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Bayelsa poll: Sylva heads to tribunal

Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja and Akam James, Yenagoa

ÎÎÎThe All Progressives Con- ÏSays election was truncated by PDP, INEC ÏAccept defeat, political parties tell Sylva ÏPDP salutes courage, gallantry of Bayelsa people

gress (APC) gubernatorial candidate in the just concluded governorship election in Sylva, has vowed to use all leBayelsa State, Chief Timipre gal means to seek redress at

the election petition tribunal against his defeat.

This is even as some of the political parties that contest-

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ed in the election have urged

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Continued on page 6

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2016 VOL. 2. NO. 21

GAINERS

N150

LOSERS

NSE GAINERS AND LOSERS AS AT 11th January 2016.

TOTAL

148.5

155.92

7.42%

MCNICHOLS

1.14

1.19

0.05%

WAPCO

105

94.86

-10.14%

7UP

185

182

-3%

ASHAKACEM

24

25.2

1.2%

WEMABANK

1

1.03

0.03%

NB

109.5

106.24

-3.26%

PZ

23.29

22.21

-1.08%

EFCC arrests NBC boss over alleged N15b fraud Ï RƋƈ LƆƐƑ ƑƆ ƌƌƈ ƈ è 10è ƆƆƊ Ƒ ƅ ƗƈƐƈ Ƌ ƏƆƋƆ Ɔ Ï zƆ Ɠ ôƐ ƏƆƋƆ Ɔ ƈƌ Ƒ ƐƈƋ Ɔ ƏƆƇƑ Ɨ MƿƠƠƌ Ɔ ƅ ƋƋƆƅƐƆƗ –EFCC

ÎÎÎThe Director-General of

the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Emeka Mba, has been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over an alleged N15 billion fraud.

He was arrested in Abuja on Monday and taken to the headquarters of the Commission where he was interrogated.

It was learnt that his arrest was effected on Monday after investigations into the activities of the NBC in the past one month. During the investigations, some detectives of the EFCC had stormed the headquarters of the NBC, ransacking computers and files in the Finance and Accounts unit.

It was learnt that while the operation lasted some key Accounts unit staff were taken away for questioning.

It was further learnt that confessional statements made to EFCC by the arrest-

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CBN bans sale of forex to Bureaux de Change

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LƈƔƆƗ reactions trail g 8 #ƈƅƊ ô re-election

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2

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Page Three Æ s

3

Editorial Checking industrial fire incidents

O

n December 24,2015, the industrial town of Nnewi in Anambra State witnessed a devastating fire accident.

The inferno, which took place at a gas facility operated by the Chicason Group of Companies, claimed lives and property. Eyewitness accounts say the fire began as customers queued to refill their empty gas cylinders, adding that it took several hours for the state fire service to bring the blaze under control.

While commiserating with owners of the company and families of the deceased, we cannot but note, with sadness, that the Nnewi incident has once again exposed the dearth of modern industrial fire fighting equipment in the country’s towns and cities.

It also goes to show the lack of commitment of governments at all levels to provide the much-needed facilities and infrastructure for fighting such large-scale fires. What happened at Nnewi and the lack of prompt response is symptomatic of the general malaise afflicting all firefighting formations across the country.

For example, it took more than one and a half-hours, including the loss of 10 lives, before the fire service arrived at scene of the blaze.

Investigations revealed that the late arrival was not unconnected with the fact that Nnewi town, despite the presence of many giant industrial outfits, lacks a modern fire-fighting unit. Therefore, the company had to call for help from Awka, the state capital, Onitsha and other adjoining towns. It bears repeating that fire incidents are normal routine in any developed and developing society.

What matters is the ability of those responsible for protecting the lives and property of the citizens to guard

against such mishaps. It beggars belief that despite the frequency of fire outbreaks and accompanying loss of lives in the country, no thought has been spared by the authorities to fashion out internationally accepted modalities for tackling the menace. When governments fail to invest in adequate infrastructure, what happens is that industries and other private investments become vulnerable to disasters most of which are unavoidable. According to analysts, the fire incident in the premises of Chicason Group has raised further questions on the safety of other businesses that operate in the same vicinity.

We recall that the Nigeria federal fire service was established through a legislation of the Fire Services Act of 1981 with the mission to reduce the loss of lives and property due to fire outbreak to the barest minimum. In addition, it is to ensure safety during fire emergency through prompt and timely response.

Contrary to this mandate, the Nigerian fire service is hardly living up to the standard expected of such organisation. We are therefore calling on governments to give the fire service the attention it deserves. While firefighting personnel are making huge sacrifices to safeguard Nigerians and their property, there is no doubt that a lot still needs to be done to improve their capacity to deliver on their very important mandate.

Fires are a life-threatening occurrence and those who fight them must be properly equipped and remunerated. Most importantly, businesses should ensure that their premises are well-equipped with industrial hydrants and other fire fighting equipment. This way, they can battle unexpected fires even before the arrival of professional fire fighters.

Bayelsa poll: How come security still failed?

Sam Nzeh

ÏÏÏOne

sore development whose memory will linger for some time to come is the killings that took place during the rescheduled supplementary governorship election held in seven of the eight Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the Bayelsa Sate on Saturday.

Reports had it on Sunday that 4 policemen, 2 soldiers and eleven others were killed during the poll.

Also, at least six persons were shot dead in a post-election gun battle between supporters of the two leading political parties in Peremabiri community of Southern Ijaw area of the state.

The killings, no doubt, are linked to the desperation of politicians involved in the election and should be condemned by well-meaning persons.

However, the disturbing aspect in the whole affair is that the killings took place despite the massive deployment of policemen and operatives of other security outfits, which many have attributed to failure of security.

The police hierarchy, for instance, deployed not less than 5,000 personnel, helicopters, boats, among others during the poll in seven of the eight Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the state on Saturday. Other security outfits also deployed personnel in their numbers to provide security. Sadly, with all these security personnel on ground, vi-

Words On Marble :

olence still broke out and claimed lives.

So, what really happened? Is this not a clear case of failure of security? Can the number of security personnel deployed to the state on Saturday be described as inadequate or were they compromised?

The hierarchy of the Police and other security outfits who deployed personnel in Bayelsa State on Saturday need to respond to the above posers.

Fact is that the violence and killings in Bayelsa State on Saturday couldn’t have taken place if the security personnel were on top of their game. So, before another round of elections hold anywhere in the country, the Police and other security outfits should ensure that what happened in Bayelsa does not repeat itself.

STATEMENTS BY THOSE WHO MATTER

Publisher/Editor in Chief – Fidelis Anosike Managing Editor Yinka Olujimi Daily/ Online Editor Biodun Durojaiye Deputy Editor/Southern Bureau Chief Sam Nzeh Deputy Editor/Northern Bureau Chief Lateef Ibrahim

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Femi Falana

Tunde Bakare

Adamu Aliero

“If the Federal Government were aggrieved by the order admitting Col. Dasuki to bail, it should have challenged it in the Court of Appeal”.

“I appeal to Mr. President not to ignore the report of the 2014 National Conference!

“We have more to gain by living together than breaking up. Nigeria is better as a united country.”

4

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 12, 2016

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Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Boko Haram slaughters 6, injures 8 in Adamawa Tom Garba ,Yola

ÎÎÎ

Rampaging Boko Haram insurgents have again stroke in Madagali, northern part of Adamawa state, slitting the throats of six residents of the area in midnight attack, locals have said.

Madagali Local Government of Adamawa state, which shares border with the dreaded Sambisa forest, was one of the areas once annexed by Boko Haram insurgents, though it was later cleared of terrorists after Boko Haram was routed by Nigerian troops in a counter insurgency operation last year.

A fleeing resident of the area, Musa Amadu , in a

telephone interview, said the insurgents struck the village at about 12:30am on Sunday and picked their prospective victims in their houses before setting ablaze two houses of prominent personalities in the town, making residents to flee into nearby bushes.

The resident said the insurgents slaughtered six people, while several others sustained injuries. ”We are now in deep sorrow,” Mr. Amadu lamented.

According to him, the insurgents had a field night for many hours as they operated unchallenged due to complete absence of security personnel in the area they attacked.

Another resident of

the area, Joseph John, accused the soldiers deployed of leaving them to their own fate, corroborating Mr. Amadu’s account that there was complete absence of security personnel in the attacked area.

“We want the government to deploy more security personnel to the area because as Nigerians the government owes us a duty to protect us,” he said.

Though military are yet to response calls, the member representing Madagali and Michika constituency at the House of Representatives, Mr. Adamu Kamale confirmed the attack, saying that six people were killed and eight others injured during the midnight

attack.

“We are in mourning now, they slaughtered six people, eight others seriously injured.

“The fact that our area share borders with Sambisa forest and Cameroon Republic should have been enough reason why government must deploy security personnel to protect us. If the government does not take proactive measures to stem the ugly insurrection of insurgents into our domain, they will kill all of us.

“The number of soldiers deployed is grossly inadequate, we need more security personnel as our villages share borders with Sambisa forest,” the lawmaker said.

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode (left), in handshake with President Muhammadu Buhari during a courtesy visit to Buhari at the State House in Abuja… on Monday.

Mathew Dadiya, Abuja

ÎÎÎ The Federal Govern-

ment has concluded plans to review the Insurance (Consolidated) Bill, aimed at making it conform to the ideals of contemporary insurance practice and ensure an efficient insurance industry in the country.

It is expected that the review will form the basis of a new draft Bill which will be sent to the National Assembly for consideration.

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, disclosed that a committee had been constituted to carry out the review with members drawn from the public

FG set to review Insurance Bill and private sectors, expected to submit its report within three months.

The Review Committee, soon to be inaugurated by the Minister, is to be chaired

by Dr. Omogbai – Omo Eboh, a renowned expert in Insurance Law, while Dr. Talmiz Usman (Head of Legal Department, NAICOM) is the Secretary.

Members of the Committee include a Representative of Ministry of Finance; a Representative of National Insurance Commission; a Representative of Nigeria Insurers’ Association and a

Representative of Nigeria Council of Registered Insurance Brokers.

Other members are, a Representative of Institute of Loss Adjusters of Nigeria; a Representative of Attorney General of the Federation; Kamar Raji Esq and Dr. Ladi Hamalai of the National Institute of Legal Studies.

The Minister said the activities of the Review Committee will be fully funded by the National Insurance Commission, which is the statutory agency of the Federal Government established to regulate and supervise the

Nigerian Insurance Sector.

According to the Minister, the Terms of Reference of the Review Committee include a critical review of the draft Insurance (Consolidated) Bill, with a view to making it a framework or principle-based legislation; a comparative review of the Bill to align it with the powers of other financial regulators in the country, as well as a thorough examination of current market problems and recommendation of appropriate regulatory powers to allow the Insurance Regulator act appropriately.

5 News

Enugu state gets new CP Moses Oyediran, Enugu

ÎÎÎMr.

Nwodibo Ekechukwu has taken over as the new Commissioner of Police in the Enugu state Police Command.

The former Commissioner of Police, CP Abubakar Adamu Mohammed, while addressing officers during the handover said he kept a good record that the Command must maintain and possibly improve upon

for effective service delivery.

Ekechukwu, at the Command Headquarters during the handover, assured the people of the state of the command’s readiness at rendering quality service through effective community relations and partnership.

The new CP further stressed that the command will stop at nothing at rendering quality service to the public.

Ex-Ogun UPN Gov candidate charges Buhari to step up anti-corruption Abiodun Taiwo, Abeokuta

ÎÎÎ

The governorship candidate of Unity Party of Nigeria in the 2015 governorship election in Ogun State, Prince Rotimi Paseda, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to proceed with the prosecution of those that might have been fingered in the arms deal so as to serve as deterrent to others.

He opined that the prosecution of the offenders will convince the international community of the sincerity of government to fight corruption.

Paseda, who spoke at the 10th Annual CAN Thanksgiving Anniversary, hosted

by Otunba Gbenga Daniel, and held at Abraham Tabernacle, Sagamu, Ogun State, said President Bu-

hari “should not be persuaded, he should not feel challenged, he should not be under any unnecessary pressure to step down, and rather he should step up.

“I want to see prosecution. We have had enough of arrests. Let us have an example. Then the people outside in the diaspora, will know that we mean business”.

While commending the President for his actions so far, Prince Paseda said, “I never supported President Muhammadu Buhari from the onset.

I was against him, I was against Goodluck Jonathan. I went abroad recently, I couldn’t use my credit card. It was very difficult. But I am happy because that is the beginning of what we want to happen in the Country.

Fashola unfolds 13-point agenda to revive power sector ÎÎÎThe Minister of

Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, on Monday, unfolded a 13-point agenda to drive efforts towards enhancing power supply in the country.

Fashola said in Abuja during his maiden meeting with power generation, distribution and transmission companies, and other stakeholders that the agenda was drawn up to ensure effective monitoring of the sector.

The minister said the agenda involves continuous public engagement on tariff collection, debts, power generation, maintenance, ancillary services, dispatch orders and discipline.

Others areas include gas requirement and constraints, transmission con-

Fashola straints, 33KV load off-take, imbalances-locations of excess, overload safety, service quality, new captive and embedded generation, franchising and other issues relevant to the growth of the sector.

According to Fashola, President Muhammadu Buhari has approved that all stakeholders in the sector should hold monthly meetings on issues concerning the industry.

News 6

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 12, 2016

EFCC arrests NBC boss over alleged N15b fraud Continued from page 1 ed officials implicating Mba and some top officials of the NBC led to the arrest of the Director-General .

Meanwhile, a Lagos-based lawyer, Mr Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, on Monday, sued the Federal Government (FG) seeking an unconditional release of Chief Olisah Metuh, the Publicity Secretary of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).

The suit filed in a Federal High Court, Lagos listed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice as respondents.

The suit filed under the enforcement of fundamental

rights, the plaintiff contended that the arrest and perpetual detention of Metuh without access to his family was unlawful.

He argued that by virtue of Section 35 of the 1999 Constitution, the EFCC had exceeded the maximum time allowed by law for the detention of a citizen, without trial in any court.

He, therefore, sought the court order declaring that the arrest and detention of Metuh without charge ``is a flagrant violation of his fundamental rights’’. ``The arrest of the applicant by the first respondent on Jan. 5 at his home at No.14, Drive 1, Prince and Princess Estate, Abuja, constitutes a flagrant violation

of his rights. ``These rights are guaranteed under Sections 35, 38, 40 and 41, 42, 43 and 44of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999,’’ he said.

He urged the court to declare that the detention Metuh by the EFCC ``in an unknown location, without access to his lawyers, family and doctors, constitutes a flagrant violation of his rights’’.

The lawyer sought the declaration of the court that the respondents were not entitled ``to demand for, seize, impound, or detain the applicant’s property and assets in flagrant violation of sections 37, 38, 40 and 41 of the Constitution.’’

He urged the court to grant a restraining injunction against the respondents from further violating the fundamental rights of the applicant through unlawful arrest and detention.

However, in a swift reaction, the EFCC on Monday said that the continued detention of the spokesperson of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is due to his unwillingness to admit and return the ‘over N400 million’ he allegedly received from embattled former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki.

Acting Chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, denied claims it was on a witchhunt of leaders of the opposition PDP after its continued detention of Metuh and re-

lease of Jafaru Isa, an All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain.

Magu claimed that Mr. Isa had begun the process of refunding the money in his possession, Mr. Metuh had refused to do same. ”From the records, Metuh got over N400 million, he has not said anything because we need the public money to be returned so that it’s going to be used for public good,” Mr. Magu said during a meeting with online media publishers in Lagos.

“Also Jafaru Isa, what

Elections: Panel indicts 98 army officers for partisan conducts Andrew Orolua, Abuja

ÎÎÎThe high powered Board

L-R: Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara; Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. David Lawal; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Danjuma Sheni; Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Gabriel Olonisakin; his wife, Omobolanle, at the 2016 Armed Forces Remembrance Day Church Service In Abuja ... on Sunday.

Continued from page 1 for him to accept defeat.

Also, the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has saluted the people of Bayelsa State for standing against intimidation, rigging and violence to ensure that their will as a people prevailed in Saturday’s supplementary election.

Sylva, who spoke with newsmen on Monday in Yenagoa, the state capital, stated that the main reasons his party lost the election was that result were cancelled with impunity in Nembe, Ogbia and Southern Ijaw Local Government areas of the state which were strongholds of the APC, adding that accord-

of Inquiry that probed allegations of unprofessional and partisan conducts of some officers and soldiers of the Nigerian Army during the 2015 general election and Ekiti and Osun states governorship elections has indicted 98 officers for partisan and unprofessional conducts .

The Board, which submitted its report to the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen Yusuf Buratai in Abuja on Monday, recommended compulsory retirement of two officers from the Nigerian Army.

According to the report, three other senior Army officers are to lose their command and one other recom-

Bayelsa poll: Sylva heads to tribunal

ing to the electoral law, the election would have been declared in-conclusive due to the number cancelled against the difference between the two parties.

Sylva, while reacting to the outcome of the election, said his reasons for kicking against the conduct of the election, was that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) connived to deny him and the APC victory at the poll.

He said: “I’m sure you are aware of my complaints about INEC in Bayelsa. I had initially complained about the Resident Electoral

Commissioner (REC), Baritoh Kpagih and the Administrative Secretary of INEC. I said it repeatedly and even put it to writing.

“Usually before a general election, the INEC officials are switched. But they choose to keep the PDP rigging machine. This was the same rigging machine that returned former President, Goodluck Jonathan 100 per cent. We felt these people could not conduct a free and fair election. All our cry fell on deaf ears.”

“Even, the REC descended into the arena by accusing a faceless candidate of offering him bribe.‎ A REC that was arguing with a can-

didate is allowed to conduct an election. This is strange.”

“From the beginning, INEC was playing a game.

Materials from the nearest communities were deployed first, while those in farthest communities were sent last.

They didn’t not send materials to Ezetu, Azuzuama, Ukubie, Foropa and Koluama early. What they did was to frustrate the election process because they had a lead.” “‎And also the outcome could have been declared inconclusive with outstanding votes of 53,000 cancelled.

They went against the laws.

They plotted against the APC. Anywhere APC won,

Dasuki gave him was N170 million. He also agreed…of course he has collected that money, he was with us for 4-5 days and then he made a deposit of N100 million and entered an undertaking to bring the rest. That does not mean we will not prosecute him.”

“But this other Metuh, instead of going for a refund, he has admitted he collected money…. so instead of… he still has the money because the money is too much.

Instead of returning the money, he preferred to go on strike.”

they cancelled. They rigged the distribution of materials. Even the vehicles used were provided by the State Government.”

“What we agreed was that the INEC should move materials from the Registration Area Centre (RAC) but they changed it to units and communities. While our people were waiting at the RAC, they never knew the whereabouts of the election materials. By the time they knew, they could not enter their communities due to armed men deployed by the PDP.” Sylva described Dickson’s victory as an alleged result of collusion between INEC

mended for prosecution for collecting financial gratification.

Submitting the report, the Chairman of the Board, Major General Adeniyi Oyebade, the General Officer Commanding 1 Division of the Nigerian Army, stated that the Board’s other recommendations include placing 15 officers on watch list, 9 officers are to be further investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over allegations against them.

Also, six officers are to face an audit committee and 62 officers (mostly of the rank of Majors-below) are to be given Letters of Displeasure and to appear before their respective General Officers Commanding for counselling.

and PDP, adding, “In any free and fair election, the APC will win.”

Sylva said though the APC will seek redress in the election petition tribunal, ”the decision to declare a winner is an open display of impunity. It is a desperate attempt to take over the state.”

Meanwhile, some of the political parties that contested the Bayelsa governorship election have urged for former Governor Sylva and the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate to accept defeat.

Mr. Prince Elema, the Chairman of the political parties, gave the advice during a news conference organised by the parties in Continued on page 12

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 12, 2016

7 News

Cultism: I’ve participated in killing of 15 persons – Suspect Abiodun Taiwo Abeokuta

ÏÏÏA

23-year-old member of New Black Movement of Africa popularly called Aiye Confra-

ternity, Kazeem Tiamiyu, on Monday, confessed to have been actively involved in the killing of no less than 15 persons since he joined the cult group.

The alleged cultist, who was said to be the butcher of the

cult group in Ijebu Ode area of Ogun State revealed that he had also sold several guns to cults members in Abraham Adesanya Polytechnic in Ijebu Igbo and and Tai Solarin University of Education in Ijagun.

The revelations came as he was paraded by Ogun State Police Command at its headquarters in Eleweranc in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

He said that he was withdrawn from the polytechnic by

his parents after getting information on his involvement in cultism and further said that his targets were killed during clashes between his group and members of Eiye Confraternity.

DPO, many others injured in Niger APC, PDP clash Pita Chikwem Minna

ÏÏÏThe

Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of ‘A’ division Suleja, in Niger State, five of his men and several others were, on Monday, injured in a bloody clash involving the supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and those of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Suleja town.

The incident occurred at about 11.30a.m., when members of the APC laid in ambush for the PDP members, who were on a campaign rally to the area ahead of Saturday’s local government council elections in the state The Police Public Relations

Officer (PPRO) ASP Bala Elkana confirmed the incident to our correspondent in Minna, adding that the police had brought the situation under control and that investigations were on to arrest the perpetrators.

Elkana explained that PDP actually applied and was granted permission to hold its campaign rally in Suleja only for the APC group to emerge from opposite direction and attacked the PDP members.

According to him, the APC group was led by one Lado, a lawmaker, representing the area in the House of Representatives, adding that investigation was ongoing to ascertain his level of involvement in the crisis.

Uwazuruike shifts Biafra prayer session indefinitely Val Okara Owerri

ÏÏÏThe

leader and founder of the Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Chief Ralhp Uwazuruike, on Monday, announced the indefinite postponement of proposed prayer session, fasting and election of the group.

Uwazuruike told journalists, in Owerri, that the development was to enable group make adequate arrangement, in which more than 100 clergymen from the south-east and south-south were expected to attend. “We have to make adequate consultations and preparation, well before the next date for the event will be made public”.

The Daily Times gathered that MASSOB had earlier announced that it would hold a three-day prayer and fasting beginning from January12, ahead of

February 22, 2016, elections billed for Ikemba Ojukwu Memorial Library in Owerri. It was gathered that a Catholic priest, Rev. Fr. Samuel Aniebonam, was named the chairman of the electoral body.

Uwazuruike said the exercise had been put on hold as leaders of MASSOB would check the pros and cons before a new date for the prayers and elections into various office would be made public.

It was gathered that the leader of the Niger Delta Volunteer Force, Asari Dokubo, and Dr. Fredrick Fasheun, the founder of the Oodua Peoples’ Congress, were expected to be in Owerri, for the event.

Uwazuruike, who recently rebranded MASSOB to Biafra Independence Movement (BIM), regretted the inconvenience the change in date would cause members of the group and guests.

Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi (2nd right); his wife, Rachel (right); Speaker of the state assembly, Francis Nwifuru (2nd left) and his wife, Uzoamaka, during the civic reception for Umahi by Ezza Ezekuna at Onueke Township Stadium, Ezza South LGA, Ebonyi State…on Monday.

Plateau group alleges marginalisation, slams Gov. Lalong Chijioke Kingsley Jos

ÏÏÏA group known as Anaguta

Youth Movement (AYM), has accused the Governor of Plateau State, Honourable Simon Lalong for grossly suppressing the Anaguta people of Jos North Local Government Area.

The group alleged that Lalong’s All Progressives Congress (APC)led administration had obviously sidelined the Anaguta natives from political appointments in his cabinet.

This claim was made during a press conference held by the group at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Press Centre in Jos, on Monday.

In the words of the group, “It is obvious that all previous administrations in Plateau State have recognised the Anaguta or Naraguta people in terms of political appointment, especially as regards to membership in the Plateau State Executive Council, as well as other sensitive appoint-

ments in the state and Jos North Local Government Council, particularly in the area of membership in the Transition and Implementation Committee, as well as other positions. Even during the military administrations, which was characterised by tyranny and dictatorship, accorded the Anaguta people ample opportunities to serve in higher levels of it administrations. During the past democratic administrations of Chief Joshua C. Dariye, Jonah David Jang and even the administration of Chief Michael Botmang that was adjudged illegal, recognised and gave the Anaguta people key positions in their respective administrations unlike this administration”, they said.

It said that, “however, the present administration of Honourable Simon B. Lalong has deliberately and craftily refused to follow the right and proper precedent and solid foundation laid by the previous administrations in recognising and honouring the Anaguta people.

This is because this administration did not appoint any Anaguta person as a commissioner from Jos North LGA as done in the past.

More amazing and worrisome is the fact that even in the appointment of membership of the Transition and Implementation Committee into the Jos North Local Government Council an Anaguta man was only given or appointed to a less visible position of a Supervisory Councilor. Unfortunately, they said positions that have been over the years given to the Anaguta people had been given to non-indigenes. Even the Beroms and the Afizeres that we considered our brothers were not considered in our place, rather non-indigenes”, they maintained.

In the statement signed by the Secretary of the association Mr. Jonathan E. Nyan, the group affirmed that the Anaguta native vigorously participated in all the activities during the 2015 governorship election ensuring that Governor Lalong emerged victoriously as governor.

8

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 12, 2015

Politics

Æs

Benue Assembly: PDP, APC in epic battle as plot to remove Speaker thickens Adah Samson Ocholi

Suswam

Following the re-election of Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State at the supplementary election held last Saturday, mixed reactions have been trailing the outcome.

Expectedly, while the elated re-elected governor and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are rejoicing, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and their sympathizers are bemoaning their fate.

Already, President of the Centre For Credible Leadership and Citizens, Dr. Gabriel Nwamba, has petitioned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over the violence that marred the rerun election.

The election was majorly between the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Timipre Sylva, and the state governor and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Seriake Dickson who has been declared winner.

The group said: As an unbiased Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), charged with the responsibility of monitoring the ongoing re-run governorship election in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area and some wards in 6 other LGAs, we wish to bring to your notice and the global community of some anomalies, which clearly negates the principle of

Aregbesola

Ortom

Following a High Court ruling ordering the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct fresh elections for Ushongo and Mbagwa constituencies where the Speaker of Benue State House of Assembly, Hon Terkimbi Ikyange represents, there have been attempts by lawmakers to unseat him.

The latest being just over

Mark

a week ago when member representing Agatu State constituency, Hon. Sule Audu raised a motion questioning the eligibility of the Speaker to preside over the house sitting. Although the issue was squashed and several lawmakers have since publicly denied knowledge of any plot, details of the overtures behind the scenes have conCONTINUED ON PAGE 9

Mixed reactions trail Dickson’s re-election

Dickson

Sylva

democracy.

“Our finding and report is based on the findings of our personnel, who have been de-

Politics of Lassa Fever in Osun

ployed all over the State to observe the conduct of the exercise”.

It stated that in Southern

It appears as if for politicians in Osun State, anything that comes up can be used as a weapon to attack one another.

This is what is playing out in the state of the Living Spring over the ongoing stand off between the state government and doctors in the state who have been on strike action for

Ijaw, Electoral materials and INEC personnel never got to Lobia 1, 2 and 3 communities in Bassan area of Southern Ijaw

over three months over unpaid salaries and whom the state Governor, Comrade Rauf Aregbesola has orderd to be sacked if they refused to return to work by Monday January 11.

As a result of this, the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) warned that the whole world

LGA, pointing out that INEC ad-hoc staff also reported that, the bag containing the electoral materials was snatched and taken away by thugs allegedly working for one of the leading political parties, in the presence of security forces.

It also alleged that in Oyoma in SILGA constituency 2, the materials have also been taken away to an unknown destination, while in Ekowe community in SILGA constituency 3, there was a stand off between two groups, as to where voting should take place with one group arguing that, the materials and INEC personnel be moved to a location, different from the already approved and known location.

According to the petition singed by Dr. Gabriel Nwamba, in Ukubie and Azuzuama, no materials and INEC staff was sighted, thus the people were des-enfranchised, while in BRASS, Materials and INEC personnel meant for Cape CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

should hold Governor Aregbesola responsible, should the rampaging Lassa Fever and other deadly diseases spread to the state following the decision of the governor to sack of all doctors working under government.

The party in a statement issued in CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 12, 2015

9 Politics

How Kwara plans to grow internal revenue to N3b per month from Jan — Revenue boss Can we meet you?

I am Muritala Awodun, executive Chairman of Kwara Inland Revenue Service.

Can you shed some light on the activities of your establishment?

Basically for now we are prepared to open our doors to commence full activities effectively from January and what the Internal revenue service is out for is to ensure that we block all leakages that used to exist in the old order of revenue collection by using technology and new people to increase the Internal revenue generation of Kwara State.

So how does your coming on board affects the mainstream civil servants doing the work before?

The law establishing the Kwara State Internal Revenue Service made it autonomous from the civil service structure so unlike when the board was under the ministry of finance, this new revenue service is autonomous and as the executive Chairman I report directly to the Governor of the State.

Aside this we are empowered to recruit our staff, remunerate them and discipline them and to fire them when they err so it is not under the civil service arrangement; it is purely separate from the civil service and it is more of private sector oriented arrangement, performance driven so to say you are well remunerated if you meet your target but if you are not performing the service is at liberty to dispense with you.

What was the status of the state revenue under the defunct revenue board?

The defunct revenue board as at 2014 was doing an average of Six hundred million in a month, this year the amount dropped for obvious reasons, the leakages are more and the environment was also very political and so many things were allowed to go because the political arrangement was given priority consideration but the bottom line is that what was coming into government purse was not commensurate with what was collected as revenue, there is a wide margin. We have it on record that what should come to government goes into private pockets and that cannot be allowed to continue particularly in this era of dwindling revenue from the federal allocation, so everybody has to sit up and every state government has to tighten its loose ends, so when you have a revenue sack that is leaking you will discover that what you put in the sack is not what you will meet there so it is wise to tighten all the loose ends if you really want to generate revenue; so that is basically what we will be doing in the next one year, to change the process and as well change some of the people doing the collection, change their orientation, providing them with better facilities and look into all those excuses given for inefficiency in the past, are be-

Chairman Kwara Revenue Service in Kwara State, Muritala Awodun, in this interview with KEHINDE AKINPELU spoke on how Kwara will generate N3b IGR Per month and how the money will be spent for the people. Excerpts:

Abdulfattah

ing taken care of so that there will not be any excuse for non performance. So we are to ensure that all the rates, levies and all taxes come in as appropriately. In the past, it is not that Kwarans are not paying their taxes but the money does not get to government, so we are saying enough of that.

What is your monthly revenue generation projection and how do you intend to sustain it?

We are looking at a situation where effective from January we would make N1 Billion particularly in the first quarter and believe we would progressively move to N1.5Billion in the second quarter because the electronic system being deployed would be tested around this time and would have been perfected within the six months and when we move to third quarter we hope to have moved to N2.5 Billion and in the last quarter of the year we expect to have moved to N3 Billion monthly, so in all we are looking at N24 Billion in 2016 and average of N2 Billion monthly but its not as if we should expect that N2 Billion from January, it’s a gradual process because we are going to block leakages, we expect that those enjoying the fraudulent leaks would fight back, we know they won’t give in just easily but we know that gradually we would win the war against them and gradually our system with take over from the old system.

The moment our system takes over fully, we would have achieved much in curbing of leakages and would have improved much in performance. So within 2016 we would grow our revenue from N1 Billion to N3 Billion over time and we believe

Awodun

that after that we can begin to think of increasing the revenue base by bringing in those who were not initially captured in the tax net. By then we would have done enough of data gathering and inculcate those who suppose to pay tax but were not paying into the system because by them we would have gotten enough information about them and therefore drag them into the tax net and that would translate to a growth of about 20% annually in whatever monthly revenue that we have before through the new entrants into the tax system.

Are acting as consultant to government on revenue generation?

No, this is purely an agency established by law saddled with the task of revenue generation.

Would you employ the services of consultants to boost your operations if need be?

Yes, if we so chose to engage the services of consultants we would, because if there are areas where you see value for some of them because the fact is we cannot do everything, so in areas where there competence is needed we would engage them provided they are going to help us achieve our set goals. Taking for instance, tax audit in some areas, where we don’t have capacity its better to engage the services of consultants. For instance if banks are not paying what they ought to pay and we need to look into their books, consultants in that field would do better and they would come up with what the Banks are expected to pay. Whatever they come up with is what we would now work on in cooperation with consultants

and once this is done the consultant is entitled to whatever we agree upon before they start their work with respect to percentage. If we don’t know how to do something it doesn’t then mean that such things cannot be done, those who have the expertise would do it for us and revenue from that area would come in. Also there are some areas like control posts where consultants have the way they go about it vis a vis the manner of collection there, if its what we don’t want to dabble into because we don’t have a perfect process so in the interim we understudy their process while we allow them do the job for us. By this we can latter see what improved method to use in collection from such places but like I pointed out earlier while we are studying their mode of operations the collection would also go on, being done by some people, so its either we continue with the consultants handling it before or we bring new people to do it in another way we think can be better in bringing in more revenue into the coffers of government. Basically, revenue is diverse and the people who collect it are different set of people too so in collecting revenue from different people because of the technicality involved using the best and most convenient way to do it.

Is there a synergy between the State Revenue service and the Local government revenue system?

As it is Kwara State revenue service has the responsibility to mobilize revenue for the entire Kwara State, the local governments are an integral part of the state though they have the autonomy in certain areas. What the state is trying to do is let the local governments realize the fact that in their own interest it is better to cooperate together for collection, so we would collect whatever the local government should collect because they don’t have the capacity to reinvigorate the collection process by using the appropriate code to ensure that the money gets to them. We are aware of rates and taxes meant for local governments, without appropriate machinery for collection, local government would not have the monies come in and it means they would not have enough funds to dispense of their responsibilities, so now that government has provided this new platform there should be some form of working relationship between the local government and the state to ensure that all revenue accruing to government, Local and state, comes in effectively by so doing both the local government and the state will have sufficient CONTINUED ON PAGE 11

Politics 10

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 12, 2015

Mixed reactions trail Dickson’s re-election CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

Formosa area, made up of Egweama, Beletiama and Liama were snatched and taken away by thugs to an unknown destination. Same was the case for Minibie in Akassa area of Brass.

In NEMBE, Materials and personnel for Nembe ward 6 and 9 were hijacked and taken to Okpoama, pointing out that These are fundamental issues affect edthe success of every election, guided by democratic principles and practices, in line with globally accepted standards.

“This is our position, as an unbiased observer for the rerun governorship election in Bayelsa State and let us be reminded here too that, based on the standards set by the immediate past leadership of INEC at the national level, Nigerian democracy has received international reckoning and we must not, for whatever reasons lower the standards”, it spread.

But Governor Dickson thanked the electorate for their gallantry in ensuring his reelection for another four years, sayi ng there would be no celebration because of the number of lives that have been lost.

The governor in an emotionladen statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Daniel Iworiso-Markson, released to journalists on Sunday night in Yenagoa, however vowed that he would do everything possible to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

He promised to work tirelessly to justify the mandate given to him “as we tried to do in the first four years to almost universal acknowledgement and

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

Osogbo by its spokesperson, Diran Odeyemi, said the pronouncement by the health minister, Prof. Isaac Adewole that Lassa Fever has spread to the neighboring Oyo State should be enough warning signal for any right thinking governor not to pick up quarrel with its doctors so as not to jeopardise public health at this time.

“But the situation we have found ourselves in Osun is so pathetic and the governor appeared helpless and confused.

Findings from our members in Osun, Oyo states border villages like Alabameta and Papanla, indicate that there was tension

Benue Assembly: PDP, APC in epic battle as plot to remove Speaker thickens CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

Dickson

approbation.”

While extending a hand of fellowship his political opponents, Dickson said since election has been won and lost, the needs of Bayelsans, the challenge of improving their material condition remains and is even more urgent.

His words: “I am extremely humbled tonight on the valiant efforts you made to revalidate the mandate you gave me four years ago. With all manner of forces arrayed against us not least the utter desperation of our political opponents, community after community led by women and youth stood gallantly to defend the sanctity of their vote and to resist the efforts of hoodlums who style themselves as “militants” to undermine the democratic process.

“To the extent that the people ensured that they spoke loud

Mahmud

and clear and that their choice clearly emerged provides some reassurance that our democracy is coming of age. Sadly however the elections were conducted at the price of several lives lost and mayhem visited on many communities by mindless brigands clearly suborned by those who do not respect the democratic process and have equally scant regard for the sanctity of lives and property. Unfortunately, we can’t celebrate because people have died.

“I want to assure you that we will do everything possible to identify the culprits and bring them to justice. I want to express my heartfelt condolences and sympathy to the families of the innocent victims of the violence. The government will be undertaking a full accounting of what happened.

“The mandate you have given

Dickson

us having been clearly demonstrated, I want to assure you that my administration will work tirelessly to justify this mandate as we tried to do in the first four years to almost universal acknowledgement and approbation. The present economic climate in the country may be very harsh with the precipitous slide in oil revenues but I want to assure you that we will courageously tackle the challenges of economic and social development with renewed vigour.

“Here I will like to extend a hand of fellowship to our political opponents. The election has been won and lost but the needs of our people, the challenge of improving their material condition remains and is even more urgent. That should now be the focus of all our atCONTINUED ON PAGE 11

Politics of Lassa Fever in Osun in the last few days over insinuations that some sick people are showing symptoms of the dreaded Lassa Fever and yet doctors in Osun will be shown the way out of state by Mr. Aregbesola.

“Why fighting doctors at this time of near national emergency? Is Mr. Governor aware of increase in death since public health facilities are shut down because of strike by doctors?” the PDP queried.

The statement also condemned the sack of 141 staff-

ers of the state-owned Colleges of Education in Ila and Ilesa, saying adding to population of labour market with the number as much as 141 will further worsen living condition in the state.

PDP noted that despite constant denial by Aregbesola’s administration that it was not merging tertiary institutions in the state, “yet all tertiary institutions except University of Osun have been delisted by Jamb and staff strength in the schools bern reduced while

remedial courses are already being advertised for those schools.”

PDP therefore advised the state government to cut down on “frivolous spendings that has completely eaten up its resources.

“Aregbesola should begin this by selling the controversial helicopter he claimed was bought for surveillance and as part of income generating drive but which is now being used to service the first family travelling needs”.

tinued to emerge.

It was discovered that the plot was hatched by the Deputy Speaker, Hon James Okefe after falling out with Hon. Ikyange over the outcome of a contract scam involving the purchase of vehicles for assembly members and his desire to remain Deputy Speaker should Hon Ikyange relinquish his seat as a result of the High Court ruling.

A close source revealed that Hon. Okefe, a PDP member who teamed up with the APC for the sake of being made the Deputy Speaker, recently met with Hon. Paul Biam, another PDP member recently installed by the court who has also not hidden his desire to be Hon Ikyange’s replacement. It was the fallout of this meeting that it was agreed that Hon Sule Audu will move a motion for the removal of the Speaker.

Unfortunately, the motion was left high and dry when it was raised on the floor of the house because most PDP lawmakers were unaware of the plan.

This was apparent when member representing Ukum state constituency, Hon Kester Kyenge (PDP), speaking on Radio Benue, denied knowledge of any plan to remove the Speaker.

He said, “We didn’t call on the Speaker to resign but rather sought to be clarified on the issue and also reiterate our support for the Speaker”.

With the APC and PDP having equal number of lawmakers and the High Court order yet to be clearly understood, interesting times lie ahead for the Benue State House of Assembly.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 12, 2015

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9

funds with which to execute their projects without anyone breaching the law. So, this is being worked out. This will also make us better organized.

Will this working relationship take care of cases of double taxation?

Yes, this cooperation will take care of double taxation, because by the time we harmonize all channel of collection we make it convenient for the tax payers. We can split the six thousand naira payment into one hundred naira per day payable within a stretch of six months. It is after that six months that enforcement starts against defaulters, so in essence if the local governments cooperate with us, every one will benefit from the arrangements. However, those who will not like to cooperate are those benefitting from the leakage in the system otherwise. Why will anyone go against a system that will guarantee increased revenue to his or her local government? So we are working on a harmonious relationship with the local government to work out the collection rates and institute effective machinery for the collection for the benefit of all. However we can exempt areas where the local governments feel like not letting go of as their exclusive reserve, such places, we ignore or exempt in our plans. By law there are joint committees of local government revenue.

What is the response of local governments toward these arrangements?

Well, we have held meetings twice to discuss on this and their response has been very positive, that I must tell you but the problem is about those benefitting from the leakages including officials of government, they are the ones who will institute all manner of challenges.

What efforts have you put in to enlighten the people on your operations to ensure that they

11 Politics

Revenue must be spent on the people — Kwara Revenue boss key into what you are doing?

The sensitization process has just started. You must have been hearing our jingles on radio and television in the last three or four months, there are some adverts that just started in December and the frequency will increase as well as in other channels of reaching out to the people. We would also engage in direct communication. Over a hundred people has gone to town interacting with them and engaging them in dialogues, asking questions and using the opportunity to gather relevant information about the work.

What we gathered is that his Excellency will be meeting those within government, I mean the Commissioners, the Special Assistants, Directors of Finance and others in government ministerial and parastatals, we want to use the medium to tell them what we stand for and what the Kwara State Internal revenue service is all about and also tell them how we need to work together to realize the stated goals and objectives. Then, the day after that, there will be another stake holders forum where traditional rulers are involved as well as executives of associations particularly the informal sector. There we would repeat the same presentation just a way of soliciting their support and sensitizing them about the new direction of change taking place in the state.

You seem optimistic about blocking leakages in revenue generation what mechanisms are you putting in place to ensure success of your operation?

We already have experience about how these leakages come

about and we know it is all about people; leakages are less about the system but more about people. In view of this age of technology one may say it is easy for people to pay online or go to the bank and pay directly or use ATM or other electronic means of payment but if the people operating the system do not have integrity they would still circumvent the system that is why we are not going to use the same set of people. Those former board staff had been sent to the ministry and those who are interested in participating with us should reapply, then we interview them and see whether we can give them a chance or not.

We also looked into the complaints of the old people about being poorly remunerated, not giving best of facilities to work with. For example this place used to be one of their buildings but we pulled it down and turned it into what you are seeing now because part of their excuse is that if it had been like this they would have done better, so we discover that some of them have good reason while others don’t have any good reason.

Any message and or advice to Kwarans in general?

My message to Kwarans is that we are out to serve them better. Better in the sense that we help to ensure that the moneys paid by the people get to the hands of government and not private hands so that government can actually use those funds to develop the state. In the past when the people pay for example, N100 only N30 gets to government, the rest N70 go

Abdulfattah

into private pockets but with our coming on board, we want to ensure that all the N100 gets to government purse and at worst even if it is N70 that reaches government, it is better than the former N30. If government does not have what you paid how can government use the said money to render services that the people are asking for? That is why our objective is clearly stated, to mobilize revenue for strategic development of Kwara State.

Does that imply that aside generating revenue, the law establishing the service also allows you to advise government on the use of the funds?

Yes, its part of our mandate.

If you look at the law establishing Kwara State revenue service you will see it clearly stated. It is a clear mandate to mobilize

revenue, block leakages and to expand revenue base as well as to advice government on socioeconomic policies as well as on policies relating to tax. The issue is when we collect revenue from the people they complain about certain things and that is a feedback mechanism; all these we would get back to government’s knowledge that these are what the people are saying. If government didn’t reciprocate or give answers to questions being raise it will become difficult for us to collect revenue from them any further.

If they cooperate in 2016 and they didn’t see good use of the funds by 2017 they will prove difficult, so in advisory capacity we would advice government on the right application of resource.

Mixed reactions trail Dickson’s re-election CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10

tention and efforts.

Also, Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose has hailed Dickson’s re-election describing it as a demonstration of the resolve of Bayelsa people to choose their own governor and resist imposition of a governor on them by the powers that be in Abuja.

The governor, who described the people of Bayelsa as “worthy heroes of democracy that stood their ground against

agents of darkness that were prepared to short-change them by imposing a governor they do not want on them,” said Governor Dickson’s victory was another vindication of his prediction on 20 things to expect this year.

Governor Fayose said in a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka that it was shameful that several people were killed in an election in

Bayelsa State with eight Local Government areas in which more than 20,000 security personnel, including soldiers were deployed.

“If the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) could not conduct a free and fair election in just eight Local Governments in one month, one wonders how long it will take INEC to conduct the president election that will be held in 774 Local Governments in 2019,” the governor said.

He lamented that the legacy of free, fair and credible elections bequeathed on Nigeria by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government of Dr Goodluck Jonathan was already being destroyed by the President Mohammadu Buhari led All Progressives Congress (APC) government owing to the APC’s desperation to take over all States in the country by crude means.

“The people of Bayelsa have shown that their power is more

than that of the Abuja political oppressors. They have shown that tyranny can be defeated through the collective will of the people.

“I congratulate Governor Dickson for this sweet victory. I salute Bayelsa people for standing firm against terror. I sympathise with families of those that were murdered and I urge Nigerians to take note of the systematic destruction of democracy by the APC government in Abuja,” he said

News 12

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Dasukigate: I didn’t know N260m will come from NSA’s office – Anenih Ï 9 Ɠ ôƐ ƏƆƇƑ Ɨ MơƠƠƌè ƕ 0 Ƌ Ɔ Lateef Ibrahim , Abuja

ÎÎÎFormer

Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chief Tony Anenih has written the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), in respect of the N260 million said to have been paid into his account by the Office of the former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki

(rtd.)

In the letter, Chief Anenih revealed he spent over N440 million of his personal money on some political assignments given to him by the immediate past President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, while only N260 million was refunded to him.

Anenih further stated in the letter that Jonathan requested for his account details for reimbursement of the money spent on the as-

signments and that he was therefore not in a position to know which Office his account details would be sent for this.

There have been reports that Anenih gave monies to certain political leaders to support President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election bid during the 2015 general elections.

The trio of Chief Olu Falae, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai and and Chief Rasheed Ladoja have already confirmed that they received N100 million, N63 million and N100 million respective-

ly from Anenih for purposes specified in his letter.

The PDP), Anenih further pointed out in the letter, agreed to the six issues raised by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) before it could support the re-election bid of President Goodluck Jonathan in last year’s presidential election.

A letter by Chief Tony Anenih, who was then Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), dated January 26, 2015, confirmed the claim by the National Chairman of the SDP, Chief Olu Falae, that there was inter-

Oyo State Governor, Sen. Abiola Ajimobi (right), with workers during the 2016 inter-faith prayer session to usher in the New Year, held at the Governor’s Office, Ibadan, Oyo State… on Monday.

party cooperation between the PDP and the SDP to support Jonathan’s presidential ambition.

Meanwhile, Falae, the National Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP),who admitted that he N100 millionfrom the PDP through Anenih on behalf of the party, following the agreement to work together, on Monday said he would not refund the money.

Chief Falae explained that the amount was given to him for onward delivery to his party, to assist sell exPresident Goodluck Jonathan’s second term bid, saying it was not paid through the office of the former NSA. Speaking at a press conference, in Abuja, through the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Dr. Abdul Ahmed Isaiq, Falae insisted that his party would not return any money to the government coffers, since the money it got was neither from Col. Dasuki nor Office of the National Security Adviser.

He therefore asked the government to hold Anenih, the source of the money rather than either himself or his party.

“In terms of refund of money, I want to say here that those people who are refunding money are those who got their money directly from the arms deal fund.

Lassa fever: Edo confirms 6 cases, Taraba begins house-to-house campaign ÎÎÎThe

Edo Government has confirmed recording six cases of Lassa fever in the state, just as the Taraba State Ministry of Urban Development on Monday commenced house-to-house sensitization campaign to contain outbreak of the disease.

The Edo state Commissioner for Health, Dr Aihanuwa Eregie, told newsmen in Benin on Monday that the cases were confirmed at the Institute of Lassa Fever Research and Control, Irrua Specialist Hospital, Edo. ``Among the six cases, one is from Plateau while the remaining five cases are from Edo. ``Among the five cases

from Edo, four are from Estako West local government area while the remaining case is from Uhumwonde area of the state,’’ she said.

Eregie said that the disease was a serious threat to residents of the state, adding that Edo harbours most of the cases of the disease diagnosed in Nigeria. ``Lassa fever is a haemorrhagic viral disease caused

by Lassa virus which is transmitted from rats, of the family called Mastomys, to humans. ``The symptoms of the disease include severe illness with fever and at least one of the following signs: bloody stool, vomiting blood or unexplained bleeding from the

gums, nose, vagina, skin or eyes. ``Lassa fever initially presents like other forms of fever in our community. ``It is important to report all cases of febrile illnesses that are not responding to common treatment measures to the nearest facility for proper diagnosis. ``Edo government is already putting measures in place to stop the further spread of the disease. ``The measures include health education and sensitisation of clinicians and other health workers, intensification of surveillance for Lassa fever and other diseases. ``Other measures are linkage of healthcare centres to

the Institute of Lassa Fever Research in the state and early referral of suspected cases to the Lassa fever institute.,’’ said the commissioner.

She urged residents of the state to desist from bush burning so that rats are not driven into homes.

The commissioner also appealed to residents to embrace good sanitary conditions and proper storage of foods in covered containers to break the chain of transmission of the disease.

She also called for proper and regular hand washing, eliminating rats from homes, wearing of personal protective covering when in contact with persons suspected to have the disease.

In Taraba, the house-to-

house sensitisation campaign started with residents of Jalingo, the state capital and focused on the importance of personal hygiene and good environmental practices.

The Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mr. Major Abba told journalists that the sensitization was aimed at stopping the spread of the outbreak which has so far killed three persons in the state.

“The disease is carried by rodents and medical experts believe that simple basic hygienic procedures such as; covering soups, foods, pots and keeping plates clean and out of reach by the rats will prevent the spread of the disease.

Bayelsa poll: Sylva heads to tribunal Continued from page 6 Yenagoa on Monday.

The political parties include Kowa Party, All Progressives Ground Alliance (APGA), United Peoples Party (UPP), and ID Party, among others.

Elema said that Sylva’s acceptance of defeat would promote peace and understanding among the people of the state. ``We are advising the APC candidate to accept the results and join forces to move the state forward. ``We are satisfied with the conduct of the whole election in the state and hereby endorse the results and accordingly, we hereby congratulate the winner, Governor Seriake Dickson of PDP. ``We equally commend INEC efforts in the distribution of materials and providing a level playing ground during the election. ``We should come together as one people and move the Ijaw nation forward, ‘’ Elema said.

In a related development, the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has saluted the people of Bayelsa State for standing against intimidation, rigging and violence to ensure that their will as a people prevailed in Saturday’s supplementary election.

The PDP leadership however said that the APC-led Federal Government, under the watch of President Muhammadu Buhari, is not disposed to free, fair and credible electoral process in the country despite being a huge beneficiary of PDP’s electoral reform.

These were contained in a statement signed by the acting National Chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondus, on Monday in Abuja.

The PDP leadership pointed out that the steadfastness and resilience shown by the people, particularly in Southern Ijaw, will go down in history as one of the many sacrifices made to defend democracy in the land.

The PDP equally congratulated Governor Seriake Dickson for his well-deserved victory and statesmanly handling of the situation in the face of provocations.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 12, 2016

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News 14

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Non-payment of salaries tantamount to genocide, says ex-NLC veepee Kehinde Akinpelu, Ilorin

ÎÎÎA Former National Vice-

President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Issa Aremu, has accused some state governors of committing ‘genocide’ against humanity for not paying workers’ salaries.

He added that, “in fact, they are nothing but criminals who should be retrenched from governance with immediate effect for performing below expectation and because they have committed what I will call ‘economicide’ or genocide’ against the entire nation.”

Aremu, who is also the General Secretary of the Ni-

geria Union of Textile and Garment, (NUTG), stated this at the weekend, while speaking with journalists at his Ilorin residence, noting that, “At 56 years of independence, this was what the founding fathers planned for the citizenry. What a poor Nigeria had offered in the past was far better than what the rich Nigeria is offering now.”

According to him, “Governors who cannot pay workers’ salaries do not have any reason or justification to remain in office and, henceforth, no civil servant should work for them again. Also labour leaders who cannot drive home the demands of their members should also resign with

immediate effect.

“Non-payment of salaries amount to ‘economicide’ that is unacceptable. ‘Economicide’ means deliberate strangulation of the working people through a denial of wage incomes that has led to untimely death of workers, withdrawal of their children from schools and mass poverty.

“When they cannot pay salaries, why are they still travelling on chattered flights and not commercial flights or even by road? I think by now, if they are kind enough, they should be going on Keke Napep in solidarity of the current economic situation.”

He however urged the gov-

ernor to emulate the federal government in the areas of prompt payment of salaries and provision of welfare for workers in order to increase and boost their productivity.

Aremu also condemned the proposed vehicle purchase by the leadership of the National Assembly describing it as frivolous spending and desperate attempt to impoverish the nation and urged them to be more committed to the legislative duties for the growth of the people.

He said: “I agree with Senate President Bukola Saraki that National Assembly should enhance its oversight function. But those who come to equity should come with

clean hands. Who oversees the senators when they are buying new cars in an economy that is totally depressed?

“Nigeria needs angry leaders like Buhari not hungry dealers like some senators that are engaging in self helps rather than national service. Senators should emulate President Buhari and tow the path of prudence and selflessness”.

Edo 2016: I’ll impact of lives through industrialisation – Edebiri Titus Akhigbe, Benin

ÎÎÎThe Peoples Democrat-

Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole (middle), inaugurating Polymerase Chain Reaction Centre (PCR), at the Federal University Teaching Hospital in Gombe… on Monday. With him are, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, Hajiya Amina Shamaki (right) and Officer In-Charge of the PCR, Mohammed Danlami (left).

FCT minister to collaborate with neighbouring states on devt Idu Jude

ÎÎÎThe Minister of the Fed-

eral Capital Territory, Mallam Mohammed Bello, has said that his administration, was ready to collaborate with neighbouring states to fight under-development.

He made this known on Monday when his Niger State counterpart, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, paid him a courtesy call.

The states which include Niger Nasarawa, and Kogi have indicated interest in the lofty idea, which would help the menace of border

security, road networks to link the states as well as other major infrastructure to create employments among the states.

According to the Minister, the relationship between Abuja and Niger had come of age. He said that, “You would recall that the administration of the FCT was an offshoot of the Niger State administration. And I must tell you that we had such ideas before now and this visit has just shown that we are thinking alike.”

He said that the project, which would be championed

by the FCT administration, would check the spread of diseases across the neighbouring states.

Speaking earlier, visiting Governor of Niger State, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, said that his visit was on how to collaborate on issue of security and other matters.

“We are looking at a good sanitations around Madalla and how to work with the FCT administration to get rid of the refuse. This is because the place has become refuse dump which extends to the larger part of the

road.”

The Niger State Governor, also lamented the relocation and modernisation of the Madalla mechanic village, which he suggested would probably be relocated to a permanent site.

He also pointed out a need to harness the flow of traffic between the two states. “We are also looking for the possibility of developing roads from madalla linking FCT. We have also agreed to look at it and if worked out, then our technical team would swoop into action immediately to put things in motion.

ic Party (PDP) governorship aspirant, in Edo State, Chief Solomon Iyobosa Edebiri, has said that he was in the race for the 2016 governorship election, because nothing had changed in the standard of living of the people of the state.

Edebiri, who made the assertion while speaking with journalists in Benin said that “If things have changed for the better since the last time I contested, I would have looked for other ways to contribute my quota to the state.”

He said that he hoped to create a state where industrialisation would be the order of the day, as a way of reducing poverty. I am wishing to change the way people do things and make the masses feel the impact of development.

I am contesting to make effective social services, health care, education, valid infrastructures, security of life and property and others available to the people of the state.

On whether he stands a chance of getting the PDP ticket in view of the complex political process preceding previous primaries, he said that with the transformation going on in the party he was quite sure the best candidate would emerge without any interference from leaders.

Kisira

Kwara Dep. Gov mourns fallen heroes Kehinde Akinpelu, Ilorrin

ÎÎÎThe Deputy-Governor of

Kwara State, Elder Peter Kisira, has stressed a need for all Nigerians to work together to keep the nation one, and noted that “only prayers can save the nation.”

He made the call on Sunday, while addressing the people at the Armed Forces Remembrance Day Church Service, held at Christ Apostolic Church, Taiwo Isale, Ilorin.

He appealed to those whipping up sentiments on Biafra and fanning the embers of disunity to exercise restraint and caution, and explained that Nigerians had a lot to gain in the unity peaceful coexistence of the nation.

He emphasised a need to stop the senseless war of insurgency and implored those dissatisfied with the system to explore the option of dialogue and discussion in tune with best practices all over the world.

Man docked for stealing baby beds Titilope Joseph

ÎÎÎOne Umotu Haruna, has

been docked by a Lagos Magistrate Court on the Island for breaking into a warehouse and stole 13 pieces of baby beds worth of N200, 000.

The 22-year-old defendant, who has no fixed address and occupation, pleaded not guilty to a two-count charge of breaking, entry and theft, when he appeared before Mr. L.A. Owolabi at a Tinubu Magistrate court, sitting on Lagos Island.

The defendant was said to have committed the offences on January 4 at about 2. 00 p.m. at 39 Oronyimi Street, Lagos Island.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 12, 2016

15 Opinion

Why there is urgent need for a new Nigeria

T E. O. Eke

his idea that Nigeria can go on like this, ignoring those who complain of genuine discrimination and marginalisation, simply because a particular ethnic group or group of powerful people wants it that way and, has determined to keep it that way because it best served their sectarian and selfish interest, is misguided and self deception.

Nigeria is already imploding. Her military has proved unable to contain a sectarian insurgency, talk less of defeating nationalistic insurgency.

Her army is turning on itself by court martial of officers, who could not fight the insurgency because Dasuki shared the money budgeted for arms and on the people by carrying out summary execution of Biafra protesters.

There are soldiers in Nigerian army, whose loyalty to their ethnic group and religion compel them to support the insurgency and the government is using disproportionate force to control legitimate political and democratic agitations.

A society starts to fall apart, when a section takes up arms and another shows willingness to renounce its sovereignty. No one can deny that

both conditions now exist in Nigeria.

Breaking up only becomes inevitable, when the government fails to offer the right response to the problems, hence this plea.

The continued reaffirmation that the unity of Nigeria is not negotiable is beginning to sound like denial.

Nigeria needs a new strategic security and democratic settlement that restores the faith of all in her and guaranties the safety of lives.

This settlement cannot be achieved if the government is insensitive to the wishes and aspiration of the people and pander to old prejudices and stereotypes.

We cannot continue to have a country, where peaceful protesters are gunned down and hounded into prisons without trial, while armed Fulani herdsmen roam around, killing maiming and kidnapping with impunity. It cannot continue to be one rule for Fulani herdsmen and another for others.

If the government continues to pursue discriminatory policy, many more people will begin to see their future outside Nigeria and the momentum would be unstoppable.

This is a warning to the government to fine-tune its plans to reflect the wishes of the people.

I believe that it is the responsibility of all honest Nigerians to help

Buhari to succeed where Jonathan failed.

For eight years, Nigeria had a president who claims his parent were so poor that when he was growing up, he had no shoes. Yet, after two years as Vice President and six as president, he did not propose nor implement a single policy to widen access to education for Nigerians born with natural disadvantage.

He failed to ensure that at least, anybody born in similar circumstance to his would get the minimum he got. He attended a federal university free and under his government, good and quality education was put beyond reach of the poor.

The result of the presidency of Goodluck Jonathan is that millions of Nigerian, whose parents could not afford neither shoes nor school fees are roaming the streets as hawkers and being sold as house slaves and may graduate into criminality as kidnappers, armed robbers or terrorists.

Even though, I did not support Buhari,s candidacy during the election, I have seen very little of the change he promised even though I do not doubt his good intentions.

In addition, the budget has not inspired confidence. He budgeted N45 billion for INEC, in a year, when

there is no election. If this is not corruption, someone should tell me what corruption means.

To succeed, Buhari must end budgetary corruption, which is the worst form of corruption in Nigeria.

End selective fight against corruption and empower institutions to fight all corrupt politicians.

Ensure probity, candour, honesty and sincerity, at all levels of the polity.

No one must be above the law. In fact, the law cannot be respecter of persons in true democracy.

Last week Ehud Omert, former Isreali prime Minister was convicted and jailed for 18 months for corruption, when he way Mayor of Jerusalem.

This should give the Buhari Administration the courage to go after the so-called Nigerian sacred cows, whose greed and criminality destroyed the country.

I hope this new year, will bring the change Nigeria needs in the area of the rule of law, empowering institutions, accountability and positioning the war on corruption in the right direction.

Let us fight to save Nigeria; we are better together, only if there is justice as fairness and respect for the rule of law.

E.O. Eke, a medical doctor wrote from England

Buhari: Accepting the past, facing the future (2)

D

Magnus Onyibe

espite the good intentions for the poor in the 2016 budget, the proposed increase by 50% of Aso Rock budget from N6.6 billion in 2015 to N18 billion, provision of N3.6 billion for purchase of unspecified number of BMW saloon cars ostensibly for conference visitors and allocation of N1.75 billion for feeding in the seat of power which is a whooping jump from N530m in 2015 is absurd and leaves bitter taste in the mouth.

Given the sacrifices that Nigerian masses are expected to make to move the economy out of doldrums, such budget provisions for Aso Rock which are ostentatious and antithetical to the personalities of president Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who are known to be frugal, need to be reviewed back to status quo ante.

It is hoped that our budget crafters (Udoma and Adeosun) who unlike Buhari are silver spoons are cognizant of the Roman philosopher Seneca’s proposition ” To always be fortunate, and pass through life with a soul that has never known sorrow, is to be ignorant of one half of nature” My guess is that Mr president was rattled and taken aback by the revelations of excessive allocation of funds

towards recurrent expenditures, (including the proposal to purchase vehicles amounting to several billions of naira by the legislature) during his recent media chat and l’m convinced that having listened to the concerns of Nigerians, the current talk about withdrawal or otherwise of the 2016 budget from the Congress for necessary amendments is in response to the anxiety expressed by long suffering Nigerians.

Perhaps introduction and implementation of zero billion If such positive steps are taken indicating that government is responding to the yearning of the masses, the portion of the budget allocated to capital expenditure, CAPEX which commendably is in excess of 30% and unprecedented in the annals of budgeting in Nigeria in the past decade, could result in the downsizing of the recurrent and further enlargement of the CAPEX in budget 2016.

As some commentators have pointed out, instead of purchasing conference visitors vehicles annually, why can’t Aso Rock lease it from the private sector thereby boosting the activities of leasing companies and the contribution of the sector to GDP? While the earlier mentioned largess aimed at ameliorating the pains of the ordinary people in the lower rung of society are being awaited, the immediate good news is that, Ibe Kachikwu,

minister of state for petroleum has announced a marginal reduction in petroleum pump price, which is sweet music in the ears of the masses, if the commodity can actually be purchased at that price.

Kachikwu spent Christmas in the refineries and the taps seem to have been turned on for the commodity to flow, at least throughout the festive season.

Kachikwu who doubles as GMD of NNPC, the state oil company, also offered news that is more cheering when he revealed that one of the nation’s four refineries is back in production.

Fortuitously, before the prospect of the palliatives expected to relieve the masses of anticipated pains arrive, also looming in the horizon, is the possibilities of a rebound of oil price that would reverse the current challenges compelling severe belt tightening.

The optimism is derived from the likelihood that the age long SunniShiite divide currently threatening to degenerate into direct face-off between Saudi Arabia and lran, in the Middle East and Persia, may escalate and lead to disruption of supplies of crude oil into the saturated market by the two largest producers and thus wipe out the glut which could result in oil price rebounding to a region of $100 per barrel against popular predictions of $20.

Obviously, for now, the scenario painted above seems like a far-fetched proposition as international oil pricing is usually dicey, but Nigeria’s budget is predicated on $38 dollars per barrel oil price and presently international oil price has fallen to $36 which is $2 less than Nigeria’s budget benchmark, so what gives the economic planning and finance ministers, the audacity of hope, for lack of a better term, that oil price would not further drop to the $20 level envisaged

by Goldman Sachs and IMF? Unsurprisingly, global investment bank, such as Goldman Sachs has recently been sighted in Nigeria offering credit facilities to the federal and state governments. It is noteworthy that it is the same financial institution that grouped Nigerian in to MINT- Malaysia, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey-representing acronyms of countries that the financial institution reckon would be the new global economic growth leaders. Considering that Goldman Sachs had earlier similarly categorized Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa into BRICS, countries to watch for superlative economic performance in the last decade, it is not surprising that the investment bank is staking heavily in Nigeria.

Indeed, this is remarkable and a welcome development as no economy can develop without external funding.

News 16

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Edebiri seeks media partnership with political party leaders Titus Akhigbe Benin

ÏÏÏThe

People’s Democratic Party governorship aspirant for the July governorship election, in Edo State, Mr. Solomon Edebiri, has advised the media to join the party’s leaders to ensure internal democracy in order to deepen the system of government there.

He said that, “ahead of the forthcoming governorship election in July 2016, all stakeholders – including the press, must synergise to compel party elites to create a level playing field for aspirants to contest.”

He noted that it was “only when the process leading to the emergence of candidates and elected officers was right that we will start getting our democracy right.”

Edebiri gave the advice, on Sunday, in Benin, while speaking with journalists on his intent to contest the July election.

He commended the all-journalists panel at a recent round table forum convened by the Coalition for Good Governance and Economic Justice in Africa, in Benin City, with the theme: “The Media Practitioner’s View of Edo State under Comrade Adams Oshiomhole”.

Plateau commissioner seeks synergy between security agencies, media Chijioke Kingsley Jos

ÏÏÏThe

Plateau State Commissioner of Information Hon. Nazif Ahmed has reiterated his ministry’s readiness to partner with all the security out-fits and the media in the state to effectively manage and restore the once- peaceful Plateau known to all in time past.

Ahmed, who was appointed commissioner three weeks ago, said that the role of the media and the security agen-

Osun community, religious sect clash in Osogbo Sodiq Adekunle Osogbo

ÏÏÏThere was a clash between

residents of Kelebe community in Olorunda Local Government Area of Osogbo, Osun State and a sect alleged of practising three religions.

It was learnt that the clash occurred when members of the community protested activities of the sect.

Our correspondent gathered that the angry members of the community were scared over the continued operations of the sect in the community and demanded the relocation of its worship centre from the community.

It was learnt that members of the Kelebe Community were fearful last year when the sect, group also known as Toriqat Satia Organisation, built its worship cen-

tre in the community.

The residents, who trooped out in their hundreds carried placard reading, “Toriqat Satia Orgnisation is a ritual group and we don’t want them”, “We don’t want kidnappers and ritualists in Kelebe Community”, and “All zones In Kelebe Reject Oluwasatia Worldwide Ministry, they are a dangerous people,” among others.

The protest which started around 7.00a.m., at a time the religious sect members were gathering for their weekly ‘service’, saw old and young residents of the community wielding placards while chanting songs to drive home their agitation.

“Trouble started when most of us had to shun their various Sunday services to storm the building where the sect mem-

bers were gathering for their service and demanded their relocation from the community.

The sect known as Oju Ona Satia Worldwide Ministry, is operating three in one religion- Muslim, Christianity and traditional religion. They are practising a strange religion in the community,” one of the protesters said.

The sect is led by Mukaila Tiamiyu, and when the protesters ransacked the sect’s worship centre in search of possible fetish items, and the members of the sect confronted some of the community leaders, a clash resulted, an eyewitness told the Daily Times.

It was learnt that it took the timely intervention of a team of policemen from Oke-Odo Police Division, to avert the crisis from degenerating.

cies had contributed largely to the relative peace being enjoyed in the state.

He told our correspondent that, “You will agree with me that peace has returned to the state and we owe it largely to the effort of the media and the security agencies that have worked tirelessly to ensure that we live in a peaceful atmosphere. But we shall not relent, as we shall continue to engage these agencies for the sustenance of this peaceful co-existence between the people of Plateau”, he said.

L-R: Chairman, Nigeria Youth Council, Rivers Chapter, Mr. Anaba Sara-Igbe; Coordinator of Presidential Amnesty Programme on Niger Delta, Brig.-Gen. Paul Boroh (rtd) and acting Managing Director, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, during Boro’s visit to the NDDC office in Port Harcourt… on Monday.

Kogi guber: Don calls for all-inclusive govt S’ Court decides on Gov Ortom Friday Ibrahim Obansa Lokoja

ÏÏÏBarely

two weeks to the inauguration of the new governor of Kogi State, the ViceChancellor of Sokoto State University, Professor Nuhu Yaqub, has called on the Governor -elect, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, to go into the Lugard House with the sole purpose of governing the entire state and not a section of it.

Yaqub who is is the former Vice-Chancellor of Abuja University, made the called as a guest speaker at a public presentation of a book titled “The Events of My Time”, written by Pastor Joseph Suleiman, a senior lecturer at Federal College of Education, Okene.

Yaqub in his lecture titled: “Beyond the Euphoria of Success: Mobilising Anebira for the Emerging Political Realities in Kogi State”, stressed that the coming administration should not go there to settle scores.

According to him, the incoming Governor should constitute a crack team of planners to prepare the road map for his administration, pointing out that he should not just accept the report of such crack team, but he must make sure that there was no booby trap that may be contained in it.

According to him, if he was sure that the report was likely to change the existing conditions of the people, he should pursue the agenda and programme very vigorously.

Andrew Orolua

Abuja

ÏÏÏThe

Supreme Court has fixed Friday, January 15, 2016 to deliver its judgment in the appeal challenging the election of Benue State governor, Dr. Samuel Ortom, on April 11, 2015.

Dr. Tarhemen Tarzoor, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate brought the appeal after the Court of Appeal upheld the verdict of the Benue State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal that affirmed Ortom’s election.

A full panel of the apex court presided by Justice Walter Samuel Nkannu Onnoghen, on Monday, heard the appeal and reserved judgment for January 15.

Lead counsel for the appellant, Adebayo Adenikpekun (SAN) told

Ortom the apex court that their case was anchored on the fact that Ortom who contested on the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC) and was returned by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at the election was not qualified to contest in the election having not being validly

nominated by the APC to stand for it.

Adenikpekun said that Section 177 (1) (c) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, when married with the provision of Section 87 of the Electoral Act, gave the appellants locus standi to challenge the outcome of the election even though they were not members of APC. According to the appellant counsel, “our case is not an infraction of the Electoral Act, but it is an infraction of the constitution under Section 177. Our case is not based on the irregularities of the election, but that there was no primary election by the APC. He urged the Supreme Court to dismiss the cross-appeal filed by the respondents and allow the appeal on its merit and declare Dr. Tarhemen Tarzoor winner of the election.

after he sustained a hamstring injury in a training session late last year.

The Super Eagles defender tweeted that he’s already on his way to recovery. In the video, the 28-yearold is seen working on a pulley as well as on a stationary bike.

“Elderson is most likely to go out S Monaco defender, Elderson Echiejile has on loan to get more regular action and stated that he will be back soon as he shared that could be decided in the coming a video of his fitness routine on Twitter. days if we get a good valuation for The Nigerian defender has been on the sidelines him,” a close source told Goal.

Ll be back soon

-Echiejile assures Echiejile

Ogude’s g 18

wife regains freedom

A

19 g 20

Page 17

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

President

Mike Otanwa

Buhari to reward victorious

Eaglets Jan. 21

Eaglets

S

ports minister, Solomon Dalung has disclosed President Muhammadu Buhari will reward the Golden Eaglets on January 21 in Abuja after they clinched a fifth FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile last year.

Last November, the Eaglets beat Mali 2-0 in the final of the U-17 World Cup. Nigeria have previously won the competition in 1985, 1993, 2007 and 2013.

The country’s governments have rewarded the team with huge cash gifts, houses and national honours for these feats.

The sports minister further disclosed that other teams who did Nigeria proud internationally in 2015 will also be rewarded by President Buhari.

The Flying Eagles won the 2015 AYC in March, the Dream Team VI clinched the U23 AFCON in December, Team Nigeria won medals at the All Africa Games in Congo Brazzaville and Nigeria’s basketball team D’Tigers scooped a first-ever Afrobasket Championship to qualify for the Rio Olympics, among others.

o d n o w k e a T contingents vow to S

T

he Nigeria Football Federation (NNF) says it has concluded plans to hold CAF License ‘A’ Coaching Course in February.

Regarded as the highest for coaches in the African continent, the workshop will start on February 21, and last for four weeks in Abuja.

“This is a course that most Nigerian coaches have been looking forward to. We have notified the Confederation of African Football and we are making all necessary arrangements to have a successful program,” NFF Assistant Director (Technical), Abdulrafiu Yusuf said.

“The forms are now available for sale at the Accounts department of Nigeria Football Federation. It is important that interested and qualified persons pick up their forms sale to help our planning,” said Yusuf, a former Nigeria international player.

It would be recalled that the NFF has conducted a number of CAF License ‘C’ and CAF License ‘B’ coaching courses over the past five years. But this is the first CAF License ‘A’ course to be conducted.

The latest was a CAF License ‘B’ coaching course that took place November 15 – 29, 2015 and attracted about 80 participants.

Eagles N

meet visas deadline

that the federation would meet the deadline and also procure visas for the contingents, this week.

“As I am talking to you, we have our invitation letter for the athletes and the officials sent to the embassy from the organisers.

“The letter was signed by the President of Morocco Federation himself; this week I should be in Abuja for the visas.

“They have extended the registration deadline from January 10 to 21 and that does not mean we will pay for

to hold CAF License ‘A’ coaching course in February

CHAN foes Niger, hold hosts Ethiopia

Olympics qualifiers:

unny Obot, SecretaryGeneral, Nigeria Taekwondo Federation (NTF), has said that it would meet the registration deadline of athletes and officials for the Rio Olympics 2016 qualifiers billed for Morocco.

The Olympics qualifier is scheduled to take place in Morocco from February 4 to 7.

The Africa Taekwondo Union (AFTU), had extended the registration deadline from January 10 to 21 but Obot assured

NFF

Taekwondo session late registration; late registrations will come into effect after the January 21 registration deadline.

“The extension is not for Nigeria alone; it is for all the participating African countries through a circular’’, he said.

Obot said a letter containing the names of athletes and officials for the qualifiers was received by his office on January 5, five days to the initial date for registration deadline.

igeria opening CHAN Group C opponents Niger were denied a victory against Ethiopia by a questionable late penalty in a friendly on Saturday.

Niger took an early lead through a stunning effort from outside the box by Idrissa Garba, before they were pegged back from the penalty spot after their defender was adjudged to have handled the ball inside his box in the 89th minute.

St Georges midfield star Panom Gatosh converted the spot kick to save the game for the home team.

Both teams are getting set for the CHAN, which gets underway on Saturday in Kigali, Rwanda.

Niger, who paraded experienced players like Issiaka Koudize and Yacouba Ali, will face Nigeria in an opening Group C match of the CHAN on Monday, January 18, in Kigali.

18

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

EXTRATIME

Kasperczak’s recuperation brings

Missaoui on Tunisia bench

T

unisia assistant coach, Henryk Kasperczak temporarily replaced Hatem Missaoui at the helm of the locallybased Carthage Eagles, after the French-Polish tactician had gone under the knife for gallbladder problems.

Missaoui will lead the squad in their preparation for the 2016 African Nations Championship, which will take place in Rwanda between January 16 and February 7, while the former Mali head coach is recovering from surgery.

Tunisia have suffered additional injury blows since they began their training camp in Monastir, with Etoile du Sahel duo Hamza Lahmar and Iheb Msakni to miss out on the tournament due to muscle problems.

Stories Mike Otanwa with agency report

Mohammed

sees red in Turkey cup game

S

uper Eagles midfielder, Fegor Ogude can now heave a sigh of relief as his wife Memunat has been released by her abductors.

Memunat was released late on Sunday after six days in captivity.

She was whisked away in her car around 8pm last week Monday when she went out with her kids.

The children however, were not taken along with her.

Dream Team media officer, Timi Ebikagboro, who is also based in Delta State where the incident happened, confirmed the release of the wife of the Amkar Perm of Russia player.

“To God be the glory, the wife of SE player Fegor Ogude, Memunat has been released, she was released minutes ago, and is now with her family,” he wrote on twitter on Sunday night.

Ogude’s wife regains freedom There were no details if a ransom was paid, but it is the tradition of kidnappers to take something, especially cash, in return for the release of an abductor.

Fegor Ogude was selected for the Nigerian national team in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match

against Madagascar.

He was called up to Nigeria’s 23man squad for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations and won the trophy with the Super Eagles in 2013.

He was also selected for Nigeria’s squad at the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup.

F

ormer Flying Eagles captain, Musa Mohammed was given the marching order by the referee on Sunday while in action for Istanbul BB in a Turkish Cup game.

Mohammed started the game but was sent off in the 76th minute with a straight red card.

Super Lig side Istanbul BB beat lower league Bandirmaspor 3-2 to remain top of the group with seven points from three games.

Amedspor are second in the group with four points from two matches.

The reverse cup tie between Istanbul BB and Bandirmaspor will be played on Wednesday.

Watford rules out Arsenal move for Ighalo

P

Ighalo

remier League campaigners, Watford, has ruled out Arsenal move for Nigerian international, Odion Ighalo.

Hornets manager, Quique Sanchez Flores, meanwhile, was resolute when asked about the chances of Ighalo or strike partner, Troy Deeney, leaving Vicarage Road.

“It’s completely impossible,” Flores said.

“Our target as a team is very clear.

The confidence of these players is amazing. They are completely confident in themselves.

“When we talk in the office with the sporting director and the owners we don’t talk about selling players.

“We talk about to continue growing with the same players, with the same group, try to add some for the future. The reality of the situation is we don’t want to lose anyone.”

Gunners boss, Arsene Wenger,

has however instructed his scouts to find the London club a new striker – either this month or in the summer.

It is believed that Arsenal want players who will hit the ground running rather than those who will settle slowly at the Emirates Stadium.

Wenger’s men are top of the table, two points clear of nearest challengers, Leicester City, but are unlikely to take that for granted.

Mohammed

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

EXTRATIME

Transfer window:

Koeman

Nwakali, Chukwueze

warns African stars

G

S

Nwakali

Eaglets stars

sign Arsenal deal olden Eaglets skipper, Kelechi Nwakali and his teammate Samuel Chukwueze will sign long-term contracts with English Premier League club Arsenal this month, it has been gathered.

A top source informed: “The players’ visas to England are being processed and a party of seven including their legal guardians are expected this month in London to finalise their transfer to Arsenal.”

Both teenagers are expected to later be given professional contracts

by The Gunners when they have clocked 18 years.

Their transfers are being handled by the powerful Stellar Group, who manage such top stars like Gareth Bale of Real Madrid.

Midfielder Nwakali was the Most Valuable Player of the 2015 U-17 World Cup. Last year, he underwent trials at another EPL club Manchester city, who already have older brother Chidiebere Nwakali on their books.

outhampton manager, Ronald Koeman has warned anyone wanting to force a move during the January transfer window.

Some of his star players have attracted strong interest from Premier League rivals in recent months, including midfielder Victor Wanyama and playmaker Sadio Mané.

The 23-year-old Senegal international, who is under contract at St Mary’s until 2018, is a long-time Manchester United target; while the Kenya skipper, who has 18 months remaining on his current deal, is on Arsenal and Spurs’ radar.

“If there is any player thinking if his behaviour is not good that makes it easier for the player, then I’ll put the player in the stands until the end of their contract,” Koeman warned.

“Because in my opinion that’s not the way you have

to do your job as a football player.”

However, the Dutch coach is adamant that his players are happy at Southampton and will do their job until the end of the season.

“The player knows the position in the club, and what we think about the players,” he said.

“That’s no reason to doubt about that. I don’t have doubts about that. They are important players and they like to be here. They like to continue, they like to make a good season, and that’s the most important.

over English fixtures

L

iverpool boss, Jurgen Klopp has warned Pep Guardiola that when he moves to the Premier League he should be ready for a draining fixture schedule and that he had not even realised the Capital One Cup semifinal was a twolegged affair.

Bayern Munich boss Guardiola said his intention to manage an English club is the reason for his decision to leave his current job at the end of the season, with Manchester City touted as the most likely destination for the former Barcelona boss.

But when he makes the transition from the Bundesliga -- as Klopp did in taking over at Liverpool in October after leaving Borussia Dortmund in the summer -- the Spaniard will encounter a diet of “football, football, football,” Klopp has warned.

Liverpool were held 2-2 in Friday’s FA Cup third-round tie away to Exeter City, forcing a replay at Anfield and leaving their manager lamenting “another game.”

l a n e Ars s d e R d e g a v face ra

T

wo teams coping very differently with English football’s high-intensity mid-season fixture programme meet on Wednesday when Premier League leaders Arsenal resume their pursuit of the title with injury-ravaged Liverpool.

While Arsenal could afford to make five changes as they breezed past Sunderland in the FA Cup on Saturday, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp’s decision to field a youthful starting XI at fourthtier Exeter City on Friday almost backfired as his side scraped a 2-2 draw.

First-team regulars like Mesut Ozil, Aaron Ramsey and Per Mertesacker will come back into the Arsenal team at Anfield and

Toure tips Iheanacho for greatness

M

anchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has tipped young team mate Kelechi Iheanacho to be a big hit if he keeps his head and continues to work hard.

The young Nigerian has been hitting the headlines for the right reasons this season as he scored once in the 3-0 defeat of Norwich City in the FA Cup at the weekend.

Yaya, who missed the opportunity to become the only player to win the African Footballer of the Year award five times last week, said good things about the Nigerian youngster.

“Yes, I am very close to Kelechi and he sees me as his mentor,” Yaya said.

“I see him closely and I trust him and I have been trying to push him up. I know what I have done to encourage him to continue to believe in his talent,” he said.

On the future of Iheanacho, the midfielder believes that the forward could be a top player in no time.

“I see him as one of my younger brothers coming through one day.

I hope that Kelechi can be one of the top players on the field in the future,” Toure said.

Wanyama

s a e n i m a f Klopp d n Feast a warns Guardiola

19

Ozil right-back Hector Bellerin believes such strength in depth bodes well for the months ahead.

“The legs are fine and we have shown that we have very good players on the bench also and the rotation helps us get good results,”

said the Spaniard, who set up goals for Ramsey and Olivier Giroud in the 3-1 success against Sunderland.

“We have a lot of games and they are all hard games, but we have to respond in the way we did (against Sunderland) and I’m sure we will be fine.

“The team was up to the challenge. We didn’t rush the games and we knew we had to be patient. It is nice to get the three goals and that is confidence for the team as we had a difficult week ahead.”

Klopp can only envy the riches at Arsenal counterpart Arsene Wenger’s disposal as he contemplates an injury list that currently features 11 senior players.

Iheanancho

Arsenal make over

£42m

bid for Aubameyang

R

eport indicates that English Premier League giants Arsenal are ready to pay huge money for Borussia Dortmund striker, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

According to the report, the Gabonese forward is said to be on the wanted list of Arsene Wenger’ and it’s reported that they’re ready to part ways with a staggering amount in an aim to lure Aubameyang to the Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners have been reported to have made an offer worth over £42million to sign the Dortmund man.

However, the Bundesliga giants’ manager Tomas Tuchel was quoted saying his forward is going nowhere.

20

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

EXTRATIME

PSG

N Agnelli

I have found love

againJuventus president

A

fter the break-up of his marriage, Juventus President Andrea Agnelli has revealed that he has found love again, posting a photograph on Twitter of himself and new girlfriend Deniz Akalin together.

Stood against a wall of painted hearts, the Oxford graduate has his arm casually around Akalin, who was previously married to former Bianconeri sales manager Francesco Calvo, now with Barcelona.

With the imagery of love permeating the picture, Agnelli dispels any doubt with the caption: “2016… when everything will become possible.”

Agnelli has previously clarified details of his love life on the social media site. He tweeted ‘I am alone’ towards the end of last year as his 10-year marriage to Emma Winter ended, though rumours of their break-up had been rife before that point.

In line with his tweet, the Bianconeri supremo will also be hopeful that everything becomes possible on the football pitch too, after an incredible comeback has saw them cut the gap at the top of the Serie A table to just two points.

igeria international, Brown Ideye is targeting more goals with Olympiacos after he netted his eighth goal of the season with the Greek champions now winning all 17 league matches this season.

Olympiacos beat Levadiakos 3-1 on Sunday.

Ideye’s club now remain top of the league table with 51 points in 17 games.

He scored the opening goal in the 16th minute.

Ideye has now scored seven goals in the league and one in the UEFA Champions League.

“Still counting!! #thankful #olympiacos #wekeepondreaming,” Ideye tweeted.

P

aris Saint Germain may be dominating French football right now but they appear to have committed a serious public relations own goal.

On Monday morning, the rapper M.I.A. published a letter she was sent by PSG regarding her new video, released in November, titled “Borders”.

PSG are upset that M.I.A. wears a white PSG shirt with only one subtle difference, twice in the clip.

Instead of Fly Emirates, it says Fly Pirates and PSG are unhappy that their good name has been besmirched by appearing in a video about the current refugee crisis.

Perhaps the most surprising part of this letter from PSG is just how lengthy it is. See it in full below.

PSG seem genuinely hurt at being associated with this subject and even go into great lengths to discuss their social media following and why it harms their brand.

e y e Iwad p e e k o t nts or f g n i r sco s o c a i p Olym

Ideye

Neymar faces corruption charges S

panish prosecutors have taken the next steps in their investigation of Brazilian superstar Neymar and requested that legal action be taken against him over alleged fraud and corruption surrounding his transfer to Barcelona in the summer of 2013.

My Dortmund future remains uncertain

-Gundogan admits

tackles M.I.A in legal battle over shirt

I

The prosecutors want to charge Neymar, his father, FC Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu, former FC Barcelona president Sandro Rosell, two directors at Santos and both football clubs, with fraud and corruption.

Brazilian investment fund DIS

lkay Gundogan’s future remains uncertain with the Germany international mulling over whether to commit his long-term future to Borussia Dortmund.

Gundogan, who has been at Dortmund since 2011, had hinted at leaving the Westfalenstadion last year in the wake of Jurgen Klopp’s exit.

A host of European clubs, most notably Manchester United, were reportedly interested in signing Gundogan before he signed a contract extension at Dortmund, tying him to the club until 2017.

Neymar

have accused the defendants of fraud, claiming they didn’t receive 40% of FC Barcelona’s fee for Neymar. DIS, which had also filed a complaint in Brazil, maintain they were cheated of their real share of the benefits of Neymar’s transfer in 2013. The deal between Santos and FC Barcelona over Neymar was valued at €57.1 million, but the Spanish judicial authorities

“No decision has been taken yet and of course everything has to be thought through because the length of one’s career is limited,” he said.

“To be honest everything is still open,” Gundogan said, adding his next contract would be longer. “I think it will go into that direction. When I sign, it will most likely not be for just a year.”

Gundogan has enjoyed a glittering career with Dortmund, winning a Bundesliga and German Cup double in 2012 before scoring in their 2013 Champions League final defeat to Bayern Munich.

aaa

have estimated the amount to be at least €83.3 million.

At the same time, Neymar is at the centre of an investigation into alleged tax fraud over the move in which FC Barcelona have previously made a supplementary payment of almost €13 million to the Spanish authorities in order to cover what they described as a difference in “interpretation”.

He has earned international recognition, winning 16 caps, but missed Germany’s 2014 World Cup victory in Brazil when he was sidelined for a year with a back injury.

With the final year of his contract approaching, Gundogan’s uncertainty over his future will fuel speculation linking him with a Dortmund exit.

Currently second in the Bundesliga, Dortmund will only receive a transfer fee if they sell the player at the end of this season, with Gundogan able to leave as a free agent in 2017.

DailyTimes TimesNigeria Nigeria Daily Tuesday, August 18, 2015 Tuesday, January 12, 2016

21 21

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665,437.50

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(LAGOS) IFEANYI - 08086296714 (ABUJA) FEMI - 08033550468

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OPERATIONAL HEADQUARTERS DTN COMPLEX LATEEF JAKANDE ROAD, AGINDIGBI, IKEJA, LAGOS CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS 44 ADETOKNBO ADEMOLA CRESCENT WUSE 2, ABUJA

News 22

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 12, 2016

FCT CVR: INEC calls for stakeholders’ support ÏÏÏThe Independent National Elec-

toral Commission (INEC), has called for support from stakeholders in conducting a successful Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) ahead of the Area Council elections scheduled for March 19, 2016.

The call was made by the FCT Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Professor Jacob Jatau, at a stakeholders’ meeting on CVR, held at the Conference Room of the INEC FCT office, Area 10, Abuja.

The REC stated that the main reason for the meeting was for the Commission and the stakeholders to be

on the same page regarding the CVR exercise. He stressed the need for the stakeholders to complement the Commission’s public enlightenment and voter education effort so as to capture as many eligible voters as possible.

He disclosed that the Commission had approved five Direct Data Capture Machines (DDCMs) in each ward for a smooth conduct of the exercise, adding that technical staff will be deployed to rectify and resolve any technical challenge that may arise.

The Deputy Director of Publicity, INEC Headquarters, Nick Dazang, stressed that the Commission takes the FCT Area Council elections seri-

ously. He said: “the Commission has not rested since it issued the timetable for the elections; we have gone out to use all publicity platforms to educate citizens of FCT”.

He however pointed out that there are limits to which the Commission can go with its publicity drive, appealing to the Political Parties, Media, CSOs, Religious and traditional leaders to help convey the messages to the citizens.

The FCT CVR exercise has been scheduled for Wednesday January 13, to Sunday January 17, 2016 between 9am to 4pm, while Monday January 18, has been scheduled for Claims and Objections.

New pump Price: FG goes tough on Marketers Augustine Okezie Abuja

ÏÏÏThe Federal Government on Monday in Abuja threatened to shut down filling stations nationwide, that refuses to comply with new PMS selling price of N86.50 for none NNPC stations and N86. oo for NNPC affiliate stations.

The Minister of state AMANDA ISI ANIMASHAUN I formerly known and addressed as Miss Amanda ISi Edenojie now wish to be known and addressed Mrs Amanda Isi Animashaun.

All former document remain valid general public should please take note.

OMODIAGBE MICHAEL I formerly known and addressed as Agha Omodia Omon Michael now wish to be known and addressed as Omodiagbe Michael. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

keters that they wanted to sell off the old stock purchases before complying with the news price and that the cost of loading coupled with price differentials does not favor their complying with the new price, the minister assured that adequate provisions have been made to compensate the marketers on price differentials adding that their excuses

are not acceptable He said: “government is upset by the refusal of the marketers and some affiliate NNPC station to comply with the new pump price of PMS. This is the last and final warning to them. Security agencies and relevant enforcement department of the ministry have been fully mobilized to enforce the new pump price.

AGHA NNAM SUNDAY

NJOKU CHRISTOPHER

TOCHUKWU GEORGINA

PHILOMINA EMMANUELLA I formerly known and addressed as Miss Orumo Philomina Emmanuella now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Osemene Philomina Emmanuella. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

LIFE MADE EASY FOUNDATION

I formerly known and addressed as Njoku Aja Ude now wish to be known and addressed Njoku Christopher Ude all former document remain valid general public should please take note.

OLUFISAYO ADEFESO I formerly known and addressed as Oyedeji Olufisayo Adeleke now wish to be known and addressed Oyedeji Olufisayo Adefeso all former document remain valid general public should please take note.

Oyegun

Tom Okpe Abuja

ÏÏÏDeputy

for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu told newsmen at a crowded press briefing that the ministry has fully mobilized relevant departments and in collaboration with security agencies and state governments to enforce the new pump price for petrol in all the nooks and crannies of the country On the excuse by mar-

I formerly known and addressed as Agha Chukwu Sunday Nnam now wish to be known and addressed as Agha Nnam Sunday. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

APC spokesman, Timi Frank to drag party to court

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Ugwu Tochukwu Georgina now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ugwu-Onyechi Tochukwu Georgina. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

OLUSOLA OLAYEMI I formerly known and addressed as Sule Olusola Olayemi now wish to be known and addressed as Oladele Olusola Olayemi.

All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

GOSPEL LIGHT DELIVERANCE CHURCH

This is to inform the General public that the above named foundation has applied to The Corporate Affairs Commission, Abuja for registration under part “C” of The Companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990.

The Trustees are:1.Pastor John Kayode Olayemi 2. Mrs. Felicia Olutayo Olayemi 3. Miss. Christiana Ibukun Kayode 4. Mr. Samuel Dare Olayemi The Aims And Objectives Are:1. To provide Financial Empowerment.for the less privilege in the society 2. To cater for the less privileged in the society.

The general public is hereby notified that the above named Church has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission Abuja, for registration under part “C” of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, of 1990.

The Trustees Are: 1, Apostle Ken Iboro Ikpo 2, Elder Benedictor Jacob 3, Barr. Anthony Umana 4, Deacon Patrick Louis Akpan 5, Deaconess Mercy Etido Michael 6, Evang. Grace Ben. Aims & objectives: 1, To preach the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ

Any objection to this Registration should be forwarded to the Registrar General Corporate Affairs Commission Plot 420 Tigris Crescent, Off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama Abuja within twenty eight (28) days from the date of this publication.

Signed: Secretary.

Any objection to this Registration should be forwarded to the Registrar General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, P.M.B 198 Maitama, Abuja within 28 days from the date of this publication.

Signed: Trustees.

National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Comrade Timi Frank, has accused the National Chairman, Chief John Oyegun and National Secretary of his party, Alhaji Mai Mala Buni of breaching the constitution of the party as the duo refused to recognise him as the acting National Publicity Secretary.

He said if the party continues the way it is, he would have no option than to drag the party to court.

While revealing reasons his party lost the just concluded governorship election in Bayelsa State, he said he warned the former governor, Timipre Silva and the leadership of the party over the defeat.

Addressing newsmen on Monday in Abuja, Frank said he had forewarned that if urgent measures were not taken, the party would suffer defeat.

“Times without number, I have said it that the Bayelsa APC has issues. Issues that were not attended to and I have been shouting a

long time ago that if we do not resolve our issues and we go into this election, we will loose Bayelsa but nobody listened to me.

“I cried and spoke to some of our leaders about the issue and importance of reconciliation but the man in question and former governor of Bayelsa, Timi Priye Silva who was also our candidate, failed to listen, thinking he could do it all alone but this is the result.

“He thought he could do it all alone and I made it clear to Nigerians when I granted interview that with Silva, we would loose the election and i still stand on that position and the results have played out.”

“Let me use this medium to congratulate President Muhammadu Buhari, Governor Seriake Dickson and the PDP. This is not a victory for them alone but for the entire Bayelsans. Through the current president, Bayelsa has been able to enjoy free and fair elections through a proper democratic process of electing their choice.

“Let me sound this as a warning, in future elections, if PDP happens to loose, they should be able to accept defeat. They should not point accusing fingers at the president or the APC by crying foul that the party has rigged the election. What has happened is a clear testament to the fact that APC is not a desperate party and can accommodate people to vote the person of their choice”, he said.

On the reason why he has not been speaking for the party, he said, “l will use this opportunity to really speak out my mind.

AGOSASA CITY CLUB OF NIGERIA The General Public is hereby notified that the above named CLUB has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission Abuja, for registration under part “C” of the Companies and Allied Matters Act of 1990.

The Trustees Are: 1 Comrade Awode Oladosu. -President 5. Aderohunmu Suli- - P.r.o 2 Aderohunmu Simeon Olaoye. -Vice President 6. Elegbede Yakubu. -Auditor 3. Adeyanju Dele.

- General Secretary 7. Adigun Kabirsocial - Secretary 4. Alh Yusuf Raseed.

-Financial -Secretary 8. Olalemi Olawuyi. - Disciplinary -Officer Aims And Objectives: 1. To contribute to the development and progress of the Agosasa City 2. To create a corporate umbrella by which means we could participate and benefit from the government economic/social and some other means programmers.

3. To educate and promote the social and cultural norms of Agosasa City 4. To promote unity co-operation, social well-being and understanding among the members.

5. To indentify with other clubs and association in the federation with view to stimulating the progress of the club.

Any objection to the registration should be forwarded to the Registrar-General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Maitama, Abuja.

Signed: Secretary

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 12, 2016

23 News

You’ve no integrity to accuse Buhari Man hacks another to death for sleeping with wife of dictatorship, APC tells Fayose Gbenga Sodeinde Ado Ekiti

ÏÏÏThe

All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has reacted to Governor Ayo Fayose’s criticism of President Muhammadu Buhari over alleged tyranny, dictatorship and threat to democracy, saying the governor did not possess integrity and requisite democratic credential to accuse him of constituting a threat to the survival of democracy in the country.

Fayose had, on Monday, raised the alarm over alleged dictatorial tendencies by Buhari in the handling of cases involving the Deputy-Governor-elect in Kogi State, James Faleke, Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and former

Fayose

National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, among others, and said that the roles of the Directorate of State Security (DSS) under the nose of Buhari were clearly undemocratic, tyrannical and a threat to the survival of democracy.

He also accused the civil rights

groups of keeping silent while Buhrai allegedly abused the rights of fellow Nigerians.

But a statement by Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, faulted Fayose’s diatribes against Buhari, and said that Fayose was the least to raise a finger in defence of democracy based on his antecedents as a “reckless promoter of anti-democratic conduct”.

Describing the governor as a man suffering from the diarrhoea of the mouth, Olatunbosun said: “Governor Fayose, clearly unfit to be a governor, should be the least to complain about anti-democratic conduct, because he is the greatest threat to democracy in Nigeria based on his serial breaking of the provisions of the Constitution of Nigeria.

Chijioke Kingsley Jos

ÏÏÏA man named Sohnan Sun-

day has stabbed to death one Garba Vondung to death for sleeping with his wife.

According to the Police Commissioner, Plateau State Command, Mr. Adekunle Oladunjoye, in a press conference with journalists stated that, on December 4, 2015, Police operatives from the State Central Intelligence Agency (SCID) arrested one Sohnan Sunday of Wase Local Government Area, who stabbed one Garba Vondung to death during a fight.

The CP was quoted saying that, “from the investigation, it was reliably gathered that, the suspect, Mr. Sohnan Sunday, visited his wife, Mrs. Chanchit Sohnan in

her father’s house at Wase LGA, to persuade her to return back to her matrimonial home, which she deserted in the month of May, 2015, as a result of family misunderstanding between them. Unfortunately, the suspect Sohnan Sunday, met his wife and Garba Vondung, having sex on that faithful day. Consequently, the suspect stabbed the deceased to death during the scuffle”, the CP said.

In an interaction with the suspect Sohnan Sunday, as the matter is yet to be charge to court, he testified that, he sent his wife packing as a result of the extra marital affairs his wife was having with Garba Vondung. He said he has severally reported the matter to his wives parents but when the act continued, he had no choice than to send her back to her parent.

Ganduje to complete abandoned multi-billion Naira project Yakubu Salisu Kano

ÏÏÏGovernor Abdullahi Umar

Cross section suspected child kidnappers paraded by Oyo State Command of the Nigeria Immigration Service, in Ibadan… on Monday.

Cleric sees greatness under Buhari Kehinde Akinpelu Ilorin

ÏÏÏThe

founder of Israel Christian Church (ICC), Prophet Theophilus Omokore Ige, has said that all the forces against President Muhammdu Buhari would fail and stressed that, “Nigeria will be great by 2017 because Buhari is not the person ruling us now but the angels”.

The cleric also prophesied that, “This year is for hard work for the nation but by 2017, Nigeria would be 40 years from the date of FESTAC, which was organised in 1977, during the Olusegun Obasanjo-led military government and would,

henceforth, be freed from the punishment and wrath of God. What we are experiencing in Nigeria now is the wrath of God earned from the FESTAC celebrations”.

Prophet Omokore stated this, on Monday, in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, while speaking with the Daily Times correspondent. He noted that “several attempts will be made on President Buhari through letter, arms and ammunition as well as microphones.”

He however warned Buhari to beware of some evil forces within his cabinet and urged all former presidents to be prayerful and committed to nationbuilding processes.

Ganduje of Kano State has said that his administration had made plans to resume work on the abandoned multi-billion Giginyu Specialist Hospital in the state capital, and stressed that it’s absolutely necessary to complete the project considering the purpose it would serve when completed.

The project which was initiated by the Shekarau admin-

istration in February 2008 and reached 80 percent completion in 2011 was handed over to the government of Engr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso but was consequently abandoned.

Conceived as a multi-disciplinary hospital, the 131 – bed General Hospital consists of 10 blocks, several departments which include Gynaecology, Surgery and Paediatry, a sterilisation unit, five theaters, 150 seater conference hall and other components needed in an ultramodern hospital.

Wada gets tribunal nod to inspect election materials Ibrahim Obansa Lokoja

ÏÏÏThe

Kogi State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, sitting in Lokoja, the state capital, has granted leave for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to inspect electoral materials used in the conduct of the recently concluded governorship election.

The Chairman of the threemember tribunal panel, Justice Halima Mohammed, granted the exparte motion at the first sitting of the tribunal on Monday in Lokoja.

Mohammed, however, issued a consequential order that all the respondents in the petition be

served the tribunal’s order for them to be present during the inspection at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in Lokoja.

Chief Chris Uche (SAN), leading two other senior advocates and 10 lawyers for the PDP, had sought, in the application filed on January 9, an order of the tribunal to inspect materials used in the conduct of the governorship election in the custody of INEC. Uche said the motion supported by a 17-paragraph affidavit and deposed to by one S.M. John-Mark was in line with Section 151 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended).

The petition filed by the incumbent governor and PDP’s flag-

bearer in the governorship election, Captain Idris Wada, has the All Progressives Congress (APC), INEC and Alhaji Yahaya Bello as respondents.

The tribunal also granted six exparte motions for substituted service of petitions and other court processes on the Kogi Governor-elect, Bello, who is a respondent in all the petitions.

In their separate motions seeking the leave of the tribunal, Uche, Jibrin Okwutepa (SAN), APC; Reuben Egwaba, Labour Party (LP) and I.K. Idota of Progressive Peoples’ Alliance (PPA), sought an order of the tribunal for substituted service on the governor-elect.

News 24

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 12 2016

Osun lecturers declare indefinite strike over sack of colleagues

Sodiq Adekunle, Osogbo

ÎÎÎLecturers, under the ae-

gis of Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics and College of Education Academic Staff Union (ASUP and COEASU) have declared an indefinite strike action.

The strike action was announced on Monday in a letter addressed to Governor Rauf Aregbesola.

It would be recalled that the Osun State Government, last week, reportedly sacked no fewer than 141 lecturers

in the state.

The lecturers said the strike was press home demands such as reversal or stoppage of admission and all decisions made, ratified and/or co-ordinated by the Governing Council as presently constituted (without statutory representatives) from October 29, 2015 up to date and hereafter including, but not necessarily limited to, the on-going termination of appointments.

Others were total fulfilment of the agreement of October 29, 2015 and stop-

page of continuous payment of amputated salaries.

The letter read in part, “The Congresses of our Great Unions (ASUP and COEASU) have resolved to embark on an indefinite total strike action, inter alia, with immediate effect “In our last letter to Mr. Governor, we issued a ‘Notice of Last Resort’ in which we implored Mr. Governor to avert a looming industrial crisis by addressing the festering issues.

“Unfortunately, while we were expecting the response

of the government, letters of termination of appointment were suddenly issued to several members of staff to worsen the situation.”

In the letter titled, “Synthesis of ASUP/COEASU Congress Resolution: Declaration of Total Strike Action”, the workers alleged that the agreement that made it to suspend its previous strike action remained unfulfilled. It is, therefore, highly demoralising that the agreement remains unfulfilled; and, as if that is not enough, our endur-

ance has been stretched to the limits by recent developments – including the unlawful stoppage of admission and wrongful termination of appointments orchestrated by illegal Governing Councils in the most flagrant disregard for the statutes of our institutions and the standards set by our regulatory bodies, namely, the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE)”, the bodies said.

Ambode tasks new LASU VC on devt Benjamin Omoike

ÎÎÎLagos

State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, on Monday, charged the new leadership of the Lagos State University (LASU) to re-focus on intellectual engagement, show leadership and brace up to the developmental and academic challenges of an emerging globally competitive citadel of learning.

The governor was speaking at the Lagos House in Alausa, Ikeja while inaugurating Professor Olanrewaju Adigun Fagbohun as the eighth ViceChancellor of the institution.

He also said the priority of his administration for educational institutions at the tertiary level was for them to nurture students to become wealth creators and innovators capable of contributing positively to the communities and the nation.

“As we set our sights on a more viable future, we must ask ourselves some important questions: ‘How successful are our students after they graduate from our institution? What is the university’s contribution to our community, our country and the world?’ ”.

Ambode said that his administration was not just passionate about academic excellence, but equally committed to raising the standards and providing the necessary infrastructure for tertiary institutions in the state to deliver outstanding results.

Ugwuanyi joins NDLEA in fight against drug trafficking Moses Oyediran, Enugu

ÎÎÎGovernor

Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State has expressed the readiness of his administration to partner with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in its efforts towards curbing crime and endemic trafficking of illicit drugs, so as to salvage the nation’s image and economic growth.

He made the commitment while receiving the management team of the Enugu State Command of the NDLEA, led by its Commander, Mr. Ohanyere Anthony Nkem, at the Government House, Enugu.

Ugwuanyi, who commended the agency for its success story, so far, in the war against various drug related crimes in the country, noted that illicit drug trafficking and consumption had done the nation’s image and economy more harm and required the collaboration of all relevant stakeholders to stamp them out.

Scrap NYSC scheme, cleric tells FG A cross section of ABJ Private School pupils after resumption of 2015/2016 academic activities in Lagos… on Monday.

PHOTO: OLAWALE ROTIMI.

Mimiko seeks support for army against Boko Haram ’Tosin Ajuwon, Akure

ÎÎÎNigerians

have been urged to support and encourage the armed forces personnel in the fight to defeat and end the activities of the dreaded Boko Haram insurgents currently ravaging the North-East zone.

The Ondo State governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, who spoke at the thanksgiving service cto mark the 2016 Armed Forces and Remembrance Day, held at the Gospel Faith Mission International Church, Akure, the state capital, said the role of the country’s fallen heroes was crucial to the peace of the country.

He averred that the role

Gov. Mimiko of the military in defending the territorial integrity of Nigeria was unquantifiable, and stressed a need to always support the nation’s fallen heroes, who fought gallantly to sustain the peace of the country.

Represented on the occasion by his Chief of Staff, Mimiko, disclosed that his administration would con-

tinually prioritise the welfare of the Nigerian Legion, while appreciating their pivotal roles to the country’s peace and socio-economic development.

Mrs. Olasinmi Odunmbaku, the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, in her contribution, highlighted the importance of the Armed Forces Remembrance Day, and explained that the fallen heroes were part of the forces that fought for the unification of the country.

Odunmbaku, who called on Nigerians to complement the efforts of the government at all levels sought for the empowerment of wives and children of the fallen heroes in terms of soft loans.

The Commander, 32 Artillery Brigade, Gen. Charles Ofoche, revealed that the military formation mainly in the north-east had been strengthened to confront the Boko Haram insurgents and expressed optimism that the military would quench their activists in no distant time.

The State Chairman of the Nigerian Legion, Major Vincent Abiola (rtd), thanked the state government for its support to the family members of the fallen heroes and the ones who were alive, but incapacitated.

Pastor Abraham Akanbi of The Gospel Faith Mission International, Achievers Assembly, however, called for the support of families and dependents of the fallen heroes.

Kehinde Akinpelu, Ilorin

ÎÎÎAn

Ilorin based Islamic scholar and lecturer in the Department of Religions at the University of Ilorin, Dr. Abubakar Aliagan, has urged the Federal Government to scrap the National Youth Service Corps, (NYSC) scheme.

This, Aliagan noted would fast- track the facilitation of provision of jobs and further enhance nation-building and security of lives and property.

According to the don, who spoke on a radio programme, in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, and monitored by the Daily Times correspondent, “The NYSC scheme is causing greater damage to our society than the assumed good.”

He noted that the factors and elements supporting the continuous existence of the scheme were borne out of selfishness, lack of focus and corruption.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 12, 2016

25 Opinion

Budget 2016: What is in it and why was it withdrawn?

Temple Chima Ubochi

The way to wealth is as plain as the way to market. It depends chiefly on two words, industry and frugality: that is, waste neither time nor money, but make the best use of both.

Without industry and frugality nothing will do, and with them everything (Benjamin Franklin) ÏÏÏ In austere times, president Buhari sent a budget of N6.08 trillion to the national assembly. How can Nigeria sustain a budget of such an amount, when oil price has fallen so low that it’s benchmarked at $38 (has even fallen to $30 already)? What Nigeria needs is a frugal president, who can save our money without resorting to painful cutbacks, but, unfortunately, Buhari is far away from such a person. The budget shows that President Buhari is wasteful, extravagant, spendthrift, and profligate (name it anything), contrary to what he wants the world to believe about him. His over-hyped claim of honesty has been debauched by the prospect of luxurious life he wants for himself as reflected in the 2016 budget. Through his luxurious habits and his lavish lifestyle as stated in the 2016 budget, he will pile up a great accumulation of debt for Nigeria.

The president has lost the sense of direction; he has lost touch with reality, and does not even understand that things are hard in the land.

Concurring, Deji Adeyanju wrote that “In a country

where even banks are now struggling to stay afloat, business owners are being forced to close shop, foreign investors are leaving the country, and our economy almost sliding into recession, we need a president who knows the issues and not a president who does not even know the contents of the budget he read before the whole world”.

The problem is that President Buhari knows nothing about the economy, and, I am sure he had no input on the budget; it was just handed to him, and he rushed to the national assembly to present it, without knowing the details.

The National chairman of Labour Party, Alhaji Abdulkadir Abdulsalam, while describing the N6.08 trillion proposals as unrealizable, added that the budget presented by President Buhari to the National Assembly does not make sufficient meaning to people like us. On what basis did the budget of N6.08trillion, come about? In his words: “Buhari told us that he met an empty treasury, so from what is he basing the budget of N6.08 trillion? Why is Lai Mohammed crying everyday that Jonathan did this, Jonathan did that? Nigerians voted for change. However, today they keep on hammering on Jonathan and PDP. I think if they do not have anything to do, if their agenda is not strong enough, we need to address certain issues about Buhari and the APC. I do not see to which extent this budget will not create additional problem, additional suffering to Nigerian people. It is clear that General Buhari has no knowledge of economy at all and secondly he has no sound economic team that can fundamentally address the economic situation of Nigeria, they will take us backward and it will be dangerous and it will be terrible”.

Even, his Party, the APC, has criticized President Buhari for the budget,

Buhari

describing it as “padded” and lacking any traits of change, as it had similarities with past governments.

The leader of the party, Bola Tinubu, openly expressed his disappointment with the budgetary figures in the 2016 Appropriation bill of N6.08 trillion; while the opposition, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, described it as a fraud.

In 2015, the budget was N4.45 trillion, and the price of oil was higher then. Tell me how anybody with common sense can increase the budget to N6.08 trillion in 2016, when the economy is in the doldrums? Even as the 2016 budget is based on oil price pegged at $38, the actual oil price, as of today, stands at $30, and the IMF has warned that the price might fall even further to between $15 and $5 within the year. With that in mind, how is this government going to sustain the 2016 budget, if the price of oil falls as low as the IMF has projected? No one, in this government, wants to contemplate that, as long as figures are churned out, even if they do not add up.

Not only the president is going to “enjoy good life”, despite the state of the economy in the country and all over the world. The same lavish budget will take good care of the vice-president and the national assembly, after

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all; APC is now incharge, and, will take its turn in enjoying the national wealth, even if heaven is falling. Nigerians voted for that change!

In the middle of an economic down turn, Buhari’s government has pretended that everything is alright, and wants to outspend the previous governments, ignoring the ballooning levels of the national debt: What is the sense, in this austere time, for this government to budget N18 billion for Aso Rock, when N12 billion was budgeted for that in 2014, and, was reduced to N6.6 billion in 2015?

When the former Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah, bought two BMW cars for foreign dignitaries visiting the ministry, many Nigerians asked for her head, and that was the reason she was relieved of her post, despite the fact that she was the best Aviation minister ever, based on what she achieved in such a short time she headed the ministry. Now, Buhari budgeted a whopping sum of N3.6 billion for the purchase of an unspecified number of BMW saloon cars. Not done yet, N189.1m was also budgeted for tyres for various vehicles in use in the Presidency.

How can anybody justify the earmarking of N39.8m for the purchase of unspecified numbers of 200 amps, 100 amps and 60 amps Mercedes Benz batteries for the Presidency’s vehicles? The ridiculous part of it is the budgeting of N30 million for the purchase of tool boxes, car jacks, and diagnostic machines for presidency’s bulletproof cars, and the sum of N27 million goes for the purchase of C-Caution triangles, fire-extinguishers and cables.

As I noted in a previous article, the president and his family are in eating mood; and whether many Nigerians are going to bed on an empty stomach, or, whether some Nigerians can’t afford a meal

a day, matters less for this president, as he and his family want to eat their own share of the national cake. That was the reason a whopping N1.75 billion was budgeted for feeding in Aso Rock in 2016 vis-à-vis Goodluck Jonathan’s N1 billion in 2011; N717 million in 2013; N542 million in 2014; and N530 million in 2015. Out of the N1.75, billion budgeted; N115 million will go for the foodstuffs and catering materials of President Buhari alone.

The presidential canteen materials and kitchen equipment will cost N89 million, as against N83.1 million in 2015.

In addition, N764 million is budgeted for the construction of President Buhari’s recreational facilities (to be used by the president alone).

N387 million is budgeted for the general renovation of the Guest House; N45 million for complete furnishing of the Guest House; N27.5 million for the purchase of computers (even when the president turns a laptop upside down).

N114.4 million is for the upgrade of internet infrastructure in the State House, while N22.5 million goes for the purchasing of internet servers.

Can anybody tell me the meaning of Active Devices for State House Network that will cost the nation the sum N100 million in 2016, and, imagine that the government is spending another N35 million on the purchase of security appliances and licenses, including computer anti-virus software.

Electrical and mechanical appliances in Aso Rock were not left out in this 2016 budget of waste: N55.7 million will go for the installation of budget planning software; N272.6 million will be for the upgrading of mechanical and electrical power line (underground) supplies to the State House; N322.4 million will be for

linking of cable to drivers’ rest room at Villa Admin, and N213.9 million will be for the linking of cable from House No. 9 Generator House to the gate; N618.6 million will be for installation of electrical lightings and fittings; N191.6 million will be for electrical installation of distribution boards and other cables; N22.9 million will be for provision of stage curtains and electrical drive; while N10.4 million will be for the installations of electrical materials and luminaries.

Don’t we notice repetitions here and there? These are avenues to loot!

While many Nigerians are only existing, and are no longer living, while hardship and suffering are staring millions of Nigerians in the face, this government is budgeting N326 million for the purchase of exotic animals in 2016, as against N24 million in 2015.

This government and previous ones turned many Nigerians into animals, and the country into a zoo, so there will be no need of purchasing animals elsewhere, as “what they will be looking for in Sokoto is in their sokoto”.

President Buhari is still in travelling mood; as a nomad, he finds it hard to stay at a place, because, he knows no other life than travelling about. President Buhari will spend N1.4 billion as his travel expenses in 2016, while Jonathan spent N944 million for that in 2015. Buhari, the candidate, promised to cut the Presidential Air Fleet from 10 to 2, if elected; instead of fulfilling that promise, he has been junketing all around the globe with those aircrafts, and has no plans of reducing the size of the fleet. Therefore, the maintenance of the 10 aircrafts was pegged at N3.6 billion in 2016. Still, another N262.4 million is budgeted on Air Navigation equipment for the Presidential Air Fleet.

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26

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Law Æ s

Flouting court orders: Lawyers disagree over calls for boycott of courts

Buhari

Mohammed

Against the background of resounding calls by discerning Nigerians to restore faith in the rule of law and follow the constitution to the letter in the fight against corruption and other social vices by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration, PETER FOWOYO, provides lawyers’ divergent opinions in adhering to orders of court by the agencies of government.

At the 55th annual general conference of tne Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) held in Abuja, last year August, President Muhammadu Buhari, urged lawyers not to sacrifice the integrity of the judicial system in a bid to cover the misdeeds of their clients.

The President, while declaring open the conference, called on the lawyers to support his administration’s war on corruption so as to help the country return to the path of rectitude by making the courts functional and effective again.

Apparently miffed by the magnitude of corruption especially among public office holders in the country, President Buhari shortly after assuming office addressed lawyers at the NBA conference saying: “I am convinced that law, lawmakers, lawyers, law courts and the law enforcement agencies all have pivotal responsibilities to discharge, if the change we seek is ever to materialize.

“As you all know by now, this administration has taken on the challenge of improving security, fighting corruption and revamping the economy among many

others.

“The fight against corruption is in reality a struggle for the restoration of law and order; corruption and impunity become widespread when disrespect for law is allowed to thrive in society. Disrespect for law also thrives when people get away with all sorts of shady deals and the court system is somehow unable to check them.

“Ability to manipulate and frustrate the legal system is the crowning glory of the corrupt and as may be expected, this has left many legal practitioners and law courts tainted in an ugly way.

“In a gathering such as this”, the president continued, “I do not need to elaborate on the way that corruption and impunity have damaged our economy. But, I would like to say more on what I believe should be your role as legal practitioners, in helping us back to the path of rectitude.

“First, we need to make our courts functional and effective again. This means that we must have lawyers who take the ethics of the profession seriously; lawyers who will not frustrate the course of justice, even though they defend their clients with all

legitimate means and resources.

“Nigeria needs ethical lawyers who always keep the end of justice in mind and will never sacrifice the integrity of the legal system to cover the misdeeds of their clients, no matter how lucrative the brief may be,” Buhari asserted.

But a Lagos based human rights lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, accused President Muhammadu Buhari of humiliating Nigerian judges and suppressing the judiciary.

Adegboruwa, called on the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Austin Alegeh SAN, to direct all the lawyers in the country to stay away from the court until Buhari gave his commitment to uphold the rule of law.

The lawyer, citing the re-arrest of a former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, and Buhari’s comment on the case of the embattled Director of Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, accused the President of emboldening security agents to shun court orders.

He further said that the Buhari government was laying the ground for a state of anarchy and expressed the fear that lawyers would be run out of business if the people finally lose confidence in the court.

“If the President, during a Presidential media chat can state clearly that he will not release a person granted bail by a court because he suspects that the person will jump bail because of

the avalanche of evidence, then we should close down the courts.

There is no need approaching the court any longer.

“The NBA should do more than a press conference; I call on the President of the NBA to rise up and confront the executive; we should fight for the judges; we shouldn’t allow the judges to be treated in such humiliating manner, whereby their orders have become useless to the executive.

“We, as lawyers, have that responsibility because the court is our workshop. If the courts are no longer functioning lawyers cannot earn money. And it is our duty to cry out. It is our responsibility to come to the aid of the judiciary, which has no voice, because we can’t hear judges, they can’t talk, the NBA is supposed to speak for them.

“So, I am calling on Mr. Alegeh, the President of the NBA, to step up the game; let’s declare a strike; let the lawyers boycott the court until there is manifest commitment from the executive to obey court orders.”

Another lawyer, Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate, asked President Buhari to release both Col. Sambo Dasuki and Nnamdi Kanu, without further delay noting that Nigerians voted for Buhari because he promised to fight corruption and end impunity. He advised the Federal Government to ensure all its organs and officials operate within the ambit of the law.

According to Falana: “The de-

cision of the SSS to ignore the order admitting Col. Dasuki to bail coupled with the failure to re-arraign him on fresh charges is tantamount to impunity in every material respect. If the Federal Government were aggrieved by the order admitting Col. Dasuki to bail, it should have challenged it in the Court of Appeal.”

He argued further that there is no provision for keeping criminal suspects at the pleasure of security officials.

Also in support of this view is Mr. Yemi Okulaja, a Senior Advocate, who told Daily Times that however bad a court order is, parties must be enjoined to obey it.

Okulaja said: “Nobody is above the law including the president and all the agencies under him.

He must obey the law otherwise, it is an invitation to anarchy.” He wondered what is the essence of approaching the court if the law is not obeyed and also called on everybody to support the Nigerian Bar Association by calling for boycott of courts until government obeys court orders.

However, former Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Lagos branch, Mr. Chijioke Okoli, disagreed with his colleagues calling on the NBA’s president to direct all lawyers in the country to stay away from courts until the government obeys court orders.

Although he agreed that President Buhari will take responsibility for every actions taken by government agencies under him, he blamed some cabinet members such as his Minister for Information who ought to have explained the situation that led to the rearrest of certain suspects in the ongoing fight against corruption.

A constitutional lawyer, Jiti Ogunye, said: “What has happened is not a violation of rule of law that warrants any call for boycott of courts”, he noted that lawyers who are personally disposed to boycott of courts are free to do so.

He said lawyers can boycott the courts from now till eternity, he does not see any law that has been violated. “What I see is an orchestration of purported violation of the rule of law by those who are mischeviously saying there is violation of rule of law or those misled into believing so.”

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 12, 2016

27 Law

Young lawyers should be adequately remunerated-Akpedeye Emokiniovo, daughter of Dafe Akpedeye, a senior advocate read law at the University of Oxford, Britain and was called to the Nigerian Bar December 2015. In this interview, she told PETER FOWOYO, what spurred her to study law, why it will be unfair for new wigs to pay for pupilage, minimum wage for young lawyers, how law students can improve in their Bar final examinations and sundry other issues.

May we have an insight into your background, I mean who is Emokiniovo Dafe-Akpedeye?

That is a very broad question. Professionally, I become a lawyer today and embark on a new journey career-wise. Prior to this, my love for numbers and business led me to Economics and Management. As my mother is a Civil Engineer, everyone must love Mathematics in our household. A1 in WAEC Maths is a given or else don’t bother telling us your results. Also, my father has owned and managed his law firm and exposed me to the business world early on in life. Because of this family background, I found Economics to be intuitive and easy to understand. In my personal life, I am the eldest of three children and the family holiday organiser. It is actually more difficult than it sounds since everyone in my family has such different ideas on what classifies as a good holiday experience. I am also a bit of a ‘gym freak’. I love my gym, BodyRox at Silverbird, Abuja. Exercising allows me to relax when I am under pressure and gives me the clarity of mind to do great work. The best essays I wrote in University were generally after an intensive workout. I was at the gym everyday the week before the Bar Finals exam and it kept me calm and focused during the revision and exam period.

What spurred you to study law?

Well, I have always been interested in law. As a young child, I followed my dad to court and the Police Station near my house on various occasions. In fact, one time when I was about 5 years old, a police officer stopped my mum and I for carrying a drum of diesel in our pickup and he threatened to take us to the police station and I said, ‘don’t worry Mum, I know the DPO at that

‘‘The Nigerian Bar Association has often spoken about a minimum wage for lawyers. I believe this is something that should be taken very seriously as it doesn’t make sense for a person to spend 6 years or more training to become a lawyer only to be paid the same wage as a cleaner.’’

Akpedeye

station’. The man was shocked and let us go. I guess I have always known that I wanted to be an advocate for people and becoming an adult, I realised that a country cannot progress without an effective legal system and lawyers as custodians of the rule of law. Studying law was therefore an easy choice.

If not law what would you have studied?

As I already mentioned earlier, my first degree is not actually law. Previously, I studied Economics and Management, which I thoroughly enjoyed so much so as to make a First Class. In fact, during my last year of the degree, I applied for both Law and a Masters in Development Economics. However, one of my modules during that degree was Business Law, which I found really fascinating and it spurred

my interest to study Law. Also, getting an offer to study Law at the University of Oxford made the option to pursue law a more attractive prospect.

A large percentage of students failed the 2015 Bar Finals examination.

What do you think is responsible and what is the way out?

Actually, the percentage of failure has fallen from the 2014 Bar Finals results so some improvements have been made.

The Examination period is very tedious as the exams take place everyday for one week and this is quite traumatic for some students. I think the solution is a joint effort from both students and the teaching staff. Smaller tutorial class sizes would ensure that students understand the concepts explained in lectures

and give students the avenue to ask more questions. Also, students need to realise early-on that the Bar Final exams are different from University ones and re-adjust their reading strategy accordingly.

There are calls for new wigs to pay chambers where they serve as pupillage rather than them expecting money from those chambers. What is your take?

The current economic situation is precarious and it would be financially unfair to ask new wigs with no income and huge expenses to pay chambers for pupillage. New wigs serve as a breathe of fresh air to law firms with their ideas on what the law should be and their savy technical skills. Their contribution to the work force should not be understated. Definitely, they need to learn the ropes from their seniors but they should be adequately paid for their services.

Even in the United Kingdom where we inherited some of our current practices, new wigs are paid during their pupillage period and not the other way around.

Young lawyers have often lament that their seniors underpay them. How do you think this issue can be resolved?

I agree with this assertion of

young lawyers. Some firms pay as little as N20,000 a month to the young lawyers. I mean, in what state of the country can this suffice as a living wage. Young lawyers should be inspired to stay in the legal profession and work hard to be elevated in this career. The Nigerian Bar Association has often spoken about a minimum wage for lawyers.

I believe this is something that should be taken very seriously as it doesn’t make sense for a person to spend 6 years or more training to become a lawyer only to be paid the same wage as a cleaner.

Do you aspire to become a senior advocate like your father or you wish to go to the Bench? Why? I do not really see my aspirations as being linked to my father. Yes, I come from a line of lawyers being the 3rd generation of lawyers in my family but I am my own person. Having said that, I have aspirations to be a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, not because my father is an SAN but because, for me, that is the zenith of a legal career in this nation. I am an ambitious person and career satisfaction is very important to me. As I feel like I will enjoy legal practice, the Bench would be restrictive in that I would have to give up private legal practice in order to fulfil that role and that is not the path I envisage for myself.

The number of female lawyers is higher than their male counterpart but, few of them end up in advocacy. Do you agree and if yes, why is this so?

Whether one is involved in advocacy or not is a personal issue. I do not believe there is any accurate statistics on the number of men versus women in advocacy. I mean, even during my court attachment for the law school externship, there were many young female lawyers appearing in court and so I think the assertion of more men than women in advocacy is wrong.

In terms of female empowerment, the legal industry is leading the way with many females becoming lawyers. everyone should watch this space because in another 15-20years, the tide will possibly change to elevating more females than male to the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria. By then, this unfound assertion will be put to rest but for now, I can only say that it is untrue.

28

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Tech Times Æ s

Content Office set to boost Nigerian firms in ICT industry Stories by Tony Nwakaegho The Office for Nigerian Content (ONC) is set to boost the Nigeria firms in the ICT industry in Nigeria.

ONC is a semi-autonomous, development focused special purpose vehicle (SPV) of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) set up by the Honourable Minister of Communications Technology for purpose of implementing the Guidelines for a Nigerian Content Development Program and of championing the growth and development of Nigerian content in ICT. The ONC is charged with the mandate of “supercharging” key ICT economic clusters by providing intellectual, human and industrial capital to Nigerian firms in the ICT industry.

The office enables the local ICT industry to contribute meaningfully towards the achievement of national development targets.

ONC enable indigenous information technology companies and provide them opportunities that will improve their ability to provide relevant products and services that amply satisfy the Nigerian consumer.

Enable the local ICT industry to contribute meaningfully towards the achievement of national development targets.

Mr Inye Kemabonta, both an Attorney and a certified Information Technology Network Engineer is the National Coordinator of ONC. Shola Okpodu is the Head Corporate Communication, ONC. A network of experts functioning as an Advisory Board supports the ONC by

DG NITDA Mr Peter Jack providing advice and strategic input on a regular basis in many different areas, including law, organizational development, technology, policy, and outreach.

The Members of the Advisory Board include: The Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON); Computer and Allied Products Dealers Association of Nigeria, (CAPDAN); the Nigeria Association of Information Technology Enabled Outsourcing Companies, (NAITEOC); Central Bank of Nigeria,(CBN);SAP;SAP AG; The Director-General Nigerian Information Technology Development Agency,(DG NITDA); Joint Action Committee for ICT Awareness and Development,(JACITAD); Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria,(ATCON), Nigerian Content

Development and Monitoring Board,(NCDMB); Federal Ministry of Communication T e c h n o l o g y, ( F M C T ) ; Manufacturers Association of Nigeria,(MAN); Association of Licensed Telecommunication Association of Nigeria,(ALTON); Internet Services Providers’ Association of Nigeria,(ISPAN); Information Technology (Industry) Association of Nigeria,(ITAN);The World Bank; International Business Machines Corporation,(IBM) among others.

Daily Times reported in its Tech Times of Tuesday September 29, 2015 when NITDA met with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) in Lagos.

There were four main issues on the agenda: the first one was the quality of product assembled by our local OEMs, second was

the capacity and third was the standard certifications and forth is NITDA initiatives to assist the manufacturers.

One of the resolutions that were taken was that there should be synergy between NITDA and the OEMs that they should meet more frequently, at least every quarter so that they will be able to discuss the issues that affects that industry.

Another resolution that was taken is that this meeting should be institutionalized in such a way that there should be periodic review ,to monitor what is happening in the industry and refer same to NITDA, which Agency as the regulator will know the type of step to take.

The third resolution was the enforcement of government circular which mandated all MDAs in the country to patronize and make use of locally assembled products, that is to say that in their IT procurement they should give priority to local enterprises who are the OEMs. The fourth resolution is that NITDA should use its position to see that to it the OEMs are brought into some of the procurement of computers and IT products done by states and local governments there was need for them to be brought into the general scope. It was resolved that NITDA should take steps to ensure that states and local government patronize product that are assembled locally.

The meeting was organised

by NITDA DG, Mr Peter Jack who was represented by the National Coordinator, office of the National Content (ONC) Mr Inye Kemabonta with six local companies, Zinox, Omatek, Brian, Computer Warehouse and RLG which was certified about two months ago

Etisalat presents computers to Zaria school L-R: Headmistress Nuhu Bamali Primary School, Zaria; Hajia Asmau Mohammed Lawan, Specialist, Community Relations, Etisalat Nigeria; Abdulwahab Umoru and Etisalat board member Alhaji Junaid Dikko presenting the computers to the Headmistress during the official commissioning of the school renovated by Etisalat Nigeria in Zaria recently

Nigeria’s most innovative telecommunication services provider, Etisalat , as a further demonstration of its commitment to the development of the education sector, has donated 30 desktop computers to boost Information and Communication Technology(ICT) education at the Nuhu Bamali Primary CONTINUED ON PAGE 29

Adanma, CEO Signal Alliance,Nigeria

Signal Alliance, Galaxy Backbone, Microsoft promote technology for efficiency in Gov’t Signal Alliance, Galaxy Backbone, Microsoft and Link Development Company have presented series of technologies that will improve government efficiency and investment potential as government begins to strategize and come up with policies that will transform the Nigerian economy in 2016.

The international community through different governing bodies has introduced indicators that are used as guides to enhance certain attribute within a country using specialized solutions and services.

At the public sector forum which was attended by key government agencies and parastatals, Signal Alliance, Microsoft and the other key partners showcased services and solutions that will help address shortcoming within the Nigeria government ecosystem.

Speaking at the forum, Chukwunonso Emeh, Signal Alliance Director of Sales said, “These services will lead to government efficiency and healthier investment potential, consequently enhancing Nigeria’s ranking and positioning in international measures.”

Some of the interesting solutions and services shared included; Government Online Presence, Citizen Engagement, Investment Platform, Civil Servant Platform, Payment Gateway, Correspondences Management, Education Solution, and Health Solutions.

They are proven solutions which enhance government efficiency and attract investment.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 12, 2016

ASUS enhances selfie experience with ZenFone in Nigeria

By Tony Nwakaegho ASUS, leading digital company, has introduced the most detailed selfie phone in the market with the ZenFoneSelfie with top-of-itsclass 13 mega-pixel front and rear cameras, Toshiba sensor and an 88 degree wide angle lens.

ASUS ZenFoneSelfie is built to provide amazing performance, fantastic hardware and customizable software to fit every quirk of the imagination. It is an innovative blend of fashion, technology and craftsmanship captured in a 5.5 inch smartphone that fits in the body of a traditional 5 inch.

According to Simplice Zaongo, Nigeria Country Product Manager, ASUS: “Taking good photos is now an essential part of every smartphone experience but most devices deliver better results on the rear camera than the front. Because of this, selfies are often grainy, noisy and underwhelming. The ZenFoneSelfie is bringing ASUS’ high-end imaging performance, known as PixelMaster 2.0, to both sides of the phone with a

(L-R) Alvin Huang, Director, South Africa and English Speaking African Countries, ASUS; SimpliceZaongo, Nigeria Country Product Manager, ASUS; RufaiOseni, On-Air-Personality, Inspiration FM and Lawrence Lin, Nigeria Product Manager(Phones & Tablets), ASUS, at the ZenFone Family Launch organised by ASUS in Lagos, Nigeria, recently.

killer combination of top-notch hardware and software to give users amazing images every time, no matter what.”

The front camera boasts a topof-its-class 13 megapixel Toshiba sensor with an 88-degree wide angle Largan lens, providing the most detailed selfies of any phone on the market. With Super HDR technology, Real Tone dual-LED flash and an aperture of f/2.2, users are also able to improve light balance by 400% and get clear shots in poor light conditions.

As photo opportunities often come in the blink of an eye, selfie lovers can gain quick access to the camera’s frontfacing picture mode by drawing an S on the display when the phone screen is turned off. If they would rather use a different gesture, they can easily create one of their own in the settings.

On the rear side, the back camera is also fitted with a 13 megapixel resolution and virtually no shutter lag. It comes with ultrafast 0.2 second laser auto-focus and macro shot up to 6cm for incredible detail in close-up shots. Throw in f/2.0 aperture for low-light capture,

1080p video recording and manual controls, selfie lovers will never have to worry about taking a horrible picture again.

Laser auto focus is one of the standard features on the Selfie. It uses a laser beam to measure the distance between the individual and their subject so quickly that it takes virtually no time at all to get in focus.

It even accelerates close-up photography, compensating for the extra distance created by the lens receding during framing.

And then, the experience gets more exciting with several options to customize the look and feel of the shot. The camera is set by default to Beautification mode, which gives users the ability to brighten and soften skin, balance facial features, remove skin blemishes, thin cheeks and add blush.

Most of these software capabilities can be viewed in real-time, so selfie lovers can make sure they like the way they look before taking the shot.

The ZenFoneSelfiehardware design offers a more instinctive way for human interaction. It encompasses a physical rear key as part of the Ergonomic Arc

Etisalat presents computers to Zaria school CONTINUED FROM PAGE 28

School, Fadi Sanka community in Zaria, Kaduna State.

The telecoms giant presented the computers to the school management led by the headmistress, Hajia Asmau Mohammed Lawan, during a recent commissioning of facilities which also include blocks of renovated school buildings.

29 Tech Times

Speaking at the commissioning ceremony, the Vice President, Government and Regulatory Affairs, Etisalat Nigeria, Ibrahim Dikko, said the intervention was in line with the company’s commitment to improve the quality of education in Nigeria through quality partnership with the relevant tiers of government to develop the sector.

“It has always been a very

exciting experience and an eye-opening opportunity for us at Etisalat, to create an improved and conducive learning environment for Nigerian children. We applaud the Kaduna State government for encouraging this type of public-private partnership that has given birth to a new Nuhu Bamali Primary School.”

Dikko, who also noted that ICT education has become a basic

design with a case that tapers to an incredibly thin 3.9mm at the edges. The rear-mounted volume-control and shutter button is ideally positioned for the index finger, so snapping selfies, adjusting volume and retracing steps feel as natural as a grip.

Selfie features the industry’s first octa-core, 64-bit processor — Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 615. Its superb performance and superior power efficiency, ensures that users can shoot sharp photographs at stupefying speed, record and edit Full HD (1080p) video with minimal battery drawand enjoy using the integrated Category 4 4G/LTE to share everything at incredible download speeds of up to 150Mbit/s. A solid 3,000mAh removable battery also guarantees more than an entire day of talk time on the average.

Additionally, users get to enjoy a pair of ergonomically designed ASUS ZenEar headphone, which provide a perfect fit and crystal clear and detailed sound. It is built with a patented damping system to effectively absorb reflected

sound and reduce distortion while restoring many audio details previously lost. Each ZenFoneSelfie comes with Optimal Speech Recognizer, a voice recognition feature with an error rate rivaling the best iOS and Android flagships currently in the market.

ASUS ZenFoneSelfie runs on Android Lollipop and comes with a tailor made, exclusive user interface known as ZenUI. There are plenty of privacy options as well. Kids Mode converts the Selfie into a protected area of education and entertainment for children, complete with built-in parental controls and a timer to limit how much time children can use the phone.

Private communication, such as messages and contacts, can be kept separate and secure using a PIN code. SnapView features independent spaces for work and personal life, giving the phone users the ability to manage both areas of their lives without having to combine them in the same space.

The ZenFoneSelfie is available at Slot, Park N Shop, Konga, Genuss, Onyx and Jumia.

component of learning because of its attendant benefits, added that the nation will benefit most if students in primary and secondary schools are exposed early to it.

In her remarks, the Headmistress of the school, Hajia Asmau Mohammed Lawan, commended Etisalat Nigeria for the computers which use is hoped will go a long way in giving the pupils the cutting edge education needed to prepare them for their individual career paths. She also encouraged the pupils of the school to take

advantage of the facilities to improve themselves and become better individuals in the future.

Dignitaries at the commissioning include the Kaduna State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Dr. Shehu Usman Adamu, Chairman, Kaduna State Basic Education Board, Shuaibu Dabo; Chairman Zaria Local Government Area, Jafaru Abbas, Magajin Garu Zazzau, Alhaji Ahmed Nuhu Bamali and members of the Zaria Emirate council.

Tech Times 30

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Presidency to spend N136.9m on Internet in Aso Rock Stories by Tony Nwakaegho The 2016 budget proposal presented before the joint session of the National Assembly by President Mohammedu Buhari two weeks ago indicates that a whooping N139.9 million out of the N39billion budgeted for the Presidency will be spent to have Internet in Aso Rock.

A breakdown of the figure indicated also sthat the sum of N114.4million is to be expended on the upgrade of the internet infrastructure in the State House with another N22.5 to be used in purchasing Internet servers.

Other technology related expenditures in the budget proposal includes the purchasing of what is

described as ‘Active Devices for State House Network’, which will cost N100million. Another N35million is to be expended on the purchase of security appliances and licences, including computer anti-virus software. This is even as the 2016 budget includes a N55.7 million for installation of budget planning software.

The presidency will also spend N27.5 million for the purchase of computers Technology & Security Out of the N90.3 billion budgeted for the Office of the National Security Adviser for 2016, N8.7 billion is to be expended to develop the ONSA’s “All-Eye” surveillance project. Also, the Presidential Air Fleet is to spend N262.4million on Air Navigation equipment.

President Buhari

CWG changes leadership baton to new executive

By Tony Nwakaegho The Board of Directors of Computer Warehouse Group Plc (CWG) has changed the leadership baton to new executive management with Mr James Agada, been appointed as the new Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Company.

Agada, formerly the Chief Technology Officer of the company is a highly innovative and versatile technology expert. He holds both a first class degree and a Master’s Degree in Electronic Engineering, with specialization in Digital Systems, from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He also holds an MBA from the International Graduate School of Management (IESE), Navara, Spain.

He has vast experience in consulting, software development, implementation and support and was pro tem president, Lagos Chapter of the Nigeria Computer Society, and was conferred with the “Titans of Tech Merit Award” in 2013, by Technology Africa.

Prior to his appointment as the Company’s MD/CEO, Mr. Agada was responsible for the Company’s research and development unit.

He was also the Executive Director overseeing the Company’s former software division, ExpertEdge.

Speaking on the appointment, Mr Agada expressed his appreciation to the Board of Directors of CWG for the confidence reposed on him by appointing him as the CEO of CWG

James Agada, MD/CEO of CWG Plc. “I know the times are difficult and the challenges are many especially given the business performance of the company in the last few years.

Our first task is to return CWG Plc to sustainable profitability this year.

We will be taking tough decisions to reduce our costs. We will also be investing to grow profitable business.

Maintaining this balance between cost reduction and the needed investment for growth will be the big tasking effort that is facing us. I assure you of my commitment to put in my utmost best to ensure CWG Plc returns to a growing profitable path” he said.

Mr Kunle Ayodeji has also been appointed as the Company’s Chief Operating Officer. Ayodeji is a seasoned professional with enormous experience in the fields of banking, financial consulting and private equity.

Prior to his joining CWG, Mr. Ayodeji was an Investment Principal with AureosCapital (“Aureos”) and later became an Associate Director with The Abraaj Group (“Abraaj”), where he was instrumental in the investment of over US$45 million of Abraaj Funds.

Before joining Aureos in 2007, Mr. Ayodeji was a Senior Consultant with KPMG Nigeria where he was involved with the valuation, due diligence and feasibility studies for various corporations and state governments.

He also worked with Triumphbank Plc in Lagos, Nigeria.

Mr. Ayodeji had been a member of the Board committees of both the Company’s Finance, Audit and Risk Committee (where he was the pioneer Chairman), as well as the General Purpose Committee, before he joined CWG in March, 2015 as Executive Director, Finance and Operations.

Mr. Ayodeji holds a B.Sc. in Economics from Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria and an MBA from University of Birmingham, United Kingdom.

Mr. Austin Okere, however, continues as the Executive Vice Chairman of the Company. Mr. Okere who founded the Company, previously filled the role of the Executive Vice Chairman in addition to his role as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Okere is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Columbia Business School (CBS), New York, a Fellow of the Institute of Directors of Nigeria, and also

serves on the World Economic Forum Business Council on Innovation and Intrapreneurship, Board of National Competiveness Council of Nigeria, and the Initiative for Global Development (IGD) will continue to contribute enormously to the continuous growth of the Company through his wealth of knowledge in the ICT industry and Entrepreneurial development.

To strengthen the finance function of the Company, Mrs. Obianuju EjehNnabuife has also been appointed as the Chief Financial Officer.

She has enormous experience in the areas of audit, financial and risk advisory, financial control and treasury. She commenced her career at KPMG, where she provided audit and advisory services to banks, discount houses and insurance companies.

She was one of the pioneer staff of the finance and treasury division at Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), the African-focused Development Financial Institute. She also worked in other sectors such as the Retail and Oil and Gas in both Nigeria and the Middle East. Mrs Ejeh-Nnabuife holds an MBA from Manchester Business School, UK. She also has a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Economics from the University of Benin. She is an associate Member of ICAN and a CFA Charterholder.

The Company Secretary, Mr. Okey Ejibe while confirming the appointments, expressed his conviction that the Company’s business performance and standard would continually improve.

Osinbajo’s wife, Belgore to attend premiere of Airtel Touching Lives Season 2 The wife of the Vice President, Mrs. Dolapo Osinbajo and former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Hon. Justice S.M.A. Belgore, GCON, among other high profile invitees, have confirmed they would attend the premiere of Airtel Touching Lives Season Two billed to hold Thursday, 14th January, 2016, at the Congress Hall, Transcorp Hilton, Abuja.

Also expected at the event are the Senate President, Bukola Saraki; Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara; Minister of Works, Power & Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola; Minister of Information & Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed; Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu and Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, among top government functionaries.

Captains of industry, heads of agencies, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), philanthropists and notable media proprietors are also expected to grace the occasion.

Airtel Touching Lives is an inspiring corporate social responsibility initiative that seeks to offer practical relief, succour, hope, opportunities and credible platforms to liberate and empower the underprivileged, disadvantaged and hard to reach persons in the society.

The activities of Airtel Touching Lives are recorded and produced for national television with a view CONTINUED ON PAGE 31

Wife of Vice President, Mrs Dolapo Osinbajo

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 12, 2016

31 Tech Times

HID Global, Botosoft to validate 2.2m students’ ID for WAEC HID Global, a worldwide leader in secure identity solutions, said it has successfully launched a mobile student ID system in collaboration with Botosoft, the leading provider of technologies in Africa, to help the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) combat student identity fraud in Nigeria.

Every year, more than 2.2 million students register online and receive machine-readable Genuine HID smart cards.

The new mobile readers validate new student ID cards instantly.

“The implementation of this real-time identification and monitoring system helps bring to life our vision of being a world-class examinations body.

“We turned to Botosoft and HID Global to develop an electronic student ID card programme that could address the high-volume issuance requirements of WAEC in a very aggressive timeframe as well as our overall need to improve the efficiency and accuracy of the annual exams,” Mr. Charles Eguridu, WAEC Head of National Office Lagos said.

To facilitate improvements in the annual examinations, WAEC teamed with Lagosbased Botosoft and HID Global to assist with the development and deployment of a secure card issuance and mobile student ID system, ultimately allowing WAEC to meet and exceed its

Adenipekun HNO WAEC security needs on budget.

The use of handheld mobile readers eliminates identity fraud, allows examiners to verify student attendance, and enables them to manage challenges around examination rules violations in real-time.

The mobile reader application also saves hundreds of hours of manual data entry and eliminates errors.

The time saved allows the examiners to concentrate on the importance of the day as they can be confident that students are already authenticated for the exam in question.

Our goal is to make the lives of the Nigerian people

better. By partnering with HID Global, we have been able to help WAEC achieve its goal to maintain the integrity of the examinations process. In 2014, we helped register and validate more than 2.2 million students at examination centers across Nigeria using 15,000 custom mobile readers,” Babatope Agbeyo, chairman, Botosoft said.

HID Global leveraged its government ID expertise and offerings to deliver a customized solution to accept the raw data from the WAEC online enrollment process, validate the information and prepare it for use in personalizing the cards in

Botosoft’s facility.

The turnkey software and hardware solution included 48 HID Global FARGO DTC4500 and DTC4500e ID card printers / encoders with a combined capacity of more than 65,000 cards per day.

In addition, HID Global assisted with the card design and development of the mobile reader application software used in the mobile readers.

Once issued, Botosoft’s Candidates Identity Verification, Attendance, Malpractice and PostExaminations Management System (CIVAMPEMS) ensures effective administration of the “Exam Day” process.

“Education in emerging countries is critical to the development of our youth and a key to Nigeria’s future, and we are excited to be at the forefront of the mobile ID market,” Rob Haslam, vice president, Government ID Solutions with HID Global said.

“Innovations in mobile ID technologies are allowing us to meet the unique ID needs of our customers, especially those in developing countries where mobile technologies have leap frogged more traditional technology infrastructures.

Working together with Botosoft, we were able to build and deliver a secure and affordable solution to meet WAEC’s stringent requirements.”

PCI SSC postpones SSL-to-TLS migration deadline The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCISSC) has extended its deadline for payments industry providers to migrate to TLS 1.1 (or higher) encryption from June 2016 to June 2018 in response to “significant feedback” from the PCI community and security experts.

According to a press release issued, the original deadline appeared in the PCI Data Security Standard version 3.1, which the council published in April 2015, while an updated version of the standard, expected in 2016, will use the new date.

“Early market feedback told us [that] migration to more secure encryption would be technically simple, and it was.

“But in the field, a lot of business issues surfaced as we continued dialog with merchants, payment processors and banks. ...

“The global payments ecosystem is complex, especially when you think about how much more business is done today on mobile devices around the world. If you put mobile requirements together with encryption, the SHA-1 browser upgrade and EMV in the U.S., that’s a lot to handle. And it means it will take some time to get everyone up to speed.

We’re working very hard with representatives from every part of the ecosystem to make sure it happens as before the bad guys break in,” PCI SSC General Manager Stephen Orfei said.

According to PCI SSC CTO Troy Leach, additional provisions of the PCI DSS also will change to ensure that new

PCI SSC, GM Orfei

customers are outfitted with the most secure encryption.

In addition to the migration deadline update, changes to other aspects of the standard include: an updated deadline for payment service providers to begin offering more secure TLS 1.1 or higher encryption; a requirement that new implementations be based on TLS 1.1 or higher; and an exception to the deadline for payment terminals, or “points of interaction.”

A webinar recording provided by the PCI Security Standards Council provides additional information, as does the council’s “Bulletin on Migration,” which can be downloaded from the PCI SSC website.

Osinbajo’s wife, Belgore to attend premiere of Airtel Touching Lives Season 2 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 30

to promoting the spirit of giving, self-sacrifice and love among Nigerians.

Following a successful and widely acclaimed Season One, Airtel Nigeria, last August, announced the Season 2 of the Touching Lives CSR programme and subsequently received thousands of entries/ nominations in form of email, SMS and letters.

Speaking at the launch of Touching Lives Season 2, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Mr. Segun Ogunsanya said the telco rolled out the second edition of the revolutionary programme based on the monumental success recorded with the first season.

According to Ogunsanya, Airtel went the length and breadth of the country, in the first season, scouting for people who needed help and cause for support, noting that the journey yielded great results as the telco touched lives of many Nigerians.

“At Airtel, we believe, that for us to be a great company we must be good company and we are very much committed to earning our social license – the love and acceptance of the people we serve,” he said.

Also speaking on the initiative, the company’s Director of Corporate Commission and CSR, Emeka Oparah, noted that robust return of the Season 2 of Airtel Touching Lives programme indicated the readiness of Airtel to continually support efforts of government, non-governmental organisations and individuals who are large-hearted.

The Airtel Touching Lives Season 2, scheduled to be aired on satellite and terrestrial TV stations in Nigeria and across Africa, is a 13 episode programme that captures the far-reaching and generous interventions of the telco toward less privileged individuals, people and communities in Nigeria.

The Season 2 is anchored by popular On-Air-Personality, Wana Udobang. It features 24 emotion-evoking stories of how the plight and despair of people are turned to optimism by the leading telecoms company.

Airtel’s Touching Lives programme CSR intervention is focused on empowering, uplifting and creating opportunities for underprivileged people, community and groups in the Nigerian society.

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VOL. 2. NO.21

Price: n150

Today’s fixtures

England - Premier League Aston Villa v Crystal Palace 20: 45 Bournemouth v West Ham 20: 45 Newcastle v Man United 20: 45 Copa del Rey Deportivo La C… v Mirandés 20: 30 Sevilla v Real Betis 20: 30 Friendlies Angola v Guinea Odds Nepal v Sri Lanka 10: 00

, 5 i s s Mealdo 3 Ron

...As Barcelona star scoops Ballon d’Or for record fifth time

L

ionel Messi moved brilliance to another level as he was presented with the Ballon d’Or for the fifth time in his extraordinary career.

The greatest player of this generation was recognised by international captains, managers and journalists for his outstanding performances during 2015, when Barcelona became the first team to complete the treble of league, cup and Champions League for the second time.

Messi’s performances were, at times, mesmerising and his highlights from the past 12 months include his goal against Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-final, when he chipped Manuel Neuer from six yards,

and his solo run against Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey final.

That goal was a contender for the Puskas Award, which is given to mark the previous year’s golden goal, but on this occasion, Messi had to settle for minor honours. Wendell Lira, a Brazilian forward, won it for his spectacular overhead kick for Goianesia.

Still, he arrived in Zurich on Monday at the peak of his powers, which was a stark contrast to 12 months ago when he was sullen amid intense speculation that all was not well behind the scenes at the Nou Camp after Messi had been dropped for a game against Real Sociedad.

His numbers since, though, have

been stunning, with 53 appearances for Barcelona over the calendar year yielding 48 goals and 23 assists.

Cristiano Ronaldo, his great foe, may have outscored him – 54 in 52 games for Real Madrid – but Messi’s form has been on another level. Those figures would have been even greater had a hamstring injury not cost him two months.

‘It is a very special moment for me to be back on this stage having watched Cristiano (Ronaldo) win it for the last two years,’ said Messi, who was clearly overcome when presented with the award in Zurich’s Kongresshaus.

‘It is incredible that it is my fifth Ballon d’Or, it is more than anything

I could have dreamed of when I was a kid. I want to thank all my team-mates as without them none of this would be possible. I also want to thank football for everything, both the good and the bad. It has made me learn.’

There is undoubtedly a degree of ostentation to the Ballon d’Or ceremony, which is growing bigger by the year, but that should not detract from how remarkable Messi has been over the past decade. He has been first or second every year since 2008.

To put this into context, luminaries such as Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldinho and Luis Figo only won the Ballon d’Or once and it is difficult to imagine a time in the future when his figure is eclipsed.

Business Times Daily Times Nigeria

Oronsanye’s report affects implementation of Fiscal Responsibility Act — FRC Chairman Page B5

Page B3 Naira depreciates further to N280/1$ in parallel market

Nigeria loses N78b yearly to cyber crime — Shittu Page B2

FG, Power sector operators team up on TEM contractual agreements

NBC gives 13 companies licences to manufacture Set-Top-Boxes

ÏAs Fashola

Ɔ Ə Əƍ ƎƄ Ɗ Ǝ ƉƓ power sector peer ƍƄƐƆƄƑ ƊƄƄƎƆ Stories by Augustine Okezie, Abuja The federal government yesterday in Abuja teamed up with operators in Nigeria’s private electricity sector to initiate key CONTINUED ON PAGE B2

Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu (Left), addressing a news conference on the new petrol pump price compliance, in Abuja… on Monday. With him Is the Director of Department of Petroleum Resources, Mr. Mordecai Ladan. Photo: Temitope Balogun.

CBN bans sale of forex to BDCs Ï ƊƊƄƍƃƆ Ɖ Ƃ ƈ now to accept cash ƕƄƋ ƆƎ ƅ ƅ ƍƄƆ exchange Friday Atufe and Oseni Omotolani Central Bank of Nigeria has said it would no longer sell foreign exchange to bureau de change operators.

The governor of the apex bank, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, stated this at a press conference in Abuja yesterday, remarking that “The Bank will henceforth discontinue its sales of foreign exchange to BDCs (bureaux de

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

change).”

Emefiele also said the CBN would now allow commercial banks to accept cash deposits of foreign exchange from their customers.

“Operators in this segment of the market would now need to source their foreign exchange from autonomous source.

“The CBN sold dollars to BDC operators for the better part of 2015, in its bid to keep the official and unofficial price of the naira close to each other.”

He noted that “Despite the fact that Nigeria is the only country in the world where the Central Bank sells dollars directly to BDCs, operators in this segment have not reciprocated the Bank’s gesture to help maintain

stability in the market. Whereas the Bank has continued to sell US Dollars at about N197 per dollar to these operators, they have in turned become greedy in their sales to ordinary Nigerians, with selling rates of as high as N250 per dollar.

“Given this rent-seeking behaviour, it is not surprising that since the CBN began to sell foreign exchange to BDCs, the number of operators have risen from a mere 74 in 2005 to 2,786 BDCs today. In addition, the CBN receives close to 150 new applications for BDC licenses every month.

“Rather than help to achieve the laudable objectives for which they were licensed, the Bank has noted the following

unintended outcomes: Avalanche of rent-seeking operators only interested in widening margins and profits from the foreign exchange market, regardless of prevailing official and interbank rates; “Potential financing of unauthorized transactions with foreign exchange procured from the CBN; gradual dollarization of the Nigerian economy with attendant adverse consequences on the conduct of monetary policy and subtle subversion of cashless policy initiative and prevailing ownership of several BDCs by the same promoters in order to illegally buy foreign currencies multiple times from the CBN. CONTINUED ON PAGE B2

National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has given licences to 13 companies to produce Set-Top-Box (STB) locally.

This is contained in a statement signed and released to newsmen on Monday by Mr Awwalu Salihu, the Director, Public Affairs of the commission.

The statement said that this was the correct figure as against 18 companies it announced early in the year. ‘’Our attention has been drawn to an error in the number of licensed Set-Top-Box manufacturers as contained in the New Year 2016 Message from the Director-General, National Broadcasting Commission, Mr Emeka Mba. ‘’We want to state clearly that only 13 Set-Top-Box manufacturers have been licensed to produce locally in Nigeria and not 18, as mistakenly published in the New Year message. ‘’The mix-up is highly regretted and we apologise for any inconvenience the error might have caused,’’ it said.

NAN reports that the New Year message said that the pilot state, Plateau, now had full digital signal coverage for the Digital Switch-Over (DSO).

It, however, said that majority of those who received freeto-air television were not on CONTINUED ON PAGE B2

PPPRA scraps taxes from new PMS pricing templates

Opeoluwani Akintayo

Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, yesterday released a list of the new pricing templates, excluding tax charges.

In a series of documents published on the Agency’s website, it stated clearly the recently approved prices for Petroleum Motoring Spirit, PMS, emphasizing that it has taken effect

since January 1st.

The template for Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC did not carry any tax rates either on Highway Maintenance, Government Tax, Import Tax or on Fuel Tax. NNPC’s Fuel Oil Badges, FOB (ROTTERDAM) was not the only type of oil excluded from the taxes, marketers were also excused from paying taxes on the Low Pour Fuel Oil (PLFO),

Automative Gas Oil (AGO), PMS (OMC), and the Aviation Turbine Kerosene (ATK).

Meanwhile, charges were made on Lightering Expenses (SVH), NPA, Financing (SVH), Storage, Land cost, distribution, transporters, dealers, bridging fund, Admin, and others.

Retail price for NNPC was still pegged at N86.00, while marketers are to sell at N86.50k

as earlier approved.

Earlier in the year, PPPRA announced revised components of Petroleum Pricing Template for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).

The Executive Secretary of the agency, Mr. Farouk Ahmed said the pump price was put at 86.50 Naira per litre, in line with prevailing global trend.

“This new price regime is with effect from January 1,

2016,” Mr. Farouk said.

Farouk Ahmed said the reversed template was approved by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu.

He said that the major components of the pricing template affected by this review were Traders Margin, Lightering Expenses, Nigeria Port Authority, Jetty Throughput, Storage Charges and Bridging Fund.

Business News B2

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 12, 2016

FG, power sector operators team up on TEM contractual agreements

CBN bans sale of forex to BDCs CONTINUED FROM PAGE B1

“More disturbing, though, is the financial burden being placed on the bank and our limited foreign exchange. The CBN sells US$60,000 to each BDC per week. This amount translates to US$167 million per week, and about US$8.6 billion per year.

In order to curtail this reserve depletion, we have reduced the amount of weekly sales to US$10,000 per BDC, which translates into US$28.4 million depletion of the foreign reserve per week and US$1.476 billion per annum.

“This is a huge hemorrhage on our scarce foreign exchange reserves, and cannot continue especially because we are also concerned that BDCs have become a conduit for illicit trade and financial flows.

He in this regard, “the management of the Central Bank of Nigeria has reached the following decision, which take immediate effect: The Bank would henceforth discontinue its sales of foreign exchange to BDCs. “Operators in this segment of the market would now need to source their foreign exchange from autonomous source. They must however note that the CBN would deploy more resources to monitoring these sources to ensure that no operator is in violation of our anti-money laundering law.

“The Bank would now permit commercial banks in the country to begin to accept cash deposits of foreign exchange from their customers.

“Let me note very importantly that these measures are not intended to be punitive on anyone or any group. Rather it is meant to ensure that the CBN is better able to carry out its mandate in an effective and efficient manner, which guarantees preservation of our scarce commonwealth, and that our hardearned financial system stability remain intact to the benefit of all Nigerians.”

Mba

CONTINUED FROM PAGE B1

Shittu

Nigeria loses N78b yearly to cyber crime — Shittu Augustine Okezie, Abuja Minister of Communications, Barrister Adebayo Shittu said currently, Nigeria loses about N78 billion yearly to the activities of cyber criminals whose targets are financial institutions, ministries, department and agencies.

The minister stated this in Abuja yesterday while speaking at a capacity enhancement and sustainability workshop for Nigerian universities.

Shittu however implored universities to breed up talents who can design software and program to check the activities of the cyber criminals.

He said government is doing all it can to address the menace but there is need to create synergy between government and the institutions in human capital development to address the issue.

The minister also noted that the government created ICT institutions that their capacities and innovation is currently contributing up to 10 per cent of Nigeria’s GDP and has created over 10million jobs in the past ten

years to make Nigerians globally competitive.

Sadly, he said 25 per cent out of the 43 per cent estimated population figure of Nigerian youth are ether unemployed or underemployed because their education and skill training is inadequate to meet the demands of modern time work places challenges.

He therefore enjoined the varsities to be abreast with global trends in research and development saying, ICT has become an integral part of research and development, ensuring vast amount of knowledge that can possibly tap into is limitless.”

The university, according to him is the major player in driving the needed developmental knowledge, entrepreneurial skills, ICTs innovations and revolutionizing ideas.

He said there is need for a good policy and enabling environment for the provision of efficient and cost effective research.

“I implore you to utilize ICT for enhancing the quality of your research to be globally competitive in terms of your ability to create jobs and improve the quality of life and sustain the well being of all our people,” he said.

processes that would see to the firming up of extant contractual agreements that were reached by all parties for the Transitional Electricity Market (TEM) to begin.

Under the TEM which ought to start with the implementation of a cost-reflective retail electricity tariff in the market, all participants in the market: electricity distribution company (Discos), generation companies (Gencos) and the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) amongst others, will all have to play by the rules and regulations that govern the contracts they signed up.

But speaking in Abuja at the inaugural monthly peer review meeting which was initiated by the government to track developments in the sector, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola told reporters that the meeting would be an avenue for the leadership of the industry to lay bare all the constraints being experienced in the sector in order to proffer solutions to them one after the other.

Fashola however spoke after the Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Power, Mr. Louis Edozien said in his introductory remarks that the meeting was a continuation of the TEM in which players would have to behave in a contractual manner.

“This meeting is supposed to be a follow up of the entering into a Transitional Electricity Market (TEM) where everybody behaves in a contractual manner. So, we thought it expedient to invite the leadership of the operators of the Industry to in a very focused manner examine all the constraints we are experiencing as an industry, in operating a market driven, a contract driven industry.

“And arising from the deliberation, we will begin in a very deliberate and focused manner to

resolve one by one all those problems,” Edozien said.

Fashola who presided over the meeting however noted that the idea behind the meeting was to hear from the operators in the industry for possible comprehension and the application of relevant solutions to the challenges.

Fashola said: “Let me start by saying first that the idea behind this meeting is to listen to as much of the operators in the power industry as possible to understand what the unique problems are, to understand what the general problems also are, and to develop solutions to them as in line with the federal ministry of power and housing or as in line with the agencies who are agencies of government.”

The intentions of the meeting, Fashola further explained, is to also initiate monthly peer review and idea sharing for operators to learn from each others challenges and successful solutions.

He said that through the monthly exercise which would be held every second Monday of other months, operators in the sector would learn from their areas of strength and weaknesses.

Fashola

NBC gives 13 companies licences to manufacture Set-Top-Boxes CONTINUED FROM PAGE B1

digital switch-over yet; neither with digital television sets, nor subscribing to pay platforms. ‘’They will need set-top boxes to enable them enjoy the digital experience.

“We have, therefore, put in place a strategy for securing settop-boxes, which will enable everyone join the digital platform. ‘’Our set-top-box strategy is to manufacture it here in Nigeria.

“In that regard, we are already working with 13 indigenous companies, which are at various stages of starting local production of set-top boxes. ‘’This will not only provide the needed equipment, but will also provide badly needed jobs for Nigerians. ‘’However the first batch will be manufactured offshore in order not to further delay the transition,’’ it added.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 12, 2016

B3 Money Market

2016: FG sells N136b TBs at first auction-CBN Stories by Motolani Oseni Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said the Federal Government has sold N136.24 billion ($684.67m) in treasury bills with maturities from 91 days to one year at its first auction of the year. The T-bills were at higher yields than previous year.

The apex bank also sold N55.4bn of three-month paper at four percent, up from 3.62 percent, at a sale on December 23.

It also sold N25bn of six-month debt at 6.99 percent against 6.19 percent, and N55.84bn of one-year paper at 8.05 percent compared with 7.45 per cent. Total demand stood at N311.5bn, compared with N226.97bn last time.

It will be recalled that in September last year, the country planned to raise N100.88bn in treasury bills with maturities between three months and one year at an auction on September 23, according to the CBN. Then, the bank said it would issue new 91-day paper worth N31.19bn, N10.61bn in 182-day bills, and N59.08bn in one-year debt, using the Dutch Auction

Value of import drops 1%in Q3— NBS NIBOR as @ Jan. 11, 2016 Tenor

Rate (%)

Change (%)

O/N

1

-0.29 ?

1M

8.5936

0.49 ?

3M

9.972

0.69 ?

6M

11.3511

0.46 ?

System.

However, Nigeria issues treasury bills twice-monthly to fund the government budget deficit and manage liquidity in the bank-

ing system.

The Debt Management Office (DMO) recently disclosed that the country was in a strong standing to raise funds from the bond mar-

ket to finance any deficit from the 2016 budget if it is so required.

The agency stressed that the Nigerian bond market had the capacity to bridge the funding

gap in the budget. However, the federal government is giving high priority to addressing the fiscal imbalance that is been faced by most states of the federation which is in line with the commitment of President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently straighten the economy.

The debt office, also disclosed that all plans have been concluded to issue between N260 billion and N390 billion in a five, 10 and 20-year bonds in the first quarter of the year.

According to the information in its website on Monday, it would issue between N40 billion and N60 billion in bonds that would mature in 2020 in January and February respectively.

It said it would also issue about N30 billion of the same tenor bonds in March.

The DMO added that it would also issue between N40 billion and N60 billion bonds that would terminate in 2026 in the first three months of 2016.

According to the DMO, the first N40 billion and N60 billion bonds for 20 years that will terminate in 2036, will be issued in March.

Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said the value of Nigeria’s imports revenue stood at N1,688.2 billion at the end of third quarter (Q3) 2015, which is a decrease of 1.0 percent from the value (N1,705.7 billion) recorded in the preceding quarter.

Nigeria’s imports by direction, showed that the country imported goods mostly from China, United States, Belgium, Netherlands and India which respectively accounted for N459.4 billion or 27.2 percent , N160.6 billion or 9.5 percent, N128.3billion or 7.6 percent, N101.8 billion or 6.0 percent and N 97.4 billion or 5.8 percent of the total value of goods imported during the quarter.

Further analysis of Nigeria’s imports by continent, showed the country consumed goods

largely from Asia with imports valued at N764.5 billion or 45.3 percent of total imports.

The country also imported goods valued at N596.4 billion or 35.3 percent from Europe and N241.3 billion or 14.3 percent from the Americas. Import trade from Africa stood at N65.4 billion or 3.9 percent while imports from the region of ECOWAS amounted to N16.3 billion The value of the nation’s merchandise exports totalled N2,333.2 billion in third quarter of 2015, a decrease of N320.6billion or 12.1percent, over the value (N2,653.8billion,) recorded in the preceding quarter. This decline was attributed to a fall in crude oil exports by N372.8b or 18.8 percent over the preceding quarter.

Nevertheless the structure

of exports is still dominated by crude oil, which contributed N1,611.5 billion or 69.1 percent to the value of total domestic exports in 2015. Natural liquefied gas recorded N265.2 billion of the total export value during the period under review.

The report which is on NBS website shows that the year-onyear analysis revealed that the country’s imports decreased by N132.4 billion or 7.3 percent.

The structure of Nigeria’s imports by section was dominated by the imports of “Boilers, machinery and appliances; parts thereof ” which accounted for 24 percent of the total value of imports in Q3, 2015.

Other commodities which contributed noticeably to the value of imports in the review period were “Mineral products”

(15.3 percent), “Vehicles, aircraft and parts thereof; vessels etc.” (8.8 percent), “Products of the chemical and allied industries” (8.6 percent), and “Base metals and articles of base metals” (8.4 percent).

Imports classified by Broad Economic Category said that “Industrial Supplies (nec),” ranked first with N470.3billion or 27.9 percent of total imports.

This was followed by “Capital Goods and parts” with the value of N398.7 billion or 23.6 percent, and “Food and Beverage” with N322.8billion or 19.1 percent.

The value of Motor Spirit stood at N220.6 billion.

Exports by Section showed that Nigeria exported mainly “Mineral Products,” which accounted for N2,025.8 billion or 86.8 percent of the total exports.

L-R, Airtel’s Zonal Business Manager, South-East, Edwin Unoko; Pry. 5 Student of Presbyterian Pry. School, Bassey Isaac and Head Teacher of the school, Mrs. Riman Etaike during the presentation of items to students under the Airtel-Unilever Oral Health campaign held in Imo State... at the weekend.

CBN Exchange Rates Date

Currency

Buying(NGN)

Central(NGN)

Selling(NGN)

1/11/16

US DOLLAR

196

196.5

197

POUNDS STERLING

285.2584

285.9861

286.7138

EURO

212.8364

213.3794

213.9223

SWISS FRANC

195.7651

196.2645

196.7639

YEN

1.6681

1.6723

1.6766

CFA

0.3056

0.3156

0.3256

WAUA

270.7026

271.3931

272.0837

YUAN/RENMINBI

29.719

29.7953

29.8716

RIYAL

52.1762

52.3093

52.4424

DANISH KRONA

28.5261

28.5989

28.6716

SDR

271.3228

272.015

272.7071

Naira depreciates further to N280/1$ in parallel market Amid the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN’s) downward review of foreign exchange sales to Bureau De-Change (BDC) operators in the country, the nation’s currency, naira on Monday has depreciated further at the parallel market by N3 or N280to dollar, compared with N277 it closed of market on Friday.

The CBN had earlier reduced

weekly to BDCs to 10,000 dollars from 150,000 dollars offered, while the number of licensed operators was reduced to about 1,000 from 4,000.

The naira’s deep volatility was also visible against other international currencies as one pound sterling and one euro were exchanged at N490 and N290 respectively.

The official exchange rate

across the commercial banks remains at N197 to the dollar.

Most of the parallel market operators attributed the scarcity of the foreign exchange to the CBN’s policy review and limited earnings from crude oil.

A currency dealer in Lagos, Salisu Ahmad, said the naira depreciation followed limited supply of foreign exchange and a vacuum created by a CBN policy.

Labour B4

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Partner government on revenue solutions, Aregbesola urges NLC

Aregbesola

Stories by Joy Ekeke Governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has called on the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) to partner governments at all levels in finding solutions to the problems arising from the impact of dwindling revenues.

Governor Aregbesola said the only workable fruition in combating the myriads of challenging situation in Nigeria was for organized labour, civil society organizations, professional bodies and academic leaders to wake up from slumber and seek what was at stake for everlasting solution.

Governor Aregbesola made the statement while playing host on the foremost veteran Labour

Wabba

leader and pioneer President of Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Hassan Sunmonu, at a dinner party organized in honour of his 75th Birthday Anniversary.

Aregbesola said Nigeria is passing through emergency economic situation which has been the worst in her history, saying there is a need for Nigerians to collectively approach the situation as emergency in their bid to finding lasting solution.

“This is the time for leadership of NLC to rise to this occasion in a bid to add accolades to their reputation by proving to Nigerians and the entire globe that truly they are major stakeholders of Nigerian economic enterprise.

“If the Federal Government

didn’t not call the Labour leaders, let the labour leader call the Federal Government to seek and discuss what at stake and demand for a way out because if we didn’t seek for a way out quickly, a bulk of emergency may come up.

“This situation is beyond individual operation or finger pointing because I don’t see a way for any state to escape this in the next few months if there is no collective approach to salvage this economic mess.

“This is the time for us to look for a realistic and workable alternative to enhance our economic revenue generation,” Aregbesola said.

Earlier in his remark, National President, Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Ayuba

Wabba commended Governor Aregbesola for his firmness and resilient in spite the current economic situations.

Comrade Ayuba who lauded Aregbesola’s achievements in all sectors of the economy confirmed that the current government is building succour of thirty years to the people of the state, saying most of his policies and programmes might not be appreciated now but will be commended years to come.

According to him, your people might not appreciate your work now. But in actual fact, they will come to appreciate you and your good works in few years to come.

“You are building a brighter future for generations to come and the prosperity stands firmly to judge you aright,” he said.

NURTW urges FG on rail transportation for petroleum products National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Kwara branch, Alhaji lssa Ore, has urged the Federal Government to direct the use of rail transport for distribution of petroleum products.

The chairman reiterated the need for government to enact law for the use of four wheel vehicles, only to ply Nigerian roads, while heavy loads should be transported via the rails.

Ore said the move had become imperative because such would guide against fuel diversion and extend the life span of roads.

“If considered, it will not only reduce damage on Nigerian roads but make the roads to last longer.”

The NURTW chairman urged the government to fix all the refineries and the depots to ensure adequate supply of the product.

He noted that 75 percent of fuel consumed in the country was by members of his union.

He held that if government failed to put things right, the union might be forced to increase transport fare.

He said in spite the fact that there was arbitrary increase in the prices of fuel, members of the union had refused to increase transport fares.

Ore also stressed the need for government to expand and repair all major federal roads across the country, so as to reduce accidents on the highways The chairman said the union was collaborating with the FRSC on its speed limiter aimed at reducing accidents the roads.

Adding that government should reduce the cost of the equipment.

SSACTAC urges govts on implementation of workers friendly policies National President of Senior Staff Association of Communications Transport and Corporation (SSACTAC), Comrade Mohammad Yunusa has urged Federal and State governments to ensure the effective implementation of government formulated policies geared towards improving the welfare and living conditions of the workers.

The president said government commitment to implementation of programmes would not only

better the living conditions of the workers but entire Nigerian people.

Yunusa said government has enormous goodwill from the Nigerian workers to achieve positive change for the betterment of the people.

He also urged the government to reactivate the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) for the training of young Nigerians in industrial entrepreneurship.

The union’s boss said the train-

ing of the young Nigerians would boost the industrial sector of the nation’s economy, stressing that training is key to developing the right attitudes in the young Nigerians entrepreneurships.

He added that the union is totally in support of the war against corruption and other societal ills currently being carried out by the government.

He said government officials must make things happen by embarking on the right actions,

create a system to expand the nation’s economy, stressing that the government invest upgrade industrial and commercial centres to international standards to justify the country’s role as a hub for commerce and industry in the West African sub-region.

The union’s boss said that the unions leadership would continue to give priority attention to the welfare of its members through meaningful dialogue with government officials at all levels.

Yasin, President of NURTW

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 12, 2016

B5 Business News

Oronsanye’s report affects implementation of Fiscal Responsibility Act — FRC Chairman Acting Chairman, Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC), Mr Victor Muruako, said the compliance level of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) dropped due to the Oronsanye Panel report.

He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Abuja that the recommendation by the report to scrap or merge the commission with other similar organisations had grossly affected FRC’s operations.

“Before the pane’sl report was published, many MDAs were responding to the fiscal responsibility regime, but that the report created confusion for the MDAs. ”We are aware that since the Oronsaye panel report and the white paper was gazetted it has obviously affected our operation particularly in terms of level of compliance.

“When the Oronsanye panel report came out three years ago, it became a big problem and while we were still trying to

R-L: Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Investment, Commerce and Industry, Barr. Emmanuel Enoidem; Akwa Ibom State Chairman, PDP, Obong Paul Ekpo; Chief Press Secretary and SSA to the Governor, Mr Ekerete Udoh; Information and Communications Commissioner, Deacon Aniekan Umanah and Mr Ernest Akpan, President, Publishers Guild in Akwa Ibom state, during the investiture of Obong Ekpo as its Grand Patron in Uyo... recently.

adjust to it, came the white paper that said that we should be scrapped.

“There has been a downward trend because a lot of them became very lukewarm and com-

placent because they were waiting for the day the FRC will be scrapped.

“This is so that they will go back to their old ways of not remitting to government,’’ he

BUA divests from flour milling business in $275m deal BUA Group, one of Nigeria’s largest foods and infrastructure conglomerates has announced the divestment of its flour business to Olam International in a deal worth $275 million.

Speaking at the signing ceremony over the weekend, chairman of BUA Group, Abdulsamad Rabiu said, “This signing marks a major milestone in our medium term strategy. Over the years, we have run one of the largest and most efficient flour milling businesses in Nigeria and are confident in the value it will add to the buyer’s operations. Our Group’s strategic focus will now be to diversify to business areas with greater potential for export where the sourcing and utilisation of foreign exchange is less and most of the materials needed for production can be sourced locally whilst also positioning our current line of Foods and Infrastructure businesses for market leadership.”

Alhaji Rabiu who is also the Executive Chairman of BUA, also said that expanding the backward integration of its sugar plantations in Kwara and Kogi Sates is key. “Extensive work is

ongoing in Lafiagi, Kwara state with over 20,000 hectares and we have another 50,000 hectares of farmland in Bassa, Kogi. These two operations form the fulcrum of our backward integration programme for Sugar and this will further reduce the country’s dependence on imported raw sugar while supporting the value chain in sugar production within Nigeria.”

“Similarly, we expect to replicate the successes we have recorded through the deep integration of our cement operations.

With most raw materials for cement currently being sourced locally, we have been able to scale up operations significantly with minimal dependence on foreign exchange and will soon start exporting to neighboring countries from both our Obu and Sokoto plants which are currently undergoing 3.5million MTPA and 1.5million MTPA capacity expansions respectively to bring the Group’s cement production capacity to around 10million MTPA by 2018,” he added.

Abdulsamad also believes that with global prices of crude oil coming down and demand for foreign exchange going up, these projects will help create badly

needed jobs in Nigeria, diversify BUA’s business further, and stimulate the Nigerian economy as well as support the government’s roadmaps for agriculture and extractive industries Olam’s Managing Director/ CEO (Grains), K. C. Suresh said that the deal will significantly boost Olam’s flour and wheat milling operations in Nigeria to meet consumer needs as well as consolidate its position as a market leader in the Foods industry in Nigeria. He was confident that BUA’s flour milling business offered great value for money.

Olam International is a leading agri-business operating across the value chain in 65 countries, supplying various products across 16 platforms to over 13,800 customers worldwide. From a direct sourcing and processing presence in most major producing countries, Olam has built a global leadership position in many of its businesses. Headquartered in Singapore and listed on the SGX-ST on February 11, 2005, Olam currently ranks among the top 50 largest listed companies in Singapore in terms of market capitalization.

said.

Muruako, however, said that the commission would not give up on its responsibility to ensure fiscal prudence in governance.

A team of experts at the Meristem Group have described the contributions of e-commerce in the domestic economy as tremendous and a veritable engine of the economy.

In a recent Outlook 2016 on the Nigerian Economy and Financial Market published by the Group, the impact of e-commerce’s value chain on the domestic economy was to be opening up new opportunities to existing businesses such as advertising, financial services, Internet and logistics services, general merchandise, etc.

This burgeoning trend, they say, is expected to continue in the ICT sector, “as we anticipate the sector’s contribution to GDP in 2016 to surpass 2015, where it contributed an average of 11.17 per cent as at 9M2015.”

According to them, the ever present shortfall between power generation and requirement continues to call for investors’ attention; adding however that regulatory bottlenecks, capital intensity amongst other factors, impede participation.

Also, that the complete revival of the Power Sector is still coated with some patches of uncertainty with respect to the full implementation of the TEM; which is an integral part of the power sec-

He also said that the commission would ensure that MDAs complied with the provisions of the Act to remit payment of operating surplus of profits of revenue agencies of government.

According to him, this is because the current administration is desirous of a fiscal responsible nation. “`But we thank God, with the coming into being of this new administration, they have shown a lot of desire for a regime of fiscal responsibility and that is where we are.

“This government has shown the way forward because from all its actions it has shown that obviously it has zero tolerance for corruption.

“And there is no better way of fighting corruption than in training a regime of fiscal prudence and management of government resources,’’ he said.

NAN recalls that the Steve Oronsanye’s Commission on Rationalisation of Agencies recommended that the commission be merged with a similar one.

Analysts list factors that will impact economy in 2016 tor privatization process. They reiterate that Nigerian electricity market is arguably “the next big thing” for investors across diverse segments to behold.

On the agriculture sector, they stated that Nigeria is ranked the second largest producer of tomato in Africa and 13th in the world, accounting for total production estimated at c1mn hectares of land producing over 1.7mn tonnes annually with average of 20-30 tons/hectare.

In spite of these astonishing statistics, they added that the country still spends about NGN12billion (USD60mn) per annum on importation of processed tomato. “Nigeria is the largest importer of tomato paste from China and Italy. Sadly, same awful statistics hold true for other agriculture produce such as pineapples and citrus food, yam, sorghum and cassava. Nigeria has an average food and live importation of 13.6% (2013-2015 YtD),” the report added.

Capital Market B6

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 12, 2016

SEC flags off e-dividend enlightenment campaign

Stories by Azubike Nnadozie

Gwarzo

Stock market report NSE ranks third among African stock exchanges With market capitalisation of slightly above $82.2 billion, the Nigerian stock exchange remains the third most capitalised in Africa.

In a report of African Exchanges - Equities Market Highlight for November 2015, which featured a total of 17 African exchanges, South African Exchange maintained its leadership as the highest capitalized exchange with over $817 billion.

It is followed by a wide margin by the Namibia Stock Exchange with slightly over $106 billion in capitalisation.

For the period under review, the South African Exchange posted an Equity total volume of 7.7 trillion, with equity value of over $28 trillion in over 4, 930 deals.

The Namibia Stock Exchange posted a total volume of 26.6 million volume valued at $113.4 billion in 422 deals, while the Nigerian Stock Exchange posted a volume of 6.167 trillion, at

$323.4 billion in 60.090 deals.

Among the three African countries exchanges under review, South Africa also leads in the number of companies listed in its exchange with 394 companies, Nigeria is second with 184 companies while Namibia follows with 40 companies.

In a related development, bearish sentiment continued yesterday in the equity market as of the NSE as the ASI depreciated by 2.51per cent to 26,350.18 points.

Year-to-date (YTD), the Index depreciated by 8.00per cent. The losses recorded in the share prices of Dangote Cement, Nigerian Breweries, Stanbic IBTC, Zenith Bank and FBN Holdings were mainly responsible for the depreciation in the Index.

Similarly, the Market Capitalization depreciated by 2.51% to close at N9.06trn, compared with the depreciation of 0.87per cent recorded last Friday to close at N9.30trn.

Summary of activities on NSE ASI 26,350.18 Deals 2,474.00 Volume 127,679,555.00 Value 1,372,236,879.62 Market Cap N9,062,321,103,728.33

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has embarked on a four-day robust enlightenment programme in order to further enlighten investors on the recently launched edividend platform.

The programme which commenced yesterday with a road show, in Abuja, the Federal capital Capital Territory (FCT) will continue till Wednesday January 13, and culminate in a town hall Meeting on Thursday January 14, 2015.

Speaking during the road show, Head, Market Development Department, Mr. Henry Rowlands said investors in the Nigerian capital market were entitled to returns on their investments when they invested, hence the need for the e-dividend portal and the enlightenment campaign.

According to him we discovered that when dividends are declared by companies where they invest, they are sent by post which takes time and sometimes they do not even come at all.

“Because some investors change addresses, some of the dividend warrants do not even get to them. Having looked at it as at 30th September 2015, the Commission realized that unclaimed dividends amounted to about

N90billion. SEC determined we will address it once and for all and that is why the Commission launched the electronic dividend portal,” he said.

“Electronic dividend simply refers to an online system of paying dividends to inventors whereby when companies declare dividends which are the profits meant for investors, rather than send it by post, they will just wire it to the investor’s bank account and that is what informed this exercise. The Commission desires that the money of investors hanging as unclaimed dividends get paid to them with ease,” he added.

Head, Corporate Communication SEC, Naif Abdussalam, said SEC, has “directed all registrars of public companies to return all unclaimed dividends, which have been in their custody for 15 months and above, to the paying companies.”

SEC has also notified the public that enrolment for e-dividend payments could now be efficiently conducted at bank and registrar branches nationwide through the online platform launched on July 29, last year.

“We want to make sure that we take the message down to the grassroots; we want every Nigerian investor within this period of 90 days which is free to get reg-

istered because immediately after the 90 days, a fee of N100 will be charged. All you need to do is walk into a bank or Registrar’s office and you will be registered.

Once you are registered, you will start getting alert for your dividends,” he said.

SEC had recently advised all shareholders and investors in the capital market to approach their banks or registrars to complete the e-Dividend Mandate form for immediate processing and upload to the e-Dividend Mandate Management System (e-DMMS).

To eradicate the difficulty encountered by retail investors in claiming their dividends through their savings account, SEC, in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) in July, last year launched the e payment platform.

The e-dividend scheme, Abdussalam said, “has been a priority initiative for the entire capital market in a bid to curb the growth of unclaimed dividends and improve the overall efficiency of Nigeria’s equities markets.”

He re-emphasised the determination of the commission to implement the capital market master plan, which he said would transform the market for the benefits of all stakeholders.

Hedge funds head for exit as Oil extends slide from 11-Year low

Crude oil extended its slide from an 11-year low, confirming the view of hedge funds that cut bullish price bets to the lowest since 2010.

A hedge fund is an investment partnership set up by a money manager. It can take the legal form of a limited liability company or a limited partnership so that if the company goes bankrupt, the creditors can’t go after the investors for more money than they’ve put into the hedge fund.

Bloomberg reports that futures fell as much as 2.8 percent in New York after dropping more than 10 per cent last week.

Speculators’ net-long position in West Texas Intermediate declined 24 per cent in the week ended Jan. 5, data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commis-

sion show. Producer prices in China fell for a record 46th month and inflation remained at about half the government’s 2015 target, fuelling concern of further weakness in the world’s biggest energy user.

China has torpedoed the hopes of the optimists,” David Hufton, chief executive officer of PVM Oil Associates Ltd., said in a report. “If the first week is anything to go by, we are in for a long, volatile and very exhausting year.”

Oil slumped last week as volatility in Chinese markets fuelled a rout in global equities and U.S. stockpiles remained about 100 million barrels above the five-year average. Saudi Arabian Oil Co., the world’s biggest crude exporter, confirmed on Friday it was studying options for a share sale, including listing “a bundle” of

refining subsidiaries, according to a statement from the state-owned company.

WTI for February delivery fell as much as 92 cents to $32.24 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $32.55 at 11:32 a.m. London time. The contract slid 11 cents to $33.16 Friday, dropping for a fifth day to close at the lowest since February 2004. Total volume traded was about 37 percent above the 100-day average.

Prices lost 30 percent last year.

Brent for February settlement decreased as much as $1.11, or 3.3 per cent, to $32.44 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.

The contract fell 20 cents to close at $33.55 on Friday, the lowest since June 2004. The European benchmark crude was at a premium of 29 cents to WTI.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 12, 2016

B7 Capital Market

NSE DAILY ACTIVITY SUMMARY ( EQUITIES) 11-01-2016

Energy B8

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Ebok field, N/Delta in low production crisis

Karim

Kola Karim to acquire operating stake in Equitorial Guinea Stories by Opeoluwani Akintayo Nigerian oil and gas player, Kola Karim, is in negotiation, through Shorecan, with the Equatorial Guinea Government, to acquire the operating stake in EG-0 8, located east of Bioko Island, off Equatorial Guinea.

The lease lies north of the Alen production area, where Noble Energy, the American independent, operates the 25,000BOPD Alen field.

Shorecan, whose full name is Shoreline Can Overseas Petroleum Development Corporation Limited, is a special purpose vehicle formed by Karim’s Shoreline Energy International and the Canadian minnow Canadian Overseas Petroleum Limited.

EG 08 is one of the five blocks currently under negotiations between interested companies and the Equatorial Guinea government, according to Gabrie lM. Obiang Lima, the country’s Minister of Mines, Industry and

Energy. The five blocks are some of the acreages offered in the 2014 bid round, which have not been awarded.

Shoreline Energy International has significant share in Shoreline Natural Resources, which holds 45 percent in the Oil Mining Lease (OML) 30 onshore Nigeria. Canadian Overseas Petroleum Limited has interest in Block LB-13 offshore Liberia.

These interests in OML 30 and Block LB 13, are outside of the Shorecan JV.

Ebok field in south east offshore Niger Delta is presently witnessing a low production crisis, a document and graph obtained by Business Times have shown.

The field which used to produce 28,000BOPD as at 2014 has now dropped by 25 per cent to churning out about 21,000BOPD as at December 2, 2015.

Afren which operated the field until August 2015 was expecting a boost in production to over 30,000BOPD average for 2015, a hope which was dashed.

Considerable amount of work was done for the upliftment of the field, including the installation of a facility in the Central Fault Block Extension,whose delay, Afren claimed, held the production at 28,000BOPD. Although Ebok is a delicate field which needs continuous well drilling and well services to

Ebok field

Nigeria’s weekly energy watch #

Yetunde Bajela-Taiwo becomes Seplat’s new HGB Yetunde Bajela-Taiwo has been appointed the Head of Gas Business at Seplat, the continent’s largest home grown hydrocarbon producer.

In that position, she will oversee the development of one of the fastest growing domestic gas businesses in Nigeria.

Taiwo was, until August 2015, the General Manager, Planning at NAPIMS, the Investment arm of Nigerian state hydrocarbon company NNPC. She was a member of the second-level management cadre that was retired as Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, Minister of state for Petroleum became Group Managing Director of NNPC.

Bajela-Taiwo was head of planning and economics at Seplat before she joined NNPC in 2013, as NAPIMS’ GM Planning. Now her role in Seplat has a higher profile. The NPDC/Seplat Joint Venture, which Seplat operates, is currently the third largest supplier of gas to the domestic market, after the NNPC/Chevron JV and the NPDC/ND Western JV. As Seplat expands its operated gas production capacity from 300 million standard cubic feet per day to 525MMscf/d, Taiwo will be overseeing the business growth.

“The gas business will pull in a third of our overall revenue,” said Austin Avuru, Seplat’s

Chief Executive Officer. We had released her to NNPC “to help them in strengthening capacity”, Mr. Avuru said. “But when they asked her to leave, I wondered if they really were keen on retaining talent. I simply asked her to come back.”

Bajela-Taiwo joined Chevron Nigeria Limited in 1991, straight from Youth Service, as a reservoir engineer. By the time she left the American major, for BG, in 2007, she was a planning advisor at the company’s Asset Management Division. She worked for BG as Economics manager before she showed up at Seplat in May 2011 as head of planning and economics.

hold up robust performance yet, its current operator, Oriental Petroleum, had put a moratorium on drilling until 2017.

In 2014, Oriental Energy has assumed full operational control of Ebok field from Afren Plc, a subsidiary of Afren Resources Limited.

Following the implementation of the Ebok Field Transition Plan in August 2015, the smooth hand-over of the field saw Oriental Energy providing the working capital to fund all operations, while absorbing key operations personnel.

Oriental then assumed full responsibility for funding the field operations; transferred the employment of 100 key Afren commercial, legal, technical and operational staff to Oriental directly, and assuming direct responsibility for their upkeep, including the London and Houston offices.

Dec.27-Jan.2 (Avg)

Jan.3-Jan 9 (Avg)

*

Energy Generated (MWh)

98048

97138

*

Energy Sent Out (MWh)

96135

95175

*

Peak (MW)

4422

4373

*

Off-Peak (MW)

3885

3889

*

Spinning Reserve (MW)

133

56

*

Constrained (MW)

2178

2461

*

Units (Available)

72

71

*

Units (On Bars)

51

52

As at Sunday, January 3 Courtesy: Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC

OPEC

daily basket price

OPEC daily basket price stood at $28.46 a barrel Thursday, 7 January 2016.

Life&

TIMES Tuesday, January 12, 2016

DJ Cuppy: The female Disc Jockey with Midas touch L2 P

Interview L2

Daily Times Nigeria

Tuesday January 12, 2016

I believe anything worth doing at all is worth doing well – DJ Cuppy Ifeoluwa Florence Otedola, popularly known as DJ Cuppy needs little or no introduction in the Nigerian entertainment industry. Ever since she announced her entrance into the industry, she has become a force to reckon with. The beautiful DJ in this interview with ISAAC OGUNTOYE speaks on her plans for the future and how far she’s willing to go as a Disc Jockey. Excerpts: Isaac Oguntoye

Life&

T E A M

Many people sees you as a DJ, can you tell us more about what you do?

Just to give you an idea of what I do and what I hope to do, I’ll start by talking about where I stand at the moment. I’m a female DJ, a songwriter, and a producer. I just graduated from Kings College, so am now able to do this full time and very professionally too, because I realise trying to move forward in the entertainment industry and growing your brand requires a level of structure and commitment. So for me, it’s fun, exciting and to be honest, there’s a lot of great things that I want to do, my dreams are probably bigger than me.

At what point in time did you discover yourself as a DJ? I started DJ-ing when I was 16 years old. I’ve always loved music right from my childhood, and I loved schooling as well, because I was taught to know the value of education. So, for me, education is very important, and as much as knowledge is power, I also believe that chasing your dreams is very important, and I feel very honoured when I hear people say to me that am such a great example of someone that has been able to be educated as well as chasing my dreams all at the same time. I’ve started my own company which does publishing and management, but for now ‘Cuppy’ is the first brand of the company.

Looking at my journey now, I guess I’m at a place where I just released my new music compilation called ‘House of Cuppy’. I’m really going for it and the journey has been pretty interesting so far.

As a songwriter, what have you done so far?

Yeah, I dropped my first official single in July 2013. The song is titled ‘I love my country’ and it’s quite good. I sampled ‘Tunji Oyelana’s’ chorus in the song. I’ve lived half of my life in Nigeria and the other half in the UK, so with my music, I reflect both cultures. I’m very passionate about ‘House Music’, so wherever I find myself, I take a piece of Nigeria

with me and I’m constantly playing Nigerian music, and I do mix them with other types of music which I think makes me unique as a DJ. Your last mixtape ‘House of Cuppy’, how is it doing in the market?

To start with, I think we are becoming more and more open to new sounds in Nigeria. So for me, the idea was getting something that’s very Nigerian and expanding it to make it appeal to a global audience.

With my project ‘House of Cuppy’, that’s exactly what I did, I got 5 of my favourite Nigerian songs and I interpreted them in my own way. And so far, the mixtape is doing well out there.

As a female DJ, do people take you serious?

(Smiles) Truly, people do make assumptions. There are times I go the venue of an event where am supposed to perform, and the moment the organisers see me and my manager, they’ll be like ‘oh, the DJ is here’, but they’ll be looking at my manager because he’s a guy.

There’s just this general assumption that I can’t be the DJ, because it’s not a norm for women, but in the middle of all these, I love my job and I do it very well.

How busy are you at the moment?

I’m very busy. I think it’s because I put a 101 percent into anything I do.

I believe anything worth doing at all is worth doing well. I try not to get myself involved in too many projects.

Looking into the future, what plans do you have?

Talking about my long term plan, I guess that’s why I started my own company, because as far as Nigerian music and Nigerian musical content is concerned, I feel that there’s so much potential on a larger global scale. I want to take Nigerian music to other parts of the world. With my job, I’m so fortunate because I get to travel round the world, and so far, I think we underestimate the power of music. So on the long run, I’ll love to have a business that gives opportunity to African artistes to have a global platform and this time am

Movie & Movie Correspondent Mutiat Alli

Society Correspondent Isaac Oguntoye

not talking about the clichéd sort of record companies we have around, it’s really deeper than that, it’s more than that. I’m talking about publishing rights, having songwriters, producers because in this modern times, DJs and producers too are now being recognised, and when I look at the business side, I see huge potentials too, so I’m looking forward to all these. At the moment, I’m doing my masters in New York, I’m doing a course in ‘Music Business’.

Let’s talk about your childhood?

For me, growing up was very colorful, I was a very playful and naughty child.

I used to very very inquisitive, I was very intrigued by things, I once turned our living room into a studio. Really, I had a wonderful childhood. I had many friends, I grew up on the mainland, G . R . A Ikeja to be precise, and looking back now, I have so much fun memories from my childhood.

Being a famous billionaire’s daughter, for you, is it a curse or a blessing?

There’s always a good and bad side to everything, someone’s advantage could be someone else’s disadvantage. There are opportunities that come with it, but there are also things that I miss out on. So really it’s a two way thing, it’s really a bit of both.

If you weren’t a DJ, what else would you have done?

I could definitely see myself going into Law. I love Law and am very interested in Entertainment Law, so I would still find myself in the entertainment industry but it would just be on a different level.

Photography Quadri Olowolagba

Graphics Adebambo Segun

Daily Times Nigeria

Tuesday January 12, 2016

L3 Music & Movie Charts

Zaheenab Abdullahi

Top 10 music chart

Top 10 movie chart

Foreign

International

1. Bobby Shmurda ft. Abillyon – Hold it down 2. Christina Millan ft. Lil wayne – Do it 3. Akon ft. Matoma – Stick around 4. Christina Millan ft. Snoop Dog – Like me 5. R. Kelly – Wake up everybody 6. Rick Ross – Amazing Grace 7. Currensy ft. Wz Khalifa – Winning 8. 50cent – Body Bags 9. Young Thugs – Hercules 10. Justin Bieber – Purpose

1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens 2. Daddy’s Home 3. The Hateful Eight 4. Sisters 5. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip 6. The Big Short 7. Joy 8. Conclusion (2015) 9. Point Break (2-15) 10. The Hunger Games: Mocking jay part 2

Top 10 movie chart

Top 10 music chart

English

Nigeria

1. LAPD African Cops 2. Autumn leaves 3. Fifty 4. Beast of no nation 5. Dry 6. Road to Yesterday 7. Victims 8. First Lady 9. Taxi Driver 10. The Visit

1. Attitude ft.Falz – Mo le nu (remix) 2. Samklef ft. vector ft. oritse femi - Ayenlo (remix) 3. Lil Kesh – Ibile 4. Vj Adams ft. Tiweji – Alafia 5. ZI cool – Kpankpangolo 6. Stunnah Gee – Maduro 7. DJ Xray ft. Skiibi – No lele 8. DJ Shiru ft. Patoranking – Dance well 9. Pasuma – Quality 10. Dj Baado ft. Team Street – Ori

Top 10 movie chart

Yoruba

1. Ore 2. Orumoju 3. Anini 4. Rado l’omo 5. Oyun esin 6. Jankariwo 2 7. Ida ofin 8. Anike koloba 9. Tania 10. Oguso

L4

Daily Times Nigeria

Tuesday January 12, 2016

Daily Times Nigeria

Tuesday January 12, 2016

Eyola

eyola@aol.com

The Best of New York Fashion Week Spring 2016 Ready-To-Wear 1ne New York challenged the concept of style, which before the Second World War was overshadowed by the haute couture collections showcased in Paris. It was not until after the war that society began to embrace a more relaxed minimalist style. Legendary publicist Eleanor Lambert jumped on the bandwagon of this shift in fashion perspective by introducing fashion week to New York in 1943. Thanks to her efforts, New York finally planted firm roots in the realm of fashion becoming a fashion capital in its own right. The city’s signature commercially driven sportswear-luxe style has become synonymous with American fashion from Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger to Ralph Lauren.

2wo New York started off the first leg of the Spring 2016 catwalk shows. It was a week dedicated to commemorations that spanned across tributes, anniversaries and remembrances, all of which coincided with a common theme: giving back to the community. Such heartfelt emotional moments saw the glamour of fashion and the runway unite for a greater cause, granting New York Fashion Week (NYFW) some of the most memorable fashion moments of Spring 2016.

This cocktail of style, celebration and philanthropy was received with open arms particularly as it hit close to home with my fashion label Eyola celebrating a significant milestone: 8-year anniversary on 8.8.8 (8 August 2015 [2+0+1+5=8]).

Don’t miss out on a complimentary anniversary gift with each online purchase at eyola.com/Customised.

3hree 10-year Anniversary - Award-winning designer Alexander Wang popped onto the fashion scene soon after studying at New York’s Parsons School of Design. In just 10 years, he has become a staple on the international fashion scene with his signature chic street style aesthetic, which he still finds very hard to believe: “I always had this fantasy of working in fashion, just never thought it would take me this far so soon.” Coinciding his anniversary celebrations with supporting the youth and social change, Wang sold T-shirts and sweatshirts prior to the show to raise money for DoSomething foundation. Over 30 celebrities had been previously photographed wearing the T-shirts and sweatshirts including Taraji P. Henson, Joan Smalls, Kanye West, The Weekend and A$AP Rocky. Once the ‘10 Year Capsule Collection’ catwalk show began, Wang’s talent dominated the attention of his front row celebrity army to whom he shared his vision for Spring 2016. According to Wang, the upcoming Spring season should welcome the following new additions into your closet: a casual mix of denim, military-inspired jackets, pyjama-style silk slip dresses - all in relaxed silhouettes capturing New York’s laid-back cool downtown style. Incorporating past designs from previous collections during his ten year tenure on the fashion map, Wang continued celebrating by hosting a VIP post-show soirée with live performances from Lil Wayne and Ludacris.

Front Row (FRow): Mary J Blige, Nicki Minaj

4our Women’s Empowerment - It only seemed fitting that Diane Von Furstenberg would have a pro-feminine collection in a mishmash of floral prints and bright colours decorating wrap dresses, trousers and playsuits in various length varieties. After all, von Furstenberg has tirelessly promoted and encouraged women to be strong and independent while looking elegantly beautiful in the process. Of course, one couldn’t expect any less from the queen of effortless style. The collection found its roots in the subject of one of von Furstenberg’s first painting she acquired: Fortvna, the Roman Goddess of luck, fate and fortune. ‘She redefines beauty and paints her own destiny,’ von Furstenburg explained. It was a practical collection with a strong message conveyed through bold statement prints in very feminine, goddess-like, flowy, bohemian silhouettes, accessorized with pretty flower bouquets adorned on models’ hair.

FRow: Models Hailey Clauson & Karolina Kurkova 5ive Equality - Kanye West’s recurring appearance as fashion show attendee and front row royalty was overshadowed by his last minute surprise catwalk show. After many failed attempts in his fashion quest, the ever-determined West left Paris Fashion Week in hopes for more positive reviews in New York. This time around West was flying solo, without his collaborative partner last season Adidas, and presented his own fashion line Yezzy. While West described the collection as a ‘painting, just using clothing as a canvas of proportion and color,’ it was hard to digest that such a powerful presentation was inspired by such a simple message. Consisting of a skintone colour palette (of beige, taupe, brown and black) worn from head-to-toe, each outfit strategically matched the skin-tone of the diverse models. Contrary to West’s words, the powerful visual presentation translated to an army fighting for equality in a world crippled by inequality. As for the collection, his signature minimalist military-inspired pieces consisting of bodysuits, oversized coats and hoodies was a dose of déjà vu, reminiscent of his previous collection with Adidas which saw his limited edition Yezzy Boost 350 sneakers sell out in a matter of hours. While his label’s style can be praised for being consistent, the word echoed on the street is that West’s talent is best reserved for music.

FRow: Drake, 2 Chainz, Miguel, Kim Kardashian, Michael Strahan, Common 6ix Nepal Remembrance - Prabal Gurung’s show paid homage to one of the worst natural disasters to burden his homeland of Nepal earlier this year, taking the lives of over 8,000 people. He took it upon himself to use his collection to pay tribute to the lives lost and those still in desperate need of aid, following the aftermath that still plagues Nepal. Dressed in traditional robes, 30 Buddhist monks chanted a prayer in honor of the earthquake victims; an act that coincided with Gurung’s efforts for raising funds via his crowdrise.com page and the Shikshya Foundation Nepal. Thanks to his efforts over a million dollars

has been raised. His ode to Nepal seamlessly seeped into his spring collection inspired by the work of Nepalese artist Laxman Shreshtha.

Largely dominated by dresses with midi length hemlines realised in soft hues of beige, ivory and block colours red, yellow and orange - the symbolic colour of Buddhism. Gurung opted for the fluidity of soft flowing silks to create a romantic, strong and minimalist look richly decorated with what resembled paint brush strokes. Gurung experimented with off-the-shoulder varieties and different necklines, favoring a plunging neck for many dresses. Fabrics were romantically light and sheer with some pieces featuring cutouts, layering, fringing and beading, without losing the lightness and romantic feel of the collection.

FRow: Gabrielle Union, Jennifer Hudson, Dwyane Wade 7even 9/11 Tribute - Givenchy’s catwalk presentation could possibly end up being the most talked about catwalk shows of the season. Moving from their residency (since inception) at Paris fashion Week, the label made New York its new home this season and gave a welcome dose of couture in stark contrast to the minimalist style code that echoed throughout NYFW. To celebrate their new residency, Givenchy gave away free show tickets to the public who they invited to watch their September 11, 2001 tribute with the help of internationally acclaimed performance artist Marina Abramović (whose CV includes a collaboration with hip-hop mogul, Jay Z). Abramović created the set design using recycled materials which coincided with the Givenchy label utilizing recycled designs from past couture and readyto-wear collections, combined with new denim pieces. Ivory slip dresses and lace-edged camisoles were paired with tailored trousers, tuxedo jackets and kimono coats.

FRow: Bethann Harrison, Nicki Minaj, Amar’e Stoudemire, Ciara, Swizz Beatz 8ight 10-year Anniversary - 3.1 Phillip Lim collaborated with environmental artist Maya Lin to create a sculptural installation of man-made mountains made out of organic toxic-free soil, some reaching a height of 13 feet. The words ‘stop and smell the flowers,’ was the focal message Lim used as the inspiration for his collection that coincided with the celebration of his eponymous label’s 10-year anniversary. The beauty behind the set design and floral concept was that the soil was later donated to local community gardens in New York and the brand donated money from their own pocket to a number of wildlife and environmental charities and foundations. Such humble and honorable celebrations made a beautiful backdrop for the stunning spring collection which echoed the environmental theme of the set-design. Mimicking the properties of sand, Lim chose a neutral palette of white, sand beige and earthy green with dark blue floral prints and opted for lightweight fabrics with a slight shine to construct his sporty collection of anoraks, baseball jackets and tailored trousers, shirts and shorts. Keywords of the collection: wearable, light, feminine, sultry, relaxed, stylish, practical.

FRow: Solange Knowles

L5

Relationship L6

Daily Times Nigeria

Tuesday January 12, 2016

Abimbola Obatayo

Tips on how to create a lasting relationship Have you ever heard the old saying that “Relationships take work?” How does that make you feel when you hear that? Tired? A little frustrated? Do your eyeballs roll back in your head when you think of “working” on your relationship after a long day at the office?

Relationships can be a lot of work. Sometimes, they can just be plain hard. Many of us have been through relationships, or are in struggling ones. But even if we have given up once, we absolutely need to give ourselves a second chance at love. Here are a few things that could help you stay happy in your relationship and make it work.

Never assume, always ask: I do not care if you have been together for over 20 years and believe you know what the other person’s response is going to be to everything. More feelings are hurt and more communications misunderstood because of a simple assumption. Cut it out. Do not assume that you know what your significant other wants or doesn’t want, what they need or how they are going to react to a situation.

Respect them enough to be upfront and ask them. You may be surprised at their response.

Make sure to keep yourself happy: We often forget that keeping ourselves happy and healthy is imperative – if we even want a shot at making anyone else happy.

Whether it’s grabbing coffee with your friends, or going to the gym after a long day at work – if there is something you’d rather do than what your partner suggests, do it!

Practice active listening: Yes, this goes together with never assume, always ask. If you are going to ask, you must really listen to your partner’s response. When someone else is talking, let them finish talking completely. Do not interrupt them to insert your own response – when you are already thinking about what you are going to say next, before they have even finished talking, you cannot be present

and fully aware of what they are saying. Think about how it feels to you when your partner actually hears what you are trying to communicate and give them the gift of listening actively.

Be willing to adjust: Sure, if your partner really wants to do something with you, or has somewhere important to go to and asks you to come along, you should. But remember that there is no point doing what they want and resenting them for “making” you do it.

Do it because you love them and want them to be happy too.

Leave the skeletons in the closet: You know exactly what I’m talking about.

Those controversial moments in time you had long forgotten and thought you would never hear about again until that one disagreement or argument when any past hurt or misdeed rises up from the depths of the past as ammunition for the current moment. Stop holding on to past hurt, or do what you must to heal if you are using the past as an excuse for present situations.

Keep current disagreements about current events. You will have more credibility and get more respect from your significant other.

Confront compassionately: If you attack someone, their natural instinct will be to immediately jump to their defense. This gets you nowhere except to a point where two people are having a rather loud conversation about who’s right and who’s wrong. The situation however, is rarely black and white.

You both have valid points in all probability, but are being too stubborn to meet on

a middle ground.

Celebrate each other: Male or female, we all want similar things in our relationships.

To be appreciated, acknowledged, nurtured, s u p ported, respected and loved. So, do one small thing each day to celebrate each other. Tell him he looks handsome in that new blue shirt, that she is beautiful and you’re the luckiest man in the world.

Thank him for taking the trash out or putting the kids to bed. Tell her you appreciate everything she does for you. Leave love notes or send your significant other a card in the mail. It really is the little things that make such a big difference. Make the time to celebrate each other so you build a solid foundation of connection that will last the test of time.

Give them the benefit of doubt: It’s easy to believe that people may do things intentionally or doubt their honestly- to believe that your boyfriend was trying to hurt you by not inviting you out with his friends or that he double booked a date with you and a night with the guys. If you’re with someone who loves you, they want you to be happy. So whether it was calling you back or the movie plans you had, if they say it just slipped their mind, try and believe them.

Tell them you trust them,

and mean it: As easy as it is to get upset in certain situations, if you trust your partner, there is very little room for negativity. Trust your gut, but if you’re trying to do a relationship right, trusting the person you’re with is everything.

Don’t jump to conclusions.

Very often, we react before we think. Whether it is based on our past experiences of our partner’s behavior or the fact that we have never seen them behave a certain way before, understand the situation before you come up with your own theory.

Daily Times Nigeria

Tuesday January 12, 2016

L7 Teen World

Agboola Oluwarantimi

Everyday life skills teens should know

Education is important in one’s life but to be a self-sufficient adult, teens needs to learn some life skills. Learning any life skill helps to become independent and live life smoothly. At some point in time, every young adults needs to leave their home and lead an independent life.

Most times this happens when the teen opts for higher education, either in his/her country or abroad. In such a situation, more than academic skills, it is life skills that comes in handy.

Teens usually feel they can easily step into adulthood but it isn’t as easy as it seems. It is up to the parents to make sure they teach their teens some important life skills for independent survival.

Here is a list of life skills for teenagers before they fly out of the nest: • Housekeeping skills: You probably end up screaming at your teen every time you see the mess they do in their room or some chores not done properly. Now is the time you teach

them housekeeping skills like cleaning and dusting, routine maintenance, washing and fixing spoilt items in the house.

• Clothing skills: Teaching teenagers to do the laundry or other related skills can be tricky.

Use tricks, bribery, treats to make them do the following chores on their own: learning to hand wash clothes and treat stains, basic sewing skills on case of emergency, ironing, folding and organising clothes, understanding different fabrics.

• Cooking skills: Now that you won’t be there to cook for your teens, it is time to make them learn the art of cooking and other cooking related skills. You can guide them in the following ways: buying healthy food, cooking well and balanced food, storing food properly to avoid wastage • Living healthy: Encouraging teens to stay

healthy and hygiene is important so as to live a healthy and independent life. Teens can be guided in these ways: keeping their body clean always, using the right kind of soap, shampoo and deodorant, keeping toiletries clean and organised.

• Time management/ Self-management: Teenagers are often considered lazy because they need to be pushed all the time to do work.

Managing time wisely will help them accomplish task easily and would make them feel good in their abilities. You should teach them to: know their limitations and plan their task accordingly.

• Dealing with emergencies: Emergencies can arise anytime, so make sure you know whom to call on time of crisis. Some important numbers includes that of the police, ambulance and fire fighters. Always have a compact first aid kit in your bag, a note pad with all important

numbers.

• Learning to be social: It is important that you teach your teens to be social as this helps in gaining self-confidence. Make healthy friendship and remember to value them; participate in social outreach events such as volunteering for a good cause, developing knowledge in myriad subjects, not just in one or two.

• Budgeting skills: This is the most important of all life skills. Teaching your teenagers to pay bills on time and set a monthly budget is utmost. And also teach them how to manage money and how to save their money.

So now that you are enlightened about life skills for teens, what are you waiting for? When teaching life skills to teenagers, make sure your tone is soft and polite. It is also important that you teach each benefit of doing something. Do not try to force your ideas as this never work on teens.

L8 TV guide

Daily Times Nigeria

Tuesday January 12, 2016

Showing on

Showing on

103 M-Net Movie Premier

125 FOX Channel

23:05

01:25 Tue, 12 Jan | 13SL

Tue, 12 Jan| 16VL

‘S8/E12 - Hope For The Hopeless’. Richard performs his 10 000th surgery on a pair of bickering sisters. Derek and Lexie take on a neuroblastoma case that was previously deemed inoperable.

Christian Bale heads up a star-studded cast in this crime drama about two brothers - and the cruel twist of fate that lands one in jail and the other in trouble with a crime ring. Zoe Saldana, Christian Bale, Casey Affleck. (2013) Scott Cooper

101 M-Net West

01:30 The Story Of Luke 03:15 Caught On Camera 04:00 MasterChef Australia 05:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 06:00 Two And A Half Men 06:30 Arrow 07:30 Celebrity Masterchef South Africa 08:30 The Swan Princess: A Royal Family Tale 10:00 Entertainment Now! 10:30 The Middle 11:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 12:00 MasterChef Australia 13:00 Elementary 14:00 Mysteries Of Laura 15:00 Grey’s Anatomy 16:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 17:00 2 Broke Girls 17:30 MasterChef Australia 18:30 Chicago Fire 19:30 Gotham 20:30 NCIS: Los Angeles 21:30 The Fixer

120 BBC Entertainment

118 Telemundo

00:30 The Del Monte Dynasty 01:20 The Impostor 02:10 Labour Of Love 03:00 Part Of Me 03:50 Queen Of Hearts 05:20 The Del Monte Dynasty 06:10 Labour Of Love 07:00 Part Of Me 07:50 Queen Of Hearts 08:40 The Impostor 09:30 Forbidden Passions 10:20 Labour Of Love 11:10 Part Of Me 12:00 Queen Of Hearts 12:50 The Impostor 13:40 Forbidden Passions 14:30 Labour Of Love 15:20 Part Of Me 16:10 Queen Of Hearts 17:00 The Impostor 17:50 Forbidden Passions 18:40 Labour Of Love 19:30 Part Of Me 20:20 Queen Of Hearts 21:10 The Impostor 22:00 Forbidden Passions

00:35 The Weakest Link

11:30 Hell’s Kitchen USA

01:20 Silent Witness

12:20 Top Gear

02:15 Total Wipeout UK

13:15 Come Dine With Me

03:10 EastEnders

14:10 Total Wipeout UK

03:40 QI

15:10 The Weakest Link

04:10 Top Gear

16:00 EastEnders

05:00 Spy

16:30 Deal Or No Deal

05:25 QI

17:10 The Cube

06:00 The Thin Blue Line 06:30 EastEnders

18:00 Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

07:00 Antiques Roadshow

19:00 Big School

07:55 The Weakest Link

19:35 QI

08:45 The Cube

20:05 Would I Lie To You?

09:35 Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

20:40 The Graham Norton Show

10:20 Deal Or No Deal

22:10 Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow

11:00 My Family

21:35 My Family

155 AfricaMagicWorld

155 AfricaMagic Family

00:00 Tinsel 00:30 Living With Trisha 01:30 Family Ties 02:00 At Home With Joselyn Dumas 03:00 Good Morning Africa 04:00 Music 05:00 At Home With Joselyn Dumas 06:00 Good Morning Africa 07:00 Star Gist 07:25 Save The Day 08:35 Living With Trisha

09:25 The African Child 10:00 Good Morning Africa 11:00 Tinsel 11:30 Star Gist 12:00 Music 13:00 At Home With Joselyn Dumas 14:00 Prem 14:30 Ise Dale 15:00 Family Ties 15:30 At Home With Michelle Attoh 16:30 Living With Trisha 17:30 Comfort Zone 18:00 Meet The Adebanjos 18:30 Jane And Abel 19:00 Tinsel

00:00 Noose Of Gold 00:30 Good Morning Africa 01:30 The Dzigbordi Show 02:30 Good Morning Africa 03:30 Good Morning Africa 04:30 Prem 05:00 Good Morning Africa 06:05 Golden Moon

09:00 Good Morning Africa 10:00 So Wrong So Wright 10:30 So Wrong So Wright 11:00 Lies That Bind 11:30 Lies That Bind 12:00 Jara 12:30 Jara 13:00 Series TBA 14:00 53 Extra 14:30 53 Extra 15:00 Kakibe Ki

15:30 Noose Of Gold 16:00 Foot Print 16:30 Lies That Bind 17:00 Lies That Bind 17:30 Star Gist 18:00 Star Gist 18:30 Star Gist 19:00 Prem 19:30 So Wrong So Wright 20:00 Johnbull And Rosekate 22:35 Series TBA

128 SONY MAX

00:25 Most Shocking 01:15 Kenny vs Spenny 01:40 1000 Ways To Die 02:05 1000 Ways To Die 02:30 Lock Up 04:15 Most Shocking 05:00 Criss Angel Mindfreak 05:30 Exposed 05:55 Exposed 06:20 Video Zonkers 06:45 Repo Games 07:15 World’s Wildest Police Videos 08:15 Disorderly Conduct: Video On Patrol 09:15 South Beach Tow 09:45 Most Shocking 10:45 Most Shocking 11:45 Video Zonkers 12:15 Repo Games 12:45 World’s Wildest Police Videos 13:45 Disorderly Conduct: Video On Patrol 14:45 South Beach Tow 15:15 Primal Force 16:40 Video Zonkers 17:05 Repo Games 17:30 World’s Wildest Police Videos 18:30 South Beach Tow 19:00 Disorderly Conduct: Video On Patrol 20:00 Upload With Shaquille O’Neal 20:30 Hip Hop Squares 21:00 Freakshow 21:30 Poorman’s Bikini Beach 22:00 Kenny vs Spenny 22:30 Tool Academy