Friday, February 1, 2013 by GLOBAL MEDIA MIRROR LIMITED

FCT budget: Senators query N4bn allocation to First Ladies

$620,000 bribe:

ICPC arraigns Farouk Lawan today

â&#x20AC;Śrehabilitation of the destitute, prostitutes to gulp N5bn GEORGE OJI ABUJA

enators yesterday queried the allocation of N4bn for the construc-

Dame Jonathan

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tion of the First Ladiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Mission building in Abuja. This was as the lawmakers considered the 2013 budget proposal of N253bn for the FCT.

The N4bn was contained in the FCT budget. Other items in the budget proposal, which drew the ire of the lawmakers, CONTINUED ON PAGE 5>>

Friday, February 1, 2013

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Audit report indicts NNPC for unremitted N2.66trn FG to grant licences to new fuel importers Govt seals $1bn investment deals with GE

UDEME AKPAN AND CHIDI UGWU

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igeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI, audit report has indicted Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2>>

Clockwise: One of the affected banks in BirninGwari attacked by gunmen; Kaduna State Governor Mukhtar Yero (middle) with officials of the bank yesterday; a razed police station in the town.

Past mistakes haunting Nigeria, says IBB

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NFF offers Eagles $15,000 to beat ElephantsP.53

Gunmen blow up police stations, banks

...kill seven officers

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Make airports transit points, IRS Airlines boss urges FG

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News

Friday, February 1, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Gunmen blow up police stations, banks AUGUSTINE MADU-WEST,

AZA MSUE AND DANJUMA WILLIAMS

ess than one week after the declaration of a ceasefire by the Boko Haram Islamic sect, gunmen yesterday struck in some states in the North, leaving seven policemen and one civilian dead. The onslaught began late on Wednesday and continued till yesterday. Also, two police stations and banks were razed in the attacks that took place in Kaduna, Kano and Gombe states. In Kaduna State, suspected terrorists bombed a police station in the troubled Birnin Gwari Local Government Council, leaving three police officers and a resident dead. National Mirror gathered that the attack occurred in the midnight of Wednesday and lasted for hours just as the police and soldiers in the area were helpless and could not mount a counter-attack against the armed gang. And in Kano, gunmen in the early hours of yesterday struck in the metropolis, killing two policemen. The gunmen blew up the Bunkure police station

with explosives, according to sources, killing the two officers instantly. The victims were simply identified as a sergeant and a corporal on duty when the station was attacked. A Kaduna resident, who did not want his name mentioned, said the bandits in their coordinated attacks planted Improvised Explosive Devices, IEDs, around the police station, which were detonated and followed by gunshots. Another resident said two commercial banks in the area and other neighbouring buildings close to the affected police station were razed. “It was a terrible incident because after Dogon Dawan attacks last year, this is another bloody one. “Some communities were living in peace until yesterday’s bomb attack on the police station. Two banks were attacked too. Three policemen and a civilian were killed,” the resident said. Our correspondent also learnt that many people, who were caught in the exchange of gunfire, sustained injuries and were taken to undisclosed hospitals, even as millions of naira were reportedly stolen from the two banks that

were attacked. National Mirror gathered that the bandits that attacked Birnin Gwari were part of a group believed to be hiding in a nearby forest. It was learnt that prior to Wednesday night’s attacks, the bandits had launched assaults in several villages and districts, including Kuyelo and Randagi on Tuesday and Friday last week. The state Police Command Public Relations Officer, Mallam Aminu Lawan, confirmed the killings of

three police officers and a civilian in the attacks. He said: “We visited the scene of the attacks in Birnin Gwari and I can confirm that three police officers and a resident were killed. We have deployed more security in the area.” Governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero also visited the scene along with some state security chiefs. Meanwhile, the Emir of Birnin Gwari, Alhaji Zubairu Jubrin, has called on the government to establish a mobile police or mili-

tary formation in the area to checkmate incessant attacks by terrorists. National Mirror had reported that apprehension had gripped Kaduna State residents over the influx of commercial motorcycle riders popularly known as Okada, from Kano where they had been banned from operating. Assistant InspectorGeneral of Police, AIG, in charge of Zone 1, Mr. Olufemi Omojola, at a press conference yesterday confirmed the Kano attack,

saying investigation had commenced. Omojola told reporters that a wing of the police station was razed when the gunmen suspected to be terrorists threw explosives into the station. “One of the wings of the station was razed when explosives were thrown at it,” Omojola said, adding that as at press time, he could not confirm whether the perpetrators were members of the Boko Haram sect. CONTINUED ON PAGE 5>>

L-R: Representative of Jigawa State Governor and Commissioner for Education, Prof. Haruna Wakili; former External Affairs Minister, Gen. Ike Nwachukwu; Chairman of the occasion, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida and another ex-External Affairs Minister, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, during a symposium on sustaining Nigeria’s Technical Aid Corps Scheme in Lagos, yesterday. PHOTO: OLUFEMI AJASA

Audit report indicts NNPC for unremitted N2.66trn CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

NNPC, for failure to remit N2.66trn to the Federation Account since 1999. The audit report presented in Abuja yesterday showed that $4.84bn representing dividend and loan repayments made by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas, NLNG, to the NNPC between 2009 and 2011was yet to be remitted. The audit, conducted by Sada Idris and Co., reported that Nigeria earned $143.5bn (N22.24trn) from the sector from 2009 to 2011, adding that NNPC owed the Federation Account N1.305trn ($8.7bn) as at December 31, 2011. The report also observed that an outstanding amount of $3.99bn had also been reported as received but not remitted by NNPC in the previous audits. Chairman of NEITI, Mr. Ledum Mitee, who presented the findings of the audit of the petroleum sector from 2009 to 2011 to jour-

nalists in Abuja yesterday, explained that the country lost N98.3bn during the period to differential in the conversion rate between the NNPC and the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN. Mitee said the report also highlighted unresolved differences between what government received and what companies claimed to have paid. He said: “From this report, the total financial flows to the federation from the oil and gas sector from 2009 to 2011 was $143.5bn. “This amount is made up of proceeds from the sales of equity crude, royalty, signature bonus, concession rentals, gas flaring penalties, petroleum profit tax and company income tax. “A breakdown of these earnings shows that sales of crude oil and gas within the period under review amounted to $81.9bn. “The total sum of revenues that accrued to government from PPT, royalty,

signature bonus, gas flaring penalties and concessional rentals amounted to $45.7bn; revenue from companies’ income tax, value added and withholding tax within the period under review amounted to $6.1bn, while the sum of $4.8bn was reported as revenue from dividends and repayment of loans by NLNG.” Mitee explained that the audit report also showed that the total revenue flows to states arising from withholding tax and Pay As You Earn was $1.5bn while the total revenue flows to other entities arising from contributions to the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, and education tax was $3.2bn. “From a further breakdown, the actual direct revenue flows to the Federation Account during the period covered by the report was $133.8bn, the revenue which flows to states amounted to $1.6bn while revenue flows to other Federal Govern-

ment entities, including NDDC and Education Tax (TET Fund) amounted to $3.2bn, bringing the total to the earlier reported government earnings of $143.5bn,” he said. The NEITI boss added that the total financial flows “represent a decrease of four per cent from what government earned in the sector in 2006-2008 when compared to total flows of $148.8bn as against the reported government earnings of $143.5 for the period 2009-2011. The audit, he said, however explained that the decrease was largely due to adjustments in the applicable average oil price, despite fairly consistent production volumes. Mitee said: “Another important revelation of the report is that financial flows from NLNG include dividends and repayment of loans, of which $4.84bn was received by NNPC. “The report confirmed

that these amounts had not been remitted to the CBN/ NNPC JP Morgan Account and the Federation Account. “Furthermore, the report observes that this has been a recurring issue as an amount of $3.996bn was also reported as received but not remitted by NNPC in the previous audits. “The audit reveals that NNPC owes N1.305trn to the Federation Account as at December 31, 2011. This is a trade debt. This is because the sum of N928bn falls within the 90 days permissible period, leaving a balance of N377bn which the NNPC is currently paying in instalments to the Federation Account.” The report, however, recommended that there was the need for government to confirm the ownership of the 49 per cent equity investment in the NLNG. It also called for the review of the daily crude allocation of 445,000 barrel

per day to the level of available local refining capacity to obviate the gaps in the process. Meanwhile, the Federal Government will soon grant new fuel importation licences to the NNPC and 32 other companies this month. This is targeted at enabling the NNPC and others to embark on importation of refined products for consumption during the second quarter (AprilJune) of this year. The Executive Secretary, Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, Mr. Reginald Stanley, who confirmed the development, said: “The second quarter allocation will be due at the end of February, one month before the start of the quarter. He said the arrangement was aimed at ensuring that adequate fuel was imported to sustain stable supplies in all parts of the country. CONTINUED ON PAGE 5>>

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Friday, February 1, 2013

Good Health

Children no longer sleep… they watch TV! •Experts say they may develop lifestyle diseases when they become adults TOBORE OVUORIE

ou will not believe this: children today are not sleeping as much as previous generations – and this is not good for their health. According to the experts, they spend their time watching TV, a habit that exposes them to life threatening diseases in adulthood! A study by a group of scientists at Umeå University, in Melbourne, Australia, recently revealed that too much television viewing and lack of exercise up till age 16 is associated with the risk of developing serious health conditions, such as metabolic syndrome, no later than age 43. Metabolic syndrome is a name for the disorder of metabolism- a combination of abdominal obesity, elevated blood lipids, hypertension and impaired glucose tolerance, which provides for a significantly increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, stroke and cardiovascular disease. It has previously been shown that lack of physical activity increases the risk of metabolic syndrome. It is also known that low leisure-time physical activity, for example, how much time spent watching TV is linked to the risk of metabolic syndrome independent of exercise habits. The researchers discovered that children these days are frequently glued to TV, computer, mobile phones and other electronic devices, thus don’t get enough rest and consequently suffer from poor lifestyle habits. Unfortunately, these have long-term effects as they extend over a large part of life, specifically between 16 to 43 years of age. Published in the journal Diabetes Care, the group of scientists in a quasi-experimental study watched closely 888 participants in northern Sweden from 1981 when they were in ninth grade in elementary school until 2008. They however discovered that children today are not sleeping as much as previous generations, with two-

thirds not getting the recommended hours of sleep per night as a result of spending more time watching TV, and clinging onto electronic devices. These in turn, drastically reducing their physical movements because they are all done with little or no physical activities, leading to sedentary lifestyles. “The results demonstrate that we need to consider how we can reduce sedentary lifestyle among children and adolescents”. It may be more important than only focusing on increased fitness and sports activities for those who are already in this cycle” part of the report stated. Studies so far indicate that the prevalent rate of ill health in children, as a result of poor lifestyles is on the increase these days. For instance, a province-wide survey of Grade 5 students in Alberta showed that children who spend much time with one or more electronic devices such as TVs, computers, video games and cell-phones, were more likely to be overweight or obese and prone to life threatening diseases later in

YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW

Antibiotics cut death rate for malnourished children

everely malnourished children are far more likely to recover and survive when given antibiotics along with a therapeutic peanut-based food than children who are simply treated with the therapeutic food alone, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found. “The findings are remarkable,” says Indi Trehan, MD, lead author of the research, published Jan. 31 in The New England Journal of Medicine. “Based on previous research, we didn’t think there would

be much benefit from antibiotics. We did not at all expect to see a drop in the death rate -- but there was, and it is significant.” The study involved nearly 2,800 children in Malawi, in sub-Saharan Africa, with severe malnutrition. Each child was given an average of 30 days of therapeutic food and a placebo or an oral antibiotic -- either amoxicillin or cefdinir -- for seven days. Overall, 88.3 percent of the children enrolled in the study recovered from severe malnutrition. Deaths accounted for the largest proportion of children

who did not recover, with the mortality rate considerably higher among those who received placebo than among those given antibiotics. The researchers found a 44 percent drop in mortality with the use of cefdinir and a 36 percent drop with amoxicillin, compared with the use of no antibiotics. Early last year, Trehan and Mark Manary, MD, senior author of the study, presented their findings to the World Health Organization, which establishes international guidelines for the treatment of malnutrition and other diseases.

life than those who don’t. The report also revealed that as little as one hour of additional sleep decreased the odds of being overweight or obese by 28 per cent and 30 per cent, respectively. “If you want your kids to sleep better and live a healthier lifestyle, get the technology off them, especially out of the bedroom,” said one of the researchers, Paul Veugelers, a professor in the School of Public Health, Canada. Veugelers, director of the Population Health Intervention Research Unit that works with the Alberta Project Promoting active Living and healthy Eating (APPLE Schools), said the research is the first to connect the dots on the relationship between sleep, diet and physical activity among kids. Nearly 3,400 Grade 5 students were asked about their nighttime sleep habits and access to electronics through the REAL Kids Alberta survey. Half of the students had free and uncontrolled access to a TV, DVD player or video game console, especially in

their bedroom, 21 per cent had a computer and 17 per cent had a cell-phone. Five per cent of students had all three types of devices. Some 57 per cent of students reported using electronics after they were supposed to be asleep, with watching TV and movies being the most popular activity. Twentyseven per cent of students engaged in three or more activities after bedtime. Researchers however found that students with access to one electronic device were 1.47 times as likely to be overweight as kids with no devices in the bedroom but with uncensored access to such at home. That increased to 2.57 times for kids with three devices, with similar results reported among obese children. More sleep also led to significantly more physical activity and better diet choices, researchers found. In addition to healthy lifestyle habits, a good night’s sleep, alongside less access to TV, and other electronic devices has been linked to better academic outcomes, fewer mood disorders and other positive health outcomes.

A positive family climate in adolescence linked to marriage quality in adulthood

xperiencing a positive family climate as a teenager may be connected to your relationships later in life, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. While research has demonstrated long-term effects of aggression and divorce across generations, the impact of a positive family climate has received less attention. Psychological scientist Robert Ackerman of the University of Texas at Dallas and colleagues

wanted to examine whether positive interpersonal behaviors in families might also have long-lasting associations with future relationships. The researchers examined longitudinal data from individuals participating in the Iowa Youth and Families Project. Family

interactions were assessed when the participants were in 7th grade. The interactions were coded for five indicators of positive engagement: listener responsiveness, assertiveness, prosocial behavior, effective communication, and warmth-support. Participants who showed and experienced more positive engagement in their families showed more positive engagement in their marriages 17 years later. Interestingly, their spouses also showed more positive engagement. –Science Daily

Photo News

Friday, February 1, 2013

Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief, National Mirror, Mr. Steve Ayorinde (right) presenting a copy of the newspaper to the Managing Director, IRS Airline, Mr. Yemi Dada, during a courtesy visit to the Airline’s Office in Lagos, yesterday

L-R: Project Manager, Reliance Referral Hospitals, Mr. Gbenga Ajayi; Lead Consultant, Dr. Emmanuel Nyong and Global Chairman of General Electric, Mr. Jeff Immelt, during the facility tour of Reliance Referral Hospitals in Abuja yesterday. PHOTO:ROTIMI OSASONA

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

L-R: Editor, Sunday Mirror, Mr. Bolaji Tunji; Managing Director, IRS Airline, Mr. Yemi Dada; Mr. Steve Ayorinde and National Mirror’s Senior Manager, Strategic Development, Alhaji Kayode Balogun Jr. PHOTOS: BAYOOR EWUOSO

L-R: Chief Launcher, Chief Tony Anenih; Vice Chancellor, National Open University of Nigeria, Prof. Vincent Tenebe and author of the book, Prof. Godwin Sogolo, during the presentation of the book, “Nigeria Yesterday Today” in Abuja yesterday. PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA

National News

IRS Airlines boss urges FG to make Nigerian airports transit points OLUSEGUN KOIKI

he Managing Director, IRS Airlines, Mr. Yemi Dada, has urged the Federal Government to transform the nation’s airports into transit points for international carriers. Dada explained that such an effort would make Nigeria an aviation hub not just in the West African sub-region, but on the continent. The IRS Airline boss spoke yesterday when the management team of National Mirror paid him a courtesy visit in his office at the Murtala Mohammed Airport Two (MMA2), Lagos. The National Mirror team was led by its Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief, Mr. Steve Ayorinde. Currently, Nigeria has four international airports; the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, MMIA, Lagos, Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, NAIA,

Abuja, Port Harcourt International Airport and Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, MAKIA, Kano. No fewer than 22 international airlines fly into Nigeria daily with passenger traffic at all the 22 Federal Government owned airports crossing the 14 million mark annually. Dada explained that by the country’s geographical location, Nigeria ought to be a natural hub on the continent, but is concerned that until the government adopts the transit point system, the expected growth in passenger traffic might not materialise. He said: “If Nigerian airports are to grow as expected, it is good for the government to adopt the transit point system. If not, we will not get the kind of traffic we hope to get. “We need to relax the screening that transit passengers go through. For instance, if a passenger on transit has a flight to catch maybe in

the next 30 minutes, there is no way such a passenger can catch the flight because they will have to be screened on arrival by the Nigerian Immigration personnel and even be screened again when they want to depart. Such things discourage passengers or even the airlines from making our airport a transit point.

“There should be transit arrangement in the country. These are the kinds of things that will make us attractive, make us ambitious and make economic sense to the operators.” On the proposed partnership with the newspaper, he said the management of the airline would be willing to partner with

National Mirror and described such partnership as beneficial to both parties. “We will appreciate a partnership arrangement with your organisation. In fact, your visit is very timely,” he said. On his part, Ayorinde commended the management of the airline for its support to the newspaper

so far. He said the coming onboard of National Mirror more than two years ago has changed the face of print journalism in the country with its balanced reporting, in-depth analysis, rich editorial content, high print quality and a high level of acceptability among the traditional and online reading public.

$67bn reserves: Fani-Kayode backs Ezekwesili, says Jonathan lacks fiscal discipline FELIX NWANERI

ormer Minister of Aviation in the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, has blamed the fiscal indiscipline of the Umaru Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan administrations for the depletion of the nation’s foreign reserves. Fani-Kayode, who backed former Minister of Education, Mrs. Obiageli Ezekwesili that the present government had

squandered $67 billion reserves left by Obasanjo in 2007, also said that it was a pity that the Jonathan administration declined to take up the challenge by Ezekwesili, for a public debate on the issue. He said: “I do not think that our government ought to have run away from the debating ring. They ought to have accepted the challenge of a rigorous public debate and allow the Nigerian people to listen to it and make up their own minds about who was right and

who was wrong.” He also dismissed the responses by the President’s aides, saying: “The charge that our foreign reserves were heavily depleted between 2007 and 2013 cannot be convincingly or logically denied. “In 2007, President Obasanjo left $45 billion in our foreign reserves and $22 billion in our Excess Crude Account. If the two figures are added up, the amount you will come up with is $67 billion of savings for our country. This is the figure Ezekwesili

cited. It represents what was in both our foreign reserves and our Excess Crude Account put together.” Fani-Kayode maintained that rather than resort to insults, intimidation, sponsored stories, persecution and baseless allegations against Ezekwesili and others who are asking questions on the issue, the Federal Government should change its ways and display a greater degree of fiscal discipline and accountability to the Nigerian people.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

News

Friday, February 1, 2013

Audit report indicts NNPC for unremitted N2.66trn CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

Stanley said the importers would have to meet stringent conditions, including possession of huge assets to sustain operations and ability to meet import targets as defaulters would be sanctioned. The executive secretary said the government would not face any difficulty paying the importers as adequate provision had already been made for it in the 2013 budget. He said: “With the allocation of N971bn for fuel imports this year, we are very hopeful that it would be possible to achieve improved stability in the supply of fuel during the period.” Stanley added that the PPPRA would take steps to ensure that marketers provide adequate access to inspectors nominated by the agency to monitor their operations to eliminate sharp practices. According to him: “The practice of discharging and trucking simultaneously is against established industry practice and henceforth shall attract appropriate sanctions except where such is required to create haulage in which case conditions for floating operations are met.” Stanley said the agency would conduct periodic checks on active tank farms to ensure that facilities used for back-loading are demobilised at all times, in addition to ensuring mar-

keters comply to set guidelines. He called on inspectors to ensure that marketers do not hoard products in their tank farms by refusing to truck-out, while those who violate the policy should be reported to the agency for appropriate sanctions. Investigations, however, showed that major and independent marketers who were owed in the past looked forward to participate in the programme following increased commitment of government to pay them. The Executive Secretary, Major Marketers Association of Nigeria, MOMAM, Mr. Timothy Olawore, said in a telephone interview that: “The government has been paying and our members are now encouraged to import the product.” Olawore said there were presently commercial stocks of fuel at many locations, including jetties, depots and filling stations, meaning that the era of shortage is over in the nation. The spokesman of NIPCo Plc, Mr. Taofeek Lawal, also confirmed that they had sufficient fuel in the market to meet demand. He said the expected new imports would go a long way to boosting the current level of supplies in many parts of the country. Lawal called for improved monitoring in or-

Gunmen blow up police stations, banks CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

In Gombe State, two policemen were also killed yesterday when gunmen struck at a checkpoint at the Central Roundabout in Gombe town while a physically challenged who was passing by was also wounded. An eyewitness, who did not want his name mentioned, told newsmen that the two gunmen who alighted from a tricycle, popularly known as Keke NAPEP, about 6:15a.m., went to the policemen at the checkpoint, directly opposite Gombe Line garage and sprayed them with bullets. In the process, a stray bullet hit a crippled who was immediately rushed to an unknown hospital. He said the gunmen wore

caftans with masks on their faces, stressing that the mask did not generate any curiosity because it was very cold in the morning. The witness told our correspondent that he gunmen immediately left the scene on foot through different directions. Confirming the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Mr. Fwaje Atajiri, in a statement said the area had been fortified by two patrol vehicles and men from the Rapid Response Squad of Gombe Central Division. He said that the hoodlums struck immediately the police team left the area about 6a.m., adding that investigations had begun and the culprits would soon be brought to book.

der to ensure that existing infrastructure, especially pipelines are not destroyed. Also, the Federal Government has ordered security agents to ensure that the nation’s petroleum

pipelines are well secured against vandals. The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, is said to have given the directive aimed at ensuring that

petroleum products are supplied to all parts of the nation without much disruption. An authoritative source in the ministry who preferred not to be named said:

“The minister has already directed security agencies to increase their policing of pipelines to guide against vandalism which could scuttle efficient distribution of products.”

L-R: Departmental Head of Mission, Nigeria Embassy, Spain, Mr. Dokun Fagbohun; Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu and Director-General, Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation, Otunba Olusegun Runsewe, at the Nigerian Embassy, Madrid yesterday .

FCT budget: Senators query N4bn allocation to First Ladies CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

are the N7.5bn allocated for the construction of the new city gate, N150m for the renovation of Vice- President’s Guest House in Asokoro and N5bn for the rehabilitation of prostitutes and the destitute in the FCT. In his lead debate on the budget, Senate Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, said the thrust of the bill was for the provision of services and infrastructure as contained in President Goodluck Jonathan’s transformation agenda on empowerment. On engineering infrastructure, N48.7bn was earmarked for the completion and construction of some vital roads in the city as well as provision of infrastructural facilities to some districts, including the expansion and rehabilitation of the Kubwa and the airport expressways. Also, N7.53bn was set aside for the provision of infrastructural facilities to Jahi, Wuye, Maitama extension and Abuja North-West. On education, a proposal for N30bn was made for the provision of infrastructure and services in the sector. It will also cater for the expansion and rehabilitation of

primary, secondary, tertiary and vocational schools as well as to provide teaching aid materials. The provision of health infrastructure and services is estimated to cost N12bn. The amount is expected to complete the ongoing projects, equip the hospitals and provide other facilities. On transportation, N50.5bn was proposed for the development of the sector. Out of this, there is a Chinese loan of N44.5bn for the construction of Abuja 60.37km standard gauge rail track with ancillary facilities. The Abuja Environmental Protection Board, AEPB, was allocated N5.7bn for the procurement of equipment and other essentials to keep the FCT and its environment clean and healthy. To boost food production, N6bn was proposed for agriculture and food production. Senator Abdul Ningi expressed dissatisfaction with the amount budgeted for the First Ladies Mission and the N150m voted for the Vice- President’s Guest House. “N150m is too much for the renovation of the VicePresident’s Guest House in Asokoro, how much will

the building now gulp if we want to build it?” he queried. Senator Babajide Omoworare described the N4bn meant for First Ladies’ Mission building as scandalous. He said that the money could be used for many important things in the country. “It is not proper for us to budget money for the building of First Ladies’ Mission house in the FCT budget, it is against the federal system of government. Again, how can we budget N7.4bn for the city gate? I think the amount is too much for the construction of the city gate.” Similarly, Senator Babafemi Ojodu queried the N4bn for the First Ladies Mission. He described the allocation as illegal since the constitution did not make provision for the office of the First Lady. Senator Ayogu Eze complained that the monies annually budgeted for the FCT are not commensurate with the impact on the facilities being developed in the city. He said that outside the city centre, there was nothing on the ground to show for the allocations. Senator Nkechi Nwogu said the Senate should ascertain the level of completion

in the FCT light rail project to know if there was need for more funds for it or not. She expressed dissatisfaction with the management of funds by FCT, citing the construction of a less than 30 kilometre Abuja-Airport road, “which seems endless despite the huge resources already expended on it.” On his part, Senator George Sekibo noted that the budget for FCT had consistently been going up without commensurate infrastructural development, calling for reduction in overheads to make for more funds for capital projects. Senate President David Mark commended the senators for their contributions to the budget proposal, urging FCT administration to get its priority right before earmarking money for the projects. He advised the FCT administration to focus on particular project and ensure its completion before embarking on another project. The budget was subsequently reffered to the Senate Committees on Appropriation, Finance and FCT for further legislative action and is to submit its report within two weeks.

News

Friday, February 1, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

$620,000 bribe: ICPC arraigns Lawan today EMMANUEL ONANI ABUJA

charge under Section 185 (b) of the Criminal Procedure Code, CPC. “The case is fixed for the 1st day of February, 2013 for arraignment.” Lawan and Boniface are facing trial over “violation of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.” Attached to the charge sheet marked FCT/HC/

CR/76/2013 are names and addresses of witnesses, proof of evidence as well as a list of exhibits. The charge sheet was signed by Mrs. O. O. Fatunde, who is the Director of Public Prosecution, DPP, of the Federation, on behalf of the AttorneyGeneral of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Ad-

oke (SAN). The prosecution counsel, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), had given indication of Lawan’s arraignment in an interview with journalists in Abuja. This is even as a Lagosbased lawyer, Mr. Festus Keyamo, had written a letter to the AGF, requesting the immediate prosecution of the Kano-born

lawmaker. Count four of the charge reads: “That you Hon. Farouk Lawan (M) while being a member of the House of Representatives and chairman of Ad-hoc Committee on Monitoring of fuel subsidy regime sometimes in April 2012 or thereabout at Abuja within the Federal Capital Territory

fter a long period of suspense, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, will today arraign the suspended Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Fuel Subsidy, Hon. Farouk Lawan. The lawmaker’s arraignment today along with one Mr. Emenalo Boniface, who was the Secretary of House of Representatives Ad-Hoc Committee on fuel subsidy regime, follows the leave granted the prosecutor to file a seven-count criminal charge against them. Justice Mudashiru Oniyangi, who granted the anti-corruption commission’s prayer held: “Upon careful consideration of the application and attached documents in support of same filed by the complainant’s counsel... leave is hereby granted to the complainant/applicant to prefer criminal L-R: Acting Company Secretary, Industrial and General Insurance Plc, Mr. Abiodun Ajifolawe; Chairman, Gen. Yakubu Gowon and acting Managing Director, Mr. Rotimi Fashola, during the 20th Annual General Meeting of the company in Lagos, yesterday.

FG seals $1bn investment deal with GE OLUFEMI ADEOSUN ABUJA

he investment drive of the Federal Government yesterday received a boost as the country signed a $1 billion (N158 billion) investment deal with General Electric, GE. The deal would enable the multinational company establish a new manufacturing and assembly facility in Calabar, Cross River State. It was consolidated with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, by the Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, and the Global Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of GE, Mr. Jeff Immelt. Also, the deal, which consists of $250 million capital expenditure and over $800 million incremental spending on local sourcing of goods and services, is expected to create 2,300 jobs and make Nigeria the regional hub for GE’s manufacturing service and innovation in

Africa. Speaking before the signing of the MoU, Immelt said of the $1 billion, an initial commitment of $250 million (N40 billion) would be used to expand its manufacturing and servicing capabilities. This, according to him, includes additional investment in its Port-Harcourt and Onne facilities as well as a new assembly and manufacturing facility to be located in Calabar, Cross River State. Apart from the initial $250 million, he said over $800 million incremental spending would be made within the next five years in local sourcing of goods and services, labour, staff welfare and training. He said the investment would also enable the company to create about 2,300 new jobs in Nigeria, adding that the training facility on its manufacturing site would help to ensure ongoing employee development. This, Immelt pointed out, would significantly increase the local content

of the company’s operation in Nigeria, as its local sourcing of goods and services would increase from $4 million (N640 million) to over $60 million (N9.6 billionn) annually. He said: “The partnership between GE and Nigeria is a symbol of pride for both parties and a sterling example for others to follow. “With supportive and experienced partners of GE’s calibre, Nigerians can be rest assured that government is on the right path to deliver on Vision 2020 and create a better life for all Nigerians. “This planned investment of $1 billionn is part of the commitment we made when we signed the investment incentive Memorandum of Understanding with the Federal Government of Nigeria in 2009. “We are committed to playing our part in the sustainable growth of the country and the positive impact this will have on Nigeria and the continent of Africa as a whole.”

under the jurisdiction of this honourable court did while acting in the course of your official duty corruptly obtained the sum of $500,000 for yourself from Mr. Femi Otedola, Chairman, Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited, as an inducement to remove the name of Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited from the report of the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on Monitoring of fuel subsidy regime and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 17 (1) of the Corrupt practices and other Related Offences Act, 2000 and punishable under section 17 (1) of the same Act.” Otedola had sometime last year alleged that upon pressure from Lawan to exonerate Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited from culpability in the mismanagement of fuel subsidy funds, he gave about $620,000 to the lawmaker. He claimed that the “ b r i b e - f o r- c l e a r a n c e ” money was given to stave off pressure.

Conduct referendum on Bakassi, Reps tell Jonathan TORDUE SALEM ABUJA

he House of Representatives yesterday urged President Goodluck Jonathan to conduct a referendum in the Bakassi area to allow the inhabitants decide whether they would stay as citizens of Cameroon or remain Nigerian citizens. The Speaker of the House, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, who presided over the plenary session, ruled that the contentious area would remain Nigerian territory as long as the National Assembly was yet to ratify the ‘international’ agreement that ceded Bakassi to Cameroon. The Speaker, who relied on sections 12, 8, 1(4) and 4 of the 1999 Constitution to rule on the matter, said despite the International Court of Justice, ICJ, ruling in favour of Cameroon and the United Nations’ intervention that led to the ceding of the land to the Central African country, the National Assembly was not a part of the deal, therefore the ceding was “physical, but illegal”.

The House dredged up the controversy over the ceding of the Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon by ICJ in 2002, after adopting a motion sponsored by Hon. Essien Ayi (PDP-Cross River). Besides faulting the judgement that did not seek endorsement of the National Assembly, the House also flayed the United Nations Green Tree Agreement that later sealed the deal for Cameroon. Presenting the motion, Ayi urged the Federal Government to “appreciate the right of the people to selfdetermination by virtue of which they determine their political status and freely pursue their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development. “Bakassi people deserve to be given a platform to exercise their right to selfdetermination which is an inalienable right provided in Article 1 of the 1966 International Convention on Civil and Political Rights”. In making his case, Ayi said the House must be aware that “several referenda were held across the globe

at different times for the purposes of protecting the fundamental human rights of the citizens involved. “For example, a referendum was held from 9 to 15 January 2011 in Southern Sudan where the Republic of Southern Sudan opted out of the then Sudan. “In Egypt, a referendum was also held on 19 March, 2012 and same in Switzerland in June 2012 among others. “Article (15) 2 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted in 1948 states that: No one shall arbitrarily be deprived of nationality or denied the right to change his nationality. “This guarantees the Nigerian nationals living in Bakassi Peninsula the exercise of their fundamental rights and freedoms as enshrined in the International Human Rights Law and other relevant provisions of the international law.” The lawmaker regretted the “incessant and blatant violations, frequent extra-judicial killings and incarceration by the Cameroonian authority”.

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Friday, February 1, 2013

HIV/AIDS: Jonathan meets governors of worst-hit states ROTIMI FADEYI ABUJA

resident Goodluck Jonathan yesterday met with the governors of states worsthit by the spread of HIV/ AIDS, donor agencies and stakeholders with a view to tackling the scourge. At the meeting held behind closed doors, Jonathan directed the National Agency for the Control of Aids, NACA, to come out with a work plan as part of measures to check

the spread of the disease. The President had attended an African Union, AU, meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, earlier in the week where the scourge of HIV/AIDS was among top items on the agenda. Jonathan was particularly worried by the high prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria and the country’s rating as the second highest in Africa, Speaking to State House Correspondents after the meeting, Benue

State Governor, Gabriel Suswam, said the President was worried by the social, economic and security implications of the disease as well as the way forward. “It is not a hidden fact that Anambra, Akwa Ibom, Benue, Plateau and some other states are the worst hit in the country and it is the level of seriousness the President attaches to the issue that necessitated this meeting.” According to Suswam,

NACA has been directed to come out with a work plan for 2013 as part of measures to bring the rate down while states have also been encouraged to go back and do more to reduce the rate in their domains. Suswam said the Federal Government has promised to intervene in the area of funding while states would also contribute some percentage to fund issues of HIV in order to tackle the scourge with all commitment.

Senate orders investigation of Ezu River dead bodies GEORGE OJI ABUJA

he Senate yesterday directed its Joint Committees on Police, Security and Intelligence to investigate the strange dead bodies found in Ezu River in Anambra State. The committee was given two weeks to submit its findings to the senate. The directive followed the adoption of the motion by Senator Andy Uba on the matter. The senate, however, turned down the request to urge the President to direct the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, as well as the FED-

ERAL Ministry of Water Resources to urgently provide alternative sources of water for the affected communities and the Federal Ministry of Health to do all that is necessary to prevent an outbreak of epidemic within the affected areas. While leading the debate on the motion, Senator Andy Uba, (Anambra South), said the dead bodies have contaminated the only source of water for the five affected communities in Anambra and Enugu States. He regretted that the Ezu River serves as the only domestic source of water for the communities, saying that the indigenes of the affected communities as well as other nearby com-

munities, stand the chance of contacting diseases from the water. The lawmaker expressed concern that even as he spoke, no explanation has been provided by any of the security agencies on the source of the bodies, adding that the autopsy ordered by the governments of Anambra and Enugu States has not produced any clue. Speaking also on the motion, Chris Ngige, urged the senate to compel the security operatives to unravel the origin of the bodies, adding that all the efforts he made to elicit relevant information from the State Security Service, SSS, did not yield any positive result. While calling on the

ASUU accuses UNILORIN of victimising reinstated lecturers ABIODUN NEJO ADO EKITI

he Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has accused the authorities of the University of Ilorin, UNILORIN, of falsifying the Supreme Court verdict with the intent of depriving the 49 lecturers of their entitlements. ASUU Ilorin Zone accused the university of claiming that the judgment delivered by Justice Mahmud Mohammed in 2009 had barred the lecturers, who were suspended for eight years from asking for their missed benefits after their reinstatement. In a statement in Ado Ekiti yesterday, the ASUU Zonal Coordinator, Dr Ayan Adeleke, said the move by UNILORIN signaled a dangerous trend capable of

ridiculing the apex court. Adeleke, who sought concerted efforts to checkmate the management of the institution, stressed that the Supreme Court judgment said in clear terms that all the missed salaries of the lecturers and other entitlements be paid immediately. It will be recalled that the lecturers, tagged UNILORIN 49, were suspended in 2001 by the Federal Government for agitating for better conditions of service for university teachers and were reinstated in 2009 through a Supreme Court verdict. ASUU alleged in the statement that the university’s tactics was “a step capable of igniting another round of crisis that would bring the institution on its knees, if proper measures are not taken by the Fed-

eral Government.” The statement reads in part: “The Ilorin Zone of ASUU wishes to condemn with every emphasis at our disposal, the recent antics of the University of Ilorin in falsifying the ruling of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in respect of the UNILORIN 49. “On January 9, 2013 to be precise, the University of Ilorin came out through its spokesperson, Mr. Kunle Akogun, to hail the ruling of the court while claiming that the ruling condemned UNILORIN 49 and vindicated the university. “Upon investigation, we now discovered shockingly that the University of Ilorin, a publicly-funded institution, had actually falsified the verdict of the Supreme Court of this land to the unsuspecting public,” ASUU said.

NEMA and the Federal Ministry of Water Resources to come to the aid of the affected communities, Ngige said he has on his own offered some forms of relief by ordering the supply of clean water for the affected communities.

Jega begs Reps over arrest warrant OMEIZA AJAYI

he Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC; Prof. Attahiru Jega, has written to the House of Representatives asking it not to issue an arrest warrant over his absence at a public hearing on Wednesday in Abuja. In the letter which was titled; “Re: Threat of Arrest Warrant” and addressed to the Chairman, Committee on Public Accounts in the House of Representatives, Jega said his absence was “wholly unintended and regrettable,” urging the committee not to view it as a slight on their office. According to him, the resolution of the lawmakers to issue an arrest warrant was obviously borne out of the anger of committee members “over my unfortunate absence at the Wednesday sitting. It is, thus, perfectly understandable.” The letter which was personally signed by Prof. Jega was also copied to both the

Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Part of the letter reads: “I learnt from the media this morning that your honourable committee has resolved to issue an arrest warrant on me, following my failure to appear before it at its scheduled sitting on Wednesday, January 30, 2013. “Permit me to say, however, that my failure to respond to your committee’s invitation was wholly unintended and regrettable. I had travelled out of the country for a while and only returned to office early this week; and there was apparently a communication gap that made me unaware of the invitation to appear before the honourable Ccommittee on Wednesday. “Be rest assured, sir, that there is no reason or intention to be disrespectful to the committee, or to shun its summons. God permitting, I shall be readily available at the next scheduled sitting. “Once again, be assured of my highest esteem for your good self and all members of the Committee.”

This Day in African American History In celebration of Black History Month, the U.S. Consulate General has partnered with the National Mirror to showcase a daily note entitled This Day in Black History. The note will commemorate prominent black figures and recount historic events in African American History that have contributed to American progress. The theme of this year’s national black history month as announced by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History is At the Crossroads of Freedom and Equality: the Emancipation Proclamation and the March on Washington. Read below to learn what historic event happened today in African American history. February 1: On this day in 1902—Prominent African American Poet, Langston Hughes was Born! Langston Hughes was among four principal writers who achieved major recognition during the Har-

lem Renaissance, which took place in New York City during the 1920s. The Renaissance was an outstanding phase of literary and artistic development for African Americans in the United States. Hughes wrote in every genre on a sundry of topics. Hughes was one of the first black men of literature who strove to make a productive and profitable career out of his writing. In addition to possessing an ability

to write in every genre, he composed translations of his works and annually lectured and toured. And, not only was he a major literary spokesperson, he was also a promoter of black writers and an artistic historian of the African American community, whose ways, talks, gestures, dances, clothes, dreams, thoughts, frustrations and oppression he sought to capture with his pen.

South West

Daniel calls for prosecution of Dipo Dina’s killers TEMITOPE OGUNBANKE

ormer governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, has called for the immediate prosecution of the killers of former Ogun State 2007 Action Congress, AC, governorship candidate, Otunba Dipo Dina. Speaking at a forum in Lagos yesterday, the former governor said that Dina’s killers must be brought to book and called on the Ogun State Attorney-General to re-open the case of Dina’s killers. His words: “They alleged that OGD killed Dipo Dina. But today, God has helped us to find the killers of Dipo Dina and we know them. “They have been charged to court even during my tenure and I am told that the new AttorneyGeneral in Ogun State said they should stop the pros-

ecution. Why should he stop the prosecution of the killers? Now that the prosecution has been stopped, civil rights groups, lawyers are no longer asking questions. Why did they stop the prosecution?” Daniel while speaking on his eight years in office attributed the various criticisms against his administration to a “Pull down OGD project,” spearheaded by some political propagandists in the state. Shedding more light on what transpired while he was in office, the former governor disassociated himself from various issues arising from the oath taking saga, embezzlement, killer’s squad controversies and many others, blamed political propagandists and some of his aides, who he described as ‘Judas’ as the cause of the various political drama in the Gateway State during his tenure.

Local production of drugs will prevent faking –PSN SEKINAH LAWAL

he National President of Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, PSN, Olumide Akintayo, yesterday said manufacturing drugs in the country will prevent counterfeiting and faking of drugs that is common place now. Making this known in Lagos yesterday at a product presentation by Bradford Pharmaceuticals Limited, Akintayo, who was represented by Oyawole Anthony, said apart from

the multiplier effects of job creation and others, local manufacturing of drugs will make it easy to trace the source of the drugs and reduce incidence of faking. “This is a worthy venture and we must commend the management of Bradford Pharmaceuticals as many professionals have testified to the potency of their drugs. The issue of fake and counterfeit drugs has been a menace for decades and it will be good for Nigerians if we have situations like this that will reduce sub-standard products.”

Friday, February 1, 2013

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LG poll: Court nullifies Obanikoro’s victory KAYODE KETEFE

he Lagos State Election Petition Appeal Tribunal yesterday upturned the judgement of the lower election tribunal which declared the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate, Babajide Obanikoro, as the winner of the October 22, 2011, election for the Obalende Local Council Development Area. This was the unanimous judgement of the five-man appeal tribunal, read yesterday by Justice Babajide Candide-Johnson. The appellate tribunal judges held that the lower tribunal erred when it went ahead to hear Obanikoro’s petition after the expiration of the statutory 30 days time limit for hearing of such election petitions. The said time limit as

stipulated by Section 14 (1) of the Local Government Election Petitions Tribunal Law 2011, had been breached, the appeal tribunal held. The appeal tribunal further held that since there was no application for extension of time for hearing the petition (as stipulated in Section 54 (1) and (2) of the said LGEPT Law), the lower tribunal was wrong to have heard and determined the case. Section 54 (1) and (2) empowers LGEPT Law the tribunal to expand the time for hearing and determining petitions for an additional period of 60 days from the date when the application was made. The appeal court tribunal described the omission by Obanikoro’s lawyer as “unpardonable blunder” and a “grave error,” stressing that the learned coun-

sel ought to have been more circumspect considering the seriousness of the matter being handled. The tribunal concluded that the lack of an application for extension time had rendered the whole proceedings before the lower tribunal a nullity.

Accordingly, Ibrahim Obanikoro’s petition dated November 14, 2011 was adjudged incompetent on technical grounds and was dismissed. “With this judgment, the CAN’s Wale Adeniji, is to continue in office,” stated the appeal tribunal.

Agric’ll be biggest industry in Osun –Gov

sun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, has said that the overriding objective of his administration is to make agriculture the biggest viable industry in the state. The governor said this even as revealed that his government is working hard to ensure that farmers in the state are the core of wealth creation and productive agents of empowerment.

He was speaking at the ‘Osun Farmers’ Day With Ogbeni’, held at the Bola Ige House, Government Secretariat, Osogbo, the state capital. Aregbesola said that with the discovery of the agrarian nature and the enormous agricultural potentials in the state, the administration came up with the Six-Point-Integral-Action Plan, with agriculture as a major plank.

L-R: Special Adviser to the Governor of Osun State, Mr. Kunle Ige; Governor Rauf Aregbesola; Director-General, Office of the Economic Development and Partnership, Dr. Charles Akinola and a beneficiary from Ede South, Mr. Rahman Adegoke, during the distribution of farm inputs to 1, 830 farmers under the 2nd phase of the Rehabilitation of UNICEF Community Development Initiative Programme in Osogbo, yesterday.

Pension scam: Fayemi advocates review of criminal, penal codes ABIODUN NEJO ADO EKITI

kiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, yesterday urged Nigerians to advocate a review of the nation’s criminal and penal codes in the interest of justice. Fayemi said the nation’s criminal code, which Justice Abubakar Talba, of the Abuja High Court relied on in the conviction of a former Director of Police

Pension Board, Yakubu Yusufu, should be blamed and not the judge. The governor spoke in Ado Ekiti while inaugurating the Justice Funmilola Adekeye’s Best Graduating Law Student Award for the Ekiti State University, EKSU, and Afe Babalola University, ABUAD, law students in Ado Ekiti. The award was endowed in honour of Justice Funmilola Adekeye, who retired recently as justice of the Supreme Court.

Fayemi

According to Fayemi, though Yakubu’s offence was grave and deserved a strict penalty, the judge

cannot be blamed for following the provision of the penal code which he described as faulty by providing a clause for the accused person to escape punishment. The governor, who canvassed review and harmonisation of the criminal and penal codes, described as worrisome, situations when it was clear that someone was guilty of an offence but the law was loose in exerting commensurate punishment on the

accused. He urged the committee on the Justice Administration Reform to critically look into the harmonisation of the two laws for sanity in verdicts on corruption-related matters. He also expressed worry at the whereabouts of the reports of Justice KaribiWhyte’s National Committee for the Unification of the Criminal Code and Penal Code in Nigeria during the General Ibrahim Babangida regime.

Also speaking at the event, Justice Adekeye said the review of the penal code was long overdue because it was a product the colonialists handed over to the country with its defects. Adekeye added that the culture of Nigerians at the time of making the law was different from what obtained now as the nation now tilted towards a “criminal world” with terrorism and crime on the prowl.

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We’ll probe Olu of Itori over fraud allegation –Ogun FEMI O YEWESO ABEOKUTA

gun State Government said yesterday that the Olu of Itori, Oba Fatai Akamo, had case to answer despite lifting suspension placed on him for fighting in the public. The Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Muyiwa Oladipo, who said this in an with journalists in his office yesterday, disclosed that allegations of financial impropriety levelled against the monarch by the Baales would still be investigated in line with the spirit of accountability and responsiveness. The government on Sunday lifted the suspension on Akamo and the Baale of Lapenleke, Chief Adisa Akinremi. The two traditional rulers, were suspended in October 2012 for engaging in a fisticuffs at the Itori Police Divisional Headquarters over

South West

Friday, February 1, 2013

disagreements on some issues bordering on tradition. While in suspension, however, some other Baales in the Ewekoro Local Government Traditional Council, chaired by Akamo, staged a protest. The Baales alleged that Akamo’s handling of the disbursement of funds from the government’s purse meant for them was fraught with irregularities. But responding to questions from journalists, Oladipo said all the allegations of financial impropriety levelled against the monarch could now be investigated. The commissioner said the government could not probe the allegations against the monarch while under suspension. Oladipo said, having withdrawn his rights and privileges as a traditional ruler, Akamo could not be investigated in that capacity since he was no longer recognised as such.

Acid bath: Ondo commissioner behind my attack –Victim •I knew nothing about his ordeal, says Oluboyo

OJO OYEWAMIDE AKURE

former member of the Ondo State Forest Monitoring Unit, Ajisafe Adetute, has accused the state Commissioner for Natural Resources, Alhaji Lasisi Oluboyo, of masterminding last Sunday’s acid attack on him in his shop at Ala Quarters, Akure. Adetute, who is in a critical condition at the State Specialist Hospital in the state capital, was reportedly bathed with acid by five people. Speaking with our correspondent on his hospital bed, the victim said the commissioner called him on his mobile line three days before the incident, threatening to deal with him for petitioning Governor Olusegun Mimiko on illegal activities in the ministry.

Adetute said he wrote three petitions to the governor, revealing the commissioner allegedly connived with some encroachers from Edo State to fell trees illegally in the state forest reserves. He said: “I think the governor must have acted on those petitions and that was why the commissioner called me on my mobile line and threatened to deal with me for reporting him to the governor. “I thought he was joking. Three days after, I was in my shop at about 8pm when five men drove in, in a Toyota Avalon car. I thought they came for merriment. All of a sudden, they came towards me and poured acid on me and drove off. “I know the driver that drove the car, but I can’t identify other people. They have destroyed my

life but I know that the God I serve will spare my life.” He called on Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, the governor and the human rights community to come to his aid and ensure that justice is done in the matter. But in a telephone interview with our correspondent, Oluboyo said he was not aware of any attack on Adetute. The commissioner added that it was not true that he called and threatened him on phone before the incident. He said: “You as a journalist, I want you to do a thorough investigation about this matter and find out whether I threatened him on phone or not. “The only time I called him was when I heard that he was among members of the Timber Trade Organisation, TTO, who

were protesting the closure of the forestry. I learnt he was in their midst and I called him to find out. I never threatened him. “The only thing I did when I came in as the commissioner in charge of my ministry was the dissolution of the former Forest Monitoring Unit of which Ajisafe was a member, and reconstituted my own monitoring unit. “I think he made some efforts to get reappointed. Many members of our party pleaded on his behalf that I should include him in the new committee but I discovered he was not the kind of person I can work with. “He refused to submit the government vehicle in his hand even after the dissolution of the former monitoring unit. We had to involve the police to get those items retrieved.

Traffic law: Permission unnecessary for recommended motorcycles –Fashola MURITALA AYINLA

agos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, yesterday cleared the air on the controversies trailing the use and approval of the recommended 200CC motorcycles. He said no permission was needed once the recommended motorcycle was acquired for non-commercial purpose. The governor also said the need to ensure infrastructural renewal and economic development across the state necessitated the decision to borrow in order to fund such projects. Fashola added that he had directed the Commissioner for Transportation, Comrade Kayode Opeifa, to make further clarification on the recommended motorcycle. He said: “You don’t need any exemption or permit from anybody in the Ministry of Transportation.” Explaining the requirements of the traffic law, the governor said: “First of all,

Fashola

when you have a 200CC motorcycle, as your own form of transport, not public transportation. If you have that, you can ride on any road in Lagos, you don’t need any permission, you don’t need any exemption. If you are running courier business, once you have a 200CC, you go to the Motor Registry, you license it; get your number plate, just as you will license any vehicle. That is all you need... “I don’t know about the regulation for courier business because it is not my responsibility, but as far as plying my road, once you meet that, you don’t need any exemption or permit

from anybody whether in the Ministry of Transportation. “I told the Commissioner for Transportation this morning that he must make further clarification. But the answer to your question is that no exemption is needed once you have a 200CC.” Fashola explained that there was need for the state to source fund from other sources. The governor said the meagre amount from the Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, was grossly inadequate to fund the projects. He said: “You know what, IGR will only give us about N300 billion. Now from the demand we got from various communities for roads and other infrastructure, what we saw when we quantified it was about N750 billion, but we couldn’t generate about N750 billion, that is why we scaled down the budget to N495 billion, over and above what we can reasonably pursue.”

Politics The fear of Nigerian Governors’ Forum… I don’t know how anyone will come to the conclusion that we are frustrating the country, oppressing the president and not allowing the constitution review process to progress. -Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State The governor’s forum is only using the power of their political group to squeeze concessions from everybody, including the president. Everything that is happening is mere politics. -Chief Maxi Okwu, National leader of the Citizen Popular Party.

Shola Odunfa …reporting for BBC Veteran journalist, Shola Odunfa, has dared where many feared. Through wars, unrests and an array of chequered events, his pen (or voice) has painted several stories of different shades and colours on different issues across Africa while reporting for Nigerian newspapers and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). But ask this man of many parts what he cannot take out of his daily schedule no matter how busy he may be or how tortuous the story he is working on may be. His answer will shock you! It is one and only one item - a bottle of cold beer. His story is unputdownable!

Naomi Mac makes overdue appearance

Saturday Starter

Who is afraid of computer-based UTME? With the final decision of the federal government to begin a gradual phase out the paper-pen era in public examinations, some students are set to sit for this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) using computers. But quite a number of Nigerians are afraid that the exercise might lead to automatic failure of the students. Think of poor electricity supply, low level of computer literacy, insecurity, among a long list of factors that make computer-based public examinations an unviable option in Nigeria.

x Hot sex questions, steaming answers from sexperts SeTalk H

South East

NWABUEZE OKONKWO AND CHARLES OKEKE

t least two people were confirmed dead while 13 others sustained varying degrees of injuries in two separate road accidents that occurred yesterday in Anambra State. One of the road crashes occurred near the Nkwelle-

Friday, February 1, 2013

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Two die, 13 injured in Anambra auto crashes Ezunaka Junction in Oyi Local Government Area of the state while the other occurred along the EnuguOnitsha Expressway. According to eyewitnesses, the first accident, involving a commercial bus carrying 13 passengers with registration number: NZM 27 XA and a Toyota Sequoia

Jeep with registration number: SMK 91 AC, occurred when the two vehicles had a head-on collision. The second crash, involving a Mack petroleum tanker loaded with fuel with registration number: AWK 839 XA and a Honda Accord car with registration number: SMK 567 BB

also occurred when the two vehicles also had a head-on collision. Confirming the crashes, the Unit Commander of the Nteje Unit of the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, Sunday Joseph, told journalists in a telephone interview that one casualty was also recorded in the

second accident while one other person was critically injured. Joseph said N9, 000 and an ATM card belonging one of the passengers in the bus and another N4, 600 and an ATM card and a driver’s licence contained in a Bible belonging to another passenger of the bus were

recovered at the accident scene. He added that the recovered N9, 000 and the ATM card had been released to the husband of the victim. The unit commander advised commuters plying the road to observe all traffic rules to ensure safety on the roads.

MTN raises alarm over multiple fibre cuts

L-R: President, Enugu Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ECCIMA), Dr. Theo Okonkwo; Director-General, Sir Emeka Okereke; representative of the Enugu State government, Dr. Jude Akubilo and Special Assistant to the Governor on SMEs, Ms. Nneka Onuora, during the 39th annual general meeting of ECCIMA in Enugu, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

Customs impounds goods worth N700m CHRIS NJOKU OWERRI

he Federal Operations Unit, FOU, of the Nigeria Customs Service, Zone “C” Owerri, Imo State, said yesterday that it has impounded contraband goods worth over N700 million this January alone. Making this disclosure while briefing journalists yesterday, the Comptroller of the FOU Zone C, Alhaji Mohammed Biu, said the zone, which covers 11

states of the South-East and South-South, also recorded 56 seizures of various products worth more than N1 billion between September and December, 2012 he took over the affairs of the unit. He said for January alone, the federal operations unit recorded a reasonable success of a footer-container of textiles printed wax (Hollandis) with duty paid value of N322, 800, 000 impounded along Port Harcourt-Owerri axis, while another

one 40-footer-container of women/children used bags and elastic bands were also intercepted along Aba-Eleme axis worth of N47, 220, 000.00. He said seven seizures of various contraband items which include used tyres, printed wax made in Holland, used hand bags, elastic bands, second hand clothing, vegetable oil, assorted toilet soaps, unregistered drugs, among others, amounting to N383, 932, 530. According to him, this year would be another busy

year for all officers of the unit to track down all smuggling activities within that area of jurisdiction. “The unit will not fold its hands and allow these smugglers, who want to turn the country into a dumping ground for all kinds of fake and counterfeit goods. He commended the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Alhaji Abdullahi Dikko Inde, for transforming the service by providing healthy platform for adequate training of officers.

Group flays Amaechi for canvassing LG exclusion NWABUEZE OKONKWO ONITSHA

human rights group, the Society for the Enforcement of Peoples’ Rights, SFEPR, has flayed the Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Amaechi, for his stance on local government autonomy, describing him as a parochial leader. SFEPR was reacting to Governor Amaechi’s call for the scrapping of the local government system in the country, which the body said is the third tier in a federat-

ing unit. In a press statement issued in Onitsha, Anambra State yesterday, the National Chairman of the group, Comrade Osita Umezulike, expressed concern that Governor Amaechi has no regard for the people at the grass root level, hence his call for the scrapping of the third tier of government. Umezulike said any leader coming up with such idea should be seen as a myopic person or persons who do not have the interest of the masses at heart. He added that if the lo-

cal government election is conducted in all states of the federation, the elected council chairmen would introduce youth/women empowerment programmes through which jobs can be created for the people, both the skilled and unskilled labourers, a situation which will help to alleviate the problems of the grass root. The SFEPR leader reminded Governor Amaechi that posterity will judge both those governors who conducted local government elections in their various states and resisted the

temptation of playing with local governments’ monthly funds and those who refused to conduct local government elections and played around with councils’ funds. He insisted that only the governors who conducted local government elections could be assessed by what they were able to achieve with only their state funds. “Governor Amaechi knows that his argument is baseless and he only chose to speak the minds of his fellow governors whom Nigerians have detested their deceitful style of leadership”.

ne of the leading telecommunication companies in the country, MTN Nigeria Limited, has reported serious fibre cuts in the South-East part of the country which has led to service outage in the region. The company reported that the fibre cuts are as a result of ongoing roads construction in various parts of Aba, Enugu, Owerri, Port Harcourt, Eket, IkotAbasi, Ete, Uyo and Calabar. According to MTN’s Corporate Services Executive, Akinwale Goodluck; “In recent times, multiple cuts on our South-East fibre network has impeded the delivery of consistently good quality of

service in the region. “These particular cuts are as a result of road construction activities, which has impacted many of our sites. However, we suffer over 70 fibre cuts monthly nationwide due to vandalisation, sabotage and other criminal activities.” He said the company has doubled surveillance on the affected routes to track the activities of the construction companies. “In addition, our fibre maintenance engineers are working round the clock to repair damage as soon as it is detected. We are working towards an improved experience on the network very soon.”

FERMA to resurface all federal roads DENNIS AGBO ENUGU

he Federal Road Maintenance Agency, FERMA, has pledged to resurface all federal roads in the country before the rain sets in this year. Executive Director of Operations, FERMA, Engineer Francis Ikpenwa, while on retinue inspection of roads in the country, said most of the roads got worse with the heavy rains of 2012, but that the agency has proved to be equal to the challenge. Ikpenwa said the agency is sustaining the tempo of vigorously tackling the challenges, which he said was the reason for his na-

tionwide road inspection so as to step up interventions on bad spots of the country’s roads. The executive director said FERMA has attended very well to all identified potholes and isolated failures on roads in the SouthEast as a palliative measure to make the roads motorable. Ikpeanwa’s words: “We have surveillance unit that plies the roads and makes sure that any identified pothole is attended to on time. “We watch our contractors very closely and we don’t wait until they finish, as they work, they are rated. So if a contractor is not doing very well, we cheek them”.

Anambra renews war against illegal structures CHARLES OKEKE AWKA

nambra State government yesterday renewed the battle against illegal structures and land speculators by removing all unapproved structures and obstructions on the Agulu Avenue, Nkpor and environs. State Governor, Peter Obi, who said the exercise will be extended to all parts of Idemili North, Onitsha North and South, Awka and Nnewi South Local Governments

Areas, gave the occupants of the illegal structures notice to remove them, particularly the structures that lie from New Tarzan Junction through Agulu Avenue, Old Motor Tyres Amagu Nkpor and Mercedes Avenue, Nkpor. Obi lamented that after the government expended huge resources to reconstruct roads in the area, the occupants have converted the roads to markets, workshops and parking lots, thereby denying road users right of way.

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South South

Friday, February 1, 2013

Dickson approves N300m for health insurance EMMA GBEMUDU YENAGOA

L-R: Community Relations Supervisor, NPDC, Mr. Arijoba; Special Adviser to the governor of Delta State, Engr. Jude Sidebe; beneficiary, Mrs. Okotie; General Manager, Corporate Affairs, Seplat, Dr. Chioma Nwachuku and Seplat Base Manager, Sapele, Prince Chuks Igelenyah, at the presentation of pregnancy kits at the ongoing NPDC/SEPLAT Safe Motherhood programme in Sapele, yesterday.

Oil spill: Shell’ll begin remediation in Ogoni communities –MD GEORGE OJI ABUJA

he Dutch oil giant, Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, has pledged to undertake steps to remediate the oil spill impacted areas of Ejema Ebubu and Bomu Manifold communities this year. The Managing Director/Country Chairman of Shell, Mutiu O. A. Sunmonu, and a team of Shell officials gave the assurance yesterday when the Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology met with the company over the lingering oil spills and environmental degradation of Ogoni at the National Assembly. The committee had on October 1 last year paid

an unscheduled visit to several oil spill sites in Ogoniland, as part of its oversight visit. During the visit, the committee was appalled by the deplorable condition of most of the sites visited with the attendant suffering it has brought to the people. It was discovered that some of the sites were still oozing crude oil after several years of neglect. At yesterday’s meeting, which was held at the National Assembly Complex, the committee expressed concern over the delay in the clean-up and remediation exercise of the oil spill sites and the ineffectiveness of many remediation methods so far adopted. The committee reiter-

ated its discontent over Shell’s handling of Ejema Ebubu, Bomu Manifold, Goi and Bodo spill sites, among others, and requested Shell to fully cleanup and remediate the sites before the end of the year. In his response, Sunmonu said that Shell would always be willing to remediate the impacted sites within its right of way. He, however, regretted that where the spills were out of the company’s right of way, the biggest challenge had been that of the communities not allowing access to such sites. This, according to him, was the reason why the company might not give definite commitment to the committee on the re-

mediation of Goi and Bodo oil spill sites within the year. Sunmonu, however, expressed commitment to the remediation of Ejema Ebubu and Bomu Manifold communities. On its part, the committee promised to liaise with state government, relevant government agencies and the communities to ensure that Shell gets the necessary access to enable it start effective remediation of the areas where it had been denied access in the past. The committee Chairman, Bukola Saraki, had last year initiated a bill to set penalties for oil spills and ensure that responsible parties clean up and remediate impacted sites promptly.

Man dies as pirates attack passenger boat EMMA GBEMUDU YENAGOA

he driver of a passenger boat identified as Sun Ebi has lost his life in attack carried out by people suspected to be sea pirates terrorising the water ways of Bayelsa State. The boat was attacked about 6pm on Tuesday when the driver was conveying passengers from Yenagoa to Brass. This forced the passengers to jump into the river for safety. It was gathered that the

pirates ransacked the boat, abandoned it and zoomed off. The passengers later resurfaced to board the boat to continue with their journey only to discover that the driver was missing. A witness, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told our correspondent that the driver got drowned in the river during the attack. Body of the driver was recovered by local divers and members of the marine time workers a few days after the attack. Confirming the incident, the state Police Public

Relations Officer, Fidelis Odunna, said the state government had procured 40 gun boats to assist in waging war against sea piracy in the state. In an interview, the Chairman of the Brass District of the Maritime Workers Union, Magnus Angel, described the attack and death of the boat driver as shocking and unfortunate. He said: “The passenger boat was travelling from Yenagoa to Brass when the armed pirates attacked them. In the ensuing confusion, passengers jumped into the water, while the

pirates ransacked their belongings and fired sporadically. After the pirates left, the passengers resurfaced from the water and joined the attacked boat. “The Maritime Union and others searched for the body. Another group of armed sea pirates attacked another boat along the Ogbolomabiri area of Nembe waterways a few days later, but no life was lost.” Angel appealed to security agencies and the state government to save indigenes of the coastal communities from the activities of sea pirates.

overnor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State said yesterday that his administration had earmarked N300 million for the commencement of the state health insurance scheme. Dickson spoke in Yenagoa during a working visit to medical facilities in the state. He directed that the medical facility at the Diete Koki Memorial Hospital, Opolo, be expanded with the provision of state-of-the-art medical equipment. The governor, who was on the visit with top government functionaries and some foreign medical experts, directed the Commissioner of Health, Dr. Anapurere Awoli, to liaise with his counterpart in

Lands and Survey to evaluate the cost and other modalities for the expansion and equipping of the hospital. Dickson also inspected the abandoned Melford Okilo Memorial Hospital, Amarata, saying that the diagnostic centre under construction would be managed by Dr. Folabi Ogunlesi, a managing partner, Vester Health Care Partner, United Kingdom. Earlier, the Medical Director and Chief Consultant of the specialist hospital, Dr. Victor Odogu, who conducted the governor round the various wards, said there were plans to transform the Diete Koki Memorial Hospital to a world class facility. Commenting, Ogunlesi, who spoke on behalf of the visiting medical team, said the team was determined to improve healthcare delivery in the state.

Bayelsa SUBEB reabsorbs 152 teachers EMMA GBEMUDU YENAGOA

he Bayelsa State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB, yesterday re-absorbed 152 sacked teachers through genuine employment process. They were recalled after due proper application and interview conducted by SUBEB. The Executive Secretary of SUBEB, Walton Liverpool, told journalists yesterday in Yenagoa that the 152 teachers were among the 400 sacked last year by the administration of Governor Seriake Dickson owing to ir-

regularities in their employment records. He said: “The 400 teachers were last year relieved of their appointment by the SUBEB following the discovery of faulty processes of employment and fraud in the system of salary payment by some staff. Also sacked were non-academic staff of the Primary School Board.” Liverpool said the board had handed off the cases of non-academic staff, stressing that the decision to reabsorb the 152 teachers was to encourage the genuine process of employment of teachers in the state.

Asaba Airport contract not over bloated –Uduaghan AMOUR UDEMUDE ASABA

elta State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan has refuted claims that the contract for the construction of the Asaba International Airport was over bloated. Uduaghan said this while addressing a press conference yesterday at the Press Centre, Government House, Asaba. The governor, who expressed dissatisfaction over what he called misgivings in some quarters regarding the real sum so far expended on the project, said N27.7 billion had been spent on the airport construction. He said: “Let me use this

medium to clear the air on the issue concerning the Asaba International Airport. So far, we have expended the sum of N27.7 billion against conflicting figures been quoted by some persons. On the N7.4 billion to bring down the hill; that money is in the initial contract sum.” Uduaghan also spoke on the investigation of the project by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. He, however, explained that the EFCC was petitioned by people from the state on the purported amount approved by the state executive to bring down the hill, adding that the special project director had since responded to the issues raised.

North

Friday, February 1, 2013

Boko Haram: FG must sustain peace process –Borno elders INUSA NDAHI MAIDUGURI

embers of the Borno Elders Forum, BEF, yesterday met in Maiduguri and expressed pleasure over the announcement of ceasefire by members of the Jama’atu Ahlis Sunnah Lidda’awati Wal Jihad, also known as Boko Haram. The forum, headed by Alhaji Shettima Ali Monguno, called on the Federal Government to sustain the peace process. The meeting, which held at Monguno’s residence, had in attendance Brigadier General Abba Kyari (rtd); Ambassador Gaji Galtimari; Alhaji Umar Abba Shuwa; Alhaji Ali Kidaji; Alhaji Kyari Sandabe; Imam Idain of Borno, Adam Asil Ibn Alsulusiyya; Ambassador Ahmad Yusufari and Alhaji Garba Satomi. Others are former DIG, Abdullahi Shettima; former head of service in Borno State, Dr. Bulama Mali Gubio; Alhaji Gambo Gubio; Alhaji Zanna Lamin Mamadi; former AIG, Mukhtar Alkali and Alhaji Ibrahim Abba Gubio. In a speech read by Mali Gubio, the elders described the ceasefire as a long awaited gesture which should receive the support and appreciation of all peace-loving people. “Our people have suffered enough. Enormous losses in terms of human lives, property and institutional set ups have occurred. We are therefore

calling on all and sundry to encourage the peace process. “We advise that cynicism and doubts should be set aside and positive attitude should be shown to encourage the sect to maintain this positive disposition. “On the part of the Federal Government of Ni-

geria, we expect that they should embrace this positive opening and capitalise on it in order to open wider space for sustainable peace. “The idea of whether it is a faction (that declared the ceasefire) or not should be discarded so that we can make progress. 2In this direction, we are

KANO

olice said they had arrested 23 people in connection with violent clashes between supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, in Kano State. The Assistant InspectorGeneral of Police, AIG, in charge of Zone 1, Mr. David Olufemi Omojola, who disclosed this, called on the people to remain law-abiding during the by-election into the state House of Assembly tomorrow. He said: “There have been

Govt’ll ‘dualise’ Kabba-Ilorin road soon –Onolememen OLUFEMI ADEOSUN ABUJA

he Federal Government yesterday disclosed that it would soon commence the procurement process for the extension of Kabba - Ilorin Road into dual carriageway. The Minister of Works, Mr. Mike Onolememen, who said this in Abuja at a meeting with the stakeholders

Shettima rejects award over ceasefire –Aide INUSA NDAHI MAIDUGURI

orno State Governor Kashim Shettima has turned down an award by Europebased International Advocacy for Peace Negotiation and Nonviolence. The organisation had on Wednesday named Shettima as the recipient of the award for achieving ceasefire through dia-

logue with Boko Haram. The Non-Governmental Organisation, NGO, said in a letter dated January 30 and addressed to the governor that his “resilience and determined role in brokering a cease fire deal with Boko Haram as well as his pioneering and consistent calls for dialogue merited him the award”. But Shettima, according to his spokesman, Isa

Umar Gusau, said the award was “hasty, biased and unnecessary”. In the award letter signed by one Mr. Russell Donvito, who is the coordinator of the NGO, Shettima was supposed to be presented with the award in Brussels in March. The letter reads in part: “We remember you making that proposal to the media in April 2011, as the governor of Borno State,

being the centre of the insurgency. “We have been closely monitoring your (Shettima) actions and statements about peaceful resolution. We have also confirmed from our local based partners how you have been committed and meeting different people, including detained insurgents, courting and persuading them to give links for negotiations.”

L-R: Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Sen. Anyim Pius Anyim; Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mr. Mohammed Sada; Minister of Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga and Minister of National Planning, Dr Shamsuddeen Usman, at the public presentation of the roadmap for the development of solid minerals and metals sector in Abuja, yesterday.

Police arrest 23 ahead of tomorrow’s by-election in Kano AUGUSTINE MADU-WEST

calling on the government to, without any delay, commence the process of dialogue,” the elders said. They also called on security operatives to support the initiative by showing compassion and by easing stringent security measures which place a lot of hardship on the people.

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allegations and counter-allegations by the two parties. I appeal to all supporters of political parties to conduct themselves well and allow electoral process to go through by supporting the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and other stakeholders connected to the conduct of the election. “Under no circumstances should illegal gathering and fighting should take place. I am warning groups planning to make trouble to stay clear. They should be lawabiding and cooperate with the police and other security agencies to ensure law and order.”

Omojola added that about 6,000 policemen would be deployed to ensure a hitch-free election. The by-election is to fill the vacant seats in Garko and Gaya constituencies following the death of the lawmakers representing the two constituencies. The lawmakers elected on PDP and ANPP platforms were killed last year by suspected members of Boko Haram. The late Hon. Danladi Isah Kademi (ANPP) represented Gaya constituency while the late Hon. Abba Garko (PDP) represented Garko constituency.

from the Kogi West Senatorial District, explained that the road project had already been captured in the 2013 budget. The Kogi State representatives in the Senate are led by the Chairman, Senate Committee on the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Smart Adeyemi. Onolememen, who said the present administration did not discriminate in the process of addressing the infrastructural challenges in the country, however, disclosed that Kogi State was strategic to the country’s economic development. He said: “One of the things President Goodluck Jonathan set out to achieve in his transformation agenda, is to transform Nigerian roads to make them safer and boost economic activities. “Kogi State is strategically placed and as such no government that desires development would ignore it. Kabba - Ilorin Road is a connector that opens up the state. “Following the experience of Nigerians on the Abuja -Lokoja Road late last year, the President gave an order that the connector road be immediately fixed.” Earlier, Adeyemi had pointed the attention of the minister to the deteriorating state of the road, appealing to him to do something to ease the problems commuters pass through on the road. The senator said the state of the road had not only disrupted socio-economic activities in his senatorial district, but was having a serious telling effect on the overall business activities of the state.

Nigeria’ll eradicate Polio by 2015 –NPHCDA DG ROTIMI FADEYI ABUJA

he Director-General of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, NPHCDA, Dr. Ado Mohammed, yesterday said the Federal Government’s committee on the eradication of polio had increased its campaign to kick out polio from the country by 2015. Muhammed said the committee had been working very hard to ensure that polio was eradicated in the next two years, adding that a major milestone recorded towards the

achievement of this goal was that there had not been any fresh case of polio in the last two months in any part of the country. The DG spoke with State House Correspondents after meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan at the State House. He said: “What we told the President was that in the last two months, Nigeria has not recorded a single case of polio. What this means is that no child has been paralysed in Nigeria in the last two months. “Secondly, we also shared with the President the global good analysis which is done

by the World Health Organisation, WHO, which shows that the population immunity has increased in Nigeria from 50 to 80 per cent. “What this means is that even if the polio virus finds itself in any location, it may not be able to paralyse a child and even if it paralyses a child, other children in those place would be secured. Population immunity has improved.” Mohammed explained that that the Health Quality Assurance conducted by WHO indicated that Nigeria was making progress in the fight against polio as the coverage was also improving.

Friday, February 1, 2013

Ezekwezili, Jonathan and the $67bn question

14,

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Politics

Senate seat: Pwajok battles opposition for survival

Past mistakes haunting Nigeria –Babangida SINA FADARE

ormer Military President, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida has said that the mistakes of the past are still haunting Nigeria, noting that the country is now under pressure and needs rescue efforts. “Some of the mistakes of the past have now come to haunt us. But let me make one thing clear. Not all these mistakes were made out of callousness or bad faith or malice. “Most people in office do their best. They act to the best of their ability. Unless we think that our leaders have divine ability, we have to admit that even with all the best of their abilities and even with the best faith and with the best of all intentions, human beings will still make mistakes,” he said. Babangida, who stated this yesterday in Lagos during the presentation of two books in honour of former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, said that other countries that Nigerians are looking up to have passed through similar mistakes and challenges before. He added that if other countries could surmount their challenges, definitely Nigeria will also do. “As other countries have overcome the mistakes in their history and moved on, so we Nigerians also have cause to rejoice that even though in our history we have met with obstacles, we have experienced ups and downs, each generation had sought to the best of its ability to tackle these obstacles. That we are still a united nation is sufficient cause for congratulation,” he noted The former military ruler noted that Nigeria is faced with so much pressure across the land. His words: “From the creeks in the Niger Delta to the sahelian areas of the North, the country is under pressure.

• Says ‘Nigeria is under pressure and needs rescue

Now is the time for us to regard the rescue efforts as a joint enterprise to secure maximum benefits for all and not an enterprise to secure temporary advantage for one group over another. “We need to arrive at a grand consensus that will move this nation forward rather than a panel-beaten system that satisfies no one except the temporary holders of power.” He charged Nigerians to come together and make the ‘Project Nigeria’ a success, despite all the travails and challenges the country is facing, “Our problems are not over. Nation building is not like an electric switch which one can turn on and off. It is a continuous process which makes a heavy demand on government and the people,” the former military ruler said. Babangida also spoke on the predictions that Nigeria will break-up in 2014. His words: “As Nigerians, we are aware of the great doubts that have been cast about what 2014 portends for the continuing existence of our nation. I am aware that Nigerians have taken great umbrage at these predictions. Even Lord Lugard who founded what has been called Nigeria gave it a life-span of 100 years. I regard it as a challenge to our intelligence to ensure that these portends and prophesies do not become self-fulfilling. “We should engage these predictions on an intellectual level, testing whether the facts justify the conclusions. “But on a practical and public policy level, we must import honesty into our public policy assessment. First, we must identify the problems that need to be addressed. Secondly, we must address these problems honestly. Thirdly, we must identify the most current and the most appropriate mechanism for addressing these issues.

“Let me make this clear. My position is not dictated by the fact that foreigners are making these predictions. We don’t even need foreigner sources as a reference point. The Nigerian media is awash with alarming news about our problems. “My position is dictated by my conviction that Nigeria is precious enough to be saved. It deserves an investment of our time and resources to make Project Nigeria a success. But the starting point has to be an admission that we need to fix things.” Also speaking at the occasion, Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State, said that the country needs a dialogue “where all will

be at a roundtable to discuss our fears, pains, successes, failure and proffers a lasting solution that will be a catalyst to our nation building.” Reviewing the two books ‘Nigeria and the World: A Bolaji Akinyemi Revisited; and Perspectives on Nigeria’s National and External Relations: Essay in Honour of Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, both Prof. Nuhu Yaqub, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Sokoto and Ambassador Marc Egbe of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that the books are compelling and compendium for Nigerians who want to appreciate “our links with other worlds in the quest for a national development.”

In his comment, Prof. Akinyemi noted that at a time like this when there is a wide gap between the rich and the poor and the poverty level risen to about 69 per cent, it is obvious that the country is at a crossroads. He therefore called for a national dialogue that will accommodate all the issues which the country is avoiding. “This is the time for a robust debate about how to build a more just, equitable and egalitarian society where there will be a safety economic and social net below which no one will be allowed to fail, where the need of the poor, the widow and the orphans will command the attention of government,” he said.

He lamented that while Nigerian leaders were supposed to put on their thinking caps, “what we all hear is a raucous debate about whose turn is to rule Nigerian in 2015. What will it benefit anyone to rule a house whose roof is about to be blown off and whose foundation is in danger of collapse.” “Zoning, federal character, rotation, marginalisation of the brightest and the best will only make the much prophesied collapse of Nigeria in 2014 a self- fulfilling prophecy. We cannot build a nation on a system that takes care of the few while condemning the many to penury. A system that cannot take care of the many that are poor cannot save the few who are rich,” he said.

L-R: Mr. Ben Lazarus of the Political /Economic Section, United States Consulate, Lagos; National Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu; Mr Jeff Hawkins, United States Consulate General Lagos; Rolf Olson of the US Consulate; Ms Manoela Borges, Nigeria Desk in Washington DC during the courtesy visit to the former governor in Lagos on Wednesday.

APGA crisis: Menakaya still a member of BoT –Scribe OBIORA IFOH ABUJA

ational Secretariat of Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has disclaimed the purported removal of former Health Minister, Dr. Tim Menakaya, from the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT), insisting that Alhaji Sani Shinkafi who made the declaration has no legal status to do so. In particular, the Alhaji Sadeeq Masalla-led faction of the party, ten-

dered unreserved apology to Menakaya, emphasising that only the National Convention of the party can remove him. Shinkafi, who belongs to the Chief Victor Umeh-led faction, had last week written Menakaya and two other members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) who are serving in Mr. Peter Obi’s government, informing them that their membership of the various bodies have ceased. But, Dr. Ifedi Okwenna, the Acting National Secre-

tary of the party in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja explained that nothing can be farther from the truth. He maintained that not only has the suspension slammed on Shinkafi by the party’s National Executive Council (NEC) still subsisting, the constitution of the party did not give anybody the right to remove any such top member from his position as claimed by Shinkafi. Okewnna stated: “Having been inundated

with calls from party members and the general public following a letter said to be signed by one Alhaji Sani Shinkafi, the suspended National Secretary of our party to the effect that the tenure of membership in the Board of Trustee of the only surviving member of that privileged and respected organ of the party, Dr Tim Menakaya (Ideh) has expired and that our secretariat has written him to that effect.”

Politics

Friday, February 1, 2013

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Ezekwezili, Jonathan and the $67bn question FEMI FANI-KAYODE, a former Minister of Aviation in the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, writes that both the Yar’Adua and Jonathan administrations lack fiscal discipline which has led to the depletion of the nation’s reserves. He throws his weight behind former Minister of Education, Mrs.Obiageli Ezekwesili, that the government had squandered $67 billion reserves.

think that it is a pity that President Goodluck Jonathan’s Government declined to take up the challenge of the former Minister of Education, Mrs. Obiageli Ezekwesili, to a public debate on the $67 billion savings that President Olusegun Obasanjo left behind in 2007. I do not think that our government ought to have run away from the debating ring. They ought to have accepted the challenge of a rigorous public debate and allow the Nigerian people to listen to it and make up their own minds about who was right and who was wrong. I thought that the response of the Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, to Obiageli Ezekwesili was more logical and made far more sense than that of the Honorable Minister of Information, Labaran Maku’s, but I still believe that Obiageli Ezekwesili was right. I believe that the government’s position on this issue and its attempt to over-aggressively defend what I personally consider to be the indefensible is not only disingenuous but it is also essentially dishonest and self-seeking. The charge that our foreign reserves were heavily depleted between 2007 and 2013 cannot be convincingly or logically denied. In 2007, President Olusegun Obasanjo left $45 billion in our foreign reserves and $22 billion in our Excess Crude Account. If the two figures are added up the amount that you will come up with is $67 billion of savings for our country. This is the figure that Obiageli Ezekwesili cited. It represents what was in both our foreign reserves and our Excess Crude Account put together. Let us look at the history. When President Olusegun Obasanjo came to power in 1999 Nigeria only had $1.5 billion in her foreign reserves and consequently no one in the world took us seriously. We were poor, weak and lonely and we were viewed as a failed state and a pariah nation. No one trusted us, no one wanted to do business with us and no one seriously believed that we as a people or as a nation were capable of enduring the rigours of serious economic recovery, prudence and fiscal discipline. As far as the developed world was concerned Nigeria was only good for its endless supply of sweet bonny light crude oil. Yet Obasanjo proved the world wrong and showed them that Nigerians could do far better than they thought. After eight years of good stewardship and the display of fiscal discipline and remarkable prudence he built up those foreign reserves from a measly and pitiful $1.5

Jonathan

Ezekwezili

SINCE 2007 WE HAVE SEEN NOTHING BUT DEPLETION OF OUR RESOURCES AND MORE AND

MORE BORROWING.

UNLIKE PRESIDENT OBASANJO, BOTH YAR ADUA AND JONATHAN GOVERNMENTS... SPENT RECKLESSLY AND BORROWED MORE AND MORE Fani-Kayode

billion in 1999 to no less than $45 billion by 2007. This was quite an achievement yet sadly what took place after Obasanjo left power was very disheartening. It was not only a downer but it was also sad and unfortunate. I say this because by the Federal Government’s own admission, and four long years after leaving $45 billion for the Yar’Adua administration to build on in 2007, we still only have that same figure of $45 billion left in our foreign reserves today. Worse still this was after it had plummeted to a shameful $30 billion under late President Umaru Yar Adua. Had it not been for the fact that whatever was coming in after we left in 2007 and over the last four years was being recklessly shared and spent by the Yar’Adua and later Jonathan administrations our foreign reserves ought to have doubled and reached at least $100 billion by now. That is just the foreign reserves alone and I am not even adding the Excess Crude Account figures yet. If I were to do that I would be talking about an expected increase of up to $150 billion by today. That is what we ought to have in the savings kitty today if the two

governments that succeeded Obasanjo knew anything about prudence, good management and fiscal discipline. The difference is that under Obasanjo it was “save, save, save” whilst under Yar’adua and later Jonathan it has been “spend, spend, spend”. Yet if they insist on spending the question is what do they have to show for such high expenditure and what has this cost the Nigerian people in real terms. I believe that these are legitimate questions. Mrs. Ezekwezile may have been inelegant or a little too harsh in her use of words when she made those weighty assertions in her speech but her analysis and conclusions surely cannot be faulted. Yet the government has given no reasonable explanation or response to her or the Nigerian people and they do not even appear to like the fact that questions are being asked. As a matter of fact they appear to believe that it is an achievement for us to be exactly where we were four years ago in terms of our foreign reserves by openly boasting that we have $45 billion saved today. The questions that we should put to them are as follows: did you not save anything in the last four years in either foreign reserves or the Excess Crude Ac-

count? Where did all the money that accrued to you and that you ought to have saved go? How come four years after being handed $45 billion in foreign reserves and after billions have come into your hands through record price crude oil sales you still only have $45 billion saved? Is this not strange and absurd? Is this the way a responsive and responsible government ought to behave? Do they know the true meaning of ‘’saving for a rainy day’’? It is not surprising that the Prime Minister of Great Britain, The Right Honorable David Cameron, asked just a few days ago where the $100 billion that Nigeria received from oil sales in the last few years has gone. Would our government be good enough to answer his question and tell him even if they feel that they don’t owe the Nigerian people themselves an explanation? As far as I am concerned it is not something that our government should be proud of that four years after Obasanjo handed $45 billion to them as savings in foreign reserves they have not built on it in all that time but rather they have spent all the receivables and inflows that came in after that time and that ought to have been saved. Yet the story does not stop there. It gets worse. Apart from the sorry tale about our foreign reserves, the story about the usage and outright draining of our Excess Crude Account is even more damning. It goes like this. When President Obasanjo left power in 2007 the Excess Crude Account had just over $22 billion in its coffers. This figure was built up by Obasanjo from zero in 1999 because at that time there was no Excess Crude Account. In eight years he built it up from zero to $22 billion. Yet when the Yar’Adua administration and later the Jonathan administration came in all the money in that account was shared with the state governors and spent. The Federal Government saved nothing for a rainy day and instead chose to just spend all the money. It was initially run down to zero by President Yar’Adua’s government but, in fairness to President CONTINUED ON PAGE 15

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Politics

Friday, February 1, 2013

JAMES ABRAHAM writes on the litigation against the emergence of Senator Gyang Pwajok of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the October 6, 2012 by-election for the Plateau North Senatorial District following the death of Senator Gyang Dantong.

Senate seat: Pwajok battles opposition for survival THE LEARNED JUDGE ERRED IN LAW WHEN HE OMITTED,

NEGLECTED AND OR

FAILED TO CONSIDER, ADDRESS AND OR DETERMINE THE

ith last week’s judgment of the Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Jos, the Plateau State capital, which dismissed the petition against the victory of Senator Gyang Pwajok, attention is now focused on the Court of Appeal where the battle for the Plateau North Senatorial seat is on appeal. Pwajok of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had defeated five other candidates to emerge victorious in the October 6, 2012 by-election conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) following the death of Senator Gyang Dantong. Pulling on the petition filed by the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the chairman of the tribunal, Justice A. A. Adebara ruled that the petition was an abuse of court process. The CPC and its candidate in the election, Mr. Tony Agaga had urged the tribunal to annul the election of Senator Pwajok on the grounds that INEC disenfranchised its candidate and denied him the right to contest. The CPC through its lead counsel, S. A. Abimiku had argued that Pwajok was not validly elected since Aganga was denied the right to contest the election. But INEC had consistently maintained that the party did not meet the guidelines stipulated by the Electoral Act, hence the exclusion of its candidate. INEC had also justified the exclusion of the party, arguing that Agaga did not emerge through a primary or by special convention of the party as stipulated by the Electoral Act. The tribunal chairman while delivering the judgement wondered why the CPC would be seeking relief which the party had already obtained in another court and consequently dismissed the suit, describing it as an academic exercise and a waste of time. Before the ruling by the tribunal, the Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja had on December 20, 2012 nullified the election of Pwajok and asked him to vacate his seat and stop parading himself as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The judge also ordered that a fresh election be conducted in the senatorial district within 90 days. The judgement of the Federal High Court was sequel to a suit instituted by the CPC claiming that having obtained the necessary forms from INEC and having met all the requirements of the law to contest the by-election, the electoral body ‘unlawfully’ excluded the party and its candidate from participating in the exercise by omitting its party’s logo from the ballot papers used for the by-election. Expectedly, since the court’s ruling, political tension has continued to rise

FUNDAMENTAL ISSUES OF LAW RAISED BY THE APPELLANTS

Pwajok

across the state, particularly in the six local government areas that make up the zone. While the opposition parties in the state which received the news of the judgement with joy have been mapping out strategies in case another election is held eventually, the general feeling is that for the first time in many years, the rare quality and people-oriented representation which the election of Pwajok symbolises is about to be blown away. It was this calculation that prompted several reactions by the people of the zone, as churches and mosques immediately commenced prayer sessions for Pwajok, for him to win at the appellate court. Although Pwajok and his party, the PDP have since appealed the judgement, it was learnt that no date has been fixed

for hearing. Their counsel, Sunny Gabriel Odey, is asking the upper court to void the judgement of the lower court in its entirety on eight grounds. He said the learned judge erred in law when he omitted, neglected and or failed to consider, address and or determine the fundamental issues of law raised by the appellants thereby depriving them of their rights to fair hearing. Odey added that the learned trial judge erred in law when he set aside the by-election held on October 6, 2012 wherein the 2nd appellant was returned as the winner of the by- election in the absence of proof of any valid primary, congress and or special convention for the nomination of any aspirant for the plaintiff ’s candidate for the senatorial by-election and thereby occasioned a miscarriage of justice. He said the learned judge erred in law when having held that he had no powers to nullify the by-election still went ahead to pass ruling on the matter. Odey said the learned trial judge had no jurisdiction to try, consider and determine the plaintiff ’s originating summons dated December 13, 2012, same being incompetent and null having not

been signed by any known legal practitioner. He said the trial judge erred in law when he held that the provisions of section 87(10) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) is in conflict with the provisions of section 251(1) (r) and (s) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) without affording the parties an opportunity to address the court on the issue and thereby occasioned a miscarriage of justice. He also said the learned judge erred in law when in his judgement, he struck down sub-section (10) of Section 87 of the Electoral Act, 2010 as amended thereby rendering the whole section of 87 meaningless or worthless and thereby occasioned miscarriage of justice. While the outcome of the appeal is being awaited, Pwajok has continued with his job at the National Assembly. Checks by National Mirror also revealed that no date has been fixed for the hearing Speaking with National Mirror, Plateau State chairman of the PDP, Dr. Haruna Dabin expressed optimism that the party would get victory at the Appeal Court. He said there is no need to expect a fresh poll in the Plateau North Senatorial District if justice is done in the case, adding that PDP is sure to win 100 times anytime the poll is conducted in the state given its structure and popularity. However, the opposition parties dismissed PDP’s optimism as wishful thinking, saying they were confident that the Appeal Court will uphold the High Court judgment as they were ready to prove PDP and its candidate wrong in the next election. As it is, expectations are high from both sides as all eyes are now fixed on the Appeal Court although the matter could drag to the Supreme Court.

Ezekwezili, Jonathan and the $67bn question CONTINUED FROM 14 Jonathan, he has now been able to build it up to approximately $10 billion. This represents approximately half the figure that Obasanjo left in that account in 2007 but at least it is a step in the right direction. Yet if both the Yar’Adua and Jonathan governments had continued to save and not just spend all the money we would have had at least $50 billion in the Excess Crude Account today and not just a paltry $10 billion. Whichever way one looks at it, when one sees all these figures and considers the strong position that we were coming from in 2007 it represents a failure in fiscal discipline by both the Yar’Adua and Jonathan administrations. This is because the Federal Government was meant to build up on the legacy that they inherited in 2007 and not spend and squander all that money. For the purpose of emphasis permit me to repeat the fact that had they been doing the right thing in the last four years and not overspending we ought to be hitting at least $100 billion in our foreign reserves by now and at least $50 billion in the Excess Crude Account.

Yet we have not seen anything near that and instead all we have seen is a depletion and a drain of both accounts and the monies that ought to have accrued to them since 2007. Finally, when President Obasanjo came to power in 1999 our foreign debt was $30 billion. Yet by sheer dint of hard work by the time he left office eight years later he had paid off the foreign debt completely and for the first time in its history, Africa had a debt-free nation. This was a monumental achievement by any standard and one that which every serious-minded and patriotic Nigerian ought to be proud of no matter what side of the political divide they stand. Yet sadly four years later we are back in chronic debt to the tune of $9 billion and we are still borrowing. In view of the foregoing it is perfectly legitimate for anyone to ask how come so much money was spent, what it was spent on and how the government has managed our resources over the last four years. As a matter of fact not asking any questions would be most unpatriotic and it would lay some of us open to the charge of cowardice and collusion.

Since 2007 we have seen nothing but depletion of our resources and more and more borrowing. Unlike President Obasanjo, both Yar Adua and Jonathan governments did not build up our reserves or save any money. Instead they both spent recklessly and borrowed more and more. As a matter of fact if our government continues to borrow at the rate it has been borrowing for the last four years for another two years Nigeria will be back to having a foreign debt of close to $30 billion very soon. That was where we were in 1999 and if that were to ever happen it would be a tragedy of monumental proportions. I sincerely hope that other than the usual insults, intimidation, sponsored stories, persecution and baseless allegations that are channelled against and heaped on some of us for pointing out these matters and raising these questions, the Federal Government will endeavour to change it’s ways and display a greater degree of fiscal discipline and accountability to the Nigerian people. To that extent I am in total agreement with my former cabinet colleague in the Obasanjo administration, Mrs. Obiageli Ezekwezili.

Editorial

Friday, February 1, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

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FRANK OBOH

HEAD, GRAPHICS

President Jonathan’s shock find at Police College, Ikeja

he recent unscheduled visit to the Police College, Ikeja, Lagos by President Goodluck Jonathan exposed the utter mess the police academy had become. The president, who stopped by at the institution while on his way to Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, for a meeting of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) saw, firsthand, the extremely deplorable state of the once reputable college that churns out police personnel for the nation every year. Jonathan’s visit was said to have been prompted by a special documentary on the unspeakable rot in the College ran by Channels Television, Lagos. The documentary reportedly captured the pathetic state of the student hostels and rooms, beds and beddings, collapsed toilets and sewage systems, mournful feeding arrangement for students, with dozens of them sharing one head of fish; and the generally poor state of hygiene in the school, among other critical conditions. The television feature had portrayed the grim picture of a wild community fit for hardened criminals. The odious condition of the institution and the president’s visit had immediately caught the attention of the Senate, which wondered how the college could have degenerated

to such a preposterous level. Indeed, reports indicate that the Senate has concluded plans to probe how funds allocated to police colleges in the country over the years were utilised. Chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan, was quoted as saying a couple of days back that police authorities have been invited by the upper legislature to its chambers to give account of monies voted for police colleges. Ibrahim Lawan said it would seem, from Jonathan’s findings, that the authorities entrusted with the task of catering for the welfare of police officers have woefully failed in the performance of their duties. He said the Senate would extend its investigation beyond the police college as the rot suggested all was not well with the entire gamut of the Nigeria Police Force. “First, we have to determine whether the funds were adequate so that if the funds were not adequate, we like to see how prudent, economically and efficiently the scare resources were utilized. If, however, the funds were enough and that someone failed to do his or her duty, we will surely recommend serious sanctions for whoever is responsible,” Ibrahim Lawan stated. We think Channels Televi-

THE HARM HAVING BEEN DONE, WE IMPLORE THE PRESIDENT TO USE HIS HIGH OFFICES TO SET OUT A ROAD MAP TO CHANGE THE LOT OF THE POLICE COLLEGE AND OTHERS sion deserves commendation for its thorough job of capturing the rot veiled by the expansive, yet hollow edifice now called Police College, Ikeja. It is not unlikely that the sorry state of the school may be replicated in all other such colleges in Kaduna and Enugu States, among others. Indeed, the picture painted of the college is not too different from the prevailing dingy situations in most police stations and barracks nationwide. And without prejudice to whatever findings the Senate might come up with, the mess discovered by the president seems an indication that the Police Affairs Ministry, Police Service Commission, Police High Command, as well as the management of the Police College Ikeja, were complicit in allowing the college to degen-

erate to stinking levels. It is very shocking that an institution with a coterie of agencies superintending over it could be so undermined and allowed to waste. Little wonder that a lot of the products of such colleges these days compete with common criminals in their assaults on the nation. Also very instructive is the Senate Committee chairman’s recognition of the ineptitude of the National Assembly in performing its oversight functions, considering the pervasive corruption ravaging the entire government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) in the country. Our thinking is that with its sudden show of concern, the Senate is merely trying to shut the stable door after the horse has bolted. It is really sad that it took the intervention of Channels Television and the personal visit of President Jonathan for the world to know that the police college stinks. Nonetheless, the harm having been done, we implore the president to use his high offices to set out a road map to change the lot of the police college and others that might be affected for the better. This is not the right time to lament the bad image the Channels Television documentary brought the nation. Righting the wrongs is more important.

ON THIS DAY February 1, 2005 The deposed King Gyanendra of Nepal carried out a ‘coup d’état’ to become Chairman of the Council of Ministers. Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev (born July 7, 1947), after several delays in elections, suspended the constitution and assumed direct authority in February 2005, assuring that it would be a temporary situation to suppress the Maoist insurgency. In the face of broad opposition, he restored the previous parliament in April 2006.

Letters to the Editor

February 1, 2004 About 251 people were trampled to death and 244 others injured in a stampede at the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. There have been many serious incidents during the Hajj (the Muslim pilgrimage to the city of Mecca) that have caused the loss of thousands of lives. Every follower of Islam is required to visit Mecca during the Hajj at least once in his or her lifetime, but only if they can afford or are able to do so.

February 1, 1996 The Communications Decency Act (CDA) was passed by the United States’ Congress. The CDA of 1996 was the first notable attempt by the US Congress to regulate pornographic material on the Internet. In 1997, in the landmark cyberlaw case of President Jonathan Reno v. ACLU, the US Supreme Court struck the anti-indecency provisions of the Act. The Act was Title V of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

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Views

Friday, February 1, 2013

The politicisation of CAN THEOPHILUS ILEVBARE To act as a watchman of the spiritual and moral welfare of the nation; to serve as a basis for response to the unity of the church, especially as contained in our Lord’s pastoral prayer “That all may be one.” (John 17:21)” – CAN objective. schism, the like that has not been witnessed since 1976, is threatening the ecumenism of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) has decided to stop relating with the Christian body at the national level, because of what it calls “recent attitudes, utterances and actions of the national leadership of CAN, which in our opinion negate the concept of the foundation of the association and the desire of Our Lord Jesus Christ”. Quite surprisingly, the reaction of Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor-led national leadership of CAN is to say the least, antagonistic, confrontational, haughty and face-saving. It was expected that as a responsible Christian association, pertinent questions put forward by the CBCN should have been addressed by the national leadership. CAN’s spokesman for the 19 Northern states, Sunny Oibe, reacted brashly by saying: “There is no need for anybody to lose sleep over the threat by Catholics to pull out of CAN because without them CAN will still continue. The constitution of CAN makes

provision that membership can be terminated by any group that is misbehaving or any group can also terminate its membership”. With remarks like this, it is obvious that all is not well with CAN. Such unguarded outburst is capable of exacerbating the present crisis rocking the body. Discernible observers anticipated this. In our very eyes, we saw CAN leaders, in their quest for power, political relevance and material gains become an appendage of the ruling political party. Pulpits of mega churches are now campaign platforms for politicians seeking election and re-election. The photograph of President Goodluck Jonathan kneeling before a man of God readily comes to mind. When a group of pastors or General Overseers begin to manipulate and use CAN like their personal property, then there is bound to be schism. The popular imagination is that leadership position in CAN is now an avenue for some avaricious few to junket round the world in private jets in the guise of spreading the gospel. Their choice of a life of opulence and splendor rather than the ‘modest life of a leader of the flock of Christ that common sense dictates’, is quite appalling. Men of God have turned lovers of money, possessors of mundane earthly things. The Christian body seems to be at ease with the corruption from all sectors of the country, it is detached from the Christian folk it represents. There is an unhealthy rivalry among the mega rich, prosperity preaching and political protestant pastors that constitute CAN to outdo one another.

THE POLITICISATION AND MONETISATION OF

CAN IS A FAR

CRY FROM THE

ASSOCIATION’S ARTICULATED OBJECTIVE THAT SEEKS TO ACT AS THE CONSCIENCE OF THE NATION AND VOICE OF THE VOICELESS The CAN now seems to fan the embers of impunity, sleaze and profligacy in the country. The reason is not far-fetched: some of the embezzled public funds in the country have found their way via “brown envelopes” into church offerings and pockets of pastors, who in turn guaranty return of votes from willy-nilly church members during elections. The politicisation and monetisation of CAN is a far cry from the association’s articulated objective that seeks to act as the conscience of the nation and voice of the voiceless. With CAN’s conscience seared and its lips sealed, it has become a toothless watchdog of the Christendom; and as of today, it has lost its relevance. The CAN leadership went a step further to smear its image when its Presi-

dent and Senior Pastor, Word of Life Bible Church, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, at a lavish church party to mark the 40th anniversary of his pastoral calling in Warri, had President Goodluck Jonathan in attendance. He has joined the elite league of private jet flying men of God with a Greek gift from unnamed members of his church. It was high time someone said the truth, CAN has derailed! To aptly put in Bishop Matthew kukah’s words, Nigerian Christian leaders “…Have become more visible in relation to national prayer sessions, pilgrimages, alliances with state power and so on. Unless we distance ourselves, we cannot speak the truth to power. We cannot hear the wails of the poor and the weak. We should not be seen as playing the praying wing of the party in power.” Apparently, he spoke about CAN. Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Lamido Sanusi Lamido must have been thinking about CAN recently when he said people now “find religion to be a very good instrument in the contestation of space for political power and for distribution of resources, they are not religious organizations; they are not cultural organisations; they are political associations in disguise of religion and region”. Now, more than ever, the Christian body needs to put its house in order and reposition itself to speak out against all forms of violence. IIevbare wrote from Benin City, Edo State

Celebrating Ogiyan of Ejigbo at 75 WALE ADEWUSI

layeluwa, Oba Omowonuola Oyeyode Oyesosin, the Ogiyan of Ejigbo is 75. A unique and peculiar royal father, Oba Oyesosin, who is 39 years on the throne of his fore-fathers, is a study in rare personal and imperial achievements. The cultural colossus is committed to the transformation of Ejigboland. This is evident in his resolve to leave his imprint on the sands of time. “Enthusiasm, channeled through visionary commitment to the course of success has the capacity to transform a hunk of a coal into a glittering diamond”, says a philosopher. This could aptly describe the unflinching devotion of a royal father, who will stop at nothing in the pursuit of greatness. He hails from the Ondoye Royal Family, which is reputed for its enviable track records, as well as its proven royal excellence. As a young Prince, Omowonuola attended Palace Kindergarten School (1940-1942). Soon after, he went to the Quranic School between 1944 and 1945, and later proceeded to the Baptist Day School, Oke-Moyo, Ejigbo (1946-1954). For his secondary education, he started with the Local Authority Secondary Modern School, Ejigbo (1955-1957) before proceeding to the Osun Divisional Grade III Teachers’ College, Ejigbo (1958 – 1960). He topped this up with a two-year study programme at the Ibadan Provincial Grade II Teachers’ College, Osogbo in 1964. He also bagged a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Ibadan.

HISTORY WAS MADE ON 25TH JANUARY, 1974

(COINCIDENTALLY HIS 36TH BIRTHDAY) WHEN OBA OMOWONUOLA OYEYODE OYESOSIN WAS OFFICIALLY INSTALLED AS THE

OGIYAN OF EJIGBO The declaration of Prince Omowonuola as Ogiyan of Egigbo on December 23, 1973 threw the entire community into ecstatic celebration. History was made on 25th January, 1974 (coincidentally his 36th birthday) when Oba-elect Oyesosin was officially installed as the Ogiyan of Ejigbo. This development justified his name at birth “Omowonuola”, literally meaning “the lucky child has crept into wealth”. The new Oba from the onset knew what leadership entailed and he therefore, developed his philosophy for achievements there from. No wonder then that Oba Oyesosin declared in his coronation speech (May 5, 1974) that his fervent desire was to raise the standard of living of the people of Ejigbo as well as improve their level of education. With particular reference to education, it

must be credited to Kabiyesi that his reign has brought uncommon educational development to the community. In the same vein, socio-economic development has witnessed enormous leap, to the extent that today, unlike before, bakeries, soap-making, banking, business centres, the hotel/catering, Saturday market, computer and communication outfits, health institutions, big and small, have become common place in Ejigboland. The Kabiyesi has never relented in his drive to lead Ejigbo to become the land of great accomplishments. The achievements of the Ogiyan rightly qualify him as the Founder and Father of modern Ejigbo. In it, he himself also acknowledges the supportive role of Ejigbo indigenes at home and in Diaspora. What an appreciative Oba! It is a general belief that where there is restiveness, there can be no development. Ejigbo has been noted for its relative peace since the installation of the Ogiyan because the Oba is a man of peace. He is aggressive, but peaceful; he is blunt and doggedly focused. He is appreciative of alternative opinions, but at the same time, he is decisive. All these qualities have helped in no small measure to assist the Ogiyan in maintaining unquantifiable peace in his domain. A well travelled man, Oba Oyesosin has had opportunities of projecting the culture, customs and tradition of the Yoruba race beyond the shores of Nigeria and Africa. He was at the Black History Parade in San Bernardino, California, USA in 1983 as the representative of the Ooni of Ife,

Oba Okunade Sijuwade, who currently occupies the stool of Ooduwa, the progenitor of the Yoruba race. It was a very colourful event where the culture and tradition of the descendants of Ooduwa were deeply appreciated. Also, 1989 saw the Ogiyan of Ejigbo, at Trinidad and Tobago with the Ooni of Ife for a whole week. There, he also promoted Yoruba culture. Kabiyesi’s guiding principle in his relationship with other brother Yoruba obas and his people is be truthful all the time. He is a good adviser. He is a king who abides by faith, absolute faith in God. He is ever convinced that ‘although a truthful man may suffer for a while, definitely he will triumph in the end’. Baba has impacted positively on many lives, both directly and indirectly. Many have drawn inspiration from his God-given acumen. Our prayer is that God in His infinite mercies will grant Oba Oyesosin II (MFR) more of His grace and the longevity to be more useful to Him and to humanity in general. Ki ade pe lori, ki bata pe lese. Long live Ogiyan of Ejigboland. Adewusi , a retired teacher, sent this piece from Ejigbo, Osun State Send your views by mail or sms to PMB 10001, Ikoyi, or our Email: mail@ nationalmirroronline.net mirrorlagos@ yahoo.com or 08164966858 (SMS only). The Editor reserves the right to edit and reject views or photographs. Pseudonyms may be used but must be clearly marked as such.

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FG, stop MASSOB’s impunity

Oby Ezekwesili’s grave allegation

r. Oby Ezekwesili, a former minister of education in the Chief Olusegun Obasanjo administration and immediate past Vice President (Africa) of the World Bank, caused quite a stir recently when she reopened the wounds of gross expropriation and misapplication of state funds by those in the nation’s helms of affairs. She alleged that the OBJ administration bequeathed to his successor, the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua the kingly sum of $67 billion - $45 billion in foreign reserve account and another $22 billion in the Excess Crude Account. That is big sum of money for a poor country like Nigeria. Imagine the difference its proper deployment would have made in social infrastructure rehabilitation and build up, job creation initiative and real power sector reform. Unfortunately, she alleged that this money, amounting to N10.6 trillion in the local currency, had been squandered by the late Yar’Adua and incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan administrations. Expectedly, Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, has trivialized the matter when he accused Ezekwesili of a “surprisingly limited understanding of government finances.” Besides, he wanted her to account for the N458 billion she collected during her tenure in government as minister. This is begging the issue, Honourable Minister sir, Dr. Ezekwesili was one of the high flier ministers during OBJ administration, and of a fact, she was never indicted nor the EFCC called to investigate her. Casting aspersions on her about six years after she left government is bad politics. She should not be crucified for saying the truth. Johnbull Dickson, Abuja

Oby

Peeping into the future...

PHOTO: ADEMOLA AKINLABI

Nigerian judiciary is a big joke

lease, take a look at these laughable convictions from the Nigerian judiciary. A former Assistant Director of the Police Pension Board, John Yakubu Yusuf, was sentenced to two years imprisonment by an Abuja High Court for embezzling N23.3 billion pension fund with the option of N750, 000 fine. Chief Olabode George committed a fraud of over N85 billion and was only given two and a half years prison sentence. We all know what happened when George was released. In case you didn’t know, his release was televised live on a national television network through to where he had a party. At his party, ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo was in attendance. After two days, he appeared on the same VIP stand with our current President (GEJ), during his campaign tour of Lagos State. Mrs. Cecilia Ibru, former MD/CEO of Oceanic Bank International was jailed six months for stealing N54 billion. Former Inspector General of Police, Tafa Balogun, was convicted of stealing N20 billion, but was

Letters to the Editor

sentenced to only six months in prison. Both Tafa Balogun and Cecilia Ibru had their sentences spent in their homes or chosen hospitals. Another ex-Inspector General of Police, Sunday Ehindero was caught trying to smuggle out of Abuja N200 million. Sunday Ehindero was never brought to any court, so the case died like that. So many former governors, between 1999 and 2011, have been granted bails on their alleged corrupt cases; some have perpetual court injunctions, like Dr. Peter Odili, stopping their trial on corruption cases. James Ibori, former governor of Delta State was discharged and acquitted in Nigeria, but jailed in the UK for the same offence. The list

is endless. What is worrisome is that poor Nigerians are left to rot in prisons for ‘minor offences’ when compared to what Nigerian VIPs are doing. Corruption is all over the world, the difference is how various countries approach it. In China, the penalty is capital punishment. Another example is America, where for instance, Bernard Madoff, who committed a fraud of $65 billion (£38bn), was sentenced to 150 years in jail. Nigerian judiciary is no longer the last hope of the common man, but rather the destroyer of the Nigerian hope. “The greatest incitement to crime”, Marcus Cicero said, “is the hope of escaping punishment”. The Nigerian judiciary is

aiding and abetting crimes by handing out inconsequential and laughable sentences. Make no mistake, the destruction of Nigeria, by whatever means, will affect all and sundry. Take a look at the insecurity situation, which is the result of the failure of the government and partly of the people, no one is safe anymore. Emirs, chiefs, ministers, commissioners, judges, lawyers, ex this, ex that can be attacked or kidnapped. High crime rates are partly the fault of our judiciary. Therefore, this piece should serve as a wakeup call, because a lot of damages have already been done. C.V. Akuta,wrote from the UK through www.briefsfromaku-

Any return on investment in Mali?

am not opposed to Nigeria’s showing concerning for any development in any part of Africa. So, her contributing troops to the military coalition confronting the Tuareg and Islamists rebellion in northern Mali is therefore, in order. But from the

hindsight of our experience in Libya and Sierra Leone in the 1990s and before then in southern Africa in the mid 1970s/80s, our leaders should learn how to make capital gains from such engagements. A foreign policy that is not geared toward

e, members of Ndigbo Unity Forum, an Igbo socio-cultural organization based in Onitsha, Anambra State, wish to use this powerful medium to send this special passionate appeal to the Federal Government led by Dr. Goodluck Jonathan to come to the rescue of the good citizens of Onitsha and its environs that have been at the receiving end of MASSOB’s criminal activities. The list of criminal activities perpetrated by this group include: First, the illegal collection of levy and extortion of money from law abiding citizen going about their lawful businesses at Sokoto Road, Creek Road, Bida Road, Moore Street, Venn Road North and South, Okwei Street and Kano Street, all in Onitsha South Local Government Area of Anambra State. Second, the molesting and torturing of innocent citizens that hesitate to comply with their illegal directives to the extent that traders in various markets in Onitsha go about their lawful business under perpetual fear. Third, MASSOB has through intimidation, molestation and torture, succeeded in scaring away customers that used to come from far and wide to patronise the markets. This development has caused untold hardship to the traders. Fourth, this group, using well armed members, mounts illegal road blocks to forcefully collect money from drivers and passengers. We are compelled to call on the Federal Government to use all the relevant security agencies to arrest this security challenge, which might result in implosion of the like of Boko Haram in Anabra State when the people eventually take their protection into their own hands. Augstine Chukwudum (President) and Chinedu Onyebuchi (Secretary General), Onitsha, Anambra State

actualizing a nation’s national interest is not worth it. President Goodluck Jonathan has disclosed that the sum of N7 billion had been committed so far Mali. The question is what is the return on such investment? Okey Okafor, Enugu

President Jonathan

Send your your letters letters or or mails mails to to PMB PMB 10001, 10001, Ikoyi, Ikoyi, or or our our Email: Email: mirrorlagos@yahoo.com mirrorlagos@yahoo.com and and info@nationalmirroronline.net info@nationalmirroronline.net or or 08056180209, 08054103275, 07033375481 07033375481 Send (SMS only). only). The The Editor Editor reserves reserves the the right right to to edit edit and and reject reject letters letters or or photographs. photographs. Psuedonyms Psuedonyms may may be be used, used, but but must must be be clearly clearly marked marked as as such. such. (SMS

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FRIDAY

Flavour

Friday, February 1, 2013

Nigeria’s lost artefacts journey home TERH AGBEDEH

Escape

Original Queen Idia Mask

pagne De Labriolle, handed the objects to Edem Duke, Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation at Reiz Hotel, Abuja. The ambassador promised that this was just the beginning, as his country would return more artefacts belonging to Nigeria. “We will meet again in a few weeks when we will return another statuette, which was seized by the French Customs in another development unrelated to the first one. This statuette is not a Nok terracotta statuette’, but a soapstone statuette of Esie origin”, De Labriolle said. Elsewhere, only six months ago, another set of Nok terracotta pieces of Nigerian origin were intercepted by the Home Security Investigation, HSI, of the United States. The works are already in custody of Nigeria Consulate in the United States. Duke said the collaboration between Nigeria and France goes back to the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the prohibition of illicit trade in cultural property and the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention on stolen and illegally exported cultural objects.

Denrele’s Day

PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA

“The return of these Nok pieces is yet another attestation to the collaboration between Nigeria and France in Cultural and Heritage matters spanning over several decades”, he said. The return raises very pertinent issues. For instance, if the many Nigerian valuable artefacts scattered all over the world are returned, how secure will they be in the country in the light of the continued pillage the NCMM director general mentioned? Of course, that is if the other countries holding tight to Nigeria’s heritage borrow a leaf from France and do the honourable thing by returning these objects. Usman said the NCMM is poised to stop further illegal movement of Nigerian artefacts and that “at the onset of the present management of the NCMM under my humble leadership, the issue of looting of archaeological sites by illegal diggers reduced due to the use of a multi-pronged approach”. He explained that within the last three years the NCMM has embarked on several sensitisation programmes involving law enforcement agencies, media, local communities and traditional rulers at Abuja and Kaduna and also in the rural areas especially at Nok and Janjala. Duke has already approved 600 security personnel and craftsmen to police the nation’s heritage sites, which is awaiting cash backing from the budget office and has also approved the special repatriation unit in the commission to handle issues of illicit trafficking, repatriation and restitution. “The passion and zeal with which the Minister is pursuing the restitution and return of Nigeria’s cultural property abroad will best be complimented if our security agencies ensure that no Nigerian antiquity leaves our shores without proper documentation”, Usman said.

P. 34

Commissioner for Human Development and Gender, ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Adrienne Diop; Mr. Jacques Champagne; Chief Edem Duke and Mallam Yusuf Usman during the official handing over of the Nok sculptures in Abuja.

P. 24-25

he cultural year for Nigeria started on what many stakeholders will describe as a bright note with France returning some Nok Terracotta artefacts to the country in the second week of January. The great hue and cry raised in academic and government quarters over the loss of Nigeria’s priceless cultural heritage in the form of its artefacts has been long, strong and ongoing. But until recently, little progress has been made in the fight to get back these works of art. The pillage, which took place in all the expanse, started perhaps right after the very first colonialist set foot on the soil later to be known as Nigeria. The records show particularly that Rear-Admiral Harry Rawson and his team during the Punitive Expedition in Benin City looted and destroyed especially monuments and palaces of many high-ranking chiefs, setting even the Oba of Benin’s palace ablaze. In order to defray the cost of the exercise the British Admiralty is said to have confiscated and auctioned off more than 3,000 Benin artefacts, which it considered to be the war booty. That is how the famous Idia mask of FESTAC 77, the Ivory carving of the mother of Oba Esigie (who reigned about 1504AD) found its way to the British Museum. That plunder has continued perhaps unabated and artefacts like the very popular Idia mask, among others almost found their way to the auction block at Sotheby’s of England two years ago but for the protests that preceded the event in the UK. So, it was indeed cheering news when France returned five ancient terracotta sculptures intercepted at the Paris Airport in August of 2010. The artefacts, believed to date back more than 3,000 years, had been found in the luggage of French citizen. Director-General of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, NCMM, Mallam Yusuf Abdallah Usman, said there have been “two waves of collection of Nigerian artefacts”. The first being during the colonial period first by invading forces of imperial Britain such as the Benin Punitive Expedition of 1897 and later by western anthropologists who carried out field work in various parts of the country. He said the second wave of collection was in the 1960s and 1970s when the Nigerian Civil War provoked large exodus of Nigeria’s artefacts through its borders with neighbouring countries. Usman concluded that the returned objects “left this country in recent times”. France, through its ambassador, Jacques Cham-

P. 32-33

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

Inside FCT

VOL. 3 No. 548

T Onobrakpeya

he Faculty of Arts, University of Benin, Edo State, will today hold a lecture to be delivered by the artist Bruce Onobrakpeya titled: ‘Artistic Odyssey: Printmaking as an expression of life’s adventures’. To take place at the East Wing Basement, Ugbowo Campus, an art exhibition of Ononrakpeya’s works will also

Fashion for charity

oday, G22 initiative presents “Fashion for Life”, a cat walk/fashion exhibition event to raise funds for the Down Syndrome Foundation

of Nigeria, at The Hall, Yetunde Apartments, Parkview, Ikoyi Lagos, by 6.00 p.m. Celebrities are scheduled to attend, while admission is free for all.

open today and last till February 10. Also to be at the opening ceremony are Chief Host and Vice Chancellor of UNIBEN, Professor Osayuki Oshodin and Host, Professor O.A. Ofuani, Dean, Faculty of Arts. Master classes will hold tomorrow for students and staff of the Department of Fine and Applied Arts.

African Artists’ ongoing showcase

painting exhibition tagged Line. Sign.Symbol has been on since yesterday. It is a solo exhibition featuring Uche Uzorka’s paintings and

it will be on till February 23. Works are viewable from 7.00 pm each day at the African Artists’ Foundation (AAF) HQ, 54, Raymond Njoku Street, Ikoyi, Lagos.

Timi Dakolo, Bouqui, others for Step Up

Bouqui

tep-up Lagos, a project aimed at teenagers to build the right value system that translates in their everyday life activities, begins today by 12.00 noon at the University of Lagos Main Auditorium, Akoka and continues tomorrow by 10.00 a.m. at UNILAG Staff School Hall, Akoka. The event will have goals

setting breakout sessions, skills activation breakout session where participants will learn cinematography, photography, choreography etc. from professionals including Timi Dakolo, Bouqui, James Abinibi, Onye Ubanatu, Niyi Adesayan, Funke Bucknor, Steve Harris, Victor Sanchez A g h a howa of Tinsel and more. Dakolo

Mirror Mongers

UNIBEN hosts Onobrakpeya lecture, exhibition

P. 26

WEEKEND STARTERS

Artman In The House

Friday, February 1, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Nigeria should negotiate and John Sunday Edokpolo epitomises the vintage art collector; his Ikoyi-Lagos home is teeming with art décor and works specifically created by master and prodigious artists for this consummate lover of art. Chief Edokpolo’s taste in art is defined by size, rarity, refinement, African themes and burst of earthy hues which permeate his vast collection. Emanating from a lineage given to artistic exploits and business savvy, Edokpolo’s father, a famed rubber exporter and his mother, a descendant of ancient Benin wood carvers -influenced his voracious appetite for acquiring art. Speaking with ADENRELE NIYI, the business magnate shares his vision for supporting the growth of arts in Nigeria, while taking Friday Flavour on a delightful tour of his home. Excerpts: Can you remember the first time you bought an art work? Yes, exactly 44 years ago. I visited the Benin Museum and I saw the quality of work, dexterity and finesse in what artists had put together in the 17th and 18th century. When I left the museum, I went to the streets where they make wood work and brass work and I saw some works that were copies of what those experts did. I decided to acquire one very small work which was a snail; it’s so neatly done, very beautiful. I still have it in my office in Victoria Island. And that opened the gate for other works? Yes, it did and the next most serious work that I acquired was done in Liverpool (United Kingdom). I visited the Managing Director of John Holt in Liverpool and in his office was a painting of a street in Kano, Nigeria. The man who used to design all John Holt’s textiles –a Mr. Wilde– was the one who did the painting and he was still working for John Holt. I went to him with my meagre recourses and pleaded with him to repeat that painting for me and he agreed, but it had to be with a difference. I said the difference was that he will take the image of one northerner out of the painting and replace it with my image. It is titled Lagosian in Kano and was done by Mr. Wilde in 1972. He lived in Lagos and Ibadan and Wilde would look at what the native people wore and improve on it for a textile design for the next year. You have an eye for art obviously, but when and how was it nurtured? My father came from Igun Street in Benin, wellknown for brass and bronze work. My mother came from Igbesanwa in Benin, well-known for wood work. So, as a child, what I saw around my mother’s quarters were beautiful works. My maternal uncle would look at you, take a piece of wood, carve and produce a life image. His name was Ine but was nicknamed ‘A1’. I was sandwiched between the two families and that sort of exposure made me very close to the arts. So, you didn’t go straight into the family business? No. My father was an extremely wealthy man in Benin between 1960 and 1970. In fact, he was the richest man –owning primary schools, modern school and grammar school, a rubber processing factory and an estate. When I came back from overseas, I didn’t like the smell of rubber, but that was not even the issue. The issue was that my father insisted that he couldn’t have two captains in a ship. Being his first son, he would see me as over shadowing him with modern business approach. So, he said I should go to Lagos instead, which I did. My father managed his business till he died. He was

Edokpolo

IDIA MASK IS NOT JUST A BENIN HEIRLOOM BUT A NATIONAL ONE a hardliner, but he made me Chairman/CEO in his will but all his sisters and brothers disagreed saying ‘with all that you have’. I decided to be a benevolent dictator and let them have their way. That’s why I’m still on my feet because if I decided to go by what my father said in the will that I should be Chairman/CEO, maybe by now, I would have been at the bosom of the Lord (laughter). I’m the only child my mother had for my father and I’m the first son surrounded by 42 brothers and sisters from 25 women. Indeed, I always tell people I’m running a mini Nigeria. The intrigue you would get from children of 25 women is worse than the intrigues you’ll get from running Nigeria. Did you have a flair for visual or creative arts in youth and did you try your hand at it? No; I’m not very good. As a boy, in the year 1959, I was attending primary school in Sagamu, Ogun State and during class, the arts teacher asked us to draw a box. I just couldn’t draw the box and the teacher just couldn’t understand. Every other person was making effort to draw, but I started crying. I was in primary five then and they took me to the headmaster. I told the headmaster that I just couldn’t draw the box and the headmaster said they should leave me. So, I’m not good putting any form of art together, no, but I can make suggestions in the creation of art. For example, I’m not a Yoruba man, but I know the most popular thing you notice in a typical market is aroro –bargaining. So, I called Bimbo Adenuga (a visual artist) and I told him to do me a painting with focus on bargaining in the typical Nigerian market. So he did me a sketch, I corrected a number of things and the final work came out. There is a lot of history as well as controversy surrounding Benin’s Queen Idia Mask. There have also been many reproductions of that mask since the origi-

nal left this country. Do you think we can reclaim that mask from the British Museum? This is an area where if I am blessed more and more with finance, I can make a difference. With a situation like that of Queen Idia Mask, I think the best thing is to negotiate and pay because there is so much involved. There is pride. We want to say because we are more enlightened now, we want this work back. Okay, but what is the benefit of the mask to the British people? They are able to keep it, attract people to pay to see it. If that is the issue, what would they have lost by giving that work back? £20million?..then we put it together, give it to them and bring our work back. That’s my approach. You cannot engage in a barbaric manner to take it back. But the argument is that it was not rightfully taken away from Benin... The British were on an expedition in the 19th century, looted the Oba’s palace with some level of violence and took those artworks away. We, in turn, cannot say we want to use force too; it can’t work. I have two reproductions of the Mask on my gates and another in my store made of pure aluminium worth about N1.3million. If Queen Idia Mask returns to Nigeria, do you think we have the prerequisite know-how to preserve and secure it? I think with the way Nigeria has developed, yes we have. Queen Idia mask on the market could go for about $30million. Are we then going to be that stupid to allow that piece of art go to waste away? No. The issue is when such a piece of work is recovered, you will now see very serious patrons who would come out and fight to safeguard the work. It is not just a Benin heirloom but a national one. Let’s focus on the local terrain for art practice, taking a cue from Igan Street in Benin where artists still work under crude conditions. What is being done to help them even in your capacity as a patron of the arts? By the time I’m 70 –four years from now, I should

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Artman In The House

Friday, February 1, 2013

pay for Idia Mask –Edokpolo The grandfather clock in the foyer

The second level sitting room adorned with leather cushions and a large painting

A large sculpture made of coins Bronze work depicting a traditional musician

Two busts of Benin Queen adorrn the entrance to the second floor of Edokpolo’s home.

Painting titled “Aroro”

retire and at that level I want to look at certain aspects of the arts that we can modernise. I’d like to visit Italy to see what type of foundry we can put in place to get things done properly. There is something peculiar about my collection; when these artists produce a piece of work, you can only get one out of 10 done that is perfect. So when they have a perfect one, they are asking for a fortune. Some of the artists are my relatives and they would call me and say, ‘we’ve been able to produce a good Queen Idia mask’ and then I will tell them to reserve it. Whereas, if you have a modern casting facility, an artist can produce 10 to 20 perfect works in a day. Do you have a bias for African arts? I’ll tell you a little story. When my father was a rubber merchant, he was always very angry because the price of rubber was dictated in London. Whether you produce rubber from Liberia or from Sapele, by the time people in London says this grade of rubber is valued as ‘X’, there is nothing you can do. It is the same frustrating aspect with our arts. Bruce Onobrakpeya produces an excellent work, takes it to New York and valuers say; ‘this is an African man’s work, cannot be more than $5,000’. So, I see some works produced by some upcoming artists that I have to hoard. Like a work I have, Hidden Mystique Smile: African Mona Lisa; I’ve taken that work to a number of exhibitions around the world. The White people see and want it but I said I will never release it to them. And every year that I take same work whether to Russia or America, it is sought after.

“Lagosian in Kano”

Exterior of his home.

FACT FILE •

Born in 1947, Chief John S. Edokpolo, a native of Edo State is the Chairman of Eko Modupe Ltd. which manages real estate and art collections.

•

He also seats on board other business concerns in oil and gas, insurance and steel industries.

•

For education, he attended Bolton Institute of Technology, Bolton, UK (1970 – 1972), Hatfield Management School, St. Albans, UK (1972 – 1973), and University of Bordeaux, France.

•

John Edokpolo documents each work he buys and currently owns 562 art works in his collection. Some of them include gigiantic art pieces, a grandfather clock, Benin bronze heads and “Ekasa: Myths and Realities”, a

And you’ve never sold any of your works before? Well, not really. There was a piece of work that I had, one of four very large works produced by Ben Enwonwu titled Anyanwu. There was one in New York, one in Zambia, one at the National Museum, Lagos and the one I bought. The one in his house in Onitsha was sold to me, but when we were to carry the work from his place, something very strange happened. The thing fell and the curve shape on the head broke. It was taken to the welder, fixed and brought to my house. It was mounted outside my house but somebody –whose name I don’t want to mention– came and said, ‘this art is like a

monstrous painting by Bimbo Adenuga commissioned in 2012 to depict the chronological story of the Edopkolo lineage. •

“The Ambassador’s Nite” an exhibition of personal art collection of Chief Edokpolo in honour of the diplomatic corp, held its 2nd edition in December 2012.

•

Chief Edokpolo is cousin to late famed artist Erhabor Emokpae.

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As a student in 1969, Edokpolo tried commissioning Pablo Picasso to paint his aunty in Benin queen apparel.

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He lives at 2nd Avenue Estate (former Abacha Estate), IkoyiLagos with his wife

•

For leisure, chief enjoys cycling around Victoria Island and Ikoyi.

skeleton’ and that I must belong to a secret society where this thing has importance. I said to my wife that what type of wahala is this? I didn’t want Anyanwu inside the house, it was big and I loved it outside but it was attracting negative attention. This is the one time I had to dispose of a piece of work. But as a matter of policy, I don’t sell my works and my children have a standing instruction that if I’m no more they should not sell my works of art. However, there’s a proviso; if all my children jointly agree to sell any piece of work, they can. But some of the works are embarrassing because I am captured as a subject in some of them. If they are going to sell paintings showing their father, that is their

PHOTOS: YINKA ADEPARUSI

wahala. The three of them must agree, otherwise none of my works must be sold. Tell us about the decór in your home. Most of my doors are hand carved and they were produced in Benin. The chairs are products of a very interesting story. My cousin who was a carver and one time lecturer in Calabar in the 50s, had 60 logs of Ebony woods. He was broke and sold them to me. I brought the Ebony to Lagos and kept them in my warehouse, then I went to Italy. In Italy, this chair design caught my eye, returned with the design and showed some carvers at National Arts Theatre. They produced and carved out the design. My friend used to be the Managing Director of Costain Nigeria and I got the boys there to couple what had been carved. Fortunately, my cousin was a Technical Director of Vitafoam and he produced special foam for me and I get new upholstery from London to redecorate. My friend who used to be Chairman of Carara Marble supplied me with marble for the tables and floors. The dinning chair was inspired by the royal family in England. The chair hands are carved with lion heads; I got the design from a brochure of the Buckingham Palace and my carver copied it. What do you want prosperity to say about you? I want the world or Nigeria to see me as a man who has fought very hard to create employment opportunities for fellow Nigerians. I am one of the most sincere patrons of the arts in Nigeria and I have paid my dues in cultivating and encouraging Nigerians. I want to be remembered as a Nigerian who dedicated himself to the welfare and progress of fellow Nigerians.

Critics

Friday, February 1, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

AFMVCA: Struggling for credibility on Apparently riding on the back of the African Movie Academy Awards, AMAA, the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Award, AFMVCA announces a nominees’ list that is riddled with so many pitfalls. Can this award event stimulate creativity in African cinema? NGOZI EMEDOLIBE

ith the little growth that the African cinema has witnessed in recent years, it is pertinent to note that what the industry needs most are efforts that would stimulate creativity and technical enhancement, which would take it to the next level. More so, with the often comparisons to the other advanced industries. This is exactly where the rationale behind the recently announced African Magic Viewers’ Choice Award comes to question. While African Magic has taken away so much from the industry, with the various African films they show for little in reward, it ought to have been a great relief when the station announced that it was set to contribute its quota to the development of the industry by initiating an award event. Meaning to appear slightly different from other award events, they came up with something that pretends to offer the viewers the power to determine who wins or loses. But the whole endeavour is headed for controversies as it is fraught with a lot of pitfalls. With the popularity of the African Movie Academy Awards, AMAA, which has in the last seven years stimulated quality in African Film making process, the decision of Africa Magic should have been designed to complement what AMAA has done so far rather than com-

HAVING OLD FILMS MAKING UP THE NOMINEES’ LIST WILL NOT BE THE ONLY CONTROVERSY THAT WILL DOG AFMVCA ing up with a clone of what has always been. Although it is called a viewers’ choice awards, it is pertinent to note that the awards that would be determined by the viewers, are only about six out of the 28 categories, which is just a slight variation form the list produced in the previous editions of AMAA. This will not be healthy for an industry meaning to grow. Of course, AFMVCA has tried to appear impressive with its electronic voting system, but this would only be a minus. For those who wish to vote in this process, they would need an Internet

connection with which to access the website. But that is only the beginning as the process is technically challenging as well, especially with the low level of Internet penetration in Africa. Voters would download an app that would enable them interact on the site. Of course, efforts to vote direct people to their Facebook accounts, where the voter would leave some personal details in order to complete this process. The meaning is that it would take only very keen voters to participate in this contest. The implication of this is that winners would

emerge much like what we have on reality TV shows and may be susceptible to credibility issues. More worrisome about the AFMVCA is the copious adoption of old movies to make up their nominees’ list. This approach adopted in constituting the nominees’ list would leave keen followers of African cinema industry tempted to think that the AFMVCA is a clone of AMAA. In so many ways, the list is a reflection of what AMAA nominees’ list looked like in its last two or three editions. Surprisingly, the statistics available from the list points in this direction. While South Africa has held sway, in previous AMAA events, the organisers of this award which comes up in March aligned the list in this same direction. For example, three out of the six films nominated in the Best Movie (overall) are proud winner of AMAA awards; but not in the same year. Similarly, four out of the six in the Best Movie Director - Akin Omotoso, Obi Emelonye, Sara Blecher and Shirley Frimpong-Manso are AMAA ‘products’. Perhaps for the first time, the AFMVCA will be the first award to break its events into two. According to the organisers, the first part would be an event of glamour where the winners of the viewers’ choice would be announced while the second day would have winners from the technical aspect of the contest. This process however smacks of confusion on the part of the organisers, who should have determined from the onset what kind of competition they want; whether to appeal to glamour or creativity. The process that produced this list is also fraught with a lot of flaws. Although AFMVCA has tried to borrow credibility with its team of judges which has names who have made a mark in the African film industry, it lacks the global appeal that AMAA’s panel of judges represent, which is why it would remain the biggest film event in the continent. AMAA’s jury has nationalities which cut across the

AMVCAS: NOMINEES’ LIST Botha & Joel Assaizky Otelo Burning | Juli vanden Berg & Tiago Correia-Paulo The Mirror Boy | Obi Emelonye Perfect Picture | Elorm Adablah A Sting in a Tale | Elorm Adablah

Lies that Bind | Carol Mbugua Kawanu Bernard | H. Mulenga Two Brides and a Baby | Blessing Effiom Egbe Otelo Burning | Anita van Hemert & Chantel Carter

Wisdom of Thomas Collins | Chinedu Ezenwa Phone Swap | Kunle Afolayan The Return of Jenifa | Funke Akindele Open Fire 2 | George Edmund

BEST SHORT FILM Big Daddy | Christopher Ihidero Yellow Fever | Ngendo Mukii Down & Out | Udoka Oyeka

BEST LOCAL LANGUAGE MOVIE (YORUBA) Maami | Tunde Kelani Akun | Regina Chukwu Gbajumo Oladipo | Ariyeke

BEST SOUND EDITOR Man on Ground | Michael

BEST ART DIRECTOR Maami | Bola Belo

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Man on Ground Fabian Adeoye Lojede The Mirror Boy Osita Iheme Otelo Burning Thomas Gumede A Good Catholic Girl Matthew Nabwiso Two Brides and a Baby Kalu Ikeagwu

BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY The Return of Jenifa | Funke Akindele Clinic Matters | Lilian Esoro Dumebi the Dirty Girl | Mercy Johnson

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Man on Ground | Thishiwe Ziqubu Otelo Burning | Harriet Manamela Akun | Regina Chukwu Old Cargo Young Blood | Taiwo Atigogo

BEST LOCAL LANGUAGE MOVIE (HAUSA) Asirka | Aminu Abdullahi/ Hafizu Bello Yunkuri | Aminu Abdullahi

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many fronts major continents of the world unlike the panel of judges in AFMVCA, who are entirely Africans. Film is increasingly a global affair and every aspect of it must be made to reflect so. Having old films making up the nominees’ list will not be the only controversy that will dog AFMVCA. It also excluded some of the important works and personalities which have made the industry tick in the past 12 months. For instance actresses like Nse Ikpe Etim, Omotola Jolade Ekeinde, Stephanie Okereke and Ama Abebrese are copiously missing on the list. These are some of the most popular in African cinema, and should be involved in any popularity contest. Perhaps this is a reflection of the process that produced the list. With Africa Magic’s wide audience a contests of this nature should have been announced with so much fan fare to attract many nominations. The fact that it got just 350 nominations from the entire continent of Africa is a proof that a shoddy job have been done in this regard. Another controversy is how far this award event has gone to recognise the diversity in Africa. Africa is reputed to have over 200 languages, but this award only have nominations for 3 languages, questioning what has happened to other films produced in other languages. There is however another huge question begging to be answered in hoping that AFMVCA could have AMAA’s kind of impact. Would it evoke the kind of anxiety that follows announcement of AMAA winners? AMAA is known to have made a huge difference when it made its debut with cash rewards for winners, making the final announcement an adrenaline-pumping and keenly competitive exercise. AFMCV has not announced any cash rewards. Now that voting currently in progress, the continent would be keen to know what happens at the end of the day, because many would definitely prefer that Africa Magic, with its wide coverage, supports indigenous and innovative awards events re-modeling the African continent already.it” will definitely thrill a lot of people and going by the mission of the award to “uplift and celebrate the African television and film sector”, the two award categories succinctly capture this essence. With voting currently in progress, the AFMVCA would cap it all with the plaque, which has a distinctive design suitable for an award of this magnitude. There will be no use stressing that care must be taken during the final event, because with the status of the organisers and their reach in 47 countries, viewers would also have the opportunity to judge the event from the locations. But hopefully, they would live up to their billing.

Faida Nura | A. Ali/Hafizu Bello BEST LOCAL LANGUAGE MOVIE (SWAHILI) The Ray of Hope | Sameer Srivastava/Sanjni Srivastava Sakalakata | Henry Lenga Zeinabu | Rudi Nyumbani Quentin Hughes/Alex Konstantaras BEST WRITER (DRAMA) Otelo Burning | James Whyle/Sara Blecher/The Cast Workshop The Mirror Boy | Obi Emelonye/Amaka Obi-Emelonye Two Brides and a Baby | Blessing Egbe A Sting in a Tale Shirley | Frimpong-Manso Perfect Picture | Shirley Frimpong-Manso BEST TELEVISION SERIES The XYZ Show | Godffrey

Critics

Friday, February 1, 2013

Book

Making a change that counts Oludare Mayowa’s new book, Make the Change that Counts, restates the obvious that every positive change in life starts with a will. NGOZI EMEDOLIBE

or an author like Oludare Mayowa who has been consistent with self-help books like Living an Enduring Lifestyle, Be my Friend and the Future is a Choice, a title like Make the Change that Counts offers potentials of a life-changing read. Of course, that is the intention of this financial journalist as he avails his 89-page work which is divided into sections that deal with topics such as: ‘Check your ignorance gauge’; ‘breaking from the ugly past’; ‘what script are you acting’; ‘dare to succeed’, ‘starve your fear’; ‘make that change now’ and ‘make your life impactful on others’. As the titles of the various sections suggest, the author who from his style of writing also proves that he is a motivational speaker takes time to teach the reader what tips to apply in climbing the leader of success. Like a teacher, he does not starve his readers of instances they can relate with. The first section which identifies ignorance as one of the greatest undoing of most people, also stresses that it is even worse for people who refuse to acknowledge that they do not know. The book tries to establish the obvious that a lot of knowledge is hidden in books and can be assessed by he or she who wants to learn. The author is also unique in pointing out his own folly while growing up with his mates in his sleepy village. Then, according to him, a cousin of theirs used to tell them things he had read in books like the business of running a music studio. Instead of asking questions to know his source of facts then, they would doubt him, not knowing his knowledge was borne out of the books he had read. Only few authors describe themselves from this standpoint, considering that they are trying hard to convince an audience about their superior position of knowledge. This book is also filled with examples suggesting that the author is targeting the younger generation, though it would not be hurtful by making

THE AUTHOR IS DESPERATE TO SEE THE LIFE OF EVERY READER WHO PICKS HIS BOOK AFFECTED POSITIVELY the examples broader considering that full-grown adults sometimes also need a fresh start. While the content is well-suited for its purpose, the author also takes time to do a postscript, which summarises all the points and steps he had raised in the earlier chapters in a way that makes it look as if the author is desperate to see the life of every reader who picks his book affected positively. This is one of the high points of this work, because the writer sounded emotional about his desires towards the readers. Aside the content, Make the Change that Counts is also peculiar in terms of aesthetics. Its cover comes out in a beautiful design that leaves the impression that the issue is serious indeed and the printing is top of the range, when considered against

other books that have been published in the country. The design of the text is also reader-friendly with quotes that are on their own self-instructing. Perhaps what stands this book out in a great way is the way the author managed his inclination to Christian belief. This is important and would have a farreaching effect, because as it is, one cannot classify it as a Christian book in spite of the various Bible quotations. It is interesting to stress that he articulated the facts in his book in a way it would be useful to even people who are not Christians. The author needs to be commended for this. In spite of these, the book falls short of expectation on many fronts. The cover title ought to have established the point that it is a ‘how-to’ book to drive home the point. While this may not have taken much away, the various typographic errors did. The book is riddled with errors ranging from wrong spellings to wrong usage of English grammar. Aside this, there is also inconsistency in the English used in the book. The book dangled between American English and British English. Works of this nature ought to decide on what standards they must adopt.

Inside FCT

Friday, February 1, 2013

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Ban of mini buses upsets commuters, economy JOEL AJAYI

yanya–Keffi and Kubwa expressways are unarguably the busiest roads that connect Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, to satellite towns such as Nyanya, Kugbo, Kubwa Dustse, Kurudu, Orozo, Gwarinpa, Zuba, Mararaba, etc. These settlements, to say the least, play host to 90 percent of workforce in the FCT. With this huge proportion of workforce in these satellite towns, the area is jam-packed with high density population who work in the city centre but reside there. Consequently, heavy traffic logged jam always persist in some business areas of the nation’s capital. As part of efforts to bring sanity to the transport system, the FCT Administration, on January 14, announced the suspension of mini-bus operations in Abuja. The move neither went down well with commuters nor drivers of the green buses, thereby sparking violent protest on all routes into the nation’s capital. The Minister of FCT, Alhaji Bala Muhammad, said the administration had approved designated points where commuters from the satellite town would stop to join SURE-P buses that will take them to the city, noting that about 191 buses have been purchased to ease the plight of commuters. Inside FCT gathered that commuters coming from Nassarawa/Keffi road in the mini bus town service vehicles are expected to stop under Nyanya Bridge, while those coming from Kubwa would now have Berger bus stop as the terminal point. Meanwhile, the enforcement of the ban on January 14, led to temporary

grounding of economic activities at some satellite towns of the FCT. For about two to three days when mini buses popularly known as ‘Araba’ were banned by the FCT administration, commuters and stakeholders, who spoke to Inside FCT criticised the policy while expressing their dismay. A commuter at Karu, Clement Ajiboye, wondered why the FCTA was bent on frustrating the masses, lamenting the non-availability of the high capacity buses which were supposed to replace the mini buses that were banned. “Before embarking on this kind of policy, there ought to have been high capacity buses on ground or even good rail lines in the FCT to convey people to various destinations. Meanwhile, transport fares have been increased by 100 per cent and few privately owned buses have been plying the Nyanya-Keffi road”, he said. Blessing Uzoma, a shop worker, told our reporter that, “in the three days of mini bus ban, people were stranded in the city centre, especially at Wuse zones. People trekked longer distance”. A nursing mother, Cecilia Nwagwu, said she was tired and worried after trekking a long distance without hope of getting a bus, “I think the world is about to end”. A civil servant, Aminu Azeez, said the government should have enlightened the people and provided buses before implementing the policy in order to reduce suffering of the people. “The policy has not only affected humans, but it has hugely affected our productivity”, he said. National Secretary of FCT Owners and Drivers of Mini-Bus Town Service Association, Prince Charles Ikwegbu, described the policy as anti-masses, stress-

Soldiers chasing after a mini bus banned from plying Abuja metropolis

THE POLICY WILL TURN NOT LESS THAN

10,000 MEMBERS OF THE MINI BUS

ASSOCIATION JOBLESS ing that if the FCTA is allowed to carry on with the policy, it will bring large scale hardship to both the drivers and commuters in an obnoxious manner. “Sincerely speaking, the policy will turn not less than 10,000 members of the mini bus association jobless”. He called on the FCT minister to reconsider the consequences of the policy for the interest of people”. Also, Okechukwu Chukwu, a bus oper-

ator and member of the National Union of Minibus Drivers, Abuja, bemoaned the manner of the enforcement, saying the action has affected their business. “Initially, they instructed us to paint our vehicles to national (or Abuja) colours, we complied. They asked us to register our vehicles and obtain fresh driving licenses, we did. Now, we don’t know what they want”, he said. He alleged that the governmentowned mass transport or high capacity buses, which the FCTA intends to replace mini buses with, have proven insufficient to cater for the transport needs of FCT residents. One of the drivers who spoke under anonymity said, “We learnt that they are doing this due to some security reports on the territory but they are not sincere.

Corn roasting booms on Abuja

Patrons buying roasted corn

CHIDI UGWU

s the challenge of joblessness and high cost of living take a toll on youths in the FCT, the daring ones with entrepreneurial spirits have resorted to corn roasting in order to eke out a living. This development aligns with what obtains in other major cities in the country, but the peculiarity is in choosing the ever busy highway for business. No doubt, times are hard and Nigerians are struggling to survive the harsh economic conditions by engaging in all manner of businesses that could bring

in some financial relief at the end of the day. Some of these businesses are perhaps so bizarre that one wonders how the initiators came about considering them in the first place. In Abuja, selling roasted corn along a busy highway has become a lucrative line of business for some residents, not minding the danger of fast moving vehicles. This group of business men and women, best described as highway corn roasters, have thrown caution to the wind just to make money. Inside FCT’s investigation of this growing trade along Nyanya- Mararaba highway leading to Nasarawa State, shows that both sellers and buyers of roasted corn are less cautious of the danger of speeding vehicles along that road. It was gathered that business starts around 3.00 p.m. when closing hour traffic begins to build up on the road as workers travel back to their various homes after the day’s work. The trading continues till midnight. Beginning between 1.00 p.m. and 2.00 p.m., immediately after the overhead bridge beyond Mogadishu Barracks, popularly known as Abacha Barracks, one begins to see the corn roasters under the scorching sun preparing for the day’s stand activities– arranging their make-shift tripodat the edge of the highway, as cars speed past.

However, it appears that corn farms are located around the corner as some carry fresh cobs of corn out from nearby bushes. From around 3.00 p.m. buyers can start to enjoy the taste of well roasted corn purchased right on the highway as road users suffers the endless gridlock that characterises that axis of the FCT. Our reporter approached a young seller of the delicacy, Isah Usman, who said the business is lucrative in that it is no longer seasonal as corn could be obtained all year round in the city. According to Usman, with little irrigation, corn can be grown any time of the year thereby keeping sellers in business all year round. He said with an average of N10,000, anyone can begin the trade though the trader would require tools like a basin or disused pot, charcoal and a raffia fan. At the end of booming sales, many have quadrupled investments, if the corn roaster is serious and friendly with consumers. “Let’s say you require at least N10,000 for a start. But other things like charcoal, the container for the charcoal and the rest can cost N2,000 or less”, said Usman, who claimed to have been in the trade for two years. On whether the business is viable, he said, “I must confess, it’s not a bad business. There is profit in it”. He said further, “depending on the supplier, you can buy three ears of corn on wholesale for N100, then roast

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Inside FCT

Friday, February 1, 2013

Power, rent, bane of hair care business in FCT GOODNESS ADAOYICHE AND BLESSING OKWORI

PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA

They just want to award more contracts to buy luxury buses after the ones bought last year during the subsidy protests collapsed. “If we do not get any job to do then they should expect us to find new ways of feeding ourselves; they want to push people into crime”. Meanwhile, in continuance of its transportation policy, the Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA, has reiterated that the February 7 deadline for restriction of mini bus operations within specified routes in Abuja metropolis remains unchanged, despite series of resistance by some residents and mini bus operators. Senior Special Assistant to the FCT Minister on Information Management Systems, Hajiya Jamilah Tangaza, disclosed that, “the transportation policy has been planned to curb congestion, persistent gridlocks, chaos, reduce accidents, enhance security and ensure sanity on the major roads and interchanges in Abuja”.

highways for sale and make a profit of N80 for every three pieces of corn sold”. With prices of foodstuff on the rise, many residents are turning to other sources of feeding to keep body and soul together. It would not be out of place to find residents chewing one food item or the other, even while walking along the streets. Inside FCT discovered that one snack that is handy for many residents is corn. The food item has become a saving grace for many Abuja residents as most who cannot afford to buy lunch at work rely on the highway corn sellers when returning home. Similarly, along the long, dusty and pot-holed road to Kabusa and Lokogoma Estate in Abuja, from the junction to the end of the road, road users are welcomed by corn roasters. In some highbrow areas of the city like Maitama, Asokoro and Jabi, the ubiquitous roasters come in handfuls. Some of patrons even wait for as long as five to eight minutes for their special selection to be roasted. Waiting for about 30 minutes along the Nyanya-Mararaba highway, our reporter saw not less than 10 vehicles pulling over to buy the delicacy and some buying in quantities as if it would be used for family dinner.

he hair is one important feature of every human being that needs care and tendering, like a little baby. Whether male or female, the uniqueness of hair is made manifest by the extent of attention given to it. Care for this important aspect of human body has given rise to the various hairdressing and barbing salons available. Just like every other human society, there are various barbing and hairdressing salons in the nation’s capital. Apart from providing employment for a number of youths who have the talent for hair making, it has also become a matter of status symbol and class configuration in the FCT. However, this all important care sector unfortunately suffers the same fate that has made a number of businesses close shop while others, desirous of a more-friendly business climate, relocate. The hair-care sector survives on power which is got either from the national grid (government) or selfgenerated through generator. Since virtually all operators in this sector rely on the latter, the cost of production is high with the concomitant effect on the cost of any unit of hair-do and the eventual profit accruable from the business. Some of the operators who spoke to Inside FCT shared their experiences in the business. For instance, Mrs. Nicky Ukah, a hairdresser in Kubwa, one of the satellite towns in the FCT, complained that the major challenge she faces in this profession is that of electricity. She said; “there is no constant

IF SHOP OWNERS CAN REDUCE THE WAY THEY

INCREASE RENT, HAIRDRESSERS IN THIS AREA WILL BE HAPPY power supply in this area. Most of the time, I use generator to make my customers’ hair. This has also led to an increase in the price of hair do”. Similarly, James Okafor, a barber in Nyanya added that, “light is the most challenging because they don’t always give light and we have to buy fuel every day from the filling station. Often, we don’t even get back the money we spend on fuel because our customers will not want to pay any additional charges”. Another area of concern, according to them, is that of high overhead cost. Grace Ezeh, a hairdresser at Area 1, told our reporters that, “the problem with this work in Abuja is that the shop rent is too high. I pay as high as N200,000 for this small shop yearly and after two years, they increased the rent. I have three kids and they are in school. I pay their school fees aside from feeding and accommodation. “Because of this high shop rent, my customers complain when I tell them to pay more for my service. If shop owners can reduce the rent or even reduce the way they increase rent, hairdressers in this area will be very happy”, she added. In the same vein, Henrietta Alikwe, a hairdresser in Wuse Market said “the major challenge we face here is

Street hair dressing in Abuja to beat high shop rent

that the shop rent is too high. That is why customers pay a lot of money to make their hair in this market. “You will discover that after paying your rent, the money left for you to spend is small and if you are not the kind of person that saves, you will just be working for nothing”. However, a barber in Bwari Area Council, Jude Orngu told Inside FCT that the major challenge he faces in his chosen field is that of taxation and revenue collection. He said; “we pay N3,000 yearly as tax to Bwari Area Council. Also, we pay N1,000 to the council for revenue for those of us that have signboard. If you don’t pay, they will remove your signboard or even destroy it”, he stressed. On a different note, Rosemary Ucheze, a stylist from Kubwa noted that the major challenge she faces is the unwillingness of young girls to learn. She said “I don’t have much challenge because I’m good at my work. The only pain I have is that young girls these days are not ready to learn. When I was an apprentice, I was obedient to my madam. But these days, when they come to learn, they will give excuses why they can’t come to work. When you talk to them, they will talk back at you. It then makes the work too tedious for me because I have to do everything. Even hair stylist, when they come, they don’t stay”, she added. Despite these problems, the professionals told Inside FCT that they prefer working in Abuja compared to other states. Prince Yahaya, a barber in Gwarimpa, explained to our reporters thus: “I prefer Abuja to Lagos because Abuja is peaceful and calm. There is no crisis whatsoever. And I’m paid higher for my service. I like Abuja”, he added.

Mirror Mongers

Friday, February 1, 2013

Politics of floating corpses

masea town would not have come to the fore if not for the unfortunate news that came from the sleepy neighbourhood last week: a river serving the town which flows from Enugu State into Anambra State was suddenly seen to have several corpses, clad in underpants floating. Of course, this shocked the villagers who had not had any incident of communal clash or reports of missing neighbours. While efforts to unravel the source of the corpses, which reports put at 30, are still being made, it is pathetic, however, what politicians can do out of every unfortunate incident. The state governor, Peter Obi who has been under severe attacks lately from the opposition for always ‘being away at Aso Rock’ was the first to arrive with his crew to announce that he ‘cut short an important trip’ to be with the community. He made a promise of N5million to whoever could step

up with clues about the source of the corpses. Shortly after, Senator Chris Ngige, arrived with his crew to commiserate with the community and promised that such ugly incident would not be tolerated in Anambra State. Then, it was the turn of House of Representatives member, Hon. Uche Ekwunife, who also came with her own promises. Since then, the once forgotten town of Amansea has been a Mecca of sorts for Anambra politicians, most of whom have come with donations of cash and even sachet water (imagine!). In all the visits, MM learnt that the politicians would arrive with a crew of journalists from various media organisations and their speeches always reeked of 2014, when a new governor is expected to be sworn in. Of course, this has brought to the fore what politicians can do to get votes.

Policemen do rock

wo pictures of two mobile policemen dancing Pakurumo, the popular song by Wizkid, went viral online during the week. Apparently at a party, in uniform and one of them holding a gun, perhaps loaded, they danced in reckless abandon accompanied by a woman. In the light of recent revelations, one only wonders what they have to dance about. Maybe they are dancing their pain away? But didn’t anyone tell them while they were in training at the police college that policemen should be on alert while on duty, hence not dance, drink or smoke? Wait, they were probably too concerned about their conditions to learn anything at the college. Perhaps this is illegal duty and they are only at the party as ‘hired guns’ (pun

Dancing queen

intended). Whatever it is, this is a conduct most unbecoming of members of a police force that is supposed to have respect of the citizenry whose lives and property it should be a custodian of. This is, no doubt, a calculated attempt to take the good name of the force through the mud, or should we say owambe.

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Zimbabwean mum’s rhapsody

A Ibori

Talking behind bars

erhaps, former governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori would have more than prison notes to write to explain the actions and statements that have been credited to him since his ordeal in the United Kingdom, where he is locked up for charges bordering on fraud. Since April 2012, several statements have been credited to the ex-governor in many media articles and campaigns. Although Ibori is confined within the Long Lartin prison in Worcestershire, a maximum-security prison, which houses terrorists, rapists, drug barons and other violent criminals, he has virtually been active in Nigeria, reacting to issues and also sending congratulatory messages to his friends in and out of government. Last November, Ibori sent a full page birthday message to the ex-governor of Bayelsa State, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, which appeared on the pages of a daily paper. A few days ago, Ibori also reacted from jail. He countered the story from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, about his mansion in Lekki-Lagos, pointing out that he built the house in 1994, when he was not even the governor of his state. But the spate of reactions to everything going on is making people wonder how much of Ibori is here or in a London prison. Why has he not reacted to the $15million bribery scandal?

ONE-SECOND Q&A

ndy Warhol’s quip that sex is more exciting on the screen and between the pages than between the sheets may well be far from the truth. What with a UK-based Zimbabwean mum captured on video romping away atop her boyfriend while her son tries to get her attention but she remains lost in ecstasy. She even closes her eyes at the sound of her little boy calling out to her repeatedly, ‘Mama, Mama’. And until the boyfriend, who is not visible perhaps because he is the one holding the camera, ‘empties himself ’ she does not go to the boy. Even then she exerts a promise from her boyfriend to take her to the mountaintop when she returns. One only hopes that they don’t forget to lock the door when they resume. But what is astonishing is that the boy acts as if this is not the first time he’s witnessing such a spectacle. This has sparked outcry since the video leaked online not just from the Zimbabwean community in the UK but from people all over the world. Everyone, perhaps except the poor boy’s mum, opine that kids should never be exposed to sex whether on screen, between the pages or sheets. Thank heavens social service officials were said to have visited the woman in the video, who has not been identified.

A still shot of the Zimbabwean woman from the video

JIMI AGBAJE

An unprecedented outrage has heralded the two-year jail sentence (or N750,000 fine) given to on John Yusuf, former director of Police Pension Board, who pleaded guilty to stealing about N29bn, questioning the role of judiciary in tackling corruption. Jimi Agbaje, a politician and pharmacist reacts: Why is there a high level of corruption in the country?

Agbaje

think our judicial system is faulty. I want to throw the challenge to all those that are involved in the judicial system, the Bar, the Bench, the law enforcement agents and all. This is because you have a system that does not encourage prosecution. We run a system where you can play around with the system and drag on your matter for years indefinitely, until all those that are involved are tired of it. That is not a system that fights corruption and that is the way I see it. Why is it so? Why is it that in other countries of the world, they are able to fix their cases? They said they are going to have cases in three days and they finish it within three days. If they allocate one week, they will finish in one week. When we allocate our own, we adjourn and we keep adjourning until everybody is tired.

Yaum al-Jumu’ah, Rabi Al-Awwal 20, 1434AH Friday, February 1, 2013

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Call to Worship

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

he architectural work of art at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is one the world’s largest mosques, with a capacity for an astonishing 41,000 worshippers. It features 82 domes, over 1,000 columns, 24 carat gold gilded chandeliers and the world’s largest hand knotted carpet. The main prayer hall is dominated by one of the world’s largest chandeliers –10 metres in diameter, 15 metres in height and weighing twelve tonnes. Reflective pools surround the mosque, amplifying its beauty. The striking white and gold colours shining in the sun are transformed at night by a unique lightning system, which reflects the phases of the moon. Visitors’ Tip: Why not finish sightseeing or shopping for the day and take the 5pm ‘Sunset Tour’? Get to the mosque around 4:30pm – a wonderful time to take photos – to wind down and chill out for 20 minutes in the lovely, afternoon breeze before the tour. Opening hours: Unlike other mosques in Abu Dhabi, the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is open daily to visitors, except on Friday morning, which is for worshippers only. Complimentary one hour guided tours run (Sun-Thurs) at 10am, 11am and 4.30 / 5pm. Friday times are 5pm and 7.30 /8pm and Saturday 10am, 11am, 2pm, 4.30 /5pm and 7.30 / 8pm. The times for the last two tours of the day vary between 4.30 and 5pm, and 7.30 and 8pm, depending on the time of the year.

Inside the Grand Mosque

Hadith Ma’adh bin Jabal (RU) narrates that the Messenger of Allah said: “When we are gathered on the Day of Judgment no one will be able to leave his place till he answers the following five questions: (1) How did he spend his lifetime? (2) How did he spend his prime youth? (3) How did he earn his living? (4) How and where did he spend it? (5) How much did he act upon his acquired knowledge? (Al Bahiqi) The grand mosque

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The Qur’anic appellations 28

ZSF distributes N41million Zakat 29

Married for lust or sacrifice?

n Islam, marriage has been declared obligatory, and except in the case of a disability, celibacy is forbidden. Therefore, the Holy Prophet (saw) states: “To marry is part of my Sunnah [practice], and he who does not follow my Sunnah is not of me.” Marriage for a Prophet, a law-bearing Prophet at that, is especially necessary, not only so that he may set a model of superior domestic relations before his community, but also that his wives may facilitate the teaching of religious injunctions. The skill, by which a woman can perform the demonstration and education of affairs relevant to women, cannot be done by a man in the same way. As a matter of fact, if there is no hindrance, a Prophet should, as far as pos-

Every Friday with

Khalifatul

Ahmadiyya sible, marry more than once, so that the task of preaching and educating can be further facilitated. Therefore, we see that a majority of the earlier Prophets (on whom be peace), practised polygamy. A majority of the Prophets of the Bani Isra’il were those who had more than one wife. CONTINUED ON PAGE 32

Display Prophet Muhammad’s true character –Ahmad 29

Call to Worship

Yaum al-Jumu’ah, Rabi Al-Awwal 20, 1434AH

The Qur’anic appellations L T he Qur’an is a divine Book that is free from all errors. All Muslims and even the non-Muslims know that the Qur’an is more revered than any other existing religious book. Examples of this are - a Muslim will most of the time perform ablution before he picks up the Qur’an for recitation; he does not place other items on the Qur’an; he will not throw or fling it around carelessly; he will not place it beneath his bed or pillow while sleeping and he will recite the Qur’an with a good and melodious intonation. Consequently, it has been differently qualified as follow: Qur’an Karm, Qur’an al-Majd, Qur’an al-Mubn, Qur’an al-Azm and Qur’n al-Hakim As the Noble Book (Qur’an Karm), it means that you should always honour and give it its due regard wherever you see it. Any time you read the Qur’an, you are conversing with Allah; so, you should read it as correctly as you will talk to your noble guest. You should read it and imagine Allah (SWT) talking to you. You need to know and understand the meaning of what you read because you will not be giving due regard to the divine Book of Allah (SWT) when you do not understand the meaning of what you read. Whenever you have cause to write some verses of the Qur’an, you should write it correctly and in a good handwriting. You also honour the Qur’an by memorising it and ensuring that you revise it frequently so that you will not forget it. It is a dishonour to the Qur’an to memorise and forget it. This means that you allow other thoughts to preoccupy your mind or that you are not close to the Qur’an. You also treat the Qur’an as a noble book by

OVE TO REFLECT OVER ITS MESSAGE AND LOVE TO PRACTICE ITS INJUNCTIONS

touching and handling it with care. Whenever you are touching or holding it, you should remember that it is the word of Allah (SWT). Whenever you see the Qur’an at any wrong place (may be it falls down), you should pick it up. If you see its leaflet on the floor, you should pick it up and return it to the Qur’an. Where or when you cannot find the Qur’an to return it to, put it at a safe place or hand. You must never tear the Qur’an or fling it, for this is a sin. Love the Qur’an in all ways. Love to read and recite it. Love to memorise and study its meaning. Love to reflect over its message and love to practice its injunctions. These and many more are some of the ways by which you can treat the Qur’an as a noble Book. When you do all these, you will also become a noble person. As the Glorious Book (Qur’an al-Majd), you should believe that there is no Book that can be equated with the Qur’an. It is a Book that is above and ahead of all other religious or non-religious books in perfection, excellence, durability, reality and reliability. It is unique in its composition and organisation. It is a book with all its wordings from Allah (SWT) who is Himself the Glorious. Thus, His Book cannot but

Friday, February 1, 2013

be glorious. So, when you believe all these and treat the Qur’an as such, you will also be glorious in everything you dabble into. This is because the Qur’an makes those who act by its glory to become glorious in outlook, character, and prosperity. As a Plain Book (Qur’an al-Mubn), it is plain in its teachings and guidance. It makes it clear that Allah (SWT) is one and that He does not allow anyone to associate partners with Him. It makes it clear that there is paradise as reward for the righteous people and hell for the evil people. It makes what is lawful clear and what it is forbidden clear so that anybody who fails to follow the right guidance will have no one to blame but himself. If you follow the Plain Qur’an in everything you do or say, it will make you clear in vision and in all life’s activities. It is also a Book that is full of wisdom (Qur’an al-Hakim) as it is from the Wise Lord. Its commandments are full of wisdom in guiding men in the society. It enjoins women to use the hijb so that they will be honoured and respected and not maltreated like animals, or subhuman figures. It prohibits the drinking of alcohol so that man will not lose his senses and behave like a mad man. It commands that the arms of thieves be cut-off that such fellows will not

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steal again and to deter others from doing same. So, if one follows and practises the teachings of the Qur’an, one will be wise and rightly guided in everything one does. As a Magnificent Book (Qur’an al-Azm), it shows the greatness of Allah (SWT) as we can all see His handiwork everywhere in the universe. The Qur’an makes you see the magnificence of Allah (SWT) in how He dealt with the disobedient people of the past. Some of them were drowned in floods; and some were destroyed by whirlwinds and earthquakes. It also makes us see how Allah (SWT) saved the early Muslims from the plots of the enemies. The greatness of the Qur’an also lies in the fact that no Book has been able to meet up with its standard and challenge. The Qur’an talks about the future with precision. It has remained unchanged since its revelation and will remain absolutely so till the end of time. So, if any Muslim lives by this Qur’anic greatness, he will also become great. Dr. Zafaran is the Director, Vanguards Academy

ZAKAT IS 2.5% OF YOUR TOTAL WEALTH KNOWN AS NISAB AFTER HAVING FULFILLED ALL OBLIGATIONS, PAY YOUR ZAKAT

Marriage ordained by God

arriage in this context refers to the relationship between a man and a woman in order to bear children. Muslims are enjoined to marry specifically because of religion of Allah instead of beauty, riches/wealth or any other thing. Chapter 30, verse 21 of the glorious Qu’ran states that “And among His signs is this, that He created for you mates from among yourselves, that you may dwell in peace and tranquility with them, and He has put love and mercy between your (hearts): Verily in that are signs for those who reflect”. Also, chapter 4, verse 1 of the holy Qu’ranreads that “O Humans, revere your Guardian Lord, Who created you from a single person, created of like nature its mate, and from this scattered (like seeds) countless men and women. Reverence Allah through Whom you claim your mutual rights”. The above verses of the Qu’ran lay out the framework for the basis and objectives of marriage in Islam. In the ultimate Wisdom of Allah, we are first told that both partners, man and woman, are created from the same source and that this should be paid attention to as it is one of His Signs. The objective of marriage, according to the above Quranic verses, is to enable us to dwell in peace and tranquility. It is important for us to reflect on these words and their significance in the Islamic frame of reference. Prophet Mohammed (SAW) states that

“men and women are twin halves of each other”. This narration also brings home the fact that men and women are created from a single source. Furthermore, by using the analogy of twin half, Prophet Mohammed (SAW) has underlined the reciprocal and interdependent nature of men and women’s relationships. Should there be any reason for youths not to marry at the right time, such youths should imbibe the culture of fasting frequently as this will dissuade them from fornication; the holy Prophet concluded. A critical look at the recent happenings in the country indicates that youths that are in marriage age bracket have ignored marriage but are indulging in fornication. This is however against the tenets of Islam. Chapter 24, verse 21 of the glorious Qu’’ran warns youths against an act of fornication. It reads “Say to the believing men that they restrain their eyes and guard their private parts. That is purer for them. Surely, Allah is well aware of what they do”. In fact, all Prophets of Allah married while alive. This can be seen in chapter 13, verse 38 of the holy Qu’ran. In conclusion, in order to have peace in any relationship, there must be justice, fairness, equity, equality and fulfillment of mutual rights. Sheikh Abdul Ganniyy Umar Arikunkewu is the Founder/National Chief Missioner of JubatuRohfatuLlahi Islamic Society Of Nigeria (JUBFAT).

L-R: Chief Hasib Moukarim, Managing Director, Nigeria Gas and Steel Ltd presenting a Sewing machine to Mr. Mutiu Sulaiman at the 8th Zakat Distribution Ceremony of ZSF in Lagos recently while Mallam Ma’aruf Ahmed, the Administrative Secretary, ZSF admires.

CEO, Baytuzzeenah Nigeria Ltd, Hajia Saidat Otiti (2nd left) presenting a Deep Freezer and Generator to Mrs. Suyuti Bilkis Kamaldeen at the 8th Zakat Distribution Ceremony of ZSF in Lagos recently while other ZSF female executives watch.

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SEKINAH L AWAL

akat and Sadaqat Foundation (ZSF) has distributed Zakat proceeds worth fourty one million naira to the needy and less-priviledged. Speaking at the 8th Zakat Distribution Ceremony, Syrian Club, Lagos The Executive Director, ZSF, Imam Abdullahi Shuaib recollected his last encounter with the late Chairman of ZSF’s Advisory Board, Dr. AbdulLateef Adegbite, where

Friday, February 1, 2013

… Says Adegbite mandates ZSF to collect all outstanding yet to be paid by rich Muslims he called for greater commitment and dedication to Zakat work. The Executive Director, ZSF, Imam Abdullahi Shuaib recollected his last encounter with the late Chairman of ZSF’s Advisory Board, Dr. AbdulLateefAdegbite, where he called for greater commitment and dedication to Zakat work. The Executive Director, ZSF, Imam Abdullahi Shuaib recollected his last encounter with the

late Chairman of ZSF’s Advisory Board, Dr. AbdulLateefAdegbite, where he called for greater commitment and dedication to Zakat work. Permit me to recall who he was to us at the Foundation. Dr. Adegbite was a rare gem, a titan, a national icon, a colossus, a legend of our time, a servant to the people, a kind hearted fellow, a shining Star in the firmament of the Ummah,

a fortress for the Ummah, a bridge builder, a confidant, a fearless man, a mentor, a just fellow, an epitome of peace, humility, generosity and an ardent believer in the five pillars of Islam with an extra-ordinary flair and passion for Zakat, the most neglected pillar of Islam. The strategies of how to collect Zakat from all the money-bags who were yet to pay and then distribute it

Display Prophet Muhammad’s true character –Ahmad

ZSF distributes N41million Zakat

Chairman, Zakat & Sadaqat Foundation (ZSF), Prince Sulayman Olagunju (left) and the Administrator of Avi Ceena International Ltd, Mr. Darwish Foudeh right, presenting the key of a tricycle (Keke Marwa) to Mr. AbdurRazaq Salaudeen at the 8th Zakat Distribution Ceremony of ZSF in Lagos recently.

he World Head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat, Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the Fifth Khalifa, has said that holding rallies or marches was not the way to celebrate the date of birth of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Instead he called on all Muslims to inform the world of his peaceful and noble character. Hadhrat Ahmad made the comments whilst delivering the weekly Friday Sermon from the Baitul Futuh Mosque in South West London, on 25 January 2013. During the hour-long sermon, Hadhrat Ahmad talked about the grand status of the Holy Prophet Muhammadsaw as explained by the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat, Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmadas of Qadian. He also narrated the signs and dreams shown to the companions of the Promised Messiah which testified to the truth of his claim. With reference to celebrating the date of birth of the Holy Prophetsaw, he said: “These days many Muslims are celebrating the date

Call to Worship

Yaum al-Jumu’ah, Rabi Al-Awwal 20, 1434AH

of birth of the Holy Prophet Muhammadsaw by holding rallies. However, true happiness and celebration cannot be gained by holding rallies or marches, but can only be achieved by spreading the true message of the Holy Prophetsaw to the corners of the earth; by conveying his beautiful teachings to every single person in the world and by invoking salutations (Durood) upon the Holy Prophet Muhammadsaw.” Commenting upon rallies taking place in Pakistan, Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad said: “At this time, the extremist opponents of

Ahmadiyyat will be holding rallies in Rabwah and apart from insulting and cursing the Promised Messiahas, nothing else will be done. The blessed character of the Holy Prophetsaw will not even be discussed; instead they will abuse the Promised Messiah and use the filthiest language about his Jamaat. These are the people, who despite calling themselves Muslims, have moved far away from true Islam.” Later in the day, rallies were indeed held in and around Rabwah, in which the extremist opponents of the Ahmadiyya Muslim

Answers to last week’s Quiz *Muhammad Sallallahu ‘Alaihi Wa Sallam *Sayyidina Nabi Adam Alayhissalam *Sayyidina Nabi Muhammad Sallallahu ‘Alaihi Wa Sallam *No *12 *Rabi’ ul Awwal *12 Rabi’ ul Awwal *The Year of the Elephant (Âm al-Fîl) is the name in Islamic history *Makkah al-Mukarramah *His father’s name is

Hadhrat Abdullah *His father passed away several weeks before his birth *Hadhrat Abdullah was a direct descendant of the Nabi Ibrahim Alayhissalam *Qura’ish *His mother’s name is Sayyidah Amina *Sayyidah Halima Saadia *Hadhrat Abdul Muttalib *His grandfather Hadhrat Abdul Mut’talib Hadhrat Abu Talib -His Uncle

Jamaat continually abused Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmadas of Qadian and raised derogatory slogans about him on the pretext of celebrating the life of the Holy Prophet Muhammadsaw. “It is of great regret that any socalled Muslims can celebrate the life of the Holy Prophetsaw, who was the ultimate source of peace, compassion, mercy and tolerance, by resorting to curses and hatefilled vitriol.” Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad concluded his sermon by praying that the Muslim world is guided towards the true teachings of Islam.

*Madinah-tul-Munawarah *Yes, we should visit his tomb preferably after the performance of *Hajj *Yes, I should love my Prophet and pay greater respect to him than to any other human being including my parents *Yasrab *Three but they passed away in their childhood *Four *Sayyidatina Fatima (RA)

to the poor people. His wife confided in me that the very first thing he did when he opened his eyes was to utter the statement: “Where is Imam Shuaib, why did he leave me behind in his office. He must ensure that we collect all the outstanding Zakat yet to be paid by the rich Muslims…” The U.S. Consul General, Jeffrey Hawkins, in his goodwill message commended ZSF for the successful collection and distribution of Zakat which he described as a testament to the potentials of faith-based organizations to contribute meaningfully to the development of their communities. “In the United States, we learned some time ago that faith-based organizations are often in a better position than government agencies, to provide some important social services. Organizations like Islamic Relief USA, Catholic Charities and the Salvation Army have become an indispensable source of charitable giving in the United States and throughout the world, and countless thousands of smaller organizations continue to serve as major providers of care to the elderly, the indigent, and others in need within their local communities.” Like their public institution counterparts, these organizations rely on the trust of their constituents to operate effectively. Those that serve as reliable

stewards of the human and financial resources to which they are entrusted provide a model of good governance to public office holders as well as the voters who hold them to account. Governments that embrace the work of faith-based organizations and collaborate with them stand to advance their goals in critical areas like poverty alleviation and economic empowerment, while also raising the standard of service that the public can expect of them.” In his welcome address, the chairman of ZSF, Prince Sulayman Olagunju said that over the last few weeks, ZSF was preoccupied with Zakat distribution activities in other states of the Southwest Nigeria including Kwara State in the North Central part of the country. “The ceremony is a forum where the Foundation disburses the Zakat collected during the year under review to the successful beneficiaries who had been interviewed prior to this gathering and certified as Zakat beneficiaries for the year by the screening committee of the Foundation.” “This is our focus. This is the essence of our coming together as a group; to give meaning and add value to human life, both the have and have not. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) once said: “The best among you are those who are beneficial to others.”

‘Rededicate self to Prophet’s lofty principles’ AJAYI JOEL ABUJA

hief Imam of Apo Legislative Quarters’ Mosque, Sheik Nura Khalid, has urged Muslim faithful especially Nigerian leaders, to rededicate themselves to the Prophet’s lofty principles of honesty, integrity, simplicity and selflessness irrespective of their religion and political differences. Speaking with National Mirror shortly after the Jumat prayer in Abuja, Sheik Khalid emphasized the need for Muslim faithful to reflect on the essence of their existence. “God Almighty did not create man in vain, Allah creates human beings to worship Him.” He

stressed the important of love and peaceful co-existence in Islam irrespective of ethnic, religious and political differences. He admonished Muslims to treat others as they wish to be treated saying that the just-concluded Maulud Nabbiyy signifies the mercifulness of our beloved Prophet. He added that Muslims need to unite irrespective of their perceived differences and lamented the level of decadence as frightening and called on all Nigerians to always make the right choice when choosing life partners adding that the wellbeing of the children lies in the hands of their parents and if we have a decent family definitely we will have a decent society.

Call to Worship CONTINUED FROM PAGE 27

It is strange that Christians accuse the Holy Prophet (saw) and Muslims on account of this issue, but they do not stop to cast a glance at their holy men. Similarly, the Prophets of other nations also practised polygamy. Therefore, it is the custom of Prophets (on whom be peace) to marry, and if possible, more than once. For this reason, after the demise of Hadhrat Khadijah (ra), considering his office of prophethood, the prompt thought of a second marriage was a natural instinct for the Holy Prophet (saw). However, in such circumstances, the selection of a wife is not an easy undertaking for a Prophet, for many things must be observed, and many perspectives considered. Therefore, the Holy Prophet (saw) prayed to Allah the Exalted, that He may be a guide and leader in this matter. Thus, Allah the Exalted accepted the prayer of the Holy Prophet (saw), and informed him of His selection through a dream. Hence, it is mentioned in the Hadith that during these days, the Holy Prophet (saw) saw a dream in which Gabriel (as) came before him, presented him with a green silk handkerchief, and said, “This is your wife, in this world and in the hereafter.” When the Holy Prophet (saw) looked at this handkerchief, upon it was the picture of ‘A’ishah (ra) bint Abu Bakr (ra). Hakim (ra), the wife of ‘Uthman bin Maz‘un (ra) presented herself before the Holy Prophet (saw) and said, “O Messenger of Allah, why do you not marry?” “Whom shall I marry?” responded the Holy Prophet (saw). She responded, “If you wish there is an unmarried girl and a widow as well.” The Holy Prophet (saw)

Yaum al-Jumu’ah, Rabi Al-Awwal 20, 1434AH

Friday, February 1, 2013

Married for lust or sacrifice? MARRIAGE TO AN AGED WOMAN ...EVIDENTLY INDICATES THAT THIS WAS NOT AN ARRANGEMENT FOR PLEASURE AND LUST inquired, “Who?” Khaulah (ra) responded, “The unmarried girl is the daughter of your friend Abu Bakr (ra) named ‘A’ishah (ra), and the widow is Saudah bint Zam‘ah (ra), who was married to your late servant Sakran bin ‘Amr (ra).” The Holy Prophet (saw) said, “Alright, make a proposal to both of them.” Therefore, Khaula (ra) first took a proposal to Hadhrat Abu Bakr (ra) and his wife Umm Rumman (ra). At first, they were both astonished and said, “How is this possible? The Holy Prophet (saw) is our brother.” But when the Holy Prophet (saw) sent word that spiritual brotherhood does not affect physical relations, what objection could they have had? Rather, what greater happiness could they have received than for their daughter to be married to the Messenger of God? After this, Khaulah (ra) approached Hadhrat Saudah bint Zam‘ah (ra) and her relatives were also in consent. Consequently, in Shawwal 10 Nabawi, the Holy Prophet (saw) was married to both of them at a dowry of 400 dirhams, and along with Hadhrat Saudah’s(ra) marriage, her farewell ceremony was also held immediately thereafter. However, since at the time of her marriage, Hadhrat ‘A’ishah(ra) was only seven years of age, her farewell cer-

Chairman, Bradford Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Mr. Idowu Obasa (back) and the MD, Bradford Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Bode Tawak (R) exchanging pleasantries with some of the guests at the launching and public presentation of the company’s products yesterday.

The US Consul General, Mr. Jeffrey Hawkins (middle), Executive Director, Zakat & Sadaqat Foundation (ZSF), Imam Abdullahi Shuaib presenting the key of a tricycle (Keke Marwa) to Mr. Mukaila Aderoju (left) at the 8th Zakat Distribution Ceremony of ZSF in Lagos recently

emony was delayed until after the migration. At this point, it should be remembered that the place which was vacated in the home of the Holy Prophet (saw) by the demise of Hadhrat Khadijah(ra), was actually filled by Hadhrat ‘A’ishah (ra). The actual proposal of the Holy Prophet (saw) was to Hadhrat ‘A’ishah (ra), and she was also the one shown to him in his dream. His marriage to Hadhrat Saudah (ra) was for a special purpose and due to a specific requirement. This era was an era of severe hardship and suffering for the Muslims. The hatchets of oppression and violence were being slashed against the Muslim men, women and children by the vicious Quraish. These were days of extreme torture, especially for the weak and helpless. Therefore, in such circumstances, the Holy Prophet (saw) did not like that this hurt and grief-stricken widow be left without care and be subjected to days of torment due to Islam. Moreover, since the Holy Prophet (saw) also needed to demonstrate a practical lesson in mutual love, sympathy and support among the Muslims, when Saudah (ra) was mentioned before the Holy Prophet (saw), without any hesitation whatsoever, he decided to take her into his shadow of benevolence. This was a sacrifice by the Holy Prophet (saw) which was made as per the circumstances at hand, because, firstly, Saudah (ra) was a widow. Secondly, she was quite aged, as such, shortly after her marriage, she became incapable of intercourse. Thirdly, she possessed no distinctive qualities either, which qualified her to the spousal partnership of the Holy Prophet (saw),

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nor was there any special reason for attraction. Then, most of all, marrying her meant that the Holy Prophet (saw) was bringing a second wife in addition to the one, who became his wife by the divine selection of God Himself, and whom for this reason, the Holy Prophet (saw) loved dearly. Any individual can understand that no one weds another wife in addition to such a beloved one, without an extraordinary reason. Therefore, marriage to an aged woman like Hadhrat Saudah (ra) with the presence of Hadhrat ‘A’ishah (ra), evidently indicates that this was not (God-forbid) an arrangement for pleasure and lust, which the Holy Prophet (saw) was bringing into his home. Quite the contrary, it was a sacrifice by the Holy Prophet (saw) in light of the circumstances at hand. Hence, the actual and lasting proposal of the Holy Prophet (saw) was for Hadhrat ‘A’ishah (ra), with regards to whom God Almighty had Himself given a decision. Moreover, she was most suitable for the Holy Prophet (saw) because: First: She was a young girl, and for this reason, she was fully able to learn the teachings of Islam quickly, easily, and well, so as to become a religious teacher, which was necessary for the wife of a law-bearing Prophet. Second: She was extremely sharp and intelligent, due to which she was very befitting for the learning of religious matters and for the understanding of religion. Third: Since she was young, it was anticipated that she would live for a long time, an anticipation which was in fact fulfilled. TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK

Mufty, Conference of Islamic Organisations (CIO) Lagos State Sheikh Dhikrullah Shafi (right), presenting handset repair kits to Mr. Hamzat AbdurRasheed at the 8th Zakat Distribution Ceremony of ZSF in Lagos recently.

L-R: Chairman, Yaba Local Council Development Area,Hon. Jide Jimoh, presenting a Sewing machine and Generator to Mr. Razaq Ismail with Imam Abdullahi Shuaib, Executive Director, Zakat & Sadaqat Foundation (ZSF) and Prince Sulayman Olagunju, Chairman, ZSF

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Arty News

Friday, February 1, 2013

Freshwave Channel berths NGOZI EMEDOLIBE

new entertainment and reality show station, Freshwave Channel, has been established in Lagos. The station which is located in Surulere and Ikorodu metro areas of Lagos has Charles Umeugokwe as its Chief Executive Officer. Freshwave Channel was established in December 2012 under Startimes Network (Pay TV). The station currently operates on Channel 223 on the Startimes classic and gold bouquets. Presently, it covers 17 states in Nigeria: Lagos, Abuja, Delta, Edo, Anambra, Ogun, Kwara, Kaduna, Oyo, Sokoto, Rivers, Benue, Kano, Plateau, Enugu, Kebbi and Abia.

However, the coverage area of the station is expected to rise to 26 states in the next three months, while the entire nation would be covered in 2014. Umeugokwe, an entertainer with almost three decades of experience in the industry, said the channel is unique in that it is the home of quality family programmes that can be enjoyed by all age groups, while availing an unbeatable target audience for advertisers, considering the wide Startimes coverage in Africa. “We know that sometimes, parents would want to sit and watch TV with their kids. That is what this channel is all about. You can sit and enjoy the programmes that are good for adults, babies and teens. Aside that, it is happening on Startimes, meaning that the station can transmit to other African countries like

Mr. 2Kay rallies Iyanya, Chidinma, Burna Boy, others for Industry Nite

Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Guinea, Central African Republic and Burundi”. Some programmes and reality shows featured in the station are: Mama’s pot food network ( a live cooking food show); Freshwave music (featuring different music around the world like gospel, reggae and pop); Away life expedition reality (strength survival reality show which brings out the strength, determination and willingness in Nigerian youths); Gadgitals (platform where the most recent technological development in gadgets are showcased); Street talents reality show (featuring different dance, comedy, singing and performances), Pillars of Africa (deals with community builders in Africa) and Praise talent amongst many others.

Mr. 2Kay

onaventure O. Chukwu has emerged winner of the grassroots short story contest, Literary Star Search competition worth N1million. He won with his short story, Mother. The prize-winner was announced January 19, at Nustreams Conference and Culture Centre, Ibadan at the first edition of Ibadan’s foremost literary and art event, Artmosphere, held under the theme Timeline. Chukwu’s Mother beat two other writers - Chasing Lizards by M.S.C. Okolo and The Woman without a Name by Bode Asiyanbi – to win the maiden edition of the prize. While addressing a gathering of writers and artistes at

Val’s Day brings Karyn White to Nigeria TERH AGBEDEH

ADEBIMPE OLATUJA rafton records’ prized act, Mr 2Kay, has moved over to Lagos to continue the music conquest that has seen him taking over Bayelsa, Port Harcourt and the entire South South region of Nigeria. The talented entertainer, who has been busy spreading his music across Nigeria and beyond, arrived Lagos earlier this week, for a long stay that will see him settle here to continue work on his album, record collaborations with friends and colleagues, and honour performance engagements. “2Kay is starting off with a welcome gig by the biggest music industry platform Industry Night. Grafton CEO Tonye Ibiama announced on Wednesday, that 2Kay and some of his closest friends in the music, will take over Industry Night on Wednesday February 6, for a spectacular evening that will see him premiere his new video and celebrate his birthday with friends and fans. 2Kay will be joined by hit-makers Iyanya, Jaywon, Burna Boy and JMartins, as well as Chidinma, Ruggedman, Phyno, IllBliss, Frank D’Nero, Tha Suspekt and Mbryo. The event will hold at the GET Arena, Chidinma Lekki, Lagos, with Larry D as host. “Lagos has shown me so much love, from the DJs to OAPs and all the fans. And I’m here to return the love and even make more music that everyone will enjoy”, the golden-haired entertainer said.

White

Iyanya

‘It’ll all start at Industry Night, we’re bringing Port Harcourt party to Lagos!’ The event is supported by Beat FM, Spinlet, Grafton Records and BlackHouse Media.

merican R’n’B singer Karyn White will perform at La Campagne Tropicana, Lagos on Valentine’s Day courtesy of Atunda, one of Nigeria’s foremost entertainment promoters. The coming of the platinum-selling singer coincides with the launch of the annual Queen of Queens pageant also billed for the same venue. The pageant is an initiative, by Atunda, to bring together winners of all other pageants organised annually in the country. Dr. Wanle Akinboboye, founder of Atunda Entertainment, said in a press statement that Ms. White was picked among the many artistes considered for the Valentine’s Day launch because she possesses one of the most memorable, distinctive voices ever heard in popular music. Akinboboye explained that White is an accomplished singer/songwriter who stamped her feet on the sands of music with her smash hit song and female anthem, Superwoman. That song made international waves, selling over a million units, being certified Gold and named the Billboard R’n’B Song of the Year 1989. The founder of Atunda further noted that the launch will also give some established and upand-coming Nigerian artistes a rare opportunity to perform and hobnob with this international super star and enigma. Stars from Nollywood are among ‘A’ list guests expected to grace the occasion billed for February.

Chukwu wins Literary Star Search contest the event, spokesperson for the prize, Seun Jegede, commended Chukwu for his winning story and urged other writers to emulate him and participate in the next edition of the contest to be announced soon. He said although writers were in a minority, a vocal minority, he urged them to bind together so as to be heard loud and clear. Earlier, three writers and a songster had treated the audience to poetry and music. This was spiced with the interrogation of the difference between spoken

word performance and traditional poetry and their relevance in addressing social issues. Author of Antonyms of Mirage, Atilola Moronfolu, was the first to perform. With the fluidity of an eel, Morunfolu spoke her words to the audience. She did The Wrestler and Akani street and the Atheist. Founder of Pathway Initiative and womanist poet, Funmi Aluko rendered The Hood and Seasons. Other performers also engaged the Ibadan audience.

Escape

Friday, February 1, 2013

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Audience at the amphi theatre

Lagos Live: Cross cultural

TERH AGBEDEH

o celebrate 50 years in Nigeria, Goethe-Institut threw a four-day party at Freedom Park, Broad Street, Lagos, in the Lagos Live Art Festival that featured participants from countries on the continent and from Europe. Director of Goethe-Institut, Nigeria, Marc-Andre Schmachtel; festival curators, Martin Baasch from Germany and Oyinda Fakeye, as well as associate curator, Jude Anogwih of the Video Art Network, VAN Lagos, all promised a festival to remember. But what unfolded in the four days from December 6 to 9, 2012, was as colourful as it was memorable, perhaps even beyond the wildest imagination of the organisers. At the official opening of the event preceded by a parade from the City Hall office of Goethe-Institut to Freedom Park, Schmachtel had said that Goethe was proud to be holding the event at the Colonial Prison turned theme park. He explained that it was a natural choice since the institute’s office is a stone throw away and also that it was the perfect place to hold the festival of live art performances, music, dance, exhibitions, theatre and interaction. He said the festival would feature, among others, “artists from Germany, Austria, Cameroun, Angola and Nigeria”. It is a platform for young artists, he stated, because this is what Goethe-Institut has been known for in the last 50 years. To provide a platform for Nigerian, German and other African artistes to exchange ideas, have an intercultural dialogue. That very night. popular UK-based Nigerian Blue Funk artiste, Keziah Jones, mounted the stage to work his magic in a concert that not only thrilled the huge crowd but whose performance will remain indelible in their hearts. While he performed, the artist Native painted the

Yahaya

Baasch

PEOPLE OF LAGOS CAME TOGETHER TO CONTINUE DIALOGUING IN A CHARGED AMBIENCE OF CAMARADERIE background in the gray hues of a local super hero in action. Before the concert, Jelili Atiku had his Porongodo (#4 Feast) installation performance by the pond in the park questioning the hysterical issues in the Biblical story of Cain and Abel. Atiku, clad in nothing but yellow paint and holding a machete, moved back and forth by a tree of bones and the unending sound of cows mooing. It was a sight to behold. Only day one and the festival had occupied every space in the park; Kongi’s Harvest Gallery played host to the exhibitions by Dennis Feser and Karin Then (Germany), Emeka Udemba (Nigeria/Germany), Alaforo Sikoki, Mudi Yahaya and Andrew Esiebo (Nigeria), Edson Chagas (Angola), Em’Kal and Eyongakpa (Cameroun). What they had on display was compelling pictures and impressive video art. VAN Lagos, took control of the Cell Walk screening video art on eight screens.

Featured here were Wura-Natasha Ogunji (USA/Nigeria), Alyaa Sirelkhatim (Sudan), Henok Getachew (Ethiopia), Victor Ehikhamenor, Mudi Yahaya, Jude Anogwih, Abraham Oghobase and Omoligho Odenta (Nigeria). There is no doubt that the curators did a good job because all the works screened in the Cell Walk were riveting, as were performances, pictures and videos of the festival. On the first day, too, there was Monster Truck (Germany) performance of Home is Where the Heart is; Kissin’ in Yoruba Movies by Theater Im Bahnhof (Austria), as well as workshop presentation by Richard Siegel. Monster Truck produced delicious German sausage, famed to be the best in the world and gave a tour of a typical scenery of Southern Germany in 10 minutes and for N10 at the Red Steel Stage. It was also by this stage that the welcome dance for the festival, the Schuhplattler dance, was performed by the Nto-

roso Odido Dance Troupe (Nigeria). In the performance by Theater Im Bahnhof at the Amphi Theatre, an Austrian actor and his Yoruba counterpart compare notes on not just kissing but also a variety of other issues. On the remaining three days of festival the crowd grew bigger and though almost all the events started behind schedule, viewers waited patiently. Segun Adefila and the Crown Troupe of Africa (Nigeria), took over the main stage on day two. Although Adefila was out of the country, there was still bite in the troupe’s performance of Ipinya & Bariga, which explored the manipulative power of organised invasion of primitive and conflicting territories. On day three Ntoroso Odido, which said it represents, “Our mind, culture and heritage”, performed Ajigbe: The Face Behind the Mask to unending applause, while Aralamo: The Body We Know by S.I.A. Projects/Sunday Israel Akpan opened performance on the last day of the festival. Akpan did his thing with a barrel full of water and ethereal movement on the stage keeping him connected to the audience from start to finish. Flinn Theater (Germany), which performed the thought provoking and comical The Power Play, made the Amphitheatre of Freedom Park their home for the last two days of the event. The Power Play, connected storytelling with live music made on the futuristic instrument called the Fello (the only one of its kind). The special guest for the performance turned out to be musician Ade Bantu. The drama was better watched than imagined. Ade Bantu played a major part in the festival in the concert tagged: Ti-Ro-Ro: Bantu and the Elders. It was a musical conversation those who missed it are still wondering how that happened. Essentially, musicians Ade Bantu and Siji, who are working on a documentary titled: Elders’ Corner, brought those elders to the main stage and held a musical con-

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Escape

Friday, February 1, 2013

Travel News

Samodun Fiesta commits to promoting Yoruba culture

German Sausage Kiosk

Masquerade by Ajigbe

50th birthday fest versation with them. The elders were: Paulson Kalu, Fatai Rolling Dollar and Orlando Julius. It was reminiscent of the days when highlife ruled Lagos but also a strong statement that the young artistes Schmachtel mentioned in his opening address are indeed taking the advantage of the platform provided by the German cultural institute. This concert and the one by Kuku, a Nigerian based abroad and by the Camerounian, Ntone Edjabe, which closed the festival, will echo in the culture and art spaces of Lagos for a long time to come. Perhaps that echo will be strong enough to make Goethe-Institut have an encore of the festival annually henceforth. If the opening parade round Lagos Island, was to engage the city which is becoming an open space for culture and art as Schmachtel put it, then, the Lagos Live Art Festival achieved that in Freedom Park, leaving no space unoccupied while the festival lasted. It is indeed a reflection of the 50 years that Goethe-Institut has been in Nigeria. The work of Baasch, who said he came to Nigeria over a year ago to plan the festival, and that of his co-curators, Goethe and its backers, as well as the over 150 participants in the festival is not in vain. “It was obvious from the start that Goethe-Institut is connected to several art forms, from filmmaking to theatre, literature to music. So, what Oyinda and I, from the beginning when we met did, was to try and put up an art festival representing

FACT FILE •

Goethe-Institut has been in Nigeria since 1962 and also has an office in Kano State, which is not functional at the moment due to terrorist upheaval in Northern Nigeria.

•

The Lagos Live Art Festival was put together to celebrate Goethe-Institut’s 50th anniversary in the country.

•

Marc-Andre Schmachtel is Director of the German cultural institution.

•

Goethe also runs a school that teaches the German language to interested Nigerians.

•

Jelili Atiku’s installation

Goethe-Institut Lagos office is located at Catholic Mission Street, City Mall, Lagos Island.

many art forms. We wanted to present the diversity of Nigerian artistes and the diversity of the exchange that has been ongoing for the last 50 years”, Baasch said in his speech at the opening. “We are going to have concerts, dance, theatre plays. It is a 50th birthday and we are here to celebrate, so don’t take it too serious,” he had said. What he failed to say was that the festival was going to usher in a different kind of vibe to the vibrant Lagos art and culture. But most of all, people of Lagos came together to continue dialoguing in a charged ambience of camaraderie.

Keziah Jones on stage.

PHOTOS: TERH AGBEDEH

fter successfully holding the maiden edition of the annual Samodun Fiesta between Thursday, January 24 and Saturday, January 26, the Oyo State Government led by Governor Abiola Ajimobi has expressed its commitment to the promotion of the culture and tradition of the Yoruba race. The fiesta, which began on Thursday with the Ajumorin Walk involving Governor Ajimobi, members of the state executive council, local government chairmen, heads of boards, parastatals and extra-ministerial departments, as well as popular actors and actresses, took off from the Government House through Oje, Beere to Mapo Hall in Ibadan. The governor, while addressing the mammoth crowd at Mapo Hall, said the Samodun Fiesta was one of the efforts of the state government at reminding the people of a chunk of the great past. “In the promotion, advancement and propagation of our culture, the world will realise that Africa did not just stumble on a heritage; we have always had a great heritage. Indeed, comparatively, we will realise that even though our fathers could not read and write, they were greater doctors, physicists, paleontologists and even political scientists, far more than what obtains in our so-called modernity and civilisation”, he said. The governor added that the fiesta was aimed at advertising the Yoruba culture, stressing that this would be done through showcasing the language, sense of dressing, festivals, folklores, traditional mode of recreation and a host of the corpus of livelihood worthy of the praises of this generation. On Friday, the governor hosted prominent artistes at the Pamilerin Night. Among the several events that took place was a stage play and entertainment from prominent artistes such as Sanyeri, Golugo, Funke Akindele, Aderuboko and many others celebrating with the people of Oyo State. Speaking on behalf of the actors and actresses, former president of Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (ANTP), Prince Jide Kosoko, commended the Ajimobi administration for organising the fiesta, saying it was a further demonstration of its commitment to the promotion of Yoruba culture. Ajimobi expressed pride at being a Yorubaman explaining that what he has learnt about the history of the people is too valuable to ignore. “...Oyo State...is the cradle of the Yoruba civilisation. You would now wonder why European historians and theorists condemn Africa as lacking in history, architecture and efficient system of administration. “Unfortunately for us all, we have been boxed into believing that our inherited system and culture are of lesser texture to that of the Europeans. This is part of the mental slavery that our people have been subjected to for centuries”, the governor said. It is the state governor’s hope that Samodun Fiesta, held each year, would activate the cultural-tourism sector and be used as a platform to galvanise the young and old in rededicating themselves to their profession and trade as well as turning it to a potent instrument to mobilise wealth, empower the people and generate employment.

Denrele’s Day Adenrele Niyi Denrele’s Day is a collection of witty & sincere articles inspired by a zany imagination

denrele@nationalmirroronline.net Follow on Twitter@MizNiyi

Friday, February 1, 2013

Obligated to say no!

family member of mine is pres- swayed by decisions of popular opinion ently in a romantic quagmire rather than those taken personally after –caught at the crossroads of ce- careful and rational reasoning. I’ll buttress my viewpoint by this menting a long term but troubled relationship in marriage or walking away classic example: From infancy– and unfrom his fiancée and every other finan- derstandably so–parents determine the cial commitment with the wedding eight course of a child’s academic life by initiating and following through on schooling weeks away! First, I hope he doesn’t kill me –literari- choices (for those privileged to have parly– for making public a very private affair ents who deem education a prerequisite and one which can profoundly affect the to an advantageous life and can afford lives of those in the middle of the ‘mess’. the cost). From daycare, preparatory school, nursHowever, the hiccup had brewed for a few months even as immediate and extended ery, primary to the higher levels of secondfamily attempted on several occasions to ary and tertiary, each successfully cleared reconcile the warring partners. In actual- level of formal learning presumably sets in ity, that’s what they are –from lovers who motion the scramble for the next. Take my nephew, Mofiyinfoluwa, just couldn’t get enough of each other to cat and dog who would lunge and lash out barely two years old (last November) and already one of the newest entrants of a maliciously at each other. To allow him some measure of privacy, nursery/primary school in Lekki-Lagos. I cannot go into further details of what He resumed for the new academic sesled to this degeneration in their rela- sion this January along with babies as tionship, but hearing from both parties, high as my knees (okay, maybe my nephI can deduce that the pressure has been ew is a little tall for his age). In the first on them to follow a progressive course week of his resumption at school, I was to their relationship after a long dating close to tears several times witnessing period –marriage. It was assumed, stated him wake as early as 5.30 a.m. to prepare and necessitated. After all, two young for ‘school’! One particular morning, his people in their mid and late twenties in mother, moved by maternal pangs, nearly a romantic alliance and financially se- gave in to his I-want-to-sleep-more wailing to keep him from cured by the labour UR PECULIAR going to school. When market, what else can she realised there they do with their SOCIO ECONOMIC was money waiting to ‘boringly routine life’ be made at her store except get married, CHALLENGES IN and customers callabi? That is how our IGERIA INDIVIDUAL ing for attention, off traditional society the young fella went has programmed us FAMILY UNITS EXIST with no control over to think and behave. the course of his desNow, I see how inBY SHEER SELF tiny. compatible they are PRESERVATION Now, as far as I and if the fights I’ve know, no school in the heard about in the past two weeks are anything to judge Western world will enrol a child for forby, a marriage between the two would mal schooling at any age lesser than five. However, we also have our peculiar soprobably be a farce –riddled with bitter rancour, infidelity and God knows what cio-economic challenges in Nigeria –individual family units more or less exist by other travails. So, if we were to follow traditional sheer self preservation –with due regard thoughts, people like me, who are way to divine assistance, and Federal Governout of our twenties and still unwed, be- ment provides the barest minimum of long to the ‘stigmatised’ old-spinster cat- support to alleviate the economic woes egory who wasted their youth in riotous or burden of the citizenry. Any one of eiliving or some other wilful, self-destruc- ther parent can be the bread winner of the home and in many cases, going by the tive lifestyle. Allow me to use Chief Nike Oshi- present economic dilemma in Nigeria, nowo’s and Dr. Duro Soleye’s marriage both make the economic foray to rake in as poster child of love gone sour. Unfor- some income for the home. At this stage, my relative has decided tunately, their union and its subsequent break up six years later is being ‘cel- to call it quits with the wedding despite ebrated’ and I wonder, what really went appeals about losing face before people awry? Were they wrong for each other to whom wedding invitations have gone, aso ebi that have been bought, et al. The from the get go? Or did they fall out of love or was the pressure of being in the fantastic thing is that, his family is givpublic eye too enormous to bear? We may ing him the support he requires. As we grow in consciousness, it is imnever know, but methinks ‘Aunty Nike’ (I know someone who is related to her, portant that we begin to learn principles so by extension she is aunty to me, lol!) that would shape us into self-determinshouldn’t have even bothered marrying ing, self-reliant individuals rather than making ourselves extensions of societal when she did (strictly my view). Our society is entrenched in several expectations and living a mediocre life to paradoxes that small wonder a sizeable please people against living a fulfilling number of Nigerians grow from child- one for us. I have said my piece! Love and peace for the weekend. hood into adulthood influenced and

–

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CLAPPERBOARD with

Eddie Ugbomah www.edifosafilm.com

Re-colonialisation of Nigeria (1)

ntil mobile telecommunications companies are physically dealt with, they will never stop cheating and calling Nigerians fools. The millionaire gambling event rakes in N200m daily, so in seven days they rake in N1.4bn. What is their tax or commitment to this country? They have their hands in everything spending only 5% of their massive earning. They must be forced to sell shares so that Nigeria can enjoy part of their excessive profits. They pay peanuts to the stars they use for adverts and then limit their appearances in other adverts. My pain is that these people are so bold that no amount of complain will make them change. They brag that they give recharge cards to top government officials, lawmakers, media bosses, security officers and parastatals. Who then can you run to, when those that are supposed to control are compromised? When you send an SMS and it fails, you send again and these telecoms companies will collect money twice for one SMS! When I make enquires, their voice machine takes time to answer after they have talked about sales. I am now being told that the line I registered at Agbara two years ago is not registered; in spite of the fast that my picture was taken and I filled a form. Now, they are threatening to cut me off. At my age I have nothing to lose; I must continue to fight for this country. Since these people won’t stop sending promotional materials at odd times and over 10 times a day, I am planning to physically protest. These kinds of abuses can only happen in this stinking corrupt country. I want to start organising people’s protests, by boycotting two major ones; they know themselves. I learnt Nigeria Communications Commission, NCC, told them to stop sending promos, raffles and adverts to people but two of them just ignored this warning and are still bombarding us telling Nigerians that we are cheap and stupid. Many media houses are even afraid to publish people’s protest because of adverts and recharge cards their bosses get. Who is afraid of the mobile thieves? We must take drastic protests until only Nigerian-owned companies exist. These foreigners are more powerful in Nigeria than any government official. They brag about how they have bought over our officials and complains won’t bother them, so I am advocating for people’s revolution. Since government doesn’t care for us –just to collect taxes, kill us on the roads, no jobs and security does not exist, why won’t these foreigners abuse us? We thank God David Mark was proven wrong that phones is not only for the rich, but do we have to watch the same phone bankrupt, exploit and insult us with nothing happening? I have children who have friends and I teach in a Lagos

AT MY AGE I HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE; I MUST CONTINUE TO FIGHT FOR THIS COUNTRY University, but if I should mobilise these children, I’m sure the so-called security people will wake up to kill fellow Nigerians, charge them to court and ignore them when they revolt for their rights. We don’t nip problems until they get out of hand; I am calling on the federal, state and local governments to do something. I do not and will never support terrorists damaging mobile installations but I won’t watch these people insult and extort money from us. Their takein is more than the state’s budget and we are watching take our foreign cash away as earnings and profit. They have now taken over television broadcasting in Nigeria; Nigeria Television Authority, NTA, opened seven channels on satellite and can’t transmit them. DSTV, MultiChioce, African Magic joined by GOTV, have overtaken the country. If not for Primetime, Soundcity, Philip Trimnell and Gbedu, they would have used Channel O and others to destroy our musicians. I am asking NTA, STV, Channels and AIT to come up with joint effort to salvage electronic media in Nigeria. These mobile companies bought into Nigeria because of our population. They were expecting to make their investment back in four years; they made it in six months. They say charity begins from homes and I seriously support the idea of getting rid of these foreigners and allowing only Nigerian companies to exist. These other cable companies give Nigerians big names to make them work harder and these fools are so power drunk they can’t see they are been exploited. These people make money every second, they don’t care to serve us only to exploit us and I hope to see the result of people’s revolution if NCC and the federal government fail to do something. I ask this question; why are we so gullible and tolerant? We are just a country of shock absorbers and everything is tribal. I am sure members of the National Assembly too suffer these insults; why are they quiet or have they too being compromised? I spend over N1000 a day, which means my mobile phone eats better than me and as a jobless man, I have to ask my friends and children to send me recharge cards to only be exploited. I have used the words exploitation, abuses, insults severally in this essay; I hope somebody will do something before I start any kind of physical protest and the security will start to do their eye service job.

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People In The Mirror

Friday February 1, 2013

OOU @ 30: The alumni of Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) organised a dinner at the Sheraton Hotel, Lagos on Sunday, January 20 in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the university. It was a spectacular occasion as old students, staff and other stakeholders of the citadel of learning reawakened memories and gave several speeches to hightlight achievements recorded over the years while recommendations were made to lift the institution’s fortunes. L-R: Mrs. Keji Alebiosu, Mr. Henry Oshikoya and Mr. Tope Akinlaja, during the event.

L-R: Leading member, Save Nigeria Group, Mr. Biodun Sowunmi; Pastor Ade Adeniji and wife, Kemi at the occasion.

L-R: Chidima Naze, Amaka Okorie and Ogechi Naze.

Mr. Tayo Olokode (L) and Mr. Olabode Seriki.

L-R: Mr. Wale Ajomale, Mr. Tunde Soga and Chairman, Lagos Island Local Government, Wasiu Eshinlokun.

L-R: Mr. Muyiwa Green, Otunba Wale Olufeko and Mr. Bayo Olomodosi.

L-R: Femi Ogun; Managing Director, Verdant Zeal, Mr. Tunji Olugbodi and artiste, Kenny Saint Brown (KSB) at the event. PHOTOS: OLUFEMI AJASA

Month-long festivities for Jahman @ 50 Ex-Editor of The Sunday Guardian, Jahman Oladejo Anikulapo was feted to series of celebratory activities which spanned the month of January as he retired from journalism and also marked his golden jubilee birthday on January 16. The curtain raiser event, organised by friends of Jahman, held on January 13 at the Freedom Park, Broad Street, Lagos. Tagged “3D-Jahman: The Three Dimensions of a Cultural Change Agent – Artist, Activist and Art Journalist”, it was an evening of tribute to the veteran journalist from friends and associates and debate involving stakeholders in the culture and arts sector.

L-R: Odia Ofeimun; Prof. Folabo Ajayi-Soyinka of University of Kansas and celebrant, Jahman Anikulapo.

L-R: Filmmaker, Tunde Kelani; Miriam Travis and Foluwakemi Ijagbemi at the event.

L-R: Prof. Akachi Ezeigbo; Prince Yemisi Shyllon and Mr. Kayode Aderinokun.

L-R: Prof. Ahmed Yerima of Redeemer’s University; Chief Operating Officer, Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State, Mr. Yomi Layinka and Publisher, Cassava Republic Press, Bibi Bakare-Yusuf at the event.

Afrobeat artiste Edaoto thrilling the audience with his performance at the event.

Ogun State Commissioner for Arts and Culture, Mrs. Yewande Amusan; author, Lola Shoneyin and star dancer/choreographer, Yeni Anikulapo-Kuti.

Mr. Basil Okafor(left) and Mr. Ifeanyi Mbanefo.

Jahman Anikulapo (middle) flanked by guests cutting his birthday cake. PHOTOS: OLUFEMI AJASA

Friday February 1, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Mirror Drive

2013 Detroit Auto Show:

Likely consumer favourites OLUSEGUN KOIKI

WITH AGENCY REPORTS

he recently-concluded North American International Auto Show held in Detroit, Michigan, USA from January 14 to January 27 came with lots of glitz and glamour. Apart from the fact that the 2013 Detroit Auto Show welcomed auto professionals and stakeholders around the world, vehicle manufacturers equally seized opportunities offered by the 14-day event to showcase new brands for 2013, 2014 and beyond. The Auto Show in Detroit is one of the top automotive events in the world. Each January, before opening the doors to the public, show organisers usually host more than 6,000 international journalists at this exciting show to see all-new models revealed during the exclusive media preview. The auto show has been a mainstay for

more than 100 years. From its beginnings during the infancy of the automobile to its rise to international prominence in 1989 when it became the North American International Auto Show, the event has been host to more than 1,000 North American and worldwide vehicle introductions. The 2013 edition featured the debut of the new Chevrolet Corvette, BMW 4-Series, Maserati Quattroporte and dozens of other world and North American debuts. This edition of **Mirror Drive** reviews some of vehicles from the show still catching the fancy of the automobile industry.

2014 Acura MDX

Acura NSX concept pt Acura unveiled an NSX in Detroit a year ago and this year, it showed the next step in the car’s evolution. This concept car features slightly tweaked styling, including a new grille and wheels. It also adds thickly bolstered sport seats and a Simple Sports Interface control system designed to reduce clutter. Acura said the car will be powered by a new mid-mounted 3.5-litre V6 engine and three electric motors, two of which will drive the front wheels. Watch for a production version, possibly

Lincoln MKC concept

This vehicle made its world debut the d it ld d b t att th Detroit auto show giving stakeholders a better look at some new exterior styling cues that may be seen in upcoming Acura models. The 3-row MDX will be a major component in the release of Acura’s newgeneration line up, which needs to draw

s o m e positive atti t tention following some questionable design thinking over the past few model years. The MDX Prototype is slightly shorter in overall length than the current MDX, but has a longer wheelbase and sweeping bodylines.

Ford Atlas concept

The MKC concept is a nearproduction-ready preview of a compact crossover due in 2014. It features an attractive and elegant exterior design and an interior replete with leather offset by metal-flake-infused wood trim. It is based on the Ford Escape and shares the vehicle’s 2.0-litre 231-horsepower and 1.6-litre 173-horsepower EcoBoost 4-cylinder engines. Programmable ride control will enhance ride and handling and drivers will control the transmission with push buttons.

The Atlas concept represents a likely future design direction for the F-150 pickup. It also previews some future functionality. Ford’s bed step now rises from the tailgate to act as a cradle for a roof storage system and the bed has hidden ramps and 110-volt outlets. Under the hood, Ford says it features a next-generation EcoBoost engine, likely a version of the current 3.5-litre V6, but with stopstart technology. Look for a new F-150 in the next couple of years with features from the Atlas.

Hyundai HCD-14 Genesis

The HCD-14 Genesis concept provides a peek into the future of Hyundai’s premium cars. It features a

coupe-like roofline with rear-hinged rear doors, a clean profile and a blocky grille. It is more impressive inside, where it uses eye-tracking and gesturerecognition technology to control the infotainment system. Auto stakeholders say the next Genesis will likely be much tamer than this, but if this car is any indication, it will have a much bolder design than the current car.

Volkswagen Passat Performance Volkswagen introduced a new Passat for the 2012 model year and now it is exploring the possibility of a sport model. The Passat Performance concept is powered by a 1.8-litre turbocharged 4-cylinder engine that cranks out 250 horsepower. The suspension is lowered to improve handling, and the exterior features dual exhaust, 19-inch wheels and carbon appliqués on the mirrors. Inside, it has carbon-style trim on the dashboard and seat inserts. Industry analysts expect the Passat sport model will be offered in a year or two.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Mirror Drive

Friday February 1, 2013

Fiat 500 Abarth Tenebra Design

BMW 4-Series

The Fiat 500 Abarth Tenebra is not so much a concept car as a possible interior and exterior styling package. The diminutive 500 gets cloaked in matte gray paint with black chrome accents and gloss gray mirrors, side stripes and scorpion roof logo. Inside, it has black sport seats with gray piping and stitching and a racing harness pass-through. The flat-bottom steering wheel uses the same colours, and the dash is finished in matte carbon fibre. A Beats audio system with HD radio rounds out the feature set.

Other than some of the wilder design bits, such as the front and rear fascias, the mirrors and perhaps the side scoops, the 4-Series coupe concept looks production-ready. BMW says it will be more exclusive than the 3-Series coupe it replaces, which likely means more expensive. The car is lower, wider and longer than the last model, giving it an even more dynamic look. Expect 300-horsepower 435i and 240-horsepower 428i versions at launch late this with an M4 summer, w to follow later.

Toyota Furia

Honda Urban SUV The “cute ute” began with the launch of the compact Toyota RAV4 in 1996. Today, we are seeing the rise of the cuter ute, which is an even smaller, subcompact vehicle. The Honda Urban SUV concept fills that bill. It represents a new crossover for Honda that slots in below the CR-V in size and price. Based on the Honda Fit, the Urban SUV concept will get a version of the CR-V’s Magic Seat design that allows several seat configurations, including a fold-flat mode. No engine information is available.

The Corolla has run into tough competition from Ford, Chevrolet, Hyundai and Dodge over the past few years, but the Furia concept unveiled in Detroit shows Toyota will soon fight back, according to professionals. The Furia reveals an aggressive design direction for the next Corolla — one that Toyota calls Iconic Dynamism. A company insider says the production car will look very similar, with changes likely for the front and rear fascias, 19-inch wheels and carbon-fibre rocker

Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Chevrolet revived the storied Stingray name for the seventh generation of its iconic Corvette. The 2014 Corvette Stingray is lighter, stiffer and more powerful than the outgoing model. Despite the legendary name, which was last used in 1967, the C7 Corvette does not possess a retro look. Instead, General Motors’ designers say the new version was inspired by the aerodynamic and purposeful look of fighter jets and stingray fish.

Volkswagen CrossBlue With the Cross CrossBlue sBlue Volkswagen exploring concept, Volkswage en is ex the possibility of adding a midsize SUV above the compact Tiguan and below the midsize Touareg for the North American market. The most innovative aspect of the CrossBlue is the plug-in hybrid diesel powertrain that makes 305 horsepower and 516 lb-ft of torque while delivering an estimated 35 mpg, 14 miles of electric-only range and a zeroto-60 mph time of 7.2 seconds. Players in the sector say they expect a 7-passenger production version of the CrossBlue in a couple of years, probably with conventional powertrains.

panels. The next Corolla will go on sale this by the middle of this year.

Audi RS7

Infiniti Q50

Nissan Resonance

Audi pulled the wraps off two high-performance versions of existing vehicles –an RS 7 (complete with twin turbochargers and a frankly ridiculous 560 horsepower) and a sports-oriented Q5 (dubbed the SQ5) that uses the family’s supercharged V6 to find some 354 horsepower. There were a couple other attendees worth mentioning briefly, too: the reworked 2014 R8 and the chopped-top RS 5 Cabriolet.

To make way for new vehicles and simplify the brand’s confusing naming convention, Infiniti will now use Q for cars and QX for crossovers, plus double digits in increments of 10 to denote hierarchy based on vehicle price points. The first car to fit into this new naming structure is the Q50 luxury sedan. The new Q50 features a new design with curves and creases that look like waves in water. Details like the shape of the front grille and the kink in the rear roof pillar will be signature cues for the brand going forward.

Bentley Continental GTC Speed The folks at Bentley insist there is nothing like the wind in your hair at 200 miles per hour. Aside from sticking your head out the window of a Top Fuel funny car, there are not many ways to achieve this velocity on firm ground. Bentley has one solution. Introduced at the Detroit show is the all-new Continental GTC Speed, which sport a monster twin-turbocharged 12-cylinder engine that puts out 616 horsepower and sends this sexy beast from 0 to 60 mph in 4.1 seconds and on to a top speed of 202 mph.

With the Rogue and Murano due for redesigns, Nissan is examining the future of its crossover styling. The Nissan Resonance concept represents one possible design path, coupled with a hybrid powertrain. Nissan says the design balances dynamic fluidity with pure edginess, and it calls the cabin a hightech and inviting VIP lounge. The white leather, real wood and graphically layered digital displays create an upscale interior feel. Nissan says the Resonance looks futuristic, but some of the lines could reasonably show up in future production vehicles.

Cocktail

Friday, February 1, 2013

FOR YOUR SUCCESS

WITH DR. DEJI FOLUTILE

Today's Tonic (89)

No matter what happens to you in life, you alone have the capacity to choose your response to it. When you form the habit of searching for the positive in every circumstance, your life will move into its highest dimensions. –Robin Sharma * * * MY NOTE: I have learnt in life that there is no reality but only perception. It is not what happens to you that should determine your destiny; it is the way you react to what happens to you that will determine your destiny. So ultimately it is our attitude to life situations that will make or break us. TEL 08104942999 E-MAIL deji.folutile@gmail.com Follow me @TwitterOWOTIDE

Monkeys use ipad to predict Super Bowl

Texas educational complex said its monkeys used iPads to predict the San Francisco 49ers will come out ahead of the Baltimore Ravens in the Super Bowl. Moody Gardens Galveston Island said two saki monkeys were given an iPad and each tapped a different team’s logo to predict the outcome of Sunday’s big game, The Houston Chronicle reported

Wednesday. A third monkey, named Frankie, was given the iPad to cast the deciding vote, and he made his preference known by drawing frown faces on the Ravens’ logo. “Frankie put frown faces all over the Ravens’ team [logo], so I think he’s pretty determined that San Francisco is gonna win,” said Jerri Hamachek, marketing and public relations manager at Moody Gardens.

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Oddities

Teenager wins science competition with cocaine

n an early bid for Father of the Year, a Miami police detective allowed his 10-yearold daughter to use three drug-sniffing dogs and an ounce of cocaine for a science fair project. Douglas Bartelt, a detective with the MiamiDade Police Narcotics Bureau, provided his daughter, Emma, with three detector canines and 28 grams of cocaine (street value: approximately $1,300) for her entry into Coral Gables Preparatory Academy’s annual science fair. Not surprisingly, she won. “The purpose for this scientific investigation was to find which dog would find the cocaine fastest using it’s [sic] sense of smell,” the fourth grader wrote in the abstract for her project, entitled “Drug Sniffing Dogs.” According to the Miami Herald, Bartelt, fellow detective William Pedraja and Sgt. Samantha Machado provided the

dogs (a springer spaniel named Roger; Levi, a golden retriever; and Franky, a retired chocolate labrador) and the cocaine. (Franky showed he’s still got the touch, locating

the illegal substance in 43 seconds.) Emma’s mother, Michelle Bartelt, said the experiment was her daughter’s idea, and that Emma was under constant

supervision and “did not touch the cocaine.” “[Doug] handled the drugs,” she said. “He’s always very meticulous about how he handles drugs.”

A detective provided his daughter with drug-sniffing dogs, like this one, and cocaine for a science fair. PHOTO: AP

Friday, February 1, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Business & Finance The capital market is not driven by euphoria, but by fundamentals of diﬀerent sectors of the economy represented on the Exchange Director-General, Securities and Exchange Commission, Arunma Oteh

Nigerians remain one of the most optimistic groups of consumers among those surveyed by MasterCard on the continent, with an Index score of 91.4 points Country Manager, West Africa MasterCard Worldwide, Omokehinde Ojomuyide

N20bn debt: NCC reviews telecoms interconnect rate KUNLE A ZEEZ

sumed a rather dramatic dimension in recent times with stakeholders putting the figure at over N20 billion during an earlier stakeholders forum held in December 2012 to examine the state of indebtedness in the sector. At the forum tagged ‘Regulatory Forum on the High Incidence of Interconnection Indebt-

edness in the Nigerian Te l e c o m m u n i c at i o n s Industry” the stakeholders observed that the development constituted serious threat to healthy competition in the nation’s bourgeoning telecoms sector. However, it was learnt that many of the smaller operators in Nigeria, mostly in the Code Division Multiple

Access segment of the nation’s telecoms sector were indebted to operators of Global System for Mobile communication. Aside the CDMA operators, the fixed line networks also owe much of the debt, which experts said has been affecting the growth of the telecoms industry. Though some credi-

tor operators may have decided to disconnect their debtor counterparts on the account of huge indebtedness being owed them, legal experts agreed that mediation and arbitration should be explored before a network is disconnected as well as migration of traffic and debt settlement through an interconnect clearing exchange.

orried by an estimated N20bn interconnection indebtedness threatening the nation’s telecoms sector, the Nigeria Communications Commission said it was set to review the current rate for voice services in the country. National Mirror learnt yesterday that the regulator and other key stakeholders in the sector will, today, meet in Lagos to undertake a critical review of the meet today in Lagos. “There will be a stakeholders forum tomorrow (today) for the review of the 2009 interconnection rates for voice services,” the Public Relations Manager of NCC, Ms Amaka Agwaniru, said in a Short Message Services yesterday. The volume of interconnection indebtedness among telecoms opera- L – R: Head, HNI & Affluent Segments, First City Monument Bank Plc, Mr. Akeem Mustafa; Divisional Head, Retail Banking, Mr. tors in Nigeria has as- Shiba Ghosh; Group Head, Marketing and Communications, Mr. Ikechukwu Kalu and Country Head, West Africa, Visa, Mr. Ade Ashaye at the introduction of free issuance of new range of FCMB Naira Visa Cards to customers in Lagos yesterday.

Nigeria to generate $14bn annually from raw cashew STANLEY IHEDIGBO

he Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, has disclosed that Nige-

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ria will generate $14bn annually through processing 50 percent of its Raw Cashew Nut (RCN), “ adding that increasing RCN production from the current level of 120,000 metric tons by 20 percent would create more than 344,000 new jobs and additional income of USD 7,875,000”. Speaking at the Second

National Cashew stakeholders and action plan formulation forum, organised by the National Cashew Association of Nigeria (NCAN) and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, on Wednesday, Adesina, said with the approval of cashew as a National transformational crop and with the bud-

FG strikes $1bn investment deal with GE

get allocation for cashew this year 2013, the trend will change for good as value will be added to RCN before exporting to other countries. He said that non value addition to RCN locally is costing Nigeria huge losses in foreign exchange and the much needed employment opportunities to importing

countries. “This is an opportunity to formally informed you that nine (9) new crops have been added to the crops value chain including cashew for promotion by Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development under the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) in 2013.

Customs’ emphasis on revenue generation raising eyebrows

Arik Air Lag-Abj:07.15, 09.15, 10.20, 13.05, 15.20, 16.20, 16.50,18.45 (Mon-Fri/Sat/Sun). Abj-Lag: 07:15, 09.40,10.20, 12.15, 15.15, 16.15,17:10, (Mon-Fri/Sat/Sun); 12.15, 15.15, 16.15 (Sun)Lag-PH: 07:15, 11.40, 14.00, 16.10, 17.15 (Mon-Fri) 07.30, 11.40, 15.50 (Sat) 11.50, 3.50, 17.05 Sun) Abj-PH: 07.15, 11.20, 15.30 (Mon-Fri) 07.15, 16.00 (Sat) 13.10, 16.00 Sun) PH-Abj: 08.45, 12.50, 17.00 (Mon-Fri) 08.45, 17.30 (Sat) 14.40, 17.30 (Sun) AbvBeni:08.00, 12.10 (Mon-Fri/ Sat)08.56, 12.10(Sun)

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

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

Business News

Friday, February 1, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

FG strikes $1bn investment deal with GE OLUFEMI ADEOSUN ABUJA

he investment drive of the Federal Government yesterday received a boost as the country yesterday signed a $1bn (N158bn) investment deal with GE. The deal would enable the multinational company establish a new manufacturing and assembly facility in Calabar, Cross River State. It was consolidated with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding by the Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga and the Global Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of GE, Mr. Jeff Immelt. Also, the deal, which consists of $250million capital expenditure and over $800 million incremental spending on local sourcing of goods and services, is expected to create 2,300 jobs and make Nigeria the regional hub for GE’s manufacturing service and innovation in Africa. Speaking before the signing of the MoU agreement, Immelt said of the $1bn, an initial

L-R: Musician, Olubankole Wellington (Banky W); Managing Director, Samsung Electronics West Africa, Brovo Kim and Nollywood actress, Kate Henshaw, at the unveiling of Kate Henshaw and Banky W as 2013 Brand Ambassadors for Samsung Electronics West Africa and launch of Samsung Galaxy Grand Pre-order Campaign in Lagos. yesterday.

commitment of $250m (N40bn) would be used to expand its manufacturing and servicing capabilities. This, he noted, includes additional investment in its PortHarcourt and Onne facilities as well as a new assembly and

manufacturing facility to be located in Calabar, Cross River State. Apart from the initial $250m, he said over $800m incremental spending would be made within the next five years in local sourcing of goods and services,

Naira records a week high on expectation of oil firms sale

he naira appreciated the most in almost a week against the dollar on expectations of month-end foreign- currency sales by oil companies operating in Nigeria to meet local expenses. The currency which climbed 0.2 percent to 157 a dollar in Lagos yesterday achieved the gain, the highest closing basis since Jan. 25, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. “The normal month-end sales by the oil majors will give some support,” Sewa Wusu, head of research at

Sterling Capital Ltd., said. The naira fell yesterday after the central bank reduced foreign-exchange supply at auction “and that was not anticipated,” he said. The naira has gained from foreign-currency inflows to oil companies investing in the country’s hydrocarbons and portfolio funds, Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Lamido Sanusi said after keeping the benchmark interest rate unchanged for the eighth time on Jan. 21. Oil companies periodically sell dollars to lenders to meet

local spending needs and are the second-biggest source of foreign currency after the central bank’s twice- weekly auctions. The regulator sold $120 million at a foreign currency auction yesterday, the lowest in three auctions. The yield on the country’s 16.39 percent domestic bonds due January 2022 increased three basis points to 11.26 percent in the secondary market yesterday. Borrowing costs on Nigeria’s $500 million of Eurobonds due January 2021 were little changed at 3.884 percent.

Air accident investigation not punitive –Aircraft engineers OLUSEGUN KOIKI

he National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) yesterday reminded the National Assembly that the outcomes of air accident investigations are not punitive, but corrective. The association however said that the National Assembly members have the right to investigate cause of accident most especially when it has public interest. A statement signed by the President and Secretary General of NNAPE, Mr. Ochemba Mba and Engr. Isaac Balami respectively stated that the current grandstanding by the Na-

tional Assembly will be counterproductive in the long run. The statement stated that their position would discourage co-operation by airlines and other flight operation organisations and their staff, which is likely to deny investigation process vital information necessary to arrive at right conclusions. The statement reads in part, “We hold the view that with more understanding, the National Assembly could achieve more in an atmosphere devoid of rancour. Over all, NAAPE implores the public to exercise patience and await the final report of the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), which is the body recognised, and which

has competence, to determine the actual cause(s) of the air crash in question. “We wish to remind all concerned to have in mind those bereaved by the Dana Air crash; to bear in mind their pains and plight. Whipping up sentiments and emotions could be interpreted as being insensitive.” NAAPE, however stated that the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) recognises the legislature of each affiliate country as an important stakeholder in the business of aviation generally and specifically recognizes the legislature to play parallel role in matters such as the one at hand.

labour, staff welfare and training. The investment according to him would also enable it to create about 2, 300 new jobs in Nigeria adding that the training facility on its manufacturing site would help to ensure on-going

employee development. This, pointed out, would significantly increase the local content of its operation in Nigeria, as its local sourcing of goods and services would increase from $4m (N640m) to over $60m (N9.6bn) annually. He said, “The partnership between GE and Nigeria is a symbol of pride for both parties and a sterling example for others to follow. “With supportive and experienced partners of GE’s calibre, Nigerians can rest assured that government is on the right path to deliver on vision 2020 and create a better life for all Nigerians. “This planned investment of $1bn is part of the commitment we made when we signed the investment incentive Memorandum of Understanding with the federal government of Nigeria in 2009. “We are committed to playing our part in the sustainable growth of the country and the positive impact this will have on Nigeria and the continent of Africa as a whole,”

‘390 million workers to rise to middle class by 2017’ MESHACK IDEHEN

he International Labour Organisation says it estimates that an additional 390 million workers in the developing world could be in the middle-class by 2017, and that the sharp rise in the number of middle-class workers in the developing world over the past decade could create a much-needed boost to future growth and consumption in those economies. According to the report, while 390 million additional middleclass workers are projected by 2017, another 1.5 billion workers are estimated to remain either poor or near poor. Figures contained in the report titled; ‘Global Employment Trends 2013’ released last week, showed that 42 per cent of workers in developing countries (nearly 1.1 billion workers) were now middleclass, living with their families on more than $4 per person per day. According to the report, which also called for a policy rethink in order to achieve a more sustained recovery in 2013 and beyond, the impact of macroeconomic developments on labour markets by looking at negative feedback loops from households, firms, capital markets and public budgets had weakened labour markets. The report said also that macro imbalances had been passed on to

the labour market to a significant degree, noting that weakened by faltering aggregate demand, the labour market had been further hit by fiscal austerity programmes in a number of countries, which often involved direct cutbacks in employment and wages, directly impacting labour markets. The ILO report said “This emerging middle-class in the developing world could bring about a new driver of global growth, with stronger investment and consumption, in particular among poorer parts of the developing world. “The correlation indicates that in recent years (2011), total investment at the country level is associated with the share of the employed labour force that has reached middle-income status or above, thereby increasing domestic absorption. “This would help foster structural change in these countries, increase global aggregate demand and potentially contribute to more balanced and sustainable global economic growth, to the extent that rising investment absorbs increasing shares of domestic savings.” Since 2001, the report added, an additional 400 million workers had joined the ranks of the middle class, with their incomes sufficient for their families to consume between $4 and $13 a day per person

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Business News

Friday, February 1, 2013

NUPENG blames NNPC for pipelines vandalism

FirstBank introduces Premium Lounge for big customers

MESHACK IDEHEN

igerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has said that the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is to be blamed for not concluding on security of pipelines with local communities and their leaders, thereby leading to the vandalism of pipelines in various communities across the country. NUPENG said also that the NNPC previously had an arrangement with communities to secure pipelines across the country for a fee, only for the corporation to refuse to pay af-

ter several years of securing these pipelines by members of the host communities where these facilities are sited. NUPENG’s Zonal Chairman, West, Mr. Tokunbo Korodo, said on Thursday that the NNPC failed to protect the pipelines by reneging on the agreement it entered into with leaders of the host communities. According to Korodo who explained that vandals had also crippled other NNPC’s facilities across the country, the management of NNPC need to return to the former arrangement of securing pipelines with the assistance of community leaders, adding it was cheaper to have the community people secure the pipelines than allow vandals

hold the country to ransom. “The Federal Government has failed to live up to its primary responsibility of protecting the pipelines and by extension; this has also brought about an increase in the issue of vandalism. “The Government buried pipelines across the country and empowered NNPC and PPMC to ensure the protection of these pipelines, and between NNPC and PPMC went as far as giving the security contract of these pipelines to local chiefs and community development associations to ensure that the pipelines that runs through their domain and communities were adequately protected for a little amount to the communities.

ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI s part of efforts to continue its innovative banking service; First Bank of Nigeria has introduced a Premium Lounge for its big customers. The Premium Lounge, an exclusive location for privileged banking which is another first from the bank was carved out of selected existing branches in Lagos and Abuja and designed to provide priority service, comfort, security, luxury, as well as access to financial advisory services to customers. At the official launch of the new brand on Wednesday before the media and some premium customers, Group Managing Director of the bank, Mr. Bisi Onasanya said, “this is another first from FirstBank and it is designed to exclusively offer ultimate cus-

tomer experience to a certain class of customers. It is heartwarming to start the year with delighting you through this thought facility designed for the comfort and convenience of our highly esteemed premium customers. We recognize your invaluable contributions to our bank and believe it is befitting to grant you additional courtesies as we strive to avail you the best banking services possible.” Onosanya said the pilot phase of the premium banking lounges has commenced at selected branches across Lagos and Abuja, and will be extended nationwide in due course adding that the lounges are specially designed to include online banking facilities which ensure that targeted customers have private and uninterrupted access to their bank accounts within the bank’s premises, besides other services at their disposal.

Samsung to increase awareness campaign for mobile phones KUNLE A ZEEZ

L-R: Chief Technical Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Mr. Awadhesh Kalia, PNN MD/CEO, Mr. AbdulRahman Abiola-Odunowo and ED, Orun Energy Ltd, Mr. Kwabena Smith at the Nigeria Specific GSMA IFC Green Power for Mobile Working Group co-hosted by Airtel Nigeria in Lagos on Wednesday.

Solid minerals reform to boost economy –SGF CHIDI UGWU ABUJA

he Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Anyim Pius Anyim yesterday said the on ongoing reform including the launching of Roadmap on Minerals sector would aid the diversification of the nation’s economy. Anyim made this statement in Abuja, at the launching of the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development’s Roadmap for the development of the solid minerals sector. “I am delighted to be part of this historic event of the public presentation of the ministry’s roadmap for the development of the solid mineral sector. “I am here as a stakeholder but not as operator, because I hail from Ishiagu community.

I must begin to commend the foresight of the minister of mines and steel development for his visionary leadership of the ministry of which the event of today is evident. “Today’s event is significant in the Transformation Agenda of the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration; I am informed that the roadmap has articulated strategies for the diversification of our current oil dependent economy’’, he said. Anyim said that the roadmap would serve as a guide to the investors, urging that the minister must ensure that it was utilised by investors in the industry to achieve a better result. He commended the ministry for all the works it did to ensure that enabling environment was created for investors both for-

eign and local in the sector. Earlier, the minister of mines and steel development Musa Mohammed Sada said that the sector at present was contributing about five per cent to the nation’s economy. Sada explained that the present administration was bent to ensure that minerals sector of the economy was repositioned for full maximization of the resources in the industry. He added that when fully developed, the minerals sector of the economy would provide a lot of job opportunities to the many unemployed people. Mr Shamsudeen Usman, the minister for national planning commission, (NPC) said that the commission was in charge of all the roadmaps programmes of the ministries under the federal government.

igital media and digital convergence technologies, Samsung Electronics West Africa, has unveiled its 2013 brand ambassadors for its Mobile Division as a precursor to its Galaxy Grand preorder. Movie industry icon Kate Henshaw and star musician, Banky W, will be working together to raise awareness for Samsung mobile products and ultimately contribute to making Samsung phones the preferred brand in the West Africa subregion. Henshaw was officially unveiled as brand ambassador at a media breakfast meeting organized by Samsung. Speaking at the unveiling, the

Managing Director, Samsung Electronics West Africa, Mr. Brovo Kim, said the two ambassadors represented the values that Samsung has stood for over the years. He said: “The Samsung brand stands for qualities of innovation, change, discovery, selfexpression and excellence in performance. And these very same qualities are epitomized by Banky W and Kate Henshaw, whose quality and depth of work as well as versatility as artistes have endeared them to Nigerians today. We are indeed very proud and privileged to have them as our Brand Ambassadors.” Kim described its signing of Henshaw as an opportunity for Samsung to reach out to its customers through Nigeria’s movie industry.

Expert seeks accelerated broadband expansion KUNLE A ZEEZ

pecial stimulus fund from the government has been identified as one of the ways to accelerate broadband expansion to drive ubiquitous internet access across the country. Speaking in an interview with National Mirror, Chief Executive Officer of Teledom Group International, Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, said Nigeria needed a ‘Broadband Development Fund’ to build secondary and tertiary fibre backbone that will ensure that broadband capacity are taken from Lagos, which most of the international fibre cables had their landing points, to al the nooks and cran-

nies of the country. Nigeria currently has huge bandwidth capacity made available with the presence of Glo 1, Main One and West African Cable System being co-owned by MTN and other investors. However, taking the facility to different part of the country had remained a major challenge. According to him, broadband services will flow through broadband infrastructure, adding that serious action in the area of stimulating intracountry connectivity through broadband infrastructure should be encouraged through such a stimulus fund for investors wiling to help the country in achieving this.

Maritime

The critical roles played by customs administrations in the supply chain the world over include those of trade facilitation, security and revenue. But the huge emphasis placed on revenue generation by the Nigeria Customs Service over and above security and trade facilitation has continued to attract serious attention. FRANCIS EZEM examines the issues.

Friday, February 1, 2013

Customs ’ emphasis on revenue generation raising eyebrows ... as trade facilitation takes back seat

hough the traditional functions and duties of Customs administrations may differ from one country to the other, such duties generally cover areas like trade facilitation and interdiction, revenue generation comprising both import and excise duty, anti-smuggling and border management, among several others. However, these roles have been modified to suit the dynamics of the changing times. For instance, with the bombing of the World Trade Centre in the United States in September, 2001, the US government has made some modifications to the functions and duties of her customs administration. In Nigeria, the enabling legislation for the Nigeria Customs Service is the Customs and Excise Management Act, which was bequeathed to the country by her colonial masters in 1960 when Nigeria gained political independence, which many have described as archaic. Though this enabling Act is being amended, the service had over the years undergone through scores of reforms.. But there have been doubts whether these series of reforms have actually made any significant impact in the way the service carries out its statutory functions. For instance, at the beginning of each fiscal year, the service sets a revenue target for that year. Experience has shown that the various commands employ ‘every tool ’ at its disposal to ensure that this target is met. This is because sometimes meeting these targets constitute a major determinant factor for the promotion of the head of that command. This also accounts for why the cost of clearing the same model of car differs from one port to the other. These days, the battle of ensuring that the target is met has shifted to the customs headquarters itself. This follows Federal Government ’s approval in 2010 of seven percent cost of collection for the service. What this means is that the service takes seven percent of whatever it generates as revenue from duty payment. The direct interpretation of this is that the more revenue the service collects the more money it gets as its funding from the government. With this frame of mind, meeting its revenue target has become a do or die affair. For instance, in the 2012 fiscal year, the government gave the service a revenue target of N800bn and the Comptroller General of the service, Alhaji Abdullahi Dikko increased the figure to N1trn be-

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Dikko

Mikuriya

TRADE FACILITATION IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN REVENUE GENERATION. IF THERE IS TRADE FACILITATION, THERE WILL BE MORE REVENUE GENERATION cause he is sure that the service would get seven percent of whatever it generates as revenue. In a desperate bid to make this target even at all costs, the CG introduced a benchmark duty on about 26 imported items. They include complete knocked down and fully built air-conditioners, different models of television sets, fully built and CKD refrigerators, car and truck tyres, aluminum coils both colour and ordinary, small generating sets and both CKD and fully built motorcycles. Others are tomato paste, auto batteries, margarine, and motorcycle spare parts, wines, made up textiles, biscuits, granite tiles, candles, yeast, aluminium profiles and roofing nails. Despite efforts by the customs management to convince stakeholders that the benchmark was to checkmate fraud, most stakeholders insisted that the new policy was both draconian and illegal and vehemently opposed it. The most vocal opposition to this policy was the Save Nigeria Freight Forwarders, Importers and Exporters Coalition, which employed every legal means to fight the imposition, including seeking a legal action. Legal adviser of the group, Mr. Osuala Nwagbara, while speaking in an interview had said the imposition of benchmark duty on the 26 items was illegal and that Customs should revert to status quo without further waste of time. “The real reason for the imposition of this obnoxious duty benchmark is to enable the service make the N1trn revenue target for the 2012 fiscal year, out of which it receives seven percent of the total collections and not to facilitate 48-

hour cargo clearance as claimed by the service ”, he insisted “This imposition is discriminatory since it only applies to 26 items, arbitrary, anti-trade facilitation and illegal as it contravenes the Customs and Excise Management Amendment Act, which ratifies the 1994 World Trade Organisation, World Customs Organisation implementation agreement on valuation of imported goods ”, the legal advised insisted ”. It however took the intervention of the Presidency because of the crisis it generated to suspend the benchmark policy. To underscore the relevance and importance of trade facilitation in the present day supply chain, Secretary General of World Customs Organisation (WCO), Kunio Mikuriya while speaking during a visit to Nigeria, said the Nigeria Customs Service should build a partnership with stakeholders in the port industry as part of efforts to enhance trade facilitation. The WCO-scribe, who spoke on the theme: ‘Towards improved Customs Private Sector Engagement ’ at a business luncheon organised by the service in Lagos explained that trade facilitation is crucial to economic development. According to him, if there is efficient trade facilitation, Customs would generate more revenue. “Trade facilitation is more important than revenue generation. If there is trade facilitation there will be more revenue generation. ” Mikuriya, who stressed the need for consistent risk management, security and prioritisation of Customs capacity development in the country, added that customs needs risk management for each consignment assessed based on commer-

cial value. He said: “WCO is trying to help customs to improve efficiency towards economic development. We promote technical assistance. We discuss the challenges and agenda that would help the vision of customs world wide. ” “Sharing knowledge is very important with the business environment. What is needed is sincerity and honesty in business ”, he insisted. President of Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents, Mr. Lucky Amiwero, who spoke in an interview, said the current practice in Nigeria whereby cargo inspection is tied to revenue generation was archaic and out of tune with current trends in international trade and commerce. According him, following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack in the United States, emphasis in terms of cargo inspection has been shifted from revenue to that of safety and security. “Following the bombing of the World Trade Centre, the American Government came up with the International Ships and Ports Security (ISPS) Code 2004, which was followed by the enactment of the Safe Framework Act 2005 under the World Customs Organisation ”, he noted. The new framework, which Nigeria is a signatory, looks at cargo inspection at the seaports from two perspectives; Government-Government (Customs – Customs) and Customs – Business, talks about the economic operators and how they can be upgraded because cargo inspection is no more tied to revenue, rather safety and security before it is shipped. It was gathered that under the new system, which incorporates Importer Security Filing, the US Government has sent her Customs officers to other countries like China, Japan, and South Africa, where they have high import volume to inspect cargo coming into the country before they are shipped. Amiwero argued that a system whereby government sets annual revenue target for the service in terms of cargo inspection was archaic and should therefore be reversed, arguing that the increasing cases of illegal arms importation was partly caused by the inspection of cargo at the port of destination instead of port of origin. A one time national president of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) and Managing Director of Jafana Ventures Limited, Alhaji Inua Mohammed, who took a swipe at the service for its emphasis on revenue, faulted Federal Government ’s approval of seven percent of entire duty collection as funding for the service. “The practice whereby the top management of the service sets annual revenue target for each command has led to a situation whereby these commands place emphasis on duty collection to the detriment of trade facilitation, which is the main function of customs administrations the world over ”, he argued.

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STORIES: FRANCIS EZEM

reight forwarders under the aegis of National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders have said that multinational shipping companies operating in Nigeria and import revenue collecting banks are the greatest obstacle to the realisation of 48-hour cargo release at the nation ’s seaports. The Federal Government had last year directed the Nigerian Ports Authority and the Nigeria Customs Service to provide the necessary facilities and logistics that would enhance the commencement of 24-hour operation of the various seaports in the country as a stepping stone towards the achievement of 48-hour cargo release. President of the association, Mr. Eugene Nweke, who spoke on the activities in the industry last year, observed that the dream of having the ports to operate 24 hours per day and seven days was realisable but could not be realised last year. According to him, one of the factors hindering the realisation of that dream has to do with the current security challenges in the country. According to him, apart from the security issues, the lack luster attitude of most of the multinational shipping lines operating in

Maritime

Friday, February 1, 2013

‘Shipping rms, banks are major obstacles to 48-hr clearance ’

Container Stacks at Apapa Port

the country, who would want to open their offices for business any time they liked constitute a major hindrance to the achievement of this dream. He also blamed this failure on the banking culture in Nigeria, which insists that regular banking services are rendered to cus-

tomers between 8am-4pm Monday –Friday every week leaving out the weekends. “Though most terminals opens their gates for operation, the shipping lines and banks were not readily available for night transactions, worst still, the shippers were not willing to expose their

Grant us national carrier status now, ISAN tells FG

he Indigenous Ship Owners Association of Nigeria (ISAN), has officially requested the Federal Government to grant the ISAN Shipping Company Limited a national carrier status, having met the requirements. ISAN, umbrella body for indigenously owned shipping firms in Nigeria numbering over 45, had, in 2007 floated the ISAN Shipping Line, a mega shipping company to enable it acquire sophisticated ships like very large crude carrier to enable Nigerian ship owners participate in the lucrative crude oil trade currently reserved for foreigners. Chairman of the association, Chief Isaac Jolapamo, who made the request on behalf of the association to the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency in Lagos, during a visit, said that the ISAN Shipping Line has fulfilled all the relevant conditions for the granting a national carrier status. The association ’s request follows a meeting last week where members adopted a new constitution to enable it adapt to the dynamics of modern shipping practice and also accommodate all other Nigerians who play active role in the industry. “ISAN Shipping Line was set up to enable Nigerian ship

Jolapamo

owners participate effectively in the lifting of the nation ’s cargo including crude oil because the indigenous operators in the shipping industry have been in a sorry state ”, Jolapamo said. “The industry has been floundering like a rudderless ship for a very long time and we appear helpless. We are not only helpless now but are now spectators in an industry where we should be calling the shots and this is the major challenge for seasoned players whose fortunes are dwindling by the day ”, he lamented. It was gathered that NIMASA ’s Executive Director in charge of Cabotage and Maritime Labour, Mr. Obi Callistus Nwabueze witnessed the adoption of the new constitution.

The ISAN-boss had told the NIMASA management in the course of the meeting that the non-disbursement of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF), which has been sitting in banks for several years constitute a major challenge to the indigenous shipping firms. He also lamented the non-implementation of the vessel repair and maintenance subsidy, which makes it increasingly more difficult for the indigenous operators to service their vessels and so reinforces the foreigners grip on the industry.. “We are all here to secure our maritime freedom and I implore every one of us to rise up to this challenge of moving this industry forward for the benefit of Nigeria and Nigerians ”, he said. ISAN had floated the shipping line in 2007 with an initial Paid Up Share Capital of N1bn contributed by members, who also make up the shareholders of the company. The primary aim of floating the company was to enable Nigerians own ocean-going ships to participate in lifting and transporting of Nigeria ’s crude oil export and other international trade goods, which seem to be exclusively preserve for foreign shipping companies because their Nigerian counterparts lack the requisite capacity.

cargo to the men of under world outside the port premises and along the transit routes. On the other hand, the 48- hour import processing and delivery time, is still a milestone ”, he stated.. He further said: “Except for bulk cargo terminals due to their peculiar operations and Roll- On-

Roll-Off (RORO) port operations, on the average the import processing and delivery time stands at between seven and 21 days, mainly due to human elements, non automation and harmonisation of procedures, structural and infrastructural inefficiency ”, He noted that these challenges bring to the fore, the need for a National Single Window Network, which gives room for a pre- arrival clearance processes for profiling and decision taking before the berthing of vessel. He added: “Most, importantly to note is the need to define the true time for the commencement of the 48-hour import processing policy of the government ”. He however regretted that while the turn around time of vessel continues to meet international standards, the inability of the ports to achieve 48-hour cargo release remains a major constraint. “Cargo dwell time on the average stands at 14 working days, often resulting to artificial congestion, especially considering that stacking capacity has been utilised in the face of increasing cargo traffics ”, he noted.

NIMASA to train NSCDC operatives on maritime security

s part of measures to combat the increasing illegalities like illegal bunkering, oil theft, piracy and sea robbery, among several others, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency is concluding plans to enter into partnership with the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps. NIMASA, Nigeria ’s apex maritime regulatory agency is saddled with the responsibility of providing effective safety administration, labour regulations, marine pollution prevention and control, search and rescue, shipping development and Cabotage services, among several others. The agency had in a bid to carryout these core functions, especially maritime safety and security signed Memorandum of Understanding with the Nigerian Navy, which led to the creation of the Maritime Guard Command. Director General of the agency, Mr. Patrick Akpobolokemi, who made this disclosure in Lagos, said NIMASA would embark on a training exercise for some personnel of NSCDC on maritime safety in line with its bid to curb crime on the nation ’s

territorial waters. “NIMASA and NSCDC would work in collaboration to ensure that all forms of illegal activities on the country ’s waterways is brought to an end ”, the DG said. The NIMASA DG, who spoke during a visit of the Commandant General of NSCDC Dr Ade Abolurin to his office, noted that Nigeria is one of the few countries where the activities of oil thieves and pipeline vandalism are on the increase. “Fighting these illegalities requires a joint effort of all stakeholders and the relevant agencies hence NIMASA ’s need to partner NSCDC. This partnership became necessary due to the past experiences of NIMASA and NSCDC ’s performance over the years as well as the corps ’ transparency in handling criminal related issues ”, Akpobolokemi said. The Commandant General of the corps had while speaking during the visit restated the commitment and readiness of the security outfit to collaborate with NIMASA to put an end to the activities of oil thieves and pirates.

Capital Market

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Friday, February 1, 2013

7-Up prot drops by 11% as equities gain 0.12% JOHNSON OKANLAWON

-UP Plc has recorded a profit after tax of N1.39bn for the third quarter ended December 31, 2012, a decline by 11.5 per cent when compared to N1.58bn recorded in the same period of 2011. Selling and distribution expenses rose by 9.7 per cent in the review period, from N8.45bn in 2011 to N9.27bn, while administrative expenses increased to N3.62bn, from N3.41bn recorded in the corresponding period of 2011. According to the result presented to the Nigerian Stock Exchange yesterday, the company ’s gross profit stood at N16.4bn in the third quarter of 2012, from N15.5bn in the same period

of 2011. Analysis of the company ’s balance sheet showed a decline in inventories by 17.9 per cent, from N8.29bn in 2011 third ’s quarter to N6.81bn in the review period, while total assets appreciated marginally by 2.5 per cent, from N62.04bn in 2011 third ’s quarter to N63.6bn in 2012. The company ’s working capital dipped to N5.67bn in the review period, from N10.4bn recorded in 2011, while net assets stood at N28.03bn, from N27.92bn in 2011. The company declared no dividend to shareholders. Meanwhile, trading in equities continued on bullish note on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, as investors confidence on stocks rose further.

The All Share Index rose by 0.12 per cent to close at 31,853.19 points, compared to the rise of 0.77 per cent recorded the preceding day to close at 31,815.45 points. Market capitalisation increased by N2bn to close at N10.19trn, lower than the increase of N7bn recorded the preceding day to close at N10.17trn. Prestige Insurance Plc led the 40 companies that recorded gains in their share prices with six kobo or 10 per cent to close at 66 kobo per share, followed by Royal Exchange Plc with six kobo or 9.84 per cent to close at 67 kobo per share. Transcorp Plc gained 11 kobo or 9.24 per cent to close at N1.30 per share, while Wema Bank Plc appreciated by seven kobo or 8.86 per cent to close at 86

kobo per share. Bagco Plc closed at N2.80 per share, up by 19 kobo or 7.28 per cent. On the flip side, International Breweries Plc lost N2.49 or 9.88 per cent to close at N22.71 per share, while Unity Bank Plc shed seven kobo or 9.72 per cent to close at 65 kobo per share. Custodian Insurance Plc dipped by 19 kobo or 9.69 per cent to close at N1.77 per share, while Presco Plc declined by N2.79 or 9.69 per cent to close at N26.00 per share. UACN Plc fell by N3.30 or 6.56 per cent to close at N47.00 per share. A total of 506.3 million shares valued at N3.63bn were exchanged in 6,884 deals, compared to 424.62 million shares worth N3.84bn traded in 6,504 deals the preceding day.

Flour Mills, Wema Bank, others join market makers ’ basket JOHNSON OKANLAWON

he Nigerian Stock Exchange has announced the addition of four new stocks to the market making programme. The new additions are Flour Mill Plc, Unilever Plc, Royal Exchange Plc and Wema Bank Plc, bringing the number of stocks that have been rolled out by the initiative to 43. A statement from the Exchange said that the inclusion of the stocks from Consumer Goods and Financial Services sectors becomes effective yesterday.

“The addition of the new stocks is in line with the planned phased approach for introducing stocks to the programme, from the baskets allocated to the market makers on the Exchange, ” the statement read in part. The Chief Executive Officer of the NSE, Mr. Oscar Onyema, had on September 18, 2012 when the programme was introduced, said the idea of market making was part of his agenda to set the market on the part of growth after years of consistent. According to him, the NSE was re-embarking on the project of getting mar-

ket makers as one of the major strategies aimed at increasing investor confidence, deepening the market and addressing the lack of liquidity. The companies appointed as market makers were Stanbic IBTC, Renaissance Capital, Future View Securities, Vetiva Capital, ESS/DunnLoren Merrifield, WSTC, Capital Bancorp, FBN Securities, Greenwich Securities and CSL Stockbrokers. Onyema said, “This is a great milestone and a major step in the direction of turning the market round to have liquidity and depth back into the market. We

will continue to move forward on this. “The companies selected went through a very rigorous process and met the minimum net capital requirement of N570m, we also examined their compliance history and looked into their operational capabilities including their technology and processes ”. He added that the selected firms were taken through series of training, saying that their primary obligation as market makers was to make a two-way price in each of the stocks in which they might make markets.

German jitters hit European shares, euro

uropean shares fell for a second straight day and the euro halted its rally as weak German retail sales data and a $3.5bn loss at its biggest bank added to investors ’ nerves after a shock fourth quarter contraction in the United States economy. Data on Wednesday showed US Gross Domestic Product slipped 0.1 per cent, although the Federal Reserve indicated the pullback was likely to be brief and repeated its promise to continue supporting the economy. The drop in German retail sales, stagnant French consumer spending and

the huge quarterly loss at Deutsche Bank dashed hopes of a quick rebound for European shares, which had their biggest daily fall of the year on Wednesday after surging 3.7 per cent this month. London ’s FTSE 100 finance/markets/index fell 0.3 to 0.9 per cent yesterday and the MSCI world index was down 0.1 before what was expected to be another difficult day on Wall Street. “Perhaps the German retail sales have contributed a little bit, but we knew that Q4 was weak, so I would it attribute it more to earnings news, ” said Chris Scicluna, an economist at Daiwa Capital Markets. “The

Deutsche Bank loss does look to be on the sizable side. There has clearly been some mismatch between financial markets and the real economy, so that does lend itself to a bit of a pullback. ” In the currency market, the German jitters also put the euro under pressure and halted its recent four per cent rally. Renewed early afternoon selling left it at $1.3555, well short of Wednesday ’s 14-month high of $1.3588. The Federal Reserve ’s promise of continued support was widely expected to mitigate the fall, however, by keeping downward pressure on the dollar. Evidence of this was

seen as the dollar slipped against the yen having hit its strongest level against the Japanese currency since 2010 on Wednesday. It regained some ground after a Bank of Japan deputy governor fired the latest shot in what appears to be an escalating currency war, with the strongest signal yet that it will implement bold new stimulus if needed. In the United States, the number of people filing new claims for unemployment benefits bounced off five-year lows last week, new data showed, pointing to modest jobs growth before Friday ’s more closely watched monthly payrolls report..

Source: NSE NIBOR QUOTES 30 JANUARY 2013 & 31 JANUARY 2013 20.00 19.00 18.00 17.00 16.00 15.00 14.00 13.00 12.00 11.00 10.00 9.00 8.00 7.00 6.00 5.00

3 0 -J a n -1 3

3 1 -J a n -1 3

Source: Afrinvest

Market indicators All-Share Index 10,191,315,647 points Market capitalisation 31.9 trillion

Stock Updates GAINERS COMPANY

OPENING

CLOSING

CHANGE

% CHANGE

PRESTIGE

0.60

0.66

0.06

10.00

ROYALEX

0.61

0.67

0.06

9.84

TRANSCORP

1.19

1.30

0.11

9.24

WEMABANK

0.79

0.86

0.07

8.86

BAGCO

2.61

2.80

0.19

7.28

AIICO

0.77

0.82

0.05

6.49

FLOURMILL

85.05

89.90

4.85

5.70

REDSTAREX

3.35

3.54

0.19

5.67

ETERNA

4.64

4.87

0.23

4.96

15.94

16.73

0.79

4.96

CHANGE

% CHANGE -9.88

LOSERS COMPANY

OPENING

CLOSING

INTBREW

25.20

22.71

2.49

UNITYBNK

0.72

0.65

0.07

-9.72

CUSTODYINS

1.96

1.77

0.19

-9.69

PRESCO

28.79

26.00

2.79

-9.69

UACN

50.30

47.00

3.30

-6.56

CUTIX

1.60

1.52

0.08

-5.00

CCNN

10.75

10.22

0.53

-4.93

MORISON

2.71

2.58

0.13

-4.80

JOHNHOLT

1.78

1.70

0.08

-4.49

CAP

31.90

30.61

1.29

-4.04

Primary Market Auction TENOR

AMOUNT (N ’mn)

RATE (%)

DATE

91-Day

30,159.21

14-00

30-Jan-13

182-Day

14,412.00

16.99

30-Jan-13

364 -Day

Nil

30-Jan-13

Open Market Operations TENOR

AMOUNT (N ’mn)

RATE (%)

DATE

84-Days

48,799.34

14.00

31-Jan-13

83-Days

132,051.98

13.95

31-Jan-13

Wholesale Dutch Auction System AMOUNT OFFERED

MARKET DEMAND

AMOUNT SOLD

DATE

$120m

N/A

$120m

30-Jan-13

$150m

N/A

$150m

28-Jan-13

Friday, February 1, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Community Mirror “We are in an era where every geo-political zone complains about marginalisation .” PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN

Physically-challenged persons storm agency SOLA ADEBAYO WARRI

group of physicallychallenged persons have protested in Warri over alleged sharp practices by the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESO-

PADEC, even as they claimed that officials of the agency embezzled money provided for their welfare in the 2012 budget. The protesters, who barricaded the Warri/Sapele Road, later marched to head office of the agency, opposite the naval base forcing the workers to scamper for safety.

The group alleged that N35m of the N40m provided for their wellbeing in the 2012 budget, was siphoned by the commission led by Mr. Oritsua Kpogho. They said Kpogho had invited their leaders to a meeting in December 2012, and handed over only N5m to them, lamenting that the DESO-

PADEC boss could not provide a satisfactory account on the outstanding N35m. They said their decision to take to the streets was as result of the way the agency’s management has treated them with disdain and levity, even as they accused Kpogo of rebuffing efforts to amicably resolve the impasse. Activities at the commission were temporarily paralysed, even as the protesters were later dispersed by the security agents. However, Director of Press in the commission, Mr. Greg Oweh, accused the protesters of being mischievous; adding that they abused the privilege accorded them by the management. Oweh stated that it was out of genuine concern that the commission established a unit to look after the welfare of women and physicallychallenged.

Oweh, said the sum of N40m in the 2012 budget is yet to be released, adding that the management incurred wrath of the protesters when it rebuffed all demands to share the money among some of them. DESOPADEC’s spokesman further stated that the N5m given to the physically challenged in December 2012 was a special goodwill package for Christmas and not part of the N40m meant to empower them with skills and vocations. “They wanted to share the money and we refused and they took to the streets. They abused the privilege and sincere feelings for their conditions by the management by blocking roads and causing mayhem, even after assuring them that we will implement the 2012 budget in the new year,” Oweh said.

Kidnap: Association calls for improved security BIYI ADEGOROYE AKURE

Customers queueing for kerosene at the NNPC retail station in Dutse, Jigawa State.

PHOTO: NAN

LG boss appeals for assistance HENRY IYORKASE MAKURDI

hairman of Otukpo Local Government Area of Benue State, Dr. Innocent Onuh has appealed to the Federal Government, the state government and well meaning individuals in the country to come to the rescue of over 500 displaced Fulani nomads under his jurisdiction. The council chairman made the plea at the council headquarters of the local government while conducting journalists round the refugee camps where the displaced nomads are being rehabilitated at the instance of the local government. He emphasized the need for spirited Nigerians to give their widows mite so as to demonstrate their concerns for the welfare of the displaced people. Earlier, the leader of the Fulani community, Alhaji Bala Dahiru had commended the efforts of the council chairman towards ensuring that peace is restored

in the disputed area and enjoined all the parties involved to come for a round table discussion to iron out their differences. According to him the Fulani herdsmen with their host communities in Benue South West Senatorial District had been living peacefully together in the past, stressing the need for sustained

peaceful co-existence among the various tribes in the district. Commenting in similar vein, the Area Commander of Benue Police Command; ACP Samuel Drakoji said the crises erupted last Saturday but the perpetrators are on the run; adding however that efforts are on to bring at hem to book.

Housewife wanted for lesbianism FRANCIS SUBERU

31-year-old housewife, Obinna Stephanie Onyinye, is wanted by the police for prosecution following alleged involvement in lesbianism. Stephanie, who was reported at Afonka Police Division late last year, was said to have been caught in the act with other women at Shasha area of Lagos State, even though she had been accused of engaging in lesbianism in the past two years. Police sources told Community

Mirror that luck ran against Stephanie and her lesbian partner, Akin Dorcas, when the latter’s husband caught them red-handed and reported the matter to the police. It was gathered that Stephanie and Dorcas were seen as only friends until they were caught. Police sources said efforts are on to arrest Stephanie now at large. It would be recalled that the Nigerian Constitution bans same sex marriage and could bring negative social stigma for any practitioner, even as the source said Stephanie and Dorcas risk prosecution and imprisonment.

ollowing the recent kidnapping of Regent of Akotogbo in Ondo State, Chief Iwalewa Emoruwa, the Federal Government has been urged to increase security in the area, through improved marine patrol. In a release signed by Public Relations Officer of Akotogbo Development Association, Mr. John Igbeekele, the community also called on Governor Olusegun Mimiko and InspectorGeneral of Police, Alhaji M.D. Abubakar, including Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Dele Ezeoba, to utilise the marine police and naval base in the area to help secure the area. The regent who was kidnapped by some militants midnight on January 19, 2013, in his palace at Akotogbo, and later was found near Ekenwa River in Edo State, on January 26, through combined efforts of the police and prominent indigenes of the town. The 65-year-old Chief Emoruwa, who is also a businessman, is currently recuperating in an undisclosed hospital after his release by the abductors. The community blamed the upsurge of crime in the area to

the activities of various militants groups and cosmopolitan nature of the area, including the inter-connectedness of towns in the Niger Delta region. “The Federal Government should ensure that all border towns on the ocean are properly policed. We should have marine police and naval patrol boats in the Siloko-Safalogbo, Arogbo/Agadagba and KokoWarri areas, to ensure peace and security in these communities,” the release said. It lamented that the only police formation lacks patrol vehicles and called on the state police command to equip the division to enable it rise to the challenge of insecurity in the area.

Wailing Women hold crusade

he Wailing Women Worldwide, comprising women intercessors for the nation and the church will hold a crusade beginning from today, January 31 to Saturday, February 2, 2013. Venue of the crusade is the Life Bible Theological Seminary Foursquare, 79, Obafemi Awolowo Road, Grammar School Bus Stop, Ikorodu, Lagos.

Friday, February 1, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Friday, February 1, 2013

North

Friday, February 1, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Communal clash: Ahmed gives monarchs marching order WOLE ADEDEJI ILORIN

wara State Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, yesterday directed traditional rulers of the warring Offa and Erin Ile communities to ensure peace in their domains or be ready to face the consequence. The governor, who imposed a 24-hour curfew on the two towns on Wednesday, said the communities

must henceforth maintain peaceful coexistence among themselves or their monarchs should be “prepared to face the dire consequences of hostilities.” He urged the people from the two warring communities to sheath their swords in the interest of peace. Governor Ahmed described the killing of innocent citizens and the wanton destruction of property by the two com-

munities that had hitherto been friendly neighbours as cruel and barbaric. He, however, said that as much as the government is pleading for peace, it will nonetheless bring identified perpetrators of the dastardly act to justice saying: “Government will not condone any act of lawlessness from any individual or community.” According to him; “It’s by share providence that Offa and Erin-Ile found

each other as neighbours. Both communities must, therefore, show gratitude to God by living together in harmony. “Efforts of the state government to bring development to the state may continue to be a mirage if the atmosphere of violence and destruction persists. “Government will continue to take every positive step to attract investment to the state, create

more jobs for the people and promote youth entrepreneurship through adequate support for skills acquisition,” the governor reiterated. He therefore called for cooperation from all citizens of the state urging them to support government to deliver the benefits of democracy by maintaining the peace with which the state is known. He said machineries had been put in place to

make sure that security agencies fish out those behind the public disturbance between the two communities and made them to face the full wrath of the law. Governor Ahmed, however, assured Kwarans that other measures are also being taken to guarantee that all law abiding citizens in the state carry out their legitimate activities without any form of molestation.

Wada swears in special advisers, tasks them to be diligent

Kogi inaugurates committee on SURE-P

OYEWALE IBRAHIM

OYEWALE IBRAHIM LOKOJA

LOKOJA

o fewer than 90 Senior Special Assistants were yesterday sworn in by Kogi State governor, Idris Wada, with a charge to them to put politics of their appointment behind them and embrace the policy of good governance, diligence and accountability. Governor Wada, who sworn in the senior special assistants at the Government House in Lokoja yesterday, tasked them to give him special advice by injecting new ideas that are not only uncommon but are relevant and meaningful to the transformation agenda of the administration. Wada, who was represented by his Deputy, Yomi Awoniyi, said the present administration in the state is moving away from seeing appointments as political patronage and gifts from the government, but as an assignment and a responsibility. He assured the newly sworn in assistants of reward for performance and dedication, adding that no genuine service will go unnoticed or un-appreciated. Wada said creativity and selflessness is what is expected of them and not fixation from gratification. He urged them to work for the corporate advancement, collective development and progress of the state. In his remarks, Alhaji Isa Adeboye, the senior special assistant on inter-religions affairs, who spoke on behalf of the newly sworn in senior special assistants, promised that they will live up to the people’s expectation.

L-R: Chairman, Riyom Local Government Area, Mr. Sam Audu; Commander, Special Task Force (STF), Maj.-Gen. Henry Ayoola and Gbong Gwom Jos, Da Jacob Buba, during STF’s tour of Riyom in Plateau, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

7 years after, court frees man accused of robbery INUSA NDAHI MAIDUGURI

M a i d u g u r i High Court yesterday discharged and acquitted a 46-year-old man, Tumba Tumba, accused of robbery after spending seven years in prison. The court was told that the accused, who armed himself with a cutlass,

knife and machete, robbed his victims of N600, 000’ five cell phones and a radio transistor in Gamboru ward of Maiduguri metropolis. He was charged for an offence punishable under section 298 of the penal code. During the trial, witnesses who came to testify against the accused could not do so as they said they are

victims of the robbery. Tumba, the accused, denied the allegation, saying that he was wrongfully accused by vigilante operatives, who arrested him and handed him over to the police. He also told the court that men of the Bor no State Criminal Investigation Department, CID, tortured him to confess to the crime.

The presiding judge at the Maiduguri High Court 12, Justice Wakkil Alkali Gana, discharged and acquired him of the charge for lack of evidence. He also said that even if the accused was found guilty he has already spent seven years in prison which is two third of the sentencing required by law.

Jang assures Nigerians on Suntai’s health JAMES ABRAHAM JOS

lateau State Governor, Jonah David Jang, has reassured Nigerians that Taraba State Governor, Danbaba Suntai, is recovering well in Germany. The governor stated this shortly on his arriv-

al at the Yakubu Gowon Airport, Heipang, from an overseas trip in company of his wife, Ngo Talatu. The governor, who visited Governor Suntai in Germany, added that his health condition has not only improved, but is in stable state with a good sense of memory. Governor Jang expressed

optimism that Governor Suntai will soon return to his duty post in Taraba State. The governor also said while in Mozambique, he met with the country’s President and held far reaching deliberations on ways of strengthening ties and cooperation. He was in the company of Nigeri-

an’s Ambassador to the country, Ambassador Matilda Kwarshi. He said he was delighted to be back home and praised the Super Eagles over their victory at the on-going 2013 Orange African Cup of Nations in South Africa, wishing them success in their remaining matches.

etermined to cushion the effect of the hardship faced by its citizens as a result of the removal of the fuel subsidy, the Kogi State government has inaugurated a 20-man committee on the Subsidy Re-Investment and Empowerment Programme, SUREP, to enhance the welfare of the people. State governor, Captain Idris Wada, who made this known yesterday while speaking at the inauguration of the committee, tasked the members to work towards the welfare of the people. Wada, who was represented by his Deputy, Yomi Awoniyi, said the committee’s responsibilities, among others, is to liaise with relevant federal agencies, approve annual work plans as well as monitor and evaluate funded projects to ensure faithful utilisation and adherence of the funds and programmes. The governor urged the committee to maintain good communication with the populace on the activities of the programme, appealing that the members should create a social safety net that would help people benefit from the programme. Wada, who expressed displeasure over the arbitrary and exploitative pricing of petroleum products in the state, said the enforcement of approved prices will soon commence in the state. He warned petroleum products marketers to operate their businesses with human face, as government is working towards addressing the issues of poor supply from the NNPC.

Friday, February 1, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

World News

Syria threatens retaliation for Israeli airstrike

“I have not committed to a firm time line (on deal with EU). We’re not going to be rushed into a deal that doesn’t serve Canadians.”

Malian militants in disarray after French air strikes •Paris backs possible U.N. force in Mali PAUL ARHEWE

WITH AGENCY REPORTS

hree weeks of French targeted air strikes in northern Mali have left Islamist militants “in disarray”, France’s defence minister has said. Jean-Yves Le Drian said the jihadists had now scattered, marking a “turning-point” in France’s intervention. His comments come as the French troops continue to secure Kidal, the last town occupied by

militants. The latest strikes have been on command centres, training camps and depots north of Kidal, a spokesman has said. Col Thierry Burkhard said the “fairly significant” targets had been hit in the Aguelhok mountains near the Algerian border, reports the AFP news agency. France is preparing to hand over towns it has captured to an African force, which has begun to deploy to Mali. So far about 2,000 African sol-

diers, mainly from Chad and Niger, are on the ground. Col Burkhard said a column of 1,400 troops from Chad was heading towards Kidal from the Niger border. It will be the job of the African Union-backed force, the International Support Mission to Mali (Afisma), to root out the al-Qaedalinked insurgents that have fled into the desert and mountains further north. Meanwhile, at least two Malian soldiers were killed when their vehicle hit a landmine south-west of Gao, officials say.

Malian soldiers heading to Gao in a pickup truck arrive in the recently liberated town of Douentza, on Wednesday. PHOTO: REUTERS

Somali govt charges alleged rape victim

he Somali government has charged a woman who has said she was raped by security forces, according to an international human rights group, which says the case is politically motivated. The group said a journalist who interviewed her was also charged. Human Rights Watch said three other people including the woman’s husband were charged with assisting the alleged rape victim to evade investigators. The rights group said in a statement Wednesday that Somali government should drop the politically motivated charges. The woman was charged in Mogadishu court Tuesday of insulting a government body, inducing false evidence.

–Canada’s Trade Minister Ed Fast Le Drian said that some militants in Mali had been on a “military adventure and have returned home”. Others had made a “tactical withdrawal to the Adrar des Ifoghas”, the mountainous region east of Kidal covering some 250,000 sq km (96,525 sq miles), he said. Although he said this was now a turning-point for France, it did not mean that “the military risks and the fighting has ended”. Meanwhile, Le Drian yesterday backed the idea of sending a United Nations peacekeeping force into Mali, saying France would play a role in any such plan. The U.N. Security Council is to begin discussing the possibility of deploying U.N. troops in the stricken West African nation, envoys said of an idea it had previously been uncomfortable with before France’s recent military intervention. The French military on Wednesday took control of the airport in Kidal, the last town held by al-Qaeda-linked rebels, and is planning to quickly hand over to a larger African force, whose task will be to root out insurgents in their mountain redoubts. U.N. envoys have said sending in a peacekeeping force would offer clear advantages over an African-led force, as it would be easier to monitor human rights compliance and the United Nations could choose which national contingents to use in the force.

Annan launches anti-drug trafficking commission

ormer United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan launched a commission yesterday to tackle drug trafficking in West Africa as the region increasingly becomes a stopover point for cocaine and marijuana shipments from the Americas to Europe. “The massive surge in drug trafficking over the last decade presents a serious and growing threat to the region’s stability and development,” said Annan. “Left unchecked, illegal drug trafficking could compromise the encouraging progress that West African nations have made in strengthening democracy and promoting human and economic development.” The 10-member commission, headed by former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, will raise awareness, promote regional

capacity to deal with the problem, and develop policy recommendations for political leaders, he said. The Commission on the Impact of Drug Trafficking on Governance, Security and Development in West Africa is sponsored by the Kofi Annan Foundation. The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime said in a report last year that cocaine trafficking in West and Central Africa generates some $900 million annually for criminal networks. In July, the Executive Director of the UNODC, Yury Fedotov, said some 30 tons of cocaine were trafficked to West Africa in 2011. He also reported an increase in heroin trafficking, as evidenced by an upsurge in seizures from 20 kilograms seized in 2008 to almost 400 kilograms in 2011. Methamphetamine laboratories have also

recently been discovered in West Africa, he said. The tiny coup-prone nation of Guinea-Bissau served as the entry point for drug smuggling in West Africa about a decade ago, Annan said, and is now frequently dubbed a “narcostate.”

Annan

WORLD BULLETIN

Deployment of troops to Mali be completed soon –ECOWAS

The President of the ECOWAS Commission, Kadré Désiré Ouédraogo has expressed confidence that the deployment of all military contingents pledged by various African countries to assist Mali in countering terrorist groups in that country will soon be completed. “We have held talks with the Headquarters of AFISMA (the International Support Mission in Mali) and everything is gradually falling into place. I can assure you that, in the coming days, all the contingents will be on ground,” the President affirmed at a press briefing during his one-day visit to Bamako from Abidjan recently. President Ouédraogo and his delegation, which included the Ivorian Minister of Foreign Affairs Charles Koffi Diby and his Defence and African Integration counterpart, who is also Chairman of the ECOWAS Chiefs of Defence Staff, General Soumaila Bakayako, were received at the Bamako airport by the Malian Minister of Defence and the AFISMA Commander, Major General Abdulkadir Shehu of Nigeria. The ECOWAS delegation later visited the French base where they were briefed by Colonel Fagué, the Coordinator of Operation Serval.

Egypt politicians renounce violence at crisis talks

Egypt’s feuding politicians renounced violence yesterday after being summoned by the country’s most influential Muslim scholar to talks to end the deadliest unrest since President Mohamed Morsi took power. It remains to be seen whether the pledge to end confrontation will halt a week of bloodshed on the streets that killed nearly 60 people. Opposition groups did not cancel new demonstrations scheduled for Friday. But participants at the meeting, including leaders of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood and its secular rivals, described their joint statement as a major step towards ending a conflict that has made the most populous Arab state seem all but ungovernable two years after an uprising toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak. The meeting was convened by Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyeb, head of the thousand-year-old al-Azhar university and mosque, one of the few institutions still seen as neutral in a society that has become increasingly polarized. He told politicians that a national dialogue, “in which all elements of Egyptian society participate, without any exclusion, is the only tool to resolve any problems or differences. “Political work has nothing to do with violence or sabotage and the welfare of everyone and the fate of our nation depends on respect for the rule of law,” the sheikh said.

World News

WORLD BULLETIN

Robbers throw passengers off train, kill four

Robbers threw passengers from a speeding train in Bangladesh, killing four, police said. Bdnews24.com said the train had just left Akhaura junction when the robbers attacked. The bandits threw the passengers out while the moving train was passing over Bhadughar bridge in Brahmanbaria, Bdnews24.com reported. Survivor Rubel Mia of Kalacherra village said seven or eight robbers boarded the train at Pagachong station early yesterday. “They threw us off the train when we resisted them,” she said. The robbers took valuables and cash, Bdnews24.com said. Police said two passengers, a man and a woman, died, while three injured passengers were admitted to the hospital. Two of those passengers later died.

Body of US pilot found in Adriatic The body of a U.S. Air Force pilot whose F-16 fighter jet went missing Monday during a nighttime training mission has been found in the Adriatic Sea. The family of Capt. Lucas Gruenther said his body was found on Thursday afternoon. Italian rescue teams were joined by F-16s in the search for Gruenther, and earlier in the week recovered debris believed to belong to his aircraft. In a statement, the Gruenther family thanked “the many people who volunteered their time and resources to help bring Luc home.” Gruenther was with the 31st Fighter Wing, based at Aviano Air Base in Italy. The Air Force declined to give his age. The Modesto (California) Bee newspaper has reported that Gruenther is from Twain Harte, California.

New York Times hit by hackers from China Hackers from China have “persistently” infiltrated the New York Times for the last four months, the US paper said yesterday. It said the attacks coincided with its report into claims that the family of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao had amassed a multibillion dollar fortune. The hackers used methods which have been “associated with the Chinese military” to target the emails of the report’s writer, the paper said. China’s foreign ministry dismissed the accusations as “groundless”. “To arbitrarily assert and to conclude without hard evidence that China participated in such hacking attacks is totally irresponsible,” said spokesman Hong Lei. “China is also a victim of hacking attacks. Chinese laws clearly forbid hacking attacks, and we hope relevant parties takes a responsible attitude on this issue.” Beijing has been accused by several governments, foreign companies and organisations of carrying out extensive cyber espionage for many years, seeking to gather information and to control China’s image.

Friday, February 1, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Syria threatens retaliation for Israeli airstrike

yria threatened Thursday to retaliate for an Israeli airstrike and its ally Iran said there will be repercussions for the Jewish state over the attack. U.S. officials said Israel launched a rare airstrike inside Syria on Wednesday. The target was a convoy believed to be carrying anti-aircraft weapons bound for Hezbollah, the powerful Lebanese militant group allied with Syria and Iran. In Israel, a lawmaker close to hard-line Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stopped short of confirming involvement in the strike. But he hinted that Israel could carry out similar missions in the future. The attack has inflamed regional tensions already running high over Syria’s 22-month-old civil war. Israeli leaders in the days leading up to the airstrike had been publicly expressing concern that Syrian President Bashar Assad may be losing his grip on the country and its arsenal of conventional and nonconventional weapons. Regional security officials said Wednesday that the targeted shipment included sophisticated Russian-made SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles, which if acquired by Hezbollah would enhance its military capabilities by enabling the militants to shoot down Israeli jets, helicopters and surveillance drones. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media. The Syrian military denied there was any weapons convoy

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) arriving at the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, recently. PHOTO: REUTERS

and said low-flying Israeli jets had crossed into their country over the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights to bomb a scientific research center near Damascus. It said the target was in the area of Jamraya, northwest of Damascus and about 15 kilometers (10 miles) from the Lebanese border. Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Jassem al-Shallal, who in December became one of the most senior Syrian army officers to defect, told The Associated Press by telephone from Turkey that the site they said was targeted is a “major and well-known” centre to develop weapons known as the Scientific Research Centre. Al-Shallal, who until his defection was commander of the military police, said no chemical or nonconventional weapons are at the site. He

added that foreign experts, including Russians and Iranians, are usually present at such centres. Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul-Karim Ali threatened retribution for the Israeli airstrike, saying Damascus “has the option and the capacity to surprise in retaliation.” He told Hezbollah’s al-Ahd news website that it was up to the relevant authorities to prepare the retaliation and choose the time and place. The Syrian Foreign Ministry summoned Major-General Iqbal Singh Singha, the head of mission and force commander for United Nations Disengagement Observer Force on the Golan Heights, to complain about the Israeli violation. The force was established in

Cameron makes unexpected visit to Libya

.K. police officers will travel to Libya to investigate the Lockerbie bombing, British Prime Minister David Cameron said yesterday. The news came as Cameron made an unannounced visit to the North African country’s capital, Tripoli, and held bilateral talks to explore what support and expertise Britain can offer to Libya to strengthen its security and defeat terrorism. Cameron told a press confer-

ence in Tripoli that he was “delighted” that police would be able to visit Libya and “look into the issues” around the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over the Scottish town. The attack killed 270 people, many of them American. The death last spring of Abdel Baset al-Megrahi — a former Libyan intelligence agent and the only man convicted over the bombing — renewed pleas from victims’ relatives for further investigation of the bombing. Af-

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, right, listening to Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron as he delivers a speech in Algiers, on Wednesday. PHOTO: AP

ter the fall of dictator Muammar Gaddafi, Britain asked Libya’s new rulers to help fully investigate. Cameron also said Britain was prepared to provide training and advice to Libya amid growing concerns over security in the region, pledging to help Libya’s police and army. The prime minister’s visit to the Libyan capital — shortly after a stop in Algeria, where he struck a security partnership — came just days after the U.K. Foreign Office warned of a potential threat against the British embassy in Tripoli. Just before that, Britain joined other governments in urging its citizens in Benghazi, Libya’s second-largest city, to evacuate in response to what was described as an imminent threat to Westerners. The Foreign Office on Thursday would not comment on the status of those threats but said it was “taking appropriate measures.”

1974 following the disengagement of Israeli and Syrian forces in the area and has remained there since to maintain the cease-fire. Israel captured the Golan, a strategic plateau, from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war. Hezbollah condemned the attack as “barbaric aggression” and said it “expresses full solidarity with Syria’s command, army and people.” The group did not mention any weapons convoy in the statement but said the strike aimed to prevent Arab and Muslim forces from developing their military capabilities. In Iran, the semi-official Fars news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian as saying the raid will have significant implications for Israel.

14 killed as Yemeni forces clash with al-Qaida

emen’s Defense Ministry says clashes in the south between al-Qaida militants and pro-government fighters have killed 14 on both sides. A ministry statement on Thursday says the fighting lasted for the past two days and left eight militants dead. It’s part of a military offensive that local militiamen have joined to push al-Qaida out of the mountainous stronghold of al-Maraksha in Abyan province. Abdullah al-Ameeri says six of his fighters were killed. AlAmeeri is a member of the Popular Committees, a militia of local residents who sided with the government against al-Qaida. The U.S. considers Yemen’s al-Qaida branch as the group’s most dangerous offshoot. Washington has helped Yemeni troops with airpower and advisers during last summer’s offensive to drive militants out of large areas al-Qaida seized during Yemen’s 2011 uprising.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Friday, February 1, 2013

News

Friday, February 1, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Okah asked court to allow him call witnessess for mitigation of sentence

onvicted leader of the Movement for Liberaton of Niger Delta (MEND), Henry Okah, has asked a Johannesburg High Court to allow him call witnesses to testify for mitigation of his sentence. It will be recalled that the court at its last sitting on Jan, 21, found Okah guilty of conspiracy to commit terrorism by masterminding two car bomb attacks in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital on Oct. 1, 2010. The court reserved the pronouncement of the sentence to Jan. 31, 2013.

Okah’s attorney, Lucky Multulanla, told the trial judge, Neels Claassen, on Thursday that his client wanted to call at least five witnesses from Nigeria and outside Nigeria to testify for the mitigation of the convict’s sentence in the interest of the Niger Delta community. “My Lord my client wants to be given the opportunity to call some witnesses to come from Nigeria and other countries to testify on mitigation of his sentence. “More over given the attestation of some highly

placed government officials in Nigeria about his popularity among his people, his is willing to play a major role in the peace process the Nigerian government is talking about,” Multulanla said. He, however, refused to give the names of the witnesses. “Some of the witnesses willing to testify are community leaders and highly place individual within and outside Nigeria.

“They do not want their names mentioned before coming to South Africa because of threats to their safety,” Multulanla said. The prosecutor, Shauns Abrahams, opposed the application, saying that the

convict is trying to buy time. “The convict is playing delay tactics, he is just trying to buy time and delay the court from giving its sentence. “He had opportunity to

call his witlessness, but he abandoned it; there was no evidence that the Nigerian government either threatened or prevented any witness from testifying during the trial,’’ Abrahams said. “If indeed Okah is that

Friday, February 1, 2013

Chukwuemeka: Gora counsels drug cheats

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Sport

This AFCON has lived up to expectation as every of the 16 nations have performed well

- FORMER SOUTH AFRICA INTERNATIONAL, LUCAS RADEBE

NFF offers Eagles $15,000 to beat Elephants

Adlene Guedioura of Algeria (R) being challenged by Cote d’Ivoire’s Kolo Toure during their last Group D match at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg, South Africa, on Wednesday.

CAF rates Elephants higher, Keshi unfazed EVEREST O NYEWUCHI

nalyses and statistics of all the first round games played at the ongoing 29th AFCON released yesterday by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) give Cote d’Ivoire edge ahead of Sunday’s quarter-final match against Nigeria. The Elephants retained their pre-tournament premier position at the end of the group stage, finishing top of their group with seven points and also scoring seven goals. They are followed by the Black Stars and Stallions who have seven and five points respectively. Hosts Bafana Bafana placed fourth with five points, followed by the Super Eagles in fifth place with four points. A total of 49 goals were scored in the first round’s 24 matches, with Cote d’Ivoire scoring seven, Ghana six, Burkina Faso five and Nigeria four. Burkina Faso’s Alain Toure, whose SA 2013 journey has ended because of injury, is leading with three goals, followed by Nigeria’s duo of Emmanuel Emenike and Victor Moses with two strikes and Ivorian twosome, Yaya Toure and

Gervinho, who also have scored two goals. In their three group games, Gervinho, Yaya Toure and Kolo Toure were adjudged Man of the Match, while only Mikel Obi and Vincent Enyeama earned the honour in two of Nigeria’s games. However Coach Stephen Keshi is unfazed by these stats that give the Elephants slight edge over the Eagles ahead of Sunday’s clash. “If you must win a trophy

Keshi

you must beat the biggest and best teams, so why should we be afraid of any team. The bigger they come, the bigger they will fall. Who told you that if it were to be the Hawks of Togo, it will be a walkover. “There is no small team anywhere and the Ivorians know it. It’s a classic and we will show why we are the Super Eagles on Sunday,” the Nigerian coach said yesterday.

ach player of the Super Eagles will pocket US$15,000 (about N2.3million) if the team beats the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire on Sunday in the quarter-finals of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa. A top Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) official reconfirmed an MTNFootball. com exclusive of several weeks ago when he also disclosed that each player will be US$20,000 richer if they triumph in the semi-final. For victory in the championship game on February 10 inside the National Stadium in Johannesburg, each player will pocket another US$30,000. Super Eagles’ players

received US$30,000 (about N4.7million) a day after the team qualified for the quarter-finals on Tuesday. Team sponsor, Guinness, has also made a financial commitment for goals scored at the AFCON, while the Eagles are expecting billionaire Aliko Dangote to splash more cash after they reached the last eight. Each player was paid about $80,000 when Nigeria finished third at the 2010 Nations Cup in Angola. On Sunday afternoon in Rustenburg, they face 1992 champions, Cote d’Ivoire. The winners of this match-up will clash with the winners of the quarterfinal between hosts South Africa and Mali.

...Senators, Reps boost team

he leadership of the National Assembly has urged the Super Eagles to prove their pedigree in African football by defeating the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire on Sunday in the quarter-final match of the ongoing AFCON in South Africa. A delegation of the NASS leadership led by chairmen of the sports committees of the Senate and House of Representatives, Sen. Adamu Gimba and Hon. Godfrey Gaya, on Wednesday, visited the Eagles to boost their morale ahead of the clash. The NASS delegation comprising Gimba, Gaya and their respective committee’s members, were led to the Eagles’ camp by the NFF President, Alhaji Aminu Maigari. Senator Gimba, who spoke on behalf of the delegation, said the NASS was delighted with the Super Eagles’ gritty display against Ethiopia, whom they defeated 2-0, and

David Mark

urged the team to move a step further by perching on the Elephants on Sunday. Team skipper, Joseph Yobo, who spoke on behalf of his mates, expressed delight over the visit. “When we see top government officials like this, we get encouraged that we are not just here to represent our families but actually here for the greater glory of Nigeria. We thank you sirs for coming and by God’s grace we shall not let you down,” Yobo said.

Sport

Friday, February 1, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Samba makes QPR switch

Banned for life, Vivian Chukwuemeka

Chukwuemeka: Gora counsels drug cheats YEMI OLUS

ormer Technical Director of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Elias Gora, has called on athletes to take a bow while the ovation is still loudest rather that resort to the use of drugs in a bid to sustain their careers. Gora spoke with National Mirror yesterday against the back drop of the confirmation of a life ban against shotputter, Vivian Chukwuemeka, by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) during the week. Chukwuemeka, who was returning from a two-year ban, failed a dope test during the national trials held in June last year. Her ban took effect from 12 July, 2012. “I think it is high time our athletes woke up and faced reality. I would want us to look at Vivian’s age in relative comparison to her performance. “She was an athlete who took part in a number of events such as shotput and discus and has been on and off for some time. This gives credence to the fact that only few athletes of her age can actually perform optimally without the use of performance enhancing drugs.” Gora, who was a member of Nigeria’s London 2012 planning committee, however enjoined friends and family of the affected athlete to

take the decision in good fate. “Now that this decision has been taken, friends and family will hit out at the federation and people become sentimental when such issues are mentioned. However we must remember that there are established rules that govern sport and the law must take its course. No country is an island; we belong to a world community and must do things the proper way. “It is very unfortunate both for her and the country at large because it is a dent on our image. The last incident which I can remember clearly was that of Chioma Ajunwa because I was one of those assigned to rehabilitate her. Chidi Imoh’s case also comes to mind but a lot of times people just forget.” Commonwealth Games gold medalist, Yusuf Alli, also lamented the life ban slammed on the shot put queen who has won 14 national titles. “My advice to athletes is for them to desist from using banned drugs,” Alli said, adding, “I thought she would have learnt her lesson after the first ban.” Meanwhile AFN’s Technical Director, Omatseye Nesiama, has stressed that the National Sports Commission (NSC) and the athletic governing body have zero tolerance for doping amongst its athletes, saying the federation would also sanction any coach whose athlete is found culpable.

acial slur victim, Chris Samba, has completed his move to Queens Park Rangers for a club record fee. The centre-half, who left Blackburn for Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala a year ago, joins Rangers on a fourand-a-half-year contract. Samba is a readymade replacement for his former Ewood Park team-mate Ryan Nelsen, who has left for the MLS, and Manager Harry Redknapp gave Chairman Tony Fernandes credit for pulling off an “unbelievable” deal. “Chris is just what we need. He’s a mon-

Samba

KATSINA

inners of the 2012 Vice President Namadi Sambo National Peace and Unity Cup, Shema Boys (Under 20), have been rewarded with N5m by the Kasina State Government. The competition was organised by the African Youths Sports Federation (AYSF) in conjunction with the state government. Katsina State Commissioner for Youths and Sports, Manir Talba, said government’s gesture was motivated by the team’s success.

Talba, who commended the players and their trainers for promoting the image of the state, assured of the government’s readiness to support the team in future engagements. “A multi-billion naira Olympicsized stadium is almost being completed in the state while an indigenous football club has been established as part of our sports development efforts,” the commissioner said, adding that Katsina had engaged an Argentine group with a view to setting up a sports academy for youth’s training and development.

Balotelli unfolds San Siro dream

this season was negative, but with this jersey I will do better. “I made some important choices, so I hope they can make Milan great and make me great too. I just want the fans to love me and for me to repay that love.”

Armstrong hammers cycling history

isgraced former world cycling champion, Lance Armstrong, has sensationally claimed cheating has been present in cycling for all of its history. In his first interview since he admitted to doping during his sevenyear reign at the Tour de France, Armstrong also backed a truth and reconciliation commission as the way to move forward in the fight against doping. The American claimed that every generation before him sought to get advantages by legal and illegal

VP Cup winners get windfall JAMES DANJUMA

ster. Great in the air, quick, a leader, strong, fantastic in both boxes and is as hard as nails. He’s a proper centre-half,” Redknapp said yesterday. Meanwhile, Samba has said that he will make the best of his fresh opportunity. “I’m delighted to be back in the Premier League. It’s the best league in the world to play football,” the Balotelli Congolese-born player said. “ U n fo r t u n at e ly things haven’t gone ormer Manchesthe way the club ter City striker, would have wanted Mario Balotelli, so far this season but there’s still a lot of is thrilled with his time and I’m sure we move to AC Milan after passing a medican get out of it.” cal at the San Siro on Wednesday. “As soon as I got the chance, I ran to Milan,” controversial Balotelli said yesterday. “I had wanted to play here for a long time, but was at other clubs, so I didn’t have the opportunity. Papers talked, but I knew I’d play for Milan eventually. The start of

Armstrong in front

means and he merely carried on the tradition. “My generation was no different than any other,” Armstrong said yesterday. Armstrong, who has been stripped of his seven Tour titles and banned for life, believes a truth and reconciliation process is the only way for endurance sport to tackle the spectre of doping. The International Cycling Union (UCI), the sport’s governing body, recently disbanded an independent commission set up to investigate its relationship with Armstrong.

Kovaciv gets Boban praise

C Milan legend, Zvonimir Boban, has commended Inter Milan over the club’s deal for Dinamo Zagreb midfielder Mateo Kovacic. Boban, who made fame and fortune at Milan while starring for the side in the 1990s, is a huge fan of the youngster. “He is the new Boban and he has the potential to be even better than me,” Boban said yesterday. “Mateo is an all round talent, not yet a director, but a pure midfielder. He can play as a midfielder, it is his ideal role. “He has huge potential. He’s fast and has great technique. I think Inter have made a great buy.”

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Sport

Friday, February 1, 2013

Antunes dreams Ghana upset

Q-finals: Keita hopeful, wary of Bafana

ape Verde Coach, Lucio Antunes, says his side can dim Ghana’s Black Stars in tomorrow’s Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final. The 46-year-old hopes the fishing country’s fairytale run at the tournament will continue against four-time African champions. Cape Verde have not beaten Ghana at any stage in international football but the Blue Sharks have been the surprise package. The tiny Island nation needed a last-gasp goal to beat Angola 2-1 in the final Group A match to pick the second slot behind South Africa. Antunes, a protege of Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho, is ready to add Ghana to his recent list of victims. “The Black Stars were the strongest team in Group B,” Antunes conceded yesterday ater his team’s training session. “We are happy to play against them because they are one of the

eita Mali midfielder, Seydou Keita, has acknowledged the clash South Africa will be difficult because of the home support set to accompany the Bafana Bafana. “Eleven years ago we were in the same situation when we hosted the tournament in Mali,” Keita recalled. “The next possible step for us is to cross the quarterfinals into the semis. We’ll play against them like we have been doing so far,” the 33-year-old, who now plays for Chinese club Dalian Aerbin, said. “We knocked co-host Gabon out of the 2012 AFCON and we can still do it again against South Africa.” Meanwhile, Mali Coach, Patrice Carteron, has said that his squad will not be under pressure when they face the Bafana Bafana in tomorrow’s second quarter final match billed for the Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban. “As far we know, I think we have surpassed our target of getting to the last eight and my players only know now that every other thing they get will be an added advantage,” Carteron, who was appointed to the Malian job in July last year, said yesterday as the team rounded off training. “South Africa will be the team that everybody sees in the semi-finals and so all the pressure will be on them,” he said. “The stadium will be filled with people expecting Bafana to win, and we could put more pressure on them if things do not go according to their plans.” “We will be thinking about the 15 million Malians who will be watching the game and I know my players are resolved to give their best in the encounter.”

best in Africa and at this stage of the competition we have to come up against such teams. “We will now simply keep on working hard and try to win the next game.” Antunes works as a part-time coach, although he has contemplated his future as his country’s leading tactician with his full-time job as an air traffic controller in the capital Praia. “I don’t know which I prefer, coaching or being an air traffic controller. I am definitely going to go back, I just don’t know when.”

Antunes

Eagles’ll retire Drogba –Kalu

Seydou Keita will carry Mali’s burden in Durban tomorrow when they face host South Africa

ames do not play football, former Abia State governor, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, reminded the Super Eagles yesterday as they prepare to battle Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire in Sunday’s Nations Cup quarter-final match. Kalu said in a statement, “The Elephants are beatable. Big names like Didier Drogba and Yaya Toure did not stop Zambia from lifting the trophy in 2012. Diego Maradona and Argentina were floored by Cameroun, even as defending champions at the Italia’90 World Cup. “Eagles also showed their

Mweene backs fumbling strikers

ambia goalkeeper, Kennedy Mweene, has absolved Chipolopolo’s misfiring strikers following the team’s early 2013 Africa Cup exit. Mweene literally carried the team’s burden in South Africa saving a penalty and converting another while his strikers only managed to score one goal in three Group C games. According to the Free State Stars goalkeeper, however, everyone has taken collective responsibility for Zambia’s early exit.

“It is a team sport and each and every player has got his responsibilities,” Mweene said. “When there is a penalty to be saved, that’s my responsibility to keep the team in the tournament. When it is the strikers’ time to do their job, it’s their responsibility.” Collins Mbesuma is the only striker who managed to find the target for Zambia and that was in the teams opening Group C match against Ethiopia that ended 1-1 on January Football fans jubilating at one of the Squadron African Football Fiesta viewing centres in Lagos 21. after Nigeria defeated Ethiopia on Tuesday

stuff in France when they damaged pre-tournament favourites, Spain, beyond recognition in 1998.That was the last we heard of Andoni Zubizaretta and the beginning of the end for Raul. Mark my words: Drogba would bite his nails at the end of the clash.” The ex-governor in his usual historical analyses explained that anytime Nigeria played defending champions in the first round, they stayed until the end of the competition, and also returned with a medal. “That is the story since 1976 when the Eagles played Zaire, 1974 African champions. It also happened in 1984, with 1982 winners, Ghana, in the same Bouake group. Same story in 1988, cup holders Egypt were in Eagles’ group, just like what happened again in 2010 when defending champions, Egypt, met the Eagles in the first round. In 2013, it was Zambia. So there is no stopping the tradition,” he declared And until Egypt thrashed Nigeria 3-1 in Angola, no defending champions ever beat the Eagles. Zaire in 1976, Ghana in 1984, Egypt in 1988, Cote D’Ivore in 1994, Cameroun in 2004 and Tunisia in 2006. This year, Zambians should thank the Egyptian referee for picking a draw. Kalu goes ahead to talk of history.

WORLD RECORD

Most players in a basketball exhibition match

Vol. 03 No. 548

Friday, February 1, 2013

The most players in a basketball exhibition match is 1,464 was achieved by the Fiesta Nacional del Básquet in Estadio Club Estudiantes, Bahia Blanca, Argentina, from 7-9 September 2012

N150

As NYSC members can’t read or write

he Head of Cartoon Department on this newspaper, Mr. Leke Moses, did his thing in style as usual last Friday when, in the back page ‘9jaman’ cartoon strip, he served a caricature which said: ‘Many NYSC members can’t read, write - DG’; and then capped it with a rider that conveyed his impression of the preoccupation of corps members possibly responsible for their academic indolence this way: ‘But they can browse’. That was how the veteran newspaper cartoonist captured the recent statement credited to the Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps, Brigadier-General Nnamdi Okore-Affia, who lamented that many corps members could hardly communicate in English Language, let alone being able to teach in the classrooms. According to Okore-Affia, the level of academic deficiency among corps members has heightened their rejection (in their

FRIDAYS WITH Dozie Okebalama

dozieokeama@yahoo.co.uk 08164966858 (SMS only) places of primary assignment) and redundancy. Many of the illiterate corps members were said to be over-aged, underwent part-time programmes or products of unaccredited courses. Faulting the NYSC DG’s frank talk would mean a most ludicrous attempt to cover-up the shame currently represented by the nation’s education system, from the formative stages to the top. The sordid performances of secondary school students, especially in external examinations in the last couple of years, have been consistently mournful and really demand that a day be set aside by the Federal Government for Nigerians to weep for the upcoming generation. The trends are basically the same for exams conducted by both the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the National Examinations Council (NECO). Results of the May/June 2012 West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE), released by WAEC last year, for instance, revealed that out of the 1,695,878 candidates who sat for the exam, only 649,156 candidates or 38.81 percent emerged with credits in five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics, the minimum qualification for tertiary education admission, especially in universities and allied institutions. The performance percentages for 2010 and 2011 were 23.71 and 30.91, respectively. For the November/December, 2012 WASSCE, 62.03 percent of the students who wrote the exam failed, with only 37.97

EDUCATIONAL

SYSTEM HAS BECOME, DEDICATED STUDENTS WILL ALWAYS COME OUT IN FLYING COLOURS percent or 150,615 out of a total of 396,614 obtaining five credits, including English Language and Mathematics. Most striking, however, was WAEC’s revelation that blind students performed better than those without sight problems, with 46.93 percent of the 49 blind students that registered for the examination recording five credits, including English Language, as they don’t sit for Mathematics and Science practicals in WASSCE examinations. It was this aspect of the result that made me remember the Leke Moses cartoon on NYSC members who can’t read and write, but can browse the internet for eternity, not in search of rewarding knowledge, but mostly to deprave their morals with cut-and-paste information, pornography, relationship and other unhelpful frivolities. Concerned Nigerians, particularly

Sport Extra

w nbeaten heavyweight boxer, Tyson Fury, has vowed to rid boxing of the Klitschkos brothers, Vladimir and Vitali, if he can goad either into giving him a world title shot. Fury has spent months calling out the brothers,

EVEN AS LAMENTABLE AS THE NIGERIAN

educationists, blame the tragedy on the dearth of textbooks, as well as a diminishing reading culture. Equally fingered are the get-rich-quick syndrome, the bug that haunts ‘yahoo-yahoo boys’; the distractions of paid-for-television-programmes promoted by corporate entities to market their products, which promises to produce super stars overnight; as well as the new found craze for foreign football. Commentators also blame poor training and retraining for teachers, disappearance of educational programmes from the media and bogging students down with countless subjects usually made compulsory by the examination bodies, which candidates must sit for. All the observations might be right, but the chief culprit seems to be the fact that most Nigerian youths have refused to utilise the limitless opportunities offered by the internet and the social media to better their lot academically. Most Nigerian youths follow latest trends on the internet and social media with consummate interest and concentration, but cannot provide simple answers to commonest current affairs questions except they go to ‘Google’; let alone thinking of reading serious textbooks. In the fray, too, are some young parents who have not only turned fun-seeking slaves on the internet, but encourage their under-aged children with latest GSM phones with which they browse anything ‘browseable’, including the obscene which thrills them the most. It may be said with all candour, therefore, that even as lamentable as the Nigerian educational system has become, dedicated students will always come out in flying colours. In addition to the need for a sound school system and quality teachers, parental and sometimes, self supervision, restraint and discipline, hold the key to success in education. And except Nigerian youths show more dedication to their studies like the 46.93 percent of the 49 blind students that registered for the November/ December, 2012 WASSCE, and made five credits including English Language, insulting the NYSC with corps members who can neither read nor write is here to stay.

Boxing: Fury targets Klitschko brothers who hold all four recognised belts between them. But his tactics have so far failed to pay dividends, and next up is likely to be a trip to Madison Square Garden on April 20 to take

on former IBF cruiserweight champion Steve Cunningham. “I’m going to snatch that WBC title,” 24-yearold Fury, who is ranked fourth by the organisation

and has spent time in the Klitschkos’ training camp, said yesterday. “I don’t like either of the Klitschkos, they’re bad for everything to do with boxing. As soon as I get

hold of them and rid the sport of them the better and that’s genuinely what I feel. “When they have someone hurt they won’t jump on them and finish them.”

Tyson Fury

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