Dtn 15 1 16

N34b fraud: Court orders arrest of Tompolo

Ï Metuh drags EFCC to court over detention ÏAnti-graft body files charges against PDP spokesman

Peter Fowoyo, Lagos and Andrew Orolua, Abuja Justice Ibrahim Buba of the

Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi Lagos on Thursday ordered the arrest of former militant leader,

Government Ekpemupolo, otherwise known as Tompolo, over his failure to appear before the court

to answer charges bordering on diversion of N34 billion belonging Continued on page 12

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FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016 VOL. 2. NO. 24

GAINERS

N150

LOSERS

NSE GAINERS AND LOSERS AS AT 14th January 2016.

IKEJAHOTEL

2.96

3.1

0.14%

CUSTODYINS

4.2

4.25

0.05%

DANGCEM

145.45 138.18 -7.27%

GUINNESS

119.98

113.99

-5.99%

HONYFLOUR

1.72

1.8

0.08%

FIDELITYBK

1.3

1.35

0.05%

MOBIL

151.2

TOTAL

155.92

150

--5.92%

145

-6.3%

Buhari’s aide circulated fake Budget –Senate panel Ï We’ll only accept version presented by the President, says Saraki ÏPDP seeks President’s impeachment, says Nigerians now in APC’s ‘one chance bus’ ÏStop trying to divert attention from corruption cases, APC tells PDP Olufemi Samuel, Abuja

ÎÎÎThe Senate on Thursday alleged that a fake 2016 Budget circulated to

members by the Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari

on Legislative Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang was responsible for

the budget being reported as missing.

The Senate made the al-

legation shortly after resuming from an executive Continued on page 6

More stories on page 14

Minimum Wage gB1 Amendment Bill to capture more firms

SLA Akintola’s

supreme sacrifice for Nigeria, by son g 8 Lassa fever:

15 patients isolated in Abuja g12

Former Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Patrick Akpobolokemi (middle) at the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos on Thursday where he was to be arraigned on a 40-count charge of money laundering, conspiracy, stealing and diversion of funds.

Ï Buhari meets Chibok girls’ parents, BBOG, orders fresh investigation

g14

Chief Rasaq Okoya

An enigma at 76 gL1

2

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, January 15, 2016

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, January 15, 2016

3

Politics Page Three Æ s Editorial Psychiatric test for Police officers

A

few days ago, the Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase announced that henceforth, members of the force would undergo annual psychiatric test and mental evaluation. According to him, such exercise for both serving officers and fresh recruits would help check the increasing cases of extrajudicial killings across the country by the operatives. We wholeheartedly welcome this announcement by the police boss and advise that it be implemented urgently. Nigerians have continually been embarrassed at the trigger-happy disposition of police operatives, who are ready to shoot and kill innocent citizens at the least provocation.

Gone are days when Nigerians were proud of their police force as the epitome of sincerity and dedication to duty.

Today, what was once a proud security agency has become a burden and threat to the lives and property of the citizens it was established to protect.

Virtually every day comes with the chilling news of Police officers murdering defenceless Nigerians in one part of the country or the other. It is not unusual to hear of police operatives getting involved in armed robbery, kidnapping, child trafficking, oil theft, gun running and other nefarious acts.

In fact, the culture of brutality against citizens is so deeply entrenched that all the different units of the police are guilty of it: the regular police, mobile police, traffic police, among others.

Many analysts have argued that the factors that predispose the officers, both senior and junior, to brutality and violence are traceable to its colonial heritage, which promotes rather than deters abuse. For example, the Police Order 237 provides the force with ‘a carte blanche’ to ‘kill at will’. Others include infrastructural problems, in-

adequate funding and compromised recruitment standard.

Security experts posit that the Police Force as currently constituted is highly centralised, thereby making it amenable to constant political interference.

Moreover, the recruitment process and poor training, have led to the hiring of unsuitable and sometimes, mentally unstable personnel, even as salaries are too poor, thereby making the officers prone to corruption and other crimes, including violence.

Unfortunately, the killing of police officers in their hundreds or even thousands every year, by insurgents, armed robbers, and other hardened criminals, may in part explain their behaviour and attitude towards the public. In addition, the police complain of poor working conditions, unhealthy environments, long hours and inadequate housing, which are all demotivating factors. All these conditions imbue the regular members with a psychology that sees the citizens as enemies.

It is a fact that many demands are placed on law enforcement, and which can be emotionally, mentally and physically taxing on an officer. While it takes all kinds of personalities to make up an effective police force, there are certain traits all officers should ideally share.

Therefore, psychiatric tests tend to focus on identifying those undesirable traits more than looking for those desirable traits. The need for psychiatric tests on police officers cannot be more urgent than now, especially with the state of insecurity in many parts of the country. There is no denying that with the unrestrained movements of persons all over the country, tendency is for the police to always be on edge, which predisposes them to act irrationally when faced with real or imaginary danger.

Cops and VIPs handbags: Where Okiro should focus on Segun Adio

ÏÏÏAs a former Inspector

General of Police (IGP), Sir Mike Okiro holds the welfare of officers and personnel of the force very dear to his heart. So, wherever he speaks on matters concerning the Nigeria Police, he does it with great passion and a lot of pains in his heart.

Now as chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), Sir Okiro believes he is probably better positioned to right the wrongs of the past.

So, last Wednesday, he read riot act to policemen on escort duty with Very Important Persons (VIPs), warning them to desist

from ‘domestic duty’ or carrying their handbags and umbrellas for them.

Okiro sees such act as a great insult to the ‘noble’ profession. He threatened arrest on any policemen found engaging in illegal escort duty.

Though, it is a long time Sir Okiro left the police, he seems to have lost touch of the several degrading chores policemen undergo while posted to serve the so-called VIPs. Those cops who carry umbrellas and handbags for ‘Oga’ and ‘madam’ are even considered the privileged ones. Mr. Okiro needs to extend this directive to several thousands of cops who help to wash their bosses’ cloths and iron them at home, those who are sent to ‘pin down’ ‘Omo Oniles’ (land

Words On Marble :

grabbers) at their various building sites scattered across the country.

Sir Okiro also needs to caution those bosses who send policemen to go pick their children in schools or escort Tokunbo cars from borders and oftentimes use police vehicles to ferry food items from borders for their superiors.

Some policemen postings have been to wet flowers of VIPs, some go to queue to collect WAEC forms for their ‘Oga’s kids, while the kids watch movies at home. Some even go to eateries to buy stuffs for Oga’s mistresses.

How does Okiro monitor the policemen serving traditional rulers and their households across Nigeria? The list is endless. The directive is surely easier pronounced than enforced.

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

Group News Editor Segun Adio Politics Editor Akintola Akinjide Business Editor Friday Atufe Head, Graphics/Design King Ododoru

Group Managing Director Noel Anosike Group Executive Commercial/ Business Developement Ifeoluwa Isijiola 08086296714 Head Finance/Shared services Simpa Ajayi

Business Dev. Manager Bello Ganiyu Sales & Marketing Manager Tunde Dosumu Technical Adviser To Publisher Innocent Nwankwo Adverts/Partnerships/ Corporate Subscription Ifeanyi Emefu 08086296714 Konnie Agu 09033765031

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Audu Ogbeh

Yemi Osibanjo

Victor Umeh

“Capitalism puts wealth in the hands of the drivers but the time to democratise capitalism, especially in the Nigerian agricultural sector is now.”

“Nigeria has enough resources for all of us to live decently.”

“Politics that is bereft of ideology is a danger to democracy.”

44

Daily Times Nigeria Daily Times Nigeria Friday, January 15, 2016 Friday, November 13, 2015

‘PEACE ADVANTAGE’ Frequent Flyer Program

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The “Peace Advantage” FFP aims to clearly communicate to Air Peace customers the value Air Peace places on their patronage & Air Peace’s commitment to building long lasting mutually beneficial relationships with its customers. The basic principle being that – The More You Fly with Air Peace, The More You Get Back From Air Peace.

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Daily Times Nigeria Friday, January 15, 2016

Military alerts Nigerians on new tactic of terrorists Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja

ÎÎÎThe

Nigerian Military authorities, on Thursday, alerted Nigerians and others that they had discovered that the Boko Haram terrorists, in their determination to continue letting off bombs, had resorted to masquerading as fruits and vegetable vendors wheeling improvised explosive devices (IEDs) as groceries into crowded areas.

The terrorists, according to the military authourities, now hide such explosives under vegetable wares in carts and wheel-arrows and move to crowded places where

they detonate them to cause huge damage to life and property.

The Acting Director, Defence Information, Brig-Gen Rabe Abubakar, confirmed this in a statement in Abuja.

The Defence Headquarters, therefore, advised the general public to constantly be on the alert, and report, promptly, any suspicious persons or objects to the nearest security agency.

The statement read: “In continuation with the sensitisation of our citizens on the devilish strategy of the terrorists, the Nigerian military authorities have discovered that the Boko

Haram terrorists are determined to continue letting off bombs and have resorted to masquerading as fruits and vegetable vendors wheeling improvised explosive devices (IEDs) as groceries into crowded areas.

“The terrorists now hide IEDs under vegetable wares in carts and wheelbarrows and move to crowded places where they detonate them for maximum casualties.

“The recent terrorists attack in the North East is a case in point.

Having been effectively dislodged and decimated, the Boko Haram terror group has begun some systematic

isolated attacks, mainly on soft targets, in its desperation to remain relevant.

“The Defence Headquarters hereby advises the general public to constantly be on the alert to this latest terrorist tactics and to report, promptly, any suspicious persons or objects to the nearest security agency.

“While commending the general public and the media for their continuous support, so far, all citizens are once again reminded that security is everybody’s concern. Therefore, they should join hands with the security agencies to eliminate the remnant of the terrorists.”

5 News

Okorocha swears-in 13 new commissioners, others

Okorocha

Val Okara, Owerri

ÎÎÎGovernor

Rochas Okorocha of Imo State, on Thursday, sworn-in 13 new Commissioners and 27 Transition Committee Chairmen, with a charge to sustain the gains of his administration in the last five years. Also, sworn-in was an Economic Adviser.

He told the new appointees that former commissioners were not dropped as a result of poor performance, but other considerations that would add value to the development of the state. He, therefore, urged

them to work hard to justify their appointments.

The Governor, who described the new commissioners as the bridge between the old and the new generation of politicians in the state, urged them to take responsibility for the things they would do, and not for what others had done.

“Imo state would be celebrating her 40th anniversary in a month’s time.

And there is a popular saying that a fool at 40 is a fool forever, but to the glory of God, Imo State is not foolish at 40, but wise at 40, because of the giant strides of the Rescue Mission Government. Imo security is at its best four years and eight months down the line. Imo State was known as a kidnapping haven, but, now, it is considered as one of the safest states in the country, courtesy of the Rescue Mission Government,” Okorocha said.

Dickson gets Certificate of Return from INEC Akam James, Yenagoa

ÎÎÎThe Governor of

L-R: Minister for Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun; wife of MD/CEO, Airtel Nigeria, Mrs. Ronke Ogunsanya; wife of the Vice President, Mrs. Dolapo Osinbajo and MD/CEO, Airtel Nigeria, Mr. Segun Ogunsanya during the Premiere of Airtel Touching Lives Season 2, held in Abuja… on Thursday.

Bayelsa State, Hon. Seriake Dickson, has been issued a Certificate of Return by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the governor-elect in the just concluded gubernatorial elections.

The National Commissioner, South-South, Dr. Mustapha Lekki, who handed

the certificate to Dickson and his Deputy, Rear-Admiral Gboribiogha John Jonah (rtd) on Thursday, noted that the ceremony was in fulfillment of Section 68 and 75 of the country’s Electoral Act, which mandated INEC to present a Certificate of Return to whoever was declared as winner of any election conducted by the body within seven days of such a declaration.

Buhari charges northern leaders to emulate Sardauna EFCC seeks military VICTOR JIBRIN, Kaduna support on anti-graft war ÎÎÎPresident

Muhammadu Buhari has charged the leaders of Nigeria, with particular reference to those of northern extraction, to borrow a leaf from the life of Sir Ahmadu Bello, the late premier of the defunct Northern Region and his cohorts, with a view to make the country better and even carve a niche for themselves.

Buhari gave the charge, on Thursday, in Kaduna, at the opening of the 50th anniversary lecture in honour

of the late Sardauna, where a large number of who is who in the north gathered to decry the slow pace of development of the region, 50 years after his death.

Speaking at the event titled: “The North, 50 years after Sir Ahmadu Bello”, all the speakers – including the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, who extolled the quality of Ahmadu Bello, also charged northern governors and the living beneficiaries of the late Premier to “stop hiding under the shadow of the Sardauna” but strive to “be-

have like the Sardauna”.

Buhari, who was represented by the Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasiru El-Rufai, described Sir Ahmadu Bello simply as “a colossus”, and stressed that he took on and discharged with considerable effort the immense task of governing and leading the northern region.

Pointing out that the Sardauna was clear about the challenges confronting the region, he tried to address them, while uniting the diverse people of the area. Buhari remarked that

the institutions that he established – including the university that bears his name testified to his success; a development, which, he said, had continued to earn him respect, well after his death.

The President lamented the death of the Sardauna, but said that “the tragic circumstances of his death did not obscure the quality of service that he provided”, as according to him, “his was not the empty posturing, but a deeply-felt conscious sense of duty, which he responsibly undertook.

ÎÎÎThe Economic and Fi-

nancial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has called on the Nigerian Army to partner with it in the task of fighting corruption and economic crimes. The Commission’s Head of Operations, Enugu Zone, Obioha Okorie, made the appeal on Thursday, January 14, when he led senior officers of the zone on a courtesy visit to the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 82 Division, Nigerian Army, Enugu, Major-

General Ibrahim Attahiru.

He stated that the visit underscored a need for synergy and collaboration in the fight against corruption.

Responding, Attahiru said that he was happy that Okorie found it expedient to pay a courtesy visit to the Division. He pledged the support of officers and men of his division in the fight against economic and financial crimes and wished him a successful tenure.

News 6

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, January 15, 2016

Buhari’s aide circulated fake Budget –Senate panel Continued from page 1 session it held on the controversy, stating that the copy of the Budget circulated by Senator Ita Enang to members was different from the original copy read by the President on December 22, 2015.

The Senate had hardly resumed plenary when the Senate President Bukola Saraki called for a closeddoor session during which members brainstormed on the budget issues for close to two hours.

On resumption, Saraki said the report of the investigative panel it set up on the alleged missing budget had indicated that the President’s aide printed copies different from what the President officially submitted to the Senate last year December.

The Senate Committee on Public Petition, Ethics and Privileges constituted the panel the Senate set up on the whereabouts for the 2016 budget.

Saraki, however, said the Senate had resolved to work only with the original copy of the budget by the President and not with any other.

Senator Ita Enang when contacted declined comment, just as his aides told

correspondents that he was not in any mood to make comment on the allegation leveled against him.

Addressing the media on the issue at stake, the Senate Committee Chairman on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Aliyu Sabi reiterated that the turn of events had indicated that no budget was missing as reported in the media.

Re-echoing the statements by the Senate President, Sabi said the Senate realised that the document on the budget distributed among Senators and members of the House of Representatives was different from the original copy the President laid before the joint sitting of the National Assembly at the tail end of last year.

He said the Senate in defence of its integrity resolved not to work with the fake document circulated

by Ita Enang but with the original copy the President had submitted.

Against this background, Senator Sabi said the Senate had ordered for and would await soft copies of the original budget document prepared by the President and would rather print it without anybody’s aid.

According to him, debate

on the 2016 budget will commence on Tuesday, January 19 as scheduled, indicating also that Senators have already started indicating the day they preferred to speak on the budget.

He said the institution of the Senate has never done and would not do anything illegal as well as embark on any venture he said will not promote the integrity

of Nigeria.

When asked whether the Senate was contemplating any form of sanction against Ita Enang, the Senate’s image maker said, “We did not appoint him.”

There are indications that the last has not been heard about the issue of 2016 Budget, given the allegation by the Senate that

Ita Enang submitted fake budget documents to Senators after the presentation

by President Buhari.

The Senate President had in the previous day made contradictory remarks on the budget as he told colleagues earlier during the day’s plenary that copies of the Budget would be submitted to members for scrutiny during Thurs-

A cross section of Bring-Back-Our-Girls parents wailing at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Thursday during a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari. Photo: Temitope Balogun

PDP seeks President’s impeachment, says Nigerians now in APC’s ‘one chance bus’ Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja

Ï Tells Finance, National Planning Ministers to resign Ï It is a national embarrassment, says CNPP

ÎÎÎThe

assumed office last May. This is even as the Conference for Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) described the incident as a national embarrassment.

The opposition PDP urged the National Assembly to thoroughly investigate what it called ‘the shameful act’, including the distortion and banding of different figures to accommodate the personal interest of the All Progressives Congress (APC) members.

The party insisted that appropriate sanctions should be meted out to whoever has a hand in the dubious action that has brought embarrass-

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Thursday called on the two chambers of the National Assembly to commence, without any further delay, impeachment process against President Muhammadu Buhari for submitting two versions of 2016 budget.

The party, in a statement on Thursday by its Acting National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus described the development as the height of the various constitutional breaches committed by President Buhari since he

day’s plenary.

He recanted later when in response to a query on the budget fired by Senator Eyinaya Abaribe on the missing budget, he said Senators should wait for the Report by the search panel spearheaded by the Committee on Public Petitions, headed by Senator Samuel Anyawu before the next action.

ment to the nation’s legislative body.

The PDP also called on the Ministers of Finance as well as Budget and National Planning to resign from the Federal Executive Council, having failed to provide the much needed capacity in the management of the nation’s economy, leading to what the party described as “the embarrassing crashing of the nation’s currency to as low as N305 to a dollar.”

The PDP equally said the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefele should throw in the towel for plunging the nation’s currency policy into

chaos, an action, it said, has thrown investors into total confusion.

According to the party, the APC-led Federal Government should stop pretending that it knows what to do “when feelers from the seat of power shows clearly that Nigerians, by voting for APC have just discovered they boarded a ‘once chance bus’.

The PDP said, “We sympathise with Nigerians who are seriously undergoing terrible hardship because of the now obvious inept leadership of APC despite the promise of one Naira to a dollar.

“What hope can a government that allows its currency to break a 43-year

old record crashing to over N300 to one dollar offer and yet does not show it has clear focus of what to do?”

The party noted with regrets that rather than address very grievous national issues created by its lack of capacity to govern, the APC-led Federal Government has instead resorted to violation of peoples rights in the name of fighting corruption.

It further noted that the continued detention of its Spokesperson, Chief Olisa Metuh for nearly 10 days is clear breach of his fundamental human rights, and reiterated its earlier call on the anti-graft body to release him unconditionally with immediate effect.

The party called on all lovers of democracy especially the international community to note the fact that rule of law and respect for citizens rights, which are essential ingredients of civil liberty have taken flight in Nigeria under President Buhari’s watch.

Meanwhile, the Conference for Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) has described as a national embarrassment, the reported missing of the 2016 budget from the National Assembly.

The National Secretary of CNPP, Chief Willy Ezeugwu, while reacting to the issue on Thursday, described it as shameful and unbelievable.

His words, “Nigeria is such a place that anything can happen. If a budget of a country could be missing from the National Assembly, then anything can happen”.

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, January 15, 2016

Joy Ekeke

ÏÏÏUFUK Dialogue Foundation

President Muhammadu Buhari (right) in a handshake with President Boni Yayi of Benin Republic during a courtesy visit to Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja… on Thursday.

Ekiti College establishes anti-graft unit Gbenga Sodeinde Ado-Ekiti

ÏÏÏThe

newly appointed Provost, College of Education, Ikere Ekiti, in Ekiti state, Dr. Mojisola Oyarekua has established an anti-corruption unit at the college to checkmate embezzlement of funds and to prevent harassment of students by lecturers The Provost, who made the disclosure in Ikere Ekiti on Thursday during a chat with newsmen, added that she created this unit to fortify the public procurement unit in a bid to rise to the challenge of financial profligacy in the College.

Mrs. Oyarekua, who declared that she was ready for the consequences or the aftermath of the

Kaduna govt to commence school feeding Augustine Okezie Abuja

ÏÏÏThe

Kaduna state government, on Thursday in Abuja, said that it has concluded preparations for the take-off of the primary school feeding programme expected to cover about 1.8m school pupils per every academic session Already the state has commenced the employment of an estimated 16,000 food vendors for the smooth take off of the programme The state governor, Nasir ElRufai, who was represented by

effect from her anti-corruption war at the college, added that she knew that the action may make her to step on toes.

“There is no way I won’t step on toes. One cannot be embezzling money or engaging in alteration of results or harassing students sexually without being challenged. That I will step on toes does not mean I should not fight corruption”, she said.

Speaking on the dwindling interest for College of Education in Nigeria, Oyerekua said the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination has approved the request of the College to admit more students while quality assurance department has been established to ensure that quality graduates are produced in the institution. his Special Adviser on Rural Development, Mrs. Balarabe Aliyu, made the disclosure while presenting a keynote address at the Michael Omotoso annual lecture titled “making poverty eradication our collective responsibility’’, held at the Yar’Adua centre.

Governor Rufai who commended Dr. Omotoso for his amazing accomplishment and clear understanding of social responsibility and the fight to end poverty, however, called for a better understanding of poverty to ensure that various government interventions are shaped according to environmental needs.

He said poverty eradication and intervention needed tailor made and suitable approach, as well as building a strong knowledge base that will effectively tackle the scourge.

in partnership with the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Lagos Chapter, recently donated various gift items to children from Ijamido Children’s Home and Pacelli School for the Blind and Partially Sighted Children, at the Chapel of Christ the Light, Alausa, Ikeja.

Mr. Kamil Kemangi, President of UFUK, through his representative Mr. Mehmet Ozleyen, said the idea of donating gifts to the less privileged, is to make them happy and also project the core values of the foundation, which is the promotion of love, mercy, human rights, peace, oneness, interfaith and intercultural relationships.

“UFUK is an initiative with the mission to promote interfaith and intercultural relationships,

7 News UFUK partners CAN, donates to less privileged stimulate thinking and exchange of opinions on supporting and fostering democracy and peace all over the world. Also to provide a common platform for education and information exchange through conferences, seminars, common projects, scholarships and several other activities.

“As such, we are committed to universal values of freedom, justice, democracy and the rights of all living beings in order for everyone to live peacefully. It is important for individuals to rise above differences that drive us apart,” he stated.

Ex-Plateau Gov, Jang visits EFCC, released Chijioke Kingsley Jos

ÏÏÏFormer Governor of Plateau State, now Senator Jonah Jang, on Thursday visited the headquarters of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Abuja.

Sen. Jang was at the EFCC office on the invitation of the antigraft agency after he had been invited to answer some questions regarding his administration in the state.

Speaking with newsmen on the visit of the former governor to the EFCC, his Senior Legislative aide, Olivia Dazyem (Esq), confirmed to the Daily Times that Sen. Jang did visit the EFCC and was ques-

Jang

tioned. She maintained that he was set free after some time.

Sequel to Sen. Jang’s visit to the anti – graft agency, there had been tantrums from the Peoples Democratic party (PDP) and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state over Sen. Jang’s invi-

tation by the EFCC. Recall that immediately Governor Simon Lalong was sworn-in, he had set up a Transition Committee, headed by the Deputy Governor, Prof. Sunni Tyoden, to look into the debt profile of the state among other contractual agreements entered into and executed by the immediate past PDP administration led by Sen. Jonah Jang.

Immediately the report of the findings of the committee was made public, the state was said to be indebted to the tune of over N222 billion while Governor Lalong told the people of Plateau state that he had reported the matter to the Economic and Financial crimes Commission.

Two plead guilty to N210m ATM fraud

ÏÏÏStanley

Odjighere and Igho Timothy Okpekereke, who in 2014 defrauded a new generation bank of N210million, have pleaded guilty to a 2-count charge on money laundering brought against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before Justice M.S. Abubakar of the Federal High Court, sitting in Warri, Delta state.

The duo, sometime in 2014 at the Ecobank PLC, Oghara branch, in Delta State, cashed on a system glitch leading to malfunctioning of the Quickteller facility in the bank’s ATM to defraud the banks by transfer-

ring monies to several accounts.

All the transactions involved were failed transactions but the monies transferred were not reversed from the customer’s accounts.

Over N210 million was transferred into their First Bank accounts, which they laundered through other people’s bank accounts and later converted to their personal use.

Count one of the charge reads, “that you Stanley Odjighere, Michael Jesuovomine Edoja (now at large) and others at large sometime in 2014 at Oghara, Delta State, within the jurisdiction of this honorable Court, did

transfer and convert to your use over N130,753,674.09 (One Hundred and Thirty Million Seven Hundred and Fifty Three Thousand Six Hundred and Seventy Four Naira, Nine Kobo) only, being money you fraudulently stole from Ecobank and which said sum you applied same into the purchase of cars, plot of land and development thereof, with the aim of disguising the illegal origin of the money and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 15 (1) (a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act No. 11, 2011 (as amended) and punishable under section 15 (2) of the same Act”.

8

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, January 15, 2016

Politics

Æs

Edo 2016: Grumblings in APC over Oshiomhole’s backing for Obaseki

Oshiomhole

Sir when you compare the political system in the days of your father with what is in operation today would you say Nigeria is on the right track as a nation?.

There is no basis for comparism; it is not our wish that people should be killed or that things should be done the way it has come out within these past 50 years but we thank God that even as it is today, the nation is getting better.

One of the things your late father agitated for during his lifetime was unity of Nigeria; is this the kind of unity he envisaged?

Well, unfortunately, we didn’t have the type of unity that my father aimed at, but nevertheless, whatever they‘ve set up has always opened our eyes for people to see that there is a lot to gain from a united Nigeria. So, we should all continue to work together to make sure that the Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba work together to make Nigeria a better place for us all to live in.

As an elder statesman, what are the lapses that you notice and how can they be rectified in a united Nigeria that we have been talking about?

We will always continue to pray that we all realise that we owe one another some courtesies; the Igbo should respect the Hausa, the Hausa should respect the Yoruba, Yoruba too should

Omo-Agege

Osunbor

Airhiavbere

Less than three months to the March governorship primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State, there are loud grumblings within many camps in the party over the seeming support one of the aspirants is receiving from outgoing gover nor Adams Oshiomhole.

The aspirant, Godwin Obaseki is said to enjoy

tremendous backing from Oshiomhole who has seen him as a possible successor when he steps down later in the year.

Some of those in the race to succeed Gover nor Oshiomhole on the platfor m of APC include the incumbent Deputy Gover nor, Dr Pius Odubu, Commissioner for Works, Osarodion Ogie, CONTINUED ON PAGE 9

SLA Akintola’s supreme sacrifice for Nigeria, by son Today, January 15, 2016 is the 50th anniversary of the coup which culminated in the death of some national leaders across the young nation including the then Premier of the Western Region, Chief SLA Akintola. Ambassador Yomi Akintola, eldest son of the late premier, who is a former Minister of Finance and former Nigerian Ambassador to Hungary in this interview with REMI OLADOYE spoke on the unity of Nigeria which his father aimed at and how the family survived the agony of his death. Excerpts:

Yomi Akintola

Ahmadu Bello

Awolowo

SL Akintola

respect the Igbo and vice versa.

Once we continue to respect one another, accord the type of respect we deserve, we’ll be able to work hand-in-hand and make Nigeria a better place for all to

live in.

Fifty years after the demise of your dad, how has it been?

Well, I was just about 25 when it occurred and I am today almost 77, so we continue to pray to God

to continue to guide us, help us to appreciate one another; help us to know that one with God is always a majority, God will continue to assist us.

How did you survive because

you were a bit young then?

As I just said, one with God is always better than the majority. I cannot explain, but I know that I

Delta Central: Why Amori should return eight months salaries in Senate — Omo-Agege

Former Secretary to Delta State Government, Obaisi Ovie Omo-Agege of the Labour Party (LP) who was on Tuesday issued a Certificate of Return by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to represent Delta Central in the Senate has spoken on why former Senator Ighoyota

Amori should return the eight months salaries to the Senate.

According to him, the judiciary and lawmakers in the country should work in concert to ensure that those he called “electoral usurpers” such as Senator Ighoyota Amori of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), are “made to refund all entitlements

they enjoyed during their brief stay in power.”

At the ceremony, INEC also presented a similar certificate to Hon. Nwaobi Emeka Emmanuel representing Aniocha North in the Delta State House of Assembly.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, January 15, 2016

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

for mer Minister of State (Works), Dr. Chris Ogienwonyi. Others are for mer gover nor of the state, Professor Osarhiemen Osunbor, Mr Kenneth Imasuagbon and General Charles Airhiavbere, (retd), who was the candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Par ty (PDP) in the 2012 gover norship election.

Obaseki was appointed as Chair man of the Economic Team of the state gover nment by Gover nor Oshiomhole, when he assumed office in 2009.

Though he is not a known politician in the state, but it was lear ned that he is being backed by some prominent individuals from within and outside state including billionaire business mogul, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, who is said to be a close friend of Oshiomhole.

But for mer member of House of Representatives, Mr Rasaq Bello-Osagie, has said that Mr Godwin Obaseki’s credentials as a management expert was what Edo State people needs as the next gover nor of the state after Oshiomhole’s exit.

Thus, he has appealed to the leadership of the APC, in the state to commend Gover nor Oshiomhole for

9 Politics

Edo 2016: Grumblings in APC over Oshiomhole’s backing for Obaseki

Osunbor

Imasuagbon

Oshiomhole

Airhiavbere

his preference for Obaseki as APC gover norship candidate ahead of the governorship election in the state, saying that being a politician alone cannot guarantee positive future for the people of the state, adding that those insisting that Obaseki was not a politician should have a rethink.

Bello-Osagie, who represented the people of Oredo federal constituency of Edo

State between 2011-2015, said: “Oshiomhole was never a politician before he ran for the gover norship of this state. But today, Edo State is one of the most vibrant states in the country despite its meagre resources.

“When Oshiomhole came, he constituted a team and this same Obaseki for instance, from day one, put a team together to support

the gover nor. He supported the process to raise a strong team of professionals to help the administration of the gover nor. He remained i n t h e p o l i cy c o ck p i t o f the Oshiomhole administ r at i o n . “ W h at i s n e e d e d i n E d o S t at e n ow a s a re c i p e fo r d eve l o p m e n t , n o t res t r i c t i n g t h e ch o i c e o f c a n d i d at e t o t h o s e wh o s e e t h e m s e l ve s a s j u s t

p o l i t i c i a n s. We a re l o o k i n g fo r m a n a g e r s wh o c a n c re at ive ly m a n a g e o u r m e a g re re s o u rc e s fo r t h e b e n e f i t o f E d o S t at e. H i s antecedents as a management expert qualify him t o a s p i re t o t h e p o s i t i o n o f g ove r n o r o f E d o S t at e.

E d o S t at e a s p re s e n t ly c o n s t i t u t e d , i n line with its own vision for the state needs a super manager not just a politician”, he said.

NULGE boss to Buhari: Probe states/LG joint account system National President of the Nigeria Union of Local Governments Employees (NULGE) Alhaji Ibrahim Khaleel, has called for an urgent probe of the operations of State Local Government Joint Accounts System nationwide.

“This is absolutely necessary and it should be done holistically and thoroughly across the country,” Khaleel said at the National Executive Council meeting of the union in Sokoto on Wednesday.

He said the operation of the system left much to be desired, as it had hindered socio-economic development at that level of government.

The NULGE president said the system had obstructed financial and democratic independence of local governments.

“I strongly believe that the probe would help in unraveling how the huge amount of money sunk into the local governments were either rightly expended or misappropriated.

“Such a probe, as being advocated by the union, is timely and apt, while it will bolster the ongoing fight against corruption by President Muhammadu Buhari. ” The union is not averse to the change mantra of the President and we will do ev-

Buhari

erything humanly possible to ensure its success at all levels.”

Khaleel also said that the meeting would strategise on how to regain the lost financial and democratic independence of the third tier of government in Nigeria.

Khaleel said such step was necessary to make local governments to serve the interests of people at the grassroots.

Sokoto State Chairman of NULGE, Alhaji Shehu Dange, commended the state governor, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, for taking steps to address the problems of salaries of local government workers.

“The problem has lingered for so long and it has virtually defied all solutions but it is now history,” Dange

said.

Tambuwal, represented by the Commissioner for Local Governments and Community Development, Alhaji Mannir Dan-Iya, promised to take urgent steps to improve the welfare of local government workers.

He said: “We will ensure the extension of all rights and privileges being enjoyed by the workers of the state government to their counterparts in the 23 local governments of the state.

“We are also appreciative of the existing cordial relationship between the state government and the union and this will be sustained”, he said.

Politics 10

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, January 15, 2016

I may not disclose secrets my father told me — Yomi Akintola CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

survived it reasonably well.

What were the challenges faced especially in the early years of his death?

Initially it was felt that the Igbo were attacking the Yoruba and the Hausa and that brought about the situation of the coup of 1966. Ultimately, before the thing ended, there was a counter coup in which the Igbo were completely eliminated, so, we should all know that we cannot survive without the other. We should all know that Nigeria belongs to all of us, we should make our nation a better place for our brothers and sisters.

Chief Akintola left a lot of legacies as Premier, are they still intact?

There is no reason why …

Unlike what was happening in those days as a young person, I travelled a lot within Nigeria even before my father became popular; we were going to Jos Kaduna, Aba. I knew quite a lot about my country, Nigeria and ultimately we should all make sure that our sons and daughters move closely together and they should know that this country belongs to all of us. We should not neglect one another, we should be sympathetic with your brothers and sisters from whichever area they come from. God will continue to guide us.

Political affiliation is one of the things that unite Nigeria and this was one of the efforts

SL Akintola

made by your dad before he was killed in 1966; with the political development in the country, would you say that your dad’s vision has come to fruition and does the relationship still exist?

Until Sardauna passed on, he was always in touch with those of us from the west. Until Baba Azikwe passed on too, we were always in touch with one another. So, the unity of this country depends on each and everyone of us, we should all be our brothers’ keeper What would you like your Dad to be remembered for?

One of the things we should

Awolowo

remember Ladoke Akintola for is the sacrifice he made for the nation as I’ve said he could have escaped but you can imagine what it would have been liked if he had escaped. I will not be alive and a lot of others too, so let us continue to give thanks to the lord for he is good and his mercies endured forever.

Is there anything your father told you as a secret which you have not disclosed to the world?

Its only time that will tell and which will make us to talk, we don’t just talk.

Are you ready to share it with the world now?

There will come a time when

Ahmadu Bello

we will share it.

But after 50 years, has it not come of age?

Fifty years is just part of it.

Do you subscribe to the view that the followers of the late Awolowo and Akintola were responsible for the embers of division and political crisis between them during their lifetime?

I was really taken aback because Awolowo’s eldest son was about my age mate; he was born January 1939 and I was born Februrary 1939 and we were extremely close. Unfortunately, he passed on very early in life.

May his soul rest in peace. It is

Yomi Akintola

so unfortunate that things got to that level because ultimately, the Igbo felt they are being neglected and though they had to strike in order to make them to be appreciated, they killed the leaders of the North and leaders of the Western Region and ultimately, things started taking a different turn. But we thank God that we were able to survive it even though I was very young.

What is that which you have copied from your father which is still part of you till today?

You can see me talking to northerners as brothers. That CONTINUED ON PAGE 11

Why Amori should return eight months salaries in Senate — Omo-Agege CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

While making the presentation at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja, National Commissioner in charge of South South, Dr Mustapha Lecky, said the action is consistent with one of the statutory roles of the commission.

He said INEC did its best in concluding all the elections in Delta State, praising all stakeholders in the process for adhering to the laws.

According to him, INEC would work to improve on the electoral process towards deepening democracy in the country.

The new Seantor said in his

Omo-Agege

Amori

case, he has already lost eight months out of a four-year tenure, vowing to ensure that the

electoral law is strengthened to force people like his predecessor to return all they earned within

the period.

Omo-Agege said, “On behalf of myself and Hon. Nwaobi of Aniocha North constituency, I want to thank INEC for a job well done and for implementing the directives of the Court of Appeal as at when due.

“It is about time we did something to make sure that people who, out of impunity rig their ways to political offices, are made to face the music and should not be allowed to enjoy whatever salaries or allowances they got within the period they occupied the offices illegally. It is not just enough for the court to expel them, but they must be made to forfeit all their benefits.”

He added that as soon as he gets to the Senate, he would work towards ensuring that the relevant laws are amended to give such backing to judges.

In his reaction. the National Leader of Urhobo Nationality Council (UNC), Olorogun Jaro Egbo, said the event was historic and signaled a positive beginning for the politics of Delta Central He said, we are happy for today’s historic event will have a positive far reaching effect on the politics of Delta central in particular and Delta State in general as Obarisi Omo Agege will bring to bear his wealth of experience to bring CONTINUED ON PAGE 11

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, January 15, 2016

Why Amori should return eight months salaries in Senate — Omo-Agege CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10

Urhobo nation to the epicentre of national politics through effective representation.

“The Politics of Urhobo nation will never be the same again, we are in for real deal and we are happy about the issuance of the certificate of return to the Senator elect.”

Section 75 of of the 2010 Electoral Act, as amended, makes it incumbent on the commission to issue the certificate within 48 hours of the receipt of the court order which he said was received on 11th January.

The Court of Appeal sitting in Benin City, Edo State, had on 21st December nullified the election of the then senator representing Delta Central senatorial district in the Senate, Senator Ighoyota Amori of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The appellate court conse-

quently declared the senatorial candidate of Labour Party in the 28th March 2015 election, Obaisi Ovie Omo-Agege as winner of the election.

Delivering the judgment, Justice H. A. Barka in the lead decision, set aside the verdict of the lower tribunal which upheld the declaration of Senator Amori as winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Omo-Agege

11 Politics

INEC got it wrong in Kogi election —Lawyer Iniobong Iwok

Barely a week to the inauguration of a new government in Kogi State, the decision by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a fresh supplementary election in the state has been described as wrong.

This was the view of a Constitutional lawyer and public affairs analyst, Bily Dawodu in an interview with Daily Times on Wednesday. According to him, INEC should not have cancelled the election as it did but rather should look at the result of the election based on the accredited voters, rather than the numbers of registered voters in the state.

Dawodu advocated for the immediate review of the electoral law to take care of circumstances that took place in the election and to avoid future confusion in the electoral process.

Yakubu

According to him, “INEC was wrong in conducting a fresh election in Kogi, personally, I reason that INEC should have used the number of accredited voters, rather the number of registered voters in the state, all this problem would have

been avoided.

“I am advocating that we review the electoral law so that this kind of occurrence would be avoided, of course, the case is in court now”, Dawodu said.

He added that he would have preferred Faleke to be allowed to continue as the Governorship candidate, stressing that although the All Progressives Congress (APC) had no choice than to present the now elected candidate because INEC asked for someone who took part in the primaries.

Speaking further, he applauded the current fight against corruption by the current administration, lamenting the looting of the country’s resources by a few individuals, adding that current moves by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to prosecute those found culpable was justifiable, but however cautioned that the rule of law should take paramount.

I nearly passed on when I saw my father’s corpse— Akintola’s son, Yomi CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10

is something which I took from him and also my friends from the east. A lot of them too, we’ve been together for a while, the country is one and we should make sure that we share everything like brothers.

History has it that at a point in the political history of the country, your dad was supporting the North while Awolowo was supporting the East; are you saying that the relationship between your father and the North was responsible for his being killed by Igbo in the military?

It is not that I am saying it, the record of what took place on January 15, 1966 shows that it was mostly soldiers from the east and a few from the west that perpetrated the coup of 1966.

The people that perpetrated the act were called January boys, who are those January boys are they the easterners?

Mostly easterners and a few Yoruba among them because when the leader of the soldiers who is from the North came and saw me, the first question he asked me was whether it was true that Chief Akintola had been killed.

When I said yes, the gun fell from his hand and he was speaking in Hausa shouting and crying; so you can see that the country was fully

divided.

Immediately you saw your dad in the pool of his own blood what was the first thing you did?

I almost passed out. Because initially I thought they took him away but when we came out we saw him in a pool of blood. I was shocked, it was my wife who went up to pick some bed sheet to cover him.

In most cases when people talked about Akintola and Awolowo, the name, Awolowo is much more celebrated than Akintola. What is responsible and how do you want to correct the impression people are having about your dad?

It depends on the type of people you are talking to because ultimately there are quite right, Akintola passed on long time and Awolowo was able to exploit the situation. But when we were young, we were able to realize that Akintola played a major role in the history of Nigeria. So, it’s not that people don’t know, people do appreciate and will continue to appreciate whatever our contributions towards the greatness and unity of this country.

What are the greatest things do you think you can do to remember your dad?

Yes, we have done some things, there is a University, that is now being fully established. You can

see that my father’s house is still an effigy to behold and my mother’s house in Igbajo and the contributions of us all to the progress of Ogbomoso and Igbajo. My father is from Ogbomoso, my mother is from Igbajo, and we are making our own contributions towards the progress of the two towns and Nigeria entirely.

Is it true that there are some rooms in this building that you’ve not opened since he passed on fifty years ago?

Laughs … why will I not open it? I don’t allow people to use them, if we don’t open them, it would not be a beauty to behold.

As a political leader in Ogbomoso, what efforts are you making to ensure that unity exists between you and other politicians in Ogbomoso and Oyo State?

Naturally we hold meetings and at such meetings, we try to bring things that can unite us and avoid things that can divide us. It has helped in making us to come together and we are playing our role in making sure that Nigeria is more united than how we met it.

The current economic situation in Nigeria has been responsible for calls for diversification, as a former minister how best do you think we can go or what do you think the government can do for greater economic development of the

SL Akintola

country?

These are things which require much more than political thinking, we need to exploit situation and we need to know that it goes beyond political divides. We should all come together, we thank God that business has improved greatly since 1966; and when you look at what Nigeria was worth in 1966 and what its worth today, you can see that we have made progress.

But the Dasukigate and other corruption cases that have bedeviled this nation has bastardized the system, eating deep into the fabrics of the society; how do you think we can curb corruption so that the type of economic prosperity and other leaders and your dad projected for the country

Awolowo

can come into fruition?

There is no way we can do it that we won’t have some corrupt people in our economy all we need to do is to appreciate that the Nigeria I knew as a child is different from Nigeria of today; there have been a lot of progress and we’ve taken a lot of strides and things have improved reasonably well, but as you said, there are quite a lot of mistakes which we have discovered and ultimately the solution lies with us as individuals and collectively. We should all work towards making Nigeria a better and a united nation for the progress of the country.

If reincarnation is possible, will you still want to be Akintola’s son?

I won’t change it for any reason……. Laughs.

News 12

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, January 15, 2016

N34b fraud: Court orders arrest of Tompolo Continued from page 1 to the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).

This is even as the embattled National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olisa Metuh, on Thursday, approached a Federal High Court in Abuja with a suit to enforce his fundamental rights following his continued detention.

Meanwhile, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) also on Thursday filed a 7-count charges bothering on breach of trust, criminal diversion of public fund and money laundering against Metuh at the Federal High Court in Abuja.

The absence of Tompolo, a prime suspect in the fraud, stalled a planned arraignment of nine others before Justice Buba.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had filed a 40 count charge on January 11, 2016 against Tompolo, an ex-Niger Delta militant and nine others bordering on alleged conversion and theft of over N34 billion.

Those charged alongside Tompolo are former Director General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Patrick Akpobolokemi, Global West Vessel, Odimiri Electrical Ltd, Kime Engozu. Boloboere Ltd, Rex Elem, Destre Ltd, Gregory Mbonu and Captain Warrendi Enisuoh.

Akpobolokemi appeared in court on crutches but could not be arraigned due to Tompolo’s absence.

In the charge, the accused were alleged to have conspired to convert and steal the said sum which is property of NIMASA. The alleged offences are said to have contravened the provisions of sections 15, 15 (3), 18, and 18 (a) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Amendment Act, 2012.

When the matter was called on Thursday at 9:35am, the prosecution counsel, Festus Keyamo, informed the court that in respect of the first accused person (Tompolo) not present in court, the anti-graft agency only obtained an order from the court for

substituted service and despite the shortest time, the agency was able to travel to Warri on Wednesday, pasted the order on the wall, took photographs and due to the long processes, it has not been placed in the court’s file. He asked the Judge to stand down the matter for 15 minutes so as to enable him finish with the processes and put same in the court’s file.

The Judge said there was no need to stand the matter down as the processes were placed in the court’s file.

Thereafter, Keyamo brought an oral application under section 131 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act to apply for his warrant of arrest so as to compel his attendance in court.

Bayelsa State Governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson (middle), receiving his Certificate of Return from INEC National Commissioner, South-South, Dr. Mustapha Lekky (left) at the INEC office in Yenagoa… on Thursday. While the Governor’s wife, Rachael (right) looks on.

Lassa fever: 15 patients isolated in Abuja Ï National Hospital sets up Isolation centre Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja

ÎÎÎNo fewer than fifteen

persons have been placed under surveillance in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, FCT, following the outbreak of the deadly Lassa fever in Kubwa, a Satellite Town in the nation’s capital.

Thirty-five (35) others are still being traced over

the same disease.

The Coordinator, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Prof.

Abudulsalam Nasidi disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja.

Prof Nasidi stated that the number of people under surveillance may increase at the end of the day as the contact tracing was still on.

It will be recalled that the FCT recorded its first

death on Wednesday, thus leading to urgent action to trace those the dead patient may have come in contact with.

With the death in Abuja, the total number of deaths recorded so far from Lassa fever in the country is now 43, covering 10 states.

In a related development, the National Hospital has set up Isolation Centre for the treatment of Lassa fever.

The Public Relations Officer of the National Hos-

pital, Mr. Tayo Haastrup disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja.

Haastrup assured that hospital workers have been prepared for such cases, should there be any reccurrence.

He revealed however that the test conducted on the other suspected patient came out negative.

He assured FCT residents that the hospital was adequately prepared and ready to deal with any emergency.

But lawyer to the second accused person, Dr. Joseph Nwobike SAN, urged the court that in the interest of justice, the person served summon on Wednesday should be allowed till tomorrow (Friday) so as to have sufficient time to appear before the court.

Miffed by Nwobike’s plea, Keyamo urged the court not to listen to the Senior Advocate as Tompolo took an advert in some of the dailies saying that the Federal Government should not push him to war because the antigraft agency applied for his warrant of arrest in a country governed by law and that is why the court should issue bench warrant on him.

Justice Buba in a short ruling on Keyamo’s request for a bench warrant, disclosed that the process of compelling the attendance of an accused person in court is to serve him with summons and when he failed to appear, the next thing is to order for his arrest.

The judge further noted that there are proofs of evidence to show that Tompolo has indeed been served with the court’s summons.

“In the light of the evidences before me and in line with Section 131 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Acts (ACJA) 2015, the court is in a position to order for the arrest of the accused person for him to appear in court. The warrant of arrest is hereby issued as requested”, the judge held.

Justice Buba thereafter adjourned the matter till February 8, 2016.

Meanwhile, embattled National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olisa Metuh, on Thursday, approached a Federal High Court in Abuja with a suit to enforce his fundamental rights following his continued detention.

Metuh is seeking an order of the court releasing him from the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

In the suit filed on his behalf by his counsel, Ifedayo Adedikpe (SAN), the PDP spokesman told the court that his continued detention by the anti-graft agency amounts to violation of his fundamental rights.

He then asked the court to order the EFCC to release him or charge him to court.

Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), counsel to the EFCC told the court that the commission has a valid court order to detain the PDP spokesman over corruption related crimes.

The commission also said that it has already filed a 7-count criminal charge bordering on corruption against Metuh before a Federal High Court in Abuja and that he will soon be arraigned in court.

The charge against Metuh, which was filed on Thursday has not been assigned to any judge.

Jacobs told the court that the EFCC was only served with Metuh’s enforcement of his fundamental rights suit on Wednesday and that he needed time within which to respond, just as he added that the law permits the anti-graft agency to detain a suspect, having obtained a court order to that respect.

Jacobs explained further that under the new Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, EFCC has powers to hold a suspect in line with a court order.

The trial Judge, Justice Okon Abang adjourned till January 20, 2016 for hearing of the substantive suit and said the court will not entertain frivolous interlocutory applications that would delay proceedings in the matter.

Recall that operatives of the EFCC arrested Metuh from at his Abuja residence at No 14, Drive 1, Prince and Princess Estate, near the Abuja Games Village on January 5, 2016 for allegedly collecting N1.4 billion from the $2.1 billion arms funds diverted to several politicians by former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki.

Meanwhile, the EFCC on Thursday filed a 7-count corruption charges against Metuh.

The charges which bother on breach of trust, criminal diversion of public fund and money laundering was filed against the PDP spokesman at the Federal High Court in Abuja.

There are, however, strong indications that Metuh and his family company Destra Investment Ltd may be arraigned in court today (Friday).

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, January 15, 2016

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News 14

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, January 15, 2016

2016 budget: Edo PDP slams N400 million to security and InforOshiomhole mation and Communication TechTitus Akhigbe Benin

ÏÏÏThe

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State has captioned the state 2016 budget as a budget of misappropriation, pointing out that the state governor, Adams Oshiomhole, appropriated to himself the sum of N10.65 billion, representing 9.6 per cent of the total budget of N111.50 billion.

While lamenting that the state government neglected water provision and agriculture by appropriating N100 million and N300 million, respectively, to the two sectors, the party accused the governor of allocating N5 billion and

nology (ICT), respectively.

The state chairman of the party, Dan Orbih, who made the remark at a media briefing held in Benin to analyse the Edo State 2016 Budget, also accused Oshiomhole of voting the sum of N3.5 billion to the construction of the Accident and Emergency Ward unit at the Benin Central Hospital, adding that the hospital ward had become a conduit pipe used to siphon the resources of the state as funds had been allocated to the wards in the last two budgets.

Orbih stated that it was shocking that Oshiomhole, surprisingly slashed budgetary allocation to the office the Deputy-Governor from over N250 million to N35 million.

Members, Lagos Stand Behind Buhari (LSBB) in anti-corruption match to Governor’s Office at Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos...on Thursday.

Photo: OLAWALE ROTIMI

Buhari meets Chibok girls’ parents, BBOG, orders fresh investigation Egena Egena Abuja

ÏÏÏPresident

Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday approved the setting up of a committee to investigate the abduction of the 219 girls from Government Secondary, Chibok, Borno State.

A statement by Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said that the panel would be named by the National Security Adviser, NSA, General Babagana Munguno soon.

The Chibok girls were abducted

from their school in April 2014.

The statement said the investigation would seek to, among other things, unravel the remote and immediate circumstances leading to the kidnap of the girls

by Boko Haram terrorists as well the other events, actions and inactions that followed the incident.

Shehu said in the statement that President Buhari also assured parents of the Chibok girls that he had been doing his best and would continue to do everything possible to rescue the girls and re-unite them with their families.

PDP seeking to divert attention from corruption cases, says APC ÏÏÏThe

All Progressives Party (APC) has laughed off the call by the PDP for the impeachment of President Muhammadu Buhari over the controversy surrounding the 2016 budget, saying it was an attempt to divert attention away from the series of ongoing corruption cases against PDP members.

In a statement issued and signed

by National Secretary of the APC, Mai Mala Buni, the party described the call for the removal of the president, two ministers and Governor of the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) as distraction to the APC-led Federal Government. the statement read in part: “The attention of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been drawn to Thursday’s comical statement credited to the acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic

Party (PDP) Uche Secondus calling for the removal of President Muhammadu Buhari, resignation of two ministers and the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria by the National Assembly.

“The APC wishes to remind the PDP that Nigeria is not a Banana Republic, but a country governed by laws.

It is confusing and worrisome that the PDP calls for an investigation into the budget issue and at the same time calls for the removal and resignation of the aforementioned.

“In both content and context, PDP’s statement constitute a distraction to the National Assembly.

“The APC is confident that the 8th National Assembly will not be distracted by the PDP in its new desperate plot to divert attention from the ongoing investigation into mindboggling cases of corruption perpetuated under its defunct 16-year rule.

Buhari

The President, who spoke at a closed-door meeting with some parents of the abducted girls, representatives of the Chibok community and members of the

Bring Back Our Girls movement at the Conference Hall of the State House, emphasised that he remained fully committed to his pledge to do all within his powers to save the girls, the statement noted.

According to the President, “I assure you that I go to bed and wake up every day with the Chibok girls on my mind.

“The unfortunate incident happened before this government came into being.

“What have we done since we assumed office? We re-organized the military, removed all the ser-

vice chiefs and ordered the succeeding service chiefs to deal decisively with the Boko Haram insurgency.

“In spite of the terrible economic condition we found ourselves in, we tried to get some resources to give to the military to reorganize and equip, retrain, deploy more troops and move more forcefully against Boko Haram.

“And you all know the progress we have made. When we came in Boko Haram was in Adamawa, Yobe and Borno. Boko Haram has now been reduced to areas around Lake Chad.

Ondo Police arrest 150 suspected Boko Haram members Tosin Ajuwon Akure

ÏÏÏNo fewer than one hundred

and fifty persons suspected to be members of the Boko Haram sect ravaging the north-east part of the country were, on Thursday, arrested by the police in Ondo State.

The suspects, loaded in a truck marked with Registration Number, Kano NSR 97 XZ, were majorly northerners from Kebbi State travelling to Ore town, in Odigbo Local Government Area.

The Daily Times gathered that the arrested suspects were intercepted at Lipakala junction, in Ondo town by officers from the Funbi-Fagun Police Station, led

by Olu-Ojo Ogunmoyole, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of the station.

Police sources confirmed to the Daily Times that the suspects were in possession of dangerous weapons and some incriminating materials.

The suspects were said to have been initially detained at the Funbi-Fagun Divisional Police Station for questioning, where several residents had besieged the premises to catch a glimpse of them, before they were moved to the Police headquarters in Akure, the state capital.

It took the security agents joined by officials from the Department of the State Security Service (DSS), to maintain law and order at the scene.

One of the suspects, Abdulahi Sheriff, who briefly spoke with the Daily Times before they were whisked away, denied being a

member of the Boko Haram sect and also confirmed that they were farmers from Benin-Kebbi seeking greener pastures in the southern part of the country.

Ogunmoyole disclosed that the suspects were intercepted during a surveillance operation carried out by the anti-robbery squad attached to the Funbi-Fagun Police Station.

He reiterated that the suspects had been transferred to the police headquarters in Akure for further investigation.

The Police Public Relations Officer in the Ondo State Command, Femi Joseph, told the Daily Times that preliminary investigation was still on but added that the arrested people were mainly northerners.

“These people are hunters from the north purely doing their business of farming”, he said.

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, January 15, 2016

15 Opinion

Biafran war songs and Femi Oyewole’s testimonies

I Dr. Ikechukwu Muo

wept bitterly this afternoon after listening to the songs of war( recently released online); the songs we sang those days in the land of the rising sun. I knew and still know most of those songs; I sang them then and even though I was not among the fighters due to my age (not even old enough to join BOFF), I still recollect the impact of those songs.

Incidentally, I had my own collection of those songs but which I misplaced along the line. The content of those songs are not necessary now and may not even be relevant but I wept. I wept because those songs relieved painful, sorrowful and mournful memories of what transpired when the entire country chased us( Biafrans, not Igbos) away from anywhere and everywhere and yet refused to let us be!

As our people would say, they beat up a child and still would not allow the child to cry. As those songs came on with some picture and video footage, I had no choice than to remember.

I remembered because I saw it all!

I remembered the indiscriminate bombing of schools, churches, markets, playgrounds and even refugee camps. Indeed, the famous Nkwo-Igboukwu was relocated to a very thick forest( Udochioso, probably our own Sambisa forest) and businesses lasted from around 5-7 am.

I remembered the refugee at the St Anthony’s Catholic School, Osumenyi camp: the hunger, sickness and regular deaths. The dead could not be mourned because people were too hungry to cry. Death became too common and lost its rareness. I remembered the refugees, men and women of means in their

own rights who suddenly became nobodies, economic parasites and social nonentities. I remember those who died of kwashiorkor, especially their helpless and hopeless visages, as they were about to give up the ghosts. I remembered to total dehumanisation, pauperisation and destruction of Biafran peoples, their land, economy and everything.

Yet, it was termed a police action. I remember the schooling years most of us lost (though I lost only a year) and the misorientation of an entire generation of Igbos whose only concern was how to survive after the war. I remember all the survival theatricals of those days including eating cassava and cocoa-yam leaves, rats and lizards. I remember how we used to reinvent batteries to last almost forever in order to hear the authoritative voices of Onwuzurigbo Umezurike and Oko Okoo Ndem.

I remember the struggle for relief materials. I remember how our young girls sold their pride and womanhood in the infamous ‘ahia-attack’ (trade behind enemy lines). I remember how the Aburi Accord raised our hopes and how our traducers callously discarded the freely signed agreement. I remember how we used to cover one of my uncles with palm fronds to avoid conscription into the army. I remember my uncle, Eric Umeweni who died probably in the last days of the war and how we expected him everyday from January 1970 until he was burred ‘in absentia’ years later.

These are the realities I witnessed in those days and these Biafran war songs, it reloaded these pains and anguish and I wept, profusely and

bitterly.

Incidentally, a day earlier (11/1/16) I had read the testaments of General (I have elevated him to a general) Femi Oyewole on how and why he fought on the Biafran side. I recall that I read his book- The reluctant Rebel- about 40 years ago (when I thirst for the truth about Biafra. I read everything and anything about Biafra). The interview is a must-read on its own but five issues touched me deeply. These are how the Ifeajuna coup could not have been targeted at particular tribes; how Asiodu ( the same Asioudu who runs his mouth about what to do to and with Igbos) and his cohorts led us to where we were and possibly where we still are by treating the Aburi Accord with callous levity; the lie that Biafran soldiers seized the food meant for civilians as the author(s) of hunger as legitimate instrument of war had propounded and how easy it was to refine oil in Biafra; the same refining process and politics that has been an albatross on the neck of Nigerians and a sure-route to outlandish wealth by the well connected-Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba, Efik and what have you.. In addition, he was a core Yoruba who stood with Biafra to the end!

When I recall all these things and add them to some of the happenings and comments around us, I am sad.

Our president, a self acclaimed repentant democrat, appointed about 40 members of his inner caucus and they were almost all from his village or zone and reminded us that he has Ngige and Onu in his cabinet. Somebody like Itse Sagay saw nothing wrong in that because he was appointed to head a committee

that was dead on arrival. Out of the six key national positions,( President, Vice, Senate President, Speaker, CJN and SGF) the South-East Zone got none and our various right activists suddenly became speechless.

The other day, Oshodi market was callously demolished together with the traders wares to make Lagos world class. It need not be targeted at Igbos but wherever anything happenes at any market in Nigeria, Igbos go into mourning. Moreover, our brother Joe Igbokwe says it is all right and that Igbos should learn to behave.

The realities and dynamics of 1966 are different from those of 2016. Nevertheless, we must tell the truth about Biafra and there must be equity for all in Nigeria.

Nigeria must be for all and this is not just about Igbos; it is about the Tangles in Bauchi, the nonmoslem communities in Adamawa State; Bishop Kuka’s kingsmen in so-called Southern Kaduna and all those who are treated as if they are being tolerated in this country.

The Kanuists and IPOBians may be young, idealist, living in fantasyland and may not understand what they seek. However, as the loquacious sarkin-Kano declared once, those who did not witness the war may not tolerate what those who saw the war would tolerate. I have stopped weeping. Forgiving is quite different from forgetting especially when the wound is just skin-deep and there are no efforts at genuine healing.

been an Igbo creation, the Fulani-led federal government with active support of the Yoruba under Obasanjo would have employed scorched earth tactics.

In his media chat, the Buhari asked “what do the Igbo want?” A more diplomatic president would have used the opportunity to end the agitation for Biafra without firing a shot.

What would Mandela have done in a similar situation? Orania is a whites-only enclave in Northern Cape Province of South Africa. The South African authorities know that it exists. Yes, it is against the spirit of the new South Africa. Yet, it has been ignored. White South Africans are busy making money all over the country; they do not care about Orania.

Instead of using black security men to move against it, Orania has become a tourist attraction.

While Mandela’s was all inclusive, Buhari’s is not. Mandela had a broad view of national leadership. Buhari, sees national leadership from his ethnic Fulani and Muslim prisms.

Mandela did not claim to know it all.

Buhari does. Mandela was ever ready to adjust position based on superior knowledge; Buhari is rigid. Mandela’s advisers were from all over South Africa. Buhari relies exclusively on Fulani and Muslim northerners.

Mandela did not see the collapse of apartheid as victory for the Xhosa nation alone. Buhari sees his election victory as restoration of power to the

Fulani and the Muslims of the north.

Furthermore, Mandela in power was full of forgiveness. He was wonderful. I think he had the mind of Christ. On his part, Buhari is driven by revenge and unforgiveness.

No matter how good a candidate, all the parties cannot endorse him.

Voters make up their minds based on whatever appeals to them. In addition, they vote accordingly. After elections, governance starts. In Buhari’s government, he treated Igbo members of the APC with contempt. If it was not for the requirement of national spread in federal appointments, Ogbonnaya Onu, Ngige, Okorocha, etc, staunch supporters of the party in the southeast had been humiliated.

Buhari’s fight against corruption is a worthwhile project. Nevertheless, it must be prosecuted without partiality.

It should be purged of revenge. The courts should be allowed to exist to protect everyone, including the government. Their judgments must be respected by all. The Department of State Security and the EFCC headed

by Buhari’s kinsmen, appear to be using Gestapo tactics in the ongoing campaign against corruption.

Trials on the pages of the pages of newspapers should be frowned at by all Nigerians. Buhari cannot be seen to disregard court decisions because they do not agree with his expectations. When over confidence in one’s importance and power sets in, we are in trouble.

Dr. Ik Muo, is of the Department of Business Administration, OOU, Ago Iwoye, Ogun State .

If Buhari were Mandela (2)

B

Ubanese Nwanganga

uhari believed Nigeria was there for the Fulani. The complex nature of Nigeria existed only in the figments of the imagination of rabble-rousers and detractors who did not want to accept the reality that the Fulani were born to rule Nigeria.

Unlike Mandela, Buhari knows it all. Although he could not compare with Mandela in terms of educational achievements, only President Buhari can solve Nigeria’s problems. He is not only President and Commanderin-Chief, he is also the Minister of Petroleum Resources. Mandela was only President of South Africa.

President Buhari has insulted the Igbo nationality, for expressing displeasure over the way, he has treated them. To him Ndiigbo are insatiable with appointments. While the Fulani constitute less than 5% of Nigeria’s population, Ndiigbo are more than 19%. Yet, the Fulani produced him, as President after Murtala Mohammed, Shagari and Yar’Adua. In addition, they are in charge of Justice, defense, interior (now, the police has been brought under its supervision), aviation and education. All the three arms of the Nigerian government are headed by Fulani.

The case of Ndiigbo in Buhari’s Nigeria can be likened to a company, where there are the CEO and deputies. Then, there are messengers and

cleaners. Those who attend the company’s board meetings and decide its future are the owners of the company.

Messengers and cleaners are not. In Buhari’s Nigeria, Ndiigbo are like the messengers and cleaners in the company.

Even though Zulu and Inkatha Freedom Party leader, Mangosuthu Buthelezi did not accept Mandela’s ANC leadership of the struggle against apartheid, a serious matter that bothered on betrayal of collective black interests, Mandela did not fail to recognise that South Africa without Zulu land was incomplete.

He negotiated with Inkatha and other small groups that fraternised with white rule in order to have the entire country united. Here, our President is telling Ndiigbo “you can go to hell. I can govern without you. If you make noise, I move against you with all the forces under my command. “ Ndiigbo did not fraternize with enemies of Nigeria. We have made more sacrifice than any other ethnic group to the survival of our country.

On different occasions, we have been killed in the Muslim north by our compatriots. Our businesses are destroyed or looted. Currently, in Lagos, everything is being done officially and unofficially to cleanse Ndiigbo out of business in the state. Yet, we continue as if nothing has happened.

Boko Haram was initially targeted at Ndiigbo. Thereafter, they turned on their owners. If Boko Haram had

News 16

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, January 15, 2016

Anxiety over Mugabe’s health ÎÎÎThe Zimbabwe government on Thursday denied reports that veteran President Robert Mugabe, 91, had collapsed and died in Singapore after rumours spread rapidly about his alleged ill health.

Under the headline, “President well, fine”, the state-run Herald newspaper said stories about

Dasukigate: Senate, Reps PDP caucuses meet Sunday Henry Omunu

Mugabe’s health emerged each year when he took his annual leave outside the country.

“You cannot doubt that there will be a story on the President’s alleged death every January,” Presidential spokesman, George Charamba, told the paper.

Charamba blamed the ZimEye news website for start-

ing the rumours. “This is the way the website seeks to improve its hits in order to get dirty money… There is a financial incentive to the grim lie,” he added.

The Herald said that Mugabe was in the “Far East” but did not specify which country. The President, who is the world’s oldest national leader, has

ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980. Despite his age, he continues to give long speeches in public, but speculation over his health mounted last year when he tripped and fell down some steps at a televised ceremony.

He also read a speech to parliament in September apparently unaware that

he had delivered the same address a month earlier.

WikiLeaks in 2011, released a 2008 US diplomatic cable saying that Mugabe was reported to have prostate cancer and had less than five years to live. His regime is accused of systematic human rights abuses and overseeing Zimbabwe’s dire economic decline.

Mugabe

REAL COMFORT COMES FROM BEING IN CONTROL. Beneath the exquisite interior of the Jaguar XJ lies a lightweight aluminium body. Its exceptionally strong and light monocoque brings superior rigidity, efficiency and near perfect weight distribution. All this isn’t developed for its own sake, but to create a car as sporting as it is luxurious.

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ÎÎÎA joint meeting of the

Senate and House of Representatives Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caucuses has been scheduled for Sunday to finalise the next line to take over the continued detention of the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

House Minority Leader and arrowhead of the campaign for the EFCC to release Metuh, Hon. Leo Ogor, who made this disclosure on Thursday, said that “both caucuses will meet on Sunday to find ways and means to get our spokesperson out of the EFCC dungeon”.

It would be recalled that the House of Representatives PDP caucus had on Tuesday, issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the anti-graft body to release Metuh on administrative bail or charge him to court.

As at the expiration of the 48-hour ultimatum on Thursday, the EFCC was yet to grant Metuh administrative bail.

Hon. Ogor, however, explained further that “we are watching the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, expecting them to be law -abiding citizens of our great nation, expecting them to be people who have respect for constitutionalism and the rule of law.

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Daily Times Nigeria Friday, January 15, 2016

THE PLANTATION CITY ESTATE PROPERTY OWNERS & RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION The general public is hereby notified that the above named Association has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for Registration under part “C” of the Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. REAR ADMIRAL JOHN KPOKPOGRI (RTD) 2. ENGR. NOEL IDIODI 3. UFOUMA NICODEMUS OKUEGHA 4. OLUSHOLA AINA 5. OSU ETEMU 6. SAM OGRI AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: 1. TO PROMOTE LOVE, PEACE AND UNDERSTANDING AMONG MEMBERS OF THE ASSOCIATION AND THEIR FAMILIES 2. TO PROMOTE COLLECTIVE SECURITY ARRANGEMENTS, ENVIRONMENTAL SANITATION AND BEAUTIFICATION OF PLANTATION CITY ESTATE (PCE) 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 28 days of this publication.

SIGNED : IREGBEYEN A. JOHN

ORI-OKE ONA ABAYO PRAYER MOUNTAIN MINISTRY The general public is hereby notified that the above named Ministry is seeking for registration under the Companies and Allied Matters Act, Part C., 2004.

TRUSTEES: 1) Pastor Adams Emmanuel Ibrahim - President 2) Pastor (Mrs.) Adams Oluwabunmi Oluwaremilekun - Secretary 3) Mr. Olugbaro Abidemi Abiodun - Member 4) Mr. Adigun Mukaila Adelere - Member 5) Mrs. Akinboboye Grace Oluwemi - Member 6) Mrs. Badmus Bose Mosunmola - Member AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: 1. To preach the gospel of Christ.

2. To establish branches whenever converts are made for the expansion of the gospel.

Any objection to this Registration should be forwarded to the Registrar-General. Corporate Affairs Commission, 420, Tigris Crescent, Off Aguyi Ironsi Street, P.M.B. 198, Matiama, Abuja within 28th days from the date of publication.

Signed: Secretary

CLUB DE-ECOLE FRANCAIS MARCEL PAGNOL, ABUJA

HEALTHSHIFT DRIVE

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

The general public is hereby notified that the above named Organization is seeking for registration under the Companies and Allied Matters Act, Part C., 2004.

The Trustees Are: 1. Dr. Sylvia Idu N-Nwadiaro - Chairman 2. Mr Chikadibia Chidi Ugorji - Secretary Aims and Objectives: 1. To drive improved access to comprehensive and indigenously sustainable healthcare services, in all its ramifications, to underserved areas primarily but not only in developing nations.

2. To recruit Human, Capital and Operational Resources to optimize provision of health care in existing and or new health care facilities.

Any objection to this Registration should be forwarded to the Registrar-General. Corporate Affairs Commission, 420, Tigris Crescent, Off Aguyi Ironsi Street, P.M.B. 198, Matiama, Abuja within 28th days from the date of publication.

Signed: CHIDINMA OTISI (Solicitor)

The Trustees Are: 1. Delattre Luc 2. Ciara Rocle 3. Ibhahoh Osehise 4. Emuobonuvie Ochojila 5. Chinwe Sanomi The Aim and Objectives: 1. To protect the interest of Its Members 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 28 days of this publication Signed: Secretary

GLORIOUS KING’S FIRE ANOINTED MINISTRY

ALPHA MINISTRY LIFE TRANSFORMATION INT’L

The general public is hereby notified that the above named Ministry is seeking for registration under the Companies and Allied Matters Act, Part C., 2004.

The general public is hereby notified that the above named Ministry is seeking for registration under the Companies and Allied Matters Act, Part C., 2004.

Trustees: 1) Pastor Igbinidu Edith 2) Aikhionbare Osaretin Austin 3) Omoruyi Osazee 4) Imade Nelson Ese

Trustees: 1) Snr. Pastor Mike Osas Okpamen 2) Pastor (Mrs.) Christy Ikponmwosa Okpamen

Aims And Objectives: 1. To preach the gospel of Christ all over the world.

2. To help the less privileged, orphans and widows.

Any objection to this Registration should be forwarded to the Registrar-General. Corporate Affairs Commission, 420, Tigris Crescent, Off Aguyi Ironsi Street, P.M.B. 198, Matiama, Abuja within 28th days from the date of publication.

Signed: Secretary

Aims And Objectives: 1. To preach the gospel of Christ all over the world.

2. To help the less privileged, orphans and widows.

Any objection to this Registration should be forwarded to the Registrar-General. Corporate Affairs Commission, 420, Tigris Crescent, Off Aguyi Ironsi Street, P.M.B. 198, Matiama, Abuja within 28th days from the date of publication.

Signed: Secretary

THE METROCITY CLUB NIGERIA

ASSOCIATION OF IMO CITIZENS IN GULF AREA NIGERIA

FAITH FRONTIERS EVANGELICAL AND GLOBAL MINISTRY

The above named Club/Organisation with the following main objectives seeks registration under part C of the Companies and Allied Matters Act. The trustees are as hereunder named: 1. Chidel Onuora Esq 4. Lawrence Abuo 2. Uzoma C. Ibeh 5. Ugochukwu Egerue 3. Cyril Omelu 6. Lawrence Adigwe 7. Christian Ogodo The main Objectives of the Club/Organisation shall be: 1. To promote inter-ethnic and inter-racial understanding amongst people.

2. To promote recreational and social interest of members.

3. To organize lectures, seminars and symposia on issues of national, social economic and public interest.

4. To promote the welfare of members.

Any objection to tis registration should be forwarded with 28 days from the date of this publication to the Registrar General, Corporate Affairs Commission at its headquarters in Maitama, Abuja and a copy, forwarded to Chidel Onuora & co at Suite B12, Real Tower Centre, Plot 1121 Obafemi Awolow way, Utako District, Abuja.

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED FOR REGISTRATION TO CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION UNDER PART C OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED FOR REGISTRATION TO CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION UNDER PART C OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990 TRUSTEES: 1. IFEANYICHI IDIKA OLUA 2. JACQUELYN ONYECHE OLUA 3. DOMINIC UCHE ANYANWU 4. JOSEPH ADEJO AIMS AND OBJECTIVES TO PREACH THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL. CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET. PMB 198, MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28TH DAYS FROM THE DATE OF PUBLICATION

Signed: Chidel Onuora Esq.

THE AFRICAN COMMERCE GLOBAL MISSION NIGERIA THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED FOR REGISTRATION TO CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION UNDER PART C OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990 TRUSTEES: 1. DR JOHN TITILOLA AKINWALE 2.OPEYEMI GRACE OLUFUNMILAYO 3. GBAKINRO ADEKUNLE OLUWASEENI 4. GBOLAHAN MOSES BELLO 5. OLANIKE BLESSING OLUYINKA AIMS AND OBJECTIVES TO ENCOURAGE PEOPLE IN THE AREA OF COMMERCIAL ACTIVITIES. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL. CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET. PMB 198, MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28TH DAYS FROM THE DATE OF PUBLICATION SIGNED: SECRETARY

NATSUWA RECOVERY FOUNDATION THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED FOR REGISTRATION TO CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION UNDER PART C OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990 TRUSTEES...

1. ABDULLAHI HARUNA ADAMU 2. MUSA ABDULLAHI MAIKANO 3. EBITI WILLIAM 4. JOSEPH IKE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES...

1. TO ASSIST THE VICTIMS OF DRUGS AND NARCOTICS. 2. TO Create AWARENESS AGAINST DRUG ADDICTION AND OTHER HARD SUBSTANCES. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL. CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET. PMB 198, MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28TH DAYS FROM THE DATE OF PUBLICATION SIGNED: ISHAQ MUHAMMAD BASHIR 08035321642

TRUSTEES: 1. ENGR CHARLES HAWKINS IGWE 2. MR SEBASTINE OGUEKUSI 3. MR JONATHAN OHAKAWA 4. DEACON EJIKE OKAFOR 5. MR. ADOLPHUS EZERIOHA AIMS AND OBJECTIVES TO PROMOTE THE RICH CULTURAL HERITAGE OF IMO STATE IN THE GULF AREA ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL. CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET. PMB 198, MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28TH DAYS FROM THE DATE OF PUBLICATION SIGNED: BARR. UCHE NWAGU

LETS TOUCH LIVES INTERNATIONAL

SIGNED: BARR. UCHE NWAGU

RICH LIFE CLUB OF NIGERIA

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED FOR REGISTRATION TO CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION UNDER PART C OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990 TRUSTEES: 1. AMB. DR. CHUKWUBUEZE MICHEAL OBINNA 2. MRS JOPSEPHINE OMEBELE CHUKWUBUEZE 3. PASTOR ONYEBUEKE UCHE VINCENT 4. SIR OBIALA UDEOZO JESSIE

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED FOR REGISTRATION TO CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION UNDER PART C OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990 TRUSTEES: 1.MR. TIMOTHY MADU (CHAIRMAN) 2.MRS. MADU GIFT 3.MR. KELECHI EMMANUEL 4.MR. OKECHUKU KANU (SECRETARY)

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1. EMPOWERING THE LESS PRIVILEGED ORPHANS AND GIVING HOPE TO THE DOWNTRODDEN AND ELIMINATION POVERTY THROUGH NETWORKING. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL. CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET. PMB 198, MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28TH DAYS FROM THE DATE OF PUBLICATION SIGNED: SECRETARY

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1. To create and manage a wholesome and helpful organization, 2. To increase participation in special needs areas i.e youth talent hunts, and recreation programs in Nigeria ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL. CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET. PMB 198, MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28TH DAYS FROM THE DATE OF PUBLICATION SIGNED: SECRETARY

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, January 15, 2016

GREATNESS INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN CENTRE

FINSOL GLOBAL FOUNDATION

The general public is hereby notified that the above named has applied to the corporate Affairs commission Abuja for registration under the part C of the companies and allied matters act,cap 20, LFN 2004 as amended.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. PASTOR ADENIYI ADEMOLA ADELABU-GENERAL OVERSEER 2. MRS OLUWAFEMI IBIRONKE ADELABU-SECRETARY 3. MR ADEBOWALE ADEWALE ADESHINA-MEMBER 4. MR IREWOLE TEMITOPE JOSHUA-MEMBER 5. MR OLAMILEKAN AYINDE-MEMBER 6. MISS ADELABU ADESEWA-MEMBER.

THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED FOUNDATION HAS APPLIED TO CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, ABUJA FOR RE- APPOINTED AND ADDITIONAL OF NEW TRUSTEES UNDER PART “C” OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, NO. 1 OF 1990.

19

ACTION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN BORDER COMMUNITIES THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED BODY HAS APPLIED TO CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART “C” OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, NO. 1 OF 1990.

Trustees 1. FEMI AINA FASINU. - CHAIRMAN 2. SEWANU ANNA DEJO-FASINU. - SECRETARY 3. ABOSEDE POKUTEN. - TREASURER 4. OLUWAMAYOWA JOSEPH JOEL. - Member 5. PRINCE SHEKONI OLUWATOSIN DAVID. - Member Aim and objective 1. To promote health need of border communities towards reducing epidemics and diseases.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420 TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET, MAITAMA, P.M.B 198, GARKI ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. Signed: SECRETARY

AIM AND OBJECTIVE: 1. TO PREACH THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST AS A FULL FLEDGED CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the registrar general corporate affairs commission plot 420 tigris crescent of aguiyiironsi street maitama Abuja within 28 days from the date of this publication.

SIGNED: SECRETARY

THE OLA TRUSTEES 1. ANTHONY ONWUMA OBI. - RETAINED 2. JOHNSON OKHUMODE EMMANUEL. - RETAINED 3. DAGOGO IYEMO RETAINED 4. EFIYE LINUS BRIBENA. - RETAINED The New Trustees 1. OjejeEvaristusChukwudi. - Appointed Aim and objectives remain the same ANY OBJECTION TO THIS CHANGE OF TRUSTEES AND ADDITION OF NEW TRUSTEES SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420 TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET, MAITAMA, P.M.B 198, GARKI ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. Signed: Barr suzie Dung

WUSE MARKET COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT FOUNDATION

SAINT STEPHEN ORPHANAGE

FOLUMY SICKLE CELL FOUNDATION

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

Names of trustees: 1. Rose Ann Nwachukwu 2. Kelvin lkeokuEkeh 3. Valentine Uchechukwu 4. Chris Obi 5. Iyoha Gobin Aims and objectives.

1. Helping the orphans and abandoned children on the street 2. Caring for the motherless babies 3. To help the less privileged and youth in our society 4. Rehabilitating of children and youth.

Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the registrar general corporate affairs commission plot 420 tigris crescent of aguiyiironsi street maitama Abuja within 28 days from the date of this publication SIGNED: Secretary

The General Public is hereby notified that the above named FOUNDATION has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for Registration under Part C of the Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE:1. MR AYODELE JOSEPH TIMOTHY 2. MISS FIYINFOLUWA OLORUNMOLA 3. MR SUNDAY .O. THOMAS 4. MR ABIODUN NOEL 5. MR MICHEAL B. OLORUNMOLA 6. ELDER A. P. S AROGUNDADE THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE:1. TO CARRY OUT PUBLIC ADVOCACY IN CREATING AWARENESS AND INFORMATION ABOUT SICKLE CELL. 2. TO SUPPORT HEALTH CARE SERVICES TO SICKLE CELL PATIENTS. 3. TO GIVE VOICES AND RESTORING HOPE TO VICTIMS OF SICKLE CELL ANAEMIA. 4. TO CARRY OUT COUNSELING, EMBRACING THE VICTIMS, THE FAMILY AND THE PUBLIC ETC. Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to Registrar-General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, Off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama Abuja within 28 days from the date of this publication.

Signed: BARRISTER FUNSHO OJUMORO ESQ. (08035015598 &08070999408).

The General Public is hereby notified 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 of 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. OKORIE IKECHUKWU RAPHAEL. 2. ALHAJI DANGARA ABDULLAHI ABUBAKAR. 3. MALLAM ADAM HASSAN .

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: 1. To provide for the welfare of all Wuse Market Traders 2. To provide shelter and food for the less privileged 3. To train Wuse Market Traders in skill acquisition and employment programme 4. To enlighten and educate Wuse Market Traders against harmful practices 5. To create a corporate umbrella by which means we could participate and benefit from the govsernment economic and some other means programmes.

6. To promote unity co-operation, social well-being and understanding among the members.

Any objection to the registration should be forwarded to the RegistrarGeneral, Corporate Affairs Commission, Maitama, Abuja.

Signed: Barr. Stephen Nwigwe 08137852445

MISSING DOCUMENT

LOSS OF DOCUMENT

This announcement is meant to duly inform the general public of certain missing Documents titled Documents of Nos. 7, Ibrahim Onashokun Street, Ifako Oworonshoki, Lagos State; which belongs to one Alhaji Salawu Fadare.

Announcing this on behalf of the principal is ,Mr Terry Kayode Fadare, Mrs Modupe Mary Arojojoye and Ms Temitope Christiana Fadare. Kindly endeavour to return to any of the aforementioned name or to the nearest police station if eventually found.

This is to notify the general public of loss of original C of O of the property known as 30/32 Adeniyi Jones Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos, belonging to Mr. Felix Okey Nwaebo. All effort to recover the said C of O proved abortive. LSDPC and the general public please take note

THE ESTEEMED JEWELS OF CHRIST

AGUN AJANAKU FOUNDATION

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

Trustees 1. AGUN AJANAKU OMOTIAFE— president 2. AGUN OPEYEMI PATIENCE— secretary 3.ANTHONET AGAGA. Aims and objective To preach the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to RegistrarGeneral, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, Off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama Abuja within 28 days from the date of this publication.

Signed: Trustees.

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

Trustees 1. Agun Ajanaku Omotiafe 6. Alagia Preye Lucy 2. Agun Opeyemi Patience 7. Anothonet Agaga 3. Agrippa Rose Erowo 8. Elendu Rita Chinasa 4. Ozomu Aina Bridget 9. Iyamah Sunday Godwin 5. Olorunsola Joyce Eynchi AIMS and Objectives: 1. To help the less privilege, 2. Youth empowerment program Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to RegistrarGeneral, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, Off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama Abuja within 28 days from the date of this publication.

Signed: Trustees

KINTI LAFIAGI WELFARE ASSOCIATION THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED ASSOCIATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART “C” OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990.

The Trustees Are : 1. Muhammadu Ibrahim 4. Abdullahi Jibril Kokodo 2. Mohammed Ibrahim Ndagi 5. Gana Zhistu Gbako 3. Sulaiman Usman Takun 6. Mohammed Shaba Mohammed Aims and Objectives 1 . To Create Peace among members 2. To Cater for the Welfare and Empowerment of its members 3. To Render Humanitarian and Philanthropic Assistance to the needy in the society.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO REGISTRAR-GENERAL , CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION , PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUYI IRONSI STREET PMB 198, MAITAMA ABUJA, WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. Signed: Chairman

BOLA VICTORIA AKINBILE

FAVOUR OMOTOLANI

I formerly known and addressed as Serah Oyinlola Akinbile now wish to be known and addressed as Bola Victoria Akinbile. All former document remain valid general public should please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Adebanji Favour Omotolani now wish to be known and addressed as Aladesuru Favour Omotolani. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

ALADESURU FAITH

IFEDOLAPO TEMITOPE

I formerly known and addressed as Adebanji Faith now wish to be known and addressed Aladesuru Faith.

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

I formerly known and addressed as Akinyosoye Mercy Ifedolapo now wish to be known and addressed Taiwo Mercy Ifedolapo Temitope. All former document remain valid general public should please take note.

HARUNA YAMAH

OMOAYIENA ILIYASU

OLIVER CHUKWUEBU

AKINSOLA GAFAR ISMAIL

TAJUDEEN BALA

ADESOKAN MAFOLAYOMI FOLASHADE

I formerly known and addressed as Ilias Haruna Yamah now wish to be known and addressed as Iliyasu Haruna Yamah. All former documents remain valid general public take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Constance Omoayiena Sado wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Sa`adetu Omoayiena Iliyasu. All former documents remain valid general public take note

I, Nwankwo Oliver Chukwuebu of Ugwuele Isuikwuato Local Government Area of Abia State. A christain, a true citizen of Federal Republic of Nigeria was formerly known and called Nwogu Godwill have decided to go by Nwankwo Oliver Chukwuebu. All other documents remain valid. The Limited Bank of Africa (UBA) and the general public please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Akewusola Gafar Ismail now wish to be known and addressed Akinsola Gafar Ismail. All former document remain valid general public should please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Tajudinn Balah now wish to be known and addressed Tajudeen Bala.

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

I formerly known, called and addressed as LASISI MAFOLAYOMI FOLASHADE. Now wish to be known, called and addressed as ADESOKAN MAFOLAYOMI FOLASHADE. All documents bearing my former name remain valid, General public should please take note.

PAULINE NZUBECHI

BLESSING EMADUMA .O. STANLEY

ADETUTU SULAIMON

SIMIAT OLAYEMI AKANJI

PROSPECT ANIENDI MONDAY

I formerly known and addressed as Obi Vivian Ugochukwu now wish to be known and addressed as Okafor Pauline Nzubechi. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

I formerly called, known and addressed as Blessing Emaduma Akpana, now wish to be called, known and addressed as Blessing Emaduma .O. Stanley. All documents bearing my former names remain valid. The Bayelsa State Government and the general public should please take note.

I formerly known as Sulaimon Fatima Adetutu now wishes to be known and addressed as Fatima Adetutu SulaimonAnimashaun. All former documents remain valid, General Public take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Simiat Olayemi Ashifat (Miss) now wish to be known and addressed Simiat Olayemi Akanji (Mrs). All former document remain valid general public should please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Ekpo Aniedi Monday now wish to be known and addressed Mr Prospect Aniendi Monday. All former document remain valid general public should please take note.

CHIOMA FAVOUR FAVOUR I formerly known and addressed as Miss Daniel Favour .C. Radiance now wish to be known and addressed Mrs Enwereuzo Chioma Favour. All former document remain valid general public should please take note.

20

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, January 15, 2016

...Luxury & Style

Li LINEA ITALIA FURNITURE

41 Gana Street, Maitama, Abuja, Nigeria Tel 234-9-4136342, 0805 5103 177 www.lineaitalia-ng.com

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, January 15, 2016

21 News

Saraki: 30 bills on economic reform before Senate Saraki

Olufemi Samuel Abuja

ÏÏÏSenate President, Dr. Abuba-

kar Bukola Saraki has said that in a bid to provide adequate legislative instruments to fast-track the necessary change and reforms expected in all critical sectors of the country, 30 Bills to address

identified key areas have been submitted by his colleagues for consideration.

He state this at a meeting with his key aides as part of preparations for the commencement of legislative session in the New Year.

He also said that the Bills when passed would give backing to necessary reforms in the nation’s security agencies, judiciary, anticorruption crusade, agriculture, transportation, taxation, poverty eradication and the creation of business-friendly environment for investors, among others.

According to him, among the priority bills now awaiting Senate debate were Police Reform

Bill, Justice Reform Bill, Criminal Procedure Law Amendment Bill, Whistleblower Protection Bill, Budget Reform Bill, Ecological Funds Utilisation and Management Bill and the Excess Crude Account Management Bill.

Others are: Executive Bodies Independence Protection Law, National Assembly Budget and Research Office Bill, the Institutional Restructuring of the NNPC Bill in place of the PIB, the E-Commerce Protection Law Bill, Critical Infrastructure Protection Bill, Market Competition Bill, Credit Bureau and Referencing Bill, Agricultural Credit and Loan Scheme Bill, Private Sector Infrastructure Investment Pro-

tection and Regulation Bill and the Road Sector Reform Bill.

Also included are: The Railway Sector Reform Bill, Ports and Harbour Reforms Bill, Regulatory Impact Assessment Bill, Climate Change Bill, Tax and Revenue/ Bill, Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act, The Fertilizer Bill, The Government Performance and Result Act (GPRA) and the National Poverty Eradication Commission (Establishment) Bill.

The Senate President said that the bills were meant to drastically change the business environment and promote inclusive growth, especially in the real sector.

Saraki said: “It is the belief of

the National Assembly that diversification of the economy will not happen unless regulatory and legal framework for doing business in Nigeria are substantially reformed and deregulated to allow the private sector participate in the infrastructure market, which is a key area for creating jobs and priority national productivity.

“It is a known fact that the economic artery for delivering goods and services in Nigeria has mainly been the road network. But this has been severely limited by the level of degradation and lack of investment. The impact has been increased in deaths, and the penetration of goods to markets has been severely limited.

LG bosses laud Ambode over construction of roads Executive Secretary, National Human Rights Commission, Prof. Ben Angwe (left), inspecting facilities at Fufore International Transit Camp on Thursday.

With him are, Nema Camps’ Coordinator In Adamawa, Alhaji Saad Bello (right) and other NEMA officials.

ÏÏÏThe

Ekiti moves against Lassa fever Gbenga Sodeinde Ado Ekiti

ÏÏÏThe Ekiti State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Olurotimi Ojo, has assured people in there that the government was in control of the health situation and would leave no stone unturned, in ensuring that the current outbreak of Lassa fever in some states in the country did not spread to the state.

Ojo, who gave the assur-

ance in Ado Ekiti, explained that government had commenced massive sensitisation of the people on personal hygiene and the needed to report suspected cases to appropriate authorities for proper management, adding that health workers in primary healthcare facilities in the state had been trained to handle suspected cases.

He appealed to traditional rulers and religious leaders to assist in sensitising the

YUSUF TAIWO

NGOZI ROSE IGUWE

I formerly known and addressed as Owolabi Gbenga now wish to be known and addressed Yusuf Taiwo. All former document remain valid general public should please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Ngozi Rose Odoemelem now wish to be known and addressed Ngozi Rose Iguwe.

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

people, and in their areas, and emphasized a need for early detection and management of the virus in order to curb its spread.

Meanwhile, a health expert and Scientific Officer in the State Ministry of Health, Mr. Tosin Oso, has advised people to maintain a clean environment and ensure proper disposal of waste that may constitute a breeding ground for rats that had been identified as the primary reservoir and the major vector for the spread of deadly virus.

Oso, who noted that rats thrive and breed in dirty environments and open refuse dumps, stressed a need to prevent contact with blood, urine and faeces of rats, adding that eating food contami-

nated with urine and droppings from an infected rat could spread the infection.

According to him, the virus was also air-borne and could be transmitted when one inhales tiny particles in a contaminated atmosphere, noting, however, that the disease was not only manageable, but curable when detected early.

He advised health workers to treat patients with symptoms of high fever with suspicion, stressing that blood specimen should be collected to confirm each case which should be subsequently properly managed.

He also stressed a need for risk communication and community education, as well as high-level sensitisation of health workers.

Conference of Executive Secretaries of Local Government Areas (LGAs) and Local Council Development Areas in Lagos State, on Thursday, commended Governor Akinwunmi Ambode for his passion, commitment and sense of dedication to grassroots development, just as it urged Lagosians to support the current administration in its quest to transform the state.

Some members of the conference, who spoke on the inauguration of the construction of 114 inner roads across the 57 Councils, said the development was an eloquent proof of

Ambode’s passion to truly take Lagos to the next level.

According to them, the benefits and gains of the project to the socio-economic lives of the people would be of massive proportion, and, as such, Ambode deserved to be commended and encouraged to continually give his best to the people.

Speaking on the project, Chairman of Conference 57, Hon. Kolade Alabi, said Ambode, by the project, had kept faith with a statement he made, some time ago, when he said “the greatest achievements one can ever have is to truly serve the people.”

Liberia declared Ebola-free Lara Adejoro

ÏÏÏThe

World Health Organisation (WHO), on Thursday, declared the end of the most recent outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Liberia and says all known chains of transmission had been stopped in West Africa.

But it said the job was not over, in that more flareups were expected and that strong surveillance and response systems would be critical in the months to come.

Liberia was first declared

free of Ebola transmission in May 2015, but the virus has resurfaced twice since then, with the latest flareup in November. Today’s announcement comes 42 days (two 21-day incubation cycles of the virus) after the last confirmed patient in Liberia tested negative for the disease two times.

“WHO commends Liberia’s government and people on their effective response to this recent re-emergence of Ebola,” says Dr Alex Gasasira, WHO Representative in Liberia.

22

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, January 15, 2016

Features

Æs

THE CHEEKS BRANDING TRADITION:

A dying culture of identity, status, fashion and pain Cheeks branding, otherwise known as tribal or facial marks has a deep rooted history. Our features desk this weekend delves into the root causes of the emergence of the ancient practice now losing its battle for survival to the law and a new generation that frowns at its continuity. GBUBEMI GOD’S COVENANT SNR anchored the study with additional report from JOY EKEKE.

Alaafin of Oyo

It is true that modern records have distorted the true origin of cheeks branding in the face of other forms of branding on the human body that later came into practice; this includes a form of fanciful body marks styled ‘tattoo’ among others. Tattooing as we know it today evolved into a different kind of art in which people carve letters, sometimes images of whatever creature that catches their fancy.

But the true origin is still remembered and preserved in the memory of historians and scholars of the old Yoruba kingdom as told to our correspondent

by Octogenarian Akande Aderibigbe, a

Olusegun Obasanjo

scholar of the Yoruba nation in Gaa area of Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun state.

“What brought about the need for tribal marks in Yoruba land transcends the British colonization of our country. The history has a bloody beginning during the era of inter tribal wars.

“In Yoruba land, the tribes are many; we have different subsections which make up kingdoms, like Ife, Oyo, Benin, Ondo, Ibadan, Egba, Ekiti, etc. In those days, Obas fought to secure territories, boundaries and farmlands.

“Those were the days when Baloguns (head warriors) led young men of their towns and villages to overrun other

Samuel Akintola

towns and villages; they would lay in wait at local streams and farmlands and abduct women and children; they also overran other places and annexed their domains to become theirs.

“In that kind of situation it became necessary to give marks to people in their tribes and communities; some strong family lineages decided their particular facial marks to distinguish their children, men and women from other families.

“Certain tribal marks were passed down to the family of the Oba and notable chiefs to symbolize that the person is prince or princess of a royal family.

“So it wasn’t a fanciful trend; it was borne out of the need for warriors to identify their own people in time of war which was a common trend at that time.”

After the wars abated and kingdoms stabilised, the practice that started as a security measure continued as a culture.

It became a tradition for every tribe and ethnic group to identify their offspring by their marks.

“Even though the wars have seized, anywhere a Yoruba person sees somebody of his own tribe anywhere, even outside Yoruba land, he or she receives the person as his own blood and flesh.

“So even though the later generation began to shy away from it today, tribal marks are still very useful, it is still an asset, like carrying a passport that can give you access and favour from people of your stock anywhere you meet yourselves.”

Another version of the origin of cheeks branding was offered by Alhaji Mojeed Ashabi in Isale Eko area of Lagos Island.

The 65-year-old Muslim insists that cheeks branding or tribal marks was devised when the colonial masters were capturing people and taking them to foreign countries for slavery.

“Families began to mark their family members, reasoning that the marks would help them to locate themselves if ever they were captured and to recognise themselves when they are freed.

“Since that time, tribal and family marks became a way of identification passed on from family to family. It identifies members of the same village, identification of royal lineage, captures war slaves and people from the same lineage who are not necessarily royals. Over time it became a way of fashion to beautify our women,” Ashabi said.

Up to this day, there still exists remnants of conservatives who still brand their children in Yoruba land, different lineage or town and villages still maintain and cherish their different tribal

Continued on page 23

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, January 15, 2016

23 Features

My cheeks branding was as a result of sickness — Hasiya

Continued from page 22

marks.

Daily Times also found that the primary function of the tribal marks, besides identification of a person’s tribe or family, cheeks branding was a key factor to the people’s survival and existence in Yoruba land.

Families or individuals lacking the normal features consistent with the tribe are not considered sons or daughters of the soil. Such people were denied the usual social proprieties like greeting, socializing and cannot mix with people of their age group.

Of brands and variations The multi-ethnic and multitribal structure of the Yoruba invented and great number of varieties in this cheeks branding culture.

There are those branded on the cheeks, forehead, on the temple, under the chin and so on. Some come in vertical lines, horizontal, vertical and horizontal and slanted lines on both cheeks, etc. These marks are in patterns based on the ethnic group of their bearer and each has different meaning and different names; tribal or facial marks are just a generic name.

A celebration of brands In due course, marks were given names, each according to the kingdoms, towns, tribes or families.

The Owu brand of tribal mark consists of six incisions on each side of the cheeks. It is synonymous with the Pele style and peculiar to the indigenes of Owu, an historical city in Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State, Nigeria.

Former military head of state and later President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has the Owu tribal marks on his cheeks to date.

In one of his lighter moods at his mansion on the Presidential Hill Top Estate, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Obasanjo once said, “Not many people know that I have three identity cards. The first is the international passport, the second is National Identity card and the third is my tribal marks.”

The Ijesha people of Osun state for example, are known by the brand called pele Ijesha. It is four lines mark cut horizon-

In those days when Oyo people travel from one town to another, some were getting lost, not able to trace their way back home. Parents decided to give their children tribal marks so that people can recognize them and assist in directing them back home.

In Yoruba land of that time, a person without identifying mark on the face does not belong to any community or family. He or she is seen and treated as an outcast or alien Oludare tally, about an inch long made on the both sides of the mouth.

Pele Ekiti and Pele Akoko are also brands quite similar but not exactly the same in totality.

Then Ondo natives of Ondo State are identified by half-aninch-vertical lines on both sides of the nose drawn down to the

mouth; the marks are heavy, bold and called Soju. Within the same tribes folks also sprang another brand – a single horizontal line on both sides of the face named Jaju.

One of the ethnic tribes in Yoruba land who love and cherish their outlandish cheek brand is the Ogbomosho natives of Oyo state.

Their mark called Gombo or Keke is large and bold without apology to anyone! It consists of multiple straight marks drawn from the head, then curves on

the lower chin straight to the corner of the mouth on both sides of the face. Looking at this brand, one would wonder what the designer had in mind when he created it. A prominent Yoruba orator Chief Samuel Akintola bears this brand on his cheeks to date.

From Ibadan also is another cheek brand called Abaja.

Abaja is made up of four horizontally drawn lines with two or more vertical lines standing on the topmost horizontal line.

Abaja The Abaja brand is referred to in Yoruba land as ‘Abaja Alaafin Mefa Mefa’. It is unique to the aborigines of Oyo town and kingdom. Abaja consists of twelve horizontal lines, six lines on each cheek. It is noteworthy that the Abaja brand was inscribed on the cheeks of Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III, the Alaafin of Oyo. Other Yoruba tribal marks include Ture, Mande, Bamu keke and Jamgbadi and many more.

Continued on page 24

Features 24 Some prominent Yoruba personalities who did not escape the bloody cheeks branding culture include Olusegun Obasanjo, Samuel Akintola, Lamidi Adeyemi III, Ayo Fayose, Adegboyega Dosunmu Amororo II, Christopher Alao-Akala, and Salihu Moddibo Alfa Belgore.

The child right question Like circumcision, the child has no say when it comes to branding his or her face. For this purpose throughout the tribes and families in Yoruba land, cheeks brandings are carried out on the child only a few months after birth. This is because at that age, the child doesn’t have a say on decisions to giving him/her tribal marks.

The instruments of branding are Stone Age and crude; they include some metals beaten into shape by blacksmiths which had to be filed like the machete a farmer takes to his farm. This was later replaced by sharp knives and much later, the razor blade.

Even in this age of healthcare delivery to grassroots level, the brand makers still apply native dye, pigmentation or black paste usually from grinded charcoal dust which is put into the open wound to stain the marks black both to stop the bleeding and to make aid the wound to heal speedily. No pain killer or antibiotic is given to the child.

Origin of royalty branding Daily Times cropped out this funny tale from the records; it tells the story of how cheeks branding or tribal marks came into royalty.

A certain king named Sango, the Yoruba god of iron, sent two slaves to a distant country on an important mission.

In due course they returned, and he found that one slave had achieved his mission successfully, while the other accomplished nothing. The king therefore rewarded the first with high honours and wealth, but to the failed slave, the king commanded to be given second one-hundred-and- twenty-two razor cuts all over his body.

It was meant to teach him a lesson and serve as a deterrent to anyone who handled the business of the king slothfully.

But severe as the punishment was, when the scars healed, they gave to the slave a very remarkable appearance, which greatly took the fancy of the king’s wives and other people in the kingdom.

Sango therefore passed a decree that cuts should in future be given, not as punishment, but as a sign of royalty, and he placed himself at once in the hands of the markers to be branded.

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, January 15, 2016

The third identity card is my tribal marks —Chief Obasanjo

Olubadan of Ibadanland

As the story went however, the king could only bear two cuts; so from that day, two cuts on the arm have been the sign of royalty.

Going with the wind The Pentecostal and modern generation of the 21st Century may be the last of the generations that will file cheeks branding for whatever reason into their memories.

Following protests by some cheeks branded Nigerians especially the Yorubas in the Diaspora who mounted international campaign backed by European countries to outlaw the practice, some Yoruba states have enacted certain laws that prohibit the use of the marks.

It was defined by law makers as an assault against the person of the child and an infringement on the rights and liberty of the child. Violators of the law are liable to fines or imprisonment.

In Oyo state for example, the prohibition of tribal marks is an integral part of the state Child Rights Law which imposes a fine of one-month imprisonment or both if violated.

Articles of the law states in part

King Sunny Ade

In that kind of situation it became necessary to give marks to people in their tribes and communities; some strong family lineages decided their particular facial marks to distinguish their children, men and women from other families. Certain tribal marks were passed down to the family of the Oba and notable chiefs to symbolize that the person is prince or princess of a royal family – Octogenarian Aderibigbe that, ‘No person shall tattoo or make a skin mark or cause any tattoo or skin mark to be made on a child.’

And to put paid to the bleeding culture, a larger population of fathers of this generation are learned and are largely

Christians. Miss Joy Ekeke of our features desk spoke to some who bared their minds on the bleeding culture.

While not defending the culture of his people, one Segun Oludare recalled that the lineage mark in the olden days was because parents want the child to be branded as the legitimate child of his or her father as well as a way of identifying the child within and outside the town.

Dare Babalola, an Oyo indigene recalls another advantage that supports the practice.

“In those days when Oyo people use to travel from one town to another, some were getting lost, not able to trace their way back home. Parents decided to give their children tribal marks so that people can recognize them. In Yoruba land of that time, a person without identifying mark on the face does not belong to any community or family. He or she is seen and treated as an outcast or alien.”

Hasiya Nahum from Katsina confided that her cheeks branding was as a result of sickness.

“I was always falling sick when I was a child so my parents gave me marks on my face. Most

people make use of tribal marks as a form of identification and beautification but mine was on account of protection.

“When I was little my friends laugh at me because of my tribal marks, sometimes people don’t even know my name they only identify me with my facial marks,” she said.

One thoroughbred conservative no doubt is Oluwabunmi Akin from Ondo, in Ondo state who still defends the culture with passion. “I love my tribal marks and am not ashamed of my identity. In my village, our people cherish tribal marks; we give our children marks on the face and chest and we even do the local tattoos and some families can tattoo images of snake or lizard on the skin. It is our thing and we love it.”

In Oyo state for example, the prohibition of tribal marks is an integral part of the state Child Rights Law which imposes a fine of one-month imprisonment or both if violated.

Articles of the law states in part that, ‘No person shall tattoo or make a skin mark or cause any tattoo or skin mark to be made on a child.’

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, January 15, 2016

25 Opinion

Judges’ clientele is the Law and only the Law

ÏÏÏ Debate on the connection between law, justice and public opinion is quietly going on in our country. This debate stems from what many articulators view or perceive as this government’s flagrant disobedience of courts orders and the abuse of the judicial process. The Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) and senior members of the inner bar have come out smoking, falling short of accusing this government of tyranny.

Nobel laureate Soyinka weighed in late last week and called on the government to respect the adjudicatory and arbitration powers of the courts by respecting court orders.

A new but dangerous position has since emerged.

That position which insists that judges must seek ways of balancing law and justice with public opinion.

In effect what the articulators of this view seek is the exaltation of sentiments and emotion above the law, while the court finds legal justification for this exaltation. This exaltation is radically not different from the exaltation of the plebeians of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Recall how they mistook Cinna the Poet for Cinna the Conspirator. “Tear him for his bad verses. Tear him for his bad verses”, the plebeians cried as they “plucked but his name out of his heart and turned him going”.

Imagine if the plebeians had taken Cinna the Poet before a Roman judge and how the judge would have pronounced the death penalty on the innocent poet on account of the opinion of the plebeians.

The finer principles of the law wouldn’t have mattered. All that would have mattered to the judge was the blood-baying cravings of the plebeian mob.

Fortunately the law doesn’t operate this way.

The law extols the imperatives of justice by turning complaints to what Wole Soyinka rightly describes as the arbitration avenue.

Those who insist that judges must seek ways of balancing law and justice with public opinion appear to pander to the growing suspicion of a section of the Nigerian public, which considers the judge and the law as abettors of injustice, as conspirators who help those accused of stealing state resources to walk free from the clutches of state prosecutors, miss the point. The public opinion imperative they seek merely problematizes what is clearly the failings of the administration of criminal justice system, and in a manner in which the public opinion imperative appears as irresolvable questions of whose public? Whose opinion?

How can the courts discern altruistic interests in an ethnically and political-

Soyinka

ly divided public opinion space? How can the courts gauge public opinion mobilized and driven by conservative ideological media or social media ownership when judicial precedent demands radical interpretation of the law, or vice versa, for instance?

The idea that judges should balance law and justice with public opinion isn’t new. In his highly regarded work, “The Will of The People: How Public Opinion has Influenced the Supreme Court and Shaped the Meaning of the Constitution”, the American scholar, Professor Barry Friedman pushes this idea that “the court fight of 1937 served as the threshold of the modern era and signaled Americans acceptance of judicial review as the proper way to alter the meaning of the constitution, but only so long as the justices’ decisions remain within the mainstream of popular

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understanding”. Friedman challenges the oft-held notion that the court doesn’t represent the public in its judgments thus making it undemocratic, and argues that the courts in their interpretation of the law is subject to a higher democratic authority: we the people! Judges “bend to the will of the people because the court requires public support to remain the efficacious branch of government”, he proclaims.

Benjamin Cardozo it was who provided greater clarity to the idea of public opinion influencing the courts: “great tides and currents which engulf the rest of men do not turn aside in their course and pass judges by”.

Judges live among us, so they understand the musings and the angers of our streets. Can they then be influenced by public opinion, without someone necessarily goading them?

It is very possible they

are, looking at judicial decisions like Governor of Lagos State v Ojukwu, Rotimi Amaechi v INEC & Ors, etcetera.

What I see here more or less is what I call, “the challenges of identification”.

How do we discern public opinion or public interest choices in the decisions of judges? How do we know that the desires of the streets have been applied by judges to matters before them? How do we discern great tides and currents that do not pass judges by?

Can we apply the American experience to our circumstances?

Considering how well developed polling data is in the US, how sophisticated the process of gauging public opinion is, and how ideologically sharp the American public space is, it isn’t difficult to see how easy it is for the ideological justices of the Supreme Court to consider the US public opinion imperative.

So, it is easier for scholars like Friedman to come to such conclusion. In our ethically and politically divided country, it is very easy for purveyors of ethnic and political interests to monetized the mass and social media to mortgage public opinion. To rely on mass and social media outcomes is to tie the hands of judges, is to introduce uncertainty to the law and to the arbitration avenue.

The jury is out on our data polling culture, if the culture truly exists.

The articulators of the public opinion imperative demand that judges consider the wider interests of society in their interpretation and application of the law. Oh, well, it’s all good for them. For me, the greater imperative for judges is to keep the rights of

individuals from the reach of the tyrannical majority. The supremacy of the majoritarian tyrants only extends to their evaluative analysis of what the law is and not what the law ought to have or what judges ought to prescribe. When judges deliver their judgments, it is the responsibility of the majoritarians to respect the judgments. No more.

Again, I ask: can our judges discern public opinion and apply it to their judgments? My view is this: every judicial decision is influenced by judicial precedent, common law principles, experiences, beliefs and judicial philosophy, if, in our case, we consider the Kayodes Esos, Akinola Agudas, Niki Tobis, Nnaemeka Agus, Obasekis and KaribiWhytes as judicial philosophers whose experiences, beliefs and philosophical views helped to expand the frontiers of our jurisprudence.

“Judges’ clientele is the law and only the law”. The only instance judges can give judgments according to public opinion or to reflect public opinion is when such opinion reflects the state of the law. This is the view the Supreme Court expressed in the case of Atiku Abubakar & Ors v Umaru Yar’Adua & Ors (2008) 12 SC (part 11) 1.

Public opinion is in most cases built on sentiments and emotion, the Supreme Court stated. I couldn’t agree with it more.

Finally, while it is important to engage the public opinion imperative, care must be taken not to render the court to the control of the majoritarian mob- all to strike the balance between justice and our plebeian public.

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26

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, January 15, 2016

Art Review

Æs

National Theatre, Lagos

Suffocating intrigues trail National Theatre consessioning Agozino Agozino In the wake of pervasive complaints and maltreatment of Nigerians in their own country by managers of Federal government agencies and parastatals, it would seem that even Nigerians have joined in running down their own country.

The Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Lagos State Chapter, National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners and other creative bodies, have kicked against what they described as the on-going consessioning of the National Arts Theatre, Lagos, without transparency.

For many years, issues on the management of the nation’s foremost cultural monument, and, especially, the concession, have been contentious. Controversy seems to trail every account. But no side of the debate would budge.

Though the concession process, which is expected to see to the building of a five-star hotel, shopping mall, ultra-modern office building, land and water parks have been fraught with accusations and counter- accusations.

The ANA, NANTAP and other culture and arts-related bodies in Lagos also alleged that the Director-General of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Mr. Aminu Diko, was acting a script to favour some powerful interests in the controversial concession. They alleged that there was a grand intent by the DG

… Artistes insist on transparency

to deal ruthlessly with them or any stakeholder, who tried to be a stumbling block in his way. They, therefore, advised Diko to be transparent with the concession.

In a statement entitled “National Arts Theatre for Sale: Caveat Emptor” signed by the Public Relations Officer, South Association of Nigerian Authors, Mr Olatunbosun Taofeek and others and made available to the Daily Times, the bodies alleged the DG of telling the public lies about the concession.

“The recent development on the sale of our collective heritage, the National Arts Theatre, has gotten to us again and we are demanding of you to make public all your dealings and carry the theatre stakeholders along, (Association of Nigerian Authors, National Association of Nigeria Theatre Arts Practitioners and others) for the sake of smooth transition in order to avoid dragging us into futuristic combat with politicians. Honestly, we are not confident with your dealings, thus, we demand to know those fulcrums playing out in the sale of this monument”, the bodies said.

They recalled that former President Olusegun Obasanjo started the controversial concessioning of the theatre in 2010 when he attempted to sell it off to a Dubaibased conglomerate for $40 million with the intention of converting it to a shopping

mall under the guise of privatisation.

The artsites, who insisted that there was a hidden agenda in the way the DG carried on the affairs of the theatre, raised some questions for him to answer.

“Mr. Diko, if your move will come to fruition, we beg to ask you these salient questions: How did you come about Topwide/Apeas as the eventual winner of the bidding? We want to know when you put up the bidding? Those that bid; Why the winner? And how arts related/friendly is Topwide/Apeas as a company to be given such a big slot? Please, remember that this is not a political edifice, football stadium or central market, but, a national monument belonging to creative and intellectual minds. As such, we cannot take shrewdness for commercialisation.

“Mr. Diko, inasmuch as we believe in international tourism, there should be specifics. We cannot be taken to the butcher for dressmaking and yet someone keeps telling us we are going for sewing. The National Theatre is made for arts and let every move remain within that confine and not yield to the temptation of Jack and his many trades. Is the National Theatre to be converted to a shopping mall as proposed by the previous government or the hotel business as proposed by you is the hallmark of this engagement? In your last public comments, you spoke of people going to Dubai

and how they should get ready to come and do their buying and selling at the theatre.

Are we migrating from an intellectual enterprise to a grocery store? Really, we want to know. We don’t know if your target is a Broadway business or a Jankara market where “Dubai women” will rush to buy the latest gold in town. If this is your target, you are not only heading to deface our monument, you are taking it to the butchers for slaughter. Then your effort will be the last stroke that breaks the camel’s back by erasing the edifice, socially, psychologically and historically from our tangential footage. Mr. Chairman, it behoves us to tell you that the arts world in Nigeria is not in support of your engagement with any preferred bidder,’’ The bodies stated.

For those who don’t know, the National Theatre is not new to the concession controversy. At least, in the past one decade, there have been speculations about its future. Constructed in 1976, just in time for the celebration of the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC ’77), the complex is the epicentre of culture and performing arts in the country.

It has a 5,000-seater Main Hall, with a collapsible stage and two 700-800 capacity cinema halls, fitted with facilities for simultaneous translation of eight languages. It was designed and constructed by Bulgarian construction companies and resembles the Palace of Culture and Sports, in Varna, Bulgaria.

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, January 15, 2016

27

Art Review

Kakadu, a unity statement on stage Uche Nwokedi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and his Playhouse Initiative troupe make case for Nigeria to live as one again.

Agozino Agozino Uche Nwokedi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and one of the leading oil and gas lawyers in the country is not given to much talk. Nwokedi is not just fulfilled that he is a SAN at a very prime age, but one with a difference.

While other senior advocates argue their cases in the court, for Nwokedi, the stage is the bubbling and vibrant court where he has shown that lawyers can go beyond jurisprudence to engage in producing good stage plays. His clients, however, are the growing lovers of stage art as well as others who are concerned about the project called Nigeria and how it can be made better for all, despite ethnic differences.

This came to light recently, at the prestigious Agip Recital Hall, Onikan, Lagos, when the Anambra State indigene and his Playhouse Initiative staged the award-winning musical play, Kakadu. The play produced by Nwokedi, which ran for three days was remarkable. The audience watched with unwavered interest as the large cast which include Kanayo

Omo, Benettti Ogbeiwi among others appealed to their conscience on why Nigerians should live as one people.

Kakadu, the musical, is the journey of four friends through a time of infinite possibilities. It is a story of peace and war, of friendships and broken promises and of innocence. It is a powerful plot and a captivating storyline that looks at the Lagos of the 1960s, as a nation celebrates the end of colonialism and the birth of a new nation. Lagos, as a city, was as colourful then and as hedonistic as any cosmopolitan city in the world.

The performance, which was the first ever contemporary stage musical, is an exciting and eclectic blend of music, drama and dance. It is a tribute to the period and infinite possibilities of Nigeria in the 60s and early 70s. It uses the famous Lagos nightclub of the 60s as a backdrop for an era, which gave birth to wonderful music and the distinctive social life that followed the birthing of a Nigeria.

In the stage play, Lagos of the 1960s was re-enacted as a period when many were together, suddenly,

A scene in kakadu

that love and peace were shattered with the first military coup, then, the crisis began. The casualties of the war in Igboland, but importantly, the cordial relations that had existed between the Igbo and Yoruba was shattered.

The musical play comes at a time when Nigeria and Nigerians are gradually forgetting the ugly cause of the nation civil war. It

re-echoes the need to avoid ethnic sentiments and why every Nigerian should join together to build a united country. “The Kakadu storyline catches the watershed years in Nigeria’s history”, said Nwokedi.

The play calls on all to renew hope in Nigeria’s future. A well researched story, the choreographic display of the actors revealed how talented the producer

Nwokedi is.

Audience at the MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos was glued to keep the stage alive as the performance lasted.

Kakadu, the Musical, won awards and the commendations of many organisations including an award from the National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP) as the “Most

Outstanding Total Stage performance for 2013”.

Kakadu, the Musical, was Nigeria’s official cultural export and cultural performance at the World Economic forum in Davos, Switzerland in 2014.

Sponsored by MTN Foundation and Access Bank Plc, the audience included Professor Wole Soyinka among other stage art enthusiasts.

Okeke-Agulu’s Postcolonial Modernism wins Jewett Mather Award Agozino Agozino For giving a fresh perspective on the history of Nigeria contemporary arts, Prof. Chika Okeke-Agulu’s new book Postcolonial Modernism: Art and Decolonization in TwentiethCentury Nigeria has win the Jewett Mather Award.

Published by Duke University Press and with 129 colorful images, the book “chronicles the emergence of artistic modernism in Nigeria in the heady years surrounding political independence in 1960, before the outbreak of civil war in 1967.”

Okeke-Agulu traces the artistic, intellectual, and critical networks in several Nigerian cities. Zaria is Okeke-Agulu

particularly important, because it was there, at the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology, that a group of students formed the Art Society and inaugurated postcolonial modernism in Nigeria. As Okeke-Agulu explains, their works show both a deep connection with local artistic traditions and the stylistic sophistication that we have come to associate with twentiethcentury modernist practices. He explores how these young Nigerian artists were inspired by the rhetoric and ideologies of decolonisation and nationalism in the earlyand mid-twentieth century and, later, by advocates of negritude and pan-Africanism. They translat-

ed the experiences of decolonisation into a distinctive postcolonial modernism that has continued to inform the work of major Nigerian artists.

Since the establishment of the award in 1963, it has gone to two other black scholars, Lowery Stokes Simms and Okeke-Agulu is a scholars of African art, a curator, artist, and Associate Professor in the Department of Art at Princeton University. He is a coauthor of Contemporary African Art since 1980 and coeditor (with Okwui Enwezor and Salah M. Hassan) of Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art, also published by Duke University Press.

Moses thrilled to return for West Ham

N

Moses

igeria international Victor Moses is thrilled to be back in training for his English Premier League side West Ham United after injury laid him off for more than a month.

The forward suffered a hamstring injury on December 5

while in action against Manchester United and he therefore lasted just 37 minutes in that game.

“Great training session with the lads on Thursday, happy to be back,” Victor Moses

tweeted.

The Chelsea loanee has played 10 games for ‘The Hammers’ this season with a goal to his credit.

He has played for Crystal Palace, Wigan Athletic, Liverpool and Stoke City.

Aguirre calm amid matchfixing probe

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Friday, January 15, 2016

N A H C s e l g Eetaout to

S

uper Eagles ‘B’ team will fly out of Johannesburg, South Africa, this morning for Rwanda ahead of this year’s CHAN. The team will depart 8am local time and officials said flying time to Kigali is estimated to be three hours.

The team of players from the Nigerian domestic league have been training in Pretoria, South Africa, since January 2 in readiness for the tourney.

CHAN Eagles are so far unbeaten in both competitive and friendly matches.

Meanwhile, Super Eagles captain Ahmed Musa has said the country’s ‘B’ team have everything to win the 2016 CHAN in Rwanda.

He said the team will not be lacking in quality because he has trained with several of the players on t h e CHAN squad.

“I know the team have all the qualities to win CHAN in Rwanda,” said the CSKA Moscow star, who also featured for the Nigeria ‘B’ team in 2009.

“I have trained with some of the players in the team and I know what they are capable of doing. I also watched the team train. I just wish them good luck and success at CHAN.”

j , a d n a Rw as Musa backs team Ahmed Musa tasks CHAN Eagles on success in Rwanda.

Al Ain official blasts Emenike over poor show

A

top official of Al Ain has accused Nigeria striker Emmanuel Emenike that he never wanted to play for the Dubai club and so his lack of commitment.

Emenike has quit Al Ain to return to his Turkish club Fenerbache.

Al Ain board member, Mohammed Obeid Hamdoun, said he was not surprised Emenike and Ryan Babel have departed because they were never fully committed to the club.

“Sometimes big name and big players come and don’t do anything here. This can happen in any team. Sometimes you bring one big name and he doesn’t want to play — that’s my opinion on Babel and Emenike, I think they didn’t want to play here,” he alleged.

Delta gov appoints brother sports commissioner Monday Osayande, Asaba

D

elta State governor, Senator (Dr) Ifeanyi Okowa, on Thursday appointed his elder brother, Chief Tony Okowa, as Chairman, Delta Sports Commission and other members into Boards and Agencies, warning them to shun ‘money grabbing’ or have their Commissions dissolved.

Okowa made the warning on Thursday in Asaba during the inauguration of about nine Boards and Agencies, saying their appointments

would ensure decisive implementation of policies to ensure quick delivery of his SMART agenda.

The governor urged them to “take note that their appointments are not avenue for self-aggrandizement and self-enrichment but a call to service Deltans and humanity through delivery on the SMART agenda of this administration which are Strategic wealth creation initiatives and provision of jobs for all; Meaningful peace building platforms aimed at political/social stability; Agricultural reforms

Okowa and industrialization; Relevant health and education policies; Transformed environment through massive urban renewal.”

He explained that, with the inauguration of the Boards and Commission his “administration continues to position itself to decisively implement its policies in respect of the economy and in other areas,” adding that the Boards should not be lured to run counter to the goals of their respective agencies.

According to him, the appointments were in recognition of track records of experience,

hard work and contribution of the appointees to the development of Delta State charging the appointees to work very hard so that during their tenure, they can transform their various agencies to attain desired goals.

Responding on behalf of the appointees, Dr. Chris Chris Oghenechovwen the thanked Governor Okowa for deeming them fit to serve the state in their respective Boards and Commission, pledging to carry out their functions diligently to the glory of God and service to humanity.

Friday, December 15, 2016

EXTRATIME

Golfers

Victor Osimhen (right) in action for Nigeria at the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile where the Golden Eaglets emerged champions for record fifth time.

warm up

for DOAMF Charity Golf

CHAN 2016: Onobi gets Eagles No 10 jersey

S

ANDREW EKEJIUBA

G

olfers at Ikoyi Golf Club in Lagos have commenced preparation for the biggest charity event on the club’s calendar - the DOAM Foundation Charity Golf Tournament, scheduled for Saturday, February 6, 2016.

The tournament, which has provided a platform for members and corporate bodies to support social causes in the last six years, features a qualifier event scheduled for Saturday, January 23, 2016 at the Golf Section of Ikoyi Club 1938.

Chairman of the tournament’s Organising Committee, Pat Bassey, who has coordinated all previous editions, said that the event connects well with the golfing community because it fills a vacuum that a number of golfers have yearned for over time.

“We have a huge number of golfers who need the platform that this event provides, so that they can connect with the indigent and the less privileged in the society.

The increasing interest, year after year, only goes to show that their expectations are being met,” Bassey said.

Over 200 golfers are expected during the qualifier to vie for slots at the final of the event, the committee members have informed.

Players who scale through the one-day qualifier would be drawn alongside invited players and guests at the final of the tournament in February.

The DOAMF Charity Golf funds are channeled to support social causes in the society.

29

n e h m i s O set to complete Wolfsburg deal

C

AF Youth Player of the Year and U-17 World Cup hotshot Victor Osimhen will complete his transfer to German Bundesliga side Wolfsburg this month, his representatives have disclosed.

“Everything is on course. People should disregard the speculations about the player’s future because this month he will sign for Wolfsburg,” said one of Osimhen’s representatives.

“Some of the stories are sponsored by

those who have lost out on transferring the player.”

Osimhen from Ultimate Strikers Academy of Lagos has already dismissed speculations linking him with a move to English Premier League side Arsenal.

He has already visited Wolfsburg and his handlers have given their word to Wolfsburg.

“My destination is Wolfsburg. It will be a great platform for me to take my career to the next level,” he said.

unshine Stars midfielder Paul Onobi will wear jersey No 10 when the Eagles begin battle for the 2016 CHAN with skipper Chima Akas sporting shirt No 3.

Bartholomew ‘Mosquito’ Ibenegbu has jersey No 12, Ifeanyi Matthew will wear No 8 and top striker Tunde Adeniji has No 9.

Ibenegbu is the oldest Nigeria star in Rwanda as he will be 30 next month, while Ifeanyi Matthew is the youngest as he will celebrate his 19th birthday two days after the team’s opening match against Niger.

He will be the only Nigeria player who will celebrate his birthday in Rwanda.

Onobi

30

Friday, December 15, 2016

EXTRATIME

BRIEFS

Sanchez

Sanchez to undergo fitness test

A

rsenal manager Arsene Wenger has revealed Alexis Sanchez could make his comeback in Sunday’s Premier League trip to Stoke City, but the Chile international will undergo a late fitness test before a decision is made on his availability. The 27-year-old last featured for Arsenal in the 1-1 draw with Norwich City on November 29 and has since been out of action due to a hamstring problem.

Arsenal were initially hopeful he would be back before the turn of the year, but a recovery setback kept him sidelined for three additional weeks.

Belief high at Villa –Okore

A

ston Villa defender Jores Okore insists his team can avoid Premier League relegation despite their struggles this season. Remi Garde’s men were given a huge boost with a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace on Tuesday - their second of the season and first since the opening day. Despite that result, Villa are still eight points from safety over halfway into the season, leaving them in a dire situation in their bid to avoid relegation from the Premier League for the first time.

Confidence flowing for in-form Ramsey

A

rsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey says he is feeling full of confidence after his goalscoring form continued in the 3-3 draw at Liverpool on Wednesday.

The Wales international scored the Gunners’ first of the match by converting Joel Campbell’s slick pass and also had a dinked effort headed off the goal-line by home defender Mamadou Sakho.

Ramsey, who has proven his goalscoring credentials before by netting 16 times in all competitions for Arsenal during the 2013-14 season, has now scored four times in the last nine matches he has been involved in and is hoping to add more.

a t s o C No , m e l b o pr says Hiddink C

helsea manager Guus Hiddink insists Diego Costa’s fiery temper is not a problem and says he likes that the forward plays with emotion.

Costa was at the centre of a number of talking points in Chelsea’s 2-2 Premier League draw with West Bromwich Albion at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night.

After being booked for a reckless challenge on West Brom midfielder Craig Gardner, Costa was involved in a number of heated confrontations with the visiting players, including defender Jonas Olsson and goalkeeper Boaz Myhill.

Costa also confronted referee Anthony Taylor after he blew for halftime with Chelsea on the attack and for failing to show West Brom midfielder Claudio Yacob a second yellow card for bringing him down just before the hour mark.

Diego Costa (left) argues with referee Anthony Taylor during the 2-2 draw with West Brom.

The Spain forward was involved in a training ground bust-up with team-mate Oscar last week and his temperament has been called into question on more than one occasion since he joined Chelsea from Atletico Madrid in July 2014.

However, Hiddink was quick to play down any issues with regards to Costa’s personality on the pitch and suggested he was not entirely at the fault for the incidents.

E l n e n y completes

Arsenal move A

rsenal have secured their first signing of the January transfer window by completing a deal for Basel midfielder Mohamed Elneny.

The 23-year-old was in London on Wednesday to complete the formalities on a four-and-ahalf year contract having already undergone a medical with the current Premier League leaders.

Arsene Wenger confirmed following his side’s

Elneny

3-3 draw with Liverpool that a deal for Elneny had been completed and hoped to have him available for Sunday clash with Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium.

Arsenal have now confirmed Elneny’s arrival at the Emirates Stadium, subject to the completion of the regulatory processes.

Elneny, who has been capped 39 times by Egypt, started his career in his homeland with El

Shaqiri M set to miss Arsenal clash

Mokawloon before joining Basel in 2013.

He has helped Basel win three successive league titles in Switzerland and also helped them reach the Europa League semi-finals during his first season at the club, losing to eventual winners Chelsea.

Elneny made 28 appearances for Basel this season, scoring six goals.

ark Hughes has revealed Stoke Ctiy may have to make do without the services of Xherdan Shaqiri when they take on Arsenal at the weekend due to a hamstring injury.

T h e Switzerland international was forced to sit out Wednesday’s 3-1 win over Norwich City and Hughes has Shaqiri made it clear a

return on Sunday is unlikely.

“Xherdan may miss out on Sunday’s game,” Hughes told reporters.

“The likelihood is he will probably need at least 10 days and possibly more and that’s a real shame.

“It’s s a shame because he’s just started to acclimatise to the Premier League and we could have used his guile versus Norwich.

“He could have helped break a resolute Norwich side down but thankfully we didn’t need him in the end and it was a good three points.”

Meanwhile, Hughes is confident Marko Arnautovic will be ready to feature against Arsenal.

Friday, December 15, 2016

EXTRATIME

M

ario Gotze’s long-term future with Bayern Munich could be in doubt after sporting director Matthias Sammer admitted the club will hold talks with the midfielder.

The German international has recently been linked with a move to Liverpool under Jurgen Klopp, who he played for previously at Borussia Dortmund.

Sammer rejected those rumours when they first surfaced but Gotze later said he would have to consider his future if he continued to spend so much time on the substitutes bench.

The 23-year-old has made only seven Bundesliga appearances for Bayern off the bench this season, with manager Pep Guardiola preferring to use him as an impact player instead.

Carlo Ancelotti will replace Guardiola at the end of the campaign but whether he will have Gotze - who is currently recovering from a hamstring injury - to work with remains to be seen.

Sammer is adamant the man who scored Germany’s winning goal in the 2014 World Cup final against Argentina

31

Aguirre

will not leave the Allianz Arena in the January transfer window.

He intends to have discussions with Gotze, who has 18 months left on his current deal, in order to resolve any uncertainty about where he will play beyond the summer.

Gotze’s sss

Bayer n future unclear

Lewandowski

tasks Bayern players

calm amid match-fixing probe

J

avier Aguirre says he is remaining calm despite an ongoing investigation into match-fixing during his time in Spain.

The Mexican was sacked as Japan national team coach 12 months ago amid the allegations.

The investigations are focusing on a La Liga clash with Levante in May 2011 when Aguirre was coach of Real Zaragoza.

Aguirre has since taken over at Al-Wahda in the United Arab Emirates, and has opened up on the events that took place last year.

When asked if he was sacked by the Japanese FA as an excuse after a disappointing Asian Cup, Aguirre said: “Good question. I don’t know.

“Japan Football Association president Kuniya Daini told everybody after the Asian Cup, on the record, I am staying. But 10, 12, 15 days later, they decided.

“Maybe it was an excuse. I don’t know and I don’t care.”

The 57-year-old insisted he is not letting the ongoing investigations bother him.

“I am calm. I am clean and have nothing to worry about. I understand the situation, I understand that we have to go because somebody thinks this or that,” Aguirre said.

“But they have nothing. It’s ongoing. Maybe in January, two or three players and the coach of Levante, and other witnesses, are the last group that will finish the investigation.

“My lawyer said that the judge will take two or three months to read, read, read and then they will decide if there is going to be a trial or not. If it does, then it will maybe be one or one-and-a-half years more.

“But I sleep very well. I have 40 years in this professional game.”

B

ayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski feels his side will make a strong challenge for the treble, insisting they know what went wrong in the second half of last season.

At the winter break last term, Pep Guardiola’s men were still in the running for all three major trophies, but ended up only winning the Bundesliga title.

Bayern suffered semi-final defeats to Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League and DFB-Pokal respectively, but Lewandowski is hopeful that will not happen again.

“We know what we did wrong last year and I hope we do a better job of it this year,” he told reporters.

“It doesn’t matter if we have a five-point or eight-point lead in the Bundesliga because that is two, three games - everything can change.

“In the Ruckrunde (second half of the Bundesliga season), we cannot allow ourselves to make so many mistakes if we want to win the title.”

Spalletti named new Roma boss

R

oma have appointed Luciano Spalletti as the new man in charge at the Stadio Olimpico following the dismissal of Rudi Garcia.

The Serie A outfit fired Garcia as their head coach on Wednesday following their poor run of form in recent months, with Roma dropping to fifth place in the table after just one win in their last seven league games. Several reports suggested they had lined up Spalletti as Garcia’s replacement and the 56-year-old’s return to the Italian capital has now been confirmed.

Gotze

Aguirre

R e a l , A t l e t i c o h anded transfer bans

R

eal Madrid and Atletico Madrid have been banned from registering new players in the next two complete transfer windows, FIFA has announced.

The sanction was handed down by the governing body’s Disciplinary Committee as a consequence of breaches “relating to the international transfer and registration of players under the age of 18”.

A similar punishment was applied to Barcelona in April 2014, although the various appeals meant it did not apply to the Catalan club until the windows in January 2015 and the following off-season.

A FIFA statement read: “The two clubs were found to have violated several provisions concerning the international transfer and first registration of minor players as well as other relevant provisions with regard to the registration and participation of certain players in competitions.

“Both clubs are to serve a transfer ban that prevents them from registering any players at national and international level for the next two complete and consecutive registration periods for breaching articles 5, 9, 19 and 19bis as well as annexes 2 and 3 of the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of

Players (the “Regulations”).

“The transfer ban, which does not affect the current registration period at all, given that it opened before the decisions were notified, applies to each club as a whole – with the exception of the women’s, futsal and beach soccer teams – and does not prevent the release of players.

“Additionally, Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid have been fined CHF 900,000 and CHF 360,000 respectively, while both clubs have been issued with a reprimand and given 90 days in which to regularise the situation of all minor players concerned.”

Published by FolIo commUNIcAtIoNS ltD, Lateef Jakande Road, Agidingbi, Ikeja. website: www.dailytimes.com.ng; email: info@dailytimes.com.ng. Tel: 018447948.

GROUP EDITOR: BIoDUN DURoJAIYE News Hotlines: 08138773277,

FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016

VOL. 2. NO.24

08173901838. Advert Hotlines: 08086296714

Price: N150

PREMIERSHIP FIXTURES

s ’ l a n e s r A

l i z O named Ger manf Player o the Year M

esut Ozil has been named Germany national team player of the year for 2015.

The Arsenal midfielder had won the award, which is voted for by German fans, three times in a row before losing out to Toni Kroos in 2014.

However, more than 51,000 fans voted for Ozil this year, giving him 45.9 per cent of the vote, and placing him well ahead of Bayern Munich’s Thomas Muller (15.9 per cent) in second place.

Ozil has been in outstanding form for Arsenal in 2015 and played a key role in Germany reaching the European Championships in France next summer, being involved in eight out of nine international matches throughout the year.

The German World Cup winner has been vital in guiding Arsenal to the top of the Premier League this season and is well on course to beat the assists record set by Thierry Henry in 2002/03.

German magazine kicker had previously labelled Ozil as the best “German abroad”.

Jonas Hector of FC Köln, received 13.6 per cent of the vote in third place, with 13 players nominated in total.

Manchester United midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger won the award in 2010.

Meanwhile, Dortmund’s Marco Reus received the award for Germany goal of the year for his goal in the 2-2 draw with Australia in March. That day he slid into a Sami Khedira cross and put it behind keeper Matthew Ryan.

“It wasn’t that hard, but it was cool that the two of us managed to create that situation against five defenders,” Reus said of his goal, which was named goal of the year by 35.8 percent of the voters.

“To be honest, I’ve scored better goals before, but I’m pleased nonetheless to have gone level with my friend Mario Gotze, who won the same award last year,” Reus said, remembering the Germany international’s World Cup winning goal in the final against Argentina.

“My goal was just as important as his was,” a laughing Reus said.

Ozil

PREMIERSH

IP RESULTS Bournemou th 1 - 3 W est Ham Aston Villa 1 - 0 Cryst al Palace Newcastle 3 - 3 Man United Chelsea 2 - 2 Wes t Brom Man City 0 - 0 Evert on Southampton 2 - 0 Wat ford Stoke City 3 - 1 Norw ich City Swansea 2 - 4 Sunde rland Liverpool 3 - 3 Arsen al Tottenham 0 - 1 Leices ter

Saturday, January 16, 2016 Tottenham v Sunderland 13:45 Bournemouth v Norwich City 16:00 Chelsea v Everton 16:00 Man City v Crystal Palace 16:00 Newcastle v West Ham 16:00 Southampton v West Brom 16:00 Aston Villa v L eicester City 18:30 Sunday, January 17, 2016 Liverpool v Man United 15:05 Stoke City v Arsenal 17:15 Monday, January 18, 2016 Swansea City v Watford 21:00 SERIE A FIXTURES Saturday, January 16, 2016 Atalanta v Inter 15:00 Torino v Frosinone 18:00 SSC Napoli v Sassuolo 20:45 Sunday, January 17, 2016 Genoa v Palermo 12:30 Bologna v Lazio 15:00 Carpi v Sampdoria 15:00 ChievoVerona v Empoli 15:00 Roma v Hellas Verona 15:00 Udinese v Juventus 15:00 AC Milan v Fiorentina 20:45 LA LIGA FIXTURES Saturday, January 16, 2016 Sevilla v Malaga 16:00 Celta Vigo v Levante 18:15 Villarreal v Real Betis 20:30 Real Sociedad v Deportivo 22:05 Sunday, January 17, 2016 Valencia v Rayo Vallecano 12:00 Real Madrid v Sporting Gijon 16:00 Getafe v Espanyol 18:15 Las Palmas v Atletico Madrid 18:15 Barcelona v Athletic Bilbao 20:30 Monday, January 18, 2016 Eibar v Granada 20:30 LIGUE 1 FIXTURES Today’s Match Nice v Angers 20:30 Saturday, January 16, 2016 Toulouse v PSG 17:00 Bordeaux v Lille 20:00 GFC Ajaccio v Reims 20:00 Guingamp v Nantes 20:00 Valcke SC Bastia v Montpellier 20:00 Troyes v Rennes 20:00 Sunday, January 17, 2016 Lorient v Monaco 14:00 Caen v Marseille 17:00 Saint-Etienne v Lyon 21:00 EREDIVISIE FIXTURES Today’s Match FC Twente v Heracles 20:00 Saturday, January 16, 2016 Cambuur v Vitesse 18:30 PEC Zwolle v SC Heerenveen 19:45 Roda JC Kerkrade v AZ Alkmaar 19:45 De Graafschap v Excelsior 20:45 Sunday, Januar y 17, 2016 ADO Den Haag v Ajax 12:30 FC Groningen v FC Utrecht 14:30 Feyenoord v PSV Eindhoven 14:30 NEC Nijmegen v Willem II 16:45

Business Times Daily Times Nigeria

Private sector Page B3 records high growth in last 5 months of 2015- Stanbic IBTC

High dependency on oil, bane of Nigeria’s economy — Akpa Page B4

NSE can finance Nigeria’s 2016 Budget deficit – Onyema Page B6

Minimum Wage Amendment Bill to capture more firms Joy Ekeke

More firms will be captured in the mandatory compliance of the national minimum wage if the Minimum Wage Amendment Bill is eventually passed into law.

Daily Times reports that previously exempted firms under the Minimum Wage Act which the amendment seeks to capture include firms with up to 20 employees, where the current threshold is 50 employees; firms with foreign participation and those in the mar-

itime and aviation sectors.

The amendment which also seeks to remove the ‘discriminatory’ provision of the Act which allows employers pay less to physically challenged employees passed second reading at the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

The bill, named ‘a Bill for an Act to Amend the National Minimum Wage Act, Cap. N6, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 to exclude the establishments that have foreign participation from the list of establishments exempted from the payment of National Mini-

mum Wage, and for other matters related thereto,’ is sponsored by Hon. Peter Akpatason (Edo APC).

The lawmaker hinged his argument on the fact that in contemporary times of information and communication technology, firms with less than 50 staff are making a lot of money.

“In this ICT age, a lot of companies that are making millions in profit do not necessarily need to employ 50 people. There is also need to delete the provision that exempts firms in the maritime and aviation sector from paying

the minimum wage,” he said.

“The fact that someone is physically challenged does not mean the person should not benefit from the minimum wage. This actually contradicts the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as it is discriminatory,” Akpatason added.

He noted that firms with foreign participation, despite the millions they make in profit, may hide under the guise of being exempted from payment of the N18000 minimum wage, to short-change their local staff.

E-dividend will reduce infractions — SEC DG Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mounir Gwarzo has described the e-dividend platform as a game changer in the capital market that would ensure that infractions were reduced to the barest minimum.

Gwarzo spoke on Thursday in Abuja at a town hall meeting to sensitize the investing public on the e-dividend registration currently going on all over the country.

The DG expressed satisfaction with the level of success recorded so far with the enlightenment programme and urged investors to take advantage of the service and visit their registrars or banks to register.

“We have all agreed that this is the way to go, it is now left for the investors to go and register. We have agreed with all the stakeholders that for the first 90 days the registration is going to be free. After 90 days, anyone that wants to register will pay N100.

“Once the e-dividend is in place the issue of stale warrant will be of the past, the issue of travelling from one place to another to deposit the warrant will CONTINUED ON PAGE B2

Friday, January 15, 2016

L – R (A) shows Mr. Bola Adeeko, Head, Corporate Services Division, The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE); Mr. Haruna Jalo-Waziri, Executive Director, Capital Markets Division, NSE; Mr. Oscar N. Onyema OON, Chief Executive Officer, NSE; Mr. Ade Bajomo, Executive Director, Market Operations and Technology, NSE and Ms. Tinuade Awe at The NSE 2015 Market Recap and 2016 Outlook at the Exchange yesterday.

WEF urges world leaders to prevent geopolitical turmoil with better governance Ï z1 ƂƄƃ ƊƄ ƊƄƊƂƄƍ ƅ z&0 Friday Atufe and Tony Nwakaegho World Economic Forum has said with the world contemplating another year of geopolitical uncertainty and the international security landscape in flux, urgent action to improve governance at the international and national levels and the involvement of a wider cross-section of stakeholders could prevent the international security landscape from taking a dystopian turn in the next 15 years.

The global body in its Security Outlook 2030, a special chapter in the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks 2016 report, presented three scenarios of how the international security landscape could look in 2030.

According to the report, the Walled Cities scenario foresees widening inequalities continuing to pull communities apart, with CONTINUED ON PAGE B2

Maritime sector yet to benefit from Cabotage Act – Captain Olopenia Babajide Okeowo President, Nigerian Association of Master Mariners (NAMM), Captain Ade Olopenia has lamented that 12 years after the Coastal and Inland Shipping Act also known as the Cabotage Law, the maritime industry has yet to benefit from it while urging the Federal Government to review the law.

“We believe that government should take a second look at the Cabotage Law because it is

over 10 years old and because of complaints here and then, it has not worked so the law requires a review.

“There have been several amendments and guidelines on the law but it has not really work the way it should work so what that means is that it should be reviewed probably this year taking into cognizance the complaints of the industry over the past 10 years,” he said.

The master mariner also

called for the creation of a national maritime policy which according to him will serve as the benchmark for how the maritime industry will be driven. He said that the creation of a right maritime policy will help develop capacity thereby creating employment opportunities in the country.

According to him, the desired objectives in the sector cannot be achieved if there are no clearly define laid down policies on the way forward.

Olopenia

Business News B2

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, January 15, 2016

E-dividend WEF urges world leaders to will reduce prevent geopolitical turmoil infractions with better governance - SEC DG CONTINUED FROM PAGE B1

CONTINUED FROM PAGE B1

Richards

Promasidor flags off 2016 Quill Awards for journalists Friday Atufe Promasidor Nigeria Limited has said the stage is now set for qualified journalists to submit their entries for the 2016 edition of its Quill Awards.

Managing Director of the company, Mr. Olivier Thiry disclosed this in Lagos yesterday at a press conference organised to flag-off the competition.

The Quill Awards was instituted by the company in 2012 to reward excellence in the media.

Thiry said the company has started accepting applications from qualified journalists for the different categories of the awards.

According to the managing director, under the Quill Awards last year, applicants contested for the Education Reporter of the Year, Best CSR & Industry Report of the Year; Best Report on Children, Future Writer of the Year, Best Photo Story of the Year, Best Report on Nutrition and Brand Advocate of the Year.

Explaining further, Thiry said the Best Report on Children and Best Report on Nutrition have been merged this year, adding that the company has introduced a new category, Online Reporter of the Year.

He said the new category was introduced due to steady increase in the interest shown in the Quill Awards by journalists in the country and the steady rise of new media.

In his comments at the conference, Mr. Andrew Enahoro, Head, Legal/Public Relations of Promasidor said only stories and features published between

May 1, 2015 and April 14, 2016 qualified as entries for the 2016 edition.

He advised prospective applicants to specify clearly the award category they entered for when filling the online form, adding that the awards will be based on creativity, accuracy of facts, educational value, indepth of research and analysis, quality of information and newsworthiness.

Enahoro also explained that all supporting documents attached to an entry must be presented in two formats: the scanned copy of the published article and Microsoft word document format of the original material, adding that the first is to prove that the entry was published while the second is to enable legibility during assessment by judges.

The Head, Legal and Public Relations explained that for each of the categories, there would be a prime winner, adding that winners from each category, with exception of winner of the Best Photo story of the Year will be given Ipads while the winner of the Best Photo Story of the Year will be given high-end camera.

Enahoro said winners would also receive supplies of Promasidor products while the overall winner of all the categories would proceed on a four-week certificate course in journalism at the highly acclaimed Thompson Foundation in the United Kingdom with a one week industrial attachment with a prominent British news organisation.

be a thing of the past; the issue of change of address will also be eliminated.

“The issue of unclaimed dividend which according to our records is in excess of N80billion will also be a thing of the past.

These unclaimed dividends came about from dividends of small stakeholders like you and me and we need to ensure that they are claimed.”

Gwarzo also stated that once the registration process was over, the next phase would be to look into claims by investors who have dividends that are less than 12 years old.

“Once we are able to get through with the registration process, those dividends that are less than 12 years, once the registrars can certify that the people are the owners, they should be able to pay them.

Gradually we should be able to address their problem of unclaimed dividends,” he said.

He also listed the Direct Cash Settlement as a direct benefit to investors from the e-dividend registration as when they register for e-dividend, anytime their shares are sold, they would get the proceeds directly in their bank accounts.

“Once we get through with the e-dividend thing, we will be able to deal with other issues in the market. The entire market has commenced Direct Cash Settlement from this month. The era when shares will be sold and the proceeds will be given to the broker who will them pay the client is over. What is obtainable now is that once the shares of an individual are sold, the proceeds is paid directly into his bank account. With this once the client has authorized the broker and provided all his details, the proceeds will be paid into the client’s account.

“The era of proceeds not being remitted for shares sold will be a thing of the past. The edividend platform with the use of BVN is what will give us that.

Once we register for e-dividend, we will also benefit from the Direct Cash Settlement. Another advantage of the e-dividend is that it will provide a very robust KYC to the operator.

“It is because of lack of KYC that we find a lot of infractions in this market.

the wealthy retreating to privately-secured gated communities as public services fracture and chaos and lawlessness spread.

It noted that strong regions painted a picture of stable geopolitics with several seats of power. Mutual respect among strong leaders holds the system together, which emphasizes the pursuit of narrowly defined national interests over global commons while war and peace envisaged two powers drifting into major conflict as they dispute responsibility for a devastating cyberattack on critical infrastructure, ultimately resulting in a reworking of a stripped-down global system and greater agency of more sectors in international security.

The report described these potential evolutions of the international security landscape to 2030 as a call to action for the development of more adaptable and resilient response systems.

The report said experts consulted for the report identified two main phenomena characterizing the current international security landscape: strategic competition among strong states and an increasing number of weak states. The weakness of some states has left a governance vacuum that is being filled by armed non-state actors, from violent extremist groups such as ISIS to organized criminal gangs.

It observed that after 25 years of relative tranquility following the end of the Cold War, strategic competition among the great powers is again on the rise, from Eastern Ukraine to the Middle East to the South China Sea. “Looking ahead over the next 15 years, the international security landscape is likely to be profoundly affected by increasing competition for resources, such as water and land, due to climate change. Likewise, technological

Okere

innovations could revolutionize the nature of conflict, from autonomous weapons systems to 3D-printed weaponry to genetically engineered biological weapons. Understanding these changes and formulating responses to the risks they represent will be essential for leaders when contemplating the years ahead.

“The report argues for action to manage evolving international security risks, from rethinking social contracts and global governance mechanisms to finding new ways of engaging the private sector.”

Anja Kaspersen, Head of International Security and Member of the Executive Committee at the World Economic Forum, said: “We cannot afford to wait for crises to shock us into action. We need to identify potential inflection points and focus on finding solutions rather than just containing problems.”

Espen Barth Eide, Managing Director and Head of Geopolitical Affairs at the World Economic Forum, stated: “A wider range of stakeholders needs to be involved in setting the direction of the new global security paradigm and implementing solutions.”

Jim Hagemann Snabe, Chairman of the Centre for Global Industries, Chairman of World Economic Forum USA and Member of the Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum, added: “In today’s boardrooms, there is a tremendous sense of uncertainty about geopolitics.

With a stronger understanding of the issues and the role of the private sector, business leaders will be better able to make the decisions needed to tackle the security challenges we are facing.”

In a related development, Computer Warehouse Group Plc (CWG), has been selected as a member of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in recognition of its contribution to the realization of WEF’s mission of “improving the state of the world” while she served as a Global Growth Company (GGC) on the forum.

This was contained in a statement issued by Mr. Babajide Fawole, representative of WEF in Nigeria yesterday.

The statement reads: “In recognition of the key role you have played in the realization of WEF’s mission to improve the state of the world as a Global Growth Company, WEF has restructured your engagement and is proud to welcome you as a Forum Member.

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, January 15, 2016

B3 Money Market

Private sector records high growth in last 5 months of 2015- Stanbic IBTC Stories by Motolani Oseni

Stanbic IBTC bank has said the nation’s private sector recorded high growth in the last five months of 2015, with business condition improving to the highest level since July.

The bank’s Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) data for December 2015, shows that a key factor behind growth of the sector as a whole was higher new orders in which the latest rise was the fastest in six months.

According to the statistics, output rose more quickly as a result, while employment increased at a solid pace. On the price front, cost pressures intensified in December. While, higher purchase prices had little impact on charges, as they fell for the second time in three months.

The seasonally adjusted Stanbic PMI posted 54.5 in December, thereby signaling a solid improvement in operating conditions at companies in the country up from 53.9 in November.

The latest reading was the highest in five months.

Commenting on December’s

FirstBank enhances SMEs with new package for schools NIBOR as @ Jan. 14, 2016 Tenor

Rate (%)

Change (%)

O/N

1.4583

-0.67 ?

1M

7.8657

-0.27 ?

3M

9.027

-0.52 ?

6M

10.7099

-0.30 ?

L-R: Awardee, Adegbite Adekola; Volunteer, Tomi Owolabi; another awardee, Yinka Oladepo; another awardee, Adeola Adelakun and Volunteer, John Agbana, all of Stanbic IBTC during United for Education’s ‘Teach For Change’ Cocktail event, held in Lagos… recently.

survey findings, Ayomide Mejabi, an economist at Stanbic IBTC Bank said: “The December Nigeria PMI reading (at 54.4) suggests that the recent recovery in private sector activity was sustained through the end of the year. The brisk pace of increased output and new

orders appears to have carried on from November, after some clarity around the new government’s economic team as well as its policies.”

Certainly, as the 2016 budget proposal suggests government is looking to stimulate growth by deficit financing as well as re-

forming the revenue collection processes.

He explained that this should facilitate some modest pickup in economic activity. However, budget execution risks, the continued weakness in commodity prices as well as the collapse in import related trade activity

First Bank of Nigeria Limited is set to support schools and educational institutions with their educational requirements to enhance preparations for the new school year. The bank’s support for educational development of the child and the institution is an offshoot of the Bank’s initiative for Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

FirstBank has developed an array of products and solutions targeted at enabling schools at all levels seamlessly automate their administrative processes and optimise the process for school fees collections whilst they also acquire attractive educational facilities to support their business.

The Bank’s educational products and solutions include; the FirstEduPortal, SkoolPay, and the FirstEdu Loan. Others are Operational Vehicle Loan, Commercial Mortgage and Personal Loan against Salary (PLAS) which enhances Parents/Guidance’s capacity to pay their wards’ school fees.

The FirstEduPortal facilitates online application and admission, result checking, course scheduling, transcript request, e-learning as well as school fees payment and confirmation amongst others. The portal gives educational institutions the op-

tion of receiving payments from their students via debit cards online, PoS, ATMs and through any FirstBank branch.

The bank said that the FirstEdu loan is targeted at private Nursery, Secondary and A-Levels schools. The product offers opportunity for private schools to access flexible funding to meet urgent cash flow needs, replace old furniture and equipment, as well as refurbish dilapidated buildings and classroom blocks.

According to the bank, with this product, school owners/ proprietors can stay ahead of

CBN Exchange Rates

due to a scarcity of dollars pose risks to a quicker recovery in economic activity.

Reflective of higher new business, Nigerian private sector firms raised their output in December. The rate of growth was solid and in line with the 2015 average, although it remained slower than the trend seen over 2014 as a whole.

Mejabi noted that the rise in new work was also sufficient to encourage more companies to boost their purchasing activity in December. The latest expansion was the most marked in 13 months, and it led to acceleration in the rate of pre-production inventory building.

While speaking on Job creation, he pointed: “The pace of hiring was relatively strong, albeit slightly weaker than in the prior month. Workforce expansions were reportedly behind backlog depletion at some panelists in December. With capacity pressures evident at other firms, work-in-hand was broadly unchanged overall. Meanwhile, total input prices rose sharply in December.”

competition in providing educational services and support to the target population by maintaining acceptable standard infrastructure at all times.

The product allows the customer access up to N10 million with no tangible collateral required apart from the domiciliation of school account with the bank and reduces the cost of borrowing to the customer and eliminates the challenges posed by the provision of additional demanding collaterals.

External Reserves Date

Gross

Liquid

Blocked

1/13/16

28,708,850,964

28,008,939,620

699,911,344

28,737,668,864

28,037,365,451

700,303,413

28,782,251,092

28,081,512,660

700,738,432

28,895,312,944

28,193,298,601

702,014,343

28,931,111,697

28,228,664,081

702,447,616

Date

Currency

Buying(NGN)

Central(NGN)

Selling(NGN)

2.44%

1/12/16

US DOLLAR

196

196.5

197

1/12/16

POUNDS STERLING

282.7104

283.4316

284.1528

2.44%

EURO

212.7972

213.3401

213.8829

1/11/16

SWISS FRANC

195.9804

196.4804

196.9803

2.43%

YEN

1.6655

1.6698

1.674

1/8/16

CFA

0.3062

0.3162

0.3262

2.43%

WAUA

270.8824

271.5735

272.2645

1/7/16

YUAN/RENMINBI

29.7995

29.8759

29.9524

RIYAL

52.2151

52.3483

52.4816

SDR

270.8916

271.5827

272.2737

%

Adeduntan

Industry B4

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, January 15, 2016

High dependency on oil, bane of Nigeria’s economy — Akpa Stories by Charles Okonji A manufacturer in the pharmaceutical sector of the Nigerian economy has the country was facing numerous challenges due to its over dependence on oil revenue.

Okey Akpa, Managing Director and CEO of SKG Pharma Ltd and also doubles as the Chairman, Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (PMG-MAN) stated this over the weekend in an interview with our reporter.

He said; “One can say that the overall economy is facing challenges. The high dependency on oil has over the years been identified as a major risk to the national economy. The dwindling prices of oil and precipitation have all joined to make up what we are seeing today.”

“Generally, everyone is aware of the challenges confronting businesses in Nigeria, especially

Akpa

Olam, InVivo collaborate to penetrate agro-allied sector Olam International Limited (Olam) and InVivo Animal Nutrition & Health (InVivo NSA) have said a consulting agreement to jointly develop expertise in animal feed in Nigeria has been concluded.

The two-year consulting services collaboration agreement will include technical assistance and sharing of expertise to jointly develop solutions and products in the animal feed space.

Transfer of knowledge between the two companies will assist in developing solutions, formulating animal feed, characterising raw materials and implementing research and development trials and protocols to enter the animal feed industry in Nigeria.

As part of the agreement, both companies will tap each other’s proven expertise – Olam for its Africa experience and InVivo for its animal feed proficiency.

“InVivo will support Olam in the design, equipment selection and installation of its feed mills across Nigeria. Its nutrition and formulation experts will work closely with Olam’s team to build a strong understanding of the local market and develop cost-effective formulations using both local and imported raw materials.”

“InVivo will also train Olam’s staff on providing veterinary field support to poultry and fish farmers in order to help deliver unfailing product performance.

In addition, Olam will gain access to InVivo’s R&D and product development facilities as well as their feed manufacturing units in other enveloping markets across Asia and Latin America,” the statement read in part.

According to Olam’s Global Head of Grains, K C Suresh this partnership follows our announcement in November to enter the animal feed and related businesses in Nigeria, adding that the this knowledge-transfer agreement will accelerate our penetration into this space, allowing Olam and InVivo to rapidly scale up commercial activities. In doing so, we look forward to improving productivity and returns for the local fish and poultry producers, which supports Nigeria’s economy.

in manufacturing which is considered to be a tough environment and so, PMG-MAN is essentially working with government agencies and every stakeholder to make sure that the right environment is created for the manufacturing industries.”

He noted that there is a general problem confronting manufacturing in the country, adding that the pharmaceutical manufacturing is not immune from those problems.

Akpa said that the infrastructural challenges drives cost of production when compared to that of other countries, stressing that it keeps those in Nigeria at disadvantage as cost of doing business and cost of manufacturing in Nigeria is high when compared to some other places.

He noted that multiple taxes and some undue pressure on businesses by government agencies is also applicable to the pharmaceutical sector.

Commenting on power and other infrastructural facilities, he said; “Using generators does not give you the operational efficiency that you obtain using the public power supply. It also has some implications on the efficiency of some the machine you are using.

We have come to the conclusion that using generators and other ancillary would not give you the required efficiency that you will get from using public power.”

“Then, the roads, insecurity, cost of finance. Specifically to pharmaceutical companies, we demand patronage from government because government is a heavy spender. We need special government intervention funds, political will against unwholesome competition.

We also demand a take-off of Nigerian Petrochemical industry as it serves as a precursor to providing most of the raw materials needed by the pharmaceutical industry.”

BoI, NASME to partner on improved financing for SMEs In furtherance of improving the access of small and medium enterprises to finance, the Bank of Industry and Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME) have come up with ways to address financing gaps in the SME sector.

Alhaji Ibrahim Garba, National President, NASME, who on a visit to the development finance institution noted that the existing relationship between the parties should be improved upon to aid impact in the SME sector.

He noted added that the group will play its part by ensuring that their members send in applications that meets the Bank’s risk assessment requirements for funding, as well as helping to provide the bank with reliable data on SMEs. In his response, Managing Director of BoI, Rasheed Olaoluwa while acknowledging the role of NASME in the SME space restated the bank’s commitment to fulfilling its fulfilling its financial intermediation role in the na-

Olaoluwa

tion’s real sector.

According to him, the Bank will only support only credible SMEs, and only businesses involved in some form of value-addition in the country.

He said: “The Bank has demonstrated its willingness to provide financial and business support to credible SMEs. It expanded its of-

fice branch network from 7 to 15 in 2015, and will add a 16th office soon. It also increased disbursements to SMEs from N1.8bn to N5.2bn in 2015, and is looking to increasing the amount disbursed in the 2016 calendar year, as well as the creation of an SME Directorate with an Executive Director and two Divisional Heads to provide impetus to the Bank’s SME drive.”

Olaoluwa intimated the group of the Bank’s digital products that have been designed to aid the ease of access to the Bank’s support, adding that 35 SME clusters have been identified as part of its drive to provide innovative financial products for SMEs, with some of these products, including the NYSC GEF by having the securities’ requirements relaxed.

He also informed them that the development of MSMEs in Nigeria was one of the core activities of the Bank of Industry and that no stone will be left unturned to ensure that MSMEs are adequately supported to flourish.

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, January 15, 2016

B5 Real sector digest ENTERPRISE STROKES:

Base of pyramid business strategy Stories by Siaka Momoh

(L-R) Mr. Charles Igbinidu, Managing Director, TPT International; Mr. Olivier Thiry, Managing Director, Promasidor Nigeria Limited; Mr. Andrew Enahoro, Head, Legal/Public Relations, Promasidor; and Mr. Festus Tettey, Head, Marketing, Promasidor; at the Media Briefing held on 2016 Promasidor Quill Awards at the Promasidor’s Office in Lagos... on Thursday.

PAT UTOMI’S 60TH BIRTHDAY:

N1m prize for grab for business plan writing competition winner A week-long programme to honour the Founder/CEO of CVL[Centre for Values in Leadership] Prof. Pat Utomi whose 60th birthday anniversary comes up on February 6, 2016 has been planned and the top winner of a business writing competition that comes with the event will go home with N1 million prize.

The Chairman of Pat Utomi at 60 Organizing Committee, Mr Chido Nwakanma disclosed that the competition is being organized to encourage young professionals and other entrepreneurs to cultivate the culture of developing business plans as starting points of their business. He added that the

winner and two runners-up of the competition will receive prize money ranging from N500, 000 – N1, 000,000 to enable them move their respective ventures forward.

In order to attract equity for the winning business plans, the winners will present respective projects to high net worth investors interested in Small and Medium Enterprises [SMEs] at a Luncheon to roundup the weeklong celebration.

The hallmark of the weeklong celebration is the 13th edition of CVL Annual Lecture which is designed to draw public attention to current challenges in Africa through its theme - Wealth, Poverty and

Human Dignity on Friday, February 5, 2016 with international Speakers drawn from East, South and West Africa.

The organizing committee is also hosting a discussion group to provide a platform for Nigerian youths to discuss the theme tagged Developmental State and The Politics of Development.

The week-long activities will open on January 31, 2016 with an Evening of Entertainment and Culture where galaxies of Nigerian popular artistes reflecting music, dance, drama and comedy have been lined up for live performances.

Three books from the stable of Prof. Utomi will also be unveiled during the celebration.

FBN: Nigeria’s December PMI shows marginal decline The output sub-index edged downwards from 57 in November to 55 in December.

The restriction on forex availability and the weakness of the naira are some of the factors that have contributed to the fall in output. Many companies expect a rundown of stocks and worker redundancies in the near future.

The employment sub-index

dropped significantly from 55 to 49. The decline in employment was particularly seen in medium-sized and large companies, while generally smaller firms experienced a decent rise in recruitments.

Most of the other sub-indexes remained positive. Stock of purchases soared from 54 to 62 while the new orders sub index picked up from 51 to 53.

Buhari

The best business model in the world now is tapping into people at the bottom of the pyramid, Subhomoy Bhattacharjee, executive editor, Financial Express of India, told a cross section of business chieftains and diplomats in Lagos at the Lagos Business School, Ajah Lagos, few years back.

Bhattacharjee, who spoke at a discussion forum organised by the school, and the Indian High commission in Nigeria, said “unless this is done, businesses will not be able to scale up”.

“In India, every major business has changed its business model to this and volumes have gone up. Bangladesh adopted this model and has emerged a successful economy whilst Pakistan which is doing otherwise has problems,” he said.

The BOP concept champions new thinking and new ways of doing business in the world’s poor markets. While this highlevel aspiration is not necessarily new, the current concept, also known as B24B (businessto-4-billion), was coined by influential business academics C. K. Prahalad and Stuart Hart a few years ago in a working paper, which then became a series of important and well-cited articles.

At a forum in Lagos months back, a Nigerian entrepreneur and small enterprise person told the audience how an advice from an Indian made him adopt a low level but friendly packaging strategy. This, he said, moved his sales volume up dramatically.

The entrepreneur who manufactures black soap (Ose Dudu) in liquid form, started off with fanciful high cost, big size packaging. On the advice of his Indian friend, he changed to small size sachet packaging and that was it.

C. K. Prahalad and Stuart Hart made the simple yet powerful observation that four billion people remain outside of the global market system. The BOP concept frames this stunning fact as both a tremendous need and real opportunity for corporations. The BOP represents a vast, unexploited, multitrillion-dollar marketplace. For companies struggling with maturing markets, floundering business models, and serious questions about who their customers of the future will be, these are important markets to crack. But tapping into these

overlooked markets will require companies to reconfigure their business assumptions, models, and practices.

According to a working paper titled ‘The Bottom of the Pyramid: Re-perceiving Business from the Bottom up’ by Nicole Boyer, the downsides to ignoring these untapped markets are also enormous. “Conditions are dangerously ripe for disruptive technologies and ideas to emerge from the BOP, although it may be hard for large incumbent companies to see or believe this at present. Many things could accelerate this development. One scenario is a wave of sustainability-driven creative destruction, promulgated by a combination of top-down forces (regulation, new norms) and bottom-up forces (public perception, social action, new entrants, technologies) that would force companies to radically rethink their ecological footprint.”

For him, “The innovators, actors, and leaders that are emerging in the BOP space fall into seven broad categories, spanning the continuum from private to public sectors. Three of these categories—corporate pure-play experiments, catalysts and enablers, and social entrepreneurs—have particular relevance for companies, and are characterized by their faster-moving entrepreneurial style and motivations.”

He listed and discussed them as follows: Corporate pure-play experiments: These projects tend to be 100 percent for-profit businesses, or have the near-term intention of being so. They are the star cases in the BOP literature because they best stick within business managers’ existing frame of reference. Catalysts and enablers: This diverse group includes everything from academic institutions and think tanks to foundations and NGOs to niche financial organizations and consultancies. These organizations often perform a brokerage function, act as intermediaries, and are highly networked. As such, they are interested in creating the “middleware” to make BOP ideas work, such as new tools, processes, blueprints, and the hard and soft infrastructure for sustaining further market space creation. They tend to be small in size and flexible and opportunistic in nature. In terms of funding models, they run the gamut from for-profit to self-financing/sustaining to non-profit.

Siaka Momoh is a media consultant and publisher Realsectordigest.com and can be reached via siakamomoh@yahoo.com; 08061396410

Capital Market B6

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, January 15, 2016

NSE can finance Nigeria’s 2016 Budget deficit – Onyema Stories by Azubike Nnadozie Chief Executive of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, (NSE), Mr Oscar Onyema has said the Exchange was in a position to finance the 2016 federal budget deficit.

Speaking while delivering the 2015 Market Recap and Outlook for 2016 to capital market reporters in Lagos yesterday, Onyema stated that the capital market has an opportunity to effectively finance the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN’s) proposed budget deficit for 2016 and the implementation of its Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).

He added that “with greater clarity on policy direction, we anticipate the return of investors who had remained on the sidelines throughout 2015.”

This return, he said was predicated upon return of investor confidence as a result of effective

implementation and communication of the government’s economic blueprint; credibility in monetary policy stance; relative stability in the macro economy (Oil price stability above benchmark targets, increase in tax collection to GDP ratio, etc.) and improved security.

For 2016, he said the NSE will focus on executing its strategy in order to continue to provide a credible platform for financing the economy. “To this end, we intend to intensify engagement efforts with the FGN. We have also prioritized three (3) initiatives for 2016 aimed at achieving the Exchange’s three (3) strategic objectives of: 1) Increasing the number of new listings across five (5) asset classes; 2) Increasing order flow in the five (5) asset classes; and 3) Operating a fair and orderly market based on just and equitable principles.”

Normalisation of monetary policy by the US Federal Reserve,

slump in commodity prices and slowdown in China were fingered the three biggest as factors contributing to the global slowdown experienced in 2015.

NSE 2015 Market Recap and Outlook for 2016, stated that 2015 proved to be an uneasy year for the global economy which had been expected to grow at the rate of 3.1 per cent as compared to 3.4 per cent in 2014.

The report stated that the hardest hit was the emerging market which experienced slower growth due to decline in commodity prices, an overhang from previous credit crises and political turmoil.

For the emerging markets, 2015 marked the fifth consecutive year of declining growth at 4.0 per cent. In sub-Saharan Africa, the report added that growth slowed to 3.8 per cent compared to 5.0 per cent the previous year.

Like other emerging market’s governments, the Federal government which largely depends on

oil exports as its main source of revenue suffered extensively from sustained low commodities pricing in the global market.

The national economy was also affected by political and economic policy uncertainties leading up to the general elections held in April 2015. The ripple effect of the political and economic uncertainties also led to postponement of decision making by business leaders, thereby resulting in slowing economic activities.

However, in spite of the weak emerging markets growth rates, coupled with political and economic constraints and a volatile currency trend, it stated that the Nigerian economy is expected to have grown by 4 per cent in 2015, illustrating the resilience of the national economy.

On its own, 2016 began on a note of continued depreciation of the naira against the dollar and uncertainty surrounding the direction of economic policy by

the new government. This it said exacerbated an already prevalent bearish sentiment in the Nigerian capital market.

The NSE flagship index, the NSE ASI declined by 17.4 per cent in 2015, closing the year at 28,642 points after starting the year relatively flat.

During the period under review, the NSE Banking Index was worst hit as it plunged 23.6 per cent, followed closely by the NSE 30 Index and NSE Main Board Index, which were both down by 17.6 per cent. All the market indices performed poorly relative to their 2014 performance, except for the NSE Industrial Index which saw an upward movement of 1.3 percent. Market for new equity listings was flat for 2015 with only four new equity listings, while five companies were delisted during the same period, bringing the number of listed companies and listed equities to 184 and 190 respectively.

Stock market report GT Bank, NB, Guinness others pull stock market down by 3.44% The equity market continued its downward trajectory as the NSE ASI depreciated by 3.44 per cent to 24,239.98 points yesterday, compared with the depreciation of 3.58 percent recorded the previous day while the Year-to-date (YTD) Index depreciated by 15.37 per cent. The loses recorded in the share prices of GT Bank, Nigerian Breweries, Guinness, FBN Holdings and Dangote Cement were mainly responsible for the depreciation in the index.

Similarly, the market capitalization depreciated by 3.44 percent to close at N8.34trillion, compared with the depreciation of 3.58 percent recorded yesterday to close at N8.63 trillion.

The total value of stocks traded on the floors of The NSE yesterday was N2.41billion, up by 42.62 percent from N1.69bn traded yesterday. The total volume

of stocks traded was 262.52million in 2,579 deals.

The three most actively traded stocks were: FBN Holdings (76.44million), GT Bank (42.51million) and Zenith Bank (42.22million). The most actively traded sectors were: Financial Services (232.67million), Consumer Goods (16.26million) and Conglomerates (6.96million).

Minority Leader, House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Leo Ogor (right), welcoming Chairman, National Development & Investment Ltd, (NATCOM) Dr. Olatunde Ayeni during the House Committee on Communications investigation of the sales of Nigerian Telecommunications, NITEL & Mobile Telecommunication, MTEL to NATCOM in Abuja… yesterday.

U.S. stocks rallies as oil prices rebound Onyema

Summary of trading activities on NSE on January 14, 2015

ASI DEALS VOLUME VALUE CAP

24,239.98 2,579.00 262,522,985.00 2,409,212,858.67 8,336,582,929,743.30

U.S. stocks rallied strongly yesterday with the S&P 500 crossing a key technical level, as a rebound in oil prices boosted energy companies.

All 10 major S&P sectors were higher. The energy sector’s .SPNY 3.6-percent rise, their best performance in three weeks, led the gainers as U.S. crude prices rose more than 2.5 percent.

Exxon and Chevron were up about one percent, giving the biggest boosts to the S&P 500 and the Dow. “We’ve been looking for some sort of bounce for a while now,”

said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James in St. Petersburg, Florida.

“Normally, when you have increased volatility, you get some upside as well.”

The market has made multiple attempts at rallies this year, but they have fallen flat over worries about China’s economy, plunging oil prices and fresh global political concerns.

At 12:35 a.m. ET the Dow Jones industrial average .DJI was up 211.89 points, or 1.31 percent, at 16,363.3.

The S&P 500 .SPX was up 25.18

points, or 1.33 percent, at 1,915.46 and the Nasdaq Composite index .IXIC was up 61.18 points, or 1.35 percent, at 4,587.25.

U.S. stocks have tumbled this year and on Wednesday sank more than 2.5 percent, pushing the S&P 500 to close below 1,900 for the first time since Sept. 29.

“We’ve seen such a strong selloff and moved into correction territory for the year, there’s more of a ‘sentiment-in-momentum’ trade that is underway rather than a focus on fundamentals,” Bill Northey, chief investment officer of the private client group at U.S. Bank.

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, January 15, 2016

B7 Capital Market

NSE DAILY ACTIVITY SUMMARY ( EQUITIES) 14-01-2016

Entrepreneurship B8

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, January 15, 2016

Inadequate business development strategy bane of Nigeria’s informal sector ‘‘This column therefore through the promotion of entrepreneurship will be equipping the readers with the tools to gradually transform their businesses from informal to formal, operated and managed with global best practices that ensure continuous profitability, growth, sustainability and general business success.’’

Nwaodu Chukwuemeka ‘’The spirit, the will to win and the will to excel are the things that endure. These qualities are so much more important than the events that occur,’’ - Vince Lombardi.

The current national economic outlook and the impact on businesses makes it imperative to enlighten and entrench the knowledge of the business community to the realities of the moment, the consequential challenges and more importantly to the opportunities and new developments for innovation and creativity that it has thrown up.

The importance is better appreciated in the informal and import driven sector of the economy which has been negatively impacted with consequential effects: like higher cost of credit and foreign exchange, with lesser patronage arising from the reduced public expenditure (austerity measure), increased duties, other charges, levies, taxes, and other economic policies of the government, the central bank and their effects; which poses enormous challenge to the sector and ultimately portends great danger to the social wellbeing of our society and economy.

The micro, small and medium scale businesses in Nigeria are

Chukwuemeka

Enelamah, Minister of Trade and Industry

highly informal in their approach and structures, with little or no record keeping system and structures. They have no established processes and procedures, and maintain minimal banking relationship, with absolutely no insurance cover; these in all threaten their sustainability, efficient management and adequate expansion, which accounts for why sustainability, growth and expansion is uncommon amongst them.

This column therefore through the promotion of entrepreneurship will be equipping the readers with the tools to gradually transform their businesses from informal to formal, operated and managed with global best practices that ensure continuous profitability, growth, sustainability and general business success.

It shall be introducing the readers to the basic business tools for running an efficient and effective enterprise that will produce and guarantee growth,

sustainability and adequate expansions, while generating employment, wealth creation and enlarged opportunities.

These business skills will guarantee a better accountability and management which will open up access to financiers, investors and suppliers to ensure continuous access to funding and raw materials.

This column will adopt a multi-dimensional knowledge impartation approach (potpourri of knowledge) that utilizes role modeling style of learning to inspire readers.

It will use the experiential knowledge impartation mode from people that have seen it all and experienced similar situations in business and succeeded, to teach from their practical business experiences, so that we can see how it has been done in the past and align our situation to the same principles for speedy result.

The multidimensional learning will include knowledge im-

partation from the professionals and the academia: the professional knowledge brings order and procedures in business activities, while the academic, informs and instills insights from the research and development activities to point the way forward in business; it reveals new approaches and methods to solving problems and how it is practiced in other climes, with the localization and integration method.

It shall also adopt group based participation to ensure guaranteed benefits to the readers and on a fundamental basis be able to solve the perceived uniform challenges of the group through the adoption of a systematic approach. Therefore questions and commentaries from the readers would be welcomed, as this would provide an easy method of monitoring achievements and impacts, in order to plan other improvement approaches.

Some of the topics we will be sharing insights on include: Business structuring, setting up processes and procedures and developing standard operating procedures (set standard of operations) in growing businesses. Business sustainability procedures and diversification strategies, how to set up financial and administrative record keeping in small businesses and the importance, Others are the role of insurance and risk management to the growth and success of your business, the Nigerian economic business outlook and the impact to businesses; the role of banks and other financial services providers in navigating through the challenge and business growth and sustainability through strategic and diversified investments among others.

For today we will be sharing thoughts on persistence, the importance of believing (or maintaining a believe system) and when to ignore the financial records.

Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures, one of the most successful Silicon Valley venture capital companies, once

said that leadership is about having your own view, an inner compass.

Entrepreneurs should be wary of whose leading they are following and whose advice they are listening to. Corporate executives, consultants, financial analysts, the traditional bankers and other experts know little or nothing about startups or small businesses, unless they have had a stint with one; so be careful about who you are listening to. ‘’Pursue your true passion and believe your intuition, then the opportunity will come to you’’ - Namiko Kajiwara.

The following are some of the factors to consider in your quest for success in any enterprise: ‘’With enough persistence most things that seem impossible become possible,’’ - Vinod Khosla.

Persistence pays off; if you actually believe something, you will try your best to make it work. Someone said it doesn’t always happen but it does most of the times. The issue is that most people accept defeat far too easily.

Consider your input; as entrepreneurs our mission is to make positive changes, even when you get a lower rate of return but a higher impact. Our obligation would be to go with that, knowing that at the end we would be creating a greater public good with more social impact, which makes for more conducive environment for commercial endeavours.

People think that business is all about the bottom line, but no, otherwise what is the use of sustainability. What is the worth of making all the money that cannot be sustained? Creating a balance is the rule and every enterprise is about creating values; which could be tangible or not: and that’s why there’s the profit, nonprofit and charity enterprises. The commercial and social enterprises and the nongovernment organisations.

Next week, we shall be delving more into this and deepening the insights.

Nwaodu Chukwuemeka, is a consultant with IDEAS Exchange Consulting, Lagos. He can be reached at nwaodu.lawrence@hotmail.co.uk (07066375847).

Life&

TIMES Friday, January 15, 2016

Chief

Rasaq Okoya An enigma at 76

L2,3

P

Interview L2

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, January 15, 2016

How we have remained in business despite stiff competition Chief Rasaq Okoya

Asides that the Okoyas are one of the most prominent families in the Nigerian social circle, they have very visible landmark projects across the length and breadth of Lagos. This cannot be otherwise as Chief Rasaq Okoya, a billionaire industrialist and Aare of Lagos has travelled far and wide to learn the art of manufacturing with strong conviction that Nigeria could match any quality if not better. The dynamic entrepreneur, industrialist-cum socialite at 76, says he’s not relenting as he promises to continue to lead the company with experience and passion. He shares his mind blowing experience with ISAAC OGUNTOYE AND QUADRI OLOWOLAGBA. Excerpts:

Life&

T E A M

Congratulation as you mark 76, what has changed about you sir, as you mark this day?

Thank you so much and compliments of the season. Nothing has really changed about me, except that am still working which I sincerely believe is what has kept me strong and fit and this has also kept me going.

When you take stock of your great achievement in business, what would you say is the unique formula that aided your phenomenal success?

I give God the glory for giving me the determination, foresight and focus. I am a very determined person. I hate to fail in whatever goal I set to achieve. Insha Allah, I thank God that it has always been possible, that’s why even at 76, I still love to work as it gives me pleasure.

How would you assess the environment for success today, compared to when you started?

When we started, there were lots of business opportunities in Nigeria at that time compared to today, where there are too many business competitors. The mindset of the youths of nowadays is to make quick money. In my time, young individuals were encouraged in setting their goals and achieving it, but now so many products have flooded the Nigerian markets which make it very difficult for local industries to thrive.

Many companies are feeling the pain of the economic policies of government, as a matter of fact, many have closed down.

What has kept the Eleganza operating and what cutback did

you have to make to survive?

One of the major challenges is the issue of power to run the industries, but we are committed to remain in business with the passion to keep our aims and objectives to offer over 2000 Nigerian youths employment.

Once upon a time, Eleganza has a myriad of products, but today there is a sharp drop, and popularity seems to have waned; has the competition taken a chunk of your market?

The Eleganza of today is stronger and more stable than the yester years. Today we have more range of products from Chairs, Coolers, Luggage, Diapers, Lady Sanitary, Beauty Soaps, Laundry Soaps, and Multi-Purpose Soaps; Pet Bottles plus Caps, Pre-Form Bottles, Shoes, Hair Threads, Disposable/Reusable Plates and Cups, Waste Disposal Containers (Dust-Bin) and Stainless Water Tank. They are produced locally in our new Eleganza Industrial City layout located at KM 68 Epe-Ibeju Lekki Expressway, Lagos on 35 hectares of land. We also have Real Estate investment in prime commercial areas and luxury residential Estate in Lagos State.

For some years past, the Real Estate business has been very bad; we have lots of vacancies in our Estates. The worst hit is our Eleganza Plaza Complex, Apapa.

In terms of property, you do have a unique design, often every huge properties, but would you say you had as much success as a property developer?

Movie and Music Correspondent Mutiat Alli

Society Correspondent Isaac Oguntoye

At one period in Nigeria, industrialization was becoming frustrating; so we diversified into property investment in a large scale just to keep the staff in employment. Don’t get me wrong, we still continue in industries but without introducing new items of products like now, after we have achieved our set goals in the property sector; this led to the new Eleganza Industrial City Ltd.

Photography Quadri Olowolagba

Eleganza is back, bigger and better than what it used to be known for.

What are the most important values in business and life for you?

Hardwork, sincerity, steadfastness and honesty.

What is more important for you as a businessman, passion or intelligence, and how was it employed in your journey to be-

Graphics Adebambo Segun

come what you are today?

Passion with drive takes priority in all my endeavours. I love what I do and as a result, I don’t see myself working because when you enjoy your job, it becomes a hobby. But to be successful and able to maintain market leadership over the years, you must be intel-

Continued on L3

Daily Times Nigeria

Friday, January 15, 2016

“Power has been our major challenge” Continued from L2 ligent on how to diversify as and when necessary.

Looking at Nigeria today, how should government act to encourage industrial growth?

The Federal Government should stop the importation of goods that can be produced locally into the country and increase the custom and excise duties on imported finished goods. They should also ensure that goods are fully monitored at the port of entry, because some importers are involved in sharp practices; denying the government the required revenue and also killing the local manufacturers. Smuggled goods into the country are also killing the manufacturing industries.

No country can survive with the foreign similar goods invasion into its country, neither will the country survive with allowing in smuggled goods into the country.

At 76, are you still actively involved in running the company?

Will you ever retire as chairman and at what age do you think it’s appropriate to say God be praised, I am taking a break?

As I said earlier, I have a passion for what I do and seeing products or items overseas stirs a passion in me to see same or similar products produced in my country. I love to go to Trade Fairs all over the world and when I get ideas, I put them into actualization. I can’t be seen running the day-to-day activities as I don’t have that patience or time but I am always on board to give necessary/ useful information when needed.

Experience cannot be bought, as you grow into it. The day- to-day running of the manufacturing sector is managed by my wife Dr. (Mrs.) Shade Okoya and my son, a Director, Lanre Okoya with other senior experienced managers and a few expatriates while the property sector is managed by Mrs. Modupe Solanke and other management team.

What makes you happy these days?

I derive happiness through my establishments, that many are able to wear smiles on their faces and also put foods on their tables.

How do you keep fit?

I love swimming and going to the Gym to keep fit. I also enjoy spending quality time with my wife and the young children.

Look into the future for Nigeria, how do you think she will fare this year?

I believe in this great country Nigeria and I believe that with good policies, it will be greater than be-

fore. Production is my life. I enjoy manufacturing goods. I have traveled to China several times; I get inspiration from what I see in China.

Everywhere in China, you see cottage industries scattered around in all their provinces. We should emulate them. Most reasons why the youths are not employed could be based on the fact that they lack technical knowledge and skill.

Most of them have no technical background, no research institute or centers where they could learn and become self-independent. The government should help to make the youths focus on having an independent self-employed future by giving the youths the required technical knowledge. The Graduates should be technically inclined and therefore fit into any manufacturing industries and reduce the numbers of foreigners becoming our expatriates. Today, Nigerians depend on imported goods, even with lots of natural resources in our forest, we still cannot help ourselves in terms of producing furniture and other basic needs, as our youths do not have the required knowledge and skill to produce; we need to train them.

How will you describe your growing up?

Growing up was like any other child of my age, except that I was

closely monitored by my parents; my mother was a disciplinarian of the highest order, neither did my father encouraged laziness. I hardly had time to play around, because most of the time I was with my father in his tailoring business. I had three sessions per day, first the school, second my father’s shop, and third at the mosque.

What are your daily routines?

My daily routine increases with time; at a time I was compelled to start doing some tailoring job to fend and keep the proceeds.

How do you spend your leisure?

I enjoy swimming and going to Gym. Despite the fact that you’re 76, you look so youthful, what has been the secret?

If you take good care of your health and then you’re hardworking, you think straightforward. You don’t think wrongly, you will be happy.

Sir, did you envisage this huge success?

When you’re a determined man, definitely you should expect success. When I went to those countries, I see how they produce shoes and other things and you come to Nigeria, nobody is doing such a thing, and when you start, you start with determination, then you’re going to be big one day.

L3 Interview

L4

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, January 15, 2016

Daily Times Nigeria

Friday, January 15, 2016

L5

Society Gists L6

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, January 15, 2016

Isaac Oguntoye

Between Oba Otudeko and Harry Akande

Amosun shuts down

business activities in Sango At the moment, business activities have been put on hold in Sango Axis for the past few days. It was gathered that the Amosun government claimed the Sango market and its environ is too dirty while shops around the area should be restructured. As a result, the traders are not finding it easy as leaders of the market have started running helter skelter to make sure they regain full access to their shops. But there is a snag as both the government and the traders union are yet to reach an agreement as all efforts towards this have proved abortive.

Oba Otudeko

Harry Akande

Not too many people know that, the two Nigerian businessmen billionaire Chief Harry Akande and Oba Otudeko are in a cold war. And the legal hostility going on between the duo has been described as the clash of the titans as none of the business tycoons is ready to bury the hatchet and allow sleeping dog lie. According to sources, Oba Otudeko and his company, Pivot Engineering Limited instituted a legal action against Chief Harry Akande and his company, A.I.C Limited claiming N2billion as exemplary and general damages for the libelous publication made about the company published by the Harry Akande in a letter dated July 19, 2004 addressed to the then Minister of Mines, Power and Steel, Senator Liyel Imoke and the Managing Director of the then National Electricity Power Authority (NEPA). At moment, the case is at the Apex Court of Nigeria for final adjudication.

Amosun

Airport cleaner, Josephine Ugwu receives award as YNaija Person of the Year 2015 Josephine Ugwu, the airport cleaner who returned the sum of N12 million to its rightful owner has been presented with her award as YNaija.com Person of the Year 2015.

She was on December 31, 2015 selected from a shortlist of nominees including f‎ ormer President Goodluck Jonathan, Senator Bola Tinubu, Professor Attahiru Jega, Mrs. Aisha Jummai Al-Hassan, Bishop David Oyedepo and others. ”‎ Ugwu has through her singular act renewed our belief in the strength of character of every Nigerian. She exemplifies our capacity to do right in the face of daunting challenges, and her positive outlook to life is an inspiration to others who may find themselves in similar

Ooni Ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi’s passion for Yoruba race Enitan Ogunwusi Barely few weeks after his elaborate coronation as the 51st Ooni, the traditional monarch of ancient city of Ile Ife, the source of the Yoruba race, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi has displayed his passion for his race. He ascended the throne amidst pomp and pageantry with cheering crowds and dignitaries from all walks of life witnessing history being made. One of the promises of the King is to give the Yoruba race a new face and unite the Yoruba race. The Oba is gradually keying more into action rather than suave talk. Last week, the Oba in his heavenly made Palace on earth, summoned several

families which have one clash or the other with each other harping on peace and oneness to move the kingdom forward and embrace progress among each other. He further went to settle the lingering rancor between the Royal families in Oke Igbo Kingdom, in Ondo stock but who speaks the Yoruba language of the IleIfe people. While addressing the community leaders and family members, the king promised to fly high, the interest and development of the Yoruba race against all odds. The Oba revealed that all he promised must be fulfilled as he is indeed a true man of his word.

Remi Ogunkayo - RED Group Chief of Staff, Josephine Ugwu, Isime Esene - Managing Editor, YNaija

circumstances,” said Isime Esene, Managing Editor of YNaija.com.

The 36-year-old awardee thanked the online news platform for recognizing her and advised other Nigerians to choose the path of honesty and accountability.

The YNaija.com Person of the Year is awarded to individuals who have most visibly influenced the Nigerian society for good in the past year, breaking new boundaries or consolidating on gains – and driving the advancement of the public, especially young people. Past winners of the award included Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote; tech industry trailblazer, Jason Njoku, and Obiageli Ezekwesili for championing the idea of the ‘Office of the Citizen’.

Daily Times Nigeria

Friday, January 15, 2016

L7 Society Gists

Isaac Oguntoye

Otunba Rotimi Paseda

in joyous mood

Lanre Teriba and Yomi Fash Lanso

Atorise dazzles at Oodua People’s Congress thanksgiving session

Paseda with family The society wedding of one of the Ogun State foremost politician and chieftain of Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN)’s son, Otunba Olatunde Rotimi Paseda came up penultimate Saturday at the prestigious five-star Hyatt Recency Hotel, Chesapeake Bay Golf Resorts & Spa, Marian, 100 Heron Boulevard, Maryland State of America. The solemn wedding between trendy Adedamola Paseda and pretty Potorican Miss Millan T-Andersons, was witnessed by mixed dignitaries of for-

eign and Nigerian citizens, culminating in an exotic reception at the Ballroom of Recency Hotel.

The bride, Millan was decked in an all expensive Prima Tornai wedding dress adorned with circular halo diamond, matching the dazzling groom’s light silky blue suits.

The sets of the bride and groom’s of honour were equally delightful, adding colour to the wedding that has remained the talk of the City in America.

The National Coordinator of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) and Chief Promoter of Olokun Festival Foundation (OFF), Otunba Gani Adams, has urged members of the organisation to rely God, emphasising that God’s power is the ultimate. Adams made the call at the annual thanksgiving service of the organisation, held in Lagos which attracted a large crowd and leaders of the three religious organisations, who were organised to thank God and appreciate God’s love and support for the group.

He explained that the involvement of the three major religions in the land is because OPC is a non-religious organisation. “The OPC is not a religious organization, hence, we are here to thank God and to appreciate His goodness in the lives of our members in the three major religions in the land”, he said.

The OPC leader reiterated the need for the people to continue to promote the culture and tradition of Yoruba people, saying that culture is a very important aspect of a man’s life. “Any man who loses his culture has lost all there is to live for. Your culture is the totality of who and what you are, therefore culture plays very important roles in the life a man”, he said.

He described as ignorant people who claim that members of OPC do not worship

Pastor Olubanjo (in red cap), wife and friends at the pastor’s 50th birthday at their residence in Lagos recently

Ambode plans big for Lagos Governor Akinwunmi Ambode is definitely not leaving any stone unturned as he has intensified efforts on the Light Up Lagos Project, an initiative aimed at lighting up every nook and cranny of the state.

Already, most major highways and streets have been lightened up, while massive repair of streetlights are being carried out in other strategic places. Governor Am-

bode had equally urged individuals and corporate bodies to light up their streets and neighborhood, with a promise that such gestures would be duly rewarded and recognized by the state. Besides, the state government is also making arrangement for Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) buses to work at night once the light up project is completed.

Ambode

God saying most of the festivals organised by the OPC is to honour God. “It is funny that some people still believe that members of OPC do not worship God, and that we are idol worshippers. But nothing can be farther from the truth than this. All our programmes are designed to honour God. We also need to inform them that Olodumare festival, a 21-day programme, is organised in honour of the almighty. You’ll agree with me that most of those who criticize and condemn us don’t do as much as this in the service of God”, he added.

Dignitaries who graced the event include ace Nollywood actor, Yomi Fashlanso; gospel act, Lanre Teriba; Alhaji Olufunsho Odutola, OPU coordinator inItaly; Hon Fatima Muhammed and Chief Ganiu Oshidele, OPU coordinator in Scandinavia, among others.

The men of God who presided over the service include Primate Peter Oyewole of Iretiogo C&S, Ikotun, Lagos; Prophet Kehinde Oludare of CAC, Fire Ministry Int. Ejigbo, Lagos; Imam Saheed Abdulahi, Akoibu Islamiyah, Ijanikin, Lagos and Chief Ifakayode Anipupo, among several others.

Evangelist Lanre Teriba Atorise stole the show by thrilling OPC members with his gospel vibes once again proving himself to be the king of gospel music in Nigeria

Daily Times Nigeria

Friday, January 15, 2016

Showing on

Showing on

Channel 114

104 Movies Comedy

16:30

19:30

Fri, 15 Jan | PG

Fri, 15 Jan | PG13

Police Academy 5: Assignment: Miami Beach. The gang returns and when their commandant gets an award, the police academy gang heads to Florida. But one member is determined to ruin the trip. David Graf, Bubba Smith.

(1988) Alan Myerson

101 M-Net West

23:31 Behind The Scenes: Unbroken 00:00 Entertainment Now! 00:30 American Crime 01:10 Birdy Live Performance 01:45 Hollywoods's 10 Best 02:08 Behind The Scenes:The Theory Of....

02:30 Code Black 03:10 Behind The Scenes: Lorde 03:30 Made In Hollywoods 04:14 MasterChef Australia 05:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 06:00 The Muppets 06:30 Shades Of Blue 07:30 Chicago PD 08:30 My Boyfriends' Dogs 10:30 The Muppets 11:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 12:00 MasterChef Australia 13:00 Shakespear School Year 14:15 Blue Bloods 15:00 My Story

152 Africa Magic Epic 00:02 Arrow Of Madness 01:22 Behind The Scenes: Secret Room

01:45 Gods Among Men 03:31 Reign Of Gods Among Men 05:05 Behind The Scenes: October 1st

05:32 Behind The Scenes: Secret Room 06:00 The Prince And The Slave 07:31 My Mother's Wish 08:40 Mama Bomboi: Going Abroad 08:46 Bloody War 10:33 Divided Blood 14:50 Behind The Scenes: October 1st

15:22 When The King Dies 16:48 Kingdom Desperados 18:15 Behind The Scenes: October 1st

18:45 Mama Bomboi: Serious Matter 18:49 Healthy Snacking 19:00 Internal Crisis

20:45 Internal Crisis 22:26 The King And The Sword

‘S15/E3- Auditions Part 1(15)’. The hunt for American’s next pop music idol is on.

Thousands of contestants audition, but only one can win. This season’s judges include Keith Urban, Jennifer Lopez and Harry Connick Jr.

120 BBC Brit Entertainment

118 Telemundo

23:40 The Face Of Destiny 00:30 Elena's Ghost 01:20 Cruel Love 02:10 For Love And Justice 03:00 The Face Of Destiny 03:50 Fearless Heart 05:20 Elena's Ghost 06:10 Husband For Hire 07:00 The Face Of Destiny 07:50 Fearless Heart 08:40 For Love And Justice 09:30 Cruel Love 10:20 Husband For Hire 11:10 The Face Of Destiny 12:00 Fearless Heart 12:50 For Love And Justice 13:40 Cruel Love 14:30 Husband For Hire 15:20 The Face Of Destiny 16:10 Fearless Heart 17:00 For Love And Justice 17:50 Cruel Love 18:40 Husband For Hire 19:30 The Face Of Destiny 20:20 Fearless Heart 21:10 For Love And Justice 22:00 Someone's Watching 22:50 Someone's Watching

L8 TV guide

128 SONY MAX

23:00 Most Shocking 23:45 World's Wildest Police Videos 23:12 Top Gear's Ambitious But Rubbish

11:15 Would I Lie To You?

00:75 An Idiot Abroad

11:50 QI

00:54 The Cube

12:20 The Cube

01:42 Police Interceptors

13:10 Top Gear

02:27 The Notorious

14:10 Police Interceptors

03:21 Undercover Boss

15:00 Undercover Boss

04:10 Pointless

15:55 Would I Lie To You?

05:00 The Cube

16:30 QI

05:45 Would I Lie To You?

17:00 Pointless

06:20 QI

18:00 Top Gear

06:55 Polce Interceptors

19:00 Wastemen

07:45 Top Gear

20:00 8 Out Of 10 Cats

08:45 Pointless

20:30 8 Out Of 10 Cats

09:35 Undercover Boss

21:10 Top Gear

10:25 Ducks Quacks Don't Echo

22:10 Dragons' Den

155 AfricaMagic World 00:00 Music On Africa Magic 01:00 Good Morning Africa 02:05 53 Extra 02:44 Star Gist 03:15 Star Gist 03:45 Jara 04:25 Jara 05:00 Goodmorning Africa 06:00 Deal Or No Deal SA 07:00 53 Extra 07:30 Star Gist 08:00 Jara 09:00 Good Morning Africa 10:05 Doctors' Quarters 11:00 Doctors' Quarters12:00 Deal Or No Deal SA 13:00 Music On Africa Magic 14:00 Music On Africa Magic

00:35 World's Wildest Police Videos 01:25 Kenny Vs Spenny 01:55 Extreme Reality Clips 02:20 Rude Tube 02:45 Sexy Car Wash 03:15 Sexy Car Wash 03:45 Video Zonkers 04:10 South Beach Tow 04:35 South Beach Tow 05:00 World's Wildest Police Videos 05:45 World's Wildest Police Videos 06:35 Top 20 Countdown: Most Shocking 07:25 Video Zonkers 07:50 South Beach Tow 08:15 South Beach Tow 08:40 Most Shocking 09:35 World's Wildest Police Videos 10:30 World's Wildest Police Videos 11:30 Baywatch 12:30 Top 20 Countdown: Most Shocking 13:30 South Beach Tow 14:00 World's Wildest Police Videos 15:00 World's Wildest Police Videos

16:00 Star Gist 16:35 Deal Or No Deal Sa 17:25 53 Extra 18:00 Jara 18:30 Tinsel 19:00 53 Extra 19:30 Coke Studio 20:00 Jara 21:00 Jacob's Cross 22:00 Jacob's Cross

16:00 Most Shocking 17:00 Top 20 Countdown: Most Shocking 18:00 South Beach Tow 18:30 South Beach Tow 19:00 Baywatch 20:00 Escape Or Die 20:30 David Blaine: Discover Magic 21:30 xXx