Wednesday, January 23, 2013 by GLOBAL MEDIA MIRROR LIMITED

Gunmen kill 23 in Kano, Borno

Ministers, CBN gov shun Reps’ hearing on SURE-P TORDUE SALEM ABUJA

S Okonjo-Iweala

Vol. 3 N0. 541

ix ministers and the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mr. Lamido Sanusi, yesterday ignored an in-

Sultan condemns attack on Emir

vitation to speak before a House of Representatives panel set up to assess the work of the Subsidy Reinvestment Programme, SURE-P.

Jonathan’s re-election:

CONTINUED ON PAGE 5>>

AUGUSTINE MADU-WEST AND INUSA

NDAHI

bout 18 people suspected to be local hunters were

Abubakar

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

on Monday shot dead by unidentified gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram members in Damboa Local Government Area of Borno State. CONTINUED ON PAGE 53>>

N150

Presidency lobbies former militants with oil contracts EXCLUSIVE

SOLA ADEBAYO WARRI

ollowing the growing opposition to the re-election bid of President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015 by his kinsmen in the Niger Delta, indications emerged yesterday that the Presidency had sent emissaries to get the critics to soft-pedal. Our correspondent also learnt that the Presidency had promised the aggrieved ethnic leaders and ex-Ijaw militant commanders that the oil pipeline surveillance contracts, stopped in February 2012, are renewed. Tension had gripped the Presidency due to the rising discontent with President Jonathan in the oil-rich Niger Delta ahead of his second term bid. National Mirror learnt yesterday that the truce CONTINUED ON PAGE 2>>

Asari-Dokubo meets Chief of Staff

AFCON 2013

CHIME RESURFACES AFTER 125 DAYS

Jonathan writes Eagles

Cote d’Ivoire beats Togo 2-1 P.27

L-R: Governors Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom); Gabriel Suswam (Benue); Sullivan Chime (Enugu) and Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), during a visit of members of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum to Chime in London, yesterday.

FG probes decay in police colleges, others

...sets up fact-finding committee

Aregbesola presents N183bn budget

P.2

P.54

Kaduna, Afam power plants bidders get deadline P.6

Obama’s gay comment divides Americans P.52

News

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

FG probes decay in police colleges, others OMEIZA AJAYI ABUJA

he Federal Government yesterday set up a fact-finding committee to probe the income and expenditure pattern of the Nigeria Police College, Lagos and other training institutions of the force. This followed a television report which detailed

the sorry plight of police trainees and the dilapidated state of the college’s facilities. National Mirror gathered that the other institutions include the Nigeria Police Academy, Wudil, Kano now upgraded to a university, and the Police Staff College in Jos, Plateau State. There are seven police colleges in Nigeria and new

recruits are expected to undergo about 13 months training at the facilities. The committee was set up in Abuja yesterday during a closed-door meeting that lasted for hours between the Minister of Police Affairs, Navy Captain Caleb Olubolade (rtd) and the Police Management Team, led by the Inspector- General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, at

the Force Headquarters in Abuja. The members of the committee are: Director, Special Duties in the Ministry of Police Affairs, (Chairman); representative of NPF (Vice Chairman); Director, Finance and Account, Director; PID, Director; PSD, three other representatives of NPF, the ministry’s Legal Adviser and heads of Budget Division, Internal

L-R: Representative of IFAD President, Dr. Ides Willebois; Chairman, Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. Mr. Mohammed Abu-Ghazaleh; representative of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Mr. Jeff Raikes, Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina; President Goodluck Jonathan; Former UN Secretary-General, Dr. Kofi Annan and President, African Development Bank, Dr. Donald Kaberuka, after the inaugural meeting of Presidential Eminent Persons Group on Agriculture in Geneva, Switzerland, yesterday. PHOTO: STATE HOUSE

Audit and External Audit and a Secretary. The committee’s terms of reference are: *To ascertain the amount of funds appropriated by the Federal Government of Nigeria to the NPF for renovations/upgrade of the Nigeria Police Institutions between 2009 and 2012 and total donations received in the period under review. *To examine the budget proposed/appropriated by NPF for the Training Institutions between 2009 and 2012. *To verify the utilisation of the appropriation to the NPF for the upgrade of facilities in the Detective College, Enugu; PMF Training Schools Gwoza and Illa Oragun; ATS Training School, Nonwa Tai and Police Colleges at Ikeja, Kaduna, Maiduguri, Oji-River, and PTS Iperu. *To ascertain if the Heads of the NPF formations were regularly updating the NPF Management on the conditions of the Institutions between 2009 and 2012 and what actions were taken by the management of NPF sequel to such;

*To examine the design and capacity of the institutions vis-à-vis the current number of intakes; * To examine the current condition of infrastructure in all the NPF training institutions and make appropriate recommendations to government; *To consider any other matter relevant. It has up to Tuesday, January 29, 2013 to submit its report. National Mirror findings however revealed that the colleges got about N510m annually between 2009 and 2012. Channels Television, a private news channel, had last week beamed its searchlight on the dwindling fortunes of the Police College in Lagos where it showed a decrepit shooting range, dormitories that were hardly fit for human habitation and other dilapidated infrastructure in the school. The report also uncovered how police trainees were being fed on N150 per day, despite the huge budgetary allocation of N311bn CONTINUED ON PAGE 5>>

Presidency lobbies former militants with oil contracts CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

deal was being spearheaded by a notable Ijaw leader (name withheld). It was gathered that the Presidency mandated the team to persuade the exmilitant leaders and other opponents of President Jonathan to stop their attacks on the President. National Mirror learnt that the Chief of Staff to the President, Mr. Mike Oghiadomhe, met with the President of the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Front, Alhaji Murjaheed AsariDokubo, in Abuja in a move designed to persuade the exmilitant leaders to sheathe his swords and reconcile with President Jonathan. Findings showed that only Asari-Dokubo attended the meeting. It was gathered that the Presidency, which was uncomfortable with the recent attacks on Jonathan by Asari-Dokubo, especially as it affected the chances of the Nigerian leader to seek re-election in 2015, directed Oghiadomhe to prevail on

the ex-fighter to end his vitrolic attacks. Reliable sources in the Presidency told National Mirror last night that yesterday’s meeting served as a prelude to the general meeting between the Presidency and an enlarged forum of the ex-militant commanders in order to forge a truce and repair the damaged relationship between Jonathan and the former warlords. Although the agenda of yesterday’s meeting was not made public, National Mirror gathered that Oghiadomhe discussed the festering issue of renewal of the multi-million dollar oil pipeline surveillance contracts, which was the source of anger of the ex-militants, with AsariDokubo and assured him that Jonathan was ready to renew the controversial contracts, which were due since February 2012, without further delay. The presidential aide also persuaded Asari-Dokubo to prevail on his colleagues to

desist from further attacks on the President, assuring that Jonathan would soon meet with them to enable them formally present their grievances to him. Asari-Dokubo confirmed that he had an audience with Oghiadomhe in Abuja in a telephone interview with National Mirror last night. He said the meeting was “private and personal”, adding that it had no bearing with the Presidency. “Yes, I had a meeting with the Chief of Staff to the President today (yesterday) but it was private and personal. The Chief of Staff is a long standing friend of mine. People are free to insinuate anything but we only discussed issues of personal and mutual benefits,” he added. It will be recalled that leaders of notable ethnic nationalities and ex-Ijaw warlords in the region had lately scored Jonathan low on performance and delivery of democratic dividends to his kinsmen in the

region. Asari-Dokubo had said that the re-election of President Jonathan in 2015 was doubtful due to his lacklustre performance, especially in the region. Also, other notable exfighters, particularly Chief Ateke Tom and Mr. Ebikabowei Victor Ben, a.k.a Boyloaf, in a recent publication, lamented that President Jonathan had squandered the goodwill that heralded his ascendancy to the Presidency in 2011. The ex-militant leaders had threatened to withdraw their support for the re-election of Jonathan in 2015. The Ijaw National Congress, INC, the umbrella body of the ethnic nationality, had also asked the President to forget his re-election in 2015. A source in the Presidency, who did not want his name mentioned, told National Mirror that “the Commander-in-Chief (Jonathan) is worried about his downward trend in his popularity rating in the Niger Delta.

“The Presidency is disturbed that virtually all the ex-militant commanders who had once threatened to make the country ungovernable if he is not re-elected are today singing a new tune that he is not qualified for re-election due to his alleged unenviable performance. “It is more worrisome that some ethnic leaders, including the Ijaw National Congress, INC, have joined the fray, insisting that the President should not be reelected and threatened not to support him in his bid to seek a second term mandate. “This trend is worrisome to the Presidency and Mr. President is greatly unhappy that his own kinsmen are the one championing the campaign that he is not fit for a second term ticket. “Hence the Presidency has raised a team headed by a prominent South/ South leader to placate all aggrieved parties in the region to ceasefire and remain steadfast with Mr. President in the high wire politicking ahead of the

2015 election. “We are aware that the team has met with some exmilitant leaders in Abuja to persuade them to halt further attacks on Mr. President. “The Presidency has also enticed the ex-militant leaders with the carrots of renewal of their oil protection pipelines contract, which the President has refused to renew since it expired in February 2012. “The presidential team is also expected to reach out to the aggrieved ethnic leaders to reduce the attacks on Mr. President by his kinsmen in the Niger Delta.” Meanwhile, a former Governor of Edo State, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, has lamented that the Peoples Democratic Party-led Presidency has failed the country. Odigie-Oyegun, who is also the National Chairman of the South-South Peoples Assembly, a multi-faceted socio-cultural group with political undertones in the CONTINUED ON PAGE 5>>

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

PAGE

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Midweek Interview Delta State Governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, has denied reports that the governors are at loggerheads with President Jonathan Goodluck over the control of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In this interview, he also speaks on ‘Delta Beyond Oil’, kidnapping, Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and other issues. SAM OLUWALANA reports. Your administration launched an initiative tagged “Delta Without Oil”, what level is the policy at the moment? We started with “Delta Without Oil”, but it is now “Delta Beyond Oil.” It simply means economic agenda that will develop other areas of the economy, different from oil and gas, but using the current funds coming from oil and gas to develop the other areas, especially in the areas of agriculture and solid minerals. In terms of agriculture, we have our emphasis on the value chain by being able to encourage our farmers at the local level to produce so much. First, to feed ourselves. It is very important that we are able to feed ourselves and then we produce extra for economic gain. When we are talking of the value chain, we are talking of a situation where the farmer produces cassava and there is a system that ensures that for the fact that he produces it, it is taken off and processed. That is where the issue of processing comes in. We have a value chain from the farmer to the processing and packaging. We are encouraging the peasant farmers and large investors that will bring in cassava processing machines. I just used cassava as an example. We are using the economic agenda, believing that crude oil is a commodity that is very volatile. We are not sure of the price of oil at any particular time and that will affect the state and national economies. It can also finish with time and we may not have the oil again. What happens? That is why, we, as a state, put in place the economic agenda. So that in the future, with or without oil, we can survive. I am glad that all over now, in Nigeria, everybody is talking of Nigeria beyond oil. Specifically, what we did was to put up three-point agenda of peace and security, infrastructural development and human capital development, with the ultimate goal of job creation. We tried to ensure peace and security through engagement and of course, enforcement of law and order. We are engaging those who are involved in peace and security issues. While engaging them, we must ensure that there is law and order, which we achieved through the Joint Task Force (JTF) of the Federal Government and our various law courts. In the area of infrastructure, we have two components: infrastructure that will attract businesses, big or small. In this area, we are talking of power, transportation, roads, airport, seaport, ICT and Industrial Parks. We also have the special infrastructure: education, water, public transportation, which we are deeply involved in, through tricycles, taxis and buses for our people. Also, there is health infrastructure, comprising primary healthcare centres and hospitals, which are more of social infrastructure. The third aspect is the masterplan development, in which the structures and strategies recognise that the human being starts from the day of conception, until it becomes a baby and you must take care of the union. We also put that into consideration and that is the basis for our free maternal health care, to ensure that every woman, who is pregnant, has access to quality health care. So that the woman will have the opportunity of giving birth to a quality child and the quality child is taken care of, health wise, by the state for five years. We have our free Under-5 free health care services. After that, the child goes to school. We ensure that the child has the opportunity to attend school. We have

PDP govs not at war with Jonathan – Uduaghan We also have comparative advantage as a state, in the areas of culture and tourism. We have a lot of cultural sites. We have Delta Tourism Park that we are developing. One other tourist area is medical tourism. The average Nigerian that goes to India, goes with at least one person. Most times, two people. When they get to India, those two people will stay in a place, either in a hotel or a guest house. As a state too, that is why we are developing our health sector, to be up to standard. So that people will also be coming from other places for their treatment. In our teaching hospital in Oghara, we are doing some surgeries that are not done in any other hospital in Nigeria. We will soon be doing kidney transplant so that our people do not have to go outside Nigeria for treatment.

Uduaghan

WE ARE DEVELOPING OUR HEALTH SECTOR, TO BE UP TO STANDARD. SO THAT PEOPLE WILL ALSO BE COMING FROM OTHER PLACES FOR THEIR TREATMENT a free educational system, up to secondary school level. We also pay for WAEC and NECO. By the time you finish secondary school, you have the opportunity of going to the university. We ease the burden through scholarship scheme. For those who are intelligent, we have another scholarship that we give, while in the university, even for Law students and those studying Aviation. By the time you finish your university and you make First Class, we will offer you automatic scholarship, involving N5 million every year, to study in any part of the world. We have the coordinated programmes. We are preparing for an industrial revolution in Delta State. The ultimate is job creation. In Europe, many governments have fallen because of lack of jobs. The issue in Obama’s election was job creation. Today, nationally, the issue is also about job creation. The industries will help to create jobs, but these are long term issues. We have the microcredit scheme for Small and Medium Scale Enterprises. These are quick wins we could employ. We want an economy that is not totally dependent on oil. We do not mind the oil, as long as it lasts. When it is not there, we should be able to survive.

What was your experience like, during the kidnap of Prof. Kamene Okonjo, the mother of Nigeria’s Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala? The truth is that every human being is important. Every human being kidnapped is a big challenge. Of course, there are still some human beings that give more challenge, if anything happens to them. While her own was more challenging, first, she is from the royalty; the wife of a prominent traditional ruler in Delta State. It is not just about the minister, but about the fact that the kidnappers went inside the palace to abduct a queen. It was very challenging. Even managing the community was also challenging. I did not know that Okonjo-Iweala was well known worldwide. That incident made me to know she is an international figure, than we imagined. I do hope that one day; we will take advantage of the international status. Her mother’s kidnap was challenging and a big dent on us as a state and also as Nigerians. Do you believe in death penalty for kidnappers? As a person, I do not believe in death penalty for kidnappers. The crime has never been solved by death penalty. First, death penalty leads to more desperation. Secondly, notable people have been unnecessarily killed and the evidence brought to the court, sometimes, is not accurate and innocent people are sentenced to death. Thirdly, we have the right to life. Public execution in Nigeria did not stop armed robbery. Kidnapping is a big challenge to us. It has become easier than armed robbery. There is no dividing line between the two. For me, a kidnapper is an armed robber. Instead of stealing money, he is stealing human beings and forcing people to negotiate. It is another form of armed robbery. When will your administration’s power plant be ready? By the end of this year, the power plant will be ready. We still have the challenge of transmission. The Federal Government is still totally in charge of transmission of power. Our hope is that when we start generating power, the people of Delta State should be the beneficiaries, rather than just take it to the national grid. Are you comfortable with the current crisis over the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) before the National Assembly? The development is very unfortunate. Because of the crude oil exploratory activities, there has been a lot of environmental damage in the Niger Delta. CONTINUED ON PAGE 15

Photo News

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

L-R: Solicitor General , Ministry of Justice, Alhaji Abdullahi Yola; Minister of State for Finance, Dr, Yerima Ngama and the Vice-President Namadi Sambo, during a meeting on National Council on Privatization at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, yesterday.

L-R: Ogun State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Yusuph Olaniyonu; Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Mrs. Oluwande Muoyo, Special Adviser to the Governor on Taxation, Wale Ogunyomade and Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, at the 2013 budget breakdown session in Abeokuta, yesterday.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

L-R: Director General of National Agency for the Control of AIDS, Prof. John Idoko; Country Lead Measure Evaluation, Mr. Samson Bamidele and Programme Director, Enhancing the National Response on HIV/AIDS, Dr. Sylvia Adebayo, during the commissioning of National HIV/ AIDS Resource Centre in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA

L-R: Oyo State Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs. Atinuke Osunkoya; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Women Affairs, Mrs. Folusho Sali and Director, Community Development, Mrs. Christy Popoola, PHOTO: NAN at a workshop commemorating Community Development Day in Ibadan, yesterday.

National news

Sultan, Oritsejafor condemn attack on Emir of Kano OBIORA IFOH AND OLUFEMI ADEOSUN ABUJA

he Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) yesterday described last weekend’s attack on the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, as a disturbing phenomenon. President-General of NSCIA, Alhaji Saad Abubakar, in a statement signed by Ustaz Amin Igwegbe, Director of Administration in Abuja, condemned the attack on the Emir, describing it as senseless and irresponsible. “His Eminence, Alhaji Saad Abubakar, the Sultan of Sokoto and PresidentGeneral NSCIA and the entire Muslim Ummah in Nigeria whole heartedly condemn the inhuman attack on the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero,” the statement said. He described the attack as “incomprehensible, irresponsible and a sense-

• Buhari, CPC’s comments reckless, says Presidency less gun attack on one of the most revered traditional rulers in the country.’ The statement described the traditional institution in Nigeria as a non- partisan institution that had been a great rallying point for the NSCIA. It appealed to security agencies at all levels to intensify investigations into that act of terrorism and extremism with a view to bringing the culprits to book. “We hereby reiterate the statement made earlier by His Eminence, saying the good people of Nigeria should team up and fight the evil ones among us. “Nothing within any religion, certainly not within Islamic teachings, allows for the support of evil, in any form, for any purpose,” he said. The President CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, also condemned the attack on the Emir, noting that

the incident is disturbing and utterly condemnable. Oritsejafor, in a statement by his Media Assistant, Mr. Kenny Ashaka, explained that the series of bombing in the country, coupled with the attack on the Octogenarian traditional ruler was indication that the Federal Government needed to do more in securing the people. He said: “This attack reinforces CAN’s call to the Federal Government on the need to do more in the area of securing Nigerians and Nigeria. “Although Nigerians are yet to know those behind the barbaric act, I want to, again, appeal to northern political, religious and traditional leaders to say and do more in order to, practically, engage those responsible for the ‘madness’ going on in northern Nigeria and find ways to help end this nightmare. According to him, since the orchestrated

onslaught began, a good number of innocent lives had been lost in the bizarre manner and without any tenable excuses. “Too many innocent lives have been lost in unexplainable and avoidable circumstances and this reminds us of victims of bombed Churches and those who have been killed by gunmen in their homes and places of worship. “I will like to remind Nigerians of my call to join me in fasting and prayers on the last Friday of every month, beginning from Friday, the 25th of January, 2013. Nigerians should pray for God’s mercy, an end to wickedness and peace over our dear nation,” he said. While wishing the Emir, his two sons and others injured in the attack quick recovery, he condoled the families of the local council chairman, the emir’s driver and the three body guards killed in the attack. Aregbesola advocated

for a conscious youth employment policy to be jointly powered by the Federal Government and the 36 states of the federation as a major strategy towards solving the rising insurgency in the country. Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State also condemned the attack on Ado Bayero, described the assassination attempt as unconscionable and sacrilegious. Lamenting what he described as a total paralysis of the social and economic activities caused by the activities of the insurgents, the governor said a palpable atmosphere of fear pervades the nation now as fallout of the unending spate of violence unleashed on the people of the people. “We condemn this unconscionable attack on an octogenarian who is also a traditional ruler in very strong terms. It is un-African and against all known religious doctrines. It

should call for the concern of all patriots,” he said. Saying that he is very conscious of the Federal Government’s containment programme, Aregbesola said: “We must be frank with ourselves to admit that containment alone of whatever nature and degree cannot solve these challenges.” Meanwhile, the Presidency yesterday flayed the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, describing his comment on the attack on the Emir of Kano as reckless and opportunistic. It also cautioned against politicizing the attack on the monarch, explaining that the comments by Buhari, CPC and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) are irresponsible. The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, said the statements credited to Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and CPC are unfortunate, reckless and opportunistic.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

News

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Ministers, CBN gov shun Reps’ hearing on SURE-P CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

They are the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Dieziani Alison-Madueke; Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; the Minister of Transportation, Abdullahi Umar; the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu; the Minister of Niger Delta , Mr. Godsday Orubebe and the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu. Also the AccountantGeneral of the Federation, Mr. Jonah Otunla and the Chairman of SURE-P, Dr. Christopher Kolade, were absent at the hearing. The absence of the critical stakeholders stalled the public hearing on the implementation of SURE-P. The invitees are mandated to ensure that the programme delivers on the presidential promise of utilising the money realised from the partial removal of subsidy to provide hospitals, ease transportation and repair the East-West Road

in the Niger Delta. The House Committees on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), Finance and States and Local Government mandated to look into the implementation level of the SURE-P, through the Joint Committee Chairman, Hon. Dakuku Peterside, condemned what he claimed was a “deliberate decision of the ministers not to honour the invitation of the House” to the hearing. After the co-chairmen agreed with Peterside, who heads the Petroleum Committee (Downstream), that the absence of the invitees was deliberate, the hearing was postponed till February 12. Peterside, who spoke on behalf of the committees, however, warned the ministers and others to desist from disrespecting resolutions or invitations of the House or face dire consequences. He said the House would no longer condone insubordination from the

Presidency lobbies former militants with oil contracts CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

region, said the performance of the Presidency was abysmal. The ex-governor, who spoke in a telephone interview with National Mirror yesterday, asked the President to give priority attention to key projects in the South-South. He said: “This opportunity may not come again soon for the South-South to produce the president of the country and people will challenge him (Jonathan) as soon as he comes out of office about what he was able to do for them. “Jonathan should change the psychology and get a bit more parochial towards the South-South in providing infrastructure for the area. He should attend to the projects in the South-South to convince the people of the area that they do indeed have a South-South presidency. “But generally, I am not satisfied with the state of the entire country under the PDP leadership. They have totally lost it if they had it at all. I am very sad at what PDP has done to the nation. I am greatly unhappy with the leadership

of PDP because it is not responsive to the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians and I am also bothered about the level of impunity. “The security is zero or how do you justify the attack on the venerable and respected Emir of Kano, Ado Bayero? What could have possessed them to the extent of attacking such an old man? Why? “We have challenges that the PDP leadership is toying with. For instance, electricity supply has nosedived again in the past few months. “The PDP leadership should take up these challenges rather than stealing money. They are stealing pensioners’ funds here and there. The PDP is not viable for re-election. They can only be re-elected if we in the opposition fail our people by refusing to listen to them. “Nigerian people are saying team together and save us. That is the message. If we ignore the people, we too will be part of the conspiracy. I think they have no more clues, they are totally lost and we don’t want them to destroy the country.”

heads of the affected ministries or agencies. His words: “We are absolutely not happy with the development today. You may observe that all the ministers who should be here are not here. All the ministers we invited have intentionally refused to come. “These people have in-

tentional disrespect for the parliament and the proceedings of the parliament and this is unacceptable to us. Because any attempt to disrespect the parliament will not be acceptable. “If you don’t want to be in the public light, then better stay in your house, because this intentional

act of disrespect will not be condoned at all. “In the light of this disrespect, we will not proceed with the hearing.” The committee noted that Kolade had, however, given “a reasonable” excuse on why he could not appear yesterday before the panel. But the Director-Gen-

eral of Budget Office, Dr. Bright Okogwu and others who appeared were not allowed to make their presentations. It will be recalled that the House had in the light of the alleged lull in the implementation of SUREP, passed a motion mandating the committees to look into the programme.

Guest speakers: President Olusegun Obasanjo (third right) and former Ghanaian President, John Kufour (right) and Niger State delegates to the second AGCO Africa Summit in Berlin Germany on Monday.

FG probes decay in police colleges, others CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

to the force in the 2013 budget. In a brief chat with journalists yesterday, Olubolade, who confirmed his meeting with the IG, however, declined to make any comment on the rot in the Lagos Police College. He said as a responsible manager of men and resources, he was bound to take action based on any media report on the police. The minister added the ministry and the force would also examine the state of police training institutions and reposition them. “Whatever is in the news that has to do with the police, it is our duty to address it. That is what is important and some of the discussions we had were not only on police colleges but also on how to fight crimes, kidnappings, criminality and terrorism. “We also looked at their (police) training and institutions because solving police colleges problems alone is not enough. We will solve problems of police colleges and training institutions, including the Police Acad-

emy in Kano and the Staff College in Jos. Once we address those issues, we will be making better progress. “In all, if you can ask me, this meeting was aimed at repositioning the police to attend to training matters; to attend to operational matters so that this year we will see a better policing in Nigeria. “I am here to interact with the IG and his management team and look at the lapses that may exist and how we will surmount them because it is a joint effort and I think it is critical to do that. “Ordinarily, I would have called this meeting at the Ministry of Police Affairs but once I have a management team, I like to do leg stretch and come around and see the environment and he (IG) is making some progress in certain areas and we also want to have a look at them,” the minister added. On whether he was probed by the Presidency on the state of the college, the minister said he was not summoned to the Presidential Villa on Monday, stressing that he was there

on a routine visit. He said: “I went to the Presidency (on Monday) to see the Chief of Staff and that is a regular routine thing that we do because Mr. President is also away. “I also paid a similar visit to the Vice-President so that at both ends if there are issues that we need to act on immediately, we can hear it and act on them.” Olubolade also promised that the force had braced for the challenges confronting it and that this year, Nigerians would have more faith in the police. “Nigerians should expect a highly professional police force that will stand up and face the challenges confronting our nation and to do that, I have to constantly hold talks with the management team headed by the IGP as many times as possible to ensure that we are on course; to ensure that whatever we ask for to make the police force more efficient is given to us and to ensure that we are making good progress in fighting crime, criminality and terrorism,” he said.

On Monday, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, Senator Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan, ANPP, Yobe North, had said the upper chamber would summon the police authorities to explain how funds appropriated to the college were utilised. He added that the investigation by his committee would go beyond the Police College, Ikeja, to find a lasting solution to the rot in the police as an institution. “I don’t have any figure offhand as to how much has been appropriated. But one thing is very certain and clear from the visit of Mr. President to the police college in Lagos that some agencies of government have not been living up to expectations. “The public accounts committee has already taken some steps to ensure that the police authorities appear before the committee to explain the utilisation of the funds appropriated particularly to the college. But we are also expanding beyond the college because this is a sign that all is not okay with the police organisation.”

National News

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Retaining MPR at 12% not good for economy –LCCI JOHNSON OKANLAWON

he Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry has flayed the decision of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to retain the current regime of tight monetary policy. The CBN retained the Monetary Policy Rate at 12 per cent with a corridor of +/- 200 basis points, the Cash Reserve Ratio at 12 per cent and the Liquidity Ratio at 30 per cent on the medium and long term effects on the economy. In a statement, the LCCI President, Alhaji Muda Yusuf, noted that all policy tools – monetary and fis-

cal - should be deployed to stimulate the economy. According to him, low inflation and robust reserves are good, but they are not an end in themselves; they are means to an end. He said: “The ultimate objective is to strengthen the economy and improve the welfare of citizens. The fixation of the CBN for curbing inflation and building reserves is, in our view, disproportionate. “The economy faces the risk of stagnation if financial resources are largely available only to the political class, the bureaucrats (and their cronies) and public sector institutions at the expense of investors.”

Get redress for deportees from Spain, Senate asks govt GEORGE OJI ABUJA

he Senate has asked the Federal Government to press for redress and restitution on behalf of the 14 Nigerians recently deported from Spain but found not culpable for the offences alleged against them. The Spanish authorities last year deported 27 Nigerians, but after a combined investigation by the police, State Security Service, SSS, Nigeria Immigration Service and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, 14 of them were innocent of the offences for which they were deported. However, following a

motion yesterday on the, “incessant unfair treatment and harassment of Nigerians in foreign countries,” the Senate passed a resolution urging the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to strengthen the consular services in the country’s missions abroad. This is to increase their capacity to protect Nigerians in distress and ensure prompt legal advice is provided for them where necessary. The red chamber also asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Nigerian embassies across the world to be more proactive in matters affecting Nigerians in such countries whenever they were in distress.

L-R: Minister of Water Resources, Mrs. Sarah Ochekpe; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, Mr. Linus Awute; member, Council of Nigerian Mining Engineers and Geoscientists, Prof. Morufu Rahaman and President, Nigerian Mining and Geoscientists, Mr. Akin George, at a stakeholders’ forum on Mapping of Fresh Water Aquifers in Coastal Nigeria, in Abuja yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

Private sector’ll fund centenary projects –FG GEORGE OJI ABUJA

he Federal Government said the projects earmarked for Nigeria’s centenary anniversary would be funded purely by the private sector. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Anyim Pius Anyim, disclosed this while briefing senators at the National Assembly on the centenary project yesterday. He said: “The entire projects would be private sector driven. And at no time will the Federal Government put any funds into it.” Apparently not pleased with the idea of the private sector funding the entire

Reinstate Odah with full benefits, court orders NLC EMMANUEL ONANI ABUJA

he National Industrial Court, NIC, Abuja, yesterday directed the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, to reinstate its sacked General Secretary, Mr. John Odah, not later than January 31. The court also ordered the restoration and payment of Odah’s full rights, benefits and privileges accruable to the office of the General Secretary from June 2011 (when he was sacked) up to the time of his reinstatement.

NLC President, Omar

President of NIC, Justice B. A. Adejumo’s order was an adoption of terms of settlement between the NLC and Odah. The terms of settle-

ment jointly signed by all the parties included: that Odah would be deemed to have maintained unbroken record of service with the NLC since his employment in 1987, until his disengagement. Also, at the time of his resumption in office, Odah shall be given befitting welcome by the congress with wide publicity. Upon resumption, Odah will be expected to deliver his three months notice of voluntary retirement from service and on the same day proceed or deemed to have proceeded on retirement leave.

project, Senate President David Mark said there was no need therefore for the briefing by the SGF since it was merely for the attention of the lawmakers. He said: “Truly then we have no reason for this briefing. Because where do we participate and how do we come in? “It is an entirely a private sector commercial exercise or business. If the idea is just to keep us abreast of what government is doing then, there is no need for question and answer or further discussion. “But my worry is let it not appear that somewhere along the line we have been committed and then there is financial involvement.

“I have looked at some of the programmes, we are going to move youths from all over the country and bring them to Abuja here for celebration. Just as a basic question, who is going to pay those youths and who is going to look after them? “I agree entirely with you and I believe you that it is a whole private sector-driven exercise and we have heard it. “There is very little that we can do because if you call a businessman and say put a national and ultra-modern national conference centre in Lokoja and he says yes, historically that is good but that is not my commercial concept or

interest then you can’t do anything. “So I am just worried that if truly it is private sector-driven, then we will conclude this briefing as quickly as possible. “But if there are suggestions that we want to make then we can get a committee and they can make suggestions and give to the businessmen. If they are interested, they buy. If they are not interested, they don’t buy.” In his response, Anyim disagreed with Mark’s position, stressing that the essence of the briefing was to elicit the input of the lawmakers into the programme.

Kaduna, Afam power firms: Bidders get Jan 31 deadline ROTIMI FADEYI ABUJA

he National Council on Privatisation, NCP, yesterday gave pre-qualified bidders for the distribution company in Kaduna and generating company in Afam, Rivers State till January 31 to indicate interest. Briefing State House Correspondents yesterday after the first meeting of the NCP presided over by Vice-President Namadi Sambo the Chair-

man, Technical Committee of the council, Atedo Peterside, disclosed that the council would only commence transaction timetable with preferred bidders who indicated interest. He said: “As soon as it is January 31, at the close of business at 5p.m, we will then know those who are interested. “It is with those people that have expressed interest that we will now commence the transaction timetable. “A day or two after they

expressed interest, those that have expressed interest will be given transaction documents and begin the process which would continue and lead to them submitting bids.” Peterside added that during the meeting, a work plan for 2013 was submitted to the council by the Bureau for Public Enterprises, BPE. The chairman, however, refused to give details of the work plan, saying that the work plan was subject to discussion and modification.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

News

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Strike: No going back on Jan 31 deadline –NUT IJEOMA EZEIKE ABUJA

he Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, yesterday said there will be no going back on its earlier warning to embark on an indefinite strike action in the states that are yet to implement the new teachers’ salary structure. NUT President, Comrade Michael Alogba Olukoya, spoke with journalists in Abuja shortly after the 2013 edition of the union’s solemn assembly held its National Headquarters, Lugbe, in the federal capital territory. He warned that at the expiration of the January 31 deadline issued the 18 states yet to implement the 27.5 per cent enhanced salary, the National Executive Council of the union would direct its members in the affected states to embark on indefinite strike. Some of the states yet to implement the new salary structure for primary

school teachers include Cross River, Kebbi, Lagos, Ekiti, Katsina, Zamfara, Niger, Abia, Nasarawa, Enugu, Benue, Kogi and Delta. He said the teachers have been patient enough after the Governors’ Forum approved the new Teachers’ Salary Structure, TSS, for public schools in 2009. Olukoya, appealed to the affected state governments to ensure that teachers in their states are paid all their entitlements this month in order to avoid unpleasant consequences. He also decried the decision of the Bauchi State government to sack about 10, 000 teachers for acquiring National Teachers’ Institute, NTI, certificate as basic teaching qualification. He said the issue of NTI certificate was a matter of law and a recognised teacher-training institution in the country. He, therefore, urged the state government to with-

draw its sack letters and allow the affected teachers go back to their work. The NUT President, who also spoke on the lingering crisis in Plateau State, said the leadership of the union has approved the decision of the teachers in the state to

return back to the trenches. He said after the Federal Government waded into the crisis in the state to end the industrial action by the workers, it was agreed that all workers be paid three months salaries in the first instance.

He said NUT was miffed to gather that the state government refused to include teachers in the payment of the three months arrears paid to other category workers in the state. He warned that NUT would not sit down and

watch teachers being treated with ignominy as “second class citizens”. Meanwhile, various speakers at the solemn assembly called on the federal and state governments to take the issue of welfare of teachers seriously.

L-R: Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Senator Ike Ekweremadu; Secretary-General, Mohamed Diakite and fourth Deputy Speaker, Hon. Michael Teye, during a special meeting on the Malian crisis by the Conference of Bureau of the ECOWAS Parliament in Abuja, Monday.

Northern presidency won’t stop Boko Haram –Cleric ITF seeks N4bn to upgrade 2015: F O skills centre EMI YEWESO ABEOKUTA

OLUFEMI ADEOSUN ABUJA

he Industrial Training Fund, ITF, is seeking additional N4billion to improve the facilities in its Abuja Model Skills Acquisition Centre to enable it expand the scope of the programme. The training centre, which was established and patterned after Singapore’s Institute of Technical Education, currently has 450 students running different programmes. Although, the centre was originally conceived to accommodate 35 trades, it currently runs five programmes due to financial constraints. Speaking during the facility tour of the centre by the Singapore High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Shabbir Hassanbhai, the Director-General, ITF, Prof. Longmas Wapmuk, lamented that the centre could not effectively implement the original design of the programme largely due to space and financial constraints. He explained that the desire of the centre was to accommodate 15 programmes

as against five because the institute lacked the needed facilities. “We in the ITF desire that we should have a bigger centre here in Abuja. Our desire is to expand the centre to accommodate more trades. Our idea is to be offering programmes in more than 15 trade areas, but for lack of space and inadequacy of funds, we make do with the available space which is meant for five trades. “I wanted more programmes to run but the Institute of Technical Education said it cannot take more than five. For us to have a centre that will accommodate all the trades, we will need about N4 billion to acquire new facilities and expand services for our students,” he further stated. In his remarks, the Singaporean envoy, Mr. Shabbir Hassabhai, expressed satisfaction at the services being rendered so far at the centre and promised his country’s readiness to continue to render technical assistance to the country in the areas of vocational and skill acquisition programmes.

he Catholic Church yesterday said that a northern presidency would not stop the Boko Haram onslaught against the country. The Diocesan Administrator of the Catholic Diocese of Abeokuta, Monsignor Christopher Ajala, made this declaration yesterday at a press conference organised as part of activities marking the 15th anniversary of the creation of the diocese. Ajala, who made reference to the recent attack suffered by the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, in which four people were killed, said Boko Haram agitations were be-

yond conceding the presidency to a northerner to lead the country as panacea to ending the sect’s agitation. “It is very clear now that it’s not the northern leaders that are responsible. If the Emir of Kano could be attacked, then anybody could also be attacked. So, it’s not just a northern leader leading us; that’s not the issue.” The Catholic priest, who said Boko Haram has its objectives, further charged that Nigerians should collectively be united in fighting the dreaded sect irrespective of whichever region they come from. “All of us should join hands together to fight this evil. Book Haram is not just a religious affair, it’s political.

People have been saying that. And well beyond that is that it is an international organisation and well established and so, it cannot just be got rid of overnight. It’s a well planned thing and they are just executing their plans.” The priest also warned the country’s leadership against dialogue with the group because they had been linked with the civil war going on in Mali. “What is happening in Mali is being linked to Boko Haram and some of the violence in the north. Some of our soldiers were attacked in Okene and they claimed that they were doing it in order to stop Nigeria from going to Mali. “I will not support dia-

logue. These are people we cannot identify; these are people we cannot sit down at the same table to discuss. But if it is a religious affair, I’m sure we can dialogue. Dialogue is going on among the religious leaders in Nigeria. Even last week, we had the conference of religious leaders where Muslims and Christians sat together and deliberated on state of affairs in the country. “Major-General Muhammadu Buhari said he’s not part of them, so he will not know their mind; that’s what he’s saying. So, who are we going to dialogue with? Chief Olusegun Obasanjo suggested that we should do that… the man that he visited was killed. He’s not even sure of the people to dialogue with”.

Nigeria gets national HIV/AIDS centre MARCUS FATUNMOLE ABUJA

he Federal Government has launched a National HIV/ AIDS Resource Centre, a centre that will serve as a clearing house and repository of national and state level information on HIV/ AIDS and related health conditions. Launching the centre in Abuja, yesterday, Director General, National

Agency for the Control of AIDS, NACA, Prof. John Idoko, said: “The central clearing-house and virtual network would support an online searchable database of information, research outcomes, training manuals, operating plans, reports, tools developed by researchers, bilateral organisations, funders, implementing partners that could be accessed by all stakeholders.” The director-general

lamented the challenges of accessing research outputs for stakeholders involved in the national HIV/AIDS response, stressing that “knowledge and information lack value unless they are used systematically to inform decisions to improve health outcomes. “Virtual NHRC will be a key tool for strengthening NACA’s ability to manage information as well as create a community of

practice around monitoring and evaluation and operations research. “This latter function will build capacities of state-level practitioners and programme managers while providing information on cost effective approaches and programme impact,” Idoko noted. According to him, access to quality data does not necessarily translate into the use of data.

South West

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

N47.1bn theft: Lagos CJ re-assigns Akingbola’s case KENNY ODUNUKAN

he Lagos State Chief Judge, Justice Ayotunde Phillips, has re-assigned the case file of former Managing Director of Intercontinental Bank Plc, Erastus Akingbola, to another judge. The new judge is Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo of the Ikeja High Court. This follows the eleva-

tion of the former trial judge, Justice Habeeb Abiru, to a higher Bench about three months ago. It was gathered that from reliable sources at Ikeja judiciary that the CJ had on January 16 reassigned the case file to Onigbanjo. It was also learnt that fresh notices of new criminal trial will soon be issued to the parties in the case. By this move, specula-

tions that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, may have decided to tacitly withdraw the charges against Akingbola have been laid to rest. Akingbola is standing trial along with one Bayo Dada on a 22-count charge, bordering on conspiracy and alleged stealing of N47.1 billion belonging to Intercontinental Bank, now Access Bank Plc.

The EFCC arraigned Akingbola and his co-defendant before Abiru on May 31, 2011. Abiru had taken the evidence of the prosecution witnesses and the defendants were almost set to adopt their written addresses when he was elevated to the Court of Appeal on November 2, 2012. The position of the law on the authority of the Supreme Court decision in

Ogbuayinya versus Okudo, is that once a judge ceases to handle a matter by virtue of his elevation, retirement or removal from the Bench, he becomes functus officio. This principle, which was inherited under the common law of England, operates in Nigeria being a common law jurisdiction. The judge can longer hear the matter which by implication will com-

Lagos holds first sanitation exercise Saturday

Stop criticising us, PDP warns Ladoja KEMI OLAITAN IBADAN

he Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has asked former Governor of Oyo State, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, to stop what it called his “palongo dance” and join well-meaning citizens in addressing critical issues bordering on the welfare of the people. This is contained in a statement issued by the state Chairman of the party, Alhaji Olayinka Taiwo. Frowning at the incessant attack mounted against the party by Ladoja, Taiwo said whatever the problem in the PDP, the former governor contributed immensely to it. According to him, Ladoja has not realised that the bar of politicking has been raised in the state with the PDP engaging in raising critical socio-political issues rather than engaging in mudslinging. He said: “This ‘palongo’ dance does not befit a high chief; the cry of PDP this and PDP that can only further damage the dwindling political image of Chief Ladoja. “Let him use his position to speak for the masses as our party has been doing. Ladoja should face the enemy of the people, Ajimobi’s ACN and not our party.” The PDP chairman said the former governor had maintained “unpardonable silence on the pains and agony which the Senator Abiola Ajimobi led-administration is taking the masses of the people through”. Taiwo asked Ladoja “to tell the whole world his position on issues such as the massive demolition of shops and other properties where the poor people of Oyo State were making a living without any alternative whatsoever.

mence de novo (afresh) by another judge in the same jurisdiction. Consequently, the EFCC is expected to formally withdraw the charge and file a fresh one against Akingbola and his co-defendant, Dada, who may be re-arraigned before Onigbanjo soon.

L-R: Osun State Deputy governor, Mrs. Titi Laoye-Tomori, Governor Rauf Aregbesola and Speaker of the state House Assembly, Hon. Najeem Salam, at the presentation of 2013 budget speech to the Assembly in Osogbo, yesterday.

Virginity test: Ogun orders psychiatric test for Ajuwon principal

or conducting virginity test on some female students in her school last December, the Principal of Ajuwon Senior High School in Ifo Local Government, Ogun State, Rev. Olufunke Aladeojebi, will undergo psychiatric test to determine her mental state. The state government gave the directive, after considering an appraisal report submitted by a three-man panel headed by Alhaji Ambaliu Ishola, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education,

Science and Technology. The government accepted the recommendation that Mrs. Aladeojebi should be relieved of her appointment, if found to be of unsound mind while she should be demoted from grade level 16 to grade level 15 and recalled back to the Teaching Service Commission, TESCOM, headquarters if found to be sane. The government also accepted the panel’s recommendation that the two health workers who collaborated with the school

principal in carrying out the virginity test should be referred to the Ministry of Health for disciplinary action while they should be immediately redeployed from Ajuwon High School. The affected students are also to be referred to the State General Hospital for proper medical check-up and counselling while the Commissioner for Education, Mr. Segun Odubela and the TESCOM Chairman, Mr. Bukunola Onabanjo, have been directed to meet with and ad-

dress members of the Parent-Teacher Association, PTA, staff and students of Ajuwon High School to douse the tension generated by the virginity test. According to the state government, all teachers who have spent up to five years in the school including the affected guidance and counsellors are to be redeployed immediately. Commenting on the development, Odubela said “with these decisions, we have finally laid to rest the issue of virginity test in Ajuwon High School.

Let’s return to parliamentary system, says Aromolaran KEMI OLAITAN IBADAN

he Owa Obokun of Ijesaland, Oba Adekunle Aromolaran, has called for the return to the parliamentary system of government, because the present presidential system has retarded Nigeria’s progress. Aromolaran made the call while speaking with journalists after visiting the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi 111, over

the fire that gutted his palace. The monarch said the presidential system was too expensive and the country did not have the resources to sustain it. Condemning the agitation for creation of new states, Aromolaran said the present states had not brought any meaningful development to the people. According to him, instead of creating new states, some of the existing ones should be

merged. He said: “The creation of states generally is not a helpful item to pursue vigorously. In developed countries of Europe like Russia, Czechoslovakia, what you have now is people coming together, rather than separating. In unity lies strength. “Look at Nigeria, do we have the resources for all these things we are doing? We don’t have the resources. What is the purpose and joy in creating states

when roads are in a state of disrepair? When there is power failure, although, it is improving gradually? “We would have made progress with regionalism if we had not adopted this unreasonable American system of presidential government. When you are not as wealthy as America, why do you have to adopt an American system of government? This is a question every rational Nigerian should ask him or herself.”

his month’s Environmental Sanitation Exercise, the first in 2013, will hold in Lagos State from 7am to 10am on Saturday January 26. The Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, appealed to the residents of Lagos State to troop out en masse to actively participate in the sanitation exercise by cleaning their homes, drains in their frontages and totality of their environment. Bello explained that so much waste had been generated within the past few months particularly during the Christmas and New Year celebrations, as such cleaning must be carried out in all parts of the state. He also reminded Lagosians that global climatic weather conditions had become so unpredictable. Bello said the people should properly dispose their waste through the Lagos State Waste Mangement Agency, LAWMA, and authorised Private Sector Participant, PSP, operators. The commissioner warned the residents still patronising cart pushers to desist from the illegal act as the scope of the PSP operators had been increased to further accommodate more people. Bello disclosed that because of envisaged early rains this year, the Drainage Maintenance Department and Emergency Flood Abatement Department had commenced massive cleaning and dredging of drains and canals across the state. This, according to him, is to attain the state zero tolerance on flooding. The commissioner added that the ministry had continued the gradual lining of canals across the state from earth to lined channels to facilitate free flow of storm water as well as reduce siltation in the channels.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Rainstorm destroys schools, church HAKEEM GBADAMOSI AKURE

ainstorm on Monday night destroyed over 200 houses and other property worth several millions of naira in Owo, Ondo State. Among the property destroyed by the rainstorm, which lasted for about two hours, included public buildings, schools, shops and vehicles.

South West

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Some of the damaged property include St. Michael’s Methodist Church, block of classrooms at Imade College, General Hospital, Owo township stadium, St. Catherine’s Anglican Girls Grammar School building, among others. Electric poles and many three were not spared by the rainstorm. Many cars were also destroyed.

Carpenters were, however, seen yesterday in some areas like OkeOgun, Iloro, Ehin-Ogbe and Uka in the town fixing roofs of many of the damaged shops. Speaking during inspection of the affected areas, the Commissioner for Special Duties in Ondo State, Mr. Niran Sule-Akinsuyi, decried the extent of damage. He, therefore, called on relevant authorities and

agencies of government to come to the aid of the affected people. The Methodist Bishop of Owo, Bishop Solomon Adegbite described the impact of the rainstorm as terrible. Bishop Adegbite said no life was lost, but called on the state government and private individuals to come to the aid of those affected. The Principal of St. Catherine’s Anglican Grammar School, Mrs. Yinka Aruwajoye, also solicited the government’s help in rebuilding the dormitory and the school laboratory destroyed by the storm.

Lagos targets N317bn IGR MURITALA AYINLA

he Lagos State Government has said it is targeting N316.578 billion as its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), just as it plans to construct road networks to Dana Plane crash cenotaph in Iju-Ishaga area of IfakoIjaiye Local Government. The state Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr. Ben Akabueze, spoke yesterday at a press briefing on 2013 budget analysis held at the state secretariat in Alausa, Ikeja. Akabueze, accompanied by his Information as well as Strategy and Finance counterparts, Lateef Ibirogba and Adetokunbo Abiru, said the state also planned to construct asphalt plant to enhance

its periodic road maintenance. According to him, the proposed Internally Generated Revenue through the Lagos State Inland Revenue Service is N253.2 billion, dedicated revenue is N37.113 billion, while the target extra ordinary revenue is pegged at N4.512 billion. The revenue expected from the federal transfers is N117.250 billion out which statutory allocation is N59 billion. Value Added Tax (VAT) is N58 billion. The total revenue for the state in 2013, according to Akabueze, is N433.828 billion. The commissioner reiterated that the 2013 budget of 499.605 billion would be focused on the completion of several ongoing projects and some few one considered crucial.

Tinubu tasks corporate bodies on education growth KEMI OLAITAN IBADAN

V L-R: Lagos State Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr. Ben Akabueze; his Establishment and Training counterpart, Mrs. Florence Oguntuase and Special Adviser to the Governor on Economic Planning and Budget, Mrs. Iyabowale Aluko, during the 2013 budget analysis in Lagos, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

We are not govt’s agency –LSSTF MURITALA AYINLA

he Executive Secretary of the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF), Mr. Fola Author-Worrey, has said that the agency was not owned by the government. He described the trust fund as a private sector driven security intervention body set up to manage the resources voluntarily donated by public to beef up the security in the state. Author-Worrey dismissed the allegation by the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that the trust fund was a conduit pipe through which the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN)-led government siphons public funds, saying it was dangerous to politicise security issues. Mr. Arthur-Worrey, who said there was nothing like

security votes as some people say, explained that the near total neglect of the security outfits, especially the police, led to the establishment of the trust fund through which the security formations in Lagos State have enjoyed adequate provision and maintenance of equipment for over five years. He said: “The question we should ask is that: Do we really need trust fund in the first place if things had been done properly? In the last five years, we have provided 710 vehicles which include patrol vans, trucks for the security personnel in the state. “We have also provided 144 power bikes; 30 Armoured Personnel Carriers, 2 helicopters and several marine boats, bullet proof vests, helmet, walkie-talkies. We must ask how many vehicles has the Federal Government pro-

vided in the same period. “Neither the trust fund nor the Lagos State Government is charged constitutionally to play the role of funding the security outfits. “The trust fund was proactively established to close the resource gap, deficit of over a decade. “The Lagos Security Trust Fund is not government’s agency through which the state government can generate revenue, instead, the state collaborates with other corporate organisations and individuals to fund the security formations in the state. “We have been in business for five years. We have essentially run the trust fund on trust, that is why the donors grow yearly. If they say we are theoretical by operation, it means they do not understand our roles. Those who say we are not practical in our opera-

tion should meet the police across the state. Our audited accounts are always published at every stakeholders’ meeting and there is no year we don’t hold stakeholders’ forum.” It will be recalled that the Lagos chapter of the PDP earlier this week urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe the funding as well as other activities of the LSSTF, describing it as “more theoretical than practical”.

Gov. Fashola

ice-Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, yesterday said the funding of education should not be left to government alone, urging corporate bodies to support the growth of the sector. Senator Tinubu spoke in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, while delivering a lecture entitled: “Education and National Development in Nigeria: Imperative for Proper Funding” to mark the 50th anniversary of the Faculty of Education, University of Ibadan. Urging the nation’s

education administrators to understand their priorities, she said: “There is no denying the fact that an educated person is of greater value to society and makes a better citizen. A clarion call goes out to all stakeholders in national development; we must join hands in investing in education “. Senator Tinubu, who is also a member of Senate Committee on Education, said: “I was saddened to witness during oversight function the fact that tertiary institutions do not commit much of their budget to research. The culture of waste in our academic budget should become a thing of past.

‘Ogun 2012 budget achieved 63% performance’ FEMI OYEWESO ABEOKUTA

he Ogun State Government yesterday said that its 2012 budget achieved 63 per cent performance. The state Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Mrs. Oluwande Muoyo, stated this in her address during the 2013 budget breakdown in Abeokuta, the state capital. Stressing that the budget performance was five per cent lower than that

of 2011, Mrs. Muoyo said the state Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) as at last December hit N3 billion. The commissioner said the 2012 budget performance was a clear evidence of the commitment of Governor Ibikunle Amosun-led administration to rebuilding the state. She said: “The overall budget performance was 63 per cent in 2012, while our monthly IGR hit an unprecedented level of N3 billion in December 2012.

South East

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Mystery dead bodies: Hold SARS responsible –CLO NWABUEZE OKONKWO ONITSHA

nambra State chapter of the Civil Liberties Organisation, CLO, has said that the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, with its state headquarters at Awkuzu, should be held responsible for the dumping of dead bodies discovered floating in Ezu River last Saturday. In a statement signed by the state Chairman, Comrade Aloysius Attah and Secretary, Comrade Justus Ijeoma, CLO said it is tempted to attribute the bizarre incident to the handiwork of the anti-robbery squad going by its penchant for extra-judicial killings. Making references to the wanton killing of detainees allegedly perpetrated by SARS operatives since 2004, the group further alleged that the anti-robbery group may have resorted to killing and

dumping of the corpses in the river because the former place where they bury their victims in shallow graves within Agu Awka has been developed for residential uses. The group while commending the prompt response of the state governor, Mr. Peter Obi, also condemned the hasty burial of some of the recovered bodies. They also called for a team of foreign pathologists or in the event of using a Nigerian that such pathologists must be procured from a different geo-political zone of the country to avoid partiality and compromise in unraveling the mystery behind the recovered bodies. The human rights group also called for a probe of the comprehensive list of arrested and detained citizens in Awkuzu SARS and other annex offices scattered all over

police stations in the state in the last one year to determine the number of those released on bail, charged to court and those ‘wasted.’ “The reason we are worried is not far-fetched. Awkuzu SARS has acquired notoriety as the worst detention center by the police in Anambra, where human bazaar goes on unabated. For instance, on November 4, 2004, our fellow comrade, Ifeanyi Onuchukwu, was detained in the line of duty as an activist. He later came out with a chilling revelation that the SARS operatives that same night at about 7.15pm mass murdered 20 able bodied men in their custody. The offence that warranted their gruesome killing was that their relatives were not forthcoming with the astronomically high bail fees demanded by the police while the cell was getting congested.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Chime resurfaces after 125 days JIDE OMOJOLOMOLOJU

he controversy trailing the sudden disappearance of Sullivan Chime seemed to have been put to rest yesterday following the appearance of a picture purportedly taken with his fellow governors from Rivers, Benue and Akwa Ibom states in the United Kingdom. Chime had been absent from his duty post as the governor of Enugu State, due to reported ill health,. He was alleged to be receiving treatment in London for undisclosed ailment and his continued absence has generated a lot of furore and widespread spread rumours of his death, even as a group, Save Enugu Group (SEG), has threatened to occupy the Government

House in Enugu, if the state government failed to provide information about the whereabouts of Chime and his state of his health. The picture, which was released by the Enugu State government in Enugu yesterday, had Governor Chime, standing with the Akwa Ibom State governor, Godswill Akpabio, the Benue State governor, Gabriel Suswam and the chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) and Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi. Governor Chime had disappeared from the state for an undisclosed location since September 19, 2012. At first, his aides said he was on vacation, before word came out that the governor was indisposed. Speaking with National

Anambra gets five new judges CHARLES OKEKE AWKA

Applicants at the the Sure-P community services women and youth empowerment programme registration at Ezeagu Local Government Area in Enugu State, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

Mirror yesterday, some Enugu residents doubted the authenticity of the picture while some said that the governor’s appearance in the picture was an indication of his ill-health as he was said to have emaciated and therefore lends credence to claims that he was indisposed. Others on the other hand believed that the picture was authentic and prayed for the governor’s quick recovery. Chime’s absence has put the state government and the House of Assembly at loggerheads with the SEG and opposition parties and stakeholders in the state, with the SEG calling on the House to adopt the “Doctrine of Necessity” to empower the Deputy Governor to act in Chime’s absence.

he Anambra State judiciary yesterday received a boost with the swearing-in of five new judges approved for the state by the National Judicial Council, NJC. The new judges who took the oath of office in the presence of the state governor, Mr. Peter Obi and other key dignitaries were; Justice Mbonu Nwenyi, Justice Patricia Otti, Justice Chukwudi Nwankwo, Justice Ogbuli Bennedeth and Justice Cordelia Chukwura. They were drawn from both lawyers in government service and private practice. Justice Mbonu was serv-

ing in the state Judiciary Service Commission before now, while Justice Otti was a magistrate before her elevation. Both the Justices Nwankwo and Ogbuli were previously in private practice before they joined the bench. Among the five judges that will be posted to needy judicial divisions, Justice Chukwura will be serving at the Customary Court of Appeal, Awka. Speaking during the ceremony, Governor Obi said his government will continue to promote actions and activities that will boost the judiciary in the state. He urged the newly appointed judges to live up to their oath of office and shun unethical practices.

Speaker defends Chime’s long absence from work Imo not broke, says Finance Commissioner DENNIS AGBO ENUGU

he Speaker of the Enugu State House of Assembly, Mr. Eugene Odo, yesterday rose in support of the long absence of Governor Sullivan Chime, saying both Chime and the House of Assembly have not contravened any part of the 1999 Constitution. The Speaker particularly faulted the position of the Save Enugu Group, SEG, insisting that the lawmakers did not, in any way, violate the constitution in their handling of the issue.

Odo, who spoke on the floor of the house at the resumption of debates on the state’s 2013 Budget proposal, said that by not applying the Doctrine of Necessity to dislodge Chime on account of his leave, the house has not done anything wrong to warrant any attack as witnessed in the recent past. The SEG had, in a letter to the Speaker on Monday, asked the lawmakers to import the Doctrine of Necessity to empower the acting governor of the state, Sunday Onyebuchi, citing the case of late President Umoru Yar’Adua.

But in an apparent response to the letter, Odo said: “We believe that those demanding that do not actually know what the Doctrine of Necessity is all about. Perhaps, people equate Doctrine of Necessity with a mere jamboree phenomenon.” Insisting that the governor’s absence was in order and should not be compared with that of late President Yar’Adua, the speaker restated that Governor Chime transmitted a letter to the house before travelling and in the letter empowered his deputy as the acting governor.

•We secured SEC’s approval to change bond proceed CHRIS NJOKU OWERRI

mo State Commissioner for Finance, Deacon Chike Okafor, yesterday confirmed that the state’s economy is healthy contrary to insinuation by opposition parties that the state is broke and nearing collapse due to alleged funds misappropriation. The finance commissioner, who was recently interrogated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, along with the state Accountant-

General, George Okafor, over alleged misappropriation of N40 billion bond, told journalists in Owerri that the economy of the state is healthy and growing. He said current economic indices indicate that the administration is financially prudent and responsible and not broke as bandied by the opposition. “Imo State is the only state that pays the salaries and entitlements of civil servants promptly as at when due, and this won’t be possible if the economy

of the state is sick,” he added. However, he said the allegation of misappropriation of funds was spurious and unfounded, adding that due process was followed in changing the use of the N18 billion bond secured by former Governor Ikedi Ohakim. He explained that the state government secured the approval of the Security and Exchange Commission, SEC, to change the use of the proceeds of the bond secured by the previous administration.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

South South

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Poll: Tribunal delivers judgement on Airhiavbere’s petition today •Edo PDP sacks spokesman

aspirants to boycott the forthcoming local government polls in the state because Governor Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole had allegedly concluded plans to rig the elections, the PDP leadership relieved the spokesman of his duties. The sack was announced after a meeting of the party leaders held at the home of the state PDP Chairman, Chief Dan Osi Orbih. Ehimekpen, had alleged in a widely circulated statement last weekend that he was in receipt of a privileged

information that Oshiomhole and the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, had already written the results of the council elections of April 20, 2013. He also called for the boycott of the elections by the other political parties along with the PDP. In a statement signed by the state Secretary, Hon. Felix Utubor, the PDP announced Ehimekpen’s sack owing to the “re-organisation currently going on at the state secretariat of the party.”

Kidnappers free Bayelsa Speaker’s mother EMMA GBEMUDU YENAGOA

he abducted 78-yearold mother of the SEBASTINE EBHUOMHAN Speaker of Bayelsa BENIN State House of Assembly, do State Governorship Madam Betinah Benson, Election Petitions Trihas regained her freedom. bunal will today delivMrs. Benson, who was er judgement on the petition abducted by gunmen at filed by Charles Airhiavbere Korokorosei community challenging the re-election of in Southern Ijaw Local Governor Admas OshiomGovernment, was released hole. in good condition along According to lawyers, the Sagbama creek about judgement on the petition 10pm on Monday. filed by the Peoples DemoIt is believed that the cratic Party, PDP, candidate, is victim’s family might have paid ransom to the kidnappers to effect the release of the septuagenarian, but the speaker’s media aide, Piriye Kiyaramo, denied it. He said that no ransom was paid before the woman was released. The kidnappers had demanded a N40 million ransom from the speaker’s family, but the outcome of their final negotiation with the gunmen was not disclosed to the media. Madam Benson was abducted in the wee hours of January 14 by gunmen who invaded the rustic community. L-R: Chairman, Nigerian Red Cross Society, Bayelsa State, Chief Peter Ogbara; Group Head, South-South/South-East Region of When contacted, the FCMB, Mr. Bonaventure Okhaimo; Chairman of Bayelsa State Post-flood Relief Management Committee, Chief Francis A. Daukpola and FCMB’s Head, Corporate Communications, Mr. Tunde Shofowora, at the distribution of relief materials donated by the bank to state Commissioner of Poflood victims in Yenagoa, yesterday lice, Kingsley Omite, con-

merely academic based on the ruling of the Supreme Court on January 11, which upheld Oshiomhole’s victory earlier decided by the dissolved tribunal. Meanwhile, the state PDP yesterday sacked its Director of Publicity, Mr. Okharedia Ehimekpen. Apparently piqued by the endless unguarded statements made on behalf of the party by Ehimekpen, who last week called on electorate and

EFCC arraigns 22 suspected oil thieves

EMMA GBEMUDU YENAGOA

conomic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, yesterday arraigned 22 suspected oil thieves at a Federal High Court presided over by Justice Charles Archibong in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. The suspects, 10 Indians, 10 Nigerians and two Ghanaians, were arrested in two separate vessels, MT Eve and AKSHAY on Akas-

sa River in Brass Local Government by officials of the Nigerian Navy on November 19 and 25, 2012. The accused were said to have conspired to commit felony in dealing in petroleum product thereby committing an offense contrary to Section 3(6) of the Miscellaneous Offenses Act Cap M17 of the revised law of the country. The 10 Nigerians were also accused of possessing illegally 75,000 litres of

product suspected to Automotive Gas Oil, AGO, which they allegedly stole from a barge into MT Eve with registration number IMO -5054642, thereby committing an offense punishable by the country’s law. The 10 Indians and two Ghanaians were accused of stealing 157,822 litres of petroleum product suspected to be crude oil from Auntie the Matriach Julie Rig of Conoil Nigeria Plc into MT AKSHAY, thereby commit-

ting an offense contrary to Section 1(17)(a) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act Cap M17 of the revised laws of Nigeria. All the suspects pleaded not guilty to the two-count charge read to them. Archibong requested the prosecuting counsel, Gabriel Edobor, to furnish the court with the status of the accused by February 19, saying that this would determine if they could be considered for bail.

called on the youth A’Ibom praises NDDC for establishing specialist hospital andSheelders of Mkpat Enin to

TONY ANICHEBE UYO

kwa Ibom State Government has commended the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, for approving the establishment of a Specialist Hospital at the state university. The Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Eunice Thomas, gave the commendation during the handing over of

the site for the construction of the Specialist Hospital to the NDDC in Mkpat Enin yesterday. According to the commissioner, the hospital will be built within the 500 hectares of the land occupied by Akwa Ibom State University. She said: “It is expected to be completed in 30 months. The Specialist Hospital which would be built on 33 hectares of land will have 260 special rooms.

“The state government is appreciative of the commission’s sensitivity and responsiveness to the people of the area who suffer the negative effect of oil exploration.’’ Thomas noted that the prompt allocation of land by Governor Godswill Akpabio’s administration was to fast track the project. This, according to her, shows the importance government attached to the health of the people.

cooperate with the contractors and take advantage of job opportunities from the project and improve their economic status. Also speaking, the Commissioner representing Akwa Ibom on the NDDC Board, Mr. Imaobong Inyang, said the hospital project was embarked upon to build capacity in the health sector as well as to ensure improved healthcare delivery to the people.

firmed the release of Madam Benson, but could not say if any ransom was paid before she was set free. Omite said the victim was brought to his office by the family members late Monday night. Earlier, the Speaker, Konbowei Benson, said his mother was released in good condition, noting that she was undergoing medical examination. He said: “Our family members are yet to overcome the psychological trauma experienced during the eight-day kidnap period. I express thanks to God for sparing the life of our mother. “The kidnappers, who had initially sounded very rude and insulting to me on phone, later changed their mind as they agreed to free my mother.” Benson said no ransom was paid before his mother was free. He said: “Ransom paid? There is nothing like that. These boys, how much do you want to give them that will satisfy them? It was the pressure by the security people, our prayers and pleas to them that made them release mama. No ransom was paid to anyone.”

Court discharges suspects after seven years’ detention SEBASTINE EBHUOMHAN BENIN

Benin High Court yesterday discharged two Awaiting Trial Prisoners, ATPs, Michael Igbinosun and Esther Iyekekpolor, who have languished in prison for seven years. Igbinosun and Iyekekpolor were arrested and charged with armed robbery, but the inability of the police to prosecute the suspects left them to rot in prison for seven years. According to court records, the suspects were arrested in April 2005 and arraigned in court in 2006 and since then have been in prison. However, at the resumed hearing of the case yesterday, their counsel, Mr. Eddy Inenevwo of the Legal Aids Council, urged the court to strike out the case for lack of diligent prosecution by the police. Inenevwo argued that

since their first arraignment in 2006, the police had refused to call any witness or even showed any interest in the case. The defence lawyer added that holding the suspects in custody continuously was a travesty of justice. In his ruling, Justice Oyomire said he was in agreement with the view of the defence counsel. He, therefore, discharged the two suspects for lack of diligent prosecution. The suspects, who were too weak to respond to questions, were later taken away by their relatives.

Minister of Justice, Adoke

North

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Reps urge FG to embrace dialogue in tackling insecurity

he House of Representatives yesterday urged the Federal Government to embrace dialogue in tackling the insecurity confronting the country. It also urged the Federal Government to initiate programmes that would promote the rule of law, strengthen civil institutions and address factors fuelling insecurity and violence. It further commiserated with the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, and the families of those who lost their lives in the recent attack on the Emir’s convoy. This resolution ema-

nated from a motion by a member of the House, Hon. Muhammad Galadanchi. Galadanchi urged the government to employ more long term approach to tackle the security challenges instead of the military action currently being used. He said that if the current approach was not reversed, the incessant insecurity would continue to pose a threat to the country’s democracy. “This present approaches obviously have had limited effect and the escalated trends of insecurity indicated that they are only short- term solutions,’’ the

lawmaker said. He said that security and welfare of the people were the primary purpose of the government as provided in Section 14(2)(b) of the 1999 Constitution. Galadanchi described the incessant attacks, killings and kidnappings that taking place in the country as worrisome. Meanwhile, the House urged relevant security agencies to quickly initiate action toward identifying 40 corpses discovered in the Ezu River in Awka North Local Government of Anambra State. It also urged the National Emergency Management

Agency (NEMA), in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, to provide alternative sources of water for the affected communities. This followed a motion by a member of House from Anambra State, Hon. Chukwuemeka Nwogbo. He said that the Ezu River was the only source of domestic water for the Amansea, Ebenebe and other neighbouring communities. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that on January 19, 40 corpses were found floating on the Ezu River in Amansea and Ebenebe communities in

Awka North Local Government. The Director of the State Security Service (SSS) in Borno, Alhaji Abdullahi Ahmed, has advised members of the Boko Haram sect to drop their violent campaign and embrace dialogue. Ahmed gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Maiduguri yesterday. He said the sect must embrace dialogue if it truly wanted to achieve its aim. “We have an advice for the leadership of Jama’atul Ahlis Sunnah Lidda’a Wati Wal Jihad to consider dropping their weapons and embrace the ever available carrot option from the government,” Ahmed said. He explained that criminals had taken advantage

of the violent nature of the sect’s campaign to perpetrate their criminality. “The activities of the sect in Borno State and beyond have became a veritable umbrella under which other forms of criminals seek to dwell,’’ Ahmed said. He said that the sect must have a re-think if it was truly concerned about Islam. “They should dialogue for the sake of Islam the religion the group claims to seek to protect but which image has been badly battered by their violent campaigns. “They should drop their weapons for the sake of our dear country Nigeria which has offered them the platform for expressing their grievances, albeit inappropriately,’’ Ahmed said.

Niger Assembly to verify contracts awarded by Aliyu PRISCILLA DENNIS MINNA

T Nasarawa State Governor Tanko Al-Makura addressing displaced persons after accompanying them to their homes at Bassa in Kokona Local Government Area of the state, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

‘700,000 Kaduna children not in school’ A ZA MSUE KADUNA

ormer Kaduna State Commissioner for Education, Mr. Tom Mataimaki Maiyashi, yesterday said 700,000 children between the age of five and 11 are currently not in schools in the state. Speaking during the civil society organizations

and media forum under Journalism Development Programme held in Kaduna, Mr. Maiyashi flayed the government for providing insufficient budgetary allocations and improper management of the education sector. The former commissioner, who identified poverty as the main obstacle to the development of

education, urged the government to prioritise the growth of the sector. He, however, accused the government institutions responsible for schools management of misusing the merger resources being appropriated for the sector. Maiyashi said: “Presently, we have 700, 000 children between the age of five and 11 roaming the streets of

Kaduna State. “People don’t know the figure, what they know is educational problem. The figure is alarming because education is the greatest security in the world. When people acquire education, it determines their attitude. This problem is increasing due to our inability to appropriate funds for proper and quality education system.”

40 criminal suspects held in Kaduna A ZA MSUE KADUNA

he Kaduna State Police Command has arrested no fewer than 40 suspected criminals in their hideouts. In a telephone interview with National Mirror yesterday, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mallam Aminu La-

wan, said the suspects were arrested in the early hour of the day on Danmaliki Street and Nnamdi Azikwe Way following information by members of the public. Mallam Lawan said the police recovered substances believed to be Indian hemps, laptops and many others from the suspects. He said: “We have arrested 40 suspected criminals

today, not 40 suspected robbers as being reported. You know those boys that normally take Indian hemps around. Investigation has commenced and after which we will know whether they were involved in criminal activities or not. “Those found wanting would be charged to court. We recovered Indian hemps, laptops and other things as

exhibits from them.” The police spokesman, however, called on members of the public to report any suspicious person or gangs to security agencies for prompt action. “We called on residents to report any suspicious person around their domains to security operatives for prompt action,” he said.

he Niger State House of Assembly has directed its Committee on Public Petition, Ethics and Privileges to investigate a petition by the opposition parties asking for inquires on the modalities in the award of contracts by the administration of Governor Babangida Aliyu. The parties are the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). The petition was jointly signed and presented to the House by the state Chairman of CPC, Alhaji

Umar Shuaibu; ACN, Capt. Isa Mokwa (Rtd) and the ANPP, Hajiya Jumai Mohammed. The opposition parties urged the Assembly to investigate how much was invested by the governor in executing projects such as the Niger America Medical City, Millennium Shopping Plaza, the Minna Five Star Hotel and others. They petitioners claimed that some of the projects had been abandoned. Referring the petition to the Committee on Ethics and Privileges, however, Speaker of the House, Hon. Adamu Usman, urged members to look into the petition and give recommendations to the House.

Insurgency: Kano bans commercial motorcyclists AUGUSTINE MADU-WEST KANO

he Kano State Government has banned the activities of commercial motorcyclists operating in the state. The action was announced yesterday in a broadcast by the Acting Governor, Dr. Umar Ganduje. The decision followed last week’s attack on the convoy of Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, in which his aide and others were killed by some gunmen. According to the broadcast made in Hausa in

Kano, the government said the action became necessary in order to secure the state from unnecessary security challenges. The government said: “We will also ensure that every motorcycle is duly registered so as to ensure the safety of the owner and the security of the state. And we are also calling on the motorcyclists - private and commercial - to go their respective local government areas and register. “This action by the government became necessary following a series of security reports in the state.”

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Politics

Obama: We’ll support democracy… because our interests, conscience compel us

Ondo guber: Drama as two lay claim to AP chairmanship HAKEEM GBADAMOSI AKURE

he Ondo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Akure yesterday turned to a drama ground as two people laid claims to the chairmanship of the Accord Party (AP) in the state. The Justice Andovar Kaka’an-led tribunal however reserved further

adjudication on the case until the party, which petitioned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for disenfranchising its candidate, Mr. Olawale Ojo, from participating in the October 20, 2012 governorship poll resolved the issue. The duo of Messrs Olanrewaju Olaniyan and Dr. Ajibola Falaye, appeared before the tribunal yesterday introducing

Kwara restates commitment to tackling unemployment FELIX NWANERI

he Kwara State governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, has assured that the synergy between the state government and the City and Guild of London will make graduates of the Ajasse-Ipo International Vocational Centre employable anywhere in the world and also develop them into entrepreneurs and potential employers of labour. Ahmed gave the assurance when the Regional Head for Africa of City and Guild, Mr. Juan Visser led an assessment team to the centre. The governor explained that the centre was established to solve rising unemployment due to the absence of well trained technical hands to man critical areas of the economy. “The reason why there is a huge group of unemployed people is not unconnected with the fact that the area that is supposed to support them to

become entrepreneurs has largely been neglected. Thus, there is a huge gap between the transition from secondary and higher education with poorly trained people,” Ahmed said. Ahmed said his administration chose the City and Guild as partners of the centre because it has enviable records in the development of entrepreneurs with internationally recognised certificates. He revealed that in line with the projection of City and Guild, an Incubation Centre would be established in each of the three senatorial districts of the state for internship by students of the centre. He also assured that the centre would be insulated from possible political interference so that it would be a centre of excellence in technical education and training. Visser said the interaction between his team and the state government showed high level commitment to making the centre an international institute.

themselves separately to the court as the chairman of AP in the state. While Olaniyan claimed to be the authentic chairman, Falaye said he was the Acting Chairman and both insisted that they had the backing of the party to be addressed and recognised by the tribunal. But the counsel to the petitioner, Michael Lana, waded into the controversy pointing out that Falaye was not recognised in the petition filed before the tribunal, but the latter put up stiff resistance.

Attempts by both Olaniyan and Falaye to maintain their position almost stalled proceedings until Justice Kaka’an asked them to leave the court to resolve their difference before appearing before him. Kaka’an said: “This is not a political arena. Go out and sort out yourselves. There seems to be a problem with your party.” The exit of both Olaniyan and Falaye from the courtroom did not end the drama as the tribunal also failed to recognise the national leadership of the

party brought to the court by another counsel, Mr. Olabanjo Ayenakin. Ayenakin, who had introduced himself as the counsel to the national executives of the AP, said he had filed an application on behalf of the party to tell the court that it had no petition before the tribunal and also to disown the petitioner. He prayed the court to strike out the petition, saying the candidate did not have the backing of the national secretariat of the party which consistently claimed that it did

not present any candidate for the October 2012 poll in the state. The tribunal, however, cut short Ayenakin’s arguments by stopping him from presenting anyone as the representative of the party at the national level but however recognised the application he filed on behalf of his clients. The chairman then asked other counsel to both the petitioners and the defendants in the five petitions before the tribunal to introduce themselves.

L-R: Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole; Anambra State governor, Peter Obi; Abia State governor, Theodore Orji; Senate President, David Mark and Delta State governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, at the Nigeria Medical Association’s 1st National Health Summit in Asaba, on Monday.

Suswam wants emulation of U.S democracy

FELIX NWANERI

enue State governor, Gabriel Suswam, has urged Nigerians to draw inspiration from the success of the American democracy to build a virile nation where all nationalities will enjoy freedom, justice and fairness.

Suswam, who was invited to the inauguration of Barrack Obama as the 44th President of the United States by the American government as an emerging leader from Africa and in recognition of his continued support for democratic governance, took his seat among World leaders to witness the historic event which drew nearly one mil-

lion guests to the seat of the U.S. Congress venue of the inauguration. A statement by the Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs to the governor, Cletus Akwaya, quoted Suswam as telling newsmen immediately after the ceremony that “Nigeria can be great like America; we have all it takes to be a great nation

and luckily we have democracy, so we are on the right path.” Suswam further said the task of transforming Nigeria is that of citizens irrespective of their tribe or partisan affiliation, noting that the greatness of America was attained by the commitment and patriotism of all Americans through the ages.

Politics

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Obama: We’ll support democracy… because On Monday, President Barack Obama took the ceremonial oath of office for a second term at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. In his inauguration address, Obama spoke about his plan in the next four years in White House. Excerpt from the address. Vice President Biden, Mr. Chief Justice, Members of the United States Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens: Each time we gather to inaugurate a president, we bear witness to the enduring strength of our Constitution. We affirm the promise of our democracy. We recall that what binds this nation together is not the colours of our skin or the tenets of our faith or the origins of our names. What makes us exceptional – what makes us American – is our allegiance to an idea, articulated in a declaration made more than two centuries ago: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Enduring creed Today we continue a never-ending journey, to bridge the meaning of those words with the realities of our time. For history tells us that while these truths may be self-evident, they have never been self-executing; that while freedom is a gift from God, it must be secured by His people here on Earth. The patriots of 1776 did not fight to replace the tyranny of a king with the privileges of a few or the rule of a mob. They gave to us a Republic, a government of, and by, and for the people, entrusting each generation to keep safe our founding creed. For more than two hundred years, we have. Through blood drawn by lash and blood drawn by sword, we learned that no union founded on the principles of liberty and equality could survive half-slave and half-free. We made ourselves anew, and vowed to move forward together. Together, we determined that a modern economy requires railroads and highways to speed travel and commerce; schools and colleges to train our workers. Together, we discovered that a free market only thrives when there are rules to ensure competition and fair play. Together, we resolved that a great nation must care for the vulnerable, and protect its people from life’s worst hazards and misfortune.

Our character Through it all, we have never relinquished our scepticism of central authority, nor have we succumbed to the fiction that all society’s ills can be cured through government alone. Our celebration of initiative and enterprise; our insistence on hard work and personal responsibility, these are constants in our character.

America’s limitless possibilities But we have always understood that when times change, so must we; that fidelity to our founding principles requires new responses to new challenges;

that preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action. For the American people can no more meet the demands of today’s world by acting alone than American soldiers could have met the forces of fascism or communism with muskets and militias. No single person can train all the math and science teachers we’ll need to equip our children for the future, or build the roads and networks and research labs that will bring new jobs and businesses to our shores. Now, more than ever, we must do these things together, as one nation, and one people. This generation of Americans has been tested by crises that steeled our resolve and proved our resilience. A decade of war is now ending. An economic recovery has begun. America’s possibilities are limitless, for we possess all the qualities that this world without boundaries demands: youth and drive; diversity and openness; an endless capacity for risk and a gift for reinvention. My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it – so long as we seize it together.

For the middle class For we, the people, understand that our country cannot succeed when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it. We believe that America’s prosperity must rest upon the broad shoulders of a rising middle class. We know that America thrives when every person can find independence and pride in their work; when the wages of honest labour liberate families from the brink of hardship. We are true to our creed when a little girl born into the bleakest poverty knows that she has the same chance to succeed as anybody else, because she is an American, she is free, and she is equal, not just in the eyes of God but also in our own.

Harnessing potential We understand that outworn programmes are inadequate to the needs of our time. We must harness new ideas and technology to remake our government, revamp our tax code, reform our schools, and empower our citizens with the skills they need to work harder, learn more, reach higher. But while the means will change, our purpose endures: a nation that rewards the effort and determination of every single American. That is what this moment requires. That is what will give real meaning to our creed.

Health care and the deficit We, the people, still believe that every citizen deserves a basic measure of security and dignity. We must make the hard choices to reduce the cost of health care and the size of our deficit. But we reject the belief that America must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the genera-

President Obama delivering his inaugural speech on Monday.

WE HOLD THESE

TRUTHS TO BE SELFEVIDENT, THAT ALL MEN ARE CREATED

EQUAL, THAT THEY ARE ENDOWED BY THEIR

CREATOR WITH

CERTAIN UNALIENABLE RIGHTS...

LIFE,

LIBERTY, AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS tion that will build its future. For we remember the lessons of our past, when twilight years were spent in poverty, and parents of a child with a disability had nowhere to turn.

Origin of ‘Takers’ We do not believe that in this country, freedom is reserved for the lucky, or happiness for the few. We recognise that no matter how responsibly we live our lives, any one of us, at any time, may face a job loss, or a sudden illness, or a home swept away in a terrible storm. The commitments we make to each other – through Medicare, and Medicaid, and Social Security – these things do not sap our initiative; they strengthen us. They do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to take the risks that make this country great.

Climate Change We, the people, still believe that our obligations as Americans are not just to ourselves, but to all posterity. We will

respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations. Some may still deny the overwhelming judgement of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms. The path towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult. But America cannot resist this transition; we must lead it. We cannot cede to other nations the technology that will power new jobs and new industries – we must claim its promise. That’s how we will maintain our economic vitality and our national treasure – our forests and waterways; our croplands and snowcapped peaks. That is how we will preserve our planet, commanded to our care by God. That’s what will lend meaning to the creed our fathers once declared. We, the people, still believe that enduring security and lasting peace do not require perpetual war. Our brave men and women in uniform, tempered by the flames of battle, are unmatched in skill and courage. Our citizens, seared by the memory of those we have lost, know too well the price that is paid for liberty. The knowledge of their sacrifice will keep us forever vigilant against those who would do us harm. But we are also heirs to those who won the peace and not just the war, who turned sworn enemies into the surest of friends, and we must carry those lessons into this time as well.

On security We will defend our people and uphold our values through strength of arms and rule of law. We will show the courage to try and resolve our differences with other nations peacefully – not because we are

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Politics

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

our interests, conscience compel us WE WILL SUPPORT DEMOCRACY FROM ASIA TO AFRICA; FROM THE AMERICAS TO THE MIDDLE EAST, BECAUSE OUR INTERESTS AND OUR CONSCIENCE COMPEL US TO ACT ON BEHALF OF THOSE WHO LONG FOR FREEDOM democracy from Asia to Africa; from the Americas to the Middle East, because our interests and our conscience compel us to act on behalf of those who long for freedom. And we must be a source of hope to the poor, the sick, the marginalised, the victims of prejudice – not out of mere charity, but because peace in our time requires the constant advance of those principles that our common creed describes: tolerance and opportunity; human dignity and justice.

On gay rights

naïve about the dangers we face, but because engagement can more durably lift suspicion and fear. America will remain the anchor of strong alliances in every corner of the globe; and we will renew those institutions that extend our capacity to manage crisis abroad, for no one has a greater stake in a peaceful world than its most powerful nation. We will support

We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths – that all of us are created equal – is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall; just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great Mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth. It is now our generation’s task to carry on what those pioneers began. For our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers, and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts. Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law – for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love

we commit to one another must be equal as well. Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote. Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity; until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from our country. Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for, and cherished, and always safe from harm.

An unrestrained Obama That is our generation’s task – to make these words, these rights, these values – of Life, and Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness – real for every American. Being true to our founding documents does not require us to agree on every contour of life; it does not mean we all define liberty in exactly the same way, or follow the same precise path to happiness. Progress does not compel us to settle centurieslong debates about the role of government for all time – but it does require us to act in our time.

Fighting for change For now decisions are upon us, and we cannot afford delay. We cannot mistake

PDP govs not at war with Jonathan – Uduaghan CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 As a young boy growing up in the village, I used to go to the farm, our produce from the farm, very healthy produce, and I used to boil Banga (palm fruit soup) on fire, while it is boiling, I would go to the river and catch fish with the hand, to cook the soup. Even going to the river, one would see clean and clear water, with the sand at the bottom of the water. Dipping hand into the water and remove the white sharp sand would be used to brush the teeth. I experienced it. I was not told. As a result of oil activities, today, we do not have such things. We have polluted air, soil that will not be able to grow anything, because it is polluted. The water is also polluted, with the fishes dead. People should be sympathetic with what is happening in the Niger Delta, because of the environmental damage. They can no longer farm or fish, as a result of pollution and environmental degradation. The 10 per cent to the host communities, as stated in the PIB is not too much. I would have preferred 50 per cent, to address the developmental challenge. There are communities all over the world that have such funds, which sometimes are put in trust, that are managed locally or internationally. If the crude oil is in other parts of this country, the debate will not be on. Other people should show understanding. What is the way forward for crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)? There is no war in PDP. I say that with all sense of responsibility. As a governor, as the leader of the party

in my state, that also makes me a leader of the party at the national level; as a member of the National Executive Council (NEC), I want to say with all emphasis and all seriousness, with a true conscience that there is no crisis in the PDP. There had been no time the governors had come together, either publicly or privately, to discuss the issue of fighting the national chairman of the party (Bamanga Tukur). We contributed very significantly to making him the chairman of the party. Yes, there are challenges in the party and these are challenges that are encountered in a big party like the PDP. There had been no time the governors decided to move against the national chairman of PDP. Tukur is an elder statesman. We have a lot of respect for him. The war in PDP is imagined, rather than real. Whatever is being put in the media is being done by certain persons in Abuja. They just cook up things and push to the members of the public. There is the belief that PDP governors are on the side of Governor Murtala Nyako over the crisis in Adamawa State PDP. How do you react to this? Let me put it correctly. The National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP reinstated Adamawa exco in its communiqué. The NWC sacked the exco, but after looking at some other factors again, it reinstated the exco. What the PDP governors did was to say we were in support of the reinstatement of the exco by the NWC. When we met the last time, we saw the statement and we said fine, the NWC had reinstated the exco

absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate. We must act, we must act knowing that our work will be imperfect. We must act, knowing that today’s victories will be only partial, and that it will be up to those who stand here in four years, and forty years, and four hundred years hence to advance the timeless spirit once conferred to us in a spare Philadelphia hall. My fellow Americans, the oath I have sworn before you today, like the one recited by others who serve in this Capitol, was an oath to God and country, not party or faction – and we must faithfully execute that pledge during the duration of our service. But the words I spoke today are not so different from the oath that is taken each time a soldier signs up for duty, or an immigrant realises her dream. My oath is not so different from the pledge we all make to the flag that waves above and that fills our hearts with pride. They are the words of citizens, and they represent our greatest hope. You and I, as citizens, have the power to set this country’s course. You and I, as citizens, have the obligation to shape the debates of our time – not only with the votes we cast, but with the voices we lift in defense of our most ancient values and enduring ideals. Let each of us now embrace, with solemn duty and awesome joy, what is our lasting birthright. With common effort and common purpose, with passion and dedication, let us answer the call of history, and carry into an uncertain future that precious light of freedom. Thank you, God Bless you, and may He forever bless these United States of America.

and we were in support of the reinstatement of the Kugama-led exco. Why we supported the NWC, which did the right thing by reinstating the Kugama-led exco in Adamawa State, is that there are procedures for installing the exco of the party at every level, from the ward to the national. There are also procedures for removing the exco, from the ward to the national level. It has nothing to do with Nyako as a person. It is just a procedure. If the procedure is correct, we will support the procedure, which we have done. How can the Boko Haram challenge be tackled? Boko Haram is unfortunate. Mr. President is on top of the management of Boko Haram. Why is your administration not keen about the bribe money, involving a former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nuhu Ribadu, and ex-governor of Delta State, James Ibori? We are in court. Where do you stand on state police as the nation’s constitution is being amended? I am a strong advocate of state police. Power generation, transmission and distribution are still being controlled by the Federal Government, through the Power Holding Company of Nigeria. Some states are generating power, but there are challenges in the areas of transmission and distribution. My position on constitution review is that of true federalism. True federalism is key and allows you to control power, security, your resources and a lot of things.

Editorial

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

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

STEVE AYORINDE

MD/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

YELE AKINROLABU

ED OPERATIONS

SEYI FASUGBA

DAILY EDITOR

BOLAJI TUNJI

SUNDAY EDITOR

GBEMI OLUJOBI

SATURDAY EDITOR

DOZIE OKEBALAMA

COORDINATOR, EDITORIAL BOARD

ADESOYE ADEKOYA

CONTROLLER, PRODUCTION

CALLISTUS OKE

EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR

ISE-OLUWA IGE

ABUJA BUREAU CHIEF

KAYODE BALOGUN JNR

SM, STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT

FRANK OBOH

HEAD, GRAPHICS

NNPC and fuel pipeline protection

he unabated vandalisation of pipelines to steal fuel has highlighted security lapses in protecting vital economic arteries by the nation’s security agencies and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Twice in five months, the major Arepo fuel pipeline in Ogun State sparked fires that disrupted the supply of petroleum products to Lagos, the states in the West and adjourning states, while dozens of fuel thieves were consumed by the fires. The Arepo disaster led to acute fuel scarcity which badly affected socioeconomic activities of the nation’s commercial and industrial capital, Lagos. The fuel scarcity which started last August has lingered till date, leading to oil marketers taking advantage of the situation to profiteer by selling petroleum products above official and subsidised rates. The NNPC, citing inadequate protection of its officials by the security agencies, could not quickly repair the ruptured pipes in the first Arepo vandalssparked fire in August last year. Three NNPC technicians had earlier been killed by fuel thieves in the process of repairing the ruptured Arepo pipes. The blame by the NNPC of security lapses interrogates the effectiveness and alertness of

THE OIL MONOPOLY’S RAGTAG MAINTENANCE CULTURE AND FAILURE TO PUT NEW PIPELINES IN PLACE OVER THE YEARS LARGELY ACCOUNT FOR THE RECURRING CRISIS the nation’s security agencies; as well as NNPC management’s responsibility in protecting vital economic facilities. Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State recently alluded to the conspiracy theory that security agents assigned to protect the pipelines collude with fuel thieves, in connivance with unscrupulous NNPC officials who trade secrets about piped fuel movement. In his point-blank response to the second Arepo disaster early this month, Amosun stated: “Indeed, I have to say that the NNPC, by its inaction, is aiding and abetting this and I want to believe it (NNPC) is part of the pipeline vandalism. In fact, people here are endangering their lives because there is no access to this place (Arepo). Look at the canoe that NNPC is using

in this time and age to protect a multi-billion dollar investment! Even if the place is combustive, can’t they use solar-powered boats? For me, it is straight forward, if NNPC supports us, we will get the whole place cleared. And if we are given five to 10 swamp boogies, we will clear this place, erect platforms, and install electronic devices. We will put up CCTV and will also have a control room to monitor the place.” Tumini Green, NNPC’s spokesperson, however, sharply disagreed with the governor’s candid observation that the corporation’s negligence was behind repeated Arepo pipeline ruptures and oil theft epidemic that frequently heightens fuel scarcity nationwide; and leads to about $7 billion revenue loss every year. But with the numerous anti-theft technologies available to the NNPC in the past 20 years, it is disappointing, indeed shocking, that the oil behemoth has not taken advantage of them in addressing its security challenges in the Arepo pipeline axis. Rather than mobilise states and local governments to assist in providing security for the nation’s oil pipelines, the NNPC had demonstrated exceptional ineptitude, even when the country’s economy and peoples’ lives are under severe threats.

It is, in addition, a grave disappointment that the NNPC has failed to rehabilitate or rebuild its numerous over-aged and leaking pipes, and encase exposed pipelines in concrete to prevent undue exposure. Condemnable as well is the corporation’s laxity in speedily repairing leakages. The oil monopoly’s ragtag maintenance culture and failure to put new pipelines in place over the years largely account for the recurring crisis in petroleum supplies. This seems the more reason why Federal Government’s speedy repair of the countries four ailing domestic refineries has become absolutely necessary. The gross under-performance of the refineries in the last 15 years is the root of the nation’s fuel crisis, almost total dependence on fuel importation and hair-splitting subsidy thefts. With the old refineries working at installed capacity and the construction of new ones, the use of modern surveillance technology and mobilising security agencies and local communities to keep watch over the nation’s pipelines, vandalisation of the pipes would be minimised. Ditto the prosecution and jailing of known fuel thieves. All the security agencies need to harmonise their strategies to protect the nation’s petroleum pipelines.

ON THIS DAY January 23, 2010 Protests took place in 60 Canadian cities against the prorogation of the 40th Canadian Parliament. In the Canadian parliamentary system, the legislature is typically prorogued upon the completion of the agenda set forth in the Speech from the Throne and remains in recess until the monarch or governor general, in the federal sphere, or lieutenant governor, in a province, summons parliamentarians.

January 23, 2002 Reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped in Karachi, Pakistan and subsequently murdered . Daniel Jacob Pearl (October 10, 1963 – February 1, 2002) was an American journalist. He was kidnapped while working as the South Asia Bureau Chief of The Wall Street Journal, based in Mumbai, India. He had gone to Pakistan as part of an investigation into the alleged links between Richard Reid (the “shoe bomber”) and Al-Qaeda.

January 23, 1968 North Korea seized the USS Pueblo (AGER-2), claiming the ship violated its territorial waters while spying. The USS Pueblo (AGER-2) is an American ELINT and SIGINT Banner-class technical research ship (Navy intelligence). The capture, less than a week after President Lyndon B. Johnson’s State of the Union Address and before the start of the Tet Offensive, and subsequent 11-month prisoner drama, were major incidents in the Cold War.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Views

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Malian crisis and foreign intervention PUBLIC DOMAIN

DELE

SETEOLU

deleseteolu@nationalmirroronline.net (08033137577 SMS only)

n the 1990s, the West African subregion was enmeshed in the Liberia and Sierra Leone crises. These states virtually collapsed, as they were held by warlords. The economies and social infrastructure equally collapsed. The crises in Liberia and Sierra Leone became a threat to the sub-region. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) therefore, had to intervene to secure stability and subsequently organize transition elections. The concept of non- intervention became jaded in the context of these two crises. The sub-regional body and the international community had to intervene to avert the destabilization of the entire sub-region. Nigeria, through the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), played a critical role in the intervention force. It committed about N30billion to the Liberia and Sierra Leone crises. Nigeria’s financial commitment drew criticisms against the country’s non-strategic intervention amid domestic crisis.

Critics often refer to the non strategic role of Nigeria in African affairs. The critics insist that the country’s foreign policy should be guided by its national interest. In the instance of Liberia and Sierra Leone, Nigeria did not identify and pursue its core national interest. In the post Liberian war era, the country’s mining industry and reconstruction process were dominated by western interests. The transitions elections in Liberia and Sierra Leone were signposts of reconciliation and restoration of civil rule. These countries should improve on the extent and quality of political participation, especially that of the opposition. However, there are contradictions in the sub-regional states that border on state power, alienation of political opposition and political instability. The crisis in Mali is assuming wider dimensions and threatening the stability of the sub-region. It is more intricate in the sense that external Islamists and terrorists groups are involved. Islamists and Tuaregs in northern Mali had captured sub territories and the Islamists particularly destroyed shrines in Timbuktu that were considered offensive to Islamic region. The slide into crisis in Mali and the overthrow of civil rule signpost dedemocratization in Africa. The region democratized in the 1990s in the context of post cold war democratization

THE STATE ACTORS IN AFRICA SHOULD ASSUME RESPONSIBILITIES FOR

AFRICAN AFFAIRS

AND DEMONSTRATE CAPACITIES TO

MANAGE THE REGION’S INTERNAL AFFAIRS waves. In this sense, one party system was replaced with multi party politics and the conduct of regular elections. This process partly mediated conflicts and insurgencies in the region. It is regrettable, however, that the region is losing the gains of the 1990s. Mali, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cote D’Ivoire and Guinea Bissau are threatened by insurgencies. Togo, Guinea, Burkina Faso are also characterized by the conscription of the political space. The North Africa sub-region since the Tunisia experience in 2011 has also been in a flux. It is noteworthy that the rebels in the Central African Republic reached a truce with Bangui. It is not certain whether this agreement is sustainable. Mali is perceived as a terrorist hub, especially the al-Shabab and al-Qaeda. Terrorist groups are perceived to be

trained in Mali by cells linked to alQaeda. The international community sees the intervention in Mali as a containment of terror networks in the sub Saharan region. Terrorism has become a major threat to regional and global stability. There are increasingly coordinated efforts among nation-states to curb its spread and mediate its often devastating impacts. The regional intervention is partly informed by the terrorist threat. It is been, however, problematic to constitute an ECOWAS intervention force. Nigeria has played a leading role, but had cold response, especially from Francophone Africa. The African Union has concluded plans to send troops to Mali. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), has also deployed troops to Mali. There are fears on NATO’s agenda in Mali. It is predicated on the politics of its intervention in Libya under Late Col. Gaddafi. We argue that this is an African crisis and the ECOWAS, AU should play leading roles. The AU, especially should play a major role and not concede this status to NATO. The state actors in Africa should assume responsibilities for African affairs and demonstrate capacities to manage the region’s internal affairs. It is a litmus test for the African Union and its structures. Its failure would further entrench imperialism in the sub-region. The region is challenged to alter its peripheral status in global affairs.

2013: A defining year for Nigeria TERI EFFIONG

rince of Nigeria, Rev. Chris Okotie, rarely makes yearly forecasts like his pastor colleagues traditionally do at the beginning of each year, which is why his prophecy of a great change in 2013 is causing ripples. His prediction of an imminent change that would shake the nation and usher in a new order published in the media last week, is seen by many observers as a warning of revolution waiting to happen. The AIT and Silverbird Television quoted the pastor-politician as saying: “Nigeria is on the verge of change and it is imminent and auspicious. Chairman Mao said, if the people no longer fear your power, it is because another power is on its way. And I say prophetically that another power is almost upon us, and it will be to the praise and glory of Almighty God. Poor governance is at the root of most of our national problems. The spate of high profile kidnappings, terror attacks, criminalities of all shades are directly related to the failure of governance in 2012. And unless the ruling elite change the paradigm and embrace purposeful governance, things are not going to change as expected. “Our leaders should also do away with the habit of bandying economic indices of positive growth that cannot be directly related to the mass poverty and dysfunctional realities on ground, we must begin to close the gap between rhetoric and service delivery.” He argued that the pursuit of true democracy, equity and justice were sine qua non for peace and development in any modern society. He listed the key challenges fac-

AS HE APPROACHES THE MID-POINT OF HIS FIRST FULL TERM, PRESIDENT JONATHAN MUST REALISE THAT THIS IS A DEFINING YEAR FOR HIM. HE MUST SHOW

NIGERIANS THE WAY FORWARD WITH SUREFOOTED STEPS TAKEN TO ADDRESS THE LINGERING CHALLENGES ing the country as security, corruption, and how to rehabilitate collapsed infrastructure across the nation, and called on President Goodluck Jonathan to exercise strong leadership expected of a president whose country is embroiled in complex socio-political and economic crises. The Prince of Nigeria reiterated his desire to continue to be the voice of enlightened opposition, who aims to offer alternative platform for change rather than a perennial agent of confrontation and negative politics. He, however, challenged the ruling PDP to lead the way. It is disheartening and disappointing that a party that has been in power at the centre for close to 14 year has still not been able to settle its internal power structure. Governors are at loggerhead with the president over the party’s candidate for its Board of Trustees Chairman. This is not the sort

of thing you’d expect from a government that is grappling with poverty, insecurity and endemic corruption, among other grim challenges. It is unpatriotic for PDP officials to prioritize party affairs over the problem of the nation. They were elected to provide purposeful leadership so that the people would enjoy the dividends of democracy. Sadly, that has not been the case. Good governance has also been on holiday in some states, where some governors have disappeared from state houses without any public explanation. In states where governors seem to be working, rival parties continue to mount horrendous challenges that tend to hamper the smooth working of the administrations. “What all these say about the principal actors of the Fourth Republic is that they do not fully understand the presidential system of government. We’re still operating this system like the Westminster model, which runs on opposition politics, with shadow cabinet in place to keep the ruling party in check,” Okotie argues. Curiously media attention has not been sufficiently given to the monumental corruption and maladministration going on in the other two tiers of government because the gross ineptitude at the centre is engaging enough. Come to think of it, the impact of governance ought to be felt more in the states and local governments where about 70 percent of our people live. Parties across the spectrum cannot honestly say that they have delivered any quality dividends of democracy to justify their mandates. In the case of the local governments, most of them exist only on paper. They barely function because of delayed allocation, poor management or the on-going dis-

pute over autonomy and direct allocation from the federation account. This takes a heavy toll on the welfare of the masses. The weak leadership at the centre reflects on the slow pace and ineffectiveness of governance. When the head is aching it affects the whole body. As he approaches the mid-point of his first full term, President Jonathan must realise that this is a defining year for him. He must show Nigerians the way forward with sure-footed steps taken to address the lingering security challenges, and youth restiveness that now finds expression in kidnapping, cult violence and cyber crimes. The transformation agenda must begin to show clear signs of progress on targeted projects on ground. Otherwise, 2013 may well pass as another uneventful year, in terms of concrete achievements. The unfortunate debate over the 2015 presidential elections began last year to the embarrassment of Nigerians, and my bet is that it would get worse this year. If the president does not define his 2013 agenda fast enough, he’d end up being enveloped by the 2015 clamour. It could get messier and become unwarranted distraction, which could overheat the polity and overshadow the real issues. Effiong wrote from Lagos 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.

Mail Mirror

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Orji’s false sense of liberation and legacy

I God bless the Sultan

r. Muhammed Sa’ad Abubakar III, the Sultan of Sokoto, should be commended by all Nigerians for his frank assessment of the situation in northern Nigeria. He used a most auspicious forum, a meeting of the Northern Governors Peace and Reconciliation Committee, to deal a lethal blow to the dominant thought in the north that the pervasive poverty ravaging the region accounted for the recourse to the ongoing insurgency in part of the North that has crippled its entire economic mainstay. According to the president, Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) and president-general of the Jamatul Nasril Islam (JNI), the present insecurity and other associated challenges tearing at the heart of the region are self inflicted. He blamed the governments of the 19 northern states for not doing enough to address the various issues that have caused tension in the region. On insurgency, he called on all aggrieved groups and individuals to embrace the dialogue option. I also find it humbly enough that he said that the problem of the north was a national problem requiring a national solution. I doff my hat for him. Having a leader like him assures us that all hope is not lost for this country. I hope all war and power mongers are listening. Yakubu Ejeh, Idah, Kogi State

Sultan of Sokoto

t was in good faith Dr. Orji Kalu, the former governor of Abia State, threw his weight behind the project to make Chief T.A. Orji governor of the state in 2007 on the platform of the Progressive People’s Alliance (PPA), having gained experience as a seasoned civil servant and Chief of Staff under the Orji Kalu administration. No one could have believed that a bureaucrat of that caliber can betray his people by failing to meet their yearnings and aspirations.

Five years into the Orjiled administration, it is no longer news that Abia State is one of the worst states in Nigeria in terms of sustainable development. The governor’s inability to keep to his campaign promises is a crime against humanity and he has robbed Abians of their rights and privileges. At any forum, his favorite saying is, LIBERATION OF ABIANS and LEGACY PROJECTS. Does the Governor know the meaning of liberation? Or is he contradicting himself ? His

actions are inconsistent with liberation; rather, he promotes oppression. He also claims his projects are legacy projects, perhaps he is talking of leaving a negative legacy by the expiration of his tenure of office. T.A Orji claims he has liberated Abians. How come he is sharing all the state resources amongst his so called selfish godfathers and cannot take any bold and meaningful decision without recourse to them at the detriment of poor Abians? He should

please note that his administration has inflicted more pains on Abians; there is a wide incomprehensible gap between the state resources and the level of development in the state. The woes of the Orji-led administration include but are not limited to bad roads , sack of non Abians from the state civil service, nonpayment and delay in payment of salaries, abuse of office, political intimidation, poor drainage system, insecurity, dirty environment, high crime rates etc. Little

wonder the Governor is unable to move freely in the state he governs without the support of military personnel. In any organized society, it behooves the government to be concerned with the good affairs of its citizens, but Orji-led government sees this as the last principle of a sustainable development. The government has continued to build hope without anything to show for it for many years since it came to power. The government continues to use tactics of miscarriage of good governance as a legacy it will leave for the Abia people. This strategy defines the government’s ineptitude in serving the people as long as it lasts. Abians are not particularly comfortable with the new taxation system whereby proceeds of collection cannot be seen to have been put to use for collective state benefits. It is therefore, not out of place to say that the government is only interested in taxing the citizens and not in their welfare. Ikenna Z. Chiedu writes from Umuahia

FATE OF MAKOKO CHILDREN: Children of Makoko community in Lagos involved in movement of goods on water during school hours, recently. PHOTO: YINKA ADEPARUSI

NNPC’s reckless comment on Amosun

t amounts to sacrilege and gross misconduct for officials of any government agency to insult or disparage elected public office holders. It is even worse when the object of such reckless comments from government workers is an elected governor of a state in Nigeria. This is a serious matter as it touches on the fundamentals of our democracy. The NNPC officials could only get away with such insults against a man who holds the mandate of the electorate with their letters of resignation accompanying their reckless comments. The NNPC had, in its reaction to the comments made by Governor Ibikunle Amosun that the negligence of the corporation was responsible

for the regular pipeline vandalism at Arepo, said through Ms Tumini Green, the Acting Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs of the Corporation: “It is sad that the Governor of Ogun State who should know the importance of national assets like pipelines and do everything in his power to protect them, is engaging in a blame game when every responsible Nigerian citizen is wondering why Arepo, which is in his domain, has become such an attractive spot for oil thieves and pipeline vandals.” (Vanguard, Thisday, National Mirror & The Guardian, 15/01/13). The meaning of this comment is that the governor of about five million people of Ogun State, according to Ms Green, is

Letters to the Editor

“irresponsible”, for if he was a “responsible Nigerian citizen” he should have been “wondering why Arepo, which is in his domain, has become such an attractive spot for oil thieves and pipeline vandals.” Ms Tumini Green, a government worker, had not done with her insults: “She (Ms Green) urged Governor Amosun… to protect the pipelines in his domain to sustain product supply to the state rather than engage in unnecessary rhetoric.” For a government worker to declare that an “elected” governor of a federating state in Nigeria is engaging in “unnecessary rhetoric” is the height of infamy, worse from a corporation that is noted in Nigeria

as the epicenter of monumental corruption and inefficiency. This really goes against the grain in a democracy, for public servants to disparage “elected” office holders, worse of the status of a governor. I condemn in strong terms the temerity of those who hold public offices (I repeat, government workers or public servants) at the pleasure of the people that have the electoral mandate of Nigerians to turn round to make reckless comments against the very representatives of the people. I do hope the unguarded comments of officials of the NNPC will attract appropriate sanctions from the appropriate quarters. James Ikechukwu, Owerri, Imo State

Re: resuscitating rail transportation

ne of your columnists, Dozie Okebalama, touched the kernel of the nation’s rail transportation system in a recent piece. What we are suffering in this corrupt nation is not the lack of idea of setting up projects, the problem has been how to sustain and maintain them. Here, the norm is for projects to be set up for individuals to corner them as personal estates. The way forward therefore, is privatization. When we had NITEL, what was the state of telephony in the country? See how private sector driven GSM telephony is flourishing. Let the media champion just causes, such as prevailing on the government to allow the private sector to invest in the rail transport sub sector. Sunday Uzo, Lagos

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

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Health & Wellbeing Stay away from rats, Lagos warns residents on danger of Lassa fever

HIV: Nigeria scores low in prevention of mother-to-child

NMA president gives recipe for good health in 2013 TOBORE OVUORIE xxx resident of the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, Dr. Osahon Enabulele has urged Nigerians to do everything possible to stay healthy in 2013 saying how well the individual manages his health on a daily basis would determine how far he will go in achieving all other goals for the year Speaking in an exclusive interview with Health & Wellbeing, the NMA President listed some vital health habits and practices everyone must adopt in the new year to stay healthy and be free of diseases. These include good nutrition, especially with balanced diets, avoiding sedentary lifestyles, abstaining from smoking and reducing alcohol intake, as well as keeping the environment clean. Not only that, regular medical checks should become a routine, while symptoms of diseases or ill-health should be reported on time for early diagnosis and management. Dr. Enabulele believes Nigerians can enjoy good health in the year, though the country is situated in the tropical part of the world which has so many health and psycho-socioeconomic challenges. “We can still stay healthy in 2013 if we begin with eating well. Good nutrition is an important immunity booster and central to healthy living. Not eating balanced diets impairs immune function. So Nigerians must ensure they include fresh fruits, vegetables and nuts in their diets because they’re rich in nutrients which the immune system requires.” He however noted that eating and drinking right will be in futility when the environments producing them are dirty. “Though urban cities such as Lagos, Abuja and Port-Harcourt, especially the former are witnessing more urban migration, thus, becoming congested and dirty, deliberate efforts must be made at keeping the environment clean lest no amount of balanced diets will save us all from resultant health hazards such as cholera and lassa fever

Diets comprising fresh vegetables and fruits are essential for good health.

LET’S BEGIN WITH DECONGESTING OUR HOMES,

SURROUNDINGS AND STORE WASTE

PROPERLY, THEREBY HAVING LESS DARK CORNERS THAT

CAN INHABIT RATS, COCKROACHES AND OTHER CREEPING CREATURES THAT ADD NO VALUE TO OUR HEALTH

Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu

“Let’s begin with decongesting our homes, surroundings and store waste properly, thereby having less dark corners that can inhabit rats, cockroaches and other creeping creatures that add no value to our health. Every mother must store food items

very busy commercial cities such as Lagos to adopt de-stressing approaches on daily basis. “Most of us might not be able to afford going to a spa, stress-reducing activities such as meditation and rest, produce positive changes in the immune system. While work-related and traffic snarl might be inevitable, do not subject yourself to the stimulus of the environment. Whatever you can’t deal with on the immediate, leave alone for another time lest you develop all manner of ailments which wouldn’t exclude hypertension” he advised. He however prescribed body massage, quiet music or after-work hangout with like-minds or religious gathering as very good ways of recovering from everyday hassles and boosting immune functions. “Don’t always wait till weekend or month end to do these; when you create time for them, they will become a part of you” he added. Smokers, he further noted should abstain from tobacco, while drinkers must reduce their alcohol intake if they intend to live healthier lives this year. According to him, “tobacco smoke triggers inflammation, increases respiratory mucus, and inhibits the hair-like projections inside your nose (cilia) from clearing that mucus. Children and adults exposed to tobacco smoke are more at risk for respiratory infections, including colds, bronchitis, pneumonia, sinusitis and middle ear infections. “Habitual alcohol consumption runs contrary to healthy-life plan. Alcohol-abuse is associated with an increased risk of alcoholism, malnutrition, chronic pancreatis, alcoholic liver disease, and cancer. In addition, damage to the central nervous system and peripheral nervous system can occur from chronic alcohol abuse. Long-term use of alcohol in excessive quantities is capable of damaging nearly every organ and system in the body not just the immune system”.

Enabulele

in containers and not paper or carrier bags, as preventive measure against the occurrence of lassa fever. Dr. Enabulele who is also a family and community health expert observed that a sane and clean environment could be best created and enjoyed only by a stressfree mind and body. According to him, when an individual is stressed, his adrenal glands churns out epinephrine also known as adrenaline and cortisol. Also, he said, acute stress pumps up the immune system, grinding long-term duress over-burdens the defense mechanism. As a way forward, Enabulele suggested the need for Nigerians, especially those in

Regular medical checks should become a routine in 2013

Health & Wellbeing

Emergencies: Preparedness and response (3)

The Health Beat Sam Eferaro

eferaro@yahoo.co.uk 08094082123 (sms only)

Citizen Patrick (1) L

Governments and local authorities must make sure girls are not trafficked or sexually abused during emergency situations

tress can temporarily interfere with the flow of breast milk. But it does not need to stop breastmilk production, if mothers and infants remain together and are supported in initiating and continuing breastfeeding. Safe havens, as in refugee camps and shelters, can be established where women can go to receive support. In some cases breastfeeding is not possible. These include children temporarily or permanently separated from their mothers, mothers who are very sick, mothers who have stopped breastfeeding for some time, mothers who have not been able to restart breastfeeding, and HIV-positive mothers who have chosen not to breastfeed. In these situations, for children under 12 months, the most appropriate food is a high-quality breastmilk substitute (infant formula). Safe preparaton of the breastmilk substitute requires fuel, safe water and equipment, and preferably the guidance of a trained health worker. The breastmilk substitute should be stored and prepared under hygienic conditions with water from a safe source, using a cup, not a bottle. Breastmilk substitutes should never be distributed in an uncontrolled manner alongside food aid and without attention to the conditions required for safe preparation. They should not displace breastfeeding, a baby’s best protection against illness in an emergency situation. Protecting girls and boys during conflicts or disasters is critical since they can be vulnerable to many kinds of violence. Some violence is directly related to the emergency. This includes abduction, torture, beating, harassment and injuries during fighting by soldiers or armed groups or fighting in communities over limited resources. Emergencies also increase the usual risks of violence in a community, such as domestic violence, violence in schools or violence among children themselves. Girls and women are at particular risk of trafficking and sexual violence, includ-

ing rape, which is sometimes used as a tactic of war. This is unacceptable. All efforts should be taken by governments and local authorities to make sure this never happens. Girls and women who are subjected to this violence need health care, psychosocial support and counselling. Some will need support in relocating and reintegrating into their families. In armed conflicts, children must be protected. They must not be recruited by armed forces or armed groups or be allowed to take part in fighting. If children are arrested, they should not be harmed. They should be kept separate from adults (or with their family), and they must receive a fair trial. If girls or boys are victims of violence, they have the right to seek justice that takes their views into account. It is important for children and families to report violations against children’s rights to the authorities when it is safe to do so. Serious violations of children’s rights, including killing children, using children as soldiers, sexual violence against children and abduction of children, should be reported to international humanitarian agencies. In emergencies, it is the duty of the government or the authorities in charge to ensure that children are not separated from their parents or other caregivers. If separation occurs, the government or authorities in charge have the responsibility to provide special protection and care for these children. They should first register all unaccompanied, separated and orphaned children and make sure their essential needs are met. Every effort should then be made to find the child’s family and to reunite the child with his or her family, if it is in the best interest of the child.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

et me start the column this year with a prayer for you dear reader. May you remain healthy and disease-free throughout 2013. I pray you will not have any health problem that will take you to a hospital this year. Amen! It’s really not my wish to start the column on a rather morbid note but I just have to tell the story of Citizen Patrick a young Nigerian who died last week in Lagos. Patrick’s story paints a vivid picture of the state of our health care today. Oh no, I’m not about to repeat the old song of inadequate infrastructure, the health workers ’poor attitude or talk about those retrogressive policies that have kept us permanently in the league of nations with the lowest life expectancy. For sure, there has been some minimal improvement in the state of our health care delivery system but you know what, you are still on your own if you fall sick, as you will see in this story. Citizen Patrick was an aspiring musician. Music was his life. He believed so much in his talent that he left home in his teens and vowed never to return until he had become a star and had enough money to build a mansion for his mother and siblings. For over 20 years, his relatives never heard from him. I guess that period would remain blank in his history. Alas, he returned two weeks ago! Contrary to his wish and vow, Citizen Patrick returned to his sibling in Ikorodu without a Kobo in his pocket. But that is not the story. His brother could hardly recognize the haggard, weak and frail young man that staggered into his one room apartment that afternoon. Apart from Patrick’s weird hairstyle, his legs were swollen; his face puffy and he could hardly speak. He could hardly breathe either and was just too weak to stand straight. In fact, every step he took was such a strain that the brother immediately had to rush him to a nearby private hospital. Citizen Patrick was immediately placed on admission by the female doctor – someone swore she is a nurse! As usual, a drip was set up, blood sample taken and within an hour or so, he was being treated for typhoid and malaria. So typhoid and malaria could also have symptoms such as swelling and shortness of breath! Throughout the night, Patrick was restless. He could not breathe properly and kept rolling on the bed. By the next day, it was obvious that he needed better medical attention. The doctor herself advised that he be taken to the General Hospital, Gbagada where, she believed, he would be better managed. Of course she ensured her bills were fully settled. Citizen Patrick’s health had deterio-

CITIZEN PATRICK WAS IMMEDIATELY PLACED ON ADMISSION BY THE FEMALE DOCTOR

–

SOMEONE SWORE SHE IS A NURSE!

rated greatly by the time he got to the emergency unit of the General Hospital but the doctors swung into action immediately. The preliminary diagnosis was of course not malaria or typhoid. According to the doctor on duty, he had congestive heart failure and wondered why he waited so long before seeking help. He prescribed some drugs which the brother could not afford to buy immediately. He needed to go and burrow. But then, his trouble was just beginning. He was also told he must take Citizen Patrick for an x-ray and some tests in a private laboratory somewhere in Oshodi. Somehow he was able to buy the drugs the following day. But the x-ray and laboratory tests were just beyond him. At the lab, he was told he had to cough out a princely sum of N25,000 for the required test. The cost of the x-ray was also in that region. And the man does not even earn up to N40,000 in a month! He returned to Gbagada only to see his brother already placed on oxygen. A nurse informed him that Citizen Patrick had been admitted to the ward but the x-ray and lab results were urgently needed. Also, he needed to pay some money for the admission. The brother shook his head and wondered where the money would come from. He went for a walk, strolling aimlessly on the streets around the hospital, his head bowed and thoughts totally uncoordinated. There was just no help from anywhere. He was however “lucky.” By the time he returned to the emergency unit, Citizen Patrick had given up. Somehow, brother was relieved. That is Citizen Patrick’s story. In Nigeria, you are on your own when you fall sick. In a state like Lagos, the government is working very hard to improve health facilities. To ensure we even get the best, some of the facilities have been given to private individuals to manage. But these facilities – and indeed health care – are not for you if you don’t have money. See why I pray you should not fall sick this year?

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Health & Wellbeing

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

HIV: Nigeria scores low in prevention of mother-to-child transmission TOBORE OVUORIE

igeria has joined six other sub-Saharan African countries with very poor prevention of mother-to-childtransmission ratio of (PMTCT) HIV. Scoring less than 25 percent, the country takes the lead after Angola, Chad, Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia and South Sudan which had recorded not-impressive performances since 2011. This was disclosed recently by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) when it tweeted the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS’ (UNAIDS) Regional Fact Sheet for 2012. The report however observed a decline in new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths across the region.

According to the UNDP, coverage of services to prevent motherto-child transmission of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa reached 59 percent (53–66percent), with six countries in the region — Botswana, Ghana, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland and Zambia —achieving PMTCT coverage of more than 75 percent in 2011. The report also noted that there were estimated 1.8million (1.6million–2million] new HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa, compared to 2.4 million [2.2 million–2.5 million] new infections in 2001— a 25 percent decline. Between 2005 and 2011, the number of people dying from AIDSrelated causes in sub-Saharan Africa declined by 32 percent, from 1.8 million (1.6 million–1.9 million) to 1.2 million (1.1 million–1.3 million).

On progress recorded in preventing new infections among children between 2009 and 2011, the report indicated that the number of children newly infected with HIV in sub- Saharan Africa fell by 24 percent. In six countries of sub-Saharan Africa (Burundi, Kenya, Namibia, South Africa, Togo and Zambia), the number of children newly infected with HIV declined by 40percent–59percent between 2009 and 2011. Fourteen additional countries in the region reported declines of 20-39percent. However, 11 countries in the region saw more modest declines of between one and 19 per cent. But the number of new HIV infections among children increased in four countries —Angola, Congo, Equatorial Guinea and GuineaBissau.

Pending amendment bills hamper NHIS, health service delivery MARCUS FATUNMOLE ABUJA

he dream of Universal Health Coverage in Nigeria is threatened with the delay in the signing of the pending National Health Bill and the new National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) Bill currently before the National Assembly. Stakeholders, including the Minister of Health, Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu, have on various occasions called for speedy consideration of the Bills. Against the initial expected universal coverage by 2015, the Federal Government now looks to covering only 30 per cent of the nation’s population by that year. At present, NHIS is conspicuously most incapacitated by non-passage of the Bills. The NHIS, as a regulatory agency entrusted with the responsibility of regulating all forms of health insurance in Nigeria, like the Central

Bank of Nigeria which oversees the affairs of all banking transaction and activities in the country, currently lacks the legal mandate to effectively push for universal health coverage of all Nigerians, which was the intention of the General Abubakar Abdulsalam-led administration that conceived the social initiative in 1999. Meanwhile, the National Health Bill which passed through Second Reading at the Senate last month was greeted with protests from the Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU); which noted some sections of the bill failed to consider what it called sensitive issues affecting its members. While the Health Bill comprises comprehensive issues that concern the health sector generally, the NHIS Bill is limited to matters on health insurance in Nigeria. Both Bills want the scheme to be mandatory for all Nigerians.

NBA commends Owo FMC management over quality service HAKEEM GBADAMOSI AKURE

Borno State Governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, administering polio vaccine on a child in Maiduguri recently. PHOTO: NAN

USAID bemoans Nigeria’s rise in fistula TOBORE OVUORIE

he United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Fistula Care Project has disclosed that cases of fistula have continued to rise in Nigeria following the inability of Federal Government to release budgets approved for the project. It has also raised doubts about the actualisation of the National Strategic Framework for the elimination of Obstetric Fistula in Nigeria which was launched last year, stressing that about two years to the expiration of the documented framework, its implementation was yet to commence. The document, which is a guide on how to tackle the dis-

ease, covers a period of four years from 2011- 2015. Speaking at a media round-table on national strategic framework for the elimination of Fistula, USAID Fistula Care Project, Programme Manager in Nigeria, Chief Iyeme Efem lamented that “no kobo had been released from the yearly allocation made from the annual budgets for the project in the last three years”. About N575 million had been budgeted for the project in the last three years- N25 million in 2010, N300 million in 2011 and N250 million in 2012. “I have asked questions about why these budgets are not being released but nobody could answer for it. In November last year, there was a stakeholders meeting where I asked a similar question. The implication

is that we will be doing a great disservice to ourselves if we continue to play with issues of fistula. Several women are living with it and as much as we continue to give birth, we will continue to experience the disease”, he said. Efem said that President Goodluck Jonathan during his 2013 budget committed to repairing one -third of women with fistula cases in the country this year, stressing that though it was a commendable move, there was the need to increase efforts in view of the number of new cases being reported daily. According to Efem, there are about 200,000 women living with fistula in Nigeria, noting that the disease had become endemic because of the number of women giving birth yearly.

he Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Owo, Ondo state has been described as one of the best managed public health institutions in the country. Owo branch of the Nigeria Bar Association gave this commendation recently in a statement made available to journalists in Akure and signed by the lawyers’ association’s Secretary, Mr. Tajudeen Ahmed. The lawyers said its welfare committee had just concluded a six-month discreet investigation into the activities of the FMC Owo and reported that the management and staff of the centre had performed credibly well in terms of service delivery. The group in the statement titled, “Provision of health services at Federal Medical Centre, Owo: Passage of vote of confidence”, said the investigation was carried out to ensure that citizens of the country enjoy services provided by government institutions and agencies. The group said in the statement: “NBA, as a corporate social and professional body is out to pursue, as one of its objectives, the reign of the rule of law and sanity in the society as a whole. “In this way, the NBA is out to ensure that the bodies and organisations that are creation of the law are operated in line with the law. “FMC Owo, a federal government agency in Ondo state,

is one of such establishments of the law in Nigeria. “The NBA Owo branch welfare committee, established to oversee the welfare of lawyers in the branch, has in the course of her duties, monitored the goings-on in the FMC Owo and reported to the association. “The report of the commitee led to the resolve of the association to pass a vote of confidence on FMC Owo as a Federal Government agency that has ensured absolute reign of the rule of law and regulations in her operations. “In the past six months, NBA Owo noted that some of her members and other colleagues from other branches have been admitted to the hospital for medicare. “In all the cases appertaining to our members, NBA Owo noted that the hospital offered commendable services and its environment is conducive, congenital, comfortable and patient-friendly. “The hospital staff exhibited very high degree of skill and motivation, and high level of professionalism at every segment of the hospital”. NBA Owo noted that the hospital motto, “Health care with courtesy, is very meaningful and relevant because it seems to be the driving force of the staff disposition in the hospital. “The hospital staffs are very courteous, friendly, responsive and responsible and they discharge every pinch of their job with utmost urgency”.

Health & Wellbeing

FMC set to establish oxygen plant ADEMU IDAKWO LOKOJA

he Chief Medical Director of the Federal Medical Centre, Lokoja, Kogi state, Dr. Dada Eleshin has said the institution would soon establish an oxygen plant in view of its strategic location in the country to cater for emergency cases in and around the state. Dr. Eleshin who stated this recently in lokoja while playing host to the state chapter of the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria, MHWUN, said medical personnel who were to manage the plant had

been taken to various health institutions and research centres for training. Earlier, the state branch chairman of the union, Comrade Onu Edoka commended the CMD for his developmental strides, especially the provision of infrastructural facilities in the centre. Edoka, who called on the management of the centre to look into percentage salary deduction of members of the union for their check-off dues which he said was grossly low, appealed that the Senior Staff Association in the health sector should not be allowed to encroach on the union members’ drive at the Centre.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

FG strengthens routine immunization services nation-wide MARCUS FATUNMOLE ABUJA

ver 33 million doses of vaccines and 20 million units of injection materials are being released and distributed to all states of the Federation and FCT, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) has said. The agency disclosed this to National Mirror in a release signed by the agency’s Assistant Director, Public Relations, Mr Saadu Salahu, recently. According to the release, the effort is in continuation of fulfilment of President Goodluck

Jonathan’s commitment for a sustained routine immunization for an improved maternal and child health outcomes in all parts of the country. “The vaccines are to prevent major child killer diseases such as diphtheria, pertusis tetanus, hepatitis B, whooping cough, measles, yellow fever and poliomyelitis,” the release said. Distribution of the vaccines and consumables came as a result of “kind approval and release of fund by President Jonathan’s for vaccine procurement and the free distribution to all states of the federation” the statement quoted Executive Director of the agency,

Dr Ado Muhammad saying. Muhammad added that the President’s effort was to save lives and reduce morbidity and mortality attributable to vaccine preventable disease. He urged all states and local governments in the country to make adequate arrangement for availability of the vaccines in all health facilities in their states and local governments for the vaccination of every Nigerian child. He also implored parents and care givers to avail their children and wards to be vaccinated in the various primary healthcare facilities nationwide.

Ogun sensitises residents on HIV SEKINAH L AWAL

L-R: Brand Operations Integration Leader, P&G, Mokutima Ajileye; Celebrity Endorser, Sidney Esiri (aka Dr. SID); and Brand Operations Integration Manager, P& G, Titilola Adetunji at the ongoing Oral-B mobile dental clinic programme organised to support oral health by Procter and Gamble Nigeria held in Lagos recently.

Stay away from rats, Lagos warns residents on danger of Lassa fever MURITALA AYINLA

ollowing the reported cases of Lassa fever outbreak in some parts of the country, the Lagos State government has stressed the need for residents to ensure and maintain adequate personal and environmental hygiene at all times to avert the outbreak of the deadly scourge in the state. The state government also urged residents to stay away from rats and block their hideouts in their homes to avoid having any contact with them. The state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris who disclosed this in a statement in Lagos over the weekend, also advised Lagosians to cover their food and water properly and cook all their food thoroughly. He urged residents to store grains and other dried food items in containers with covers and properly disposed their refuse while maintaining ad-

equate sanitation, as well as keeping pets like cats in the house. The commissioner explained that Lassa fever is an acute viral infection caused by the Lassa virus that is associated with persistent high fever, adding that as the disease progresses into a severe form, the patient begins to develop facial swelling, fluid in the chest, bleeding from the mouth, nose, vagina and the gut, low blood pressure, shock, disorientation, coma and kidney and liver failure. According to him, other usual symptoms include general weakness, malaise headache, sore throat, nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting. His words: “Lassa fever is an acute viral infection caused by the Lassa virus and associated with persistent high fever. It is spread by exposure to and eating of foods contaminated with rat dropping or urine. It is also spread by direct contact with the blood, urine, faeces or other bodily secretions of person

with Lassa fever.” Idris also urged members of the public to report the case of anybody with the above symptoms or persistent high fever not responding to standard treatment for malaria and typhoid fever to the nearest health facility in the state, just as he advised health workers to ensure that they take universal safety precautions when dealing with patients. Harping on the need to alert residents to take precautionsnary measure, the Commissioner noted that though Lagos state is not in the Lassa fever belt region, a lot of people migrate to lagos from different parts of the country, including the Lassa fever belt region. He added that it is nevertheless necessary to alert members of the public on the need to practice and maintain adequate personal and environmental hygiene at all times as it is only by so doing that the outbreak of the disease in the state can be prevented.

he Ogun State Commissioner of health, Dr. Olaokun Soyinka has declared that the present administration in the state will not rest on its oars in its efforts to reduce the prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS in the state. Dr. Soyinka made the declaration recently at the Ita-Oshin motor park in Abeokuta during a programme organized by the ministry as part of measures to sensitise and create more awareness about the virus among the people of the state. Represented by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Health, Dr. Rotimi Ogungbe, he noted that the state government was determined to reduce the HIV/AIDS prevalence from 3.1 to 0%, explaining that government had provided necessary facilities, as well as free

treatment and diagnosis for the benefit of the people living positively with the virus. Speaking on the partnership between the state and private sector on HIV/AIDS prevention, Dr. Soyinka revealed that government had been providing enabling environment for them to work effectively, just as it had been providing counterpart funds to execute prevention programmes in the state. Also speaking, the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Dr. Tunde Olowonyo, explained that aside the sensitization programmes being embarked upon, government had also undertaken various steps to fight the disease. These include reduction of infection from mother to child, provision of additional supplement to improve immunity as well as access to treatment and diagnosis.

Dentists advocate structured group practice TOBORE OVUORIE

s part of ongoing efforts to raise dental service delivery in Nigeria to international standard, experts have called for a structured group practice among practitioners. The experts, who spoke at the commissioning of a private stateof-the-art facility, Choice Dental Centre in Lagos recently reiterated the need for collaborative practice, in which various dentists could work under one roof, share expertise, while training new hands and giving exceptional dental services to Nigerians. Renowned dentists, with specialty in Cosmetics Dentistry, Dr. Sade Akiode explained that the knowledge-sharing approach was in line with global trend, aimed at offering top of the range dental services to patients in quick time. According to her, “with the group practice, doctors with dif-

ferent specialties and subspecialties come together to share ideas. They are able to treat patients effectively, which is also good for the doctors because they are not often stressed out, like it is when managing their own private offices single-handedly. “The benefit for the patient is that the doctors come together to discuss cases and provide the best service for the patient,” she said. Akiode noted that structured group practice was the in-thing in the United States, where she had practiced for about three decades, but hardly seen in Nigeria. “In the area of training, over the years in America, I have attended a lot of mini-residences in full mouth reconstruction, cosmetic dentistry, Invisalign, laser surgery, prosthodontic and children dentistry. That is basically what the private offices in America are known for, where you go for your training and you get better at what you are doing.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Arts Lounge

It is unreasonable to compare Nollywood with Hollywood –Diamond

Jos theatre fest makes 2013 comeback

2013 Oscars: No place for Nollywood, world’s 2nd biggest moviemaker TERH AGBEDEH

ost people agree that the Academy Awards, otherwise known as the Oscars, is perhaps the most prestigious for filmmakers in the world. Already, nominations are in for the 85th Academy Awards that recognises the best films for the year gone by and the ceremony will hold on February 24, but what worries many Nigerians is that its film industry, said to be the second biggest in the world in terms of number of films churned out, has never had a showing at the Oscars. There are many reasons for this, including lack of training, since the industry is an all comers affair, technical quality of the films, absence of studious, as well as sets and a myriad of other issues. This is sad when one looks at Nigerian writing, which has won every award available to be won in the world and music that is not doing too badly. Why, for instance, are Nollywood films never based on popular Nigerian novels as is the case in Hollywood? Nobert Young, an actor on stage and the screen and perhaps one of Nollywood’s biggest critics, has often said that lack of professionalism and a dearth of training among the practitioners in the industry has been its greatest undoing. It is one song Young sings every opportunity he gets. A lover of the art, he has made time out to train emerging talent and serve as mentor to a lot of the up-and-coming generation of actors on stage and in Nollywood. “When I want to do something, I acquire skills. That is the reason I’m angry with Nollywood; they think acting is an all comers job and don’t think it is necessary to seek training. It’s wrong. You should be good at what you do. I think it’s a basic human thing that when you decide to do something, then you must find out about that thing that you have decided to do and make the best use of it”, he told our reporter in a recent interview. The press is full of quotes from him on the same subject. For instance, he was quoted to have said recently that “Nollywood is how not to act because it is just beauty that the actors are portraying instead of the ability to be real when acting”. Young further explained that “mediocrity is what sells in Nigeria”. This mediocrity is what most of the stakeholders Art Lounge spoke with dwelt on. For instance, Nigerian filmmakers still shoot films in people’s houses and in hotels rather than on proper movie sets or studios. There is also the absence of story boards while shooting and most filmmak-

Balogun

Afolayan

EVEN FILMS FROM THE ‘NEW NOLLYWOOD’ HAVE BEEN UNABLE TO MAKE IT TO THE OSCARS OR FILM FESTIVALS ers are in a hurry to wrap up shoot mainly because many of the productions are small budgets projects. Which brings one to another matter. Nollywood is said to be worth billions of naira. According to Hala Gorani and Jeff Koinange (the latter formerly of CNN), Nigeria is a $250million movie industry churning out some 200 videos for the home video market every month. So, where is the money? Many stakeholders blame piracy. In fact, in 2009 some producers in the industry told CNN that Nollywood loses half of film profits to piracy. The films made largely on video format are wildly popular across Africa. And because there is no proper distribution network, the pirates do all in their power to bridge the demand gap. Hence, 50 percent of the industry’s profits are currently said to be lost to Nigeria’s endemic piracy and corruption problems. But all is not lost; Nollywood built on individual stamina and dreams has continued to reinvent itself. Only recently, for the shooting of Phone Swap, the filmmaker, Kunle Afolayan, built a set for the scenes on a plane. But even films from the ‘New Nollywood’, as Afolayan and his contemporaries in the industry like to refer to themselves, have been unable to make it to the Oscars or film festivals like the one in Cannes, France. Eddie Ugbomah, a filmmaker who has been involved with world class film festivals since the 1960s, said Nigerian movies have never appeared at the Oscars because the awards are closed. “The Oscars are closed unlike Cannes

Film Festival that is open. The Oscars are a hidden thing by only the filmmakers and by the power of the jury. For instance, is Lincoln as good as Skyfall?” Lincoln, which tells the story of Abraham Lincoln’s presidency and his battle to end slavery in America leads with 12 nominations. Told that Nigerian films have not had prominence at Cannes as well, the 72-year-old filmmaker said this is because, even though Cannes is more open than the Oscars, it’s still a closed market. “I entered two films in Cannes, Mirror of Duty and Nowhere to Go in 35mm format but they withdrew and replaced it with a French film from Sudan after confirming acceptance”, he said, adding that if Nigeria wants to win, the country has to buy it. He explained buying it to mean that not only should the filmmakers be involved, but the government as well. “They could take over the red carpet for instance, by having a cultural display like the Atilogu Dance and everyone will take note”, he stated. Ola Balogun, credited with being one of the pioneers of the filmmaking art in Nigeria, quarrels with the statement that Nigeria’s film industry is second only to America’s Hollywood. “I can tell you that all these figures and information are created by some illiterate people. It’s like comparing bananas and crocodiles because what you are making here, you yourself say is video and not film”, he told our reporter in a recent interview. ”If you go to Cannes Film Festival, he

Ali-Balogun

had said, films from the so-called second largest film industry in the world are not being shown there. “Are you going to say that Nigeria is producing more films than Hong Kong or France or Italy? So, what is the statistics?”he asked. Balogun went on to wonder how many films are being produced in France or Italy in a year. He concluded then that there were no statistics; “they don’t know how many videos are being produced in Nollywood and what they are making is video, which is a substitute for soap opera. Film universally is something that is made and shown in cinemas”. Mahmood Ali-Balogun, who shot the award winning Tango with Me (still showing at the cinemas) told Arts Lounge he is only just recouping his investment while also agreeing with Balogun when he said that “we need to get our act together and focus on shooting dramas, which Nollywood is very good at”. He explained that Nollywood films still have a lot of work to do when it comes to technical quality. “For instance, we still shoot in peoples’ houses instead of building sets and there are no big film studios, among other things,” he lamented. Ali-Balogun said distributors enter the Oscars and distribution is a key issue in Nigeria, hence one of the reasons Nigerian films have failed to get to the prestigious awards. Perhaps, that will change soon considering that the cinema culture long dead is back in Nigeria and new technology is making it easier for filmmakers to collaborate with their counterparts abroad. Who knows, sooner than later, a Slumdog Millionaire or Life of Pi story will happen to Nollywood at the Oscars.

Arts Lounge

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

VOICES

Edi Lawani: A gush of greatness ing. I have left an instruction that no one should accept payment from you here. The fee was just something to scare away unserious time wasters because I am of the opinion that the value one places on anything is directly proportional with what one is willing to sacrifice for it”. Poignant, those words and they stuck. I have found a more succinct version and it has stayed a personal mantra – “pursuit is the proof of desire”. Sixteen years down the road, Edi Lawani remains my ultimate go–to guy for all things showbiz. He is to a lot of us, a role model, mentor and the most dependable of friends. Edi Lawani has taught me so many Omoregbe amazing things by just sticking with old fashioned principles of hard work, profesEFE OMOROGBE sionalism, integrity and selflessness. A few years ago, I got a production brief from an agency client. The mont was a long wait. And it wasn’t my first ey was good (for my level then) but the call. I had made repeated attempts to notice was short. Worse than that, the have a face-to-face chat with the “witch production was tricky. I did the natural, doctor” but it was instantly obvious it call Edi Lawani and he offered to guide wasn’t going to come easy. Too many people, too many far more important people me through the drill and gave me an apmade these daily visits to the Mecca and pointment. A while later, I got wind of the chances of a small time writer/ produc- some pretty disturbing gist. The job was er and minor league talent manager/ label originally Edi’s. The guys at an agency seemed hell bent on pushing him a raw exec were always going to be paper thin. Eventually, I got my chance to meet deal. He had offered them first class Edi Lawani – the Edi Lawani. It was a technical solutions on numerous producbrief meeting. It had to be brief. Industry tions for their major client for years and heavyweights too numerous to mention felt they were acting too greedy. He had were waiting to see the go-to guy for all insisted on being paid right for the job and their response was to call up another kinds of reasons and I felt a mix grill of relief, excitement and anxiety when the production consultant, me. Once I found receptionist muttered: “Oga will see you out, I pulled out and asked my agency friends to negotiate next”. Then the proYEARS DOWN THE with the boss. cess began. Eventually he reEdi Lawani apoloROAD DI AWANI jected the brief and gised for the long wait and repeated fruitless REMAINS MY ULTIMATE “ordered” me to do it. Edi Lawani went visits I have had to enGO TO GUY FOR ALL ahead and gave me the dure. I was stunned by prepping session. He his humility. He was THINGS SHOWBIZ was the last person I Edi Lawani, the indusspoke to before the protry guru and I was but duction and the first once we wrapped. It a small fry with a big dream. This was in ’97 was my first stage management brief of a and I was fresh out of University of Lagos. nationally televised live show and Edi LaEveryone I spoke to about my plan to grow wani practically executed the brief in aba major league label and management outfit sentia for “the alternative” stage manager. directed me to Edi Lawani, at Oremeji. Over the years, I have leaned on his They all appeared 100% certain he was the one guy that can point me in the right priceless counsel. He has stayed in the direction. I had heard quite a bit about him background, guiding, steadying the ship and was convinced I was pursuing an ag- through our pursuits at Now Muzik and my personal forays through Music Busiing guru who had come to cut the image of mythical Atlas in my head. It was the first ness Forum and AM.B-Pro activities shocker when I first saw him, a good num- unto the birth of COSON and more, nevber of visits before I got my five-minute er hesitant to lend a hand, to come out talk time. He looked way too young for his of pocket to finance a move, to tell us the “showbiz age”. Now here he was, apologis- TRUTH, however unpleasant in any situing to me. OK! What’s next? He asked me a ation and never demanding or jostling couple of random questions, busied him- for praise or recognition. self with some other stuff like he wasn’t My boss, my mentor Edi Lawani. I’ve quite paying attention and asked me to been so blessed to know you and I’m cerpick up a form from the receptionist. I did. tain there are many like me out there who I was required to fill out the form and pay are in a better place today because they a registration fee for consultancy services. got a little nudge from you at some point. I filled out the form in a flash but struggled Our commitment to the greater good for terribly to raise the balance payment for the industry and country has been inspired fee. On one of my knowledge- tapping ses- and significantly strengthened by you. sions, I tried to apologise for the delay in the Omorogbe, CEO of Now Muzik, writes payment. He simply smiled and said “Efe, I this piece on Edi Lawani ahead of the ‘Pladidn’t forget there was payment outstand- ya’s Ball’ to celebrate the showbiz guru.

,E L

–

LET’S

T AL K FAD with

Fidelis Duker

fidelisduker@yahoo.com

Stars of reality shows…what future?

he first reality show in Nigeria was in 2004 when Nigerian Breweries initiated the highly popular Gulder Ultimate Search, which, since then, has given birth to over 50 different genres of reality shows like Amstel box office, The Apprentice, Big Brother Africa, Dragons, Intern, Next Movie Star and Celebrity Takes Two, amongst several others have so far graced our television screens. Looking at the definition of reality shows, which is basically the concept of making stars out of ordinary people not trained professionally. It is, therefore, expected that winners and successful participants in these shows must be able to live above board and be highly successful in their chosen career. In the last nine years, we have had several winners of reality shows since Ezeugo Egwuagu won the maiden edition of the Gulder Ultimate Search in 2004 to when the likes of Uti Nwachukwu , Kelvin Pam, Bhaira Mcwizu, Wole Ojo, Iyanya, Timi Dakolo and Chindima, amongst others, won other reality shows. It’s been the same story as these discoveries have not made the A-List in movies or music as they are either missing or struggling with their careers except for Iyanya. The big question will then be why these reality shows winners haven’t excelled while other contestants within the show keep doing well? There are several reasons which can be adduced for the poor outing by winners. It cannot be ascribed to only Nigeria as a similar experience happened during one of the editions of the American Idol where Jennifer Hudson was eliminated early in the competition, but she went on years later to win an Oscar and also excelled in her musical career. These same scenario happened during the West African Idol held in Nigeria; Omawumi, who was one of the contestants has gone on to win several awards and also done creditably well in her musical career above the winner of that competition, Timi Dakolo. These could be my opinion, but the basic indices of success confirm my position. My observations so far with organisers of these shows is that they more or less abandon the winners and the other participants as soon as the show ends. The winners then do not have proper management companies that will more or less guide them as they try to find their feet within the industry and this has resulted in the acts fading away as soon as they are declared winners. It must be said that winners leave the competition with a wrong mindset that they are already stars

YOU DO NOT NEED TO WIN A REALITY SHOW TO MAKE IT IN YOUR CHOSEN CAREER and they begin to make unreasonable demands and conditions. Based on these reasons, promoters and producers hardly show interest in these reality show winners and they are left in the cold. Apart from the lacklustre post reality show results of these contestant, there is the humour associated with the audition process where you find ‘wannabe’ contestant who can hardly act or sing to save their lives attending the auditions and making a “fool” of themselves, you begin to wonder why these clowns attend the auditions. The simple answer is that these ‘wannabes’ want to be superstars on television screens. If truth must be told, the humour generated by these ‘wannabes’ is what makes the reality shows very interesting to watch. Credit must be given to some of organisers of some of the reality shows who have created training initiatives within the show, these trainings have brought out the best from these raw talents who you find out have developed capacity during the show and their talented well exhibited. However, I cannot end this article without mentioning the voting pattern, which I personally have an issue with. It will be recalled that the use of SMS voting from viewers to a dedicated number has become the norm, where contestants dedicate a sum of money to get viewers to vote for them during the competition. We’ve heard of situations where organisers ask contestants to set aside sums for voting if they want to remain in the competition or how a particularly south south governor’s wife raised millions to mobilise and vote for a particular contestant during one of the reality shows. I remember with nostalgia too how my colleague and friend, Fred Amata, mobilised funds for his friends, colleagues and families to vote to keep him in the Celebrity Take Two show and this was the trend applied by all contestants. The drawback of this technique of determining a winner is simply that the highest bidder, in form of raising the required funds and getting the SMS votes, wins the show and not necessarily the best or most creative contestant. My point still remains that you do not need to win a reality show to make it in your chosen career.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Arts Lounge

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

ARTISTE UNCENSORED

It’s unreasonable to compare Nollywood to Hollywood –Diamond She has risen steadily in the movie industry since her debut in the home video, Government House. Diamond Adaeze Igwe is one actress that is inching towards the peak with patience and talent.

I AM HAPPY THAT

NGOZI EMEDOLIBE

n 2004, when activities in government was a guarded secret, a Nollywood crew decided to shed light on the day-to-day affairs of the chief executives at typical Nigerian state houses. That movie was titled, Government House. Though fraught with some obvious shortcomings, typical of every work of art, the effort proved that the home video audience was eager to know the goings-on in Government Houses. That movie eventually spelt success for most members of the cast and crew including actress, Diamond Adaeze Igwe who made her acting debut on that set. Perhaps, that is why the Ebonyi State born actress calls it one of her most challenging roles. “I have done a lot of roles since then, but I will not forget the experience I got from the location of Government House. It was what launched my career in Nollywood. I did my best and it was not surprising that it opened a lot of other doors when the movie was released”. Since then, Diamond has gone ahead to feature in at least 50 home videos like Kingdom of Darkness, Vanity Upon Vanity, Mothers in Law, Love of My Life and My Only Daughter, amongst others. Although, she trained as an engineer, it was passion that led her to the movie business. “Of course, I did not formally train as an actress. It started with passion. I grew up to love entertainment. As I grew up and watched others, I knew I had it in me and needed a medium to express that. I did my best and I thank God it worked out for me. Left to my formal qualification, I would not be an actress. I trained as a computer engineer at the Enugu State University. But the industry is unique in that it avails you the opportunity to express yourself. Once you can do it, you can rise from there. I am one

THE GOVERNMENT IS TALKING ABOUT THE INDUSTRY AS AN INCOME EARNER of those who took advantage of the fact ins that I knew what I wanted”. Aneke tw With the Perhaps, Diamond Igwe’s upbringing also availed her a lot for the career she has found herself in. As a child, her father was curious to see her take education seriously. “For him, education is the key. He is the type that will always drum it into you that whatever you need in life can come through education. I grew up in Enugu. I did my primary education at Ekulu Primary School Enugu, and my secondary school at Holy Ghost SecondBig B iig gD ary School, Abakaliki. After that, I proWith McDon ceeded to the Enugu State University.” While some actors have their reservations about the movie industry in Nigeria, Diamond says it is making very profound progress, but not yet comparable to Holly- Diamond wood. “It is unreasonable to compare Nol- industry is well-harnessed”. lywood to Hollywood. People who always In course of working in Nollywood, do this are being unpatriotic. Some have Diamond seems to have forged a kind of this habit of jumping to Hollywood when- alliance with Chidinma and Chidiebere ever they see our work, but it does not Aneke, fondly called Aneke Twins. A few follow. This is because the two industries months ago, she completed another movie are years apart in terms of experience with them. “The movie is National Service. and technical knowhow. We all know that. Well, I am not saying I’m perfect, but I could In spite of this, we have been trying. The say my talent speaks for me. Chidimma recognition out there is enough to make and Chidiebere Aneke, the producers of us proud, but that does not mean that we the movie felt I was good for the role, that should relent and bask in the euphoria was why I was chosen. The storyline can that we are there. We will get there, with be related to, because they are things that the support of Nigerians. I am happy that are happening in Nigeria and Africa today. the government is talking about the indus- There are a lot of lessons to be learnt from try as an income earner; which is a very the movie. I love the Aneke Twins”. feasible alternative if the potential of the Maybe being a twin has a lot to do with

this, which is why she always speaks fondly of her twin brother, Peter whom she opted to pick the bills for his recent wedding. “Not that my twin brother doesn’t have what it takes to host such an event; personally I told him to keep whatever thing he has that I would foot the bill. And to the glory of God, it held and that doesn’t mean I have arrived or got much to lavish. I only saw that as an opportunity to show my twin brother some love. Besides, such an event holds lifetime memories”. What is her special advice for people hoping to be part of Nollywood? “If one has the talent, my honest advice is that the person should be herself. Never try to be anyone else. Then pray to God and have patience”.

MIDWEEK JUMP NANTAP honours Kabir Yusuf

ational Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP) is using the 2013 edition of FESTINA to honour Mallam Kabir Yusuf, General Manager of National Theatre for his extraordinary support for the Arts in Nigeria. The three-day FESTINA will take off on Friday, January 25 at the National Secretariat of NANTAP, National Theatre, Lagos. All festival plays will be staged at the same venue on opening day –Beyond the Sunset by Lekan Balogun, directed by Williams Ekpo. On day two, January 26,

a Matinee (12.00 noon) Isiburu, written by Elechi Amadi and directed by Ebi Pre Bai. By 4.00 p.m. Call for Me my Osheni written by Seyi Adigun and directed by Zubair Jide Attah. The event will be wrapped up on day three, January 27 with an Award Night/Closing Ceremony and a play, Human Cargo written by Fred Agbeyegbe and directed by Muyiwa Oshinaike. “FESTINA is a festival of plays, of performances, of total theatre presentation and of theatrical celebration of our rich cultures”, reflected Greg Odutayo, current National President of NANTAP.

iRep docu film fest entries open

ntries for the 2013 edition of iREPRESENT International Documentary Film Festival is now open. The documentary fiesta holds between March 21 and March 24 at two venues; Terra Kulture, Victoria Island and Freedom Park, Broad Street, both in Lagos. The theme for this year’s festival is “Reconnections”, conceptualised on the framework: ‘Africa in Self Conversation’. According to Femi Odugbemi, Executive Director and Co-Founder of the Film Forum, the Festival will feature over 30 screenings of films address-

ing different aspects of its core theme from filmmakers from across the diaspora. It will also feature panel discussions, a session on Project Pitching and a Producers’ Round-table. Keynote speaker for the 2013 fest is Professor Awam Akpam, Dean of African Studies, New York University, USA. Criteria for documentary film entries include that: Films must reflect the African story or experience; films not shot in standard English language must be subtitled in English; there is no age limit for filmmakers; copyright of films must belong to entrants; entries can be submitted in miniDV, DVD and Blu-ray disc format;

entries should be accompanied with synopsis, duration and the filmmaker’s profile. Deadline for submission is March 5, 2013 and films submitted after the deadline will not be accepted. Organisers of the Festival have also announced that the selection of films would be done by a body of jury and iREPRESENT International Documentary Film Forum reserves the right to show a film or not based on the recommendation of the jury. Entries should be submitted in a sealed envelope to: the Lagos office of iREPRESENT International Documentary Film Forum.

Arts Lounge

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

FAR AND NEAR

Jos theatre fest makes 2013 comeback ADENRELE NIYI

he Jos Repertory Theatre, JRT, is hosting the seventh Jos Festival of Theatre which is due to open in the city of Jos from Saturday, February 23 to Friday, March 1. The last edition of the annual theatre festival was held in February 2012. It is the longest surviving independent theatre festival in Nigeria. The 2013 edition of the festival has as its theme “Challenge Perceptions” and according to the Festival director, Patrick Jude-Oteh, this theme was arrived at after the series of conflicts that took place in the city in recent times. It is hoped that the theatre will provide a platform for discussing some of the issues that plagued the city. Five plays have been scheduled for the

one week festival: Saturday, February 23 – Opening of the festival and the performance of the revival of wale ogunyemi’s “Queen Amina of Zazzau” which just completed a successful tour and run in the nation’s capital, Abuja. There will also be performances of August Wilson’s “Jitney”; vaclav havel’s “audience” in collaboration with the embassy of Czech Republic; tennesse williams’ “cat on a hot tin roof ” and Femi Osofisan’s “Midnight hotel” The closing ceremonies will feature modern dances and a final performance of Femi Osofisan’s “Midnight Hotel” The festival will feature workshops in Arts Management, Directing, Make-Up and Salsa dances and training for the duration of the festival. All the workshops will take place during the day while the performances will feature every evening.

Ebuka Ifebunso as Ezeulu and Ejiroghene as Akuebue in Emeka Nwabueze’s When The Arrow Rebounds

‘Progress of Love’ ends soon ...CCA accepting workshop entries TERH AGBEDEH

T L-R: Mr. Mayo Okunola, General Manager, DStv; Mr. Akinola Salu, General Manager, Trade and Distribution, MultiChoice Nigeria; Most Rev. Charles Obafemi Oderinde, winner of a Renault Duster SUV won in the DStv Mega Promo during the prize presentation held at the MultiChoice head office in Lagos last Thursday.

Film forum debates MOPICON, funding windows in Lagos NGOZI EMEDOLIBE

nce again, the quick establishment of the Motion Picture Practitioners Council of Nigeria, MOPICON, government investment in exhibition infrastructure and the provision of more funding windows for the film sector came to the fore as part of the resolutions of the oneday interactive forum for film professionals held recently in Lagos. Rising from the one day forum held at the Lagos office of the Nigerian Film Corporation, NFC, participants mainly, producers, distributors, marketers, exhibitors and representatives of government agencies relevant to the development of the film sector averred that, far

reaching decisions and actions must be taken to ensure that the film industry is ultimately structured. Building a Synergy between Film Producers, Distributors, Marketers, Exhibitors and Government Agencies in the Film Industry was the theme of the one-day interactive forum. Mr. Afolabi Adesanya, Managing Director/Chief Executive, NFC, (organisers of the interactive forum) in his keynote address noted among others, that despite the growth potential of the film industry, there existed the formal challenges that impede its sustainability due to the unstructured methods of releasing of films, piracy, disconnect among industry players and loss of revenue. The essence of the forum was to build a value chain between

producers, distributors, marketers, exhibitors and relevant government agencies aimed at ensuring that the film sector is put on the path of sustainable and verifiable growth, with the capture of all revenue streams available within the sector. Mr. Adesanya further said that the NFC in its quest to provide an enabling environment for the growth and development of the film sector, going by its mandate, has instituted programmes, projects and initiatives including the Awards for Best Distributor and Highest Box Office Grossing (Nigerian Film). He then solicited for stakeholders buy-in that will enable the NFC generate required data for the Industry Annual Report required by government, international agencies and nongovernmental organisations.

he Centre for Contemporary Art, CCA, Lagos, closes its three-venue transatlantic “The Progress of Love” exhibition on January 27 and begins the ‘Lagos: Actions and Archives’ performance art workshop on January 28. To take place at the Visual Arts Gallery, Department of Creative Arts (by the Botanical Gardens), University of Lagos, UNILAG, Akoka, it will be facilitated by artist WuraNatasha Ogunji. A statement from CCA, Lagos said the week-long intensive workshop from January 28 to February 1 (Monday to Friday, 1 to 5p.m. daily) introduces participants to the engaging world of performance art. “We will use performance to talk politics, create memory, engage the public, mark our presence, archive our histories and interactions in this city”, the statement said. The workshop is free and interested participants, who can get more details at the CCA, Lagos web site, need not have previous performance experience. We will look at historical precedents and contemporary practices, the statement said, as we develop processes for creating solo and collaborative works. It is an opportunity for

participants to refine their ideas and performance techniques to develop, produce and archive their own performances. The workshop will culminate in a series of public, collaborative performance works. On October 13, 2012, CCA kicked off the programme, “The Progress of Love”, a transatlantic collaboration with The Menil Collection, Houston and The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, St Louis. Focusing on a series of events that prioritise the performative, the programme includes interactive installations, live art, screenings, artists’ talks, panel discussions and literary presentations exploring love from a diversity of perspectives. “The Progress of Love” at CCA,Lagos is curated by Bisi Silva with curatorial assistance by Taiye Idahor.

Ogunji

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Sport

“We have learnt useful lessons from the first game on Saturday. This one will be different”

Osagie quits football

- SOUTH AFRICA’S STRIKER, BERNARD PARKER

Today’s Matches South Africa

Angola

4pm

Morocco

Cape Verde 4pm

Zambia feels the pressure

ambia’s coach, Herve Renard, is feeling the pressure ahead of Friday’s crucial clash with Nigeria. Following Nigeria’s 1-1 draw with Burkina Faso and Zambia’s earlier one-all draw with Ethiopia, which threw Group C open, Renard refused to be engaged into discussing the scenario in the group at the end of the Chipolopolo’s yesterday’s morning training at the Ka Nyamazane Stadium. “You want us to talk? No, we should not talk but we should talk on the pitch. People in Zambia talk a lot and one day you will see when we will be out,” Renard said. Renard said it was the same thing at the 2010 tournament in Angola when Zambia drew 1-1 against Tunisia in their opening Group D match before qualifying to the quarter-finals for the first time since 1996. “They said the same when I left the first time, you know. They say you have to change this one, bring this one and you can change everything. You want to talk about Nigeria? The press conference was yesterday” he added.

Algerian journalist blasts Ref Benouza

op Algerian journalist with Al Jazeera TV, Laraba Mourad, has blasted his compatriot and referee for the game between Nigeria and Burkina Faso, Benouza Mohammed, for being less than fair in the handling of the Monday’s match, alleging that the referee has a history of poor officiating in Algeria. “When I saw him at the start of the game, I knew that Nigeria was in for trouble and said ‘what the hell is he doing here.’ “A man who has been accused in Algeria of match-fixing and taking bribes to fix games is here to officiate in Africa’s showpiece tournament? It was really sad and he did not disappoint me at the end of the day,” Mourad said. The Algerian journalist called on CAF to ensure that it carries out proper scrutiny of referees across the continent before appointing them for major tournaments. Meanwhile, Efe Ambrose who was shown the red in the encounter, has said that he was shocked by the decision of the referee. Ambrose said even the yellow card he was issued was a first tackle and he did not deserve the booking. “Then, the red card was totally shocking because the contact was very minimal and it was as if he was waiting for two players to make contact to issue Nigeria a red card, but we leave God to judge him and his officiating.”

Jonathan writes Eagles, restates importance of Cup EVEREST ONYEWUCHI Nigeria’s forward, Emmanuel Emenike (right), denying Burkina Faso’s Mohamed Koffi the ball during their match at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit on Monday. PHOTO: AFP

Keshi’s team returns to training

layers and officials of the Super Eagles returned to training yesterday’s afternoon in sober mood, but with renewed determination to beat the Chipolopolo of Zambia on Friday. Before training commenced, Coach Stephen Keshi told the players that only a win against Zambia would restore the confidence and hope of Nigerians in the competition. “We threw away the game in the last minute, but that is football. If you fail to take your chances you get punished. But I have absolute confidence that you are still the big team of the group and on Friday go out there and prove it against Zambia,” Keshi admonished. Skipper Joseph Yobo said the team still had the belief to go all the way in the championship and would prove that in the game against Zambia. “One slip on the way does not end the journey; we are determined to make Nigerians happy with this tournament,” Yobo said, praising the team spirit exhibited by the Eagles before the Burkina Faso equaliser and urged Nigerians not to give up on the squad.

Midfield star, John Obi Mikel, said the Eagles were a bit naïve in the manner they approached the closing stages of the encounter. Mikel, who was named Man of The Match, said he preferred the three points to being so named and assured that the Eagles would be back and better in the game against Zambia on Friday. Meanwhile, there are already indications that Chelsea star, Victor Moses, who was rested by Coach Keshi because he was not 100 per cent fit, would play a role in the game against Zambia, as he has been passed fit by the Eagles medics.

Yobo

SPORTS EDITOR

resident Goodluck Jonathan has written to the Super Eagles, restating the importance of the Africa Cup of Nations to Nigeria. The president’s letter was delivered to the Eagles in their Ngwenyama Hotel camp in Nelspruit after Monday’s opening one-all draw match with the Stallions of Burkina Faso in the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa. National Mirror was informed yesterday by the Eagles’ Media Officer, Ben Alaiya, that the Sports Minister, Bolaji Abdullahi, delivered the letter to the players and officials at their hotel. The Minister was accompanied on the visit by the Nigerian High Commissioner to South Africa, Ambassador Sonni Yusuf; President of the NFF, Alhaji Aminu Maigari; Executive Committee member of the NFF, Chief Emeka Inyama and NFF Technical Director, Dr. Emmanuel Ikpeme. The letter, which was personally signed by President Jonathan read in part, “The Africa Cup of Nations has always been an exciting

and important sports event for us in Nigeria and other African countries. However, this edition of 2013 even holds a greater significance for us as a nation. “Next year 2014, our dear country will be 100 years old. As we look back and celebrate our achievements as a strong, united nation, we cannot understate the role that sports, especially football played in our national life. Football remains one enduring unifying factor in our country which transcends our diversity. “A successful outing at the Africa Cup of Nations will offer a great opportunity to further inspire pride, faith and hope in a re-energised new Nigeria in the course of our centennial celebrations.” Responding for the team, captain Joseph Yobo said that the Eagles were in high spirit and would do the nation proud, despite the 1-1 draw they played against Burkina Faso. “I will like to on behalf of my mates assure Mr. President that we will not let him down. All we need is for him to continue to say his fatherly prayers for us all and we shall surely deliver,” Yobo said.

Sport

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Australian Open…

Djokovic too much for Berdych

W Adeyinka

T/tennis: Adeyinka targets mentor’s feat YEMI OLUS

orld number one, Novak Djokovic, has booked his place in the semi-finals of the Australian Open after securing a 6-1, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory over Tomas Berdych yesterday. The Serb, who is chasing a third straight title in Melbourne, was outplayed in the second set but turned things around to gain control. He completed the victory in 2 hours and 31 minutes to set up a semis clash with David Ferrer, who edged past fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro earlier in the day. Djokovic came through a marathon five-setter against Stanislas Wawrinka in the previous round but showed no signs of fatigue early on against former Wimbledon finalist Berdych. The Serb made a perfect start, breaking his

pring Fresh Smashers Table Tennis Club, Ahmed Adeyinka, says he intends to build his career on the path of compatriot Aruna Quadri, who is currently one of the best players in the Portuguese league. Adeyinka, who won the men’s singles during last year’s National Sports Festival in Lagos, believes he has a lot to learn from Quadri who made his debut at the Olympics last year in London. “Aruna is my mentor, even though he is my mate,” Adeyinka told National Mirror yesterday. “We started playing the game at about the same time but he has made a more rapid improvement than myself and learnt very fast. I love the way he plays and I want to be like him,” he added. Adeyinka, who recorded a successful 2012, believes the feat will shape his career this year. “Players need competitions because they help our improvement as let us know our competence level,” he said. Adeyinka was in the Lagos State contingent to a pre-2012 National Sports Festival tour of China and his club finished second in the Lagos State Table Tennis League. “The tour and the festival have improved my game tremendously,” he remarked. Djokovic

opponent’s serve three times and dropping just one point on his own as he wrapped up the first set in under half an hour Berdych hit back at the start of the second set, the Czech player gaining an early break and going on to dictate the majority of the rallies. Djokovic struck the decisive blow at the start of the fourth set by breaking in the third game and even though Berdych upped the intensity towards the end, it was too late to turn things around. The win, Djokovic’s 10th in a row against Berdych, sees him reach his 11th straight Grand Slam semi-final. “I tried to get the work done as fast and efficient as possible and I was very happy with the way I started,” he said after the match.

Neville said the body language of defenders Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra and striker Danny Welbeck in the immediate aftermath of the goal showed that they were “furious” with the goalkeeper and is certain that words will have been exchanged in the dressing room afterwards. “The idea that they’re saying ‘unlucky mate, let’s go and have a drink,’ well, that is not that place. Anybody is misguided if they believe that is what happens,” Neville said, even as he admitted

Luck is Spain’s companion–Xavi companion –Xavi Aside from cementing his place among the greatest footballers of all time, Barcelona midfielder, Xavi Hernandez, has won that status by lifting every team trophy going and securing a number of FIFA Ballon d’Or nominations, thanks to his sublime ability to dictate the pace of play in addition to many other technical gifts. He spoke to FIFA.com How would you explain Spain’s run of success at retaining the European title in 2012, after winning the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa? We’ve got a very good team. There’s a huge amount of talent and a lot of desire too. We’ve had a little bit of luck too, in the penalties against Portugal, for example. But then we went and played a great final against Italy and set the seal on all the hard work this generation has put in, a generation that is as good as it gets as far as I’m concerned.

De Gea’s gaffe unpardonable –Neville ormer Manchester United defender, Gary Neville, says goalkeeper David De Gea’s team-mates will not forgive his mistake that cost the Red Devils victory at White Hart Lane last Sunday. The Spanish goalkeeper’s weak punch to the feet of Aaron Lennon in the dying moments at White Hart Lane allowed the Spurs winger to set up Clint Dempsey’s equaliser, a result which saw United’s lead over title rival Manchester City cut to five points.

Xavi

that De Gea made several fine saves against Spurs. “It’s a thankless task, but you cannot make a mistake like that in the last minute of the game at this level.”

De Gea

Do you think luck is that important in football? Yes, it is. And there have been times when it’s been on our side. It’s what they call the luck of the champions. When it’s come to the crunch things have always gone our way: against Paraguay in the World Cup, Italy at EURO 2008, Portugal a few months ago and against Croatia in the same tournament too. But that is not to say that we’ve also not got a competitive streak. How have you managed to prevent the club rivalry between the Real Madrid and Barcelona players from becoming a factor in the national side? When we get together we all know that we want the same objective. I’m big friends with Iker Casillas, and they even gave the two of us an award (The Prince of Asturias Award for Sport). You can see that friendship when we play together.

Aside resting our rivalry in the national team, we also forget about our friendship when we’re playing for our respective clubs, though we never lose our cool or our respect for each other. What do you make of the Spanish football being closely linked to the two clubs? I like to read the papers. I make my living from football and I like to know what’s going on. Obviously there are a lot of different opinions out there, but we live in a democracy and you have to respect every point of view, whether you agree with it or not. Do you feel you owe something to the fans? We have a lot and I don’t feel we’re in debt to our fans because of one bad season. All it does is make us even more determined to start winning things again. How does it feel having such a big lead over Real Madrid? On a personal level I feel happy and satisfied. It’s a very long race and there are still a lot of games to go, but we’ve got a massive cushion and we’re moving closer to the league title, no doubt about it. Could this be another historic year for Barcelona? The team is very competitive and we want to do well in every competition. We’d like to win the lot but we have to watch our step. The talent is there for sure, but we need luck to be on our side too.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Sport

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Nigeria Premier Nig League

Cricket

with

IIKENWA NNABUOGOR ikenwa.nnabuogor@gmail.com

Osagie quits football F

ormer Rangers and Enyimba striker Junior Oviasogie Osagie has told National Mirror that he has quit football to pursue some personal interests. Osagie, who has been in his home town in Benin since he returned from Qatar, said he was done with his soccer career. He said he was eyeing a move to Canada to start personal business. Osagie ran into contractual problems with Club Africain, his former Tunisian club over money, forcing the Benin-born star to take the matter to FIFA Arbitration Panel. Osagie claimed that the club refused to sell him outright to a willing buy-

Osagie

er, leaving him with no choice than joining a Qatari club on a three-month contract. “I’m sick and tired of football and I don’t want to play again,” Osagie declared. “I had to go on loan again at Emyimba and had to quit mid-season because of unpaid wages. The matter with Club Africain is still with FIFA and I’m waiting for their decision. “Club Africain withheld my loan money to the Qatari club and when I found out, I became so furious and had to report them to FIFA. “I want to pursue another career in Canada but I’m yet to decide what next to do. I want to get there first, then, other things will follow. “But I’m not ruling football out completely, if I get a good deal in Canada, I think I will give it another shot.” Osagie was a household name in the local scene where he grabbed all the headlines at Rangers and later Enyimba before he took his game to Tunisia. He became the first Nigerian player to play for the multiple Tunisian champions before Victor Ezeji joined him. He was replaced with another Enyimba former player, Ezenwa Otorogu.

GLO grabs NPL title sponsorship

he Nigeria Premier League (NPL) has announced Globacom as title sponsor for the coming season, which kicks off in February. This was disclosed by the League Interim Management Committee chaired by Hon. Nduka Irabor after a meeting which involved all the parties concerned in Abuja last Thursday. In a release made available to National Mirror after the meeting, it was agreed among other things that all parties had accepted to withdraw all the pending matters in court associated with the title sponsorship of the premier league. The release also said the Total Promotion Limited agreed to withdraw their claim to the right of the title sponsorship of the premier league. It was agreed that Globacom being the preferred bidder has accepted to take up the title sponsorship right. Consequently Globacom will now be the official title sponsor

of the league on the same terms agreed during the last bidding exercise. Finally, a formal contract will be signed with Globacom before the commencement of the league next month and the details will be made public. The NPL ran without a sponsor last season, which ended in September. Meanwile, Supersport. com reports that Globacom will officially enter into a title partnership deal on February 1. An official of the League Management Committee (LMC) of the Premier League disclosed that the February 1 date for signing the title sponsorship contract will further affirm the kickoff date of February 16 for the 2012/13 season. “On February 1, the title sponsorship contract will be signed with Globacom and every detail concerning the deal will be unveiled. “This title sponsorship is to also show that we are genuinely working

towards ensuring that the league kicks off on February 16 to start with among other things we are planning,” said the official. Supersport.com was informed that the NPL and Globacom will enter into a four-year title partnership deal on February 1 worth N2.6 billion (around $41 million). Globacom is expected to present a cheque of N650 million (around $4 million) as payment for the first year of the fouryear title partnership.

Salami (front)

Salami leaves Heartland to Dolphins

ormer Flying Eagles’ midfielder Kingsley Salami has left Heartland for Dolphins for the new season. The former Bukola Babes star arrived the Port Harcourt based club last month as the 2004 champions’ ninth signing. Salami, who also played in Lebanon, has since begun training with his new team. Salami was on the verge of tying up a deal with a UAE side last season but the deal did not see the light of the day, forcing the Edo State-born player to return to Heartland. He told National Mirror that he was de-

lighted to team up with Dolphins and declared his willingness to achieve some success with the Port Harcourt-based side. “My aim is to win the league and FA Cup title with Dolphins and I believe it’s achievable with the players we have,” he said. “It was all good for me at Heartland but I want to continue the winning ways at Dolphins because they are equally a champion’s club.” Salami returned to the local scene to continue his career at Bukola Babes where Heartland snapped him up to help them win the Federation Cup back to back.

Enyimba holds on to former players’ entitlements

trong indications have emerged that the management of Enyimba is holding on to the entitlements of their former players despite the alleged release of funds from the state government, an Enyimba official has exclusively revealed to National Mirror. The official further revealed that the released funds were meant to offset the backlog of unpaid sign-on fees of the former players dating back to 2007 through 2010 season. One of the affected play-

ers who did not want his name in print, confirmed the release of the funds and said he was informed by one of the Enyimba officials of the latest development. National Mirror learnt that some of the funds meant for the former players were used in playing for the sign-on fees of the current players who are presently doing their pre-season at Otta. The Enyimba official added that they held meeting after the funds were released on how to settle the entitlements of the former players but

did not know why the players were yet to receive their monies. The affected players who have defected to other clubs are owed several millions of Naira had have been on war path with the five-time league champions. One of the players, who dragged the Aba Millionaires to the Arbitration panel, told National Mirror he was owed N3.5 million. The players have however vowed to fight the Enyimba management over their unpaid entitlements until they get justice.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Business & Finance Nigeria’s non-oil export sector is grossly under-developed’ Programme Director, Multimix Academy, Obiora Madu

The Excess Crude Account is supposed to serve as a buffer for the economy. Whenever available revenue is not up to the budgeted figure, government will augment for the health of the economy MINISTER OF STATE FOR FINANCE, YERIMA NGAMA

42-43

CBN cautions on dominance of foreign portfolio in capital market TOLA AKINMUTIMI ABUJA

he Central Bank of Nigeria has described the increasing dominance of foreign portfolio investors in the capital market as unhealthy for its sustainable growth and charged the authorities to adopt measures to address the structural imbalance in its investments. Although the apex bank described the ongoing reforms in the capital market as desirable for deepening the investments and creating strong funding options for long-term investments in the economy, it however believes that relying primarily on foreign portfolio investors to capital build-up may be risky to the market rebound drive, particularly at a time of global economic uncertainties. Speaking at the end of the apex bank’s Monetary Policy Committee, MPC, meeting Monday in Abuja, the Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, said adequate measures should be ad-

opted to ensure that the market is not exposed to external shocks, particularly those that may be triggered by the Euro zone and other emerging global economic crises. While noting that sustained reforms in the financial system improved the performance of money and capital markets moderately in the past year, he pointed out that positive equities market

indicators was achieved majorly through sustained increase in the demand for blue-chip stocks. He explained: “The Committee observed that the rally in the Nigerian capital market continued as equities market indicators trended upwards in the review period. The All-Share index (ASI) increased by 35.45 per cent from 20,730.63 to 28,078.80

between December 2011 and December 2012. Market Capitalisation (MC) also increased, by 37.38 per cent, from N6.53 trillion to N8.97 trillion during the same period. “The positive performance of the ASI and MC was due to the sustained increase in the demand for blue-chip stocks particularly in the banking and consumer goods sectors following

improvements in earnings and growing investor-confidence. “The Committee, however, noted that the significant factors responsible for the recovery was strong portfolio flows and cautioned that the capital market remains structurally vulnerable to external shocks until its funding basis is changed,” Sanusi said. In addition, he explained that the foreign exchange market witnessed some relative stability with the rate closing at N156.25 per dollar at the end of the year.

he Federal Government through the Ministry of Aviation has concluded plans to meet with all jet operators in the country

ADVERT HOTLINES: For advert bookings and information, please contact the following:

LAGOS: 01-8446073, 08094331171, 08023133084, 08034019884 ABUJA: 08033020395, 08036321014

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

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

IRS

L-R: Distribution Account Manager, Dell, Mr. Franklin Ezeji; Client Product Marketing Manager, Anglophone East and West Africa, Mrs. Annie Odo-Effiong; Consumer Channel Group Director, Microsoft, Mr. Mark Ihimoyan and Market Development Manager, West Africa, Intel, Mr. Olufemi Babajide; during the media unveiling of Dell Tablets-Ultrabooks and Windows 8 at Pearl Court in Ikoyi, Lagos recently.

FG to meet with jet operators over new aviation policy next week OLUSEGUN KOIKI

Arik Air

on the new changes in general aviation policy. The Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah made this known in Abuja on Monday during an interview with aviation correspondents in Abuja immediately after the commissioning of the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport (NAA), Abuja.

Oduah noted that there are several loopholes in the current policy, but declared that the new policy would guide the operations of general aviation in the country. She however said that there are no plans to suspend importation of private jets into the country by the government. She said that the min-

istry may meet with the jet operators next week in Abuja for a meeting on their operations. She said, “We have also finished the policy on the general aviation and hopefully by next week, we will have meeting with jet operators and they will know the policy that guides what they are supposed to do, how they are supposed to

do it because we do have a lot of grey areas in general aviation policy, but all those are going to remove all the grey and make them operational. “Currently, we have 50 private jets and we are estimating that by next year, we are going to triple that and if we are going to triple that, we need a much larger GAT than this.”

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

Apapa Port moves to simplify information system

FG says Local content policy created 30, 000 jobs for Nigerians

Power sector performance set to improve

Business Finance

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Apapa Port moves to simplify information system FRANCIS EZEM

orried by the increasing human traffic at the ports and the attendant security implication this portends, the Lagos Ports Complex Apapa under the Nigerian Ports Authority has introduced a real time electronic information system, called Ports Information Management System (PIMS). PIMS is an electronic information bill board mounted at a strategic part of the gate of the port, which displays port information on a 24-hour basis for the use of

the various stakeholders. The LPC, which remains the biggest port in Nigeria in terms of volume or vessel and cargo tonnage, is made up of the former Container Terminal, Apapa now concessioned to APMT, Apapa Bulk Terminal and ENL Consortium both of which handle bulk and Green View Development Limited. Port manager of the complex, Mr. Joshua Asanga, who spoke at a one-day seminar in Lagos to sensitise stakeholders on the new information system, said that management of the port had over the years needed a medium to

simplify information at the ports. According to him, the management of the port had also over the years grappled with the problem of controlling crowd at the port, especially in view of the current security situation in the country. He said: “Before now, people move about in the port looking for vital information on port activities like the movement of ships and cargo, among others, the board provides a one-stop shop information portal for all aspects of port operation online real time”. Asanga, who was last week transferred to the Marina Lagos

headquarters of the authority, having manned the port for over four years now, noted that part of aims of the new system was to check such movement in an out of the ports. “No clearing agent or any other port user would roam the ports again looking for necessary information when he can get such information on display real time at the board without having to go into the ports”, he argued. “Key customers for the PIMS are not just corporate organisations that may want to occupy vacant slots on the screen but for the people and other several

stakeholders themselves. PIMS is separated and peculiar to the different seaports”, he further said. This, according to him implies that information from one port or location may not necessarily apply to another port location.. It was gathered that apart from access control to the seaports, a major consideration for the installation was part of the authority’s response to the worsening security situation in the country occasioned by the emergence of the Boko Haram Islamic sect.

Minister seeks inclusion of water experts in mining council

Chairman, Daar Communications Plc, Mr. Raymond Dokpesi (left) presenting teller of Partnership on Satellite Education Programme to Kwara State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, at Government House, Ilorin, yesterday.

Qatar Airways grounds all Boeing 787 jets on safety fears OLUSEGUN KOIKI

ne of the leading foreign carriers operating into Nigeria, Qatar Airways yesterday announced the suspension of all its Boeing 787 aircraft Dreamliner as directed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the United States and Qatar’s Civil Aviation Authority (QCAA) for proper implementation of the Airworthiness Directive (AD) issued by the FAA. The Chief Executive Office of the airline, Akbar Al Baker said that the airline grounded all the five Boeing 787-8 aircraft in its fleet for safety reasons and said the airline would continue with its operations once it is guaranteed of its total safety in the airspace. An online statement sent by the airline’s media agent in Nigeria stated that Al Baker had previously stated that Qatar Airways would only stop operating its Dreamliners if it receives such an instruction from regulators like FAA and QCAA, which it received last week. He said, “Safety remains the

number one priority for Qatar Airways. We ensure all our aircraft meet the most stringent safety standards and this will not be compromised in any way. “In light of recent events surrounding the Boeing 787 Dreamliner worldwide, we are actively working with Boeing and the regulators to restore full customer confidence in the 787. “Qatar Airways will resume 787 operations when we are clear that the aircraft meets the full requirements of the Airworthiness Directive and our standards which assure the safety of our passengers and crew at all times. So we are not flying the aircraft until and only such a time this is achieved. “Qatar Airways would like to express ousr sincere apologies to passengers booked on our 787 flights, but we are sure they will understand our concerns in view of recent events with other 787 operators around the world. Our staff are assisting all affected passengers to be accommodated on other flights to get them to their final destination with minimum inconvenience.”

It will be recalled that the decision to ground all the B787 jets was prompted by a second incident involving a lithium-ion battery failure on an All Nippon Airways flight, which forced the aircraft to make an emergency landing at Takamatsu Airport in western Japan last week. FAA said that before any of the Boeing 787 Dreamliners could be allowed to return to flight operations, the operators must prove that the batteries are safe. The batteries, which caused the recent malfunctions, will be examined as part of a comprehensive high-priority review announced recently. All the operators using the Boeing 787 jets have since complied with the FAA directive. Following the last week’s malfunction, two Japanese airlines voluntarily grounded their 787s. All Nippon Airways grounded all 17 of its 787s, and Japan Airlines grounded its seven Dreamliners. At present, there are 50 Boeing 787 jets in used by eight airline operators worldwide.

he Minister of Water Resources, Mrs Sarah Ochekpe, in Abuja on Tuesday called for the inclusion of water experts in the Council of Nigerian Mining Engineers and Geosciences (COMEG). Ochekpe made the call at the “Stakeholders forum on Mapping Fresh Water Aquifers of Coastal Nigeria”, organised by COMEG. She expressed concern on the non-recognition of the water sector in geosciences, which she described as worrisome. The forum was organised to present the report on salt water intrusion study in coastal areas of the country and discuss ways to tackle it. “I have been informed that the water sector is not represented in the membership of COMEG because of its merger with the agriculture in the past. “The non-recognition and inclusion of a major sector like water in geosciences is, therefore,

worrisome to me. “May I appeal to the chairman of the council and its members to kindly review the situation and grant water the deserved recognition and inclusion on the council. Ochekpe, who said the challenges in meeting the country’s water needs was multi-faceted and daunting, however, praised COMEG and its registered members for their efforts in solving some of the problems. She expressed regrets about the intrusion of salt water in fresh water, particularly in the coastal areas of the country, pointing out that this was one of the major challenges facing the country’s water sector. The minister, however, assured COMEG of the willingness of the ministry to partner with the council to find solutions to the challenges in the coastal aquifers and to also understand the basic dynamics of the aquifers in the inland basins.

Expert advocates fiscal federalism to develop resources

ormer President, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), Mr Kunle Quadri, on Tuesday, advocated fiscal federalism to effectively harness the abundant resources of the country. In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Lagos, Quadri said the gesture would encourage innovations among the various states of the federation. He added that fiscal federalism would enable states to explore resources for their development. Quadri said that it would also reduce the “work load” on the Federal Government and enable it focus on the development of infrastructure. “One state can say it will produce electricity with whatever it is producing, the other can say it will improve on

security; by this, there will be innovations and competitions. “We have great potential in the country and the only way to harness them is to use the avenue of fiscal federalism. “Let states explore the resources in their domains and remit some percentages to the Federal Government “In that wise, the Federal Government will be able to focus on the development of the key sectors to transform the economy,” he said. Quadri said that the number of states in the country did not matter, so long as they were viable. “I am not an advocate for the reduction of the number of states. If we have 50 states, no problem, but those states must be financially viable.”

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Business Finance

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Ajaokuta Steel Mill technology not obsolete, say workers MESHACK IDEHEN

he country’s quest for industrial sector growth and development may be under threat, as workers in the iron and steel sector say government’s action is stunting growth of iron and steel development that can move the sector forward. Under the auspices of Iron and Steel Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ISSSAN), and Steel and Engineering Workers Union of Nigeria (SEWUN),the unions urged the Federal Government not to entertain “any and whatsoever recommendations” to abandon or scrap the Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited and the National Iron Ore

Mining Company (NIOMCO), Itakpe. Describing those clamouring for the scrapping of the Ajaokuta Steel Mill as wicked, selfish and unpatriotic, alongside being “agents of the World bank and Paris Club”, the workers said also that both companies hold enormous potentials for Nigerian and African economies. Briefing Journalists on Tuesday, the National President of ISSSAN, Mr. Salihu Otori, said the unions are refuting claims that Nigeria does not have the capacity to develop and manage an iron and steel complex, while saying also that it was a lie that the technology at Ajaokuta is obsolete or that the complex is a white elephant project Otori said Ajaokuta alone, if

allowed to operate at maximum capacity will require at least 30,000 professionals to manage it and also allow for 500,000 quality jobs from the downstream industries. According to him, an argument being put forward by the agents of developed economies whose main target is to capture Nigeria’s huge market potentials for steel and related products is only done in order to develop those nation’s home economies and strengthen their technological development all at the detriment of Nigeria. He explained that with all the contradictions about the last concession agreements that the completed units of the plant were operated and substantial revenue generated.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Apapa Customs fails to meet revenue projection FRANCIS EZEM

he global economic downturn and the attendant decline in port cargo throughput may be taking its toll on the revenue generation of the Nigeria Customs Service, as Apapa Area1 failed to meet its N324billion target for the 2012 fiscal year. The Comptroller General of the Alhaji Dikko Abdullahi had imposed a N1trillion revenue target on the service as against the N800.4 billion given to it by the Federal Ministry of Finance. As part of the measures to achieve the target, the service had introduced a duty benchmark on a total of 26 imported electrical items, which importers and clearing agents vehemently opposed thus prompting the Federal Government to order the cancellation of the obnoxious policy.

NEMA partners Osun, intensifies campaign against fire disasters

Minister for Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke (right) and Managing Director/CEO Net-work Oil and Gas Limited, Mr. Clifford Osaruwa, after the commissioning of the Oredo Integrated Gas Handling Facility, a 100% local content facility wholly built by the company at Ologbo Community in Edo State recently.

Area controller in charge of Apapa, which accounts for over one third of the service’s revenue generation, Comptroller Mohhamed Umar, who briefed newsmen on the activities of the command for the past year, disclosed that the command lost a whopping N40billion to the economic downturn. According to him, out of a total of N324billion revenue projection for the command for the 2012 fiscal year which translates to N27billion monthly and N81billion per quarter, it was able to make only N283.9billion. He, however, noted that though the command could not meet its target, it surpassed the previous year’s revenue performance by N48.7billion, which represents a 21 percent revenue growth when compared to the N235.2 billion collected in the comparative period of 2011.

he National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has intensified campaigns against fire disasters, even as the organisation collaborates with Osun Government to train grassroots emergency volunteers. NEMA’s South West Zonal Coordinator, Mr Iyiola Akande, disclosed this in Osogbo on Tuesday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), shortly after a workshop on strengthening disaster preparedness and mitigation. The South West Coordinator, who lamented that the outrage of fire this dry season had been further complicated by the hamattan haze, warned people against care-

lessness in handling of fire. According to him, there are the environmental hazards in which dry wind fuels fire to spread so fast to destroy property including farms, markets, shops and residential buildings. ‘’People should be very careful in the way they handle fire. We use fire for so many things including cooking, drying and clearing of land. We should not use charcoal fire in the house. ‘’Also smokers should not drop down the remnants of their cigarettes indiscriminately so as to avert the dangers of fire incidents, especially in the suburbs where there are farms,,’’ he said.

FG says local content policy created 30, 000 jobs for Nigerians

Informal workers accuse FG over failed promises

MESHACK IDEHEN

he implementation of the local content policy in the petroleum industry has created 30,000 jobs for Nigerians in the last 30 months, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, said. The minister made the statement at a meeting of Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), in Abuja on Thursday, a statement said. The statement, issued by Mr Obinna Ezeobi, the Public Affairs Officer of NCDMB in Abuja on Tuesday, quoted the minister as saying, ``just by insisting on using Nigerians in the industry, we have deepened the local supply chain.” She said the jobs were generated in the engineering, fabrication, marine transportation, logistics and exploration and production sectors of the oil and gas industry. Alison-Madueke expressed optimism that the job growth would be sustained.

``I have no doubt that more jobs will be created in 2013 and we shall achieve greater localisation of industry services, manufacturing and fabrication in 2013,” she said. The minister said the Nigerian content implementation had increased the level of participation of Nigerians in oil and gas contracts to 87 per cent. ``The board has to a large extent achieved consensus in most aspects of Nigerian Content implementation to the extent that there has been no major dispute amongst stakeholders on interpretation of provisions of the Nigerian Content Law. ``Stakeholders are also responding positively to the need to do things differently in the industry for the benefit of all. This clearly demonstrates that we have been carrying the industry along in the implementation of the Act,” she said. She gave an assurance that the

Federal Government would continue to support the board and its numerous local value addition initiatives, aimed at deepening indigenous participation in the industry. Alison-Madueke said the Petroleum Industry Bill currently at the National Assembly when passed into law would go a long way in sustaining the momentum that had been achieved in Nigerian Content. “The PIB is now in the National Assembly and should provide the needed impetus for additional investments in the industry. This should be a major benefit for the capacity we are building in the local industry,” she said. In his remark, the Executive Secretary, NCDMB, Mr Ernest Nwapa, said the Nigerian Content implementation model was focused on growing and utilising in-country capacity.

he Federation of Informal Workers’ Organisations of Nigeria (FIWON), on Tuesday accused the Federal Government of unkept promises, and said future promises of the government on the informal sector should be taken with a pinch of salt. A statement by the General Secretary of FIWON, Mr. Gbenga Komolafe made available to National Mirror, said one year after President Goodluck Jonathan made promises to effect a 25 per cent cut in the basic salaries of all political office-holders in the executive arm of government, and to review the number of committees, commissions and parastatals with overlapping responsibilities with a view to restructuring them that nothing has been done or heard from those promises. According to Komolafe, other

promises the President failed to keep include the promise of a speedy launch of a mass transit intervention programme to bring down the cost of transport nationwide, promise of import duty waivers on all needed parts for locally made mass transit vehicles amongst others. He said, “One year after, we ask where the mass transit buses are. We only know that some of the mass transit buses were released only in Abuja, and barely worked for two months before they began to break down along some areas of the FCT. “How many of the 370,000 jobs promised have actually been fulfilled? More importantly, how much of the trillions of naira stolen by petroleum marketers in collusion with government officials have been recovered? More tellingly, how many of the publicly indicted subsidy thieves have been prosecuted and jailed?”

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Energy Week

udemea@rocketmail.com 07031546994

Power sector performance set to improve

radually, private investors, known for improved performance, efficiency and accountability are getting close to taking over the nation ’s power sector, involving generation, transmission and distribution which has for decades been in firm control of the Federal Government. Indications to this effect emerged a few days ago when the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE), declared that it has started finalising negotiations with preferred bidders for Power Hold- Many electricity consumers, who are being exploited through crazy billings by the Power Holding ing Company of Nigeria (PHCN), suc- Company of Nigeria (PHCN), are wondering what 2013 holds for them. UDEME AKPAN reports that cessor generation companies, Gencos supply will improve slightly, with the entry of private sector entities into the power sector. and successor distribution companies, Discos in the nation. The Acting Director General of BPE, Mr. Benjamin Dikki who confirmed the development at the pre-negotiation with the bidders in Abuja expressed the commitment of government to hand over to private investors. The BPE boss, who spoke on programmes undertaken over the past few years, stated that having verified and confirmed that all the bank guarantees provided by the preferred bidders were genuine, all the preferred bidders were qualified for the finalization of negotiation stage. As he puts it: “It is important to remind you that 15 business days after signing of the Sale and Purchase Agreement or the Shareholders ’ Agreement, whichever is earlier, or at a mutually agreed earlier date, the bidders shall make a down payment of 25 per cent of the share sales purchase price. It is also in order to mention that it is after finalization of negotiations that transaction documents will be executed. Dikki disclosed that the long journey which started in 1999 with the creation of the Electric Power Sector Implementation Committee (EPIC) by the National Council on Privatisation (NCP), to carry out a comprehensive study of the electricity industry is about to come to an end. The Acting Director General who observed that one of the main objectives of EPIC was to prepare a power policy blueprint that will define government ’s new direction for the elec- Afam power station tric power sector stated that one of the of ministers and top ranking governT WAS EXPECTED THAT WITH THE INTRODUCTION key outcomes of EPIC was the preparament officials to address the funding tion of a draft National Electric Power implications of the agreement. OF A BETTER OPERATING ENVIRONMENT THAT IS Policy, (NEPP), in March 2001. He stated that title documents to He remarked that the approved EFFICIENT EFFECTIVE AND WELL REGULATED landed properties were being vigorNEPP document and the EPSRA 2005 ously pursued added that BPE has PRIVATE SECTOR PARTICIPANTS WOULD BE were targeted at liberalising the elecalso collaborated with the Ministry tricity industry, attracting private of Lands and Housing to ensure resoENCOURAGED TO INVEST IN THE SECTOR sector investment and realising comlution of land and property titles. He petition amongst participants in the made it clear that measures have been pursued to enable the dream fully come electricity market. duna and Afam, attests to the success of taken to improve funding for operaSpecifically, Dikki stated that: “It this voyage and the commitment of the true included the signing of an agreetions. He said avenues are also being was expected that with the introduc- Jonathan/Sambo administration to con- ment between the Government and Laexplored to provide adequate funding tion of a better operating environment tinue implementing reforms in the pow- bour that guarantees the cooperation of to improve TCN infrastructure on a that is efficient, effective and well- er sector and other sectors like the oil labour in the handover process. Dikki sustainable basis; and that a lot has regulated, private sector participants and gas, transport and the postal sectors who pointed out that the Federal Governbeen achieved and more will be done would be encouraged to invest in the in the dogged pursuit of its transforma- ment was working to raise the finance to to stabilise gas supply on a sustainable effect payment of staff entitlements said: sector. The fact that we shall be execut- tion agenda. basis. ing the transaction documents for all He remarked that some measures have “Just last Saturday, His Excellency, Vice the GENCOS and DISCOS, except Ka- either been completed or presently being President Sambo presided over a meeting CONTINUED ON PAGE 36

... as private investors prepare for takeover

Energy Week

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Power sector performance set to improve CONTINUED FROM PAGE 35

Dikki who expressed the appreciation to investors for their participation in the privatisation process stated that: “The Federal Government is grateful for your faith in its reform programmes and looks forward to the successful conclusion of these transactions. We hope to see most, if not all of you when the PIB, Transport and Postal Bills are enacted. He also pointed out that a lot had been achieved and more will be done to stabilise gas supply on a sustainable basis, adding that “all these measures should assure all preferred bidders and their financiers that everything is being done by government to provide a conducive atmosphere for their investments ”. These raised hope for improved electricity generation which could be in excess of 1,000 megawatts thus, making the nation to increase its present over 4,000mw to over 5,000mw before the end of the year. The Minister of State for Power, Hajiya Zainab Kuchi who rose from a crucial stakeholders forum in Lagos a few weeks ago vowed to boost supply in all parts of the nation. Investigations showed that Kuchi is working in collaboration with Ministry of Petroleum to boost gas supply for power generation. Already, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), has started harnessing more gas for power supply at its Oredo field in Edo State. The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke who unveiled the Oredo Integrated Gas Handling Facility over the weekend stated that the facility was installed to boost gas supply for electricity generation in line with government aspiration. The facility which currently supplies 65 million metric standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) has ramped up NPDC ’s total gas production to a record level of 400MMscfd with projected growth to 600MMscfd by year end is envisaged to provide invaluable tonic to the Federal Government ’s power supply aspiration. Alison-Madueke noted that the project is in line with the ongoing reform process in the industry designed to vigorously ensure the monetization of the nation ’s gas endowment through gas to power and other gas related industrialisation. The minister stated that the Oredo gas project which is 100 percent local content in both design and construction is reflective of the Federal Government ’s desire to grow and support effective indigenous participation in the oil and gas industry. The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Engr. Andrew Yakubu who holds regular consultations with the ministry of power stated that the IGHF which symbolises NNPC ’s response to the Federal Government gas to power initiative is the first major gas development project aimed at realisation of NPDC ’s strategic growth plan of being an integrated oil and gas company. He stated that: ``The Oredo gas plant is an Integrated Gas Handling Facility (IGHF), designed with a module for

Jonathan

LPG production and other liquids extraction facilities. While substantial volume of gas from the facility is designed for the Ihovbor power plant, the balance will be injected into domestic gas supply pipelines grid. This facility also has the capacity to eliminate gas flaring in Managing Director of the NPDC, Engr. Victor Briggs pledged the commitment of management and staff of the company to achieving NPDC ’s growth plans and business projections. He stated that: ‘ ’I will like to give the Honorable Minister comfort that NPDC will not only meet its gas supply target of 200MMdcfd from OML 111, but will be able to sustain this production for the next 20 years based on existing reserves in this OML; however there are additional exploration potentials. ’ ’ The NPDC produces an average of 130,000 barrels of crude per day and currently ranks the 5th largest oil producing company in the country. Records indicate that going by recent performance, NPDC is poised to surpass its growth target of 250,000 barrels of oil per day by the year 2015. The NPDC Oredo IGHF is sited on Oil Mining Lease (OML) 111. The Lease consists of three fields with an average production capacity of 6,000 barrels of crude oil per day (bpd) with more prospects for further development. From all indications, the quantity generated would be transmitted for distribution as Manitoba Hydro International has since taken over as Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) manager. MHI stated that: “Throughout the term of the contract, one key objective for MHI will be to reorganise TCN such that the TSP becomes a separate entity from the MO and SO allowing it to become a privatised commercial company. MHI expects to turn TCN into a technically and financially efficient, stable, and sustainable company; a company that will be market-driven and capable of utilising its maximum

Minister of State for Power, Zainab Kuchi

THE OREDO GAS PLANT IS AN

INTEGRATED GAS HANDLING FACILITY (IGHF), DESIGNED WITH A MODULE FOR

LPG PRODUCTION

AND OTHER LIQUIDS EXTRACTION FACILITIES generation capacity and then distributing the energy throughout Nigeria 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. ” From all indications, the distribution arm would also witness a little improvement, particularly through not only the advent of new investors that may be determined to make the difference but also additional impact of the National Independent Power Project (NIPP), this year. Investigations showed that plans are underway by the Federal Government to commission more National Integrated Power Projects (NIPP), in Lagos. A source close to the firm who confirmed the plan said; “There are plans to commission new projects in Lagos and its environs because of their importance. ” He said the projects would be commissioned as soon as they are completed so as to enable the government achieved its desired objectives in the power sector. A few days ago, some projects were commissioned through the Niger Delta Power Holding Company Limited, NDPHC include 15 MVA power transformer at NITEL injection substation, 60 MVA transformer, Mushin and 132/33 KVA at Ojo injection substation in the outskirts of Lagos. Commissioning the projects, the Managing Director of the company, Mr. James Olotu said the development was based on government determination to make electricity supply available to

Hussien Labo

more consumers in the Lagos are in particular and the nation in general. Olotu said the Federal Government was committed to ensuring that electricity gets to every part of the nation. He called on consumers to assist in protecting the projects against vandals that may seek to vandalise them. He said more projects would be commissioned as they are completed in future in Lagos and other parts of the nation. It would be recalled that in May, this year the NDPHC commissioned 11 power injector sub-stations in Lagos metropolis to boost electricity supply, with Olotu assuring Lagosians that the projects would boost electricity supply in most communities under the network. Olotu said that when all the projects are completed, they would have the capacity to inject additional minimum of 1,000 megawatts by December to the national grid. The 11 substations commissioned included Agbowa- Ikosi, Ipakodo, Ijede, Agbara, Ajangbadi, Orile- Coker, Fowler, Alagbon, Beckley, Apapa Raod and Tincan. These substations were handed over to management of Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company and Eko Electricity Distribution Company to boost the quality of power supply to the areas. He said that the new 60 MVA transformers commissioned across the metropolis were capable of boosting power supply to the community to bring about more stability in the power supply. Olotu said: “This is our year of harvest on all NIPP projects in the country which we have been working towards. One of the substations can serve about 10,000 residents of the communities which is part of the present administration under President Goodluck Jonathan to ensure effective power distributions to Nigerians. ” These and other great expectations are welcomed developments. But there are strong indications that the expected positive impact on consumers may be eroded if several issues, including illegal connection, over billing of consumers and corruption of PHCN officials are not properly checked.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Energy Week

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

OPEC daily basket price stands at $108.92 a barrel

760,000 bpd. The expansion will be led by China and other fast-growing economies. “World economic turbulence has affected oil demand in the past few years, ” OPEC said. “Nevertheless, its effect on this year ’s oil demand is not expected to be as sharp as last year, but instead considerably milder. ” OPEC ’S is the second of this month ’s three closely watched supply and demand reports to be released. The US government ’s Energy Information Administration last week trimmed its 2013 demand growth forecast by 20,000 bpd. The International Energy Agency, adviser to 28 industrialised countries, issues its report. OPEC has a target for its 12 members to produce 30 mbpd. With prices above Riyadh ’s preferred $100mark but with expectations of slower demand in early 2013, OPEC at a meeting in December left the target unchanged, leaving the door open to informal supply tweaks depending on demand. Saudi Arabia told OPEC it produced 9.025 mbpd in December, down from 9.49 mbpd in November, confirming figures provided last week by an industry source familiar with Saudi policy. Major customers of state oil company Saudi Aramco said the cuts were driven by lower demand. Record Saudi output last year of up to 10 mbpd helped to cushion the impact of Western sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme by helping to bring prices down from a 2012.

UDEME AKPAN

he price of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC basket of 12 crudes has risen from $108.01 to $108.92 per barrel, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations. The new OPEC Reference Basket of Crudes (ORB) is made up of the following: Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), Oriente (Ecuador), Iran Heavy (Islamic Republic of Iran), Basra Light (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Qatar Marine (Qatar), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and Merey (Venezuela). The price is still in excess of the budget projections of many oil exporting nations including Nigeria, meaning that they would be able to generate funds for the implementation of the budget. However, OPEC expects demand for its crude to be lower than expected in 2013 because of higher supply from rival producers, indicating inventories could build up substantially even after a cut in output by top exporter Saudi Arabia. The OPEC monthly report indicated world supply will comfortably outstrip demand in the first half of 2013, even after Riyadh cut output in December by almost 500,000 barrels per day (bpd)

Alison-Madueke

to fend off a supply overhang and defend prices well above $100 a barrel. OPEC lowered the 2013 forecast demand for its crude by 100,000 bpd to 29.65 mbpd, as it expects producers outside the 12-member group to pump more. This is less than OPEC ’S December output of 30.37 mbpd as estimated by secondary sources. Demand for OPEC crude will average 29.07 mbpd in the first half of 2013, the report estimated, implying inventories could build up by about 1.3 mbpd should OPEC maintain December ’s output rate. The report made only a marginal cut in its forecast for global growth in oil demand in 2013, trimming the estimate by 10,000 bpd to

FG tasks committee on environment CHIDI UGWU ABUJA

he Federal Government has tasked the Environmental Protection and Rehabilitation Fund Committee to address critical matters in the mining sector. The committee is to work closely with the federal ministry of Environment in order to develop an institutional framework for the benefit of the masses. National Mirror learnt that the committee is to develop a framework for the establishment of the Environmental Protection and Rehabilitation Fund and develop modalities for appointment of Trustees/Fund Managers and producing comprehensive list of Min-

eral Title Holder. The Committee also has the responsibility to provide guidelines for the contents of Environmental Protection and Rehabilitation Program (EPRP) and organise a stakeholders forum to sensitise Mineral Title Holders on the establishment of the EPRP, and determine the associated impacts of the mining of specific minerals as well as its cost implication towards the contribution to the Fund. While inaugurating the committee, the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Arc. Musa Mohammed Sada noted that the issue of environmental devastation in mining operations which had been in the front burner of the present administration required an urgent action. Sada explained that this ugly trend which

is always characterized by abandoned pits has caused loss of several lives in the mining communities and the Federal Government still spends millions of naira to rehabilitate these sites annually. The minister said the establishment of the Environmental Protection and Rehabilitation Fund (EPRF), which is in line with the provisions of section 121 of the Nigeria Minerals and Mining Act of 2007 would ensure that mining operators protect and rehabilitate mining sites instead of abandoning such for the government to deal with at a later date. He reiterated that the minerals and metals sector of Nigeria ’s economy has high potentials to support industrial investment as well as overall development of the sector, stressing that, government needs to put in

Energy & Oil Prices

Source: Bloomberg

OIL ($/bbl) Nymex Crude Future Dated Brent Spot WTI Cushing Spot

PRICE*

CHANGE

% CHANGE

TIME

85.95 111.01 85.54

0.41 0.90 -0.74

0.48% 0.82% -0.86%

07:42 07:52 10/29

PRICE*

CHANGE

% CHANGE

TIME

310.55 275.30

-0.97 -0.38

-0.31% -0.14%

07:37 07:41

OIL (¢/gal) Nymex Heating Oil Future Nymex RBOB Gasoline Future

NATURAL GAS ($/MMBtu)

PRICE*

CHANGE

% CHANGE

11:19

New York City Gate Spot

3.77 3.43 3.57

-0.03 0.09 0.11

-0.84% 2.69% 3.18%

07:43 10/29 10/29

ELECTRICITY ($/megawatt hour)

PRICE*

CHANGE

% CHANGE

TIME

% CHANGE

09/24

Nymex Henry Hub Future Henry Hub Spot

Mid-Columbia, firm on-peak, spot Palo Verde, firm on-peak, spot

32.95 35.23

-0.40 -0.76

-1.20% -2.11%

10/26 10/29

BLOOMBERG, FIRM ON-PEAK, DAY AHEAD SPOT/ERCOT HOUSTON

30.25

2.04

7.23%

10/26

Source: Oilprice.com

place all legal instruments with a view to ensuring the achievement of a sustainable mining environment in the country. He charged the committee to produce detailed modalities for the Environmental Protection Fund (EPRF) in accordance with the dictates of Nigeria ’s Minerals and Mining Act of 2007 and Mining Regulations, adding that, this would guarantee the development of the sector in an environmentally sustainable manner. The minister noted that international investors are currently complaining about too much taxes or levies in Nigeria. Consequently, he advised members of the committee to carry along all stakeholders in the minerals and metals sector in order to have a clear understanding for the establishment of the Fund. “With this fund, you only loose the money that you contributed to the Fund, if you are unable to play up to your responsibility in the environment. The framework should be available whereby you can claim your fund if you are able to do what is expected of you. That should be clearly understood by stakeholders. ”

Energy Week

STORIES: UDEME AKPAN

he lucrative nature of pipeline vandalism has been identified as a major reason the illegal business thrives in the nation. The National Chairman of independent Petroleum Marketing Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Mr. Olumide Ogunmade said vandals made a lot of millions from every illegal deal they embarked on, thus encouraging them to remain in the illegal business. Speaking on a popular electronic medium, Ogunmade said there were strong syndicates that work at many levels toward ensuring that the perpetrators remain in the business of stealing petroleum products. He said IPMAN and others have over the years make various sacrifices to assist the government in tackling the illegal business without success, particularly as a result of the lucrative nature of the business. Ogunmade said every stakeholder should rise up to fight against vandalism because of its negative impact on infrastructure and petroleum products supply in the nation. Meanwhile, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), said it has completed work on the rehabilitation of Arepo pipeline that exploded because of vandalism a few weeks ago. The immediate rehabilitation of the pipeline has led to the restoration of petrol supply from Atlas Cove to inland depots including Ejigbo, Mosimi, Ibadan, Ore and Ilorin where major and independent marketers lift petroleum products to their outlets. The Manager, Public Affairs and External Relations of the Pipelines Product Marketing Company (PPMC), Mr. Nasir Imodagbe, who confirmed the development, said the facility had been repaired. He said: “Arepo pipeline has been fixed. Our engineers fixed it a few hours after the incident to prevent shortage of fuel, which became imminent after the destruction of the pipeline at the weekend. ” The manager, who disclosed that the pipeline was repaired shortly after the visit of Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun, said the restoration of fuel supply would step up availability in the South-West. He said security had been beefed up in the area to prevent further damage to the facility, which had been vandalised in the past few months. . Imodagbe, who called for the cooperation of stakeholders to ensure the pipeline was well-secured, added that there were about three other entrances to the facility apart from the NNPC Right-ofWay. Investigations showed that fuel loading was ongoing at the various depots. Major and independent marketers said they did not have much difficulty lifting the product to their outlets. However, NNPC has expressed shock at the renewed attack on the System 2B Pipeline at Arepo barely a month after it was fixed following a fire caused by vandals who had ruptured the pipeline in August 2012. The Acting Group General Manager Group Public Affairs of the corporation, Ms Tumini Green, in a statement made available to journalists disclosed that product thieves hacked at the pipeline again causing fire that reportedly killed three persons.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Why pipeline vandalism persists in oil industry –IPMAN

Andrew Yakubu

AREPO PIPELINE HAS BEEN FIXED. OUR ENGINEERS FIXED IT A FEW HOURS AFTER THE

INCIDENT TO PREVENT SHORTAGE OF FUEL, WHICH BECAME IMMINENT AFTER THE DESTRUCTION OF THE PIPELINE AT THE WEEKEND “The corporation is appalled by the repeated attacks on the pipeline at the same spot in Arepo in Ogun State. A similar attack on the pipeline in August last year and the difficulties the corporation had in effecting repairs as a result of security issues caused a lot of hardship in product distribution, which was responsible for the emergence of long queues at fuel stations across the country in the last quarter of 2012, ” Green stated. She said the NNPC is shocked by the statement credited to the governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, al-

leging that the incident was as result of negligence on the part of NNPC. “It is sad that the governor of Ogun State who should know the importance of national assets like pipelines and do everything in his power to protect them is engaging in a blame game when every responsible Nigerian citizen is wondering why Arepo, which is in his domain has become such an attractive spot for oil thieves and pipeline vandals, ” she stated. She urged Amosun to emulate his Abia State counterpart who has mobilised security personnel to protect the pipelines in

his domain to sustain product supply to the state rather than engage in unnecessary rhetoric. Green stated that few months ago, the NNPC/PPMC approached the Ogun State government seeking for synergy on the fight against pipeline vandalism “but to our surprise, the Ogun State government is yet to give a positive response. ” Green said the PPMC has mobilised its men to site and effected repairs after putting out the fire and would have commenced pumping of products but had to stop to fix another breach on the same line at Ijeododo. She called on Nigerians to be vigilant and report all suspicious movements around pipelines to the security agencies, adding that the protection of pipelines should be the responsibility of every citizen especially as they are usually at the receiving end of the hardship caused by the activities of vandals. Meanwhile, the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), has condemned the activities of oil vandals, especially the recent vandalism of an oil pipeline in Arepo, which left some people dead when it exploded. According to NUPENG, the vandals should be arrested, treated as economic saboteurs and made to face the wrath of the law. NUPENG in a statement by its General Secretary, Comrade Isaac Aberare, on Monday also called on the special unit of the anti-pipelines vandalisation squad in the office of the Inspector General of Police to be alive to its responsibility in monitoring, intelligence gathering of the system 2B area, which carries fuel from the Atlas Cove to Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Ondo and Kwara states The union in a statement insisted on 24 hours surveillance of the Arepo end, saying also that the swampy area should be cleared so that there will be visibility instead of the present bushy environment where the pipelines traverse.

CSR: Total delivers medicare to 4,270 patients in Akwa Ibom

he NNPC/ TEPNG Joint Venture in partnership with Universal Medicare Foundation has concluded a one week free medical care programme in Akwa Ibom State. More than 4,000 patients were treated of various ailments at the General Hospital Etinan. The event, which took place between the 3rd and 7th December afforded a remarkable opportunity to the people of the State to access quality Medicare. The Director, Universal Medicare Foundation, Professor Ose Ade Ejele said that his team attended to about 4,270 cases which included 68 general surgical procedures, 229 dental cases, 972 optical cases, including 37 optical surgeries, 249 laboratory tests, including 172 for HIV/AIDS. “The exercise is an effort by Total and her partners to address a critical need of the people, particularly

the indigents who may not be able to procure these services on their own ”, Cyprian Ojum, Deputy General Manager, Sustainable Development stated. His address was delivered by Mr. Owuso Akobo, Manager, Partnership Development in the Port Harcourt District. In appreciation, the Akwa Ibom State Government commended Total for the initiative, which has greatly complimented their efforts in delivering health care to the citizens, noting that this is the fifth time the company has extended free health care to the people in different Local Government Areas of Akwa Ibom State. Dr. (Mrs.) Comfort Archibong, Deputy Director, Medical Services represented the state at the event. Speaking on behalf of the Etinan Clan, the paramount ruler, His Eminence Edidem Ime Dickson expressed the delight of the people for the provision of such quality health care pro-

gram in their domain. Akwa Ibom State hosts part of the company ’s offshore concessions in OMLs 99, 100 and 102 where it produces oil and gas. Total has been a partner from the start in the development of oil and gas in Nigeria, carrying both Upstream and Downstream activities. The firm ’s various stakes in Nigerian projects reflect its long-term commitment to sustainable development of the country ’s economy, infrastructure and communities. Total Upstream has been serving the Nigerian hydrocarbons industry for nearly half a century, in partnership with the Nigerian Government and in different equity associations with other private companies. Our company is the country ’s fourth-largest oil and gas producer through its involvement in more than 50 permits, including nine as operator.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Energy Week

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Firm reviews performance of partnership agreement with stakeholders STORIES: UDEME AKPAN

he peaceful ambience enjoyed by Total in her areas of operations in Rivers and Akwa Ibom states is largely attributed to the implementation of development agreements signed between the company and its stake holding communities in these states. The partnership agreement between Total and host communities in Akwa Ibom State was due to expire at the end of 2012. Consequently, a stake holders workshop was held between the company and representatives of the host communities to review the performance of the 2009 – 2012 Agreement. The workshop which held at the Le Meriden Hotel & Resort, Uyo, was attended by the traditional rulers from the host communities, led by HRM Edidem Udo Joe Ntuk Obom while the Secretary to the MoU implementation committee, Mr. Godwin Bill led his team. The Manager, Offshores Community Affairs, Mr. Onome Unuavwodo, leader

Oil rig

of the company ’s delegation informed the stake holders that the engagement exercise was a proactive initiative of the company to appraise the performance of the expir-

Gunmen seize Nigeria ’s fuel tanker off Côte d ’Ivoire

unmen have seized a Nigerianowned, Panama-flagged tanker with 16 Nigerian crew off Côte d ’Ivoire ’s port of Abidjan as it prepared to unload 5,000 tonnes of fuel, Port officials said yesterday. Reuters that confirmed the development stated that attacks on shipping are increasing in the Gulf of Guinea - second only to the waters around Somalia for piracy. But the ITRI incident was only the second of its kind in Ivorian waters. The tanker, named the ITRI and owned by Lagos-based Brila Energy, was commandeered on Thursday, Abidjan ’s port authority said in a statement. Serge Constant of Koda Maritime, an Ivorian firm that was managing its stopover in Côte d ’Ivoire, said there has been no contact with it since. Constant said the ITRI ’s onboard tracking system had been disabled. Abidjan port officials said the ITRI ’s last known position was off the coast of neighboring Ghana. But Ghanaian authorities said they had been unable to locate the ITRI. “...We now seem to be back to square one. The information is contradictory. We don ’t know who ’s telling us the truth and who isn ’t, ” said Constant. Piracy subsided to a five-year low in 2012 due mainly to a drastic reduction in Somali hijackings in the seas off the Horn of Africa. But 10 vessels with a total of 207 crew were seized in the Gulf of Guinea off West Africa last year, according to the International Maritime Bureau. Many of the pirate gangs in the Gulf of Guinea are offshoots of militant groups that once operated in Nigeria ’s oil-rich Niger Delta before they agreed an amnesty in 2009. Analysts say coordinated efforts by Nigerian authorities and neighboring countries have forced Nigerian pirates to seek easier targets outside their home waters. “Nigeria and Benin have had joint actions for two years, and they have

been quite successful. We haven ’t seen the kinds of heavy attacks that we used to see, ” said Martin Ewi, a senior researcher with South Africa ’s Institute for Security Studies. In October, suspected Nigerian pirates seized a Bahamas-flagged tanker carrying more than 32,000 metric tonnes of gasoline near Abidjan ’s port. The 24 crew were later freed unharmed. A few days ago, authorities in Nigeria charged 23 people after the navy seized two ships carrying stolen crude oil that amounts to about 180, 000 barrels of oil per day. Off Nigeria ’s 530 miles of coastline, where dozens of tanker transit every day, attacks nearly doubled in 2012 from 11 in the previous year. West Africa accounted for nearly onefifth of all attacks on ships around the globe last year, with a heavy concentration off Nigeria ’s Bayelsa State, the heart if the country ’s oil industry. Piracy off West Africa “is reaching dangerous proportions, ” the International Maritime Bureau, the global piracy watchdog, reported in October 2012. The increase in piracy and oil theft has coincided with a widespread insurgency in the delta by tens of thousands of impoverished tribesmen demanding a greater share of the nation ’s oil wealth joining with criminal organisations. They steal oil from pipelines operated by international oil companies like Chevron of the United States, Anglo-Dutch Royal Shell and France ’s Total. The Country Chair/Managing director of Shell, Mr. Mutiu Sunmonu stated that: “The unrest has turned into a worrying criminal movement, which feeds on massive thefts of crude oil. Heavily armed and well-organised groups attack oil and gas facilities in the delta, shut down operations, kidnap staff and sabotage pipelines.

ing MoU, with a view to improving on our score in the implementation of the new MoU due to be negotiated in 2013. He encouraged the delegates to be fair and

objective in their assessment during the review exercise. The company presented to the audience her performance on some areas, including educational development through scholarship awards in primary, secondary, post secondary and Post graduate studies in local and foreign universities and skills development in the traditional and specialised skills under various trades. Others included infrastructural development projects in the host communities and micro credit administration to women and small/medium enterprises. Each of these items have agreed figures and monetary values in the MoU, hence it was easy to compare performance based on number of beneficiaries and monetary values committed on each item. Following a frank review of the overall performance of the agreement, delegates expressed satisfaction with the execution of the scopes of the MoU, while areas that needed improvement were also highlighted for the mutual benefit stakeholders.

Major marketers to import fuel soon UDEME AKPAN

made provision for the payment of N971 billion as fuel subsidy in the 2013 budget, meaning that it would be possible to sustain importation throughout the New Year. ” Stanley said this showed the commitment of the government and other stakeholders to ensuring that the yearnings of people who have at various times expressed the need for government to ensure sufficient products are made available for consumption. Prior to the development, only the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), had the funds to import fuel into the nation. This, coupled with distribution problems affected efficient distribution to many parts of the country. An NNPC official said plans are underway to rehabilitate the refineries to reduce dependence on imported fuel as well as conserve scarce foreign exchange being expended in the process. The corporation stated that: “Petroleum products are either imported or refined locally and are received by the PPMC through import jetties and pipelines and distributed through pipelines to depots strategically located all over called bridging to designated retail outlets. There is also provision for using the rail system to move from some of the PPMC depots. ”

ajor marketers of petroleum products have concluded plans to import petroleum products into the nation following the Federal Government continuous payment of fuel subsidy. Findings showed that some marketers have started placing orders for petrol and other petroleum products from the global market. The products would likely arrive in the coming weeks, thus assisting to boost fuel supply which was threatened because of the inability of the government to settle the N161 billion 2012 fuel subsidy arrears. The payment is targeted at encouraging major and independent marketers to import fuel, thus assisting government to guide against scarcity of the essential product. A source in the Ministry of Finance said: “The government has started to pay the subsidy arrears because of its commitment to ensuring that marketers are empowered to sustain fuel importation into the country this year. ” The Executive Secretary of Major Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Mr. Timothy Olawore stated that many marketers have started to receive the arrears. He said: “Our members who could not import in the past will import the product as the government continues to pay the outstanding subsidy. ” Investigations showed that the present payment was made possible following the early verification of claims by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory (PPPRA). The Executive Secretary of the agency PPPRA, Mr. Reginald Stanley whose duties include determining the pricing policy of petroleum products; regulating the supply and distribution of petroleum products told National Mirror last week that it has completed the verification of claims. He said: “The era of shortage is over because the Federal Government has also Fuel station

Energy Week

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

How Alison-Madueke waded through turbulence in 2012 CHIDI UGWU ABUJA

he year 2012 was, to a great extent turbulent in the petroleum industry. The year began on stormy note as a result of government ’s determination to liberalise the downstream sector of the industry. Expectedly, this was one action that set the tone for mass protests against planned withdrawal of fuel subsidy by the Federal Government and resultant increase in fuel price. The doggedness and intensity with which members of the organised labour represented by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and members of Save Nigeria Group (SNG), prosecuted the two weeks protest left states ’ affairs paralysed. Dialogue teams on both sides- government and NLC were constituted and a middle road solution struck. The 1st January, 2012 fuel hike and its attendant protest was a blessing in disguise. The episode set the tone for needed reforms including beaming searchlights on cumbersome-ineffective fuel subsidy regimes that had endured in time past. Nigerians were particularly piqued that over N1.7 trillion appropriated as fuel subsidy to bridge price differential between imported fuel and local price had been serially abused by some oil marketers. Ministry of Petroleum Resources under the supervision Mrs. Dizean Alison-Madueke and its related parastatals, including the Department of Petroleum Resources came under public scrutiny. The protests led to calls from Nigerians and interest groups for increased transparency and probity in the petroleum sector. Alison-Madueke took up the challenge. She established four task forces catering different areas, but all geared towards promoting efficiency and transparency in the petroleum industry including the parastatals under the ministry. The first was a Special Task force on the vital Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) -headed by Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, a bill meant to remove all encumbrances inhibiting the growth of oil and gas sector. Another crucial committee constituted by the minster in her quest to enthrone transparency, accountability in oil and gas sector was Special Task Force on governance and control headed by Dotun Suleiman and another, Special Task Force on Petroleum Revenue chaired by Mallam Nuhu Ribadu. There was also a Task Force on National Refineries headed by Dr. Kalu Idika Kalu. The Task force on PIB was the first to submit its report after the Olorunsola led technical sub-committee completed work after weeks of pains-

Refinery

taking sessions. The minister received the draft bill and after extensive deliberations submitted same to the Federal Executive Council (FEC), after consideration before subsequent passage to the National Assembly for legislative action. Though the PIB is before the National Assembly with deliberation going on it, unlike in previous experience when PIB was bogged down by tales of forgery and different versions in circulation; the new PIB was imbedded with security features and tamper proof attributes. The current PIB comes with watermarks bearing minister ’s handwriting on every page locked in with a code such that no one can add to or remove anything from it without the code. All these features are designed to secure the document to avoid the type of duplication that led to the emergence of fake versions of the old PIB which created confusion in the National Assembly. Alison-Madueke said the new PIB was drafted with equity in mind noting concerns of the international oil companies were taken into consideration so as to engender a win-win situation for Nigeria as well as stakeholders in the oil and gas industry. She listed some of the new provisions in the bill to include those creating the Asset Management Company which will take over the management of the Joint Ventures from the NNPC which will be unbundled to make way for the establishment of a new company, the National Oil

Company which will be competitive and profit-driven. The ministry and the minister was on the spot evolving strategies to tackle them. A presidential directive urging adequate gas supply to power stations was one of those challenging moments. To tackle the presidential directive which was in line with actualising improved power supply, Minister of Petroleum Resources, declared a 12-month gas supply emergency plan designed to correct the misalignment cum challenges in the nation ’s gas to power aspirations. ``Delivery of gas to assure sufficient, uninterrupted supply to existing, as well as new thermal generating plants has been a special focus area of mine and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources. Up to recent times, gas supply to power plants outstripped demand to the extent that significant volumes of available gas remained unutilised on a daily basis. However, a close analysis of the supply chain has revealed that over the last 10 years or so, there has been significant misalignment between power projects and gas supply sources, ’ ’ the minister noted . The year 2013 promises to be even more challenging. Expectedly, the world is waiting to see the ways and means which the government will deploy to tackle the various issues in the industry that means a lot to not only Nigeria but also the global community.

Power generation stabilises at 4, 600 megawatts UDEME AKPAN

ower generation has stabilised at over 4,600 megawatts, thus, raising hope for stable supply in the country. The feat recorded on Monday this week showed an

Power Station

increase of 100 mw against an average of 4, 500 mw recorded in the past. The supply, excluding spinning reserves has culminated in improved supply to consumers nationwide. A source in the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), who confirmed the development attributed it to improved transmission, characterized by a significant in loss reduction. Authoritative data of the Ministry of Power showed that 4,250 mw are dedicated to transmission while 250 mw constituted the nation ’s reserves which are not always for transmission and distribution. The Head of Press in the Ministry of Power, Mr. Greyne Anosike attributed it to increased investment in infrastructure, located in different parts of the nation. Spokesman of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), Mr. Yakubu Lawal who confirmed increased investments particularly in National Independent Projects said the firm commissioned 11 power injector sub-stations in Lagos alone. He said each of the 11 sub-stations is 1×15 MVA with the capacity of generating power for about 10,000 residents in Agbowa- Ikosi, Ipakodo, Ijede, Agbara, Ajangbadi, Orile-Coker, Fowler, Alagbon, Bekley, Apapa Raod and Tincan. Lawal said the

firm also commissioned 500 transformers of 50KVA each to boost power supply. Consequently, Lawal said Lagosians and residents in other parts of the nation should expect improved supply of electricity. Many consumers have started feeling the impact of improved supply. The spokesman of Union Bank, Mr. Francis Barde said in a telephone interview that: “We can confirm that there has been an improvement in power supply in recent times. In the past, we used to have about two hours of public power supply which compelled us to over depend on our plants, located in every branch to run our operations. But in the past few weeks, we have about 10 hours of public power supply. ” The Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr. Sam Amadi said electricity consumers are important stakeholders who deserve not only to have constant supply but also better treatment. Amadi assured that NERC was determined to achieve adequate, reliable, safe and affordable electricity in line with international best practice in electricity service delivery. He said that: “We want to both talk and listen to consumers of electricity, that way, the commission comes up with policy formulations that would further enhance the NERC ’s mandate to the consumer. ”

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Executive Discourse

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

‘Nigeria’s non-oil export sector is At independence in 1960, Nigeria’s non-oil export sector contributed over 93 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). About 52 years later, the sector contributes less than 10 per cent to the GDP. Programme Director, Multimix Academy, a global trade, logistics and supply chain management, Dr. Obiora Madu, in this interview with FRANCIS EZEM, says Nigeria may face a major economic crisis if nothing urgent is done to boost the sector, especially given the current trend in the global oil market. How do you assess the non-oil exports sector in terms of product acceptability?

I think the starting point is that Nigeria’s non –oil sector is still under-developed and the reason is if a man has a tap and when he turns it on, dollar will be flowing, he will not see any reason to go to the farm and soil his hands. I think God has been very kind to us and in the process; we became lazy in the process. In terms of acceptability, Nigeria’s non-oil exports rank among the best in the world. So, quality is not an issue at all, it becomes an issue when an exporter deliberately get good and bad products and mix them together, which I have seen happen before. But as it is naturally, Nigeria’s Sesame Seed oil content, quality of oil is high; Nigeria’s ginger has oil which no other has in the world, so quality is not the problem. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the quality. In terms of acceptability, if there are issues with acceptability, it has to be because of our credibility, not product quality. Many a time it is not because of the quality of product but because of our attitude to contract. An average exporter does not know that an export transaction is completed when both parties express satisfaction. But there is this attitude of I have supplied him the goods and he has paid my money, nothing is my business again or you fail to supply and you do not feel any remorse. This is where the issues are. Another serious one is the lack of competitiveness occasioned by logistic and supply chain infrastructure like transport and the rest of them. These are key issues affecting export competitiveness such that for most of the products, in almost all the seasons, the local price will be more than the international market. What do you think is the volume of Nigeria’s non-oil export?

I think we are doing above 100,000 metric tonnes per annum but the issue is that there is a gap in the international market supply. That means that if we double our output now, the market would still absorb it, but do we have any strategy towards that? The strategy you talked about, is it on the side of the government or the exporters?

It is on the part of government, it is about the policy framework, about the value chain, it is about ensuring that the value chain works; You have the input suppliers, the farmers and the protectors etc. So if you have sound policies and incentives, the work will be easy to do, the exporter is not a farmer, he cannot go to the farm, he cannot increase the output, he can only increase the quantity that is being exported based on availability but if you have a

Madu

SOUTH AFRICA TOOK A DECISION THAT IT WANTS TO EMBARK ON BUSINESS OUTSOURCING AND TOURISM AND WHEN YOU VISIT

SOUTH

AFRICA, NOBODY WILL TELL YOU THAT THEY ARE READY FOR BUSINESS

national policy or strategy of expanding your volume and national export and the earnings of your non-oil export, then of course, government has a lot to do. If the government hires you as a consultant to advise it on how to increase the country’s non oil export, what will be your advice?

If they do, I will be sure that I have a lot to tell them. Some agencies and ministries need to come alive. People, who thoroughly understand the issues involved, must be put in strategic positions and the government will have to say look this is our target. Transformation is a wide thing, if that is the goal, we will do it till thy kingdom come, because everything in this country needs to be transformed. Like Obama

did in the United States, the President says this is Jonathan export initiative, what do you think the market will do? It will react immediately. In October, Obama brought 170, 000 jobs from India down to the US, and that was part of what helped him in the election. That initiative has concrete measurable result. South Africa took a decision that it wants to embark on business outsourcing and tourism and when you visit South Africa, nobody will tell you that they are ready for business. So, what I am saying is that these things are not rocket science, it is about understanding the issues; if the Ministry of Agriculture is doing what it should, it should have known that export thrives on a tripod namely development, promotion and capacity building. We are promoting export, a little development is going on, but no defined capacity building is in place. So if we take the other two legs of the tripod and develop them, we are blessed. It is not about the commodities. There is nothing wrong with the commodities quality wise but the fact is that we have become short term people occasioned by the presence of oil. I think that the signal that is coming now, if we have not been thinking, we should be ready for trouble. What is the signal?

The United States of America, which is the largest consumer of Nigeria’s crude oil has cut down on the quantity she purchases and this

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

grossly underdeveloped’ computer cables and all manner of things. Nigeria has failed to utilise that opportunity How do you see the future of the Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in Nigeria in the face of double digit interest rates, lack of incentives and infrastructure?

GOVERNMENT DOES NOT TREAT THE SMES VERY WELL, EVERYONE SAYS THEY ARE THE ENGINE ROOM FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH AND YET WE ARE NOT DOING ANYTHING SERIOUS ABOUT DEVELOPING THEM

is likely going to continue when people continue to talk about renewable energy here and there. So even if we were not thinking before, we should be thinking of what to do now to diversify the economy, of course, the next place is agriculture; that is non-oil export. But I am sure that there are many solid minerals that we do not even know that they exist. They used to have oil in Dubai but I know whether they still have but they said eight years ago that this oil can finish one year and there is no fertilizer that can increase the quantity and they said they said they will create the biggest Free Trade Zone in the world that is what they did. Nobody thinks about Dubai and think about oil. What do you the non-oil export contributes to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product?

I think it is less than 10 percent and that is too bad because earnings from non oil export in 1960 was over 93 percent of the entire economy, so if you look at that and look at where we are now, you will know that something had gone wrong. Look at the Africa Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA), which was a window opened by the United States of America. It was not for oil because US will always buy our oil, go and check the figures you will see huge figures under Nigeria’s export and when you open it, 99 percent of that is oil. The main reason why AGOA was created was to open the market duty –free quota for Nigerian exports with 6,500 items including

The things that are up against the SMEs in the country, I think are too heavy for them. Last week, NASME had a policy dialogue on this MYTO thing on how to improve the lots of the SMEs, you can imagine, last month, PHCN gave me a bill of N20, 000. The barber, how many haircuts does he do and how much is one haircut, so how does he survive? I have to come to that level. In 2003, when we were doing Impact Assessment of Export Expansion Grant, I covered the SouthSouth and I spoke with the managing director of Michelin, he brought out a document and said, see what I spent on diesel, two or three factories are not connected to the National Grid because the equipment are so sensitive because if you have this up and down movement in power supply, it will put somebody into trouble and so they had three giant generators. He said, if nothing happens, the end is in sight and less than five years later, it ended and it closed down, with thousands of jobs lost. But they are still in Nigeria importing and selling tyres and making more money than before. People lost several jobs because they had rubber plantations many of Nigerians working there and not to talk of the factories. In terms of incentives, if you give 100 people incentives, if 30 succeed, you have not failed because by the time you quantify the multiplier effect of the 30 that have succeeded, you will see that you have not failed. In Nigeria, people in public service see incentives as waste of money, they will always say; we wasted so- so amount of money; when elsewhere, they talk about baskets of incentives. Government does not treat the SMEs very well, everyone says they are the engine room for economic growth and yet we are not doing anything serious about developing them. In the last conference I attended, which was on agricultural products and export in South Africa, you find out that micro finance in working in Tanzania and those countries but it is about the mentality. You see, when we started micro finance banks in Nigeria, they were set up by the big banks and they started behaving like those who set them up be-

Executive Discourse

cause these banks in Tanzania and the rest of them are there in the villages. Nigerian farmers are not getting anything funding unless it is intervention fund, it will never get to them. But if a micro finance bank, which deals with farmers in the villages on a daily basis, it will be much better in terms of accessing the necessary funds. But bankers do not understand their transactions; they believe they are so risky to do business with. So the issue of funding is critical and so many businesses have died still birth because of the problem of funding. In this country, you have a bright idea, you cannot think of getting money to fund it, it is not possible. So the funding situation is very critical to the survival of the SMEs in Nigeria. what about the big manufacturing companies like Cadbury and Nestle etc?

Those one have lower interest rates because they have a strong bargaining power because of their size and the volume of business they do. Go and check at the banks, the rate at which companies like Cadbury, Nestle and UACN are given loans is not the same thing with the SMEs, because the bigger players would say, this is the volume of transactions we are putting here, so if you do not give us a convenient rate, we go elsewhere and they get it. So they will always get something lower than the benchmark because of their bargaining power, which the SMEs do not get. The day an SME disturbs them so much they shut your account because they feel they are not getting anything from them, it is actually an inconvenience to maintain such accounts. You know in writing a loan proposal, the same effort you put in writing for N500, 000 is the same with N500million. How do you assess the Export Expansion Grant? You recently said government has not done enough in terms of incentives.

The EEG is the only export incentive working in Nigeria out of about 12 that were floated when the Structural Adjustment Programme collapsed the commodity boards. Abroad, people talk of basket of incentives but in Nigeria it is only one. I tell you the little non-oil export that Nigeria records is because of the EEG, because many of them cannot make profit since their commodities are not competitive in the international market. This is basically due to the high logistic and sundry cost occasioned by poor infrastructure.

Global Business

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

U.S. stocks fall on corporate earnings, home sales data

ohnson & Johnson, the world’s biggest maker of health-care products, dropped 0.8 percent after providing a full-year forecast that was less than analysts estimated. Boeing Co. slipped 1.5 percent after halting deliveries of its grounded 787 Dreamliner until regulators say its batteries are safe. DuPont Co. (DD) advanced 0.8 percent as fourth-quarter profit beat estimates. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) fell 0.2 percent to 1,482.67 at 10:22 a.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 16.80 points, or 0.1 percent, to 13,632.90. Trading in S&P 500 companies was 7.8 percent above the 30-day average at this time of day. U.S. markets were closed yesterday for a holiday. “Earnings are going to be pretty blah this quarter, largely because the economy is going to be kind of blah,” said Malcolm Polley, who manages $1.1 billion as chief investment officer at Stewart Capital Advisors LLC in Indiana, Pennsylvania. “It’s more a matter of how is Washington going to deal with the fiscal issues that they’ve got and how that impacts the economic environment.” The S&P 500 surged to the highest level since December 2007 last week as companies including General Electric Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. reported betterthan-estimated earnings. Some 73 percent

of the 74 companies in the benchmark index that have released results so far exceeded projections, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Analysts on average forecast growth of 3.8 percent in fourthquarter profit, the data show. Johnson & Johnson and Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. are among 17 companies in the S&P 500 that are reporting quarterly earnings today. Sales of U.S. existing homes unexpectedly fell 1 percent to a 4.94 million annual rate last month, figures from the National Association of Realtors showed today in Washington. The median forecast of 79 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for sales to increase to a 5.1 million rate. The reading was still the second-highest since November 2009. In Asia, the Bank of Japan made its strongest commitment yet to end two decades of stagnation, shifting to Federal Reserve-style open-ended asset purchases. Governor Masaaki Shirakawa and six of nine board members voted for a 2 percent inflation target, to be achieved “at the earliest possible time” -- a pace not sustained in Japan since the early 1990s. While judging that the economy is “relatively weak,” and that consumer prices will be flat for the time being, the BOJ refrained from adding immediate stimulus. consumer items declined. The company’s shares fell.

Allen Stanford’s ex-CFO James Davis gets 5-year sentence

Allen Stanford

ormer Stanford Financial Group Co. finance chief James M. Davis was sentenced to five years in federal prison for his role in a 20-year, $7-billion international fraud scheme. U.S. District Judge David Hittner imposed the sentence today at a hearing in federal court in Houston. He also sentenced Davis to three years of postrelease probation.

Prosecutors had sought a 10-year term for Davis, 64, who pleaded guilty to felony charges in 2009 and testified against financier R. Allen Stanford. Davis’s attorney asked the judge to cap the sentence at four years, citing his client’s cooperation and early acceptance of responsibility. “I’m not here telling your honor that Mr. Davis was a saint,” the attorney, David Finn, told Hittner today. “From our first meeting he has been remorseful, contrite and has tried to make amends for the harm he has done.” Davis was the second-highest ranking member in Stanford’s business empire, which included the Antigua-based Stanford International Bank Ltd. The bank offered certificates of deposit and the Houston-based Stanford Group Co. brokerage sold them. Stanford, who was convicted of lying about what his bank was doing with CD buyers’ money, is serving a 110-year sentence at a U.S. prison in Coleman, Florida.

Barclays prepares to cut jobs at U.K. Investment Bank

ritain’s second- largest bank, has started to consult with 9,000 U.K. employees as it prepares to eliminate jobs at its investment bank. The bank sent a memorandum to employees today, a London- based spokesman said. This “exercise is being carried out so that we can start to effect some of the strategic changes” whose results will be announced on Feb.12, the Londonbased bank said in a statement today. Barclays Chief Executive Officer Antony Jenkins is overhauling the culture at the bank and focusing on more profitable

businesses amid tougher capital requirements and banking scandals. The bank was fined a record 290 million pounds ($460 million) in June for manipulating Libor, leading to the resignations of its former CEO, chairman and chief operating officer. Investment-banking head Rich Ricci has said the bank would review products and services that could harm the bank’s reputation. He cited parts of the bank’s tax advisory business and the sale of structured products to small-and medium-sized businesses.

President Obama

Johnson & Johnson slumped 0.8 percent to $72.65. Profit for 2013 will be $5.35 to $5.45 a share, the company said in a statement. The guidance missed the $5.49 average of 23 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Worldwide consumer sales declined in 2012 to $14.4 billion, a 2.9 percent decrease caused by a negative currency impact. Boeing fell 1.5 percent to $73.95 after saying it will suspend deliveries of 787s while working to meet a U.S. Federal Avia-

tion Administration directive to ensure the plane’s lithium- ion batteries are safe. Caterpillar Inc. slid 1.3 percent to $96.36 after the world’s largest maker of construction and mining equipment said it will take a $580 million writedown, reducing fourthquarter earnings by about 87 cents a share. Accounting “misconduct” at Zhengzhou Siwei Mechanical & Electrical Manufacturing Co., a Chinese company it acquired last year, resulted in the non-cash charge, Caterpillar said after the close of trading on Jan. 18. DuPont gained 0.8 percent to $47.38. The biggest U.S. chemical company by market value said fourth-quarter net income fell to $111 million, or 12 cents a share, from $373 million, or 40 cents, a year earlier. Profit excluding one-time items was 11 cents a share, beating the 7-cent average of 10 estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Travelers Cos., the only insurer in the Dow, rallied 3 percent to $78.62 as profit beat estimates and the insurer said it was charging policyholders more for coverage. Travelers’ fourth-quarter profit fell 51 percent as superstorm Sandy boosted claims costs.

Often-rejected tax increases remain among Obama options

ust minutes after the U.S. House voted on January 1, to set the top individual rate where Obama wanted, the president already was talking about changing the tax system further, “so that the wealthiest corporations and individuals can’t take advantage of loopholes and deductions that aren’t available to most Americans.” As Obama begins a second term and another set of fiscal negotiations with Congress, he’ll work from a list of firstterm tax-policy leftovers that target breaks for top earners and corporations. These include the tax benefits for oil and gas companies he often criticizes. Republicans, who control the House, say they won’t give Obama more tax increases, making it difficult to see how the president can get what he wants. The rewrite of the tax code that both parties say they want is stalled, in part by the question of whether revenue would be used to reduce tax rates or lower the budget deficit. “It’s interesting that year after year the president proposes the same list of tax hikes, yet the Democratic majority in the Senate wants nothing to do with them,” Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, said in a statement questioning whether Democrats would support Obama’s tax plans. “Maybe this year will be different, with Democrats taking up these tax increases so voters can finally see what they stand for.” Democrats say they’ll advance Obama’s tax agenda or something similar. Congress should resist Republican rhetoric about revenue-neutral tax changes and get “away from this notion that essentially we’re going to lower the tax rates and broaden the base,” Representative Sander Levin of Michigan,

the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, said at a Jan. 15 breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor. “We’ve already done $1.7 trillion in cuts,” Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” January 20. “We’ve done $600 billion in revenues. You’re going to need more revenues as well as more cuts to get the deficit down.” Companies and trade groups that have spent the past four years fighting Obama’s tax policies are preparing for the next round. “If we stay silent, the odds of it happening increase,” said Jade West, senior vice president for government relations at the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors in Washington, which opposes Obama’s proposed repeal of the last- in, first-out accounting method. The plan would require companies to pay taxes on their reserves. “So we will stay very vocal and very engaged.”

Senator Charles Schumer

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Global Business

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

ales of U.S. existing homes unexpectedly dropped in December as the lowest supply in more than a decade cut into the industry’s best year since 2007. Purchases fell 1 percent to a 4.94 million annual rate last month, figures from the National Association of Realtors showed today in Washington. The reading was still the second-highest since November 2009. The median forecast of 79 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called an increase to a 5.1 million rate. Even with December’s setback, 4.65 million homes were sold for all of 2012, the most in five years and a sign the housing market is taking steps toward recovery. The usual drop in supply at this time of year combined with a pickup in demand spurred by historically low mortgage rates, an improving job market and an increasing number of households risks keeping inventories lean, pushing prices up even higher after last year’s rebound. “This isn’t worrisome at all,” said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group in Pittsburgh, who projected a drop to a 4.95 million annual rate. “For the first time in a while, it looks

Sales of U.S. homes decrease on lack of supply like it’s a sellers’ market as much as it’s a buyers’ market. I suspect prices and sales will go up again in 2013.” Stocks fell, after benchmark indexes climbed to five-year highs last week, on the housing data and as investors weighed corporate earnings reports. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell less than 0.1 percent to 1,484.75 at 11:21 a.m. in New York. Another report today from Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond showed its manufacturing index fell to minus 12, the lowest level since July, from 5 in December. Readings less than zero signal contraction. Existing home sales estimates in the Bloomberg survey ranged from 4.89 million to 5.25 million. The prior month’s pace was revised to 4.99 million from a previously reported 5.04 million. Sales last year climbed 9.2 percent from 4.26 million in 2011. The median price of an existing home

Profits at $1 trn meet valuations as S&P 500 rally

he Standard & Poor’s 500 Index is 5.1 percent below the all-time high in October 2007. Profits in the benchmark gauge are forecast to exceed $1 trillion this year, or 31 percent more than when the gauge peaked, according to more than 11,000 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Even if the price- earnings ratio, now 9.8 percent below the sixdecade mean, doesn’t expand, the S&P 500 is poised to recover fully from the financial crisis that began almost six years ago. Last week, the S&P 500 hit a five-year high as 48 of the 67 companies that reported results exceeded analyst estimates in the biggest expansion in profits since the technology bubble of the 1990s. While bears say the rally will stall when forecasts prove too high, bulls say U.S. companies generating more income than ever will push stocks to new records. “Corporate America has done an incredible job post- recession,” Leo Grohowski, BNY Mellon Wealth Management’s New York-based chief investment officer said in a Jan. 16 phone interview. His firm oversees $179 billion. “It’s not going to be a return to the ’80s and ’90s where we had people retiring from their day jobs to become day traders. I wouldn’t revert to the historic P/E ratio kind of environment. But the good news is I don’t think we need that to reach a record.” The S&P 500 rose 1 percent last week to 1,485.98, the highest level since December 2007 as earnings from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and BlackRock Inc. to Parker Hannifin Corp. and General Electric Co. beat analyst estimates and a report showed builders broke ground on more houses than forecast in December, capping the best year for the industry since 2008. The index has gained 4.1 percent in 2013 after advancing 13 percent in 2012. It slipped 0.2 percent at 10:07 a.m. in New York today. Individuals added $3.1 billion to U.S. stock mutual funds in the first week of this year, the most since at least 2000, after withdrawing almost $250 billion in the past

Laszlo Birinyi

four years, according to data from research firm EPFR Global, scarred by the 2008 financial crisis that wiped out $11 trillion in market value. Laszlo Birinyi, among the first money managers to advise buying U.S. stocks four years ago as the market bottomed, is so confident individuals are coming back that he bought options that pay should the S&P 500 climb 8 percent this year. He said the rally that has lifted equities more than 100 percent is entering a final phase when investors who had previously shunned stocks are finally forced to capitulate and buy shares. “This is where the fireworks begin,” Birinyi, the president of Birinyi Associates Inc. in Westport,Connecticut, said during the Bloomberg Global Markets Summit in New York on Jan. 17. “The last phase of the bull market is very strong.” Analysts predict S&P 500 earnings from 3M Co. to Walt Disney Co. (DIS) and United Parcel Service Inc. will rise 8 percent this year to a record $110.10 a share, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg. That implies a level of about 1,630 for the index based on today’s multiple of 14.8. Total net income in 2013 will be about $241 billion more than in 2007, even after profits had their biggest drop on record in 2008.

rose to $180,800 last month, up 11.5 percent from $162,200 in December 2011. It was the biggest year-over-year gain since November 2005. Another measure of prices, the S&P/ Case-Shiller index of homes in 20 cities, most recently showed home values increased 4.3 percent in October from a year earlier, the biggest gain since May 2010. The gauge is up almost 9 percent since reaching a 10-year low in March. The number of previously owned homes on the market dropped to 1.82 million, the fewest since January 2001, according to today’s report. At the current sales pace, it would take 4.4 months to sell those houses, the lowest since May 2005, compared with 4.8 months at the end of November. “The only concern going into 2013 is the inventory situation,” Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said in a news conference yesterday as the figures were released.

Stuart Hoffman

“Price increases are almost guaranteed going into 2013,” Yun said, adding that the group’s projection of a 4 percent to 5 percent increase this year may be exceeded. Record-low borrowing costs underpinned housing gains last year. The average rate on a 30-year, fixed mortgage was 3.38 percent last week, hovering near the 3.31 percent reached a month earlier that was the lowest in data going back to 1972, according to McLean, Virginia-based Freddie Mac.

Former Microsoft executive says CEO Ballmer culls internal rivals to retain power

icrosoft Corp Chief Executive Steve Ballmer is not the right leader for the world’s largest software company but holds his grip on it by systematically forcing out any rising manager who challenges his authority, claims a former senior executive who has written a book about his time at the company. “For Microsoft to really get back in the game seriously, you need a big change in management,” said Joachim Kempin, who worked at Microsoft between 1983 and 2002, overseeing the sales of Windows software to computer makers for part of that time. “As much as I respect Steve Ballmer, he may be part of that in the end.” As a senior vice president in charge of a crucial part of the company’s business with direct access to co-founder Bill Gates, Kempin is the most senior former Microsoft executive to write a book critical of the company, which is famous for the loyalty of its ex-employees. His criticism echoes that of investor David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital,

Steve Ballmer

who called for Ballmer to step down in 2011. Kempin left Microsoft under a cloud in 2002 as some of the aggressive contracts he crafted with PC makers were seen as fodder for the U.S. government’s antitrust prosecution of the company, which started in 1998 and was largely resolved by 2002. His book, titled ‘Resolve and Fortitude: Microsoft’s “secret power broker” breaks his silence’, is scheduled to be published on Tuesday. He talked with Reuters by phone on Monday. Kempin charges Ballmer with purposefully ousting any executives with potential to wrest him from the CEO seat, which he has occupied since 2000. He said he saw the process first with Richard Belluzzo, a former HewlettPackard executive credited with launching the Xbox game console who rose to chief operating officer at Microsoft but left after only 14 months in the post, in the same year Kempin left. “He (Belluzzo) had no room to breathe on the top. When you work that directly with Ballmer and Ballmer believes ‘maybe this guy could someday take over from me’, my God, you will have less air to breathe, that’s what it comes down to.” Microsoft representatives declined comment. Attempts to reach Belluzzo were not successful. Several leading executives, touted by outsiders at one time or another as potential successors to Ballmer, have left the company in the last few years, most recently Windows unit chief Steven Sinofsky, who departed in November. Before Sinofsky, Windows and online head Kevin Johnson went to run Juniper Networks Inc, Office chief Stephen Elop went to lead phone maker Nokia Oyj, while Ray Ozzie, the software guru Gates designated as Microsoft’s big-picture thinker, left to start his own project.

Capital Market

Equities turn green, as UACP, Julius Berger lead 36 gainers JOHNSON OKANLAWON

nvestment in the equities segment of the Nigerian Stock Exchange closed on bullish note yesterday, as 36 companies recorded gains as against 27 companies that shed substantial values in their stocks. Specifically, the All Share Index rose by 0.52 per cent to close at 30,983.83 points, in contrast to the decline of 0.27 per cent recorded the preceding day to close at 30,842.54 points. Market capitalisation appreciated by N45bn

to close at N9.91trn, as against the drop of N27bn recorded the preceding day to close at N9.87trn. Lotus Islamic Index led the sectorial indices by 0.93 per cent to close at 1,929.34 points, followed by the Oil and Gas Index with 0.60 per cent to close at 179.32 points. The NSE-30 Index gained 0.43 per cent to close at 1,471.69 points, while the NSE-50 Index appreciated by 0.33 per cent to close at 1,587.30 points. The Insurance Index closed at 129.97 points, up by 0.12 per cent,

but the Banking Index dropped by 1.55 per cent to close at 379.97 points. The Consumer Goods Index dipped by 0.32 per cent to close at 885.75 points. UAC-Properties Plc led the gainers’ table with N1.44 or 10 per cent to close at N15.84 per share, followed by Julius Berger Plc with N3.87 or 9.99 per cent to close at N42.59 per share. International Breweries Plc gained N1.97 or 9.99 per cent to close at N21.72 per share, while Academy Press Plc appreciated by 25 kobo or 9.80 per cent to close

at N2.80 per share. Air Service Plc closed at 40 kobo or 7.27 per cent to close at N5.90 per share. On the flip side, Ashaka Cement Plc lost N12.19 or 9.87 per cent to close at N20.00 per share, while Dangote Sugar Plc shed 50 kobo or 6.41 per cent to close at N7.30 per share. AIICO Insurance Plc dropped by five kobo or 6.25 per cent to close at 75 kobo per share, while National Salt Company of Nigeria Plc declined by 57 kobo or 5.39 per cent to close at N10.00 per share. Fidelity Bank Plc depreciated by 18 kobo or 5.25 per cent to close at N3.25 per share. A total of 554.7 million shares valued at N4.10bn were exchanged in 7,560 deals.

was down 2.52 points, or 0.08 per cent, at 3,132.18 points. US markets were closed on Monday for a public holiday. Despite stronger-thanexpected financial results from major companies, including big banks, at the start of the quarterly reporting season, many investors are worried that other earnings reports will reflect economic uncertainty in the fourth quarter. A flare-up of concern about Germany’s banks had limited impact. Safehaven US debt was down in price and benchmark 10-year yields rose to 1.87 per cent from 1.85 per cent late on Friday, before a three-day holiday weekend. The Bank of Japan, which has been under in-

Deutsche Bank was preparing a profit warning. Frankfurt’s DAX fell tense political pressure to overcome deflation and as much as 1.4 per cent on 9,910,815,896,785.59 but then erased generate growth, hiked its the talk30,983.83 inflation target to two per about half of that loss, the cent and said that from pan-European FTSEuro2014 it would adopt an first 300 was down just 0.1 open-ended commitment per cent at 1,165 points. This is a busy week to buy assets. The move surprised for US earnings, with Incorporation, markets, which had ex- Google pected another incre- IBM, and Texas Instrumental increase in its ments all on tap to report 101 trillion yen ($1.12trn) Tuesday. Tech earnings asset-buying and lending will be a particular focus programme, though the after a disappointing sales delay before the easing outlook from Intel Corp measures kick in dulled last week. A better-than-expected the impact and saw the yen edge higher against reading from the German ZEW investor sentiment the dollar. European shares, index helped the recovtesting two-year highs in ery in European shares. recent days, were choppy It rose sharply for a secas markets latched on ond consecutive month in to a report that German January in a sign that the regulators were simulat- euro zone crisis is no loning a separation of some ger hitting Europe’s largbanks’ operations, and on est economy as hard as in rumors - later denied - that late 2012.

BG exposed to bids as $60bn company’s stock dips

G Group Plc’s valuation falling by half in less than two years is making even a $60bn company look vulnerable to a takeover as oil giants hunt for growth in new frontiers. Chief Executive Officer Chris Finlayson took over on January 1 after BG’s 26 per cent stock drop last year, its worst annual return as the Reading, England-based company said project delays will hold back output growth in 2013. While the explorer’s

price-earnings ratio of 15.5 is higher than its peers in North America and Europe, the multiple is almost half as expensive as it was in April 2011, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. BG, with enough oil and gas resources to pump for the next 73 years, has stakes in the big five oil fields off Brazil and expanding liquefied natural gas projects from Canada to Australia. The company discovered more oil and gas in 2011 to

replace what it pumped from wells than any other peer, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Exxon Mobil Corporation could be lured to BG to help fuel growth after its production dropped 7.5 per cent in the third quarter, said Brewin Dolphin Limited. BP Plc may be receptive to a combination with BG to challenge Royal Dutch Shell Plc as Europe’s largest oil company, said N+1 Singer Limited. “BG has very attractive assets,” Jane Coffey, who

Source: NSE

NIBOR QUOTES 18 JANUARY 2013 & 21 JANUARY 2013 20.00 19.00 18.00 17.00 16.00 15.00 14.00 13.00 12.00 11.00 10.00 9.00 8.00 7.00 6.00 5.00

1 8 -J a n -1 3

2 1 -J a n -1 3

Source: FMDA

Market indicators All-Share Index 30,983.83 points

Stocks mixed after major US indexes hit 5-year highs nited States stocks were mixed yesterday after major Wall Street stock indices hit five-year highs and Japan promised a program of open-ended monetary easing to revive its listless economy. Analysts said investors held back on making large bets before a batch of corporate earnings. Both the Dow and Standard and Poor 500 closed at their highest levels since December 2007 on Friday, spurred by a strong start to earnings season. In early dealings in New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 6.15 points, or 0.05 percent, at 13,643.55 points, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was down 1.62 points, or 0.11 per cent, at 1,484.36 points and the Nasdaq Composite Index

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

manages 12 billion pounds ($19bn) as head of U.K. equities at Royal London Asset Management, said in a telephone interview. The firm owns BG shares. “There is a big danger that some opportunistic big company will come along and get the assets very cheaply.” Neil Burrows, a spokesman at BG, declined to comment on the possibility of a sale. Patrick McGinn, a Houston-based spokesman for Exxon, declined to comment when asked if the company is interested in acquiring BG.

Market capitalisation 9,910 trillion

Stock Updates GAINERS COMPANY

OPENING

CLOSING

CHANGE

UAC-PROP

14.40

15.84

1.44

% CHANGE 10.00

JBERGER

38.72

42.59

3.87

9.99

INTBREW

19.75

21.72

1.97

9.97

ACADEMY

2.55

2.80

0.25

9.80

AIRSERVICE

5.50

5.90

0.40

7.27

UNITYBNK

0.57

0.60

0.03

5.26

LIVESTOCK

1.80

1.89

0.09

5.00

CAP

30.45

31.97

1.52

4.99

CCNN

8.43

8.85

0.42

4.98

NAHCO

7.65

8.03

0.38

4.97

CHANGE

% CHANGE

LOSERS COMPANY

OPENING

CLOSING

ASHAKACEM

22.19

20.00

2.19

-9.87

DANGSUGAR

7.80

7.30

0.50

-6.41

AIICO

0.80

0.75

0.05

-6.25

NASCON

10.57

10.00

0.57

-5.39

FIDELITYBK

3.43

3.25

0.18

-5.25

STERLNBANK

3.05

2.89

0.16

-5.25

TRANSCORP

1.16

1.10

0.06

-5.17

UBCAP

1.20

1.14

0.06

-5.00

UTC

0.80

0.76

0.04

-5.00

AFRIPRUD

1.45

1.38

0.07

-4.83

Primary Market Auction TENOR

AMOUNT (N’mn)

RATE (%)

DATE

91-Days

34,888.90

12.88

24-Jan-13

182-Days

60,000.00

14.94

24-Jan-13

Open Market Operations TENOR

AMOUNT (N’mn)

RATE (%)

DATE

76-Days

49,565.48

13.81

24-Jan-13

85-Days

77,114.34

14.05

24-Jan-13

Wholesale Dutch Auction System AMOUNT OFFERED

MARKET DEMAND

AMOUNT SOLD

DATE

$100m

N/A

$100m

21-Jan-13

$100m

N/A

$108m

16-Jan-33

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Capital Market

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Stock exchange daily equities summary Equities as at January 22, 2013 1st Tier Securities

1st Tier Securities Sector

Company name

No Of Deals

Quotation(N)

Quantity Traded

Value of Shares(N)

Sector

Company name

No Of Deals

Quotation(N)

Quantity Traded

Value of Shares(N)

Cocktail

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Man allegedly stole to impress woman

FOR YOUR SUCCESS

WITH DR. DEJI FOLUTILE

Today's Tonic (84)

Never finish a negative statement. Reverse it immediately and wonders will happen in your life. –Joseph Murphy * * * MY NOTE: No matter how you look at it, negativity is dangerous because we tend to experience whatever we say. We can constantly walk in the miraculous if we resolutely steer our mouths in the positive direction all the time no matter what we are going through. Train yourself never verbalize a negative emotion! TEL 08104942999 E-MAIL deji.folutile@gmail.com Follow me @TwitterOWOTIDE

Man allegedly stole to impress woman

uthorities in Florida say a man accused of stealing beer, wine and steaks from a Walmart store told deputies he was trying to “impress a lady.” The Manatee County Sheriff ’s Office said a loss prevention officer spotted James Flenniken, 48, taking

the $79.30 worth of items from the Manatee store about 5 p.m. Monday, the Bradenton Herald reported. Flenniken told deputies he took the items in an attempt to “impress a lady.” Flenniken was taken to the county jail on a misdemeanour shoplifting charge.

Oddities

Cleaner not at fault for Swedish train crash –Prosecutors

he crash of a train into a low-rise apartment building in Sweden this week was an accident and not the fault of a cleaner who was the only person hurt, state prosecutors said on Friday. Swedish police and prosecutors began an investigation into the accident on Tuesday in which a train ploughed past the end of the line at a depot, vaulted a narrow side-street and crashed into an apartment block in the upscale Stockholm suburb of Saltsjobaden. “ S e v e r a l circumstances point now to the fact that the train began moving due to an accident,” the state prosecution service said in a statement. “There is no longer anything which indicates that the woman drove the train away on purpose.” The service said it had found serious breaches of security on the train. The woman, who is still in hospital and with whom prosecutors have

not been able to speak, was no longer suspected of committing a crime and an order for her detention has been

lifted. Prosecutors began investigating the case as one of endangering the public, but that might

now be changed to one of a breach of laws on working conditions, the prosecution service said.

Police officers standing around the local train that derailed and crashed into a residential building in Saltsjobaden, Sweden. PHOTO: REUTERS

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Community Mirror “Same sex marriage is anathema to God’s will and instruction.”

Prostitute jailed for manslaughter Pg. 50

GENERAL OVERSEER, RCCG; PASTOR ENOCH ADEBOYE

Why I kidnapped, strangled 7-year-old boy –Suspect FRANCIS SUBERU

he prime suspect in the kidnap and killing of a toddler at Mumako Estate, Okerube, Ikotun Lagos, Onyeka Patrick has confessed to why he kidnapped and later killed his victim, a seven-year-old boy. The suspect who hails from Anambra State, said he kidnapped the boy due to greed and later killed him because he feared being a neighbour, the boy could easily recognize him after collecting ransom from the parents. The suspect, who was paraded yesterday by the Police Public Relations Officer; Lagos State Command, Ngozi Braide at the Command Headquarters, GRA Ikeja told journalists that he initially planned to kidnap the boy and demand a ransom of N5 million but later had a rethink and killed him instead.

He later hid the boy’s body inside a soak away pit of an uncompleted building in the neighborhood, about 200 metres from the victim’s residence. Despite killing the boy, he went ahead to demand a ransom for N5 million from the parents, even as it was contained in a letter to the boy’s father. According to him, he planned to collect the ransom and escape. The suspect said the kidnap was easy since he lived next building to the victim’s residence; saying he lured the boy to his apartment, as he had been friendly with him. It was gathered that after the heinous act, he started feeling guilty and his disposition and countenance changed. His brother, who was aware the toddler was missing later handed the suspect over to the police at the Ikotun Police Divi-

Onyeka

sion. According to the police spokesperson; the DPO Ikotun Division transferred the suspect

Autopsy report stalls murder trial ABIODUN NEJO ADO EKITI

n Ado Ekiti High Court has adjourned till March 5 and 6, 2013, the murder case of 70-yearold Mrs Rebecca Adewumi, over allegations of witchcraft in Omuo Ekiti in Ekiti East Council Area of the state. When the matter came up, Justice Oluwatoyin Bodunde refused to grant an oral application by the defence team to examine the autopsy report and video recording, tendered by the prosecution as part of exhibits. In turning down the request, Bodunde said the defence team would still be able to access the exhibits in the course of trial. Lead counsel to the

three accused persons, Mr. Lekan Olatawura, who was particular about the autopsy report and video clips of how the woman was killed, hinged his action on the provisions of Section 36 (b) of the 1999 Constitution. But the prosecuting team, led by the Deputy Director Public Prosecutions, Mr Peter Alabi, said the provisions of Section 36 (b) and (c) did not justify the demands of the defence. Alabi, urged the court to disregard the defence team for the trial to move properly, saying the demand was hasty and the trial proper was about to commence. While defending his position, Olatawura said the prosecution failed to show any prejudice it would suffer if the mate-

rials were made available to his team. Although the defence counsel told the court that he was ready for commencement of trial, which prompted the judge to ask the prosecution whether it was ready to call witnesses. But the matter could not go on as the prosecution told the court that only two out of the nine witnesses were in court, adding that he would need witness summons to compel two of the witnesses who are public servants to appear in court. The judge, who said she was not pleased with the production of two of nine witnesses, said the judiciary was no longer interested in cases dragging; as she urged both parties to be ready for speedy trial.

to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad SARS on January 17, 2013; five days after the alleged crime was committed.

She said: “on January 17, 2013, the above mentioned suspected kidnapper of a 7-yearold boy, Onyeka Patrick was transferred to SARS Ikeja for further investigation. The suspect was thoroughly interrogated by SARS detectives and he later confessed to have kidnapped the boy on January 12, 2013, strangled him and concealed the body in a sack at No. 16, Avenue Mumako Estate, Okerube Ikotun, the next building to the victim’s No.14, of same street. He later hid the corpse inside a sock away pit in an uncompleted building. “He later led SARS operatives to recover the decomposed body now deposited at the Isolo General Hospital Mortuary for autopsy. Until the matter was transferred to SARS, he never owned up to the crime but after all investigations are

concluded, the suspect would be charged for murder.” In a related development, one Tope Akingbami was also paraded for kidnapping a fiveyear-old boy at Ketu area of Lagos. It was gathered the suspect conspired with three others still at large to kidnap the boy simply known as Dayo. However, mother of the victim who was around at time of the incident raised an alarm and people gave a chase of the suspected kidnappers. In the process, Tope Akingbemila was arrested, but the other three suspects escaped. Tope, in his confessional statement, said they had successfully executed two other kidnappings and collected huge ransom. He is still helping the police to track down the fleeing gang members.

Mile 12, Ketu fruits markets shut FRANCIS SUBERU

n the effort to keep a healthy and sustainable environment, the Lagos State Government has shut down Mile 12 and Ketu Fruits Markets for flouting the sanitation Law. The Commissioner for Environment, Tunji Bello who made the announcement noted that both markets were closed for flagrant abuse of the environmental sanitation law and indiscriminate loading and off loading of goods on the main road, thereby creating traffic gridlock to other road users. According to him, there are inadequate toilets in the markets, while the traders despoil the surrounding environment with hu-

man wastes. He pointed out that the closures became inevitable after several warnings to forestall epidemics and other health hazards in the state. Tunji Bello reiterated that government’s policy of not allowing traders reside in markets was still in force, adding that they are meant for business activities and that converting them for residential purpose would evidently have untoward consequences on the environment. The commissioner said the condition for reopening them is that all illegal structures must give way; traders in the market must make further commitment to patronising the PSP operators and not

cart pushers. He also said that traders must be prepared to re-organize the loading and off loading of goods in such a way they would ensure free flow of traffic on the road. Bello further sounded a note of warning to all markets in the state, that after several warnings government would not hesitate to shut down more markets if they fail to observe the state sanitation laws. He also reminded Lagosians that global climatic conditions has become so unpredictable, as such, they should properly dispose of wastes through LAWMA and authorized PSP operators, even as he warned residents still patronising cart pushers to desist from the act.

Community Mirror

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Prostitute jailed for manslaughter KENNY ODUNUKAN

ustice lateefat Okunnu of Ikeja High Court has sentenced a 27-year-old commercial sex worker, Nkechi Okafor to six years imprisonment for the death of her client, Abiodun Sarumi. Justice Okunnu, sentenced Okafor having found her guilty of a one-count charge of manslaughter. It would be recalled that the prosecution, had earlier arraigned Miss Okafor for murder, but later amended the charge to manslaughter. While sentencing the defendant, Okunnu held that from evidence before her, Miss Okafor acted on impulse, when she stabbed Sarumi and that it was clear the defendant had no intention to kill. The trial Judge, however, concluded that her defence for the act was not enough to exonerate her of the crime.

Okafor, who could not hold back her emotion, broke down in tears upon hearing the judgement. She pleaded for leniency, saying she does not have any relation to turn to for assistance and that she was sorry for what happened to the deceased. Her lawyer, Mrs A. Onabolu, had also pleaded with the court on her behalf, even as she said the defendant is a young woman in her prime and a first offender. The prosecuting counsel, Olabisi Ogungbesan, had told the court that the accused had on March 2, 2010, at about 23:30 hours, at Nice Time Hotel, Old Ipaja Road, Lagos, killed her client, one Mr. Abiodun Sarumi. She was alleged to have caused the death of Sarumi by stabbing him with a broken bottle on the shoulder. Ogungbesan, said that investigation carried out by Inspector Ada Erondu from state Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Lagos, confirmed

the defendant was responsible for death of the deceased. She said that the sex worker admitted she stabbed Sarumi but did not know he was going to die. She told the court that when the Investigating Police Officer (IPO) visited scene of the crime, at Nice Time Hotel, she saw broken glasses.

She added that on the said date of the crime, Sarumi came out with blood all over him and was shouting for help. Ogungbesan, said an angry mob, which saw Sarumi in blood wanted to kill Nkechi Okafor, but she ran back to the room and locked herself up. In her evidence-in-chief, Okafor claimed that she killed the victim in selfdefence. She had told the court that Sarumi came to the hotel at midnight on the fateful day to see her friend,

Ivie. Okafor, also told the court that she was forced into prostitution by one of her relatives after she dropped out of primary school. “When this aunty called Evelyn came to the village last year, she said she will take me to Lagos to work in a restaurant. “She brought two of us to Lagos and told one of the girls we met at the hotel to take us round. When we saw the type of dresses the

girls were wearing, we told her that we cannot engage in prostitution.” Okafor said ‘Aunty Evelyn’ forced her and the other girls to work for two months before being given money to return to the village. “That was how I went into prostitution,” she said. She was the one who paid for the rooms and after we slept with customers, she comes to collect the money. We charged N1, 000 per

night and can make up to N6, 000 per day. I was tired of prostitution and planned going back home when the incident happened. I have not always been a prostitute. When I was in the village in Imo State, I had a baby girl and she is three years old.” Things were not easy for us. We are nine in the family and I am the third child. I feel pain and pity over Abbey’s death. God knows that I did not intend to kill him,” she sobbed.

Group to embark on tour of Nasarawa IGBAWASE UKUMBA LAFIA

group, Nasarawa State Vital Network for Peace, has embarked on enlightenment tour of areas wracked by the recent communal crisis and as well as the entire state with the message of peace. During the tour, the group will interact with youths by mobiliz-

ing them to support the Tanko Al-Makura administration to deliver dividends of democracy and good governance. Chairman of the group, Ibrahim Bai, who stated this in Lafia, said the perpetrators promote violence to fight for their political ambition. He said: “We want to further appeal to all security agents in the state and the country at large,

to track the masterminds of this organized anarchy in the name of tribal banner for the actualization of hidden agenda for appropriate penalties to serve as deterrence to others.” Bai, however, informed victims to keep vigil and help track the reactionaries who in their persistent blindness, intend to spread false ethnic and political philosophies.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

World News

US Africa command sets for stronger role in 2013

““(Breaking ethics rules, by sending regulators a letter in my capacity) was an oversight that would not happen again.” –Canadian Finance Minister, Jim Flaherty

1,000 African troops in Mali as Islamist rebels flee seized town PAUL ARHEWE, WITH AGENCY REPORTS

rance says there are now about 1,000 African troops in Mali to take part in the military intervention to dislodge Islamic militants from power. Col. Thierry Burkhard, the French military spokesman, says the soldiers come from Nigeria, Togo, Benin, Niger and Chad. France has 2,150 forces in Mali, and has received logistical support from Western allies and intelligence from the United States. But the French ultimately hope that West African soldiers will take the lead alongside Malian troops in securing the country, a former French colony. Neighboring African countries are expected to contribute around 3,000 troops but concerns about the mission have delayed some from sending their promised troops. Meanwhile, Malian and French forces pushed into Islamist-held northern Mali, taking control of a town that the armed extremists abandoned after ruling it for four months. Douentza had been the outer edge of Islamist rebel control

Earthquake rocks western Indonesia

5.9-magnitude earthquake has struck the western Indonesian island of Sumatra, reportedly killing one person. The quake hit Aceh province around dawn yesterday. Local media said it was felt strongly in the capital Banda Aceh and surrounding districts. It hit at a depth of 37km with its epicentre about 112km southeast of Banda Aceh. Serambi newspaper and other local outlets reported that one girl was killed and several other people injured. Aceh is often rocked by earthquakes. Indonesia sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” where continental plates collide, causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity. In 2004, a temblor off its shores triggered a tsunami that killed 230,000 people across Asia. Most of the deaths were in Aceh.

until the militants surged southward earlier this month. While far from the capital, Douentza is only 190 kilometres (120 miles) northeast from Mopti, which marks the line-of-control held by the Malian military. On Monday, French and Malian troops arrived in Douentza to find that the Islamists already had retreated from the town, local adviser Sali Maiga told The Associated Press. “The Malian military and the

French army spent their first night and the people are very happy,” Maiga said yesterday. A curfew went into effect at 8 p.m., and there was no gunfire or other incidents reported overnight, he said. Back in September, a convoy of pickup trucks carrying bearded men had entered Douentza, and in the months that followed the Islamist extremists forced women to wear veils and enlisted children as young as 12 as soldiers in training.

The announcement that Douentza was again in government hands came Monday, the same day French and Malian forces again patrolled the streets of Diabaly after nearly a week of Islamist rule. The presence of Malian soldiers in the two towns marks tangible accomplishments for the French-led mission, which began on Jan. 11 after the rebels pushed south and seized the central Malian town of Konna.

A Malian soldier salvaging a mattress inside a military camp used by radical Islamists and bombarded by French warplanes in Diabaly, Mali, on Monday. PHOTO: REUTERS

Charles Taylor begins appeal at The Hague

iberia’s jailed ex-President Charles Taylor has started his appeal at a UN-backed special court in The Hague. Last May, the court sentenced him to 50 years in prison for aiding and abetting rebels in neighbouring Sierra Leone during the 1991-2002 civil war. Defence lawyers have called the verdict a “miscarriage of justice” and want the conviction to be quashed. The prosecution, however, wants the sentence extended to 80 years, saying he also gave orders to the rebels. In the court’s original judgement, he was acquitted on these charges, with the judge finding that the prosecution had failed to prove its claims. Taylor became the first former head of state to be convicted of war crimes by an international court since the Nuremberg trials of Nazis after World War II. Throughout his trial, the for-

mer Liberian leader, who was arrested in 2006, maintained his innocence. Last week Taylor, 64, reportedly wrote to MPs demanding a presidential pension of $25,000 (£15,600) in Liberia. Describing the withholding of his state presidential pension as a “mammoth injustice”, Taylor was quoted in the letter as saying that he was entitled to consular access and diplomatic services at The Hague, but he had been “denied that right”.

Taylor

The prosecution addressed the court first on Tuesday, reports AFP. The court should “hold responsible not only those who perpetrate the crimes but also those who promote them”, said prosecutor Nicholas Koumjian. Taylor’s lawyers have filed more than 40 grounds of appeal, arguing that the trial chamber’s findings were based on “uncorroborated hearsay evidence”. “The colossal judgment, over 2,500 pages in length, is plagued throughout by internal inconsistencies, misstatements of evidence and conflicting findings,” his lawyer Morris Anyah said in court papers quoted by a news agency. Prosecutors, meanwhile, are expected to argue that the court made a mistake by convicting Taylor only of aiding and abetting the Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels and their allies, the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council.

WORLD BULLETIN

Calm returns to Eritrea after siege

Calm reportedly returned to the capital of the small nation of Eritrea yesterday, a day after a group of soldiers apparently made a move against the East African country’s repressive regime by trying to take over the nation’s state broadcasting. Two Eritrea experts said more than 100 dissident soldiers stormed the Ministry of Information in Asmara on Monday and began to read a statement on state TV saying the country’s 1997 constitution would be put into force. The soldiers also said all political prisoners would be freed, but the broadcast was cut off after only two sentences were read, said Leonard Vincent, author of the book “The Eritreans” and co-founder of a Paris-based Eritrean radio station. By late afternoon Monday there were indications the soldiers’ attempt had failed. State television and radio had stopped broadcasting and a tank sat in front of the ministry building, said a Western diplomat in Eritrea. The broadcasting did not resume until late Monday night, according to diplomats. But the Eritrean ambassador to South Africa, in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday, denied that anything had happened in Eritrea, which lacks freedom of the press. “There is no sign of mutiny or coup d’état or any other signs of uprising,” insisted Ambassador Salih Omar, adding that “rumours and speculation” came from Westerners who “have been attempting to destabilize the Eritrean government for a long time.” Asmara returned to normal Tuesday, according to a diplomat and residents. Martin Plaut, a fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies in Britain, said: “My sources say all is quiet on the streets of Asmara now.”

Five missing foreigners may be in desert –Algeria

An Algerian official says the search is on for the five foreigners unaccounted for from the terrorist attack on the remote natural gas site, who may be lost in the vast Sahara desert. The official, a member of Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal’s office, said Tuesday the missing foreigners may have tried to escape into the desert and got lost. An al-Qaida-affiliated band of fighters attacked the vast natural gas complex on Jan. 16 and 37 hostages, including an Algerian security guard, died in the four day standoff. Many foreigners escaped from the site during the attack and were found by the army wandering through the desert, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

World News

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Obama’s gay comment divides Americans SEYI FASUGBA

WASHINGTON DC

he second term inaugural speech by President Barack Obama of the United States on Monday has continued to generate reactions from different segments of the American society. The speech, in which President Obama called for equal opportunity and the need to respect the freedom of gay persons in America to be respected, has sharply divided the citizens who had expected that the President remain silent on the sensitive issue. Obama had reiterated his position during the electioneering

that they should be allowed to enjoy their freedom as individuals in the society rather than being discriminated against by reason of their choice to be different. He said: “Each time we gather to inaugurate a President, we bear witness to the enduring strength of our Constitution. We affirm the promise of our democracy. We recall that what binds this nation together is not the colours of our skin or the tenets of our faith or the origins of our names. What makes us exceptional – what makes us American – is our allegiance to an idea articulated in a declaration made more than two centuries ago. “All men are created equal; that they are endowed by their

Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. “Today we continue a neverending journey to bridge the meaning of those words with the realities of our time. For history tells us that while these truths may be self-evident, they’ve never been self-executing; that while freedom is a gift from God, it must be secured by His people here on Earth. “Together, we discovered that a free market only thrives when there are rules to ensure competition and fair play. Together, we resolved that a great nation must care for the vulnerable and protect its people from life’s

worst hazards and misfortune. “Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well. “Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote.” The Presidents was, however, taken to task by groups opposed to giving such emphasis to the gay issues in the American society. The Baltimore-based Christian Association and the National Association of Coloured People, NACP, have since the inaugural speech renewed their opposition

US-Africa Command sets for stronger role in 2013

n 2012 and the year preceding it were years of experimentation for the US Africa command. The gains of the command in 2012 have been marked for consolidation in 2013. The centre for Research and Globalization reports that about 3000 US troops will be heading to Africa in 2013 to protect USA expanding interests; principally oil. The Army Times News Service also confirms that USA is expected to deploy more than 3000 soldiers to Africa in 2013. According to the News service report, the soldiers will be assigned to every part of the continent. Major General David R. Hogg mused, “As far as our mission goes, its uncharted territory,” General Foggs musings, quite recklessly and thoughtlessly, forgot that the territories and US Africa command perceived areas of influence belong to African people and their respective governments. They are not territories open for grabs but territories to be occupied with conditionality. The General’s display of insensitivity runs counter to US Africa or AFRICOM stated objective which states that the pending militarization of Africa is “mutually beneficial for all parties”. Methinks, though that the more familiar purpose for the “militarization of Africa” is oil exploration and exploitation. Exploitation because African governments in whose territories targeted oil for exploration is located, do not have the opportunity to accept a more beneficial operational option in the exploration of oil blocks found in their territories. This tally’s with the mission of the US Africa Command (AFRICOM) which states as follows “Africa command protects and defends the National interests of the United States by strengthening the defence capabilities of African States and regional organizations and when directed conducts military operations in order to deter and defeat transnational threats and to provide a security environment conducive to good governance and developments. This objective clearly does not favour the interests of African nations in whose

U.S. Africa Command commander, Gen. Carter Ham, right, walking out on a newly repaired dock at the Liberian Coast Guard, last year. PHOTO: DVIDSHUB.NET

territories oil blocks are found as they are not given the option to choose operational course that are not beneficial to the options offered by U.S. African Command. US Africa command, is appropriating what it can simply grab in the African Oil sector. A congressional US service report made available by Wikileaks says “in spite of the conflict in the Niger Delta and other oil producing areas, the potential for deep water drilling in the Gulf of Guinea is high. Analysts estimate that Africa may supply as much as 25% of all US oil imports by 2015” The document quotes a US Defense Department official as saying “…a key mission for US forces would be to ensure that Nigeria’s oil fields….are secure” US oil prospecting giants Exxon Mobil Oil Producing and Chevron are successfully prospecting for oil in Nigerian waters. Up to the shores of the Island of Equatorial Guinea and the offshore fields of Gabon the prospects for more offshore oil finds remain very bright all through the gulf. The exclusion of other transnational prospecting companies becomes an attractive op-

tion for the US Africa command. Its compulsion to deploy troops, to cover its African on and off shore areas of influence, becomes quite understandable. The decision to embark on full scale militarization of Africa was borne out of its dogged experiments carried out in 2011 and most of 2012. With little opposition from members of the international community and African Union opposition to the deployments of AFRICOM fizzling out after the death of Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, US Africa command commenced thus has the freedom to act. The command had a dozen ongoing major test operations in Africa that required hands on involvements by US troops. By ensuring that US troops are found in every corner of Africa, there will be little risk that any regions where US interests are threatened will be left uncovered. For example Mali has oil reserves and is strategically located, but Mali has been destabilised by a growing secessionist movement in the north with strong al-Qaeda connections. Conventionally Mali has also been the site of a US military exercise called “Atlas Accord 12” which provid-

Obama

to same-sex marriage. The American Family Society, a group known for its strict stand against gay rights in the US, also condemned the open acknowledgement given the gay in the speech.

ed training to Mali’s military aerial delivery. In 2012, there have been other operations in other parts of the continent that were comparable in scale if not in substance to operation “cutlass Express” a US naval exercise that focused on what was purportedly “piracy” in the Somalia Basin. The “Africa Endeavor 2012” was based in Cameroon and offered coordination and training to military communications. Operation “Obangame express 2012’ was a naval exercise designed to ensure the presence of a US Africa command presence in the Gulf of Guinea an area in the heart of West Africa oil operations. This exercise was intended to establish contact with established oil blocks of the Gulf of Guinea and possible oil blocks offshore. Operation “Southern Accord 2012” was based in Botswana with the objective to establish a military working relationship between Southern Africa military forces and those of US through the positioning of US Africa Command contingent on the ground. On the West Coast, “Operation Western Accord 2012” was based in Senegal and involved various types of military operations from live fire exercises to intelligence gathering and combat marksmanship. There, have been other comparable exercises with names such as “African Lion”, “Flintlock” and “Phoenix Express”. In addition to these directly related US Africa command sensitization operations, the US National Guard Units from USA have been reported to have been rotating in and out of countries that include among others South Africa, Morocco, Ghana, Tunisia, Nigeria and Liberia. Formidable data has been mopped up by the US Africa command in years before and intensified in 2012. Digging in, has been slated for 2013. Time and mode of implementation could change slightly and modalities in some cases could be intricate. There is little evidence to suggest that Washington could back out of this project. Kamalu Igirigiri An ex-FRCN Staff, wrote from Lagos.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

North

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Shettima visits school, weeps at level of neglect INUSA NDAHI MAIDUGURI

orno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, could not hold back his tears yesterday when he paid an unscheduled visit to Shehu Garbai Primary and Secondary Schools in the state capital. During the visit, he discovered that 70 per cent of the pupils/students were sitting on the bare floor with each of the classrooms containing over 150

pupils/students. Shehu Garbai is one of the oldest schools in Maiduguri metropolis named after the late Shehu of Borno, the father to the current Shehu Abubakar Ibn Garbai Elkanemi. The governor also inspected some instructional materials at the state mechanical workshop recently established by the state government. The materials were being prepared for distribution to all secondary schools across the 27 council areas

of the state. But seeing the deplorable level of the classrooms where most of the students are sitting on the floor to learn, Shettima directed the Commissioner for Education and that of Poverty Alleviation, Alhaji Musa Inuwa Kubo and Dr. Zainab Gimba, to immediately provide school furniture and bricks for the construction of additional classrooms. Governor Shettima while expressing dissatisfaction with what he saw

in the school, said it is unfortunate that all government’s efforts at revamping the education sector across the state end up hitting the rock, which he said is unacceptable. Also lamenting, the principal of the school, Alhaji Sa’ad Mala told the governor that the school has a population of over 2, 311 with less than 20 classrooms which means some of the classrooms accommodate over 150 students, which is totally against UNESCO standard.

Bauchi State Deputy Governor, Alhaji Sagie Saleh (right), presenting keys to a pick-up van donated to the Chairman of Shira Local Government, Alhaji Maigari Khannah, at the inauguration of vehicles for some local governments in Bauchi, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

Vigilance group recruits 5,000, seeks govt support EZEKIEL TITUS BAUCHI

isturbed by the security challenges facing the state and its effects on the socio-economic and political life of the state and the northern region generally, a Bauchibased group, Mangal Vigilance Group, has said that it has recruited about 5, 000 competent hands to complement the efforts of security agencies in curbing criminal activities responsible for several attacks on Bauchi-Jos-Kaduna roads and seeks government support. Chairman of the group, Alhaji Shehu Musa, who said this while briefing journalists yesterday said, the measure becomes imperative so as to sanitise the society against any act of brigandage, with a serious warning to shun stealing

and other criminal acts. Musa said his decision to form Mangal vigilance group was informed by the rate of criminal activities on major roads in the state that has led to the death of many innocent souls. Such deaths, he said often leave relations of the victims in shock apart from bringing untold hardship to the families of such victims. According to him, despite the hardships being faced people including the government; he was using his personal resources to pay the vigilance group as a demonstration of his commitment to eradicating crime in the society. Musa stressed that the group, following a tip off from some public spirited citizens, had recently paraded over 50 suspected armed robbers who confessed of

terrorising people on the Bauchi-Jos and Kaduna roads carting away millions of naira from their victims. The group’s chairman, who was seeking government intervention to assist the group with patrol vehicles, motorcycles and other necessary working tools to stop hiring commercial vehicles while on patrol. He said the vigilance group would not relent in its efforts at riding the state of criminals as they would continue to explore all means of curbing the menace. He charged the residents to always give them support through the provision of vital information that will assist them in flushing out criminals from the state. He attributed insecurity in the north to lack of employment opportunities and blamed the leadership

for Nigerians’ woes with a charge to the leaders to wake up from their slumber. On the relationship of Mangal with government security agencies, Musa said there is a cordial relationship between the organization and the security agencies, saying they have been working to complement each other without hitches.

Yuguda

Gunmen kill 23 in Kano, Borno CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Also in Kano, the suspected members of the dreaded Islamic sect wrecked havoc in the city yesterday when they opened fire on a crowd in Dakata area of the state capital, killing five persons, while injuring two in the process. Damboa is 88 kilometres south of Maiduguri, the capital, and has witnessed series of attacks and killings recently. The District Head, Alhaji Abba Ahmed, who briefed the Borno State Deputy Governor, Zanna Umar Mustapha, said the hoodlums came to the town’s market and killed 13 hunters on the spot while five others died from their injuries at the hospital. The incident came barely 24 hours after some gunmen shot dead a vigilance member in Maiduguri. “The gunmen are not residents of Damboa because they came to the market in a Volkswagen Golf car. “The 18 victims are local hunters who engage in the killing of monkeys and pigs, the animals forbidden by Islam, which they sell at the market,” Ahmed said. The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Abdullahi Yuguda, confirmed the incident in a telephone interview. He said: “Yes, I received a distress call from the Di-

visional Police Officer in Damboa that some gunmen laid ambush in the town on Monday. I have already sent my men to the area and as soon as I get the details, I will inform you appropriately.” The attack in Kano, which caused stampede among residents and passers-by, occurred at about 6p.m., barely four hours after the government banned commercial motorcyclists due to gun attacks by men on bikes. The victims, it was gathered, were among a group of young men, playing draughts in the market. Sources told our correspondent that the gunmen stormed the area on motorbikes and started shooting indiscriminately. The bodies of the five victims were deposited in the morgue of Murtala Mohammed Specialist Hospital while the area had been cordoned off by men of the Joint Task Force, JTF, and the police. Yesterday’s Kano attack came in the wake of Saturday’s ambush of the convoy of the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, which claimed five lives. The Public Relations Officer, Kano State Police Command, Mr. Magaji Majia, confirmed the attack but declined comments on the casualty figure.

300,000 people affected by flood in North-East – NEMA INUSA NDAHI MAIDUGURI

he National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, yesterday said about 300,000 people were affected by last year’s flood in the North-East Zone of the country. It will be recalled that the flood which ravaged many parts of the country made President Goodluck Jonathan to earmark billions of naira to bring succour to the victims. The level of the disaster also made corporate bodies led by the Chairman of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, to contribute several millions of naira to assist the victims. Speaking in Maiduguri shortly after returning from Gombe where he attended a workshop on “Building Community Resilience in Disaster Man-

agement,” the North-East Coordinator of NEMA, Alhaji Mohammed Kanar, said a total of 283, 208 people were affected by flood disaster within the zone last year. He also disclosed that out of this number, a total of 105, 811 were camped and catered for in 81 Internally Displaced Peoples’ Camps, IDPS, managed by the agency in collaboration with States Emergency Management Agencies, SEMAs and other stakeholders like Red Cross scattered across the six states within the geopolitical zone. Kanar, who said the workshop in Gombe was organised in conjunction with Zaranat Global Resources, a consultancy firm, said the zonal office has also dispatched relief materials to victims of communal clashes in Ibbi LGA of Taraba State.

News

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Aregbesola presents N183bn budget ADEOLU ADEYEMO OSOGBO

sun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola yesterday presented a budget of N183 billion to the state House of Assembly. Presenting the budget on the floor of the House, the governor said the goal of the financial estimate was to ensure a great improvement in the welfare and standard of living of the people. The governor said that the budget was packaged to ensure the effective

realisation of his administration’s six-point integral action plan. “It is important to intimate this August Assembly that the preparation of 2013 Budget has been very participatory. Relevant inputs were sourced and received from various stakeholders across the state in order to enhance the quality of the budget,” he said. Aregbesola said that the draft budget, tagged “Budget of Freedom”, is anchored on the complete turnaround of agriculture such that it will

be revolutionised, made attractive and profitable with a view to improving the welfare of the people and the economy of the state; provision of necessary and durable infrastructure like roads, electrification, ICT that will ensure development of the economy of the state. “Creation of job-friendly economic environment to ensure empowerment of youths, women, cooperative movements, artisans and development of public service that is result-oriented, efficient,

effective and responsible with a view to making it one of the best in the federation. “Provision of effective healthcare delivery for all with special attention to the needs of children and women; provision of effective waste management and beautification schemes to rid our communities of filth; development of diverse economic potentials of the state and reactivation of commercial activities and reactivation and speedy completion of abandoned water schemes,” he add-

ed. The governor assured that the budget would be objectively and faithfully implemented, stressing that the welfare of the entire people of the state would be accorded priority, just as he maintained that the activities of his government would be guided by the highest regard for the people of the state. He then charged members of the Assembly to give speedy consideration to the budget so as to ensure its prompt implementation.

Agric sector to create 3.5m new jobs by 2015 –Jonathan ROTIMI FADEYI ABUJA

resident Goodluck Jonathan yesterday in Geneva, Switzerland said that his administration has embarked on bold policy and institutional reforms aimed at adding 20 million metric tonnes of food to domestic supply and creating at least 3.5 million new jobs in agriculture and allied industries by 2015. Speaking at the formal opening of a meeting with members of the Eminent Persons Group on the Transformation of Nigeria’s agricultural sector, Jonathan said that the present administration’s objective was to build on Nigeria’s tremendous natural resources, reverse the decline in the agricultural sector’s productivity which followed the discovery of oil, establish domestic self-sufficiency in food and make the country a major net exporter of food. According to him, the shift would also drive agricultural industrialisation as more agro-allied enterprises are established to process and add value to local foods for domestic and international markets. The President further told the gathering that his administration was wholly committed to a government-enabled, private sector driven transformation of the nation’s agricultural sector.

Task force seals seven petrol stations in Ekiti ABIODUN NEJO ADO EKITI

bout seven petroleum filling stations have been sealed off in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, over alleged involvement in sharp practices in the process of dispensing fuel to motorists. Their offences, according to the Ekiti State Petroleum Task Force, included extortion, hoarding and tampering with metre with intent to dupe unsuspecting motorists. Affected filling stations included Adekaitan, Amasek, Olawuwo and Adehun filling stations. Chairman of the Task Force, Mr. Akindele Ogungbuyi told journalists yesterday that any filling station selling fuel above N105 per litre or involved in any sharp practice would henceforth be sealed off. Ogungbuyi said some of the affected stations were found selling between N120 and N130 per litre, while some had tampered with their metres, thus defrauding people.

Police parade 12 for pipeline vandalism, illegal sale of crude OMEIZA AJAYI L-R: Head of Training, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), South West Zone, Mr. Kadiri Olanipekun; Guest Lecturer, Dr. Toyin Fashae and Head, Planning & Research, NEMA, Mr. Afolayan Olusegun, at a workshop on Strengthening Disaster Management in Ibadan, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

Banker’s murder: Arowolo’s wife vows to kill herself, husband –Witness KENNY ODUNUKAN

n Ikeja High Court was yesterday told that the deceased banker, Titilayo Omozoje Arowolo, had on several occasions threatened to murder her spouse, Akolade Arolowo and also kill herself. Arowolo’s mother, Mrs. Bolanle Arowolo gave the testimony at the resumed proceedings of the criminal charge preferred against her son, Akolade, standing trial for the murder of his wife, in June 2011. Led in evidence by the defence counsel, Mr. Olanrewaju Ajanaku, Mrs. Aro-

wolo said Titilayo was fond of threatening her husband. The witness further said that the late banker’s father told her that his daughter was a troublesome and violent person, adding that she was nicknamed “Thatcher” before she got married to the defendant. She further revealed that Omozoje, while alive had confessed to her that she had been operated for breast cancer after noticing several stitches on her chest and breast while massaging her body few days after she put to bed. She also disclosed that Omozoje was at a time involved in an accident, while on a commercial motor-

cycle on her way back from office, leaving her with several injuries in all parts of her body. The injuries, she said, affected the left hand, right legs, upper shoulder, right hands and other areas. The witness also revealed that her son and his late wife were separated for over a month before she died. A prosecution witness, the Lagos State Chief Pathologist, Prof. Oladapo Obafunwa had given graphic account of the autopsy conducted on the deceased, which revealed a black hole in the chest region. The autopsy also showed deep cuts on the “stomach

wall”. The medical examiner said the forensic investigations revealed that the injuries could not have been self- inflicted as the penetration was from the chest to the back and there were stab wounds on the stomach wall. “The chest wall was lost due to multiple stab wounds, there was damage to the diaphragm, left side of the liver, breast area and repeated stab wounds to the lungs and intestines”. “Her death was caused by multiple injuries in the chest and abdomen due to multiple sharp wounds and long forced trauma,” he had said.

he Nigeria Police yesterday paraded 12 suspects, alleged to be involved in oil pipeline vandalism and illegal sale of crude oil in some parts of the country. Addressing journalists in Abuja, Commander, Anti-Pipeline Vandalism of the Nigeria Police Force, Friday Toyin Ibadin, said the suspects were nabbed in two separate operations. “On the 13th day of January 2013, information received from a patriotic Nigerian via text message to my phone was to the effect that some vandals had entered NNPC pipeline located in Amomon village, near Okene and had loaded about five trucks of crude oil for onward delivery to a company called Prism Steel Mill based in Ikirun, Osun state,” Ibadin said. He gave the names of the suspects as Fatai Afolabi, 52, Emmanuel Igbokwe, 32, Tukur Mohammed, 27, Kamal Shema (an Indian) 32 and Ashok Agarwal (an Indian), 66.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Sport

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Reclaim past glory, Ladipo tasks Eagles

Zambia delights with dance IKENWA NNABUOGOR

efending Champions Zambia showed a glimpse of their traditional dance on Monday night when Orlando Pirates’ Collins Mbesuma put the Chipolopolo ahead in their 1-1 draw against Ethiopia in group C’s opening game. Sources in Zambia told National Mirror that the traditional dance titled “Donchi Kubebe dance” in dominant Bemba tribe meant a champions’ dance signifying “don’t tell them we are the champions but will just show it.” Chipolopolo players, RESULTS Cote d’Ivoire 2-1 Togo Tunisia

1-0 Algeria

who are mainly from the dominant Bemba tribe in the Southern African country, had rehearsed the traditional dance steps well ahead of the 2013 AFCON finals, with a view of showing they are the champions. Mbesuma raced to the sidelines populated mainly by travelling Ethiopian fans after netting the opening goal, joined by Isaac Chansa and three other players, to perform the traditional dance which was short-lived, following the pelting of missiles from the disappointed Ethiopian fans. “That was just a glimpse of the dance that the Chipolopolo players promised not only Zambian fans but the whole world,” the source added.

Eagles will rebound–Kalu EVEREST ONYEWUCHI

ormer Abia State governor, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, has appealed for calm over Super Eagles’ 1-1 draw with Burkina Faso in their opening match of the 29th AFCON in South Africa on Monday. In a statement sent to National Mirror yesterday, Kalu said the result was fair enough. “Those of us who follow Eagles’ Nations Cup record are not having sleepless nights. Being forced to a 1-1 draw is no death sentence. It first came at Ethiopia’76 against Guinea. Muda Lawal had scored the opener in the 52nd minute. In the dying minutes, Papa Camara made it 1-1,” Kalu recalled. “Two years later in Ghana, Segun Odegbami stunned hosts Ghana with an opening goal. At the end, the Black Stars escaped

with an equaliser. Then came Sam Okwaraji’s bullet against Cameroun at Maroc’88.The Indomitable Lions would later make it 1-1. In those tournaments, Nigeria did not come back empty handed,” the exgovernor added. He reminded Nigerians that even when the Eagles won the Nations Cup at home in 1980 and at away in 1994, they were forced to share the spoils by Cote d’Ivoire and Egypt respectively in the first round. “Nobody believed the Ivorians could hold Nigeria in Lagos, yet it happened. The Pharaohs got the same result in Tunisia. Picking a draw in the first round is part of the Eagles’ story. I am sure Austin Okocha and Victor Ikpeba have not forgotten the 2000 Nations Cup when after a goalless draw with Congo, Lagos fans ambushed the national team hauling stones and bottles.

Nigeria’s Nosa Igiebor (R) contending with Burkina Faso’s Florent Rouamba during their Group C game on Monday

Haze clouds Eagles’ training schedule IKENWA NNABUOGOR

he training schedule for the Super Eagles is being kept in secret, following Nigeria’s shaky start to the Africa Cup of Nations 2013 campaign. The Eagles returned to session yesterday but held a closed door at their Ingwenyama Sports and Resort Centre base in Nelspruit as under-pressure Coach Stephen Keshi took charge of proceedings. But according to National Mirror’s finding, Keshi barred the media from covering the session which lasted for more than one hour. “The Eagles trained only once today (yesterday) as they are gradually recovering the shock result of Monday with

Burkina Faso,” an insider said. “Keshi spent more than 30 minutes talking to players and giving them confidence ahead of the remaining fixtures starting with the crucial tie against Zambia on Friday afternoon,” it was further learnt. It was not clear at press time if the Eagles’ training would be open to the media today, even as it is also unclear if the team will train twice today and tomorrow before the second Group C game against Zambia on Friday. Nigeria tallies with Zambia, Burkina Faso and Ethiopia on the group’s table after the first games on Monday ended 1-1 for the two pairs. But the Eagles will need a win against Zambia to possibly claim the leadership of the group.

resident-General of the Nigeria Football and other Sports Supporters’ Club (NFSSC), Dr. Rafiu Ladipo, has charged the Super Eagles to reclaim its lost glory at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations. Oladipo made the remark in Johannesburg yesterday, during a reception organised for his entourage by the South Africa arm of the body led by its Chairman, Mr. Osita Okeke. News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the members took the airport by storm, with their well choreographed dancing, singing and drumming. According to Ladipo, Nigeria’s victory in the competition will not only reclaim its glory, but will also shore up its position in FIFA’s monthly rankings. “It has been 19 years now since Nigeria last won the AFCON championship and we as members of the Supporters Club will have to make our presence felt in the stadium if we want our team to lift the trophy again,” the NFSSC boss said. “Your efforts will be boosted by our members from Nigeria because your support is very important in this competition,” he added.

Ladipo

Gervinho rescues Elephants’ win

Ivorian players jubilating after Gervinho netted the winner against Togo yesterday

rsenal striker, Gervinho, scored a late goal to give Cote d’Ivoire victory in the first Group D game at the Africa Cup of Nations. Manchester City stalwart, Yaya Toure, put the Ivorians ahead with a deflected shot from 12 yards and he almost doubled his side’s lead when his fierce drive hit the post. But Togo fought back to restore parity just before half-time, Jonathan Ayite sweeping in a corner from the right before Gervinho met a free-kick to the far post with the

outside of his boot to clinch the win. Despite going into the game as favourites, the Ivoriens made a surprisingly slow start and were almost behind after only three minutes. Kolo Toure missed his kick when attempting a back pass and gifted possession to Emmanuel Adebayor, but the striker could not take the ball around goalkeeper Boubacar Barry, who nicked the ball away brilliantly. Barry later pulled off a superb save to keep out a net-bound header and ensure the 1992 champions took all three points.

WORLD RECORD

Longest running daily cartoon by a single author Vol. 03 No. 541

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Terrorism: Upping the ante

he recent attack on the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero by the Boko Haram sect has now revealed the augury times we are living in. That attack was the perfect denouement to a culture of violence that is rapidly taking over what little semblance of civility still remaining in the country. What we are witnessing looks more like footage from one of those make-believe Hollywood sci-fi blockbusters. But as we comprehend the gravity and reality of the situation, it is pertinent to reflect in all sobrieties, the canker worm that is relentlessly gnawing away at the very fabric of our society. Every day brings with it unabated orgy of violence and destructions, including blood chilling accounts of mayhem visited on whole communities, religious congregations, political chieftains and traditional rulers by the sect. Before now, such type of terrorism and armed insurgency had been made to look like localised insurrection by a group of de-

N150

The longest running daily cartoon strip by a single author is “Bristow”, by Frank Dickens (UK), which has been in continuous publication since first published in the Aberdeen Press and Journal on 18 September 1961. Currently, it appears in the Melbourne Herald and in the Sydney Morning Herald.

einvigorated Lewis Hamilton has vowed he can transform Mercedes Benz into winners during his debut season for the team. Making his first public appearance in Mercedes colours since his

Okay Osuji (okayosuji@nationalmirroronline.net) 08034729256 (sms only)

ranged mob whose membership is not only murky, but more so with objective as bewildering and mystifying as their choice of targets. It is the sheer bravado and swashbuckling commando style of stalking and hitting at their targets that is now becoming more worrying to all and sundry. Even though the bulk of their operation is still restricted to the north of the country, the staying power and increasingly international dimension of their activities raises more questions than answers. Though, many have come to see and associate the sect with religious nihilism, as manifested in their vehemence against western education and religion, which in the later case is erroneously seen as Christianity, they have become more audacious in restating that the country can only find peace when it accepts to become part of a planned utopian Maghreb Empire. Recent events in neighbouring Mali and far away Algeria point vividly to this unfolding drama. It was therefore, not surprising that some of the fighters among the AlQaeda rebels that invaded northern Mali last year and the siege on the Al Ameen gas complex in Algeria were members of the Boko Haram sect from Nigeria. The complexity in planning and executing those operations reveals the international connection and long term objective of turning Nigeria into another Afghanistan in West Africa. Probably, we may never know why the sect attacked the Emir of Kano, given that he is one of the most revered Islamic leaders in the country and Africa. This poser can be juxtaposed against

THE COMPLEXITY IN PLANNING AND EXECUTING THOSE OPERATIONS REVEALS THE INTERNATIONAL CONNECTION AND LONG TERM OBJECTIVE OF TURNING NIGERIA INTO ANOTHER

AFGHANISTAN IN WEST AFRICA the argument that, since the Boko Haram is fighting for establishment of a theocratic state it therefore, looks bizarre to want to eliminate someone whose presence in their proposed political empire would give some semblance of normality and modicum of international respectability. Moreover, the Emir is apolitical and has never spoken publicly on the political objectives of the sect. Another reason could be that the extreme type of Islam as envisaged by Boko Haram in Nigeria and other West African countries, may not find resonance with the present crop of urbane and cosmopolitan religious leaders in the north, hence a design to attack or intimidate them into silence or acquiescence. What therefore, started as a protest

against the crushing poverty in the north has now metamorphosed into a political tool for advancing crude religious orthodoxy, with a likeness of what is going on in Afghanistan and Pakistan Baluchistan tribal areas. Incidentally, the Nigerian authorities have been at sea on how to battle the existential threats posed by the sect, short of making it a subject of political power play. Fortunately, the chickens have come home to roost and those forces trying to change the political landscape because they are not presently in power are now witnesses to the “Frankenstein monster” they created. With the genie out of the bottle, it is becoming very difficult to put it back. And like a revolution gone awry, it would never stop until it devours its own children. Unfortunately, those paying the price are the voices of moderation and sanity, who are constantly exhorting dialogue and amity among so called “believers” and “unbelievers”. With the war now raging to dislodge hardcore Al-Qaeda rebels from Mali, a golden opportunity has been offered the Federal Government to be part of the expedition, irrespective of what those opposed to the sending of troops may think. Since it has been established that arms into the country flow in from Mali, it would be foolhardy for the authorities not to stanch it. Luckily, the French military is spearheading the onslaught and it is left for the ECOWAS countries to work in lockstep to flush the Al Qaeda militants out, so as to be free from a long term danger posed by their continued rendezvous with the Boko Haram. Since all peace overtures have failed to persuade both parties, the present alignment of international forces provides a window of opportunity to deal with the festering problem of mayhem and political brigandage. Anything short of this would be postponing the evil day and putting more religious and traditional rulers on the firing line of Boko Haram. As is usual, the consternation following the assassination attempt has turned into an exercise of political witch hunting, rather than a sincere show of sympathy, which is not helping to find a permanent solution to the current nightmare.

Sport Extra

F1: Hamilton tips Mercedes for glory bombshell defection from McLaren towards the end of the 2012 campaign, Hamilton toured the group’s Stuttgart headquarters yesterday before insisting that the team, which has won just

one race in the last three years, could regularly challenge F1’s ruling elite during the upcoming 2013 season. “Of course, it is going to be tough to beat the guys who are already at the

front, like Ferrari and the Red Bulls and the McLarens,” the Briton said. “After that, it’s about trying to succeed with them, trying to extract the most out of them and vice versa. It’s going to

be a journey we are going to enjoy.” Hamilton will be accompanied by new teammate Nico Rosberg, a driver the 2008 World Champion is already familiar with.

Hamilton

Printed and Published by Global Media Mirror Ltd: Head Office: Mirror House, 155/161 Broad Street, Lagos Tel: 07027107407, Abuja Office: NICON Insurance House, Second Floor, Central Business District Area, Abuja Tel: 08070428249, Advert hotline: 01-8446073, Email: mail@nationalmirroronline.net. Editor: SEYI FASUGBA. All correspondence to PMB 10001, Marina, Lagos. Printed simultaneously in Lagos, Abuja and Ondo State. ISSN 0794-232X.