Daily Times of Nigeria

NSE GAINERS AND LOSERS AS AT 4th May 2015.

EXCHANGE RATES AS AT 4th May 2015.

Currency

Buying(NGN)

Central (NGN)

GAINERS

Selling(NGN)

LOSERS

US DOLLAR

196

196.5

197

SEPLAT

379.06

2.06

0.54%

TOTAL

150.33

-5.17

-3.44%

POUNDS STERLING

295.8424

296.5971

297.3518

OKOMUOIL

28.52

1.11

3.89%

DANGCEM

180

-4.50

-2.50%

40.01

-1.99

-4.97%

54

-1.00

-1.85%

EURO

218.246

218.8028

219.3595

NB

158

0.99

0.63%

UACN

SWISS FRANC

209.3793

209.9135

210.4476

PZ

29.3

0.80

2.73%

GLAXOSMITH

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NIGERIA

ABUJA Low 26°C High 38°C

TUESDAY, MAY 5, 2015 VOL. 1. NO.100

ENUGU Low 25°C High 36°C

Things fall apart in PDP

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Lateef Ibrahim Abuja

ÏÏÏThe gloves are being

removed, a bloody fight appears imminent, and things seem to be falling apart among the national leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

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In an unprecedented open chastisement of the party’s top echelon, of which it is a prominent member, the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP on Monday took the handlers of the recent presidential CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

KANO Low 27°C High 41°C

LAGOS Low 27°C High 36°C

MAIDUGURI Low 28°C High 43°C

N150

P/HARCOURT Low 23°C High 32°C

NNPC to resume oil search in Chad basin ÏÏÏThe Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is set to resume its search for crude oil in the

Chad Basin, its spokesman Ohi Alegbe disclosed on Monday.

The development is in

line with a recent declaration by the President-elect, Major General Muhammadu Buhari.

Previous searches for oil in the area had drawn CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

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Ex-MINT Why Boko Haram rapes boss for women, by Borno Gov extradition to UK 5 ÏjƆƏƏ Əƈ Ɛ ƇƋƆƆ ƐƏ ƍ Ɨƒ ƅƆ 4

Gov Aliyu sacks all political appointees 5 Samsung plans digital village in Cross River

TT2

2

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Politics Page Three

3

s

Editorial Army’s successes in Sambisa Forest

T

here is no denying the fact that the Nigerian Army is now living up to its reputation as one of Africa’s most proficient. Before now, it had had to endure constant criticisms for the lack of fighting spirit within the ranks, as Nigerians watched in utter bewilderment the routing of troops from vast swathes of territories in the North East

by Boko Haram insurgents.

Daily reports revealed the low morale and even mutinies among subordinates who were not only contemptuous of military discipline but also refused to take orders from their superiors. Following these developments, the authorities resorted to court martial, demotions and dismissal of mutinous personnel in order to restore order within military formations. Today, all that has changed for good as the army is fast regaining the reputation for valour and efficiency.

The developement is all thanks to the successes against Boko Haram in the Sambisa Forest. Definitely, this is the military’s finest hour. No day passes without the army routing the insurgents from one stronghold or the other and rescuing men, women and children taken hostages. Recently, the army rescued 200 girls and 93 women during a raid on Sambisa forest while capturing and destroying three terrorist camps, including the notorious Tokumbere Camp.

It would be noted that Sambisa Forest covers over 6,000square kilometres of inhospitable terrain in the northeast geopolitical zone.

We are calling on the military and civilian authorities not to let down their guard until the last vestiges of Boko Haram insurgency are destroyed and all

occupied territories in the country are liberated. Before the recent successes, every military campaign to take on and defeat the insurgents was politicised, thereby subjecting what normally should be a purely military affair to withering political partisanship. Matters were made worse by the refusal of some Western countries to sell much needed military hardware to the Nigerian government.

While these lasted, Boko Haram kept capturing one town from another, while kidnapping hapless citizens and leaving vast trails of destructions in their wake.

In spite of such setbacks, the army was cognisant of its duty and obligation, which is to defend and protect the country and citizens against foreign attacks and internal insurrections.

Indeed Nigerians should be proud of the army’s achievements so far. We are saying this because some Nigerians had tried to tar the military with partisan brush while unjustly accusing it of pandering to the political interests of some stakeholders.

Even when it tried to stick to professionalism, the noise and propaganda accompanying such accusations became more intense and deafening. As the army’s pride and dignity are gradually being restored, we call on the gallantmen and officers to intensify all efforts to defeat the insurgents. It has shown that such expectations are not farfetched, given the lightening rapidity of their advance on all Boko Haram hideouts. We believe that total victory over the insurgents can be achieved before the incoming Buhari administration takes office on May 29. Such achievement would be a befitting gift to both the country and citizens.

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Mr Chris Oshiafi, CEO, Pan African Capital being congratulated on his birthday by his colleagues ... recently

Dangerous signals from the temple of justice Sam Nzeh

ÏÏÏLast

Thursday, the nation was once again rattled when another member of the Gabriel Igbinedion family of Edo State, Michael, got what can best be described as a slap in the wrist after having been convicted for laundering N25 billion.

Michael Igbinedion along with Patrick Eboigbodin, an aide to former Governor of Edo State, Lucky Igbinedion, and four companies were arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on an 81-count charge bordering on money laundering before the Federal High Court in Benin presided over by Justice A. M. Liman.

The irony in the case is that while Michael, the younger brother to the former Governor Igbinedion, was being given the joke of a punishment by way of N3 million fine -- N1 million for each of the three counts 79, 80 and 81 -- for which he was convicted, Eboigbodin was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment without an option of fine for the same offence - money laundering.

Recall that former Governor Igbinedion was also given a slap in the wrist upon conviction by a Federal High Court in Enugu in 2008 for corruption. He was asked to pay a fine of N3.5 million after which he walked away a free man.

When the above judgements are added to others similar to them like the celebrated case involving a former staffer of the Ministry of Finance who

Words On Marble :

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siphoned about N25 billion of the Pension fund into his account and was consequently convicted and sentenced to two years imprisonment with an option of fine of N750,000, then it becomes glaring that either something is fundamentally wrong with extant provisions of the law as they affect fighting graft or that the judiciary is not in the mood to come down heavily on wellheeled people when caught perpetrating graft.

But how long will the nation’s temple of justice continue to send signals which in the eyes of the public promote graft rather than fight it? So, it is time judicial officers did more to fight graft by handing down stiff sentences to convicts irrespective of their status. The earlier this is done, the better for the nation’s fight against corruption.

STATEMENTS BY THOSE WHO MATTER

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Publisher

Fidelis Anosike

Group Managing Director

Editor, Standard, Archives and Special projects

Associate Editors

Tunji Okegbola

Isime Esene Remi Ogunkoya

Chief Commercial Officer

Editorial Director

Group News Editor

Group Managing Editor

Deputy Editors

Editorial Page Editor

Noel Anosike

Doyin Awomosu

Gabriella Osamor

Editor

Yinka Olujimi

Chude Jideonwo Yemi Ogunsola Sam Nzeh

Acting Bureau Chief, Northern Operations Lateef Ibrahim

Segun Adio Okay Osuji

Sports Editor

Andrew Ekejiuba

Head of Operations Innocent Nwankwo

Online Editor

Adetayo Adelaja

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Emmanuel Ogbonnaya

Head ICT (Shared Services) Banjo Ayorinde

Head Graphics King Ododoru

The opinions expressed in the articles published in this newspaper are solely those of the authors. Articles may be reproduced, provided that the original source is indicated.

Ernest Gaines

Oprah Winfrey

Bill Clinton

There will always be men struggling to change, and there will always be those who are controlled by the past.

We can’t become what we need to be by remaining what we are. Become the change you want to see - those are words I live by.

“People are more impressed by the power of our example rather than the example of our power”

News 4

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 5, 2015

PDP leaders in open feud Continued from page 1

election to the cleaners.

The election was lost by the PDP’s candidate and incumbent President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, to Major General Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC). It was the PDP’s first loss of presidential power since the country returned to civilian rule in 1999.

The NWC members washed their hands off the defeat, which they said was caused in the main by the “hate campaign” strategy of President Jonathan’s handlers.

The National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh,

who addressed a press conference in Abuja on Monday, said that members of the NWC did not play any significant part in the 2015 presidential campaign of the party.

He also revealed that PDP generated about N9 billion from the sale of Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms to aspirants for the various offices on the party’s platform last year.

Of the amount, the National Publicity Secretary disclosed that the party donated N500 million to the Professor Jerry Gana-led national presidential campaign fund raising dinner last December. It also gave out N100 million to each of the 29 gubernatorial

candidates of the party during the April 11 governorship election.

Metuh spoke in reaction to an online report that the NWC members of the PDP shared part of presidential campaign funds among themselves.

He maintained that the NWC members were never involved in the disbursement of campaign fund.

According to Metuh, “Our advice and suggestions were ignored. We cannot be held responsible for the failure.

“Let me say this. In 2003, President Obasanjo ran an election against Odumegwu-Ojukwu in the South East. In 2007, Yar’Adua

L-R: Ebola Survivor, Dr. Ada Igonoh; Chairman, Heirs Holdings, Mr. Tony O. Elumelu and Chief Medical Director, First Consultant Hospital, Dr. Benjamin Ohiaeri, at the World Economic Forum and World Bank Roundtable on Ebola Crisis held in Lagos… on Monday

Military plans to wipe us out, Plateau community cries out Moses Ikyaa-Gba, Jos

ÏÏÏThe

Tarok Community in Plateau State has raised an alarm over alleged plans by some powerful Nigerians to wipe them out.

The alarm followed the killing at the weekend of an estimated 500 persons in Wase Local Government Area of Plateau State by men in military uniforms.

Five villages in Kadarko district of Wase LGA were attacked by a team of heavily armed persons alleged by some survivors to be members of the Joint Military Task Force (JTF). The JTF has

however denied the allegation.

A statement issued on Monday by the Secretary – General, Ngwang Ishi ‘O’ Taroh , Pastor Kartim Napbut (JP), said the killing has reached an alarming level: “We want to let the Nigerian Government and the International community know that there is a conspiracy against the Tarok nation; and we will channel (the report of) this inhuman act to appropriate quarters, particularly, the United Nations, the International Criminal Court (ICC), the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the Nigerian Army

and the Presidency.”

The statement added: “These inhuman acts were carried out by the Nigerian Army. The casualty rate is not … known at the moment but property worth hundreds of millions in naira were destroyed.

“It is however very unimaginable that the intelligence and compass bearings of the military led them to settlements (Kurmi, Wadata and Kadarko) of over 100 years as militia bases.

“We consider this very unfortunate and believe that the Continued on page 6

ran election against Ojukwu. I can tell you, if PDP had engaged in name-calling or abuse Ojukwu in anyway, PDP would have lost the elections in the South East”, he said.

Metuh attributed the poor performance of the party in the north to the hate campaign strategy adopted and executed by the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation against the presidential campaign of the APC’s General Buhari.

The NWC members, he insisted, had no knowledge of how the money voted for the PDP presidential campaign was spent.

Metuh stressed further that the N30 million allegedly paid to NWC members, which received the approval of the President, was for furniture, medical and other back log of allowances accruable to the members for the last three years.

Speaking on how the N9 billion realised from the sale of Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms to aspirants to various offices on the platform of the party last year was spent, Metuh said that the party donated N500 million to Professor Jerry Gana led national presidential campaign fund raising dinner last December and gave out N100 million to each of the 29 gubernatorial candidates on the April 11 governorship election.

He added, “We sponsored our House of Assembly candidates.

The money was passed though the governors or through ministers and gubernatorial candiContinued on page 6

NNPC to resume oil search in Chad basin Continued from page 1 blank.

On Monday, the NNPC expressed hopes that the basin would yield crude oil in commercial quantities this time round.

It disclosed that the decision to renew the search was due to the remarkable improvement in the level of security in the North-East.

The military has recorded victories against Boko Haram militants in the region in recent weeks.

Federal and multinational troops have also rescued hun-

Why Boko Haram rapes women, by Borno Gov ÏÏÏMembers of

the Boko Haram have been indoctrinated to believe that the children they father by women of other faiths are automatically Muslims. They therefore have no inhibition raping the girls and women they abduct.

Those were the words of the Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, on Monday giving a psychological analysis of the atrocities of the sect.

Also reports have emerged that the terrorists were in disarray and fled in all directions on Monday as Nigerian troops advance on them.

Shettima said that the insurgents rape women with intent to get them impregnated in order to build an army of disciples that they hope would carry on their strange ideology even after the terrorists might have been killed.

Shettima, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Mallam Isa Gusau, argued that the deliberate rape of women by the terrorists was a deliberate desire to impregnate the women so that they would give birth to future insurgents.

He called for urgent action from government to ensure that a special programme was put Continued on page 6

dreds of persons held captive by the terrorists in the region, a development that has improved the security situation in the NorthEast.

The NNPC stated that its search for oil in the Chad Basin was halted as a result of the volatile security in the region, stressing that with the feats recorded by the military in the area, the corporation would return to the Basin to continue its search.

Alegbe, the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, of the corporation, declared in the statement: “With the remarkably improved security situation in the north eastern part of the country, the NNPC is to resume oil search in the Chad Basin.”

The statement disclosed that Continued on page 6

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 5, 2015

5 News

Subsidy is a rolling business, says Finance Minister Mathew Dadiya Abuja

ÏÏÏThe Coordinating Minister

of the Economy and Minster of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on Monday, disclosed that the Petroleum Subsidy Scheme of the Federal Government is a “rolling business.”

Addressing journalists shortly after a closed door meeting with the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) in Abuja, Okonjo-Iweala said that with the payment of N154 billion to the oil marketers last Thursday,

Adamawa assembly expels five members Wale Akintunde Yola

ÏÏÏAdamawa

State House of Assembly has descended heavily on five lawmakers who were part of the plot to impeach the leadership of the House last week.

The House under the leadership of the Speaker, Hon. Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, on Monday, placed the affected lawmakers on suspension.

This move is being seen in political circles as a final move by Fintiri to break the rank of the members of the house who are

opposed to his leadership.

Apart from this, at Monday’s plenary, the speaker also constituted a five man investigation committee to be chaired by the member representing Uba Gaya constituency with the mandate to investigate an Agric loan to the tune of N2 billion which was collected by the state government on behalf of farmers in the state but allegedly diverted to other uses.

Members affected by the suspension hammer include Abuzarri Ribadu (Yola South constituency), Jerry Kumdisi (Gombi constituency), Wale Fwa (Demsa constituency), Simon Issa (Song Constituency) and Salihu Kabillo (Verre constituency).

Before their suspension, the speaker had last week constituted a probe committee to investigate his purported impeachment by nine members of the assembly at the Government House, Yola.

Imo Election Tribunal begins sitting, entertains five motions ÏÏÏThe National and State As-

semblies Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Owerri, Imo State capital, on Monday, commenced proceedings by handling five motions filed before it.

Out of the five motions, the tribunal ruled on two ex parte motions, while the three other motions were adjourned till May 13, for hearing.

The two ex parte motions entertained were a motion filed by Accord Party versus four others and another motion filed by Donatus Ozoemena of the All Progressives Congress (APC) against Goodluck Opia and six others.

The Chairman of the tribunal, Judge A.Y. Sanya, after listening to the argument by the counsel to Ozoemena, granted three of the reliefs sought by the petitioner and struck out two others.

President-elect Gen. Muhmmadu Buhari (rtd) (2nd right);Former Governor of old Anambra State, Sen. Jim Nwobodo (right) Mrs. Pat Jim-Nwobodo and Chief Geoffery Uguru during a courtesy visit to the President-elect in Abuja… on Monday

the supply of petroleum products has already commenced, assuring that in a couple of days fuel would be available in Abuja and other states in the country.

The minister, who said they have discussed the issue on the table and were carefully looking into them, stated that the scheme would continue as long as government is a continuum.

However, the minister and Executive Secretary of MOMAN, Mr. Obafemi Olawore, unanimously declined to disclose the actual amount government owes the marketers as at today.

Ozoemena, had through his counsel, urged the tribunal to allow him withdraw the fourth and fifth reliefs which seek to direct INEC to issue him with the certified true copies of the documents in her custody.

The other relief was for the tribunal to deem the processes filed as being properly filed.

The reliefs allowed by the tribunal were the ones sought by the petitioner to call additional witnesses, to amend his petition and to file additional documents.

The second motion filed by the Accord Party seeking relief for the tribunal to allow a pre-trial date and to serve notices to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and Athan Achonu of the Peoples Democratic Party was granted.

Aliyu sacks all political appointees

Aliyu

Pita Chikwem Minna

ÏÏÏIn

an effort to ensure a smooth transition, the Governor of Niger State, Babangida Aliyu, on Monday, sacked all political appointees and dissolved State

boards.

In a statement signed by the Secretary to the State Government, Hon. Ndako Idris Kpaki, and made available to journalists, Aliyu asked all categories of officers who have not served up to two years to return vehicles in their possession.

The statement reads in part: “As part of measures to ensure smooth transition and proper handingover to the new government in Niger State, Gov. Aliyu has approved the dissolution of State Boards and termination of political appointments with effect from May 1, 2015.

“Where a political appointee is the Head of the Establishment, he is to hand over to the most senior Civil Servant in the rank in the es-

tablishment.

“You must also be informed that, category of officers entitled to severance gratuity who have vehicle loans and have not served up to two years minimum to qualify for the severance are to return such vehicles and any operational vehicles in your care to the Transport Officer for proper documentation.”

The governor further instructed that any other officer assigned operational vehicles must return such vehicles immediately and ensure due clearance.

It should be noted that the governor had earlier in April written to the State House of Assembly for an approval to sack political appointees in the state.

Court orders extradition of ex-MINT boss to UK ÏÏÏFormer

Managing Director of Nigerian Security, Minting and Printing Company, Mr. Ehidiamhem Okoyomon, was on Monday ordered to be extradited to the United Kingdom by a Federal High Court in Abuja to face criminal charges.

Giving the order, Justice Evoh Chukwu, ruled that Okoyomon be extradited to the UK within 30 days. He also ordered the former NSMPC boss to be remanded in prison pending the time the extradition processes would be completed.

The court was delivering judgment on the extradition application filed on September 29, 2014 by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke (SAN).

The court had earlier on Monday struck out a separate suit filed by Okoyomon challenging his arrest and detention by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission based on the request by the British High Commission in Nigeria for his extradition.

The court held in its judgment in Okoyomon’s suit that the Attorney-General of the Federation having filed the application for his extradition, his suit had become academic.

The court also dismissed his preliminary objection to the AGF’s extradition application. It held that Akoyomon, through his counsel, Dr. Alex Izinyon (SAN), “has no defence for this application and did not make any attempt to counter it.”

Okoyomon

It also held that the AGF had satisfied all the requirements under the Extradition Act Cap E25 of the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 for the extradition of the man who was said to have been indicted for criminal offences in the UK.

News 6

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Why Boko Haram rapes women – Shettima Continued from page 4 in place to break the dangerous cycle.

The statement read: “From studies of practices associated with the insurgents, there is a general belief among them that whoever doesn’t share their ideology is an infidel, and as such, his wife and property can be freely acquired by the sect members with the wives serving as slaves that should satisfy the sexual urge of their masters.”

It was learnt on Monday that the Boko Haram is gradually being decimated due to shortage of weapons and fuel.

Reuters quoted some women rescued from the fighters as saying that a strong disagreement had developed between the sect’s foot soldiers and leaders.

The militants began complaining to their captives about lacking guns and ammunition last

month, two of the women said, and many were reduced to carrying sticks while some of their vehicles were either broken down or lacked petrol.

A 45-year old mother of two, Aisha Abbas, who was taken from Dikwa in April, said the fighters all had guns at first but recently, only some carried them.

Even the wife of their captors’ leader, Adam Bitri, openly criticized him and subsequently fled, two of the women said, with one describing Bitri as short and fat with a beard.

Of 275 freed captives brought to a government-run camp for internally displaced people in the Malkohi hamlet on the outskirts of Adamawa state capital, Yola, only 61 were over 18, and many small children hobbled around visibly malnourished.

The women said they were kept inside, occasionally brought food and sometimes beaten severely.

The children were left to run

around or do errands for Boko Haram while those of the fighters were trained to shoot guns.

“One evening in April, Boko Haram followers stood before us and said ‘Our leaders don’t want to give us enough fuel and guns and now the soldiers are encroaching on us in Sambisa. We will leave you.’” one of the women, 18-year old Binta Ibrahim from Adamawa state said.

“They threatened us but after they went we were happy and prayed the soldiers would come and save us.”

The women said once the militants spotted two helicopters circling at noon on the day of their rescue, they began trying to sell the women for up to N2,000 naira each. Towards evening, as the army approached, the captives refused to flee with Boko Haram fighters, who began stoning them but then ran away.

“We heard bullets flying around ... we lay on the floor. Some of the

women were crushed (by army vehicles) and others wounded by bullets. Eighteen were killed. We counted them, they included infants,” Salamatu Mohamed from the Damboa area in Borno said.

The defence ministry was not immediately available for comment.

Mohamed said she gave birth while in captivity and had trouble feeding her newborn as there was not enough food.

Boko Haram seemed almost unstoppable and fast becoming a regional threat after it gained control of an area larger than Belgium last year and increased cross-border attacks on Chad, Cameroon and Niger.

The women said the men frequently threatened to sell them or bring them to Boko Haram’s elusive leader, Abubakar Shekau, deep in the forest.

Hanatu Musa, a 22-year old

NNPC to resume oil search in Chad basin Continued from page 4

L-R: Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; Minister of State, Finance, Ambassador Bashir Yuguda and Executive Secretary, Petroleum Products Price Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, Mr. Farouk Ahmed during the meeting of oil marketers with the Finance Minister in Abuja... on Monday Photo: JOHN BABA

the corporation’s Group Managing Director, Dr. Joseph Dawha, made the declaration in Abuja during the 21st Annual General Meeting of a subsidiary of the NNPC, Integrated Data Services Nigeria Limited.

IDSL is carrying out the seismic data acquisition in the Chad Basin.

It quoted Dawha as saying that “preliminary indications from the previous exercise so far are encouraging and we are going to move back there.”

The NNPC boss regretted that the corporation had to suspend its oil exploration activities in

Things fall apart as PDP disagree Continued from page 4 dates in states where PDP has no sitting governor”.

He explained that the party got approval from President Jonathan for all its spending and expressed readiness of the NWC to make public its account.

He said, “For the avoidance of doubt, we wish to state categorically that this national leadership has remained very transparent in

all its dealing since coming into office.

“No NWC member has been involved in any way in any sleaze or embezzlement of party funds.

Also, no member of the NWC has ever been accused of embezzlement of funds in any ministry, department or agencies of government at any level whatsoever.

“We state clearly that we have not been given any money. Rather, this NWC generated billions of

naira from the sale of forms from where we funded our candidates for governorship and state assembly elections in all the states of the federation in addition to funds released to key leaders including NWC and BoT members to prosecute the campaigns in their various areas.

“The NWC is willing and ready to make this account public in line with the freedom of information law”, Metuh maintained.

mother kidnapped in June from Gwoza in Borno state, quoted the fighters as saying their leader had deceived them into fighting and killing in the name of religion.

While the Nigerian army, which launched its counterattack in January, is confident it has the group cornered in the Sambisa nature reserve, a final push to clear them from the area has been curtailed by landmines.

None of the women interviewed had seen any of the Chibok girls, but Abbas said fighters who travelled from a camp in Sambisa where they were held to source food would describe the situation.

“They said the Chibok girls were married off this year. Some sold to slavery, then others (militants) each married two or four of the girls,” Abbas said.

The National Publicity Secretary claimed however that the party has resolved its differences sequel to the intervention of President Jonathan, the PDP governors and other key stakeholders of the party including governors and legislators-elect.

Metuh disclosed that PDP is joining forces with the NWC in the efforts to reengineer and rebuild the party and reposition to it to regain power in 2019.

the Chad Basin due to the security situation in the region, describing the development as “unfortunate.”

Military plans to wipe us out, Plateau community alleges Continued from page 4 military has just conspired with some powers-that-be somewhere to ensure that the Tarok man is forced out of the land of their inheritance.”

They also demanded to know if any Tarok people were arrested as members of militias and who led the military to the settlements as militia bases?

“Are civilians (women and children) targets in any form of war and are the houses burnt part of the militia? What is/are the motive(s) behind the demolition of houses?

“We appeal to NEMA, PEMA and NGOs to come to the aid of the displaced persons to ameliorate their sufferings,” the statement added.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Adamawa Assembly crisis: Gov. Ngilari assures new leadership of total support

Court to hear Fayose’s impeachment suit May 21 Andrew Orolua

Tom Garba

Abuja

ÏÏÏA

ÏÏÏAdamawa

State Governor, Bala James Ngilari, has promised to give total support and co-operation to the members of the state House of Assembly.

He gave the assurance, when the new leadership of the House, led by its Speaker, Jerry Kumdisi, paid him a courtesy call at the Government House, Yola.

Ngilari described the relationship between the executive and the legislature as cordial, stressing that the executive and the legislature would work together for the benefit and development of the people of the state.

Earlier the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Mr. Jerry Kumdisi, told the governor that they came to inform him about the recent change of leadership in the House.

He also assured Ngilari of total loyalty of all members of the House in order to move the state forward.

Kumdisi later introduced the new leadership of the House,m including Umar Abdulkari as Deputy Speaker, Salihu Kabilo as Majority Leader, Hamman Tukur Yettisuri as Deputy Majority Leader, Wale Fwah, Chief Whip, while Simon Isa is Deputy Chief Whip.

Fayose

Federal High Court, in Abuja, on Monday, fixed May 21, 2015, to hear a suit filed by seven Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmakers in the Ekiti House of Assembly for an order stopping the impeachment of Governor Ayodele Fayose and his deputy, Kolapo Olusola, by a faction of the House dominated by All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmakers.

The plaintiffs, Dele Olugbemi Joseph, Ajibola Samuel Oyedele, Israel Olowo, Alex Ade Ojo, Adeyinka Adeloye, Adesope Olayinka and Ayoka Fatunmbi had approached the court through their counsel, Ahmed Raji (SAN), urging it to set aside all actions and activities taken by the APC lawmakers.

Listed as defendants in the suit are the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Dr. Ad-

Lagos State Attorney-General & Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaye (middle); Solicitor-General and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice, Mr. Lawal Pedro, SAN (left) and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information & Strategy, Mrs. Oluranti Odutola during the 2015 Ministerial press briefing in commemoration of the 4th year of the Second term in Office of Fashola at the Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre, Alausa, Ikeja… on Monday

Confusion as Enugu House moves to impeach governor

ÏÏÏAN

end seems not yet in sight to the muscle-flexing between the executive and the legislature in Enugu State, where an impeachment move has been commenced against the Governor, Mr. Sullivan Chime., whose tenure ends on May 29.

Fourteen members of the state House of Assembly, led by the Speaker, Eugene Odoh, held a

dawn meeting at the legislative chamber and accused the governor of gross misconduct.

In a dramatic twist, another group of lawmakers loyal to Chime countered the impeachment move, suspended Odoh, and elected a new Speaker.

The Odoh-led lawmakers gathered at the legislative chambers at 6:30am for deliberation. Sources told the Daily Times that the po-

lice had initially tried to stop the lawmakers from sitting.

The 14 lawmakers accused the outgoing Governor of forging a N12b supplementary budget in 2012.

They directed the Clerk of the House, Mr. Christopher Chukwurah, to serve the Governor an impeachment notice immediately.

The Odoh group also moved against some of the governor’s

key loyalists in the assembly, including the Deputy Speaker, Chime Oji, who was recently elected to represent Enugu North/South Federal Constituency in the National Assembly.

Oji, who is related to the governor, was suspended alongside Hon. Emeka Ogbuabor and Deputy House Leader, John Ukuta, for allegedly working against the interests of the House.

1,903 children died in road accidents – FRSC

ÏÏÏThe

Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) said 1,903 children died in road accidents in Nigeria between 2010 and 2014.

This is contained in a statement signed by Mr. Imoh Etuk, the Corps’ Public Education Of-

7 News

ficer, and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja as part of activities to mark this year’s Road Safety Week taking place from May 4 to May 10.

According to the commis-

sion, 1,903 children were killed and 8,667 others were injured in 61,806 reported cases of road crashes during the period. `` 1,138 males and 765 female children died in the last 5 years, while 5,426 males and 3,241 fe-

male children were also injured during the same period. ``Global statistics on road crashes indicate that around 186,300 children under 18 years die from road traffic crashes annually.

ewale Omirin and 21 APC lawmakers.

The court had, at the last adjourned date, while ruling on an ex-parte application brought by the plaintiffs, ordered the APC members in the Ekiti House of Assembly to maintain the status quo in their bid to force Fayose exit.

The trial judge, Justice Evoh Chukwu summoned the APC law-makers to appear in court to show cause why he should not declare their seat vacant and also set aside all the actions taken so far with respect to remove Fayose from office.

When the matter came up for hearing, on Monday, Raji informed the court that the defendants had not filed any application as ordered by the court at the last sitting on the matter, showing why their (plaintiffs) reliefs against the defendants should not be granted.

He, however, urged the court to grant all their prayers setting aside all the actions of the APC lawmakers.

Counsel to the IGP, (2nd defendants), Terence Vembe, told the court that he the second defendant did not file any paper, in respect to the court order, because they were challenging the jurisdiction of the court to hear the matter in the first place.

Strike: ASUU issues 14-day ultimatum to Chime ÏÏÏThe

Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT) chapter of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), has issued the government a 14-day ultimatum to the state government to improve the welfare of its members.

The Chairman of the union, Prof. Chris Nnadi, gave the ultimatum at the end of a meeting of the union, held in Enugu, on Monday.

“We will reconvene in two weeks’ time to review the issues of our welfare by the state government.

“When we reconvene, we will conclude and know the next line of action,” Nnadi said. He listed staff promotion and salary increment as some of the issues that would be reviewed.

8

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Politics El-Rufai

s

Politics Editor: Akinjide Akintola E-mail: akinjide.akintola@dailytimes.com.ng

EL-RUFAI How we will deliver our election promises

Victor Jibrin, Kaduna The dreaded 2015 general election have come and gone.

Never in the history of Nigeria was election fought with intensity of what the country witnessed like war. Giving Nigeria’s position in the world affairs, particularly as it affects African countries, the world attention was shifted to Nigeria.

About five years ago, it was predicted that Nigeria would break up after the polls, hence the heightened fears that the

election generated. But perhaps, because God is a Nigerian, the election was decided peacefully.

With this development, political analysts opined that democracy has come to stay in Nigeria and that the threatened disintegration of the country, even if it will come, may not be in the nearest future.

In every contest, there must be a looser and a winner. Be that as it may, losers and winners of the elections have emerged. And while the losers are licking their wounds and counting their loses,

winners who have been celebrating their victories are now being occupied by the thinking of how to deliver election promises for posterity, as they prepare to step into the shoes of their predecessors.

Kaduna State, one of the oldest of its kind in Nigeria and of course, the political/administrative headquarters of the northern region, is one of the states in which governorship election was conducted. Not less than CONTINUED ON PAGE 9

Buhari: Time of reckoning is here – Ogiemwonyi Engr. Chris Ogiemwonyi was the Group Executive Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and a former Minister of State for Works between 2010 and 2011 in the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.

In this interview with TITUS AKHIGBE, the All Progressives Congress, (APC) chieftain speaks on what to expect under a Muhammadu Buhari presidency and other issues affecting the polity. Excerpts: Now, the presidential election result has been announced and General Muhammadu Buhari is President-elect. The expectations of Nigerians that he would perform are very high. Do you think he will not let us down?

I have 99 percent confidence that the man elected president

by Nigerians will perform. In a simple language I see him as the messiah that we have all been waiting for. I see hope and a new dawn in Nigeria. I see the locust days gone forever in Nigeria. It is definitely the Lord’s doing that this man emerged to take Nigerians to the Promised Land. It’s something that we must celebrate.

There is so much corruption in Nigeria. You must have seen some of it while in the public service. How will you advice General Buhari to tackle corruption?

We have laws in Nigeria. We have institutions to check corruption. But the truth is that these institutions were not allowed to work. First, we must strengthen these institutions

ODIGIE-OYEGUN

Odigie-Oyegun

Wind of Change indeed

– ICPC (Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission); EFCC (Economic and Financial Crimes Commission); the Police Force etc. So, by the time we strengthen these institutions such that there will be no sacred cow, the rule of law will prevail, if you’re guilty... I see the President-elect as a man who believes purely in the rule of law. It is for Nigerians to support him because in the process, we might get to some areas where people will want to be spared but we’ll encourage Mr. President-elect that there should be no sacred cow. Whoever is corrupt should face the music because this country is blessed but it got to a point where about three percent of Nigerians were sucking this country dry. So the time has CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

Indeed, from all indications, a Wind of change has started blowing across the country for real.

When the All Progressives Congress (APC) proclaimed Change as its focus and slogan, not a few people were of the view that it was the

Ogiemwonyi

usual mouthing of slogans by politicians without any commitment to its real essence.

On not a few occasions, spokespersons of the ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had rubbished the party over the slogan claiming that there was nothing to be

changed but the personalities in the APC themselves.

However, since the historic Presidential election of March 28, it appears the change being clamoured for is already being ushered into the country.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 11

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 5, 2015

9

The task of rebuilding Kaduna for us all – El-Rufai CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

four candidates came out contesting against the incumbent governor, Dr. Mukhtar Ramalan Yero of Peoples Democratic Part (PDP) who wanted a second term.

Like in many states, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the PDP were the major contenders. But the election was decided in favour of APC’s candidate and a household name in Nigeria, Mallam Nasir El’Rufai, a former Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Courtesy of the electorate, the game changer, ElRufai, humbled Governor Yero by polling 1,117,635 votes against 485,833 votes scored by incumbent Yero, to emerge winner.

As the results that trickled in, Governor Yero sensed failure and decided, in a sports like manner, to call and congratulate his arch rival, El-Rufai even before the final results were released and winner publicly declared by the INEC. The outgoing Governor did not only concede defeat, but pledged to work with his successor in the overall interest of the state.

With the outcome of the election, the 16-year government of PDP has been uprooted in the state. Consequently, Yero has transferred the burden of leadership to El-Rufai, a disciple of “change” which debuted on March 28 at the federal with a stopover in Kaduna on April 11, 2015.

Reacting to the political development, 16 years after the birth of this Republic, El-Rufai noted that the pattern of voting during the election in Kaduna signified

unity, the desire for development and growth. Therefore, he dedicated his electoral victory to the people of the state as according to him: “the outstanding victory we achieved at the polls on April 11 happened only because you came out in numbers to cast your votes and waited patiently to protect your votes until the results were announced. Dear compatriots, you have spoken with a loud voice for change.

“On behalf of the APC, we express our profound gratitude to you for investing in us, your hopes for the future. You voted massively to elect General Muhammadu Buhari as president of Nigeria, and you saw fit to send two APC senators and 11 representatives to the National Assembly. On Saturday, you completed the job by electing me, an APC governor, and a more than two-thirds majority of the state House of Assembly members.

We thank you for this vote of confidence and promise to be responsible custodians of your mandate”, he vowed.

It appears El-Rufai is not oblivious of the fact that ‘to whom much is given, much is expected’.

Therefore, in accepting his victory as governor of Kaduna State, he pledged to do all that is humanly possible to move the state forward. “As soon as I am sworn into office and constitute a state executive council, we shall begin work to meet your expectations of positive change.

“In undertaking our campaign, we stuck to the issues doggedly, exposing what is wrong and outlining our plans to change them.

We engaged in competitive cam-

El-Rufai

Therefore, in accepting his victory as governor of Kaduna State, he pledged to do all that is humanly possible to move the state forward.

““The campaign period is now over. We have no time to exult in our victory. There is so much to do to make Kaduna great again.

Buhari

paigning and banter but never insulted or abused any person or official. For us, it was a grueling campaign as we engaged with ordinary people across the vast swathes and divides of our state.

“The campaign period is now over. We have no time to exult in our victory. There is so much to do to make Kaduna great again.

We need to begin the hard work of change. As leader of the APC Kaduna Change Team, I assure you that we shall do our best to restore Kaduna State to a state that works for you” but “we shall be doing so under serious constraints”, apparently lamenting the financial state of the state as according to him, “our state is heavily indebted at a time when oil prices are low”.

Consequently, the Governor-

“Appointments and nominations into the incoming cabinet and government will be primarily on the basis of integrity and determined strictly by competence...

Politics elect regretted that “our state has not seen significant development in the last eight years” and therefore stressed the need for his government to “work twice as hard with half the resources of the last eight years just to catch up with our neighbors”. Thus, “we must be disciplined, focused and prudent to do so”, he charged.

Speaking further, he said “we are aware of your justifiably high expectations of our government” and affirmed “we will do our utmost best to meet them. But we shall need your patience, sacrifice and support”, as according to him, the administration will embark on reforming the state institutions, “to instill culture of probity that insists on value for money, that ensures that government procurement occurs at the most cost effective level and encourages personal responsibility.

“We will do whatever is humanly possible to fulfill the promises in our manifesto, the Kaduna Restoration Programme that we have published, circulated and discussed with diverse constituencies of the state. Our commitment to transparency will manifest as we reform the public sector to be an efficient deliverer of services.

“The APC takes seriously its responsibility to build a harmonious society in Kaduna State.

We are committed to fostering a secure, peaceful environment that gives the confidence to all the residents of the state to make the most of their talents. We will uphold the rule of law and the equality of concern for all citizens. We intend to work with all communities in Kaduna state without fear or favor”.

In the believe that “we are all equal partners and stakeholders in this state”, he said as the new administration is set to take off, “there will be no discrimination in Kaduna State on the basis of gender, ethnicity or religion.

Appointments and nominations into the incoming cabinet and government will be primarily on the basis of integrity and determined strictly by competence, capacity and capability.

“We shall be a listening government, and we shall be decisive in implementing our agreed agenda for change. We shall lose CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

Jonathan

Politics 10 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

come for reckoning and whoever is found corrupt should not be spared.

Personalities all over the world have been giving kudos to President Goodluck Jonathan for conceding defeat in the presidential polls ahead of the announcement of the final results. What is your opinion about this?

What was his option? What option had he? It was so obvious that he had lost the election. I think by the time he called the President-elect we had probably heard 90 percent of the poll result so there was no option for him than to concede defeat. People said he conceded defeat in magnanimity but what was his option? He had no option than to throw in the towel.

The results of the presidential and national assembly elections held in Edo State on March 28 contrary to expectations swung in favour of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). But the situation was reversed in the house of assembly polls held two weeks later. What was the reason for this?

Many Nigerians were not too sure that Jonathan could be defeated. They were so concerned about the incumbency factor.

But I tell you that what happened was that Nigerians were fed up in view of the various ills that bedevilled the country – corruption (the highest we have seen so far), insecurity, poor economy, bad power situation etc. Everything was going downwards. So, Nigerians voted for a change. That is the truth. Then for the April 11 elections why a reversal? Many of us came out to speak publicly. You’ll recall that we held a press conference on the 6th of April telling people the need to align properly. That Edo State will never again be in

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 5, 2015

With Buhari, there is a new dawn – Ogiemwonyi

Buhari

“Many Nigerians were not too sure that Jonathan could be defeated.

They were so concerned about the incumbency factor.”

opposition. The Edo people listened and many other groups came out with that same slogan “we’ll never be in opposition” and people realised the benefit of having a government at the centre in their states. Edo people wanted to be in the scheme of things. Definitely, once we are properly now aligned with the centre the benefits are enormous. I am very happy that Edo State did. The Middle Belt did;

the Yoruba with their high level of literacy saw the need. I am happy that the Edo people did too.

President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari and the National Chairman of the APC, John Odigie-Oyegun have said that they will not welcome defectors to the party. What is your opinion about this?

Again, the issue of the defectors, people are probably looking at the area of integrity, people should be firm, people should be principled. Having said that, I should say we should open our doors to those who are coming. We should welcome them. But they should realise that they are coming after the rain has fallen. Like the Benins would say: “if you want CONTINUED ON PAGE 11

The task of rebuilding Kaduna for us all – El-Rufai CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9

no time in reforming education and healthcare, local government, the public service and leading the processes that will create jobs and economic opportunities for our people”, El-Rufai assured.

Recalling events in the build up to the elections, he praised all the leaders and supporters of both APC and PDP who ensured that the peace accord we signed before the elections was observed in most of the state. “That is a

reflection of the new Kaduna we want to build – a place where whatever differences of opinion that we may have are resolved peacefully, with mutual respect and dignity. It also reinforces my conviction that human life is too valuable to waste simply because of political differences or ideological affiliations”, he noted.

No change is possible without necessary sacrifice. Thus, while paying tribute to citizens of Kaduna State for giving their time, money and even lives to make the

political change that took place possible, El-Rufai prayed for the souls of those that lost their lives to thuggery to rest in perfect peace.

Of specific appreciation to the Governor-elect, was the democratic understanding and political actions of Governor Mukhtar Yero and Vice president Namadi Sambo. According to him, at exactly 3pm on Sunday, April 12, Governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero phoned to “congratulate the APC for its victory in the elec-

tions, and pledge to work with us to make Kaduna great again.

This was followed by a congratulatory letter later in the day. Vice President Namadi Sambo also called in the evening to convey his best wishes. I thank them for these acts which have put the interest of the state above partisan politics”.

Already, consultations between El-Rufai and Governor Yero on the transition process to ensure that the machinery of government does not suffer between now

and when the new government takes office, is in progress. And as the people of Kaduna state are anxiously waiting for the promised dividends of democracy, the governor-elect strongly declare: “we will hit the ground running.

Change has come. The work of rebuilding Kaduna State begins immediately”, adding: “everyone of you has a role to play. We must work together to make the change real and lasting, so that together we can make Kaduna great again”.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 5, 2015

11

Politics

‘Buhari should not have any sacred cow’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10

“I’m looking at the future with certainty but when it comes to making the decision that who and who will go for elective position like the governorship, the people will decide.”

to fetch water you should fetch it when the rain is falling.” You should not fetch water when the rain has stopped falling. The time people could have joined the party was when the struggle was on with high level of uncertainty.

Which of the serving ministers would you recommend should be retained by the incoming administration?

They say that when the head is bad then everything would be bad. The government of President Jonathan was sick so probably only two or three people in his cabinet can be said to have performed. But I cannot judge some of them because I am not an expert in the area they served. For instance, I understand the Agriculture Minister performed well. In the oil and gas sector where I have my experience, Honourable Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Allison-Madueke, performed dismally. She encouraged high level of corruption with impunity. Despite the high caliber of staff in NNPC, (Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation), she never allowed them to perform. She was madly in-charge.

She should be held accountable for the lapses in the oil sector. I am supporting that NNPC’s accounts should be audited. Let her face the music.

Since you joined the APC you have been instrumental in stabilising the party in Edo State. In a year’s time the state governorship election would be held. A lot of people are now asking that what role will Engr. Chris Ogiemwonyi play when the chips are down?

You’ll recall when I joined the

Ogiemwonyi

party in November last year, there was a high level of uncertainty of the future. I told them I was coming to support the party to win elections. Thank God, today, the future is clearer. Talking about the future, in democracy the people’s will always be done. So, am looking at the future with certainty but when it comes to making the decision that who and who will go for elective position like the governorship, the people will decide.

There are many competent people. It is people’s decision. That is democracy.

Tactically, the governorship position of the APC has been zoned to Edo South and the two visible candidates are you and the deputy governor, Pius Odubu, and both of you are from Orhionmwon, how will both of you work together?

I don’t like politics of exclusion. Nobody has told me that only myself and the deputy governor are in contention. What I heard from the party is that the governorship has been zoned to Edo South and the zone has eminent people. It is made up of seven local government areas and there are competent people from these areas. When we get there, the people’s will will prevail.

It’s real wind of change – Odigie-Oyegun CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

With the victory, by a large margin of the APC Presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, the wind of change started to blow when in a rare show of statesmanship, incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan conceded victory even before the final results were announced.

For the first time in the history of Nigeria, a sitting president lost election and called the President-elect to congratulate him over his victory. That singular action

by President Jonathan brought Nigeria back from the precipice thus ensuring the achievement of change.

As if that is not enough, in Oyo State, the APC made another history when the incumbent governor, Senator Isiaka Ajimobi broke the jinx

of a second term in the state. In the political history of the state, no elected leader has ever won an election for the second term in office. Even heavyweights like late Chief Bola Ige, Lam Adesina, Adebayo Alao-Akalaall lost in their second term bid.

Another area where the wind of change came is in Kaduna State where former FCT Minister, Mallam Nasir ElRufai won election and defeated the incumbent governor, Ramalan Yero.

This is the first time since the 23 June 1981 impeachment of a progressive governor, Alhaji Balarabe Musa that another progressive governor is coming into government.

Besides, Yero, who is the PDP candidate conceded defeat and congratulated El-Rufai, an APC candidate over his victory, even before the final results were

announced.

Besides Kaduna, in relatively conservative states in the north, like Katsina, Sokoto, Niger, etc, the wind of change has swept the progressive force into power for the first time in the history of the north regarded as the home of conservatives.

With this hopeful start, the APC cannot but ensure the continuation of good things into the country with the wind of change as to do otherwise may be interpreted as a false start and would be disastrous for the country if it reverts back to the old order of doing things.

Let the wind of change blow in every area of Nigeria especially corruption. This will usher in a new lease of life into the country.

There is however a glimmer of hope that this wind of

change will not lead to oneparty dictatorship especially with the mass defections of the leading party’s chieftains to the rave of the moment, the APC. Obviously, if this happens, it might be threat to

real democratic tenets.

The wind of change must allow and tolerate a virile opposition, which will enable our democracy to thrive and be strengthened against any undemocratic elements.

Jonathan

Buhari

News 12

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Senate presidency: Ethnic minorities remind Buhari of campaign promises Tom Garba Abuja

ÏÏÏ

A political group, which calls itself a Conference of Minority Tribes in Nigeria, has tasked the President-elect, Gen. Mohammadu Buhari (retd) on his campaign promises of a detribalized administration, urging him to carry out his appointments based on merit.

The group also wants Buhari and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), to fulfill the first stage of their campaign

promises by ensuring that a ranking senator within the ethnic minorities emerged as the Senate President of the 8th Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Addressing a press conference in Abuja, the National Coordinator of the group, Comrade Okpokwu Ogenyi, emphasized an all-inclusive government promised by APC during their electioneering campaign.

It would be recalled that the minority ethnic tribes in Nigeria played a major role in ensuring

the APC victory.

But the group coordinator said “Apart from being the National Chairman of the APC, we are also the Director General of General Mohamadu Buhari Campaign Organisation and, as well, the Director General of the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation that led the Party to nationwide victory,” he said.

According to Okpokwu, they are the only family left is the minority ethnic tribes, who should be given the No. 3 position in Nigeria as the Senate President.

“Most of the senators aspiring to be Senate President are of the majority Hausa/Fulani, where the President-elect comes from, but moral justice has it that the senators from the majority Hausa/Fulani should drop their ambition, because they have the Presidency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he said.

The minority ethnic tribes in Nigeria, according to Okpokwu, is a single line behind Sen. George Akume, the Senate minority leader of the 7th Assembly.

Abia community protests against NIPP contractors Ifeanyi Onwuneme Umuahia

ÏÏÏThe protest by Nnono Com-

munity, Oboro, in Ikwuano Local Government Area of Abia State is threatening the completion of the on-going National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) project from Enugu to Akwa Ibom State, and the realization of uninterrupted power supply.

The community claimed that the contractors handling the project had not paid compensations to those whose houses were on the right of way of the project marked for demolition.

The placard carrying protesters, including men, women and youths of the community, called on the Federal Government to intervene to forestall possible breakdown of law and order.

A youth leader of the community, Mr. Chinedu Anthony, told journalists on Monday at Nnono that their protest was not against the project, but against the nonchalant attitude of the NIPP contractors, who had ordered the helpless villagers to vacate their homes within two weeks.

Gov. Orji

A cross section of The National Union of Electricity Employees, North West Zone, protesting over non-payment of their allowances, in Kaduna… on Monday

Rep condemns Tarok killings ...3,000 persons displaced in Wase Districts

Chijioke Kingsley Jos

ÏÏÏ The House of

Representatives Committee Chairman on Human Rights and member representing Langtang North/Langtang South federal constituency of Plateau State, Beni Lar, has condemned the invasion, at the weekend, of three Tarok communities by soldiers, leading to the killing of over 50 people, including women and children.

Lar, in a statement signed and issued in Jos on Monday, lamented the wanton destruction of lives and properties of the agrarian villagers, adding that they want to let the Nigerian Government and the International community to note

that there is a conspiracy against the Tarok nation.

The federal lawmaker pointed out that she will channel this inhuman act to the appropriate quarters, particularly, the United Nations, the International Criminal Court, the National Human Rights Commission and Amnesty International.

The statement further said that as the Chairman, House Committee on Human Rights, it was an insult on her personality that this is happening in her backyard, saying that while she was at the fore-front advocating for the right of every Nigerian, the Nigerian soldiers were busy attacking and killing innocent children and women and harmless civilians in

her own domain.

"This attack is a serious violation of human rights and an attack against humanity,” while calling on relevant government agencies to investigate the incident, with a view to compensating the victims and bringing the soldiers involved to justice.

Lar further added that there were currently over 3000 displaced persons in Pajat, who have come from various villages in the Wase districts, adding that she has been over stretched in terms of providing relief materials to the displaced people.

She, therefore, called on the relevant authorities to take necessary action against the blood-letting of innocent civilians by the military.

Famurewa explains speakership ambition Sodiq Adekunle Osogbo

ÏÏÏ

An aspirant into the position of Federal House of Representatives speakership, Ajibola Famurewa, has said that he wanted to become the speaker of the 8th Assembly to ensure proper foreign policies and reduction of unemployment, among others.

Famurewa, representing IjesaSouth Federal Constituency of Osun State, said this in an interview with newsmen in Osogbo.

The aspirant stated that he wants to lead the other lawmakers at the lower chamber "to readdress foreign policies, protect Nigerians outside the shores of the country and forestall future horror reoccurrence of the treatment they were subjected to, like it happened in South Africa and Indonesia."

He said: “As part of the core values of our mission, we must collectively work together to ensure we bring sanity and discipline back into the system. This land must once again be corruption free. We must, as a matter of urgency, boost the power generation for economy improvement."

Jonathan lays foundation of Otukpo Teaching Hospital Augustine Okezie Abuja

ÏÏÏPresident

Goodluck Jonathan, over the weekend, performed the foundation laying ceremony for the construction of Otukpo Teaching Hospital and College of Medicine on a 600-hectare of land, sited at Akwete-Akpa, Otukpo, and belonging to the University of Agriculture, Makurdi.

The President, who was represented at the occasion by the Vice-President, Arch. Namadi Sambo, which drew many sons and daughters of Benue State, explained that Nigeria would be better for it in the future when the institution starts churning out professionals to cater for the health needs of Nigerians.

He said: “I am excited by the level of expertise this institution will produce in the nearest future.

It will be a centre of excellence.”

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Kerry in Kenya, calls for unity to defeat terrorism ÏÏÏUS Secretary of State, John

Kerry held talks with Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta on Monday on security co-operation, after calling for unity in the face of terror attacks.

Kerry's trip to the east African nation is the first high-level visit since 2012, and comes after years of tensions surrounding Kenyatta after he was charged by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.

The ICC has since abandoned the case against Kenyatta over his alleged role in the 2007-2008 postelection violence, citing a lack of evidence and Kenya's failure to cooperate - somewhat removing Kenyatta's pariah status.

Few details of the meeting were given, but diplomats earlier said Kerry would raise human rights issues with Kenyatta, whose government has been accused of clamping down on civil society groups and the press.

The pair's meeting also came as Kenya's deputy president William Ruto reportedly told worshippers at a church service in Nairobi that homosexuality had no place in the east African nation.

"We will not allow homosexuality in our society as it violates our

Thousands of Ethiopian Israelis rally against racism ÏÏÏSeveral

thousand people, mostly from Israel's Jewish Ethiopian minority, protested in Tel Aviv against racism and police brutality on Sunday, shutting down a major highway and scuffling with police on horseback into the night.

The demonstration came days after a rally in Jerusalem Thursday turned violent, following the release of a video showing police beating a uniformed Israeli soldier of Ethiopian descent.

Protesters clashed with police Sunday evening, throwing rocks and bottles at officers in riot gear.

Police deployed officers on horseback and used stun grenades to try to control the crowds in cen-

U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, (left), at a wreath laying ceremony with Rukia Ali, a victim of the 1998 U.S. embassy bombing, at the August 7 Memorial Park in Nairobi, Kenya, May 4, 2015.

religious and cultural beliefs," Ruto was quoted as saying.

Kerry and Kenyatta met for around half an hour, with the Secretary of State saying it was a "good meeting". The US envoy was also meeting opposition lead-

tral Tel Aviv.

Israeli media reported that several arrests were made and that there were injuries among both police and protesters.

As they marched in central Tel Aviv, some held their arms in the air, wrists crossed as if handcuffed.

Demonstrators had blocked the Ayalon expressway for a long time during rush-hour, causing huge traffic jams on one of the country's central highways before police forcefully evacuated them.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called a meeting Monday with representatives of Israel's Ethiopian community, who make up about 2 percent of the country's Jewish population.

Netanyahu said he will meet Damas Pakada, the Ethiopia-born Israeli soldier who was filmed being beaten by two policemen.

Police officials have pledged to crack down on those members of the force who have used violence after the video footage went public. More than 135,000 Ethiopian Jews live in Israel, having immigrated between 1984 and 1991, but their absorption into Israeli society has been rocky.

ers.

Earlier he visited a memorial in Kenya to the 1998 bombing of the US embassy. The attack by Al-Qaeda was the worst carried out by Islamist militants against the east African nation, killing 213 people.

"The terrorists who struck on August 7 1998 failed utterly in their purpose, which was to implant fear in the hearts of the Kenyan people and to divide America from the citizens of this country," Kerry said.

Egypt sentences five to death over killing of policeman ÏÏÏAn Egyptian court on Mon-

day sentenced to death five men convicted of killing 13 policemen in a town near Cairo during a deadly security crackdown on ousted president Mohammed Morsi's supporters in 2013.

The officers were killed in an attack on a police station in Kerdasa, on the outskirts of Cairo, on August 14 2013 - the same day that police killed hundreds of demonstrators in clashes as they dismantled two massive pro-Morsi protest camps in the capital.

The five men were part of a group of 183 defendants sentenced to death in February for killing police but were on the run at the time and tried in absentia.

The fugitives were later arrested and received the same punishment Monday after a retrial.

Rights group say that since the army deposed Morsi on July 3 2013, at least 1 400 people have been killed in a police crackdown on protests, mostly Islamists supporting the ousted leader.

Hundreds of his supporters have been sentenced to death in swift mass trials which the United Nations says were "unprecedented in recent history".

Critics of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the former army chief who ousted Morsi, say authorities are using the judiciary to repress any form of dissent, including from secular activists.

But Sisi's regime is supported by a large section of Egyptians who are tired of political turmoil since the ouster of long-time autocrat Hosni Mubarak in early 2011.

al-Sisi

13 Africa Two killed in Bujumbura protests ÏÏÏ

Two people have been killed in new protests in Burundi against the president's re-election bid. The BBC's Maud Jullien says she saw Red Cross workers move away the bodies. She previously saw the police fire live rounds at the demonstrators.

The protests had started peacefully but got out of hand when protestors started attacking police with stones.

The protests are over President Pierre Nkurunziza's bid to seek a third term, in June's elections.

Thousands are out on the streets for the second week in defiance of a government ban on protests.

It is the biggest unrest Burundi has seen since a civil war ended in 2005. There are reports of divisions in the army. On Sunday, the army's chief of staff pledged the military's loyalty to the country's authorities.

Somalia orders Shabaab renamed 'The group that Massacres'

ÏÏÏ Somalia's government has

ordered journalists to call Islamist Shabaab insurgents "the Group that Massacres the Somali People", or "Ugus", the acronym of the phrase in Somali.

"The meaning of al-Shabaab is 'The Youth', and that is a good name," Somalia's intelligence chief Abdirahman Mohamud Turyare told reporters.

"We cannot allow that good name to be blemished, so the enemy we are fighting is called Ugus, an acronym of 'The Group that Massacres the Somali People'," he said. The al-Qaeda aligned group emerged in 2006 to lead a bitter insurgency against Ethiopia, whose troops entered Somalia in a US-backed invasion to topple the Islamic Courts Union that controlled the capital Mogadishu at the time.

"It represents what they do, they massacre people," Turyare said of the new name. "I hope all the media join in taking this name as their official title."

The term Ugus is already in use by government-run radio and television stations, after its introduction several weeks ago.

World 14

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 5, 2015

EU, Greece bailout talks progress

Suicide bomber blows self up in Damascus ÏÏÏ

A suicide bomber blew himself up on Monday in a central neighbourhood of the Syrian capital where major security compounds are housed, according to a Syrian army source.

The army source told state television the security forces had killed all the members of "a terrorist group" in the bustling Rukn al Din district during a chase after a suicide bomber blew himself up.

The source did not say whether there were any casualties but a resident contacted by Viber said the army had sealed off the main streets of the congested part of the capital adjacent to key government installations and embassies.

A woman walk past Greek flags for sale in central Athens, Greece as the company runs perilously short of cash amid an impasse in bailout talks with its international creditors, April 22, 2015.

ÏÏÏWeekend

negotiations between Greece and rescue lenders have made progress, officials on both sides said Monday even though Athens stressed it needed a swift release of delayed bailout money to keep up with debt payments.

Greece's new government is struggling to deliver economic reforms and budget measures that are deemed acceptable by creditors in order to secure the

remaining money in its bailout fund worth 7.2 billion euros ($7.7 billion).

Without the money, Greece faces the possibility of going bankrupt in the coming weeks, putting up controls on the free flow of capital and an exit from the euro. Its next big repayment is a 750 millioneuro payment due to the IMF on May 12.

"At this moment, the government is discussing, it is

negotiating, and there has been significant progress at these negotiations," Greek government spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis said. "The government is awaiting and expecting the release of funds, and for this liquidity to be made available not at the end of May, but as soon as possible."

Meanwhile, a eurozone official said there was "convergence on some issues" but stressed that more work was needed on others.

The official did not elaborate where advances have been made, but Athens has previously noted progress has been made on tax reform, privatization, and changes to the country's bureaucracy.

"They are asking us not to touch any of those things that during the last five years destroyed the lives of Greek citizens. Is that possible?" Greek Labor Minister Panos Skourletis told private Mega television.

About 100 bodies found in Nepal trekking village

ÏÏÏNepali police and local vol-

unteers found the bodies of about 100 trekkers and villagers buried in an avalanche set off by last month's devastating earthquake and were digging through snow and ice for signs of dozens more missing, officials said on Monday.

The bodies were recovered on Saturday and Sunday at the Langtang village, 60km north of Kathmandu, which is on a trekking route popular with Westerners.

The entire village, which includes

6, 500 migrants rescued from Mediterranean

55 guesthouses for trekkers, was wiped out by the avalanche, officials said.

"Local volunteers and police personnel are digging through six-feet [deep] snow with shovels looking for more bodies," said Gautam Rimal, assistant chief district officer in the area where Langtang is located.

The dead include at least seven foreigners but only two had been identified, he said.

It was not clear how many peo-

ÏÏÏItalian authorities rescued a

record 6, 551 migrants at the weekend in 34 separate interventions in the central Mediterranean, including a woman who gave birth to a girl soon after being rescued.

The mother and baby "are both in good health", the Italian navy said in a Monday statement, adding that the infant was delivered overnight on the Bettica patrol

ple were in Langtang at the time of the avalanche but other officials said about 120 more people could be buried under the snow.

"We had not been able to reach the area earlier because of rains and cloudy weather," Uddhav Bhattarai, the district's senior bureaucrat, said by telephone on Sunday.

The April 25 earthquake has killed 7 276 people and wounded over 14 300, Nepal's government said.

In other parts of the Himalayan nation, three people were pulled alive from the rubble of their home on Sunday, eight days after the earthquake, while several media outlets reported that a 101-year-old man was found alive in the rubble on Saturday.

US military aircraft and personnel arrived in Nepal on Sunday and were due to begin helping ferry relief supplies to stricken areas outside the capital, a US Marines spokesperson said.

boat. Navy medical staff also boarded the Med Otto Italian tug boat, on its way to Lampedusa, and certified the death of two of the rescued migrants on board.

It was not immediately clear if they were new casualties or part of the 10 deaths reported on the weekend. The Italian Coast Guard, which coordinates at-sea rescues, said that 2 861 people

were picked up Sunday in 17 interventions, adding to Saturday's 17 interventions which saved 3 690 people. The Mediterranean is considered the world's most dangerous sea migration route. One out of every 23 migrants who set sail from North Africa between January and March perished in the crossing, an April report from Amnesty International showed.

China's Xi warns against Taiwan independence ÏÏÏ Chinese Communist Party

chief Xi Jinping warned on Monday against Taiwan being seen as a country as he met the head of the island's ruling party, the first such encounter in seven years.

Xi, who is also national president, welcomed Kuomintang (KMT) party head Eric Chu, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Photos showed them smiling and shaking hands at the Great Hall of the People.

The two parties fought a civil war that ended in 1949 with Taiwan splitting from the mainland.

But both sides stress there is a single China, a key concept for Beijing, which is constantly wary of the potential for Taiwan eventually to go its own way and declare independence.

Xi urged against any semantic erosions such as "one country on each side" and "one China, one Taiwan", Xinhua said.

Jinping

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 5, 2015

15 Opinion

Ezekwesili’s shielding of corruption

I

Moses E. Ochonu

am a fan of Obiageli Oby Ezekwesili, but I have said elsewhere that my problem with her loud, anti-corruption activism is that it is strangely amnesiac and hypocritical. Even as she proclaims herself a one-woman transparency police, she inadvertently advertises the contradictions of the Obasanjo government, in which she served.

However, when you go around self-righteously castigating the corruption of the present government without even a perfunctory acknowledgement of, or an effort to explain your failure to prevent or punish, the corruption of the government for which you were supposed to act as gatekeeper for public procurement and contracts, your rhetoric rings hollow and raises questions about the sincerity and consistency of your moral indignation. It is only a matter of time before such duplicity is exposed, and Ezekwesili’s moment of exposure came in her interview with Mehdi Hasan on Al-Jazeera.

It was under Ezekwesili’s superintending eyes that many corruption scandals occurred, including the grand larceny of expending $16 billion on contracts in the power sector only to have the contracts abandoned, while the contractors, who were connected to Obasanjo and other politicians of his government, pocketed

their loots. It was under her watch that Obasanjo acquired his N600 million shares in Transcorp as an incumbent president and, after public outcry, declared farcically that he had lodged the shares in a blind trust.

It was while Ezekwesili was in the ‘Due Process Office’, that Obasanjo smuggled dollars in Andy Ubah’s private jet into the USA, the interception of which caused so much brouhaha he had to reluctantly own up to the money, claiming it was for the purchase of equipment for his farm in Otta. It was during Ezekwesili’s tenure as due process chief that Obasanjo fraudulently and corruptly raised billions of naira for his presidential library project, for which the late Gani Fawehinmi took him to court. It was while she held watch that Obasanjo started building his multi-billion-naira Bells University.

It was under Ezekwesili’s stint as czar of transparency that corruption in high places blossomed, including the curious case of OBJ, who, from having only N15, 000 in his bank account in 1999 according to el-Rufai transformed into a billionaire and one of the wealthiest Nigerians alive.

It was while Obasanjo was president and Ezekwesili was his preeminent transparency enforcement officer that damning revelations on how he and his vice president, Abubakar Atiku, turned the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) into a

personal piggy bank.

Yet when Ezekwesili was asked a simple question in the al-jazeera interview about whether she believes Obasanjo was corrupt, as Nuhu Ribadu, his EFCC chairman, said in wikileak cables and as most Nigerian believe, she prevaricated and resorted to obfuscation and evasive legalistic maneuvers, requesting for evidence and facts. This is extremely disappointing coming from ‘Madam Due Process’.

We get it. She is beholden to Obasanjo, who gave her political prominence by appointing her into two important posts in his government. Nevertheless, the least she can do is to not insult our intelligence when it comes to the man’s corruption and malfeasance. You do not have to publicly condemn or chastise your corrupt friend, benefactor, or mentor, and most people understand that. However, you do not have to defend them or engage in unconvincing pretense. We all have friends and associates whose moral choices embarrass us, but we do not have to defend their choices to demonstrate our continued loyalty as friends and associates.

Perhaps Ezekwesili should take a cue from Mallam Nasir –el-Rufai, who got ahead of the curve by publishing a memoir in which he documents gargantuan corruption in the Obansajo government. For further exculpatory

effect on his image, he criticized the former president in the book. Moreover, in several interviews, he made it clear that the former president’s aides and technocratic team were “not proud of some of the things he did,” a very clever, euphemistic, and diplomatic acknowledgement of Obasanjo’s corruption.

We can understand the reluctance to publicly acknowledge Obasanjo’s outsized reputation for corruption, but playing dumb and refusing to give an opinion about that well documented corruption is unacceptable.

Evasion will not cut it. Ezekwesili cannot have it both ways, proclaiming intolerance for corruption and lack of transparency and at the same time refusing to acknowledge a basic truth such as Obasanjo’s monumental corruption, the crowning material edifice of which is his multi-billionnaira hilltop mansion in Abeokuta.

Whether she admits it or not, Obasanjo was a smart, self-centred man, who recruited a coterie of technocrats, some of them people with integrity and pedigree, and projected them as the face of his government, as window dressing for his corrupt government. Now that he is out of office, it has been exposed for the world to see, and it is futile for Ezekwesili to disavow or deny being inadvertently and perhaps naively used to burnish the reputation of a corrupt administration.

Africa: Why can’t we poke fun at Islam?

P Leo Igwe

eople across the world are slowing being coerced into treating Islam with ‘respect’ or better with fear.

We are gradually getting to a point where criticising the Islamic faith is a form of death sentence.

The reason which some people give for this ugly development is that ‘Many people believe in Islam’ they say: ‘There are over I billion Muslims in the world’. In addition, my question is: And so what?

That billions of people, including children, youths, illiterates and semi illiterates, profess Islam or believe that something is true does not make it true, does it? Billions of people have held mistaken, absurd and irrational claims over the centuries and still do. Majority can carry the vote but not ‘the truth’ Personally I do not understand what ‘respecting religion, Islam in this case means. If one does not profess a religion, how is one expected to respect it? If one has a different idea of a religion, what does respecting that faith mean?

When people say one should re-

spect a religion, do they mean one should embrace it? Alternatively, one should not question it. I guess they mean that nobody is expected to poke fun at that religion or let us be specific; nobody is expected to cartoon or make caricature of Prophet Mohammed. Does that include those who do not profess Islam? Those who think Mohammed is not a prophet. Those who are of the view that Islam is founded on 7th century Arabian cultural mythologies.

The reason they give is that cartooning Mohammed is offensive to Muslims. What is interesting is that this time nobody bothers to find out which group of Muslims – the extremists or moderates- is being offended. Any one who tries doing that can be interpreted to be offensive to ‘Muslims.’ In addition, to some people, this is justifiable. I mean, in which way is it justifiable to kill a human being for drawing a cartoon? If a person does not want to draw Mohammed out of faith, another person wants to do so out of out of curiosity or as an expression of art. Why should anybody be killed because of that?

This is lunacy masquerading

as piety. This is barbarism being mistaken as civilisation. Every religion is a caricature of other religions. Just try doing a reality check of religious teachings and you would find out that religious business thrives on absurdity, fantasy and contradiction. For instance, to believe that Jesus is the saviour of the world makes a caricature of the belief that Mohammed is the greatest prophet and vice versa. Believing that Koran was revealed by God (Allah) ridicules the idea that Bible is the word of God, and so on.

Actually all religions are in the business of making caricature of themselves. Islam is not the only religion in the world. Islam is not the first religion and will not be the last.

More importantly, Christianity and Islam owe their growth and spread in Africa to poking fun at African traditional religious beliefs and practices. African traditionalists have not rioted or resorted to killing and burning embassies in protest because Christian and Islamic missionaries insulted their religion or made a caricature of their gods. I mean,

making caricature of traditional religious ‘prophets’ and beliefs is the pass time of Christian and Islamic preachers and missionaries in the region. Just go to any of the churches and mosques in Nigeria or Malawi, Mali, Ghana or Senegal and listen to their pastors and Imams talk about traditional religious beliefs. Just try and listen to the sermons of people who are replacing a set of superstition with another ridicule the ‘idols’ and ‘fetish gods’ which they say Africans worship. Many churches and mosques in Africa are built on traditional sacred sites, on the ashes of burnt sacred objects. Is that not desecration? Why has nobody categorised this as offensive? What Muslim scholars, missionaries and their sympathisers in Africa and around the globe are telling traditional Africans is this: ”We can make caricature of your religion, poke fun at your gods and prophets, burn and destroy your sacred sites and symbols, but if you dare poke fun at Islam, criticise or desecrate the Quran, we will kill you.

Personally I do not get this. Yes I don’t. Do you?

16

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Business Times

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 5, 2015

s

17

Business Editor: Emmanuel Ogbonnaya Email: emmanuelogbonnaya@dailytimes.com.ng

IMF advises Nigeria, others to make fiscal policy adjustments Emmanuel Ogbonnaya Nigeria and other oil exporting countries in the Sub-Saharan region have been advised by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to make fiscal policy adjustments in the light of crashed oil prices.

Unveiling the April 2015 IMF Regional Economic Outlook: Sub-Saharan Africa, Ms. Antoinette Sayed, Director, IMF African Department commented: “Sub-Saharan Africa’s economy is set to register another year of solid economic performance with growth expected to expand 4.5 per cent in 2015. The region will continue being one of the fastest growing in the world second only to emerging and developing Asia.

“For the region’s eight oil exporting countries, fiscal adjustment is a priority; policy makers should support an adjustment by allowing exchange rates to depreciate, where flexible exchange rate mechanisms are in place. Most countries have already initiated policy adjustment.

“The current circumstances also highlight the urgent need for policies that favour structural transformation to diversify

sub-Saharan Africa’s production base and promote greater integration into global trading networks.”

She said that this will help the region create jobs for the rapidly growing young population as the region is set to experience a significant demographic transition in the next decades. By 2030 or so, the number of people reaching working age in the region will exceed that in the rest of the world combined. This offers a tremendous opportunity for sub-Saharan Africa, which, if properly tapped, could create a powerful engine for long-term growth.”

She stressed that the economic expansion will be at the lower end of the range experienced in recent years, mainly reflecting the impact of the sharp decline of oil and commodity prices over the last six months. But the impact of this shock will be highly differentiated across the region.

Sayed explained that SubSaharan Africa’s eight oil exporters have been hard hit by the price decline, and expects their average growth in 2015 to be about 1.25 percentage points lower than in 2014 in response to this shock.

She added however, that for

Putin

Russia teams up with China on $100bn BRICS fund Adesola Akindele

Christine Lagarde , IMF MD

the rest of the region, growth prospects remain favourable as the countries are enjoying the benefits of lower oil import bills, although some are also feeling the impact of lower prices for their non-oil commodity exports. Growth is projected to be particularly strong in most lowincome and more fragile countries, and this will help to reduce

poverty levels.

“While the baseline scenario is for solid growth, policy makers need to remain mindful of risks that could still cloud the outlook. In particular, global financial conditions are tightening just as the region’s frontier markets are increasingly relying on Eurobonds to finance their large investment needs.

Six states to benefit from IFAD’s $100m

Toda

Ugochukwu Onyeocha Six states in the country have been pencilled down by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to benefit from its 100 million dollars counter-part funding to aid rice and cassava smallholder famers.

The Country Programme Manager of IFAD, Ms. Atsuko Toda said this in Awka on Monday when she led a delegation on a courtesy visit to the state Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr Nnamdi Mekor.

According to her, Ebonyi, Benue, Niger, Taraba, Ogun and Anambra will benefit from the money.

“The Value Chain Development programme being sponsored by IFAD is a five-year programme with total project cost of 100 million dollars which will be divided among the six states.

“Fourteen million dollars will be disbursed in the first year for

each state and they are expected to pay counterpart fund of N400 million,” Toda explained.

According to her the target group are smallholder farmers -mostly women and youths.

She said the team was in the state to inspect ongoing work in the cassava and rice value chain programme and to see the connection between the producers, processors and marketers.

“We are here to identify areas where the value chain development programme can be of support to the state.”

She commended the state government for its leadership role in repositioning agriculture as busi-

ness and its consistency in the payment of counterpart funds.

In his remark, the National Programme Coordinator, Dr Ameh Onoja, said that the programme was aimed at reducing the huge amount of money spent on the importation of rice and wheat.

Onoja explained that the programme was essentially targeted at developing the culture of agrobusiness on the small scale.

“Our intervention covers farmers that operate below five hectares with the hope that they would upscale to 25 hectares. We are equally supporting processing to add value to the local production of rice.

Moves to establish a $100 billion development fund by the BRICS countries over the weekend gained traction with Russia signing up alongside China.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ratified an accord Saturday to set up a $100-billion reserve fund for the BRICS -- the five leading emerging economies that include Russia, China, Brazil, India and South Africa.

Moscow is expected to contribute $18 billion to the reserve, well behind the $41 billion China has promised to pour into the fund that was set up after an agreement signed in July 2014 in Brazil.

The emerging economies also plan to form their own international bank based in Shanghai to challenge western dominance over international money markets.

“The accord on the creation of a common reserve fund for BRICS countries has been ratified,” a document from the Kremlin quoted by RIA Novosti news agency said.

The fund is meant to shield the BRICS against “short-term liquidity pressures” and promote greater cooperation between the five member countries.

Russia -- which has suffered huge currency fluctuations since the outbreak of the crisis in Ukraine -- sees the fund as an alternative to international financial institutions like the IMF and World Bank that are dominated by the United States.

The BRICS countries between them account for 40 per cent of the world’s population, and a fifth of the planet’s GDP.

Aviation 18

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Arik Air counts $9m loss to aviation fuel scarcity The scarcity of aviation fuel is taking a huge toll on airline operations with Arik Air declaring that it has lost an estimated $9 million since last week to disruptions of its operations.

The airline said the scarcity of aviation fuel has adversely hit its operations, that it is forced to scale down its flights to twenty per cent capacity out of over 100 flights daily.

Addressing reporters at the Arik Air headquarters, its managing director, Mr Chris Ndulue said it has put series of contingency plans in place to ensure it does not shut down its operations because of the scarcity of aviation fuel.

He said the airline now flies to neighbouring countries in West and Central Africa to source for aviation fuel at ridiculously high rates to sustain its operations.

He said Arik Air now flies to Ghana, Cameroon and Benin Republic to source for aviation fuel.

He said if the fuel situation does not improve the airline may not operate flights, as the alter-

nate arrangement is costing the airline much money with the attendant inconveniences to passengers.

Ndulue said since last Thursday when the scarcity of aviation fuel intensified, Arik Air has over stretched its bounds to secure the over 800,000 litres needed for its daily operations.

He said:” For over one week now, aviation fuel scarcity has impacted negatively on our flight operations. It has become very bad that we have to scale down our flights gradually. In the last one week it has become increasingly difficult to sustain our operations owing largely to scarcity of aviation fuel.

Getting fuel to fly to our international destinations has become extremely expensive, because we have to source fuel from Cotonou, Cameroon and Accra to sustain our operations.

Because if the huge quantity of fuel averaging about 800,000 litres needed daily for our wide body aircraft it becoming very difficult.

NCAA releases new procedure manual for airlines Stories by Chukwuemeke Iwelunmo The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has launched a newly developed air navigation procedural manual called Performance Based Navigation (PBN) for airlines operating in the country.

The manual according to the regulatory body contains all requirements and procedures airlines must adhere to in their operations.

The new air navigation procedure is expected to save flight time and fuel consumption for airlines.

The NCAA’s Director General, Dr Usman Muthar, who disclosed in an interview said the manual was launched to raise the level of awareness for the users of the concept and all the stakeholders in the industry.

Muthar said the manual would provide guidance to airline operators on how to comply with the requirements for the PBN operations.

The NCAA chief said the au-

thority would work round the clock at ensuring its full implementation before the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)’s Audit by June, 2015.

Muthar said that it would continue to work with other stakeholders to ensure it realised the full benefit of the PBN. He said like any other programme, the implementation is not without challenges as the facility provided by PBN has not been fully utilised in the country.

“The industry must work together to ensure that Nigeria realises the full benefits of PBN.” He said the PBN would provide operators with greater operators return, reduce aircraft congestion in the airspace, conserve aircraft fuel, protect the environment for the aircraft and improve operational efficiency of aircraft control.

“The new procedures will increase the airspace capacity, it will reduce the ground navigational base and greatly reduce aircraft noise,” he said.

The NCAA boss said the au-

thority would collaborate with the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) to provide an adequate surveillance for safe airspace.

“In compliance with the PBN, the NAMA and NCAA will train more Air Traffic Controllers (ATC), we will provide procedures for granting of operational approval. We will provide procedure for granting Airworthiness approval,” he said.

He explained that the country chose to implement PBN because of the immense benefits stakeholders in the industry would derive from it.

He said the implementation of PBN procedures was already in place at some airports including: Abuja, Lagos, Kano and Port-Harcourt Terminal Manoeuvring Area (TMA).

He said air operators shall obtain the operational and Air Worthiness approval to execute any PBN procedure.

He said PBN would be a stepping stone for other development in the industry.

iPad errors force American Airlines to delay flights Over the years, many industries have swapped out paper records and briefings for electronic ones, and the airlines are no exception. Over that time, American Airlines has flipped its pilot’s Kitbag materials out in favour of Apple’s tablets, but the system has recently been giving the airline some issues.

As of last week, certain American Airline flights were grounded/delayed due to some kind of app glitch on pilot iPads.

The previously 30-40 pound package containing a series of documents, operational/company manuals, reference sheets and terminal charts is now much lighter with iPad, but it may not be as stable. Based on reports and details from an official American Airlines state-

ment, some flights were experiencing “software application” problems with iPad, causing flights to be delayed last night.

Andrea Huguely from American Airlines said some flights were experiencing an issue with official apps “on pilot iPads” and in some cases were forced to head back to the gate in order to access a Wi-Fi connection before they could take care of it.

While it appears the issue has been mostly taken care of at this point, Huguely said the airline is investigating the cause of the error. American Airlines was the first major airline to get FAA approval for the use of iPads across the entire course of a flight, and it now appears to be the first one to have an issue with it.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 5, 2015

19 Interview

Trainees International certification is why ITF centres must be 100% equipped – DG Recent efforts to equip the training centres of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) across the country are at different stages of completion, in this chat with CHARLES OKONJI, the Director General of the Fund, Dr Mrs Juliet Chukkas- Onaeko, explains why the centres must be 100 per cent equipped and the impact the Fund’s graduates are making in the nation’s industrial sector. Excerpts What is ITF’s post training strategy for graduates of your centres across the country?

We have worked with them to get attached to certain industries within the environment, and some of them have gathered more practical knowledge in addition to what they have been learning at the centres. To my joy, when I interacted with some of them, they confirmed to me that the level of knowledge and competency they have acquired is actually very remarkable. Those who were sent out to the industries were very useful to the factories, and some have gone into self-employment, working on certain things.

All the graduates have practical skills and all we have to do is to ensure that they complete their remaining modules and we give them their certificates to enable them secure adequate and proper employment or to start up their own businesses.

That is what we have been working on and we have made a lot of progress.

What is your take on the recent protest by some ITF trainees?

What happened is rather unfortunate, to a great extent, it was uncalled for, and for the side of the students, they have the right to express their displeasure if they are not satisfied with what is going on, but the approach used was rather unfortunate. Unfortunate in the sense that since I have been on the seat of the DG, about a couple of months ago, protest or no protest, that has been my priority issue.

Something that we had already made progress on, something that we had already addressed the students on. Even, late last year, when the issues were brought to me, we discovered that when the budget of 2014 was prepared, probably for one reason or the other, it

did not capture that particular project and we had to explain to them to please be patient with us while we resolve the issues and one of the ways of resolving it was to try to seek intervention funding and to ensure that it is included in the budget of 2015 because we weren’t sure the intervention funding was working out. So, we had to seek funding from the internally generated funds in 2015.

Right form May 2014, when I came on board, that was the first issue I addressed, so that protest was uncalled for. Looking at the records, I found out that the students have been around beyond their time of graduation and we needed to do everything we could to graduate them. From May to June, I worked very hard with my management team and we were able to graduate 30 of them. The other batch couldn’t graduate because they still have some more modules to complete their programmes. Some have two, three while some others have four. To be able to do that, (completing these modules), some special equipment must be acquired. That is why I said, if it was actually included in the last year’s budget, it would have been easier to procure these items, but because they were not included, we suffered delay.

Just recently, the 2015 budget was approved by the National Assembly, so, we want to go right into procuring some of those equipment.

Why is it so important to hold back these trainees until the centres are fully equipped?

It is important that we keep our youths engaged so that no one would take advantage of them politically, to make them do things that will disrupt the peace of the society. The issue has been resolved to a great extent and if you visit our ITF training centre in Abuja, you will find out that the equipment

in the centre is not found anywhere else. It is well equipped centre, but because of the certification of these students, it is an international certificate that benchmark international best practices, we just cannot do without having 100 per cent of the tools they need to work with.

Some of the centres already have 90 per cent of the tools and some 50 per cent while some have 100 per cent tools, fully equipped, like the ones that graduated students previously, were those from the two workshops that are fully equipped.

Those that are 80 and 90 per cent equipped with others that are nearing completion would soon be fully equipped.

What is ITF’s cash flow and cash generation like?

ITF is a self-funding agency.

The issue is that we have leakages, we have companies that have not been complying with the regulations. We have recently engaged a consultant that is working with us on the payment structure that will be more detailed and comprehensive, that will be user friendly, so that the employers of labour who want to make their contributions can use do it in a stress-less way, they can do the payment from the comfort of their homes. We don’t want to have people chasing after you, and we are also working with other agencies to make sure those gaps are blocked, so that we don’t have people who can just walk away without making their contribution.

When everything fully come on board, we would be able to unveil what we have and we would be able to go on. We are going to achieve a higher per cent-age in term of revenue generation up to the level that we can break even in the area of training for our teaming youths.

How would you assess the level of collaboration be-

Juliet Chukkas- Onaeko

tween ITF and employers of labour in driving industrialisation?

One other way we think that we can greatly achieve is to be directly engaged to our clients (the employers of labour). The employers of labour need to understand that this is adding to their businesses. Majorities of employers of labour need to understand and see it that way.

They have the mind-set that these agencies just come and take the money and they don’t do anything, we just have to work on them to change their mind set.

The truth is that ITF on the daily bases is adding value to the economy through skills development, through the survey works we do, through the research works that we do, through providing some support, through accessing and providing useful information to the industries to be able to get better. This is adding to their business because everything that we are doing

is to the benefit of employers, they need to see it that way, because in this country, people just think that government agencies would just come and collect their money and go away.

You know that for technical education and vocational studies, huge funding is required and with the little we are earning, we have done a lot and we are going to more. We would be going into stakeholders’ interactive section, discussing with them, working with them, addressing the problems they are facing.

The collaboration we have going with NECA is a beautiful one and we are going to continue to utilise that platform to reach out to employers of labour so that we can continue to have their support.

The budget this year is expected to be higher because we planned opening some new training centres. So, that is why we are still working on some collaboration.

Industry 20

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Dangers of starving industrial research centres of funds Emmanuel Ogbonnaya No matter how well-planned a nation’s industrial strategy is, if it fails to fund its centres of industrial innovations, that plan will never be translated into reality. Countries like China having realised this, have far removed politics from its industrialisation quest and the result is evident to the whole world to see, as it has overtaken the United States as the world’s number one economy.

The United States on the other hand may as well be giving up on any effort to regain lost grounds to China on manufacturing technology as a new report warns that the United States is falling behind in vital areas, including robotics, battery technologies, and quantum computing, all thanks to playing politics when it comes to funding research.

A new MIT report warns that the United States is missing out on cutting-edge technological developments and is in danger of falling behind other countries because of ongoing federal funding cuts to basic research. The report -- “The Future Postponed: Why Declining Investment in Basic Research Threatens a U.S. Innovation Deficit” -- notes that countries like China are committing more resources to research, and U.S. cuts could cause “long-term damage” to the country.

Back home to Nigeria what is the state of funding at our industrial research centres? Zero funding and self-sustaining policies.

For a nation that is canvassing economic diversification and industrial revolution, it appears not to be taking the basics seriously.

Competitors around the world are increasing their investment in basic research, but science funding in the U.S. federal bud-

get is at “the lowest it has been since the Second World War as a fraction of the federal budget,” says MIT physicist Marc Kastner, who led the committee that wrote the report. “This really threatens America’s future.”

MIT researchers looked at 15 different fields and highlighted the potential benefits of increased federal support for research in each area. “Investing in basic research has always paid off over time,” Kastner said. “And even if the future payoffs are not as large, there is no doubt that we will suffer if we do not keep up with those nations that are now making bigger investments than we are.”

Research areas in computer technology that are lagging due to insufficient funding include cyber security, quantum computing, robotics, battery technology, and big data analytics to enable better policy decisions.

The implication is that for a country like Nigeria, China will remain a major source of industrial technology until indigenous research centres like FIIRO, PRODA and others are able to match the rapid industrialisation drive in the country with locally developed technologies.

While reverse technology has been urged by many experts as one way which our scientists can close the technology gap between Nigeria and the rest of the developing world, it is also essential for government to see the need to fund industrial research centres.

Nigeria is an emerging industrial giant and there is need for policy makers to see the need not to abandon research centres or mandate them to be self-sustaining.

If research work in a country like the United States can suffer a set-back from lack of funding,

Kastner

how much more Nigeria where technology is yet to be fully embraced by the cottage industries, to boost productivity.

It is vital for the government of Nigeria to raise its investments in industrial technology rather than leaving it to the private sector, if it is indeed serious about economic diversification – which is built on value addition or the processing of raw materials into finished goods.

Without adequate investments into our research centres any hope of massive industrialisation, job creation and wealth generation cannot be taken seriously.

Experts have warned that no

country will willingly transfer its technology to another for free, the case of the yam pounder should not be forgotten too quickly. A technology that was developed by a Nigerian and because of lack of investors he sold the patent to a Chinese firm that in turn made a fortune manufacturing and exporting them back to Nigerians.

Although the field of quantum computing began in the United States, “there are now large efforts underway in several countries to install and scale up these technologies .... U.S. leadership is not assured, especially given recent budget constraints, while the potential outcomes seem quite important

both strategically and commercially.”

Investment in technological development should be considered a high priority area where a conducive and enabling environment ought to be provided for researchers to succeed in their work.

It is unfortunate that today hundreds of technologies and patents are lying on dusty shelves of indigenous research institutes, while authorities and agencies are giving hollow talks about industrialisation.

Apart from the Bank of Industry, no other agency seem to be concerned about the need to link local industries with local research institutes, while these agencies continue to applaud BoI for the extension of a lifeline to them and their technologies, it is instructive to note that the effort of BoI alone is not enough to get them and the end-users out of the woods.

Deliberate policies must be made to adequately fund, develop and transfer indigenously produced technology to industrial end-users. These technologies may not be high end tech for now, but they can help stimulate the much needed dual growth in the R&D and industrial sectors respectively.

“Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle love to pick on public grants to scientific projects whose thumbnail descriptions they can’t understand or they can make sound ridiculous,” the L.A. Times noted. “Usually they pair these exercises in caricature with calls for more ‘practical’ research projects, as though these can be conjured out of thin air.”

“Some areas of research are so strategically important, that for the U.S. to fall behind ought to be alarming,” MIT’s report warns.

Nigeria too should also be on the alert, government and the legislature should look into the state of affairs of indigenous research centres and make the best use of them to sustain and extend our lead in Africa qualitatively, Nigeria has the capacity to develop industrial technology for Africa if well harnessed.

SMEDAN to partner UNIDO on sector-specific MSME needs Charles Okonji Small Medium Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) has expressed plans to collaborate with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) in addressing sector-specific needs of the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the country.

The Director General of

SMEDAN Bature Masari, represented by Engr. Abu Ozigi, Director (Technology, Innovation & Infrastructure) made the disclosure in Lagos while inaugurating the Joint Working Group (JWG) of the Organised Private Sector (OPS).

“It is with great delight that I accept the invitation to attend this programme of sensitisation on Conformity Assessment Bod-

ies (CAB) and to inaugurate the Joint Working Group (JWG) of the OPS, which is of obvious interest to SMEDAN, considering the fact that the potential impact of this trade enhancement initiative for MSMEs cannot be over emphasised.

“While taking cognisance of the fact that Conformity Assessment Service Providers shall necessarily base their activities

on international standards and guidelines and shall pay attention to national needs, be transparent, be non-discriminatory and avoid unnecessary barriers to trade; SMEDAN shall in the near future work with UNIDO to explore the possibility of promoting the establishment of CABs that will focus on the specific needs on MSMEs across sectors,” he said.

He explained that by its mandate SMEDAN was responsible for Stimulating, Monitoring and Coordinating the development of the MSMEs sub-sector in Nigeria; in addition to working in contact with other institutions in both public and private sector to create a good enabling environment for business in general, and MSME activities in particular.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 5, 2015

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22

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Today in History Compiled by ‘Tunji Okegbola

s

Cartoons from our Archives

1821 Napoleon dies in exile Napoleon Bonaparte, the former French ruler who once ruled an empire that stretched across Europe, died as a British prisoner on the remote island of Saint Helena in the southern Atlantic Ocean.

The Corsica-born Napoleon, one of the greatest military strategists in history, rapidly rose in the ranks of the French Revolutionary Army during the late 1790s. By 1799, France was at war with most of Europe, and Napoleon returned home from his Egyptian campaign to take over the reigns of the French government and save his nation from collapse. After becoming first consul in February 1800, he reorganized his armies and defeated Austria. In 1802, he established the Napoleonic Code, a new system of French law, and in 1804 was crowned emperor of France in Notre Dame Cathedral. By 1807, Napoleon controlled an em-

pire that stretched from the River Elbe in the north, down through Italy in the south, and from the Pyrenees to the Dalmatian coast.

Beginning in 1812, Napoleon began to encounter the first significant defeats of his military career, suffering through a disastrous invasion of Russia, losing Spain to the Duke of Wellington in the Peninsula War, and enduring total defeat against an allied force by 1814. Exiled to the island of Elba, he escaped to France in early 1815 and raised a new Grand Army that enjoyed temporary success before its crushing defeat at Waterloo against an allied force under Wellington on June 18, 1815. Napoleon was subsequently exiled to the island of Saint Helena off the coast of Africa. Six years later, he died, most likely of stomach cancer, and in 1840 his body was returned to Paris, where it was interred in the Hotel des Invalides.

Emperor Haile 1941 Ethiopian Selassie returns to his capital On this day in 1941, Emperor Haile Selassie re-entered Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, exactly five years to the day of when it was occupied by Italy.

Benito Mussolini had been eyeing Ethiopia (then known as Abyssinia) as an economic colony to be added to Italian Somaliland, in East Africa, since the 1920s.

He hoped to resettle 10 million Italians in a unified East Africa.

Despite Ethiopia’s membership in the League of Nations, which provided it with recourse to other member nations in the event of invasion, Italy, also a League member, attacked on October 3, 1935. Selassie formally protested before the League Council, but the League responded with only mild sanctions, fearing that a more extensive embargo, or the closure of the Suez Canal, denying Italy needed supplies and reinforcements, would lead to war-and Italy simply getting its

1945 Six

killed in Oregon

by Japanese bomb

oil from the United States, which was not a party to League agreements.

Britain and France, both fearing that a general war would be harmful to their collective security, proposed secret negotiations with Italy, wherein Italy would be offered territory in Ethiopia’s northeast; in exchange, Mussolini would end his aggression.

Ethiopia would only be told of this negotiation after the fact; should Selassie reject the terms, France and Britain were off the hook, having made a “good faith” effort at peace. They could then oppose further sanctions against Italy, even propose that the ones in place be removed, thereby sparing themselves a confrontation with Mussolini. But the plans for the secret negotiation were leaked to the press, and both Britain and France were humiliated publicly for selling out a weaker League partner.

In Lakeview, Oregon, Mrs. Elsie Mitchell and five neighbourhood children were killed while attempting to drag a Japanese balloon out the woods. Unbeknownst to Mitchell and the children, the balloon was armed, and

Daily Times May 5, 1961

1961

The first American in space

1970

U.S. forces capture Snoul, Cambodia

From Cape Canaveral, Florida, Navy Commander Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. was launched into space aboard the Freedom 7 space capsule, becoming the first American astronaut to travel into space. The suborbital flight, which lasted 15 minutes and reached a height of 116 miles into the atmosphere, was a major triumph for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

NASA was established in 1958 to keep U.S. space efforts abreast of recent Soviet achievements, such as the launching of the world’s first artificial satellite--Sputnik 1-in 1957. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the two superpowers raced to become the first country to put a man in space and return him to Earth. On April 12, 1961, the So-

viet space program won the race when cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was launched into space, put in orbit around the planet, and safely returned to Earth. One month later, Shepard’s suborbital flight restored faith in the U.S. space program.

NASA continued to trail the Soviets closely until the late 1960s and the successes of the Apollo lunar program. In July 1969, the Americans took a giant leap forward with Apollo 11, a three-stage spacecraft that took U.S. astronauts to the surface of the moon and returned them to Earth. On February 5, 1971, Alan Shepard, the first American in space, became the fifth astronaut to walk on the moon as part of the Apollo 14 lunar landing mission.

In Cambodia, a U.S. force captured Snoul, 20 miles from the tip of the “Fishhook” area (across the border from South Vietnam, 70 miles from Saigon). A squadron of nearly 100 tanks from the 11th Armoured Cavalry Regiment and jet planes virtually levelled the village that had been held by the North Vietnamese. No dead North Vietnamese soldiers were found, only the bodies of four Cambodian civilians. This action was part of the Cambodian “incursion” that had been launched by U.S. and South Vietnamese forces on April 29.

In Washington, President Nixon met with congressional committees at the White House and gave the legislators a “firm commitment” that U.S. troops would be withdrawn from Cambodia in three to seven weeks.

it exploded soon after they began tampering with it. They were the first and only known American civilians to be killed in the continental United States during World War II. The U.S. government eventually gave $5,000 in compensation to

Mitchell’s husband, and $3,000 each to the families of Edward Engen, Sherman Shoemaker, Jay Gifford, and Richard and Ethel Patzke, the five slain children.

The explosive balloon found at Lakeview was a product

of one of only a handful of Japanese attacks against the continental United States, which were conducted early in the war by Japanese submarines and later by highaltitude balloons carrying explosives or incendiaries.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 5, 2015

23 News

Lagos prosecutes 1,069 suspected criminals Kehinde Ayinla

ÏÏÏThe

Lagos State Government, on Monday, said it prosecuted no fewer than 1,069 suspected criminals in 2014. It also said 140 convicted rape and other sex offenders had been listed on the Sex Offenders’ Register inaugurated six months ago.

Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaye and the Director of the Office of the Public Offender (OPD),

Mrs. Omotola Rotimi disclosed this at the Alausa Secretariat, Ikeja, while briefing the press on the justice administration, in the state, in the last 365 days of the Fashola administration.

Ipaye noted that the government “is committed to ensuring that all offenders are brought to book, thereby discouraging impunity in our society; and would ensure speedy trials of suspects because both the victims of a crime and the alleged offender

deserve to have their case resolved at the earliest possible time.

According to him: “During the same period, the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is engaged in the prosecution of 1,069 criminal cases in all courts; judgments were delivered in 54 cases.

“This figure includes the 786 cases, which are currently being prosecuted at the Federal and the State High Courts, as well as 54 and 11, respectively at the Court

Edo: Olaitan’s friends, associates preach unity

Bayelsa State Governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson (left) presents a souvenir to Team Leader, National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, (NIPSS) Course 37, Kuru, Jos, Major General Johnny Hamakim during a courtesy visit to Dickson in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State… on Monday

Titus Akhigbe Benin

ÏÏÏMembers

of civil society groups, friends and family member to the late Principal Private Secretary to Governor Adams Oshiomhole, Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde, on Monday, urged Nigerians to imbibe the virtues of the late activist and work together to fight impunity

Ohakim calls for Mu’azu’s resignation Val Okara Owerri

ÏÏÏFormer

governor of Imo State, Chief Ikedi Ohakim, has joined the league of members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) demanding the exit of the National Chairman of the party, Mallam Adamu Mu’azu.

Ohakim, who expressed his views in an open letter titled: “Abysmal performance of PDP in 2015 polls”; and obtained by Daily Times called for the immediate resignation of Malam Mu’azu to enable the party to reposition itself for the next general elections.

He said: “Personally, I join other well-meaning leaders of the party in demanding the resigna-

of Appeal and the Supreme Court.

“The number is also inclusive of the 218 cases at the Magistrate Courts been prosecuted by the police.

“In addition to the 1,069 active criminal prosecution files, DPP’s office is also handling 160 applications for enforcement of fundamental rights. While out of the 795 police investigation files sent to the DPP’s office for legal advice; work was already com-

tion of the ‘game changer’, that is Mallam Adamu Mu’azu. “The party should handover to a new leadership, which will begin to prepare it for the next election. I liken it what happen to a football tournament. After every bad outing, a new coach usually brought in to prepare the team for the next tournament.”

According to him, Mu’azu failed to address the issues that led the exits of five governors of the PDP extraction, as soon as Mu’azu came on stage.

Ohakim, who was one of the PDP governorship aspirants, observed that Mu’azu’s leadership style defied all the known tenets of party’s administration, stressing that he frustrated several par-

ty leaders across the country, who wanted to make inputs on how to save the party.

“The National Chairman was incommunicado most of the times. He neither accepted telephone calls nor returned. He never replied to letters or memos from well-meaning party leaders.

For example, none of the petitions written to the National Working Committee (NWC), which he leads, on the governorship and national assembly primaries in the states were treated,” Ohakim said.

He said that, in spite of the victory of the All Progressive Congress (APC), the PDP was still in a good stead to play a big role in the building of the nation’s democracy.

pleted on 716,” he added.

Ipaye noted that barely six months after the Sex Offenders’ Register was opened, at least 140 people were listed on it, out of the 526 rape cases recorded in 2014.

On the rape cases, Rotimi said, in 2014, the state recorded 526 rape cases and are already been prosecuted, adding “this increases the number of rape cases recorded in Lagos in the last four years to 12, 120.

and injustice in the land.

It would be recalled that the late activist was brutally murdered in May 4, 2012, in his residence located in the Government Reservation Area, (G.R.A), a case that has become a subject of controversy between the authorities of the Department of State Security and the Nigeria Police Force on who really were the culprits.

Remembering the life and times of Olaitan Comrade Taiwo Akerele and Comrade Omobude Agho, said the late comrade brought to the table a value that is not common in administrative circle, noting that he would be continuously missed by close associates whose path he crossed.

Chief Imam of Abuja was a man of peace - Atiku ÏÏÏFormer

Vice-President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has described the late Chief Imam of the Abuja National Mosque, Ustaz Musa Mohammed, as a great scholar, who worked “tirelessly and admirably” for the unity of Nigeria.

In a tribute, Atiku said, in his sermons, Mohammed devoted his messages to the promotion of peace, harmony and peaceful coexistence among Nigerians of all faith and ethnicity.

According to Atiku, the passion with which he devoted his energy to the promotion of peace “was remarkably worthy of note and respect.”

Atiku

The former Vice President explained that Mohammed “was a true face of Islam and its personification of peace.”

Court restrains Suswam on appointment of first class chiefs Freddie Adamgbe Makurdi

ÏÏÏThe High Court sitting in Makurdi, Benue State, on Monday, ordered the out-going Gov-

ernor Gabriel Suswam and eight others to desist from taking any action on the implementation of the Benue State Council of Chiefs and Traditional Councils Bill recently passed by the state

assembly pending the determination of motion on notice.

In a motion filed by Tony Ijoho (SAN), counsel to the plaintiff, Mr. Benjamin Adanyi, prayed the court to restrain Sus-

wam and any other person from appointing or taking any step towards the appointment of any person to the proposed First Class Chiefs in Benue or such office by whatever name called.

The plaintiff told the court that the governor had already put in place a machinery to implement the contents of a law that was not properly or validly passed.

News 24

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 5, 2015

S/South deserves Reps speaker based on federal character – Iriase Henry Omunu & Augustine Aminu Abuja

ÏÏÏ

House of Representatives member from Edo State, Mr. Pally Iriase, onMonday, appealed to the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to zone the post of Speaker of the House to the SouthSouth geo-political zone based on the principle of federal character as enshrined in the constitution.

Iriase, who represents Owan Federal Constituency, made the appeal in Abuja, while speaking to journalists about his aspiration to

be elected the Speaker of the House.

He said Section 14 (3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), in the spirit of fairness, justice and with the intent of promoting national unity frowns upon the preponderance of persons from a few states or from one ethnic or sectional groups controlling political power in any form.

Arguing that the APC was inexorably bound to respect the federal character principle as contained in the constitution, Iriase added that a lawmaker from the South-South zone deserved to be Speaker since the Pres-

ident-elect was from the North-West and the VicePresident-elect was from the South-West.

“Therefore, based on the federal character provision of the constitution, neither of these zones should get priority on the queue for the presiding officers of the National Assembly.

“When you consider the implication of the foregoing and factor in the feasible permutations for the presiding officers of the Senate, it is clear that the South-South should be given the nod to produce the Speaker for the House of Representatives by the APC,” he said.

Iriase warned the hierarchy of the APC to learn from history and avoid falling victim to what happened to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2011 in the choice of a speaker.

“I don’t wish for my party the route the PDP went through in 2011. He said his agenda if elected speaker would be to enthrone transparency and promote the anti-corruption stance of the Buhari administration, promote prudent management and overall good governance, alongside a dogged defence and preservation of the respect and integrity of the legislature.

Hoodlums attack PDP lawmaker-elect in Osun ÏÏÏThe

issuance of certificate of return to lawmakers-elect in Osun State was almost marred by violence, on Monday, as some hoodlums attacked a lawmaker-elect from Ife East Constituency, Mr. Akinwole Akinwale.

He was about leaving the state office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), when some miscreants waylaid him.

Our correspondent observed that there was a brief fight at the gate of the INEC office, but the crisis was quickly resolved.

Akinwole later told our correspondent, on the telephone, that those who at-

Unilorin plans marathon race to mark 40th anniversary Kehinde Akinpelu Ilorin

ÏÏÏOver

L-R: Barr. Kunle Ogunba; Commodore Emmanuel Enemor and Author, Justice Ibrahim Auta during the public presentation/ launching of a book, titled: Encyclopaedia of Civil Procedures and Practice of Superior Courts in Abuja recently.

Photo: TEMITOPE BALOGUN

Salary: Fayose meets stakeholders to avert crisis Gbenga Sodeinde Ado Ekiti

ÏÏÏEkiti

State Governor, Mr. Ayo Fayose, has started discussing with the organised labour on how to resolve the seemingly knotty issue of dwindling Federal Allocation to the state, in a bid to avert a situation that may force the state workforce to join the league DR.MRS UFUOMA AUGUSTINA AWOMOSU

I formally know and addressed as Dr. Ufuoma Augustina Okotete, now wish to be known and addressed as Dr. Mrs Ufuoma Augustina Awomosu. All former documents bearing my former name remain valid. The General public should take note.

of states whose workers were being owed salaries.

Presently, Ekiti State is owing a month’s salary and the situation has already created apprehension among its workers because the state is purely a civil service state which has no other industry.

Fayose had while speaking in Ado Ekiti recently during the Nigeria Labour Congress delegate conference, where Comrade Ade Adesanmi had emerged as the new Chairman of the congress, assured that workers would be paid regularly, in accordance with his vow during the election-

eering.

He hinted that a sum of N2 billion was received for April from the Federation Account, even when the wage bill of workers stood at N2.6 billion, saying he would have to convoke the meeting of all relevant stakeholders to seek advice on how to wriggle out of the logjam.

However, the Commissioner for Finance, Mr Toyin Ojo, gave said that the governor had started liaising with labour leaders, who were critical stakeholders on issue bordering on wages.

"We are laying our cards

N2 million, in cash and vehicles, would be up for grabs at the maiden edition of the University of Ilorin Marathon Race, scheduled to hold in October, this year, as part of the activities marking the institution's 40th anniversary.

Unveiling the logo of the competition at the University Auditorium, on April 27, 2015, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. AbdulGaniyu Ambali (OON), said that the 2-kilometer race, with the theme: “Celebrating Aca-

Kwasu Alhamdu

ÏÏÏA youth group, under

Fayose

on the table. We want our stakeholders to give us suggestions. It is after we have agreed on modalities that we will start paying,” Ojo said.

the auspices of the word. com church, AjegunleApapa, in Lagos, is training youths on empowerment and self-determination.

Speaking during the programme, the youth president, Mr. Ndubuisi Nnadozia, said they were out to help the youths to actualise their dreams and respect societal values.

The programme is supported by Knowledge is Power Network International (Kip Network International).

“We discover that in order

tacked him were sent by a former commissioner from Ife. He said he had been told that he would not be allowed to collect the certificate of return.

He said: “I was attacked by some boys who said the former commissioner had said I should not be allowed to take the certificate. I was told he asked them to shoot me if I insisted on collecting it.

“I was attacked, while coming out of the INEC office and they tore my clothes. The policemen who were there tried to rescue me and I was ferried out of the place in the Speaker’s car.” demic Stability”, would be staged in partnership with Sovereign Campus Concept Limited (SCCL).

Ambali, who was represented at the unveiling ceremony by the Chairman, University of Ilorin Sports Council, Prof. Uche Bassey Eke, likened the University's 15 years stable academic calendar to a marathon race, saying, “This is why the idea of Unilorin Marathon is welcome in its symbolic essence”.

The Vice-Chancellor, who disclosed that the Marathon would be part of the activities to mark the university's historical milestone of 40 years of existence and 31st Convocation ceremonies, said: “As the logo of this Marathon is unveiled, it serves as a reminder to us that the journey to October has begun and all hands should be on deck.”

Ajegunle group trains youths on selfdetermination to empower people you need to educate them. When you give people knowledge, they can stand on their own and get things for themselves.

We are building manpower, so that, in few years to come, Nigeria will not be ranked among developing nation.

We will be ranked among developed nations.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Kashamu extradition: Court to hear pending applications Friday Peter Fowoyo

Ă?Ă?Ă? Hearing of all pending applications in a suit filed by Prince Kashamu Buruji has been adjourned till Friday by a Federal High Court, sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos.

Buruji, a Senator-elect under the platform of the Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP), Ogun East Senatorial district, filed the suit against the Inspector-General of Police and 11 other respondents, to forestall his extradition to the United States of America (USA) on alleged drug related offences.

Sued as respondents in the fundamental rights suit with number FHC/L/ CS/508/15 are Chair-

Ekwunife mourns Anambra NUJ scribe Nkiru Nwagbo Awka

Ă?Ă?Ă?Senator-elect

for Anambra Central senatorial zone, Mrs. Uche Ekwunife, has expressed shock over the death of the secretary of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Anambra Council, Princess Ifeoma Anumba.

Ekwunife, in a statement issued by her Media Assistant, Emmanuel Uzor, described the death of the young lady as very devastating, especially in her prime when the country and entire humanity needed her services most.

She described the late NUJ scribe as a very diligent and hardworking young lady, who served with joy, and prayed God to grant her eternal rest.

Ekwunife

man, Nigerian Drug Laws Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Director General, Department of State Security (DSS), the Interpol National Central Bureau, and Attorney-General of the Federation.

Others are the Clerk of the National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, The National Security Adviser to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Nigeria Custom Services (NCS), the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), and Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps

(NSCDC). Justice Okon Abang adjourned hearing of the suit, following an application for adjournment

by Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo, counsel to the EFCC, for him to confirm which of the office of the agency (Lagos or Abuja) that the processes were served.

Oyedepo claimed that he was yet to lay his hands on the processes filed by the applicant, and that it is not in the habit of the agency not to respond to any application filed against it. Moreover, the matter was coming up for the first time.

He, therefore, asked the court for a very short adjournment to enable the anti-graft agency respond to Buruji's application, which he said would be in the in-

Unpaid salaries: Rights group seeks Osun monarchs’ intervention to avoid crisis Sodiq Adekunle Osogbo

Ă?Ă?Ă? A human rights group,

the Centre for Human Rights and Social Justice (CHRSJ) has called on wellmeaning individuals, including monarchs, political leaders and others in Osun State to wade into the matter of unpaid salaries of civil servants before it gets out of hand.

The group also urged the Osun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, to pay the over six months outstanding salaries owed the state’s workers without further delay, accusing him of misplacement of priorities by not paying civil servants for over six months.

The rights group also threw its weight behind the request of the state’s chapter of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) in an open letter, which requested Aregbesola to pay the six months outstanding salaries and wages, and other welfare packages of its members and other civil servants in the state, They, however, asked Governor Aregbesola to come out and explain to the

whole world the true position of the financial status of the state and give reason why the state government could not pay its workforce for over six months, after the state had collected her monthly allocation up to the month of March, 2015.

The centre, in reacting to the NMA’s open letter to the governor over the matter, through a signed statement by its Executive Chairman, Sulaiman Adeniyi, of which a copy was made available to newsmen in Osogbo on Monday, declared that NMA’s letter was a welcome development, in the face of Aregbesola’s nonchalant attitude towards the state’s workforce.

He said: “It is a pity that Aregbesola promised to pay Osun State’s civil servants’ salaries throughout the period of his administration without waiting for Federal Allocation, and cannot pay six to seven months’ salaries in the first year of his second term.

His second term in office has become clueless and unfriendly towards the people of the state, particularly, the workers.�

25 News

Kehinde Akinpelu Illorin

Ă?Ă?Ă?A

terest of justice.

The EFCC counsel apologised to both the applicant and other respondents in the suit stalling the Monday's proceedings.

However, lawyer to the applicant, Dr. Alex Izinyon SAN, urged the court to discountenance EFCC’s application for an adjournment, on the ground that the matter before the court must be determined expeditiously.

He argued that there was no material fact before the court to exercise its discretion, and that since EFCC had conceded that they were served and failed to respond, after the 12 days stipulated by Order 8 Rule 3 of the court, such did not make room for 'even extension of time'.

don at the Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of Ilorin, Professor Raphael Abiodun Olawepo, has proposed compulsion of geography study at the secondary school level, to facilitate development in the rural areas, and sustain good environment in both rural and urban areas.

He said this during the 157th inaugural lecture of the institution at the university auditorium in Ilorin. In his lecture, titled: ‘Leaving From the People: A Geographer’s Mandate for Sustainable Rural Development’, Olawepo proposed that geography as a subject should not be made optional, in so that people can get conversant with their immediate environment early enough. “To enforce sustainabili-

Don proposes compulsion of Geography study in schools ty of our environment, both rural and urban should not be made optional or replaced with social studies in the development of the new school curriculum. This will enable us all to appreciate our environment early in life, and to allow for proper sustainable deployment. “Through the study of geography, we know more about our environment, its constituents and how to manage if to effect sustainability.� He observed that the contributions of geographers to national planning cannot be over emphasized.

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26

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Law

s

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT:

President within his prerogative to reject bills –Oyeyipo Mr. Adetunji Oyeyipo, a Senior Advocate is a partner in one of the foremost law firm, Abdullahi Ibrahim and Co. Oyeyipo, who was among the legal team that fought to get back the Governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole’s mandate at the election tribunal in 2007 in this interview told PETER FOWOYO, his expectation from the 2015 election petition tribunal, constitutional amendment, adoption law, the Supreme Court and sundry issues.

How do you see the ongoing face-off between the federal government and the national assembly over the recent constitutional amendment?

Well, the issue of constitutional amendment cannot but generates a lot of interest and from the proposed amendment it appears it covers wide area which includes the delicate but fundamental issue of separation of powers, Mr. President felt that the national assembly did not comply with the mandatory provisions of the 1999 constitution as amended that is, section 9 of the constitution and he also felt that a lot of the amendments really ought to be reconsider and so he sent the bill back.

But I am more interested in the legal reasons for rejecting the bill because if I understand him very well and what the honorable Attorney-General of the Federation are saying, the national assembly did not

comply with the mandatory provisions that is required, fourth fifth majority of the members of each House in the national assembly and also the requirements of each state Houses of Assembly passing the motion approving all those sections of the constitution.

I think the President is well within his prerogative to do that, I also think that the way and manner this amendment was rushed, in my opinion, leaves much to be desired. I am not sure all the states Houses of Assembly actually debated this thing and like I said, I am not sure because I don’t know but, everything appears to have been rushed.

I think the president is most likely on sure footing in this matter but again, I must say that I am not fully aware of the facts. If you look at the previous exercises of the constitutional amendments in 2010, 2011 although those ones were on a very narrow area, it has to do more of the electoral process than this one; you will see that even those constitutional amendments were done in a rush. I for one, I don’t believe this is the way a constitution of a country should be amended. I think it should be much more rigorous procedure which allows for a wider range of consultation, an involvement of as many people as possible stakeholders before that sort of amendment is carried out.

Some lawyers are of the view that not all the things in our constitution ought to be there, are you of this opinion too?

Well, it is difficult to say these are the things that should be in a constitution and these are the things that should be out

Oyedipo of the constitution. Well, of course, it is common knowledge that England has unwritten constitution and they still run very well and they understand the way the system work but, you cannot really say this must be in the constitution and this other issue must not be in the constitution but for a country like ours, Nigeria, where even when things are in black and white people still find a way around it, I believe that most of Nigeria. For example people quarrel about the issue of local government that why should the issue of local government be a constitutional matter?

Yes, there are arguments for and against it but then; you find out that states have developed a penchant for suppressing and practically treating the local government areas and administration as extra ministerial bodies under the control of state government which should not be. And this is a matter that is under the constitution so you can imagine what will happen if it was not under the constitution. I think most of what you have in the constitution that people quarrel about were put in there by the

“I think what we should do is to hold on to the 1999 constitution as it is and perhaps if we can get whatever useful reports from the national conference and use it as a basis for amendment of the 1999 constitution.” framers of the constitution because they took into consideration the nature of our people and the fear is that if you don’t put this in the constitution they will abuse it and I think the fears are justified.

Many are of the view that the constitution lies about itself when it says: “We the Nigerian people…” at the opening chapter whereas the constitution itself was drafted by the military and

few individuals. What is your take on this issue?

I don’t think the constitution was drafted by few people who were just put in one room and asked to come up with a constitution. Yes, the constitution may not have involved a wider range of people that some other people may want but, don’t forget that the constitution was drafted during the military regime.

However, you must bear in mind at all times that there was wide consultations and there was certain committees that were put in place by the military government to consider the constitution.

Again, the constitution if you take it and put it side by side with the 1979 constitution, you will find out that they share a lot of similar provisions. 1979 constitution was a production of a constituents assembly of people who were elected and some appointed who came together to consider what sort of constitution that should govern the country and they came up with the 1979 constitution.

What the 1999 constitution has attempted to do was to improve CONTINUED ON PAGE 27

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 5, 2015

27 Law

States suppress local councils –Oyeyipo CONTINUED FROM PAGE 26

on what the 1979 constitution has done.

Let us for purpose of argument agreed that the constitution was put together by military men, we’ve had civilian administration for the past 16 years, the country has been governed from local government level to state government level to the federal government level by civilians, what have they done about it?

You will see that all the attempt made to come up with some other constitution have not fared very well. During the Obasanjo regime, there was a conference set up which everybody now believe was actually put in place because of his alleged third term agenda, it failed.

Again, we had a national conference set up by the Jonathan administration which had all sorts of people at the conference, the composition of the conference itself was criticized by almost everybody, you find all kinds of interest groups claiming that they were excluded or they were marginalized. In Nigeria, I can assure you that if you asked everybody to come and vote on every section of the constitution, they will still come up with some form of excuses that no, we were excluded. I think what we should do is to hold on to the 1999 constitution as it is and perhaps if we can get whatever useful reports from the national conference and use it as a basis for amendment of the 1999 constitution.

When people complain about the constitution telling a lie about itself and if I remember very well, I think it was the late Chief Rotimi Williams SAN, one of the best legal brains that Nigeria has ever produced who raised this issue when he said the preamble to this constitution which says: “We the people of Nigeria having resolved….” When people say that I think they are doing that against the realities of our country Nigeria and against the realities of how the fourth republic came into existence.

Some have alleged that the adoption law in Nigeria is too cumbersome, do you share this view?

I don’t. You see, we have to consider two things, the African society actually has its own mechanism for taking care of children who don’t have their biological parents with them anymore or with children whose biological parents are unable to look after them or even couples who for some reasons are not able to have children of their

own. I am not a particularly old person but, when I was growing up there was a time I didn’t even know the number of children that my parents had because I grew up with cousins, distant cousins, near cousins even children of friends and other people referred to as houseboy or house help who somehow become integrated into the family and so adoption in the way the English man has it is rather alien to our culture but then as our culture continues to develop and we began to have the influx of European or Western cultural norms into our own system, we became confused You find out that our children can’t speak the mother tongue very well and language is the very first line of contact when you talk of culture and so over time we have become seriously confused about what exactly is our culture in Nigeria. Let us go back now to the issue of adoption law, we now have something that is alien to us but, you know you have to have all these things in place to prevent an abuse of the adoption system. You want to be sure that people who seek to adopt these children genuinely will love these children as if they were their own biological children.

You want to be sure that they will not turn these children into some other objects and so it has to be rigorous, on that point I cannot fault the adoption law.

The 2015 elections have ended, what are your expectations from the election tribunals?

Well, for the first time in the 16 years life of this particular republic, we fin d losers in the elections accepting defeat and even openly congratulate the victors; this is a very good sign.

I think it is partly a reflection of the level of fairness in the conduct of the election by INEC, I think to a large extent, in most part of the country elections were free and fair and people just decided to accept that.

Having said that, there are some cases where the losers feel that elections were not free and fair, there were some malpractices and so they can challenge the elections. Oh, that is alright, that is why the law courts are there while people like us are also there to assist anybody who have any grievances about the elections to ventilate their grievances before the appropriate tribunals.

What I expect is that the tribunals will probably not have as much issues as in the past. The 1999 elections and

Oyedipo the 2003 elections up to the 2007 elections were characterized by widespread malpractices.

I mean one of the elections, I believe it is the 2007 elections was conducted with ballot papers that were not serialized and that is a very, very grave noncompliance because if you use ballot papers that were not serialized it becomes difficult to audit the elections based on the ballot papers used for the election. But here, we have ballot papers serialized, we have the card readers which unfortunately failed in some places and which INEC said in those areas where the card readers does not work, you can use manual accreditation. All these things put in place by INEC will make the tribunals to determine whether the elections ought to be upheld or should be annulled.

I expect that those who will go

to the tribunals will go, I expect lawyers to come up with their usual arguments but, I think to a large extent it will be fairly easier for the tribunals to come to just decisions in these cases.

Some of your colleagues have observed that the volume of appeal before the Supreme Court is enormous and that the court is overburdened. Do you share this sentiment?

Yes, I do, the court is actually overburdened, there are too many appeals going to the Supreme Court. I think the solution really include one, ensuring that these justices of the Supreme Court have aides who can help them to do their researches on issues that come up such that even before the matter is called in open court the justices would have had a fair idea of what the issues are and would have even know

“I think most of what you have in the constitution that people quarrel about were put in there by the framers of the constitution because they took into consideration the nature of our people and the fear is that if you don’t put this in the constitution they will abuse it and I think the fears are justified.”

which areas they want the parties to emphasize on and then they can easily dispense with the matter.

Secondly, I think there must be a mechanism for filtering appeals that goes to the Supreme Court. Right now, there are certain appeals that goes to the Supreme Court as of right, criminal appeals where there is death penalty, civil appeals which involves question of law alone, interlocutory appeals which also involve question of law alone. I think there should be a filtering mechanism at the Court of Appeal that will determine whether any proposed appeal should get to the Supreme Court at all.

You see, our people have this nature that unless the Supreme Court has spoken on their case, they will not give up, I think it’s wrong. The solution really will be to make sure that the aides of the justices of the Supreme Court are people who are very well educated, very well learned and who can make the jobs of the justices easier and appeals going to the apex court must be properly filtered to make sure that it is only the ones that raised genuine issues of substantial law that end up at the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is not like a Magistrate Court or a Customary Court where you take all kinds of cases to for adjudication, no. Unfortunately, that is what they have turned the Supreme Court to now.

28

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

EXTRATIME

SHARMA commends FG over Yakmut’s appointment Andrew Ekejiuba

T

he Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma has commended the Federal Government for nominating Acting Director General of the National Sports Commission (NSC) Mr. Al-Hassan Yakmut for appointment into the Commonwealth Advisory Body on Sport (CABOS).

In the appointment letter addressed to Yakmut, the Commonwealth SecretaryGeneral said: “We also acknowledge with gratitude the commitment of the Government of Nigeria to providing support for your membership and participation”.

Sharma stressed that the appointment which is for a duration of three years from May 1, 2015 to December 31, 2018 will afford the Acting Director General opportunity to contribute towards

sports development in the Commonwealth.

“The knowledge and expertise you bring to CABOS will enrich the contribution it is able to make towards sport and development in the Commonwealth,” he said, adding that the mandate of the body “is to advise the Commonwealth Secretariat and member governments on policies relating to sport, particularly Sport for development and Peace.”

It would be recalled that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had in December, 2014, written to the Sports Minister and Chairman, National Sports Commission, Dr. Tammy Danagogo on the request by the Commonwealth Secretary General to nominate a Nigerian technocrat who is knowledgeable in sports policy issues as well as committed and willing to dedicate time and energy to the activities of the body (CABOS).

Garba

Garba: Flying Eagles to train twice daily Mike Otanwa

C

oach of the Flying Eagles of Nigeria, Manu Garba has said that the team will train twice daily while in Germany as opposed to their former format of training once during preparations for games and tournaments.

The late arrival of training kits for the team means they will observe their first training session today and another session is planned in the evening as they step up their preparations for the

World cup.

It was gathered that the morning session will mostly involve physical training while that of the evening will be more tactical as the coaches aim to inculcate new players with their system of play which coach Garba’s calls ‘total football’.

We also gathered friendly games are already being organised for the team while in Germany and if those plans are successful they will play three test games with youth sides of Germany League teams.

MILO BASKETBALL: REFS TARGET NATIONAL FINALS Andrew Ekejiuba

T

he annual Nestle Milo Secondary Schools Basketball Championship for the part 16years has continued to blaze the trail in creating a platform for Nigerian youths to express their sporting talent in the game and the consistency in organising the game annually by Nestle Milo no doubt also creates another platform for capacity building on the part of the referees.

As a major event in the nation’s basketball calendar players and officials look forward to it. At the Atlantic Conference in Benin City, Edo

State, a group of basketball referees used to officiate matches in both boys and girls categories are looking up to the national finals.

As the Nestle Milo Championship develops players, the referees are also being exposed all the year round through the championship. A total of 8 referees are used at the Atlantic Conference.

An official of the National Collegiate Sports Foundation (NCSF) Alidu Mohammed said the referees’ performances in matches are commendable.

So, as the players battle for the title, the referees also battle to excel to be invited for the national finals in Lagos.

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

EXTRATIME

29

INTERVIEW

WE NEED TO REPOSITION SPORTS INDUSTRY IN NIGERIA

–MONIEDAFE Francis Moniedafe, remember him?

He was an ex-Green Eagles star in the late 70’s and also featured for Bendel Insurance when the team defeated Rangers International of Enugu 3-0 to lift the 1978 FA Cup finals.

In this exclusive interview with ANDREW EKEJIUBA he speaks on the future of the beautiful game in the country and why he and a few Nigerian ex-internationals based in the United States formed ‘Nigeria Ex-international Football Association’ (NEIFA). Excerpts: As the President of NEIFA, can you let us into the workings of the association which you and a few ex-Nigerian internationals formed in faraway United States of America?

NEIFA was formed by a few exNigerian internationals, as you earlier noted, who left the shores of the country to school in America.

Some of our executives include Femi Olukanmi (Vice President), Nathaniel Ogedengbe (Secretary), Ikechukwu Ofoje (Treasurer) and Paul Okoku (Director of Communication) to mention a few.

The foremost aim of the association is to look for ways to help some of our unfortunate ex-internationals who are going through hard times. Also we are looking at how we can collaborate with the Nigeria Football Federation to help in the development of Nigerian football because in the association we have lots of head coaches of schools and sports directors in America.

Look back from when you left the shores of Nigeria to the present date, what really has gone wrong with our sports development, especially in football administration?

I left the shores of Nigeria when our football was at its peak; everything was working perfectly well for our beautiful game. But, I left Green Eagles squad in Brazil while camping there for the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations. I travelled from Brazil to America to study and make a living there!

I had a choice of staying back in with the team or travelling to America, but I decided to travel.

The choice was mine actually!

Talking about the state of football, in the 1980s and now, things have really changed and drastically too. Then our league was highly revered and watched by lots of fans. Even before 12noon on a match day the various stadia, hosting league matches we are almost filled to the brim unlike now.

Five years ago, I was in Benin at Ogbe Stadium to watch Bendel insurance play and I was shocked at what I saw. Not more than 200 fans were in the stadium, while in a beer parlour outside the match venue, I saw more than 500 soccer fans clustered inside the place watching an English Premier League game involving Chelsea and one other team. In fact I almost shed tears.

Truly we have a long way to go in terms of repositioning our football.

With your experience as a footballer, a coach and an administrator, what is the way forward for Nigerian football?

The way forward is to get the right people to administer Nigerian football. We need football technocrats to administer our game and it is my strong belief that football should be taken away from government.

Corporate Nigeria and individuals

should come forward and bankroll football as it is done in other parts of the world.

The football industry is a multibillion naira business, so the private sector can be of a great help in repositioning our game by sponsoring clubs in the local league.

From the local front, do you still believe we have talented footballers that can take our game to the next level and bring back the crowd to the various stadia during league games?

Nigeria have an abundant flow of talent in football, but all we need is to harness them and put them in the right places. Discovering players today, and tomorrow they are in Europe is not the best way to develop our football; it’s not going to work that way!

Our football administration, academies and even clubs need to be restructured to make these talented young footballers hit stardom. We really need to nurture these upcoming lads to stardom.

If NIKE can do half of what they are doing in America in the development of sports in Nigeria, I’m sure that this will give us a great boost in sports development.

NIKE supports Olympic programmes in America for their athletes and even go the extra mile to nurture their budding talents to stardom.

You wrote an article recently that was published in Daily Times, titled “Our dream Sports Minister”, what actually motivated you to write that piece?

The piece was aimed at correcting the past errors government made in the appointment of Sports Ministers. Apart from Ishaya Mark

Moniedafe Aku of blessed m e m o r y whose tenure was short, every other Sports Minister who came promised to fix the sports industry, but to no avail.

At the end many stakeholders in sports discovered that these Sports Ministers were only interested in how to line their pockets.

We need to have the right people or technocrats who will administer our sports. We need to go back to the good old days when school sports held sway, especially in churning out world class athletes for Nigeria.

Therefore, we need a Sports Minister who will key into the system and administer sports the way it should be in Buhari’s second coming as Nigeria’s president.

Adokiye Amiesimaka, Segun Odegbami and Stephen Keshi were all discovered through schools sports.

Nigeria is losing a lot financially because we have failed to harness the enormous potentials in sports development and that was the reason which motivated me to write that piece in Daily Times.

Recently Stephen Keshi signed a two-year contract to tinker the Super Eagles, again do you think he still has that magical wand to rebuild the team and turn it into a world-conquering side?

The issue of Keshi’s contract has lingered on for too long before both parties reached a compromise.

If I saw Keshi I could has advised him to let go the job, especially the way his deal was handled, but as a patriotic Nigerian we all applauded him in his second coming as head coach of the senior national team.

We should remember that Keshi has contributed a lot to football development in Nigeria and deserves the support of all to excel, because from nowhere he came and won the 2013 AFCON for Nigeria with his boys. However on his return to the saddle I think he must have learnt from his mistakes and ready to deliver.

From the depth of your heart, do you still think Keshi has the capability to take Nigerian football to the next level?

Why not? He has done it before, I believe Keshi can do it again if given all the necessary support by the NFF. The right atmosphere must be created for him to deliver and take Nigerian football to greater heights.

“We need to have the right people or technocrats who will administer our sports. We need to go back to the good old days when schools sports held sway, especially in churning out world class athletes for Nigeria.”

30

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

EXTRATIME

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Juve

seek to revive Italian fortune

S

Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini.

erie A champions Juventus will battle Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-finals tonight looking to once again stamp their authority on European football.

Massimiliano Allegri’s side sealed their fourth straight league triumph with a 1-0 win at Sampdoria on Saturday, but the celebrations were muted, with everyone at the club aware of the importance of the two upcoming matches with the Spanish giants.

“For various reasons we can’t celebrate the title the way we have on other occasions, because the importance of tonight’s game is undeniable,” admitted Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini.

Last year Juve crashed out embarrassingly in the group stages of the Champions League, before going on to lose a Europa League semi-final clash with Benfica.

The previous season they were taken apart 4-0 on aggregate in the quarter-finals by eventual European champions Bayern Munich.

They go into the semi-final seen by most as the weakest side left in the competition, and Madrid have a team of superstars of the sort that Juve would have once had.

UEFA

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

SEMI-FINALS TODAY’S MATCH

Juventus vs Real Madrid 19:45 Tuesday, May 6, 2015 Barcelona vs Bayern Munich 19:45

Bayern Munich boss, Pep Guardiola.

Atletico won’t let Barca win, says Koke

K

oke has rejected suspicions Atletico Madrid will roll over and let Barcelona win in an effort to stop Real Madrid when the sides meet in Week 37.

It has been suggested that if Atletico have wrapped up third place by then, they will enter a halfhearted performance against La Blaugrana and harm Los Blancos’ title aspirations.

“We’re professionals and we will try to win,” Koke said.

“We’ve always done that and we wouldn’t turn up otherwise. It’s always nice to beat Barca, one of

the best in the world.

“We’re upset by that talk because we’re professionals. We have our pride and a lot to play for too.”

Atletico stumbled in pursuit of third this weekend with a goalless draw at home to Athletic Bilbao but Koke is relieved the team’s future is in their hands.

“We have three games left and the first final against Levante on Sunday,” he added.

“Madrid play Valencia and we’ll be watching, but in the end we depend on ourselves and, if we win the three games we have left, we’ll be third.”

Bayern

Koke

Benzema ruled out of Juve showdown

R

Benzema

eal Madrid forward Karim Benzema has not recovered sufficiently from a knee injury and has been left out of the squad for tonight’s Champions League semifinal first leg at Juventus, the holders said on Monday.

The France international sustained the injury in last month’s quarterfinal first leg at Atletico Madrid and although he only returned to training on Sunday, Coach Carlo Ancelotti had expressed hope he would be fit.

Real’s Mexico forward Javier Hernandez could start upfront in

falter ahead of Barca clash

Turin alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale, who returned from a calf problem as a second-half substitute in Saturday’s 3-2 La Liga win at Sevilla.

Another option would be for Ancelotti to switch to a 4-4-2 formation, with Hernandez dropping to the bench and Isco coming into the midfield alongside Toni Kroos, James Rodriguez and converted centre back Sergio Ramos.

Real are seeking a recordextending 11th European crown, while Italian champions Juve are chasing their third.

B

ayern Munich head to Spain for Wednesday’s Champions League semifinal - and Pep Guardiola’s return to Barcelona - showing cracks in confidence following back-to-back defeats.

After wrapping up their 25th German league title last Sunday, Bayern’s costly penalty shoot-out defeat to Borussia Dortmund last Tuesday in the German Cup semifinal was followed up by a 2-0 loss at Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday.

It has been the worst possible run-in to the match at Camp Nou where Guardiola will be making his first return to the club where he won 14 cups and titles in his four years in

charge up to 2012.

“We aren’t going to talk ourselves into a corner, the season has been awesome until now,” said Bayern’s director of sport Matthias Sammer.

“The players and coach have deserved every compliment that has come their way more than any criticism.”

Dortmund defeat brought injuries to two stars; Arjen Robben limped off - and out for the rest of the season after lasting just 16 minutes of the second-half.

Having recovered from torn abdominal muscles, the Dutch winger, who has 19 goals this season, tore his left calf to end his season.

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

EXTRATIME

Boxing

Pacquiao wants rematch with Mayweather

M

anny Pacquiao wants a rematch with Floyd Mayweather.

The Filipino ring icon made the pronouncement on Monday in a live interview after he lost via unanimous points’ decision to the unbeaten American champion, adding that he wants to face Mayweather at his best.

Pacquiao admitted to being affected by an injury during the fight after hurting his shoulder in training.

He, however, doesn’t know if Mayweather would want to face him again.

Pacquiao, whose negotiations with Mayweather was off and on for five years before they finally agreed to

Pacquiao have a fight on May 2, had no rematch clause in the contract of both fighters.

Before looking at another fight with Mayweather, however, Pacquiao will undergo another Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) exam to determine if he needs surgery on his shoulder.

Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach has already express willingness to go at Mayweather again.

“I thought we fought a good fight,” said the Hall of Famer. “We’d love to do it again. Hopefully as soon in the future.”

Mayweather, for his part, doesn’t seem to be too keen on another faceoff with Pacquiao.

Athletics

Bolt, Gatlin renew rivalry

W

hile the eyes of the sporting world were fixed on boxing’s muchtouted “fight of the century” in Las Vegas on May 2, the two fastest men on the planet renewed a rivalry on the track.

Six-time Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt and American arch-rival Justin Gatlin took to the blue track of the Thomas A. Robinson Stadium in the capital of the Bahamas just as the Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao title bout got under way.

The comparison was not lost on either athlete as Gatlin helped the US quartet to the 4x100m crown in

the second edition of the IAAF World Relays, Bolt unable to snag American anchor Ryan Bailey in the run-in for the line.

“I think it’s going to be a good rivalry - like Pacquiao and Mayweather,” said Gatlin, against whom Bolt says he has no problem competing after the American 2004 Olympic 100m gold medallist saw out his four-year ban for doping.

“I think that’s what the track fans want to see this year and I want to help bring that.”

CAPTION: Usain Bolt (left) battles American arch-rival Justin Gatlin (right) in a tight race.

Rio 2016: Rugby Sevens regional qualifiers get date

W

ith global excitement building ahead of rugby sevens’ Olympic Games debut at Rio 2016, World Rugby has announced the location and dates for the regional qualification tournaments that will deliver six men’s and six women’s teams to the Games.

The top four teams in the respective men’s and women’s World Rugby Sevens Series standings are set to secure their places in the

International Rugby Sevens action.

coming weeks.

Brazil has been granted automatic qualification for both men and women by World Rugby as the host nation for the Games. Attention now turns to the race to secure a coveted place via the regional qualifiers.

A men’s and a women’s team will qualify from each of the six regional Olympic qualification tournaments, that will take place between June and November 2015.

Fittingly, with the Games taking place in Rio, it is South America who will provide the first regional qualifiers with the men’s and women’s tournaments taking place in Santa Fe, Argentina, on June 5-7, 2015.

The men’s and women’s North America and the Caribbean qualification tournament will follow in Cary, North Carolina, USA, on June 13-14, while Europe’s women representatives will be confirmed in Brive, France on June 20-21 with the men confirmed in Exeter, England, on July 11-12.

!

Moores: England must learn to be ruthless Cricket

E

ngland head coach Peter Moores was frustrated by his side’s inability to win the third Test against the West Indies, instead going on to lose it inside three days, saying they needed to be more ‘ruthless’.

The match was not a high-scoring one, with 18 wickets falling on day two alone. The Windies had England on 39 for five at one stage, after the host were bowled out for 189 themselves.

In the end, the Windies needed 192 to win, a tough ask in those conditions, and did so with five wickets and two days to spare. This negated the ton Alastair Cook made, his first in two years, as well as James Anderson’s six-fer.

As a result, the series was drawn as the first match was a stalemate and the second was won by England in convincing fashion. The first game was drawn thanks to a marathon Jason Holder knock late into day five.

When asked if he thought the ECB needed to review the series, Moores said: “I don’t because I think if anybody’s come to watch and they’ve watched on television, they’ve seen a mix of some senior players and also some young players play some excellent cricket.”

31

Politics

Buhari: Time of reckoning is here – Ogiemwonyi

jƅƄ jƇƋƅ The positive economic impact of crime

P8 TUESDAY, MAY 5, 2015

VOL. 1. NO.100

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News

Egypt sentences five for police killings

TT1

P13

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Why I dumped music for the world of technology

L2

Price: N150

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Battle of cognition:

Charles Anosike

Buhari Vs Corruption

ÎÎÎ The greatest constant

in modern times is change.

Corruption continues to impoverish our collective spirit and threaten our survival. Fighting corruption has become a key development issue in Nigeria for several years. To achieve radical change requires a new mindset to pioneer a better understanding of the nature of our social systems. Although tools and practices are essential to managing corruption, it is the quality of Buhari’s consciousness and self-awareness that will determine his chances of success. Today, many advocate the development of systems thinking to enable policy makers see the world as a complex system, in which everything is connected to everything else. Because corruption nurtures political conflict and insecurity, it perpetuates a way of thinking that

creates false division, embrace holism to increase cognitive ability and unravel the dysfunctional relationship binding the enemies and ourselves.

The conceptualization of corruption remains a social phenomenon characterized by its condescending alteration of an individual and the collective identity.

Corruption is subversive of stable economic structures, good governance, credible legal systems and other critical social structures. The convoluted actors operate a dysfunctional consensus, replenishing self-gratification through corrupt practices; unconscious or conscious bandwagon effects prevail over normative values the effects reveal the multiplicity of factors responsible for corruption. A caution to the President-Elect, to see the people’s mandate as gratification as some have suggested may compromise the task ahead. The challenge for the PresidentElect is to capture the energy and gainfully direct it to address the underlying structures responsible for corruption in the public and private sectors, thereby improving governance.

It is in crystallizing vision

and intent (transforming the emerging whole) that one experiences sustainable gratification.

Drawing from the 2015 election outcome, Buhari’s motto of change nursed and rekindled the hope of the impoverished masses.

His altruistic postulation provided hope and succor to the disconnected masses.

His courage to face corruption squarely became a hope booster. Many theories and suggestions have emerged in the public discourse as to how Buhari could begin the journey towards eradicating corrupt practices in government.

Markedly, is the notion of ethical leadership, act in an instance to lead by example. For example, declaration of assets, filtering all wastages within the executive arm of government, and re-orientation of cabinet members/public servants. A leaders’ presence of mind is called upon to attend to the fickleness of human cognition. Bounded rationality may confront Buhari in his attempt to reframe and redirect our collective understanding of public value.

Because the complexity of the systems we are called upon to lead overwhelms

the human cognitive abilities, bounded rationality arises from our mental model simplification of the real world. Jay Forrester, the pioneer System Dynamicist posited that the pace at which reality changes makes the use of mental model incomplete for solving complex problems as any solution may be counter-intuitive. Under normal circumstances, our attention moves from one signal to another as the perceived importance change and new events unfold. Leaders seeking to solve a problem often make it worse as decisions may provoke reactions. “We have met the enemy, and he is us”.

Corruption may involve cash or economic benefits, power or influence, lesstangible interests. It occurs in both government and the private sectors, in free-market and closed economies and in democratic and nondemocratic governments and societies (Center for International Crime Prevention Paper, United Nation, 2012). Progress assessment indicated that positive factors including increased awareness, transparency, and inclusion of multiple stakeholders cannot out-

weigh negative factors.

Negative factors include: (1) insufficient resources; lack of an approach; political will; donor coordination, and facts about types, levels, location and cost of corruption.

Dudley (2000) study supported multidimensional approach to corruption by using System Dynamics modeling approach.

The article classified four different corruption spectacles: (1) The Red Tape model. A macroeconomic overview of corruption, (2) The Bribe Likelihood model. A detailed look at factors affecting bribe givers and takers, (3) Boss - Employee Relationship model. Issues of interrelatedness within the bribe-taking bureaucracy, (4) Power and Corruption model. Examines the integration of power and abuse of public office by key personnel and their cronies. Evidence presented in this article have shown that System Dynamics modeling present multiplicity of corruption scenarios deeply rooted in many facets of our social dynamics and hierarchies.

A greater understanding increases cognitive abilities needed to construct holistic strategies to win the

battle.

Operationalizing Systems Thinking and System Dynamics principles, methods, and tools in Government could enhance learning, policy making and management, development planning, and good governance. System Dynamics modeling has considerable potential for elucidating corrupt systems and solution. It draws on cognitive and social psychology, economics, and other social sciences to model and solve important real problems as models depict real life systems scenarios.

Additionally, systemic social technology tools, such as transformative scenario planning enables collective seeing of the whole. Drawing from the history of change in South Africa, the Mont Fleur scenarios led by Adam Kahane in 1991-1992 was a remarkable example of a transition to a multiracial democracy without armed or political conflict.

“A change leader is the gate to a new becoming.” ...Anosike, a Leadership and Change Consultant, can be reached on canosike@agenc yconsults.com

Published by FOLIO COMMUNICATIONS LTD, Lateef Jakande Road, Agidingbi, Ikeja. website: www.dailytimes.com.ng; email: info@dailytimes.com.ng. Tel: 018447948. EDITOR: YINKA OLUJIMI News Hotlines: 08138773277, 08173901838. Advert Hotlines: 08169118913, 08075038528

Life&

TIMES Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Lanre

Dabiri

On making the switch from music to technology PL2

Health benefits of

sex L3

P

Effects of drug and alcohol dependency L7

P

Interview L2

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday May 5, 2015

Why I dumped music for the world of technology - Lanre Dabiri means that I want to focus the energy I ought to use on the label on something personal.

-

erything you do and without educa-

people are merely trying to guess whether or not something went your ability to do things right.

Opeoluwani Akintayo and Mutiat Alli

Its all about technology

If you are familiar with Lanre Dabiri, otherwise known as an artiste and also the CEO of Trybes Record label. He was one of the top hip-hop acts in Nigeria before he decide to leave it all for the technology world. Now the founder of PlayData, a technology software that helps to monitor being broadcasted, both on radio and television, he opens up on why he left the entertainment.

Where have you been?

For how long have you been working on it? country. I actually got to a point that I needed to go and be with my partners rather than through emails.

The last time we spoke, you talked about you losing some of your songs and those of your artistes. Could that be why you decided you were tired of music?

That was a long time ago. I am a

partners who are into technology in the UK.

-

much of you in music?

-

with two daughters. I grew up with my dad being around. I was already away from my children more than children to remember them growing up without their father. So I chose to thing that will allow me be with them.

paying for. Sometimes you can pay for a hundred spin and they play below and sometimes they play beyond -

T E A M

to relocate them too. The whole point is that I want them to be around me.

the conference because all that was fect them.

How do you intend to make your fellow entertainers key into PlayData?

-

-

time doing something worthwhile and stop complaining.

So what happened to those acts who were already signed under your label, Trybes Records?

can do other things other than depending on music as your only source of income. What do you have to say to your fellow entertainers who refuse to go to school? school yet are rich because they are yourself something that can guarantee that you can decide to either tilt this way or this way. Education is a

You left your family here?

Life&

ning and most entertainers probably

-

country that much

acts to know how many times their songs are played on airwaves even abroad. How possible is that?

You gave an outstanding speech at the Nigerian Entertainment Conference even without any reference to jotted materials.

Were you trained on public speaking?

-

and go somewhere else because of lem. The solution is called PlayData.

There was a low turnout of artistes at the just concluded NEC where issues that bothers on them were trashed out. What can you say about this?

making much out of music and owning a label?

Owning a record label is business

What if they doubt its workability?

Here is the thing. When you use and listen to the radio then compare it to see when it registers on their ac-

You are almost twice your size now

you want with it. Downplaying school trying to be healthy and in the pro-

ey by letting them go. So that means -

arms became bigger.

with me.

Editor Nkarenyi Ukonu n.ukonu@dailytimes.com.ng 08029030427

Music Correspondent Akintayo Opeoluwani o.ogunjimi@dailytimes.com.ng 08126223784

Movie Correspondent Mutiat Alli m.alli@dailytimes.com.ng 08115557378

Society Correspondent Isaac Oguntoye i.ogundoye@dailytimes.com.ng 08069489893

Photography Quadri Olowolagba q.olowolagba@dailytimes.com.ng 08029745478

Graphics Austine Agbovi a.agbovi@dailytimes.com.ng 07060402397

Daily Times Nigeria

Tuesday May 5, 2015

L3 Relationship heat on your face.

4. Stay for seven – ten minutes. Pat dry your face and then apply the treatment you choose to be your routine beauty treatment. nights a week after the beating your face has received from the elements.

Warning: Try not to splash your face with the boiled water.

Note: If you cannot steam your face, place a face towel in hot water, squeeze and apply to your face. Do this several times to open the pores.

Honey Mask Recipe Apply the honey on the entire face, and leave on for 20 to 30 minutes. use cold water to close the pores.

Facial mask one beaten egg white. night.

Daily face care tips: ing and before bed. Never wear make-up overnight.

life time will be unable to control their Strengthens relationships & improves self esteem: Intimacy from

will cause contractions that will strengthen the muscles which will

happiness in a soothing healthy

and reliable.

sex

Surprising marital and health benefits of

pores; use your favorite facial cleanser. Be gentle with your skin. Allow time for the cleanser to work.

Ngozi Ndubisi

ngozindubisi2013@yahoo.com Just the other day I met with a doctor friend of mine and during our conversation, among other

Helps you sleep better: tive to Sleep, because the hormone (prolactin) that is responsible for the is released.

Boost your libido & ups vaginal lubrication: your libido. For the women, it helps

must do other things like, eating right, staying active, getting

vaginal lubrication. These in turn

prescription for a healthy life but a happy one too.

Lowers the risk of heart attack: amongst married couples help keep heart rate in check, it also helps keep your estrogen and testosterone level on the balance.

Reduces stress: Intimacy brings closeness between couples and this releases a brain chemical that revs up the brain pleasure and help

Burns calories: calories per minute by using several muscles. It certainly cannot replace the gym and all, but it sure counts for something.

Ousts prostate cancer: Every time a husband ejaculates, he keeps prostate cancer away from him, so crease this part of your duty to stay healthy and prostate cancer free.

water, gradually to tepid and cold water to close up the pores and retain the treatment for quick result.

Please keep the mails coming to: ngozindubisi2013@yahoo.com

Fewer colds: Married couples, who

JOKE OF THE DAY

level of immunoglobulin that combats diseases and keep the body

A child went to his mother and asked: Son: Mummy, how were people born?”

Home made natural facial treatments

Mother: Adam and Eve made

I think most of you have read my article on “tips for a complete you” if not, I wonder why you keep asking me for beauty tips. But who am I not to oblige.

Victor, you accused me of only telling the wives how to take care of their bodies for their husbands, as you put it “we men also want to look good for our wives and are too embarrassed to ask.”

These recipes can be used by both men and women; the only difference is that it will have to stay on longer for the men.

Homemade Facial Mask and Scrub Before starting or using any facial face, to open your facial pours. This acts as a natural cleanser and keeps your face forever young.

Lowers blood pressure: Not mas-

babies, and then their babies became adults and made babies, and so on.

The child then went to his father and asked him the same question and the father answered: Father: We were monkeys then we evolved to become like we are now.

The child ran back to his mother and said

Son: Mummy you lied to me, Daddy said we started as monkeys!

Mother: No son, your father was talking about his own side of the family.

Method for face steaming pressure reading) blood pressure. trol: Medical journals say 30 percent of women at some point in their

1. Boil some water, not so hot to burn your face 2. Pour the boiled water into a bowl big enough to envelop your face 3. Make a towel tent over your head (the towel will completely cover your head and the bowl) to catch all the

QUESTION OF THE MONTH Would you like your girl to be the one to propose marriage?

Send your answers by mail to: ngozindubisi2013@yahoo.com

D

Fashion & Style L4

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday May 5, 2015

famous signature pieces

The Wrap Dress by Diane von Furstenberg.

Although designer Elsa Schiaparelli invented the wrap dress during the 1930s, Diane von Furstenberg introduced jersey wrap dresses in 1983. Although Ms. Furstenberg cannot be credited for introducing this style of the dress to the world, she is credited for introducing the knitted jersey fabric in bright bold prints synonymous with the DVF brand. www.dvf. com

simple, accessible and versatile black dress intended for women of all backgrounds and suitable for almost all occasions. Vogue magazine

Eyola

eyola@aol.com

The bridal skirt suit by eyola.

British/Nigerian fashion label Eyola specializes in cocktail dresses and modern alternatives to traditional wedding attire. cludes coloured wedding gowns, minidress wedding dresses and the traditional wedding gown with nature bridal skirt suit. Inspired by an increase in mature brides and a growing trend in couples renewing their vows, Eyola introduced the bridal skirt suit for can be worn again and again after your nuptials, whether sepaskirt suit is reminiscent of Queen Victoria who, after her nuptials to Prince Albert in 1840, redesigned her wedding gown to wear again for a formal occasion. www. eyola.com

Draping by Vionnet.

Inspired by her trip to Rome, where she studied ancient Greek art, Madeleine Vionnet adopted the process of wrapping large lengths of geometric shaped fabric (e.g. squares, circles, triangles) onto the body in the style of the Greek chiton. To achieve this, she cut the fabric diagonally across the grain (known as the bias cut) to produce an elastic drape.

Her unique style characterized fashion in the 1930s, pioneering classic fashion styles and shapes such as handkerchief dresses, halter tops and cowl all” fashion. www.vionnet.com

The little black dress (lbd) by chanel.

A style icon in her own right,

The trench coat by burberry/aquascutum.

The history of the iconic trench coat begins at different times, depending on whether you choose Aquascutum or Burberry.

If you choose Aquascutum, then the history dates back to 1853, when practical, waterproof, wool trench coats were designed for ofan war. Thomas Burberry, on the other hand, invented the cotton gabardine trench

to wear over their uniforms to protect them from wet weather. www.burberry. com; www.aquascutum. com

dress as a “sort of uniform for all women” and it has indeed become a fashion staple for the quilted handbag, another fashion staple.

The mini skirt by mary quant.

The mini skirt was invented

by British designer Mary Quant during the swinging sixties. Before the 1960s, short skirts were only worn by women taking part in sporting activities such as leading and dancing. The mini skirt was named after The Mini. www.maryquant. co.uk

The pencil skirt by dior.

French fashion designer duced the classic modern pencil skirt in the late 1940s using the term “H-Line” to describe its shape. A stark contrast tion, the full-skirted “New Look” A-Line skirt, the narrow and sits just below the knee. After the Second World War, the pencil skirt became a staple item for women particularly for www.dior.com

The word “denim” is named after a French town called de Nimes, while “jeans” owes its name to the French phrase “blue de genes” translated to “blue of Genoa”. Although sailors have worn jeans since the 1500s, Levis Strauss is credited to creating the modern and signature style of denim jeans. His aim was to supply miners with a durable work uniform during the gold rush boom of the 1870s. By the 1950s denim jeans saw a surge in popularity thanks to Hollywood stars wearing them on screen. www.levistrauss.com

Daily Times Nigeria

Tuesday May 5, 2015

L5

Kiddies World L6

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday May 5, 2015

Opeoluwani Akintayo

Know your heroes/heroines Ways to encourage eating in kids

General Murtala Muhammed

Start very small. Are you sure you are not giving your child a giant bowl of food? Maybe

then increase at subsequent meals. At home, you can encourage your child to eat by saying

Stick with it.

Cut down on snacks and drinks.

foods because they are hungry.

Invite an adventurous friend. Children tend to to introduce new foods at lunch or dinner because

vite their friends over and serve them with those new foods.

Why yelling doesn’t work Children may be sometimes annoying that

yelling. A study conducted by the University

What yelling can cause

General Murtala Ramat Mu hammed was born on November 8, 1938, and died on February 13, 1976. He was a military ruler (Head of the Federal Military Government) of Nigeria from 1975 until his assas sination in 1976.

which may very well have been in the

dren. Children feel angrier with yelling and see the need to continually defend themselves. Chil dren who are being yelled at lose the emotional

Commander of the Nigerian Armed

How to get them to obey you

Muhammed who wanted the role of

doing hurts you and why they should change.

However, as Gowon was militarily his the Nigerian Army, brought normal

with you.

federal cabinet into handing over the helms of government to him. How ever, Many northerners saw this and

had been an acting Lt. Colonel till

in Nigeria. He ruled from June 30,

night of July 29, 1966, northern sol

on the current N20 currency.

He died at age 37.

Poem

from the British and American advi sors, he caved in. Gowon rewarded All Things Bright and Beautiful

By Cecil Frances Alexander All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small, All things wise and wonderful, The Lord God made them all.

Each little bird that sings, He made their glowing colors, He made their tiny wings.

The river running by, The sunset, and the morning, The cold wind in the winter,

He made them every one.

He gave us eyes to see them, How great is God Almighty, Who has made all things well.

Colour me, please

Daily Times Nigeria

Tuesday May 5, 2015

L7 Teen’s World

Parents-children relationship

Effects and signs of drug and alcohol dependency Pt 2 Ngozi Ndubuisi

ngozindubisi2013@yahoo.com Addiction can start for a variety of reasons; from experimental use to dependency prescription use, to wanting to be high. Hard drugs are scary with high potential for abuse, severe addiction or death.

Drug dependency involves all the symptoms of drug abuse with an added element of physical dependence.

Withdrawal effect: As the drugs wear off, you experience withdrawal symptoms such as any or more than one of these: anxiety, shakiness, jumpiness, trembling, sweating, nausea and vomiting, depression, loss of appetite, insomnia, headaches, fever, hallucination seizures etc. Using drugs to avoid or stop any of these symptoms is a sign of addiction. In severe cases of withdrawal could be life threatening.

scription drugs. If the more you take the more you want, then you are an addict.

Unsuccessfully wanting to quit or cut down and not being able to no matter how much you try, shows you are an addict.

it is generating for you.

How to help yourself or a friend overcome drug or alcohol abuse tions that trigger the urge to use by:

Loss of control: Using more

need help

and more drugs than you need to and for longer than intended, despite promising yourself not to any more, makes you an addict.

ting. E.g. limits on drug usage or quitting date and stick to it

Neglect of important activities: Spending less and less time on things that are of great value to you, because of your usage of drugs.

It steals your time, energy and focus: Much time is spent

Tolerance: This means needing

thinking, doing and recovering from drugs. Not interested in getting involved in anything outside drugs or drug related

more drugs overtime to feel or have the same effect as before. Needing increased dosage in terms of pre-

Continuity despite damaging consequences: Continued

clubs quaintances that indulge and lure you in again seeking medical treating or attending meetings or seminars where alcohol is served

Like my mother would say: “Your life is in your hands; tread wisely and be the master of all!”

use even in the face of the problem

Teenager

Music & Movie Chart Opeoluwani Akintayo and Mutiat Alli

Top 10 music chart

Nigeria

1. Tiwa Savage- My Darlin 2. Kiss Daniel – Woju 3. Falz Ft. Yemi Alade- Marry Me 4. Mavin- Looku Looku 5. Iyanya- Finito 6. Korede Bello- God Win 7. Phyno- Yayo 8. Olamide- Falila Ketan 9. M.I Ft Moti- Bad Belle 10. Charass Ft. Davido & PhynoCoco Butter

Top 10 music chart

International

1. Wiz Khalifa Feat. Charlie Puth See You Again 2. Mark Ronson Feat. Bruno Mars Uptown Funk 3. Ellie Goulding Love Me Like You Do 4. Omi Cheerleader 5. Maroon 5 Sugar 6. Jason Derulo Want To Want Me 7. Walk The Moon Shut Up And Dance 8. Major Lazer Feat. DJ Snake & MO Lean On 9. Rihanna, Kanye West & Paul McCartney FourFiveSeconds 10. The Weeknd Earned It (Fifty Shades Of Grey)

Top 10 movie chart

English

1. Ewatomi 2. Bella 3. Oro Ala 4. Imule Oku 5. Orin Ayo 6. Igbagbo 7. Oyinkansola 8. Egbon Mi Owon 9. Olowo Kokoro 10. Olakanmi

Top 10 movie chart

International

1. Furious 7 2. The Age of Adaline 3. Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 4. Ex Machina 5. Unfriended 6. Home (2015) 7. Get Hard 8. Woman In Gold 9. The Longest Ride 10.

Monkey Kingdom

L8 Television

Daily Times Nigeria

Tuesday May 5, 2015

Showing on

Showing on

165 Z WORLD Channel

105 M-net Movie Family

16:00

00:53 Tue, 5 May | PG13

Tue, 5 May | 16L

This religious drama looks at a grief-stricken 13-year-old girl who, through her faith and with the help of a Jewish synagogue, rises up to ful-

An embattled senior executive sexually harasses a colleague. She resists and in the confusion, accidentally cuts his face with a shard of glass from a broken vase. Bollit Patience Barshep, Abel Dachomo, Igwe Emmanuel, Jennifer Ayomoh, Alfred Baker Mgbejume, Mbasiti J Jesse. (2013) Anchor Yusuf.

101 M-Net West

120 BBC Entertainment

118 Telemundo

128 SONY MAX

00:30 The Del Monte Dynasty 01:20 The Impostor

05:20 The Del Monte Dynasty

03:05 EastEnders

08:40 The Impostor

06:00 The Middle

03:35 QI 16:00 EastEnders

00:20 Most Shocking 01:20 Kenny vs Spenny

05:00 Spy 10:30 Mom

05:25 QI

12:50 The Impostor

17:15 QI 03:15 Impractical Jokers 03:40 Most Shocking

06:30 EastEnders 19:15 Downton Abbey

14:00 The Blacklist

20:15 Blackadder II

17:00 The Impostor -

17:00 Mike & Molly

21:30 Miranda

lionaire?

05:25 Exposed 05:50 Exposed 06:15 Video Zonkers 06:40 Video Zonkers

21:10 The Impostor

155 AfricaMagicWorld 155 AfricaMagic Family 11:00 Tinsel 12:00 Music

07:55 Most Shocking 09:25 Most Shocking 10:25 Most Shocking 11:25 Video Zonkers 11:55 Video Zonkers

13:25 Most Shocking -

00:00 Tinsel

mas 14:00 Prem 14:30 53 Extra

08:35 Prem

mas

Africa 01:30 The Dzigbordi Show

04:00 Music

Africa

-

-

mas 19:00 Tinsel

Africa Prince

16:40 Video Zonkers 17:10 Video Zonkers

Africa

19:00 Most Shocking 20:00 The Boondocks

Africa 04:30 Prem

mas

14:30 53 Extra 15:00 Kakibe Ki

19:00 Prem 12:00 Jara 12:30 Jara 13:00 Series TBA 14:00 53 Extra

22:00 Kenny vs Spenny 22:30 Tool Academy

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Tech Times

s

TT 1

Inye Kemabonta, Editor, Tech Times inye@technologylaw.com.ng

The Positive Economic Impact of Crime

Advancement in technology and society is such that new industries and professions not imagined today will spring up in just a few years to come.

Life and living are already ‘incubating’ a myriad of such professions. But among the major catalysts of new industries will be crime, especially cybercrime.

Crime more than any other vice has been the catalyst for countless industries. The fact that every house has a lockable door is due in fact to the nuisance of the common thief. A simple door and lock keep a petty thief at bay. Today the door and locks industry, even though from a simple concept centuries ago is a multi-billion dollar industry. There are all kinds of security doors, bulletproof and all. There are all kinds of locks, including those made especially to the specifications of the American TSA. It is doubtful that anybody imagined that locks could be so important in everyday living. But the simple concept, just like the office clip, has changed the world and pro-

vided employment to millions of persons.

Also, banking has some of its roots in the need to keep personal savings secure but the industry has grown into unimaginable dimensions since the early days. In fact the security industry whether at home or office, in a car or airplane, in government or private sector has an inestimable value.

Law enforcement is the major concern of all governments in the world. That sector is among the highest employers of labor. Imagine the number of persons employed by the Police Force, SSS, DMI, EFCC, ICPC, Civil Defense, etc. No one has really stopped to calculate the ‘positive’ economic impact of crime. Take a look at the efforts to make airport terminals and other transport terminals safe. All the body scanning machines, handheld and fixed.

Their manufacture translates to big time job opportunities and huge investment returns to shareholders.

Information Technology has had its fair share of businesses

which have been spun from the need to keep criminals at bay.

The anti-malware industry is mind boggling both in size and numbers. Part of the real impact is the emergence of whole new professions, experts and outright industries. Many of the professions were totally unimaginable fifty years ago and from the time of mainframe computers to the arrival of personal computers and mobile devices.

The real lessons to learn is that crime follows technology.

Any effort to improve living is twisted by criminals. Cars were invented to ease mobility and transportation. Soon after, carjacking was invented. Cars also became not just objects of crime but also objects for crime.

In other words, criminals also devised a means to use cars to commit offense. Hit and run drivers emerged. Cars became a faster means of escape from a crime scenes. Same thing happened to airplanes. The civilized world is unlikely to forget 9-11 and the World Trade Center.

The story is not different for

the ICT industry. If Obama’s email account can be compromised, one can only imagine what the ordinary citizens are exposed to on a daily basis.

What is surprising is not that criminals always find a negative use for technology. That is a time-worn practice. The real surprise is that the security industry is not ‘mutating’ half as fast as the criminal minds. In Nigeria, banks’ email accounts and websites are perennially cloned by fraudsters to defraud unsuspecting customers. Every now and then spam mails hit customers’ mail boxes requesting them to update their account details or lose access.

Some send false mails suggesting that customers’ accounts have been compromised and can only be reactivated if the unsuspecting customers could log into phony web links to update and secure their accounts.

These are just a few of the financial crimes linked to the use of ICT. And this is where the Nigerian IT Agency, NITDA is very critical.

Last year, NITDA completed

work on the Guidelines for Digital Forensics. A year earlier the Agency set up one of Nigeria’s first CERRTs (Computer Emergency Readiness and Response Team) with digital forensic capabilities. No doubt, a national CERRT is sorely needed. There are so many potentials for it.

However, it is not too early to begin the preparations for the emergence of a whole new set of professionals in the ICT and law enforcement industries.

The time is actually ripe for a set of law enforcement agents to be called digital detectives.

If there can be a mobile police force, why not a digital policemen? There is absolutely no reason why our universities and security training schools cannot elevate digital forensics to a degree program. Universities can begin to graduate digital detectives. With the level of fraud experiences in banks, these new professionals if and when they emerge, would hardly be unemployed. NITDA can and should show the way!

Inye Kemabonta, inye@ technologylaw.com.ng

Tech Times TT 2

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Samsung to commission first Digital Village

ALTON advocates internal self regulation to check anti market practice Participants at TOSSE event in Lagos, recently.

TOOSE 2015 set to drive innovative products, services

Kim, CEO Samsung Electronics, West-Africa

Stories by Tony Nwakaegho Samsung Electronics West Africa plans to commission the first Digital Village in the Oban community located in the Akamkpa Local Government Area of the Cross River State in Nigeria on May 7, 2015.

The project is part of the company’s strategic Corporate Citizenship program billed to provide the community access to innovative healthcare, educational needs and increase their economic potential.

Commenting the unique features of this project, Managing Director of Samsung Electronics West Africa Brovo Kim, said that the Samsung Digital Village is innovative in its design due to the provision of alternative energy, which has remained a key challenge to Nigeria in implementing such initiatives in rural communities.

“The Digital Village demonstrates our innovative approach to investing in people and their communities. This initiative offers a complete educational infrastructure, comprehensive healthcare solution and power generation capabilities that will spur the growth of small businesses and harness the energy of the sun to minimise running costs, among others,” Kim said.

The Digital Village consists of five key integrated solutions which includes a Solar Powered Internet School, Solar Powered

Tele-Medical Centre, Solar Powered Dental and Blood Analysis Clinic, a Solar Power Generator, as well as an Administrative Centre put together to benefit the community in the delivery of health care services, education and employment.

The Solar Powered Internet School consists of a container fully equipped with complete education curriculum and smart school technology that seats 24 students, providing them with access to education using interactive technology.

The Solar Powered Tele-Medical Centre is equipped with ear, eye and mother and child assessing facilities, while the Dental and Blood Analysis Clinic has a state-of-the-art blood analysis machine for on-the-spot diagnosis, as well as tools to treat dental complications.

The centre which is specifically designed for rural areas, offers professional medical treatment, quick medical diagnosis and health education, thereby minimizing the need for rural dwellers to travel to urban areas for medical attention.

A Solar Power Generator that does not emit pollutants and has negligible maintenance cost has also been deployed to supply power to the host community to boost small businesses in the area, while the Administrative Centre will serve as the coordinating hub for all the Digital Village activities in the Oban community.

The 7th Total School Support Seminar/Exhibition (TOSSE) is set to drive several innovative products and services from both local and international exhibitors in order to create significant changes in Africa’s education sector.

The Project Coordinator of the show, Ms Laura Agali made this known to newsmen, stressing that the TOSSE is a flagship show where global innovative solutions to teaching and education management annually makes an entry into Africa.

“The world of education is continually experiencing significant improvement in terms of teaching enhancement tools. These and many more changes would be open to all educators that would converge at the Ten Degrees Event Centre in Lagos on the 11th and 12th of June,” Agali said.

Visitors to the show last year witnessed the introduction of the first STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) academic and career planning solution. Another new introduction was The Smart School Solution; a product that enables instant sharing of screen content from the teacher’s tablet or PC screen to the E-board and students’ personal devices. Infrared and ultrasound positioning technology was also on display as a mobile interactive device which instantly enables traditional whiteboard with interactive capacity was introduced to the African market.

Agali pointed out that over 100 exhibitors representing over 40 business segments would be present at TOSSE 2015 including: technology, furniture, security, finance, apparel, publishing, insurance, health, travel agencies, education management/development consultants, sporting equipment, toys, and allied products among others.

Chairman Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) Engr. Gbenga Adebayo said the only way of addressing anti market practice in the telecom industry in Nigeria is to focus on internal self regulation.

Adebayo stated this at the extra-ordinary Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in Lagos adding that one of the strengths of ALTON is internal self-regulation without waiting for Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to sanction its members.

“We have had a cause to caution our members when it is observed that they are implementing anti market policy. This is why operators have not been sanction for any other reason except for quality of service (QoS) which we have continually argued is beyond the control of operators,” Adebayo said.

He attributed the significant improvement in the quality of service recorded across the various networks since 2013 to the members’ continuous investment in network elements to enhance good quality of services across the national network.

“ALTON has continued to advocate other factors affecting quality of services such as unlawful closure of base transceiver station (BTS) sites by State Agencies and issues of multiple taxation and regulation. Towards

Adebayo, ALTON Chairman

the last quarter of 2014, the NCC stepped up media campaign in the print media to sensitize the public on the impact of illegal closure of sites on telecom quality of services,” he added.

He emphasized that the feedback they received from their members in 2014 on illicit demands made by different levels of government and interference with members’ activities and operation in certain areas indicated that such action is on the rise.

“The Association has continued to take very strong position on these issues with different agencies of government, local and state level authorities and we continue to solicit the intervention of critical stakeholders including the Minister of Communications Technology, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the Attorney General and Minister of Justices, the National Security Adviser and National Assembly to plead for their intervention,” the ALTON Chairman said.

He explained that part of the end product of ALTON’s consultation is the State Smart Initiative being spear headed by the Minister of Communications Technology and the engagement of the NCC with Nigeria Environmental Regulatory Agency (NESRA) on oversight regulatory functions.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 5, 2015

NiRA opens .ng domain name under ‘i.ng’ Zone – Udeagu Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) has added a new boost to the cyberspace with the registration of new domain names under the ‘.i.ng’ zone.

Chief Operating Officer (COO) and head of the Secretariat of Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA), Edith Udeagu made this known in a statement to the press, adding that the new zone was introduced in April to serve as another platform in promoting the .ng ccTLD and growth of .ng domain names across Nigeria and beyond.

“NiRA is calling on individuals and organizations, local and international, private and public, to register domain names under

Lenovo WRITEit technology improves handwriting on PCs, tablets

Udeagu

the new ‘.i.ng’ zone.

“The offer price for domain names under this zone is same as domain names under the third level. Please contact NiRA Accredited Registrars,” she said.

Commenting on “.i.ng” domain name, the COO said, “it is to serve as another platform in promoting the .ng ccTLD and growth of .ng domain names across Nigeria and beyond. The new zone “.i.ng” enhances the possibility of serving specific individual trades and/or interest groups”.

She cited example of such

African leaders urged to sustain economic growth by training youths-Experts

Reshef

TT 3 Tech Times

domain names to include: ‘excit.i.ng’, ‘school.i.ng’, ‘danc.i.ng’, etc.

She explained that “.i.ng” zone is an approved NIRA zone for the Internet users, adding that domain names under this zone can enhance your brand name and business, as all domain names registered under the “.i.ng” zone are as secured as domain names registered under other approved zones.

“We are Bring.i.ng out the uniqueness of .ng! NIRA keeps you shin.i.ng,” she added.

Stories by Tony Nwakaegho International experts have beckoned on African Leaders to heed the clarion call to “leapfrog the shackles of convention” as they approach a major education conference next month, in order to ensure that African economic growth is sustained by adequately trained young people.

This statement credited to Shai Reshef, a leading global education entrepreneur is coming on the heels of Africa’s leading conference on technology and learning, eLearning Africa, as the continent prepares to celebrate its tenth anniversary next month in Addis Ababa with a typically diverse and challenging agenda.

The programme for this year’s eLearning Africa, which is being co-organised by the African Union (AU) and co-hosted by the Government of Ethiopia, reflects the extraordinary breadth and pace of change underway in African education – and the challenge for new technology-based solutions to meet Africa’s growing demand for high quality education and training.

The programme for the conference, which is published online is packed full of presentations on how technology and learning are changing the African continent.

A major focus of the conference will be on the role technology-assisted learning can play in helping to develop the skills vital for the future of Africa, by

Lenovo’s WRITEit, an innovative new software application that improves and makes the handwriting experience on select pen-enabled devices better has been launched.

Lenovo’s WRITEit transforms pen writing to a truly useful, practical solution for entering input and allows users to write nearly anywhere they can type.

It works across select Lenovo Windows® 8 devices with digitizer, active pen or AnyPen technology and provides real-time feedback and correction.

All these advantages encourage more opportunities for users to write with a pen rather than type on a keyboard, giving them a continuous, faster and more accurate experience.

Freedom to Write Nearly Anywhere Unlike the handwriting experience on many devices today, WRITEit lets users write their input directly into virtually any text field that accepts typed input, even if the field is in an app

without native pen support.

For example, users can write search terms directly in a browser to quickly search the web instead of using the on-screen keyboard. WRITEit also works well for emails, social media, online forms and more.

WRITEit Right WRITEit works in the background as users are writing and converts handwriting to text characters in real time.

Speedy writers will love the automatic suggestion tool that offers alternatives to unrecognized words, helping to catch typos and getting text right the first time.

A collection of gesture commands also makes editing easy.

Vice President, Ecosystem and Monetization Business Group, Lenovo, Mr. Mark Cohen said, “While touch technology has fundamentally changed the way consumers use their PCs and other devices today, handwriting technology has lagged behind, until now with WRITEit.’’

equipping young Africans with entrepreneurial expertise, supporting capacity development in key sectors such as health, and assisting a new generation of entrepreneurs to develop innovative solutions in the education technology sector.

Other key themes for the conference will include the development and promotion of African research, boosting international cooperation in the education sector between African countries and the rest of the world, and the expansion of open education resources and tools.

Sessions at the conference will feature presentations on the use of mobile applications for health professionals, the use of ‘gamification’ to bridge the skills and learning gap, an in-depth examination of the latest statistics on ICT in education in Africa, the role of education technology in empowering Africa’s female farmers, online African language learning, removing digital illiteracy, and developing the role of the librarian.

Some of the world’s leading experts on education and technology will attend eLearning Africa and keynote speakers will include Mark Surman, Executive Director of the Mozilla Foundation, makers of Firefox, and Shai Reshef, the founder and President of the University of the People, among others.

Shai Reshef, a leading global education entrepreneur once said that “Africa overtook the

first world nations by taking up mobile technology at a far accelerated rate. The continent’s leaders now need to do the same with higher education and leapfrog the shackles of convention to bring higher education over the internet to meet the massive demand from its burgeoning youth population. Although there are close to 300 million internet users in Africa, there is only about a five per cent tertiary enrolment ratio in sub-Saharan Africa, compared to an average of 70 per cent in high-income countries.

“Online education will make the revolution in traditional higher education, similar to that which the cellphone made with the revolution in communications.” eLearning Africa is the continent’s largest and most influential conference on technologyassisted learning and training.

Every year, it brings together over 1,500 people from nearly 100 countries, providing a unique forum for dialogue, networking, exchange of ideas and initiatives in the field of technology and learning.

Chief Executive of ICWE GmbH, Rebecca Stromeyer, whose company is co-organising the event expressed her delight to be back in Addis Ababa for the tenth anniversary and to be working with the African Union and the Government of Ethiopia on this important international event.

Tech Times TT 4

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Nigerian IT firms push for $32bn data centre market

Omobola

IT stakeholders express reservation on NATCOM ability to revive NITEL Stories by Tony Nwakaegho Stakeholders in the country’s telecommunications industry have expressed their reservation on the ability of NATCOM the new owners of Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) and its subsidiary Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTEL) to revive the distressed national carrier.

This is coming as fallout of the recent approval given by the federal government to hand over NITEL/MTEL facilities to NATCOM consortium having completed the payment of $252.251million cost of acquisition.

Chairman, Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) Gbenga Adebayo, said he don’t have details of the transaction and NATCOM Consortium’s financial strength, adding that being able to raise the sum they bided shows they are serious to compete in the telecom market.

Adebayo affirmed that NITEL/MTEL under the present owners will now be late starters and urged them to create impact through innovative and value added services to attract subscribers to its network.

He explained that NATCOM has to carry out a complete re-engineering of NITEL’s infrastructure as some of the loop may have been blocked or destroyed by as a result of road constructions, and solicited for the support of Nigerians to help them survive the stiff competitive telecom market.

O his part, immediate past

president, Association Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) and group managing director, Teledom Group Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, said that NATCOM Consortium has a opportunity of surviving in the already crowded telecom market in the country and encouraged them to focus on providing landline which is currently none existence in the country.

“We should remember that NITEL has telephone exchanges in almost all the local government across the country, although, some of the cable and switches may be obsolete, but the real estate, towers, racks and power cable are still useful,” he said.

He urged NATCOM Consortium to look inward by providing Nigerians fibre to home service that can give people access to broadband and cable television.

Speaking in the same vein, the President, National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers of Nigeria (NATCOMS) Deolu Ogunbanjo, said that NATCOM Consortium need to concentrate more on its unique selling preposition which is landline service that also goes along with broadband service.

“They are coming at a time when the policy guideline required for broadband penetration has been established by the minister of Communications Technology.

It is only for them to key in to the policy through investment in that area. They should look at Etisalat model that surprised everybody,” Ogunbanjo said.

Information Technology firms in Nigeria are pushing to occupy space in the cloud IT infrastructure market following the massive data centre operators jostling for shares of the juicy market estimated to grow by 21per cent in 2015 A data centre is a dedicated space where companies can keep and operate most of the ICT infrastructure that supports their business.

Presently, the top 10 operators in Nigeria include: 21st Century Technologies, Rack Center, Vodacom Business, Computer Warehouse Group (CWG), MainOne, and MTN Business Lagos Datacenter, Globacom, Lagos Datacenter and Broadbased Datacenter.

Most of data centres have achieved Tier III Certification.

International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Cloud IT Infrastructure Tracker remarks in terms of benefits accruable to the investors and the market indicates that total cloud IT infrastructure spending including server, disk storage, and ethernet switch, will grow by 21per cent year-over-year to $32 billion in 2015, accounting for approximately 33 per cent of all IT infrastructure spending, which will be up from about 28 per cent in 2014.

Private cloud IT infrastructure, mostly data centres, spending will grow by 16 per cent year-over-

year to $12 billion, while public cloud IT infrastructure spending will grow by 25 per cent in 2015 to $21 billion.

For the full year 2014, cloud IT infrastructure spending total is $26.4 billion, up by 18.7 per cent year over year from $22.3 billion; private cloud spending was just under $10.0 billion, up by 20.7 per cent year over year, while public cloud spending was $16.5 billion, up 17.5 per cent year over year.

According to the Chief Executive Officer, MTN Nigeria Michael Ikpoki, “the Tier III Certification award mirrors the depth of investment in our network infrastructure. With this, our enterprise customers can be assured that all elements of the critical infrastructure in our data centre are capable of enterprise-grade performance in terms of power, security, cooling and disaster mitigation in the event of a fire outbreak”.

Chief Executive Officer, CWG Plc Mr. Austin Okere, highlighting on the future direction of the company, tagged CWG 2.0, said, “We consider the refocusing of our business into a subscription based model as a dual advantage play. In addition to being a more sustaining strategy, it maximizes our social impact investing on the economy of Africa, and helps to create jobs by empowering entrepreneurs. This in essence defines the new CWG Plc, which we have

Mba

As the country prepares to switch from analogue to digital, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has engaged Inview Technology to provide the country’s national digital TV system.

This engagement includes the provision of set-top box software and integrated broadcast services for Nigeria’s Freeview and Freesat digital terrestrial and satellite networks.

NBC’s services will include interactive advertising, push

christened CWG 2.0”.

The IDC report put the Cloud IT infrastructure spending by 2019 to be $52 billion, or 45 per cent of total IT infrastructure spend; public cloud will represent about $32 billion of that amount, and private cloud will account for the remaining $20 billion.

Okere

NBC engages Inview Technology to provide national digital TV system

video-on-demand, an electronic programme guide, and a range of broadcasting applications such as news, public service information and audience measurement services.

According to the Director General NBC, Emeka Mba, “Thirteen companies originally bid for the digital TV system and we are confident that by appointing Inview we can provide a smooth switchover to digital terrestrial broadcasting, and

create the biggest TV platform in the African continent”.

On his part, Chairman of Inview Technology, Nick Markham, said: “NBC are being extremely forward thinking in their planning for digital switch-over in Nigeria. Inview’s technology allows upgraded services from launch of digital TV straight through to highend hybrid services and future proof the Nigerian DSO platform.”

Pacquiao

Poster!

eyes rematch with Mayweather

OGENYI ONAZI

X2,3

31

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Ramires hospitalized with kidney problem

X4

FABREGAS

eyes more cup glory X4

Juve

seek to revive Italian fortune 30

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Tuesday, May 5, 2015

EXTRATIME

Philippe

Coutin

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

EXTRATIME

nho Personal Information Full name: Date of birth: Place of birth: Height: Playing position: Current team: Number: 10

Youth career 1999–2008:

Philippe Coutinho Correia June 12, 1992 (age 22) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 1.71 m (5 ft 7 1⁄2 in) Attacking midfielder/Winge r Liverpool

Vasco da Gama

Senior career 2009–2010: 2010–2013: 2012: 2013–Present:

Vasco da Gama Inter Milan Espanyol (loan) Liverpool

National team 2009: 2011–2012: 2010–Present:

Brazil U-17 Brazil U-20 Brazil

X3

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Tuesday, May 5, 2015

EXTRATIME

EXTRATIME

CHELSEA

Ramires hospitalized with kidney problem

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helsea midfielder Ramires has been hospitalised after suffering problems with his kidneys, according to reports.

The Brazilian was originally included in Jose Mourinho‘s starting XI for the Crystal Palace game on Sunday at Stamford Bridge, but he was withdrawn from the squad before kick-off with Juan Cuadrado

taking his place.

According to reports, the midfielder spoke to Chelsea‘s medical team before the game and admitted that he felt sick and didn’t feel well enough to compete.

After speaking to the medical staff, Ramires was sent straight to hospital and according to reports, it’s a problems with his kidneys.

Ramires

After the game, Mourinho said: “He went to the hospital. He was feeling so bad we had to take him out of the dressing room. He was feeling really bad.”

However, Chelsea eventually went on to win the game 1-0 thanks to an Eden Hazard goal and the three points were enough to secure The Blues’ fifth league title.

I will stay as long as Abramovich wants –Mourinho

J Mourinho

ose Mourinho says that he will stay at Chelsea to win more trophies, as long as owner Roman Abramovich wants him in charge.

Mourinho’s team won their fifth top flight title on Sunday, their third under the Portuguese boss, as they claimed the double following Capital One Cup final success in March.

Despite winning six trophies in three years during his first stint at the club between 2004-07 Mourinho fell out with Abramovich and departed “by mutual consent” in September 2007.

However, he returned in June 2013 and has now pledged to remain at Stamford Bridge until he is told otherwise. “I will stay here as long as Abramovich wants me,” he said. “The day he tells me to go, I go.

“Remember, he is the man who won every title at Chelsea. If he has all the replicas, he needs a big house.”

FABREGAS eyes more cup glory C

Fabregas

esc Fabregas is targeting more success with Chelsea next season and believes the Blues can win the Champions League.

Fabregas celebrated winning the Premier League title after Jose Mourinho’s side secured a 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, but he already has an eye on the future.

The 28-year-old Spaniard joined Chelsea from Barcelona last summer, having previously spent eight years with Arsenal, and has played a key role in the Blues’ first title in five years.

Chelsea, who also won the Capital One Cup in March, led from the opening round of fixtures and Fabregas insists that consistency is what set them apart from their title rivals.

“The Premier League has always been a trophy that I wanted to get in my career. Hopefully it will be the first of many,” Fabregas enthused.

Lampard

Lampard congratulates Chelsea on title win

Blues title parade holds May 25

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helsea have announced plans for a parade on May 25 to celebrate winning the English Premier League and Capital One Cup this season.

Sunday’s 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace gave Chelsea an unassailable lead at the top of the table and a first EPL title in five years.

A statement on the club’s official website read: “Following our success in winning the Premier League and with agreement from London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham, Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea and the Metropolitan Police, we can confirm that a victory parade will be held on Bank Holiday Monday, May 25, commencing at 12 p.m.’’

The first-team squad will be joined on the open-top bus parade through West London by players and staff from Chelsea’s academy, who this season won the FA Youth Cup and UEFA Youth League.

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anchester City midfielder Frank Lampard has congratulated former club Chelsea after Jose Mourinho’s side secured the Premier League title.

The Blues beat Crystal Palace 1-0 at Stamford Bridge to secure their first title in five years, and Lampard has sent a message on Instagram to the club he left behind this past summer.

Lampard, of course, completed a surprise loan move to Manchester City at the start of the campaign, however is still regarded by many as a Chelsea legend.

And, despite plying his trade for the Citizens, the ex-England man certainly seems pleased by the club’s achievements under the guidance of Mourinho this term.

Writing on Insatgram, the veteran stated: “A massive congratulations to all my old teammates and friends at @chelseafc for winning the Premier League. A huge achievement and well deserved by everyone at the club.”