Dtn 3 3 18

THE

DAILY

INEC detects names of 299 foreigners in voter register 4

Magu: Senate rejected me because I’m doing a good job 4

‘ Dapchi schoolgirls abduction, collective shame to Nigerians’

Reject cattle colonies, Ohanaeze tells South- East states

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SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2018 VOL. 3. NO. 592

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Sen Nwaoboshi in trouble over N3.4bn NNDC contracts scam 4

Ï Allegedly used 15 firms to secure NDDC contracts Ï EFCC closes in on embattled lawmaker

Hon. EJ Agbonayinma during the presentation of tricycles as part of his empowerment programme for the people of Egor/Ikpoba Okha Federal Constituency in Edo State at the APC State Secretariat

Nigeria’s female celebrities @ 40 and still sexy L2

2 News

Daily Times Nigeria Saturday, March 3, 2018

Daily Times Nigeria Saturday, March 3, 2018

3 News

About 600,000 Africans will benefit from US Power initiative – USAID Myke Uzendu with Agency reports

ÏÏÏThe

United States Agency for International Development ( USAID )

has disclosed that about 600,000 household would have access to affordable power and the internet under the U.S. Power Africa Initiative.

USAID’s Administrator, Mr. Mark Green, made the announcement on Friday at the ongoing Fourth Annual Powering Africa Summit in Washington

DC saying that the Power Africa project had so far benefited many African communities.

He said, “Power Africa is helping our private

Minister of Power, Works & Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, SAN (middle), Minister of State, Surv. Suleiman Zarma Hassan(right), Permanent Secretary, Works & Housing and Board Member FHA , Mr Mohammed Bukar (left), Chairman, Senate Committee on Housing, Senator Barnabas Gemade(second left) and Chairman, Board of Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria(FMBN) Mr. Adewale Adeeyo (second right) in a group photograph shortly after the Inauguration of the Governing Boards of the Federal Housing Authority(FHA) and the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria(FMBN) at the Ministry of Power, Works & Housing Headquarters, Mabushi, Abuja…. on Thursday

Thailand ‘blames Buhari’ for collapse of its rice mills Minister of agriculture, Audu Ogbe, on Friday said that Thailand has accused President Muhammadu Buhari’s government of being responsible for the collapse of seven of its rice mills.

The minister made this known at a meeting of the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative (PFI) and leadership of the Fertilizers Producers and Suppliers of Nigeria (FEPSAN) held at the council chamber of the presidential villa, Abuja.

The meeting was presided over by Buhari.

Ogbeh said Thailand’s ambassador to Nigeria made the “accusation’’ when he visited him in February.

According to the minister, the ambassador lamented that the collapse of the rice mills has increased the unemployment rate in his country from 1.2 percent to four percent.

“Just like two weeks ago, the ambassador of Thailand came to my office and said to me that we have really dealt with them,” he said.

“But I asked what did we do wrong and he said unemployment in Thailand was one of the lowest in the world, 1.2 percent, it has gone up to four percent because seven giant rice mills have shut down because Nigeria’s import has fallen by 95 percent on rice alone.

“So, Mr. President we thank you for the support and we thank all the agencies and those of you in the private sector for your resilience.”

The minister, however, alerted the nation on what he described as alarming smuggling of fake fertiliser and rice along the western borders of the country He, therefore, called on the federal government to take drastic measures to

check the trend as all previous diplomatic measures had failed to address the menace.

“But one last request Mr. President, we have to take one strong measure against our neighbour to the West. The smuggling is really compromising our capacity on our result,” he said.

“Too much rice, too much fake fertilizer is still coming across the borders into this country in spite of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) we have with them they are not listening.

“Maybe if the Federal Government takes one tough action, they will come and renegotiate the terms because good neighbourliness means reciprocity.

“We can’t be allowing them to survive at our own expense and I believe that we will do something about it.”

sector partners to set up micro-grids, which will bring reliable and affordable power to these camps for the first time.

“Once the camps are electrified, USAID’s innovation team and other coalition members will work to connect them to the Internet.

“We are creating digital tools that tap into residents’ mobile phones to track health records, to provide digital identities, and to enable pay-as-yougo power, school fees, and other digital vouchers for services.

“In total, we expect to give more than 600,000 people access to affordable power, internet, and these digital tools,’’ he said.

According to him, Power Africa has so far helped 58 million people across Africa to gain access to electricity using market forces and enterprise principles.

Green said that to make Power Africa a success,

USAID will release the Administration’s strategy for Power Africa 2.0, which would ensure that Power Africa could continue to bring innovative ideas and enterprisedriven approaches to help meet Africa’s power needs.

“Under Power Africa 2.0, we will be expanding beyond our previous targets of increased energy generation and access and looking to make gains in the areas of distribution and transmission.

“And perhaps most importantly, we will be taking on the enabling environments that allow private enterprise to grow and thoroughly flourish,’’ he said.

Power Africa is a U.S. Government initiative that addresses one of the most pressing challenges to sustainable economic growth and development in sub-Saharan Africa which is access to electrical power.

Agro revolution: Dickson partners NIRSAL to create wealth in Bayelsa

The Bayelsa State Governor, Henry Seriake Dickson wants the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending Plc (NIRSAL) to partner with his government to expand the frontiers of the agricultural investments his administration has made in the last six years.

He said, it is by so doing that, the Government can conveniently create wealth and employ the teeming Youths to bring about optimal return to the political economy of Bayelsa State.

Dickson said NIRSAL by law and operation, is best positioned to help drive the government’s agricultural investments, reduce credit risks, increase lending and of course, and provide off takers on such investments.

According to a statement signed by the Governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Francis Ottah Agbo, Governor Dickson spoke on Friday in Abuja, when he held preliminary discussions with NIRSAL

Managing Director, Aliyu Abdulhameed in his office.

Dickson Commended the Federal Government and particularly the Central Bank of Nigreria, CBN for the initiative of establishing NIRSAL. He said there has been a silent people-oriented revolution in the state in the last six years.

According to him, he is in politics to serve the people, stressing that Politics must deliver development, and promote prosperity and not underdevelopment.

He said: “In Bayelsa, there is a silent revolution in all critical sectors such as the agricultural sector for public good. We now have the best public schools and health institutions. Now, I want to create wealth using Poultry, Commercial Cassava Plant Farm, Agriculture etc. for we must create wealth and gainfully employ our teeming population and what best way to achieve that

than through Agro-business. That is why we are building Aqua culture Villages: now we have already completed one in Igbogene with 500-Fish Ponds. The whole idea is to use Agriculture to make our Youths become skilled and empowered. We want to replicate the Aquaculture Village in the 8 LGs of Bayelsa.”

The Governor said, Bayelsa is the world’s best kept investment secret and called on investors to take advantage of the investment-friendly Bayelsa environment to unveil it.

He, therefore, used the opportunity of his visit to market the potentials of Bayelsa State in rice, cassava and palm plantation, adding that, they will do well on Bayelsa land, even without applying fertilizer to the soil.

He also called on NIRSAL to provide technical assistance and help to access finance to support more Agro-business in the state, especially in Palm, Poultry etc.

News 4

Daily Times Nigeria Saturday, March 3, 2018

Sen Nwaoboshi in trouble over N3.4bn NNDC contract scam Continued from page 1

Doosuur Iwambe, Abuja

ÏÏÏSenator

representing Delta North Senatorial District, Senator Peter Noeluka Nwaoboshi, who is also the Chairman, Senate Committee on Niger Delta Affairs, has been fingered in a fresh alleged N3.4 billion fraud case which has attracted the attention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

A source close to the EFCC also disclosed that the commission has launched a massive investigation into the matter, saying that the agency will soon take necessary action against Senator Nwaoboshi.

The source, who sought anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the matter, said: “I can tell you authoritatively that the agency has launched a massive investigation into matter.

Don’t forget that the senator is also involved in the controversial supply of used (Tokunbo) equipment to Delta State and the subsequent acquisition of Guinea House property in Lagos, which is now a subject of litigation. Though I will not be able to give you details of the investigation on the NNDC contract, I can confirm to you that the commission will soon move against the senator.

Documents obtained by The Daily Times showed that the senator allegedly violated the

Procurement Act when he was awarded NDDC contracts worth N232,209,600 each to 15 firms belonging to him without any competitive bidding.

According to the documents, Senator Nwaoboshi was awarded the contracts worth N3,483,144,000 to 15 companies registered in the names of his relatives and proxies for the production of plastic desks and chairs for primary and secondary schools in 9 oil producing states of Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo and Rivers.

Records of some of the alleged registered firms were however not reflected with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

The 15 companies involved in the contracts are Benchmark Construction & Projects Limited; Milestone Allied Builders Limited; Edendoma Stars Intl; Isumabe U.K Global Ventures; Nelpat (Nig) Company; Edrihide Company; Antlers Construction & Allied Works Limited; AGH-Rown Ventures; NOAN Integrated Services Limited; De-Towers Construction & Allied Services; Eastern Wrought Iron Limited; Franstine Nig. Enterprise; Brant Technologies; Omozuabho Global Resources and Bugstruct Limited.

The development followed a petition written against the senator by the Anti-Corruption Group and Integrity Forum, a group interested in promoting

good governance, transparency and sustenance of the rule of law in Nigeria.

The Daily Times further gathered that sometime in April, 2017, a petition was also written to the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions over the alleged illegality and fraud in the process but the petition was said to have been swept under the carpet since Senator Nwao-

Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that it has expunged 299 names of aliens from the voter register.

The Chairman of INEC, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, made this known on Friday during a consultative meeting of the commission with security agencies in Abuja.

Yakubu, said the foreigners were discovered through information made available by the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS).

He said registering to vote and actual voting were exclusive rights of Nigeria’s citizens to which aliens were excluded by law.

According to him, the commission has agreed with NIS to deploy their officers to every registration centre nationwide to ensure that only Nigerians

are registered.

The INEC chairman promised that the commission would continue to work in partnership with all security agencies to purge the voter register of all ineligible voters.

He said, “Those who are below the age of 18, aliens, those registered in absentia, those barred by statutory regulations from registering as voters are not qualified.

“Persons who do not ordinarily reside, work or originate from the area covered by the registration are ineligible.

“We will continue to thoroughly scrutinise registrants in the ongoing exercise in order to ensure that only eligible registrants get registered.”

Yakubu said the consultative meeting came at exactly 350 days to the commencement of the 2019 general election.

He added that the meeting

to have links with the Senator, Benchmark Construction & Projects Limited got the contract for the production of plastic desks and chairs for primary and secondary schools in Abia State at the cost of N232,209,600; Milestone Allied Builders Limited and Edendoma Stars Intl got the same contract for the sum of N232,209,600 each for the same purpose in Akwa Ibom Continued on page 5

Some of the plastics chairs and tables during their presentation in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State in January.

INEC detects names of 299 foreigners in voter register ÏÏÏThe Independent National

boshi is also a member of the Privileges Committee.

It was also gathered that Senator Nwaoboshi collected 50% payment of the money. However after the petition was written, the senator was said to have rushed to commission plastic chairs and desks in some primary and secondary schools in Akwa Ibom State.

According to the documents, out of the companies believed

was also timely as it was 133 days and 203 days to governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun, respectively.

He assured the electorate that the commission, in collaboration with security agencies, would continue to work in line with the rules of engagement.

Yakubu said the synergy would guarantee citizens’ rights during campaigns and actual voting in a professional and non-partisan manner, consistent with the provisions of the law.

He said INEC was working hard to address all the challenges currently facing the ongoing continuous voter registration (CVR).

He assured that all registered voters and those intending to register of getting their permanent voters card (PVC) before the 2019 elections.

Magu: Senate rejected me because I’m doing my job well ÏÏÏThe

Acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Ibrahim Magu, has said that the refusal of the Senate to confirm him is an indication that he is carrying out his duties judiciously.

On two occasions, the Senate refused to confirm Magu as the substantive chairman of the commission, citing a report from the Department of State Services (DSS).

But Speaking on Question Time, a programme on Channels Television, the anti-graft czar said he is not deterred by the delay in his confirmation, adding that he is rather encouraged, and would not compromise

his duties.

Magu said, “I don’t think it (non-confirmation) has given the public a cause for concern.

I think it is a lot of encouragement. The fact that I am not confirmed shows I am working.

“In the anti-corruption environment, if they rush to confirm you, it means you are not doing your work properly.”

Asked why he is the first to have his confirmation delayed for so long, Magu said, “No problem. Maybe the others are happy. Because a number of the people we are investigating are also in the National Assembly.

“I am not completely distracted. It is not an

issue. Rather, it gives me courage. You wake up in the morning and see some terrible publications about you. Despite all these, we are determined to go ahead.

“I cannot be distracted with those things. Nobody can purchase me, I cannot compromise what I am doing.”

Magu also said he was not in support of the separation of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) from the EFCC. He said the suspension of the NFIU from Egmont Group is being politicised.

He said, “The best financial intelligent units in the world are the ones that are domiciled in law enforcement agencies.

Daily Times Nigeria Saturday, March 3, 2018

5 News

Sen Nwaoboshi in trouble over N3.4bn NNDC contract scam Continued from page 4 State; Isumabe U.K Global Ventures; Nelpat (Nig) Company and Edrihide Company also got N232,209,600 each for the same contract in Bayelsa State.

In Cross River State, Antlers Construction & Allied Works Limited got her share of the contract sum of N232, 209,600 for the same production of plastic desks and chairs for primary and secondary schools while AGH-Rown Ventures and NOAN Integrated Services Limited were also awarded the same contract in Delta State at the sum of N232, 209,600 each.

Brant Technologies, Omozuabho Global Resources and Bugstruct Limited also got N232, 209,600 each for the same contract all in Rivers State.

De-Towers Construction & Allied Services, Eastern Wrought Iron Limited and Franstine Nig. Enterprise also got N232, 209,600 each as contract sum for the production of same plastic desks and chairs for primary and secondary schools in Edo, Imo and Ondo states respectively.

The curious aspect of the contracts centered on how the NDDC came about with a uniform reviewed project cost of N232,209,600 for all the 15 firms.

Further investigations into the registration profile of the above-mentioned companies with Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) Abuja revealed that 4 of the companies: Benchmark Construction & Projects Limited with RC No: 925180; Milestone Allied Builders Lim-

ited with RC No: 925074; Antlers Construction & Allied Works Limited with RC No: 925188 and De Towers Construction & Allied Services with RC No: 925182 were all registered on the same day (December 3, 2010) with Plot 3011B, Kuranakh Close, Maitama, FCT-Abuja as their registered address.

Incidentally, it is the same registered address for Golden Touch Construction Projects Limited, the firm Senator Nwaoboshi allegedly used to illegally acquire the 12-storey building at 27, Marine Road, Apapa, belonging to the Delta State government otherwise known as Guinea House.

On the other hand, Isumabe U.K Global Ventures with RC No: 2388764 and Edrihide Company with RC No: 238832 both have No. 7, Chief Michael Metuiwe Street, Off Okpanam Road, Asaba, Delta State as address for the companies which were registered on January 29 and February 2, 2016 respectively.

Noan Integrated Services Ltd. with RC No: 987259 was registered on October 17, 2011 with No. 1, Odagwe Lane, Isieke, Ibusa, Delta State as its registered address; Eastern Wrought Iron Limited with RC No: 3830 which was allegedly registered on June 20, 1964 is located at No. 5, Station Road, Box 404, Port Harcourt, Rivers State while Brant Technologies Limited with RC No: 395431, registered on November 22, 2000 is located at No. 34, Oromenike Layout, Emekuku Line, also in Port Harcourt, Rivers

State.

While Omozuabho Global Resources with RC No: 117508, located at Block D, Mosheshe Estate, Off Airport Road, Warri, Uvwie in Delta State was registered on September 9, 2011, Bugstruct Limited with RC No: 969754, registered on August 3, 2011 has Plot 120, Obiwali Road, Rumuigbo, Port Harcourt in Rivers State as the registered address.

Meanwhile, four out of the above-listed companies allegedly linked to Senator Nwaoboshi that equally got N232, 209,600 each as contract sum for the production of plastic desks and chairs for primary and secondary schools in the Niger Delta region were discovered not to be registered based

on the records gathered at the CAC in Abuja.

The companies are: Edendoma Stars Intl which got the contract sum of N232, 209,600 for schools in Akwa Ibom; Nelpat (Nig) Company which got the same contract sum for schools in Bayelsa State; AGHRown Ventures got its share of the contract deal for schools in Delta State while Franstine Nig. Enterprise also got the same contract sum for schools in Ondo State.

The Daily Times further gathered that one of Nwaoboshi’s firms allegedly involved in the contract scam reportedly supplied about 75,000 pieces of the plastics chairs and tables to Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital in January, 2018, out of the

nine oil producing states.

The development came after the petition against the contract was submitted to the EFCC as the petition was filed in April 2017.

The Daily Times recalls that Federal High Court in Lagos had in 2017 ordered the temporary forfeiture of Guinea House, a Delta State owned property in Lagos illegally acquired by Senator Nwaoboshi through one of his proxy companies to the Federal Government.

Meanwhile, efforts made to get response from the embattled senator on the allegation proved abortive on Friday night as calls put through to his phone number failed to connect at press time.

ing the incident, four soldiers, four mobile police and three humanitarian workers were killed and another three humanitarian workers were injured.

“Two of those killed were IOM field colleagues,’’ Mohammed Abdiker, IOM Director of Operations and Emergencies said.

“We are outraged and saddened at the killings of two of our colleagues in an attack by Boko Haram in North East Nigeria last evening.

“They represented the best in us in assisting displaced civilians. We will miss them,’’ Abdiker said.

Meanwhile, UNICEF’s Regional Director for West and Cen-

tral Africa, Marie-Pierre Poirier, UNICEF also expressed shock on the attack against humanitarian workers in Rann.

Poirier, in a statement Friday said: “UNICEF is shocked by the attack on March 1, in Rann, Borno State, in which three aid workers lost their lives, three were injured and one is reportedly missing.

“One of these brave workers who lost their lives, and the nurse who is missing, were on the frontline providing critical services supported by UNICEF. “The two others who were killed were working for the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

“We strongly condemn this attack on selfless aid profession-

als, who were working in the most difficult humanitarian conditions.

“Alarmingly, the number of attacks on aid workers is increasing around the world, and we must stand together to reaffirm our commitment to protect them. Humanitarian workers should never be a target.

“UNICEF offers its deepest condolences to the families of the victims and to all IOM staff members. We will continue to work with the Government to ensure safe return of those missing.”

The UN statement, issued by its Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Edward Kallon, had also strongly condemned

the killing of the three aid workers in Rann town.

“Three aid workers were also injured, and a female nurse is missing and feared to have been abducted,’’ Kallon said.

He said the UN was also concerned about other civilians who may have been injured or killed in the attack.

“Two of the deceased aid workers were contractors with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), working as coordinators in a camp in Rann for 55,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

“The other aid worker was a medical doctor employed as a third-party consultant with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF),’’ Kallon said.

L-R: Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN; Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi; Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje and Lagos State Governor, Akinwummi Ambode, during the Lagos-Kano Joint Economic & Investment Summit at Epe, Lagos

UN, IOM condemn Boko Haram attack Myke Uzendu, Abuja

ÏÏÏThe

International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have condemned the Boko Haram attack on Rann in Borno State which lead to the death of aid workers.

The UN migration agency said some 55,000 people displaced by the conflict lived in a camp near the base.

Reacting to the unfortunate incident, IOM on Friday in a statements said: “a large number of Boko Haram members armed with automatic weapons, rocket propelled grenades and gun trucks attacked the military base in Rann’’.

“IOM staff reported that dur-

6 News

Daily Times Nigeria Saturday, March 3, 2018

We’ll bring back night life in Surulere, Ambode pledges ÏÏÏLagos State Governor,

Mr Akinwunmi Ambode on Friday said his administration will go all out to transform the economy of Surulere and make it to be at par with those of Victoria Island and Ikoyi, starting with the resuscitation of the night life of the axis.

Speaking while unveiling a road project in Modele-Mathew Street and solar powered street lights in Modele-Mathew Street, Randle Avenue and Fred Anyiam Street in Surulere constructed by Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, Governor Ambode said the hospitality and entertainment business which the area had always been known for, would be revived and scaled up to actualize the plan for the massive development of the axis.

He said: “I have discovered that unless I pursue and take over the National Stadium and the Arts Theatre, I cannot achieve my goal because with those two projects and places, the hospitality and entertainment business in which Surulere is really known for will be brought back to life because the real entertainment in Lagos State actually started from Surulere.

“I will do everything to ensure that the economy of Surulere is as competitive as that of Victoria Island and Ikoyi.”

He said though a lot of projects had been implemented by his administration in Surulere, more would be done to truly change the face of the area, and make the economy compete favourably with others.

According to him, “So, what is it that I want to make Surulere to look like? You remember we have already done IshagaMabo Road, Itire-Lawanson Road, Ijesha Road, the palliative is ongoing. We have upgraded Agboyin Avenue and then Simisola Mogaji Close. But what is very important to me in Surulere is to bring back

night life hundred per cent in this area,” Governor Ambode said.

He commended Gbajabiamila for keying into the ongoing infrastructural renewal efforts of his administration, saying it was gratifying that individuals and corporate organisations were now joining government to fast-track socio-economic development and empowerment of the people.

Governor Ambode, who particularly lauded the commitment of the lawmaker to the welfare of the people of his constituency and all Lagosians, said it was on record that Gbajabiamila had used his seat in the House to attract numerous projects to his constituency and Lagos at large.

He recalled how Gbajabiamila in 2016 mobilized the Lagos Lawmakers in the House of Representatives to pull resources together to give Lagos a befitting Sports and Recreation Centre in Epe, as well as plans for federal engineers to rehabilitate Karimu Street in Surulere.

Showering praises on the federal lawmaker, the Governor said: “He (Gbajabiamila) has complemented the job of our Government very well at the national level and we appreciate him for his clever intervention especially his leadership role during the recent Constitution Amendment process. He defended the interest of Lagos in seeking for devolution of more powers to the States.

“Hon Gbajabiamila is a most valued legislator who has supported our government in all we have been doing and his support has been unflinching.

On behalf of the government of Lagos State, I want to commend him not only for doing us proud in the House of Representatives but also making his Federal Constituency, Surulere, a beacon of development in Nigeria,” Governor Ambode said.

L-R: Mr. Umar Murtala Sanda, of Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON); Mr. Prasnata Mishra, Chief Executive Officer, Premium Steel and Mines Limited; Mazi Okoronkwo Onwukwe who represented Mr. Ahmed Kuru, AMCON MD/CEO and Mr. Jude Nwauzor, Head, Corporate Communications, AMCON at the commissioning of Premium Steel and Mines Limited in Ovwian-Aladja in Delta State…at the weekend

N4.6bn Fraud: Transaction on Fani – Kayode’s account lawful-witness

Peter Fowoyo

ÏÏÏA

prosecution witness, Mrs. Shedlis Gana, in the ongoing trial of the former minister of aviation, Mr. Femi FaniKayode, on Friday told a Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos, that she did not know if money deposited and withdrawn from the account of the former minister, are for and from unlawful act.

Fani-Kayode, alongside Mrs. Nenadi Esther Usman, Danjuma Yusuf, and a limited liability company, Jointrust Dimension Limited, are being tried before Justice Rilwan Aikawa’s court, on charges bordering on N4.6 billion frauds, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

At the continued crossexamination of the witness by lawyer to Usman, Mr. Ferdinand Orbih (SAN), Gana, an Abuja branch head of a new generation bank, stated that as at the time the cheques were paid and drawn into and from the account of

Fani-Kayode, she believed that the transactions were lawful, and that they went through due process.

She however, stated that if there was anything unlawful on the cheques now, she may not know.

“As at the time the cheques were processed by the bank, I wants to believed that they were lawful, and they went through due process, but if there is anything unlawful on it now, I may not know.

“Each of the cheques were thoroughly analysed on the reversed side.”

The witness when asked if she knew as a banker that political parties are allowed to raise fund for campaign, she said that she did not know as a banker, but as a Nigerian, she knows that political parties do raise fund.

She also told the court that she is certain that any fund raising, donations, pledges, normally passes through an account.

She also told the court that all the cheques were drawn from the account of Jointrust Dimension

Limited were crossed.

Gana while answering questions from Norrison Quakers (SAN), lawyer to Fani-Kayode, told the court that she was invited by the EFCC in her capacity as branch head, and that it was when she got to the commission, she was told of the purpose of the invitation.

The witness told the court that Fani-Kayode has an account with her Abuja branch, and Danjuma Yusuf has an account with Kaduna branch of her bank.

She also told the court that she wrote a statement while with the anti-graft agency. And also identified the statement when it was shown to her.

However, the prosecutor, Rotimi Oyedepo, objected to tendering and admissibility of the witness’ statement, on the ground that it was premature for Fani-Kayode’s lawyer to seek such request.

Quakers had sought to tender the statement when he argued that there was a contradiction in

what the witness told the court and the content of the statement.

Following the argument on both parties on the tendering and admissibility of the statement, Justice Aikawa, adjourned the matter till March 29, for ruling and continuation of cross-examination of the witness.

The EFCC had on May 15, 2017, re-arraigned Fani-Kayode, a former Minister of State for Finance, Mrs. Esther Nenadi Usman, one, Danjuma Yusuf and a company, John Trust Dimensions Nigeria Limited, before Justice Aikawa, on a 17-count charge of alleged fraud.

Their re-arraignment came two months after another judge of the court, Justice Muslim Sule Hassan, recused himself from the case.

The anti-graft agency, in the charge marked FHC/ L/C/251c/2016, accused the defendants of conspiracy, unlawful retention of proceeds of theft and money laundering.

Hospital, Igando, and they invite unsuspecting individuals to pay into their personal accounts,” Osunkiyesi noted.

The Permanent Secretary urged members of the public to disregard any information on the internet

about purported admission forms adding that all enquiries regarding admission into the state School of Nursing should be channeled to the Coordinator, Lagos State School of Nursing Complex, Alimosho General Hospital, Igando.

Lagos dissociates self from fake adverts on school of nursing admission

Benjamin Omoike

ÏÏÏThe

Lagos state government has dissociated itself from fake advertorials making the rounds on the internet about admission into the state School of Nursing.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr. Modele Osunkiyesi, who made this known on Friday through a signed disclaimer notice to the public, stated that the attention of the Ministry of Health has been drawn

to the activities of some unscrupulous group of people who place the fake advertisements on the internet.

She further revealed that these dubious people invite unsuspecting individuals to pay cash into their per-

sonal accounts.

“Some go by spurious names and false identities such as Dr. Bello of Alimosho General Hospital or Professor Adeleke of Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), or Lagos University Teaching

Daily Times Nigeria Saturday, March 3, 2018

For the Record 7

NFIU: Nigeria’s suspension EGMONT Group and matters arising Francis Usani

ÏÏÏIt

is longer news that the NFIU has been suspended from the activities of the EGMONT Group of FIUs, and has been disconnected from the Egmont Secure Website, a platform used by Egmont Members for Exchange of information.

Reasons for Suspension: The suspension of the NFIU though generally misconstrued, is not for the lack of effectiveness of the NFIU, or its failure to meet the EGMONT Group standard operation as an FIU, rather, the failure of Nigeria to address the legal frame work of the NFIU vis-a-via its operational autonomy with the EFCC. May I stress for the records that over time the NFIU has performed creditably, a fact which is evidenced from the quest of FIUs within the West/Central African region to be mentored/sponsored by the NFIU; the EGMONT Group in recognition of the effectiveness and robustness in the activities of the NFIU, approved the NFIU to mentor the FIUs of the GAMBIA, Liberia and Sierra Leone to EGMONT Group membership and equally appointed the Director of the NFIU, its regional representative for the West/ Central African sub region, various other typology projects the NFIU coordinated and conducted by the NFIU on behalf of the EGMONT Group may not be mentioned here.

Considering the above, it could not be said that the NFIU has not been effective and has not lived up to its expectations within the EGMONT group community.

The genesis of the current situation should not be lost sight of. It should be recalled that in 2013, a former Director of the NFIU fraudulently petitioned the EGMONT Group and painted a gory picture of an NFIU completely insecure and unfit to perform its mandate as an FIU; even though an on-site visit of the EGMONT Group conducted at the aftermath of the allegations to ascertain the veracity of the allegation gave a clean bill to the NFIU, a support and compliance process of the EGMONT Group was triggered, which has since then put the NFIU under a search light, with the request by the Egmont Group that the NFIU defines it’s relationship vis-a-vis the

EFCC. An FIU by all international standards under the Egmont Group principle and protocols is expected to be operationally autonomous with a robust confidentiality policy as well as maintain financial autonomy and must be secure. The NFIU perfectly suit and meets these characteristics of an FIU which is in line with the standards set by the EGMONT Group, the EGMONT group recognizes that these characteristics exist in the NFIU, its only concern has been that, the NFIU does not have the legal framework to guarantee that these characteristic of the NFIU will not be compromised in the future and as such insist that the Economic and Financial Crimes (Establishment) Act 2004 should be amended to address, these concerns.

An FIU by all International Standards should be discrete and segregated/ secluded from any form of activities or Political considerations that may compromise its ability to effectively perform its mandate, this core characteristic of the FIU, makes its activities and operations less known to the public and as such not many can speak authoritatively on developments concerning an FIU, except a person who had been a staff of the FIU or an officer of the Egmont group secretariat. In the case of the NFIU, the Director of the NFIU who is the EGMONT regional representative for the West/Central African sub region, a staff of the NFIU or it’s predecessors in Office. The director of the NFIU has sat for 2½ years now as the Regional Representative of the Egmont Group and he seats in that position at the EGMONT Committee, the highest decision making body of the EGMONT Group, where EGMONT Group policies and guidelines are considered, discussed and adopted.

Opinion or facts expressed by any other person, could only have been derived from open source information which should be subject to verification.

The perception that the EGMONT Group insist that the NFIU must be separated from the EFCC completely is misconstrued, self serving and calculated to defeat and compromise the AntiMoney Laundering, Countering the Financing of Terrorism (ANL/CFT) regime in Nigeria. The EGMONT

Group by its charter protocols and principles recognizes the existence of four types of FIU’s i.e. Administrative, Judicial, Police and Hybrid FIU’s the EGS adopts completely the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force, (FATF) most particularly recommendation 29, which deals exclusively on FIUs; the interpretative note to recommendation 29(9) provides that; An FIU may be established as part of an existing authority, when an FIU is located within the existing structure of another authority, the FIU’s core functions should be distinct from those of the other authority.

Recommendation 29(10) states that the FIU should be provided with adequate financial, human and technical resources, in a manner that secure its autonomy and independence and allows it to conduct its mandate effectively, countries should have a place processes to ensure that the staff of the FIU maintain high professional standards including standards concerning confidentiality and should be of high integrity and be appropriately skilled.

Nowhere in the FATF standard recommendations is provided that an FIU must standalone. A standalone FIU without the capabilities enumerated in Recommendation 29 (9) and (10) will lack the requisite operational autonomy to carry out its mandate, the NFIU as it stand today has 90% of these capacity and it has been functioning optimally in the discharge of its responsibilities. The question will be; what is the guarantee that the standalone FIU being proposed will have this capacities soon enough to meet the requirements of the FATF and the EGMONT Group which will convince the EGMONT Group to lift its suspension against the NFIU. FIU’s in all jurisdiction are treated with discreteness and are not usually exposed and bastardised as the case has been in Nigeria. FIU are the center and coordination mechanism of Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) measures of any country and the FIUs represent their countries on the international sphere and projects. The robustness, of a countries AML/ CFT regime the NFIU has assiduously defended and represented Nigerians AML/CFT regime at key

AML/CFT international fora, such as the GIABA, FATF, EGMONT Group of FIU’s, the goAML user group and a host of other organisations. Its capacity to constantly do so has been commended both locally and internationally.

It is worrisome that some individuals will deliberately undermine and disregard the achievements of the NFIU at this stage of it’s development and it’s international acclaim, which has endeared FIU’s within the sub region to seek the sponsor and mentorship of their FIU’s by the NFIU. These individuals are doing the greatest disservice to Nigeria by failing to restrict themselves to the core issues that are the concerns of the Egmont Group, continuing to project a misconceived position, with the sole intent of establishing a new FIU and propagating the NFIU as ineffective for this same purpose to satisfy their unhealthy agenda will certainly spell doom for Nigeria as much as finally bury the NFIU and drag the country as a whole to it’s pre 2005 days where Nigeria was regarded as a none compliant and cooperative territory.

The NFIU has recently been tagged inefficient, meddled upon and above all, not operating up to international best standards but surprisingly, no comparison has been made nor has ever been made between the NFIU and other FIUs perceived to be operating within the best international standards as pundits have constantly propagated. In all these, we can only draw the inference that; the NFIU is being tagged a bad name so as to facilitate its destruction as well as diminish the country’s AML/ CFT achievements which may result to Nigeria being blacklisted by either the FATF, the back lash of which will set the Country back from its efforts to attract direct foreign investments, and thus discredit the current Government and it’s achievement on Economic recovery.

Whereas the NFIU entirely supports its operational autonomy vis-a-vis the EFCC and the three criteria set by the EGMONT Group to guarantee its operational autonomy, it will only be advisable and natural to do so in accordance with the principles and protocols of the EGMONT Group and as indicated by the EG especially addressing strictly

Buhari only the deficiencies highlighted by the EGMONT group Secretariat, doing otherwise or more i.e. creating a new FIU will detract from the real issues which will ultimately force the expulsion of the NFIU from the EGMONT Group.

The speed and industry employed by the Senate to pass the NFIA bill is commendable, but the bill to establish the NFIA and disband the NFIU is miss- guided and detracts seriously from the issues at stake.

The intentions of the bill is bogus, viewed carefully, the NFIA bill is designed to set up another Law Enforcement Agency with regulatory and enforcement capabilities. The concern of the EGMONT Group has always been that, an FIU should not be saddled with responsibilities that will cause it to deviate from its core functions of receiving, analyzing and disseminating information. The NFIA bill, if allowed to pass will not meet the EG criteria and Nigeria will be back to point zero.

MEASURESTAKENSOFAR As mentioned earlier, the problem that resulted to the suspension of the NFIU from the EGMONT Group had existed from the establishment of the Unit.

Overtime measures have been employed to address this deficiencies; these measures include the issuance of the NFIU regulation of 2015, by the former Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Mohammed Adoke, this regulation though addressed the concerns of the EGMONT Group, did not suffice enough, due to the provision of Section 1(2)(c) of the EFCC (Establishment) Act 2004, the EGMONT Group suggested that for the regulation to take full effect, the EFCC

Act 2004 should be amended to specifically create the NFIU as a Unit under the EFCC or otherwise.

On the strength of this advice, the EFCC initiated the amendment of its Act, to address the Egmont Groups concerns. Coincidentally, Honourable Oladele Kayode introduced a private bill, which bill equally sought to address the deficiencies inherent in the EFCC Act as well as incorporate the concerns suggested by the EGMONT Group. The EGMONT Group was informed accordingly at its plenary meeting of 29th 3rd of February, 2017, held in Doha, Qatar. A copy of the proposed bill amending the EFCC Act and incorporating their suggestion was submitted to the EGMONT Group membership support and compliance-working group with a request from the NFIU, that the MSCWG review the bill and make comments and observations. On the 2nd of March, 2017, the MSCWG forwarded its comments on the proposed EFCC amendment bill suggesting only, that some provisions in the bill be redrafted to make them clearer. Note that nowhere in their comments on the proposed EFCC amendment Bill did the EGMONT Group suggest that this proposed amendment will not address their concerns, neither was it suggested that the EGMONT Group will not accept any other legal instrument concerning the NFIU except the one creating a standalone FIU. The only area of concern of the EGMONT Group, had been the timely passage of the EFCC Amendment Bill and a timeline of the 5th of July, 2017 was recommended to the NFIU.

News 8

Daily Times Nigeria Saturday, March 3, 2018

2019 : FCTA bans posting of political posters in public places Ï ƇƇƆ ƗƆƏ Ɛ pay N1m Fine

By Idu Jude Abuja

ÎÎÎ As 2019 political campaign is about to begin, the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC) under the Federal Capital Territory Administration, has warned that it would soon commence imposition of fines on those who continue to deface Abuja with indiscriminate posting of political bills.

AMMC Coordinator, Umar Shuiabu who handed this warning while addressing journalists in his office last week Friday, revealed

that indiscriminate posting of bills by politicians and churches in public places in Abuja –on directional signs, bridges and buildings, among others, is an offence liable to the fine of N100,000 for individuals, and N1 million for organizations.

Shuiabu was speaking after a second unsuccessful visit to the head office of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), where he had led a strong FCTA team for continuation of the ongoing sensitization against in the City.

“We have been visiting political party leadership in order to sensitize them on the need to keep Abuja clean. And you know, we are nearing campaign period for 2019 general elections when a lot of posters will likely be pasted in public places, so our visit to them is to get them to sensitize their members accordingly.

“We want all the FCT residents to know that pasting of posters defaces the city.

The message is not only for political parties, but it is to all the public, including

Tunde Opalana vAbuja

ÎÎÎ the religious organizations such as the Churches and the Mosques, among others. There is nowhere in the world where this indecent practice is done.

“We will start imposition of relevant fines on all offenders very soon, but before that, we wish to, first of all, sensitize adequately so as to carry the people along. Our team first visited Labour Party (LP) recently, and last month, we were at the All Progressives Congress (APC) party with the same message”.

The Coordinator also disclosed that offenders will also be made to pay for removing the posters, adding that the amount payable for removal was dependent on the amount of posters.

Responding on the inability to meet with PDP Chairman or his representative on two consecutive visits to the party headquarters at Wadata Plaza, the AMMC boss said that the “most important thing was for everyone in the FCT to get the message and keep Abuja clean”.

From Right: Wayne Bishop, Managing Director, PHD Johannesburg, South Africa, Dozie Okafor, Managing Director, PHD Nigeria, and Victor Oyarero, Business Unit Director, PHD Nigeria, during the launch of PHD’s 7th publication titled: “MERGE” at the 2018 Social Media Week, held at Landmark Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Insecurity at Eastern Ports: Bane of Economy of South-South – Amaechi

By Idu Jude Abuja

ÎÎÎ The Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has said that insecurity problems within the Eastern Coastline is responsible for the low level of economic activities in the ports, especially Warri Port in Delta State and Onne port in Rivers State.

The Minister made this assertion recently at the 2nd Maritime Stakeholders’ interactive Forum organised by the Federal Ministry of Transportation in Warri, Delta State.

Amaechi explained that the two Ports in the zone had a great economic po-

tential to compete favorably with the Lagos Ports in generating substantial revenue to the Federation Account and can also create massive employment opportunities for the people in the region.

He lamented that the insecurity bedeviling the SouthSouth area has made the Ports unviable.

According to him, the situation is so bad that the business Community in the zone prefers to patronise the Lagos Ports for their goods and products noting that the Apapa and Tin Can island Ports are relatively safe, secured and economically viable.

He said that Warri and

Port Harcourt used to be investors’ destinations before the advent of security problem in the Zone tasking the Stakeholders in the industry to work together and put an end to the scourge.

“We must on our own tell ourselves the home truth.

Warri used to be a haven before and also Port-Harcourt.

But now, they have been discarded. We must lock ourselves inside a room and ask ourselves a question.

Are we poorer than Lagos and Kano people? We must work back and solve our problem.’’ he said.

Rotimi Amaechi disclosed that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) has

West African Journalists urged to unite in deepening regional democracy

approved the sum of $195M Contract for the Security and Safety project of the Nation’s territorial waters stressing the need for the Stakeholders in the zone to vehemently oppose those who are working against the take-off of the project.

He further explained that these people including some few Security Personnel are the ones benefiting and making billions of Naira from the bad system promising that he would mention names when his current efforts to solve the problem become hopeless.

“There are some people in the system making efforts to sabotage the Con-

tract by stopping the Security Contract. They knew that if there is Security, they won’t impose any kind of levies on you.” He said.

According to him, the Contract is part of the measures being put in place by the Federal Government to secure Nigerian Waterways for legitimate business to thrive and also solve part of the Niger– Delta problem.

Amaechi therefore urged the Ship Owners in the Country especially those from the zone to join hands with him in fighting the saboteurs of the Federal Government’s security efforts.

President of the West African Parliamentary Press Corps (WAPPC), Mr. Andrew Edwin has called for bilateral relationship between Ghanaian and Nigerian press corps, saying both countries have genuine commitment to advancement of democracy through reportage in the sub-region.

Mr. Andrew who was accompanied by the Treasurer of the Corps stated this while paying a courtesy call on the Nigeria Senate Spokesperson, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi in Abuja.

He stressed that Africa continent and the global world stand to benefit if there was strong democratic union between Ghana and Nigeria which he said was reflected in ECOWAS in the past years.

“Strong and vibrant bilateral relations between Press Corps is for the benefit of all particularly Africans and that is why we seek to deepen relationship between Ghana and Nigeria in this direction.”

“Nigeria is a member of Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) Parliament and it was doing a lot at that level which we must all appreciate.”

“Unfortunately, West African journalists have not been carried along by ECOWAS and this has resulted to under reporting of activities of their activities” Mr. Andrew expressed that parliamentarians within African sub-region were doing a lot, but its press arm has been under reported, while seeking the cooperation of Nigerian Senate to strengthen the press council.

Responding, the Senate Spokesperson, Sabi Abdullahi said, it was part of democracy that diverse interests were brought together.

He emphasised that media was key to sustenance of democracy anywhere in the world, adding that democracy also grow with inherent challenges.

He charged the Parliamentary Corps to be courageous in carrying out their responsibilities no matter the challenge, adding that Africa has population explosion and development of technology challenges.

“Media is key to sustenance of democracy. As you carry out your responsibilities, you will face challenges arising from population growth explosion and development of technology.’

Politics

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Daily Times Nigeria Saturday, March 3, 2018

9

I am on a mission to rescue Ekiti Lagos East General Assembly passes vote of from mediocrity and deceit – confidence on Ambode Ojudu ≥≥10&11

≥≥ 12

Assessing Gov Umahi’s impact on governance in Ebonyi Charles Onyekwere, Abakaliki Since the return to democratic rule in 1999, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has retained power in Ebonyi State, producing three governors in the persons of Dr. Sam Egwu from 1999-2007 (Ebonyi North zone) and Chief Martin Nwancho Elechi, from 2007-2015 (Ebonyi Central zone) and the incumbent, David Umahi.

The party at some point recorded a clean sweep of National and state Assembly polls and seats as well. Reasons for overwhelming acceptance of the party are not far-fetched.

Governor David Nweze Umahi (Ebonyi South zone) has spent close to three years at the helm of affairs and has another one year left in his first tenure mandate as governor of Ebonyi State. Within this period, he has clearly demonstrated his ability to manage a complex and diverse state like Ebonyi.

In the area of road construction, the governor came into the administration at the time the state needed critical infrastructure especially internal roads in the state capital which hitherto was in a deplorable state and decay. The governor, since assumption of office, has completed over 45 urban roads within Abakaliki, the state capital city.

Within this period, the Governor, David Umahi has completed the construction of major federal roads in the state especially the Afikpo-Abakaliki road, Amasiri-Okposi federal road and the Nkalagu-Nigercem road.

The road, no doubt, has been bumpy, no thanks to the falling oil prices in the international market and the sole dependence on the commodity by most state governments to finance their activities. It is pertinent to also note at point that the incumbent Governor against all odds has been able to meet his obligations to the state civil service by ensuring that salaries and other entitlement to serving and retired civil servants are paid at the end of every month.

In the education sector, the immediate past regime of Martin Elechi did not pay its counterpart fund of N2 billion to the Universal Basic Education, but Umahi’s administration within this period in office, has paid the counterpart fund and secured N4 billion which it is using to embark on massive reconstruction of schools and equipping of such schools across the state.

Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State (in red cap) and his deputy, Kelechi Igwe , crossing a gutter at the site of construction work at Akanu Ibiam Currently, the state government has renovated dilapidated ones, completed new ones which were recently commissioned. It also approved backlog promotion of the state University staff and their gazetting which had, in the past administration, led to several industrial actions.

The administration under review, declared emergency in the health sector and mapped out funds running into billions of Naira to reconstruct the general hospitals in the state, majority of which have been completed while others are still ongoing.

The State in ensuring safeguarding the health of Ebonyians, built the first virology centre in the entire south-East states of Nigeria from the scratch in order to reduce the number of deaths the state was recording from Lassa fever and other epidemics. Ebonyi State in the Agricultural area, mapped out funds also running into billions of Naira by giving soft loans to farmers which were used to implement the state government‘s rice policy.

The idea worked out as planned as rice production in Ebonyi State

increased close to three years now when the present administration took over power on May 29, 2015. Ensuring increase in rice production and boost the state’s internally revenue, the government procured parboiling machines for its three rice mills.

It is also partnering with the Federal Government and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in this area and the partnership is expected to make the state one of the highest producers of rice in the states of the federation.

Since the ban on sale of foreign rice in the state, the Abakaliki rice has sustained the teeming consumers in the state and beyond.

Umahi, in his efforts to ensure youth empowerment and curb youth restiveness in Ebonyi State, also doled out cash running into millions of Naira with which to empower the youth. He gave out N250, 000 to 5,000 youths in the state. The state government in ensuring adequate security of lives and property of its citizenry, built a security communication centre for security agencies in the state.

The state government also regularly gives the police and other agencies financial and logistics support to

secure the state. Ebonyi under David Umahi renovated the state police command Headquarters in Abakaliki, the state capital.

During the outbreak of the Fulani attacks in the South-East states, Governor Umahi initiated a security meeting where far reaching agreement were adopted to ensure the menace does not spill into the state and since then, the state has been peaceful , armed robbery and kidnapping have been drastically reduced, so also other violent crimes.

On Urban renewal, Abakaliki, until now, used to be called glorified village due to its dusty roads, dirty environment but the Umahi administration has done well to clean up the city to make it a befitting capital. Three flyovers are being constructed on Abakaliki- Enugu Expressway to assist reduce traffic in the state. Street light have been put in all the state for aesthetics and security purposes.

Three new roundabouts with water fountains have also been completed.

The habit of dumping refuse on the streets, sewages and other places in the state capital are now a thing of

CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

Politics 10 Senator Babafemi Ojudu, a member of the 7th Senate is a Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters. A journalist and human rights activist, Ojudu is now aspiring to be governor of Ekiti State on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC). In this interview with PATRICK OKOHUE, Ojudu speaks passionately on why Ekiti State needs to be rescued from the present crop of leaders and repositioned to benefit its people Last week, Transparency International’s assessment of corruption perception index in Nigeria said Nigeria is worse in cases of corruption now than before, how did you receive that news and how will you react to it?

You should know that whenever the EFCC (Economic and Financial Crimes Commission) comes out to say that they have found money of this magnitude, of that magnitude anywhere, it is noted by Transparency, whenever it says the wife of the former President has been found to have $45million in her account, it is noted. It is these reports that are compiled that led to the assumptions made, if there were no report perhaps we wouldn’t be talking of this. That for me, looking at it logically , is what is responsible for the ratings given to Nigeria, it is not a question that Mr. President has bought a private jet, Mr. President has bought a mansion in Dubai or somewhere in Britain or that the President has acquired houses in Lagos or Abuja, it is none of that. It is also not a question of some critical people in the Presidency making away with some huge money, it is not so. There is a lot of cries about the issues of corruption, judges were arrested, other people are being arrested, people are being taken to court, and all of those things get mention in the media and then those in Transparency International who make it their duty to work on these things keep all of those records and compare it to other countries. If we were not arresting, we were not investigating, we were not trying, everything will be silent, because there would not have been data to arrive at their statistics, but again I think it is still part of setting an agenda, making the idea of anti corruption an agenda for the country.

Talking about fighting corruption, the President recently reinstated the Nigeria Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) Executive Secretary, despite the several corruption allegations and investigations, people are surprised about that action, what is your response to it?

Well, I am not quite informed about what necessitated his suspension in the first place

Daily Times Nigeria Saturday, March 3, 2018

I am on a mission to rescue Ekiti from mediocrity and deceit –Ojudu

OJUDU and what caused his reinstatement and we should be careful in judging people based on what we pick up from the social media.

I believe they are allegations and they have maybe to looked at the allegations, I don’t know and I cannot stake my reputation for that, all I know is that I do not in all honesty believe that somebody would have stolen so much money, suspended, investigated and he is found to be culpable and the President will just reinstate that person. You saw the case of Maina, immediately the President looked into it and discovered that he has committed some offence he asked that he should be removed from the system, but like I said I don’t have to comment on things that I don’t have facts on and on this particular case I do not have facts on it, I am just saying that I do not see the President trying to cover up corruption, he is very touchy and passionate about issues of anti-corruption, he is therefore not likely to want to let anybody who is involved go scot-free.

Your party the APC have been having some issues, which is not unusual, it recently set up a committee headed by its National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

In view of the many crises at hand and in particular that of the Kaduna State governor last week, do you think in the time available that Tinubu will be able to achieve much and put APC in the right position to stand and win elections next year?

Why not, I don’t believe that what we have on hand is so bad and so crooked that it cannot be straightened. We are a new party, this party was formed less than four

years ago, ANC (African National Congress) have been in existence in South Africa for more than 70 years, yet they still have crises, we saw the removal of the President just about a week ago, they have their internal crisis and wrangling, it took a lot of efforts to get the man to resign. So, for me when you realise the fact that different people and groups of different persuasions, of different ideologies and ideals came together to form the APC, it will take some time for then to blend those groups together to be one, to share and believe in one ideology and a particular way of doing things. It is work in progress and I think Asiwaju has been brought in to hasten that process, that process of welding the party together, but we have a common interest and that common interest is that we cannot afford to be thrown out of power just four years after taking power, everybody wants to be in the party that is ruling, not the party in opposition, so as soon as the elections knock at the door, everybody will come together and support our candidates and ensure that we win the coming election. Again what you are also seeing is what is expected in political parties, people are seeking advantage, people want to take the plum jobs, they want to contest to be senators, to be governors, senators wants to overthrow governors, governors are also doing their own calculations of how they can be something bigger, so many things, but when reality knocks everybody will see that in unity is our survival.

People are worried that even the Tinubu that was chosen to handle the reconciliation, himself has issues with

For me when you realise the fact that different people and groups of different persuasions, of different ideologies and ideas came together to form the APC, it will take some time for you to blend those groups together to be one, to share and believe in one ideology and a particular way of doing things. It is work in progress and I think Asiwaju has been brought in to hasten that process, that process of welding the party together

some key members of the party, like the chairman of the party, just last week he wrote a letter to the President about the chairman, how do we reconcile that?

You know the beauty of it, it is always good for people to voice out their worries, rather than bottle them up and then begin to sabotage the party. He has expressed his opinion and that is democracy, he has put out his views on the table and I read the chairman’s response this morning, which shows to me that they are both patriotic and are looking forward to the survival and victory of the party and as soon as that happens the President will call the chairman of the party and they will have a talk and at the end of the day, the President will bring the two together and tell them this is the goal, all of us must work towards that. I believe that those things are good for democracy, we cannot all sleep and put our heads in the same direction, let ideas contend, let there be debates, it happens in all parties and political groupings in all of history, some are of the extreme right, others of the extreme left or some are in the centre, they debate from time to time, argue and then come to realise that they have a common interest and they have to work towards attaining that common interest.

Recently, the National Assembly approved the re-ordering of the order of election, putting the presidential election last, which created uproar in the Senate, with many saying it was targeted against the President’s re-election; do you think the re-ordering was in order?

That was an illegality, that was selfish and I can stay at the rooftop and shout that. The power to set out the order or process of election is not, as the electoral law says and as our constitution demands within the powers of the legislators, it is in the hands of INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission) and that has not been removed by any law or by any amendment to our electoral law. When Obasanjo (ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo) tried to put all elections on CONTINUED ON PAGE 11

Daily Times Nigeria Saturday, March 3, 2018

11 Politics

‘On a mission to rescue Ekiti from mediocrity’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10

There is only a bridge in Ado Ekiti that leads to nowhere, there is no water under the bridge and it is not flying over anything. The road was wide enough before he came and then he put a one kilometer bridge on it at the cost of N15billion according to him, so, there is a need to rescue our people, the schools are collapsing, they are dilapidated, the standard itself is nothing to write home about, workers are not being paid their salaries, teachers and civil servants are being owed close to one year salary.

the same day some people went to court to challenge him. At the lower court, the judge ruled that it was an illegality, that that role belongs to INEC, then the judgement was challenged at the Appeal Court, the Appeal Court also found that it was an illegality, nobody has challenged it since then and that still remains. You asked was it targeted at the President. Yes, what is not broken is not fixed. If you have not broken your bones and someone decides to take you to orthopedic hospital, Igbobi, you will revolt. Why are you doing it, what do you want to achieve by doing it, there must be a motive for doing it, but whichever way they do it is not in our own interest, the best thing for all of us is to allow this democracy to survive, work hard to impress your constituency and don’t look for shortcuts.

But, it is already in the electoral act as passed by the National Assembly and as amended…..

There was no amendment, they thought there was an amendment, there was actually no amendment to the electoral act, it was an assumption, they assumed that there was an amendment to that section of the electoral act, I was in the National Assembly in the seventh Senate, it was not done.

If the National Assembly passed the electoral act, it stands to reason that the law they make they have the right to amend, don’t you think so?

Yes, they do, it will then be incumbent on those who are dissatisfied with that law to challenge it in court, because the constitution itself outline the powers of INEC and this falls under the powers of INEC and the constitution supersedes, unless they wants to amend the constitution.

The governorship election in your state of Ekiti is around the corner and like you said sometime, you are on a rescue mission, but what is wrong with Ekiti State that it needs rescuing?

There is so much wrong. First of all let us look at the one that is important but not as important as the others. The issue of perception, today when I mention to people that I am from Ekiti the first thing they say is what is wrong with you people, why are you like this? How can you elect such a man to be your governor, how come with all your education you elected that kind of person as your governor, that is a very bad perception.

It can affect our children who are looking for jobs, it can affect our businessmen who are looking for contracts, it can affect our sons and daughters who are looking for wives and husbands, so that perception is not good.

We were well respected in the past, we are known to be intellectuals, academics, people of integrity, principled, but all that now has changed because of the man who governs us. People look at us from what he is, abusive, thuggish, roguery and all that kind of things, that is not what we are, we have to change that perception of our people and of our state.

Another thing is the standard of living.

A large number of our youths are unemployed, they have no jobs, you come out of school there is nothing to engage you, they are roaming the street unemployed, many have masters degree who are doing commercial motorcycle business, there is disease everywhere, the environment where they live is terrible and there is nothing to be proud of. Today in Ekiti there is no single industry that can employ up to 50 persons, except the fake news industry where we have found out the governor has recruited 100 people to be churning out lies on social media. There is no development going on there, the governor does not have any project that he can call on the President or the Vice President to come and commission. There

OJUDU is only a bridge in Ado Ekiti that leads to nowhere, there is no water under the bridge and it is not flying over anything. The road was wide enough before he came and then he put a one kilometer bridge on it at the cost of N15billion according to him.

So there is a need to rescue our people. The schools are collapsing, they are dilapidated, the standard itself is nothing to write home about, workers are not being paid their salaries, teachers and civil servants are being owed close to one year salary. Where do they get their food from to feed themselves and their children, where will they get money to pay their children school fees, if any of them fall sick where do they get the money to seek medical care ?

These are issues that are of concern to many of us who are from the state. A large number of our people are all over the world working, they want to come back home and participate in the development of their society, but the environment at home does not allow them to do so. The man is battering everybody, he is busy abusing everybody. A man who can wake up and take a man like Obasanjo to the cleaners, there is something wrong with him. I am not a fan of Obasanjo, but then in Yoruba land you don’t abuse elders, you are trained from the day you were born not to abuse anybody who is about two or three years older than you. You are not allowed to abuse him, you may disagree with the person, but you cannot abuse or insult the person.

Even when the person has really wronged you?

No, that is what I am saying, you can disagree and argue, you are even allowed to disagree and argue with your father, but you are not allowed to abuse him. Obasanjo can be the father of that fellow, he can conveniently give birth to him, Iyabo and the governor will probably be about the same age, if Iyabo is not even older. Then, the idea of wishing a man dead is not in our culture. When a man is ill you pray for him to recover not that you daily wish the person dead and then be predicting his death and be brandishing some fake photographs of him being on life support. So, that fellow Fayose is everything that is antithetical to our culture and to our being as a people of Ekiti origin.

That to us is a problem and we think that we have to put things right. We do not want our young ones taking such a person as role model and then upturn our culture and

practices completely. That is why we say let’s go and rescue our people. Because he seem to have captured them, because again with so much poverty in the land and he will just come around with a sachet of rice, like pure water, give it to them, ask them to raise it up, take their photographs and do the video and put it online for the world to see, meanwhile he is stealing our resources. People who were born and trained there and are proud to be sons and daughters of Ekiti cannot just sit on the sidelines and watch, they have to do something that is why I am doing this to dislodge him from the place.

Can you say in all sincerity that this governor has not actually done anything tangible since coming to power?

I am yet to see what he has done, I have given you an example, the bridge he built has no economic value. I am from Ado Ekiti, I should be happy if the governor is doing something in my town, but I believe that if N15billion is spent judiciously in Ado Ekiti, Ado Ekiti will not be what it is today. All the inner roads are bad, all the roads to the economic centres, the farms are bad. If you spend N15billion tarring roads from the market to the towns where agricultural produce come from we will be talking of good life to our farmers, but to go to the epicenter of the town and build a one kilometer flyover that is flying over nothing, it is a waste of resources for God sake. If you use that kind of money to renovate all the schools, the school I went to Ado Grammar School, Ado Ekiti, owned by the government, the last time I went there the potholes in the classrooms are embarrassing, the classrooms have no window panes, the hall where we gather when I was there to pray every morning is an eyesore. Why don’t you spend money on these things that will improve the life of our people rather than building such a structure because you want a pact with the contractors.

I once was on a plane from Akure to Lagos with him and I asked him, governor why are you wasting people’s resources, spending money on this kind of thing, if you had decided to expand that road into about eight lanes traffic will flow freely. From one end of Ado Ekiti to the other end you are not likely to spend 35 minutes, so what is the use for that kind of project?

What is the missing link in Ekiti, Governor Ayodele Fayose was the governor

of the state, he did ‘so well’ that he was impeached, then he came again and the same people re-elected him, what are we really missing about the Ekiti people?

Let me say, he came for the first time and rode rough shod over the people, a good number of our prominent citizens were slaughtered in very tragic circumstances, we were all angry and decided that we had to take him out and we took him out, we thought that was it. Unfortunately, our governors who came in thereafter, got all the facts, those murders, the evidence of which are with Mr. Femi Falana would have put him on trial, that would have been the avenue to go to jail for killing our people, but that was not done and then he gradually gathered his supporters and was able to come back to power. For me I think something was missing, something was wrong.

And what could be that missing link, because he later contested against a man many consider cerebral, well educated, yet he won?

Yes, but in-between when he left and when he came back he contested against me for Senate and I defeated him, that is why I said if I were governor I would have known how to handle him and you won’t be saying what you are saying today.

Will you say there is disconnect between the Ekiti elites and the people of the grassroots?

Yes, obviously there is a disconnect, because everyone of us who are educated could not find engagement at home, so, you either leave for Lagos, Ibadan, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Washington DC, Paris, Australia or wherever to go and look for greener pasture, then we left our fathers and mothers at home. Wherever there is no middle class this is the kind of problem you find and the way to solve it is that let us go back home, let us talk to our parents, our uncles, our aunts, our sisters and brothers that look, this is the way it is done, these are the things you can do when you have somebody with genuine intentions, not somebody who is deceiving you. He goes to sit with a shoemaker asking the shoe maker to repair his shoes, it is a deceit, meanwhile there is an entire room filled with expensive shoes that cost as much as one million naira a pair that doesn’t need repair and to me it is deceit and anybody who loves his people will not deceive them.

There are many people eyeing this position in your party, how do you intend to triumph in the primary?

How do you know? The party has not asked us to come and obtain form, anybody who wants to become councilor, chairman of council, commissioner, Senator, House of Reps, House of Assembly and all that can just take a room in the capital, put his photograph there and say he wants to run for governor to call attention to himself.

Until the party comes out in another one or two months to say those who are interested go and obtain form to indicate interest with an amount of money, that is when you will know the boys from the men.

Politics 12

Daily Times Nigeria Saturday, March 3, 2018

2019: Group holds strategic discussion with leaders ahead of elections Patrick Okohue Media mogul Alistair Soyode has continued his enlightenment on creating awareness for Nigeria’s coming 2019 election through the YES Nigeria Movement with some political stakeholders in Nigeria as part of the strategic roles the nation’s electorates holds, to be decisive, positive and focus on solution orientation.

Mr Soyode who paid a courtesy visit to the former Governor of Rotary Club International District 9125, Dr. Mike Omotosho in his office in Abuja said he is ready to take the mandate of the YES Nigeria to every citizen of the country on their desired promised land with the help of other partners especially with his experiences gained from the international community and one that has interacted strongly with major stakeholders in the country.

When asked about his aspiration, Mr Alistair Soyode who is also the convener of the foremost leading mentorship platform, NIDME CORP, said he has what it takes to run for the highest office at local, state or national level and as always will contribute positively to its development.

He expanded on the medium and movement which according to him have the following aims and objectives; “As a call to service to our parent’s land, to sensitise, educate, enlighten and bring our electorates to the consciousness of the realities around us. We are confronted with difficulties and lack of adequate supportive governance by some of our leaders and secondly, to create an enabling process where each political party will recognised and give the desired opportunity to potential leaders within to emerge for elective offices.

“We have set out to assist in the pro-

cess of electing credible leaders in their various political parties for our generation and seek to achieve this by offering meaningful, objective and constructive ideas for use in the process of elections or selections.”

Dr. Mike Omotosho who also is the National Chairman of Labour Party while noting the system is facing corrupt practices in his remarks pledged his support for citizens joining the political paths especially those with strong credentials, high level of commitments to nation building and promised to work with them based on common interests to ensure that Nigerian people gets the best.

Dr Omotosho extended call to all to get involved in politics and stop the habit of criticising from outside, saying the vision is doable to change leadership positions, but needs a collective effort by all Nigerians to make it happen.

Lagos East General Assembly passes vote of confidence on Ambode The General Assembly of Lagos East Senatorial District of the All Progressives Congress (APC), have endorsed Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, by passing a unanimous vote of confidence on him, urging him to vie for reelection come 2019.

Ratifying the endorsement in Epe, Thursday, virtually all stakeholders in the Lagos East political circle who were in attendance, stated in clear terms that all other districts that have had a go at the gubernatorial seat have been privileged to a fair share of two terms, starting with Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu from the Lagos West Senatorial District and Babatunde Raji Fashola SAN, from the Central, that of the East should not be an exception.

The Assembly led by Otunba Bushura Alebiosu all cited the good works of the governor, stressing the fact that according him the deserved support in his reelection bid has so many positive reaction in terms of development that comes with it, as signaled by his numerous feats all around the state.

The Balogun of Epe, Chief Lanre Razak, who was saddled with the responsibility of organising the event as a staunch member of the Governor Advisory Council (GAC) from the East District, led the group in the ratification process, citing Ambode’s brilliant performance as his unique selling point which qualifies for another term.

According to him, “the programme was majorly held to reaffirm, reconfirm, re-endorse and agree again and again, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, our own governor has performed so wonderfully well for us, far beyond our expectation.

“We cannot but come up again to tell the world that we thank them for voting Ambode in 2015 and asking them to give unanimous support again for Ambode for his brilliant performance this time around.”

Commenting on the notion that some individuals within the district have fac-

AMBODE

RAZAK

tions which are averse to the purpose of the gathering, Razak stated unequivocally that, “I am not aware that anybody is averse to this gathering today, nobody, and nobody in East Senatorial District that is against the nomination and endorsement of Akinwunmi Ambode, they may have issues with themselves not against the issue of Akinwunmi Ambode being endorsed for the second term and for the purpose of him running again in 2019.

“Epe is now comparable to New York, courtesy Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s unmatched feats, but four years is not enough for him to exhaust all the good works he had in mind for the state.

“He is brainy, a semblance of what you have onions, as long as you remove a layer you get something new, so he deserves another term,” the Balogun asserted.

He added an appeal to all eligible electorates to value the worth of their Permanent Voters Card and voting right.

“I appeal to the electorates that the most valuable thing they have today is the PVC, they should not sell it, they

should ensure they vote the right candidate, who is Akinwunmi Ambode so that he can continue to advance developments.

“Two days ago, the national working council of the APC extended the tenure of the executives of the party and the impression outside is that the Asiwaju is somehow relegated?

“That is not correct, our Asiwaju remains the national leader of our party and since the process of crisis management mechanism took effect, Tinubu is one of those who saw the need to reconcile and he is the leader of the party and what happened there is at the instance of his support and efforts to re-unite the party.”

Senator Gbenga Ashafa, Hon Wale Raji member representing Epe federal constituency, Rt. Hon. Adeyemi Ikuforiji, Rt. Hon. Jokotola Pelumi, Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, Senator Anthony Adefuye, Hon. Abiodun Tobun, Hon. Olusegun Olulade, Mrs Adenrele Ogunsanya and host of other dignitaries were all present to drive home their stance.

‘Umahi’s impact on governance in Ebonyi’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9 the past as trucks on daily basis move from door to door and streets to cart way refuse, making the city arguably the cleanest capital in the country.

The government has also embarked on rural electrification by providing transformers and other auxiliary materials to many communities in the state. It also extended the street lighting programme from Abakaliki to the 13 local government council headquarters and major cities and towns across the state.

With the governor’s achievements, the people of Ohaozara, Onicha and Ivo federal constituency have endorsed him as their sole candidate for the 2019 governorship election.

Umahi’s endorsement came during the meeting of the federal constituency held at Onicha Local Government Area of the state.

The people made up of party executives, youths, women and community leaders noted that Umahi has performed beyond expectation. Addressing the people, the member representing the federal constituency in the National Assembly, Hon. Linus Okorie stated that the governor has executed laudable projects across the 13 local government areas of the state.

The lawmaker noted that the constituency would deliver the governor in the 2019 governorship election with more votes than it gave him in 2015 and called for continued support for his re-election. Okorie disclosed that the constituency has already commenced ward to ward campaign for the delivery of the Governor come 2019.

“We must continue to thank them, we must continue to say that they are the best people one can relate with because irrespective of their large numbers, they are very supportive to our governor, they are the ones driving his development and they are not giving him any trouble.

“The Abakaliki bloc has given the governor even more support than us and we will continue to thank them for believing in the governor who came on Divine mandate,” he added.

UMAHI

News 13

Daily Times Nigeria Saturday, March 3, 2018

Dapchi update: Search for adopted school girls extends to neighbouring countries - FG ÎÎÎ

The ongoing search for the 110 girls who were abducted from the Government Girls Science and Technical College (GGSTC), Dapchi, Yobe State, has been extended to the neighbouring countries, the Federal Government has announced.

In a statement issued in Abuja on Friday, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said top military and security officials on Thursday travelled to the North-east to add more urgency to the search, which has now been extended beyond the North-east theatre.

The officials include the nation’s top military officer and Chief of Defense Staff, Gen. Abayomi Olonisakin; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas; Chief of

Army Staff; Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai and the Director-General of the Department of State Services, Alhaji Lawal Daura.

They joined the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, who had earlier relocated to the North-east, as well as the National Security Adviser (NSA), Maj.-Gen. Babagana Monguno (Rtd), who has also visited the theatre.

The Federal Government had earlier released the names and other details of the 110 girls who have yet to be accounted for, following the attack on the GGSTC, Dapchi, Yobe State, on 19 Feb. 2018.

The panel set up by the Federal Government to unravel the circumstances surrounding the abduction of the girls was inaugurated on Thursday by the NSA.

‘Buhari’s handling of issues leaves much to be desired’ - Supporter Alphonsus Nweze, Awka

ÎÎÎ

A former People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Governorship aspirant in Anambra State and a strong supporter of President Muhammadu Buhari, has expressed fear that the Katsina born President may not make it in 2019 presidential election.

Anigbata in an exclusive interview said the way Buhari is handling a lot of sensitive national issues ahead of 2019 presidential poll left much to be desired.

He said Buhari may however be banking on North East and North West to vote him massively without thinking where he would get the votes in the South, since

the South West which voted him in the last election may not support him that way this time.

Such issues, said Anigbata, a businessman turned politician were the bungling of killings

by Fulani Herdsmen, which he is their national patron, the latest abduction of over 100 girls in Dapchi, Borno State, without the Nigerian security providing clues as to their whereabouts among others Anigbata said the South East would have been Buhari’ s best option but he is not reaching out to the zone, saying what Ndigbo need from Buhari a firm assurance that after him, the presidency would be zoned to them, then he will get their mammoth

support.

But the fear of many is that Buhari is not saying anything to that effect and he may employ the kangaroo method, they used to extend the tenure of National Executive Committee of All Progressives Congress (APC) and zone the presidency to any of the region in the N “ Anything is possible in Nigeria politics. He may decide that the zoning is now on regional basis and it would go to the North East or North Central. So people from the South are very suspicious of Buhari and until he clears that suspicion, support for him from the South especially South East and South will be scanty, “he said.

Anigbata said the re-

cent kidnap of over 100 girls in Dapchi, Borno State has made nonsense of whatever gains his administration made in the area of security.

However, he said PDP has chance to bounce back to the leadership of the country in 2019 if they work hard and do their homework very well by fielding a candidate that can match Buhari’ s towering figure.

Anigbata said former vice-president, Atiku Abubakar, with a very good running mate like Ekweremadu, the Deputy Senate President or Mr. Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra State on the Platform of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) can flush out Buhari in 2019 poll.

FCTA rural infrastructure excites communities Idu Jude Abuja

ÎÎÎ

Youths in FCT rural Communities including Durumi, Galuwyi and Shere of Bwari have lauded the FCT Minister for the ongoing construction of an 11km major access road traversing these communities. Residents noted that the project which is the first of its kind since the creation of the Federal Capital Territory, is sure to improve the living standards of the people.

Leader of the youths in the communities, Mr. Zaka Nehemiah, while briefing newsmen noted, “With immense gratitude, let me use this opportunity to register my heart-felt gratitude and sincere appreciation to FCT Ministers Mal. Muhammad Bello Musa and the Executive Chairman of Bwari, Hon. Musa Diko for their positive transformation of Durumi, Galuwyi and Shere Road.

He noted, “Durumi, Galuwyi and Shere communities are in Bwari Area council located about 10km away from City centre and Presidential Villa.

“Over the years, these communities had suffered long period of government neglect. The presence of government was not felt at all as the age long problems of lack of good road, water, electricity, and health facilities among other basic social amenities.

“People of the land have on their own been engaging in community self-help projects.”

The Durumi, Shere and Galuwyi road are public utilities projects also fait accompli to the pledge of the FCT Minister to shift focus to the provision of rural infrastructure and utilities in the next half of his tenure.

Also speaking in respect to the development, the Coordinator, Satellite Town Development Department, Malam Isyaku Yamawo, said the construction of the road measuring over 11km, including drainages is pursuant to the determination of the FCT administration to decongest the city, by opening up that axis of the FCT for estate development.

R-L: Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike , State PDP Chairman, Bro Felix Obuah and Deputy Governor Ipalibo HarryBanigo after the ONELGA Women endorsed the Rivers State Governor for a second term at the Government House Port Harcourt...

2019: Binani joins race for Adamawa central senatorial zone Tom Garba, Yola

ÎÎÎ

Hajiya Aishatu Ahmed Binani Friday with thousands of her supporters stormed the state office of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Yola and declared her intentions to join the league of those aspiring the senatorial seat of Adamawa central zone.

The former House of Representatives member to had represented the people of Yola South,

Yola North, and Girei LGAs, made a name in her philanthropically works to the people of the area, said the burdens of the masses endear her to aspire for the senatorial seat of the zone.

“Today I’m here to declare my genuine intentions to aspire the seat of Adamawa central senatorial zone under the APC party in the 2019 general elections, a party of justice and fair play to all party loyalist.

“ I want to formally notify the party executives of my plans to begin wide consultations, seeking your permission to meet with my various supporters before embargo of campaigns will be finally lifted off.’’ Binani said.

While appreciating the leadership of the State party, Binani pledged to be loyal to party leadership since their decision to decamp to the party with her husband Dr. Ahmed Moddibo, last

year. ‘’From the day we decamped to this great party of ours, we have been supporting the party up keep in one way or the other and this we will continue to do as long as we remain in this party.

“I’m shedding tears of Joy, as thousands of my supporters throng into Yola today (Friday) to identify with and show me great measure of love. My thanks can’t be enough to you all.’’

News 14

Daily Times Nigeria Saturday, March 3, 2018

Check your mental health Status, Anambra health commissioner urges residents Alphonsus Nweze, Awka

ÏÏÏThe

Anambra State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Joe Akabuike, has called on the people of the State to regularly check their mental status.

Dr. Akabuike who spoke in Awka, the State capital during the opening ceremony of Synapse Services, a mental health hospital in the State, also advised that people should save for their health care in the later years of their lives.

The Commissioner said the opening of the facility was timely as the level of mental illness in the state was alarming but assured of government’s commitment to confront it head on.

Akabuike said state government has psychiatric facility in Nawfia, Njikoka Local Government Area and rehabilitation center in Nteje, Oyi Local Government

Area, but still needs the Public Private Partnership (PPP) efforts in handling mental cases He said that Synapse Service was the first private mental facility in the state and commended the owner, Dr. Vincent Udenze for thinking home and assured him of government partnership.

Dr. Lawrence Ikeako, former commissioner for health, said the opening of Synapse Services in the state was a good development which will reduce the incidence of unqualified mental officers in attending to people with the illness.

Ikeako who was the chairman of the occasion said that mental illness was a common problem in Nigeria because the government do not have interest in handling mental illness cases in the country.

He said research has shown that by the year 2020 mental ill health would be so

common as it will increase between20 and 30 per cent to the extent that it would be prevalent like HIV/AIDS and other popular health cases.

He said that according to WHO report as at 2006 Nigeria has 3, 105 health medical officers to extent that the ratio of mental health officers to mental patients is one officer to 100,000 patients.

Ikeako said based on these back drop there was need to train more mental health officers because lots of quacks have taken over the job and it has produced negative results like stigmatisation against the patients.

He said experts like the proprietor of Synapse Oak Services should be encouraged to thrive since they are experts and there are not many qualified officers in the field.

Dr. Vincent Udenze, the Medical Director of Synapse Services called on Anambra

State residents to join hands to fight psychiatric illness growing faster in the society.

According to him synapse Oak Services mental health services provider and mega mental center would impact on the lives of the people, saying that it is not profit based but to immortalise his father’s name.

“I am looking at providing mental health services to my people not solely to make money but to provide services that will keep me happy knowing that I have made some one fine.

“We are providing free medical mental health consultation service second and fourth Friday of every month, to give access to people to be free in checking their mental health status.

“The rise in mental health is increasing and I wish that the government would bring me home to consult for my state and give my services”.

Ikeako said he intends to

From Left: Branch Chairman,Nasfat Lagos-Island,Prince Adewale Adele, Chairman,Council of Elders,Nasfat,Alh. Mudathir Shitta, National President,Nasfat Worldwide,Alh. Bolarinwa Kamil, Member House of Representatives, Hon. Monsuru Batola and General Muyiwa Okunowo(rtd) at the N100million Fund Raising and Laying of Foundation Building of the Construction of Nasfat Lagos-Island Branch (Islamic Development Center) in Lagos...on Thursday.

Budget implementation: FCTA orders staff bio-metric data Idu Jude Abuja

ÏÏÏFederal

Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has called on all FCTA staff to come out enmass for their biometric data capturing for personnel management, manpower development and budgeting.

Assistant Director in the FCTA department of Human Resource Management in charge of Manpower Development (MPD), Mr. Rotimi Ajayi gave this explanation while speaking According to him, the exercise, which commenced last year, is expected to

last beyond six months and is intended capture such staff’s biometric data as Tax Identification Number (TIN), PENCOM Number, Bank Verification Number (BVN)/Bank Account Number and National Housing Fund Number.

It also captures other data like FCT Health Services Scheme Number, National Identity Card/Slip, as well as educational and professional credentials.

“All these data are very important because they can be used for personnel planning, manpower planning and personnel budgeting. We can also use it for promotion because

with just a click, we will be able to know the number of staff due for promotion.

This is in addition to enabling the Administration to effectively place square pegs in square holes, as well as round pegs in round holes”.

Revealing that the data could also be used for and by staff for retirement purposes, Ajayi advised staff who do not have the necessary requirements to try and get them so that they would perform the exercise satisfactorily in time.

He also stated that it was mandatory for all members of staff to be physically present for the exercise, and also take It very seri-

ous by making available all the requirements so as to make it successful, adding that the exercise was not meant to witch-hunt any staff, even as he asked them not to panic.

“The exercise is going to cover all cadre of staff under the FCTA, for now, FCTA staff and may be political office holders –they will have their own platform on it too”, he further explained and added that FCTA staff in the data office were already working with the consultant and they were expected to take over management of the data on completion of the biometric exercise. end

go into mentoring where he can bring in people to see how the services works and let them know that psychiatric experts could work in a decent environment.

The Proprietor Dr. Udenze said he would encourage people to go into psychiatric training to provide enough man power as mental illness is controllable by use of expert services and can be checked as well.

He said as a consultant with Northern Governor’s

Wives Forum on dealing with drug abuse and its effects and having worked effectively in reducing the increase in mental health problems in that part of the country, he said he would want to extend same to his state.

He said that the level of mental illness in the county was becoming alarming and need to be checked in order to put people in shape before the records overwhelms the state.

Dickson swears in 3 commissioners, special adviser Chris Eze, Yenagoa

ÏÏÏThree

new commissioners and one Special Adviser have joined the Bayelsa State Executive Council.

Governor Dickson who swore in the new appointees in Government House on Thursday assigned Mrs. Funkazi Koroye-Crooks to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Investment which was vacated by the incumbent Secretary to the State Government, Kamela Okara.

The Governor also announced that the Ministry of Women and Social Development, has been split into the Ministry of Women Development and the Ministry of Empowerment and Social Welfare, adding that, the newly sworn in Mrs. Faith Opene will be in charge of either of the two ministries.

He said the portfolio of the other new appointee; Mr. Gabriel Apaingolo would be announced in due course, while Prof. Rose EzonbodorAkwagbe would work as a Special Adviser to the Governor on Maternal and NeoNatal Welfare.

Meanwhile, the Governor has mandated the 15 member newly inaugurated State Primary Healthcare Development Board to ensure that, the state’s maternal and infant mortality rate is reduced to the lowest in the country in the near future.

A statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Francis Ottah Agbo, quoted Governor Dickson as saying that, more women and youths would be brought on board his administration, as a deliberate policy geared towards promoting their welfare and wellbeing.

While emphasizing that no woman in the state should lose her life, while giving birth or lose her baby, he assured members of the board of the government’s full support to carry the message of safe motherhood to the grassroots.

His words: “With the sign-

ing of the Primary Healthcare Development Board Bill into law, we have created a mechanism for delivering primary health care. Bayelsa State government doesn’t want even a single woman to lose her life, while trying to give birth or lose her child.

Without them, no life exists.”

“I expect that in no distant time, the statistics of maternal and infant mortality rate will be reversed and be the lowest in the country.”

Governor Dickson also urged the board to get the database of all pregnant women in the state, noting that, the government would make available some stipends to them during the period of their pregnancy.

As part of efforts to improve women’s welfare, he said the first lady of the state; Dr. Rachel Dickson would organize a conference, where medical personnel, traditional birth attendants and other stakeholders would address the issues affecting women.

Chairman of the Primary Health Care Development Board is Dr. Victoria Denenu, while Dr. Bekesu Amakepreye Martins is to serve as the Executive Secretary.

Other members are, Dr. Bomokumo Kpokiri, Dr. Aganaba Douiye, Mrs Aladei Philomina and Mrs. Doris Nestor.

Also to serve on the board are Mrs. Victoria Owutubo Samuel, Mrs. Ogugu, Izibeloko Jack Ideh, Ebike Tolukoro and Dr. Jeremiah Israel to represent the Nigeria Medical Association.

The board also has representatives of the state Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria, Nursing and Midwifery Council, Medical and Health Science Laboratory of Nigeria and the state Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria.

Responding, Chairman of the Primary Health Care Development Board, Dr. Victoria Denenu promised to work towards reducing the maternal and infant mortality rate, before the end of this year.

Daily Times Nigeria Saturday, March 3, 2018

News 15

Group to occupy Senate, calls for suspension of 10 Senators Yakubu Salisu, Kano

ÏÏÏA civil group known

L-R: Creative Director, Noah’s Ark Communications Limited, Maurice Ugwonoh; Executive Creative Director, Noah’s Ark Limited, Abolaji Alausa; Managing Director/Chief Creativity Officer,Noah’s Ark Communications Limited, Lanre Adisa and Creative Director, Yemi Arawore during a press briefing on the company’s 10th year anniversary in Lagos recently.

Supreme Court dismisses Dasuki’s bail application Andrew Orolua, Abuja

ÏÏÏThe

Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the appeal filed by former National Security Adviser (NSA), Colonel Sambo Dasuk (rtd), challenging his continued detention after three separate trial courts had granted him bails.

The Apex Court held that the bails granted Dasuki in respect of criminal charges brought against him by EFCC have been obeyed having being implemented by the Controller of Prison Kuje on December 29, 2015.

In a judgement in an ap-

peal filed by Dasuki who also asked for suspension of his trial pending the time the bail orders are obeyed by government, Justice Ajembi Eko of the Supreme Court said that the EFCC cannot be held responsible for the continued detention of Dasuki as his current detention is on the instruction of the Department State Service (DSS).

Justice Eko in the judgement, that was unanimously adopted by other members of the panel said that since the bail order was implemented by the Prison Controller, it has been obeyed as far as the charg-

es against him at the FCT High Court was concerned.

The Apex Court said that from the claims and counter-claims of Dasuki and EFCC, it was clear that he Dasuki was rearrested at the premises of the Kuje Prison on December 29, 2015

by DSS. The Supreme Court therefore affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeal and the FCT High Court which had in their separate decisions held that EFCC cannot be held responsible for the detention of Dasuki

by DSS. Justice Eko said the appeal brought by Dasuki

lacked merit and constituted abuse of court process, therefore stand dismissed.

The Court ordered Dasuki and EFCC to go back to the FCT High Court to continue with the trial in the charges brought against Dasuki by the anti-graft agency.

Former justice of the Federal High Court Mr. Adeniyi Ademola, Justice Peter Affem and Justice Hussein Baba Yusuf of the FCT High Court had at different time granted bail to Dasuki who is standing trial on charges of unlawful possession of firearms and money laundering.

Gender violence: Group trains female students on safety methods of using the internet in Kano Yakubu Salisu, Kano

ÏÏÏA

non-governmental organisation Center for Information Technology and Development (CITED) has taken its security and safety methods of using the internet campaign to Kano State Government Female Secondary school Maidile .

The step down training which is aimed at educating the female students on how to safely use the internet is coming at a time the internet world is experiencing a rise in cases of violence against the female gender online.

The Program AssistantGeneral Internet Advocacy of the Group, Hajiya Maryam Ado Haruna, said that the

group deemed it necessary to train the female students on how to be safe while using the internet rather than discouraging them from using it. “ You would observe that a lot of academic activities are being carried out online these days, if we don’t teach these girls how to use the internet, soon, they will be in their final year and you know that the Jamb CBT exams and registrations are done on the computers now. It is no longer news that our students are finding it difficult to make it during such exams as they lack some of the basic knowledge to do so.

“The internet has come to stay and we must encourage our younger ones to make good use of it in their aca-

demic pursuits” According to Maryam women are faced with different problems while using social media platforms such as the face book, tweeter, WhatsApp and others as one’s account could be hacked, impersonation, while some unscrupulous individuals Photoshop women pictures exposing them in a bad manner that could affect and tarnish their image in the society as well as posting comments and writings in their names which has led to various misunderstanding even within a family.

Also cases of intimidation and harassment have been recorded.

She said the fear of such, has forced lots of parents to

restrict their wards from the use of internet but that with such training by her group, women are taught on how to report such cases if experienced while using any of the social media platform, how to keep their passwords safe as well as how to maintain and recover one’s account in the event where one’s account is hacked.

She urged the general public not to hesitate to report to the security agencies for appropriate measures to be taken where such is needed.

The group has so far trained over 500 women on safety methods of using the internet in various states in the northern part of the country such as Bauchi, Yobe, Jigawa and Kano respectively.

as Concerned Democratic Initiative Movement for Good Governance (CDIMGG) has threatened to embark on a nationwide peaceful protest by occupying and halting all Senate activities, until rights and respect of Human rights as well as interest of all Nigerians are respected by the Senate President.

According to the group’s National Coordinator Ado Mallam Rossi, the group resulted to such decision as a result of the recent suspension of the ten pro- Buhari Senators who opposed the amendment of the 2019 general election time table set by the Independent National Electoral Commission, by the pro-Saraki Group of the 8th Senate, which they view as a deliberate attempt to deprive the senators their freedom of Expression as enshrined in section 39 subsection (1) of the Federal Republic Of Nigeria Constitution.

The group call upon the leadership of the Senate to immediately withdraw the suspension of the 10 senators, because it’s violates the Constitution noting that he, (Saraki) is also under trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) and has been accused of refusing to pay tax as stated by the Paradise paper investigation Report, but instead of him honorably resigning from his office, he is still clinching to the post and whoever opposes him or object to his foul antics, will be silenced by hindering him from attending the Senate in the name of suspension. “ Going by the happenings at the 8th Senate, we observe with utmost displeasure the body language of the Senate President of working for the PDP to sabotage APC led agenda at all levels especially using his allies within the APC to stagnate all development programs, and appointments proposed by the Buhari led Administration, in which the position which he Saraki occupies is in contrary to the Constitution of the Federal Republic as stated in section 52 sub section one; that “ Every member of the Senate or House of Representatives shall before taking his seat declare his assets and liabilities as prescribed in this Constitu-

tion and subsequently, take and subscribe the oath of allegiance and the oath of membership as prescribed in the seventh schedule to this Constitution before the president of the Senate or, as the case may be the speaker of the house of Representatives, which that allows him to contest for the position of any principal officers position in the assembly, which Saraki gave a false declaration of his assets and now facing the tribunal but despite violating the said section he was not barred from performing his constitutional duties” The group further stressed that, the country has never witnessed discrimination of right to freedom as said by section 42 (1) of the republic Constitution, were citizens of the country has the right to political opinion as its been recorded presently.

That the in order to achieve some selfish needs of some individuals, the suspended senators and the people from their constituency have been deprived their right of citizenship of the republic which violates their right as Nigerians are the senators were only speaking the minds of those whom they represent at the senate.

“You see a vivid example of such is the recent suspension of Senator (Ali) Ndume and now the Patriotic senators, all these we see as a deliberate attempt to sabotage the recent reconciliation assignment embarked upon by the National Chieftain of the APC Chief Asiwaju Bola Ahmadu Tininbu, directed by the president, this, the Senate President and his allies set to frustrate” “We want it to be on record that, if after the 7 days’ ultimatum starting from the 5th of March the suspended Senators are not called back to the Senate, we shall mobilise and occupy the Senate until our voices and call for justice is heard” CDIMGG, also urge the National leadership of APC to sanction and also dismiss those involved in frustrating efforts to reconcile party members, and yet working for the PDP to see the downfall of Buhari led administration for a better Nigeria, especially those in the National Assembly.

16 News

Daily Times Nigeria Saturday, March 3, 2018

Daily Times Nigeria Saturday, March 3, 2018

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FEATURES

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9 things you need to know about the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ Ïd ƌ Ƒ ô ƊƈƋƋƆƏ ƆƓ ƍ Ɔ ƒƆ ƍƋƆ Ɛƕ Ƈ Ƒƍ Ə ƗƆ ƒƆƏ Ƌ Ɛ ƕƆ Ə é ƆƏƆ ƏƆ Ɛ Ɔ Ɔ ƕ Ƒ ƆƆƗ Ɛ Ɗ Ɠ Ƅ ƑƐ Andrew Hayward

familiar flagship tick-tock pattern, and while those aforementioned tweaks and changes are noteworthy, much of the experience hasn’t changed significantly from the Galaxy S8.

As mentioned, they keep the same sleek core design as before, plus they keep the dazzling Quad HD curved Super AMOLED displays at 5.8in and 6.2in, respectively. And yes, the headphone port has survived another edition, thankfully.

They have the same size batteries – 3,000mAh for the S9 and 3,500mAh for the S9 Plus – as before, and still offer wireless charging. They ship with 64GB of internal storage, but you can add up to 400GB more via microSD cards.

At least the Galaxy S9 phones will sound a bit better: the new AKG-tuned stereo speakers should provide about 40% louder sound than the Galaxy S8, and surely sound a bit clearer to boot.

The Galaxy S8 has been our favourite phone in the world over the last year or so – but today, Samsung announced the Galaxy S9 to try and assume its throne.

And that’s probably what will happen. Rather than try a new approach, Samsung has mostly stuck with what worked so well last year for the Galaxy S9 and larger Galaxy S9+, but both of these handsets feature some important upgrades that make them more than just renamed repeats.

Want to get up to speed with what’s new (and what’s not) with these incoming flagships? Here are the nine things you need to know about the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+.

1) THE PLUS GETS DUAL CAMERAS Samsung resisted the urge to put two back cameras on the Galaxy S8 phones last spring, but after doing so with the Galaxy Note 8, we’re seeing it on the Galaxy S9+ as well – just the Plus model, though. The standard Galaxy S9 sticks with one main sensor.

The dual-camera array on the Galaxy S9+ largely mirrors that of the Galaxy Note 8, albeit now with vertically-arranged sensors, both at 12 megapixels.

Having two allows you to swap to 2x optical zoom, plus one is telephoto and the other wide-angle. But there is one key difference from the Note 8 in how the main sensor works...

2) BOTH HAVE ADJUSTABLE APERTURE The main sensor on both the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ offer adjustable aperture, which means the camera can automatically swap between two aperture settings based on the amount of light you’re working with. The default is f/1.5, already the widest aperture we’ve seen on a smartphone, but it can swap to a narrower f/2.4 if you have plenty of light available.

What’s the point? Well, you’re likely to get more detail with the f/2.4 setting, and it makes the switch at about 100 lux – or the amount of light on a very cloudy day.

That’s paired with multi-frame noise reduction, which merges together multiple shots to give you one clear result.

Both phones also introduce some impressive Super Slo-mo video features, capturing footage at 960 frames per second and letting you play them back at incredibly slow speeds.

3) THE FINGERPRINT SENSOR

MOVED This might sound like a nitpicky detail, but the fingerprint sensor’s placement was one of the only real design issues with the Galaxy S8 models. Putting it to the side of the fingerprint sensor ended up feeling super awkward in use and led to lots of smudges on your camera.

The Galaxy S9’s move isn’t dramatic, but it seems like enough to make a big difference: now it’s right below the back camera(s), which is a more natural position for your finger, plus it feels a little more distinct from the camera compared to where it was before.

It’s the only major design change for the S9 and S9+, but honestly, it’s a bigger one than it seems.

4) MORE SPEED AND EXTRA PLUS RAM As expected, the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ pack in the latest and greatest Android processors around, given that it’s been a year since the last edition.

We’ll see the new Exynos 9810 systemon-a-chip, which will power both handsets in many parts of the world and deliver top-end Android performance.

Americans will see the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 instead, and benchmarks show a slight dip in processing power – although in both cases, there’s more speed here than the previous versions.

The Galaxy S9 is sticking with the same 4GB RAM as before, which was more than enough to keep things steadily speedy, but the Galaxy S9+ differentiates itself from the smaller version by bumping up to 6GB RAM this time around.

We probably won’t see a big difference between them, really, but it’s something else to help set them apart.

5) THE DEX PAD IS NEW Last year’s original DeX station was a neat idea, but the execution wasn’t fantastic. Essentially, it turned your Galaxy S8 (and later Note 8) into a desktop computer using an external monitor, along with a keyboard and mouse.

But this time around, the Galaxy S9 lays flat on the new DeX Pad, meaning you can use it as a touchpad and virtual keyboard. That’s a significantly more useful approach, and should help make the DeX a more appealing accessory.

And this time, game and app developers are optimising apps to use the new approach, with Square Enix’s new Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition leading that charge.

6) SAMSUNG HAS AR EMOJI Wait, is Samsung copying Apple again? Well, not exactly. Apple’s iPhone X Animoji have led to a lot of talk of copycat versions, but Samsung’s AR Emoji are a bit different.

Essentially, it scans your face to create a 3D avatar in your likeness, and is very Nintendo Mii-like in its execution. They look a little unsettling, to be honest – not like the joyful pandas and poop spit out by the iPhone X. At least the Disney avatars are a bit cooler, with Mickey, Minnie, and Pixar’s Incredibles characters in the mix.

7) MUCH HASN’T CHANGED The Galaxy S9 is the “tock” in the

8) THEY HAVE ANDROID OREO Samsung’s rollout of Android Oreo on the Galaxy S8 has been slow and hardly hitch-free, but at least you can look forward to getting Android 8 on the Galaxy S9 right out of the gate. Both S9 models will feature Oreo from the start, providing the latest OS enhancements.

Android Oreo improves battery life, gives you more granular control of notifications, has native picture-in-picture functionality, and other improvements – and of course, Samsung’s TouchWiz skin will tweak all of that a little bit.

It sounds like Android 9 is on the horizon, though, so we’ll see how it long it takes Samsung to get around to that update once Google shows its hand.

9) WE’LL HAVE THEM SOON Both Galaxy S9 phones were just officially unveiled today at MWC 2018 in Barcelona, and it won’t be very long before they’re out in the open: Samsung will release both phones on 16 March, with Midnight Black, Titanium Gray, Coral Blue, and the new Lilac Purple colour options available.

While Samsung’s unlocked prices are the same as the S8 in North America, both phones are seeing price bumps here in the UK: the Galaxy S9 will sell for £739, while the Galaxy S9 Plus will weigh in at £869. Both are notable increases from the respective £689 and £779 price points of the Galaxy S8 models.

We’ve been hands-on with both the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus, and will get a lot more in-depth in the coming weeks as we spend more time with both ahead of their release. Stay tuned for plenty more.

Daily Times Nigeria Saturday, March 3, 2018

19 Features

Breaking the circle of Sickle Cell: The Abia Governor’s wife example Ubani Newman Ubani, Umuahia One Jimi Olaghere in one of his books on Sickle Cell anemia, (April 4, 2016) wrote: “Thirty years into my sickle cell anemia diagnosis, it’s safe to say I’ve lost a lot. From the organs in my ailing body to friends, businesses, money and more, I’ve accumulated a nice streak of losses”.

It is no doubt that such paragraphs as written by Jimi Olaghere has propelled women like the wife of Abia State Governor, Mrs. Nkechi Ikpeazu, to toe the line to proffering lasting solution to patients suffering from this deadly scourge, the sickle cell anaemia.

Jimi went on to inform that sickle cell anemia is no joke. According to him, “it is a condition in which the sufferer doesn’t have the right amount of healthy red blood cells to deliver enough oxygen to the body. Believe me, every single day is battle in a war that will probably never end. It is a strange and awkward phenomenon when your own body wages war against you”, he added.

The Vicar Hope Foundation, a pet project of the wife of Abia State Governor, Mrs. Nkechi Ikpeazu since its inception has been carrying out many human-faced oriented projects in the state.

Apart from building houses to indigent widows in the society and rendering assistance to various vulnerable groups and individuals, the Vicar Hope Foundation has also ventured into health care, particularly, in not just arresting sickle-cell anaemia but also carry out advocacy on how to prevent it and eliminate its existence in Abia State.

As part of Mrs. Ikpeazu’s campaign against the sickle cell disease, the wife of the Governor through her Foundation has established sickle-cell clubs in over four secondary schools in Abia State by adopting a “catch them young” strategy. These established clubs have been inaugurated while some would soon be inaugurated.

Recently, the wife of the Governor visited secondary schools for a book presentation and to formally inaugurate sickle cell clubs in the schools. It is important to note that she, among other things, charged the students to be good ambassadors of the club. She encouraged them to read in between the lines of the book

she presented to them. The book titled, ‘Towards a better tomorrow’, has the Governor of Abia State, Dr. Victor Ikpeazu, as a co-author.

The intention of Mrs. Ikpeazu is to further encourage students to extend the campaign against sickle cell circle to their uncles and aunties, their friends and relatives, even to their enemies.

If the students would avail themselves the opportunity of reading and appropriating the knowledge to themselves, it would help achieve the dream of Mrs. Ikpeazu in eliminating if not eradicating the deadly disease in the State.

Another good thing about the activi-

If the students would avail themselves the opportunity of reading and appropriating the knowledge to themselves, it would help achieve the dream of Mrs. Ikpeazu in eliminating if not eradicating the deadly disease in the state. ties of the Nkechi Ikpeazu’s Vicar Hope Foundation as regards sickle-cell anaemia is the counseling and free treatment of victims. This club would inculcate the culture of testing and confirming one’s genotype status before marriage.

The programme of the wife of the Governor, a woman with the “Midas touch,” should be appreciated by all and sundry.

Her sickle cell initiative is of “Good Thinking, Good Initiative, and Touching Lives”.

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Daily Times Nigeria Saturday, March 3, 2018

Daily Times Nigeria Saturday, March 3, 2018

MOUNTAIN DWELLERS TRANSFORMATION MINISTRY OF EZIRA, ANAMBRA STATE THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED FOR REGISTRATION TO CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION UNDER PART C OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO 1 OF 1990.

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I, formerly known and addressed as MISS ANI NKECHI SARAH, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS EKWUNIFE NKECHI SARAH . All former documents remain valid.

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MRS ONYEME FAITH NKECHI I, formerly known and addressed as MISS OKOLO FAITH NKECHI, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS ONYEME FAITH NKECHI. All former documents remain valid.

NYSC and General public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as EMEACHI ISAAC CHUKWUDI, now wish to be known and addressed as NWAEZE ISAAC CHUKWUDI. All former documents remain valid. BANKS and General public should please take note.

ANEKE ODIGOMMA CHRISTABEL I, formerly known and addressed as MMASINACHI JOYFUL ANEKE now wish to be known and addressed as ANEKE ODIGOMMA CHRISTABEL . All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

MRS ANIUDE CYNTHIA CHINAGOROM I, formerly known and addressed as MISS OBIORA CYNTHIA CHINAGOROM now wish to be known and addressed as MRS ANIUDE CYNTHIA CHINAGOROM . All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

ASOGWA MARY-JANE IJEOMA I, formerly known and addressed as ANIKEZIE MARYJANE IJEOMA, now wish to be known and addressed as ASOGWA MARY-JANE IJEOMA. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

ADADO AKOMAYE EMMANUEL I, formerly known and addressed as CHUKWUEMEKA JOHN DAVID, now wish to be known and addressed as ADADO AKOMAYE EMMANUEL. All former documents remain valid. BANKS and General public should please take note.

CHINEME CLETUS MGBEOWULA I, formerly known and addressed as CLETUS CHINEME, now wish to be known and addressed as CHINEME CLETUS MGBEOWULA. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

OGBU OLUCHI FAVOUR I, formerly known and addressed as OGBU CHINEMEREM, now wish to be known and addressed as OGBU OLUCHI FAVOUR. All former documents remain valid. Banks and General public should please take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME

LOSS OF DOCUMENT

This is to certify and confirm that ODOH JOSEPH CHIGOZIE, ODOH ODOZIOBODO JOSEPH CHIGOZIE and ODOH JOSEPH refers as one and the same person now wish to be known and addressed as ODOH JOSEPH. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

NWAEZE ISAAC CHUKWUDI

This is to inform the general public of loss OF ORIGINAL CERITIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY Reg. as No 69/69/1399 and 70/70/1130 at Enugu Land Registry belonging to MR.NWACHUKWU ANTHONY E. O, in respect of plot 129 Independence (main) Enugu. All effort of trace the said document has proved abortive.

If found please contact the Ministry of Lands and Urban Development.

MRS. MUTIAT ABDULSALAM LA-KADRI

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Mutiat Mobolanle Abdulsalam now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Mutiat Abdulsalam LA-Kadri. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

THIS SPACE IS FOR SALE

News 22

Daily Times Nigeria Saturday, March 3, 2018

‘Dapchi schoolgirls adultion: Collective shame to every Nigerian’ Tom Garba, Yola

ÏÏÏIn an effort to make”a passionate call for an end to the mindless killing and the rescue of the Dapchi school girls.’’

The Archbishop of the Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria (LCCN), Most Rev. Musa Panti Filibus, has described the abduction of 110 students of the Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe state and the wanton killings in some parts of the country, as a collective shame to all Nigerians.

Panti who said this at a press conference in a Press conference in Yola, also said that as a Father and a leader, he is deeply saddened by the

horrible news of the girls’ abduction and cannot imagine the unbearable trauma these school girls are going through, and the dreadful agony their families are experiencing. ‘’It is most unfortunate that we will still hear of abduction of girls in such horrifying number when it has been reported severally that Boko Haram has been technically defeated, what an irony!!! This act of abducting and subjecting innocent girls to such horrendous inhuman conditions is most shameful on us all as Nigerians and is totally unacceptable.”

According to him as a Church, the news of kidnapping 110 school girls in Yobe

Technical College Dapchi and about four years after over 270 school girls were abducted in Chibok, Borno state came with great shock to them.

He further said that by constitution and by right girl-child deserves protection from whatever may endanger her life. The universal human rights declaration and other legal instruments clearly demand of government around the world to ensure that the children’s right of protection and education are safeguarded.

“It is imperative for government to improve security around schools and colleges in the country and particularly in the North eastern region as the activities of

insurgents seem to continue unabated.’’ He said.

Furthermore, Filibus said that the entire Church of LCCN is disheartened and saddened at the news of another attacks, the most recent being Gwamba community in Borrong District of Demsa Local Government area by suspected Fulani herdsmen.

He told his audience that reports from accredited media houses indicated that the killers used sophisticated weapons to carry out the dastardly acts on ordinary citizens. ‘’I am compelled to think that the killers often said to be Fulani herdsmen and defied all security apparatus in the country. This is evident

in their well-coordinated and organized attacks on innocent people. ‘’These killers are recalcitrant to the government by virtue of their unstoppable murderous actions. We are yet to hear of any of them being prosecuted according to law.”

He questioned that: “Were there no intelligence reports prior to the attacks? Why are these gunmen said to be Fulani herdsmen perpetrating these gruesome acts not reportedly arrested and openly put to trial according to law?

If at all they are herdsmen and not sponsored killers, why are they attacking during dry season when there hardly any farming activity that would be cause of conflict between farmers and

herdsmen? What do they want to achieve by killing innocent people, setting ablaze their homes and carting away with their sources of livelihood,” he asked?

Musa who is also the President of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) call on international community and well spirited non-state organizations to support the government of Nigeria towards rescuing these girls from their heartless abductors and bring to an end to all form of terrorism He also called on government at federal, state, local, traditional and religious leaders at all levels to jointly do all that is possible to rescue the girls from Dapchi and the remaining Chibok girls.

2019: Kwara PDP adopts retail politics, inaugurates 25 committees Kehinde Akinpelu, Ilorin

ÏÏÏA

L- R: Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, Oyo State Governor,Abiola Ajimobi and Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Saliu Adetunji at the Oyo State Governor Meet with Oyo state traditional rulers held at House of Chief Secretariat Ibadan...on Thursday.

Politicians jubilate as NASIEC announces LG poll in Nasarawa Augustine Kuza, Lafia

ÏÏÏPoliticians

in Nasarawa state went wild in jubilation, as the State Independent Electoral Commission (NASIEC) announced date for the long awaited Local government elections.

The local Governments which have been overseen by Transitional Management Committee, (TMC) Chairmen since the second tenure

of Umaru Tanko Almakura would go in to poll on May 26, 2018 to elect democratic chairmen and councilors.

Acting Chairman of NASIEC Aliu Dogara Mohammed made this known to journalist during a press briefing in his office in Lafia, the state capital.

He said activities of the elections would start in February and end on 26 May 2018 which is the

election day.

“As you can see in our Time Table, the programme started on 23 February, 2018 and would end on Saturday, 26 May ,2018.”

Mohammed also informed that NASIEC, would meet with relevant bodies in the likes of traditional rulers, Civil Society organizations, Political Parties amongst others to ensure credible, free and

fair election.

He further explained that the body has already liaised with Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and other Academia to assist in training of staff on current election trends.

On the Election guidelines, the NASIEC, boss promised that they would be ready by next week for public consumption.

head of regaining power in 2019 general elections, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), in Kwara State, has inaugurated 25 system committees saddled with various responsibilities to make the party stronger.

Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo, the Kwara State PDP Chairman, speaking at the inauguration on Friday said the party was no longer interested in wholesale politics, but retail politics.

“We are therefore moving away from the traditional perception of politics of worshipping personalities rather than the institution of the party under which platform ambitions can be ventilated.

According to him, the significance of the inauguration is to envision members about new focus and agenda of rebranded PDP. “If we do not harness and cultivate the use of men and women of substance, knowledge, wisdom and integrity, developments in our party will not only be stagnant, we even run the risk and danger of total failure.

“We have therefore with the belief of using abundant talents in our midst, decided to break ourselves into different relevant committees where members can seriously work to uplift our party,” he said.

Oyedepo, in his speech delivered at the inaugural ceremony, held at the State Party Secretariat, Asa Dam, Ilorin, posited that his vision of what PDP in Kwara

State should be, can only be achieved if people share the vision and run with it.

The Chairman, who urged all members to be up and doing said: “We are moving towards 2019 which is a year of destiny for people of Kwara State. In a situation like this, all hands must be on deck.

“Wonders cannot be done alone, especially in an organisation like political party; vision has no meaning if it has no adherents that tenaciously believe in it.”

Speaking further on retail politics, Oyedepo noted that “the whole idea behind breaking members into many committees for some assignments is the true meaning of retail politics, to allow our members to be on the field and canvass for our party.

“Our party is no more interested in politics of State or National headquarters.

When we break big assignments into small bits, where you do your bit, to be joined with small bits done by others; we retail the politics.

“When we believe that power should be built from the bottom up and make local government or Ward level to be true power base; it is retail politics.

“When we build a formidable structure of the party, we are establishing a party that can win elections.

“It is better to build a party as an institution than to build personality that we shall turn to political idols.

“Person will die; institution, if well-grounded shall outlive the founders. That is our aspiration for PDP Kwara.”

Daily Times Nigeria Saturday, March 3, 2018

23 News

Reject cattle colonies, Ohanaeze tells South-East States Charles Onyekwere, Abakaliki

ÏÏÏ

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode (second right), Majority Leader, House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila (right); APC Chairman, Lagos State chapter, Otunba Henry Ajomale (middle); member, Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Desmond Olusola Elliot (second left) and Sen. Tokunbo Afikuyomi (left) during the commissioning of reconstructed Modele/Matthew Road, Surulere, built by Hon. Gbajabiamila.... on Friday

Numan killing: Army, police parade 17 suspects over killing of Adamawa PDP stalwart Tom Garba, Yola

ÏÏÏThe

Brigade Commander, 23 Armoured Brigade Yola, Brig.-Gen. Muhammed Bello, on Thursday handed over 17 suspects to Adamawa State police command in connection to Tuesday’s killings in Gwamba which claimed the life of the state publicity secretary of the PDP and former Adamawa state commissioner for Youth and sports, Sam Zadok.

The suspects were paraded Friday at the brigade headquarters in Yola, Adamawa State.

According to the Commander, “The troops of 101 special Forces Battalion on Exercise Ayem Akpatuma (Cat Race) deployed at Numan Local Government Area of Adamawa State, swiftly responded to distress call and supported troops at Gwamba village under attack by herdsmen on

Tuesday, 26 February.

“Despite swift reaction to rescue the village from destruction, the notorious herdsmen set the village ablaze before troops arrival.

“The determined troops trailed the herdsmen and arrested 6 of them at Garigiji village while trying to escape.

“During the process of the arrest the herdsmen resisted arrest, which made the alerted troops to engage them and killed 10 of them in the process.

According to information obtained from the Nigerian Army, the military recovered, “One AK 47 rifle, 41 rounds of 7.62mm special, one locally made rifle with 25 cartridges, one cutlass, looted clothes and one motorcycle.”

In a related development, the state’s command of the Nigerian Police, also paraded 11 suspected perpetrators of the Tuesday killings in

Gwamba.

The police said it recovered 5 Ak47 rifles, 1 locally made rifle, 10 magazines, 161 rounds of live ammunition, among other deadly weapons.

A statement signed by the Police Public Relations Officer, SP Othman, said” “A combined troop of 23 Brigade while on a Special Mission Operation at Gwamba village, Demsa L.G.A. arrested and recovered the suspects for taking part in the Gwamba attack and handed over to the police for discreet investigations and possible prosecution.”

The statement said the suspects would be charged for offences of “criminal conspiracy, mischief by fire, having in possession of deadly weapons and culpable homicide.”

One of the suspects interviewed Hamadu Barki said, “I was invited for the

fight by the Pulaaku Association, I have never used a weapon before.”

Earlier on Wednesday, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP,) in Adamawa state confirmed the killing of its Publicity Secretary Sam Zadok in a herdsmen attack in Gwamba.

Zadok a former commissioner for youths and sports, was killed along Barre village of Demsa local government area of the state.

Confirming the reports Abdullahi Adamu Prambe, Secretary of the party, called on security agencies to track the perpetrators of the mayhem and to bring to an end the spate of killings in the state.

Prambe said, “We were waiting for him to attend a meeting only to hear the news of his death.

“Government should intensify efforts to address the silent killings in the state before it escalates to serious problems.”

The apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Friday called on all Igbo-speaking states to reject the proposed cattle colonies in the country.

Rising from its National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, Ohanaeze Ndigbo also urged governments of Igbo-speaking states to pass the antigrazing laws to protect the people from further killings and harassment by marauding herdsmen.

A statement from the organisation by its President- General, Chief Nnia Nwodo, rejected the idea of colony which it said would amount to forced territorial occupation.

Ohanaeze said that the population density per square kilometer in Igboland was very high and that many Igbo families were finding it difficult to get land to build their homes and farm.

It remarked that the concept of colony was alien to Ndigbo and was therefore unacceptable to the people.

The organization observed that Fulani herdsmen had co-existed with their Igbo host communities peacefully until recently when marauding herdsmen started killing and harassing their benevolent host without provocation thereby driving fear and suspicion into the people.

It wondered why the nefarious activities and killings by the Fulani herdsmen still occur across the land in spite of the efforts by the Federal Government, adding that the situation does not speak well for the unity of the country.

Meanwhile, Ohanaeze has described the demise of its one-time SecretaryGeneral, Col. Joe Achuzia (rtd.), as a great loss to

Datti assumes duty, saddled with Buhari’s visit to Plateau Kingsley Chukwuka, Jos

ÏÏÏNewly

sworn in Commissioner of information and communication in Plateau State, Hon Yakubu Dati on Friday resumed office and vowed to run an open door policy.

Speaking at the occasion, Datti said the State is set to receive President Muhammadu Buhari on the 8th of March 2018.

“A committee has been set up, it’s going to be a one -day visit.”

“Our president is expected to commission some road projects like

the Mararaban Jama-British American road, the Kalong road in Shendam, the Low-Cost Rantya, Tudun Wada road, the Panyam fish farm and other projects in the state.

“Simon Lalong is doing his best to develop Plateau and so far many road projects he inher-

ited have been completed, more projects are ongoing in almost all the local government councils in the state”.

He also said that Lalong led administration has brought sanity and direction to governance in the state.

“Lalong is doing well in

prompt payment of workers’ salaries and pension of our retirees, now civil servants do their job because they are well motivated”.

In continuation of the President’s visit, Datti said all necessary security is put in place to receive President Buhari.

Ndigbo and Nigeria in general.

Reacting to the sudden passing away of the Biafra/ Nigeria war veteran, Nwodo, said that the history of the war cannot be complete without mentioning the contributions of Col. Achuzia.

Nwodo stated that the exploits of bravery and military discipline exhibited by the late legendary commander remained a reference point in the annals of the country.

He recalled with nostalgia Col. Achuzia’s contributions to the development of Igboland and Nigeria as Secretary-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo between 2004 and 2007, adding that he died when his wealth of experience was need most to move the country forward.

Ohanaeze enjoined Ndigbo to bear his loss with fortitude and prayed God to give his soul eternal rest and his family the strength to bear the irreparable loss.

Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide has regretted the security lapses that led to the abduction of more than one hundred school girls in Dapchi, in Yobe State.

Reacting to the unfortunate incidence in a release by his Media Adviser, Chief Emeka Attamah, the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Chief Nwodo, expressed surprise and disappointment that even after the unfortunate saga of the Chibok girls, security was not beefed up around schools in the Boko Haram prone parts of the North-East leading to another abduction of children who are trying to improve themselves in school.

Ohanaeze Ndigbo lamented the plight of these innocent girls who have been exposed to most tortuous condition for no crime of theirs but as victims of inexplicable brigandage and politics.

Chief Nwodo stated that the obvious porosity of the nation’s security suggests the need for a rejig of the security structure and further training for security operations in the country.

He called on the Federal Government to do everything humanly possible to salvage the hapless girls and save their parents the attendant agony they must be going through.

Lagos CP, Cleric, to storm journalists, police novelty match

T

he police and journalists have concluded plans to play a novelty match as a way of building cordial relationship and synergizing against crime and its attendant effect on the youths in Lagos.

The match has been slated for March 17, 2018 at the Police Children’s School field located at Goodluck Jonathan Estate in Idimu,

Lagos.

The Lagos State Commissioner of the Police, CP Imohimi Edgal, a cleric whose building collapsed and kill mostly South African members, traditional rulers, captains of industry and other stakeholders will be in attendance.

It was also gathered that youths across the state have also

been mobilised in line with the objectives of the match.

The coordinator for journalists, Mr. Oludairo Daniel while expressing the readiness of the media practioners explained the motive behind the football match. Mr. Daniel said the match will enhance the synergy between the police and journalists towards the fight

against various crimes in the state.

He said the match will still be used to tell the youths that all eyes are on them and they should refrain from committing crimes.

In the same vein, the coordinator of the police players, Deputy Superintendent of Police, DSP Emos Oria expressed their readiness and said that they have positioned the offi-

Page 24

cers for the match.

The Assistant Commissioner of Police, Area M Command, ACP Augustines Akika while acknowledging the importance of the match to the stakeholders said that the reason behind the match was to sensitize the public especially the youths through sports in order to disabuse their minds from crime.

Saturday, March 3 2018

Bayelsa leads as paraswimming open championships

NWFL champions shield good for Rivers – John

Rivers Angels rejoicing in one of their matches in Lagos

R

B

ayelsa is currently dominating the 2nd National Para-Swimming Open Championships in Abuja, winning eight medals so far.

Laye Zarat and Innocent Terifa, both from Bayelsa, came first in the 200m individual men medley in the 898 and 777 classes.

The state also took first in the 50m butterfly women and men categories through Vera Tona and Innocent Taifa in 898 and 777 class respectively.

For the 50m backstroke for men and women, Laye Zarat and Vera Tona came first in 878 and 898 classes.

Innocent Terifa also emerged first in 50m backstroke and 100m breaststroke in 777 class.

Osun followed, winning three of the events, while Ondo and Delta had one win each.

Terifa told NAN that Bayelsa was topping the national championships because athletes had been training ahead of the event.

He attributed his winning to God and his ability to abide by the instructions of his coach.

The two-day event featured athletes from eight states of the federation as against 20 that was expected.

Sylvester Ikuejamoye, President of Nigeria Para-Swimming Federation, attributed the poor participation to inadequate information.

“This is championships that the new board inherited. We would have cancelled it but we decided to host it for continuity.

“We hope it will improve in the next edition,’’ he said.

Ikuejamoye urged the state government to embrace swimming and support the federation to make the country proud by winning medal in international championships.

He expressed satisfaction with the performance of the athletes, adding that with more championships, the athletes would perform better.

‘I want to take over National Stadium, Art Theatre’ - Ambode

L

agos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode on Friday said for the economy of Surulere to be transformed, he must take over the National Stadium and National Art Theatre.

The governor spoke while unveiling a road project in Modele-Mathew Street and solar powered street lights in ModeleMathew Street, Randle Avenue and Fred Anyiam Street in Surulere constructed by the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila According to Ambode, his administration would go all out to transform the economy of Surulere and make it to be at par with those of Victoria Island and Ikoyi, starting with the resuscitation of the night life of the axis.

He said the hospitality and entertainment business which the area had always been known for, would be revived and scaled up to actualize the plan for the massive development of the axis.

He said: “I have discovered that unless I pursue and take over the National Stadium and the Arts Theatre, I cannot achieve my goal because with those two projects and

places, the hospitality and entertainment business in which Surulere is really known for will be brought back to life because the real entertainment in Lagos State actually started from Surulere.

“I will do everything to ensure that the economy of Surulere is as competitive as that of Victoria Island and Ikoyi.”

Ambode stated that though a lot of projects had been implemented by his administration in Surulere, more would be done to truly change the face of the area, and make the economy compete favourably with others.

“So, what is it that I want to make Surulere to look like? You remember we have already done Ishaga-Mabo Road, ItireLawanson Road, Ijesha Road, the palliative is ongoing. We have upgraded Agboyin Avenue and then Simisola Mogaji Close. But what is very important to me in Surulere is to bring back night life hundred per cent in this area,” Ambode said.

He commended Gbajabiamila for keying into the ongoing infrastructural renewal efforts of his administration, saying it was gratifying that individuals and corporate or-

ganisations were now joining government to fast-track socio-economic development and empowerment of the people.

Ambode, who particularly lauded the commitment of the lawmaker to the welfare of the people of his constituency and all Lagosians, said it was on record that Gbajabiamila had used his seat in the House to attract numerous projects to his constituency and Lagos at large.

He recalled how Gbajabiamila in 2016 mobilized the Lagos Lawmakers in the House of Representatives to pull resources together to give Lagos a befitting Sports and Recreation Centre in Epe, as well as plans for federal engineers to rehabilitate Karimu Street in Surulere.

Showering praises on the federal lawmaker, the Governor said: “He (Gbajabiamila) has complemented the job of our Government very well at the national level and we appreciate him for his clever intervention especially his leadership role during the recent Constitution Amendment process. He defended the interest of Lagos in seeking for devolution of more powers to the States.

Ministry finalises preparations for Commonwealth games

T

he Ministry of Youth and Sports has finalised preparations for the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast in a meeting held on Wednesday with the 10 Federations’ Presidents whose athletes will be taking part in the Games.

The Federations are athletics, basketball, wrestling, weightlifting, boxing, table tennis, gymnastics, para table tennis, para athletics, para powerlifting.

In his opening remarks, the Minister of

The football match was in line with the promise the CP had made when he first visited Area M Command, Alimosho LGA to organise football matches amongst youths in order to sensitize them not to get involved in cultism and other forms of criminality in the state.

Youth and Sports Barrister Solomon Dalung said the meeting with the 10 federations was to scrutinise and defend the athletes participation at the Games, evaluate their prospects and finalise arrangements for the last phase of training before the games.

“This is a down to earth meeting on our level of preparation. It is to convince us on how we will win medals based on the preparations we have made so far. The

meeting is intended for the federations to defend the athletes they are presenting to us that we will be taking to this competition. Therefore, we must review and reappraise the level of our preparations and look at those grey areas which may be a cog in the wheel to a successful outing in Australia.”

At the meeting, the Nigeria Basketball Federation represented by its Vice President Babs Ogunade said that due to the

unavailability of their professionals at this time due to the on-season, the US based players will only be available for camping two weeks to the opening of the Games village.

Wrestling will be represented by six male and six female wrestlers. The President, Daniel Igali expressed confidence that his wrestlers will perform creditably following their performance at the recently concluded African Wrestling Championship in

ivers Angels captain and goalkeeper, Charity John believes her side have all it takes to win the podium prize at the upcoming Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL) Champions Shield in Lagos.

The Jewel of Rivers will stake their pride against reigning Nigerian champions, Nasarawa Amazons in Sunday’s NWFL Champions Shield prestigious clash at the Agege Stadium in Lagos.

The government of Lagos state is the sponsor of the maiden football fiesta expected to herald an envisaged successful 2017/18 league season.

John said her side have pushed behind them the uneventful defeat to the Lafia landladies at last year’s NWPL Super 4 championship in Benin City football fiesta to steady themselves towards claiming their first ever silverware of the year.

“Last year and its events are now history as we are doing a lot in the off season to regain our composure and strength to go ahead to dominate the domestic scene as previously.

“Equally history is the forgetful NWPL Super 4 championship loss to opponents, Nasarawa Amazons in Benin City.

“I know for certain that the NWFL Champions Shield clash against Nasarawa Amazons will not be easy for obvious reason.

“First, teams are in off season so it’s difficult to accurately assess the strengths and weaknesses of each team.

“However, come on Sunday the 90 minutes football action will surely separate the boys from the men.

“We have engaged ourselves in several pre-season test matches to perfect and strengthen our team.

“Today (Tuesday) we are playing neighbours and top-flights, Abia Angels in a preseason clash in Port Harcourt as a dress rehearsal for the clash against Nasarawa Amazon on Sunday in Lagos.

“As a footballer one’s aim once on the field of play is to win the contest so our language is victory on Sunday against Nasarawa Amazons.

Rivers State. Igali however opted to train in Nigeria which he said will augur well for the team’s training program. The team will depart for Australia on March 2, 2018.

The Weightlifting Federation, fresh from the qualifiers in Uganda also boasts of a Nigerian referee who will officiate at the Commonwealth Games. They will be represented by two male and two female lifters.

Athletics have the largest contingent of 37 athletes comprising 17 male and 20 female athletes. Three athletes including Divine Oduduru will not be at the games due to school commitments and likewise gymnast Uche Eke. The Gymnastics Federation will be presenting just 1 gymnast.

25

Saturday, March 3, 2018

EXTRATIME

Aubameyang missed a penalty in Arsenal’s 3-0 defeat by Manchester City on Thursday night

W

hen it comes to the crunch end of the Premier League season, success or failure is often obtained by how well you do against the teams around you. That is borne out by results between the top six this season, as shown in a mini-league of those clubs.

Manchester City are clear at the top - as they are in the full 20-team league - while Arsenal are off the pace, just as they are in the real table.

In the seven games they have played against the other sides currently in the top six, Manchester City have only lost one, winning the other six.

That defeat - their only league loss all season - came at Anfield in one of the games of the season, a 4-3 reverse against Liverpool. Otherwise it has been complete dominance for Pep Guardiola’s men.

They have outscored all their topsix rivals - 21 goals in their seven games, six more than second best have the joint-top defensive record,

Premier League: How are the mighty falling and are the only team to have a positive goal difference.

Among their most impressive performances have been their 4-1 hammering of Tottenham at home, a 2-1 away win over rivals Manchester United that was more convincing than the score suggests, and the 5-0 crushing of Liverpool in September that signalled to English football what was to come.

They have also beaten Arsenal home and away - 3-1 at the Etihad in November, then 3-0 at a snowbound Emirates on Thursday night - to compound the misery on Arsene Wenger.

In contrast, Arsenal have won

just one of nine league games against the top six this season - 2-0 at home to north London adversaries Spurs, in arguably their best performance of the campaign.

Outside of that game, it has been a miserable run against the big boys for Arsenal. They have conceded more than any other side in the mini-league - 19 - and scored just nine in return.

Particularly abject displays have come in their 4-0 defeat at Liverpool in August, 3-1 at home to Manchester United in December, and a 1-0 loss at Wembley when Tottenham gained revenge - had Spurs scored five or six it would not have flat-

Henrikh Mkhitaryan (left), Aubameyang (centre) and Sead Kolasinac leave the pitch disappointedly after Arsenal 3-0 humiliation by Manchester City last Thursday

tered them.

The rest of our mini-league also reflects the Premier League table as a whole, with barely any difference between the other four sides, reflecting how tight the race for the top four is turning out to be.

The entertainers of the top six are Liverpool, who have scored 15 in eight against their league rivals while letting in 18 at the other end.

As well as the thumping win over Arsenal and their two games with Man City - which have produced 12

goals - they have also drawn 3-3 at the Gunners, 2-2 at home to Spurs, and lost 4-1 at Wembley.

In contrast, Manchester United and Chelsea have shut up shop much more readily in the big games - both have records of played seven, scored seven, conceded seven.

Jose Mourinho’s United, predictably, have been more successful when it comes to squeezing out results, with three wins over the two of Antonio Conte’s team.

Coach Arsene Wenger with a friend after the humiliation

26

Saturday, Marcg 3, 2018

EXTRATIME

PSG forward Neymar to have surgery on fractured metatarsal

P

aris St-Germain forward Neymar will have surgery after suffering a fractured metatarsal and sprained ankle in Sunday’s Ligue 1 win over Marseille.

It means the 26-year-old Brazilian will miss Tuesday’s Champions League last-16 second-leg tie against Real Madrid.

PSG coach Unai Emery initially said Neymar had a “small chance” of facing Real, before Neymar’s father said he would be out for “six to eight weeks”.

The club said Neymar will be operated on in Brazil at the end of the week.

PSG added that after “three days of planned care” it was a joint decision by the club’s medical staff and the Brazilian national team to opt for surgery.

The striker joined PSG for a world record £200m fee from Barcelona last August and has scored 29 goals in 30 games.

PSG are 14 points clear of second-

tletico Madrid continued their player clear out with the club confirming that goalkeeper Miguel Angel Moya has joined Real Sociedad on a free transfer.

His departure makes him the fifth player, following Luciano Vietto (Valencia), Augusto Fernandez (Beijing Renhe), Yannick Carrasco and Nicolas Gaitan (both Dalian Yifang), to have left the club since the beginning of January.

Second-placed Atletico remain Bar-

celona’s closest challengers in La Liga as they sit seven points behind the leaders and they are also through to the last 16 of the Europa League.

However, the club’s failure to make it out of the group stage of the Champions League — and the riches associated with it — has meant a number of players have been sold off as the board looks to offset financial losses.

Despite the transfer window in Spain being closed, Sociedad were able to complete the deal under La Liga rules that allow a selling club that has

David de Gea has been in inspired form once again for Manchester United this season

Coach Unai Emery in a sobber mood.

Any replacement for Neymar?

David de Gea Man U best Moya joins Real Sociedad -Gary Neville A placed Monaco in the league and on 6 March will host Champions League holders Real Madrid, trailing 3-1 from the first leg.

received a buyout clause stipulated in a player’s contract one month to sign a replacement.

Athletic Bilbao paid former Sociedad defender Inigo Martinez’s 32 million euro ($39.05 million) buyout clause on Jan. 30.

Moya made 36 La Liga appearances in Madrid after joining from Getafe in 2014. After starting out as first choice, he subsequently lost his place to Jan Oblak and played just seven times this term in the Europa League and Copa del Rey.

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anchester United have only one world class player in their ranks, according to former player Gary Neville.

The Spaniard has been in inspired form for Jose Mourinho’s side this season and Neville believes his consistency has elevated him past the rest of his Old Trafford team-mates.

The Sky Sports pundit believes

none of United’s other star men, including Alexis Sanchez and Paul Pogba, can be considered among the best on the planet.

But he concedes that Sanchez may still reach that level once he settles in following his arrival from Arsenal in January ‘De Gea’s the only world-class player Manchester United have got,’ Neville told Goal.

Jesse Lingard’s girlfriend pays homage

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Miguel Angel Moya

esse Lingard’s girlfriend, Jena Frumes, marked his winner in Sunday’s victory over Chelsea by having his and hers necklaces made.

The Manchester United forward headed in a 75th-minute winner for Jose Mourinho’s side to secure a crucial 2-1 win and return to second in the Premier League.

As with most of Lingard’s goals this season, he celebrated by gesturing ‘JL’ at the Old Trafford crowd and also joined Paul Pogba with the Black Panther ‘Wakanda Forever’ salute.

To mark his crucial goal, model Frumes had golden his and hers necklaces made for the United man, courtesy of Blue Moon and Co, and posted a video of the matching pair on Tuesday.

‘Ladies aren’t the only ones who deserve to be spoiled,’ she wrote on Insta-

gram. ‘S/O to @bluemoonandco for bringing my vision to life for a gift for my Jesse... & I had to get 1 too.’

Lingard’s header was his eighth Premier League goal in 24 games this season, and his 13th in all competitions.

His recent performances have seen calls for a spot in Gareth Southgate’s World Cup squad intensify, with former Tottenham midfielder and BBC pundit Jermaine Jenas the latest to sing his song.

‘He should be nailed on for England. He is at the point now where he has to start for Gareth Southgate’s side at this summer’s World Cup,’ Jenas said according to Football 365.

‘When you watch what he is doing and the positions he picks up, you notice the intelligence that he shows – not only on the ball but with the runs that he makes off it.’

Before November, he started only one

league game for United, but has since started in 13 of the Red Devil’s 18 matches. Jenas continued.

‘Then there is the number of goals he is scoring – 10 in his past 18 appearances since the end of November – and you think how can he not start with the way he is playing.’

His goals have come at crucial times too, with two in a 2-2 draw at Burnley, another two in a 3-1 win at Arsenal and the decisive goal in an away win over West Brom in December.

Lingard and his model girlfriend Frumes cosied up for a picture last Tuesday

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‘On May 5, I will knock out Gennady’, Alvarez boasts

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anelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin squared off in Microsoft Square in Los Angeles on Tuesday evening.

The duo formally announced their highly-anticipated rematch for the middleweight world title, which will take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Cinco de Mayo — May 5 — during the event in front of thousands of fans.

Alvarez and Golovkin met in the ring for the first time last September, a fight that was controversially called a draw after going to the judges’ scorecards.

Judge Don Trella called it an even fight (114-114), Dave Moretti had it as a 115-113 win for Golovkin, while Adalaide Byrd was criticised for scoring the competitive fight at 118-110 for Alvarez.

And both insisted it would not go to the judges again. But it was only Alvarez who predicted a knockout during the rematch.

He said: ‘I’m not afraid of nobody, and I’ve shown that. The first time, they were saying he was gonna knock me out and I wouldn’t fight him. And look, here we are again.

‘There’s a saying in Mexico – a parrot’s green anywhere he goes.

I’m not afraid of him. I’m gonna knock him out.

‘I respect him. He has a good punch, but nothing out of this world.’

Golovkin, who was dressed in a snazzy purple suit for the meeting in Los Angeles, slammed the judging from the first fight.

‘I’m always for fairness,’ Golovkin said. ‘This first fight didn’t have any fairness. This type of judging is what’s hurting boxing.’

He also criticised the commentary during that September encounter: ‘What I saw inside the ring, and what I heard from the ringside commentary, it did not match up ‘I was disappointed in that. What I watched did not match what I heard. What it seems to me is stats and the commentary didn’t match.

‘Commentators are entitled to their own opinions. It’s not bad for me, but it’s bad for the sport.

I think I won. The stats prove it and the HBO expert [Lederman] thought I won.

Roger Federer was named Sportsman of the Year at the Laureus awards in Monaco

Federer wins Sportsman of theYear award R

oger Federer has been crowned Sportsman of the Year at the Laureus awards in recognition of his return to the top of tennis.

Federer won at Wimbledon and the Australian Open in 2017, his first major titles since a serious knee injury and surgery which ruled him out for six months.

The Swiss icon won in Australia

again this year, becoming the first man to reach the milestone of 20 Grand Slam singles titles and has reclaimed the world number one spot at the age of 36.

He also picked up the prize for Comeback of the Year at a ceremony in Monaco taking his total number of Laureus awards to six.

‘Last year was something else,’ said

Federer as he collected his Comeback award. ‘It was a dream come true and I want to thank all the people who got me back, my doctor who did the operation, my physio and my fitness coach.’

Serena Williams was named Sportswoman of the Year for 2017 when she won in Australia, her 23rd Grand Slam singles title.

McGregor hungry for a rematch

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Alvarez said he was not afraid of anybody before predicting a knock out in the second fight

ou never really thought he would stay away did you? Conor McGregor is coming back and it might even been sooner than anticipated.

The Irishman’s bullish message on Instagram was written by a fighter not content to simply to sail off into the sunset with a boat-load of cash, but one desperate to prove his mastery in the octagon once again.

The 29-year-old’s last MMA fight was in November 2016. He was stripped of his featherweight belt, his lightweight title is about to get taken away too but the selftitled ‘champ champ’ is spoiling for a return.

The big question is, who will he fight?

McGregor’s reign as king of the 155-lbs division is coming to an end. Relentless Dagaestani wrestler Nurmagomedov and

‘El Cucuy’ Tony Ferguson will compete for the belt on April 7 at UFC 223.

Dana White has already acknowledged that McGregor will be stripped at some stage to add legitimacy to that fight, but also added that the Dubliner is first in line for a shot at the new champion.

Many believe the staggering ability of Nurmagomedov to take down world class fighters and beat them to a pulp on the floor would be cryptonite to McGregor who is only regarded as Superman on his feet.

Nurmagomedov has never been beaten. He talks to his opponents during the fight, telling them they’re in the way of his dream of becoming champion. He even yelled at White mid-fight through the cage, begging for a title shot. The 29-year-old is a terrifying proposition but McGregor is not

impressed.

After Nurmagomedov demolished Edson Barboza in December, the Irishman wrote: ‘That Daegestani was dog s*** the other night, you’s are all nuts. Game full of sloppy bums asking to be slept. Pay me my worth and kings back.’

Of course, for McGregor and that ‘sloppy bum’ to face off, Nurmagomedov will have to see off Ferguson.

Nurmagomedov has never been beaten.

He talks to his opponents during the fight, telling them they’re in the way of his dream of becoming champion. He even yelled at White mid-fight through the cage, begging for a title shot. The 29-year-old is a terrifying proposition but McGregor is not impressed.

UFC: World’s most dangerous female fighter Cris Cyborg defends belt C ris Cyborg jumped in on three weeks notice and will attempt to solidify her status as the world’s most fearsome female fighter against Yana Kunitskaya at UFC 222.

Their main event showdown for the featherweight title is preceded by Frankie Edgar’s bout with Brian Ortega, a man who has been choking his way to the top.

Here, Sportsmail dives in on Saturday night’s two key match-ups in Las Vegas.

Cris Cyborg saved this card. The Brazilian agreed to defend her title on three weeks notice and will once again take centre stage in the main event.

Her opponent is former Invicta bantamweight champion Yana Kunitskaya who will never have faced anyone nearly as ferocious before.

It’s easy to pour on the hyperbole with Cyborg, the 32-year-old is in a league of

her own, partly due to a lack of elite featherweight contenders but also owing to the fact that she’s unbeaten in 19 fights, lands almost seven punches a minute and has only ever been taken the distance once.

The Curitiba native is the overwhelming favourite to retain her title.

She took home £362,000 for her last bout, a victory over Holly Holm. Kunitskaya earned just £7,000. The chasm between these two is vast. The Russian would have to pull off a Buster Douglas-esque upset to rock the MMA world if she’s to leave with her hand raised.

So who is Kunitskaya? She comes from elite sporting stock. Her father was a professional skier, her mother a gymnast.

She took up taekwondo aged 12 and rapidly made a name for herself, beating opponents of both sexes.

At 18 Kunitskaya began training in MMA

for the first time and now trains under the highly regarded Jackson Wink Academy Having retired following the birth of her first child back in 2013, she is back in business and feels absolutely no pressure against Cyborg, with few giving her a chance.

‘Everyone has weaknesses, and her last fight with Holly (Holm), it was five rounds, and it showed a lot. I was getting ready for everything and find holes everywhere – in stand-up and the ground in wrestling. I’m trying to get ready for everything,’ she told MMAjunkie.

Time will tell whether this is the usual pre-fight bluff and bluster or if Kunitskaya can genuinely trouble Cyborg.

The champion is in danger of becoming a predator the UFC feed with prey rather than top level opposition but there isn’t much she can do about that.

A super-fight with Amanda Nunes could be on the horizon but until then she’s making up for lost time, having suffered a fractious relationship with the UFC for so long.

That eagerness to make hay while the sun shines could spell a nasty end for Kunitskaya. Few knew her name before this event but spring an upset and few will forget it..

Cris Cyborg is out to defend her belt and status and the world’s best female MMA fighter

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Midfield triumvirate of Marek Hamsik, human dynamo Allan and Jorginho are a joy to watch

After loosing penalty, Aubameyang says star players in sober mood

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rsenal stars leave training as PierreEmerick Aubameyang concedes some players ‘are a bit resigned’ following 3-0 home defeat to Manchester City Arsenal players left training on Friday following their 3-0 home defeat by Manchester City on Thursday night.

Striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has conceded some Arsenal players ‘are a bit resigned’ after the heavy defeat at the Emirates Stadium.

Arsene Wenger’s side were beaten by the same scoreline by City as they were last Sunday in the Carabao Cup final.

January signings Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan were seen leaving their London Colney training base in their cars.

Jack Wilshere, Granit Xhaka, Hector Bellerin and Petr Cech, who is still searching for his 200th Premier League clean sheet, were also seen leaving on Friday.

Aubameyang completed his club-record £56million move to Arsenal in January on deadline day.

He scored on his debut in Arsenal’s 5-1 win over Everton but he has not added to that goal since and missed a penalty against City early in the second half.

‘There is a lot of disappointment. We are not happy with our displays either tonight or Sunday,’ he told French TV station SFR. ‘We could not score that goal that could have pushed us on. City play very well too.

The way they play, they are one of the best teams in the world.

‘Obviously it is not easy when you cannot score a goal to give us extra energy.

There are maybe some players who are a bit resigned.’

Klopp believes Liverpool have become more ‘unpredictable’ without Philippe Coutinho J

urgen Klopp admitted the Liverpool team may have benefited from Philippe Coutinho leaving for Barcelona, saying they have become more unpredictable without the ‘dominant’ Brazilian playmaker.

Liverpool fought tooth and nail to keep Coutinho away from Barcelona but ultimately failed and agreed to sell for £145million in the January transfer window. However, his departure has coincided with an upturn in their form.

Although still wishing he had the services of Coutinho, Klopp says he is delighted with how the Liverpool players have responded to losing a key star and says they’re shared responsibility is making them harder to play against.

He told reporters: ‘Phil Coutinho was a very dominant player in our game and maybe when we were not at our best it was always a good idea to give him the ball. When Phil didn’t play, we always had to do the job differently.

‘The players are smart enough to use good players in the team.

For Barcelona, if you see [Lionel] Messi then you know it is probably a good idea to give him the ball. That’s how it is and that’s what we did with Phil.

‘Now we spread the responsibility between the players and that has worked well so far, but I’m only interested in how it works tomorrow.

‘On a good day, it makes you more unpredictable if you don’t have a dominant player but on another day you miss that player.’

There are already fears that

Countiho in action

elite clubs are eyeing big-money moves for their best players such as Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane, but Klopp believes it will take more than just finances to keep them at the club.

He continued: ‘Of course we want to keep them but they all have long contracts so it’s not like we have a big rush to do it tomorrow. We are in constant

talks, but our first job is to create something that everybody wants to be part of.

‘There are a lot of football clubs around and if they pay then it’s normal that a player thinks about it. We cannot convince them with money, we have to do it with the football. I believe it is a really interesting project here at the moment.’

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Saturday, March 3, 2018

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EXTRATIME

Conor McGregor trained in the snow I t takes more than the ‘Beast from the East’, Storm Emma or any amount of snow to stop Conor McGregor from working out.

The MMA star posted a clip to Instagram of him outside on an exercise bike, despite the white landscape and freezing temperatures.

McGregor is keeping in shape amid continued speculation over when he will make his fighting comeback, and who he will face.

The Irishman has not competed since his Las Vegas defeat to Floyd Mayweather in the boxing ring, and a return to UFA has been mooted. A rematch with Mayweather has also been suggested - this time in the MMA octagon, McGregor’s natural habitat.

For now, however, he is enjoying a mix of family time and keeping in shape, as his social media output shows.

In his Instagram story, McGregor also shared a photo of him in the snow with his baby son, Conor jnr, and his dog.

Wrapped up warm and pictured presumably in their garden, the pic is captioned ‘There’s snow place like home’.

It then cuts to McGregor in business on the exercise bike, which his fans will hope is a sign that he will soon return to action.

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Floyd Mayweather continues to enjoy retirement

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loyd Mayweather was in a boastful mood on Wednesday as he gave his Instagram followers a glimpse of his life after retirement.

The 41-year-old is not expected to box again professionally after beating Conor McGregor in August to take his record to 50-0.

But the man they call ‘Money’ does not appear to be missing the ring judging by his latest social media posts. Mayweather shared a snap of himself perched by a bed on a sunny Mexican beach, captioning the image with the words: ‘I f******’ love my life.’

Minutes later he uploaded a video which showed him sat on the balcony in a lavish Hong Kong apartment, wearing a white robe as he looked out across the bay.

In the video, Mayweather was sat on a balcony with a wad of cash on a table next to him

Floyd Mayweather posted a photo of himself on a beach, captioning it- ‘I fu**in’ love my life’

Speculation continues over when McGregor will return to action in the MMA arena

Anthony Joshua gives kids a boxing masterclass A nthony Joshua has continued to mentor young boxers by giving a selection of young kids a masterclass.

The British heavyweight, who will fight Joseph Parker on March 31, was videoed putting them through their paces by holding two hand pads up during a training session.

Joshua wrote on Instagram that he wanted to ‘teach them early what I learnt late’ in order to give something back to the sport which has made him a star.

The inspirational boxer’s latest video comes just a week after he bought a team bus for his first gym.

Joshua often returns to Finchley ABC as he credits the gym for turning his life around and transforming him into British boxing’s poster boy.

He left kids beaming with joy as he returned to deliver the gym a new set of wheels.

Joshua videoed the kids as they thanked him for delivering their new

mode of transport while they listened to Stormzy’s popular ‘Shut Up’ song.

One fan says ‘big up Joshua’ while another says ‘it’s a nice van’ during the Instragam video.

Joshua has previously gone out of his way to give something back to his former stomping ground as he gifted his first boxing coach.

A handful of young kids line up to hit Joshua’s pads during the gym session

A boy throws a punch towards Anthony Joshua as the professional boxer leads the session

Saturday Marcg 3, 2018

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rystal Palace chairman Steve Parish says he is already “planning for the Championship” – and has challenged the players to make sure it is not needed.

The Eagles are currently in 17th place, but out of the Premier League’s relegation zone only on goal difference.

While former England boss Roy Hodgson has overseen an upturn in fortunes since taking over during September – when the south-London club were rock bottom following four straight league defeats under Frank de Boer – there remains work to be done.

Palace, who have lost three of the past five matches, host Manchester United on Monday March 5, then travel to Chelsea before a key clash against fellow relegation battlers Huddersfield.

Parish maintains his role as chairman means he must have a contingency in place should the worst happen come May, but hopes it will never need to be implemented.

“We are in a difficult situation, make no mistake. People ask what I’m planning for, I’m planning for Championship,” Parish said at the Sport Industry Breakfast Club in London on Wednesday.

“At the moment it’s down to the players, but if it does happen I can’t start thinking about it then.”

During a question and answer session, the Palace chairman also tackled the issue of football’s finances, with Premier League broadcasting revenue having hit record levels.

“We waste a lot of money in football.

There are debates about how we keep more money in the game, agent fees…

I don’t think a slight tightening of purse strings is a bad thing. We’ve all got a bit lazy in the Premier League,” Parish said, as quoted on the Sport Industry official Twitter feed. “F1 only has two teams competing at the moment, so people are switching off. We can’t let that happen in the Premier League.”

Palace hope to be able to redevelop their Selhurst Park ground with the building of a new main stand which will feature an all-glass front and help raise capacity from 26,000 to more than 34,000.

As well as new community facilities, the pitch is also proposed to be made bigger, which would meet UEFA criteria for hosting tournament matches.

A planning application is set to go be-

Y

ou all know those films in which a band of brothers go on one last mission. A few veterans, some mavericks, all different backgrounds and nationalities.

Their bond is so strong they get together for a final ‘job’, ending in death or glory.

Such a production is taking place in southern Italy. But it isn’t a gang of mercenary soldiers or charming art thieves.

It’s the leaders of Serie A, Napoli. They are giving everything to win the club’s first scudetto since 1990.

Last summer several key players received lucrative offers to leave. Goalkeeper Pepe Reina considered moving on. Belgian forward Dries Mertens also had options. At 35 and 30 respectively, the duo were within their rights to consider a last bumper payday away from Naples.

They weren’t they only ones who could have said farewell. Ice-cool midfielder Jorginho and impeccable centre back Kalidou Koulibaly were coveted by other clubs.

But the squad decided to stay and go for the championship together one last time.

The Italian media call it the ‘scudetto pact’.

So far their decision has proved shrewd.

Their 5-0 win against Cagliari on Monday night was their 10th in a row in the league.

It featured trademark goals, namely crisp first-time finishing after slick one-touch passing.

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Harry Kane was the big winner at the London Football Awards as he won Player of the Year

Harry Kane named Player of the Year

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Parish planning for life in the Championship fore Croydon Council’s Planning Committee on April 19.

Parish, who grew up an Eagles fan and insists being chairman remains a “privilege”, said: “The new stand design has been fantastically received. South London is really finding its identity now.

“Some amazing development is taking place right now, and we hope we can be part of that.” Parish, quoted in the London Evening Standard, also revealed the club were “looking at a naming-rights opportunity for the stadium.”

“The new stand is the biggest project the

club have undertaken since 1964. We are very excited about it and it will make a huge difference to the club,” he added.

“Relegation and promotion are temporary things. I have got to make sure, whether eventuality, we can fulfil the long-term goals of the club.”

‘Guardiola, Pochettino, ready to cause Italian earthquake’ - Juventus coach Even low-key left back Mario Rui got on the scoresheet with a late free-kick. It was a wonderful moment for the Portuguese defender who endured a tough beginning to his Napoli career. His left-footed strike at the Sardinia Arena brought tongue-incheek comparisons with set-piece legend Diego Maradona.

In the same game Mertens grabbed his 16th goal of the season. He switched from the wing to centre forward when Polish striker Arkadiusz Milik ruptured knee ligaments in Autumn 2016, and has stayed up front since.

Lorenzo Insigne converted from the spot and this season has confirmed that there is substance and consistency alongside the flair and speed. The third member of the attacking trident, Jose Callejon, opened the scoring after 29 minutes. The effervescent, spiky former Real Madrid winger is a constant thorn in the side for rivals.

This season it isn’t only the attackers attracting praise. The midfield triumvirate of skipper Marek Hamsik, human dynamo Allan and Jorginho are a joy to watch. They

move the ball quickly and along the ground into space. Allan never stops moving, Hamsik brings experience and cutting edge. The Slovakian is the club’s all-time top scorer with 119 goals and is eyeing Giuseppe Bruscolotti’s record of 511 appearances in the famous blue shirt.

The defence is earning plaudits too. They have kept 14 clean sheets this season. Former Real Madrid reserve Raul Abiol and Koulibaly aren’t the most glamorous names in world football, but as a unit they are very hard to outwit, outpace or outmuscle.

The Serie A leaders have fans in high places. Before the Champions League double header against Manchester City, Pep Guardiola, who admits to loving watching Napoli, said: ‘They are among the top clubs in Europe. They play a lot of short passes and lose possession very rarely. Jorginho is marvellous.’

Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino, the Premier League’s other most-celebrated footballing stylist, is also bewitched.

‘Napoli can win the league, they’ll fight with Juventus until the end,’ he said recently.

‘Sarri’s football is the most attractive in Europe and I try to watch their matches whenever I can.

‘What advice would I give to Sarri? Nothing. He’s one of the best in the world.’

Arrigo Sacchi, coach of the AC Milan side which dominated Italy then Europe in the late 1980s, is also keen. ‘Sarri is a hero. He makes the most of what he has got,’ says Sacchi. ‘We should thank him. He is overcoming limits. His team aren’t very powerful physically or experienced, but they move beautifully as a unit. His team play better football than the Napoli sides which won the titles.’

Those triumphs were spearheaded by Maradona and a fantastic supporting cast.

The celebrations after the first championship in 1987 went on for months, there were street parties and neighbourhoods were painted blue. Someone even wrote in a graveyard, ‘Fellas, you don’t know what you’re missing!’.

Over the last two campaigns Maurizio Sarri’s team have finished second and third respectively. They either ran out of steam

arry Kane was the big winner at the London Football Awards as he was named footballer of the year.

The Tottenham star has had a stunning 12 months and was rightly rewarded with the top gong.

He beat Cesar Azpilicueta, team-mates Heung-Min Son and Christian Eriksen, and Wilfried Zaha Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson picked up manager of the year during Thursday night’s ceremony at Battersea Evolution.

Hodgson has led a seemingly doomed Palace side off the bottom of the table and outside the relegation zone on goal difference.

or slipped up against seemingly innocuous opponents. As every supporter knows, it’s lovely to be top of the table in January and February, but champions are crowned in May. So what makes this season different to the previous two? Gazzetta dello Sport journalist Vincenzo D’Angelo said: ‘The team has been playing together for three years and can execute moves and strategies with their eyes closed. And going out of Europe now gives them six days to prepare for every match. Those days are during the week and invaluable for physical and, crucially, mental recovery.’

D’Angelo believes the biggest shift in the landscape has been between the Napoli squad’s ears, not on the pitch: ‘Last season Napoli played Real Madrid in the Champions League. They lost to a team with clearly superior players and resources, yes, but for an hour in both matches they gave the Spanish side a great game.

‘That gave the players unimaginable confidence. They realised that they could give anyone a good game. The title challenge is genuine, the players believe. The scudetto is an objective, not a taboo that no one talks about. They believe they can do it. In pre-season training camp they were talking about winning the title.’

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Antonio Conte

Costacurta wants Conte to manage Italy

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helsea manager Antonio Conte is the Italian Football Federation’s (FIGC) preferred option to coach the national team, the governing body’s vice-commissioner Alessandro Costacurta has said.

Conte coached Italy from 2014 and led them to the quarter-finals of the 2016 European Championships before joining Chelsea later that year, winning the Premier League title in his debut season.

The London outfit have faltered this campaign as they lie fifth in the standings, 19 points behind leaders Manchester City, leading to uncertainty over Conte’s future.

“I haven’t chosen yet but I think Conte is the one who could do the best,” Former AC Milan defender Costacurta told Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport on Tuesday. “(Conte) has already shown he knows how to be national team coach while the others haven’t yet.”

Costacurta added that ex-Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini and former AC Milan manager Carlo Ancelotti are also being considered for the national team role.

Italy sacked Gian Piero Ventura in November after the team failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia with under-21 coach Luigi Di Biagio currently in charge as interim manager.

Italy, who will miss the global tournament for the first time since 1958, face Argentina and England in international friendlies next month.

Parker says he can ‘outbox’ Joshua, despite the Londoner being clear favourite for the fight

Parker: I have ‘skills to outbox’ Anthony Joshua Joseph Parker is confident he can upset Anthony Joshua through sheer boxing skill when they meet for their world heavyweight title bout in Cardiff.

Parker, holder of the WBO belt, and Joshua, the WBA and IBF title holder, both unbeaten, go head to head on March 31.

Joshua has won all 20 of his professional bouts by knockout and is widely viewed as the more powerful boxer, but

Parker insists he has the ability to triumph.

Parker told Sky Sports: ‘I can outbox Anthony Joshua. I think I have the skills to outbox him but I haven’t really shown that.

That’s why I’m excited - this is a big stage to put on the best performance of my life.

‘I can knock him out. I can outbox him. Words can’t explain how excited we are. We’re fighting in his backyard and we’re fighting another cham-

pion who’s undefeated. That makes it a great fight.

‘Also the opportunity to fight in front of 80,000 people. A lot of people say it’s going to be overwhelming and I’m going to be nervous and scared, but I see it differently. I see it as us making the most of the occasion.’

The Principality Stadium is expected to see a sell-out crowd, while the worldwide TV audience will stretch into the

millions, with pay-per-view expected to make it a bug pay day for both boxers.

Joshua, who also has an Olympic gold medal from the London 2012 games, is the clear favourite, having stopped Vladimir Klitschko in his biggest fight so far, last April.

However Parker - who has won 18 of his 24 fights by knockout - is set to provide another stern test.

Tennis needs Andy Murray – Becker

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Boris Becker in action

oris Becker insists tennis “needs” Andy Murray and believes both he and Novak Djokovic will be motivated by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal’s own comebacks.

Former world number one Murray is targeting a return for the grasscourt season having been sidelined since last year’s Wimbledon due to a hip problem that he had surgery on in the new year.

Without Murray and Djokovic, another multiple grand slam winner recovering from injury, 36-year-old Federer and 31-year-old Nadal have risen back to the top of the ATP rankings.

Yet Becker, speaking in Monaco in his role as an ambassador for Lau-

reus, feels the sport would benefit from Murray’s return.

“Tennis needs him; tennis is not the same without Andy Murray,” the German said.

“He got this problem and he stopped when he was the number one player in the world. It’s the last thing you want to happen.

“It’s a serious injury – I’m not his doctor, I can’t give you details of what the surgery was or how many surgeries he had – but what I hear is he is contemplating coming back on the grass because obviously it’s a little easier for the hip.

“I think you wouldn’t come back if you wouldn’t have the chance to come back fully fit.

“Once he’s fully fit, he’s one of the best players in the world. Then it’s a question of

time. How much time are you going to give yourself to come back to this level you had before? I hope he does.”

Murray turns 31 this year, exactly the age Becker was when the three-time Wimbledon champion called time on his career.

“It’s the most difficult decision for an athlete,” Becker said of retirement.

“We all come to that moment of having to face the man in the mirror and saying, ‘We’re too old’. It’s not because 31 is old but it’s because of the wear and tear and the physical demands that you’ve asked from your body. It’s not a number. “(Bjorn) Borg thought he was too old at 26! It’s the most difficult decision you have to ask yourself because it’s not normal to be called old at 31, 32. You’re still starting your life as a man. But as an athlete, you are not a spring chicken any more. It’s difficult.”

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Business & Economy B1

Daily Times Nigeria

Customs comptroller warns clearing agents against sabotage at airport Page B2

NNPC, Kogi sign MoU to produce 84m litres of bio-fuel per annum Page B8

Saturday, March 3, 2018

Yankari Game Reserve undergoing re-engineering - Mamman Page B4

Page B8

Company director explains value adding role in economy Motolani Oseni The Technical Director, Safety Consultants & Solution Provider (SCSP), Antonia Beri, has disclosed that the company’s competences have ensued efficient market positioning for servicing of fortune 500 firms and other global multinationals.

The company, which has been providing consultancy and engineering solutions in line with required mandates for Life, Fire Safety and Security Risk Mitigation in the last 10 years, said the biggest achievement of the company is in the awareness created by its services, especially to households and individuals who are now better informed on fire and safety risk management.

Speaking in Lagos on Friday, Beri, noted: “Our business has always been about saving lives and property and so far, that is what we have been doing.”

The director said, “We are a company that is highly concentrated in forex transactions either through procurement or liabilities to our OEMS. We are also grateful to God for the lives of our staff. So far we haven’t had any major causality or fatality for 10 years that we have been operating’.

Commenting on SCSP achievements since establishment, she said: “When we be-

gan we were a small company seeking recognition in a highly competitive market, where majority of the market players are much bigger and well positioned. Yet, today we can comfortably say, amongst our clientele listing are oil & gas multinationals, manufacturing companies and Information Technology giants.”

Although, she pointed out that one of the company biggest challenged is access to credit and funding for projects.

“Banks rate are seemingly

not profitable for most projects we undertake and getting trade credit is not as easy as ordinarily expected. The reputation of the country with respect to doing business, is also another challenged especially when a significant portion of your business requires overseas procurement.

However, we have managed to overcome most of these challenged by adapting to our immediate business environment, getting funds from interested investors and credit organizations like Co-link and

ensuring we have the right capacity to deliver on projects.

This has ensured client trust and provided better opportunities for trade credit.

Meanwhile, Resource and Administration person, SCSP, Mrs. Uche Dike, added that in order to survive during the economy downturn that hard decisions had to be made, but linked the success story of the company to the competencies of it staff and the uniqueness of the skills provided to the clients.

“As stated we learned to

adapt to our immediate environment, which includes the existing economic situation.

No doubt these are tough times and like all other companies that survived, hard decisions had to be made.”

She, however, promised their clients and industry stakeholders to expect the best in fire and safety management standards from the company, while calling on all friends, family and to join the company in giving thanks to God Almighty for his goodness in the last 10 years of operation.

L/R Director Flight Operation Arik. Capt Adetokunbo Adekunbi, Chief executive officer Arik capt Roy Ilegbodu and Chairman House Committee on Banking and Currency Hon. Jones Onyereri during House Committee On banking and currency visit to Arik headquarter on Friday ...in Lagos.

NNPC declines Falana’s request over oil revenue

By Idu Jude , Abuja with Agency report The Nigerian National Petroleum Cooperation (NNPC) has said it will not grant the request by human right activist and Senior Advocate of Nigeria(SAN), Mr. Femi Falana, seeking to know how much revenue Nigeria is getting daily from the sale of crude oil.

Falana had asked the NNPC to disclose the revenue realized from the sale of the daily allocation of 445,000 barrels of crude oil from June 1, 2015 to December 31, 2017.

He also requested the amount utilized as subsidy and the amount remitted to the federation account from revenue realized from the crude oil sales within the period.

The senior lawyer requested the quantity of crude oil refined locally and the amount spent on turn-around-maintenance of local refineries (with vouchers) within the period.

But in a reply, dated March 1, the corporation told Falana that it is not in a position to provide him with the information, “as your request is incongruous

with, unsupported by and/ or outside the scope and purview of the Freedom of Information Act (with which he made the request)”.

Signed by Sarah Ndukwu, General Manager, Litigation, Arbitration and Property Law Department, the NNPC said: “Be informed that the FOIA is not applicable to NNPC because it is not a public institution within the meaning of section 31 of FOlA.”.

“The NNPC is neither a legislative, executive, judicial, administrative nor an advisory body of government (which the said section applies to); it is a statu-

tory corporation established for the sole purpose of managing Nigeria’s commercial interest in oil and gas sector and conducting trade in that respect.”

The commission added even if the FOIA applies to it, the information sought is “expressly excluded from the purview of the act by virtue of section 15(1)(a)(c) thereof.”

It said the requested information is in the nature of “commercial, financial and trade secrets information, which obviously are either subject to non-disclosure agreements or whose disclosure could reasonably interfere with

NNPC’s existing contractual obligations or harm third parties’ interests.

“In fact by the use of the word “shall” in the section, NNPC is obligated, in the absence of any prior consent by relevant third parties, to deny your request.”

While assuring Falana that it is a “law-abiding corporate citizen”, the cooperation further told him that his request “will not serve any public interest to public health, public safety or the protection of the environment as to bring it within the items exempted for disclosure under section 15(4).”

Business News B2

Daily Times Nigeria d ƐƑƏƗ ƕè L Əƅ Ƣè ƾƠơƤ

Oil exploration: Freed UNIMAID lecturers vow to return to Chad Basin

By Idu Jude, Abuja The University of Maiduguri has defied the abduction of its lecturers that lasted over eight months before they regained freedom by expressing willingness to align with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, to resume oil exploration activities in the Chad Basin.

Leading the three lecturers and the Management team of the University on a visit to the NNPC, the University’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Ibrahim Njodi said the freed lecturers and the entire university community were ready to remobilize for oil exploration in the Chad Basin.

Njodi said despite the harrowing experience of the dons in the captivity of the Boko Haram insurgents, the university was focused on carrying through the exploration programme in the inland sedimentary basins.

The freed lecturers who accompanied the ViceChancellor are: Dr. Solomon Nehemiah Yusuf, Mr. Yusuf Ibrahim, both of the Geology Department of the university and Mr. Haruna Dashe, of the Works Department of the Ivory Tower.

The Vice-Chancellor said he regretted to announce the demise of one of the

victims of the attack, Muhammed Alhaji Kolo, who died as a result of gun-shot wounds inflicted on him by the insurgents.

He expressed profound gratitude to the Management of NNPC led by Dr. Maikanti Baru, saying, the university community would not forget the support the corporation extended to the families of the victims at their hours of need.

He sought more succor for the affected lectures, stressing that they passed through unimaginable trauma in the hands of their abductees.

Responding, Baru called for a minute silence for the soul of the victim who died during the attack, saying , NNPC was totally in support of the university.

The NNPC GMD thanked the academics for their visit, saying that the corporation was ready to mobilize to the Chad Basin for further exploration activities noting that the corporation would work rigorously with the university and all relevant security agencies to fortify the environment for smooth exploration activities.

He remarked that it would be a great mark of honour to the departed for the corporation and the university to resume exploration work in the basin.

Dana Air to fly US doctors on free medical mission to Uyo Chukwuemeke Iwelunmo Dana air is partnering Global Image Foundation, a nongovernmental organization based in the US on free medical surgical –dental mission for the underprivileged in Uyofrom 5th -9th of March, 2018 The airline will also fly a team of 20 doctors based in the US from Lagos to Akwa Ibom state for the mission, which will include providing quality care, conducting several training sessions, and laparoscopic surgical camp, thus educating the local medical community.

The program will also be an annual and biannual initiative creating a long-term relationship in developing the medical community.

Speaking on the initiative, the Communications Manager of Dana Air, Kingsley Ezenwa said, ‘our commitment to the health and well-being of Nigerians has never been in doubt.

This goes beyond flying into a state, but providing necessary support and contributing positively to the

lives of the indigenes of the state.’’

Also commenting on the initiative, the founder of Global Image Foundation, Dr. Essiet Mfonbong said, ‘For the duration of this program, the good people of Akwa Ibom state and those who are not able to afford basic health care, will benefit from this initiative providing free surgeries including minimally invasive techniques.’’

She thanked Dana Air for being ahead of other cooperate bodies in terms of supporting worthy causes in the state and for flying the mission team safely, to Akwa Ibom state. She advised the people to take advantage of the program and strive for good health and wellbeing Meanwhile, Dana Air has further confirmed its commitment to fighting cancer in Nigeria, with its recent support to Nigeria’s first and foremost Childhood Cancer Charity organization called – Children Living with Cancer Foundation.

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Customs comptroller warns clearing agents against sabotage at airport Ï ƅƅƑ Ɔ ƗƋƈ ƅ ƕô Ƈ ƅ ƈƒ ƅƆ Chukwuemeke Iwelunmo C u s t o m s agents at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos have been warned to desist from sabotaging the efforts of the Federal Government in generating revenues for the country.

This is as some ground handling staff at the tarmac area of the airport have been accused of conniving with customs agents to steal cargo at the airport, thereby leading to massive loss of revenues for the government.

Mrs. Jayne Shoboiki, the new Customs Area Comptroller, Lagos Airport Command made these statements yesterday in Lagos during a meeting with major stakeholders at the airport.

Shoboiki, who was redeployed to the command about a week ago, insisted that the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) would no longer tolerate diversion of government revenues by some unscrupulous elements in the system especially among the cargo agents.

She explained that within a week of her redeployment to the command, she had noticed some loopholes in

the system, which she intended to plug, stressing that the command would no longer tolerate any act of indiscipline by any of the agents and other stakeholders in the system.

She also alleged that some of the ground handling staff at the tarmac not only connive with the agents to short change government of deserving revenues, but also actively participate in stealing cargo at the tarmac.

She vowed that henceforth, such dastardly attitude would be checkmated by the system already put in place by the organisation.

She explained that the attitude of some of the staff had been a major challenge to the command in the past, but insisted such attitudes would be relegated to the background.

She said: “We seem to have a lot of challenges with the ground handling staff at this airport especially at the tarmac.

They are not only conniving with the agents, but are also aiding and abetting in stealing of cargo at the tarmac. One of the ground handling agents visited me yesterday (Wednesday) and

when I came out with a lot of evidences, they didn’t know what to say.

“I see no reason why we should steal cargo at the shed. The importer has given the agent the appropriate money for the clearance of the cargo, but some of the agents in connivance with some of the ground handling staff still go ahead to steal cargo. All that will stop. Any agent that is caught stealing cargo, his license would be seized. Also, agents should not collect contraband products from importers.

“I am not here to blame anyone, but to ensure that we make adjustments. I am here for revenue collection at the command. We need to have attitudinal change in whatever we do. I am not going to compromise my revenue collection or allow anyone to constitute an impediment to that change. I will adopt carrot and stick approach and I will not hesitate to use the stick when the need arises.”

Reacting to cargo stealing at the tarmac, Mr. Ahmed Bashir Gulmah, Head, Corporate Services, Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) Plc, expressed

surprise at the allegation.

Gulmah said that NAHCO as an organisation had put in systems to checkmate any nefarious activities by its clients and staff.

He, however, agreed that there was no perfect system anywhere in the world, but assured that NAHCO would continue to cooperate with the Customs and other stakeholders in the industry.

She said: “I am actually taken aback with some of the allegations you just made. No system is perfect, but our commitment is that we will ensure compliance, improve on our structures and cooperate with your men on the field.

“We will also ensure that government gets what is due to them and we too will generate our own revenues.”

Also present at the stakeholders’ meeting were representative of the Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCOL) Limited, Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) and the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF).

Business News REA initiates 619 rural projects

NNPC steadily investing in renewable energy – Baru Dr Maikanti Baru, Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC ), said on Wednesday that the company is investing in renewable energy to accelerate Nigeria’s industrial development.

Baru said at the ongoing 39th Kaduna International Trade Fair that the NNPC had set up a Renewable Energy Division not only to develop solar and other renewable energy sources, but to also develop bio-fuels from agricultural produce.

According to him, the multiplier effects of such ventures include reviving the agricultural sector and generating huge employment. “Not only that, the bio-fuel will be blended to our refineries petroleum products, which will significantly reduce imports of petroleum products into the country,” he said.

Power plant

Daily Times Nigeria Saturday, March 3 2018

NERC lists rights of electricity consumers Stories by Simon Ugwu

The Rural Electrification Agency (REA) said it has initiated and is working on 422 new electrification projects across the six geopolitical zones under the 2017 capital appropriation. It also hopes to complete another 197 projects that were approved under the 2016 budget appropriation.

A breakdown of the new projects obtained from the agency showed that the North Central comprising Abuja has the lion’s share with 93 projects. The lowest share of the federal intervention rural electrification efforts went to the South West which has 43 projects.

There are 52 of the new capital projects in the North East, 77 others are in the North West, 76 are in the South East, and 81 projects are being executed in the South South geopolitical zone.

The Managing Director, Damilola Ogunbiyi according to the agency signed the contract agreement of over 300 contractors for year 2017 Capital Projects last Thursday at its headquarters in Abuja. The agency also said about 197 projects that were initiated before and during the 2016 budget year were in progress.

B3

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), the body empowered to meet the yearnings of Nigerians for stable, adequate and safe electricity supply, has taken the bull by the horn by releasing to the public, the rights of every electricity consumer.

The listed the rights to include all new electricity connections must be done strictly on the basis of metering before connection.

That is, no new customer should be connected without meter first being installed, a

customer who elects to procure meter under the Credited Advance Payment for Metering Implementation (CAPMI) Scheme must be metered within 60 days, after which the customer will neither be billed nor disconnected by the electricity distribution company and it is the customer’s right to transparent electricity billing.

Unmetered customers should be issued with electricity bills strictly based on NERC’s estimated billing methodology.

Others are , it is the customer’s right to be notified in writing ahead of disconnection of electricity service by the electricity distribution company

serving the customer in line with NERC’s guidelines; It is the customer’s right to prompt investigation of complaints arising from the customer’s electricity service disruption, It is not the responsibility of electricity customer or community to buy, replace or repair electricity transformers, poles and related equipment used in the supply of electricity and it is the customer’s right to contest any electricity bill.

Any unmetered customer who is disputing his or her estimated bill has the right not to pay the disputed bill, but pay only the last undisputed bill as

the contested bill goes through the dispute resolution process of NERC. The commission said, “it is your right to send all your complaints on electricity supply and other billing issues are to be sent to your nearest business unit of the electricity company serving your premises”.

“If your complaint is not satisfactorily addressed, you can forward your complaint to the NERC Forum Office within the coverage area of your electricity distribution company. Customers also have the right to appeal the decision of the forum at the NERC headquarters in Abuja”, NERC added.

SMW 2018: HACEY sdvocates effective Usage of technology to develop sexual orientation in Africa Mutiat Alli

L-R, Ambassador Chiedu Osakwe, representing the Vice President; Alhaji Abdullahi Mahmoud, Former Director, FBN Holdings Plc; Chidi Anya, Director, FBN Holdings Plc; UK EKE, MFR, GMD, FBN Holdings Plc; Mallam Bello Maccido, Chairman FBNQuest Merchant Bank; and Abimbola Ogunbanjo, President, Council of Nigeria Stock Exchange at the Corporate Governance Rating System Certification Ceremony 2018, held at the Civic Center, Lagos ... on Thursday.

Residents confront IBEDC office over a vandalised transformer Some angry residents of Ojoyin community in Ile-Ife, Osun State, have attacked the office of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company after they discovered that the transformer serving their community has been vandalised.

They are accusing some officials of the electricity company as being responsible.

The irate residents, who staged a protest to the IBEDC office at Lagere area of Ile-Ife to register their displeasure reportedly made a bonfire at the entrance of the office and damaged some furniture and other items in the office.

The Osun Regional Communication Officer, IBEDC, Kikelomo Owoeye, said this in a statement made available in Osogbo.

The police were said to have

been alerted and their quick response prevented the irate protesters from further damaging the office. The police were said to have dispersed the protesters and restored peace to the area.

The IBEDC’s statement read, “The management of Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company hereby expresses its strong displeasure over an attack on its main office in Ile-Ife, Lagere, Osun State on Saturday, 24th February 2018 by some members of Ojoyin community, Ile-Ife following the incident of a vandalised transformer within their community.

“At about 8 am, some members of the community staged a protest on the allegation that the vandalism act was perpetrated

by IBEDC officials. During the protest, they damaged furni-

ture at the office security post, removed the signage and set a bonfire at the office gate. It was only through the quick intervention of the Nigeria Police that the protesters were dispersed after which the vandalised cable was later discovered in a bush within the community.

“IBEDC, therefore, wishes to appeal once again to the public, especially customers within its franchise area to desist from any form of violence on our staff or property as it is unlawful and will lead to a breakdown of service delivery. Customers are hereby urged to cooperate with the company by providing information on suspect activity within their community as pertaining to vandalism or energy theft as they lead to the destruction of valuable and critical infrastructure.”

A non-government organization, HACEY Health lnitiative has charged Nigerians, private and public sectors as well as parents to use technology to develop young people’s sexual and reproductive orientation using two platforms they recently put together; the SALVUS and TOMBEY. According to the Director of Gender and Development Programs of HACEY Health Initiative, Rhoda Robinson, “the platforms basically make use of mobile technology all in a quest improve access to services and information on Sexual Reproductive Health [SRH] and sexual violence.”

Rhoda made this known while moderating an open panel session at Social Media Week Lagos, themed: “Leveraging Technology for Young People’s Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights”.

The session explored basic challenges young people face in accessing information on safe sex, contraception, menstrual hygiene and puberty as well as reporting sexual violence.

Thr panelists at the event included; the State Team Leader, Johns Hopkins University Center for Communications Program NURHI 2 PROJECT, Dr, Omasanjuwa Edun, Marketing Manager DKT Nigeria, Morenike Fajemisi, the Project Lead, TECH4DEV, , Joel Ogunsola, Co-founder & C.E.O, Babymigo, Lanre Adeloye, as well as the Managing Director, Mobile Medics, Dr. Olusheyi Oni. While giving an in-depth explanation of what SALVUS and TOMBEY represent, Rhoda noted that, “The TOMBEY platform helps young people locate youthfriendly SRH centres near them, identify services available at these centres, and provide the opportunity for them to access needed services.

Tours&Travels

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Daily Times Nigeria Saturday, March 3, 2018

Yankari Game Reserve undergoing re-engineering - Mamman Engineer Habu Mamman is the Sole Administrator of the foremost Yankari Game Reserve in Bauchi. In an interview with our Correspondent, SAMUEL LUKA, he speaks about his efforts to revamp the reserve, private investment , amongst others.

first when it emerged it , promised to diversify the economy from oil to other sectors like tourism. How has the Yankariunder your supervision, assisted in the area of job creation and revenue generation for the people of Bauchi state?

Sir, you were appointed and saddled with the responsibility of turning around the fortunes of Yankari Game Reserve by the current administration of Governor Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar. Now tell me how you worked to achieve that?

Thank you very much. You know being a Sole Administrator is actually an interventionist assignment, it doesn’t follow some of the due processes , but sometimes you just have to follow necessary processes.

And to be candid, I have the full backing of the government in order to rejuvenate this place, and I think if you had been here before, you probably would have understood what I mean.

When we came here, Yankari was in terrible shape, apart from the issues of the insurgency that didn’t allow people to come, even for people who come here the services were very poor, about 40 per cent of the rooms could not be used, you can’t call them rooms, so many things. So, when this administration came in and the governor was here, fortunately for us he was once a Secretary in Yankari in 1984, so he has passion for the place, and when he came in, the first meeting, major assignment of the government was held in Yankari, that is the meeting of the progressive governors, and so many things were against it , but the governor insisted that it has to be in Yankari.

Therefore, little renovations were carried out on important places that governors and other guests will stay and the meeting was successful.

Two days after the meeting I was made the Sole Administrator of the reserve, and I started work.

I understand that most of the structures in Yankari was put on by the former governor Ahmed Muazu.

Sir, what other structures or infrastructure have been added by the present administration of governor Mohammed Abubakar?

A: Well, actually the buildings were put up by Ahmed Muazu, some of the world were even done by former governor Isa Yuguda, although very minimal. When we came in , the buildings were there quite okay but I mean you cannot put somebody in just a building ; our concentration here was not to add any other building or any other structure but to improve on what is available and that is what we have been doing.

I can tell you, when we came here, if assuming all the rooms

Mamman were to be occupied you don’t even have the bedsheets to give to the people, you don’t even have towels, you don’t have so many things.

Our immediate focus was to look at the services that are required by a standard hotel and provide them.

But that notwithstanding, we have an airstrip that has just come on board and is almost completed now, that one is a very major project for a place like this because an airstrip will not only allow people that can come by air to come, but it will also allow for our conservationists to use airplanes to do so many other things for us on the reserve.

By and large, maybe, you must have seen the gate, the entrance to Wikki, it was in bad shape before, if you had come here before we took over but this was put on by the present administration of governor Abubakar, and then we have outsourced so many things for people who can come here.

For instance, if you cannot have light here , you cannot have water, these are the basic things, if you don’t have them I mean you don’t have a resort.

For us to maintain water daily here is a very big service that by the time you completed them and say you are going to quantify them, you will have a very much structure.

This reserve was first managed by the Federal Govern-

ment before it was handed over to Bauchi state government during governor Ahmed Muazu. How do compare Yankari then and now?

Well, first of all let me give you the history of the reserve, it was created in 1956 by the then Northern Nigerian government, then after the creation of Bauchi state, that was Bauchi, it was managed by Bauchi state, then it was handed over to the National Park ,but I think in 2005 or 2006, Ahmed Muazu fought for it and collected it back.

To be candid , the setback this place had was giving it to the National Park because me, I don’t know, as somebody who has a stake in it; I believed the people who were brought here to run the place had no stake in it, they had no stake , they don’t care, most of the animals were being killed deliberately, and nobody cared about what the structure is being put here ,and so the whole place was terrible, so it was good that Ahmed Muazu collected it from the Federal Government, and since he collected it you can see his commitment, every thing, the road from Dindima to Yankari, we call it Ahmadu Bello Way, and then you can see the road network inside the Yankari and you can see the buildings he has put in place.

The APC- led administration,

Well, thank you for that question. Definitely that is one of the cardinal points of the APC,- led administration, and not only Yankari, I don’t know whether you know of the Sumu Wild Life Park, because the wild life park is also in Bauchi , and is under my supervision.

We have tried our best to see that these things just come up from where they were stalled because actually this place is in the Northeast, we had insurgency in the Northeast although we didn’t feel the brunt of it , but the perceptions of the people to the insurgency had made people to fear coming here.

The first thing we started to do was to built the confidence of tourists and I think we are succeeding in doing that. We cannot say we have generated money to the state but we have not also collected a single kobo from the government to do anything that you see here, everything that is in here is being done by the monies being generated from this place; and very soon, probably in two, three months time, we must have reached a certain threshold that we may not be needing much more monies to do maintenances, so, some monies will be going to the state government.

Not only that, we are also disposed to people who want to come and partner with us, and then because to be candid government has no business doing this type of business because you cannot work with the government ministry or government institution, you need private people to come and put their monies and then do the needful, because we have gone out, we have seen so many places that are working very well, most of them are done privately and not by government, definitely government will set the regulations ,but the people run it, and then we are also on that track.

Okay, from what you have just said, it seems you are calling for private investment in Yankari. What incentives do you have for the would -be investors?

Any investor that comes, well to start with, we now have the DG investment promotions in Bauchi state , and it is a one stock shop for any type of investment that you want to do in Bauchi, because in Bauchi we have minerals, we have agriculture, we have tourism and we are opening our doors up for investors.

Investors have been coming both for all the sectors that I have mentioned, and so many incentives have been created in terms of, I

told you of one stock shop, that one you just go to one office and you have finished all your job and then taxes, there are some moritoriums, certain taxes that you cannot, we give you some certain years before we start collecting taxes.

Even the arrangement that we will go in with you, give you certain years before we start thinking of collecting the money, all these are part of incentives that we want to give to the investors that are coming, probably if the DG BIPA were here he would have told you more about this, because he is more of the economist than I. Have you been able to get some investors who have indicated interest for investing in tourism sector in Bauchi?

So many. we have Nigerians, they have come, some of them have brought proposals, we have Chinese, they have come.

Last week , South Africans came, about 21 of them because there was a trip we made to South Africa and because of that they returned the trip, they were actually coming for tourism and even aviation, because they want to do an aviation school or something like that in our airport, they came and fully loaded with all those things, so they put in their queries, we have answered them and they went back and we are waiting for their replies, but definitely ,there are some people that are interested, in fact even Nigerians and we are opening it up for everyone who wants to come and invest in the sector.

One of the problems bedeviling tourism sector, particularly game reserves , is the issue of poaching. How have you been able to contain the unwanted guests in Yankari game reserve?

Well, definitely poaching is a very serious problem to not only us, but to any conservation in the world. Here, it has been a very big problem to us because in those days some of the animals cannot even be seen and probably it is because of the issue of shootings they hear every now and then of guns, but we have now entered into an MOU with WCS, WCS is Wild life Conservation Society of New York .

They are on the ground here, they train our Rangers, they equip them for anti-poaching activities. So, that one has drastically reduced the activities of poachers, we arrest them and then we take them to court when we get them.

And then, we have our Rangers about three camps, every night, sleeping inside the bush, but we cannot cover the whole bush, it is 2244.10 square kilometres, so it is very large, but at least we know where most of the animals are and we concentrate most of our activities in those areas.

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Tours & Travels

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Daily Times Nigeria Satrurday, March 3, 2017

$2bn needed to revive Lagos-Kano rail – Osinbajo Nigeria’s Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, has stated that at least $2billion would be required to revive the Lagos-Kano Rail Line as part of efforts to boost local and international trade along the Northern and Southern zones.

Osinbajo, who spoke at the opening of the inaugural edition of the Lagos-Kano Economic and Investment Summit held at the Jubilee Chalets in Epe, Lagos, said the Federal Government in partnership with a private firm, General Electric is already proposing to invest in the project to enhance the movement of cargo from Apapa ports to Kano via the rail line.

Commending the Lagos and Kano State Governors for creating a platform to collaborate for economic growth, Osinbajo expressed optimism that such initiatives would open up the investment opportunities that abound in both States to wouldbe investors both locally and in-

Osinbajo ternationally.

He said: “I believe that Lagos and Kano States have by this collaboration underscored the cornerstone of the Federal Gov-

ernment’s economic recovery and growth plan, namely the leveraging of synergies among States and between government and the private sector.

“The strategic role of the federal government is of course to create an enabling environment for commerce beginning with the provision of infrastructure.

“For us, what this meant especially in the context of Lagos and Kano collaboration is the refurbishing of the narrow gauge Lagos to Kano Rail with a concession to General Electric who are proposing to invest almost $2billion to ensure that the rail route is effective for movement of cargo from Apapa port to Kano.

“Similarly, we are investing in the Lagos to Kano standard gauge line, the Lagos Ibadan portion of that is expected to be ready by the end of this year.

Also, we have budgeted N80billion for the development of special economic zones in the six geo-political zones of the country.”

While reeling out plans by the Federal Government on power,

the Vice President said arrangements have been firmed up to establish independent power projects to specifically service printers in Somolu area and traders in Sura Market.

He said the Federal Government would keep a close tap on the decisions reached at the Summit and would use it direct its engagement with State Governments going forward.

Osinbajo said: “Let me again commend Governors Ganduje and Ambode for this Summit.

I want to commend Governor Ganduje for making the long journey to Lagos. I must also say that Governor Ambode deserves special mention for his foresightedness in establishing this collaboration, working with Governor Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi on the famous LAKE Rice and even leasing land from Ogun State to grow rice which I think is another act of collaboration.”

Lagos, Kano seek to deepen economic partnership Stories by Simon Ugwu The Lagos and Kano State Governments on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for economic partnership and to jointly explore investment opportunities aimed at creating jobs and facilitating growth and development.

The MoU, which was signed

by Governors Akinwunmi Ambode and Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Lagos and Kano States respectively, at the closing ceremony of the inaugural Lagos-Kano Economic and Investment Summit held at the Jubilee Chalets, Epe, seeks to create a common platform for exploring, expanding and developing areas of economic development and Investment.

According to the MoU, the two States agreed to expand the current level of economic and investment cooperation between them especially in key areas of Governance, Security, Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), Agricultural Value Chain, Tourism, Education, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Skills Development.

Other areas include Commerce with specific focus on ease of doing business and Infrastructure in Power, Trans-

portation and Urban Waste Management.

The objectives of the MoU, among others, are to establish a formal and flexible framework between the two States to expand trade and investment cooperation, foster scientific and technological collaboration for business de-

velopment in emerging key sectors, strengthen communication, enhance trust, boost economic development and create jobs.

Under the agreement, the two States have also set up a Technical Working Group to oversee the implementation of the objectives of the MoU.

In her closing remarks, Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr Idiat Adebule, said the signing of the MoU by Governor Ambode and Governor Ganduje was a clear testament of the commitment of both States to collaborate in the overall best interest of the people.

She said the two Governors,

by the development, “are telling the entire world that collaboration, cooperation, partnership can always work to bring about economic sufficiency in our States and off course the entire nation.”

While describing the summit as historic and successful, Adebule said the programme witnessed presentations from experts, erudite minds, scholars from both public and organised private sector with numerous positions expressed and outlined .She said: “In this process, our minds have been availed with torrents of ideas, information, statistics, interpretation and above all vision and collaboration leading to economic sufficiency.

“I am convinced that the most valuable outcome of this engagement is the fact that we have Governors who have vision and have the opportunity of sharing this vision. Today, we are not just sharing the vision but providing an enabling environment for this vision to be actualized.

“Today, we have the political will; today, the political will has been demonstrated and it signifies the fact that we are ready for business. Lagos and Kano mean business and we are ready for business,” the Deputy Governor said.

Ambode

Daily Times Nigeria Satrurday, March 3, 2017

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Tours & Travels

Okowa felicitates with monarch on 10th coronation anniversary G OV E R N O R Ifeanyi Okowa on friday congratulated, Emmanuel Sideso Abe I, the Ovie of Uvwie Kingdom on the 10th anniversary of his ascension to the ancient throne. Okowa in a statement in Asaba, friday signed by his Chief Press Secre-

tary, Charles Aniagwu, commended the monarch for making Uvwie kingdom peaceful and investor-friendly since he ascended the throne of his forefathers ten years ago. Emmanuel Ekemejewan Sideso (JP), Abe 1, the Ovie of Uvwie Kingdom (left) being congratu-

lated by Professor Akii Ibhadodeh, the Vice Chancellor of FUPRE The Governor noted that His Majesty’s ascension to the throne has brought lasting peace to the once troubled Uvwie kingdom.

“Uvwie Kingdom has metamorphosed from a once troubled king-

Uwvie

dom to a peaceful and investor-friendly kingdom since His Royal Majesty ascended the throne ten years ago. His Majesty has worked so hard with his Council of Chiefs and the youths to maintain peace in the kingdom and I have no doubt that the Uvwie of today is positioned to be the commercial nerve centre of Delta State.” “On behalf of the government and people of Delta State, I warmly felicitate with HRM Emmanuel Sideso (JP), OON, Abe I, the Ovie of Uvwie Kingdom on his 10th coronation anniversary. The Governor joins the people of Uvwie Kingdom in celebrating His Royal Majesty with good health, wisdom and strength to continue reign in Uvwie Kingdom. Continuing; “As

Okowa

a bastion of culture and tradition, Umogu, has played significant role in the promotion of harmony among Uvwie people and their neighbours. The Governor thanked the people of Uvwie for reposing confidence on the monarch as well as giving him the needed support and cooperation in the past ten

years on the throne.

“We pray that the Almighty God will continue to give you good health and wisdom to pilot the traditional affairs of your kingdom and offer valuable contributions to the development of our dear Delta State,” the Governor said.

Belmond acquires historic Tuscan castle in Italy Belmond has announced the acquisition of Castello di Casole, located within easy access of Florence and Siena. The intimate, 39-room hotel sits within 1,500 acres of farmland, vineyards and olive groves - one of the largest private estates in Italy.

The historic castle joins Belmond’s portfolio of Italian icons including Belmond Villa San Michele in Florence, Belmond Hotel Cipriani in Venice and Belmond Hotel Splendido in Portofino.

Roeland Vos, president and chief executive officer, commented: “I am delighted to announce the addition of the stunning and historic Castello di Casole to the Belmond portfolio. The Belmond brand continues to gain momentum and this acquisition marks the latest step in our journey towards realising our strategic growth plan. We believe this stunning castle, steeped in Etruscan history, builds on our past experience of acquiring distinctive, timeless properties and restoring them to their iconic status through strategic investment.

Belmond Castello di Casole fully encapsulates ‘The Art of Good Living’, combining culture, nature and wellbeing to create memorable travel experiences and special occasion events.

A storied past Steeped in history, Belmond Castello di Casole dates back to the 10th century, owned by Italian aristocratic family, the Bargalis, who for generations farmed the landscape and latterly by acclaimed cinematographer Luchino Visconti whose films The Leopard and Death in Venice embody the ‘Golden Age of Cinema’. Visconti’s parties at the castle were legendary, attended by Hollywood glitterati.

Multi-sensory escapism The hotel’s spacious all-suite rooms are all designed to honour the rich and rustic traditions of Tuscany, full of terracotta and golden colours with period antique furnishings and original stone floors. Many feature private gardens that blossom with aro-

matic white roses in summer.

The heated outdoor infinity pool offers sweeping views across the golden hills and valleys of Tuscany and guests can enjoy a range of activities within the rich natural countryside including truffle hunting, mastering

the genuine art of Tuscan cooking, hiking and cycling through the estate’s 100 acres of vineyards and olive groves as well as its neighbouring hamlets. The spa, located in the vaulted wine cellar, features restored stone walls and Etruscan artefacts.

Belmond

expects

to

invest bishment of the hotel over four years, including the addition of two new villas, bringing the resort’s total key count to 41.

Personal Finance B7

Daily Times Nigeria Saturday, March 3, 2018

‘Why adopt poor attitude over wealthy habit’? offer investment advisory services of which charges are attached to.

Bonny Amadi

Findings have shown that many people causr their financial woes, in most cases. this is traceable to their ways of life.

Most financial problems people have are tied to preferences for poor attitudes over accomplished behaviour.

A farmer , who after cultivating his farmland fails to visit his farm, could be likened to an investor who after investing large sum in a company fails to monitor his investments or the company he invested in.

There are different categories of investors, some invest and monitor their investments, while many others, specifically retail investors, look the other way after buying shares of a company.

Some people bought shares in companies through the Initial Public Offer window (IPO) or p Public Offer (PO) and have been receiving dividend warrants in the addresses they entered in the share purchase form.

These category of investors, neither cared to visit the location of the company they bought shares into, or attend their annual general meetings (AGMs) to be acquainted with developments in the firm.

They also have not sought the service of a stock broker, investment adviser, or financial adviser to put them in line with latest developments on investing, time value of money or in the equities market.

On the 28th February , 2018, the Securities and Exchange (SEC) sponsored free electronic dividend registration (e-dividend) ended. This means from March 01, 2018, all investors who sought to register for the e-dividend mandate will have to pay a cost of N150.00 for the services of the financial service providers.

A visit to the office of a stock broking firm located in Broad Street, on 28th February, showed that the last minute rush for the e-dividend registration was overwhelming as more people who had earlier jettisoned the services of experts in the investment business, had no alternative

Mutual fund companies With over 9,000 funds available today, mutual fund companies play a major role in the investment industry and have introduced millions of Americans to the magic of compound interest.

Banks Banks have fought hard to earn a piece of the pie within the growing investment industry. Learn what your local branch has to offer when it comes to investment services and how you will exploit such opportunities to enhance you investment appetite.

Insurance companies

than to ensure that they key into the scheme in order to secure their earnings from the various investments they have made.

According to MS Money investment experts, even though it has been accepted as a common misconception that “you only need a financial advisor if you have a lot of money to invest”, but it more pertinent for those with meagre funds for investment to seek services of experts.

“Nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is, novice investors and those on a tight budget need more advice than anyone, so, they don`t end up spending a large portion of their discretionary income on poorly performing investments” stated the experts.

A shareholders who pleaded anonymity told our correspondent that he has investment in many companies and never taken it serious until he started hearing his friends revealing how much they receive from their companies as dividends.

The retail investor who was in a stock brokers firm in Mandilas building Marina Lagos on February 28, said that he had many

dividend warrants that may have become status barred, and was regularising his investment documents through a broker in order to benefit from his unclaimed dividend and subsequent declarations by companies he invested in.

The investor mentioned above, falls into the category of many who delight in savings, through investing, but rarely seek the services of experts. Meanwhile, some services investors require, could be traceable to the followings.

Avoiding interest or fee payments whenever possible Investors with the objective of getting the best on their investment ensures to take advantage of any free investment window or documentation to save funds.

The recently concluded free e-dividend registration sponsored by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Nigeria , offered investors great opportunity to save funds, yet many investors fail to take advantage of the offer and now positioned to spend huge funds in mandating electronic payment of their dividends across all their

investment classes in the equity market.

Financial advisor Investment advisors provides an overview of the different types of financial advisors and the titles they go by.

They also gives the investor, the risk appetites of various investment window and also the type of investment for the investor based on his risk appetite or age bracket.

Brokerage firms Stock brokers serve as financial intermediaries in the capital market as they help the investor forage into the equites market, receive buy mandates from the investors, execute the mandates and also receive and execute the sale mandate of the investor and ensure safety and payment of the realised funds from sales to the account owner.

Brokers assist investor to open investment accounts and follow up with developments in their clients’ accounts. In some cases, stock brokers also

Insurance companies have lots of funds and continue to introduce new investment products that pervade the industry and control the purse strings of Nigerian investors.

Online investing Online investment is a rising tide that come with a tot of challenges and may be considered as high risks in many quarters.

Online investing runs the gamut from checking account balances to launching day trading millionaires.

That`s why everywhere you look, there are so-called experts trying to convince you to invest in their product or service. You see commercials on TV, receive brochures in the mail, and even endure annoying telephone pitches.

As an investor, you need to understand Ponzi scheme and the attachment to online offerings as well as the inherent risks involved.

An investor or prospective investor need to understand the role of different types of investment experts, what services or products they provide, how they get paid, and the benefits and disadvantages of using them to attain optimum result in personal finance management.

Business Features

B8

Daily Times Nigeria Saturday, March 3, 2018

NNPC, Kogi sign MoU to produce 84m litres of bio-fuel per annum

By Simon Ugwu The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Kogi State Government have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the development of fuelethanol processing plant that would produce 84 million litres of bio-fuel per year.

Speaking during the signing of the MoU today in Abuja, the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, said the project would yield a cane mill and a raw and refined Sugar Plant of 126,000 tonnes annually.

He stated that the Bagasse co-generation Plant would also generate 64 Megawatts of power, stressing that the plant would include a carbon dioxide recovery and bottling plant with capacity of 2,000 tonnes per year.

“The Sugarcane Feedstock Plantation would be on a 19,000 hectares and it would produce animal feeds of 63,000 tonnes per year.

Dr. Baru said NNPC was pleased to know of another opportunity in the Alape Staple Crop Processing Zone (SCPZ), in Kogi State which is a vast Agro +Allied business opportunity that provides suitable agronomics for the cultivation of sugarcane, cassava and oil palm.

He stated that discussions had been held with the various parties and stakeholders on the Kogi Biofuels Project on the modality for the implementation, adding that Agreements had been reached on the first stage of the project, starting with the signing of an MoU. Baru said the signing of the MoU would lead to the formation of a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to steer the future activities of the proposed project, stressing that the project is central to the attainment of economic development

fostering the exploitation of other Renewable Energy Sources.

He added that the project would mitigate against the negative effect of climate change and earn Nigeria Carbon credits from Clean Development Mechanism Projects activities, serving as additional line of profitable business for NNPC, including food production and power generation.

Baru

on the basis of value-added investment portfolios, environmental sustainability, climate change mitigation, wealth and job creation to reduce the poverty index, while balancing the ecosystem, and maintenance of national and global security.

GMD said the execution of the MoU was a milestone in the Government’s determination to diversify the economy and at the same

time compliment Nigeria’s effort in meeting with the growing energy demand.

He said: “NNPC is committed to implementing Nigeria’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement aimed at combating global Climate Change, to which President Muhammadu Buhari signed, and deposited Nigeria’s “Instrument of Ratification” to the United

Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in May 2017.”

The NNPC helmsman stated that the Renewable Energy Division of NNPC was created in line with Federal Government’s directive with the sole aim of Industrialising Agriculture in Nigeria through the commercial production of biofuels from selected energy crops as feedstock, while

Dr. Baru said NNPC was pleased to know of another opportunity in the Alape Staple Crop Processing Zone (SCPZ), in Kogi State which is a vast Agro +Allied business opportunity that provides suitable agronomics for the cultivation of sugarcane, cassava and oil palm.

He stated that discussions had been held with the various parties and stakeholders on the Kogi Biofuels Project on the modality for the implementation, adding that Agreements had been reached on the first stage of the project, starting with the signing of an MoU.

Baru noted that the project would lead to increased diversification of NNPC’s business portfolio and serve as a credible source of additional income for the corporation.

The GMD envisaged that the proposed NNPC Biofuels project in Kaba/Bunu, Kogi State would be an integrated feedstock plantation and process plants complex on a land mass of 20,000 hectares for sugarcane and or 15,000 hectares for cassava with potentials for further expansion.

Baru explained that NNPC had carried out seven bankable feasibility studies which include three (3) integrated sugarcane fuel ethanol projects in Benue, Kebbi and Gombe States, two (2) integrated cassava fuel ethanol projects in Ondo and Anambra States and two (2) integrated oil palm biodiesel projects in Rivers and Cross River States.

In his remarks, Kogi State Governor, Alh. Yahaya Bello, said the MoU was another milestone in the history of the state, stressing that the project would take not fewer than two million citizens of the state out of the street.

He applauded President Muhammadu Buhari and the GMD, Baru, for their doggedness to diversify the Nigerian economy, adding that the state was ready to provide all the needed support for the take-off of the project.

Highpoint of the ceremony was the signing of the agreement between the Governor and the GMD of NNPC.

Life&

TIMES Saturday, January 6, 2017

Nigeria’s female celebrities @ 40 and still sexy L2

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Daily Times Nigeria Saturday, March 3, 2018

Female celebrities @ 40 and still sexy

Iyabo Ojo

Mercy Aigbe

Omotola Jalade Ekeinde

Funke Akindele Bello

Foluke Daramola-Salako

Toyin Alausa

and wrote;

Life&

Daily Times Nigeria

Saturday, March 3, 2018

Gist L3

Mutiat Alli

9ice announces new album ‘G.O.A.T’ (Greatest of All Time) Abolore Adigun Akande, better known 9ice, has revealed G.O.A.T as the new album title he will be releasing pretty soon.

The singer shared this via Instagram, where he posted the tracklist of the

9ice

project, with the caption, “Are you ready?”

The new album will contain 9 tracks, with production from a number of musicmakers, including Olumix, ID Cabasa, Young One, DJ Coublon, Tony Why, Team Salut, Young John, ABL, Shocker and STG. “G.O.A.T (Greatest Of All Time)” album will be released under his record label, Temple Music.

The singer further listed all his kids as the executive producer of the album which will be distributed by Uba

Bisola in love with ‘Boda Luku,’ releases new video

Dayo Amusa & Adekunle Gold

Dayo Amusa, Adekunle Gold, Annie Idibia, others join Walk against Rape campaign The seventh edition of the much awaited Walk against Rape campaign is slated to hold on March 15, 2018. New ambassadors have been signed up to join other existing Ambassadors such as Adekunle Gold, Lami Phillips, Toke Makinwa, Dayo Amusa, Annie Idibia, Ini Edo, Oc Ukeje, Joseph Benjamin, Kehinde Bankole and others.

Some of the new ambassadors are; Blessing Timidi, Timilehin Bello (Big Timi), Emeka Nobis, Olive Emodi, Ayo MairoEse, Hauwa Ojeifo, Suzan Coker, Tobby Lordwilliams, Chidi Okereke (Chydee) and several others Walk Against Rape Campaign is a special demonstration that brings together Mothers, Fathers, Guardians, Teachers, Youth Advocates, Social

Activist , Actors, Actresses, Sports Men, Media Practitioners, Musicians, DJs, Comedians, Youth Organizations, Showbiz Personalities and student delegates from various higher institutions and Secondary Schools around Lagos state to lend a voice to sexually abused persons (particularly women and children), and also show their support for the course of bringing an end to rape in Nigeria where the number of rape cases is on the increase.

According to the National Coordinator, Esther Ijewere, “Our aim is to help in encouraging victims to speak out and reduce the stigmatization attached to the victims of sexual abuse and rape as well

scourge of sexual abuse especially as it relates to young girls and women in general. The theme for this year is “Engaging New Voices”. The idea behind this theme is to engage social media

to inform the society about the soaring

rape t-shirt on blue jeans.

identify with and to also educate them on the need to verify rape stories before publishing online, advocate for Justice and also use their platform to disseminate informstion5about help centres.

The walk will kick off by 8am from the Archbishop Vinning Memorial Church Ground GRA Ikeja to the Point of destination at the Ministry of Women Affairs Alausa, where we will be received by the Commissioner; Hon. Lola Akande.

2Face, Wizkid, Adekunle Gold, others for GIDI FEST 2018

Bisola

Big Brother Naija sensation, Bisola Aiyeola takes her music a notch higher with the release of Boda Luku.

The Temple Music act teams-up with popular producer, Adey to wax a hot new jam that will resonate with music lovers.

Boda Luku is the in the catchy Afro Pop comedy and fun. The colourful video is shot by Temple Motion Pictures, an arm of her manage-

ment company, Temple Management Company (TMC).

Boda Luku is released worldwide across all media platforms by pan-African record label, Temple Music (TMPL), also a sister company of leading creative talent agency, Temple Management Company (TMC).

Meanwhile, the multitalented act is working on a new compilation, which is also due for release any time soon.

The Lagos Festival has announced its 2018 line-up.

Taking place at Hard Rock Café Beach Front on Good Friday, 30 March headlined by Wizkid and 2face giving a strong showing for the best of our home grown talent.

Maleek Berry, Ycee, Adekunle Gold, Brymo, Show Dem Camp and Mayorkun.

This year, the organisers are introducing a second stage that will rise up the next generation of very talented artists that are moving the underground

carefully curated and diverse line-up of the some of the most sort after Nigerian acts making waves across the globe namely

sound. The new wave will be represented by D-Truce, Makka, Remmy Baggins, Lady Donli, D-O, CHYN, Jinmi Abduls, Jamal

Swiss.

The festival has in previous years featured African and international acts and this year will be no different so stay tuned for the second announcement that will fortify the Gidi Culture Festival as the foremost and most progressive music festival on the continent that has set out to empower the youth and bridge the gap on and off the continent.

Gidi Fest originated in Lagos

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Daily Times Nigeria Saturday, March 3, 2018

Daily Times Nigeria

Saturday, March 3, 2018

Scenes from empowerment programme by Hon. EJ Agbonayinma for the people of Egor/Ikpoba Okha Federal Constituency in Edo State at the APC State Secretariat

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Gist L6

Daily Times Nigeria Saturday, March 3, 2018

Mutiat Alli

Former President Obasanjo for WIMBIZ 14th Annual lecture

MyStyleWindow brings first class Luxury Concierge shopping to Nigeria

Women in Management, Business, and Public Service (WIMBIZ), a nongovernmental organisation for women, will hold its 14th Annual Lecture on Thursday, March 22 at Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos.

The WIMBIZ Annual Lecture series is a public forum that attracts over 700 women every year. It is designed to discuss topical issues that affect women, their role in nation building and their personal business or organisational development.

Topics for the WIMBIZ Annual Lecture emanate from the Annual Conor from emerging national and global issues. Past speakers at our Annual Lectures include, Mr Aig Aig-Imoukhede, Former Chairman Of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Ms. Mo Abudu, CEO, Ebony Life Television and Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Minister of Solid Minerals and others.

In line with the International Wom-

Obasanjo

Lecture is themed Women, Politics and Nation Building: Press for Progress.

The Lecture will be delivered by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo GCFR, Ph. D, former President of the Republic of Nigeria and Founder, Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library.

Squeeze Record Act, Atela releases ‘Jankara’ Fast-rising singer, Francis Atela popularly called Atela and Squeeze Records Entertainment have released a new feel-good song entitled

Parisian craftsmanship of the highest quality. With over three years of industry experience, the concierge service is on a mission to bridge the gap between the sophisticated luxury

music will relate to.

The hot new song is produced by fast-rising producer, Fome Peters who combines well with the singer to deliver a tune that will excite music lovers. Ace Director, Clarence Peters gave the song a retrothemed touch to produce a colourful video which is now airing on major music video channels.

He started singing at the age of 14 in a Catholic Church choir where he developed his skills in music, song writing and entertainment. With the backing of Squeeze Records, he has previously released songs such as Ojuju Calabar, Kekere and My Life Describing his music, Atela said, “I will continue to bring fresh, quality and relatable sounds to the waiting ears of the people of the world who are tired of hearing the same old sounds. My style of music is aimed at easing pain and bringing love to weary souls.”

According to the Benue State born singer, his early background as a Chorister at the age of 14 with his local Catholic Church Parish no doubts has been a great

My Style window is an exclusive luxury British shopping service, designed to provide superior luxury shopping concierge experiences for the well-travelled, discerning shopper.

The service was launched to meet the demands of the Nigerian Luxury shopper, who has a taste for elegant understated luxury, and an eye

around the world.

Under an exclusive partnership facilitated by the Luxury Network Nige-

Atela

of sound, tones and generally it made me a better version of myself in all aspects.”

The good vibes in Jankara is not lost on Atela as a musician. “The audio production experience was great, and quite heart-warming as it kept bringing back goof memories, and when I was working with Clarence peters as always he did an amazing job the creative process with him is always as easy as it was professional.

Also speaking Squeeze Records boss said, “Atela is a talented artist and I will like to add that everything he touches turns to Gold. We fascinated by his uniqueness and his artistry is second to none. Same can be said about his Love for helped in shaping my music music, his creativity and an and giving me a better sense

undying passion to succeed which is inspiring.

“He is consistent in making back to back hit singles, just as his capacity to do even greater things is enviable. In a saturated industry, we exhibit exceptional qualities to outshine and stand tall among his peers.

He added, “With four singles under his belt, the best is yet to come, with a lot more unique sounds still in stock. Keeping in mind the ever changing music terrain, Squeeze records works with the best for the sole purpose of achieving the best with uniqueness in mind. Jankara is a good example with a country feel, a sound to put a smile on your face and inspire you to live and love life.”

festive shopping service last December at the prestigious Wheatbaker Hotel, Ikoyi, specializing in sourcing Harrods hampers and luxury gifts during the holiday season.

My Style Window Personal Shopping team works with personal shopincluding Harrods, Selfridges and owned-brand luxury stores such as Chanel, Gucci and Louis Vuitton to provide an exclusive shopping experience for clients in Nigeria.

“All around the world, Nigerians are known for a certain savior-faire when it comes to style. In fact, many as the most stylish people in all of Africa. Our reputation truly precedes us, but currently, the availability of high-end luxury brands in Nigeria is very limited. Clients come to us when they do not want to settle for the limited collection of items on offer at any of the stores around, but instead wish to shop the latest collections from a choice of labels, for items such as personalised Louis Vuitton luggage, exquisite haute horlogerie from Bulgari or customised Jimmy Choo. and we deliver it”- Cas Ojo; CEO, The Luxury Network Nigeria.

The luxury concierge service in now in partnership with VISA card to provide a premium service to its HNI Full order tracking and shipment insurance are guaranteed on all standard orders by Logistics Partner, DHL and next day delivery for high-value items.

MyStyleWindow concierge service experience that is convenient, timely and guarantees optimum satisfaction.

Chris Akinyemi drops ‘Culture’ US-based Nigerian singer, Chris Akinyemi follows up on his collabo-

catchy tune that is bound to get lovers of Afrobeat music dancing.

The song is released by Temple Mu-

Chris Akinyemi teams up again with kindred spirit, Mr Labz on his new

download on local and international digital stores.

Daily Times Nigeria

Saturday, March 3, 2018

Mutiat Alli

Ways to avoid eating junk food

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Relationship L8

Daily Times Nigeria Saturday, March 3, 2018

Mutiat Alli

Starting off a new relationship? Ask yourself if truly you are prepared!!

Entering a new relationship is a big deal, particularly when your past relationships have continually failed. If you are having reservations about starting fresh with someone new, it might be some questions to ask yourself to ensure that your next relationship is the happiest, healthiest one yet.

1. Am I ready?

Relationships take time and energy. Make sure your current lifestyle is ready for the commitment. If you have a new job, if you are in pursuit of a dream, or if you are endearing a family emergency, it might not be best to throw another human being into the mix. Wait until you are settled before considering a relationship.

2. Am I truly over my ex?

Do not enter into a new relationship if your answer is NO, and you secretly want your ex back. Rebound relationships are not only destined to fail, they are destined to bruise the emotions of your new partner.

No one wants to feel like they are a rebound, and no one deserves to be one. The best way to get over work in your last relationship, and what personal aspect of your own life need adjusting to make your next relationship a success.

3. What did not work in past relationships? partner. Perhaps it lacked trust or honesty. Maybe Make a list of all the things that went wrong in your

4. What worked in my past relationships?

to transfer those ideas into a new one. If your own relationships lack insight, look at the couples around you. Perhaps your own parent or friends have harbored long-term relationships, and can lend some advice.

5. What kind of relationship am I looking for?

In other words, how serious do you want it to be?

This is important, not only for your own sake, but for the sake of your new, potential partner. Are you

7. What do I want out of this relationship?

Maybe you are looking for support, love or companionship. Maybe you are looking for a best friend or maybe you are simply looking for a “good time�. It is important to determine these the only way to decipher whether you are in it for the right reasons, and whether or not this person can provide what you desire.

8. Do I love myself?

might doubt or deny the love you receive from someone else, which can be extremely frustrating for them.

down? Be sure to discuss your answer with them before the two of you get in too deep. Avoid wasting time by making sure you are on the same page.

9. What characteristics am I looking for in a partner?

6. Do they share my morals?

Just because someone likes the same activities,

prospective partner embody most of these characteristics?

necessarily mean they are right for you. You have to dig deeper. Do they have the same beliefs? Not religion or politics. I mean, how do they treat other

10. Does this person bring out the best in me?

What are they passionate about? And if you are looking to settle down with this person; what will they teach their children? Is it the same thing you would want your own children to learn?

do you behave? Are you able to be your complete self?

11. Am I really interested in this person?

I, for one, have made the mistake of dating someone just because, I was bored and confused and blinded to the fact that they were completely

wrong for me. They were great; but they just telling them about myself, than learning about them.

12. Would I be proud to introduce this person as my partner?

When you get into a new relationship, eventually, you will have to introduce them to everyone in your life. Are you excited about this?

13. Do my friends and family like this person?

Usually, the people who know you best also

14. Do I even want to be in a relationship? recently gotten out of a draining one, or if you just love being single, maybe you should be.

But if you have considered all these questions above and feel that you are ready, then go for it!

We are all rooting for you.