Binder2

15.09.14

FOR GOD AND COUNTRY

MONday

No. 2,256

N150

NIGERIa’S MOST INFLUENTIaL NEWSPaPER

Chibok Diary DAY 154

Leadership Newspapers

Chibok Girls: Senator Zanna Fails To Visit BBOG Group

@leadershipNgA

> Page 2

MissiNg jet

Military Alerts Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Others 5

Air Force denies sighting of aircraft in Gombi President of Dangote Group Aliko Dangote with Bill Gates addressing officials of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation during his recent visit to Seattle, Washington, USA, where the two philanthropists discussed their foundations’ joint efforts to improve the livelihood of the world’s most vulnerable populations.

FG, Nigerian Ambassadors Target $80bn Trade With Asia

BY KINSGLEY ALU, Abuja

The federal government and the country’s ambassadors across the Asian countries have resolved to work on doubling the volume of trade between Ni-

geria and Asia to over $80bn (N13.2trn) within the next two years.

The minister of industry, trade and investment, Mr Olusegun Aganga, revealed this to

journalists at the end of a twoday strategic meeting that the ministry and 14 ambassadors

AMCON Posts N625bn Loss, Begins Divestment > Page 18

held in New Delhi, India.

Currently, the trade volume between Nigeria and 15 Asian countries is in excess of $40bn (N6.62trn). India is current➔ CONTINUES ON PAGE 6

Sultan 18th Most Influential Muslim Leader In The World > Page 6

2

chibok diary 154

Monday, September 15, 2014

DAY

Chibok TweeTs @obyezeks DAY153 of OUR #ChibokGirls Trusting in the Almighty who has given us capacity to take ACTION even as WE PRAY, WE DEMAND: #BringBackOurGirls! @Amegaxi How many days since the girls were taken by Boko Haram? Seems like they've given up on finding them #BringBackOurGirls

Members of the #BringBackOurGirls group still keeping faith with the struggle for the release of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls in Abuja.

PHOTO BY OYEDELE

@obyezeks DAY153 OUR #ChibokGirls Proverbs 31v 9 Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.

WE DEMAND: #BringBackOurGirls!!! @Ms_Isioma Day 153 #BringBackOurGirls #BringBackOurGirls #BringBackOurGirls #BringBackOurGirls #BringBackOurGirls #BringBackOurGirls #BringBackOurGirls @rescueourgirls 153 days since Rebecca Joseph was taken from #Chibok. Will she ever come home? Never forget.#BringBackOurGirls

@Bukkyshonibare @obyezeks: I call you 'mama' because you are indeed a mother... a priceless one at that.

Thanks for being different. I love you mum. BigHug!

@Abu_Aaid We'll never forget #OurGirls...we'll always #RememberOurGirls until our govt BringBackOurGirls and #StopBokoHaram.

Day153 Compiled by Iroka Ugochukwu

OMOKAGBO

Chibok Girls: Senator Zanna Fails To Visit BBOG Group

by Chika Mefor and ejike ejike, Abuja The much anticipated visit of the senator representing Borno Central, Senator Ahmed Zanna to the #BringBackOurGirls group’s daily sit-out yesterday ended in disappointment as the senator failed to visit the Unity Fountain venue of the group’s gathering without any explanation.

The senator, who had earlier spoken on the insecurity in the North East, had promised to pay a solidarity visit to the BBOG at its normal venue, which had generated excitement within the group. However, he failed to show up.

The BBOG had explained on Saturday that the distinguished senator had sent his apologies for failing to make it to the meeting, promising to send a representative, but up until the closure of the meeting yesterday, there was no sign of the representative or the senator.

However, a member of the BBOG, Yusuf Sheriff Banki explained that the senator had told him that he could not come because he needed time to prepare due to the publicity given to his proposed visit.

Sheriff Banki also noted that Senator Zanna promised that he will definitely make it to the sit-out one day, noting that he is not under any pressure to decline the visit but his busy schedule had been hindering him from turning up at the meeting.

“The senator said he was bombarded with calls from local and international media. He stated that he was not ready for so much media attention. But he added that he will surely come to visit the group sometime soon. He said that he is always with the group and urged it not to relent but to continue with its advocacy until the girls are brought back,” he said.

The visit of the Borno senator would add value to the advocacy, more so that since the initial outrage for the rescue of the Chibok girls, there has been a decline in the number of Borno representatives in the BBOG.

Mobile Dependence/Addiction: A Growing Trend Too Addicted To Technology?

20%

56%

of smartphone users logon to facebook before they even get out of bed.

admit to not exercising or skip exercises due to technology.

59%

34x

of smart-phone users admit to feeling disoriented, distraught or lonely without their smartphones for a week

the average number of times an average smart-phone user check his/her phone.

Get More Done

98% REPORT THEY MULTI-TASK EVERYDAY DUE TO THE HELP OF TECHNOLOGY

75%

75%

USER THEIR MOBILE DEVICES WHILE ON THE TOILET

GET MORE THAN 6 HOURS OF SLEEP PER NIGHT DUE TO PRODUCTIVITY

3

our stand Monday, September 15, 2014

Cremation Law, Product Of Foresight

A

t the time the governor of Lagos State, Mr Babatunde Fashola, signed the Cremation Bill into law on June 10, 2013, many thought he was violating African culture that attaches much importance not just to the dead but also the spirits and the memories they leave behind. That attitude is based rigidly on the people’s belief system, their superstition, custom and tradition; a lot of spirituality is attached to the mode of burial of the dead.

Actually, in most African societies, human corpses are considered sacred and they mean a lot to a family and, indeed, a people. That was why a few argued, and rightly too, that cremating dead bodies was alien to the culture of the people. Moslems came up with the position that the policy was anti-Islam, that only Buddhism and Hinduism allow such practice. Even Christians declared it anti-poor and antidead.

Before that Lagos law, cremation was carried out in Nigeria only on the express wish of the dead as contained in his will. But the state government had its own argument which was

how to resolve the challenge of mortuaries overflowing with abandoned corpses. It also cited the acceptability of the practice in other cultures. Then, there was no talk of Ebola virus disease (EVD).

This disease, medical experts warn, renders dead bodies toxic.

Patients who die of the disease become even more dangerous in death. Thus, cremation is about the only safe way of disposing of the corpse, for the sake of the living.

It is in this regard that even the worst critics of that law are beginning to commend the foresight and proactive inclinations of the Fashola administration. Ebola, we are told,

Editor Sadiq Abdullateef Deputy Editor Kazeem Akintunde Editorial Board Safiya M. Adamu, Chairman Christian Ochiama, Deputy Chairman Standards Aniebo Nwamu, Director ’Lara Olugbemi, Assistant Director

has no remedy yet. And because the disease is even more dangerous when it succeeds in killing its victim, cremation becomes the only option in getting rid of it.

In this prevailing scenario, we shudder to imagine what would have happened to Nigerians when that Liberian, Patrick Sawyer, came calling with his toxic waste.

If there was no ready crematorium available at the time he died in the country of the Ebola disease, what would have happened?

The difference between one leader and another is the quality of thinking and, even more important, the propensity and dogged determination of the leader in question to act on the outcome of that thinking.

Governor Fashola is perhaps the greatest achievement of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as governor of Lagos State under whom he served as chief of staff. Since he assumed office as the helmsman in that state, Fashola has consistently proved that he is ready made for the job. It is now a cliché to applaud the transformation of Lagos on his watch. Surely, his handling of the outbreak of the Ebola disease in Nigeria marks him out as being in a class of his own in the nation’s leadership.

Founder Sam Nda-Isaiah Chairman Hajiya Ireti Kingibe Group Managing Director Azubuike Ishiekwene Group Executive Directors Michael Okpere Dr Kazeem Durodoye Divisional Directors Iyobosa Uwugiaren Ademola Oladosu Salisu Alhassan Bichi General Managers Aminu Abubakar Sule Abdulmumin Balogun Zipporah D. Tanko Joy Adekanye

Leadership Holdings

Managing Director Abraham Nda-Isaiah Executive Director Nnamdi Samuel New York Office Mohammed Bello Shehu London Office Dr Bello Salihu Johannesburg Office Abiodun Oguntuase

LEADERSHIP is a national paper symbolically embedded in the nation’s capital.

We shall stand up for good governance. We shall defend the interest of Nigerian people even against their rulers, and we shall raise our pen at all times in defence of what is right. These are the values by which we intend to be assessed.

We shall never, ever for any reason forget the noble reason of our coming into being: For God and country!

4 news extra

Monday, September 15, 2014

Group News Editor: tony amokeodo PDP, Haven For Looters, Failed Politicians – Kwankwaso Kano State governor, Dr Rabiu Kwankwaso, yesterday took a swipe at President Goodluck Jonathan’s presidency and the Peoples Democrati Party (PDP) for providing a safe haven for economic saboteurs, looters and failed politicians while it is busy beaming its search light on the opposition APC members and perceived enemies of the administration.

The governor was responding to questions of alleged corruption and investigation said to have been launched against him by the Presidency.

He noted that people who have stolen so much from the system are busy dancing and mobilising support across the country for the president under the guise of Transformation Ambassador of Nigeria, (TAN), whereas the hope of rescuing the over 200 Chibok girls who were kidnapped over 150 days ago remains unknown.

Kwankwaso further pointed out that the collapsed podium at TAN rally in Minna, Niger State, was an indication that God is unhappy with the PDP.

By Patrick Ochoga, Benin City

2015: Kwankwaso Woos Okorocha As Running mate A delegation of the “Nigeria Project 2015,” a campaign organ of the Kano State governor Rabiu Kwankwaso at the weekend visited Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha possibly to seek a possible partnership in the contest for the presidency in 2015 under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Disclosing part of the outcome of their meeting to newsmen in Owerri, the Kano State commissioner for information, youth, sport and culture, Dr Abubakar Nuhu Danburan, who is the team leader, averred that their consultation with Okorocha was to seek his partnership with Kwankwaso.

He, however, noted that they were more impressed with the blunt response from the Imo governor who, he said, told them of his similar contemplated aspiration to contest the presidency in 2015.

Danburan added that Okorocha though promised to support Kwankwaso if he eventually gets the ticket of APC. “Our consultation with Okorocha is a good one. We told him we came to pay our respect to him and seek his support. We are fascinated with his openness of telling us about the same ambition, but he told us that if there is anybody he wants to be there, it would be Kwankwaso.”

By Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri

L-R: Vice President Namadi Sambo, President Goodluck Jonathan, Mr. Tony Elumelu, chairman, Ministerial Committee on the Establishment of World Class Hospitals and Diagnostic Centres in the country and Health Minister Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu at the Presidential Villa, yesterday.

Disquiet In Lagos As Death Toll In Synagogue Building Collapse Hits 44

By GEORGE OKOJIE, , Lagos

Tears flowed ceaselessly in Lagos yesterday as bulldozers excavating the rubbles of the collapsed Synagogue Guest House being built by Synagogue Church of All Nations exhumed addtional 24 dead bodies from the rubbles.

The incident shrank the usually teeming crowd of worshipers at the weekly church service as many members stayed away.

Mrs Aduke Olawale, a member of the church, said, “What

happened is not ordinary. The government must investigate the reason for the collapse. The church members are afraid of further attacks. That is why many did not come to church.”

One of the survivors who gave his name as Lawuyi said, “I am not a member of Synagogue Church of All Nations.

I operate decking machine for the project. I was loosening a bag of cement when I heard a loud noise and people started running here and some block injured my legs.

“I have been coming here

since Friday to see if my friends trapped in the down floor will survive but today they brought them out dead.

They were dead, they are gone.”

Confirming the number of deaths and survivors, the information officer of the National Emergency Management Agency,( NEMA), Mr. Ibrahim Farinloye, said that the rescue operation was yet to be concluded.

Farinloye at time of filing this report said 41 persons had been recovered dead and

130 persons rescued from the collapsed building. Later the figures went up to 44 dead and 140 injured.

Also speaking, the General Manager of Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Dr. Femi OkeOsanyintolu, said, “When we have a disaster of this magnitude, we need stakeholders in the safety sector to be onground. We have taken every rescued person to the Igando and Isolo General Hospital and the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH).

Mixed Reactions In Taraba As Suntai Returns

By ANDREW OJIH, Jalingo

The people of Taraba State have received the news of the return of Governor Danbaba Danfulani Suntai with mixed feelings.

While some are anxious to see the governor sound and healthy, others are not keen about the return of the governor because of what the return would cost them.

Governor Suntai had gone to the United Kingdom for more medical attention. In the first medical trip, the governor, reportedly went to Germany and the United States of America.

Already there was news in

town that the governor had arrived in Abuja last Saturday from his medical trip.

Some politicians, including top government functionaries led by the acting governor, Alhaji Garba Umar, as well as other loyalists of Governor Suntai reportedly went to Abuja to receive the governor while those in the state, particularly the inhabitants of Jalingo were anxiously waiting for his return.

LEADERSHIP checks confirmed that other anxious politicians who were equally waiting for the return of the governor had erected billboards at strategic locations welcoming the governor from

the medical trip.

A former permanent secretary in the state who did not want his name mentioned expressed happiness that the governor was back and strong, saying he would address the press in Abuja and also in Jalingo when he arrives.

But while some were jubilating, the news of Suntai’s return has rather saddened some people of the state.

A civil servant in the ministry of finance. on hearing the news of Suntai’s return. lamented that the second part of the drama would commence similar to the first time when he returned from the

medical trip. This is not good for a young state, he decried.

In his comment, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stalwart in the state who also pleaded anonymity expressed concern that some government appointees would be relieved of their appointments, stressing that some have started getting set to vacate their offices if Governor Suntai assumes duty.

By the time of filing this report, it was not clear whether the governor would arrive in Taraba State yesterday as earlier revealed even as there were no elaborate arrangements for a reception in honour of the governor.

NEWS 5

Monday, September 15, 2014

Military Alerts Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Others

Chief of Army Staff, Minimah

By BAyo olAdeji, Abuja MohAMMed iSMAil, Yola

And

The military has alerted the neighbouring countries to the missing NAF aircraft, even as there is anxiety over what could have been responsible for the plane’s disappearance.

According to military sources, the search-and-rescue team “is not ruling out extending their search beyond our border,” but that would be after combing every nook and cranny of the north-east.

“It may have to do with mechanical fault but what was responsible would be known when the investigation is complete,” the source said.

‘We won’t let terrorists take any town or village again’ The euphoria that greeted the massive victory recorded by Nigerian troops over Boko Haram was cut short by the news that one of the aircraft used to complement the troops on ground has been missing since Friday.

The troops, according to reports, succesfully flushed out the terrorists from their hideouts and liberated some towns that had been declared part of “caliphate” by the terrorists in an operation that lasted several hours.

On Saturday, information came in that an Air Force Alfa jet on a regular mission in the campaign to eliminate the insurgents on Friday went missing with two crew members on board.

A statement issued by Defence Headquarters yesterday on Sunday morning and signed by the director, defence information, Major General Chris Olukolade, disclosed that search-and-rescue efforts were currently on to locate the whereabouts of the aircraft and crew.

“An Alpha jet (NAF 466) belonging to the Nigerian Air Force is missing around Adamawa State.

The aircraft, with two pilots onboard, left Yola at about 10:45am on 12 September 2014 on a routine operational mission and was

expected back by 12:00 noon. Since then all efforts to establish contact with the aircraft have not yielded any positive result. Meanwhile, search and rescue effort is ongoing to establish contact with the crew,” the military stated.

Meanwhile, the chief of defence staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Sabundu Badeh, has directed the troops to never allow the terrorists to occupy any town or village again.

The directive was given, according to a top military officer who did not want his name in print, after the resounding victory over the outlawed group.

“What we witnessed of recent, where the Boko Haram terrorists were taking over some towns and villages, declaring them caliphates, will never occur again because of our plan to ensure there is no hiding place for those criminals. The CDS has given an order to that effect and that must be enforced to ensure security of the innocent people in the affected states,” the source said.

He regretted a situation where the Boko Haram fighters took over some towns and villages, hoisted their illegal flags and declared them parts of the illegal caliphates under them. “Let me tell you: never again would those criminals be allowed to take over any town or village and declare them caliphates under them. We are ready for them; we have vowed to ensure the life and property of every law-abiding person in those states are safe and secured.”

Speaking further, the serving general urged the media in the country to stop sourcing news from the foreign press who did not wish Nigeria well: “We are doing our best, we urge the media to be wary of where they get their stories. It is regrettable that most of them are banking on the foreign media which do not wish Nigeria well, for whatever reasons, to be telling them what is happening in the war against the terror group; and often they do not care to crosscheck from us before they publish their stories. This country belongs to both the military and the civilians. Your stories could either discourage or encourage the troops fighting for the safety of our country and they too are human beings.”

The general also have words for the political class which he asked to “stop politicisation of the security challenges”.

“It is when Nigeria is safe and secured they can actualise their ambition. They cannot become president, governors, senators and members of the House if the country is at war. They should watch their utterances. Most of their utterances are discouraging our troops and this is dangerous to the corporate existence of Nigeria.”

Air Force denies sighting of aircraft in Gombi

LIVING LIVING TOTO BE BE 100100

One health tip daily Greener Grass May Not Be Better

Weed killers contain chemicals that are toxic to our nervous systems and have even been confirmed to cause cancer. If you want to live a long life, stop using chemical herbicides and artificial fertilizers on your lawns. Instead, fertilize with organic compost or manure, pull weeds regularly, Meanwhile, the Nigerian Air Force has dismissed the report doing the rounds that the missing Alpha Jet (NAF 466) has been sighted in Gombi Local Government of Adamawa State.

Local farmers in the area had claimed to have seen the rubbles of a crashed air plane near Gabun Primary school yesterday.

Residents of Gabun, a village in Gombi local government area, about 120km away from the state capital, claimed that they saw the rubbles of an aircraft which they suspected to be the missing fighter jet.

Similarly several residents of Hawul, a border town in Borno, said they saw an aircraft flying at a frighteningly low altitude, with the green and red stripes of the aircraft so visible, adding that the door of the aircraft seemed to have been wide open.

The residents said some minutes after the aircraft passed, they heard a loud bang.

A resident of the area, Mallam Bello, said he had never seen an aircraft flying at such an incredibly low altitude in his life which, in the first instance, created panic in him as he suspected that the airplane was in trouble and would crash into one of the mountains, but that it somehow managed to pass by.

“I am not the only person who sighted the airplane; several other residents noticed it due to the low altitude it was flying, which provoked anxiety as people trooped out of their houses to see what was happening,” he said.

But when LEADERSHIP spoke with the spokesman of the Nigerian Air Force, Air Commodore Dele Alonge, he described the report as rumour and the search for the missing plane would continue.

“We have heard of the rumour; some media have already been us-

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ing it without crosschecking their facts. There is no truth in the rumour.

“When the information reached us, we despatched the search and rescue team to the same local government and nothing was found there, so the search continues and once it is located, we would keep the public posted through the appropriate channel”, Alonge told our correspondent.

When asked to confirm if the neighbouring countries had been informed, he answered in the affirmative.

“We are doing everything humanly possible to ensure we locate the missing aircraft. I urge the media to be cautious in publishing rumour instead of facts,” he stated.

Hoodlums in looting spree in Mubi Fleeing residents of Mubi were caught up in a double tragedy at the weekend as hoodlums capitalized on the mass exodus of people from the area to other parts of the state to loot their property items.

The invasion of neighboring Michika and Madagali towns by Boko Haram insurgents had upped tension in the commercial border town of Mubi, forcing thousands of residents to flee the area.

Hoodlums in the area were said to have capitalised on the situation to burgle many shops and homes of the fleeing residents. The town became a ghost of its former self.

Many people, on returning to their homes after the anxiety had calmed down, were surprised to find that their property had been stolen.

Reports indicated that Shagari Low-cost and its environs were the most affected as the neighborhood was completely deserted. ➔ CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

6 NEWS

Monday, September 15, 2014

Sultan 18th Most Influential Muslim Leader In The World

By ABdullAhi umAr, Abuja

Sultan Sa’adu Abubakar III has been recognised as the top highest ranking Muslim leader on the African continent and the 18th in the world. That is the verdict of The 500 Most Influential Muslims (also known as The Muslim 500), an annual publication first published in 2009 that ranks the most influential Muslims in the world.

The publication highlights people who are influential as Muslims, that is, people whose influence is derived from their practice of Islam or from the fact that they are Muslim.

Nominations are evaluated on the basis of the influence that particular Muslims have had within the Muslim community and the manner in which their influence has benefited the community, both within the Islamic world and in terms of representing Islam to non-Muslims.

In this year’s edition of the global recognition, Sultan of Sokoto Abubakar III secured the 18th position as the most influential Muslim in the world.

The Sultan of Sokoto is considered the spiritual leader of Nigeria’s 74.6million Muslims, who account for roughly 50 per cent of the nation’s population.

The Sultan is also the spiritual leader of Nigeria’s enormous Muslim community. He gains this position by lineage.

Abubakar is 20th Sultan and the fifth heir to the two-century-old throne founded by his ancestor, Sheikh Usman Dan Fodio. Dan Fodio (1754-1817) was a scholar, leader of the Maliki School of Islam and the Qadiri branch of Sufism, and Islamic reformer of the 19th century.

The Sultan holds important administrative influence in Nigerian religious life. He is the titular ruler of Sokoto in northern Nigeria and is also the head of

the Nigerian National Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs.

Leadership of this council means that the Sultan of Sokoto remains the only figure that can legitimately claim to speak on behalf of all Nigerian Muslims. Top on the list is Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt, Sheikh Ahmad Muhammad Al-Tayyeb, who was appointed as Grand Sheikh in March 2010, after the passing of his predecessor, Dr Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi. Al-Tayyeb was formerly the president of the Al-Azhar for seven years and, prior to that, served for two years as the most powerful cleric in Egypt as its Grand Mufti.

His scholarly influence as a leading intellectual of Sunni Islam spans the globe. He has served as the dean of the Faculty of Islamic Studies in Aswan, and the theology faculty of the International Islamic University in Pakistan. He has also taught in universities in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

The second position was secured by Saudi Arabian leader King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, who is the sixth king of Saudi Arabia.

His influence comes from being the absolute monarch of the most powerful Arab nation and is manifested by the role Saudi Arabia plays in three critical areas: 1) having the two holy cities of Makkah and Madinah, which millions of Muslims visit throughout the year; 2) exporting crude oil and refined petroleum products, which ensures its central international role; and 3) propagating Islam through its huge da’wa network, which makes its influence felt in all Muslim countries.

The third position goes to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Grand Ayatollah Khamenei. Al- Khamenei

was born in Mashhad and studied in the leading Iranian religious seminary in Qom, before becoming involved in the struggle with the Pahlavi regime in the 1960s and ‘70s.

He was a key figure in the revolution in 1979 and served as president between 1981 and 1989 before succeeding Ayatollah Khomeini as Supreme Leader upon the latter’s death.

He has vocally supported most of the unrest in the Arab world, likening it to the Iranian Revolution.

Fourth on the list is King Abdullah II of Jordan who has influence in Jordan and around the world due to his lineage in the Hashemite family, his custodianship of the holy sites of Jerusalem and activism on various fronts — from freedom of the press and reformed domestic policy to international diplomacy.

Fifth on the list is King Mohammed VI, a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH); his family has ruled Morocco for close to 400 years. He is also constitutionally the Amir Al- Mu’minin or Commander of the Faithful, thereby combining religious and political authority.

The sixth position goes to Recep Tayyip Erdogan who is the most successful prime minister of Turkey’s multiparty era.

His party, the AKP (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, ‘the Justice and Development Party’), won its third consecutive election in June 2011, securing approximately 50 per cent of the vote.

During his term, Turkey has seen unprecedented economic growth, constitutional reform, and a re-emergence as a major global power. This success in addition to his personal charisma and work as PM has made Turkey a model to emulate for many Muslim countries.

FG, Nigerian Ambassadors Target $80bn Trade With Asia FROM COVER PAGE

ly Nigeria’s largest trading partner with a trade volume of about N2.95trn, followed by China (N2.143trn).

The trade volume between Nigeria and Australia stands at N534.3bn; Singapore (N293.4bn); Indonesia (272.8bn); Japan (N263.5bn); and Bangladesh (N84.5bn).

Fourteen ambassadors including the ambassadors of Nigeria to India, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, North Korea, Vietnam, China, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Guangzou and Pakistan attended the meeting.

Key agencies of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment such as the Nigerian Export Processing Zones Authority, Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission, National Automotive Council, and the Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority were also at the roundtable.

Aganga said the meeting was necessitated by the emergence of Asia as Nigeria’s major trading and investment partner, adding that there was urgent need to maintain Nigeria’s current position as the preferred investment destination in Africa and globally.

The meeting also opened up fresh investment commitments by major Indian companies, which were not yet present in Nigeria.

The minister said, “Why is this important meeting happening in India? some may ask. Why not in one of the western nations with which Nigeria traditionally had strong trading ties? The reason is that, over the last decade, there has been a shift in the dynamics of how Nigeria does business globally. We have seen our nation move from a nation historically joined at the hips with the western world to one which is more and more eastward-facing.

“This is evidenced by the fact that Nigeria’s biggest trading partner is now India, with China following closely behind. Nigeria also sells a large portion of its crude to India, while our traditional major buyer - the United States - has moved to 10th place.

This scenario mirrors the shift in trading patterns.”

He added: “While the Western world has been beset by economic instability, the fastest-growing economies have been those in the African and Asian regions.

We want to arm you with relevant information to help in your roles as chief marketing officers for Nigeria in your various stations.

“That is why we have ensured that many of the parastatals and directorates under the supervision of MITI provide key information on the progress and policy thrust in key sectors of the Nigerian economy to guide you in this critical assignment.”

The minister stressed that there was the need for Nigerian missions abroad to key into, and play active roles in, promoting Nigeria’s investment opportunities and strengthening trade ties with their countries of assignment, in line with the transformation agenda of the president.

“This administration has, within the last three years, been implementing far-reaching transformational policies such as the Nigerian Industrial Revolution Plan; National Automotive Industry Development Plan; National Sugar Master Plan and the National Enterprise Development Programme, among others.

“These policies are aimed at diversifying our economic base and achieving sustained, inclusive economic growth. The role of Nigeria’s ambassadors in Asia is important in promoting and attracting foreign direct investment into Nigeria. We have Nigeria’s best across all our missions and I am delighted that we are today laying the foundation for stronger collaboration in the collective struggle for an even stronger economy.”

In his speech, the Nigerian high commissioner to India, Mr Ndubuisi Amaku, said the country stood to benefit a lot by increasing the current level of economic partnership with Asian countries.

“It is only those who live in the past that still believe that the West can help us. The Asian continent has great regards for Nigeria as a country. We welcome this move and will do everything to support the transformation agenda of the president,” he said.

Military Alerts Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Others FROM PAGE 5

Mubi.

A resident of the area, Mr Aliyu Madaki, said his belongings were stolen as he fled to Yola to escape the insurgents.

Another resident, Jibrilla, noted that criminals took advantage of the mass exodus of people to loot deserted homes and urged security operatives to intensify patrols in the deserted areas of the town to check the menace.

Reports also indicated that burglars capitalised on the situation to loot the items of fleeing residents of Uba town, about 30km from

No clue yet on missing Alpha jet Three days after a Nigerian Air Force Alpha jet on a mission to rout Boko Haram insurgents in Adamawa border towns got missing, reports indicated that the missing jet was yet to be found.

The Alpha Jet (NAF 466) was reported by Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters to have got missing on Friday.

The aerial bombardments, insiders say, have left the Boko Haram insurgents suffering extensive losses in men and equipment,

though reports say that as the military bombed their locations from above, the terrorists also began to plot against the aircraft carrying out the operation.

Meanwhile, soldiers fighting the Boko Haram insurgents in the northern parts of Adamawa have alleged that they are not well fed and have been operating on empty stomachs for days.

Some of the soldiers expressed fear of more dissertations should the authorities continue to show poor attitude towards their welfare. They urged the authorities to provide them with modern equip-

ment so they could face the insurgents squarely.

“There are increasing cases of saboteurs in our operations. We are poorly equipped; sometimes, bullets are rationed, yet we are to go and confront well equipped militants.

“Many of us have overstayed here – no transfer, as if we are the only soldiers in this country. Our allowances are not paid as at when due,” one of the soldiers in Michika stated.

Adamawa acting governor sympathises with NAF

The acting governor of Adamawa State, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, has sympathised with the Nigeria Air Force over the loss of one its fighter jets.

Fintiri said the prayers of the people were with the aircraft pilots for their safe return to their families.

In a press release signed by his chief press secretary, Mr Solomon Kumangar, the acting governor applauded the efforts being made by the military towards curbing the activities of the insurgents, saying that the state government was ready to assist them at all times.

news extra 7

Monday, September 15, 2014

PDP To Pro-Jonathan Groups: Don’t Involve Party Officials In Endorsements The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday warned groups endorsing President Goodluck Jonathan to desist from involving party officials at their political rallies ahead of the 2015 general elections.

In a stern statement, the PDP stressed that the warning is the last to all the support groups, as it will not hesitate to take strict measures against any further infraction on its integrity and that of its officials.

The statement signed by PDP publicity secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, said “For the avoidance of doubt, the leadership of the PDP recognises that party officials as unbiased umpires have a sacred duty to observe the dictates of internal democracy and as such, remain neutral until the emergence of candidates through our primaries in line with the provisions of the PDP constitution.”

The ruling party added that while it recognises the inalienable rights of citizens under the 1999 Constitution (as amended) to freely associate and publicly express their support for persons of their choice, “we, however, wish to restate in the strongest possible terms that no official of the PDP at any level should for any reason whatsoever be involved in such events until after the primaries”.

By Chibuzo Ukaibe, Abuja

Insecurity: Jonathan Has Woefully Failed To Protect Us – ACF

The apex northern socio-cultural group, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) yesterday described the federal government under the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan as a failure, particularly in the area of securing the nation, saying his administration has woefully failed to protect Nigerians.

The ACF said, “While the North is being battered, the people in government have not made serious effort to end it. For the first time in the history of this great nation, our president is being openly condemned for his ineptitude, immaturity and ineffectiveness”.

The ACF national executive council chairman and former inspector general of police, Alhaji Ibrahim Ahmadu Coomasie stated this in his welcome address at an emergency meeting of ACF with leaders of northern non-governmental organisations (NGOs) at the Kaduna headquarters of the forum.

He said, “Since the advent of the Boko Haram uprising in 2009, the region has witnessed a speedy descent into anarchy; the insurgency and insecurity situation we are faced with in the North is such that we have never imagined would happen to Arewa that we all grew up to know, to love and to cherish”.

l-R: Taraba State governor danbaba Suntai; his wife, Hauwa and Minister of state Niger delta, darius isiaku during Suntai’s arrival in abuja on Saturday.

Automatic Ticket For Buhari Causes Stir In APC What we are asking for is consensus, not automatic ticket – Buhari’s camp

By Bayo oladeji, Abuja

The agitation by the Buhari Group to make General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) the consensus candidate of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) appears to be generating another controversy after overcoming the one generated by the Muslim-Muslim ticket as the camps of other aspirants are kicking against it.

A senior member of the party told newsmen at the weekend that the manoeuvres by certain APC forces to make the former

military ruler the party’s presidential candidate for the 2015 poll without going through an election is not going down well with the supporters of Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso, Senator Bukola Saraki and Atiku Abubakar camps.

The informed APC insider, who did not want to be named because he had no authority to speak, however, admitted that any attempt to impose Buhari on the party as the presidential candidate would destroy the foundation and credibility of the APC. He said they were particularly disturbed by signals coming from the Buhari camp who insist that the emergence of Buhari as a candidate “is a settled matter.”

But in a swift reaction, a polit-

ical ally of General Buhari clarified that their agitation was for the retired general to be a consensus candidate, adding that the group was not asking for an automatic ticket.

General Buhari began the controversy when, in an interview with Rariya (a Hausa newspaper), which was culled by Premium Times and People’s Daily, he publicly disagreed with the modified open direct primaries adopted by the APC. The spokesman of the Buhari Organisation (TBO), Osita Okechukwu spoke further on that position, saying “Given all the indices, APC already has a de facto presidential candidate in the person of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd). If you go through the con-

stitution of APC, under Article 20, it says for nomination of candidates either for party offices or presidential election, you first explore consensus. If an agreement is reached through consensus, it has to be affirmed. If we go through that method, though we have a lot of good quality people in APC, I do not know of any person who the leadership of APC would tell Buhari to step down for.”

Our source also said that the former FCT minister, Mallam Nasir El-Rufa’i used his twitter handle “to take this rubbish to the social media”.

The source explained that such a phrase smirks of arrogance and disrespect for other democratic voices in the party.

2015: Amaechi Raises The Alarm Over Plot By Presidency To Install PDP Governor By aNayo oNukwugHa, Port Harcourt

Rivers State governor and chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), Hon Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has raised the alarm over plots by the Presidency to use the new commissioner of police in the state, Mr Dan Bature, to install a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governor in the state come 2015.

Amaechi said reports from two national dailies revealed that Bature has been instructed by the first lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, to cause crisis in the state, and tackle the governor and his supporters, so as to create room for a governorship aspirant of the PDP to emerge as the next governor of the state.

A statement issued in Port Harcourt yesterday, and signed by the

By Isaiah Benjamin, Kaduna

chief press secretary to the governor, David Iyofor, alleged that Dame Jonathan was the brain behind the redeployment of Bature to the state, solely for the purpose of executing the script of installing a PDP governor.

The statement said, “Over the weekend, the media was awash with reports of a fresh sinister plot to throw Rivers State into avoidable crisis. According to the reports as they concern Rivers State, the new commissioner of police, Dan Bature, has been directed by the Presidency to install a certain Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gubernatorial aspirant as governor in the 2015 elections.

“The PUNCH and The NATION went further to reveal that the new Rivers police commissioner has been instructed by the Presidency (both papers mentioned

the first lady) to use the former Rivers police commissioner, Joseph Mbu’s draconian style and tactics in causing crisis in Rivers State.

“He is to tackle Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, his supporters and Rivers people and then install the preferred candidate as governor. The NATION fingered the Presidency (again, the first lady) in Bature’s deployment to Rivers State for the purpose of executing this toxic script.

“While it is easy for a few in the Presidency to dismiss these reports, we in Rivers State, with the benefit of hindsight and our collective recent bitter experience in the hands of former police commissioner, Joseph Mbu who was also reported to have a similar mandate, cannot.”

It stated that the people of the state will resist any attempt by

the Presidency to unconstitutionally install a preferred PDP candidate as governor of the state at any time, including in 2015, pointing out that there is no provision in the Constitution of the country that allows the Presidency to install a preferred candidate as governor of a state.

The statement further reads, “Rivers’ voters must be allowed to and will freely choose and elect their governor in the 2015 elections. It is their inalienable democratic right that they will not and will never surrender to anyone or institution, including The Presidency. We must warn that the looming danger ahead for our polity and our country is indeed ominous, if this noxious script is acted out. This is an avoidable crisis that must be avoided by all parties mentioned in the reports”.

8 News north-central

Monday, September 15, 2014

ActionAid Translates Ebola Preventive Hints Into Igala, Pidgin

By Sam Egwu, Lokoja

The ActionAid Nigeria in collaboration with Kogi-based Participation Initiative for Behavioural Change in Development (PIBCID) has translated Ebola virus awareness and preventive messages into Igala language and Pidgin English.

The non-governmental organisations (NGOs) said the translated messages published in leaflets were meant for distribution to people at the grassroots to ensure awareness in view of the vulnerability of rural communities.

Mr Victor Adejoh, programme manager of ActionAid and executive director, PIBCID disclosed this while distributing the leaflets to community representatives from Igalamela/Odolu and Adavi local government areas of Kogi State in Lokoja.

Adejoh said the awareness campaign on the Ebola virus was so far concentrated in the urban areas, noting that the rural areas were

SHORT NEWS Opposition Parties In Limbo In Kogi – Ocholi All Progressives Congress (APC) national deputy legal adviser, James Ocholi, SAN, has alleged that all opposition parties in Kogi State, especially the APC are in limbo due to the over-bearing influence of the former governor of the state, Prince Abubakar Audu.

Speaking to newsmen in Idah, Kogi State over the weekend, he pointed out that despite non-performance by Governor Idris Wada, the APC has failed to re-strategise to seize power from him in 2016.

By Sam Egwu,, Lokoja

more vulnerable and at higher risks should the deadly infection find its way into any of the communities.

He called for concerted awareness campaign especially among the rural communities to curtail spread of the disease.

The leaflets, according to him, contain information on the symptoms of the disease at its initial and advanced stages as well as hints on personal hygiene, environmental cleanliness and avoidance of infected persons and corpses.

The programme manager said that the leaflets also advised the communities against bodily contact with infected persons, body fluids like blood, saliva, sweat and consumption of bush meat especially monkeys and bats.

“We distribute these leaflets in Igala language and pidgin to further reach out to those at the grassroots and relay the message of prevention to ensure that citizens of Kogi key into the preventive measures.

N750m Loan: Kogi Women Farmers Condemn Activities Of Political Farmers The Kogi State Women In Agriculture (KOWIN) has raised the alarm over a grand plot to prevent its members from benefiting from the N750million agric loan recently initiated by the government.

The chairman of KOWIN, Mrs Esther Audu who spoke to LEADERSHIP in Lokoja yesterday said that those behind the plot had resorted to writing anonymous petitions to tarnish the image of the state government and the agricultural transformation programme.

She stated that KOWIN and its over 6,000 members spread across the 21 local government areas of the state had no hand in the petition.

“We are begging politicians not to use farmers to play politics. Political positions will come and go, farming will remain. We don’t know how to play politics, what we know is how to put food on the table of the people,” Audu said.

By Sam Egwu, Lokoja

SHORT NEWS

2015: Nasarawa PDP To Produce Consensus Guber Candidate Nasarawa State chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Yunana K. Iliya has assured that the party is working round the clock to ensure that it produces a consensus candidate ahead of the party primaries preparatory to the 2015 general elections.

Chief Iliya, who gave this assurance at the weekend in Akwanga during the party’s stakeholders’ meeting, appealed to all governorship aspirants on the platform of the party to dialogue and adopt a consensus candidate.

By Donatus Nadi, Lafia

l-R: chairman, Standards organisation of Nigeria (SoN) Task Force, Prof christopher okoro, an assistant director at the department of Transport, mr Ehsan Benjamin, and corps marshal, Federal Road Safety commission (FRSc), mr Boboye oyeyemi, during a presentation at a stakeholders’ forum in abuja at the weekend. PHOTO BY ADEFEMI ADEWUYI.

Victims Of TAN Minna Rally Pavilion Crash May Be Flown Abroad By aBu Nmodu, Minna

Some injured victims of the collapsed pavilion at the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) rally held in Minna on Saturday may be flown abroad even as the governor of Niger State, Dr Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu has debunked some newspaper reports that his wife was injured during the incident.

Meanwhile, the Niger State All Progressives Congress (APC) has

said that the collapse of the pavilion was the product of the corruption that has been the trademark of the Peoples Democratic party (PDP) and by extension the TAN. LEADERSHIP gathered that some of the victims sustained backbone and spinal cord related injuries that may require medical attention abroad, but no life has so far been lost.

After the incident on Saturday, some of those with serious inju-

ries were transferred from Minna General Hospital to IBB Specialist Hospital and were later moved to Abuja for comprehensive medical attention on the orders of the Niger State governor, Dr Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu.

It has been confirmed that the secretary of Campaign for Democracy (CD) in Niger State, Comrade Mohammed Abdullahi Jabi who was among the injured victims has been transferred to an Indian Hospital in Abuja.

Women Should Be In Forefront For Change In Nigerian Politics – Gov Aliyu

By aBu Nmodu, Minna

The governor of Niger State, Dr Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu has said that women in Nigeria have the capacity to make a difference in the politics of the country because they are reliable in terms of commitment.

In view of their strategic numerical strength, he said they should play more active roles in politics to enable them chart a positive course for the nation.

Aliyu, who made the call in Minna at the weekend, when he received the leadership of the Women for Change Initiative, a

pet project of the first lady of the country, Dame Patience Jonathan, led by the national coordinator of the programme, Princess Rabi Ibrahim, urged women to always work for peace.

The governor said women have the potential to make a difference in the politics of the nation if they are united, adding “Women are the most reliable in terms of commitment; whatever they do, they do it well”.

He said as the elections slated for 2015 draw nearer, women all over the country should be in the forefront of the vanguard to mobilise Nigerians to vote for the

ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which has shown penchant for the transformation and empowerment of Nigerian women.

According to him, women must strive towards keeping the peace because in situations of crises and confusion, they are always at the receiving end.

“You must always encourage and keep the peace because you suffer when there is no peace.”

While expressing support for the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan, he added that Nigeria needs a standard to be put in place for the nation’s transformation programme.

Mismanagement Killing Kogi State University – Labour Unions By michaEl ochE, Abuja

Three labour unions in the university system, the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT), Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), under the umbrella of Joint Action Committee (JAC), have blamed the decline of academic standard in Kogi State

University on the poor management of the university led by the vice chancellor, Prof Hassan Isah.

The unions, during a protest to the palace of the traditional ruler of Anyigba, HRH, Alhaji Abu Shuibu Okolo, where they submitted a protest letter for onward delivery to the state governor, Capt. Idris Wada, explained that poor management has led to the exodus of quality hands from the institution.

Chairman of JAC, Comrade Moses Babatunde who handed the letter to the royal father lamented that the agitation for the implementation of the 2009 agreement has affected industrial harmony in the university.

He said the situation has led to a serious drop in academic quality at the university, leading to its drastic fall to number 111 out of the 112 universities in the country.

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Monday, September 15, 2014

Why I Am Stopping This Column FROM BACK PAGE

this the same military that salvaged Sierra Leone, Liberia and Chad all at our expense?

Is this the same army and police that were once thought to be among the best in the world during the days they took part in peacekeeping missions all over the world?

Is this the same army of generals Murtala Muhammed, Muhammad Shuwa, Benjamin Adekunle, TY Danjuma and other gallant, courageous and fearless soldiers we used to hear of? Something has gone seriously wrong somewhere and we need to quickly bring back our country out of this huge disgrace.

To compound this shame, our president ran to Chad a few days ago to beg the president to help us in the battle with Boko Haram. What kind of scandalous climb-down is this? Is this the same Nigeria that used to have some responsibility for Africa? We miss the days when past Nigerian presidents used to sit in their offices in Nigeria and invite all these other presidents and they quickly obeyed. Is this not the same Chad that, during President Shehu Shagari’s days, a Brigadier Muhammadu Buhari, as GOC in the north-east, almost overran within 24hours because their soldiers had killed a few of our soldiers, and Buhari would have actually done so if the then French president had not woken up President Shagari in the middle of the night to call his soldiers to order? Well, to humiliate us further, the Ghanaian president recently promised to send us troops to help fight Boko Haram. Chai!

Those who still deny that Nigeria is a failed state that needs urgent rescuing probably do not know the definition of a failed state. Even Pakistan that has been classified as a failed state by the west has apprehended those who attempted to murder Malala two years ago. They arrested them last week. Nigeria has not apprehended a single terrorist or murderer in spite of the thousands and thousands of murders that happen every day in our country. The gruesome murder of little boys – they were burnt alive in their dormitory – at the Federal Government

College, Buni Yadi in Yobe State, seems to have been forgotten. And thanks to the disingenuous Pro-Jonathan groups the best that the government has done to bring back the more than 200 missing Chibok girls after over 150 days, is to launch the counterfeit hash tag, #bringbackJonathan2015. Pity!

In spite of all these, it will still be quite legitimate to ask me why I want to be president; and I, in fact, want people to ask me. Nigerians should interrogate not just me but everybody that intends to be president to know whether they have a plan. The entire edition of this newspaper would not be adequate today if I had to list reasons why Jonathan should not continue as president, but that should not automatically translate to why I or anyone else should want to be president. Jonathan is not a bad human being and may actually be doing his best, but, as we can see, his best has actually grounded our country. Jonathan has proved totally incapable of governing Nigeria, but that also doesn’t mean just any candidate the APC presents will defeat Jonathan. A five-minute chat with an average Nigerian voter would confirm this. Even speaking to many of those who intend to vote against Jonathan will reveal that a lot of people who are going to vote against him will be doing so for the wrong reasons.

To defeat Jonathan handily in 2015, we must be able to mobilise the whole country, or at least 90 per cent of it, to be successful. No incumbent president has ever been unseated in Nigeria and it will even be more difficult with a desperate president who doesn’t obey the elementary rules of decency. For the APC to defeat Jonathan, it must think out of the box and provide Nigerians someone very new and different as its candidate.

Jonathan has no record to run on, and, if our democracy had been working at all, the PDP would not be presenting him as its candidate, because the party should actually be embarrassed, if not scandalised outright by his performance at this point.

But barring any force majure,

Jonathan will be PDP’s presidential candidate in 2015.

And any party anywhere in the democratic world that presents a Jonathan for reelection certainly has something up its sleeves. So the only way to defeat Jonathan in 2015 is for the APC to present a candidate with the basic attributes to mobilise everyone to save the nation.

The APC and Nigeria will not have a second chance to do that. Election riggers do not want to see people mobilised all over. No incumbent president has ever been defeated in Nigeria because the opposition has not been able to present a candidate that will bring out people all over the country.

Just like we in the APC are very glad that Jonathan is going to be PDP’s candidate and hope nothing disrupts that, Jonathan and his people know the kind of person they want as APC’s candidate and they are praying very hard for that kind of candidate to emerge. It is clearly a legitimate aspiration and they are not committing any wrong to wish that. They certainly do not want me or anyone with my kind of portrait or delineation to be APC’s candidate.

Some of them have told me this personally. One of them closely associated with the Jonathan campaign recently told me that if I am the APC candidate, it will disrupt their plans and immediately

change the game and they certainly do not pray for that.

And that is precisely why I am in this race, and that is why I intend to win the APC presidential primary. I know how important it is for Jonathan not to continue as president beyond 2015. And that is why I must stop this column today to face the very hard and exacting work of mobilising to win. This is a national assignment bigger than this column. I am, therefore, inviting all those who have followed this column and believe that Nigeria can be what I have strenuously advocated every week for more than a decade to join me in this mission – a mission that remains for God and country…

Why Do You Want To Be President?

FROM BACK PAGE

vision. Only one person sees and cultivates a vision but millions can watch television at the same time. If the vision is not yours, it will be very difficult to steal it. After the Jonathan era, which I am sure will be remembered as “the years of the locust”, it will be time to move Nigeria to a new status. It is very possible to move our country from its current status of a Third World nation to a First World nation. Nigeria has much more than what it takes to get there in record time. It is only the leadership with vision and courage that we do not have. A few leaders came close to it in the past but didn’t quite get there. If it is the example of small countries we want, we have Singapore and the Gulf states to guide us; if the example we want is a moderately large country, we have Brazil; and if we want examples of large countries, we have India and China. China, which used to be considered a Third World country, is today on its way to displacing the United States as the world’s largest economy within the decade. It has already displaced Japan and every country in Europe.

Brazil, with a population of about 200 million, which is really the country we should be competing with because of our several similarities, is the world’s agricultural su-

perpower. It even sells aircraft manufactured in the country to the United States military.

Is there any reason why we should not be a great nation competing with these nations? None whatsoever!

When Singapore gained independence in 1965, its leaders said their ambition was to be like Nigeria and The Philippines. Now, it is Nigeria and The Philippines that want to be like them. And Nelson Mandela once told Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed when the latter, as permanent secretary in the foreign affairs ministry, visited him that one of the things that kept him and his compatriots going during their 27 years in prison was the thought that there was a black country called Nigeria that would also become a world power to act as a counterpoise for the whole of Africa. Dr BabaAhmed told me that Mandela was very angry at what Nigeria had become.

But our fortunes can still be reversed. Even though Nigeria has failed, our circumstance, unlike many others in a similar situation, can still be reversed because of our huge and extensive human and natural resources.

A reporter once said that even though I have many appealing big ideas and he hoped I would become president to implement them, I do not have public sector ex-

perience to help me. My response to him was that nobody has the experience for the future. Vision, not experience, is what is needed to change the course of history of nations. Besides, the experiences of the past which have stymied our country cannot be a guide for our future. We need a brand new direction for our country if we are to survive at all. The world is moving so fast that we need a lot of catchingup to do. And if experience is such an issue, then you cannot have a better experienced person than Jonathan who has been all things from deputy governor to governor to vice president to acting president and then president. And see where he has led our country to.

To move Nigeria forward to where we should be, our campaign message stands on a tripod. The first thing I intend to do as president, which is the first leg of the tripod, is to unite this country as quickly as possible.

Nigeria is still not a nation because of the attitude of our leaders. We have leaders who deliberately want the people divided so as to achieve their selfish goals. To be able to achieve the kind of big things I have been talking about, I will need to unite the whole of Nigeria behind me. Thankfully, you do not ➔ CONTINUED ON PAGE 9

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Monday, September 15, 2014

Why Do You Want To Be President?

FROM PAGE 8

need a budget to achieve this.

Any president who really, really is sincere about uniting the country will succeed. A president that governs with fairness, justice and charity to all will unite the country behind him. And there is no magic to this. All crimes must be punished. A message must be sent to criminals that whoever commits a crime will be apprehended and brought to justice -whoever they are, no matter where they come from and no matter how long it takes.

The second leg of the tripod would be to secure life and property as fast as possible.

Nigeria is currently in near total disorder. The most basic responsibility of any leader, whether it is a monarchy, democracy or military rule, is the safety and protection of the people, and any president who does not do this has no right to continue to remain as president. A nation is bigger than any individual. I will not be that president who

would complain that people are killing themselves because they do not like me.

Nigeria needs a strong police force comparable to the best anywhere in the world.

We need to enlarge our police strength from the current 370,000 to at least 1,000,000 immediately and then gradually grow it to 4,000,000.

Nigeria currently has a population of 178 million (according to the latest UN figures); it is scandalous that we have only 370,000 police officers to match this population. The police officers must also be trained and continuously retrained and must be adequately equipped to meet today’s exigencies. Nigeria also needs a very strong military, not only for our security and the stability of Africa as we had done in the past – which in fact is in our national interest – but also to defend our currency and our economy. I strongly believe Nigeria has a responsibility to lead Africa and we must do so. And we need a strong military to achieve that.

Pope Marries 20 Cohabiting Couples In Sign Of Papacy Shift Cameron Vows To ‘Hunt Down’ Haines Killers Prime Minister David Cameron has vowed to hunt down and bring to justice the Islamic State fighters responsible for the killing of a British aid worker.

Cameron’s comments on Sunday came after an emergency meeting with his top security advisers in response to an online video that purports to show the beheading of David Haines who was abducted while working in Syria.

Algeria’s Al-Qaeda Defectors Join IS Group A new armed group calling itself the ‘Soldiers of the Caliphate in Algeria’ has split from al-Qaeda’s North African branch and sworn loyalty to the group calling itself the Islamic State (IS), fighting in Syria and Iraq.

In a communique, a regional commander of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb said he broke away from the group, accusing it of “deviating from the true path.”

Pope Francis has presided over the marriage of 20 couples at the Vatican, including some who were cohabiting, one of them with a child.

Pope Francis had asked to marry 40 people from different social backgrounds who represented modern couples.

It was the first papal marriage ceremony of its kind in 14 years.

N/Korea Jails US Man For 6 Years A North Korean court has sentenced an American man to six years of hard labour for “hostile acts”, the state-run KCNA news agency has said.

Matthew Miller was arrested in April, shortly after arriving as a tourist.

The US accuses North Korea of using Mr Miller and two other detained Americans as pawns in a diplomatic game.

The first line of defence for any country that has challenges relating to terrorism should be its borders. Nigeria now probably has the most porous borders in the world. There are identified 1,497 illegal entry points into Nigeria; at Adamawa State border alone, there are 25. There is no way we can succeed against insurgents if we do not take full control of these borders. And, these days, countries are able to do this more effectively by deploying modern equipment.

The third aspect of our message or the third leg of the tripod, and which has now become our slogan, is that we are going to be the government of big ideas. Yes, only big ideas have changed the course of history of nations. I will not be a president that promises to build roads or boreholes as many do. The bureaucracy should do these as a matter of course. That is what the normal budgets of a country should focus every year. The kind of issues that will preoccupy my time as

president is how we can have the largest seaport in Africa if we really are Africa’s biggest economy; how to make Nigeria the aviation hub of Africa if we really are the most populated and the most travelled in Africa; how to create a soccer economy, for instance, to take advantage of our talents and passion for the game to reduce unemployment and further bind us as a nation.

The last time I checked, Nigeria had more than 48 million unemployed people.

Since Nigeria currently does not have 48 million jobs on offer, only big ideas can solve this massive and dangerous problem. We intend to create an army of entrepreneurs through the creation of millions of small businesses. A small business typically creates between two and five new jobs.

If Nigeria currently has a population of 178 million people and we are Africa’s biggest economy, and South Africa, the second biggest economy with a population of 50 million, produc-

es 45,000mw of electricity and intends to double this figure, it is totally unacceptable that President Jonathan’s big idea is to produce 10,000mw in the coming years, even though no one believes he can nearly achieve it. If Brazil with a population of about 200 million people generates 121,000mw of electricity and we are serious about competing in today’s world, we cannot be thinking of an installed electricity production capacity of less than 50,000mw in the first instance. Only big ideas can achieve this. Even Pakistan which is considered a failed state produces 22,000mw of electricity.

I can go on and on and on but I will hold my peace until the campaigns start to give details of these big ideas.

There are people who would tell you that what I am saying is impossible. Don’t believe them. Always remember that those who say certain things are impossible are continually being interrupted by those achieving them.

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stories of the Monday, September 15, 2014

...NEWS WITH A HUMAN FACE

DEATH: Cult War Claims 2 In Idah

BY SAM EGWU, Lokoja

Two cult groups last weekend engaged in battle of supremacy in Idah Local Government of Kogi State that led to the death of two persons According to report, the two persons whose names were given as Ayegba and Abuh were innocent members of the public.

The names of those who were around, according to sources, were Alih Water whom they said was a notorious boy in Idah, who has been evading police arrest, and one Abimaje who was said to be an exstudent of Federal Polytechnic, Idah.

According to a source, the problem started at a popular joint called “Aso Rock” where girls normally gather to solicit for customers.

But on Saturday, two customers who belonged to different cult camps struggled over one lady called Chioma which led to disagreement and eventually to exchange of gunfire.

WiTcHcrAfT: Strange Goat Causes Stir In Newsroom

BY KolA EKE-oGiUGo, Asaba

What appeared to be mild drama last Saturday unfolded when a strange goat walked into the newsroom of the Delta State-owned newspapers, The Pointer and temporarily put a stop to the day’s activities.

Reports said that the goat which strayed into the newsroom refused to go away as security men attached to the company tried to drive it off. Workers said it only moved when one of the onlookers suggested that the visitor’s tag be hung on his neck.

Expectedly, while the security men battled to send the strange goat away, eye witnesses said that workers at the newspaper house scampered to different directions within the premises when the goat sniffed and coughed noisily before wandering over to the security department with he visitor’s tag on its neck.

By the time it was apprehended and the tag about to be removed, an old woman who claimed to be the owner of the goat emerged.

Sources said that the woman confessed to be the owner of the goat, and that she sends it on errand for their witches’ coven and to perform dirty jobs.

According to the woman who refused to give her name, “I have forgotten it is day time.

It is my goat , and don’t be surprised how it crosses the road to the newsroom, it talks in the night, and whenever I send it on errand, it does it for me.”

The woman’s confession attracted passersby including workers of the newspaper company and paralyzed working activities until the police arrived at the scene to take away the goat and the woman.

Some of the internally Displaced Persons (iDPs) holding mattresses distributed to them by national Emergency Management Agency (nEMA) in Maiduguri.

DivOrcE: Man Demands Pot, Stove, Spoons, others From Wife

By ToPE FAyEHUN, Akure A hilarious scene played out at an Ikare-Akoko Customary Court when a man demanded that his exwife be made to return all the household utensils he bought for her while the marriage lasted.

The husband, Emmanuel Asala, 55, begged the court to order his estranged wife, Busayo, to return all household items like cooking pot, stove, spoon, grinding stone, deep freezer and some of the serving plates the woman went away with.

Asala had approached the court to reclaim his property, which he said, his former wife packed away after the same court had dissolved their marriage.

The property listed by the plaintiff included broom, grinding stone, tablespoon, mortar, pestle and deep freezer among others.

He also claimed that the former wife also stole

the sum of N85, 000 after she allegedly broke the box where he kept the money and the receipts of his property.

In addition, Asala claimed that Busayo owed him the sum of N110, 000 being the amount of money he lent her.

While giving evidence, he tendered a statement of account allegedly belonging to Busayo which the court accepted as an exhibit and marked 1A. In her defence, Busayo denied ever stealing his money or breaking any box and further said that she had never seen the box with her former husband while the marriage lasted. She produced a receipt for the iron shack bearing her name.

In its judgment, the court observed that since the plaintiff did not produce any written agreement about the loan or receipts covering the said properties, the court cannot act imaginarily.

frEEDOM: NHRC Frees 10 Inmates With N5m

BY KUnlE olASAnMi, Abuja

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has secured the release of 10 awaiting trial inmates (ATMs) from Lafia Prison with N5 million as compensation under its Public Interest Litigation Project.

The executive secretary of the commission, Prof Ben Angwe, made the disclosure in a statement made available to LEADERSHIP yesterday in Abuja, by the chief press officer of the commission, Fatimah Agwai Mohammed.

Angwe said that the detainees, who have been in prison custody since 2009 without trial, have recently been granted unconditional release and awarded the sum of N500,000 each as damage for prolonged detention in a judgment passed by the Nasarawa State High Court,

resulting from an action instituted by the commission towards enforcing the fundamental human rights of the victims.

He said the commission had in 2013 engaged the services of a legal firm to handle class action suits in respect of the awaiting trial inmates on its behalf on probono basis.

He explained that the outcome of this engagement is the release of 10 accused persons whose fundamental human rights to personal liberty have been violated.

While assuring that the exercise would be a continuous process until the nation’s prison system is restored to a level which it can operate on minimum international standard, Angwe noted that the increasing number of awaiting trial inmates in the country has been a major concern to all the stakeholders in the criminal justice system.

STrANGE: Woman Presents ‘Holy Spirit’ As Collateral For Bank Loan

BY KolA EKE-oGiUGo, Asaba

There was drama last Friday in one of the microfinance banks (name withheld), located in one of the major cities of Delta, when a middle-aged woman approached one of the bank’s officials at the counter for a loan of N1.5million.

Willing to give the loan to the woman, the official brought out a form, apparently meant for customers who demand such facilities.

While she filling the form, she wrote the name of her 12-year-old son as surety and also wrote that she was ready to give the Holy Spirit as collateral. Surprised by what the woman wrote, the official took the form to his boss to seek his advice, and the woman was invited to the office of the boss.

When she got there, she was asked to explain what she meant by the ‘Holy Spirit’ she wrote as her collateral, and her 12- yearold son as surety.

Her response was, “Don’t you know the Holy Spirit or are you not a Christian? Do you want me to write the name of ordinary mortal that will disappoint the bank? No, the Holy Spirit is my collateral because He does not lie, and He cannot fail. So, please let me have the loan.”

All efforts to make the woman realise that it was not possible to make the Holy Spirit her collateral fell on deaf ears, and at a point, she got angry and told them: “Since you don’t want to give me this loan, you wait for me and see what the Holy Spirit will do. You must give the loan to me”, she boasted and walked away.

Two days later, the woman reportedly returned with the wife of the chairman, board of directors of the bank, who shouted and banged on the table and asking: “Where is that disrespectful officer who refused to honour my request that this woman be given a loan. This is indiscipline and an act of insubordination.

Bring him out; if you can’t respect the wife of the chairman of the bank’s board of directors, who else will you respect?” she asked.

STORIES OF THE DAY 11

Monday, September 15, 2014

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Photo News

ThreaT To Life: Husband, Wife, 2 Others In Court

BY ISAIAH BENJAMIN, Kaduna

A couple, Mr. and Mrs. Solomon Otse, and two others have been arraigned before a Kaduna magistrate court on a four- count charge of threat to life, criminal conspiracy, defamation of character and assault by their landlady.

Other accused persons are one Mr. George and Blessing Abel who are resident of a house in Narayi, Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

The couple who were dragged to court along with the two other accused persons by one Mrs. Nancy Talatu Harry, alleged that sometime ago, the husband and his wife assaulted her and threatened to deal with her through series of text messages.

The complainant, Mrs. Harry, who was represented by a counsel, Barrister Panshak Audu, at the mention of the case last

Thursday, alleged that the accused persons conspired with the other two persons and threatened her life, defamed her character and assaulted her.

When the case was mentioned, the accused persons pleaded not guilty to the allegations against them by the complainant whom they claimed is their landlady.

In their defence, Barrister O.A Shokale, who stood in for the accused persons, told the court to grant them bail, adding that the accused persons are honorable people who cannot jump bail or commit similar offence and/or any other offence and will not do anything to jeopardize further investigation.

Counsel to the complainant, Barrister Audu did not object to the appeal for bail, saying the essence was not to punish the accused persons until they were found culpable.

Kano State Governor Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso (middle, front row) with APC leaders from various states under the chairmanship of Yusuf Maitama Tuggar (5th left), during a visit to Government House, Kano.

KiLLiNG: Police Begin Manhunt For Forex Trader Killers

BY ISAIAH BENJAMIN, Kaduna

Kaduna State Police Command yesterday said it had commenced a manhunt for the killers of a forex trader who was killed in Kaduna at the weekend.

The deceased, Abdullahi Ibrahim, 35, popularly known as ‘Bayawa’ was lured to a popular hotel in Kaduna metropolis (name withheld) by a yet- to- be identified man on the grounds that he wanted to exchange some dollars for the naira currency.

The deceased, according to his business colleagues, who did not want their names mentioned in print went to the hotel with about N3 million only to be killed and the said money carted away by the assailant.

According to the police spokesperson in the state, SP Aminu Lawan, “information

available to us was that a man lodged in the said hotel, and the deceased came with a big polythene bag and requested to see the guest and a call was pulled through to the guest intercom who asked that the deceased be allowed to see him.

“The guest was later joined by another two persons but the three of them left one after the other leaving the deceased in the hotel room. But because it was not time to check out, the receptionist did not bother to question them. But out of curiosity, he had to check the room when the deceased did not come out even after the check out time had passed, only to discover that the room was locked up, it was then he forced open the door only to see the deceased lying lifeless in the pool of his blood before our attention was called upon.”

L-R: Former Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Salihu Ibrahim with minister of defence General Aliyu Gusau during a get-together organised by the former army chief for his colleagues at his residence in Kaduna in commemoration of Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) Golden Jubilee at the weekend.

fraUD: 2 Remanded For Duping Lawmaker’s Wife Of N4m

BY ABDuLLAHI OLESIN, Ilorin

An Ilorin Magistrate Court has remanded two suspects for allegedly duping one Hajia Mariam Mande of the House of Assembly quarters, Ilorin, of N4 million.

Hajia Mariam is the wife of Kwara State House of Assembly member, Hon. Mande Umar.

The suspects are Alfa Buari Imam, 37, a cleric, and Obinna Amaocha Peter, 40, a businessman of No. 6, Tokubo junction, Candos, Alimosho, Lagos State.

The accused, according to the Police First Information Report (FIR), were charged with criminal conspiracy and obtaining money under false pretence, contrary to sections 97 of Penal Code Law and section 1(3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and other related offences Act Cap A6 Law of Nigeria.

The FIR said the case was consequent upon a petition dated August 12, 2014 written by Hassan Kwhinde Garuba and co, a legal practitioner and Notary public based in Ilorin on behalf of the legislator,

who alleged that one Hajia Halima, had in February, introduced his wife, Haja Mariam to the first accused person “for prayer to help in order to conceive”.

The police alleged that the first suspect lured Hajia Mariam Mande into changing of dollars business under the pretext of making interest.

The FIR added that the suspect conspired with one Gboyega and others and collected N4 million through Guaranty Trust Bank with account number 015030966, account name- Komolafe Oladele Samuel and account number 0035474422, account name- Olakunle Esther Funmilayo.

“Since the collection of the money, all efforts made to recover the money proved abortive,” the FIR said.

The police said the second suspect was arrested in the course of investigation “for criminally giving out his NEPA bill to one Komolafe Oladele Samuel to open the said account used in defrauding the victim. The suspects pleaded not guilty to the charges”.

L-R: Ag. Director of Inspection and Enforcement, National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) Mrs Miranda Amachere, director, Environmental Quality Control, NESREA, Malam Maiwada Omar, and director-deneral, NESREA, Mrs Ngeri Benebo, during a meeting with stakeholders on National Vehicular Emission Control in Abuja at the weekend. PHOTO BY OYEDELE OMOKAGBO

L-R: Executive Director, Innovation Matters Ltd Mrs Dede Kairi, researchers/analyst Mr Christian Oyukpozi and secretary/researcher Miss Blessing Ogbaragu during a media engagement by Innovation Matters Ltd in Lagos at the weekend. PHOTO BY GBENGA OLAJOBI

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Monday, September 15, 2014

TETFund Focus

with Abdulrahman Sade 08059093111 (text only) abdulnasirsade@yahoo.com

Bogoro And The Destiny Of Tertiary Education In Nigeria

W

Professor Suleiman Elias Bogoro, a renowned university administrator who knows the cons and prons of Nigeria’s university system was saddled with the responsibility of making a change in TETFund.

hen on April 14, 2014 Nigerians were offered a new hand in the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) many were surprised at the decision of President Goodluck Ebele Joanthan, GCFR to approve the appointment of Animal Scientist, Professor Suleiman Elias Bogoro to the coveted seat in TETFund.

Professor Suleiman Elias Bogoro, a renowned university administrator who knows the cons and prons of Nigeria’s university system was saddled with the responsibility of making a change in TETFund. Prof Bogoro, arguably one of the most intellectually gifted and mentally equipped academicians of his generation, is an incisive animal scientist and don of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi. Coincidentally, the highly respected professor hails from Bauchi State as well as his predecessor and the current chairman, board of TETFund, Dr Musa Babayo, and a coincidence that drew some flak on Mr President. But being a man that is driven by the quest to transform Nigeria, President Jonathan has always had his eyes on the survival of education in the country.

Suffice to say, the outcry was needless as many could not see the vision of Mr President in his mission to turn the fortunes of education in Nigeria. It’s no longer news that Nigerians inundate the gates of several embassies in Abuja and Lagos respectively, seeking visas to study in various countries yearly. Consequently, billions in capital flight leave Nigeria for these countries even to some nations that are less endowed than Nigeria, a challenge the federal government has taken to the fullest to tackle through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund.

The reasons for the drove are obvious; the continued decline in the quality of education and particularly, decaying infrastructure, poor research and training of teachers leading to a spectrum of restiveness in tertiary education, labour unions and students uprising all of which have created a discouraging perception in the minds of parents as well

Prof. Bogoro

as stakeholders in the education sector.

TETFund is a forthright strategy of the federal government to turn the tide of education in the country.

With over 21 years of changing the fortunes of education, TETFund has transformed from an agency set up by Act No 7 of 1993 as amended by Act No 40 of 1998 under a military government to an institution recognised by an Act of parliament elected by the people.

The agency began as an intervention agency set up to provide supplementary support to all levels of public tertiary institutions with the main objective of using funding alongside project management for the rehabilitation, restoration and consolidation of Tertiary Education in Nigeria.

With this important objective as part of the transformation agenda of President Jonathan, TETFund in April got a new mandate in the person of Prof Suleiman Elias Bogoro as the Executive Secretary to follow the pathway of transforming the education sector.

Essentially, Professor Bogoro was

saddle with the responsibility of disbursing the much needed funds to universities, polytechnics and colleges of education to improve their capacity to teach and improve researches through project interventions.

The scholar, Prof. Bogoro, came to TETFund as a known thorough breed academician who understands the pains of both students and teachers in the Nigerian education sector. Since his berths in TETFund, Bogoro has taken bold steps to confront the infrastructure challenges of tertiary institutions in the country. He is case of a round peg in a round hole.

In a speech after taking over at TETFund, Prof. Bogoro pledged to implement the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan in the tertiary education sector. Adding that he would carry out his duties without prejudice against any group, a gesture he has kept well in the past months.

He went further to stress the need for adequately qualified and research-oriented personnel to serve as lecturers in the tertiary

education system. On the basis of that, Prof. Bogoro expressed worry recently over the inability of tertiary institutions to access the 100 billion naira fund in TETFund for infrastructural development.

Essentially, TETFund is not a place for free meal, the two per cent tax on annual companies’ profits remitted to the agency is a mandate that must be delivered to the people in fairness and equity. The vision of Bogoro is to ensure that funds are accessed by institutions in accordance to the laid down provisions setting up the fund, which institutions must comply to get their projects funded.

Prof. Bogoro has brought stability to TETFund in the last five months and giving all tertiary institutions equal opportunity to take advantage of funds made available by providing rendition on returns for past projects and quickly applying for another.

As explained by chairman, Board of Trustees of TETFund, Dr Musa Babayo, who is also a seasoned administrator and a reliable financial expert, has all it takes to make education a viable sector in the country. He mentioned that the major impediment to prompt accessing of funds over the years had been improper documentation of proposals by institutions to enable them get new projects.

This has been a major concern for the new man at the agency who is worried as the various higher institutions in the country need urgent intervention to save them from collapsing.

The Executive Secretary understands the importance of these projects to the survival of tertiary institutions in Nigeria hence, the billions of naira in the coffers of TETFund is no good if it remained un-accessed by deserving institutions.

Even as he working assiduously to improve the infrastructure in the nation’s tertiary institutions, Prof. Bogoro, must be given the chance to transformed the education sector as he marches through the first year in his five-year mandate given to him

by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

–Abdulrahman Sade is an Abuja based media consultant.

Monday, September 15, 2014

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14 news north-East, north-wEst

Monday, September 15, 2014

we’ll win North-west Votes In 2015 – PDP

By ChiBuzo ukaiBe,Abuja

The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday said its victory in the Katsina State council elections indicates that the party is on ground in the North West region and will clear the votes in the zone in the 2015 general election.

PDP national publicity secretary, Olisa Metuh, in a statement described the sweeping victory at the Katsina local council poll as a reflection of its popularity and

acceptance by Nigerians in every nook and cranny of the country.

The party also said its overwhelming electoral victories, earlier in Kaduna and now in Katsina, clearly indicate that it is on ground in the zone and will “sweep the votes not only in the North West but also in the entire northern region in the 2015 general election”.

The leadership congratulated Katsina State governor Ibrahim Shema, the state chairman of the party as well as leaders and mem-

bers of the PDP in the state for the successful outing, attributing it to the “sterling performance of the PDP-led administration in the state which is in line with the PDP ideology and President Goodluck Jonathan’s Transformation Agenda.”

These, it said, were in addition to the unity and oneness that obtain in its fold in Katsina State.

Thanking the people of the state for their support expressed in the free and fair elections, the party urged the newly elected local gov-

ernment officers to reciprocate by “working hard to ensure that their people not only continue to enjoy the benefit of having the PDP in power but also vote en-masse for it in the general elections.”

On its own part, the national leadership assured that it would continue to guarantee strict adherence to the principles of internal democracy and provide level playing ground for all Nigerians to canvass and pursue their aspirations within the ambit of the overall national interest.

l-r: national chairman, dandalin Siyasa online Forum, yusuf ubale hashim, discussing with the deputy director-general of the dandalin Siyasa online Forum alhaji yusuf dingyadi, at the Forum’s 6th anniversary, held at kano Government house, yesterday.

PHOTO BY KANO GOVT HOUSE

SHORT NEwS Proposed Polling Units: North ShortChanged By INEC Political analyst, Dr. Sadiq Umar Abubakar has said that, from available data, INEC has actually short-changed the North in the proposed polling units to be created ahead of the 2015 general elections.

Dr. Abubakar has also expressed disappointment over the comment credited to the leadership of Southern People Alliance (SPA) on the subject matter.

By Isaiah Benjamin Kaduna

Catholic Church Decries Sustained Killing Of Members In Borno, Adamawa, Yobe By aBdulkareem haruna, Maiduguri

With at least 670 members killed, over 50 churches burnt, 90,000 others displaced and over 500 widowed, over 170 children killed and about 1,500 children orphaned, the Catholic Church in north-east Nigeria fears a possible extinction as the ongoing Boko Haram insurgency continues unabated, church officials said.

Rev Fr Gideon Obasogie, the Catholic Director of Social Com-

munication of the church’s Dioceses of Maiduguri which over seas the three volatile states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, lamented depletion of members at worships and masses as many have either killed or forced to flee the states.

The cleric made this known to LEADERSHIP in as statement issued after a press conference yesterday.

He said hundreds of Catholic churches spread across the three Boko Haram tormented states

had been attacked and destroyed in the last four years.

“The churches in Pulka, Bama, Gomburo Ngala, Maffa, Gubio, Damasak, Madayi, Baga, Pulka, Gwoza, Madagali, Gulak, Shuwa, Michika, Bazza, mishara and mubi have been under siege “This will amount to over 100 parishes churches, outstations, local churches and small Christian communities. Some local churches within Potiskum and Damaturu had also been adversely affected,” he said.

2015: Kwankwasiya Group Holds National Prayer Over Leadership Change By aBah adah, Abuja

In the countdown to the 2015 general elections, a group of Nigerians drawn from different parts of the country under the name Kwankwasiya National Grassroots Movement, has said it is holding a national prayer programme to seek divine intervention for a change of leadership in the country.

The national coordinator of the group, Dr David Chukwumelugaba, said while addressing journalists in Abuja at the weekend that

Nigeria has suffered under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leadership and there is need for urgent change in the country’s leadership.

“Based on the excellent performance and monumental achievement of Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso in Kano State in the last three years that he has been there, the members of the group and other well-meaning Nigerians have decided to present him to Nigerians as the apt presidential candidate they should go for

at the 2015 polls,” he said.

“As we all know, Nigeria is on the brink of total collapse because of lack luster and ineffective leadership at the center. We have seen our citizens lose faith in the government of the day. We have witnessed blunder after blunder. Nigerians are indeed truly crying for change. It is to our long suffering fellow citizens that we bring the good news that God has finally answered our prayers to give us a leader who will totally and truly change Nigeria for the better.”

SHORT NEwS

Boko Haram Insurgency: FG To Distribute Relief Materials To Adamawa IDPs The federal government has earmarked relief materials worth N500m for onward distribution to persons displaced by Boko Haram insurgents.

The Adamawa State chairman of the Presidential Special Committee on Relief Materials to North East Alhaji Salihu Yunusa Belel made the disclosure during an interactive session with newsmen in Yola yesterday.

By Mohammed Ismail, Yola

Katsina Offers Incentives For Animal Husbandry Katsina State has earned a reputation for being an agrarian state with farming and rearing of animals constituting mainstay of its economy.

As a matter of fact, it is generally believed that over 80% of the state’s six million people earn their livelihood from farming.

It was in line with a deliberate policy directive of boosting this all important area of agriculture that the state under the administration of Governor Shema has continued to leave indelible footprints in the area of animal production.

As an indication of its strength and commitment to animal farming, Katsina state, through dogged commitment, ensured that the state has a capital asset of over one million heads of cattle, three million goats and two million sheep.

To strengthened animal production for local consumption and “exports”, the state government enters into partnership with the different animal research institutes even as it continued to provide incentives for farmers.

The state government established a goat improvement centre where it was collaborating with the prestigious Ahmadu Bello Union, Zaria. There are no fewer than three cattle breeding centres located in the state’s three senatorial districts just as there are functional sheep improvement centres in Batsari and Katsina local government areas.

Interestingly, these centres are concerned with ensuring the production of high breed animals that will support both quality meat and milk production across the state.

By Muazu Elazeh, Katsina

436 Zamfara Pilgrims Airlifted The first batch of 546 out of this year’s 4,074 inteding pilgrims from Zamfara State were airlifted from the Sultan Abubakar III International Airport Sokoto at 1am yesterday while the second batch of 530 were airlifted at 2pm.

This was disclosed on Saturday by the state deputy governor Mallam Ibrahim Wakkala, the state Amirul-Hajj, during a farewell address to the departing pilgrims by Governor Abdulaziz Yari.

The deputy governor also gave the assurance that the last batch of 530 would on the same day leave for the holy land by 8:30pm.

He disclosed that by last Saturday, a total of 3,033 visas for the pilgrims were already at hand, while the balance would be secured before the evacuation of the pilgrims.

By Abba Kabara

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Monday, September 15, 2014

Nigeria’s 2014 Economic Growth Forecast To Reduce By 0.5% – Okonjo-Iweala

By FridAy ATUFE, Lagos

In line with its commitment to increase financing efforts in the agro-processing sector, the Bank of Industry (BoI) and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture have expressed optimism of increased investment in the sector.

Indeed, both agencies have noted that capacity utilisation in the cottage industry was expected to increase with the commitment of funds to the sector.

They stated these during the commissioning of two oil palm processing Qx cottage industries in Osun State, with stakeholders noting that the initiative would no doubt serve as a catalyst for expanding industrial capacity and enhancing value addition efforts to the nation’s raw materials.

According to the Osun State special adviser to the Governor on agriculture and food security, Festus Agunbiade, most farmers were challenged at the stage of

Increased Crude Production, Gas To Power Priority Areas – NNPC GMD

By Juliet AlohAn, Abuja

The group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr Joseph Dawha, has listed short- term priority of the Corporation under his watch to include ramping up crude oil production and boosting gas supply to the power sector.

The NNPC boss, who also listed the short- term focus to include driving performance management and improving core processes to instil a culture of performance in the Corporation, consequently, challenged the information technology division of the NNPC to evolve innovative ideas and strategies to support the three-point agenda.

Dawha gave the charge at the 2014 NNPC Information Technology Knowledge Sharing and Direction Setting Workshop held recently in Abuja, according to a statement issued yesterday by the Corporations Spokesman, Ohi Alegbe.

He said the NNPC under his watch “in the short term will focus on three key areas of ramping up production by its upstream

“You know our economy is largely driven by internal consumption. That is why we are not thinking that it would have quite a large impact. But there would be some negative impact, you can see that hotel occupancy rates are down and some business meetings have been postponed by people from outside.

“So, we are taking that into account. So far, half a percentage point is largely for terror and a little bit for Ebola. But the impact is not that much,” she stated.

The finance minister explained that the visit of the Unilever CEO to Nigeria was a testament to the fact that the country was safe for businessmen, adding that the visit was more of an endorsement from the international community.

Coordinating minister of the economy and minister of finance , Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said the nation’s projected economic growth rate for this year would reduce by 0.5 per cent due to adverse effects of Ebola virus disease and Boko Haram terror attacks in the country.

Okonjo-Iweala, who spoke in Lagos over the weekend after a breakfast meeting with the global chief executive officer of Unilever Plc, Mr Paul Polman said, “We have discounted our growth by a half percentage point this year. We are processing, because when they sell still projecting to grow around 6.5 without adding value, they were per cent but we have discounted that due to the effect of Ebola bound to get a poor price.

“If we don’t take care of disease and Boko Haram in the processing facilities then we would just be producing for wastages and if you are sure that your commodities would be processed you will be encouraged to add more value,” he said.

He noted that the minister for agriculture and rural development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, understands the challenges of farming and the farmers and his efforts have resulted in the increase of production capacity.

“We are also witnessing a better approach to the issue of funding

by BOI because they have come down to the real issues; farmers can no longer bear the high costs of commercial bank facilities, it is very good that BOI has now come down to its real mandate and is l-R: nigerian Ambassador to india, ndubuisi Amaku; indian trade Minister, nirmala Sitharaman; Minister of industry, and investment, olusegun Aganga; and Permanent Secretary, Abdulkadir Musa, after a bilateral meeting on the financing agriculture by charging trade sidelines of the Miti-Ambassadors Roundtable in new Delhi, india on Friday. single digit interest rates.

BoI, Agric Ministry Raise Stakes In Oil Palm Cottage Industry

By OLUSHOLA BELLO, Lagos

eastern part of the country.

While the Unilever global CEO, Polman, stated that Unilever would invest $200 million in Nigeria and inaugurate one of its new facilities in the country in October.

“We feel this is the right time to increase our presence in Nigeria. Our growth potentials are accelerating and we think that a lot of potential are actually being unlocked right now.”

Okonjo stated that the government would continue to monitor the situation to determine if it would have further impact on the economy, adding that the federal government has instituted a team led by the chief economic adviser to continue monitoring the impact of the Ebola virus disease on the economy.

subsidiary, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) to 250,000 barrels of crude oil per day, boosting gas supply and expanding gas infrastructure to enhance availability of gas for power generation and feedstock for gas-based industries and driving performance management and improving core processes to instil a culture of performance and boost productivity.”

The GMD, who was represented at the event by the group executive director, Business Development, Dr Attahiru Yussuf, urged the technology division to be strategic and proactive in generating ideas and deploying cutting-edge technologies that could promote the efficient and speedy achievement of the three key short-term objectives of management.

He said: “I urge you to re-equip yourselves in order to play a leading role in accelerating change across the entire Corporation. To lead this transformation, our IT executives must re-imagine their roles by seeing themselves – and encouraging others to see them – as chief executives of an information business.

Follow these reports on leadership.ng/business

Inflation Rises For Sixth Straight Month To 8.5% In August

By NSE ANTHONy-UKO, Abuja

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) which measures inflation rate in the country rose for the sixth consecutive month in August to 8.5 per cent year-on-year compared to the 8.3 per cent increase recorded in the previous month, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said yesterday.

The agency said that the faster pace of price increases recorded in August was as a result of increases in the twelve major Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP) divisions that yield the Headline index.

The Food index edged higher to 10.0 per cent in August, from 9.9 per cent recorded in July. Prices were pushed higher as a result of higher prices in a broad array of Food groups that contribute to the index. Prices were however slowed by a muted increase in the Bread and Cereals group.

According to the agency, increase in prices in the All Items less Farm Product or Core sub-

index continued to be muted for the second consecutive month, after increasing at a faster pace for the previous three months.

Prices rose by 6.1 per cent (yearon-year), 0.9 percentage points lower from the rate recorded in July.

On a month on month basis, price increases in the headline index slowed for the third consecutive month. Prices slowed by 0.2 percentage points to 0.48 per cent in August, from 0.65 per cent in July.

Prices slowed in all COICOP divisions that yield the headline index except for the Health, Transportation, Education, and Miscellaneous Groups and Services Divisions.

Urban prices increased by 0.2 percentage points, to 8.7 per cent (year-on-year) in August.

Urban prices have increased at a faster pace for the fourth consecutive month. Rural prices have exhibited the same trend over the period increasing by 0.3 percentage points from 8.1 per

cent in July to 8.4 in August.

On a month on month basis, the pace of increases in urban prices has slowed for two straight months.

Also, the Urban Headline index increased by 0.51 per cent in August, roughly 0.2 percentage points lower from July, while the Rural All-items index rose at a slower pace by 0.47 per cent in August, down from 0.60 per cent in July.

The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the twelve-month period ending in August over the average of the CPI for the previous twelvemonth period was recorded at 8.0 per cent, unchanged from the average twelve month rate of change recorded in July 2014.

The corresponding 12-month year-on-year average percentage change for the Urban index was 8.1 per cent in August, unchanged for the third consecutive month, while the corresponding Rural index increased marginally to 7.9 per cent in August.

16 newS/BUSINESS

Monday, September 15, 2014

Nigerian Economy Attracts N1.5trn Foreign Investments In H1 2014

Youths Invade Chevron Oil Facility In Bayelsa Over Compensation

By OSA OkhOminA, Yenagoa

There was security breach yesterday in the Koluama community of Southern Ijaw Local Government area of Bayelsa State following the invasion and shutting down of the Chevron Oil Platform by youths over the refusal of the company to pay adequate compensation for January 2012 KS Endeavour rig fire disaster in the area.

Leadership gathered that the armed soldiers guarding the Oil facility, identified as the Chevron’s North Apoi platform, were taken by surprise by the irate youths.

Leadership gathered that the youths, from the thirteen host communities, stormed the offshore facility on Sunday at about 11am and were yet to vacate the facility at the press time.

The elders and chiefs from the Chevron host communities had in a meeting held late last month had warned that failure by the company pay compensation and carry out mitigation measure Nigeria Tactical fare

to restore the devastated environment, would lead to shut shut down of the entire Funiwa oil field.

The host communities comprising Koluama I &II , Sangana, Fishtown, Ezetu I & II, Forupa, Ekeni, Bilabiri, Amatu, Bisangbene and old Ekeni are protesting among others the alleged refusal of Chevron to pay compensation for the January fire outbreak at the offshore rig which lasted about 46 days with its attendant environmental, health and economic damage.

The youths noted with regret the refusal of the company to pay adequate compensation for the alleged colossal environmental devastation that has kept their people in pain, sickness, poverty, hunger and death of some of the natives.

“The deliberate refusal of Chevron and relevant authorities to carry out environmental impact assessment and mitigation has brought misery to our people. ad-NP 7x5.pdf 1 9/7/14 1:53

By BukOlA idOwu, Lagos

A total of $5.8 billion (N903.9 billion) foreign investments flowed into the Nigerian economy in the second quarter of 2014 according to latest figures released by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) yesterday, bringing total foreign investments inflow in the first six months of 2014 to $9.70 billion or N1.51 trilion.

According to the statistics office, foreign investments inflow had risen by 48.6 per cent or $1.89 billion in the second quarter of the year compared to $3.9 billion capital imported into the Nigerian economy in the first three months of the year.

According to the NBS, portfolio investments accounted for a huge chunk of the imported capital in the second quarter of the year. Portfolio investments made up 84.72 per cent of the total cap-

ital inflow with $4.92 billion, while Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) constituted 8.2 per cent with $472.99 million. Other investments accounted for 7.13 per cent with $413.63 billion.

The statistics office noted in its Nigerian Capital Importation report made available on its website last night that capital importation prior to 2013 was rising steadily, recovering from the lows recorded post the 2008 financial crisis.

Capital importation had reached its peak in the first quarter of 2013, when $6.699 billion was imported into the country. “Capital importation however declined in the following quarter, dropping to $3.904 billion in the opening quarter of 2014, a year on year decline of $2.696 billion or 40.85 per cent.

“The second quarter value brought the total capital imported through the first half of 2014 to

$9.708 billion, which was still $2.509 billion or 20.5 per cent lower than the $12.218 billion recorded for the same period in 2013.”

Continuing its increasingly dominant trend, portfolio investments in the second quarter of 2014 was up by $2.04 billion or 71.3 per cent relative to the $2.86 billion recorded in the preceding quarter, and grew by $429.63 million or 9.5 per cent year on year.

“Subsequently, its total share of capital imported increased by 11.24 percentage points from the 73.4 per cent in the preceding quarter to 84.7 per cent. The second quarter 2014 share was also 4.8 percentage points greater than the 79.8 per cent it represented in the corresponding quarter of 2013.”

According to business type, the report said “shares continue to attract the most foreign

capital into Nigeria representing $3.39 billion or 58.5 per cent of total capital imported in the second quarter of 2014.

This was followed by the financial sector with investment of $723.1 million or 12.4 per cent for the second quarter.

“In terms of destination, the report said that Lagos continues to outstrip other states in its capital receipt, with $5.70 billion or 98.3 per cent of the second quarter. Lagos experienced year on year growth in capital importation of $149 million or 2.6 per cent, while inflows increased by $1.94 billion or 51.8 per cent from the preceding quarter,” it added.

The United Kingdom, the report added, continues to provide the greatest source of capital imported into Nigeria, with $3.97 billion or 68.4 per cent of the total coming from this country alone in the second quarter.

PM

Company Commits $60m In Asejire Dam

By AdeBAyO wAheed, Ibadan

Triton Aqua Africa Limited has concluded arrangement to commit $60 million for the development of Asejire Dam as a centre for fisheries production.

Speaking at the signing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Oyo State government

through the ministry of natural resources, the company’s managing director, Mrs Oby Inuwa, explained that the Asejire Dam includes an initial capital outlay of around $3 million which would gradually be expanded.

“We are keen to undertake the aquaculture project across Nigeria and are willing to commit investment

of around $60 million in the next five to seven years.

“We have already set up a commercial scale hatchery in Lagos with a production capacity of 2million fingerlings, We hope to get the production facility at Asejire Dam operational within 6-12months since all the formalities have been completed,” she said.

CPC Emerges African Regulator Of The Year C

By kingSley Alu, Abuja

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The Consumer Protection Council (CPC) has been named the African Regulator of the Year in the 2014 edition of the African Business Leadership Awards, which was held in London, United Kingdom.

Conveying the award nomination to CPC, the organizers, the African Leadership (UK) Limited wrote: “We are pleased to notify you that, after a rigorous screening process, Consumer Protection Council Nigeria has meritoriously emerged as the winner of the African Regulator of the Year Award in the 2014 edition of the African Business Leadership Awards, billed to hold 5 September 2014 at the Hilton London Metropole, UK.”

The emergence of CPC for the Award is the result of a survey of over 480,000 respondents, 180,000 of which were received through facebook and other platforms used by the organizers of the Award.

The organisation pointed out that the outcome of “our different polls nomination shows that Consumer Protection Council of Nigeria (CPC) ranked tops in the Government Regulator category”.

While explaining the essence of the Award, the organisers disclosed that “the African Business Leadership Awards is a prestigious recognition of exceptional practices and outstanding achievers, especially in Africa, among others.”

Some of the past recipi-

ents of the Awards include President of Tanzania, Jakaya Kikwete; President of Sierra Leone, Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma; Liberian President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf; former President John Kufour of Ghana; Dr. Mo Ibrahim, founder Ibrahim Prize for Leadership; Liberia Bank for Development and Investment; First Bank of Nigeria; and Chevron Nigeria.

The award was preceded by the African Business Leadership Forum 2014, a high-level meeting of African leaders in politics, the private sector, civil society and academics to take stock of Africa’s economic performance.

The Award was received on behalf of CPC by the Director General, Mrs. Dupe Atoki.

Monday, September 15, 2014

17

18 money market/BUSINESS

Monday, September 15, 2014

money MARKET REPORTS

CBN Moves MPC Meeting The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has moved the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting up from September 22 and 23, 2014, to September 18 and 19.

The MPC meets once in two months to discuss and assess economic developments and set monetary policies.

The change in the date of meeting was made known in a statement signed by the director, Corporate Communications of the apex bank, Ibrahim Mu’azu.

The MPC last met in July where members of the committee voted to retain the current monetary policy with one member voting for an asymmetric corridor around the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR).The MPR had been retained at 12 per cent with a corridor of +/- 200 basis points around the midpoint, likewise Liquidity Ratio at 30 per cent Cash Reserve Requirement (CRR) on public and private sector were also maintained at 75 and 15 per cents respectively. With inflation moving towards the nine per cent ceiling set by the apex bank. Analysts said they expect the committee to further tighten monetary policy so as to rein in the rising inflation. which currently stands at 8.3 per cent as at July 2014.

Naira notes

AMCON Posts N625bn Loss, Begins Divestment Stories By Bukola Idowu, Lagos

The Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), last weekend, released its financial statement for the year ended December 2013, posting a loss after tax of N627.59 billion, lower than N702.39 billion loss which it recorded for 2012 financial year.

The total assets of the bad bank which was established in 2010 to buy the bad debts of banks, stood at N2.536 trillion, 5.9 per cent lower than N2.629 trillion which it was at the end of its 2012 financial year, while total liabilities grew by 1.5 per cent from N5.936 trillion to N6.023 trillion.

AMCON in 2013 recorded a net fee and commission income of N16.25 billion, a 15.9 per cent improvement over N14.02 billion which it made in the 2012 financial year.

Commenting on the financials, the executive director, Finance and Operations, AMCON, Mrs Mofoluke Dosunmu, explained that the bad bank is yet to get to the stage of recording profitability.

“If you look at the track record of resolution vehicles across the world, the turnaround time is around 10 to 15 years and so it will take some time for AMCON

to start making profits,” she stated.

This was also corroborated by analysts at the Financial Derivatives Company Limited who noted that the economic gain of the bad bank is more paramount than the losses it is currently recording. In the company’s Economic Bulletin released over the weekend, the analysts stated that although the loss recorded by the AMCON is “more than the 2013 fiscal budgets of seven states in Nigeria, these numbers becloud the economic reality of economic success.

“While the financial loss was N625.88 billion, the good news is that, the economic profit and the social benefits were approximately ten times higher.

The question asked is “why and how do economists compute and measure profit differently from accountants?” This is because economic definitions are wider in dimension and concept,” the analysts said.

On the other hand, Afrinvest (West Africa) Ltd had, last week, raised alarm that the acquisition the AMCON’s debt by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) threatens banks in case of another banking crisis.

According to the managing director and chief executive of the company, Ike Chioke, over 40 per cent of CBN’s asset

portfolio is unmarketable, comprising principally of the AMCON bonds, intervention funds and development finance loans.

Speaking at the launch of the 2014 Nigerian Banking Sector Report, Chioke explained that these were long term investments without a discernable exit time frame other than the eventual performance of the loan portfolio. He furthered that the 190.5 per cent surge in other liabilities from N2.1 trillion in December 2009 to N6.1 trillion in November 2013, traceable to the acquisition of the AMCON’s debt by the CBN, is alarming.

“In the event of another crisis in the banking space, the CBN may not have the capacity to bail out the banks without avoiding the option of printing money, which will have significant consequences on price stability,” Chioke said.

Meanwhile, the bad bank, which announced Heritage Bank’s investment arm as the preferred bidder for the sale of Enterprise Bank and Fidelity Bank as the reserve bidder, said it will begin to divest its investments from next month.

The AMCON is already pulling out of some banks having sold its shareholding in Ecobank Transnational to Quatar National Bank (QNB).

Sterling Bank Gets 3,000 Loan Applications On Facebook, Twitter Sterling BankPlc said it received over 3,000 loan applications under its Social lender Scheme which allows customers apply for loans through social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter accounts.

The bank, in a statement issued at the weekend, said it has so far processed over 2,000 loan applications under the scheme which was kicked off two months ago to aid the disbursement of quick cash to its online customers.

The social lender, a first in Nigeria, is a peerto-peer lending solution using the Twitter and Facebook channels which play a significant role in influencing decision making among young Nigerians. It is open to all Sterling Bank account holders with provisions made for nonaccount holders to apply through the Sterling Bank Mobile Money application.

ePayment: Fatokun To Speak At FICAN Annual Conference If you look at the track record of resolution vehicles across the world, the turnaround time is around 10 to 15 years; so it will take some time for AMCON to start making profits

The director, Banking and Payment Department, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr ‘Dipo Fatokun will be the guest speaker at the 2014 Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) Annual Conference.

Fatokun, who is at the centre of the cashless banking policy of the CBN, will be speaking on the theme “e-Payment in Nigeria: Past, Present and Future” at the conference which will be held from September 20-21, 2014, in Lagos.

Other stakeholders expected at the event are the chief executive officer (CEO), Verve International, Mr Charles Ifedi; managing director/CEO, NEXTZON Business Services Limited, Mr Mac Atasie; the head, Shared Services, CBN, Mr Chidi Umeano; vice-chairman, Committee of e-Banking Industry Heads (CeBIH), Mr Dele Adeyinka and editor-in-chief, Financial Technology, Mr Sola Fanawopo.

The event will also attract policy makers, leaders in the financial and civil rights groups, merchants as well as corporate affairs managers in the financial services sector, among others.

Monday, September 15, 2014

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20 CAPITAL MARKET/BUSINESS

Monday, September 15, 2014

CAPITAL MARKET REPORTS

SEC, CBi Advocate Building Businesses On Integrity STORIES BY OLUSHOLA BELLO, Lagos

IEI-Anchor Pension Raises Share Capital To N3bn

...grows shareholders’ funds to N1.24 billion

BY NSE ANTHONY-UKO, Abuja

The managing director of IEIAnchor Pension Managers, Solomon Okoli, has assured shareholders that the company has overcome its teething problems and is now positioned for sustainable growth and profitability.

Consequently, Okoli told the shareholders at the company’s first annual general meeting (AGM) in Abuja, last week, that the company had extended operations to 30 states of the federation, servicing over 75,000 customers and managing staff pension schemes for a couple of states.

Already, the company’s shareholders have voted to increase share capital from N2.222 billion to N3 billion in a move to accommodate increasing strategic partners’ interests that could help expand the business further.

The company, within eight years, grew shareholders’ funds more than eight folds from N150 million in 2005 to N1.240 billion in 2013. Okoli said that expansion efforts so far have repositioned the company for better performance even as the half year results have shown.

The chief executive said that the long term plan of the company was to be among the tier-one pension fund administrators (PFAs) in Nigeria, with the threshold of a minimum of N100 billion of assets under its management. He explained that the cost of expansion had eaten into the company’s revenue and

consequently, was confident of the company’s outlook.

“Our expansion may not be profitable immediately, but as we scale up over time, we will get through this and we are already seeing this in 2014.

We are already seeing a lot of improvements.

“We are seeing some of the locations that we opened last year being more profitable now.

We are expanding our customer base, and the contribution level is beginning to yield and adding to the bottom line,” Okoli stated.

According to him, part of the expansion strategies is to raise the company’s share capital to N3 billion in order to be positioned for possible acquisition moves.

“People outside are beginning to see the opportunities out there and they are getting interested in what we are doing and want to come in to be part of us. If we do not increase our share capital, we cannot accommodate. So we want to have the flexibility and use the capital to expand the business,” he said of the company’s new share capital.

“The other thing is to give room for strategic acquisition.

For some of the acquisitions, it is not everybody that wants to partner with you that can just take cash and walk away. They may also want to be part of the owners, therefore, they need that room to also give them a stake.

Also, if the National Pension Commission requires PFAs to increase capital, we have the flexibility to adapt faster than those that will start the process when it happens, so we want to be prepared.

“Finally, for our employees,

we want to give some of them a sense of ownership as part of our reward system, which includes the option to be part of the company,” Okoli added.

The chairman of the company, Silas Jonathan Zwingina, said that despite the decline in revenue in 2013, a modest profit after tax of N12.8 million was recorded. This was, however, lower than the N54 million in 2012, assuring that the company was on track for the third consecutive year of profitability.

The asset under management, he disclosed, rose by 30.27 per cent in 2012 to N26.2 billion from 2011 and also 23.22 per cent in 2013 to N32.3 billion.

The company’s customer base also increased to 63,574 in 2013 from 53,161 in 2012 and 45,136 in 2011.

“We continue to deliver above industry average return on investment for our account holders and provide a conducive environment for our employees to advance their careers. We are committed to profitable growth without losing sight of our responsibility to our customers,” Zwingina stated.

He assured that the company’s board remains reasonably optimistic about the prospects for the company and Nigeria’s pension industry and is determined to take bold steps to realise the aspirations of stakeholders in the coming years.

Despite prospects, the chairman, however, observed that the lingering security challenges, especially in the North Eastern region, limits access to that market as cost of regulatory compliance continues to rise, limiting options for investments.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Convention on Business Integrity (CBi) have advocated building Nigerian businesses on integrity and good corporate governance.

They stated this at the second installment of the annual Christopher Kolade Lecture on Business Integrity held in Lagos at the weekend.

Instituted by the CBi, the lecture was designed to honour its chairman, Dr Christopher Kolade, and to entrench the values of integrity and good governance among Nigerians in leadership positions in the public and private sectors of the economy.

In his remark, Kolade said that adherence to the principles of corporate governance was imperative for the nation to be on the path of sustainable development.

Speaking at the event, the director-general of the SEC, Arunma Oteh, said that building Nigerian businesses on integrity and good corporate governance would pave way for growth and development. She pointed out that there was still a lot to be done in this area, saying that recently the world economic forum released its global competitiveness index for the 2014 and 2015 period, and Nigeria was ranked 127 out of 144 countries.

“Looking at the index on integrity and ethical behaviour, Nigeria was ranked 132 out of 144 countries, while South Africa ranked 35, and this was based on information provided by businesses in Nigeria. So obviously South African firms considered themselves more ethical than Nigerian companies.”

According to Oteh, through business integrity, we can improve the competitiveness of this nation’s businesses. As such, we must have a parallel shift where we focus on proper conduct.

Union Dicon Holds Completion Board Meeting

The long term plan of the company was to be among the tier-one pension fund administrators (PFAs) in Nigeria, with the threshold of a minimum of N100 billion of assets under its management

Union Dicon Salt Plc has held a completion board meeting with regards to the company’s plan to sell 41 million ordinary shares to CBO Capital Partners via special placement.

According to the company, in a statement made available to the media, the meeting was held following the receipt of regulatory approvals from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The company said all the offer documents to be issued in connection with the special placement were signed by the directors and the respective professional parties to the placement.

The management of the CBO Capital, which is the core investor in Union Dicon, had unveiled its expansion plans and growth strategy to the shareholders at the Annual General Meeting, held recently in Lagos.

The chairman, Union Dicon, Gen. Theophilus Danjuma, said that the planned restructuring of the company would lead to improvements in the company’s operations sooner than later.

He said, “Following a strategic review, and in recognition of changes in the operating environment, the company is embarking on major diversification by investing in the agricultural and industrial goods sector of the economy; we are committed to the continuous review and improvement of the company’s strategies and operations.

INTERVIEW /BUSINESS 21

Monday, September 15, 2014 As the new president of the CIS, what are the things that you want to address immediately in order to reposition the institute?

The status of CIS as the foremost capital market professional body needs to be enhanced. This requires a combination of brand restructuring and improved access and engagements with other stakeholders. In this regards, we will ensure that in the next 18 months, the CIS moves to a befitting structure that would house our secretariat.

This suitability of the institute’s structure would go a long way in having impact on the institute as a brand.

We would also embark on brand projects that would situate the institute in the rightful place in the financial market and the Nigerian economy and make it a strong brand across Africa and globally. An important component of this is to work with the National Assembly on the speedy passage of the CISI Bill.

To expand the participation rate of Nigerians in the capital market and improve national savings mobilisation for critical investment growth, our goal is to expand the access to our certifications by varied but related professionals.

We would, therefore, immediately embark on the expansion of the certification programmes as well as the frequency of the examinations.

We would also align the programme to America’s FINRA and UK’s CISI curriculums in the light of the unfolding sophistication of our markets. We intend to transform the examinations from paper based to electronic format to expand access at minimal costs to both the institute and members at all levels.

Enhancement of the relationship between the institute and other professional bodies would be improved on while expanding local and international alliances. One issue that needs serious attention is the status of CFA charter holders and CIS certifications in relation to stock market trading permits. We would immediately resolve this and similar issues in our first 12 months in office.

The process of graduating through student membership to fellow would be immediately reviewed to remove the ambiguities and create a clear process and procedures for members to proceed from associate membership to earning the fellowship of the Institute.

How would you improve the financial strength of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers?

The existing sources of revenue to the institute are registration fees, exam fees, sale of study packs and other materials and subscription. We, however, intend to add to these existing streams of income and also restructure the fees charged by the body across its various operation stages in order to make them competitive. The recent inclusion of diploma certifications offer opportunities to enhance the

interview

Foreign Investors Cannot Turn Away From Nigeria – Okumagba The new president/ chairman of the Council of Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS), Mr Albert Okumagba, recently fielded questions from journalists at an interactive session.

FRIDAY ATUFE was there for LEADERSHIP. Okumagba

The return potentials as a major frontier market more than compensate for the risks that the incidence of insurgencies in some parts of the country pose to foreign investment

financial strength of the institute while expanding its scope. We would further expand the diploma programme as a tool for revenue expansion.

Furthermore, since there is a direct relationship between membership figures and revenues, the current effort aimed at taking student population to 150,000 or more is as another step at ensuring that the financial strength of the institute is improved. We will sustain this process with significant emphasis on the Diploma programme without compromising the integrity of the institute.

A major challenge has been ensuring that members pay on schedule their annual subscription/ membership dues. In this regard, we would immediately develop strategies to motivate members to pay their dues while enhancing the penalties for defaulting on dues settlement. For those who currently owe the institute, we would develop a settlement process that helps them clear the backlogs while ensuring ease of payment.

Our model may involve a review of the membership fees to encourage members to pay on schedule.

The CIS is not so popular compared with similar institutes. What efforts are you putting in place to address this?

While it is true to say that the institute is not as popular as some of its peers, its popularity has, however, grown over time. Two of

the major avenues through which the visibility of the institute can be made more pronounced are strong partnership with some of the listed companies and sponsorship of prominent events. At the CIS, we are putting in place structures that would make us build a brand that would sell and, therefore, make companies to seek partnership with us. Since this appears to be a long term plan, in the interim, we plan to extend the hand of partnership that would be mutually beneficial to stakeholders.

You have been talking about growing the membership of the institute, what is your strategy?

A lot has gone into expanding the membership base of the institute in the last few months. I will like to list some of the strategies being implemented to increase the names on the institute’s register of students and members. One, the curriculum and the variety of certification that the institute offers are being reviewed with a view to making them more attractive and giving potential members many options. Secondly, the introduction of the monthly diploma certification exams for post-secondary school candidates posits significant potential for membership expansion. We are currently reviewing the requirements for registration for the diploma certification to further broaden its scope to accommodate other professionals with interest in

the CIS programme. This monthly conduct of examination is to run from September 2014 to August 2015 with the requirement being Secondary School Certificate across West Africa.

We are also expanding the CIS programme beyond the shores of the country to the West African sub region and beyond in the long run. In this regard, all the exams will become bilingual (English & French) with exam centres computerised. It goes to say that the institute’s certificate becomes easily accessible by both Nigerians and non-Nigerians who are beyond the borders of the nation.

Furthermore, a new curriculum scheme patterned after the FINRA and CISI is to be launched.

What is the attitude of foreign investors towards investing in the Nigerian market in the wake of the ongoing insecurity situation in the country?

The attractive valuation of most of the stocks on the Nigerian bourse as well as the very competitive real return on the economy make it difficult for foreign investors to take their attention away from our market. The return potentials as a major frontier market more than compensate for the risks that the incidence of insurgencies in some parts of the country pose to foreign investment. We are, however, of the opinion that the earlier we are able to nip this challenge in the bud, the better for the Nigerian capital market in the medium-to-long run.

All stakeholders in the market, the SEC, NSE, trade groups and, of course, the CIS are also keenly interfacing with foreign investors to allay or clarify risk perceptions.

Under the new regime of Information Technology whereby many dealing member firms trade from their offices, is it not possible for a non-stockbroker to trade from an office?

It is not impossible that some dealing members allow noncertified brokers to trade through the remote platform from their offices; it is, however, a major infraction of market rules and also exposes such dealing members to risks that are of high magnitude due to high probability of errors.

The incentive for an average dealing house to take such risk is very low. The X-GEN, which is the new trading platform used by the NSE, supports seamless remote trading and offers benefits such as direct market access and automated trading by investors through their dealing houses’ online platforms.

The X-GEN is highly scalable and, therefore, able to cater for wider participation by retail participants via various devices like smart phones which are easily accessible.

In other words, without compromising the importance of certified brokers, the market has now been further decentralised to investors at different levels. This democratisation of trading is also underpinned by the current techsavvy and keen-eyed SEC which ensures that risk is still properly managed.

22 BUSINESS/INSURANCE

Monday, September 15, 2014

INSURANCE REPORTS

Insurance Industry To Grow At 7.5% By 2018

Daniel

‘Nigerian Insurance Firms Need More Innovative Products’ STORIES BY CHIKA IZUORA, Lagos

The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) is worried that vast majority of insurance operators are not doing the right product packaging that will soothe market operations and grow the insurance sector.

Perhaps the commission is getting increasingly embarrassed that other nations, especially those in Africa, that are deepening insurance penetration even when their potential are not anywhere close to Nigeria’s.

The commissioner for insurance, Mr Fola Daniel, has again challenged operators to think and be innovative, particularly in the area of product design and marketing strategies.

Daniel, who is apparently unhappy with the development, further challenged industry players to change the way they design and market their products as well as how they treat their customers.

In a keynote address, “Insurance Industry: New Trends, New Strategies,” at the 2014 Professionals’ Forum organised by the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN) in Abeokuta, the commissioner said the industry should come up with a deliberate policy to fashion new ways of doing the business in order to achieve better results.

He criticised the current industry marketing strategy, product design and packaging, adding that if the industry must change for good then operators’ approach to policyholders and their complaints must change and all hands must be on the plough to ensure that the message of insurance is taken to the grassroots.

“If we must move the insurance market from its present level to an optimal pedestal within the financial services sector, then there must also be a consensus on how best to tackle the challenges.

We have a lot to offer but we seem not to be taking advantage of the huge potential before us.

The fundamentals for a thriving insurance industry are there in the country; a vast population, an active economy and a wellcapitalised industry.”

The commissioner said the commission recently gave financial support to six universities and two polytechnics as a mark of its commitment to insurance education in the country. He said the gesture was a demonstration of NAICOM’s commitment to raising the standard of insurance education in tertiary institutions across the country.

“NAICOM is actively committing resources to upscaling insurance education in tertiary institutions in the country. In furtherance of this resolve, higher institutions have benefitted from our financial support,” he said.

The beneficiaries were Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; University of Lagos, Akoka; Lagos State University, Ojo; University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State; Niger Delta University, Bayelsa; and Evans Enwerem University, Owerri. The two polytechnics were the Institute of Management Technology (IMT), Enugu and Federal Polytechnic, Offa, Kwara State.

The commissioner also assured institutions that are yet to receive part of the largesse from the regulatory body to tarry a while,

saying the idea was to cover the six geopolitical zones before extending it to other institutions.

Daniel, however, commended the insurance professional body for the recent donation of insurance books for secondary schools to Lagos and Ogun states governments.

“The noble efforts culminated in the expenditure of over N15 million for the production of textbooks and professional course materials at both levels of education,” he stressed.

He also gave the CIIN a pat on the back for setting up the Insurance Industry Consultative Council (IICC), which is currently serving as a platform for addressing the differences of the various arms of the industry and a voice for the industry on national issues.

The commissioner, who noted that the promotion of financial literacy is a major project of the federal government, said the commission was committed to it and other programmes that would increase insurance penetration in the country.

“The promotion of financial literacy in our country at this time coincides with the commission’s focus on micro-insurance, takaful and agricultural insurance as a vehicle for reaching our teaming masses.

“It is gladdening to note that a number of insurance companies have entered into partnership with telecom companies as a means of selling insurance products to their vast clientele.

We shall continue to encourage and support all activities aimed at uplifting the insurance industry,” Daniel said.

Despite obvious fundamental challenges facing Nigeria’s economy, analysts see a great future in the country’s insurance sector.

Known global insurance experts have pointed to the huge windows of opportunity in the country that would help the sector record major difference in terms of growth.

A recent study by an American market research organisation, Fast Market Research, showed that the Nigerian insurance industry has the potential to grow significantly in the next four years.

According to the research firm, the industry is expected to grow at an average rate of 7.5 per cent per annum between 2014 and 2018.

Also, this was part of the conclusions of the new insurance research report from Timetric entitled, “The Insurance Industry in Nigeria: Key Trends and Opportunities to 2018,” released recently by the research organisation.

According to the report, the cumulative average grow rate (CAGR) for the country’s insurance industry peaked at 10 per cent as a result of the superlative performance of its life insurance segment.

Untapped Market Excite Kenyan Investors’ Appetite Kenyan investors from the Britam Group and Jubilee Holdings are planning to take advantage of the vast opportunities which the country offers in order to take hold of the nation’s insurance market.

The Kenyan investors obviously developed the appetite after they reasoned that local operators are not so innovative as to harness the available potentials. he Britam group managing director, Benson Wairegi, stated that considering the available potentials in the market, the insurance firm would be exploring the possibility of entering the Nigerian market in the future.

Britam operates in other African countries including Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan and Rwanda and wants to tap the growing demand for financial services by the rapidly expanding African middle class.

Similarly, Kenyan-based Jubilee Holdings Limited plans to establish insurance companies in the country and some countries in West Africa as the outfit targets expansion across Africa.

Insurance Operators Plan Standardisation Of Motor Insurance Rate The fundamentals for a thriving insurance industry are there in the country; a vast population, an active economy and a wellcapitalised industry

Insurance operators have vowed to standardise the ratings of motor insurance cover in the country to further enhance the profitability of the insurance sector.

Speaking on behalf of operators at the maiden insurance industry joint media retreat in Abeokuta, Ogun State, yesterday, the directorgeneral, Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA), Mr Sunday Thomas, said the under-rating of some classes of insurance was borne out of the cutthroat competition between insurance companies in their struggle for businesses.

Stating that the standardisation was not expected to create a uniform rating, he said it will ensure that the business of motor class insurance is not to be rated below a certain level.

According to him, “We are trying to standardise the rating of motor insurance.

23

Monday, September 15, 2014

NATIONAL PENSION COMMISSION 174 ADETOKUNBO ADEMOLA CRESCENT, WUSE II, PMB 5170 WUSE, ABUJA, NIGERIA EMAIL: info@pencom.gov.ng Website: www.pencom.gov.ng Tel: 09-4610466-8

GENERAL NOTICE ON COMPLIANCE WITH THE PROVISIONS OF THE PENSION REFORM ACT 2014 (PRA 2014) BY EMPLOYER OR BUSINESS THAT EMPLOYS THREE (3) OR MORE PERSONS

1.

The National Pension Commission (PenCom) hereby notifies the General Public that pursuant to the provisions of the Pension Reform Act, 2014 (PRA, 2014), it is NOW mandatory with effect from 1 July, 2014, for employers of labour including the Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government of Nigeria, Federal Capital Territory, Government of a State in Nigeria, Local Government Council and any organization or business in the private sector that employs THREE (3) PERSONS OR MORE, to participate in the Contributory Pension Scheme (the Scheme).

2.

The PRA 2014 further provides that the contribution for any employee to which the Act applies shall be made in the following rates relating to his monthly emoluments: a) b)

a minimum of ten percent (10%) by the employer; and a minimum of eight percent (8%) by the employee.

However, an employer may elect to bear the full responsibility of the contribution provided the employer’s contribution shall not be less than 18% of the monthly emolument of the employee.

3.

Monthly emoluments means “total emoluments as may be defined in the employee’s contract of employment but shall not be less than a total sum of basic salary, housing allowance and transport allowance”.

4.

Furthermore, every employer is required to maintain a Group Life Insurance Policy in favour of each employee for a minimum of three (3) times the annual total emolument. Premium shall be paid not later than the date of commencement of the cover.

Meanwhile, annual total emolument in relation to Group Life Insurance Policy to be maintained by an employer means “the gross emoluments of an employee or deceased person”.

5.

The General Public should note that failure, refusal and/or neglect to comply with the provisions of the PRA 2014 constitute an offence.

Signed: MANAGEMENT

24

Monday, September 15, 2014

Monday, September 15, 2014

THE NATION’S CAPITAL 25

Waste Collection Gulps N160m Monthly – FCTA

BY NKECHI ISAAC

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has said that it spends N160 million per month on waste evacuation.

This was disclosed by the coordinator of the Abuja Metropolitan Management Control (AMMC), Engr. Reuben Okoya, during a town hall meeting with estate managers on self cleaning system in the FCT, noting that the previous system was not sustainable.

Okoya said, “the city pays over N160m per month and N320m in two months to about 20 contractors to clean the city round the clock but it is not sustainable. These contractors may not be

doing the best job. We want to find a different way of doing it, what obtains globally, what is best for everybody.”

In a chat with journalists, the acting director of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), Mr Baba Lawan, said that the reason for the meeting was to sensitise residents on the need to have a structure for self waste management.

Lawan said, “there are 86 estates on our list and out of these 86 only 10 has a structure on ground, the others have no structure. We are the ones cleaning these estates and it has been quite a tasking job. We want them to organise themselves and levy their residents so they can contract licensed contractors for onward disposal.”

The AEPB boss said that the estates have been given two months to set up a proper structure for waste collection and evacuation.

The FCT minister’s special assistant on projects and ICT, Engr. Erik Anyamene, called for a collaboration between the government and the private sector, saying that city sanitation is the business of everyone.

He said, “There should be a mid-point between the government and the private sector on how to keep the city clean because the role of keeping the city clean is everybody’s business. It’s not the governments’ problem alone; we’re all stakeholders in the process. So, I urge the residents, developers, managers, the government and everybody to put

their hands on deck to clean up the city.”

In his remarks, the chairman, Minfa 1 Garden Estate, Lokogoma, Abdulkareem Yusuf, commended the initiative. He, however, called for a transition period, whereby residents would be allowed to go through the gradual process of independently managing their own waste.

He also called for regulation by the regulatory body to ensure effective and effective waste disposal by the cleaning contractors.

The estate manager, Suncity, Freeman Leslie, said that the initiative was the solution to waste management in the city, saying that residents knows the amount of waste they generate and how often it should be evacuated.

Aesthetics: AMMC To Seal-off 24 Houses

BY NKECHI ISAAC

A mobile court sitting in Garki, at the weekend, ordered the development control department of the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC) to seal-off 24 houses for failing to redecorate and beautify their homes and environment.

The magistrate, Jibril Kutigi, ordered the sealoff of premises of the defaulters for failing to appear before the court without any just cause.

The seal-off will affect houses in Pategi, Bichi, Argungu and Iwopin Close all situated within Area 1, Garki.

Speaking to journalists, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), prosecutor, Barr. Arome Tokula, said that 30 persons were summoned to the court for failing to redecorate their homes, which he said was contrary to Section 35 1(e) of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) Act of 1997.

Tokula added that only six people out of the 30 showed up for the hearing.

According to him, five of the defaulters were found guilty of the charges and fined N5, 000 each while another defaulter, who was confined to a wheel chair, was reprimanded on compassionate ground and asked to comply

within one week.

“Apart from being asked to pay N5, 000 every other person has been asked to comply within two weeks. That means they’re supposed to repaint their houses and report back same to the court on the next adjourned date which is September 27, 2014,” he added.

Reacting to the claims by some residents that they were not served with the court summon, the head of aesthetics and amenities division of the department, Arc. Dominic Odenigbo, said that defaulters were duly informed and notified.

According to him, we served notices to every block physically; we went a step further by doing radio jingles and public announcements in order to avert the situation of people claiming that they didn’t know.

Earlier in his remarks, the public relations officer of the department, Mr Kalu Emetu, said that redecoration means everything involved in making the house look beautiful, not just putting painting on the wall.

“It involves plumbing work and all other things needed to add value to the building. Beautification has to do with painting, plumbing work, roofing; surroundings are all part of beautification,” he added.

26

Monday, September 15, 2014

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zonal watch

27

EDO DELTA BAYELSA RIVERS AKWA IBOM CROSS RIVER Youths storm NDDC in solidarity, seek empowerment

BY ANAYO ONUKWUGHA, Port Harcourt

Youths of the Niger Delta region, under the aegies of Diobu Progressive Foundation (DPF), recently stormed the headquarters of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to show solidarity with the management of the commission and to ask for more empowerment programmes to build their capacity.

The youths, who danced to various solidarity songs, carried placards expressing support for President Goodluck Jonathan and the NDDC managing director, Sir Bassey Dan-Abia.

Presenting a petition to the

management of the NDDC, the chairman of DPF, Mr. George Olebunne, said that having distanced themselves from violence and criminality, they expected to be assisted to acquire new skills which would enable them to be self-reliant.

“We don’t want to return to the era of militancy but we need to be able to take care of our needs. We want the NDDC to initiate programmes that would enable us acquire skills that can help us to fend for ourselves,” he said.

Addressing the youths, the special assistant on Youth Matters to the NDDC managing director, Barrister George Turnah, expressed delight that the days of violent protests were over.

Bayelsa: Govt Threatens To Blacklist Contractors Over Slow Pace Of Work

BY OSA OKHOMINA, Yenagoa

The Bayelsa State government has threatened to blacklist three contractors over the slow pace of work on the construction of hostel blocks at the Permanent Orientation Camp of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Kaiama community of Kolokuma/Opokuma local government area of the state.

The state commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Mr. Lawrence Erudwjakpor, who expressed the concern and issued a stern warning to the contractors during a tour of

the project site, said the contractor is slow and the quality of work disappointing, hinting that the state government may be forced to revoke the contracts.

“I have directed the three affected contractors to see me urgently because we cannot continue to wait for people who don’t want to grow and do what is right. If they don’t sit up, we will have no choice but to revoke the contracts and give them to people who are ready to work.”

The commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, who expressed satisfaction with the pace of work

at some of the projects, however, urged the contractors to ensure early completion of work.

He said the administration of Governor Seriake Dickson was desirous to deliver the projects on time, to bring succour to the people of the various communities where the projects are sited.

Some of the projects visited by the commissioner during the tour included, the community shore protection, Police Marine jetty and the Toru-Orua-Angalabiri link road projects, all located in Toru-Orua community.

Edo: Ex-NMA President Challenges African Leaders Over Ebola

BY PATRICK OCHOGA, Benin City

HEADS FROM THE ZONE

➔ Ogunsakin, the immediate past commissioner of Police, Rivers State, last week officially handed over to his successor, Mr. Dan Bature.

L-R: Former commissioner of police, Rivers State, AIG Tunde Ogunsakin (left), handing over to his successor, Mr. Dan Bature

Akpabio Tasks FG Over Power Projects In Akwa Ibom

BY BERNARD TOLANI DADA, Uyo

➔ Dickson, the governor of Bayelsa State, was last week honoured by the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) and the Forum of Local Government Councillors for his developmental strides in the state.

Akwa Ibom State governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio, has called on the federal government to double its effort in ensuring that the 330KVA sub-stations in Ikot-Abasi and Ikot-Ekpene are completed and put to use in the shortest possible time.

Akpabio, who made the call when members of the Presidential Task Force on Power paid a courtesy call on him at Government House, Uyo, however, commended the team

for transforming the power sector to its present level.

Represented by his deputy, Lady Valerie Ebe, the governor urged the federal government to endeavour to pay the affected stakeholders and communities their due compensations and also to strive to complete all its ongoing projects in the state.

Earlier in his speech, leader of the team, Engr. Reynolds DagogoJack, commended the state government’s effort and support towards achieving improved

and steady power supply in the region, and assured the state of the federal government’s drive to complete all its ongoing projects, particularly power.

Dagogo-Jack said the team, whose aim is to ensure total completion of all ongoing projects on power in the country, was pleased with the level of work at the Ibom Power Plant and other independent power projects in the state, and charged the state government not to relent in its zeal.

Delta: Kidnap Kingpin Arrested ➔ Parker, the Rivers State commissioner for Health last week announced that there are no more patients of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) at the state treatment centre.

BY KOLA EKE-OGIUGO, Asaba

A member of an alleged kidnap cum armed robbery gang, who had been on the neck of the people of Abraka and Obiaruku axis of the state, has been nabbed by operatives of the Delta State Police Command.

The suspect, who was said to specialize in abducting of wives of

wealthy persons, was suspected to be behind the recent kidnap of the wife of a lecturer of the Delta State University (DELSU) and the wife of a popular politician in the state.

He was arrested in his hideout following a tip-off.

Nemesis caught up with the suspect (a.k.a Hawkins) when he allegedly led members of his armed robbery gang to Amal. They were

reportedly carrying out armed robbery raids on innocent villagers when police got information and mobilised to the scene and arrested the suspect, while other members of his gang escaped into the bush.

When contacted on the matter, Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Celestina Kalu, said the suspect was arrested based on intelligence report.

Former president of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Dr. Osahon Enabulele has challenged African leaders to devout more funds into health and research to curb emergencies like the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) currently ravaging parts of the continent.

Enabulele, who spoke to LEADERSHIP in Benin City, the Edo State capital, said it was embarrassing for the continent to always resort to reactionary methods and waiting for assistance from Washington to provide solutions to African problems.

He said, “African countries must wake up on their reactionary cells and take up issues of public health more seriously. They must invest more fundamentally in health and, in fact, in health research and not just be reactionary and waiting for Washington to provide solutions largely to African problems.

“The measure has become inevitable because if you look at the pattern of the Ebola crises right from its first eruption or outbreak in 1976 in Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo; it is essentially a Central and West African challenge.”

The former NMA president cautioned that the present crises arising from the deadly Ebola virus must be a constant reminder, particularly to Nigerian leaders and other relevant authorities, about the essence of research and, therefore, suggested that the country, other Africa and West African countries must wake from their slumber and take real and proactive steps towards dealing with the menace now and forever and not waiting till another eventually to happen before taking action.

He wondered, “Why did African governments between 1976 and now not invest in research for even the cure for Ebo la? We are waiting for Washington. Only now because it has happened in Nigeria we are now talking about assembling people down.

“That tells you how we treat our issues as African nations. America that is not afflicted has all the way been urging their own scientists to of course research into possibilities and we are talking about experimental drugs being used on Nigerians. I think the African governments must use this opportunity to reflect on those they have led in their countries.

“I do not want a situation where African countries, after this Ebola crisis, go back to their reactionary cells because that is a possibility; after all we have had the crisis of Ebola between 1976 and now. Soon after that they went back to their cells. So we must sustain the tempo; we must increase it and we must invest more in public health issues and that is what will save Nigerians.”

28 ZONAL WATCH (SOUTH-SOUTH)

Monday, September 15, 2014

NEWS BEHIND THE NEWS

2015: Rivers’ PDP Stand On Zoning And Kalabari Guber Aspirants

Dumo Briggs

BY ANAYO ONUKWUGHA, Port Harcourt

The PDP chieftains called on the national leadership of the party to interfere in the affairs of the state chapter of the party, so as to uphold the sanctity of party’s constitution and save it from further disintegration.

Few days ago, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State held its state executive committee meeting where it said it would not apply zoning in choosing its candidates for governorship and elective positions in the 2015 general elections.

A communiqué, which was read at the end of the meeting by the state chairman of the party, Chief Felix Obuah, said, “For the purpose of the 2015 elections, the party is poised to reclaim all its lost offices in the state. Consequently, the party shall ensure internal democracy and provide a level playing field for every member seeking to contest any elective position.

“That the state chapter of the party has not and shall not zone the governorship ticket of the party to any ethnic nationality, senatorial district, or local government area.

Consequently, all constitutionally qualified members of the party are free to vie for the party’s ticket to allow for the best candidate to emerge.”

It is an open-secret than of about 30 governorship aspirants on the platform of the PDP in the state, no fewer than 20 of them are from Kalabari Kingdom, an Ijaw community made up of four local government areas in the Rivers West senatorial district of the state.

The people of Kalabari strongly believe in the riverine-upland dichotomy, which allowed rotation of the governorship position between the hinterland and the riverine communities in the state, considering the fact that the governorship seat of the state had

Felix Obuah

been occupied by people from the hinterland for 16 years running.

One of these aspirants is the chairman, Governing Council of the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron, Akwa Ibom State, Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs, who strongly believes that the removal of zoning in choosing candidates for elective positions in the 2015 general elections was an attempt by the leadership of the party in the state to deny the people of Kalabari Kingdom the opportunity to produce the next governor.

Lulu-Briggs also believes that the action of the party leadership in the state was to ensure that the minister of state for Education, Chief Ezebunwo Nyesom Wike, who is rumoured to have interest in the governorship race, picks the PDP ticket at the end of the day.

He, however, said neither the action of the party, nor the participation of Wike, who hails from the same Ikwerre ethnic nationality with the incumbent, Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, would discourage him from contesting the governorship position in 2015.

Lulu-Briggs, who spoke to journalists in Port Harcourt recently, shortly after presenting a cheque of N2 million and foodstuff to De Marillac Centre for Street Children to mark his 50th birthday, said his administration would serve all citizens of the state.

He stated that that since his interest in the governorship race would not discourage others from contesting, there was no way he would abandon his ambition.

Apart from Lulu-Briggs and other governorship aspirants on the platform of the PDP from Kalabari Kingdom, some chieftains

on the party are of the opinion that rotation and zoning of electives public offices are enshrined in the constitution of the party.

In a joint statement issued in Port Harcourt, two chieftains of the PDP from Etche and Opobo/Nkoro local government areas of the state, Hon. Barr. Hilary Amaefule and Mr. Moses Morgan Toby, respectively, said the state chairman of the party, Obuah, erred by banning zoning in the state.

The joint statement reads in part: “We the undersigned individuals, being members of PDP in Rivers State, are concerned by the import of a statement credited to our state chairman, Hon. Felix Obuah, to the effect that our Party does not and has never recognised any zoning arrangement in the allocation of elective and appointive offices within the party; we wish to differ and make the following statements: “The leaders of like-minded political associations in Nigeria who founded the Peoples’ Democratic Party on 28th July 1998 resolved, among others, to conform to the principles of power shift and power sharing by rotating key political offices amongst the diverse peoples of the country.

This resolve is captured in both the preamble and Section 7(2) (g) & (h) of the Constitution of the PDP, wherein the party commits to promote national and the peaceful co-existence of the diverse communities of the country. The party also strives to promote an egalitarian society founded on freedom, equality, and justice.

“In order to attain these aims and objectives, the PDP gives itself a Constitutional obligation in S.7 (3) (c) of its constitution to adhere to the policy of the Rotation

and Zoning of Party and Public Elective Offices in pursuance of the principle of equity, justice, and fairness.

“The PDP constitutional obligation is in furtherance of the fundamental objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy enshrined in the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended), which states that the Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be a state-based on the principles of democracy and social justice. The Nigerian Constitution declares in Section 14(4) that the composition of a state …or any of the agencies of such government shall be carried out in such manner as to recognize in the conduct of the affairs of the government, the diversity of the people within its area of authority and the need to promote a sense of belonging and loyalty among all the peoples.

“Thus, it is to the credit of the founding leaders of the PDP that they recognized the diverse people (ethnic nationalities), hence the peoples in the name of party. Many of these ethnic groups live in the geographical landmass of Rivers State. One of the attractions and strength of the PDP remains its commitment to devolution of power and the principles of power shift and power sharing by rotating key political offices amongst the diverse peoples of the country, ipso facto, the states.

“Consequently, this fundamental position of the PDP cannot be wished away, abrogated, suspended, or cancelled by any official or organ of the party except through an amendment to the constitution of the party.

The duo stated that in the last 15 years, the PDP had won and formed government in the state, and adhered strictly to rotation and zoning of offices among ethnic nationalities, senatorial districts, and the upland-riverine dichotomy, pointing out that the election of governors and their deputies had always been based on the uplandriverine dichotomy.

“Even the appointments to the offices of Speaker of the House of Assembly and other House officers, Secretary to Government and Head of Civil Service of the state have been a combination of merit, qualification, competence and an appreciation of the ethnic divide in the state.

The PDP chieftains called on the national leadership of the party to interfere in the affairs of the state chapter of the party, so as to uphold the sanctity of party’s constitution and save it from further disintegration.

ZONAL WATCH (SOUTH-SOUTH) 29

Monday, September 15, 2014

NEWS BEHIND THE NEWS

Jonathan’s Local Content Policy Through $150m Oil And Gas Parks

BY OSA OKHOMINA, YENAGOA

Unlike other policies in the oil and gas sector of the economy, the implementation of the Nigerian local content policy of President Goodluck Jonathan is setting new pace in the creation of local players and economic activities, including the proposed $150 million oil and gas industrial parks.

The proposed park, with the capacity to create oil and gas manufacturing companies in the chosen states of the Niger Delta region, is set to kick-start its first phase, with $10 million in terms of training of about 47 youths and zonal coordinators from the zone and the setting up of a self-growing organic system for businesses and investments.

Unveiling the newly trainedyouths at the Aridolf Hotels and Events Centre, Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, the director of Finance and Personnel Management of the Nigerian Content, Monitoring and Development Board (NCMDB), Engr. Ita Anyone, said the 47 youths selected and trained by the board are expected to participate in the proposed increase in local capacity building and utilization of local facilities.

In the unveiled plan for the proposed oil and gas industrial parks, the facilities will be located in three zones including Akwa Ibom/Cross River zone located along the Calabar industrial layout, the Imo/Abia zone located at Oguta community with 25 hectares of land provided for the project.

Also to be served by their oil and gas industrial parks are the Bayelsa/Rivers zone sited in Otuoke community of Ogbia local government area, while another will be located in Ilaje Community of Ondo State.

According to the proposed financing of the project, the Federal Government is expected to enter into partnership with oil multinationals and banks, as the first phase is expected to gulp the sum of $10 million depending on the park’s nature of operations and environment.

The project duration is fixed at 10 years with its structures becoming organic that will grow by itself and operators in

Dickson

the park.

While the representative of the Bayelsa State commissioner for Trade and Investment, Mr. David Agonobi, commended the management of the NCMDB of the initiative, the representative of the oil producers trade section (OPTS) of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Engr.Sola Ogunsakin described the proposed oil and gas industrial park as a new dawn for the economy of the Niger Delta region.

The OPTS, which is a subgroup within the LCCI and made up of both local and foreign-owned companies registered in Nigeria and hold an Oil Prospecting License or an Oil Mining License, predicted that the proposed park will be a success in the region.

The sub-group, which currently has 18 membercompanies made up of the Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Dubri, Addax, Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC), Pan Ocean, Shell, Total, Seplat, Neconde, Nexen, Moni Pulo, Statoil, ExxonMobil, Petrobras, Afren, Sapetro and Oando, declared support for the project.

According to Ogunsakin,

The proposed oil and gas industrial park is not just about buildings. The project will develop a new direction and create more businesses in the region

“Though the setting up of the park and its operation may not be easy, it will be a thing of success at the end. It will motivate huge domestic and industrial activity and attract huge employment opportunities.”

Earlier in his speech, the executive secretary of the NCMDB, Engr. Ernest Nwapa, explained that the concept of an oil and gas industrial park in the Niger Delta region is part of the vision of the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan to take the region away from its present state into a new economic boom.

Nwapa said, “The proposed oil and gas industrial park is not just about buildings. The project will develop a new direction and create more businesses in the region.

The park will generate small and large businesses. It will also provide opportunity for research and development. We have mapped out the project not to become another white elephant projects.”

A check through the past achievements of the local content policy of the Jonathanled administration, under the watch of the NCMDB

showed that it has ensured the escalation of the historic use of made-in-Nigeria pipelines

by Exxon Mobil recently at its Edop-Idoho Offshore field, secured the placement of over 100 kilometres of pipelines orders in Nigeria’s only pipe manufacturing company, SCC Abuja.

Continuing, the NCMDB boss said, “It has ensured the increase of in-country fabrication tonnage from 1,000,000 in 2009 to 1,200,000 currently, advanced talks with Jiangsu Yulong of China to establish 250,000 tons per annum LSAW pipe mill in Nigeria, initiated the establishment of deep water port in a major upcoming project, developed the Nigerian oil and gas employment and training strategy, which has resulted in the absorption of over 5000 engineers, geologists, welders and other skill sets into the industry and formed the basis of a national skill database.

“The Nigerian Content activities have already generated over 30,000 direct and indirect jobs and will surpass 300,000 within the next four years. NCMDB has designed and launched the Nigerian Content Joint Qualification Standards, an electronic platform for the Board’s implementation of the NOGIC Act, especially its capacity Building & Monitoring functions.

“It has led to the establishment of the Nigerian Content Development Fund, to be used for investment in Oil & Gas infrastructure, provide partial guarantee for service providers, manufacturers.

NCDMB developed Indigenous Marine Vessel and Offshore Assets Acquisition Strategy to promote utilization of marine vessels and offshore rigs/equipment with genuine Nigerian ownership in all O&G operations to increase the participation of Nigerians, empower communities, and maximize Nigerian crew.

“The NCDMB has developed an Original Equipment and Local Component Manufacturing Strategy to promote utilization of materials of Nigerian origin in oil and gas industry and ensure the establishment of equipment manufacturing plants that will employ thousands.”

30

Monday, September 15, 2014

health

31

Monday, September 15, 2014

$50m

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has committed $50 million to support the scale up of emergency efforts to contain the Ebola outbreak in West Africa

F E AT U R E S N E W S T I P S I N T E R V I E W

N116m

Kaduna State said it has set aside the sum of N116M to purchase 10,000 clinical thermometers and hold sensitization workshops for 13,000 school teachers on the deadly Ebola Virus Disease. health@leadership.ng, 08116706845

TOP 7

HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE RISK FACTORS Age: The ➊ odds of developing HBP increase as we get older Gender: ➋ Statistically, women are still less likely to develop HBP than men Family His➌ tory: Having a family history of HBP places you in a higher risk category Smoking: ➍ Quitting smoking is the best thing you can do for your health.

Remedy In Early Detection Of Prostate Cancer As breast cancer is common among women of 45 years of age and above, so is prostate cancer in men above the age of 60. About 20,000 men die of prostate cancer every year in Nigeria and on a daily basis, at least 14 men die in the country. This kind of cancer has remained a serious health challenge in the country. But the good news is that its early detection helps to handle the ailment and prevent it from advancing to prostrate cancer. ARONKE OLAYIWOLA writes on this

TOP 3 HEADLINE ➊ How To Manage

Hypertension Without Medication

➋ WHO To

Certify 3 Nigerian Pharmaceutical Coys –NAFDAC

➌ ‘Nature of Ebola Virus Exaggerated Here’

Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men worldwide and ranks second as the cause of death in cancerrelated diseases.

The Prostate Research Institute in the United States of America, in a report, said that among every six men, two are likely to suffer from the disease which, if not diagnosed early and effectively treated could lead to death.

Research has also confirmed that in Africa, the rate of prostate

enlargement and cancer is relatively high.

Black men have the highest rate of prostate cancer diagnosis and death in the world, according to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, United States of America.

The prostate is a part of the male reproductive system that helps make and store seminal fluid. In adult men, a typical prostate is about 3 centimeters long and weighs about 20 grams.

It is located in the pelvis, under the urinary bladder and in front of the rectum. The prostate surrounds part of the urethra, the tube that carries urine from the bladder during urination and semen during ejaculation.

Because of its location, prostate diseases often affect urination, ejaculation, and rarely defecation. The prostate contains many small glands which make about 20 percent of the fluid constituting semen.

This ailment affects the male organ known as prostate gland which produces semen, the male coloured fluid that nourishes and transports sperms during ejaculation. Whenever it becomes enlarged, the prostate would begin to wield pressure on the urethra and make urination difficult. This is common among men in their 40s and above when they witness prostate growth.

An enlarged prostrate however doesn’t necessarily lead to cancer if properly managed and treated.

Just like so many other cancers, the symptoms of prostate cancer may not be apparent.

Most of the time, men don’t have symptoms. Some men, however, do experience changes in urinary or sexual function, including frequent nighttime urination, painful or burning urination,

Activity ➎ Level: A low exercise lifestyle leads to a weak heart, poor exercise tolerance, and obesity.

Medica➏ tions: Certain medications can cause HBP like street, or recreational drugs Kidney ➐ Problems: Damage to the kidneys - such as can occur from diabetes - almost invariably leads to HBP

32

32 HEALTH/NEWS

Monday, September 15, 2014

How To Manage Hypertension Without Medication Hypertension is a major public health issue. It contributes to the burden of heart disease, stroke and kidney failure and premature mortality and disability. VICTOR OKEKE examines an expert’s view According to the World Health Organisation, globally, cardiovascular disease accounts for approximately 17 million deaths a year.

Of these, complications of hypertension account for 9.4 million deaths worldwide every year.

Hypertension which is also known as high blood pressure is a condition in which the arteries have persistently elevated blood pressure. Every time the human heart beats, it pumps blood to the whole body the arteries. Blood pressure is the force of blood pushing up against the blood vessel walls. The higher the pressure, the harder the heart has to pump.

Eneregbu Akunna Isobel, a practicing dietician at the Federal Capital Territory says most cases of hypertension have no known cause. According to Eneregbu, ‘such type of hypertension is called primary or essential hypertension.

However, hypertension can also be caused by other disease condition such as kidney disease, sleep apnoea, endocrine disease, and malformations of blood vessel, also the use of oral contraceptive can lead to hypertension which is known as secondary hypertension.’

She said that the prevalence of

hypertension increases with age so that the majorities of people over the age of 50 are at risk or are already hypertensive. The older the man or woman, the greater is the chance of having hypertension (essential hypertension) especially in Africans.

‘Men are more prone to hypertension than women, obesity, smoking, alcohol, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, stress and family history could also predispose one to this disease,’ she added.

Dietician Eneregbu believes that hypertension if detected early can be treated using non drug therapy. ‘The dietary approach to the prevention and treatment of hypertension is an integral part of the lifestyle changes that are required to control BP.’ The lifestyle measures that are widely agreed to lower BP or cardiovascular risk, and that should be considered in all patients are smoking cessation, weight reduction in the overweight and obese/ weight maintenance, alcohol severance, exercise/physical activity.

Healthy dietary choices include reduction of salt intake, increase in potassium intake through increase in fruit and vegetable consumption, decrease in

saturated and total fat intake.

‘There is also evidence that increased salt intake during childhood may result in an increased probability of hypertension during adult life. The above together with the DASH diet is the best way to treat hypertension.

DASH means Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension, it a healthy way of eating, designed to be flexible enough to meet the lifestyle and food preferences of most people. It lowers cholesterol and makes it easy to lose weight. Generally, DASH diet

works within 14 days of initiation. It exerts a protective effect against blood pressure (BP) and can reduce systolic BP by 8–14 mmHg. DASH diet is rich in fruits and vegetable, grains and low dairy foods.’

Sample menu for hypertensive (uncomplicated) patient based 2000 calorie diet. Breakfast: 3 slices of bread sandwiched with 1 cup cut up raw vegetables, 3 tablespoons skimmed milk in tea or coffee (decaffeinated) and half a cup of orange juice.

Midmorning snack: 1 medium size apple and 3 salt less crackers or plain biscuits while lunch should be 1½ oz. meat (lean) 1 cup of prepared garri or 1 ½ cup jollof rice vegetable soup (okra) with 1teaspoon of oil Vegetable salad without salad dressing 2 small fingers of banana 1 medium size (50) pawpaw Mid afternoon Snack is 1/3 cup groundnuts, 3-4 garden eggs. Supper is 1½ oz. fish, 1½ cups cooked pasta with 1teaspoon of vegetable Oil, 1 cup cooked vegetables and ½ cup of pineapple juice.

Bedtime is 1 cup low fat yoghurt.

Remedy In Early Detection Of Prostate Cancer

31

difficulty getting or maintaining an erection or a dull pain in the lower pelvic area.

Men of average risk are often advised to consider screening earlier at age 40 to establish a baseline. Every man needs to learn what makes the most sense for their personal health risks and lifestyle.

According to a consultant urologist, Dr. Ademola Popoola, “the symptoms of prostate cancer include the need to urinate often, especially at night; intense need to urinate (urgency); difficulty in starting or stopping the urine flow; inability to urinate; weak, decreased or interrupted urine stream; a sense of incompletely emptying the bladder; burning sensation or pain during urination; blood in the urine or semen and painful ejaculation.

“A complete understanding of the causes of prostate cancer remains elusive. The primary risk factors are obesity, age and family history. Prostate cancer is very uncommon in men younger than 45, but becomes more common with advancing age. The average age at the time of diagnosis is 65,” he added.

As causes and symptoms of

this disease are not apparent, experts advise that men can look out for risk factors which could help in the early detection of the prostate cancer.

Genetics/Family History Genetic background may contribute to prostate cancer risk, as suggested by association with race, family, and specific gene variants. According to Dr. Jane Worthington, “black men seem to get more severe form, are more likely to have the cancer come back after treatment and are more likely to die of this disease.” She however recommends tests every year, starting at age 40.

Men who have a first-degree relative (father or brother) with prostate cancer have twice the risk of developing prostate cancer, and those with two first-degree relatives affected have a five-fold greater risk compared with men with no family history.

Worthington states that, “it may be as high as 50 percent if three family members (father and two brothers, for example) have had it, if it occurs in three generations (grandfather, father, son) or if two relatives developed it younger than 55 years old.”

Diet While some dietary factors have been associated with prostate cancer the evidence is still tentative. Diet seems to play a role in the development of prostate cancer, which is much more common in countries where meat and high-fat dairy are mainstays.

The reason for this link is unclear.

Dietary fat, particularly animal fat from red meat, may boost male hormone levels. And this may fuel the growth of cancerous prostate cells.

A diet too low in fruits and vegetables may also play a role.

However, eating too much fried food is also a problem. “Dietary fat may not only help cause prostate cancer, but it may also affect the way it progresses — how fast cancer cells proliferate, their ability to spread and the body’s ability to fight off this invasion,” Worthington explains.

Urinary troubles Signs of urinary troubles such as frequent urination especially in the middle of the night could be a pointer to problems with the prostate. This is because the urethra, the tube that

carries urine and semen, runs right through the middle of the prostate like a straw, experts say.

Urinary troubles often signal benign prostatic hyperplasia — a non-cancerous enlargement of the gland that’s common in men older than 40. Still, any changes in urination — including pain, weak flow, difficulty starting or stopping, frequent night time urination, or blood in the urine or semen — should be reported to and evaluated by a doctor.

Age The older a man is, the higher his risk. “In men between ages 40 and 49, the risk of developing prostate cancer is one in 50,” Worthington says. From ages 60 to 79, it’s one in seven. But don’t wait till you are 60 before you take a PSA test.

“Prostate cancer screening should start at age 40,” Worthington notes.

Other Factors Men with high blood pressure are more likely to develop prostate cancer. There is a small increased risk of prostate cancer associated with lack of exercise. It is always better to face it than to have it sneak up on you and attack.

Genetic background may contribute to prostate cancer risk

NEWS /HEALTH 33

Monday, Sepember 5, 2014

Ms Tessy Effa delivering advocacy skills at the training of HERFON FCT coalition members on PHC Reforms in Abuja.

Ebola: Lab Scientists Urge FG To Review School Resumption

BY WINIFRED OGBEBO, Abuja

The Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria (AMLSN) has called on the federal government to review evidence on ground to decide whether schools should resume or not, in the interest of the country.

The call was made over the weekend at the association’s national executive council meeting in Abuja.

The president of the AMLSN, Dr Godswill Okara said, “Our country must not be allowed to come to a halt because of the outbreak of any

disease.”

He said hype and panic had made Ebola situation confounding, despite public messages that’s been carried in the media.

He noted the country should be ready to return to normal, “once evidence on the ground shows that the outbreak has been contained.”

“Whatever decision government is taking must be based on available, professional, scientific evidence, not hearsay,” said Okara.

Doctors and teachers’ union have opposed proposed resumption of schools, citing concerns over the outbreak and managing

large student populations.

However, Okara urged teachers not to “overreact” regarding federal government decision to delay reopening schools nationwide till September 22 on account of Ebola outbreak.

He said, “We call on NUT (Nigerian Union of Teachers) not to overreact. It is not the place of teachers to manage disease condition. Their reaction should be based on hard scientific evidence, not driven by fear and panic,” he urged.

The association commended Nigeria’s response, including the

commitment of N1.9 billion to fight Ebola, but said the outbreak was “a wakeup call to look inward” to the potential of professionals and laboratory scientists in the quest for vaccines.

Okara said Nigeria would be better off if government showed the same commitment to “invigoration and reactivation of vaccine production” that it has shown for Ebola.

He added there was no reason the country couldn’t produce human vaccines when it could capably produces some 18 animal vaccines.

‘Only Integrated Primary Health Care Can Reduce Maternal, Child Deaths’

BY WINIFRED OGBEBO

The chairman, Health Reform Foundation of Nigeria (HERFON), FCT chapter, Dr Gbola Olagbegi, has said that despite many interventions, health outcomes regarding maternal and child health in the FCT, remain poor.

He attributed it to fragmentation in the way primary health care is being run in the FCT. The HERFON FCT chairman disclosed

this over the weekend in Abuja during a capacity building workshop for FCT Primary Health Care Reform Coalition.

“We want to help the FCT to change towards integrated management services for primary health care otherwise known as primary health care under one roof.

That is the objective of bringing the coalition together to support this change”.

According to Olagbegi, once the objective is realised, “We will have a more streamlined primary health care servic-

es delivery system which will lead to better outcomes because more people will be able to access primary health care and then there will definitely be an improvement in the outcomes.”

Earlier, during his presentation titled, “Integrating Primary Health Care Governance In Nigeria,” Nurudeen M.B , explained that the concept of primary health care under one roof, is international best practice, based on the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) guidelines.

WHO To Certify 3 Nigerian Pharmaceutical Coys –NAFDAC

BY WINIFRED OGBEBO, Abuja

The Director General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr Paul Orhii, has disclosed that not less than three Nigerian pharmaceutical companies have very high prospect of obtaining World Health Organization (WHO) pre –qualification of some essential medicines very soon.

He said this is in addition to two other

companies (Swipha and Drugfield) that have attained such feat.

Orhii disclosed this last weekend when Nigerians in the United Kingdom came together to honour him for the successes the agency has recorded in the introduction of cutting-edge technologies to fight drug counterfeiting in the country.

He identified low production capacity and consequent dependency on importation of medicines, porous borders, low

literacy and pervasive public ignorance as some of the factors encouraging drug counterfeiting in the country.

The award ceremony which was organized by African leadership magazine provided the opportunity for the NAFDAC boss to sensitize Nigerians in the Diaspora about current efforts being made by federal government to improve health care services and boast self-sufficiency in the production of essential medicines.

38 The National Health Insurance Scheme(NHIS), has reaccredited 38 health maintenance organizations (HMOs) in the country.

50

50 statistics show that about one third of the Nigeria population have haemorrhoids by the time they attain age 50

18,000 18,000 health statistics has revealed that over 18,000 Nigerians travelled to India in 3013 for medical purposes and spent over N41.6 billion

BENEFITS Of Watermelon Watermelon contains thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B-6, folate, pantothenic acid, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper, manganese, selenium, choline, lycopene and betaine. According to the National Watermelon Promotion Board, watermelon contains more lycopene than any other fruit or vegetable.

One cup of diced watermelon (152 grams) contains 43 calories, 0 grams of fat, 2 grams of sodium, 11 grams of carbohydrate (including 9 grams of sugar and 1 gram of fiber) and 1 gram of fiber. One cup of watermelon will provide 17% of vitamin A, 21% of vitamin C, 2% of iron and 1% of calcium needs for the day.

Many studies have suggested that increasing consumption of plant foods like watermelon decreases the risk of obesity and overall mortality, diabetes, heart disease and promotes a healthy complexion and hair, increased energy, overall lower weight.

Asthma prevention: The risks for developing asthma are lower in people who consume a high amount of certain nutrients. One of these nutrients is vitamin C, found in many fruits and vegetables including watermelon.

Blood pressure: A study published by the American Journal of Hypertension found that watermelon extract supplementation reduced ankle blood pressure, brachial blood pressure and carotid wave reflection in obese middle-aged adults with prehypertension.

How To Maintained Fresh And Healthy Period Menstruation is a time of heightened risk of infection for women, including sexually transmitted infections. This increased risk of infection occurs because the mucus that usually blocks your cervix opens during menstruation to allow blood to pass out of the body. This makes it possible for bacteria to travel up into your uterus and pelvic cavity. Changes in vaginal pH also make yeast infections more likely.

It is essential that each woman understand the best practices for period hygiene along with the actions and situations that put them at risk in order to maintain a healthy menstrual routine.

34 HEALTH

Monday, September 15, 2014

‘Nature of Ebola Virus Exaggerated Here’ The Chief Medical Director of the Federal Medical Centre, Owo, Dr. Olufemi Abiodun Omotoso, in this interview with TOPE FAYEHUN, speaks on the scourge of Ebola Virus Disease, HIV/AIDS and other topical medical issues There has been panic over the scourge of Ebola Virus Disease, EVD, since it was imported into the country, changing the way we live. Don’t you think the contagious nature of the disease is exaggerated in Nigeria?

SHORT BIO OF DR. OLUFEMI ABIODUN OMOTOSO

Omotoso is the Chief Medical Director of the Federal Medical Centre, Owo.

It depends on how you look at it. In a way, you might be right that the contagious nature of Ebola is exaggerated. Let me tell you why. There are certain diseases that are transmitted by sneezing.

We call them droplet infections.

Ebola is not a droplet infection.

If you don’t touch somebody who has Ebola, you cannot contract the disease. Where Ebola came in 1976 in Uganda, they used to tell children not to touch the adults who had contracted the disease.

They would still sleep in the same room but no touch. It was then rare in Uganda for a child to have Ebola. There are diseases that are so terrible that common sneezing will spread. If Ebola is transmitted by droplets infection, all it would take was Patrick Sawyer to have sneezed inside that plane, everybody would come down with it. So, it is a touch thing.

Even at that, unless somebody is having the symptoms, you can’t contract it from the person. The person must be symptomatic already. By the time somebody is symptomatic, he will likely be on bed. Patrick Sawyer just managed to travel. He was sick. All those who contracted the disease had contact with him.

You see people wearing face masks and gloves here and there.

The truth of the matter is that if you get protective equipment, everybody still has to be trained; even doctors have to be trained on how to use protective equipment because there are procedures for using them. We’ve seen somebody who wore protective equipment and still got Ebola simply because of the fact that he doesn’t know how to remove the gloves in a particular fashion.

I have actually seen somebody at the airport when I wanted to catch a flight from Abuja to Lagos, the person was wearing gloves, handling all sorts of things and at the same time wiping his face with the gloves. The person was not conscious of such things.

Consciousness is a very important factor. Knowing how to handle cases is also an important factor, especially for health workers.

Omotoso

Could you explain why some patients survive Ebola while others don’t?

Somehow, some people have some forms of immunity.

Everybody is different, you know.

If one disease walks into this place now, it may attack two people and leave two people. Nobody can really know why. So far, the kind of research done on Ebola is not such that can provide us with such answers yet. If it can provide us with such answers, we could have got the cure.

Is your hospital prepared for the disease, in the event that it gets here?

We are talking to the federal government if they can help us so that we can have one isolation center here because we know the kind of people that we serve.

Part of the problem is that we are a-fire-brigade country so to speak.

It is when something comes up that we begin to run up and down. We’ve procured infrared thermometers which our doctors will be using. We are in the process of procuring personal protective equipment that each staff who will be handling suspected Ebola cases will wear. We don’t have anything yet that can give us a full confirmatory diagnosis. If we suspect any patient, we will send him or her to centers that have such things like the University College Hospital, UCH, Ibadan.

What is the prevalence of HIV/ AIDS in Ondo State?

The truth of the matter is that officially, there are figures and unofficially, there are figures. I think official figure right now is about 4.5 percent or thereabout.

But unofficial figure is higher than that because there is still a lot of stigma concerning HIV. People will

still hide. We have free treatment for them here. We have free drugs for them, but they won’t come because they don’t want to be stigmatized. People even fear Ebola more than HIV now.

Everybody knows that whoever contracts Ebola can only last for maybe a week or two weeks.

But with HIV, one can still live a long time. It underscores how people look at these diseases. The behaviour of the people doesn’t suggest they are afraid of HIV. How would you assess the state of the health sector in Nigeria?

In fact, if we need to talk about the health sector now, it is a big problem. The whole health sector is in a mess right now because there are doctors on one side, others are on the other side. Today, doctors will ask for something, but tomorrow, others will say no, we want our own too. It shouldn’t be so. It is the patients’ lives that we are playing with, and it is not too good. But then, the state of the health sector is something that can be improved upon.

In a setting such as Nigeria, you realize that not everybody will come to the hospital here.

When I came on board, I realized that. We have opened up two places for primary care now.

The first one is at Ikaram Akoko.

Before we got there, doctors were seeing about 26 patients in a month. By the time we started there, we were seeing about 80 patients per day. That tells us that people don’t want to go too far for their care. We opened up one in Emure-Ile. The place has been doing very well but finance, personnel are all those things that have handicapped us. We have an FMC annex at Oda Road, Akure.

Surgeon’s Turf DR BIODUN OGUNGBO MBBS, FRCS, FRCSEd, MSc. Consultant Neurosurgeon

08122221616 (SMS only)

Dangerous Barbers And The Dandruff Scam I went to the barbing saloon recently to get a haircut. Usually, when I go, I take my own shaving kit with me and so avoid any risk of catching head lice or even Hepatitis. God forbid! Anyway, that is not the story I want to relate to you. The hair cut was performed efficiently but after the barber succeeded in making me handsome (to my amusement), he did the following: First, the barber got a hot wet towel from a small oven in the shop. He then proceeded to slap this hot towel on my head without warning. It was hot enough to make me jump up, slap his hand away and exclaim. Seriously, what has barbing become?

Why do I have go to the shop to get a burn on my head? There was no communication at all and he did not even check if the temperature was suitable for me. I supposed he used his own calloused hands to judge the temperature!

He still used it to clean my head, wiping off the bits of hair and then he proceeded to perform a hand massage of my scalp and neck. I thought that was good and I almost fell asleep with the pleasure of it. That was until he put one hand on my head and another under my chin. He was about to twist my neck before I shouted. I was so mad! How dare a barber try to twist my neck (unsolicited) and without prior warning, as part of the simple act of shaving my head? I admonished him severely and warned him never to do this again. It is certainly not part of hair cutting and does not take into cognisance the huge risks involved.

For example, I may have a bad neck with cervical spondylosis, or a previous neck operation or even just a weak neck. And apart from being a surgeon who operates on necks, I watch movies where peoples’ necks are twisted leading to their demise. It is believable that the barber could one day, perform this neck twisting act and render his client paralysed or dead. A N500 hair cut should not send you to the emergency room or to the morgue.

This brings me to another point in the haircutting industry and this relates to the dandruff scam perpetrated by hair dressers and barbers. Dandruff is not a disease but simply dry scalp. It is dry skin that flakes off the head and is not really a problem. It is also not curable. Since it is not a disease, in the first place!

No cure for Dandruff This is the basis of the scam! When barbers and hair dressers say that you have dandruff and ask if they could treat it for you, they make is sound as if they can make it go away. That the exorbitant price you pay to have your hair washed with shampoo and creamed is justified. As if once they have done the treatment, it won’t reappear the very next day!

Dry scalp like dry in other part of the body is part of life and happens to a lot of people. People who use soap a lot and especially in the hot weather we have in Nigeria suffer from dandruff and dry skins. Those who suffer from eczema and allergies perhaps suffer the more. It is no reason to spend your hard earned money on the scam perpetuated by big business selling shampoos, lotions and potions purported to cure dandruff.

Finally, please be careful at the barbers shop and even at hairdressers. People have been maimed and injured in these places mostly by this trial and error behaviour and barbers especially doing things they feel add quality to the service.

Monday, September 15, 2014

ADVERTORIAL

CONCERNED CITIZENS OF TARABA STATE SUNTAI’S HEALTH : WE ARE VINDICATED We had alerted Nigerians about the deliberate agenda of the Taraba cabal to smuggle into the country ailing Governor Danbaba Suntai against medical advice. This is exactly what happened on the night of Saturday September 13th, 2014. From the Abuja airport to Asokoro, it was a hide and seek game between reporters and the cabal who eventually succeeded in bundling the governor into a car through the backdoor.

It all started at around 7pm in the evening when agents of the cabal boastfully told journalists that the group has nothing to hide and that Suntai Will speak with them once he arrived . The venue was at the local wing of the airport. But the cabal had smarter arrangement for the arrival to be held at the international wing to divert media attention . Upon hearing of this development, journalists again rushed to the international wing where some prominent Nigerians were indeed waiting to receiver the ailing governor.

The Acting Governor, Garba Umar was also cut in the same smokescreen as he too had to rush to the international wing to welcome the Governor. To the surprise of everybody, the ailing Governor was whisked away in a jeep through the backdoor and journalists then gave him a chase. They followed the vehicle conveying him until they reached the house of a top Leader at Asokoro. The journalists despite intimidation insisted on interviewing the man as promised. After about two hours, journalists were allowed in and there sitting was Governor Suntai. “ I was just arriving from Abuja and I thank you for welcoming me”, Suntai said to the surprise of media people who believed the man did not know he is in Abuja. He still looks askance and he appears propped up on bóth sides. He was not seen walking and he still raises hands with difficulty. When he started talking too much, an aide asked journalists to leave .

But certain facts were immediately obvious. One, the Governor has not improved as advertised by the cabal and if any, the new stress may lead to his relapsing and further worsening of his health conditions.Two, he is still having problem with intelligible conversations as evidenced by his reactions to journalists . Three, he remains very fragile with the wife constantly helping him to cover up his suit so as not to reveal the internal paddings. Four,the cabal is aware of his bad state of health , hence the desperation to hide the man from the public. Lastly,the Governor can obviously not pass the test of medical fitness and is surely going to be medically incapacitated by a medical panel.

There is however another angle to the unfolding scenario. In the first attempt to grab power,the cabal may have forgotten that a letter was purportedly transmitted by SUntai. The rejection of the false letter led to a court case which is still before the court of law. The Suntai camp had dragged the Assembly to court questioning the rejection of the letter and insisting that the letter is genuine. If the plan plan to transmit another letter is real,it raises questions of what happened to the case in court.

The question of letter transmission is now subjudiced and cannot be reopened by submission of another letter by the same person. The Suntai camp has not withdrawn the first case and the first letter. It is interesting to see how the group Will defend two letters of assumption of duty. If the cabal presses ahead with the new plan,the Assembly Will easily have an alibithat the issue of letter transmission is subjudiced and cannot be entertainer by the lawmakers.

In view of the embarrassment the latest show is causing the state,the ruling party and Mr President, the Commander in Chief., we make the following submissions for the public and relevant authorities : -

That the cabal has commenced its new plot to create mayhem and chaos in Taraba state -That the cabal is desperate trying to enlist the support Of some federal officials even when its motive is clearly negative; That the goal and agenda Of the cabal is purely selfish and a ploy to rule by proxy on behalf Of a Governor who is medically incapacitated; That the new Development is a threat to the relative and secured Political future Of our state.

We then make the following appeals before this matter gets out of hand; -

That the Presidency should be wary of desperate power seekers who are hell bent on dragging the exalted office of the President into this muddy schemings .

That we urge the Presidency to conduct Independent assessment of the sick Governor by having a one on one meeting and interaction with him ; That we urge national Leaders of PDP to look beyond primordial sentiments and speak and stand by the truth now widely known about the state of health of the Governor; That the leadership of the State Assembly should remain resolute and exercise its powers within the constitution by rejecting any proxy letter of resumption Of duty ;and That without further delay,the Assembly should set up a medical panel to assess the veracity of the resolution of the State Executive Council.

Signed

Danjuma Alkud

For Executive Committee

35

36 OPINION

Monday, September 15, 2014

Between Kwankwaso And Afenifere’s Weird Logic Guest Columnist

BY PHILIPS CHINWENDU

The recent outburst by Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), a phoney pan-Yoruba group, was unfortunate, especially at a time when deep sense of conscience, reasoning and rational thinking are needed to foster unity among Nigerians.

ARG, a group specialised in executing the hatchet job of their paymasters under the guise of a larger Yoruba group, lost its cool against the person of Gov. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of Kano State for calling against the amendment of the 1999 Constitution.

Nigeria under the present administration is drifting into frightening abyss. Under this government, systemic corruption and insecurity are fast eroding the fabric that wrapped and hold the nation as one. All good governance indices/tables have placed Jonathan administration at the relegation stage.

It’s obvious that there was ulterior motive behind the recently concluded National Conference as it was a plan by the presidency to achieve the selfish agenda of tenure elongation, disunite or even divide the country and further impoverish other parts of the Nigerian nation.

Displaying the group’s crass ignorance and weird logic, the publicity secretary of ARG, Kunle Famoriyo, blamed Gov. Kwankwaso “and other self-seeking Nigerians for endorsing the 1999 Constitution when it suits them and calling for its amendment when it does not.”

According to him, “Kwankwanso, one of those who believe the 1999 Constitution is perfect for the country, has had two reasons to call for its amendment. He changed his stance on the agitation for state police when his security aides were withdrawn by ‘order from above’ during the Kano emirship

Kwankwaso

commotion.”

Now one is compelled to demand answer to this pertinent question: Is there any place in the four corners of the 1999 Constitution where the president got the right to withdraw the security of a serving governor?

It is sheer abuse of the Constitution, which the Afenifere group is gleefully glossing. It’s both saddening and pitiful that a group which should otherwise be seen as a bastion of conscience is now losing its sense of righteousness.

There is no ime in the history of Nigeria that the unity of the country is at its lowest ebb than the present administration. No anytime in the checkered history of Nigeria that security of lives of Nigerians is threatened than now. There is no time in the history of Nigeria that corruption is fully institutionalised and whistle-blowers (rather than

Will amending or changing the present Constitution to elongate the tenure of an incompetent leader eradicate poverty, or reduce corruption or provide stable electricity across Nigeria?

being honoured) are seen as enemies.

We had expected that in the smuggled Constitution, we shall see a provision that slams capital punishment on corruption or defines clannishness as treason, or demands outright resignation for cluelessness, or gives life sentence to a leader under whose eyes a part of the country is ceded. No! Surprisingly, what we are getting in the new constitution is the extension of the tenure of corrupt and incompetent government.

But what are the problems of Nigeria and the solution which requires a brand new Constitution?

Will amending or changing the present Constitution to elongate the tenure of an incompetent leader eradicate poverty, or reduce corruption or provide stable electricity across Nigeria? Can anyone show Nigerians where the present 1999 Constitution stops the president from providing security of lives and property, or where the Constitution prevent the president from rescuing the abducted Chibok girls? Any section of the 1999 Constitution that bars the president from fighting corruption? Is there any section of the Constitution that allows the president to withdraw the security of a serving governor?

What section bars the opposition politicians from attending rallies?

The primary responsibility of a government is ensuring the security of lives and property.

Any government that fails in achieving this important aspect shouldn’t have the temerity to seek the mandate of Nigerians through whatever means. What is honourably needed for a government that fails it’s primary responsibility is to leave power.

–Chinwendu, a public affairs analyst, wrote in from Apapa, Lagos

NASS And The Culture Of Excellence

BY HALIMA HASSAN

The National Assembly bureaucracy is made up of not less than 5,000 workers including the civil servants referred to as permanent staff and the legislative aides as well as the security personnel referred to as sergeant at arms.

These workers, both staff and management come from different ethnic, linguistic and religious groups traversing all sections of the country, in fact, a microcosm of the nation because the legislators, senators and House of Representative members represent all states and geopolitical sections of the country just like the staff they appoint to work for them.

Without doubt, since the clerk to the National Assembly Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa assumed office there has been a marked increase in multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and multi-religious tolerance and understanding and an optimum invigoration in social and communication interaction within the length and breadth of the National Assembly landscape.

This has been largely as a result of the inclusive, detribalised, pan Nigerian posture and inclination of Assembly Clerk who has shown himself to be open and amendable to all manner of opinions and viewpoints as far as it can advance the cause of democracy, national unity and political stability.

Today the nation’s apex legislature is rated among the best in the world according to credible experts of parliamentary procedure and practice. For instance, the NASS committee system has been strengthened and empowered to be more resourceful and productive which has led to quick passage of important bills and resolutions arising from motions which greatly affect the wellbeing of Nigerians.

In the National Assembly, staff salaries, allowances and other emoluments are paid as and when due despite the prevailing economic downturn in the country while a platform has been established where aggrieved staff can ventilate their grievances without fear of

victimisation, which is unique in the history of the nation’s legislature.

Staff training and re-training to meet the challenges of the global legislative system has been one of the hallmarks of the resolute Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa policy desiderata coupled with the establishment of a state of the art ICT complex with internet service/signals pervading the entire NASS complex.

No wonder, the National Assembly Senate press corps recently, without a single dissenting voice honoured the CNA with the Parliamentary Administrative Excellence Award.

–Hassan, a parliamentary affairs analyst, wrote in from Garki, Abuja

JACOB OGUNSEYE

APC, Success Management And Likely Impending Implosion

H

enry Ford, the founder of Ford Motor Company once said “coming together is a beginning, keeping together is a progress but working together is the real success.” I assume that one of the worst political challenges President Goodluck Jonathan would have ever had as a politician was the emergence of the All Progressives Congress (APC) when it was formed a year ago. He would have become more worrisome when five governors from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) merged with the newly emerging opposition in the country. The new party created hope for Nigerians who believed they will have an alternative platform to elect their leaders.

Within a year of coming together of the parties and PDP governors, the party is now facing its toughest challenges. The recent exodus of some principal actors from the party should not be taken lightly; we must be veracious and honest to accept that this exodus and others that might follow will be detrimental to the success of the opposition party. I understand that some are not used to success environment so they are not expected in the first place. But how do you describe those disciplined and liberal-minded fellows? For instance, who can explain what would have led to the exit of a combatant like Nuhu Ribadu and notable others?

I assume success management is pivotal for APC as its application is more urgent than ever; the next couples of weeks will be disastrous if APC repudiate. The real difference between success and failures are traceable to the question of how well the leaders bring out the great energies and talents of its people. I segmented the exoduses in the APC into three: the immediate post merger that opened door for Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, Marcus Gindiri, Dele Bengore (SAN), Attahiru Bafarawa and others are expected as it will be difficult for them to dwell with their former political foes, post convention cum pre-primary election that has seen politicians like Chief Tom Ikimi and others out of the party and lastly, I am afraid; the formers will be tips of the iceberg to post primary elections if adequate precautions are omitted.

The generated fears after Ekiti State governorship election woes has been allayed with the massive success in Osun State governorship election, even the showings in the bye election in Niger East senatorial election is a sign of good things to come. The wave of acceptability is not that bad despite the stigmatisation with terrorism, at least the voters know who the real terrors are, so the noises of some political elites nailing the party on terrorism has yielded nothing. That is not an attempt to declare that all is well, Nasarawa State governor, Alh. Umaru Tanko Al-Makura is still in the storm of impeachment; with VA Murtala Nyako (rtd) and Dr Kayode Fayemi completely shown out of the way, how many states will be in the APC grip before and after February 2015 elections?

Top leaders including Gen Mohammed Buhari, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Chief John Oyegun and host of others should build on the success recorded by the party in inception.

They should build an effective and responsive interpersonal relationship with the followers; strategies should be communicated effectively; build a highly non-porous and formidable team; raise the morale of the people once more and ultimately lead by example. With these aforementioned strategies, they can reposition the party and turn it to fortress for Nigerians who are yearning daily for a desired change.

politics today Monday, September 15, 2014

REPORTS ANALYSES REVIEWS INTERVIEWS

Present Legislative System Too Expensive – Sen Kaka

Sen. Kaka

Senator Adegbenga Kaka is a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and represents Ogun East senatorial district in the Senate. He spoke with journalists recently about national issues including bills pending in the Senate, impact of legislators on nation-building and why he supports a change of Nigeria’s legislative system. GBENGA ADEBOYE was there for LEADERSHIP. This is your third year at the National Assembly. How has it been?

It has been very challenging and of course, interesting. Challenging because there have been ups and downs, difficulties, times when you think something could be done better.

It is interesting because the little one is able to do, one is satisfied.

I am of the view that running the present system is too expensive.

If having a part time legislature will suit us , I will go with it.

How many bills have you been able to sponsor?

Well, no bill is concluded until signed into law. To the glory of God, I have a bill for the prohibition and punishment for all electronic fraud and electronic fund transfer crimes in Nigeria. It has been a prolonged bill, it is a bill that has generated so much interest and is ready because all other work have been done on it.

It is meant to protect intellectual property and critical infrastructure of all electronic transactions, prevention of fraud and punishment for various fraud, and of course our financial houses and the customers and all people that are directly or indirectly involved in electronic materials for

the advancement of humanity.

Apart from that, there is the agricultural processing bill. It has passed through the first reading, awaiting second reading. The bill is to ensure that our agricultural produce do not just rot away. It is about how we can provide good environment that will make value addition possible, that will create further employment opportunities for younger generations and make the produce even more presentable to the end user.

We are thinking of situations where the various farming communities could be grouped together with a processing facility under a conducive environment that will make the farmer to earn more money and banish the menace of unemployment in our society.

Beyond the Agricultural Processing Bill, the Harmonisation of the Retirement Age of the Armed Forces is another bill designed to improve the armed forces. I discovered that a lot of resources is spent on training of service personnel.

You will discover that someone

who has been trained with millions abroad is retired at a tender age.

There is a practice that once you miss a promotion, chances are that you will not reach the pinnacle of your career.

The bill I am sponsoring is to keep them in service for maybe 64-65 years so that their experience and the investment of the country in them will not be a waste, they should not be treated shabbily.

Apart from that, there is an amendment that I am sponsoring for the National Institute of Animal Research, in which I happen to be a fellow.

So the amendment is also in the second reading stage, ditto for the harmonisation bill. There is a bill for professional broadcasters.

Again, there is another one for the Nigerian Institute of Administration and Research, so we are progressing and hoping that by the end of the year, we should get 2 or 3 of them assented to, by the grace of the almighty God. Let us come home sir. What have you been able to do for the people from your senatorial district ?

Talking about constituency projects, our people do mix things up because some people say that a particular amount is being budgeted for our senatorial projects. Yes, it is true that we have running cost and it is true we have specific amount budgeted for the projects. So far, so good, the constituency project is for our environment. We are to identify our challenges.

In my own case, I prioritised health for my own personal project.

I have it under a foundation because I believe there must be a land mark for my four years tenure. So Senator Sefiu Adegbenga Kaka’s foundation is involved in healthcare, agriculture, empowerment programme, infrastructure, and education.

On health, I personally made a budget of N20m with which I procured two vehicles with 6 professionals who go to the people, go to market places, garages, churches. We did it fortnightly until some resident doctors asked for my collaboration which I agreed with.

We bring about 20 medical personnel into my nine local governments in which I spent about N12m. Throughout the period, we were giving out free drugs after

proper diagnoses and making necessary referrals.

On education, I noticed there is no motivation for teachers and students. The bane of our society is lack of maintenance culture. In Ipara, the principal’s office, laboratory and students’ classroom block containing the three were leaking because the roof was totally bad but we have done it. At Ode Remo, we did same thing. The laboratory was totally down; both the chemistry and biology laboratories are under construction now. Apart from that, there are some schools where it is just only two buildings that are still standing. Presently, I can count about eight buildings which were done by me. I have built or renovated over thirty and I am still counting because I am still going to do more.

The students contributed a lot to our success and I thank the advisory committee which includes professors and so on. They were the ones who kept all these things in place through their advice. I would have granted scholarship but I don’t have the money that is why I said bursary award to be given to all final year students who were able to attain upper class credit and above.

Beyond that, there is provision of infrastructure. We have a peculiar problem, the electricity supply which we have been tackling in my locality and the adjourning Ijebu North East, the electricity power supply in the country is one but that of these two local governments is terrible.

I made sure that an injection power station, 7.5kva power supply, was constructed in Ijebu North East and Ijebu North. By the grace of God, it should be completed before the end of this year.

What is your view on the just concluded Confab?

The conference made some recommendations that are commendable. The area on state creation is alright, so also is the area on the mode of legislature we need to operate.

I am of the view that running the present system is too expensive. If having a part time legislature will suit us , I will go with it.

Altogether, the national conference did well in coming up many recommendations.

Donald Ojogo, Group Politics Editor

37

Monday, September 15, 2014

senate diary

Issues As Nass Resumes From Recess The National Assembly will tomorrow resume plenary after its two months break. JONATHAN NDA-ISAIAH, in this report, takes a look at issues that will top the legislature’s agenda for the rest of the year.

Mark

A

s the National Assembly resumes for its fourth and final lap, many issues and bills are still pending that need to be passed before the expiration of their session in May next year.

There are fears that with the general elections around the corner, legislative work will suffer on the altar of politicking as most of the senators will be busy wooing their constituents for another term. The legislators have barely six months to pass some vital bills before the expiration of their tenure and any bill not passed next year will have to be re-introduced in the 8th Assembly as a fresh bill. Some issues on the front burner the next few months are as follows.

President Jonathan’s $1B Loan Request To Fight Terrorism/ Equip The Military.

Just before the lawmakers went on their annual break, President Goodluck Jonathan had wrote a letter to the National Assembly, seeking approval to obtain a $1bn external loan for the federal government to contain the rising activities of the insurgent group

Tambuwal

Boko Haram and stock up the arsenal of the Nigerian Military.

The letter, dated July 15, 2014, was read by the leaders of both chambers, David Mark and Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, stating that the loan was urgently needed to upgrade the equipment, training and logistics of the Armed Forces and security services in order to enable them to confront the insurgents with more force.

The letter titled, “Tackling Ongoing Security Challenges: Need for Urgent Action”, read in part, “You are no doubt cognisant of the ongoing and serious security challenges which the nation is facing , as typified by the Boko Haram terrorist threat. This is an issue that we have discussed at various times.

“I would like to bring to your attention the urgent need to upgrade the equipment, training and logistics of our Armed Forces and Security Services to enable them more forcefully to confront this serious threat.

“For this reason, I seek the concurrence of the National Assembly for external borrowing of not more than $1bn, including government to government arrangements for

There are fears that with the general elections around the corner, legislative work will suffer on the altar of politicking as most of the senators will be busy wooing their constituents for another term this upgrade.”

The National Assembly had in the N4.6tn 2014 Budget provisions, appropriated N968.127bn for Defence on account of the Boko Haram insurgency, monies which some Nigerians have argued have not yielded commensurate results in the fight against terrorism.

Former governor of Lagos State and leader of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, said while reacting to the request for the loan by President Jonathan, that it was not for the fight against insurgency, but to prosecute his 2015 ambition and called on the National Assembly not to endorse it.

He said: “The news that President Jonathan has requested the National Assembly to approve his request to seek a loan of one billion dollars purportedly to battle Boko Haram terrorism should lead any person with sober conscience to fall out of their chair. If only our spendthrift president attacked terrorism with the daring by which he assaults democracy and our common sense, there would be no need for any expenditures.

“Boko Haram would have been vanquished many yesterdays ago.

Yet Boko Haram continues stalking us because the president would rather play tricks than govern as a statesman. The bottom line is the only thing remotely military about this massive request is that it serves to camouflage a sinister aim. The man seeks to bolster the PDP electoral war chest on the backs of the victims of terror and on the heaviness of our collective fear of the terrorist’s threat.”

He urged Nigerians to rise against the loan deal while also calling for accountability on the part of the presidency, especially in connection with the previous budgetary allocations to the country’s defence sector.

“Now he asks us to applaud his request for a billion dollar loan. He and his clique have siphoned money from the states to deposit in the illegal excess crude account/sovereign wealth fund. Government said they did this unconstitutional confiscation of state and local funds in order to save for a ‘rainy day’.

“Well, terror is raining over and down on us from all sides. The blood of the innocent rains on our national conscience. If those who control this money do not think we are not now in the hands of calamity, then there will be no other earthly occurrence that may ply their hands into releasing the people’s money for the people’s security and well-being. In short, there is no need for the loan. If the funds are truly needed for our collective safety, Nigeria has the money.

“But Jonathan seeks to borrow money because of his foreign handlers. They have told him if he borrows from abroad and spends that same money abroad, he will win ➔ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 39

37

SENATE DIARY 39

Monday, September 15, 2014

Issues As Nass Resumes From Recess ➔ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 38

the favour of foreign lenders, arms contractors and assorted business ventures. These people will, in turn, pressure their governments to love Jonathan where they now loathe him and his incompetent handling of high matters of state. As such, he can then ramrod his way through the 2105 elections and not risk international reaction. This is the plan”.

However the federal government clarified that the one billion dollar loan it is seeking is not only to prosecute the war against insurgency, but to adequately equip the armed forces. Mr Mike Omeri, the coordinator, National Information Centre, made the clarification.

He said “it is not out of place for a country to re-enforce its military capability and it (loan) should not be mistaken that the resources of Nigeria has finished.

“The loan being sought is not just to prosecute Boko Haram war, it is to re-enforce the armed forces.’

It remains to be seen if the National Assembly will approve the loan. However, two months after the president’s request, activities of the Boko Haram group have become bolder as they have gradually transformed from an insurgent group to a separatist and secessionist group, taking over some towns in Borno and Adamawa states and hoisting their flags.

The National Conference Recommendations After much controversy, the National Conference ended last month with the recommendation of the conference set to be submitted to the National Assembly.

Many lawmakers had in the beginning of the conference, lambasted the motive behind it, saying they don’t have a legal framework to operate. However, against all odds and bickering in the conference, the conference came to a conclusive end.

President Goodluck Jonathan disclosed that recommendations of the National Conference will be transmitted to the National Assembly for incorporation into the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

They are fears by Nigerians that the recommendations, if submitted to the National Assembly, will die a natural death as most of the lawmakers were opposed to the idea behind the National Conference in the first place.

According to a recent editorial

by LEADERSHIP, the recommendation should be subjected to a referendum and not left in the hands of the National Assembly.

The editorial also added: “Our constitution-making process has to be methodical. While we welcome this child of necessity, we hold that it should not be thrown away with the bath water. A National Assembly that could not midwife a “peo-

Jonathan

ple’s constitution” should at least be willing to allow the outcome of the National Conference to be subjected to a referendum.”

“Other countries had gone through constitution drafting and amendment with the use of a referendum; therefore, we should not wrest the sovereignty from the people to ratify what they like and dislike about all the recommendations without exception, through a credible, fair and transparent referendum.”

Assuring the delegates, President Jonathan promised that the report of the conference will be implemented, adding that the successful completion of the conference has proved cynics wrong that the it will end in deadlock.

According to him: “The discourse reflected our latest challenges. We shall send the relevant aspects of your recommendations to the Council of State and the National Assembly for incorporation into the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. On our part, we shall act on those aspects required of us in the executive.

“Let me reaffirm this: Nobody has a monopoly of knowledge. We who are in government need to feed from the thoughts of those who elected us into power. You have done your patriotic duty, we the elected, must now do ours”.

Emergency Rule Extension The emergency rule in Adamawa ,Yobe and Borno States is set to expire in November this year and it remains to be seen if the president will send another letter seeking for another extension of the emergency.The situation on ground is looking worse off than when the emergency rule was put in place in May as the insurgents

Kolade

have increased their activities resulting in over 5000 deaths since May.They are fears by the opposition that another extension of the emergency rule will roll over to next year’s general elections and elections may not hold in the three states which are regarded as strongholds of the opposition. The president’s letter in May this year was met with stiff opposition particularly from the northern Senators.

After much horse trading between the leadership of the Senate and the northern senators, the Upper House had unanimously approved a fresh six-month extension of emergency rule in the three north-eastern states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, but with conditions.

Rising from over two hours of consultations in the Senate president’s office with northern senators and a closed-door session, the lawmakers asked Jonathan to deploy full military operation in the fight against the insurgents.

Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) The Petroleum Industry Bill is one of the major bills pending before the 7th Senate. The critical bill, which is expected to restore full sanity into the petroleum industry in Nigeria, has been pending before the two chambers of the National Assembly since 2008.

The controversial bill has already divided the country along regional lines as the Kano State governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, said passage of the bill will weaken the economy of the north. The Senate, for three days, debated extensively on the bill as most northern senators were pitched against their southern counterparts. The joint committee held several public hearings

across the country to determine the workability of some aspects of the bill.

PIB is a bill that, when passed as an Act, will become the master reference law that governs the Nigerian petroleum industry.

Most Nigerians have accused the National Assembly of playing politics with the PIB, an allegation the Senate leader, Victor NdomaEgba, denied.

He insisted that no individual, group or agency of the government was using the legislature to deliberately slow down its passage before the end of the current legislative era.

He said, “I am hopeful that the PIB will be passed before the end of the current Senate, I am very hopeful.

“It is a technical bill that comes with a number of aspects.

“We have the legal aspect of the bill, the physical aspect, the environmental aspect of the bill, the petroleum aspect, and the gas aspect.

“Because of these various components, we necessarily need to get several committees to work together.

“It is not very easy, if we have just two committees it is easy, but by the time you begin to have three, four, five committees, it becomes a bit problematic.

“So I don’t think the PIB is jinxed.” The Senate leader recalled that some Nigerians were of the view that the Freedom of Information Bill was jinxed, but the National Assembly broke the jinx.

He said, “On the question on whether we are playing politics, nobody has spoken to me about PIB, so I don’t know what politics we have been playing with PIB, nobody has spoken to me about it.”

The recommendations, if submitted to the National Assembly, will die a natural death

40

Monday, September 15, 2014

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news south-west 41

Monday, September 15, 2014

Ibadan Market Fire Victims Get N10m Oyo State governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, has disbursed N10 million to traders of Aleshinloye Market, Ibadan, whose shops were gutted by fire recently.

The governor, while presenting the cheques to the traders at the weekend, said that the gesture was in fulfilment of his earlier promise to assist the affected traders to cushion the effect of the losses they suffered during the inferno.

He commended the traders for their immense contributions to the socio-economic development of the state, adding that his administration would not relent in its efforts at ensuring improved living condition of the people of the state.

The governor’s special adviser on media, Dr Festus Adedayo, in a statement in Ibadan yesterday, said his administration had earmarked N300 million as interestfree loans to assist traders in the state, while markets had been provided for the traders who were removed from the streets.

Ajimobi urged the traders to continue to support the urban renewal programme of his administration and to continue to sustain the existing peace in the state.

By Adebayo Waheed, Ibadan

Protest: Poly Exonerates Students, Symphatises With Afe Babalola

by ALO AbIOLA, , Ado-Ekiti

The Student Union Government and the management of the Federal Polytechnic have appealed to the Police in Ekiti State to release students of the institution arrested during last Saturday’s protest.

They also sympathised with Chief Afe Babalola over the attack on his convoy by the irate protesters.

Making the appeal yesterday at a news conference jointly addressed by the rector of the institution, Dr Theresa Akande, and the SUG president Mr Ajibola Oladapo, they exonerated

their students of involvement in the violent protest that caused traffic gridlock along Ado-Ijan Ekiti highway.

Some residents of Erunfun, a farmstead populated

by Ebira ethnic group which falls within the Polytechnic, had protested the one-month power outage in the area, leading to the arrest of 40 people by the police.

They said several innocent students and workers of the institution were arrested and are still being detained by the police.

Oladapo who was represented by Afolarin Olakunle

said the polytechnic was enjoying 24-hour electricity supply daily, as such there was no cause for protest.

Dr Akande noted that the residents of the community had been experiencing protracted epileptic power and water supply and had been coming to the polytechnic to fetch water, a development that must have provoked the protest.

Ajibola said, “As peace-loving students, we are particularly appalled at such acts of barbarism, especially against a revered personality like Chief Afe Babalola’ status.

It is worthy to note that the management of this institution , which also suffers from the same fate, have been doing all that is humanly possible to provide basic amenities on the polytechnic campus.

“We deeply appreciate this and thus we had no cause to complain of lack of power supply or water, nor go or demonstration over same”, he said.

While appreciating the police for its prompt action, Ajibola, however called on the police authorities to release students and other workers wrongly arrested during protest.

CRIN: CDWR Expresses Worry Over Delay In FG Panel’s Report

ShORt NEWS

Oyo 2015: Jonathan has No Anointed Candidate -Makinde

A PDP gubernatorial aspirant, Mr Seyi Makinde has disclosed that President Goodluck Jonathan has not anointed any aspirants for the 2015 governorship election in Oyo State.

Speaking with newsmen in Ibadan yesterday, the governorship aspirant who described Jonathan as a democrat, said the President believes so much in the electoral process of party primaries to produce candidate for the election.

He noted that there were about 10 aspirants jostling for the party’s ticket, Makinde.

“This is not frightening. It is healthy for the party,” he said.

The Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Rights (CDWR) yesterday expresses worry over the delay in the report of the Presidential Panel of Inquiry set up by the federal government to investigate the industri- L-R Oyo State deputy governor Otunba Moses Alake-Adeyemo; Alafin of Oyo Oba Lamidi Adeyemi and speaker, Oyo

By Adebayo al disputes that have engulfed Cocoa State House of Assembly Mrs Monsurat Sunmonu at the grand finale of Oranmiyan festival in Oyo town on Saturday.

Waheed, Ibadan Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN), PHOTO BY NAN Ibadan, for the past 10 months.

CDWR’s Oyo State co-ordinator, Comrade Abiodun Bamigboye, in a statement called on trade unions, civil society organizations and well

by ALO AbIOLA, , Ado-Ekiti The governor, who expressed Adekunle as a dedicated officer complete without a deserved meaning Nigerians to join in the his condolences to all concerned who sacrificed a lot for the uni- mention given to Adekunle.

Ekiti State governor, Dr. Kay- over the death of civil war hero, ty of the country. campaign for immediate and unFayemi urged the family of ode Fayemi, has urged con- said his commitment to the inconditional reversal of all forms of He also described Adekunle the deceased to be consoled by temporary military officers to divisibility of Nigeria was never as a legend in the Nigerian mil- the good life he lived and the anti-worker policies.

By Alo Abiola, Ado-Ekiti emulate the virtues of the late in doubt with his heroic deeds itary folklore whose place is as- lives he touched.

Brig.-Gen. Benjamin Adekun- at the warfront. sured in the positive side of hisHe prayed for the peaceful rele as they battle in the North In a statement by his chief tory. pose of Adekunle’s soul and for Eastern part and other trou- press secretary, Mr. OlayinHe noted that the story of the his family to have the fortitude bled spots of the country. ka Oyebode, Fayemi described Nigerian Civil War will never be to bear the huge loss.

Fayemi Mourns Late Gen Adekunle

2015: LP Aspirants Begin Submission Of Nomination Forms In Ogun

Aspirants on the platform of Labour Party in Ogun State at the weekend started submitting nomination forms ahead of the party primaries.

The first set of aspirants who came to submit their nomination forms at the party secretariat located at Onikolobo, Abeokuta, include chairmanship and councillorship aspirants. Among early callers was an educationist, Adebari Ajayi, who submitted his form of interest as chairman of Remo North local government.

By Gbenga Adeboye, Abeokuta

Oranyan: Alaafin Canvasses For Nation Builders

by AdebAyO WAHeed,Ibadan

The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III, has said that the Yoruba nation is in dire need of empire builders in the mould and character of the legendary Oranmiyan.

Speaking at the closing ceremony of the week-long activities of the 3rd Oranyan festival in Oyo yesterday, the monarch said, “In spite of our heroic contribution to the Nigerian nation, the Yoruba ethnic group is almost relegated to the back-

ground in the scheme of things in Nigeria.

“It would almost seem that the central government has decided to look away from Yorubaland in the allocation of resources and in political power sharing.

“This unfortunate situation of the Yoruba within the context of the Nigerian state is no doubt disturbing, bearing in mind the enormous resources available in Yoruba world view to build the Nigerian nation,’’ the monarch said.

Speaking to the hundreds of thousands people who thronged

the palace, he said that Oranyan festival was to celebrate Oranyan who established an enduring political structure for civil and military administration in Africa.

“This gathering is a rallying point for enthusiasts of Yoruba history and culture. It is also to call attention to Yoruba contribution to civilisation as empire builders long before dawn of political sophistication in other parts of the world and to establish the relevance of Yoruba culture in promoting global peace, international understanding and harmony,’’ he said.

Adeyemi said that the life and political career of Oranyan would provide a template for effective political system or statecraft, empire building and mass political participation. ``The archetypal monarchy embroidered with central authority was a product of the wizardry of Oranyan who left the cradle of Yoruba consciousness to create a system of government, whose effectiveness, creativity, relevance, suitability and appropriateness is not in doubt even in contemporary Nigeria.”

42 news Lagos Neighbourhood Watch Honours Tinubu, Others Neigbourhood Watch in Lagos Central Senatorial district has honoured Senator Oluremi Tinubu, Chairman Yaba Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Hon. Jide Jimoh among others. he programme took place at Teslim Balogun Stadium over the weekend during a dinner/ award night command week programme of Lagos central, Area-C command.

In her speech, Tinubu commended the effort of neighbourhood watch for ensuring efficient security service delivery at various communities, despite security challenges in the country.

The senator, who was represented by Hon. Jide Sanwo-Olu said, “I know how strategic Neigbourhood Watch is, in term of security, so I commend you for doing a very good job.

By Taiwo Ogunmola-Omilani, Lagos

Monday, September 15, 2014

Fashola Visits Synagogue, Mulls Inquiry Into Causes Of Collapse

By george okojie, Lagos

Lagos State governor Babatunde Fashola yesterday paid an unscheduled visit to the Synagogue Church Of All Nations, where a guest house under construction came down, killing 41 people.

Fashola, who expressed sadness over the development, said his government would do everything within its powers to prevent a

reoccurrence of the unfortunate incident.

He said an enquiry will be made into the remote and immediate causes of the incident, after which the government will take necessary actions.

Also speaking, the commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Toyin Ayinde, who accompanied the governor to the scene, expressed shock over

the incident, saying the state government is unaware that such heavy construction was going on in the vicinity.

He said he could not remember the state government giving approval for the construction of the collapsed building.

Ayinde explained that it is the statutory obligation of any individual or group who wants to embark on construction of a high

rise building to seek approval from the state government.

Meanwhile, the number of casualties in the collapsed building has risen to 41, according to NEMA, even as the agency said about 130 people have so far being rescued.

The agency added that the number of casualties may increase before the end of the ongoing rescue operation.

SHORT NeWS

Manpower: NAMA Trains 21 ATC Cadets On Safety

2015: APC Chieftain Assures Of Party Victory In Lagos The deputy Lagos State chairman of All Progressive Congress (APC) cardinal James Omolaja Odunmbaku, has said the party will overrun other parties in the state in 2015 general election.

The chieftain, who spoke with journalists in Lagos, said the party has put measures in place to wrestle power from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) at the national level.

Harping on issues of his defection plans, he said it was fabricated by his detractors, saying he is and will remain a loyal and committed member of the party.

He explained that his absence from party activities in recent times was due to his trip abroad to tackle health issues.

l-r: minister of health, Prof. onyebuchi Chukwu; chairman of the may & Baker Plc, gen. Theophilus Danjuma (rtd); managing director, mr. nnamdi okafor, and Danjuma’s wife, Senator Daisy Danjuma, during may and Baker 70th anniversary dinner at the muson Centre, onikan, lagos. PHoTo By BeneDiCT uwalaka.

Benjamin Adekunle: Nigeria Has Lost A True Patriot - Fashola By george okojie, , Lagos

By George Okojie, Lagos

Lagos State governor Babatunde Fashola , on Sunday joined other eminent Nigerians to mourn the passage of Civil War hero, Brigadier-General Benjamin Adekunle, describing him as a true patriot who stood up to be counted for the unity of the country.

In a press statement signed by his special adviser on Media, Mr. Hakeem Bello, he said BrigGen. Adekunle, a.k.a. “Black Scorpion” played a prominent role in

Tribunal On Vandalisation Of BRT Buses Begins Sitting Today The tribunal of inquiry set up by the Lagos State government to investigate the road traffic accident and subsequent arson and vandalising of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) buses will commence its inaugural sitting today.

The Lagos ttorney Ggneral and commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaye, disclosed this to journalists, while adding that the tribunal will commence public hearing from Tuesday, Septenber 16 to 26, 2014 at the conference room of the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Alausa.

Ipaye added that some of the responsibilities the tribunal is saddled with includes inquiries into the causes and factors.”

By George Okojie, Lagos

Nigeria’s 30-month Civil War as commander of the famous Third Marine Commando of the Nigerian Army.

Fashola said the late Army General would be remembered in the nation’s history for his commitment to the unity of Nigeria which led to his widely acknowledged exploits and bravery during the unfortunate war.

According to him, “he rose and offered his service to keep Nigeria one when the nation was facing a serious challenge against her unity and stability. The legendary

bravery and accomplishments of his command, the Third Marine Commando, is well documented and will, for a long time, remain a reference point for patriotic service to the nation.”

He recalled the stories he heard as a young person concerning the war, saying the name of the late General, popularly known as “Black Scorpion”, became a household name with awesome stories of bravery always associated with itan adding that his role certainly brought a significant change in the war.

The technical manpower need of Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), got a boost at the weekend as 21 Cadet Air Traffic Controllers graduated at the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria.

With this, the agency said it is gradually narrowing the gap created by retiring controllers, even as another group of 17 cadets are expected to graduate from the college next month.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony of the cadets, the managing director of the agency, Engineer Ibrahim Abdulsalam, charged the remaining students to justify the huge investment in the course of their training by remaining committed and dedicated to duty in the overall interest of safety of the Nigerian airspace.

George Okojie, Lagos

Professionals Charged On Civil Responsibility

By By Taiwo ogunmola-omilani,

Lagos

The president of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, Chief Mark Anthony Dike, has advised professionals to practice what they preach by ensuring they fulfil their civil responsibility to the government.

Speaking on the recently settled

face-off between the chief judge of Ondo State and the state branch of the Nigerian Bar Association, the CITN helmsman wondered why ‘learned friends’ of the bar could be at logger-heads on tax issues that are not constitutionally ambiguous.

Tracing the genesis of the rancour, Dike recalled an order by the chief judge of Ondo State direct-

ing that only persons proven to have paid their taxes could stand as sureties in matters subsisting in court for which a surety is required.

This development subsequently elicited protests by the Nigerian Bar Association which insisted, according to reports, that requirement to pay taxes had been substantially complied with by virtue of payment of practicing fees by lawyers.

The CITN president lamented that this controversy was uncalled for as what both parties could have easily done was to determine if the payment of tax is a discretionary duty or civic duty of the citizens of any state, determine the nexus between practicing fees and payment of taxes in relation to the issue at hand, and of course, the legal right of an accused to bail.

Monday, September 15, 2014

‘We’ll Resist Plan To Force Wike On Us’

Members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Orashi region of Rivers State have vowed to fight and reject every attempt to foist the minister of state for education, Ezwenwo Nyesom Wike on the people of the area as the preferred candidate.

During a press conference held in Abuja yesterday, the representative of the PDP stakeholders in Orashi region, Barr Nngeri Goodhead Goodleaf, said the four local government areas which make up the area represent and speak for other stakeholders of the party.

“As stakeholders of the PDP in Orashi, we have been left feeling dejected, deceived and shortchanged by those who have foisted themselves upon our people as rulers, deciding who belongs and who does not. All is not well in Orashi. Our people feel deep pain,” he said.

news south-south south-East 43

Circulating Text Messages Unsettle Delta PDP By kOla EkE-OgiugO, Asaba

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftains in Delta State have frowned at what they described as unguarded text messages being circulated among members of the party by some aggrieved persons, saying the messages were aimed at discrediting the party.

The party’s publicity secretary, Mr Ray Macaulay, in a statement made available to our correspondent, however, dissociated the party from the text messages, which he said were capable of bringing dis-

unity among party members.

It was reliably gathered that since the purported anointment of one Tony Obuh, a one-time permanent secretary in the Government House by the state governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, tongues have been wagging over his candidature.

But in his reaction, the state commissioner for information, Barr Chike Ogeah said that the governor has no anointed son.

Meanwhile, the controversial party chairman, Chief Peter Nwaoboshi has come under heavy criticism from the Urhobo nation, fol-

lowing his alleged attack against the Urhobo apex body, Urhobo Progressive Union (UPU).

In a statement made available to our correspondent, the UPU national publicity secretary, Chief Mike Okenini said there was nothing like zoning arrangement in PDP, adding that the statement by the chairman was capable of overheating the political terraine. He stated that no ethnic group can hold the state to ransom in the quest to produce the next governor.

According to the spokes man of the UPU, “Urhobos are highly

republican and would resist any form of imposition in the build up to 2015 those taking the inglorious steps in trying to thwart our collective efforts to reclaim the governorship position cannot deliver for their masters on the day of election.

Reacting further to the statement of chief Nwaoboshi, entitled “the many sins of Peter Nwaoboshi”, the UPU spokesman disclosed that some unsavory remarks of the reserved Urhobo Progressive Union (UPU) on the question of Uduaghan’s successor in 2015 portends disunity.

shORT neWs Ohanaeze Women’s Wing elects new exco Amid Protest

By Pembi David-Stephen, Abuja

Minister Warns Contractors Against Project Delays The minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Dr Stephen Oru has warned contractors executing development projects in the Niger Delta area to work hard and meet the expectations of the benefitting communities by ensuring timely execution of the projects or risk the revocation of the contracts.

He told newsmen that the government recently made payments to some of the contractors working on projects awarded by the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, and urged the contractor executing the dualisation of the Owerri-Elele road to fast-track work on the project and complete it for the benefit of communities in the state and the Niger Delta region in general.

By Millie Ibe, Abuja

Ohakim Challenges Okorocha To Debate

Immediate past governor of Imo State, Chief Ikedi Ohakim has challenged Governor Rochas Okorocha to a public debate to correct some of the lies being peddled against his administration.

Ohakim said he could no longer fold his arms and watch his name being rubbished by his detractors despite his laudable projects and transformation of the state during his tenure.

Ohakim, who threw the challenge at the weekend while giving a scorecard of his administration from 2007 to 2011 entitled “Legacies that speak,” noted that his administration reduced poverty in the state compared to what is applicable in the state now.

By Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri

Member, house of representatives hon Momoh abubakar; rector of auchi Polytechnic Mrs Philipa idogho; minister of works, arc Mike Onolememen; Edo State PDP chairman, chief Dan Orbih and a community leader, anthony innih during the commissioning of the pedestrian bridge in front of auchi Polytechnic gate, auchi.

FG Commissions 2 Bridges, Road, Pedestrian Bridge For students’ safety

By Patrick OchOga, Benin City

Students of Auchi Polytechnic could not hide their joy last Friday when the federal government commissioned the completed pedestrian bridge along the busy Benin-Lokoja Expressway currently being dualised.

Works minister, Arc Mike Onolememen, who performed the commissioning on behalf of President Goodluck Jonathan, said Mr President gave approval for the provision of a pedestrian bridge at the polytechnic’s main

gate and also the construction of the two bridges with longer spans to ensure durability of the structures and safety of users.

Other projects also commissioned by Onolememen are River Okio Bridge, Wepa Bridge and the Ekperi-Fugar road, off Auchi Polytechnic-Ekperi-Agenebode Road.

Onolememen said the commissioning of the projects was in fulfillment of the campaign promises of the Jonathan administration to ensure safety of lives, property, improved road in-

frastructure and replacement of sub-standard bridges across the nation.

He added that the construction of the two bridges will ease the transportation of farm produce and goods within and outside Edo State.

The rector of the polytechnic, Mrs Phillipa Idogho, expressed gratitude to the federal government for the long-awaited pedestrian bridge which will reduce carnage on the road which often resulted to rioting by the students.

The Women’s Wing of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, weekend, elected a new executive at the secretariat of the apex Igbo social-cultural organisation in Enugu amid protest.

Mrs Calista Nkiru Adimachukwu emerged the national women leader of the group after scoring 78 votes while her opponent, Mrs Chika Ibeneme who alleged that some of her supporters were prevented from voting got 77 votes.

Speaking to reporters after the election, the secretary of the Election Committee, Chief Loretta Aniagolu, disclosed that apart from the national women leader’s office, other positions were unopposed.

By Nnamdi Mbawike, Enugu

Rivers Debt Profile Below n100bn – Commissioner By anayO Onukwugha, Port Harcourt

Rivers State commissioner for information and communications, Mrs Ibim Semenitari has said that the debt profile of the state government is below N100billion as against over N300billion alleged by some groups.

A group, the Niger Delta Citizens and Budget Platform (NDCBP) recently raised the

alarm over the rising debt profile of the state, saying that if the state government goes ahead to secure the N52billion loan that was recently approved by the State House of Assembly, the external debt profile of the state would increase from $322million to near $600million.

Semenitari, who spoke while briefing journalists in Port Harcourt yesterday, on the planned

International Fashion Week, tagged, ‘Native and Vogue’, stated that the state government had incurred debts amounting to N81billion. She disclosed that the state government sets aside N11billion every month to service its debt profile, therefore, would not leave any debt for the incoming government.

She explained that the frequent recourse to the state

House of Assembly for loans through bonds in the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) is necessitated by the resolve of Governor Chibuike Amaechi to adhere to the dictates of the law that requires the governor to seek fresh approvals if monies previously approved by the Assembly were not accessed during the legislative year while the House was in session.

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Monday, September 15, 2014 USEFUL PHONE NUMBERS ON ANY EMERGENCY

Council endorsed the useful phone numbers submitted by the security agents for easy access in case of any emergency on the metropolitan Roads. Accordingly, the public may easily Contact KAROTA for: Breakdown of Vehicle(s), Traffic Congestion, Accidents, Illegal / Wrong Parking to kindly Call KAROTA through the following number – 08091626747.

Similarly, the State Police Command could be contacted on – 08032419754, 08123821575. In addition, the State Fire Service can also be contacted on – 07051246833, 08191778888.

KANO STATE GOVERNMENT

166th KANO STATE EXECuTiVE COuNCiL MEETiNG PREPARED BY COUNCIL AFFAIRS DIRECTORATE, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY TO THE STATE GOVERNMENT, GOVERNMENT HOUSE, KANO. have made tremendous efforts by utilizing their implements and keeping their Animals in good health and also made re – payment of substantial amount of the loan provided to them.

Council acknowledged the report with appreciation.

ENGR. RAbi’u MuSA KwANKwASO, FNSE Executive Governor, Kano State

b) Request for Funds for the Connection of Electricity Power Supply and Maintenance to Gezawa College of Midwifery (temporary Site) and Bichi ITC Line:This too is among the 24 institutes established by this administration.

The construction work of the permanent site has reached completion stage. Meanwhile the institute has already admitted students that are now accommodated in a temporary site. Thus the Ministry of Rural and Community Development through SSG’s Office submitted a request to Council for the connection of electricity power supply and maintenance to Gezawa College of Midwifery (Temporary Site) and Bichi ITC Line totaling the sum of N3,888,449.00.

Accordingly, Council considered and approved the release of the sum of N3,597,285.00 for the projects.

The second coming of His Excellency Governor Engr. Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, FNSE to the helm of affairs in Kano has brought a new trend of progressive change and excellent leadership quality which is like a drought in the country. The Government since inception in 2011 has brought a lot of gigantic projects and empowerment packages i.e. building of the First flyovers by the state, one of which is the longest in the country and total overhauling of educational sector among many others i.e. construction of Kwankwasiyya Classroom blocks in over 460 Schools across the 44 Local Government Area Councils in the State, Scholarship to over 3000 Kano Indigenes to pursue various medical, pharmaceutical, post graduate and graduate courses abroad, etc. and many other projects too many to mention.

c) Request for Counterpart Fund for the Conduct of an Activity in Collaboration with UNICEF “D” Field Officers Bauchi:The content of this memorandum is from the Ministry of Planning and Budget through the SSG’s Office submitted a request to Council for the conduct of 2 – Activities on Advocacy and Orientation visit to three (3) selected LGCAs (Gezawa, Gwarzo and Takai) in order to gather information/ data on key performance indicators on Education, Health, Water Sanitation and Hygiene at grass – root level in collaboration wit UNICEF to monitor the exercise and assess progress.

Accordingly, Council noted the total sum of N1,750,700.00 as UNICEF contribution and approved the release of the sum of N1,218,500.00 as State counterpart contribution.

It is worthy to mention, that moral decadence was prevalent in the State, the Government since assumption into Office has ensured the banning of street begging (almajiri) in the State, Constitution of a powerful Taskforce on Drugs which has sanitized the sale and use of drugs. This has greatly helped in reducing access of drugs usage to the drug addicts mostly youth and women.

d) Request for Funds to Organize Sallah Party to the Less Privileged Children in the State:You may recall that since the inception of the present administration efforts were given towards empowering women and youths regardless of social inequality. Today, the Special Adviser on Child Welfare through the SSG’s Office submitted a request to Council to organize Sallah Party to the less privileged Children in the State which is scheduled for Monday 6th October, 2014 and will cost the sum of N1,503,278.00.

Council considered and approved the sum of N1,000,000.00 for the commitment. e) Request for Funds for the Payment of Severance Gratuity to Hon. Khadi Tijjani Yahaya Dukawa:The content of this memorandum is from the State Shariah Court of Appeal through the SSG’s Office submitted to Council a request for the payment of Severance Gratuity to retired Hon. Khadi Tijjani Yahaya Dukawa to the tune of N5,008,155.00 as provided in the revised remuneration package for Public, Political and Judicial Office Holders of the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (Law 2007).

Council considered and approved as requested for the purpose. f) Presentation of Progress Report from Monitoring and Evaluation Unit of the Community Reorientation Council (CRC) for the Months of March and April, 2014:The content of this memorandum is from the Community Reorientation Council (CRC) Monitoring Committee through the Office of the Secretary to the State Government where its Monitoring and Evaluation Unit submitted a progress report for the months of March and April, 2014 to Council following the team’s official visit across the 44 Local Government Areas.

Accordingly, the CRC decentralize its monitoring team into three (3) zones (Kano Central Zone, Kano South Zone and Kano North Zone) to ease the co – ordinating of various Government programmes such as; i.

School feeding to Primary School Pupils. ii.

School Uniform Intervention. iii.

Butchers Empowerment Scheme. iv.

Lafiya Jari Empowerment Scheme. v.

Women Empowerment Programme.

Council acknowledged the report with appreciation. g) Request for Funds for the Procurement and Refurbishing of Vital Office Equipment in the Ministry of Finance:-

Indeed, various policies and programmes which were seen as a mirage has been effected in Kano State as the saying of one Scholar Arthur C. Clarke that “the only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the somewhat impossible”. Indeed, Governor Engr. Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, FNSE has delivered on issues that seemingly looked impossible to attain and has and is delivering satisfactorily and betterment of Kano and the citizenry.

1. OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY TO THE STATE GOVERNMENT a) Presentation of Seventh (7th) Periodic Report of the Monitoring and Evaluation Committee on Animal Traction Covering Three (3) Local Government Areas (Shanono, Minjibir and Ungogo): The Government of His excellency Gov Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso established 24 skills and acquisition institutes to train our unemployed youth in various skills and trades so as to enable them acquire skills necessary to establish their businesses and become not only self employed but as well employers of labor. Five of these institutes are directly training our youth in Agricultural productions and value chain addition. These include Fisheries, Livestock, Poultry, Irrigation and Animal Traction institutes. They are trained and given empowerment packages during their graduation ceremonies. The graduates of Animal traction institutes were each given 2 bulls, trailer and Plough at a total cost of one hundred and forty thousand (N140,000.00). The Government subsidized this loan by 20%, each beneficiary will therefore pay back 80% over a period of time. A monitoring committee monitors the progress of the program and the repayment by the graduates.

The content of this memorandum is a seventh (7th) periodic report from the Monitoring and Evaluation Committee on Animal Traction covering three (3) Local Government Areas of Shanono, Minjibir and Ungogo submitted to Council for noting and further action.

In this respect, the Committee observed that a large number of beneficiaries

The Ministry of Finance through the SSG’s Office submitted to Council a request for the procurement and repairs of some important office equipment to ensure conducive working environment with a view to attaining efficiency in service delivery.

In this respect, the items required are three (3) Executive Table, seven (7) Executive Chair, seven (7) Rain Boat, seven (7) Torch Light, Refurbishing of Air Conditions and fridge at the total cost of N464,400.00.

Council considered and approved as requested. h) Request for Funds for the Procurement of Five (5) Gully Empire Van for State General Hospitals:The content of this memorandum is from the Ministry of Health through SSG’s Office submitted a request to Council for the procurement of five (5) Gully Empire Van for usage at Murtala Muhammad Specialist, Muhammad Abdullahi Wase Specialist, Infectious Disease, Sir Muhammad Sunusi Specialist and Sheikh Muhammad Jiddah General Hospitals.

Council noted the request and directed for the supply of one (1) disposal truck for the purpose. i) Request for Funds for the Empowerment Assistance to 132 Graduants of the 3 – Day Workshop on Moringa (Zogale Gandi) Production and Packaging:The Ministry of Commerce through the Office of the Secretary to the State Government submitted a request to Council for disbursement as empowerment package to each of the successful 132 trainees on Moringa production and packaging held from 18th – 20th March, 2014 whom were selected from the 44 Local Government Areas towards meeting an appeal by the State Committee on African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) totaling the sum of N13,530,000.00.

Council considered and approved for the release of the sum of N10,000,000.00 for the commitment.

2. MINISTRY OF WORKS, HOUSING AND TRANSPORT a) Request for Funds for Monthly Running Costs for Road Traffic Department:Considered the importance of Road Traffic Department activity in the lives of our citizens not only regulating and control traffic movement along our major ways (roads) which serve as traffic regulators.

Government has also identified that if the sector could be utilized, the sector would contribute significantly in generating local revenue from road traffic violators.

As a result of this, the present administration made a giant stride in rejuvenation of the sector with a view to ensure that all facilities and structures were rehabilitated in addition to procurement of modern facilities.

For the structures and facilities to be maintained sustainably, there is need for running costs, which a modest request of N150,000.00 per month was made fir the purpose Council considered and approved the release of N150,000.00 every month as a running costs for the Department. b) Request for Funds for Installation of New Single Arm Street Lighting at Sani Yaro Street and Environs – Off Hadejia Road 2.5KM:In continuation of efforts to ensure that all major roads within and by extension outside metropolis are provided with street and traffic light, the Taskforce Committee on Repairs and Reactivation of Street Lights and Traffic Lights assessed and came up with a Bill of Engineering Measurement and Evaluation (BEME) for the installation of Street Lights along Sani Yaro Street and Environs Off Hadejia Road (2.5KM) which was vetted by the Ministry in the sum of N59,187,494.50.

Accordingly, Council considered and approved as requested. c) Request for Funds for the Installation of New Lighting within Sheka Extension – 3.4KM:Considering that, there is constant appeals/agitation and demands from different Community in the State for the needs to extend the provision and installation of street lighting in all areas yet to benefit, the Ministry of works assessed the extent of work on this important road .

Pursuant to this, Taskforce on Repairs and Reactivation of Streets and Traffic Lights has assessed and come up with Bill of Engineering Measurement and Evaluation (BEME) which was vetted by the Ministry in the sum of N69,085,850.40 within Sheka as an extension work totaling (3.4KM).

Council considered and approved as requested for the commitment.

45

Monday, September 15, 2014 d) Request for the Provision of Kwankwasiyya Type Drainage at Yakasai Quarters in the Municipality:The above request emanated from Yakasai Community in Municipal Local Government Area soliciting Government intervention for the repair of drainage at their domain which was channel to Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Drainages.

In this regard the ministry of Works, Housing and Transport has assessed the extent of the work and came up with an estimated cost in the sum of N17,713,384.88.

Accordingly, Council considered and approved for the release of the sum of N17,713,384.88 for the execution of the project on Contract Basis to be supervised by the Ministry of Works, Housing and Transport. e) Memorandum on Request for Funds for the Cleaning and Repair Works of Drainage:It could be recalled that, the present administration has established some Agencies/Boards across the State Civil Service in an effort to enhance the smooth running of the bureaucracy, such agencies includes; KAROTA, KARMA, Islamiyya and Qur’anic Agency, etc.

Kano Road Maintenance Agency is an agency under the supervision of Ministry of Works, Housing and Transport saddled with responsibility of repairing metropolitan roads, reconstruction of drainages etc.

It is against the background of the above, the Ministry of Works, Housing and Transport endorsed the recommendation of KARMA for the provision of concrete rings culverts to serve as conduit drainages in selected metropolitan roads i.e. Abduallahi Bayero Road, Ibrahim Dabo Road, Murtala Muhammad Way and Sani ABacha Wayall in the sum of N150,000,000.00.

Accordingly, Council noted, considered and approved for the drainage cleaning and repairs at Ibrahim Dabo Road in the sum of N24,462,601.50. f) Memorandum on the Supply and Installation of 1200 Chairs for the 1200 Seater Auditorium at Government House:The content of this memorandum recalled the attention of the Council members to it’s earlier approval for the construction of 1200 Seater Auditorium at Government House and notified that the project has reached advanced stage of completion and the need for the supply and installation of the permanent seats with a view to completing the auditorium and be put to use became paramount.

Consequent upon this, the Ministry of Works, Housing and Transport invited Contractors to quote for the project and submitted a quotation in the sum of N93,240,000.00. The Ministry however vetted the quotation to the sum of N84,420,000.00 and recommend to Council for consideration.

Council noted, considered and approved as requested.

3. MINISTRY OF LAND AND PHYSICAL PLANNING Request for Funds for Compensation of Properties Affected by the Expansion of School of Islamic Studies (SIS) and Land for Refuse Disposal at Kurna Qtrs:This memo originally came from the Ministry of Education as endorsed and presented by the Ministry of Land and Physical Planning with a view to came up wit assessment of structures to be compensated which covers Land for refuse disposal as a result expansion of S. I. S at Kurna Qtrs.

Based on this, the Ministry of Land and Physical Planning evaluated the total sum of N45,785,390.00 as a compensation proposal on which Council is requested to approve.

Council considered the request and approved the released sum of N45,785,390.00 for the stated purpose.

4. MINISTRY OF INFORMATION, INTERNAL AFFAIRS, YOUTH, SPORT AND CULTURE Memorandum on Request for Funds for the Participation of Kano Pillars Basketball Team in the 2013/2014 DSTV Final – 8 Championship at Burkina Faso:It is a well known fact that, the current administration has made a giant stride in the area of sports ranging from the establishment of Mahaha Sports Zone at Kofar Na’isa, Sports Institute, General Renovation of Sani Abacha Stadium as well as boosting the Sports activities in the State.

Consequent upon the above, the State Sports Council recommended the sum of N24,016,010.00 as transport, accommodation, feeding and other logistics for the participating team which was endorsed to Council by Ministry of Information for consideration.

Accordingly, Council noted, considered and approved the release of the timed sum of N14,880,221.00 to facilitate the smooth conduct of the exercise.

5. OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY GOVERNOR Memorandum on Request for Funds for the Procurement of One (1) Toyota Hilux from the Ministry for Local Governments:The content of this memorandum is informing the Council on the enormous responsibilities attached to the Ministry which includes among other things the Inspection of administrative works, and public finances across the 44 Local Governments in the State, and that it lacks good/ serviceable vehicles that would cover the Local Government Areas of the State effectively.

It is based on this development that, the Ministry recommended for the provision of one (1) Toyota Hilux to Council for consideration.

Accordingly, Council noted, considered and approved for the release of the sum of N6,950,000.00 for the provision of one (1) Ford Ranger to the Ministry to cater the official engagement. b) Memorandum on Re – Negotiation of Bids for the Award of Contracts for the Supply and Installation of Digital Broadcast Equipment for Abubakar Rimi Television Corporation (ARTV) and Radio Kano AM/FM:This memorandum was earlier submitted by Ministry of Information to Council for consideration, while noting the importance of the memo, Council mandated His Excellency the Deputy Governor to re – negotiate the bid of the Contracts with the management of suppliers and report the findings to Council.

In this respect the Contract for the supply and installation of digital broadcast equipment for Radio Kano and ARTV digitalization project to meet the National Broadcasting Commission requirement is being reviewed in the sum of N294,262,500.00 and N494,833,500.00 respectively against the earlier quoted sum which is higher than the above.

Accordingly, looking into the significance of the project and in order to meet the minimum requirement of the NBC, Council considered and approved for the release of 50% of the requested sum for both Radio and ARTV Stations in the total sum of N394,548,000.00 for the execution of the projects.

7. HEAD OF SERVICE a) Information on Offer of Various Training Courses from Indian High Commission for Participation of the State Civil Service 2014/2015 (ITEC):The Office of the Head of Civil Service submitted an information memorandum to Council of an offer of various Training Courses from Indian High Commission under Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) 2014/2015 for participation of the State Civil Servants.

Council acknowledged the Information with delight. b) Request for Funds to Facilitate the Conduct of an Induction Training for 1000 Recruited Staff into the State Public Service under 1005:You may recall earlier directives and successful conduct of induction training for 3000 recruited staff into the State Civil Service under batches 1002, 1003 and 1004. Today, the Office of the Head of Civil Service submitted a request to Council to facilitate the induction training of another 1000 newly recruited public servants towards ensuring effective performance of their assigned responsibilities at the cost of N1,575,000.00 .

Council considered and approved as requested.

8. MINISTRY OF EDUCATION Memorandum on Request for Funds for the Provision of Students Uniforms, Cover Shoes, ECOWAS Travelling Certificates, Termly Medical Allowances and Logistic for Transportation in Respect of Students Admitted to Bilingual College Niamey and Girls Bilingual College Zinder Niger Republic:It could be recalled that, the present administration under the able leadership of Governor Engr. Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, FNSE has ventured into partnership with the Government of Niger Republic in the establishment of the two (2) Bilingual Colleges in Niamey and Zinder for the admission of equal number of Primary School Final Year of Niger Republic and Kano State under this agreement, each partner is to admit 100 students making a total of 200 enrolment every session.

It is therefore in line with the partnership agreement that on admission every student of the schools is to be provided with a set of free uniform and house wears and for boarding student 2 sets each along with a mattress.

It is against the foregoing development that, the Ministry of Education forwarded a recommendation in the sum of N11,980,000.00 to cater for the provision of School Uniforms, Cover Shoes, ECOWAS Travelling Certificates and other logistics to the Students.

Council noted, considered and approved as requested.

10. MINISTRY OF HEALTH Request for Funds for the Second Set of Five (5) Egyptian Tutors to Kano State:The Ministry of Health informed Council that the first (1st) set of Egyptian tutors have successfully completed their assignment and have since returned to their Country and that the second (2nd) set of five (5) Egyptian Tutors are preparing to come at anytime for continuation of the assignment.

To this end, the Ministry is requesting for the sum of $37,500 and N1,095,000.00 .

Accordingly, Council considered and approved as follows; i. Approved the sum of $37,500.00 as three (3) months salary for the five (5) persons. ii. Approved the sum of N1,095,000.00 for settlement of the allowances, fueling/service of generators and other miscellaneous commitment.

UPDATE ON ACTIVITIES OF THE 166TH EXCO SITTING 1. REPORT ON THE OUTCOME OF THE VISIT BY KANO STATE GOVERNMENT DELEGATION ON FACTORY ACCEPTANCE TESTS FOR ELECTRICAL AND MECHANICAL EQUIPMENT FOR TIGA AND CHALLAWA HYDRO ELECTRICITY PROJECTS You may recall the terms of agreement reached between Kano State Government and Messrs. Skipper Electricals of India in 2013. Today, Council noted with appreciation on the successful official working visit by the State delegation under the leadership of the Hon. Commissioner for Projects Monitoring to India from 26th of August to 2nd September, 2014 for the purpose of witnessing the Factory Acceptance Tests on some electrical and mechanical equipment manufactured by Messrs. Skipper for the newly established Tiga and Challawa Gorge Dams Hydro electricity projects which include; a) 2no. 7.5MBA Generator Transformers and 315KVA Service Station Transformers for Tiga Dam. b) 2no. 500KVA Station Service Transformers and 16/20MBA Generator Transformers for Challawa Gorge Dam. c) 630A, 33KV Isolators (Tiga Dam) and 800A, 33KV Isolators (Challawa Gorge Dam). d) Transformer and Generator Control Panel for Tiga and Challawa Gorge Dams. e) Turbine Components for the Tiga and Challawa Gorge Dams.

2. TAKE – OFF OF THE STATE PILGRIMS TO PERFOM THIS YEAR’S HAJJ OPERATION Council noted the successful take – off of the State intending Pilgrims on Tuesday night 09/09/2014 from the Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA) to Saudi Arabia to perform this year’s Hajj exercise 1435AH/2014 the Deputy Governor witness the take-off on behave of the Governor and wish them successful Hajj exercise.

3. KANO STATE MOTHERS ASSOCIATION Council witness a courtesy call to His Excellency the Governor by the newly established Kano State Mothers Forum and show their appreciation of the Government efforts towards the empowerment programme aimed at uplifting the socio-economic well being of women and youth in the State especially the sponsorship of their children to overseas to further their education. Based on their conviction that such concerns for the masses is what every Nigerian needs, they call on the Governor to present himself to contest for the presidency of this great Country Nigeria.

4. COURTESY CALL TO THE GOVERNOR BY THE NATIONAL YOUTH SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT Council witness a courtesy call to His Excellency the Governor by the National Solidarity for Kwankwaso as President of Nigeria 2015. The solidarity Movement came from 36 States of the Federation and FCT and urged the State Governor to contest for the Presidential post 2015.

5. COURTESY CALL TO THE GOVERNOR BY THE APC KWANKWASIYYA BAUCHI STATE CHAPTER Council witness a courtesy call to His Excellency the Governor by the APC Kwankwasiyya Bauchi State Chapter. During the visit, the Association express their support to the State Government for the developmental projects been executed in the State.

6. NIGERIA 7-7-4 ASSOCIATION Council witness a courtesy call by the Nigeria 7-7-4 Association. During the visit they express their support to the present administration and urged His Excellency the Governor to run fir the Presidential Post come 2015.

7. REPORT IN RESPECT OF PROJECTS EXECUTED FROM JANUARY 2014 – SEPTEMBER, 2014 BY THE STATE RURAL ELECTRICITY BOARD Council noted the successful completion of some Government committed projects towards development of the rural communities across the State as follows; a) Re-location of PHCN Facilities of Sheikh Jafar Road at Gwale LGA totaling the sum of N6,500,000.00 which has been completed. b) ITC Maintenance at Dawakin Tofa LGA totaling the sum of N5,093,634.00 and is completed. c) 500KVA Transformer at High Court Miller Road in Nassarawa LGA worth the sum of N8,541,617.00 works completed. d) Relocation/Replacement of PHCN poles from Hadejia.

8. REPORT ON KANO STATE GOVERNMENT AND BANK OF INDUSTRY MATCHING FUND Council noted the continued effort by the State Ministry of Commerce on processing interested cooperative societies applications to Bank of Industry.

Signed:

Hon. Commissioner, Ministry of Information, Internal Affairs, Youth, Sports & Culture

www.kn.gov.ng/new

46 news NATIONAL TAN Rules Out Sabotage In Podium Collapse At Minna Rally wants FG to release the

Monday, September 15, 2014

Sanusi’s Coronation ‘ll Still Hold – Kano Govt

The Transformation Agenda of Nigeria (TAN) yesterday ruled out sabotage in the collapse of its podium at last Saturday’s rally in Minna, Niger State, declaring instead that the rally was a “huge success.”

Addressing a press conference yesterday, its director of Communications, Udenta O Udenta, stated that three people sustained injuries, but they are poised to continue with the north east rally this weekend.

A podium where dignitaries at TAN rally were seated caved in on Saturday, resulting in pandemonium at the venue.

But Udenta, who said about 1.1million people signed the endorsement register for Jonathan at the rally, noted, “yesterday’s (Saturday) rally was a huge success. Only three people sustained minor injuries and the Niger State governor went to visit them at the hospital.”

By Chibuzo Ukaibe, Abuja

Kashim Imam Loses Mother Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, was further plunged into a mourning mood when former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s presidential liaison officer to the Senate, Alhaji Kashim Ibrahim Imam, buried his septuagenarian mother at the weekend.

Mrs Imam died at 78 in her GRA abode in Maiduguri, Borno State capital.

Borno state governor, Kashim Shettima, who led hundreds of mourners to attend the funeral rights, described the deceased as a worthy mother whose death, even at the advanced age of 78, would be a great loss to the people of the state.

Though the late Mrs Imam was buried on Wednesday, her 3-day post interment prayers that held at the weekend attracted mourners from within and outside the state.

By Abdulkareem Haruna, Maiduguri

NANS Endorse Jonathan, Olejeme For 2015 The leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has reiterated its support for President Goodluck Jonathan for next year’s presidential election.

The students, who on Friday made a vow to ensure Jonathan is voted again, said it is not yet time for other parties to occupy the presidential villa come 2015.

NANS, in a statement, vowed to make Jonathan president through the ballot box in 2015, saying “History will be repeated in 2015”.

The association also urged the leadership of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to field the chairperson of Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Dr. Ngozi Olejeme as the party’s candidate for the governorship election in Delta State.

By Bayo Oladeji, Abuja

Emir’s passport

By ABuBAkAr SAlihi, Kano

Kano State government has faulted media report that the emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi’s coronation has been stopped over security threat, describing the report as malicious and unfounded.

In an exclusive interview with LEADERSHIP, the special adviser to Governor Kwankwaso on Emirate Council and Chieftaincy Affairs, Alhaji Tijjani Mailafiya, who dou-

bles as the co-chairman of the coronation committee, said preparations are ongoing without hitches for the grand style coronation to take place.

According to him, an event like the emir’s coronation has not happened in the past 50 years and most of the citizens were not alive then, thus, it has to be well organised and the preparations have to be superb.

He also debunked the alleged report that deteriorating situation in the state is the reason for the postponement of the coronation, describing the media report

as a calculated attempt undermine the effort of the state government and security agents in the state.

Mailafiya categorical revealed that the state government had embarked on a construction of a theatre hall, reconstruction work of traditional houses and emirate palace offices worth over N500,000,0000 million.

Mailafiya explained that the committee of the coronation ceremony is still on course and comprises businessmen, top government officials, traditional title holders and well wishers of the emir.

Meanwhile, Kano State gov-

ernment has called on the federal government to instruct the Department of State Security (DSS), to release Emir Sanusi’s travelling passports they seized at Murtala Muhammad International Airport, Lagos and another at Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, when he was on his way to France.

The government argued that Sanusi reserves the right to continue to carry out his job as religious and traditional leader, hence he needs his passports to travel to countries.

Both Sanusi’s diplomatic travelling passports and his local passport are in the custody of DSS.

SHORT NEwS GTBank Takes Step To Check Ebola virus As the dreaded Ebola virus epidemic continues to loom around the globe, a financial institution, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, has heeded the call by minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu on banks and other financial houses in the country to put preventive measures to curb the spread of the disease.

Our correspondent l-r: retreat Chief Consultant, engr Abubakar Bichi, kano State Deputy Governor, Abdullahi umar Ganduje and Chairman, Garko in Delta went to some local Government Area, Arc hamza Said, receiving certificate of induction Course for newly-elected local government officials banks in Sapele meand their appointees in Abuja at the weekend. PHOTO BY ADEFEMI ADEWUYI. tropolis on Thursday to ascertain the level of compliance and reports that official of the new generation bank along Ajogodo expressway were seen wearing nose By eDeGBe oDemwinGie and additional PUs is to ensure that Ogene said, “The Committee on masks and hand ADeSuwA TSAn, Abuja no polling unit has more than 500 Electoral Matters will also intergloves while attendvoters. With the new polling units, face with various INEC and othing to customers.

The House of Representatives the country now has 150,000 vot- er stakeholders on electoral issues A top official of is set to probe the Independent ing centres. that came up, including the byethe institution, who National Electoral Commission Deputy chairman of the House elections held in some states. pleaded anonym(INEC)’s recent creation of addi- Committee on Media and Public “It will create an opportunity for ity, told our cortional 30,000 polling units (PUs) Affairs, Hon Victor Ogene, in a them to brief the House approprirespondent, “we are ahead of 2015 polls. reaction to the development, as- ately and for us to take informed avoiding a situation Stakeholders in the polity have sured that the House Committee decision on resumption”. whereby our customexpressed divergent views on the on Electoral Matters would interMeanwhile, the House has asers are exposed to development, depending on un- face with various aggrieved inter- sured of speedy consideration of health risk and also derstanding and where interest est groups with the view to avert some crucial pending legislation as the staff.” lies. crisis ahead of the forthcoming federal lawmakers resume Tuesday INEC insists that the creation of general elections.

By Kola Ekefrom their two-month long recess.

Ogiugo, Asaba

2015: Reps Resume, To Probe INEC’s Additional 30,000 Polling Units

TAN Rallies Indecent, Offend Sensibilities, Intelligence Of Nigerians, APC Insists

By GeorGe okojie, Lagos

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has insisted that the rallies being held across the country by the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) represent an assault on the intelligence and sensibilities of Nigerians at a time of unprecedented insecurity and health challenges in the country.

The party said in a statement issued by its national publicity secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in Lagos on Sunday that no amount of inversion of reasoning by the TAN foot soldiers can wash the rallies clean of shame and disgust.

It said only those described as ‘morons and sycophants’ by Prof.

Wole Soyinka can be engaging in celebratory rallies “when soldiers

are dying on the Boko Haram battle front, when citizens are daily being dispatched to their graves by insurgents and when the country is still reeling from the challenge of Ebola that has claimed many innocent lives”.

APC wondered “how the inauguration of its regional executives in Sokoto could be equated with the rallies being held across the coun-

try by TAN, which is another name for the PDP, which is another name for shame, incompetence, cluelessness, cruelty, insincerity and insensitivity”.

The party said if President Goodluck Jonathan had not been running a government hallmarked by impunity, “there is no way any political party would have brazenly kickstarted electioneering campaign.”

ISSUES 47

Monday, September 15, 2014

Ebola:Lessons For African Leaders

By James Ogunniyi

The Ebola saga has been with us for several weeks now and has been commented upon and written about by virtually all segments of the Nigerian society. The acknowledged “index case”, Patrick Sawyer, has been castigated, condemned and even described by some as a “mad man” for importing the virus into Nigeria. Unfortunately today we mourn the loss of some Nigerians who needlessly paid the supreme price as the fallout of the action of this well-publicised “index case”.

Incidentally in the midst of all of this, I am yet to hear anyone ask some of the more crucial questions.

Without meaning to speak ill of the dead, even if Patrick Sawyer intentionally or recklessly travelled to Nigeria to spread the disease, knowing fully well that he was infected, did we have to let in a “mad man” knocking on our door? It is common knowledge that the Ebola virus had been ravaging Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone for quite a while before Patrick Sawyer came to Nigeria. The question is what exactly did our health authorities do to prevent the virus from entering the country?

Why was Mr. Sawyer allowed to enter the country and taken all the way to Obalende when it was well known that he was coming from Liberia where he had been so ill he had to be helped out of the aircraft, and that he showed the classic symptoms of the Ebola disease.

I believe the obvious and sensible thing to do would have been to immediately quarantine him and send his body fluid sample for

Chukwu

testing while getting appropriately kitted medical staff to give him whatever management or treatment he required pending the outcome of the test; assuming of course that the relevant precautionary measures had been put in place and were being implemented before his

Where corruption, graft and ineptitude thrive, everyone pays, including the unborn generation, as it has been reported that the young nurse, Justina, who died from the Ebola disease was pregnant when she was infected by Patrick Sawyer.

One wonders when our people in

Why was Mr. Sawyer allowed to enter the country and taken all the way to Obalende when it was well known that he was coming from Liberia where he had been so ill he had to be helped out of the aircraft arrival.

Obviously, from the turn of events it is clear that no such precautions had been established in advance and our traditional “fire brigade” way of doing things was again on display, as a result of which we have suffered, and may still suffer, avoidable loss of lives.

authority will learn that you don’t wait until you are drenched by rain before running to find an umbrella.

The bottom line is that our problems in Africa are traceable, substantially, to the quality of leadership we continue to afflict ourselves with.

I have read several appeals directed at the USA to make the experimental

Ebola drugs and vaccines available for use in Africa. It may be justifiable to seek help in times of need but Ebola has been around since 1976; between then and now, what effort have we in Africa and particularly in the “ giant of Africa” made to develop an effective remedy for Ebola and other diseases that have continued to ravage this continent of immense resources.

Even if America gives us all the Zmapp we need to combat Ebola, I doubt if they can give us any drug or vaccine (experimental or otherwise) to cure the ailment that drove those hoodlums in Liberia to attack an active Ebola disease isolation centre and cart away blood-stained bedsheets and mattresses for use in their own homes.

How does one explain or understand such lunatic behaviour?

Is this not the same Africa that boasts of some of the most brilliant and scientifically sound minds in the world? The same Africa whose sons and daughters are, and have been, performing excellently in their various endeavours around the world? The same Africa that is blessed with an incredible array of natural resources? Yes,this is the same Africa whose leaders and politicians spend large amounts of stolen money on frivolities.

This is the same Africa where today, in the middle of the squalor, deprivation and poverty that surround us, your average politician will gladly pay 11 million Naira to his political party to purchase an application form in his bid to become a state governor rather than expend the money in directly improving the welfare of his people by providing

hospitals, schools, good water etc. If you ask him, he will probably argue that he wants to become governor so can empower himself to better help his people.

That argument does not hold water because being a governor is not necessarily a pre-requisite for helping the masses. Available evidence suggests that on the contrary, becoming a governor in this country can prove to be a counterproductive handicap that deepens the politician’s insensitivity to the plight of his people. This is illustrated in the recent case of a governor who, towards the end of his tenure, has put in place for himself and immediate family a retirement package running into several millions of Naira at the expense of the hapless taxpayers of his state, a state already impoverished by his unbriddled excesses while in office.

One would imagine that such significant sums of money could be better utilised in funding research aimed at combating Ebola, sickle cell disease, polio or any of the other ailments decimating the manpower we should rely on to power African development. This scenario typifies the track record and mindset of our politicians and public office holders entrusted with the management and utilisation of our collective resources.

When people say the Western world is far ahead of Africa in terms of development, civilisation etc., I disagree because I believe we both need to be moving in the same direction for one to be ahead of the other, but that is clearly not the case.

– Ogunniyi wrote in from Ibadan

Enugu: A New Spark Plug and Faulty Tokunbo Engine

By Okwudili edeh

Like the chicken impeachment itself, the recent swearing in of ex-deputy governor Sunday Onyebuchi’s successor did not go without a sad drama. Governor Sullivan Chime told the gathering: “Drawing the analogy of a broken down vehicle, we have just replaced a bad spark plug; the vehicle is repaired and the journey will be smooth again”.

This has expectedly set tongues wagging, with many insisting that it was a wrong analogy. An interesting reaction to the online edition of the story on Vanguard newspaper’s website by a reader who identified himself as Nnaji reads: “The problem with Chime and his government cannot be solved by only changing the plug of the vehicle. The vehicle is already grounded. What is required is to change the engine and the driver who is Chime himself. Changing the plug of a bad engine will not move the vehicle”.

My first take is that irrespective

of the crack in their relationship, it was an unbefitting of the governor and a wrong way to describe a deputy of seven years and three months. Those who understand the game of power would always advice that both in victory and defeat, it is always important to draw the line, to know when to stop.

In my humble estimation, this rule applies even more to Chime given that whatever temporary “victory” he enjoys over Onyebuchi is pyric in every sense of it. If he cares a hoot about public angst expressed against him, his House of Assembly, the kangaroo panel, and the state Chief Judge, he should have known that the chicken impeachment is a great toll on his individual reputation while also making Enugu appear like a Banana Republic. So, common sense demanded that he should at least have waited a bit for the fart stirred by the chicken impeachment to subside before dropping another Hiroshima-like missile on top of an already bad situation.

The analogy also contradicts

his popular statements during the launch of his second term bid in 2011 when he described his deputy as the most loyal, dedicated, and hardworking deputy. Again, during the media briefing on his return from over four months medical treatment overseas, Chime praised his deputy to high heavens. He said: “Everything kept on happening as if the governor was not on leave, nobody talked about strike, nobody talked about non payment of salaries, no contractor agitated over payment of fees, everything and life continued to be normal. It was like we had increased activities in my absence and I can say that I can beat my chest to thank the deputy governor who led the team and who ensured that the system worked in my absence.”

However, the bigger issue here is that the Enugu engine is a sick “tokumbo” grade. Grapevine has it that Chime’s estranged godfather, Chimaroke Nnamani sponsored his medical treatment for a heart problem to the tune of about N10 million while he was the

commissioner for Justice. It is on record that Chime slumped during the Armed Forces Remembrance Day at the Okpara Square, Enugu on 15th January 2008.

He collapsed again at Nsukka during the 2011 campaign.

In fact, a content analysis of Governor Sullivan’s programmes and activities since he became governor on May 29, 2007, by the Punch newspapers a few years ago showed that out of a possible 111 events, Governor Sullivan attended only 17 physically. The report stated that was represented at the rest. According to the report,

Those who understand the game of power would always advice that both in victory and defeat, it is always important to draw the line, to know when to stop

he was also always “very late” to those events he chose to attend in person.

However, the greatest anxiety over the governor’s state of health came during his many months sojourn overseas for cancer treatment. The lies by his kitchen cabinet and the commissioner for Information, Mr. Chuks Ugwoke that Chime was enjoying an ‘accumulated leave” did not help matters. The worst was when it was reported that he had died in an Indian hospital. Thank God it was untrue, but Enugu had never been that apprehensive.

The poor state of the Enugu engine is, in fact, one of the reasons many wonder why he is insistent on going to the Senate, rather than ease himself out of politics to nurse his health. For instance, while you can send aides to represent you as a governor, only you can speak for yourself and your constituents on the floor of the Senate.

–Edeh wrote in from Enugu

48

Monday, September 15, 2014

SCHOOLS, EDUCATION, & FAITH PLATFORM

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF

SPECIALISED CLASSIFIEDS PAGES THE FOUNTAIN OF LIVING LOVE CENTRE NIGERIA

LEGAL NOTICE

This is to inform the General Public that the above named CHURCH has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for Registration under Part ‘C’ of the Companies And Allied Matters Act, 1 of 1990.

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE OF THE FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY, ABUJA

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. Elder Namani Aboki 2. Pastor (Arc.) Alfred Nanle 3. Mrs. Tessy Olohigbe Ochiba 4. Mr. Sunday I. Odela 5. Bawan’-Allah E. Odela AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: 1. To bring to God humanities through love and care.

2. To saturate the earth with God’s tender love that is above all things and bring God’s people back to him (1Corthians 13:3, 1 John 4:7-8).

Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the Registrar General Corporate Affairs Commission, plot 420, Tigris crescent off Aguiyi Ironsi street, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days from this publication.

Signed: UCHE NWAGU 08037193888

THE HOLY GHOST DEVOTED CHURCH IN NIGERIA CAC IT/NO/2155

Whereas the person / persons whose name is set out in the first column hereunder died intestate on the date and place in the said column. And whereas the parson(s) whose name and address is set out in the second column hereunder claimed the relationship of the said deceased and has applied to the above named court for the grant letters of Administration of the personal property. Notice is hereby given that the said letters of Administration be granted to such person (s) unless “NOTICE TO PROHIBIT’’ the grant thereof is filed in the probate registry of the above named court within twenty one (21) days from the date of publication.

SCHEDULE DECEASED NAME AND ADDRESS ALHASSAN ALWANI

APPLICANTS FOR GRANT Aisha Alhassan and Yusuf Alhassan

College of Education Zuba Abuja WHO DIED ON THE 1st August, 2013.

PW Block 72 Flat B Kubwa Abuja

This is to inform the General Public that the above named CHURCH has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for alteration of constitution, appointment and additional of trustee and CTC of certificate under Part ‘C’ of the Companies And Allied Matters Act, 1 of 1990.

THE OLD TRUSTEES ARE: 1. Mr Itonyo York (Late) 2. Mr Emmanuel Miebi Ebifegha (Late) THE NEW TRUSTEES ARE: 1. Snr. Apostle Happy Suokeduba Ebifegha 2. Pastor Oginike Lante 3. Mr. Dinipre John Ebifegha 4. Uwoubeingha Sylvanus Ogouwari 5. Dagur Bitrus Lekmark 6. Malick Pamosai 7. Irigha Mathew Douglas AIMS AND OBJECTIVES REMAIN THE SAME

The daughter and son of the said deceased DATED AT ABUJA THIS 12th DAY OF SEPTEMBER, 2014

Any objection to this change should be forwarded to the Registrar General Corporate Affairs Commission, plot 420, Tigris crescent off Aguiyi Ironsi street, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days from this publication.

SIGNED BARR. HAFSAT SADIQ FOR: PROBATE REGISTRAR

Signed: SECRETARY

KEEP AFRICA SAFE INITIATIVE

MATURED MINDS ASSOCIATION OF KOLGA BAYELSA

LEGAL NOTICE

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

This is to inform the general public that the above named ASSOCIATION has applied for registration to Corporate Affairs Commission under Part C of the Companies And Allied Matters Act No.1 of 1990.

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE OF THE FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY, ABUJA

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. CHINEDU SAMSON ARONOTU 2. EMEKA AGBASI 3. TONY CHUBA AKUNNA 4. CAROL NGOZI ONYEMELUKWE 5. MARGARET OGONNA NWAGBO AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1. TO PROVIDE SAFETY AND SECURITY 2. TO PROVIDE SOCIOECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT FOR AFRICA. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR – GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420 TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION SIGNED: TRUSTEES

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. Mr. Hamlet Boloukuromo August 2. Chief Egeme Flinti John 3. Mr. Agada Alaibe 4. Chief Tony Binawari 5. Hon. Timi Tony Gbendo 6. Dr. Philip Kuro Ikiyei AIM AND OBJECTIVE 1. To promote uphold and sustain peace, unity and concord among members of the association in Bayelsa State.

2. To promote participatory democraacy in Bayelsa State, in the belief that sovereignty belongs to the people from whom government through the Nigeria constitution derives all its powers and authority.

Any Objection to the registration should be forwarded to Registrar-General, Corporate Affairs Commission, 420, Tigris Crescent, Off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, PMB198, Maitama, Abuja within 28th days from the date of publication.

Whereas the person / persons whose name is set out in the first column hereunder died intestate on the date and place in the said column. And whereas the parson(s) whose name and address is set out in the second column hereunder claimed the relationship of the said deceased and has applied to the above named court for the grant letters of Administration of the personal property. Notice is hereby given that the said letters of Administration be granted to such person (s) unless “NOTICE TO PROHIBIT’’ the grant thereof is filed in the probate registry of the above named court within twenty one (21) days from the date of publication.

SCHEDULE DECEASED NAME AND ADDRESS MR OBOCHI MATHIAS Gilmor Engineering Nig Ltd Abuja WHO DIED ON THE 10TH February, 2012.

APPLICANTS FOR GRANT Anthony Obochi guardian to Emmanuel Obochi and Victoria Obochi Olaidede Otukpa Ogbadibo LGA Benue state The brother, son and daughter of the said deceased.

DATED AT ABUJA THIS 12th DAY OF SEPTEMBER, 2014 SIGNED BARR. HAFSAT SADIQ FOR: PROBATE REGISTRAR

Signed: SECRETARY

CHRIST KINGDOM HOLINESS MISSION

LEGAL NOTICE

IHITENANSA SECONDARY SCHOOL OLD STUDENTS ASSOCIATION

THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED CHURCH HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, ABUJA FOR THEREGISTRATION UNDER PART “C” OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990.

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE OF THE FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY, ABUJA

This is to inform the General Public that the above named ASSOCIATION has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for Registration under Part ‘C’ of the Companies And Allied Matters Act, 1 of 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: MRS PRECIOUS JOSEPH MRS JACENTA IGWE BRO. ABEL IGWE PASTOR JOSEPH ANIOBIEGBO AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: TO PREACH AGAINST SIN TO PREACH ABOUT THE KINGDOM OF GOD, PREPARE PEOPLE FOR THE SECOND COMING OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST AND HEAVEN AT LAST TO MINISTER PRAYER AND EVANGELISM. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL. CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUYI IRONSI STREET. PMB 198, MATIAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28TH DAYS FROM THE DATE OF PUBLICATION

Whereas the person / persons whose name is set out in the first column hereunder died intestate on the date and place in the said column. And whereas the parson(s) whose name and address is set out in the second column hereunder claimed the relationship of the said deceased and has applied to the above named court for the grant letters of Administration of the personal property. Notice is hereby given that the said letters of Administration be granted to such person (s) unless “NOTICE TO PROHIBIT’’ the grant thereof is filed in the probate registry of the above named court within twenty one (21) days from the date of publication.

SCHEDULE DECEASED NAME AND ADDRESS OLOSHO ISIAKA SHITTU Oluwafemi Zion Olosho WHO DIED ON THE 23rd December, 2008.

The widow and son of the said deceased.

SIGNED BARR. HAFSAT SADIQ FOR: PROBATE REGISTRAR

sAFIYYA

sAFIYYA

I was formally known as SAFIYYA SULAIMAN and now wish to be called as MRS. SAFIYYA HAFIZ SULAIMAN. All the documents remain valid. NYSC and general public should take note.

I formerly known and addressed as SAFIYYA SULAIMAN now wish to be known and addressed as MRS SAFIYYA HAFIZ SULAIMAN. All former documents remain the same.

NYSC and the general public should take note.

ADEBAYO

ONUCHUKwU

I formerly known and called ISAAC ADISA MOJISOLA OLUWATOYIN now wish to be known and called ADEBAYO MOJISOLA OLUWATOYIN. All former documents remain valid. General public to take note.

I formerly known and called AMAECHI CHINENYE IMMACULATE now wish to be known and called MRS ONUCHUKWU CHINENYE IMMACULATE. All former documents remain valid. General public to take note.

OLUwAYEMIsI

OFFIONGANwAN

I formerly known and called MRS OLUWAYEMISI ADUNOLA ABUCHIIFEZUE now wish to be known and called MS OLUWAYEMISI ADUNOLA FAYANJU. All former documents remain valid. General public to take note.

I formerly known and called MISS OFFIONGANWAN OFFIONG AKPANIKA now wish to be known and called MRS OFFIONGANWAN JACINTA. All former documents remain valid. General public to take note.

> HENRY UBIMAGO 08068640944

> AUGUstINE 08032325988

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: 1. To serve as a forum where old students of Ihitenansa Secondary School shall be meeting periodically.

2. To promote the spirit of fraternity, love, unity, co-operation and understanding among members.

3. To maintain and instill the principles of honesty and serve imbued in members during their school days.

Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the Registrar General Corporate Affairs Commission, plot 420, Tigris crescent off Aguiyi Ironsi street, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days from this publication.

DATED AT ABUJA THIS 12th DAY OF SEPTEMBER, 2014

SIGNED: G.E. PHILIP

For booking or inquiry call

APPLICANTS FOR GRANT Kehinde Lydia Olosho and Oluwafemi Zion Olosho RCCG Covent Zone No 16 Redemption Crescent

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. Mr. Nwamarabia Ignatius Chukwukadibia 2. Mr. Anyadimaju Boniface 3. Mr. Ukachu Christopher 4. Chief Obiakor Samuel Chinonye 5. Mrs. Nwamarabia Bibiana Chinelo 6. Barrister Anayo Fidelis Akonobi

Signed: ANAYO AKONOBI’S CHAMBERS (LEGAL PRACTITIONERS) 08034433418

OLUSO - AGUNTAN RERE MINISTRY

SOCIETY FOR COMMUNITY ADVANCEMENT & SOCIAL-ECONOMIC FULFILMENT

The general public is hereby informed that the above named MINISTRY has applied to the corporate affairs commission for registration under part “C” of the companies and allied matters act 1 of 1990.

The general public is hereby informed that the above named Society has applied to the corporate affairs commission for registration under part “C” of the companies and allied matters act 1 of 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. Prof. SOFOWORA ABAYOMI 2. Mrs. SOFOWORA OLUWAJEMITE 3. Mr. SOFOWORA KANYINSOLA

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. OYEWOLE OYEBANJI OLANIRAN 2. JOHN LYDIA 3. OLADUNNI LAWRENCE OYEWOLE 4. OYEWOLE JANET AYANPONLE

-Chairman

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

2. To build strong families/individuals and meeting the needs of God’s people through the preaching of the word of God. Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the registrargeneral, corporate affairs commission, plot 420 Tigris crescent, off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Garki, Abuja within 28 days of this publication.

SIGNED: SECRETARY (08033324859)

> GLORIA OKwUM 08038722368

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49

Monday, September 15, 2014

world

news ➊ ➋

➌

➐ ➏

➍➎

➎ Pope Marries 20 Cohabiting Couples In Sign Of Papacy Shift

Pope Francis has presided over the marriage of 20 couples at the Vatican, including some who were cohabiting, one of them with a child.

Pope Francis had asked to

marry 40 people from different social backgrounds who represented modern couples.

It was the first papal marriage ceremony of its kind in 14 years.

➏ N/Korea Jails US

A North Korean court has sentenced an American man to six years of hard labour for “hostile acts”, the state-run KCNA news agency has said.

Matthew Miller was arrested

in April, shortly after arriving as a tourist.

The US accuses North Korea of using Mr Miller and two other detained Americans as pawns in a diplomatic game.

A court in Pakistan has ordered 100 opposition activists to be sent to jail for staging illegal protests and committing several other violations, causing chaos and anger among activists.

A crowd of demonstrators

gathered outside a court in Islamabad on Saturday to protest against the court’s decision.

Recent protests have been headed by Imran Khan, a former cricket star and Tahir ul-Qadri who is a firebrand cleric.

➊ Cameron Vows To ➋ Algeria’s Al-

‘Hunt Down’ Haines Killers

Qaeda Defectors Join IS Group

Prime Minister David Cameron has vowed to hunt down and bring to justice the Islamic State fighters responsible for the killing of a British aid worker.

Cameron’s comments on Sunday came after an emergency meeting with his top security advisers in response to an online video that purports to show the beheading of David Haines who was abducted while working in Syria.

A new armed group calling itself the ‘Soldiers of the Caliphate in Algeria’ has split from al-Qaeda’s North African branch and sworn loyalty to the group calling itself the Islamic State (IS), fighting in Syria and Iraq.

In a communique, a regional commander of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb said he broke away from the group, accusing it of “deviating from the true path.”

BY THE NUMBERS

Man For 6 Years

10-16% of the population worldwide is affected by Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD)

American adults have some level of CKD

➌ Cameron Vows To ➍ Egypt Hunger Strikes ‘Hunt Down’ Haines Killers Gain Momentum Prime Minister David Cameron has vowed to hunt down and bring to justice the Islamic State fighters responsible for the killing of a British aid worker.

Cameron’s comments came after an emergency meeting with his top security advisers in response to an online video that showed the beheading of Haines who was abducted while working in Syria.

Egypt has been hit with a growing movement of hunger strikers calling for the release of detainees jailed under a controversial Protest Law. Several political parties and journalists began a symbolic nationwide hunger strike on Saturday to demand the release of detainees held for violating a law enacted last year.

➐ Pakistani Court

Sends 100 Activists To Jail

News north-central 49

Monday, September 15, 2014

ActionAid Translates Ebola Preventive Hints Into Igala, Pidgin

By Sam Egwu, Lokoja

The ActionAid Nigeria in collaboration with Kogi-based Participation Initiative for Behavioural Change in Development (PIBCID) has translated Ebola virus awareness and preventive messages into Igala language and Pidgin English.

The non-governmental organisations (NGOs) said the translated messages published in leaflets were meant for distribution to people at the grassroots to ensure awareness in view of the vulnerability of rural communities.

Mr Victor Adejoh, programme manager of ActionAid and executive director, PIBCID disclosed this while distributing the leaflets to community representatives from Igalamela/Odolu and Adavi local government areas of Kogi State in Lokoja.

Adejoh said the awareness campaign on the Ebola virus was so far concentrated in the urban areas, noting that the rural areas were

SHORT NEWS Opposition Parties In Limbo In Kogi – Ocholi All Progressives Congress (APC) national deputy legal adviser, James Ocholi, SAN, has alleged that all opposition parties in Kogi State, especially the APC are in limbo due to the over-bearing influence of the former governor of the state, Prince Abubakar Audu.

Speaking to newsmen in Idah, Kogi State over the weekend, he pointed out that despite non-performance by Governor Idris Wada, the APC has failed to re-strategise to seize power from him in 2016.

By Sam Egwu,, Lokoja

more vulnerable and at higher risks should the deadly infection find its way into any of the communities.

He called for concerted awareness campaign especially among the rural communities to curtail spread of the disease.

The leaflets, according to him, contain information on the symptoms of the disease at its initial and advanced stages as well as hints on personal hygiene, environmental cleanliness and avoidance of infected persons and corpses.

The programme manager said that the leaflets also advised the communities against bodily contact with infected persons, body fluids like blood, saliva, sweat and consumption of bush meat especially monkeys and bats.

“We distribute these leaflets in Igala language and pidgin to further reach out to those at the grassroots and relay the message of prevention to ensure that citizens of Kogi key into the preventive measures.

N750m Loan: Kogi Women Farmers Condemn Activities Of Political Farmers The Kogi State Women In Agriculture (KOWIN) has raised the alarm over a grand plot to prevent its members from benefiting from the N750million agric loan recently initiated by the government.

The chairman of KOWIN, Mrs Esther Audu who spoke to LEADERSHIP in Lokoja yesterday said that those behind the plot had resorted to writing anonymous petitions to tarnish the image of the state government and the agricultural transformation programme.

She stated that KOWIN and its over 6,000 members spread across the 21 local government areas of the state had no hand in the petition.

“We are begging politicians not to use farmers to play politics. Political positions will come and go, farming will remain. We don’t know how to play politics, what we know is how to put food on the table of the people,” Audu said.

By Sam Egwu, Lokoja

SHORT NEWS

2015: Nasarawa PDP To Produce Consensus Guber Candidate Nasarawa State chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Yunana K. Iliya has assured that the party is working round the clock to ensure that it produces a consensus candidate ahead of the party primaries preparatory to the 2015 general elections.

Chief Iliya, who gave this assurance at the weekend in Akwanga during the party’s stakeholders’ meeting, appealed to all governorship aspirants on the platform of the party to dialogue and adopt a consensus candidate.

By Donatus Nadi, Lafia

l-R: chairman, Standards organisation of Nigeria (SoN) Task Force, Prof christopher okoro, an assistant director at the department of Transport, mr Ehsan Benjamin, and corps marshal, Federal Road Safety commission (FRSc), mr Boboye oyeyemi, during a presentation at a stakeholders’ forum in abuja at the weekend. PHOTO BY ADEFEMI ADEWUYI.

Victims Of TAN Minna Rally Pavilion Crash May Be Flown Abroad By aBu Nmodu, Minna

Some injured victims of the collapsed pavilion at the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) rally held in Minna on Saturday may be flown abroad even as the governor of Niger State, Dr Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu has debunked some newspaper reports that his wife was injured during the incident.

Meanwhile, the Niger State All Progressives Congress (APC) has

said that the collapse of the pavilion was the product of the corruption that has been the trademark of the Peoples Democratic party (PDP) and by extension the TAN. LEADERSHIP gathered that some of the victims sustained backbone and spinal cord related injuries that may require medical attention abroad, but no life has so far been lost.

After the incident on Saturday, some of those with serious inju-

ries were transferred from Minna General Hospital to IBB Specialist Hospital and were later moved to Abuja for comprehensive medical attention on the orders of the Niger State governor, Dr Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu.

It has been confirmed that the secretary of Campaign for Democracy (CD) in Niger State, Comrade Mohammed Abdullahi Jabi who was among the injured victims has been transferred to an Indian Hospital in Abuja.

Women Should Be In Forefront For Change In Nigerian Politics – Gov Aliyu

By aBu Nmodu, Minna

The governor of Niger State, Dr Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu has said that women in Nigeria have the capacity to make a difference in the politics of the country because they are reliable in terms of commitment.

In view of their strategic numerical strength, he said they should play more active roles in politics to enable them chart a positive course for the nation.

Aliyu, who made the call in Minna at the weekend, when he received the leadership of the Women for Change Initiative, a

pet project of the first lady of the country, Dame Patience Jonathan, led by the national coordinator of the programme, Princess Rabi Ibrahim, urged women to always work for peace.

The governor said women have the potential to make a difference in the politics of the nation if they are united, adding “Women are the most reliable in terms of commitment; whatever they do, they do it well”.

He said as the elections slated for 2015 draw nearer, women all over the country should be in the forefront of the vanguard to mobilise Nigerians to vote for the

ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which has shown penchant for the transformation and empowerment of Nigerian women.

According to him, women must strive towards keeping the peace because in situations of crises and confusion, they are always at the receiving end.

“You must always encourage and keep the peace because you suffer when there is no peace.”

While expressing support for the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan, he added that Nigeria needs a standard to be put in place for the nation’s transformation programme.

Mismanagement Killing Kogi State University – Labour Unions By michaEl ochE, Abuja

Three labour unions in the university system, the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT), Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), under the umbrella of Joint Action Committee (JAC), have blamed the decline of academic standard in Kogi State

University on the poor management of the university led by the vice chancellor, Prof Hassan Isah.

The unions, during a protest to the palace of the traditional ruler of Anyigba, HRH, Alhaji Abu Shuibu Okolo, where they submitted a protest letter for onward delivery to the state governor, Capt. Idris Wada, explained that poor management has led to the exodus of quality hands from the institution.

Chairman of JAC, Comrade Moses Babatunde who handed the letter to the royal father lamented that the agitation for the implementation of the 2009 agreement has affected industrial harmony in the university.

He said the situation has led to a serious drop in academic quality at the university, leading to its drastic fall to number 111 out of the 112 universities in the country.

50 WORLD NEWS

Monday, September 15, 2014

World Waits For White Smoke From US Fed

Some of the affected people in Liberia taking delivery of food aid that has been delivered to them.

Ebola outbrEak: Liberia ‘Sacks Absentee Officials’

yellen

The US Federal Reserve may give clearer hints on when it will hike the cost of borrowing in the United States in the coming week, as struggling Europe braces for a tight vote in Scotland on whether to leave the United Kingdom.

As the U.S. economy picks up pace, its central bank is inching closer to raising interest rates, a move that will send ripples across the globe. In the euro zone, however, the European Central Bank is moving in the opposite direction in a desperate bid to rekindle growth and inflation.

The United States is shaking off the hangover from a financial crisis that hammered Europe and even knocked mighty China off its stride.

But the US rebound, thanks in large part to cheap Fed money, now means Federal Reserve Chair

Janet Yellen will have to decide when to pare back this support.

Further hints as to when the first U.S. rate hike in more than eight years will happen could come on Wednesday in a statement after the bank’s governors meet.

“It does seem like a done deal that it is going to increase interest rates,” said Paul Dales of economics consultancy Capital Economics.

“We are going into a new phase where the Fed is trying to bring things back to normal. It can send reverberations around the world economy.”

Choosing when to increase the cost of borrowing in the world’s biggest economy - a move expected next year - is a delicate balancing act.

Yellen and others will be trying

to work out how to keep the economic recovery on a steady keel without stopping it before the effects of the upswing lead to higher wages.

By contrast, the European Central Bank recently cut the cost of borrowing to near zero and pledged to buy repackaged debt in a bid to kick-start lending to small companies.

For some, the eventual move in Washington will be good news for Europe.

“This will help to weaken the euro and a weaker euro will help countries like Ireland, Portugal and Spain to sell more to the rest of the world,” said Philip Lane, an economist at Trinity College Dublin.

But for others, the contrast underscores Europe’s weakness.

“America is so much further

Samsung Accuses LG Of Damaging Its Washing Machines A bizarre spat has broken out between South Korean manufacturing giants Samsung and LG, with Samsung accusing its rival of damaging its goods.

Samsung says employees of LG Electronics, one a senior executive, were seen deliberately destroying some washing machines in stores in Germany.

Samsung says the vandalism took place earlier this month ahead of a major electronics trade fair in Berlin.

LG accepts two machines were damaged but said it was done accidentally.

It said the damage occurred because the model’s hinges were weak.

LG said its executives had been examining its rivals’ goods and it had offered to pay for four machines at one store, although only two were damaged by them during

the inspection.

German police have already questioned those involved.

Samsung said in a statement: “It is very unfortunate that Samsung had to request that a high-ranking executive be investigated by the nation’s legal authorities, but this was inevitable, as we concluded that we had to get to the bottom of this incident.”

It has asked prosecutors in Seoul to investigate.

An LG spokeswoman told Reuters that Jo Seong-jin, head of the company’s home appliances division, was one of the people named in Samsung’s investigation request.

LG said in a statement: “If our company had an intention to destroy products of a certain company to tarnish the image of the product, it would be common sense to not have our executives directly carry out such acts.

By UgochUkwU Iroka, With Agency Report

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has sacked 10 government officials who have been “out of the country without an excuse,” amid a national Ebola crisis.

She said the officials had shown “insensitivity to our national tragedy and disregard for authority”.

The 10 were given a one-week ultimatum more than a month ago to return home.

Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea are the worst-hit countries in an outbreak that has killed more than 2,400.

More than half of those killed by the Ebola virus have been in Liberia.

The 10 officials include two com-

missioners, six assistant ministers and two deputy ministers at the justice ministry, Wheatonia DixonBarns and Victoria Sherman-Lang.

A press release issued from the presidency on Saturday reported that the officials had been fired “with immediate effect”.

Eight junior officials have also been warned to return to the country, and will not be paid until they do.

“Junior officials will forfeit all compensation until they return home to join in the fight against the Ebola virus disease,” the presidency said.

One is Christine Tolbert-Norman, the eldest daughter of the late former President William Tolbert who was killed in a coup in 1980.

Gaza Children Back To School After 50-day War At least half a million children returned to their schools in the Gaza strip on Sunday, where many will be given special attention and pyschological counselling before their regular classes begin.

This initiative aims to help children deal with the traumas the war has inflicted on them.

There have been several weeks of delay due to the damage of more than 250 schools and the use of about 90 UN educational facilities as shelters for tens of thousands of internally displaced Palestinians, the United Nations and local authorities said.

“The top priority now is making sure that after a period of psychosocial support, including the use of theatre for development techniques, our students can return to their regular curricula,” said Pierre Krähenbühl, head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which runs more than 200 Gaza schools.

He also said that UNRWA has employed over 200 counsellors who will work with as much as 240,000 students in its schools.

UNRWA said some 64,000 refugees are still being housed in 20 Gaza schools.

IS Arab States Offer To Help With Air Strikes Several Arab countries have offered to take part in air strikes against Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq, US officials say.

But any action is subject to approval from the Iraqi government, they add.

US Secretary of State John Kerry says he is “extremely encouraged” by promises of military assistance to tackle the extremist group.

He spoke in Paris after a whirlwind tour of the Middle East trying to drum up support for action against IS.

France is due to host an international conference today about Iraqi security and tackling IS. On Saturday, the militant group released a video showing the beheading of UK hostage and aid worker David Haines. The group has threatened to kill a second Briton, Alan Henning, who also appeared in the video.

Earlier, Australia announced it was sending 600 troops to the region ahead of possible combat operations against IS militants in Iraq.

—BBC

AnAlysis 51

Monday, September 15, 2014

Justice Eludes Indian Rape Victims

A

young Muslim woman is waiting for the police to arrest the four Hindu men she has accused of raping her on September 8 last year in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

The 25-year-old - whose name cannot be mentioned under Indian law - told Al Jazeera she was cooking when her alleged attackers, Hindus of the Jat caste, barged into her house in the village of Fugana and gang-raped her.

“I will carry this shame for all my life, but not one of them is in jail,” she said.

Six other Muslim women are also waiting for police to make arrests in their cases of gang-rape committed during the religious riots between the Jat community and Muslims in Shamli and Muzaffarnagar districts in western Uttar Pradesh.

The deadly violence claimed the lives of more than 50 people and displaced more than 50,000.

Mala Yadav, the investigating officer, said 22 out of 25 accused men in six rape cases have absconded. Yadav told Al Jazeera she had closed one case because the complainant was lying to take advantage of the Rs 500,000 ($8,300) compensation for rape victims.

However, Vrinda Grover, lawyer for the seven victims, said she had challenged the closure of the case because the woman felt compelled to change her story after her son’s safety was threatened.

Yadav said an award of 2,500 rupees ($41) had been offered for information about the accused who have disappeared and the police had seized their property. “They are not in the village,” she said. “We are checking routinely at their homes, but they have disappeared.”

While gazing at the vast sugarcane fields around her new home, one Muslim woman from Fugana said she was tired of narrating her “rape story” to the media

Running away?

Two days of violence on September 7 and 8 last year shattered generations of peaceful coexistence between Hindus and Muslims in this sugarcaneabundant region.

Villagers said they clashed over reports that a Muslim boy attempting to seduce a Jat girl.

While they admitted to occasionally feuding with each other, people on both sides blamed local politicians for stoking the violence, and the state government for failing to prevent it.

In an interview in Fugana village, Pushpendar Singh, 41, who is accused of rape, told Al Jazeera he had been hiding at home for the past year. “Running away doesn’t help. Will the police in Delhi not catch us? If we go abroad then the Interpol will be after us,” he said.

“Our village is the safest place.”

The police said in August that 800 men accused for riot-related crimes have fled.

Many women found shelter in homes of other Muslims in a neighbouring village

“Unless the police is not being allowed to do its job, I cannot imagine why these arrests are not being made,” Prakash Singh, who served as the top police official in Uttar Pradesh, told Al Jazeera. “The political pressure on the police in UP is especially stark, brazen and blatant.”

Political analysts say the failure to ensure arrests by the Samajwadi Party-led state government was linked to the religiously polarising politics being played out in India’s most populous state.

Ashutosh Misra, an analyst based in the state capital, Lucknow, said the ruling party could not risk alienating the Hindu majority by arresting Jats, especially after losing the majority of parliamentary seats in national elections in May. “The minority is precious but not at the cost of a majority backlash and consolidation against you,” he said. “They want to sit pretty until time heals the wounds.”

Misra also described the police raids as “furnishing a formality”.

Villagers of Fugana, who are keeping a constant vigil on police movements, said they have used gunfire and thrown stones to prevent authorities from entering.

“We have enough guns,” said Singh.

“I would rather get shot than go to jail.”

Alluding capture Rajinder Singh said his 23-yearold son, who is accused of rape, recently injured his back after jumping off a roof to escape a police raid. “We had to be very careful to avoid getting caught when taking him to the hospital,” he said. “He is innocent. He was studying for the police service, but now his future is over because he can’t leave the

village.”

Meanwhile, a 24-year-old woman, who was allegedly raped by three men in Fugana, said her husband had been asked by the Jat community to reach a compromise, which involves dropping her complaint in exchange for money.

“I don’t want money. I want them to be hanged,” she said.

Charges of inciting violence were brought against several politicians, including Sanjeev Baliyan of the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party.

Baliyan won a parliamentary seat from the religiously polarised constituency of Muzaffarnagar six months after the riots, as many Jat-dominated villages voted for the Hindu nationalist party for the first time. He is currently minister for agriculture in the federal government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In a judgment in March, the Supreme Court directed the arrest of all persons in the rape cases “within a time-bound manner”.

Grover, the lawyer, said she planned to file a contempt petition, since the police had failed to carry out the court order.

“If the police cannot make arrests in these cases, then why should other women think of coming forward to file complaints,” she said.

Fear and anger One year after the religious violence, the countryside of western Uttar Pradesh is still rife with fear and anger. The starkest consequence of the riots is the physical separation of Hindus, who are left in the villages, and the Muslims, who have flocked to new settlements.

It has also been a year of wandering for the rape victims, who fled their homes. While many displaced Muslims spent the winter

under plastic tents in relief camps, these women found shelter in the homes of other Muslims in a neighbouring village.

Four-months ago, three victims moved to a vacant plot of land in Shamli district, surrounded by sugarcane fields. “It is nice to finally have our own place, but this area gets scary after sunset,” said one woman.

“We are facing intimidation to drop the rape charges so I feel afraid that they could come through the fields to attack us.”

Independent probe While admitting to other crimes during the riots, the Jats of Fugana remain adamant that not a single rape was perpetrated in their village. Pushpendar Singh said he wanted an independent probe to be conducted by federal investigators, as well as DNA testing and a lie detector test.

“This should happen before the arrests because we could languish in jail for years before even getting a hearing,” he said.

Singh said the hopes of the accused men in Fugana for a political intervention were fading.

“We had confidence in Modi.

We voted for Sanjeev Baliyan because we believed that they would help us out of these charges,” he said. “But politicians forget you when their work gets done.”

Grover said ensuring a fair trial for Muslim women did not score points for any political party in India. “There is no political will.

Justice is rhetoric for the state government,” she said.

While gazing at the vast sugarcane fields around her new home, one Muslim woman from Fugana said she was tired of narrating her “rape story” to the media.

—Al Jazeera

52 AnAlysis

Monday, September 15, 22014

B

As the majority of rap cannot be legally produced in Iran, rappers also run the risk of fines and even jail

laring from car windows and thumping at private parties, Iranian rap or Rap-e Farsi is ubiquitous in Iran today, rapidly growing to become one of the most popular music genres among youth in a country where over 60 percent of the population is under the age of 30.

“It is a powerful scene and very popular with youth,” Iran’s first female rapper, Salome MC, told Al Jazeera. “To bring daily life, street life, issues of urban life into music is new.”

Iranian rap was born in the early 2000s in Tehran, led by rapper Soroush Lashkary, known by his performing name of Hichkas.

Dubbed the godfather of Iranian rap, Hichkas uses traditional Iranian instruments and urban beats to create a hybrid genre, a combination of east and west.

Unlike many of his counterparts, Hichkas avoids swearing and rapping about violence, drugs and women. “The rap here is very different, it’s about something real,” he told the Daily Show in 2009.

Instead, Hichkas’ music tackles social and moral issues such as drug addiction, depression, poverty and youth unemployment. “We feel we shouldn’t have bad influences on people,” he said.

According to rapper Salome MC, she has not faced overt challenges as a woman, but decided to keep her identity as a rapper secret and separate from her daily life. “For a long time, I did not face any challenges that my male counterparts didn’t. I probably would have if I was more open about it in my daily life, but instinctively I lived a double life,” she said.

While she raps about “life, death and everything in-between”, some of her music has taken a distinctly political character. “I haven’t seen the revolution, but my rap is revolutionary. My pen is my weapon and I’ve got a burial shroud in my backpack,” she raps in the song Drunk Shah, Drunk Elder, where she compares Iran’s ruling clerical class with the Shah’s autocratic government prior to the Iranian Revolution.

“The motivation is just to write about something that I feel strongly about. Something affects me and I start to form opinions about it, and I sit and write,” Salome, who now lives in China, said.

Iranian rap emerged hand-inhand with the country’s vibrant underground music scene. For musicians in Iran to legally produce and perform music, they are required to obtain official approval from the Ministry of Culture and Guidance after an evaluation of the music against the values of the Islamic Republic.

But rather than negotiate the rigmarole of the approval system, many musicians bypass it altogether by recording music in their homes or private studios, and

Iran’s first female rapper, Salome MC.

Inside Iran’s ‘Revolutionary’ Rap Industry uploading it directly to the internet.

Until the underground music scene emerged, the postrevolutionary Iranian music industry was inundated with musicians from the Iranian diaspora who produced music that many young Iranians said they could no longer relate to. Rap rose to popularity by providing a muchneeded space for expression among the country’s youth.

“Finally there was music that was talking directly to the people with their own slangs about their private and public issues without considering government laws or social unwritten rules. It was the voice of the unheard,” Mahdyar Aghajani, a hip-hop producer and composer, told Al Jazeera.

“It was the first time that Iranians, especially the young ones, could relate to something that easily and deeply,” Aghajani said.

Aghajani, now also residing outside Iran, said he faced difficulties producing music inside the country after producing albums with Hichkas and other underground artists, and composing soundtracks for foreign films.

In May this year, Iran’s laws on the production of music and film were brought to light after the dancers involved in a tribute video of the popular song ‘Happy’ were arrested.

As the majority of rap cannot be legally produced in Iran, rappers also run the risk of fines and even jail. In 2006, after the release of his first album Jangale Asfalt (Asphalt Jungle), Hichkas was arrested and accused of releasing music without

permission. He was later released, but encountered difficulties with local authorities, and is now residing outside of Iran.

Despite these challenges, by the mid-2000s, Iranian rap had entered into the mainstream music scene and spread across the Iranian diaspora with the help of the technology.

Mehrak Golestan, also known as Reveal Poison, is an Iranianborn, London-based hip-hop artist and ethnomusicologist. He said higher internet speed, social media and music sharing websites enabled the scene to take on a truly international character.

In a TEDx presentation, Golestan said that Iranian hip-hop has developed into a “transnational community” where Iranian artists from both inside and outside Iran connect and have the ability to sidestep government censors. “This whole dialogue is taking place on a stage that isn’t governed by anyone,” he said.

Hamid Naficy, a professor of radio-television-film and communications at Northwestern University in the US, said that while the original impetus of rap came from the West, Iranians have adapted it to make it their own. “Iranians, having been at the intersection of East and West, have become very good to adapting and assimilating cultures,” Naficy told Al Jazeera.

He explained that the emergence of Iranian rap was not an isolated occurrence, but rather part of a general trend in music, film and media that reflected the political

climate under Iran’s former President Mohammed Khatami, who was in power from 1997 to 2005. “During Khatami’s time, the cultural climate in Iran became more open in all fields, whether film, media, music or fashion. The general tolerance for these sorts of things increased markedly,” Naficy said.

Naficy, also the author of A Social History of Iranian Cinema, said that in the early days of Iranian rap, “the musicians had a hard time to circulate their products.

But because of internet, they were able to distribute their music more easily”.

Emerging at the same time as Hichkas was Zedbazi, a five person hip-hop group that rapidly garnered vast popularity for its controversial lyrics, littered with profanities, depictions of sexual encounters and drug use, and delving into Tehran’s forbidden youth culture.

Alireza Jazayeri, currently based in France, is a band member, composer and producer for Zedbazi. “Our group was the first group to use strong language about sex, drugs and girls,” he told Al Jazeera. “Before there was none of that, even before the revolution, there was none of that in any art.”

According to Jazayeri, the popularity of rap can also be attributed to the rhythmic qualities of Farsi, a language intertwined with Iran’s long tradition of poetry and literature. “Iranian culture is very much about poetry, people recite poetry every day. Rap is very much like poetry,” Jazayeri said.

— Al Jazeera

53

Monday, September 15, 2014

Martins Nets 13th MLS Goal

Nigerian international, Obafemi Martins got his side’s second goal in a late 3-2 comeback home win against Real Salt Lake last weekend. The Nigeria striker scored his 13th goal in his 23rd Major League Soccer game on Friday night as Seattle Sounders recorded an impressive 3-2 win against visiting Real Salt Lake at the CenturyLink Field.

Martins’s 43rd minute strike made it five goals and three assists

in his last five games as the the Rave Green boosted their chase for the Supporters’ Shield race.

Javier Damin Morales shot the visitors in front with his 30th minute opener before Lamar Neagle levelled eight minutes later.

A 43rd minute goal from the 29-year-old former Newcastle forward secured the Seattle Sounders a first half come-back lead. Joao Plata fired Salt Lake back into contention to make it

2-2 and held on despite being reduced to ten men following Nat Borchers’ straight red card in the 69th minute.

A late winner came through Andy Rose for the hosts to grab victory deep into stoppage time to end the royal rumble encouter in a five-goal thriller. With the victory, Sounders have opened a four points gap atop the Western Conference with 54 points from 27 games.

Manchester United Fire Warning, Trounce QPR 4-0 Manchester United have fired warnings to contenders in the English Premiership that they have bounced back in readiness to compete for the title with a 4-0 trouncing of QPR. The club won for the first time this season as the new-look side tore apart a poor Queens Park Rangers at Old Trafford. Record signing Angel di Maria was particularly impressive and settled any early United nerves when his free-kick into the box crept into the far corner.

Ander Herrera drilled in soon after and Wayne Rooney’s sharp finish all but ended the contest before the break. Juan Mata steered in Di Maria’s shot and loanee Radamel Falcao had a

I’ve been at VVV-Venlo for some years now and I believe it is now time for me to move ahead in order to progress my career

Uche Nwofor, Super Eagles

Striker

gentle debut as a 67th-minute substitute. Tougher tests than a flimsy QPR side await, but after a dismal season under David Moyes, and a slow start to this campaign under successor Louis van Gaal, United provided their fans with genuine cause for optimism.

United’s last home game - a 2-1 opening-day defeat by Swansea had finished with a very different mood around Old Trafford and Van Gaal’s starting line-up showed major changes from that loss.

New signings Di Maria, Daley Blind and Marcos Rojo were included from the start with Falcao on the bench. As well as new personnel, Van Gaal was

forced to shift from his favoured 3-5-2 formation to a four-man defence by injuries to Chris Smalling and Phil Jones.

The changes fuelled a buoyant atmosphere among the home fans and QPR proved the perfect opposition for a confidencebuilding win. Mata, playing at the attacking tip of a midfield diamond, shot over from 20 yards, before Di Maria gave United a goal cushion to go with the majority of possession.

The £59.7m signing’s free-kick floated over its intended targets and, with goalkeeper Rob Green standing still in expectation of a touch, bounced inside the far post. The visitors had rarely

Van Gaal’

Nwofor Heads For Belgian League Nigeria international forward, Uche Nwofor, has completed a move to Belgian club, Lierse SK till the end of the current season, supersport.com can report.

Last week, we had reported that the striker revealed that he has agreed to join a Belgian top flight side.

His destination in Belgium is now clear after he cemented the deal with the Lier club.

Nwofor is pleased with the move to the Belgian club and has promised to hit the ground running.

“I’m very pleased with the

move, it’s a new challenge for me.

I’m thankful to the coach Slavisa Stojanovic, sporting director, Tomasz Radzinski and everyone in Lierse who was involved in my transfer. I will give 100% to Lierse. I also wish to thank everyone in VVV-Venlo who cooperated with my manager to make everything possible. I wish VVV all the best,” he said.

Nwofor left VVV-Venlo on mutual consent and did tell supersport.com he is looking forward to progressing in his career.

“I’ve been at VVV-Venlo for

WORLD CUP SUPERSTARS Name: Mesut Özil Date of Birth: 15 October, 1988 Place of Birth: Germany Club: Arsenal World Cups: 2

Özil

ventured beyond the halfway line, but if Jonny Evans had not blocked Matt Phillips’s shot after home keeper David de Gea rushed out to try and halt a rare attack, they could have been level.

As it was, QPR were out of the game soon after. A scampering run from the increasingly impressive Di Maria drew the attention of two defenders and when Rooney laid the ball into the path of Herrera, the Spaniard drilled a low shot into the bottom corner. The third arrived soon after as the QPR defence stood off their men, allowing Mata and Herrera to exchange passes and Rooney the time to pick his spot inside the near post.

The German professional footballer who plays for English club Arsenal and the German national team has been a youth national team member since 2006 and a member of the German national team since 2009. He gained international attention during the 2010 FIFA World Cup and was nominated for the Golden Ball Award. Özil started his senior career at hometown club Schalke in the Bundesliga in 2006, transferred to Werder Bremen in 2008 and transferred to Real Madrid

in August 2010 following his break-out performance at the FIFA World Cup with Germany.

On transfer deadline day of summer 2013, he moved to Arsenal for a club-record fee of £42.5 million. The transfer makes him the most expensive German football player of all time. Özil is acclaimed for his finesse and improvisation as an attacking midfielder and has been compared by former manager José Mourinho to Real Madrid legend Zinedine Zidane in assists. Özil ended the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign as Germany’s top scorer with eight goals and scored the decisive goal in the 119th minute of Germany’s 2–1 round of 16 defeat of Algeria.

some years now and I believe it is now time for me to move ahead in order to progress my career. I have targets and goals that I’ll like to achieve and I’m glad and Venlo cooperated with my management team in order to make things possible. I have enjoyed playing in Venlo and I’m thankful to the club for everything,” the former Nigeria under-20 striker told supersport. com last week.

Nwofor joins the Belgian Pro League club after his Africa Cup of Nations outing with Nigeria’s Super Eagles.

Nwofor

Diamond League Promoter Rules Out Pistorius’ Invitation Oscar Pistorius is unlikely to be wel- conversation turned to the Pistorius come at future Diamond League case and I don’t think there are many events, a promoter of the series says. around that will accept him again in Pistorius was found guilty of culpable their meet.”

The International Paralympic Comhomicide after a judge ruled he killed girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp by mis- mittee has already stated that the take. The 27-year-old faces up to 15 South African will be allowed to comyears in jail, although the judge could pete at the 2016 Paralympic Games if suspend the sentence or only impose he is not in jail.

But Meert, speaking to BBC Raa fine, allowing him to compete again.

Asked if he would invite Pistorius, dio 5 live’s Sportsweek programme, Brussels Diamond League chief Wil- added: “There will always be so much fried Meert said: “I don’t think so, no.” doubt around him.

“He is not the kind of person you Meert believes his stance on the sixtime Paralympic gold medallist, who want to make a promotion for our will be sentenced on 13 October, will sport.”

Pistorius made history by becombe shared by other Diamond League ing the first amputee sprinter to compromoters.

He said: “Having met quite a lot pete at the Olympics when he took of them recently, once in a while the part in the 400m at London 2012.

Follow these reports on leadership.ng/sports

54 SPORTS

Monday, September 15, 2014

Dasaolu Wins 100m Continental Cup In 10.03 Secs

Basketball: Our Goal Was Top Three – France France’s youngsters learned a valuable lesson at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup by taking third place with a 95-93 win over Lithuania - an invaluable experience that will help them and the country with the ultimate goal of the 2016 Olympics in mind. “ The way we reached this third place is even better for us. When we started this adventure in July we had the goal of finishing in the top three,” said France coach Vincent Collet after the country secured its best-ever showing at the Worlds - besting its fourth place from 1954.

“I am very happy with this young group getting a very good result. We have EuroBasket next year in France and our next goal is to go to Rio in two years. This is the main goal of this team because we would like to be in the same place in Rio 2016.”

While the podium finish is a great experience, French captain Boris Diaw said the main lesson for the country’s younger players came in the Semi-Finals, where they lost to Serbia. “That’s something all the players, the younger players can use as experience. I don’t think that they had

Great Britain’s James Dasaolu won the men’s 100m final at the IAAF Continental Cup in Marrakech.

Dasaolu crossed the line in 10.03 seconds ahead of the USA’s Mike Rodgers in second and Qatar’s Femi Ogunode, who finished third. Dasaolu’s victory

Collet

this kind of loss before. That’s something that stays in your head and I think it will serve us in the future,” he said.

The future starts already next summer when France will host one of the group stages and the Final Round of 2015 EuroBasket. “We know that it’s very difficult to win a championship at home, like we saw with Spain. Spain were the closest in 2007 until JR Holden hit his jumper. …

Our goal will be to be the first (EuroBasket host to win the title) for a long time,” Collet said.

USA Are FIBA Basketball World Champions The United States of America last night in Spain successfully defended the basketball World Cup by beating Serbia 129-92 to win the World Cup. The USA have won 44 games in a row at in all international competitions dating back to their 96-81 win over Argentina in the Third-Place Game at the 2006 FIBA World Championship.

They won all 10 of their games at the 2007 FIBA Americas Championship, all eight games at both the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2012 London Olympics and all their nine games at the 2010 FIBA World Championship.

They have won all their games at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup even though the coach, Krzyzewski before the game pointed out that no team was invincible. “No one is unbeatable, in anything. Anyone who thinks they are unbeatable is going to get beat,” he said. “We have a very good team and we played against a very good team. They (Serbia) are older than we are, they have been together longer than we have.”

Kenneth Faried, one of the sparks in the USA’s offense, said the was unstoppable because they played to their abilities. “We just came came out and played every game like we have been playing.”

ANAPINI

I was formally known as MALIK MUNIRAT OHUNENE and now wish to be called as ANAPINI YUSUF MUNIRAT. All the documents remain valid. General public should take note.

earned eight points for Europe in the intercontinental competition.

Meanwhile, Britain’s Eilidh Child finished second in the women’s 400m hurdles final.

The Scot was unable to catch the season’s dominant athlete Kaliese Spencer, finishing behind

the Jamaican in a time of 54.42 seconds. Lynsey Sharp finished fifth in the women’s 800m final in a time of 2.00.80 seconds, with Kenya’s Eunice Sum taking the victory. Martyn Rooney came seventh in the men’s 400m with a time of 45.93 seconds.

Dasaolu

Why I Dumped Spain - Igiebor Nosa Igiebor has said he has returned to Israel because he was unlucky in Spain.

The 23-year-old midfielder has joined Maccabi Tel-Aviv two years after he left city neigbours Hapoel TelAviv for La Liga side Real

Betis.

“I was unlucky in Spain, too many operations and what have you,” lamented the Nigeria international.

A lot was expected of the midfielder when he moved to Real Betis in 2012, but by the time he left he had only made 26

appearances and scored two goals, while also complaining of the role he was made to play there.

And added to this was that Real Betis were relegated to the Segunda Division after they finished rock bottom in the top-flight championship

Bayelsa, Nembe Plot Against Relegation Bayelsa United and Nembe City will light up Sam Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin on Wednesday as they both battle to escape the drop from the Nigeria league.

Hosts Bayelsa United are 17th on the league table with 30 points in 25 games, while Nembe City are the basement

CHIOMA

Krzyzewski

OLADEJO

I was formally known as MISS LAwAL KAFAYAT wEMIMO and now wish to be called as MRS. OLADEJO KAFAYAT wEMIMO. All the documents remain valid. NYSC and the general public should take note.

I formerly known and addressed as MISS CHIOMA UMEANULUGwO now wish to be known and addressed as MRS CHIOMA ROSELYN AMARAEGBU. All former documents remain the same. General public should take note.

UZOMA

I was formally known as MISS ACHINULO ONYINYECHI VICTORIA and now wish to be called as MRS. UZOMA ONYINYECHI VICTORIA. All the documents remain valid. General public should take note.

NWAKERENDU

I formerly known and called MISS JOEL JANE OBICHI now wish to be known and called MRS NwAKERENDU JANE OBICHI. All former documents remain valid.

General public to take note.

CLEMENTINA

I was formally known as MISS JOHN-OSI ROSELYN and now wish to be called as MRS. AIGBE CLEMENTINA NNEKA. All the documents remain valid. General public should take note.

club as they have 24 points from 25 games.

In the first round, Bayelsa United won 2-0 at Nembe City in a Week 6 game with joint top scorer Peter Ebimobowei getting a brace.

Bayelsa United captain Salomon Junior said victory on Wednesday will ease their relegation

ANIKOH

I formerly known and called DR. OGBONNA CHIDINMA CELIA now wish to be known and called DR (MRS) ANIKOH CHIDINMA CELIA. All former documents remain valid.

General public to take note.

PAULINE

I formerly known and called ORVENDEGA PAULINE DOOSHIMA now wish to be known and called GBERIKON PAULINE DOOSHIMA. All former documents remain valid. General public to take note.

concerns and so they are driven to win all three points at stake.

“We are ready for the game, no matter what, we are going to approach the game with all seriousness it required to get the maximum three points to move up the table,” Junior declared.

SUSAN

I formerly known and called LIAMBEE SEERFAN SUSAN now wish to be known and called CHIA SEERFAN SUSAN. All former documents remain valid. General public to take note.

ANNIE

I formerly known and called ORVENDEGA ANNIE AwUESE now wish to be known and called GBERIKON ANNIE AwUESE. All former documents remain valid.

General public to take note.

LOSS OF DOCUMENT NOTIFIC ATION OF NAME

LOSSOF OFDOCUMENTS DOCUMENT LOSS

LOSSOF OFDOCUMENTS DOCUMENT LOSS

I, normally known and addressed as RASHIDAT OMOLARA ABDULAZEEZ as it appeared in Nigeria Tribune page 15 of 19th March 2004 is the same person as IBRAHIM OMOLARA RASHEEDAT as it appears on my National Diploma and Higher National Diploma Certificates. I therefore swear to this affidavit in good faith to enable me notify concerned authorities and make all my documents valid. General public to take note.

This is to notify the general public that the Original of Recertification and Re-issuance of C of O acknowledgment, File No. KD 1736, in respect of Plot No. 1374, Cadastral Zone B08, dated 10/14/93 with new file No. KD 11080 AND The Original of Re-Application for Certified True Copy of R of O No. FCT/ABU/KD/1736 issued to PAUL S. ADUwAK of Supermaritime Nig. Ltd of No. 3 Sapele Road, Apapa, Lagos is hereby declared missing. If found, Please contact the above named allottee. The allotee is therefore applying for the issuance of a new one from the authority.

The general public and AGIS should please take note.

This is to inform the general public of the loss of Original Statutory Right of Occupancy dated 12th March, 2010 in respect of Plot No. 1848, Zone E 27, Apo in Abuja belonging to MR. SUNDAY OLAwALE AJIKOBI of No 13, Adedoyin Street, Aguda Ogba, Lagos State.

All efforts made to trace the above-mentioned document proved abortive.

If found please contact the nearest Police Station.

sports 55

Monday, September 15, 2014

Racism: I Can’t Forgive Terry – Ferdinand

Di Maria

Di Maria Inspires Man United Over QPR Argentina international, Angel di Maria has continued to prove himself in the English Premiership. He opened the scoring before creating a goal for Juan Mata while Ander Herrera and Wayne Rooney also found the net.

Angel Di Maria shone on his Old Trafford debut as Manchester United secured their first win of the season against a disappointing QPR. Di Maria opened the scoring midway through the first half as his left-footed free-kick evaded everyone and beat Rob Green to his right.

Ander Herrera doubled the advantage following a pass by Wayne Rooney, and the duo combined again as the new club captain made it 3-0 before halftime.

Juan Mata made it four after Di Maria’s wayward shot found him free in the area before Radamel Falcao was denied a debut goal of

his own by Green late on.

Marcos Rojo and Daley Blind were handed starting berths by Van Gaal, while Falcao, who moved to Old Trafford on a season-long loan from Monaco on transfer deadline day, was joined by fellow new recruit Luke Shaw on the bench.

United, whose emphatic triumph ensured QPR defender Rio Ferdinand endured a miserable return to his former club, made a fast start to proceedings and threatened in the seventh minute when Mata shot well over the crossbar from the edge of the area.

QPR, with Sandro and Niko Kranjcar in their team for the first time since the duo’s deadlineday moves, appeared to have weathered the storm as some of the early intensity vanished from United’s play, but in the 24th minute Van Gaal’s men found the breakthrough their dominance of possession merited.

Rio Ferdinand has said he finds it “impossible to forgive” John Terry in a racism row involving his brother Anton.

However, he said he would have been prepared to again play for England alongside former international centreback partner Terry if given the chance.

The cause of the fall-out between the pair came when Chelsea captain Terry used racist language between Chelsea and QPR in November 2011.

Terry was banned for four matches by the Football Association as a result of the incident, having been cleared of any wrongdoing in an earlier court case.

Rio Ferdinand, in an extract from his new autobiography #2sides, serialised in The Sun

on Sunday, criticised Terry for failing to admit to his error and for never apologising directly to him or his brother.

“For me, the biggest idiot will always be John Terry,” he said.

“As England captain and my centre-back partner he could have saved everyone a lot of pain by admitting immediately that he had used the words in the heat of the moment, but was no racist.

“I think that’s probably what happened and what the truth is. Anton and I would’ve accepted that - instead he never gave us the chance.

“I’ve never actually spoken to John about the case. I no longer talk to him, but even three years later I find it impossible to forgive or forget the pain he put my family through.”

Ferdinand said the incident led to Anton receiving death threats and to their mother having her windows smashed, receiving bullets in the post and ending up in hospital with a stress-related condition.

“We weren’t best mates, but we were football buddies,” he added of his relationship with Terry prior to the racism incident.

“Yet he just sat there and watched as my brother went through all that because of his stupidity. That was the betrayal, He tried to run away from what he’d done.”

The former Manchester United defender, now with QPR, officially retired from international football in May 2013, having not played for England since 2011.

Villa Boss Remains Focused Villa manager Paul Lambert will not be carried away by his side’s victory at Anfield even though he says it was richly deserved.

He maintained that despite their impressive start to the season they would not get carried away. The Birmingham remain unbeaten, having won three and drawn one of their opening four matches of the league campaign. “We are only four games in but we have had a fabulous start,” said Lambert. “Any given day you can win a game but it has been a big, big start. Football sometimes has a really bad habit of kicking you somewhere, but we will just keep going.

“There’s no magic formula, the lads have got a great bit of belief and they’ve got a great desire to win games. Tactically it was fantastic but you have to have lads who will carry it out and right

Lambert

from the off we were outstanding,” the Scottish boss added.

“We have worked a lot on training and the lads have grasped what we are trying to do. De-

fensively we were immense. It is hard coming here (Liverpool), a club that nearly won the league, their resources are massive compared to ourselves.”

Rodgers Believes Sterling Will Bounce Back

Echiejile

Echiejile Battles Fitness After Bafana Knocks Elderson Echiejile has said he is training apart from the AS Monaco full squad after he suffered a knock on international duty with Nigeria in midweek.

“I suffered a knock during the match against South Africa, I feel some pain around my hip, near my groin, and so I have been training on my own since I returned to my club,” Elderson told his official website www.elderson3.com “I hope to rejoin the group in a

couple of days.”

The injury meant he was not involved in his club’s last game at Lyon on Friday, which they lost 2-1.

Monaco languish in the drop zone on four points from five matches. They face Guingamp next Sunday.

A muscle injury in a warmup match denied the leftback a second World Cup appearance in the summer.

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers confirmed Raheem Sterling will be restored to the starting line-up for their next match after he defended his decision to rest the youngster for the majority of a 1-0 home defeat by Aston Villa. The Reds were unable to break down the defence of an organised Villa side that took an early lead thanks to Gabby Agbonlahor’s close-range strike from a corner in the ninth minute.

Sterling, who played the full 90 minutes of England’s recent UEFA EURO 2016 qualifier against Switzerland, was eventually introduced for the final half hour of Saturday’s Premier League clash at Anfield. The 19-year-old gave Liverpool more of an attacking threat when he

came on for Adam Lallana but he was unable to get his side back into the game.

However, Rodgers insisted he was right to rest Sterling and revealed he will be back in the starting XI for Liverpool’s UEFA Champions League match against Bulgarian outfit Ludogorets Razgrad at Anfield on Tuesday.

“It is a long, long season and it was an opportunity to give Raheem a break because he probably won’t have many this season,” Rodgers said. “He will certainly play on Tuesday night.

But I said at the beginning of the season that I need to trust all the players we have.

“We’ve got a big couple of months, a really exciting couple of months, coming up. Look-

Rodgers

ing at it, I felt this was a game we could do that. If he didn’t have international football, it would have been a different case,” the Northern Irishman added. He came on and was bright. He’s going to be, and already is, a big player for us.”

AMUSEMENT PARK i don’t deserve any credit for turning the other cheek, as my tongue — Flannery O’Connor is always in it

15.09.14

for god and country

MONDAY

www.leadership.ng

No. 2,256

N150

sam Nda-Isaiah

T

he stakes are quite high and getting higher by the day.

Nigeria appears to be a sinking nation, even though many prefer to live in denial. The APC presidential primary takes place in a couple of weeks and I have declared an interest. Winning a presidential primary anywhere in the world is not a walk in the park. And, since I intend to win, I need to face the hard work that will be necessary for winning, and with absolute focus. This will require not just travelling all over the place but talking to people who are going to be involved, directly or indirectly, in the choice of the standard bearer of the party. It will possibly take speaking to and engaging the more than 300,000 people – elected officers of the party from the ward level up – that shall be voting during the presidential primary. I am doing this because I know how important this is for the future of our progeny and our country.

I have said it severally on this page that Nigeria cannot survive four more years of Jonathan’s incompetence and attitude towards corruption; these assertions get confirmed every single day. Even the most optimistic of people and those who doubt some of the grim prognoses I have been offering on this page must have been shocked by the events of the past weeks, especially the way Boko Ha-

sam@leadership.ng

ram has been taking territories from the Nigerian state.

And nobody should deceive himself or herself that, if Jonathan remains in Aso Rock, Boko Haram will not take over several states of the nation.

Only the most foolish person will fall for the falsehood that Nigeria’s security problem is a north-east problem only.

The president has no idea of how to secure Nigeria, whether the threat is from Boko Haram, kidnappers or whosoever just wants to become a criminal. Murderers are not apprehended and his government just watches helplessly as Nigerians, including little boys and girls, are kidnapped, raped and murdered on a daily basis. Rumours that the president’s own family had to pay a ransom to kidnappers for the release of a senior family member in Bayelsa State not

Why I Am Stopping This Column

long ago persist; those who should know even quote figures of the ransom paid. Oil theft reached an industrial scale long ago and nobody in government discusses that issue. And not a single person has been arrested so far for oil theft, and that is very curious.

The greater issue of crude oil becoming a less sought-after commodity of international trade that would affect the funding of the nation’s operations within the decade, as a result of the shale resources in North America, Europe and Asia, has received absolutely no emergency attention from President Jonathan. Monthly allocations to states have fallen by about 50 per cent since Jonathan became president.

And this is supposed to be a crime that is clearly an impeachable offence, but nobody – not even the two houses of the National Assembly – has

as much as discussed it.

All these and many more strange things happen because of the level of corruption – the type that this country has never seen – of the Jonathan government. Our president has a funny, inexplicable attitude to corruption. He once went to great lengths to create a difference between stealing and corruption, and one wonders for what end. When his Central Bank governor raised the alarm of extreme theft in his government, the first thing that came to his mind was not to arrest anyone or even commence an investigation to determine the level of damage, but to suspend the governor.

That shocked the world and embarrassed our country. It is this attitude that has encouraged the kind of stealing that has virtually grounded the operations of the nation

to the extent that everything, including the security of life and property and the provision of basic amenities to the people, has collapsed. There is no money to buy arms and bullets are now being rationed in the fight against criminals.

Not long ago, a commander in one of the battle units told me that 200 guns were sent to 400 soldiers fighting against Boko Haram. So why then should we be surprised that soldiers’ wives are protesting that their husbands should not be sent to battle fronts without arms and Boko Haram have been capturing Nigerian territories and hoisting their flags, and our soldiers fled from Boko Haram’s fire to Cameroun where they were promptly and ignominiously disarmed

by Camerounian soldiers? Is ➔ continues on Page 8

GHANA MUST GO

Why Do You Want To Be President?

Funke Egbemode, ever brilliant and witty, whose column in the Daily Sun I do not ever miss, recently asked in her column why I want to disrupt my peace by wanting to be president. It was a perfectly legitimate question. I suppose Funke knows me well enough to understand that I will not be that president who just wants to feel good about being president. The office of president of a nation is not one to be enjoyed and those that do the job properly age very rapidly because of the sheer responsibilities and burden of that office. Even though some people in my campaign train don’t like it when I say the

job of president is not a good job – because they think I could be misunderstood – I still sincerely believe it is not a good job. It is a job that will disrupt all aspects of your life and expose your privacy to the world. But it is also a job that must be done properly by somebody.

Another reporter who has been so enamoured by our message asked why it is so difficult for me to pass on these big ideas to others to implement instead of wanting to do it myself. And I told him that vision is not tele➔ continues on Page 8

Nigerian economy resisting Ebola, finance minister says

— News

You have vaccinated the economy?

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