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THE GUARDL\N, Wednesda)lAugustt,20I2
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8abangida rules out military threat to democracy From Madu 0ruJrah, ijxJja
"J1iOllGH he an::! President .l Olusegun Ob~sanjo on Sunday raised alarm OVl!r me rising inSKU rity in d~ coun· try, lioweVl!r. the (ormer m iU· till)' Presidenl, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida.,,)'estenlay said that the nation s Ilerrocracy was on a strong footing ana faced no dJnger from Ihe military: This non·lntelfen-nce posnue taken by the military, Babangida stated, WilS borne out of the (Rlnlng senior mtH· tary officers ~elved at the National Defence College {NDCl. Abufa on me need to sustain demccra.:y and also "out of enlighten,!(j self·lnter-
"t" Babanglda, who was the guest speaker at the gradua· tlon of Course 20 and akbra· tion of the 20th anniversaryof [he NDC, explained the es5f'nce of the college In [he consolidation of the nation's democracy, noting that ir had raised "a crio(.;11 maSs of sen· ior military officers who are committM to democracy and that in itself faci litate:s national development.~ Spe.1king on the topic !he Creation of National Defence College: 20 years after,~ Babanglda, whose govern· ment esnblished the college on June t6, 1992, tasked me
nation's political leaders to give more recognition and patronise the col1~e as the leading lnst1rutlon In providing sofutions on secunty and deTence Issues to me govern~ot
Stating that the college has contributed to nationafdeVl!l· opment through inrulatlng die core values an d ethics that support democratic rule, Babanglda said: "I can say without equivocation thatour democracy faces no danger from the military. This is because long before Nigeria rerumed [0 democratic rule, military officers who passed through this college were pre-
pared for life of service under ctvillan leadership and con· trol. Thus, by the time International panners were falling ovu themsel\ICs to give lessons In clvll·milltary relations within [he democratic context, most senior officers In the Armed Forces knew that because they learned this at the college. "Ironically, It seemed that it was the new civilian political masters who needed to learn from these lessons. It Is no wonder that the military has finnly kept 10 Its professlonal duties because this Is right, and also oul of enlightened self.lnteresL The colfege has
helped r.alse ~ criliGii mass of seruOT officers who are comm itted to democracy and that In itself facilitates national developmenL~
Acrordi ng to him, "the college needs to be patronised by the relevant anns of government as Is the GlSt' In other parts of the world. Defence colleges and unlrerslties are held in high esteem ~nd are listened to, by the govern· men ts, which own them [n this respect. the National Assembly should be interact· ing more closeJywlth me NDC to use ilS services to assist in thelr work non defence and ~rity.~
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Nigerians dominate Soyinka's literary prize B~
Allot_ AjelUOf'IIU
A GAIN, Ni~eria is in the lead n n AfrIca s coreted literary prize, the Wole Soy/nka Prill' for Uterature In AfiiCil, worth
~~~~~~'or b~~ iM~i~,~~~~
winner of the Nnhel Prize for Uterature. [n the listofl5 writ· ers named yesterday, eightare Nigerians in a prize already dominated by Nigerians since Inception In 200S. The prize Is in Its founh edition. The writers are Tanure Ojalde { TheBeiluCYfhilVl!5ern~ Toyin Adewale-Gabriel (Bi((er Choro/ilre), Hyginus Ekwuazi ( That
Other
Country),
Belgium.based Chlka Unigwe (On BI,}Ck Sister's SUft't) and Dike Ogu Chukwumer1je ( T1Ie Afrlc.1n-Aml"rican). Others are
Machi
Adlmora·Ezelgbo
( Roses ilnd Bullets), Odill Ujubuonu {Pride of the Spider
danbe
and
Olushola
O~t~e:~~~rl~s~f~~sl-he
rest of Africa include Kgebetli Moe[e (The Hookof(he Ikad). Bridget rit (Thl" Unsl"en l.ropard). siflso Mzobe (Young Blood), Marie Heese (The ColourofPow~~ H.J. Golak.J1 LlZarus Effl"ct), Sue Rabie Fallout) and Aria Salafranca The Thin line). The restt:andl· dates ,lfe from Uberia, South Africa, Mali, Uganda, The Gambia and Kenya..
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Farm village underway in Rive f S From Kelvin Eblrl, Port- Harcourt ETERMINED to divers ify its economy, the Rivers State
D
rl::ltlo~d~~~~s~ra~ fs~~li
Seaetary to the GOYII'lHfter'll of the FederaTion, Anyim Pius Anvim (left): Minister of State fDr Finance, Yerima Ngarna: and Olreclor·Gentlral, Budgel OWee, Brighl Okogu, III Jolnl SenaI8 Comminee on Approprtalkln and FinancelnteractMI Session on thlllmplemmtll.tlon 0'2012 Bud,., in AbUja...yeslftd~,.
Minister urges farmers, govt partnership in food production '1..fINISTER o f Agticulture, IVlAdewunml I . .deslna, has charged f"n ners to ensure that they complement FWeral Go1:ernment's efforts to boo~~ food production In th t country. Adesina gave lh,! charge yeste rday In Awk1 during me flag--off of th ~ disbursement of NI billion Comm~rclal Agricultural Credit Scheme (C".ACS ) to fanners by GoverT.or Peter ObI. The minister, who was represented by Mr. Uclie NWafor, urged bton ~ficiaries [0 put the rOiln In[(, produc. tive use in order to make food available to all Nigerians,juH as h l ~ assured that by 2014, the cou n· uywould befood sufficien t. Accordlng to h im, "Obi Is agriculture-friendl:, and has contributed to the state's counterpart fund in the sec·
tor." While flagging off the scheme, Obl-discrosed that about 40 registered memo bers of the state chapter o f the All Fanners Assodation
of Nigeria {AFANl beneflted from the NI billon loan scheme. The governor, who present- _ ed cheques to the loan beneficlaries ranging from N2 to
N5 millio n, said that he had no Influence In what MAN was dOing, but eJlpressed concern with what they produced. He added that the 10iln was
to enable MAN partner state gove rnm ent In agriculture, Insisting that the more they p roduce, the m ore Job oppommities they created for the unemployed.
81 M
Court strikes out suit against accused in subsidy scam STICE Sa mue l Ca ndideJohnso n of lagos HI h ourt, [gbosere yesterlay struck out the suit filed b\the Economic and Flnanda1 Crimes Commission (EFCCl agalnstsome personson tria . over 011 subsidy fraud. Messrs Durosola Omogbenlgun, Peter Mba, Integrated Resources limited and Pinnacle Oil.1nd Gas wefe the defendants. The Judge's decision was sequel to the application brought by the EFCe counsel, ROOml Oyedepo, dJted July 26, 20ll seeking the leave of
m
the court to withdraw the charges. In a toO·page arndavit deposed to byone of the prosecuting counsel, Usanl Frands, the and-graft agency stilted that the charges preferred against the defendants were misconstrued by the defendants a nd were Inadvertently flied against me defen· dants. "That.1 review of the prosecu· tions case and the evidence available to the pros«Utlon dearly show th.at the defendants did not 'commit the offences for which they are charged,~ he swore.
The defendants were earlier charged with offences both· ering on conspiracy, obtaining money by false pretence, forgery and use of falle documents. 11ley were alleged to have forged bl1llofladingand oth· er aocuments, willi which they perpetrated the fraud. Integrated Resources limited and Omogbe.nlgun were said to have obtained NB23J04,765.84 from the Federa l Government o n November 15, 201l, "by raise pretence and with the Intent to defraud.~ The defendants allegedly
claImed I[was subsidy money payable to Integ rated ReSo urres limited under the Petrol Support Fund. The sum was said to be payments for Federal Government's request for 9,190,BI5 litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS). EFCC said the acrused tallely claimed to have purchased the fuel from A1(.;1mo Intematlonal Umlted{Vltol SA Genera. The agency said Mba obtained N986,154,970.4 1 from the Federal Government as subsidy on February 4, lOll with the Intent lO defiaud
firm for the developmem of a :I,ooo-hectare farm village_ Rivers State Governor, Chlbulke Am.1e<hi, said the deal was in line with his administration's vision hinged on thrl'!' sectors - edu· cation, agriculture and Information Communiation Te<hnology: Amaechf stated this yester· day al the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding for the 2,000hectare fann vllI~ge with an Israeli firm, LRGroup limited, In Port Harcourt.
Aregbesola decries
dearth of data By Tony NwamtJ
OVERNORRauf Angbesola of Osun State yesterday said that dearth of data and information preservation may continue to hampe:r the development In the coun~ as It arrects policy making In thecountr)l. He added that N lgeri~ was far behind In Information Technology (IT~ which In rerum was Impeding decision making by the govemmenL Aregbesol ~, WllO stated this In Lagos yesterday during his Induction by The Institute of Information and Records Man~gem ent of Nigeria (TIIRM), noted that record keeping In the counuy could not be over emphasized, adding that government, being the policy makers would not function well with~atJo~ro~~h.nd infor·
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