Friday, may 20th, 2016 by GLOBAL MEDIA MIRROR LIMITED

Buhari unfolds FG’s plans for rescued Chibok girl Rotimi Fadeyi and Adeola Tukuru

escued Chibok girl, Amina Ali, got a lifeline yesterday as President Muhammadu Buhari said her education

Vol. 6 N0. 1374

truncated by Boko Haram, would resume and wholly funded by the Federal Government. She is also to get the best care that government can afford, in addition, by best medical, emotional and whatever care that she requires to get full re-

covery and be integrated into the society. Amina, along with her four months old baby was at the Presidential Villa where she was met by President Buhari, who said she must go back to school. “Continuation of Ami-

na’s education so abruptly disrupted will definitely be a priority of the Federal Government. Amina must be able go back to school. “Nobody in Nigeria should be put through the brutality of forced marriage. Every girl has a CONTINUED ON PAGE 2>>

Govt bemoans real sector woes

Aisha Abubakar

...promises more intervention P.7

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Metuh vomits in court, stalls trial Doosuur Iwambe ABUJA

rial of the embattled National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Olisa CONTINUED ON PAGE 2>>

Subsidy: NLC vows to continue protest P.4

L-R: Rescued Chibok girl, Amina Ali Mkeki; Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima and President Muhammadu Buhari carrying Amina’s baby, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, yesterday PHOTO: ANAYO OPARA

Monday May 30, 2016

EgyptAir crash: Plane wreckage found, 66 missing P.4

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Metuh vomits in court, stalls trial CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Metuh suffered setback yesterday, following his ill health. The matter, which is before the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, was adjourned for continuation of cross examination of third defence witness, Dr. Doyin Okupe. At the resumed hearing of the proceedings yesterday, counsel to Metuh, Emeka Etiaba, SAN, informed the court that he received a call in the early hours of the day that Metuh was rushed to the National Hospital, Abuja at about 1a.m. “I was informed early hours of Thursday about the ill health of Metuh. I was told that he was rushed to the National hospital at about 1a.m. and I responded that whatever it takes, he must be in court for the trial. “I drove into the court this morning and Metuh was at the car park in a car. “On getting there, I realised he had vomited profusely and his brother in law, Mr. Andrew, narrated how they went to the hospital last night from their residence at Prince and Princess Estate. “On getting there, the only medical officer at the hospital announced to them that they were on strike, but administered an injection and drugs to Metuh.” Etiaba told the court that Metuh left hospital at about 3:30a.m. and was advised to return at 8a.m. because the hospital beds were not on good shape to keep him on admission because of the strike. While informing the presiding judge, Justice Okon Abang, that Metuh was on prescription and was expected to take his drugs at intervals, Etiaba prayed the court for an adjournment to enable his client attend to his health, adding that it is only the living that can stand trial. “The implication is that even if Metuh is here, he will not be able to take a particular pain killer by 11a.m. “I therefore prayed the court to grant our request because this is a life threatening situation. The first defendant needs to stay alive to face his trial,” he said. Prosecution counsel, Silvanus Tahir, who did not opposed the application for adjournment expressed

sympathy with Metuh. Justice Abang, in his ruling on the application, however, held that there was no evidence before the court on the ill health of Metuh. “It would have been proper for the medical practitioner, who had given treatment to Metuh to have been present in court or to have given statement on oath. “However, at the discretion of the court, I will grant the application for adjournment,” he said. He adjourned the trial to May 24, for further cross examination of the third defence witness. It would be recalled that Okupe, who was a former Special Assistant to exPresident Goodluck Jonathan on Public Affairs, had told the court that the N400m paid to Metuh for the 2015 campaign was from the purse of PDP. Metuh and his company, Destra Investment Limited are standing trial for allegedly receiving the N400m from the Office of National Security Adviser, ONSA, to fund the 2015 presidential election of the PDP. Meanwhile, an operative of the Department of State Service, DSS, Mr. Williams Obiora yesterday told the ECOWAS Court sitting in Abuja that the security details, including soldiers attached to the former National Security Adviser, NSA, Col. Sambo Dasuki had not been withdrawn when his Asokoro residence in Abuja was searched over allegations of unlawful possession of arms last year. Obiora, the first prosecution witness, who was testifying before the court, said a retinue of security agents, mainly soldiers were still guarding Dasuki, when DSS operatives stormed the house in search of weapons. Led in evidence by Federal Government lawyer, Mr. Damian Agbe to justify Dasuki’s detention since December 2015, Obiora told the regional court that the former NSA was arrested and kept in custody for two reasons. Among others, the witness claimed that the Dasuki was being kept in custody for his personal security in view of allegations against him on arms purchase and to also prevent him from possible escape from justice. On whether Dasuki requested DSS for protec-

Cross section of deputy governors and Anambra State Governor, Willie Obiano (third right), at the National Economic Council meeting in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN tion, Obiora said he was not aware as to whether the accused made any such request. “He does not need to make a request before we give him protection if his life is in danger, and we owe him a responsibility to ensure he suffers no harm,” he said. Obiora also agreed that Dasuki’s detention was not pursuant to any judicial

proceedings. Dasuki’s lawyer, Roberts Emukperuo, however, said there was no need keeping Dasuki in protective custody because he never requested protection from DSS or anybody. Emukperuo tendered affidavit evidence by DSS confirming that as at 24 August, 2015, the DSS had completed the investigation of Dasuki.

“If it (case) had been concluded there was no need re-arresting him,” he said. Emukperuo said the oral evidence given by the defence was mostly at variance with the documents filed before the court. According to him, a party must be consistent in stating, proving and arguing his case. “He cannot state one

case in his pleading and in the process of arguing it, he takes a somersault,” he declared, Emukperuo further averred that the evidence of Mr. Obiora alluded to only two reasons why the applicant was detained. Having listened to submissions by both parties, the presiding judge, Justice Friday Nwoke fixed June 29 for judgment.

Buhari unfolds FG’s plans for rescued Chibok schoolgirl CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

right to education and their choice of life,” the President said. He assured that the administration would continue to do what it can to liberate the remaining girls still in captivity, stressing that Amina’s rescue has given new hope and offers a unique opportunity to vital information. Though Buhari said he was delighted that Amina regained her freedom, he, however, expressed sadness that she had gone through horrors and trauma at an early stage of her life “Like others all over the world, I am delighted that Amina Ali, one of the missing Chibok girls, has regained her freedom. But my feeling is sting with deep sadness and horrors the girl had had to go through at such an early stage in her life. “Although we cannot do anything to reverse the horrors of her past, the Federal Government can and will do everything possible to ensure that the

rest of her life take a completely different course,” he said. The President said the Federal Government would continue to assist the Murtala Mohammed Foundation, which has already been providing support for the families of the missing Chibok girls He said the foundation would also be involved in the ongoing work with Amina in monitoring her progress and any additional support she requires. In his remarks, Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima said the patience, persistence, perseverance, doggedness of the President for the restoration of peace in the North East has started to yield dividend. According to him, Boko Haram was now on the defensive and on the run, saying no single local government in Borno, Yobe or Adamawa state is under the control of the sect. Amina and her baby were brought to the Villa by Shettima and the Chief of Staff to Kaduna State governor, Hadiza Bala.

She was accompanied by her mother and brother. As their convoy arrived at about 2:45p.m., a veil was used to cover her and her baby to shield them from journalists, who had gathered at the forecourt of the Presidential Villa. As soon as Amina alighted from the vehicle, journalists surge forward to have a view of her and to take photographs However, they had a rough time as security personnel attached to the Villa shielded her and the baby. Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari and top security chiefs, including the Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Olonisakin later led the governor and the rescued girl and her baby to the President’s office. Meanwhile, the Chibok community, yesterday said Mohammed Hayattu, the Boko Haram terrorist, who was identified as Amina’s husband is a sex exploiter. Chairman of the community, Tsambido Hosea Abana, told newsmen in Abuja that the terrorist

should not be referred to as the husband of the rescued girl. According to him, the community will not support discussion with the government or any agency of government in company of Hayyatu, irrespective of whatever role he may have played in her escape. He further called on the government to set up a team of experts to investigate Hayyatu’s involvement in Boko Haram activities “and what role he played that led to him being, in whatever manner, rewarded with our daughter as his sex slave against her will. “All reports and findings of the investigation should be made public “All stakeholders (from the government to the parents, Chibok community and BBOG) should be included in every process of Amina’s recovery and her colleagues, whose rescue we pray shall be sooner than later, for the purpose of transparency and confidence building.”

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Subsidy: NLC vows to continue protest Abiodun Nejo, Chidi Ugwu, Kemi Olaitan, Olufemi Adeosun, Francis Suberu, Boladale Bamigbola, Aliuna Godwin and Emmanuel Ezeh

ore protesters yesterday joined Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and its allies in the civil society organisation to press for the reversal of the deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry. The protesters, who vowed to sustain the agitation for more weeks, however, said congress was ready to go back to the negotiating table with government. Yesterday in Abuja, the protest took off from the Berger Roundabout at about 9 a.m., and terminated at the area 1, Roundabout. While addressing workers, NLC President, Ayuba Wabba noted that the strike was about obnoxious policies of the current administration. He said: “This is about policy engagement, this is about resisting a policy that has been imposed on us and therefore we have made the point clearly that NLC must be seen to be consistent in standing for the truth at all times whichever government is involved.” He said NLC would continue to resist the new pump price of N145 because the template would add to the people’s anguish. “We will continue to resist the N145 fuel pump, which is been imposed on us. This further worsens the hardship in the country. We are not worried that we are fighting this battle alone, because we know we are fighting a just cause and history will be our judge,” he added. When asked if Congress would return to negotiation table, the NLC boss said: “We are open to dialogue anytime government invites us.” Deputy President of NLC, Peter Adeyemi, NULGE President, Ibrahim Khaleel, Chairman of Labour and Civil Society group, Jaiye Gaskiya, all said the strike would continue until the demand of labour is met. In Lagos, hundreds of protesting NLC members picketed the office of the Lagos State Head of Service, HOS, Mrs. Adebowale Ademola at the state secretariat to demand compliance to the ongoing strike. The protesters caused serious traffic gridlock, which extended from the State Secretariat to Awolowo Road,

as they blocked the road leading to the Governor’s Office by Shoprite. As the protesters, comprising members of NLC and Joint Action Forum, JAF, approached the secretariat, security men quickly shut the gates. But the gates were forcibly opened, even as they sang solidarity songs on entering the premises. National Vice President, NLC, Amechi Asugwuni, while addressing the crowd at the entrance of the HOS office dared the police to force them out, vowing that they would not leave until their mission was accomplished. Asugwuni added that labour took the action because the HOS, who was supposed to direct civil servants to join the strike, did not do so. For the second day, the strike witnessed partial compliance in Ekiti State. Government offices and public schools remained under lock and key as workers and students stayed away in compliance with the directive of the organised labour. Majority of the private schools in Ado Ekiti, the state capital, did not open for academic and other activities while a few opened. But commercial and other economic activities were on top swing as commercial vehicles and motorbikes returned to the roads. Banks and stores in the capital city opened for services and business as customers walked in and out for transactions. In Ebonyi State, labour leaders were manhandled by the police. State chairman of NLC, Ikechukwu Nwafor, who spoke to journalists shortly after making his statement at the State Police Command, alleged that they were attacked during procession. He said: “Police attacked us and we are on a peaceful demonstration over the fuel increase and increase in electricity tariff. And it is a protest that is on-going all over the country. “We notified the police over this particular demonstration. We had to put it in writing and sent across to them and we have evidence to that. We made sure the letter was delivered to them before we came out this morning. “It was a peaceful demonstration; only members of NLC were with us and we were only singing and all of a sudden, policemen came. “I told them we were

L-R: Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Babachir David Lawal; National Chairman of All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun and the Deputy National Chairman, North, Sen. Lawal Shuaibu, at the APC National Working Committee and the party’s State Executives meeting on the recent ‘partial’ deregulation of the petroleum sector in Abuja yesterday. PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA on a peaceful demonstration over the electricity tariff and fuel pump price increase and they said we should go back and we told them no, that we are on a peaceful demonstration and we are not violent. “We thought the police came to provide protection, but all of a sudden, they started shooting tear gas. Some of our members have been taken to hospital. “They carried me, threw me on the ground, beat me up and attacked our entire members including women; seized our vehicles and bundled us to this place (police station). “In fact, about five policemen carried me and threw into a Hilux bus like criminal. “They are detaining me here. I sustained injury all over my body and now, I cannot even walk. But I have contacted my lawyer and lawyer of NLC and all I

want now is my freedom so that I can continue my lawful activities.” State Police Commissioner, Peace Abdulla denied any attack on the labour leaders. She however said that the labour leaders staged in unlawful gathering without obtaining police permit. “The crowd was dispersed peacefully and I wasn’t there but I know whom I sent. The chairman of NLC was rolling himself and dragging and doing all manner of things when he was brought to my office,” she said. The strike took its toll in Enugu State with public schools shut as teachers in primary, post-primary and tertiary institutions joined the industrial action. Unlike Wednesday when workers partially observed the strike in the state, momentum yesterday was on the upward swing as pu-

pils and students were sent home in compliance with the NLC directive. In Ibadan, Oyo State, protesters trekked not less than 10 kilometers traversing through NLC secretariat at Idi-Ape, Ikolaba, Customs, Oshuntokun, Kongi, Bodija, University of Ibadan, Sango and back to NLC secretariat with the labour leaders vowing to continue the protest until government sees reasons and revert to the N86.50k petrol price. Workers who resumed for work at the Federal Secretariat and Ministry of Environment were chased out to join the protest. Protest grounded commercial activities in Ile Ife and Osogbo in Osun State. At the Osogbo rally, no member of NLC participated, even as protesters accused labour leaders in the state of sabotage. While the Ile Ife protest lasted, roads were deserted

as the protesters converged on Mayfair Roundabout, chanting anti government songs, demanding immediate reversal of the increase in pump price. National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, yesterday urged Nigerians to disregard the ongoing strike. South-West Chairman of NUPENG, Alhaji Tokunbo Korodo, gave in Lagos. He said what any union that stood for workers or masses should be doing now was to find ways of reaching agreements with government to make life better for workers. “Nigerians should disregard NLC strike and continue with their business activities because it is a failure. “What the unions should do now is to meet government and reach a compromise with them on how to increase workers take home.”

ranean Sea, Greek Defence Minister Panos Kammenos told reporters. The search in seas south of the Greek island of Karpathos involves Greek and Egyptian naval forces, and the British Royal Air Force. Sixty-six people were on board Flight MS804, most of them from Egypt and France. A Briton was among the passengers. Of those on the plane, 56 were passengers, seven were crew members and three were security personnel. Relatives of some of those on board are being flown from Paris Charles de Gaulle airport to Cairo. Flight MS804 left Charles de Gaulle at 23:09 local time on Wednesday

(21:09 GMT) and was scheduled to arrive in the Egyptian capital soon after 03:15 local time on Thursday. Greek aviation officials say air traffic controllers spoke to the pilot when he entered Greek airspace and everything appeared normal. They tried to contact him again at 02:27 Cairo time, as the plane was set to enter Egyptian airspace, but “despite repeated calls, the aircraft did not respond”. Two minutes later it vanished from radar. The relatives and friends of those on board the plane gathered at Cairo airport... Mr Kammenos said: “The picture we have at the moment on the accident as it emerges from the Greek

Air Force operations centre is that the aircraft was approximately 10-15 miles inside the Egyptian FIR (flight information region) and at an altitude of 37,000 feet. “It turned 90 degrees left and then a 360-degree turn toward the right, dropping from 37,000 to 15,000 feet and then it was lost at about 10,000 feet.” Egyptian Aviation Minister Sherif Fathi said: “Let’s not try to jump to the side that is trying to identify this as a technical failure on the contrary. “If you analyse the situation properly, the possibility of having a different action, or having a terror attack, is higher than the possibility of having a technical fault.”

EgyptAir crash: Plane wreckage found, 66 missing

reckage of EgyptAir flight MS804 has been found south of the Greek island of Karpathos, Egyptian aviation officials confirmed. The Airbus A320 was enroute from Paris to Cairo with 66 passengers and crew when it went down overnight. Egyptian Vice-President Ahmed Adel said rescue operation was “turning into a search and recovery”. Officials say the plane is more likely to have been brought down by a terrorist act than a technical fault. It made two sharp turns and dropped more than 25,000ft (7,620m) before plunging into the Mediter-

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INEC to monitor PDP’s Port Harcourt convention Obiora Ifoh Abuja

ndependent National Electoral Commission, INEC has endorsed the Peoples Democratic Party’s national conven-

in Port Harcourt. INEC ...party vacates restraining order one will monitor the elections to all offices except the National ...faction kicks

tion billed to hold in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on Saturday. This is as the opposition

Reps to stop executive from exercising legislative powers over taxes, tariffs Ubong Ukpong Abuja

bill to prohibit the executive and judiciary from legislating on matters of taxes and tariffs without passing through the National Assembly yesterday passed through second reading in the House of Representatives. The Bill is for an Act to abrogate the Legislative powers delegated to the Executive, Administrative, Judicial and Other Offices, Officers, Agencies and Authorities for the Determination, Imposition, Increase, Cancellation, Withdrawal or Reduction of Taxes, Duties, Tariffs and Fees and to Prohibit the exercise of such Powers without the approval of the National Assembly, pursuant to Section 59(1)(b) of the 1999 constitution and for other related matters. The Bill was sponsored by Garba Datti Muhammed (APC-Kaduna) and seeks to address the unilateral increase and reductions in payments for tariffs and duties. Leading debate on the Bill, Muhammed said it was also seeking to retrieve the

power of the National Assembly given to it by the Constitution. He said the powers to control prices of essential services has been abused by the executive as demonstrated in the increase in the fees for driver’s licences, electricity tariff, water rates, fuel pump price among others. In his contribution, House Minority Leader, Leo Ogor (PDP-Delta), said before tax is increased or decreased, it must be subjected to “legislative fireworks” in the National Assembly. He however expressed regret that the executive has failed in this regard over the years. On his part, Mohammed Tahir Monguno (APC-Borno) argued that in democracy, the executive could not perform the function of the legislature. “We have no power to be donated to the executive body, to be performed on our behalf,” he said. The Bill enjoyed popular support by the House presided over by Speaker Yakubu Dogara, and was referred to the Committee on Justice.

party has vacated the judicial hurdles threatening the convention after an Abuja High Court granted its prayers for stay of execution INEC’s Director of Media and Publicity, Osaze Uzzi, told newsmen in Abuja it would obey the court order in its possession. According to him, “There’s only one convention known to the law and our regulations for which we were given appropriate notice, the

private sector priority areas of the budget. “We are ready to educate our members to key into the government’s direction and we will help the government to actualise these objectives by collaborating to attract foreign investors. “We appreciate that when the environment is made better, it is our members that will benefit more,” he said. The official said the association would continue to hold public-private sector dialogues to advise government on likely reforms on trade and investment. He expressed opti-

uncovered that these elements are working against the interest of the party and ultimately for the breakup of the party. We call on our party members to resist these elements and save the soul of our party. “ Justice Mohammed had stated that the tenure of the National Secretary and National Auditor of the party will expire by December 2018 while the remaining officers tenure will expire by August 30, 2017 with the exception of the National Financial Secretary and Chairman whose offices are vacant.

Members of the NLC protesting over recent hike in pump price of petrol, at Lagos State Secretariat, Alausa yesterday.

Active GSM subscribers hit 148.74m in Q1 –NBS

ational Bureau of Statistics, NBS, has said the number of GSM active voice subscription stood at 148.74 million at the end

NACCIMA partners FG on foreign investors

ational Vice-President of NACCIMA, Mr. Ahmad Rabiu, on Thursday said the association was willing to partner the Federal Government to attract foreign investors to Nigeria. Rabiu told the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja that the association accepted the Federal Government`s plan to work with the private sector to implement the 2016 budget. He commended the government for making the development of infrastructure, facilitation of direct investment and collaboration with the

Chairman, National Secretary and Auditor for which we have been served with a court order.” The INEC’s Director of Media and Publicity said unless or until the court order is set aside, it is bound to comply with the existing order. Meanwhile, the PDP National Legal Adviser, Victor Kwon, has filed a notice of appeal and stay of execution challenging an earlier order stopping the convention. A group, Save PDP Group,

has condemned the hurriedly prepared notice of appeal and stay of execution filed by Legal Adviser of PDP (when he did not file anything challenging the suit) against Justice A.B. Mohammed’s judgement barring the party from conducting elections in 18 positions of NWC. The group in a statement said, “The insistence of few elements to conduct the elections during the convention will amount to violation of a valid court judgment which will lead to cancellation of our party’s convention. It has been

mism that the economic team put in place by the current administration would ensure the effective implementation of the budget. “The Strategic Implementation Plan for the budget as presented and approved by the National Executive Council which outlined priority areas in implementing the budget also gives us hope. “We are very confident with the kind of people we have and that the budget will be implemented effectively. “We look forward to be engaged on other issues in the implementation plan,’’ Rabiu said.

of the first quarter of 2016. This is contained in the `Nigerian Telecommunications Sector Summary Report: State Disaggregated Data for first quarter of 2016’ released by NBS in Abuja on Thursday. The report said MTN accounted for the largest subscribers of 57.04 million (or 38 per cent), followed by Glo with 34.60 million subscribers (or 23.2 per cent) and Airtel with 33.86 million (22.7 per cent). “Lagos State accounted for the largest share of active voice subscribers with 19.04 million or 12.8 per cent of the total, followed by Ogun State with 8.53 million subscribers or 5.7 per cent. “Kano has 7.81 million subscribers or 5.25 per cent; Oyo with 7.53 million subscribers or 5.06 per cent, then FCT and Rivers with 6.03 million

(4.05 per cent) and 5.84 million (3.93 per cent) respectively. “It is observed that all of the top five states with respect to active voice subscriptions had total subscribers in excess of their official population number as provided by the Nigerian Population Commission (NPC). “The states have official population number as provided by NPC except for Kano and Rivers whose official population figures exceeded the number of active voice subscribers at the end of first quarter in 2016,’’ it said. On the other hand, the report stated that Bayelsa recorded the smallest number of active subscribers with 1.11 million followed by Yobe - 1.40 million, Ekiti -1.42 million and Ebonyi -1.43 million in the quarter. The report also stated that Lagos was the dominant market for all of

the active voice telecom companies accounting for 10.05 per cent of MTN total voice subscribers. It said Lagos was followed by Ogun, Kaduna and Rivers with 10.03 per cent for Glo followed by Oyo, Niger, Ogun and FCT respectively. “Lagos had 16.0 per cent for Airtel, followed by Ogun, Kano and Oyo states respectively while Lagos also had 19.1 per cent of Etisalat voice subscribers followed by Ogun, Kaduna and Rivers States,’’ the report said. Meanwhile, the report said the number of active internet subscriptions stood at 92.4 million at the end of the quarter with MTN accounting for the largest share of 33.35 million (or 36.09 per cent). The report said MTN was followed by Glo with 26.53 million subscribers (or 28.70 per cent and Airtel with 17.15 million, representing 18.56 per cent

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Friday, May 20, 2016

L-R: Managing Director, Funlayo Adebo Enterprise Ltd (FAE), Layo Okeowo; Chairman of FAE, Chief Richard Okeowo; Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Hajiya Aisha Abubakar and President, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Dr Frank Jacobs, during the launch of Envemaster and Secure Envelopes in Lagos, yesterday. PHOTO:NAN

L-R: Chief Operating Officer, MultiChoice Nigeria, Kurt Otto; Head, Strategy, Busola Tejumade; Marketing Manager, DStv, Chioma Afe and General Manager, Sales, MultiChoice Nigeria, Akinola Saliu, during the MultiChoice Retailers Loyalty Awards in Lagos, yesterday.

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L-R; Manager, Regional Distribution Etisalat Nigeria (South-East) Francis Nnaike; a child, and Specialist, Corporate and Social Responsibility, Etisalat, Chiweta Uraih, at the distribution of insecticide treated nets by staff of Etisalat Nigeria in Achara Community in Enugu, recently.

L-R: Chief of Transformation, Naval Headquarters, Rear Adm. Henry Babalola; representative of the Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Adm. Jacob Ajani and Chief of Engineering, Rear Adm. Andy Odeh, at a news conference on Nigerian Navy’s Diamond Jubilee Anniversary in Abuja, yesterday, PHOTO:NAN

National News

NEC seeks special courts to prosecute oil theft suspects •Governors move to access $3.5bn World Bank fund Rotimi Fadeyi Abuja

he ad-hoc committee on crude oil theft prevention and control, set up by the National Economic Council, NEC, has asked the Federal Government to set up Special Courts for speedy prosecution of oil thieves. Briefing State House correspondents at the end of meeting of the Council, presided over by Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State, Rear Admiral John Jonah (rtd) said the committee, set up sometimes in 2013 consulted widely with relevant stakeholders, including the Armed Forces Joint Task Force (JTF), Oil Companies, Oil Producing States, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, among others.

According to him, the committee also recommended the engagement of traditional rulers to sensitise their communities on the criminal and environmental dangers of oil theft He said the committee recommended that the procurement and deployment of appropriate technology in surveillance, combat vehicles and boats in difficult terrain would drastically reduce incidents of oil thefts and illegal bunkering. Jonah further said the Minister of Finance reported to the council that the balance in the Excess Crude Account, ECA, stood at $2,2bn as at April 30 this year, while the interest accrued on the account was $429,903.55 for the month, experiencing a little drop in interest. Kogi State Governor,

Yahaya Bello, who also briefed the press, said the Central Bank Governor informed the council that 30 states have so far benefited from the salary bailout as at May 18. According to him, 35 states have also applied for the Excess Crude Account backed loans. Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma said his ministry made a presentation to the council on Strategic Implementation Plan for the 2016 budget. According to him, key highlights of the presentation include implementation of 34 priority actions across four fundamental areas to progressively facilitate true national transformation. He said the four fundamental areas constitute the focal points for prioritised execution

and implementation of government’s short-term strategy Udoma said the four focal points include investing in critical infrastructure, embracing and encouraging private sector, continuously advocating for greater social inclusion, improving security and tackling corruption. Meanwhile, state governors are making moves to access $3.5bn World Bank fund for infrastructural development in the face of dwindling revenue and the present economic crunch. Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, NGF, and Governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari disclosed this to State House correspondents at the end of its meeting on Wednesday night at the Presidential Villa. He explained that the Country Director of World Bank, Rachid Ben-

messaoud was invited to brief governors on funds available at the Bank, which largely belongs to state governments but has not been accessed According to him, because of the cumbersome procedure in accessing the funds, most of the governors do not even know they had such funds there. He said: “It was the initiative of Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai that World Bank should come and make presentation so that they can educate the governors to know that these monies are there, especially in the kind of situation we are, so that the state can move forward in terms of infrastructure development and other matters in our respective states. “We have presentations from the World Bank and we agreed on terms. The governors contributed that so many things should be involved, most especial-

ly the issue of counterpart funding which the World Bank accepted they are going to look into. “Also, they agreed that they will give us the details of state by state; how much is lying down for each state and how we are going to access it. As of now they are ready to facilitate a kind of workshop to the state governors and the commissioners of finance and other staff, so that we can know how best to move and access these funds for the betterment of our respective states,” Yari said. On the issue of counterpart funding, Yari said it was more difficult for states to fulfill their own part because they are even struggling to pay salaries. According to him, the World Bank officials have agreed to look into it, stressing that immediately that was done, the states would move fast to access the fund.

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Friday, May 20, 2016

Tompolo: Court fixes June 17 for fundamental rights suit

Akwa Ibom State Governor Udom Emmanuel (six left)inspecting an oil well at the Amalgamated Oil Company Nig. Limited, flanked by the Managing Director, Mr. Kumar (left) in Urue Offong/Oruko, yesterday.

FG bemoans real sector woes, promises more interventions Abolaji Adebayo

ederal Government has declared that the manufacturing sector is endangered as its decline has partly contributed to the current level of unemployment and the rising number of ailing industries. Minister of State for Trade and Industry, Hajia Aisha Abubakar, who disclosed this yesterday at the inauguration of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN, Large Corporation Group, noted that the sector expected to give life to the government policy on employment generation and empowerment was too ailing to unleash its potential. She said the weakness of the sector was not unconnected with the nationwide low capacity utillzation as well as infrastructure deficiency, especially in terms of poor energy supply, lack of access to modern technology, unfair competition, multiple taxation and others. Abubakar however, said government was not unaware of the challenges faced by the manufacturers, adding that that the ministry has put in place appropriate policies, programmes and projects aimed at strategically and effectively tackling some of the age -long myriad of challenges confronting the sector. She also said that the Buhari-led administration was not interested in lip service, but devoted to a practical radical approach and focus on this all-important sector of the economy, adding that it is on the basis of this, that the ministry is committed in the

implementation of Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan, NlRP. According to her, the NIRP has been described as the game changer for Nigeria in ensuring the promotion of diversification through effective exploitation of resources, where the country has competitive and comparative advantage. The minister added that the initiative provided general and sector-specific action plans and equally addresses critical issues relating to manufacturing sector and was also designed to unleash the full potential of manufacturing in the economy, particularly in the area of creating substantial sustainable employment. To mitigate the challenges being encountered by productive agents, especially in the manufacturing sector, Abuba-

kar, restated the commitment of the present administration to creating enabling business environment in order to fix and fill in the gap created by industrial challenges. In his remarks, the President of the association, Dr. Frank Jacobs, urged the Federal Government to reverse the forex policy in favour of the local manufacturers and also find a way of making electricity available for them. Jacobs said with the inauguration of the Large Corporation Group, more of the manufacturing raw materials would be sourced locally, promoting the usage of local raw materials in the manufacturing sector “through active collaboration with the Raw Material Research and Development Council and other research institutions and also support

the backward integration programme of government.” He explained that the association would increase its commitment towards promoting made-in-Nigeria products within and outside the country through the newly inaugurated group, adding that the group will facilitate effective linkage between small, medium scale industries and large scale industries in the production and supply value chain. The Large Corporation Group is a cluster of multinational and local bigger companies in Nigeria, saddled with the responsibility of recommending policies that would lead to a conducive economic and social climate for the operation and development for large scale industries in Nigeria.

Strike: OPS vows to sanction workers

rganised Private Sector, OPS, under the aegis of the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, NECA, said that any employee who failed to report to duty during the strike would be sanctioned. A statement signed by the Director General of NECA, Mr Olusegun Oshinowo, on Thursday in Lagos said the ``no work, no pay’’ law would also be applied. The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reports that a faction of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, had called for a nationwide strike which began on Wednesday after its meeting with the Federal Government ended in a deadlock.

NLC had rejected the increment in the price of petrol from N86.50 to N145 per litre by the Federal Government, and called for an upward review of minimum wage among other issues. According to the statement, it is in the interest of both the employer and workers to ensure that business survives since their wages are not dependent on government’s allocation. It said that any person or groups that involved in the strike would endanger his or her job and income. “Beyond applying the law of `no work, no pay,’ employers will take exception to any employee that had failed to report for work as from

Wednesday,’’ the statement said. The employers, in the statement, appealed to the government and heads of security agencies to ensure that adequate security was provided for workers to go to their different places of work. It said that the deregulation policy was a crucial step in the resolution of the perennial dependence of Nigeria on imported petroleum products. The statement reiterated employers’ support for the government for embracing a policy that would kickstart significant reform in the downstream sector.

Federal High Court sitting in Lagos on Thursday, fixed June 17, to hear the suit filed by a former Niger Delta militant, Government Ekpemulopo, alias Tompolo, seeking to enforce his fundamental right. Tompolo, who was declared wanted on February 12 by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, is seeking court’s protection against prosecution for an alleged N45.9 billion fraud. Joined as respondents in the suit are; the EFCC, the Inspector-General of Police, the Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Naval Staff and the Chief of Air Staff. On Thursday, Justice Mojisola OlatoregunIshola fixed hearing in the suit for June 17 to enable the respondents file their processes out of time. The EFCC had filed a 40-count charge against him and nine others

before Justice Ibrahim Buba of the same court. Tompolo in his suit, filed through his lawyer, Mr Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, is seeking an order restraining the respondents from further proceeding with the charges against him. Tompolo contends that sections 221 and 306 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, which prohibits him from seeking a stay of proceedings in his trial, infringed on his constitutional rights to fair hearing. Tompolo is urging the court to not only nullify sections 221 and 306 of the ACJA, but to also restrain the respondents from deploying those sections of the law against him. He argued that sections 221 and 306 were in conflict with Section 36 of the constitution which guarantees his client’s right to fair hearing.

FRSC to conduct six-day nationwide tyre monitoring – Corps Marshal

orps Marshall of the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, Dr Boboye Oyeyemi, has ordered a six- day monitoring and surveillance on the use of sub-standard tyres across the country. Oyeyemi gave the order in a statement signed by Mr Bisi Kazeem, Head, Media Relations and Strategy of the FRSC and issued in Abuja on Thursday. The statement said the exercise which included a free vehicle tyre safety check, would commence on May 23. It added that the order was borne out of the corps marshal’s wish to stem the tide of road traffic crashes caused by substandard and expired tyres. The statement said the exercise would be led by nine of FRSC’s top management staff and all Zonal Commanding Of-

ficers to sustain the free vehicle safety checks. “The FRSC campaign became necessary as a result of recent road crashes attributable to tyre blowout. “Management staff deployed to the field, are expected to participate in direct supervision of the free safety check exercise,’’ it said. The Corps Marshal said that the corps would hold interactive sessions with tyre dealers, vulcanisers’ associations and other stakeholders. The statement said the corps would also perform free safety checks on all major routes of the various commands. He urged the personnel to ensure that all the component commands under their purview organised special patrols for free vehicle safety checks during the period.

News

Friday, May 17, 2016

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Lagos remits N64bn into staff’s contributory pension accounts Francis Suberu

agos State Government yesterday revealed that it has so far remitted N64 billion into the accounts of civil servants in the state as Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS.

This came to the fore yesterday, during a press briefing addressed by the Commissioner for Establishments, Training and Pension, Dr. Akintola Oke, held at Bagauda Kaltho Press Center, Alausa, Lagos. According to Oke, there had been regular deduc-

tions of 7.5% from the salaries of staff and corresponding 7.5% by the State Government into the Retirement Savings Accounts maintained by them with their appointed Pension Fund Administrators, PFAs. The commissioner added that government

had reduced drastically the backlog of terminal entitlements of retirees, saying that between August 2015 and April 2016, government, through the Lagos State Pension Commission, LASPEC, paid the sum of N13.701 billion into the Retirement Savings Account, RSA, of

3,069 retirees. He said 1,294 of the retirees were from the local government while the State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB, had745; Teachers Establishment Pension Office, TEPO, 731 while the mainstream service had 299 retirees. Oke further revealed that Ambode had approved the release of the sum of N1.5 billion intervention fund for the payment of outstanding gratuities and pension arrears to local government retirees, including the balance of 142% pen-

sion arrears amounting to N 1.77 billion, saying that the payments would be effected as soon as the verification exercise was conducted. On the issue of pension fraudsters, the commissioner said government had begun sensitisation programmes on the activities of these fraudsters, stressing that apart from drawing the attention of the state government to this unsavoury report, LASPEC had gone further to sensitise the public with the printing of posters and handbills.

NDLEA arrests mother of two with cannabis at Lagos Airport Olusegun Koiki

L-R: Director of Administration and Finance, Nigeria Institute of international Affairs (NIIA), Ms Agatha Ude; DirectorGeneral of NIIA, Prof. Bukar Bukarambe; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama; a Fellow of International Relations, Prof. Ogaba Oche, and Director of Library, NIIA, Mrs Abimbola Dada, during the courtesy visit of the Minister to NIIA in Lagos, yesterday. PHOTO:NAN

Minister tasks Oyo govt over health insurance scheme

Kemi Olaitan IBADAN

inister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, has called on the Oyo State government to accelerate the full operationalisation of the state health insurance scheme. He made the call yesterday in Ibadan, while making his remarks at the closing ceremony of the maiden Oyo State Health summit organised by the state branch of the Nigeria Medical Association, NMA. The summit with the theme, “Setting the Pace for Health Sector Reform in the Change Era”, was attended by stakeholders in the heath sector among whom were representatives of the medical doctors, Association of Resident Doctors, ARD, pharmacists, media practitioners, Association of Medical Social Workers of Nigeria, AMSWON, and civil society organisations. The minister who spoke through the Chief Medical Director, CMD, University College Hospital, UCH, Professor Temitope Alonge, said

the state should embrace the institutionalisation of the public private initiatives for service delivery and specialised hospitals. According to him, the health insurance scheme when fully operational, can procure services under a public private partnership

initiative for the primary health sector despite the lack of local government autonomy. He further urged the Governor Abiola Ajimobi-led administration to partner with the Federal Ministry of Health by establishing the State Primary Healthcare

Development Board, noting that when constituted, it would work closely with the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency to strengthen primary healthcare services which he said is the main thrust of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.

Institute seeks implementation of regional planning laws Femi Oyeweso ABEOKUTA

igerian Institute of Builders, NIOB, has called on the Ogun State Government to revert to the full implementation of the revised Urban and Regional Planning laws so as to guarantee adherence to standard among building contractors while executing projects. In a statement issued yesterday in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital and signed by the state chairman of the of the institution, Chief Oye Fayomi, the builders said stated that full implementation of the law would compel all building contractor to ex-

ecute their projects without constituting any hazard to the public safety. With particular reference to the collapse of the Itoku ultra modern shopping market which caved in last Friday with a nursing mother lossing her life, Fayomi maintained that the law will also enable relevant professional bodies, particularly registered builders in the state to be conscious of the sanction awaiting them should there be any incident of building collapse in the state. The builders further insisted that implementation of the law will not only guarantee adherence to inspection and quality certification,

but also ensure that issuance of certificate of compliance to minimum standards is followed and thus exonerate government from somebody’s else ineptitude in case of any building collapse. “Once a registered, builder issues such certificate, it invariably holds him or her liable of any substandard production output”. While commiserating with Governor Ibikunle Amosun on the incident of the Itoku building collapse, the builders further recommended that the state government should include the position of a Building Officer Cadre at the local government level.

he National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has arrested a 38 –year-old mother of two, Mrs. Obudike Faith Ndidiamaka, with narcotics at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Lagos. The suspect was arrested during the outward screening of passengers on Kenyan Airways flight to China. She was found with 1.155kgs of cannabis hidden in melon. Chief Executive Officer, CEO, NDLEA, Mr. Muhammad Mustapha Abdallah, who condemned her action, said the agency needed fund to embark on aggressive anti-drug public enlightenment. Abdallah decried that while government was worried over the number of Nigerians on death row in other countries, a mother of two children was still smuggling drugs to China where drug trafficking is punishable by death. He noted that her arrest had saved the country from embarrassment, adding that it has equally prevented her family from the pain of losing a loved one under the circumstance. He insisted that the antinarcotic agency would not relent in saving lives and promoting the image of Nigeria. Abdallah said that most Nigerians in foreign prisons for drug trafficking did not depart Nigeria with narcotics.

He said: “Most Nigerians who are in foreign prisons for drug trafficking did not take drugs from Nigeria. Some others were lured with fake promises of job opportunities by members of drug trafficking organisations only to find themselves stranded and vulnerable to drug trafficking. “Those travelling abroad in search of greener pastures must have made adequate preparation for the period they will stay and also possess requisite technical skills. We are planning elaborate public sensitisation campaign to address this challenge.” NDLEA commander at the Lagos Airport, Ahmadu Garba, said the suspect, Obidike concealed the drugs in melon and food stuff. “She was caught while travelling to China with 1.155kg of compressed dried weeds that tested positive for cannabis. Investigation into the case is in progress and she will soon be charged to court,” Ahmadu stated. The suspect who lives in Onitsha confessed that that she was contracted by her social media friend to smuggle the drugs to China. “I am a trader. I used to travel to China to buy my goods since 2014. My WhatsApp friend asked me to buy the drug and take to China. He promised to give me a handsome reward when I get to China. Unfortunately, the drug was detected during search at the Lagos airport. I am married with two children” Obudike who hails from Imo State stated.

South East

Friday, May 20, 2016

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INEC defends Dickson’s victory at tribunal Doosuur Iwambe Abuja

ndependent National Electoral Commission, INEC, yesterday opened its defence at the Bayelsa State Governorship election petition tribunal sitting in Abuja where it told the tribunal that the election that produced Governor Seriake Dickson was free, fair and was held in substantial compliance with the Electoral Act. In the petition brought against Dickson by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and former governor of the state, Timipre Sylva, INEC lead counsel, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), brought two witnesses who

testified to the credibility of the election. In the testimony of Justine Adie, a civil servant who was the Electoral Officer in Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, he said that the January 9, 2016 election was free, fair and in conformity with the electoral law. He told the tribunal under cross-examination by counsel to Governor Dickson, Tayo Oyetibo (SAN), and that of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), that no report of violence was recorded during the election. Adie further admitted that the agents of various political parties including the APC signed the results of the election.

However, under cross examination by counsel to the petitioners, Chief Sabastine Hon (SAN), the witness said he did not visit all the 198 polling units in the local government area. He also admitted that the entries and signatories in the results sheets were not done in his presence. Another witness, Alex Okorie, an Electoral Officer for Sagbama Local Government

Area of the state, also testified to the credibility of the election. APC and its governorship candidate, Chief Timipre Sylva are challenging the election of Governor Dickson of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the December 2015 and January 2016 governorship polls that were conducted in the state. The petitioners are chal-

lenging the validity of the election over alleged widespread violence and substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act. Meanwhile, the petitioners have closed their case by calling a number of witnesses who testified that there was no election on January 9, 2016 in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the state due to widespread violence.

Counsel to the petitioners, Sabastine Hon (SAN), has led witnesses who insisted that there was no election in Southern Ijaw on January 9, 2016. Those who testified as at the time of filling this report were: Gini Erefagbe (PW11); Kokorifa Mick (PW12); John Dealer (PW13); Jacob Sanuba (PW14); Solomon Ebisimtel (PW15) and Tali Douglas (PW16).

Rivers Assembly approves Wike’s N10bn bailout request Dennis Naku

Port Harcourt

ivers State House of Assembly has given approval to Governor Nyesom Wike, to obtain a N10 billion bailout fund from the Federal Government. The approval was given on Thursday during plenary following a notification letter from the state governor to the Speaker, Dabotoru Adams, informing him of his intention to apply for bailout fund from the Federal Government. Wike was said to have stated in the letter, that the fund would be specifically used for salary and pension payments. The governor stated further in the letter that the monthly N3.5 billion received from the federal allocation could not meet its obligations on the monthly wage bill of workers and pensioners. According to the governor, the N10 billion bailout fund would be collected from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN. Before the lawmakers were allowed to debate matter, the Speaker of the House, Adams, told his colleagues to approve the governor’s request to enable his administration fulfill its obligations to Rivers people. Adams said the state gov-

ernment had not gone for the bailout fund before, adding that the need for it became inevitable due to drop on federal allocation. Leader of the House, Martin Amaewhule, Chief Whip, Evans Bipi, and others lawmakers, who contributed during the debate, agreed that there was need for the governor to go for the N10 billion bailout fund due to the dwindling revenue. Meanwhile, the lawmakers re-elected Amaewhule and Major Jack, as Leader and Deputy Whip of the House of Assembly, after their victory at the March 19, 2016, rerun elections in the state

Members of Anambra Chapter of the NLC protesting over the recent hike in pump price of petrol, in Awka yesterday. PHOTO:NAN

Ex -Akwa Ibom deputy gov hails deregulation

Julius Onwuma Uyo

ollowing criticisms trailing the deregulation of the oil sector by President Muhammadu Buhari, a former deputy governor of Akwa Ibom State, Engineer Chris Ekpenyong, has hailed the decision, insisting that it would eventually break the cabal in the oil industry. Speaking in an interview yesterday in Uyo, Ekpenyong, a founding member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, said deregulation of

… says it will break oil cabal

the downstream oil sector, if properly implemented would reinvent Nigeria along the path of economic recovery. While blaming corruption perpetrated by those he described as “the oil cabal”, the former deputy governor commended President Muhammadu Buhari for taking a big, bold step to correct inherent anomalies in the sector. Implementation of the deregulation policy, Ekpenyong pointed out, should follow due

process of transparency, adding that issuing of licenses for oil importation should not be politicised, but should be open to all including new comers. The present hardship being faced by Nigerians in the face of the ongoing reforms, he noted, would ease when all hands were on the deck to fix the sector. Towards total turn-around of the economy, Ekpenyong said the country should invest in renewable energy for

sustainable power supply to drive the economy for jobs and wealth creation for the youths. Towards this end, Ekpenyong enjoined schools, churches and agencies of government to step up aggressive enlightenment, education and social re-orientation with a view to redirecting the mindset of Nigerians against corruption and other social platforms that breed corruption, kidnappings, Boko Haram and other crimes.

Enugu seeks $50m facility to provide water

nugu State Government says it is negotiating a 50 million dollar facility from the French Development Agency, FDA, to provide potable water in Enugu, the capital city. The state Commissioner for Water Resources, Chief Charles Egumgbe, made the disclosure in Enugu on Thursday, while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN. He said that getting the facility became necessary following increasing demand for water in the state due rising population.

Egumgbe said the facility when obtained would be used to make water schemes in Enugu to function optimally. He added that the loan would attract an interest of not less than 2.5 per cent with a moratorium of not more than eight years payable within 20 years. “Water supply to the metropolis had almost grounded at the inception of this administration but the story has since changed. “On the authority of the state governor, the ministry has engaged a contractor to

revamp the water schemes in the state. “The state governor also approved the sum of N100 million for the repairs of broken facilities in Enugu and Nsukka,” he said. The commissioner said that FDA would collaborate with the Federal Ministry of Water Resources on a pilot project of assistance in water schemes in Enugu, Ondo and Plateau. According to him, the consultants who will undertake the job had already carried out feasibility studies of the project.

Egumgbe said that the expansion of the state capital and the consequent influx of people in the area had placed enormous burden on the government in meeting the water needs of the people. “The state capital is expanding at an alarming rate, thereby, placing enormous burden on the government in supplying water to the reticulated areas of the urban centres,” he said. The commissioner said government was faced with the challenge of generating required revenue from the

few customers of its Water Corporation. Other challenges, according to him, include accumulated debt by some customers, particularly some security agencies that owe over N5 million. He said that the ministry had set up a water court to try Water Rate defaulters and had also written to those with accumulated debts to pay up. The commissioner added that the ministry was optimistic that the sector would be re-engineered to achieve its mandate.

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Friday, May 20, 2016

Why Rivers must be involved in Ogoni clean-up –Wike Dennis Naku

PORT HARCOURT

overnor Nyesom Wike has said Rivers State government requested inclusion

in the implementation of the UNEP Report because of its interest in a safe environment for Ogoni people. This is as Minister of

Anambra to partner private sector in healthcare delivery Francis Ekpone ONITSHA

nambra State government has said it will continue to partner private, group and other persons or bodies in the health sector to drive efficiency and healthcare delivery in the state. Commissioner for Health, Dr. Josephat Akabuike, said this in a paper entitled: ‘Public Private Partnership (PPP) in Healthcare Delivery in Anambra’ during a scientific conference organised in Awka by the Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria, AGPMPN, Anambra branch. Akabuike maintained that the PPP which aimed at delivering a project or services traditionally provided by the public sector will help to restore sanity in healthcare delivery in the state. He commended the association for the conference, which he said will widen the scope of knowledge of the medical doctors and enhance their practice to better impact on people of the state. Akabuike, who is an

obstetrician and gynecologist, however warned that the state government had said it would close down substandard hospitals as they had begun the recertification of private hospitals in the state as part of reform in the health sector. Anambra has a total of 1,069 private hospitals registered with the state ministry of health by 2013 record. He said the idea of the recertification was to ensure that those practicing medicine in the state were qualified and in tune with the regulations, while calling on doctors to ensure they were properly registered with the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, and the state ministry of health. According to the commissioner, arrangements have been completed to commence a health insurance scheme for the state as a way of assisting those who cannot afford medicare for themselves, adding that the bill for the state health insurance scheme had been sent to the state House of Assembly.

Speaker lauds PRAWA over human trafficking efforts Francis Ekpone ONITSHA

peaker, Anambra State House of Assembly, Rita Maduagwu, has commended the Prisoners Rehabilitation and Welfare Action, PRAWA, for fight against human trafficking, illegal migration and promotion of safe society in Nigeria. The Speaker poured the encomiums on PRAWA, when its team led by programme officer Chioma Anuna and their partner, Integrated Anti-Human Trafficking and Community Development Initiative (INTACOM AFRICA) paid an advocacy visit to her of-

fice in Awka. PRAWA is an NGO that promotes security, justice and development in Africa and is being funded by the Royal Netherlands Embassy. Maduagwu, who frowned at the rate of human trafficking in Anambra and other endemic states in Nigeria, said the lawmakers have enacted law on Child’s Right in the state while a bill on Violence Against Persons; currently in the floor of the House, has passed second reading in addition to the already existing NAPTIP Law. She however said the state legislators will continue to make quality laws that would protect the rights of children in the state.

Environment, Hajia Amina Mohammed, said the implementation of the UNEP Report was above politics, hence Rivers government would be involved in the implementation process. Wike on Thursday at Government House, Port Harcourt while granting audience to the minister, said though the report was a federal project, it

was necessary for Rivers to be included in the processes. He noted that it was necessary for the Federal Government to spell out the nature and extent of the state government’s involvement. In her remarks, the Environment minister, Mohammed, noted that the concern raised by the governor was being

addressed as the implementation of the UNEP Report was beyond politics. She informed that in the new committee her ministry has set up to plan the launch of the programme, two House of Representative members of the state were billed for the event. She said the clean-up exercise is a long term

project that will last for 25 years. According to her, the interaction with stakeholders has led to more inclusion as they head towards the launch of the UNEP Report. ‘‘Concern raised by the governor is being addressed as the implementation of the UNEP Report is beyond politics,’’ she said.

Members of the Nigeria Labour Congress protesting hike in price of petroleum in Port Harcourt yesterday. PHOTO:NAN

Police warn officers against intimidation Ifeanyi Ashikodi

olice in Abia State yesterday called on it men to desist from harassing and intimidating citizens while carrying out their lawful duties. This was made known through a 21-point communiqué at the end of Abia State police command town hall meeting/security summit. The meeting witnessed the presence of the governor’s representative, government officials,

traditional rulers, security officials and selected members of the public. The communiqué revealed that for effective policing, more police men should be deployed in rural areas to check crimes and criminalities, even as more police stations should be established in the rural areas for effective security coverage It also called for more recruitment into the police, stating that employment of youths would reduce the incidence of crime as idle minds are

the devil’s workshop, urging the police and other security agencies to build confidence of the people they are protecting. They resolved on the need to strengthen traditional institutions, ensure community policing, payment of tax by citizens for adequate security in communities and the need for security agencies and the public to obey the laws of the land. The communiqué further urged governors to call herdsmen to order to

ensure sustainable peace in our various communities, while the security agencies have agreed to work out concrete arrangement for maintenance of law and order in the various communities. The communiqué maintained that intelligence-gathering is key to community policing, urging members of the public to volunteer to the police credible information to ensure crime-free society. It further advocated against giving false information to security agencies.

Ugwuanyi reconstitutes IMT Governing Council Emmanuel Ezeh ENUGU

overnor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State yesterday reconstituted the Governing Council of the Institute of Management and Technology, IMT Enugu, with the Federal Commissioner, representing the

state in the National Population Commission, NPC, Dr. Festus Uzor as chairman. A statement signed by Secretary to Enugu State Government, Elder Gabriel Ajah, also mentioned Dr. Emmanuel Igiligi, Pharmacist Cyril Aniwike, Mr. David Onwuegbu and Prof.

Gabriel Agbo as members. It said the appointment was “pursuant to section 5 sub-section 1 and 2 of the Institute of Management and Technology (IMT) Law, Cap 97 Laws of Enugu State 2004.” The statement also directed the Academic Board of the institution to

elect two of its members to serve on the council, in compliance with section 5 sub-section 1 (E) of the aforesaid law. It was gathered that the institution had been without a board for several years, a situation that had always brought to question some of its financial spending.

North

Friday, May 20, 2016

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2 cops feared killed as gunmen attack Kogi police station •Two judges kidnapped Wale Ibrahim LOKOJA

unmen have killed two police constables when they allegedly unleashed terror on Osara Police Station along Lokoja-Okene road. The incident occurred when hoodlums numbering about 12 invaded the police station in Adavi local government area of

Kogi State. National Mirror gathered that the hoodlums invaded the police station at about 2.15 a.m. on Tuesday and started shooting sporadically, throwing the sleepy community into confusion. It was learnt that when they gained entrance into the station, they went straight into the armoury, carting away arms and

ammunition and thereafter flung open the police cell and released detainees in police custody. Sources said two police men who tried to hinder the hoodlums were gunned down while two others were critically injured but are responding to treatment in Federal Medical Centre, Lokoja. The suspected gunmen were said to have set

ablaze a vehicle parked at the station during the invasion as they reportedly operated for more than two hours without any challenge from any quarter. National Mirror further learnt that the invasion may not be unconnected with the arrest of some hoodlums on Monday who confessed to be working for an ex-council

boss who is now a member at the National Assembly, Abuja. The Police Public Relations Officer, Willy Eya, confirmed the incident, but claimed ignorance of any police casualty. He also confirmed that only two cops were injured but were responding to treatment in the hospital.

In another development, there was pandemonium yesterday as gun men abducted two judges in the state. Source said the judges were abducted at different locations in the state. The victims, Justices Aliu Okeme and Timothy Ali, were said to have been abducted same day at various locations.

VC Benue varsity grants scholarship to 18 Henry Iyorkase MAKURDI

he Vice chancellor of Benue state University Prof. Msugh Moses Kembe has granted scholarship in various disciplines to 18 indigenous undergraduate students to boost the morale of others towards attaining academic excellence in the institution. Prof. Kembe while speaking to journalists yesterday at the Conference Hall of the University in Makurdi said this morale booster is to encourage excellence and competitive studies amongst the students of the institution. The Professor of statistics was elated to disclose that seven different courses were recently accredited by Nigerian Universities Commission in the various faculties of Arts, Social science as well as Management sciences in the University. Besides academic work Prof. Kembe said he has introduced environmental sanitation towards ensuring that the institution and its environs is kept clean towards improving healthy living habits

within and outside the institution. He also averred that compulsory taxation is introduced in the institution henceforth as all the workers were expected to ensure compliance with the recent order in the state. Prof. Kembe further stated that the management of the University are working round the clock to introduce weekend programmes and sandwich leading to award of degrees in different disciplines noting that in no distant time the Senate will meet and approve the concept in order to augment revenue generation in the institution. “We are also working consciously to resuscitate sports in the institution for some time now since we won trophies over 15 years ago, recently the institution took medals only in Taekwando which is not too good enough and we want to revive the past glory of the varsity and ensure that we bounce back to full swing in sporting activities and competitions”

NAF names facilities after deceased personnel UBONG UKPONG ABUJA

igerian Air Force, NAF, has named some of its newly commissioned facilities after personnel who died in the ongoing counterinsurgency operation in the North East against Boko Haram. A statement through

its Director of Public Relations and Information, DOPRI, Group Capt. Ayodele Famuyiwa, said those honoured with the recent projects were Flight Lieut. Ebitimi Owei and Flight Sgt. Awodi Emmanuel Adakole, who died on October 10, 2015 and August 25, 2015 respectively.

L-R: National President, Nigerian Association of Small Scale Industrialists,NASSI, Engr. Ezekiel Essien; Acting Managing Director, Bank of Industry (BOI), Mr Waheed Olagunju and Executive Director, Corporate Services and Commercials BOI, Mr Jonathan Tobin, during the NASSI’s Meeting with BOI in Abuja, yesterday .PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA

Orubebe didn’t declare assets fully –Witness Doosuur Iwambe ABUJA

amuel Madojemu, the first prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godsday Orubebe, yesterday told the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, sitting in Abuja that the former minister did not declare his assets fully while in office. The Federal Government is prosecuting Orubebe on a one-count charge bordering on false assets declaration, a charge to which the former minister had pleaded not guilty to. At the resumed trial yesterday, the prosecution witness, Samuel Madojemu, told the tribunal under cross examination that Orubebe failed to declare his property located at Plot 2057, Asokoro District in Abuja while in office between 2007 and 2011.

Led in evidence by the Director of Public Prosecution, DPP of the Federation, Mohammed Diri, the witness, who is the head of investigation with the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, said Orubebe was invited and promised to send his lawyer or come to the bureau to clear himself which he never did. He told the Justice Danladi Yakubu Umar led two-member panel that he was not sure if the bureau wrote to Orubebe, but that he called the former minister personally. When asked if there was any printout of the conversation between him and the defendant, he said it was not necessary in the case. Madojemu also said the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) of the said property was collected by one Engineer Rody on behalf of Orubebe, adding however that there

is no documentary evidence of application for land, letter of offer, acceptance letter, or petition. When asked if eventually Orubebe is cleared that the property was a gift from the federal government would he still have dragged him before the tribunal, he answered yes. After the cross-examination, prosecution counsel and the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Mohammed Diri, urged the tribunal for a short adjournment, which was granted. The witness had earlier in his evidence said Orubebe submitted five asset declaration forms to CCB between 2007 and 2011 within the period he served as minister. The first was as Minister of Special Duties under the administration of late President Umaru Yar’Adua, and later as Minister of Niger Delta

Affairs up till 2011, under the former President Goodluck Jonathan administration. Madojemu also said the C-of-O of the property obtained from the land registry of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) showed that it was issued to Orubebe on April 10, 2011 but that he failed to declare it as of the time of leaving office on May 29, 2011. He said Orubebe refused to honour invitation by the Bureau during the investigation of an intelligence report obtained concerning him. “We conducted intelligence assessment on the declaration made by the defendant. We discovered that there were other plots or properties that were traced to the defendant, Godsday Orubebe,’’ he said. The matter was adjourned to May 24 for continuation of trial.

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Friday, May 20, 2016

EDO 2016:

Buhari has decapitated Boko Haram —Ubani

Politics

APC steps up effort at reconciliation

Odigie-Oyegun

Onazena Abbey BENIN

pparently worried by the protracted internal crisis rocking the Edo State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC ahead of the September 10, 2016 governorship election , the party National Executive Council, NEC set up a Reconciliation and Peace Committee headed by the former Governor of Osun State and a Chieftain of the party, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola to wade into the crisis. Other members of the Peace Committee are Prince Martins Bisong (Secretary), APC, National organizing Secretary, Senator Osita Izunaso, Senator Victor Ndoma - Egba, Hajiya Fatimah Mohammed and Alhaji Ahmed Abdulahi The committee stormed the state last week and met with stakeholders including aspirants jostling to succeed Governor Adams Oshiomhole. The mission it was learnt became necessary following the PDP South – South Governors meeting said to have been held in Asaba, Delta State penultimate week, where they allegedly perfected plot to return Edo State to comity of PDP controlled South-South states. APC felt that there is therefore the urgent need to avert defeat occasioned by the internal wrangling and disunity amongst the gubernatorial aspirants and party faithful in the state. Prior to 2008, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP had held sway in Edo as the state was one of the PDP controlled states in the South- South region but the party lost the state to APC when Governor Adams Oshiomhole defeated Prof Oserhiemen Osunbor in the 2007 governorship election. The crisis rocking APC in Edo reached a climax when Governor Adams Oshiomhole unfolded his preference for one of the governorship aspirants, Godwin Obaseki, Chairman, Edo State Economic Team to succeed him but assumed frightening and worrisome dimensions following the assassination attempt on the life of the Deputy Governor, Dr Pius Odubu , an aspirant who was on a meet the delegates tour in Auchi, Etsako West Local Government Area ,

Oshiomhole While the Governor’s choice of Obaseki did not go down well with the other over fifteen APC aspirants jostling for the tight race, the Reconciliation and Peace Committee equally has a herculean task of striking accord between the Comrade Governor and the National Chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie -Oyegun who also has preference for another gubernatorial aspirant thus bringing a conflict of interest between the two party leaders . Odigie-Oyegun who is believed to be supporting the former Minister of State for Works, Engineer Chris Ogiemwonyi has vowed to shield the delegates list from being accessed or manipulated by anybody as long as he remains the National Chairman of the party ‘’All the primaries will be free and fair as far as I remain the National Chairman of the party. There will be no alteration and the delegates list is under key and lock. If there is any justified reason that someone who is a delegate is late or has left the party, the party will critically look at the reason and carry out or effect the genuine change’’, Odigie-Oyegun had vowed few weeks back. Serious contenders for Edo governorship ticket under the APC are Engineer Chris Ogiemwonyi, Dr Pius Odubu, Barrister Ken Imasuagbon, Mr Godwin Obaseki , Gen. Charles Airhiavhere, Comrade Peter Esele and Don Pedro Obaseki among others. The Comrade -Governor did not pretended about the illfated relationship between him and Chief Odigie- Oyegun and by extension the national leadership of the party who he said never deem it necessary to put a call to him since the crisis started when he paid host to the Olagunsoye Oyinlola Committee Prince Oyinlola Committee who met with enlarged stakeholders in a meeting attended by Governor Adams Oshiomhole, his deputy, Dr. Pius Odubu, gubernatorial aspirants, executive members of the party, said the Committee was set up to proffer solutions to whatever problems is confronting the party in the state . He assured the governorship aspirants of a free, fair primary adding that the APC won the 2015 general election on

Oyinlola the basis of the free and fair convention of the party which produced a candidate acceptable to all members of the party. According to him, “APC is in government at the national level because of one singular event, and that was the convention we had in Lagos that brought our candidate. Nigerians were amazed that there could be such a transparent convention and a rancour-free one that would produce a candidate. We won the hearts and minds of the people of Nigeria through that, and that is why we will not do otherwise than to continue in the same trend so that the change mantra will become the watchword, the one to emulate in the political arena.” Apparently referring to the Governor, he said “Reports from Edo State chapter of our party in the last few weeks have not exactly been edifying. When you came, you gave every Edo man a reason to believe once again in participatory democracy as the best form of government. You brought peace, you brought development, you brought understanding across all divides. Unfortunately, the last few weeks appear to be undoing what has taken so much energy, commitment and sacrifice to put in place in the last eight years. We are here, therefore, because our party believes darkness must not fall on this state once again. Every Nigerian looks up to us as the alternative to the crisis-prone opposition party.” “What we are about to do here is just to put icing on the cake, cross the ‘t’s and dot the ‘i’s so that our report will be complete. I want to beg of us, God forbid we should not lose the election in Edo State. It is not a pleasant thing to be in the opposition. That is why I want to plead with our leadership that we must be able to resolve our differences. Ours is a fact-finding committee and which is to resolve problems that we may have identified.” He said the Committee had “interacted with so many stakeholders since we came. And one thing that can lead us to peace contrary to my opinion and belief was that our Comrade- Governor’s performance has surpassed that of other holders of office before him. My belief until I came was that nobody had done anything to surpass the achievements of Samuel Ogbemudia. That was my belief, and when I said so, and I kept hearCONTINUED ON PAGE 14

Politics

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Friday, May 20, 2016

Court orders immediate reinstatement of Lawal as Kogi Speaker Doosuur Iwambe ABUJA

ustice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja yesterday ordered the immediate reinstatement of Speaker of the Kogi State House of Assembly, Hon. Momoh Jimoh Lawal who was removed from office. Lawal and 9 other principal members of the House had after the purported removal from office by the Hon. Umar Imam led group on February 16, 2016, challenged the action insisting that due process of the law was not followed. Other plaintiffs in the suit are Honourables Aliyu Akuh (deputy speaker), Kolawole Matthew, Osiyi Godwin, Sunday Shigaba, Ndako Idris, Oluwatoyin Lawal, Musa Jimoh, Victor Omofaye and the Peoples Democratic Party. The defendants are Honourables Umar Imam, Friday Sani, Lawal Ahmed, Bello Abdullahi and John Abah, 1st to 5th respectively. Others include the IGP, DGDSS, Commandant Civil Defence Corps and Kogi State House of Assembly. The litigation resolves around the transition of leadership of the House between the two contending parties, consisting of the plaintiffs on one side and

the defendants on the other. Specifically, the plaintiffs had headed to court to challenge their replacement on the grounds that it was unlawfully and unconstitutionally done and therefore urged the court to set it aside and their position restored. Whereas the defendants argued that the removal of Lawal was as a result of his resignation, the 1st plaintiff (Lawal) insisted before the court that he did not resign. Delivering judgement on the matter, the Presiding Judge, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba ordered the 1st to 5th defendants to “Immediately vacate the different offices they now purportedly occupy by reason of the purported impeachment and removal of the Speaker and other Principal Officers. Consequently, Justice Dimgba directed the Speaker (Lawal) and the other Principal Officers (2nd to 9th plaintiffs) to immediately resume their duties in their different offices as they were never impeached and/ or removed. Justice Dimgba also ordered the DSS, Civil Defence Corps and KSHA “to immediately restore the security details of the 1st plaintiff (Lawal) and other Principal Officers purportedly impeached or removed by the illegal acts of the 1st to 5th defendants”.

The Judge further restrained the 7th to 9th defendants from further barricading the complex of the House of Assembly and preventing the plaintiffs from accessing the hallowed chambers of the KSHA to conduct their legal and legitimate duties as legislators validly elected to represent their various constituencies. The court declared that the purported impeachment of the leadership of the House on February 16, 2016 by the 1st to 5th defen-

dants is unconstitutional, illegal, null and void having regard to the provisions of Sections 90, 91, 92 (2)(c), 95 (1), (2) and 96 (1) (2) of the Constitution; Rule 3(1) (2) Standing Rules of the KSHA and the proclamation of the KSHA dated February 16, duly signed by the Speaker pursuant to Rule 4(2)(3). More so, the court declared that the election of the 1st to 5th defendants as leaders of the House was unconstitutional, illegal, null

and void. According to Justice Dimgba, “A careful perusal of Chapter 5, Part 2 (Comprising Sections 90 to 129) of the Constitution does not reveal any provision that deals with the resignation of a Speaker of the House of Assembly. “But it is important to assert that whether or not a resignation has occurred at any material time is not an issue of law, but an issue of fact. Facts are proven by evidence, not by declaration

and the rule remains that he who asserts must prove” the court stated. “I note that the 1st to 5th defendants have not provided any evidence before the court to buttress this claim of resignation. “This evidence could have been in the form of a duly authenticated record of proceedings of the KSHA of February 15, 2016 showing the resignation of the speaker and the orderly transition of power to the 1st to 5th defendants.

L-R: Assistant Clerk of the Committee, Mr. Sadi Yusuf; Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Hon. Gaza Jonathan and Chairman, Hon. Abdulrazaq Namdas at a press conference during briefing on the position of the House on deregulation of Petroleum downstream Sector at the National Assembly in Abuja, yesterday.

EDO 2016: APC steps up effort at reconciliation CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13

ing from all stakeholders that nobody has done what Comrade has done in this state, I asked the question, ‘you mean his achievements have surpassed that of Ogbemudia?’ They told me that it was Ogbemudia himself that said so. And that gladdened my heart. “If we have a performing Governor who has done so much to the credit of our party, why then do we not want to continue with this kind or this trend of achievements by making sure that we go into battle united and deliver Edo State to APC. It is the only state that is under our control in the South-South zone, and it is an open secret that some of the governors in other states of the South-South have gone to do a meeting on how to wrestle power from us in Edo State. Our good Lord will not allow that to happen”, Oyinlola said. Oyinlola who earlier spoke with newsmen at the APC secretariat soon after the Committee met with the aspirants and State House of assembly legislators said ‘’The meeting was necessitated on the need to resolve and keep the APC family in order and united to successfully engage other opposition parties in election . My stake is that I’ m here as the head of the Committee to look at all the crack walls of the APC in Edo so that all the scorpions, snakes which have entered they will

cement them inside’’ In his response , Governor Oshiomhole who attributed the crisis rocking the party to the handi work of the “fifth columnists” whom he said were PDP defectors rehabilitated by the party, stated his readiness to again launch onslaught on the PDP come September governorship election. He stated: “these are the people that I, along with other leaders of the party, rehabilitated. Having neutralized their own machine, they jumped out of the boat so that they don’t sink with the boat that we had sunk. They jumped out, and because we thought, they were decent people, we brought them to our own boat that was sailing, and even put them on the plane to fly 50,000 feet above PDP sea level. They are now the ones, having benefited from our labour, from our industry and our accomplishments and having neutralized their vehicle, they jumped out to enter our own, they are the ones using the most uncouth, violent and even vulgar language to describe my person. Each time they make a statement, I believe the secretariat should check carefully published, spoken and in fact printed words, they always say that unless the Comrade wants to return this state to PDP. They always end with that conclusion. This state cannot return to PDP.”

“The truth is this might be the wish of our enemies: enemies from within and enemies from without. The more dangerous enemies are those who even purport to have joined the APC, but their soul is in the PDP. By their choice of language and style and tactics, it is clear that they wish to be in APC while actually working in futility, hoping that they can discredit APC so that their own party that we have grounded, dismantled and wrested can hopefully be revived. “Edo State Government is stable. There is no cause for alarm. I worry about exaggerated propaganda in the media. I am very thankful for your coming. Assure Abuja that they should not worry. I promised myself I will finish stronger. If God has enabled me for seven and half years, he won’t abandon me for the remaining six months. Be assured of my commitment to this party, the democratic values to fight this battle regardless of who wins, and be assured of my commitment to support the national secretariat.” The Governor also assured on free and fair primary said things were blown out of proportion “The APC primary will be transparent. Our President went through a transparent primary in Lagos. So if our President went through a transparent primary, who is bigger in APC than the President? He also lambasted the PDP South-South

Governors over threat to reclaim Edo come the next governorship election saying they are wallowing in their dreams. ‘’ If I contest election in Delta, I will defeat Okowa. If he tries it and we amend the law, I will go and contest election in Delta, I will defeat Okowa. My pedigree speaks for me. I am not a radio-manufactured or newspaper-created activist. I can communicate vertically and horizontally. My power is not money. It’s the power to persuade and my own pedigree. They are very lucky, but we are waiting for them. This is not the place you destroy the card reader.” In his reaction to the visit of the Oyinlola reconciliation Committee, one of the gubernatorial aspirants and former Minister of Works, Engineer Chris Ogiemwonyi who congratulated the National Chairman of the party Chief Odigie- Oyegun for putting in place the Committee expressed implicit confidence In the ability of the Committee to nip the violence and acrimony rocking the state chapter of the party ahead of the Governorship election in the bud. “ I am equally grateful for Oyinlola because he is a man we all have great respect for and we have implicit confidence that the committee will do a thorough job to end the violence because we still have up to a month to our primaries, so it is a good development”, he said.

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Politics

Friday, May 20, 2016

Buhari has decapitated Boko Haram —Ubani

Barrister Monday Ubani is a human rights activist and former Chairman, Nigeria Bar Association, NBA, Ikeja branch. In this interview with MAYOWA OTUSANYA, he speaks on the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari in the last one year, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP as an opposition party and the possibility of implementing the recommendations of the last constitutional conference. Excerpts: What is your assessment of Buhari administration in the last one year? My assessment is that it has not been easy but there are issues that he promised, that he is really showing some level of concern and commitment to, the issue of battling insecurity. We can see that he has actually decapitated the Boko Haram as a terrorists group . That’s a level of improvement on issue of security in that angle, even thou there are emerging security issues like Fulani herdsmen and insurgence of militant in the Niger-Delta region which I know also that he would handle, that’s on the issue of insecurity. On the issue of fight against corruption, this we know is going on very well . We see what the government has done in respect to that, though some people are accusing him of being selective but the point is that PDP was in government for sixteen years and invariably the APC is now at the centre, the people they would actually go after are those who occupied public treasuries which I know over time it would spread to the states because a lot of atrocities are also committed at the states. So far, the fight against corruption has been yielding positive result going by the account we are reading in the newspapers on how much have been recovered and people that have been prosecuted and the international community are beginning to have some level of confidence for us as a nation. We can see the wide acceptance of the president all over the world , they are concerned with the level of poverty that have been inflicted on the country that God has endowed with so much natural resources, so they are not too happy with the level of progress we have made as a nation, so that’s why they are really making some level of commitment in the repatriation of some of the fund in their country and they are showing confidence on our president and they are showing confidence even on our economy that they want to invest. The President of China recently has shown his friendship pact with us. So it’s now for Buhair to choose the country or continent to pitch his tent with, that was not there before. We are almost becoming a pariah nation but now there has been a renewed interest on Nigeria as a country with a level of confidence that have been established, that’s a plus for the president and for us as a people. There are enemy at work trying to sabotage the government because we hear what the Niger militants are doing with oil pipelines and oil platform, meaning they don’t want this man to succeed. If they have their grouse, I feel it can be tabled and discussed and solutions found but not by destroying the national asset which is what is actually going on. They are trying to sabotage the government, they have destroyed almost all the pipeline and gas line making us to remain in darkness and they want to blame President Buhari for that. The economy situation we are also facing is because the previous government hide a lot, they were churning out a lot of statistics that have no bearing on people’s life, they said we want to maintain a single digit inflation , that we are now worth more than South Africa and all those lies they were telling us .. There is no way an economy you wrecked and have stole much from will not suffer what we are suffering now. So much was taken out of the system, we hear how much was taken from the military angle ,political angle, religious angle, there was conclusion to really finish the Nigeria economy. That the economy is still functional, it is just by the grace of God. So what we are undergoing now, the suffering and some level of discomfort is as a result of what have happened in the last government. And the current president is not ready to hide anything, so we are all facing this thing together but the reality is that the government must find a solution. They have no reason not to find solutions because we bring people into government to solve our problems, they promised to solve the problems of Nigeria. What is left for them now is to lay a solid foundation in all the key sectors and lay a solid structure that will make everyone be at alert . If he fights corruption and still leaves the system in comatose when he goes, the impunity will continue. We must also build a structure that will not allow impunity.

So far so bad,

they have

not played the opposition

role very well. At a time almost everything APC

government did either for good or bad they were making noise about and all that.

and be a real opposition to APC, criticize were it is necessary to criticize and praise when it is necessary and sometimes give in alternative view that may make people to say maybe we can also consider them in 2019 if they have such wonderful and fantastic opposition view to APC policies.

Ubani What is your assessment of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP as an opposition party? So far so bad, they have not played the opposition role very well. At a time almost everything APC government did either for good or bad they were making noise about and all that. But for now, since Olisa Metuh went to cell and came back, there has been some mellow ,some dull moment, even thou Fayose is now the chief spokesperson for PDP, .they are not putting their house in order. Even there are so many internal crisis within them, they are not even coercive enough ,they are having problem on who will occupy the chairmanship position. All over the state, PDP have issues, they have not been able to play key opposition role , they have not been fantastic, they have be found wanting, so they need to up their game

Do you push for the implementation of the recommendations of the 2014 confab? 2014 confab had a lot of issues, one, the issue of constitutionality of the confab itself and the legality of it .as at that. There were some good decisions made like autonomy of local governments, creation of states, even thou I don’t support the creation of additional states but they were trying to balance the region in which one state should be given to eastern region. There are some recommendations in the educational ,health, economy sector that can be worked upon by this government but they must start by looking at it, by taking some recommendations at confab, implementing it as policies of the government, change some of the laws but there is no good recommendation that can move this country forward if we don’t restructure. Nigeria will still be disabled with structural problem as a nation and we will not make much progress . The issue of restructuring Nigeria is very very important. If there are some recommendation in that confab that will go a long way in restructuring Nigeria proficiency like the state police and all that, I won’t mind recommending that this government should take a look at it in order to create some level of efficiency in the system . Presently Nigeria is not running efficiently and anything that will make Nigeria to be efficiently run even from the enemies camp ,from any camp whatsoever is worth consideration and I think that the government will take a look at it and see what can make the country move forward, pass laws ,amend the constitution to accommodate them, I think there is nothing wrong in that.

APC threatens to expel Sani over attacks on Buhari Aza Msue KADUNA

he Kaduna State Chapter of All Progressives Congress, APC on Thursday warned Senator representing Kaduna Central Zone, Shehu Sani, to desist from attacking President Muhammadu Buhari or face expulsion. APC had placed Senator Sani on 11 months suspension over indiscipline, disloyalty to the party as well as anti - party activities. Addressing a news conference in Kaduna, State APC Acting Publicity Secretary, Salisu Tanko Wusono, de-

clared support for the federal government’s decisive policy decision to eliminate the fuel subsidy racket which the party said milked the country dry and brought untold hardship to Nigerians. Wusono wondered why Sani who was among those senators who passed 2016 budget that has no provision for subsidy, turned around to attack President Buhari for removing subsidy. The party noted that Sani’s attacks against Buhari began last year, when the senator formed alliance with a greedy and disloyal senators who defied APC and foisted a strange leadership on the

senate: “Shehu Sani followed up by attacking the president for fighting corruption” Wusono explained: “The APC Kaduna decided to teach Shehu Sani a lesson in party discipline in the hope that he will be reformed. He was placed on suspension, but rather than learn lessons, show remorse and work towards becoming a responsible senator, he has chosen to continue to show disloyalty to the APC and President Buhari. Given his disregard for the party, the APC Kaduna State has no option but to take further disciplinary measures that may lead to his expulsion”

According to him: “ The Kaduna State APC is dismayed and disappointed by the continued irresponsible conduct of Shehu Sani. In speech and conduct, he has shown himself incapable of loyalty to our party, the APC and our great leader, President Muhammadu Buhari. Having ridden on the back of our party and the popularity of Buhari to get to the senate, Shehu Sani has since abandoned any pretension to discipline or loyalty to any principle”. However, efforts to reach Senator Shehu Sani over APC threat of expulsion failed.

Editorial

Friday, May 20, 2016

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

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

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

ABUJA BUREAU CHIEF

On incessant school closures

tudents’ unrest culminating in the closure of tertiary institutions now appears a tradition in the nation’s higher institutions of learning. Of late, the gale of students protests swept across the University of Ibadan (UNIBADAN), Oyo State; Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA), Ondo State; University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka; Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State; and the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), Rivers State; among others. Central to the upheavals are often the inability of the school authorities to manage differences between them and students with the appropriate temperament and poise, their contempt for the rules, administrative haste, executive recklessness and piling of bloated bills on students. These are compounded by the dearth of basic amenities like electricity, potable water, as well as sanitary facilities and conditions. Take UNILAG that was shut indefinitely on April 8, 2016 as one example. The university’s Senate ordered that the institution be shut down indefinitely on the heels of days of students’ protests on campus. Their (students’) grouse revolved around inadequate social amenities poor electricity, water supply and the rest. The protesting students also alleged that the manage-

ment of UNILAG was not sensitive enough to their plights and, therefore, decided to embark on the protests to press home their grievances. Reports said the Senate of the university recently directed that it be reopened as from May 2, 2016. As has now been the ritual, each returning student would complete an undertaking form and get it notarized as a condition to be readmitted into the institution. In UNIBADAN, a student was rusticated for his alleged involvement in a previous protest against the lack of power and water on campus, a development that ignited protests by other students that felt their colleague was made a scapegoat. To forestall a more violent version of the protests, the university was also shut down and the students sent home. One recent report also relayed threats by the National Association of Ogun State Students (NAOSS) to take to the streets in protest of the bestial treatment some security operatives attached to Abraham Adesanya Polytechnic, Ijebu Igbo, Ogun State, allegedly meted out to one Miss Oladokun Leshi Folashade, a National Diploma (ND) II student of the institution purportedly on the orders of the Rector of the institution, Prof. Mrs. Bilesanmi Awoderu. Folashade was allegedly battered and dragged on the ground

The decrepit state of infrastructure in virtually all

Nigerian

public schools is nauseating; and

efforts to address them exceptionally slow by the security operatives for the late payment of N5,000 the school authority imposed on students for the purpose of repairing one of the institution’s buildings that got burnt, it was reported. The Ogun State students’ body wants the culprits brought to justice. The decrepit state of infrastructure in virtually all Nigerian public schools is nauseating; and efforts to address them exceptionally slow. In spite of repeated strikes by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and it counterparts in other tertiary institutions to get the government to right the wrongs; as well as government’s promises in recent years to redress the situation, nothing tangible has changed in relation to deteriorating facilities in the schools. The United Nations recommended that nations should set aside 26 percent of their annual

ON THIS DAY May 20, 1989 The Chinese authorities declared martial law in the face of pro-democracy demonstrations, setting the scene for the Tiananmen Square massacre. The students’-led protests were triggered in April 1989 by the death of former Communist Party General Secretary, Hu Yaobang, a liberal reformer who was deposed after losing out in a power struggle with hardliners over the direction of political and economic reforms.

Letters tothe theEditor Editor Letters to

May 20, 2006 Dhaka wildcat strikes: A series of massive strikes involving nearly 1.8 million garment workers in Bangladesh began in the nation’s capital, Dhaka. During the period, especially from May 20 to May 24, when the revolt was at its peak, workers of nearly 4,000 factories stopped work. At least three of the workers were shot dead; 3,000 others were injured and several thousands more clamped into prisons.

budgets for education to be able to effectively grapple with the numerous challenges dogging the sector. But available records indicate that the Nigerian government, whether at state or federal level, has not in recent decades devoted up to half of the 26 percent of annual budgets to education. The sector is, therefore, grossly underfunded. On the contrary, the government has the routine increment of school fees as its pastime. This is another major source of bitterness and rancour between the leadership of public higher institutions in the country and their students. Frequent closure of schools disrupts the academic calendar, renders students and teachers alike unproductive and robs the nation of the invaluable gains quality education injects into national growth and development. But with them communicating closely and jointly appraising their pressing problems and challenges, school authorities and their students should be able to avert avoidable skirmishes that lead to school closures. In addition, the Federal Government should revisit the report of the Committee on Needs Assessment of Nigerian Public Universities it set up in of 2012, which catalogued in fair details the sordid condition of the nation’s schools; and find ways of addressing them.

x May 20, 2014 More than 118 people were killed in two bombings in Jos, Nigeria. The first bombing occurred in a marketplace, and the second near a bus station. No group or individual claimed responsibility, though the attacks were attributed to the Boko Haram violent Islamist sect. Christians and Muslims had several confrontations in Jos in years preceding the bombings; while Boko Haram was also active prior to the attack.

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South West

Friday, May 20, 2016

Ambode commissions N80m health centre in Lekki, Ibeju Francis Suberu

agos State governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, yesterday commissioned two primary healthcare centres, one at Origanrigan in Lekki Local Council Development Area, LCDA, valued at N23 million and the other at Awoyaya in Ibeju-Lekki LCDA worth N57 million. Ambode, who was represented by his Special Adviser on Food Security, Mr. Ganiu Sanni, said the health centres would afford the people of Origanrigan and environs as well as Awoyaya the opportunity of timely and qualitative health care, as well as solve the problem of having to travel far distances before accessing quality healthcare. He urged the council management and the people of Awoyaya and Origanrigan to always ensure the health centres are well maintained, advising residents of the communities to take ownership of the projects and guard them jealously.

Executive Secretary of Lekki LCDA, Rasaq Kasali, reiterated the importance of Origanrigan health centre to people of the community, even as he listed many other laudable projects embarked on by the council under his leadership. He said: “In area of education, we gave out school uniforms to pupils of various primary schools within our area of jurisdiction and also donated desks and benches to make learning more comfortable for our pupils. Aside these, we have constructed a block of six classrooms at Ise Primary School and also erected same structure at Igbogun Primary School for better learning atmosphere.” On his part, the Executive Secretary of Ibeju-Lekki, Dapo Salami, said people of the community deserved commendations for supporting the council administration to complete the project. According to him, the council leadership is passionate about the welfare of the people, adding: “It is our genuine desire to complement the efforts of the state government in delivering to the people the dividends of democracy.”

Monarch seeks federal presence, rail service in Ekiti Abiodun Nejo ADO EKITI

rontline traditional ruler and Ewi of AdoEkiti, Oba Rufus Adejugbe, has called on the Federal Government to make available amenities and facilities befitting of a capital city in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital. Adejugbe, who said the state needed federal presence to bring it at par with its peers, listed chief among needed infrastructures to include construction of a federal secretariat and extension of rail network to the state. The monarch, who spoke in his palace at Ado-Ekiti, said just as absence of a federal secretariat had denied many Ekiti people who ought to be working there job opportunities, extension of railway service to the state would facilitate mass movement of agriculture products and boost the people’s participation in international trade. He further called on the Federal Government to dualise the 45-kilometre AdoAkure Road and pay atten-

tion to its roads in the state, adding that good transportation network is necessary to attract investors to the state. He said: “As a state capital, we need all those things that a state capital should have like the Federal Secretariat. If it is here, a number of people will be working there. (A branch) of the Central Bank of Nigeria is under construction; we thank the Federal Government for that. “On security, the military is supposed to have its establishment here in Ekiti, but up till now, we are still expecting. There are certain things that should ordinarily come to the state capital. Then our roads; Akure – Ado Ekiti Road ought to be dualised. “Thank God the Federal Government is turning attention to railway, Ado-Ekiti and indeed Ekiti State should be linked with rail service. When you do that, you are encouraging private investors to come. That is a basic requirement before anybody can think of whether to site an industry because of the need to move raw materials and finished products,” the monarch said.

L-R: Chairman of the occasion and former Governor of Ogun, Aremo Segun Osoba; Managing Director, PM News, Bayo Onanuga; Author of the Book, Sam Omatseye, and Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay, at the presentation of a book titled: Chronicle Foretold, in Lagos yesterday. PHOTO:NAN

Unlawful revocation: Transcorp files N1bn suit against FG, others Wale Igbintade

ransnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc, Transcorp, has instituted a N1billion suit before a Federal High Court in Lagos against the Attorney-General of the Federation and six others over alleged unlawful revocation of land/property located at Block 1, Flats 1-6, Rumens Road, Ikoyi, Lagos. Other defendants in suit are the Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Mrs. Bello Morenike, Lt. CDR Okon Godwin Inyang, Joseph Etim Bassey, Akinyeke P. Akinyeke and one J. E. Benten respectively. Transcorp in suit No: FHC/L/CS/794/2015 filed by its lawyer, Dr. Joseph Nwobike SAN, is seeking among other reliefs an order of perpetual injunction restraining the Federal

Government from implementing the Revocation Order dated May 27, 2015 issued by the Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development. In the suit which is before Justice Jude Dagat, Transcorp is also seeking an order of perpetual injunction restraining the 3rd – 7th defendants from interfering with or disturbing the title, possession or occupation of the property. The plaintiff, in its amended statement of claim signed by Nwobike, stated that sometime in 2005, the Federal Government through the Implementation Committee of Federal Government Landed Property offered the property located at Block 1, Flats 1-6, Rumens Road, Ikoyi to it for lease for a term of 99 years at plaintiff ’s bid price of N375 million. The plaintiff said it

accepted the offer as contained in the letter of Offer for lease of Federal Government Landed Property dated October 24, 2005 and completed the acceptance form and returned same to the Implementation Committee. According to Transcorp, upon receipt of its acceptance Form, the Implementation Committee on behalf of the Federal Government issued it with a confirmation of offer letter dated November 28, 2005 wherein the committee confirmed the offer of the property to the plaintiff at its bid price of N375 million. Pursuant to the acceptance letter, the plaintiff stated that it paid the total bid price of N375 million to the Federal Government as well as other sundry charges as advised by the committee. The plaintiff added that

after it took possession of the property it commenced the process of reconstructing and renovating it at over N200 million. Transcorp stated that the committee also offered the property to the 3rd to 7th defendants but they failed to make mandatory payments to it. Having lost the right to the property, the 3rd to 7th defendants instituted suit no. FHC/CS/311/2006 to challenge the decisions of the Implementation Committee but the court dismissed the suit in a ruling delivered on June 29, 2005. However, the plaintiff stated that on May 29, 2015 it’s attention was drawn to the publication issued by the 2nd defendant (Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development) wherein the minister purported to revoke the Certificate of Occupancy issued to it.

Ambibol harps on diabetes awareness Afolabi Gambari

mbibol Diabetes Foundation says constant education on the disease in Nigeria will help to ameliorate the effect on sufferers. President of the foundation, which also runs the Ambibol Foundation & Clinic in Ikeja, Lagos, Mr. Amos Adelaiye, said

diabetes could be effectively managed for as long as the sufferers maintain strict discipline. “Most of the cases of diabetes is due to lack of knowledge of what it is all about and how to contain it to live a normal life,” Adelaiye, who is also a US-based Information Technology expert, said. “We set out to offer people opportunity to manage diabetes and to let them know that being diabetic is not the

end of life,” he added. According to him, the foundation is a non-governmental organisation as well as a clinic which reaches out to government, private companies and parastatals with a view to ensuring adequate public health. “We aim to share our vast experience in helping people manage the scourge. We also aim to be the voice of the people in Nigeria whenever diabetes is the issue,” he said.

Chief Executive Officer of the foundation and wife of the president, Dr. Adebola Adelaiye, stated that ignorance had done incalculable damage to diabetes sufferers in Nigeria over the years. “It is troubling enough that statistics show more than 32million Nigerians suffer from diabetes and this is not helped by the fact that many people are not aware of the right nutrition to take to minimise its effect,” he said.

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Friday, May 20, 2016

Boko Haram, suicide bombers and the way forward Counter-terrorism Tips With

Ethelbert Oney ethelbertoney@zissltd.com, 08029929121 (sms only)

n recent time questions are increasingly being asked on why a person should sacrifice his/her life for Boko Haram cause. The simple answer is suicide bombing represents a low cost, low tech and low risk weapon that is readily available, requires little training and strikes fear into the general population. Statistically, (using the records of attacks carried out since 2009) suicide bombings might have produced about 10 percent of total attacks, but produced nearly 35 percent of recorded casualties. There is no terrorist organisation that can create an individual’s basic readiness to die; the task of recruiters is not to produce but rather to identify this predisposition in candidates and to reinforce them. The recruiters of suicide bombers exploit the faith of would be bombers that they will receive a reward in paradise in order to strengthen and solidify pre-existing sacrificial motives, such as hatred of the enemy or profound sense of victimization. While some are motivated by the belief that their God sent them on a mission, many are primarily motivated by the promise of a happy afterlife. The BH leaders purportedly use concepts of benevolence and martyrdom to spread the idea that suicide bombing is a noble and godly

act. Unfortunately this is a brain washing strategy adopted by the leaders of the sect. As a counterterrorism expert and consultant, it is necessary to add that suicide bombing is almost always the last link in a long organisational chain that is comprised of many actors. Once the decision to launch a suicide attack has been concluded, its implementation requires several distinct operational procedures. Although, selected operational mode sometime depends on the capability and reach of the organisation in question. Some of the processes include planning, wider target selection, information gathering/surveillance, specific target selection, recruitment, physical training, spiritual training, preparation of explosives, rehearsals, attacking stage and transportation of the suicide bombers to the target areas to die. Realistically, profiling suicide bombers is a fascinating challenge, it is less relevant in the real world struggle against them than understanding the mindsets of their leaders, who would never consider killing themselves, but opt for suicide bombers as a result of cold reasoning and cowardice. While it may be extremely cumbersome to apprehend would-be suicide bombers on the act, it is usually easier to strike against the commanders and field officers who recruit and train the assailants because executors disguise in different ways and forms like we have been experiencing lately. Attacks can be carried out by male, female children, mid age, women carrying babies and pregnant women. The BH leaders may in the future kit their assailants in a priestly costume, archbishop, imams, costumes, uniforms of pilots, security

Most of the suicide bombers or terrorists in general are usually young with age ranging between nine and

guards, senior police or military officers as well as any other profession distinguished by uniforms, even animals such as camels, cows, rams etc, can be used. Change of strategy is associated with the modus operandi of any desperate and under pressure terrorist organisation like we face at the moment. It should also be noted that no study has developed a composite picture of a suicide bomber because no such picture exists. This is because suicide bombers fluctuate over time and their profile changes with circumstances. Most of the suicide bombers or terrorists in general are usually young with age ranging between nine and 45 in most cases; and their actions and psychological makeup vary according to social and cultural conditions. The BH suicide bombers are drawn from the economically disadvantaged or from the religiously zealous members; and social networks of friends and family are primary means of recruitment. One of the motives of suicide bomber is to transcend human mortality, although there exists an-

other practical incentive such as financial compensation for the families of suicide martyrs. Imitation is another cause of increase in suicide bombing in Nigeria today. Recruiters of suicide bombers see their role as a process, not an act and usually begins with a recruiter seeking out potential candidates at mosques, displaced camps, schools and funeral of people killed during combats. On the way forward, we can utilize a variety of operative and punitive measures to reduce or control suicide bombing, but with a goal of striking at the heart of Boko Haram infrastructure and thus undermine its morale. Such measures include inflicting damages to its squads, removing financial means, disrupting communications, food supply and petrol, arresting leaders and operatives alive, among others. We must also penetrate the communities from the highly affected areas to learn how to minimize the receptivity of ordinary people to being recruited. We must utilize highly sophisticated modern technology in checkpoints at entrances to shopping centres, churches, motor parks, airports, schools and other public areas. There should be public awareness campaign to educate citizens against offering their children or members of their families to be used for financial gains. Most importantly, long lines outside of buildings and other potential high-casualty areas should be discouraged. However, peace process via dialogue produces the best result for a long term solution.

Health insurance: A civic right or responsibility? Victor Ifedayo Adekeye

ike seen in my last piece, health insurance is a type of insurance in which insurance organisation undertakes to cover the medical/health expenses incurred by a particular individual (who is insured by them) in the care for his health. Health insurance can either be through the payment of medical bills to the health care provider by the insurance organisation or the reimbursement of the patient the medical bills paid by him in the care of his health. Over the years, there has been a really contentious debate among medical law experts as to whether health insurance is a fundamental right of every citizen, which should be provided by the government or a responsibility of choice in which every citizen can decide whether to posses it or not. In certain jurisdictions such as England, Canada, Wales and Scotland, healthcare coverage is the responsibility of the government. It is considered the right of every patient, and policies are put in place to ensure the availability of healthcare covers for the citizens of this country. In these countries, health insurance is managed by the allocation of a fair share of the taxes to cover health bills and expenses of citizens of the country. In the words of Miss Faith Adebimpe, a healthcare expert,

In Nigeria…health insurance is the sole and ultimate choice of individual citizens who resides in England, “Healthcare in England, in a nutshell, is government putting a huge chunk of the tax payers’ money into an imaginary public pocket which the citizens dip hands into and use in the care for their health when the need arises”. This sums up the health insurance in the government-controlled healthcare jurisdictions. On the other side of the coin are jurisdictions such as Nigeria and the United States, where health insurance is the sole responsibility of the citizens. In these jurisdictions, however, some countries mandate the taking of health insurance whereas some totally leave it to the discretion of the citizens. The United States, despite making health insurance the sole responsibility of the citizens, has through the Barack Obama administration, formulated policies that mandate every citizen of the United States to have health insurance, with penalties for non-compliance. This health insurance has been subsidised and made affordable for the general public. In Nigeria, a different policy exists as health insurance is the sole and ultimate

choice of individual citizens. It is only mandatory for certain organisations such as engineering companies and a few others who are compelled to have insurance covers for their employees due to the nature of their jobs and the risks involved in such jobs. In a research done in 2015 by the Medical Law Masters Class of the University of Ilorin, it was found that 90 percent of Nigerians are without health insurance and 27 percent of this 90 percent are totally oblivious of what health insurance is all about. This is relatively poor for a country whose poverty rate is so high that majority of the citizens cannot afford good healthcare and therefore, resort to the administration of orthodox treatment such as herbs in the war against their ailments and medical conditions. I am of the opinion that health insurance is the best weapon to be used in tackling these healthcare lacunas as it places the responsibility of medical bills from private individuals on corporate or government organizations, who will pool the resources of many to take care of the health bills and expenses of the few sick ones at any given time. Section 17(c) & (d) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria equips the Federal Government with the power to make policies to promote healthcare in the country. It is, therefore, safe to infer that the Federal Government can make policies mandating health insurance on every citi-

zens. Due to the poverty rate in Nigeria, it is expedient to mention that the compulsory health insurance policies will only be practicable if policies are put in place to also regulate the premiums charged by insurance organisations on citizens. These premiums should be regulated and subsidised to the lowest possible amount. Another germane step is the mandatory health insurance cover for all employees. Policies should be put in place to mandate all employers to provide health insurance cover for all categories of employees under their employment. In conclusion, the role of a potent and adequate healthcare cannot be undermined in any community or environment, and therefore, it becomes germane for the government to put in place adequate laws and regulations so as to ensure the best available healthcare for its citizens and thus increase the value and duration of life. I say emphatically that there is no better policy than one propagating health insurance. Adekeye is a Lagos-based medical law practitioner 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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Friday, May 20, 2016

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Plaque of child witch-hunt in Nigeria

C Curbing domestic violence against women

hildren in Nigeria suffer brutality in so many horrendous ways. They include child trafficking, childlabour, child-assault and so on. One infamous means of brutality against children is the shameful child-witch parade. The presence of children labelled as “child witches” is known to a lot of people across the nation and

practised nation-wide. These labeled witches or wizards are shamed, humiliated, tortured and blamed for life’s problems like sicknesses, untimely death, loss of job, poverty and so on. These children are draped in ugly togas of witchcraft accusation and made to suffer horrendous violations. The children

are taken to shrines, churches and traditionalists, who employ means such as prayers, sacrifices, flogging and so on in the shameful acts of exorcism. It is, however, worrisome that the primary perpetrators of these evils are the family members of these children who feel a need to rid these children of the supposed ‘evil spirits.’

omestic violence against women still thrives among us. In spite of the outcry by human right bodies, we still have some heartless people in our society who have no appreciation for the right of others. We see some husbands, uncles and even male family members abusing women in all sort of despicable manners. It is an epidemic affecting individuals in every community regardless of age, economic status, sexual orientation, gender, race, religion or nationality. Domestic violence occurs between intimate partners, in both current and former romantic relationships, whether cohabiting or not, regardless of marital status or sexual orientation of the couple. Fathers rape daughters; husbands beat wives to stupor, very old men defile children as young as eight years, and wives stab husbands to death. These and many more have made headlines of various newspapers. Domestic violence can take many forms, including physical violence (aggression or assault, hitting, kicking, biting, shoving, restraining, slapping, throwing objects, battery and acid attacks); sexual violence (rape); psychological violence and emotional abuse. It has a significant impact on the lives of women and children and the long-terms costs facing our communities. The impact of this insidious violence is widespread and longstanding, generating profound personal, social and economic costs. Intimate partners’ violence (husband and wife) remains the leading contributor to death, disability, ill-health etc; and it is one of the greatest predictors of high prevalence mental health concerns such as depression. Along with depression, domestic violence victims may also experience Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which is characterized by symptoms such as flashbacks, intrusive imagery, nightmares, anxiety, emotional numbing, insomnia, hypervigilance, and avoidance of traumatic triggers. Olamilehin Abisola Mercy, Department of Mass Communication, Federal Polytechnic, Bida.

Letters to the Editor

New Chiantis being built up close to Ilubirin, Lagos Island.

PHOTO: SAMUEL ADETIMEHIN

South Nigeria Peoples Mandate’s position on restructuring

e of the Southern Nigeria Peoples Mandate (SNPM), a human rights organization, call on the Federal Government to stop the exportation of crude oil by both multinational companies and private companies. Nigeria is the only OPEC member country that exports raw crude oil and import refined petroleum product, a situation that encourages fraud like in the subsidy payment. This is time for the FG to take the bull by the horn by stopping all the fraud going on in the oil sector. In today’s Nigeria we have both multinational and private companies that lift crude oil on daily the quantity of which the relevant authorities know not. This is because there are no checks and balances in the sector. The much touted diversification of economy by President Muhumadu Buhari would not be realized without serious effort of curbing this criminality in the oil industry. We are, therefore, calling on Mr. President to make it mandatory that all those licensed to lift crude oil should be made to build oil refineries in

the country so that our people can be employed and the issue subsidy permanently resolved. This will also enable us address the oil theft syndrome ravaging the country. It will be recalled that crude oil was first discovered in 1956, in Oloibirir, a small Ijaw town in the present Bayelsa State. Before this development, agriculture was the nation’s major revenue earner for the regional governments. The three regions (later four in 1963) in the country were known to produce and export large quantities of agricultural producce. We had gigantic groundnut pyramids in the North and exportable quantities of oil palm and cocoa in the East and West respectively. The discovery of oil led to the total neglect of agriculture. The Federal Government must abolish the present 13 percent derivation principle for the oil producing states. Rather the communities where the oil is found should be allowed to control 10 percent of the revenue from their oil, while state and local government areas should retain five percent each. When this is done, the challenge of Niger

Delta militancy and oil theft will be a thing of the past because the people from the area will now use the money they realize from oil to fast track their socioeconomic development. This will also save Nigeria billions of naira presently spent in securing oil pipelines. Since the geese laying the golden eggs should be taken of, we hereby call on the National Assembly to include communities, LGAs and states where oil is found in the sharing of revenues from the resources. If this is done, we strongly believe that every part of Nigeria will experience fast and rapid development because there will be serious competitions among states, LGAs and communities. Nigeria is highly endowed by God; so it is a paradox, that she has been reduced to a consuming nation. All hands must be on deck to actualize the dream to transform Nigeria into a country flowing with milk and honey. Augustine Chukwudum, President, South Nigeria Peoples Mandate (SNPM) and Ndigbo Unity Forum (NUF) Worldwide

Other gross remedies employed include beating, chaining, sawing, tying up, starving and nails driven into the head. These superstitious and unfounded beliefs have become a fertile ground for churches, shrines and traditionalists who now claim to possess power to effect exorcism and deliverance on these hapless children in exchange for cash and other material benefits. These children are driven out of homes by parents, ostracised by the community, and end up on the streets eating from garbage if they are lucky enough. They may even progress to societal vices like drug abuse, pick pocketing and robbery for sustenance. The children suffer the risk of being trafficked out of the country or to far flung parts of the country. There is also a high rate of teenage pregnancy amongst the girls after being sexually abused due to their vulnerability. The extreme stigma they are faced with deprives them of any social support network from their schools, mosques, families, communities and churches. They are called names at school and suffer both physical and verbal attacks. They, therefore, go through untold physical and psychological trauma. All these and many more characterize the violation of the right to dignity of children in Nigeria through the child witch-hunt, which is a prevalent practice in many states of the country. It is worrisome that these happen in spite of the various legislations protecting the rights of the child in the country. One lesson we can take away from that is the fact that legislations are nothing but mere words if there is no resolve to make positive changes by the stakeholders involved. It therefore behooves on everybody to fight this unwholesome practice by doing everything to alleviate the plight of these children and report all cases of abuse to the relevant law enforcement agents. These children are all around us in street parks, uncompleted buildings, markets and so on. The change we all desire begins with us as no law protecting the rights of children can be stronger than the strong resolve of a people to protect these little ones. Emmanuel Ayoola, is an Abuja-based lawyer and child rights activist

Send your letters The Editor reserves thethe right letters or or mails mailsto toPMB PMB10001, 10001,Ikoyi, Ikoyi,or orour our Email: Email:mirrorlagos@yahoo.com mirrorlagos@yahoo.comand andinfo@nationalmirroronline.net info@nationalmirroronline.netoror08056180209, 08054103275,07033375481 07033375481(SMS (SMSonly). only). The Editor reserves right to to edit and reject letters photographs. Psuedonyms may used, must clearly marked such. edit and reject letters or or photographs. Psuedonyms may bebe used, butbut must bebe clearly marked asas such.

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French

Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Denys Gauer said the gesture was an illustration of

French policy to fight illegal trade in cultural goods

The reeturned art work on display Speaking further, Minister said; “This administration places high premium on the development of our cultural sites and their utilisation as veritable tourism product. “We are positive that in our quest for the diversification of our economic base, this section will provide that needed instrument to actualise that goal. “Nigeria is rich cultural and natural landscapes and other cultural resources which are yet to be tapped. We intend to make a difference and that is why we recently had a National summit on Culture and tourism sector.” While speaking the French Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Denys Gauer said the gesture

P. 26.31

Arty News P.28. 29

WEEKEND STARTERS

Spoken Words performance at AJ House

oin AJ House at the 15th edition of Freedom Spoke Words organized by AJ House supported by Goethe-Institut, Lagos features loose, free and non-conformist verses of pHsayo, the altruistic, dyslexic and rebel child of the Muses. The event holds on Friday, 20th May 2016 at 4:30pm Goethe-Institut Nigeria, City Hall, Lagos Island at Freedom Spoke Words stages yet another Open Mic and alongside hosts pHisayo to an evening of enthralling poSpoken Word perfomance etry.

was an illustration of French policy to fight illegal trade in cultural goods. According to him, the presentation of the Nok Terracotta was in line with International Law and within the framework of the 1970 UNESCO convention on the means of preventing the illicit import and export of ownership of cultural properties, which was ratified by both France and Nigeria. On his welcome remarks, Director General of National Commission for Museum and Monuments NCMM, Yusuf Abdallah Usman said the aim of this year’s celebration seek to promote the important of cultural heritage and museums responsibilities to her collections.

He said: “the celebration of this year’s museum day will be marked with great differential as the Ambassador of France to Nigeria is going to do a formal handing over and presentation of Nok terracotta that has been repatriated from France. “This gesture will go a long way to oil the vehicle of cordial relationship that has existed between Nigeria and France. “The unrelenting pragmatic efforts by the NCMM in the quest for the return of our stolen cultural properties from abroad are not wasted as the government of France has been cooperative in the interception and repatriation of our illegally trafficked objects.” The Nok culture was discovered by Europeans in 1928 on the Jos Plateau during tin mining. Lt-Colonel John Dent-Young, an Englishman, was leading mining operations in the Nigerian village of Nok. During these operations, one of the miners found a small terracotta of a monkey head. Other finds included a terracotta human head and a foot. The colonel, at a later date, had these artifacts placed in a museum in Jos. In 1932, a group of 11 statues in perfect condition were discovered near the city of Sokoto. Since that time, statues coming from the city of Katsina were brought to light. Although there are similarities to the classical Nok style, the connection between them is not clear yet. Later still, in 1943, near the village of Nok, in the centre of Nigeria, a new series of clay figurines were discovered by accident while mining tin.

Inside FCT

Culture experts hail France for returning ‘Nok Terracotta’

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hese are great times for the Nigerian culture sector as the Federal government within the week, received the stolen artifact, ‘Nok Terracotta’ following the repatriation of the cultural artifact from France to Nigeria. Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed, at 2016 International Museum Day and official presentation of repatriated Nok objects from France by the French Ambassador to Nigeria commended the show of support in the fight against illicit trafficking of cultural goods of France. While receiving the stolen Nok Terracotta in Abuja, the minister assured that present government will not allow works of Nigeria’s fore-fathers to perish in strange lands. According to him, the show of support in the fight against illicit trafficking of cultural goods is tremendous. “I wish to recommends this French Model to other countries. It is worth mentioning that our fore-fathers were very thoughtful to have left behind for us as a heritage that can never be quantified on a monetary scale. “And I will like to thank the France Ambassador especially for his country’s support and their un tiring efforts at restitution and return of such items.” He re-emphasised the determination of present administration to elevate culture and tourism to mainstream of the economy in its quest to diversify the economy to create wealth and generate employment

Afropolitan features Mike Okri, Skales

antu invites you to 37th edition of Afropolitan. This month’s edition will feature veteran crooner Muke Okri, rapper/ singer Skales and sing er/songwriter Aramide all sharing the stage with the 13 piece BANTU collective. The event holds on Friday, 20th May 2016 at 8pm. Venue is Freedom Park Lagos.

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Joel Ajayi

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

Critics

Friday , May 20, 2016

Flavour

Art Man

VOL. 4 No. 827

Mike Okri

Art Man

Friday, May 20, 2016

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Passion brought me into tourism, Barrister Ngozi Nwangwa is the Chairperson Abia State Tourism and Services Development Board. She is a culture and tourism advocate and activist and one of the few persons that are bent on the revolution of the culture and tourism sector in Abia State. As the chairperson of the board, she is also the substantive Commissioner for Arts, Culture and Tourism in Abia State. In this exclusive interview with ISIGUZO DESTINY, she talked about her plans to ensure the growth of arts, culture and tourism in Abia has a Tourism Board which you are the chairperson, can you justify the rationale behind the conversion of the ministry into a board or agency? Actually we don’t have any commissioner for arts, culture and tourism because my governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu deemed it very necessary for that sector to be turned into an agency to make things there faster, practicable and more realistic. This is because we have not done enough in culture and tourism in South East, particularly in Abia State and we have quite a lot we can do in that industry. We have a lot of tourist’s sites, more than 40 tourist potentials in Abia state. What we do or how we go about operating, upgrading and, making them work and practicable is important. So the governor decided to create this board known as the Abia State Tourism and Services Development Board. That board, for now is handling everything in arts, culture and tourism sector and of course, hospitality industry in Abia State. When it comes to culture and tourism, Abia, has not really been in the scheme of things unlike her neighbouring states Rivers and Akwa-ibom, why is it so even with the existence of a ministry and a commissioner of tourism in the last dispensation? These things are all encompassing. For now, I may have the passion, vision, zeal and the adequate information and training to make a particular thing grow but there’s a limit you can get to as a person that wants to grow something. The government has to do their own part, you do your part. Maybe the past administration did not encourage or support those people that found themselves in that industry. As we speak, my governor is very supportive and tells anyone that cares to listen that he is seriously looking into the culture, arts and tourism industry. Enough of oil money. He wants to diversify the economy of Abia State. He wants to use art and tour-

Musuem of Colonial History Aba

ism to build the IGR of Abia state. In fact he’s touching every sector including agriculture. If you follow what Dr Okezie Ikpeazu is doing in Abia State, you will notice he’s coming up with a lot of policies and he has even announced five strong pillars of his government and another five enablers. The five pillars include tourism, science and education, environment, health etc. Do you think Abia State is a potential tourist state? Yes. In fact Abia state is supposed to be a potential tourist state because if you look at the agro tourism, the Ngwa people of Abia state has the best land in the whole of the Southern part of Nigeria. You can go and check. We can feed the whole of South East, if there is support and encouragement. Speaking on our tourist potential, we have the “Akwete fabric” which apart from the “Asoke” in South West, there are no other ethnic group in Nigeria that has their own fabric. We have so many waterfalls etc. We have the Ezeofia Cave Complex, Amaekpo-Ohafia; Slave market at Eluama, Uzuakoli; Eke Igbere Sacred Forest; the

Enough of oil money. He wants to diversify the economy of

Abia

State. He wants to use art and tourism to build

the

IGR of Abia state.

Nwangwa Ngodo Cave in Isiochi; the famous long juju of Arochukwu; Akwete Weaving in Ukwa-East; Amakama Wooden Cave; Isi-imo Tourism Site; Ojukwu Bunker in Umuahia; Arochukwu Slave Museum, the Agbaoha Water Falls, Azummiri Blue River, and we are begging investors to come partner with us for mutual prosperity. We are ready to give out these sites to private investors to manage for efficiency. Since we have the passion, what we just need is the encouragement. During Jonathan’s administration, it was realised that art and entertainment industry contributed so much to Nigeria’s GDP after the rebasing of the economy. What specific plans do you have as regards using tourism in to bridge the gap in revenue shortfall of Abia State? We had a summit in Abuja where the issue of using culture to develop tourism was discussed. Tourism is all about movement, what have you to show, what you have for people to see, what have you to market? In our own situation... I usually say even before we went for this summit that we can use our culture to market our tourism. We can use trade, and commerce which is what we are known for in Aba, the Enyimba city. We can use that to

market ourselves. Trade tourism is fantastic in places like Dubai, there’s no body that goes to Dubai and will not buy anything from there even if the person went for sightseeing. People go there to trade and come back. What Dubai mainly do is trade tourism. Of course, we need to use our culture to develop tourism but there are other things, we must have a hospitable environment. Forget what people say, we have very beautiful sites, and beautiful places in Abia State. We are emerging, we are trying. The present governor is trying his best in every sector, the environment is clean, and he’s constructing new roads and building the old ones. He’s trying. I think in the next few months, a lot will be happening. What we are doing in the tourism industry is enough to influence other sectors because we want to use tourism to influence other places. That is why we are creating what we call Tourism Networking Blueprint. Tourism network in Abia State is going to encompass other sectors, education tourism brings the ministry of education, health tourism the health sector, agricultural sector will work with us in terms of agro tourism, and we have sports tourism and trade tourism. So many other things. That is where the network comes in. We want

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culture —Ngozi Nwangwa

Art Man

Like I said, tourism is not just about inviting people to your state. What

have you to offer?

Do you have a clean environment for

them, good hotels,

Arochukwu Cave

educational system?

our tourists to have a clean, safe and beautiful environment where you will not be talking about the hospital to go to if you fall sick. Once you contact us, or go to our website, you will get whatever you need as a tourist. You mentioned tourism among the five pillars the state government is using to build the state’s economy, are you sure it is not paying lip service as we have come to see most of these governors do especially when it comes to the issue of tourism? What I have seen so far is encouraging. I am encouraged because he is doing most of the things we have pointed out or suggested. I am happy. Like I said, tourism is not just about inviting people to your state. What have you to offer? Do you have a clean environment for them, good hotels, educational system etc.? What do you have to say about crime? If I have seen him working on all these things, it means he’s working on my sector and for me they are encouraging. It is not about giving you billions to start a tourism industry, he just needs to create an enabling environment. And I can authoritatively tell you to visit Abia state. Your four or five days visit will be very interesting and fun filled. Of course you will see quality goods to shop, I mean your favourite Aba made items, and when you fall sick you get adequate health care. We have cab services at your disposal and quality hotels and restaurants. Looking at the enormous task you have mentioned, do you think you have what it takes to drive the art and tourism sector in Abia State? When you call a lawyer an outsider in any field it makes me say I am sorry, you don’t know the kind of training we get. As a practising lawyer, I don’t think it’s right because we are learned and we know about most fields. In the course of practice, you come across so many things. Moreover, what does it take to know about something? Is it not about reading and researching about the issue? I am actually part of the tourism emergence in Abia state. Going into tourism for me is about passion. I actually asked to be part of this industry, that’s to tell you I would have researched more than you could think of.

Tourists at the site of Long Juju of Arochukwu

Someone can go to university to study tourism and come out empty. What I know about tourism as I sit here is impressive. Passion is different from ability, one may not thrive when you have passion without the ability. Of course you have the passion but what about the ability? The ability is there. I have the ability and the technical knowhow. I’ve just been appointed. I think you should wait and see what is going to happen in the next few months. If by the next time you interview me and you don’t see anything tangible, then you can make your conclusion. I was appointed last year December and within two weeks, I did the maiden edition of Enyimba Carnival. I achieved it in two weeks. I brought troops to Aba town and Aba people saw it. It was a thing to behold. If I can do that in two week, it means given the opportunity I would do more. In the next few months you will begin to see what will happen as per tourism in Abia state. There is a lot we are going to do and so the ability is not about talking, it is about working. There is the Nwa-otama masquerade and the Ohafia war dance and other popular cultural performances that would have made last year’s Aba carnival bigger and interesting, why was the carnival not very loud? Two weeks preparation. What are your plans to improve on subsequent cultural and tourism events? Luckily for me, I studied at University of Calabar and we were there when the carnival started. It was

National War Musuemm Umuahia not that big when they started the carnival. Rome wasn’t built in a day. This year, the governor has told us to do something special. We will try. We are going to start now. But before you start, things must be set right. We may not do something big as Calabar carnival but we will try. We will do it in Aba because Aba is the commercial hub of the state and that is where the whole deal is happening. Through tourism we intend to take Aba and Abia State to the level it rightly belongs. According to researchers, the Igbo culture is one most threatened by extinction. The Igbo language is being dumped, why do you think Igbos are losing their cultural values and how will your agency help at least in Abia State? We will look at orientation. We need to catch them young. The orientation process will not be that easy without adults because they are already grown. We will take them from schools. We have things we are doing with the ministry of education in Abia State. A lot has relegated our culture and language and a lot need to be done. With the collaboration of parents we will begin to bring these parts of us back and encourage our young ones to speak out language and dialects and not to fake being English that we are not. At the art level we hardly have literary materials in our local language. We lack arts with Igbo language contents like in films and literature. A good example is Africa Magic that lacks Igbo films for Africa magic Igbo. What do we do? There is a foundation in Abia state known as “Igbo dum Foundation” we intend to go into partnership with them. They promote Igbo language and culture. The members of the foundation have written books in Igbo and even films in Igbo. Tourism, arts and culture are so wide and I can’t do everything. So I have to go into partnership with people. What is your goal as the chairperson of the tourism board of Abia State? My goal is to make Abia grow in tourism and make the state a place of comfort where people will come and relax. Also, to put Abia at the map of tourist states in Nigeria and the world at large.

BOOK

Critics

Friday, May 20, 2016

Contextualising intellectual responsibility I Remember’ is the

‘I Remember’, Prof. Ladipo Adamolekun’s autobiography has lots of lessons for present and future generations.

reasoned narrative of a supremely fulfilled life,

Adele Jinadu

dedicated to the

remember quite vividly my first impressions when Ladipo Adamolekun visited me in my office at the University of Lagos in 1976 to invite me to serve as external examiner in the Department of Public Administration at the then University of Ife. I was struck by his engaging personality, his robust bonhomie, his studied aversion to dogma and embrace of diversity in scholarship, his simplicity, which I saw through as masking a self-confident and deeply passionate intellectual outlook towards life and, especially, towards public affairs and academic life, but one which does not suffer fools gladly. These impressions have grown over the years, so much so that Ladi ranks among the few members of our intellectual clerisy for whom I have the greatest respect because of their virtually life-long attachment to the liberal tradition of scholarship and public-interest engagement with politics and public affairs, despite the anti-intellectual climate that continues to stymie and frustrate the practice of the intellectual vocation in our country. I begin in this manner because I Remember, Ladi’s autobiographical statement about the driving cultural, historical, ethical, religious and philosophical impulses that have shaped his intellectual development, offers me refreshing and validating insights, which explain and, therefore provide a more informed basis for the initial impressions I had of him during our meeting in my office in 1976. But beyond these initial impressions, I Remember shows me clearly how central family values, religion, life-long bonding of family and friendship, and the passion for truth and commitment to searching

MUSIC

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service of state and society

Book cover for it, scarce commodities in our current predicament, characterised by the search for crass materialism, have combined to define and shape his development and maturity. But what also makes reading I Remember refreshing and worthwhile is that , contrary to the conclusion in the epigram above, it provides evidence, in the form of the life of Ladi, that even in such an inclement climate, the intellectual vocation, like missionary work, need not be frustrating but has its satisfying reward. For what has emerged from, indeed the subtheme running through I Remember is the reasoned narrative of a

supremely fulfilled life, dedicated to the service of state and society, and intended to serve as a model, in the form of “A Note for the Millennials”, its closing chapter. [pp. 291-321] In this respect, what I Remember offers is a “metaphor of self,” by which is meant the primacy of the private experience of Ladi, anchored on an overarching moral and political philosophy, that not only provides meaning for who he is, where he has been and what he has made out of life as he now faces the sunset of that life, but also links it to his explanation and interpretation of the vicissitudes, the “slings and arrows of outrageous Fortune” that we have experienced in state and society these past several years. In short, I Remember is an excellent essay in self-definition; it is about the life of Ladi, its ebb and flow, ups and downs, justified and lived in terms of a higher order of public-interest service to humanity and the commitment to the search for Truth. [see, p.34, “In spite of personal inconvenience and financial expenditure, I have to go to Christ School since my service is needed”—evidence of a young adult’s sense of service.”] I Remember is a work of solid scholarship but one, which, in line with Ladi’s characteristic simplicity and attention to details, is clear, well-written in simple language, well-edited,

Young And Getting It

CONTINUED ON PAGE 27

With a string of hit singles behind him, and a penchant for innuendo-laced lyrics, Lil Kesh was definitely young and getting it. The debut album, YAGI (short for young and getting it,) is exactly what one would expect from both Lil Kesh and the label that raised him. Lil Kesh sticks to what he knows best and mines his experiences, influences and mileu for the bulk of his material. He has been marketed as a child of the streets and it is to these streets that he falls back on to sate fans who have decided that the market is ready for his collective. Of the previously released singles, the career defining but endlessly overplayed Shoki and the raunchyGbese do not make final cut. Lyrically may not have been a club hit upon release but it is the record that got him the right notices as it displayed a raw, precocious talent sorely in need of a vessel to direct all the awesomeness within. On YAGI, the single serves as both a fitting closer and reminder of what the fuss was all about in the first place.

Lil Kesh’s two biggest mainstream hits outside of Shoki and its remix, are the playful Is it because I love you? (with dancehall sensation Patoranking) and the compulsorily danceable Efejoku(with label mate Viktoh) and they both still pack their freshly released punch. When he is serving autobiographical material, Lil Kesh shines the most. He boasts the manic energy and enthusiasm characteristic of youngsters seeking to upend an existing order and on the album opener, FSU, which manages to rise above its shoddy mixing, he makes his intentions perfectly clear. They say Kesh is our next rated/ Fuck that I kind of feel like I’m the best rated, he boasts. Ishe is another narrative of his lowly beginnings wrapped in a maternal appreciation package, disguised as a love song. Kesh is the undeniable star of his story but he

Lil Kesh’s music album

finds room to appreciate his mother whom he claims, is his original ride or die chick. It is the kind of rags to riches narrative that Nigerians love to rally around. The standout Semilore with its mix of Fuji gyration, throbbing drums and sweet sing song melody is a hit song waiting to happen, exactly the kind of song Olamide has made a lucrative career

from. Production is handled by usual suspects, Pheelz and Young John the wicked producer and their familiarity with their star is palpable on the record. There is the occasional weird result like the Drake Xeroxing that isItunmo and the Davido assisted Yayooyoyo. He dabbles into love songs at some point

Friday, May 20, 2016

Shaban 14, 1437A.H.

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Call to Worship

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

RELATED BY BUKHARI AND MUSLIM

‘Let us eschew primordial sentiments’ Sekinah Lawal

overnor Akinwunmi Ambode has called on Nigerians to eschew primordial sentiments and embrace wider national interests by supporting the administration of President Muhammad Buhari in his current efforts of national redemption and reconstruction. The Governor gave the charge at the public presentation of a book titled; “Zik: Testimonies of A Great African” to mark the legend’s twenty years remembrance in Lagos. He maintained that the present administration was focused and determined to bring into

fruition a democratic, united and prosperous Nigeria as envisioned by Late Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe. Represented by the Lagos Commissioner for Home Affairs, Dr. AbdulHakeem AbdulLateef, Governor Ambode observed that all hope should not be lost in redeeming the image of the country because of the public service record of pioneers like great Zik of Africa and the current transformation. In a release signed by Olalekan Murisiku Media Assistant to the Commissioner, he also urged political leaders at all levels of governance to emulate Late Nnamdi Azikwe by rendering selfless leadership towards achieving

the dreams of Nigeria founding fathers. Noting that Zik and his compatriots envisioned a democratic, united and prosperous Nigeria that would be a home for everyone, implored present political leadership to emulate worthy character that the late Zik displayed while serving the people irrespective of socio-economic and political status. “We have opportunity to start the rebuilding process now for the benefit of all Nigerians. I call on you all, especially the business and political elite to support the present administration of President Muhammad Buhari in his efforts to rebuilding the country,” he added.

FLEE TO ALLAH NOT PROTEST

he dollar has risen and prices have become exorbitant, but wealth is in the Hands of the Irresistible One. It was said to a predecessor: prices have risen. He replied: bring them down with istighfaar (seeking forgiveness). It was said to a village Arab: bread now costs a dinar! He said: that is not important to me, even if a grain of wheat costs a dinar. I worship Allaah as He ordered me, and He will provide for me as He promised. Some people came to Salamah ibn Dinar and said to him: O Abu Hazim, do you not see

how prices have risen? He replied: and why does that make you sad? The One who enriches us in easy times is the same One who will provide for us in hard times. A man said to one of the pious people: the price of bread has become expensive. He said: by Allaah I don’t care even if a seed costs one dinar. What is important is we worship Allaah as He ordered us and He will provide for us as He promised. Wealth is in the Hands of The One Who enriches. Source: Majmu’u fataawah Ibn Taymiyyah Volume 8 page 519

Qur’an 49: 13

Oh mankind! We created you from a single of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other. Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted.

Z&SF earmarks N250m to feed 100,000 fasting Muslims ...gets new CEO

SEKINAH LAWAL

he new Executive Director of Zakat and Sadaqat Foundation, Prince Sulaiman Olagunju, has revealed plans by the foundation to feed at least 100,000 fasting Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan, which may begin on June 6. According to Prince Olagunju, the new team is set to lift the foundation forward in its humanitarian activities in the country. “Every Ramadan, we try to feed fasting Muslims and this year, we are looking at feeding over 100,000 Muslims. The minimum amount of money we budget to feed a fasting Muslim is N2, 500. We have over 100 coordinators all over the country and part of their responsibilities is to secure places where this feeding will take place.”

Our Ramadan and social media 24

Speaking on the foundation’s new approach to empower Muslims economically by lifting them out of poverty, the foundation plans to inject N10 million empowerment programme, to be competed for by entrepreneurs. “Last year, we started a Business Plan Competition. The essence of this is to encourage, Muslims in particular, to start taking active part in running their own businesses. And we have been encouraging Muslims to go into entrepreneurship so that they can develop their skills.” “Those that have ideas worthy of support will be supported. Last year we supported them and this year we will support. Already, people have started submitting their proposals. By August 12, we are going to dis-

tribute large sum of money to deserving beneficiaries. We have team of consultants, who will interview those that have submitted business plan to defend their proposals. If they are found worthy of support, definitely, we will support as many business plans as we can,’’ Olagunju explained. Part of the activities of the foundation, according to Olagunju, is collecting, repackaging and redistributing unneeded items to the less-privileged in the society. “We collect unneeded items from well-to-do people, those items that they no longer need but that are still useful. People change their furniture at specific dates, may be after five years they change their furniture, and change the roofing sheets of their houses among

By the end of Ramadan 25

others. We collect such items that people feel they no longer need, repair them and give them out to the needy. We collect clothing and other items that people easily discard, repair and repackage them after which they almost look like new ones. Also, the foundation has been paying attention to our widows. “We have a number of widows that we support on a monthly basis as we give them monthly stipends though it is not that much. When widows come to us, they register and we evaluate them to determine their needs. If she cannot work, then we put her on regular stipend but if she can work, we empower her by providing her with necessary tools to be able to stand on her own. The foundation equally supports people having health challenges.” Another programme of inter-

Unilorin shines at Qur’an memorization competition

est that the foundation engages in is the welfares of Imams. “We try as much as possible to support our Imams. Some need books and we go extra mile to buy Islamic books for them and when they are in financial needs, we support them. We have a number of children that we are paying their school fees right now; we pay their schools fees as at when due. And we plan to do more In Shaa Allahu,” Olagunju concluded.

New Z&SF’s CEO, Prince Olagunju

Call to Worship

Friday, May 20, 2016

Shaban 14, 1437A.H.

Our Ramadan and social media A s Muslims worldwide prepare for the blessed month o Ramadan, we give glory to Allah for keeping us alive to witness Shaban and we pray He spares our lives to witness and celebrate many more. We must ensure that the lessons of Ramadan are imbibed to guide our daily conduct individually and collectively. We pray Allah to ease our affairs as a nation because this is indeed a troubled time for Nigerians. And may God restore peace to all troubled lands all over the world. Hoping that world leaders would be able to unite against forces of misrule which tend to keep people down perpetually in poverty and misery. Let us make it a point of duty to familiarize ourselves with the Hijra calendar and avoid needless friction concerning moon sighting for the commencement of Ramadan. We all need to keep praying for those in power to succeed in

the fight against corruption. It is a team work especially for members of the bar and the bench to restrain from manipulation of the system through the use of technicalities to delay quick dispensation of litigation on corruption matters. The National Assembly and other relevant agencies of government should also take necessary steps to amend the laws to promote quick dispensation of corruption cases. In the light of dwindling revenue from oil and subsequent reduction in the federal allocation to all tiers of government, we still need to take necessary steps to drastically reduce the cost of governance by eliminating all forms of wastage and blocking all leakages of government revenue. Political office holders and other top public service personnel must sacrifice part of their luxury life style for the sake of the overall economic survival of the country. We must all continue to live peacefully and savour the joy and

blessing of the coming blessed month of Ramadan. It is our fervent prayer that Almighty God will intervene in support of our country and help us achieve peace and progress so that Nigeria will continue as one united, strong, and indivisible nation. There is the need to ensure justice, equity, fairness, and rule of law in governance by being honest, righteous, upright and displaying integrity and fear of God in all our conducts. As the month of fasting teaches tolerance and love, we must let these reflect among the adherents of the various faiths. Still in the mood of Ramadan, let us revive regular Tahajjud, voluntary fasting, Tilaawah of Qur’an and values Salat in congregation. Going by the number of whatsapp groups some people belong to in addition to facebook, bbm, twitter among others, despite the many advantages, we really need to be wary of our time manage-

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THE PLATFORM with

Sekinah Lawal t: 08055102994 e: sakinah207@yahoo.com

we really need to be wary of our time management and the use of these social media during

Ramadan in order to

really maximize our benefits in the glorious month. ment and the use of these social media during Ramadan in order to really maximize our benefits in the glorious month. The same for those midnight programmes coinciding with the time we should be busy with Tahajud and Qur’an recitation. For our womenfolk, let us en-

deavour to fast last year’s missed days before another Ramadan. We need to really plan our time very well in order to derive maximum benefits from Ramadan, may Allah, the Most-High, make us among partakers of the blessed month.

RSI creates awareness on Rhesus factor

Non-Gover nmental Organisation, NGO, Rhesus Solution Initiative, RSI, recently staged a road walk to create awareness on Rhesus negative incident and genotype. The walk, which was led by wife of Lagos State Governor Mrs Bolanle Ambode, who was represented by wife of Special Adviser to the Governor on Information and Community Development, Mrs Fatimah Bamigbetan had residents and motorists along IsheriOsun roundabout to Ikotun in Igando-Ikotun Local Council Development Area of Lagos joining prominent politicians, government officials, past and present members of the Lagos State House of Assembly, former Local Government chairmen, electoral commissioners, business tycoons, religious groups and traders. Flyers printed in Yoruba and English were distributed to people. RSI Coordinator Rasaq Olorunnimbe, gave them the NGO’s branded shirt and cap. Participants later gathered at the Igando-Ikotun LCDA secretariat where top management of RSI, frontline politicians and government officials addressed them. RSI’s Founder/President, Mrs. Olufunmilayo Banire, thanked all for enduring the long walk saying their participation gave her hope that Rhesus negative incidents could be eradicated in the country. “In our seven years of op-

eration, we have counselled thousands of secondary school pupils, single and married women on what Rhesus incident is all about. Secondary school pupils in particular were advised to shun sex. We made them realised that it can lead to unwanted pregnancy and abortion. We all know various consequences of abortions,” she said. According to her, it is important for the public to know their rhesus factors, blood group and genotype. Doing this, she said, will help in choosing spouses. Rhesus negative women, Mrs Banire said, risk having repeated miscarriages, still births or infant death. “Babies born to rhesus negative mothers can have Rhesus Disease, jaundice (yellowness of the eyes and skin) or retardation. “Rhesus negative women must get Rhogam on Anti D injection 28 weeks into their pregnancies and within 72 hours after birth. They have to avoid abortion or get Rhogam injection after every abortion, miscarriage and delivery and they also must use a reliable health facility with qualified health workers for adequate care,” she said. Mrs Banire said over 1,500 persons have benefitted from the free Rhogam injection distributed by RSI. She solicited supports from well-meaning Nigerians, saying each injection cost N28,000. Ambode’s wife’s representative Mrs Bamigbetan hailed RSI team. She said government is

proud to be associated with the organisation, urging participants to spread the news in their various communities. RSI’s Vice-President, Prof. Adekunbi Banjo reiterated the need for people, women in particular to know their status. All Progressives Congress (APC) National Legal Adviser, Dr. Muiz Banire called for concerted efforts to eliminate Rhesus factor incident. “We have all learnt the essence of this gathering. Rhesus factor is a worldwide phenomenon. Do not let us leave its elimination in government’s hands; government alone cannot do it, hence the need for NGOs to take up the initiative. Let’s all spread the message in our locality to assist our neighbours,” he said.

Lagos State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Hon. Lola Akande representing Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, with other dignitaries at Amuwo Odofin LG to commission projects in commemoration of Gov. Ambode’s one-year anniversary.

Alhaji Jubril AbdulKareem; Alhaji Mafe at the road walk organized by Rhesus Solution Initiative to create awareness on Rhesus negative incident and genotype in Lagos recently. xxxxxxxxx

Rhesus Solution Initiative, RSI’s Founder/President, Mrs. Olufunmilayo Banire; All Progressives Congress, APC’s National Legal Adviser, Dr. Muiz Banire; National President of The Companion, Barrister Musibau Oyefeso and other dignitaries at a road show organized by RSI to create awareness on Rhesus negative incident and genotype in Lagos recently.

xxx

xxxxxxx

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Friday, May 20, 2016

IN HIS LIGHT

with

USTAZ

A. ZAFARAN e-mail: zafabumuneeb@yahoo.com

By the end of Ramadan

n Ramadan, true Muslim will not only abstain and restrain himself from evils, he will live all through engaging in doing one virtue after the other. He will rise to observe Tahajjud. He will recite the Qur’an – night, morning, noon, afternoon, evening and start over again. He will take the Sahar at the uncomfortable early hours of the dawn. He will observe his Salawat in Jama‘ah. He will memorize the Qur’an. He will go out to attend the circles of Quranic exegesis. He will observe many Nawafil. He will recite Ma’tharat (prayers of the Prophet). He will assist the needy and help the poor. He will study the stories of the Prophet (SAW) and his Sahabah so as to learn from them. In fact, he will want to do all good deeds as many as times as possible.

Unfortunately, as soon as Ramadan is over, my dear Muslim brother who is supposed to keep protectively, the spirit and benefits of the fast, will just slip back into his old indulgence and animality. My brother who was disciplined and obedient to even forego his lawful food, drink and wife during the days of Ramadan will become uncontrollable in consuming forbidden food and drink, as if Allah (SWT) only exists therein and not in other months. My brother who has been so attached to the Qur’an will gradually abandon it for worldly pursuits. In short, to him, Ramadan is over. Tahajjud is over. He has no time for the Salawat at their due times. Memorizing the Qur’an will be the last thing he will do. No more charity. No more tafseer.. Just before long, all evils and excesses, which the fast has come to purify him from, will engulf his life again. He, who fasts and restrains himself from all evils during and after the fast of Ramadan, is indeed living for Allah (SWT). He who keeps the spirit of Ramadan after it is a true believer. He who does not relent from his acquired virtuous deeds in it will always enjoy a boundless peace. Hence, he who has fasted but cannot restrain himself from evils has not truly fasted. He has only tried to fast. The real route to it, he has missed. The journey of life is endlessly unending. As one chapter closes, another is opened. Some pages in human life are closed for ever while some may close and re-open if Allah so wills. “By the declining day, Man is in a state of loss. …” (Q103:1-2). These are the words of Allah (SWT) in the Glorious Qur’aan. It depicts that man is in a state of confusion and misguidance. Ramadan time, without any doubt is a month of rejuvenation of the soul; it is a time

Call to Worship

Shaban 14, 1437A.H.

Let us turn to Allah (SWT) for sincere repentance for failing to live by the lessons of the last Ramadan. Let us see this one as a rare opportunity. when man is connected with his Lord, it is a time when man overcomes his propensity for negligence. Ramadan time is period we must all return to Allah (SWT). It is a month of victory. It is a month when Allah (SWT) listens to us and answers prayers. Let us spend it in devotion to Him and not in frivolity, time wasting, splitting hairs, etc Ramadan time is a moment of reckoning. We should look at ourselves and actually see if the previous Ramadan had actually reformed our lives. We need to evaluate ourselves whether we have transcendental consideration for our worldly affairs. We need to find out if we have cleansed ourselves of greed and avarice, narrow- mindedness and cruelty, egotism and money worship, exploitation and monopoly. Is it not the case that every individual accumulates more and more riches for his personal comforts in well being while fellow men languish in penury? Also, the story of the modern man and the crises he is going through requires that we start from the conclusion. This is because he has failed to learn from arrival and departure of Ramadan. Preparations are on-going everywhere to usher in this great month of forgiveness. In no time will we start and in a twinkle of an eye, it would have ended, then the question will be: What next? It will arrive like a beloved we have missed for a long time; and it shall depart like a beloved we have missed. It is thus better for us to start to imagine our post Ramadan lives and see if it worth going through the exercise or training. Our post Ramadan is more important because we have eleven months to translate the lessons so learnt; it is important as it unravels the success and quality of our fast to be able to be sincere in all endeavours, be discipline at all times, be contented with little, be considerate for others and have fellow feeling for them, be conscious of our short stay in this world, be appreciative of the uniqueness and values of Islam, be conscious of our health, be companions of the Qur’aan in reading, recitation, memorization and elucidation, be patient on hunger and feel for the poor, etc. Let us start the fast with deep appreciation for the bounty of life. Let us turn to Allah (SWT) for sincere repentance for failing to live by the lessons of the last Ramadan. Let us see this one as a rare opportunity. I wish you all a fruitful, blessed and successful Ramadan 1437. May we live to witness more of it.

Enjoin good, forbid evil

erily, he alone is worthy of maintaining the Mosques of Allah who believes in Allah, and the Last Day, and observes Prayer, and pays the Zakat, and fears none but Allah; so these it is who are far more likely to be counted among the guided.’ (9:18) ‘Those who, if We establish them in the earth, will observe Prayer and pay the Zakat and enjoin good and forbid evil. And with Allah rests the final issue of all affairs.’ (22:42) Alhamdolillah, God has enabled Swedish Jama’at to build their second mosque which has been named Mahmood Mosque. Both men and women demonstrated great sincerity in the work of the building of the mosque. Considering the small size of Jama’at in Sweden, this was a huge project. Many in the Jama’at are unemployed, there are also the elderly, children and housewives. While the earning members have made great sacrifices, women and children have not fallen back and have been exemplary in giving precedence to faith over worldly matters in the building of this house of God. Everyone has wishes and desires and indeed needs of their own. Particularly in this age when worldly and material things grab one’s attention, one is astonished to see the spirit of financial sacrifice of Ahmadis. Building as well as acquiring of mosques, mission houses and salat centres goes on around the world, while payment of regular chandas also goes hand in hand. After meeting their own needs well off Ahmadis living in the developed world also help and support Ahmadis who are underprivileged and they are helpful to Jama’ats around the world which are in need of financial support. With the grace of God many in the Jama’at are inclined to eagerly make financial sacrifices. This is the spirit of spending in the way of God

Every Friday with

Khalifatul Ahmadiyya and the Jama’at which the true devotee of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) has instilled in us. Just as the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) used to be amazed at the financial sacrifices of the Jama’at, the sacrifices continue to amaze today and all this is due to the grace of God alone. This is a manifestation of the fulfilment of the Divine promise made to the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) that God would meet all his needs. The construction of the mosque, plus a two-bedroom accommodation, offices and a library has cost 37.5 million krona, or 3.2 million pound sterling. A murrabi house and kitchen are not quite finished yet and the management thinks it will cost further 8 to 10 million krona. As it is with all Jama’at projects a lot of work was done under Waqar e Aml (a self-help system) which saved a lot expense. Volunteers worked tirelessly only going home for brief periods so that the work could be completely quickly and the inauguration could take place. Yet, some parts are still not completed. May God reward those who have made financial sacrifices or have taken any part in the building of the mosque! It is a beautiful mosque and the locals are also appreciative of its aesthetics. Two days ago newspaper and radio representative visited and commented that it was a beautiful mosque and has enhanced the beauty of the area. Below are some examples of the spirit of sacrifice that adults and children displayed. An eleven year old girl gave a few hundred krona and said she had been saving her pocket money for quite some time. Another ten to twelve year old girl gave 500 krona. She said she had two pet parrots which she sold to obtain the money to give for the mosque. •To be continued

Unilorin shines at Qur’an memorization competition

hree students of the University of Ilorin have emerged as winners of Inter-Universities Qur’an Memorization Competition organized by Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin. The winners are Sodiq Olabanji Abdul-Fattah, Abdul-Rahman AbdulRasaq Akano and Rahmat Elesin. They all came 1st in their categories of the Competition. The competition which was divided into three categories has University of Ilorin winning all the categories. Altogether, twelve Universities in Nigeria took part in the two-day competition. According to Alhaji Abdullahi Ibrahim, National Co-ordinator, Muslim Media Watch Group of Nigeria, they are University of Ibadan, Ahmadu Bello University, University of Abuja, Ladoke Akintola University, Ogbomosho and Kaduna State University. Others were University of Ilorin, Kwara State University, Nassarawa State University, Olabisi Onabanjo University Ago Iwoye, Fountain University Osogbo, Crescent University Abeokuta and Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin. The overall best winner of the competition Sodiq Abdulfattah of the Uni-

versity of Ilorin was given a cash award of N125, 000 and all other winners were equally rewarded. Speaking at the occasion, the ViceChancellor of Al-Hikmah University, Prof. Taofeek Ibrahim commended the participants who are all students in various fields of learning that are not related to Arabic or Islamic Studies; adding that such performance by the students was highly remarkable.

Zakat Is 2.5% Of Your Total Wealth, Known As Nisab. After Having Fulfilled All obligations, pay your zakat

Arty News

Friday, May 20, 2016

Excitement as DALA 2016 holds in Lagos

A-list Nollywood stars, captains of industry, top government officials, musicians, comedians and celebrities would grace the two-in-one ceremony already serenading Lagos and its environs. “This maiden edition of DALA is definitely going to be star-studded and extraordinary. We are expecting in attendance dignitaries from all walks of life. Amazingly, DALA awardees cut across all frontiers of our national lives. We are celebrating them as true leaders in their respective fields of human endeavours. At the same time we are also celebrating our first anniversary as a media house in the nation’s tough publishing industry because it is not easy doing business in Nigeria as a young entrepreneur contributing to national growth and development,” stated Azuh, a multiple awardwinning journalist that has extensively covered Nollywood, for almost two decades.

Tosin Adams

fter months of intense planning and preparations all is now set for the maiden edition of Daylight Annual Leadership Awards (DALA) and first anniversary of Daylight Newspaper (www.daylight.ng). Unarguably one of the biggest media events in Nigeria this year, the high-octane awards ceremony holds elaborately this Sunday, May 22, at the prestigious Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, amid glitz, grandeur and glamour with the green and white carpet starting at exactly 4pm. According to a statement issued by the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of Daylight.ng, the reliable online newspaper, Mr. Azuh Amatus (NGE), who is also the Chairman and Founder of DALA, several

Okey Bakassi

‘Why Agatu Peace Concert will hold in Abuja’ Jolly Egbodo

ne Idoma Initiative, organisers of the Agatu Peace Concert has explained why the event is taking place in Abuja and not Benue State as widely expected. The group was reacting to comments by some concerned Idoma citizens who have been criticising them for staging an event tagged “Agatu Peace Concert” in ‘faraway Abuja’ instead of Agatu or Apa Local Government where victims of the Fulani attacks are. Explaining the reason for the venue, the group’s Director of Media, Paul Moses said the major aim of the event is not to entertain people but to raise funds and create further awareness on how to rebuild Agatu again. He cited security situation in the area as well as logistics as another major reason the event could not hold in Benue. Paul recalls that when the world needed to hear their voice, the group led other wellmeaning Idomas in protest to the National Assembly to inform our leaders on how Ag-

atu people are being slaughtered like goats on quotidian. He said, any money realized from the event would be used to rehabilitate the Internally Displaced Persons. According to him, “In as much as the critics have their own point, we want to quickly explain the thematic focus of the event. First, Agatu is a ghost town right now. The logistics required to host a concert of this magnitude in Agatu will be more than enough to begin some preparatory arrangements for some of the victims’ relocation. We took more than 60 medical doctors to Agatu when we had the medical outreach. But here is the real deal. “The protest that we organized that brought the massacre to limelight and attracted local and international media took place here in Abuja on the 2nd of March, 2016. “It forced the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase to visit Benue the next day and also got the

2Baba will headline Agatu Peace Concert attention of the presidency. “The people that will and can make a difference for Agatu live here and may not be willing to go to Agatu. “The event is not just organised for fun. We want to raise funds to bring Agatu back to life,” Moses said. The event, which is slated for Sunday, May 22, 2016 at the Sheraton Hotel, Abuja, will parade top entertainers like 2baba Idibia, Bongos Ikwue, Blackface, Desmond Elliot, Uti Nwachukwu, Chris Morgan, Enenche Enenche, Naomi D’Diva, Peter Otulu and a host of others.

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Queen Salami’s ‘Kits for Kids Initiative’

The Queen

Tosin Adams

x-Miss Tourism Nigeria and finalist, Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria 2012, Tomi Lydia Salami has concluded plans to host six beauty queens from different part of the world as part of her effort for the education intervention for 5,000 needy kids in Nigeria. Salami, CEO, Aurora International (a beauty, events & lifestyle brand), is hosting the queens from the USA, Canada, South Africa, India, Botswana and Puerto Rico, who are also passionate about touching lives. While in Nigeria, the queens are expected to help galvanize support for Salami’s pet project, Kits for Kids (K4K) and serve as goodwill ambassadors. “We are set to stage a massive education intervention like never before for thousands of impoverished kids in Nigeria with special support appearances by these six celebrities and international beauty queens who are also passionate about touching lives,” said Salami. According to her, since 2013 when she took her passion for helping the less privileged a notch higher through her Aurora Foundation, she has quietly been impacting thousands of lives of impoverished kids across Nigeria. And this year between 23 to 26 May, she would be giving out brand new school bags, sandals, stockings, exercise books, stationery, lunch bowls, tooth brushes, water bottles and many more to needy kids in public schools in Kwara State.

Tourism: NTDC strategises to boost economy Joel Ajayi

he Director General of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), Mrs. Sally Mbanefo has reiterated the corporation’s commitment towards strengthening tourism sectors to take over from crude oil in the country in shortest possible time. She made this assertion known during the 7th Annual National Conference of the Academy for Entrepreneurial Studies, Nigeria (AES) recently held at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs in Lagos with the theme, ‘Nigeria Beyond Oil’. Mbanefo emphasised that tourism is a sector that can give the Nigerian economy the paradigm shift from the absolute dependence

on a dwindling oil sector to a vibrant and sustainable multi sector driven by tourism. NTDC boss maintained that what the country needs now is to increase its production capacity by investing in sectors that are labour intensive like tourism, agriculture and manufacturing. While highlighting the role of government through her corporation to market Nigeria as a foremost destination for business, sports, religious, leisure and cultural tourism. According to her, contributions of tourism activities which range from transportation, Agriculture, sports have not been properly captured in the statistical data of Nigeria as defined by UNWTO criteria, saying that “if this is done, the huge earnings of tourism sector will be seen and government, donor agencies, Nigerian and internal business

owners will be convinced to fund and invest in the sector. Other speakers at the forum included representatives of the Ministers of Agriculture, Minister of State for Petroleum, Minister

At the AES conference

State for Trade and Investment, Executive Secretary Technical education Board who all echoed the need to diversify into other sub sectors such as farming, gas and hydro carbon and education.

Contextualising intellectual responsibility CONTINUED FROM PAGE 22 well-proofread and witty in several places, making for easy reading with hardly any dull moments. Beyond all this, there is even a more fundamental quality to I Remember, which sets it apart from several self-serving and ghost-written autobiographies, which have surfaced in our country in recent years. I Remember is what an autobiography, properly understood, should be about and should set out to be, despite the various methodological problems raised in writing it. To say all this is not to be uncritical of I Remember; for all autobiographies raise methodological challenges, notably of selection relating to their status as “truthful” narrations of life: what criteria should govern the selection and arrangement of past experiences to constitute a coherent whole? Can some experiences or events not be deliberately omitted, suppressed, forgotten or distorted? Part of the answer in the case of I Remember is that one can reasonably conjecture that it is, viewed in its totality, truthful in that in addition to memory and imagination, it draws on diaries and “fairly extensive Notes,” which Ladi painstakingly and faithfully has kept since the early 1960s; moreover the narrative is set within a context, which the reader can relate to, empathize with and understand. In literary criticism, as I understand it, we need to understand that truth is not simply or only in the order of facts but in the order of the process, the internal order that the autobiographer perceives within his/her deepest or true self as he/she reflects on his/her life and draws conclusions or lessons from it, within the larger public context of his/her own environment.

Young And Getting It

CONTINUED ON PAGE 29

but the naughty Lil Kesh of caddish fare like Gbese does not quite gel with the passive lover and subdued, lethargic tone of For you, even when the melody is just as catchy as anything he has done. The disc slumps about midway in and Kesh’s efforts at introspection fail to amount to anything of interest.Problem child is a bore, Life of a star, a duet with Adekunle Gold sounds like a rework of Gold’s Sade (itself a One Direction remake) with country music pretensions. Igba Iponju slips by unnoticed and things only pick up when Kesh heads back to the dancefloor for Ibile. Certainly not his best call to party but a welcome respite considering the tediousness of what comes just before. The title of YAGI states its intentions clearly and Lil Kish does not depart from it at all. He puffs and boasts and brags and tires himself all too soon, preaching the gospel of his young and fabulous life. What you see is exactly what you get and Y.A.G.I plays like the fun, cool, imperfect vanity project you knew it would be. Olamide has put out similar stuff in the past but Kesh packs enough heat to redo the material without sounding like a clone of the original YBNL. At its best, Y.A.G.I is heady, juvenile, occasionally sparkles with impressive lyricism and constantly reeks of the impulsiveness of youth but thanks to Lil Kesh’s infectious delivery, we aren’t too old to remember what young and getting it feels like.

The title of YAGI states its intentions clearly and Lil Kish does not depart from it at all.

Critics

Friday, May 20, 2016

THEATRE

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Giving life to stage

Another look at why ‘Belong’, a stage play will continue to thrill theatre audiences.

Stage drama

agos is now characterised by various theatrical performances for lovers of stage business to enjoy the fun embedded in the creative industry. It is glaring that the level of patronage that live theatre receives, is increasing geometrically on daily basis and the standard infused into stage performances, also taking a better leap. This year is never an exception as both the Lagos Mainland and Island have got busy with various outstanding theatre productions, one of which is the ‘Belong’ performance. Conflict of identity is a crucial phenomenon that has been battling with some individuals; identity of place, person and time. Some people have over the years rebuffed their origin, probably because development created an option for them in a preferred geographical setting. These issues are being treated in the story ‘Belong’ written by Bola Agbaje, UK based Nigerian playwright, directed by Tosan Ugbeye and produced by Shola Adenugba at the Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos. Belong was first acted in London at the Royal Court Theatre in 2012. It is a story that deals with situations of identity. Unlike some stage plays with upcoming faces dominating the stage, the producer of Belong assembled veterans in the Nigerian Live theatre to do justice to the play. Toyin Oshinaike who plays the character of Kayode and Dolapo Oni as Rita are both resident couple in London. Rita has got so glued to the British culture that she detests her native country. In solidifying their stay in London, Kayode decides to take a giant stride to Parliament through election, but he fails, having sacrificed his career to misguided allegations about the racism of his equally black political opponent. To save the situation, Fola (Bimbo Akintola) appears in the picture. She is deeply into the Nigerian dream and would do anything to persuade émigrés to return home- Nigeria. Her convincing mannerism and ‘proposal’ gets into Kayode and he decides to take a thoughtful break to visit his mother (Taiwo Ajai-Lycett) in Nigeria. Mama had earlier adopted Kunle (OC Ukeje), a former “area boy”, with the intention of turning him into a Local Politician to juice out the best in him. On the other hand, another desperate politician, Chief Olowolaye (Tunji Shotimirin) with the attitude of ‘Godfatherism’ is typical of a shady, wolfish and frantic leader. He grooms Kunle as his loyalist. Kayode’s visit to the country sprouts a conflicting interest between him and Chief Olowolaye. Kayode who never believes in the ideology of Chief Olowolaye tries to turn Kunle against him, after a clash. To frustrate the Chief and bring forth his political ideology of creating a positive change, he then picks up interest in contesting. As that ensues in Nigeria, Rita and Fola are busy tackling it out in London; Fola striving to change Rita’s mentality into conforming to her identity- Nigeria, while Rita has fully erased the Nigerian

It is not the responsibility of those who have got soaked in the culture of another land to come and effect a change in

Nigeria, rather, those at home personality. In a nutshell, Kayode who initially wants to rule in a British way eventually changes his mind as he converses with the people in a language that they understand thereby winning their hearts. Rita got convinced by Fola to come into Nigeria and see things for herself. On her arrival, she discovers Kayode’s political ambition in the country which shocks her. Kunle is made to turn against Chief Olowolaye. Kayode is at the end left with the choice of either staying to fight the injustice in the country or retire to London with his wife. And the play ends leaving the audience to fix the end from their own perspective. The full length piece tells of the challenges of being a ‘Diasporan’, deals with love, and explores the theme of gained and missed opportunities. Furthermore, it questions the notions of identity as many people go through life questioning where they truly belong. One area that the play also addresses is the fact that it is not the responsibility of those who have got soaked in the culture of another land to come and effect a change in Nigeria, rather, those at home should do that with all sincerity of purpose. Expectedly, the setting so unusual as the play was presented in a Theatre-on-the-round stage, which gets the audience really closer to the performers. The characters inserted an unusual energy into the play. And the directorial style also assisted to aid the play. The question of where does every one belong and where do they want to truly attach their identity to, lingers in the play. In all, origin should not be forgotten! Without doubt, this is a production Nigerians would be willing to see again and again.

Inside FCT

Friday, May 20, 2016

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Residents lament poor electricity supply, crazy bills Chidi Ugwu

“T

he situation is worse now, I thought by now we would be talking about near 24 hours of stable supply. But, that is not to be, we could go three days without light and when it comes it trips off almost every half hour” this is the lamentation of Ndidi Ezeugwu, a resident of Karu Site, in Karu area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on the abysmal services of the electricity suppliers. Lately, residents of Abuja regardless of the area are not happy with the poor supply of electricity in the city to the extent that residents of Chika and Aleyita located along the Airport Road, Abuja, took to the streets to protest what they described as exploitation by the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC). The residents, who came out in large numbers, said they were out to register their frustrations and grievances over poor power supply in the communities and the charging of outrageous bills by AEDC. One of the protesters, Mr. James Nwabueze, said the residents decided to stage the peaceful protest to ex-

He said that the bills have been on a steady

increase since late

2015

press their dissatisfaction with the company. Nwabueze said that AEDC had subjected the residents to untold hardship due to poor supply of electricity and indiscriminate increment of bills. He said that Chika community in particular, had been on load shedding for more than two years due to the lack of transformer, adding that the billing did not reflect the situation. Nwabueze said that in the last two months, power supply in the area had been “five days off, three days on”, adding that individual houses were being billed between N10, 000 and N15, 000 monthly.

Generators powering homes and businesses “How do you expect a minimum wage earner who earns about N20, 000 a month to pay electricity bill of N15, 000 a month? It is inhuman. Now, they do five days off and three days on and they expect us to pay “Last month, there was no light, yet they issued us bill of between N10, 000 and N15, 000 and so on. We have been tolerating, but this time we can no longer endure and allow them to oppress us; this is why we are on this protest,’’ he said. Another resident, Mrs. Rekiya Muta, said that many of the residents were in pain because they are engaged in menial jobs that require electricity, yet they spent money to power their generators. Muta said that most of them were currently out of job since they could not afford

to operate with generators, adding that the AEDC also gave them outrageous bills for electricity not supplied. He said that the bills have been on a steady increase since late 2015, adding that those paying between N2, 000 and N3, 000 in 2015 were now paying between N10, 000 and N20, 000. The traditional ruler of Aleyita, Chief Ibrahim Gajatna, while addressing the protesters, commended them for their peaceful conduct during the protest. Gajatna urged them to continue to be lawabiding while expressing their grievances, adding that he was also pained by the poor power supply and the exorbitant high bills. CONTINUED ON PAGE 29

Abuja welcomes new council chairmen, rainy season Blessing Ukaegbu

ll is now set for the swearing in of the newly-elected chairmen of the six area councils in the FCT. The swearing in ceremony will be performed by FCT Minister, Mallam Mohammed Bello. This was disclosed to newsmen in Abuja by the special assistant, media and publicity to the Minister, FCT, Abubakar Sani, who said that this was to forestall any vacuum in area council administration in the FCT as the tenure of office of the current chairmen of the area councils would end on Thursday It would be recalled that the six area councils of the Federal Capital Territory have been in a transition phase since the conclusion of the area council elections between April 9 and April 13, 2016 in which five All Progressives Congress (APC) candidates and one All Progres-

Meanwhile, the long wait for the rains now seems to be over for most

Abuja farmers. What preoccupies

their mind right now is how to make the best of the planting reason

FCT Minister, Bello sives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate were declared winners by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The list of the chairmen include Musa Dikko (APC) for Bwari local government; Joseph K. Shazin (APC) for Kwali local government; Abdullahi Adamu (APC) for Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Abdulrahman Ajayi (APC) for Abaji local government; Danze Mustapha Adams (APGA) for Gwagwalada area council and Abdullahi D. Galadima (APC) for Kuje area council Meanwhile, the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Abuja chapter has expressed its readiness to work with the incoming chairmen. An executive member of the union, Bassey Asuquo stated this in Abuja in what appears an expression of resolve to move the six area councils forward. The tenure of office of the new chairmen would however run for three years. Meanwhile, the long wait for the rains now seems to be over for most Abuja farmers. What CONTINUED ON PAGE 29

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Inside FCT

Friday, May 20, 2016

NYSC members bemoan hardship in Abuja Marcus Fatunmole

n African proverb says failure of the poor to meet and share their experiences often prevents the society from having in-depth knowledge of degree of woes confronting them. There is yet another which says the clothes which humans put on often prevent others from seeing their plights which are usually huge within. World over, poverty and its accompanying troubles do not spare anyone whenever people come face to face with them. They remind one of the saying that “when big troubles crush someone on the ground, the small ones gambol on such soul.” Some members of the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) popularly known as corpers, in Abuja, currently fit into the category of those who are being crushed by present economic conditions in the country. Though, some of them desired to be posted to the city, they eventually lament on arrival. They were mobilised to the city like others across the country to carry out their oneyear compulsory service to their fatherland. Painfully, Inside FCT observed that neither the scheme nor the Federal Capital Territory Administration has any major provision that could lessen their challenges in a city where cost of living keeps snowballing. For instance, Abuja Municipal Area Council, AMAC, where most governmental and non-governmental activities take place in the nation’s capital does not make such available. At least, about a half of corpers in the nation’s capital serve in AMAC. Consequently, male and female corps members have been living together in the same room, on argument that one could not pay for accommodation between the two; female corps members spend their service year living with working class men whom they claim have the means to cater for them, among other ills. The objective of the scheme that the “NYSC is being established with a view to the proper encouragement and development of common ties among the youths of Nigeria and the promotion of national unity,” has

NYSC members been sustained since it was created by former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon by decree No.24 of 22nd May 1973. In the past, corpers were respected in the society. Virtually, everyone desired to be like them. But, today, hardly does anyone think twice about their relevance, or the honour that befits them in the society simply because only their uniform makes them different from a job seeker on the street. Inside FCT notes that posting letter by the scheme from Kubwa Camp of the NYSC often appeals to organizations that accept the corpers to assist them with token that could cover their accommodation. But, tokens offered by most institutions are not enough to cover a quarter of rent of the corps members during their service. And, in most cases, payment of their allowance is delayed. They are seen dressed in their beautiful uniform, but, they groan within. Our correspondents met with some of the corpers recently, their experiences were unpleasant,

and some of them regretted being mobilized into the city. One of the corpers who addressed himself as Ike said: “I came to Abuja for the first time in my life last year through the NYSC. Abuja is too hot in everything for me. I can’t imagine myself living in this condition. My monthly allowance doesn’t take me more than two weeks. It takes an average of N50,000 for an adult to survive in this city monthly. I go to town every day of the week. And, you know how much I’m paid monthly. Sometimes, the allowee may not come on time. Who do I tell that my‘allowee’ cannot sustain me, let alone enable me save a token at the end of the month? I had thought this city would be a good place to live in as a corps member. What I’m experiencing here is the opposite.” Ann, another corper, will be rounding off her service in October. She was among the “Batch B, Stream A” corpers posted to the city last October. She told Inside FCT: “Abuja is not a good place to live for those of us

that do not have family here. Things are just too hard. I wish I were not here.” She continued: “I see my colleagues giving themselves cheaply to men because they are suffering. Female corpers easily consent to proposals on dating from men than they would when they were in school. Some of them will tell you that imagine a man that keeps giving you free ride to town every day and taking care of you. He gives you everything he thinks could make you comfortable. As human, you should find a way of compensating him. It has got to that level for corpers in Abuja.” In Abuja, it could take about N2000 to cook soup that a corper would eat for about three days. Cost of transportation has doubled, so are prices of other goods and services in the city. However, prospects for serving in Abuja are many. Opportunities abound in the city. It is often easier for brilliant corps member who serves in private organisations in the city to secure employment.

many farmers in the area, as lack of money to buy farm input and maintain their farms. He said that the price of fertilizer has increased in the market beyond what most farmers had anticipated. “The weather has not been friendly enough this year as we would have loved it to be. Even with the rains lately, many farmers including myself had lost tender crops to the scorching heat of the sun and we find it hard to supplement the natural water sources because of the absence of irrigation facilities in the area,” he regretted. Dakwoyi Magaji, who has a farm in Gwagwalada, observed that the biggest challenge that many farmers in the area including himself were facing was that of in-farm grazing by cattle and other livestock. He lamented the spate of invasion of farms by herdsmen which always result to collateral destruction of farm crops. Magaji asked relevant government agen-

cies including the Police, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps to devise ways of ensuring a safe farming environment for farmers in the FCT. On why the prices of food prices have risen in recent times, Sunday Aboni hinted that the harvest of last year was very poor. “Many people who were farmers abandoned farming to join party politics. Many farmers that I knew around here went after the money that politicians brought out and forgot their plans for the 2015 farming season. Before you knew what was happening, the elections were over and the handover of power to the new government followed. Soon, it was time for harvest and here we are, facing the naked truth of poor harvests of 2015 and the subsequent shortage in food supply all over the place,” he said. Besides, he also blamed the rising food prices on scarcity and increase in the price fuel which almost certainly but negatively

impacts the transport of farm produce to the market. Mariam Usi however wants the government to support farmers of all categories with farm inputs like improved seeds and stems, fertilizer, herbicides, and farm machinery to enhance the prospect of realizing a bumper harvest in 2016. She observed that most of the farming activities go on in Abuja involved smallholder peasant farmers and wondered why government at various levels always found it difficult to train or re-train these farmers to improve their productivity. Usi asked where the so-called agro-prenuers and their highly mechanised farms that government always talked about were. She then suggested that it was high time government set up large-scale farm settlements to absorb Abuja’s teeming unemployed to boost agricultural productivity in the nation’s centre of unity.

Abuja welcomes new council chairmen, rainy season CONTINUED FROM PAGE 28 preoccupies their mind right now is how to make the best of the planting reason. Beyond the fancy and glamour of Abuja, the territory is a strategically endowed agricultural centre. With vast uninhabited swatches of land stretching toward the four cardinal points into far-flung neighbouring states, the territory is home to several thousands of small, medium to large scale farmers. Farming activities in the territory are resuming quite slowly and most farmers nurse a cautious optimism regarding their prospects of having a remarkable farming season. Inside FCT caught up with a number of the farmers and gauged their pulse in view of the need to feed the territory’s teeming population. Hassan Madaki, a farmer who is based in Piwoyi, Abuja, summed the problem of

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Arty News

Friday, May 20, 2016

29 31

Beauty queens capable of being great wives —IBK

What do you expect from this marriage? I expect God’s grace, favour, kindness, victory and I pray for a happy home. People say celebrities don’t last in marriage I don’t believe that because we have a lot in common we are best friends not just a couple so I expect a lot to happen because once you put God first in whatever you are doing it will definitely be successful.

A few months after handing over her crown as Miss Finest Girl Democracy, Blessing Adedara fondly called Queen IBK by all, brought together beauty queens, family and friends to witness a spectacular union with her heartthrob, Engr Victor Bolarin popularly known as Geegy. The couple insists that beauty queens also have a shot at enjoying a workable relationship that could lead to marriage in this interview with REGINA OTOKPA. Excerpts:

Husband’s interview Why did you choose the day she handed over her crown to propose? That was the day that was holding me back I had been waiting for the day to come so she would have my time and for her not to leave my sight anymore. How does it feel being married to a former beauty queen? Being a married man is lovely and awesome, it is a strange feeling I am having but day by day it’s been good, it’s getting better and I know this is just the beginning because it is going to be a lovely union.

You just got married, would you say you feel fulfilled after relinquishing your crown less than a year ago? I feel great, wonderful the most important part is no matter what I think I am losing I am gaining more because I married the man of my dreams. Everything I want I see in him though nobody is perfect in this life we all have our differences but he is just the best man I have ever seen. Did you ever think he would take you by surprise by singing for you on your wedding day? The only special thing I planned would happen on my wedding day was my chief bridesmaid and all my bridesmaids who all happened to be beauty queens would be crowned by the men on suit while dancing in one after the other and he my husband will crown me with the biggest crown when I come in and that would be romantic enough to wow everybody. That was exactly what happened and everybody loved the little drama at the reception entrance but I did not see the singing part. I was on top of the world when my husband sang for me, I keep listening to the song it is presently my ringtone. I wish I can make it my caller tune so every other person who dials my number would listen to it. I will be very proud of the song any day, anytime knowing that my husband who doesn’t really sing but just likes to play instruments probably because he is shy or thinks he doesn’t have a good voice all of a sudden sang for me, I was shocked, everything was perfect. I even thought he was going to be shy on our wedding day but it was the direct opposite, he was just very happy. I was the one who became shy at some point when they said ‘you can kiss the bride’ because my parents and friends were there. Why the crowning concept? They were not just ladies but beauty queens from all over Nigeria, I just didn’t want them to wear the gowns which I took time out of my busy schedule and designing my own wedding gown to make specially for them, but also to be recognised as beauty queens and I wanted my reception to be a little bit romantic. But you have lots of friends, why the choice of only

Did you meet her during her reign as a queen? No, I met her four years ago, long before she became a beauty queen and we have been together. Where you in support of her crown from day one? I wasn’t in support totally but afterwards I had to give in because I know the kind of person she is, I have been with her for a very long time and I know everything she is capable of, I trusted her to an extent that was why I allowed her to go into that line.

During our last breakup, I knew I was missing the second part of me and when

I got her back, I said I wasn’t going to let her go again. beauty queens? I wanted my wedding to standout. People always say beauty queens are bad they don’t get married. It was an opportunity to say if I can be favored to get married almost immediately after I stepped down as queen to a caring, God fearing man, then it can happen to any other queen. I got the weeding I have always envisioned the only thing is I didn’t have it in Abuja. While you were a beauty queen, did you ever imagine getting married to Geggy this soon? In my relationships, i usually don’t accept any one back once we break up except for him and for that to happen was because he is the right person. Sometimes I ask myself if this is how much I really love this man but something just struck me it’s because he is the right person. I kept my cool until the day I handed over my crown and he knelt down in front of me and proposed.

The couple

What qualities do you see in him? I fell in love with his kind of person, his attitude, how he handles people, how he behaves generally; he is a happy man.

Why were you uncomfortable with it? In the world of beauty pageantry you hear different tales, see different things especially here in the FCT and any right thinking who allows his lady into that line needs to put her on check to know if she is really ready to handle it and if it is going to be conducive for you the man because they go out a lot, some of them say they go for courtesy visits but the courtesy visits we all know what is involved sometimes, we also know what they do to young ladies all in the name of making them queens and all sorts so you must have to be sure she is not going to be like them, she is going to be different she won’t mess around while sticking to her crown or hiding under her crown. Was she different? If she wasn’t different she wouldn’t be my wife today. When did you know she was going to be your wife? The last time we came back together. During our last breakup I knew I was missing the second part of me and when I got her back I said I wasn’t going to let her go again. Why did you suddenly become an artiste on your wedding day? I just wanted to express my feelings to her in a different way and Instead of someone else to sing for her I decided to do it myself. It was a preplanned thing I knew she was going to be surprised, she was very surprised and I felt really good. The crowning of the ladies was also another opportunity to let people know that it is not all beauty queens that are truly wayward or actually not a wife material, you just need to get the best and discover who they are What inspired the lyrics? If you want to talk about her person the lyrics is not even close because I picked out just a little part of her. If am to sing with the kind of person she is, an album won’t be enough to do that. She was surprised, she felt good, she felt very special, she felt like a super woman. What do you expect from your union? I expect a godly home, to raise a very loving family to look back in a few years and always thank God for the home he gave me. IBK is Industrious, she is smart, she is caring to an extent, she is just a different woman and we have a lot of things in common, she is the kind of woman any man should settle down with.

Friday, May 20, 2016

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FG’s order on made-in-Nigeria vehicles to boost local auto plants – Investors F

ollowing the public outcry against the alleged Senate’s preference and acquisition of imported Toyota Land Cruisers with a whopping N3.9 billion, there are strong indications that Federal Government may have directed its Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, to source their auto needs from local auto assembly plants. Analysts believe the implementation of the directive would form the plank for generating thousands of jobs. This indication emerged on Tuesday, a day after President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated 283 locally assembled vehicles purchased by the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, to boost its operations nationwide. The vehicles, which included patrol cars, rescue buses and tow trucks, were supplied by Peugeot Automobile Nigeria Limited, Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company Limited and Nissan Nigeria, a subsidiary of Stallion Autos. About two weeks ago, local vehicles assemblers had decried the lack of patronage of their products by the government and its agencies. Speaking on behalf of the assemblers, the Chairman, Nigerian Automotive Manufacturers Association, Mr. Tokunbo Aromolaran, specifically criticised the Senate for allegedly splashing about N3.9bn on the purchase of 108 high-end Sport Utility Vehicles for each of its senators, at a unit cost of N36.5m. He said the insensitivity of the elected body could not have been so clearly displayed when

Auto assembly plants

one considers that the Senate could have saved suffering Nigerians 40 per cent of the eventual outlay by being patriotic and promoting vehicles assembled by extremely talented and diligent Nigerian workforce Noting the Senate seemed to be governed only by its own rules, where it may not be aware of an official circular from the office of the secretary to the government of the federation (SGF) mandating all government agencies to mandatory procure locally made vehicles and to procure imported vehicles only if locally assembled equivalent are not available, Aromolaran urged the Bureau Of Public Procurement (BPP) to beam its light on the Senate to determine that it does put itself outside the arm of the bureau’s control. He said, “By going for jeeps assembled in the country, the Senate would have secured

the continuous employment of about 4,000 Nigerians for a whole year by supporting local industry. This patronage alone may be enough to ensure its successful take off. “The Senate would have supported about 50 component manufacturers that supply the auto industry and helped create a value chain that typically impacts no less than four other sectors of the Nigerian economy. “Had the Senate not decided to starve the local industry of patronage, it would have helped grow and sustain at least 50 medium scale enterprises whose future revenue stream would flow into our corporate and personal taxation system helping to sustain the government revenue base.” The NAMA boss, who lamented that the Senate has by this self-centered decision held down the automotive industry

Oyeyemi

for at least four years, said to attain the current state of the auto manufacturing industry,

Texting while driving, most dangerous driver distraction – Report

new study published by Scientific Reports has found that the brain’s ‘auto-pilot’ function is turned off when texting and driving. According to the report, an autopilot function in the brain that keeps distracted drivers from veering into oncoming traffic can be short-circuited when you try and send a text while driving. The report’s authors say they subjected 59 people to a range of stressors, including emotional, cognitive and mixed. “We delivered the cognitive and emotional stressors

through appropriate oral questionnaires. We delivered the sensorimotor stressor in the form of texting while driving. For mixed stressors or absence thereof, subject behaviours were measured at two time scales – sustained engagement without exogenous surprises versus reactions to startling events,” the report’s authors said. “We hereby studied a comprehensive set of stressors through a three-level causal decomposition (arousal → reaction → error) in long/uneventful versus short/eventful time scales, ar-

riving at intriguing conclusions about driving behaviours.” The stressors were delivered via oral questions from a passenger/researcher in the car with the driver, as well as “texting trivialities”. The study’s authors revealed that when the driver was dealing with orally delivered stressors, the steering did become “jittery” but not to the same extent as when the driver was dealing with a text message. The authors suggest, therefore, that the autopilot function in the brain is switched off when the driver is distracted by

a physical and cognitive action. Lead researcher Dr Ioannis Pavlidis, from the University of Houston in Texas, US, said: “The driver’s mind can wander, and his or her feelings may boil, but a sixth sense keeps a person safe at least in terms of veering off course. “What makes texting so dangerous is that it wreaks havoc into this sixth sense. Self-driving cars may bypass this and other problems, but the moral of the story is that humans have their own auto-systems that work wonders, until they break.”

investors who believe in the future of this country and its people have put at risk resources that could have been deployed elsewhere in a globally competitive market. He said that the future of the automobile industry as a viable economic unit was being threatened when state resources that could be deployed to create jobs for our youths, add value to our natural occurring material base are frittered to oil the ego of but a few. However, to demonstrate his administration’s commitment to the growth of local automobile industry, it was gathered that FRSC was restricted to purchase only Nigeria-assembled brands. The injection of 283 vehicles to the FRSC’s fleet was said to be the first time such large number of operational vehicles would be introduced at a go in the 28 year history of the corps. Buhari, who was represented at the inauguration by the Minister of Interior, Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (rtd), said, “my administration has remained unrelenting in its commitment to the provision of road infrastructure and capacity development of staff members of the Federal Road Safety Corps including the provision of facilities that could enhance effective management of the nation’s highways. He commended the efforts of the corps’ personnel for their steadfast and commitment to duties, which had helped reduce the number of road accidents and earned the organisation international recognition and accolades. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Babachir Lawal, said the deployment of the 283 vehicles in the various patrol operations of the FRSC nationwide would lead to safer roads, boost the travellers’ confidence and encourage tourism activities. He advised motorists to drive within the stipulated speed limits, use seat belt and carry out necessary checks and measures before setting out on any journey. The Corps Marshal, FRSC, Mr. Boboye Oyeyemi, said the approval for the vehicles’ purchase symbolised “the sustained intent of the Federal Government to raise the bar on road safety management,” adding that the gesture would lead to increased patrol activities and response time of the corps during disasters.

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Friday, May 20, 2016

Ambode lauds CFAO Yamaha Motor on new assembly plant

Buhari commends FRSC, pledges support

he Lagos State governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode has commended CFAO Yamaha Motor Nigeria Limited for building its ultramodern Assembly Plant in the state. Ambode gave the commendation when he commissioned the CFAO Yamaha Motor Nigeria Limited Assembly Plant and Show room. The Governor said that the commissioning of the assembly plant in Lagos is good for the people of Lagos State and Nigeria in general. He said the commissioning of assembly plant in Lagos brought the number of similar plants commissioned in Lagos to 10 since the new Federal Government’s Automobile policy came to effect in 2015. Ambode emphasised the leadership status of the State as the most attractive location financially and socially for investment in Africa, just as he reiterated the commitment of his administration towards putting in place policies to attract investment and facilitate conducive atmosphere for businesses to thrive. He said that Lagos with the population of over 21 million people which comprises of the middle-class with strong purchasing powers remains the best place for business in Nigeria and called on other international business conglomoretes who have not yet establish their businesses in Lagos to consider doing so. The Chairman, CFAO France and the President, Yamaha Motors Company Limited, Messrs. Richard Bielle and Hiroyuki Yanagi, while speaking separately at the event said that the joint venture was strategic as it will boost their capacity to deepen their operations in Africa. The duo who expressed their belief in Lagos as the business hub of Africa and also pledged their commitment in using their business expertise to better the lot of Nigerians and thanked the government of Lagos State for the support. They said the joint venture between CFAO and Yamaha will strengthen the transport sector as well as boost employment opportunity in the country. The due described Lagos and Nigeria as their main focus because of the country’s rapid economic growth and existing business opportunities. Mr. Yanagi declared that the Yamaha which closed in Nigeria 10 years ago is back in Lagos with new and quality products that will meet the desire of the

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Mr. Gbenga Oyebode, Chairman, CFAO YAMAHA Motor Nigeria Ltd., Mr. Richard Bielle, Chairman CFAO Management Board, France, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and Mr. Hiroyuki Yanagi, CEO, Yamaha Motor Company, Japan during the commissioning of CFAO YAMAHA Motor Nigeria assembly plant in Lagos recently people. Earlier, Chairman of CFAO Yamaha Motor Nigeria Limited, Mr. Gbenga Oyebode, said apart from the commissioning of the assembly plant, CFAO Group as a whole has a lot to offer the state and the country in general. He said that the group was working seriously with relevant authorities and in partnership with other international brands for the establishment of retail business in Lagos and other parts of the country. Oyebode thanked Governor Ambode for making out time to

attend the event, saying the development was an eloquent testimony of the Governor’s commitment to encourage investment in the state. In his remarks, the Managing Director of the company, Mr. Olivier Levigne, said the vision of the firm is to be a grand company and a great organisation with open enterprise and a leader in its chosen field. Levign, while answering question from the press shortly after the grand opening, said the company’s production target is 70,000 motocycles by 2018.

resident Muhammadu Buhari has commended the Federal Road Safety Corps for its commitment to road safety campaigns, saying his administration will remain committed to supporting it to achieve optimal performance. The President stated this on Monday while commissioning the 283 operational vehicles procured for the FRSC by the Federal Government to boost its operational activities. According to Bisi Kazeem, Head Media Relations and Strategy, FRSC, the President, who was represented by the Minister of Interior, Lt General Abdulrahman Dambazzau (rtd), stated that the establishment of the FRSC 28 years ago was a demonstration of government’s concerns for the safety and security of road users. He noted that in sustaining government’s goodwill for the success of road safety campaigns in the country, the administration has remained unrelenting in its commitment to provision of road infrastructure and development of capacity of staff of the FRSC including provision of facilities that could enhance effective management of traffic on the nation’s highways. “This administration is committed to the ideals of road safety and will continue to demonstrate its support for the FRSC in its commitment to en-

President Buhari suring safety of lives on the nation’s roads,” he stated. He said that government was aware of the various policies and programmes being put in place by the FRSC to manage the nation’s highways, giving examples of such policies as Road Transport Safety Standardisation Scheme (RTSSS); reforms in the licensing system of the country and other operational mechanisms being put in place to address the menace of road traffic crashes in the country. According to him, in line with government’s commitment to the success of the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety: 2011-2020, Nigeria in 2010, became a signatory to the Vienna and Geneva Conventions on Road Markings and Signage, after over 40 and 60 years.

Fuel economy scandal hits Mitsubishi Motors

bout six months after Volkswagen admitted to using defeat devices to cheat on emission test, Mitsubishi Motors Corporation President, Mr Tetsuro Aikawa has admitted to manipulating test data to overstate the fuel economy of 625,000 cars sold in Japan. The automaker said it stopped making and selling its eK miniwagons for the domestic market after Nissan Motor, which markets a similar model made by Mitsubishi, found a discrepancy in fuel efficiency test data. According to a Reuters report, Mitsubishi Motors said the fuel economy levels of models made for the local market were up to a tenth lower than stated in its test results. It said it manipulated those levels to gain a favorable reading for its fuel economy certification. As global emissions regulations tighten, fuel economy has become a major factor for environmental- and cost-conscious

buyers. Tetsuro Aikawa, the president of Japan’s sixth-largest automaker, bowed in apology at a news conference in Tokyo on Wednesday for what is the biggest scandal at Mitsubishi Motors since a damaging defect cover-up over a decade ago. “We’d like to apologise for the

issue. The focus right now is to resolve this problem and prevent it from happening again; it could be quite damaging,” Aikawa said. Mitsubishi Motors said the test manipulation involved 625,000 vehicles produced since mid-2013. These include its eK mini-wagon as well as 468,000

cars it made for Nissan, which markets them as the Dayz. Nissan, which has sold 450,000 of its Mitsubishi-made Dayz since 2013, said the manufacturer admitted intentionally falsifying the data. It said it had no plans to change its relationship with Mitsubishi Motors for now, and would not comment on how the issue might impact the development of updated models. Mitsubishi said it would examine other models made for global markets to verify their fuel economy levels. The company said that in calculating its cars’ fuel efficiency, it measured how much they slowed per second rather than the time it takes to slow by 10 kms (6.2 miles) per hour, as required under Japanese regulations. It also manipulated the equipment used to measure a car’s rolling resistance during fuel economy tests, and used a different testing system from other Japanese automakers.

People In The Mirror

Friday, May 20, 2016

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Speedladder Private School visits National Mirror Students of Speedladder Private School, Palmgrove, Lagos State, yesterday paid a courtesy visit to Global Media Mirror Limited. The visit was aimed at enlightening the students on the operations of a newspaper. National Mirrorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s photojournalist, SAMUEL ADETIMEHIN captured the event.

A staff of the newspaper explaining Pre-press operations to the students and their teachers.

Some of the students with their teachers and staff of National Mirror A staff of the newspaper explaining Graphics operations to the students and their teachers.

A staff of the newspaper explaining newsroom operations to the students and their teachers.

L-R: Acting Director-General, National Orientation Agency, Mrs Ngozi Ekeoba; Acting DirectorGeneral of Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Mr Michael Oluwole, and Acting Managing Director, News Agency of Nigeria, Mr Jones Afolabi, during the presentation of Repatriated NOK Terracotta Sculpture by the French Government to Nigeria, at the celebration of International Museum Day in Abuja.

L-R: Director, Administration and Human Resources, Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS), Mrs. Arinola Kola-Daisi; Executive Chairman, Mr. Olufolarin Ogunsanwo and the Director, Tax Audit, Mrs. Bolaji Akintola, during the 18th Annual Conference of Chattered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), in Abuja.

A staff of the newspaper explaining Library operations to the students and their teachers.

L-R: Chief Okongor Bachot; DSP Ndarake Neji (rtd); Abimbola Okoya, General Manager, British American Tobacco Nigerian Foundation (BATNF); Hon. Lawrence Takor; Chief Jumbo Takon, during the commissioning and handover ceremony of the Solar Powered Borehole at Akparabong Community, Ikom Local Government Area of Cross River State by BATN Foundation.

L-R: Vice Chairman, Western Zone, Nigeria Automobile Technicians Association (NATA), Comrade Samson Odewale; Chairman, NATA, Alhaji Kasali Obisesan; Deputy Vice Chancellor, Management Services, Babcock University, Prof Sunday Owolabi and Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrasheed Adewale Akanbi, at the NATA Day 2016, in Iwo, Osun State, recently.

Friday, May 20, 2016

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Business Maritime

Assessing impact of botched $250m ship supply deal on Nigeria’s economy

Ship conveying cargo

The inability of the Federal Government to provide a cargo guarantee needed to consummate a $250 million ship supply deal between some indigenous ship owners under the aegis of Nigerian Shipowners Association NISA, and a team of Greek ship owners once again calls to question government’s commitment towards promoting indigenous participation in global shipping business. FRANCIS EZEM reports.

s an import dependent nation, Nigeria imports in excess of 50 million metric tonnes of both industrial, pharmaceutical, electrical and other consumer products with which she sustains her over 170 million population annually. Similarly, as a member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Country OPEC and world’s sixth largest producer of crude oil, the country exports more than 2.2 million barrels per day. Unfortunately, no Nigerianowned vessel is involved in these activities while foreign shipping companies involved in the cargo movements into and out of the country smile to their banks on a daily basis. Even with the enactment of the Coastal and Inland Shipping Cabotage Act about 13 years ago to enhance the participation of Nigerian vessels in the lifting of products within the coastal and inland waters, foreign owned vessels still dominate this trade due to the lack of quality and functional vessels on the nation’s fleet. It was in reaction to this ugly situation that the indigenous shipping firms in the country under the aegis of Nigerian Shipowners Association NISA, structured a $250 million (N80 billion) Memorandum of Understanding MoU with some Greek ship owners involving the

supply of about 40 ships of various tonnages, which would be deployed into Nigeria’s Cabotage trade on a bareboat charter basis designed to boost the nation’s tonnage. Under the contract, which is also in response to allegations by some International Oil Companies, IOCs, operating in the country that Nigerian-owned ships are classless, which they claim was the reason for denying them participation in the trade, the indigenous vessels would be able to participate in the lucrative business. Similarly, the MoU was part of the measures to enhance indigenous fleet expansion, which was depleted by the liquidation of the nation’s former national carrier, the Nigerian National Shipping Line NNSL and by so doing, promote participation of Nigerian vessels in the coastal trade. The MoU provides that the 40 ships would be transferred to Nigerians after two years of successful

trading within the coastal and inland waters.. Part of the condition for the supply of the 40 ships was a two-year cargo guarantee, expected to be provided by the Federal Government or its relevant agencies. The argument was that with the aid of the guarantee, the Greek vessel owners would have recouped their investment within two years after which the ships revert to Nigerians. Unfortunately, the Nigerian government through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation NNPC has failed to provide, thus leading to the collapse of the deal. As some analysts have noted, this development therefore calls to question the sincerity of the government towards the diversification of the economy by developing other sectors such as the transport, especially shipping to move away from the current over-dependence on the oil and gas sector with the

Many Nigerian ship owners are in huge debts to the banks arising from this high overhead cost on ships that are tied to the anchor because there are no jobs to engage them and so many of our people are not

willing to take such risks again, especially in the face of the current economic meltdown

attendant economic dislocations that come with it. President of NISA, Captain Niyi Labinjo, who confirmed the collapse of the deal in an interview with National Mirror raised fears that the MOU has been seriously threatened by the lack of cargo for the 40 ships, which follows the failure of the government to provide the needed cargo guarantee, which is a major clause in the deal. According to him, many of the prospective beneficiaries of the Greece-Nigeria ship supply deal, have developed cold feet because of the prevailing situation in the industry whereby Nigerian ship owners are excluded from the numerous businesses in the industry, which have now become almost exclusive preserve for their foreign counterparts more than 12 years after the Cabotage regime became operational.. He argued that it does not make any business sense to bring in 40 ships that would be tied down because there are no jobs to engage them, with the attendant high overhead cost of running them. “If you offer me one million ships I will not accept them because there are no jobs to gainfully engage them because you would still run hug over-head cost, which does not make any business sense”, he argued. He also said: “Many Nigerian

ship owners are in huge debts to the banks arising from this high overhead cost on ships that are tied to the anchor because there are no jobs to engage them and so many of our people are not willing to take such risks again, especially in the face of the current economic meltdown”. Labinjo, who doubles as chairman/CEO of Al-Dawood, one of the surviving indigenous shipping companies however blamed this lack of jobs in the inability of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency NIMASA to enforce the Cabotage Act. He argued that if the relevant provisions of the legislations were strictly enforced, the IOCs and other stakeholders would have no choice than to enlist the indigenous shipping firms for jobs that are legitimately theirs as provided under the Cabotage Act 2003. Managing Director KAMANY Marine Nigeria Limited, an indigenous oil and gas and freight forwarding firm, Mr. Charles Okerefe, who spoke on the development, decried the absence of any form of government support or backing for the indigenous operators. According to him, elsewhere, the government provides the enabling environment especially in terms of guarantee for cargo, loans and other forms of financial assistance to the indigenous ship owners through which they create jobs and contribute significantly to the Gross Domestic Product of the nation. He cited recent reports by the United Kingdom Government indicating that the shipping industry contributed in excess of 11 billion pounds sterling to the UK economy in 2015. According to him, such contributions come in the form of taxes and other levies and fees paid by the operators and made possible through an enabling environment provided by the government. Okerefe, who doubles as a lecturer with the Chartered Institute of Shipping, argued that the maritime industry holds more for the future of the Nigerian economy more than any other sector including the oil and gas. This, he insists is enough justification for the government to begin to give the shipping and maritime industry the attention it deserves, especially given the uncertainties and hiccups in the global crude oil market, which is currently taking its toll on the nation’s economy due the over-dependence on it.

Business Maritime

Friday, May 20, 2016

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Revenue shortfall: Customs resorts to loans to sustain operations STORIES: FRANCIS EZEM

trong indications emerged that the Nigeria Customs Service may have resorted to loans and overdrafts from commercial banks and other financial institutions to enable it meet its financial obligations to officers and men of the service as well as other operational cost a s part of measures to cushion the effects of its dwindling revenue collection. The service receives from the Federal Ministry of Finance, its

supervising ministry seven per cent of the total import duty it collects as its statutory funding, which has recorded a sharp decline occasioned the drastic reduction in the volume of goods imported into the country. The decline in the volume of imports, which has adversely affected the revenue of the service, has mainly been blamed on the foreign exchange policy introduced last year by the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN, which restricts a total of 41 import items from sourcing of

foreign exchange at the official market, where the exchange rate is pegged at N197 to the dollar as against the N350 to the dollar at the parallel market. Authoritative sources close to the service hinted that the Comptroller General of Customs, Col Hameed Ali and indeed the entire management team of the service is currently going through tough times sourcing funds to meet the financial obligations of the service including payment of salaries and allowances to officers

and men due to the shortfall in its revenue collection. According to the source, the source, the CG had to opt for loans, overdrafts and other financial instruments because they became the best option, as the management woul not want to default in the payment of workers remuneration. It was especially argued that given its hard stance of the CG on corruption, there were fears that some corrupt officers and man might cash in on the nonpayment of salaries to involve in corrupt practices, which might negate this hard stance. Investigations showed that it was partly in the light of this dilemma that the CG personally wrote the Vice President Professor Yemi Osibajo in which he demanded the review of the CBN’s foreign exchange policy. It was further gathered that apart from seeking an urgent review of the foreign exchange policy, the service is also intensifying efforts to convince the Federal Government to approve

a four per cent of the total Free On Board FOB value of all the imports into the country as its new statutory source of funding. The CG had during a working visit to some port facilities in Lagos, disclosed that the service recorded over N230billion revenue shortfall for the third quarter of 2015 alone, which invariably affected it earning power. Experts have also raised fears that this trend might continue in the 2016 fiscal year, as revenue by some of the commands indicate. For instance, Statistics released by the Apapa command of the service , which accounts for over 60 per cent of import cargo volumes show that it recorded over N5billion revenue shortfall for the first quarter of 2016. Similarly, the Tin Can Island command of the service, which is the second highest revenue collector after Apapa recorded a N9billion revenue shortfall between January and April 2016.

rican Governance and Corporate Leadership awards earlier this year. The award was presented by the Nigerian Institute for Government, Research, Leadership and Technology in recognition of the terminal’s achievements in productivity, investment, innovation and customer service. “I am looking forward to my new responsibilities at APM Terminals Apapa, and to working closely with our customers, local and national authorities to continue to achieve success and to help facilitate the growth and progress of the Nigerian economy,” Jacob said. APM Terminals Apapa is the largest container facility by capacity of the three serving Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city and business center. It is also the largest container terminal operation in West Africa, having doubled container traffic after concession began in 2006, with dramatically improved productivity. A $350 million USD investment and expansion program was announced for APM Terminals Apapa since 2006. Container throughput in 2015 was 608,000 TEUs. Nigeria is the most populous nation in Africa, and the seventh-largest in the world, with a population of 177 million, and is Africa’s largest economy. APM Terminals currently operates the Apapa and WACT facilities in Nigeria, with plans to develop a third at Badagry.

Newly appointed APM T boss takes over June 1

Ali

Adeosun

Global shipping industry needs more 150,000 seafarers by 2025 –Report

nless seafarer training levels are increased significantly, the growth in demand for seafarers could generate a serious shortage in the total supply of officers as the latest five-year BIMCO/ICS Manpower Report forecasts that an additional 147,500 officers will be required by 2025 to service the world merchant fleet. Launched at the International Maritime Organisation, the reports identify that the current shortfall stands at 2.1per cent amounting to some 16,500 officers, while some officer categories are in a really short supply, including engineer officers at management level and officers needed for specialised ships such as chemical, LNG and LPG carriers. Although the global supply of officers is forecast to increase steadily, this is predicted to be outpaced by increasing demand. In the past five years the industry has made good progress with increasing recruitment and training levels and reducing officer wastage, as the report estimates that there is a current surplus

of 15.8 per cent, about 119,000 ratings, with demand only having increased by about 1 per cent since 2010. However, unless training levels rise, a shortage in total supply of officers could emerge. “Without continuing efforts to promote careers at sea and improve levels of recruitment and retention, the report suggests it cannot be guaranteed that there will be an abundant supply of seafarers in the future,” ICS Secretary

General, Peter Hinchliffe, said. China is believed to have overtaken the Philippines as the largest single source of seafarers qualified for international trade. While data from international shipping companies suggests that the extent to which Chinese seafarers are available for international service may be more limited, the Philippines and Russia are seen as equally important sources of officers, followed closely by Ukraine and India.

he newly appointed Managing Director APM Terminals Apapa Limited, Mr. Martin Jacob, is expected to officially assume duty June 1, 2016. APMT remains the largest container terminal in Lagos, and the busiest within the West African sub-region. Jacob, who takes over from the incumbent, Mr. Andrew Dawes, brings with him extensive experience in the industry from a wide variety of roles held during his 16 years with the AP Moller-Maersk Group. He had in the past five years been the Managing Director of the West Africa Container Terminal (WACT), in Onne, Nigeria. WACT, which handled 233,000 Twenty Equivalent Units TEUs in 2015, was named Nigeria’s best container handling and port development company of 2015 at the Af-

Container shipping fleet to cross 20m TEU capacity mark next month

he container shipping fleet could pass the 20m Twenty Equivalent TEUs mark in capacity terms next month according to Bimco. The container shipping fleet ended 2015 with a total capacity of 19.7m TEUs. Although fleet growth will be low this year at just 3.4 per cent a net addition of 680,000 teu across the year could see the 20m teu barrier being breached in June according to Bimco chief shipping analyst Peter Sand.

However, it also comes at a time when the container shipping demand as a whole is growing at just 1 – 2 per cent. Over the last decade the container shipping fleet has increased by 240 per cent in capacity as shipping lines have shifted to ever-larger vessels. Between 2011 and 2016 ultralarge container ships (ULC) of 12,000 TEU capacity and upwards accounted for 45 per cent of the increase in capacity during that period.

“The total containership fleet in teu increased annually from 2006 onwards by nine per cent, in contrast to the number of ships which actually increased by only 3.7 per cent on an annual basis,” Sand commented. “Despite the enormous growth of ULCs market share, the postpanamax fleet of 8,000– 12,000 teu in relation to the total share and TEU- capacity, is still the preferred shipping class, accounting for around one quarter of the containership fleet.”

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Business News

Friday, May 20, 2016

Non Performing Loans erode banks’ capital adequacy –CBN Johnson Okanlawon

ndications emerged yesterday that Deposited Money Banks, DMBs, in the country may have shore up their capital in order to sustain efficiently their financial intermediation roles in the economy considering the latest report by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.

The CBN, in its latest Financial Stability report for the period ended December 2015 noted that Non Performing Loans, NPLs, ratio of the Nigerian banking industry is on the rise, as capital adequacy weakened. It attributed the decline to the fall in the level of banks’ general reserves in the second half of 2015, saying that ratio of regula-

tory capital to risk weighted assets stood at 17.5 per cent at December 2015, showing a marginal increase of 0.1 percentage points below the level at June 2015. According to the CBN, the level of NPLs to capital in the banking industry however increased to 7.4 per cent by the end of 2015 from 5.5 per cent which it was at the end of June, 2015.

L-R: Financial Controller, Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), Olubisi Makoju; Executive Officer, The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE,) Oscar N. Onyema, OON; Chief; Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, NSIA, Uche Orji; Executive Director/Chief Investment Officer, NSIA, Hanspeter Ackermann and Communications Adviser, NSIA, Titilope Olubiyi, at the Closing Gong Ceremony at the Exchange on Wednesday.

We spend N4.8bn yearly on diesel at Onne Ports –Intels

FRANCIS EZEM

ntegrated Logistics Services Nigeria Limited INTELS, the port concessionaire in charge of the Onne Port Complex, has said that the complex spends a whopping N4.8 billion annually on diesel to facilitate a constant supply of electricity to the zone. The zone, which incorporates the Oil and Gas Free Trade Zone, is made up a total of 150 companies including most of the oil majors as well as five star hotels owned by the Orlean Invest Group, the parent company of INTELS has yet to be connected to the national grid several months after the port concession. Head, Administration and General Services unit of the company, Mr. Chibuisi Onyebueke, who fielded questions from newsmen in Onne, Rivers State, disclosed that efforts by the company to connect the zone to the national grid over the years have not yielded the desired goals. According to him, due to the lack of public power supply in the zone, the company uses over 100, 000 litres of Automotive Gas Oil AGO, also called diesel to power the various generating sets that supply constant electricity to the entire facility. He disclosed that over the years, the company has held series of meetings with relevant government agencies aimed at getting the zone connected to the national grid all to no avail.

The company had believed that connecting the port complex to the national grid would greatly facilitate ease of doing business and also reduce the cost of operation the companies operating in the zone, which would in turn increase profitability and by so doing, enhance government’s revenue. Onyebueke also disclosed that the most recent meeting held towards connecting the port facility to the national grid was the one held with the Energy Group of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation NNPC, which also went the way of previous meetings held for that purpose, as the port complex is still powered by generating sets. It was however gathered that apart from the series of these series of meetings held towards connecting the facility to the national grid, some top government officials have also over the years made strong promises to the company, no of which has been fulfilled. Onyebueke, however, assured that the company would always strive to maintain the global standards it has put in place at the Onne Port Complex, being a one-stop shop for oil and gas companies, adding that it would also continue with the moves to connect the facility is connected to the public power supply. Available records show that at present, a total of $8.1billion has already been invested in the complex over the last four years.

Former Vice President Namadi Sambo had in October 2014 officially commissioned the Phase Four of the Onne Oil and Gas Ports Complex built by INTELS under a Public –Private Partnership scheme using the ammortisaatisation model at the cost of N62.9 billion ($370.4 million) then. Part of the components of the Onne Ports Complex phase four projects include the removal of the islands at the back of West African Container Terminal WACT, at Onne, construction of berths nine, 10 and 11 and provision of water supply for berths four, five and six.

Non-performing loans, in the six month period under review, rose by 3.36 per cent to N649.63 billion as at December, 31, 2015, from N628.54 billion at June 2015. The apex bank stated that this reflected a 78.8 per cent increase from the N363.31 billion recorded at the end of December 2014. The NPL ratio rose to 4.86 per cent from 4.65 per cent. While the NPLs ratio remained within the prudential ceiling of 5.0 per cent, the CBN noted that it trended closer to the upper limit, with a few banks having NPL ratio above the regulatory maximum limit of 5.0 per cent. The report stated that the banking industry and large banks’ resilience to credit risk was robust, stated that medium and small bank groups showed vulnerabilities to stimulated severe shocks of 200 per cent rise in NPLs as their CARs fell to 7.16 and 6.85 per cent respectively. It also revealed that no bank would have a CAR of up to 10 per cent if five of their biggest credit facility becomes non performing as the CARs of the banking industry, large, medium and small

banks deteriorated to 7.79, 8.73, 5.75 and 6.80 per cents respectively, from the baseline. Also, a liquidity stress test of the industry showed that a 5-day and cumulative 30daysrun on the bankingindustry would result in a liquidity shortfall of N1.79 trillion and N1.93 trillion, respectively. The test further revealed that 17 and 20 banks would record liquidity ratios below the prudential threshold of 30.0 per cent, following the 5-day and cumulative 30-day runs, respectively The banking industry and all peered banks showed resilience to foreign exchange rate risk as their capital only experienced slight deterioration after the impact of a 50 per cent exchange rate appreciation shock was induced on their net foreign assets. Generally, the apex bank said the solvency stress tests suggested that the banking industry remained relatively resilient, adding that although some banks were sensitive to credit concentration and interest rate risks, these did not pose systemic threats to the industry.

Shell opens talks with North Sea asset sales’ buyers

oyal Dutch Shell Plc is in talks with potential buyers for some North Sea assets, mostly fields it got this year as part of the record acquisition of BG Group Plc, according to people familiar with the matter. The Anglo-Dutch energy giant has been in talks with companies including privately held chemical producer Ineos Group AG and Neptune Oil & Gas, set up by former Centrica Plc chief Sam Laidlaw, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. Shell is seeking to sell a package of assets and is talking with companies to gauge their

interest before a formal sale process is launched, the people said. No final decision has been made and Shell may decide to retain the properties, they said. Europe’s biggest oil company is planning to raise $30 billion from asset sales in three years after the $54-billion acquisition of BG increased debt and lowered its credit rating. While the move made Shell the world’s second-biggest oil company by market value, it also brought it properties in areas like the North Sea where costs are high. (Source – Bloomberg.com)

that its board was reviewing the proposal, which is subject to due diligence, regulatory approvals and other conditions. There is no assurance that any transaction will take place, it added. Bayer shares dropped more than 8 percent to a 2-1/2 year low of 88.39 euros in early Thursday trading, with some investors worried by the potential cost of a deal. Monsanto shares were seen 7.6 percent higher at $104.50 in premarket trades. UBS Global Asset Management, which Reuters data shows is among Bayer’s 30 biggest investors, said it was “deeply concerned” about the burden on Bayer’s finances from a takeover, saying it would prefer the compa-

nies to agree a joint venture or a nil-premium merger. Deutsche Bank analysts said a deal could shift Bayer’s centre of gravity to agriculture, accounting for about 55 percent of core earnings, up from roughly 28 percent last year excluding the Covestro chemicals business Bayer plans to sell. That would have a negative impact on sentiment among Bayer’s healthcare-focused investor base, the bank said. Bayer, which has a market value of $90 billion, said the merger would create “a leading integrated agriculture business”, referring to Bayer’s push to seek more synergies from combining the development and sale of seeds and crop protection chemicals.

Bayer offers to buy Monsanto in global agrochemicals shakeout

erman drugs and chemicals group Bayer has made an unsolicited takeover proposal to U.S. seeds company Monsanto, aiming to create the world’s biggest agricultural supplier and take advantage of converging pesticides and seeds markets. Monsanto disclosed the approach on Wednesday before Bayer confirmed its move, though neither released proposed terms. The $42 billion market capitalisation of Monsanto means that the deal would be likely to eclipse ChemChina’s planned acquisition of Swiss agrichemicals company Syngenta -- a target Monsanto itself pursued last year -- and could face U.S. antitrust hurdles. A Monsanto statement said

Business News

Friday, May 20, 2016

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Reps seek vigorous pursuit of Nigeria’s export drive

…rates NEPC performance low UBONG UKPONG, Abuja

he House of Representatives yesterday said that vigorous promotion and exportation of made in Nigeria products were vital to achieving the economy diversification quest by the country. The House also expressed worry that the Nigeria Export Promotion Council, NEPC, established

in 1976, with the responsibility to promote Nigerian products in international markets was not fulfilling its roles effectively. The House therefore asked its Committee on Commerce to assess the level of export promotion in Nigeria and the activities of Nigerian Export Promotion Council in recent years and report back to the it within six weeks, for further legislative action.

This followed a motion on the need to assess the level of export promotion in Nigeria, Brought by Abdullahi Umar Faruk. The lawmaker had noted that in order to ensure that Nigeria does not depend solely on oil production for its income, the Nigerian Export Promotion Council was established in 1976 to be the leading Agency for promoting non-oil exports from Nigeria. He told the House that despite the establishment of the Coun-

cil, Nigeria has continued to rely on the exportation of crude oil which accounted for more than 70% of our total revenue to sustain the nation’s economy. He was Worried that agricultural products, which used to be the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy before the discovery of oil, have been relegated to the background, thereby resulting in the inability of the citizens to produce enough food for local consumption and export. He also expressed concern that massive importation of foreign goods, over the years, and the fall in the price of crude oil

in the international market had adversely affected the nation’s economy given the serious depletion of the foreign reserves and scarcity of foreign exchange for international transactions. The legislator said that as government is making efforts to diversify the economy from oil production to non-oil exports, there was a need to vigorously promote the exportation of Nigerian goods, especially the ones in which the country has a comparative advantage, in order to increase our foreign exchange earnings.

Diamond Bank grants MSMEs N15m under BET scheme iamond Bank Plc has shown its support to develop Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) industry in the country through its Building Entrepreneurs (BET) initiative. The bank, through the BET, has given N15 million grant to five budding MSME operators who showed exceptional entrepreneurial skills and productive business ideas. Each of the five BET winners, which spread across different sectors of the economy and the six geopolitical zones, received N3 million to invest into their respective businesses. The bank believes that financial injections into the beneficiaries’ businesses will help them strengthen manpower, expand the product lines and create increased service and product values that would make the MSMEs competitive. The Chief Executive Officer of Diamond Bank, Uzoma Dozie, told stakeholders, educationists, analysts, media executives, investors and industry captains who

witnessed the cheque presentation ceremony in Lagos that because of the economic headwinds, young entrepreneurs need all the support and mentorship that they could get to enable them stand firm and add the necessary value to the economy. According to him, the bank is very passionate about building these entrepreneurs because of the conviction that sustainable growth and development of any modern economy is hinged on a vibrant MSME sector. He added that the quality of business ideas and the huge number of entries received by the Bank, is a strong testament of business versatility among Nigerian youths, which to him, should be harnessed to grow and develop the economy. He said: “We had over 500,000 applications and after several screenings, were pruned to the final 15; this is just to show how creative Nigerians are. We decided to support small businesses because we know how difficult the business environment is, and it is the only way we can guarantee sustainable economic growth and development in this country.”

complimentary coaching sessions to leaders in these companies. She said the highlight of the week will be the ‘Experience Coaching Seminar’ at the Lagos Business School. “We are delighted at the opportunity to partner with LBS in bringing coaching and its benefits firsthand to the public. The week will be rounded up by the Experience Africa Coaching Café event where the Nigeria Chapter initiated a pan-Africa coaching event to stimulate the coaching industry in Sub-Saharan Africa. The International Coaching Week, ICW, is an annual weeklong global celebration of the coaching

profession intended to increase the visibility, understanding and impact of coaching. During this week coaches around the world will offer a variety of activities and free services in their local communities to share coaching’s impact. Similarly, coaches in major cities in Ghana, Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania and Zimbabwe will be holding coaching sessions in major public outlets throughout the day. “No doubt, the coaching profession in Nigeria is positioning itself to developing stronger leaders, better communicators, more productive employees and increasingly positive people”, Ikuenobe noted.

Niyi Jacobs

D L-R: Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Hajiya Aisha Abubakar; President, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (Man), Dr Frank Jacobs and President of General Electric (GE), Lazarus Angbazo, at a Breakfast Meeting and inauguration of M.A.N’s Large Corporation Group, in Lagos yesterday. PHOTO:NAN

FrieslandCampina WAMCO assures on quality dairy products …declares N18.6bn profit Franka Osakwe

ne of Nigeria’s dairy products manufacturers, Friesland Campina WAMCO, has assured Nigerians of continued quality diary nutrition despite the harsh economic situation in Nigeria. Declaring its annual report for 2015, at its 43rd Annual General Meeting held last Thursday in Lagos, the company stated that its commercial and financial performance remained satisfactory in spite of the harsh business environment. According to the Chairman, Board of Directors, Mr. Jacob Moyo Ajekigbe, the company improved its operational efficiency by upgrading all of its manufacturing equipment in order to produce better and higher quality products and optimize cost of production. He said their key focus on several investments generated cost savings and reduced energy use and carbon footprint. “During the year, the Company’s pedigree in maintain-

ing excellence was further advanced as it took the initiative to train its key business partners on ‘best-in-class quality assurance standards’ to safeguard the high quality of the Company’s products throughout the value chain, from grass to glass, which in turn led to waste reduction. “In spite of the daunting economic environment in 2015, FrieslandCampina WAMCO continued to take steps aimed at strengthening its leadership position in the dairy market and keeping with its mission of providing quality dairy nutrition, bearing in mind the pressure on consumers’ wallet. Due to significant foreign exchange constraints, combined with weak consumer sentiment, the sales and profitability of the Company will be significantly impacted in 2016, however, FrieslandCampina WAMCO will seek to manage volumes and margins judiciously to ensure a long term sustainable position”, he said. The company had last year

launched a series of ‘Low Unit Price Packs (LUPP)’ priced at pocket friendly price points of N10 to N50. Though the turnover had decreased by 4.5 per cent from N126.44 billion in 2014 to N120.72 billion in 2015, he said Profit Before Tax (PBT) however increased by 13.3 per cent from N16.50 billion in the previous year to N18.60 billion in 2015.

ICF partners LBS to mark corporate coaching week

David Audu

he Nigerian chapter of the International Coach Federation, ICF, and the Lagos Business School, LBS, will join all other chapters worldwide to celebrate the International Business Coaching Week next week with free services in their local communities to share coaching’s impact. Chairperson of ICW Nigeria 2016, Mrs. Jennifer Ikuenobe, said that they had outlined robust programme that involved organizing corporate coaching cafes in selected organisations while ICF Nigeria certified coaches will offer

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Business News

Friday, May 20, 2016

AfDB earmarks N34.5bn for Nigeria’s agric sector programmes SYLVA EMEKA-OKEREKE

frican Development Bank, AfDB, said it had earmarked $175 million, about N34.5 billion to improve Nigeria’s agricultural sector. AfDB Country Director, Ousmane Dore, who disclosed this when he visited some Northern governors in Kaduna, said the initiative was part of the Bank’s intervention strategy to boost the all-important sector in the country. According to him, the Agricultural Transformation Agenda Support Programme, ATASP-I, of $175 million would consolidate the AfDB’s investments in the country’s agricultural sector Under this scheme, the bank will establish four Staple Crops Processing Zones, SCPZs, to cover four, out of the seven northwest states of Kebbi, Sokoto, Kano and Jigawa. Dore listed two upcoming projects in the country, totalling $500 million to include a youth programme, otherwise known as ENABLE, meaning Empowering Novel Agri-Business-Led Employment, which would gulp $300 million as well as the Phase II of the ATASP-$200 million. The Country Director said these proj-

L-R: Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Darrell McGraw; Minister for Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Okey Enelamah and Country and Regional Senior Partner for PwC Nigeria and the West Market Area, Uyi Akpata, at a breakfast session for the American Business Council (ABC) hosted by PwC Nigeria in Lagos. ects are in addition to the Bank’s financial supports to SMEs through lines of credit to several commercial banks as well as the Bank of Industry, BOI and NEXIM. But beyond this, the Bank is also supporting the establishment of the Development Bank of Nigeria, DBN, with $500

million while giving technical assistance to the Bank of Agriculture, BoA, through grants. It would be recalled that the Northern governors had invited the apex African bank to assist the region to transform agriculture from subsistence to agribusi-

ness.

The governors, who expressed gratitude to the Bank for supporting the region said they look forward to working with the Bank to finalize and operationalize their agriculture strategy.

Don advises FG on ruminant block Firm plans N7bn poultry farm in Nigeria research for herdsmen Stories: Abolaji Adebayo

ean, School of Agriculture and Industrial Technology, Babcock University, Ogun State Nigeria, Professor Akintunde Akinsoyinu, has advised Federal Government to support ruminant block research for Fulani herdsmen so that the incessant attack carried out on innocent Nigerians by them would be a thing of past. Speaking with Agricultural correspondents in his office, Akinsoyinu said that the ruminant blocks is a system where these castles would be confounded in a particular location without roaming indiscriminately at major cities where they would be fed with the food specifically made for ruminants. He explained that the ruminant block would make from cassava peels, ground nut cakes, yam peals and wheat offal for production of ruminant’s food. The don noted that under the last dispensation, he had headed a committee under the Agriculture Research Council of Nigeria, ARCN, which came up with a solution by fabricat-

ing blocks for ruminants that would have addressed the recent Fulani herdsmen and farmers massacre. The academic explained that the committee had concluded its research and was at the test running and implementation stages when the government stopped funding the project, which, he maintained, would have addressed the issue, just as it is in some other countries of the world. This is even as he hinted that N23million was allocated for the project by the previous administration, but only N5million was released to the committee, making it financially handicapped and the project was truncated. He believed that spending N5 billion to feed the animals annually was better than shedding of blood of Nigeria citizens. He said: “We have been able to produce egg with less cholesterol, and it is not been done in any part of the world before, but we pioneered it. “The government has been running away from the reality, oil will finish one day, but agric will not finish. I am a beneficiary of cocoa in the then Western

Region, what happened to our groundnut pyramid? We had better face the reality and address it squarely before the situation goes beyond what we are facing now. “One of the problems of the recent times is that students are not interested in studying agriculture, that is the faculty where we record the lowest application, they all want to study banking, accounting and other social sciences like economics and so on.”

Abolaji Adebayo

n agricultural company, Multi-Net Group Nigeria, has hinted of its plan to build a ‘world-class’ poultry farm at a cost of N7 billion in the country. The company’s Chairman, Dr. Uzoma Obiyo, who made this known, said the company would also invest in the full value chain of animal husbandry including breeding of animals and processing, up to abattoir development, declaring that the project was cur-

Soybean, grain futures tumble as Fed comments boost dollar

oybean and grain futures plunged at the open on Thursday as the value of the dollar improved amid speculation that the U.S. Federal Reserve will raise interest rates next month. The Federal Open Market Committee released minutes from its April meeting yesterday that indicated members would be willing to raise the federal funds rate in June as long as economic indicators remain strong. That boosted the value of the dollar, which is at its highest level since March. A stronger greenback cuts purchasing power for overseas buyers and

diminishes the appeal of U.S. agricultural products. Higher interest rates also increase the cost of borrowing for large-ticket items such as land and equipment. While the bears focused on the dollar, those hoping for higher prices continued to look at weather in Brazil. The country’s corn crop continues to suffer from ongoing dry weather. Its second, or safrinha, crop is reportedly shrinking as drought persists in the South American country. Consultancy Conab said Brazil’s summer corn crop production will fall 10%.

rently on board. He said the company had an interest in developing world class poultry in Nigeria, which was assumed to be very expensive to build. He added that after their visibility reports, Abuja, Niger and Imo States have been chosen as pilot states and about N7 billion would be needed to establish the poultry farms in those states. Obiyo, who pointed out that 14 Federal Government’-owned breeding centres had been abandoned due largely to lack of maintenance and government’s insensitivity to the company’s needs, urged the government to privatise the centres for optimal performance. He maintained that without giving those centres to the private entrepreneurs, their potentials to generate revenues for the government would be jeopardized, which would be a big loss to the economic development of the country. He said: “We know that the Federal Government has fourteen breeding centres in Nigeria. These breeding centres are abandoned, you can imagine how government owns properties and they are under-utilized because they are unable to get private business and investment to drive them.

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Capital Market

Friday, May 20, 2016

Investors gain N91bn as equities’ demand surges Johnson Okanlawon

rading in equities continued on a negative note on the Nigerian Stock Exchange yesterday, as more investors took position on stocks. Specifically, the All Share Index appreciated 0.99 per cent to close at 27,028.24 points, compared to the increase of 0.61 per cent recorded the preceding day to close at 26,763.86 points. Market capitalization gained N91 billion to close

at N9.28 trillion, compared to the rise of N20 billion recorded the preceding day to close at N9.19 trillion. First City Monument Bank Plc led the gainers’ table with 12 kobo or 9.92 per cent to close at N1.33 per share, followed by Eterna Oil Plc with 26 kobo or 8.93 per cent to close at N3.17 per share. Guaranty Trust Bank Plc appreciated N1.43 or 7.32 per cent to close at N20.97 per share, while United Capital Plc rose 10 kobo or 5.13 per cent

to close at N2.05 per share. Oando Plc added 28 kobo or 4.97 per cent to close at N5.91 per share, while Transcohot Plc increased by 25 kobo or 4.95 per cent to close at N5.30 per share. Access Bank Plc was up 25 kobo to close at N5.35 per share, while Etranzat Plc was up 20 kobo or 4.88 per cent to close at N4.30 per share. Conversely, NCR Plc depreciated N1.01 or 9.65 per cent to close at N9.46 per share, while Union Homes Plc shed 33 kobo

or 9.43 per cent to close at N3.17 per share. Unilever Plc lost N1.60 or five per cent to close at N30.41 per share, while AG Leventis Plc declined five kobo or 4.76 per cent to close at N1.00 per share. Continental Insurance Plc dropped five kobo or 4.63 per cent to close at N1.03 per share, while Sterling Bank Plc was down eight kobo or 4.62 per cent to close at N1.65 per share. UAC-Property Plc dipped 19 kobo or 4.55 per cent to close at N3.99 per share, while Tiger Brands Plc fell 23 kobo or 4.48 per cent to close at N4.90 per share.

Analysts forecast 14% MPR

...CBN’s committee meets next week

Johnson Okanlawon

ooking at the macroeconomic developments in the economy, there are compelling reasons to believe that the Monetary Policy Committee, MPC, will vote to increase the MPR to 14 per cent, with symmetric corridor of +/-2 per cent, analysts have said. The MPC of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, will meet between Monday, May 23 and Tuesday, May 24, 2016. “We also expect the MPC to adjust the exchange rate to $1/N275, with a symmetric corridor of +/-5 per cent and equally re-open the inter-bank foreign exchange market,” analysts at FSDH Merchant Bank Limited have said.

According to the report, the external reserves have not benefitted from the increase in oil price because of the strong demand for foreign exchange and the drop in crude oil production. “The 30-day moving average external reserves declined by 4.38 per cent from $27.88billion at the last MPC meeting to $26.66billion as at May 17, 2016. We expect a change in the foreign exchange rate policy of the CBN to boost the external reserves through inflows from foreign investors,” the analysts added. They stated that value of the naira remains weak because of the excess demand over supply and following the announcement of a new pump price, the value of the naira depreciated further at the parallel market.

The parallel market rate depreciated by 9.58 per cent to $1/N355 as at May 16, 2016 from $/N321 before the announcement of the increase in fuel price and the CBN official market rate remains at $1/ N197. “We believe the official exchange rate of $1/N197 is almost redundant at the moment as few or no transaction is carried out at the official exchange rate. An adjustment in the exchange rate is imperative to align the rate with economic realities. The average yields on the 91-day, 182-day and 364day Nigerian Government Treasury Bills (NTBs) increased to 7.12 per cent, 9.25 per cent and 10.95 per cent in April 2016, compared with 5.73 per cent, 8.27 per cent and 10.17 per cent respectively in March

Goldman Sachs cuts equities, upgrades commodities

oldman Sachs downgraded equities to neutral over a 12-month timeframe on growth and valuation concerns, but upgraded commodities to neutral on a three-month basis saying there was less downside potential to oil prices. “Until we see sustained signals of growth recovery, we do not feel comfortable taking eq-

uity risk, particularly as valuations are near peak levels,” it said. “Our equity strategists have become more defensive, owing to heightened drawdown risk and growth scarcity,” it added in a note dated May 17. Goldman Sachs said commodities had rallied on the back of a dovish US Federal Reserve, Chinese economic data and

supply disruptions. It upgraded commodities, saying that such supply disruptions should support oil prices. “We think continued fundamental adjustments in both the physical and capital markets are needed, and now see oil prices reaching $60/bl in 4Q 2017 vs. mid-2017 previously. We remain bearish on metals.”

2016. The yields on the 91-day, 182-day and 364-day NTBs stood at 8.27 per cent, 9.64 per cent and 14.25 per cent respectively as at May 18, 2016. Also, the yield on the 16.39 per cent FGN Bond January 2022 also increased to 11.79 per cent in April 2016 from 11.47 per cent in March 2016, while it stood at 14.45 per cent as at May 16, 2016. “The spiralling inflation rate in three consecutive months has worsened the real yields on fixed income securities. We note that the yield on the 364-day NTB is higher than the inflation rate for the first time since November 2015. “We expect an increase in the MPR with the aim of reducing the inflationary pressure and to attract investments into the fixed income securities market,” the report stated. Rate (%) Inflation

12.77

MPR

Crude oil price

$42.41

Source: NSE

Exchange Rate

Naira

US Dollar

N197.00 Market indicators All-Share Index 25,865.06 points Market capitalisation 8.90trn

FGN Bonds

Offer

Bid

Description

Price

Yield

Price

Yield

15.10 27-APR-2017

1.07

104.64

10.40

104.79

10.26

16.00 29-JUN-2019

3.24

114.58

10.56

114.88

10.46

15.54 13-FEB-2020

3.87

111.95

11.61

112.25

11.51

16.39 27-JAN-2022

5.83

120.59

11.44

120.89

11.38

14.20 14-MAR-2024

7.95

109.22

12.34

109.52

12.29

12.50 22-JAN-2026

9.81

100.08

12.48

100.38

12.42

Closing Market Prices of March 31, 2016

Treasury Bills Maturity Date

Bid

Offer

Exchange

Rates (N)

30-Jun-16

8.40

8.58

WAUA

270

USD

197.00

6-Oct-16

8.87

9.30

EURO

214

16-Mar-17

9.42

10.35

CFA

0.32

YEN

1.64

Tenor

Rate (%)

SWISS FRANC

202

O/N

6.9583

POUNDS STERLING

293

9.8519

11.6578

SDR

273

13.0575

NIBOR

CBN Clearing Rates of January 7, 2016

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Friday, May 20, 2016

Vacancy!

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Position: Online Business Development Executive

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Duties and Responsibilities • Work closely with Staff to execute strategic business plan and help develop and close sponsorships, partnerships, membership packages and other revenue streams • Work directly with potential customers and business partners to close sales for the website. • Successfully drive key initiatives through collaboration on product and site development and site marketing with Web editor • Work with staff on marketing, advertising and promotion planning, including identifying opportunities for National Mirror Online • Leverage social networking and customer relationship management tools Qualifications/Skills 2-3 years of business development experience, social media, media advertising industries, managing online services/ businesses • Proven track record in closing sales, delivering independent financial, competitive and business analyses; excellent contract negotiation skills • Advanced negotiator with demonstrable record of success in and understanding of the online marketing environment and trends (including search, display, social media, mobile, partnerships) • Long-term strategic planner; results-driven, superior cross-group collaboration and communication skills and organizational agility • High degree of competency with Internet, G-mail, MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint. High comfort level with latest social networking tools and mobile communications. • B.A/B.S. required • Journalism experience desirable, but not required Interested candidates should send their C.V to: EMAIL : info@nationalmirroronline.net within 2-weeks of this publication

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Friday, March 20, 2016

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Boko Haram: Buhari’s wife donates N55m, relief items to victims Inusa Ndahi MAIDUGURI

ife of the President, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, has donated five trucks loads of assorted relief materials to Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, and victims of insurgents in Borno State. She also released the sum of N55 million and shared it among the parents of 219 Chibok missing schoolgirls and those who lost their children during the attack on Federal Government College, Buni Yadi where scores of students were massacred. Distributing the relief items through a committee set up by the First Lady yesterday,

secretary of the committee, Zuwaira Gambo, said IDPs mostly pregnant women, lactating mothers, children and those who sustained injuries due to suicide bombings and were hospitalised at various hospitals in Borno State will benefit from the ongoing exercise. Gambo explained that the committee which included the wife of Borno State Governor, Hajiya Nana Kashim Shettima, as chairperson and Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Fanta Baba Shehu, as member swung into action by visiting all the designated resettlement camps in Maiduguri metropolis and Gubio town which formed part of the host

communities. She disclosed that before visiting Gubio and other host communities, the team paid a similar visit to Biu Local Government Area

LAFIA

Shehu Shema, Arik Air and another airline, Over-

land, commenced sched-

rrangements have been concluded for the commencement of scheduled flights to Katsina State by Arik Airlines. Governor Aminu Bello Masari, in a statement disclosed this during an interface with investors and other entrepreneurs in the state. The statement, signed by the governor’s Senior Special Adviser on Media, Abdul Labaran, said arrangements had been concluded for the scheduled flights to commence July 1, 2016. Should the flights commence, it would be the second time Arik Air would be making inroad operating to and from the state. During the first tenure of ex-Governor Ibrahim

uled flights to the state. But the development soon fizzled out due to reported lack of passengers coming from and going to the state from major airports in the country. It said with the arrangement and similar one being negotiated, the future of aviation in the state looks bright, “more so with the state’s unassailable and strategic position in the busy (Lagos-KanoKatsina-Jibia) trade corIt said the development had informed convening of first-of- its-kind Economic

n employment scandal was said to have hit the Federal University, Lafia, in Nasarawa State as over 600 staff were said to have been employed without due process. Consequently, an investigative committee was said to be working hard to unravel beneficiaries of the corrupt practices and those behind it. The massive employment fraud which was said to have favoured mostly indigenes of Nasarawa State was alleged to have been carried out by man-

and

Investment

Summit a few days ago, with important dignitaries including President Muhammadu Buhari, in attendance.

PHOTO:NAN

agement of the institution following series of complaints by concern indigenes of the state who felt short-changed in the previous employment exercise conducted by the university. A high profile source at the university told our correspondent that the over bloated staff strength arising from the recent employment without recourse to due process has resulted in the institution’s inability to contend with payment of staff salaries, revealing further that both academic and non academic staff of the university were being owed two months’ salary

as at the time of filling this report. The source further revealed that the ugly development has led to the setting up of an investigation panel to unravel those behind the dirty deal as well as fish out the beneficiaries, most of whom the source alleged, did not possess the requisite academic qualifications. Investigation by our correspondent further revealed that apart from the employment scandal, the young university has allegedly been involved in the misappropriation of 2013, 2014 and 2015 TETFUND intervention fund to the institution.

It was also reliably gathered, that despite claims by the university management that it expended a whooping sum of N86 million on the construction of an office complex at the institution’s takeoff site, staff of the institution still share spaces in single offices being occupied by about five to seven staff including senior lecturers. When contacted for reaction on the allegations, Head, Information and Public Relations of the University, Chuks Eze-Obia, said he was not aware of the development and referred our correspondent to the institution’s Vice Chancellor.

Kano to fund 2017 budget through IGR Abdulgafar Oladimeji

ridor.”

beneficiaries as the victims were conducting themselves in an orderly manner, which also makes it easier for the committee to carry their assignment.

Employment, financial scandals rock Lafia varsity

Igbawase Ukumba

KATSINA

ture. The committee secretary thanked the First Lady for coming to the aid of the victims and assured that the items are to go to the direct

Cross section of participants at the farmers-cattle rearers’ town hall meeting in Yola yesterday.

Arik Air begins scheduled flights to Katsina July 1 A James Danjuma

of the state where thousands of IDPs and victims of insurgents from Debiro, Sabon Gari and Damboa Local Government Area also benefitted from the ges-

KANO

ano State 2017 budget will be funded substantially through Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, to bridge the gap in its 2016 recurrent expenditure, the state governor, Abdullah Ganduje, has disclosed.

The state government noted that the target is to ensure that by the end of 2017, its budgetary expenditure is substantially covered by the internally generated revenue. “As this vision is actualised, a great percentage of the state government’s share from the federation account is to be lodged

into Future Generation Account, which is to be deployed to provide qualitative education, infrastructure and better healthcare delivery services”, the governor asserted. Ganduje stated that the government is making the greatest effort to mobilise revenue in efforts to har-

ness the state potentials to improve condition of living, adding that, this became necessary in the face of paucity of revenue. He revealed that the state Internal Revenue Service has been re-organised and strengthened to attain the set out revenue generation target.

Friday, May 20, 2016

‘Sharapova may not play tennis again’

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Sport

I’m an American. You can’t go on where you were born. If you do then John McEnroe would be a German – Martina Navratilova

Minister urges NASS to domesticate FIFA statutes …to avoid NFF crises Joel Ajayi Abuja

inister of Youth and Sports, Mr. Solomon Dalung, has appealed to the National Assembly to inculcate FIFA rules into Nigerian laws as a way of curtailing frequent crisis in Nigerian football. Dalung, who made the plea when he appeared separately before the Senate and House of Representatives Committee on Sports yesterday, maintained that without domesticating FIFA statutes, any aggrieved sports stakeholder especially in football, was free to approach conventional courts to seek redress. The Minister alongside the Permanent Secretary, Christian Ohaa; NFF 2nd Vice President, Shehu Dikko, and other senior officials of the sports ministry and NFF first appeared before the House Committee chaired by Hon. Goni Bukar Lawan. Thereafter, Dalung with the NYSC DG, Brigadier General Zakari Kazaure, and other ministry officials met with the Senate Committee on Youths and Sports.

Dalung who took time to explain that the lingering NFF crisis has brought Nigerian football to its knees, appealed to both NASS committees to wisely open window of dialogue with both the Amb. Chris Giwa group and the NFF led by Amaju Pinnick in a bid to resolve their differences. “From issues both groups have raised, this committee must place Giwa and Pinnick side by side for fairness. Both parties have a way of presenting their reasons. We are sandwitched between FIFA rules and what our laws say. “I don’t think that FIFA encourages any country to jettison its own laws but at the same time, we have to be careful not to attract their sanctions. Legality will not solve our problems,” the minister said. In their separate remarks, chairman Senate Committee on Sports, Senator Obinna Ogba and his counterpart in the House of Representatives, Hon. Lawan, assured of their readiness to end the leadership tussle, saying there is really no crisis in the NFF, as there is no dispute whatsoever that Pinnick remains president of the nation’s football body.

John Terry, coming for Yobo testimonial

Yobo testimonial celebrates children

F Yobo

ormer Super Eagles captain, Joseph Yobo, will welcome a host of English Premier League stars in Port Harcourt on Friday May 27 to mark his Testimonial and Centenary Game. Among the stars expected are Chelsea captain, John Terry, and former Everton and Manchester United Manager, David Moyes, as well as Ghanaian stars, Dede and Jordan Ayew. Yobo, a committed family man, is giving families a chance to be part of the event, which is happening on Children’s Day, through their kids. A total of 22 kids aged 6-12 years old will walk out with the players onto the pitch, and Yobo is offering a lifetime opportunity to families around Port Harcourt to give their kids 16 spots of this

unique experience. All they have to do is: 1. Take a short video (no more than 30 seconds) of their kid completing this phrase “I too can be a star because. . .” 2. Upload the video on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. 3. Tag @JYobo234 on with of the three platforms. Be sure you are following the account, as the selected videos will be reshared. 4. Use the hashtags #YoboTestimonial 5. The reshared videos of 16 kids with the highest votes/likes/RTs wins. 6. Competition begins on May 19 and ends of May 24 Terms and Conditions apply. Organisers decision is final

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That I was formerly known and addressed as UJAM IKENNA that I now wish to add JOEL to my former name that I now wish to be known and addressed as JOEL IKENNA UJAM All former documents remain valid. Banks and general public should please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

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Formerly known and addressed as Mrs Moshood Funmilayo Beatrice, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Jimoh Funmilayo Beatrice. All former documents remain valid. General public take note. DECLARATION OF AGE

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This is to confirm that Tochukwu Cyril Ebere is one and the same person as Tochukwu Chibueze Ebere. All former documents bearing the names are mine and remain valid. General public please take note.

Friday, May 20, 2016

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I formerly known and addressed as Alhaji Salisu Maifulla , Now wish to be known and addressed as Ahmed Salisu Maihula, Born on 17th April 1967. All former documents remain valid. General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

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Ruth Utibe is the same person as Sunday Ruth Ndifreke, now wish to be Known and addressed as Sunday Ruth Ndifreke. All former documents bearing the above names are mine and valid. General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

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Formerly known and addressed as Ayuba Tijani Ayuba,Tijani Ayuba, and Ahmad Ayuba Shola now wish to be known and addressed as Ayuba Ahmad Ishola. All former documents remain valid, general public take note. CONFIRMATION OF NAME

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Formerly known and addressed as AGIDI OPEOLUWA CATHERINE, now wish to be known and addressed as QUADRI OPEOLUWA CATHERINE. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

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Formerly known and addressed as AKINTUNDE FUNMI ABAYOMI, now wish to be known and addressed as FUNMI ABAYOMI. All former documents remain valid. General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

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I, formerly MISS SUNDAY KEMI ABIDEMI, am the same person bearing AKANNI akanni OLUKEMI ABIDEMI, hence forth, i wish to be known, as MRS OLATUBOSUN ABIDEMI OLUKEMI. All documents bearing these names remain valid. Tescom and general public take note.

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This is to confirm and certify that ODO CATHERINE IDENYI and ANTHONY MARIA ISHA refer to one and the same person, now wish to be known and addressed as ANTHONY MARIA ISHA. All former documents remain valid. Banks and general public please take note CHANGE OF NAME

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This is to inform the public that my name was mistakenly written as NWAFOR AMAKA LUCY instead of NWAFOR UKAMAKA LUCY. That I henceforth wish to be known and addressed as NWAFOR UKAMAKA LUCY. All former documents remain valid. Diamond Bank and general public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

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This is to confirm that, I MR JOEL KENNEDY CHIMEZIE is one and the same person as JOEL CHIMEZIE OLUEBERE, henceforth I wish to be known and address as MR MR JOEL KENNEDY CHIMEZIE. All former documents remain vaild. General Public take Note CHANGE OF NAME

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Thursday, March 5, 2015 Friday, May 20, 2016

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

FA Cup win would lift United –Van Gaal

ouis van Gaal has said that victory over Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final tomorrow would restore Manchester United’s pride after a turbulent season. United have struggled to live up to their potential under van Gaal and failed to qualify for next season’s Champions League after finishing fifth in the Premier League. Van Gaal’s job is under threat following two seasons of underachievement and the United manager was booed by fans as he addressed them after Tuesday’s 3-1 win over Bournemouth at Old Trafford. The Dutchman is keen to play down the impact a Cup final triumph at Wembley would have for his own future. However, he feels it is time United ended a three-year trophy drought by winning the FA Cup for the first time since 2004. “When you win silverware, it is always important. It’s important for the players because qualification is not a title. A title is the FA Cup or the championship,” Van Gaal told reporters yesterday. “For players, it is always very important, because they can look at and can hold a cup. That’s an exciting moment also, especially here in England, because the FA Cup is a big title. “We are playing in the most prestigious temple in England, so ever yt hi ng confirms how important this cup is.” United’s last silve r w a r e came in 2013, w h e n they won the Premier League under Alex Ferguson and then the Community Shield under his s u c c e s s o r, David Moyes.

NPFL: Afolabi, Amapakabo emerge April LBA winners

unshine Stars striker, Okiki Afolabi, and coach of Enugu Rangers, Imama Amapakabo, have been named League Bloggers Awards (LBA) Player and Manager for April respectively in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL). In a statement, LBA said the contest for both awards was tight and it had to be determined on a number of coefficient to arrive at the winners as a few of the nominees had more appearances than others in the month under review. For Amapakabo, it is a second month on the bounce, he is being named as the best manager in the top division by the LBA after he emerged winner in March. This time, Amapakabo had to fend off the trio of Solomon Ogbeide of Sunshine Stars, Ard Sluis of Warri Wolves and Kennedy Boboye of Abia Warriors. The Rangers trainer masterminded an unbeaten streak for his team, notching up three wins out of four matches, including winning 1-0 on the road at Giwa FC in mid-April.. Afolabi put in a massive shift in April for Sunshine Stars as they navigated their way out of the drop zone, thanks to the goals of their front man, who shaded competition from the other shortlists for the LBA Player for April. The Sunshine Stars striker scored five goals in the month under review to beat other contenders, Anthony Oussou (Heartland), Chinonso Okonkwo (Rivers United) and Esosa Igbinoba (Nasarawa United), to the monthly award for players. The winners of the LBA for April will receive their awards in the coming days.

Sevilla players celebrating with two-goal hero, Coke (m) on Wednesday in Basel

Sevilla’s Europa win highlights Spain’s dominance S

evilla’s rout of Liverpool in the Europa League final on Wednesday is a new sign of which country rules European football and a powerful warning to Barcelona ahead of their kings of Spain clash. Coke’s double in the 3-1 win in Basel, Switzerland highlighted the value of the Spanish system of turning home talent into title winners. And Sevilla’s record five titles in the UEFA Cup and Europa League have shown them to be masters of the art. Real and Atletico Madrid will dispute the Champions League next week in Milan, in a showdown that highlights how Spanish clubs can also buy world class

talent successfully to dominate European football. The Europa League “belongs” to Sevilla, AS sports daily wrote yesterday after the stunning second half comeback spurred the triumph. Losing 1-0 at half-time, Coke’s double and a third from Kevin Gameiro saw Sevilla to a win that left Liverpool on their knees. “The Andalusian team steamrollered the English in an unforgettable second half,” said Mundo Deportivo. The win again left English Premier League clubs wondering how to turn their wealth into European success. “Liverpool may be legendary, but Sevilla are eternal,” declared Sport. AS editor, Alfredo Relano, said that Se-

villa have a “magnificent structure with a model sporting system and an extraordinary business plan, buying well and selling even better”. Spanish clubs have bought and nurtured outstanding talent from Portugal, South America and other smaller football nations. But they have a core of players that have come through their own academies. Sevilla bought their match-winner, Coke, for a reported 2.5 million euros from Rayo Vallecano in 2011. They developed Brazilian right back, Dani Alves, from the youth ranks and sold him to Barcelona for more than 28 million euros. Alves left in tears, saying he would like to play with Sevilla again some day.

‘Sharapova may not play tennis again’ F ormer world number one, Maria Sharapova, may never play again following her failed drugs test, the president of the Russian Tennis Federation says. The Russian, 29, tested positive for meldonium at January’s Australian Open. According to BBC Sport, when asked if Sharapova would play any more tournaments, Shamil Tarpishchev told R-Sport news agency it was “very doubtful” and added the five-time Grand Slam winner was in a “bad situation”. In March, Sharapova said she was “determined to play tennis again”. The International Tennis Federation (ITF) provisionally suspended Sharapova on March 12. She is waiting to hear the full extent of her punishment, which could be as much as a four-year ban, although experts say a sixmonth or 12-month suspension is more likely. That is because the World Anti-

Maria Sharapova

Doping Association (WADA) admitted in April that scientists were unsure how long meldonium stayed in the system. It even suggested athletes who tested positive for the substance before March 1 could avoid bans, provided they had stopped taking it before January 1.

However, Sharapova has already admitted she continued taking meldonium past that date, saying she was unaware it had been added to the banned list as she knew it by another name - mildronate.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Sports

Friday, May4,20, 2016 Thursday September 2014

MANDATE

THE

Sylvester Ikuejamoye

mopheys13@gmail.com 0805-407-1194 (SMS only)

Going back to the basics

Victorious Kogi team celebrate with their trophy

Milo Basketball championship: Kogi emerge confluence champions Ifeanyi Eduzor

ogi State representatives, Crowther Memorial College and Harmony Secondary School have emerged as champions of the Confluence Conference zone in the ongoing 18th national Milo basketball championship. In an entertaining finals decided at the Indoor Sports Hall of Confluence Stadium, Lokoja, Crowther Memorial College displayed the spirit of true champions when they produced a world class performance to overcome General Muritala Muhammad College 39-37 points in the boys’ final. The girls’ final was a dramatic affair as Gallant Harmony Secondary School fought the battle of their lives to emerge as champions. The Kogi girls had been written off after going down 5-0 to Government Secondary School Numan Adamawa, State at the end of the first quarter.

However, Obatoyinbo Bidemi and MVP of the Girls’ event, Amodu Ketimu stole the show and dunked nine points between them in the last two quarters of the tension soaked match to miraculously hand victory to the Kogi team. Speaking after the match, Adamawa team Coach, Tinism Dickson blamed his wards for not playing to instruction. “It is a sad loss; we thought we could defend the title for the third time. I hold no player responsible, but it is the collective fault of the team, we did not get our shots right and our defence failed woefully in the last quarter of the game,” he lamented. Secretary to the Government of Kogi State, Mrs. Ayoade Ariike, who represented Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, extolled Nestle for sustaining the sponsorship of the only major Secondary School Championships in the country for the past 18 years.

Opeifa Cup: Ilupeju, St. Francis vie for final ticket gressed to the semi-finals. Ifeanyi Eduzor The quarter-finals and semi-finals of the senior boys and girls categories are scheduled to hold today, lupeju Junior Grammar School with the game involving CMS Gramwill today slug it out with St. mar School and Aunty Ayo College Francis Junior Secondary School in the girls’ event among the ties that for a place in the final of the Junior will light up the day. Girls’ category of the ongoing 2nd Mainland Secondary School will edition of Opeifa Cup Lagos Secondalso battle with Eric Moore College ary Schools Handball Championship as Aiyetoro College tussle with Herholding at the Rowe Park Sports Cenbert Macaulay, while the last quartertre, Yaba. finals match of the category will see Ilupeju sealed their place in Lagos City College, who pummelled the semi-finals with a 4-1 win over Angus Memorial Secondary School Mushin Junior Grammar School 9-2 confronting Jagunmolu Secondwhile St. Francis edged out Clegg ary School. Girls Secondary School, Surulere In the Senior Boys’ category, with a 1-0 score line; the goal coming Archbishop Adelaja Memorial Secinside the last 10 seconds of regulaondary School, will keep a date with tion time. Zumratul Islamiyyah College as AiAlso through to the last four are yetoro battle Birrel Avenue SecondBariga Girls College and Onike Girls ary School, just as Mainland Senior College who scaled through the Secondary School will also go other semi-finals matches folhead-to-head with Nawarullowing an 8-0 victory over deen Grammar School. Zumratul Islamiyyah ColThe final of the weeklege and 5-1 triumph over long tournament sponHerbert Macaulay College sored by Comrade Kayode respectively. Opiefa, the immediate In the junior Boys’ catpast Lagos State Comegory, Gbaja Boys and missioner for TransBariga Junior Gramport will hold tomormar school also prorow. Ambode

was almost through with the topic for today before an unexpected encounter with a reader of this column changed all that. Simply put, in a rather civilised and rare display of maturity, he politely made some observations and reservations about last week edition of the column. We obviously had a very fruitful interaction and l learnt one or two things from the unplanned but robust cross-fertilisation of ideas. The encounter does not have a direct bearing on the topic for today as such but all the same related. In any case, it was an opportunity to examine another window of interest in our legitimate quest for better management and result-oriented adminisJtration oel Ajayi of sports in the Abuja country. boutlong 256 NiThe age saying gerian golfthat you cannot build ers and their something on nothcolleagues ing, just as from it is asome well West countries knownAfrican adage that you can are theas ongoonlycompeting lie on yourinbed earing IBB International lier 2016 prepared. It means you Golf and Country surely reap what Club you capsow tain just tournament. as it is a fact of The when seven-day life that you tourney , which teed, sow bountifully off Monday will and youon certainly will hole out on Satreap bountifully. urday, is bringing If Nigeria is deterback past captains, mined to climb the present captain global sports ladand amateur golfers der, there is states no two about across the 36 ofways the federait. Any project in without sound tion to compete a sporty , but and solid foundation is bound to fail. I mean, it is doomed. The most assured way of get83 teams are ting outtotal of theofquagmire among slated to enter the pot at others is to start and seriously the National Draws for too, by empowering our sports’ the men and structures forwomen a betterFederation tomorrow. Cup competitions Thursday Nigeria should goon back to the, May 5, 2016. basics. We must empower and Head of Federation Cup unit encourage Games Masters in of the NFF, Emmanuel Adesanya, primary and secondary schools. told thenff.com yesterdaythat a toLocal government areas should tal of 61 teams would be involved be made to empower sports desk in the men’s version, while 22 officers. The point being made teams would be involved in the here is that, women’s event.now is the time to go There the grass Enough are roots a totalway of .18 NPFL of self19deceit! is no need clubs, NigeriaThere National League clubs, nine Our Nationwide League to pretend. sport has noseOne clubs and camouflage 15 non –League dived. We only to be clubs in the men’s draw, while 16 in the league of serious minded Premier League clubs, one Pro and determined sports nations. League and five amateur diviRecent downturn of sporting sion teams would take part in the fortunes of the country has exwomen’s competition. posed nudity of our Thethe women teams aresports COD foundation. United Ladies, FC Robo (Lagos); Personally like l(FCT); have Sure said Capital City ,Doves here repeatedly in the past, l’m Babes (Kwara); Nasarawa Ama-

still of the firm opinion that the grass roots department of the Federal Ministry of Sports and Youth Development should be strengthened, enhanced and empowered. Talent detection can only start from the grass roots to the top. That is, from raw talent management to stardom. Anything short of this is an aberration. Another structure that is expected to perform statutory role in our quest for more proactive sports development agenda is the National Institute for Sports. This institution should be made to perform a pivotal role in the roadmap of revamping our sports fortune. This column

Dalung is however not in a position to measure the level of empowerment or encouragement made available to the management of this all important sports institution, but one fundamental and indisputable point here is that the institution must not be abandoned. It must be made to perform its statutory role in our sports agenda. It must be staffed with competent and qualified hands and also empowered with necessary logistics to discharge its mandate. The Minister should throw the weight of his office behind all the required structures for optimum performance and weed out every identified cobweb in the wheel of the sporting progress. There is no room for non-performing officials. Nigeria should have no time for any sleeping or indolent official. We should be ready and determined to move with the world. We canOyinlomo Quadri not afford to be left behind. We must all join hands to assist

the minister and any one not ready to pace up should give up. I mean should exit. What Nigeria sport need now is an asset and certainly not a liability. Nigerians are not interested in how many years you‘ve been on the beat or desk, they are interested in achievement, on value and what you‘ve brought to bear on the sports sector. It is surely not only on paper qualification but with experience plus visible result. The Nigeria sports sector has been a victim self destruct, pull him down syndrome, dog-eat-dog expedition which has remained as part of the issues responsible for the setbacks in the sports sector. This, obviously, is a great task for the minister, but not insurmountable. The minister must not give room for side talks and must not encourage gossips. These are parts of what in most cases rock the chief executive boat aside from possible ‘banana peel’ that was among the first points of advice raised in this column when the current minister was newly appointed. HARD BUT THE BITTER TRUTH I have no doubt whatsoever that the NLC call for a strike action as good as it may sound, is belated, most untimely and indeed awfully time tainted. The NLC would have won my heart and many more Nigerians if they are bold enough to declare strike action against looters still occupying position of authority in Nigeria even up till now. T h e s e are the enemies of Nigeria and Nigerians who have stolen cumulatively several trillions of naira from Nigeria which has made the masses vulnerable, penniless and live like mere animals. The Nigerian Labour Congress should immediately shift focus and be more people-oriented by sensitising the masses for a mother of all protest against the looters of Nigeria’s treasury and insist that our trillions stolen and shipped to another country should be shipped back to Nigeria to better the lives of Nigerians. When the looters are still allowed to occupy positions of authority without any meaningful challenge, Nigeria remains in danger. This is one battle the NLC cannot afford to run away from otherwise its existence may be meaningless to Nigeria and her workers. Hard But The Bitter Truth. Until next week Friday, stay out of trouble and God bless Nigeria.

WORLD RECORD

Largest hairy family

Vol. 06 No. 1374

Friday, May 20, 2016

N150

Victor “Larry” Gomez, Gabriel “Danny” Ramos Gomez, Luisa Lilia De Lira Aceves and Jesus Manuel Fajardo Aceves (all Mexico) are four of a family of 19 that suffer from Congenital Generalized Hypertrichosis.

Fuel price increase and a divided labour house

he chicken is gradually coming home to roost. A divided house cannot stand. So was the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) told by many last year when it woefully failed to put its house in order and ended up with two factions, one led by Mr. Ayuba Wabba and the other by Mr. Joe Ajaero. This, in addition to the threat already posed by the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) registered in August 2005 by former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government. Of course the TUC is viewed as one of the grave punches the Obasanjo government gave organised labour to dilate its potency. But we are told officially that its main brief is to “organise and unite all senior staff associations in Nigeria”. The litmus test presented by the latest hike in the pump price of fuel by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government from N86.50 to N145 has truly proven the power of ‘strength in unity’ to the labour leadership. The flunking became obvious with the

ormer world number one, Roger Federer, has withdrawn from this year’s French Open after failing to recover from a back injury. Federer, winner of the 2009 French Open, has played in just four events in 2016.

FRIDAY WITH Dozie Okebalama

dozieokeama@yahoo.co.uk 08164966858 (SMS only) cacophony of dates given by so-called ‘organised labour’ for the commencement of a nationwide strike to protest the fuel price hike. Shortly after the FG made the price hike public, May 11, 2016, the NLC President, Wabba; TUC President, Mr. Bobboi Kaigama; their counterpart in Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSEN), Mr. Francis Johnson; among others, insisted before the media in Abuja that organised labour would go on a nationwide strike effective from last Wednesday. But the TUC, after its emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Lagos thereafter, gave the FG seven days ultimatum which would have expired tomorrow (Saturday) to invite labour for discussion over the fuel price hike or face mass action. Of course the panic-stricken FG, led by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, had no qualms hosting the labour leaders for talks last Tuesday. The result of the talks: The Wabba-led faction of the NLC walked out on the meeting. Wabba said the 67.8 percent increase in the pump price of fuel needed to be properly examined; that the N145 announced as the new pump price per litre was ‘too outrageous and out of proportion’ that workers would not be able to cope with it considering the prevailing, hardly bearable economic situation; and that there was no assurance that the price increase would translate to stabilization in the pump price of fuel. The Wabba faction declared a nationwide strike beginning from 12 mid-

Factionalisation of organised labour and court order stopping the strike aside,

Nigerians appear to have become weary

FG harassing them year-in-year-

of the

out with fuel subsidy removal night same Tuesday, notwithstanding the fact that the National Industrial Court (NIC) ruled that organised labour should not embark on any strike. Indeed, earlier on Tuesday, the NIC stopped the NLC and the TUC from embarking on their planned nationwide strike. President of the court, Justice Babatunde Adejumo, ruling on an ex parte application filed by the FG against the industrial action, restrained labour from embarking on any form of demonstration or engaging in any action capable of disrupting economic activities in the country, pending the hearing and determination of the originating summons filed by the government. Adejumo advised the FG and the NLC to resolve the dispute amicably. But had organised labour been united as one family and in-

sisted on making the strike work, it probably would have had its way. The argument would naturally have been that two wrongs do not make a right. But that would have been in the controversy realm, since the FG defied a court ruling that electricity tariff should not be hiked until there is tangible improvement in power supply and prepaid meters made available to electricity consumers; and went ahead to increase the tariff. But the Ajaero faction of the NLC and the TUC backed out of the strike, and surrendered their power of speech to former NLC President (when the body was united), now the Chief Executive of Edo State, Governor Adams Oshiomhole. On their behalf, Oshiomhole said: “We have had exhaustive discussion as a follow-up to yesterday’s (Monday) meeting. You will recall that when we adjourned, the comrades promised to consult with their constituency (sic) and come back for yet another meeting to share with us their position on issues involved. We have listened to one another this evening and we have all agreed… Part of the agreement is to work towards setting up a framework for the review of the national minimum wage… ”. It was, nonetheless, obvious that workers’ strike and protests against the current fuel price increase would not enjoy the kind of support they mustered when Nigerians experienced a similar pain on January 1, 2012. The factionalisation of organised labour and court order stopping the strike aside, Nigerians appear to have become weary of the FG harassing them year-inyear-out with fuel subsidy removal. It would seem most Nigerians now want the subsidy removed, for as long as it would translate to the availability on regular basis of fuel whose pump price would be determined by market forces; and more importantly, the growing of local petroleum products’ refining capacity soonest. These appear the only achievements of the FG with the N145 per liter pump price hike that will pacify Nigerians and sustain their trust in the Buhari/ All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government at the centre.

Sport Extra French Open: Federer withdraws over back injury BBC Sport report that the 34-year-old did not play in the Madrid Open earlier this month after hurting his back during practice for the tournament. Federer returned for the Italian Open but was beaten

in the third round by Dominic Thiem. “I have been making steady progress, but I am still not 100%,” said the world number three. “I feel I might be taking an unnecessary risk by playing

in this event before I am really ready. “This decision was not easy to make, but I took it to ensure I could play the remainder of the season and help to extend the rest of my career.”

It means Federer will miss a Grand Slam for the first time this century. The Swiss has struggled with injury this year, having undergone knee surgery after January’s Australian Open.

Federer

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