Dtn 17 5 16

6 reasons we’re calling g6 8 reasons why the new a nationwide strike over petrol price regime is our N145 petrol price – NLC best bet – FG g14

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TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2016 VOL. 2. NO. 110

GAINERS

N150

LOSERS

NSE GAINERS AND LOSERS AS AT 12th May, 2016.

CADBURY

17.24

1.60

10.23%

GLAXOSMITH

22.42

2.06

10.12%

MRS

40.47

-4.36

-9.73%

GOLDBREW

0.85

-0.04

-4.49%

OANDO

5.29

0.49

10.21%

DIAMONDBNK

2.02

0.18

9.78%

IKEJAHOTEL

2.45

-0.12

-4.67%

WEMABANK

0.76

-0.03

-3.80%

Petrol price: FG begs Labour to shelve strike Ï d ƕ ój ƈ ƈ Ɛ Ɛ Ɔ ƐƈƌƆ Ƈ Ə ƕ ƅƐƈ Ɛ Ɛ ƓƈƋƋ ƇƑƏƐ ƆƏ Ɠ Ə Ɔ Ɛ Ɔ Ɔƅ ƌƕô Ï `Ɔƍ ƈ Ə ƓƗƕ Ɔ ƈ ƒƆƏ E ƅ ƈƊƓƑè ƆƐ Ƒƍ ƅ ƌƌƈƐƐƆƆ Ɛ ƈ ƐƆƏƇ ƅƆ ƓƈƐ G Ƅ ƑƏ Ï z ƕ ƓƆ Ƒƍƍ ƏƐ ƆƓ ƍƆƐƏ Ƌ ƍƏƈƅƆ ƆƒƆ Ɛ Ƒ ƈƐ Ƒ ƅƆƌƆ Ɛ ƅƊƆƗ Ƒ – NUPENG Ï Mƈ ƆƏƈ Ƌ Ɔ ƤƠƠèƠƠƠ Ƅ ƏƏƆƋ Ɨ ƈƋƕ Ɛ ƍƈƍƆƋƈ Ɔ ƒ Ɨ Ƌƈ ƌ – Kachikwu

Lateef Ibrahim & Henry Omunu, Abuja

ÎÎÎThe Federal Government has appealed to workers’ unions to shelve their proposed strike over the new petrol price of N145 per litre.

Continued on page 6

Inflation hits 13.7% in April – NBS gB3 PDP gets new BoT Chair, g8 Scribe Enugu bans night grazing, cattle rearing g5 Rowdy session on the floor of House of Representatives over the removal of fuel subsidy at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja... on Monday. Inset: Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu (middle) at the entrance of the Green Chamber.

Photo: TEMITOPE BALOGUN

2019: PDP to pick presidential candidate from North g14

2Face Idibia Nigeria blessed with amazing talents gL1

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Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 17, 2016

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Page Three Æ s

3

PHOTO TIMES

Editorial Caring for autism sufferers

R

ecent report has it that Nigeria is among the countries with noticeable cases of autism, with about 380,000 children. This was disclosed at the World Autism Awareness Day held at the United States Embassy in Lagos. The event, which was organised in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, is to sensitise Nigerians on the disorder in order to get appropriate cure. Addressing the audience, the United States envoy to Nigeria, Mr. James Entwistle noted that autism is a global problem that affects one of every 68 children in the United States,adding that the disorder affects all classes and races in the country. We may ask what is autism.

Autism,a spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability caused by differences in the brain. Scientists do not know yet exactly what causes these differences for most people with ASD. However, some people with ASD have a known difference, such as a genetic condition. There are multiple causes of ASD, although most are not yet known.

There is often nothing about how people with ASD look that sets them apart from other people, but they may communicate, interact, behave, and learn in ways that are different from most other people. The learning, thinking, and problem-solving abilities of people with the disorder can range from gifted to severely challenged. Some people with ASD need many help in their daily lives; others need less. ASD begins before the age of three and last throughout a person’s life. Some children with ASD show hints of future problems within the first few months of life. In others, symptoms may not show up until 24 months or later, while some children with an ASD seem to develop normally until around 18 to 24 months of age and then they stop gaining new skills, or even lose the skills they once had. Studies have shown that one third to half of parents of children with an ASD noticed a problem before

their child’s first birthday, and nearly 80 –90 percent saw problems by 24 months of age. Estimates put it that autism is the third most common childhood disorder in Nigeria and is the fastest growing developmental disability.

Before now, children with autism are also thought to be schizophrenic or mentally retarded because of some ‘odd behaviour they present with which, due to lack of understanding, can be frightening for people around them to witness. There is fear and stigma associated with autism and parents are sometimes blamed for their child’s autism. The truth, of course, is that autism is not due to bad parenting. It is not due to witchcraft. The children are not witches, as alluded to in certain places in Nigeria. It is important to recognise the early signs of autism and seek early intervention services. One of the most important things a parent or caregiver can do is to learn the early signs of autism and become familiar with the typical developmental milestones in the your child. The following ‘red flags’ may indicate your child is at risk for an autism spectrum disorder. No big smiles or other warm, joyful expressions by six months or thereafter,back-and-forth sharing of sounds, smiles or other facial expressions by nine months,lack of babbling by 12 months,no backand-forth gestures such as pointing, showing, reaching or waving by 12 months,no words by 16 months,lack of meaningful two-word phrases by 24 months and loss of speech, babbling or social skills at any age.

Fortunately, Some people with autism are able to live relatively independent lives, but others may have learning and behavioral disabilities that mean they need constant help and support.

That is why we are calling on the various governments, corporate bodies and non governmental organisations to be at fore front in taking the initiatives to provide requisite and adequate training facilities for such group of children to enable them live healthier and normal lives like their peers.

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L-R: Representative of the Controller-General of Prisons, Mr. Aloy Uchenwa; National President, Prisons Officers Wives Association (PROWA), Mrs Lizzie Ekpendu; Chairman, Pipelines West Africa Limited, Chief Uju Nolue; Chairperson of PROWA Enugu State, Lady Anthonia Uchenwa and Mrs. Julie Nolue during the inauguration of PROWA Shopping Complex at Oji-River Community in Enugu State… on Monday.

L-R: Corps Marshal, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Mr. Boboye Oyeyemi; Minister of Interior, Lt. Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazzau (rtd); Minister of State for Health, Prof. Osage Ehinaire; Chairman, Senate Committee on Federal Character and Inter Governmental Affairs, Sen. Tijjani Kaura and others during the commissioning of newly acquired operational vehicles for FRSC in Abuja… on Monday.

PHOTO: TEMITOPE BALOGUN.

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Publisher/Editor in Chief – Fidelis Anosike Group General Manager Olisa Egbunike 08034004224

L-R: Group General Manager, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Garba Muhammad; Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mrs. Ayotunde Adesugba during the meeting with media bureau chiefs on the fuel situation in Abuja… on Monday.

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STATEMENTS BY THOSE WHO MATTER

Nelson Mandela

Chinua Achebe

Atiku Abubakar

“The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”

“Nigeria is what it is because its leaders are not what they should be.”

“Education truly can change a person’s story, it gave me everything. Whatever happens, get an # education.”

4

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 17, 2016

The Value of the Naira is what we make it to be The Naira will only appreciate when we buy Nigerian and reduce our demand for things foreign.

That is why when you fly Arik Air to London Heathrow, New York JFK or Johannesburg, YOU help reduce the demand for foreign exchange by discouraging capital flights to make the Naira stronger. #ArikAdvantage • 10 years of Safe and Reliable flying.

• 28 new, state-of-the-art aircraft.

• Fleet maintenance by world renowned Lufthansa Technik, Iberia & SAMCO. • Only West and Central African airline with a triple IOSA certification.

• Employ over 3,000 Nigerians.

• Unbeatable value to a network of 19 domestic destinations, 10 West and Central Africa destinations and 3 international destinations.

Fly Arik Air. Discourage Capital Flights

a r i k a i r. c o m West and Central Africa’s Leading Airline

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Saraki seeks more powers for ECOWAS parliament ÏÏÏThe Senate President,

Dr. Bukola Saraki, on Monday, called for more powers for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament.

He said it is pertinent if the aim of the sub-region to achieve full integration is to be realised.

Saraki made the call in his speech at the opening of the First Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament in Abuja, according to a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Senate President, Sanni Onogu, in Abuja.

The Senate President said that even though the ECOWAS parliament is evolving in the right direction, it was his fervent hope that members of the sub region will begin to invest in it, more responsibility and opportunity as a sure path to creating the right structure for closer integration of the sub-region.

Saraki said: “The ECOWAS sub-region has

come a long way in pursuit of integration and development. However, what is clear today is that we need to do more. Other regional bodies, including those who we inspired, have moved faster towards integration than we have.

“Sadly, this has been due to our inability to add to the institutional building blocks and muster the courage to reorder our structures for the vision of a virile and integrated ECOWAS. “The ECOWAS Parliament remains a critical place to start. We must as a necessity, give the parliament greater authorization and capacity to duly legislate on common areas and provide oversight on certain issues of common interest and interdependency.

“For as long as we are unable to, or fail to remit to this parliament more powers, the dreams for greater integration will remain a myth. This singular reason may be responsible for

the lack of adequate cohesion in the fight against terrorism, cross border crimes and the implementation of agreed trade agreements and protocols.

“With greater oversight and authorisation, it is possible that we would see greater inroads made in the areas of the enforcement of ECOWAS regional trade agreements and instruments, especially the Common External Tariff Order,” he said.

He said that the ECOWAS Parliament has shown itself as a primer of integration and a key instrument for stability in the sub region having utilised “its instruments to provide opinions on various issues such as infrastructural development, migration, public health and investment referred to it by other Community Institutions, especially the ECOWAS Commission; with the aim to positively impact on the standards of living of West African citizens.”

Enugu bans night grazing, rearing of cattle Moses Oyediran Enugu

ÏÏÏGrazing and rearing of

cattle at night was on Monday banned in Enugu State after a meeting between Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and leaders of Fulani/Shuwa Arab herdsmen in the state.

Also banned are the carrying of firearms or any form of ammunition by the herdsmen and movement of cattle from one location to another at night in the state.

Another far reaching decision taken during the crucial meeting on Monday, was the setting up of a peace committee made up of representatives of the various interest groups from the Fulani\Shuwa Arab Community in the state, government representatives, as well as security agencies.

During the meeting convened by Gov. Ugwuanyi,

also attended by leaders of some communities affected by the menace of the herdsmen in the state, it was also decided that compensation will be paid by herdsmen whose cattle destroy farm crops, while the communities will pay for any cattle killed by their members.

The governor had convened the meeting in furtherance of ongoing efforts of the state government to find a lasting solution to the lingering clashes between Fulani herdsmen and their host communities, especially in the wake of the recent Nimbo killings.

It was also decided that violators of these resolutions will be made to face the full wrath of the law.

Addressing the meeting which held at the Government House, Enugu, Governor Ugwuanyi sued for peace among all residents of the state, even as he regretted the recent attacks by the

herdsmen.

Present at the meeting were the secretary of the Fulani Community in the state, Bala Ardo, the leader of the Fulani community, Alhaji Ado Saidu Basu, and the leader of the Shuwa Arab community in the state, Alhaji Ahmed Yahaya, while the traditional ruler of Ibute Nze led leaders of three communities of Akpakwume, Ezi Nze and Ibute Nze communities in Udi council area of the state, who also attended the meeting.

Ugwuanyi

5 News

CARTOON

News Analysis Fuel price hike: The U-turn by Tinubu, el-Rufai, others Sam Nzeh

ÏÏÏOne

thing that last week’s hike in fuel pump price from N87.00 to N145.00 by the President Muhammadu Buhariled Federal Government has exposed is the selfish but true colours of some prominent Nigerians and groups.

These Nigerians few years ago were at the forefront opposing increase in pump price of petrol, but now have turned round to support the policy.

Some of these Nigerians and groups condemned the the decision by the immediate past administration of President Goodluck Jonathan to increase pump price of petrol in 2012.

Many of them deployed huge resources and mobil-

ised Nigerians to protest the decision.

But now, these individuals are lending support to the decision by the Buhari administration to hike the price of petrol. They are now calling for patience on the part of Nigerians, saying the decision is the best in the present circumstance.

One of such persons, former Lagos State Governor, Senator Bola Tinubu, last Thursday, commended President Buhari for removing the subsidy on petrol, describing it as “a bold step”. He told Nigerians that “this pain is necessary”.

In the same vein, Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, a prominent voice against a similar policy in 2012 by the then Jonathan administration, in his first official reaction on Thursday, to the latest hike in pump price, urged

calm and praised the orderly response of Kaduna people to the new policy.

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) are also among groups supporting the new pump price.

The question these individuals and groups now supporting the present hike in fuel pump price by the incumbent administration should answer is: why were they opposed to the same decision by the Jonathan administration?

If the policy was not good then, why is it good now?

Until Nigerians do away with self interest on policy issues, the tendency to condemn a policy by one administration and embrace same under another administration will continue drawback the country.

Edo 2016: Ogiemwonyi calls for level-playing field for aspirants Titus Akhigbe Benin

ÏÏÏEngr. Chris Osa Ogi-

emwonyi, one of the front runners for the gubernatorial ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the September 10 polls in Edo State, has reiterated that he stands on the same page with the incumbent governor of the state, Comrade Adams Aliu Oshiomhole, on his submission to the national fact findings

and reconciliation committee set up to address the perceived in-fighting that is ongoing in the state chapter of the party.

In a media chat with journalists in Benin, Engr.

Ogiemwonyi asserted that the governor’s submission to the Olagunsoye Oyinlola’s team was meaningful.

“I support the governor’s statement. All the Edo State APC stakeholders and governorship aspirants are all clamouring

for a level playing field so that we can have a formidable candidate emerging during the governorship primaries to fight the opposition party, PDP. “So, so far, so well, we are praying for a crisis free primaries in a few weeks’ time,” he averred.

On developmental strides, he scored the Comrade Oshiomhole led administration in Edo State of scoring a whopping 80 percent.

News 6

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Petrol price: FG begs Labour to shelve strike Continued from page 1 The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, made the appeal at an interactive session with journalists in Abuja on Monday.

Mohammed said the new price was introduced for the country to survive as government could no longer afford the foreign exchange spent by the NNPC to import petrol.

The issue of new petrol price also threw the House of Representatives in a rowdy session on Monday following disagreement amongst lawmakers as to

whether or not to allow the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, into the House chamber to commence his interface with them following the adoption of a motion moved

by House Leader, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila Trouble started when the Speaker ruled in favour of Gbajabiamila’s motion to grant the Minister access into the House chamber as against the position of majority of lawmakers who voted against the motion.

Angered by the Speaker’s ruling, House members protested against the action by waving the national flag and

chanting “all we are saying, save Nigeria”.

The chants led to the disruption of proceedings for nearly 25 minutes, until when The Minority Leader, Rep. Leo Ogor moved a counter motion that the House dissolve into an executive session in a bid to douse the mounting tension.

Also on Monday, Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) said it supported the petrol price increase because of President Muhammadu Buhari’s sincerity towards infrastructure development and oil and gas policies.

Chairman of the union in South-West, Alhaji Tokunbo Korodo, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that his union and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) endorsed the price hike.

He said that though the Federal Government consulted the unions on its contemplation on the price increase, they had not taken the message to their members before the announcement was made.

Korodo, however, said “it was a big shock but as shocking as it was, we cannot throw away the baby

with the bath water’’.

He said that the country was at the verge of economic stagnation, and that the only way to move economy forward was to support the government’s move.

“We met and x-rayed the problem confronting the oil industry at large.

“We considered the sincerity of the government as it relates to infrastructure and some policies in oil and gas industry.

‘We also put into consideration the plight of Nigerians. After putting all these forward, the two unions, after a strong deliberation, arrived at a conclusion.

“We came to support the government and the policy of price modulation.

“We believe that if the

market is opened a little, it will create more room for investment,’’ he said.

At his interactive session with journalists, Alhaji Mohammed equally declared, categorically, that the lnew price regime did not amount to removal of subsidy, stressing that there was no subsidy to remove as no provision was made for it (subsidy) in the 2016 budget.

The Federal government, the Minister pointed out, paid N1 trillion in subsidy last year, which amounts to one sixth of this year’s (2016) budget.

He stated therefore that the federal government could not afford to pay another 1 trillion Naira in subContinued on page 12

Buhari, Wike in secret meeting ÎÎÎRivers State Governor,

Former Abia State Governor, Orji Uzor Kalu arraigned at Federal High Court Abuja over alleged N5bn theft… on Monday.

Mr. Nyesom Wike on Monday visited President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The governor, who arrived the State House at noon spent about twenty minutes and left.

When asked his mission to the seat of power, he declined to speak, but only exchanged pleasantries with journalists and walked past. However, the Villa was heavy with feeling that his visit was not unconnected

with the ongoing disturbances within the Niger Delta states where a group, Niger Delta Avengers have been blowing up major oil installations. It will be recalled that Bayelsa State Governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson, paid a similar visit to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo last week where he said that the government could not tolerate the bombing and vandalism of oil installations and other national assets in the coastal states.

6 reasons we’re calling a nationwide strike over N145 petrol price – NLC ÎÎÎThe

Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has enunciated six reasons why it is calling an indefinite nationwide strike from Wednesday, in concert with the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and civil society organisations, to protest the increase in pump price of petrol from N86.50 to N145 per litre and force a reversal.

General Secretary of the NLC, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson, identified these six reasons while answering questions in an interview with The Punch, as published in the online version of the newspaper on Sunday.

Daily Times has extracted the six reasons enunciat-

ed by Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson in the interview. In the words of the NLC General Secretary, these are:

ation where there would be conditions that would completely destabilise the workers and their families.

1. Given the harsh economic times in which Nigerians are living, which have been further compounded initially by the hike in electricity tariff, this is not the time to visit another hardship on Nigerians.

The economic crisis that the nation is facing already has major negative impact on workers. An average worker on current wage cannot survive because the real wage has been so badly eroded. If we compound it (the problem) through this, we are going to find a situ-

2. We are having a government now directing importers of petroleum products to go into the black market to source for foreign exchange. We think this is a recipe for economic crisis because what will happen is that when the volume of the demand for foreign exchange needed to fund importation of products is moved into the black market, the value of the naira is going to crash. And if that were to happen, it has implications on the overall economy itself.

3. A situation where the domestic price of PMS (Premium Motor Spirit) will now be determined by forces in the black market exchange rate is something that is not good for the economy and we are opposed to it.

4. It is going to create a circle because what will happen is that once demand forces further depreciation of the value of the naira, then the template that has been used to arrive at the N145 now will have to be taken into consideration (reviewed). And so, it is a vicious circle that will never end.

5. The minister used deceit to market whatever policy they had brought forward. For the avoidance of doubt, I will just state clearly what happened: On Tuesday, at about 4:30pm, we received a letter from the Vice President’s Office addressed to the President of Congress (NLC), inviting him to a meeting at 12 noon yesterday (Wednesday) for what was termed in that letter as consultative meeting.

No subject matter was mentioned. Because the NLC President was not officially available – he is on official assignment outside the country – we discussed the invitation and it was agreed

that I would go to represent the congress. And I was there to represent the congress. It was at that table yesterday (Wednesday) that we saw the agenda, where it was stated that the minister would make a presentation. And he made a presentation. Having made it, the Vice President (Prof.

Yemi Osinbajo) then asked people to discuss or comment or ask questions. In that meeting, we discovered there were a number of senators led by the Deputy Senate President (Sen. Ike Ekweremadu); there were a number of members of the House, led by the Speaker Continued on page 12

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 17, 2016

7 News

Ekiti APC flays Fayose over flyover, seeks payment of workers Gbenga Sodeinde, Ado Ekiti

ÎÎÎThe

All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti South Senatorial District has urged Governor Ayo Fayose to stop the construction of a flyover and pay civil servants the fivemonth arrears of salaries owed them and six month arrears owed pensioners.

They demanded the payment of entitlements due to medical doctors and workers to end the culture of strikes in the health institutions and expressed regrets over the standard of living of the people of the state, especially civil servants and pensioners in the state.

These were parts of the resolutions reached at the

APC Ekiti South Senatorial meeting, held in Emure Ekiti, signed by the Chairman, Kayode Babade and the Secretary, Muyiwa Akinbobola.

The APC condemned the construction of a flyover in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital. It suggested that the fund for the flyover be converted to fix inter-local government roads and township road networks.

The party demanded the return of all monies allegedly collected by the governor from corporate organisations and deposited into coffers of the government in respect of corporate social responsibility (CSR).

The APC equally condemned the tax imposed on school pupils in the state which, according to it, “had never been done

Plateau govt says 2016’ll cater for abandoned projects

ÎÎÎEdo

State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, has presented Certificates of Occupancy to major investors in the agriculture sector of the economy in the state, saying that the government would do everything possible to support investors and encourage fresh investments.

He said that the state government “understands what it means to identify with this part of the country, investing in an area that requires a long term gestation period. I think your action, more than words, demonstrates an uncommon level of confidence in our country and in Edo State. I believe what we have done today is historic, but I am also

Jos

ÎÎÎThe Commissioner for

Gov. Lalong

ernor should know that he is not doing Ekiti proud as Ekiti people are decent imbued with sound virtues and values.”

It commended the President and the National Assembly for the passage of the 2016 Budget, which would afford Nigerians opportunity to benefit from the party’s development agenda for the nation.

Oshiomhole presents C of O to agro-investors

Chijioke Kingsley,

Finance in Plateau State, Hon. Tamwakat Weli, has said that the 2016 budgets was focused on the completion of the abounded projects.

Mrs Weli stated this at the presentation of the detailed breakdown of the 2016 budget at the cabinet office in Jos. The sectoral breakdown of the budget followed the signing of the 2016 appropriation bill by Governor Simon Lalong recently after its passage by the House of Assembly.

According to the commissioner, “The focus of the 2016 Budget is on the completion of inherited projects which could not be completed by past administration due to the sharp decrease in revenue accruing to the state and the huge debt burden on the state.

She said, “Emphasis will be on the completion of inherited road projects and the initiation of very critical ones which is in line with the aspirations of people of the state.

anywhere in the world.”

“We, therefore urge the governor to refund all taxes so far collected and reopen the schools locked up in default in the interest of our future generations,”the party said.

The party condemned what it called “the incessant attacks” by Fayose on President Muhammadu Buhari saying: “The gov-

convinced that future governments will have no choice but to build on it.”

Oshiomhole reaffirmed his commitment to the provision of enabling environment for investment, “On the occasion of the seventh anniversary of this administration, I made a point that we were very clear from the outset what we wanted to do. We have clear responsibility cut out for us in the area of provision of infrastructure, security, all of those elements that translate into what investors call enabling environment, so that those who are better equipped, who have the know-how and have the resources can come in and take advantage of these facilities to invest.

Chieftaincy tussle: Delta monarch lauds Okowa’s intervention Nosa Ogiugo, Asaba

Head of Administration, Presco Plc, Mr. Tony Uwajeh (left), receiving Certificate of Occupancy from Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole at the Government House, Benin City… Monday.

ÎÎÎThe

Okpala-Uku of Umusadege, Utagba-Uno, in Ndokwa West Local Government Area of Delta State,

Fuel price hike: COSEG mobilises Nigerians for strike Gboyega Adeoye

ÎÎÎThe Coalition Of

Oodua Self- Determination Group has called on all Nigerians to join force with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and other civil society groups, so as to force government to rescind its decision to hike the fuel price.

In a press statement signed

by Dayo Ogunlana and Rasak Olokooba, Chairman and Secretary of COSEG, respectively, the group called on various civil society groups, who were masses-oriented to stand up and be counted on the side of Nigerians, who were feeling the serious pains of the recent hike in petrol .

The group described as

painful the punishment being meted out to Nigerians by the present administration without providing any palliative measure to assuage their trauma.

COSEG, therefore, enjoined Nigerians to heed the call by the various groups to hit the streets nation-wide and force government to rescind some of its recent policies.

COSEG said that “We call on all civil society groups and genuine labour unions to remain undeterred and collaborate with our group to stand up against this wicked, killing, treacherous and mischievous hike in price of petrol. We, therefore, urge all concerned to join us in the streets

to reject this anti people hike which is inflicting pains on the masses”.

The group said that the timing of the hike was suspicious as it was very clear that the Federal Government was dancing to the lyrics of some external financial organisations like “IMF, which care less about the feelings and welfare of Nigerians.”

It said that “We cannot pretend not to see or notice the pressure being mounted on the government by various external financial institutions and borrowing entities that want to take over our hard earned oil by preferring various killer policies that will bring hardship to our people”.

COSEG further stated that “Everybody knows that the major setback for our underdevelopment is corruption and it applies to petrol administration.” It, therefore, urged the government to fight corruption in oil sector as applied to subsidy.

The group said: “A baby in Nigeria knows how deep corruption has eaten deep into our fabric and this, we all know, has been bringing regression to our national life.

We believe that fighting this menace, which has also affected the subsidy issue in the oil sector, should be the major concern of our government, not policies that will further impoverish our dear people”.

Ogbu-Ewu Egbononwu Ojugbeli, has described the intervention of the Delta State government in the chieftaincy issues in the community as timely.

Ogbu-Ewu Ojugbeli, who spoke shortly after the resolution of the crisis by the Deputy Governor of Delta State, Barr. Kingsley Otuaro, said the reaffirmation of Chief Adoh Ugbomeh as the Onotu-Uku of Umusadege, Utagba-Uno, was a welcome development.

According to him, “by intervening in the issue which involved the Onotus (chiefs) of my community, Umusadege, it shows that our governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa is a grassroots man who wants peace because Chief Adoh Ugbomeh as the Onotu-Uku of Umusadege, was a reaffirmation of the wish and tradition of the people and we are very happy with this development”.

He urged all the sons and daughters of Umusadege, Utagba-Uno to abide by the decision of the state government and live in peace, disclosing that Adoh Ugbomeh had seven years tenure as recognised by the custom of the people.

8

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Politics

Æs

Ooni, Alaafin storm Lagos Assembly for Yoruba summit June 2 Alade Tasma Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi and Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi would on Thursday 2nd June, 2016 lead other Yoruba Obas to a summıt on the need to promote the speakıng of Yoruba language among indigenes across the Yoruba States as well as ıntroducıng ıt ınto the

academıc currıculum as a compulsory course to study ın all publıc and prıvate prımary and secondary schools ın Lagos State.

Addressing a press conference on the summit on Monday, the Chairman of the House Committee on Education. Hon. Olanrewaju Ogunyemi said it has been discovered that the several steps taken on the issue by the House

through motions and resolutions have not yıelded expected result.

Ogunyemı who was joıned at the conference by members of the commıttee and a consultant to the House on the scheduled summıt, Professor Adenıyı Harrıson of the Lınguıstıc department, Lagos State Unıversıty saıd school children ought to learn more about their local language.

“The National Policy on Education in Nigeria emphasises the importance of teaching local languages in schools. Most Nigerian parents discouraged their children from speaking local languages, but developed countrıes lıke Germany, Russia, France and many others speak theır CONTINUED ON PAGE 9

Ooni

PDP gets new BoT Chair, Scribe

Ï Ƌ ƍƎƓ ƄƉƐƄ ƃ ƎƆƎƏƎƆ ƊƄ ƕƊƄ Ǝ

Maduake

Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja, Chijioke Kingsley, Jos Senator Walid Jibrin, acting Chairman, Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), since February this year, has been confirmed as the substan-

tive chairman of the BoT. Similarly, former Minister of Transport, Chief Ojo Maduekwe has emerged the Secretary of the BoT of the opposition party.

Madueke’s emergence followed the decision by former Senate Majority Whip, Senator Stella Omu step down for him.

The positions were filled at BoT meeting held on Monday in Abuja which lasted for about six hours.

The former Chairman of the BoT, Chief Anthony Anenih resigned a year ago following the defeat suffered by the PDP in the 2015 presidential elections.

The BoT of the PDP has also given its support to the forthcoming national convention of the PDP) slated for Port Harcourt, Rivers State, The decision to support the holding of the national convention as scheduled came shortly after the National Chairman, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff addressed the opening session of the meeting.

Sheriff informed the BoT members that he and the 12 governors elected on the platform of the party have agreed to suspend the proposed constitutional amendment at the convention.

His words, “Today we a looking at the constitution of the party to be taken at the convention. The issue of the constitution will not be taken as a result of the meeting we had.

“We will bring down completely, the issue of the constitution as a result of the agreement they reached as part of their meeting,” he said.

Former Governor of Plateau State, Senator Jonah Jang has CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

Omisore

Osun PDP crisis deepens as party vacates Omisore’s property used as secretariat Sodiq Adekunle, Osogbo The crisis rocking the Osun State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) took a new dimension on Monday, when members of PDP were seen evacuating the party’s secretariat at Osogbo, the state capital.

While some members of the PDP said the building used as the party secretariat situated along Osogbo-Gbongan Road was owned by a former Deputy Governor of Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore, others said Omisore was only paying the rent.

It was gathered that the faction who won the election left the secretariat to a new place around Otaefun area along Ikirun Road.

According to sources within the party, the evacuation was necessary since loyalists of Omisore failed to emerge in the

recently conducted congress of the party.

It would be recalled that controversy trailed PDP’s congress in Osun State.

While a part of the party was loyal to the last governorship election candidate of the party, Senator Iyiola Omisore, others are in support of the incumbent state chairman of the party, Ganiyu Olaoluwa.

The spokesperson of Omisore camp, Hon. Bade Falade, claimed that the congress was manipulated in favour of a chairmanship candidate.

“We are not given forms to participate in the exercise and contest. Apart from that, a court had already issued an injunction stopping the exercise,” he added.

During the congress, some prominent party members did not participate. Among those who shunned the congress were CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 17, 2016

9 Politics

PDP suspends review of its constitution CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

Alaafin

Yoruba monarchs converge in Lagos for summit CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

ındıgenous languages.

“We observe that our local language is not being taught in our schools. So we are organising a stakeholders meeting on the importance of Yoruba Language in the South West states of Nigeria.

After the summit, we would still go round to ensure that there is compliance in all the schools in the state,” the lawmaker stated.

Ogunyemı stressed further that part of the objectıve of the summıt ıs to ensure that school children are able to study, read and write Yoruba Language effectively.

On the availability of Yoruba teachers in public schools, the lawmaker said efforts would be

made to ensure that more Yoruba teachers were employed in Lagos State schools, and that any private school that flout the directive of the government on the issue would have ıts approval withdrawn.

Other Yoruba Obas expected at the summıt scheduled to hold at the Academy Hall & Inn, Lateef Jakande Road, Agidingbi, Ikeja, ıncluded; Oba of Lagos, Rılwan Akıolu, Alake of Egbaland, Oba Gbadebo Adedotun, Paramount ruler of Ijebuland, Oba Sıkıru Adetona, Governors and Commissioners of Education in the South West region of the country whıle renown Yoruba cultural ambassador, Professor Akinwunmi Ishola is the Guest Speaker.

said that the State and Ward Congresses conducted recently by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is an indication that the party is still the greatest party in Africa, saying that regaining power in 2019 can not be negotiated with the impressive conduct of the congresses.

This is coming as the party’s embattled National Chairman, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff has announced the suspension of its ongoing plan to review the party’s constitution that has reached advanced stages following protests by the party’s stakeholders.

But expressing satisfaction with the way and manner party officials comported themselves during the congresses, Jang expressed optimism that Plateau will return to its ‘first love’ as PDP was birth in Plateau.

His words: “Plateau State is the home of PDP and now that we have new excos that are grass root politicians who are always in touch with their grass root supporters, victory is certain”.

PDP has just conducted its congresses nationwide to produce the party’s leadership at all levels in order to prepare for the 2019 elections.

The new Chairman of the State chapter of the PDP, Hon. Damishi Sango, a former Minister for Youth and Sport, led his fellow contestants with a wide margin in the votes. From the official votes announced, Sango scored 758, while his closest ri-

val, Hon Bitrus B. Kaze, scored 222 votes.

With this political development, political observers are of the opinion that, a strong opposition to the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government in the state is awoken to give a proper analysis of the political activities and economic situation of the country which will put the APC policies in a contentious perspective.

Hon. Sango, the new State Chairman in his acceptance speech, stated that Plateau State is wearing a strange garment in the current political dispensation.

According to him, APC in Plateau has no business occupying the Government House in Jos, reiterating that Plateau State is the home of PDP. Also speaking, Senator Beni Lar, expressed confidence in the ability of the new Excos of the party in moving the structure of the party to the next level and appealed to those who left PDP to come back and build the party rather than staying away and allowing others to benefit from it.

She said she is proud to be among the family of a great party, stating that the peaceful manner in which the congress was conducted showed that PDP is not in a hurry to exit from the political threshold of the country contrary to the insinuation of their political opponent.

Lar dismissed the allegation that Jang imposed Sango as the new Chairman of the party stat-

ing that the election was free and fair.

However, Sheriff, on Monday said review of the party’s Constitution had been suspended in the interest of its unity.

Sheriff stated this while addressing members of the party’s Board of Trustees (BOT) during their meeting at PDP National Secretariat in Abuja saying that the decision to suspend the review stemmed from agreements reached during the party’s leadership’s recent meeting with some stakeholders and elders of the party.

“In order to solve the problem in the party, we have agreed to drop the issue of Constitution review. Although I am yet to discuss with the National Working Committee of the party, I am sure that since it is coming from the leaders and concerned members of the party, I don’t think they will object to it.

“We will completely step down the issue of reviewing the Constitution; it will not be taken as a result of the agreement we reached with some of our elders who participated in the meeting,” Sheriff said.

He recalled that the issue of reviewing the Constitution started before his emergence as chairman of the party.

Besides, he told the BoT members that the party leadership was aware of issues surrounding recent state and zonal congresses of the party, adding that meetings were being held to adCONTINUED ON PAGE 10

How we will capture Lagos — New PDP Chair Iniobong Iwok The newly elected chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos, Moshood Adegoke Salvador has disclosed that his immediately priority is to unite all groups and aggrieved members in the party with a view to capturing the state from the All Progressives Congress (APC).

According to him, this would aid his attempt at strengthen the structure of the party and intensify mobilisation of members across the state.

The former House of Representatives member stated this while speaking to newsmen shortly after he was elected as the chairman of the party through consensus choice by the party after consultation among the leaders and stakeholders.

He noted that disagreement was part of politics, urging members to join hands to move the party forward as success could only be achieved through peace.

His words: “This is a new dawn, I’m here to build the party, I appeal to all of you to join hands, let’s move our great party forward, my main objective is to unite the party, mobilisation of members and strengthening of the structure of the party. It requires strong discipline by members and you can see from the turnout that the people are ready to move the party forward”.

“When you talk of crisis, it is everywhere, but the major thing is to advise members not to have crisis within the party; it is the responsibility of me and you the press, the populace and members of the party, it is only when

the party is successful you can acquire power.

“First I would be happy to tell you that those people that are complaining are not complaining about my emergence, they believe I’m for everybody and for nobody; I would work for the interest of all groups in the party”, Salvador added.

The chairman said PDP in the state is posed to consolidate on its victories in the last general election, adding that the end of APC was imminent in the state.

Other state executives who emerged at the congress alongside Salvador include Prince Muiz Shodipe, (Secretary); Chief Ola Apena, (Deputy chairman); Mr. Taofik Gani, (Publicity Secretary); Princess Olateru Olagbegi, (Woman Leader) and Taiwo Kuye, (Organising Secretary).

Salvador

Politics 10

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Jang, Lar: PDP still greatest party in Africa CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9

dress the problems pointing out that the party would review congresses that had problems.

“It is from today that we will start receiving the reports and look into where the problems are because the appeal committees have sat and made certain observations on affected states.

“We have agreed that a committee would be set up to look into the problems so that the party can sit together with the view of correcting what has gone wrong in some states.

“Party is dynamic and the views of the people you are leading are also very important; that is why we have agreed on some of these issues,” he said.

The chairman also said that the issue of zoning of the party’s presidential slot for 2019 election to the North-East would be ad-

Jibrin

dressed at Saturday’s National Convention in Port Harcourt.

On possibility of a shift of the convention date, he said that the date and venue remained unchanged “except if something extra ordinary happens”.

Sheriff, who disclosed his intention to contest to retain his position as chairman, said that he had already been endorsed as a sole candidate for the position during the North-East zonal congress.

On recent increase in price of petrol, he said that the party would meet soon to take a position on it.

Earlier, acting Chairman of the BoT, Sen. Walid Jibrin, said that the board had been watching with keen interest, recent happenings in the party as well as working towards resolving the problems.

“As the conscience of the party, we must take the situations critically with the view of solving them in a more democratic way without necessarily destroying the party.

“We must exhibit highest morality, be upright and very sincere in trying to solve our problem’ he added.

Jubril, who commended the BoT members for allowing him to lead them, urged them to be calculative and cooperative in the way they handled party issues.

“It is now evolving that what is happening is an exhibition of democracy. Since we are in a democracy, we cannot stop anybody from saying anything but we should use various meetings positively with the view to moving the party forward,” he stressed.

Delta PDP defectors get 3 months ultimatum to return or be expelled Nosa Ogiugo, Asaba Hundreds of defectors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Delta State chapter who left for other parties have been given three months ultimatum to return or face strident punishment Barrister Kingsley Esiso, state chairman of the party gave the warning while speaking with journalists in Asaba, the state capital.

Reacting to issues bothering on the party’s alleged imposition of candidates which has resulted into the party members and leaders leaving the party in droves, the chairman

said: “Any party member who nurses the intent of leaving the party should return, and those who have left should also do so or will face strident sanctions later”, insisting that there was no green pasture in other political parties except the PDP. Esiso maintained that the allegations against the party’s congresses of massive imposition were not only untrue but being spread by disgruntled and faceless group of persons not known by the party executive.

His words: “I am not sure the rumuor managers know PDP or are members of the party, it is not true what they are saying about the party, the party is

Okowa

Osun PDP crisis deepens CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

Omisore, former Minister of Police Affairs, Jelili Adesiyan; and member BoT, Chief Ebenezer Babatope among others.

Top party members who attended the congress were a member of the Board of Trustee of the party, Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun; National Secretary of the PDP, Prof. Wale Oladipo and former Chairman of Federal Road Maintenance Agency, Mr. Jide Adeniji. Former Deputy Governor Olusola Obada; Senator Olu Alabi and others were also present at the congress which pro-

duced Adagunodo-led executive.

One of the immediate past executive of the party told Daily Times that: “We have to move.

Omisore has always threatened us with the building when we are not ready to toe his line of argument.

“We realised that he was the one behind the cancellation of the first congress election at the national level and that is because we denied him the opportunity to impose leaders on us. That (the building) is his only property in that party and we don’t need it again”, he added.

An aide to Omisore said, “He

(Omisore) rented this secretariat and he is the one paying the rent so there is no way those ones (other faction) can come here with what they have done.

“He did not pursue them but they also know that they can no longer come here. They have moved to Otaefun area. They have gone there to form a faction of PDP. But let us wait and see.

We are still going to court tomorrow ( Tuesday).”

The newly elected secretary of the PDP in Osun State, Mr. Bola Ajao, confirmed that the party had moved to a new secretariat along Ikirun Road.

Olaoluwa

very organised and all the congresses were free and fair”.

While expressing support for the zoning formula of the PDP, Barrister Esiso said Delta North representative, and the governor of the state, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa will be governor till 2023, adding that zoning will bring peace in any party.

Eulogizing the efforts of Governor Okowa-led administration, Barrister Esiso disclosed that the governor had unveiled infrastructural development that will put the state first among equals, adding that his achievements within a year in office cannot be over emphasised.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 17, 2016

11 Politics

Minister extols founding fathers; legacies an inspiration Tom Okpe, Abuja Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed at the weekend rained encomium on the nation’s founding fathers for laying the foundation for the development of the country, saying their legacies will continue to remain an inspiration.

The Minister made the remarks in Abuja on Saturday while declaring open a historical photographic exhibition with the theme “Political Development of Nigeria 1960-2016: The Change Mantra”.

“What we are showing you today is our own attempt to remind you about the greatness of this country; to remind you that this nation has produced world-class leaders before; that this nation has excelled in every field of human endeavor and the essence is to inspire all of us,” he said.

Alhaji Mohammed noted that through creative ideas, dedication and patriotism, the political leaders of the various defunct regions were able to harness agriculture to drive the development of the country.

“It was the strong personalities, the strong characters at the helm of affairs in each of the regions that made it possible for the groundnut pyramids of Kano

“It was the strong personalities, the strong characters at the helm of affairs in each of the regions that made it possible for the groundnut pyramids of Kano and that made it possible for Cocoa House to be built from Cocoa.

Free education was pioneered in the West via agriculture, coal was highly developed in the East, rubber and palm products you could find in the East.’’

Macauley

Ugwuanyi: Only peace can attract democracy dividends

Ugwuanyi

Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State has enjoined communities in the state to promote peace in the state in order to attract democracy dividends as promised.

The governor made the call at a civic reception organised in his honour by the people of Edem Community in Nsukka Local Government Area on Sunday.

The governor advised the peo-

ple on the importance of unity to the rapid growth and development of any community.

He noted that governments, organisations and individuals would only invest in an environment devoid of rancour and acrimony.

Ugwuanyi said that in spite of the slowdown of economic activities due to economic meltdown in the country, the state administra-

tion would continue to provide social amenities to the people.

On insecurity, he told the people that his administration was liaising with traditional rulers and town union authorities to beef up security.

Ugwuanyi also urged the people to continue to pray for his administration to succeed in spite of current challenges.

Earlier, Enugu State Head of Service, Mr Chidi Ezema, outlined the achievements of the government within its one year in office to include “prompt payment of workers’ salaries; provision of 100 units of houses to public civil servants. “Massive road infrastructural network and appointment of sons and daughters of the area into the present administration among others.’’

He assured the governor of the unalloyed support of the people for the success of the administration.

The event was attended by Rev. Monsignor Emmanuel Ugwu, who represented the Catholic Bishop of Nsukka Diocese, Most Rev. Godfrey Onah and top government functionaries. (NAN)

Freddie Adamgbe, Makurdi, with Agency report Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom has signed the state’s 2016 Appropriation Bill of N150.7 billion to law. The estimates comprised N66.5 billion vote for recurrent expenditure and N84.1 billion budgeted for capital projects.

He said his administration was committed to holistic implementation of the budget and directed the Office of Budget Implementation to ensure blockage of financial leakages.

He also directed the directorate to ensure total compliance with the appropriation law to avoid alterations in the budget.

“The Director of Budget is hereby ordered to ensure strict compliance with the provision of the budget to avoid diversion of funds to areas not captured in the appropriation act”, he said.

He also directed the office to always make information on the budget available to the lawmakers to enable them discharge their oversight functions.

Ortom commended the legislature for prompt passage of

and that made it possible for Cocoa House to be built from Cocoa.

Free education was pioneered in the West via agriculture, coal was highly developed in the East, rubber and palm products you could find in the East. It was a tribute to the characters of these leaders,” he remarked.

The minister, urged the nation not to lose hope as the country is now witnessing another round of committed, focused and patriotic leadership that will return Nigeria to its past glories.

He equally appealed to the people to change their perception of arts and creativity, which have huge potentials to become a viable economy that can create employment, especially in the rural areas where people are constrained by lack of education and finance.

“Unfortunately, the perception of arts and culture in Nigeria is very low and this we needed to change because any nation that forgets its history is bound to make little or no progress at all,” He stressed.

The exhibition was attended by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, Minister of State for Niger Delta, Mr. Claudius Daramola and members of the diplomatic corps.

Ortom signs 2016 appropriation bill of N150.7bn into law the budget and urged them to sustain the cordial relationship and also commended the synergy between the executive arm and the judiciary in the state.

The governor gave assurance that he would not interfere with the affairs of the other arms of government to stimulate development while assuring that the government would provide enabling environment for the other tiers of government to perform their functions in the overall interest of the state.

Ortom warned against any breach of the appropriation law, stressing that offenders would be prosecuted.

Earlier, the Speaker, Benue House of Assembly, Mr Terkimbi Ikyange, said the lawmakers had to expeditiously pass the budget to enable the government to commence prompt execution of projects.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 2016 budget is the first budget by the current administration.

News 12

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Petrol price: FG begs Labour to shelve strike Continued from page 6 sidy this year.

Alhaji Mohammed revealed that the entire 2016 Budget is packed with palliatives in the wake of the new price regime.

The Minister said, “We are therefore seeking the understanding of all Nigerians and appealing to the organized labour to sheathe their sword.

“This is not the time for any action that will further worsen the economy. The situation is dire, not just in Nigeria but elsewhere around the world.

“For instance, the United Arab Emirates, the thirdbiggest oil producer in OPEC, has become the first country in the oil-rich Persian Gulf to remove transport fuel subsidies. In addition, the country has announced that with effect from 1 Aug. 2016, fuel prices will be deregulated.

“Also, in response to fiscal pressure caused by the fall in crude oil prices, OPEC’s top oil producer Saudi Arabia has announced a plan to raise fuel prices. You can now see that this is indeed a global problem.

“We have no choice than

to liberalize the price of petrol, if we are to end the crippling fuel scarcity that has enveloped the country, ensure the availability of the products and end the suffering of our people over the lingering scarcity.

“Before going into the details, let me debunk the notion that this new price regime amounts to removal of subsidy. No. There is no subsidy to remove because no provision was made for subsidy in the 2016 budget.

“Last year, the government paid out 1 trillion Naira in subsidy, and that’s one sixth of this year’s budget.

We can’t afford to pay another 1 trillion Naira in subsidy “Secondly, many people have asked if the government is planning any palliatives in the wake of the new price regime. Our answer is that the entire 2016 Budget is packed with palliatives.

“Some 500,000 billion Naira has been set aside for social intervention that will touch the lives of millions of Nigerians and lift millions more out of poverty,” he said.

At the House of Representatives, after the executive session, the House invited the minister to begin his

briefing after which he answered questions from lawmakers as to the necessity or otherwise of ending the fuel subsidy regime.

Kachikwu in his presentation said Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, on Monday said Nigeria’s crude oil production had declined from 2.2 million barrels per day to 1.4 million barrels per day due to pipeline vandalism.

This, he said, translated to loss of 800,000 barrels of oil by the country daily.

The minister made this known at a special session of the House of Representatives convened over the re-

cent petrol price hike.

He condemned the incessant attacks on oil installations in the country, saying ``we declined from 2.2 million barrels which was the focus of the 2016 budget to 1.4 million barrels as of today’’.

He, however, expressed the ministry’s commitment to ensuring that destroyed facilities were repaired and effectively protected. ``We are going to work hard to see how we will get these issues resolved and get our production back,’’ the minister said.

Kachikwu restated the Continued on page 14

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Ï d ƕ è ó9 ƗƈƗ ôƐ ƄƆƅ ƌƆ 1 ƒƆƏ Ə Ɛ ƍƏƆ ƈƗƆ ƒƆƏ ƗƆ Ɨ Ƅ ƗƈƆ ô Freddie Adamgbe L ƊƑƏƗƈ

ÎÎÎGovernor Samuel Ortom

LƆƌƄƆƏ Ƈ Ɛ Ɔ C ƈ Ɛ M Ɛƈ Ƌ ƅƈ Ɛƈ Ƈ ^ƆƏ ƓƈƐ #ƈ ƄƈƋƈƐƈƆ ƍƏ ƐƆ Ɛƈ ƈ Ɛ Ɛ Ɔ ƄƈƋƋ ƄƆ Ə Ɛ Ɛ Ɔ 1 ƒƆƏ ƌƆ Ɛ 6 Ƒ Ɔ ƈ E ƗƑ Č L Ɨ ƕê

of Benue State, on Monday, broke down in tears before newsmen in Makurdi, the state capital, while narrating the ordeal of his people in the hands of marauding herdsmen.

óÕ ƏƆ ƓƆôƏƆ ƅ ƋƋƈ Ɛƈ ƓƈƗƆ ƐƏƈƊƆ ƒƆƏ Mơƿǀ ƍƆƐƏ Ƌ ƍƏƈƅƆô Continued from page 6 of the House (Mr. Yakubu Dogara); there were a number of state governors led by the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum.

And there were three of us representing Labour. I represented the NLC; the President of the Trade Union Congress represented the TUC, while the President of NUPENG represented NUPENG. There were comments mainly from the members of the House and the Senate. Some asked questions and the others advised as to the sensitivity of the matter and all that. Because we were confronting the matter for the first time, we were quiet until

the Vice President now chose to call us individually by name. He called on me and asked what the position of the NLC was.

I responded that as far as we were concerned, we had heard the presentation, we were a democratic organisation, we would take the substance of the presentation to our organ’s meeting and when our organ’s meeting had deliberated on it, we would get back to them. The TUC President said virtually the same.

He (Osinbajo) asked the NUPENG President, who also said virtually the same thing. Thus, we ended that meeting, at least from our side, with the position that we needed to take the presentation and discuss it

within our organs before we get back to them.

I was completely taken aback when I was just returning to the office when a journalist called me and said government was increasing the price of PMS (petrol) to N145 per litre. I also heard later in the news that the decision was taken in the meeting that we attended. That is a lie! I make bold to say it today that that is a lie. And government shouldn’t use lies to market whatever policies they have taken. We were no party to that decision. We need to be very clear.

6. Yes, it is illegal. There is a law; the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency Act stipulates

the legal framework for the management of prices of petroleum products.

That power is vested in the PPPRA board and the law carefully puts in place the membership of that board. Stakeholders’ representation is what makes up that board. We are by law a member of that board; National Union of Road Transport Workers by law is a member of that board; NUPENG by law is a member of that board; PENGASSAN is a member of that board, and various others, including the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, the major marketers and others. It is actually the board that should review the template. When we heard that

the PPPRA had reviewed the template and had come out with a recommended price; that was illegal because the PPPRA, with the way it is functioning now, is an extension of the Office of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources.

The minister has become a sole administrator in the sector. There is no board for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, there is no board for the PPPRA, hence, for anyone to perform their function is therefore illegal. Even before now, we have written formally to the government — to Mr. President — demanding that the legal line be followed and that the board be constituted. So, it is illegal.

He thereby restated his earlier calls on the Federal Government to move fast against the raqm[paging herdsmen and rescue his people. He decried the level of destruction of lives and properties, he described as worth of billions of Naira from the hands of the herdsmen.

In an emotion-laden speech, the Governor says, “Benue is under siege and I did not become Governor to preside over dead bodies. No day passes without the blood of the innocent spilled by rampaging gunmen.

“Our people are being pushed too far by herdsmen.

The old and the young have been slaughtered, children separated from their parents and many people chased out of their homes to sleep in the bush without food to eat.

“This is genocide and I call on all Nigerians to condemn the invasion, killings, destruction and occupation of Benue communities by herdsmen. I repeat that Benue has no land for grazing of cattle. As a government, we are ready to support the ranching of cattle”, Ortom declared.

The governor was reacting to the recent attack on farmers in Buruku local government by the herdsmen which left over twelve people dead.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 17, 2016

13

News 14

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 17, 2016

8 reasons why the new petrol price regime is our best bet – FG

2019: PDP to pick presidential candidate from North

ÎÎÎVice

Lateef Ibrahim Abuja

President Yemi Osinbajo and the Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, were the two key officials of the Federal government at the meeting held at the Presidential Villa in Abuja last Wednesday where the decision was made to implement a new petrol price regime that led to increase of pump price to an upper limit of N145.

Both the Vice President and the Minister have variously been defending the decision, and Daily Times has been able to enumerate eight reasons that they have given for going for the option. Below, in their own words, are these reasons: 1. We’ve moved from a position where the government earned between $110/$117 a barrel, to an average of about $40 a barrel which is about 70% drop in supply of forex. Two, with the problems of vandalization, militancy and the like, we are losing about 500,000 to 600,000 barrels a day and, as a matter of fact, we are now down from production of 2.2million to 1.4million barrels a day; so in terms of volume and in terms of value, we are far away from where we were before. There is, largely, very substantial diminishing income, so government cannot therefore make, as a priority, the downstream sector to continue to get forex to import. That’s practical reality because you don’t give what you don’t have.

(Kachikwu in an interview on television last week) 2. We’ve done everything we can. We first went on to the issue of the subsidies that we inherited – which were based on 50/55million liters per day. But we said these numbers were bloated.

And we did our findings and came up with a figure of 45million liter consumption a day. And that was the first attempt at subsidy and then we came to the second pint of saying we are not even going to have subsidy again. We are going to exit it because there was so much fraud involved in it. And from January to March, if you look at our books, there were no subsidies. The price modulation

helped us to achieve that, but in April, the bleeding started when the price of oil went forward and we couldn’t find the forex we needed, subsidy came right back. (Kachikwu in an interview on television last week) 3. The ultimate of what we are headed for is that everybody should be able to do the business… the basic objective is what was achieved with diesel or kerosene, which is that government will have less control over the business and individuals will be free to compete and Nigerians would reap the benefit. (Kachikwu in an interview on television last week) 4. What happened is as follows: our local consumption of fuel is almost entirely imported. The NNPC exchanges crude from its joint venture share to provide about 50% of local fuel consumption. The remaining 50% is imported by major and independent marketers.

These marketers up until three months ago sourced their foreign exchange from the Central Bank of Nigeria at the official rate. However, since late last year, independent marketers have brought in little or no fuel because they have been unable to get foreign exchange from the CBN. The CBN simply did not have enough. (In April, oil earnings dipped to $550 million.

The amount required for fuel importation alone is about $225million!) . Meanwhile, NNPC tried to cover the 50% shortfall by dedicating more export crude for domestic consumption. (Vice President Osinbajo in a statement issued on May 13) 5. Besides the short term depletion of the Federation Account, which is where the FG and States are paid from, and further cash-call debts pilling up, NNPC also lacked the capacity to distribute 100% of local consumption around the country. Previously, they were responsible for only about 50%. (Partly the reason for the lingering scarcity). (Vice President Osinbajo in a statement issued on May 13)

6. At the moment, even if all the refineries are working optimally they will produce just about 40% of our domestic fuel needs. (Going forward) we expect that with competition, more private refineries, and NNPC refineries working at full capacity, prices will drop considerably. Our target is that by Q4 2018 we should be producing 70% of our fuel needs locally. (Vice President Osinbajo in a statement issued on May 13) 7. It will relieve government of monthly cash call funding and create a sustainable self-funding arraignment for government equity in existing joint ventures. It will en-

sure effective development of Nigerian gas market with adequate and sustainable gas supply to power, industrial sector and develop gasbased industries for national economic growth and development (Kachikwu, briefing the House of Representatives on May 16) 8.

The new fuel price regime would encourage massive investment in infrastructure by attracting foreign directive investment (FDI) in the country.

It would encourage foreign investors to focus on the big tickets, such as pipelines and refineries for the development of the upstream oil and gas sectors. (Kachikwu, briefing the House of Representatives on May 16)

Ï M Ɛƈ Ƌ ƈƏ Ɛ ƏƆƒƆƏƐ Ɛ d ƑƐ ÎÎÎThe Peoples Democratic

Party, (PDP), has finally resolved to pick its presidential candidate for the 2019 presidential election from the North.

This was confirmed on Monday by the National Chairman of the Party, Senator Alli Modu Sheriff in Abuja during a meeting of the members of the party’s Board of Trustees, BoT. Towards this end, the BoT members have resolved to ask the party’s forthcoming national convention to ratify the motion to zone the presidential ticket to the north.

They however stated that when that happens, the PDP National Chairmanship will

automatically revert to the South in accordance with PDP zoning principle and tradition.

Senator Sheriff told the BoT members that a motion to that effect will be formally moved at the forthcoming national convention of the PDP billed for Port Harcourt.

The decision, the Chairman pointed out, was in line with the Senator Ike Ekweremadu’s committee report.

He equally used the opportunity to apologise to the former Minister of Information, Professor Jerry Gana over the comments made against him last week by his (Sheriff ’s) aide, stating that he did not instruct anybody to insult the former minister.

Continued on page 24

L-R: Lagos State Commissioner for Energy, Mr Wasiu Oluwo; Chairman, Tunde Folawiyo; Chief Executive Officer, Folawiyo Petroleum Company, Mr. Mobiolaji Musah and Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos, during a visit by the Folawiyo Petroleum Company to government house in Lagos ...on Monday

Petrol price: FG begs Labour to shelve strike Continued from page 12 need to develop infrastructure, which he described as ``key’’ to promoting increased and efficient crude oil production. ``There are still a whole lot of things we need to pay attention to; infrastructure is key, but we have not as a country over the last 20 years invested in infrastructure in the oil sector. ``Our pipelines are 35

years old and none has been replaced; we have not been able to put gas infrastructure in place, our refineries are next to comatose and old and we are working hard on them. ``Our critical facilities are at a breakdown stage, so no serious infrastructure has taken place. ``No country in the world will expect that the price system in the country will benefit its citizens if it

doesn’t invest in infrastructure. ``So, the energy we put on PMS we need to begin to focus on building massive infrastructure all over the country. I know how much efforts it has taken to pump products from the south to the north, to the east and to the west. ``It has been one battle after another, but the time has come to invest in proper pipelines, proper tracking,

proper buried levels and begin to move with the world,’’ Kachikwu said.

Afterwards, a 17-man ad hoc committee was set up to mediate with organized labour and other aggrieved parties to avert the impending nationwide strike and protest by workers.

Speaker Yakubu Dogara announced the constitution of the ad hoc committee to be headed by the Chief Whip, Rep. Ado Doguwa.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 17, 2016

15 Opinion

Remodeling Ariaria International Market

A Okechukwu Ukegbu

s Abians from all occupations will roll out the drums to celebrate the one-year anniversary of Dr.Okezie Ikpeazu’s administration, one of the major achievements of the administration is its concerted efforts to remodel and to restore the master plans of markets in the state, especially the famous Ariaria International Market.

The establishment of the market was the aftermath of the fire incident that gutted the Ekeoha Market in Aba in the 1970s. Though nobody accorded it the chances of survival due to its location in a swampy outskirt of Aba, Ariaria has grown to become, arguably the largest market East of the Niger. It assumed the status of a one-stop market.

Ariaria cuts across three local government areas of Aba North, Aba South and Osisioma, and countries of West and Central Africa such as Cameroun and Gabon are served by the market.

The market is the largest shoemaking cluster in Africa divided into over 85 zones.

Before now, the market was a shadow of itself. The facilities, if there were any, are either over-

stretched or comatose. There were no parks to drop customers who came from afar to transact business in the market; and lorries locating spaces to discharge goods in the market was akin to the proverbial feat of the camel”passing through the needles’ eye”.

Customers could no longer access the market because of the deplorable conditions of the roads, which made the entire roads leading to the market impassable. At a point, customers coming from the neighbouring states abandoned the market and business nearly grounded to a halt. The sanitary condition of the market was at its lowest ebb with substantial part suffering perennial flooding because shops were built on sanitary lanes.

The situation degenerated to a point that shops designed for downstairs were converted to storey-buildings and the Fire Service Station in the market was converted to shops.

Unarguably, massive proliferation of shops in the market contributed immensely to the deplorable condition of the market. The situation of the market attracted Gov. Ikpeazu’s concern during his gubernatorial campaigns and he promised to address it.

This formed the essence of constituting the Abia Market Develop-

ment Committee headed by Chief Nwaigwe Solomon Nwaigwe. One of the mandates of the committee is to raise the standards of the markets to international level. Trade and commerce is one of the areas of Ikpeazu’s administration, and it is worthy to note that the state, especially Aba, has comparative advantage in these areas.

The first port of call of the committee was demolishing those structures built on sanitary lanes but the demolition exercise had to be put on hold until the remodeling project takes full effect any moment from now.

According to Chief Nwaigwe, the remodeling project will be done in up to 10 phases with a life span of over two years. The first phase will be carried out in parks 1&2 where between 5,000 to 10,000 shops are targeted with the installation of Close Circuit Televisions (CCTV), Cameras, Roundabouts, and Toilets.

Within this period, shop owners in the affected parks will relocate to Aba Mega Mall. Nwaigwe said that the relocation will be temporary which will last for six months, within which, other things being equal the remodeling of that phase would have been completed .If the affected traders do not wish to relocate to

Aba Mega Mall, alternative spaces could be provided for them within the market.

Aba Mega Mall is strategically located along Port-Harcourt- Enugu Expressway. It is a purpose-built Smart Mall and Africa’s biggest Mall with a leasable retail space of 100,000 square metres.

The remodeling project, like any other well-intentioned project, is facing stiff opposition from the traders who are threatening hell and brimstone. They have leveled all manner of allegations, which prominent among them is that the project is aimed at seizing their shops.

While assuring the traders that, state government would ensure they would have the value of their money, Nwaigwe disclosed that over N5billion have spent to rehabilitate Aba Mega Mall to make it more conducive for traders.

To ensure that no trader loses his shop, a data collection of every shop owner in Ariaria has been concluded.

At the end of the day, they will be issued with a Certificate of Ownership. The arrangement is designed in such a way that those who were not initially captured cannot lay claims on any shop.

Ukegbu, a public policy analyst, writes from Umuahia, Abia State.

Can the PDP re-invent itself? (2)

B Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa

ut the worsening economic condition of Nigeria since the last one year, the slow pace of action by the APC Government and the outright repudiation of some of the promises it made to Nigerians have begun to make Nigerians see PDP in a better light.

If a poll is conducted today , it is certain that PDP would come out tops as choice of majority of Nigerians. Therefore, one would have expected that the PDP would seize the moment to reinvent itself.

In the last week or so the PDP has been having series of congresses starting from the Ward to the LGA and to the State, which hopefully should culminate in a National convention. But it disappointing that we can not see any effort to transform or to cause change in its structure, format or content. First, the media is full of reports of many States and Zones condemning the Ward congresses. We hear of claims and counter claims of no elections or rigged elections and the imposition of candidates by some power brokers. I know that it is in the DNA of Nigerian politicians in whatever party to reject any election they

did not win, but I would expect that by now, PDP should have set up a very transparent system that would make its internal elections less contentious. After many years, they should have evolved a better system of internal democracy. At the least, they should have a robust post election appeal structure which should enjoy the confidence of most members, as well as post election reconciliation mechanism. It was embarrassing to see party founders like Jerry Gana and Ibrahim Mantu appear on Television criticizing their congresses and telling the whole World that the congresses were rigged or manipulated and asking for their outright cancellation. Could the Party after 18 years and several cycles of congresses not have perfected a system of handling internal party disagreements without dancing naked in the market place?

Second, it seems that the Party is yet to learn its lessons, in the choice of its leadership. A Party that hopes to make any impression on Nigerians in any subsequent election can not present a tainted Leadership-both at Party leadership and at National Leadership.

The Bible said that in the time of ignorance,The Lord winked but no

more in the time of knowledge. The Present APC government has raised the issue of ANTI-CORRUPTION very high and seems to have sufficiently painted the past PDP government and its leadership with hard brushes of corruption and inefficiency. Though most of the allegations are yet to be proven in the Law Courts, but the truth is that in the court of Public opinion, they have already been convicted as charged. As they say in advertising, perception is reality. Let it be known that PDP can not cut any ice with any tainted leadership as it moves to 2019. If I should advice, I would suggest that they make a deliberate search for a new crop of leaders who have no form of baggages at all- political, financial, military, moral or corruption. APC won the last elections, essentially because they fielded a man that was generally perceived to be ‘Pure’. I said perceived.

Third and related to the above, PDP if it hopes to make any impact in 2019, must as a matter of urgency retire most of its present crop of leaders. Many have been recycled so much that that there is a belief that they have nothing new or good to bring to the Nation. Many have too many baggages and many are out

rightly too old- either by chronological age or by political age. Some were ministers or parliamentarians in the first Republic! Some campaigned for for Abacha to succeed himself ! PDP should learn from the political developments in the UK and USA and usher in a regime of young, bright and untainted political leaders. I believe they have them in the party, but because they are not desperate to hold offices and may not want to manipulate and lobby, they are overlooked.

Finally my overriding point is that Nigerians are happy with the emergence of two major parties in the country which gives them a choice. The predominance of PDP in the last sixteen years, seemed to have denied Nigerians that luxury.

With the emergence of APC in the last two years or so, Nigerians now have an alternative and could appropriately respond to the impunity and arrogance of PDP. This has also introduced reasonable competition among the parties, which should be to the advantage of the electorate. I believe that Nigerians will be happy to have an opportunity to make that choice in 2019, especially given the performance of APC thus far. That is why PDP must do its utmost to reinvent itself. If at all possible.

16

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 17, 2016

17

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Savannah Conference wins DStv All-Star Game in Abuja T

he Savannah Conference won their third straight DStv Premier Basketball league All-Star Game at the weekend inside the indoor hall of the National Stadium, Abuja in a tightly contested match to beat the Atlantic Conference 81 -77 points.

In an ebullient display of skills, the L-R: Nigeria Basketball Federation President, Tijjani Umar; Gen- Savannah Conference tutored by eral Manager, Marketing, MultiChoice Nigeria, Martin Mabutho Sani Ahmed led 31-22 after the first presenting 3-point shooter trophy to Akpara Akita during the quarter and won the second 26-22 DStv Basketball All-Star Game held at the Indoor Sport Hall of National Stadium Abuja on Saturday, May 14, 2016. to lead 57-44 at half-time.

However, the tide turned in the third quarter, as the Atlantic Conference led

by Coach Adewumi Aderemi, fought back with a 23-12 point lead, and almost closed out the game after leading 10-7 in the fourth quarter by a 77-76 scoreline with 25 seconds to end the game.

Two-time MVP, Abubakar Usman of Kano Pillars had other ideas as he scored three points from the free throw line, taking his game tally to

Page 18

13 points and helped Savannah Conference win the game.

Speaking after the enthralling matchup, General Manager, Marketing, MultiChoice Nigeria, Martin Mabutho, expressed pleasure over the evolution of the All-Star game in the country.

“Our commitment towards the game has been consistent. You will recall that the first All-Star game was hosted in Kaduna in 2010.

Since then, we have held the AllStar games, introducing innovation and excitement at every turn. Today was no exception with Supersport beaming the match live to Nigerians.

We are here for the long haul and we intend to take the game round the country,” Mabutho said.

The lively occasion also featured the Skills challenge, Slam dunk contest and 3-point shootout competition amongst the players.

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Ubah to

Plateau United fire coach Baraje!

N

igeria premier league club Plateau United have sacked Coach Zakary Baraje and replaced him with former skipper Victor Wickadason, according to

officials.

According to a statement by the Jos club, the experienced Baraje was booted out due to a run of poor results, adding that there was “a

communication gap between the coach, his assistants and the players”.

Baraje was in his third spell at Plateau and has handled various other clubs including Enyimba, Nasarawa

sponsor

National

U-20

Championship

O

Baraje

United and Akwa United.

Plateau, who were held to a 1-1 draw at home on Sunday by El Kanemi, are back in the Nigeria top flight after five seasons in the lower league.

Visa brings digital payments

to Rio 2016 Olympics ANDREW EKEJIUBA

V

isa has celebrated the 100day milestone to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. In its 30th year as the exclusive payment provider of the Olympic Games, Visa is creating and managing the entire payment system infrastructure and network throughout all venues including stadiums, press centers, point-of-sale (POS), the Olympic Village and Olympic Superstores.

This year Visa will implement

4,000 POS terminals across key Olympic venues, as well as 11 ATMs in partnership with Bradesco.

Visa also extends the value of its sponsorship to Olympic Games host cities, facilitating the development and advancement of payment infrastructure in those markets.

This year Visa will also introduce acceptance of new technologies and innovation throughout Rio, focusing on new ways to pay including payment wearables and mobile phones – letting fans swipe, tap, dip or click to pay in Rio.

“Visa has always stood for universal acceptance and the most secure and fast way to pay across merchants, borders and currencies,” said Jim McCarthy, executive vice president of innovation and strategic partnerships at Visa Inc. “As we prepare for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Visa is transforming the way fans pay, giving them choice in how they want to pay for anything, anytime and everywhere.”

Visa projects that Brazil will host estimated 400,000-500,000 international visitors during the month

of August, based on trends observed in recent summer editions of the Olympics. Visa data points to 2016 inbound travel to Brazil increasing by an estimated 1.2 million travelers for the year, compared to the 2010-2015 average, primarily due to preparations for the Olympics Games.

The largest share of travelers to Brazil are forecast to come from Latin America and the Caribbean region (45 percent of all international travelers), followed by Europe (30 percent) and North America (15 percent).

wner of Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) side FC Ifeanyi Ubah, Chief Ifeanyi Patrick Ubah has promised to sponsor an annual national under -20 tournament in his name that would be competed for by emerging football talents from all the zones of the country.

Ubah who is also the Anambra State FA Chairman confirmed this while being conferred with an award as Grand Patron of the United Youths Sports Federation of Nigeria UYSFON by president, Godspower Kokoriko at his country home in Nnewi, Anambra State.

The tournament would be organized by UYSFON and is aimed at spotting young talents from across the nooks and crannies of the country, with the 44-year-old Chief Executive Officer of Capital Oil and Gas Ltd noting that he believes it can go a long way in touching the lives of youths in the country.

“I’ll take the under-20 cup competition, I promise to support your needs for that competition and I’m going to direct our consultant of football, Chief Fanny Amun (MON) to work with you because I believe it’s something that would add value to the youths of Nigeria,” he said.

The championship will be staged in the month of

Ubah

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

EXTRATIME

19

BRIEFS

Allegri

r a m y e N ined

denies

approaching

determ e v o r p m i to

Pjanic J uventus coach Massimiliano Allegri has denied suggestions he contacted Roma midfielder Miralem Pjanic to discuss a potential transfer to the Serie A champions.

Allegri is believed to be keen to add some more creativity to his midfield ahead of next season and has allegedly earmarked the 26-year-old Pjanic as the ideal signing. However, the coach is adamant he has not approached the Roma star.

Messi Neymar

B

arcelona attacker Neymar believes he still has room for improvement and says the 2015-16 campaign was not the best of his career.

The Brazil international was in sublime form in the first half of the season and, although his form tailed off somewhat at the back end of the

campaign, he still scored 30 goals in 48 appearances in all competitions.

However, Neymar was not entirely satisfied with his performances after Barcelona clinched the Liga title and wants to do better next season.

“This has not been my best season,” Neymar said.

“I always want to beat my previous

statistics and improve my records.

I want to keep on doing better day after day.

“I am proud of what we have achieved in La Liga, not just of my own performances, but of the entire team. We were made to work hard for the title, but got our reward in the end.

“We cannot forget what happened, though, and have to take it on board ahead of next season.”

Barcelona missed out on a place in the Champions League final after losing to Atletico Madrid in the quarter-finals and Neymar admits their European exit still hurts.

Pugliesi breaks Serie A record E Pugliesi

mpoli goalkeeper Maurizio Pugliesi broke the record for oldest ever Serie A debutant after starting in their 2-1 win over Torino on Sunday.

Pugliesi, who turns 40 in December, was signed by Empoli in 2014 but had only spent time on the bench for the Italian outfit across two seasons.

However, with Empoli guaranteed survival and in no contention for any European spots, Pugliesi was given his chance to debut against Torino.

In doing so he eclipsed the previous record of oldest Serie A debutant, set by a 38-year-old Amilcar Barbuy for Lazio in 1931.

Goals from Massimo Maccarone and Piotr Zielinski had Empoli up 2-0 before Pugliesi was beaten by Joel Obi in the 56th minute.

Empoli managed to hold on for the slender win, ensuring a respectable 10th-place finish in the final standings.

Robben:

I will return stronger from injury!

B

ayern Munich winger Arjen Robben has vowed to return stronger than ever as he continues his recovery from an adductor injury.

The Netherlands international has not featured for Bayern since the scoreless draw with Borussia Dortmund on March 5 and will also miss the upcoming DFB-Pokal final versus BVB due to his injury.

Some have questioned whether Robben still has a role to play at Bayern with Carlo Ancelotti replacing Manchester City bound Pep Guardiola at the Allianz Arena next season.

But the 32-year-old is determined to show he can still be a key contributor to the Bundesliga champions.

“I promise that I will return stronger than ever before,” Robben stated.

“It has been a very difficult time for me mentally.

“You always want to help the team as a player. It’s the worst thing possible when you are forced to watch on from the sidelines.

“Next season is very important for me.”

Robben has scored seven goals in 22 appearances in all competitions for Bayern in 2015-16.

Robben

Allegri

Verratti

undergoes successful operation M

arco Verratti has undergone surgery on a groin injury, with Paris Saint-Germain confirming the operation went according to plan.

The midfielder has been persistently troubled by the issue in recent months and was ruled out of Italy’s Euro 2016 campaign as a result, but his road to recovery has now begun.

Vitoria revels in Benfica triumph

B

enfica coach Rui Vitoria says the best team won the Primeira Liga after his side’s 4-1 win on Sunday secured a 35th and third consecutive league title.

Vitoria’s side entered the final game just two points clear of second-placed Sporting CP and had little trouble dispatching Nacional 4-1 to seal their crown.

The win was the first time Benfica have managed three-straight titles since 1976-77, setting a new record in the league since the switch to 18 teams for points won with 88.

“I want to share this immense joy with the players, the president and the rest of the club’s staff,” Vitoria said after the game.

20

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

EXTRATIME

NIGERIA PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE WITH ANDREW EKEJIUBA

credits Kevaivietsa Zenke wife with ‘special

r career in

Finland with

promotion’ goal

F i Amokach

ormer Nigeria youth international Simon Zenke has dedicated his goal which helped Karabukspor beat hosts Gotzepe 2-1 to secure promotion to the Turkish Super League to his wife.

Zenke, who described the goal as ‘special’, revealed that his wife has been putting pressure on him to get back to goal-scoring form and so he was delighted it happened at such a crucial time of the season.

“What came to my mind immediately I

scored was my wife because she has been on my neck for long to score goals,” he revealed.

He credited divine help for his club’s promotion.

“I can’t really describe the feeling after achieving this feat. We have come a long way as there have had ups and downs throughout the season, but in the end we achieved our aim and all glory to God,” Zenke stated.

Zenke in Action

Anichebe

Kaita

F

ormer Nigeria World Cup star Sani Kaita plans to get his career back on track by reuniting with coach Daniel Amokachi at Finnish second division club JC Hercules.

Midfielder Kaita has not played since he sensationally quit Nigeria premier league side FC IfeanyiUbah last season after he claimed a breach of contract A proposed return to hometown club Kano Pillars failed to see the light of day thereafter.

The former AS Monaco ace has played in the Netherlands, Russia, Ukraine and Moldova previously. He also posted a stint at Enyimba.

“Sani is working on joining Daniel Amokachi in Finland to see if he could resurrect his oncepromising career,” a top source said.

Most Nigerian fans remember Kaita not for a good reason – when he was sent off in a 2010 World Cup group game against Greece lost and eventually failed to go past the group stage of the tournament.

Anichebe confirms West Brom

exit V

ictor Anichebe has revealed that he is leaving West Bromwich Albion this summer.

The Nigerian striker’s contract at the Baggies

runs out in June and he is not expecting a renewal following a season in which he struggled for first-team football.

The West Midland club are yet to release a

statement to that effect, but Anichebe took to Twitter on Monday to lift the lid on his future with West Brom.

Anichebe stated on Twitter: “Thank you to all the @WBAFCofficial fans for the support during my time at the club!

I wish you all the best for the future.

God bless.”

The 28-year-old started just three league games all season for West Brom as he struggled to break into the team after a spell on the sidelines injured.

The former Everton apprentice switched to West Brom in 2013 in a fee of £5 million and had a pretty slow start to his Baggies career failing to score in his opening eight games.

At some point in his West Brom career, he enjoyed a fine spell scoring thrice in seven games against Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United.

Anichebe scored nine goals in 63 appearances for the West Midland outfit with his last appearance for the club being a 0-1 defeat to Watford at home on April 16.

Dauda sent off on Injured Adi final day in Scotland undergoes scan N N Dauda

igerian striker Abiola Dauda has ended his loan spell at Scottish club Hearts on a disappointing note after he was sent off in a 2-2 draw with St.Johnstone.

The 28-year-old Dauda started as one of two strikers for Hearts in their final league game of the season, and despite already having finished third before the sound of the first whistle, both clubs – third and fourth respectively on the table – had to play for pride on Sunday.

And it was no surprise when St

Johnstone went two goals up inside the first 12 minutes, but Dauda played his part in ensuring they halved the deficit shortly after.

The striker had scored twice in his last three games, and would have been hoping to sign off on a high, but the contrary was the case as he was shown a straight red card in the 57th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour.

He scored five goals in total for Hearts, and will return to his parent club Vitesse Arnhem ahead of next season.

igerian striker Fenando Adi will undergo a MRI scan to know the extent of the injury he suffered while in action for Portland Timbers in a Major League Soccer (MLS) game on Sunday which they lost 2-1 to New York City FC. Adi, who netted his eighth goal of the season in the 56th minute to equalise at 1-1, was replaced in the 58th minute on account of a hamstring injury.

The 25-year-old striker is the joint leading scorer in the MLS with eight goals, same as former Barcelona star David Villa.

Adi is on the shopping list of ambitious English Premier League side West Ham.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 17, 2016

21 News

Furore over FCTA Mandate Secretaries’ list Idu Jude Abuja

ÏÏÏ

Residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), may have to wait longer as their dream to enjoy the promised changes, now suffered setbacks Monday, following reports that the list of political appointees pending before the Presidency has been thrown out.

The President is the GovernorGeneral of the FCT and by law, and all major political approvals for the FCT emanate from his office.

The FCT residents are currently bemoaning the low

performances of the FCT administration under Malam Muhammad Musa Bello of the All Progressives Congress (APC) since assumption of office six months ago without mandate secretaries [equivalent to state commissioners], to assist him man the smooth affairs of the territory.

This is coming at the peak of expectation from residents, as well as local politicians who mobilised their supporters to ensure victory for the now ruling APC in the last FCT area councils election, in which they were promised political considerations in the appointments by the power that be.

The low indices for good governance, is said to be traced to the absence of political appointees and other key aides needed for the smooth running of the territory in which the FCT Minister, Muhammad Musa Bello is yet to perfect more than half a year upon resuming office as minister.

Daily Times investigation in the six area councils that make up the FCT, reveals that public infrastructures like water supply, waste management, street lighting, parks and recreational services, public education, as well as public health and medical services are fast decaying as top echelons of the FCT civil service,

saddled with the responsibility of supervising the agencies attributed lack of fund as the main reason.

Observers also traced the low performance indices to the absence of political will power to push the service into action, even as they await the release of fund from the just signed 2016 Budget

by President Buhari.

Consumers of essential services also joined the crowd of residents in complaining the absence of functional markets, even as the costs of food stuff are on the increase. This, traders blamed the chains of supply and the cost of transportation in the territory.

The situation is worst as the organised labour unions perfect arrangement for a total shut down of the nation’s capital, Abuja, to push for the review of fuel pump price on Wednesday.

Though, most of them declined speaking with correspondent on tape, a few who spoke under anonymity said until the Single Treasury Account put in place by the new APC administration was reviewed, the absence of fund would continue to hamper on good governance.

A closed source confided to our correspondent Monday that: “You expect civil servants to take up brooms and start cleaning the parks for instance.

FCTA spits fire on AEPB Idu Jude Abuja

ÏÏÏ

The authorities of Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has perfected move to review contracts of Companies holding the cleaning job of Abuja metropolis’s, while expressing serious displeasure over what it considered as poor performances in the management of the city’s sanitary conditions by Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) The Abuja Environmental

Protection Board, it would be recalled faced the first batch from the present leadership having taking inventory of the hygienic state of the city.

As it stands, about twenty seven (27) contractors are to have their contracts terminated by the FCT administration, having taken a drastic measure to conduct high profile security checks on the contractors for gulping so much money from the Administration without anything considerable to show for the money being expended.

Kano marketers to shun planned strike Members of coalition of civil societies protesting subsidy removal in Benin City… on Monday.

Oshiomhole injects N2b into Edo economy ÏÏÏ The economy of Edo State

has received a major boost as the state governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, has injected N2 billion into the economy through the presentation of cheques to 10,000 beneficiaries of the state Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Fund (MSMEDF).

Speaking during the presentation of cheques to beneficiaries of the scheme in Benin City, Monday, Governor Oshiomhole said, “the whole idea is to help you sustain or advance your businesses and your cooperative society. The 18 Local Government Areas and the 192 wards are well represented.”

Oshiomhole enjoined the beneficiaries to use the funds judiciously for the purpose for which it was given, saying “It is our

hope and prayer that you use the money judiciously. It is meant not to improve the quality of soup today, but to lay a foundation that will lead to improvement in the quality of soup. So, the money mustn’t be diverted to catfish or grass cutter. Our husbands must be properly briefed that this fund is meant to set up or sustain a business. Every kobo out of it must be judiciously used.

“That is the only way the intention of the state government can be fulfilled, and the prayers of our President, President Muhammadu Buhari can be achieved to empower the Nigerian woman to be stronger and to contribute to economic growth and development.”

He continued: “what we are trying to do is to help you solve the problems that afflict a lot of small scale businesses, namely

access to credit. I hope having made the fund available, you will also use it strictly for the purpose for which it was meant. A journey of a million miles begins with one correct step. Let it be said that today, you made the first step, and hopefully in the very near future, you will get there.”

Yakubu Salisu Kano

ÏÏÏ

Leaders from various markets in Kano state have announced their decision not to participate in the proposed NLC nationwide strike scheduled to commence on Wednesday. This was made known on Monday evening during a press briefing with news men in Kano.

The group stated that considering the series of fire outbreak recorded in the state in the past month, commercial activities in the state has suffered a major setback and that closing

No room for health workers’ negligence in Niger-Commissioner Saka Bolaji Minna

ÏÏÏ

Gov. Oshiomhole

up markets would further plunge the state into further poverty.

They accuse NLC of selfishness hiding behind fuel subsidy to fight the federal government over their own personal interest, giving Nigerians the impression that they are fighting for their interest.

According to Bashir Aliyu, Chairman Beirut Road Market, advised that instead of industrial strike at a time Nigerians are struggling to afford three square meal, NLC and the Federal Government should sit on a round table to resolve their differences.

Apparently disturbed by the fatal mistakes of some medical personnel and the attendant irreparable consequences, Niger State government said it can no longer tolerate professional negligence by any health worker in the state.

The state Commissioner for

Health and Hospital Services, Dr. Mustapha Jibrin, who disclosed this in Minna, Niger State capital, at the weekend, said that both life and death of every Nigerlites count.

He said two medical doctors from Suleja division are already facing ethical disciplinary committee for negligence in the course of discharging their duties.

Public Notice 22 OJO OLORUNDA SAMSON I, formerly known as OJO SAMSON. wish to be known and addressed as OJO OLORUNDA SAMSON. All former document remain valid, general public please take note.

ADELEKE OPEYEMI DANIEL I formerly known as ADEOSI OPEYEMI DANIEL now wish to be known and addressed as ADELEKE OPEYEMI DANIEL. All former document remain valid, general public please take note.

MARIAM IBRAHIM I, formerly known as COMFORT INNOCENT. wish to be known and addressed as MARIAM IBRAHIM All former document remain valid, general public please take note.

MRS RAFIAT OLOLADE OWOLARAFE I Formerly known and addressed as MISS RAFIAT OLOLADE BALOGUN Now wish to be known, called and addressed as MRS RAFIAT OLOLADE OWOLARAFE All documents and certificates bearing my former names remain valid. General public and Relevant authorities take note.

CITY OF DOMINION DELIVERANCE MINISTRY INT’L The general public is hereby notified that the above named organization has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission Abuja for Registration, Under Part “C” of the Companies and Allied Matters Acts Cap C20, LFN 2004.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. Apostle Osakwe Mary Sherry 2. Pastor Egozue Mathew Sunday 3. Bar. ltugbu Patricia Voke 4. Pastor Nchege Ngozi Nnate 5. Evang. Kenneth Egbule THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE: 1. To preach the gospel of our lord Jesus Christ. 2. To empower members by facilitating their development.

3. To assist members.

4. To organize and distribute Gospel materials of our lord Jesus to humanity.

Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the registrar general Corporate Affairs Commission Plot 420 Tigris Crescent, off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama Garki, Abuja within 28 days of this publication.

SIGNED TRUSTEES

RESTORATION AND RECONCILATION CHERUBIM & SERAPHIM PROPHETIC MINISTRY.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 17, 2016

BELLO BABATUNDE OLAMILEKAN

GLORIA NNANNA I, formerly known as GLORIA NWADI. now wish to be known and addressed as GLORIA NNANNA All former document remain valid, general public please take note.

I, formerly known as AWE FOLUKE RACHEAL. wish to be known and addressed as BABALOLA FOLUKE AWE. All former document remain valid, general public please take note.

AHAMADU PIUS UNYI

LOSS OF DOCUMENTS.

LOSS OF DOCUMENTS

ESHOGHEME IGENUMAH

This is to notify the general public that the original landed documents with file no. MISC 96213, MISC 9202, MISC 68036, MISC 65522, MISC 64425 are missing. If found, please return to the nearest police station,

Adeolu Adedayo Olubukola Hear By Report Loss Of Nigeria International Passport With Valid U.s.a Visa Passport NumberA05598872 -visa Number -j86378. If Found Pls Report To The Nearest Police Station

I, formerly known as IGANUMAH ESHAIOAHMEHE. now wish to be known and addressed as ESHOGHEME IGENUMAH.All former document remain valid, Sigma Vaughn Sterling Pension Limited and other Organisations.

General Public Please take note

I was formerly known as.

PlUS UNYI now I wish to be known and address as AHAMADU PIUS UNYI All Forner Documents Remain Valid General Public Should Take Note

JUBILEE HOUSE EMPOWERMENT FOUNDATION.

THE TRUSTEES ARE:1. Afolabi Modupeola Omoyele Mary. President.

2. Obanye Christopher lkemefuna. Secretary.

3. Afolabi Deborah Ayomide. Member.

4.Afolabi Samson Ayotunde Member.

5. Oyerinde Omoniyi Omolara. Member.

6. Awosanya Jimmy. Member.

7. Omolayo Olatunbosun Hezekiah Member.

The Trustees are: 1. Emmanuel Onwujiobi 2. Soniadina Azubugwu 3. Celestine Edozie 4. Chidozie Chinweuba 5. ThankGod Irunegbu

THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE:1. To empower the less privilege in our society.

2. To encourage self development.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE ADDRESSED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION. PLOT 420,TIGRIS CRESCENT,OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET,MAITAMA,ABUJA WITHIN 28TH DAYS FROM THE DATE OF THIS PUBLICATION.

MINISTRY OF LIFE EQUIPPERS

TRUSTEES ARE, 1 PASTOR SAMUEL BAMIDELE OTAKOYA -CHAIRMAN 2 PASTOR SUNDAY .B.OLOGE -SECTRETARY 3 ASST ,PASTOR TEMIDAYO OGBECHIE -TREASURER 4 PASTOR OLUSHINA OLUGBEMI -MEMBER 5 PASTOR FEMI OMOLE -MEMBER 6 PASTOR EVANG JOSEPHINE OTAKOYA -MEMBER ,, AIM AND OBJECTIVE .

1 TO OFFER BIBLICAL STUDIES AND GIVE BASIC TRANING IN CHURCH AND PERSONAL GROWTH WHICH MAKES WORKERS IN THE VINEY AND STRONG ,MATURE AND READY FOR MISSION WORK .

Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the Registrar General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420 Tigris Crescent, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days of this publication.

SIGNED . SECRETARY

THE GREAT ANOINTED SALVATION CHURCH This is to inform the general public that the above named Church has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for registration under part “C” of the Companies and allied Matters Act of 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. OKEZIE FIDELIS CHIDEBE. 2. EMEZI NGOZI ROSE. 3. ONULAKA OLUCHI PRISCILA 4. NWOSU NKEM IKECHI. 5. OGBA SAMUEL ONYEKACHI. 6. OKEZIE CATHERINE ULOMA The Aim And Objective: 1. To Propagate the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the Registrar-General Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420 Tigris Crescent off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days from the date of this publication Signed Secretary

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: 1. To encourage our members to be responsible parents in their individual homes.

2. To bring our members under one umbrella of Love, Friendship and Progress.

Any objection to the registration should be forwarded to the RegistrarGeneral, Corporate Affairs Commission Plot 420 Tigris Crescent, off, Aguiyi Ironsi St, Maitania, Abuja within 28 days of this publication.

Signed:

SIGNED BY:- SECRETARY

CHRIST RESTORATION EVANGELICAL MINISTRY WORLDWIDE

THE TRUSTEES ARE 1. Kingsley Anita Prosper 2. David Christopher Ishioma 3. Otaru Joy Adiase 4. Isichie Happy

The General Public is hereby notified that the above Named has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for registration under Part “C” of the Companies and Allied Matters Acts No 1 of 1990.

DE PERFECT GOOD FATHERS SOCIAL CLUB This is to inform the general public that the above named has applied for registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission under part “C” of Companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE:(1) PROPHET ADEMOLA COLE OLORUNTOBI, JP (2) PASTOR (MRS) GRACE ADEDOLAPO OLORUNTOBI. (3) REVD DR ELIJAH AKINWUMI ORETADE, JP.

SIGNED BY: SECRETARY

I, formerly known as OJEWALE TEMITOPE ABOSEDE. wish to be known and addressed as MRS ADELEKE TEMITOPE ABOSEDE All former document remain valid, general public please take note.

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 general public is hereby notified that the above named Ministry has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission Abuja for Registration Under Part “C” of the Companies and Allied Matters Act Cap C20, LFN 2004

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE ADDRESSED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION. PLOT 420,TIGRIS CRESCENT,OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET,MAITAMA,ABUJA WITHIN 28TH DAYS FROM THE DATE OF THIS PUBLICATION.

MRS ADELEKE TEMITOPE ABOSEDE

I, formerly known as BELLO SODIQ OLAMILEKAN. wish to be known and addressed as BELLO BABATUNDE OLAMILEKAN . All former document remain valid, general public please take note.

This is to inform the General Public that the above named MINISTRY has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for registration under Part C of the Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990.

THE AIM AND OBJECTIVE IS:To propagate the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

BABALOLA FOLUKE AWE

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: 1. To preach the gospel of our Lord JeSus Christ.

2. To bring back people out of darkness into the light of the world.

3. To deliver the oppressed, heal the sick and set the captive free and establish faith clinic.

TRUSTEES

PEACE MAKERS DISASTER CHAPLAINCY MISSION 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 THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1 DR. I. ISAAC LAWRENCE -(President) 2 PASTOR AGBI GODWIN FREEBORN -(Vice President) 3 MR. MICHAEL ODIOR 4 PASTOR DR. OBED CHUKS .H. -(Secretary General) 5 BISHOP DR. EUGENE NWABUEZE - (Member) 6 EVANGELIST ESIAKA OKECHUKWU.

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

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: 1.to respond to acute community disasters & humanitarian crises.

2.To promote national peace ,to support Democratic development,strengthening civil - military relation,.

3.to provide alternative dispute resolutions .

4,To promote humanitarian services,to provide public safety & chaplaincy services to victims in disasters,etc.

SIGNED TRUSTEES

SIGNED: SECRETARY

INTUITIVE RESEARCHER ORGANIZATION OF NIGERIA (TIRON)

MRS OLUFOWOBI ABISOYE OLUBUKOLA

ADEBIYI BOLANLE ADEDOYIN

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Akinsola Abisoye Olubukola now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Olufowobi Abisoye Olubukola. All former documents remain valid. General public to please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Ajiboye Bolanle Adedoyin now wish to known and addressed as Adebiyi Bolanle Adedoyin. All former documents remain valid.

General public to take note.

ATEM CHRISTOPHER THOMAS

NDUKAUBA CYNTHIA VICKY

I, formerly known and addressed as, ATEM DEMORT ACHONG, now wish to be known and addressed as, ATEM CHRISTOPHER THOMAS. All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as, NDUKAUBA CHIMATU VICTORIA, now wish to be known and addressed as, NDUKAUBA CYNTHIA VICKY. All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

PUBLIC NOTICE

UWAINI IMOH SUNDAY

THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, 2004 COMPANY LIMITED BY SHARES SPECIAL RESOLUTION OF

I, IMOH UMAINI SUNDAY, AND IMOH SUNDAY AKPAN, refer to one and same person but, now wish to be known and addressed as, UWAINI IMOH SUNDAY. All former documents remains valid.

General public should take note.

MRS. EZEUGO MAUREEN KELECHI I, formerly known and addressed as, MISS. NKPADOBI MAUREEN KELECHI, now wish to be known and addressed as, MRS. EZEUGO MAUREEN KELECHI. All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

JUSTICE CHIMEZIE EMENIKE

MRS. OKEKE IFEOMA

I, formerly known and addressed as, CASMIR CHIMEZIE ONYEMA, now wish to be known and addressed as, JUSTICE CHIMEZIE EMENIKE. All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as, MISS. EMETU IHUOMA, now wish to be known and addressed as, MRS. OKEKE IFEOMA. All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

This is to inform the general public that the above named has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for registration under part “C” of the Companies and allied Matters Act of 1990.

TRUSTEES: 1. ALBASHEER ALAWWAL 2. TAOFEEQ OSENI (PRESIDENT) 3. KOZEEM RAAJI 4. ADEYEMI OKANLAWAN (SECRETARY) 5. SULAIMON BELLO OBJECTIVE: To ENLIGHT PEOPLE FROM DARKNESS INTO THE LIGHT, BECAUSE GOD CREATED EVERYTHING AND IT’S DESTINING. Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the RegistrarGeneral Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420 Tigris Crescent off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days from the date of this publication Signed: Secretary

HULL ENGINEERING SERVICES LIMITED

At the extra ordinary general meeting held at the company’s head office on the 12th day of February, 2016 the following resolution was proposed and duly passed.

1. That the company be wound up voluntarily 2. Oghenekewe Benson of 2 police mobile Baracks Road Idimu Lagos, and Ndego Fidelis of 27 Surulere Street off L & K Bus Stop, Oworo Lagos be appointed as liquidators for the purpose of such winding up.

3. That the remuneration of the liquidators be fixed at fifty thousand naira.

Dated this 12th day of February, 2016

By Order of the Board

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 17, 2016

23 News

Onu seeks Nigerians’ support for Buhari’s reforms

Ogbe-Ijoh, Aladja communal clashes deepen, as security operatives launch manhunt for culprits

Abuja

Nosa Ogiugo,

Ben Nwachukwu,

ÎÎÎMinister of

Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, has called on Nigerians to keep faith with the reforms embarked by President Muhammadu Buhari aimed at clawing back the nation’s lost glory.

He made the call during a courtesy call to his office by members of Save Nigeria Buhari Ambassadors.

He said that Buhari had done so much under one year in office to clean up the mess that had bedeviled the nation and insisted that, in the last two or one and half years, no Nigerian travelling abroad would be been proud of his passport, because of the deplorable state of the country’s image, adding that today, the world had recognised that there was a change in leadership and that that change was positive and the image of the nation was on the rise.

He also noted that the achievements of President Buhari under one year was not limited to the recreation of the nation’s image internationally, but also extended to the fight against insurgency, which had recorded victory on the side of the nation.

Asaba

ÎÎÎThe lingering communal

clashes between the Aladja community in Udu Local Government Area and Ogbe-Ijoh community, in Warri South West Local Government Area, escalated, on Monday, into

another round of crisis, when some suspected Ogbe-Ijoh youths allegedly attacked and injured an Aladja indigene and commercial motorcycle operator, Sunday Damijo, after destroying an uncompleted building belonging to another Aladja indigene.

The Police Command’s im-

age maker, Mrs. Celestina Kalu, said that security agents had intensified efforts to arrest the perpetrators of the evil activities in both communities, adding that 24 hours’ surveillance was ongoing in the areas, with a view to ensuring peace reigned there.

It was reliably gathered that Sunday Damijo was alleg-

edly attacked and injured by suspected hoodlums, while he was waiting for a passenger – one Blessing Doghor, who was later held hostage by the rampaging youths and released after several hours.

The hoodlums were said to have resumed shootings sporadically but were replied by Aladja youths before men of

the Nigeria Police and Army arrived to the scene to calm the situation.

The Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Ovie Festus Agas, insisted that peace must reign in the area, disclosing that security agents had been ordered by Governor Patrick Okowa to bring to book those who caused the crisis.

UNICEF, UNESCO to establish e-library in Enugu Moses Oyediran, Enugu

ÎÎÎTwo agencies of the Unit-

L-R: President, A3 Foundation, Amb. Saisha Audu-Emeje; Chairman, Local Organising Committee, World Mayors-African Regional Investment Conference (WMARIC), Amb. Eyo Asuquo and Special Adviser to the Governor of Cross Rivers on Inter-Governmental Affairs, Mr. Chris Mbu-Ugan at the unveiling of WMARIC logo in Abuja… on Monday.

ed Nations – United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisa tion (UNESCO) – are to establish an e-library in Enugu State, to avail the students and pupils the opportunity to improve on their e-learning generally.

UNICEF Country representative in Nigeria, Ms. Jean Gough, who gave the hint, on Monday, in Enugu assured that her agency would liaise with UNESCO to establish an e- library, in furtherance of the global body’s disposition to sustainable learning.

Human capital development critical to Africa’s socio-economic challenges –Experts ÎÎÎAfrican

care by 2063.

This was the position of experts at a capacity building conference organised by a Harare-based African Capacity Building Foundation, held, recently, in the Zimbabwean capital. Participants agreed that Africa’s socio-economic

development continued to be hindered by lack of skills required to deal with problems such as non-inclusive growth, youth unemployment, climate change, worsening security and excessive reliance on export of primary commodities.

They also maintained that

for the continent to reduce poverty, food insecurity, gender inequality, and improve upon equal access to education and healthcare, by 2063, it needed to develop the necessary expertise in key area such as health, education, infrastructure, agriculture, industry, resource mo-

MRS ADEYINKA OMOLOLA OREOFE

DUNG SAMUEL TISLORH ARCHIBONG

OGUNDERU JOSEPH OLAJIDE

I, formerly known as Miss Ogunubi Omolola Oreofe. wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Adeyinka Omolola Oreofe. All former document remain valid, general public please take note.

I, formerly known as Ali Samuel Mohammed. wish to be known and addressed as Dung Samuel Tislorh Archibong. All former document remain valid, general public please take note.

I, formerly known as Olaide Joseph Jones. wish to be known and addressed as Ogunderu Joseph Olajide.

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

ABIODUN .F.ADEGBOYE I, formerly known as FAITH ADEGBOYE. wish to be known and addressed as ABIODUN .F.ADEGBOYE. All former document remain valid, general public please take note.

ADEKOYA AFOLASADE BOLUWADURO

MISS LYDIA IZEUWA AKHETUAMEN

MISS DEBORAH OMOLARA ADEMILUA

I, formerly known as Adekoya Folasade. wish to be known and addressed as Adekoya Afolasade Boluwaduro. All former document remain valid, general public please take note.

I, formerly known as Miss Lydia Agatha Akhetuamen. wish to be known and addressed as Miss Lydia Izeuwa Akhetuamen. All former document remain valid, general public please take note.

I, formerly known as Mrs Deborah Omolara Abioye. wish to be known and addressed as Miss Deborah Omolara Ademilua. All former document remain valid, general public please take note.

OLUWASUSI AINA ELIZABETH

AKINBOSEDE OLADOTUN PAUL

I, formerly known as Samuel Aina Elizabeth. wish to be known and addressed as Oluwasusi Aina Elizabeth. All former document remain valid, general public please take note.

I, formerly known as Sati Oladotun Paul. wish to be known and addressed as Akinbosede Oladotun Paul. All former document remain valid, general public please take note.

countries have been challenged to develop necessary expertise in key areas of human development to address skills shortage. This, it is said, would go a long way in reducing poverty, gender inequality and improve equal access to education and health-

bilisation, trade, and regional integration.

A statement issued at the end of the conference was to the effect that: “Capacity remains the missing link in dealing with the critical development challenges facing Africa, as well as implementation of the development priorities like Agenda 2063 – a development plan of the African Union; the Sustainable Development Goals, the development strategies of regional economic communities and the development plan of each country.”

“Despite the economic and social progress achieved across the continent, the results have been differentiated and many countries continue to face human and institutional capacity deficits, which prevent them from achieving their full development potential.”

Many African countries are facing economic crises caused by falling commodity prices which sharply cut their revenues and slowed down the strong economic growth they had experienced a few years ago.

ADELEYE SHAKIRU ADEWAKE

ISMAILA ABDULAHI DANJUMA

I, formerly known as Ogunleye Shakiru Adewale. now wish to be known and addressed as Adeleye Shakiru Adewake All former document remain valid, general public please take note.

I, formerly known as OMALE DANJUMA ABDULAHI. wish to be known and addressed as ISMAILA ABDULAHI DANJUMA. All former document remain valid, general public please take note.

JONATHAN AUGUSTINA UCHENNA

MRS ADEBAYO FOLASHADE AJOKE

WALEOLA TEMILADE OLABISI

ALLI OMOWUNMI IYABO

I, formerly known as Miss Oladunjoye Folashade. wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Adebayo Folashade Ajoke. All former document remain valid, general public please take note.

I, formerly known as Usman Temilade Olabisi. now wish to be known and addressed as Waleola Temilade Olabisi All former document remain valid, general public please take note.

I, formerly known as Alli Ajimoh Iyabo. wish to be known and addressed as Alli Omowunmi Iyabo. All former document remain valid, general public please take note.

I, formerly known as ESSIEN AUGUSTINA UCHENNA. wish to be known and addressed as JONATHAN AUGUSTINA UCHENNA All former document remain valid, general public please take note.

IHEUKWUMERE CHINENYE BENTA I, formerly known as Magnus Chinenye Abogu. wish to be known and addressed as Iheukwumere Chinenye Benta All former document remain valid, general public please take note.

News 24

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Appeal Court hears Saraki’s fresh appeal May 31 Ï E ƋƑô ƏƆé ƏƏ ƈ ƌƆ Ɛ ƒƆƏ MǀêÕƄ ƇƏ ƑƗ Ɛ ƋƋƆƗ 01 ƌƆ Ɨ ƅ Ə Ɔ Andrew Orolua, Abuja

ÎÎÎThe

Court of Appeal, Abuja has fixed May 31 for the hearing of a fresh appeal

by Senate President, Bukola Saraki, challenging the jurisdiction of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) to try him on charges of false assets declaration.

A five-man panel of the court, led by Justice Abdul Aboki, on Monday chose the date to accommodate a request by Saraki’s lawyer, Kanu Agabi (SAN) for a 14day adjournment to enable him study the response filed on behalf of the respon-

dents, the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF).

Also on Monday in Abuja, the re-arraignment of former Governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu over alleged N5.6 billion fraud at the Abuja Federal High Court was stalled as the Federal Government moved to amend charges against him.

When Saraki’s case was called Monday, Agabi told the court that he was just served with the respondents’ cross appellant’s reply brief and would require time to look at it.

Respondents’ lawyer, Hen-

ry Ejiga, who apologised for the absence of his principal, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN) did not object to Agabi’s application for a 14-day adjournment, sequel to which the court adjourned to May 31 for the hearing of both the appeal and cross-appeal.

Saraki is, in his appeal is challenging the jurisdiction of the CCT to try him based on a charge initiated by the office of the AGF. It is his contention that it is only the CCB that is empowered to prosecute cases before the CCT. Similarly, the Federal Government’s move to rearraign Kalu and two others

at the Federal High Court in Abuja on corruption charges ran into a hitch due to a pending appeal at the Supreme Court.

Orji Uzor Kalu, Udeh Jones Udeogu and Slok Nigeria Limited owned by Kalu were first arraigned on the charges in 2007 but an appeal by Kalu had since stalled the trial until early this year when the Supreme Court ordered trial afresh.

At the resumed trial on Monday while the Federal Government announced it has filed an amended charge reducing the initial count charge from 107 to 32 counts, the third defendant Slok Ni-

geria Limited insisted the trial can not hold because of its pending appeal at Supreme Court.

The amended charge borders on money laundering and illegal diversion of public funds to the tune of N5.6billion. Kalu was alleged to have committed the fraud while in office as the executive governor of the State between 1999 and 2007.

Though he challenged the competence of the charge at the various courts since his arraignment on July 27, 2007, the Supreme Court dismissed his application to quash the charges and ordered that the trial should commence afresh before a new Judge.

2019: ^#^ Ɛ ƍƈƅƊ ƍƏƆ ƈƗƆ Ɛƈ Ƌ ƅ ƗƈƗ ƐƆ ƇƏ ƌ M ƏƐ Continued from page 14 Chief Maduekwe, new Secretary of the BoT who read the communiqué at the end of the meeting, said it was not easy for the board to arrive at its resolution.

According to him, “Three decisions were agreed upon today. One is that in spite of the well-articulated proposals of many highly respected leaders and members that the convention should not go ahead as planned in order allow more time to resolve our differences, the consensus opinion, because we do not vote in the BoT because a divided BoT becomes a divided conscience.

“By consensus, we decided to support the NWC and NEC’ s decisions that convention should hold on May 21.

“Secondly, all the grievances which have been clearly and well-articulated by well-meaning leaders for the purpose of making the party stronger, not grievances pushed merely to smear the party or factionalize the party, will be carefully looked into and in the process of political consideration, and engineering, we will see how to carry everyone along.

“We agreed to suspend amendments to the constitution. We resolved to ask the convention to rectify the motion to zone the presidential ticket to the north.

When that happens the chairmanship will automati-

cally revert to the south in accordance with PDP zoning principle and tradition.

“Finally, certain states where there were observed challenges during the congresses, which even the chairman and governors acknowledged, the party will

look into what happened in those states and make amends,” the BoT secretary added.

Chief Maduekwe defended the decision of the board, stressing that as conscience of the party, “it will be a national tragedy if we allow

PDP to die”.

Among those in attendance at the meeting were: Chief Tom Ikimi, Mrs. Josephine Anenih, Chief Chris Uba, Senator Adolphus Wabara, Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun, Senator Ibrahim Mantu, Wilberforce Juta,

Architect Ibrahim Bunu, Professor Tunde Adeniran, Senator Stella Omu, Ambassador Esther Audu, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, Alhaji Abdulkadir Kure, Alhaji Adamu Maina Waziri and the former PDP Chairman Chief Vincent Ogbulafor.

Umahi

Ebonyi stakeholders back Umahi against Udefa Jacob Ogodo Abakaliki

ÎÎÎStakeholders

from Onicha Local Government Area have demonstrated their support for the Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State, following the resignation of the Senior Special Assistant on Internal Security, Hon. Ali Odefa.

Commissioner for Solid Minerals, Chief Donatus Njoku, who led the delegation to the Government House, promised Umahi the people’s support.

“We condemn what transpired in Enugu on Saturday in its totality because it is likened to people biting the finger that fed and is still feeding them.

He noted that the people were disassociating themselves from the act, as Odefa and his cohorts acted outside the mandate given to them by the people.

G ƆƐ MƢÕƄ aside for ocean surge Benjamin Omoike

ÎÎÎThe Lagos State Govern-

Gé`ë &ƔƆƅƑƐƈƒƆ #ƈƏƆƅƐ Əè Əƍ Ə ƐƆ Ɨ jƏ ƅƐƈ Ƌ Ɗƈ è dƐ Ƅƈƅ 9 j Ɗè L ê ƆƓ ƗƆ d ƗƈƊƑì ƈƆƇ &ƔƆƅƑƐƈƒƆ RƇƇƈƅƆƏè Mƈ ƆƏƈ dƐ ƅƊ &Ɣƅ Ɔè LƏê R ƅ Ə R ƕƆƌ Ɨ #ƆƍƑƐƕ ƈƆƇ &ƔƆƅƑƐƈƒƆè dƐ Ƅƈƅ 9 j Ɗè #Əê #Ɔƌ Ƌ d Ƒ ƋƆ Ɛ Ɛ Ɔ ƢƏƗ ƆƗƈƐƈ Ƈ Md& Əƍ Ə ƐƆ ƋƋƆ Ɔ ` ƅƆ ƅ é ƍ ƏƆƗ Ƅƕ dƐ Ƅƈƅ 9 j è ƈ G Č ƏƆƅƆ ƐƋƕê

Awori seek peaceful possession of Ado-Odo land dispute ÎÎÎThe

Awori people, in Soki-Ere in the Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State, have pleaded for a peaceful possession of a land dispute in the community.

The piece of land is at SokiEre village via Ado-Odo town in the Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government of Ogun State and delineated with a survey

plan No. AB/546/OG drawn and signed by a registered surveyor A.B. Apatira, and dated April 27, 1981.

The Baale of Soki-Ere, Chief Jimoh Akinola has appealed to the Egun people, who were on the land as tenants, to adhere strictly to a judgment of the Supreme Court delivered on Friday,

July 13, 1990, which pronounced that the Arilegbolorosi Family, comprising of the Baale of Soki-Ere, Chief Jimoh Akinola, Chief Benedict Adekunle and Chief Mufutau Dosunmu, were the original owners under customary law of the lands in Soki-Ere, and that the Egun people were their customary tenants.

He told newsmen that there was also an order in the Supreme Court judgment that the customary tenancy had been forfeited and a further order of injunction restraining the Egun peopke, who were the defendants/respondents in the matter, from going to the land for whatever reason.

ment has earmarked N36 billion to combat ocean surge on the Lagos coastline.

The fund is meant for the construction of 18 groynes (sea breakers) at intervals of 400 metres along the entire length of 7.5km between Goshen Estate and Alpha Beach.

The Commissioner for Waterfront Infrastructure Development, Hon. Adebowale Akinsanya, said that the construction of each groyne would cost N2 billion and that the project was awarded in November 2012 and divided into three phases for funding reasons.

He said Phase 1 of the project, which was the construction of three Groynes commenced in January 2013 and had been completed, adding that Phase 2, which was the construction of 12 groynes was awarded in June 2013, and that work commenced in January, 2014.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 17, 2016

25 Opinion

Social media and the English language

Reuben

Abati ÏÏÏ

I get confused these days reading many of the posts on social media, and text messages sent through cell phones, because of the kind of new English that young people now write.

The English language is without doubt quite dynamic. In the last 200 years, it has lent itself to many innovations, as cultural, religious, and situational codes have transformed the language and extended the dictionary, with new words and idioms.

The kind of new English being written by twitter and what’s app users, particularly young people is however so frightening and lamentable, because it is beginning to creep into regular writing.

Texting and tweeting is producing a generation of users of English, (it is worse that they are using English as a second

language), who cannot write grammatically successful sentences. I was privileged to go through some applications that some young graduates submitted for job openings recently and I was scared.

This new group of English users does not know the difference between a comma and a colon. They have no regard for punctuation. They mix up pronouns, cannibalize verbs and adverbs, ignore punctuation; and violate all rules of lexis and syntax. They seem to rely more on sound rather than formal meaning. My fear is that a generation being brought on twitter, Facebook, instagram and what’s app English is showing a lack of capacity to write meaningful prose, or communicate properly or even think correctly.

To an older generation who had to go through the rigour of being told to write proper English, and getting punished severely for speaking pidgin or vernacular or for making careless mistakes of grammar and punctuation, the kind of meta-English now being written by young people can be utterly confusing. The irony is that it makes sense to the young ones, and they can conduct long conversations in this strange version of the English language. I’d not be surprised if someday a novel gets written in this new English, which seems like a complete

bastardization.

You may have come across the meta-English that I am trying to describe. It is English in sound, but in appearance it has been subjected to the punishment of excessive abbreviation, compression and modification. Hence, in place of the word “for”, you are likely to see “4”, and so the word “forget” becomes “4get”, or “4git”, “fortune” is written as “4tune”, “forever” as “4eva”. The word “see” has been pruned down to a single alphabet “C”, same with “you” now rendered as “u”. In effect, you are likely to read such strange things as “cu” or “cya” meaning “see you.”

By the time these new words get combined in what is supposed to be a sentence, you’d have a hard time looking for the sense beyond the sound.

Many of the children who have become socialized into this new mode of communication are not always able to differentiate between correct and incorrect English, and this is why parents and teachers must be concerned. It is possible to assume that the teaching of morphology and syntax in our various schools is no longer as rigorous as it used to be.

Anyone who was brought up in those days on a compulsory diet of Brighter Grammar By Ogundipe, Eckersley and Macaulay and Practical

W E A T H E R ABUJA

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English by Ogundipe and Tregdigo) would find it difficult to write this new English being made popular on social media. It would feel like an act of murder.

Teachers and parents have a responsibility to ensure that their children are able to learn the very minimum of skills: the ability to communicate in decent prose.

The ability to write clearly strengthens a person’s ability to think clearly and to communicate effectively.

It should not be surprising that many young persons these days, seem more at home in the world of gadgets and electronic

appliances.

They are forever texting or playing computer games and trapped in the electronic, virtual, space. They live both online and offline, spending a better part of their day on websites, thus, their emotional development is tied to this reality. Most parents lack the knowledge of what happens in the social media, and while some parents are trying to learn very fast, a knowledge gap still exists between them and their more digitally savvy children.

But this should not result in the abdication of responsibility.

The abuse of the English

language, and the inability to write well, is certainly not the only risk that an obsession with social media poses for young people. Parents also need to worry about addictiveness, exposure to inappropriate content and liaisons: all kinds of paedophiles and sexual predators operate online looking for innocent victims and luring them with sweet lingo. There are bullies too, harassing and stalking their targets. Under ordinary circumstances, parents have a duty to teach their children basic etiquette: this is even more required as they relate with others and navigate both online and offline spaces.

Similarly, such words as textspeak, texting, sexting, twitter troll, tweeps and emoticons, are becoming common words in regular, daily communication.

Words like “friend”, “timeline”, block” and “like” have also assumed new meanings and recognition, the same with such other words as: “unfriend”, “unlook” “twitter status”, “profile”, “trending”, “timeline”, “twitterati”, “blogging”, “bloggers”, “tweet”, “retweet”, “hashtag”: all of which have caught the attention of lexicographers as clear evidence of the living and evolving nature of the English language.

If this is all that there is to social media and the English language, there probably would have been no cause for alarm, but the emergence of a generation of young Nigerians who cannot spell well, punctuate properly, or get their tenses right, because they now write social media English may have far-reaching implications for the use of English as a foreign language in our society.

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26

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Law Æ s

HURILAWS advocates better welfare for election petition Judges Peter Fowoyo A Non- Governmental Organization, Human Right Law Service (HURILAWS) has called on the government to ensure that the welfare and security of Judges, presiding over election petitions are taken very seriously to avoid the chances of their being compromised or attacked.

Besides, the organization also advocates that previous judgments of the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court on election matters should be made available to election tribunals, Court of Appeal members and Justices to make for consistency in judicial pronouncements on electoral disputes.

In a paper presentation recently in Lagos titled: “Judicial Application of 2015 Election Laws in Nigeria”, delivered by HURILAWS Senior Legal Programme Officer, Mr. Collins Okeke, admonished members of the National Assembly to amend the Electoral Act and the constitution” in order to incorporate and recognize the use of the card reader during accreditation of voters and for card reader reports to be recognized as part of admissible evidence in proof of electoral malpractices such as over-voting.”

To him, “amendment to be effected on the extant laws to merge accreditation and voting process on election days as this will expedite the election process and significantly curb the incidence of over-voting and other electoral malpractices.”

He said: “Section 285 of the 1999 constitution and section 134 of the Electoral Act needs to be amended to provide exceptions to the election petition timelines, e.g., for days to stop counting where there is a stay of proceedings, and for days to start counting afresh where there is an order for de novo hearing of an election petition.

“The Electoral Act, especially section 137, need to be amended to afford locus standi to the electorate to bring election petitions.

However, tribunals may also be empowered to consider and summarily dismiss in chambers frivolous petitions and petitions on issues already being canvassed in another petition or which should be more appropriately canvassed by a party to the election.”

Section of judges

Mr. Okeke examined the challenges that underscored the 2015 general elections process, key legal issues that arose from those challenges and how they were determined by the election petition tribunals and the appellate courts especially as it relates to three states- Abia, Akwa Ibom and Rivers states.

According to him, the use of card reader was an innovative measure from INEC aimed at improving the transparency and credibility of the electoral process. “Unfortunately, experience during the 2015 general elections indicated that there was high incidence of malfunctioning of the card readers-delaying the accreditation process for several hours beyond the 1:00pm timeline for close of accreditation, and in many cases resulting in the postponement of accreditation and election, and in other cases still INEC officials had to abandon the card readers and resume the manual process of accreditation using the register of voters alone.

“The card reader is indeed a very creative innovation that would have put paid to various species of fraud in the electoral process in Nigera, but the use of the card reader during the 2015 elections was unfortunately marred by a lot of hiccups and complaints of malfunctioning resulting in undue delays , manipulations of the process, non-voting or outright

Okeke

cancellation of elections in many polling units, and disenfranchisement of many registered votersall of which conduced to tense atmosphere in many states that easily degenerated into angry altercations and violence in some cases. This was the background that obviously gave rise to disparate decisions on the role and status of the card reader from the various tribunals and even the Court of Appeal. Apparently constrained by the confusion foisted on our electoral jurisprudence by these conflicting decisions, the Supreme Court sought to restore sanity and consistency in the law by refusing to shift from the extant position prior to the introduction of the card reader.”

On the sitting of election petition tribunals outside jurisdiction, he said section 285 (2) of the constitution clearly states that

governorship and legislative Houses election tribunals shall sit and conduct their proceedings within the states for which they are created. “However, given the atmosphere of insecurity that characterized some of the states in the period leading up to the 2015 general elections and the aftermath thereof, it became necessary to locate the tribunals for such states to Abuja for the safety of the Judges, lawyers and litigants who would be involved in petition proceedings before the tribunals.”

Citing the ugly incidence that occurred in Ekiti state on September 22, 2014 where some political thugs invaded High Court No 6 in Ado-Ekiti Judicial Division and disrupted the proceedings of Justice I. O. Ogunyemi and the one of September 25, 2014 in the same judicial division where Justice J.O. Adeyeye of court No 3 presiding over a petition filed by APC challenging the election of Governor Ayodele Fayose, was beaten and his suit torn to shred, as a reason for moving election petition outside jurisdiction, Okeke said “these unpleasant precedents obviously informed the need to insulate the 2015 election petition process and participants therein from possible attacks, harassment and intimidation by moving the tribunals for states considered to be volatile or high risk zones to the FCT of Abuja.”

Dwelling on time limits for fil-

ing and conclusion of election petitions, he said: “the constitutional provision as to limitation of time within which election petitions and appeal therefrom must be filed and concluded has remained a dramatic change in the way and manner election petition are conducted in Nigeria. The constitutional timeline for conclusion of election petition is a double edged sword, as it were. On the one hand it is a salutary reform that cured the mischief of prolonged election petition process that often enabled the beneficiaries of ‘stolen’ electoral mandate to hold political offices for several years before final judgment is secured nullifying their elections and sacking them from the offices they fraudulently secured. On the other hand, the limitation of time prejudiced numerous meritorious election petitions, which were unfortunately struck out for being choked by the time frame.

“It would seem that the election petition tribunals, petitioners and their lawyers learnt a bitter lesson from the experience of 2011 election petitions whereby many petitions were asphyxiated by the constrictions of the constitutional timelines, as it were. Thus, virtually all petitions brought sequel to the 2015 elections were disposed of on the merit and went through the appeal process within the time limits prescribed by section 285 of constitution.”

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 17, 2016

27 Law

BOSAN support govt. fight against corruption but, must observe due process – Sowemimo Seyi Sowemimo, a Senior Advocate was called to the Bar 38 years ago. He is the Secretary, Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria. In this interview with PETER FOWOYO, he speaks on the statement issued by BOSAN over the fight against corruption, the discipline of two erring Judges by the NJC, the forthcoming NBA elections and sundry other issues.

The Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (BOSAN) recently warned the Federal Government and its agencies to ensure that its anti-corruption battle is fought within the ambit of the rule of law devoid of abuses of the fundamental rights of Nigerians. How will you react to this?

I don’t think that comment is fair, people saying that seems to have misunderstood the statement we issued. The important thrust of our statement is that, we’re wholly supportive of the government in its anti-corruption crusade but we want them to observe due process. That is the only reasonable position for any lawyer to take. There is a risk that if they don’t do that, they will undermine the credibility of the process itself.

I don’t think there is anything in our statement that shows we are trying to protect some people. Even in that statement, we made it clear that we are not going to support any member of the body that runs afoul of the law. We do not intend to shield anybody, nothing in our statement suggest that the government anti-corruption fight is not appreciated.

How do you see the decision of the National Judicial Council to compulsorily retire Justices Idris Evuti and Oluyinka Gbajabiamila for misconduct?

I believe that if any judge has been found guilty of misconduct, especially one which bothers on corruption then such judge should be sanctioned and when necessary be prosecuted for it. But, where there is no indication of corruption but as a result of failure to act diligently such as lateness in delivering of judgment, in such a case giving a warning might be sufficient.

What makes the case of Justice Gbajabiamila troubling is

that they said the judgment has been outstanding for about 22 months. Again, that he issued approval for execution when there was a motion for stay of execution in his file.

Certainly, his actions in those regards are questionable. You can’t blame the NJC for sanctioning him. But personally, my own knowledge of him, and what people say about him is that he is not ordinarily a corrupt judge. He seems to have reputation for being quite honest but the default in writing judgment for so long certainly brought about the sort of sanction he has obtained.

However, I think it’s worth reviewing what he has done, if there is no element of corruption involved.

They should look at his past records. Judges are supposed to submit periodical returns to indicate how they are discharging their duties. If a judge has a record of not being able to live up to the requirement and he is always in default in delivering judgments, I think, there should have been warnings given to that judge and if persisted the removal will be justified.

In the case of Justice Evuti, I do not know him enough, but if there is evidence of age falsification against a judge, that sort of thing is unpardonable.

He should be out of the place and be prosecuted.

A lawyer has asked a Federal High Court in Lagos to declare sections 221 and 306 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act illegal.

Do you agree?

Well, I am wholly in support of those provisions because the issue of stay of proceedings in criminal trials has been the cause of delays. We have criminal trials being on for years on interlocutory objections only for the matter to be sent back after several years.

Sowemimo

“In the case of Justice Evuti, I do not know him enough, but if there is evidence of age falsification against a judge, that sort of thing is unpardonable.

He should be out of the place and be prosecuted” I think these provisions are in order; we all need to adjust and try to conduct cases in the framework of that law. It is in-

tended to remove that abuse of delay and if that is the case we should applaud these reforms.

What about the constitutional right of appeal enshrined in the constitution?

It doesn’t mean you cannot appeal, all we are saying is that interlocutory appeals will be taken along with the outcome of the final judgment. They are not saying you cannot appeal but that while you are appealing that should not stop trial from going on. Otherwise, we will have a situation whereby if that appeal lasts for two, or three years, the trial at the high court will stop. By the time you come back from the Appeal Court you will find that the witnesses are no longer there or you have succeeded in affecting the morale of the prosecution or the witnesses.

What are your expectations in the forthcoming NBA election?

I am happy about the fact

that it is not going to be delegates’ affairs but universal suffrage. In terms of democratic principle, I think that should be applauded. So, I am looking forward to a keen election and the election will be on merit and not arranged. We all know that whoever is coming in is by popular vote and not by selection or a stage-managed outcome. It is a good thing.

Two leading aspirants for the presidency of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Chief J. K. Gadzama (SAN) and Mr. Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN) have made their intentions known on how to move the Bar forward. Which of the two do you think is most qualified?

I think they both qualify for the position of the President of the Nigerian Bar Association.

They are both senior advocates and well respected. I think any of them will make a very good President.

28

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Tech Times Æ s

Stories by Tony Nwakaegho At the inception of the Internet, Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) was and is currently the most widespread protocol used to communicate.

By their dual nature, IP addresses are a finite resource and IPv4 had 2^32 unique IP Addresses or ~ 4.3 Billion addresses. In IPv4 an address consists of 32 bits which limits the address space to 4294967296 (232) possible unique addresses.

While 4.3 Billion might seem like a enormous number, the growing amount of Internet participation has exhausted this supply. It has been predicted that by 2020, there will be more than seven Internet-enabled devices for every man, woman, and child on planet earth. In February, 2011, the keeper of the free address pool, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, (IANA), fully exhausted and allocated all of the IPv4 Addresses.

To continue the operation of the Internet, Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) was created. The address space created in IPv6 is vast and had 2^128 or more than 170 undecillion addresses – and unlikely to be depleted in the next 50 years. Everything online therefore must transition to include both IPv6 and IPv4 and eventually transition entirely to the new IPv6 protocol.

However, DigitalSense Africa Media based in Lagos that has been holding IPV6 annual forum is organizing Nigeria IPV6 Roundtable in commemoration of the World IPv6 Day with the theme ‘Creating Opportunities for Nigerians with IPv6’ on Friday, June 3, 2016 in Lagos; hence Tony Nwakaegho therefore has undertaken to examine the intrigues in the transition from IPV4 to IPV6.

Intrigues in IPV4 transition to IPV6 in Nigeria Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) is the fourth revision of the IP and a widely used protocol in data communication over different kinds of networks. IPv4 is a connectionless protocol used in packet-switched layer networks, such as Ethernet.

IPv6 is the sixth revision to the Internet Protocol and the successor to IPv4. It functions similarly to IPv4 in that it provides the unique, numerical IP addresses necessary for Internetenabled devices to communicate.

However, it does sport one major difference: it utilizes 128-bit addresses.

Technically with IPv4, the potential to accommodate the 20 billion devices is out of the question thus the need to transition to IPv6.

This is to say that there are a trillion trillion trillion IPv6 addresses than stars in our galaxy and therefore IPv6 will be able to cater for present and future expansion of the Internet, an aspect that will spur a thriving environment for the Internet of Things (IoT).

Internet of Things is a term referring to the potential to connect to the Internet anything and everything capable of having IP addresses.

Statistics indicate that IPv6 usage has been increasing gradually over the years. Google reports that last year, IPv6 traffic doubled from 2.5% to 5% and is currently 7% and rising. Big telecommunication companies, Internet Service Providers and content providers have been

moving to IPv6.

Africa is said to be gradually migrating with a number publicly visible networks using IPv6.

With IPv6, network administrators can easily define the visibility of each IP address based on preference. This allows companies to keep IP addresses public, but still secure when transmitting between private networks.

Infrastructure Additionally, deploying IPv6 infrastructure can also help businesses improve network performance and assure optimal performance within the network architecture.

IPv6 Challenge Despite being the IP of choice for the next generation of the Internet, IPv6 does not come without challenges.

The main challenge facing IPV6 deployment is the lack of backward compatibility between IPv6 and IPv4. This is to say that networks using IPv6 cannot communicate directly to those, still dominant today, using IPv4.

Since it is very much expected that networks using IPv4 and IPv6 will coexist in the days to come, it is crucial to ensure that new IPv6based networks do not remain isolated. A technical solution is therefore required to involve special channeling between the two types of networks, something that is likely to cause more complex routing on the Internet.

Given the complexity of the transition to IPv6, it is alleged that developing countries may benefit from the delayed start

Rudman

and the possibility of introducing IPv6-based networks from the beginning.

Policy framework Apart from the problem of transition, the policy framework for IPv6 distribution will require a proper distribution of IP numbers, demanding the introduction of open and competitive mechanisms to address the needs of end-users in the most optimal way.

Conclusion IPv6 preachers and Internet governance institutions have been urgently calling for immediate transition to IPv6 in light of the near global depletion of the IPv4 address free pool.

As IPv4 addresses continue to become scarcer, IPv6 is the only viable option for the Internet’s present and future resilience. By returning the Internet to an endto-end model, IPv6 is expected to unleash new opportunities and endless waves of innovation.

However, companies are not rushing, instead more and more are turning to the IPv4 market to purchase the IPv4 addresses they need to operate and grow their IP-based networks. The reasons adduced for their action stems from the fact that transitioning to IPv6 is expensive, and at the moment, there is little to be gained in return for the investment.

African network operators will be forced to make even tougher choices: spend valuable capital adopting IPv6 to stay connected to the rest of the world while free IPv4 numbers are still available, or continue to sweat their IPv4 infrastructure risking regional isolation on the legacy IPv4 Internet.

Commenting on why Africa is yet to move to IPV6 in a recent interview with DNS Africa, Ms Anne-Rachael Inne, Chief Operating Officer, AfriNic said: “This has always been an economic choice till now. That is the reason why we haven’t moved to IPV6.

The issue for a lot of people who are sitting in business is that IPV4 still works. The internet is 98 or 97 percent now on IPV4. So why should I invest in IPV6? One of the issues they have to realize is that the day they are going to wake up for IPV6, it is going to be already too late for them.”

However some analysts are of the view that the benefits of the launch of internet of things (IoTs) may elude Nigeria as most networks in the country are reluctant to migrate to Internet CONTINUED ON PAGE 31

FG plans to merge Nigcomsat, Galaxy Backbone Strong indication has emerged that the Muhammedu Buhari led federal government is planning the merger of the Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NigComsat), Nigeria’s owned communication satellite service provider and Galaxy Backbone, another government owned information and communications technology services provider, whose responsibility is to drive national development via the provision of pervasive ICT infrastructure and services to public institutions, underserved communities and other stakeholders.

A dependable source at the Ministry of Communications disclosed that the reason adduced by the President and the planners of the merger stems from the present government’s stringent measure to cut costs, especially within the agencies of government.

The source also revealed that the President is angered that the two agencies, which were established to be a major revenue spinner for the government, have not been able to achieve that, instead they continued to draw appropriation from the government to pay salaries without developing the capacity to make money for its operating costs.

The source added that NigComSat and Galaxy Backbone are yet to deepen broadband penetration as promised and can’t be seen as playing any critical role in the country’s development agenda despite the huge taxpayers’ money sunk into the agencies every year.

“Of what benefit is Nigcomsat and Galaxy Backbone to the government? In spite of the fact that the two agencies are supposed to be selling capacity and generate revenue for the

government, the government has been the one funding them,” he said.

He further revealed that Galaxy Backbone and NigComsat still receive an annual budget of over N3 billion respectively from the federal government.

“The primary reason why these two agencies were established is to make money like their private sector counterparts, but since that has not been the case, the government has no option than to merge them and reduce costs,” he explained.

He stated that NigComSat has in the last four years continued to incur expenses that is far above 100 percent of what it’s generating, which amount to a total waste by the government.

According to a National Newspaper report, in 2011, NigComsat incurred a total expense

of over N2.8bn while it recorded over N36m income. Of the N2.8bn expenses, over N1.3bn went into salaries and wages.

Shittu

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 17, 2016

29 Tech Times

Shittu supports NITDA 100 graduates’ internship scheme on software Stories by Tony Nwakaegho Barrister Adebayo Shittu, Minister of Communication, has restated the need to simulate the creative ability of youths and unleash them for the sustainable economic transformation of the country.

Shittu made the call in Lagos at the formal flagging off of the first 100 batch of the 2016 National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA)/Graduate Internship Scheme (GIS) youth empowerment and job creation training programme.

The Minister disclosed that the programme represents a visible demonstration of President Mohammadu Buhari’s concern and commitment to youth empowerment and job creation.

According to him, it was also an attempt towards developing requisite human capacity in the core areas of information technology for sustainable livelihood and national development.

“This is a well thought out and articulated programme on IT youth empowerment and entrepreneurship targeted towards developing and empowering graduate youth with IT employable skills.

“They will be assisted and monitored for them to become successful entrepreneurs thereby guaranteeing the well-being of the Nigerian youth,’’ he said.

He added that the service industry contributed about 53percent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and as such government needed to develop local competencies, skills to support this section of economic growth.

Information and Communications

Nigerian retail business owners have adopted new ways to reduce the cost of running a business by taking the business online by subscribing to online market hubs and e-commerce websites.

This online market is coming on the heels of economic realities that are forcing companies in Africa to fold up because of increasing overhead operational cost.

The Nigerian retail businesses in order to stay in operation uses some methods which require internet penetration and increase in mobile phone usage, ability to source for items online, store to door delivery and online marketing platforms.

A research conducted by WesternMall, Nigeria’s number one auction platform in the first quarter of 2016 revealed that more people listed products

NITDA Soft Ware Training Session in Lagos Technology capacity building, Shittu said was one of the strategic pillars of the ICT Road Map that the ministry of communications and its parastatals was developing.

He said that the strategic pillars of the ICT road map were aimed at developing a smart globally competitive workforce that would become major players in smart digital Nigeria.

The partnership of the ministry of finance and communications, he added was expected to enhance further collaboration among government agencies and stimulate creativity among the participants in the scheme.

He urged the beneficiaries to make the most effective use of opportunities provided through the training and internship to sharpen their skills and target specific section of the economy that would benefit their innovation.

He urged the organisers to put in place a robust monitoring and evaluation platform to ensure the scheme delivers on its objectives with adequate feedback for future improvement.

Speaking on the scheme, the Acting Director General NITDA, Dr Vincent Olatunji, said that the scheme was a major attempt of solving the problem of unemployment and youth empowerment.

“These are promising, ambitious and ready to go at any time people, if they are not empowered, there will be crisis,’’ he said.

Olatunji said that the challenges in the IT sector with the diversification programme of the economy had made it imperative for human capital empowerment.

He implored the beneficiaries of the scheme to be completely diligent and focus on the training so that they can have a future for themselves.

Also Mrs Kemi Adeosun, the Minister of Finance, who was represented by Mr Dennis Chukwu, Project Director GIS said that the scheme serves as a bridge where graduates could prepare themselves for self-employment.

Adeosun revealed that 41,451 graduates had already benefited from the scheme since its inception, adding that the scheme was targeting 600 graduates across the six geopolitical zones of the country of which 100 persons would come from Lagos.

She listed the role of GIS as making sure graduates are available to be trained, making sure their stipends are paid monthly, have a life and accident insurance scheme, having a template for monitoring the performance of the training and others.

Nigerian businesses online presence increases by 35% for sale on the WesternMall website as compared to the last quarter in 2015. Dealers in electronics, phones, computers, home appliances and fashion listings on the website also increased by 35percent in the first quarter of 2016.

According to the research, a look at typical offline market or store revealed that most shop owners now use free marketing channels such as Facebook, Instagram, Nairaland, Pinterets etc to showcase and market their goods and services as against seeking shops in highly populated areas.

On a broader scope marketing activities on online market hubs and forums in Nigeria showed a 22 percent increase in the first quarter of 2016 and at least 36percent of online shoppers completed a purchase transaction in the first quarter of 2016 attesting to the fact that the online market place is gaining more

recognition.

Dealers in items source from other countries have also started the trend of ordering goods from abroad online and selling to the clients cutting off the need for them to travel abroad to get the items and also the space where the item would have been stored.

One of the dealers on the WesternMall website said he has been getting more inquiries and making more sales since subscribing to the online platform. He also said that his overhead is now lower since he works from his home and does not need to rent a shop or a warehouse.

More businesses could equally benefit from adopting the online market trend in Nigeria presently. Not only will it ensure that cost of operation remains down, it will also make commercial real estate more affordable as the need to rent shops will ultimately reduce.

Unsolicited SMS: WASPAN partners NCC to educate mobile subscribers Following the public perception of Value Added Services (VAS) on unsolicited messages, (VAS), Wireless Application Services Providers of Nigeria, (WASPAN), has concluded plans to partner with the Nigerian Communication Commission, (NCC), to arrest the situation of unsolicited calls and messages through relevant solutions with a view to protecting and educating subscribers and customers.

WASPAN disclosed that it want to invest more in educating mobile subscribers and help them to be better informed and become savvier in the use of their mobile phones.

This is coming on the heels of incessant complaints that mobile subscribers have about VAS, such as unsolicited calls and SMS, spamming, forced activations deduction of call credit among others.

Speaking at an event in Lagos, The National Coordinator, WASPAN, Chijioke Ezeh, said that both VAS companies and mobile subscribers have the dual responsibility to double-check services ahead of subscription to reduce incidences of unsolicited calls and messages.

“After due considerations and brainstorming, the following were the resolutions by the trio of WASPAN, MNOs and NCC towards arresting unsolicited calls and messages. We have decided that no marketing SMS or calls before 8am and after 8pm. The Mobile Number operators, MNOs have deployed DoNot-Disturb, (DND), portals that are accessible to all subscribers. Any subscriber who wishes to be on the portal would be requested to SMS stop to any code on any network to get on the DND list. All VAS licensees shall be directed to implement the stop functionality across all short codes. There will be transparent accessibility by NCC to the DND database of each mobile operator when required.

Ojobo, Director of Public Affairs NCC

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Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 17, 2016

How FG plans to improve broadband penetration via new microwave bands Stories by Tony Nwakaegho Federal government of Nigeria, through the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has continued to intensify effort in its quest to deploy massive broadband connections necessary to give ubiquitous internet experience to Nigerians.

This trend became necessary considering the fact that Broadband has now become an essential feature of modern life as it affects everything people do or even aspire to do.

Investment in this area came up when the government took the first salvo at achieving this through the formation of broadband policy plan in 2014 with the plan set out to achieve at least 30 percent broadband penetration in the country by 2018.

The government thought out plans by putting in place proper mechanisms to achieving that mileage of broadband penetration.

Broadband across the world, is at the heart of quality education, , healthcare delivery, clean water, efficient power supplies or good governance, all of which are essentially scarce commodities in the country.

The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, rolled out plans to review the channelling plan of existing 23GHz Microwave spectrum band, while opening up two new radio spectrum bands, 38 and 42GHz bands, for use in Nigeria. Much as these

Danbatta

initiatives were practically meant for the country to keep up with international best practices, they were also designed to help achieve average quantity of broadband traffic needed to bring ubiquity in internet and other related services in the country.

The 38GHz band is the range of Electromagnetic Frequency Spectrum that falls within 37GHz – 39.5 GHz . The Band has a total of 2.5 GHz Bandwidth and supports an extremely high degree of frequency reuse due to high directivity of antennas.

The two spectrum bands which are entirely new and have not been opened in the country before now are expected to further open up the Nigerian

telecom space.

Speaking on the development at a stakeholders consultative forum in Lagos, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, Prof Umar Danbatta, who was represented by the Director Public Affairs, Mr Tony Ojobo, said the two developments were necessary considering that the emerging trend in telecommunications market in the Nigeria today is broadband which will certainly require massive deployments in terms of critical infrastructure for Nigeria to achieve the 30 percent broadband penetration by the year 2018. Danbatta said that besides that, the growth

in broadband traffic is on the increase and therefore additional spectrum resources would be required to avoid network challenges.

He listed some of the benefits licensing of these bands would bring to include; addressing the growing demand of spectrum by operators, for high speed and high quality capacity links for data centric services, assisting the commission’s drive for national broadband wireless initiative; reduction of pressure and management challenges experienced with traditional microwave frequency bands as well as helping the Nigerian consumer to leverage on the resources to enjoy better broadband services, among others.

The Commission said it invited stakeholders to discuss spectrum plan, pricing scheme and licensing of service providers in the 38 and 42GHz bands as well as the re-planning of the 23GHz Microwave Spectrum band within the Nigerian telecoms industry in line with global best practices.

Stakeholders discussed channel plan, licensing model and pricing at the meeting.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Director, Spectrum Administration of the NCC, Mr Oluwatoyin Asaju, said that the regulatory moves were in line with the commission’s tradition of carrying people along in its decision to accelerate the achievement of deepening broadband penetration.

ITU seeks solutions to expected 50m metric tons eWaste by 2018 The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has revealed that e-waste generated by a wide variety of obsolete and discarded ICT devices could grow to 50 million metric tons by year 2018.

Although these devices have brought us the benefit of new innovative technologies, they have equally inflicted us with the burden of growing quantities of e-waste which is touted as a “self-created evil”.

Malcolm Johnson, ITU deputy secretary-general, made the remark while declaring open a joint United Nations workshop on sustainable management of e-waste during the World Summit on the

Johnson

Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva, recently.

Johnson in a blogpost

titled, ‘Tackling E-Waste: ITU Drives Solutions’, said that the situation is worsened by the frequent updating and upgrading of personal devices and people constantly clamoring for the newest and latest devices.

E-waste according to Johnson is now one of the most rapidly growing environmental problems in both developing and developed countries.

In 2014, nearly 41.8 million metric tons of e-waste was generated and this is expected to grow to 50 million metric tons by 2018.

The increasing incident of indiscriminate e-waste dumping is the incentive for responsible management of discarded ICT devices worldwide.

Building Effective Partnerships He said, “To enable better recycling we need standards and policy that set requirements for disassembly and material separation, avoidance of glue and welding, and labeling of the materials used in a product.

“This is in line with the Sustainable Development Goals, especially the targets under Goal 12 on responsible consumption and production, the WSIS Action Line C.7 on e-environment, and the ITU’s ‘Connect 2020 Agenda’ which calls for minimizing the negative impact of ICTs on the environment, in particular by reducing the volume of redundant e-waste by 50% by 2020.

ATCON elects new exco

Olusola Teniola

president

The Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) has elected the Managing Director of Internet Solutions Nigeria Limited, Mr. Olusola Teniola, as the new president of the Association.

Daily Times gathered that the elections of the new exco which were unopposed saw Teniola leading other executive members including Engr. Tony Nwosu as first Vice President; Mr. David O. Roberts – 2nd Vice-President; Mr. Mike Ofili – National Secretary; Mrs. Aderonke Adeyegbe – Treasurer; Mr. Ike Nnamani – Coordinator Telephone Operations and Mr. Hyacinth Anucha – Coordinator Value Added Services.

In his acceptance speech, Teniola expressed appreciation for the successful and peaceful process and commended members for their support.

The immediate-past president, Engr. Lanre Ajayi has since handed over to the newly elected exco while the election followed the Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in Ikeja-Lagos.

It will be recalled that the inaugural meeting of the Telecoms industry Advisory Council was recently held and the council elected Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki Nakande as the Chairman and Dr. Emmanuel Ekwuem, MD/CEO Teledom Group as Vice Chairman.

The former ATCON president, confirmed that membership of the association has grown to 115.

Teniola

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 17, 2016

31 Tech Times

NITDA inaugurates LOC, to award $1m to Startup champions Stories by Tony Nwakaegho The acting Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Dr Vincent Olatunji has inaugurated the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for Nigeria ahead of this year’s Gitex Technology Week.

The inauguration also saw the official kicking off of plans to select the country’s startup champions that will pitch at the Gitex Startup Movement, one of the most global startup gatherings in the world where over 30 countries will be represented.

About $1 million is up for grabs for the winning startups. Nigeria through the NITDA plans to promote a minimum of 10 startups to pitch for business at this global startup gatherings expected to have over 400 startups. The Gitex Week 2016 features the Innovation Hub around which the Gitex Startup Movement has been designed to house competing startups in the Showcase Pods. The global startup ecosystem will be convening at GITEX 2016 with more than 2,000 entrepreneurs, investors and mentors.

The Gitex Startup Movement brings together entrepreneurs, innovators, investors, mentors and buyers for the first time in Dubai.

“The NITDA will theme its 2016 Gitex participation on the promotion of ICT startups as the country aggressively pursues foreign earnings in non-oil sectors,” Dr Olatunji said in Abuja during the Gitex 2016 LOC inauguration.

He tasked the LOC members to commit time and wits to ensuring that Nigeria achieves its objectives for being part of the Gitex event, now touted as the biggest technology event in the Middle East, South East Asia and Africa.

“Our participation in Gitex over the years has really benefited the country in many ways. It has attracted investments to the country; and

Olatunji

two of our startups that showcased their innovation at last year’s event have been engaged by a Malaysia company. I keep on telling people that ICT is the credible alternative to oil.

Through ICT the country could gain quickly what it had lost to oil in the last few years since the oil price started nose diving. So, I urge this LOC to do this work diligently as if there is no tomorrow. You may be helping the country back on the path of honour and pride”, the NITDA boss said.

He said the country would organise an ICT Investment Forum as part of the efforts to thicken the value of Nigeria’s participation and enlighten potential investors at the five day event on the country’s nonoil sectors.

About 150, 000 trade visitors from over 144 countries are expected at Gitex 2016. “This is a ready marketplace to sell Brand Nigeria and encourage more foreign investors to stake their investment in Africa’s

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 28

Protocol version 6 (IPv6).

IPv6 is the latest version of the Internet Protocol (IP), the communications protocol that provides an identification and location system for computers on networks and routes traffic across the Internet. IPv6 was developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) to deal with the long-anticipated problem of IPv4 address exhaustion.

Daily Times investigations has also revealed that the networks that are currently using the latest version of Internet protocol include, Globacom, IPNX, Internet Solution, Ngren, FBN Capital and MainOne. These operators represent 5.88% of the number of networks that have acquired the Internet Protocol.

It was also gathered that 32 networks which are made up of telecommunications

largest economy,” he added.

Dr Olatunji urged the committee headed by Mr Muhammed Idris Yelwa to select the best startups able to showcase the talent, untapped skill-set, budding entrepreneurship and the willpower of the new Nigerian political leaders in order to further make the country attractive to foreign investors.

Chairman of the GITEX LOC, Mohammed Yelwa was represented at the inauguration by Dr Femi Adeluyi. The LOC members are drawn from the public and private sectors – they are expected to provide the drive for a successful Gitex outing for Nigeria in October.

Sub-committee heads include: Mr. Muhammad Idris Yelwa, the LOC chairman and sub-commitee head for the Nigeria@Gitex 2016 Secretariat; Hajia Hadiza Umar who heads the subcommittee on Pavilion Management; Mr. Segun Oruame who heads the subcommittee on media, publicity and fund raising; and Mr Bunmi Okunowo who heads the sub-commitee for Startups.

Etisalat concludes Int’l tour on sponsored Hear Word!

Etisalat-sponsored Hear Word!, the internationally acclaimed episodic stage play that speaks to issues that hold Nigerian women back from reaching their full potentials has been held to dazzle Abuja resident to an evening of classy and entertaining stage performances by the crew and cast of Etisalat-sponsored Hear Word!

The performance in Abuja marked the climax of a thrilling three-continent tour which kicked off in April at the renowned Harvard University in Cambridge Massachusetts and made a stop at Torp Theater - Central Connecticut State University, New Britain Connecticut, both in the USA before moving to the Frascati Theatre in Amsterdam.

Hear Word!, which was premiering in the nation’s capital, attracted dignitaries from various circles including politics, government, banking, entertainment, led by Mrs. Dolapo Osibanjo, wife of the Vice President, at the 1000 capacity Congress Hall of the prestigious Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.

The Etisalat-sponsored stage drama featured a collection of 10 stories of real life accounts of inequality, discrimination, abuse and violence, and other social, cultural, traditional, economic and political manifestations and practices of the society which limit the Nigerian woman from reaching her full potentials and becoming a meaningful contributor to the development of the society.

It is an advocacy piece of performance that uses artistry, social commentary and humour to tell real life stories of issues affecting the lives of women across Nigeria and also examines factors that limit their potential for independence, leadership and meaningful contribution.

L-R: Elvina Ibru, Cast Member, Hear Word; Ifeoma Fafunwa, Director, Hear Word; Myma Belo-Osagie; Hakeem Belo-Osagie, Chairman, Etisalat Nigeria; Taiwo Ajai-Lycett, actress and cast member, Hear Word; Deborah Willsher and Ufuoma McDermott, cast member, Hear Word at the premiere of the Hear Word stage play series sponsored by Etisalat Nigeria in Abuja recently.

Intrigues in IPV4 transition to IPV6 in Nigeria operators, internet service providers, universities, banks, oil companies among other organisations have acquired IPv6.

Mohammed Rudman, managing director of IXPN and the chairman, IPv6 Council Nigeria, explained that the low migration of telecommunications networks in the country to IPv6 will make it difficult for the country to launch into Internet of Things (IoT) platform.

“We are losing out in the migration as most other regions have migrated to IPv6 which has huge number of IP address compared to IPv4. You cannot launch IoTs on IPv4 which is near exhaustion in Africa, IoT requires a lot of IP address as devices, cars and equipment will be given IP address,” he said.

PCI SSC, GM Orfei

Rudman attributed the slow rate of migration to lack of economic benefit to telecommunications networks.

“There is no increase in revenue for telcos in migrating to IPv6 which is part of the reasons they are not taking it seriously.

However, it is something that must be done, if we don’t do it now, we will experience learning curve challenge when the need arises.”

He decried the situation in Nigeria where she ranks high as number one in Africa in the use of internet and ranks low in the consumption of IP address because networks in the country use network address translation (NAT).

This trend according to him negates the launch of IoTs in the country, adding that

the IPv6 council is involved in advocacy to all IP centric organisations, government and Higher Educational Institutions for IPv6 deployment in their networks.

The council is also working towards the development of IPV6 Master Plan for Nigeria and to ensure that the country does not face the problem of catch up when other countries in the region have migrated.

Lanre Ajayi, Immediate past president, Association Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), said that there is no reason for any telecommunications network not to migrate because it is inevitable as global networks have done so, the earlier networks migrate the better.

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TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2016

VOL. 2. NO.109

Price: N150

Nigeria’s Pillar of Sports donates to Yekini’s family ANDREW EKEJIUBA

D

Yekini

etermined to appreciate and support sports of heroes who have done Nigeria proud either living or dead, Nigerias Pillar of Sports, Chief Donatus Agu-Ejidike, has donated the sum of one hundred thousand naira cash to the family of late goal king, and former African footballer of the Year, Rashidi Yekini.

Ejidike was received by the mother of the late Super Eagles striker, Hajia Sidikat Yekini,

the younger brother, Mr. Akeem Yekini and other members of the family before making the donation.

Ejidike stated that he was in the home of the late Yekini to show respect and tell Nigerians that whoever has done the country proud should not be neglected even if such a hero is dead.

“I’m here today to pay respect to late goal poacher, Rashidi Yekini and tell Nigerians that we should not forget our heroes. That will encourage budding talents that they have

hope in their country, Nigeria.

“It is very imperative for us to appreciate our heroes and give them hope,” he said.

Ejidike later visited His Royal Highness the Olofa of Offa, Oba Mufutau Gbadamosi, Esuwoye who was represented by his Chief of Staff, Prince Tunji Oyawoye who commended Nigeria Pillar of Sports for the kind gesture and promised to inform the Royal Father of the visit.

Anambra FA:

Aniuno slams NFF for imposing

Ifeanyi Ubah A

s the controversy surrounding the conduct of “secret elections” into the Anambra State Football Association continues, chairmanship aspirant in those elections, Olisa Aniuno, has slammed the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) for what he describes as an “imposition of a candidate” on Anambra FA. The NFF had announced Wednesday the 4th of May for the elections into the board, and this much was reiterated by the normalisation committee in charge of the elections, led by Ephraim Chukuemeka when they visited the state on April 28.

But the committee went ahead to hold ‘elections’ into the board on the 3rd, 24 hours before the scheduled date, a development which has irked Aniuno, a frontrunner in the chairmanship race.

“When they (normalisation committee) came and addressed us on the 28th of April, they announced they were going ahead

Ubah with the elections as scheduled and to continue from where the former committee stopped,” Aniuno state in an interview.

“But then they announced they were reopening the sale of forms, even though this process had already been concluded since July 2015.

“At this point, I realised it was a ploy and a confirmation of what I already heard that they were coming with a mandate to impose a candidate on the football association of Anambra State.”

The ‘secret elections’ threw up billionaire businessman Ifeanyi Ubah as chairman of the Anambra State FA, a development which has seen Aniuno petition both the NFF and the sports minister, Solomon Dalung.

In the petitions, Aniuno prayed for the entire process to be cancelled, and that the Ephraim Chukwuemeka normalisation committee should be ‘barred from conducting the new elections as the committee showed gross incompetence, bias and mischief in their entire conduct’.

Business Times Daily Times Nigeria

LCCI calls for dialogue between Page B2 NLC and FG

Inflation hits 13.7% in April – NBS

Page B3

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Imperative for Digital Switchover in Jos, Nigeria Page B8

LASG sets up N25b employment trust fund Charles Okonji The Lagos State Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode on Saturday stated his administration has established N25 billion Employment Trust Fund (ETF)

to address the challenge of access to funds by young entrepreneurs with innovative and creative ideas.”

He said, ‘’We have established N25 billion Employment Trust Fund to address the challenge of

access to funds by young entrepreneurs with innovative and creative ideas.”

Ambode, who was represented by his deputy, Dr Idiat Adebule, made the commitment at the 2016 Commerce and Indus-

try Awards organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI).

He noted that the government had established the Office of Overseas Affairs and Investment to serve as a one-stop shop

Opeoluwani Akintayo

Charles Okonji

CONTINUED ON PAGE B2

Opeoluwani Akintayo Oil workers’ union, Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), has given the federal government a seven-day ultimatum beginning from Monday 16th, May 2016, within which to initiate measures to resolve

CONTINUED ON PAGE B2

Kachikwu’s visit to Reps ends in commotion

Hike in tomato prices, as processor appeals for forex The price of tomatoes has skyrocketed in most markets in Lagos, and Nigeria in general, as most manufacturers who have been constrained by lack of foreign exchange to import high grade seedlings and unavailability of fresh tomatoes have embarked on backward integration in order to attain self-sufficiency and food security.

Traders have attributed the sudden rise in the price of the commodity to the recent increase in fuel price as well as scarcity experienced recently in the country.

Though, some farmers attributed its scarcity and price increase to off season.

On his own part, Chief Eric Umeofia, Chief Executive Officer, Erisco Foods, Lagos has appealed to Federal Government to assist tomato processors with foreign exchange for the importation of heat resistant tomato seedlings.

Umeofia stated on Monday in Lagos that heat wave caused by the effects of climate change had destroyed tomato farms belonging to processors in the northern parts of the country.

As an addition to the tomatoes

for all matters relating to investment in the state. ‘’This is a strategic plan to stimulate demand and also kick start the campaign for made in Nigeria products.

L-R: Aninweke Okechukwu, Zonal Controller, Nigerian Communications Commission, Lagos office; Folu Aderibigbe, Coordinator, Enterprise Sales, Globacom, and Niyi Olukoya, Head, Back Office Sales, Globacom, during the launch of Glo Hamma Millions promo at the Mike Adenuga Towers, Lagos on Monday.

NECA condemns NLC, TUC proposed strike over new fuel price Joy Ekeke The Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) has condemned the planned strike by the organised labour following the recent hike in pump price of petrol.

The organisation also expressed its full support for the partial deregulation of the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry.

NECA said that the policy was a crucial first step in the resolution of the perennial dependence

of Nigeria on imported petroleum products.

Speaking in Lagos, the Director General, Mr. Olusegun Oshinowo, praised the federal government for the courage it has demonstrated, which past administrations had unwittingly shied away from, by embracing a policy option that will jump start significant reform in the downstream sector that would impact positively on the economy both in the short and long terms.

He said as key actors in the economy, and participants at var-

ious committees of the government in the past on the subject at stake, NECA deplored the usual resort of organised labour to threat of strike to impose its position even when such would be to the long term detriment of the economy as we have seen over the year with the subsidy regime.

The Director General: “One stakeholder’s interest should not loom larger than several other stakeholders’ and should not be pushed through an illegal strike CONTINUED ON PAGE B2

The scheduled appearance of Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, at the House of Representatives on Monday has left the lower chamber bitterly divided, as lawmakers argued over whether the minister should be allowed into the chamber or not.

Following the increase of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS popularly known as petrol last week from N86.50 to N145 per litre, Kachikwu was summoned to brief lawmakers on the increase.

But when Mr. Kachikwu arrived to honour the invitation, he was met with echoes of anger from lawmakers who started shouted him down from entering into their chamber.

Shortly after noon, House Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, moved a motion to let Mr. Kachikwu in, but many lawmakers stood their grounds, denying him access.

This prompted the Speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara, to put the matter up for voice vote.

When Mr. Dogara asked if the lawmakers should allow Mr. Kachikwu to come him, majority of them thundered: “No! No!” But Mr. Dogara said the “ayes” have it, nonetheless.

Cash call payments: PENGASSAN gives FG 7-day ultimatum the joint venture funding and payment of over $5 billion cash call arrears to oil companies.

The warning was contained in a communique issued at the end of the National Executive Council, NEC meeting in Calabar, Cross

River state.

According to the statement, the union said failure of government to act on its demand, will lead to an indefinite strike.

“We observed that accumulation of cash call arrears from 2012

till date has risen to over $5 billion.

Apart from the arrears, current cash call are delayed and even when paid, it is much below the cash call approved without consideration of JV commitment including staff salaries,” the group said.

The union noted that non-payment of the Cash Call, has led to thousands of job losses across the sectors and non-creation of new jobs against the backdrop of the electoral promises of the current government.

Business News B2

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Hike in tomato prices, as processor appeals for forex CONTINUED FROM PAGE B1

scarcity, the Dangote Tomato Processing Factory in Kadawa, Kano State, recently suspended production due to lack of access to fresh tomatoes for production. The company said pests had destroyed its tomato farms in the northern parts of the country.

Although tomatoes and pepper were in abundance during the last four months, prompting the price a basket of tomatoes to drop to as low as N9,000 from N18,000. Now, the market rate of the commodity is between N35,000 and N45, 000 as the case may be.

The spokesman for Mile 12 market traders, Femi Odusanya, also blamed the hike in price the commodity on the off-season and the lingering fuel scarcity in the country.

He explained. “During rainy season, tomatoes are usually costly because the wind interferes with the yield. We are appealing to the government to invest more in the preservation of agricultural produce so that we can have allyear availability of the item and even export the surplus. As it is now, consumers will continue to pay more for food items because prices keep fluctuating due to the exchange rate.”

LASG sets up N25b employment trust fund CONTINUED FROM PAGE B1

‘’We shall ensure we sustain the tempo and remain focused in our determination to make life comfortable for everyone, ‘’ Ambode said.

In his speech, Mr Phillip Asiodu, Chairman of the occasion, noted that unsustained policies, abandoned projects and constant change in regime contributed to the dwindling Nigerian economy.

He called on the government at all levels to create the enabling environment to attract investors and encourage entrepreneurs in the country.

The Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr Mudashiru Obasa, said that the Assembly would continue to promote policies that would grow the economy and enhance national development.

L – R: Dr. Mirian Kachikwu, General Counsel, Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc; Oscar N. Onyema, Chief Executive Officer, The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE); Austin Avuru, Chief Executive Officer, Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc; Roger Brown, Chief Finance Officer, Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc and Alero Onosode, General Manager, Human Resources, Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc at Facts Behind the Figures (FBF) presentation at the NSE yesterday.

LCCI calls for dialogue between NLC and FG Charles Okonji The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) noted with concern the decision of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to embark on a nationwide strike from Wednesday 18th May 2016 was not in best interest of the country. Dr, Mrs Nike Akande, President, LCCI stated this in a press statement made available to the press on Monday.

She said, “The Nigerian economy is already in a very fragile state with very little capacity to absorb the shocks of any major dislocations.

“The resultant hardship from a strike action at this time will be excruciating, especially for the majority of the citizens, micro and small businesses as well as the informal sector players of the Nigeria economy. This makes the dialogue option imperative.

“We welcome the offer by the

federal government to immediately engage the leadership of the labour unions in dialogue for more effective communication on both sides. In this connection, it is important to give an appropriate context to the new policy of government on PMS. Key considerations should be given to the current state of fiscal viability of all tiers of government, the urgent need to grow investment in the petroleum downstream oil and gas sector, the imperative of economic diversification, and the need to provide palliatives to cushion the adverse effects of the policy on the citizens.

“We call on government to also immediately put to work its information dissemination machinery and enlightenment of the general public on the inevitability of the new policy regime. Disrupting economic activities through a nationwide strike will be counterproductive at this time.”

NASCO Group gains Ecowas certification to push sales Chijioke Kingsley Jos

NASCO Group Nigeria has attained the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme (ETLS) to enable its products to be sold in ECOWAS countries.

NASCO opened application in July 2015, to seek for the ETLS certification that will enable it sell 18 of its products in the ECOWAS sub region Receiving confirmation of the ETLS certification on the 13th of April 2016, the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Nasco Group in Nigeria, Mr. Attia Nasreddin, told newsmen in Jos that the process for obtaining the certificate was an elaborate one, which at the end, recorded a 100% success for NASCO Group.

His words: “Today NASCO Group Nigeria has taken ownership of it’s first-ever ETLS certificate covering 18 products, all of

which have now been approved and admitted under the scheme”, he said.

In a forum to intimate newsmen on the success of the scheme, a consultant for NASCO Mr Haroun Audu told journalists that NASCO participated in all the preliminary corporate and products performance assessments undertaken by the Nigerian National Approvals Committee domiciled in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Federal Ministry of Industry Trade and Investment.

Audu said that the benefits of the schemes enlistment will increase market access as NASCO approved products will be traded duty free and quota free.

According to him, “export through the scheme enables exporters to access loans and grants from the Federal Government and other multilateral agencies.

Also, qualified and certified entities will enjoy participation in international trade fairs within the sub-region, at government expense, through the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), as well as exporters benefiting from reimbursements under the soon-to-be revived Export Expansion Grants (EEG) Scheme of the NEPC”, he said.

NECA condemns NLC, TUC proposed strike over new fuel price CONTINUED FROM PAGE B1

on an issue outside the primary mandate of the custodian of the interest.

He added: “Government’s policy on oil and gas is not an employment and labour issue, and should not be a basis for a national strike. Organised labour should instead focus on how to improve the welfare of its mem-

bers through wage discussion and related matters.”

Speaking further, Oshinowo enjoined employees in the private sector to ignore any directive from NLC/ TUC and go about their normal duties.” He reminded workers to understand that “it is in the interest of both the employer and workers to ensure and sustain business survival as their wages are not dependent

on government’s budgetary appropriation or monthly allocation as any involvement in such a strike will certainly imperil their job and income security, particularly at a very difficult time like this. “Beyond applying the law of ‘no work, no pay’, employers will take strong exception at any employee that fails to report for work as from Wednesday.”

Oshinowo appealed to the fed-

eral government and heads of the various security agencies to ensure that adequate security is put in place for workers to commute between their homes and different places of work. “We once again appeal to the generality of Nigerians to shun any call by Organised Labour to shut down our economy. This is one strike we can least afford”, NECA declared.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 17, 2016

B3 Money Market

Inflation hits 13.7% in April -NBS Stories by Motolani Oseni For the third consecutive month, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures inflation rate has recorded a sharp increase for the month of April. The headline index increased marginally by 13.7 percent (year-on-year), about 0.9 percent points higher than the 12.8 percent rates recorded in March, the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has confirmed.

The higher rate of increase relative to March was reflected in faster increases across all divisions which contribute to the index with the exception of the Restaurants and Hotels division which increased, albeit at a slower pace for the third uninterrupted month.

The inflation rate reached a three-year high in December 2015, when it rose to 9.55 percent – a feat surpassed by the January 2016 figures and consequently in February and March, 2016.

According to the statistic obtained from NBS’s official website, the CPI report which was released on Monday 16th April indicates that lingering structural constraints continues to manifest spill overs in April as Electricity rates, Kerosene prices, the impact of higher PMS prices and Vehicle Spare Parts were the largest contributors to the Core Sub index during the month. These items as well

as other imported items continued to have ripple effects across many divisions that contribute to the Core.

“The index increased by 13.4 percent in March, roughly 1.2 percent points from rates recorded in March. The Food index reflected tighter supplies across most groups that contribute to the sub index. The sub index increased by 13.2 percent in April, up by 0.4 percent points from rates recorded in March as all

major food groups which contribute to the Food sub index increased at a faster pace driven by higher food prices in Fish, Bread and Cereals, and Vegetables groups” the report read”.

On a month-on-month basis, while the Urban index increased at a faster pace, from 2.0 percent in March to 2.2 percent in April, the Rural index increased at a slower pace, from 2.1 percent in March to 1.4 percent in April.

Also, the percentage change

in the average composite CPI for the twelvemonth period ending in April 2016 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelvemonth period was 10.2 percent, higher from 9.8percent recorded in February.

However, the corresponding twelve month year-on-year average percentage change for the Urban index increased from 9.9 percent in March to 10.5 percent in March, while the corresponding Rural index also increased

from 9.6 percent in March to 9.9 percent in April.

“Transportation costs, the planting season, and foreign exchange movements created significant upward pressures on the Food index in March. The food index increased by 12.7percent, up by 1.4percent points from rates recorded in February as all major food groups which contribute to the Food sub-index increased at a faster pace”, the report stated.

LR: Ogun State Commissioner for Special Duties, Barr. Adeleke Adewole; former President of Colombia, Mr. Cesar Augusto Gaviria Trugillo and Business Executive, South West, Sterling Bank Plc, Mr. Rasaq Aboyeji at the Ogun State Investors’ Forum held in Abeokuta..recently.

Economy diversification: Access Bank boosts agriculture, power, others through innovation challenge Inflation Rates (%) In line with its corporate strategy of developing innovative solutions that drive economic development, Access Bank Plc hosted an innovation challenge where several ideas were pitched by participants with a view to finding solutions to problems in agriculture, transportation, security and power.

The Access Bank Innovation Challenge is a competition that invites teams of contestants to develop innovative solutions to Nigerian societal, infrastructural and environmental challenges, and provides them with educational guidance along the path to prototyping and possibly implementing their projects.

According to the bank, the 2016 Access Bank Innovation Challenge focused on the Internet of Things (IoT), which connects billions of smart devices to the Internet. Cities all over the world

have developed data-driven IoT systems that have enhanced infrastructure and security, decreased traffic congestions and improved public transportation.

Participants had undergone training recently in the IoT for 3 days, following these successful workshops on Arduino kits and 3-D printing -state-of-the-art tools to help them build the sensors, devices and software for their solutions, Lagos Labs 2016 hardware hackathon which has since commenced.

A total of 15 teams formed by the 76 attendees worked on solutions to problems in Agriculture, Transportation, Security, and Power.The most promising teams will receive equipment, funding and mentorship to further develop and implement their ideas.

Access Bank’s N1million prize money was shared amongst the top 3 winners. The 1st, 2nd and

3rd prize winners received the sum of N500,000, N300,000 and N200,000 respectively.

Executive Director, Personal Banking, Access Bank Plc, Victor Etuokwu who addressed participants during the training workshops said one of the Bank’s core values is ‘Innovation’ and this is visibly rooted in the culture and attitude of the employees of the Bank.

“When we talk about technology innovation, it is something dear to us at Access Bank. Innovation is unique because without innovation, we would not make the progress we seek to make.

DTN Exchange Rate Monitor Currency

Official Rate

Parallel Market

USD

197

361

EUR

225

383

GBP

285

495

2,016

Month

January

February

March

All Items (Year on Change)

962.00%

11

13

All Items (12 Months Avg. Change)

9

9

10

Food (Year on Change)/1

1/10/00

11

13

Food (12 Months Avg. Change)/1

1002.00%

10

10

All Items Less Farm Produce (Year on Change)/2

9

11

12

All Items Less Farm Produce (12 Months Avg. Change)/2

1/8/00

9

9

All Items Less Farm Produce and Energy (Year on Change)/3

853.00%

9

10

All Items Less Farm Produce and Energy (12 Months Avg. Change)/3

8

8

9

Labour B4

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Ngige orders immediate relocation of NSITF’s S’east headquarters Stories by Joy Ekeke The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, has directed the Acting Director General of Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NISTF), Ismail Agaka, to immediately relocate the southeast regional office.

Ngige gave the directive while on a working visit to the NSITF South East regional office and also directed immediate installation of a diesel generating set for the office.

Ngige said for the NSITF to fulfill its constitutional role of uplifting the welfare of Nigerian workers, it must be alive to its responsibilities and expressed concern over the obscure location, poor working environment and lack of necessary working tools at the Enugu zonal office.

Ngige said for the NSITF to fulfill its constitutional role of uplifting the welfare of Nigerian workers, it must be alive to its responsibilities and expressed concern over the obscure location,

poor working environment and lack of necessary working tools at the Enugu zonal office.

He said:”Nobody, no company will be willing to come to this obscure and over-crowded office to register and pay social insurance bills for its workers. You need to first of all show seriousness by repositioning your office so as to engender trust and respect.

“You need to also advertise your services, create awareness so as to let job providers, as well as workers, understand the role of the Fund and the immense benefits of its services.”

Dr. Ngige also directed the opening of a new branch office at Nnewi in view of the large cluster of industries, companies and businesses employing hundreds of thousands of Nigerians and frowned at the paucity of returns from the zone.

He solicited improved productivity from the staff members pledging that his administration was geared towards the strengthening of the Fund and his readiness to intensify its campaign for

N145 PMS Price: Don’t incite Nigerians, SGF tells critics Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Babachir Lawal, has called on critics of the current subsidy removal to refrain from comments that can deliberately prod the public to undesirable behaviour.

The SGF in a statement issued on Friday in Abuja urged commentators to be dispassionate as they advance their positions.

He urged them to endeavor to address the fundamentals as it related to the cost elements in the downstream oil sector.

Lawal said the decision to remove subsidy was made in good faith and called for understanding among all stakeholders.

The SGF said the major problem that had since the return of democracy in 1999 confronted the country had been the availability and cost of petroleum products.

According to him, the issues advanced for the problem in the nation’s oil sector has been the inability of the country to produce locally the products it consumes.

“Our situation over the years became compounded because of

the total neglect of our refineries and rather than addressing the issue of local refining, we resorted to massive importation.

“Regrettably, the monumental corruption that crept into the unreasonable business of products importation stayed with us until the departure of the last administration.

“At this time, the nation’s foreign exchange reserve was completely depleted and the consequences of our past actions are that the nation today cannot afford subsidy payments,” he said.

He said the lingered fuel scarcity in the country that had in the past few months subjected Nigerians to hardship was because government had been the sole importer of petroleum products.

According to him, private importers have refused to do business at this time because they truly cannot sell at the prevailing government controlled price and make profit.

He said the problem was also compounded by the inability of government to sell foreign exchange to the importers at the official rate.

Ngige

enlistment of companies as well as enforcement of compliance.

In his remarks earlier, the Acting Director General of NSITF, Ismail Agaka expressed concern

about the deficit financing of the Fund, pointing out that management was committed to meeting up with the directives of the Minister for the clearance of the ar-

rears of salaries and allowances owed workers.

Speaking on the recent hike in petrol pump price the Minister said:”The federal government is not unaware of the hard times Nigerians are passing through at the moment as a result of the re-structuring of the economy.

The president is genuinely concerned and personally feels the pains too. But this is a necessary phase we must all endure for the restoration of better days.”

Ngige stressed that Nigeria is currently passing through painful structural reforms necessary for the socio-economic rebirth of the nation.

The minister therefore appealed for the understanding of Nigerians and organised labour, saying the increase in pump price of petrol is a necessary phase the nation must pass through for the restoration of better days.

“The new petrol price modulation was necessitated by the need to reposition the economy as a productive one that can foster national prosperity.”

Fuel price hike: why TUC, NLC insist on nationwide strike The prospects of averting a nationwide strike this week over the new pump price of petrol appears remote as The National Executive Council (NEC) of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) and the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) have rejected the new federal government announced pump price of petrol also known as Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) and vowed to go on protest.

The bodies had come to the resolution after separate emergency meetings held on Friday13th and Saturday 14th May 2016.

A communique signed by TUC president, Comrade Bobboi Bala Kaigama and Comrade Simeso Amachree, the Ag SecretaryGeneral reads: “After extensive deliberations the TUC National Executive Council-in-Session in Lagos, passed the following resolutions in rejection in its entirety the astronomical increase in the price of petrol from N86.50 per litre to N145 per litre and demand that the Government should revert to the old price regime with immediate effect.”

Subsequently the TUC NEC gave the Federal Government up

Comrade Ayuba

till Wednesday, 18th May, 2016 to invite the leadership of labour for discussions aimed at determining the appropriate way forward and also directed the leadership of the TUC to interface with the NLC and the Civil Society Allies to work out action plans that would be put in place to protest the insensitive fuel price hike should the Government fail to meet the Wednesday, 18th May, 2016 deadline.

Also, NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, insisted that organised labour would go ahead with the planned nationwide strike should government fail to reverse the pump price.

Wabba, who presented the posi-

tion of labour, said: “The emergency meeting debated extensively the implications of government’s unilateral increase in prices of petroleum products, noting government’s disinclination for consultation on issues of public interest and its obsession with protecting product marketers at the expense of the Nigerian public.

The meeting expressed concern about government’s neo-liberal policies which it considered a betrayal of its electioneering promises and observed as follows: “During the electioneering campaign last year, the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress ( APC ), Muhammadu Buhari, had promised that, if elected president, he would not remove fuel subsidy if there was any at all; “After his election, President Muhammadu Buhari had maintained that there was no subsidy in the petroleum product price regime and that even if there was, he did not see how its removal would be beneficial to the ordinary Nigerian, noting that the slightest product price adjustment often leads to inflationary spiral and unimaginable suffering for the people.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 17, 2016

B5 Energy

Nigeria’s need for 100% renewable energy ÏƆ ƐƆƏ n`9M& With oil down to a 22 year low, the world’s attention is beginning to tilt towards a 100 percent renewable energy use. Nigeria should also do same.

Presently, Solar, followed by coal, and wind, are the most common alternative energy in use yet, crawling along is the idea of urine as another interesting alternative.

Yes you read right. Urine!

Everyone in Nigeria urinates so the Federal Government needs not bother on how to get it in abundance. The only challenge is how to refine it into energy for use.

Fuel is exhaustible, coal is being used up day by day and can go out of stock, solar is inexhaustible but, there could be either a less sunny day or a day of no sun at all, same goes for wind. However, for urine, its availability is unquestionable.

As humans, even some species of animals urinate constantly even at midnight!

Since Urine is produced ev-

erywhere and a lot of it too, humans alone are estimated to produce 6.4 trillion litres a year.

This idea has a strong local appeal. The ability to produce energy locally could give this technology an edge against other renewables such as solar and wind that are cost-effective in certain areas.

This is how it works The main components required for the generation of electricity is as follows: Electrolytic cell, water filler, gas cylinder, liquid borax cylinder, and generator.

Generally, the urine has majorly water in addition to other chemicals like ammonia, sulphate, uric acid, urea etc. Urine is passed to the electrolytic celland from which hydrogen gas evolves after electrolysis which is main component for generation. Here in urine, urea is also a major component after water.

Generally urea chemical formula is CH4N20. So, the four hydrogen molecules is weakly bonded with other components. Thus,

this hydrogen gas is passed through various component.

This purified gas is then given to the generator which generates the electricity.

Although presently, Nigeria

may not have all the equipment to do all this yet, there is need to urgently look into this area especially since the appeal for crude is dwindling and with the problem of fuel and gas scarcity.

Even more so, the country as an overpopulated one, needs alternative and cheaper energy.

Who knows, urine energy could be the salvation we have all been waiting for!

EKEDC to sign technical assistance MoU with USAID As part of its drive towards attainment of optimal service delivery and customer satisfaction, Eko Electricity Distribution Company, EKEDC, will soon sign a memorandum of understanding with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The MoU is for technical assistance from USAID under the US Government funded Power Africa Transactions and Reforms Program (PATRP) Inc. The PATRP which is designed to bring more electricity to Sub-Saharan Africa through utilization of transaction-centred approach, is a five-

year USAID technical assistance project being implemented by Tetra Tech Inc. Under the MoU to be signed, the technical assistance will cover provision of management support to address losses, strengthen management controls and enhance the required performance turnaround.

The assistance will also help demonstrate loss-reduction strategies as well as other improvements that will serve as demonstrative effect for other distribution companies in the country.

Speaking at the inaugural meeting between EKEDC and Tetra

Tech Inc. in Lagos, the President of Tetra Tech Inc., Mr. Dean White said Tetra Tech. has a rich background of experience of partnering and managing power utilities in Africa and as such, he looked forward to a successful partnership with EKEDC. Also speaking at the occasion, the Chairman, Board of Directors of Eko Electricity Distribution Company said the company would continue to do everything possible to bring about the desired turn around in the power situation of the country especially in the Company’s license area.

Total Nigeria partners MMF on women, youth corps empowerment Total Nigeria is partnering with Murtala Muhammed Foundation, MMF, to empower women, youth corps members, especially those posted to remote Northern Nigerian states to serve under the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, and trusted community leaders to empower them on special intervention using solar technologies.

This is part of the implementation of the Last Mile strategy designed to create awareness

and create sustainable distribution channel to isolated areas where the core target market for Awango by Total resides.

As part of the implementation strategy, the beneficiaries will be trained on Entrepreneurship and Usage/Marketing technique of solar lamps. A revolving loan scheme will also be provided to members where Solar Lamps worth N75, 000 to N100, 000 is given on credit to ARC members to be refunded in four to five months. Total Nigeria also pro-

vide marketing materials and tools in Hausa like Product manual, flyers, and other marketing supports tools that will help the resellers understand the product better, create awareness and stimulate demands.

So far, 120 start-up members are targeted for 2016. MMF will be responsible for conducting entrepreneurship training for members while Product knowledge training will be conducted by the Solar Services team of Total Nigeria Plc.

He said he was confident that the partnership with USAID through Tetra Tech Inc. was a step in the right direction which would in the end, yield positive result to the

satisfaction of all stakeholders.

Mr. Momoh then assured that all conditions and responsibilities required from EKEDC for the partnership to work would be met.

Nigeria’s weekly energy watch # *

Energy Generated (MWh)

*

Energy Sent Out (MWh) Peak (MW) Off-Peak (MW) Spinning Reserve (MW) Constrained (MW) Units (Available) Units (On Bars)

* * * * * *

Last Week (Avg) 77

This Week (Avg)

75

71

3 2 82

3 2 15

3

4

80 44

81 40

72

OPEC

daily basket price

OPEC daily basket price stood at $43.31 a barrel Thursday, 12 May 2016

Capital Market B6

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Nigerian equities maintain upward trend, grows ASI 1.43% The Nigerian equities market on Monday maintained its upward movement, as all-share index (ASI) increased by 1.43 percent to close at 26,818.77 points compared to the 2.23 percent appreciation to close at 26,441.03 points recorded last Friday.

Market capitalisation likewise

grew by N1.3 billion to close at N9.23 trillion compared to the increase of N198.2 billion previously recorded to close at N9.1 trillion.

The day’s positive performance was also evident across all sectoral indices with the NSE Industrial Index topping the list by an addition of 43 points to close

at 1,926.23 points.

At the close of the day’s trade, market breadth remained positive, with 27 gainers and 24 losers posted, according to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) daily market statistics.

Conoil Plc emerged the top gainer with a gain of 10.23 percent or N1.95 to close at N21.01

per share, Oando Plc followed with a gain of 10.02 percent or 53 kobo to close at N5.82 per share, while UBA added 9.37 percent or 34 kobo to close at N3.97 per share.

MRS Oil Plc., topped the losers chart with a loss of 9.74 percent to close at N3.94 per share while Vitafoam Plc trailed with a de-

cline of 9.59 percent or 52 kobo to close at N4.90 per share. Gcappa Plc followed with a depreciation of 4.98 percent or 72 kobo to close at N13.74 per share.

In terms of turnover, total volume traded on the Nigerian Equities Market increased to 321 million shares, valued at N2.11 billion, and traded in 4,524 deals.

NSE leads Corporate Nigeria and celebrities to “e-race” Cancer at 2016 NSE Corporate Challenge

L – R: Dapo Martins, Head, Wealth Marketing, Stanbic IBTC Plc; Winner 2016, Mr. Paul Alabi from Aluko & Oyebode and Oscar N. Onyema, Chief Executive Officer, The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) at the 2016 NSE Corporate Challenge in Lagos yesterday.

UBA brings FIPAC to Lagos Courtesy of pan-African financial services group, United Bank for Africa Plc, over 30 major FCT-Abuja and Lagos primary and secondary schools will be competing in dance, music, theatre and drama performances on May 18th and May 26th in Lagos and Abuja respectively.

The annual FCT Interschool Performing Arts Competition (FIPAC) is holding in Lagos for the first time and is aimed at promoting performing arts and extracurricular activities in Nigerian schools by bringing together both primary and secondary, public and private schools to showcase their talents.

Sponsored by UBA, the FIPAC competition will be holding in Lagos and Abuja on May 18th and May 26th respectively.

Judges from renowned cultural organizations will select 12 winning schools in both cities. Renowned actor and theatrical star, Gideon Okeke is a guest judge.

Winners will get up to N2,

000,000 in cash prizes, trophies and much more. The FIPAC 2016 event is set to be an unforgettable experience for the participating children. It is also set to create awareness on Nigeria’s unique cultural heritage that will surprise the audience that will be the attending the events in both Lagos and Abuja.

Speaking on why UBA is sponsoring the competition, Charles Aigbe, Divisional Head, Marketing and Corporate Relations, UBA Plc, said UBA is happy to identify with the competition because of its unique value of promoting Nigerian cultural heritage and artistry.

“We take unique pride in being an African bank and promoting everything that is unique about the continent. FIPAC is set to promote our unique cultural heritage to primary and secondary school pupils. This goes a long way in ensuring our children build their sense of cultural identity and heritage which becomes part of their

unique identity as adults.”

UBA, through its corporate social responsibility arm, UBA Foundation, has been in the forefront of supporting different educational programmes targeted at enhancing the capacity of the African youth to compete globally. The Foundation organizes an annual essay competition for secondary schools in Nigeria, Ghana, and Senegal with winners going home with more than N2 million in educational grants.

The UBA Foundation also organizes the highly acclaimed Read Africa initiative aimed at encouraging a reading habit among secondary school students in Africa.

As the Corporate Social Responsibility arm of the UBA Group, UBA Foundation is committed to the socio-economic betterment of the communities in which UBA operates, focusing on development in the areas of Environment, Education, Economic Empowerment and Special Projects.

Hundreds of individuals, corporate bodies and celebrities hit the street of Lagos on Saturday, May 14, 2016, to run against cancer in the 3rd edition of the NSE Corporate Challenge tagged “e-Race Cancer”, organized by The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), in conjunction with the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP).

The race which started at the MuriOkunola Park, Adeyemo Alakija Street, Victoria Island, is designed to raise awareness and funds for the purchase of 37 Mobile Cancer Centers (MCCs). Over 600 runners from 100 companies participated in the race that saw Paul Alabi from Aluko & Oyebode emerge the overall winner of this edition of the NSE Corporate Challenge.

Anolue Uzochukwu from Cutix Plc and Austin Ani from Stanbic IBTC came second and third respectively. Esther Obiekwe from Diamond Bank emerge the fastest female while Rene Gabriel from Nigerian Breweries came first in the senior citizen category.

Speaking at the event, the Chief Executive Officer, NSE, Mr. Oscar N. Onyema, OON, said “at the NSE we are determined to increase cancer survival rates in Nigeria by delivering Mobile Cancer Centers to provide free screening and treatment across Nigeria.

For this reason we came up with the NSE Corporate Challenge to support those who are affected by cancer. It is heartening to see so many people step up to help those

afflicted with cancer. The tremendous support shown by the community this year is evident from the overwhelming number of people who came out to run and volunteers who assisted. I would like to thank everyone for supporting this cause.”

“I encourage all of you to get informed on cancer prevention and control and to raise awareness and reduce cancer risks. I am also using this platform to call on Governments, institutions and individuals for joint action with the goal of multiplying efforts to save lives, and to support initiatives aimed at fighting this dreadful disease. It is precisely because every human life counts that the fight against cancer must be undertaken collectively”, Onyema noted.

The NSE Corporate Challenge is a professionally organized and volunteer-driven initiative involving companies listed on the Exchange, broker dealer firms, nonlisted companies and individuals who identify with the initiative.

“This year, we worked in close partnership with various sponsors, media partners and volunteers including Stanbic IBTC Bank, Lafarge, Diamond Bank, FCMB, Union Bank of Nigeria, Seplat, Julius Berger, Heritage Bank, BusinessDay Newspaper, Channels Television, AIT, Nigeria Info FM, Rainbow FM, FRCN, Radio Continental, TVC, CNBC Africa, Proshare, Lagos State Signage & Advertisement Agency and Spar Nigeria.

Summary of activities on NSE ASI

26,818.77

DEALS

4,524.00

VOLUME

320,998,785.00

VALUE

2,105,961,204.28

CAP

9,228,696,673,950.02

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 17, 2016

B7 Capital Market

NSE DAILY ACTIVITY SUMMARY ( EQUITIES) 16-05-2016

Features B8 Tony Nwakaegho The idea to switch over from analog to Digitalized Broadcasting was mooted in July 2006, when Nigeria signed a treaty with other member countries of the International Telecoms Union (ITU) to switch over from analog broadcasting to digital.

Going by the letter and the spirit of the agreement signed, Nigeria was to complete the processes towards this switch over by 2012, but due to lack of funding from the government, this process was delayed.

After about two years of nonactivity towards this task, a Presidential Advisory Committee (PAC) was set up by the government to drive the transition from analog to digital terrestrial broadcasting in Nigeria.

This committee also, after giving the government a detailed report and vivid roadmap for the switchover to be concluded in 2012 failed to achieve the date it had set due to Government’s bureaucracy, albeit political challenges.

Another 14-man team was inaugurated by the government for the same transition in December 2012 which became known as the “DigiTeam Nigeria with Mr. Edward Amana as its chairman.

Why Jos for digital switch over The city of Jos, being the home of first color Television in most African countries after Tanzania, the home of the Nigerian Film Corporation and because of the cluster of government-owned and privately owned broadcasting stations was chosen as the test city for the digital switchover from analog to digital broadcasting.

However, the city of Jos has been running digital broadcasting following the launch of the pilot city digital switchover on the platform of NTA StarTimes network on 30th June, 2014 and had seven free-to-air in Jos and its environs.

Ministerial muscles The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has been the arrow head of the success story of the recent digital switch over in Jos. There appears to be fresh aura of hope for the June 20, 2017 deadline for Nigeria to complete the digital switchover and achieve analogue switch off.

The launch of the pilot scheme of switch over from analogue to digital broadcasting in Jos, Plateau State, signaled the commencement of a nationwide digitisation process, as government distributed 200,000 free set-up boxes to households within the Jos metropolis and neighbouring communities, while other users will have to purchase a set-up box

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Imperative for Digital Switchover in Jos, Nigeria

Lai Mohammed

at the rate of N 1,500 each.

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, while performing the epoch function, noted that it was important for states and local government throughout the country to support the process by investing in the purchase of set-up boxes.

Mohammed said the next phase of switch over would be conducted in Abuja and Lagos.

According to the minister, about 30 million subscribers are being targeted across the country, which suggest one of the biggest television market in the world.

“We call on the local and state governments to help us by buying the boxes – which the federal government has highly subsidised for their citizens. The federal government is also giving out, free of charge, the 200,000 boxes for this pilot phase. And the Plateau State Government has agreed to buy 300,000 boxes for their citizens. We are targeting 30 million viewers across the country, which will make Nigeria the biggest Free television market in the world. Congratulations to everyone who has been part of this epoch-making process,” he said.

While speaking on the benefits of digital broadcasting, the minister said, with the pilot scheme, subscribers within the Jos metropolis and its environs will

“As Nigeria has commenced this digital switch over, there is light at the end of the tunnel that the country will beat the latest deadline of June 20, 2017 for the switchover from analogue to Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT)” have access to 15 free television channels with good quality picture images.

“Compared to yesterday when the average Jos person can only watch five television channels at best, he can now watch 15 television channels, local and international news as well as local and foreign entertainment. Through the information service, he can also get news about government activities without going on the In-

ternet. While watching a particular channel, he can also know the other programmes available on that channel, using the EPG, or Electronic Programme Guide.”

Economy benefits He also said the government had directed Set Top Box manufacturers to ensure local production of the boxes, after importing the first set of boxes. This according to the minister will create massive employment for Nigerians; at the same time ensure the transfer of technology.

“In terms of the economy, all licensed Set Top Box manufacturers have been mandated to establish manufacturing companies in Nigeria to produce the boxes locally, after importing the first set of boxes. This will create massive employment and also ensure the transfer of technology for our people. Also, due to availability of many channels, there will be an astronomical increase in the need for content, and this will fire the creative ability of our youths.”

Other benefits Some benefits of this switchover include, but are not limited to the following; better picture and sound quality; the possibility of processing and compress digital data in a more efficient manner; wider choice of programs from a greater number of channels,

improved flexibility as a result of better portable and mobile reception; Digital Broadcasting will have a lot of positive impact on the world globalization sphere; We will have at our fingertips information from the world over.

Conclusion As Nigeria has commenced this digital switch over, there is light at the end of the tunnel that the country will beat the latest deadline of June 20, 2017 for the switchover from analogue to Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT).

The fact is that any nation that cannot meet the deadlines will be disconnected completely.

Some stakeholders are the view that there is need for good policy to be introduced by the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation to ensure a certain number of stations are free-to-air local stations which can be viewed with having any subscription and to enable even the poor or those who cannot afford the monthly subscription to still access some basic channels.

Several Pay-Tv providers are springing up and there are so much benefits for the family as they now have access to several informative, educative and at the same time entertaining programs. There is also the Parental Control with which you can restrict the underage from viewing some stations.

Life&

Times Tuesday, May 17, 2016

2Face

Rising and rising to stardom L2

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Interview L2

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday May 17, 2016

Nigeria blessed with amazing talents ...2Face Idibia Tagged Nigeria’s leading musical legend, Innocent Ujah Idibia, better known as 2Face has proved to the world that he understands the onions of music and how to be a trend setter with good lyrical contents. Born in Jos, Plateau State, 2baba as he is sometimes called is a songwriter, record producer, entrepreneur and one of the most decorated and successful Afro pop artists in Africa. He is equally one of the most bankable artists in Africa south of the Sahara. Despite several awards, recognition and endorsement deal, 2Face’s humility has kept him going. In this chat with MUTIAT ALLI, 2Face spoke about his experience as a judge on the Voice Nigeria competition and recent deal with Campari. Excerpts:

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T E A M

How has the experience been as a judge on the Voice musical competition?

It’s been awesome seeing that we have a lot of potential talents in Nigeria; being on the show has open my eyes to so many things, bearing in mind that I was never up for any competition as an artiste; I started off with likeminded people who shares the same passion as I do. Been a judge equally has been easy basically because you get confused at some performances as to whether to be in support or not of a particular contestant because they all are amazing.

What do you look out for in every contestant’s performances?

I look out for their craft, delivery, lyrics and it goes on; I don’t judge by appearance because it can be deceptive and remember that we don’t even get to see the contestants while performing until they are done. We get to their voice when performing; as a musician, I know what to look out for immediately you start singing.

Entertainment Correspondent Mutiat Alli

Society Correspondent Abimbola Obatayo

Photography Quadri Olowolagba

You have just been unveiled as the official Brand Ambassador to Campari, how does that make you feel?

It makes me feel honoured, and also gives me a great sense of responsibility, because there are so many things expected of me; project the right image, responsible image that the brand represent. Am happy about the whole deal.

Before your unveiling, how connected have you been to the brand?

I have always been a lover of good African blended drinks; I am very connected to brand.

With the bitter taste Campari drink has and Nigerians arguably don’t like bitter things; how do you intend to market it?

It’s not actually bitter, peoples’ taste buds differs from one another (e get some people now wey be say, some drink wey sweet, dem go say e over sweet, or e dey one tin one tin), so for me its herbs, it’s a blend of different herbs, so it definitely has that herbal taste (if you close eye taste am, you go know say this one na leaf, or fruit).

Why did you accept the offer considering the fact that you are an Ambassador of other brands?

The company is a responsible firm and I have equally done my findings about the brand before accepting the offer. Also for the Campari brand as a whole, this is not my first brush with Campari, I’ve been a Campari fan for some time, I mean as long as I can remember, when I came of age, I’ve been a fan of Campari most

Graphics Daniel Ekiye

especially a number of cocktails, so when this offer came, I gladly embraced it.

Was your acceptance based on the brand or the monetary value attached to it?

Everything join, (na that one you wan make I talk originally).

You are an entertainer and equally run a hospitality business; will the brand be the official drink of your club?

2baba is different from rumors club, but definitely, I mean Campari is not looking at only rumors,it’s looking at everywhere that alcohol beverages is being presented; rumors is one of the places, no doubts it’s going to definitely feature, I mean already featuring in rumors, so it’s not as if it’s a new thing, or a separate arrangement.

With a little percentage of alcohol, how do you intend to preach the gospel of drinking wisely?

Yes definitely, that’s why I said it’s a very responsible company; we’ll definitely promote responsible drinking. But one thing is where two or three people are gathered to jubilate, celebrate success, or whatever there is always something to cheer with, (Campari dey there, senator dey there) you know different drinks can be mixed with Campari, if you go to many places, all these cocktails we see most of them; there is Campari drink there; but basically what we’re going to do is that, this is marketing, sales, business, so in as much as we are going to be marketing Campari, we are also going to be at least making sure that we use that avenue to also educate the Nigerian youth to drink responsibly, and some of the programmes that are educating, and motivating, they will definitely get to learn one or two things that Campari will be sponsoring, (so e no be like say we just con sit down dey drink every time) For a person like you who have tasted several brands, what makes Campari different?

I think it’s because of the richness in its flavor (if you they drink am sef, e go be like say you dey drink Jedi, or medicinal something) its herbal, and for me that’s the selling point.

How long are you planning to be in the partnership with them?

For as long as it takes.

Daily Times Nigeria

Tuesday May 17, 2016

L3 Teen world

Maria Oluwatimilehin

The Selfie Syndrome danger The popular trend ‘Selfie’ is fast becoming a worldwide phenomenon that has not only gotten the attention of teenagers but even adults, artists and celebrities alike. Likewise, selfie syndrome has been on the increase in different nations of the world, among teenagers especially.

What is selfie syndrome?

It is pertinent that the word ‘selfie’ is first defined before the exposition of ‘selfie syndrome’ is given.

A selfie is a photograph that a person takes of himself or herself with the use of a smartphone, a camera or with the support of a selfie stick and is usually uploaded to social networking sites such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

According to Child/Teen Development Specialist and Body Image Expert, Dr. Robyn Silverman, selfie syndrome is “a matter of adolescents and teens constantly trying to define themselves. They crave positive feedback to help them, see how their identity fits into their world. Social media offers an opportunity to garner immediate information [about their identity].

The problem is they are looking in a dangerous place.”

In its literal sense, selfie syndrome is the obsessive and excessive desire to constantly upload selfies online because of the voracious crave for attention and approval from people. As of press time, more than 31 million Instagram photos have been hash tagged #selfie, and according to a recent study from the Pew Research Center, 91% of teens have posted a photo of themselves online.

Factors responsible for the prevalence of Selfie syndrome in today’s world The core reason for peoples’ posting of selfies is for other people to see, like and comment on them. Thus, the underlying factor responsible for selfie syndrome is the quest for attention and identityapproval. Other desires that fuel the selfie syndrome include: • The yearning to be loved by others- A lot of people upload selfies in order to feel loved.

Naturally, it is an innate feature of all human beings to desire love and affection from people. However,

the true demonstration of love is not inherent in the comments or likes that people give you but it is depicted in co-existence despite our different flaws and backgrounds. Therefore if you feel that you are loved, based on peoples’ feedback on your selfies, you may as well be living in a lie.

• The quest for acceptanceToday, many individuals, especially teenagers desire to be accepted by their peers. They want to feel among.

But the hazard is that when you are among, you can get lost in the crowd, that is, you may lose your own uniqueness and end up living in another person’s shadow. A large number of teenagers today, post pictures of themselves going on a trip or at a club house, with their girlfriends or in a luxurious place so that their friends would think they are cool and will accept them the more. But this is a wrong mindset and attitude because it means that it is what their friends comment or say about them that would determine their lives and actions. This is wrong!

You were born an original, do not die a copy.

• The longing for significance- Everyone wants to

matter. Everyone wants other people to think highly of him or her.

Therefore, countless numbers of youths nowadays take and upload selfies of themselves in extravagant outfits or exquisite places so that their friends would be so impressed with their own kind of personality and term them as important. But the truth is: your significance does not lie in peoples’ opinions of you but in the impact you make on those around you.

• The eagerness for connection- Social media is basically created to enhance networking amongst people. However, there are some people who have an insatiable desire for connection.

Their love for meeting people is at an extreme and is usually backed up with a desire to make profit from the people they connect with. Thus, this can equally be a reason for selfie syndrome, as a lot of such people would like to upload a lot of pictures of themselves on social media so that people can see them as lovable and also be interested in being their friends.

Ills of Selfie Syndrome Selfies are not bad in themselves; they actually help control one’s image online. But like anything, moderation is a good thing to exercise. Therefore, selfie syndrome is a meme that must be eradicated.

Some of the dangers of selfie

syndrome are outlined below.

• Selfie syndrome makes people measure their self worth by superficial standards such as the ‘likes’ and ‘comments’ of others instead of higher benchmarks like character and unique talents. Consequently, selfie syndrome makes people begin to tie their self esteem to comments and likes that they get when they post a selfie. But it is very important to note that this feedback from people on social media is not based on who you are: they are based on what you look like. Therefore, it is a rather too shallow yardstick with which to measure your self-worth; it is like judging a book by its cover not its content.

• The more an individual gets addicted to posting selfies, the more such individual’s life would be controlled by ‘comments’ and ‘likes’ from social media. As seen today, many people even go to the extent of posting partially or totally nude selfies on the net, all in a bid to get more ‘likes’ and ‘comments.’

In the hearts and minds of such people they think they are classy but in the true sense, their minds are out of control.

• Selfie syndrome can have negative effects on ones’ career. For example, people can begin taking selfies of their activities in the office or of events that their profession takes them to. This can lead to the waste of precious man hours as time that is meant to be used for productive things at work would be channeled to trivial activities like taking of selfies. One can lose one’s job through this.

• Too much posting of selfies that includes one’s location can attract stalkers (obsessed and anonymous followers of other people). Stalkers can begin to monitor your activities and begin following you around. This is very dangerous.

• Selfie syndrome can make you never feel good about yourself until you get positive feedback on your pictures. Such people begin to suffer inferiority complex and low self-esteem.

• This syndrome can equally make you become narcissistic (that is, you develop a personality disorder in which you are excessively pre-occupied in self-love at your detriment and at the detriment of others).

How to get rid of selfie syndrome Parents should endeavor to teach their children about self esteem and factors that contribute to self-esteem. So that their children or teens would not end up building their self esteem on the opinions of others.

Families should also involve their children in activities that would create an atmosphere of togetherness and love between them and their children/teens so that their children would not go about searching for love where there is none.

L4

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday May 17, 2016

Daily Times Nigeria

Tuesday May 17, 2016

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Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday May 17, 2016

Daily Times Nigeria

Tuesday May 17, 2016

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Daily Times Nigeria

Tuesday May 17, 2016

Showing on

Showing on

Movies ACTION+ Channel 106

Movies Comedy Channel 104

11:20

18:00

Tue, 17 May | PG

Tue, 17 May | PG 13

Gru, the world’s most lovable villian, and his minions are back in this Oscar-nominated adventure.

This time Gru is recruited to help bring down a bad guy. Benjamin Bratt, Kristen Wiig, Russell Brand, Steve Carell. (2013) Pierre Coffin, Chris Renaud.

Andrew Garfield returns for a second round of web-slinging action. Dangerous new enemies and family secrets weigh heavily on young Peter Parker as he struggles with his destiny. Jamie Foxx, Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone.(2014) Marc Webb

101 M-Net West

23:30 Chicago PD 00:30 The Real Housewives Of Atlanta 01:30 The Longest Week 03:00 Other Plans 04:25 Away And Back 06:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 07:00 MasterChef Australia 08:00 The Big Bang Theory 08:30 The Last Ship 09:30 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 10:30 Begin Again 12:30 The Middle 13:00 MasterChef Australia 14:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 15:00 Code Black 16:00 Blue Bloods 17:00 Made In Hollywood 18:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 19:00 Mom 19:30 MasterChef Australia 20:30 Chicago Med 21:30 Chicago Fire 22:30 Chicago PD

118 Telemundo

23:40 The Face Of Destiny 00:30 Elena's Ghost 01:20 Broken Angel 02:10 Broken Angel 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 Broken Angel 17:50 Broken Angel 18:40 Husband For Hire 19:30 The Face Of Destiny 20:20 Fearless Heart 21:10 Broken Angel 22:00 Broken Angel 22:50 Husband For Hire

152 AfricaMagic Epic

DStv Highlight

M-Net The Duff: The popular kids get a wakeup call in this high school movie. Once a girl finds out that she is being used by her friends, she teams up with a boy and begins a social makeover. Premieres on Sunday 24 April at 7pm and at 7:30pm on M-Net Movies Premiere.

M-Net Edge Motive (S4): Kristin Lehman (The Killing) stars as a feisty Vancouver homicide detective who uses her skills to track down cunning killers with a serial motive. Premieres on Tuesday 19 April at 6pm.

Fargo (S2): An all-star cast brings us another instalment of this Golden Globe and Emmy winning crime anthology. In the season premiere, an unexpected turn of events at a diner disrupts a small Minnesota town. Premieres on Tuesday 19 April at 8pm.

Hannibal (Premiere): Chilling psychological thriller centred on one of fiction’s most terrifying serial killers. In the series premiere, troubled FBI profiler Will Graham is put into the hands of brilliant psychiatrist, Dr Hannibal Lecter. Premieres on Tuesday 19 April at 9pm.

Studio universal She’s The Man: Channing Tatum features in this romantic comedy. When a

23:17 Mary And Martha 01:01 Behind The Scenes: The Place

01:10 Royal Guard 03:13 Forest King 05:10 Twins Of The Rainforest 05:38 Behind The Scenes: Secret Room 06:03 Secret Adventure 08:43 Behind The Scenes: October 1st

09:11 Behind The Scenes: The Place

09:20 Igbotic Love 11:19 Igbotic Love 13:13 Healthy Snacking 13:25 Implication 15:29 Above Implication 17:50 Behind The Scenes: Next Dean 18:00 Africa Rising: Behind The Scenes 19:00 The King Is Coming 21:21 The King Is Coming

L8 TV guide

teenage girl Amanda Bynes) decides to disguise herself as her twin brother in order to play on a boarding school’s football team it leads to romantic complications for everyone involved, from her arrogant ex-boyfriend to the star striker she develops a crush on... Laura Ramsey, Brandon Jay McLaren and Vinnie Jones also star. Airs on Wednesday 20 April at 7pm.

The Eagle: A young centurion and his British slave set out past Hadrian’s Wall to Caledonia, attempting to learn the ultimate fate of the Ninth Legion. Historical drama, starring Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell, Donald Sutherland and Mark Strong. Airs on Wednesday 20 April at 8:50pm.

JAMIE FOXX: Back-to-back Jamie Foxx movies begin with explosive action adventure Stealth (18:00). The US military develop a fighter jet controlled by artificial intelligence, but when it becomes selfaware three hot-shot pilots must stop it inciting war. Josh Lucas and Jessica Biel also star. Military drama Jarhead follows the true story of one Marine, Anthony ‘Swoff’ Swofford, and his experiences in the 1990-91 Gulf War. Jake Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard also star. Watch on 23rd April from 5pm.

155 AfricaMagicWorld 23:15 Music On Africa Magic 00:15 Behind The Scenes: The Place 01:15 Good Morning Africa 02:15 53 Extra 02:45 Star Gist 03:15 Star Gist 03:45 Jara 04:20 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 10:00 Lies That Bind 10:28 Lies That Bind 10:53 Lies That Bind 11:20 Lies That Bind

128 SONY MAX

23:00 Most Shocking 23:45 World's Wildest Police Videos 00:35 World's Wildest Police Videos 01:25 Enemy Territory 02:55 Sexy Car Wash 03:20 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 Most Shocking 17:00 Top 20 Countdown: Most Shocking 18:00 South Beach Tow 18:30 South Beach Tow 19:00 Baywatch 20:00 Extreme Reality Clips 20:30 Rude Tube 21:00 Rude Tube 21:30 Freakshow 22:00 Sexy Car Wash 22:30 Sexy Car Wash