Thursday, November 22, 2012 by GLOBAL MEDIA MIRROR LIMITED

OPS slams CBN over high interest rate

Fire razes LUTH, The News

...says economic growth rate is decelerating

JOHNSON OKANLAWON AND STANLEY IHEDIGBO Sanusi

Vol. 2 N0. 497

he Organised Private Sector, OPS, yesterday berated the Central Bank of Nige-

ria, CBN, for maintaining its tight monetary policy; especially its decision CONTINUED ON PAGE 6>>

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Thursday, November 22, 2012

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Boko Haram: IGP ignorant of Nigerian laws –Senate GEORGE OJI, OBIORAH IFOH, EMMANUEL ONANI AND INUSA NDAHI

he Senate yesterday told the InspectorGeneral of Police,

Mr. Mohammed Abubakar that he was ignorant of Nigerian laws over his claims that the prosecution of suspected members of the dreaded Boko Haram sect was being frustrated because of the

Terrorists kill six Camerounians, Chadians in Maiduguri

CONTINUED ON PAGE 5>>

I’m free to contest 2015 presidency –Jonathan P.4

A’Court: NJC overrules CJN over Jombo-Ofo Imo gets inspectorate for free education

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Sympathisers at the scene of a collapsed building at Jakande Estate, Isolo, Lagos, yesterday. Story and more pictures on pages 2 and 3.

FG approves N13.9bn for Bayelsa airport …N5bn for reconstruction of bombed UN building

Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio, presenting the 2013 budget to the Speaker, House of Assembly, Hon. Sam Ikon, in Uyo, yesterday.

Israel, Hamas agree to ceasefire

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News

Thursday, November 22, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Tragedy: Four die in Lagos building colla FRANCIS SUBERU AND MURITALA AYINLA

t least three people died yesterday when two houses collapsed in parts of the Lagos metropolis. Another person also lost his life in auto accident when a container fell on him. A two-storey building at Block M20, Lagos State Development Property Corporation, LSDPC, Housing Estate also known as Jakande Estate, Oke-Afa in Ejigbo Local Government Area of Lagos State collapsed. Two sisters, Toyin and Bukola Coker, died in the incident while their mother, Mrs. Christiana Adebisi Coker, was critically injured. One of the ladies was said to have graduated recently from a college of medicine. It was gathered that the building, which collapsed about 1am, had given signs of distress about 12:30am. A resident in the building, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he heard the cracks of the building about 12:30am and immediately raised the alarm for other residents to vacate the building. He said people in the building, comprising six units of flats, were able to come out before the building finally caved in except the Cokers, who were said to be sleeping at the time, and were trapped in the rubbles. When officials of the National Emergency Management Authority, NEMA, and the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA, arrived the scene, they rescued Mrs. Coker alive. They also recovered the bodies of the deceased. Mrs. Coker was, at press time, receiving treatment at the Ejigbo Council Hospital while the remains of the deceased were deposited at Isolo General Hospital mortuary. It was gathered that the building had earlier been marked for demolition and occupants directed to move out, but the Cokers and others who occupied the second floor of the building were yet to move out. The NEMA Zonal Coordinator for South-West, Mr. Iyiola Akande, said: “The house gave signs and the residents of the building

were warned. Some heeded the warning and left. The only family that remained in the building became victim of the collapse. “A councillor from Ejigbo Local Council Development Area, LCDA, who came here early in the morning, told us that the residents of the building had been forewarned about the dangerous state of the building. That was attested to by those who had moved out of the building.” Sympathising with the victims, the Information Officer, Ejigbo LCDA, Mr. Hassan Rabiu, who was at the scene of the incident, said Mrs. Coker was in stable condition. He, however, said that the death of her two children, could have been avoided had the family heeded the council’s warning. Sympathisers at the scene complained openly that many buildings in the low-cost housing estate were distressed, urging LASEMA, NEMA and other relevant government agencies to do something to prevent future occurrence. At press time, officials had pulled down the building, reducing it to rubbles. Also speaking on the incident, the LASEMA General Manager, Dr. Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, said the building had been marked for demolition since February. According to him, the building was among the structures marked for demolition after the violent storm which struck the state early this year. He said: “The owners of the property defied early warnings of imminent collapse of the structures. Our investigation reveals that the building had since been marked for demolition after the owners of the structure were instructed to subject their building to structural integrity test. “It is, however, necessary to inform the general public not to risk their lives whenever such warning is given. Our findings also revealed that occupants of the ill-fated building were also warned to vacate the distressed building before its eventual collapse. “The occupants were reported to have said that God would save them. Now the disaster has claimed two lives.” The LSDPC General Manager, Mr. Segun Oki,

Demolition and clearing of rubbles from the collapsed building, Block M20 at Jakande Estate in Oke Afa, Isolo, Lagos, yesterday.

Members of the Nigerian Red Cross Society evacuating one of the victims of the collapsed building at Jakande Estate, Oke-Afa in Isolo Lagos State, yesterday. PHOTOS: YINKA ADEPARUSI

Sympathisers at the scene.

claimed that residents of buildings marked for demolition in the state usually delete the mark. Also speaking with our correspondent, the Chairman of Ejigbo LCDA, Kehinde Bamigbetan, lauded the youth of the area for rescuing the occupants of the building. He said more lives would have lost if not for their efforts. Bamigbetan urged the residents of distressed buildings in the council to subject their structures to integrity test to avert avoidable disaster. The third person died when another building located on 174 Cooperation Drive, Dolphin Estate (beside Dolphin Estate Police Station) lkoyi, collapsed. The Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, Red Cross, LASEMA, and

other volunteers had a hectic time rescuing those trapped in the rubbles. Oke-Osanyintolu also confirmed the incident. He said: “It is true that a building collapsed at 174 Cooperation drive, Dolphin Estate (beside Dolphin Estate Police Station) lkoyi. The building was being demolished when part of caved in, trapping one of the workers.” At press time, emergency workers were still trying to rescue the trapped workers. Meanwhile, an unidentified person died while three others sustained severe injuries at Celenizer Bus Stop on Lagos - Badagry Expressway, Oto-Awori LCDA, when a container fell on a car. It was gathered that tragedy occurred when the motorists were trying to avoid a bad portion on the road.

A witness, Mr. Ade Johnson, said the accident occurred about 12:30pm when a heavy-duty truck with registration No: XT 339 AKD and a Mazda car with registration No: UK 641 KJA, were trying to avoid a bad portion on the road. He said: “Both vehicles were going towards Badagry but when they got to the bus stop, they manoeuvred to the other lane, attempting to dodge the big pothole in the centre of the road. “While still driving against traffic, the truck was ahead of the car. But the truck driver did not know there was another ditch ahead; so, he ran into it. “As the driver tried to negotiate his way out of the ditch, perhaps the container loosened from its strap in the process. Meanwhile, the driver of the car was trying

to overtake the truck; it was during this time the container fell on the vehicle. “Immediately it happened, sympathisers rushed to the spot of the accident to rescue the occupants of the vehicles. But one of the passengers was unlucky; he died before help could come his way.” When National Mirror visited the scene of the accident about 4:00 pm, the vehicles were still in middle of the road, while officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA, were busy managing the traffic. The Lagos State Government recently assured the residents of the state that all the bad portions of the ever-busy expressway would be rehabilitated to ease movement.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

News

Thursday, November 22, 2012

apse, auto accident

...Sad memories of the past DAYO AYEYEMI

efore now, a three storey building had collapsed in Ebute Metta, Lagos in 2005, where more than 20 people were feared dead and many with different degrees of injury. In 2006, three cases of collapsed buildings were reported In March 22, 2006, the top nine floors of the 21-storey’s Bank of Industry building on Broad Street, Lagos, collapsed This happened after a fire had gutted two stories in the building earlier that month. Heavy winds during a thunderstorm caused the building to cave in from the structural weakness after the fire. The building was located in the commercial centre of the city. Only one person was killed while 24 were reported injured. Besides, on July 18, 2006, another disaster occurred when a four-story block of flats collapsed in Lagos. At least 25 people were killed. Experts attributed the incident to poor construction. The building was under three years old. The building was residential, comprising 36 flats. Officials of Lagos State Government threatened to prosecute.

Building collapses in Lagos kill dozens yearly because of poor building and construction standards as well as poor materials. In November 2006, an uncompleted building also caved in . It was a threestory building. Two construction workers were killed. Twelve people were saved with minor injuries. The first day of rescue efforts slowed doen by the fact that no heavy equipment had been assigned for clearing refuse and to search human bodies. In April 2010, a building collapsed at Kairo Market in Oshodi, Lagos, killing no fewer than four persons. Nine survivors were reportedly pulled out and immediately rushed to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital for medical attention. By the next day, heavy duty cranes and other excavators and rescue workers of the Lagos State Government were there to save people trapped in the rubble. A lady, who identified herself as ‘Mama Biliki’, said she escaped death by luck. The lady said the land on which the building was being erected had been a subject of legal contention. The Don de Dieu Plaza, a 6-storey building located at

11, Aderibigbe Street, collapsed in 2011 at Maryland, Lagos. In July 2012, a twostorey building located on 49, Freeman Street, EbuteMetta, Oyingbo, Lagos, collapsed in down town Lagos, but no live was lost. The building was constructed about 10 years ago by a developer. The occupants of the collapsed building said the building had given them signs before it finally collapsed about 6pm as they attributed the incident to use of substandard materials. Also in August 2012, a three-storey building collapsed in Lagos Island leaving scores of residents and others trapped in the rubbles. The building, which was located at 11 Anikantamo Street, off Adeniji-Adele Road, was said to have crumbled due to weak foundation. Also on July 2011, another four-storey building, located at No. 5, Mogaji Street, Lagos collapsed. Eight people were feared killed, while several others sustained various degrees of injury. It was also gathered that an unspecified number of other victims were trapped in the rubble.

How to stamp out incidents –Experts

One of the victims of the collapsed building, Mrs. Coker.

Old picture of the victims, Mrs. Coker and her two daughters, Bukky and Toyin.

A rescue worker emptying the building of residents’ belongings.

Late Miss Bukky Coker.

olted by the incessant collapsed of buildings in the country in which Lagos State has recorded the highest casualties recently, experts have called on governments at all levels to roll out policies to put an end to the menace. They said the embarrassment was becoming too much to bear for them and the government, particularly after the collapsed of a two-storey building under construction in Oshodi Local Government Area of Lagos State, killing four persons while several others also sustained varying degree of injuries on New Year’s eve. Report had it that those affected were construction workers and food vendors. Also report had it that more than 10 buildings collapsed in Lagos last year, 22 buildings were demolished by both the owners and government for failing stability tests, while 108 identified distressed building were sealed by government with the expectation that property owners/developers will carry out the necessary demolition. Suggesting solutions on how to halt cases of col-

lapsed buildings, President of the Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB), Mr. Chucks Omeife, has, for the umpteenth time, called on the Lagos State government to be proactive in its decisions to nip the menace in the bud. According to him, the critical and major solution to building collapse is to regulate the construction process, raising posers on why the authority should keep recycling laws despite the fact that most of these laws had outlived their usefulness and could no longer cope with modern trend and dynamics in the construction industry and the society. He said there was a need for the introduction of inspectors who will be in charge of building control different from those in charge of development control to monitor construction activities. Besides, he canvassed a serious professionalisation of the Ministry of Urban and Physical Planning for effective service delivery to the people and not trying to maintain an outdated status quo. He stated: “In the past

we used to have building inspectors who monitors both urban development and building control. Today we need inspectors who will be in charge of building control different from those in charge of development control. “These are two different areas of control with different professionals with specific knowledge in certain areas to manage.” The use of an inspector to monitor both building control and development control, he noted was effective in the past because there was a bit of sanity and few development going on all around and that people were very conscious and ready to abide by the necessary regulations and laws as required. “Today the story is different, the rate of development is high and buildings are springing up at all nooks and corners of the state. What one expects at this time is a serious professionalization of the ministry of urban and physical planning for effective service delivery to the people and not trying to maintain an outdated status quo,” he stated.

PhotoNews

Thursday, November 22, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

L-R: Statistician-General of the Federation, Dr. Yemi Kale; former Economic Adviser to the President, Prof. Ode Ojowu and representative of the UNDP Resident Representative, Mrs. Colleen Zamba, at PHOTO: NAN the 2012 African Statistics Day celebration in Abuja, yesterday.

L-R: Managing Director, Chams Plc, Mr. Demola Aladekomo; Chairman, Prof. Adebayo Akinde and Company Secretary, Mr. Idowu Logile, at the Annual General Meeting of the company in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA

L-R: Business Executive Manager, Nescafe, Mr. Erwan Vilfeu; Executive Director, Marketing Services, Nestle Nigeria, Mrs. Iquoh Ukoh; Vice-Chancellor, University of Lagos, Prof. Ramon Bello and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academic and Research, Prof. Babajide Alo, at the opening of Nescafe Cafe at the university in Lagos, yesterday. PHOTO: OLUFEMI AJASA

L-R: Marketing Manager, GOtv Nigeria, Mr. Dare Kafar; Chief Broadcast Content Officer, Nigeria Broadcasting Corporation, Mrs. Susan Obi; General Manager, GOtv Nigeria, Mrs. Elizabeth Amkpa and Head of Public Relations, Multichoice, Mr. Segun Fayose, at the press launch of GOtv in Enugu State, yesterday.

National News

I’m free to contest 2015 presidency –Jonathan ISE-OLUWA IGE ABUJA

lthough President Goodluck Jonathan told Nigerians on Sunday that he would not disclose, until 2014, his intention over 2015 presidential election, however, yesterday he asked a Federal High Court in Abuja to hold that he is still constitutionally eligible to re-contest the presidential poll. Jonathan said this in response to a suit filed by a Port Harcourt-based legal practitioner and Peoples Democratic Party PDP-card carrying member, Henry Amadi, that Jonathan is no longer eligible to contest in 2015. In the suit, Amadi is contending that Jonathan was barred from contesting the poll because the 1999 Constitution specifically provided for maximum period of two terms of four years each. He is contending that Jonathan, having, earlier taken an oath of office in 2010 to complete the tenure

of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua before taking a fresh oath of office in 2012, re-contesting the 2015 presidential poll would make the President spend more than the maximum period of two terms of four years each as envisaged by the 1999 Constitution. The suit is similar to another one filed by a chieftain of the PDP, Mr. Cyriacus Njoku, on March 20, before an Abuja High Court asking it to stop Jonathan from contesting presidential election in 2015 on the grounds that he is already in his second term in office. Justice Mudashiru Oniyangi had on November 13 decided to deliver judgement in Njoku’s suit but subsequently adjourned indefinitely following his trip abroad. However, in the present suit, Amadi named Jonathan and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as co-defendants. The plaintiff asked the court to stop Jonathan from

putting himself forward or participating as candidate in election to the office of the President at the end of his current term of office. Amadi also asked the court to direct INEC not to accept Jonathan’s nomination as candidate of the PDP by 2015 because by so do-

ing, Jonathan would hoist illegality in the polity since the oath of allegiance and office he would take, if he re-elected, would violate the two oaths of allegiance and office stipulated by the 1999 Constitution. But in the counter-affidavit filed on his behalf by Mr.

Ade Okeaya-Inneh (SAN), Jonathan said the court should disqualify itself of jurisdiction to entertain Amadi’s suit, saying the plaintiff had no locus standi to request court to stop him from contesting 2015 presidential election. Jonathan said Amadi’s

action failed to disclose reasonable cause of action and that the plaintiff’s claim was hypothetical and academic. Assuming without conceding that the court has the jurisdiction to entertain the case, Jonathan explained that he is qualified to contest 2015 presidential election.

Fire razes LUTH, The News FRANCIS SUBERU AND LEONARD OKACHIE

roperties worth millions of naira were yesterday morning destroyed in a fire incident which gutted the male hostel of the College of Medicine, Lagos State University, Idi-Araba, Lagos. The fire, which started about 10a.m., was said to have been put out by a combined team of the Lagos State Fire Service and policemen from Itire Police Division. Though no casualty was recorded, the incident

caused commotion in the entire hostel as people ran in different directions. A witness said the students were in their rooms when they suddenly saw thick smokes coming from the burning block. He said at the same time, they were alerted by porters in the hostel that the building had been gutted by fire, leading to a stampede. The authorities of the LUTH said power surge caused the fire outbreak at the college’s hostel. Mr. Olusesan Odejimi, Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the college said “only two rooms were af-

fected and not the entire building and nobody was injured or was there any form of casualty.” The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Ngozi Braide, confirmed the incident. She said: “There is no casualty at all because our men from Itire Police Division quickly responded to the distress call and ensured that everyone in the hostel was evacuated and immediately helped in putting out the fire.” In another development, the offices of The News and PM News located on Acme Road, Ogba, Lagos was yes-

terday gutted by fire. The inferno which was said to have started at about 7.30p.m. had the top floor of the building completely razed. Though the cause of the fire could not be ascertained as at press time, a member of staff who pleaded anonymity said the fire may have been caused by an electrical surge. “We were doing our production and all of a sudden we saw a thick smoke at the top floor. That was by 7.30p.m. We raised alarm and scampered for safety. The floor was completely razed.”

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

News

Thursday, November 22, 2012

FG approves N13.9bn for Bayelsa airport ROTIMI FADEYI ABUJA

he Federal Executive Council, FEC, yesterday approved the construction of an international airport in Bayelsa State. The contract was awarded to China Civil Engineering Construction Company, CCECC, at N13.9bn with a completion period of 24 months. Briefing State House correspondents after the FEC meeting presided over by Vice-President Namadi

Sambo, the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, said that the airport would be similar to the Port Harcourt International Airport, which is just two hours drive to Yenagoa. He said that the approval of an international terminal for Bayelsa followed a memo by the Aviation Minister, Ms Stella Oduah, towards achieving the goals of the Federal Government’s agenda in the aviation sector of the economy. Maku said the terminal building was necessary because of the activities of

the oil and gas companies in the state, stressing that it would also beef up the security of oil installations in the region. He explained that the Federal Government had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of the Peoples Republic of China for the construction of new international terminal buildings at the five international airports and perishable cargo terminals at Abuja, Lagos , Kano, Port Harcourt, Enugu and Asaba airports.

Maku added that part of the funds for the project would be provided by the Government of China. Also yesterday, then FEC approved the sum of N5.15bn for the rebuilding and rehabilitation of the United Nations, UN, building in Abuja. The building was bombed by the dreaded Islamic sect, Boko Haram, on August 26 last year. The approval was in fulfillment of the pledge made by President Goodluck Jonathan that the Federal Government would assist

L-R: Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru; President Goodluck Jonathan; Nigeria’s High Commissioner to Pakistan, Ambassador Dauda Danladi and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Martins Uhumoibhi, during an interactive session with Nigerians living in Pakistan, yesterday.

in rebuilding the structure. About 20 people died in the incident with dozens of others injured. The contract was awarded to Julius Berger Nigeria Plc. Also yesterday, the council approved the purchase of a new air ambulance, a Cessna Citation Sovereign Jet aircraft, equipped with emergency medical facilities for the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA. The purchase was approved at a cost of $23.17m with a delivery period of 32 weeks. NEMA Director-General, Alhaji Muhammad Sani Sidi, said that the purchase was necessitated by the recent increase in natural and human-induced disasters in the country. The council also approved N554.05m for the supply of seven new CAT 320DL hydraulic excavators and one new LODICO Low Loader (Flat Bed) with tractor head at a cost of N52.08m in favour of Messrs Tripple K Investment Limited with a delivery period of 15 weeks. FEC also approved to upgrade NEMA’s existing CISCO VIOP infrastructure

at N184.78m and the supply and installation of digital Motorola two-way radios, repeaters and base stations at the agencies headquarters and its zonal offices at the cost of N271.69m with a delivery period of eight weeks. While speaking on road projects approved by the council, Minister of Works, Mr. Mike Onolememen, said that approval was given for the augmentation of the project cost of the KanoMaiduguri expressway, which was awarded in 2006, from N172bn to N285bn. According to him, FEC also approved the construction of four sections of the Obajana-Benin road at the sum of N65.2bn. The breakdown shows that each section of the road will gulp N11.6bn. The sections are: Obajana-Okene, Okene-Auchi, Auchi-Ehor and EhorBenin City. He stated that the rehabilitation of the section 2 of the Calabar-Ugep-OgojaKatsina-Ala road, was also augmented, while four contracts for the construction of federal roads and bridges in Taraba, Niger and Kano states were approved. Also approved yesterday CONTINUED ON PAGE 6>>

Boko Haram: IGP ignorant of Nigerian laws –Senate CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

absence of extant legislation against terrorism. The Senate said that there was an anti- terrorism law duly passed by the National Assembly last year and signed by President Goodluck Jonathan. The IGP, had during a meeting with Assistant Inspectors-General of Police, AIGs, and Commissioners of Police in the 36 state commands and the Federal Capital Territory, said that the absence of an anti-terrorism law in Nigeria had been stalling the prosecution of terror suspects. Abubakar, while responding to a question had said: “We cannot take somebody to court unless there is an enabling law, isn’t it? And I said anti-terrorism bill has not been passed and except it is passed, we cannot be able to arraign them before a court. “Efforts are being made to ensure that this goes through. “It is worrisome for us;

we want to take them to court so that we can equally reduce the cases and detentions we have because if prosecutions are made and suspects are sent to prison, it will serve as a deterrent to others and we are looking forward to that.” But reacting to the IGP’s comments yesterday in Abuja, the Senate Committee Chairman on Information, Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Enyinnaya Abaribe, said that there was an enabling law against terrorism. He expressed surprise that Abubakar could feign ignorance of an existing law that was signed by the President. Abaribe explained that the Senate passed the AntiTerrorism Bill into law on June 1, 2011 and forwarded it to President Jonathan on June 2. He added that the bill was consequently assented to in the same month. Abaribe, however, regretted that the Legal

Department of the Force Headquarters failed to intimidate the police boss on the extant law against terrorism. “The Senate was really very surprised and flabbergasted that the InspectorGeneral of Police would say that there is no anti-terrorism law. “The anti-terrorism bill was passed into law on June 1, 2011 and passed to the President for assent on June 2 of the same year. I think the IGP has not been properly briefed by his legal staff. “Even on top of that bill, the Senate went ahead to pass an amendment; we are going to make sure we send a copy to the IGP. “We find it difficult to believe that an arm of government will claim not to be aware of a law that has been signed by the President. We actually have an anti-terrorism law signed by the President. “We think that there is enough in our laws to pros-

ecute terrorists. We are saying that what the IG said is not true, as there is an existing law against terrorism.” Meanwhile, six people identified as Camerounian and Chadian nationals were yesterday killed at their residence in Abattoir Area of Kasheri/ Shokari ward in Jere Local Government Area by yet-to-be identified gunmen. The area is a few kilometres away from Kasuwan Shanu (Cow Market) ward of Maiduguri metropolis. Men of the Joint Task Force, JTF, had tagged the area as a black spot following series of killings and attacks that had taken place in recent times by suspected terrorists in the area. It was gathered that the gunmen slaughtered the victims to avoid the sound of the gunshots, which would attract security agencies to the area. The incident, our correspondent learnt, happened at about 2a.m.yesterday when the victims were still

asleep. The Commissioner of Police, Mr. Yuguda Abdullahi, said he heard of the incident, but the reports had not been officially communicated to his office. “I am not sure, because an incident of that magnitude should have reached my office by now, but I have directed my second-in-command to verify and report back to me as soon as possible,” Yuguda said. In another development, the enormity of task associated with the Office of the President may have been one of the reasons why President Goodluck Jonathan has not visited Borno State, including many states affected by terrorist activities. Explaining this yesterday at the national headquarters of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Abuja, the Chairman of Borno State chapter of the party, Alhaji Baba Basharu said that the President was too busy with the adminis-

tration of the nation to visit some of the states ravaged by terrorist attacks. This is even as the party said that the cause and source of the insurgency in the state is mis-governance of the All Nigeria People’s Party, ANPP, led government and the way the party under Ali Modu Sheriff managed their relationship. According to Borno State PDP chairman, “I think you are carried away and you have forgotten that it is not only in Borno State that something happened. I am explaining this to show you why the President is not at fault if he did not go to Borno as far as we are concerned. “The ANPP is worried that the President did not come, but we are not worried as such. If the President thinks it is important for him to visit Borno, he is welcome, but you know that there has been Kalari in Gombe, I think people have forgotten a lot of things. CONTINUED ON PAGE 6>>

News

Thursday, November 22, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

OPS slams CBN over high interest rate CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

to retain the Monetary Policy Rate at 12 per cent which it said was ill advised and insensitive. The Monetary Policy Committee on Tuesday maintained the current MPR at 12 per cent with a corridor of plus or minus 200 basis points around the midpoint; retained the banks’ Cash Reserve Ratio at 12per cent and the Liquidity Ratio at 30 per cent. The OPS noted that given the present socio economic conditions, stimulating the economy should be paramount at this time. In a statement, the Director-General of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Alhaji Muda Yusuf, said that the continuation of a tight monetary regime would lead to the persistence of high interest rate, deepening of the unemployment crisis and while financial intermediation role of the banks will continue to be undermined.

According to the statement, the recovery of the real economy will remain sluggish, the capacity of enterprises to create jobs would continue to be inhibited, the stock market recovery would continue to be slow and the capacity of banks to support the economy would remain severely constrained. “These are some of the likely outcomes of sustaining monetary tightening. Monetary policy decision should ideally be situated in the context of this reality; the interest of the larger economy and the welfare of the citizens”’ Yusuf said “The ultimate aim of economic policy is to impact the lives of the people. Economic policies are not ends in themselves, but means to an end! The fiscal authorities also have a critical role to play in revamping the economy; but regrettably, the effectiveness of fiscal policy has been significantly weakened by

corruption and pathetic institutional capacity,” the statement added. The chamber acknowledged the concern of the CBN about inflation, exchange rate stability and the preservation of foreign reserves, but pointed out that the reality of the current economic and business conditions is a cause for concern. It said that there is escalating unemployment crisis, declining profit margins, weakening consumer demand is weak, prohibitive interest rates, decelerating economic growth and high mortality rate of small businesses. The chamber said, “These conditions call for policy choices that would stimulate the economy, even at the risk of inflation. Boosting economic activities would increase output and invariably moderate inflation.” Also, the Chief Executive Officer of Financial

Derivatives Company, Mr. Bismack Rewane, in a note to investors, said that the fact that leading economic indicators have remained positive for two months and the Gross Domestic Product growth figure for the third quarter came in lower than the previous year at 6.48 per cent, sends mixed signals on the direction of the country’s economy. He noted that all pointers are in favour of an end to the CBN’s tight monetary policy stance and the need to boost growth and lending to the real sector. Rewane said, “The current contractionary policy stance has been in play since October 2011 when the MPR was raised by 275 basis points. The sustainability of a contractionary stance and its stifling impact on growth and the economy justifies the need for a change in policy direction. “Our view is that the overdependence on inter-

est rates as a tool for adjustment is precarious. In 2013, the CBN will have to moderate its stance to allow the interest rate decline and exchange rate depreciates.” In arriving at the MPR, CRR and Liquidity ratio decisions, CBN Governor, Mallam Lamido Sanusi, said the committee considered three scenarios, including an increase in rates in response to the uptick in headline and food inflation; a reduction in rates in view of declining core inflation and GDP growth; and Retaining current monetary policy stance in view of conflicting price signals and global uncertainties. He explained further that after considering the various options in terms of their overall implications for the general price level and overall performance of the economy, the MPC decided by a unanimous vote to maintain the current policy stance i.e. to retain the MPR at 12 per cent with a corridor of +/200 basis points around the

midpoint; and retain the CRR at 12per cent and the Liquidity Ratio at 30 per cent. According to him, the Committee also expressed satisfaction with the significant accretion to external reserves which stood at $ 45.68bn as at November 15, 2012, representing an increase of $10.27bn or about 29. per cent from the level of $35.41bn as at the end of June. On Federal Government balance sheet, the committee was of the view that it had become imperative to shift away from looking at the size of the deficit and borrowing alone to emphasizing the quality of expenditure and decisions on the allocation of resources even as it commended the fiscal authorities for keeping the fiscal deficit firmly in line with the 2012 budget. The committee also canvassed increased capital spending and proper focus on governance and transparency in the public service.

FG approves N13.9bn for Bayelsa airport CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

L-R: Chief of Staff to the President, Chief Mike Oghiadhome; Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Pius Anyim and Vice-President Namadi Sambo, at the Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

by the council was the draft framework for the National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan, NIMP. According to the minister, the framework is for the development of the National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan from 2014 to 2043, as the current infrastructure stock of the country is inadequate to support the

economic growth target of the Vision 20:2020 FEC also approved the establishment of a Council on Niger Delta for the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs to check duplication of roles and provide a forum for sharing ideas among agencies involved in policies, projects and programmes formulation and implementation in the region.

Boko Haram: IGP ignorant of Nigerian laws –Senate Group wants Mobil sanctioned over oil spills CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

There was the Sarasuka in Bauchi and Kano. “I don’t believe this is an issue. What the preoccupation of President Jonathan is is to administer Nigeria and not to go to Maiduguri or go to Gombe to look at Kalari or to go to Bauchi to look at Sarasuka. How many people died in Sarasuka? What I am saying is that we don’t look at this thing because he did not go to Maiduguri as an issue. If the President deemed it fit to come to Maiduguri, we will be happy for it.” Basharu said that the

accusation by the Borno State Commissioner for Home Affairs, Information and Culture, Mr. Inuwa Bwala, that PDP is responsible for the killings in the state and that nobody in the PDP from the state has been killed since the crisis began was wicked, irresponsible, baseless and a figment of the imagination of the commissioner, adding that more than 10 people belonging to PDP have been killed during the crisis. He added that his accusation was “aimed at causing disaffection, hatred and rancour among

the peace-loving people in Borno State, who are already suffering untold hardship and trauma since the crisis started as a result of their misgovernance. It is on record that the crisis precipitated out of control as a result of bad governance, which led to massive unemployment and abuse of the youths of Borno.” “The vituperation of the commissioner is just aimed at diverting public opinion from the state government’s incompetence and maladministration and their obvious culpability in this mess,” he said,

demanding that “the security operatives should immediately arrest and interrogate Bwala and get him to disclose the names of those causing mayhem in Borno State since he claims that he know those involved, be they PDP or whoever.” The chairman said that the party has given the commissioner 14 days to retract his statement and tender unreserved apology in the press, stressing that if he fails to do so, PDP would take a legal action in a court of competent jurisdiction for libel and false accusations against him.

TONY ANICHEBE UYO

non-gover nmental organisation, NGO, the Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth, has urged the oil industry regulators to sanction Mobil Producing Nigeria, MPN, for incessant spills from the Qua Iboe oil fields. Mobil had on November 9, 2012, confirmed a spill operator at the Qua Iboe fields, discharging an estimated 200 barrels

of crude oil into the Atlantic Ocean. In its report on the oil spill made available to National Mirror yesterday in Eket, Akwa Ibom State, the NGO noted that the spill marked the third within four months. The report, signed by the NGO's Executive Director, Mr. Nnimmo Bassey, indicated that the incident had taken a negative toll on the fishing residents of the affected community as well as contaminated the marine ecosystem.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Immortalise Kayode Eso, Senate tells NJC GEORGE OJI AND EMMANUEL ONANI

he Senate yesterday called on the National Judicial Council (NJC) to immortalise the late Supreme Court Justice, Kayode Eso, who died on November 16, at the age of 87. The Senate also resolved to send a delegation to commiserate with the family, government and people of Osun State over the demise of the erudite jurist. The resolutions followed the adoption of the prayers of the motion sponsored by Senator Babajide Omoworare and 14 others. In their various eulogies, the lawmakers were united that the late Justice Eso (rtd), was an embodiment of integrity, incorruptibility, firmness, fairness, courage and distinction; virtues, they insisted, were in short-supply on the current bench of the apex court. The senators urged the bench to emulate Eso, who they rated alongside Justices

Chukwudifu Oputa and Andrew Obaseki, both retired justices of the highest court in the land. To underscore the intellect, depth and erudition that characterised his 12 years on the apex court bench; a period the lawmakers described as the “golden age of Nigerian Supreme Court.” Citing celebrated cases of Awolowo V Shagari; Omoboriowo V A.G. Federation;

Omoboriowo V Ajasin and Nwobodo V Onoh; the senators insisted that; “Eso was a rare jurist of incorruptible and unbending adherence to constitutionalism, rule of law, independence of the judiciary and an unrepentant positivist, who appreciated law as an uncompromising instrument of social engineering as manifested in his lucid and unmistakable stance.”

Obi gets Fellowship Award

nambra State Governor, Peter Obi, has received the Fellowship Award of the Canon Law Society of Nigeria. He was the first to receive such honour since the society was established. The award was conferred on the governor during the 2012 Annual National Conference of the society at the Spiritual Year and Retreat Pastorate Centre, Ozubulu, Ekwusigo Local Government Area. The National President of the society, Reverend Fa-

ther Jonas Benson Okoye, said the award was an acknowledgement of Governor Obi’s bold efforts in reinventing the path to functional growth in the polity. Okoye recalled that the governor had not only redressed the wrongs and injuries inflicted by forceful take-over of schools by government in 1970, but had also continued to provide funds to rebuild the dilapidated structures and had equally expressed confidence in the church to assist in salvaging the education sector in the state.

of the youths. Giving the hint in his keynote address at the fifth National Council on Youth Development in Abuja yesterday, Minister of Youth Development, Barrister Inuwa Abdulkadir, said

the initiative was among others being vigorously pursued by his ministry in furtherance of the Federal Government’s agenda of making youths in the country transformative agents of national development.

FG to recruit youths for UN programme TOLA AKINMUTIMI ABUJA

he Federal Government yesterday said the process of selecting the first batch of Nigerian youths for the Junior Professional Officers Programme of the United Nations has reached an advanced stage as those selected finally would be leaving the country next January to join their counterparts from across the world for the two-year capacity building programme. To actualise the training programme, which will expose the young Nigerians to the workings of the United Nations system and enhance their professional skills in developmental programmes, the government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as the selection criteria would be based purely on merit and the strength of character

Court rules on NPAN, APCON suit tomorrow K AYODE KETEFE

Federal High Court sitting in Lagos yesterday fixed its ruling for tomorrow in the suit instituted by the umbrella body of the nation’s newspaper proprietors, the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN) against the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON). The suit is seeking to restrain the council from implementing some of the provisions of the APCON code which it considers unconstitutional. In the suit filed on behalf of NPAN by its Registered Trustees, the association is seeking for three decla-

rations and two orders of perpetual injunctions essentially aimed at restraining APCON from giving effect to the provisions of Articles 21 and 137 (a) (b) (c) of the Nigerian Code of Advertising Practice and Sales Promotion which was made by the council. The said Article 21 of the code requires that all advertisement except public notices, goodwill messages, obituaries and vacancies must be presented for vetting and approval by the Advertising Standards Panel (ASP) before publication while Article 137 (a) and (b) imposes a “minimum fine” of N200, 000 on any media house or agency which publishes advertisements without ASP’s “Certificate of Approval”

Oasis Christian Centre holds Gilead 2012

he General Overseer of the Oasis Christian Centre, Rev. Dr. Ebenezer Oyeyemi, has said that this year’s Gilead programme was specially designed for those who are looking unto the Lord for solutions to their spiritual

problems. Oyeyemi, in a release in Lagos said the Gilead 2012 will hold from Wednesday, November 21 to Saturday, November 24, 2012 with the theme “The Potter’s Hand.” The clergyman said the Gilead was a yearly pro-

gram of the church where God works wonders in the lives of those who come. The general-overseer said God has specifically directed that this year’s event be held in the open for people to see the wonders of God’s miracle.

News

South West

Thursday, November 22, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Fayemi sacks LG, Assembly commissions’ members ABIODUN NEJO ADO EKITI

he chairmen and members of Ekiti State Local Government Service Commission and the House of Assembly Service Commission have been removed over incompetence and gross indiscipline. Ekiti State House of Assembly Speaker, Dr Adewale Omirin, said their removal would enable Governor Kayode Fayemi inject competent hands into the commissions to effect change in governance. Omirin told journalists in Ado Ekiti yesterday that they were removed following an address sent to the assembly by the governor about two weeks ago. A two-third resolution of the members of the legislative body sacked the chairmen and members of the two statutory commissions which have five-year tenure on Tuesday. But Omirin said the assembly was supported by section 201 of the 1999

Constitution, which stipulated that members of any statutory boards and commissions can be removed with an address from the governor backed with twothird votes in the house. According to the Speaker, the governor took the step to enable him inject those who could work with him in the development of the State.

He said the need to sanitise the third tier of government, which he said had been bedeviled by misconduct recently, was also primary among reasons for the sack of the Local Government Service Commission members. Omirin denied any link between the members’ sack and the forthcoming 2014 governorship election in

he Lagos State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has alleged a conspiracy between the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) over the spate of adjournments in the graft case involving the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji. The Speaker is facing trial for alleged embezzlement of the assembly’s fund to the tune of N7 billion.

The party, speaking through its state Publicity Secretary, Taofeek Gani, has threatened to file a petition against the EFCC if the anticorruption agency does not improve in its manner of handling the ongoing prosecution of Ikuforiji. The party’s position was coming on the heels of five consecutive adjournments of the said trial which has been blamed on the unbelievable indisposition of the EFCC lead counsel, Mr. Godwin Obla. The PDP said the allegation and trial of the speaker are too grievous to be dragged or indeed frustrated by the

Ondo election tribunal to be inaugurated today OJO OYEWAMIDE AKURE

embers of the Ondo State Election Petitions Tribunal will be inaugurated today in Akure, the state capital, National Mirror has learnt. It was gathered that the names of members of the tribunal, which are still kept in secret, will be made known during the inauguration ceremony. Five political parties have filed petitions at the tribunal to challenge the outcome of the October

Chief Paul Alabi, who is now a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, are qualified to benefit from the policy. Consequently, former Governors Ayodele Fayose and Segun Oni, who were removed through impeachment and court pronouncement respectively, are not qualified for such benefits.

L-R: Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi; Chief Sunday Adeniyi Adegeye, aka King Sunny Ade and Chairman, KSA 50th Anniversary-OnStage Committee, Oloye Lekan Alabi, when the duo paid a courtesy call on the governor in his office, yesterday.

Ikuforiji trial: PDP alleges EFCC, ACN conspiracy OLAJIDE OMOJOLOMOJU

the state. The Speaker also said that the assembly had passed a bill that would make past governors and deputy-governors, who successfully completed their tenure without impeachment to be entitled to pension and gratuities. According to him, in the bill, only Otunba Niyi Adebayo and his deputy,

20, governorship election in the state. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, of the Labour Party (LP) winner of the polls. The five political parties challenging the victory of Governor Mimiko include the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). Others are the Accord Party (AP) and the Peoples Democratic Change (PDC).

prosecution, warning that the prosecution’s manner of seeking for adjournments in the matter can lead to the eventual striking out of the case. According to Gani; “This can only be done to satisfy the ACN as no excuse can hold water.” His words again: “We strongly believe that the speaker and the ACN enjoy the sympathy of the EFCC prosecution team as presently constituted, otherwise there won’t be indiscriminate call for adjournment in a matter that the presiding judge, Okechukwu Okeke, is serious to dispense with on time.”

FEMI OYEWESO ABEOKUTA

t least 10 people were seriously injured yesterday at the end of a clash in Shagamu, when the Chairperson of the local government, Funmilayo Efuwape, ordered thugs suspected to be cultists to beat up local government workers. Two journalists, Segun Olatunji of the Punch newspapers as well as Olayinka Olukoya of the Tribune titles were not spared in the melee as they were molested by the thugs who forcibly

IBADAN

yo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi, yesterday said that the six-point agenda of his administration was packaged to ease the suffering of the masses. He stated this in Ibadan, the state capital, at the 2013-2020 strategic planning workshops organised for the 33 local government chairmen and the Heads of Local Government Administration (HLA) in the various local government

across the state. The governor, who was represented by the Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Zacheus Adelabu, said the state had been regarded as one of the laggards among the comity of states in Nigeria, adding that was why the state government embarked on its restoration, transformation and repositioning agenda in the state. He said the six point agenda of the administration include human capital development, health care and skill acquisition,

ll is set for this year’s edition of “Just Worship” which will come up at Shepherdhill Baptist Church, Obanikoro, Lagos, tomorrow. The yearly programme is an all praise and worship event. It is billed to be between 10.00 pm and 5.00 am. According to Rev. and Mrs. Israel Kristilere, lead worshiper/visionary of the programme, at a press conference on the event, the 2012 edition of Just Worship tagged ‘Awesome God’ will feature top gospel artistes that include Pastor Phil and Lola Adika, Evang. Chuks Chidube (a.k.a This Kind God), Erujeje, Pastor Gbenga Akande, Bro. Gbenga Ojo and Bro. Olumide Shobowale. Others who will perform at the yearly event are Shepherd’s Voice International, Sax Angel and the Generation of David and Indian Christian community.

10 injured in Shagamu fracas dragged them into the office of the council chairman. While the 10 people injured, who were staff of the council have been hospitalised, the camera and blackberry phone of the two journalists used in recording the fracas were seized by the thugs numbering about 60. They also made use of various dangerous weapons which included iron rods, broken bottles and cudgels during the fracas. Trouble started around 10.43am when the council chairman, Efuwape,

We’re here to improve people’s lives –Ajimobi

KEMI OLAITAN

‘Just Worship 2012’ holds at Shepherdhill

wealth creation and poverty alleviation, infrastructure and urban renewal, development of agriculture and agric -business, rural development and integration as well as security of lives and property. His words: “At the beginning of this administration, I enunciated the fundamental platform of interventions we are bringing to the governance of the state and those fundamentals are what we refer to as the sixpoint agenda of the government.”

allegedly led thugs who stormed the local government secretariat in three buses to beat up and chase away council workers from the premises for refusing her order on one of the local government councilors identified as Arode. The councilor, representing Ode Lemo/ Emuren Ward 9, was said to have on last Monday beat up and injured a female staff of the council, Miss Abidemi Awoyemi for telling the local government legislature that there was no stationeries to print the minute of the last meeting of the councilors in the local government as well as record the proceedings of the day. The officer was said to have been admitted at the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Shagamu for treatment. The demand by the local branch of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) last Tuesday that the councilor should be reprimanded and be made to offset the hospital bill of Awoyemi, however, infuriated the council chairperson who was said to have threatened to deal with the council workers.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

South West

Thursday, November 22, 2012

SURE-P to employ 1,000 graduates, empower 3,000 youths, women in Ondo

Governor’s wife urges attitudinal change among health workers

OJO OYEWAMIDE

AKURE

o fewer than 1,000 graduates will be employed and 3,000 youths and women empowered under the Subsidy Re-investment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) in Ondo State. This was disclosed yesterday at a stakeholders meeting in Akure by the State Coordinator of SURE-P, Hon. Omolafe Isaac Adedayo. According to Omolafe, the programme is divided into the Graduate Internship

Scheme and the Community Service Scheme, urging unemployed graduates to avail themselves of the opportunity and apply through the website of the programme. He said: “Under the Graduate Internship Scheme, graduates are expected to fill an online form and submit same online to the Federal Implementation Unit (FIU) of SURE-P. Also the Community Service Scheme will, in its first phase, empower 3,000 men, women and the vulnerable. “Under the scheme, the State Implementation

Committee Unit is to visit all the communities in their states and liaise with the leaders to identify projects that will be of interest to the communities. Also, casual workers will be sourced from the communities to assist in the execution of the projects.” Omolafe, who called on interested companies to register for the programme, said such companies, after meeting the stipulated requirements, would provide training for shortlisted graduates under the Graduate Internship Scheme, adding

that the graduates would be entitled to allowance while in training. The Coordinator said the intention of the Federal Government is to take empowerment to the grassroots through the implementation of the programme. Other members of the State Implementation Committee are Charles Adeduro representing Ondo Central Senatorial District Adewale Kukute representing the Southern Senatorial District and Mr Deni Akerele representing the Northern Senatorial District.

MURITALA AYINLA he Wife of Lagos State Governor, Mrs. Abimbola Fashola, has called for attitudinal change of service providers in the public sector, particularly nurses and doctors, saying that people’s approaches to one another and issues relating to life are important. Mrs. Fashola spoke at the flag off of the 2nd round of this year’s Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Week in Lagos, stressing the importance of attitudinal change in health sector. She noted that the attitudes of service providers in health sector had been identified as the reason for low attendance at public hospitals. Mrs. Fashola said: “This is not about government nurses alone; it is about all of us. Our attitude to work, our attitude to one another, and the way we talk and our approach to one another must be redefined. It is only in this part of the world that we employ peo-

ple and still monitor them to make sure they do the job”. According to her, the purpose of the week-long programme is to create awareness among the people on the health care services available at the various primary health centres and the need for families to patronize them as well as improve the healthcare seeking behaviours of mothers and caregivers of children under the age of five years. She urged mothers and caregivers to make good use of public hospitals and health centres nearest to them, adding that facilities at the hospitals were provided by the government for the benefit of the people. She said the launch of the maternal and child mortality reduction programme and the construction of eight Maternal and Child Care Hospitals among which five are currently in full operation, demonstrates the commitment of the government in ensuring safe delivery for pregnant women and the survival and healthy growth of their children.

Pa Samuel Adeyemi for burial December 1

L-R: Director of Quality Water Control and Sanitation, Federal Ministry of Water Resource, Mr. Samuel Ume; Commissioner for Enviroment and Sanitation, Mrs. Olubukola Oyawoye and Osun State Governor, Alhaji Rauf Aregbesola, during 4th National Roundtable Conference on Community Led Total Sanitation held in Osogbo, yesterday.

Fashola, Tinubu’s leadership qualities extolled OLAJIDE OMOJOLOMOJU

resident of a group called Committee 21 (C21), Senator Annie Okonkwo, has lauded the leadership synergy between former Lagos State Governor Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and his successor, Governor Babatunde Fashola. According to a statement signed by his media aide, Mr. Collins Ugwu, Okonkwo described the recent installation of Tinubu as the Aare Ago of Egbaland by the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo Aremu, as a well deserved honour. He said Tinubu deserved the honopur for orchestrating a leadership paradigm that is stellar and sterling in the SouthWest of Nigeria. Okonkwo said: “What is clear and mind-lifting is that between the predecessor and successor

governor, there is a confident regimen of tact and craft in governance that has lifted Lagos residents from chaos and gloom to hope and respite.” According to him, it is therefore not surprising and should not be actually, “why

Tinubu is venerated and Fashola is celebrated, because even amidst Spartan grudges and dissents here and there, they have made the point clear that leaders do not have to be supernatural to deliver results naturally.” He added: “The real

clincher is that in the healthy adventure that gave Lagos residents Tinubu and Fashola, governance became an art with different dance steps, but one set target, which is to lift the bar of governance and accelerate the pace of development.

ACN condoles with Jonathan over brother’s death MURITALA AYINLA

he Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) yesterday condoled with President Goodluck Jonathan over the death of his younger brother, Chief Meni Jonathan. Meni died on Tuesday after a brief illness. In a statement issued in Lagos by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said it was shocked and saddened by Meni’s untimely death. The statement reads: ‘’The death of any young and promising person is

always a loss not only to his or her family, but to the country, which needs all the energy and creativity of its youths to achieve its potentials. “We commiserate with President Jonathan and

his entire family on their painful loss, and pray that God will give them the strength and succour to tide over this difficult time. May He also grant repose to the soul of the departed.’’

he body of a community leader, Pa Samuel Adeyemi Oni, will be buried in his Ile Oluji home in Ondo State on December 1, 2012. Thanksgiving service will be held same day at Christ Apostolic Church and a reception at the playground of Baptist Primary School, Ile Oluji. The late Pa Adeyemi Oni was born on June 6, 1926 to the late Chief John Johnson Oni, alias Baba Jay Jay, an eminent businessman by his second wife, Madam Esther Adeputi. Following the early demise of his father in 1938, the burden of his continuing education fell on his mother who was fortunately a successful trader.

Osun reiterates commitment to promote culture WALE FOLARIN OSOGBO

he Osun State Government has reiterated its determination to promote cultural values as veritable instrument for moral and economic development. The state Commission-

er for Home Affairs, Culture and Tourism, Alhaji Sikiru Ayedun, spoke at a ministerial press conference held at the Local Government Service Commission Multipurpose Hall, Osogbo. He said efforts were geared towards making the state to be among the

best tourism destinations in the world, as well as drawing tourists with a view to creating jobs and projecting Yoruba culture to the world. On the activities and general administration of the ministry, the commissioner said the ministry had ensured proper wel-

He was also encouraged by his maternal relations notable among whom were the late Chief Lisa Akingbadega and the late Chief Lamikan Adelosoye. After completing his Standard Six education in Ile Oluji, he proceeded to Ondo Boys High School, Ondo, one of the then famous secondary schools in the old Western Region. He graduated with distinction after which he was employed by the school as a teacher. He thereafter went to the School of Forestry, Jericho, Ibadan, where he got a trophy as an outstanding graduate of the school marking the beginning of a distinguished career in Forestry.

Pa Samuel

South East

Thursday, November 22, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Imo inaugurates inspectorate team for free education As govt employs over 2000 new teachers’ receipts

mo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, has inaugurated an inspectorate team that will supervise and ensure the success of the state’s free education programme. This was even as the governor launched a spe-

cial programme tagged; “No Teachers, No School Programme” aimed at ensuring equitable distribution of teachers as well as effective staffing of all schools in the state. Speaking at the event held at Heroes Square, Owerri, Governor Okoro-

cha reiterated the commitment of his administration to ensure that free qualitative education declared at all levels in the state does not only succeed but sustained. He said far-reaching measures have been taken to sanitise and restruc-

ture the school system in line with the Rescue Mission Agenda of the state government, adding that part of such measures include regular payment of salaries and allowances and periodic transfer of teachers. The governor explained

that the huge investment by his administration in the education sector is targeted at creating vast opportunities for Imo children and to sustain the state as the brain-box of the nation as the state has consistently remained on top so far as education is concerned in the country. Beyond the free education programme, Okorocha also highlighted some major achievements by his administration to include the construction of 305 model schools in each INEC ward, construction of Young Scientists College, construction of

the massive Owerri City School, construction of Imo College of Advanced Professional School, increase in monthly subvention to the Imo State University (IMSU) from N57million to N252million and the release of N450 million grant to missionary schools. While he charged the teachers to show exemplary commitment in promoting the free education programme of the state, the governor announced the approval of N10, 000 each as clothing allowance for the over 2000 newly employed teachers.

Crisis of confidence rocks Abia PDP GEORGE OPARA ABIA

A L-R: Bishop Hillary Okeke; President of the Canon Law Society of Nigeria, Rev. Fr. Dr. Jonas Okoye and Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, during the presentation of the Fellowship Award to the governor.

Okorocha’ll account for LG allocations –Reps member CHRIS NJOKU OWERRI

member of House of Representatives, Hon. Bethel Amadi, has assured members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Imo State that the government of Owelle Rochas Okorocha, would be made to account for the federal allocations given to the 27 local government councils in the last one year. Amadi, who represents Ikeduru Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives told journalists yesterday while ad-

dressing PDP councilors at the party’s secretariat in Owerri, the Imo State capital, that the current administration in the state would account for the allocations collected from the Federation Account for the past one year. “This government must account for every penny of the local government allocations that it has received in the last one year, this is not the first government in this state and it will not be the last. “We all know that this administration has been running the local government without elected

council chairmen which is illegal and it has also employed tactics, but it will soon end,” he assured. The lawmaker observed that nothing has been happening in the local governments since elected local government chairmen were not in charge of administration in the councils. “Today if you go to the local governments nothing is happening because there are no elected council chairmen to take care of the needs of the people. Those who are there are only accountable to the governor who put them there

Anambra votes N6.7bn for road projects CHARLES OKEKE AWKA

nambra State executive council yesterday approved N6.7 billion for the award of contract for various new road projects across the state. Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Chief Joe-Martins Uzodike, disclosed this at the weekly postexecutive council press briefing at the Governor’s

Lodge, Awka. Uzodike said the contracts covered by the approved estimate include, completion, reconstruction and extension of Ekwulobia-Mkpologu-Akpo-Achina-Umuchu roads, Igboukwu-Ekwulummili road, Enugwu-Ukwu-Nimo-Okacha-Neni Junction road and the Utu-Adazi Ani-Emmanuel Anglican Church-Nkpo Adazi Enu road. Other road projects to be financed from the

money are the Bishop Emma Okonkwo road as additional work to Obodoukwu road, Umunokpo UkpuNza Ozubulu road and Agulu Street-Tarzan Junction-Orsumenyi Street Omaba in Onitsha. The information commissioner said the executive council also approved drastic steps to improve payment of taxes by residents of the state, as part of measures to improve the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

and not to the people.” Amadi assured the councilors that the PDP would continue to resist every dictatorial tendencies of the current administration. Meanwhile, the Imo State government has said that it will revamp the public service in the state for efficiency and productivity. Head of Service of the state Civil Service, Mrs. Nkechi Onumajuru, disclosed this at the end of a stakeholders’ meeting with Governor Rochas Okorocha at the Sam Mbakwe Expanded Executive Chambers, Government House, Owerri recently.

n intra-party crisis has erupted in the Abia State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. The ill-feeling from the old members of the party in the state has caused disaffection and lack of trust among the new members, who joined the party in the build up to the 2011 general elections. The situation was said to have led to a crisis of confidence as disaffected stakeholders preferred to maintain studied silence watching the situation even as they shun state functions. Before the 2011 general elections, Governor Theodore Orji and scores of other defectors from other opposition parties like the Progressive Peoples Alliance, PPA, and the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, joined the ruling party, where he contested and won the 2011 gubernatorial election. But this was not without certain accord and concession with the old members of the party who fought him as the gubernatorial candidate of PPA in

the 2007 general elections. Some of the terms of agreement reached was that; “Governor Orji would be allowed to run as the gubernatorial candidate of the party and that each group would nominate members who would occupy certain key positions at the local government and state executive levels. “That tickets would be ceded to serving and loyal party members of the national and state assemblies; that appointments would be fairly and equitably shared between the two groups of the party after winning the elections and that there would be due consultations with key stakeholders of the party both in the polity of the state and party management.” But all the terms of the concession and agreements were seemingly bent or abused on implementation after the elections.

Orji

Diversion of relief materials worries YWCA NWABUEZE OKONKWO ONITSHA

embers of the Young Women Christian Association (YWCA) of Nigeria have expressed concern over the alleged diversion of some relief materials and food items donated to flood victims by various government agencies, individuals and non-govern-

mental organisations. YWCA also expressed concern that as a result of this diversion, most of the victims were denied access to most of the relief materials. The National Vice-President of the Association, Lady Chikwue Ochiagha, who made this observation at the Umueri General Hospital relief camp when she led a delegation of national and Anambra

State executive of YWCA to the flood victims’ camps, frowned at speculations making the rounds that camp officials have the penchant of diverting relief materials and food meant for the victims. She said if the officials would not desist from their evil ways, the wrath of God will fall on them for engaging in such abominable act.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

South South

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Akwa Ibom’s 2013 budget drops by N76bn TONY ANICHEBE UYO

or the fifth time in the life of the Governor Godswill Akpabio’s administration, he laid before the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly the 2013 budget estimate of N459.30 billion

which is N76 billion below that of last year. As in other years, capital project have been allocated the lion share of the budget. However, the estimate shows clearly that before the end of 2013, there may be review. This is because the

original expenditure estimate for 2013 is higher than in 2012. In 2012 the government put a revise revenue figure at N389.089 billion but eventually, the actual revenue collected was N181.678 billion, while N22.147 billion was from statutory allocation and

N5.883 billion from Value Added Tax (VAT) and N141.048 billion from Derivation Fund In 2013, N370,288 billion has been estimated again as expected revenue, but the figure for statutory allocation has been moved to N38,000 billion against N22.147 billion received in

2012. Derivation fund has been put at N289.000 billion against N141.048 received in 2012 Value Added Tax in 2013 has been put at N13.000 billion which only received N5.883 billion last years. in this year’s budget, there is also Retained Revenue from parastatals is put at N3.254 billion . Expenditure has also shot up in 2913 with N118.790 billion recurrent as against N78.126 billion in 2012.

While capital expenditure dropped to N340.515 billion in 2013 against N454.987 in 2012 The governor, while presenting the estimate christened “budget of industrialisation and consolidation,” said it would be focused on completion of all ongoing projects across cross the state. Of the total budget size, N118.70 billion is allocated to recurrent expenditure, while N340.515 billion is for capital projects.

Oshiomhole, Northern governors mourn Jonathan’s brother SEBASTINE EBHUOMHAN AND PRISCILLA DENNIS

G L-R: Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi; Senator Bukola Saraki and Delta State Governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan when the governors visited the Saraki family in Ilorin, Kwara State, to commiserate with them over the death of their father, the late Senator Olusola Saraki, yesterday.

Edo poll: Airhiavbere calls more witnesses SEBASTINE EBHUOMHAN BENIN

he Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Edo State, Maj-Gen. Charles Airhiavbere (rtd), challenging the victory of Governor Adams Oshiomhole of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) yesterday lined up more witnesses before the election petition tribunal sitting in Benin. Airhiavbere is challenging Oshiomhole’s victory in the July 14, 2012 governorship election on two grounds - academic qualification and alleged malpractice in the poll. Yesterday, the appellant called five more witnesses to support his claim of alleged electoral fraud, bringing the total witnesses so far called up to nine. The first witness, Omololu Ogbeni, née Ojehomon, who said she was a PDP agent in the election, could not show any proof to back up her claim. She told the tribunal that she joined the PDP two years ago, but her PDP membership card showed that she joined the party in

Airhiavbere

September, 2011. There was also no indication to show that she is a financial member of the party. She admitted that she cast her vote and saw other people voting. Ogbeni, who said she is an intelligence expert, said she was not recognised as such by any security agency in the country even as her PDP card indicated that she is a business woman. Another witness, Phillip Osawaru, said he was 38 years old, same age that was indicated on his voter’s card issued two years ago. He said he went to the poll with two of his daughters, aged 20 and 18. When told that he contravened the Electoral Act because his daughters were underage when they registered

to vote three years ago, he said he was unaware that he committed an offence. He said his accreditation as PDP agent for the election was given to him at the polling centre on the election day, but under further probe, he said it was taken to his party’s secretariat at Abudu, where he went to pick it on the day. When asked if he knew he, again, contravened the Electoral Act which restricts movement on the election day, Osawaru said he was unaware of such restriction. Another witness, Deaconess Maria Osaghae, who said she is the Woman Leader of Ward 1 for the PDP, said she had been an active participant in elections for over 15 years and is quite conversant with the nation’s electoral process. She admitted voting for the candidate of her choice. She admitted that she was not the PDP agent at her unit and that she was not induced to vote. She also said that nobody shared money with her at her unit and that her testimony is based on what she saw.

Madam Jennifer Ologbosere, who claimed to know members of all the parties in her ward, could not say who the Social Secretary for NCP in her ward was and also did not know the Youth Leader of the Labour Party in her ward. She also admitted that she did not know the num-

NSCDC arrests 22 suspected pipeline vandals EMMA GBEMUDU YENAGOA

he Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) in Bayelsa State has arrested 22 persons for alleged pipeline vandalism. NSCDC said the suspects would be prosecuted accordingly, as it urged vandals to desist from the shameful act. Former NSCDC Commandant, Philip Ayuba, spoke yesterday in Yenagoa, the state capital, while handing over to his successor, Desmond Agu, who was deployed from Plateau State.

overnor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has commiserated with President Goodluck Jonathan over the death of his brother, Chief Meni Jonathan. In a condolence letter to the President, Oshiomhole said: “I received with shock the news of the passing of your younger brother, Chief Meni Jonathan. On behalf of the government and people Edo State, I wish to extend my deepest sympathy to Your Excellency, your family and the immediate family of the departed. “I feel and share in your grief, your Excellency, especially given that Chief Meni Jonathan left us at a young age, but be comforted that he will be remembered fondly for all that he accomplished in such a short life as a wonderful person, a great father, husband, brother and community leader. “Your Excellency, our faith tells us that your brother has gone to his

eternal rest. It should give us solace to know that he is at peace and will reap his rewards for the good life he lived. I pray that Almighty God will give you the fortitude you need and May him give you his comfort at this difficult time.” Also yesterday, the Northern States Governors Forum (NSGF) condoled with the President. NSGF Chairman and Governor of Niger State, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, said that President Jonathan should not be discouraged by Meni’s untimely death, but forge ahead with the enormous task of providing good leadership to Nigeria and Nigerians. The Forum's condolence message was contained in a statement signed by Aliyu’s Chief Press Secretary, Danladi Ndayebo. According to the statement, the best tribute the President can pay to the memory of the departed is for him to continue to touch more lives positively as he has been doing for decades. The Forum then prayed to God to give Jonathan and members of his family the fortitude to bear the loss.

Amaechi urges judges to protect the poor CHINEDUM EMEANA PORT HARCOURT

overnor Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State has urged judges to protect the interest of the poor. The governor gave the charge yesterday in Port Harcourt when he swore-in two new judges. They are Justice Iheanyichukwu Wodi and Justice Charles Ndudi Wali. He said: “I think that in carrying out your assignment, you should have at

the back of your mind that there are poor people who are out there on the streets who may not have anybody to protect them and only the judges can protect them. Whatever you do you should be satisfied that before God you can defend yourself. “The God we worship will certainly hold you to account if man cannot hold you to account. That should be what should be at the back of your mind when you are giving your judgment.”

North

Thursday, November 22, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Five killed, 15 houses razed in Nasarawa fresh crisis o fewer than five persons were reported killed and 15 houses set ablaze in the Obi Local Government Area of Nasarawa State in renewed clashes between Koro and Eggon tribesmen. The Commissioner of Police, Mr. Abayomi Akeremale, confirmed the death toll in Lafia yesterday. Akeremale said that several houses were also destroyed by fire during the hostilities between the two tribes in Gwadanye area of Agyaragu. Property worth several millions of naira were also destroyed at the popular Jenkwe Yam Market. Houses belonging to prominent indigenes of the town were razed down during the crisis. Many residents of the town, especially women and their children, have, however, relocated to safer places. The crisis occurred between the Koros and the Eggons, who are the two major indigenous tribes in the town. It was learnt that the worse hit in the crisis was the Koro tribe as their settlements was badly destroyed.

It was learnt that the clash was a result of an alleged stealing of a motorcycle from Angwan Yakubu by an unidentified person who ran into Gwadanye area, inhabited by the Koro. The demand for the people of Angwan Yakubu to fish out the alleged culprit resulted in a fracas that led to the death of more than five persons and the burning of more than 15 houses. The constituency of the deputy speaker of the state House of Assembly, Mr. Elisha Agwadu, was also razed by fire. Meanwhile, Akeremale said security agencies were on top of the situation, adding that security personnel had been deployed to ensure safety of lives and properties. It was also alleged that there had existed a political misunderstanding between the two ethnic groups, as the Eggon people had been crying foul of marginalisation meted to them by the Migilis, who claimed to be the original indigenes of the town. The Nasarawa State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Micheal Ada, confirmed the incident, but said that it was too early to ascertain the level of casualties.

Yakowa flags off N28bn road projects

No alternative to dialogue with Boko Haram –Group

A ZA MSUE

DANJUMA WILLIAMS AND EMMA GBEMUDU

IGBAWASE UKUMBA LAFIA

KADUNA

overnor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa has flagged off N28 billion urban and rural road projects across the three senatorial zones of Kaduna State. Yakowa, who performed the flag-off of the projects yesterday in different locations, vowed to turn Kaduna State into a giant construction site. At the 34-kilometre Kagoro-Manchok-Mabushi Road, which link the state with Plateau, the governor reiterated his administration’s commitment to the development of infrastructure. Governor Yakowa asked contractors handling the projects to create jobs for residents of the benefiting communities. He urged the residents to supervise the work to ensure the quality job is done. “All of us should supervise the projects in our domains.

he Muslim Lawyers Association of Nigeria (MULAN) has urged President Goodluck Jonathan to shun those asking him to reject dialogue with members the Boko Haramic Islamic sect. MULAN National President, Mr. Abdul-Ghaniy Bello, believes that dialoging with the Boko Haram sect would pave the way for restoring peace to the parts of the North ravaged by the sect’s violent activities. Addressing a press conference yesterday in Gombe, Bello said the association would support effort to restore peace to the North through advocacy and promotion of understanding among followers of the two major religions in the country Christianity and Islam.

L-R: Speaker, Gombe State House of Assembly, Alhaji Inuwa Garba; Deputy Governor of Gombe State, Mr. Tha’anda Rubainu; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Trade and Investment, Alhaji Yusuf Daudu and Commisioner for Science and Mineral Development, Alhaji Babagoro Abdulkadir, at a workshop on hydrated lime production in Gombe on Tuesday. PHOTO: NAN

Security challenges in North end soon –Jang JAMES ABRAHAM JOS

overnor Jonah Jang of Plateau State has predicted an end to the current security challenge confronting some parts of the North. Speaking at this year’s National Convention of the Evangelical Bible Outreach Ministry International held at EBOMI Prayer City in Jos, the state capital, Jang said: “We don't need to be over

burdened with our problems and challenges, let us look unto God. By the time God opens the eyes of his people, they will know that even in the midst of darkness, light will come out of it. Jang, who used the occasion to welcome foreign and local preachers to the convention, told them that peace had fully returned to Jos. According to him, God loves Jos and as such,

•FG advised against military action He said that the association’s retreat held in Minna, the Niger State, was designed to re-invigorate the principles and goal of the association with a view to canvass more responsibilities for it and also to enhance its activities across the country. Bello noted that the escalation of the Boko Haram activities was due to several factors and chief among them is religion, adding that there was need for Muslims to endeavour to be good Muslims in both thinking and action and the same thing should apply to Christians. He said: “We have agreed to be under one God as contained in our constitution and so nothing should be allowed to change this stand”. Meanwhile, former Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) Secretary, Mr. Alagoa Morris, and former

Chairman of the Bayelsa State chapter of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Stanley Damabide, yesterday cautioned President Jonathan against the use of force on the Boko Haram insurgents. They believe that military action against the Islamic sect, as suggested by some prominent Nigerians, might cause more harms than good. In separate interviews in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, they flayed the alleged verbal attack by former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his former aide, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, on the alleged weakness of Jonathan to confront the Islamic militants. Morris recalled that Obasanjo's approach to the violence perpetrated 13 years ago by militants in Odi, Bayelsa State criminalised a whole com-

peace would continue to reign in the city. The governor commended Prophet Isa ElBuba, the General Overseer of EBOMI Prayer City, for supporting efforts to ensure peace in Plateau State. Jang, however, said God would grant Prophet El-Buba’s prayers to bring about lasting peace to Maiduguri, Borno State, the cleric’s country home. The governor said that

munity while seeking to arrest few suspected criminals. He said: "It is even a sad commentary that the international community failed to arrest Obasanjo and take him to the International Court of Justice. “I guess the silence of the international community over the genocide is a reason why he is bold to use it as a yard stick to judge Jonathan on Boko Haram.” Damabide also condemned the use of massacre of Odi by the former President and his cohorts as a yardstick to judge Jonathan’s capability to tackle Boko Haram’s insurgency. He said: "I have always believed that every government needs to be assertive in curbing internal violence, but that should not be at the expense of respect for human rights. Odi is certainly a bad example.”

the theme of the convention entitled: “It is my season” came very timely, saying his prayers are that people of God and Nigerians should not miss their season, but work towards meeting up with the demands of their season. He said: ''My prayer for you is that your attention shall not be distracted in any way, but rather remain focused to the season

I'm still Sadaunan Kano, says Shekarau AUGUSTINE MADU-WEST KANO

ormer Kano State Governor, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, yesterday denied a report that he had resigned his membership of the Kano Emirate Council and dropped his Sadaunan title. He told journalists in Kano that the report followed a misinterpretation of his letter to the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, seeking permission to be excused from regular meetings of the Council to enable him carry out party assignment, having been appointed Chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) Contact Committee. He said: "The information was based on rumour, I have not resigned any aspect of my appointment as the Council member.”

Thursday, November 22, 2012

It’s quite unfortunate that things have really gone down in Nigeria – Jonathan

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Politics

Harvest of defectors in Osun

14&15

PDP makes U-turn on Orji Kalu’s readmission

• Stakeholders storm party headquarters in protest OBIORA IFOH ABUJA

he national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday gave indication that it will reconsider its decision to readmit the former governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu following passionate plea against his readmission by Abia PDP stakeholders, led by Governor Theodore Orji. PDP national secretariat,

through the Deputy National Secretary, Onwe Solomon Onwe, had, on Monday, given indication that it would not tolerate attempt by the Abia State chapter to frustrate the return of the former governor. But worried by the decision of the national leadership of PDP to open its door to Kalu, the Abia governor yesterday led a high powered delegation to the PDP national chairman, Dr. Bamanga Tukur and members of the National Work-

ing Committee (NWC), where they raised the alarm that the former governor’s readmission will precipitate fresh crisis in the state. In the stakeholders’ position letter read on behalf of the Abia delegation by the National Vice Chairman (South East), Col. Austine Akobundu, they said there is unanimity in the Abia State chapter of the party that the readmission of any former member whose presence would cause disaffection or return the party

members to the battlefield of hostility would be stoutly resisted. He said the former governor was the “common source of deep-seated animosity and resentment” in the state chapter before he left PDP to form the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA). Akobundu said: “If the rumours making the rounds presently that he has been making surreptitious moves to be readmitted into the party’s fold are correct,

then there will surely be cataclysmic consequences for the party in Abia. This controversial and wholly unnecessary move will re-ignite the fire of trenchwarfare among otherwise reconciled members.” The delegation, which included former national chairman, Vincent Ogbulafor, all members of the National Assembly from Abia, leadership of the state House of Assembly, further declared that they gathered through “usually reliable intelligence” that Kalu’s sole objective seeking to rejoin PDP is to use its platform to pursue his presidential ambition. “This is a ploy that would escalate tension within

the rank of the party. He is coming not to build, but to destabilise,” he said. In his response, Tukur said democracy is all about the voice of the people and that the national leadership of the party will act according to the will of the people. “It is very clear, the people have spoken. Democracy is about to allow the people to make their choice,” he said. Tukur declared that the main thrust of his 3Rs agenda is to have openness, harmony, and peace in all the state chapters of the party and commended the Abia stakeholders and the governor for working hard to give PDP absolute victory during the 2011 general election.

LP calls for resignation of president, govs before poll A ZA MSUE KADUNA

T Bayelsa State governor, Seriake Dickson (left) condoling with his Kwara State counterpart, Abdulfatah Ahmed on the death of former Senate Leader, Chief Olusola Saraki at the Government House, Ilorin, yesterday.

Leadership crisis tearing CPC apart, says Dan-Musa AUGUSTINE MADU-WEST KANO

olitical associate of General Muhammadu Buhari, former Head of State and founder of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Alhaji Abubakar Mamman Dan-Musa, has identified bad leadership as major setback to the country’s development. The CPC chieftain also told National Mirror that the fortune of the party is being suffocated by leadership crisis. The Second Republic Deputy Senate President said that the party is losing the tremendous goodwill it enjoys in the North to cri-

sis that has characterised its leadership tussle. Dan Musa, who was also one-time Speaker of the Old Kaduna House of Assembly, singled out the party’s National Secretary, Alhaji Buba Galadima as the major headache of the party. Galadima, he claimed, is running CPC as his private business, thus appropriating every member of the party as his enterprise. He, however, said that despite the conflict, the CPC remains a party to beat in 2015, adding that with its proposed merger with the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Nigerians will witness a new

phase of politics in the next dispensation. “The ruling PDP had rigged itself successfully into power due to lack of credible alternative, which

the electorate yearned for but with the proposed merger with opposition parties no rigging or electoral fraud will henceforth go unchallenged,” he said.

he Labour Party (LP) has stated that provision should be made in the constitution for a sitting president and governors to resign before electioneering just as it sought funding of political parties by the Federal Government. In his presentation at the North West zonal public hearing of Senate Committee on the review of 1999 Constitution in Sokoto, the Kaduna State chairman of the party, Alhaji Bello Mohammed Magaji, said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)

had starved political parties of funds. Magaji further suggested that the power of INEC to deregister already registered political parties should be removed in the interest of justice and fairness in a democratic system. He said: “Provision should be made for the incumbent president or governor seeking re-election to resign and hand over power to another person before electioneering and election. Powers of INEC to deregister political parties should be removed. Today political parties are no longer getting grants or funds from the INEC.”

ACN determined to eradicate poverty in Nigeria – Senator WALE FOLARIN OSOGBO

member of the National Assembly representing Osun East (Ife/Ijesa) senatorial district, Senator Babajide Omoworare, has described the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) as the only formidable opposition party that could put an end to the suffering of Nigerians. He said that the ideol-

ogy and programmes of the ACN were designed to transform Nigeria and banish poverty and hunger through creation of job opportunities and revamping of the country’s economy. Omoworare said this at Ijebu-Jesa in Oriade Local Government area of the state, while presenting 11 vehicles, 22 motorcycles, 106 power generating sets, 106 fans, and 22 grinding machines to party members in

the senatorial district. He explained that he presented the vehicles to the party in the 11 local governments and the area offices that formed the Osun East Senatorial District to enhance the programmes of the party, as well as empower the people. While assuring that ACN senators will continue to make policy legislation in line with the fed-

eral character, Omoworare said that members of the party at the National Assembly will make sure that jobs are provided for the youths. He said that the ACN was taking drastic steps to positively engage the unemployed youths and empower the idle in all the states controlled by the party, adding that the step would stem the pang of hunger in the society.

Politics

Thursday, November 22, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

It’s quite unfortunate that things have This is the concluding part of President Goodluck Jonathan’s media chat on Sunday where he fielded questions from panellists on sundry issues. Excerpts: Any president that fixes power and the Benin-Ore expressway would go into history as the best president Nigeria ever had. Will you? Then Jonathan would be the best president in Nigeria ever. You should just wait, because I would fix the Benin-Ore road; my government would fix that road and of course, for power, it is one area that at least Nigerians appreciate that we are working. We are yet to get 24 hours of light in all our cities, but you would agree with me that the difference is clear. The power situation has improved significantly and we will continue to improve. By this time next year, may be some of the cities would be getting 24 hour power supply and big guys like you would no longer be spending money on fuel to power generators. The only problem we have is that our transmission infrastructure is weak. We have a number of projects going on and we believe that by the first quarter of next year, we would have completed the projects. We moved from 2007 with a little below 2,000 megawatts production on the average, but now we are generating more than 5,000 megawatts of power. But because of the weakness of our transmission infrastructure, we cannot evacuate what we generate and we have seen the reasonable stability. Before the middle of next year, when most of these transmission infrastructures would have been completed, power would stabilise. And this dry season, we are going to intervene on that Benin-Ore road as well as the Lagos-Ibadan expressway. What is the situation with the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, which has been concessioned to the Bi-Courtney Highway Services? I know that question will come. That road has been with Bi-Courtney since we came on board in 2007 or so and I think we are going to take the final decision on the matter. From all indications, it looked like the company is not in a position to execute that project and I don’t think that as a responsible government, we can continue to allow Nigerians to suffer. That expressway is the busiest road in this country; it is beyond the South-West geo-political zone and those of us in government feel pained that this country is held to ransom because of a transaction that probably was not consummated properly, but we cannot continue like this, we will intervene on that road. If you do not believe in monetisation, why didn’t you repeal the policy? The policy on paper or theoretically is good, we only have implementation challenges. When you repeal a policy, there is a way people would feel that you are doing policy somersault, and that is something we are not too comfortable with. If this policy is good theoretically, what can we do to make its implementation better? Let me expatiate on the issue of housing that I raised, using Bayelsa State as an example. I remember as a deputy governor then, I told the man who came to brief us that, as the deputy governor of Bayelsa State, in terms of going to school, I have gone to school to a reasonable level, in terms of exposure, as at that time I was a deputy governor, the president can appoint me a minister of the Federal Republic, if I am appointed as a minister, where would I stay in Abuja? I don’t have a house in Abuja, where do you expect me to live? Where is the money that I would use to rent a house befitting a minister of the Federal Republic? That wouldn’t have been a problem, if we are in the United Kingdom, where you have the mortgage system, but not in Nigeria where the mortgage system is not working. And that is one of the areas, if you follow up on our last retreat on housing, we wish to develop a viable mortgage system so that if today, a headmaster in my village who has no house in Abuja is appointed a minister in Abuja, when he comes to Abuja, he should be able to access funds from a viable mortgage system, because the money would be there

Jonathan

THAT ROAD HAS BEEN WITH BI-COURTNEY SINCE WE CAME ON BOARD IN 2007... AND I DON’T THINK THAT AS A RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT, WE CAN CONTINUE TO ALLOW

NIGERIANS TO SUFFER... WE WILL INTERVENE

and he is getting a house that is the collateral for the loan; if after six months or a year, the president drops him, and he cannot continue to pay his mortgage, the house would be sold and the funds recouped. So, we discovered that we must develop a very viable mortgage system. And of course, the transport sector is also key. I have talked about somebody moving about in his car. And this is because our transport system is not too good. These are the areas government would have to look into. It is not necessarily reversing the policy; we have to just to manage it. We now have to look at these things that we must do to make sure that the policy would be implemented in a way that people will not abuse it. What are the implications of President Barack Obama’s victory for Africa and Nigeria? President Obama victory is the best thing that has happened to the black man within this period. He is the first black man to be elected the president of the most powerful country. If he did not secured a second tenure, the conclusion would have been that the black man is not good enough and that was why Obama could not secure a second term. That alone makes me happy. Yes, Obama may assist

African nations just like the United States have been assisting us in terms of our security challenges and in quite a number of areas, but most importantly is for us who are blacks, that we are doing well wherever the environment is okay. It is a good motivation for all of us. Nigerian universities have not been rated among the best not only in the world but even in the African continent. What are you doing, when our premier university, the University of Ibadan, which used to be rated fourth before is now number 30 in Africa, to restore the lost glory in education, to achieve development? If you have been following up with us, you will agree with me that we have taken quite a number of steps in terms of bringing our educational system to what it should be. It is quite unfortunate that things have really gone down in the country. Let me tell you about the very recent one about the tertiary education. We set up a committee to go round and look at the 36 Federal Government-owned universities and the 36 state-owned universities and the committee came up with a report, which was presented to us at the Federal Executive Council and I said that the university education is on the concurrent list, that the presentation should be made to the state governors at the National Economic Council and it was done. The Vice President, Ministers of Education, Finance and Planning were there and at the end we collectively set up a committee and we agreed that we cannot play politics with our tertiary education and education generally. A committee has been set up and we are going to intervene. Before this time, we came up with the idea of looking at our best brains, that among the first class graduates, we are coming up with a programme, that the best should go to the best universities in the world, and here we are talking about the best 25 universities in the world and if you look at the distribution of the best 25 universities in the world, there are some very powerful countries that do not even have one. I don’t want to mention names, but we are

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Politics

Thursday, November 22, 2012

really gone down in Nigeria – Jonathan committed collectively, all of us. We must revive our university and educational system generally. Even at the primary level, we must revive education, in some states; we have above 50 per cent drop out. We are looking at all these and we are taking critical steps to make sure that things get back to normal. I can assure you that. The system started dropping for a long time; we didn’t just wake up and got to where we are. The aviation industry is in comatose. Richard Branson, global business wizard, said that the workings of the industry in Nigeria are beyond human comprehension and investors who have tried to play in this field have gotten their fingers burnt over and over. What is the problem with this sector and what are you doing to remedy the situation? I must ask you that question, because you are quite interested in that area and as a journalist. The aviation industry is an industry that is dominated by the private sector all over the world. The most successful airline globally is British Airways (BA), I believe so, because everybody knows about BA; it is a private sector entity. We had the Nigeria Airways that crashed with the shipping line and others, but basically, the aviation industry is one dominated by the private sector. The government provides the facilities, the infrastructure and you would agree with me that we are trying and before the end of next year, you will see that most of our airports would wear new looks, the security infrastructure would be there. But sometimes, the question you asked, I also asked same questions, I also ask the experts: why is it that we have so many private people who came up with airlines in Nigeria but after sometime, the business collapsed? We are giving incentives now; we don’t take tax, whether you are bringing in aircraft for commercial use or the spare parts for repairs; we have given all the incentives to make sure the industry thrives, but we still have issues. This is an area where we want to have a retreat next year, we want to bring the experts within and outside the country to sit down and analyse what the fundamental problems in the sector are and what we must do to make sure that we get out of the woods. That is quite challenging. But we will resolve it. If there is anything government needs to do, we will do it. The CBN itself made a lot of provisions for soft loans to the sector, but it never worked. So, putting money has not even worked, so we must find out what is wrong, what is responsible; is it management issue? What is the key thing? Go and do some research, maybe we would also invite you to the retreat next year, so that we can also share from your experience, but I agree with you, we have challenges. There have been so many committees with reports, but the White Papers are not out, the implementation of recommendations is delayed, scandals and controversies come up around those reports. What are you doing about this plethora of reports, because they are critical to moving forward as it is? In most cases, people don’t understand how government works. When the government is implementing a report, you may not know that the report is being implemented. You will know when retreats are being held, and recommendations are made, but the implementation is done by the various departments of government; some would have to do with budgetary provisions and so on, so when it is being implemented, people would not know. We don’t waste time and in most of these retreats, you will see that the Vice President and myself and the ministers will sit there the whole day. Look at the power sector for example; we had a retreat on the sector, as at that time, they said that one of the key problems was gas. So, we said okay, Minister of Petroleum, this has been identified, what do we do? And the Minister of Petroleum now came up with a policy for emergency gas supply and now we have more gas. Some people would not know. People always think of the negative aspect of governance. Why are we having power today? Because after that retreat, we said this is an emergency and since then up till now, we have more than enough gas. Reports are being

implemented, but people will not come and publish in the newspapers that we are implementing this report or that report. The only way people need to assess government is that which of these areas that they promised and they have fulfilled or not. Are we seeing improvement? Reports are being implemented; we don’t need to announce it. I don’t have to mention the issue of gas, all the people want is to know whether there is improvement in power or not. It is wrong to say that we set up committees and recommendations are not being implemented, that is not true. How is the First Lady? She is fine. She was in the church with me today (Sunday); she was at the service with us today. What happened was that Nigerians are always looking for negative things. She was ill, she received treatment and immediately she came back, she was still recuperating; she could get into very active situation, but now, she is okay. She was at the service today and few days back, she even received some groups and some visitors, so she is okay. The International Energy Agency says Nigeria loses $7 billion per annum to crude oil theft. If government is able to do something about this huge loss to Nigeria, is it not possible that the desire to remove subsidy would be banished forever? Crude oil theft and subsidy are two different things altogether. The stealing of crude oil is not the same as stealing of PMS or DPK or anything. The crude oil that is stolen is stolen from the pipelines and it is exported to other countries. And that is an area we have been working very hard on, if you have been following my pronouncements and charges to the security agencies and other departments of government and they are succeeding now; it is dropping drastically. But that is different from subsidy. Maybe your argument is that if they are not stealing the crude, government will make more money, and if government makes more money, government can continue to subsidise petroleum products. One thing you must know is that there is no free lunch in the United States. You see, if people continue

WHAT HAPPENED WAS THAT NIGERIANS ARE ALWAYS LOOKING FOR NEGATIVE

THINGS.

SHE WAS ILL, SHE

RECEIVED TREATMENT AND

IMMEDIATELY SHE CAME BACK, SHE WAS STILL RECUPERATING

to say we must get things freely, we can’t move anywhere. We are talking about our universities for example that has degenerated to the level where they are now. For me to bring these universities to the level where you and I would want them to be, we need money. We are talking about aviation, we are talking about the rail system; if we spent all the earnings of government paying for the consumption of fuel by the elite who have big cars, then we would have no money to intervene in order critical areas of the economy, we would not be able to create the jobs we want to create, the infrastructure to support the foreign direct investment would not be there. So, even if God willing, we stop this stealing of our crude oil, and if we earn a little more money, it does not automatically mean that that money would be used for our consumption. One other thing you have to know is that if they steal your crude oil, from a pipe in Bayelsa State, and if our Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) quota is 2.5 million or thereabout barrels per day, we will find a way to meet up with that quota, so we are losing from our reserves; we are wasting the wealth of the future generation, so it is a little bit more complicated, when we talk of oil theft. There are many acting CEOs scattered across the country in the system. When will the existing vacancies be filled? Very soon. Why we have left many of these appointments hanging is that many sectors of the country have been crying of marginalisation in federal appointments. We have told the Secretary to the Federal Government to hold on and let us assess and see how we spread the existing vacancies, let us take an inventory and see which geopolitical zone is benefitting more than others. That was the situation and why we suspended all appointments for some time. Unfortunately, it was within a period that quite a number of vacancies came up, but we will fill them very quickly, before the end of the year to make sure that we balance the equation. Marginalisation is always coming up in the Nigerian political environment. Last word, Mr. President. I am having this conversation with Nigerians and I am assuring Nigerians that we would be holding this conversation quarterly. The idea is not for the president to come and defend actions or inactions of government, but the idea is to have a conversation and have a cross fertilisation of ideas, so that people would have the opportunity of certain things being explained to them and also we in government who are serving you would have the opportunity to listen to areas that are dear to your hearts. Nigerians should feel free to continue to make suggestions that would be of benefit to the nation. I am thankful to all of you who have participated in today’s interaction. Let me reassure you once again that our country is moving, the future is quite bright and we have our challenges, definitely as every other nation, but we are progressing. Our economic outlook is positive; our agricultural revolution is real and working and we would continue to work for the good of the country. Yes, we have challenges, especially in security, but we are also intervening robustly and we believe we will bring it under control. Nigerians should not be depressed at all because if MAN is saying that capacity utilisation is improving, then we should know that the country is moving on. We are very hopeful and we are moving in the right direction. This is reflected in our electoral process, before now, we knew where we were and now we know where we are. Our power sector is also improving and our road infrastructure will definitely improve. Let me reassure Nigerians once again that Jonathan, the vice president and our team will leave something behind that Nigerians would be happy about. Before May 29, 2015, when Jonathan and his team would have completed their four year assignment, Nigerians would definitely have something to remember us for. Concluded

Politics

Recently, no fewer than 8,000 members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) defected to the ruling Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Osun State. WALE FOLARIN writes on the unprecedented event.

Thursday, November 22, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Harvest of defectors in Osun

ongues are still wagging in Osun State over last week’s defection of politicians from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). With the number of defectors put at 8,000 by the ACN, the development has gone into the political history of the state as unprecedented, even as it has continued to be the focus of political discourse. While the PDP appeared to be brooding over the development, the ruling party has gone to town to celebrate the gain with a grand reception organised for the defectors at the state Technical College playing ground. Not only was the state governor, Rauf Aregbesola, on ground to personally receive the defectors, members of the state Executive Council, federal and state lawmakers, party executives, party chieftains and other party faithful were present to welcome the defectors and celebrate the party’s gain. It was a tumultuous crowd, comparable to the one witnessed during the swearing-in of Aregbesola as the governor of the state two years ago. Although, those present at the venue had to wait for several hours before the official commencement of the programme, they appeared not fagged out by the long wait, as they were seen dancing and singing endlessly in condemnation of the opposition and in appreciation of the Aregbesolaled government. A popular Fuji musician, Saheed Osupa, was also on ground to add pep to the event. The development appeared to have changed the political calculation in the state slightly in favour of the ruling party, as it would translate to additional 8,000 votes for ACN, and a minus on the side of the PDP. It has also compelled stakeholders in the PDP to go back to the drawing board to fashion a way to recoup the loss. Receiving the defectors, Governor Aregbesola said his administration has transformed the state in the last two years with his six-point Integral Action Plan, which has helped to reduce poverty in the state. He assured the defectors of equal treatment, adding that his administration would ensure that it carries everybody along in its transformation agenda. The governor, who was visibly happy at the development, took a swipe at the administration of Prince Olagunsoye Oyinloya, saying that the administration left the state worst off. According to him, the seven years of Oyinlola in Osun State was the worst period in the history of the state, as it succeeded in drawing the wheel of progress in the state backward. Aregbesola, who urged other members of the opposition parties to join the ruling party, also said that his government would appreciate the contributions of all and sundry to the growth and development of the state. Also speaking at the occasion, acting chairman of the party in the state, Adelo-

Aregbesola receiving the over 8,000 members of the PDP who defected to the ACN last week

THE DEFECTORS HAVE BEEN WARMLY RECEIVED BY THE

GOVERNOR, WHOSE TRANSFORMATIONAL POLICIES ARE RATTLING MANY POLITICAL OPPONENTS AND THREATENING THEIR CAREER wo Adebiyi, said it was time for members of the opposition parties in the state to put sentiments aside and rally round the progressive government of Aregbesola. Adelowo admonished the defectors to be committed to the course of the party in the state, adding that the party would ensure that they did not regret the step they took. Responding, the leader of the defectors, Chief Adekunle Oluawo, described the ACN as a progressive political party that is committed to transforming the lives of the people and promoting true democracy. He pointed out that Aregbesola’s achievements in the last two years convinced the defectors to join the train, adding that they (defectors) were not in the party because of immediate gains. Reacting to the development, the PDP leader in Osun West senatorial district, Rev. Bunmi Jenyo described the defection as a ruse, adding that it was not possible for the PDP, which is still enjoying large followership in the state to lose 8,000 members to the ruling party at a go. Jenyo, who said that the PDP was still firmly rooted in the state, also gave the assurance that the party would kick out

Oyinlola

the present administration in Osun in the next election, adding that the people of the state have seen the difference between the Oyinlola-led PDP administration and the present one. According to him, those who allegedly defected to the ruling party are insignificant and have no effect whatsoever on the fortunes, and future of the state PDP. But the Director of Publicity and Strategy of the ACN, Kunle Oyatomi, said that it was high time that the PDP stopped deceiving itself and realised the fact that it has totally lost out in the political contest. According to him, with the numerous achievements being recorded by the Aregbesola-led administration, the ACN has continued to swell in ranks and number. Explaining the reason why the party gained such a high number of defectors from the PDP, Oyatomi said that the development was not unconnected with the

performance of Governor Aregbesola and the conviction that the state is now witnessing good governance. He said the defectors are joining forces with the ruling party to transform the state, adding that the defectors have been warmly received by the governor, whose transformational policies are rattling many political opponents and threatening their career. Oyatomi said: “Important among these transformational policies are those on education, agriculture, social welfare, care for the elderly, youth employment and empowerment including environmental and infrastructural repositioning that have eased suffering in Osun and preparing the stage for a significant social, economic development that has never happened in the state up until now. “Many politicians in the state are beginning to have a sense of the fast-changing public perception of the governor and his ACN government which could render them politically irrelevant if they persist in opposing the general consensus of the approval rating that Aregbesola and the ACN now enjoy throughout the state.” “This is the reason so many top politicians are now deciding to switch over to the ACN in good time to remain relevant. The event was a landmark achievement for both the governor and his government in terms of calibre of people who have joined the ACN from the PDP.” No doubt the people of Osun State are comparing the Aregbesola-led ACN government which is just two-years old with that of the seven-year Oyinlola-led PDP government on daily basis. With what is on ground at present in the state, one can say that Aregbesola’s administration is preparing the stage for a significant socio-economic development and transformation that another two more years will reveal. Then, the people of the state would know the villain and the hero among the two political actors.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Views

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Celebration of profligacy IN THIS NEW ERA, EDUCATIONAL

EXISTENTIAL HUMANISM

INSTITUTIONS OWNED BY THE CHURCHES ARE

FRY

CRIMINALLY PRICED

NDUBUISI fryndubuisi@nationalmirroronline.net (08023016709 SMS only)

he air mishap that involved Governor Danbaba Danfulani Suntai of Taraba State last October in Yola, Adamawa State might have brought to the fore startling revelations about the life style of privileged Nigerians. That incident has stoked fresh debate on the penchant for private jet by many Nigerians. You have evidence of the latest fag in our local airports, which are now dotted by these private jets, many of which are said to be owned by some top echelon of the political class, business moguls and religious leaders. Report has it that Nigeria has the highest number of private jets in Africa. A South South governor was reported to have acquired a brand new Bombardier Global 500 for his private use. The cost of the jet that was sourced from Canada is believed to be around $45.7 million. This oil rich state is said to have earlier purchased one aircraft for the exclusive use of the governor before the new acquisition. The latest entrant to the club of private jet owners in the country is

OUT OF THE REACH OF CHILDREN OF THE COMMON MAN President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor. My research into the cost of a private jet shows you need between N2.4 and N9 billion to acquire one; I also discovered that in the last seven years, Nigeria must have spent over one trillion naira on private jets. Considering that this is happening in a country under excruciating economic meltdown where motor cycles have become the most popular means of transportation, this development is a socioeconomic disaster. The reasons quickly given for this new craze is the precarious situation the nation’s aviation industry has found itself, especially with the recurring incidents of air mishap. This reason is as lame as any other that our leaders and opinion leaders gave in the past for their misdeeds and penchant for ostentatious life style. Does

it make sense that the aviation industry that serves the entire nation is allowed to be prostrate while the leaders that have the responsibility to fix this rot resort to alternative method of movement? It is ridiculous that Nigeria is ranked with big industrialized nations, such as the USA, China and Canada in the number of private jets she parades. In Africa we are number one, far ahead of South Africa. Yet this is a country where poverty is seen everywhere - on the streets, in the hospitals, in the education sector, on the roads and the power sector. In the area of job creation, medical care, standard of education, we are likely to be ranked last. This is an evidence of the pervasive corruption in the country and the nonchalance of the political leaderships. It is even more embarrassing that religious leaders have joined the fray. In the past the church was one of the most vocal voices against government excesses. Today it has lost its voice and the moral impetus to do that. Church leaders have become as materialistic as our politicians. In the past the missionaries were agents of change, spreading education and health care to the nooks and crannies of Nigeria, and equally acted as bulwark against oppression and repression. In this new era, educational institutions owned by the churches are criminally priced out of the reach of children of the common man. How can we claim to be making economic progress with the army of unemployed

youths roaming the streets? Most of them have taken to sophisticated criminalities like kidnapping, armed robbery and internet fraud. The federal government has so far shown that it lacks the will power to arrest this dangerous trend. We now have a situation where insignificant number of the population controls over 80 percent of the nation’s wealth. What is generally known is that big business creates wealth for the owners and the nation while it opens up opportunities for the populace. But in the case of Nigeria what are visible are the symptoms of wealth and the absence of the businesses that make this possible. It was no doubt another thump down for our nation when it was recently reported that Nigeria accounted for more than 30 percent of illegal financial transactions in Africa from 2002 to 2012. Do we need better evidence of the level of corruption in the country? No doubt we have now degenerated to moral abyss where money has become our idol, where there is dearth of morality in governance, where our leaders show no interest in the affairs of the governed, and the people therefore, do not have access to potable water and electricity, but watch hopelessly as their governors fly in private jets, celebrate birthday and marriage anniversaries in the big capital cities of the world. This trend cannot continue. Prof. Ndubuisi, an attorney at Law, is of the Department of Philosophy, UNILAG

As we move to review the Constitution

he legislative march is on again to amend the extant 1999 Constitution with the public hearings and consultative meetings taking place simultaneously across the six geo-political zones. The 1999 Constitution, in spite of its numerous defects, has only grudgingly undergone three amendments since 2011. All the three amendments are limited to minor electoral reforms and the historic incorporation of the National Industrial Court as a superior court of record. Of course, the hitherto identified areas for reforms are so diverse and complex that some stakeholders are even calling for an outright repudiation of the extant canon and replacing it with a comprehensively new and autochthonous constitution. This group had argued that a piecemeal amendment might not cure all the problematic areas that a new constitution can address in one fell swoop. I believe that even if we do not go the whole hog, a lot still needed to be done by way of “serious” amendment for Nigeria to work. Accordingly, I consider it most appropriate to offer just a few vital areas (for want of space) that lawmakers should devote priority. The first is our pragmatically inapt devolution of powers among the different tiers of government as enshrined in Part One of Schedule Two of the Constitution. Although the dichotomy of governmental powers into exclusive and concurrent legislative lists is a necessary ingredient of federalism, however, the number of subject matters entrusted exclusively to the legislative competence of Nigeria’s federal government are too enormous with a resultant lopsidedness.

By that list, the FG has exclusive control over a whopping 68 items including strategic ones like the police, armed forces, customs, prisons, railways, professional occupations and international trade and commerce etc. This over concentration of responsibilities at the centre is what gives our federation the appearance of a unitary system. A reform, through the liberalisation of this constitutional exclusivity of many of the areas hitherto reserved for the central government, has become imperative. Specifically, states should be allowed to have their own police service as this would foster more effective and purposeful policing system. Other areas that may be transported to the concurrent legislative competence include census, commercial and industrial monopolies, drugs and poison, fingerprint identification and criminal record, railways, and borrowing of money within or outside Nigeria. The argument some people have against state police, for instance, that it might be abused by the politicians at the state level, who might hijack it to witch-hunt political opponents, does not sound logical. It is simply a slippery slope argument. What makes the politicians at the federal level more sanctimonious than the politicians at the state level? Secondly, there should be a review of the controversial section 308 the Constitution which confers immunity on public officers like the President and the Vice-President, state governors and their deputies from being sued in any court of law, arrested or even served with court processes while in office. The rationale for immunity clause may be persuasive in that it would shield these par-

YET ANOTHER AREA OF CONCERN IS THE IMPERATIVE TO PLUG THE GENDER HOLES AND

“CRIMINAL”

KAYODE

KETEFE

OMISSION OF GENDER ISSUES IN THE

CONSTITUTION amount executives from potential deluge of cases that would constitute serious distractions, nonetheless my take is that such immunity should be limited to only civil suits. No immunity should be bestowed in respect of criminal liability. The third area is on the issue of Chapter Two of the 1999 Constitution, which dwells on “Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy”. The chapter features a lot of wonderful provisions on socio-economic rights that would make the country a happy place to live in, but these provisions are not made “justiciable”, which is to say nobody can sue the government on account of neglecting to implement them. This “non-justiciability” is what successive government has capitalised on to neglect the provisions to the detriment of the citizenry. While I may not recommend that the provisions be made justiciable on the grounds of sheer pragmatism, there should be a clause making their “fundamental neglect” an impeachable offence.

kketefe@nationalmirroronline.net 08032147720 (SMS only)

Yet another area of concern is the imperative to plug the gender holes and “criminal” omission of gender issues in the Constitution. This can be done via the wincorporation of gender-specific provisions to make Nigeria a truly egalitarian and androgynous society. An example of such specific provisions is contained under section 3 (1) of the Ugandan Constitution, which provides that “Women shall be accorded full and equal dignity of the person with men, while subsection 4 provides “Women shall have the right to equal treatment with men and that right shall include equal opportunities in political, economic and social activities”. Similarly, under section 187 of the South African Constitution, a Commission for Gender Equality is established. Send your views by mail or sms to PMB 10001, Ikoyi, or our Email: mail@ nationalmirroronline.netmirrorlagos@ 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.

Editorial

Thursday, November 22, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

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

STEVE AYORINDE

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SM, STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT

FRANK OBOH

HEAD, GRAPHICS

Nigeria: To be or not to be?

igeria’s former military leader, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, stated a couple of days ago that the country would not disintegrate despite the security challenges confronting it and agitations by various ethnic nationalities for self determination. Abubakar, who spoke in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, described the resonant calls for secession in the land as mere noise. He said Nigerians have intermingled over a long period and lived with obvious development challenges, which would make it difficult for the country to disintegrate. Abubakar is not the only Nigerian that brims with such hope. When in 2006, the United States intelligence experts predicted the country’s disintegration before 2015, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, among others, dismissed the report as baseless. President Goodluck Jonathan feels the same way. Jonathan was once quoted as saying, for instance: “I don’t agree with the assertion. Nigeria will not disintegrate…”. The president made references to the experience in the Niger Delta in 1966, when the late Isaac Adaka Boro declared secession of Niger Delta Republic from the nation; and the 1967 - 1970 civil war to justify how resilient the nation can be in the face of daunting challenges. It is, however, important to situate Abubakar’s comments within the context of the se-

curity deficit in the country. Nigeria as a nation has in recent times, experienced major security breaches and threats by the violent Boko Haram Islamic sect, in addition to disturbances by ethno–militia groups nationwide. The Boko Haram insurgence, according to figures provided by government officials, has claimed over 3,000 lives between 2009 and 2012, in addition to the destruction of property, whose value is unquantifiable as yet. The eventual loss of the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon also triggered renewed agitation by Nigerians in the area for self determination. The Bakassi populace had insisted that the Nigerian government should seek a review of the judgement of the International Court of Justice that ceded the peninsula to Cameroon. The government’s failure to do so triggered the emergence of a self determination group in Bakassi that is currently working on how to gain autonomy for the oil-rich territory. The Biafra question has also been on the front-burner, courtesy of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB). The movement boasts of Biafran currency, flag and anthem. Barely a month ago, a splinter and more radical MASSOB faction re-declared the state of Biafra, which led to the arrest of hundreds of MASSOB members by the police. The breakaway MAS-

IT WOULD ONLY TAKE THE WRONG SPARK TO INFLAME A NATIONAL CONFLAGRATION WHOSE FINAL OUTCOME CAN HARDLY BE PREDICTED SOB group is gunning for self determination, relying on the United Nations’ instruments. By the same token, despite the Federal Government’s costly amnesty programme for Niger Delta militants and the juicy contracts and ‘settlement’ their leaders currently enjoy from the government, restiveness in the area still persists, alongside massive crude oil theft. Besides, the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) has been very critical of oil multinationals in the Niger Delta, especially Shell Petroleum, which operates in Ogoniland. A recent international report indicted Shell for the devastation of Ogoniland, and indicated that it would cost $35 billion to reclaim Ogoniland and its resources. In other words, the continued destruction of Niger Delta’s ecology still poses a major security threat. Equally waiting in the wings are other ethnic militia groups like the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), the Arewa Youths

Consultative Forum (AYCF) and countless others. Virtually all of the said groups bear arms. Therefore, it would only take the wrong spark to inflame a national conflagration whose final outcome can hardly be predicted. The groups’ capacity for violence has also vitiated the hitherto monopoly of the Nigerian government in the control of the coercive apparatus of the state. From the foregoing, we think General Abubakar’s optimism was not premised on the realities on ground. His concept of ‘intermingling’ seems to have been rendered impotent by indigenesettler dichotomy, recurring ethno-religious strife, and such contentious questions as widespread corruption, power rotation, resource allocation and control, census, and state police, etc, which constitute unimpeachable threats to the stability and survival of the Nigerian federation. The challenges are to rethink the country’s legal and political architecture rather than assume or imagine the visible threats will fizzle out. The country remains a federalist hypocrite and a 1914 colonial contrivance. We think the terms of the country’s continued peaceful existence need to be renegotiated by all ethnic nationalities based on justice, fairness and equity, with patriotic political, religious, labour, civil society, academic and students’ leaders, among others, playing eminent roles.

ON THIS DAY November 22, 2005 AngelaMerkelbecamethefirstfemaleChancellorof Germany. Angela Dorothea Merkel, nee Kasner; born July 17, 1954) is the Chancellor of Germany and party leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Merkel is the first female Chancellor of Germany. A physical chemist by professional background, Merkel entered politics in the wake of the Revolutions of 1989 and briefly served as the deputy spokesperson for Lothar de Maiziere’s democratically elected East German government.

November 22, 2004 The Orange Revolution began in Ukraine, resulting from the presidential elections. The Orange Revolution was a series of protests and political events that took place in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005 in the immediate aftermath of the run-off vote of the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election which was claimed to be marred by massive corruption, voter intimidation and direct electoral fraud.

November 22, 1997 More than 100 people were killed in Nigeria following an attack aimed at the contestants of the Miss World contest. The Miss World contest was moved to London from Nigeria after riots by Muslim youths opposed to the show left more than 100 people dead and 500 injured in the city of Kaduna. The pageant’s organisers said the show would be held in London on December 7, 1997 instead of the Nigerian capital, Abuja.

Thursday, November 22, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Education Today ‘Nigeria relies too heavily on paper qualifications’ 21

How to make Nigerian varsities work –NEEDS’ report The Needs Assessment Committee on public universities constituted by the Federal Government did not only reveal the shocking state of the nation’s public universities in its report submitted recently, it also came up with practicable recommendations to make the system internationally competitive, writes TUNBOSUN OGUNDARE

Jonathan

Female Hostel at DELSU Abraka.

At the female hostel, Kogi State University, Anyigba

hen one considers the report, it is little wonder that no Nigerian university–public or private– is listed among the first top 100 in the university world ranking. And the problems bedevilling university education in the country are numerous and multidimensional. These, according to the report, range from inadequate funding, decaying infrastructure, policy inconsistency, dearth of qualified lecturers, over- staffing of unqualified workers, misplaced priority, overcrowded lecture rooms, financial and other forms of corrupt practices, to politicking. Others include poor hostel accommodation, ineffective power supply, insecurity, dearth of safe water supply and sanitary facilities, poor learning environment, poor remuneration and welfare package, lack lustre students’ attitude and lack of parental care and so on. For a way out of the crisis, however, the 10-man committee, headed by the Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, with the immediate past President of Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU), Prof. Nwachukwu Anwuzie, as member, recommended upward review of annual budgetary allocation from proprietors to each of the universities with strict supervision of its spending to forestall misappropriation and wastage. For instance, the committee recommended that overall administrative costs, including the cost of any out-sourced func-

ALL REFECTORIES, SPORTING ARENAS, CONVOCATION SQUARES AND SO ON THAT ARE CONVERTED

INTO ‘LECTURE HALLS’ SHOULD BE REVERTED BACK TO THEIR ORIGINAL INTENDED PURPOSE tions (e.g. Cleaning & security), should not exceed 18 to 20 per cent and that managers, who failed to access and properly utilise their universities’ allocation of TETFund subventions for research, staff development and scholarships, conference attendance, publications, and so on, should be sanctioned. For effective administration, the committee recommended that no university should be allowed to remain without a governing council with members appointed purely on merit and to stay in office only as provided by the law and that, vice-chancellors should be transparent, accountable and result-oriented in their dealings. In addition, it was also recommended that all non-establishment positions created by some vice chancellors (like PAs, SAs, FCs, BGs, and so on) be banned in the university

system with the council of each university to ensure compliance. It was also recommended that all abandoned projects should be completed (or continued with) before new ones are started by incoming Vice Chancellors. It was also recommended that all refectories, sporting arenas, convocation squares and so on that are converted into ‘lecture halls’ should be reverted back to their original intended purpose. And that a university student that is supposed to be trained in decent lecture rooms and laboratories should not be put in a kitchen or an open-air sport arena or be peeping through the window in the name of lectures while large lecture theatres should be discouraged. Every university should also be encouraged to adopt the interactive pedagogy which requires students to be taught in small groups. For instance, sitting capacity of each lecture theatre should be between 50 and 300 and between 50 and 150 for a standard classroom. On these, the committee recommended for government to allocate enough resources to fund the construction, where necessary, of new lecture theatres, lecture rooms, laboratories, workshops, among others, and the establishment of six national laboratories that should be fully equipped with state-of-the-art facilities for cutting-edge scientific research in the country. Similarly, the committee recommended that government should empower and re-strengthen the National Universities Commission, a university regulatory

body, to enforce all accreditation criteria and ensure objectivity and patriotism in the conduct of its activities. For instance, any university that falsified records, hired equipment or mercenary staff just for accreditation purpose should be closed down for a minimum of five years. While government and other funding agencies should support teaching, learning and research and the university managers should pursue the mission, vision and core values of their institutions, the committee equally recommended that government should study the feasibility and viability of converting all non-teaching staff in Nigerian universities into the staff of Federal or State Ministry of Education (as the case may be) with full control over their employment. To drive national development, committee recommended that universities should not only be producing skilful and qualitative graduates that would not only lead in innovation, creativity, and discoveries, but those that would also compete favourably with their counterparts globally. This objective can be achieved, according to the committee, if universities train and produce all -rounded graduates and technical experts in Information and Communication Technology, high-tech engineering, medical sciences, agricultural sciences, and natural sciences, among others. To strengthen the importance of universities to national development, the committee recommended that government should get the appropriate power agency to put all Nigerian universities on 33kVA line and be accorded priority consideration during distribution. By so doing, universities will not only be more productive but also save what would have been expended on fuelling and generator maintenance. On university-based unions/associations, the committee recommended that these unions should, at all times, explore dialogue and diplomatic avenues in pressing for their demands and that their intents of declaring industrial actions must be in conformity with the law. For instance, no staff should take away the keys of any building(s) away, disrupt the work of others (whether they belong to the same union/association or not) and so on. To ensure that all university academics have the minimum qualification to teach in the university, the committee recommended that government should direct the appropriate regulatory agencies to issue a moratorium of five years, within which, all teaching staff in the university system should acquire a doctorate degree and that while this is on, all new employments into academic position must meet the academic requirement (i.e. completed PhD or pursuing one). And that visiting lectureship should be regulated. It is hoped that the recommendations would rejuvenate the Nigerian university system and reposition it for International competitiveness and national development.

Thursday, November 22, 2012

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MY ALMA MATER

‘We owe everything to Macjob Grammar School’ I t was a joyful reunion for the 1972 set of Macjob Grammar School, Abeokuta, Ogun State as they marked the 40th anniversary of their graduation last Saturday in Lagos. It was, indeed, a very happy gathering as most of them have neither seen one another since they left the school nor visited the school ever since. The turn up was impressive with some, who are now grandparents and in high places of authority in their respective endeavours in attendance. Among them were: the Senior Boy of the set, Mr. Kayode Ayoola, who is now the Principal, Iwokoto Community Secondary School, Moniya, Ibadan, Oyo State; the Senior Girl, Mrs. Bola Oloyede (nee Omitogun), now a business tycoon; the Assistant Senior Girl, Mrs. Sola Agbedejobi (nee Awofeso), now principal of Oke-Afa Junior Grammar School, Ejigbo, Lagos; Mr. Joseph Majiyagbe, now a chartered accountant and Director of Administration and Finance, Association of Reproductive and Family Health, Abuja. Others included Reverend Tunji Odu, now host and pastor of Christ Anglican Church, Alapere, Ketu, Lagos; Mrs. Seri Sofela (nee Sanni); Mrs. Anota Akinyele (nee Bakare); Mrs. Biola Olowu; Dolapo Smith, Adeola Ajose(nee Okeleye); Funmi Owoseje and a host of others. Amazingly, they linked themselves for the gathering through the social media like Facebook and by SMS and this was a demonstration of the undying love they have for themselves and for the school, which, they claimed, had impacted so much on them. To them, after God, they owe every other thing to the school. Being a student of Macjob Grammar School, Abeokuta, according to the senior boy of the set, was a pride not only to the students, but to parents. The school was one of the best in Abeokuta that every child dreamt to attend and the students related to one another like members of a big family. The Ibadan-based principal had his primary education in Kano, but relocated with his parents to Ibadan because of the first Nigerian coup of 1966 and the following year, he wrote entrance examination that qualified him for the school as a boarding student. He noted that the school was not only for academic excellence, it was

Forty years after graduating from Macjob Grammar School, Abeokuta, Ogun State, the 1972 set old students organised a reunion party in Lagos, where they relived their experiences back in school with TUNBOSUN OGUNDARE. Excerpts:

A cross section of alumni at the event.

also known for character formation and very good in sporting activities. At this point, another alumnus, Rev. Odu, cuts in: “We were taught how to respect elders, we valued customs and norms of the society. We respected our teachers and family names. So, we didn’t allow anything that could tarnish the reputation of the family and that of the school. We were specially moulded towards a particular direction that could pave way for our success in future.” “As a secondary school student then,” he added, “you had a clear picture of what you want to become in the future.” Continuing from here, the assistant senior girl, who was said to be very tough at the time, said, “Discipline, hard work and sincerity were the hallmarks every student strived to achieve and that of the Macjob was even with a difference.” For instance, she added, students dared not cheat in examinations as anyone caught doing so was expelled from the school. “And such a punishment was a great embarrassment. It is a school that builds confidence and courage in

File photo of the students in the 1972 set

students, teaches students moral values and the need to respect opinions of others, as well as obeying the law of the land,” she further explained. “Although we considered the strictness of the school on the students as punishment and therefore unnecessary then, today we are happier to

have passed through such tutelage,” Mr. Majiyagbe, the accountant said gracefully. Now, they resolved at the meeting that they would need to contribute to the development of the school both at the individual and the group levels and they have already started the process.

Be patriotic, minister tells banks paying UBEC contractors IJEOMA EZEIKE ABUJA

inister of State for Education, Mr. Nyesom Wike, has called on banks working with the Federal Government on the execution of projects in the basic education sector to be more patriotic in their approach to pay-

ment of contractors to enable the government meet up with its schedule of improving access to education for the less privileged Nigerians. The Minister also commended the management of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), on marked improvement in the execution of Almajiri schools,

special girl-child schools and library projects across the country. The minister, who spoke in Abuja in an assessment meeting with the bank executives and the contractors that are executing basic education projects and the management of UBEC regretted that the execution of many basic education

projects have been stalled due to delayed payments by banks. Wike urged the banks to stop delaying payment to contractors working on the basic education projects to enable the contractors meet up with the expectations of the Federal Government and the Nigerians. “Since the funds are

government‘s owned and not borrowed from banks, I see no reason for banks to delay payment,” he said. He directed the UBEC management to continue with the process of blacklisting banks that have failed to respect payment regulations on the project funds issued to them.

Responding on behalf of the participating banks, one of the bank executives, Lukman Mustapha, stated that it was not in the culture of the banks to delay payment. He said that all the issues that led to delayed payments had been addressed; pointing out that improvement will be experienced going forward.

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Katsina boosts primary education with N5bn JAMES DANJUMA KATSINA

atsina State Government has, so far, spent N5 billion to boost primary education with N3.3 million of the amount expended for the construction of 4, 386 classrooms. The state governor, Ibrahim Shehu Shema revealed this on Tuesday while launching instructional materials distributed to primary schools held at Modoji Primary School, Katsina. Shema said N1.2 billion was used for the purchase of school facilities while N703 million was expended for the construction of 34 new primary schools across the state. He said the instructional materials included 1.6 million exercise books, 400,000 continuous assessment books, and 400,000 diaries for both primary and secondary schools. The governor added that the items would be distributed to primary schools in the 34 local government council areas of the state and called for their proper use. He, however, warned that government would not tolerate their misuse and directed school inspectors to ensure strict supervision of schools for delivery of quality education. Earlier, state Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Sani Makana said distribution of the items would boost primary education in the state.

ASCON DG tasks civil servants on transformation

he Director General, Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON), Badagry, Lagos, Mr. Ajibade Peters, has urged new set of graduands of the college’s regular course to embrace the ongoing transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan. He gave the charge at the closing ceremony organised in honour of the 241 graduands, who were drawn from various ministries, departments and agencies of the government last weekend. He said Nigeria needed to move practically forward, and that civil servants must key into the government’s vision to achieve that. He said, “As public servants occupying the “engine room” of the machinery of government, we have a very critical, and in fact, a leading role to play in the transformation of our dear country.” According to him, various participants, who received extensive training in various courses organised by the college, such as public administration and management, database management and records management, must strive to impart the knowledge they have acquired on their various establishments in the overall interest of the country. Ajibade said his administration was committed to the overall welfare of the workers of the college and challenged the graduands to set alumni associations in the various states of the country, with a view to enhancing the bonds of relationship among the alumni of the college.

Education Today

Thursday, November 22, 2012

‘Nigeria relies too heavily on paper qualifications’ Dr. Nwajei Nwajei is the African Regional President, Green Hills University, Denmark and coordinator of some other universities running correspondence courses in Nigeria. In this interview with MOJEED ALABI, the former personal assistant to the late Chief Nnamdi Azikwe, speaks on the importance of studying by correspondence, how students obtain visa to study and never return, among other issues. Excerpts: How do you operate your school programme? I must begin by saying that it is not only Green Springs University that has its presence in the premises; we have a flagship of about six accredited foreign universities being run here. They include Akamai University, Hawaii, USA; Pacific International University, Los Angeles, USA, among others. Now concerning your question, these universities run correspondence courses or what is better known as online or open distance learning systems. In Lagos State alone, we have centres in Ikeja, Okota and FESTAC Town. Across Africa, we are in Ghana, Benin Republic, Zambia, Madagascar, Gambia and I just came back from South Sudan where we have just opened a branch. For how long have these schools been in existence? For several years, but when they opened their branches in Nigeria, I can say our relationship with other universities has taken some time while the Green Hills University is just about three years. How do these universities run then? They are exclusive universities that cater primarily for mature and working students. The mediums are online and by correspondence. That is the system that makes the American education system works. We had also explored such opportunities in this country when people don’t leave their works to acquire certificates, yet the education they receive is sound. What we emphasise here is onthe-job training experience because what the focus of education should be is: what people can do and not what they can read. Nigeria relies too heavily on paper qualification but do those paper qualifications truly present you for what you can do? It is easy to have an engineering graduate in Nigeria, who cannot unscrew bolts but that is not possible in Europe. So this culture must be discouraged. What are the basic requirements for the enrolment? Like I said earlier, the basic requirement is your job and academic qualifications. The emphasis is on your ability to practicalise what you claim to know. That is why we focus more on postgraduate than undergraduate courses. You can force a horse to the river, but you cannot force it to drink water. You may want your child to become a medical doctor but after the training, he or she may turn out to be a murderer. The emphasis here is what you can do and not what you

can be asked to do. We would counsel you and allow you to make up your mind, but with evidences of your skills. How many courses do you run? We run virtually all courses available in our partnering universities except Medicine and Law because we don’t have the facilities. Also, part of what we do is that when you take certain programmes for comprehensive training, we send you to the home office either in Denmark or US to complete the training. There are about 28 countries where our institutions are located and can accommodate students from any of these countries for completion of programmes. We run a multi-campus system and another opportunity is the existing franchise among our institutions and various companies. Where do you hold your classes? Our classes hold in our centres. We have centres in FESTAC, Ijesha, Ikeja, all in Lagos while we also have in Enugu in Enugu State and Asaba in Delta State. How do you ensure proper monitoring of students? The lecturers taking the students are experienced ones drawn from established universities including UNILAG, UNIBEN, among others. So, they know how to monitor the students and if anyone attempts to play sharp practices and caught in the process, he or she will be dealtt with according to the law of the land. Our ur students are made to defend their thesis. sis. The advantage here is that the students ents are usually not many and their lecturers urers have time to closely monitor them. Meanwhile, the decisions of their lecturers ers are further subjected to scrutiny by the he home universities. We also ensure proper oper counseling so that students are adequately equately guided on courses to choose considering nsidering their areas of strength. There are so many members of the National Assembly who come here to upgrade e their knowledge and acquire more certificates. We are proud ud to let you know that ministers hold our certificates and many serving permanent secretaries in both state and federal ministries. How many years does it take to run a programme here? The programmes depend on the universities of choice and we work

Nwajei

more on postgraduate programmes. So between 18 to 24 months if you are very serious type, you acquire your certificates. But I can tell you that we have many of them who only come here, pay all the fees and secure identity cards and never return. This category of students are only interested in making noise around that they are our students. But to those who are serious, all they need is an internetenabled computer system and they will be able to communicate effectively with their lecturers and supervisors throughout the duration of their course. How affordable is it to study here? All the universities in our stable are the cheapest in Europe because we ensure that when we were signing the memorandum of understanding with each of them, we sought consideration for Africans because our per capital income is ranked the poorest in the world. To make our education accessible to many people, the parents’ institutions offered us subsidy. We also recognise the fact that the students who opt for this study mode are those who cannot afford the conventional higher institutions. So, I can assure you that with just about 3,000 dollars, a postgraduate certificate can be acquired. What are the challenges faced by the school? There are many challenges just like many other institutions in the country. One of these is power failure we experience every other day. We spend a lot of money on diesel to fuel our generator. Another challenge is that many people obtain students’ visa through our schools and never show up in our parents’ institutions nor return home. The practice is becoming a source of worry to us as we were being subjected to embarrassment.

Education Today

Thursday, November 22, 2012

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Book distribution: FG threatens publishers with sanctions

Ogun begins clampdown on illegal schools

IJEOMA EZEIKE

ABUJA

he Federal Ministry of Education has commenced the process of sanctioning publishers contracted to supply textbooks and library resource materials to primary and junior secondary schools for the 2012/2013 academic session, the Minister of State for Education, Mr. Nyesom Wike announced last weekend. The minister, who addressed the publishers at

the Federal Ministry of Education headquarters, stated that the sanction was as a result of their inability to supply textbooks within the approved six weeks specified in the contract agreement with the Federal Government He directed the management of Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), through its legal department, to write to the respective publishers, indicating the relevant clauses in the agreement upon which they defaulted and the specified sanctions.

Wike noted that the default of all the publishers was regrettable as the Federal Ministry of Education has already written to the President Goodluck Jonathan for the nationwide distribution to be kick-started on November 30 before the students in public schools go on Xmas holiday. He said: “The publishers cannot hold the government to ransome. You have been doing this, but it cannot continue. We will apply the necessary sanctions,” The minister pointed

out that after six weeks, the publishers ought to have supplied books to all the 36 states of the federation and Abuja, instead of the few states that most of them have supplied the books to. In his response, spokesman of the publishers and Managing Director of HEBN, Mr. Ngwuocha Okereke, , appealed to the minister to tamper justice with mercy, promising that his members would ensure the free textbooks and other items get across to the 36 states before November 30.

FCE, Okene begins degree programmes ADEMU IDAKWO LOKOJA

n approval has been given to the Federal College of Education (FCE), Okene, Kogi State, to run degree programmes. The approval was given recently by the National University Commission (NUC). The Provost of the college, Prof. Iyela Ajayi disclosed this at the maiden national symposium for Centre for Ebira Studies held at the college’s auditorium in Okene recently. He said the institution had taken a pro-active initiative in developing and providing infrastructural facilities for effective take off of the programme. The degree programmes, according to him, would be handled by the University of Ibadan (UI), Oyo State and would commence next academic session. The provost, however, commended both the NUC and the partnering institution for the final approval to run the programmes.

TUNBOSUN OGUNDARE s the Ogun State Government begins a clampdown on illegal schools, the state Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Mr. Segun Odubela has explained that the exercise was informed by the realisation that “uncontrolled proliferation of such schools was a risk to quality of education in the state.” Odubela, in a statement made available to National Mirror, said extensive investigation by the state government showed that some of “these illegal schools were found to have been operating in uncompleted buildings, shops and in one case, on a balcony”. He said apart from presenting physical danger to the students, such schools were found to be staffed by unqualified teachers. The commissioner explained that the govern-

ment carefully timed the clampdown exercise to coincide with the end of this academic session when the schools would be on holiday so as not to disrupt the academic programmes of the pupils in the affected schools. He gave the effected schools 21 days ultimatum to regulate their statuses to meet the state government’s specifications on establishment of schools and warned those who fail to comply with the directive of consequences. The plans to shut illegal schools, the commissioner stated, was aimed at ensuring that parents were clearly aware of dully registered schools before the commencement of next academic session. He noted that the state government had met with the Ogun State chapter of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS) over the issue and the association had agreed to the initiative.

Vice-Chancellor lauds Nigeria media HENRY IYORKASHE L-R, Chairman, House Committee on Education, Lagos House of Assembly, Hon. Wahab AlawiyeKing; Commissioner of Education, Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye; Deputy Governor, Mrs. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire and Commissioner of Information, Mr. Lateef Ibirogba, at the 3rd Anniversary of the re-launch of Uniformed Voluntary Clubs in public schools in Lagos State.

T Gifted school clinches Korean scholarships JERRY ADESEWO

he School for the Gifted, Gwagwada, Abuja, proved to be truly gifted, as the school clinched the first position in the 2012 Korea-Nigeria Quiz competition held recently. The school was represented at the competition by the trio of Victor Okoro, Ebere Ikegwuonu and Halima Isah, two of whom would eventually go on scholarships to Korea University beginning from next academic year. Other competing schools

included Government Girls Secondary School, Abaji, which came second; Government Secondary School, Dei-Dei, which came third; and Government Secondary School Nyanya, all in Abuja, among numerous others. The competition, organised by the Korean Cultural Centre of the Embassy of Korea in Nigeria, in collaboration with the FCT Secondary Education Board, is an initiative of the centre to boost relationship between Korea and Nigeria. Speaking at the award

ceremony, Director of the Korean Cultural Centre, Mr. Kwon Ji-Ik averred that, “This competition provides us the opportunity to give deeper understanding of Korea to the future leaders of Nigeria, which will be the root of a tighter bond between both countries.” Representative of the FCT Education Secretary and Deputy Director, Curriculum Development, Hajiya Binta Nasir, commended the Korean Centre for the initiative and encouraged the winners to see it as a life time opportunity that will shape their future.

he outgoing ViceChancellor, University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Prof. Daniel Uza, has lauded the media, saying the importance of the industry has made it impossible for any meaningful organisation to ignore it. While describing the industry as a veritable organ of communication, he said the media had really aided the success of his administration in the last five years. Prof. Uza stated this at a valedictory ceremony organised in his honour to mark the completion of his five-year tenure recently. According to him, if not for the prompt and responsive information from the media, most of the university’s activities

wouldn’t have been to the knowledge of the public. He disclosed that only about 2,500 out of the total 13, 000 students of the university had accommodation on campus, attributing the problem to the Federal Government’s discontinued funding of accommodation facilities. He said his administration had engaged private investors to build hostel facilities that could accommodate many of the students on a rent of between N50, 000 and N70, 000 per annum depending on the facilities in them. Prof. Uza, however, urged authorities of various universities in the country to invest in research that could open a new method of growing the economy and make it competitive with the rest of the world.

Provost advocates better funding for health education MOJEED ALABI

T L-R: Ag Executive Secretary, Universal Basic Education Commission, Prof. Charles Onocha, Minister of State for Education, Mr. Nyesom Wike and Representative of Learn Africa Publishers, Mr. Abeen Emmanuel when the Minister met with the publishers of government’s free textbooks recently.

he Provost of the College of Medicine, Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo, Prof. Olumuyiwa Odusanya has suggested increased funding for health education and public awareness as panacea to current public health

challenges in the country. Odusanya stated this recently while delivering the university’s 48th inaugural lecture. He said the role of ignorance and poverty in the transmission of diseases are well known and incontrovertible. “We may consider a woman in a rural part of Lagos with little or no

formal education, whose six-month-old has simple watery diarrhea (probably of viral origin). All the child needs is oral dehydration solution (ORS) as the disease is self-limiting and the child will improve once dehydration is avoided. The action or inaction of the woman will alter the progress of the disease. If CONTINUED ON PAGE 24

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Education Today

Thursday, November 22, 2012

FG restates commitment to funding tertiary institutions WALE FOLARIN OSOGBO

he Federal Government has said it would continue to give adequate funds to tertiary institutions in the country in order to achieve the global agenda of education for all. Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufai, made this remark in Ede, Osun State while

speaking at the 8th convocation ceremony of the Federal Polytechnic, Ede, recently. She said this became imperative because without quality tertiary education, the nation’s quest for qualitative human capital development would be a mirage, adding that this was why government would remain committed to funding the sub-sector adequately.

The minister noted that the Federal Government had reinvigorated the funding of tertiary education through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) in order to improve the quality of education, provide focused and transformative intervention in public tertiary institutions through continuous targeted funding and effective project management.

On the newly developed and revised curricula for polytechnics, the minister said the challenges facing the polytechnics in the implementation of the curricula was being addressed through the collaboration between the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and the TETFund on the procurement of state-ofthe-art laboratory and workshop equipment.

Speaking earlier, the acting Rector of the polytechnic, Dr. Olukayode Adebile, said the polytechnic was graduating 1,083 National Diplomats and 843 Higher National Diplomats making a total of 1,926 graduands. He noted that graduates of the institution rank among the best in the country, adding that the academic excellence attained by the institution

has propelled it to strive harder in order to sustain and maintain a continuous improvement. He said the polytechnic had just secured approval to run Geological Technology and Mechanical Engineering at National Diploma level starting from this academic session, adding that the polytechnic was committed to the total development of its students.

MTN refurbishes 22 school labs MOJEED ALABI

he MTN Foundation (MTNF), the corporate social investment vehicle of one of the nation’s leading communication companies, MTN, is upgrading 22 science laboratories in six states across the six geopolitical zones. The project, which is anchored under the MTNF Science and Technology Laboratory Scheme, is aimed at improving learning and practical teaching of core science subjects such as Chemistry, Physics and Biology and thus impact on students’ academic performances in these core science subjects. The Foundation noted that last year it made a public call for submission

of Expressions of Interest (EOI) from interested State Ministries of Education. “After a rigorous and meticulous process of assessment of all the applications received and the infrastructure available, 22 schools qualified for the first phase of the MTNF Science and Technology Laboratory Project. “Science and technology is the bedrock of modern society. Through this scheme, we hope to make significant contribution to giving Nigeria a sound footing in science and technology,” Director, MTN Foundation, Wale Goodluck said. The upgrade, he said, included the renovation of existing laboratory rooms in the beneficiary schools, provision of laboratory furniture, supply and in-

stallation of modern science and technology equipment for each of Physics, Chemistry and Biology subjects, and one full year supply of consumables. “In addition, the MTN Foundation is also undertaking the training of 24 science teachers and laboratory attendants across all the beneficiary schools, and shall supply 5KVA generator to each beneficiary school, as well as, fuel supply to each of the selected school for one year,” Goodluck said. He noted that the inauguration ceremony of the completed MTNF Science & Technology Lab projects in four public secondary schools in Lagos State would be held at Vetland Senior Grammar School, Agege, tomorrow.

Crawford varsity partners Israeli institute

he Crawford University, Igbesa, Ogun State, has partnered Galilee International Management Institute (GIMI), Israel, to run some high- tech management courses in such fields as Banking, Agriculture, Pharmacy, Marketing and so on. The programmes are designed for business executives, industrialists, finance and insurance experts, agriculturists and pharmacists, among other professionals to broaden

their knowledge and make them more effective in their various endeavours. During the programmes, according to a release signed by the university’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof. S. A. Ayanlaja, experts from Israel would teach courses on high tech processes in banking operations, food, chemical and pharmaceutical processes, insurance and risk management, telecommunication and industrial management. He noted that students under the programmes

would undergo a compulsory one month intensive course module in the partnering institution in Israel and at the end of the programme, they would be issued certificates in high tech Masters in Business Administration. The Vice-Chancellor added that the programmes would be highly beneficial to business organisations, institutions, as well as individuals, bearing in mind the high science-tech nature of Israel.

OSUSTECH out to produce all-rounded graduates –VC TUNBOSUN OGUNDARE

he Vice-Chancellor, Ondo State University of Science and Technology (OSUSTECH), Prof. Tolu Odugbemi, has restated that the sole objective of the university was to produce all-rounded graduates that would become agents of change in the society. He stated this at an orientation programme organised for new students to acquaint them with the university system as part of activities to mark the official movement of the twoyear-old university from its temporary site to a permanent site in Okitipupa. Odugbemi disclosed that apart from the classroom activities, the students were also taking through entrepreneurial

training programmes to equip them to be economically independent and job creators after graduation. He noted that 21 areas of trade were available for students to choose from and that Wednesday’s afternoon had been dedicated as a lecture-free period for the trainings. He pointed out that the university was also taking the issue of agriculture to boost food production very seriously, adding that the university was currently cultivating a big farmland for agricultural purposes. While congratulating the students, Odugbemi warned them against indulging in any act capable of truncating their future and tarnishing the school’s image. He said the university authorities would never condone any form of indiscipline, in-

cluding fighting, cheating, cultism and stealing from any student irrespective of family backgrounds. “You are here to acquire knowledge and so ensure you face your studies squarely, obey all the rules and regulations, and respect the opinions and the dignity of others for all of us to enjoy our stay in this great university,” he counseled them. “Peaceful co-existence, tolerance and keeping environment decent are important attributes of a good citizen.” The VC also advised them to organised themselves into groups such as science club, sport club, cultural association, musical association, dancing and choral group, creative and painting group, among others, that will enhance their studies and development learning.

Firm boosts learning with Smart Classroom KUNLE A ZEEZ

A L –R: President, Galilee International Management Institute (GIMI), Israel , Dr J. Shevel; Director, Academic Affairs, Mrs. Carina Baum; Vice- Chancellor, Crawford University, Igbesa, Ogun State, Prof. Samson Ayanlaja and GIMI’s Country Representative, Mrs. Michal Mizrahi, during the GIMI’s team visit to the university, recently.

L-R: Registrar, West Africa Examination Council (WAEC), Dr. Iyi Uwadiae, Ag. Chairman, Nigeria Examination Committee of WEAC, Sir Austen Ekeke and National President, All Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools, Hajia Fatima Abdulrahman at NEC ‘s WAEC press conference in Lagos. PHOTO: TUNBOSUN OGUNDARE

s part of its strategies to improve the education standard in the country, an indigenous information technology company, Teledom Group, has introduced the latest smart classroom technology for schools.

Smart classroom allows presenters network access and the ability to project data and video screen via a video data/ video projector or flat screen installed in the classroom. Explaining the workability of the strategy at a recent media chat, Chief Executive Officer, Teledom International, Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, said to gain a broad

perspective, yet remain relevant to one’s own situation, there was a need to think globally and act locally. He added that despite the ubiquitous appearance of technology in societies around the world, Nigeria as a country continues to grapple with how to make the best use of Information Technology (IT) in the educational system.

He said: “The use of technology in teaching and learning is one of the most important assets for education today and therefore it is time to move beyond the walls of our conventional classrooms and embrace technological innovations to revitalise education and automate learning processes.”

Education Today

Thursday, November 22, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

South-South states set to move education sector forward TUNBOSUN OGUNDARE

he six south-south s t at e s – B aye l s a , Rivers, Aka Ibom, Cross River, Edo and Delta–have restated their commitment to provide quality and qualitative education across levels to the people of the geopolitical zone. This was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of the Education Summit organised by the affected states under the aegis of BRACED Commission Governors’ Council held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, recently. The two–day forum, which attracted many stakeholders in the education sector in the region, have the Governor of Rivers State, Chibuike Amaechi, the Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom, Mrs. Valerie Ebe, the commissioners of education of four other states, the private investors, the Vice- Chancellors of universities in the region, the school administrators, students, NGOs, parents and teachers’ unions, and members of the public, in attendance. Also in attendance but as the special guests of honour were Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, his Anambra State counterpart, Mr. Peter Obi, Minister of Edu-

cation, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufai, who was represented by the Ministry’s Director of Federal Inspectorate Service and the former Vice-President, World Bank, Africa Region, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili. Also on hand was the DirectorGeneral of the commission in charge of the summit, Amb. Joe Keshi. Issues identified as militating factors to the development of education in the region included: inadequate funding, inconsistent policies, poor infrastructural and institutional facilities in schools, poor performance of students, poor teaching, inadequate attention to such areas of education as early childhood education, technical/vocational education and training, lack of relevance and effectiveness in tertiary institutions, deficiency in value orientation in the school system, among others. The summit, however, resolved to tackle these challenges by making some recommendations for the member states to implement. Among these are that each state should increase its allocation on education and investment in the areas that will produce the right manpower for the economy; provide adequate and functional infrastructural facilities that will also favour the physically chal-

state should provide adequate and functional basic science and technology laboratories in primary and secondary schools, establish well-equipped technical/vocational education training in partnership with the private sector and also to enlighten parents and students on the importance of technical vocational education. It also recommended that tertiary institutions should be repositioned as centres of innovation, initiative and creativity in their programmes,

Provost advocates better funding for health education Amaechi

lenged and disadvantaged learners; stop automatic promotion of students, as well as workers at all levels, institute measures to improve numeracy and literacy skills and the quality assurance process. While the summit also recognised the declining value orientation in schools, it charged each state to reintroduce history and civic education as must-taught subjects in primary and secondary schools as a way of reinstating value back in the school system. It also recommended that each state should undertake a

comprehensive review of basic education to include early Childhood Education, encourage comprehensive reading programmes, establish clear objectives for improving English fluency and mathematics proficiency, promote private investment, reward high performing schools, teachers and students, encourage parents and teachers to contribute towards value adding processes, and so on. The summit, after observing the importance of technical and vocational education to the economy, it recommend that each

CONTINUED FROM 22 due to her ignorance, she is not aware of ORS but instead, administers a native anti-diarrhea medicine, a complication may occur as a result of that” he explained.. The lecturer, however, condemned the lip service paid to the reform of the collapsing health sector in the country saying there can be no healthy economy except the health of the people is accorded priority. He said having participated in the public health sector not only as a lecturer but also as a former member of the Health Advisory Committee of

UNIBEN honours Okunbo SUFUYAN OJEIFO

philanthropist, Captain Idahosa Wells Okunbo (aka Captain Hosa) will, on Saturday, be conferred with honorary Doctorate of Science (D.Sc) degree by the University of Benin (UNIBEN), Edo State. Okunbo, who has risen to the top of his chosen profession: his first fortethe aviation industryfrom where he retired as a commercial pilot at the age of 30 in 1988, having logged over 7,000 hours in flying time, graduated from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Training Centre, Zaria, as a professional Commercial Pilot in 1979 at the age of 21. In a deliberate bid to sharpen his flying skills, he had attended ACME

School of Aeronautics, Fort Worth Texas in 1983, where he obtained his Airline Transport Pilot License and was made a Captain in the same year at the age of 25. He was a flight Captain with the Intercontinental Airlines; and, in 1985, he joined the services of Okada Airlines from where he retired. His upbringing must have shaped his quiet, unassuming disposition. Born on the 7th of January 1958 into the family of a community leader, teacher and clergy, the late Reverend Robert Amos Okunbo, Captain Hosa, benefitted immensely from the prayers and mentorship of a God-fearing father, who taught him the ways of the Lord. And he obeyed and took after his

teaching and research activities, while the establishment of Teachers Resource Centres and prompt payment of workers’ salaries should also be taken more seriously so as to enhance teachers’ effectiveness. The summit concluded by urging all stakeholders, especially parents, business and faith-based organisations and the private investors to also complement and support governments efforts in the drive to move the sector to the next level in the region.

father. Little wonder, he has a compassionate and caring heart: a heart of gold. If all he touched in the aviation world as a pilot turned to gold, it is in the challenging world of business into which he ventured upon his retirement that the golden touch has become much more manifest. For instance, the Hoslyn Ventures Nigeria Limited, his first company that was into procurement in the Oil and Gas sector, has been a huge success story. The shrewd businessman has expanded his business interests such that, today, he is chairman and director of many viable companies that have provided jobs for thousands of Nigerians. He is chairman of

Ocean Marine Security Limited; PPP Fluid Mechanics Limited; Wells Dredging Limited; Wells Habitat Limited; Hoslyn Habitat Limited, Wells Property Development Company Limited; Wells and Jeta Entertainments Limited, among others He is a major shareholder in Westminster Group Plc, United Kingdom, and also the Chairman of Westminster Security Solutions Limited, a franchise of Westminster Group Plc UK. In 1997, under the military regime of the late General Sani Abacha, Captain Hosa was the leader of the team that nurtured the idea that led to the introduction of transparent ballot boxes for use in the nation’s elections. This is a landmark contribution to the

Okunbo

electoral process in Nigeria. In 2007, he was honoured with the Justice of Peace (JP) in recognition of his astounding contributions to the promotion of peace and good governance, as well as development of his constituency. Again in 2012, the American Congress honoured him with the “African Titans” Award for being a voice of the Niger Delta people through his movie: “Black November.”

the Lagos State Ministry of Health, he had realised the importance of professionals in health awareness campaign. “For health of the public to improve, many professionals like sociologists, health economists, nutritionists, town planners, information and communication experts and behavioural change specialists must be involved to play their roles.” He therefore called on government at all levels to accord the health sector the urgently needed attention to stem the rising tide of frequent medical trips abroad by the rich in search of better healthcare. He has empowered many people in his place to be self-dependent. For instance, in 2005, he assisted over 774 Oba Market women, who suffered various degrees of losses as a result of inferno with a multi-million naira intervention to keep their various trading activities afloat. He has financed Youth Empowerment Programmes with a view to uplifting the quality of life of his people as a service to humanity. A politician of note and PDP’s chieftain in Edo State, Okunbo contested the last governorship election in Edo State. It is against the backdrop of these huge accomplishments and bright political prospects that the university deems it fit to honour him. Congratulations! • Mr. Ojeifo is Abuja based journalist.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

with Mojeed Alabi

t is truth that Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State is a lawyer by profession and indeed, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. And being the custodian of the laws of the nation’s commercial nerve centre informed his choice by the School of Law and Security Studies of Babcock University, IlishanRemo, in Ogun State, to present its first edition of annual public lecture. However, rather than choose a topic that directly relates to law, the governor appreciated the liberty offered him to make his choice and “I looked at an area that is as local as global because there is no law I can discuss better than our law scholars here.” Universities, according to the governor, are places of research into societal needs and where recommendations are offered. However, the importance of transportation to people’s survival is, according to Fashola, enormous enough to attract the at-

Thursday, November 22, 2012

mojeedalabi2@yahoo.co.uk or mail@mirroronline.net

tention of academic institutions. “Roads truly democratize our society and make us more equal and interactive than we have probably even thought. Whether you have a car, a motorcycle, a tricycle, pedestrian, or a commuter who uses the bus, our daily and unavoidable meeting points are on the roads. A good or bad road makes the difference between how long your car, motorcycle, bicycle or your shoe lasts. “I have seen new buildings rise up, old buildings refurbished, property values appreciate and massive construction and jobs evolve during and after we complete any road. To plan these roads, maintain them and sustain them require the use of experts who were never found in our society which cost us more money. That informed the establishment of the School of Transportation at the Lagos State University,” Fashola revealed. He said the transporta-

When Fashola took transportation reform to Babcock varsity It was the first edition of the annual lecture of the School of Law and Security Studies, Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State and the guest lecturer was the Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola. However, rather than discuss law, the governor chose Transportation as the Hub of Modern Civilisation as the topic, to reveal the relevance of the sector to the people’s survival. MOJEED ALABI reports:

L-R: Governor Fashola receiving award plaque from the Attorney-General of School of Law Students’ Association, Miss Fawehinmi Oyinkasola while the university’s Head of Public Relations, Mr. Joshua Seleman looks on.

tion sector if properly developed and maintained can change the fortune of this nation. Traffic logjams, which he said increase travel times, reduce productivity hours, arouse bodily pains and tiredness and consume more money via fuel use, are usually

caused by two things: bad roads and reckless driving. The governor went down the memory lane by recounting the old days when municipal, interstate and international travelling routes were good. He said at such time economy boomed because

operational demands for tyres, engine oil, fuel, brake fluid, mechanics and spare parts kept the economy buoyant. “Ladies and gentlemen, all of this is now history. These jobs have gone, tyre companies like Michellin have gone, Dunlop has sold its warehouse and the staff laid off just because we have been unable to build interstate roads, and we have become an “okada” and “Keke Marwa” nation importing the signs of China and India’s poverty.” To resolve the crisis the governor said alternatives should not be created in either motorcycles or tricycles but by building an inter-modal transport networks “when citizens can connect from one system

such as a bus on road, get on train and link a ferry service.” “And in whatever we do planning and management are not negotiable. This is why I spared no effort to ensure that LASU started a degree programme in transport planning and management because our growing population, increasing prosperity, acquisition of new vehicles, make it clear that we cannot build our way out of congestion but we must of necessity manage it,” the governor said. In his remark and shortly before presenting the award plaque by the school of law to the lecturer, the university’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof Kayode Makinde, praised the governor for his commitment to transforming the state and said such efforts informed his choice as the speaker “because we only relate with quality.” The students of the school also presented a separate award to the governor in appreciation of the honour.

EKSU VC alerts of imminent famine MOJEED ALABI

Professor of Soil Physics and ViceChancellor of Ekiti State University (EKSU), Ado-Ekiti, Oladipo Aina has warned of imminent famine in Nigeria if government does not act to prevent it urgently. Aina gave this warning while delivering the 13th Professor Afolabi Adegbola Memorial lecture in Lagos recently. The event, which was organised by the Ikorodu Division Resource Development Group (IDRDG), was themed: “Climate Change and Food Security: The Challenge of Transforming Agriculture in Nigeria.” In his presentation, Aina noted that though Nigeria has marked her 52nd Independence anniversary as a nation, it was disheartening and frightening that millions of Nigerians have nothing to eat. Citing India and China each with larger population than Nigeria, the Vice-Chan-

cellor said “India’s population is larger than that of Nigeria so is China to mention just two. In these two nations, food is abundantly available and cheap.” He lamented that Malaysia, now a prosperous country whose major foreign earner is palm oil got palm seeds from Nigeria while Nigeria wallows in poverty. He, therefore, advised that budgets in the various sectors of governments must look favourably towards meeting the hunger threat while also disclosing that Nigeria has been rated as the largest importer of electricity generators in the world while millions of the populace have no access to electricity at all. “As many as 100 Million Nigerians do not have access to electricity at all, while the remaining 50 Million of the population receive unstable, unreliable, irregular and poor quality of electricity supply. However, emission from these generators and others has adverse effects on

climate,” Oladipo stated. The Chairman of the occasion, Professor Fola Lasisi in his remarks observed that the lecture was timely, educative and of immense benefit to all Nigerians. Prof. Lasisi a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Uyo commended the Ikorodu Division Human Resource Development Board for organising the lecture.

L-R: Representative of the Special Adviser on Education, Lagos State, Mrs. Omotayo Olabenjo; Provost, Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education (AOCOED), Otto/Ijanikin, Lagos, Mr. Bashorun Olalekan; Chairman, Governing Council, Mrs. Victoria Akran and Chairman, Conference of the Registrars of Colleges of Education in Nigeria, Mr. Muhammad Musa at the opening ceremony of the 41st conference of the association in Lagos on Tuesday.

–FUTA VC Poor facilities hinder institutional development The Local government Vibrant School and Alumni HAKEEM GBADAMOSI AKURE

he Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Prof. Adebiyi Daramola yesterday identified inadequate amenities as hindrance to international collaboration in Nigerian universities. Daramola specifically said erratic power supply and non availability of potable water, among others, added to the underdevelopment in most Nigerian institutions. The VC, who stated this at the first Alumni Home Coming and Reunion pro-

gramme for the School of Sciences of the institution, pointed out that many international students were unable to come to the Nigerian universities for exchange programme and help in the rating of the school, because of the challenges posed by the situation. Speaking at the homecoming of the Alumnus, the chairman of Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State, Mr. Banji Okunomo, called on the alumni of the institution to contribute positively to the development of the school, saying government alone cannot provide all the necessary facilities.

chairman, who also attended FUTA, said while addressing the gathering on a topic, titled “Building Together A

Network,” said there was need to inculcate the alumni spirit in the students from the undergraduate level.

AUN hosts peace forum today

he American University of Nigeria (AUN), Yola, Adamawa State, will today host a Peace Day anniversary as part of activities to mark its 24th edition of the Founder’s Day celebration. The peace parley was initiated by the university as part of efforts to focus on education as a peace process and the constitution of the council has

paved way for the first Yola Peace Day held soon after its formation. The council, which is made up of religious, traditional, business, and government leaders, provides ICT training for youth from Yola to fortify youth employment and also reaches out to the community through newsletters and weekly radio and television programmes.

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Between ‘literarily’ and ‘literally’

“T

he small group…literarily (literally) lives off the society….” You don’t have to be a member of the literati to know this! “Post-independent leaders have mismanaged Nigeria—NIM President” This way: Post-independence leaders. “…failure of which will result into (in) the banks being nationalized.” “They all presented general complain of poor vision….” Eye treatment: a general complaint…. “WHO statistics also reveals (reveal) that tobacco….” “…research has demonstrated that majority of smokers pick up the habit at a young age.” The President and the Tobacco Control Bill: a/the majority of smokers. “No microwave solution for Boko Haram” My comment: solution to (not for) Boko Haram “Nigeria may break-up soon—NBA President” Still on the abuse of phrasal verbs: break up “It is political witch-hunting” Persecution of Tinubu: political witch-hunt “Lagos Speaker reacts to fallouts (fallout) of arrest over (for) alleged N7bn fraud” “…the Plateau State capital and it’s environs.” Government and the Jos killings: its (possessive) environs. “The allegations of a hike in the tuition fees payable by the students was (were) false.” “…one of the biggest private sector development support initiative (initiatives) in (on) the continent.” “There is the erroneous tendency to blame all the shortcomings in the electoral process at the doorstep of the INEC.” Get it right: blame on (not at). “Though recent amendments to the Electoral Act have changed some deadlines with regards to the submission of the lists of candidates….” Either as regards or with regard to. “Four years ago, when the former governor proclaimed his presidential aspirations with palpable bravado and fanfare under (on) the platform of the PDP….” “ACN’s so-called grouse with President Jonathan is not.…” This way: grouse about (not with) GEJ. “As Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) observed during his tour of the troubled spots....” Get it right: trouble spots.

MOJEED ALABI

he Vice-Principal of Ansar-u-Deen Secondary School, ErinOsun, in Osun State, Hassan Rufai has been installed as ‘Baale’of Ganga Community, a suburban neighbourhood in the ancient Ilobu town, the headquarters of Irepodun Local Govern-

RAISE ONE’S EYEBROWSNOT AN EYEBROW-WHICH, OF COURSE, WOULD BE SUPERNATURAL! A FEW READERS OF THIS COLUMN INSIST THAT THE USAGE (AN EYEBROW) IS CORRECT. IT IS UNACCEPTABLE TO MOST MEMBERS OF MY SCHOOL OF THOUGHT

“GTB restructures, to boast staff welfare.” Inside Business: boost (not boast) staff welfare. “Arab leaders appeared not to have put their acts together to join….” Libya: got their act (not acts) together. “I remember once when he came to Port Harcourt we worked on a case till 5 a.m. in the morning.” No! ‘A.m.’ indicates morning, while ‘p.m.’, of course, refers to the evening belt. So, ‘5 a.m. in the morning’ fondly reminds me of Abraham Lincoln’s advice: ‘Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak (or, if I may add, write) and remove all doubt.’ “In the meantime, there has been series (a series) of systems collapse....” Also note that ‘collapse’ is both a countable and an uncountable word (usually). “It was sometimes (sometime) in 1993 while I was still in Abuja….” “For a NAFDAC that has in almost two years been performing creditably towards ensuring that food and drugs need of Nigerians are (is) given standard manufacturing preparation….” “…his predecessors who were on (in) seat for years without actually doing the work for which they were paid.” “It is also on record that the same government shot itself in the foot by dismissing the recommendations of the audit committee as junks.” The last word in the extract is non-count. “Research reveals that when sexual and other crimes against young and under-aged (sic) girls happen, the victims are shy or scared to speak.” What was the last word on Abia gang rape saga: underage

VP bags chieftaincy title

ment area of the state. The teacher of Economics, who has been in the teaching profession for about two decades, has pledged to remain committed to the teaching profession, saying neither the office paraphernalia of beads or horsetail nor the rigour of the task would

bar him from returning to the classroom. The new chief, who was installed by the paramount king of the town, Oba Ashiru Olaniyan, has since resumed school and hopes to let his new title endear him more to the students and the community he is tasked to lead.

girls? “Strike actions as albatross of education system” A rewrite: Strikes/Work stoppages/Industrial actions as albatross around educational system “…in addition to the lost (loss) of millions of naira….” “…it behoves on President Goodluck Jonathan to initiate an executive….” This way: it behoves President….” “Police foils (foil) bank robbery” Birds of a feather: “Police declares (declare) Zamfara CSO missing” “Customs score (scores) scanner providers high” “And no fewer than 17,164 of the affected ATMs, according to the NPS boss, had spent between five to 17 years….” Between five and 17 years. “Army: The pledge to stamp-out Boko Haram” We must stamp out media gaffes. “…they turned off the lights while we were all still in (on) the premises.” “The only language FG understands is strike, says ASUU chairmen (chairman)” “NCC seals off Cobranet, confiscates equipments” ‘Equipment’ is uncountable. “Plateau State Polytechnic matches on” No wonder there is a crash in educational rating: the poly marches on. “Living at (on) the fringes” “The family of…announces with deep sorrow but gratitude to Almighty God the death of our son…following a ghastly road accident….” My sympathies quite all right, but the English language cannot die: a fatal (not ghastly) vehicular accident. And for the second time round, ‘sorrow but gratitude to Almighty God’ cannot—and will never as long as there are seed time and harvest time—co-function in any circumstance. What is amiss with our spirituality? Our God does not inhabit in sorrowful environments. So, as His children, let us give thanks to Him in all situations. He knows best why tragedies befall us. Even in the face of fatalities, announce obituaries or related issues with cheerfulness/joy/happiness/satisfaction/angelic punctuation/heavenly intervention…and (not but) gratitude to God, we….Sounds eschatological? Reactions are welcome to this lexico-spiritual intellectualization of Christianity. I insist that this is a contradictory and blasphemous obituary announcement! “The CBN said that (sic) plans are (sic) The royal father, while installing the chief, said Rufai’s selection was a product of deep thoughts and consultations. He said the community requested for a leader, who is enlightened and accessible to them and “they did not hesitate to unanimously agree on his choice.” “Apart from his moral uprightness and material

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

underway to….” A rewrite: The CBN said plans were underway to…. “Risk managers…to forestall a reoccurrence of issues that led to the crisis in the financial sector.” BUSINESS/MONEY GUIDE: recurrence. “Oshiomhole swears-in Head of Service” Why not HoS for clinical headline purposes? And this: swears in. “Proper funding, panacea to housing deficit—Experts” Mortgage Finance: panacea for (not to) housing deficit “Agriculture which used to be the lifeblood of the economy through products like….” Get it right: livewire (not lifeblood)! “It has performed creditably well….” Compass Law: Let us end it at ‘creditably.’ “Brandy, The Game, others kick-off Project Fame 4 with concert” Rhythm & Reels Banner: kick off (phrasal verb—neither noun nor adjective, in this context). “Despite price losses that outweighed gains…result to (in) a slight increase in market capitalization by N5 billion.” “C’River guber polls: ACN passes vote of no confidence on (in) state exco” “Africans converge in Gambia to discuss security challenges” Crime watch: converge on The Gambia. “My dear and beloved Speaker, youthful brethren and compatriot….” The Turf Game: youthful brother. ‘Brethren’ (plural): members of a religious group, among other collective meanings. “Where else does he expect public officers to feed if not on the poor masses who have refused to die?” Are there rich masses (ordinary people)? No! Simply the masses. “Other guests expected at (on) the occasion include….” Alternatively: at the ceremony/event, but on the occasion. “What about the students you don’t see who in (on) numerous Nigerian campuses swap novels or even recall the stories they read late into the night before bedtime?” “In fact, he was one of the respected brains in the heydays of Action Group....” Exit this environment: ‘heyday’ is uncountable. “It is not impossible for a cow that died on its way to the abattoir to still find its way to the market without the authorities raising an eyebrow or bringing the culprits to book.” Fixed expression: raise one’s eyebrows—not an eyebrow—which, of course, would be supernatural! A few readers of this column insist that the usage (an eyebrow) is correct. It is unacceptable to most members of my school of thought. The choice is yours!

wealth, our new chief is a senior public servant with the state government and considering the challenges of leading a community in this new age of modernity his suggestion was the most ideal,’ Oba Olaniyan said. Meanwhile, the new chief has urged the community members to support his drive for growth and development of the

Rufai

area by encouraging peace and harmony among the dwellers.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Sport

We must not waver in our quest to discover future footballers for Nigeria, as it is noble –Channels TV CEO, John Momoh

Malabo 2012: Pillars battle Etoile, 10 others for title 30

Igiebor, Ideye get Nations Cup headache EVEREST ONYEWUCHI WITH AGENCY REPORT

eal Betis of Spain midfielder, Nosa Igiebor, has predicted a stiff competition for places in the Super Eagles’ squad for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations. Also, Dynamo Kiev striker, Brown Ideye, is jittery over Zambia. However, Igiebor, who has scored twice in his last four appearances for the Eagles, has described the development as a healthy one for the national team. “There would be serious Sports Minister, Bolaji Abdullahi (right) displaying his NSF Accreditation Card in his office, with the NSC DG, Patrick Ekeji (left), fight for places in the Super watching. Eagles. Everybody wants to be at the Nations Cup and the competition for places would be stiff,” he told MTNFootball. com. EVEREST ONYEWUCHI “In any case, it’s a good AND YEMI OLUS development because it would A total of 1,132 Technical Officials make every player bring their ister of Sports and Chairman of the will be deployed during the festival, A game at all times. National Sports Commission (NSC), ix days to the beginning of the out which 613 will be from outside Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, received “If you took a look at the 18th National Sports Festival Lagos, while the host provides 519. his Accreditation Card in his office players who are being invited tagged “Eko 2012” hitches in Receiving the accreditation card in by the coach, they are all hunlogistics and other sub-sectors have at the National Stadium, Abuja. his office, the Minister said the comple- gry for success and that exNational Mirror learnt that the raised doubts as to the readiness of tion of registration of team officials, plains why the fight for squad number does not include Main Orthe host Lagos State, despite assurathletes, coaches and delegates for the places would be very tight.” ganising Committee (MOC) memances by the organisers to the confestival online and on time marks anbers, Local Organising Committee Igiebor, who scored a wontrary. other innovation and improvement in der of a goal in the recent (LOC) members, Liaison Officers, The competition is slated to hold the organisation of the NSF. Venezuela friendly, therefore from November 27 to December 9 workforce and volunteers. He noted that the involvement of praised Keshi for bringing A breakdown of the 11,549 particibut collating information from the games website, www.eko2012ng.com pants shows that athletes are 8,045, international sports bodies and per- back competition to the team. Meanwhile, Dynamo Kiev has been a herculean task. The site coaches 1,382, Team Officials 1,000 sonalities in the NSF would add valis not updated regularly with latest while 1,122 delegates will take part in ue and promote international best striker Brown Ideye, has said practices in the Games. that defending champions, news and vital information to keep the Games.

Eko 2012: Vital info not on website

Zambia, will still be the team to beat in South Africa. Nigeria are drawn with the Chipolopolo in the first round of next year’s AFCON after they eliminated them in the quarterfinal of the competition two years ago in Angola. The Eagles also beat Zambia 2-0 last November in a friendly in Kaduna, but Ideye said the champions would be a tough preposition because they play as a team. “Zambia have been together for a while and they understand each other very well, that was why they were able to win the Nations Cup. “We have the players that can win the Nations Cup, but we must first be a team where the players understand each other. We need to play together a lot more,” Ideye said.

•MOC registers 11, 549 athletes

abreast with events in the build up to the festival. National Mirror visited the site yesterday and discovered that “Events Calendar” or Schedule was yet to be published. A click on the Events Calendar on the homepage replied, “We are presently working on providing you with a detailed schedule of all events for the festival. Please, do check back on a later date for the schedules.” The site lists 34 out of the 36 states of the federation as participating states, excluding Kebbi and Enugu. And the number of athletes representing each state is yet to be published. However, a total of 11, 549 athletes and officials are said to have been authenticated and registered to participate in the NSF. This was disclosed when the Min-

Ideye

Chelsea: Abramovich sacks Di Matteo

helsea’s manager, Roberto Di Matteo, has parted company with Chelsea, the club announced in a statement yester-

day. Di Matteo won the Champions League and

Di Matteo

FA Cup as caretaker manager last season and was given a two-year deal in June. But in the wake of the 3-0 defeat to Juventus on Tuesday night in Turin, which has left the Blues on the brink of a Champions League exit, Di Matteo was asked to leave Stamford Bridge. “The club will be making an announcement shortly regarding a new first-team manager,” the statement said. Club owner, Roman Abramovich, who is looking for a ninth coach since taking over at Stamford Bridge in 2003, is known to be a long-term admirer of former Barcelona coach, Pep Guardiola. However, it is not known whether Guardiola is willing to end his sabbatical from football and Abramovich has made contact with former Liverpool manager, Rafael Benítez, to gauge his interest in taking charge on a short-

term basis. The club’s Russian benefactor made contact with Benitez before Tuesday’s defeat in Italy as he assessed his options. After an impressive start to the season, the Blues have won two of their last eight games. They sit third in the Premier League table, four points behind leaders, Manchester City, who they host at Stamford Bridge on Sunday. But Chelsea could become the first Champions League holders to exit at the group stage of the competition. Abramovich’s past managers since 2003 are Claudio Ranieri (Sept 2000 – May 2004), Jose Mourinho (June 2004 – Sept 2007), Avram Grant (Sept 2007 – May 2008), Luiz Felipe Scolari (July 2008 – Feb 2009), Guus Hiddink (Feb 2009 – May 2009), Carlo Ancelotti (June 2009 – May 2011), Andre Villas-Boas (June 2011 – March 2012), Roberto Di Matteo (March 2012 – Nov 2012).

Sport

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Blues place tag on Cole

C UCL: Fergie hails losing side M

helsea has slapped a 10 million Euros pricetag on fullback Ashley Cole. According to latest reports, Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho is seeking a January reunion with Cole, who he signed for the Blues in a controversial deal from Arsenal.

Cole is off contract in June and Chelsea will play hard-ball should he continue to refuse to accept a new, 12-month deal. Madrid is keen, though whether Mourinho can convince the board to cough up the cash for a 32 year-old less than six months from becoming a free agent is another matter.

feared Galatasaray would pose the biggest danger from set-pieces. “Their temperament was good, the crowd never affected us and I thought they put up a reasonable show,” Ferguson said. “Some of the possession was good, some of the attacking play at times was good without finishing the game off with one or two opportunities in both halves. But when you lose a goal from a set-piece you are always going to be saying it’s a bad way to lose a goal.”

Tit Bits

Van Persie

Manchester United striker, Robin van Persie, has been described as a genius by his former Feyenoord youth coach. Ricardo Moniz is amazed by Van Persie’s transformation during his career. “Robin is a genius,” Moniz said yesterday, adding, “He has the technique and understanding to take advantage of all situations.”

Beckham West Ham United co-owner, David Gold, has announced the club is keen to sign departing LA Galaxy midfielder David Beckham. West Ham has been linked with the former Manchester United star in the past and cochairman Gold would be keen to offer Beckham a return to the Premier League. “He was an ambassador for the London 2012 bid and it would be a fantastic statement if he came to us,” Gold said.

Alex Ferguson

anchester United Manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, felt his youthful side put up a reasonable show as the players fell to a 1-0 defeat to Galatasaray on Tuesday. Ferguson shuffled his squad knowing United had already booked its place in the knockout stages and the team was undone by Burak Yilmaz’s second-half goal. The Red Devils boss was disappointed to see his side concede from a corner admitting he

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Cabaye

Ashley Cole

Torres aims Spain return

isfiring Chelsea striker, Fernando Torres, is eager to return home to Spain. Reports said Torres has his heart set on a return to Spain as he looks to recapture the form that made him one of the most feared strikers in the world. The idea of hav-

ing the Chelsea failure on his status certainly irks the ex-Liverpool striker, but he has privately accepted he must leave west London, with Spain his preferred destination. Potentially, Torres could return to Atletico Madrid as part of Chelsea’s move to sign Radamel Falcao.

Newcastle could be without midfielder Yohan Cabaye until January as he requires surgery on his injured groin. The France international limped out of the Magpies’ 1-0 home defeat to West Ham on November 11. Manager Alan Pardew has confirmed the 26-year-old will miss today’s Europa League clash with Maritimo.

Zamora

QPR striker, Bobby Zamora, will be out of action for approximately three months as he requires an exploratory operation on a hip injury. The striker incurred the problem in training and could now be out until February to further add to under-fire manager Mark Hughes’ problems. Zamora has scored four goals in 12 appearances for QPR this season, although his last came in the 2-1 defeat at Tottenham on September 23.

EKO 2012: LO AFOLABI GAMBARI

rganisers of the 18th National Sports Festival yesterday released the list of events and venues that would host them during the 13-day fiesta. According to the LOC Secretary, Dr. Kweku Tandoh, Teslim Balogun Stadium will host athletics, squash, gymnastics, swimming, taekwondo, ayo and volleyball while the stadium will also host the opening and closing ceremonies. “National Stadium will host athletics (javelin, discuss, shotput and hammer), chess, table tennis and kokawa,” Tando said, adding, “University of Lagos will host handball, powerlifting, football, wrestling, judo

and a of T will h and fo Th Mobo Park baske tute f hocke “Onik will venue Roun Abalt for L UNIL Feder (Tech Game Me Torch Satur take-o

… Team C/River IKENWA NNABUOGOR

eam Cross River will arrive in Lagos for the 2012 Sports Festival on Saturday, National Mirror learnt yesterday. Reports from the team’s camp said the contingent would depart Calabar aboard Aero Air

and w day a Ac the s team gos a the C office “A in La

Golf: Hole-in-One

he Abuja leg of the Glo Golf Tour West Africa at the IBB Golf and Country Club has produced Mohamed Yahaya Liman of IBB Golf Club as the hole-in-one winner. Playing at 5 over before Hole 8, Liman smashed the ball home in one shot at Hole 8, winning the Globacom Toyota Corolla car prize for the first Holein-One winner of the Tour. “Although I believed strongly that I would have a good game and even win the competition, my intention was not to play Hole-in-One,” Liman said

yeste “B I was tion come anoth Luck ball, adde the s “G geria like t grow comp playe the d 78, fu

Kaka

Pardew

‘Kaka to replace Beckham’

eal Madrid midfielder, Kaka, is being linked with LA Galaxy as a replacement for David Beckham. Manchester United legend Beckham has announced he will leave the Galaxy after the MLS Cup final, so creating a big void in the LA squad.

But reports yesterday said Kaka is open to a move to Galaxy as soon as 2013. The Brazilian’s brother, Digao, who plays for New York Red Bulls remarked only last week: “I like the MLS and America. Someday I’d like to play there if I can.”

Torres

Newcastle United Manager, Alan Pardew, is astonished by Chelsea’s sacking of Roberto di Matteo. Pardew, who will lead his own team into Europa League battle against Maritimo today, said: “It just goes to show you how precarious we are as Premier League managers, and you can’t take anything for granted. “But it’s just not fair.”

Senate President David Mark (3rd R), Globa North West, Kemi Kaka (2nd R), Dr. Peter De L) and Chief Uche Okpuno before the tee-of the Glo Golf Tour in Abuja, yesterday

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Sport

Thursday, November 22, 2012

OC lists event venues Dala Hardcourt: Babalola, Yatch club boss

abula, while Yaba College Technology (YABATECH) host handball, kickboxing ootball events.” he LOC chief further said olaji Sports Centre, Rowe will host badminton and etball while National Instifor Sports (NIS) will host ey, scrabble and boxing. kan and Agege stadiums host football and other es include Oba Elegushi ndabout in Epe for cycling, ti Barracks in Surulere Langa and dambe while LAG, YABATECH and ral College of Education, hnical) will serve as the es Villages,” Tandoh said. eanwhile, the Festival h will arrive in Lagos on rday as the event nears off on Tuesday.

Chairman of the Local Organising Committee and Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Mrs. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, said yesterday that the torch would arrive through the sea and would be received by Governor Babatunde Fashola at Marina on the Lagos Island.

Governor Fashola

r due Saturday

will arrive in Lagos Saturafternoon. ccording to an official of state’s sports council, the m will be received at the Laairport by the officials of Cross River State Liaison e. Arranegment for camping agos is yet to be finalised

but this will be decided after a meeting to be held in Calabar tomorrow (today),” an official told National Mirror, but added that Team Cross River would aim to “win lots of medals” at the festival. Team Cross River will participate in football and track and field, among other sports.

Shehu in q/finals

YEMI OLUS

oday promises to be a thrilling time at the ongoing 26th Dala Hardcourt Open Tennis Championship taking place in Kano following the fixtures of the men singles quarterfinal matches while the women battle for the final slot of the competition. Samuel Omoile defeated Taiwo Owolabi 3-0, retired in the second round to secure a quarterfinal match against top seed, Abdulmumuni Babalola who sent Musa Bala packing from the competition with a 6-3, 6-4 victory. Clifford Enoseregbe defeated Tyaminu Tyav 6-2, 6-1 to set up a clash with Micheal Anthony who defeated Hollandbased Candy Idoko 7-6, 7-6. The third quarterfinal game will be between Lawal Shehu, who defeated Nurudeen Adebisi 6-3, 6-2, and Henry Atseye who had earlier dominated his game against Sani Adamu (6-2, 6-3). Thomas Otu ousted Owolabi Jinadu from the competition

acom’s Divisional Director for eshi (left), Chika Chiejina (2nd ff of the Amateur category of

It was a strong Nigerian showing as Andrew Dominic also of the IBB Golf Club finished top of the log at 2 under (70), while Sanusi Mubasiru, Willy Gift, Obi Emeka and Shockai Ibrahim all finished at 1 under 71. Other Nigerian players such as Andrew Oche Odoh who won the 2nd Leg in Sagamu, finished joint third at 72 with Agwom Luka and Odoh Martin. The competition will continue today with the amateur players taking to the course along with the Pros. About 40 Pros and category one amateurs will however proceed, out of the original field of 80 to the last game tomorrow when the final leaders will emerge. Meanwhile, Senate President David Mark yesterday led other prominent Nigerians at the tee-off for amateurs at the 3rd leg of the Glo Golf Tour taking place at the IBB Golf and Country Club, Abuja. Mark performed the ceremonial tee-off as other golfers that include former Foreign Affairs Minister, Baba Gana Kingibe, General (Rtd) IBM Haruna and former Minister of Special Duties Yomi Edu competed for honours in the amateur category of the competition which entered its second day yesterday.

AFOLABI GAMBARI

aptain of the Lagos Yacht Club, Commodore Mike Barnes, has hailed the “Sail around the World” event as a success story following the support it received from Heineken, even as he urged other corporate bodies to emulate the gesture. “This event has continued to improve every year and the success story cannot be completed without the input of Heineken,” Barnes said in Lagos yesterday. Heineken has supported the project for several years with 14 nationalities in attendance, including the Ibero-American Group, a voluntary nonprofit organisation founded in 1980 by Spanish and Portuguese expatriates in Nigeria. Other participants in the one-day event are Texas, South Africa, England, Scotland, Ireland, Mexico, Italy, Nigeria, Thailand, Denmark, USA/ Canada group, Lebanese and Marches. Over the years the charity group has helped different institutions in the community like the Sacred Heart Clinic, the Vocational Centre in Apapa, an elementary school in Lekki, and an orphanage in Ketu.

My win, toughest–Dinkesa YEMI OLUS

budu International Mountain Race 2012 men’s title winner, Abebe Dinkesa, has described his latest feat as the most challenging. Ethiopian Dinkesa had won the previous two editions and had been favoured to also win the 2012 event held last weekend in Cross River State. “The first kilometre was relatively flat but the toughest and most demanding part of the race was between two and eighth kilometres,” Dinkessa recalled. “Once I got past the 8km mark I was sure I could hold on to the lead ahead of the Kenyans to win the race,” he added. Kenyan’s MacDonald Ondara (1:02) and Robert Chemosin (1:03) followed ahead of Uganda’s Phillip Kiplimo (1:04). “I was not prepared for this new course when I came and I think I will come better prepared next year,” Dinkesa assured. Meanwhile, Cross River State Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Patrick Ugbe, has said that the state is ready to host the World Mountain Running Championships in 2014 following Saturday`s successful hosting of the Obudu mountain race.

winner emerges in Glo Tour

erday. By the time I got to Hole 8, s playing 5 over. My intenwas to play a birdie and e to 4 over and then play her birdie and get to 3 over. kily, when I smashed the it went into the hole,” he ed while paying tribute to sponsor. Glo has changed golf in Nia and I think tournaments this will help the game to w and take our players to pete with the world’s best ers,” Liman, who finished day at plus 6 with a score of urther said.

6-4, 7-5 and will meet Etim Ekanem in the final quarterfinal game. Women’s defending champion Fatima Abinu showed her superiority over Blessing Anuna (6-1, 6-0) in the women’s quarterfinal game on Wednesday while last year’s finalist, Chidinma Abah ended veteran, Omotayo Ibrahim’s hopes of making an escape to the semis with a 6-4, 6-1 victory. Blessing Samuel defeated teen sensation and National Sports Festival hopeful, Sarah Adegoke 6-4, 6-1 while Chrsity Agugbom sent Akosile Folarin to the cleaners with a 6-4, 6-0 victory. Abinu is set to meet fierce rival, Agugbom in the semis while Abah takes on Samuel in the second game. Unlike last year when the men’s singles champion carted away N1m, N750, 000 will be up for grabs this year while the runner up and semi finalists get N375, 00 and 187,500 (divided by two) respectively. The women’s champion will win N375, 000 while the runner up will take away N187, 500.

hails Heineken

Chemstar sponsors CY Cup

Abdulmumini Babalola

hemstar Paints Industry has taken over the sponsorship of the CY Unity Cup organized to discover talented youths in the Oshodi area of Lagos State. Officials of the company reached the decision after seen the talents on display and the crowd of spectators during the competition that entered the final stages last weekend. In the quarter finals decided at the weekend on the Ogundele Primary School pitch, Soccer Stars defeated Source 2-1 while Oluwa is Involved beat Concord 2 by 4-2. Excitement at the competition will reach fever-pitch when Jogo takes on Soccer Stars in the first semi final this weekend and cup favourite Mourinho tackles Oluwa is Involved.

Sport

Thursday, November 22, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

SLAMMING AND E-mail: folashayoezekiel@yahoo.com Phone: 08027536696

DUNKING

With SAYO OGUNDEJI

Malabo 2012: Pillars battle Etoile, 10 others for title

igeria’s sole representative in this year’s African Club Champions for Men, Kano Pillars Basketball Club, will square up against the defending champions, Etoile Du Sahel Basketball Club of Tunisia and 10 others when the competition dunks off on November 29 in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea. The former Nigerian champions made a positive statement during the qualifier earlier in October when they defeated their opponents to top their group at the Zone 3 Qualifier in Liberia and qualified for the tournament proper. One of the team’s most experienced players, Ibrahim Yesuf, has expressed his team’s readiness to improve on its fifth place finish in the past edition. According to the guard, his side is more fortified now and going by their form at the last Zone 3 Qualifying tournament, Pillars will be gunning for the title. He said, “I am very confident that this year’s tournament will not be like the previous editions where we have only managed a fifth place position as all the players are battle ready for the tournament. “We are not only representing our club but Nigeria as a whole and that alone will gear us up to put in our best as we aim to win the trophy for the first time.” The Nigerian League champions, Royal Hooper of Port Harcourt, will not be taking part in the tournament due to unavailability of funds, despite having an automatic qualification. The defending champions of the continental tournament, Etoile Du Sahel, will be aiming to retain its hold on the continental competition as it takes on other competitors from across the continent. Etoile who won the 2011 title with an 82-60 points’ victory over former champion Primeiro D’Agosto club of Angola in Sale, Morocco, will contend with three Angolan sides, Agosto, FIBA Africa Zone-VI qualifiers champion, Atletico Petroleos and Clube Recreativo Despotivo D’Libolo of Angola.

Dirk Nowitzki closer to return

irk Nowitzki hopes to begin basketball activity within the next two weeks and is targeting a mid-December return to game action, the Dallas Mavericks star forward said on Tuesday. The 11-time All-Star underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee on October 19, an operation that typically requires a recovery period of three to six weeks before resuming basketball activities. Nowitzki acknowledged that he expected to return at the lower end of that timetable and has been frustrated by the slow progress of his rehabilitation. “I guess after every surgery you have some ups and downs,” said Nowitzki, a 15-year veteran who had never undergone knee surgery. “You have some good days and you do a little more and you have a couple bad days. “There were tons of bad days there a couple weeks ago. But it’s getting better, and that’s why we increased the workload starting yesterday.” Nowitzki, 34, has started running on an elliptical machine and pool treadmill, as well as riding an exercise bike, to get cardiovascular work.

Scariolo’s future to be decided

Action involving North African teams at the last Zone-VI qualifiers ahead of the African Club Cup Championship starting next week in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.

Other teams that will battle for the title include AL-Ittihad and Al Alhy of Egypt; Abidjan Basket Club of Cote d’Ivoire; Kano Pillars of Nigeria; ASB Mazembe of Democratic Republic of Congo; Manga Basketball Club of Gabon; Espoir of Rwanda and Mongomo Basketball Club of Equatorial Guinea. The 2012 edition which is the last championship on the

calendar of FIBA Africa will hold between November 29 through December 8, 2012, while the 12 teams will be divided into two groups of six teams each with the host Mongomo topping group-A while the defending champion Etoile Du Sahel will lead five other teams to make up groupB. Hostility will begin on November 29 with December 2

fixed as rest day for the teams. Another rest day will be observed on December 5 after the conclusion of preliminary games while the remaining three days of the championship (December 6-8) will witness more fire-works as the quarter-finals, semi-finals and grand finale are expected to be held with the top-4 teams from each group advancing to the quarter-final stage.

ose Luis Saez, the President of Spanish Basketball Federation (FEB), confirmed that the fate of the national team coach Sergio Scariolo will be decided within two weeks. Italian coach took charge of Spanish national team in 2009 and immediately made history by leading the team to its first European gold in EuroBasket 2009 in Poland. Scariolo added another EuroBasket title in 2011. Spain became the first team since 2001 to win two EuroBasket gold medals in a row. The 51-year-old tactician also met the expectations in 2012 London Olympics by reaching the final. Though Spain suffered two losses in group stage (against Russia and Brazil). There were talks already before London Olympics that this might be the last tournament for Scariolo as a head coach of Spanish national team.

Sergio Scariolo

Thursday, November 22, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Business & Finance The Excess Crude Account is supposed to serve as a buﬀer for the economy. Whenever available revenue is not up to the budgeted figure, government will augment for the health of the economy

Active telephone subscriptions in the country would surpass 105 million by December 2012 FORMER EXECUTIVE VICE CHAIRMAN OF THE NIGERIAN COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION, ERNEST NDUKWE

Minister of State for Finance, Yerima Ngama

FG needs N200bn for local auto finance scheme CHIDI UGWU ABUJA

n estimated N200 billion is needed by the Federal Government for the establishment of vehicle financing scheme to encourage the purchase of locally manufactured automobiles, the National Automotive Council (NAC) has said. The Director General of NAC Mr. Aminu Jalal who disclosed this in an interview with National Mirror said government has already earmarked N2.5billion to launch the scheme soon. Jalal who stated that an estimated 300,000 vehicles are imported into Nigeria annually noted that with affordable financing scheme the country has a population that can comfortably absorb one million vehicles every per annum. He said the money is like a soft loan which will attract maximum of 10percent interest as against the traditional 22percent bank interest rate, adding that it was meant to encourage patronage for creation of wealth through patronage of locally made automobiles. “The problem with the banks is this, currently, you cannot tell a bank to give loan at 10% when

they are giving everybody at 21% and 22%, so the whole system of interest rate has to come down. What we have done is, we have earmarked N2.5 billion to start a vehicle purchase scheme, that money is not enough, but ideally, we should be talking about N200 billion, but we have N2.5 billion, where you can go to some certain banks and take this money, the condition is that you must buy

from the local assembly plant at 10% interest rate”, he said. The NAC boss who lamented the dearth of accurate statistical data on the nation’s automotive industry urged all state governments to embrace the electronic registration process, for easier retrieval of data. According to him, the internal revenue systems in the states are not designed to capture valuable

WITH AGENCY REPORT

aira strengthened on inflows for purchases of fixed-income securities after the central bank held its benchmark interest rate at a record high yesterday to check

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

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

Arik Air Los-Abj: 07:15, 09:15, 10:20, 15:20, 16:20, 16:50, 18:45 (Mon-Fri/Sat/Sun) Abj-Los: 07:15, 09:40, 10:20, 12:15, 15:15, 16:15, 17:10, (Mon-Fri/Sat); 12:15, 15:15, 16:15 (Sun) Los-PH: 07:15, 11:40, 14:00, 16:10, 17:15, (Mon-Fri) 07:30, 11:40, 15:50 (Sat) 11:50, 3:50, 17:05 (Sun) Abj-PH: 07:15, 11:20, 15:30 (Mon-Fri) 07:15, 16:00 (Sat) 13:10, 16:00, (Sun) PH-Abj: 08:45, 12:50, 17:00 (Mon-Fri) 08:45, 17:30 (Sat) 14:40, 17:30 (Sun) Abj-Ben: 08:00, 12:10 (Mon-Fri/Sat) 08:55, 12:10 (Sun) Ben-Abj: 09:55, 13:30 (Mon-Fri/Sat) 10:50, 13:30 (Sun)

Aero Contractors

L-R: Zonal Manager, Wema Bank, Lagos Mainland, Mrs. Mercy Ojobanikan; Vice Chancellor, University of Lagos, Prof. Rahman Bello; Executive Director, Wema Bank, Lagos and South-South, Mr. Demola Adebise and Regional Executive, Lagos Business Group, Mr. Wole Akinleye, during a courtesy call on the vice chancellor in Lagos, recently.

Naira rises on inflows after CBN retains interest rate UDO ONYEKA

information about vehicles which are critical to the planning for the growth of the auto industry. He said the zeropercent tariffs on CKD for mass transit buses which will take off January 1, next year is not enough to encourage deep pocket investment in the local auto industry, adding that at least 30percent differential is needed for the sector to grow.

FLIGHT SCHEDULE

inflation and stabilise the local currency. The currency gained 0.1 percent to 157.9 a dollar after weakening 0.1 percent the previous day. The naira has appreciated 2.8 percent this year, the second-best performing currency tracked by Bloomberg in Africa. Nigeria is scheduled to sell N50 billion ($316.6 million) of 10year and 7-year bonds today and is offering 116.18 billion naira of Treasury bills tomorrow. The CBN left its interest rate un-

Massive fuel scarcity looms, says PENGASSAN

changed at 12 percent yesterday. Inflation, which accelerated for the first time in four months to 11.7 percent in October on widespread flooding of farms, is still above the bank’s target of less than 10 percent. ``Nigerian bond yields remain attractive to offshore investors, with the inflows boosting dollar supply,’’ Wale Abe, chief executive officer of the Financial Market Dealers Association, which groups lenders trading in the money market, said by phone

today. ``An interest rate of 12 percent will check excess money supply and demand for dollars.’’ The central bank, which will sell foreign currency at an auction today, aims to keep the naira at a rate of about 3 percent above or below 155 a dollar. The naira’s appreciation could be traced to tight monetary conditions, improved supply of foreign exchange to the market by oil companies and increased inflows from portfolio investors, central bank Governor Lamido Sanusi on Tuesday.

Los-Abj: 06:50, 13:30, 16:30, 19:45 (Mon-Fri/Sat/Sun) 12:30 (Sun) 16:45 (Sat). Abj-Los: 07:30, 13:00, 19:00 (Mon-Fri/ Sat) 10:30, 14:30, 19:30 (Sun) 18.30 (Sat) Los-Ben: 07:45, 11:00, 15:30, (Mon-Fri/Sat/ Sun) 12:30 (Sun) 15:30 (Mon-Fri/Sat/Sun) Ben-Los: 09:15, 12:30, 17:00 (Mon-Fri/ Sat/Sun) 17:00 (Sat), 14:00 (Sun)

EXCHANGE RATES WAUA

234.6271

USD

155.84

CHF

159.2642

SDR

235.0535

CFA

0.2924

GBP

244.1701

EURO

191.3715

OIL / GAS FUTURES ICE BRENT

$123.39

-0.78

NYMEX

$108.45

-0.11

OPEC BASKET

$122.86

+1.16

NATURAL GAS

$2.83

-0.03

Media owners, Stakeholders seek advertisers seek stronger measures against e-fraud common ground on rates, ABC

Business & Finance

Thursday, November 22 , 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Nigeria’s passenger traffic, rises by 8.5% in Q2 OLUSEGUN KOIKI

t least, 61,107 aircraft arrived and departed Nigerian airports between April and June, 2012 while another 3,734,828 passengers passed through the same airports in the same period. Also, within the same period, 42,637,538.90kg of cargo movements were recorded at the airports and mail movements accounted for 853,484.9kg. The aircraft movement indicates 0.59per cent increase in the same quarter of 2011, which recorded 60,749 movements while the passenger traffic indicates 8.51 per cent growth from the 2011 second quarter of 3,441,938 movements within the country’s airports. However, the cargo movement indicates 4.63 per cent reduction when compared to the 2011 second quarter, which had 44,707,218.4kg while the mail movements indicated 37.48 per cent reduction when compared to 1,365,041kg of 2011. Statistics obtained from a source in the Federal Airports

Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) yesterday revealed that the movements were recorded from 32 airports and airstrips in the country. Among the airports and airstrips are the Murtala Mohammed Airport (MMA, domestic and international), Lagos; Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport (NAA, domestic and international), Abuja; Port Harcourt Airport (domestic and international), Aminu Kano Airport (AKA, domestic and international), Kano; Kaduna Airport (domestic and international), Margret Ekpo Airport (domestic and International), Calabar, Enugu and Osubi. Other airports are Sokoto Airport (domestic and international), Maiduguri Airport (domestic and international), Benin Airport, Jos Airport, Owerri Airport, Yola Airport (domestic and international), Ilorin Airport (domestic and international), Ibadan Airport, Minna Airport (domestic and international), Akure Airport, Katsina Airport (domestic and international) and Makurdi

Promos: Telecoms subscribers laud NCC over ban KUNLE A ZEEZ

elecoms subscribers under the aegis of the National Association of Telecom Subscribers, (NATCOMS), have described the recent ban on telecoms promos by the Nigerian Communications Commission as step in the right direction. NATCOMS President, Chief Deolu Ogunbanjo, while commending the telecoms regulator for the promo ban, said it would free up the network and stop congestion of the networks. Ogunbanjo said that stopping the promotions would compel telecom operators to upgrad their services to meet up their promotions. “By this decision, telecom, operators will want to expedite action to improve on their network, knowing that their promotions always attract more subscribers into their various networks. “All these promotions here and there are affecting the quality of service. It is a good decision that the Federal Government has taken,” he said. He noted that promotions including MTN’s Wonder promo, where it gave out an aircraft to the winner; Airtel’s 500 per cent bonus packages; Globacom’s Text for million and Made4life

promos, Etisalat’s promos recorded over 100 per cent participation and drastically congested the networks with services almost crumbling. The NCC had, through its Director of Public Affairs, Mr. Tony Ojobo, issued a statement banning telecoms promotions and lotteries, stressing that in recent times, it had been inundated with several complaints from consumers and industry stakeholders against the various promotions offered by telecommunications operators in the country, which seems to be congesting the networks. NCC claimed that it had carefully evaluated the complaints received, especially against the backdrop of sustaining the integrity of the networks, the general interest of the consumers and the socio-economic impact of these promotions on operators and other relevant stakeholders. Ojobo said the commission observed that on-net call is now being offered by operators at tariffs well below the prevailing inter-connect rates thereby introducing anti-competitive practices and behavior from one network to another and overall consumer experience on the networks has become very poor thereby making it extremely difficult for subscribers to make calls successfully.

L-R: Marketing Director, Cadbury Nigeria Plc, Mr. Dele Anifowoshe; Sales Director, Mr. Paul Udochi and Managing Director, Mr. Emil Moskofian, at the first draw of the ongoing Bournvita Yummy Life Promo in Lagos, yesterday.

Airport. For instance, 1,164,159 passengers arrived and departed MMA (domestic) in the period while 651,843 departed and arrived the country through MMIA, Lagos. Besides, Abuja (domestic) recorded 750,573, Abuja (international), 159,984, Port Harcourt (domestic), 434,984, Port Harcourt (international), 26,104; Kano (domestic), 58,391; Kano

(international), 32,445; Enugu, 39,108; Osubi, 87,466; Kaduna (domestic), 32,718; Kaduna (international),11,810; Calabar (domestic), 55,563 and Calabar (international) with four passengers. Others are Sokoto (domestic), 17,070; Sokoto (international), 79; Benin, 56,232; Maiduguri (domestic),22,358, Maiduguri (international), 57; Jos, 9,207;

Owerri, 75,027; Yola (domestic), 23,929; Yola (international) recorded no passenger at all in the quarter. Also, Ilorin (domestic), 10,707 while the international had no passenger; Ibadan, 11,977; Minna, 1,180;Akure, 1,397; Katsina (domestic), 200; Katsina (international), no passenger while Makurdi recorded 256 passengers in the period.

FG to establish staple crop processing zones –Adesina UDO ONYEKA WITH AGENCY REPORT

he Federal Government will soon establish staple crop processing zones in some parts of the country, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, said on Tuesday. Adesina said this on Tuesday in Abuja at a meeting with private sector partners in the agriculture value chain convened to garner support for the Federal Government’s Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA). The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the meeting was facilitated by the ministry, the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) and the United Nations Development Programme

(UNDP). The minister explained that the idea was to enable processors to establish their processing plants in areas where food production was high. He gave an assurance that the Federal Government would prioritise basic infrastructure in these zones. ‘’It is the duty of the government to provide all the basic amenities in these zones. We have identified these zones and we know what is needed to make things work, ‘’ he said. Adesina urged the private sector to set up an advocacy group that would liaise with the government in terms of policy making. He told them to focus on fiscal policy that would encourage local food production, saying that the private sector was crucial to

the success of the transformation agenda. He promised to always interact with the private sector to ensure that agriculture was restored as the mainstay of the country’s economy. ‘’All the reforms being made by the Federal Government are geared toward wealth creation and job creation; that is why we need the private sector in all we are doing. ``Unless governments’ change their approach to the private sector, we can’t create wealth or jobs, ’’ he said, stressing that there was the need to do a thorough structural job of the private sector. The minister urged the private sector to work closely with the farmers’ associations across the country.

Flood victims: NBC staff provides relief materials to 1400 households

o provide succor to the victims of the recent flooding across the country, staff of the Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) Limited led a relief initiative providing various materials for 1400 households in four (Internally Displaced Persons) camps across the country. In a statement signed by the Head, Public Affairs and Communications (PAC), Mrs. Adeyanju Olomola, she explained that NBC’s contribution to bringing as much relief and succour to the

flood victims underscores the company’s vision of being a trusted partner for good in Nigeria. She added that beyond providing the materials for the affected communities in Ihuike Ahoada and Ekpeye camp, Rivers State, Ibaje Camp, Kogi State, Yola North Camp, Adamawa State and Imoghene Camp, Bayelsa State; the prayers of NBC staff are with their fellow citizens in all the flooded communities at this difficult time. NBC staff under the com-

pany’s employee volunteer initiative, Make a Difference, led a relief effort that saw both the staff and the company provide cash, food and vital materials to the people affected by the flood. The company donated over 180 cases of Coca-Cola products, 1000 mattresses, 1000 blankets, multipurpose soaps, 1000 Insecticide Treated Nets (ITNs) and water purification tabs and, in addition, employees gave over N750, 000 in cash donations, 160 bags of rice (10kg), 78 kegs of 3L vegetable oil and 40 cartons of noodles.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Business & Finance

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Shell lifts force majeure on Bonny oil exports UDEME AKPAN WITH AGENCY REPORT

oyal Dutch Shell has lifted its force majeure on the nation’s Bonny Light crude oil exports. The force majeure lifted yesterday would now guarantee the export of the premium oil grade to the global market. Shell declared force majeure on Bonny exports on October 19 after a fire on a ship being used to steal oil forced the company to shut down its Bomu-Bonny pipeline and defer 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) of production. Reuters that confirmed the de-

velopment stated that the force majeure on nation’s Forcados crude exports, declared the same day, remains in place. Force majeure means a company will not meet its contractual obligations due to circumstances outside its control. The nation exports about 2.5 million barrels of oil daily to the global market. This has been constrained by many developments, including oil theft, flooding and oil spill in the past few months. Shell stated that Forcados production was hit by damage caused by suspected oil thieves tapping into the Trans Forcados Pipeline and the Brass

Creek trunkline, Shell said . Bonny Light and Forcados are two of Nigeria’s most important oil grades and in October they represented exports of 427,000 bpd. Nigerian authorities said last month major oil theft incidents and the country’s worst floods in 50 years caused oil output to drop by a fifth, but days later said things were back to normal. Since then, there have been at least two fresh oil spills and some incidents of oil theft in the Niger Delta. Men of the Joint Military Task Force, JTF, codenamed Operation Pulo Shield, have

arrested two personnel of the Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, for involvement in the economic sabotage activity on a pipeline in Kporgho Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State. The two suspects, Mr. Bori Friday and Mr. Young Apahia, are surveillance staff of the company, employed to protect oil pipeline from vandalism, according to the JTF. Army Public Relations Officer, 2 Brigade Bori Camp, Major Michael Etete, said that the JTF on patrol discovered at about 9.30p.m.on Monday a broken pipeline and illegal con-

nection on an SPDC pipeline in Kporgho Gokana LGA of Rivers State with both men found on the scene of the pipeline vandalism. Etete said both suspects were arrested and transferred to operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, Rivers State Command, for prosecution. Only last week, the JTF complained about oil companies frustrating their efforts at ridding the country of oil theft and illegal bunkering operations. Shell did not immediately respond to inquiries seeking comments on the issue.

BPE team begins assets verification tour of ALSCON TOLA AKINMUTIMI ABUJA

team of technical experts assembled by BFI Group and top officials of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) yesterday commenced a visit to the multi-billion dollars Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria’s (ALSCON) plant in Ikot-Abasi, Akwa Ibom State, on inspection and assessment tour of the company.

L-R: Area Sales Manager, Juhel Nigeria Ltd, Mr. Chinedu Ezeayi; Government Relations, Friesland Campina WAMCO Nigeria Plc, Mrs. Adeola Temitope and Area Sales Manager, Fumman Juice, Mr. Musa Odumala, during the 2012 African Industrialisation Day in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA

NBS introduces gender based issues in statistical data production TOLA AKINMUTIMI ABUJA

he National Bureau of Statistics yesterday said it has revised its survey instruments and incorporated gender based issues into the statistical data gathering and production activities as part of its efforts aimed at ensuring that women count in planning and implementation of national development policies in the country. Disclosing this during the opening session of the lecture organised by the Bureau to commemorate this year’s African Statistics Day, the Statistician General of the Federation, Dr Yemi Kale, said by capturing gender based issues in its data production, Kale said policy makers would have adequate information to formulate appropriate programmes that would better the lives of both men and women. Kale said, “The NBS has already started the process of incorporating gender into our data production activities. “Our survey instruments have

been revised to capture gender based issues. As a matter of fact, thus yea, a new module, Gender Based Violence, which collects data on violence against women and men was introduced into our Expanded Socio-Economic Survey which is scheduled for 2013. “Furthermore, we are in the process of expanding our gender desk into the division, so as to ensure that we have the necessarily manpower and skills required to produce accurate and relevant gender statistics”, he added. On the theme of this year’s celebration, “Making every woman and man count: Engendering statistics for better development outcomes”, the statistical expert said the theme underscored the significant contributions of women to development and the need to incorporate gender issues into statistics in the continent. According to him, this strategy would allow government tackle gender inequalities in the society and seek out policies and initiatives that will empower women in all sectors and help them realise their potentials and by implica-

tion; help the country in its efforts to achieve the MDGs and those of the ongoing government’s transformation agenda. He explained that as a means of transforming the social and economic wellbeing of the country, the agency has embarked on a process leading to the return towards strategic planning, monitoring and evaluation through the use of evidencedbased policy. The NBS boss said there was need to institutionalise the use of statistics in both public and private dealings, adding that this is a viable way to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). He assured that the bureau would continue to play its role in advocating the importance of statistics in the nation building. Also speaking at the event, a former Chief Economic Adviser to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, Professor Ode Ojowu, said this year’s theme is a wakeup call for generation of gender sensitive data for inclusive growth and development.

The visit is intended to assess the current state of company prior its formal take-over by BFIG which won the case at the Supreme Court that legitimises its ownership of the company. National Mirror learnt that the facility visit which may take about a week to conclude would enable the experts to critically assess the assets depreciation level with a view to determining the required funding and other operational resources that would be

required to revitalise the plant. The tour which is coming on the heels of the recent audit report of the company which indicated that its asset base totalling $3.2 billion had been depreciated by about 89.47 per cent in six years. UC Rusal management carried out a comprehensive re-evaluation of the assets and mark down their value by over 76 per cent, from N129.9 billion at the end of 2006 to N30.98 billion. The certified true copy of the audit report by the firm of KPMG obtained from the Corporate Affairs Commission in Abuja showed that since 2006, the asset base of the company had depreciated significantly. The Supreme Court had last July stripped UC Rusal of the ownership of the plant after a long legal tussle by BFI Group, the original winners of the bid.

Aviation stakeholders wade into unions, minister’s face-off OLUSEGUN KOIKI

lders in the Nigerian aviation industry yesterday waded into the ongoing tussle between the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) and Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN), on one hand and the leaderships of the Ministry of Aviation and its agencies on the other hand. The elders also challenged the Ministry of Labour and Productivity, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union congress (TUC) to intervene in the impasse in the interest of the sector, which they noted was just coming out from the Dana Air aircraft accident that shook the industry to its marrow. The elders under the auspices

of Aviation Labour Elder Statesmen (ALES) told journalists yesterday in Lagos that the current crisis between the two parties is capable of degenerating into a major one if not quickly nipped in the bud. Speaking on behalf of ALES, its chairman, a former union leader in NUATE, Comrade Imonitie Itua warned that the tranquility being enjoyed in the sector at present may be truncated if both parties don’t shield their swords. ALES appealed to the union leaders, the Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, the Permanent Secretary and Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) in the agencies to put on hold all ongoing actions consequent upon the latest development and called for mediation to bear fruit for the good of the industry.

Business & Finance

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Massive fuel scarcity looms, says PENGASSAN MESHACK IDEHEN

il workers, under the aegis of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers Senior Staff Association (PENGASSAN), and Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, (NUPENG), have said Nigerians should be prepared to witness the most terrible fuel scarcity ever seen. The declaration of the imminent petroleum products scarcity, said PENGASSAN, is due to the Federal Government readiness to move ahead with deregulation of the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry. President of PENGASSAN Mr. Babatunde Ogun, alongside his NUPENG, counterpart, Mr. Igwe Achese, told journalists on Tuesday that Nigerians are at the risk of witnessing a worse fuel scar-

city situation and highest ever cost of petroleum products if the Federal Government goes ahead to make good its threat to withdraw oil subsidy without first having the nation’s four refineries becoming fully operational. The union leaders said that it was shameful that Nigeria which is a top producer of crude oil in the world is still importing refined products like petrol and diesel from countries that are not so resource blessed like Niger Republic that had only recently discovered oil in their country, and Ghana. However, they added that while the unions were not against the withdrawal of subsidy, relying almost completely on importation of petrol will continue to impoverish Nigerians and put majority of the country’s populace in suffering. “If we are deregulating the product, there is going to be

a very high inflation rate in the country, the cost of living would be very high. But then what are the palliative measures that government is going to put in place? “What Nigerians, the union and oil workers in the country have been reading in the newspapers and seeing on the television is the president saying that the money that would be saved from the subsidy is what they would use to put infrastructure on gro und. “As a union, we are warning Nigerian that there will be great implications on their lives should the plans of the government succeed, because not only will there the type of scarcity of fuel ever seen, but every aspect of the daily living of Nigerians will become affected adversely”, the unions warned. The document also indicated that six ships were also discharging petrol.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Unilever Nigeria unveils new triple purified Vaseline STANLEY IHEDIGBO

nilever Nigeria has unveiled its new triple purified Vaseline petroleum jelly into the Nigerian market with its ‘As Pure as a Mother’s Love’, stage play directed by internationally acclaimed Playwright and Director, Wole Oguntokun and performed at the Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos. The stage play brought together several dignitaries including the First Lady of Lagos State, Abimbola Fashola ; celebrities in the entertainment industry, members of the business community and other stakeholders. While speaking at the occasion, the First Lady of Lagos State, said that mothers were a gift to the world and that she is proud of hers and the mother she also has become. “Truly, there is nothing as pure as a mother’s love. It is kind and sacrificial bearing the whole family along with strong, loving arms. In-fact, it is the purest love that exists on earth.” The First Lady of Lagos State,

who was represented by a Senior Executive member of government, Mrs. Mosunmola Junaid, thanked Unilever for the support it had given to Nigerians through its quality products and opportunities to celebrate mothers and groom children in the right manner during this day and age. In his welcome address, Managing Director, Unilever Nigeria, Thabo Mabe, said that the event was symbolic of Unilever’s commitment to making the lives of its consumers more beautiful, enriching their lives, while also showcasing the high purity standards of the New Vaseline Petroleum Jelly. “Just as a mother’s love is pure, so is the gentle, yet strong nature of Vaseline providing purity like no other to all our consumers,” Mabe said. He stated that the relaunch of Vaseline showcased the company’s dedication and connection to mothers and families across Nigeria, while providing a platform to celebrate mothers who have provided the very best for their children and families.

Elumelu Foundation, others to assist SMEs JOHNSON OKANLAWON

T L-R: Consultant Engineer, Cornerstone Real Estate Ltd., Mr. Olayemi Olajide, Chairman, Mr. Lanre Okupe; Consultant, Arc. Kunle Akibo and Project Monitoring Manager, Mr. Ajayi Moshood, during a media briefing of the company in Lagos, yesterday.

FG moves to remove constraints to Intra-African Trade OLUFEMI ADEOSUN

n a bid to boost regional integration and increase Intra- African Trade, the Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga has express the readiness of the country to remove tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade within the continent. Aganga disclosed this during the African Industrialisation Day (AID), in Abuja, on Tuesday. The theme of this year’s AID commemoration is ‘Accelerating Industrialisation for boosting Intra African trade’. The African Industrialisation Day is a special day set aside by the Conference of African Ministers of Industry (CAMI) under the aegis of the African Union Commission (AUC), to focus on specific strategies of African countries to stimulate Industrial development and draw attention to the progress

and challenges of relevant stakeholders on the policy direction of Government towards a sustainable Industrial sector development. The minister, who was represented by the Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Dr. Samuel Ortom, noted that effective regional integration in Africa would enhance trade within the continent and also attract investment into the manufacturing sector. He said, “Africa is indeed endowed with a wealth of natural and mineral resources which if properly harnessed, would serve as an engine of economic growth and prosperity on the continent. It is however unfortunate that Africa has been very successful in integrating itself with the rest of the world, but has not been successful in integrating countries in the continent. “The fragmentation of Africa in terms of Trade is

thus dramatic and resulting in the loss of billions of dollars of Gross Domestic Products (GDPs) and millions of jobs that ought to have been created. “Effective regional integration in Africa would not only enhance trade within Africa but would also attract investment into the manufacturing sector. Nigeria aims at expanding Intra-African trade by breaking down tariff and nontariff barriers and enhancing mutually advantageous commercial relations through trade liberalisation schemes. Regional integration helps in developing larger markets, fostering greater competition and improving policy stance in many areas of the development agenda. In addition, pooling economies and market together through regional integration provide a sufficiently wide economized market space to make economies of scale possible.”

he Tony Elumelu Foundation has gone into partnership with Western Union Money Transfer and the United States Agency for International Development to enhance the competitiveness of the African private sector. The Chief Executive Officer of The Tony Elumelu Foundation, Dr. Wiebe Boer, said that by hosting the event, the foundation will introduce a deserving set of SMEs to a range of investors. He said, “For us, this is an important way of showcasing the reality of ntrepreneurship in

Africa and fulfilling our own objective of acting as a catalyst for private sector-led growth.” “Now in its second year, the African Diaspora Marketplace is an initiative that was inaugurated by Western Union and USAID to encourage sustainable economic growth and employment by supporting US based African diaspora entrepreneurs with innovative and high- impact ideas for start-up and existing businesses who would like to establish or expand businesses in Africa.” The Tony Elumelu Foundation joined the ADM II partnership with a commitment to host an annual investor event in Lagos, Nigeria.

Etisalat launches new tariff plans KUNLE A ZEEZ

igeria’s fifth Global System for Mobile communication operator, Etisalat, has unveiled a new flexible bundle package for its over 14 million telecoms subscribers. The package christened EasyFlex is an all-in-one plan which offers customers the best value for money in Nigeria and true freedom to browse, text and make calls to any network whichever way they desire, without any restrictions. Speaking on this addition to the Etisalat product portfolio in Lagos on Monday, Etisalat Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Steven Evans, said, the company invests heavily in research in a bid to understand the

needs, lifestyle and communication habits of its customers. He restated the company’s commitment to customer satisfaction, saying that this is at the heart of its business. “It is our brand nature to provide value for all our customers through our products and services. Our products and services are easy and simple to understand, and are tailored to help the subscriber get instant access to family, friends and business partners via voice calls, data and SMS. “Etisalat has taken advantage of consumer insights to design easyflex – which bundles, SMS, Data and Voice services all-in-one product that offers the best value for money in Nigeria,” he said

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Info Tech

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Stakeholders seek stronger measures against e-fraud

hough there has been steady increase in the number To enable that cashless economy initiative in the country works, stakeholders have said of Automated Teller Machine, (ATM), cards issued by the banks to their customers, the adoption of oth- there is need to strengthen measures against electronic fraud, which many say has er electronic transactions means such as online banking been discouraging Nigerians from taking up the idea of online banking, reports KUNLE and Point of Sales and others have been very slow among AZEEZ. the banking public. The reason for such slow growth of other e-payment channels apart from ATM has been attributed by the bank customers to the fear they still nurse about online transactions as they believe that transaction platforms currently do not have adequately secure online platforms. The fear of likely online breaches in the course of transactions, just as a supermarket owner at Lagos Island, Lagos, Mr. Tunmise Adewumi, revealed, has been preventing most bank customers from embracing other online transactions options. According to Adewumi, “It is only in ATM that people currently have some level of thrust since the country changed from magnetic strip ATM cards to Chip and PIN ATM cards.” Similarly, another bank customer, Mrs. Janet Idowu, said: “My bank has sent several emails to my email, urging me to activate an online banking or internet banking account but I have continued to shun such offers because, like most Nigerian, I am yet to be convinced that transacting online is safe in Nigeria. Cases of e-fraud and cyber insecurity are still prevalent even though the banks would not let the public know when their systems are comproSanusi Regha mised.” The Chairman of NeFF, Mr. Emmanuel Obaigbona, While studies have shown that possibility of systems THER MISSING LINKS IN submitted that the rapid transition to the adoption of elecbreaches on any electronic transaction network is comtronic payments and the subsequent increase in fraud has monplace, the frequency of such breaches also known as THE NATION S E PAYMENT ignited measures aimed at countering those who exploit online fraud is what stakeholders believe should be worked INDUSTRY ACCORDING vulnerabilities in our payments system to commit fraud. on so as to instill confidence in the banking public to get inHe, however, emphasised that in order to prevent elecvolved fully in the nascent march by Nigeria to transform TO THE STAKEHOLDERS tronic fraud in Nigeria, especially, now that the country is from a cash-based into an cashless economy. migrating to the cashless society, “all stakeholders must As a result, stakeholders at the recently concluded 3rd INCLUDE LACK OF INDUSTRY come together to fashion out robust strategies that would Annual Payment Systems and Fraud Conference for West WIDE AWARENESS STRATEGY assist in checkmating these personalities.” Africa organised by the Electronic Payment Providers Guest speaker at the forum and Chief Executive Officer Association of Nigeria in collaboration with the Nigeria TO COMBAT E FRAUD AND of South Africa Banking and Risk Information Centre, Electronic Fraud Forum, (NeFF), have again called for Ms Kalyani Pillay, delivered a paper on International Anincreased measures against electronic fraud, which they LACK OF A JOINT INDUSTRY ti-Fraud Efforts: The Issues of Borderless Fraud provided said might truncate the growth of electronic payment DATABASE ON E FRAUD insights on how international syndicates attack countries adoption if not properly checked. according to their brands. According to the Executive Secretary of E-PPAN, Mrs. ACTIVITIES FOR KNOWLEDGE She displayed statistics and data which are key to her Onajite Regha, the conference attended by 150 stakeholdorganisation tracking down international fraudsters and ers from the payment systems industry, was an avenue SHARING protecting the South African banking space, whilst emfor the exchange of views and information to promote the payment systems integrity and responses to fraud and risk fraud investigation; a need to identify government to citi- phasising the need for countries to work together to fruswhich will in turn inspire new and practicable standards zen’s value added services which can be adopted as a na- trate the efforts of fraudsters whose operations are spread tionwide project as well as the prospects for development across several countries regardless of geographical borin the financial industry. With broad objectives to build an effective and efficient of policy in the context of international trends and initia- ders. Consequently, in a communiqué issued and signed by payment system across the region; reduce internal and tives for prevention of fraud in the information communiRegha, a number of recommendations were put forward external fraud threats whilst promoting e-payment trans- cation society. Furthermore, the participants considered issues re- by stakeholders. actions integrity; among others, the conference featured According to the communiqué, there is an urgent speakers who are top professionals and thought leaders lating to infrastructure and the legal framework for elecfrom all over the region and globe who presented key devel- tronic payment systems which were observed to be critical need for the industry to set up an information reposiopments in payment systems, fraud prevention, detection support structures in advancing the acceptability of elec- tory centre for the systematic reporting of all frauduand management techniques with highlights on interna- tronic payment systems and promoting the integrity of the lent activities. It recommends a structure and process to capture data and information on all types of commercial systems as regards to electronic fraud. tional trends. Issues such as the passing of various payment systems fraudulent activities which will be strategically shared During the deliberations at the forum, the stakeholders observed with serious concern that the current lapses, bills, cybercrime bill and the ombudsman bill were raised for statistics purposes. This, it is suggested, will help as major catalyst for the growth of electronic payment, and with forecast of electronic payment fraud trends and which they said should be addressed to reduce cases of e-fraud in the country, which include lack of clear or ac- a necessary tool in addressing the fear of the consumers in protect the industry. The E-PPAN forum also recommended the need for concurate data on the extent of electronic fraud being perpe- the event of any fraudulent occurrence. Speaking, President, E-PPAN, Mr. Macauley Atasie, sistent knowledge sessions such as workshops, trainings trated on the Nigerian Payments System. They also identified knowledge gap in the process and noted that e-payment will provide guaranteed access to a for all arms of the security agencies involved in the invesprocedure for prosecution in electronic fraud; adequate vast majority of the population irrespective of their geo- tigation and prosecution of electronic fraud; the necessity knowledge on part of security agencies such as the Police, graphical location and will yield high returns on invest- for the industry to embark on an industry wide awareness campaign on electronic fraud and the need to establish a Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the judicia- ments. Atasie, who doubles as the Managing Director, Nextzon process of employee background checks for all employry and law makers on the processes of electronic payment, to help them understand the trends of fraud and help them Business Services, listed security concerns, integrity, con- ments in the financial industry. Other recommendations contained in the communiqué better prepare for their roles in e-fraud investigation and fidentiality, reliability, authentication and authorisation as are for West Africa operators to engage in collaboration critical challenges facing e-payment adoption. prosecution. According to him, available records from the Central with international and local agencies to develop effective Other missing links in the nation’s e-payment industry, according to the stakeholders include; lack of industry- Bank of Nigeria has indicated that Nigerian market is vast strategic responses to prevention and investigation of eand grossly untapped with over 67 per cent of the adult fraud and also to keep abreast with international fraud wide awareness strategy to combat e-fraud and lack of joint industry database on e-fraud activities for knowledge population unbanked and about 78 per cent of the nation’s trends and global best practices and for industry stakerural population without a bank account, adding that with holders to organise themselves into advocacy pressure sharing. Others identified include lack of collaboration amongst e-payment, banking services can be conveniently extended groups for the speedy passage of all necessary bills to give a legal framework to electronic payment. stakeholders in the provision of information during e- to the unbaked population.

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Info Tech

Thursday, November 22, 2012

ATCON seeks telecoms services expansion KUNLE A ZEEZ

he Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) is putting in place measures to fast-track the expansion of telecoms services across country in the years ahead. As such, the telecoms pressure group has concluded necessary arrangement to hold an interactive forum between telecoms players and the industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission. Tagged, “Nigeria’s Telecoms Executives and Regulator Forum 2012” the forum slated for December 12, in Lagos, is open to all operators in the telecoms sector in Nigeria, is designed to create an opportunity for key industry players to interact with the regulator, with the aim of building a continual good working relationship.

It is also aimed at creating a platform for the regulator to update the industry on the regulator’s directions and plans for the industry in the coming years. The Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Dr. Eugene Juwah, will present a keynote address, which will cover, amongst other things, quality of service issue; number portability; open access to broadband infrastructure; provision of frequency spectrum for service delivery as well as mainstreaming local content in the Nigerian telecoms development. The President of ATCON, Mr. Lanre Ajayi, will set the stage for the day’s discussion through a welcome address. Speaking on the forthcoming forum, the Executive Secretary, ATCON, Mr. Ajibola Olude, said the forum was designed as an avenue for the regulator to receive feedback from the industry with

a view to understanding the challenges and prospects industry players have to grapple with and explore to ensure sustained growth of the industry. He also added that at the forum, participants are expected to brainstorm on measures that would accelerate the expansion of telecommunications services across the federation in the years ahead. According to him, the forum will also feature panel discussion sessions to allow elaborate and judicious deliberations on the various sub-themes, stressing that some of the confirmed panelists include the Chief Executive Officers of key telecoms companies in Nigeria. “Participation in this forum is restricted to top executives of telecoms operating companies. As the name of the event implies, participation is strictly for high level management personnel of operating companies.”

L-R: Central Bank of Nigeria Representative, Mr. Adedeji Adesemoye; Group Chief Executive Officer, Computer Warehouse Group, Mr. Austin Okere; Chief Enterprise Solutions Officer, MTN, Mr. Babatunde Osho; National Chairman, National Association of Microfinance Banks, Mr. Jethro Akun; and the Lagos State Chairman, National Association of Microfinance Banks, Mr. Valentine Whensu at the launch of a microfinance software solution in Lagos recently.

Resourcery gets Cisco telepresence partnership award KUNLE A ZEEZ

esourcery Plc, a leading System Integrator in West Africa, announced recently that it has achieved TelePresence Video Advanced Plus Authorised Technology Provider (ATP), status from Cisco. The designation recognises Resourcery as having fulfilled the training requirements and program prerequisites to sell, deploy and support Cisco TelePresence Video products and solutions at the Advanced Plus level. The Cisco TelePresence Video Advanced Plus ATP Programme is focused on providing a new way of working in which everyone, everywhere can be more productive through face-to-face collaboration with TelePresence Video solutions.

The Cisco TelePresence Video Advanced Plus ATP programme builds on a partner’s deep knowledge of TelePresence video and extends its offerings to sell and support the single-screen Cisco TelePresence solutions based upon the Cisco Unified Communications Manager platform and TelePresence Interoperability Protocol. Business Solution Manager (Voice and Video Solution) at Resourcery, Mr. Olugbenga Adanlawo, said the s outstanding accomplishment demonstrated the Resourcery’s determination to provide our customers with the best IT solutions available. “From our earlier partnership with a leading Telecommunications company in Nigeria, to Lagos State government and Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, we have already demonstrat-

ed an overwhelming expertise in providing TelePresence solutions to our customers. This new strategic partnership with Cisco provides an even higher level of benefits to our customers,” he said. According to Adanlawo, “Our customers can now enjoy life-like, high-definition, conferencing facilities with superior audio and video which allows participants meet their colleagues, customers and business partners across a virtual table.” He said participants can enjoy a same-room meeting experience, even if they are located in different locations around the world. They can also meet more often and enjoy more productive sessions which in turn help to improve business interactions as well as building stronger customer relationships,” he continued.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Tech Box

Driving business passion via telecoms services

or most Nigerians, the place of passion has become essential in the struggle for a purpose- driven life. Despite the socio-economic challenges staring at individuals in the face, through passion for what they love doing, millions of Nigerians have been able to raise themselves above the limiting shackles of everyday life. This is evident, most especially, in the crop of vibrant young, budding individuals who are beginning to take their destinies into their hands to make a living out of their passion, be it in the areas of Information and Communication Technology, manufacturing, sales, sports, music, entertainment, ICT and so on. Only recently, two Nigerians, Ladi Delano and Jason Njoku were listed among the top “Ten Young African Millionaires To Watch’ by Forbes Magazine. Ladi, 30, is the founder and CEO of Bakrie Delano Africa, a $1billion investment vehicle; while Jason, 31, is the founder and CEO of Iroko TV. These Nigerians are among thousands of young and immensely successful entrepreneurs, across the African continent, who through the passion for what they do, are legitimately amassing multi-million dollar fortunes. Another case in point is the music industry, where the likes of TuFace, P-square, D’banj, Wizkid, Flavour, Davido, Tiwa Savage, Omawumi, MI to mention a few have helped to influence many youths into taking bold steps to come into the music industry and make a name for themselves. Today, the entertainment industry has become one of the major exports thereby contributing immensely to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product. There is no gainsaying the fact that the feats achieved so far, in all the identified sectors, by these individuals are made possible because of the passion they have for what they do. Perhaps, the realisation of the importance of keying in to what the consumers believe in and care about is why more brands are continuously developing platforms designed to connect to the passion and aspirations of their consumers and ultimately earn loyalty from these teeming consumers. For instance, four of the service providers in the telecommunications sector, MTN, Glo, Airtel and Etisalat are constant-

ly rolling out various consumeroriented initiatives as part of efforts to support the dreams and passion of the people. Notable though is the MTN brand which, since it commenced operations in the country, has continued to enrich the lives of Nigerians by means of various dedicated platforms designed to support the people’s passion, dreams and aspirations. Through its kulturefest initiative, MTN, over the years has supported numerous cultural festivals in the country, ranging from Osun Oshogbo festival, Argungu Festival, Leboku Festival, Iri ji Mbaise festival, Ofala Festival etc. and without a doubt, Nigerians are very passionate and earnest about their culture. The support of MTN, for these festivals, has not only upped the ante in broadening the scope of organization and public participation in these “fiestas”, it has also guaranteed their sustenance, year after year. It is one thing to be passionate about achieving your dream and another to actually get the opportunity to achieve it. In most cases, chances are that most people don’t get to do what they believe in because they lack the means to achieve it. This is where the MTN brand has richly impacted on the lives of thousands of Nigerians, especially the youth. In the areas of Sports, Music, CSR, the telecommunications giant has been able to help people fulfil their passion. To mention a few, MTN Lagos Street Soccer, MTN Football Scholar, MTN Foundation and MTN Project Fame West Africa are all platforms through which dreams have been fulfilled and through which the telecommunications company has been able to connect to the passion of the people. Recently, it also came up with the MTN Link Forum, a customer-engagement platform targeted at the upwardly mobile professionals and SMEs. The whole idea is to help elevate the aspirations of entrepreneurs and professionals on the MTN Network, help them build an enviable network, and also learn from successful business owners. Furthermore, the MTN Link Forum offers the young, budding entrepreneurs an opportunity to be introduced to some of the Wonder packages that they can tap into to make running their businesses a lot easier.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Brands & Marketing

Media owners, advertisers seek common ground on rates, ABC Media owners have expressed concern on advertising debt, cost of transaction as media buyers and advertisers call for Audit Bureau of Circulation, ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI, writes.

L-R: Ogunkoya, Doghujde

n the 80s to mid 90s, the total circulation figure of most newspapers and magazines was a lure for advertisers but the issue of advertising debt which sprang up in the late 90s has continued to force many media owners closed shop while many agencies continues to prosper. At a recent stakeholders’ seminar organised by the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), tagged LAIF Seminar, advertising agencies lamented the increasing cost of advertising rate hence, calling for the setting up of an Audit Bureau of Circulation, which is expected to help agencies and perhaps, force media owners to cut down their rates. But the representative of media owners at the seminar, the Managing Director of The Nation, Mr. Victor Ifijeh, said for any media buyers and advertisers to understand why media rates have gone up, there is need to understand the plight of the media houses whose business has suffered much set back as a result of pile up advertisement debt which APCON Special Committee on Media Debt Issues (ASCOMDI), currently estimated at N1.145trn between 2001 to 2006. The report said agreed debt amount to N83 billion, while the variance in the indebtedness was said to be N1.062trn. Ifijeh said, “The issue really is why are transaction costs in Nigeria always on the increase? It is not only newspaper transactions that are on the increase, prices of virtually everything in Nigeria are up every time. Recently, some advocacy groups campaigned against what they regarded as the exorbitant fares by foreign airlines on Lagos – London route for first class and business class. They wondered why the airlines were

IS IT NOT ONLY IN NIGERIA THAT MEDIA PARTNERS PILE UP DEBTS AND CREDITORS

- TOO SCARED TO COMPLAIN, ARE POWERLESS

AND ARE REBUFFED WHEN THEY ASK TO BE PAID?

MEDIA

OWNERS ARE MAKING HUGE INVESTMENTS,

ACQUIRING THE BEST OF PRINTING PRESSES MONEY CAN BUY

- THE

LATEST TECHNOLOGY charging close to N1million for a sixhour flight from Lagos to London and less than N500, 000 for the same six-hour flight from Accra to London. The airlines replied, blaming it on the high cost of doing business in Nigeria - that is, operational cost.”. He also pointed out that in the newspaper industry, the major raw materials are newsprint, inks, plates, chemicals etc; which are all imported and the prices are not determined locally, saying they are dependent on the prevailing exchange rates. This is in addition to inadequate power, high transportation cost and high cost of funds from the banks to fund operations, particularly the importation of essential raw materials.

Obaigbena

“There is global recession. Jobs are being erased. Businesses are going under”, he stressed. Justifying the increase rate and how the industry has remained fair to advertisers, he said, “In our kind of business, the challenge is dealt with in several ways – one of them is increase in rates. The good thing about us is that it is not a “take-it –or leave-it situation.” Our partners are usually taken into consideration. Long notices are given, and increases are not frequent – may be once in two years. You can therefore plan. Another thing about us is that we negotiate with our partners and grant generous discounts. In spite of this generosity, our partners default. They hold on to our money for months, or years in some cases. We do not charge interest on the debt owed by our partners. But the truth today is that many media houses are groaning in silence, they are haemorrhaging. They dare not ask their esteemed partners to meet their obligations for fear of being blacklisted, for

fear of losing patronage.” The Nation MD, however, condemned those who complained about media rate hike. “Is it not only in Nigeria that media partners pile up debts and creditors are powerless - too scared to complain, and are rebuffed when they ask to be paid? Media owners are making huge investments, acquiring the best of printing presses money can buy - the latest technology. They are printing in multiple locations for market penetration, to help our partners deliver their messages faster and expose their products to a wider audience. They do all this with borrowed funds. The environment here is not business friendly. This is what we should all strive to reform. Newspapers are huge employers of labour. They are key players in the manufacturing sector. And as we are very well know…This is one sector that is always badly hit by any harsh and inclement socio-political and economic weather.” But the President of Media Independent Practitioners of Nigeria, (MIPAN), Mr. Tolu Ogunkoya, expressed discontent on why circulation is declining and advert rate is increasing. “This can only happen in Nigeria,” he said. “NPAN early this year agreed with ADVAN, MIPAN & AAAN on the reintroduction of the ABCN. Although ‘hard copy’ circulation is declining, readership online is growing, measured by Google analytics, Alexa etc., and needs to be factored into equation. Circulation is the most basic means of comparing press titles. The circulation of a press is simply the number of papers in circulation on an average day, both through subscriptions and newsstand sales. Circulation does not include copies of a publication printed but not distributed or returned. ABC is the industry body for print media measurement. While explaining the importance of an audit bureau and how it would determine an advertising cost, he said an ABC would help manage and uphold standards which reflect print media industry needs. “These standards determine best practice in how media industry data is prepared and reported.” Also, former Managing Director of Lintas Advertising, Mr. Chris Doughuje said non-availability of media data has been a major challenge to advertisers and their media planners. “One of the three principal functions of an advertising agency is media selection or planning. And media selection needs media data.” There is ongoing collaboration between NPAN, MIPAN, ADVAN to see through how setting up of ABCN would help grow newspaper business and the advertisers. Early in the year, the stakeholders set up a joint committee. According to the Marketing Director of MTN Nigeria who is the President of ADVAN, Mr. Kola Oyeyemi, “a crucial item for advertisers in budget planning is the need to be armed with veritable data.” He congratulated the NPAN President, Mr. Nduka Obaigbena on his decision to establish audit bureau.

Brands & Marketing

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Searching for the next creative star via painting challenge STORIES: ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI

s the advertising industry battles with dearth of creative minds and works that could compete globally, Promasidor Nigeria Limited has reaffirmed its commitment to use one of its brands to help encourage art at the foundation schools to save Nigeria’s creative industry. With the launching of Amila painting competition, Promasidor affirms its corporate social responsibility to use its brand power to encourage painting and art among children. To drive this initiative across all schools in Lagos effectively and come out with the future creative minds, Promasidor said an art teacher in each of the selected schools has been assigned to conducts a general painting competition among the pupils of their school to determine the best 10 pupil that will participate on the Amila Day, when the activation would present the overall best winner who will represent the school at each local government level in the state. According to Miss Feyisayo Aliu of Children of Africa Project, leader of team three, handling the activation on behalf of Promasidor, the challenge has been accepted in schools as kids are willing to participate and the teachers are on ground to help coordinate them. “So far, we have seen lots of beautiful paintings that would make your mouth open. It competition has really brought out

the creativity in children that you can see the excitement in them when painting and how other kids are wishing they were selected for the competition. It has been fun, fun and fun for the kids.” At Obele Primary School in Lawanson, Surulere, Lagos, Master Ekemini Victor Obong, a 10-year-old Basic five pupil emerged the overall best. In the same vein, Master Ogogu Anthony, an 11-year-old Basic six pupil was the winner in Methodist Primary School, Lawanson while at Subuola Nursery and Primary School, also in Lawanson, Master Kosi Chukwudi, a 13 year-old Basic six pupil clinched the first position. These winners among others from the other participating schools will move to the second stage of the competition which will be held at each local government. Comrade Bisiriyu Ganiyu Alani, Chairman, Nigerian Union of Teachers, Surulere Local Government Area branch, said the school was very excited to have been selected to partake in the challenge and also to see that more light is now being shown on painting. “I am very happy today, because of the Amila Painting Challenge. I am excited my school is participating in it because it has taken the kids to a different level. You can see the excitement in them, they are extremely happy what more can one ask for. I am very impressed that painting has gone beyond being just an activity for classroom and has influenced their creativity.” Excitedly, Alani, who also doubles as the headmaster of Methodist Primary

School, Lawanson, Surulere, said he was impressed with Promasidor for the challenge as it has also created more endorsement for his school, remarking that the development will make more children to seek enrolment in the school in future. Mrs. Abiola Inawo, Dairy Category Manager, Promasidor, had noted at a press conference to herald the competition that it would encourage schools to put more attention on arts and also that the competition will be in three stages. “We are looking at 200 schools across 20 local government areas in Lagos. The competition will be in three stages, the first stage is at the school level where pupils will paint any art of their choice and the winner will represent the school at the local government area for the second stage. At the second stage, the overall winner from the local government level will get a branded Amila Bicycle and Promasidor goodie bags,” Inawo said. The 20 finalists at the local government level will compete for the overall winner who will walk away with N250,000, 1st runner up N150,000 and the 3rd runner up N100,000 while there will be consolation prizes of N30,000 each for other 17 contestants. Amila powder soft drink was launched into the Nigerian market in March 2009. Launched in four flavours, Orange, Apple Pear, Mango Appricot and Strawberry Banana, Amila is targeted at kids but ideal for sharing by all members of the family. Amila currently sponsors the Amila Spelling Bee on Cool FM 95.9 anchored by Mannie.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

AAAN commends First Bank’s support for LAIF Awards

The Executive Board of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) has commended First Bank Nigeria Plc. for its support and contributions towards the success of the 2012 edition of LAIF Awards. Impressed by the Bank’s sponsorship of the event, the President of the Association and the outgoing Chairman of LAIF Awards, Mrs Bunmi Oke, noted that the sponsorship will go a long way in the realization of the objectives of the creative awards. She further hoped that the sponsorship will be sustained for the growth of creativity in particular and the nation’s economy in general. First Bank’s Head Marketing and Corporate Communication, Mrs. Folake Ani-Mumuney stated that First Bank Nigeria has remained an institution that held the foremost tradition of best Corporate Social Responsibility since inception in 1894. The Bank’s decision to sponsor LAIF Awards is in keeping with the commitment of promoting excellence in brand strategy development as well as encouraging craftsmanship in the creative industry.

Maltina Dance Gig activation thrills consumers Consumers especially the youth of the ancient city of Benin and the oil rich city of Warri were treated to thrilling dance experience amidst fun and excitement as the second phase of the Maltina Dance Gig activation resumes with the south-south zone. At the grand finale of the Benin activation, Nelson Abraga emerged the winner in the male competition winning the 2.5 KVA Generator Tana Steveson came second winning a 21 Inch Plasma TV, while Maxwell Aigbekan won the Third Prize of a Home Theatre System in the male category. In the female contest, Stella Ebioge came first while George Titilayo and Isoso Ekhoguagbon came second and third respectively winning the same prizes as their male category. In Warri, after the different stages of the keen competition, Desmond Afure of 5, Odigbo Street, emerged victorious in the male category winning the 2.5 KVA Generator Prize. Osibere Roland came second winning a 21 Inch Plasma TV, while Leo Eromosele, an admission seeker, won the Third Prize of a Home Theatre System in the male category. The Account Manager, Bates Cosse Limited, the Agency handling the activation, Mr Olatunji Aikomo described the turn out and the performance of the participants as very impressive.

Unilag honours Nigerite, others at donors’ forum

L-R: Recipient Year 2012 BrandAge Brand Icon Award, Mr Lolu Akinwunmi, his wife, Josephine, the Chairman of the occasion, Sir Steve Omojafor, during the Investiture Dinner held at the Muson Centre in Lagos at the weekend.

Final winners emerge in Indomie Super Millionaire Promo

ufil Prima Foods Plc, has rewarded the last set of winners in the ongoing Indomie Super Millionaire Promo as curtain draw on the promo at the eighth draw which held in Lagos last Friday. The winners include another seven lucky winners of the N1million star prize while several others won lofty prizes such as Ipad, Refrigerators, Laptop, Plasma TV, Washing Machine, and Blackberry phones, Cooking Range, Music Systems, Air Conditioners and Microwaves while

several others won cartons of Indomie as consolatory prizes. The draw which took place at the head office of Dufil Prima Foods Plc, makers of Nigeria’s No.1 noodles brand -Indomie Instant Noodles located in Surulere was witnessed by the representatives of the National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC), and the Editor of ThisDay Newspaper, Mrs. Ijeoma Nwogwugwu for transparency and credibility. The Head of Marketing, Dufil Prima Foods Plc, Mr. Manpreet Singh, shortly af-

ter the final draw, expressed satisfaction with the participation of the esteemed consumers of the brand in the promo which he said was evident in the several millions of entries received within the eight weeks duration of the promotion. Singh revealed that Indomie Super Millionaire Promo has produced a total of 56 millionaires doling out N1million grand cash prize to seven lucky winners in eight weeks while rewarding several thousands of other consumers with different prizes.

The University of Lagos has honoured Nigerite Limited, one of Africa’s largest manufacturers and marketer of roofing, ceiling, flooring and integrated building solutions with an award of excellence. The award was the highlight of the institution’s 50th anniversary celebration awards to major donors/partners and the formal launching of The UNILAG Donors Forum. The honour was Unilag’s way of saying thank you to Nigerite for her numerous contributions to the institution. Among many other initiatives aimed at uplifting the Nigerian youth, Nigerite recently remodelled the Masters’ in Environmental Science’s design studios in the department of Architecture of the institution. Marketing Director of Nigerite Limited, Architect Toyin Gbede while receiving the award on behalf of the company noted that “The assured future of Nigeria as an entity is premised on the contribution of today’s prominent corporate players. The more corporate organizations rise up in corporate social investment, the more social needs will be addressed.”

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Brands & Marketing

Thursday, November 22, 2012

APCON, AAAN mourn late industry icon, Nzeribe ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI

he death of Dr. May Nzeribe, has continued to generate reaction from advertising industry stakeholders. The Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) and APCON has expressed their condolence to family of the disease. In a release, Registrar of Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria, Alhaji Garba Bello Kankarofi said “the family of Dr. May Nzeribe has informed us of his passing. The incident occurred on Sunday, November 18, 2012 after a period of illness.” Kakanrofi, however described, Dr. May Nzeribe as a very passionate about his professionalism in the Advertising industry. According to him, “he was a strong advocate for

ethical and responsible Advertising practice, a subject on which he spoke and wrote extensively. He provided a sound intellectual and professional support to the APCON secretariat even after leaving office as Chairman of the Council. He will be greatly missed by hundreds of Advertising practitioners who he mentored as well as by the Advertising industry and the country at large who he served in various active capacities. A condolence register has been opened for him at the APCON House, National Theatre Annex, Iganmu, Lagos.” He said further that Dr. Nzeribe was the third chairman of the APCON Council. “His tenure lasted between October 6, 2003 – May 27, 2007 and was remarkable for the re-organization of APCON Secretariat into the present

directorate structure, the construction of the Lagos office annex (study centre), construction of the APCON House, Kano (which was commissioned after he left office) and the establishment of the Owerri Office. Under his tenure, the window of opportunity scheme for registration of Advertising practitioners was initiated,” he said. Also, the President of the AAAN, Mrs. Bunmi Oke, frpa stated that Dr. Nzeribe passage is a huge loss to the advertising industry in particular and the nation in general. She further stated that Dr. Nzeribe was a colossus at the Association, APCON in particular, and the industry in general. “He will be remembered as a passionate and progressive practitioner who believes in adherence to professional ethics and standard.,” he stated.

L-R: Senior Analyst/Manager, Media Liaison & Monitoring, The Quadrant Company, Rotn. Nneka Okoli, during her induction as a member of Rotary International District 9110, Nigeria by Rotn. Agbor Passchal Onyejegbu, past president, Rotary Club of Ojodu, recently.

The Nigerian Police and its image

had a reportorial training with the Guardian Newspaper several years ago and at a time; I was posted to the Features desk. A story on the Police took me to the Police Public Relations Office (PPRO) at Ijora Olopa in Lagos where I met Mr Tunji Alapini who was then the Force Public Relations Officer. In all ramifications, Alapini exemplified the virtues of an urbane officer and gentleman. He embodied the values of brilliance, diligence and a cultured officer. It should be noted that he stands tall as a laudable brand ambassador for the Nigerian Police .He responded to my enquires without regarding me as a “rookie” in the profession. He discharged his duties as if he was speaking to an editor and even referred me to a previous interview he had granted. Alapini stands tall as a brand ambassador of the Nigeria Police Force. A fine officer like

him is needed at a time like this to redeem the image of Nigeria Police Force. I have taken pains to narrate the above encounter which occurred over 15 years ago due to the bad image the Nigerian Police continues to generate for itself. In all cases, the negative publicity could be avoided as the Police do not always endeavor to take concrete steps to address its worsening image. I want to limit myself to the upper echelon of the Police as any focus on accidental discharge, brutal killings and other shortcomings associated with the rank and file of the Police would be unnecessary distraction in this piece. One finds it surprising that the top echelon of the Nigerian Police is deeply involved in the image crisis that has bedeviled the Nigerian Police Force. I read with dismay some weeks back when the Osun State

ad VA NT AG E icon

eorge Thorpe has over 33 years of post MBA experience in marketing and management in industry, academia, training, training and consulting at local and international levels. He started off at Lever Brothers now Unliever from where he left as a Senior Brand Manager in 1982 to join Pfizer heading up OTC marketing and subsequently total pharmaceutical marketing. Thorpe joined Sterling Health, makers of Panadol, in 1988 as Head of marketing and Sales OTC and prescription medicines. He led efforts that took Sterling Health to pharmaceutical industry leadership in Nigeria and drive Panadol unit volume to number two ranking in the world. With that came an appointment as the first Marketing Vice President for Sterling Health Middle East, Eastern Europe, Africa and the Indian Sub Continent (MEEASC) based in Guildford UK in 1991, the most remarkable for the successful launch of Sterling Health and its brands in Russia in 1992, Sterling Health West Africa. Soon after the global and local merger of Sterlin and GlaxoSmithKline Beecham in 1995, George Thorpe elected to be his own boss. In between, he lectured on strategy on the short programs and MBA course at the Lagos Business School. In the last 15 years, Thor-

Brand X-Ray with Ayodeji Ayopo Tel: 08023448199 E-mail: mayomipo@yahoo.com Commissioner clamped a Sun Newspaper Correspondent into detention. The offence that he discharged his duties by publishing a report the Police commissioner finds distasteful. She also threatened the life of the Punch correspondent. It is imperative to state that this incident is the height of arbitrary use of power and deliberate negative projection of the image of the Police. How could a commissioner of Police deliberately cause trouble for herself by treating media practitioners as common criminals? It is not a good story to write that the people who should protect the image of the Police brand are the ones denting it. It

was the turn of the Lagos State Police Commissioner last week when he walked out a Punch journalist from a press conference. The image of the Nigerian Police worsens by the day and concrete action should be mapped out to address the situation. It is even much more worrisome when you are battling the media which is a war the Police will lose gallantly. There is also the need to groom Police officers in proper communication skills in order to function effectively. The manner of communication of some Police fficers is appalling and urgent measures need to be taken to curb these trend. I am

pe has partnered to found a growing number of marketing support service firms with combined billing and reputation that is probable second to none in West Africa. The marketing guru is as fascinated by how the advertiser market segments in Nigeria and its positioning implications for advertising and media agency as he is by the potentials and limitations of the integration of marketing communications and promotions efforts. Thorpe is happily married with four children and is an avid reader of marketing and business-level strategy books and publications.

Thorpe

surprised if a commissioner of Police is not aware of his role as a brand ambassador. The senior Police officers generate bad publicity for the Police brand than even the junior ones. One may, however, suggest that courses on public speaking, audience interaction and communication skills should be developed into the training manual of the Police. It has assumed a worrisome dimension when commissioners of police are the culprits in this case. A course on public speaking should definitely go a long way in eliminating the use of uncouth language in the discharge of their duties. The Punch Newspaper has written to complain about a Police commissioner to the Inspector General of Police! This speaks volume about the personality and the office he occupies. Police in our own clime needs to be thoroughly trained as professionals’ and exhibit same traits in their relationship with others.

Global Business

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Japan’s exports reach three-year low as recession looms J apan is suffering its worst year for exports since the global contraction in 2009 as Europe’s crisis, China’s slowdown and a diplomatic dispute with the Chinese hurt manufacturers anad deepen the risk of a recession. Shipments totaled 53.5 trillion yen ($653 billion) for January through October, down 2.3 percent from the same period in 2011, according to data compiled by Bloomberg from Finance Ministry figures released in Tokyo yesterday. The trade deficit for 2012 so far is a record 5.3 trillion yen. The so-called hollowing out of Japan’s export champions, highlighted by a cut in Panasonic Corporation. (6752)’s debt rating to one step above junk status by Moody’s Investors Service yesterday, underscores the urgency of kindling domestic demand. Japan’s political parties are facing off ahead of an election next month on how hard to press the central bank to boost stimulus. “There’s no doubt that Japan’s economy is already in a recession,” said Kiichi Murashima, chief economist at Citigroup Inc. in Tokyo. “Political pressure for further monetary easing is

Japan Prime Minister, Taro Aso

building, and we expect the BOJ to take additional measures in January.” The yen slid to a seven-month low after the trade data were released, trading at 81.89 per dollar as of yesterday in Tokyo after touching 81.97. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average advanced for the fifth time in six trading days, closing up 0.9

percent amid the weaker yen and speculation that the opposition Liberal Democratic Party, led by Shinzo Abe, will form the next government and push the BOJ into increased stimulus. Exports in October fell for a fifth month, down 6.5 percent from a year earlier and leaving a trade deficit of 549 billion yen, the Finance Ministry said. That compared with the median forecast of 25 economists for a 4.9 percent decline. Shipments to China, Japan’s largest export market, fell 11.6 percent as a territorial spat over islands in the East China Sea takes its toll on the $340 billion trade relationship between Asia’s two biggest economies. Exports to the European Union fell 20.1 percent on year, while those to the U.S. were up 3.1 percent. “The slump in exports will probably continue this quarter,” said Yuichi Kodama, chief economist at Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co. in Tokyo. “China’s economy probably hit a bottom in the July-September period, but its recovery may be limited this quarter and there’s no sign that Chinese consumers will stop boycotting Japanese cars.”

Europe fails to seal greek debt-cut deal in IMF clash

uropean finance ministers failed to agree on a debt-reduction package for Greece after battling with the International Monetary Fund over how to nurse the recession- wracked country back to fiscal health. With creditors led by Germany refusing to put up fresh money or offer debt relief, the finance chiefs were unable to scrape together enough funds from other sources to help alleviate Greece’s debt burden, set to hit 190 percent of gross domestic product in 2014. Greece’s fiscal woes have defied three years of rescue efforts, rekindling doubts about Europe’s crisis-containment strategy and maintaining a cloud over the euro, postwar Europe’s signature economic accomplishment. More than 11 hours of talks broke up early yesterday in Brussels without an agreement. That leaves the next aid payment, which has been held up since

June, frozen until at least another emergency ministers’ meeting on Nov. 26. “We have a series of options on the table on how to close the financing gap,” German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told reporters. “We discussed the issue very intensively, but since the questions are so complicated we didn’t come to a final agreement.” News of the deadlock -- unexpected after a prediction last week of a “definitive decision” by the meeting’s chairman, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker -- pushed the euro down 0.2 percent to $1.2802 as of 12:40 p.m. in Brussels. The Euro Stoxx 50 Index was little changed at 2511.69, while Greek bonds rose for a ninth day, the longest run of gains since the nation’s debt was restructured in March. The yield on Greek 10- year notes fell 38 basis points to 16.72 percent.

Jean-Claude

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Bernanke says fiscal cliff fix may bring ‘very good’ year

Bernanke

ederal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said an agreement on ways to reduce long-term federal budget deficits could remove an impediment to growth, while failure to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff would pose a “substantial threat” to the recovery. “There’s important potential for the economy to strengthen significantly if there’s a greater level of security and confidence about where we’re going,” he said to the Economic Club of New York. “A plan for resolving the nation’s longer-term budgetary issues without harming the recovery could help make the new year a very good one for the American economy.” Bernanke, 58, identified the threat of $607 billion in automatic tax increases and spending cuts set to take effect next year as one of the impediments to a faster expansion as companies hold back on hiring and investment. The Fed chief repeated his warning a failure to reach an agreement could send the economy “toppling back into recession.” The central bank is buying $40 billion in housing debt each month and has pledged to keep its benchmark interest rate near zero through mid-2015 as it seeks to spur growth and reduce a 7.9 percent jobless rate. “We’re going to do what we can to support ongoing recovery in growth and jobs and create the demand for output, the demand for firms’ products that will remove that uncertainty about the future sustainability of the recovery,” Bernanke said.

U.K. budget deficit unexpectedly swells on spending gain

Osborne

ritain’s budget deficit unexpectedly widened in October as government spending surged and the economic slump hit tax revenue from company profits. The shortfall excluding government support for banks was 8.6 billion pounds ($13.7 billion) compared with 5.9 billion pounds a year earlier, the Office for National Statistics said in London yesterday. The median of 25 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey was for a deficit of 6 billion pounds. Spending jumped 7.4 percent while tax income climbed just 1.8 percent. Britain’s deficit is on course to overshoot

the 120 billion pounds forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility for the fiscal year, dealing a blow to Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne before his Autumn Statement on December. 5. He will present an economic update at a time when the Bank of England has stopped expanding stimulus -- a move backed by all but one policy maker, according to a separate report . “Worse-than-expected public sector borrowing in October has put the pressure back on the chancellor,” Robert Wood, an economist at Berenberg Bank in London who was advising Bank of England policy makers until earlier this year, said in an

e- mailed note. “Stalling growth means the deficit is likely to overshoot official forecasts this year, while the growth forecasts in the last budget are likely to be scaled back.” The Bank of England said policy makers voted 8-1 to stop expanding their bond-purchase program this month as the majority said uncertainty among consumers and companies may be affecting the impact of quantitative easing on the economy. The pound was little changed against the dollar after the releases and was trading at $1.5915 as of 10:08 a.m. in London, unchanged on the day.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Capital Market

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Market making: GTB, First Bank, Zenith to remain active JOHNSON OKANLAWON

inancial analyst and the Chief Executive Officer of Financial Derivatives Company, Mr. Bismarck Rewane, has said that Guaranty Trust Bank, First Bank and Zenith Bank will remain the most actively traded stocks on the Exchange. Rewane in its November economic report noted that market making will help some stocks that are not heavily traded on the market, but it will not have a great impact on heavily traded stocks, especially those that recorded gains before market making commenced.

“Notwithstanding, this can change with time. Our view is that bellwethers such as Guaranty Trust Bank, First Bank and Zenith Bank will remain the most actively traded stocks on the Exchange. “Although we are seeing increased activities in the likes of Fidson Healthcare and Academy Press, we believe the volatility in those stocks may keep investors at bay,” the report said. The market making scheme of the Nigerian Stock Exchange strated on September 18 with 16 stocks, though 14 others have been added. The programme allows any of the 10 appointed Primary Mar-

ket Makers to quote bid and offer prices for the stocks, which they are making. The pilot scheme has a time span of six- months and all stocks available to the PMMs have a trading limit of 10 per cent. Market capitalisation had recorded a monthly average of 6.3 per cent in the three months prior to the programme, but since market making started, market capitalisation has increased by five per cent to N8.5trn. The All Share Index also rose by 1,418.44 to 26,792.27 points, after growing by a monthly average of 1,396.42 points in the three months prior to the programme.

The average volume of the stocks available to the market makers traded during the period under review declined by 3.87, per cent to 8,172,842pts from the corresponding period before the market making programme started. The average values of these stocks increased by 6.94 per cent to N79, 274,481 for the same period. Access Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank, Fidelity Bank, First Bank and Zenith Bank accounted for 22 per cent of total volume of stocks traded in the market between July 30 and September 17, but during the 34 days review, these stocks constituted 31 per cent of total volume traded.

Source: NSE

NIBOR QUOTES 20 NOVEMBER & 21 NOVEMBER 2012 20.00 19.00 18.00 17.00 16.00 15.00 14.00 13.00 12.00 11.00 10.00 9.00 8.00 7.00 6.00 5.00

2 0 -No v -1 2

2 1 -No v -1 2

Source: FMDA

Market indicators All-Share Index 23,105.05 points

ASI drops 0.2% on profit taking JOHNSON OKANLAWON

rading in equities closed on bearish note on the Nigerian Stock Exchange yesterday, as some investors sold their holdings to take profit from the gain recorded the preceding day. The All-Share Index lost 0.21 per cent to close at 26,303.41points, in contrast to the increase of 0.35 per cent recorded the preceding day to close at 26,358.73 points. Market capitalisation shed N17.6bn to close at N8.38trn, as against appreciation of N29.1bn re-

corded the preceding day to close at N8.39trn. Three of the sectoral indices closed negative, as the NSE-30 Index dropped 0.27 per cent to close at 1,240.02 points, while the ConsumerGoods Index gained 0.25 per cent to close at 2,245.27 points. The Banking Index depreciated by 0.77 per cent to close at 416.07 points, while the Insurance Index rose by 0.14 per cent to close at 131.77 points. The Oil and Gas Index closed flat, while the Lotus Islamic Index dipped by 0.21 per cent to close at

1,615.94 points. Bagco Plc led the gainers’ table with 11 kobo or 4.87 per cent to close at N2.37 per share, followed by RT Briscoe Plc with seven kobo or 4.73 per cent to close at N1.55 per share. Presco Plc gained 52 kobo or 3.50 per cent to close at N15.37 per share, while Julius Berger Plc increased by 90 kobo or 3.09 per cent to close at N30.00 per share. Honeywell Flour Milss Plc appreciated by six kobo or three per cent to close at N2.06 per share. On the flip side, Academy Press Plc declined by 27 kobo or 10 per cent to close at N2.43 per share,

Global shares edge higher on hope for Greece deal

orld shares edged slightly higher yesterday, as policymakers in Europe reassured markets that a deal on releasing emergency aid to Greece was close, though the failure of lenders to come to an agreement on their own kept investors cautious. Euro zone finance ministers, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank will gather again Monday after nearly 12 hours of talks failed to produce a consensus on how to bring Greece’s debts down. After the meeting ended, French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said a deal was just a whisker away, while European

paymaster Germany said a plan to provide Greece with funding until 2016 was being developed. Shares in Europe rebounded from early losses. The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares rose 0.2 per cent, while the Euro STOXX 50 rose 0.3 per cent after dropping by that amount earlier. “European exchanges themselves are doing okay, so investors are saying ‘we didn’t really expect a resolution (on Greece),’ just kind of learning to live with it,” said Peter Jankovskis, co-chief investment officer at OakBrook Investments LLC in Lisle, Illinois. United States stocks were modestly higher

Wednesday, ahead of a national holiday Thursday for Thanksgiving. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 39.05 points, or 0.31 per cent, at 12,827.56 points. The Standard and Poor’s 500 Index was up 2.29 points, or 0.17 per cent, at 1,390.10 points. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 7.60 points, or 0.26 per cent, at 2,924.28 points. Stocks in the US also moved on the latest data, including weekly jobless claims that met expectations and a final read on November consumer sentiment that was below forecasts. The benchmark 10-year US Treasury note was down 6/32, with the yield

while DN Meyer Plc dipped by 34 kobo or 9.86 per cent to close at N3.11 per share. Red Star Express Plc depreciated by 20 kobo or 6.62 per cent to close at 2.82 per share, while UACN Plc lost N2.48 or 5.77 per cent to close at N40.50 per share. Unity Bank Plc fell three Kobo or 5.56 per cent to close at 51 kobo per share. Transaction volume in equities declined by 34 per cent, as a total of 262.04 million shares valued at N1.54bn weres exchanged in 3,749 deals, compared to 397.04 million shares worth N2.48bn traded in 4,190 deals the preceding day. at 1.6882 per cent. The euro was flat at $1.2822, also rebounding from earlier weakness of as much as 0.5 per cent. Prices for German debt, the safest in the euro zone, had eased slightly, sending 10-year yields down modestly to 1.44 per cent. However, a sale of 3.25 billion euros ($4.2bn) of new German 10-year debt, which paid an interest rate of 1.5 per cent, drew solid demand from investors worried about the outlook. World equity markets had come under pressure before the Greek impasse by a warning Tuesday from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that the central bank lacked the tools to cushion the impact of a potential US fiscal crisis.

Market capitalisation 7,354 trillion

Stock Updates GAINERS COMPANY

OPENING

CLOSING

CHANGE

% CHANGE

STERLNBANK

1.20

1.26

0.06

5.00

UBA

4.20

4.41

0.21

5.00

WAPCO

46.02

48.32

2.30

5.00

UBN

6.21

6.52

0.31

4.99

ROADS

8.42

8.84

0.42

4.99

INTBREW

11.77

12.35

0.58

4.93

ASHAKACEM

11.17

11.72

0.55

4.92

DANGSUGAR

4.52

4.74

0.22

4.87

UPL

4.37

4.58

0.21

4.81

NASCON

4.95

5.18

0.23

4.65

CHANGE

% CHANGE

LOSERS COMPANY

OPENING

CLOSING

ETERNA

2.26

2.15

0.11

-4.87

NEIMETH

0.78

0.75

0.03

-3.85

UTC

0.55

0.53

0.02

-3.64

CUSTODYINS

1.12

1.08

0.04

-3.57

JBERGER

29.95

29.00

0.95

-3.17

7UP

40.00

39.00

1.00

-2.50

GOLDINSURE

0.51

0.50

0.01

-1.96

JAPAULOIL

0.60

0.59

0.01

-1.67

CONTINSURE

0.65

0.64

0.01

-1.54

FCMB

3.00

2.99

0.01

-0.33

Primary Market Auction TENOR

AMOUNT (N’mn)

RATE (%)

DATE

91-Day

37,489.76

14.05

22-Nov-12

182-Day

63,730.99

16.21

22-Nov-12

364 -Day

40,536.70

15.40

22-Nov-12

Open Market Operations TENOR

AMOUNT (N’mn)

RATE (%)

DATE

91 Day

30, 647.81

14.00

22-Nov-12

139-Day

63,730.99

16.21

22-Nov-12

Wholesale Dutch Auction System AMOUNT OFFERED

MARKET DEMAND

AMOUNT SOLD

DATE

$200m

N/A

$200m

21-Nov-12

$180m

N/A

$180m

19-Nov-12

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Capital Market

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Stock exchange daily equities summary Equities as at November 21, 2012 1st Tier Securities Sector

Company name

1st Tier Securities No Of Deals

Quotation(N)

Quantity Traded

Value of Shares(N)

Sector

Company name

No Of Deals

Quotation(N)

Quantity Traded

Value of Shares(N)

Thursday, November 22, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Bank promo excites youths TOLA AKINMUTIMI ABUJA

arely a week after five students emerged winners of the N1 million scholarship and several others carted home educational materials worth thousands of Naira, some youths who did not participate in the just ended Save-AndWin promo by Unity Bank Plc have vowed to participate in the bank’s promotional campaigns in order to join the league of winners. A student of the University of Abuja, who simply identified herself as Ruth, at the sidelines of the Raffle Draw ceremony organised to end the six-month promo at the weekend in Abuja, told National Mirror that she would convince her parents to open an account for her in the bank with a view to ensuring that she gets an opportunity to participate in the next promotional campaign of the bank. “With what I have seen today, I am very impressed with the way the raffle draw was conducted. I came here with one of my friends who participated in the promo. Although, Pupils at CFF campaign on child sexual abuse in Lagos ...recently. she did not win a prize, we got free phones which we are very happy about. After all, her money is still in the account. “I am preparing for the next edition of the bank’s promo so that I can participate and what I will do is to ask my parents to open an account for me in the bank, which I will try to build up to the minimum requirements for participating. I will continue to put any money that comes my way into the account Nursery and Primary School) located so that I can become a winner in the next edi- LEONARD OKACHIE on/off the Lekki-Epe Express way. tion”, Ruth enthused. Over 3,000 children were taught by Another student, Kabiru Mamman, who 15 dedicated volunteers, what sexual isturbed by the rampant casaccompanied his parents to the final raffle abuse is, where abuse can take place, es of rape and other sexual draw venue, said he would like to participate who can abuse them, defensive/proabuses on children, Christiain the promo “if my parents help me to open nah Fate Foundation (CFF), recently tective skills, proper names of their an account with Unity Bank. With what I saw embarked on a campaign to educate private parts, breaking the silence here today, I am very happy that the bank is children and teachers on child sexual (talking about past and on-going giving scholarships and books to students abuse in 36 public nursery and prima- abuse). and I believe I can also be a lucky winner in ry schools in Eti-Osa Local Education Interestingly, the children were exthe next edition. So, I am waiting for their District in Lagos. cited and eager to learn, even as some 2013 promo” Tagged: “It should hurt to be a sexual abuse cases were discovered The promo, which commenced on March child school community project”, the and handed over to the appropriate 22 this year, and in which thousands of the campaign started from 12th – 16th No- authorities. bank’s customers participated across the vember, 2012 in five pilot schools (SanEducative posters and fliers prodesignated five zones nationwide, saw three go-Tedo Primary School, Ogombo Pri- duced by CFF were freely distributed. winners going home with Hyundai Verna mary School, Ikota Primary School, They included: 10 smart rules to help cars, four customers carted home 32"LCD Badore Primary School and Langbasa protect children from sexual abuse, Television sets, two others won refrigerators, while five children emerged winners of N1million scholarship. Others also won consolation prizes that ranged from motorcycles, academic materials to phones. OSEYIZA OOGBODO The winners of the three cars were Usman Mohammed Baba of Abule Egba, Lagos branch; Eta Obong Nyang of Ikot Ekpene t just 26 years old, Saheed Omobobranch and Professor Bulama Kabir of Unilaji Ajangboju is set to storm the versity of Maiduguri, while some of the world of publishing with his students who won N1 million scholarship magazine, Africans Dream. include, Farid Zakari Ibrahim of Lagos and “I’ve always had the desire to publish a West Zone; Khadijat Dahiru of North West magazine and it’s about to finally become Zone; Uche Uzoka Ijeoma from Central Zone a reality,” he told National Mirror. “It’s and Kabiru Hamzat of North East Zone. going to be about the aviation industry The Managing Director of Unity Bank, in all its ramifications and it will set the Ado Yakubu Wanka expressed the managestandard in aviation publishing.” ments delight that customers had remained He was confident as he disclosed his consistent throughout the duration of the intention and the confidence exuded promo, saying that the promo provides an opfrom him again as he disclosed that he portunity to reward the bank’s customers for is ready to meet all the challenges that loyalty and to showcase its beneficial savings come with magazine publishing. products which cater for all classes of people “I am aware that magazine publishing Ajangboju in the society.

CFF educates pupils, teachers on child sexual abuse

10 smart rules to help protect teenagers from sexual abuse, Child Sexual Abuse – A handbook for children. Five copies were given to each school. The Lagos State Ministry of Women and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA) also gave CFF “The Yellow Card” which was freely distributed to the pupils. Executive Director/Project Coordinator of CFF, Mrs. Christianah Akindolie said the phase 2 of the project will commence in the first quarter of 2013 even as she appealed to corporate organisations and concerned individuals for partnership. She explained that the NGO, which was founded in 2010, has since inception, trained over 6,000 parents, children, teenagers and teachers.

Ajangboju set to conquer with

is a capital intensive business and that it takes years of consistent publications to make a publication successful. I have done all the necessary research so I am prepared for all it will take to make Africans Dream successful. “My plan is to come out as a quarterly first and eventually evolve into a monthly. I can only make the necessary impact as a monthly publication. And I am not cutting corners, so it’s going to be an allcolour glossy package.” Even as he will soon become a publisher which has always been his heart’s desire, he claims he is not excited and can only be excited by the results of his efforts. “I’m just calm now and planning towards my first edition in January. I will only be excited by the results which will tell me weither I'm on the right track.”

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Young & Next Generation

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Airtel will help talented youths live their dreams –CMO STORIES: LEONARD OKACHIE

ponsors of the on-going Nigeria’s Got Talent (NGT), Airtel Nigeria, has said that it is committed to creating credible platforms that could discover, nurture and direct young and talented Nigerians to realise their dreams at all times Chief Marketing Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Olu Akanmu, gave this assurance in Lagos recently at a media parley held to evaluate the overall impact of the Nigeria’s Got Talent project. According to the CMO, who spoke through Eyitemi Taire, Head of Marketing Communications, Airtel is committed to driving the brand vision of being the most loved brand in the daily lives of Nigerians by bringing laughter, joy, excitement and plenty of drama to the homes of Nigerians through the NGT show. His words: “This programme has, so far, showcased talents and also offered a lot of entertainment. Airtel Nigeria is extremely delighted to be associated with Nigeria’s Got Talent. This is because we are passionate about creating credible platforms that nurture and reward young, talented Nigerians. “As we have seen courtesy of the NGT show, our youths are very talented; they have delivered great music, great acting and have achieved a whole lot in other endeavours, including sports and even academics. With NGT, Airtel is offering the biggest platform to local talents to live their

dreams.” Speaking further, Mr. Akanmu expressed satisfaction with the opportunities being offered Nigerian youths on the platform of the Nigeria’s Got Talent, while noting that it was in line with the company’s recently unveiled friendship campaign which advocates friends supporting friends to succeed. “With NGT, Airtel has connected the Nigerian youth to the realisation of his dreams and opened a wide door to the flowering of his talent. We also see in the NGT a platform to fulfil our mission of connecting the Nigerian youth to his friends,” he said. The Chief Marketing Officer also reassured on the commitment of the Airtel brand to empower talented Nigerian youths to succeed by creating ample opportunities for its myriads of subscribers. Already, the leading telecoms firm is the organiser and sponsor of the pan-African annual Airtel Rising Stars U-17 Tournament for boys and girls. It also sponsored the 8th African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) which held in Lagos in April this year. Season One of the Bharti Airtelsponsored ‘’Got Talent’’ reality TV show commenced on September 16, with nationwide auditions in selected cities which included Abuja, PortHarcourt, Warri, Calabar, Enugu, Benin, Ibadan and Lagos. Ten acts are expected to progress from this stage to the finals where they will slug it out with one another for the grand prize of N10 million.

(L-R): Head, Brands and Marketing Communications, Airtel Nigeria, Eyitemi Taire; Nigeria’s Got Talent (NGT) judge, Dan Foster, Nigeria's Got Talent Contestants Matilda and Pincode and CEO, Rapid Blue Format and Optima Media Group, Rotimi Pedro, at the event ...recently.

Africans Dream Funny enough, when he was growing up, he didn’t have plans to be a publisher. “I wanted to be a medical doctor. It was the only profession that was in my mind, but when I couldn’t gain admission to study Medicine after years of trying, I had to opt for the next available thing which was Computer Science.” So he’s now at Madonna University, and he is running Versal Cargo and Logistic Limited, a company which was founded by his late brother, Ibrahim Oladimeji Ajangboju and which is into freight forwarding. “Versal was founded by my brother who died in February from cardiac arrest. So I had to step into his position with the blessing of the fam-

ily so that all he had put into the company just wouldn’t go down the drain just like that.” What is going to happen to his computer science degree? “I’m also into computer science,” he disclosed. “The only thing is that I major in freight forwarding for now while I minor in computer science and politics.” “I’m also into politics and I’m going to contest for a councillorship position in Ibadan North Local Government next year. I have plans to impact positively on the lives of people and I know God will help me achieve this through my political career and the other things I’m doing, including my magazine and freight forwarding,” he explained further.

Dancers doing the WAZOBIA performance at the launch of DanceDeal Foundation in Lagos...recently

Excitement as DanceDeal debuts in Lagos

t was excitement galore for the youths when DanceDeal Foundation, an initiative of Corporate Dance World, showcased its first set of professional dancers during An Evening of Dance recently at Terra Kulture in Lagos. The Foundation, which is designed to create a haven for dance in Nigeria, will help young, talented individuals who are gifted with the art of dancing to maximise their potentials and carve a niche in the mainstream of the entertainment industry. The event had a combination of whois-who in the arts, music and literary sectors with notable personalities like the Vice Chancellor of the Lagos State University, Professor Dapo Obafunwa, Provost of LUTH, Professor Folashade Ogunsola, Mr. Fela Durotoye, Mrs. Lai Koiki of Greensprings Schools and other top representatives from the corporate circle. Guests, friends and well-wishers of the new foundation celebrated amid lots of fun and cultural entertainment, enjoying the best of creativity with dance styles ranging from the art of choreography to basic dance techniques in Latin & Ballroom, contemporary African dance, Broadway, Hip-hop, indigenous Nigerian dances among others. Dance Director, Corporate Dance World, Mr. Bimbo Obafuwa said, “The foundation is geared towards providing free and professional dance training for talented dancers all over Nigeria, believing it will bridge the gap between professionalism and half-baked dancers in the arts and entertainment industry. It will empower and strengthen dancers of different gender, both locally and internationally which cumulates into an improved structure and market for dance institutions in Nigeria.” Segun Lawal, a partner and Fellow of The Kennedy Centre for Performing Arts, noted that “even if the necessary facilities for dance are available in the country, professional management of Arts still poses and remains the greatest challenge in this part of the world because the concept needs to be driven by the maximization of young talents.” He advised that it was time Nige-

rians sharpened their art and introduced cutting edge management skills to achieve the desired results in the years ahead. The Evening of Dance initiative rekindled the spirit of creativity in several individuals as talented dancers showcased exact realities and experience, using drama story-lines of activities in the Nigerian environment. One after the other, the group of dance graduates performed in an artistic dance drama to relay the historical revelation behind the concept of noise vis-à-vis the art of silence. The dance showed how sound effects break the presence of silence in the society and creates opportunities where different steps and sequence were used to tell stories of events like - the unusual killings of loved ones, youth’s unemployment saga and love as an attribute of societal unity. The popular Wazobia performance wowed all the audience, as they could not stop applauding the sensations created with the African talking drums and colourful cultural costumes which represents the rich heritage of Nigeria. Furthermore, the Foundation intends to offer trainings and workshops nationally and internationally through partnership packages, where individuals will have the opportunity to learn other specialised genre of dance like gumboot, Bollywood, Masai, Kwaito, American Rhythm and Smooth Standard, Show Dance and Afrojazz, to mention a few. The partnership categories include: The Pace, The Cruise, The jet, The Rocket and an international dance training programme, with packages ranging from a grand total of N790, 000 to N10, 310,000 for the different partnership platforms in the foundation. The DanceDeal Training Foundation is a non-profit and creative organisation designed to maximize the potentials and empower the youths through dance. It has developed a dance imitative tagged “LOYD” meaning Live out Your Dreams, which is aimed at providing free dance classes in 10 public schools weekly for the entire calendar year.

Media

Thursday, November 22, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Journalism has gone beyond publishing newspapers, magazines –Seye Kehinde Nigeria’s leading society magazine, City People, recently celebrated its 16th anniversary amid encomiums. But the Publisher and Editor- in- Chief, Seye Keyinde, says he is humbled by the feat. In this interview with LEONARD OKACHIE, he explains reasons behind the success and other sundry issues. Excerpts: City People has just celebrated its16th anniversary. How would you describe the journey so far? It has been very challenging. I still cannot believe we are I6, looking back at the growth of the paper. A paper that we started in November 1996 with 16-page black and white is not just being referred to as the oldest soft sell, but also the largest circulating. These are very humbling realities because I never thought we would get this far this soon. I think it is just the grace of God because we have gone through a lot. Like I said, we started from 16 pages black and white to 24 pages, 32 pages and to the pagination that we do now with all the colourful pages that are in there. It’s been one journey that has been very exciting. All our titles: City People Weekly, City People Ghana, Events and Parties, Today’s Fashion, and Fashion and Style Digest have been doing well. Was it the success that gave rise to other titles? No. It’s basically we responding to the market. Our intention was just to do a soft sell magazine and do it properly, but as we moved on, we realised that our core areas like showbiz and fashion were witnessing phenomenal growth. We realised that City People Weekly could no longer contain all of these. For you to celebrate fashion, you need colour pages and we don’t have enough colour pages in City People. So it became clear to us that we needed to set up a fashion magazine that can cater to the fashion sector because every party we go we to, we do take a lot of photographs, but only few photographs go into the weekly. What do we do with the rest of the photographs? So, we realised that this can actually be content for another magazine and that was how the fashion magazine came about. We also cover events and parties and we realised that people also want to take pages to showcase their parties. Before now, it used to be just a page or two. Again, with the growth of the industry, you realised people want 10 pages or even wanting the entire photographs of the event to be used and we also could not accommodate that in the regular editions. So what we decided to do was to see whether we could do an event magazine. We also started doing events because we realised that it was an industry that we needed to support. At the point that we came, the showbiz industry was suffering some setbacks and we realised that many of the artistes and movie people were always coming to us for assistance. I realised that if we say as a magazine that showbiz is a critical sector of what we do, why don’t we

invest in that sector? And the way to invest in that sector is to provide a platform for artistes and showbiz people to do their thing. That is how we started CityPeople Entertainment and we now started doing events with artistes and doing award shows etc. How far have you gone with the City People project in Ghana? The Ghana thing came about at the time when Ghanaian market was opening up. A few years back, maybe about five years back, so many Nigerians started picking interest in Ghana. We felt there must be a market in Ghana. A lot of attention was being focused on Ghana and of course, we also realised that they have a Gollywood that was emerging .Ours (Nollywood) was booming here and it was beginning to affect positively the movie industry there. We realised that there was a need for us to quickly move in there before anyone else. We realised that the market was evolving. We now say, why don’t we send a few copies of the magazine there and see whether it would do well? After a while, we realised that it wasn’t just a case of sending copies there, it won’t be a bad idea if somebody is covering Ghana and then throwing a column or two in the edition that will showcase what is happening there .So that was how we set up a specific edition that sells in Ghana every week and the market has been very receptive.

cial backbone, then you just have to find a way of generating income sufficiently enough to run your business, cover your cost and also pay the staff salary. So basically, you have to be creative.

You brought some flair to journalism through City People. How did you achieve this? I believe journalism has moved beyond mere publishing magazines or newspapers. You also need to affect your society. You also need to provide social services and interact with the society. It is also a way of reinforcing your brand in the market that you belong. Part of the problems that the media has is the high turnover of publications. One of the things that have moved us this far is the fact we bond with our readers. We have been able to create a relationship with them. It is not about publishing alone or writing stories alone, you just have to look at the marketing point of view. How do you do it in such a way that people wake up every week and they see your product as part of their life? That way, the viability of the business will be assured. There is a minimum level of the editions we push out. All of these are the business tips. So that explains why we do a lot of things we do. We live in a world where you need to find a way of marketing your product; a way of sustaining the business, because if you run a business where you don’t have a godfather that pays the bills, you don’t have the finan-

Journalists are often criticised as not being good managers. What is responsible for your success so far? I guess it is because of my own interest in business. I have been someone who picks interest in the business side of journalism. I have also realised that getting a successful product takes two things : the professional side of you and the business/ marketing side of you. There is no doubt about it that part of the criticism of the media industry in Nigeria is that a lot of journalists are not good managers. We pay attention to good stories, good writing, and all the professional aspects of the job. But how then do you sustain the product? The major problem is for you to push the product to the market and get your money back. If you print ten thousand copies of any magazine or newspapers today and distribute it to the vendors, how do you get your money back? The challenge now is, how do you sustain that product in terms of print sales and in getting advert? Basically, I am also marketing inclined. The fact that we had to float some fashion magazine is because we realised

Seye

WE LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE YOU NEED TO FIND A WAY OF MARKETING YOUR PRODUCT

that there is a huge market there. Every woman wants to look at what she wore or what the other woman wore at a party. There is a need for a publication to cater for that market. We cover events everyday and create so huge a pile of photographs that we cannot exhaust in just one edition. At a point, there came a need for a publication that can benefit from that production. How do you cope with litigations? Litigation is part of the business. There is nothing you can do about it. From experience, I have realised that litigation will always come because you deal directly with people’s egos, people’s reputations and so on. We have a lawyer who does that. We just pack the whole thing to him and he handles that. You can’t avoid litigations. Once you put pen to paper you must get some kind of reactions from the people. The digital age is pushing the print online. What plans do you have for the transitioning? We saw that happening about three years and because of that we have been working on our websites and have been meeting our readers through the social network devices. We are still on it because what we intend to do is to become very strong in the online area. Of course, a lot of younger readers no longer find it appealing to go through tones and tones of print materials. They'd rather spend their time on the Blackberry, Facebook etc. That is actually where you need to meet them and that is the next level every print medium should be looking at. And that is why we are working on it seriously so that we can divert traffic from print edition.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Media

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Stakeholders task media on crisis reporting LEONARD OKACHIE WITH AGENCY REPORT

University don, Prof. Muhammadu Ladan has challenged the media in the country to be more proactive and patriotic in reporting crisis. Ladan made the call at a one-day workshop on Conflict Management and Resolution organised by the Correspondents chapel of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Kaduna. He said it was important to for media practitioners to rise above the present attitude of using their medium to spread rumour, especially during conflicts. He noted that the penchant for rumour, distortion and misrepresentation, unbalanced and one-sided reports in the media, had often lead to more crisis. Ladan of the Faculty of Law, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria stressed that media practitioners in Nigeria needed to be more nationalistic in their job so as to promote tolerance and sustainable peace. Represented by Dr Yusuf Dankofa, the university don said the workshop was apt due to the various security challenges ``which has an interwoven relationship with the media, the grassroots and the society’’. He urged journalists to be ``nationalistic, proactive, committed and patriotic'', saying this was necessary in ensuring that reports on conflicts were objective and would not incite further violence. Ladan noted:`` A lot of biases and prejudices, which of course can only cause more problems, are brought to bear on news reporting in different parts of the country.’’ He said he was not advocating the suppression of the truth in an attempt to prevent violence, but to ensure objectivity and

responsiveness. `` Journalists can achieve a good measure of objectivity by providing unbiased coverage of both sides of the conflicts, presenting all facts considered to be true, and not taking sides by what they write.’’ He said though the Freedom of Information Act had paved way for the media to seek and receive information from public authorities on the affairs of the state, it also demanded for the journalist to be responsible, fair, objective and truthful. Ladan therefore called on all stakeholders to “stand up and speak out against intolerance and all who encourage it.’’ He warned that failure to report factual, objective, balanced and investigative stories would incur more security challenges as witnessed in Kaduna State. Also, the Director, Center for Creativity and Leadership Development, Abdullahi Dogo said issues that might disrupt the peace and stability in our nation should not be given prominence in the media. `` Conflicts in any society is inevitable, it is the responsibility of journalists to report conflict, but must abide by both legal and ethical principles to meaningfully inform the citizenry.’’ Earlier, the Chairman of the Correspondents Chapel, Mr. Luka Binniyat said the workshop was aimed at creating more awareness on the role of the media in resolving and managing conflicts. ``It is very apt in the sense that the way we report conflicts and manage information that has the potential to inspire crisis, may not only affect the society economically, socially and politically, it is also because we are lots of the times victims of social unrest.’’ Binniyat, therefore stressed the need for journalists to report issues that would promote unity, peace and development rather than those that would trigger crisis.

L-R: Chairman, NUJ FCT Chapter, Mr. Chuks Ehirim, Guest Lecturer, Mr. Silas Sule, and Chairman, FCT Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN), Mr. Kayode Adeniyi, at a public lecture to mark the 2012 FCT SWAN Week in Abuja. Photo: NAN

CRAN to hold 2012 annual lecture/award ceremony FRANCIS SUBERU

he annual lecture/award ceremony of Crime Reporters Association of Nigeria, (CRAN), has been slated for Thursday November 29, 2012 at the Main Hall, Radio Lagos/ Eko FM, Lateef Jakande Road, Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos. The event is part of the association’s efforts at contributing to the development of the country in the area of security of lives and property; as recommendations are usually sent to relevant authorities for implementation after the lecture/award ceremony. This year’s lecture, entitled: “Rising up to the Rising Security Challenges in the Country” will be delivered by the President, Society of Security

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles returns to TV

eroes…war riors…brothers… turtles?Yes, Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo and Donatello - those pizza loving amphibian superheroes a.k.a the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - are making their triumphant return to television in their new CGanimated series premiering on Nickelodeon (DStv Channel 305) at 11:25 CAT on Sunday, November 25, 2012. To download a brief preview of the all-new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, go to www.vimeo.com/53498003. Taking place in present day New York City, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles takes as its backdrop the glittering towers of Manhattan and the grimy depths of its deepest sewers, while following the adventures of four humanoid turtles and a six-foot-tall rat (Master Splinter). One day, while living a life in seclusion with his four pet turtles, the once-human, Splinter, encountered mysterious green ooze that covered him and his pets. Overcome by the mutagen, he was transformed into a rat and his four pets became humanoid turtles. Fearing persecution from humans, he brought the turtles under-

Teenage Mutant NinjaTurtles

ground and raised them, training them to become ninjas. Years have passed since that point and the four turtles are now headstrong teenagers, filled with the confidence of youth and a burning desire to see the world… Emerging from their sewer lair, the reptile brothers confront the wondrous world of New York City, facing villains more dangerous and pizza more delicious than anything they could have imagined.

Through battles with Shredder, the Kraang and loads of super-powerful mutants, the Turtles learn to rely on themselves and each other as they grow to become the heroes they are destined to be. One of the most popular kids' television programmes of the 1980s, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a classic, global property created in 1984 by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It first debuted as a successful comic book series and then became a hit animated TV show, a live-action television series and later spawned four blockbuster theatrical releases. The property also has translated into a significant consumer products business - with DVDs, video games, toys and more - that has generated billions of dollars at retail. The series stars Jason Biggs (Leonardo), Sean Astin (Raphael), Rob Paulsen (Donatello), Greg Cipes (Michelangelo), Mae Whitman (April O'Neil), Hoon Lee (Master Splinter) and Kevin Michael Richardson (Shredder). The executive producers for the series are CiroNieli, Joshua Sternin& J.R. Ventimilia and Peter Hastings.

Practitioners of Nigeria (SSPN), Mr. Davidson Akhimien, who is also the Managing Director of King David Security Services. The lecture is expected to focus on measures that can bring about lasting solution to the nation’s security challenges, with particular reference to suicide bombing. Expected dignitaries at the event include; the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Muhammed Abubakar, the Assistant Inspector General of Police in Charge of Zone II, Mr Mamman Tsafe, the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola; his counterparts in Akwa-Ibom and Katsina States, Godswill Akpabio and Ibrahim Shema respectively. Others are the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Umar Manko, Commissioner of Police, Special Fraud Unit, (SFU) Mr. Tunde Ogunsakin, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 81 Division, Major General Kenneth Minimah, the Flag Officer Commanding (FOC) Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral Amin Ikioda, the Lagos State Director of State Security Services (SSS) and the Publisher, Vanguard Newspapers, Mr. Sam Amuka. Royal fathers expected at the occasion include: the Oba of Lagos, His Royal Majesty Babatunde Akilu, the Onijanikin of Ijanikin Kingdom, His Royal Majesty Momodu Ashafa and the Elemure of Emure ekiti, His Royal Majesty Adewale Emmanuel Adebayo. Crime Reporters Association of Nigeria, (CRAN) is the national body of journalists from both the print and the electronic's media that are basically assigned to report crime, security, police affairs and deeply engaged in investigative journalism. Over the years, members of the association have been engaging in annual lecture and award ceremony that has served as a forum for stakeholders in Nigeria security and related industry to brainstorm on topical security issues and also celebrate laudable efforts of individuals and corporate bodies in the development of the country.

Cocktail

Thursday, November 22, 2012

FOR YOUR SUCCESS

WITH DR. DEJI FOLUTILE

Today's Tonic (48)

“It is those very things that we are most afraid to do that provide the greatest liberation and growth for us.” –Jack Canfield *** MY NOTE: Fear is the wicked tyrant that keeps people away from launching out to fulfil their dreams in life. Fear of this and that is the prison that keeps locking many people away from their rightful places. I once read the story of a man that fell into a well. Before he got to the bottom of the well, he hung onto a rope. He looked down and saw the water. He did not want to get drowned. He began to shout for help. No one answered. After 8 hours of shouting with no help, he decided to brave it and jumped down. Alas, the water below only reached his knees. FEAR NOT! TEL 08104942999 E-MAIL deji.folutile@gmail.com Follow me @TwitterOWOTIDE

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Oddities

Australians find drugs worth $246m in steamroller

ustralian police seized 237 million Australian dollars ($246 million) worth of cocaine and methamphetamine found inside a steamroller shipped from China. Australian Federal Police said Wednesday that they arrested a Canadian man and a U.S. man in Sydney after finding 350 kilograms (770 pounds) of cocaine and meth. The men

were charged with importing drugs and face a maximum of life in prison if convicted. It was the police agency’s second major

drug bust in a week. On Friday, police said officials had tracked down a boat carrying 200 kilograms (440 pounds) of cocaine to Australia

after it ran aground in the small island nation of Tonga. A corpse was found on board. Officials are trying to determine the cause of death.

Woman charged for sexual activities with skeleton

woman in Sweden has been charged with engaging in sexual activities with a human skeleton and could face jail time for disturbing the peace of the dead, a Swedish prosecutor said. Police found a full human skeleton, skulls and a box containing other human bones by chance after responding to a call saying a shot had been fired from her flat in the city of Gothenburg.

They also discovered CD-ROMs titled “my necrophilia” and “my first experience”, and photographs of the woman engaging in various sexual activities with a skeleton, a court document on the prosecutor’s website showed. It said the woman had handled the bones in a “shameful” and “unethical” manner. “She is interested in the dead,” Prosecutor Kristina Ehrenborg-Staffas told Reuters. “She has pictures

of morgues, churches and graveyards.” The 37-year-old unemployed woman has also been accused of selling human bones to an artist in Uppsala in eastern Sweden this past summer. The woman has said she bought the bones, which were around 50 years old or more and from different parts of the world, over the Internet for historical purposes and says that it is not her in the photographs.

The steamroller which was used to hide drugs by two men in Sydney, Australia.

PHOTO: AP

Thursday, November 22, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

World News

Israel, Hamas agree to Gaza cease-fire

“Greece has done what it had to and what it had committed to doing. Our partners, along with the IMF, also must do what they have undertaken.” – Greek Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras

DR Congo soldiers surrender to rebels PAUL ARHEWE

WITH AGENCY REPORTS

housands of government soldiers and police in the Democratic Republic of Congo have surrendered to rebels at a stadium in Goma, the main city in the eastern North Kivu province. Al Jazeera reported on “extraordinary scenes”, as thousands of security officers came to hand in their arms yesterday. “(The surrendered officers) didn’t have a choice,” the agency reporter said. They were told “they had a choice either to have peace in the city, or to leave the city”. The M23 rebel group, believed to be backed by Rwanda, seized Goma on Tuesday, in a development that raised fears of a new, regional conflict. The capture of the city came after days of fighting with government troops. The rebels were also reported to have taken control of the town of Sake, on the road to Bukavu. “The (rebels) arrived an hour ago. Luckily there was no force used. Now they’re pretty much everywhere... The army had already left,” Christian Bigebika, executive secretary of an association of local rights groups, told the Reuters news agency by telephone from the town, between Goma and Bukavu. Rebel forces in eastern DR Congo said yesterday they planned to take control of the whole of the vast central African country after they captured Goma - home to more than 1 million people - as well as an international airport while United

• M23 rebels plan to advance to Kinshasa • Congo, Rwanda presidents meet for emergency talks

M23 rebels guarding weapons given to them by the government’s army in Goma, yesterday.

Nations peacekeepers looked on. Meanwhile, the presidents of Congo and Rwanda held emergency talks in Uganda yesterday to stem growing tensions between the leaders and their nations, as a rebellion believed to be backed by Rwanda has taken over Congo’s eastern provincial capital and its airport. A top Ugandan diplomat with knowledge of the talks said yesterday Rwandan president, Paul Kagame and Congolese president, Joseph Kabila, met Tuesday night in the Ugandan capital, Kampala. He said Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni mediated in Wednesday talks. The diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because

he was not authorised to discuss the meetings, said Kabila may be compelled to enter into direct negotiations with M23 rebels, who took control Tuesday of the strategic, eastern provincial capital of Goma and its airport. The Congolese government has said it would not negotiate with the rebels. “We take it as an emergency meeting,” the diplomat said of the talks. “President Kabila is the one who sought the meeting with President Kagame. Museveni had been pressing them to talk. We believe that this is the last chance to solve this thing. The time has come for Congo either to talk or fight (the rebels). You can’t do both.”

PHOTO: REUTERS

Al Jazeera said people appeared to be frustrated with what they see as the UN’s lack of action in protecting them from rebel groups. According to a UN official, protesters were throwing stones and burning tires at the premises MONUSCO, as the peacekeeping force is known, in at least three cities on Wednesday. Peacekeepers were on alert and UN staff were re-grouping at secure locations as a precautionary measure, the spokesman said. A spokesperson for the M23 rebels said they planned to “liberate” the country, by moving to the town of Bukavu and then marching on the capital, Kinshasa, nearly 1,600km away.

Saudi amputates Nigerian’s hand over theft

Nigerian man had his right hand severed in Saudi Arabia yesterday after he was convicted of stealing in the great mosque in Mecca, Islam’s holiest shrine, the Interior Ministry said. Kurba Thani Mohammad was found guilty of “committing the crime of pick pocketing inside the great mosque’’ at an unspecified date, the Ministry said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency. Mohammad was sentenced to the amputation of his hand, and the punishment was carried out

in Mecca, it said. Saudi Arabia applies a strict form of sharia, or Islamic law that provides for severing the hand for theft. The death penalty is meted out for murder, rape, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking. Last year December, another Nigerian Abdulsamd Ismail Hausawa had his hand also chopped off for being involved in the theft of gold, a pistol, a mobile phone and a car. At intervals, Nigerians have also been beheaded for smuggling drugs into the Saudi Kingdom.

Protesters carrying US flags and placards with sharia written on them

WORLD BULLETIN Libya: Benghazi police chief assassinated The police chief of the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi has been assassinated overnight, officials have said. Farraj al-Dursi was targeted outside his home in a drive-by shooting. Col Dursi was appointed shortly after an attack on the US consulate in the September in which the US ambassador and three other Americans died. More than a dozen security officers have been assassinated this year in Benghazi, where the uprising against the late Muammar Gaddafi’s rule began. The BBC’s reporter in the capital, Tripoli, says most are believed to have been targeted because of their ties to the previous government. Before last year’s revolution that toppled and killed Gaddafi, Col Dursi was known to have been in charge of an official unit combating drugs, she says.

Mali Islamists threaten interests outside Africa – UK An Islamist rebellion in northern Mali could become a springboard for jihadists to threaten interests beyond West Africa, Britain’s new envoy to the Sahel region said yesterday. Military experts from Africa, the United Nations and Europe have drafted plans to retake control of northern Mali, which fell to rebels in March after a coup in the capital Bamako created a power vacuum. “This deep insecurity ... we have to recognize that, unless it is checked and it is not met, then it will have the potential for export,” said Stephen O’Brien, Britain’s first special envoy to the Sahel, a 600-mile (1,000-km) strip of semiArid land just south of the Sahara.

French citizen kidnapped in Mali A French citizen has been kidnapped in south-west Mali, French President Francois Hollande has said. Armed men reportedly took the 61-year-old man hostage on Tuesday evening near the border with Mauritania. The area is outside the northern part of Mali which Islamists took control of earlier this year. Seven French citizens are now being held in the region. The other six are all believed to be captives of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. “We will do everything we can to find our citizen,” Mr Hollande said. Three other European hostages and a number of Africans are also being held. There were conflicting reports about where the latest kidnapping took place.

World News

Thursday, November 22, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Israel, Hamas agree to Gaza cease-fire

srael and the Hamas militant group agreed to a cease-fire yesterday to end eight days of the fiercest fighting in nearly four years, promising to halt attacks on each other and ease an Israeli blockade constricting the Gaza Strip. The deal was brokered by the new Islamist government of Egypt, solidifying its role as a leader in the quickly shifting Middle East after two days of intense shuttle diplomacy that saw U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton race to the region. Under the agreement, Egypt will play a key role in maintaining the peace. Standing next to Clinton, Egypt’s foreign minister, Mohammed Kamel Amr, announced the breakthrough and said the deal was set to take effect at 9 p.m. local time. (2 p.m. EDT), capping days of intense efforts that drew the world’s top diplomats into the fray. The agreement will “improve conditions for the people of Gaza and provide security for the people of Israel,” Clinton said at the news conference in Cairo. In Israel, Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he agreed to the cease-fire after consulting with President Barack Obama. Israel launched the fierce Israeli offensive in Gaza on Nov. 14 to stop months of intensifying rocket attacks, subjecting t. Even after the deal was announced, air raid sirens continued to wail in southern Israel. In the last-minute burst of fire, Palestinian militants fired several bursts of rockets, Israeli authorities said. One rocket hit a house in the southern city of Beersheba, police said. No injuries were reported. Israel launched well over 1,500 airstrikes and other attacks on targets in Gaza, while more than 1,000 rockets pounded Israel. In all, more than 140 Palestinians, including dozens of civilians, were killed, while five Israelis died in the fighting. According to a copy of the agreement obtained by The Associated Press, Israel and all Palestinian militant groups agreed to halt “all hostilities.” For the Palestinians, that means an end to Israeli airstrikes and assassinations of wanted militants. For Israel, it brings a halt to rocket

fire and attempts at cross-border incursions from Gaza. After a 24-hour cooling off period, it calls for “opening the crossings and facilitating the movement of people and transfer of goods, and refraining from restricting residents free movement.” Hamas officials said details on the new border arrangements would have to be negotiated.

Israel imposed its blockade of Gaza after Hamas, a militant group sworn to Israel’s destruction, seized control of the territory five years ago. It has gradually eased the closure, but continues to restrict the movement of certain goods through Israeli-controlled crossings. Among the restrictions: a nearcomplete ban on exports, limited movement of people leaving the territory, and limits on construc-

tion materials that Israel says could be used for military use. The deal was vague on what limits Israel would lift, and whether Gaza’s southern passenger terminal on the Egyptian border would be expanded to allow cargo to pass through as well. The deal was also unclear about a key Israeli demand for an end to arms smuggling into Gaza in tunnels underneath the border with Egypt.

L-R: US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton and Egyptian Foreign Minister, Mohammed Amr, during a joint news conference announcing the cease-fire. PHOTO: AP

India executes lone surviving Mumbai attacker

ndia secretly hanged the lone survivor of the Pakistan-based militant squad responsible for a rampage through Mumbai that killed 166 people, sparking celebrations days before the fourth anniversary of the assault on the financial capital. Pakistan national Mohammad Ajmal Kasab was the enduring image of the bloody assault, which traumatized India and raised

fears of copycat attacks on foreign cities. Pictures of the boyish gunman wearing a black T-shirt and toting an AK-47 rifle as he strode through Mumbai’s train station were published around the world. Kasab was executed on yesterday morning amid great secrecy, underscoring the political sensitivity of the November 26, 2008, massacre, which still casts a pall over relations

between nuclear-armed rivals Pakistan and India. “All the police officers and personnel who lost their life in the battle against the terrorists have today been served justice,” Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said after Kasab was hanged in a jail in Pune, southeast of Mumbai. Kasab was charged with 86 offences, including murder and waging war

against the Indian state, in a charge-sheet running to more than 11,000 pages. It was the first time a capital sentence had been carried out in India since 2004. There was celebration on the streets of Mumbai and other cities as news of the execution spread, but militant groups in Pakistan reacted angrily, as did residents of his home village of Faridkot.

People set off fireworks and handed out sweets in Indian cities. Some held up photos of Kasab with a rope noose superimposed over his head. Attack survivor Vishnu Zende, who was working at Mumbai’s train station where nearly 60 people were killed, said the execution brought it all back. “When I heard the news of Kasab’s execution today, I remembered those

horrifying moments of the attack,” Zende said. “My eyes were filled with tears.” An effigy of Kasab was hung by the neck from the entrance gate of the station by a right-wing local party. A crowd of about 30 shouted “Pakistan murdabad” (death to Pakistan) as they beat the effigy.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

North

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Appeal Court: NJC overrules CJN over Jombo-Ofo ISE-OLUWA IGE

he National Judicial Council, NJC, yesterday overruled the decision of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Mariam Aloma Muhktar, stopping the swearing-in of Justice Jombo-Ofo as a judge of the Appeal Court bench. The NJC is the statutory body saddled with the responsibility of hiring and firing of erring judicial officers in the country. The CJN is the presiding chairman of the Council. The council, which unanimously voted against the decision of the CJN over the matter at an emergency meeting held yesterday, directed that the judge be sworn in as soon as possible. National Mirror had exclusively reported that the CJN had summoned an emergency meeting of the NJC to decide the fate of the female judge. The CJN had taken the matter before NJC after she got the resolution of the

NPC frowns at Nasarawa over lack of birth registration IGBAWASE UKUMBA LAFIA

he National Population Commission (NPC) has frowned at the failure of Nasarawa State to join other states to launch the birth registration system. The NPC Federal Commissioner representing Nasarawa State, Alhaji Zakari Kigbu, said this yesterday during a courtesy call on Governor Umaru Tanko AlMakura in Lafia, the state capital. His words: “As bright as the future of the registration system appears in the state, it is bedeviled by a number of challenges which include the seemingly lack of public awareness on the existence and importance of this programme.” Kigbu told the governor that the system was put in place in order to monitor and track changes within the population during the interval period of usually 10 years and the data so generated would be fundamental to population projection as well as socio-economic planning.

Senate and the position of powerful stakeholders, including top legal practitioners on the matter. She said that the case against Justice Jombo should be tabled before the NJC which recommended her for appointment, in the first instance, for an objective position to be taken on it. A press statement issued on behalf of NJC

yesterday by its Deputy Director, Information, Mr. Soji Oye, said the matter of the appointment and swearing-in of the Justice Jombo-Ofo as a Justice of the Court of Appeal has generated so much controversy. The statement reads in part: “That the Senate had, without any consultation with the CJN, who is also the Chairman of the NJC,

proceeded to pass a resolution on November 7, 2012, urging the CJN to swear in Jombo-Ofo as a Justice of the Court of Appeal “That the Senate further urged all government employing agencies to note in terms of employing a married woman, shall lay claims to her state of origin and that of her husband in relation to the Federal Character Regulations.

“And that the binding principles and formulae for the distribution of all cadres of posts (S.I.23 of 1997) provides in Part II, Section 2 which held that a married woman shall continue to lay claim to her state of origin for the purpose of implementation of the Federal Character formulae at the National level. “That the FJSC and the NJC, being Federal Ex-

ecutive Bodies established in pursuance of Section 153(1(i) of the 1999 Constitution are bound and obliged to observe and obey the provisions of the Constitutional Law of the, including the Federal Character Commission Act.” Justice Jombo-Ofo hailed from Anambra, she transferred her service to Abia State after marriage.

NEMA lauds Plateau for passing SEMA bill SAM OLUWALANA

T L-R: Nasarawa State Commissioner for Water Resources, Mr. Sam Allu; Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Water Resources, Ambassador Godknows Igali; Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Ambassador, Mrs. Ebele Okeke and Managing Director, Lower Benue River Basin Authority, Dr. Adah Chenge, at the 21st meeting of the National Council on Water Resources in Lafia, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

Review our pension or face protest, retirees tell govt ADEMU IDAKWO LOKOJA

he Kogi State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, NUP, has given the government a 21-day ultimatum to review the monthly pension of retirees to be at par with the salaries of the state workforce or face protest. The state Chairman of the union, Chief Onu Abdullahi, stated this yesterday while addressing journalists immediately

after a closed door meeting with the relevant stakeholders of the union drawn from across the state. He said that after the expiration of the ultimatum, the union will embark on protest demonstrations to press home their demand. He said this has become necessary to safe the retirees from un-timely death resulting from untold hardship being meted out to them following the non-payment of their entitlement and other retirement benefits.

Abdullahi further disclosed that the N50 million being given monthly to the pension board to defray a huge debt of about N4.8 billion accumulated pension and gratuity arrears is in-adequate, alleging that the situation has resulted to being given N100,000 out of about N3 million to N4 million entitlement to the few privileged. He also alleged that those who are fortunate to have received the said amount had to wait for two to three

years before it came to their turn. “We are going to occupy the Lugard House after the expiration of the 21day ultimatum,” he said. Kogi State pensioners have been at loggerhead with the government following the inability of the pension board to pay their retirement benefits and pension. The crisis had led to several attempts at or threat of suicide from some estranged pensioners in the state.

Kano students: Kwankwaso begs Ukraine for visa AUGUSTINE MADU-WEST KANO

ano State Governor, Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, has appealed to the Ukrainian Embassy in Nigeria to speed up the process of granting visas to students sponsored by the state government for postgraduate courses in that country. According to a government statement signed by the Media Officer to the Governor, Mallam Halilu Dantiye, Kwak-

wanso made the appeal at a meeting with the Ukrainian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Valeri Vasyliev, in his office in Abuja. The governor said the delay in the issuance of visa to the students has adversely affected their studies in that country. He said because the government of Kano State attached high priority to education, it was willing to work with the Ukrainian government toward providing qualitative tertiary education

for its students. The governor stressed the need for closer cooperation between Ukraine and Nigeria, particularly Kano State in the interest of rapid socio-economic development. Responding, Ambassador Vasyliev, who said he was impressed by the commitment of the government to education promised to expedite action on the issuance of visa to the students. He assured that a senior official of his embassy will work with the

Secretary to the Government of Kano to sort out all issues regarding the delay. In a related development, the new Egyptian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Ashraf Salama, has stressed the need for closer ties with Nigeria particularly, Kano State in the areas of agriculture, health and pharmaceuticals. During a courtesy call of Governor Kwankwaso at the Governor’s Lodge in Abuja, the envoy said his country had for long

he National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, has expressed gratitude to the Plateau State government for passing into law the bill empowering the State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, for effective disaster management. The North-Central Zonal Coordinator of NEMA, Alhaji Abdulsalam Muhammad, said in a statement that with the passage of the bill, SEMA was now positioned to tackle disaster, noting that the flood challenges all over the country required the preparedness of all stakeholders in disaster management, especially the SEMAs. It will be recalled that NEMA had paid advocacy visit to the Plateau State House of Assembly to enable the bill to be passed into law. Abdulsalam called on other states yet to have functional state emergency management agencies to do same in order to make Nigeria a disaster resilience society.

enjoyed cordial relationship with Nigeria, pointing out that both countries have vast human and material resources which could be exploited for mutual benefit.

Kwankwaso

News

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Contract termination: FG challenges Bi-Courtney to go to court ROTIMI FADEYI

he Federal Government yesterday said that it was ready to meet Bi-Courtney Consortium in court over the termination of the N89.53 concession agreement for the construction of the LagosIbadan Expressway. The government had on May 8, 2009 granted BiCourtney the concession of the road for a period of 25 years under a Design, Build, Operate and Trans-

fer (DBOT) scheme. The concession was revoked on Monday by the government which immediately engaged the services of Julius Berger and RCC Nigeria to reconstruct the road Reacting yesterday to the threat by Bi-Courtney to take legal action against the government over the decision, Minister of Works, Mr. Mike Onolememen said that the company was free to go to court, saying that government was prepared for such action.

Onolememen stated that long before the termination of the concession agreement, Bi-Courtney was informed of breaches of the agreement. “This is a process governed by law and at every point, parties know what they are doing with regard to compliance and breaches”, he said. Bi-Courtney had alleged that it was not officially informed before the concession agreement was terminated but Onolememen said that government does

not have to invite them before terminating the agreement. “ “Government does not have to invite them before terminating the agreement, we will meet them in court, they are free to go to court,” the minister said While announcing the termination of the concession agreement on Monday, Onolememen had said that the decision was based largely on the failure of the company to reach financial close as provided for in the agreement.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

FG distributes grains to Ondo flood victims HAKEEM GBADAMOSI AKURE

bout 900 metric tonnes of food items were distributed yesterday by the Federal Government to flood victims in Ondo State. The items, including 660 metric tonnes of maize, 180 metric tonnes of sorghum and 60 metric tonnes of Garri, were loaded in 30 trailers. The items were deployed from the National Strategic Grain Reserve Silos located in Ibadan and Akure. The distribution, which was flagged-off by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina in Akure, the state capital, was part of the 40,000 metric tonnes of food items released from the strategic reserves by President Goodluck Jonathan as palliatives for the flood victims. Speaking at the Akure Silos, the venue of the distribution, Adesina said that

the release of the items was part of the four-pronged approach to the management of the flood disaster which would cost the government N9.7 billion. The minister, represented by Dr. Julius Odeyemi, the Regional Director of the Western Zone of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the gesture would also include the distribution of seedlings to farmers, procurement and distribution of subsidized fertilizers and procurement of small-scale irrigation water pumps for off-season farming. He said that N17.6 billion had been approved by the President for an all-inclusive programme which was initiated to address the housing and health challenges caused by the flood. He said: “This is to address the immediate challenges of displaced families and further put in place measures that will reduce the impact on displaced farmers.”

Orubebe vows to sue Melaye over ‘spurious’ allegations TOLA AKINMUTIMI ABUJA

M Reps threaten to arrest NAPIMS manager over budget defence

Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun addressing residents on road expansion project in Ijebu-Ode, yesterday.

he House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream) yesterday threatened to issue warrant of arrest on the Group General Manager of National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), Mr M. Fiddi. This was sequel to Fiddi’s inability to appear before the committee to defend the organisation’s budget estimate for 2013 and appraisal of 2012 budget. Chairman of the committee, Hon. Muriana Ajibola, issued the threat at a budget defence with some agencies in the petroleum sector. He said the NAPIMS boss had never taken the committee serious, in spite of the fact that invitation letter was duly served on him. Ajibola said: “By this let-

ter as it is done every year, the NAPIMS management team are supposed to appear before us for briefing on their performance. “They should tell us how they have spent Nigeria’s

public fund in the production of crude, which we call ‘cash calls’ in the last one year. `”This is to enable our committee to look into their proposal for 2013.

“This letter in our usual practice was also written to all the JV partners, who, of cause ordinarily ought to also submit their independent budget performance for the year 2012.

Aliyu opposes autonomy for LG PRISCILLA DENNIS MINNA

iger State Governor Babangida Aliyu yesterday flayed the call for autonomy for local governments in Nigeria. He said that if local governments were granted autonomy as being agitated for, most of them would fold up. Governor Aliyu said that the current 18 per cent being allocated to local government councils from the federal revenue would not be able to take some local

governments far unless it is increased. The governor spoke when National officials of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) led by the Chairman, Hon. Ozor Nwabueze Okafor, visited him at the Government House in Minna, the state capital. He said financial autonomy would create more problems unless the revenue formula is adjusted to the advantage of the local government councils. Aliyu said: “Unless we are able to get the revenue formula changed to the ad-

vantage of the local government councils, the financial autonomy being agitated for will create more problems instead of solving them.” He believes that eight local government areas in Niger State would “go under” if they were not given enough financial support. The ALGON National President, Nwabueze Okafor, earlier urged the governor to work towards creating a strong local government system that would have the capacity to deliver to the people in the grassroots.

inister of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe, has threatened to sue a former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Dino Melaye, for what he claimed spurious allegations against him with the intent of destroying his reputation. Orubebe described as laughable the petitions purportedly submitted by Melaye to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Related Offences Commission (ICPC) accusing him of non-disclosure of assets. He said since the allegations raised by Melaye in the petitions lacked any iota of truth, he would not like to join issues with him on them in the media, but may seek legal redress in court. Orubebe, whose Chief Press Secretary, Mrs. Juliet Archibong, reacted yesterday to allegations of nonfull disclosure of assets against him, said the minister was through with the

legislator adding that “every well-meaning Nigerian and indeed the Nigerian media have seen through Dino’s deliberate manipulations and falsehood.” Archibong said as far as the minister was concerned, his lawyers will soon meet Dino Melaye in court. She said: “It is an established norm in this country that every public officer on assumption of office is given an asset declaration form by the Code of Conduct Bureau to fill and declare his or her assets. “It is, therefore, laughable for anyone to suggest that the Hon. Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe, has not declared his assets. The claim is malicious and another deliberate attempt to mis-inform Nigerians.”

Orubebe

Thursday, November 22, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Community Mirror Any contractor who has collected money and refused to go to site should be arrested and dealt with according to law. IMO STATE GOVERNOR; ROCHAS OKOROCHA

Give traditional rulers constitutional role –Ogbese monarch SAM OLUWALANA AND OJO OYEWAMIDE

he Alayede of Ayede-Ogbese, His Royal Majesty, Oba (Prof) Peter Adetunmbi Ise-Oluwa Oluyede, has blamed Nigerians for the rot in the country’s judiciary, even as he called for appropriate constitutional role for traditional rulers in the ongoing constitution review. In an interview with Community Mirror, the monarch who is a retired judge said his experience on the bench showed that members of the public are ready to offer any presiding judge bribes to ensure they get favourable judgment. According to him, “My experience on the bench is that members of the public will come and induce you. They will offer anything and unless you have integrity and strong character to resist, you could fall for it. But that does not mean the judiciary should succumb. “What is happening in recent times in the judiciary is a manifestation of the Nigerian society. The National Judicial Commission (NJC), said the President of the Court of Appeal should go back to his job but the Nigerian character came in and some people went on litigation. What do you make of that? When the man initially asked not to, he did not. Nobody at time saw anything wrong in his suspension. But the moment he was vindicated, the Nigerian character came in. At that stage, I was really disturbed. I spent more than 50 years in the profession. I felt they should have allowed the authorities have their say. But they went to court. We are abusing court processes. It is not so much of the judiciary, we must examine ourselves. They will call you any name. When I was in the Code of Conduct Tribunal, some people called me a perpendicular judge. They know they won’t get their way with me. They gave me that name but it did not bother me. So, we must examine ourselves. The salary of a Judge in Nigeria is not enough to live a comfortable life. That is my humble view.” Speaking on the on-going process for the review of the 1999 constitution, Oba Adetunmbi said one area that should be given priority is in the assignment of constitutional roles to traditional rulers. He said: “If you look at the 1999 Constitution, nothing was said on the role of traditional rulers. Traditional rulers are busy working 24 hours every day and they are not given adequate remuneration. Curiously, they are paid only stipend. If you look up the word in the dictionary, you will understand that stipend is not salary.

You cannot be sure of what you will earn for any month if you are to be paid at all. You may not be paid in the first place. We have not been paid for two months now, which are September and October. This is not due to government’s fault but that of the setup. We were not provided for in the constitution. “So, when I became a member of the Ondo State Council of Obas, I raised the issue that I would want to know where we belong. It was then, I was told that a committee had been setup and that some Obas had prepared a working paper. The truth of the matter is that Obas, hopefully, will be made part of the constitution. But the debate is still on. “If you go back to the First Republic, you will know that Obas played prominent roles in our body polity. The traditional rulers should be given back those roles and should be well paid, so they will not be compromised. Traditional rulers should be given at least five per cent of the total revenue and allowed free hand in the administration of their respective areas”. The monarch who also spoke on efforts to reduce the cultivation of cannabis at Ayede-Ogbese, said education is the only tool that can be used to curb the menace. He said: “First, I believe, you must educate the people. Let them know that what they are doing is wrong and happily, I have started doing this. I was in my palace, when I heard gunshots and when I enquired what was happening, I was told it was by operatives of the NDLEA. “I wanted to go out and meet them. But some people prevailed on me. I then went into my bedroom, wrote a letter and got it delivered to Walter, the Area commander; that I want to meet with soonest. “The following day he came and I told him that his officers were turning the town to a war zone, that they were shooting indiscriminately, and that I was surprised he could authorize such. He apologised and said he could not justify it but did not condemn the act. I said I want to educate them; give me six months from now. Thereafter, organize a public seminar. And he agreed. “We started to hold meetings. He was particularly useful. We assembled the youths and told them the evil of trafficking in Indian hemp. You plant it here; you carry it to some other countries; you are not doing Nigeria any good. “I narrated my experience on one occasion when I was travelling overseas. I was searched but nothing incriminating

Oba Oluyede.

was found on me. But I saw it as a humiliating experience and so for anyone who hails from Ayede-Ogbese should be bold and proud enough to say he is from Ayede-Ogbese. “I said ‘I am sure you people will not want your children to be so humiliated at the airport.” They said they all agreed with me. And that motivated them to fight and curb the planting of Indian hemp in the community. But some were bold enough to tell me it was not something that could be really eradicated overnight. I agreed that we must work towards eradicating it. “That was the situation. Within six months, Walter came with his group. They brought resource persons to educate people on the dangers of consuming hard drugs. The people bought the idea. As you know, it is not easy to eradicate

something that has almost become an industry. I will not be true to my conscience, if say that hemp planting has been totally eradicated. We will eventually get rid of it by the grace of God. While saying that the sitting of small and medium scale businesses in the town portend great future, the monarch said: “By nature, this is the city of GOD because HE is the one developing it. I will like to thank God for this and also Dr. Jimoh Ibrahim, the great turn-around entrepreneur, who has decided to bring his Midas touch to the community. His organization, Global Media Mirror Limited, has invested more than N500 million and generated employment for many of our people. What else can one ask for? This is a good omen for us. Also, we have some concerned indigenes and we are to talking to them to come home and invest.

Oyo to rehabilitate 52 schools K EMI O LAITAN IBADAN

he Oyo State governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, has approved the second phase of mass rehabilitation of secondary schools and procurement of fur niture across the state The rehabilitation would involve 52 secondary school classrooms, while 10,000 pairs of students’ furniture would be procured. The gover nor also directed that starting with the procurement of furniture and building of the classrooms, specific artisans should be part of the project, to ensure the

money circulated among people of the state. Ajimobi further directed that relevant professional bodies and artisans such as carpenters, plumbers, painters, electricians, bricklayers and welders be involved to empower them. It will be recalled that the first phase covered the rehabilitation of 35 school buildings which were at different stages of dilapidation and the procurement of 7,000 pairs of furniture. The Special Adviser to the Governor on Media, Dr. Festus Adedayo, said the projects would cost N516, 948,357.39, with the rehabilitation gulping N358, 948,357.39 and furniture N158,000,000.

Insight

Thursday, November 22, 2012

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Ahead 2016 Olympics: Decadence in sports Nigeria failed woefully at the London 2012 Olympic Games and with the next one four years away in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, YEMI OLUS, after identifying the missing links in Team Nigeria in London, writes that there are no young athletes aiming to become champions.

he die was cast and heads were set to roll. Or so it seemed going by the outrage that trailed Nigeria’s dismal performance at the London 2012 Olympics. But three months down the line, the era of holding sports retreats seems to have returned. First was the Presidential Sports Sector Retreat hosted by President Goodluck Jonathan on October 22 in Abuja which had the theme “Harnessing the Potential of Nigeria’s Sports Sector: From Playground to Podium”. Following closely was another retreat initiated by Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State, who sought the way forward for the aquatic sports, track and field events. The cliche of ‘going back to the drawing board’ and similar rhetoric have become commonplace once again. At the retreat held in Aso Rock, President Jonathan set a target of at least 36 medals for Nigerian athletes at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, stressing that at least five of the medals should be gold while charging the governors of each of the 36 states to concentrate on sports where they have edge over others and deliver medals in the events at the next Olympics. Going by the country’s vast human resource, Nigeria’s performance at the Olympics since 1952 when the country made her debut has not been impressive. Nigeria has won a total of 23 medals in 15 Olympic Games, made up of three gold, eight silver and 12 bronze medals. This is nowhere near an average of two medals per game spanning a period of 60 years. The United States had a total of 46 gold medals at the London 2012 Games alone while China and Great Britain won 38 and 29 gold medals respectively. The world’s most populous black nation on earth did not win a single medal. One moment that proudly stands out in Nigeria’s Olympics history is the Atlanta 1996 Games where the U-23 national football team, tagged ‘The Dream Team’ won gold, making them the first African team to achieve such feat. Long jumper, Chioma Ajunwa, also lifted gold in her event long jump to become the first West African woman to set such a record. Till date, she remains the country’s only individual Olympics gold medallist. The women’s 4x400m relay team picked silver while Mary Onyali, Falilat Ogunkoya and boxer Duncan Dokiwari each won bronze medals. However, the path to glory was strewn with thorns for Ajunwa who almost quit athletics following a four-year ban for failing a drug test in 1992 but for the timely intervention of former Green Eagles’ captain, Segun Odegami, which saved her career. The former athlete, who is a Chief Superintendent of Police and Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of the Meiran Divisional Headquarters in Lagos, revealed that she had not expected to win

Sports Minister, Bolaji Abdullahi. Bukola Abogunloko was the youngest athlete in Team Nigeria at the London 2012 Olympics.

Blessing Okagbare failing in her long jump event in London.

Innocent Egbunike

THE WORN CLICHE OF ‘GOING BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD’ AND SIMILAR RHETORIC HAVE BECOME COMMONPLACE ONCE AGAIN gold due to her lack of competition as a result of the ban. Notwithstanding, she made it to the semi-finals of the women’s 100m while she had a leap of 6.85m in the qualifying rounds of the long jump which was the highest mark recorded on that day. She won gold with her first leap of 7.12m but remarkably, there was no flag at hand to do the victory lap since no one actually expected her to win. In a recent interview with National Mirror Ajunwa recalled the glorious leap: “I didn’t think I was going to win any medal, least of all gold. All I did then was to put in my best and stand out. Before the event, some of my friends had told me they dreamt of me winning a gold medal and I simply told them jokingly they must have suffered from malaria fever. “I mean, with all the big athletes around, how could they have gone to have such a dream? I simply waved it off. It was not as if I felt inferior to them, but

honestly, I wasn’t expecting a gold medal. When I won it, I did not know what it meant until I got to Nigeria and saw the crowd at the airport.” However, Ajunwa posited that Nigeria as a country or the sports ministry had nothing to do with her triumph in Atlanta. “Had I waited for Nigeria to help me, I wouldn’t have been where I am today. Once you have made up your mind to be an athlete, you should invest in yourself. Do not wait for any government for anything,” she said. A member of the 1996 gold-winning football team, Garba Lawal, said that he and his colleagues simply took their destiny in their hands and were determined to achieve unusual results. “We qualified during our time because we were more committed than the players we have in the team now. Nobody gave us a chance so we all wanted to do our best. I believe that God saw our hearts and

rewarded us with gold because we didn’t even know that we were going to win but we were willing to make whatever sacrifice was necessary to get us there. “Of course we were paid our bonuses for each victory and that served as a form of motivation but ultimately, the decision to perform or not rested with the players. I don’t see such commitment in the present crop of players because you see a lot of things that drive you crazy with the present generation,” Lawal said. “Another quality we had which gave us an edge was unity. We were united and talked to each other. If someone made a mistake, anybody could talk to him and such a player would be willing to take corrections, unlike now that everybody feels like a star. I really hope to see changes in our football teams because even if the coach is technically sound, he won’t go to the pitch. At the end of the day, the onus lies on the players to succeed.” Athletics coach, Tobias Igwe, was part of the athletics teams to Barcelona ’92 Olympic Games, Atlanta ’96, and Athens 2004. He produced athletes like Mary Onyali, Clement Chukwu, Beatrice Utondu and Osmond and Davidson Ezinwa who all won medals at the

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Insight

Thursday, November 22, 2012

due to wrong diagnosis –Stakeholders AS 2012 DRAWS TO A CLOSE AND THE 2016 OLYMPIC GAMES IN RIO DE JANEIRO BECKONS,

SERIOUS COUNTRIES HAVE ALREADY COMMENCED PREPARATIONS

Felix Ekpo also failed at the last Olympics.

Chika Chukwumerije didn’t re-enact his Beijing 2008 feat

Olympics. Igwe identified early preparation as the key to the country’s medal haul during previous outings. “We used to have long term camping of at least nine months and that was why we were able to get some results in the past. Nigerians begin their athletics career at old age, say their late teens, so they need to spend longer periods in camp because their muscles need at least six months to co-operate. “This is no longer the case; that is why it is very difficult for the athletes to get medals. The reason why we failed in London was not farfetched. The preparation was shoddy and the athletes were half-baked, so there was no magic they could perform. I already knew what was going to happen so it was no surprise really,” he said. Nigeria’s non-qualification for the men and women’s football event gave a glimpse of what was to unfold at the Olympics. Many reasons have been given for the failure of Team Nigeria at the 2012 games ranging from lack of preparation to the calibre of selected athletes who featured in the quadrennial event. The contingent made up of 55 athletes participated in

eight events: athletics, basketball, boxing canoeing, table tennis, taekwondo, weightlifting and wrestling. A table tennis player, who participated in the Olympics told National Mirror that officials of the National Sports Commission (NSC) should take the blame for the team’s failure in London. “Personally I believe our performance was very bad but I can say the NSC caused all that happened because our training started very late. Despite that, the preparation was still not superb because many athletes were training alongside people who were below their standard. No athlete was happy due to the meager allowances given to us because money is a motivator,” the table tennis player said. “We heard that the NSC collected about N2.3bn and the athletes were just about 50. It was unbelievable that no athlete was given up to N1 million out of this huge amount of money. Some athletes even protested in London because they were not paid their allowances. It is a very sad situation.” Felix Ekpo, who competed in the weightlifting event in London, said much could not be required from the athletes since little or nothing was invested in

their preparation. “We all know what happened during the Olympics. The athletes did their best but it was not enough because the fact is, it is not possible to defeat people who have been preparing for the past four years while our training just spanned over some months. It is very glaring that a competition of this magnitude must be well prepared for.” However, the country’s woes in London cannot be blamed on lack of preparation only. Worthy of special mention is the case of long jumper and sprinter, Blessing Okagbare, on whom the country’s hope of winning a medal was hinged. But athletics pundits are unanimous that her inability to win a medal stemmed from lack of proper management. As far as financial support went, she was the most motivated athlete. She enjoyed funding running into millions of Naira from the Delta State Government, aside being one of the few athletes who received a monthly grant from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) through the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) in addition to being the First Bank Ambassador for the games. It was also believed that kit company, Nike, splashed a mouth-watering $500, 000 (about N79m) sponsorship deal on the University of Texas El Paso graduate. She was exposed to the best facilities and was under the tutelage of respected sprint coach, John Smith, who has trained star athletes like former world champion, Maurice Greene, Trinidad and Tobago’s Ato Boldon as well as Atlanta Olympics 200m and 400m champion, Marie-Jose Perec of France. However, all this didn’t bring the desired result because it was believed that Okagbare should have focused solely on the jump, her main event, instead of attempting a double with the 100m and long jump. There was also the issue of burning out because she featured in international meets like the Diamond League barely two weeks before the games. She even beat some of the world’s top athletes including reigning Olympic champion, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and world champion, Carmelita Jeter. She was hailed for her heroics but was unable to perform when it mattered most. She finished eighth in the women’s 100m and couldn’t even get to the final of the long jump, an event she won bronze in as an up-and-coming athlete four years ago in Beijing. As 2012 draws to a close and the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro beckons, serious countries have already commenced preparations. For instance, British athletes will receive guaranteed

funding of around £125m a year through to the Rio Olympics. Prime Minister David Cameron also announced that £1bn would be invested in school sports over the next four years. Perhaps, in a bid to prove that the current administration is not paying lip service towards preparing for 2016, Minister of Sports and Chairman of the NSC, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, inaugurated a 12-member board of the Nigeria Academicals Sports Committee (NASCOM) on October 6, to assist the nation to restore the old era of effective sports participation and competitiveness in Nigeria’s secondary schools. Abdullahi recalled that former athletes who had done the country proud before were products of the school system, hence the need to revive the old order. A former athlete, Victor Omoregie, called for a sporting policy or programme that would cater for the training as well as the welfare of athletes if the country is to make meaningful impact in Brazil. Former national athlete and athletics coach, Amelia Edet, is of the opinion that athletes, especially those based in Europe need close monitoring and supervision in order for the athletes not to burn out on time. “Usually we have always depended on the athletes who are in Europe or the US but my question is, who is monitoring what they are doing to be able to know what they are doing or not doing? If you don’t monitor your athletes, how do you know the times they have peaked?” Olympics bronze medallist and national athletics coach, Innocent Egbunike, believes that with better funding from the private sector, there is no telling what impact such a gesture would have in the future. “That is what developed countries are doing today and when you invest in sports, you are investing in the individuals who will bring glory and honour to the nation. There was a time when Nigeria had two people in the 400m final, two people in the 100m final,” Egbunike said. “At the time, we had three people running under 10 secs in the 100m and two or three people running under 45 secs in the 400m. It simply means we need to expose these athletes to more competitions and give them more opportunities to represent the nation. We need to invest in sports.” For former Super Eagles star, Lawal, said urgent steps have to be taken by the Nigeria Football Federation to ensure that a team is put together ahead of the Rio Games to prevent another failed bid. “People say that preparation is vital. But the determinant factor is the quality of the players. We don’t even know the players that will make up the Olympics team in 2016 because there is no squad on ground right now,” Lawal added. “The current U-20 team would be too old by that time so it would be better if focus is placed on the U-17 team but right now, there are no plans on the ground. Also there are some players who could just spring up from nowhere because of their talent, so such possibilities cannot be ruled out as well,” he said.

WORLD RECORD

Largest stone sculpture

Vol. 02 No. 497

Thursday, November 22, 2012

N150

The statue of the God of Longevity is the largest stone carving measuring 200 m (656 ft) wide and 218 m (715 ft) high and is on the northwest side of the peak, Guimeng, in the Meng Shan mountains near Pingyi, Shandong, China.

Jonathan and the semantics of wealth creation I n the absence of verifiable opinion polls, it may be hard to get the precise statistics of how President Goodluck Jonathan fared in the opinion of Nigerians, four days after the live telecast of his last media chat. Sustaining the tradition of submitting himself to media scrutiny once every quarter is commendable. But even more noteworthy was the President’s confidence and an attempt at friendliness with the selected editors, relating with them on first-name basis while deploying humour and pun to drive home his point. Though he might have deliberately thrown a few political punches, the President was, at least, more surefooted than he was in his last media chat in June. He didn’t have to snap at any of the interviewers like he did in June when he said he did “not give a damn...” when asked about his reluctance to

ote d’Ivoire’s midfielder, Yaya Toure, is Africa’s highest paid athlete, according to the latest world rankings by Forbes magazine. The Manchester City’s player is ranked 73rd on the list of the world’s highest-earning

SOMETHING BEFORE THE WEEKEND

Steve Ayorinde

sayorinde@nationalmirroronline.net (08054500808 sms only)

publicly declare his assets. Clarifications were the highpoints of his message to the nation on Sunday. Because provision has been made for fuel subsidy in the 2013 budget, Jonathan ruled out any fuel price hike anytime soon. The clarification was necessary because, just last Friday, most newspapers had made an issue of his insistence on the need to remove fuel subsidy when he spoke at a meeting with participants in the 2012 Senior Executive Course of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, NIPSS, in Kuru, Plateau State. The President said he was misunderstood in his speech at NIPSS and that although making a case for private investments in local refineries might require a total deregulation of the petroleum sector, he certainly did not intend to give Nigerians another New Year gift that may shut down the economy for two weeks as it did last January. If either the Nigerian Labour Congress or any of the civil society groups were thinking of ‘occupying Nigeria’ again with a street protest, Jonathan said there would be no need as fuel, the little that Diezani Alison-Madueke’s Petroleum Ministry can provide, will continue to sell at the current pump price of N97 per litre. The assurance that the Manitoba contract has not been revoked, the fact that the Federal Government would not be drawn into a spurious peace deal with Boko Haram sect in Saudi Arabia and even the admission that the First Lady,

JONATHAN WOULD DO WELL AVOIDING COMPLICATED ISSUES THAT TEND TO TEST HIS ABILITY TO PLAY ON WORDS Dame Patience Jonathan, may be out of the hospital, but is still recuperating from an undisclosed ailment that sent her to Germany for almost two months, gave the President ample opportunity to put his thoughts across directly. But he was hardly convincing. It was pure political gibberish trying to argue that it was too early to discuss his plans for the 2015 election. And the moribund idea that elected officials be allowed an elongated single term of seven years lacks conviction. This leads to the conclusion that not being skilful at oratory, Jonathan would do well avoiding complicated issues that tend to test his ability to play on words. His treatise on the failure of military incursion into Odi in 1999 was a needless jibe at former President Olusegun Obasanjo. If he would not consider a military option against terror threats posed by Boko Haram, Jonathan should at least highlight effective alternatives that will arrest the spate of bombings across the northern part of the country. Refusing to dialogue with “a faceless group” is

no strategy to stop terrorists behind the masks from blowing up more churches or public buildings. But by far the most astonishing double speak by Mr. President at the last media chat was his argument that he never promised to reduce poverty, rather all he claimed he ever intended was to create wealth. I do not think he meant to take the nation through semantics class. But this is a classic case of looking for the difference between six and half a dozen. It is befuddling for the President to have said: “I never promised to reduce poverty, I only promised to create wealth.” But it is even more astounding that the President’s justification could contain expressions like “I don’t believe in the poverty reduction concept” and that it is more positive to talk about wealth creation. Ambiguity does not explain it, but plain fallacy when our president concluded that “if you reduce poverty and the person is still poor, you have only succeeded in achieving nothing.” Pray, how could wealth be created for a people or a nation in general if poverty is not reduced? In political economy, especially as it affects a developing nation, one cannot be achieved without the other. Wealth creation should not be a thing to talk about. It has to be done and the proposed budget surely is not cheery for wealth creation. If the President’s idea of creating wealth is to improve electricity supply for example, wealth may be created for the direct beneficiaries of such a policy. But then, poverty is reduced at the same time. More people are less dependent on others, small businesses will thrive and the economic indicators will improve. The President should not give the impression that wealth creation amounts to more people getting enlisted as government contractors or oil cabal in a country where the majority lives on less than one dollar a day.

Sport Extra

Toure is Africa’s highest paid athlete athletes with a pay of US$ 19.1 million. The 29-year-old is tied with American basketball player Tim Duncan who plays San

Antonio Spurs. But Toure, reigning African Footballer of the Year, receives less than David Beckham (US$ 46m) Cristiano Ronaldo (US$

42.5m) Wayne Rooney (US$ 24.3m) Kaka (US$ 20.8m), Sergio Aguero (US$ 20.1m) and Fernando Torres (US$ 19.6m). American boxer, Floyd Mayweather Jr., is the world’s highest-paid athlete with US$ 85m per annum.

Yaya Toure

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