed this while speaking with State House correspondents on the sideline of a Policy Roundtable Meeting on Identity Management at the Presidential Villa. He, however, lamented paucity of funds at the commission, stressing that the

present recession was also affecting its operations. The director-general explained that the commission was still trying to carry out the exercise but at a slow pace. “As at February 2015, when we did a work out for all the agencies, we found that we required close to N20bn to carry out harmonisaton. “There is no budget and we are in recession, so we were asked to modify it and we picked only the major ones like INEC, NCC. “The BVN is ongoing because CBN paid for that to happen and we came down

to N5bn that would be needed for harmonisation but still there is no budget. “We are still trying to carry out the exercise but as you have noted is very slow and we are trying to scale up. “The BVN is already ongoing and we are trying to do the same with the sim registration for NCC. “The next pot of call is going to be INEC data. Those are the huge ones,” he said. Aziz said with adequate funding next year, the commission would be able to carry out the directive of the President to the Com-

mission to harmonise identity card for the next general election. He said the commission would soon embark on the printing of four million cards. “We have four million cards to be printed but the security was upgraded so we are trying to upgrade the system to the latest security because it is electronic. “Whenever there are changes we have to upgrade to accommodate those changes. That is why we are not printing. We have finished upgrading, we will commence the printing of

the four million card,” he said. On why some Nigerians that have registered are yet to get their identity cards, Aziz said: “That is the question every Nigerian has been asking and as you can see from the World Bank report, our identify life circle costs like $10, while that of India is less than $1. “This is because we are issuing a general multipurpose card; it has a lot of apillat in it. Compared to ATM card that has only 4 kilobyte the ID card has 80 kilobyte; it’s like 20 times that of ATM card so you can imagine the cost.”

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Friday, December 9, 2016

Senate postpones Magu’s confirmation as EFCC chairman

School Masters Academy on excursion to National Mirror Newspaper Paul Omo Obadan

uoyed by the importance school excursions which is seen as an integral part of the school curriculum to enable students explore, extend and enrich their learning and their social skills development, in a non-school setting, pupils of School Masters Academy, Ajah, Lagos state, embarked on an excursion tour to the National Mirror Newspaper, Broad street Lagos, yesterday, to learn the rudiments and intricacies of the noble art of Journalism in order to broaden the horizon of the pupils perspective. On hand to receive the pupils was Mrs Adeola, Aderonke, one of National Mirror Human resource personnel who took the kids round the various departments in a newspaper organization and the roles that each perform. According to her, the newspaper organization is made up of various departments that make it possible for information to be collected, printed and served to the general public and all the departments of a newspaper organization are important and can barely survive with the absence of any of the departments. “There are four basic departments in every newspaper organization – editorial, production/printing, circulation, and advertising department. Some big newspaper establishments might however have other departments but the average newspaper establishment will have the above-

mentioned departments. The Editorial Department – as the name implies, this department is the one responsible for content creation in any newspaper establishment. It is headed by the Editor. The main responsibilities of this department is the gathering of news, selecting of which news and features get to be published in the paper, editing the news and features that have been selected for publication and then laying them out for print. Like was said above, the Editor is the head of the Editorial department of a newspaper and he or she is the one responsible for all the content that appears in a newspaper. The Editor works in conjunction with Assistant Editors, Sub Editors, Copy tasters, feature writers, correspondents and so many others to gather news from various sources and bring them to the doorsteps of readers. Advertising Department – the advertising department is also another very important department of any newspaper establishment. Everyone knows how much revenue advertisement brings newspapers. As a matter of fact, advertisement is said to be the major source of revenue for newspaper establishments. Without advertisements in a newspaper, the establishment cannot survive. The Advertising department of a newspaper is in charge of advertisements that are published in the paper. The Circulation Department – this department as the name suggests is in charge of circulating or distributing the newspa-

pers. They are also a very crucial department in a newspaper organization. This department is responsible for selling the newspapers, which is also another major source of revenue for the organization. The department also sees to it that the newspapers are delivered to the right places. The Production/Printing Department – this is another department in a newspaper establishment whose name simply tells people the job that they perform. This department is responsible for the printing of the newspapers. The department is in charge of everything that has to do with the production and printing of the papers, which includes, transforming journalists’ stories into type and maintaining the printing machines. The Accounting Department – this is where figures are worked on. Every business needs accounting in order to survive and move forward. The accounting department is responsible for all the accounting work in the establishment. Some of these accounting works include the preparation of books of accounts, preparation of the budget, making financial plans, preparing the balance sheet, and what have you. The Administrative Department – this department is responsible for the general administration of the entire establishment. The department is in charge of certain very important duties such as planning, organizing and staffing. The stores Department – this is a department that has one sole responsibility

which is to properly store newsprint and all the raw materials used for printing. They also store all other materials that are used in the establishment. There is also another very crucial department that is found in most big newspaper organizations called the Legal Department who are in charge of all legal matters. Some big newspaper establishments also have departments such as Human Resource, Marketing and even IT departments”. Mrs Richards, an English teacher of the school said that the school had a Press club and it was imperative for the pupils to see first-hand how the media house works and is being run. “Most of our pupils have the ambition to become Journalists, Lawyers and Doctors. By coming here today, the pupils will have a wide range of options to decide if they want to be Journalists or opt for other disciplines. And after all said and done, one of the pupil, Ogechukwu Nwabueze an SS2 student said after the excursion, she would like to become a journalist. Adeniji Temitope Elizabeth, an SS 3 student says though she wants to be a Lawyer, the excursion has afforded her the opportunity to know that the art of Journalism is not an easy, hence Journalists should be much appreciated and respected. “Government should henceforth not treat the media with kiuds glove because they play a very important role in democracy and development”, she warned.

enate yesterday, rescheduled the screening and confirmation of the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr Ibrahim Magu to December 15. Deputy Leader of the Senate, Bala N’allah, made this known while addressing newsmen yesterday in Abuja. He said the postponement of the exercise from December 8 to December 15 became necessary to allow for a full house to convene. According to him, lawmakers who traveled out of Abuja for official assignments requested the postponement pending their arrival to enable them participate in the confirmation process. “The Senate is normally guided by the time frame of the work. We agreed that today (yesterday) will be the confirmation of the EFCC Acting Chairman, Ibrahim Magu. “But we received a lot of calls from senators who are away, who want to participate. “When we looked at the demand and the number, we felt it will be wrong for us to proceed, disregarding those calls. “We decided to fix it for Tuesday but we were not sure if the President will declare Tuesday as public holiday, so we agreed to fix it for Thursday.

“We have since written an official letter to the acting chairman fixing Thursday as the day for the confirmation hearing of his appointment,” he said. On why Magu’s confirmation had lingered for more than five months, N’allah said the senate had other matters of priority to attend to. “Anybody who is familiar with the normal procedure of governance would have known that there are certain procedures that need to be taken for candidates to be confirmed. “Whatever we do is always subject to interpretation but what is important is that a date has been fixed,” he said. It would be recalled that the Presidency had in July written the Senate, seeking the screening and confirmation of Magu as substantive chairman of the commission. President Muhammadu Buhari had appointed Magu as acting chairman of EFCC after the removal of Ibrahim Lamorde on November 9, 2015. Before his appointment, Magu was the Head of Economic Governance Unit of the commission. If confirmed, Magu will be the fourth head of the anti-graft agency, after Nuhu Ribadu, Farida Waziri and Ibrahim Lamorde.

Reps move to impose time limit on ministers’ nomination

ouse of Representatives yesterday passed for second reading a bill that nomination for appointment of ministers should not be later than 30 days from when the president takes oath of office. The bill also seeks to provide that nomination for appointment of commissioners shall be made not later than 30 days from the date a governor is sworn in. Presenting the bill, Rep. Solomon Adaelu (PDP-Abia), said the need to ensure improved efficiency in governance prompted the amendment bill which sought to alter sections 147 and 192. According him, sections 147 and 192 of the constitution are not explicit as to when the president or governors are to make nominations for appointment of ministers and commissioners. “Consequently, it is feasible and practically necessary to impose a constitutional time limit for a president to present nominated ministers and their portfolios to the senate.

“Preferably, 30 days time limit after swearing in will be ideal as it provides sufficient time for the president to settle down into governance and carry out final vetting of his nominations. “And also ensure that the running of governance is not necessarily delayed or held up by the absence of ministers to run the various government departments,” Adaelu said. He emphasised that experience from other developed countries revealed that the chief executive already had clear nomination list prior to swearing in. “And this is forwarded to the parliament within a short time of inauguration. “This practice should be constitutionally mandated in Nigeria to improve the efficiency of governance upon a change in government. “The experience of 2015 whereby it took almost four months after swearing in for the president to forward nominated names to the legislature resulted in a serious setback for governance.

Editorial

Friday, December 9, 2016

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

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The NYSC scheme today

t does seem the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) project is in dire straits, considering the conflicting signals streaming from its supervising ministry and the leadership of the scheme since January this year. Early in January, for example, the Minister of Youths’ Development and Sports, Mr. Solomon Dalong, defended Federal Government’s refusal to scrap the scheme despite strident calls to that effect. Dalong said the FG planned to include skill acquisition and entrepreneurial training, back by a token start-up capital that would assist graduating youth corps members establish small businesses of their own, to reduce the pangs of poverty. By April, reports said the FG might increase the allowances of NYSC members. But early this month (October 2016), unconfirmed reports screamed that youth corps members’ allowance had been slashed by 25% from N19,800 per month to N14,800. But the NYSC quickly refuted the report. Presently, the leadership of the scheme is battling with a leaked internal memo indicating that it instructed universities to cut the number of prospective corps members for the 2016 Batch ‘B’ orientation course by 67 percent, leaving only 33 per cent to participate. Stakeholders - university administrators and students, etc., - are

averse to the directive, while the House of Representatives is investigating same. The NYSC says the cut is still at the consideration stage. It may be well said, therefore, that the task of effectively tackling the mandate for which it was set up is gradually overwhelming the NYSC, perhaps for the lack of adequate funding and other logistics’ deficit. The argument in recent years has been that the NYSC has outlived its usefulness. Established through the NYSC Decree No. 24 of 22nd May, 1973, to facilitate the realisation of the reconstruction, reconciliation and rehabilitation (three Rs) project of General Yakubu Gowon’s military regime after the 1967-1970 Nigerian Civil war, the NYSC was specifically created to encourage and develop common ties among the country’s diverse youths, with a view to promoting national unity. It originally appeared a veritable key for unlocking sustainable unity and development in the country. We are, however, no long persuaded by that optimism. The scheme was most beneficial to the country by way of educating the youths and leaders of tomorrow on the strengths, weaknesses and challenges the country faced in the course of nation building, which the interstate posting of youth corps members promoted in the beginning. Inter-ethnic marriag-

The NYSC is no longer a sacred integrative tool for the nation es between corps members also assisted in fostering national cohesion. But events of recent years have provided incontrovertible evidence that demands a constructive re-evaluation of the relevance of the NYSC. Its social and political usefulness are very much in dispute in Nigeria of today. Even with the scheme in place, excessive greed and gluttony, ethnic and religious intolerance, selfishness and lip service to peaceful coexistence are rife nationwide. The terrible collateral damages corps members and the scheme suffered during the April 2011 general elections with the cold-blooded murder of about 10 youth corps members in Bauchi State may be cited. Likewise the revelations, in 2012, that some youth corps members posted to the National Assembly were reduced to ‘tea boys and girls’, a development that also interrogated the usefulness of the scheme. Youth corps members suffer mass rejection by institutions and organizations meant to serve as hosts for their primary assignments, too, while some of them are subjected to heartless exploitation by hunters for

ON THIS DAY December 9, 1979 The eradication of the smallpox virus was certified, making smallpox the first, and to date, only human disease driven to extinction. Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, derived from varius (“spotted”) or varus (“pimple”). The disease was originally known in English as the “pox” or “red plague”.

Letters tothe theEditor Editor Letters to

December 9, 2008 The Governor of Illinois, United States, Rod Blagojevich, was arrested by federal officials for a number of crimes, including attempting to sell the Senate seat being vacated by the then President-elect, Barack Obama. He was a State Representative before being elected to the US House of Representatives representing parts of Chicago. In March 2012, began serving a 14-year jail term in prison following his conviction for corruption.

cheap labour, whether public or private institutions, including Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs). The scheme’s mangers are also constrained by intense lobby for favourable postings and strike-induced epileptic academic calendars of tertiary institutions, among others. Some youth corps members, after rendering dedicated service to their hosts, with the hope of being retained on the job after the service year, are discriminated against and kicked out on ethnic, religious or other unjustifiable grounds, et cetera. While we agree with the reasons that gave rise to the setting up of the NYSC in 1973, there seems to be a gradual but steady erosion of the sensitive exigencies that necessitated its establishment. The scheme has suffered reverses emanating from the warped perceptions of Nigeria’s political and religious elite that prefer the elevation of parochialism and ethnic goals to frightening levels. The NYSC is no longer a sacred integrative tool for the nation. Therefore, the suggestion is strongly made and unequivocally, too, that the scheme be scrapped or made optional, especially against the backdrop of plummeting national revenue. We insist that the FG should concentrate more on how best to create jobs for fresh and unemployed graduates.

x December 9, 2013 At least seven people lost their lives and 63 others injured following a train accident near Bintaro, Indonesia. The Bintaro rail accident occurred in Jakarta, Indonesia when a train crashed into a Pertamina gasoline tanker at a railroad crossing in Bintaro, causing one female-only carriage to overturn and burst into flames leading to the said deaths and the scores left with injuries.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

South West

Friday, December 9, 2016

S/West govs lament dwindling fortunes of Odu’a conglomerate Kemi Olaitan IBADAN

outh West governors, Thursday in Ibadan, bemoaned the dwindling fortunes of Odu’a Investment Company Limited. The governors, from Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Ekiti and Lagos states, also resolved to as a matter of urgency, set in motion a rejuvenation agenda to re-invigorate the business empire into a global conglomerate. It was on the occasion of the 40th anniversary commemorative lecture and awards presentation to the three founding military governors of the conglomerate, namely Major-General David Medaiyese Jemibewon (rtd), Group Captain Ita David Ikpeme (rtd) and Major-General Saidu Ayodele Balogun (rtd), under whose tenure in 1976 the idea was conceptualised. The Yoruba governors, speaking one after the other at the event held at the Premier Hotel, Ibadan, lamented that some of the hitherto prosperous subsidiaries of the Odu’a Investment, including Nigeria Wire and Cable Plc, Lafia Canning Industry, Epe Plywood Limited, Sungas Limited and Odu’a Telecoms Limited (O’Net),

among others, are presently in comatose. Oyo State was represented at the occasion by Governor Abiola Ajimobi while Secretary to the State Government, SSG, of Lagos, Osun and Ogun states stood in for their respective governors. Ekiti and Ondo states were represented by permanent secretaries. The event was attended by prominent personalities, including captains of industries, clerics, traditional rulers, academia, students from tertiary and secondary schools and corporate bodies among others. Ajimobi lamented the deteriorating state of the conglomerate which he blamed partly on the loss of the value system by stakeholders. He said: “The problems we are having now is that we have left many things we ought to do undone. We are only celebrating survival today as this is not the level the Conglomerate ought to be. Our value system is gone. Our value system must be rejuvenated. Odu’a Investment must be re-invigorated.” Representatives of the other state governments spoke in the same vein and called for massive investment in other sectors of the economy, particularly hi-

LASG to roll out “Lake Rice’’ at N13,000 on Dec. 15

agos State Government Thursday said it was ready to roll out Lake Rice on December 15 to Lagosians at N13,000 per 50 kg towards the Yuletide celebrations. Special Adviser on Food Security to Governor Akinwumi Ambode, Mr. Sanni Okanlawon, made the disclosure in Lagos during the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI, National Agriculture Stakeholders Summit. Okanlawon said that sales of the rice would be made at all the 57 Local Government Areas, LGAs, and Local Council Development Areas, LCDAs, in the state to ensure proper distribution. “Lake Rice is the acronym of both Lagos and Kebbi States joint product which will be out to the public on December 15 at the rate of N13,000 per 50kg bag as it is already subsi-

dised by the government. “To make it more available, the rice will be sold at the 57 LGAs and LCDAs for easy accessibility and to guard against unwanted persons diverting the product. “The state government has put in place a committee that will ensure that Lagosians have the best Christmas celebration, that is why we are offering the wholesome and well packaged rice,” Okanlawon said. The special adviser also said that the state had established a Department of Agribusiness, an Agriculture Trust Fund and Commodity Exchange Market to be set up soon. News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reports that the government’s efforts were in alignment with the Federal Government’s diversification drive from a monoeconomy to agriculture.

tech agriculture in which the teeming unemployed youth from the geo-political zone could be gainfully absorbed. Guest lecturer, Prof. Wale Omole, while delivering the commemorative lecture titled, “Reinvigorating Odu’a Group into a Global Conglomerate”, urged the stakeholders to see the pres-

ent challenges as call to duty and map out positive strategies to move the conglomerate forward. The former Vice Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU,, Ile-Ife picked loopholes in the present management of the conglomerate, some of which he identified as absence of

audit committees that would have ensured transparency in the day to day administration, absence of Finance and General Purpose Committees as well as absence of Strategic Planning unit that would have been saddled with the future of the group. Nigeria’s former Ambassador to the United King-

dom, Dr. Christopher Kolade, who presided over the event paid glowing tributes to the founding fathers of the conglomerate and charged the present helmsmen as well as other stakeholders to do everything humanly possible to re-write the dwindling fortunes of the investment company, for posterity.

L-R: Former Military Administrator who founded Odua Investment Limited, Maj.-Gen. Saidu Balogun (Ogun); Group Capt. Ita Ikpeme (Old Ondo) and retired Maj.-Gen. David Jemibewon (Oyo), at a public lecture to mark the 40th anniversary of Odua Investment in Ibadan, yesterday. PHOTO: BODE-ARE YINKA/BJO/NAN

Corpse of dead Corps member may be exhumed for autopsy Rotimi Fadeyi ABUJA

ndications emerged Thursday that the corpse of a female member of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, Miss Ifedolapo Oladepo, who died at the Kano orientation camp, may be exhumed for an autopsy. Speaking with State House correspondents, Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung said an independent investigation would require an

autopsy, President Muhammadu Buhari had on Wednesday ordered an independent investigation to unravel the circumstances of Oladepo’s death. Oladepo was one of three corps members, who lost their lives during the 2016 Batch ‘B’ Orientation Programme across the country. Others are Chinyerum Nwenenda Elechi and Monday Asuquo Ukeme, who were posted to Bayelsa and Zamfara states respectively.

Dalung disclosed that though the report earlier given by the NYSC was normal, the investigation ordered by the President would require an autopsy of the dead corps member, who had already been buried. He said: “After that investigation, they must present their own report on what happened. But in view of the fact that there are many versions of what led to the death of the NYSC member, it would be fair to look at another version of what happened to be sure of

what actually transpired. “It doesn’t have to do with not trusting the process; but to gauge the report alongside other opinion, then, we will now be able to tell Nigerians that this is the circumstance on how she died. “Don’t forget that the report of the NYSC has no autopsy and an independent investigation will require an autopsy and now the autopsy alongside the report will balance and it will fortify the conclusion the government will make.”

Businessman sues bank, demands N36.8m

Lagos High Court, sitting in Badagry Judicial Division, has fixed 25 January, 2017, for further direction in the hearing of trial of an alleged claim of fraud committed by United Bank for Africa, UBA, against a Lagos businessman and Chairman, L.I. Ayomumoye Nigeria Limited, Alhaji Lasisi Ishola Ayomumoye. The claimant, through his counsel, RouQ and Company, is claiming N36,850,000 as cost of demolition of pres-

ent structure and erecting thereon the original structure, which was demolished by UBA without consent or authorisation of the owner/ claimant. In the alternative, the businessman is demanding N24m, being cost of restructuring the present building to a multi-purpose building, similar to that of the claimant. In a statement of claim filed by his counsel, the claimant said a deed of sublease, which commenced

from 1st October 2006, was breached by UBA on his building situated at Plot 15, Aina Layout, Lagos Abeokuta Road, Dopemu, Lagos State. According to Alhaji Ayomumoye, UBA, contrary to the deed of sub-lease, wholly demolished the property and erected a new structure, which is a single-purpose design of the bank, without the claimant’s consent or approval. Upon the discovery of the breach, the claimant wrote

several letters to the bank, notifying it of the breach of covenant of the deed of sublease and requesting for compensation, which the bank ignored. The claimant said the bank, in 2008, surreptitiously registered a forged deed of sub-lease, purporting same to be the one executed by him, adding that the document fraudulently registered by the bank on the property was fundamentally different from that which was executed by both parties in 2006.

South West

Friday, December 9, 2016

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

How SCOAN members prevented LASEMA access to collapsed site –Witness Ayodele Olalere

prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of the trustees of Synagogue Church of All Nations, SCOAN, Thursday narrated before Justice Lateef Lawal-Akapo of a Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja, how some members of the church prevented him and other rescued team from gaining access to the collapsed guest house owned by the church. Some 116 worshippers, majority of whom were foreigners were killed in 2014 when the guest house collapsed. The trustees of the church and the engineers that constructed the guest house were eventually charged before the court

following a coroner’s inquest. While being led in evidence by lawyer to the Lagos State government, Idowu Alakija, the fourth prosecution witness, Adesola Kabir, who is the Liaison Officer to the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA, told the court that there was a serious argument between his team and SCOAN’s security operatives who prevented them from assessing the collapsed site. He said the argument lasted for almost 20 minutes before access could be given for them to go in. “We had some challenges from members of the church because they did not want us to get to the scene of the collapsed guest house.

A LASEMA camera was even smashed when we attempted to take photo shots. But at night when the church members had left, we were able to work more,” he said. He added that it took the intervention of the

then governor, Babatunde Fashola, who visited the scene before they were allowed to operate freely. The trustees, alongside two engineers; Messrs. Oladele Ogundeji and Akinbela Fatiregun

and their companies, Hardrock Construction and Engineering Company and Jandy Trust Limited are facing 111-count charge over their alleged involvement in the collapsed building.

They were charged on criminal negligence, manslaughter and failure to obtain building permit. Continuation of trial on the matter has been adjourned to December 15, 2016.

Water rates: Lagos alerts on fraudulent water bill collectors Francis Suberu

agos State government has raised alarm in respect of some fraudulent water bill collectors now collecting water bills illegally in the state. Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, who disclosed this in a statement issued by the government to clarify the controversy surrounding the collection of all water abstraction related revenues Thursday, said at no time did the state government authorise any consultant to collect such revenues on its behalf. The Concerned Members of Association of Water Producers of Lagos State had on Monday published a petition in a national daily, alleging harassment, intimidation and financial deprivation, among others by the State Water Regulatory Commission and the Association of Table Water Producers of Lagos State, calling on Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to look into the matter. Ayorinde said investigation into the petition revealed that some commercial, industrial consumers of Lagos State’s water resources under the aegis of the Lagos State chapter of the Association of Table

Water Producers of Nigeria, ATWAP, have been making payments due in respect of fees chargeable on their water production, packaging operations into a bank account not authorised by the state government. The commissioner maintained that however well-intentioned the association’s recourse to the use of a consultant in facilitating the payment of government revenue by its members might be, it remained a procedural error, which according to him, must be discontinued with immediate effect.

Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun (4th left) and Chief Judge of the state, Justice Olatokunbo Olopade (right) after the swearing in of Mr. John Olatokunbo (3rd left), Mrs. Abiodun Adesola Shobayo (2nd right) and Mrs. Eniola Adejare Fabamwo (2nd left) as new judges into the Ogun State Judiciary at the Executive Council chamber, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, yesterday.

Aregbesola followed CBN guidelines in bailout disbursement -Banks Boladale Bamigbola OSOGBO

abour unions and recipient banks of the N34.5 billion bailout funds given to Osun State gover nment,T hursday said the state governor, Rauf Aregbesola, used the fund exclusively for payment of arrears of salaries and allowances in

line with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s, CBN’s, guidelines and directives. Chairman, House Committee on Information and Strategy, Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, in a statement obtained in Osogbo, disclosed that representatives of the banks, Adebayo Yakub (First Bank), Musbau Oyeniran (Wema Bank) and Ola Adedeji

Lagos raises hope of physically-challenged students Tunbosun Ogundare

ife of Lagos State governor, Mrs. Bolanle Ambode, said the state government would continue to promote the wellbeing and development of physically challenged persons, especially students in the state irrespective of their tribes and social status. She also called on people of the state to desist from discriminating against these set of people who include visually and hearing-impaired and mentally-retarded persons, among others. She stated this at a forum put together by the state Ministry of Educa-

tion to mark this year’s International Day for Persons Living with Disabilities held in Ikeja. Speaking on the theme of the forum, ‘Achieving 17 goals for the future we want,’ Mrs. Ambode said persons with disabilities were integral part of the society and should be recognised and treated like able body counterparts. She said these set of people deserve to be provided with an enabling environment that could help them achieve their full potentials in their lawful engagements. Represented at the occasion by the tutor General\ Permanent Secretary, Education District Five, Mrs. Anike Adekanye, the first

lady said she was sure that given the necessary encouragement and conducive environment, the physically challenged would contribute meaningfully to the socio-economic development of the country. In her remark, deputy governor, Dr. Idiat Adebule, declared that, though, more than half of the17 UN Sustainable Development Goals had direct impact on people living with disabilities, the state government had been pursuing the goals long before it was adoption last year. She however appealed to well-meaning people in the state, especially the rich to help students with special needs in their various schools and units.

(Zenith Bank) - and labour leaders made the declaration while testifying before the state House of Assembly during probing into the concessionary loan, popularly referred to as bailout fund at a special plenary on Wednesday. Accountant-General of the state, Akintayo Kolawole and labour leaders, claimed pension arrears were not captured in the bailout fund but Governor Aregbesola, in his magnanimity and in agreement with labour decided that the pensioners, having served the state diligently, must be included in the disbursement of the fund. It would be recalled that the state Assembly had directed some government officials, labour unions and relevant organisations to appear before it for the probe of the fund given to state by the Federal Government, following a motion by one of the lawmakers, calling for the probe of the fund. The probe was to commence on Wednesday, but the protest by the retirees, who stormed the assembly, stalled the exercise. According to the statement, representatives of

the three banks involved told the Osun legislators that, “we can confirm that we followed the CBN guidelines in the way and manner the bailout loan was disbursed. All the payment we made on the bailout fund was for salaries, allowances and pensions. “The figures shown by the accountant general and permanent secretary, Local Government Affairs, were correct. We can also confirm that the balance shown is the balance in the banks.” Chairman, Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Jacob Adekomi, and his counterparts from the Joint Negotiation Council, JNC, Bayo Adejumo, Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE, and Nigeria Union of Teacher, NUT, Wakeel Amuda, according to the statement, also confirmed that they monitored the fund and found that it was used for salaries, allowances and pensions. They claimed labour unions and the state government agreed on how to spend the bailout fund and that the state government respected the agreement by spending the fund in line with the CBN guidelines.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

South East

Friday, December 9, 2016

Recession: US-based expert cautions accountants against fraudulent, compromised audit Emmanuel Ezeh ENUGU

s Nigeria battles to get out of the current economic challenges, a United Statesbased renowned quality control reviewer/peer reviewer, Mr. Samson Tunde Afolabi, last weekend, urged practitioners in Nigeria to guard against any form of compromise in their audit reports. Mr. Afolabi spoke to journalists after delivering a paper on ‘Quality Control System/Peer Review Programme,’ at the Mandatory Professional Practitioners’ Forum of the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria, ANAN, in Enugu. He said any form of compromise on the part of accountants was dangerous

to people’s investments, stakeholders and the integrity of the profession. He, therefore, tasked the ANAN leadership to effectively monitor its members’ activities to ensure that they do not go against its established quality control, policies and procedures. On corruption and compromise by accountants, Afolabi cautioned that such sharp practices had the long term consequence of sinking people’s investments and eroding public confidence in the profession. According to him, “when a client engages you, definitely you want to do the work for the client, but you have to bear in mind that you are also working for other people, the end users and the public.

“For instance, if the organisation is a public establishment that people invested money in, your responsibility there is split; you have to make sure that you bear in mind what is at stake for those people who have invested in that organisation as well as your client; there is nothing wrong with that, but not that your client saying we are going to defraud them and you agree with him; that is wrong and lacks professionalism. “You must bear in mind

that all the users - those people that you think might rely on that report, like the banks, shareholders, whoever can rely on the report - you have to take their own issue into consideration; you have to do that, and not bend to the persons who engaged you to perform the audit. In the first place, if it is a public company, the person who indirectly engaged you is the stakeholders and the investors.” Mr. Afolabi had while presenting his paper urged

accountants to always ensure that their work conforms with professional standards set by the accounting body. He identified the key elements of quality control as “leadership responsibility, relevant ethical requirements, acceptance of clients and continuance engagement of relationships, human resources, engagement performance and monitoring processes.” While identifying investors, users, the public and employees as victims

of fraudulent accounting practices and fraudulent financial reporting, he stressed that quality control reduces “audit risks, prevents audit failure and malpractices that may lead to fraudulent financial statements.” Earlier, president of ANAN, Mr. Anthony Chukwuemeka, had stated that the professional group was committed to maintaining international standards, stressing that it would not hesitate to punish any member found wanting.

Court orders arrest of perm sec, director over Iheanacho’s property Chris Njoku OWERRI

Federal High Court sitting in Owerri presided over by Justice Louis Alagua Thursday issued a warrant of arrest against the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Works, Dr. Chibuzor Iwuagwu and the Director Of Works (Civil) in the ministry, Engr. C.E. Ebuka, over their continued refusal to appear before it in respect of a suit filed by ex-interior minister, Captain Emma Iheanacho over the destruction of his property in Owerri. This followed an application to the court by the lead counsel to Captain Iheanacho, Ken Njemanze (SAN) that some designated government officials be committed to prison for failure to honour court invitation which they were duly served. Justice Alagua who recalled the genesis of the legal battle at stake, said the action became inevitable to protect the integrity of the court and the law, stressing that actions loaded with impunity if allowed to endure would rubbish the integrity and credibility of the judiciary. He therefore ordered the police to affect the arrest of the said top government officials without delay while

adjourning the case to January 30, 2017. Njemanze had earlier in his submissions decried the continued brazen and utter disregard of court orders in respect of the suit filed by his client challenging the legality of the destruction of his property by agents of the state government “My Lord, we were here on the 14th of last month (November) and immediately we left the court, the first and seventh defendants and the people we are trying to send to prison went back, brazenly and inpunitively destroyed the property in question, thereby telling rest of the world that they are above the law and that the court could do nothing about this,” he told the court. Alleging deliberate plan to frustrate the case by the defendant, Njemanze pleaded that the full weight of the law be visited on them. However in her defence, assistance director (Civil litigation), Imo State Ministry of Justice, Mrs. A.C. Ibeh, averred that the state government had earlier filed a motion of appeal, challenging the court as regards the contents of the civil matter and the entire suit, even as it had equally filed a motion of stay of proceeding and that of stay of orders.

L-R: Manager, High Value Prepaid and Postpaid, Saheed Woods-Alli; Director, Enterprise Business, Tawa Bolarin and Assistant Manager, CSR, Chioma Okolie, all of Airtel Nigeria, during the Airtel & Lagos State AIDS Control Agency (LSACA) HIV/AIDS awareness outreach in Ilaje community in Lagos, yesterday.

VC applauds Buhari for effective management of nation’s economy Aliuna Godwin ABAKALIKI

ice chancellor of the Federal University, Ndufu Alike Ikwo, FUNAI, Prof. Chinedum Nwajiuba. ++Thursday applauded President Muhammadu Buhari for what he called effective management of the nation’s economy

since he came into power. Prof. Nwajiuba who made this known while briefing journalists in Abakaliki to mark the first convocation of the varsity since its establishment in 2012, said there is quality teaching and learning in the university which according to him has made it to have an edge over other universities in the country.

He stated that the university produced over 124 graduates in August this year who are currently doing their NYSC in various states of the federation, stressing that the convocation is scheduled to hold on December 21, 2016. “This is our maiden convocation ceremony; this university in the past four years has painstakingly

Igbo desperate for peace in Nigeria —Ikpeazu

overnor Ikezie Ikpeazu of Abia State said if there is any group of people in Nigeria in need of peace, it is the Igbo, who are found in all parts of the country doing business. Ikpeazu made the remark when he received the Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai, who paid him a courtesy call. According to Ikpeazu, the Igbo are desperate for peace in Nigeria. He said the people of

the state would continue to support President Muhammadu Buhari in his efforts to move the nation forward. The governor, who donated two Hilux vehicles to support the army operation in the state, commended the military for degrading and decimating Boko Haram terrorists in the North East. He also commended the army for curbing violent crimes in the state, as well as pipeline vandalism. Earlier, Buratai had in-

formed the governor of the ongoing ‘Exercise Python Dance’ in the South East, explaining that it was meant to train troops on internal security. He further explained the exercise in addition to other exercises and operations going on across the nation were aimed at ensuring security, safety and peace for the unity of the country to enable the citizenry go about their lawful businesses peacefully.

trained these graduands and found them worthy in character and learning. “There are 124 of them of which 15 made first class; 75 second class upper, and 34 second class lower honours degrees,” he noted. Prof. Nwajiuba added that there would be convocation lecture which would be delivered by the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, on the topic, ‘Pioneering and Pioneers: the search for self-sufficiency.’ In a related development, Nwajiuba said there was no much cult activities going on in the university as witnessed in some other universities in the country, stressing that he has been able to overcome the challenges facing the school which range from providing infrastructure to other aids to learning.

South South

Friday, December 9, 2016

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Millions of naira burnt to ashes as bullion vans crash in Edo Isesele Ezekiel BENIN

o fewer than two bullion vans suspected to have been loaded with cash

Thursday burnt to ashes following a head-on collision with a tanker conveying petroleum product. Several other vehicles were said to have rammed into the colli-

FG on mission to rescue Rivers - Oyegun

...if they snatch result sheets, snatch them from them - Amaechi Dennis Naku

PORT HARCOURT

ational chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, declared Thursday that the Federal Government is on a wellprogrammed mission to rescue Rivers State. Oyegun, a former governor of Edo State, spoke at the APC mega rally in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital Thursday to conclude its campaign efforts for the legislative re-run elections slated for Saturday, December 10, 2016. He said: “The December 10, legislative re-run symbolises our mission to rescue the people of Rivers State from an oppressive regime. “The entire national leadership of the party is here. President Muhammadu Buhari is with the people of Rivers State. We have heard your cry; we feel your pain; we are pained by your anguish. “Enough is enough. All we ask of you is to come out on Saturday, December 10, and vote for all APC candidates. “The APC Federal Government is poised on rescuing Rivers State. And Rivers State will be rescued. I am happy with what I have heard you say today. If they push you, push them. If they slap you, slap them. Don’t be afraid. Don’t let anyone intimidate you. “The Federal Government has provided enough security to ensure a peaceful election.” Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, who spoke before the national chairman described the legislative re-run poll as “the election of our lives.” Amaechi further said: “I have not spoken to you people like this before. Don’t kill anybody, but

also make sure you are not killed. If they snatch a result sheet, snatch it back from them. “My friend in the army told me that if you hear the sound of a gunshot, it is not meant for you. Let them know that they are not the only ones that have right to their lives. We all have a right to our lives. So, this election is the election of our lives. The Federal Government have provided enough security; so, come out and vote for APC candidates.” Plateau State governor, Simon Lalung, who also spoke at the rally assured APC supporters that no aggrieved candidate would approach the tribunal after the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, would have announced the final results. He stated: “The APC have come back to its winning ways. We did it in Kogi State. We did it in Edo State. We did it in Ondo State. We will do it, too, in Rivers State. Just come to vote massively for the APC so that we can take back Rivers State from electoral robbers.”

sion which occurred .at Abudu, Orhionmwon Local Government Area of Edo State. The ever-busy AsabaBenin expressway, according to eyes witness, recorded heavy vehicular traffic for hours as a result of the fire incident caused by the collision while the millions of Naira inside the bullion vans

went up in flame. Meanwhile upcoming vehicles were compelled to covert the dual carriage Benin-Asaba-Onitsha road to a single lane. Confirming the incident, Edo State Sector Commandant, Federal Road Safety Corp, Samuel Olukoya, said he was not aware of any burnt bullion van, adding that

a truck and a vehicle were involved in the incident that caught fire while the number of casualties are yet to be ascertained. “Bullion van did not catch fire, after the accident; an oncoming truck which refused to stop when flagged down rammed into parked vehicles, somersaulted and caught fire,” he said.

Don’t approve Oshiomhole’s pension - PPA tells Obaseki Isesele Ezekiel BENIN

eadership of the Progressive Peoples Alliance, PPA, Edo State, has urged the state governor, Godwin Obaseki, not to assent to the pension bill recently amended by members of the state House of

Assembly which allocated N200 million and N100 million worth of residential buildings as pension benefits for former Governor Adams Oshiomhole and his deputy, Pius Odubu, respectively. In a communiqué issued at the end of its executive meeting in Benin City,

signed by the state chairman of the party, Dave Esokpunwu, and secretary, Jide Ibrahim, the party said the sumptuous packages being offered ex-governors and their deputies would further worsen the hardship stirring the people in the face in the current economic recession. The party posited that the

Dickson warns herdsmen against bearing arms, invasion of farmlands

ayelsa State government Thursday restricted the activities of herdsmen in the state to the Bayelsa Palm area in a bid to prevent the invasion of farmlands and check any security breach. Governor Dickson, who issued the restriction order in a live radio and television interview in Yenagoa, said the measure became imperative in view of the recent upsurge in violence, and criminal activities of cattle rearers in some parts of the country. Also, the governor

He said the sector immediately deployed its men to the scene of the incident and that the fire was put off with the help of men of the fire service. Also, Edo State police commissioner, Haliru Gwandu, said he was aware of the accident but that no bullion van was not involved.

warned cattle rearers against bearing arms in the course of grazing their livestock, threatening that, anyone caught with weapons would be dealt with in accordance with the law. He said the government has been collaborating with security agencies and leaders of cattle rearers in the state, with a view to opening up designated ranches for their operations. Shedding more light on the critical components of the 2017 budget, Governor Dickson noted that, though, the

estimate is higher than that of the previous year, government would adopt various methodologies to shore up its revenue base through the collection of appropriate levies such as personal income, property and consumption taxes. As part of efforts to ensure effective implementation of the budget, he said mechanisms were being re-designed to block all leakages and wastages by operating a single account where all state revenues would be channeled. On rural development, he noted that govern-

ment would commit part of the budget to address critical needs of the rural areas, pointing out that every ward would benefit, at least a health centre, in the coming year. Also, as part of plans to re-position the public service to enhance productivity, Governor Dickson said hard times await absentee workers while employment opportunities would be created for qualified Bayelsans in the areas of medicine, pharmacy, laboratory science technologists, quantity surveyors and other careers.

entire amendment is targeted at upgrading the living standard and boosting the ostentatious life style of privileged individuals when pensioners and other state workers are starving to death due to non-payment of gratuities and pensions. The party also urged the people of the state to continuously demand the repeal of the bill and called on the former governor and other beneficiaries of the bill to reject the package. “Where such funds are available, it should be channeled into paying pensioners, councils staff, academic and non-academic staff of state owned tertiary institutions,’’ the communiqué read in part. The party however commended the people of the state for the peaceful conduct of the September 28 governorship election. It said: “While we respect the choice (Obaseki) you have made during the poll, we intend to engage in constructive criticism of the actions and inactions of government aimed at ensuring good governance in the state.”

Friday, December 9, 2016

State, Lgs joint account is evil —Dogara

Pg16

Osun follows CBN guideline in disbursing bailout –Banks, Labour

abour unions and recipient Banks of the N34.5 billion bailout funds given to Osun State government have declared that the fund was exclusively used for payment of arrears of salaries, allowances in line with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN’s) guidelines and directives. In a statement by the

Chairman, House Committee on Information and Strategy, Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, the representatives of the banks, Adebayo Yakub (First Bank), Musbau Oyeniran (Wema Bank) and Ola Adedeji (Zenith Bank) - and the labour leaders made the declaration while testifying before the State House of Assembly during the probing into the concessionary loan, popularly referred to

as bailout fund at a special plenary on Wednesday. This was as the Accountant-General of the State, Akintayo Kolawole and the labour leaders said, the pension arrears were not captured in the bailout fund but the Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, in his magnanimity and agreement with labour decided that the pensioners, having served the state diligently, must be included in the dis-

bursement of the fund. The Assembly had directed some government officials, labour unions and relevant organisations to appear before it for the probe of the fund given to state by the Federal Government, subject to a motion by one of the lawmakers, calling for the probing of the fund. According to the statement, the representatives of the three banks involved

told the Osun legislators that, “We can confirm that we followed the CBN guidelines in the way and manner the bailout loan was disbursed. All the payment we made on the bailout fund were for salaries, allowances and pensions. “The figures shown by the Accountant General and permanent secretary, Local Government affairs, were correct. We can also confirm that the balance shown are the balance figures in the banks.”

Also, the Chairman, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Jacob Adekomi and his counterparts from the Joint negotiation Council (JNC), Bayo Adejumo, Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGEE), and Nigeria Union of Teacher (NUT), Wakeel Amuda, according to the statement, confirmed that they monitored the fund and found that it was used for salary, allowances and pensions.

Social Responsibility: Political leaders must lead by example —Proprietress Boladale Bamigbola OSOGBO.

Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki in a handshake with the leader of delegation of the Planning Committee for the 2017 Armed Forces Remembrance Day celebration, Brigadier General Garba Sani Abdullahi. With them is the National President of the Nigerian Legion, Captian Micah Gayja (rtd) when the team decorated the Senate President with the 2017 Remembrance Day emblem in Abuja yesterday.

eople in positions of authority have been urged to lead by examples by deeply involving in development at their various communities, apart from their contributions through their positions. This was disclosed by the proprietress of Kunike International School, Osogbo, Mrs. Adekunle Olanike, when she led management and students of the school on community service. The management and

students of the school were seen as early as 7:am, filling bad portions along Osogbo/ Ilesa road with cement, the exercise she said was meant to instill spirit of patriotism in the students. Speaking to newsmen during the exercise, Adekunle, said by making the students to engage in such exercise, it would make them grow into responsible adult, who would protect public property and respect the country. According to her, the school has a standing philosophy of building future leaders through the culture of selflessness, and hard work.

Automation: Solution to tackle corruption, fraud in govt

agos State Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Akinyemi Ashade has revealed that automation is the right solution to tackle corruption and fraud in Government. He stated this Thursday while receiving members of an NGO, “Fight Against Corruption Organization” (FACO) led by Dr. Francis Shopekan, during a courtesy and felicitation visit. Ashade, opined that when the right processes and procedures are well in place, the issue of corruption will be a thing of the past and for it to be extinct, remuneration and incentives of Civil Servants need to be reappraised. He said the present

N18, 000 minimum wage structure requires a review that will commensurate with the economic situation of the Country. He said further that if Civil Servants have unhindered access to loans and other incentives that will cushion the economic situation,

the present leakages in the system will be radically dealt with. In his response on how the State government intends to tackle the issue of water wastages presently experienced within the state, he suggested that Government has to involve Public Private Partner-

ship (PPP) for control, regulation and ease of payment. He said funds required to serve every household with potable water is quite enormous for the government to source hence, the need to go into partnership with organizations who are willing to partner

with her. He said when people realise that certain things are paid for they will learn to curb their excesses’ and control the usages. In his remarks, Dr. Francis Shopekan, who is also the President of the Organization, thanked the Commis-

sioner for being able to attend to them despite his busy schedule; he also congratulated him on his new appointment as the Commissioner for Finance. Other members of the Organization present include Mr. Sylvanus Inegbenigie and Miss Akpa Perpetual.

Senator blames obsolete laws , policies for recession Abiodun Nejo ADO EKITI

hairman, Senate Committee on Trade and Investment, Senator Fatimat Raji-Rasaki has said that obsolete policies and legislations are responsible for the economic reces-

sion pummeling the country. Raji-Rasaki said the recession had greatly hampered investment in the country as investors did not see the country as a place for investment for now. The Senator (PDP Ekiti Central) spoke in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital

yesterday while empowering her constituents. The N100 million empowerment programme will climax today with distribution of empowerment and self-reliance items to constituents and artisans and as well distribution of buses to local government chapters of

National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE). Apart from relocation of investors from the country, she ascribed the nation’s poor economic state to outdated legislations and policies, which she said needed to “either be repealed or amended to

strengthen the economy. “The Senate is looking into all these obsolete laws. Some of them were promulgated in the 50’s and 60’s. We are reviewing them and those we thought should be amended or repealed are being critically looked into”, she said.

Politics

Friday, December 9, 2016

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Recession: Loan not only option available to Nigeria —Kaka

conversion of these grains into animal protein , how efficient are we doing it, are they available, is the well established animal industries collapsing direct in our face and we are saying, we are diversifying , diversifying into what . It is annoying, it is disturbing , we haven’t started and we are claiming glory for a race that we have not started . So loan must not just taking for taken sake and if it must be taken , it must be channeled to purposeful use- electricity, oil and gas , those are the engine room that can propel us . Then education, agriculture and of course solution to Niger Delta problems .

Senator Adegbenga Sefiu Kaka represented Ogun East in the 7th senate. He is also former Deputy Governor of Ogun State. In this interview with AYO ESAN, he speaks on current recession in the country and the plan by the Federal Government to take external loan among other issues of national importance. Excerpts:

here is recession in the country and government has been making efforts including diversification to agriculture to curtail the recession. What is your opinion about the government effort? Well it is true that the government has indicated its intention to diversify into agriculture, mineral resources, that is solid minerals among others. But the question is, are we going through it the right way, have we put in place necessary structures that will make meaningful diversification possible, bearing in mind that whichever diversification we want to do beyond buying and selling, there is a gestation period and we are talking of gestation period in the rhelm of medium term to long term not short term. So if the tenure of an administration is four years and we are talking of a gestation period of four to five years ,I think by now we should be seeing the template of structure and infrastructure that will enable those thing to materialize . And what do I mean by that? electricity, the energy that will be the engine room to propel those diversification. Then education which is also the bedrock of knowledge ,that will make adoption of various technology on agriculture, on mineral , that is solid mineral resources, exploration to be visible. I cannot see those ones in place right now, so we still have a long way to go.T the intention is good but the wherewithal to get it implemented , we need to laid a solid foundation for it. The president is also seeking thirty billion dollars loan as a way of cushion the effect of the recession, what is your opinion about that? Well, that may be because of all the infrastructure we are talking of, the foundation we are talking of requires money to be done.So if the claim that the money is not there is true then that loan may be a veritable option. But the question is , the society and economy that could not manage excess resources when the money was coming and the society is still remaining badly indiscipline, then to go and put head into such loan is like sentencing the unborn generation into several decades of servitude. So personally speaking, with the level of our indiscipline , until we discipline ourselves, until we become born again to put our neck on the balance of foreign loan will be suicidal to our existence. So one will expect that it is not only the loan option that is open to us, there are many other

Kaka options. Our economist should put on their thinking caps. The basic assumption that necessitated the ultimate procurement of loan is already changing with the emergence of Donald Trump in America and many likes of Trumps in Europe hangling to come into governance. I can assure you and I expect our economists to be able to decipher this that the situation in the Middle East, situation globally in the world are not going to be the same from next year. If in the event of situation been unsettled in the Middle East and the World, that is, the tension become heightened naturally it is going to favour Nigeria, our crude oil in both quantum and even pricing are bound to rebound, that is in the next one or two years things are going to change and is not going to necessitate the unwarranted taking of loan. So they ought to have think along that line, do away with the perpetual under budgeting we have been doing, let us be actively proactive and plan for an optimistic future, that one can help us. Then within internally all the wastages that have been our lots ranging from excessive overhead cost in form of recurrent we have not made strenuous effort to prune that area. We have been hearing that about twenty billion is been saved every month from ghost workers discovered much that it is commendable the question is, who inserted the ghost workers, who are the beneficiary of the ghost activities. We have not been able to apprehend one person, for sure we have people that administratively brought in the ghost workers, we the people who make payments to ghost workers, we have the Banks where the payment to ghost workers are lodged, then if we have been saving a whopping Twenty billion naira every month and nothing has been done and the same set of people, perpetrators still remain within the system, then this shows that the indiscipline and the unseriousness is very much with us. So all these loopholes have to be blocked. Then talking of refineries if we in this emergency situation and we still continue to say we are destroying illegal refineries in the Niger Delta running into thousands of illegal refineries, why

are we destroying them .If they are using local technology to make them, why don’t we encourage them to refine the system. If we cannot build our own refineries, encourage them, licence them, sell crude to them and make the activities legal, so that it wouldn’t be wastages for us. Farm settlement, plantation agriculture, let us lay the foundation , for preparation alone it will take one to two years in various locations. Let us guild those people that are going to do it train the people, that is why I mentioned education, train them on the technology that is most appropriate, let there be soil test, that is soil profiling that is you profile the soil across the country so that the comparative ecological advantage of the various zones will be tapped to the maximum, so that our people will not just be saying we are diversifying, we are working when we are not getting optimal production. Then beyond that, I think it was recently they were talking about our grains, about fifteen thousand tones of grains been exported and then we are begging the leadership , traditional and religious to prevail on people doing their business not to do the business and yet we are the ones saying we are part of the global system, we are the one encouraging free economy, then what a paradox. So rather than appealing to those people that has got the business, the question is for us to do what is right, if in the past thirty years we have been building silos across the thirty six states of the federation and the silos are there empty and this is harvest season , August to December and we are saying we are appealing to the traditional and religious leaders what concern them about the business of commodity business, then who are those people transporting the maize outside the country, are they genuine businessmen or pseudo investors. So right now the animal industry is collapsing because the maize are not available, we have not done enough work as part of what I mentioned to say that, one, where is our statistical data, how many mouths do we have to feed ?what is our current population? then from that mouth we have to feed what is the number of human population that requires grain and what quantum of grain, then what is the

Some people suggest that the Niger-Delta crisis and crisis in other regions such as Boko Haram insurgency in the north can only be solved by restructuring of the country . There is a renewed call for restructuring of the country now, what is your take on this? My dear brother, only yesterday , the 19 northern state governors designed an MOU with the General Electric to generate 500 megawatts of solar power energy . That is part of restructuring we are saying .If they have now woken up to discover they have to do that , then why don’t you made necessary amendment in our electricity generation and distribution bill and makes it more liberal for states and individuals to generate and distribute electricity . If I decided that my local government has the capability to generate electricity and I am going to make use of it , it is not compulsory that we must go to the national grid . We have seen the security situation, we have been facing with the Niger Delta militants, with Boko Haram, I can tell you during NADECO days we were nearly confronted with similar situation in the South West especially in Lagos . But our leaders in the South West, they showed their resilience, they put intelligence in place . All those agitators that were targeting investment of non-indigenes like Ibru, Dangote , our leaders fished them out and called them , educated them on the reason why they must not destroy that investment , that it is the glory of the South West, it is the glory of the people that invested . It doesn’t matter where they come from but that the investment is there in the South West and they prevented them from wrecking any havoc . That is what I expect others to do and our leaders were able to do it then because they deployed intelligence. A stranger has eyes but cannot see, so it is only the local people that can police an area. So restructuring the police, creation of state, local government police , ward police, there is nothing bad in it , it will be more effective. So restructuring yes, waste of money on presidential system is part of the needed restructuring . Let’s go back to parliamentary system . Then when you look at our civil service structure , veritable conduit pipe . They taught the politicians how to misappropriate money , they remain there for 35 years . We are not getting the results that we are deserving , why don’t we restructure it and makes it more effective and efficient . Must we continue to do the same thing, overburden bureaucracy that is not given us the desired results . Must we continue to do it because we have been doing it and we are not getting results, why can’t we change for the better . Not just mouthing change but actively changing , we need restructure that will give us the desired result .

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

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Friday, December 9, 2016

FG and the agony of Lagos-Ibadan Expressway Temilade Aruya

f late, plying the Lagos -Ibadan expressway has become a torment for commuters, especially those residing along the Mowe-Ibafo axis of Ogun State. It is rather sad that a journey that should ordinarily not take more than 15 -20 minutes now takes over 4 hours and even more. Recently, a fatal road accident involving multiple vehicles occurred on the road, claiming three lives. This unfortunate incident caused a serious gridlock that almost brought the whole of Lagos to a standstill. Being a major road that links Lagos, the commercial nerve center of Nigeria to other parts of the country, it is of course one of the busiest roads in the country. The situation of the road becomes even more complex with the growing population of residential communities along the Mowe-Ibafo axis. This greatly increases vehicular movement along the route. However, ongoing repairs on some critical sections of the road, which began about six months ago, have enormously compounded the situation. It is disconcerting that the repairs of a major exit route with economic relevance and implication is taking so long. Julius Berger Plc which handles the repairs has been foot dragging on the job to the consternation of many. Initially, when the construction firm began the work, it didn’t give commuters sufficient reason for optimism, considering its lackadaisical approach. Though, the firm has since relatively braced up, but the agonies and frustrations of commuters along the road linger on.

As a result of on-going construction work which necessitated the narrowing of a long section of the road, especially the popular Long Bridge, gridlock lingering into the dead of the night has become a usual episode. Many residents are now compelled by the traffic situation to sleep outside their homes in order to avoid the terrible gridlock. The sorry sight of school pupils trekking hazardously home, sometimes through the scorching Lagos sun due to shortage of public transport since they were all trapped in traffic while transport fares tripled, would make even a heart of stone to melt. Aside the niggling gridlock on the road and resultant stress, security of lives has also become a serious concern. Since the road has been narrowed and traffic now move at snail speed, that is if it is even if it moves at all, robbers and other evil minded people now daily unleash terror on commuters along the route. In the last few weeks there have been numerous cases of daring gangsterism on the road in which commuters lose several valuables such as handsets, wrist watches, money, lap tops among others. One of such incidences that is still very difficult for one to hurriedly forget involved a middle-aged woman who was thrown down the bridge by these dare devil hoodlums. The fear of hoodlums along the route has now become the beginning of wisdom. To worsen things, security personnel rarely patrol the road, as bad as things stand. The manpower lost to the traffic jam per hour, per day and per week is unquantifiable and irrecoverable as time and resources are daily lost to the traffic. It has been alleged that there are lots of intrigues behind government contracts

There is a

consciousness of time and conservation of energy and resources and construction. Or how does one explain a construction work that has affected millions of lives and little seems to be achieved in terms of concrete results. The snail pace with which the company is working is not in tandem with the realities of the 21st century where things are done with civility and human considerations. Sadly, Julius Berger plc doesn’t seem to care a hoot about the condition of commuters and residents along the route. There are even unconfirmed reports that in spite of the much anticipated Yuletide season traffic rush along the route, Julius Berger’s staff working on the road would soon embark on their annual end of year vacation. If this were to be true, it only goes to show that our nation has become a banana republic where anything goes! Recently, there was a colossal road collapse in one of the Asian countries aired on CNN, where a major part of an express way collapsed leaving a gaping hole that claimed almost the entire road. Interestingly it was fixed within 3 hours and opened for people to traverse without any problem. That is how things are done in developed and progressive societies. There is a consciousness of time and conservation of energy and resources. Nigeria cannot af-

ford to lag behind in science and technology, we must move at the same pace with the developed world if we want to discard the status of a third world country. It is quite unfortunate that such a repair work could take well over six months to complete. And no one is even sure of how long the work is going to take. Initially, the FG said work would end by last November. This, of course, remains a mirage. It is time for the Federal Government to pay close attention to the activities of the Company handling the project as it is taking rather too long for its completion. More importantly, there is need for quality control as one side of the bridge that is recently completed is already developing potholes; this is between Wawa ends of the Long Bridge while coming to Lagos. It is important that the Federal Ministry of Works steps in right now to ensure proper assessment of the job so that it won’t be a case of a shoddy job; a situation where Nigerians will be left to suffer the same cycle of hardship on the road all over again. Perhaps, more importantly, it becomes imperative to have alternative routes connecting other parts of the country to Lagos. The fact that the nation cannot boast of other such routes is, indeed, the shame of a nation. Also, special consideration should be given to the grading and tarring of access roads on both sides of the Long Bridge as this will also a long way in reducing stress on the road. If, indeed, we are concerned about human lives as a people, now is the time for the FG to pay better attention to the Lagos-Ibadan expressway and other such critical roads across the nation. Mrs. Aruya wrote in from Arepo, Ogun State.

Super Falcons as unsung heroines Tayo Ogunbiyi

t the recently concluded African Women Championship, AWC, the Super Falcons of Nigeria emerged as African champions again. In a tensed final match at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Omnisports Stadium in Yaoundé,

Cameroun, against the host nation’s Indomitable Lioness, who were backed by an understandably hostile 40,000 full capacity crowd, the Super Falcons fought gallantly to win 1-0 and remain worthy African Champions. With the feat, the Super Falcons have won the coveted title for an unprecedented 10th time. Not only did the team emerged African champions for a record ten times, five of its players including tournament highest goal scorer, Azeezat Oshoala, were selected in the championship’s team of the tournament. Also, by leading the Falcons to victory, coach and former captain of the team, Florence Omagbemi became the second person in Africa to win the AWC as a player and a coach. The outcome of the tournament roundly authenticates the Falcons credential as the power house of African female football. The victorious Falcons side has since arrived Nigeria amid little or no fanfare befitting of a side that has attained such a remarkable accomplishment. According to reports, the all conquering team was received on arrival, by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) President, Amaju Pinnick and other board members, including Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau. The is now in Abuja, where the players expect that Sports Minister and the NFF will make good their promises of settling their outstanding allowances. Reports have it that the Falcon players are being owed outstanding allowanc-

How else can a nation mock her

heroes/heroines? es totaling $16,500 each. Characteristically, the team’s preparation for the tournament wasn’t as top notched as it ought to be as it merely made do with playing local sides to keep in shape before jetting out to Cameroun for the tournament. Indeed, it was alleged that it was due to the persuasion of the team’s Chief Coach, Omagbemi that the players were able to concentrate on winning the championship. As usual, the NFF blamed the untidy Falcons situation on lack of funding. It is, however, instructive to note that the Sports ministers and his entourage consisting of top Sports Ministry officials and NFF chieftains were ferried to Yaoundé to watch the final match in a chartered flight. Definitely, such luxurious travelling arrangement does not portray a Federation or Sports ministry that is experiencing financial crunch. Well, it could be argued that the trip was made possible through corporate sponsorship. Assuming this is true, it remains a mystery as to why same corporate sponsorship was not made available for the team to have a smooth preparation. Indeed, it was reported that as soon as the Sports Minister and NFF officials were done with the usual victory razzmatazz after the final match, they headed straight to the airport to board their chartered aircraft, leaving the victorious ladies to sort themselves out. What kind of a nation treats her heroes with such outrageous disdain? Considering the consistency of the Super Falcons in emerging victorious over the years on the African female football scene, players and of-

ficials of the team certainly deserve a much better treatment. It doesn’t really speak well of us as a nation to send athletes to a major sporting event without making adequate preparation for the payment of their entitlements? According to an unconfirmed report, the defeated Camerounian team was promised 22 million CFA (N20 million), to win the trophy. On the contrary, our players were promised nothing while their legitimate allowances for taking part in the competition are yet to be paid. How else can a nation mock her heroes/ heroines? For the record, the Falcons ought to be paid $3,000 each for every win secured in the group stage of the tournament while semi-final and final triumphs were to earn them will $4,000 and $5,000 per player respectively. This implies that each of the players is being owed $16,500, since they won two of the three group fixtures ($6,000) and drew the remaining one ($1,500). Similarly, the players are yet to receive winning bonuses for the two qualifiers against Senegal, as well as camp allowances for the tournament. The coaches of the team are equally being owed their monthly salaries and camp allowances as well as match bonuses since March. Presently, reports have it that the players are poised for a major confrontation with officials of the nation’s football federation. Sadly, a few of them who ply their soccer trade abroad ought to have returned to their respective base. But they are hanging around due to the whole issue of nonpayment of their outstanding entitlements. In as much as it remains a rare honour for anyone to represent the nation in any capacity, it is, however, important to stress that it is the responsibility of the nation to take adequate care of her athletes. The issue of shod-

dy treatment of our sports men and women has become a nasty reoccurrence that must be tackled once and for all. It doesn’t really speak well of our pedigree as a leading African nation to continue to indulge in such messy business. If pubic officials are not denied their estacodes while of foreign duties, it is only normal that athletes who bare all the odds to fly high our national flag at major sporting events should be treated fairly. The NFF, in particular, needs to come up with creative strategies that would ensure that all the national teams are effectively taken care of. There is hardly any time in recent era that the NFF do not have issues with the payment of coaches and players across all strata of the national teams. The pedigree of the Falcons as a winning brand should be effectively harnessed to rake up good sponsorship deals for the team. There are so many local and international corporate organisations, especially with gender related products and services that would be willing to leverage on the Falcons success. All the NFF needs to do is to be better organized, transparent and pro active. Going cup in hands, all the time, to beg for fund each time our national teams are on assignment is, to say the least, unprofessional and demeaning. The NFF must stop it! Ogunbiyi is of the Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja.

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escap State, Lgs joint account is evil —Dogara Community Mirror Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara is the Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives. In this interview he spoke on efforts being made by the House to grant financial autonomy to local governments. Excerpts:

n your estimation, is local government administration on course in Nigeria? As far as I am concerned, I do think that the issue of local government administration, especially how effectively they are run, should not just be left to any authority or person. If I were to answer your question straight forward, I will tell you that it is not working and the reason is very simple. All the local governments in the country are specified in the first schedule of the 1979 Constitution. The work they do or the functions assigned to the local government councils is as specified in the fourth schedule of the constitution. But above that, section 7 of the constitution is very instructive, it said that the system of local government must be democratically elected, it is guaranteed under the 1979 constitution, so if we start from section 7 of the constitution, how many local governments will you say have executives that were democratically elected? How many of those councils do you see are performing the responsibilities assigned to them under the 4th schedule of the 1979 constitution? The answer is quite obvious, and it is a system that is in crisis. Since 1999 when we had this latest advent of politics, I don’t want to go back to the days of military regime, you will attest to the fact that there is hardly any local government that has lived up to its constitutional mandate and the reasons are quite obvious. I guess the reason might be that the local government administration is groaning under interference from the state governments? You are quite right. I will say really that it is by design of the constitution, the constitution makers, those who drafted the 1999 constitution actually muddled up a lot of things with regards to running of local governments. I do not know what model they adopted really because you look at all the federations in law, in nations that are described as federal republics, countries like Brazil, for instance, India, the United States, there appears to be a model that they are following but I don’t know what model the framers of the 1999 constitution wanted to promote in Nigeria. Now, you talked about independence of local government councils in Nigeria. I don’t know whether it is achievable, whether we should talk about certain semi autonomy or some kind of semi independence. Because when you are talking about independence of local government councils such as is practiced in India, to a larger extent, in the United States of America and in Brazil, to some extent, they have a democratically elected council, a democratically elected council legislature, you have even council courts, you have council police, you have councils that are directly in charge of recruiting their personnel and disciplining them, you have councils that are in charge of resources that come into the council and appropriate them because they have legislators. The chairmen operate as the executive and they can be impeached if they go against certain rules and so, they are completely independent and as such, they deliver on mandates that are given to them. But in Nigeria, that was not the model that was promoted by the framers of the 1999 constitution when they talked about things

like joint accounts for instance and this. When the come , come to come The governor will sit in the state executive meeting and they will come up with a everybody will sit up in this Ministry. Rev. Chris resolution that they have sackedOkotie, an electedspeaking council executive they onand thethen state ofappoint the nation council caretaker committees. And to be HON MINISTER FOR PETROLEUM RESOURCES,ALIISON MADUEKE candid, that is a gross violation of the constitution. I don’t know if the framers were able to anticipate that that may likely be the situation that most of the state governors will violate the powers that were assigned to the states with respect to local governments under the constitution. That has become the norm, rather than the exception, where majority of the councils in Nigeria, even as we speak in this era of change and the promise APC made, you will be surprised that majority of the area councils are run by caretaker councils and there is nowhere in the constitution where caretaker is mentioned. So, I don’t know what kind of democracy we are practicing, the constitution is very clear as to how these things should be done but unfortunately, some of them, in their wisdom, have constituted themselves as middle men in the chain. They block the flow of the powDogara ers conferred by the constitution, and incidentally, nothing is done at the level where pendent. I am not saying absolute indedecisions or punitive measures taken pendence because we may not achieve that against such unwholesome decisions dihe only way we since ours is a strong federation. It is not a rectly at disobeying two crystal clear proviweak federation like what you have in the sions of the constitution. Nothing is done. can rescue the United States where councils and states So that has become the bane of local govjoin their own money and then appropriate ernment administration in Nigeria. I agree it and pay royalties in taxes to the federal local government with you totally, there is lack of indepengovernment. So. What we can therefore do dence because they are subsumed in the is make sure that in the spirit of the concontrol of the state executive that things system or stitution, the local government adminisappear not to be flowing. tration is democratically elected to ensure As a matter of fact, joint account is one administration that by provision of the constitution, that of the biggest evils because it gives the auany local government that is not democratthority to local government ministries in ically constituted will not have access to in igeria is the state. In most states, especially in the any funding from the federation. That was north where we don’t have oil and co, the the problem we had, there was this issue of by introducing ministry of local government in the state is Lagos creating more councils and the presiregarded as the ministry of petroleum redent, President Obasanjo then, decided to sources. So we all know when funds are alamendments to the deny them allocation from federation aclocated to the councils. Instead of getting to count before the courts now said you are the councils, they are hijacked at that level just a trustee, you can’t do that. As a matter constitution and and appropriated according to the whims of fact, the money does not belong to the of the powers that be. Federal Republic of Nigeria. So, we must that is what we cure that. What is the House doing, therefore, But unfortunately, the court did not proto sanitize this tier of government? are trying to do vide a remedy, even though there is a remYou will note that all the issues we have edy inherent in the constitution itself. But been discussing about are constitutional isthe problem is that it is not working. So any sues. And you know under the constitution remedy that is not working, is it a remedy? we have powers. Governmental powers are For instance, if a state government insists long as we don’t achieve those three vital carved and shared horizontally and vertion running the affairs of the local govern- things, even if it means the state and the cally and then, only the vertical powers we ments on caretaker administration when state assemblies will still have to exercise have under the constitution, what is known the constitution clearly is insisting that is some form of legislative control over the as the concurrent list, there is the exclusive democratically elected, or composed, that area councils, the constitution has to be list and the residual list which goes to the is guaranteed by the constitution, that very clear on how local government counstate assemblies. If you look at it, part of the amounts to serious violation of the provi- cil executives are composed, for instance confusion we run into is the local governsions of the constitution, which in itself, by election , the legislature is composed by ment system under the constitution that is one of the biggest grounds for impeach- election, and that they have financial auwe practice now is to some extent, by and ment. Impeachment when they say gross tonomy. Now, that heals a lot of things. That large, subject of laws passed by the state misconduct is violation of the provisions therefore means that no state exco can just assemblies and not the National Assembly. of the constitution. That one alone, is just sit and decide to suspend the chairman or So, for us to tackle this problem, since they the basis for impeachment. How many gov- even a councillor. It will not work again. It are constitutional, it means that the only ernors have been impeached in practical means that if a council chairman misbeavenue we have is to embark on constituterms, when they appear, I’m not saying haves, it will not fall within the province tion amendment. If we don’t get it on that they do, they appear to have the state as- of the council legislature to either suspend level, I don’t think it is going to work. The semblies in their pockets? So that is where him, impeach him or whatever measures truth is that you try a system and you desthe challenge is. We are trying to say, okay, they will adopt. So that frees the local govperately try to see that the system works, if your local government administration is ernment council under the control of most there have been court cases, there have caretaker, you cannot draw funds from the of the state governors. been judicial pronouncements, but unforAnd to be able to achieve this, our thinkfederation account. That should be a provitunately, virtually all the key players have ing was to say even the council legislature sion of the constitution itself. stuck to their guns. So, how do we do? The In addition to that, we want to ensure should even legislate more for the area only way we can rescue the local governthat they have financial autonomy. Each council. But you know, we live in a political ment system or administration in Nigeria local government council will maintain an environment, with the dynamics of poliis by introducing amendments to the contics, not all actors are rational and if these accountant with the accountant general of stitution and that is what we are trying to the federation where monies due to it will proposals were to go to the state assemblies do. We attempted it in the 6th Assembly but directly be paid. That, of course, means for ratification that we need 2/3rd of to bemost of the critical aspects of what we are that the issue of joint account is eliminat- come law, if they know you are stripping talking about here did not scale 2/3rd votes ed. Now, in the course of the president’s them of powers, the tendency is that, self from all the state assemblies in Nigeria. inaugural speech, he devoted a substan- preservation is the first law of the species, In the 7th Assembly, however, this issue tial time talking about local government they will want to say we will not deprive of autonomy, financial autonomy of local administration in Nigeria and he talked ourselves of this power. So, we don’t want government got endorsement of 20 state about the injustice perpetrated by the joint to take it at that level first, but free them of assemblies but unfortunately, we needed account. And he did say, if I remember very control of state governors. Let them have 2/3rd, so we were short of 4. So, it means well, that he will not have kept his trust these three areas in which they are indethat even if the president had assented to with the Nigerian people if he allowed oth- pendent. Maybe there will be a discussion the Bill on Constitution Amendment, that ers who are under his watch to abuse their about absolute independence later after aspect wouldn’t have scaled through. Now, own trust. So, he clearly stated that some- these ones have been taken for the councils. the problem is this. We will have to make thing is going to be done about this but as That is key. this local government system a bit inde-

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Imperatives of restructuring Nigeria

C On the new JAMB Registrar

ontrary to the view held in some quarters, restructuring Nigeria does not mean the revocation of the country’s unity nor her sovereignty but strengthening its federalism. A restructured Nigerian federalism will strengthen the nation’s economic base by diversifying it into the production of those resources that each state is endowed with

and each state contributing to the centre and sharing according to their contribution. Not the other way round of waiting to share from the mono-economic product (oil) at the end of every month as is currently the case. Nations across the world make changes that suit their time and generation. A constitution is not a static document. Instead, it’s sub-

ject to changes. As a result, Nigeria can be restructured to suit our time and generation. If Nigeria’s ethnic nationalities support changes that will ensure fair treatment for all, equal citizenship and love for country, then that is the way to go. Please, let us go for that. There is no doubt that we practise absolute dysfunctional feder-

ith about nine years as head of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde has done exceptionally well. The transformation which he took the Board through is huge. He modernised the operations of the Board at such a dizzying pace that I used to fondly call him the “magician” in JAMB. I note that he worked with exceptional directors and I should single out Dr. Yusuf Lawal, who oversees Test Administration. With the appointment of Prof. Is-haq Oloyede as the new Registrar, JAMB is in for a revolutionary time in terms of delivering more effectively on its mandate. Oloyede parades excellent credentials to lead a whole sector like education in Nigeria hence asking him to head a parastatal in education is like asking a 5-star, battle-tested general to quell a fight between two “area boys” in Ajegunle! Oloyede ran University of Ilorin as a model for the Nigerian university system and served dutifully as Chairman of the Association of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities and at the continental level, as President of the Association of African Universities. He is a no-nonsense, clear-headed scholar who is globally consulted on higher education matters including issues dealing with admitting quality students which fit in with the JAMB mandate. I am convinced that he will smoothen the rough edges of the unfortunate furore around the 2016 admission process. On the matter of the relevance of JAMB, I am unshaken in my belief that at this time in the nation’s higher education development, the body is still a relevant player. The important thing is for JAMB not to overstep its bounds by infringing on those areas where the universities should exercise their autonomy. Post-UTME test, as originally conceived in 2004, not in its present adulterated form, is still a must if we are to get better quality students for our higher education system. Rather than shut the door on Post-UTME test, we should scape off whatever the universities are not doing right and not throw the baby out with the bath water. Prof Peter A. Okebukola, Abuja

Letters to the Editor

Shoe cobblers taking nap on the wall of Lagos terminal bus Obalende. Photo by Abiola Abdulhammed

Ogun free health access card

t looked like the ATM card at a distance. I drew closer to some of the pregnant women and officials of the Ogun State Ministry of Health in order to assess it. Indeed, it was like the ATM or National Identity Card. The biometrics of the beneficiaries were captured in the cards. The poor pregnant women at the event caressed them and offered gratitude to the state governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, for a new lease of life. From Monday, July, 11, 2016, when the Araya Scale-up (Community Based Health Insurance Scheme) was launched at the June 12 Cultural Centre, Abeokuta, the card qualifies them to visit any of the designated health care providers in their respective local government areas and access free health care without paying a dime. The free health treatment covers all manner of local endemic diseases that contend with the health of pregnant women, mothers and their children. Ante natal and post natal services are assured. They will equally not have to worry about payment for diagnostic tests as this is also covered by the scheme. This is the first of such scheme in the history of Ogun

State. With the Ogun Araya Access Card, according to the Commissioner for Health, Dr Tunde Ipaye, the pregnant women who belong to the lower 25 percent of the population, living on less than two dollars a day, and their children under the age of five, have access to free health services without any form of payment. This is not a scheme in the pipeline. Many pregnant women in Abeokuta North and Abeokuta South Local Government Areas are already enjoying the free health facilities, including free drugs. This social insurance scheme, once again, highlights the welfarist policy of the Ibikunle Amosun administration in Ogun State. As the governor often says, we are here because of these people. From July till the end of the year 2016, over 20, 000 pregnant women and their under-5 children will go to any four designated health care providers (private and public) in their respective LGAs with their Araya Access Cards and get free health services anytime, any day, 24/7! And to underscore his commitment to the free health scheme, the governor has already released in advance funds for to cover it till the end of 2016.

The leadership of the National Health Insurance Scheme and Minister of Health, Prof Isaac Adewole, were so impressed by this innovation and practical commitment demonstrated by the Ogun State government that they pledged to collaborate with the current administration. And if they make good their promise, as we expect them to do, the 20,000 number should double by the end of 2016. It should be mentioned that this community-based Health Insurance Scheme (for pregnant women and under-5 children) is a subset of the Ogun State Health Insurance Scheme, which will be for the entire residents of the state. Ordinarily, in any insurance scheme, participants ought to pay a premium. But for the peasant pregnant women and their U-5 children, the Amosun administration has offset the premium. Once the Ogun State Health Insurance Scheme operates full steam, the entire vulnerable community in the state is guaranteed of free health care services. This is another feather to the cap of Governor Amosun. As it is said, a healthy nation is a wealthy nation. Soyombo Opeyemi, Abeokuta

alism in the country. If we are to practise real federalism as done by the nations we borrowed this concepts from – for heaven’s sake, let us do it like them. That will develop Nigeria faster than we all can imagine. True federalism is the recognition that each state is autonomous politically and economically. It recognises the true concept of a three-tier system of government (federal, state and local government). These three tiers of government will need to be restructured starting from to bottom to the up for even national development. If the local governments are properly restructured as a municipal government, it will improve their macro economy as well as their capacity for service delivery. Under this arrangement, the municipal government will be headed by a local government chairman, appointed on competence and merit to administer local government programmes. The local government chairman can be fired for non-performance, manifested incompetence or poor moral character. Under this local government administrative structure, the local government chairman is considered a politician and member as well as chairperson of the Local Government Council and functions strictly in that capacity in the legislative arm of the local government. This structure will provide good governance and effective service delivery to Nigerian citizens at the grass roots. This bottom-up development model can then provide the critical infrastructure necessary for growth such as electricity, schools, hospitals, water treatment, create jobs and cottage industries for youths and women. And will drive SEEDS/NEEDS and the Sustainable Development Goals objectives. Then, we will have a beautiful country from the North to the South, East to West and from coast to coast. True federalism will challenge the will of Nigerians, bring out our talents and produce a greater Nigeria that we will be proud to bequeath to the coming generation. Restructuring Nigerian federalism is nothing to be feared, but something to be embraced by all Nigerians. To me, this is the real change that this administration can give to Nigerians. In line with my usual concluding phrase borrowed from the United States’ president, Barack Obama, I wish to enjoin Nigerians that “our destiny is not written for us, but by us.” And greatness is never achieved by wishful thinking. Dr. Emmanuel J. Ozah, Garki, Abuja.

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Polytechnics senior staff issue FG three weeks ultimatum Livinus Menedi YOLA

enior Staff Association of Nigeria Polytechnic, SSANIP, has issued the Federal Government three weeks ultimatum to release the outcome of the NEEDS Assessment on polytechnics and make funds available for its implementation. The ultimatum was contained in a communiqué signed Thursday by the National President of the association, Rev. Sunday Sabo, and Secretary, Chief M.P Jegede, at the end of its 51st National Executive Council, NEC, and General Executive Council, GEC, meetings held in Yola, Adamawa State. The communiqué lauded the Federal Government for abolishing HND/BSC dichotomy and implored the Head of Service of the federation to as a matter of urgency release the white paper on the implementation of the same in order to make it official and implemented without further delay.

The communiqué also commended the Federal Government for exempting universities from Treasury Single Account, TSA, and urged it to extend same to polytechnics and other tertiary institutions. It observed the expiration of the tenure of Rectors of Federal Polytechnics, Damaturu, Bali, Kaduna, Offa and Auchi, and called for speedy action on the appointment of substantive rectors for the affected polytechnics. The communiqué also urged the Federal Government to as a matter of urgency, adopt a more pragmatic approach towards moving the country away from the current economic recession being experienced by the generality of Nigerians. It commended effort in curbing corruption in the country and enjoined the Federal Government and the judiciary to address the problem of delay in the administration of justice in corruption cases and ensure judicious use of recovered loots.

Reps set up ad-hoc committee on repatriation of artifacts from US, Europe

ouse of Representatives Thursday, constituted an adhoc committee to carry out investigation on the approach to be adopted for repatriation of historical artifacts carted away from Nigeria. The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reports that many Nigerian artifacts carted away, especially during colonial period now adorn various structures in western world. The constitution of the ad-hoc committee followed a motion by Rep. Ayokunle Isiaka (APCOgun), which was unanimously adopted through voice vote. Moving the motion, Isiaka explained that many of the artifacts carted away from Nigeria had been sighted in schools, institutions and museums in the United States of America and Europe. He added that Nigerians, especially the coming generations, were being deprived of the opportunities to experience major artistic works

which reflected Nigerian historical culture and heritage. “While the USA, France, Switzerland and Germany display Nigerians famous arts and antiques to attract tourists and earn revenue for their governments, Nigeria has lost its cultural goods for foreign land. “Also, valuable national antique pieces like NkoTerracottas baker (Eagan) Monoliths, lower Niger bronzes, Calibre Terracottas, carted from Nigeria are seated in Musee du quai, Paris. “History beacons on the House to initiate measures that would lead to the return of these masterpieces of Nigerian art to the country to aid the nation’s cultural renaissance,” he said. He added that the move would attract more tourists and boost revenue earning for the country. The House therefore mandated the committee to tur n in its report within 12 weeks for further legislative action.

A cross-section of the 1000 Education Marshals during their passing out parade in Gombe, yesterday. PHOTO: IBRAHIM KADO/ JAU/BJO/NAN

Governorship election: Tambuwal knows fate at Supreme Court today Doosuur Iwambe ABUJA

he Supreme Court will today deliver judgment in a legal action challenging the propriety or otherwise of the nomination of Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal by All Progressives Congress, APC, for the 2015 gubernatorial election in Sokoto State. The apex court will among others, determine whether Tambuwal was nominated in compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010 and the APC 2014 guidelines for the nomination of candidates for elective offices. Specifically, the court will determine issue re-

lated to swapping the list of delegates at the APC primary, conducted on December 4, 2014 at Giginya Stadium in Sokoto. Justice Bode Rhodes Vivour, who presided over the hearing of the matter fixed today for judgement, after submissions by various parties in the appeal. Two appellants, Alhaji Umaru Dahiru and Aliyu Abubakar Sanyinna, who were governorship aspirants on the platform of APC in the 2015 general election, filed the appeal. In their brief of arguments filed by Prof. Awa Kalu, SAN, the two appellants pleaded with the apex court to reverse the decision of the Court of Appeal, which held that their

suit had become academic exercise by virtue of the election of Tambuwal in the April 11, 2015 governorship poll. In the brief of argument adopted by Mr. Ikoro M. Ikoro, the two appellants insisted that the lower court erred in law by holding that their joint suit has no life to sustain it. They argued that the April 11, 2015 general election cannot take life out of their case or render it an academic exercise because the suit was filed on January 27, 2015, long before the general election was conducted. The appellants chronicled the genesis of their suit, claiming that several frivolous motions and ap-

plications filed by the respondents at the federal high court in Abuja delayed judgment until after the general election. They argued that the respondents should not be allowed to be the beneficiaries of the unjust delays which made expeditious hearing practically impossible. They asked the court to invoke Section 22 of the Supreme Court Act to resolve the issue to a finality as the said section of the law empowers it to act as a court of first instance in the circumstances of the case. Respondents in the appeal are the APC, Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and Tambuwal.

60-year old man beaten to death by Air Force personnel Inusa Ndahi MAIDUGURI

sixty-year-old man, Ibrahim Bulama, has allegedly been beaten to death by Air Force officers in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital. Details of what led to the death of Bulama were sketchy as at the time of going to press Thursday, but Commander, 105 Composite Command, Air Commodore Charles Ohwo said some Air Force personnel are already in detention over the matter.

Briefing journalists Thursday in his office, Ohwo said: “Preliminary investigation revealed that, on Wednesday 7th, December 2016, an airman, Lance Corporal Kamal Usman, left his duty post at about 10 p.m., and on his way home, came across a gathering in Okona Hotel, and in an attempt to find out what was wrong, the crowd got scared and took to their heels. “When he decided to check the surroundings to find out what scared the crowd, he entered one

room and found a woman lying on a bed. “Unfortunately, the deceased old man, Bulama mobilised some people and came back to the hotel and attacked him from the back with machetes, inflicting serious injuries on his head and snatched his rifle. “On sensing danger, the lance corporal left and mobilised his fellow colleagues for assistance. On arrival at the scene, they descended on the old man, and beat him to death in the process of recovering their rifle.

“The airman is now recuperating at the Air Force medical facility in Maiduguri, while his colleagues who were involved in the incident have been detained pending further investigation.” While appealing to the general public to be calm, Ohwo, however, said, the case will be thoroughly investigated, and whoever is found guilty will be punished accordingly, as the Nigerian Air force is a credible organisation which does not want its name to be dragged into mud.

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Flavour

Friday , December 9, 2016

Hope Olaide Wilson

Caymen Ejogo

Carmen Ejogo Ejogo is British actress and singer. Her father is Nigerian and her mother is Scottish but she was born and raised in London. Her film credits include What’s the Worst That Could Happen?, Away We Go, Sparkle, Alex Cross, The Purge: Anarchy, Boycott and Selma. Caroline Chikezie Caroline was born in England to Nigerian parents and attended boarding school in Nigeria for a while. She later on enrolled at Brunel Universities in UK to study Medicinal Chemistry but left after it was decided she was not suited for the course. She later won a scholarship to the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts. She has featured in movies like Eragon, Aeon Flux and TV series, Supernatural. Hope Olaide Wilson Hope was born on August 16 1985 and grew up in England and Nigeria; she graduated high school at the age of 15 with honours. She is an actress and producer and has starred in movies like I Can Do Bad All By Myself, After the Dark and Faith and Dreams. Adepero Oduye She was born in Brooklyn, New York as one of seven children to Nigerian parents. She has appeared in movies like 12 years a slave, Steel Magnolias, Pariah and others.

Megalyn Echikunwoke Megalyn Echikunwoke Megalyn was born in 1983 in Spokane, Washington to a Nigerian father and a Caucasian mother. She has starred in various movies and TV series like, The 4400, CSI Miami, House of Lies, Great Lengths and many more. Judi Shekoni Judi is a British actress who was born to a Nigerian father. She is a model and TV presenter who resides in Hollywood. She has also appeared in various movies TV shows like The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2, Eastenders, Garfield 2 and others. Annie Ngozi Ilonzeh Annie was born in Texas in 1983 to a Nigerian father and American mother. She was a student at the University of Texas at Arlington. She can be seen in movies like, He’s Just Not That into You, Percy Jackson & The

Wunmi Mosaku Olympians, the Lightening Thief, Entourage, How I met your mother, Arrow and many more. Enuka Okuma Enuka is a Canadian actress of Nigerian descent. She is credited as a writer, actor and executive producer. She currently stars in the Canadian drama, Rookie Blue and other TV shows like 24, Grey’s Anatomy and others. Rakie Ayola Rakie was born in Wales to a Sierra Leonean mother and a Nigerian father. She has starred in movies and TV shows like Doctor Who, Dredd, Sahara and Silent Witness. Ayola was nominated and shortlisted for the ‘Female Performance in TV’ award in the 2006 Screen Nation Awards, for her role as Kyla Tyson in Holby City. She received Honorable Mention for the same role the following year, and was shortlisted again in 2008. In 2005, WalesOnline voted Ayola the 29th

Sophie Okonedo Sophie is the daughter of a Nigerian father and a mother who is an Ashkenazi Jew. She was brought up in her mother’s Jewish faith and was raised by her mother after her father left them. She can be seen in movies like Hotel Rwanda, The Secret Life of Bees, Mrs Mandela and many more. She received a Golden Globe nomination for the miniseries Tsunami: The Aftermath (2006) and BAFTA TV Award nominations for the drama series Criminal Justice (2009) and the TV film Mrs. Mandela (2010). Her other film roles include Æon Flux (2005), Skin (2008) and The Secret Life of Bees (2008). Uzo Aduba Uzo was born in Boston, Massachusetts to Bigerian parents. She graduated from high school in 1999 and attended Boston University where she studied classical voice. She is known for her role as Suzzane “Crazy Eyes” Warren on the TV show Orange is the New Black for which she won the 2014 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series and the 2015 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series. She has also featured in movies like Pearly Gates, How to Live Like a Lady and others.

Arty News

P.24

Wunmi Mosaku unmi is a Nigerian born British actress. She was born in Zaria, Nigeria and moved to Manchester, England, She has appeared in Law & Order UK, Philomena, Citadel and many others.

sexiest woman in Wales, saying of her: “One of our favourite thesps, she’s black, beautiful and the term “yummy mummy” should have been made for her.” She placed 40th in 2008, with the Western Mail noting: “the last 15 years have only seen Rakie become more beautiful and more successful”. Ayola placed 17th in the awards in 2009.

Inside FCT

TOSIN ADAMS looks at actresses of Nigerian decent doing well in the US film industry.

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Famous Nigerian actresses in Hollywood

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16 PAGES OF ARTS, REVIEWS, LIFESTYLE AND BUZZ TO START YOUR WEEKEND

Critics

VOL. 4 No. 827

Philosophy through fiction: short story competition

e live in two different worlds; The Known and unknown. At times the phenomena of the unknown world permeate the known world through the power of dream. Dream is perhaps the soothsayer that reveals the secret of unknown world. “IT’S BLACK IT’S WHITE” is a visual performance that tends to draw attention to the influence of the dream world. No one knows tomorrow but sometimes dreams herald the future in a discernible form. Join Yusuf Durudola on the 10th Saturday December, 2016 at Victoria Street, Iwaya Lagos State, Nigeria as he enact his performance titled “IT’S BLACK IT’S WHITE”.

ci Phi Journal are inviting submissions for the short story competition “Philosophy through Fiction”, organised by Helen De Cruz (Oxford Brookes University. The winner of the competition will receive a cash prize of US$500 (funded by the Berry Fund of the APA) and their story will be published in Sci Phi Journal. Short stories that are eligible for this competition must be some form of speculative fiction (this includes, but is not limited to, science fiction, fantasy, horror, alternative history, or magical realism), and must explore one or more philosophical ideas. These can be implicit; there is no restriction on which philosophical ideas you explore. The competition is open to everyone. Submissions should be at least 1,000 words and no longer than 7,500 words.

Art Man

Iwaya Community Art Festival with Yusuf Durodola

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WEEKEND STARTERS

Art Man

Friday, December 9, 2016

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Women, easy gauge for actor’s acceptance —Agbor In Nollywood ‘romantic-eyed’ Rykardo Agbor from Ikom, in Cross- Rivers State is a force to embrace. As one of the few crossover actors, he told IFECHI OKOH about his foray into acting and what it took to get to where he is today. Excerpts

ow did your romance with the theatre start and what efforts made it faster and better? My romance with the industry started as far back as 1992 when Leo Merenini took me to Fidelis Duker’s office for an audition for Visa to Hell. That time there was no GSM. So, getting information as it’s today wasn’t easy. Hence I strongly believe that my foray was divinely arranged through my friend, whom I was coming back with from a modeling audition. Did your involvement with modeling give you the expected push when you went into acting? It didn’t give me any kind of push, except that as a model, I was better equipped as to what to wear and how to wear it, thereby communicating effectively. The only slight relationship between modeling and acting lies in the fact that both showcase different platforms to make me the cynosure of all eyes. What were your initial challenges as an actor? My major challenge was my parents because they thought acting was for loafers. However, I had to excuse them so as to enlighten them that acting wasn’t demeaning as they thought. I had to do this to change their misleading mind. I was very frank in course of my enlightenment I told them that I had gone to school and came out as expected. As a result,

they should be happy over that and even pray for my chosen profession. Today, acting is no longer as they thought because I have been able to prove successfully that acting is not for loafers after all. They have as a result, taken back their initial wrong belief and are happy with me as a successful actor. Today, I am happy about my choice and they (parents are proud of me I can tell you right away that they now think otherwise about acting May we know if what you read in the school is of any significance to what you are doing? O h yes! It is very m u c h because I read Mass Communication. What we are doing in movies is simply mass communicating. Although, it is to a different demography. That is some members of the audience could include lawyer, doctors and politicians Did you major in broadcasting and what is its effect on your career as an actor? Firstly it has really helped me to deliver my lines clearly thereby communicating effectively as a role interpreter who actually knows his onions. Secondly, my majoring in broadcasting has also facilitated my getting more roles and better

Rykardo Agbor pay as a professional that I am. What I am doing is to educate, inform and entertain the mass audience through my role as an actor in movies May we know if you will flow when you leave acting for broadcasting? Yes I will if I leave the theater today because I trained formally as a broadcaster and I thank God that I can speak well as a tutored mass communicator May we know about the magic of being a successful crossover act? All I can say is that I am lucky to have been born in Lagos and raised here too so it is easy for me to speak Yoruba well till date. The same goes for the English language because I went to a school where English was taught with all commitment. Although success comes spiritually but it must be backed up with hard work, majority of the success people are talking

My major challenge was my parents because they thought acting was for loafers. However, I had to educate them so as to enlighten them that acting wasn’t demeaning as they

thought. I had to do this to change Rykardo Agbor

their mind

here have to do more with special grace of God. I want to use my case as a cross over actor to demonstrate this. There is no doubt that they are many crossover actors like me, but I may have been given more roles and better day than others. This is not by my making but by God’s special grace. Aside from this clause, one must learn to be street wise, that is grabbing and applying some mannerisms popularly with the people. With this well reflected in your acting you are bound to be the darling of the producers and directors. Does Yoruba movies pay as much as English? Not quite! However, one’s artistic ability plays very important role in either the Yoruba or English movies. I must confess here that most people hardly know that apart from English, I speak Yoruba and that I do it appreciably. Let us go a bit personal. Can we know your secret heartache? Hmm…. I would say for now that I have no heartache; I might have had some that may have to do with things that I can’t help, for instance I am yet to get certain things or positions which I think is not out of my reach with many exposure and social standing however, I must confess that I don’t really think much about such things because I am one of those who believe in the will of God which nobody can change. That is the simple truth of this matter. How do you feel if the opposite sex appreciates you? I feel great because women are the thermometers to gauge one’s appreciation or otherwise.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Arty News

Friday, December 9, 2016

29 21

‘Oxford Gardens’ continues its winning streak NGOZI EMEDOLIBE

xford Gardens, continued its winning streak, by clinching the Best Director, Best Editing and Best Visual Effects at the prestigious Nollywood African Film Critics’ Awards, NAFCA, which held in Los Angeles, United States a few days ago. Directed and produced by multiple award-winning UK based Nigerian filmmaker, Obi Emelonye, this will make it the eighth time the film be would winning at a major film event around the world since its Nigerian premiere in December 2015. Set in London, Oxford Gardens is the story of a girl who was diagnosed of cancer and how she struck a bond of unforgettable memories with a retired boxer in a bid to satisfy her yearnings of having the best moments of her last hours on earth. The film, which starred Ngoli Okafor, a two-time Golden Gloves champion in the

United States, Ngozi Igwebike Thompson , Savanah Roy and D’Richy Emelonye has also been garnering rave reviews owing to the quality of acting and visual realism achieved in the production. Dedicating the latest awards to the

Obi Emelonye

members of his cast and crew, Obi Emelonye, who is behind such works as Last Flight to Abuja and The Mirror Boy, explained that so many things set Oxford Gardens apart from other works in Nollywood. “In Last Flight to Abuja, we attempted to crash a plane on a shoe-string budget. It was a huge lesson. As part of the story in Oxford Gardens, there is a very important accident scene where a young girl is killed. I told my team that if we can make this scene work, with a level of visual realism and hence believability, then we would have made this great story special. So, we enlisted the help of the stunt co-ordination team that worked on big budget films like Skyfall and Johnny English. Their remit was, make this accident scene the best that has been seen in an African film. By God’s grace, they did succeed. I think, beyond the boxing and beyond the moving medical elements in the film, ‘that accident scene’ would probably remain the longest lasting legacy for Oxford Gardens.”

Euphemia Udanoh unveils new novel ISIGUZO DESTINY

ne of Nigeria’s emerging fictional writers Euphemia Udanoh recently launched her novel Royal Kiss at Best Western Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos. The event which was used to present the novel to the public attracted politicians from her home state, Anambra, business men, scholars, well-wishers and also gentlemen of the press. The novel was first published in Britain by Ada publishers in 2016 and reprinted in Nigeria by Squlla Media and is a story of 266 pages that added to the discourse of child marriage and girl-child education. Most of the artistic oeuvres on child marriage have focused on the Northern part of Nigeria, however, the setting of Royal Kiss is a state in South Eastern part of Nigeria. Apart from the novel’s critical stance on child marriage, it also reveals that the problem of child marriage is a national issue that is prevalent in most parts of Nigeria and not exclusively a Northern Nigeria

affair. One of the reviewers Charles Akwen, a literary critic and lecturer at the Department of English, University of Lagos pointed out that the novelist was apt in her style of weaving her narrative in a cyclical conflict and resolution pattern, which points out to the fact that there is hope for the girl child in Nigeria. He praised the novelist for her effort in lending her voice to socially relevant issues in Nigeria through her work. The second reviewer Barr Tony Nnadi (Secretary-General, Lower Niger Congress) told National Mirror that he hopes the issues the author raised will resonate to readers and also used the medium to condemn some of Nigerian leaders sabotaging the efforts against child marriage through their actions. Other participants who spoke unanimously agreed on the effort of the publishers in churning out high quality paper work and appealed to Nigerians and the international community to read and recommend the novel to every growing child and adults. Responding to questions from journal-

ists, the novelist, Euphemia Udanoh revealed the novel took her seven years to write and an extra two years to come in print. She pointed out that the novel was influenced by a true life story which made her to imaginatively put up the story in order to address early child marriage and girl child education. She told journalists that she knows the novel will go places owing to the effort and time put into the work. Royal Kiss is a story of the resilience of a female protagonist at an early teenage age who was pressured to accept a royalty’s marriage proposal at the detriment of her education.

Hadassa

Nky Hadassa’s new work OSEYIZA OOGBODO

sther Nikiruka Onyinyechi Samuel Eboh, popularly known as Nky Hadassa, is currently putting finishing touches to her latest album which she’ll drop soonest. According to popular entertainment consultant and artist manager, ID Montana, who is working closely with Hadassa, the album will take over the industry and catapult Hadassa to the forefront of the Nigerian and entertainment industry. “Hadassa is multitalented, and that is the secret of her success. She has starred in over fifteen movies like Kingdom Of Fire, Reality, Dangerous Mood. She is also a scriptwriter and member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria/Spain. Coming from a family of great singers, she has a wonderful voice which the nightingale would envy. Just watch out for her as she’s definitely taking over.”

Euphemia Udanoh

Xmas 2016: Ojodu Police Division, EPF strategise TOSIN ADAMS

head of the Christmas festivities, the Ojodu Division of the Nigeria Police Force is strategising to make it crime-free for residents of Ojodu, Lagos State. This came to the fore during the ‘End of the Year’ meeting of the Eminent Personality Forum hosted by the Division at the Babs Fafunwa Millennium Senior Grammar School, Ojodu last week. The Forum made up of residents drawn from the academia, religious bodies, security agencies, landlords, trade unions, NGOs and business world sat at the meeting with the Divisional Police Officer in charge, CSP Fatai Shoetan, to

rub minds on how to maintain the law tions Community Committee (PCRC) and order which the Division has been in the Division, Makinde Enoch in his enjoying especially as the Christmas fes- speech, advised residents to avoid street tivities beckon. carnivals which could elicit the use of While issues of security amongst bangers and other explosives during the residents dominated the deliberations, season. This he reasoned could distract the personalities took time to encourage the police from any unforeseen security Shoetan breaches. and his A represenmen on tative of the the great Federal Road efforts beSafety Commising made sion, DSP Ogat policing bebor, speaking Ojodu. on maintaining T h e safety on the chair man roads at this of the Poperiod, urged lice RelaAt the Eminent Personality Forum drivers to exermeeting at Ojodu

cise caution in carrying out their duties. While offering useful security tips for the season, CSP Shoetan urged the members of the Forum to disseminate the need for residents to screen thoroughly those being hired as house-helps or security men, after which he availed once again the phone numbers of key personnel of the Division so the public can reach them in case of an emergency. The personalities who attended the meeting include: Ayo Odeku, Mr Okusanya, V Kolawole, Barbara Akodje, V. Adelakun, Sam Olusanya, A. A Ishola, Olori Kehinde Kudoro, Comrade Tokunbo Seriki, and Evangelist Abel amongst others. The forum agreed to reconvene in February, 2017.

Arty News

Friday, December 9, 2016

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

We’ll re-position Nigeria’s social, cultural sectors —Gbandi Kenneth Gbandi has just been elected as the new Chairman of Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation Europe. Will this new position affect his role in endeavours in pageants, media, migration, politics and awards? He explains to NGOZI EMEDOLIBE.

ow does it feel to be the face of all Nigerians living in Europe? I am overwhelmed and humbled by the trust and confidence of the Nigerians Diaspora in Europe. I pray to justify this huge confidence and humbly count on their collective support. Let me kindly use this opportunity to thank all the representatives of the 14 NIDO country chapters across Europe and all the 61 delegates who travelled from all over Europe to Athens to exercise their democratic franchise and those who voted by proxy too. I specially thank the Special Guest of Honour, Hon. Barrister Rita Orji (Chairman, House Committee on Diaspora Affairs) and His Excellency Ogah Usman Ari (Charge d’Affaires, Nigerian Embassy in Greece). It is not debatable that without these two patriots, this year’s Annual General Meeting in Athens could not have been so successful. Where did you meet NIDO Germany and where are you leaving it now as former president? When I took over NIDO Germany, the focus was on the intellectuals. It was a very solid foundation to step upon. My Exco expanded the horizon by bringing in professionals and entrepreneurs. This is especially important in Germany where a taxi driver and a barber are trained professionals. In summary, I am leaving a re-positioned NIDO Germany, one of the very best chapters in Europe. The Diaspora has a role to play in national development. Were there attempts during your tenure as NIDO Germany chief to explore opportunities for making contributions in that regard? Yes, we did. We held many trade and investment events to bring German business people together with their Nigerian counterparts from home and in the Diaspora. These events were platforms for the potential investors to jointly explore opportunities in Nigeria. I am happy that several German companies that participated in our events are now engaged with Nigeria. Among our other notable achievements is the Memorandum of Understanding, MOU, we signed with the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), to join in the fight against corruption. The MOU provides the opportunity for NIDOE members to contribute to the fight against corruption by providing services such as training in security issues, transfer of Diaspora knowledge and IT-based solutions and availing the organisation of international best practice models. We have also signed an MOU with Lead University, Owerri. The goal is to support scientific and technological research as well as business development at the university. We will begin implementing our plans as soon as the university is approved to do so by the National University Commission. This is

planned to be a model for NIDO Europe’s engagement in skills and know-how transfer in various fields. It will also form a base station for NIDO university exchange scheme between Nigerian and European students. In the areas of business, under my leadership we signed a tentative Partnership Agreement for Export Promotion with Aulic Nigeria Limited, concessionaire of the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex for the New Nigerian Export Hub (NETH) at Lagos. What are the immediate issues you hope to tackle as NIDOE Chairman? Our immediate objective is a holistic repositioning of NIDOE to present the organization and the Diaspora as a whole as a wellorganised and dependable group. We intend to continue our contributions to national development by promoting trade and investment opportunities in Nigeria and provide a professional resource pool from where national developmental interests in various spheres could be managed, in a transparent but secure, respectful manner. This will promote growth in the economic, social, academic, political, cultural and entertainment sectors, where our people seek to position themselves. To achieve this, I will immediately propose a master plan to enable us raise half a million euros within the next one year and 1 million in the next two years. The overall goal is to make NIDOE a self-funding and selfdriven organization. This will help us tackle the immediate, medium and long-term needs of the organization. We will also review and harmonize all ongoing and planned NIDOE projects and find strategies to finance them. A Project Summit is planned for the 26th to 27th of May 2017 in Dortmund, Germany. This will coincide with an investment summit to which all the Chambers of Commerce and Industry across Europe have been invited. These activities are under the framework of the Nigerian-German Bi-National Commission and the Federal Government of Germany economic plan for Africa. Moreover, we plan to hold a stakeholders’ retreat to re-examine the core objectives of NIDOE including the roles of the various components of the organization. This is part of the holistic plan of the Board to reposition NIDOE. What is your view on Nigerian migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea desperately and dangerously because they want to get to Europe? That the issue of migration is on the front burner of national discourse in almost every European country is understandable. While I would like to encourage young Nigerians to seek opportunities for self-actualisation abroad they should desist from the perilous

Ken Gbandi journey of going through the Sahara desert and seeking to cross the Mediterranean in dingy boats. Thousands of young Africans, including many Nigerians, have perished on such journeys. Those who make it to Europe find out how precarious their situation is as they have no good chances of having their asylum applications accepted. So my message is that if you want to travel, please be well-informed. You can seek to study. Many high institutions of learning offer places to students from Africa. For example, you don’t pay tuition fees in Germany and universities here are willing to consider applications from brilliant students from all over the world. There is also the EU Blue Card residency permit that enables professionals to work in Europe. So, there are many legal routes to Europe. I am the director of the African German Information Centre in Hamburg and we cater for migrants including refugees from Africa. The stories we hear from these young people about their sufferings will make you to cry. Some were in transit for more than 2 years in North Africa, seeing friends die or killed and bearing all forms of inhumanities. In fact, most of them are traumatised. Yet, at the end of the day, their chances for asylum are not good because they come from countries considered under the asylum law in the EU as safe countries of origin. If you come from Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal or Cameroon, for example, you hardly can get your asylum claim accepted. Our young people must know this. This is why many choose to live in the shadow of society without legal papers and engage in crimes such as drug peddling to survive. The saddest thing sometimes is to realise that some of these refugees had relatively good jobs at home with prospects for career development. They leave all their jobs and families and embark on uncertain journeys that often do end tragically. In a nutshell, my advice to our young people is to look well

The issue of migration is on the front burner of national discourse in every European country

before they leap. Sometimes there are opportunities in Nigeria that can enable them achieve their dreams. The economic situation is responsible for the wave of emigration from Nigeria and other African countries. And there is no clear-cut solutions to this from anybody. If the economic situation improves, then lesser numbers of people will be willing to leave the comfort of their homeland and families. So, the situation of the economy is decisive. Many of us send money to relatives to sponsor their education and enable them to start businesses, but our capacity to help is, of course, limited. We in NIDOE are aware of this and have been making efforts to contribute to the economic development of the country by promoting opportunities for trade and investment with Nigeria in our countries of residency. In Germany, as I have early mentioned, we have held several events to bring together prospective German and Nigerian investors. We also believe that providing training to young people will open opportunities for employment for them. As a short-term plan, we hope to embark on a basic solar energy installer programme in the six-geopolitical zones of Nigeria to provide solar skills to 12,000 youths in the first two to three years. All NIDOE members with expertise in solar technology and interested stakeholders in Nigeria will be invited to join the initiative. How will NIDO Europe play very active role in the Buhari-led government in Nigeria? NIDO members are intellectuals, professionals and entrepreneurs with many years of experience in their various fields of endeavour. The Federal Government of Nigeria recognizes NIDO as an official platform through which it can engage with Diaspora Nigerians. So we are ready to support the government. Already, the Diaspora is actively promoting investment in Nigeria, they invest at home themselves, they provide support through such initiatives as medical missions, education and training programmes. Nigerians abroad are willing to support the development of their homeland, their states of origin and their local government areas if given the opportunity. The Nigerian Diaspora should be considered symbolically in my view as the 37th State of Nigeria Will the new position avail you time to remain a magazine publisher? Time will tell.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Arty News

Friday, December 9, 2016

Night Africa failed to meet Reggae IFECHI OKOH

he much trumpeted Africa Meets Reggae Nite, the third edition in the series held last Saturday amidst tight security as expected. At the entrance of the gate, enthusiastic show goers were pretty eager to enter the National Stadium, the massive venue of the show to be part of the Reggae jamz because of the impact of the advertisement which may pulled them to the place. But ironically, the envisaged crowd was not there. The picture was that scanty number of persons waiting hopefully for their star acts to arrive. Minutes metamorphosed into hours, and there was no hope for the arrival of the big timers. All they could get meanwhile was new acts entertaining them which they had to contend with. Disappointment eventually crept into their expectation as good percentage of star acts like Tuface, Patoranking, Pasuma, Oritse Femi and other wave-makers

from outside Nigeria, billed for the show were annoyingly absent. When this reporter who was there for on the spot report, put cause to the packager of the show, Victor Essiet, he ignored all the concerted efforts till we went to the press. It was actually disappointing that the

Mandators

organizers did not bother to explain why all the star acts could not make it to the venue. However, the multi million naira stage which hosted some of the few star acts like Malaika, King Jah Wadada and others who performed exceedingly well, made up for the absence of stars who failed to come. A cross section of those interviewed maintained that the organizers of the yearly batch should stick to showcasing top reggae acts only, if the original concept of the concert is to be taken serious no matter what. They argued that although the essence of any big investor is to recoup is investment at the end of the whole efforts. But that according to them should not over shadow the initial big brain behind the concept which they insisted that the packagers must stick to as people with vision. Let’s hope that the packagers should be wise enough to consider this timely word of wisdom which may actually turn around things during the next edition.

Seaman’s rekindles culture in Lagos S eaman’s Aromatic Schnapps, a leading brand from the stable of Grand Oak Limited has successfully enacted a mixture of commerce, trade, industry and renaissance of cultural festivities at the recently held 2016 Lagos International Trade Fair at Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) in Lagos. Seaman’s Schnapps offered blessings to visitors to its pavilion through a designated Seaman’s Royal father and spiced up the exhibition with cultural dances of the various ethnic groups in the country. This was done as part of its unflinching support for culture promotion in Nigeria distinguished itself again with this unique brand positioning and consumer engagement strategy which leveraged on

the country’s diverse traditions and rich cultural heritage. Cultural troupes performed varying dances that cut across the entire cultural landscape of Nigeria with relevant traditional costumes accompanying the various dances from across the East, West, North and South of the country on each day of the exhibition. Shoppers were also rewarded through an exciting Spin wheel games for which the company gave out free drinks to winners. These activities made the brand’s pavilion a cynosure of all eyes and a stop center for all participants at the fair. Speaking on her company’s outing at this year’s Lagos International Trade Fair, Trade Marketing Manager, Mrs. Kate

Akeju said, “For us, this year’s trade fair is to promote Nigeria’s cultural heritage, as well as encourage culture of prayer & blessings among Nigerians, which Seaman’s Schnapps stands for as original No. 1 Prayer drink. She further disclosed that all those who patronized GOL’s products were given branded gift items to appreciate their loyalty and patronage. Grand Oak Limited is one of Nigeria’s leading marketers of alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages. Over the years, the company has maintained a leadership position in all segments where it operates in the ever competitive Nigerian market, with brands like Lord’s Dry Gin, Regal Dry Gin and St. Lauren among others.

Dejak, his art and God IFECHI OKOH

elebrated Artist / Sculptor, Dejo Victor Akinlonu, popularly acknowledged as Dejak who marked his 53rd birthday, used the occasion to renew his reverence for God, maintaining that the only way to ensure the continued synergy between him and God, is his public acknowledgement of God for ensuring the flow of his grace which has sustained the acceptability of the Dejak as high standing creative professional till date. . “To me, the main reason for staging today’s get together which I am using to trumpet the continued flow of the grace of God in my works and life. To me, arts is simply an art of expression inverted by men of skill and science in the rhythm of beauty”, his submitted. His poetic description can during the social razzmatazz of his birthday devoid

of typical party scenario which interestingly served as a platform for the presentation of “Man of the Year Award” by Tellview Magazine, a specialized publication for the Dejak’s consistence in churning out qualitative artworks over the years. Elated by this award, Dejak thanked God for echoing the high impression of his works which have attracted the attention and patronage of some celebrated Nigerian art connoisseurs in politics religion entrepreneurship and other concerns. Dejak, whose artistic works may have shot the artist high in government circles, fetching him patronages over the years, acknowledged the contribution of his late father Pa Gilbert Akinlonu, his mother deconcss Abegbe Akinlonu who taught Dejak on Gods factors in everything he does and his late uncle Chief Olatunji Akinlonu for giving him, the opportunity to be self reliant. “I wouldn’t have been what I am today without the contributions of my immedi-

Wale Ojo

BON 2016 nominees’ list OLUWASANMI FEMI

he organisers of the Best of Nollywood Awards have released the list of nominees for the 2016 edition. Speaking on the nominees list, Niran Adedokun, president of the BON jury, said the release followed weeks of screening of over 120 entries made up of feature films in English, Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo, ten short films, five documentaries and seven television series. Adedokun also acknowledged the resilience of Nigerian filmmakers for defying the current harsh economic realities to sustain their creative activities. This year’s edition of the BON awards shall be hosted by the executive governor of Abia State, Dr. Okezie Ipkeazu. Here are some of the nominees: Best Actor in Leading Role (English) Wale Ojo in For The Wrong Reasons Alex Ekubo in The First Lady Patrick Leonard in Woeman Stan Eze in Not just Married Enyinna Nwigwe in Hire A Man Okey Uzoeshi in Something Wicked Best Actor in Leading Role (Yoruba) Femi Adebayo in Gbewiri Meta Niyi Johnson in Lifeline Muyiwa Ademola in Eni –Owo Lateef Adedimeji in Yeye Oge Yomi Fabiyi in Metomi Best Actor in Leading Role (Hausa) Ali Nuhu in Gamu nan Dai Sadiq Dan Sadiq in Mat Da Lados Best Actor in Leading Role (Igbo) Bloosom Chukwujeku in Icheke Oku Amadi Magnus in Akaraaka

Dejak ate family distinguish men of God in various capacities wining souls, connecting believes to their destines and breaking yorks of destines hanging in the balance . I want to also acknowledge the impact of Federal Government, Lagos State Government, Dejak’s arts connoisseurs and my divine team of arts and modern trail blazing sculptors, starting from Kayode Ifamuyibo, Chris Emeseh, Ayo Thomas Nwangboge , Biodun Sanni, Francis Nga, and Jibola Aliu for sustenance of DA studio 84 which has successful raised role models for over thress decades in arts circle to the glory of God”, he concluded.

Best Actress in Leading Role (English) Omotu Bissong in Woeman Judith Audu in Not Just Married Ebube Nwagbo in Anniversary Belinda Effah in Oracle Online Omoni Oboli in The First Lady Iretiola Doyle in Something Wicked Best Actress in Leading Role (Yoruba) Mercy Aigbe in Victims Temitope Solaja in Lehin Ikoro Toyin Aimakhu in Metomi Wumi Toriola in Eni Owo Yewande Adegbenro in Yeye Oge Jumoke Odetola in Binta Ofege Best Actress in Leading Role (Igbo) Nichole Banna in Icheke Oku Adaeze Chiegbu in Akaraaka

Inside FCT

Friday, December 9, 2016

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Exploring opportunities for growth in tourism Tourism can create

JOEL AJAYI

millions of jobs if

conomic recession that recently becloud the most populous black race nation as a result of dwindling price of crude oil has triggered a disaster for Nigeria’s economy. Based on this, the present administration is leaving no stone unturned to ensure the economy disaster is turn to a blessing by turning its full attention to culture and tourism sector of the economy as means of widening the country’s revenue base. However, stakeholders in the sector were expectant when they converged in Abuja on Tuesday for two days tourism workshop to deliberate on how to grow the sector in the country through initiating advisory, creation of awarenesses and consultative processes. While speaking at the two days 2016 Nigeria Tourism Investors Forum and exhibition organized by Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria NTIFE in collaboration with NTDC, NIHOTOUR with the theme:”Tourism: Tool for economic recovery and development.” One of the conveners, the ex- Director General of Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation NTDC, Mrs Sally Mbanefo, said that the workshop was designed to explore all the various opportunities in tourism sector to improve the economy. She explained the goal of the present administration can only be sustained if tourism were given adequate attention. “the sector can turn adversity of Nigeria into sustainable fortune by tapping tour-

we encourage private sector partnership

Abuja Carnival ism.” DG Maintained that Nigeria is where its today, because many Nigerian don’t believe in tourism as major hub to mainstream the nation’s economy. Mbanefo stressed that as a labour intensive industry, tourism has the potential to create more jobs per unit of investment than most other industries. According to her, people underestimate the value of tourism in this economy Nigeria has 170 million people this is huge advantage for the country. “The Sector also has the potential to be a sustainable engine for economic growth and diversification. “Tourism can create millions of jobs if we encourage private sector partnership, the government cannot calve all the idea that is why we are encouraged private sector to invest in tourism.

“The whole idea is to promote tourism. We don’t want people to leave Nigerian travel abroad in the name of tourism, why should people go abroad when Nigeria has so much to offer? What we need is just to put them in shape to meet the world standard.” Although she identified no budgetary allocation for the tourism; insecurity, inability of private sector to invest in tourism as factors that is hampering tourism growth in Nigeria. “Our budgetary allocation is nothing to write home about, insecurity, Private sector is another challenges, we don’t have active private organization that will encourage the tourism, while we lack Uniformity of standard of country hotel” She therefore charged private sector to come up with projects that will encourage Nigerians to promote their rich cultural

heritage. In his opening ceremony, the President, Federation of Tourism Association of Nigeria (FTAN), Chief Tomi Akingbogun, said the ministry and her agencies should develop statistics and tourism satellite account. FTAN president expressed optimism that the awareness the NTDC is creating will reposition the sector as a main revenue earner for the country. According to her, Tourism development in Nigeria is gradually becoming a concern of many stakeholders. “Travel and Tourism is widely recognized as one of the World`s largest industry that focuses primarily on leisure, business, travel activities and centers around visitors movement to a particular destination. “Domestic Tourism remains one of the enablers behind the country’s developmental programmes of job creation and as people travel within Nigeria, it will create unity and peaceful harmony “We believed in the local tourism, that is why we are supporting every idea to ensure tourism in the country is reckon with, we want to rebrand, reposition our tourism. He however called on government to provide adequate funding for the sector through Tourism Development Fund and Tourism.

Car dealers lament low patronage in Abuja CHIDI UGWU

buja is arguably a city of car freaks. It is a city where the latest model of cars can very easily be sighted on the streets. Without doubt, Abuja residents love cars; even the design of the capital city encourages the use of personal or private cars. Unlike Lagos where bus routes are many and easily accessible commercial bus routes are limited in Abuja hence many prefer to navigate the city in their private cars. Aside the many showrooms of authorised automobile brand franchisees, car marts dot every nook and cranny making the city a hub for car sales. However, those who run the services of selling vehicles in Abuja have raised concern over the unprecedented downturn of sales, saying they never had it so low in quite a long time. Some auto dealers, who spoke to Inside FCTnoted that times are hard for automobile business owners, stressing that, sales has dropped drastically in the recent times. The manager of a major automobile dealer in the Central Area axis, Kefiano Global Concepts Limited, Mr. Billion Mumandim Tenpo painted a scenario of the low sales when he told our correspondent that people do not ask for imported used

cars, anymore. Tenpo said that nowadays the few customers that visit cars marts now ask for Nigerian used cars instead of what is popularly known as ‘Direct Belgium’ cars. The manager attributed the development to the rising price of cars occasioned by the new Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) foreign exchange policy which made car import very costly in recent times. Inside FCT recalls that on May 24, 2016, the Monetary Policy Committee of the CBN directed the management of the apex bank to adopt a flexible exchange rate policy in the inter-bank forex management structure. The flexible exchange rate system, which commenced recently, is a monetary policy that allows the exchange rate to be determined by the market through the demand and supply forces. The policy had ensured uniformity in the foreign exchange market, a development that industry experts and automobile marketers said had cut down the huge capital outlay on forex, particularly when

Kefiano motors

assessed from the black or parallel market. “I will say not only car sales but market generally; everywhere you go people complain down to the villages, people are facing serious economic challenges. The economic situation in the country has slowed down our rate of sales. And due to this new exchange rate, even when you sell a car what you get, cannot get another car for you. Quite frankly, the market is very slow. Mostly, people don’t come for direct used cars again, they prefer Nigerian

The manager attributed the development to the rising price of cars occasioned by the new

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) foreign

exchange policy which made car import very costly in recent times

used cars because the money is not there and the exchange rate has made even the imported used cars to be costly” stated the auto dealer. Also, a renowned auto mechanic at Apo, Mr. Osogwu Fimber, corroborated the development saying people do not even bring their cars for repairs any longer. He lamented that most of his colleagues now play draft and Ludo at work, something that was frown upon in the time past. “I can tell you that nothing is happening here anymore. My colleagues who used to be very busy now play draughts and ludo games at work from morning till evening. Some park their cars in the shop because they can no longer fuel the vehicles as there is no job most of the times. The situation is very serious” he said.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Friday, December 9, 2016 10th Rabi al-Awwal 1438 Friday, January 17, 2014

Community Mirror 25 On the authority of Anas bin Malik, the servant of the Messenger of Allah, the prophet said: “None of you [truly] believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.” RELATED BY BUKHARI AND MUSLIM

When the come , come to come everybody will sit up in this Ministry.

2016 Hajj: NAHCON calls for complaints Rev. Chris Okotie, speaking on the state of the nation

S ekinah L awal

n furtherance of its statutory functions to regulate, supervise and perform oversight functions over organizations, associations or similar bodies that engaged in organizing and coordinating the movement of pilgrims to perform Hajj or Umrah, the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), has called on pilgrims and members of the general public who have participated or intended to participate in Hajj or Umrah in the year 2016 with complaint(s) or com-

ments against any person(s) or institution(s) that rendered services during the period, to forward same to the Commission starting from Wednesday, December 7th till Wednesday, December, 21st 2016 for appropriate action. This is because the Commission has commenced the review of activities of the 2016 Hajj and Umrah operations. According to the Chairman of the Commission, Barrister Abdullahi Muktar Muhammed, such complaints or comments will assist the Commission to improve on service delivery during the 2017 Hajj and Umrah activities. “It will

HON MINISTER FOR PETROLEUM RESOURCES,ALIISON MADUEKE

also guide the Commission on renewal or otherwise of the licenses of the various service providers and agencies that participated in the Hajj/ Umrah operations. Similarly, it will assist the Commission in monitoring, regulating and supervising States Pilgrims’ Welfare Boards/Agencies/ Commissions.” NAHCON’s management made it known that the Commission welcomes suggestions and observations from stakeholders and members of the public on how to improve Hajj/Umrah activities in Nigeria. The complaints, observa-

L-R: National Amir of The Companion, Alhaji Musbau Oyefeso; Alhaji Saheed Adebule, Dr. Lanre Babalola, Chairman, Tripple Gee Nigeria Plc Chief Gbadegesin Giwa and other dignitaries during the national discourse organised by The Companion, an association of Muslims men in business and profession at the University of Lagos main auditorium, Akoka.

tions or suggestions should be submitted in writing with author’s full details and addressed or delivered to: The Chairman/CEO, National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) No 1, First Avenue, off Ahmadu Bello Way, Central Business District, P.M.B. 375, Abuja. Or forwarded via e-mail to info@

Al-Azhar International begins admission into Cambridge classes

l-Azhar International College, Lokoja, Kogi State, Nigeria. School of Advanced Studies has announced admission Into Cambridge AS, A level, IGCSE among others for MAY/JUNE 2017 & OCT. /NOV. 2017. According to the College’s Administrator, they are grooming disciplined future leaders in Al-Azhar International College. Cambridge AS and A/Level qualifies students for 200 Level University programme at home and abroad and into pre-University while the Cambridge Secondary Checkpoint qualifies candidates for Senior Secondary Schools at home and abroad. The Cambridge IGCSE Cer-

Osinbajo commends Ahmadiyya at 100

t was commendations galore at the Nigerian seat of government, Aso Villa, Abuja, yesterday when the Nigerian Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo applauded the tremendous contributions of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat Nigeria to the social economic development of the country. Specifically, Prof. Osinbajo pour encomium on the provisions of educational facilities, good moral and health facilities by the Islamic group

Corruption is evil —Sheikh Lahaola

in different parts of Nigeria. He said in the early 1920s down to the present time, the jamaat not only established functional schools but hospitals at affordable cost to the populace. He gave the commendation during the visit of the jamaat leadership to him. According to him, he was pleased and highly honoured for the suggestions on good gover nance and accountability offered by the jamaat.

The jamaat leadership called for the retur n of Nigeria’s looted funds by members of the political class. Osinbajo talked about gover nment’s desire on exter nal borrowings meant to focus on infrastructural developments. In the area of agriculture, he said gover nment is focused and will be consistent in its policies for sufficiency in food production and export.

HCFI calls for healthy living

nigeriahajjcom.gov.ng, or operations@nigeriahajjcom.gov. ng Also, the Commission can be reached on Facebook on NAHCON Nigeria, its Twitter handle @NAHCON_NG or its Information Centre on WhatsApp No 09071800007. Or call 08034458299, 08030400862 or 08067760311 for further enquiries.

tificate qualifies students into the University and serve as admission pre-requisite into A/Levels, pre-University and some Universities abroad. He said that people can start registering already. “Forms can be obtained from the College or be downloaded from the College’s website: www.alinternationalcollege.com AlAzhar International College is located at Zango-Daji, Lokoja, Kogi State. “We can also be reached through our e-mail: alazharinternlcollege@gmail. com as well as by getting in touch with the Head of C.I.E Department: 07030284779, Asst. Head of C.I.E Department: 07060846621 Head of I.C.T. (C.I.E) Department: 07056022292.

Place your adverts here for optimal reach Z akat I s 2.5% O f Y our T otal W ealth , K nown A s N isab . A fter H aving F ulfilled A ll obligations , pay your zakat

Electricity is backbone of today’s technology —Oyefeso

24 26

Arts Call toLounge Worship

Friday, December 17, 2010 Friday, December 9, 2016 10th Rabi al-Awwal 1438

NationalMirror Mirror National www.nationalmirroronline.net www.nationalmirroronline.net

Corruption is evil —Sheikh Lahaola

Last year before the presidential elections, the founder, Illabillahi Islamiyyah Society of Nigeria, Sheikh Abdul-Azeez Lahaola, Onida Adua predicted that Muhammadu Buhari would win and become Nigeria’s President, but over-taxation, hunger and starvation would be the order of the day during his rule. In an interview with National Mirror, he speaks on Nigeria being a spoilt child, the need for everybody to change, the fact that we are paying for past sins, that God is happy with Nigeria and some families being the root cause of corruption; excerpts

would withdraw their support. Human beings are destined to work for their money because our fore fathers in the Bible and Quran worked. God created us to work after the disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve. The first profession is farming. Cain was the first farmer. Abel was the first cattle-rearer, Noah was the first carpenter and Ibrahim, the first bricklayer. God is only showing us the way to go. We must eat from our labour and sweat. I wonder why people have turned against God’s plan for us by seeking to get rich without working. Are Muslims terrorists? Terrorists should not claim to be Muslims because Islam is ll about peace and promotes peace. Any blood-letting or civil disturbance cannot be from believers in Allah because Islam is for peace. Even former President George Bush attested to this. Terrorism is very satanic and does not have tribe or religion, it is an individual thing.

hat is your take sir on the current situation of the country? I predicted Nigeria’s recession last year and I must also say that families are the root cause of corruption in this nation. This is because people make too much demand from those occupying political posts. In my mosque located at Ogun Oloko Street, Mafoluku, Oshodi, it is a Mecca of sorts with my lines; 08033066559, 08149582911 ringing most times. People are always here seeking for prayer and assistance. We usually hold all night prayer every Fridays and people throng this mosque. Many of our followers keep identifying with me because of my past predictions that came to pass. I also predicted the Gulf war, former President Shagari’s ouster, late Chief Moshood Abiola’s arrest and death in detention, former president Ibrahim Babangida’s stepping aside among other things that had come to pass. The root cause of Nigeria’s problem is corruption and oppression of the poor. If families would change their attitude about governance and for the rich and powerful to be selfless, Nigeria’s problems would be solved. In most cases, pressures from families and friends making ridiculous demands from elected and appointed government officials always make them corrupt. Some relatives insist their people in government must build houses, buy expensive cars for them in return for their support while he or she was seeking the position. The rich also believe Nigeria is about them, the struggling masses do not exist. How will you rate President Buhari’s tenure so far? I predicted last year that Muhammadu Buhari would be elected President but over-taxation, hunger and starvation would be the order of the day during his rule, however, God told me that Nigeria will be delivered from the oppressors. Nigeria will pull through the current recession if Nigerians change their attitude towards material wealth and offer sincere prayer to God. What our country need is prayerhealing, power of prayer the type that delivered biblical

BOOK REVIEW

One of the books written by Sheikh Lahaola

Sheikh Lahaola

God told me that Nigeria will be delivered from the

oppressors.

Nigeria will pull

through the current recession if

Nigerians change their

attitude towards material wealth and offer sincere prayer to

God

Job from his many afflictions. We need to pray because of the magnitude of our sins. God said we shall eat from our sweat, but today, nobody wants to work or sweat. Everyone wants to be rich overnight. The family accounts for 90 percent of the prevalent corruption because once their relative is elected or appointed into government, family members start to dictate their needs and compel him or her to do them or they

What is the way out for the nation sir? But for the mercy of God, Nigerians sought for war through their behaviour, but God did not allow it to happen because of those who pray night and day for the country. God said he would deliver Nigeria from the oppressors and our economy will still be buoyant. If not for those who are still praying fervently, things would have gotten out of hand. We need to keep praying for our president and his team. If a justice can be prosecuted and jailed, then, people will sit up. Things will get better and Nigeria will still be great again. We are a spoilt child as nation and we should all make it a point of duty to end corruption. We are also paying for our sins but we must continue to pray for God’s forgiveness. Nigerians must establish small scale businesses and patronize made in Nigeria goods in order to boost our economy. If we are patient, Nigeria will still be great. We must all change for good starting from mechanics to carpenter to market women; we all must be truthful and sincere. I have predicted so many things which have been confirmed; it is not my own doing but God’s gift and talent to be having answered prayers. I have close to 500 barrens that have been blessed with children by God’s grace. Because of my belief in the power of prayer, I have produced 15 Islamic teaching tapes, and written 51 prayer books. I have 70 branches all over Nigeria and abroad. We use prayers to heal here and I have been given close to 60 awards so far.

Foundation walks for healthy living H

undreds of men walked for several miles to campaign for healthy living. They were a spectacle to behold last Sunday on the streets of Lagos. In customised blue T-shirts, the men held a walk in furtherance of their campaign against obesity and other non-communicable diseases. The walk, organised by a nongovernmental organisation, Human Concern Foundation International (HCFI), an organ of The Muslim Congress (TMC) started from Jibowu under bridge to Maryland and back to Jibowu between 7 and 9:30am. Some of the messages they passed across were “Walk for life, avoid obesity,” “Keep fit,” “Stay healthy,” and “health is wealth,” among others. HCFI Director Dr Ibrahim Oreagba described exercise as key to wellbeing. According to him, regular exercise prevents non-communicable diseases like cancer, obesity and hypertension. “Regular exercise will increase the quality of our lives. Whoever does it regularly won’t be visiting hospital from time to time. Also, it strengthens one’s heart, which is the most fundamental part of our body. We all know that the body is practically dead once the heart is not functioning,” Oreagba said. Walking, he said, deflects diabetes, adding: “New research links brisk walking to a significant reduction for developing Type 2 Diabetes. Enjoy a healthier life with sound brain. No matter where you live, there is a place you can trek to experience the ben-

efits of walking, and 150 minutes of moderate-intensity walking a week can help manage the stress and prevent heart disease. It can also get one off medications because researchers found that those who walked regularly were more likely to use less medication”. The Muslim Congress (TMC) president, Dr Luqman AbdurRaheem, said Islam supports healthy living. AbdurRaheem, a senior lecturer at the Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH), described Prophet Muhammad as a sports man. “Our prophet encourages Muslims to be healthy. He said Allah loves Muslims who are healthy. If

you are healthy, regular acts of worship will be easier,” he said. AbdurRaheem enjoined Muslims to participate in community activities. An Epidemiologist with the Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr Ismail Abdul Salam, said physical exercise would promote regular free flow of blood within the blood vessels. He said regular exercise prevents cardio vascular diseases such as stroke, cancer and diabetes apart from making one physically fit. The consultant public health physician said exercises solve sleep problems and depression.

Cross section of participants during the foundation walk

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Friday, December 9, 2016 10th Rabi al-Awwal 1438

Friday, January 17, 2014

Call to Worship

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

27 25

Community Mirror

Every Friday of Electricity is backbone today’s technology —Oyefeso with

Rev. Chris Okotie, speaking Sekinah L awal on the state of the nation

When the come , come to come sources to power for the benefit of our and theMinistry. economy,” he said. everybody will sitpeople up in this According to him, electricity has been

identified to be largely responsible for inHONAmir MINISTER FOR Companion, PETROLEUM RESOURCES,ALIISON ational of The ability of localMADUEKE industries to compete at Barrister Musibau Oyefeso has the international level as it takes up to 20 described electricity as the back- per cent or more of the cost of production. bone of the 21st century technology in “The significance of power to the all spheres of life whether at home or economy is un-quantifiable. Evidences at work while the former Minister of abound show that power has been a major Power, Dr. Lanre Babalola said over 50 resource in large shortage for our indusper cent of the nation’s population are tries. The effort of government in increasnot connected to the national grid. ing power generation has also yielded litBabalola said between 80 and 90 million tle or no positive result. The much needed Nigerians are living without electricity. private investment in the sector has also The duo spoke recently at the National remained a potential unfulfilled. The Discourse organised by The Companion, challenges seem enormous but not insuran association of Muslims men in busi- mountable,” he said. ness and profession at the University of Chairman on the occasion, Chief Lagos main auditorium, Akoka-Lagos. Gbade Giwa said the power sector has givHe attributed the inability to distrib- en nightmare of different magnitude to ute the electricity generated to shortage private individuals, businesses and other of gas and wondered why government is organisations. selling the gas to foreign countries. Beyond this, Giwa said, is the negative “Foreign nations are using the gas pur- impact it is having on the socio-economic chase from us to boost their distribution development of the country. of electricity and we deprive ourselves of “The challenges seem so enormous its usage all in the name of getting more ranging from deliberate sabotage to infunds to finance our budgets,” he said. appropriate laws, regulations, funding, According to Babalola, 25 percent of regular investments, manpower, security electricity produced do not get to the cus- and many more. The change of status tomers due to technical losses. Oyefeso from public / government driven secsaid the theme; “Energy for sustainable tor to private sector driven alternative Economic Development: What Strategic does not seem to be having any positive Options for Nigeria” was carefully chosen impact either. This, therefore, calls for a because it is a matter that concerns all the more robust approach to the seemingly people of Nigeria including business or- intractable problem. Fortunately for us, ganisations. power supply is taken for granted in other “The 21st century life we live today is climes because all forms of challenges power-driven. Power or energy if you like, have been overcome and the technology has become an indispensable factor in to provide power is generally available our daily live. We rely on it for virtually and not rocket science. What is required is everything we do. It is perhaps no exag- strong political will and the resolve of all geration to state that electric power is the stakeholders including the general public backbone of the 21st century technology to join hands in tackling the challenges.” in all spheres of life whether at home or Oyefeso also commended INEC and the at work. Fortunately for us, Nigeria is people of Ondo State on the peaceful and blessed with virtually all known sources successful conduct of their gubernatorial of power whether conventional or renew- election. “We commend INEC and the seable ranging from hydro to gas, thermal, curity agencies for a job well done. It is coal, solar, as well as wind and bio-mass our hope that all agencies involved will among others. Yet it is ironical that we perform even better at subsequent elechave not been able to convert these re- tions.”

49 N

L-R: Amir, Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at Nigeria, Dr. Mashhud Adenrele Fashola; Adekorishen of Ikorodu, Ayangbure of Ikorodu Land, Oba Kabir Adewale Shotobi, his wife, Olori Kudirat and Naib Amir Special Duties, Engr. Al-Hassan Ahmad, during the courtesy visit to Ayangbure on grand conference to commemorate 100 years of the existence of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at in Nigeria.

L-R: The Amir, Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at Nigeria, Dr. Mashhud Adenrele Fashola; Grand Chief Imam of Badagry, Alhaji Abdul-Hakeem Ishola; Ajanasi of Central Mosque and Chief Imam New Town, Badagry, during the courtesy visit to Ayangbure on grand conference to commemorate 100 years of the existence of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at in Nigeria.

Groom, Mr Jumu’ah Abiodun; bride, Rasheedat; Director, Bureau of Communication to the Governor, State of Osun, Mr Semiu Okanlawon; Special Adviser (SA) Media to the Governor, State of Osun, Mr Adekunle Alabi during Jumu’ah’s wedding ceremony in Ibadan recently.

Aqsa Day holds on Monday

o less than 10,000 human rights activists and lovers of the global Palestinian struggle for liberation are expected to throng the National Stadium Surulere, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria for the 2016 edition of the annual Aqsa Day. The event, organised by the Muslim Awareness International (MAI), holds on Monday December 12, coinciding with the birthday of the holy Prophet Muhammad (Mawlid Nabiy). MAI is a non-governmental organisation which focuses on events that affect humanity

Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Missionary-in-Charge, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, Maulvi AbdulKhalique Nayyar; Groom, Mr Jumu’ah Abiodun and the Jama’at circuit Missionary for Ibadan Alhaji Daramola during Jumu’ah’s wedding ceremony in Ibadan recently.

Lagos presents certificate to hajj pilgrims Dare Akogun

n reward of exceptional service and good representation of the state in Saudi Arabia, the Lagos State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board recently presented certificate of participation to pilgrims who performed 2016 Hajj. Commissioner for Home Affairs and

Lagos State Amirul Hajj, Dr. Abdul Lateef AbdulHakeem while presenting the certificates to the pilgrims stated that the gesture is informed by the need to reward the pilgrims who he described as worthy ambassadors of the state. “We hope to continue on our effort in constantly improving the welfare package for our pilgrims and also ensure that the performance of hajj rites is stress free, “ he said.

globally. MAI Director, Engr. Luqman Balogun maintained that the entire project of the State of Israel has been surrounded with lies and deception. Balogun accused Israel and her allies of employing varying ‘ludicrous narratives and deplorable actions’ to defend their illegal activities in the occupied settlements. “Some of these false historical narratives among others will be laid bare at this year’s Aqsa Day. That is why we have carefully chosen the theme: The Burden of Lies.”

Fear of God, panacea for recession —Cleric

n Islamic Scholar, Sheik AbdurRazaq Onaolapo Kasolayo has said that the only solution for the economic recession plaguing the country currently is to have a God fearing leadership. Kasolayo, who is the Founder and Chief Missioner of the ZawiyatulSofwatur-Rahmatil-Islamiyyat (ZASRAM), Ota, Ogun State said that unless the leadership of the country turns a new leaf by governing with the fear of God, the suffering will persist unabated. The concern cleric, who spoke last Friday while ushering in the new month of Rabiul-Awwal regretted that, “the misrule of the past has turned

into a monster that is devouring all of us now.” Quoting copiously from the glorious Qur’an and prophetic scripture, Kasolayo reminded that, “God will not change the affairs of any community until that community decides to change their own affairs for better.” Kasolayo urged Nigerians to support the present government to succeed, reasoning that, “the success of Buhari’s administration will benefit all and sundry.” He therefore called on all religious leaders across the country to relentlessly enlighten their followers on the need to be God-conscious always “to avoid calamities which consequence will not spare anybody.”

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Friday, February 14, 2014

Friday, December 9, 2016

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CWG partners OLX on SMERP Solution to SMEs

WG Plc, has inked a partnership deal with OLX, Nigeria’s number one online classifieds, to offer its SMERP Solution to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria for free. CWG, the largest Information Technology Integration Company in Nigeria built the SMERP Solution SMEs manage their business operations efficiently. Speaking of the partnership, Mr. Chidiebere Asiegbu, Product Manager, SMERP at CWG said the aim of the partnership is to leverage OLX’s platform to reach and deploy the SMERP Solution to the over 100,000 unique merchants, who currently use the OLX platform, whilst still being available to new signups. Asiegbu noted that it’s expected that at least 20 per cent or more of the merchants CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as SIKIRU KOLAWOLE AILERU now wish to be known and addressed as SIKIRU AILERU ODOFIN. All documents remain valid. General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

on the OLX platform would need a business management tool such as the SMERP Solution to support their business “We are happy with this partnership because it will afford us the opportunity to reach and deploy the SMERP Solution that enables growth to the Nigerian

economy; seeing it is estimated that the SMEs segment accounts for over 25 percent of employment in the country at present,” he said. Also commenting on the partnership, Mayokun Fadeyibi, Senior Manager, Business Development at OLX stated that “we are ex-

Olusegun Koiki

egional Manager, North, West and Central Africa, South African Airways, Mr. Ohis Ehimiaghe, has condemned facilities at most Nigerian airports, saying that they are the worst in the regions he oversees for the airline. Speaking at a conference with aviation journalists THursday in Lagos, Ehimiaghe rated Nigerian airports, most CHANGE OF NAME / CORRECTION OF DATE OF BIRTH

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especially the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, as one of the most challenging terminals for operators. He decried that the poor facility has contributed in no small measures to extra expenses for airlines flying into the country. He explained that despite the fact that the operators pay huge amount of money as rent to the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, most of the facilities are yet to CHANGE OF NAME

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KUDIRAT: I, formerly known aS MISS ATOBATELE KUDIRAT FADEKEMI, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. AKINPELU KUDIRAT FADEKEMI ATOBATELE. All former documents remain valid. General Public should take note.

CORRECTION OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

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structures in place. “We encourage our users to take advantage of this exclusive opportunity where the service is free for one year for all OLX users”. As part of the partnership, CWG would train and onboard the merchants on the use of the platform as well

as host and support the platform for use, while OLX’s role will be to advise and encourage the merchant to use the platform, through its communication channels and also sensitize the merchant on the functionalities, usage and benefits of the platform.

‘Nigerian airports’ facilities are among the worst in Africa’

I, ADELEYE ADEDOKUN ADELEKE ADELAJA am the same person bearing ADELEYE ADEDOKUN ADELEKE. Henceforth, I wish to be known and addressed as ADELEYE ADEDOKUN ADELEKE ADELAJA. All documents bearing these name remain valid. INLG Ijebu-Igbo, banks and general public take note.

There was a typographic error quoted name as EZE EBERECHUKWU instead of EZEAGWULA EBERE HAPPINESS. My correct name is EZEAGWULA EBERE HAPPINESS. The concern authorities should make amend. General public take note.

cited to be working together with CWG to offer OLX users exclusive access to a value added system of integrated applications to manage and automate different areas of their business. The ERP solution would help users organise and grow their business while putting valuable

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This is to confirm I, CHUKWUEBUKA CHRISTOPHER NWEDI is one and same person as CHUKWU EBUKA NWEDI. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

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This is to inform the general public that my name and date of birth was wrongly written as PELEMO GBEMISOLA VICTORIA and date of birth as 14th of May 2011 instead of PELEMO OLUWASEUN FOLASADE and my date of birth as 3rd of August 1983. Henceforth my correct name is PELEMO OLUWASEUN FOLASADE and my date of birth is 3rd of August 1983 . All former documents remain valid. First Bank, Eco Bank and General public take note.

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CORRECTION OF NAME ON BANK ACCOUNT This is to inform the general public that my name was written as OLANIYI OLALEKAN GBENGA instead of OLAREWAJU OLALEKAN GBENGA. Henceforth my correct name is OLAREWAJU OLALEKAN GBENGA. All former documents remain valid. Skye Bank Plc and General public take note.

receive upgrade. According to him, the smallest airport he oversees for South African Airways was Cotonou Airport, but noted that the facilities there could not be comparable to that of Lagos Airport. Ehimiaghe also castigated the infrastructure at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, NAIA, Abuja, lamenting that no fewer than four of its aircraft were damaged by the runway in recent time with one of the airCHANGE OF NAME

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I formerly known and addressed as OLADEJO OLAITAN KABIR, now wish to be known and addressed as AKINOLA OLAITAN KABIR. All former documents remain valid. Banks and General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME/DATE OF BIRTH

I, formerly known and addressed as SULE FADEYI, now wish to be known and addressed as SULEMAN FADEYI and my correct date of birth is 15/08/1958. All former documents remain valid. GTBank Plc, other banks and general public, take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as IKEJIAKU ANULIKA EVELYN, ADIMUO ANULIKA EVELYN, now wish to be known and addressed as NNOLI ANULIKA EVELYN. All former documents remain valid. General public take note. CORRECTION OF NAME

My name was wrongly written as EMEH ROBERT instead of UBUO ROBERT EMEH. All former documents remain valid. General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as IFECHI BEATRICE EBERE, now wish to be known and addressed as IFECHI EDITH ODINKEMMA.That my date birth is 1st January, 1973. All former documents remain valid. General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as ANYA OLUCHI UDE, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS NDUKWE OLUCHI MERIT. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

craft left in the country for over a week. He stressed that despite the damage, FAAN was not responsible for the repair of their aircraft. He stressed that the management was looking for concession from the agency as a result of damage done to its airplanes. He also mentioned scarcity of aviation fuel as another major challenge confronting airline operators into the country. He disclosed that the airline lost 40 per cent of CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as AMOS OLUSEYI, now wish to be known and addressed as OLAYINKA OLUSEYI AMOS. All former documents remain valid. General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as OKORIE ORIAKU, now wish to be known and addressed as OKORO ORIAKU KALU. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

its ticket sales to the recent forex challenge in the country. He specifically mentioned that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) ordered them to exchange a dollar at between N306 and N308, but the bank sells as high as N360 to N370 to the operators. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as MONICA MOSES OGWUCHE, now wish to be known and addressed as MONICA ENE OGWUCHE. All former documents remain valid. General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

OGUNDIMU: I, formerly known and addressed as MISS OGUNDIMU FOLUKE ADEWUNMI, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS BAMDURO FOLUKE ADEWUNMI. All former documents remain valid. General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as OSOH LILIAN PATIENCE, now wish to be known and addressed as SOLOMON LILIAN PATIENCE. All former documents remain valid. General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

CORRECTION OF NAME

This is to inform the general public that my name was mistakenly written on as LAWRENCE FUNMI instead of ASAOLU FUNMILOLA ABIODUN. That my correct name is ASAOLU FUNMILOLA ABIODUN. All former documents remain valid. General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

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Formerly known and addressed as ADESHINA GIFT OLADUNNI, now wish to be known and addressed as SHOWUNMI OMOWUNMI OLADUNNI. CORRECT DATE OF BIRTH 30TH November, 1979. All former documents remain valid. General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as OLAWALE TOBI now wish to be known and addressed as OLAWALE EMMANUEL TOBI. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

PUBLIC NOTICE

THE KING OF PEACELAND CHRISTIAN CHURCH AYO NI O. This is to inform the general public that the above named church has applied for registration to the Corporate Affairs Commission under Part ‘C’ of Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990. The Trustees are: 1. Prophet Fadipe Adeleke Olanipekun 2. Apostle Adekoroye Oluwayolemi 3. Mr. Taiwo Abioye 4. Mr Benjamin Adeleke

– General Overseer/Chairman – Financial Secretary – Treasurer – Secretary

Aims /Objectives 1. To the advancement of religious gathering for moral and spiritual uprightness. 2. To promote social, cultural, charitable and sporting activities. Signed Trustees

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Business News

Friday, December 9, 2016

FG secures EU’s commitment on North East, Niger Delta projects

he European Union (EU) last Monday pledged its support for the ongoing efforts of the Federal Government to rebuild some parts of the North East and Niger Delta regions by earmarking 20 million Euros for the reconstruction of markets and warehouses in Borno and Delta States. The EU Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Michael Arrion, who gave the pledge during a visit to the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, said the funds would be offered to the two States in the form of budget support. “Some time ago, we talked about budget support but we will be able to do that only at the State level, using a special instrument meant for countries emerging from war, and we can look at States in the North East and look at specific projects in terms of financial support to their budgets,” he said. However, Mrs. Adeosun said all the financial analysis needed to facilitate support to the States had been put in place, pointing out that the Fis-

cal Sustainability Plan required a 21-point fiscal reform programme that enhanced transparency, accountability and efficiency. According to the Minister, the funding arrangement would help in healing the wounds caused by insurgent activities in the North East. She said it would also give hope to the Niger Delta people who have been impacted by pipeline bombings and the attendant environmental problems in the area. The EU Ambassador said the quest to invest in Africa was largely informed by the need to discourage migration to Europe, pointing out that several thousands of Nigerian citizens have continued to migrate to Europe. He said: “We have specific objective for creating this instrument and it is to address the root cause of migration. We are presenting this initiative within the framework of the global response to irregular migration. Today we have a few thousand Nigerians in Europe, and we

NGO trains physically challenged youths on entrepreneurship skills Abolaji Adebayo

non-government organisation, Star Child Development Initiative, SCDI, in collaboration with AAAF, has sensitised people living with disabilities on the various entrepreneurship activities they could engage themselves in rather than depending on government and relatives for survival. The organisation, in its efforts, has been encouraging and supporting many disabled youths in their entrepreneurship careers, while trying to help them diversify into agriculture and agribusiness, exploring agricultural value chains to their advantage. To achieve this, the organisation stated that it had launched StarAgrability in partnership with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, IITA, Ibadan, where the physically challenged youths were trained various skills along agric value chains. And as a result of the training, many of them have been producing cassava chips, cassava chinchin, garri and powdered fufu. Speaking at the International Day for Persons with Disability/trade Fair (basically showcasing goods produced by persons with disabilities) with the theme “promoting Equita-

ble Development for Disabled Youths: A Must for Economic Growth” organised by Star Child Development Initiative, SCDI, in collaboration with Ajoke Ayisat Afolabi Foundation, AAAF, and Accion Micro Finance Bank over the weekend, the Chairman of the occasion, Professor Sabitu Olagoke, lamented the non-sensitivity of government to the empowerment of the people living with disabilities. According to him, for the country to be economically strong, it must operate with minimum of 7 per cent growth rate, $900billion GDP and 6,000MW, unfortunately the country has not met any of the conditions hence, the need for economic diversification to enhance economic growth. He maintained that for this to be all encompassing, the United nations 17 Points Agenda on sustainable development goal must be fully implemented especially the items on promotion on inclusive society whereby the welfare scheme would reach effectively with impact on both the able bodied and people living with disabilities. Olagoke said agriculture remained the most feasible option that could easily address the lingering economic recession to create of jobs and employment.

feel we have the responsibility of attracting them to come back to Nigeria. “By investing in Africa, we

will be creating jobs. We will be mixing grants with loans. We believe the grants will have a leveraged effect,”

Arrion disclosed that the EU had, in the last two years, invested over 300 billion Euros in Africa.

The General Manager (HR & CS/Company Secretary) Total Nigeria Plc Mrs. Bunmi Popoola-Mordi, presenting relief materials to an internally displaced family. With her were the Territorial Training Manager, Mr. Nelson Ihetu, Corporate Affairs Manager, Mr. Albert Mabuyaku, and Corporate Social Responsibility Manager, Chinwe Ifechigha, during the presentation of relief materials to the Apo-Sunshine IDP camp Abuja.

CPC summons Arik Air over alleged consumer rights’ abuse

ollowing complaints of alleged ill-treatment by passengers of recent London-Abuja Arik Air flights, the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) has summoned the management of the airline to appear before it to provide facts relating to the allegations. The Summons, which was issued by the Council on Wednesday, is summoning the airline’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Michael Arumemi Ikhide, the Chief Operating Officer, Conor Prendergast and the Managing Director, Chris Ndulue, to appear before the Council on Monday, December 19, 2016. According to the Summons, the Council disclosed that it received “complaints/information from the public and passengers on board Arik Air flights from London to Lagos between 2nd and 5th December, 2016 alleging that the flights arrived Murtala Muhammed Airport,

Ikeja, Lagos Nigeria, without the passengers’ luggage and without prior information”. The Council stated further that “the said passengers, many of whom had connecting flights to Cameroon, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Ibadan could not continue their journeys as a result of the non-arrival of their luggage from London, while some passengers on the said flights could not have access to personal supplies, baby food or medication. “Arik Air Ltd did not provide the passengers with temporary accommodation for transit; neither was there any customer service desk to assist the passengers in resolving their individual complaints”, it stated. CPC disclosed that it had issued the Summons in line with sections 8, 15 and 18 of its enabling Act. It would be recalled that passengers of Turkish Airlines

had similar experience with the airline’s Flight 623 from Istanbul to Abuja on 25th and 31st of December 2015 and 9th of January 2016, which prompted the Council to consistently demand for a situation report on the incidents. However, the refusal of Turkish Airlines to respond to the Council’s Summons and the ultimatum of the Attorney General of the Federation to the airline on the same request, has led to the criminal prosecution of the airline and two of its principal officers, Liker Ayci and Rasak Shobowale, the airline’s Board Chairman and Commercial Manager respectively before Federal High Court 10 in Abuja over alleged criminal violation of the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) Act. The criminal prosecution of Turkish Airlines and its principal officers has been fixed for February 9, 2017 for hearing.

NDIC trains EFCC, ICPC operatives on financial investigations

he Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has concluded a capacity building programme for operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC). The 52-day long training programme, which was commenced at the EFCC Training Academy on August 22 and ended on No-

vember 30 this year in Abuja, is in line with the existing collaboration between the NDIC and the EFCC towards enhancing the capacity of the EFCC’s staff. A statement by the Corporation’s Head, Communication & Public Affairs, Mallam Hadi Birchi indicated that among the 58 participants that attended the training programme, 52 were drawn from EFCC and six from

ICPC. Birchi stated further that the training programme was structured into six courses namely, Accounting for Non Accountants; Foreign Exchange Investigation; Tracing and Tracking of Suspicious Transactions; Financial and Banking Regulations; Auditing and Investigation Fundamentals; and Financial Analysis.

Business News

Friday, December 9, 2016

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BoI enlists 200 beneficiaries for N140bn micro-credit scheme Olufemi Adeosun Abuja

he Bank of Industry (BoI) has enlisted 200 beneficiaries in Kano under the Federal Government N140bn Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme(GEED) GEED is one of the five pillars of the federal government’s social investment intervention

scheme aimed at empowering vulnerable groups in the country. Other programmes under the social investment intervention scheme include, the Home Grown School Feeding Programme, the Conditional Cash Transfer Programme, the Job Creation Programme N-Power, and the Student Busary Programme. Speaking during a town hall

meeting with the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo in Kano, the Minister of Women Affairs, Senator Aisha Alhassan, said the GEEP being implemented by the BoI was designed to provide micro credit to artisans, farmers, market women and entrepreneurs engaging in productive enterprise. The meeting afforded the V.P the opportunity to interact with traders, market men and

women, artisans, food vendors and small business owners on the social intervention programmes of government. According to the minister, each beneficiary which must belong to a registered association or cooperative, is entitled to a loan between N10,000 and N100,000 repayable within six months. She explained that BoI would disburse the loans directly to beneficiaries’ personal accounts with verifiable BVN. On modalities for repayment, she clarified that the “loans will be disbursed and repayment collected through local banks and money agents in order to reach remote areas where there are no banking facilities. Group

leaders will be required to help mobilize their members for verification and repayment of the loans promptly. “The loans are interest free and no collateral is required. There is only an administrative charge of 5% which covers the banks’s expenses for administering the fund. Payback period is 6 months and there is a onemonth grace period after getting the loan before repayment starts. “A weekly recovery plan has been prepared to ease repayment for beneficiaries. For example, a loan of N10,000 will be repaid through a weekly repayment of approximately N440 while a N50,000 loan requires about N2,200 weekly repayment.

Airtel, HNI unveil free public service messages package Isaiah Erhiawarien

A L-R: Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Maikanti Kacalla Baru; General Manager, South South/South East, Sterling Bank Plc, Emmanuel Emefienim; Executive Director, Sterling Bank Plc, Kayode Lawal, and Chairman, Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN), Bank-Anthony Okoroafor, at the PETAN 2016 Oil Industry Achievement Award/Dinner in Lagos…recently.

Total Nigeria donates relief materials to IDPs in Abuja

eriving from a stakeholder need assessment perspective, promotion of Access to Energy and Health which form part of the pillars of Total Nigeria Plc’s Sustainable Development strategy, the company has reached out to internally displaced persons (IDPs) in some IDP camps in Abuja. The company, with the Nigerian Red-Cross Society donated and distributed 3,000 long lasting insecticide treated mosquito nets and 1,000 Awango by Total solar lamps to the IDP camps residents. Out of the over 5,000 residents of the Apo Sunshine IDP Camp, the Waru IDP Camp, the Malaysia IDP camp and the Durumi IDP camp made up of 901 families, the IDPs were identified through a preliminary identification and tagging process by the Nigerian Red Cross. Managing Director Total Nigeria Plc Mr. Jean-Philippe Torres, who was represented by the General Manager (Human Resources & Corporate Services/Company Secretary) Mrs. Bunmi PopoolaMordi, while presenting the items to the IDPs said that the initiative was part of the company’s efforts to address some of the challenges facing IDPs nationwide. “This gesture is part of the Group’s contribution in address-

ing the social challenges of internally displaced persons in our society. Our sister company, Total EP Nigeria Limited, had earlier donated $550,000 to the IDPs which is been managed with the Red Cross Society for gradual disbursement over the next two year period, towards addressing some of the challenges at the IDPs in Nigeria”, Popoola-Mordi said. At the presentation of the relief materials were the company’s Corporate Affairs Manager Mr. Albert Mabuyaku, Corporate Social Responsibility Manager,

Mrs. Chinwe Ifechigha, Territorial Training Manager Mr. Nelson Ihetu, Ag. Director General of the Nigeria Red Cross, Mr. Adeyemo Andronicus, Social/Volunteer workers assisting in the distribution, the Nigeria Civil Defense, among others. The leader of the Apo-Sunshine IDP camp, Mr. Chakule Lawal, an indigene of Bornu State thanked “Total Nigeria Plc for this kind gesture, it will go a long way in alleviating our problems especially as we in this camp do not have light, the solar lamps will help us a lot.”

irtel Nigeria, has partnered with global development organisation, Human Network International (HNI), to unveil The 3-2-1 Service, a call-in system that provides free, on-demand information - ranging from healthcare to good governance - to Nigerians, including those in rural communities. The 3-2-1 Service provides public service information, ondemand, to mobile phone users in English as well as in Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo and Pidgin English. Using recorded messages by indigenous speakers, the 3-2-1 Service is convenient for all Nigerians, regardless of age, education and literacy. By dialling 321 on their Airtel prepaid lines, users will connect the caller to voice prompts in any of the aforesaid indigenous languages or in English. Speaking, in Lagos, at a formal ceremony to announce the call-in system, Chief Executive

Aviation minister calls for FAAN’s list on demotion exercise Olusegun Koiki

he Minister of State for Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, has called for the comprehensive list of those recommended for sack and demotion in the recent ‘right placement’ exercise in Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN). Sirika called for the list following rumour of removal of some key names by some highly connected management staff in the agency. The Winifred Oyo-Ita led-committee on restructuring of the aviation agencies, which had some unions leaders as members had

recommended proper placement of personnel in all the aviation agencies. The comprehensive list, which was made available to our correspondent by a ministry source had contained no fewer than 60 names in FAAN alone who were either recommended to be demoted or sacked as at 2015. But, the exercise, which was implemented in October 2016, only affected 22 middle and senior staff in FAAN while others were unscrupulously exempted. The exemption of some staff from the list and the cry of the industry unions forced Sirika to call

for the list during the week. The source said, “Some of those affected by the exercise and even the industry unions have complained about the way and manner the exercise was carried out. “The initial list of the committee was more comprehensive than what was carried out. There is an allegation against a female director in the agency who they claimed used her position to influence the original list. Rather than demote some workers as stipulated, the list was manipulated while some workers were immediately transferred out of Lagos by the management so that they won’t be affected by the purge.

Officer and Managing Director, Airtel Nigeria, Segun Ogunsanya, said the telco is committed to creating platforms that will empower Nigerians as well as uplift telecoms consumers in the various communities where it operates. The telco’s Human Resources Director, Gbemiga Owolabi, who represented the CEO, explained that “as a major stakeholder, we are excited to partner with HNI to create a huge platform that offers a plethora of opportunities to enable millions of Nigerians across various communities to lead better and healthier lives. We are confident that the 321 initiative will help transform lives in many locations across the country” In his remarks, HNIs Country Manager in Nigeria, Harriet Blest, said that “by turning simple mobile phones into search engines, Human Network International and Airtel are giving Nigerians an entirely new way to access information using technology they already own. “Nigerians with little or no literacy can still leverage the service, and that makes it an incredibly powerful tool. We are delighted to have partnered with Airtel on this and look forward to reaching millions of Nigerians”, Blest added. The 3-2-1 Service provides public service information that are all relevant to both individuals and communities across Nigeria. The topics launched on the service are Agriculture, Commodity Prices, Family Planning, Good Governance, Health, News & Entertainment, Nutrition, Sanitation, and Weather.

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Friday, February 14, 2014

Friday, December 9, 2016 CHANGE OF NAME

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CONFIRMATION OF NAME

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PUBLIC NOTICE

HEAVENLY LIBERATION GLOBAL ASSEMBLY The above named Foundation has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission (C.A.C) for registration in accordance with the provisions of the Companies and Allied Matter Act. 1990 THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. Evangelist Nzekwe Samson Nwanozie 2. Mr. Benjamin OgechukwuUnekwe 3. Mr David ChigozieUmeohanu AIMS & OBJECTIVES: 1. To preach and teach the word of God all over the earth. 2. To organise crusade and liberate nations, states, families and individuals from any form of satanic attack. 3. To empower youths in the area of being independent entrepreneurs and care for the aged. 4. To organize outreaches, specialized seminars, and interdenominational meetings. Any objection therefore should be addressed to the Registrar-general Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, P.M.B 198, Garki, Abuja within 28 days of this publication Signed: Mejulu Henry Esq Solicitor

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I formerly known and addressed as ADEJOKE JUMOKE OJO, now wish to be known and addressed as MUINAT JUMOKE ADENIJI. All documents remain valid. General Public should please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

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I, formerly known and addressed as MISS AKINWUMI TEMITOPE, now wish to known and addressed as MRS. OLATUNJI TEMITOPE. All former documents remain valid. Nigeria Police Force and general public please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly known, addressed and called DUNTOYE SEUN TIMOTHY, now wishes to be known, addressed and called ADEWARA SEUN TIMOTHY. All documents bearing my former names remain valid. The general public and the authority concerned take note. CHANGE OF NAME

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CHANGE OF NAME

LOSS OF DOCUMENT The general public is hereby notified that the Original Deed of Conveyance to INNOCENT OKOLOCHA the bonafide owner of a piece/ parcel of land situate at Umuenukwa Amechi Emene Nike in Enugu East LGA of Enugu State measuring 760.395 square metres, and bounded by Beacon Nos. AC4020, AC 4021, AC4022 and AC 4024. Got lost. If found return to Ministry of Lands.

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PUBLIC NOTICE

CROWN OF LIFE ROYAL ASSEMBLY THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED ASSEMBLY HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART “C” OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO.1 OF 1990 THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. PST. JUSTIN ONYEKACHI 2. PST. (MRS) ROSE JUSTIN ONYEKACHI 3. APT. JEFF AKOR 4. PST. (MRS) BRIDGET BENNETH 5. MRS. JULIET JERRY ONOME AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1. TO PREACH AND TEACH THE WORD OF GOD TO ALL NATIONS. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT OFF AGUIYI IROSI STREET, MAITAMA, ABUJA, WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: SECRETARY

16 32

News

Friday, December 9, 2016 Sunday, December 17, 2010

Sunday Mirror National www.nationalmirroronline.net

We have kept faith with our promises —Ortom Governor of Benue State, Dr Samuel Ortom recently hosted a team of senior National Mirror editors where he outlined the achievements so far recorded during his tenure including maintenance of law and order, revitalization of the agric sector, provision of an enabling environment for businesses and recovery of funds looted from the state treasury. Excerpt:

ow have you been able to bridge the gap between promises made and the reality now? We’re keeping faith with our promises to the people in our government and so far, so good, we’re in touch with the people and in spite of the recession we have today in our country and Benue State is also affected. We’re not able to pay salaries as at when due. Our wage bill is N7.8 billion on average in a month and since August last year we’ve been receiving an average of N4 billion, though once in a while we have interventions like the bailout funds, like the infrastructure fund, like LNG fund that came in. But that is where we are. You may recall that we did promise that for us we’ll ensure that we industrialize the state to ensure value addition to our primary products, and then we’ll promote micro, small and medium scale enterprises we’ll also promote and develop trading and commercial activities within the state. Most importantly, we’ll attract investments into Benue State and so far, so well. We came and met a very distressed situation on ground, one, the economy was bad, arrears of salaries were owed, arrears of pensions were owed, and arrears of gratuities were pending. When you put these things together it amounted to over N69 billion. It’s unprecedented in the history of our state and we inherited a deficit treasury, even our accounts overdrafts were hanging on them and so it was a very difficult thing taking off. Worse of all was the issue of security. Security for lives and property is the primary responsibility of every reasonable government. We took over a government and inherited an insecure state and armed robbery, kidnappings and killings, assassinations and several other crimes were going on in the state. But by the grace of God, God gave us the wisdom to introduce an amnesty program. First of all we applied the carrot approach when we pleaded with the criminals and the response was massive. More than 700 assorted weapons were recovered from these hoodlums and more than 900 of them came up to surrender to the amnesty programme. Today we’re applying the stick approach; the amnesty programme is in two folds, the carrot and stick approaches. So after the expiration of the period we gave for the carrot approach we introduced the stick approach and today you can see that our state is relatively calm. We’ve been able to reduce criminality to its barest minimum and people are going about their normal duties because we knew that no investor would come to invest in Benue State in an insecure environment. We knew that no commercial or trading activities or the development of micro, small and medium

Ortom scale enterprises or industrializing the state to realize our dream for an industrialized state would thrive in a state of insecurity. We appreciate God that we’ve been able to come this far and we believe that moving forward becomes very easy and there is an influx of investors coming into the state. As at today several investors have come from Europe, from America, from Asia, and we are providing the enabling environment because we believe that with these kinds of efforts we’ll turn the state from a civil service economy to an industrialized economy that will drive the system. Currently the state is more of civil servants who are driving the economy and when salaries are not paid it becomes a very big issue in this place. So we want to take people away from that. Now that the Federal Government is faced with reality and a recession has been declared in the entire country for us we believe that it’s an opportunity to look outside the box of government and begin to be creative and innovative. For now, we’re taking advantage of areas where we have comparative advantage. For us in Benue State, as the Food Basket of the Nation, we want to not just feed Nigeria; we want to feed Africa because we have the capacity. We have no business importing rice. If the opportunities that we have here in Benue State are harnessed properly rice production alone we can hit N1.5 metric tons right here because the population is there, the land is there, and we have water. All the advantages are there for us, it’s just the will and the technical support that the people need. Of course, once the market is also created and farmers are able to break even as it’s happening now and our people are really excited, I’ll tell you the truth, an average farmer here is excited with the change program of the APC. They’re very excited, they’re happy with Mr. President, they’re happy with me because for the first time in the history of this state people are getting returns on their investment in farming. I’m a typical farmer and for a very long time it was difficult for me to sell a sack of rice for N8 thousand, they gave me six to seven thousand at harvest. Today, I’ll tell you, the benefit is great. Last year’s harvest, I was able to sell mine at N15 thousand but the other people who had little patience after I sold mine the following week it went to N32 thousand and I calculated 1,500 bags and I was losing N25 million. We have the capacity for the production of soya beans, it’s massive and sesame seed, and several others, of course yam which is the traditional product of Benue State. It’s mas-

sive, all that is needed it to put processing factories that can add value to these primary products. Because we’ve secured the state today investors are coming and we’re very excited. Because of the challenge we have in the payment of salaries we initiated this year again that even the civil servants should go to farm and today our civil servants almost all of them are farmers. We declared Fridays work free day in July and August for planting and for harvesting November, December, January, we’ve also declared Friday work free day for civil servants, except those on essential services. If you go to our villages today you’ll see that people have really taken the advice of government and they’re working very hard on their farms and we expect a bountiful harvest this year. If people need food they should just come to Benue State. Do you have any program to scale up the production in the agriculture sector and also provide storage facilities? Yes, there is. All those things are on the line, we’re being proactive. For this year’s budget we had over N800 million for the construction of earth dams in order to give opportunity to our people to do dry season farming. We also had about N900 million for land clearing because if we must go into commercial agriculture, we must clear the land. We also made provision for the purchase of 60 tractors with all the implements on them and we’ve made a wonderful arrangement for the procurement and supply of fertilizers, working with the businessmen and supplying it directly to our farmers. We pay subsidy to the businessmen but the business supply directly to the farmers. With all these in place and of course the issue of storage and off taking in the event that prices fall, because we want to maintain and sustain the tempo, we want to engage our people, we decided to work towards getting the Benue Investment and Property Company, BIPC, which is an agency of government that handles investment activities to establish marketing boards which will be off takers of all products that are not bought immediately at good prices so that our farmers will continue to be encouraged to do more. What have you able to do so far in the area of education? In the area of education we’ve been able to keep to our promise. We did promise that for us show us your level of education and we’ll show you the level of

your development and so education is a priority of this administration. We want to make our tertiary institutions strong; at the secondary level we want to make it stronger and to make it strongest at the primary level because that is the foundation. When we came teachers were on strike we had to talk to them to come back. Apart from that we have secured the Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC, funding after paying the counterpart funding, put together it’s N7.6 billion. We’re doing massive renovation and construction of new classroom blocks and we’re massively providing learning aids to our primary schools. We have also embarked on training of teachers. This year alone we were able to train 10, 000 primary school teachers and 6,000 others at the secondary school level and it’s a periodic thing that we’ll continue to do because we believe that building their capacities will make them more effective in handling our children to acquire knowledge. At the secondary school level too we’re making the environment more conducive by renovating most of our secondary schools and also planning to give back to some of the original owners of the schools, the missionaries and private people because government does not have the capacity to continue so let the private people do it. We set up a committee, they’ve completed their work and we’re working on the white paper. All these things we believe will strengthen the system. At the tertiary level especially the Benue State University because of the priority attention that we have given to education because we believe that even if you’re not able to bequeath anything to your children as parents you’ve given them everything. The Benue State University in particular, the other institutions too we’re supporting them to continue to operate but Benue State University it is connected to almost all the families in Benue State and we’re not joking with it. Despite the fact that we’re not able to pay salaries as at when due, Benue State University we’ve been able to pay them up to date as I talk to you. There are challenges about some allowances but it’s understood. This is where we are and since coming on board Benue State University used to have some challenges especially with the College of Health Sciences. For 12 years medical doctors were not graduated from that school until we came on board. We were able to fulfill all the conditions for the accreditation and the team came and did the accreditation and as I talk to you we have graduated up to four batches of medical doctors from the Benue State University. We also met the Schools of Nursing and Midwifery which accreditation was withdrawn for over four years. We went into it, injected money and we were able to fulfill the conditions and we have been reaccredited and so today we’ve advertised for admission of students. For four years admissions were not done in those schools so we’ve been able to do this. Likewise the College of Health Technology Agasha we believe that early next year we shall have accreditation and our children will return there. We’ve been able to support the NKST School of Nursing and Midwifery, their accreditation was withdrawn too, it has been restored. These are efforts that we’ve made in the health sector. For health services we’re working closely with development partners and they’re really supporting us. Of recent we were able to pay our counterpart funding of N1.2 billion to the Sustainable Development Goals and they matched it with another N1.2 and we have massively provided some health facilities at the rural level to be handed over to the Primary Health Care Board which has taken off and it remains the process of the integration of local government staff transferred to the

Continued on page 33

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Friday, December 9, 2016

‘Investors are now happy coming to Benue’ Continued from page 32 board that we’re working on. We’ve been able to secure $1.5 million grant from the Federal Ministry of Health and the process of utilizing it is on. Our intention is to provide primary health facilities for our rural people so that they benefit. Apart from the health services the Sustainable Development Goals are providing water, skills acquisition centers, and orange packaging, garri and rice processing plants. On our own the Ministry of Works and Bureau for Rural Development are massively providing roads for our people in various villages. Because of paucity of funds we’re not able to say we’ll tar all of them but at least construction of bridges and culverts and then opening and lateriting of these roads and making them accessible to our peasant farmers and all that is being done and it’s been welcome by the people. We’re also providing electricity and reaching out to them and the communities are really excited about these things that we’ve undertaken in this regard. I tell you the truth that it has been difficult getting funding because like I said we have a wage bill of N7.8 billion and we’re getting an average of N4 billion and our internally generated revenue is around N250 million it becomes a very big challenge solving all these problems. What about your promise of accountability, transparency and recovery of looted funds? I’ve kept faith with those promises. When I came in the transition committee did their work and I was not satisfied and they also recommended that we should set up a commission of inquiry which we did. It was headed by a sound judge of the Benue State judiciary. It gave opportunity to all that had issues because we didn’t want to witch hunt anyone but wanted the facts to be unveiled. That was done and the commission recommended that due to time factor they were not able to conclude investigation on some alleged N44 billion diversion so we should probe it further. But they recommended that N107 billion should be refunded by the former governor and his team, about 52 of them. So far, we’ve been able to recover about N355 million for a contractor who collected money and disappeared so he brought it back into the treasury while the other ones are dragging. I think about 29 of them out of the 52 took us to court and they have been losing almost all the cases. I think to the best of my knowledge only one won on technical grounds but we’ve gone on appeal that it’s not right, they must refund it. We’ve also petitioned to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, ICPC, and even the police. We decided to get the police involved to do some independent prosecution and that is on-going. Many people have been arrested and a lot of things have been unveiled even beyond what was in the contents of the commission’s report. There’s no going back, we must recover all that have looted funds. I tell you we’re committed to our promises. We are constantly reminded of what we told our people. We said we were going to lead with the fear of God and we’ll ensure honesty, justice, fairness, accountability, selflessness, integrity into government, discipline, and we’ll be selfless in the course of our service. So we have kept faith with these. Everything we do is transparent. Today even our inability to pay salaries as at when due workers are not on strike because they appreciate the fact that we’re transparent. Every fund that comes from the federation account and the IGR is put on the table and they’ve been deliberately included in the sharing committee. They are so everybody sees it and that has brought a lot of peace and harmony and understanding with the labor unions. So I can assure you that we’re

keeping faith with these. Honestly I must say that despite the challenges the people too appreciate that I’m open to them.

The state government was said to have secured a N10 billion infrastructure facility, we want to find out… That is what I said, you’ll recall that I did say we receive an average of N4 billion from the federation account but we had interventions like the infrastructure loan which we received from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, through the federal government, the Liquefied Natural Gas, LNG, the bailout funds, N28 billion which we used in settling four months arrears. At the state level we had N12.5 billion and because of the screening method we adopted, we were able to save up to N1.6 billion and we injected it back into the treasury. At the local government level because of the screening method we adopted we were able to save up to N1.3 billion and it’s currently in the account though it has been garnished by some Taraku Mills staff but we have made an appeal and we believe that when this money comes out we’ll pay back to workers. So the N10 billion was allocated for infrastructure and we had already given it out to the various critical infrastructure that were needed in the state. We’ve been able to call back all the contractors who were on site but because of lack of funding they abandoned all these projects and so we recalled them. Right now in the three senatorial districts of the state massive work is going on. Some of them are near completion and they will soon be commissioned. Some of them are ongoing. We were able to channel some of the monies for rural development as I told you; specifically it went for infrastructure in the state, so that is it. You were in China, we want to find out about the visit, what has it brought? We were in China, we held a business forum and then signed Memorandum of Understanding, MOUs, with many companies and organizations. Some have visited us twice and some are doing their due diligence and some have indicated interest in one or two areas. As you are aware the Chinese government made available over N64 billion to develop Africa and the opportunities are there but it’s not something that can just happen overnight. Due diligence is going on as I speak to you and I believe that at the end we should have something to put on the table. What’s your relationship with local governments here and the idea of abolishing the joint account structure? I don’t think we operate joint account in Benue State. The local government is completely independent from the state in terms of funding. The federation account specifies what goes to the local governments and what comes to the state. What I’ve done as Governor since I came in was to abolish the project account that was operated between local governments and the state. I decided that that one should go. Local governments should know what is good for them and they should fund themselves and all monies accruing to the local governments should go to them so they sit and decide what to do with their money. I don’t interfere with them but as Governor I once in a while advise them. If things are going wrong I have the duty to advise them and to ensure that prudence is ensured. How have you been able to tackle the incessant clashes between farmers and herdsmen in your state? This is as a result of commitment and sincerity. This peace you are witnessing today has come because of commitment and sacrifices from the state security council and the people of the state who stood by me to ensure that we resolve this matter. Our position is very clear that the

Ortom

Many people have been arrested and a lot of things have been unveiled even beyond what was in the contents of the commission’s report.

There’s no going back,

we must recover

THAT have looted funds.

all

way out of this quagmire of herdsmen and farmers is to ranch the cattle. Global best practice is that cattle are ranched. There’s nowhere in the world including parts of Africa that you continue grazing the cattle which stop vehicles right on Ahmadu Bello way in Abuja in the city. You have cattle going to the airport and trying to cause problems to flights. You have cattle going into peoples’ farms, this is not allowed elsewhere. You ranch your cattle. That is the position of the Benue state government and the people. We have no land for grazing and our land is for farming. In some other states where they have idle lands they can allow this but for Benue state the best option is ranching. But you see I’ve always said that this is something that requires understanding. The nomads all their life for decades, they have lived that wild life of grazing and all that, not appreciating the fact that the population is growing and the land is decreasing and so these are illiterates that require education, require to be informed of the happenings globally. I’m not sure the man in the jungle knows what is happening around the world, how the towns are expanding, more of people, more schools, more hospitals, more clinics, more roads, more of these things. So there is decreasing land for grazing now that we have a recession and the need to diversify the economy especially the focus on agriculture there’s almost no

more land again except you encroach. Anywhere you take your cattle you encroach on somebody’s farm. So I believe that the state and federal government will have to think together, work out a modality to support and assist herdsmen to ranch their cattle. If you leave it on their own they will not have the capacity because ranching will require infrastructure, will require new methods of raising these cattle and so you must give them some kind of induction, you must stimulate them by supporting them, providing certain incentives that will attract them to it. I know they will be better off for it because they will stay in decent houses, they will drink better water, they will eat better food, their children will go to school and the cattle will benefit. In my farm in Makurdi here when you go there I’m ranching my cattle. I’ve domesticated grass cutters, I’ve domesticated rabbits, I’ve domesticated pigs so these are things that can be done. It’s just to summon the will and look forward that we’ll get to it. Benue is known for a very vibrant culture in Nigeria, is there any strategic plan to promote tourism in the state generally? We have done that. We have a development plan spanning 10 years, the first of its kind that we are doing for the state, and culture and tourism is a major component. If you ask me three areas where we have comparative advantage I’ll tell you agriculture, number one, then solid minerals is there then the third one will be culture and tourism. There are other areas too. So we’re working out a strategy just that funding has been a problem, security used to be a problem too but today with the stability we believe that investors will come. You have moved the monthly IGR in your state from N250M to N500m. How did you do it? Well I set up the board of the Benue State Internal Revenue Service. At the initial stage they were able to do that, more strength, more vigor, more commitment and more zeal. But as we went on the challenge was that people started resisting. You know people, our people don’t like to pay tax, no we will not pay, no we will not pay and so they started resisting and you know as a listening government and a democratically elected one you begin to retract. You have a limit to how far you can go with the people especially when they are trying to cast aspersions about you and the government you try to mellow down.

Friday, December 9, 2016

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Business Maritime

‘Investments in infrastructure key to improving seaports’ efficiency’ Stories: Francis Ezem

maritime business expert, Dr. Iyiola Oni, has said that Nigeria’s seaports need massive investments in modern equipment and Information Technology ICT, infrastructure for them to remain globally competitive. Oni, a lecturer at the University of Lagos, who made this assertion at the just concluded post-NIMPORT event held in Lagos, spoke on the heels of plans by Sanny, a China- based construction and port operations equipment manufacturing companyto make an initial foreign direct investment FDI of over $30 million (N14.25 billion) on production facility for the manufacturing of port operational equipment. He spoke on the topic: ‘Improving Ports Efficiency and Terminals Operational Efficiency: The Cost Effectiveness of Technoloy and New Equipment’. According to him, to remain in business, terminal operators in the country must align themselves to the economies of scale to their advantage to ensure cost effectiveness in their operations. Oni said: “It has been proven that effient handling of larger vessels increases port productivity and economies of scale and this can only be possible if the appropriate modern technology is employed. Technoloy also supports all stages of operations”. He also pointed out that modern ships needed modern equipment because of their designs, arguing that the nation’s seaports need to adapt efficiently in order to meet the ever-changing and developing needs of the industry, especially given the declining public finance in the country.

He said that the importance of cagro handling equipment cannot be over-emphasised, as they account for over 35 per cent of a port’s total annual capital budget, especially in terms of procurement and maintenance, which makes it important for port managements to place emphasis on proper inventory and adequacy of the existing equipment for effective and efficient operational performance of the Nigerian seaports. On ICT deployment imperative, he said: “Modern ports globally are striving to achieve optimum efficiency in port operations to surpass the regional and

global competitors. This could only be achieved throuh adequate investments in plants and equipment for service improvements. We should also invest more on ICT infrastructure in order to be more efficient not only for higher returns but to permanently win the confidence of their clients who are often demanding better quality services compared to what is obtained in other developed ports” Regional Director of Sanny in charge of West, East and North Africa, Mr. Li Lei, had hinted at an the NIMPORT Executive Business Networking Lunch Meeting tagged ‘Improving Ports’ and Terminal

Operational Efficiency’ that the company was currently seeking a local partner as well as government support in its bid to establish a manufacturing plant in the country with a view to growing and developing the vast Nigerian market. According to him, the company currently has four manufacturing facilities outside China which are located in Brazil, India, Germany and the United States of America, but regretted that there is no such facility in Africa, which informed its decision to establish one in Nigeria, being the largest market in the continent.

Tin Can Customs generates N26bn revenue in November

he Tin Can Island Command of the Nigeria Customs Service has said it generated a total of N25.7 billion revenue for the month of November, 2016. Customs Area Controller in charge of the command, Comptroller Bashar Yusuf, during an interative session with some industry stakeholders in Lagos, said it took the diligence and resilience of the officers and men of the command for such revenue to be collected, especially given the decliningg volumes. The Controller also pledged that the Command will continue to explore all avenues for maximum revenue collection, in view of the exigencies of the moment, which has placed more responsibility on the Service. He had, while addressing stakeholders at the premises of SDV/SCOA where he had gone to handover one unit of 20 foot container of “ready to eat food preparations suspected to be egusi soup, jollof

rice, Ogbono and yam porridge among others described the development as an aberration. “This is even more so considering the fact that the Federal Government of Nigeria in its wisdom granted zero duty for the importation of machinery for the packaging of agricultural products into the country”, he said. The Comptroller also wondered why an indigenous menu would be imported into the country at a time when investors for such local dishes are so much sought after to boost local industrial production. Yusuf, however, charged all would- be investors to look at the export potential which abound in the country and take advantage of same for the country’s socioeconomic benefits. The CAC had while briefing a group of senior officers undergoing training

programme in the command admonished them to make professionalism, integrity and transparency their watchword. “In this era and dispensation, officers are expected to be above board with a deep sense of commitment and responsibility in the discharge of their functions”, he said. The Comptroller stated that the various trade facilitation tools provided in the automation of Customs procedures will guide them in the discharge of their functions and charged them to see the training and re-training as a veritable tool that will sharpen their reflexes towards achieving desired results. He however expressed appreciation to the Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali, (rtd) for effectively re-positioning the Service in the strive to enable it fulfil its statutory mandate.

NPA MD, Hadiza Usman

Customs CG, Hameed Ali

Hapag-Lloyd christens first of five 10,500 TEU newbuilds

erman container shipping major Hapag-Lloyd held a naming ceremony for Valparaíso Express, the first of five newbuildings in the company’s new 10,500 TEU class, on December 7, 2016. Named at the Terminal Pacifico Sur (TPS) in the port of Valparaíso, Chile, the 118,945 gross ton Valparaíso Express was built by South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries. The boxship will sail in the revised Europe – South America West Coast service of Hapag-Lloyd in which four of the five newbuildings are replacing older Panamax ships. A second Panamax size loop (SW2) and two slot charter agreements (EW1 and EW2) in the same trade lane will be terminated, according to the company. “This way, Hapag-Lloyd can deploy more efficient vessels between North Europe and South America West Coast without adding significant capacity to the market. The new SW is a premium service in this trade covering the major markets in North Europe, the Caribbean and West Coast South America,” Hapag-

Lloyd said. The roundtrip of the Valparaíso Express will take nine weeks with the following port rotation: Rotterdam (Netherlands), London (UK), Hamburg (Germany), Antwerp (Belgium), Le Havre (France), Caucedo (Dominican Republic), Cartagena (Colombia), Manzanillo (Panama), Buenaventura (Colombia), Callao (Peru), Puerto Angamos, Valparaíso (Chile), Callao, Buenaventura, Manzanillo (Panama), Cartagena, Caucedo and Rotterdam. The second vessel from the series ordered in April 2015 was delivered to Hapag-Lloyd at the Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries shipyard also on December 7, Hapag-Lloyd revealed. The remaining three ships are expected to be delivered by April 2017, the company said. All five ships, featuring a length of 333 meters and a width of 48 meters, will sail under the German flag and are classified by DNVGL. Exclusive insights into our new vessel, the Valparaiso Express, capable of carrying up to 10,500 TEU! HLPassion pic.twitter.com/8aNiEi8Wpa

Greek Ports face fresh strikes

new 24-hour general strike, which could affect commercial vessel calls at Greek ports, is scheduled to start at 11 am on December 8, according to the Greek Dockworkers’ Union. Additionally, the union informed that the Seamen Union would hold 48-hour strikes until December 9, when talks will be held on possible further actions. The union said that only local ferries are affected by the new strike, while pilots and tugs are not participating in the action. Further industrial actions follow a 48hour strike organized by Seamen’s Union

in Greece from 2-4 December, according to maritime services provider Inchcape Shipping Services (ISS). The strike, which affected all domestic and local ferry routes to and from Piraeus to the Greek Islands, also included the Crew Union of the Tug boats. The earlier strike action, which affected operations at the ports of Piraeus, Aspropyrgos, Eleusis and Pachi/Megara, was called by the union in response to the Government’s planned changes to labour and insurance rights, pensions and retirement ages.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Capital Market

Friday, December 9, 2016

Union Bank shareholders approve N50bn rights issue Johnson Okanlawon

hareholders of Union Bank Nigeria have approved five resolutions authorizing the board of the bank to raise up to N50 billion through rights issue. The shareholders gave their approval at an extraordinary general meeting of the bank held in Lagos on Wednesday. In a bid to accommodate the new shares, the shareholders’ approved the increase of authorized capital of the bank from N9.5 billion (made up of 19 billion

ordinary shares) of 50 kobo each to N17.5 billion (made up of 35 billion ordinary shares) of 50 kobo each by the creation of additional of approximately 16 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each ranking equally with the existing shares of the bank. Consequently, the memorandum and articles of association of the bank will be amended to reflect the increase in the authorized share capital to N17.5 billion. The Chief Executive

Officer of the bank, Mr. Emeka Emuwa said that obtaining shareholder approval for our capital increase is a necessary step bringing us closer to the rights issue. According to him, iIncremental capital will further strengthen the bank’s near-term positioning and enable the bank realize long-term growth aspirations. He said, “We view the right issue approval as a strong sign of shareholder support for Union Bank’s growth strategy

and our plans to scale up operations and strengthen our position in readiness for uptake when the macroeconomic direction changes.” Amending the bank’s memorandum of association and the articles of association in order to authorize Source: NSE an increase in the bank’s share capital required the Exchange Rate approval of at least aGainers three- and Losers Naira US Dollar Date 07/12/2016 through End Date 08/12/2016 quarter majority of Start votes Print Date 08/12/2016 $1 304.75 present at the meeting. The issue was supported Market indicators Gainers and Losers by shareholders representStart Date All-Share 07/12/2016 through End Date 08/12/2016 Gainers for Equities Index 25,739.18 points ing together 99.6 percent ofDate 08/12/2016 Print 2016-12-07 2016-12-08 capitalisation 8.86trn S/NMarket Symbol Closing Price(N) Closing Price(N) Gain(N) % Change the votes.

Stockbrokers laud Obaseki’s election, set agenda for administration

pparently elated by the election of Mr. Godwin Obaseki as the new Executive Governor of Edo State, stockbrokers have lauded his election and set agenda for him on how to ensure economic transformation of the state. The stockbrokers charged the new Governor to live up to expectation as stockbrokers are not only financial engineers but they are guided by strict ethical standard. Commenting on his election, the acting Registrar and Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS), Mr Josiah Akerewusi, noted that Obaseki had made history as the first

Chartered Stockbroker to emerge as the Chief Executive of a State in Nigeria. “Edo State should expect governance at its best. As the immediate past chairman of Edo State’s Economic Team, he has a grip of the economy of Edo state. This will undoubtedly aid his overall performance in the governance of the state. He should boost the Internally Generated Revenue of the State through the creation of new income stream by also removing inherent inefficiencies in the current income streams”, Akerewusi advised. Corroborating him, Network Capital Limited’s Managing Director and Chief

Executive Officer, Mr Ropo Dada described Obaseki’s election as a clear evidence of versatility of stockbroking profession. According to him, the fact that Obaseki won the election implied that nobody could fault him professionally. “Stockbrokers operate under a very high ethical standard and values embedded in the profession. He will certainly favour a private sectorled economy where assets are effectively allocated based on project viability and long term benefits to the people. He is expected to attract new investors and companies to the state, using private- public partnership initiative”,

Equities sustain gain, rises 0.25% Johnson Okanlawon

rading in equities continued on a positive note on the Nigerian Stock Exchange yesterday, as more investors took position on stocks. The All Share Index gained 65.38 points, representing a growth of 0.25 per cent to close at 25,739.18 points. Similarly, the market capitalization gained N22 billion to close at N8.856 trillion. The upturn was heightened by value appreciation recorded by a number of large capitalised stocks, amongst are Forte Oil, Dangote Cement, UACN, Zenith Bank and Flourmill. Analysts at APT Securities and Funds Limited said, “We see the possibility of a repeat in market

outlook in today trading session as investors’ sentiment subsides. “However, we advise investors to position with long term outlook and accumulate in tranches fundamentally justifiable stocks.” ‎The stock’s performance increased the month-to-date gain to 1.83 per cent, whilst trimming the year-to-date loss to 10.47 per cent. Reviewing the sectoral indices, banking and insurance indices gained by 0.36 per cent and 0.26 per cent, respectively, while the industrial goods index advanced by 0.65 per cent as well. On the other side, the oil and gas recorded the biggest loss of 0.62 per cent. Similarly, the consumer goods index closed lower

by 0.51 per cent. Market breadth strengthened with 19 gainers and 20 losers. Forte Oil continued its rally for the six consecutive trading day, leading gainers by 10.24 per cent to close at N96.37 per share. Honeywell Flour followed with a gain of 9.28 per cent each to close at N1.06 and Portland Paints appreciated by 4.59 per cent to close at N2.28 per share. Also, Wema Bank went up by 3.77 per cent to close at 55 kobo and Aiico Insurance rose by 3.51 per cent to close at 59 kobo per share. On the other hand, Total led the laggards’ table by 9.08 per cent to close at N276.05 per share. International Breweries and Mobil trailed with a loss of five per cent each to close

Dada said. The Chairman, Association of Stockbroking Houses of Nigeria (ASHON), Mr Ezeagu Onyewechukwu, explained that a stockbroker’s word is his bond; hence, Obaseki would live up to his manifestoes. “His priority should be infrastructure development via funding through the capital market to address unemployment issues. He should focus on agro-allied business, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and health care. He should achieve funding mix by leveraging his colleagues in the capital market. He has no excuse not to succeed considering his pedigree”, Ezeagu posited.

HONYFLOUR

PORTPAINT

WEMABANK 5 S/NAIICO Symbol FO 6 1 FBNH HONYFLOUR 7 2 OANDO PORTPAINT 8 3 LIVESTOCK WEMABANK 9 4 UACN 5 AIICO 10 DANGSUGAR 6 FBNH 11 ZENITHBANK 7 OANDO 12 NASCON 8 LIVESTOCK 13 UBA 9 UACN 14 DANGCEM 10 DANGSUGAR 15 FLOURMILL 11 ZENITHBANK 16 12 MANSARD NASCON 17 13 GUARANTY UBA 18 14 AFRIPRUD DANGCEM 19 15 DANGFLOUR FLOURMILL 16 MANSARD 17 GUARANTY 18 AFRIPRUD 19 DANGFLOUR S/N

Symbol

TOTAL

INTBREW

96.37

8.95

10.24

0.97

1.06

0.09

9.28

0.10

4.59

0.02 Gain(N) 0.02 8.95 0.11 0.09 0.13 0.10 0.02 0.02 0.40 0.02 0.13 0.11 0.25 0.13 0.09 0.02 0.05 0.40 1.84 0.13 0.19 0.25 0.01 0.09 0.09 0.05 0.01 1.84 0.01 0.19 0.01 0.09 0.01 0.01

3.77 % Change 3.51

Loss(N)

% Change

2.18 for Equities2.28 Gainers 0.53 0.55 2016-12-07 2016-12-08 Closing Price(N) 0.57 Closing Price(N) 0.59 87.42 96.37 3.42 3.53 0.97 1.06 4.13 4.26 2.18 2.28 0.73 0.75 0.53 0.55 16.10 16.50 0.57 0.59 5.95 6.08 3.42 3.53 14.25 14.50 4.13 4.26 6.71 6.80 0.73 0.75 4.30 4.35 16.10 16.50 158.16 160.00 5.95 6.08 18.30 18.49 14.25 14.50 1.64 1.65 6.71 6.80 23.15 23.24 4.30 4.35 2.89 2.90 158.16 160.00 3.69 3.70 18.30 18.49 1.64

1.65

23.15

23.24

2.89 Losers for Equities 2.90

2016-12-07 3.69 2016-12-083.70 Closing Price(N) Closing Price(N) 303.61 276.05 Losers 19.00 for Equities 18.05 323.31 307.15 2016-12-07 2016-12-08 Closing Price(N) 1.46 Closing Price(N) 1.39 303.61 276.05 0.63 0.60 19.00 18.05 0.70 0.67 323.31 307.15 48.00 46.00 1.46 1.39 0.74 0.71 0.63 0.60 14.50 14.00 0.70 0.67 0.85 0.83 48.00 46.00 9.83 9.60 0.74 0.71 1.04 1.02 14.50 14.00 0.70 0.69 0.85 0.83 2.21 2.18 9.83 9.60 0.85 0.84 1.04 1.02

10.24 3.22 9.28 3.15 4.59 2.74 3.77 2.48 3.51 2.18 3.22 1.75 3.15 1.34 2.74 1.16 2.48 1.16 2.18 1.04 1.75 0.61 1.34 0.39 1.16

0.35 1.16 0.27 1.04 0.61 0.39 0.35 0.27

-27.56

-9.08

-0.95

-5.00

MOBIL -16.16 -5.00 Loss(N) 4 S/NFIDSON Symbol -0.07 % Change -4.79 1 TOTAL -27.56 -9.08 5 NEIMETH -0.03 -4.76 2 INTBREW -0.95 -5.00 6 PAINTCOM -0.03 -4.29 3 MOBIL -16.16 -5.00 7 UNILEVER -2.00 -4.17 4 FIDSON -0.07 -4.79 8 AGLEVENT -0.03 -4.05 5 NEIMETH -0.03 -4.76 9 STANBIC -0.50 -3.45 6 PAINTCOM -0.03 -4.29 10 DIAMONDBNK -0.02 -2.35 7 UNILEVER -2.00 -4.17 11 ETI -0.23 -2.34 8 AGLEVENT -0.03 -4.05 12 FCMB -0.02 -1.92 9 STANBIC -0.50 -3.45 13 10 STERLNBANK -0.01 -1.43 DIAMONDBNK -0.02 -2.35 14 11 NAHCO -0.03 -1.36 ETI -0.23 -2.34 15 12 FIDELITYBK -0.01 -1.18 FCMB -0.02 -1.92 13 STERLNBANK 0.70 0.69 -0.01 -1.43 OTC14FX FUTURES OPEN CONTRACTS2.21 AS AT DECEMBER (4:30PM) -1.36 NAHCO 2.18 8, 2016 -0.03 1 of 15 Stock FIDELITYBK 0.85 0.84 -0.01Page -1.18 Published by The Nigerian Exchange © Contract Tenor Settlement Value of Open Current Rate Contract (Month) Date Contracts ($’mm) ($/₦) at N18.05 and N307.15 per 477.45 1 NGUS DEC 21 2016 21-Dec-2016 300.00 Page 1 of Published by The Nigerian Stock Exchange 168.14 2 NGUS JAN©25 2017 25-Jan-2017 share, respectively. 296.00 187.41 3 NGUS FEB 22 2017 22-Feb-2017 292.00 Fidson declined by 4.79 211.11 4 NGUS MAR 22 2017 22-Mar-2017 288.00 801.72 5 NGUS APR 26 2017 26-Apr-2017 284.00 per cent to close at N1.39, 160.08 6 NGUS MAY 24 2017 24-May-2017 280.00 while Neimeth shed by 4.76 517.29 7 NGUS JUN 21 2017 21-Jun-2017 276.00 480.31 8 NGUS JUL 19 2017 19-Jul-2017 272.00 per cent to close at 60 kobo 274.29 9 NGUS AUG 16 2017 16-Aug-2017 269.00 per share. 302.22 10 NGUS SEP 20 2017 20-Sep-2017 266.00 157.17 11 NGUS OCT 25 2017 25-Oct-2017 260.00 106.26 12 NGUS NOV 29 2017 29-Nov-2017 262.00 Rate (%) 3843.45 Total

Inflation

16.46

MPR

Crude oil price

$45.85

87.42

Termination of Trading Trading shall cease at 2:00PM eight (8) calendar days before the expiry date of each respective Contract. i.e. the Tuesday preceding the week the contract expires.

NITTY Tenor

Rate (%)

Change (%)

16.6642

-0.11

17.7547

-0.25

18.6973

0.06

Exchange

Rates (N)

WAUA

412.7765

USD

305

EURO

327.5395

CFA

0.4868

YEN

2.6754

Tenor

Rate (%)

SWISS FRANC

302.3394

O/N

7.3108

POUNDS STERLING

388.814

16.3693

18.5225

SDR

414.129

NITTY as @ December 7, 2016

NIBOR

21.3059 NIBOR as @ December 7, 2016NIBOR FAQs

WorldNews

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Friday, December 9, 2016 -

Page 36

Syrian crisis: Spy chief alerts on Russian ‘wipe out’ role

the international community, put at risk the broader global fight against extremism. “I believe the Russian conduct in Syria, allied with that of Assad’s discredited regime, will, if they do not change course, provide a tragic example of the per-

ils of forfeiting legitimacy. “In defining as a terrorist anyone who opposes a brutal government, they alienate precisely that group that has to be on side if the extremists are to be defeated.” Younger, whose codename is “C” and who only writes in green

pen, leads Britain’s fight against terrorism around the world and the conflicts in Iraq and Syria are top of the list. He said Britain cannot be safe from the threats coming from the region unless the civil war in Syria is brought to an end and brought to an end in a way that recognizes the interests of more than a minority of its people and their international backers. Younger said he did not expect much change under the new US presidency and in a post-Brexit world. “I’m often asked what effect the big political changes of 2016, Brexit and the US election result, will have on these relationships,” he added. “My answer is that I will aim for, and expect, continuity. These relationships are long lasting and the personal bonds between us are strong.”

to pick fights strategically with the new President. “I told them what they have to do is to make sure that they are constructive in their negativity,” Reid added. Reid said Senate Democrats would need to stand firm on issues of principle such as Trump’s proposed tax cuts, the environment and immigration but they should not reject worthy ideas simply because they were offered by a Republican.

“There are a number of things that they have to fight hard on,” Reid said. “But they are not going to be the Republicans and just oppose Republican issues just because it is a Republican idea. I don’t think they should do that.” One area of possible agreement, Reid signaled, could be on matters of trade. Reid said he wouldn’t agree with Trump’s proposal to impose a 35 per cent tariff on companies that move

jobs overseas to then try to sell goods in America, but the Senate leader said there could be common ground on doing away with tax breaks companies receive when, for instance, they move their operations overseas. “We have tried to get that passed year after year after year,” Reid said, stressing, “We have tried to do that. So of course Democrats would join with that.”

Afolabi Gambari

WITH AGENCY REPORT

he head of Britain’s foreign spy service, Alex Younger, has warned of what he calls Russia’s role in the unfolding tragedy in Syria, in a rare public speech delivered at the agency’s headquarters in London. Younger, head of the Secret Intelligence Service, also known as MI6, said Russia and the Syrian regime were working to wipe out opposition in Aleppo at any price. “In Aleppo, Russia and the Syrian regime seek to make a desert and call it peace. The human tragedy is heartbreaking,” he said. Younger’s speech was the first to be made by a serving MI6 chief inside the agency’s landmark headquarters on the south bank of the River Thames. He warned that Russian and Syrian actions, in defiance of

Syrian soldiers sighted at a bomb-destroyed building in Aleppo yesterday

‘Trump’s cabinet too scary’

utgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid says he finds Presidentelect Donald Trump’s Cabinet lineup scary. “We can go through the list of people he’s already chosen and it’s, quite frankly, scary,” Reid said yesterday. Reid, who retires this week after 34 years in Congress, expressed concern about Trump’s Cabinet so far: that Betsy DeVos, Trump’s choice for education secretary, has not had any personal experience with public education; that Tom Price, his nominee for Health and Human Services, “has avowed to privatize Medicare and wants to do away with Planned Parenthood;” and that “you have what looks like some kind of an auction going on for secretary of state; I don’t quite get that.” Although Reid is hardly sanguine about the prospect of a Trump presidency, he advises fellow Senate Democrats

US President-elect Donald Trump

Education: Illegal French immigrants face threat

rench far-right leader Marine Le Pen has called for an end to free education for the children of illegal immigrants. In a speech in Paris, the National Front’s candidate in the 2017 presidential race next spring said she had nothing against foreigners. “But I tell them: if you come to our country don’t expect to be taken care of, to be looked after, that your children will be educated without charge,” she said. “No more playtime,” she added. Le Pen is widely expected to be one of two candidates to reach the second and final round of the election in May. Latest opinion polls suggest she is running neck-and-neck in polling for the first round with the centre-right candidate Fran-

cois Fillon, who was selected in national primaries at the end of November. The Socialists will hold their own primaries next month. However, around two-thirds of voters would choose Fillon over Le Pen in the deciding round. Le Pen had been widely reported as saying the education ban should apply to foreigners, but after her speech she clarified to the media that she was talking about illegal immigrants. However, she also said that foreigners using the state education system must be living in France legally and contributing to the tax system. Cutting immigration has long been a bedrock policy of the FN, and Le Pen has campaigned hard to cut legal immigration dramatically to 10, 000 people a

year, and to halt the right to family reunions. Education has also been a central theme for the far-right leader. In 2014, she spoke out against providing substitute meals for pork dinners in schools for Muslims and Jews. However under French law dating back to 1881, free primary education is a basic right for all children. The right to education is also a fundamental tenet of the European Convention on Human Rights.

French conservative figure Marine Le Pen

“The game of diplomacy is played for the broke. You don’t mess around with morality. You sit down and plan your strategy and take your risk” –Former United Nations Under-Secretary General, Ibrahim A. Gambari

WORLD BULLETIN UK denies Foreign Secretary’s comments Downing Street has said Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson’s comments on Saudi Arabia do not represent the government’s position. Footage has emerged from an event last week at which Johnson said UK ally Saudi Arabia was engaging in “proxy wars” in the Middle East. Spokeswoman for the Prime Minister Theresa May said the statements were the foreign secretary’s personal views. Johnson’s comments were made at a conference in Rome last week but only emerged after the The Guardian newspaper published footage of the event. In it the foreign secretary said: “There are politicians who are twisting and abusing religion and different strains of the same religion in order to further their own political objectives.

‘Forgotten’ Aleppo civilians evacuated The Red Cross says it has evacuated 148 mostly disabled and elderly civilians found in a part of the Syrian city of Aleppo recently recaptured by the army. They were trapped for days inside a former old people’s home in what was a rebel-held part of the Old City because of heavy fighting nearby. Many had injuries or conditions which left them unable to move. Eleven others died before they could be reached, either caught in the crossfire or because of a shortage of medicine. In the past three weeks, government forces have retaken about 75 per cent of eastern Aleppo, which rebels had controlled for four years. Hundreds of people have been killed and tens of thousands displaced by the battle. More than 100, 000 others may be under siege in areas still under rebel control, where food supplies are exhausted and there are no functioning hospitals.

Elected US-Somali lawmaker suffers abuse The first Somali-American lawmaker in the US, Minnesota Representative-elect Ilhan Omar, has said she was subjected to hateful anti-Muslim threats from a taxi driver in Washington DC. Omar said the cabbie threatened to remove her hijab during a confrontation on Tuesday. The 34-year-old said the incident occurred just after she attended policy training at the White House. Omar, a Democrat, came to the US as a child from a refugee camp in Kenya. She made history and national headlines last month when she defeated a Republican to gain a seat in Minnesota’s state house of representatives. “On my way to our hotel, I got in a cab and became subjected to the most hateful, derogatory, Islamophobic, sexist taunts and threats I have ever experienced,” she wrote in a post on social media.

Friday, December 9, 2016

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Sport

FIFA is wrong to ban poppies on shirts for the World Cup qualifier between England and Scotland. By wanting to be too politically correct you can go sometimes against tradition – Arsene Wenger

Paralympians sweep NSA 2016 prizes 38

CAF seat tears NFF apart

…as Green cries foul over Amaju’s bid

Sports Minister, Dalung blasts, Amaju, NFF …says Nigeria has received enough embarrassment from Glass House

outh and Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung yesterday said the Federal Government need to carry out urgent surgery in the football administration in order to end the frequent embarrassments from the national teams. The minister spoke with State House Correspondents after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa yesterday explaining that government must be ready to carry out the surgery to save the future of football in the country. “We must come .together to find solutions to see how these issues can be tackled,” Dalung said. The minister was reacting to issues regarding the protest by victorious Super Falcons over the nonpayment of their match bonuses and allowances. The Super Falcons of Nigeria

won the African Women Nation’s Cup trophy at the weekend after defeating their opponents from Cameroon. Dalung said: “The football administration needs urgent surgery by the Federal Government. I am talking about the governance of football administration in Nigeria, Government has to do the surgery because they have been at the receiving end of the embarrassment. “We must be prepared to do this to save the future of football in Nigeria. We must come together to find solutions to see how this issues can be tackled . “The non-interference has been used to harass and intimidate government . But now that the government is being embarrassed by the activities of the federation, I don’t see anybody talking about interference. They used it to scandalise the government so the man who

is at the receiving end has the responsibility to ensure that things must be done right.” “We must take steps to ensure that money meant for athletes get to them on time as it when due, football events are planned properly and executed according to plan”, he said. Speaking specifically about the situation of the Super Falcons, the Minister explained that the request for funds was not made on time, thereby causing delay in the payment of their bonuses and allowances. According to him, we were confident they will emerge victorious and all the federation would have done is to plan for process of participation and entitlement and when they win it is already established in sports tradition that when you win this is what you are entitled to. “The situation is highly unfortunate and I don’t like it,

these girls have given confidence to women who want to embrace sports, so this will go a long way in killing this laudable achievement. It is unfortunate but we will make sure the right thing is done”, he added. According to him, the communication gap in trying to convey the situation of things to the Super Falcons could have led to the protest. He said that if the sports administrators had requested for funds on time, the process would have been easier, stressing that there was no such request. “We are working round the clock to ensure that what belongs to them legitimately is given to them. This has to do with government process .One thing I always make clear is that the process of request for funds for sporting projects must come earlier to meet the objectives.”

Rumpus is brewing in the Executive Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation, following media revelations that the President of the body, Melvin Amaju Pinnick has picked up a form to contest for a seat in the Executive Committee of the Confederation of African Football (CAF). Technical Committee Chairman of the NFF, Barrister Chris Green, said in a chat with top journalists from his base in Port Harcourt, that it was with shock that other members of the Executive Committee of the NFF, received Amaju’s plan to contest for a CAF Executive Committee seat as it was not discussed at any of their meetings as has been the case in the past. “How come no member is aware, even as we know that some lilly-livered members will say otherwise. We must be careful not to put the cart before the horse” Going down memory lane Green declared, “When Alhaji Aminu Maigari wanted to contest, he was cleared by the federation, the Sports Ministry vide the Federal Government, the same process was also applied when Alhaji Ibrahim Galadima wanted a seat in CAF, pronto for Dr Amos Adamu. Even when Chief Segun Odegbami and Dr Orji Uzor sought to contest FIFA seat they passed through similar processes, so nobody is permitted to jump the gun”. He said he has consulted widely and members of the NFF were unanimous that at a time like this, when the body is in dire financial straits, what they need is not politics to develop African football but politics to make Nigerian football self sufficient and well funded. “We cannot let one of our best brains if not the best to go and serve CAF when we need him here back home to make our system better than we met it. Moreover, we are cruising now in the bid to be at the Russia 2018 World Cup and we must be united to avoid unnecessary distortion from outsiders. Concluding his opposition to the bid, Green said himself and other stakeholders represent a constituency, which they report to regularly and no two people as represented by the President and General Secretary can take decision without due consultation. “We cannot be undermined and in some of these cases, the government might through us decide to draft an outsider as Nigeria’s candidate and we must follow suit, so I will advise that we thread softly”.

Sports

Thursday, March 5, Friday, December 9, 2015 2016

Aba rules Pepsi Youth Festival

he Aba Centre of Pepsi Football Academy (PFA) has won the 2016 Festival of Youth which ended at the Agege Stadium, Lagos last weekend. Kaduna and Ilorin centres emerged second and third respectively in the three-day tournament which saw the Lagos Centre come last in the four-team event. Aba defeated Lagos 2-1 in their first game on Friday while Kaduna whitewashed Ilorin 6-2 in the second match. Ilorin also condemned Lagos to a 4-1 defeat on the final day on Saturday as eventual champion Aba overran Kaduna 3-0 to lift the trophy. Striker Henry Amacha of the Aba Centre swept the award stakes, winning the Most Valuable Player and Highest Scorer

trophies on three goals in two games, while his team mate Gift Chinagorom scooped the Best Goalkeeper Award. Among the guests that attended the prize presentation at the Lagos Airport Hotel, Ikeja include former Super Eagles and lately Olympic Eagles’ coach, Samson Siasia, his fellow ex-international Waidi Akanni, Deputy Technical Director of the NFF, Siji Lagunju, Seven Up Bottling Company top officials Norden Thurston and Segun Ogunleye, with Consultant Iain Nelson. Director of the PFA, Dr. Kasimawo Laloko, expressed delight at the tournament’s outcome, saying: “The main objective, that is, talent discovery was achieved satisfactorily. Above all, the academy students had fun under a united atmosphere.”

Paralympians sweep NSA 2016 prizes

NICARD GAMES: Mailafia commends ‘COA’ Kabba

Afolabi Gambari

resident of National Association of Sports Coordinators of Colleges of Agriculture and Related Disciplines, Alhaji Mohammed Mailafia has described the just concluded ’NICARD Games’ hosted by College of Agriculture, Kabba, Kogi State as one of the most memorable games organized in the history of the competition. He told National Mirror during the closing ceremony of the Games that the warm reception accorded participants and the excellent facilities put in place for the championship coupled with the elaborate and opening and closing ceremonies is second to none in the history of the games. “I am highly impressed with what I saw especially the excellent facilities put in place and the wonderful displays at both

repeat of the maiden Nigerian Sports Award in 2012 came to the fore in Lagos last weekend as Men and Women of the Nigerian Paralympics team dominated the 5th edition with the duo Kehinde Paul and Lucy Ejike emerged Sportsman and Sportswoman of the year respectively. Both athletes also won the Special Sport Person of the Year (Men) and Special Sport Person of the Year (Women) categories. Paul won gold medal in the Powerlifting Men’s – 65Kg category while Ejike not only won gold in the 79kg, 86kg and 61kg powerlifting event respectively at the 2016 Paralympics games, but also broke the Paralympic Record (PR) and World Record (WR) by lifting 136kg,

the opening and closing ceremonies which was accompanied by a lot of fireworks. In fact COA Kabba needs commendation”, he concluded. Meanwhile, Federal College of Animal Health Production Technology Ibadan emerged the overall winners of the competition with 17 gold, 5 silver and 9 bronze followed by Federal College of Agriculture and Corporative Studies, Kaduna with 16 gold and 3 silver while College of Agriculture, Lafia came third with 5 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze just as Federal College of Animal Production, Vom, Plateau State won the football event. A total of 17 institutions participated in the championship while 6 came as observers. The next edition of the competition will be hosted by College of Agriculture Isi- Agu, Ebonyi State in 2018.

followed by a lift of 138kg, and then a massive lift of 142kg. Coach of the Powerlifting team, Are Feyisetan emerged Coach of the Year while Enugu Rangers’ midfielder, Chisom Egbuchulam won the Footballer of the Year category ahead of Manchester City youngster Kelechi Iheanacho and Godwin Obaje of NPFL’s Wikki Tourists FC of Bauchi, as Rangers won the Team of the Year award after breaking a 32year old jinx since they last won the title in 1984. In the Journalist Category of the Award, Moses Praiz of Channels TV was awarded the TV Journalist of the Year; the Photo Journalist of the Year award went to AyodeleOjo of Daily Sun, LekanOkusan of the Nation emerged as the Print Journalist of the Year while Olawale Adigun of Top Ra-

Supporters Club election receives royal blessing IFEANYI EDUZOR

rrangements have been concluded by members of Nigeria Football Supporters Club to hold its national election on Saturday, December 10. Disclosing this to the media during an interactive session, Chairman of the Electoral Committee, Elder Ademola Bankole noted that accreditation of delegates and voting will commence by 10am and close by 2pm just as he announced the media centre of Teslim Balogun Stadium Stadium, Surulere, Lagos as the venue of the election. According to him, about 250 delegates from the 19 chapters and national headquarters of the club will take part in the voting while only those who are finan-

… as Ikpea promises to reposition club

cially up to date are eligible to vote and be voted for while those who are either on suspension, expulsion or have some pending matters with the disciplinary committee of the club are not eligible to vote or be voted for. He noted that the election which will be monitored by members of Nigeria Football Federation and other sports stakeholders will be preceded by the manifesto night on Friday December 9 where those seeking elective positions will have the opportunity of telling members why they are seeking election to the various positions with a promise that the committee is poised to organize a credible election. Also speaking, a member of the electoral committee and Deputy President

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General of the Club, Alhaji Aderenle Yusuf noted that the election would have been organized earlier but they have to shift it because of the mediatory role of NFF which initiated peace moves for all the warring factions and expressed hope that the forthcoming election will bring permanent peace to the club. He also dismissed reports in some quarters that some disgruntled elements are planning a parallel election in Abuja, describing it as illegal. He warned anybody with any hidden agenda to steer clear as elections will hold in Lagos, where their National Headquarters is. Meanwhile National Chairmanship aspirant, Reverend Samuel Ikpea is optimistic of emerging as the

new club helmsman. The fair skinned Ikpea 49, who is pitched against Aromire Muritala in tomorrow’s elections holding between 10am and 2 pm is already strategizing on how to restore unity and discipline among members of the club. Similarly, a top member of the club who is now a royal father, His Royal Majesty, Otadaferua Edward Igho, Erhiekevwe 1, the Movie of Idjerhe Kingdom in Delta State has given his blessing and support to the election. He gave the blessing when he visited the international headquarters of the club at Ayinde Giwa Street, Surulere, Lagos yesterday where he urged all members to take the election as a family affair. The traditional ruler who

dio emerged as the Radio Journalist of the Year. Some deserving sport personalities also carted away awards. They are the League Management Company in recognition of its efforts at turning around the Nigerian League, the country’s first sporting heroes who won the maiden FIFA U-16 Cup in 1985 and the gold-winning Atlanta ’96 Olympics football team. The 4x400 Nigerian team that won silver but was later upgraded to gold with the ban of the US team at Sydney 2000 also received the Special Recognition Award. The duo of Maureen Madu and Joseph Yobo won the Special Recognition Awards for being the first ever Nigerian woman footballer to achieve 100 caps and first Nigerian man footballer to achieve 100 caps respectively. was a former vice president of the club between 1991 and 1998 noted that in the history of the Supporters Club, their elections has been held in Lagos and advised all members to maintain peace and order throughout the duration of the election.

Ikpea

Archery Federation holds national championship The newly elected EXCO Board members of the Nigeria Archery Federation have concluded plans to hold its maiden workshop and championship at the sports centre of the University of Lagos from 13-15 December, 2016. The workshop which would be facilitated by the West African Development Officer for Archery, would take place on Tuesday and Wednesday 13-14, December 2016 inside the indoor Sports hall of the University of Lagos, while the championship proper would take place on Thursday 15 December 2016, at the Football pitch adjacent the indoor sports hall within the same Sports complex. Meanwhile, the Executive Board Committee has set up five commissions for the effective running of the organization and development of the sport. These include the Marketing and Sponsorship Commission, Technical Commission, Education, Research and Development Commission, Media and Publicity Commission and Women Commission. The Marketing and Sponsorship Commission is headed by the president, Mohammed Abdullahi while the Technical Commission has Mr. Tunji Boluji, the Secretary General as chairman. The Public Relations Manager, Mr. Patrick Ibeh is the chairman of the Media and Publicity Commission as the Education, Research and Development Commission has the 2nd Vice- President Mr. Ayo Philips as chairman. The Women Commission is headed by Ms. Florence Ogunkoya. The president has charged all the stakeholders to make themselves available for the programme which kick-starts the Federation’s activities.

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Friday, December 9, 2016 Thursday September 4, 2014

Holy matrimony between Akinola, an Ekiti Prince and Adebola, the daugther of Major General Dapo Adebayo at The Classique Event Centre, Oregun, Lagos, recently

Groom’s parents, Mr and Mrs Olofin

Wife of His Royal Highness, Oba Adejimi Alagbado, Ogaga of Ikere – Ekiti (left) and Chief (Mrs) Adewunmi

Bride’s parents, Major General Dapo Adebayo and Deaconess Idowu Adebayo

The couple, Prince and Princess Akinola Olofin displaying their marriage certificate

The couple in a group photograph with the Ogaga of Ikere Ekiti, Oba Adejimi Alagbado, and his Olori

The Bride Princess Adebola and her father, Major General Dapo Adebayo in a joyful mood

The couple, Prince and Princess Akinola Olofin

L-R: Couple’s parents, Major General and Deaconess Dapo Adebayo with Mr and Mrs. Olofin

WORLD RECORD

Largest Peruvian folk Vol. 06

No. 1490

Friday, December 9, 2016

N150

The largest Peruvian folk dance consisted of 1, 247 couples and was achieved by the Municipality of Arequipa (Peru) in celebration of the city’s 474th anniversary on August 24 2014.

Restructuring aviation sector agencies

he nation’s aviation sector has come under a litany of challenges of late. First and still lingering is the proposed concessioning of the country’s four most thriving airports in the country - the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport (NAA), Abuja, Port Harcourt International Airport (PHIA), Omagwa and Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), Kano - announced by the Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika recently. This sparked protests by aviation sector workers, but the Federal Government has stuck to its guns, if words still coming from Senator Sirika are anything to go by. Then came the wave of sack, demotion and right placement of staff which kicked off from the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN). Some directors and general managers, among others, allegedly

hina’s Supreme Court has ruled in favour of US basketball legend Michael Jordan in a trademark dispute. The People’s Supreme Court ruled a Chinese sportswear company must stop using the characters

FRIDAY WITH Dozie Okebalama

dozieokeama@yahoo.co.uk 08164966858 (SMS only) employed in breach of due process were given the boot. A committee on the restructuring of aviation sector agencies headed by Ms. Winifred Ekanem Oyo-Ita, Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, recommended the measures. Indeed, FAAN, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) were said to be parading more general managers than the agencies have space for. One of the latest reports credited to Senator Sirika said the restructuring of agencies under the Ministry of Aviation would continue with the jettisoning or redeployment of more workers in the outfits. “Already, the government has started redeploying, re-assigning, demoting and even terminating appointments of workers… especially in FAAN, where the workers have felt the full positive impact of the restructuring”, a statement credited to the ministry said. The general impression being given of the nation’s bumbling aviation sector, it does seem, is that irregularly recruited staff are the sole bane of all aviation sector agencies. Perhaps, they could be the cog in the wheel to a significant extent. In reality, however, the purge in the sector appears more of a peripheral cleansing, at least so far, than a measure meant to root out the big masquerades behind the blunders plaguing the aviation industry.

When the government says it is cleansing a system, it should go the whole hog Hardly would anyone be persuaded that all would be well with the nation’s aviation agencies even if all the staff are sacked or demoted, the same way many would not believe that there are no competent senior staff with the cognate experience; and that are well groomed, from where the government can make a pick to salvage the aviation industry in the now, even if it wishes eventually to concession or sell them off. The point being made here is that some fellows in the commanding heights of aviation sector agencies superintended and acquiesced to the wrongs the government is now trying to get right in the aviation sector through restructuring. Only a care-free management with scant interest in the account books of an establishment would, for three years (2013 – 2016), permit the theft of N70 million by a Level Six officer, for example, as was reported in FAAN not too long ago when the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) intervened and arrested the staff concerned. The theft was perpetrated through the manipulation of furniture allowances alone for the said

three years. Also lately, SaharaReporters’ alleged that EFCC officials discovered at least N3 billion in the various bank accounts of the Managing Director of FAAN, Mr. Saleh Dunoma. The online medium also claimed Mr. Dunoma owned a house and shopping mall in Dubai, as well as a hotel in Singapore. But it added that the FAAN boss was given a curious clean bill of health by the EFCC. Another report claimed the same man has clocked 35 years in service and the 60 years mandatory retirement age permissible in the nation’s civil service. Just last month, FAAN refuted allegations of $200,000 bribery levelled against Dunoma ahead of the election of officials of the Airports Council International (ACI), African Region, in Maputo, Mozambique. He was described as the only candidate for the post of President during the regional election. But FAAN’s management turned around to accuse Dunoma’s immediate predecessor, Mr. George Uriesi, and the latter’s allies still in the agency as the brains behind the bribery allegation. Chief of Staff to the FAAN MD was quoted by another online medium before he left Lagos for the Maputo conference as saying: “It is so unfortunate that some people, who have personal hatred for Engr. Saleh Dunoma are out to smear the image of the Managing Director because they lost the opportunity when they contested for the position… Engr. Saleh Dunoma never lobbied to become FAAN Managing Director, so also the opportunity to become ACI President.” It is worrisome, nonetheless, that the Ministry of Aviation appears to be glossing over these highbrow scams particularly in FAAN, on the one hand, and on the other, playing up government’s plan to concession some airports and so-called restructuring of aviation-sector agencies. In truth, however, concessioning or restructuring has nothing to do with examining the sundry rot and scams dogging FAAN, particularly at the top. When the government says it is cleansing a system, it should go the whole hog; and in the process, compensate loyal and dedicated staff as well.

Sport Extra Michael Jordan wins trademark case in China’s top court for Jordan’s name, read as Qiaodan in Chinese. Qiaodan Sports registered the name more than a decade ago but Jordan’s Lawyers said it built its business around his Chinese name without his per-

mission. Jordan has welcomed the decision which overturns previous rulings against him. “I am happy that the Supreme People’s Court has recognized the right to protect my name through

its ruling in the trademark cases,” he said in a statement sent to the BBC. “Chinese consumers deserve to know that Qiaodan Sports and its products have no connection to me.” “Nothing is more impor-

tant than protecting your own name and today’s decision shows the importance of that principle.” The basketball star first started legal action against Qiaodan Sports in 2012.

Jordan

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