Stakeholders to tackle PPPRA on N86.5 new fuel price Udeme AkpAn
M
any stakeholders and groups are set to Petroleum Prod-
tackle
Kachikwu
Vol. 5 N0. 1278
BUSINESS SECTION
MFM's Olukoya predicts harsh economic crunch this year P.7
the inability of the agency to provide adequate information to the public on the subject. Executive Director, Spaces for Change, Mrs.
ucts Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, on the N86.5 per litre new price of fuel in the next few weeks. Investigations showed that the decision is based on
Monday, January 4, 2016
THE
Continued on Page 2>>
Free inside
National Mirror Online
N150
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More businesses may close in 2016 –Experts OlUsegUn kOiki
N
ational Association of Government Freight Forwarders, NAGAFF, Murtala Muhammed Airport, MMA, Lagos chapter, has warned that more business organisations may collapse in the new year unless the Federal Government formulates friendly policies. Continued on Page 2>>
...decry high import tariff
Unemployment crashing Nigerians' marriages P.12
Minister moves to probe NITDA DG P.6
L-R: Wife of General Overseer, Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Mrs. Foluke Adeboye; General Overseer, RCCG, Pastor Enoch Adeboye; Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and his wife, Bolanle, during the 2016 Thanksgiving Service at the Lagos House, Ikeja, yesterday.
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VL2109
1515
1830
1
B737
MAIDUGURI TO LAGOS
VL2109
1515
1830
1
B737
MAIDUGURI TO LAGOS
VL2109
1515
1830
1
B737
DESTINATION
FLT NO
DEP
ARR
STOPS
A/C
PHC TO LAGOS
VL2117
1900
2010
0
B737
PHC TO LAGOS
VL2117
1900
2010
0
B737
PHC TO LAGOS
VL2117
1900
2010
0
B737
ABUJA TO LAGOS
VL2101
0900
1015
0
B737
YOLA TO ABUJA
VL2103
1300
1410
0
B737
YOLA TO ABUJA
VL2105
1400
1515
0
B737
YOLA TO LAGOS
VL2103
1300
1615
1
B737
VL2103
1500
1615
0
B737
VL2109
1715
1830
0
B737
DESTINATION
FLT NO
DEP
ARR
STOPS
A/C
VL2107
1915
2030
0
B737
VL2101
0900
1015
0
B737
ABUJA TO MAIDUGURI
VL2108
1315
1430
0
B737
ABUJA TO LAGOS
VL2105
1400
1515
0
B737
ABUJA TO YOLA
VL2102
1050
1200
0
B737
VL2103
1500
1615
0
B737
VL2109
1715
1830
0
B737
VL2107
1915
2030
0
B737
ABUJA TO MAIDUGURI
VL2108
1315
1430
0
B737
ABUJA TO YOLA
VL2102
1050
1200
0
B737
ACCRA TO LAGOS
VL0204
0800
1000
0
B737
ENUGU TO LAGOS
VL2117
1750
2010
1
B737
LAGOS TO ABUJA
VL2100
0700
0815
0
B737
VL2102
0850
1005
0
B737
ACCRA TO LAGOS
VL0204
0800
1000
0
B737
ENUGU TO LAGOS
VL2117
1750
2010
1
B737
LAGOS TO ABUJA
VL2100
0700
0815
0
B737
VL2102
0850
1005
0
B737
VL2108
1115
1230
0
B737
VL2104
1200
1315
0
B737
VL2106
1715
1830
0
B737
TUESDAYS
YOLA TO LAGOS
VL2103 VL2103
1300 1300
1410 1615
0 1
B737 B737
YOLA TO LAGOS
THURSDAYS DESTINATION
FLT NO
DEP
ARR
STOPS
A/C
ABUJA TO LAGOS
VL2101
0900
1015
0
B737
VL2103 VL2103
1300 1300
1410 1615
0 1
B737
FLT NO
DEP
ARR
STOPS
A/C
ABUJA TO LAGOS
VL2101
1230
1845
0
B737
VL2109
1500
1615
0
B737
VL2103
1730
1845
0
B737
VL2107
1930
2045
0
B737
B737
SATURDAYS DESTINATION
FLT NO
DEP
ARR
STOPS
A/C
ABUJA TO YOLA
ABUJA TO LAGOS
VL2101
1000
1115
0
B737
VL2102
1355
1505
0
B737
ACCRA TO LAGOS
VL0204
0800
1000
0
B737
VL2105
1400
1515
0
B737
VL2103
1500
1615
0
B737
VL2105
1400
1515
0
B737
ENUGU TO LAGOS
VL2117
1620
1840
1
B737
VL2109
1715
1830
0
B737
VL2103
1500
1615
0
B737
VL2108
0900
1015
0
B737
VL2107
1915
2030
0
B737
LAGOS TO ABUJA
ABUJA TO YOLA
VL2102
1050
1200
0
B737
VL2100
1030
1145
0
B737
ACCRA TO LAGOS
VL0204
0800
1000
0
B737
VL2102
1200
1315
0
B737
1320
1540
1
B737
1730
1845
0
ENUGU TO LAGOS
VL2117
VL2106
B737
LAGOS TO ACCRA
VL0203
0715
0715
0
B737
LAGOS TO ABUJA
VL2100
0800
0915
0
B737
LAGOS TO ENUGU
VL2116
1430
1540
0
B737
VL2102
0850
1005
0
B737
LAGOS TO LONDON
VL0209
1315
1910
0
B737
VL2104
1200
1315
0
B737
LONDON TO LAGOS
VL0210
2210
0410+1
0
B737
LAGOS TO MAIDUGURI
VL2108
0900
1215
1
B737
LAGOS TO PHC
VL2117
1430
1650
1
B737
LAGOS TO YOLA
VL2102
1200
1505
1
B737
ABUJA TO MAIDUGURI
VL2108
1315
1430
0
B737
ABUJA TO YOLA
VL2102
1050
1200
0
B737
ACCRA TO LAGOS
VL0204
0800
1000
0
B737
ENUGU TO LAGOS
VL2117
1750
2010
1
B737
LAGOS TO ABUJA
VL2100
0700
0815
0
B737
VL2102
0850
1005
0
B737
VL2108
1115
1230
0
B737
LAGOS TO ACCRA
VL0203
0715
0715
0
B737
VL2108
1115
1230
0
B737
LAGOS TO ENUGU
VL2116
1600
1710
0
B737
VL2104
1200
1315
0
B737
VL2104
1200
1315
0
B737
LAGOS TO LONDON
VL0209
1115
1710
0
B737
VL2106
1715
1830
0
B737
VL2106
1715
1830
0
LONDON TO LAGOS
VL0210
2210
0410 +1
0
B737
VL0203
0715
0715
0
B737
LAGOS TO ACCRA
VL0203
0715
0715
VL2116
1600
1710
LAGOS TO MAIDUGURI
VL2108
1115
1430
1
B737
LAGOS TO PHC
VL2110
1600
1820
1
LAGOS TO YOLA
VL2102
0850
1200
MAIDUGURI TO ABUJA
VL2109
1515
1630
LAGOS TO ACCRA
YOLA TO ABUJA
SUNDAYS DESTINATION
LAGOS TO ACCRA
VL0203
0715
0715
0
B737
B737
LAGOS TO ENUGU
VL2116
1130
1240
0
B737
0
B737
LAGOS TO PHC
VL2110
1130
1350
1
B737
MAIDUGURI TO ABUJA
VL2109
1300
1415
0
B737
0
B737
LAGOS TO YOLA
VL2102
0850
1200
1
B737
MAIDUGURI TO LAGOS
VL2109
1300
1615
1
B737
B737
PHC TO LAGOS
VL2111
1730
1840
0
B737
YOLA TO ABUJA
VL2103
1545
1655
0
B737
YOLA TO LAGOS
VL2103
1545
1845
1
B737
LAGOS TO ENUGU
VL2116
1600
1710
0
B737
LAGOS TO ENUGU
LAGOS TO MAIDUGURI
VL2108
1115
1430
1
B737
LAGOS TO MAIDUGURI
VL2108
1115
1430
1
B737
B737
LAGOS TO PHC
VL2110
1600
1820
0
B737
LAGOS TO PHC
VL2110
1600
1820
0
B737
1
B737
LAGOS TO YOLA
VL2102
0850
1200
1
B737
LAGOS TO YOLA
VL2102
0850
1200
0
B737
0
B737
MAIDUGURI TO ABUJA
VL2109
1515
1630
0
B737
MAIDUGURI TO ABUJA
VL2109
1515
1630
0
B737
PHC TO LAGOS
VL2111
1430
1540
0
YOLA TO ABUJA
VL2103
1300
1410
0
B737
YOLA TO LAGOS
VL2103
1500
1615
1
B737
UPDATED 30/10/2015
2
News
Monday, January 4, 2016
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net
Stakeholders to tackle PPPRA on N86.5 new fuel price CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Victoria Ohaeri in a telephone interview noted that it may be difficult to accept the new price unless PPPRA explains how it arrived at the current price regime. She said: “Members of the public already know that crude oil price currently hovers at over $30 per barrel. But the oil price constitutes only one factor. They need to know other details, including the landing cost since a bulk of the product is imported from the global market. “The members of the public also need to know other factors such as the marketers’ margins and exdepot price in order to ascertain the accuracy or inaccuracy of the new price. “Without these and other factors, it would be impossible to embrace the new price. It is necessary for PPPRA and other agencies to be open, transparent and accountable to the people.” She said Spaces for Change would engage with relevant agencies in the coming weeks in order to ensure that the masses are well-informed. National President of Oil and Gas Service Providers Association of Nigeria, OGSPAN, Mr. Colman Obasi maintained that it would have been better for PPPRA to present complete facts and figures behind the new fuel price to the public in order to enhance acceptance. He said it is wrong for CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
The association insisted that recent bad policies by government was having untold effects on the business climate in the country. Speaking on behalf of his members, Chairman, NAGAFF, Mr. Segun Musa predicted that a lot of importers may be compelled to close shop in 2016. He told journalists in his office at the Lagos Airport that the policy of using Nigerian Customs Service, NCS, officials against freight forwarders had already forced many importers out of business, while others had relocated out of the country in the last few months. He alleged that men of NCS had mismanaged the ports across the country, stressing that the revenue
the agency to keep the masses guessing on the new fuel price. Obasi said the need to know and be carried along becomes even more imperative under a democratic government like the present President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration. According to him, OGSPAN would send a formal letter, demanding explanation from PPPRA this week. He said the cooperation of PPPRA and other agencies are necessary to ensure its members and others are
well-enlightened on the subject. A Port Harcourt-based energy expert, Mr. Bala Zaka, who agreed that the publication of the template is required also called on Nigerians to show much understanding with the government. He indicated that as far as the new price is still below the former N87 per liter, the people should cooperate with government to achieve stability in the downstream sector. Zaka said the new price will enable government
conserve funds, previously expended to pay huge subsidies to oil marketers. However, a visit to PPPRA website yesterday showed that the agency has not yet publish the template, five days after the announcement was made. Executive Secretary of the agency, Mr. Farouk Ahmed could not be reached for comments yesterday. Another official, who preferred not to be named, said PPPRA was still working on the template. Presidential Bahari did
not make any categorical statement on the subject in his first media engagement last week. “Our priority now is to get our refineries working. By the time we finish what we are doing, 60 per cent of the allocation of crude oil for local refining and 40 per cent would be used for crude oil swap. “By the end of next quarter, you will not be talking of subsidy. The price is so low that there is no need to subsidise anything,” he had said. Minister of State, Pe-
Catholic Archbishop of Jos, his Grace, Ignatius Kaigama (middle), during the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy in Jos, yesterday.
troleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu had a few days ago spoke on the new fuel price while interacting with journalists at the Port Harcourt Refinery Company, PHRC, during his inspection tour of the facility. He had said: “We have done a modulation calculation and it is showing us below N87. I imagine that if the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, publishes it today, it will become effective immediately.”
PHOTO:NAN
More businesses may close in 2016 –Experts leakage in the system was more than the money collected into the coffers of government. Musa explained that high import tariff by customs was not favourable to importers, which he attributed to the poor relationship between importers and the customs officials in recent time. He said: “Customs officers mismanaged the ports, they have not brought to the table any meaningful policy that will actually drive the industry because they are saddled with the responsibility of checking revenue being collected by the freight forwarders, they actually mismanaged the ports. “The revenue leakage is
more than the revenue collected in Nigeria, the tariffs on imports are so high and that has taken a lot of business out Nigeria. “We have criticised the President Arrival Report that government should not saddle the customs with issuance of that certificate, but the customs came with all kinds of snow whiting discuss that there won’t be any query again when they start issuing the Certificate.” He called on the Federal Government to engage private sector in policy formulations for the country to be on the right track, noting that importation was not responsible for the demise of some major industries in the country.
Rather, he attributed this to bad roads, insecurity and poor power generation. He explained that they would soon go into a regime of external tariff where every importer was at the liberty to import goods and pay tariff anywhere in the world and go to the border to clear their goods without
paying to customs. “By the time importers start going to Ghana, Togo, Abidjan and Cotonou to pay duties, there will be loss of revenues here and our terminals will be turned into football field where there will be no activities going on in the shed. “So, you can imagine
how the labour market will look like when about three million people will be thrown out of the market,” said. He noted that Nigeria has the highest number of contraband goods all over the world, positing that this was not in the interest of the nation.
Buhari’s social intervention package not one-off scheme, says vice presidential aide
T
he social welfare intervention programme of the Muhammadu Buhari administration, for which N500 billion has been allocated in the 2016 budget, is not a one-off scheme, says Mr Laolu Akande, the vice presidential spokesman.
Akande, who is the Senior Special Assistant, SSA, on Media and Publicity in the Office of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, said this in an interview with newsmen in Abuja yesterday. He said the scheme “is a combination of several well-thought out pro-
grammes emphasising direct connections with the extremely poor, and the needy among other categories of the masses of this country.” A breakdown of the5 welfare programme is conContinued on Page 5>>
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net
3
PAGE
Monday, January 4, 2016
Good Health
Franka Osakwe
B
iscuits, especially the foreign ones, may seem well packaged and sealed but they are not as germfree as previously thought. Experts recently discovered that dry foods like biscuits and crackers, have the capacity to harbour salmonella and other pathogens for at least 6 months, according to research published in the Journal of Food Protection. The researchers from University of Georgia, became worried about an increased outbreak of food-borne diseases in an environment where people eat more dry foods such as biscuits and cookies. Based on this, they carried out a research to investigate if salmonella and other bacteria could actually survive in dry foods. Amazingly, in some cases, the harmful pathogen survived for up to six months. The research team used five different strains of salmonella and deliberately contaminated four fillings found in foods with low moisture content, such as cookies and crackers. Cheese, peanut butter, vanilla and chocolate fillings were all used to replicate the types of crackers and biscuits regularly found in shops and vending machines. After storing the foods, scientists were able to determine how long salmonella could survive. The researchers were shocked to find that the germ could survive for as long as 6 months, especially in cookies. It is thought that the real figure could be much higher, as many cases go unreported. These findings add to the mounting evidence that food poisoning can be present and survive for a length of time in dry environments. The health experts warned that extra steps should be taken to prevent contamination in the manufacturing process. Study lead, Larry Beuchat added: “The next steps would be to test all ingredients that are used in these foods. If there is a possibility that foodborne pathogens are present in specific ingredients, then the next step would be to stop the use of those ingredients”.
Harmful bacteria may thrive in biscuits –Study … Can survive for 6 months!
xxxx
Here in Nigeria, about 150,000 Nigerian children die annually from diarrhoea caused by consumption of contaminated food and water, according to the United Nations Children’s Education Fund (UNICEF) report. Aside from diarrhoea, the recent outbreak of Cholera, another food and water borne disease which claimed the life of many children in Taraba and River States earlier this year, is a stark reminder of the unhealthy state of food and water in Nigeria. Another report from World Health Organisation (WHO), states that Food and water containing harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemical substances are responsible for more than 200 diseases, ranging from diarrhoea, typhoid to cancers, and infants, young children, pregnant women, the elderly and those with underlying illnesses are mostly affected. The report highlighted the urgent need to wash one’s hands before and after han-
DiD you Know?
Aspirin may double survival for cancer patients
N
ew research has shown that taking an aspirin a day could double the survival chances of many cancer sufferers. The Dutch research found that 75 per cent of patients taking the drug daily were still alive five years after being diagnosed with several forms of cancer. This includes bowel, stomach, pancreatic and throat cancer. When compared to the survival rate for those not on aspirin - 42 per cent - it really is an astonishing figure. Martine Frouws led the research involving 14,000 adults by the Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC). She said: “Given that aspirin is a cheap, unbranded drug with relatively few
side-effects this will have a great impact on healthcare systems as well as patients.” The LUMC’s findings will be presented at the European Cancer Congress in Vienna today. Professor Nadir Arber, the congress’s spokesman, added: “Aspirin may serve as the magic bullet because it can target and prevent ischaemic heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease, the three major health catastrophes in the third millennium.” The news comes less than a month after UK scientists found being overweight can more than double the risk of developing colon cancer. But the 10-year study found the risk could be counteracted by regularly taking the aspirin.
dling food and after going to the toilet. “Unsafe food has put major strains on health systems and has hurt national economies, development and international trade in the African Region”, it said. According to WHO, symptoms of food borne illnesses include stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhoea and these symptoms often occur very quickly after eating the food, or may take days or even weeks to appear. “For most food borne illnesses, symptoms occur 24-72 hours after the food has been eaten. The smell, taste and appearance of food and water are not good indicators for determining whether they will make you sick. Just because something looks safe to eat does not mean that it is. It takes over 2.5 billion bacteria or germs to make 250 ml of water look cloudy, but in some cases it only takes 15-20 bacteria to make one sick. Similarly, the accumulation of invisible
N
ew findings by French researchers show that the brain devotes more processing resources to social situations that signal threat than those that are benign. The results in the journal eLife may help explain the apparent “sixth sense” we have for danger. This is the first time that specific regions of the brain have been identified to be involved in the phenomenon. The human brain is able to detect social threats in these regions in a fast, automatic fashion, within just 200 milliseconds. Even more surprising for the scientists was the discovery that anxious individuals detect threat in a different region of the brain from people who are more laid-back. It was previously thought that anxiety could lead to over-sensitivity to threat signals. However, the new study shows that the difference has a useful purpose. Anxious people process threats using regions of the brain respon-
germs on one’s hands is a common source of transmission that is often overlooked”, it further states. Meanwhile, a professor of medical science, Prof. Osaretin Ebuehi during an interview with National Mirror, had explained that food can become contaminated with bacteria such as E-coli, if these food are not well washed and cooked, “the person gets exposed to gastro intestinal infections such as diarrhoea, dysentery, hook warms, internal bleeding, constipation, ulcer and cholera” According to him, meats are one of the main breeding ground for the growth of these micro-organisms and the bulk of the infestation actually come during storage and processing, where these meats are exposed to all kinds of pathogens. Some of the causative organisms he cited are salmonella, Escherichia Coli, Hepatitis A virus, Noro Virus and Listeria Monocytogene.
Being anxious could be good for you in crisis
sible for action. Meanwhile, ‘low anxious’ people process them in sensory circuits, responsible for face recognition. Facial displays of emotion can be ambiguous but the researchers managed to identify what it is that makes a person particularly threatening. They found that the direction a person is looking in is key to enhancing our sensitivity to their emotions. Anger paired with a direct gaze produces a response in the brain in only 200 milliseconds, faster than if the angry person is looking elsewhere.
4
Photo News
Monday, January 4, 2016
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo with Executive Secretary, Amuwo Odofin Local Government, Deaconess Modupe Ajibola-Ojodu, during the wedding ceremony of Akin Ajibola, son of Prince Bola Ajibola, in Lekki, Lagos, at the weekend.
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net
L-R: Sister of Director of Search and Rescue, National Emergency Management Agency, Mrs Tejumade Adewumi; Director, AVM Charles Otegbade; his wife, Florence, and Director of Intelligence, Defence Intelligence Agency, Air Commodore Benson Omoyugbo, at AVM Otegbade’s promotion thanksgiving at the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Abuja, yesterday.
L-R: Miss Ambassador for Peace, 2015/2016 North Central, Queen Josephine Igoche; Miss Mark D’ball 2015, Queen Patience Odili; Miss Idoma Nigeria 2015, Queen Sandra Acha and Miss Comely International 2015 (Breast Cancer Ambassador), Queen China Mnena, at the Grand Finale of the 2015 Mark D’ Ball Basketball Competition in Otukpo, yesterday.
L-R: Head, Business Development, Med-View Airline, Mr. Na’Allah Isiaq; Head, Flight Operations, Capt. Godfrey Ogbogu; Lagos State Commissioner for Home Affairs, Dr. Abdulhakeem Abdullateef and Head of Engineering, Med-View Airline, Engr. Lookman Animashaun, during the Airline’s inaugural Flight to Lagos-Kano-Jeddah, Saudi Arabia at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, at the weekend. PHOTO: ADEYANJU OLOWOJOBA
L-R: Chief Pilot of Arik Air, Capt. Adetokunbo Adekunbi; MD of Arik Air, Chris Ndulue; Capt. and Mrs Jide Bakare; Deputy Managing Director, Arik Air, Capt. Ado Sanusi and Chairman, CountryWide Housing Company Limited, Ali Magashi, during the wedding ceremony of Capt. and Mrs. Jide Bakare, at St Georges Anglican Church, Bompai Road, Kano, at the weekend. PHOTO: ADEYANJU OLOWOJOBA
L-R: Chief of Staff to the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Olukunle Ojo; wife of the Governor, Mrs. Bolanle Ambode and COWLSO member, Mrs. Landun Ogunbanwo, during the Cross Over Nite Service at the Chapel of Christ the Light, CBD, Alausa, Ikeja.
L-R: Archbishop, Archdiocese of Abuja Methodist Cathedral of Unity, Dr Joseph OcheJob, Presbyter, Rev Geoffrey Kanu; Mrs. Ester OcheJob and Senior Steward, Mrs Chidinma Nwosu, addressing Media on the State of the Nation during the First Service of the Year at the Methodist Cathedral of Unity Archdiocese of Abuja. PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA
Members of Omu-Aran Youth Forum during a carnival rally in Omu-Aran, Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State, at the weekend.
News
5
Monday, January 4, 2016
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net
Hunters to join military fight B' Haram in Sambisa Inusa ndahI Maiduguri
H
unters in Borno State yesterday called on the military to allow them join in the war against insurgents in Sambisa Forest. Malam Mai-Gana MaiDurma, the Borno Emir of the Hunters, made the appeal in Maiduguri while addressing newsmen. Mai-Durma said the call became imperative because the hunters were familiar with the terrain at the dreaded forest, the hideout and operational base of the terrorists. “We are appealing to the military authorities to allow us join the fight against Boko Haram at the Sambisa forest. “We are ready to pursue the terrorists because we know the terrain very well,” Mai-Durma said. He said the military should align them with members of the vigilance group, popularly known as the Civilian JTF, for effective result.
•NEDCOM bill to rebuild, resettle N'East, IDPs “We will overrun Sambisa in partnership with members of the civilian JTF if given the opportunity. “This will help to complement the effort of military in the anti terrorism operation,” Mai-Durma said. He lamented that hunters from the 27 local government areas of the state had been rendered idle by Boko Haram terrorism. “Hunters from all the 27 Borno LGAs are all in Maiduguri with our leaders doing nothing at present because of Boko Haram. “Rather than idling away, we will want to assist the military in crushing Boko Haram terrorists,” Mai-Durma added. He also appealed to the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Ibn Garbai, to assist in forwarding the request to the military authorities for consideration. Meanwhile, Senate
Leader, Sen. Mohammed Ali Ndume, said the North East Development Commission, NEDCOM, Bill before the Senate will address the “comprehensive rebuilding” of Boko Haram destroyed communities in the geopolitical zone, before the over 2.2million Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, return to their respective communities. Ndume spoke to newsmen in Maiduguri, yesterday on the rebuilding of destroyed communities; and return of IDPs to their communities in the affected Northeast subregion of the country. He said the NEDCOM bill has scaled the second
reading; and the third and final readings will scale this month for President Muhammadu Buhari’s assent to become law. He said by February, the rebuilding of all destroyed communities will commenced under various Implementation and Monitoring Committees, IMMC, in the six affected states. “I don’t want to be misquoted gentlemen of the press, but the NEDCOM bill will be similar to that of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NNDC, established by the Obasanjo administration in addressing the Niger Delta militancy in the South-South and South
East geopolitical zones of this country,” said Ndume on the import of bill before the Senate. He said the reconstructions, rehabilitations and resettlements of the IDPs in 45 camps, will commence in all the captured and recently reclaimed council areas in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states. He however noted that Borno State had the highest number of 20 destroyed communities, with Adamawa and Yobe states having six and two Local Government Areas respectively destroyed by the Boko Haram insurgents between 2012 and 2015.
“The level of destructions by these insurgents was enormous and devastating in the council areas of Kukawa, Ngala, Bama and Gwoza bordering Chad and Cameroon. “Some of these communities were completely flattened with explosives and petro-bombs, as all the infrastructural facilities for water and electricity supplies, healthcare, schools and councils’ secretariat complexes were razed to the ground by insurgents,” Ndume said. He also assured that before the end of this month, the NEDCOM bill will be ready for President’s assent to become law.
Buhari’s social intervention package not one-off scheme, says vice presidential aide CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2
tained in the 2016- 2017 and 2018 Medium Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, and Fiscal Strategy Paper, PSP, submitted to the Senate for consideration and approval. According to the document, the Federal Government will collaborate with state governments to institute well-structured social welfare intervention programmes such as: school feeding programme initiative, conditional cash transfer to the most vulnerable and post-National Youth Service Corps grant. Under special intervention, including cash transfer, home grown school feeding programme and micro credit loans (SMEs, market women etc), which is also covered by the social intervention programme, the government provided N300bn for 2016, N339.05bn for 2017 and N338.93bn for 2018. According to the spokesman, the plan of the Buhari presidency is comprehensive and has taken into consideration some of the fac-
tors that led to the failure of past poverty alleviation schemes. “One of the major differences here is that the social intervention programme such as the Conditional Cash Transfer, CCT, would be a direct transfer of N5000 monthly to the extremely poor among us. “And this is a safety net that several advanced nations had put in place a long time in their history, and most often at times of economic challenges,” he said The SSA said the money would be paid directly to the people concerned on the condition of school enrolment and immunization. “This way, we are expanding school enrolment and also assuring physical well-being. “The home-grown school feeding programme will commence in public primary schools in 2016, providing adequate nutrition to school children, promoting local farming, boosting agriculture, and creating jobs and wealth locally. Continued on Page 43>>
Holliday makers traveling back after yuletide at Ojodu Berger, Lagos, yesterday.
PHOTO: ADEMOLA AKINLABI
Female lawyers advocate creation of rape crisis centres
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ome female lawyers in Abuja have advised the Federal Government to create rape crisis centres, counselling service and other victims’ assistance agency as measures to address the menace of rape. The lawyers gave the advice in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, yesterday in Abuja. They noted that the creation of such institutions would help in addressing the high rate of rape and its attendant effects on victims. A lawyer, Mrs Chinelo Oputa, said rape incidents were increasing in different parts of the country and there was an urgent need for
government to assist the victims. Oputa said effective and well managed crisis centres and counselling units would help rape victims to learn how to cope with the emotional trauma and physical impacts of the assault. The lawyer identified impunity as a major factor for the high rate of rape cases. She said reported cases of rape were, in most cases, not properly investigated before charging suspects to court resulting in letting the suspects off the hook or giving them light punishments. Oputa said this accounted for many offenders to see rape as a joy ride and therefore encouraged to keep perpetrating the crime. She urged the police to
conduct proper investigations when cases of rape were brought to them and ensure that the perpetrators pay dearly for their crime. Oputa said rape is a very serious crime and the offender must be made to face the full weight of the law. “Despite the prevalence of rape and violence cases, offenders are neither arrested nor prosecuted. “Even when arrest is made, prosecutors are often reluctant to take on such cases seriously,” she said. Another Abuja-based lawyer, Mrs. Oluwaseye Odediran, said that most rape victims in the country lived with the trauma because of lack of counselling. She said some of them develop phobia for men and see
all opposite sex as evil. “Investigations and researches have shown that many rape victims get involved in homosexual and detest marriage if there is no adequate counselling,” she said. Odediran said government could partner with relevant Non-Governmental Organisations in setting up crisis centres and counselling units. Also speaking on causes of rape, the lawyer identified poor parenting as a key factor. “Many parents are no longer paying adequate attention to their kids; not knowing the whereabouts of their children and who could abuse them if there is an opportunity. Continued on Page 43>>
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News
Monday, January 4, 2016
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net
Ajimobi inaugurates housing estate …berates sale of govt properties by predecessors KEMI OLAITAN IBADAN
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Officers of the Nigerian Army affter a meeting with their civilian counterparts at the Nigerian Army Mess, Bauchi, at the weekend
Minister moves to probe NITDA DG KEMI OLAITAN IBADAN
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ollowing alleged breaches in management of the National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, Minister of Communication, Barr Adebayo Shittu, has set up a committee to investigate the flouting of Public Procurement Act 2007 and perceived financial recklessness in the organisation. National Mirror learnt that the minister was piqued by non-adherence to a letter with circular number PS/MCT/014/ Vol. 1/56 dated August 14, 2015, and signed by a former Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Dr Tunji Olaopa, which catalogued and queried alleged breach of rules by Director-General of the NITDA, Mr. Peter Jack, on various allegations. It was also gathered that Shittu, who is cur-
rently outside the country, was acting on another petition by a group, Information Technology Law Practitioners Association of Nigeria, ITLPAN, and signed by its President and Secretary, Fredrick Uyabeme, and Olumide Aboyade-Cole respectively, alleging fraud and administrative impunity on the part of the DG. The group in their sixpage memorandum on activities of NITDA and annexures attached as exhibits 1-12, also sent copies to the nation’s anticorruption agencies. Olaopa in the said letter to the DG titled, ‘Reported Breaches in NITDA’, copy of which was made available to journalists in Ibadan said, “it has come to my attention that there are several anomalies going on in your agency, which touches on the following: breach of the public service rules as it pertains to recruit-
ment and secondment of staff; breaches of the Public Procurement Act 2007; and non-implementation of board directives and non-recourse to the ministry in the absence of your board.” “I have also been inundated with news of your invitation to answer to sundry queries for breaches, yet you have not deemed it fit to update me on the issues so I can appraise our principal as might be required. Notwithstanding the foregoing, I am by this letter directing that you immediately reverse all recruitment and secondment that you have implemented without the approval of your governing board. “You are also to ensure that all procurement processes are implemented with strict adherence to the Public Procurement Act 2007; and furthermore, I am by this letter reminding you that the
absence of a governing board does not confer the liberty to flagrantly breach the NITDA Act nor the Public Service Rules. “You are required to forthwith, comply with the letters and spirit of Circular Refrence Number SGF 19/S.81/XIX/964 dated 16th July, 2015 on matters that would normally require the attention of the NITDA board,” he added. The Communication Minister was said to be worried that months after such letter was issued by the former Permanent Secretary, the DG continued to treat the matter with utter disdain, hence, the resolve to set up another ministerial committee now headed by the Director, Research and Statistics of the ministry to investigate the matter. It was gathered that the committee is expected to submit its report this week.
yo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi at the weekend inaugurated the first phase of a multi-million naira housing estate in Ibadan, with an assurance that his administration would embark on infrastructural revolution in the state. He also used the opportunity to query the rationale behind the sale of government lands and quarters by some of his predecessors, whom he accused of selling such properties to their cronies a t r idiculous p rices. The estate, christened “Olive Court” and located at Agodi GRA, in the state capital, is expected to accommodate 45 duplexes, but had its first phase of 15 buildings completed within 18 months. The estate is furnished with facilities such as independent power supply, sewage system and water supply and was a partnership between the state government and UPDC, a subsidiary of United African Company,UAC. According to the governor, the building of the
Policeman, 23-year-old killed in Yenagoa Police in Bayelsa say a policeman attached to the state’s command died of gunshot wounds following a gun duel with armed robbers in Yenagoa on New Year day. Mr Asinim Butswat, a
Nigerian develops device to reduce mortality rate
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igerian develops device to reduce mortality rate A young Nigerian, Miss Kesandu Nwokolo, has developed a mobile phone application to help reduce infant and maternal mortality in Africa. In a statement obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, on Sunday in Lagos, the innovative healthcare application would revolutionise the health sector in Nigeria and Africa. It said the innovative
healthcare application developed by Nwokolo and her team is called ‘’CradleCount’’. It noted that about six of 10 women have their babies at home, where the delivery was not supervised by a skilled birth attendant. The statement said that errors in estimating the expected date of delivery could lead to the baby being delivered supposedly unexpected. ``This is the problem faced by pregnant women in Nigeria and Africa, if
this is not addressed, there will be increased pregnancy related complications resulting in more maternal and infant mortality. ``This is where technology and innovation come in. ``Seeing these shocking statistics and challenges faced by pregnant women led to the development of the mobile phone application, “CradleCount’’. ``CradleCount helps pregnant women and also health practitioners to calculate accurately the expected date of delivery
using the last menstrual period. ``The application informs pregnant women how many days to the delivery of the baby and has alerts that remind pregnant mothers to register and follow up with their antenatal care. ``It also sends regular pregnancy and health tips to expectant mothers and the application can also work without an internet connection,’’ it said. According to the statement, the application is well
estate was a further demonstration of his administration’s commitment to the rapid development of the state through the provision of necessary social and economic infrastructure for the people. Ajimobi added that the parcel of land where the newly inaugurated estate was constructed had only four buildings designated as Governor’s Guest Houses before they were pulled down to accommodate the project. He stated that instead of selling off choice government property at giveaway prices to satisfy alleged narrow and parochial interests, the concerned former governors should have considered the corporate interest of the state. The Managing Director of UAC, Mr. Akeem Oguniran, lauded the governor for his passion for the development of the state. He said most of the duplexes in the estate had already been bought, adding that some of the buyers had indicated their intention to occupy the new buildings in the first month of the new year.
designed with good aesthetic values and background colours that mothers can change the background of the devise depending on the sex of the baby they are expecting. The statement said that it was no longer news that Africa was faced with great challenges. ``What is interesting is that many young Africans with technology and innovation are beginning to provide the needed solution to the problems of the continent,’’ it said.
DSP, told the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, that a five-man robbery gang attacked and robbed one Evelyn Patrick at Agudama area of Yenagoa on that fateful day, shooting dead one Mr Victor Abule, 23, in the process. He explained that as the robbers tried to escape, they were engaged in a gun duel by a police officer, who shot dead one of them. “A police officer confronted the armed men and shot dead one of them as they were escaping. “The officer sustained gunshot wounds and was rushed to the hospital where he eventually died. “Efforts have been intensified to arrest the fleeing suspects, while investigation into the incident is ongoing.”
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net
National News 7
Monday, January 16, 2016
LASU directs staff to sign nominal roll or forfeit salary
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agos State University, LASU, has directed its staff to resume the signing of nominal roll before the fifth day of every month to ensure payment of their salaries. This was contained in
the university’s official bulletin made available to the News Agency of Nigeria yesterday in Lagos. According to the bulletin, the directive is meant for both academic and non-academic staff. The bulletin said mem-
bers of staff must henceforth resume the signing of the nominal roll in their various faculties, colleges, schools, departments, centres and units from January 2016. “The university management also reiterates
that as it is the practice, failure to submit the nominal roll by the 5th of every month by any faculty, college, school, department, centre or unit will lead to the forfeiture of salary of the concerned staff for that month,” it said.
L-R: Former Super Eagles international, Austin Okocha; Deputy Comptroller of Customs, Emmanuel Chukwuemeka; his wife, Chinyelu and ace artiste, Davido, during An Evening with MTN in Lagos, recently.
MFM’s Olukoya predicts harsh economic crunch in 2016
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ountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries, MFM’s general overseer, Dr. Daniel Kolawole Olukoya, yesterday predicted that 2016 would be one of harsh economic crunch, warning that it would also witness a “violently crashing economy.” Olukoya, at the church’s annual crossover night service held at its Prayer City, along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, also predicted that the new year would experience “acidic judgment on those who shed innocent blood, no matter their religion,” because “no man has the right to take the life of a fellow human being.” Saying 2016 would be a year of destruction of blood-thirsty campaigns, he said, in his 40-point prediction that Nigerians need to seriously pray against senseless massacres. According to him, there would be more earthquakes and tsunamis as well as mysterious crashes and disappearances, adding that children of God need serious prayers to tackle activities of eaters of flesh and drinkers of blood in the new year. A year of sudden change
and turnaround, Olukoya predicted that 2016 shall witness slave catchers becoming slaves, while labour of past years shall be compensated. “Stubborn, long-time enemies of God’s children will be in trouble, while
seats and positions of God’s children, presently occupied by wrong persons, shall be recovered this year, as evil gates of Christians’ fathers’ houses shall be forced open,” he declared. Olukoya said 2016 would witness divine exchanges,
overturning and overtaking, where the snail would be catching up with the dog. On the international political scene, he called for prayers for the so-called super powers, some of whose decisions, he said, angered heaven.
Francis suBeru
vocations would thrive in state. However, the governor thanked God for sustaining the state all through 2015 and bringing him to power, adding that in spite of the fears that the 2015 general elections would be violent, God took control. Ambode added that he is happy that the elections turned out to be free and fair and one that led to a change in government, in which the opposition party took over power while the government previously in power now becomes the opposition. The event witnessed inspirational singing from the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG’s choir and others. Prominent people at the thanksgiving service are the general overseer of RCCG, Pastor Enoch
Adeboye; Bishop Mike Okonkwo of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission; Rev. Mercy Ezekiel of the Christ Pentecostal Mission; wife of the governor, Bolanle Ambode; wife of the Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Olusola Obasa; Most Rev. Ephraim Ademowo and Archbishop Adewale Martins. There were also the All Progressives Congress, APC Women Leader in Lagos, Chief Kemi Nelson; general overseer, Foursquare Gospel Church, Rev. Felix Meduoye; Chief Judge of Lagos State, Olufunmilayo Atilade; chairman, Conference 57, Alabi David; Rev. Moses Aransiola; and Pastor Wale Adefarasin of the Guiding Light Assembly, among others.
Doom’s day prediction won’t affect Lagos –Ambode
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agos State governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, yesterday assured Lagosians that despite predictions of impending economic woes across the country, the state’s economy would boom and improve. Governor Ambode said this yesterday at the 2016 annual thanksgiving service of the state government held at the State House, Ikeja, Lagos. The governor said in spite of the prediction of a bleak economy in 2016, Lagos is determined to forge ahead. The governor said he is very optimistic that there would be employment boom in Lagos this year, while artisans and skill
NUPENG calls for repair of federal roads
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ational Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, yesterday urged the Federal Government to rehabilitate federal roads in the country to ease transportation of petroleum products. South West chairman of the union, Alhaji Tokunbo Korodo, made the appeal during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos. Korodo said the rehabilitation would reduce unnecessary delay of petroleum tanker drivers who lose a lot of time on the roads before getting products to their final destinations. “Most of the federal roads plied by petroleum tankers have become death traps and this is causing a lot of accidents to our tanker drivers. “The Oshodi-Apapa Express road, Okene-Lokoja and Owo-Akoko roads are in deplorable conditions. “Government should ensure that all these roads
are repaired this year to ease the movement of all vehicles plying the roads,” he said. The chairman urged the Federal Government to strive harder to protect Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC pipelines from vandals across the nation. He said this would return normal loading activities at all abandoned NNPC depots nationwide. Korodo also urged the Federal Government to ensure job security for workers in the oil and gas industry and drastically reduce the issue of contract staffing. He said the union would give adequate support to the government to make it succeed in its efforts to keep Nigerians smiling. He urged the Department of Petroleum Resources to withdraw or cancel the licence of any independent marketers that tries to frustrate its efforts.
IGR: Group wants Aregbesola to explore agriculture, tourism Boladale BamigBola, OsOgbO
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erturbed by the financial crisis rocking Osun State, a non-governmental organisation, the Forum for Nation Builders and Social Development, FNBSD, has charged the state government to explore the state’s economic potentials in agriculture and tourism to improve its revenue. The group said the adverse effect of dwindling federal allocation and low internally-generated revenue, IGR, in the state would be drastically cushioned if government could invest in agriculture and tourism. According to the group in a communique issued at the end of an economic summit tagged, ‘Enhancing Osun Economic Development: Agriculture and Tourism as Key Indicators,’ held in Osogbo, there is urgent need to shift the state’s focus from monthly federal allocation to agriculture and tourism. Also in the communique signed by Ayo Odeyemi, convener of the group; Babajide Bewaji, chairman of the summit committee and Ismaeel Uthman, secretary of the committee, FNBSD,
harped on the need to promote agriculture and enhance farming. It specifically suggested that the state government revamps the moribund farm settlements in the state and upgrade them into agricultural industrial centres to be clustered in a community of 5,000 people, who are predominantly inclined to farming. It added that government should make provision for crop mapping that would be made according to crop niche areas, calling for mass production of crops with emphasis on production, processing and export. The group stated that the state government and indigenous entrepreneurs should work together on breeds that could attract international acceptability as well as ensure agriculture extension services to educate conservative farmers to imbibe modern method of farming. To enhance tourism potential of the state for its economic development, the group stated that tourism centers across Osun State should be seen as cultural heritage, treated so and upgraded into enviable standards that could bring good revenue to government.
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South West
Monday, January 4, 2016`
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net
Crisis brews over selection of new Obalufe Boladale BamigBola OsOgbO
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election process of new Obalufe of Iremo Quarters, Ile Ife, yesterday heightened tension in the town following alleged plan by the screening committee to announce an unqualified candidate for the position. The immediate past Obalufe, Oba Solomon Omisakin, died on October 15 at the age of 85 and was buried last December.
According to tradition of the town, the Obalufe is next in rank to the Ooni, and assumes full authority in the absence of an Ooni. National Mirror was reliably told that 10 people from Aga ruling house are contesting the position and the process of selecting a new Obalufe has already commenced with the inauguration of a screening committee headed by Comrade Ayoola Olafiranye.
Among other things, the committee is saddled with the responsibility of screening all contenders for the stool and reporting its findings to the ruling house. The committee, it was learnt, invited all the 10 aspirants and screened them, but even before submitting its reports, majority of the contestants are already accusing the committee of planning
to name an aspirant from the female lineage, Elu Abayomi. A contestant for the Obalufe throne, Fatai Adiyeloja, during a chat with newsmen, cautioned the aggrieved youth against taking the law into their hands, just as he expressed concern over the conduct of the screening committee. Explaining how an Obalufe is chosen, an
Ile Ife traditional chief, Chief Atimi Bada, Logun Apata of Ile-Ife, during a chat with newsmen, said: “This rancour would have been avoided, if the committee had done the right thing in a transparent manner. “We all know that the female lineage can contest only if there is no competent person from the male lineage. But in this situation, there are nine
contenders from the male lineage, yet, the committee attempted to pick the only one person that came from the female lineage. It is not right.” Head of the Aga ruling house, Chief Bello Adiyeloja, while reacting to the development, said since the contenders could no longer trust the committee members, the ruling house has dissolved it to avoid trouble.
Lagos commends Glo, others over One Lagos Fiesta success
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agos State government has commended Nigeria’s next generation network, Globacom, for supporting the execution of the firstever One Lagos Fiesta, a five-day end-of-year celebration in five locations across Lagos State. The commendation came the way of the telecom company as the fiesta climaxed with a countdown and spectacular firework display simultaneously at midnight of the New Year at the five locations of Bar Beach, which was personally graced by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode; Agege, Badagry, Epe, and Ikorodu. Speaking at the Badagry centre just before midnight, Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr. Oluranti Adebule, expressed appreciation to Globacom and other sponsors for keying into the One Lagos Fiesta project. She said the contributions of Globacom and other sponsors made the first edition of the massive project the huge success it was. The participation of Globacom was marked by innovative entertainment and a wide variety of side attractions that made the fiesta a memorable one for Lagos residents. Globacom’s pavilions in all the five locations were the main attractions to fun-seeking Lagosians while the fiesta lasted. Present at Globacom stands at the fiesta were facilities for snookers, table soccer, mock onthe-sport kick, and video games. Other varieties in-
troduced include a Karaoke night which enabled Lagosians to try out their singing talent and win freebies; comedy night, which featured some of the most popular comedians in Nigeria; dancing competitions and many others. Globacom also tapped into its rich collection of brand ambassadors who are arguably Nigeria’s best entertainers, to excite fun seekers at the venues. Narrating his experiences in the last five days at the Globacom pavilion in Ikorodu, Ibukun Oluwole said: “It has been fun coming to the Glo stand in the last couple of days and there has been no dull moment here.” Also speaking, Similoluwa Adegoke, a student, submitted that Globacom “has indeed added much value to the Lagos countdown ceremony and I am looking forward to seeing a bigger event come 2016. Glo is simply wonderful throughout this period.” At the Bar Beach Centre, a 20-year-old aspiring dancer, Gregory Efosa, said he practically made the Glo stand his abode for the entire five days. He expressed gratitude to Globacom for allowing his dance team to showcase their talent on one of the five days. The grand finale was wrapped up by scintillating performances from up and coming artistes such as Ketchup as well as accomplished stars like Olamide, Nomoreloss, Dare and Tiwa Savage, among others.
L-R: Managing Director, UACN Property Development Company Plc (UPDC Plc), Mr. Hakeem Ogunniran; wife of Oyo State Governor, Mrs. Florence Ajimobi; Governor Abiola Ajimobi; and Director, Technical Operation, UPDC, Mr. Brian Greenaway, during the inauguration of a new housing estate built in partnership with the state government in Agodi GRA, Ibadan, at the weekend.
Farmers/herdsmen clashes: Stakeholders seek grazing routes, reserves in Ekiti aBiodun nejo AdO Ekiti
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takeholders, including the Ewi of Ado Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adejugbe, and the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, have advocated designation of grazing routes and reserves in Ekiti State to serve as permanent solution to incessant clashes between farmers and cattle rearers in the state. In the immediate, they recommended a ban on grazing of cow herds from 6pm to 6am in the state and the setting up of committees of farmers, cattle rearers, security agencies, representatives of traditional rulers and representatives of local government areas at community, council and state
levels. They spoke at the Ewi’s palace in Ado Ekiti during a parley organised to settle the persistent conflicts over alleged grazing rights and destruction of farms by cattle herds. The parley was attended by a delegation of the state government, led by the Commissioner for Agriculture, Hon. Kehinde Odebunmi; members of the Ewi-in-Council; representatives of the Sultan of Sokoto and national leadership of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, MACBAN, led by its national president, Alhaji Muhammadu Kirwa Hardon Zuru; representatives of security agencies, farmers’ groups and leaders of cattle rearers in the state. Other recommenda-
tions at the meeting include the establishment of local vigilante groups, comprising natives and Fulani cattle rearers that would be closely monitored by the security agencies; generation of a comprehensive census of cattle owners in the state; and decentralisation of the leadership of the cattle rearers in the state to comprise an Ardo/Seriki Fulani in each senatorial district in the state with a new head at the state level that would be responsible to the national body. The stakeholders stressed the need to reposition the leadership of MACBAN for effective control of herdsmen in the state. They praised the state government for its efforts at maintaining peace in the state by curbing the
ugly trend as well commended the Ewi and Sultan for their fatherly role on the issue. The stakeholders, who said the patience, understanding and resilience of the farmers’ groups in the state are laudable, added that the security agencies also lived up to their responsibilities. Commissioner for Agriculture, Hon. Odebunmi, expressed gratitude to the traditional rulers and other stakeholders for their efforts at averting what may otherwise have resulted in a vast ethnic and religious crisis. Odebunmi assured that the state government would not relent in its efforts at ensuring peaceful coexistence among the people without bias to their tribes and religion.
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net
South West
Monday, January 4, 2016`
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Why APC is yet to fulfill promises –Ondo Rep OjO Oyewamide Akure
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member of the House of Representatives, Kolawole Babatunde, from Ondo State, has blamed the delay in fulfilling promises made by the All Progressives Congress, APC, during the last general elections on the 2015 budget. Babatunde, who represents Akoko South East/ Akoko South West federal constituency of Ondo
State, noted that President Muhammadu Buhari could not begin to actualise his dream of a better Nigeria immediately he mounted the saddle of leadership because he inherited visionless budget. He urged Nigerians to be patient with the Federal Government, assuring that the APC would fulfill all promises it made during the last general election. Describing 2016 budget as a budget of optimism, he commended the presi-
dent for stating that about N2 trillion would be borrowed to finance the budget. The lawmaker, who spoke at the weekend in Akure, Ondo State capital, said there was nothing wrong in borrowing to finance the budget, adding that only a nation that did not want to develop could do without borrowing. He said: “The 2015 budget could be said not to have impacted on the lives
of Nigerians at all. In the first instance, the capital component (N557 billion) which was 16 percent of the budget was too small to be effective. Yet, of this amount, less than N200 billion was released. “While the recurrent component of the 2015 budget performed in most cases up to over 70 percent, the aspect that would have brought succor to the Nigerian people performed less than 40 per-
cent. Again, there were so many revenue leakages and budget abuses. “For me, the 2016 budget is a budget of optimism. For the first time, the country is having a budget that is not only highest in terms of estimates with N6.08 trillion, but also it is the most people-oriented in the last few years. “In the 2016 budget, the ratio of capital expenditure is 32.37 percent as opposed to 2015 where we
had only 16 percent for capital expenditure. It is the capital projects that benefit the ordinary people more. “Also in the budget are special intervention programmes like the Home Grown School Feeding Programme, the Post NYSC Entrepreneurial Development Programme and also the Micro Credit Loans for SMEs which is meant to benefit the market women the more.”
Invest at home, monarch, Babalola charge Ekiti indigenes abiOdun nejO
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wi of Ado Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adejugbe, and founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD), Aare Afe Babalola, have urged indigenes of Ekiti State to come and invest in the state to harness its vast endowments. They said such investments in the state would better the lots of the people, government, as well as solve the problem of youth unemployment. Oba Adejugbe and Aare Babalola spoke respectively in the Ewi’s Palace and at ABUAD in the state capital, while hosting industrialist and Chairman of Prosperous Group of Companies, owners of Prosperous Hotels and Resorts, Ado Ekiti, Chief Abiodun Isinkaiye, who visited them. They lauded the indus-
trialist for his investments in Ekiti State, which they said had added value to the state and its people, saying his recorded success should encourage others. The monarch hinged his call on Ekiti people to come home to invest on the need to harness the vast opportunities in the state for its development, saying: “Nobody will develop this place for us if we don’t. So our people have to come here to invest. “There are lots of opportunities here that people should tap into. There are avenues for partnership with the state government. There are tourism potentials in the state. We have Ikogosi Warm Springs Resorts and the Iwaraja. Our land is fertile for agriculture and Ekiti can produce the food that can feed the nation”.
L-R: Former Osun State Commissioner for Regional Integration and Special Duties, Hon. Ajibola Bashir; Governor Rauf Aregbesola and Chief Imam of Afonta Central Mosque, Sheik Wahab Baani Afonta, after Aregbesola’s special prayer for Osun State and the Nation’s prosperity during New Year prayer, at Afonta Central Mosque, Osogbo.
‘NDLEA nabbed 577 drug suspects in 2015’ Olusegun KOiKi
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ational Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has disclosed that it arrested 577 drug peddlers at two points in Lagos
State, including the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja, Lagos, in 2015. The agency revealed that 438 drug suspects were arrested by its Lagos command between January and November 2015, while its Airport
Social Insurance: Ogun threatens to sanction okada, keke operators Femi OyewesO AbeokutA
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gun State government has threatened to sanction any motorcycle and tricycle operator who fails to key into the Federal Government’s Social Insurance Law being domesticated in the state. Towards this end, however, the state government has directed all motorcycle and tricycle riders operating in the state to comply with provisions of the Federal Gov-
ernment’s Social Insurance Law in the state or move out of the business of transportation in the state. Director of Bureau of Transportation, BOT, Taofeek Oduwaye, gave the directive in Abeokuta, the state capital, while speaking at a one day seminar organised for tricycle and motorcycle operators on implementation of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund - Employee Compensation Scheme (NSITFECS) Act. Addressing the over 1,000 tricycle and motorcycle op-
erators, who participated at the seminar, Oduwaye said the scheme, which required each operator to obtain a N100 daily tickets, is the lowest premium payable under the Social Security Practice Law required by the International Labour Organisation, ILO, for both formal and informal sector. He explained that the NSITF-ECS Act was meant to provide speedy and adequate compensation for any operator or its employee who suffers injury or disease in the course of his operation.
The BOT director also explained that the scheme would give passengers and passers-bye a good support at accident situation. Aside from funding relevant welfare schemes for the operators through their N100 daily ticket, Oduwaye further stated that the insurance scheme would go a long way at contributing to growing the economy of the state in the area of the Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, is such a way that the state can attribute her stewardship glory to the riders association.
Command apprehended 139 suspects within same period. Lagos State Commander of NDLEA, Alhaji Aliyu Sule, disclosed this in an interview in his office in Lagos at the weekend. Sule in his breakdown of NDLEA activities in 2015 disclosed that a total of 7,315 kilo grams (over 7 tonnes) of various drugs were seized during the period. He explained that cannabis took the highest portion of seized illegal drugs with 7,313.06 kilograms, heroine, 413.5 kilograms. Sule, however, hinted that there was a drop in the number of arrest made in 2015 when compared to the previous years, adding that the command was becoming more proactive in cubing illegal transaction of drugs. He recalled that the command between 2011 and 2012 made a seizure of drugs of between 10 tonnes and 8 tonnes re-
spectively compared to the 7 tonnes in 2015. He declared that the command had continued to swoop on drugs suspects’ hideout and mount road blocks on the highways to arrest suspects, stressing that this was responsible for the decline in the illicit business. He appealed to Nigerians to cooperate with NDLEA as the war against drug trafficking was a collective responsibility. He however, bemoaned the various attacks on his men while carrying out their duties and appealed to well-meaning Nigerians, corporate bodies and governments at all levels to come to assist the agency in the provision of logistics, which would make their jobs more effectively. Meanwhile, the Murtala Muhammed Airport Command of the NDLEA said it also arrested 139 drug traffickers at the airport in the period under review.
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South East
Monday, January 4, 2015
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net
Okorocha to focus on youths to tackle crimes Chris Njoku OWERRI
I
mo State Governor Rochas Okorocha yesterday said his administration would pay particular attention to youths in the state this year, especially in the area of employment and empowerment. He added that the interest of youths must be placed above that of others. Governor Okorocha made the remark during the dedication of his grandson, Master Jidenna Anthony Anwuka, yesterday at Saint Joseph Catholic Chaplaincy, Imo State University, Owerri. He stressed that engaging the youths gainfully would check crimes like kidnapping, fraud, armed robbery and so on. According to Governor Okorocha, the “factory, factory and job, job” crusade and the young millionaires club initiative of his administration were all targeted at getting the youths meaningfully engaged in the overall interest of the society, adding that his government would take
some radical steps this year to make this lofty dream for the youths a reality. Minister of State for Education, Prof. Anthony Anwuka, in his short speech at the service said, both the government at the centre and the one in the state all meant well for the citizenry and asked for prayers for both. He stated that it is the wish of God that his son married the governor’s daughter, and that the marriage is now blessed with a baby boy. Earlier, the officiating minister, Rev. Father (Prof.) Jerome Okonkwo, had urged every Christians to reconcile with God in the spirit of the New Year, adding that the celebrations that go with entry into the New Year should reflect in our lives as children of God. He said any New Year resolution that does not include reconciliation with God in whatever way we had fallen short of his glory leaves much to be desired, urging the parents of the new baby to bring him up with the fear of God.
Police nab pipeline vandal suspect, recover truck, others in Enugu
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igeria Police yesterday arrested a pipeline vandal suspect and seized a petrol tanker conveying 13,800 litres of diesel in Aninri Local Government Area of Enugu State. Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu, told the News Agency of Nigeria in Enugu that the suspect was arrested after a tip-off. According to him, the police also recovered pipeline drilling equipment, two pumping machines, pipeline sealants, a generating set and some spanners. “The suspect alongside others, now at large, had allegedly stormed the Umurah Ndeaboh bush on December 31 at about 12 midnight in Aninri Local Government Area with their pipeline drilling equipment. “With a Leyland 13,800-litre truck marked XF 312 PHC at a very long distance outside the vandalised
area, they started siphoning the product (diesel) before police operatives, acting on a tip-off, closed in on them.`` He said the police are on the trail of other suspects who escaped and assured that all those involved would be prosecuted.
L-R: Parish Priest, St. Aloysuis Catholic Church Abajah, Imo State, Rev Fr Anthony Onuoha; Catholic Bishop of Orlu Diocese, Most Rev Augustine Ukwuoma; Chief Charles Onuoha; his wife, Nkeiru, and mother of Chief Charles, Mrs Justina Onuoha, after the unveiling of 28 feet statue of Jesus Christ constructed by Onuoha at St. Aloysuis Catholic Church, Abajah, Imo State, on Friday.
Recover funds looted by previous govt, APC tells Ugwuanyi EmmaNuEl EzEh ENUGU
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ll Progressives Congress, APC, in Enugu State, has called on Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi to recover all funds allegedly looted by previous administration in the state. The party described the 2016 budget proposal of the governor as prone to excessive taxation. In a statement yesterday, Enugu State publicity secretary of the APC, Mrs. Kate Offor, noted that rather than recover funds stolen under the administration of his predecessor, Sullivan Chime, Governor Ugwuanyi tends to embark on excessive taxa-
tion of poor indigenes and residents of the state to fund the budget. The statement reads in part: “In reviewing the 2016 Budget Estimate presented to the Enugu State House of Assembly by His Excellency, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, tagged ‘Budget of Stability and Consolidation,’ the APC, Enugu State chapter, through its state publicity secretary, Mrs. Kate Ofor, states: After a cursory glance, we wish for the meantime to challenge our dear governor on why, instead of recovering looted funds, he is poised to embark on excessive taxation of the poor indigenes and residents of Enugu State, as underlined in his budget address. He wants
to raise N18,882,415,000 via taxation instead of making strident efforts to recover billions of naira allegedly stolen by Barrister Sullivan Chime's regime. "To us, recovery of looted funds is the best strategy to raise funds to augment the dwindling oil revenue and not excessive taxation which will impoverish the people of Enugu State. “Whereas, we applaud his profound inaugural address in which he said: ‘I recommit myself to employment generation, enhanced social services and good governance, rural development and indeed, security and justice', however, Enugu State chapter of the APC is at a loss that in the five-point
Imo civil servants miss salary arrears …celebrate low key holidays Chris Njoku OWERRI
I
mo State civil servants spent the Christmas and New Year holidays dejected as their salary arrears were not paid them. Efforts to cash the salary cheques given them by the state government proved abortive. Investigation revealed that the workers, particularly local government staff in the 27 council areas, who rushed to their offices to collect their salaries, went
home disappointed as they could not cash the money in the bank. It was learnt that the workers were asked to report to their offices to collect their salaries on December 27, but were disappointed as they were only issued cheques. Some of the workers, who spoke with National Mirror under anonymity, expressed sadness that they celebrated the festival period in low key because their salary arrears were not paid as government had promised. “It was only on December
27, 2015 that we were asked to report to our offices to collect our cheques; we rushed to the bank but could not cash them. We hope it will clear on Tuesday when the banks resume work,” they stated. It was also gathered that state government, while issuing the workers cheques, insisted that they fill an acknowledgement and endorsement form before collecting their salary cheques for the months owed by the state government. However, the workers who expressed misgiving
over the directive by the office of the Head of Service, mandating them to fill the form said they were not happy the way government is handling the payment of their salaries. But addressing workers on the matter before they went on holiday, the Head of Service, Mr. Callistus Ekenze, explained that the form under reference has nothing to do with retrenchment or victimisation of workers in the state but an administrative policy by the state government.
strategies listed by his Excellency on how to implement the 2016 budget, no mention was made of the recovery of looted funds.” The party noted that "rather than convoke a highpowered judicial panel of inquiry to recover billions of naira siphoned by the Chime administration and meant to educate our children, what we got from our dear governor is kid glove treatment he dished out in his budget address where he set up an administrative committee headed by the Deputy Governor, Mrs. Cecilia Ezeilo, to look into the issue of ENSUBEB projects in primary schools and related matters.” The state APC spokesperson maintained that the recovery of looted funds is the best way to raise funds to augment the dwindling oil revenue accruing to the state from the Federation Account and not excessive taxation of the people, adding that excessive taxation is counterproductive and paradoxical to the laudable projections in the budget. The APC went further to doubt the sincerity of Governor Ugwuanyi to provide quality service and critical infrastructure for the good people of Enugu State, when he tends to cover the track of Chime and fund some white elephant projects abandoned by the regime such as the new ultra-modern state secretariat complex and the new governor's office.
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net
News
Monday, January 4, 2015
11
N924m loan: Court freezes Nwankwo Kanu's account GbenGa OGunbufunmi
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n an attempt to recover a debt of N924, 788,754.56, a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos and presided over by Justice Okon Abang, has ordered that all bank accounts belonging to former Super Eagles Captain, Nwankwo Kanu, and his company, The Hardley Apartments, in any bank or financial institutions in Nigeria be frozen. This action is taken pending hearing of a suit instituted against him and his company by the Asset Management Corporation of Ni-
geria, AMCON. Also affected by the court’s order is one of the directors of The Hardley Apartment, Ayoola GamIkon. The court order was sequel to a debt recovery suit filed by AMCON against the defendants. In an affidavit sworn to by a Credit Officer in AMCON, Mr Victor Igabor, filed and argued by Barrister Niyi Olopade, the deponent averred that sometime between May 2008 and January 10, 2011, Skye Bank Plc offered The Hardley Apartments, engaged in the business of hospitality and located at Plot 46, Waziri
Ibrahim Crescent, Victoria Island, Lagos, a credit facility of N520,457, 000.00 AMCON averred that the loan was secured by a mortgage on the company's three blocks of 40 units’ accommodation, valued about N395million as well as unconditional personal, joint and several guarantee of Ayoola Gam-Ikon as well as Nwankwo Kanu. The plaintiff, (AMCON), also averred that at the expiration of the tenor of the credit facility, the defendants failed to repay the loan with the accrued interest despite repeated demands, consequent upon which Skye Bank Plc assigned the defen-
dants indebtedness in the sum of N558,313,905.37k as at 1st April, 2011 to the AMCON as a toxic bank asset in line with the establishment objective of AMCON. AMCON further averred that the action of the bank was subsequently communicated to Kanu and his company, adding that the while defendants admitted their indebtedness, they, however, pleaded that the assignment of the indebtedness to AMCON be revoked. The Plaintiff said the defendants' indebtedness as at the October 15, 2015 stood at N924, 788, 754.56k representing principal and interest, while interest is still run-
ning. Consequently, AMCON averred that the assets of The Hardley Apartments are in the process of being dissipated and that if the application to freeze the account and the attachment of the company’s assets are not granted, Ayoola Gam-Ikon and Nawankwo Kanu could dissipate the entire assets of the company. The plaintiff therefore prayed the court to grant an interim order of possession of all movable and immovable properties known as Plot 46 Waziri Ibrahim Crescent Victoria Island. Plaintiff also seeks for
an order freezing all accounts belonging to the defendants jointly and severally in any bank or financial institutions in Nigeria. Presiding judge, Justice Okon Abang, while ruling on the application, ordered that AMCON shall in the interim possess all the movable and immovable properties known as plot 46 Waziri Ibrahim Crescent Victoria Island Lagos. The court also freezes all accounts belonging to the defendants jointly and severally anywhere and in any bank or financial institution in Nigeria, pending the hearing of this substantive suit.
Group advocates friendly police for effective policing
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L-R: Former Minister, Alaowei Broderick Bozimo; celebrant, Hon. Justice Roseline Bozimo; Chief Judge of Delta State, Hon. Justice Marshal Mukoro and Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, during 70th birthday thanksgiving service for Hon. Justice Roseline Bozimo, at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, Effurun, Delta State, recently.
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olicemen attached to Ajuwon Police Division in Ogun State have foiled a bunkering operation at Ishashi area of the state and recovered seven operational vehicles abandoned by suspected oil thieves. It was gathered that the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, in charge of Ajuwon, Mr. Agboye John, a Chief Superintendent of Police, CSP, got information that vandals were operating at Ishashi and he immediately mobilised Anti-Robbery team led by one Inspector Ogunsola Lekan to the area and on sighting the police, the vandals opened fire on them, while the police responded. The source said when the oil thieves could not withstand the fire power of the police they jumped into the river and escaped. The anti-robbery squad,
Police foil illegal bunkering operation, recover 7 vehicles however, recovered 30 kegs of 50 litres of petroleum products, seven cars used for the operation, including two Sienna Space bus, one Highlander SUV 3, Toyota Camry cars and three engine boats. When contacted the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Ajuwon Police Division, Mr. Agboye John, said he is not authorised to speak on the arrest. It was learnt that the case has been transferred to Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, Abeokuta for further investigation. Ogun State Police Image Maker, Mr. Muyiwa Odejobi, confirmed the incident and stated that the police are on the trail of the fleeing suspects as he warned crimi-
nals in the state to relocate or face the full wrath of the law. “Criminals in Ogun State and those intending to come
should relocate elsewhere because we are ready to fish them out anywhere they are. We have the capacity to do that,” Odejobi warns.
igilante Group of Nigeria, VGN, has called on the police to be friendly with people in communities where they operate so as to achieve effective community policing. Lagos Deputy Commander of the group, Mr Emmanuel Ayirise, said this to the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, on Sunday in Lagos. Ayirise said maintaining cordial relationship with the public would go a long way in solving insecurity within the neighbourhoods. The deputy commander described community policing as a noble idea in the country. “When you talk about community policing, you are talking about collaboration between the police and other security agencies, and community members in dealing with security issues. “When you talk about community policing, then the community members must be active participants
Aviation fuel: NCAA lifts sanction on Lubcon Sylva emeka-Okereke
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igerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, has lifted sanctions imposed on Lubcon from supplying aviation fuel to domestic as well as foreign airlines at the nation’s airports. In its letter to Lubcon signed by Director of Airworthiness Standards, Engr Benedict Adeyileka, on behalf of the Director General of NCAA, the NCAA said the sus-
pension was lifted as a result of certification of Lubcon’s aviation fuel supply facilities by the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, as well as the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA. The certification, according to the agency, was preceded by verification visits by top officials of the two regulatory agencies, where they found Lubcon facility satisfactory. Reacting on the development, the Group Executive Director, Lubcon Limited, Mr
Adesoji Fagbemi, said the certification of Lubcon’s aviation depot has resulted in its facility becoming one of the best in the industry, thus confirming the enviable standards maintained by Lubcon. He, however, commended the DPR and NCAA for their quality assurances. According to him, Lubcon has become a key player in the oil and gas sector through manufacturing, lifting, distribution and sales of petroleum as well as allied products.
in the process of curbing crime in their neighbourhood. “This is why community policing should be established on mutual understanding, friendliness and cooperation between the police and the people. “I urge the police to be friendly with the community members; have mutual understanding with them, with the aim of solving insecurity, ‘’he said. According to Ayirise, policing itself has to do with getting information. He said the police needed to be given adequate information to be able to know what was happening around the community. “There must be friendliness between the people and the police for them to offer the needed information,’’ he said. Ayirise called on the Federal Government to also engage the group in community policing to effectively curb activities of criminals. “The people are the ones who know where the shoe pinches; they know the terrain, topography and the demography of their environment, as well as the entire community. “This is why we always say that the VGN offers the country the best and possible way of solving insecurity. “We call on the government to engage us so that we can complement the efforts of the police to boost effective community policing,’’ he said.
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North
Monday, January 4, 2016
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net
‘Unemployment crashing Nigerians’ marriages’
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cross section of Nigerians have decried the alarming rate of break-up of marriages in the society as shown in divorce cases in customary courts. The stakeholders, who spoke to News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, in separate interviews, expressed sadness over the development, noting that the Nigerian family system was fast degenerating into fragmented society. Investigation by NAN at two customary courts in Mapo, Ibadan, Oyo State, revealed that between January 2014 and December 2015, no fewer than 500 divorce suits were filed out of which 468 of the marriages were dissolved. Speaking on the development, Chief Ademola Odunade, Presiding President of one of the customary courts, identified high rate of unemployment in the country among factors responsible for broken homes. He explained that most of the divorce cases in the courts were as a result of the inability of the man, the head of the family, to cater for his wife and children. The judge advised that spouse should always learn to revert to the old practice of using intermediary who could easily mediate when marital crises arose rather than seeking dissolution of their union in court. Another Ibadan based customary court president and a community leader, Mr Henric Agbaje, said that fading culture of payment of bride price and dowry was responsible for collapse in marriages. Agbaje explained that though men at that time had many wives because of the nature of their occupation (farming), they still cohabited peacefully and displayed sincerity and tolerance. The jurist identified disintegration of cultural and family values occasioned by modern trends as among the factors for the high rate of divorce. In her contribution, Miss Toibat Oladele, a divorcee, noted that investigating one’s spouse thoroughly during courtship was imperative to a successful marriage. Another divorcee, a banker, who identified herself simply as Morayo, said that her marriage lasted for just 18 months when she quitted. Some other divorcees who spoke on condition of anonymity identified infidelity, irresponsibility, neg-
ligence, distrust and sexual starvation among the reasons for the break in their marriages. Mr Mojeed Adeleke, a regular observer of divorce cases at Mapo Customary Courts, said that old spouses who were supposed to be good examples to newly married ones were not doing any better, judging from cases in the courts. Adeleke frowned at the high rate of divorce cases involving couples in their late 60s and 70s. He noted that in most cases, the unions had reached four to five decades with their children already grown up and even married. Professor Adeniyi Olatunbosun, the Dean of Faculty of Law, University of Ibadan, said the high rate of marriage dissolutions arose from social problems such as bad economy and intolerable attitudes. He said government should address the challenge of high rate of unemployment in the society to reduce divorce and encourage blissful marriages. Professor Julius Ademokoya, also of the University of Ibadan, said that cultural, attitudinal and lack of proper understanding of what marriage is all about contributed to the high rate of marriage break up in the society. Ademokoya, a rehabilitation counsellor, advised would-be couples to always understudy themselves properly and iron out all issues before embarking on the lifelong journey called marriage. Mr Kolawole Oyerinde, an Ibadan based lawyer, said s that at least five divorce cases were filed daily at the Oyo State High Court. Another expert, Professor Oka Obono, Director, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, CEPACS, University of Ibadan, explained that the context of modern industrial society was largely responsible for setbacks in marriages. Obono said many marriages crumbled owing to constant mobility occasioned by transfer at work which created disharmony among couples. The sociologist counseled that couples should imbibe the culture of patience and moral accountability. Mr Dotun Odebode, an Ibadan based pastor, blamed the rising divorce cases on the refusal of couples to allow God to decide for them through fervent prayers.
L-R: Rev.Ayuba Sokshak; Rev,J Olorunfemi; Cathedral Provost, Very Revd. Samuel Nwaeze; Bishop of Kaduna Anglican Diocese, Rt. Revd Timothy Yahaya, after New Year service at Cathedral of St. Michael, Kaduna, yesterday.
Anti-graft war: Mixed reactions trail FG’s objection to plea bargain
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awyers in FCT on Sunday expressed mixed feelings over Federal Government’s decision not to consider plea bargain being contemplated by treasury looters and their cronies. News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, recalled that the Attorney General of the Federation, Mallam Abubakar Malami, had declared that the Federal Government was more interested in recovering all public funds stolen and stashed away by top politicians and their cronies under the guise of arms purchase. The government said such plea bargain only allowed looters to get away with stolen public assets. Speaking with NAN in Abuja, a lawyer, Mr Silas Onu, said that government’s stand was in order because plea bargain was unconstitutional. “Plea bargain is not in Nigerian laws and so the refusal of government to subscribe to it is not misplaced; government is only strictly following the laws.
“If you remember, former Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Dahiru Musdapher, spoke about the illegality of plea bargain. “EFCC just invented a legal proceeding that is not known to our laws; and the way we even apply it in Nigeria is not as it should be. “Plea bargain has been used in Nigeria as pardon for criminality; but plea bargain shouldn’t be like that. “It should be as is operated in America, where it should only earn you a reduction in punishment; it shouldn’t set you free,” Onu said. Mrs Uche Asiobi, another lawyer, who holds a different opinion, stated that plea-bargain should be considered if it will be to the benefit of the members of the public. “I think sometimes you have to lose something to win something. “I agree that it is hard, particularly when you are thinking of the economy and what has happened. “You will think that
these people should pay the full penalty, but if you take that angle, you might not get the full justice you require. “So, if you realise that you will gain more through plea-bargain, it is better to apply it and recover more funds. “Remember that even with plea-bargain the reputation of these people are already tarnished. “So, plea-bargain should be used if the generality of the public will benefit from it instead of just one individual pocketing the loot,’’ Asiobi said. Another lawyer, Ms Grace Ehusani, thinks that though the Federal Government would prefer to uphold justice, applying plea-bargain would encourage more treasury looters to confess. “When you provide an opportunity for people to confess and admit to their crimes knowing that because they confessed, the punishment will be lighter, they will be more willing to come to an agreement with
Kaduna signs budget implementation warrants A zA Msue Kaduna
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aduna State Commissioner for Finance, Suleiman Abdu Kwari, has signed implementation warrants of the 2016 state budget. According to Kwari, this was the first time in so many years that the budget process will be concluded and implementation of the budget starting on the January 12, 2016. He said the signed budget warrant showed that the first general warrant
for recurrent expenditure for the MDAs amount to N53,174,604,704. Kwari added that the second segment of the warrant expenditure was statutory expenditure, which will cover personnel payments of statutory for the governor, deputy governor, judiciary, civil service and local government service. “The overhead cost component of statutory payment which include pension and gratuity, public and charges, 10 percent statutory allocation to local governments falls under the fi-
nance warrant and amounts to N108,875,367,538” The third warrant is capital development for capital expenditure over N108,272 676,649.57 which is finance warrant 9 is to cover total allocation to each sector, agriculture, education and general administration” Kwari noted that even though the house had passed the law and has been assented, the public finance share management law still demands that the three warrants be signed for the implementation of the 2016 budget.
the government,’’ she said. NAN reports that the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, and several others are currently being investigated and are facing prosecution over alleged diversion of $2.1 billion meant for the purchase of arms.
Maku wants immunity clause removed from constitution
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ormer Information Minister, Labaran Maku, on Sunday called for the removal of immunity clause for elected executive officers from the country’s constitution. Maku, a gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, in Nasarawa State in 2015 governorship election, made the call while fielding questions from newsmen in Wakama, Akun Development Area of the state. He said the removal of immunity clause would help tackle corruption and ensure good governance. He specifically advocated for the removal of the clause that protects the president, governors and local government council chairmen from facing prosecution in breaches committed while in office. He said immunity clause had created an umbrella for some state governors to tamper with their state resources, thereby leading to underdevelopment at the grassroots. The former minister also advised Nigerians to pray for better things in the New Year as well as pray for permanent peace to reign in the country.
Monday, January 4, 2016
Oyo people, my greatest assets –Minister Kemi olaitaN IBADAN
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inister of Communications, Barrister AbdurRaheem Adebayo Shittu, has described his teeming supporters in particular, indigenes and residents of Oyo State in general, as his greatest assets. The minister while reflecting on the quality support which he said he had enjoyed from his supporters and the good people of Oyo State over the years, and in particular the momentous events of the Year 2015, stated that he had come to realise the full import of the masses support for him and all he stands for. He said, “I owe everything I’m today to Almighty Allah, President Muhammadu Buhari, my supporters and the masses of our people in Oyo State”. Shittu, in a statement yesterday by his Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Victor Oluwadamilare, added that “As we celebrate the New Year, I appealed to all our supporters, Oyo State indigenes and residents in
general to continue to rally support for President Muhammadu Buhari and Governor Abiola Ajimobi’s governments, so as to ensure the success of the ongoing transformation. “Since nothing could be achieved in a state of chaos and instability, I urged all our people to embrace peace and live in harmony irrespective of our cultural, religious and tribal differences. We could only make remarkable progress as a people when we are united”. While wishing the people, a prosperous new year, he urged them to be law abiding and fulfil all their civic responsibilities toward the state and the Federal governments, so as to make the dividends of democracy spread to all concerned. Meanwhile, the Minister has assured Nigerians that the Ministry of Communications under his leadership will ensure synergy in the communication sector so as to give room for Nigerians to take full advantage of the potentials in the industry.
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net
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Politics
APC won’t let Nigerians down –Igbokwe ayo esaN
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he Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC has said that despite the bleak global economic prospects, they will be reached by the change programmes of the party. In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Joe Igbokwe, it assured that the party freely voted into power by millions of Nigerians was prepared to tackle the nation’s economic woes in the New Year. The party said it has
launched a rescue mission with the introduction of unprecedented economic recovery policies, despite the farcical wreckage the government inherited and the tumbling crude oil prices at the international market. The statement reads: By the end of 2016, Nigerians will have cause to applaud the right political choice they made in 2015 as the country painstakingly saved from imminent collapse by the coming of the APC government. “We wish the good people of Lagos a prosperous and more fulfilling new
year, as we look eagerly to more fruitful governance in Lagos as the present government in the state continues the rapid development of the state despite hitting economic realities. “We want to assure Lagosians that the state will get better as the APC government adds immensely to the rich culture of good and accountable, resultoriented governance Lagosians have immensely benefitted from since 1998. “We want to reassure the people that the state will continue to witness tremendous growth and progress as it positions to
drive Nigeria’s recovery from the past of corrupt dependence on oil. “We want to assure Lagosians that the state will witness massive infrastructural development, huge job creation, great boosts in security and enormous investments as the present state government continues to aggressively pursue the goals of a huge mega-city where millions of Nigerians continue to fall back for succor following the global economic downturn and the immoral mismanagement of the country by the past PDP federal government.
Bayelsa guber re-run: Sylva, Dickson visit Olumba RichaRd Ndoma CALABAR
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n their bid to emerge victorious at this weekend re-scheduled governorship election in Bayelsa State, the two major candidates in the election, former-Governor Timipre Sylva of the All Progressive Congress, APC and Governor Seriake Dickson of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP had taken their electoral campaigns from their state to Calabar, capital of Cross River State to seek for help in the spiritual realm from Leader Olumba Olumba Obu. A reliable source at the World Headquarters of the Brotherhood of the Cross And Star
Ambo Calabar, Cross River state told National Mirror that Sylva has already met with Leader Obu to solicits for spiritual assistance to enable him triumph in the rerun polls. National Mirror learnt that Sylva has assured Obu of undisclosed appreciation, especially as the religious leader was embarking on building what is described as outof-this-world Bassilicca, also known as ‘Olumba Supreme Temple’. Seriake Dickson on his part, though had been baptized in the spiritual movement long ago, was reported to have earlier sent a team to Obu to also seek for spiritual help.
L-R: Senator Ibrahim Mantu; son to the late Prince Abubakar Audu, Mohammed Audu, and Hon. James Abiodun Faleke, during the 40th day prayer for late Audu Abubakar at his country home, Ogbonicha in Ofu Local Government Area of Kogi State, yesterday.
ezeKiel titus BAUCHI
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he First Lady of Bauchi State, Hajia Hadiza Abubakar has presented a special gift to the first baby- girl born in the state in 2016 and other women. The baby was born at 3.45am on 1st of January 2016 at Specialist Hospital Bauchi by Zuwaira Adamu who has promised to name the baby after the First Lady. The baby who weighed 2.6kg will now be known as Hadiza Adamu accord-
Bauchi First Lady presents gift to first baby of the year, other women ing to Zuwaira who was overwhelmed by the visit of the Governor’s wife as well as the gift presented to her and the baby. Zuwaira said “ I am so happy and appreciate the honour bestow on me and my baby by the First Lady because this is the first time we are experiencing such gesture and I pray that God will bless the First Lady and his family. “We shall name the baby, Hadiza so that my
family will forever remember and appreciate the love she showed to us. I will forever remember January 1, 2016 which was the day I had opportunity to meet with the governor’s wife and interact with her because I have never had such opportunity in my life”, she said. Presenting the gifts to the baby as well as other women at the female ward at Specialist Hospital Bauchi, Hajia Abubbakar said
she was in the hospital to congratulate and rejoice with them as well as to wish them happy new year. The Governor’s wife said her visit was a way of complementing the present administration’s effort in alleviating the suffering of women in the state. She thereby reiterated the determination of the state government to provide quality healthcare for the citizens especially mothers and children.
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Politics
What prompted all the assistance you are rendering especially to the people at the grassroot in your constituency? One important issue is the promise I made during the political campaigns. I was part of the old PDP government and we couldn’t deliver on our promises which led to a breakaway at the inception of the second tenure of the PDP administration in Bauchi State. And that compelled me to start re-strategizing on how to change the situation and I succeeded at least in my constituency, the Misau/Dambam Federal Constituency. So the bottomline is to do all you can to ensure that you meet the expectation of your own people. It is not possible actually to say you are going to meet the whole expectation of your people and that you are going to have a kind of a grand achievement of everything that you promised you are going to do. But at least at this moment, I have seen the possibility of enhancing the standard of lives of the people by investing on their little trades and profession; those that are selling beans, those that are selling Suya, those that are selling beans cake and so on and so forth. This is a direct access to the people. You are accessible to them and they are accessible to you. And what you give out is a token, but it has very strong influence on their economic livelihood. Essentially seeing the unfulfilled promises of the PDP, one is sad but it is more proper at this moment to take a new stand and implement what you think will improve the standard of living of the people.
Monday, January 4, 2016
Buhari needs time to fix Nigerian economy –Yerima Hon. Ahmed Yerima is representing Misau/Danbam Federal Constituency of Bauchi State in the House of Representatives. He recently had an interview with selected journalists during which he stated his determination to ensure jobs creation and explained why he doles out N25 million to traders in his constituency among other issues. EZEKIEL TITUS brings excerpts. school, so I also give out those monies to help out in those sectors. So the problems are multiple, if the local authorities couldn’t stand to their responsibilities we are bound to continue to confront those problems and not be able to do anything except when the state enters into the whole process by improving the lives of their own people taking their full esponsibilities like building infrastructure and ensuring that schools are well equipped and the instruments are available helping people to help themselves through some vocational training. So I am sure I will be able to at least give my own contribution to the people of Misau/Dambam and Nigeria in general to see that there is real change coming up.
You are to spend four years in the House of Representatives, how much will you impact on your constituents? I don’t think I can tell you the exact amount that is set aside to assist my constituents in the next four years. I’m in the National Assembly so that I can do those kinds of things I am doing for my people. I have my own ways of getting resources and so I will use my little resource God has blessed me with and assist the people. So I hope in the next four years I would be able to invest on them, enhance their profession and whole of that, paying the children tuition fees, registration for the JAMB, registration of schools and all that. So with the little token, I will be able to chip in and give out something that would have a stronger influence on their lives. Essentially, that’s what I’m doing and I do believe in the next couple of years I will succeed, have an influence on their lives, improve their lives and at the same time do what I can do to assist them. You voted N25 million to assist the traders in your constituency , in view of the economic crunch in the country, do you think this is sufficient to address their problems. I worked for 28 years or 27 years outside this country and I’m a pensionable person, though I retired before pension age; but still, I will be covered by those social security from those places I worked. So far, the responsibilities of the state and local government is to invest on the people by building the infrastructure, by creating the environment where the people will be able to survive by bringing up some projects that people will be engaged in . Government alone cannot do the jobs, what government can do is to create the environment so that people can independently benefit for themselves and family and through that you will become self employed. We are not giving out money to solve problem, but we are giving out money to help people to help themselves. We have identified the profession of those people, about ten different trades and somebody has the capital of five thousand naira and maybe you give him N10,000 to N15,000 that will take him a long way to improve his profession and have more customers and may be employ another person; and also improve on the state of his family. Essentially that is why I found myself giving out my personal money to improve the lives of the people. What other areas do you think the people of Dambam/ Misau still need assistance?
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Yerima
We are
not giving out
money to solve problem, but We are giving out money to help people to help themselves The problem is that state and local governments share the responsibilities of ensuring that their clinics are functional, the police stations are functional, the hospitals, the water system and sanitation and all that function effectively. Therefore from time to time people come from the two local governments that makes up my constituency complaining about boreholes not working for the last six months, some for the last eight years and what I do is to set some amounts aside and assess the problems and see how I can improve them and help them. Sometime just five thousand naira would help restored the borehole, sometime twenty thousand naira, sometimes hundred thousand, sometime even two hundred thousand naira. And it is not that difficult if you can have just one million naira in a month just set aside for these kind of things. Secondly, some come with different kind of problems that they couldn’t afford three thousand naira to register for their kids in
President Muhammadu Buhari recently come out to apologise to the people expressing dismay over the economic situation in the country . What is your reaction? I am not the spokesperson of President Buhari, but I believe to rectify the damage on the economy of this country, it will take you quite a number of years. It is just like somebody you know driving a car and he had an accident, the first aid is to take him to the hospital for him to stop some bleeding, then the treatment follows. The naira is devaluating itself by market forces, the interest rate is skyrocketing because there is no regulatory mechanism of interest rate as far as people don’t have money, they don’t have savings. And no infrastructural development is going on, unemployment is high; so you end up with bottom economy. What I mean by bottom is underlined, it’s lower than anything in the history of this country when Nigeria earn some big money some few years back and now it is virtually at the edge of bankruptcy, financially. Buhari has to take everything speedily step by step by analysing the current trend of the world economy, by analyzing the current situation in the country and by also taking the calls of the people. And you collapse these by taking the mode and strategy of solving some of those problems. He has no magic on how to solve the problem of Nigerians because the problems are created by political elite through the previous government and by the people of Nigeria themselves, inflicting all the pains we are suffering today. So I will not blame Buhari for being slow on this, and Nigerians must understand that they have a crisis and the crisis is beyond even the economy. This country is facing a serious moral crisis. See the religious crisis that is going on all over the country most especially in the northern part of this country. These are self-inflicted problems. Look at the Boko Haram menace and so on and so forth. What is your take on the $2.1bn arms scandal? First , we know where our monies are, we know those that are responsible and they are in the court of law, so allow the judiciary to work effectively and efficiently dealing with those issues . The outcome of this at the same time will serve as deterrence to other Nigerian leaders that might find themselves at position of power and end up swindling the public. So with the proper steps, I’m sure the Nigerian public will come to grip with the realities. That is why I said there is moral crisis in this country, we were hailing those people that swindle the public treasury some few months back.
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Monday, January 4, 2016
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Help NASS, our children have malaria! BOB MAJIRIOGHENE ETEMIKU
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few days ago, President Muhammadu Buhari presented the 2016 budget of N6trillion to the National Assembly. It was Mr. President’s first time, and he didn’t know that he had to bow to the duo of the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives; he later bow to the legislators. There were some senators who slept right through Mr. President’s presentation; but what made headlines was that there were certain broken seats in the hall, where Mr. President made his budget presentation. Why the National Assembly cannot fix broken seats in the chambers beat most of us, especially against the backdrop of a curious piece of information that the National Assembly had spent N4.2 billion out of the N227 billion it was allocated in 2015 for the purchase of brand new cars for its new members. Yes folks, that figure is correct, and I didn’t have to double check my facts because my source for that information was from Eze Onyekpere himself in his policy brief on the cost of governance. According to Onyekpere, the actual figure allocated to the National Assembly for 2015 by the RMARC is N120 billion, but if you add the cost of erecting the National Institute for Legislative Studies (N6 billion), the National Assembly Clinic (N1 billion), together with a lot of miscellaneous costs, the same runs true for the figure above. From Onyekpere’s document, it is clear that from year 2000, the budget of the Na-
tional Assembly increased from N29 billion to N227 billion in 2015. Now whether or not the National Assembly is deserving of such a budget in a Nigeria where the cost of living for the average Nigerian shoots up astronomically is something I refuse to comment on. Whether or not the National Assembly is deserving of such a budget in a Nigeria where human and physical development remains one of the lowest in Africa is for us all to talk about. But there are other issues which arise from having a National Assembly that has a budget of N227 billion, and from having only N221 billion allocated to the entire health ministry from the N6 trillion recently announced by Mr. President. Such issues arise from the realization that in the whole of West Africa, Nigeria is the one country where all the funds for Insecticide Treated Nets (ITNs) for children in primary and secondary schools are not from domestic funds but from international donations. From 2011 to 2013, countries like Cape Verde, Algeria, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire have collaborated with the World Health Organisation (WHO) to contribute something from their purses for anti-malarial treatment. South Africa does not receive any international contribution for antimalarial treatment for children. As a matter of fact, I know of a certain South African organization, which distributes an anti-malarial drug for children in Africa free of charge. Even though a lot of these donations and contributions may have certain unseen pecuniary gains attached to them, they underscore the fact that malaria is still a big issue in Nigeria,
I DO NOT SEE THE RATIONALE IN THE BOGUS ALLOWANCES THAT MEMBERS OF THE
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY… COLLECT and especially with children. World Malaria Report 2013 has it that over 300,000 children under the age of five die from malaria every year. If that info is correct, it means that every minute in Sub Saharan Africa, and Nigeria in particular, a child is likely to die from a disease as preventable as malaria. What is needed to prevent malaria from killing our children is money. We need money for insecticide treated nets. We need money for safe and clean neighbourhoods. Nigeria needs a lot of the monies that are lying fallow at the National Assembly. And at a time like this in Nigeria, when everybody is conscious of the fall in the price of oil and the Buhari administration is considering the application of zero-based budgeting for capital projects and recurrent expenditure, I do not see the rationale in the bogus allowances that members of the National Assembly, and indeed every office at the three arms of government collect. In theory and practice, a zero-based budget does not take into cognizance that you were once a beneficiary of a certain amount of money. What is gorgeous about the concept of zero-based budgeting is that it operates from a zero-baseline, and
ignores the fact that you once got N20 million because a certain statute says so. If you need that N20 million this year, then it behooves on the institution that wants to collect that amount of money to do a line by line analysis of what it actually needs that amount of money for. In the final analysis today, and in the face of the fact that a Nigerian child dies of malaria every minute, because there is no money to buy vaccines for children, can the National Assembly truly convince itself that it still needs furniture, vehicle maintenance, wardrobe, entertainment, recess and domestic staff allowances? The annual salary of a senator is just a little above N2 million; but it is the allowances for these parliamentarians that jack up the high bills. In his recommendations in the executive summary of National Assembly and the cost of governance, my oga Eze Onyekpere said that he would like for the legislators to be a full-time job whilst the bicameral federal legislature should be retained. I agree. The National Assembly is the arm of government that checks the executive. Without it our democracy would be armless. But because we would need a lot of the money being used to maintain our federal legislators for children dying of malaria and other diseases, I’d rather that participation and membership of the National Assembly be voluntary and unpaid for. The salaries they can keep but the allowances we need for malaria treatment for our children with malaria. Etemiku, communications manager, ANEEJ, wrote from Benin City via majirioghene@aneej.org
On relating with your million dollar mentor OLADELE OLUNIKE
MY EXPERIENCE IS THAT WHILE A NUMBER OF
Continued from last Monday
L
ast week we ended with the approach to formal meeting with our prospective mentor with emphasis on doing a formal letter to him/her. In the continuation for the piece follow this procedure: • In your letter refer to your last visit where you verbally sought a mentorship relationship with him or her. • Thank him or her for the audience granted you. • State the purpose of your seeking this relationship, which is for he or she to be your career or relationship or business or professional or ministry or destiny etc. mentor. • Commend and let him or her know you admire his or her enviable achievements (in personal and professional life-especially in the area you need him or her to mentor you) and you will like for him or her to give you the privilege to walk in his or her precepts which you’ve chosen to follow, so as to make the most of personal, career and business life. • Let he or she know how you hold him or her in high regard for his or her success and achievements which has endeared you to him or her. (no flatteries
PROTÉGÉS ARE CERTAIN ABOUT THEIR DESIRE TO BE MENTORED…THERE ARE ALARMINGLY A BUNCH OF MANY OTHERS WHO SEEK MENTORSHIP RELATIONSHIP FOR ALL OTHER MOTIVES BUT THE RIGHT ONES please). This is why you should have followed the track record of this personality well so as to be sure of what you are saying. • End your letter by pledging your unflinching commitment, dedication and loyalty to this relationship if given the privilege. This pledge is important because mentors will want to know those (protégés) who are serious with what they are asking for. In my 16 years (I started since 1999) of being a mentor to individuals and corporate organisations, I have seen them (protégés) come in different ‘shades’, ‘shapes’, ‘sizes’ and what have you, in character. My experience is that while a number of protégés are certain about
their desire to be mentored, armed with the right motives (which is to glean from the experience of those or someone who has made a mark in their chosen field, so as to be rightly guided) and are serious and committed to same if given the privilege, there are alarmingly a bunch of many others who seek mentorship relationship for all other motives but the right ones. I call them parasites in protégés’ togas. They are never serious, committed or dedicated to what they professed all because their motives were flawed from the onset. If your motive for requesting for mentorship relationship is wrong, it will soon be revealed by time. For example, some wrong motives that some of our youngsters these days have for seeking to be mentored are sadly warped, to say the least. Some seek mentorship with a particular mentor so as to earn the kind of attractive income the prospective mentor earns, drive the kind of luxury car(s) he or she drives, live in the kind of posh apartment the prospective mentor resides in, use the prospective mentor’s clout to secure professional connections etc. All these are wrong motives, which will soon expose how a phony you are. Mentorship is a serious relationship for those going somewhere in personal, career and business life and need a ‘tour guide’ (mentor), who can help them navigate through a road map which he or she
has travelled in that can get the protégé to his or her Eldorado. Having fulfilled all these requirements meant to put you in good stead with your would-be mentor, and he or she having perused your letter and is convinced about the genuineness of your request, I am hopeful he or she will take you on. One of the sources from which every flourishing relationship draws its strength is effective communication. In the absence of communication, a relationship breaks down. Communication, however, goes beyond words, your disposition, availability, loyalty all communicate something in your relating with your million dollar mentor as a protégé. Please be assured of my best intentions in your relating with your million-dollar mentor. Concluded Oladele, Managing Consultant at World Class Compere Academy, wrote from Lagos via oladeleolunike@ gmail.com
Send your views by mail or sms to PMB 10001, Ikoyi, or our Email: mail@ nationalmirroronline.net mirrorlagos@ yahoo.com or 08164966858 (SMS only). The Editor reserves the right to edit and reject views or photographs. Pseudonyms may be used but must be clearly marked as such.
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Editorial
Monday, January 4, 2016
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All the Facts, All the Sides A PUBLICATION OF GLOBAL MEDIA MIRROR LTD BARRISTER JIMOH IBRAHIM, CFR PUBLISHER
SUNDAY OLAJIDE MANAGING DIRECTOR/CEO BEN MEMULETIWON ACTING DAILY EDITOR GBEMI OLUJOBI SATURDAY EDITOR AYO OLESIN SUNDAY EDITOR DOZIE OKEBALAMA COORDINATOR, EDITORIAL BOARD CALLISTUS OKE EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR OBIORA IFOH ACTING ABUJA BUREAU CHIEF AUGUSTUS IMEKAN ACTING HEAD, GRAPHICS
2016 here, 2015 gone! The nation flipped over the year 2015 three days ago. It is always an eventful night that ushers in a new year in Nigeria and elsewhere. But there are certain common attributes of ‘Old-Year-New-YearTransition’ the world over, like vigil and religious worship to usher in the New Year, damnation of the Old Year especially if it went with bad and sad tidings, New Yew Resolutions embellished with high hopes for better lives, happier homes, more rewarding jobs or businesses, etc. This has been the boring routine year-in-year-out. But as Nigerians stepped into the year 2016, they are only sure of one thing, namely: a change in government that brought former military leader, Muhammadu Buhari, to power on May 29 last year, following a successful general election earlier that ousted the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan, which many, except revelers in the now bleeding Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), considered rudderless, visionless and stinking with corruption. After six months down the line, however, it is the hope Nigerians reposed in the Buhari government that is still driving the nation; whether in the field of tackling insurgency in the North East; and related criminal conflagrations in other parts of the country, like kidnapping for ransom, militancy
and restiveness, armed robbery and other violent crimes. To its credit, nonetheless, the Buhari government has demonstrated sufficient commitment to exposing and dealing with corrupt exploits perpetrated in the immediate past before it took the mantle of leadership; as well as instilling fear in the system such that agencies which Nigerians felt required rocket science to work – like the electricity sector that had been virtually useless, but alive when it comes to extorting money for services not rendered – is performing relatively better. The foregoing, however, appears the summary of the gains in the new dispensation so far. Every other projection appears so hazy, unpredictable and, indeed, grim. Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) lately described 2015 as a year choked with challenges that undermined economic development drives by investors. The body, in its ‘2015 Economic Review and Perspectives for 2016’, said the economy throughout 2015 experienced a whole lot of problems as difficulties in the business environment, like insecurity in parts of the country, decrepit infrastructure, foreign exchange crisis, funding challenges, policy inconsistency and the poor quality of institutions persisted. It said inhospitable business environment
‘SIDDON LOOK’ OUGHT TO BE NIGERIANS’ APPROACH TO UNFOLDING EVENTS IN
2016
in 2015 undermined the capacity of investors to maximize abundant business opportunities in Nigeria, ‘Africa’s largest economy’; and that with the drastic fall in oil price, put at $35 per barrel, heavy fuel subsidy bill nearing N1trn, wide spread insolvency among state governments across the country, increasing sovereign debt of about $60bn, including debt provisions in the 2016 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF); and debt service obligation of N1.3trn in 2016, the financial crisis may linger in 2016. The Chamber said manufacturing and services sectors slipped into recession after recording successive declines over the last three quarters of 2015; and buttressed its position with National Bureau of Statistics’ (NBS) figures which said the country’s real Gross Domestic Product, GDP, fell to 2.84 percent in the third quarter of 2015, compared to 6.23 percent within the same period in 2014. “The successful democratic transition that ushered in a new political administration presented a new wave of optimism on the back of the inherent goodwill of
ON THIS DAY January 4, 1990 Pakistan’s deadliest train accident occurred when an overloaded passenger train collided with an empty freight train, resulting in 307 deaths and 700 injuries. The Sukkur rail disaster occurred in the village of Sangi, near Sukkur in the Sindh Province of Pakistan. The train concerned was on a 500-mile overnight run from Multan to Karachi and was carrying many more passengers in its 16 carriages.
Letters tothe theEditor Editor Letters to
January 4, 2010 Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, was officially opened. Also known as Burj Dubai prior to its inauguration, it is a skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; and is the tallest man-made structure in the world, at 829.8 m (2,722 ft). Its construction began on September 21, 2004, with the exterior of the structure completed on October 1, 2009. The building is part of the new 2 km2 (490-acre) development called Downtown Dubai.
the administration at the federal level. However, business activities were largely slow for a better part of the year due to uncertainties around the general economic policy direction of the present (Buhari) administration”, LCCI said. Indeed, with the dip in the price of crude oil, plummeting value of the naira and Federal Government’s seeming indetermination on how best to manage the nation’s dubious fuel subsidy saga vis-a-vis massive local refining of petroleum products, ‘siddon look’ ought to be Nigerians’ approach to unfolding events in 2016. Only last Tuesday, the FG said from January 1, 2016, Premium Motor Spirit (PMS or petrol) would officially sell for N86 in Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) retail outlets; while other oil marketers were at liberty to sell for N86.50. But in far-flung states outside the coastal areas, the entrenched prices are roughly N200 per litre and above. How the FG intends to ‘modulate’ the anomaly with the new price fixing arrangement is yet unknown. There is also the 2016 N6.08 trillion budgetary projection that is in deficit of over N1 trillion. How would the shortfall be made up; and at whose or what’s expense? What hopes are there for the glittering promises of expansive infrastructure, job creation, social welfare, et cetera?
x January 4, 2013 A gunman killed eight people in a house-to-house rampage in Kawit, Philippines. The shooting was a mass murder that occurred in Barangay Tabon 1 in Kawit, Philippines on January 4, 2013. Ronald Baquiran Bae , a 41-year-old, killed at least seven people, a dog and wounded twelve other people with a semi-automatic pistol before he was shot and killed by the police. The motive of the suspect was unclear, officials said.
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Business Courage
Monday, January 4, 2016
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Cover
Exploring new auto policy opportunities for local capacity building
A car assembly
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o doubt, the automobile industry in Nigeria appears to be going through a sort of revolution. Just like it has been in most part of the world, the industry has not been left out playing role in the economic activities of the country with companies and organizations whose activities include design, development, manufacturing, marketing, and selling of motor vehicles, making up the automotive industry. In the last two years, since the rolling out of the new auto policy by the Federal Government, which is meant to encourage ‘made in Nigeria’ locally assembled vehicles, while the policy itself has generated a lot of mixed reactions from stakeholders and analysts, there have been more firms rolling out what they called made in Nigeria cars. Under the new auto policy,
With last year’s commencement of the auto policy implementation, prospects of rolling out ‘Made in Nigeria’ cars and building indigenous technological skills become brighter for the country. But then, in spite of the policy’s promising potential for the economy, experts believe that the policy’s benefits will depend on applicable fiscal regime of duty and levy on imported vehicles. Adejuwon Osunnuyi writes the Federal Government had raised the duty and levy payable on imported new and used cars from 20 per cent to 70 per cent, pointing out that the initiative was aimed at encouraging local production of automobile. While the Federal Government claimed to have in place measures that will encourage the continuous development of the automotive sector of the economy, the Director General of the National Automotive
Council, Aminu Jalal is of the opinion that with the full implementation of the auto policy it would not be surprising seeing the nation exporting vehicles to neighboring countries. According to him, the possibility of exporting the locally assembled vehicles was a major incentive given to the investors by the government. He said that NAC had already met with the member countries of the Economic Community of West Afri-
can States to find out the conditions for export to the region. Presently, 23 automakers have signed Memoranda of Understanding with their technical partners to establish local assembly plants in the country. Some of these companies include: Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company, KIA motors Nigeria, PAN Nigeria, Stallion motors among others. Innoson is reported to be the first wholly indigenous car
manufacturing company in Nigeria. The company unveiled, what it called, the first truly made-In-Nigeria car in the last quarter of 2014. The IVM 6490 A is an SUV that packs stateof-art facilities and design. At a UDO ONYEKA, CO-ORDINATOR BUSINESS COURAGE udonyeka@gmail.com c
Global Media Mirror Limited
Jalal
first glance you’d wondering if this SUV was actually produced by Nigerians in Nigeria, and it just shows how much Nigeria has evolved in the field of science and technology. KIA motors Nigeria later joined the bandwagon of car manufacturers in Nigeria with the launch of its Made-In-Nigeria vehicles at the auto fare show held in October 2014, at the Eagle’s square, Abuja. The KIA Rio Optima and Kia Rio Cerato were unveiled during the event. Stallion motors is not left out as it has also rolled out the Hyundai Grand i10 to Nigerians. For PAN Nigeria, it has also been roling out series of what it called Made in Nigeria cars such as Peugeot 301. Recently, it unveiled remodelled Peugeot 508 Sedan. The re-branded car came with a major face lift for the driving pleasure of its teaming customers. Unveiling the new car at a ceremony attended by some key stakeholders in the automobile industry, the Managing Director of the company, Alhaji Ibrahim Boyi, said that the new 1.6-litre turbo-petrol engine Peugeot 508 which was wholly assembled in Kaduna plant boasts key value propositions and meets the Euro 5, standard. To this end, the new Peugeot 508 Sedan reduces emissions of particulates by 80 per cent, thereby making it one of the most environmental-friendly cars ever assembled in the country. Boyi said that in addition to the qualities, the new 508 came with enhanced fuel economy, automatic LED lightening system for better night vision, auto brake system, and touch screen control panel, making it a full multimedia car. “I travelled to and fro Kaduna to Abuja two times on a full tank of petrol with this car. And as you are sitting at the back, you can shut down your AC and the other people will not be
Business Courage
Monday, January 4, 2016
complaining, this is the beauty of this car, it has facilities for tea, coffee and all your drinks, it has so many options and the car is very roomy for executives. When you sit at the back you have so much room.” he said. The PAN boss disclosed further that an amazing adequate after-sales service is packaged for the 508, not only to ensure customers’ satisfaction but also for guaranteed product quality, adding that all Peugeot dealers across the country are empowered to effectively handle the new Peugeot 508 Sedan. While the rolling of the ‘made in Nigeria’ vehicles are expected to continue this year, however, most industry analysts are not upbeat with the fact that it is pretentious to say the vehicles are made in Nigeria while in reality, most of the components are imported fully made . According to them, most of the vehicles were basically assembled in auto plants in the country. According to Ade Haruna, an investment consultant, the Nigeria auto policy is vindictive on the average Nigerian, as it is wildly impractical to succeed. Haruna noted that the policy, on the contrary has the potential to create scarcity, high prices without an alternate affordable means of transportation especially for the struggling middle class. “Nigeria can always pretend that it is has “made in Nigeria” vehicles while in reality most of the components are imported fully made . This is true even when they are mischievously classified as “locally sourced” to avoid duties, taxes etc.” “Government (Federal, State, Local and other government institutions) is the biggest buyer of new vehicles. Why are they not as a first step enforcing a policy that only vehicles assembled in Nigeria will be bought and used by all government officials and institutions? This should keep the vehicle assembly companies fully busy and demonstrate sincerity and
confidence in the auto policy. Why are they still using and buying imported fully built vehicles (some of them luxurious). Is this hypocrisy, lack of confidence in the policy or just plain lies and corruption?” He said. Globally, in countries with good infrastructure, various auto companies have been struggling to avoid collapse by expanding their markets and production volumes while improving on production technology, methods and cost. Some of the big players are just recovering from controlled bankruptcies. Experts and various stakeholders have repeatedly cautioned the Federal government against the dangers of implementing the auto policy without first putting in place necessary infrastructure such as uninterrupted electricity supply, good road networks, rail, I.T. Other requirements for success, they said, include free trade agreements with other countries, trained and efficient labour force , significant local inputs from the petrochemical and iron/steel industries etc. They have continuously said that without these items in place, the cost of production may push the cost of locally assembled cars beyond the reach of most Nigerians. Industrialization in Nigeria is a nullity if these challenges are not met. Speaking at a press conference in Abuja, Japanese Ambassador to Nigeria had stressed that availability of electricity will play a very significant role for Japan’s auto mobile giants- Toyota and Honda
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Ryuichi-Shoji, Japanese ambassador to Nigeria
Boyi
to determine viability of establishing their respective assembly plants in Nigeria. Also, the President of the Ford Motor Company in South Africa who visited Nigeria earlier last year was quoted as saying that Ford would not be rushed into setting up an assembly plant in Nigeria without a fully developed and functional support service system such as road, railway and electricity. He also said they would not want to import parts for ever if they want to establish an assembly plant. They would want to have in place facilities such as the IT, road, rail and power to be efficient and competitive and he has not seen that in Nigeria now. He estimated the annual new vehicle sales in Nigeria now to be about 100,000 and commented that this is rather too small for all the industry players to share and break even if they must assemble the vehicles in Nigeria. South Africa assembles about 650,000 vehicles annually and about 300,000 is exported to neighbouring countries where they have trade agreements. While it is quite easy to see a country like South Africa assembling vehicles for export, according to experts, the question remains, has Nigeria put in place what South Africa has to competitively and profitably assembly vehicles for local use and export? For instance, the auto industry in South Africa has high inputs from primary producers of raw material in the country e.g. iron and steel.
Nigeria can always pretend that it is has “made in Nigeria” vehicles while in reality most of the components are imported fully made . This is true even when they are mischievously classified as “locally sourced” to avoid duties, taxes etc
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South Africa’s installed electricity capacity is about 45,700 megawatts that is steady while it has in place infrastructure which has helped in the development and establishment of a diversified manufacturing base that has shown its resilience and potential to compete in the world economy. Nigeria has an average power generation of about 3,000 megawatts that is not steady. The installed transmission lines might be able to move maybe 5, 500 megawatts at optimum efficiency. To experts, Nigeria has a very poor infrastructure base and there is a high shortage of skilled labor. It presently does not have a manufacturing base to produce efficiently and profitably – locally or on a global base. The country has raw materials it cannot even process efficiently or profitably for local use or export. Examples are crude oil refining, processing of cassava, palm kernel, cocoa etc. for local use and export earnings. Importing almost all the components, including the bolts and nuts, experts submitted, might not result in any foreign currency savings. According to them, in fact, it might cost more. According to Haruna, “We need massive investment in infrastructure across the nation to help bridge the infrastructural deficiency which has stunted the country’s economic growth. “The auto policy right now should be focused on how Nigerians can get private and commercial vehicles, new and used, at very affordable prices especially with the very poor transportation situation. Auto service centers with professional services should be highly encouraged. “Trying to assemble new vehicles from imported components especially in an environment with obvious unsolved disadvantages is a guaranteed path to failure. BC
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News NAICOM should reduce licensing requirements for brokers – Expert
Senate Committee on Establishment and Public Service, Senator Emmanuel Paulker, assured the pensioners that the National Assembly would protect their rights.
T
he Managing Director, LAKEG Insurance Consultants, Mr. Muftau Oyegunle, has urged the National Insurance Commission, NAICOM, to reduce licensing requirement, especially, on renewal for insurance brokers in the country. This, he said, becomes necessary because brokers had been complaining about the high renewal fees and huge volume of documentation required by NAICOM, noting that such reduction would ease documentation and other challenges facing brokers. According to him, “Brokers have always complained about the volume of documentation to NAICOM. The renewal fees to the Nigerian Council of Insurance Brokers, NCRIB and NAICOM are much; most practitioners are stressing themselves to pay this money. These renewal fees are outside taxes paid by the practitioners to tax authorities; this is very unfair.” He pointed out that the commission and council need to cut license renewal fees. “I guess the policy is necessitated by the hues and cries about fines from NAICOM. People easily forget that NAICOM owes a duty to protect the fragile image of the insurance industry, therefore negative information need to be well managed. More than naming, all bodies that control practitioners should initiate disciplinary actions against members to stop further mess in the industry,’’ he said. The commission had delisted the names of 108 insurance brokers for their failure to meet the regulatory requirements and the erring firms had their names published in national dailies a fortnight. It was gathered that majority of the erring firms were sanctioned for violating certain provisions of the insurance law, such as; late submission of their returns to the regulatory body, while some did not even submit returns for several
Mohammed Kari, NAICOM boss
Facebook class action lawsuits to go ahead
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L-R: Past chairman of the Board of FRC, Hajiya Mariam Ladi Ibrahim, Director in the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mallam Ajiya Mamman, and the CEO of FRC, Mr Jim Obazee exchanging pleasantries during the event
years, non-renewal of operating licence, among other offenses. The affected firms include; Accredited Insurance Brokers, ACI Insurance Brokers, Alpha Insurance Brokers, APL Insurance Brokers, Atlantic Insurance Brokers Ltd, Ariel Insurance Brokers Ltd, Arimok Insurance Brokers, Aso Solid Insurance Brokers, Ayeson International Insurance Brokers Ltd, Backley Insurance Brokers, Barmco Insurance Brokers Ltd and Beaver & Roger Insurance Brokers.
Japanese shares end year among best performers
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apanese shares ended the year on high note, with the benchmark Nikkei 225index climbing more than 9 per cent in 2015. The stock market’s rise over the year ranks it among the world’s best-performing major indexes. For the day, it closed up 0.3 per cent to 19,033.71, taking the strong lead from Wall Street overnight. The index’s performance over the year was driven by the economic recovery in the US, a weaker yen, along with the Bank of Japan’s asset purchases. Japanese markets will be closed on Thursday for a public holiday. The rest of Asia also headed mostly higher, following US shares where rising oil prices led to a rebound in the market. The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones indexes both gained over 1 per cent as oil prices rallied overnight to climb by around 3 per cent after Monday’s declines. Encouraging economic data such as housing and consumer confidence in the US also
boosted investor sentiment. In Australia, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index closed up 1 per cent to 5,319.9, hitting a two-month high and leading the gains in the region. The index also finished higher for the ninth consecutive session - marking its longest winning streak since January. Chinese shares traded mixed. The Shanghai Composite closed up 0.3 per cent at 3,572.88 points. However, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index ended down 0.5 per cent at 21,882.15 points. Investors are looking ahead to manufacturing data due on Friday for clues on the extent of the slowdown in the world’s second largest economy. South Korea’s Kospi index closed down 0.3 per cent to 1,961.31 on its final day of trading in 2015, but gained 2.4 per cent for the year. Investors’ confidence was dented by data that showed industrial production saw its worst decline in 10 months in November on slumping global demand for exports. Factory output fell a seasonally adjusted 2.1 per cent from a month earlier, according to Statistics Korea.
Ogun to delay pension gratuities over dwindling allocation
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ollowing dwindling allocation coming to states from the Federal Government, Ogun State government said there would be delay in the payment of pension gratuities to pensioners in the state. The State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, who disclosed this at a meeting with the executives and members of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, NUP, Ogun State chapter in Abeokuta penultimate week pleaded
for understanding from the pensioners, promising that the State would improve in this regards, as economic situation improves. According to Amosun, the meeting with the leaders of the pensioners was based on media reports that the governor owed them pension and gratuities running into several months, explaining that he had gone the extra mile to ensure that the pensioners got their monthly pension. He added that, though he had not been able to offset all their gratuities due to the dwindling allocation to the state from the Federal Government, he noted that no bank would lend any governor money to pay gratuities, because there “is nothing in it for them.” Earlier, the Chairman of the NUP, Ogun State chapter, Chief Kessington Odukoya, and other executive members begged the governor to increase their monthly pension since some of them still get below N5, 000. Meanwhile, pensioners, under the auspices of NUP, have pleaded to the Federal and State governments to pay all pension arrears they are owing retirees to ease their sufferings. The union, who made the appeal at a news conference to mark the 2015 Pensioners’ Day in Abuja, used the occasion to reflect on their unpaid arrears and gratuities, asking the government to fulfil its part of the counterpart funding agreement. The National President, NUP, Mr Abel Afolayan, noted that some states have not paid their members in the last 15 years while others who are on the federal government payroll are being owed up to 42 months pension arrears. Apart from asking the government to clear up the areas, the pensioners are also asking the government to increase their pensions as required by the law. However, the Chairman,
wo US class action lawsuits against Facebook by shareholders alleging it hid growth concerns ahead of its 2012 public listing can now go ahead. A federal judge certified the legal proceedings, Reuters reports, saying investors who claim they lost money could pursue their claims as groups. Facebook told the BBC that it was disappointed with the decision and it has launched an appeal against it. The firm’s initial public offering, IPO, in May 2012 raised $16bn. The investors say that by purchasing the firm’s shares at inflated prices they lost money. That year, its shares began trading on 18 May in New York at $38 per share, but the price fell to almost half the amount of $17.55 on 4 September. The price stayed below the IPO price for more than a year, but shares ultimately rebounded and closed up at $107.26 on the Nasdaq index on Tuesday. District judge Robert Sweet gave the lawsuits class action certification on 11 December, but the order was made public on Tuesday, Reuters reports. Investors claim that Facebook omitted information about revised revenue projections and the impact that increased mobile usage, at a time when there was little advertising on mobile devices, would have on its revenues. But Mr Sweet said Facebook provided “an impressive amount of evidence” to indicate that shareholders knew how mobile usage would affect the firm’s revenue. However, he rejected the tech giant’s argument that shareholders should pursue their claims individually. In a 55-page decision, Mr. Sweet said that given the extraordinary size of the case, allowing two subclasses “in fact adds more weight to the predominance of common questions and answers, practically negating the individualized questions raised”. Facebook told the BBC that it believes the class certification is “without merit”. The tech giant also said the decision “conflicts with well-settled Supreme Court and Second Circuit law”, and it has already filed an appeal seen by the BBC. “The suggestion that class members’ knowledge might be inferred on a class-wide basis flouts due process,” the appeal said.
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net
Business Courage
Monday, January 4, 2016
Four Nigerians emerge winners of Visa tourist awards
the 35 billion dollars cost of fuel subsidy from 2010 to 2014 accounted for why Nigeria was unable to accumulate a fiscal reserve in the Excess Crude Account, ECA.
Isaiah Erhiawarien
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our Nigerians from different banks in the country has emerged winners of the Visa Card tourist award, known as Notatourist. The four winners from the innovative regional campaign in Nigeria are Mr. Douglas Ndekwu, a First Bank customer, Mr. Ejikeme Douglas Onuh, of Diamond Bank user, Mr. Mel Osuji Daimeon, a Standard Chartered Bank account holder and Mr. Gilbert Inemesit from First Bank; all emerged as winners from the competition. The Notatourist campaign prize includes a travel package worth USD 15,000 for the winners and their partner of choice to Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE); business class flight, 5 days and 4 night’s trip to Dubai Notatourist adventures, and a Visa prepaid card worth $1,000 ran from July 1st to September 19th, 2015. The Notatourist campaign was designed to inspire travel beyond the regular tourist sites to savour truly local experiences that are the essence of making a destination unique. As travellers experience unforgettable moments, Visa remains the gateway to an array of offers that give cardholders the ability to maximize their joy and access to thousands of attractions that unlock the secrets of their preferred destinations. Speaking at the event, Country Manager Visa West Africa, Mr Ade Ashaye said that “As a global payments technology company, we believe in the power of mobile applications to tap in to the large population of smart phone users. The most important highlight of this campaign is that we have been able to communicate with the hearts and minds of travellers and help them appreciate the hidden treasures of the places they visit by connecting people and their experiences through unleashing the imagination of the traveller to interact with the beauty of the destination.” The #Notatourist campaign ties in with Visa’s efforts to promote tourism in Africa, through partnerships with government authorities, financial institutions and merchants. In addition, Visa also invests in enhancing travel experiences through safe and convenient payment solutions, and a wide selection of benefits and privileges for travellers. The campaign was held to help travellers explore destinations as local inhabitants – not as tourists - by providing
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Entrepreneur predicts bright future for e-commerce
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L – R: Head, Product Management, The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mr. Dipo Omotoso; Executive Director, Market Operations and Technology, NSE, Mr. Ade Bajomo; Nigerian actress, singer & philanthropist, Omotola Ekeinde, and Head, Corporate Services Division, NSE, Mr. Bola Adeeko, at the 2015 Year End Closing Gong Ceremony at the Exchange
local knowledge using crowd sourced digital content that is showcased on Visa’s Notatourist website and the Visa Explore mobile app.
Ghanaian wins Airtel’s 2015 education prize
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social entrepreneur has emerged winner of the Airtel Nigeria sponsored Prize in Education award at The Future Awards 2015. She is Lily Kudzo, a 27 years old Ghanaian. The young Ghanaian social entrepreneur won the category which had Cynthia Onwuchuruba from Nigeria and three others, namely: Josephine Marie Godwyll, Abena Agyemang and Maccathy Lomotey as nominees. The mobile operator said that the decision to throw its weight behind the Future Awards 2015 and endow the Prize in Education was influenced by its corporate philosophy of enriching lives and promoting wealth creation through support for education. The initiative was part of efforts by Airtel aimed at encouraging African youths towards academic greatness and contributing positively to society through the award. Receiving the Airtel’s Prize in Education award, Kudzro expressed appreciation to Airtel Nigeria and the organisers of the award for recognizing the potentials in African youths. “I am excited about winning the Future Awards Africa 2015 Prize in Education. And I say a big thank you to Airtel Nigeria for endowing the education category. Africa needs more corporate organisations to throw their weight behind such course and other important issue. Africa needs you, Africa needs all of us”, she said. Kudzro owns Devio Arts Centre, a social enterprise initia-
tive, where she uses creative and digital art as a catalyst, to stimulate constructive learning and creative thinking in Ghanaian children. The centre tackles creativity in communities and helps to build creative life skills through programs that bring experts from the working field, and makes use of technology to engage and train students on current trends. She believes that children and young people can create and inspire their own future and can become changemakers in their communities. Kudzro hopes to impact 100,000 African students within the next 5 years. Airtel, through its CSR initiative tagged Adopt-a-School programme, has consistently supported 5 primary schools in Nigeria.
World Bank advises Nigeria on tax reforms to address economic crisis
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he World Bank has advised Nigeria to reform its tax system to address economic challenges being faced in the country. Lead Economist of the World Bank, Mr John Litwack,who gave the advice said the country should build a tax system that was not dependent on oil. ``A lot of the problem is tax administration and if the government is collecting all the taxes that it should be collecting, then we won’t have this type of crisis. ``So the approach is not simply increase in tax rate, but bringing people under the tax net and probably using incentives to get people to pay taxes.’’ The economist said the bank would not influence Nigeria’s
decision on the issue of fuel subsidy, adding that it could only point out the costs and benefits. ``We did not make any recommendations on fuel subsidy because precisely we don’t think it is our place to do that; we understand this is a difficult decision for Nigeria. ``There are implications that should be considered but we think Nigeria will ultimately decide; so what we are trying to do is to inform the debate by pointing out the cost implications. ``The costs quite frankly look very high and the benefits for the ordinary Nigerian does not look that high,’’ he said. Litwack said that although fuel subsidy appeared to have very modest benefits for the majority of Nigerians, the cost implications were quite high. He noted that the annual spending on fuel subsidy in the country accounted for about one-fourth of all budgetary spending. According to him, this is significantly greater than the entire federal capital budget and greater than all federal spending on education and public health combined. He, however, said that weak enforcement of administrative prices of petrol and kerosene had in no small measure reduced the benefits of fuel subsidies to Nigerians. The World Bank representative noted that uncertainty about the fuel subsidy had strongly discouraged investment in domestic oil refining. ``Allegations of corruption and fraud surrounding the implementation of the fuel subsidy were costly to the reputation of the government. ``Subsidy related fuel shortages have repeatedly disrupted economic activity and imposed serious welfare costs on Nigerian households.’’ Litwack further noted that
n e-commerce operator, Mr Sefik Bagdadioglu, has predicted a bright future for the business model in Nigeria owing to the huge investment being made by various organisations. Bagdadioglu, who is the Managing Director of Kaymu, an-online marketing platform, told the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, in Lagos that the sector recorded a milestone in the outgoing year. “I think the customers are demanding more and more, which is very important. “There are a lot of players who came into the market to try their chance in e-commerce which is good for competition which forces the existing companies to provide better services. “The future is very positive because people are embracing it, companies are working really hard to make sure that they provide a better service, and overall it’s only going to go up. “Logistics is a challenge, there’s an educational aspect especially for a company like us where we focus on entrepreneurs and bring in offline populations to online. “Trust is an issue that we see as a challenge but these challenges are what push you forward. “You try to come up with solutions so that people feel comfortable, they get their products on time, they know about what e-commerce is and they get the necessary training. “For me the most important thing is to spot entrepreneurs, give them hope and help them to grow with us.’’ He stressed the need for young people to embrace entrepreneurship and for the operators to further earn public trust. BC
Bagdadioglu
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Business Courage
Monday, January 4, 2016
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net
Companies & Markets
‘Govt should float bond to limit accrued pension rights’ Udo Onyeka
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he Regional Manager, South West of Premium Pension Limited, Mr. Fatai Adegboyega has charged government at all levels to float bond to address the present challenge of accrued pension rights in the country. The accrued pension rights, he said, has denied many retirees of their pension benefits. Regional Manage, South West of Premium Pension Limited, Fatai Adegboyega, stressed that since governments are faced with financial challenges in meeting the obligations of settling accrued pension rights of retirees, efforts should be channelled at raising funds through bond which is a long term financing measure. He noted that the issue of accrued rights if not properly managed could erode the gains of the Contributory Pension Scheme ,CPS. Speaking in the same vein, Former Chairman, the Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria ,PenOp, Mr. Misbahu Yola, has called on the Federal Government to urgently release
the outstanding accrued rights of its retirees so that their benefits can be processed and settled. He said the delay in payment of the retirees’ accrued rights was affecting the pension system. “There are a few challenges with the accrued rights. We have been told that it would be paid soon. The last was paid in February, 2015. These are issues that affect the confidence in the system. \ Even when the executives of PenCom visited the presidency, they raised the issue of the accrued rights and the president promised the accrued rights would be paid soon. The accrued rights and outstanding contribution rights is about N100bn or less,” he said. He noted that the CPS works perfectly, but the delayed accrued rights payment is dragging the shadow of the old scheme into the new scheme, making it look ineffective. He noted that without the rights, operators cannot aggregate the retirement savings account balance and
calculate retirees’ lump sum and programmed withdrawal, thereby leaving them without pensions. Director-General, National Pension Commission ,PenCom, Mrs. Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, had earlier said the payment of retirement benefits under the scheme to retirees, and that death claims to beneficiaries of deceased employees, were regular and timely except for the delays being experienced in the settlement of accrued benefits of FGN retirees and deceased employees, whenever there are delays in the funding of the Retirement Benefits Bond Redemption Fund by the FGN as is the case in 2012, 2014 and 2015. She said N483.33bn has been released into the Retirement Benefits Bonds Redemption Fund Account by the FGN, which was invested by the Central Bank of Nigeria and yielded N7.71bn between 2006 and March 2015. She however noted that the Federal Government is yet to release monthly mandates for the payment of accrued rights for September to December
M
Adegboyega
2014, and April to August 2015 amounting to N35.30bn. She said the accrued benefits of 8,193 retirees and death benefits of 4,847 deceased employees amounting to N48.39bn were processed for the period, February to August 2015, but were yet to be settled by the federal government. She stated that this clearly shows that even if the total outstanding monthly mandates were release there would still be a shortfall of N13.09bn. BC
ITF partners insurance firms on capacity building
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ndustrial Training Fund, ITF, has planned to build on its partnership with insurance companies on skills training to see how the underwriters can provide insurance for its facilitators. Director-General, ITF, Mrs. Juliet Chukkas-Onaeko, who made this known in Abuja, noted that her agency would write to some insurance companies on how the insurers can work with the Fund to insure some of its facilities and facilitators. According to her, “We are planning to build on our partnership with insurance companies. We want insurance companies to come up with a kind of product that will cover our facilitators as trainers train our trainees in our
various centres.” ITF, she said, was committed to continuous development of human capital to adequately advance human resource practices in Nigeria and accelerate the level of contribution in national development. “We have five vocational training centres in different states. We are partnering with other training institutions both inside and outside Nigeria and the aim is to provide internationally acceptable training for Nigerians so that they can use the certificates earned anywhere in the world. It is only when we do this that our people can leave Nigeria and get good jobs outside the country. We want to empower people that can work locally and inter-
Chukkas-Onaeko
nationally,” she noted. She pointed out that the fund had established collaboration and networking with other institutions and agencies such as the German Chamber of Crafts and
Ecobank launches agency banking services
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cobank Nigeria has commenced Agency Banking Services, enabling its appointed agent partners carry out banking services on its behalf. Agency banking services is designed to increases the bank’s retail distribution network allowing it provide basic banking services to its customers as well as offer payment services such as bank transfers, bill payments and airtime top to the general public. The Agency Banking service is also intended to offer basic banking
services to the under banked and while providing extended hours for available banking services in the customers’ neighbourhood. Announcing the commencement of the Ecobank Agency Banking service in Lagos, Head, Cards and e-Banking, Ayotunde Kuponiyi said it is part of the bank’s distribution strategy to take banking service to the door-step of the customer. “This is extending our banking services to consumers’ neighborhood to offer even greater
convenience and accessible financial services in a cost effective and secure manner” he said. Kuponiyi listed agents’ partners already offering these services in Lagos as Buymore Supermarket chain (in Agungi-Lekki, Kilo Surulere, Ikeja GRA, Kenzo Retail Supermarket chain, in Lekki, Festac and Apapa and Save-a-Lot Supermarket in Egbeda. He maintained that more locations are coming up in Lagos and other major cities and towns across
MoneyGram unveils new money remittance product
Commerce to train apprentices in line with German Dual System., SENAI in Brazil, Institute of Technology Engineering and Education Services ,ITEES, in Singapore, Galilee International Management Institute,GIMI, in Israel, the SURE-P, Dangote, the Nigerian Employers Consultative Association ,NECA, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria ,MAN, Cement Technology Institute and the Ajaokuta Steel Rolling Company. The whole aim of the collaborations, she said, was to see a revitalised economy as evidence from developed and emerging economies show that requisite skills constitute a major platform for attaining sustainable economic development. BC
the country. Banking services provided by the agents banking locations include opening Ecobank Quick Account, cash withdrawal and deposit into Ecobank accounts; funds transfers into any bank account in Nigeria, bills payment amongst other services. Ecobank agency banking service which is the first of its kind to debut in Nigeria is aimed at offering affordable access to financial services to promote and deepen financial inclusion in the Nigeria economy. BC
oneyGram has announced it is the first money transfer company to offer customers in France, Germany, Ireland, Italy and Spain opportunity to send money to personal Nigerian Naira bank accounts. The new product which offers MoneyGram customers in key European countries an opportunity into Nigeria’s $21bn annual remittance market is transacted within minutes at competitive exchange rates. “This is a significant milestone for us. With the addition of Nigeria, MoneyGram now offers bank account deposits through our network into five of the world’s largest remittance receive markets — Nigeria, China, India, Mexico and the Philippines. “Account deposit is a fast and secure way to send and receive funds between loved ones and we are proud to offer the service for our customers in Europe and Nigeria,” says MoneyGram’s regional vice president for Africa, Herve Chomel, Customers can send money to most of the personal accounts held at banks that are members of the Nigeria InterBank Settlement System network including First Bank, UBA, Ecobank, Fidelity, and Zenith Bank from MoneyGram agent locations in France, Germany, Ireland, Italy and Spain. This marks an important innovation for the remittance industry in Nigeria. By integrating into the Nigerian InterBank Payment System, MoneyGram customers are able to send money into most bank accounts in Nigeria, almost in real time. Receivers do not have to undertake any action as the funds are automatically deposited into their account and can be accessed via ATM’s or online, without the constraint of a physical over-the-counter visit. BC
Chomel
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net
Business Courage
Monday, January 4, 2016
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Brand Watch
Amazon outspends Apple on UK ads in Christmas run-up
David Audu
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mazon has been aggressively outspending Apple on advertising in the UK in the run-up to Christmas and Facebook has come from nowhere to match Google. Figures supplied by research company Nielsen show Amazon hiked its UK ad spend by 40 per cent to £42.1 million in the first 11 months of the year, compared to £30 million in the same period in 2014. During one Channel 4 show last weekend, Amazon aired three different spots in a single commercial break – for the Amazon Fire TV “on-demand” plug-in stick (featuring Jeremy
Jeff Bezos, CEO, Amazon
Clarkson), the Amazon Fire phone, and the Amazon Prime shopping delivery service. Amazon uses two indepen-
dent creative agencies in the UK: Lucky Generals, whose adsinclude the Amazons Fire TV stick spot with Clarkson, and Joint, whose credits include the Amazon Prime delivery ad with a little pony being delivered as a present. By contrast, the iPhone maker Apple has barely increased its UK ad spend, which has stayed close to £30 million. Facebook has ramped up its UK ad spend even more dramatically than Amazon, spending almost £21 million in the 11 months to 30 November compared to just £25,000 last year. In a surprising move, Google cut its British ad spend to £21 million in the first 11 months
LG named brand of the year at Red Dot Award
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G Electronics, was recently honoured with the title of Brand of the year by Red Dot Award, one of the top design award competitions in the world. With this recognition, LG joins the ranks of previous winners such as PepsiCo; Audi AG; and Mercedes -Benz. LG also becomes only the third company to win both Brand of the year and Design Team of the year, which it won in 2006. The title of Brand of the year was bestowed on LG for its 13 wins in the Red Dot award: Communication design category over the course of the year. Winning
entries this year include the LG G4 and LG Watch Urbane both embodying the company’s human-centric user experience (UX) design philosophy with a simpler and more intuitive interface to accommodate individual users. “The brand management of LG Electronics is unparalleled in its skills in this respect. The corporate claim sums it up—Life’s good,” said Dr. Peter Zec, founder and CEO of Red Dot. “Anyone who invests in an LG product notices immediately that his or her life is a little more attractive because of it. That is exactly
how convincing brand management works”. Commenting on this milestone achievement, Noh Chanho, Vice President and head of corporate design at LG Electronics said “Being honored by Red Dot Award is humbling and demonstrates LG’s leadership in the field of design by reaffirming our on-going commitment to both innovative design and intuitive consumer experience, we will continue to design and develop creative solutions that elicit positive emotional response and deepen the relationship between our brand
of 2015 from £23 million a year ago, a reduction of 8.7 per cent. Facebook, the world’s biggest social media company, has no physical products to sell and its “friends” campaign has appeared to be largely focused on maintaining brand awareness and affection. The willingness of Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook to invest in their brands contrasts with their decision to avoid UK corporation tax as they process most of their sales offshore in Ireland or Luxembourg. The Nielsen data covers traditional advertising such as TV, press, outdoor and cinema but does not include digital ad spend. BC
and consumers to live up to our motto, innovations for a Better Life”. LG was publicly honored on November 6, 2015 at the annual Red Dot Gala in Berlin and LG’s winning products can be viewed online at www.red-dot.de/cd. This award further demonstrates LG Electro0nics dominance in the world of Innovative technological designs which has distinct it from other competing brands, as it continues to set the pace for competition by breaking new grounds with its inventions which is aimed at satisfying its consumers. BC
NAFDAC, CPC endorse Kasapreko’s $70m factory
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he National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, and the Consumer Protection Council, CPC, has endorsed Kasapreko and its products during the unveiling of its factory in Ghana recently. The factory eqipped with worldclass machinery will enable the company become a total beverage company. The company also launched a new bottle for Alomo Bitters, its flagship brand, to look more attractive to the consumers. Speaking at the event, the Director-General of NAFDAC, Dr. Paul Orhii noted that Kasapreko is now a Pan-African brand, known for being a good corporate social responsible company that all Africans are proud of. He congratulated Kasapreko on the new factory and expansion of their beverage line while looking forward to working with them in future. Engr. Shamm T. Kolo, one of the Directors at CPC Headquarters Abuja added that Kasapreko products are of very good quality
and well researched. The company has also been very instrumental and worked closely with the agency to apprehend individuals that produce their fake products. We are very happy to work with them and look forward to more partnerships in the future. At a ceremony attended by the President of the Republic of Ghana, Mr. John Dramani Mahama, the Group Chairman and Founder of Kasapreko Dr. Kwabena Adjei said the four factory lines have the capacity to package a combined 110,000 bottles per hour in both glass and PET format. The new machine is expected to boost the company’s production capacity in a bid to meet huge demands for its products on the local and international markets. “We have invested in two state of the art customized high speed production lines for our spirit brands. These two lines have a combined capacity to package 70,000 bottles in one hour, in both glass and PET formats. In addition, we have just completed the installation of two additional
high speed lines to produce our water and non-alcoholic drinks with a combined capacity of 40,000 bottles per hour.” President of Ghana, Mr. John Dramani Mahama commended Kasapreko for the good image they have brought to the State. “Kasapreko is truly an ambassador of African cultures with the high creativity of adverts which showcases the African culture. Two weeks ago I launched the ‘Made in Ghana’ campaign to encourage Ghanaians to patronize
Orhii
our locally made products and invest in them. My first encounter with Kasapreko was in 2000, but now the brand is a household name in Africa and beyond. The Government is ever ready to back Kasapreko and provide all the support they need to grow.”Mahama noted. The new plant has four packaging lines equipped with worldclass machinery that can produce alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks as well as bottled water in different packaging formats. The company will now produce fruit juice, energy drinks, hard liquor and mineral water amongst others at the factory. Upon inspection of the factory, Mr. Mahama further added that he is more impressed with the state-of-the-art facilities and this will serve as an example and motivation to other investors.” The Managing Director, Mr. Richard Adjei, said the new factory cost about 70 million dollars and will now be producing the new water brand, Awake Mineral Drinking Water, Carbonated soft drinks and juices. BC
400 Level student clinches Etisalat’s Cliqfest star prize
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400 Level student of Soil Science, Violet Ukama, has emerged winner of the star prize of a Hyundai i10 car, as Etisalat Cliqfest end in the University of Calabar recently. Cliqfest, Etisalat Nigeria’s youthcentric edutainment initiative, made its final stop for the year 2015 with two days of excitement and motivation for students and staff of the University of Calabar after visiting 16 tertiary institutions in the country. Like in other tertiary institutions that have experienced the Cliqfest storm since its debut, the twoday event included a seminar by renowned motivational speaker, Niyi Adesanya who spoke to the students on how to succeed in the market place. It also featured a football match, a rap music contest, dancing competition, a raffle draw and an exciting concert headlined by the winners of Season Four and Five of the Etisalat-sponsored Nigerian Idol, Speaking after receiving her car key, Ukama thanked Etisalat for the “unbelievable gift. “I just finished my exams yesterday and here I am winning a car today. It is unbelievable! I am so excited I really don’t know what to say. A very big thank you to Etisalat for giving me this opportunity,” she said. Dean, Student Affairs Department , University of Calabar, Prof. Eyong Ubana said the university was grateful to Etisalat Nigeria for visiting the school, and commended the company for taking a huge interest in Nigerian youth especially students of tertiary institutions. “I am happy that they chose University of Calabar for this programme. I am equally happy that one of our students won a car, and we are hopeful that they will come again next year,” he said. Manager, Youth Segment at Etisalat Nigeria, Idiareno Atimomo remarked that Cliqfest is a platform that allows Etisalat to engage with its customers, while bringing them fun, entertainment and learning that they need. “Cliqfest takes us to 16 tertiary institutions annually - Federal and State Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education. We do not discriminate because the youths are important to us; they are the future, and also rank as some of our best customers who are loyal to us. So this is our own unique way of showing our appreciation to them,” he said. Cliqfest has been to over 50 schools all over Nigeria since it was launched six years ago. It is an annual nationwide youth-centric education and entertainment initiative sponsored by Nigeria’s leading innovative telecommunications company, Etisalat. It features a line of youth-centred activities ranging from entertainment to multi-dimensional seminars and talks as well as sports. BC
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Business Courage
Monday, January 4, 2016
Global PC to reach 6.4 billion in 2016, Report
Isaiah Erhiawarien
G
lobal PC shipment is expected to reach reaching 6.4 million units in 2019, and with a steady growth beginning from 2016. According to the International Data Corporation, IDC, Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Client Device Tracker the global thin and terminal client market deteriorated during the third quarter of 2015 (3Q15), declining -6.7per cent yearly. IDC further said that over shipments continued to be hampered by strong deployments in 2014, but also ongoing economic and currency pressures in key parts of the market. The report said that the
emerging markets continued to lag behind mature markets in terms of shipments and projected growth rates noting that there are combined persistent factors that negatively affected the market, such as budget constraints, which delayed major shipments in Asia/Pacific. The IDC Tracker observed that although the market is increasingly accepting virtualised client computing, devices such as repurposed PCs and even Chromebooks in some cases, pose viable threats to mainstream thin client purchases. In light of these challenges, IDC said 2015 shipments were subdued than previously forecast, reaching just 5.1 million units for the year, a drop of more than -6 per cent com-
T
Edge. Samsung, the world’s top smartphone maker, has planned an initial production run of about five million of its upcoming Galaxy S7 smartphones. The paper said Samsung is planning to launch two different versions of its new flagship smartphone: a 5.2-inch flat-
Chou
pared to 2014. Research Manager, IDC Worldwide PC & Enterprise Client Device Tracker, Jay Chou said, “Shipments in 2015 are expected to decline more than -6 per cent yearly, adding “Beyond 2016, we remain optimistic that growth rates will pick up as another cycle of business refresh should fuel renewed growth.” BC
screen version and a 5.5-inch, curved-screen version that will be called the ‘Galaxy S7 Edge’. Samsung plans to initially make 3.3 million of the flatscreen devices and around 1.6 million of the curved-screen version, the report said, with plans to launch the handset in February 2016. BC
Glo ambassador advices youths, thrills customers
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lobacom brand ambassador and ace comedian, Bovi Ugboma has charged Nigerian youths to focus on self-development and become masters of their fields in order to get the best things of life, including signing endorsement deals with conglomerates such as Globacom. Bovi gave the charge during a question and answer session with fans at the Globacom pavilion at Bar Beach, Victoria Island centre of the ongoing One Lagos Fiesta, sponsored by Globacom. Responding to a question of what his experience has been as a Globacom ambassador and how an aspiring entertainer could break into that big league of signing such a huge endorsement deal, Bovi said the focus of such an aspiring entertainer should be to achieve excellence in his chosen field of endeavour. “Brand endorsement relationships are symbiotic in nature,” said Bovi, confirming that he signed an endorsement deal with Globacom in July 2015. He explained that the relationship is ‘give and take,’ adding that Globacom as a company loves to associate with artistes whose work speaks for them. Bovi said that the event is Globacom’s way of reaching
out to the youth and motivating them to attain excellence in their chosen fields. The comedian, whose appearance at the Glo pavilion attracted many youths in the vicinity including up and coming artistes, advised Nigerian youths to focus on becoming masters of their fields and refrain from chasing fame for the sake of it. He warned that achieving fame before achieving industry mastery and professional excellence is the reason many supposed stars fizzle out quickly urging Nigerians to learn to grow organically and leave the rest to God. Two other Globacom ambassadors, namely, Basketmouth and Burna Boy also took turns
Ugboma
with Esther Ozue (ozueesther@nationalmirroronline.net) 08059234648 (sms only)
Dealing with negative online comments
I
Samsung to produce 5m Galaxy S7 phones next year he top smartphone maker has reportedly planned to initially produce around five million Galaxy S7 smartphones for next year. Samsung plans to initially make 3.3m of the flat-screen Galaxy S7 devices and around 1.6m of the curved-screen version - similar to the Samsung S6
Technotalk
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net
to entertain various questions from their fans who stormed the Globacom stand. At the Glo pavilion at the Ikeja centre of OLF located at the Agege Stadium, a popular Nollywood actor and Globacom brand ambassador, Adekola Odunlade entertained Glo subscribers who swarmed around him on the stage. He told the crowd, mostly youths to shun social vices that would endanger their lives and embrace hard work if they want to grow in life. He signed autograph for over five hundred of them as he took photographs with them. Globacom is the major sponsor of the One Lagos Fiesta which has been happening in five locations across Lagos. BC
n most sites and social media platforms, good or bad real time comments are easily made about individuals, cooperate and other institutions and become public immediately. Comments sessions seem to showcase the worst of humanity and unfortunately, negative comments tend to be particularly bad in the technology field. People who post damaging and negative comments can be a big problem to you. For many people, the ongoing negativity that lurks in the comments is just not worth the trouble. However, here are few tips that will guide you in dealing with negative comments: Having a policy in place: Depending on the type of site you operate, it’s probably a good idea to make your site’s commenting policy. Once you have a policy in place, you have an option that will allow you to stay out of at least part of the uncomfortable process of dealing with negative comments. You can turn the work over to someone else to do for you which must be consistent. At least, a fast pass through your comments can allow you to screen out those that may impact you personally before you even see them because it’s not always good for comments that are unmoderated to appear on your site. Akismet for word press is a tool that can be used to weed out certain comments that are notoriously unreliable, and each platform has its own system. Don’t remove anonymity: Removing anonymity doesn’t seem to end hateful comments. Many people don’t care whether its removed or not as there are still plenty of nasty remarks showing up on most sites. Taking responsibility for your own site: The only sites that you can definitely impact are those that you own and operate yourself. For any other site, you are going to have to appeal some sort of comment moderator to resolve any issue you encounter. How much control you have over comments depends on where you are posting your own content or what you are reading. On your own site, however, you get the last word on comment moderation, every time. You can delete comments, ban certain commentators, and generally refuse to allow trolls to post to your site. You can draw the line anywhere you care to. Reporting troubling comments on other sites: It’s very rare for any site to tell what sort of comments will be moderated or even reviewed. The majority of sites also rely on users to do a first pass of finding offensive comments. On social media sites, it’s common to report spammers as they are annoying to deal with and hitting the report button can be a satisfying way to punishment. Dealing with the deep dark corners of the Internet: If you are the object of offensive remarks, there is a question of how far you should be willing to go to combat offensive or threatening remarks because there are many of blogs, fora, and other websites out there that you likely don’t frequent on a regular basis. Such comments might be response to a blog post you wrote, a project you posted, or some other details you shared online. Deciding where to spend your time with such sites can be very difficult but a tool like Google alerts to access such information can be very useful. In summary, you have to know that the more you respond to negative comments, the more angry and unhappy you will be and at the same time, they get happier because they are getting what they want. They tend to be small, inconsequential people clutching at any kind of recognition they can find. Even being persecuted for hate speech is better to them than the anonymity in which they generally live. You don’t deserve the aggravation of spending any time whatsoever considering these faceless “pest” on the commuBC BC nication highways. BC
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Business Courage
Monday, January 4, 2016
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Behind d Wheels This page is open to sponsorship
PAN unveils re-modelled Peugeot 508 Sedan car Stories by Adejuwon Osunnuyi
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eugeot Automobile Nigeria Limited, PAN, has unveiled its new re-modeled Peugeot 508 amid pomp and fanfare in Abuja. The re-branded car came with a major face lift for the driving pleasure of its teaming customers just as the auto manufacturing company also signed agreement with movie producer, and Chief Executive of Golden Effects Services Limited, Kunle Afolayan. Unveiling the new car at a ceremony attended by some key stakeholders in the automobile industry, the Managing Director of the company, Alhaji Ibrahim Boyi, said that the new 1.6-litre turbo-petrol engine Peugeot 508 which was wholly assembled in Kaduna plant boasts key value propositions and meets the Euro 5, standard. To this end, the new Peugeot 508 Sedan reduces emissions of particulates by 80 per cent, thereby making it one of the most environmental-friendly cars ever assembled in the country. Boyi said that in addition to the qualities, the new 508 came with enhanced fuel economy,
automatic LED lightening system for better night vision, auto brake system, and touch screen control panel, making it a f u l l mult i -
med i a car. “ I travelled to and fro Kaduna to Abuja two times on a full tank of petrol with this car. And as you are sitting at the back, you can shut down your AC and the other people will not be complaining, this is the beauty of this car, it has facilities for tea, coffee and all your drinks, it has so many options and the car is very roomy for executives. When you sit at the back you have so much room.” he said. The PAN boss disclosed fur-
t h e r that an amazing adequate after-sales services is packaged for the 508, not only to ensure customers’ satisfaction but also for guaranteed product quality, adding that all Peugeot dealers across the country are empowered to effectively handle the new Peugeot 508 Sedan. Earlier, the popular movie producer Afolayan, who by the agreement with PAN Nigeria,
became P e u g e o t brand Ambassador, described the re-modelled car as a machine that deserved the attention of all upwardly mobile Chief Executives and indeed every car lover. “Sincerely this is as the Germans will call it, a machine. It is well balanced, the sun is scorching and still you could feel the cool breeze in the car. All the buttons and all the electronics for me this is a lovely car that an average car lover should
Mercedes replaces SLK model with new SLC series
Electric C-X75 to drive Jaguar’s future
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ercedes has cancelled the SLK model and replaced it with a revised car dubbed the SLC. As part of the Stuttgart-based firm’s new naming structure, the SLC aligns with the C-Class in terms of size and architecture. What’s more, the fabulous V8-powered SLK 55 AMG is no more, having been replaced with a bi-turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 with slightly less power and torque, but lower emissions, a more flexible character and the name SLC 43. There will be two turbocharged 2.0-litre petrol versions with 181bhp and 241bhp respectively, but diesel devotees will be disappointed to see the clattery old 2.1-litre 201bhp unit still the only choice. It had been hoped that a quieter version would have been introduced for the new convertible. Only the 181bhp SLC 200 will have a manual gearbox. The SLC 300, 250d and 43 AMG will use a nine-speed automatic as standard. Mercedes has moved the SLC away from outright performance and sportiness to focusing more on infotainment and safety. Automatic emergency braking has been introduced, with a five-mode LED headlight system optional. Mapping for the Comand Online infotainment system is now topographical, while with a compatible smartphone connected it can access internet radio, online apps and more. Text messages can be read aloud and there are two USB ports for charging phones or connecting music devices. The electrically folding hard top roof can now be opened or closed at up to 25mph or so, and in a stroke of genius the boot divider, which prevents the mechanism fouling any luggage and has always been a manually-operated chore, has now been automated. With the roof up there is an impressive 335 litres of boot space. BC
have not only because of the look but because of the safety capacity that it has.” he said. He said that the agreement would last for one year contract duration which can be renewed on expiration. Afolayan hinted that the new Peugeot 508 will feature in a new movie called ‘The CEO’, adding that he has reached out to PAN Nigeria before they started shooting the movie because of his love to promote everything Nigerian. The Head, Marketing PAN Nigeria, Shepuya Icha expressed optimism that the new Peugeot 508 would be an instant success in the Nigeria market. BC
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aguar Land Rover, Britain’s largest car maker, is expected to launch its first electric vehicles with an announcement possible as early as 2016. Insiders say the Jaguar C-X75 prototype that featured in the latest James Bond movie Spectre could be put into production. Nick Rogers, group engineering director for Jaguar Land Rover, said: “Electric vehicles will absolutely play a role in Jaguar Land Rover’s future product portfolio. “It is my belief that over the next five years we will see more changes in the automotive world than in the past three decades. Electrification and lightweight technologies are becoming more important than ever.” Jaguar has already confirmed it will enter the FIA Formula E World Championship in autumn 2016 - the world’s first fully-electric racing series. It will use this to develop and test a new
electric engine and apply the research to making a commercially viable mass market version. Rogers added: “Formula E will enable us to engineer and test our advanced technologies under extreme performance conditions. The championship’s exciting and pioneering approach is the perfect fit for our brand.” Industry experts see the move into Formula E as a precursor to bringing out ranges of roadworthy electric cars at both the value end as well as a more premium sports car version. Ford’s big push into this space will triple the proportion of electric cars in its fleet. The new Ford Focus will have a range of 160km, compared to its current limit of 120km. Its battery will also reach 80 percent charged in just 30 minutes - two hours quicker than the current model. BC
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Business Courage
Monday, January 4, 2016
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net
Igho Charles Sanomi II:
The whiz-kid entrepreneur At 40, he is already an accomplished businessman who has entered the billionaires’list not only in Nigeria but on the African continent. The Taleveras Group, which he established about ten years ago, is a living testimony of his entrepreneurial prowess. Imbued with determination, courage and creativity, Igho Charles Sanomi II, an outstanding oil trader, trained engineer and philanthropist has taken his business group from grass to grace by developing it into a conglomerate with operations spanning oil, telecommunications, maritime, aviation and real estates
I
gho Charles Sanomi, founder and Chief Executive Officer CEO of the Taleveras Group, an internationally recognised energy and power conglomerate with offices in London, Geneva, Cape Town, Dubai, the Ivory Coast, Abuja and Lagos, is not only an enigma but also an ultra-wealthy young and dynamic Nigerian tycoon who is an offshoot of a respected and resourceful family. Born on 17 May 1975, in Agbor Delta State to late Dickens Ogheneruemu Patrick Sanomi, retired Assistant Inspector General of the Nigerian Police and Mabel Iyabo Sanomi, Yeye Jemo of Isotun Ijesha Kingdom, Osun State, he is the fifth child and first son of the devout Catholic family. While his late father, AIG Sanomi, was the second National VicePresident of Urhobo Progress Union (UPU), and was noted to have contributed to sports development in Nigeria, Sanomi’s mother was a renowned nurse and medical entrepreneur. Shortly after completing his Bachelor’s Degree in Geology and Mining at the University of Jos in Northern Nigeria, Sanomi entered the world of business.
He rose quickly to the position of Executive Director with Sarian Oil and Cosmos Oil AG, an international Oil Trading Company with its core activities in West Africa. During his time in this role, he single-handedly developed the company’s trading operations by negotiating the export and delivery of fuel oils from West Africa to the United States Gulf Coast. During this period, he developed trading operations for its fuel oil business by negotiating trade transactions for fuel oil exports from the Port Harcourt Refinery, Nigeria. He also developed a strategic alliance with a major international oil trading group based in Zug, Switzerland. This partnership oversaw the import and export of millions of tons of refined petroleum products to and from the West African coast. In 2004, Sanomi founded the Taleveras Group, of which he is currently the CEO. It is a fully integrated company offering strategic solutions in energy, power and construction services. His decision to become an entrepreneur, according to those very close to him may
have been influenced by his mother, who was a renowned medical entrepreneur. Deciding to pursue his entrepreneurial dreams, he merged all of his business activities into one and founded a company with a vision and drive to become “a leading Global Energy and Service Company,” with offices in London, Geneva, Cape Town, Dubai, Ivory Coast, Abuja and Lagos. Forbes had it that the company “trades over 100 million barrels of crude oil as well as several million tons of gasoline, LPG and jet fuel. Igho Sanomi was profiled by Forbes magazine in 2007 as “one of the new generation of young professionals in Nigeria who are establishing themselves as young leaders of the private sector business community.” He was described in same magazine early in 2013 as one “Ten Young African Millionaires To Watch In 2013.” In April 2012, Taleveras acquired production sharing contracts (PSCs) for three offshore oil blocks in Ivory Coast. In June 2013, Taleveras sold a 65 per cent stake in one of its Ivorian offshore upstream projects
to Lukoil of Russia for an undisclosed price. Taleveras also owns a stake in a power distribution firm in Nigeria.” Taleveras Group was incorporated as a parent company in 2004, by merger of various segments of its previous businesses. It is a fully integrated company offering strategic solutions in energy, power and construction services. Taleveras Group’s Energy activities are primarily centered on the physical sourcing and marketing of oil on a worldwide scale as it also pursues upstream activities with a major focus on acquiring oil assets with viable proven reserves, on a structured basis. Taleveras Group has also developed a name for itself as a first class Engineering and Power Services Provider. This sector of our Business is promoted by The Group and its subsidiaries. Since inception,
this segment of Taleveras’ activity portfolio has been vibrant with significant amounts of civil engineering, power distribution and transmission projects to showcase our relevant extensive experience. Through time, Taleveras Group built a strong enterprise on the creation of strategic teams for the purpose of developing business and efficiently executing construction and power projects alongside our oil trading activities. We are committed to working as a team with our partners to get the job done as quickly, inexpensively and efficiently as possible. We are a multi-disciplinary, experienced and highly motivated group of individuals. As the driving force behind the Taleveras Group, Sanomi has been instrumental in the expansion and diversification of the company’s operations. Annually, the Taleveras Group
trades hundreds of millions of crude oil barrels and millions of tons of fuel oil, jet fuel, gasoline, condensates and liquefied petroleum gas. The company’s oil exploration and recovery activities include the acquisition of production sharing contracts (PSCs) for three offshore oil blocks in Ivory Coast and rights to a further two oil blocks in Nigeria. In the power sector, Taleveras Group is working in partnership with Nigeria’s Federal Capital Development Authority on the construction of several electrical substations. Additional substations are also under construction in the Niger Delta region as part of the National Integrated Power Project. In 2010 the Taleveras Group coordinated a number of well known power industry suppliers to construct an 185MW power station and distribution substation. The second phase of this project, involving the delivery of a further 200MW capacity is currently in progress. Most recently, the Taleveras Group led a consortium that acquired a majority stake in the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution company via a process of competitive tender. The company is responsible for the distribution of more than 2,000MW of power in River State, Nigeria. In his role as CEO, Sanomi ensures that the Taleveras Group is always focused on activities that deliver social and economic benefits to the regions where they take place. In June 2013, Taleveras sold a 65 per cent stake in one of its Ivorian offshore upstream projects to Lukoil of Russia for an undisclosed price. Presently, the Group consolidated global turnover is in excess of several billion dollars and anticipated to increase in coming years. To achieve this, Sanomi noted that Taleveras intends to sustain this growth pace by expanding our activities into new regions. Consistent profitability, improved operating cost in all sectors of activities and proper risk management has continued to enhance its financial strength and stability as current combined Bank Lines of credit are in excess of $ 1bn Dollars. According to Oghens Sanomi ,Televeras Chief Financial Officer, “A Simple and prudent financial model has worked for us, not to mention the tremendous level of support we receive from our banks, our banks have shown faith in us and how we manage our various portfolios.” Taleveras Group Energy Activities encompasses the entire spectrum of crude oil and refined petroleum products. Prior to 2004, current subsidiaries and newly associated companies of Taleveras Group, supplied in total, 290,000 Metric Tons of physical fuel oil be-
Business Courage
Monday, January 4, 2016
tween the years 1998-2002, and 400,000 Metric Tons of Refined Products during 20022004. These figures continue to rise in recent years, seeing our total Physical Trades Increase to 12 million barrels of physical crude oil and two million tons of physical clean and dirty products from December 2007 through October 2008. At present, energy trading activities are led by Taleveras Petroleum Trading BV, a wholly-owned subsidiary based in London. Taleveras Group is active in the following range of activities: Crude Oil and Condensate Trading, Refined Oil Product Trading, Petrochemical Trading, Natural & Petroleum Gas Supply and Trading, Crude & Product Logistics and Storage, Shipping and Transportation. Taleveras Group’s upstream development and participation was further boosted with an award of two oil blocks in the 2005 oil bidding round held in the country. However, production sharing contracts have not yet been executed on these two fields. Taleveras Group is committed in integrating fully into upstream activities and has defined strategic initiatives to promote this Interest in coming years as it is also committed to developing new energies such Bio Fuels and other renewable as well as electricity and emissions trading. While Sanomi believes “the guiding principles for this growth, are principles of respect, integrity, humility, professionalism, transparency and a desire to positively impact on
our various counterparts,” current physical turnover of Taleveras Group energy activities is in excess of several billion dollars. Within the group, the energy trading activities are led by Taleveras Petroleum Trading BV, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Taleveras Group. Operating out of London, the company trades crude and fuel oil, condensates and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as well as refined petroleum products such as Gasoline, Dual Purpose Kerosene, Gasoil, Naphtha, Jet Fuel. Its inherent trading strategy is based upon the firm’s commitment to the continued growth and strength of its physical positions in the crude oil and petroleum product markets, with a long-term focus on enhancing itsmarket share to become the leading local partner in West African energy trading. At Televeras, diversification of its trading portfolio is vital to balance its product mix and maximize itsefficiency and profitability. “We invest in strategic assets that complement our
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existing trading business, and seek to grow our global footprint by expanding our operations into new, robust regions of the world, positioning the firm to take advantage of attractive conditions in the international energy marketplace.” Sanomi had noted. The energy subsidiaries of the group include Taleveras Petroleum Trading BV, Taleveras Energy Resources BV, Gembrook Energy Limited, Tadema Shipping & Logistics Limited and Sarian Oil Services Limited. Taleveras Group draws on a wide and diverse range of expertise from its pool of experienced Engineers, Technical Partners and Consultants when meeting the needs of Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution. Part of Taleveras Group energy projects include 3 Number, 4 X 15MVA 33/11KV Injection Substations located in Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria. 4 Number, 1 x 15MVA 33/11KV injection Substation located in Swali, Opollo, Ovum and Gbarian Ubie in Bayelsa State in Niger Delta Region of Nigeria. 2 Number 1 x 7.5MVA 33/11KV Injection Substation Located in Abonema and Degema in Rivers State in Niger Delta Region Nigeria. The construction arm of the group was born in July 1998, with the incorporation of Dickens & Mabel International Ltd, a multi-disciplined engineering and construction firm. In 2004, it was merged into the Taleveras Group, as a Special Project Unit, still maintaining its brand name. Through this arm it has constantly recorded achievements stemming partly from the desire to improve the most basic of needs which impacts on the immediate society such as the construction of roads and bridges, provision of quality buildings, upgrading of hostels, reconstruction of educational facilities in colleges and universities, development of housing estates and provision of town/city residential infrastructure. Taleveras Group is also engaged in the telecommunications sector through our partnership with Phase 3 Telecoms, to enable the development of the telecommunication networks of West Africa. Its construction experience enables it to invest both its expertise and finances in the crucial growth of this sector. This allows Ta-
Consistent profitability, improved operating cost in all sectors of activities and proper risk management has continued to enhance its financial strength and stability as current combined Bank Lines of credit are in excess of $ 1 Billion Dollars
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National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net
A11 27
leveras Group to contribute to the constructive development and improvement of the West African GSM telecommunication networks. Known for his philanthropic prowess, Sanomi founded the Dickens Sanomi Foundation in memory of his late father. In addition to the Taleveras Group, the Dickens Sanomi Foundation is one of the key mediums through which Sanomi supports his chosen charities, which are selected on the basis of their impact and effectiveness. The Dickens Sanomi Foundation also places a high priority on the development of the Nigerian child and organises a number of competitions designed to encourage artistic accomplishment: Dickens Sanomi Annual Essay Competition for Junior and senior schools in Nigeria and Strauss Musical Competition which promotes musical development in children. Most recently, the Dickens Sanomi Foundation has provided vital relief to areas of Nigeria affected by natural disasters. In 2012 the foundation evacuated about 12,300 flood victims from the Bayelsa and Delta states. Food, blankets, medical care and funds were all provided to the flood victims, who were housed in special relief camps following their rescue. Just his late father, Sanomi is also a sport lover as he is noted to be Polo enthusiast. His company, Taleveras participated in and sponsored the 2010 and 2011 Kaduna International Polo Tourneys respectively. Sanomi has been a man of honour as he has received various accolades both in Nigeria and abroad. On Friday, November 30, 2012, Nigeria’s Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation conferred the Award of Patron of the Nigeria National Heritage on him. In 2007, the Federal Capital Territory Business Excellence Awards gave him Male Entrepreneur of the Year award. In the following year, he was awarded Young Entrepreneur of the Year by Mode Men magazine. The same publication gave him Humanitarian of the Year Award in 2012. He was appointed as the Chairman of the National Heritage Council and Endowment for the Arts, which was inaugurated by the Federal Government on Monday July 1, 2013. The council is mandated “to ensure the protection and conservation of the “just identified 100 heritage sites which are unique and uncommon assets that Nigeria intends to preserve and promote,” among others. The council has Folorunsho Alakija, the richest African woman, as the vice-chairman and other prominent Nigerians as members. BC
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Business Courage
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net
Monday, January 4, 2016
ThebuddingEntrepreneurs KLINIC
With Mamora Victor Mamora is a system thinker and advisor whose belief and activator leadership strengths are directed towards improving workers perspective for city and enterprise development.
e-mail: olusegunmamora@gmail.com
W
elcome to a brand new year 2016. It is your season of growth, increase, development and expansion in business and influence. I know there is tendency for you to be anxious about global economy news and especially as it affects your business. The fact is that how you interpret this news will determine your experience in this year. In my country, Nigeria, there are indicators that the year will be tough going by drop in oil price from OPEC basket, forex challenges, and free fall of Naira currency. The same Nigeria economy will be stimulated with over N6 trillion government spending. That means some entrepreneurs will have potentials to participate in that opportunity to create values worth trillions of naira. That could be you. Don’t rule yourself out under any circumstances. Get excited about the potential for new opportunities to extend your services and expand your influence. A research by Alison Wood Brooks, assistant professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, suggest that people perform best not when they try to relax, but when they get excited about the challenge at hand. Dear reader, do not see the negative economy news as enough reason to relax on your ambition for a new start up, product development, service expansion and your business growth plan. The economic challenge should get you excited as opportunity to take a new business territory, add values and review your business model. In series of experiment conducted by Harvard Business school professor and published in The Journal of Experimental Psychology; General. People were divided into groups for different task and in the processes of orientation some were instructed to say “I am excited” aloud or read instruction on getting excited, and others were asked to say, “I am calm” or “I am anxious”. At the end, the professor noted that those who said “I am excited” actually felt excited as they “fake it until they make it”, people who said, I am excited before they began the task actually did better on the objective performance measure. So what makes the excitement
so powerful? The professor explained that feeling anxious is associated with a threat mindset. This is worrying about how things can go wrong in the future. Conversely when people are feeling excited, they are focusing on the opportunity and how things can go well and work out in their favour. The reality is that people experience what they focus on in business. “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God... Summing it up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious-the best, not the worst; beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things
I
Get excited about expansion
‘
Fake it until they make it”, people who said, I am excited before they began the task actually did better on the objective performance measure
to curse.” -Dr Paul Benjamin of Israel I think one of the smartest things you could do is to deliberately fill your mind with information that will excite your mind about your prospective reality and begin the year with gratitude to God, business associate, friends and family communicating your advance expectation of their support in the New Year. Here I will share few tips on how you can get yourself excited and
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BUSINESS
not worry. The reason is that you really need a positive and possibility emotion to attract both divine and human help. People, naturally, don’t like to hang around fellow who makes them sad. Investors are interested in putting their fund in the hand of entrepreneur who is excited about her venture and express that passion. The first thing is get inspiring music to listen to and sing along. Music is from the word “Muse”
Motivational Business Quotes
t’s through curiosity and looking at opportunities in new ways that we’ve always mapped our path at Dell. There’s always an opportunity to make a difference. – Michael Dell If you work just for money, you’ll never make it, but if you love what you’re doing and you always put the customer first, success will be yours. – Ray Kroc Winners take time to relish their work, knowing that scaling the mountain is what makes the view from the top so exhilarating. – Denis Waitley Management is nothing more than motivating other people. – Le Iacocca
Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it. – Dwight D. Eisenhower The most serious mistakes are not being made as a result of wrong answers. The truly dangerous thing is asking the wrong question. – Peter Drucker Why did I want to win? Because I didn’t want to lose! – Max Schmelling To succeed in business, to reach the top, an individual must know all it is possible to know about that business. – J. Paul Getty BC
and it means to think or ponder. The music sang by Robert Kelly with the title “I believe I can fly” is one the most sold music track. This is because it excites the mind of people to be optimistic about life adventure. Music gives energy. What I do on personal note is to both listen to inspiring music and sing praises to God and that has a way of clearing my thinking to see beyond the present social challenges and hope of winning in life. Get inspiring music and listen for both thinking and excitement reasons. The second thing is read biography of successful entrepreneurs. What biography does to your mind is to lighten it up with hope. Biography is filled with struggles and victories of people who kept going on in the presence of factual challenges and seemly impossible business adventure. It tells you if they can achieve their business dream then you can too. It helps put things in better perspective and excite you to approach similar business challenge constructively. Get biography of successful business people in your industry and read. The third thing is meditate on year end business result from the beginning. Meditation is the soul medication that keeps the body strong in business adventure. Meditation on expected business out come at the end of the year moves you from information to understanding. You are clear about some things that an average entrepreneur will not be able to put into perspective in business sphere of influence. Meditation helps you to make sense of information because understanding is the foundation for application. Any business culture that does not value thought does not make progress. The fourth thing is speak your excitement The word expressed moves you in that direction. You need to speak out that you are excited about good year end in business. Never mind those who may want to discourage you by words. Just speak what you believe. My dear friend, this year will be your best year ever in business. Be courageous and go for your dream. Join me next week for expansion series. BC
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Business Courage
Monday, January 4, 2016
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ThebuddingEntrepreneurs
Entrepreneurs cannot survive under a hostile business environment –Akinyomi For Nigerian-born forex trading guru, Chris Obafemi Akinyomi, in this interview with Adejuwon Osunnuyi, the quickest way for the Mohammadu Buhari administration to revitalise the Nigerian economy is by encouraging budding entrepreneurs. talise the economy,” he added. One why the Naira continues on a steady slide, the budding entrepreneur said it has been largely due to demand outstripping supply; hence a good way to address the problem would be to streamline our demands for foreign currencies. “ Nigeria is an import dependent nation, as most of our consumptions are Imported. So, for that reason the demand for foreign currency is at the high side. Another major factor that is responsible for the falling of naira is the drop of the price of crude oil,” the young CEO explained. But then the British Pounds and most European currencies have been stable. They too make a lot of imports. His countered: “We have two major currencies in Europe, GBP and Euro. As you know, European economy is controlled. Europe does not rely only on crude oil. Also, don’t forget that over70percent of our revenue comes from our crude oil which is not the same case with Europe. If not all, most of the consumptions in Europe are home-made’ unlike Nigeria where most of our consumptions are imported. When the CEO was reminded that Nigeria’s consumption pattern would be difficult to tackle in the short run, he disagreed: “I rather look at it the other way. Consumption pattern is better tackled in the short run. Ours is a nation that spends its hard currency on frivolous imports – things like matches, chewing gum, balloons, not to talk of even big things that are not necessary like textiles, building materials etc. We have to make a choice as a country whether we want to leave the poverty circle or not. It will have to cost us something. That was what most of the Asian
‘
Obafemi
countries that used to be in our situation did,” he warned, citing the successful scenarios during the military regimes when then heads of state, Generals Olusegun Obasanjo and Murtala Muhammed made sweeping bans on frivolous imports. “The reason behind that is that without those fiscal measures, local entrepreneurs cannot make it.” He declared. To Akinyomi, if corruption is not tackled in Nigeria, it will be difficult for the country to move forward. “What is causing a major setback for Nigeria to move forward is corruption. However, with the anti-corruption war by the president, I think things will change with no time. Although, I am equally sceptical that some of the law enforcement agencies may want to take advantage, I hope they do not abuse the system,” making a veiled reference to media reports that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was looking for him. “I was neither invited by the EFCC nor jumped bail, so that they are looking for is complete-
I rather look at it the other way. Consumption pattern is better tackled in the short run. Ours is a nation that spends its hard currency on frivolous imports – things like matches, chewing gum, balloons, not to talk of even big things that are not necessary like textiles, building materials etc.
‘
A
kinyomi, who is today the Swift Transfer Ltd boss, left Nigeria in 2000 to France in search of the proverbial Golden Fleece. He came face-to-face with ample business opportunities amongst Africans in France but because of some handicap necessitated by language, he crossed over to the United Kingdom. He immediately enrolled at the University of Westminster to fulfil his childhood ambition of becoming a lawyer. On completing his law programme, he began trading in import and export. “The import and export business really opened my eyes to the opportunities in forex business. I own CHELSEA General Trading LLC, Dubai and FIGE CHELSEA LTD, a Nigeria based company which I used for general merchandize. This required me to frequently search for different currencies. That opend my eyes to forex trading and I registered Swift Transfer Ltd, a UK based company. Since then, we have been to make our mark,” he told Business Courage. According Akinyomi , government should create a more conducive environment for small and medium business owners to operate. “We have seen National Directorate of Employment, NDE; Family Economic Advancement Programme, FEAP, People’s Bank and many other initiatives which failed because government as emphasizing money too far above other things an entrepreneur needs.” He explained, He explained the viability of the idea should be of more important hence government should assist budding entrepreneurs to prepare sound business plans rather than doling out loans to them for start-ups. “Loan is not good for start-up business unless it is a very big business. How would such a business compete against very big pre-existing players even with the money? But a good business plan would naturally elicit money. I mean, investors will readily put their money on a good business plan. That is the way for government go to revi-
ly absurd. Those kinds of things make business development very hostile, and such thing can only happen in Nigeria. It doesn’t happen in Europe. For my kind of business which relies heavily on integrity, when such things happen, it kills the business . It is true I have a case in court with one of my clients regarding one of my business concerns. That is no excuse for overzealous people in the commission engaging acts capable of destroying innocent people like us. “ The international financial consultant urged the Federal Ministry of Finance and Central Bank of Nigerian (CBN) to come up with more ingenuous ways managing forex so that the Naira can be stronger. He explained that as long as the Naira continues to slide, the economy would naturally continue the downward turn “for the simple fact that the Naira is the unit of measurement of our economy”. On how other young Nigerian entrepreneurs can make fortune out of the forex business, Akinyomi advised new entrants not to be in a hurry to make it, stressing that it is a business in which one could be drowned at first attempt to swim if due diligence had not been done. He advised: “Start simple. Free practice trading accounts can be downloaded from numerous online forex brokers
and allow traders to practice in real time like real-money accounts. You will be able to get familiar with the mechanics of trading and can practice all the strategies you can think of before putting any real money at risk. “ From there, the entrant could develop through knowledgegathering through books, courses, online classes, videos, webinars, getting a mentor and so on. The key is to never stop seeking out the right information. There are loads of resources all over the internet and many great books. He warned again that new traders that could seem confused at first “but they should understand the fact that when trading forex, you are actually choosing to buy one currency while you simultaneously sell another. This is called trading in currency pairs. The first currency in a pair is called the base currency, while the second one is called the quote or counter currency. On negative practice involved in forex, the Swift Transfer boss explained that many negative attributes associated with forex traders were not deliberate. He said some of them occur because of the volatile nature of the business. “A good example is the habit of trading too much. Many traders can get caught up in thinking that every signal is worth trading or that they need to be active all day or in every market to maximize their profits. It has happened to me before and I am still paying dearly for it. Usually the opposite is true and traders should focus on trades that they have the strongest conviction will be successful. “Another bad habit is jumping from strategy to strategy when things don’t go well, while another one is getting into a trade without knowing where to get out. I think many bad habits arise when traders fail to prepare effectively or when we lose the discipline to stay with what we planned to do. “ He admonished new traders. Outside business, Akinyomi is spends much of his time reading or watching football. “My business requires me to study and I have to do that. But if you are talking of outside business as in leisure, I watch football. I am an ardent Arsenal FC fan and since am in UK, it is a wonderful opportunity to watch my team play. I rarely miss going to the stadium to watch Arsenal’s home games.”BC
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Business Courage
Monday, January 4, 2016
Ceramics sub sector II’ soon thrive – CPAN
Stories by Abolaji Adebayo
T
he Ceramics Professionals Association of Nigeria, CPAN, has declared that ceramics production would thrive and significantly contribute to the development of the Nigeria’s economy in 2016. The stakeholders said the opportunities, which abound in the sector would be properly exploited. Ceramics production in Nigeria has been kept at the bay due to its unpopularity among people compared to other sectors. There are few producers and investors in the aspect of economy. The CPAN, which was recently registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, believed that the sector would be able to compete with other sectors in terms of local production and contribution to the Gross Domestic Products, GDP. Speaking to National Mirror, the Chairman, Board of Trustee and the current Coordinator of the Association, Professor Patrick Eguakhide Oakhina, said the registration of the association was a step towards moving the sector forward. “We have got our association registered by the government, now all the stakeholders, people who are into Ceramics productions such as producers, distributors, professionals,
Ceramics artists, Ceramics technologists, and Ceramics engineers have been coming together under this umbrella to promote ceramics development in Nigeria.” He said the association served as a platform for all stakeholders to meet and chart ways towards boosting ceramics production in the country. Oakhina, who noted that the sector remained unpopular among Nigerians, said that might be the reason for the
low productivity of the sector. He added that Ceramics, as a course, has not been given prominence it requires in Nigerian Tertiary institutions. According to him, only one aspect of the course – Ceramics Arts is being studied in few higher institutions, while other aspects such as Ceramics Science, Ceramics Engineering, and Ceramics Technology are not included in the curriculum. He said 5.5 million jobs
Founder, Hearts of Gold Children’s Hospice, Mrs. Laja Adedoyin (middle); to her right, Head, Corporate Communications Department, The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mr. Olumide Orojimi; to her left, Head Human Resources, NSE, Ms Pai Gamde, and other Staff of The NSE during a visit to the Hearts of Gold Children’s Hospice, Lagos as part of the activities for the annual NSE Employees Give Back
‘Manufacturing sector to pick up in 2016’
I
nvestment banking group, FBN Capital has indicated through its Purchasing Managers Index, PMI, that Nigeria’s manufacturing sector may be recovering soon. The PMI, as described by FBN Capital, takes the outlook of Nigeria’s manufacturing sector as an indicator of the economic strength of the manufacturing sector. The report indicated a rise to 51.6 per cent from 49 per cent for September 2015, which showed a steady recovery of business activities and confidence in the manufacturing sector, while forecasting a modest improvement. As indicated in the report, Nigeria’s manufacturing sector has previously experienced a shortfall; however, while announcing huge 2015 profits, the National Cashew Association of Nigeria, NCAN, said
could be created yearly along ceramics value-chain if the sector is properly harnessed. Currently, as he noted, the capacity of the sector in term of job creation is less than 10000 as many ceramics companies in the country have become moribund. He appealed to various state governments to incorporate ceramics production into their programmes geared towards empowering the youths in order to promote the sector. BC
that current global market trends showed an increase in demand for cashew. Cashew processing will further boost the sector following the commitment expressed by NCAN to rejuvenate cashew plantations and increase the area of land under cashew production in the country. In February 2015, NCAN signed a $5 million export deal with shipping companies to export 6,700 containers of cashew nuts to Vietnam, India and other Asian countries. Also, in the last year, Nigeria’s pharmaceutical manufacturing sector remained focused on the growth and expansion of drug manufacturing within the country. The sector has invested $300 billion in machinery and quality upgrades as a way to end drug importation. Managing Director of Evans
Medical and the President, West African Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association, WAPMA, Bunmi Olaopa, said due to the upgrade of pharmaceutical companies in Nigeria, many manufacturers are presently elevating the standards of their factories,
Olaopa
while others are on the lookout for partners. “Many more in Nigeria and Ghana are also in the process of acquiring pre-qualification. So, the issue of low quality of drugs is now over,” she stated. The report also noted that the reading in the manufacturing sector picked up from 47 in August to 52 in September 2015. In sustaining a boost in the manufacturing sector, the report described a shift in focus towards light manufacturing such as textiles, apparel and footwear, which could boost job creation because of Nigeria’s comparative advantages. It harped on government policies to encourage a more business-friendly environment for private sector participants including foreign investors within the made-inNigeria initiative. BC
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net
Expert urges Nigerians in diaspora to invest in the country
T
he Vice President of the National Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, NACCIMA, Asiwaju Olaitan Alabi, has called on Nigerians in the Diaspora to assist the economy by establishing industries which would help in arresting the high rate of unemployment in the country. Speaking at the inauguration of Yebaot Automobiles Limited recently, Alabi noted that the establishment of industries by wealthy Nigerians at a period that the country was trying to diversify the economy, would go a long in reducing unemployment rate. While noting that government cannot do it alone, the NACCIMA boss said the country needs foreign investments to boost the economy and reduce its dependence on petroleum products. Alabi, who disclosed that Nigeria cannot survive with her mono-economy system, noted that the prices of petroleum products will continue to fall in the world market because developed nations have found alternative to the use of petroleum. “The price of petrol in the world market has shattered our economy, as state governments are unable to pay workers’ salaries, which has affected the whole economy. We do not need petrol; we need to go back to agriculture. We have to face agriculture to put an end to our sufferings,” Alabi declared. The Chief Executive Officer, Yebotat Automobile Limited, Mr Yomi Olatinwo, assured that the country would provide vehicles at reasonable prices to artisans, government officials and other interested members of the public. Olatinwo, who is based in the United States of America, said he decided to return to the country to contribute to the economic development of the country. He said the firm would go into partnership with foreign companies with a view to establishing automobile industry in Nigeria. BC
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net
Business Courage
Monday, January 4, 2016
A15 31
Stock market last week Equities t was another brief trading week as the Federal Government of Nigeria declared Monday, 28th December, 2015 and Friday, 1st January, 2016 as Public Holidays to celebrate Boxing day and the New Year respectively. Meanwhile, trades on the floor of the Bourse recorded a turnover of 2.965 billion shares worth N9.364bn in 7,174 deals in contrast to a total of 743.117 million shares valued at N6.591bn that exchanged hands last week in 8,325 deals. The Financial Services Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 2.760 billion shares valued at N5.174bn traded in 4,103 deals; thus contributing 93.06 per cent and 55.25 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. The Services Industry followed with 66.805 million shares worth N203.043m in 140 deals. The third place was occupied by the ICT Industry with a turnover of 42.737 million shares worth N21.730m in 15 deals. Trading in the Top Three Equities namely – African Alliance Insurance Company Plc, Sterling Bank Plc and FBN Holdings Plc. (measured by volume) accounted for 1.998 billion shares worth N2.585bn in 882 deals, contribut-
I
NASD OTC REPORT
NSE trading hall
ing 67.36 per cent and 27.60 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. ETPs: Also traded during the week were a total of 60,171 units of Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) valued at N484,396.36 executed in 20 deals, compared with a total of 721 units valued at N250,859.50 transacted last week in 19 deals. Bonds: A total of 75,750 units of Federal Government Bonds valued at N128.722m were traded this week in 1 deal. However, there was no transaction recorded on bonds last week. Index Movement: The NSE AllShare Index and Market Capital-
ization appreciated by 6.59 per cent and 6.62 per cent to close the week at 28,642.25 and N9.851trn respectively. Similarly, all other Indices finished higher during the week, with the exception of the NSE ASeM Index that closed flat. Summary of Price Changes: Forty-two (42) equities appreciated in price during the week, higher than twenty-six (26) equities of the previous week. Twentytwo (22) equities depreciated in price, lower than twenty-seven (27) equties of the previous week, while one hundred and twentysix (126) equities remained unchanged, lower than one hundred and thirty-seven (137) equities recorded in the previous week. BC
Market Indicators for Week Ended 31-12-15 All-Share Index 27,777.83 points Market Capitalization 9,859,246,916,616.45
NASD OTC MARKET REPORT - WEEK 53
1 OUTSTANDING OFFERS AND BIDS ON NASD OTC Outstanding deals since November, 2015.
Offers Industry Oil & Gas Financials Financials Financials Financials Industrials Financials Consumer Goods Consumer Goods
SDFOODCPT FOOD CONCEPTS PLC
Consumer Services
0.50
Last Offer Date 23-Nov-15 21-Dec-15 16-Dec-15 -
-
-
SDFARMSPLC FREE RANGES FARM PLC
Consumer Goods
1.00
-
-
-
-
-
-
SDFUMMAN FUMMAN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS INDUSTRIES PLC SDGEFLUID GEO-FLUIDS PLC SDGOLDEN GOLDEN CAPITAL PLC SDIGIPLC INDUSTRIAL & GENERAL INSURANCE PLC SDJAIZ JAIZ INTERNATIONAL PLC SDNDEP NIGER DELTA EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION PLC SDNMRCPLC NIGERIA MORTGAGE REFINANCE COMPANY PLC
Consumer Goods Industrials Financials Financials Financials Oil & Gas Financials
-
-
-
Financials Technology Industrials Financials Technology Financials
22-Dec-15 30-Dec-15 11-Nov-15
0.11 141.00 0.79
-
-
SDPARTNER PARTNERSHIP INVESTMENT COMPANY PLC SDRSOURCE RESOURCERY PLC SDRIGGS RIGGS VENTURES WEST AFRICA PLC SDSPRINGM SPRING MORTGAGE PLC SDSWAPPLC SWAP TECHNOLOGIES AND TELECOMMS PLC
0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 1.00 10.00 1.00 0.50
-
0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 1.00
1-Dec-15 2-Dec-15
0.48 0.74
-
SDTRUSTMB TRUSTBOND MORTGAGE BANK PLC
Nominal value (₦) 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 1.00 0.50 0.50
Bids
Security SDACORN ACORN PETROLEUM PLC SDARMLIFE ARM LIFE PLC SDARMPROP ARM PROPERTIES PLC SDAFRILAND AFRILAND PROPERTIES PLC SDBGLPLC BGL PLC SDCAPDBETO CAPPA AND D'ALBERTO PLC SDCSCSPLC CENTRAL SECURITIES CLEARING SYSTEM PLC SDDUFIL DUFIL PRIMA FOODS PLC SDFCWAMCO FRIESLAND CAMPINA WAMCO NIGERIA PLC
Volume offered Last Offer Price Last Bid Price 290,000 0.38 15,175.00 68.80 10,000 6.50 -
20,500,000.00 30,000.00 1,000,000 1,035,700.00 1,250,240.00
2 DEMATERIALISATION AND CUMULATIVE TRADE IN OTC SECURITIES 31-Dec-15 Security
SDACORN ACORN PETROLEUM PLC SDARMLIFE ARM LIFE PLC SDARMPROP ARM PROPERTIES PLC SDAFRILAND AFRILAND PROPERTIES PLC SDBGLPLC BGL PLC SDCAPDBETO CAPPA AND D'ALBERTO PLC SDCSCSPLC CENTRAL SECURITIES CLEARING SYSTEM PLC SDDUFIL DUFIL PRIMA FOODS PLC SDFCWAMCO FRIESLAND CAMPINA WAMCO NIGERIA PLC SDFOODCPT FOOD CONCEPTS PLC SDFARMSPLC FREE RANGES FARM PLC SDFUMMAN FUMMAN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS INDUSTRIES PLC SDGEFLUID GEO-FLUIDS PLC SDGOLDEN GOLDEN CAPITAL PLC SDIGIPLC INDUSTRIAL & GENERAL INSURANCE PLC SDJAIZ JAIZ INTERNATIONAL PLC SDNDEP NIGER DELTA EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION PLC SDNMRCPLC NIGERIA MORTGAGE REFINANCE COMPANY PLC SDPARTNER PARTNERSHIP INVESTMENT COMPANY PLC SDRSOURCE RESOURCERY PLC SDRIGGS RIGGS VENTURES WEST AFRICA PLC SDSPRINGM SPRING MORTGAGE PLC SDSWAPPLC SWAP TECHNOLOGIES AND TELECOMMS PLC
SDTRUSTMB TRUSTBOND MORTGAGE BANK PLC
Industry Oil and Gas Financials Financials Financials Financials Industrial Financials Consumer Goods Consumer Goods Consumer Services Consumer Goods Consumer Goods Industrial Financials Financials Financials Oil and Gas Financials Financials Technology Industrial Financials Technology Financials
Introduced by Meristem Securities Limited APT Securities & Fund Limited Mega Equity Limited APT Securities & Fund Limited Nigerian Int. Securities Ltd UBA Stockbroking Firm Greenwich Securities Limited Anchoria Investment & Securities Limited Capital Bancorp Plc Stanbic IBTC stockbrokers limited CSL Stockbroking Limited Integrated Trust & Investment Limited Icon Stockbrokers Limited Sterling Capital Market Limited Greenwich Securities Limited APT Securities & Fund Limited FCSL Asset Management Co. Limited Cordros Capital Plc APT Securities & Fund Limited APT Securities & Fund Limited APT Securities & Fund Limited Primera Africa Securities Limited Signet Investment and Securities Limited Prominent Securities Limited
Company Registrars CardinalStone Registrars Limited African Prudential Registrars Plc African Prudential Registrars Plc African Prudential Registrars Plc Unity Registrars Limited African Prudential Registrars Plc African Prudential Registrars Plc Nnenna Ejekam Associates First Registrars Limited Meristem Registrars Limited Meristem Registrars Limited PAC Registrars Limited Meristem Registrars Limited African Prudential Registrars Plc GTL Registrars Limited African Prudential Registrars Plc United Securities Limited Meristem Registrars Limited First Registrars Limited EDC Registrars Limited Mainstreet Bank Registrars Limited PAC Registrars Limited PAC Registrars Limited United Securities Limited
Year end 31/Dec 31/Dec 31/Dec 31/Dec 31/Dec 31/Mar 31/Dec 31/Dec 31/Dec 31/Dec 31/Dec 31/Dec 31/Dec 31/Dec 31/Dec 31/Dec 31/Dec 31/Dec 31/Dec 31/Dec 31/Dec 31/Dec 31/Dec 31/Dec
Volume Bidded Last Bid Date -
-
-
-
TRADE INFORMATION (JAN 2015-TILL DATE) DEMATERIALISATION INFORMATION Total Share Capital Volume % '000 Dematerialised Dematerialised DEALS VOLUME VALUE (₦) 65,204,146 2,000,000,000 3.26% 102 5,232,556 2,061,074.02 606,000,000 5,785,673,000 10.47% 29,485,023 1,900,000,000 1.55% 53 182,230 475,783.80 61,534,980 1,249,000,000 4.93% 153 30,984,754 73,109,019.43 9,627,657,533 12,000,000,000 80.23% 5 6,300 18,900.00 2,668,304 196,875,000 1.36% 28 110,569 8,331,233.60 749,581,149 5,000,000,000 14.99% 385 535,747,565 2,938,164,355.76 6,753,333,334 0.00% 184,824,312 976,335,936 18.93% 826 140,747,953 43,834,724,127.17 107,211,770 5,650,000,000 1.90% 95 30,371,199 22,123,987.02 193,846 519,999,631 0.04% 69,369,303 1,200,000,000 5.78% 4 1,400 2,012.00 567,737,595 4,257,668,000 13.33% 61 408,389,157 175,539,724.67 252,255,056 1,170,324,536 21.55% 14 5,900 6,140.00 1,021,968,270 14,231,238,000 7.18% 81 144,661,610 114,448,772.85 315,222,809 11,829,700,000 2.66% 28 2,180,481 2,628,789.84 19,901,354 181,408,000 10.97% 210 14,179,294 2,971,876,868.46 125,000,000 1,762,500,000 7.09% 1 125,000,000 568,750,000.00 197,337,494 2,875,595,000 6.86% 30 6,834,900 5,811,092.00 520,000,000 2,576,686,039 20.18% 53 448,270,580 224,187,829.40 1,726,264,230 0.00% 7,138,199,210 0.00% 1,539,042,000 2,705,378,000 56.89% 38 1,181,210 1,378,244.30 117,993,505 10,945,334,000 1.08% 27 22,160 18,384.70 104,631,511,916 16,180,188,449 15.46% 2,194 1,894,109,818 50,943,656,339.02
If you do not see your unquoted Plc on this list or for further enquirys consult your NASD OTC participating broker or visit our website at www.nasdng.com
A16 32
Business Courage
Monday, January 4, 2016
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net
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Monday, January 4, 2016
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net
33
Law & Justice nationalmirrorlaw@yahoo.com
Judges are a helpless lot. Let Counsel sympathise with our state of helplessness -Retired Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria-Justice Niki Tobi
xx
Our Judiciary is not impressive enough –Ojo 34
Tasks before judiciary, judicial officers CJN, Justice Mahmud Mohammed
How Gani battled to prosecute security 37
US Justices divided on same-sex marriage 38
AGF, Abubakar Malami (SAN)
There are some fundamental issues that will determine the success or otherwise of the judiciary in this New Year. Outstanding among them is the trial of former National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki and other prominent Nigerians over the $2.1 billion arms scandal. WALE IGBINTADE highlights the views of senior lawyers and their expectations from the judiciary.
T
he significant role the judiciary plays in any nation has never been in doubt. This is because; the preservation of the rule of law is an important determination of the socio-economic development of any nation. Besides, the judiciary also provides a mechanism for the resolution of disputes. Under the doctrine of the separation of powers, the judiciary generally does not make law but rather interprets law and applies it to the facts of each case. In his inaugural speech, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmud Mohammed while laying out his agenda for the judiciary said he would enhance judicial autonomy, improved deployment of technology to court process, and promote alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms. The CJN also promised to work
I expect the judIcIary wIll contInue to remove the bad eggs among them eIther for
beIng Incompetent, greedy or
corrupt, so that the judIcIary
wIll be seen to be above board. with the National Judicial Council (NJC) to ensure discipline among judicial officers, secure financial autonomy for the Judiciary, mass deployment of information and communication technology (ICT) to ensure efficient operation of the court. The CJN said, ‘’the National Judicial Council (NJC) under my chairmanship will be committed to entrench and preserve the independence of the judiciary. It will ensure a judiciary that is committed to the rule of law, a financially
autonomous judiciary, a proactive and vibrant judiciary, with staff of proven integrity. “It will ensure a dynamic judiciary manned by officers with various backgrounds, discipline, commitment and competence, a judiciary that is technologically driven, with courtrooms fitting court proceedings recording equipment and case management system. The CJN, who stressed the need for Alternative Dispute Resolution, lamented that the process of litigation has become more and more
time consuming, complex, expensive and cumbersome. However, there have been mixed reactions on whether the Nigerian judiciary has met the expectations of Nigerians. While some have rated the nation judiciary very high others have cited delays in concluding cases within a short period of time as one of the problems confronting the nation’s judiciary. National Mirror asked senior lawyers on their expectations from the judiciary in 2016. In his view, Mr Mike Igbokwe, SAN said ‘’my expectation is that the Judiciary will continue to strengthen the growth of democracy in Nigeria by the way they decide cases in line with the provision of the Constitution. The judiciary should continue to uphold the rule of law so as to be able to maintain the confidence of the people, especially the masses who see the court as the last hope of the CONTINUED ON PAGE 36
34
Law & Justice
Monday, January 4, 2016
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net
Our Judiciary is not impressive Adekunle Ojo, Lagos lawyer and former Second Vice-President, Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) in this interview with MATTHEW IRINOYE, speaks on the anti-graft war of the present administration and the constitutional issues in Kogi election crisis, among others. Excerpts: How will you compare the anti-corruption fight by the former President Jonathan and the Buhari administration? There has been an improvement in waging war against corruption since the present regime attained office, though it may not have translated to much desired structure but we could see certain things put in place to achieve desire results. President Muhammadu Buhari is somebody who has zero tolerance for corruption, and this sends signal to public office holders as well as the politicians. For instance, the president has said that the aides to work with ministers must come from the ministry; apparently the aides are likely to be career civil servants. The era of getting political thugs under the disguise of political aides will not work again. Aside that, I can say categorically that an average police man in the country is now on the helm of his duty because the police men have seen the signal through their Inspector-General warning them on daily basis to detach themselves from any attitude that may tarnish the image of the Nigerian Police. The same thing is happening in the Nigerian Customs, EFCC and other security agencies in the country. Without mincing words, the Code of Conduct Tribunal is a veritable tool to fight corruption but it has been lying low for too long, if being active it is a body that can assist in checking what a public office holder came with and his present status while leaving the office. As a stakeholder in the judiciary I can say that judiciary has not been impressive enough because a lot of corrupt people who could not be arrested or tried by the law court are being jailed in the sane society than ours. I think there is need to buckle up because era of judges dancing to the tune of politicians should end. The judges should remember the oath sworn to the Federal Republic of Nigeria to uphold the rule of law. I think our problems are still there. We do not need a special court because our laws are still there, the Criminal Code, the EFCC Acts, ICPC Acts and many others are enough. I think we need judges who will look straight to the points of law and make a decree, judges who will be serious and will not parade themselves with frivolities. I think the executive arm has done it part but the legislative and judiciary arms are still lacking. How do you think the differences in the Criminal Code and EFCC Act can be harmonized to enhance effectiveness in the administration of criminal justice system? There is need for an improvement but, I will like to say that before the establishment of EFCC Acts, unjust enrichment was not known as a crime meanwhile, bribery was a corruption, breach of trust was corruption, so to speak. The former president Olusegun Obasanjo, looked at a particular
Ojo
I thInk we need judges who wIll look straIght to the poInts of law and make a decree, judges who
wIll be serIous and wIll not parade themselves wIth frIvolItIes.
section of the constitution for amendment so that EFCC and ICPC could be created, though many said it was meant to fight selective people but my take is that, were the allegations against them not founding? I think there should be codification, bringing everything together is possible; having done that the prosecuting agencies can be enlarged, which means other agencies, aside the Nigerian Police, EFCC, ICPC can also prosecute. I believe in united codification so that all the laws can be together at a glance for people to
read it. Then the differences would be dealt with. I agree that there should be codification of the Penal Code, the Criminal Code, the EFCC Acts, ICPC Acts and other related laws to form a law which will assist tremendously in enforcing the laws on those who violate them. How will you react to the slow pace in the trial of top public officers who had earlier been arraigned for corrupt practices against the backdrop of the
fact that nothing is heard again on their cases? I think at that time nobody was looking for persecutor rather prosecutor, the prosecution must be within the ambit of law; if somebody has been arraigned before the court and the court finds out that such person was not guilty or culpable such person will have to go home. I think in most cases the prosecution team should be blamed for going to court when necessary evidence needed against the accused persons are not ready. Aside what was being mentioned the prosecution team most times come with series of charges against the accused persons, there is need for the prosecution team to sit up. For instance, the charges that got James Ibori jail abroad were not as much as the ones levelled against him in Nigeria and nothing was done, I think there should be no frivolity in charges. What is your reaction to the plea bargain in the country?
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Monday, January 4, 2016
enough –Ojo
Plea bargain has not worked very well in this country, I think we are not ripe for plea bargain and if there should be, cases of financial corruption should be excluded, though it can come under tax offences and others. Let me say without mincing words, the problem of this country is corruption, when people see that if they are caught the best that can happen to them is negotiation, such will make them more daring, they will feel if they are not caught, they will keep proceed of their loot and if they are caught they will release the money and nothing still happen. I think we are not ripe for plea bargain it will only embolden people to more stealing.
How will you assess the standard of the legal profession in the country? A lot of people have said that the standard is on the very lowest ebb, many of our colleagues especially the young ones speak good English language and are more exposed to Information Technology but rather to be of advantage it now becomes problem in the legal profession. Another aspect is the legal education, looking at the producer of the products, I mean the intelligence of lecturers, the university curriculum, the university library all these are contributing factors to the legal standard. Another issue is that majority of Nigerians are leaving below poverty level, yet they want to send their children to school. For instance, if such student cannot afford a laptop to carry out some of the assignments being given, such student is being carried along and there are majority of them in the university who are just being carried along with empty brains, they have nothing to offer. Though there are few of them that are exceptionally good, once they come out of the law school they suddenly want to become millionaire overnight. If by chance he has someone to assist him to set up a chamber, what he does is to go into properties and become an emergency contractor. All these added together, the standard is not as it ought to be because the NBA did not invest in the system of legal practice and if we don’t invest we will not be able to make necessary change. I think we have left too much in the hand of government about the training of who becomes a lawyer. It not the gov-
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ernment that determines who will become a chartered accountant, it is the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria that determine such, they only ensure that there are certain conditions that assist them to get the best unlike lawyers who can be seen and find anywhere. It is because they invested their money in the Institute that makes them have say on who becomes chartered accountant or not.
What is your take on the call for the establishment of special courts to try corrupt public officials in the country? My take has not changed that we don’t need special courts except someone will need to convince me that those who will preside over the courts would be saints or not Nigerians as well as the supporting staffs and that the electronic gadgets will function on their own, if all these things cannot be achieved I think there is no need to disturb one another. We have codes, laws to checkmate corrupt officials in the country through which the offender can be arraigned, prosecuted and be sufficiently dealt with even in the manner that will benefit the citizenry. Aside that, there are compensation and punishment, it is just a matter of reading the book and apply what is in the book. I think if we succeed in creating special courts, we have succeeded in building special monsters. There are people ordinarily one will believe they cannot compromise but it is a matter of what is at stake, in as much that they are human being and lawyers, it is all about antecedent , rather than creating monsters it is better to create system that will enable lawyers to work. Judiciary can work effectively if we can pay premium attention on performance lawyers and judges. How do you see the constitutional issues raised in the Kogi State Election? I had a privilege on a live broadcast on the day we were told Prince Audu died, though the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC said the election was inconclusive but the statement read indicated that it was concluded. They said, there were about 49,000 people that are yet to vote and 25,000 have voters card, among them less than 10, 000 people
Ojo
There should be codificaTion of The Penal code, The criminal code, The efcc acTs, icPc acTs and oTher relaTed laws, which will assisT Tremendously in enforcing The laws on Those who violaTe Them. voted. My argument is that Faleke should make up for governor and another person should be his deputy, the APC should have made a position that there was no need for supplementary election because the issue of re-nominating another candidate and issue of primary election do not need to come to play. It would have been better for APC to push Faleke up because there is no way Bello can be sustained as the governor even if he is being sworn-in. How can a man who stands for supplementary election reap the main election of about 500, 000 votes. Constitutionally, as much as what was left was not higher than the different between the winner and runner up, there was no basic for supplementary election, and if there was no need supplementary election there was no basic for Faleke to be short aside by another person, but whether the court declare Bello or Faleke as the governor, it a victory for APC, I think Faleke’s decision by going back to House of Representatives endears a lot of Nigerians, I think he has made a decision which is his constitutional right under the law, it is a decision he has taken in the interest of constitution development, at the end we would see whether he is supposed to be the governor or not. Many people say that it is different from the case of Amaechi, but at the end the same result will come out. Many people have suggested that former President Goodluck Jonathan should be invited for questioning. What is your take? Most times people who are not related in
combating crime make useful suggestions and better analysts than those who are directly involved. I think we should allow those who are saddled with the responsibility to determine if the former President Goodluck Jonathan should be invited or not. The fact that president or governor enjoys immunity should not be the reason why prosecution agencies should not do their job, I know that in Nigeria, an average governor will say he does not have direct contact with money, but the transactions were made through certain people. People like Secretary to the State Government, Auditor- General, minister of finance and many others like that; do they also enjoy immunity? When the prosecuting agencies go after those people mentioned, they will point out who are involved in the corruption. What is your take on the Social Media bill before the Senate? The bill before the Senate is a product of world village, there are many problems in this country that should enjoy the time of our legislatures, social media bill is the least problem anybody can think of, and worldwide nobody has ever bordered to censor it because in most cases one cannot trace where a particular message originated from. With due respect to the senators and without mincing words trying to throw stone at every dog barking at someone on his way may derail him. If I were in their shoes, my concern would be on how to put food on the tables of many Nigerian and how to ameliorate poverty, rather than busy doing what do not concern them.
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Monday, January 4, 2016
‘There’s need to cleanse judiciary’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 33 common man. However, in order to enable the judiciary discharge its constitutional and statutory responsibilities, I except that the judiciary should be well funded and also well positioned in terms of logistics, human and material resources needed to carry out their function. ‘’Also, I expect the judiciary will continue to remove the bad eggs among them either for being incompetent, greedy or corrupt, so that the judiciary will be seen to be above board and actually dispense justice according to the constitution of the land’’. Speaking in the same vein, Mr. Adebayo Adelodun, SAN said ‘’ I expect that the judiciary will continue to give direction to this country. Democracy can never strive where the judiciary is failing in its duty. I say without fear of contradiction that the progress we have recorded so far in our democratic experiment has been due largely to the judiciary. Yes, judiciary is an institution made up of human beings and has its own problems and there have been a couple of judicial officers who have been found not to be upright. But, that can be overcome , so I expect the judiciary will do a lot of house cleaning so that before it begin to beam its search light to the outside , it should start from the insides. Any bad egg that will give the judiciary a bad name should be shown the way out. Therefore, the judiciary can concentrate in giving democracy a change in this country’’. ‘’However, judiciary has done well giving our experience. In Africa, Nigerian judiciary is second to none. I say it will all sense of responsibility, this country has donated judges and Chief Justices to other African countries. So, I expect the judiciary to continue to do what is required of it’’. Highlighting his expectations from the
Ananaba
Adelodun
Igbokwe
I thInk most people In the country are expectIng faIr trIals. the judIcIary should be faIr to the people and to the socIety as well as IndIvIdual accused persons.
judiciary, Mr. Paul Ananaba, SAN said ‘’I expect the government will allow the judiciary to do its work. I expect that many of our laws will be reviewed by the National Assembly. Members of the National Assembly should not just be there, they should be reviewing the law and promulgating new laws. I also expect that government will obey court proceedings and orders. I expect that this year will be better than 2015’’. Dr. Tunji Abayomi said ‘’I think most people in the country are expecting fair trials. The judiciary should be fair to the people and to the society as well as individual accused persons. I think there is also expectation that
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Jokes
Lawyer’s club A gang of robbers broke into a lawyer’s club by mistake. The old legal lions gave them a fight for their life and their money. The gang was very happy to escape. “It ain’t so bad,” one crook noted. “We got $25 between us.” The boss screamed: “I warned you to stay clear of lawyers--we had $100 when we broke in!”
Lawyers on a flight
An airliner was having engine trouble, and the pilot instructed the cabin crew to have the passengers take their seats and get prepared for an emergency landing. A few minutes later, the pilot asked the flight attendants if everyone was buckled in and ready. “All set back here, Captain,” came the reply, “except the lawyers are still going around passing out business cards.”
Who handles cases?
Nelson needed legal advice, so he walked into the office of Gregory, Ellis and Gregory. Nelson sat down at the desk of the senior member of the firm. “If you’re not rally in bad trouble, I’ll take the case,” said Gregory. “If you’re in a real jam and want to get out of it, my partner will handle it.
there will be speedy trial especially in the high profile cases, so that we will know where we are going. The hope of the people should not be tied to a slow process’’. Abayomi also said ‘’there is need for cleansing in the judiciary because the decay that beset every department in the country has also affected the judiciary. Whereas in western countries, their institutions protects the integrity of their citizens but in our own country the institutions are already corrupted. We have few individuals fighting against corruption. How do you know fight against institutional corruption? Corruption in Nigeria is like a wasting disease, it is easy to detect but
If, on the other hand, you’re not involved and want to get in trouble, my son, who just graduated from law school, will take it!”
The old man’s cheque
An elderly and somewhat hard-of-hearing man was sitting in a stylish downtown attorney’s office as his lawyer handed him his will. “Your estate is very complex,” said the lawyer, “but I’ve made sure that all of your wishes will be executed. Due to the complexity, my fee is $4500.” Just then, the phone rang and the lawyer got involved with a long call. Thinking the lawyer had said “$500,” the old man wrote out his cheque and left. When she got off the phone and realized the old man’s mistake, the lawyer ran after him down the stairs and into the parking lot just as he drove away. Feeling frustrated, the lawyer looked at the cheque and decided to accept the situation philosophically. “Oh well,” she said to herself, “$500 for half an hour’s work isn’t bad.”
My daddy’s a lawyer
Two small boys, not yet old enough to be in school, were overheard talking at the zoo one day. “My name is Billy. What’s yours?” asked the first boy. “Tommy,” replied the second. “My Daddy’s an accountant. What does your Daddy do for a living?” asked Billy. Tommy replied, “My Daddy’s a lawyer.” “Honest?” asked Billy. “No, just the regular kind”, replied Tommy.
Bastard in the family
For three years, the young attorney had been taking his brief vacations at this country inn. The last time he’d finally managed an affair with the innkeeper’s daughter. Looking forward to an exciting few days, he dragged his suitcase up the stairs of the inn, then stopped short. Culled from Aha! Jokes; Lawyers Jokes.com
difficult to cure. Justice has become merchandised. We hope that things will improve beyond the rituals, when judges sit in political meetings. We are actually in a mess, I am sorry to say’’. In his opinion, the Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Ikeja branch, Mr. Yemi Farounbi said ‘’honestly our country today is in a serious crisis. I have looked at the executive as well as the legislative arms of government; they may not be able to save us. We have to look up to the judiciary to be the saviour of the country. In 2016, judicial officers should be alert to their responsibilities. They should in the course of giving judgement and in the course of interpreting the constitution and in the course of interpreting statutes have the interest of the masses at heart. Their judgements should be in tune with the yearnings of the people. They should like creasers’ wife be above board. They should save the country from into crisis judiciary is the only arm that can do it.
LEGAL TIPS Basic issues in Administration of Estate
. A testator is a deceased person who left a will in favour of dependants and beneficiaries. · When a person dies without leaving a will, he/she is said to die interstate. · The probate of a will is granted to the executor(s) named in the will of a testator or to an administrator in the absence of will. · A letter of administration is granted to a personal representative to manage the assets of a deceased interstate. · The application for the grant or revocation of probate and letters of administration is made to the probate Registry of the High court having jurisdiction over the deceased’s estate. · Once probate has been
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granted to an executor, the law provides for the continuity of executorship and the administration of the estate of the deceased. · Until the letters of administration are granted, the estate of the deceased interstate vests in the Chief Judge of a State in accordance with administration of estate law of the state. · An infant cannot be an executor until he attains age of majority (21) and where an infant is a sole executor, the court can grant letters of administration with the will annexed to his guardian or such person as the court thinks fit.
Jokes
Written by Francis Famoroti, Head, Judiciary. We welcome feedback and reactions from readers via our e-mail: nationalmirrorlaw@yahoo.com
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How Gani battled to prosecute security chiefs over Giwa’s murder FAMOUS CASES
F
awehinmi during his lifetime had demonstrated his doggedness in his pursuit of human rights and the cause of the oppressed. Shortly after Dele Giwa was killed by a parcel bomb at his Talabi Street residence in Ikeja on October 19, 1986, the fiery lawyer took up the challenge to unravel the mystery behind the dastardly murder. As a result, he proceeded to the court on November 3, 1986 seeking for leave to seek for an order of mandamus against the then state DDP, (then Solicitor-General and later Justice James Oduneye). Apart from mandamus, several applications such as libel, slander, criminal defamation, and contempt were brought against Fawehinmi while the lawyer also initiated action against the authorities for assault against his person and the seizure of his books. For the benefit of the laymen, an order of mandamus is an order to compel the performance of a public duty, as a first resort where no other remedy is available. When a public institution fails to perform a public duty, the civil rights and obligations of some citizens are bound to be affected. It is an order which a court of law can make as a consequential order in any deserving case before it. At the high court, late Justice Candide Ademola Johnson refused Fawehinmi leave, stating that he had no locus standi to bring the action. He proceeded to the Court of Appeal where he suffered a similar set back. The uncompromising human rights crusader went to the Supreme Court where he contended that the DPP was under an obligation to decide on whether to prosecute the security chiefs or not. Interestingly at the Supreme Court, it was held that the applicant had locus standi to institute the action and he was granted leave to seek for the order of mandamus. The court said that “since the respondent has failed to carry out his statutory duty, the appellant is justified in bringing the application for an order of mandamus to compel the respondent to perform the duty.” The apex court by a majority decision of six to one on December 18, 1987, eventually changed the story of Fawehinmi’s bid to prosecute the two security chiefs, the head of Directorate of Military Intelligence, Col Halilu Akilu and his deputy, Lt. Col. Kunle Togun, in the Ibrahim Babangida administration. With the Supreme Court fiat, the fiery lawyer filed the mandamus application at the high court. On January 21, 1988, Justice Olusola Thomas granted the request sought and compelled the office of the state Attorney -General or the DPP to either prosecute or allow Fawehinmi to do so as a private prosecutor. The state Attorney-General, Mrs. Eniola Fadayomi had refused to endorse her refusal to prosecute on an application brought by Fawehinmi as a private prosecutor. The application was for leave to effect a private prosecution of the security officers suspected of
Two weeks after the brutal murder of the founding Editor-in-Chief of Newswatch magazine, Dele Giwa, on October 19, 1986, Lagos lawyer, Gani Fawehinmi, approached a Lagos High Court to compel the state Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to prosecute two top security chiefs. In the process, Fawehinmi filed about 38 cases and made 214 appearances at the high court. FRANCIS FAMOROTI, Head, Judiciary, highlights the legal battles.
Gani Fawehinmi
Mrs. Fadayomi, then Lagos State AG
On February 29, 1988, Fawehinmi Filed a new suit seeking FOr a new Order OF mandamus FOllOwing Fresh Facts at his dispOsal, allegedly linking the security chieFs tO
giwa’s murder.
having murdered Giwa. After a protracted challenge of the locus standi of the applicant, to bring a private prosecutor, a Lagos High Court finally ordered the Lagos State Attorney- General to do her duty. Before an order of mandamus may be issued, there must have been a request to the public body to do its duty and a refusal by the said institution. The difficulty which may arise, of course, is that a public body to which a request to perform a duty has been made may not directly indicate its refusal. Where such a body remains silent, that is, it does not accept or reject to perform the duty then a refusal may be implied in the interim. The snag however is that sometime may have elapsed from the time of the request before this presumption can be safely made. Sequel to the order of the apex court however, the Lagos State Government commenced the trial of the security chiefs. A charge No ID/4C/88 was preferred against the men and the then state Attorney General , Fadayomi opted to prosecute the two security chiefs and the case was assigned to Justice Eniola Longe of an Ikeja High Court. The accused persons were absent in court and their counsel, Chief F.R.A Williams
raised a preliminary objection to the charge. Curiously, the Lagos State AG, supported Williams’ application and after a series of arguments, Justice Longe struck out the suit. After stepping out of the courtroom, Fawehinmi vowed to appeal and he addressed the press outside the court on February 23, 1988 where he described the court proceedings as “an Alawada circuit”. Angered by this action, the government subsequently charged him to court for criminal defamation before Justice Olu Obadina of Ikeja High Court (as he was). Fawehinmi challenged his trial and the court quashed the charge against him. Notwithstanding, he filed a notice of appeal against the decision of Justice Longe to strike out the charge preferred against the security chiefs. On February 29, 1988, Fawehinmi filed a new suit seeking for a new order of mandamus following fresh facts at his disposal, allegedly linking the security chiefs to Giwa’s murder. The late Justice Idowu Agoro also of the high court granted Fawehinmi leave to seek for an order. Williams appealed against the order on behalf of the security chiefs. Fawehinmi had told the court that the ad-
ditional evidence he had was in respect of the alleged dead drug courier, Gloria Okon. He said when Giwa visited him on October 17, 1986, two days before he was murdered, he told him that the Newswatch was working on a serious story concerning the issue of Okon, who was arrested on the allegation of possession of hard drugs. It was alleged that the lady, believed to be a courier of hard drugs for a prominent Nigerian had died in custody. In a swift, Akilu and Togun sued Fawehinmi for libel and Justice Omotunde Ilori awarded N6 million damages against the human rights activist. The damages were later reversed on appeal. The legal battles Fawehinmi fought over the N6 million damages slammed on him also led to his imprisonment for 12 months for contempt on January 4, 1990. However, the order by Justice Ligali Ayorinde was later quashed by the appellate court. In an affidavit deposed by Fawehinmi before Justice Ayorinde in 1989, the human rights activist said “Altogether my Lord, between 1986 and 1989, 35 cases, both civil and criminal matters have arisen from Dele Giwa’s murder death. This will be the 36th. and now your lordship has ordered that on or before the 15th of January, 1990 that I pay N6 m case to this court. By next week I will be standing before the Transition to Civil Rule Tribunal for another criminal charge by this government. ” On the whole Fawehinmi appeared before no less than 24 judges from the High Court to the Supreme Court in pursuit of his determination to expose those he believed were responsible for Giwa’s death.
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T Court protects insurance firm from liability to consumers
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aws protecting consumers from deceptive practices do not apply to insurance company vehicle repair estimates, the Ohio Supreme Court has ruled in a case involving a Columbus insurer. The justices overturned lower-court rulings in determining by a 5-2 vote that insurers providing repair estimates to their customers are not engaging in a “consumer transaction.” The ruling stems from an appeal by Farmers Insurance of Columbus in a case in which a Coshocton County couple won $30,600 in damages in a dispute over the use of original manufacturer parts in the repair of their 2-year-old sedan. Jerry and Nancy Dillon sued after their car was repaired and they had agreed to pay the cost difference for original manufacturer parts since Farmers only covered cheaper non-original parts. The couple successfully sued using the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act, which exposes companies to legal liability for unfair or deceptive acts. A trial court found the Dillon couple was entitled to damages because Farmers Insurance failed to obtain their signatures on the repair estimate that was calculated with the use of non-original parts. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor said that a 1990 law concerning consumer consent to repair estimates involving non-original parts specifically exempts dealings between insurers and customers from the definition of a “consumer transaction.” Farmers Insurance played no role in the repair of the Dillons’ Mercury Milan, with the transaction consisting of the dealings between the couple and the auto-repair shop, Mission Auto
OHIO, USA
US President, Barack OBAMA Connection, of Coshocton, O’Connor wrote. Damage claims can be filed against repair shops for deceptive acts involving the use of nonoriginal manufacturer parts when they are prohibited and Ohioans can dispute insurers’ repair estimates under other consumer-protection laws, she said. James Skelton, a Coshocton lawyer who represented the Dillons, said, “My clients and I are very disappointed with this ruling ... a consumer avenue to dispute the insurance companies’ actions has been cut off.” Comment was being sought from Farmers Insurance. Justices Paul E. Pfeifer and William M. O’Neill dissented in the ruling, although they agreed an insurance policy agreement was not a consumer transaction. However, there is no justification to shield an insurer, once it plays the role of an adjuster in collision repairs, from liability under consumer-protection laws “merely because it is an insurer,” O’Neill wrote. The case attracted friend-of-the-court briefs from the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and the Choice Auto Body Repair Association in support of the Dillons and the Ohio Civil Trial Lawyers Association on behalf of Farmers Insurance.
he Supreme Court appeared both cautious and deeply divided last Tuesday on whether to change an opposite-sex definition of marriage that several justices noted has existed for “millennia.” Finally addressing headon the question of whether gays and lesbians should be allowed to marry nationwide, the court’s key conservatives indicated that a victory for same-sex couples would not come easily. Their ambivalence about leading the country into largely unknown territory highlighted a 2 1/2hour oral argument that was among the most consequential in the court’s 226-year history. Faced with an uncertain future, it seemed, several justices would prefer to leave marriage laws to the states. The same time, two conservatives -- Justice Anthony Kennedy and Chief Justice John Roberts -- showed sympathy for same-sex couples unable to marry in 13 states because marriage laws are intended to regulate procreation. “Same-sex couples say, of course, ‘We understand the nobility and the sacredness of the marriage,’” said Kennedy, who wrote the court’s 2013 decision that allowed legally married gay and lesbian couples to get federal benefits. “We know we can’t procreate, but we want the other attributes of it in order to show that we, too, have a dignity that can be fulfilled.” “I’m not sure it’s necessary to get into sexual orientation to resolve the case,” said Roberts, who dissented from the 2013 decision. “I mean, if Sue loves Joe and Tom loves Joe, Sue can marry him and Tom can’t. And the difference is based upon their differ-
A
s the New Year arrives, millions of Delhi residents are warming up to the radical changes they have to bring in their daily commuting in the world’s most polluted capital. However, the Delhi High Court has asked Arvind Kejriwal to offer an explanation why women and two-wheelers are exempt from the policy. According to Business Insider in India, Since 1st January, the Delhi government will only allow
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US justices divided on same-sex marriage WASHINGTON
ent sex. Why isn’t that a straightforward question of sexual discrimination?” If those questions put former Michigan solicitor general John Bursch on the defensive, the same was true for Mary Bonauto, a pioneer of the same-sex marriage movement, and U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, who argued that gay and lesbian marriages should be protected under the Constitution. “The word that keeps coming back to me in this case is ‘millennia,’” said Kennedy, who often casts the deciding vote on the court. “This definition has been with us for millennia. It’s very difficult for the court to say, ‘Oh, well, we know better.’” Roberts echoed that point, telling Bonauto, the lead lawyer for same-sex couples challenging states’ marriage bans, “You’re not seeking to join the institution, you’re seeking to change what the institution is.” USA Today say the justices’ eventual ruling on the case — actually six cases with 32 plaintiffs consolidated from Ohio, Michigan, Tennessee and Kentucky — will determine whether same-sex marriage becomes legal across the country, or whether states retain the authority to ban it. A decision is expected by late June. The court’s conservatives appeared more willing to find a middle ground when the topic shifted to whether states must recognize same-sex marriages already licensed by other
British Prime Minister David Cameron Ok1 states. That issue would be pertinent only if the court does not find a constitutional right to same-sex marriage everywhere. Douglas Hallward-Driemeier, arguing on behalf of same-sex couples married elsewhere but living in Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee, said the message that’s sent is, “If you choose to get married in your state, just don’t move to ours. That’s the cost of federalism.” Justice Samuel Alito wondered whether recognizing out-of-state marriages represented “something in between,” adding, “I suppose that’s possible, isn’t it?” But Joseph Whalen, Tennessee’s associate solicitor general, said his state and others that “have done nothing here but stand pat” should not have to abide by other states’ marriage laws. The likely swing vote on the court is Kennedy, who has authored the last three major rulings advancing the cause of gay rights. On one hand, he has defended voters’ rights to enact state constitutional
amendments, most recently in a Michigan case last year that upheld a ban against racial preferences in university admissions. But he also wrote the 2013 opinion in United States v. Windsor striking down the federal Defense of Marriage Act. Kennedy had tough questions for both sides last Tuesday, as he often does, leaving the outcome of the case in doubt -- and making him the most likely author of its eventual ruling. When Bursch said a rise in out-of-wedlock births illustrated the decline of traditional marriages to the detriment of children, Kennedy noted that gay and lesbian couples frequently adopt those children. “I think the argument cuts quite against you,” he said. The first 90 minutes of arguments revealed a court deeply divided on whether the Constitution requires states to permit gay and lesbian couples to marry. So intense was the debate that when a lone protester stood and yelled, “The Bible teaches that if you support gay marriage, you will burn in hell,” Justice Antonin Scalia jokingly called the interruption “rather refreshing.” The more conservative justices raised questions about whether they should allow voters to settle the issue, or simply adopt a waitand-see attitude on gay marriage. They also warned that forcing gay marriage on all states could lead to religious upheaval. “Would a religious school that has married housing be required to afford such housing to same-sex couples?” Roberts asked.
Court queries exemption of women, two-wheelers from Odd-Even policy cars with odd-numbered licence plates to drive on odd-numbered dates. The rule would be in place from 8am to 8pm every day except Sunday. The trail will run for an initial two-week period. However, the government has said that it will consider longer-term implementation as well. Some have dismissed the idea. “They will only
INDIA
be cheating themselves with ‘jugaad’. There is no magic button that will make the pollution disappear. We must act now,” said Delhi Transport Minister Gopal Rai to news agency AFP. Chief Justice of India TS Thakur will willingly follow the policy despite being exempted.
India Prime Minister, Narendra Modi
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Social responsibility issues in oil and gas industry Efosa osEghalE
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cursory look at the topic given to me underscores the fact that there subsist social responsibility issues which in any case are problematic and to which solutions should be found. However, such solutions should derive from a methodology which must be comparative; and maybe analytical. In any case, in current global economic discourse, corporate social responsibility is increasingly perceived as the blueprint for the future. A necessary prelude to our discussion of social responsibility issues and its associated problems, is a brief history of the origin, growth and developments of the oil and gas sector in Nigeria. Exploration for oil started in Nigeria as far back as 1908 with the German sponsored Nigerian Bitumen Corporation. Shell and British Petroleum (BP) joined the exploration venture in 1937 but it was not until 1956 that this company found oil in Olobiri. Actual production of crude oil began in 1958. Hence it is safe to say that crude oil exploration and exploitation pre-dated Nigeria’s political independence in 1960. The gas component of this vital extractive industry in Nigeria is actually as old as the commencement of crude oil production, except of course, to state that for several decades, it was flared into the atmosphere. This situation was perpetuated by the fact that the companies operating in this sector in Nigeria: Harvest natural gas for commercial purposes, (but) however prefers to extract gas from deposits … found in isolation as ‘non associated’ gas. It is costly to separate commercially viable associated gas from oil hence gas flaring to increase crude production. Consequently, reports as recent as 2000 indicated that Nigeria lost as much as 18.2 million USD daily (another source 2.5 billion USD annually). Nigeria became known to be the highest gas flaring nation in the world, flaring about 28% of the total natural gas flared the world over. Nonetheless, there is no over stating the fact that the oil and gas industry has grown and expanded tremendously in its over fifty years of operation. Concentrated over 95% in the South-South Niger Delta region of Nigeria, this country boast of over 170 oil fields and about 1500 wells. The United State Energy Information Administration (EIA) back in 1987 puts Nigeria’s proven oil reserve as between 16 and 22 billion barrels. Some other sources have since up-graded Nigeria’s reserve to between 35.5 billion barrels to 40 billion barrels. With actual exploration starting in 1999 under the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Company, the country’s natural gas reserves is believed to be well over 187 trillion ft (2,800km) and three times as substantial as the crude oil reserves. As of date, about 95% of the operators in the oil industry are foreign multinationals all of which are in a joint venture agreement with the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC); the latter representing the interest of the federal government. The foreign corporations include the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) or Shell Nigeria (British/Dutch), Chevron (American), Exxon-Mobil (American), Agip (Italian ), Total (French) and Texaco before its merger with Chevron. The about 5% balance of the operations in this sector is in the hands of some relatively smaller local or indigenous companies. On the whole however, it can be safely stated that the activities of the major operators in the oil sector in Nigeria which comprise of the multinationals are somewhat well documented in the official histories of the respective corporations and government papers and the on hand, and also by other professionals, NGOs, International organizations, the media and even lay sources. Since it is not the primary objective of this paper to undertake a laborious and holistic evaluation of the extraction processes except of course as it relate to corporate social responsibility, it will suffice to simply highlight only a few of the generally peddled positive and negative impacts of the oil and gas sector on the Nigerian state.
IronIcally, even though all the oIl multInatIonals In
nIgerIa do not offIcIally recognIze or accept the
“paradox of plenty” problems, all the
realItIes of the
corporatIons non theless have been respondIng at dIfferent levels and degrees to the Issues arIsIng from theIr operatIonal Impacts on the envIronment Incidentally, I do not subscribe to the view, for example, that “Colonialism is a one-armed bandit”. My position to the effect that multinational corporations in the oil-sector have had some positive as well as negative impacts is neither an attempt to balance history nor contradictory to my eventual conclusion on this subject. Empirical evidence exists to suggest, amongst others that oil sector multinationals activities; (i) provides over 90% of Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings, (ii) provides a relatively strong and respectable platform for Nigeria’s foreign influence and power, (iii) Encourage the emergence and relatively rapid growth and development of other industries including nonoil ones, (iv) provides employment at different levels for Nigerians, and (v) provides technology and expertise for further economic and industrial development. On the other hand, their activities have: (i) impacted grievously on the Nigerian environment thereby causing pollution, sickness, diseases and death, especially in and around their immediate host communities, (ii) impacted terribly on lands, water and air thereby causing economic damages evident in extreme poverty, displacement and dislocation of host communities (iii) promoted gross underdevelopment of host communities most of which lack investors and infrastructure, (iv) promoted corruption through non-disclosures of vital business deals and collusion with top government officials, (v) promoted restiveness and political crises which often led to human right abuses and repression. Deriving directly from the above, most studies relating to the negative impacts of oil multinational activities on host communities tended to show that the huge revenue which accrue from this industry very often undermined the economic, social and political development, especially in developing countries. This is what Jon Birger Skjaerseth, Kristian Tangen et al, Karl and Auty to refer to as “the paradox of plenty”. In otherwords, empirical research, world-wide, indicate that the oil and gas industry generates huge obscene profits while at the same time causing environmental and human accidents with grave consequences. Other studies, based also on empirical evidence, shows amongst others that: (i) there appears to be a correlation between rapid inflow of oil revenues and high levels of corruption, military spending, violent conflicts, civil war, and that (ii) resource abundant developing countries tend to perform worse in their GDP performance compared with those with lean resource base. The said research findings explains why for the majority in developing countries, the oil and gas industry is considered more of a curse than blessing. This is the “paradox of plenty” and this also underscores the legitimacy crisis of the oil and
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gas industry operators, especially the multinational corporations. In the emerging scenario, a number of questions easily flood to mind. (1) What and who is responsible for this paradox of plenty occasioned by the Nigerian oil and gas industry? (2) How can the trend be reversed to cause Nigeria to be an exception? (3) To what extent has the multinational corporations in the industry responded to this problem in comparisons to their activities or performance elsewhere in the world?, and (4) What best way(s) forward? The negative impacts of multinational companies activities in Nigeria is widespread but especially very severe in the immediate host communities of the Niger Delta. Ironically even though all the oil multinational in Nigeria do not officially recognize or accept the realities of the “Paradox of plenty” problems, all the corporations non-the-less have been responding at different levels and degrees to the issues arising from their operational impacts on the environment, people and even governance.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) In The Oil And Gas Sector It is import to stress at this stage that even though this paper has been seemingly emphatic about the activities of multinationals, the fact remains that both the Federal Government of Nigeria (NNPC) and the local oil exploration and exploitation companies are visible actor in the industry. To this extent, the critical issue of social responsibility extends to all the parties even though deliberate emphasis has been placed, in this paper, on multinational corporations. Social responsibility has been described and tended to be accepted as an ethical ideology or theory that an entity, be it an organization or individual, has an obligation to act to benefit society at large. Corporate social responsibility (CSR), also called corporate conscience, corporate citizenship, social performance, or sustainable responsible business, is a form of corporate self regulation integrated into business model. The phenomenon of corporate responsibility is believed to have started in the 1960s and gained international prominence in the 1970s in response to the evolution of the “stakeholders” terminology by big business. Observers believe however that is was not until the Ken Saro Wiwa Saga of 1995 that oil multinationals in Nigeria started to gear up to social obligations issues. The legitimacy crisis and other critical environmental and human rights devastations occasioned by the event, promoted the issue of social responsibility in the oil and gas sector in Nigeria to the front burner of local and international discourse. And of course, the goal of CSR was not only to enhance corporate reputation with the public and government but also to enhance responsibility for the respective oil companies’ actions and encourage a positive impact through it activities on the environment, consumers, employees, communities, stakeholders et cetera. In the determination of the nature and character of corporate social responsibility in the oil and gas industry in Nigeria and indeed in the developing countries in the world, two corporate response strategies were identified. First, the ‘Macro’ strategy which seeks to address or respond to the challenges confronting the industry operators, especially the multinational companies in the spheres of democratic practices, human rights, issues of corruption, transparency and accountability. Secondly, the “Micro” strategy which is the concrete actions taken by the operators in response to local communities needs for gainful employment, education, health care, roads, and other infrastructures including electricity, water and shelter. Corporate social strategies whether macro or micro are determinable by the evaluation of (a) corporate level of commitment, and (b) degree of commitment. Prof. Oseghale writes from Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State. CONTINUED NEXT WEEK
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Community Mirror We require huge investment in public infrastructure, production of energy, health and education to enable us take full advantage of evolving economic conditions. –Governor AkinWunmi Ambode of LAGos
Fire guts Minna ultra modern market Priscilla Dennis, Minna
Dare akOgun
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inna Ultra Modern Market (Abdulkadir Abdullahi Kure market), Niger State capital, was yesterday gutted by fire and properties worth millions of naira destroyed in the inferno. The incident, which occurred at about 1am on Sunday night, totally razed 48 shops as well as some undisclosed amount of cash in its wake. Checks revealed that the single building containing 48 shops had victims of the fire selling mainly textile materials and sewing machines. Also, most of the victims, who lost millions of Naira in cash was due to the public holidays and weekend as they were unable to deposit the money of their sales in the banks. Though, the cause of the fire could not be ascertained, but it was attributed to generators as there was power outage in the market during the incident. Some of the affected persons spoken to by our Correspondent described the incident as unfortunate, as they expressed bitterness over lack of fire-fighting equipment in the market for prompt response. Aside this, they complained that people are most times help-
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A butcher heading for the market with goat meat in preparation for New Year celebration at Lugbe, in Abuja, at the weekend. less when situations like this occur due to lack of access road. One of the victims, Salisu, of shop No. 18, who lost about N40 million cash in foreign currency (dollars), was said to have fainted on arrival at the market and discovered that his shop was affected and had to be rushed to an undisclosed hospital for urgent medical attention. Appealing to the state government and relevant authorities
to come to their aid, the victims begged for urgent renovation of the structure and financial assistance in view of the current economic hardship in the nation to cushion the effect of what happened to them. Earlier, Niger State Deputy Governor, Alhaji Ahmed Mohammed Ketso, visited the market to sympathize with the victims and held a meeting with executives of the market,
NEMA and NSEMA to take inventory of what was lost in each shop so as to assist the victims. Thereafter, the deputy governor directed that a list of victims be compiled through the Chanchaga Local Government to Niger State Emergency Management Agency, NSEMA, and subsequently forwarded to the state government for immediate action.
olokun festival foundation lauds fG on cultural tourism ayO esan
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he declaration made by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed that the Federal Government will be able to mop up as many unemployed youths as possible using the cultural platform has been commended by the Olokun Festival Foundation. The Chief promoter of Olokun Festival Foundation, Otunba Gani Adams said: “Ï must confess that this is the first heart cheering and soul lifting policy statement concerning cultural tourism which ever emanated from this government and communicated to the people via a cultural event in Lagos, this is laudable, plausible and commendable. “It seems there is now a clear vision and direction for cultural tourism promotion of Nigeria not only as an entertainment factor
Group tasks politicians on philanthropy
but as an employment generating machine, wealth mobilizer and poverty extinguisher going by the statement credited to Alhaji Lai Muhammed. Adams further stated that he is delighted that the present Federal government has come in seeing what the Olokun Foundation has been diligently prompting in the Nigeria since its inauguration and registration. He disclosed that “it is the vi-
sion and mission of Olokun Festival Foundation to galvanize and mobilize people in the South West state including Kwara to embrace , love and promote their cultural values for tourism benefits that led into identification of 24 Cultural festivals Calendar which the foundation has been celebrating in the past years .” He pointed out that ‘while I commend the proclamation by the minister , I want to draw the
attention for the need to study those Baltic countries , Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and Croatia which have been successful in using culture to drive their tourism potentialities”. He called on Nigerians to always rise above personal animosity, party affiliation and relationship idiosyncrasies whenever there is a glint of positive policy action which can benefit the nation in general.
Police arrest suspected homosexual rapist Patricia OgbO
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olicemen attached to the Alakuko Divisional Police station have arrested a 22years old Ganiu Azusa, for allegedly raping a 5year old boy ( name withheld) in Lagos State It was gathered that the victim informed his mother Mrs.
Adenike Ejigbo that his anus was hurting him and when his mother asked him when he started having the pain, he said since the time Ganiu Amusa have sex with him through the anus. Mrs. Ejigbo reported the matter at Alakuko Police Station where the divisional police officer DPO Ajayi Abayomi a super-
intendent of police SP ordered investigation into the matter and Ganiu Amusa was subsequently arrested. During interrogations ,Amusa was alleged to have owned up to the offence and was thereafter transferred to the Lagos State criminal investigations department SCID Yaba Lagos for discreet investigation.
call has gone to politicians and other public office holders to always lend a hand of help to the less privileged in the society, towards helping to alleviate their suffering. This call was made in Ilorin over the weekend, when a youth group, the Kwara South Youth Stakeholders forum, in a press release made available to this medium appreciated the gesture of Kwara State Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, to the youth of the state during the yuletide. The release, which was signed by the group’s chairman, Hon. Sunkanmi Ereoye (SLA to the Senate President), enjoined well-to-do individuals in the society to take a cue from the governor and offer a helping hand to people, especially the youth in the society. The statement reads in part, “In as much as we are not praise-singers, nor sycophants, we are moved to acknowledge and appreciate the assistance of Kwara State governor (financially & materially) towards making sure that youths of the state celebrate the yuletide in happiness. “This gesture is particularly worthy of note, considering the financial constraints of the government due largely to dwindling oil revenue. “We, however, enjoin other politicians and private individuals to emulate this gesture by assisting the less privileged, especially the youths with scholarship, educational grant and employment placement,” it stated. He, however, used the opportunity to pledge the unalloyed support of the youth to all government programmes aimed at alleviating the plight of the masses.
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Monday, January 4, 2016
World News It’s an unfortunate security situation we are in. But it is important to correct people and let them know what Islam is about. –AmerIcAn nFL StAr, OdAy ABOuShI
Al-Shabab film: Trump adamant on Muslim ban call AfolAbi GAmbAri
WITh AGENCy REPoRT
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S Republican Party’s presidential candidate, Donald Trump, has again defended his call for a ban on Muslims entering the US after it was used in a propaganda video by Somali militant group al-Shabab. Trump said people had praised his courage in truthfully highlighting a problem that others preferred to ignore. “Now people are getting involved in the issue,” he also said. “Look, there’s a problem,” he further said, stressing, “I bring it up. Other people have called and say you have guts to bring it up because frankly it’s true and nobody wants to get involved. “People that are on different persuasions than me right now are saying, you know, maybe Trump isn’t wrong. We want to examine it.” But Trump’s call, after a
US Republican presidential hopeful, Donald Trump shooting in the US, has been widely condemned. Other Republicans, the White House, and the British Prime Minister David Cameron were highly critical of the comments, which followed the San Bernardino massacre, in
which 14 people died. Democratic presidential candidate and former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said that Trump’s rhetoric was turning him into the “best recruiter” for the Islamic State militant group.
The video, released by alShabab’s media wing, also urges African-Americans to convert to Islam and take part in holy war. It says racism, police brutality and anti-Muslim sentiment are rife in the US. In recent years, several Somali-Americans from Minnesota have gone to fight for al-Shabab in Somalia. Al-Shabab, which seeks to overthrow Somalia’s Westernbacked government and impose a strict version of Sharia (Islamic law), has carried out attacks in Kenya and Ethiopia. Last month’s campaign statement from Trump called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims” entering the US until the authorities could “figure out what is going on”. The call was issued after a deadly gun attack in San Bernardino, California, by a husband and wife who are thought to have been radicalised.
Kagame ready to extend term
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wanda’s President Paul Kagame has confirmed that he will seek re-election for a third term in 2017. The announcement was expected after a referendum approved constitutional changes to allow him to run for three further terms and could potentially see him to stay in power until 2034. Kagame, who said Rwandans had made clear they wanted him to lead the country after 2017 and he could only accept, has dominated
Rwandan politics since his rebel army ended the 1994 genocide. Last month’s referendum result means he can run for a third seven-year term in 2017 and then two further five-year terms. “You requested me to lead the country again after 2017,” Kagame said on state television, adding, however, “But I don’t think that what we need is an eternal leader.” The Rwandan strongman has received widespread
praise for bringing economic development to the country, but critics have also accused him of a heavy-handed rule. Interestingly Kagame’s announcement comes at a time when two other presidents in the region-of the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo-are also seeking third-term extensions. In Burundi, the president’s decision to seek a third term unleashed violent protests, in which at least 100 people have died since April.
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Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
driven back by police. Nimr was one of 47 people executed for terrorism offences. But Khamenei said the cleric had been executed for his opposition to Saudi Arabia’s Sunni rulers. “This oppressed scholar had neither invited people to armed movement, nor was involved in covert plots,” the Ayatollah tweeted. “The only act of
Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza has threatened to fight African Union (AU) peacekeepers if they are deployed to the country. The AU announced two weeks ago that it would send 5, 000 troops to protect civilians in the country, even without the government’s consent. “Everyone has to respect Burundi borders,” Nkurunziza said yesterday in his first public response to the AU plan. “Under Burundi’s constitution, foreign troops can only intervene if the warring parties ask for it, or if there is no legitimate government in place, the president added, stressing, “Any violation of those principles would be considered “an attack on the country and every Burundian will stand up and fight against them.” At least 400 people have been killed and 220, 000 displaced since April.
China, Vietnam tussle Vietnam has accused China of violating its sovereignty by landing a plane on an artificial island it has built in a contested part of the South China Sea. The Vietnamese Foreign Ministry said yesterday that the airfield was built illegally on a part of the Spratly archipelago that lies within its territory. China said it had complete sovereignty over Fiery Cross Reef and had used a civilian plane to test the airstrip, although several nations dispute China’s territorial claims in the area. China claims almost the whole of the South China Sea, resulting in overlapping claims with several other Asian nations including Vietnam and the Philippines.
Fatherhood made me –Prince William Rwandan President Paul Kagame
Iran hands ‘revenge’ threat to Saudi
audi Arabia will face divine revenge for its execution of a prominent Shia cleric, Sheikh Nimr, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned yesterday. Khamenei described Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr as a martyr who acted peacefully after protesters stormed the Saudi Embassy in Tehran late on Saturday, setting fire to the building before being
WORLD BULLETIN UN peacekeepers face Burundi threat
#SheikhNimr was outspoken criticism,” he added, saying the “unfairlyspilled blood of oppressed martyr #SheikhNimr will affect rapidly & Divine revenge will seize Saudi politicians”. Nimr had been a figurehead in the antigovernment protests that erupted in the wake of the Arab Spring up to his arrest in 2012.
Prince William says becoming a father has made him a lot more emotional and made him realise how precious life is. “World events and the idea of not being around to see your children grow up have affected me much more since the births of Prince George and Princess Charlotte,” the 33-year-old prince said in a television documentary about his father’s Prince’s Trust charity, adding, “The smallest things have now made me well up.” Prince Charles said he hoped his sons would take over the trust one day. “I’m a lot more emotional than I used to be, weirdly. “I never used to get too wound up or worried about things. But now the smallest little things, you well up a little more, you get affected by the sort of things that happen around the world or whatever a lot more.”
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Monday, January 4, 2016
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Unpaid salaries: Kwara primary school teachers begin strike today –NUT
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L-R: Chairman, Governing Council of Gombe State University (GSU), Prof. Idriss Mohammed; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Higher Education, Gombe State, Mr. Danladi Musa, and Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Ibrahim Umar, during an inspection visit to newly constructed students’ hostels by the Federal Government’s Needs Assessment Team, in Gombe, recently.
You risk your jobs if you come late, Niger govt warns civil servants Priscilla Dennis, Minna
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iger State government has threatened to dismiss any civil servant in the state that resumes work late, describing late coming as a sabotage to the development of the state. Advising them to adhere to rules establishing the civil service in the state in a press release signed by the state’s Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Mr. Jonathan
Vatsa, the government said late coming by workers would not be tolerated by the current administration. Noting the need for civil servants to change their altitude of latecoming to work and going home early, he urged them to wake up to their responsibility or face the wrath of the law. The commissioner also warned those who work in two ministries at the same time, to do a rethink, adding that those
in the habit of staying at home when they are supposed to be at work would be declared ghost workers. The statement reads in part: “Government will soon flush them out of the system. The era of wastage and leakages is over. It can never be business as usual. The era of taking government for granted is now history; people should brace up to the challenges of the time.” Vatsa appealed to the
state Head of Service to prepare attendance register where workers would sign-in and out to checkmate excesses and help deal with the case of redundant workers. It would be recalled that the state government has a work force of about 60,000 workers, including those of local government areas, out of which, some do not report to work, while others stay at home, but they all receive salaries at the end of the month.
Ishaku proposes political appointments for Taraba APC members
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overnor Darius Ishaku of Taraba State yesterday promised to appoint members of the All Progressives Congress, APC, into political positions in the state. He urged them to accept his confirmation as governor by the Court of Appeal and work with him for the development of the state. Ishaku made the remark in Jalingo while addressing Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, loyalists who congratulated him over the victory. The court had upheld the election of Ishaku of the PDP and set aside the state Election Peti-
tions Tribunal’s declaration of Senator Aisha Alhassan of the APC as governor of the state. According to him, there are ``many jobs” in his government that can go round the APC members. He noted that the series of litigations that followed the April 11, 2015, governorship election have slowed down the pace of development in the state by 30 per cent. “I am calling on all APC members to accept this judgment and join me, so that we can work together for the socioeconomic development of our dear state.
“Sincerely speaking, I have so many jobs to share with them. Let them come. “My mandate is for four years but we have spent many months in the court. These litigations are not helping the state,” Ishaku said. The governor said his immediate focus after the victory is to consolidate his effort by bringing peace and development to the state “I deliberately informed our supporters to celebrate our victory in confinement as against wild jubilation that could trigger violence. “I am glad to hear
from the security chiefs that not a single person was hurt before and after the delivery of the verdict. “My priority remains to develop the state as you can all attest to the fact that there is massive improvement in water and electricity supply in Jalingo. “We intend to now expand our operations to other council areas, focusing more on health and education,” Ishaku said. Earlier, the state PDP chairman, Mr. Victor Bala, had said the judgment indicates that the PDP has reclaimed its mandate.
igeria Union of Teachers, NUT, in Kwara State, said primary school teachers would embark on strike today, to protest non-payment of their four months’ salary arrears. Chairman of the union, Comrade Musa Abubakar, made this known during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, yesterday in Kaiama, Kaiama Local Government Area of the state. NAN reports that the strike would begin just when schools are expected to resume from their first term holiday. Abubakar said the union could no longer guarantee industrial harmony in the state following the non-payment of their four months’ salary arrears. He said primary school teachers in the state have been loyal and dedicated to duty in spite of the failure of the government to pay them salaries for months. “I want to believe they have tried. If members of the National Assembly are not paid for four months, I doubt if you will see anybody in that red or green chambers. “I recall in Oyo State that they were not paid for just two months and some House of Assembly members did not go to work. “So, for us to have worked for four months without pay, I think the teachers have tried and that is why we told the government that we cannot guarantee any industrial harmony again. “We cannot guarantee any teacher going to class
today to teach with an empty stomach except the problem is addressed,’’ he said. According to him, workers from other sectors would soon join the strike in the spirit of solidarity. The NUT leader criticised the state government for creating a dichotomy between primary school teachers and their counterparts in secondary schools. He claimed that a Supreme Court judgment in 2002 had made state governments responsible for the management and funding of primary schools in the country. “It is just unfortunate that a situation like this revolves around primary school teachers in the country. “I want to say without mincing words that if the trend continues, the primary school system will soon collapse,’’ the union leader stated. Abubakar, therefore, urged the state government to live up to its responsibility by doing the right thing. “Education is the key and bedrock of our development, particularly at the grassroots level. “If this trend is not checked, honestly, this country will run into problems. “I will, therefore, urge the federal, state and local governments to ensure that the ugly trend is checked,” he said. He said once that is done, the proliferation of private primary schools due to the public’s loss of confidence in public schools would be checked.
Zamfara APC explains Yari’s absence at LG poll
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ll Progressives Congress, APC, in Zamfara State has explained why Governor Abdulaziz Yari and other key party figures did not participate in Saturday’s local government elections in the state. Speaking with journalist in Talata-Mafara yesterday, the party’s scribe in the state, Alhaji Sani Mono, said it was a deliberate move to ascertain the capacity of upcoming party chieftains to handle such critical election matter. His words: “They did not participate in the election because they wanted to see if they have successfully nurtured the party’s upcoming leaders in the state.”
News agency of Nigeria, NAN, reports that the governor and all National Assembly members from the state were absent during the polls. The election was, however, boycotted by the main opposition party in the state, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. According to a statement by its state chairman, Hassan Nasiha, the PDP would not participate in an election organised by a government it is challenging its credibility at the Supreme Court. The APC state secretary, however, chided the PDP, saying its boycott of the local council polls was because the PDP was ``afraid of defeat.``
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Monday, January 4, 2016`
Female lawyers advocate creation of rape crisis centres Continue from Page 5 “Parents should be sensitive to those picking and dropping their children at schools,” she said. She added that parents should watch out for those who have access to their children and who could abuse
them. Odediran also said rape victims should be encouraged to report the crimes instead of keeping it to themselves. According to her, some parents prefer keeping rape and other sexual abuse incidents involving their chil-
dren or relatives to themselves thereby allowing the perpetrators to go scot-free. She said those parents believed that reporting such cases to the authorities would expose the victims to stigmatisation and affect them psychologically.
“Sexual violence is a serious social problem that deserved serious attention and all hands must be on deck to ensure that the perpetrators of this violence should be prosecuted,” she said. Mrs. Temitope Femi noted that sensitisation, especially of young girls
to indecent dressing, could also reduce the high level of rape incidents. “Young girls nowadays dress in such a way that some parts of their bodies are not covered. “They dress exposing their bodies and that can also attract men
who cannot control themselves into raping them,’’ said Femi. She stressed that government should assist in organising sensitisation programmes in communities and schools on rape, management of victims and what could be done to prevent the menace.
Buhari’s social intervention package, not one-off scheme, says vice presidential aide “We have experts working in the presidency, collaborating with experts from global bodies who together bring to bear inter national best practices working on how best to implement these prog rammes. “I can tell you that no sooner than President Buhari resumed
work, many of these experts have been meeting and planning on how best to implement these plans. “We are not talking here of something hur riedly put together or a prog ramme where some consultants would take the huge chunk of the resources,” he added.
Akande also said as part of the half a trillion Naira to be spent, there is in the budget proposals, a provision of no fewer than one million jobs in 2016, including 500,000 g raduate-youths to be engaged as teachers. He added that the presidency was determined not to repeat the
past failed efforts at alleviating poverty. “As the President disclosed during the budget speech, he has asked the vice president to coordinate the prog rammes and I can tell you that serious work is already apace,” Akande said. He reiterated that for the firs t time in
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Nig e ria’s bu dg e t h istory, th e Fe de ral Gove r n me n t wou l d be dire ctly in te rve n in g in l iftin g pe opl e ou t of pove r ty th rou g h a se rie s of me asu re s al re ady propose d total l in g N500bn , re pre se n tin g n e arly n in e pe r ce n t of th e bu dg e t. “Through these measures and for the first time, the budget is paying attention to the problem of poverty in a proper and direct way,” he said.
The spokesman added that another one million extremely poor and disabled Nigerians would also benefit from the first phase of the CCT Scheme proposed in the 2016 appropriation bill to enable them to live decently. “There will also be the provision of affordable, very low cost loans to market women and artisans to enable them enlarge and expand their trades,” he added
EZEKPERECHI: I, formerly known and addressed as MISS EZEKPERECHI CHRISTIANA NKIRUKA, now wish to be known and addressed MRS ASIKA CHRISTIANA NKIRUKA. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.
TIAMIYU: I, formerly known and addressed as TIAMIYU ABEEY, now wish to be known and addressed OJO TUNDE ABIODUN. All former documents remain valid. GTB and ACCESS BANK and general public should please take note.
ABDUL: I, formerly known and addressed as ABDUL AKANMU TAOFEEK, now wish to be known and addressed ABDULAZEEZ TAOFEEK OLATUNJI. All former documents remain valid. SKYE BANK and general public should please take note.
CHANGE OF NAME
CHANGE OF NAME OLATUNBOSUN:I formerly Miss Olayemi Grace Olatunbosun now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Olayemi Grace Oladiran.All former documents remain valid .General Public note.
CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly known and called Miss Raji Kudirat Kofoworola wish to be known and called Mrs Olawoyin Kudirat Kofoworola. All my documents remain valid. General public note.
CHANGE OF NAME ONABANJO : Formerly known and addressed as MISS ONABANJO ADEJUMOKE GRACE now wish to be known and addressed as MRS OLUSOLA ADEJUMOKE GRACE. All former documents remain valid. General public take note
Formerly known and addressed as OMOYINKA HENRY. Now wish to be addressed as OMOYINKA ERUOTOR. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.
Formerly Miss.Adedeji Janet Oluwatobi NOW Mrs.Oluwatominiyi Janet Oluwatobiloba. Former documents remain valid. First Bank Plc, GTBank,Wema Bank and General public take note.
CHANGE OF NAME
CHANGE OF NAME Formerly Miss.Shola Ogungbile, Adeoye Janet Oluwumi Now Mrs. Ogungbile Janet Oluwumi. Former documents remain valid. Access Bank plc, United Bank for Africa(UBA) plc,general public note.
CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as Mrs Kareem Tawakalitu now which to be known and addressed as Mrs Shittu Tawakalitu all former documents remain valid and general public take note.
CHANGE OF NAME EJIM : Formerly known as Ejim Chika Bibian,Onyekwelu Chika Dozie now wish to be known and address as Joe-Onyekwelu Chika B. All former documents remains valid. General public take note.
OKOYE : Formerly known as Okoye Peter now wish to be known and address as Okonkwo Rapheal Peter. All former documents remains valid. General public take note.
CHANGE OF NAME
CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as Mercy Peter now which to be known and addressed as Peter Akowe Grace all former documents remain valid and general public take note.
Formerly known and addressed as Miss Oluborode Yetunde Oluwakemi now which to be known and addressed as Mrs Oyeniran Yetunde Oluwakemi all former documents remain valid Churchgate ( First Continental Properties Ltd) and general public take note.
CHANGE OF NAME
CHANGE OF NAME
CHANGE OF NAME
CHANGE OF NAME
CHANGE OF NAME
CHANGE OF NAME
Formerly known and addressed as Miss Bello Halimatsadia Olajumoke now which to be known and addressed as Mrs Nosrudeen Halimatsadia Olajumoke all former documents remain valid and general public take note.
Formerly known and addressed as Miss Otusanya Yetunde Oluwaseun now which to be known and addressed as Mrs Kareem Yetunde Oluwaseun Laura all former documents remain valid, The principal and P.T.A of Federal Science and Technical College Ijebu-Imushin, Ogun state and general public take note.
CHANGE OF NAME ABUBAKR : Formerly known and addressed as MISS ABUBAKR AZEEZAT AYOKU now wish to be known and addressed as MRS AZEEZAT JOKOMBA. All former documents remain valid. General public take note
CHANGE OF NAME JONAH: Formerly known and addressed as MISS JONAH ESTHER now wish to be known and addressed as MRS OKORO ESTHER.AJUMA. All former documents remain valid. General public take note
I formerly known and addressed as MRS BERNICE OLUBUKUNOLA ILESANMI, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS BERNICE OLUBUKUNOLA ALAO. All former documents remain valid. FED.INLAND REV,FED.ESTABLISHment OF NIGERIA and General public take note.
This is to state that both names DURU CHUCKS JERRY and DURU JEROME C. refer to one and same person as DURU JEROME C. All documents bearing both names still remain valid. Fidelity Bank PLC and the general public should please take note.
I formerly known and addressed as MISS GANIYU RUKAYAT TEMITOPE, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS SUNDAY TEMITOPE ASUNKE. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.
CHANGE OF NAME HASSAN Formerly known and addressed as HASSAN AKOWE IBRAHIM now wish to be known and addressed as OTENE IBRAHIM. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.
BASSEY: Formerly known and addressed as MISS QUEEN IMOH BASSEY now wish to be known and addressed as MRS QUEEN AKINPELUMI AKINBOYEWA. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.
CHANGE OF NAME
CHANGE OF NAME SUNNY: .Formerly known and addressed as SUNNY AZAD DICKSON now wish to be known and addressed as SUNDAY AZAD. All former documents remain valid. General public take note
CHANGE OF NAME EFFIONG: Formerly known and addressed as MISS EFFIONG PETER ENO now wish to be known and addressed as MRS AKANJI PETER ENO. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.
I, Formerly known and addressed as GOLD OLUOMACHUKWUM ENYINNAYA, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. MARY ONYEMAECHI ENYINNAYA AKUJOR. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.
CHANGE OF NAME
CHANGE OF NAME I, Formerly known and addressed as Miss KASAMU OLUWATOYIN RAFIAT, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. ADESHINA OLUWATOYIN RAFIAT. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.
Formerly known and address as OLATUNJI TOMISIN OLAREWAJU, now wish to be known and address as OLATUNJI SUNDAY OLAREWAJU. All formal documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.
CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as Richard Aremu Oluwagbemi Adeyinka now wish to be known and addressed as Olowonmi Aremu Oluwagbemi Adeyinka. All former documents remain valid. General public take note
CHANGE OF NAME Formerly Known and addressed as Miss Adelaja Oluwatosin Ifedayo now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Ojelade Oluwatosin Ifedayo. All former documents remain valid. General public take note
ANOZIE: Formerly known and addressed as ANOZIE DOUGLAS AMANZE now wish to be known and addressed as ONWUKA DOUGLAS AMANZE. All former documents remain valid. General public take note
CHANGE OF NAME
CHANGE OF NAME Arogundada:I formerly Miss Arogundade Foluke Mary now Mrs Olajubu Foluke Mary, All former documents remain valid,Diamond Bank and the general public take note.
Formerly known and addressed as HASSAN DANLADI MUHAMMED, now wish to be known and addressed as HASSAN DANLADI MUHAMMED SUNDAY EZEKIEL. All former documents remain valid; Nigerian banking sector, general public please take note.
Formerly known and addressed as Miss Oyesile Omotolani Oyeyemi now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Odunewu Omotolani Oyeyemi. All former documents remain valid. General public take note
CHANGE OF NAME I formerly known and addressed as JAMES OLUWASHINA and JAMES BENSON, now to be known and addressed as JAMES BENSON OLUWASHINA REUBEN. former documents remain valid general public take note.
Formerly known and addressed as Alao Bosede Julian now wish to be known and addressed as Bosede Julian Diya. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.
CHANGE OF NAME
CHANGE OF NAME ADAMU: Formerly known and addressed as ADAMU ALIYU ISHIOLA now wish to be known and addressed as OMOTUNDE ALAO. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.
CHANGE OF NAME CHUKWUMA : Formerly known and addressed as CHUKWUMA NWIFURU ESELI now wish to be known and addressed as AKOMA GODWIN DABERECHI. All former documents remain valid. General public take note
I formerly known and addressed as IBUKUN ABOLARINWA Now wish to be known, called and addressed as YINKA OLAMILEKAN BADMUS. All documents and certificates bearing my former names remain valid. General public, Fidelity Bank and relevant authorities should please take note.
CHANGE OF NAME
GABRIEL: Formerly known and addressed as OLADELE JOHN GABRIEL now wish to be known and addressed as OLADELE JOHN ABIODUN. All former documents remain valid. GTBank, ECOBANK, ACCESS BANK and General public should please take note.
CHANGE OF NAME
I formerly known and addressed as IBUKUN ABOLARINWA Now wish to be known, called and addressed as YINKA OLAMILEKAN BADMUS All documents and certificates bearing my former names remain valid. General public, Fidelity Bank and relevant authorities should please take note.
ODO: I, formerly known and addressed as MRS ODO VALERIA CHIKA, now wish to be known and addressed UGWU VALERIA CHIKA. All former documents remain valid. First Bank, Zenith Bank, FCE Eha-Amufu, Nwafor Orizu College of Education and general public should please take note.
CHANGE OF NAME
CHANGE OF NAME
CHANGE OF NAME
CHANGE OF NAME
CHANGE OF NAME
CHANGE OF NAME
44
Monday, January 4, 2016
CHANGE OF NAME
UMUKORO: I, formerly known, called and addressed as FRANCIS UMUKORO, now wish to be known, called and addressed as PATRICK OGHENEVWARE UMUKORO. All former documents remain valid. General public and Authorities Concerned should please take note.
CHANGE OF NAME
CHANGE OF NAME
CHANGE OF NAME
I formerly known as MISS. ALLWELL COMPORT CHIAZAM now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. IWUNOH COMFORT CHIAZAM. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.
OJO: I, formerly known and addressed as OJO OGADIMA, now wish to be known, called and addressed as IROCHE CHRISTIAN CHIKWENDU. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.
CHANGE OF NAME
CHANGE OF NAME I formerly known as TAIWO FATIMAH TUMININU now wish to be known and addressed as ROBIU FATIMA TUMININU. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.
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CONFIRMATION OF NAME & DATE OF BIRTH
CHANGE OF NAME
ADEFILA BUKOLA is the same person known as ADEFILA DEBO BUKOLA with wrong date of birth stated as 4th of June 1984 instead of 6th september, 1983. All former documents bearing both names are mine and remain valid. The general public should please take note.
JAMIU: I, formerly known and addressed as JAMIU SIKIRU ABIODUN, now wish to be known, called and addressed as JAMIU SIKIRU JIMOH. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.
ABRAHAM: I, formerly known and addressed as ABRAHAM SEYI, now wish to be known, called and addressed as IBRAHIM SEYI. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.
I formerly known and addressed as IBUKUN ABOLARINWA Now wish to be known, called and addressed as YINKA OLAMILEKAN BADMUS All documents and certificates bearing my former names remain valid. General public, Fidelity Bank and relevant authorities should please take note.
CONFIRMATION OF NAME This is to certified that Francess Olufunke Adesugba is the same one person as Eunice Olufunke Adesugba, that henceforth wish to be called and addressed as Eunice Olufunke Adesugba. All former documents remain valid, general public should please take note.
CONFIRMATION OF NAME This is to certified that Mikhail Maruf Ishola is the same one person as Adebowale Adediran Ishola, that henceforth wish to be known and called as Adebowale Adediran Ishola. All former documents remain valid, United Bank for Africa (UBA), Union Bank of Nigeria Plc and general public should please take note.
CHANGE OF NAME Formerly called and known as Miss Laoye Ronke Grace now wish to be called and addressed as Mrs Alao Ronke Grace. All former documents remain valid, NYSC and general public should please take note.
CHANGE OF NAME
CONFIRMATION OF NAME
CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and called as Miss Famojuro Ruth Bolaji now wish to be addressed and called as Mrs Ilugbiyin Ruth Bolaji. All former documents remain valid, general public should please take note.
CONFIRMATION OF NAME This is to certified that Atu Adefunke Toyosi is the same one person as Atu Adefunke Grace, that henceforth wish to be known and called as Atu Adefunke Grace. All former documents remain valid, First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Ecobank Plc and general public should please take note.
CHANGE OF NAME Formerly called and known as Adaramola Akinbayode Gboyega now wish to be called and addressed as Rockland Akinbayode Daniel. All former documents remain valid, general public should please take note.
Formerly known and called as Ogunleye Moronfade Mary now wish to be addressed and called as Abegunde Moronkeji Mary. All former documents remain valid, general public should please take note.
CHANGE OF NAME
CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known as OLUWOLE BINTU now want to be called and addressed as OLUWOLE BINTU CAROLINE. All former documents remain valid. Authority concern and General public take note
CHANGE OF NAME Formerly COMFORT ODUN now want to be called, known and addressed as JOSHUA COMFORT ODUNAYO. All former documents remain valid. First Bank Plc, UBA Bank and general public take note.
CHANGE OF NAME I formerly known and addressed as Ebenge James Inyang wish to be known and addressed as Margaret Ikoabasi Inyang. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.
CHANGE OF NAME
CONFIRMATION OF NAME
CHANGE OF NAME I formerly known and addressed as Fausat Taiwo Ganiyu now to be known and addressed as Mrs Taiwo Moshood former documents remain valid general public take note
CHANGE OF NAME I formerly known and addressed as Memudu Ramotalahi Abiodun now to be known and addressed as Shonibare Memudu Ramotalahi former documents remain valid general public take note
FORMERLY KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS HUFOJI MATHEW OLADELE. NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS JAPHETH MATHEW OLADELE. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. GENERAL PUBLIC TAKE NOTE.
Formerly known and addressed as ABAJINGIN OREOLUWA OLAKARI, now wish to be known and addressed as LAWAL OREOLUWA OLAKARI. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.
CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as Lateef Ajiwe, now wish to be known and addressed as Oyetoyinbo Olayinka John. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.
CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as known as Roseline Nwakaego Odeke Ogbonna. now wish to be known and addressed as Roseline Nwakaego Ogbonna. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.
CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as Agatha Odoh Ogechi, now wish to be known and addressed as Odoh Agatha Joy Oge. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.
CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as ADAMU KEFAS, now wish to be known and addressed as ALI SALE. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.
CHANGE OF NAME
CHANGE OF NAME Formerly Miss. SHANU ADEDOYIN ADEJOKE now Mrs. OLANIPEKUN ADEDOYIN ADEJOKE. All former documents remain valid. General public to please note.
Formerly addressed and known as Miss Oyebami Mutiyat Toyin now wish to be called and addressed as Mrs Ayeyemi Mutiyat Toyin. All former documents remain valid, general public should please take note.
CHANGE OF NAME Formerly MR. SULAHIMAN KAZEEM IS’HAQ OLAYEMI. Now, MR. DANKAZEEM OLAYEMI. All former documents remain valid. Authority concern and general public take note. CHANGE OF NAME
This is to certified that Odofin Oluseun A. is the same one person as Odofin Precious Oluseun, that henceforth wish to be called and addressed as Odofin Precious Oluseun. All former documents remain valid, NECO, WAEC, Osun State Polytechnic Iree and general public should please take note.
CONFIRMATION OF NAME This is to confirm that ARIGIDI DESTINY EVIDENCE and ARIGIDI DOUBRA DESTINY is the same person bearing the names, now wish to called ARIGIDI DESTINY EVIDENCE. All former documents remain valid. Access Bank plc, UBA bank plc and general public take note.
CHANGE OF NAME
I formerly known and addressed as Elizabeth Itunuayo Aiyese Isaac now to be known and addressed as Elizabeth Itunuayo Jack-Rich Tein former documents remain valid general public take note
I formerly known and addressed as Miss Oluwakemi Ruth Olawunmi now to be known and addressed as Mrs Oluwakemi Ruth Ajayi former documents remain valid general public take note
CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as Olayinka Babatunde, now wish to be known and addressed as Mukaila Olayinka Usman. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.
CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as Ali ThankGod Andrew, now wish to be known and addressed as Yusufu Oigocho. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.
CHANGE OF NAME Celestina: i formerly known and addressed as Miss Celestina Ngozika Alozie, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Celestina Ngozika Uzoma. All former documents remain valid. The general public take note.
CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as Miss Elohor Joy Matthew now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. ELOHOR JOY OTHIHIWA. All former documents remain valid. The general public should take note.
CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as Miss Ajayi Omolola Catherine, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Oloketimehin omolola catherine.All former documents remain valid.General public take note.
I, Oni Oluwaseun Motunrayo am the same person bearing Oni Ayomide Iyanuoluwa. All former documents remain valid. UBA BANK PLC,ECO BANK PLC and General public take note.
CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as SAHEED TOYIN ADENIKE now wish to be known and addressed as OKE TOYIN . All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note
Formerly known and addressed as IFEOMA OHAZURUME now wish to be known and addressed as IFEOMA JOHNSON. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.
CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as DAUDA ALONGE, now wish to be known and addressed as DAUDA ISSA. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.
Formerly known and addressed as MISS. EWE MAGDALINE, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. ODEGA MAGDALINE. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.
CHANGE OF NAME
GOWTOR: Formerly known and addressed as GOWTOR DECHI KWAKSHI now wish to be known and addressed as JAMES SHITTA DECHI. All former documents remain valid. General public take note
CHANGE OF NAME
CONFIRMATION OF NAME
CHANGE OF NAME
CHANGE OF NAME
CHANGE OF NAME
OLORUNTOBA: Formerly known and addressed as TAIWO STELLA OLORUNTOBA now wish to be known and addressed as MRS TAIWO STELLA FATILE-OLAGOKE. All former documents remain valid. Ekiti State Judicial Service Commission and general public, please take note
CHANGE OF NAME
Formerly known and addressed as Miss Bosede Oluwabunmi Familua now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Ajayi Bosede Oluwabunmi. All former documents remain valid. General public take note
Formerly Known and addressed as Miss Alabi Suliyat Opeyemi now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Adeyemo Grace Opeyemi. All former documents remain valid. Abeokuta North LGEA, Ogun Subeb and General public take note
CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as Mrs Ogunbayo Iyabode Idiat (Nee Yusuff) now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Adebayo Iyabode Olaitan. All former documents remain valid. Ogun state Government and General public take note
Formerly known and addressed as Mr Ogunbayo Lukman Olabisi now wish to be known and addressed as Mr Adebayo Gabriel Olabisi. All former documents remain valid. Ogun state Government, TOPREC and General public take note
CHANGE OF NAME
CHANGE OF NAME
ABU: I, formerly known and addressed as ABU EUNICE ASIMAHU, now wish to be known and addressed as MAHMUD EUNICE ASIMAHU . All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.
CHANGE OF NAME
UGWU: I, formerly known and addressed as MISS MABEL NKIRUKA UGWU, now wish to be known and addressed MRS MABEL NKIRUKA ONOH. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.
CHANGE OF NAME
Formally known and addressed as MISS UCHE EUCHERIA NWANKWO now wish to be known and addressed as MRS UCHE EUCHERIA AKANNI. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.
CHANGE OF NAME
Formerly known and addressed as Miss. Okonkwo Juliet Lebechi, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ozioko Juliet Lebechi. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.
CHANGE OF NAME
Formerly known and addressed as SYLVESTER OGONNA now wish to be known and addressed as SYLVESTER NWANJA. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note
CHANGE OF NAME
Formerly known and addressed as Saliu Olamide now wish to be known and addressed as Quadri Oluwatoyin Ahmed. All former documents remain valid. General public take note
CHANGE OF NAME
FORMERLY KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS OLADEJI MODUPE RUTH. NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS ALIMI MODUPE RISIKAT. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. GENERAL PUBLIC TAKE NOTE
CHANGE OF NAME
UZOAMAKA : Formerly known and addressed as UZOAMAKA CHIBUEZE now wish to be known and addressed as UZOAMAKA HOPE AGUOCHA. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.
CHANGE OF NAME
Former Miss. OMOLEYE, Christianah Olayemi Now wishes to be addressed Mrs. OMOTOSHO Christianah Olayemi. All other documents remain valid, Osun State Colledge of Education Ila Orangun and General Public Take Note.
CHANGE OF NAME
Formally known and addressed as JOSEPH OLUWOLE MICHEAL now wish to be known and addressed as ISHOLA MICHEAL. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note. CONFIRMATION OF NAME
This is to confirm that Miss. Adeyanju Funmilayo Sade is the same person as Mrs. Adeoti Funmilayo Sade. All former documents remain valid. General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME
Formerly known and addressed as MURTALA ADEDEJI ADELEKE, now wish to be known and addressed as ADELEKE MURTALA ADEDEJI. All former documents remain valid; Nigerian Banking sector, general public please take note.
CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as Mr Alamutu Abdulafeez Mobolaji now wish to be known and addressed as Mr Alamutu Afeez Mobolaji. All former documents remain valid. ECO bank and General public take note CHANGE OF NAME SALIHU:Formerly known and addressed as MISS SALIHU OLAYIDE BALIQEES now wish to be known and addressed as MRS TEJIDINNI OLAYIDE BALIQEES. All former documents remain valid. General public take note
I FORMERLY known and addressed as MRS OLOYE DUNNI LOLA NOW to be known and addressed as MRS OLOYE DUNNI OLUWAKEMI ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID ECO BANK, FIRST BANK AND GENERAL PUBLIC TAKE NOTE
CHANGE OF NAME
AMOS : Formerly known and addressed as ZIPPORAH AMOS now wish to be known and addressed as ZIPPORAH NABABA. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.
CHANGE OF NAME
I, formally known as Adesuwa Evelyn Okhiria, now wish to be known and addressed as Adesuwa Evelyn Ogbontaen. All my documents remain valid with this development. General public take note.
This is to confirm that I Dalladi Phillip Dan is the same person as Magaji Danlami all former documents remain valid general public take note CHANGE OF NAME
CHANGE OF NAME
I, formerly known and addressed as Owolabi Kemi Anna, now wish to be known and addressed as Yusuf Kemi Anna. All former documents remain valid. General public, please take note.
CHANGE OF NAME
CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as Nwafor Veronica Ngozi, now wish to be known and addressed as Eric Ngozi Blessing. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.
CHANGE OF NAME
CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as OYESOLA DORCAS YEMISI , now wish to be known and addressed as JOHN YEMISI DORCAS. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.
Formally known and addressed as Miss OJO FUNMILAYO RACHEAL now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs JOHNSON FUNMILAYO RACHEAL. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note. Formerly known and addressed as Amos Olubunmi Dorcas, now wish to be known and addressed as Okolie Olubunmi Amos. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.
CHANGE OF NAME
CHANGE OF NAME
Formerly known and addressed as Ugwu Patience now wish to be known and addressed as Ugwudike Ndidiamaka Josephine. All former documents remain valid. Wema bank and General public take note
Formerly known and addressed as MISS. MODUPE COMFORT KOLAWOLE. Now wish to be addressed as MRS. OBE MODUPE COMFORT. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.
CHANGE OF NAME
CHANGE OF NAME UHIENE : Formerly known and addressed as UHIENE LADI now wish to be known and addressed as OGBONNAYA LADI FAVOUR. All former documents remain valid. General Public Take Note.
CHANGE OF NAME
CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as Mrs Ololade Temilola Oni now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Ololade Temilola Ayegbayo. All former documents remain valid. First bank and General public take note
Formerly known and addressed as Miss Junaid Funmilade Bolutife now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Popoola Funmilade Bolutife. All former documents remain valid. Ogun state Judiciary and General public take note I, formerly known and addressed as Taiwo Adewuyi, now wish to be known and addressed as Adewuyi Olufemi Samuel. All former documents remain valid. General public, please take note.
Monday, January 4, 2016
I can still say that nothing adverse has happened to the national team, except that world football is evolving and we have to adapt
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45
Sport
January transfer: Musa cautions Ighalo
46
- BRAZIL DEFENDER, THIAGO SILVA
Home-based Eagles training in Pretoria ahead 2016 CHAN
Super Four gets new date
CHAN:
Super Eagles
train under high altitude in SA T he home-based Super Eagles of Nigeria have begun the second phase of their preparation for Rwanda 2016 African Nations Championship (CHAN) in Pretoria, South Africa. The team, which will feature in CHAN, which kicks off 16 January in Kigali, arrived the South African capital city Saturday with the plan to train at a location that has the same high altitude as the one they will experience in Rwanda. A tweet posted on the official
tweeter handle of the Super Eagles revealed that the team and their coaches did not have the luxury to rest after their flight from Lagos to Johannesburg before connecting Pretoria, but have to begin training yesterday morning. “Hard work begins in Pretoria. #SoarSuperEagles #2016CHAN”, the tweet read. The tweeter handle also posted some photos of the training. Meanwhile, the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, has de-
bunked the news in some sections of the media that the team iscamping in Cape Town. In a tweet on @thenff, the federation said: “Clarification: The Super Eagles B delegation to pre CHAN training camp is traveling to Pretoria, not Cape Town.” The home Eagles will play two friendly matches against Angola and Ivory Coast while at Pretoria camp to fine tune their preparation for the CHAN, which is being played by players in the domestic leagues on the African continent.
…As LMC picks host state this week Paul ErEwuba
E
ven though a state has not been picked among the over five that have signified interest to host the annual LMC Super Four, the league body has fixed between January 18 and 22, 2016 for the tournament that will feature Nigeria’s teams on the continent. Enyimba (League champions), Warri Wolves (League runners up), Nasarawa United (third placed in the league) and Akwa United (Federation Cup kings) will be using the Super Four to hone their skills and sharpen their preparations for CAF inter club competitions with matches slated for the second week
of next month. A top official of the league said that the LMC had hitherto fixed January 11 to 15 for the annual club showpiece but that the four participating clubs prevailed on the league’s body to move it by an additional week to concise with the opening day of the league season. It was gathered that the LMC has earmarked January 31, 2016 as the day for the opening of the 2015/2016 season. So many states have applied to host the Super Four and as at the last count, it was gathered that Ilorin, Makurdi, Lagos, Port Harcourt among others have shown seriousness to host the tournament and that decision would be made by the LMC this week.
46
Sports
Monday, January 4, 2016
Thiago: Guardiola, greatest coach in history
B
ayern Munich midfielder Thiago Alcantara feels Pep Guardiola is the best coach in history, voicing his disappointment at the Spaniard’s decision to exit the club at the end of the season. Guardiola confirmed last month that he is to leave Bayern when his contract expires in June, with former Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti to replace him. Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City have all been mooted as potential destinations for Guardiola - who brought Thiago to the Allianz Arena from former club Barcelona in 2013. Having played under Guardiola at Bayern and Camp Nou, the Spain international has lauded the 44-year-old’s coaching abilities. “All of you know how Pep Guardiola is as a manager... he is the best coach in history,” said the midfielder. “I have shared great moments with him and bad moments but you know how somebody is in bad moments and he always was there. “I came to Bayern with him and I am so grateful as he brought me the opportunity to play at a great club like Bayern. “It is sad that he has to leave... he is a manager who needs time to know the team and we are now in a good dynamic. “The things are working as he wants, or we want, so it is a shame that he has to leave but we have to respect his decision.”
Thiago
Musa cautions Ighalo
r a u
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uper Eagles and CSKA Moscow of Russia winger, Ahmed Musa, believes a move to a “bigger” club could affect the career of team mate and Watford of England attacker, Odion Ighalo. Ighalo has been a revelation for the Hornets, hitting 14 league goals to power the newly-promoted side to the top half of the Barclays Premier League table. Spanish club Atletico Madrid reportedly watched him on no less than five occasions this season with a promise to double his wages as they tried to lure him with the prospect of a tabling a £12-million deal for his services. Musa, speaking in a sports radio programme monitored in Lagos yesterday, however feels a move in the January transfer window would unsettle Ighalo. “When it comes to issues like these, you usually leave the deci-
sion to the person that it affects directly so it is not really for me to say. “However, if I was to advise him, I would ask him to remain at Watford at least for now because if he leaves, it could affect him. “I also believe he will score a lot more if he chooses to remain at Watford,” Musa said. The Super Eagles captain concluded by voicing his sentiments on the “important” role he expects Ighalo to play in Nigeria’s 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifying double header with Egypt in March. “ Ighalo is one of the players we expect to play an important role in the two games against Egypt in March. “I am sure he will do well and that will help us to qualify for the Afcon,” he concluded. Watford have since issued an official statement to the effect that Ighalo is not for sale under any circumstances.
Sports Minister tours Lagos sports facilities today
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ll is now set for an official inspection tour of sports facilities in Lagos state today by the Minister of Youth and Sports Barrister Solomon Dalung. The facilities to be inspected include the National Stadium Surulere Lagos , the National Institute for Sports and the
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Games Village at Bode Thomas, all in Surulere Lagos. The Inspection is expected to commence at 1pm. On the minister’s entourage is the Permanent Secretary of the ministry of Youth and Sports Mr Christian Ohaa and the Director General Mallam Alhasan Yakmut. The essence of the inspection is to have a first hand assessment of
Portuguese newspa newspaper A Bola reported in their Sunday edition that Manchester United on Saturday evening sent a delegation to the match between Benfica and Vitoria Guimarães. They have little doubt that the ob- ject of M a n chester United’s attention i s 1 9 year old Goncalo Guedes, who has been compared to a whole host of star
the condition of the facilities . The minister , Barrister Solomon Dalung said there was need to bring back to life, the National Stadium Surulere, which used to be the pride of the nation. The minister is also expected to visit the Lagos City Marathon office located at the Teslim Balogun Stadium to sign-on for the race.
Dalung
January transfer: Man United linked with Benfica’s Guedes wingers. Manchester United have been linked with the player repeatedly and if the club are looking to add young talent that it would be a reasonable route to go down, although it may be considered Louis van Gaal’s side could do with some more experience. A Bola states that Manchester United’s trip was thwarted, with Benfica keeping Guedes on the bench for the entire match, which the
Portuguese newspaper seem slightly surprised by. However, if it was a ploy to scupper the Manchester United delegation, A Bola believe they will have instead been impressed by Renato Sanches, who the newspaper picked out as the Man of the Match. Sanches only turned 18 years old in August and is likely to be one of the next batch of Portuguese talents linked with a Premier League move.
Guedes
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net
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Monday, January 4, 2016
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Pre-season:
Tornadoes arrive Ilorin Priscilla Dennis MINNA
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Rwanda 2016: Chukwu warns CHAN Eagles against complacency Mercy Jacob
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ormer Super Eagles Coach, Christian Chukwu has advised the CHAN Eagles who are currently in South Africa for the second phase of their preparation ahead of Rwanda 2016 African Nations Championship (CHAN) not to underrate any team if they want to go far in the competition. Chukwu, former captain of the Green Eagles, who led the Eagles to the 1980 African Cup of Nations glory said every participant in the championship has a bright chance of winning the trophy, insisting that any attempt to underrate any team could backfire. “The home Eagles have bright chance of winning the competition if only they remain focused and avoid underrating any team all through the period of the competi-
tion. “ It is also important that they win their first match because it determines their progression in the competition as it would boost their moral.” The former captain of Rangers of Enugu also encouraged the CHAN Eagles to borrow a leaf from the U-17 Team,and Olympic team that won their various competitions and ensure they fly high in Rwanda. “The home Eagles have potentials to succeed in Rwanda. I will advise them to follow the footsteps of the underage teams and work as a team in order to be victorious. The home Eagles will play two friendly matches against Angola and Ivory Coast while at their Pretoria camp to fine tune their preparation for the CHAN, which is being played by players in the domestic leagues on the African continent”.
Chukwu
Prioritise coaches’ development, Laloko tasks NFF afolabi GaMbari
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ormer technical director of the Nigeria Football Association (NFA), Dr. Kasimawo Laloko, has urged the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to always consider the development of the country’s coaches with utmost professionalism. Laloko, who bared his mind to National
Laloko
Mirror over the weekend in Lagos, contended that the Nigerian coaches fell short when the stakes became higher. “Too often, the NFF has left the coaches on their own even while tasking them with higher jobs, although it is clear that they need guidance,” the Director of Pepsi Football Academy said. “There is nowhere in the world where this anomaly exists and there will still be discussion on meaningful football development and I wonder why the NFF seems to think differently,” the Director of The Football College (TFC), Orile-Imo, Ogun State added. “It is obvious that grassroots coaching needs to be encouraged if our country’s football must grow. But the NFF has not bothered to harmonise the coaches at that level with a view to guiding them in the overall interest of Nigeria’s football development,” he further said, as he berated the football federation’s penchant for what he called competition than real football development, stressing, “Some of the old generation coaches are still around and are eager to provide mentoring to the younger ones, if
the NFF would support them.” Laloko, however, blamed the coaches’ plight on the disunity among the coaches in Nigeria. “In my understanding, the coaches know what is best for them in their quest for progress but they always fail to achieve the target because they don’t speak with one voice,” the seasoned administrator observed.
layers and officials of newly promoted GloLeague side Niger Tornadoes FC of Minna are in Ilorin, Kwara State for a three-week pre-season camping ahead of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) starting on January 31. Tornadoes’ Media Officer, Mr. George Daniya, told National Mirror yesterday in Minna that Chairman of the team’s Management Committee, Hon. Adamu Aliyu Mohammed, had approved the pre-season camping which commences today. “The 35-man squad for the close will engage in series of friendly matches with top professional football clubs,” Daniya said. “We have assembled a formidable team and we want the old and new players to blend together,” the media officer said. “At the end of the pre-season we will release the final list of the players that will prosecute the 2015/2016 NPFL season,” he added. Meanwhile, the management committee chairman has commended the coaching and technical crew of the club on the professionalism they deployed in the players’ requirement. “Quality is needed in order that the club will effectively excel when the league commences,” Mohammed said. “We are not in the league to add up to the numbers but to compete with other top clubs with a view to re-igniting Tornadoes FC as a household name in Nigeria football,” he added while commending the Niger State government for its support as well as other stakeholders for their efforts.
Pillar’s Mohammed close to Vietnam switch
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ano Pillars striker Gambo Mohammed has jetted out of the country to seal a transfer to Vietnam, officials have announced. “Gambo is close to sealing a deal in Vietnam. We will have all the details about this transfer in the coming days,” announced Pillars spokesman Idris Malikawa.
Gambo has severally attempted to ply his trade overseas after trials in Egypt and Turkey over the years. There have been speculations he could move to another club in the Nigeria league in the new season. Last season, his playing time at Pillars was limited after he suffered gunshots when gunmen attacked the
team bus on their way to a league game and he was sidelined for several months.
Mohammed
WORLD RECORD
Largest stick bomb Vol. 05 No. 1276 Monday, January 4, 2016
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The largest stick bomb consists of 30,849 sticks and was achieved by the Tulln Domino Team (Austria) at the BSZ-Turnhalle, Tulln, Austria, on 30 March 2015.
Ominous portents of a troubled nation A first time foreign visitor to Nigeria would only need a glimpse into the front cover headlines of her national dailies to come to the conclusion that the nation is on edge. This could further be accentuated by the copious complementary photographs of events and developments used in the various newspapers. And should the visitor turn on a television set to feel the vibrations of the nation, his/her impression of a people engaged in mutually assured destruction is confirmed. The ominous portents of this confounding scenario are clear to discerning minds. Mutual antagonisms between the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have thrown up ponderable hiatus in the polity; aggravations of many Nigerians of Boko Haram’s potential lethality; recrudescence of Igbo irredentism; perceptibly
HeartBeat Callistus Oke
Callistusoke@nationalmirroronline.net 08054103275 (SMS ONLY) anthonykila@mail.com one-sided anti-corruption war of the Buhari administration; insolvency of many states; monumental crash of crude oil prices and its concomitant nightmares; unrelenting energy crisis; and pervasive unemployment in the country and the social disequilibrium it is creating. The list is inexhaustible. Many of these challenges have been with us for quite some time; some are just emerging. They have collectively combined to overheat the polity and unnerved Nigerians and their leaders. The resolution of the challenges is within the purview of President Muhammadu Buhari, the Federal Executive Council, and the National Assembly. The opposition political parties led by the PDP equally have their roles to play on this score. Indeed, all of us as stakeholders could, through constructive criticisms, make the needed inputs into the national policy making processes. The point being made is that positive governance is a collective effort. However, since Buhari seats at the driver’s seat, all the bucks stop on his table. So, he has the major responsibility to fix these challenges. This fact is settled by the Big Decision of March 28, 2015, Nigeria’s defining moment. That day, the PDP’s 16 years reign came to an inglorious end. Buhari unarguably rode on the crest of the ferocious political waves caused by the change mantra to victory. His ascendancy to the pinnacle of national power came with the great expectation that a new dawn that would reinvent the
ADVERSARIAL POLITICS RATHER THAN BIPARTISAN POLITICS, IS IN
ASCENDANCY IN THE COUNTRY country had been ushered in. We are into the seven months of the new administration and popular imagination is that though much has happened in the country, the promised change is long in manifesting. For those optimistic of better days ahead, they have called on Nigerians for patience. However, critics of the new government have tarred it with the coat of cluelessness, selective justice and discriminatory dispensation of patronages. Does this mean that Buhari is not up to the task? This writer thinks otherwise. If much has not been achieved by the administration the fault is located in certain factors that have combined to slow down the momentum of the government. Adversarial politics rather than bipartisan politics, is in ascendancy in the country. I hold the APC responsible for this. The management of its victories in the 2015 general elections is less than satisfactory. The party is not magnanimous in victory. It has elevated political zero sum game to an absurd level, and this is alienating a broad spectrum of interests in the country.
The disposition of President Buhari is combative and imperial. For crying it loud, Nigeria is a liberal democracy, which is anchored on the twin pillars of the rule of law and constitutionalism. Popular imagination is that the ongoing anti-corruption crusade might be laudatory; however, a situation where the President talks blandly of jail terms for looters is interpreted as creating the impression that he as the accuser is also the judge in their cases! The judiciary exists to adjudicate on conflicts among parties, and it alone can convict guilty after a fair and open trial. And for the PDP, popular imagination is that it is too adversarial and indecorous in acting out its statutory role. Opposing every policy and programme of the Federal Government, whether good or bad, only gives it the image of a bad loser. But many see the party’s current disposition as a reaction to the combativeness of the ruling APC. Whatever the rationalization, it is a settled issue that the PDP is confined to the fringe of national governance for the next four years. What is expected of it is a regenerative drive that could turn its current disadvantage into opportunities for a likely comeback. However, has anybody told the PDP’s national hierarchs that Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State, its current de facto spokesman, is a liability? His outing and showing so far in the conduct of the affairs of the larger Nigerian state have only a nuisance value. He has chosen the denigration of Mr. President as his hobby. For many Nigerians his positions on national issues are patently unintelligible. The earlier he is reined in the better for the party. And who is playing down the import of the recrudescence of Biafran nationalism being coordinated by both MASSOB and Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB)? President Buhari should without delay set the machinery for dialogue in motion. Accommodating malcontents at the same time from several fronts in the country is dangerous.
Sport Extra
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Mikel gets plaudits from Hiddink
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ohn Obi Mikel earned himself accolades from Chelsea manager, Guus Hiddink, after a splendid performance in their 3-0 win at Crystal Palace yesterday.
The 28-year-old Nigerian put up a disciplined and sturdy defensive display that caught the eye of not just the Chelsea manager but also football enthusiasts. The Dutchman de-
scribed Mikel as “the ideal player” capable of giving stability to the Blues as he did in their Barclays Premier League clash with Crystal Palace. “Mikel played very well.
He is the ideal player to bring balance to the team. He knows the game very well and how to cope. To watch a player defend so elegantly is a beautiful thing,” said Hiddink of the
Nigerian midfielder. The Nigerian has now started in Chelsea’s last two league games at Manchester United and Palace since the departure of Jose Mourinho.
Mikel Emenike
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