Leadership

16.09.14

FOR GOD AND COUNTRY

TUESday

No. 2,257

NIGERIA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL NEWSPAPER

N150

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Access Bank Begins Process Of N68bn Rights Issue

By Friday Atufe And Olushola Bello, Lagos

Access Bank will hold an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on October 13, 2014, to seek its shareholders’ authorisation for the board of directors to raise ad-

As Jaiz Bank introduces innovative products

ditional equity capital in the sum of N68 billion by way of rights is-

sue, just as the management of Jaiz Bank has announced new in-

novative products.

Consequently, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) Monday announced granting anticipatory

NYSC Defends Online Registration > Page 50

Chibok Diary DAY 155

approval for the shares of Access Bank Plc to be placed on technical suspension. Welcoming this development, Access bank board said it believed that the technical suspension was in the overall interest ➔ CONTINUES ON PAGE 6

WAEC Results For Chibok Girls Ready > Page 2 – Education Minister

Mutiny: 12 Soldiers Sentenced To Death 4 others discharged, acquitted 1 gets 28 days imprisonment 5

Osun State governor Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola in a warm handshake with the representative of Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Mallami Maccido (Ubandoma of Sokoto) during a condolence visit to the governor over the death of the president general, League of Imams and Alfas, SouthWest, Alhaji Sheikh Mustapha Ajisafe, at Government House, Osogbo.

Police Commissioner Arrests Danjuma Goje In Gombe

6

2

chibok diary 155

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

DAY

Chibok TWEETs

@obyezeks @mrneesa

Manysame thanks to @ Folks The Clueless LeadershipNGA forthe being a that kick against class act in the support #BringBackOurGirls to OUR #ChibokGirls! appreciate campaign areWe now using visit of the media Sloganadvocacy to showcase our team. that #AmericaWillKnow olodo.

@obyezeks With each strategic ‫@‏‬DPistachio

engagement our members The PREVENT SILENCE and #BringBackGoodluck2015 COMPEL ACTION by our campaign is a mockery FG to #BringBackOurGirls on #BringBackOurGirls our #ChibokGirls NOTdisgrace movement & utter FORGOTTEN to GEJ's administration.

SHAME

@Smith_RFKennedy In case you are keeping track: @omojuwa it's been 146 days11, since 276 On September 2014, students were kidnapped it'd be 150 days since theby #BokoHaram.

What is being Chibok Girls got abducted. done to #BringBackOurGirls? #BringBackOurGirls

@naijcom @ EssGireiDoes

#BringBackGoodluck2015 While some are shouting Campaign Mock #bringbackourgirls others #BringBackOurGirls are shouting Movement? #BringBackGoodluck2015 .

Priorities and @Abuja_Facts misplaced priorities.

At the Unity Fountain where the #BringBackOurGirls campaign holds, we now have @ martobono aThose mighty banner that says in who are tweeting #BringBackGoodluck2015. criticism of the political parody of @Ediong #Bringbackourgirls Since they&can't hashtag banner must #BringBackOurGirls, stop doing so. they want us to #BringThemBackIn2015 if we can. @ missanoti GEJ is soo shameless. @rescueourgirls #BringBackJonathan 147 days since Hanatu campaign at the sameNuhu taken from #Chibok. Will Unity Fountain she ever#BringBackOurGirls come home? Never where forget.#BringBackOurGirls sit outs are done #NOWANDALIVE everyday.

@Abu_Aaid @ 30thMay67

147 days withoutus #OurGirls Those wanting to abducted while seeking #BringBackGoodluck2015 , knowledge. # should tell our BringBackOurGirls president to first #StopBokoHaram . Its #bringbackourgirls either that or nothing in @lynxnigeria 2015 #BringBackOurGirls it would beifeoluwadebo a loss to our collective @ humanity if we abandon these "While #BringBackOurGirls girls just a brief was cause celebre in the West — a passing moment to get morally exercised and then move on.

Compiled by Iroka Ugochukwu

Chibok Girls' WAEC Results Ready – Minister BY edegBe odeMwingie and adesuwa Tsan, Abuja

Nigeria's education minister, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, yesterday told the House of Representatives Committee on Education that the results of the Chibok schoolgirls who wrote the April 2014 West African Examinations Council (WAEC) exams were ready.

Shekarau made the disclosure at a stakeholders meeting organised by the House Committee on Education, over the federal government’s directive to schools to resume on September 22, against the October 12 date given in consideration of the Ebola Virus Disease in the country.

"By 1pm today (Monday), the president has scheduled a meeting, which I am attending, specifically to address some of the issues of girls' education in that troubled zone (Nigeria's North East).

"In fact, this morning, I got a communication from West African Examinations Council. The result of

Senators Ndume, Zannah Visit BBOG Group

BY Chika Mefor and ejike ejike, Abuja

The senators representing Borno South and Central, senators Ali Ndume and Ahmed Zannah, yesterday paid a surprise visit to the #BringBackOurGirls Group at its daily sit-out session, to add their voices to the campaign for the rescue of the 219 Chibok schoolgirls abducted on April 14 by the Boko Haram sect.

Speaking to the group, Senator Ndume explained that their staying away from the BBOG Group was not because they were afraid of or avoiding it, but due to certain pressing issues.

"Senator Zannah didn't come earlier, because I wasn't around. So he had to wait for me to return.

It wasn't deliberate. We are here to speak frankly.

We are representatives of the people. We appreciate you for what you are doing by taking part of our constitutional responsibilities. We are supposed to be in the driver's seat of what you are doing. We were trying to stay away, because the government is so allergic to criticism. But now we know and believe that the only reason you are here is to help bring back the girls. We in the National Assembly will do our best. We are open to your suggestions and criticism, because we know that your advocacy is genuine and your purpose is for the girls to come back alive," Ndume stated.

Ndume charged the BBOG Group to keep up its advocacy‎, adding that it alone had kept the issue of the abducted girls on the front burner all this while.

"The government was playing politics with the girls, but the important thing was to get the girls back and the government has not done that.

We decided to keep our distance from the group, because I am an accused and my friend is a suspect.

We represent the people and the biggest challenge in this country is that the government is not serious and sincere," he said.

Senator Zannah, while speaking to the group, also noted that the Boko Haram sect was kidnapping more people from the North East and that nothing was being done to stop it.

senator ahmad zamfara flanked by his counterpart senator ali nduma of Borno south addressing members of #BringsBackourgirls advocacy group during their visit to the group at unity fountain in abuja yesterday. PHOTO BY OYODELE OMKAGBO

the Chibok Secondary School is out," the minister disclosed.

He said the results were being reviewed by the education ministry, because of the "haphazard" nature of the situation caused

by Boko Haram's abduction of some of the schoolgirls.

"We (the ministry) have to look at it (the results) vis-a-vis the security situation and implication, before the formal release. It is right now in my possession, because when the abduction took place, some remained, completed their exams. Some were taking exam and they were abducted. So, the result

is haphazard. So we are addressing that this afternoon.

"This is just for the information of the honourable members. It is also a matter of great concern to us. I am sure by 1pm, four, five of us will be sitting with Mr President to address this issue," he said.

In April, the abduction by the Boko Haram sect of more than 200 girls from the Government Secondary School in the town of Chibok in Borno State sparked global outrage. #BringBackOurGirls, a social media rallying cry, generated massive global attention.

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

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3

our stand Tuesday, September 16, 2014

The Synagogue Building Collapse

T

he collapse of a guest house owned by the Synagogue Church of All Nations in Lagos brings to the fore, again, the urgent need for government at all levels to address the problem of building collapse in the country. At the last count, 44 lives had been reported lost while well over 140 were said to have been injured. At least 130 were lucky to have been rescued alive. Also, reports indicate that some of the dead and injured are non-Nigerians who came to that church in their numbers to seek spiritual solace.

The collapsed building was said to have been designed as a threestorey structure, but it was later increased to six storeys. It was also gathered that the original design for that building and the subsequent additions were not approved by the relevant authority in Lagos State. The integrity of the structure was doubtful and the church authorities knew about it; yet they insisted on carrying on with the construction.

They were intent on providing accommodation for their teeming clientele without regard for their safety.

As is to be expected, the pastor

of the church, TB Joshua, is beginning to blame an evil spirit – after suspecting a terrorist attack using a helicopter that hovered over the building shortly before the collapse – for the sad incident.

We hope no one is listening to him. In earlier building collapse incidents, the blame had always been put on poor-quality cement, fake iron rods and intentional disregard for building construction laws. No one has ever considered the human factor, the greed in human nature, the proclivity to maximise profit with little consideration for the safety of the human beings that will eventually inhabit the buildings or, even for that matter, the

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

Founder Sam Nda-Isaiah

safety of the uninformed labour force used to perpetrate the act of illegality. In those instances, the most the government did was to revoke the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) of the land. The land owners and the contractors who compromised quality and jeopardised the safety of human lives were allowed to walk away scot-free. Because the buildings were not insured, there was no talk of compensation for the death of lowly paid construction workers and, in the case of the Synagogue, worshippers who had come to seek the face of God but ended up seeing the face of death.

It is time the government moved decisively against house owners who put human lives in harm’s way for pecuniary gains.

If it is true that the Synagogue building had no approved plan in a state like Lagos, then, it is most unfortunate.

The church authority must be prosecuted for criminal negligence and murder to serve as a deterrent to anyone else who may be thinking of flouting building regulations. The government office that failed to do its regulatory job and therefore contributed to the disaster must face the wrath of the law too.

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

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Group News Editor: Tony Amokeodo Synagogue: Police Deploy Sniffer Dogs For Corpses Death toll rises to 49

Overwhelmed by the increasing number of deaths in the six-storey building collapse at the premises of Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), Ikotun, Lagos, which has risen to 49, the Nigeria Police Force has deployed sniffer dogs to help search for corpses in the rubbles.

This development is coming on the heels of the revelation by officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) that the possibility of recovering more bodies is high.

The police in Lagos said they will be deploying five sniffer dogs to the scene of the incident to help check the rubbles for recovery of more bodies and locate trapped victims.

According to the South-West spokesperson of the NEMA, Ibrahim Farinloye, the dogs will assist in the search and rescue operation to ensure early conclusion of the exercise.

At the time of filing this report, the death toll has increased from 44 which was the last update given on Sunday evening to 49, but the number of people rescued alive has remained 130.

Although efforts to speak with the commissioner for physical planning and urban development, Toyin Ayinde proved abortive, it is widely believed that the state government will make a pronouncement on the issue after its weekly executive council meeting holding at the time of filing this report.

Ayinde had said the building did not have the approval of the state government, adding that the state government was 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, adding that it is the statutory obligation of any individual or group that wants to embark on the construction of high rise building to seek approval from the state government.

Meanwhile, the pastor of the church, Pastor Temitope Joshua has said that God will judge those behind the building collapse incident in his church premises.

The cleric insisted that the incident was the handiwork of those bent on destroying his reputation and the church, saying that “God will get back at them.”

According to him, the collapse of the Guest House which had so far killed 49 people was part of a grand scheme to destroy him.

He said, “A big head wears the lion’s heart. Don’t quickly forget the incident of Boko Haram here; even though it was televised, they said it was a lie, but they later realised it was true. Don’t also forget the Ebola issue here; they sent messages to all of you to scare you from coming to this church.”

By George Okojie, Lagos

Sympathisers in search of victims at the collapsed building at Synagogue Church of All Nations in Lagos yesterday. PHOTO BY NAN.

NYSC Explains Online Registration As UTME Goes Computer-based

By Chika Otuchikere, Abuja and Abu Nmodu, Minna

The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has explained the online registration of prospective participants in the scheme, saying that the exercise was designed in the best interest of the corps members.

NYSC director of press and public relations, Mrs Olubunmi Aderibigbe gave the explanation yesterday, in a statement made available to LEADERSHIP in which she said the explanation became necessary to clear the air about a misrepresentation of the rationale behind the exercise.

She explained that the security situation in some states of the country and the cumbersome process of collection of the call-up letters informed the introduction of the online pro-

cess.

“Given the security challenges in some states of the federation and the observed cumbersome process of collection of Call-up Letters in most institutions, the idea was conceived to remove all impediments that make the mobilisation process a nightmare for the graduates.

“For instance, in this day and age, we saw no need why any graduate should travel hundreds of kilometres with all the associated risks, just to collect his/her Call-Up Letter.

By registering online, the idea that any unscrupulous official could make the process of collection of Call-up Letters difficult for corps members will also be eliminated.

“Indeed, the deployment of full ICT solutions for the processing of data of mobilised

graduates and coordinating the institutions has become compelling so as to sustain efficiency of operation of the scheme by creating a more graduatefriendly mobilisation process”.

The NYSC, however, noted that in spite of the merits of the initiative, the management has made the online registration optional for those who may choose to travel to their schools to collect their Call-Up Letters.

Meanwhile, the registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof Dibu Ojerinde has said that JAMB would go full-blown on computer-based test in 2015/2016 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

Ojerinde made the disclosure yesterday during the second technical committee meet-

ing for 2014/2015 admissions to tertiary institutions in the country, where he said last year’s UTME was partially pencil test, dual-based test and computer-based test. He noted that with the success recorded last year, the board would go full-blown on computer-based test in 2015/2016 UTME. Niger State governor, Babangida Aliyu who spoke during the meeting charged JAMB to sanitise the nation’s examination system for a better integrity of the certificates of the nation’s educational institutions.

Ojerinde urged the governor to build and operate computer centres, at least one in each of the three senatorial districts of the state for candidates from the state, saying the board has only four computer-based centres in the state.

‘INEC Must Be On First-line Charge To Improve Performance’

By Adesuwa Tsan, Abuja

An aspirant for Kware/Wamakko constituency in the House of Representatives, Alhaji Sadiq Abubakar, has urged the federal government to put the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on first-line charge to enable it operate optimally.

Abubakar, who spoke with LEADERSHIP exclusively over the weekend, said having worked closely with the commission, he has observed that lack of adequate funds for the operations of

the commission has slowed down its work pace.

He said that the conduct of elections would have been improved but for the failure of the government to properly fund INEC. “They are not giving INEC a free hand to operate. If the commission requests for a particular amount that can help it within a short period to conduct credible elections, the government does not approve it. Jega has said it many times that anything he requests for, they cut it.

“If he requests, for example, N10billion, let the N10billion be given to him and see whether he will not conduct a credible election. Yes, there is need for INEC to have its own direct funding so that it can be independent of the executive”, he said.

He also advised the chairman of the electoral body, Professor Attahiru Jega, to get feedback from not only highly placed officials, but also the field officers who have first hand experience during elections.

“Since Jega came into office

as chairman, he has never held a general meeting. That is why you hear complaints all over the place.

He is only concentrating on directors; that is why he will not be able to know the problem at the grassroots. The commissioners and directors will not let him know the truth; they will only tell him what he wants to hear. There is a cartel up until tomorrow that is frustrating the man’s effort.

“The field workers know better than the directors and commissioners who sit in the office”, he said.

NEWS 5

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Mutiny: 12 Soldiers Sentenced To Death

Chief of Army Staff, Minimah

By BAYO OLADEJI, Abuja Mohammed Ismail, Yola; George Agba, Bayo Oladeji, Abuja; Kola Eke-Ogiugo, Asaba; Abdullahi Umar, with agency report

Military authorities last night sentenced 12 soldiers to death for mutiny.

Four soldiers were also discharged and acquitted while one soldier was sentenced to 28 days imprisonment with hard labour.

The soldiers were arraigned before the court martial on a sixcount charge of criminal conspiracy to commit mutiny, disobeying lawful orders and various acts inimical to military service.

The convicted soldiers are Cpl. David Musa, Cpl. David Robert, Cpl. Jasper Baido, Cpl. Mohammed Sani, L/Cpl. Friday Onu, L/Cpl. Yusuf Shuaibu, L/Cpl. Emmanuel Iganmu, L/Cpl. Stephen Clement, Priv. Andrew Gbede, Priv. Nurudeen Ahmed, Priv. Ifeanyi Anukabe, Priv. Alao Samuel, Priv. Alan Linus, Priv. Namaan Samuel, Priv.

Ichocho Jeremiah, Priv. Sebastine Amah and Priv. Amadi Chukwudi.

One of the soldiers, Private Ise Ubong, was, however, discharged and acquitted, having been found innocent of all the charges.

The nine-member all-military court martial also found the soldiers guilty of insubordination, use of abusive language and levelling of false accusation against their superior officers, among others.

They were found guilty of attempting to kill their erstwhile General Officer Commanding (GOC) 7 Division, Maj.-Gen. Ahmed Mohammed, by shooting at his official car between May 13 and 14, 2014.

The incident took place at the Maimalari Barracks, Maiduguri, in the course of the ongoing counter-insurgency campaign in the northeast.

The court also found them guilty of preventing the movement of some of their injured colleagues to hospital and obstructing the evacuation of their dead colleagues who

were killed in an ambush on their way from an operation in Chibok, Borno State.

They were found guilty of three out of the six charges brought against them, which are conspiracy, mutiny and attempted murder of Maj.-Gen. Mohammed.

The following were found guilty of insubordination and threatening to shoot Lt.-Col E. Azenda and for laying false accusations: Cpl David Luhbut, Cpl Mohammed Sani, L/ Cpl Stephen Clement, Private Imama Samuel, Iseh Ubong, Ichocho Jeremiah and Sabastine Gwaba.

The convicted are Cpl Jasper Braidolor, Cpl David Musa, L/Cpl Friday Onun, Yusuf Shaibu, Emmanuel Igomu, Private Andrew Ngbede, Nurudeen Ahmed, Ifeanyi Alukagbe, Alao Samuel and Amadi Chukwudi.

They were found guilty of the three counts of criminal conspiracy to commit mutiny, mutiny and attempt to commit murder.

The court martial panel comprised Brig-Gen C. C. Okonkwo (president), Col T.S. Nurseman (judge advocate), Col T. O. Olowomaye, Col I. G. Lassa, Lt Col J. K. Feboke, Lt Col C. R. Nnebeife, Major I. Yusuf, Major T. A. Yakubu and Major A. E. Martins (waiting member).

Having listened to the allocution (plea for leniency) by lawyers to the soldiers asking the court to temper justice with mercy, the court martial passed various sentences on the soldiers at about 2:02am as follows: The convicted soldiers are Cpl Jasper Braidolor, Cpl David Musa, L/Cpl Friday Onun, Yusuf Shaibu, Emmanuel Igomu, Private Andrew Ngbede, Nurudeen Ahmed, Ifeanyi Alukagbe, Alao Samuel, Amadi Chukwudi and Alan Linus.

They were found guilty of the three counts of criminal conspiracy to commit mutiny, mutiny and attempt to commit murder.

The panel sentenced each of the above soldiers to life imprisonment for count one, and death sentence by firing squad for count two.

The following were found guilty of insubordination and threatening to shoot Lt Col E. Azenda and false accusations: Cpl David Luhbut, Cpl Mohammed Sani, L/Cpl Stephen Clement, Private Imama Samuel, Iseh Ubong and Sabastine Gwaba.

L/Cpl Stephen Clement was found guilty on count one and sentenced to two years imprisonment.

He was also found guilty of mutiny and sentenced to death by firing squad.

Four others were discharged and acquitted. Another soldier Ichocho Jeremiah was sentenced to 28 days imprisonment with hard labour.

The court martial stated that the above pronouncements are subject to the confirmation of the Nigerian Army.

The soldiers had engaged in act of mutiny when they revolted against the then GOC, 7 Division, Nigerian Army, Major General Ahmadu Mo-

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The soldiers who perpetrated this near-act of mutiny, according to various accounts, were reacting in anger over the ambush attack they suffered in the hands of Boko Haram terrorists on their way back from an operation in Kalabalge during which about 12 of them got killed.

The few soldiers that survived the attack blamed their plight on the military hierarchy in the division headed by the GOC who, they said, had insisted that they must return to Maiduguri via a route they had earlier considered dangerous for them to take at night.

Some soldiers who shared the sentiments of the soldiers that carried out the shooting on the GOC said the victims and those that survived had pleaded to pass the night in one of the villages so that they could safely return to Maiduguri.

But those commanding the troop declined their request on the grounds that the GOC wanted them back to Maiduguri at all cost, a soldier who pleaded anonymity had said.

Insurgents abduct dozens of women, children in Adamawa Meanwhile, Boko Haram insurgents have abducted dozens of women and children in Gulak, the headquarters of Madagali LGA of Adamawa State, local and security sources said.

Sources in the area told LEADERSHIP that the insurgents have conducted a house-to-house search for young people whom they reportedly loaded in their waiting vehicles and fled with.

A fleeing resident, Abubakar Gulak, said the insurgents came to the area chanting “Allah Akbar”

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(God is the greatest), while shooting sporadically.

“They started loading our women and children into their vehicles, threatening to shoot whoever disobeyed them. Everybody was scared,” Gulak said.

A security source who didn’t want to be named said they were aware of the incident but were still investigating the details.

“Yes, we have been told that the insurgents have kidnapped several women and children, though we are yet to get the full details,’’ said the source.

A former chairman of Madagali LG, Mr Maina Ularamu, said: “The information I have is that they selected some women and locked them in the local government secretariat.”

Another resident who escaped the abduction, Bitrus Maina, said about 100 youth including men and women in the town had been kidnapped.

A senior citizen of the area told reporters in a telephone interview that he was trapped in a village near Gulak before his subsequent escape on Sunday.

“The situation is getting worse by the day; our hope is that this problem will end one day,” he said.

A resident of Husra village, near Uba, said: “They conducted preaching sessions to attract converts to their sect but people only listened out of fear. ‘’They next day they asked if anybody wanted to join them but there was no response, so they selected many healthy-looking young men and asked them to go with them. One of the victims is my relative who did body-building exercise regularly.

Boko haram has been controlling areas like Madagali, Gulak and Michika.

In the meantime, council chairman of Madagali Mr James ➔ CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

6 NEWS

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Police Commissioner Arrests Danjuma Goje In Gombe

By Abdullahi Umar, Abuja

Former Gombe State governor Danjuma Goje was yesterday arrested by the police in

Gombe.

Goje, who is a serving senator, was arrested by the Gombe State police commissioner Mohammed Abubakar who de-

tained him for some hours.

The former governor was visiting his local government, Akko, yesterday when he was arrested by the CP without any

formal charge.

Details of his arrest were scanty at the time of going to press, but he was said to have been released thereafter.

Goje

Mutiny: 12 Soldiers Sentenced To Death FROM PAGE 5

Abawu Watharda who is now living in the state capital, Yola, said: “Yes, some fleeing residents have told me that over 70 women and youths were abducted by the Boko Haram members, but I am yet to get full details.’’

Missing Jet: Air Force chief rules out sabotage Chief of air staff Air Marshall Adesola Amosun yesterday said that the Nigerian Air Force had an idea of where the missing Alpha Jet (NAF 466) could be, despite that information coming from residents of the area was insufficient to locate the aircraft.

Speaking to journalists after meeting with Vice President Namadi Sambo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Amosun noted that while the force had deployed its surveillance capability in search of the plane, there was hope that the missing military aircraft would be located before the end of the day or week.

Some Nigerians had been suggesting that the jet which got missing in Adamawa on Friday during a counter-insurgency operation might have been brought down by the insurgents.

But the air force chief ruled out sabotage in the disappearance of the jet, assuring that the force was in full control of the country’s airspace.

“Sabotage? No, because it is a short distance from Maiduguri

to Yola. We are in full control of the airspace. But don’t forget that when you lose radio signal it becomes very challenging. There are so many possibilities but we are working on it.”

Noting that the information coming from residents of the area was not sufficient to immediately locate the aircraft, Amosun said, “You know, in the aviation sector, we have some specific information that we ought to have to make the search easy.

“Though, the information we are getting from the citizens is good, it is not sufficient for us to define the area of search.

“But we have an idea of where the aircraft could be. Do not forget that it is the open Sahel. Some people may think it is easy but, in the open Sahel, sometimes it is even very challenging.

“Human beings standing may look like trees and, again, the area we are talking about, we have operations going on there and we have limitations as to how low we come to conduct the search.

But one thing is clear: whatever problem they had, an ejection was contemplated. It is therefore my hope that the pilots are still alive.”

He also blamed poor weather on the delay to locate the missing plane.

President solicits cooperation, prayers in ending insurgency President Goodluck Jonathan has appealed for coopera-

tion from Nigerians in the fight against insurgency and acts of terrorism in the country.

President Jonathan, in a goodwill message to the Second Plenary of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria in Effurun, Delta State, affirmed that his administration was committed to ending all forms of insurgency in the country.

Dr Jonathan, who was represented by Delta State governor Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, explained that the government has intensified the fight against terrorism in the northern part of the country but that it required the continued cooperation and prayers of all Nigerians .

“I need the cooperation of the entire country in the fight against Boko Haram. In doing this Nigerians should also pray for the defeat of the Boko Haram,” he said.

President Jonathan also assured Nigerians of his administration’s commitment to conducting free and fair polls in 2015.

Boko Haram subjects children to greater violence Rights group The rights group, Watchlist, has accused Boko Haram militants in northern Nigeria of subjecting boys and girls to forced recruitment, detention, attacks at school, abductions, rape and other forms of sexual violence, Voice of America (VOA) reports.

The group - Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict – in a

report released called Who Will Care for Us? – Grave Violations in Northeastern Nigeria, said the report was based on a six-week research mission in the northeastern region and the neighbouring Cameroon.

Thousands of Nigerians along the northeast border continue to flee attacks by the militant group, which is fighting to set up its own Islamic caliphate in Nigeria.

Refugees have been showing up at the United Nations refugee camp at Minawao, a village in northern Cameroon, about 130 kilometers from the border with Nigeria.

Cameroonian Red Cross official Fred Williams told the Voice of America that the majority of the refugees have been subjected to torture and other forms of violence.

“We have had cases of rape. We have had cases of assault -- for example, children of 9, 10 years old raped. Women abused violently, and they become very violent and it is recurrent. It is very, very deplorable,” Williams said.

“First of all, the refugees have lost all of their livelihoods. There is no other means of survival.

They now depend on the goodwill of the host communities, perhaps of the host government. It is extremely deplorable,” he added.

Every Nigerian has roles to play in the war against terrorism - Obanikoro The minister of state for de-

fence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, yesterday said the war against the Boko Haram terrorism involves more than the government and the military as every lawful citizen has roles to play.

The minister spoke on the occasion of the launch of the Support Our Troops Foundation held at the Army Headquarters Mess, Abuja, where an undisclosed amount of money was realized.

He said, “At a time like this, when we are faced with the challenge of fighting terrorism, our civic duty as citizens becomes even more imperative. As a government, we have an institutional role to play and we will continue to play that role: to motivate, insipre and equip our troops with all they need to become a 21st century army capable of dealing with our national security challenges.

“But as a Nigerian citizen, you have a part to play. You can say a word of appreciation to our troops today. You can say a word of prayer for them. You can help them with information. Your expression of faith in their ability to defeat our common enemy is a morale booster that only you can provide. Those of us who are active on social media, do not talk down or ridicule the great efforts that our troops are making to protect and defend our country even at the risk of their own lives. And whenever you see a military officer, never underestimate the power of these kind words: ‘Thank you for serving.’”

Access Bank Begins Process Of N68bn Rights Issue FROM FRONT PAGE

of its shareholders and would preserve their value on account of the corporate proposal to invite more equity participation from its existing shareholders.

Technical suspension will be lifted on January 27, 2015, and normal trading activities will resume on January 28, 2015,” the NSE said.

Meanwhile, trading on the stock market closed on a positive note yesterday as the market capitalisation gained N32 billion to close at N13.462 trillion as against the N13.430 posted on Friday. Similarly, the Nigerian Stock Exchange

(NSE) All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 0.24 per cent or 96.06 points to close at 40,769 points from the 40,672.94 achieved on Friday.

ETI emerged the most traded equity with 2.05 billion shares worth N45.82 billion. Transcorp followed with 15.40 million shares valued at N91.23 million while Guaranty Trust Bank traded 12.23 million shares worth N348.42 million.

Seplat led the gainers by N5 to close at N675 per share. It was trailed by Dangote Cement with a gain of N4.89 to close at N219.99, while Wapco appreciated by N1.50 to close at N120.

Conversely, Forte Oil recorded

the highest price loss of N11.78 to close at N223.82 per share. Nigeria Breweries lost N1.06 to close at N176.13 while Presco dropped N1 to close at N36 per share.

Due to heavy transaction witnessed in ETI, the total volume traded stood at 47.741 billion, valued at N2.18 billion in 4,084 deals.

Meanwhile, Jaiz Bank Plc has announced a new internet banking application in a bid to get its services to more customers beyond the shores of Nigeria. It has partnered RightClick, an internet website designer, to develop a unique website for it. With the new Jaiz Bank Plc web portal, customers are able to

perform and complete their transactions in the bank with ease. The website ensures that the era of onsite banking is a thing of the past.

RightClick was contacted with the task of developing an appealing website that shows the benefits and peculiarities of the non-interest banking sector. Being new to Nigeria at that time, there was a need to ensure that the website captures the needs of its target market and drives the much-needed traffic to the site.

Jaiz Bank now has more customers that are banking with it in Nigeria and beyond. The bank has also been able to record new hits on its

website, thereby making Jaiz Bank a force to reckon with, as the website has been able to portray the bank in a new light.

Jaiz Bank was incorporated in 2003 with the aim of delivering non-interest banking to the Nigerian people. With universal banking now accepted in Nigeria, Jaiz has pioneered one of Nigeria’s fastestgrowing non-interest banks with the aim of providing world-class, secure, e-banking services as well as Takaful and Pension Fund Administration.

Its shares are privately held by Nigerian corporate institutions and individuals.

news extra 7

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

PDP Govs Meet Tomorrow Ahead Of NEC As the national leadership of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) moves to meet on Thursday, governors elected under its banner will meet Wednesday to align their position ahead of the party’ primaries.

Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum and governor of Akwa Ibom State, Chief Godswill Akpabio, who disclosed this in a statement, said the meeting will hold at Akwa Ibom State Governor’s Lodge in Asokoro by 4 pm.

While the statement was silent on the agenda of the meeting, it was gathered that the governors will strategise on the PDP primaries and the national convention of the party.

The governors are meant to align their position ahead of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party billed for Thursday.

The national convention of the party comes up in October.

However, the PDP governors congratulated the governor of Katsina State, the Katsina State chapter of the party and the en- By edegbe odemwigwe, Abuja tire people of Katsina State on the recent peaceful conduct of The House of Representatives local government elections in Standing Orders which spells out procedures and practices of the the state.

House and its committees, does

By Chibuzo Ukaibe, Abuja. not expressly provide for the impeachment of its speaker, findings show.

Hence, reported moves by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the presidency to reA 40-year-old mother, her two move the House Speaker, Aminu children and two others were Waziri Tambuwal may prove fugruesomely murdered by un- tile. known gunmen in fresh attack The House Standing Orders in Mbar village of Bokkos local does not in any of its section, government area of Plateau State.

Our correspondent gathered that several others sustained various degree of injuries, while over 20 houses were destroyed by the by Milllie ibe , Abuja attackers.

A member of the communi- Bauchi State governor, Malam ty who did not want his name in Isa Yuguda, has said that the print told our correspondent that state is in urgent need of N15 the gunmen stormed Mbar com- billion to complete vital projmunity and set over 20 houses ects that will change the lives ablaze and destroyed farm crops. of the people and drive further He described the incident as investments into the state.

Yuguda who stated this while black Sunday to the people of speaking with some select jourMbar as gunmen invaded the nalists in Abuja yesterday, statarea, sacked the community, killing a mother and her two children and then set the compound ablaze .

The Plateau State commission- By Chibuzo Ukaibe, Abuja er of housing and urban development, Hon. Solomon Maren con- Transformation Ambassadors firmed the attack and described of Nigeria (TAN) yesterday the attack as barbaric noting that said it will not be deterred by the attack occurred as peace is the attacks of the All Progresgradually returning to the state sives Congress (APC) daring capital. He said some miscreants the opposition party to counwant to take the state backward. ter the documented evidences He said that herdsmen were al- on the achievements of President Goodluck Jonathan. legedly behind the killing of the TAN, in a statement also said people. neither the federal government

Civilians affected by flooding sit inside an Indian Air Force C-17 Globemaster aircraft after being evacuated from Srinagar to fly to New Delhi, yesterday. PHOTO

BY APF

Tambuwal: Reps Rules Have No Provision For Impeachment – Findings

Gunmen Kill 5 In Plateau Village

provide for the Speaker’s removal from office on the grounds of defection and anti-party activity, allegations that have been thrown on Tambuwal in some quarters.

It does not even spell out removal procedures in the event of ‘gross misconduct’.

Section 7 Rule 26(a) of the House Standing Orders is the closest the rule book gets to the removal of the speaker.

The section states, “In the absence of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker without any communications to the Clerk of the House

within a period of three consecutive days or where both have either been certified or incapacitated, the House may elect for that purpose, someone who shall preside. Such member shall be known as Speaker Pro-tempore”.

Tambuwal’s body language gives him away, some say; his opposition party alliance makes complex his political riddle and his statements and other actions have been tagged “antiparty” by the PDP. The ongoing romance of the House of Representatives speaker with the APCled opposition under his watch

is well reported. Today, Tambuwal is the darling of the opposition-led APC. Tambuwal, as a result of past ‘sins’ (some fresh) in the PDP, is grouped in the party’s ‘rebel’ category. He went against the president and PDP’s choice for the headship of the House. Riding on a bloc opposition vote, Tambuwal snubbed a PDP arrangement which favoured Mrs. Mulikat Adeola-Akande to emerge as the speaker of the House.

Tambuwal has been a major contributor to the bashing of President Goodluck Jonathan.

Why Bauchi Needs N15bn Bond Urgently - Gov Yuguda ed that of the amount, N5.48 billion would be used for the completion of the Bauchi International Airport(BIA) while N2 billion will be channelled into the completion of the Bauchi Specialist Hospital.

The balance, according to the governor, would be used in financing existing bank loans and cost of issuing the bond.

Yuguda, who defended the request for the bond, which is being processed by the Security and Exchange Commission, SEC, pointed out that the state had already met all the requirements listed by the approving authorities.

Yuguda further expressed the hope that SEC would expedite action in approving the is-

suance of the bond, which according to him, had already been approved by the Federal Ministry of Finance.

Yuguda explained that the reasons for constructing the BIA was to open up the state to take full advantage of available agricultural and tourism potentials and create business opportunities.

APC Can’t Stop Our Support For Jonathan – TAN

By Achor Abimaje, Jos

nor any of its ministries, agen-

cies or departments fund its programmes and projects.

The national publicity secretary of the party, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in statement on Sunday said Jonathan’s refusal to stop the rallies was evidence that he was behind TAN. The APC also said the fact that the rallies were being coordinated by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim, ministers,

governors and other public office holders in Jonathan’s administration, showed that TAN had the president’s backing.

But the statement by TAN signed by its director of communications and strategy, Udenta O Udenta, said “We are yet to see just one counter electronic media programming attacking our well-researched documentation of developments occurring in different

national sectors in the past three and half years, or just one OP-ED refuting the veracity of our presentations.

“What is served us daily from Lai Mohammed’s Verkhovenskian imagination is the torrent of well rehearsed falsehood, empty political prattle, pompous self-enfoolment dressed up as political fact, self-righteous indignation that bothers on pious cant.

8 news north-East, north-west

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

100 Almajiri Undergo Training In Welding In Katsina

2015: Stop Using Youths As Thugs, Sultan Warns Politicians

By Ankeli Emmanuel, Sokoto

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III has warned politicians against using youths as thugs during the 2015 general elections.

The Sultan, who is the president general, Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), spoke yesterday when the new leadership of the Sokoto State Chapter of the Peoples

Democratic Party (PDP) paid him a courtesy call.

He stressed the need to maintain peace which is the bedrock of any meaningful development.

He condemned politicians who engage other people’s children in political thuggery, pointing out that the same sponsored children often turn against them after winning elections, thereby making governance difficult for them.

He called on Nigerians to pray

for free, fair and credible elections come 2015 and beyond, and urged leaders to embrace everyone irrespective of political affiliation.

“Politicians who use the children of others, give them money and drugs are doing the greatest disservice to themselves and the society in general.

“Such children often turn against the elected officials after the elections and make governance difficult for their hither-

to sponsors.

“We are all yearning for free, fair and acceptable polls in 2015 and beyond. All of us as leaders should also give attention to the uplifting of the welfare and security of Nigerians,” the Sultan said.

He added that the Sultanate Council operates a transparent leadership, adding that the doors of the council are open to every Nigerian, irrespective of political inclination.

L-R: Head of Public Relations, Fiscal Responsibility Commisssion (FRC), Mr Abdulganiyu Aminu; medical director, Federal Neuro Psychiatric Hospital, Dr Taiwo Sheikh, and head of capital project verification team of FRC, Hajiya Maryam Muhammed, during their inspection visit to Federal Neuro Psychiatric Hospital project in Kaduna, yesterday. PHOTO BY NAN.

short news DSK Foundation Donates Speedboats To Lau People In an effort to touch the lives of the common man, the president and founder of DSK Foundation, Chief Davis Sabo Kente has donated four speedboats to the Kachala Donadda community in Lau local government area of Taraba State.

Making the donation yesterday in Lau, Chief Kente noted that commercial activities would be grounded in a community that lacks functional road, air and sea transportations.

Past Northern Presidents, Under-utilised Assets – ACF

By Isaiah Benjamin, Kaduna

The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) yesterday resolved that past presidents of northern extraction are under-utilised assets and urged them to improve their inputs into influencing events around the security and economic wellbeing of the North.

A communique issued at the end of a one-day meeting of Northern Groups and Associations with the forum in Kaduna and signed by Col John Ubah (rtd), secretary general of ACF and Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed,

secretary of Code Group and made available to newsmen said, “The forum resolved to draw the attention of former heads of state and president, General Yakubu Gowon, President Shehu Shagari, General Muhammadu Buhari, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida and General Abdulsalami Abubakar to the fact that they are severely under-utilised assets, and northerners expect them to improve their inputs into influencing events around their security and economic wellbeing.

“It requested the president of the Senate, speaker of the House

of Representatives and all legislators from the North to note that Northerners expect them to exercise greater commitment towards ensuring that President Goodluck Jonathan’s government is made more accountable to Northerners and the citizens of Nigeria in the manner in which it handles national security and the management of resources of the nation.

“It reminded Northern governors that citizens are disappointed with their seeming neglect of the security and welfare of the people of the North.”

North West Varsity Committed To Creating Positive Image – Pro-Chancellor Withdraws admission of 119 students

By Abubakar Salihi, Kano

The pro-chancellor and chairman, Governing Council of the North West University, Kano, Mallam Sule Yahaya Hamma has said that the management of the institution intends to create an image of a university that will interact positively with its environment and the society in general.

In an exclusive interview with

By Andrew Ojih, our reporter shortly after the uniJalingo

versity management concluded a tour of facilities around the state, the pro-chancellor stated that they embarked on the facility tour to examine what exactly was needed to bring the varsity to national standard.

He added that they examined the former Rock Castle Hotel at Bagauda in their bid to establish an Institute of Cinematography to meet the filmmaking demand of Kannywood and give citizens the best of cinematographic services.

He noted that the university was in contact with the Indian filmmak-

ers in Bollywood and will provide facilities for the take-off of the institute.

Meanwhile, the university in the course of its routine verification of admitted students for the 2013/2014 academic session discovered irregularities in the admissions of 119 students and had withdrawn their admissions.

According to the head of corporate communications of the university, Abdullahi Abba Hassan, this was part of the zero tolerance of the university management for fraud and other abnormalities.

short news Fraud Allegation Against Rector Baseless – Governing Council The Governing Council of Hassan Usman Katsina Polytechnic has passed a vote of confidence on the rector, Professor Haruna Yusuf and management of the institution, insisting that the allegations of fraud levelled against him were baseless.

Workers of the institution had issued the rector a two-week ultimatum to provide information on some allegations of financial misappropriation against him amounting to over N48million.

By Muazu Elazeh, Katsina

The Katsina State chapter of Metal Workers Association, an umbrella union of welders in the state, has commenced training of 100 almajiri (pupils of Arabic schools) in the state.

State chairman of the association, Abbati Abdulkarim who disclosed this to our correspondent said the measure was aimed at supporting current efforts to discourage begging among the almajiri pupils.

He said the association, in liaison with the office of senior special assistant to the governor on almajiri affairs, has selected 10 almajiri pupils from different schools in Katsina Municipal for the pilot training.

“This is the pilot scheme and we have concluded arrangements to train 100 of such pupils. The breakdown is that we shall select 30 each from Daura and Funtua senatorial districts and 40 from Katsina senatorial district,” he explained.

By Muazu Elazeh, Katsina

1, 000 Qur’anic Memorisers Pray For New Bauchi Airport Over 1, 000 Qur’anic memorisers in Bauchi have participated in the seven-day special prayers organised by the office of the director general, Bauchi State Tsangaya Education, Sayyadi Aliyu Dahiru Bauchi for the newly constructed state-owned international airport which will commence operation on Friday.

Speaking to newsmen yesterday during the closure of the week-long prayers held at the residence of Sheik Dahiru Usman Bauchi, the director general explained that the Qur’anic memorisers had prayed Allah to protect all the airplanes that will airlift and land at the new airport.

He disclosed that the holy book was recited over 150 times during the session which was led by the prominent Islamic preacher, Sheik Dahiru Usman Bauchi, adding that the intending pilgrims from the state will be airlifted at the new airport to Mecca for this year’s pilgrimage. ‘’I want to commend the state governor, Isa Yuguda for fulfilling his promise of constructing this unprecedented international airport and doing all he could to ensure that our pilgrims will start using the airport for their trip to the holy land’’, he said.

By Najib Sani, Bauchi

9

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

5

Ali Modu Sheriff (circled) hobnobbing with APC chieftains until a few weeks ago. In the picture are Bola Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar, Muhammadu Buhari, Bisi Akande, and the rest of them!

Interesting Facts about Sheriff and APC

1

Senator Ali Modu Sheriff was a very prominent member and financier of the All Progressives Congress (APC) until very recently when he left the party complaining of lack of internal democracy. He was always in the gathering of the APC chieftains and hobnobbed with them publicly without any eyebrows being raised. At no time did APC disown him or distance itself from the former governor of Borno State. He was a member of the Board of Trustees. APC did not attack him.

2

Allegations that Ali Modu Sheriff is a sponsor of Boko Haram, though unproved, have been in the public domain since 2009. He has repeatedly denied these allegations and the security agencies are yet to produce any evidence. However, when he defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) only recently, the allegations were repeated by Dr. Stephen Davis and suddenly, APC has not allowed the world to rest, accusing President Goodluck Jonathan of hobnobbing with Sheriff. It is called double standards.

3

A very strong member and financier of APC today is Chief Timipre Sylva, former governor of Bayelsa State who is currently undergoing trial over allegations of corruption while he was in office. APC chieftains have not disowned him. In fact, he was one of those proposed for

chairmanship of the party until he was dropped. He is all over the place hobnobbing with APC chieftains. APC accused President Goodluck Jonathan of associating with Sheriff whom they called a suspected terror financier but who has not even been charged to court, while APC is very comfortable with Sylva who is currently undergoing trial.

4

Much noise has been made about the presence of Sheriff when President Goodluck Jonathan went to visit President Idriss Derby of Chad last week. The first Lai (or lie) was that Sheriff was on the President's delegation for a sensitive security meeting. When the Lai did not stick, the new propaganda from APC was that the President knew Sheriff was going to be in the welcome party. However, since when does a visiting President have the right to choose who would be in the company of the host President? Where is that done in the world?

5

Senator Ali Modu Sherif is halfNigerian, half-Chadian. His village is on the boundary with Chad. He had been living almost permanently in Chad since he left office as governor in 2011. He is a friend of President Derby. He is perhaps the most prominent Nigerian living in Chad. If President Derby decides to take his friend along to welcome President

Jonathan at the airport or pay President Jonathan a visit at his hotel, since when has a visiting President been choosing the members of delegations for a host President?

FINAL QUESTION: Of all the alleged sponsors of Boko Haram that Dr. Stephen Davis made reference to, how come APC has blatantly ignored the CBN connection in the financing of the terrorist group? Davis referred to two CBN officials who handled the transactions. He said one was in Currency Operations and the other "recently left the bank".

Nigerians know who “recently left the bank�. Nigerians know who was working hand-in-hand with the opposition to cook up allegations of missing funds against President Jonathan just to tarnish his image.

Nigerians know who the former CBN official who was receiving regular visits from the wife of the terrorist who would later mastermind the Nyanya bombings.

We all know him!!!

PARTING SHOT: No amount of Janjaweed propaganda can cover the truth!

Signed The PDP Resurgent Group

10

stories of the Tuesday, September 16, 2014

...NEWS WITH A HUMAN FACE

VANDALIsATION: Suspect Electrocuted In Lagos

By MATTHEW DIKE, Lagos

A suspected thief who specialises in vandalising transformer belonging to Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) has died in the process of vandalising PHCN property in Lagos State, yesterday.

The unknown vandal was committing the act when PHCN restored power supply in the area and he was electrocuted.

The incident which occurred near Lonlo bus stop, along Iju-Ishaga road attracted a large number of people to the scene.

Police detectives were also at the scene with the officials of PHCN who alleged that the man wanted to remove something from the transformer when he was electrocuted in the morning.

ROBBERY: Police Nab Suspects After Falling Asleep In Victim’s House

By Kola Eke-Ogiugo, Asaba

The police at the B Division Police Station, Asaba, Delta State, have arrested two persons at the premises of a business man (name withheld) around Abraka community, Asaba, at the weekend after they had reportedly fallen asleep in the victim’s premises.

Reports said that the suspects were rounded up while they were fast asleep by the police detectives who recovered some stolen items from them.

It was reliably gathered that the suspects had entered the businessman’s premises through his falling fence during the night and held their victims captive after they had allegedly dispossessed them of some money.

But as they moved out of the room, they were said to have fallen to the ground fast asleep and one of their victims immediately called the police from the B Division.

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, DSP Celestina Kalu, who confirmed the arrest of the suspects, disclosed that the suspects were still sleeping when the police detectives arrived, adding that they were rounded up and handcuffed before they knew where they were.

“It was like a mild drama when the police arrived at the scene and met the suspects sleeping freely. They immediately rounded them up and handcuffed them before they woke up to see that they were in an open premises,” she said, adding that the suspects upon interrogation confessed to the crime, saying they were shocked to see themselves sleeping on the ground.

STONE DEAD: Residents watching an electrocuted vandal who died while removing parts from an electricity transformer at Lonlo, Iju, Lagos yesterday.

PHOTO BY GBENGA OLAJOBI

Synagogue Tragedy: 3-year-old Girl’s Parents Missing

By Taiwo Ogunmola-Omilani, Lagos A three-year-old girl rescued from the site of the collapsed Synagogue Church building in Ikotun, Lagos State, who is currently receiving treatment at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, could not find her parents.

It was gathered that the girl who was fit to be discharged, as stated by the Consultant and Head, Surgical Emergency Department of the hospital, Dr. Ibrahim Mustapha, did not see anybody to claim her.

He said that they were yet to get basic information from the little girl, which would have helped social welfare workers at the hospital to trace her parents’ whereabouts.

The consultant said that the other victim, a male, who sustained some bruises on the head and arm, was also fit to be discharged soon.

According to him, the two victims of the collapsed building are responding well.

“Both sustained minor injuries, including bruises, but we have been able to treat and dress their wounds. One of the victims, a child will be discharged today, but we cannot find her parents.

“We are hoping that any parent or relative looking for their child will come to LASUTH. For now, she is stable and she is good to go home, but we can’t discharge her till we have a guardian or her parents and they should come with proof.”

Downpour: Rain Destroys School Building, Other Property Worth Millions

By Obinna Ogbonnaya, Abakaliki

A community primary school, Uduku Ettam in Okpuitumo in Ikwo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State and other household property belonging to residents of the area worth millions of naira, were yesterday destroyed after a heavy downpour.

The roofs of the primary school which is one of the oldest school in the community, where notable personalities in the state have passed through, was destroyed by the rain.

Our correspondent who visited the school observed that bushes have overgrown the school environment while the buildings housing the school children are on the verge of total collapse.

A resident of the area, Mr Sampson Ekechi, who spoke to LEADERSHIP, said that the school and other buildings were seriously affected by the windstorm adding that the

property destroyed, include, household equipment and other important documents belonging to the school.

He blamed the state government and the council area for the high level of dilapidation being witnessed in the school, describing the situation as unfortunate and regrettable.

According to him, “The school is one of the oldest schools in our community and many notable personalities from the community passed through the school but the school has been left to decay. We had before now, expected the state government or some of our illustrious sons, to come to the aid of the school”.

Other residents who also spoke to LEADERSHIP lamented the total neglect of the community by the state government and urged the state governor to urgently intervene to restore the past glory and dignity of the school.

SEALED: Delta Shuts 800 Illegal Schools, Arrests 33 Operators

By Kola Eke-Ogiugo, Asaba

Determined to curb examination malpractices and all forms of illegalities, the Delta State Government has closed down no fewer than 800 illegal primary and secondary schools operating across the state.

The state Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Prof Patrick Muoghare also disclosed that 33 school operators had been arrested and detained.

According to him, the closure became necessary to improve the standard of education following the shoddy performances of the affected schools especially in meeting the conditions of effective teaching and learning.

The commissioner explained that for any school to be allowed to operate in the state, there was need for conducive learning environment as well as efficient teachers to produce the requisite products.

Noting that the state government would soon publish the names of recognized schools where parents/ guardians are expected to enroll their children, Muoboghare accused the illegal private secondary school operators, especially those who engage in public examination racketeering, to eschew such activities as the long arm of the law of government would soon catch up with them.

He disclosed that the ministry would collaborate with West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) and National Examination Council (NECO) to check illegal activities perpetrated by illegal school operators, maintaining that any school not recognized by government will not write the examination in the state.

day

STORIES OF THE DAY 11

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Photo News

STEALING: INEC Staffers Charged With Theft

By OKECHUKWU OBETA, Awka

Three official staffers of the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC), Awka, Anambra State, have been charged to court in connection with theft of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) meant for some communities in Ogbaru local government area, Akili-Ogidi/Obeagwe ward.

The yet-to-be identified persons were said to have broken into the INEC office at the local government last week and made away with all the PVCs for only Akili-Ogidi ward.

The three INEC officials charged to court in connection with the theft were the security staff of the commission on duty the night the incident took place.

The names of those arraigned at Atani Margistrate Court 2 are Anene Nwokedi,

46, Victor Okei, 38, and Fredrick Ijoma, 43.

According to the charge sheet, the accused persons were charged for “office breaking and stealing, thereby committed an offence punishable under section 495(a) of Criminal Code Cap.36, Vol.1, revised law of Anambra State of Nigeria, 1991 as amended”.

They were further charged with breaking and entering into the office of the Electoral Officer, EO, an offence punishable under section 381 of the same Criminal Code and for stealing “some quantities of PVCs totaling about 8,367 belonging to some communities in Ogbaru LGA, thereby committed offence punishable under section 353(5) of the same Criminal Code.”

They were also charged under section 81 of the Criminal Code for negligence and failing to prevent the stealing of the PVCs.

Kano State Governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso (right), presenting an award of Excellence to deputy Director General, Dandalin Siyasa On-line Forum, Malam Yusuf Dingyadi, at the 6th annual conference of the forum at Govt House, Kano.

ASSAULT: Housewife Remanded For Burning Neighbour’s Breast

BY ISAIAH BENJAMIN, Kaduna

A 25-year-old housewife, Amina Muhktar, has been remanded in prison for causing grievous bodily harm to her neighbour, Asiya Sanusi, also a housewife.

The victim, who resides in Nasarawa village in Kaduna South Local Government Area of Kaduna State, had gone to fetch water in the compound of the accused when the accused (Amina) wife to the landlord, poured hot water on her body which burnt her breasts and arms.

According to the husband of the victim, Sanusi Sa’adu, who reported the case to the magistrate court Barnawa, Kaduna, he

wondered why the accused person had to inflict such bodily injuries on his wife and sought for justice to take its course.

Mr Martins Egboche, counsel to the accused, had sought for bail but was not granted in view of the gravity of the offence, and consequently, the presiding chief magistrate, Hamza Mohammed, ordered that the accused be remanded in prison custody pending when the case will be heard.

The judge adjourned the case to the 24th September, 2014 for hearing.

Meanwhile, the victim is currently receiving treatment from the burns she received at an undisclosed hospital.

L-R: Director of Basic and Secondary Education, Ministry of Education, Chike Uwaezuoke, minister of education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, and the Cross Rivers State commissioner for education, Offiong Offiong, during a meeting with House of Representatives Committee on Education on school resumption held at the National Assembly in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO BY OYEDELE OMOKAGBO

DEATH: ‘Area Boys’ Club Man To Death

By MATTHEW DIKE, Lagos

A rampaging gang in Ajegunle area of Lagos last Sunday night killed a man.

The gangsters, numbering about 20, were said to be in the habit of dispossessing people of cash, mobile phones and other valuables in different streets, and they usually move with cutlasses, iron rods, axes and other dangerous weapons.

It has become a weekly affair as they usually terrorize innocent people every Sunday night.

Their victim was said to have bumped

into them and they clubbed him to death.

LEADERSHIP gathered that immediately the gang began the atrocious act, the divisional police officer attached to Ajegunle police station, CSP Abayomi Agbana led a team of policemen to the scene.

Upon sighting police patrol vehicle approaching, the hoodlums fled in different directions. Policemen removed the body of the victim and deposited it in a general hospital mortuary.

A week ago when a similar incident occurred, police arrested three suspected members of the gang.

L-R: Business deputy executive, Committee for Peace and Justice (CPJ), Nwaru Oluchi; coordinator Ezekel Isokwa and women leader Annabel Aladino during a press conference on the state of the nation in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO: OKEKE JANE

RAPE: Madman Makes Attempt On Housewife

By Kola Eke-Ogiugo, Asaba

A mild drama occurred in the early hours of yesterday at the popular Ogbogonogo market, Asaba, Delta State, when a suspected madman in his early 40s allegedly attacked a housewife and attempted to rape her before she was rescued.

The suspect, clad in trouser and Tshirt, reportedly walked up to the woman who was arranging local garden eggs

for sale and forcibly pulled up her skirt, including her wrapper, before members of the public descended on him.

While the incident lasted, the suspect identified as Steven was surrounded and beaten up by onlookers and cotraders of the victims.

The victim, a mother of two kids and one of the leaders in the market, was said to have told a friend that she had a dream prior to the incident that she was being harassed by a madman.

L-R: Head, Manpower Development Section, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Assistant Corps Marshal John Meuz; Deputy Corps Marshal Yemi Omidiji and Corps Commander, Bisi Kazeem, at the re-training of motorcycle riders in Abuja, yesterday.

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Tuesday, September 16, 2014

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Tuesday, September 16, 2014

AEDC Adopts Regional Structure For Improved Service Delivery

By Kingsley Alu, Abuja

Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), has adopted a regional organisational structure for its administration, to bring services closer to its customers so as to enhance efficiency and service delivery.

The AEDC, which hitherto had 28 business units directly administered from its head office in Abuja, now

has six regional offices governing its coverage area, made up of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Kogi, Nasarawa and Niger States.

A statement issued by the head of public relations and media of the company, Ahmed Shekarau, listed the six new regions to include FCT North, FCT South, FCT Central, as well as Kogi, Nasarawa and Niger regional offices.

The statement said each of the six regional offices were being headed by a regional manager, who reports to the head office in Abuja through the executive director, commercial services.

It further said that by this new development, the former business units have been renamed Areas and were being headed by area managers, who report to the regional managers.

Heineken Rejects Takeover Bid By SB Miller

By Friday Atufe, Lagos with agency report

Heineken has rejected a takeover proposal from SABMiller after the founding family of the Dutch brewer insisted that it should remain independent.

In a statement intended to quell press speculation, Heineken confirmed it had been approached

by London-listed SABMiller, the world’s second-largest brewer, but said the proposal was “nonactionable.”

“The Heineken family has informed SABMiller … of its intention to preserve the heritage and identity of Heineken as an independent company,” the statement said. “The Heineken family and Heineken NV’s management are confident that the company will continue to deliver growth and shareholder value.”

The Heineken family owns a controlling stake of just over 50per cent of the brewery, with the remainder split between shareholders on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange (ASE) and Femsa, the Latin American drinks company, which is the world’s largest bottler of Coca Cola.

Heineken, which owns Kronenbourg, Sol and John Smith’s as well as its namesake beer, traces its roots back to a single Amsterdam brewery bought in 1864.

SABMiller has Coors, Grolsch and Peroni in its stable of brands, and was keen to buy up Heineken to protect itself from a takeover bid from the world’s largest brewer, Belgium-based AB InBev. “For SAB, a way of preserving their independence is to buy Heineken,” Matthew Beesley of Henderson Global Investors told Bloomberg.

Nigeria Still Part Of Energy-poor Countries In Africa – UN

By Chibuzo Ukaibe, Abuja

Despite the enormous gas reserve in the country, the United Nations Organisation (UNO) yesterday said Nigeria remains a significant part of energy poor countries in Africa.

UN also disclosed that Nigeria has between 70 and 80 million people without electricity, lamenting further that 80 per cent of its population still rely on firewood and charcoal for their family energy needs.

This was stated by the undersecretary general and special representative of the secretary general of the United Nations, Dr Kandeh, at the international legacy lecture series held at the Bamanga Tukur African Renaissance Centre, Abuja.

Yumkela said: “Africa remains the most energy poor. Globally, 600 million Africans have no access to electricity. We also see a connection between energy demand and water demand.

“Nigeria probably has between 70 and 80 million people without electricity. Nigeria is a significant

part of that energy poverty.

Another statistic that is more frightening is that 80 per cent of our people rely on firewood and charcoal for their family energy needs especially for cooking.

“This results in 800,000 premature deaths every year, cancer and a lot of problems for women and children,” he said.

Yumkela, who spoke on the theme: “The New International Development Agenda: Energy Transition and Sustainable Development,” stressed the importance of stable polity, focused public policy, public private partnership among others in order to end energy poverty in Nigeria.

He however, charged Nigerians to emulate Ghana as the most electrified country in West Africa due to policy consistency by successive governments.

He noted that the world today faces some significant challenges in terms of looking at the trend of increase in energy demand with increase of about 50 to 60 per cent in the next 30 to 35 year.

Follow these reports on leadership.ng/business

L-R: Minister of state, federal ministry of finance, Amb. Bashir Yuguda; managing director, Bank of Industry, Mr Rasheed Olaoluwa; former president of manufacturer association of Nigeria (MAN), Chief Kola Jamodu, and president, Dangote Group, Alh Aliko Dangote, during the 42nd annual general meeting of MAN held in Lagos. PHOTOBY BENEDICT UWALAKA

Fuel Scarcity Looms Over Imminent Nationwide Oil Workers’ Strike

.....NNPC reacts

By Juliet Alohan, Abuja

The nation may be heading for another round of fuel scarcity following plans by workers of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to embark on an industrial action if the management of the Corporation failed to heed their requests.

The workers are among other issues, requesting the management to broker an agreement with them on how it intends to adequately fund the in-house pension fund operated by the Corporation.

The development follows the withdrawal of the licence to operate the said in-house pension fund by the National Pension Commission (PenCom), LEADERSHIP has learnt.

It was learnt that as at December 31, 2012, the deficit in the pension scheme was N133.56 billion.

The workers which gave 12am midnight deadline to the management of NNPC are set to down tools starting from 1am midnight if the issue was not resolved by then.

A text message sent to journalists yesterday by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) warned that the workers would down-tools if the 12am midnight deadline it gave to the management of the NNPC was not met.

Apart from requesting the NNPC management to furnish them with funding plans for the staff pension, the oil workers are also demanding the commencement of the planned Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of

the refineries as well as restoration of crude supply to the refineries.

“Demands are approval and adequate funding of the pension system, embarking on TAM of refineries and restoration of crude supply to refineries,” PENGASAN said in the text message LEADERSHIP gathered that PenCom’s decision to withdraw the license of NNPC Pension Fund Limited was based on allegations that the company have overtime failed to meet up with extant requirements in its operation of the fund.

In the letter which was addressed to the group managing director of NNPC by the acting director-general of PenCom, Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, the commission stated its knowledge of NNPC’s unwillingness to comply with extant provisions in the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2004.

It stated that it had in 2006 granted the NNPC temporary approval to operate the Pension Fund as a Close Pension Fund Administrator (CPFA), pending compliance of guidelines to be issued by the provision of the PRA 2004.

The letter dated September 8, 2014, also highlighted the conditions upon which the operational approval was granted to the NNPC, conditions it said the Corporation has failed to meet, consequently resulting in the withdrawal of the license.

In the letter, PenCom cited Section 50 (1) (g) of the PRA and clause (b) (i) of the approval conditions which provide that the scheme shall be fully funded at all times and that any shortfall shall be made up within 90 days.

The letter further stated that the “NNPC has breached this condition considering that the scheme has remained in deficits since inception in 2006.”

NNPC Reacts The NNPC in a statement last night by its spokesman Ohi Alegbe, said that in a fresh directive dated 15 September, 2014, “PENCOM stated that the Commission had granted the NNPC a transition period of 12 months within which to ensure full compliance with the provisions of the PRA 2014.”

Consequently, the corporation appealed to the leadership of the industrial unions to exercise restraint while it embarks on extensive engagement with PENCOM to resolve the issues.

It noted that NNPC Pension Fund Limited has complied with the provisions of the PRA 2014, by transferring assets in equities, bonds, certificates of deposits and other marketable securities to the custody of Pension Funds Administrators (PFAs) for management as directed by PENCOM since 2006.

The corporation further called on members of the public to avoid panic buying over the strike action threat.

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

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Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Private Sector Investments In Agriculture Hit $5bn

By Ruth Tene Natsa, Abuja

As the agriculture transformation agenda of the federal government gains world acclaim, the minister of agriculture and rural development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, has said that the Nigerian agriculture has attracted $5.6 billion private sector-driven investments between 2011 to 2014.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda Policy Working Group in Abuja yesterday, he said, “The private sector has woken up to see agriculture as the new wealth sector.”

According to Akinwumi, “Between 2011 and 2014, the agriculture sector attracted over $5.6 billion of private sector investments – a record anywhere in Africa – including the recent decision by Dangote to invest $1 billion in commercial rice production in Nigeria – the largest ever single investment in food production in Africa.

“Due to the agricultural transformation agenda, Nigeria’s food import bill

declined from $6.9 billion in 2009 to $4.34 billion by the end of 2013, reducing foreign exchange deficits.

Between 2011 and 2014, national food production expanded by an additional 21 million metric tons of food, surpassing the 20 million metric tons of food production target set for 2015.”

The minister further stated that there has been a huge decrease on Nigeria’s food import bill following the ongoing agricultural transformation agenda.

Speaking on the current drive in agriculture, the minister noted that with the Nigerian IncentiveBased Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) of the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) has reduced the risk in banks’ lending for farmers and increased the lending rate to farmers “The Central Bank of Nigeria’s NIRSAL facility to reduce the risk of lending to agriculture is working.

Banks are lending to agriculture today more than ever before. The share of lending to agriculture as a

share of total bank lending expanded from about 2 per cent in 2011 to 5 per cent by 2013.

“Bank lending to seed companies and agro-input dealers expanded from $10 million in 2012 to $53 million in 2013, while bank lending to fertiliser companies expanded from $100 million in 2012 to $500 million by 2014.”

Earlier in his address, the chief economic adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr Nwanze Okidegbe, said that ATA was focused on modernising agriculture and raising agricultural productivity.

He also added ATA was set at “improving input supply and marketing, stimulating private sector investments to unlock and embarking on reforms and policies to create enabling environment and incentives for the private sector.”

In his response, the Chairman of the Policy Working Group, Prof Olu Ajakaiye thanked the minister for the opportunity and also pledged commitment to service.

Ajaokuta Steel Coy Commences Production

BY SAM EGWU, Lokoja

Ajaokuta Steel company worker weekend commenced the production of rods.

The steel company established by the Shehu Shagari administration on June 18, 1981 has been operating on skeletal services due to the near abandonment of the project by past administrations, a situation which made the management of the company to be traversing from one private consultancy to the other.

But the current operator of the company, Reprom Nigeria Ltd in its bid to make a difference over

the weekend ordered for some tons of billets, a major raw component for the mass production of rods and angle bars.

Conducting news men round the plant, the managing director of Reprom Nigeria Ltd, Mr Attah Achimugu, said with the arrival of billets, the rolling mills which have been abandoned for years would now bounce back to life as it would be used to produce large- scale of rods and angle bars for domestic and export purposes While lighting the furnace, Achimugu said his company had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the

ministry of mines and development in March 2013, to render technical services to the company He said the MoU was centrally to reactivate the thermal power plant and the Light Mill section of the company, and stressed that with the arrival of the billets and lighting of the furnace, the steel company was now ready for full production He said his company would need at least 1000 metric tonnes of billet to enable them effectively take off, while the steel company was expected to generate over 400,000 assorted finished products annually when completed.

FCMB Educates SMEs On International Trade

BY Bukola Idowu, Lagos

First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Limited at the weekend organised a customer forum on international trade business for its customers and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as a way of addressing challenges businesses face in international trade.

Speaking at the forum in Lagos, deputy managing director of FCMB, Mr Segun Odusanya, stressed the need for providing an avenue for customers to highlight issues they have within the system in an interactive way by closing the gap between customers and regulatory bodies.

He noted that the “customer forum is another way

we demonstrate just how much we value our customers and our eagerness to provide solutions that contribute positively to their business and their lives,” pointing out that, “our alignment with the Customs Service in organising the forum was in a bid to help identify and address issues within international trade.”

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Tuesday, September 16, 2014

INVITATION TO ATTEND YEAR 2014 ANNUAL STRATEGIC PLANNING WORKSHOP OF TERTIARY EDUCATION TRUST FUND (TETFUND) BENEFITTING INSTITUTIONS IN NIGERIA The Board of Trustees, Management and Staff of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) wish to inform the general public that the Fund is organizing a two (2) day 2014 Annual Strategic Planning Workshop for Vice-Chancellors, Rectors, Provosts and other Principal Officers of TETFund benefitting Federal and State Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education.

The objective of the workshop is to review previous interventions in benefitting institutions and deliberate on the focus and guidelines for the implementation of the Year 2014 intervention.

The workshop will also deliberate on the issue of unaccessed allocations with a view to addressing the problems associated with accessing TETund intervention funds, as well as present the intervention budget for the year 2014.

The Workshop which is to be declared open by the Honourable Minister of Education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, is scheduled to hold as follows:

DATE

Tuesday, 16th September, 2014 Tuesday, 16th September, 2014 Wednesday, 17th September, 2014

VENUE

1. Technical Session Nigerian National Merit House, Maitama, Abuja 2. Continuation of Workshop National Universities Commission (NUC) Maitama, Abuja National Universities Commission (NUC) Maitama, Abuja

TIME 9.30 a.m prompt 2:00 p.m prompt

9:30 a.m prompt

All invited participants should please endeavour to attend.

TETFund... fulfilling its resolve to continue to positively transform Nigeria’s tertiary education system.

Signed: Management Tertiary Education Trust Fund

No. 6, Zambezi Crescent, Off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja Website: www.tetfund.gov.ng Tel.: 07098818818, 07098818817

18 BUSINESS/FEATURE

top story

Tuesday, September 16,

1.3m

Over 1.3 million individuals and 1,350businesses use Paga to pay or get paid

Faces Behind Mobile Money And How The introduction of mobile money system is expected to eliminate the rigours of cheque writing, visiting banks and restriction of access to services only during the banking hours while making banking services available to many who are not currently banked. CHIMA AKWAJA and BUKOLA IDOWU examine the concept and how it would impact on users.

Mobile money or mobile payment involves the use of mobile phone or personal digital assistant for initiation or confirmation of payment transactions. It supports ‘person to person {P2P)’ transfers with immediate availability of funds for the beneficiary.

Operating a bank-led and nonbank-led mobile money system, the Central Bank of Nigeria had licensed banks as well as payment solution companies to operate in the Nigerian mobile money sphere. Some of the operators are Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, Ecobank Nigeria Plc, and Fortis MFB, UBA/ Afripay, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc/ MTN and First Bank of Nigeria Plc. Others are Pagatech, Paycom, M-Kudi, Chams, Eartholeum, E-Tranzact and Monitise.

Pagatech Pagatech, one of the mobile money companies in Nigeria was founded in 2009, and received full operationallicense from the CBN in February 2011. Over 1.3 million individuals and 1,350businesses use Paga to pay or get paid. The company currently has a network of over 4,500 agents in 29 states.

The company is being run by Tayo Oviosu, the founder and chief executive of the company, who has over 12 years of experience in

Alastair Lukies, CEO Monitise

Emefiele, CBN Governor

a variety of technical and business roles in high-tech and private equity As one of the early mobile companies in the country, Paga has been able to gain the confidence of many investors within and outside the country who are represented on its five-man board. Investors in the company include Acumen Fund, Adlevo Capital,Capricorn Investment Group, Goodwell West Africa, Omidyar Network and angelinvestor, Tim Draper, with the latest addition of the former chairman ofGoldman Sachs Asset Management and chief economist, Jim O’Neill.

On the board of Paga is Ngozi Edozien, who is currently the head of Actis West Africa based in Lagos, Nigeria, a leading private equity investor in emerging markets which has been investing exclusively in these markets for nearly 60 years. At Actis, Edozien, an investment banker with over 15 years experience, is responsible for all aspects of Actis’ private equity business in West Africa.

Actis is currently invested in a number of companies in West Africa including: Diamond Bank, Mouka Foam, UAC, and Exoro (Seven Energy).

Also on the board is Rotimi Olaniyan, accomplished marketing professional with over 25 years of experience covering brand management, field sales, market research, new product development and integrated marketing communications with work and short project experience in five countries, he is recognised as one of Nigeria‘s leading marketing services providers

Demola Aladekomo, MD Chams

with strong credentials in the BTL space.

Tokunboh Ishmael, a chartered financial analyst, is the managing partner at Alitheia Capital and Goodwell West Africa, and the managing director of Avante Capital Limited. She has advised on a number of acquisitions in the oil and gas sector including the acquisition and financing of a government owned refinery and led the first secondary listing of a Nigerian company on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

Tani Fafunwa the managing director of Resourcery Plc, one of the leading systems integrator in Nigeria also sits on the board of Paga. From complex local area networks to hardware and software, data security solutions, Resourcery provides innovative business solutions to customers that include most of the blue chip organizations in the finance, energy, manufacturing and services industries.

Yemi Lalude is the founder and managing partner of Adlevo Capital, a private equity firm focused on investments into technology−enabled companies across sub−Saharan Africa. He currently represents Adlevo Capital on the boards of Interswitch and Paga. e-Transact e-Transact, which owns Pocketmoni was launched in September2003, and is presently in partnership with 70 universities in Nigeria, government parastatals, banks, ICT, aviation to mention a few.

Today, e-Tranzact has evolved

into a brand with global reach. The company is quoted company on the Nigerian Stock Exchange with a fully paid up capital of 4.2 billion shares. The e-Tranzact platform is Nigeria’s first award winning multi-application and multichannel electronic transaction switching and payment processing system. e-Tranzact is currently being run

by Valentine Obi, its managing director and chief executive. Obi the founder of the company, has a extensive experience in Information Technology industry and has served in various capacities both locally and internationally. E-Tranzact partners with 21banks in the country.

Monitise Monitise Plc, a United Kingdom company listed on the London Stock Exchange was among the companies granted mobile money license by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). A world leader in Mobile Money - banking, paying and buying with a mobile device, Monitise was founded in 2003 when its chief executive Alastair Lukies saw the potential of using the mobile phone for more than simply a text or call. He wanted to link banks and mobile operators, thereby empowering consumers to manage their finances or make payments directly from their mobile, anytime, anywhere.

With operations in the UK, the US, Turkey, India, Hong Kong and Indonesia, Monitise provides services to more than 350 financial institutions and other leading brands globally.

Cash transfers are often sent to groups of people in multiple locations, and it can be easier to reach them via mobile than to bring them together in one place. It is also easier to track payments if they are sent electronically, which can reduce corruption and increase confidence

FEATURE /BUSINESS 19

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

4.5%

African airlines reported growth of 4.9 per cent, with capacity rising 4.5 per cent, following an improved load factor of 70.2 per cent, the continent’s August report would be impacted hugely by the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

215

Omobola Johnson, ICT Minister

The company has 30 million users and strategic partnerships with Visa Incorporated, Visa Europe, RBSGroup, Telefonica Digital and FIS to develop and deliver Mobile Money services, processing four billion mobile transactions annually to the value of $88billion.

On its board are chairman and nonexecutive director, Peter Ayliffe, Elizabeth Buse, chief executive Monitise Group; deputy chief executive and chief commercial officer, Lee Cameron; chief financial officer, Brad Petzer; senior independent nonexecutive director, David Dey. The company has five independent non-executive directors comprising Colin Tucker, Sushovan Hussain, Tim Wade, Amanda Burton and Paulette Garafalo, while Tom Houghton serves on its board as a non-executive director representing the interests of Visa where he works.

Chams Chams Plc, one of Nigeria’s leading information communication technology and identity management company owns both Chams Mobile and Paymaster, both of which are licensed mobile money companies in Nigeria.

Chams Mobile Limited and Paymaster were awarded mobile money licenses by the Central Bank of Nigeria in 2012.

Until recently, Chams Mobile was fully owned by Chams Plc however, Chams’ board agreed strategy to focus on its core business of identity management, but retains a minority shareholding in Chams Mobile and will continue to provide the benefits of its existing business and relationships to support Chams Mobile and ensure profitability.

M-Kudi Another mobile money company is M-Kudi Nigeria Limited which was

established in 2009 for the exclusive purpose of providing Mobile Money Transfer Services to the Nigerian Public. M-Kudi operates in partnership with a Californian based payment company, Emida.

M-Kudi which is using Emida’s world class top up and mobile wallet enterprise payments suite, began building its agent network in January 2011, boasts of over 10,000 customers and plans more than 20,000 agents by2014. The company expects eight million users of its mobile payments services within the next two years.

Richard Akerele, is the chairman of M-Kudi.

M-Kudi allows both unbanked and banked personnel to send money via their mobile device across Nigeria.

This channel enables end users to transact electronic Person to Person payments, payment for goods and services, and airtime purchase. Since going live, M-kudi has been building its partner network to include banks, telecommunication operators and a robust, trustworthy Agent Network.

Eartholeum Eartholeum Networks Limited is an innovative Nigerian based international e-business company that was set up in 2004 and owns QikQik, a Nigerian-grown world class mobile payment ecosystem. The company is run by Adebola Adeyinka as chief executive, who was formerly head of corporate banking at Fidelity Bank Plc. How Mobile Money Is Changing Lifestyles Nigeria, banks and non bank-led Mobile Money Operators (MMO) are partnering with telecom companies such as Globacom, MTN, Airtel, Etisalat and Visafone and they have

4.2bn

Africa was represented by 215 participants at the Internet Governance Forum which witnessed a total of 2,374 on-site participants

different short codes for transaction.

Wallet-based MM services are popular in most markets. This is a wallet that exists on your phone that stores eMoney.

There is also Over The Counter (OTC) services are also in existence. This is where no wallet is used and users must visit an agent to perform transactions.

The third is Agent Networks which are extensively used by both servicetypes to reach the end-user. Existing Technologies such as USSD, SIM Toolkit or Smartphone Apps are used to perform transactions and debit/ credit balances.

An example of MM registration is First Monie implemented by First Bank.

FirstMonie Mobile account can be open in three ways from the comfort of your room. (1) From your mobile phone, dial *894# with your Airtel, Glo, Etislat or MTN line. Then follow the prompt. Create your secret security four digit pin and key in this pin each time you want to transact any business using your FirstMonie account.

2) You can visit http://www. firstmonie.com/imobile from your computer or mobile phone and register. 3) If you are using blackberry, iPhone, or Android phone, you can download FirstMonie App from Blackberry world, App store and Google Play stores.

Immediately after your account opening, your account balance will be zero naira. Funding your mobile account can be in three different ways.

• Via registered FirstMonie Agent near you who will collect cash from you and send the cash to your FirstMonie account. You then receive sms notification saying that your account has been funded. You can dial *894# to check your balance.

• Via ATM: Visit any First bank ATM, insert your card and pin, select “send money” option.

Select “To mobile phone” option.

Enter your First Monie account Number (which is your mobile phone number), Enter amount and confirm.

• Via First Bank Account: here, you need to first of all visit any first bank Branch and fill a mandate form that will link your First Bank Account with First Monie Account. After that dial *894#, select “First Bank Services” then “load Money from Bank “ option.

Sending money to someone in a rural area requires the presence of MM Agent who provides physical cash to the recipient subscriber for cashing out.

How it works: The MNO works with a Partner Bank to offer the service.

e-Tranzact is quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange with a fully paid up capital of billion shares.

•

MNO selects and recruits agents for their MM network.

• MNO starts a Mobile Money marketing campaign.

• Agent 1 goes to bank and buys eMoney with cash.

• Subscriber 1 registers for service.

• Subscriber 1 performs cash-in at Agent 1, converting cash to eMoney.

• Subscriber 1 now has eMoney to perform transactions i.e. a P2P transfer.

• Subscriber 2 receives the message and performs a cash-out at Agent 2.

Using MM To Pay For Goods and Services at Merchant E-commerce websites can integrate Mobile Money Weblink into their shopping cart software.

Customer choose to pay via Mobile Money for the goods and services from participating merchants. Customer gives merchant his/her mobile number via phone, fax, email etc.

Merchant can bill the customer via IVR, Mobile Money website or SMS. When merchant requests for payment with customer’s mobile number, Mobile Money sends an SMS with a Bill Reference Number to customer requesting customer to to reply with their 6-Digit Security PIN to approve the payment.

Customer authorizes payment by replying the SMS with the Bill Reference Number and customer’s 6-digit SECURITY PIN. Mobile Money authenticates customer’s SECURITY PIN and requests for bank approval on transaction.

Upon receipt of bank’s confirmation to debit customer’s mobile credit account or mobile Debit account, Mobile Money will send a payment notification with details to merchant as well as customer.

Merchant can deliver the goods / services.

Benefits For Financial Inclusion There are many reasons to be excited about mobile phones as a way to distribute cash transfers, such as government payments or NGO cash-for-work programs. First, cash transfers are often sent to groups of people in multiple locations, and it can be easier to reach them via mobile than to bring them together in one place.

It is also easier to track payments if they are sent electronically, which can reduce corruption and increase confidence that the right amount of money ends up with the right individuals. A third possible benefit is that relying on a network of mobile money agents who already handle cash will increase security over creating new systems for transporting cash.

20 BUSINESS/CUSTOMS

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Accessing Customs OwnerOccupier Housing Scheme

For any workforce, the provision of suitable residential houses will not only enhance their standard of living but also enable efficiency, productivity and output in carrying out the objectives of the organisation.

It was on this basis that the comptroller-general of customs (CGC), Abdullahi Dikko, on assumption of office in 2009, recognised the need to improve the welfare of officers and men of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) through his six-point agenda.

One of the ways of tackling the welfare enhancement programme for officers and men of the service was the development of an initiative to expand existing quarters to accommodate more families and also to build an owner-occupier housing scheme for officers in all cadres of the service.

In keeping to his promise to enhance the welfare scheme of officers in the NCS, Dikko has kick-started an owner-occupier housing scheme for both senior and junior officers of the service.

Beginning with the official commissioning of the Goodluck Jonathan senior staff quarters in Kuje in 2011 and the expansion of the Karu and Karimo Customs Quarters, all in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and subsequently, the renovation of quarters across the commands, the service developed a fresh plan to construct 5,000 units of fully furnished houses across the country which would all be on owner-occupier basis.

The pilot project of the scheme, which aims to enhance the productivity and output of officers, will deliver 500 units of various types of houses at Kagini, also within the FCT. Kabusa District and the Aviation

customs focus

Village, both located within the FCT, are listed areas for expansion under the scheme in Abuja, with a view to ensuring By juliet alohan that officers across all cadres in the FCT get to own their personal houses under the after owner-occupier scheme. Lagos, retirement, Port Harcourt and Ibadan are every officer also included in the phase one will have a place of the project. However, the for himself,” service management have also Dikko stated scheduled plans to ensure that during the officers and men serving in all ceremony of the states of the federation are not Kagini housing left out of the scheme. Akure, scheme last year.

Kaduna and Uyo are to follow Explaining in the second phase with further details plans to roll in other states of on how the the federation to benefit in initiative came subsequent phases. about, the head Speaking during the ground of welfare unit at breaking ceremony of the the NCS, Ibrahim Kagini scheme, the CGC Mohammed, appealed to state governors to said that at cooperate with the service by the inception assisting with the provision of Dikko’s of suitable land that will administration, enable customs officers in the management their various states benefit team sought Dikko from the scheme. Dikko ways to solve the further noted at the ceremony problems that had that the project was going project, a 500 housing unit, will bedevilled the service for years. to be undertaken through be strictly for the junior officers, According to him, interactions partnership with mortgage even as he disclosed that with officers and men of the financiers. He informed that another 500 will also be built in service with a view to finding the Coop Investment and Kabusa for lower cadre officers out what their major challenges Saving Microfinance Bank as well. were revealed that one of their and Shelter Afrique, a Kenya“When we took over in 2009, basic needs was housing. based organisation, would part of our six-point agenda “They complained that after be providing funding for the was welfare and I believe that is spending many years at the housing project. He explained what we are witnessing today. service, most of our retired that both companies have President Goodluck Jonathan officers do not even own any volunteered to pay for the cost laid the foundation for the first place to live. So this made the of the houses which will later one in 2010 at Kuje. Today, management to bring up an be gradually deducted from the I am here to lay the second owner-occupier housing scheme salaries of the officers in such a foundation for the housing so that officers could own their way that would not significantly scheme for the junior officers. own houses while concentrating impact on their take home pay.

To own a house is to own a on the job,” Mohammed Repayment is expected to be world. explained. spread out across a period of “This is further to show that On eligibility to own a house time as would be convenient for the management is behind them under the scheme, he explained the officers. to ensure their welfare and that all officers of the service Dikko stated that the Kagini wellbeing so that immediately are qualified to own houses

under the scheme once they are members of the NCS cooperative society.

He added, however, that it is subject to officers’ ability to obtain and fill the forms and also pay 30 per cent of the cost of the houses. “Once you are able to pay or save towards it, you are automatically eligible to be handed over the keys to your own apartment,” he said.

Also speaking at the ceremony, the managing director, Coop Savings, Mr Ayinde Tukur, assured of his company’s ability to deliver the project, noting that the company has been in the business of mortgage delivery for over 20 years. He reiterated that the company offers quality and affordable housing with ease of payment through provision of mortgage facilities.

Tukur explained that “the scheme is one of collaboration between Coop Savings and Loans, the Nigeria Customs Service and Shelter Afrique to deliver 500 units of high quality and affordable housing to its junior staffs in all locations.

“This is the pilot stage, starting off with 120 units of two and three bedroom terrace houses at Kagini and Kabusa layout, FCT, Abuja,” he said.

The take-off of the Kagini junior officers housing scheme is, therefore, a testament to the fulfilment of the promise of enhanced welfare package as captured in the Dikkoled administration’s sixpoint agenda. The service management, under the leadership of Dikko, had in less than nine months of assuming the leadership of the NCS provided 165 housing units in Kuje in Abuja, Okokomaiko in Lagos and in Kano for senior officers of the service.

Cape Verde Benefits From WCO Capacity Building Programme The World Customs Organisation (WCO) has taken its capacity building support mission to Praia, Cape Verde, with a view to building the capacities of a critical mass of Cape Verde Customs Administration (CVCA) officers to enable them successfully and sustainably engage with their stakeholders.

The programme is under the auspices of the WCO West African Customs Administrations Modernisation (WACAM) project which is being funded by Sweden.

The Cape Verde Customs administration, through the programme, seeks to develop a stakeholder engagement strategy and build the necessary competencies to effectively engage with stakeholders according to best practices.

About 20 officers from the CVCA who benefited from the programme have enhanced their consultations, negotiation and conflict-resolution skills through interactive on-site workshops. It is expected that the knowledge

gathered by these officers would be passed on to their colleagues.

As planned in its new stakeholder engagement strategy, the CVCA’s aim to improve its relations with customs brokers consequently resulted in the launch of its first ever official formal working group with customs brokers, major importers, port authority and the fiscal police.

This was achieved with the conduct of a two-day consultation on issues related to compliance

levels with customs procedures and the access to the Port of Praia.

At the end of the consultation, all stakeholders committed to action plans to support the establishment of a Customs Brokers Association and to better control the access to the Port of Praia.

It is worth noting that the WACAM project was set up to provide support to West African Customs administrations in the area of stakeholder engagement, resource mobilisation and

human resources management.

The project is currently in the full implementation phase, providing specifically tailored support to member countries to achieve progress in these areas of development.

“This successful mission is yet another embodiment of the WACAM project’s commitment to support the modernisation efforts of member administrations in West Africa,” a statement on the WCO website stated

aviation/BUSINESS 21

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

aviation REPORTS

KLM Re-strategises To Boost Growth Air France-KLM has pledged to lift its core earnings by up to 10 per cent a year until 2017 as part of a new strategic plan, combining an increased activity on the European leisure market with efforts to improve its appeal to long-haul passengers.

The airline which is facing a double threat from European low-cost rivals and fast-growing long-haul carriers in the Gulf, said the new ‘PERFORM 2020’ package would include a mixture of restructuring and new investment.

It comes on top of its Transform 2015 turnaround plan, which the airline said was on course to deliver more than £1 billion (about $1.29 billion) in savings.

The new plan calls for further reductions in unit costs of 1 to 1.5 per cent a year, maintaining the average pace of cuts in 2012 to 2014, according to slides presented to investors.

Despite delivering on previous targets, Air France-KLM said more belt-tightening is needed to confront low-cost rivals easyJet and Ryanair in Europe, while trying to compete against fast-growing Gulf carriers on longer routes.

The remodelled Yola Airport

Aviation Bodies Offer Career Opportunities To Aviation Professionals Stories by Nkem osuagwu, Lagos

The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), in partnership with the International Air Transport Association (IATA), and Airports Council International (ACI) are inviting applications for the second round of its Young Aviation Professionals Programme.

Through this collaborative programme, spearheaded by the ICAO, three young aviation professionals will be offered career development opportunities in Montréal, Canada.

The programme aims to attract young talented

professionals who have advanced university qualifications, supplemented with a minimum of two years professional working experience in aviationrelated regulatory activities and/or in the aviation industry.

During the selection process, due consideration will be given to gender and geographic diversity.

“This 12-month long programme is unique as it will allow the officers to advance their knowledge and understanding of the global civil aviation system within a United Nations international regulatory body, the airline and airport industries,”

This 12-month long programme is unique as it will allow the officers to advance their knowledge and understanding of the global civil aviation system

said ICAO’s Bureau of Administration and Services director, Fang Liu. The selected ICAO candidates will be expected to contribute to the ICAO’s work programmes related to aviation safety, air navigation capacity and efficiency, or to air transport economics and aero-political issues, focusing on interrelationships between regulatory activities of the ICAO and those in the airline and airport industries in IATA and ACI, respectively.

Each young aviation professional will be guided throughout the programme by an ICAO subject-matter expert.

Global Passenger Traffic Shows Strong Growth in July International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released statistics that showed that global passenger traffic results for July showed a demand growth of 5.3 per cent over the previous July.

However, the global body said though African airlines reported growth of 4.9 per cent, with capacity rising 4.5 per cent, following an improved load factor of 70.2 per cent, the continent’s August report would be impacted hugely by the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

“The biggest factor impacting international traffic demand in July was the slowdown of the South African economy. The Ebola outbreak in West Africa intensified towards the end of July, the impact of which will likely be seen in August,” stated IATA .

Globally, capacity expanded exactly in tandem with demand (5.3 per cent), resulting in a global load factor of 82.3 per cent, unchanged from last year.

“July was another strong month of growth for air travel. People are connecting by air in ever greater numbers. That’s true across all regions.

Despite the various economic challenges, the outlook for passenger travel remains broadly positive. The overall sluggishness at the beginning of the year appears to be behind us with growth in China and other emerging economies offsetting recent deterioration in the Eurozone,” said the IATA director-general and CEO, Tony Tyler.

European carriers reported growth of 5.3 per cent in July compared to a year ago. Capacity expanded slightly more aggressively at 5.6 per cent, but the region still reported a very high load factor of 85.1 per cent.

Dana Air, Akwa Ibom Partner On Tourism Summit Dana Air which recently recommenced scheduled flight operations to Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, has been designated as the official partner airline of the first Akwa Ibom State Tourism Summit 2014 scheduled for September 17 and 18, 2014, at the Ibom e-library.

The Akwa Ibom Tourism Summit seeks to develop historic sites within the state as well as showcase the rich

cultural and tourism potential that are located across the state. Also, the summit will further project Akwa Ibom to occupy a place of pride in the global tourist map by attracting visitors from within and outside Nigeria to experience the unique tourists’ attractions bequeathed by nature to Uyo and its environs.

Dana Air will, by virtue of its designation, offer convenient means

of transportation to all expected guests with online fares starting from N9,000. The partnership is a further re-affirmation of Dana Air’s commitment towards an accelerated tourism development in Nigeria as the airline has been in the vanguard of air transport development through its concerted efforts as reviewing and introducing capacity to better serve the market.

Speaking on the potential of the summit, the chief commercial officer of Dana Air, Mr Obi Mbanuzuo, said, “Accessibility and tourism are synonymous and the designation of Dana as the official airline partner of the maiden edition of the summit will further accelerate the pace of growth so far recorded in the state, especially the commendable global recognition

that some historic sites and monuments have achieved under the current administration.”

Mbanuzuo further noted that Akwa Ibom has served as a remarkable symbol of unity and pride and Dana Air will continue to provide reliable and convenient means of transport to guests across its existing route network within Nigeria.

22 E-Business/BUSINESS

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

E-business REPORTS

ATCON Seeks Roadmap For Telecom Industry

Telecommunication mast

FG Pledges Five-fold Increase In Broadband Infrastructure

by Chima Akwaja, Lagos

The minister of communication technology, Dr Omobola Johnson, has said the federal government is committed to a five-fold increase in ubiquitous broadband infrastructure that would facilitate innovation and entrepreneurship in Nigeria.

She stated this during a panel discussion on ‘Policies Enabling Access, Growth and Development on the Internet’ at the 9th Internet Governance Forum (IGF) held in Istanbul, Turkey, last week.

The IGF is an annual forum where all stakeholders come together to discuss issues that impact on the development and governance of the internet.

The 9th annual forum with the theme, ‘Connecting Continents for Enhanced Multi-stakeholder Internet Governance’ drew participants from across the globe.

Africa was represented by 215 participants at the IGF which which witnessed a total of 2,374 onsite participants and 1,163 remote participants from Africa, civil societies, Asia Pacific, governments, Eastern Europe, intergovernmental organisations, the private sector, Latin America and the Caribbean, the technical community, Western Europe and others.

The minister disclosed that Nigeria has unveiled a National Broadband Plan and is currently implementing it to increase

broadband penetration in the country by a five-fold increase over the 2012 penetration rate by 2017. Nigeria is pushing for an increase in broadband penetration to facilitate innovation and enable a digitalised economy.

Johnson noted that countries with a higher broadband penetration experience greater innovation because it is an enabler that fuels innovation and does so exponentially.

She said that in recognition of the huge potential of ICTs to create a developed economy, Nigeria, as an emerging market, is applying and promoting an ICT strategy in all facets geared at facilitating its rapid growth and development. Nigeria, she said, is aggressively developing its ICT sector to drive national development in all sectors – agriculture, manufacturing, health, education, etc.

She identified the inadequate power infrastructure as one of the key challenges impeding deployment of communications infrastructure in Nigeria but stressed that the President Goodluck Jonathan administration was working to address the issue of inadequate power supply.

Expected benefits of broadband penetration in Nigeria include economic and social development leading to increased healthcare, education and literacy, security and safety, etc. as well as more efficient and effective economic activities that accelerate growth.

Countries with a higher broadband penetration experience greater innovation because it is an enabler that fuels innovation and does so exponentially

The telecom regulatory agency, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), had in February this year, auctioned the 2.3GHz spectrum licence which was won by Bitflux Communications. The NCC assigned one slot of 30MHz nationally available in the 2.3 GHz band for the delivery of broadband wireless access service at the wholesale level to provide ISP’s and other Retail Telecoms Service Providers with the requisite bandwidth to service their subscribers.

This wholesale broadband provider will have the required spectrum to expand wireless broadband access across the country to ISPs and other Retail Telecoms Service Providers for the provision of retail high speed internet access services.

Nigeria also plans to licence seven companies as broadband infrastructure companies (InfraCos) in Lagos and the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria.

The proposed InfraCos will roll out a national fibre optic network for broadband to boost highspeed internet services across Nigeria. They are expected to aggregate fibre optic links of other existing operators and will also get a one-off subsidy from government. The idea is to have a neutral wholesale provider of fibre optic which is part of the government initiatives to achieve the Next Generation Broadband Network (NBN) in Nigeria.

The Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) is set to drag telecommunications executives and the industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commmission (NCC) to a brainstorming session on burning issues in the telecom industry.

The event, tagged ‘Nigeria’s Telecoms Executives and Regulator’s Forum’ which will be held on October 9, 2014, in Lagos, is open to all telecom operators and is designed to create an opportunity for key industry players to interact with the regulator, with the aim of building a continual good working relationship.

It is also aimed at creating a platform for the regulator to update the industry on its directions and plans for the industry in the coming years.

Furthermore, the forum is designed as a veritable platform for the regulator to receive feedback from the industry with a view to understanding the challenges and prospects industry players have to grapple with and explore to ensure sustained growth of the industry.

120 Teachers Acquire UNESCO, Microsoft IT Certifications About 120 teachers from Doregos Private Academy and St Bernadette School in Nigeria are in the process of becoming the first schools in Nigeria and Africa to get certified in the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Standard, Digital Literacy and Microsoft certifications.

This is towards preparing students for the new academic session with 21st century skills which they will need in a world where technology is prevalent and quickly changing.

The teachers from the schools will be certified as Microsoft Certified Educators (MCE) and Internet and Computing Core Certified (IC3) professionals.

These certifications differentiate these teachers from Doregos and St Bernadette schools from other teachers in Nigeria and Africa as it gives them a professional edge needed for innovative teaching.

Intel, Microsoft Support e-Curriculum Initiative The Nigeria Education Research and Development Council (NERDC), in partnership with Sidmach Technologies Nigeria Limited, have launched an innovative e-Curriculum that will make educational curriculum both for students and teachers available online.

The innovation, which will be powered by Intel processor and run on Microsoft computer software, was launched last week in Abuja, by the minister of state for education, Nyesom Wike.

The e-Curriculum project is in line with the core mandate of the NERDC which is an agency of the Federal Ministry of Education.

The NERDC is the implementing agency for policies of the ministry in respect of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) and other educational programmes nationwide.

The e-Curriculum solution is a complete teaching and learning tool which helps teachers teach and students learn better, using the NERDC approved curriculum.

science Tuesday, September 16, 2014

23

N160bn

Lagos State Government has had to explain the delay in the completion of the state’s light rail project for which it borrowed N160 billion ($981 million) from the World Bank

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

A lab on fiber uses near-infrared frequencies to detect precise concentrations of chemicals or biological molecules . photo by google

Ebola: NABDA Procures Molecular Laboratory Diagnostic Kits

By Nkechi Isaac, Abuja

The kits imported are for quick molecular diagnosis of any case, even before it blooms into a full blown disease

As the deadly Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) continues to wreak havoc particularly in Liberia and Sierra Leone, the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) has procured molecular laboratory diagnostic kits for the rapid and effective detection of the virus in Nigeria.

The director-general of NABDA, Prof. Lucy Ogbadu, disclosed this at a workshop on molecular diagnosis and treatment for hemorrhagic and zoonotic viral diseases in Abuja, saying the agency got the kits made up of primers and props from its South Korean counterparts for the effective detection of the Ebola virus.

“The kits imported are for quick molecular diagnosis of any case, even before it blooms into a full blown disease. It enables you to do a molecular laboratory diagnosis.

So, if you lay hands on any sample that contains Ebola virus, even before the person falls sick you’ll be able to know that the person is carrying the virus.

“The primers are like having the correct sequence in a zip. You know the DNA is like a zip, if you don’t have the correct starting teeth of the zip, you cannot build on or elongate the zip. So, the primers are tailor-made, designed specifically for the Ebola virus. So, when you have them and match them with Ebola sample it shows positive,” she said.

She explained that NABDA had earlier sequenced a genome and sent it to their genomic partners abroad to develop the primers and the props, even before the importation of the Ebola virus into the country by the Liberian, late Patrick Sawyer.

“As soon as the epidemic broke out in other African countries, we took it upon ourselves to sequence a genome. As soon as the genome was sequenced, we took it upon ourselves to contact our genomic partners abroad to develop the primers and the props and we were already planning on this workshop when the virus arrived at our shores,” she stated.

On the modus operandi of the workshop, Ogbadu said, “it is to

expose our scientists to better understanding about the Ebola virus, the mode of transmission, the signs, the pato-genesis, the epidemiology and everything that will build their capacity for molecular diagnosis of the disease.”

Earlier in his remarks, the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Abdu Bulama, said the primary purpose of the workshop was to train personnel from laboratories in the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in the process of managing the new kits.

Bulama said, “this Ebola virus as we all know is a deadly epidemic but early detection can lead to a very successful elimination of

24

24 SCIENCE/news

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Ebola: NABDA Procures Molecular Laboratory Diagnostic Kits 23

this virus and that is the focus.

That is the strategy. We have about a dozen personnel in the laboratories in the centre and if they are well trained in the use of these kits it can help tremendously in containing the virus. This is the primary objective.

“This workshop is also a symposium for our scientists to tell us the signs of this virus

Reprom Breaks Ajaokuta Steel Jinx

BY SAM EGWU, Lokoja

Ajaokuta Steel company workers weekend jubilated over the commencement of production of rods in the company The steel company established by the Shehu Shagari administration on June 18, 1981had been operating skeletal services due to the near abandonment of the project by past administrations, a situation which saw the management of the company change from one private consultancy company to the other.

But the current operator of the company, Reprom Nigeria Ltd, in its bid to make a difference, over the weekend ordered some tons of billets, a major raw component for the mass production of rods and angle bars.

Conducting newsmen round the plant, the managing director of Reprom Nigeria Ltd, Mr. Attah Achimugu said with the arrival of billets, the rolling mills which had been abandoned for years would bounce back to life as it would now be used for large scale production of rods and angle bars for domestic use and for export purpose.

Achimugu, who lit the furnace, said his company had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Mines and Development in March 2013 to render technical services to the company.

The MOU, according to him, is to reactivate the thermal power plant and the light mill section of the company, adding that with the arrival of the billets and lighting of the furnace, the steel company was ready for full production.

He said his company would need at least 1000 metric tonnes of billet to enable it effectively take off, while the steel company was expected to generate over 400,000 assorted finished products annually when completed.

Top 3 HeadlineS ➊Minister Tasks

By Nkechi Isaac, Abuja

➌Almajirai In

Katsina Undergo Training In Welding

Niger NDE Trains Unemployed Youths On Advance Apprenticeship Bulama

The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has commenced the training of 100 participants under the Advance National Open Apprenticeship Scheme (A-NOAS) in Niger State, even as the directorate has taken skill acquisition trainings to villages.

The Niger State coordinator of NDE, Engr. Abdullahi Babaminim Mohammed who disclosed this in Minna, said the scheme which is under the vocational skills development programme was a follow up training for graduated trainees of the Basic National Open Apprenticeship Scheme (B-NOAS).

He said the main objective of A-NOAS training was to ensure that graduated trainees of B-NOAS acquire more professional training in their chosen skills so they could become experts in their fields.

He added that “not everyone that contracts the virus will die.

About 25 to 90 per cent could die, but if you have fewer deaths, that means that your management was good. There are no specific drugs but there are drugs you can use to limit the effect of the virus to the body and those were the drugs we used and if they have good care and good management they can survive.”

Minister Tasks RMRDC On Industrial Linkage

RMRDC On Industrial Linkage ➋ 250-Bed Katsina Orthopedic Hospital Commences Operation

By Abu Nmodu, Minna

Nigerians who survived the disease were given drugs that minimized the effect of the virus in the body.

“They were managed properly according to WHO protocol and standards. We have the lowest fatality rate so far amongst the countries that have the outbreak.

We used drugs and protocols recommended by WHO, that’s how we succeeded,” he stated.

and the options available. As you know, currently there are no vaccines or a drug that’s been developed for the virus even though trial drugs are coming up.

But scientists are talking and new ideas are coming up,” he added.

In a chat with journalists, the project director of the centre, Prof. Abdulsalami Nasidi, said even when there was no specific antidote or treatment for Ebola,

The Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Abdu Bulama, has challenged the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) on linking research and developmental activities and the abundant raw materials in Nigeria with the industrial sector.

The minister gave the challenge when he received board members of the council, led by its chairman, Senator Wali Jubrin, who paid him a courtesy visit in his office in Abuja, saying that the success of the transformation agenda hinged on cooperation between the private sector and other sectors in the country.

He said, “the success of the transformation agenda of government would be further sustained when the raw material research and development council is able to consolidate a seamless relationship with the organised private sector in the harnessing and utilization of the massive and abundant raw materials available in the country.”

According to him, there is no reason why all industrial concerns in the country should still be importing most of their raw materials in spite of the tremendous work and effort which the council has expected in research and development. ‘’Raw material research and development is fundamentally the

250-bed Katsina Orthopedic Hospital Commences Operation

By Muazu Elazeh, Katsina

The multi million naira Katsina orthopedic hospital has commenced full operation, making the state the first in the whole of the north to construct a state-of-the-art orthopedic hospital.

Leadership correspondent who went to the hospital saw both local

and expatriate medical personnel attending to patients and rendering other medical services.

The 250-bed hospital, it was gathered, could eventually be transformed into a teaching hospital for Umaru Musa Yar’Adua University as it is making arrangement to commence medical courses.

It is expected that the new hos-

N1.4 billion

Delta State government says it has earmarked the sum of N1.4 billion for the upgrading of the radio and television stations in Warri

nucleus of the transformation agenda of government,’’ he added.

Earlier in his remarks, Jubrin intimated the minister with the successes recorded by the council especially in developing and implementable strategic plan geared towards energizing the agency and moving it to the front burner of national development.

A statement by the minister’s chief press secretary, Taye Akinyemi, said the chairman further solicited the support and cooperation of the minister in the council’s effort at making available to Nigerians research outcomes and raw materials that could be utilized by majority in the organized private sector.

pital would decongest the Kanobased Federal Government-owned orthopedic hospital and provide viable alternative for the patrons of of traditional healers and bone setters.

The permanent secretary of the state ministry of health, Dr. Ahmed Qabasiyyu told Leadership four departments in the hospital had commenced full operation, adding at the moment, patients were not being admitted.

He named the departments where full operation have commenced as the out-patient departments, physiotherapy, pharmacy and laboratory, adding that 187 staff members had so far been employed at the hospital.

Almajirai In Katsina Undergo Training In Welding

By MUAZU ELAZEH, Katsina

The Katsina State chapter of the Metal Workers Association, an umbrella union of welders in the state, has commenced the training of 100 almajirai (pupils of Arabic schools) in the state in welding.

The state chairman of the association, Abbati Abdulkarim who disclosed this in a chat with our correspondent said the measure was aimed at supporting current efforts to discourage begging among the almajiri pupils.

Katsina State Gov. Ibrahim Shema

He said the association, in liaison with the office of the senior special assistant to the governor on almajiri affairs, had selected ten almajiri pupils from different schools in Katsina municipal for the pilot training.

“This is the pilot scheme and we have concluded arrangements to train one hundred of such pupils.

The breakdown is that we shall select thirty each from Daura and Funtua senatorial districts and forty from Katsina senatorial district,” he said.

The chairman explained that

the gesture would support the current effort to provide employment opportunity to the youth, adding “upon successful completion of the training, we intend to support them with tools so as to enable them practice the trade.”

“We used different criteria in selecting the beneficiaries including that the person selected must have completed hizib 60 because if you take someone who is barely learning the recitation of quran, the thirst for money may becloud his ability to learn the recitation of Quran,” he noted.

NEWS /SCIENCE 25

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

science

titbits

Compiled by Nkechi Isaac

➏ ➐

➋ ➋ ➌➊ ➎

❹ Astronaut, Cosmonauts Depart Space Station For Earth Two Russian cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut left the International Space Station and headed back to Earth after nearly six months in orbit.

Former station commander Steve Swanson and cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev strapped themselves inside the Russian Soyuz capsule that carried them to the station in March and pulled away from the outpost at 7:01 pm as the station soared about 260 miles (418 km) over eastern Mongolia.

–(Reuters)

➍

➊ Nanotechnology To Help Cool Electrons Developed A team of researchers has discovered a way to cool electrons to -228 °C without external means and at room temperature, an advancement that could enable electronic devices to function with very little energy.

A chip, which contains nanoscale structures that enable electron cooling at room temperature, is pictured.

The process involves passing electrons through a quantum well to cool them and keep them from heating.

The team details its research in “Energy-filtered cold electron transport at room temperature,” which is published in Nature Communications.

➋ Double Solar Storms Headed To Earth Raise Disruption Concerns

Top 3 Headlines ➊ Nanotechnol-

ogy To Help Cool Electrons Developed

➋ Researchers Unlock Genetic Code Of CancerCausing Liver Fluke Parasite ➌ Astronaut, Cosmonauts Depart Space Station For Earth

A rare double burst of magnetically charged solar storms will hit Earth Thursday night and Friday, raising concerns that GPS signals, radio communications and power transmissions could be disrupted, officials said.

Individually, the storms, known as coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, wouldn’t warrant special warnings, but their unusual close timing and direct

path toward Earth spurred the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center to issue an alert.

The first CME, which burst from a magnetically disturbed region of the sun on Monday night, should reach Earth Thursday night, center director Thomas Berger told reporters on a conference call.

–(Reuters)

➌ Researchers Unlock

Genetic Code Of CancerCausing Liver Fluke Parasite

An international team of scientists from Singapore, Thailand, China and Australia has cracked the genetic code of the liver fluke parasite, Opisthorchis viverrini, using a unique DNA analysis technique developed at A*STAR’s Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS).

GIS’s DNA analysis technique has allowed the researchers to further study the biology of Opisthorchis viverrini to understand the cause and the eventual development of treatments for bile duct cancer, a condition caused by the parasite.

➏ Molecular Selfassembly Controls Graphene-edge Configuration A research team headed by Prof. Patrick Han and Prof.

Taro Hitosugi at the Advanced Institute of Materials Research (AIMR), Tohoku University discovered a new bottom-up fabrication method that produces defect-free graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) with periodic zigzag-edge regions. This method, which controls GNR growth direction and length distribution, is a stepping stone towards future graphene-device fabrication by self-assembly.

Single-photon sources

➎ Scientists Fabricate Singlephoton Sources In Solid Matter

A breakthrough in quantum information processing was achieved using state-of-the-art diamond growth technology.

A research group led by Junichi Isoya, professor emeritus, University of Tsukuba and Tokuyuki Teraji, principal researcher, Optical and Electron-

ic Materials Unit, NIMS, has successfully fabricated for the first time in the world singlephoton sources of SiV (silicon vacancy) centers -- one of the color centers in diamond during the growth of thin film diamond, which have high purity and crystalline quality -- by

introducing them at extremely low concentrations.

By using this advanced technology to grow diamond thin film, the research group succeeded in fabricating many bright and stable single-photon sources at different locations in a crystal.

26 SCIENCE/feature

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Promoting Green Economy For Sustainable Development

By Nkechi Isaac, Abuja

short BIO OF Mrs. Laurentia Laraba Mallam

Mrs. Mallam is the Minister of Environment.

She attended Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State where she obtained Masters Degree in Public Administration in 2007.

In June 2012, over 140 heads of state and government representatives from around the world converged at the Brazilian city of Rio to deliberate on how to protect the environment and make the earth better.

At the various meetings, the participants agreed on the need to protect and preserve the environment for the future and canvassed a number of ideas on how to achieve this, one of which is the transition to a green economy. This was reflected on various sections of the outcome of the deliberations.

Noted on numbers 39 and 40 of the outcome of the Rio deliberations was the summary:“We recognise that planet Earth and its ecosystems are our home and that “Mother Earth” is a common expression in a number of countries and regions, and we note that some countries recognise the rights of nature in the context of the promotion of sustainable development.

We are convinced that in order to achieve a just balance among the economic, social and environmental needs of present and future generations, it is necessary to promote harmony with nature.

“We call for holistic and integrated approaches to sustainable development that will guide humanity to live in harmony with nature and lead to efforts to restore the health and integrity of the Earth’s ecosystem.”

This simply goes to show that leaders world over believe that the rights of nature must be preserved

Namibia’s Largest Mobile Operator Slashes Data Cost By 90% MTC Namibia, the country’s largest mobile phone and internet services provider has slashed its prices for data by 90 percent from N$1 to 10 cents per megabyte.

“The campaign is available to all MTC customers, pre-paid and post-paid on all packages except Netman Unlimited packages or Netman Time, which does not have out of bundle charges,” MTC said.

–VENTURES AFRICA

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to balance the economic, social and environmental needs of the present and future generations for sustainable development.

Apart from resolutions from Rio+20 summits,other environmentalists are still continuously meeting to fashion out ways to conserve and preserve the environment. From the premise above,it is clear that the earth is the only common feature that connects nations the world over and it must be preserved and protected before any meaningful development can take place.

In a recent chat with LEAERSHIP, an environmentalist and former president of the Nigerian Environmental Society (NES), Engr. Olu Wai-Ogosu, said a green economy could be thought of as one which is low carbon, resource efficient and socially inclusive.

“The United Nations Environment Programme defines the green economy as one that results in improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities.

“Practically speaking, a green economy is one whose growth in income and employment is driven by public and private investments that reduce carbon emissions and pollution, enhances energy and resource efficiency, and prevents the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services. These investments need to be catalysed and supported by targeted public expenditure, policy reforms and regulation changes,” he stated.

Wai-Ogosu contented that the world hadbecome aware of the risks

Green vegetation

involved in the loss of biodiversity, climate change and desertification, pointing out that the world was still facing clear challenges despite the efforts of international organizations, nations and citizens.

“We must reverse the alarming loss of species, reduce and limit emissions of greenhouse gases, degradation of air quality, preserve our ecosystems and minimize the ecological footprint, all in a growing tendency scenario of the global population as a whole, the worthy and necessary aspiration of eradicating poverty in the world and achieving decent full employment,” he added.

An associate professor and former director, Institute of Education, University of Abuja, Chibuzor Orji, on his part, described green economy as generation based on renewable energy to substitute for fossil fuels and energy conservation for efficient energy use.

He said green economy must be locally rooted as a precondition to sustainability and justice.

“In other words, green economy is a global aggregate of individual communities meeting the needs of its citizens through responsible, local production and exchange of goods and services,” he added.

He posited that countries like Masdar City in the United Emirate, South Africa, France and Bangledish had initiated green-based programmes towards entrenching green economy. He said efforts to promote green economy were being undertaken in Kenya,Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda.

Lafarge Sells AshakaCem Stake For $252m French cement giant Lafarge Group has sold 58.61 percent of its stakes in Ashaka Cement Plc to Lafarge Africa Plc in an off-the-market deal valued at N41 billion ($252 million).

Lafarge sold 1.3 billion ordinary shares of its Ashaka Cement at N30.95 each. The sale follows the company’s decision to merge its Nigerian and South African assets into a single unit, Lafarge Africa Plc. The consolidation will enable Lafarge expand its product offering, exploit with greater pace Africa’s growth opportunities and enhance value creation for its stakeholders. It will also give the cement maker an edge in the African cement market which is presently dominated by Dangote cement.

–VENTURES AFRICA

The don pointed out that transforming to a green economy and more eco-oriented society and getting the accruable benefits involved so many different factors.

“It implies that governments need to take actions to protect the environment and encourage green technology in order to facilitate the pathways for good businesses and economy. The shift to green economy will result in new opportunities, more efficient and therefore, more financial savings and even a more productive, healthier spending,” he said.

Orji said developing countries like Nigeria could be said to be well positioned in the transition to a green economy given their low-carbon profile and rich natural capital and cultural assets.

He added: “This is because these countries are generally characterized by relatively low investments in polluting technologies.”.

He,however, lamented that these countries were more dependent on natural resources, making ecosystem degradation, resources scarcity and climate change particularly challenging to the economic survival of their populace.

He said awareness of how efficient and cost effective eco living is, should be the first step in the great transformation to a greener society. He insisted “we need aggressive sensitization and orientation programmes to highlight the benefits of going green for the economy because green economy has become inevitable in view of glaring environmental hazards.”

Practically speaking, a green economy is one whose growth in income and employment is driven by public and private investments that reduce carbon emissions and pollution

Lagosians Raise Concern Over Stalled $1bn Light Rail Project Top THREE Mobile Phone Ranking In Nigeria

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Blackberry

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21 million Lagos, Africa’s largest city with an estimated population of 21 million people, struggles with high population density and an ineffective transport system in desperate need of overhaul

Lagos State Government has had to explain the delay in the completion of the state’s light rail project for which it borrowed N160 billion ($981 million) from the World Bank. Lagos, Africa’s largest city with an estimated population of 21 million people, struggles with high population density and an ineffective transport system in desperate need of overhaul.

The state government’s explanation was prompted by the publication of the state’s debt profile by the federal government. Lagos and Abuja have not always enjoyed the best relationship, a trend further confirmed by the commercial capital’s reservation over the decision of the administrative capital to make the debt profile public.

– VENTURES AFRICA

C

M

Y

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K

1 9/7/14 1:53 PM Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Nigeria Tactical fare ad-NP 7x5.pdf

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Tuesday, September 16, 2014

TARABA STATE GOVERNMENT

Happy

79

th

Birthday

Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, CON On behalf of the Government and the good people of Taraba State, I congratulate you Sir, as you celebrate your 79th birthday.

As an elder statesman par excellence and renowned nationalist, you have remained a blessing and inspiration not only to Taraba State but to the nation at large through your unrivaled philanthropy.

We in Taraba State join millions of Nigerians, even in the diaspora to wish you a happy birthday and God’s blessings.

Signed:

His Excellency

Alhaji Garba Umar (UTC) Acting Governor, Taraba State

29 Tuesday, September 16, 2014

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Jetta

Passat

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30

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Invitation To International And Nigerian Stakeholders In AND FOOD PRODUCTION/ PROCESSING

To Feature In The

SECURITY REPORT On September 19th, 2014

For:

Governments at all levels Agro-allied industries Leading companies in food production Agro-solution providers Feedmillers Fertilizer Producers Suppliers and manufacturers of agricultural equipment Agricultural research centres Breeders Export and Import financiers...

As long as you are into food production, funding and support services, this is your opportunity to reach out to partners and customers.

ANGELA

A

SPECIAL PROJECTS PUBLI CATION

08033890255

fct watch

31

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

500

Guards attached to Julius Berger Nigeria Plc has petitioned the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Emeka Wogu, over the company’s plan to sack over 500 of its members

ABAJI AMAC BWARI GWAGWALADA KUJE KWALI

AbAji Youths Task Council On Empowerment Youths in Abaji area council have appealed to the chairman, Hon. Yahaya Garba, to put more efforts in the drive for youth empowerment in the area through skills acquisition and employment, saying that most of the indigent youth are wallowing in penury, because of the lack of requisite skills to be self reliant.

—By Igho Oyoyo

AMAC Jiba Urges Nigerians To Pray For Jonathan’s Government The chairman of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Hon. Micah Jiba, has urged Nigerians to pray for the success of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, instead of endless criticism which serves as distraction, saying that every government needs the support of its people to succeed.

—By Igho Oyoyo

bwAri Council Boss Pledges To Help Less Privileged

a dilapidated Unity fountain environment.

Unity Fountain: Symbol Of Unity Or Ruin?

By Chika Mefor

The Unity Fountain, located in Maitma, Abuja, has been listed as one of the famous landmarks in the country. Most people who visit Abuja do not leave without visiting this famous site. The fountain, located close to the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, opposite the Millennium Park, has become a place of pride for the country.

The idea for the fountain was conceived in 2005 as a place to showcase the country’s unity, with the various states depicted on the fountain in alphabetical order. The construction shows a beautiful work of art and the field has become a place where many activities were organised to depict the nation’s unity.

As a centre of unity and peace, the First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan had used the fountain on several occasions to light up the traditional Christmas tree to herald the festive period. It has also become a place where fun-lovers go to have a quiet time with their loved ones.

However, the once quiet fountain and its surrounding gardens has, somehow, become place for activism and campaigns.

One cannot write about the Unity Fountain without talking about the Bring Back Our Girls Group, a group which advocates for the safe return of the Chibok schoolgirls abducted by the Boko Haram sect almost 155 days ago. The group meets there every day for their sitout.

Also, the Rescue Our Girls Group uses the arena to make its voice heard, even though many think its activities are meant to stifle the voice of the one mentioned above.

The Bring Back Jonathan Campaign group has also used the arena for its campaign and, from the looks of it, the once sprawling- greenery of the fountain’s surrounding gardens will be desecrated further by many-ahuman trampling by the time 2015 is over.

Looking at the activism and the campaign, most people will argue that it is a good thing, since the government is a democratic

government and everyone does possess equal rights to express their views. But what seems not to be right is how the fountain itself has been left to rot. The structure has become a place for smokers and drinkers to have a field day. Litters of empty bottles and cans around the fountain are an indicator that the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB)’s team do not get to the area. One would think that with the attention the place has gotten from different groups who use the place for their activities, the government will take a second look at the arena and ensure that it is returned to its past glory. Sadly, this is not so.

When LEADERSHIP visited the area, nothing seemed to be working. The fountain was a shadow of its former self and its surrounding gardens had lost all lushness and colour. It is quite unfortunate that the Unity Fountain does not fit the definition of a fountain or the picture of unity it was constructed to create. The beauty and the richness which it once displayed with its lights and flowing, sky-high fountains have all but disappeared. This has become a source of concern for most FCT residents who wonder why such a place cannot be maintained by the same authority who constructed it.

A resident of the FCT, Salamatu Isa, narrated to LEADERSHIP how embarrassed she was after being questioned by her daughter who she had taken there for a good time.

“My daughter had returned from school and told me that her

The chairman of the Bwari area council, Hon Peter Yohanna Ushafa, has pledged to help the less privilege in the council. He added that, for such people, the dividends of democracy can only get to them when they are assisted.

—Chika Mefor

GwAGwAlAdA Chairman Demands More Commitment From Council Staff

The chairman of the Gwagwalada area council, Abubakar Jibrin-Giri, has called on the staff of the council to be committed to their duties and eliminate eschew any form of distraction which will prevent them from executing their duties to the fullest.

—Chika Mefor

Kuje Chibiri Primary Health Care Centre Underway The chairman of Kuje area council, Hon. Shaban Tete, has said that the council has commenced the construction of a primary health care centre at Chibiri community in Kuje, saying that it would alleviate the suffering of the people, in terms of meeting their health challenges.

—By Igho Oyoyo

KwAli Imbibe Culture Of Healthy Living, Council Chair Advises

32

Following the nation-wide panic over the spread of the dreaded Ebola Virus in West Africa, the chairman of Kwali area council, Ibrahim Daniel, has called on the people to imbibe the culture of healthy living which will help the prevention of the disease.

—By Chika Mefor

32 FCT watch/NEWS

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

FCT NAWOJ Donates Items To The Elderly

Tribunal: APC Wins Gwagwalada Chairmanship Case

By Ruth Tene Natsa

By Igho Oyoyo

The newly inaugurated leadership of the Nigerian Union of Women Journalist (NAWoJ), at the weekend, donated various food and sanitary Items to the elderly in the Amazing People’s Home, Abuja.

Leading a delegation of the newly inaugurated executives and other members of the association, the president, Mrs Felicia Chukwurah, said the donation was part of its responsibilities in alleviating the suffering of the less privileged.

She said, “part of the activities of NAWOJ is to affect the lives of the vulnerable while giving hope to the hopeless.”

According to her, Nigerians are good people who extend help to their extended families. She urged Nigerians to continue to render help to whoever comes their way, sowing seeds of kindness even where no returns are expected.

She commended the efforts of the founder of the home; Dr. Ifeyinwa Obegolu, for delving into the affairs of the elderly, which she said was almost an “alien culture in Nigeria.”

Receiving the items on behalf of the home, Dr Obegolu expressed gratitude to the association and called on Nigerians to learn to respect and show kindness to the aged, whom she described as helpless and vulnerable, adding that, “a nation without the elderly was a nation without wisdom.” “the elders are daily abused by the society and nobody recognises them, which is why when they are old they are mostly taken back to their villages and called witches and wizards,” she stated.

She noted that while some people were privileged to age gracefully others could not due to some circumstances. She urged that the society should come to the aid of the vulnerable by rendering help and providing services that will bring succour to them.

An Election Petition Tribunal sitting in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has upheld the election of the chairman of Gwagwalada area council, Alhaji Abubakar Giri, of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner of the council election.

Chairman of the three member tribunal, Justice Binta Moham-

med, in her two and half hours unanimous judgment, said the chairmanship election held on March 16, 2013, was conducted in substantial compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2010, as amended.

She said, “in view of the foregoing analysis in the election conducted across the 10 wards of council, where the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) polled

11, 323 votes and All Progressives Congress (APC) scored 11, 525 votes, the petitioners haven failed to substantiate their claims. This petition, therefore lack merit and is hereby dismissed.”

The chairmanship aspirant under the aegis of the PDP, Alhaji Adamu Muspha, had filed a petition through his counsel, Chief Karina Tunya, (SAN), before the

tribunal challenging that the declaration of the incumbent chairman of the council as the winner of the election by INEC. The PDP had contended that the election conducted at KofarGida at Giri Kpeseli polling unit of Gwako ward was not in compliance with the INEC guideline and election manual for 2011, in which they alleged there were irregularities.

Road to the building materials market, Abuja, eroded by erosion PHOTO BY OYEDELE OMOKAGBO

Rehabilitate Our Roads, Dawaki Residents Beg Bwari Council

By Chika Mefor

The residents of Dawaki have pleaded with the chairman of the Bwari area council, Hon Peter Yohanna Ushafa, to make life better for the people of the community by rehabilitating the roads in the area.

Residents who spoke with LEADERSHIP stated that the roads in the area have deteriorated, leading to untold hardship in the

area and making navigation of the area a huge challenge.

One of the residents, Tony Abram, stated that the roads have become so bad, as most people now leave their cars at home. He added, though, that the only remedy will be for the council to alleviate the suffering of the people in the area by grading the road.

Also speaking, another resident, Madam Nkeoma Omali, who is heavy with child, stated that the

roads have become a source of worry to her, as she now agonises over how to move around, seeing as her pregnancy had reached a stage where any form of stress will be dangerous.

“My husband has pleaded with me severally that it will be better to leave this area than continue putting myself through the stress. We live by the NITEL Pole in Dawaki and the distance from there to the expressway leading

to town is strenuous for me. I am a civil servant and I need to go to work. I can’t stop going to work because of the bad road,’’ she insisted.

She, however, called on the council chairman to consider the bad roads in the area worthy of urgent attention and come to the aid of the residents in the area by “grading the road, so that there will be easy vehicular movement in the area”.

Unity Fountain: Symbol Of Unity Or Ruin?

31

teacher taught her something about fountains. I remembered that there was a fountain called the ‘Unity Fountain’ and promised to take her there. When we got here, my daughter went round the fountain and came back, asking why there was no water. I really had no answer. This place is supposed to be a tourist place but the way it is now is appalling,” she said.

Another resident, Patrick Enemdu, stated that he had always

come with his children to the area but he had to stop bringing them there after the place was left to rot.

“For me, [back] then, the Unity Fountain was not only a place of beauty but a place to teach my children about the unity of the country. Whenever we visited, my children and I moved around the fountain looking at the states depicted there. They could chant the 36 states and their capitals, so they did that as we moved around.

They loved it. When we finished, we looked for my state, Plateau. We stayed there for some time before leaving. In this field, the whole state comes together. It is a place I loved coming to, but not any longer; not when the place is dirty. Sometimes, they even forget to cut the grasses and the flowers are always overgrown,’’ he pointed out.

A Nigerian, Emmanuel Okudo, who resided in China for 15 years, but is now back in the country

for a break, had listed the Unity Fountain as a place to see, because he had seen the beautiful picture of the place online.

“When I saw the picture on the Internet, I promised myself that I will get to this beautiful place. But when I came here, I was disappointed, I must tell you. I think the picture I saw was posted in 2007. But why won’t this place be maintained to retain its beauty? We do not value what we have.

NEWS /FCT watch 33

Tuesday, September 10, 2014

Okada Ban Still In Force – FCTA

Okoya

By Catherine Agbo

The Federal Capital Territory Administration ha warned that the

ban against operation of commercial motorcyclists popularly called Okada in the capital city, is still in force and has warned all operators to steer clear of the federal capital city.

Coordinator of Abuja Metropolitan Management Council and Vice Chairman of the FCT multi-sectoral task force, Arch Reuben Okoya, gave the warning while addressing city cleaning stakeholders at the weekend in Abuja.

He reminded all Okada riders and operators of keke NAPEP that it is illegal for them to operate within the capital city, maintaining that the ban on Keke NAPEP remains in force in the city metropolis including the whole of Garki, Wuse, Asokoro,

Maitama, Jabi, Gwarinpa, Utako, Durumi, Lokogoma and Apo, except within big estates where they may be permitted to ply by the estate managers.

“All concerned are hereby informed that keke NAPEP is not allowed to operate within the federal capital city. As a matter of fact, they are only allowed to operate within the satellite towns and big estates (provided that the estate owners or managers agree with them).

“All Keke operators plying the city centre major roads are flouting FCT route operation directives and those disobeying the directives would be apprehended by the task force team, the VIO, the police and other security agencies under the task team.

A Julius Berger yard

Sack Threat: Julius Berger Guards Petition Minister

By Igho Oyoyo

Security guards attached to Julius Berger Nigeria Plc in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has petitioned the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Emeka Wogu, over the company’s plan to sack over 500 of its members.

This was contained in a petition, filed on behalf of the group through their counsel, Barr.

Omar Musa, of Messrs Ultimate Chambers, Omar and Co, titled, “petition of officers and men of the security department of Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, Abuja

Zone, against the management of the company over plans to illegally lay-off security staff numbering over 500 in Abuja.”

The petition which also copied the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Public Complaints Commission (PCC), National Human Right Commission (NHRC) and 17 others said it became obvious to the staff after a meeting with the management held on August 28, 2014, in Abuja, that there were plans to illegally and coercively lay off over 500 Nigerian citizens, who are legal staff of the company.

It further said that the management deployed a segment of armed mobile policemen to facilitate the achievement of their illegal objective on September 1, 2014, adding that the action was already interfering with the smooth security operation at the company’s sites, yards and camps.

The petition read in part, “it is apparent that compliance to the laws of the federation does not allow for the mass lay-off planned by the company. It is a violation of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The security department of the company is as old as the company’s presence in Nigeria, dating back to over a period of about 50-year-old.”

In his reaction, the public affairs advisor of the company, Mr. Clement Iloba, confirmed the claim. He, however, said that the affected staff would be given all their entitlements, adding that the company’s gradually disengagement of the security staff was done after due consultation and consideration in line with the company’s legal requirement.

Jiba Reiterates Commitment To Grassroots Development The chairman of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Hon. Micah Jiba, has vowed not to relent in his effort to execute developmental projects that has direct bearing on residents of the council.

Jiba disclosed this during a press conference to announce his intention to contest as the president of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON), saying that the antecedents of the developmental projects he has been able to complete during his second tenure as the chairman of AMAC speaks for itself.

According to him, so many council chairmen could not deliver on developmental projects due to paucity of funds and lack of financial autonomy from the federal allocation, adding that his mission is to make local government autonomy a reality once he is voted in as the ALGON president.

Jiba, the incumbent FCT ALGON chairman, wondered why some state governments are yet to conduct proper local government elections thereby depriving the grass root citizenry of the presence of the government.

“If the presidential election, National Assembly and governors elections would take place during the upcoming 2015 general elections, there is no reason why the local government election should not take place in some states. If become the ALGON President, I will approach the challenges of the local government with wisdom by lobbying the National Assembly, governors forum and the presidency,” he added.

By Igho Oyoyo

Did You Know That Julius Berger Nigeria Plc is a Nigerian construction company headquartered in Abuja, FCT.

❂❂❂

It is the biggest construction company in Nigeria.

❂❂❂

The company is playing a major role in the realisation of Abuja’s master plan.

❂❂❂

It continues to build and expand essential traffic networks in and around the city.

34 FCT watch/feature

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Abuja based artist, Dillion(sitting on the ground) with children of the foundation, and the founder, Evangelist Victoria Oloche(1st right).

How Orphanage Proprietor Sells Clothes To Cater For Orphans

By Nkechi Isaac

There is no gainsaying that running an orphanage home is a venture that can only be sustained through dedication and passion to positively affect the lives of the orphaned or less privileged children.

Orphan proprietors will readily tell you that running a home is not child’s play because it requires complete dedication to the well being of the children; their clothing; feeding; schooling and health amongst other things.

The wellbeing of the children rests squarely on the shoulders of the proprietor hence the onus lies on him or her to go the extra mile in ensuring that the children are taken care on in the best way possible.

This is the story of the founder of God’s Love Tabitha Royal Foundation, Evangelist Victoria Oloche,

who goes the extra mile of selling clothes to cater for the wellbeing of over 60 orphans and other less privileged children under her care.

Speaking to journalists during the five years anniversary and annual love feast of the foundation, located beside Government Secondary School, Nyanya, Gwandara, a suburb of Abuja under Karu local government area, Nasarawa State, Oloche said that the NGO draws 70 per cent of its fund comes from selling clothes and other house ware items.

According to her, she resorted to the option because the assistance coming from donors and other well meaning Nigerians was too meager to cater for the numerous needs of children, blaming the lack of assistance to fake NGOs sprawling up everywhere, as she solicited for financial and material assistance from

government at all levels and other well meaning Nigerians.

She said, “the money coming in from donors to assist was not enough. So, I had to go into the business of selling clothes because I had to carter for the growing needs of the children. It’s not as if there are no well meaning Nigerians willing to assist but the truth is that there are fake NGOs going about which makes a lot of people reluctant to help. The appeal we are making to them is that they should come and see. We are not saying they should pay the money but they should come and see the children and the projects going on and really know that we are investing their money into the lives of people.

“We need more assistance because we need good rooms for the children; we need televisions; books and buses that can take them to so-

cial activities to liven up their lives.

“If there is support from the state, local and federal government it will go a long way because children are really suffering.”

According to her, “the help we get from outside amounts to only about 20 per cent, while the bulk of the fund we use for managing the home comes from personal efforts which are 70 percent. There is a lot of bills like the paying the teachers, every month times 3 months that makes a term, then you talk about medical bills; domestic staff and their feeding; clothing and other needs. So far, the assistance we are getting is not encouraging but running an orphanage home is like a calling that you can’t just back out from.”

Speaking on what inspired her to establish the foundation, the pro-

prietor said she was born in a polygamous family and lack care in all ramification, saying she made up my mind to take care of the less privileged and abandoned children at all level when she grew up.

“Actually it’s not been easy; it is a large family of about 60 children that we have to cater for, love, mentor and pay their teachers. But, God is ever faithful. We stand on him because in God in trust and in God’s excellence we shine.

“At the end of the day, my joy will be fulfilled when I see many children that will proudly say that I was their mother. Finishing their secondary school, going to higher school even locally and international because right now we have about seven children schooling in Ghana.

So, my joy is making those children that lost hope to feel like the children of a president,” she added.

Physical Deformity, Not A Minus For My Business – Musa

By Igho Oyoyo

Top 5 Airport Road Estates ➊ Victoria Garden City ➋ FHA ➌ Trade More ➍ ACO ➎ AMAC

Contrary to general belief that physical deformity is a ticket to a lazy and beggarly life, Mr Kabiru Musa, a cripple from birth, has said that his condition is not a minus to his recharge card and phone accessory business.

Musa, a native of Kano State, has the strong conviction that he will succeed in his own private business venture despite being a cripple.

In an exclusive chat with LEADERSHIP, Musa said he made up his mind to be useful to himself and

Musa

his family at a very tender age despite his condition.

Musa who sells his wares from a wheelchair, directly opposite the Arts and Culture gate in Area 10, said that being a cripple is not a ticket to begging for alms and depending on other people for survival, rather, it is a condition for someone to challenge himself to survive.

He said, “I started this business seven years ago with less than N100, 000 but I have made so much money from it. Sometimes I make over N700, 000 in a week and sell up to N1m in a month.

With this business, I am married

with a child and my family is in Kano state.

“There is money in small scale business. I have witnessed that in the selling of NICO, JAMB, WAEC scratch cards and phone accessories. I do not like depending on people because of my condition, which was why I challenged myself to become independent and be useful to the society despite my physical state.”

He adviced other physically challenged people to strive to make meaningful contribution to the nation’s economy rather than being a nuisance.

35

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

MDZOUGH U TIV

2014 NATIONAL STEERING COMMITTEE C/O No. 2 Kashim Ibrahim Road, Makurdi, Benue State-Nigeria 07039049184, 08024231629

NOTICE OF NATIONAL ELECTION GUIDELINES AND SPECIAL INVITATION Notice is hereby given to the citizens of Tiv nation that the 2014 National Steering Committee of Mdzough U Tiv after thorough consultation, has concluded arrangements to hold a one day congress for the election of national officials.

1.

Offices to be contested for: I) President-General II) Secretary-General III) Treasurer IV) Media Officer (PRO) V) Financial Secretary

2.

Zoning In the spirit of fairness and equity the zoning of offices for the 2014 National Election is as follows: Ipusu i) President-General Jechira ii) Financial Secretary Jemgbagh Ichongo i) Secretary-General Kwande ii) Treasurer Sankera iii) Media Officer (PRO) Minda

a) b)

3.

Purchase of Nomination Forms Sale of nomination forms is already ongoing and will close 6:00pm on Monday 22nd September, 2014. The forms can be purchased at Iorwase Ahile & Co. No. 33 Old Otukpo Road, High Level, Makurdi, Benue State-Nigeria.

4.

Nomination of Candidates Aspirants willing to contest any of the above offices, shall after the purchase of nomination form, be nominated by three (3) persons who are people of proven character/integrity. Out of the three (3) persons nominating, two (2) shall be outside the Tiv Intermediate area of the aspirant.

5.

Submission of completed nomination forms Every aspirant shall, not later than seven (7) days before the date of election, submit to the electoral committee the completed nomination form at Iorwase Ahile & Co. No. 33, Old Otukpo Road, High-Level, Makurdi, Benue State-Nigeria.

6.

Date of Election The national election shall hold on Tuesday, 30th September, 2014 by 8.00am at Tiv Area Traditional Council Chamber Gboko, Benue State.

7.

Delegates Delegates to this one day congress are: i) All District Heads in Tiv Nation ii) Five delegates duly nominated by each District Head iii) National Executives of SADA, KwUPO, JECHIRA, MINDA and JEMDA iv) Executives of all approved MUT branches across the nation v) Local Government Council Chairmen in TIV land vi) Honourific chieftaincy title holders in Tiv Nation Note: Members of the BOT, U Ter and invited dignitaries will be observers.

8.

Accreditation Accreditation of delegates to the congress will commence by 8.00am and close 12noon on Tuesday 30th September, 2014 at the venue of the election.

9.

Election/Result i) Election shall hold from 12 noon to 2.00pm on Tuesday 30th September, 2014. Result of the election shall be announced by 3.00pm on the same day. ii) where an Intermediate Area is able to present a consensus candidate, there shall be no election but affirmation by congress.

Note: A more detailed copy of the guidelines is available for all contestants.

10.

Special Invitation All sons and daughters of the Tiv nation are specifically invited to participate in this historic event.

A yatutu ka u no? KA SE!

2014 National Steering Committee Announcer

36

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

PDP

PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC PARTY (PDP) Power to the People...

Motto: Justice, Unity and Progress

National Secretariat: Plot 1970, Wadata Plaza, Michael Okpara Street, Wuse zone 5, Abuja. Tel: 09-7822806, 09-7822781

NOTICE OF NEC MEETING Notice is hereby given of the 66th Meeting of the National Executive Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as follows:-

PDP

Date:

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Venue:

PDP National Secretariat, Plot 1970 Michael Okpara Street, Wuse Zone 5, Abuja.

Time:

12 Noon.

Signed:

Olisa Metuh National Publicity Secretary

politics today Tuesday, September 16, 2014

REPORTS ANALYSES REVIEWS INTERVIEWS

Mu’azu

Mimiko

How Mimiko’s Defection Alters Political Calculations In Ondo It is no more news that Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State, elected on the platform of Labour Party (LP), has concluded plans to retrace his steps to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which he left in 2006. TOPE FAYEHUN examines the move and how it has changed political calculations in the state ahead of the 2015 general elections.

Mimiko must have realised that this is the right moment to make another bold political move.

The popularity of the LP and that of the governor has ebbed

The news of the planned defection of Governor Olusegun Mimiko to the PDP from the LP did not come as a surprise to keen observers of Ondo State politics. The governor has been fraternising with the national leadership of the ruling party since the inception of his administration in 2009, suggesting that his body may be in the LP but his soul is in the PDP. Analysts had predicted that survival instincts would not allow the Ondo-born politician to continue to sit on the fence and resist the lure of the PDP. Although Mimiko has not officially declared his intention, there are indications that he has concluded plans to retrace his steps to his former party. LEADERSHIP gathered that in the last two weeks, the governor has been holding meetings with LP leaders, traditional rulers, trade unions and other interest groups in the state, explaining what informed his decision to change his political party for the third time since the country returned to democracy in 1999.

Sources said the governor held a meeting with members of the State House of Assembly recently to inform them of his decision. A member of the House, who confirmed the meeting to our correspondent, said Mimiko is already a member of the PDP and that the governor would soon officially announce his defection. The governor was also said to have summoned a meeting of five LP leaders from each of all the 18 local government areas of the state where he told them that he was done with the party and that he was on his way to the PDP. At the meeting, which was held at the Alagbaka Government House, the governor reportedly directed LP members in the state to go and register with the PDP in their various wards.

A reliable Government House source also told our correspondent that Mimiko had intimated the traditional rulers in the state of his decision at a meeting he held with them at the Banquet Hall of the Government House. He also reportedly held a meeting with mar-

ket women, artisans and labour leaders, citing the re-election bid of President Goodluck Jonathan as the prime reason for his defection. Mimiko was said to have told his audience that 80 percent of the revenue of the country came from the Niger-Delta region where Jonathan comes from and that natural justice demands that the people in the region should be compensated with the re-election of their son.

Lending credence to reports of the defection plan, the state commissioner for Adult and Vocational Education, Remi Olatubora, posted on his Facebook account after the meeting: “I woke up this morning as a member of LP but going to bed this evening as a member of the PDP; Power to the people.” Olatubora, who was a delegate in the just concluded National Conference, is a close confidant of Mimiko and he was said to have been at the gathering of the state LP leaders where the governor announced his defection plan.

Also confirming the new development, the state commissioner for Environment, Sola Ebiseni, said LP has dissolved into the PDP in the state. “We have fused into the PDP. I don’t see it as defection because in terms of numerical strength, we are more than the PDP in the state,” Ebiseni said.

Speculations of defection The rumour of Mimiko’s planned defection to the PDP is as old as his

government. Shortly after his inauguration on February 23, 2009, a day after he was declared winner of the 2007 governorship election in the state by the Court of Appeal, Benin division, there were speculations that the politician was on his way back to the PDP. It was believed that within months,he would jump ship, given his intense hobnobbing with the PDP at the national level.

Former PDP state chairman, Omotayo Dairo, had in 2009 accused Mimiko of secretly plotting to return to the party. He said Mimiko was lobbying the then national chairman of the PDP, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, over his defection plan. “Through my personal discussion with the national chairman of our party, Mimiko is romancing with the national leadership of the PDP to return to the party. Ogbulafor can’t tell lies about Mimiko’s plan to come back.

So, I am very sure. Mimiko wants the PDP national leadership to secure safe landing for him so that he can be absorbed into the party at the state level,” Dairo had said.

In February this year, it was speculated that Mimiko and former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, had concluded plans to join the PDP. The speculation was fuelled by the attendance of the duo at a meeting between PDP governors, the party’s lawmakers and the national working committee of the party. A couple of days after, the Osun State PDP chairman, Gani Olaoluwa, disclosed that Mimiko had concluded arrangements with the leadership of the PDP to defect from the LP to the PDP. Expressing joy over the rumoured defection of Mimiko and Obi, PDP deputy national publicity secretary, Abdullahi Jalo, ascribed it to the reconciliatory efforts of the present PDP national chairman, Adamu Mu’azu. Jalo said it was cheery news that Mimiko was on his way back to the PDP because the party had been expecting him.

Denial game The predictable official reaction to every speculation of Mimiko’s planned defection since 2009 has been denial. When Dairo made the disclosure in 2009 that Mimiko was plotting his way back to the PDP, the then commissioner for Information, the late Ranti Akerele, described it as blatant lie being used by the state chapter of the party to distract the governor. Akerele declared emphatically that Mimiko would not dump the LP, which made him to realise his ambition, for PDP. ➔ CONTINUES ON PAGE 38 Donald Ojogo, Group Politics Editor

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38 POLITICS TODAY

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

How Mimiko’s Defection Alters Political Calculations In Ondo ➔ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 37

Akerele had said: “The PDP is using this defection rumour mainly to distract our amiable governor who is busy doing his best to transform Ondo State to a better state to live. We at the Labour Party will not allow their insinuations to distract us from carrying out our duties.”

A former chairman of LP in the state, Olu Ogidan, once foreclosed the possibility of Mimiko dumping the party. Reacting to one of the speculations, Ogidan denied that Mimiko was planning to move to the PDP, saying it was unlikely for the governor to abandon the LP, especially at a time the party was becoming stronger in the south west.

The chief press secretary to the governor, Eni Akinsola and the state commissioner for Information, Kayode Akinmade, have on several occasions denied the plan of their boss to dump the LP. When in February it was rumoured that Mimiko had finally decided to move to the PDP, Eni stated that the governor had no plan to leave the LP, saying he was contented with his membership of the party.

A couple of weeks back, when reports said the presidency and the PDP national secretariat had given Mimiko an ultimatum to join the party, Eni said there was no truth in the reports. But he quickly added that Mimiko would not hesitate to go back to the PDP if it was politically necessary for him to take such a decision.

“Dr. Mimiko is a consummate politician who never shies away from taking political decisions.

He took a decision in 2003 to leave the Alliance for Democracy, AD, for the PDP and took decision again to quite his membership of the same PDP in 2006, even when he was a serving minister. So, if it is pertinent for him to take a decision to go back, he will surely do so. But as I speak to you now, and I think I should know more than you in this matter, there is nothing like defection in the radar.”

The general belief is that the exit of Governor Mimiko from the LP has sounded the death knell of the party in state

Why Mimiko is defecting Mimiko must have realised that this is the right moment to make another bold political move. The popularity of the LP and that of the governor has ebbed and there is no assurance that the people of the state would vote for its candidates in the 2015 general election. Since the re-election of Mimiko in 2012, there has not been real governance in the state, making people to be disenchanted with his government and his party. Manybelieve that his latest move was a face-saving and survival strategy. Mimiko, according to them, is afraid of imminent demystification. The possibility of losing the State House of Assembly in 2015 was said to have frightened the governor.

Some analysts have also pointed to the resurgence of the PDP in the southwest, especially Ondo State, as one of the factors responsible

Kunlere

Olanusi

for Mimiko’s decision to part ways with the LP. From the beginning of this year, people have been defecting to the PDP from the LP. Most of these defectors are former close associates of the governor. The former representative of Ondo State on the Board of the Niger-Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Benson Enikuomehin, returned to the PDP a couple of weeks back.

The senator representing Ondo South senatorial district in the National Assembly, Boluwaji Kunlere, has also retraced his steps back to the PDP. Kunlere, who is a former PDP state secretary, was elected in 2011 on the platform of the LP. It was also learnt that the soul of the state deputy governor, Ali Olanusi, is already in the PDP. Ali, who is a former PDP state chairman, joined the LP in December 2006 to contest alongside Mimiko in the 2007 governorship election.

The victory of former governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, in the June governorship election in the state was also said to have played a major role in Mimiko’s defection. Fayose defeated the incumbent governor, Kayode Fayemi, in all the 16 local government areas of the state. The victory served as a morale booster for PDP members in Ondo State and prompted a lot of people to move to the party. It was learnt Mimiko reasoned that it would be easier for the camel to pass through the eye of a needle

than for him to play a prominent role in the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015 if he still remained in LP. Mimiko was also said to have realised that his support for Jonathan’s reelection bid would affect the National Assembly candidates of the LP in 2015. The presidential election and those of the legislature will take place on the same day, according to the timetable released by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. It would be confusing to ask the electorate, who are mostly illiterates, to vote for the PDP candidate in the presidential election but for the LP candidates in the National Assembly polls. That is one of the reasons, according to sources, why Mimiko decided to join the PDP. Implications The decision of Governor Mimiko to decamp to the PDP has changed the political calculations in Ondo State. The general belief is that the exit of Governor Mimiko from the LP has sounded the death knell of the party in state, sending jitters into the spines of aspirants on the platform of the party. The aspirants are now unsure of their fate. The LP was a dormant party until December 2006 when Mimiko introduced it to the people of the state. Since then, the governor has been the chief promoter of the party in the country.

Some analysts had earlier dismissed the suggestion that Mimiko would dump the LP, given the passion with which he was expanding the coast of the party to other states in the southwest. After his reelection in 2012, not a few people saw him as the leader of an emerging third force in the zone.

He was viewed as having the capacity to neutralise the influence of Bola Tinubu and his team.

It was gathered that it was Mimiko who talked a member of the House of Representatives, Opeyemi Bamidele, into contesting the June governorship election in Ekiti on the platform of the LP. However, Bamidele posted a dismal performance in the election, as he secured about 18, 000 votes.

The party’s candidate in the August 9 governorship election in Osun State, Fatai Akinbade, could not record any impressive result in the election. Mimiko had moved round states in the southwest to sell LP to the people.

The movement of Mimiko to the PDP has also unsettled members of the state chapter of the party.

There is fear that the governor has hijacked the structure of the PDP in the state. It was learnt that PDP’s leadership in the state did not have any input in the plan to receive Mimiko back to the party. When news filtered into town that he had made up his mind to come back to the PDP, all members of the state executive committee of the party who spoke with LEADERSHIP said they were not aware of his defection to the party,suggesting that Ondo PDP leaders were not taken into consideration when Mimiko’s defection deal was sealed with the national secretariat of the party.

Fear has gripped all those who have been jostling for the tickets of the party to contest the 2015 general elections. They will now have to go back to the drawing board, as it was rumoured that 70 percent of the structure of the party in the state has been conceded to Mimiko. The implication of this concession, if it is true, is that the governor will produce 70 per of the party candidates in the 2015 general election, leaving the remaining 30 percent to old members.

However, the development was received with mixed reactions by the PDP members. While some are of the opinion that the politician is an asset to the party, others see him as a liability. Most of those who support the defection are PDP members who contributed to the reelection of the governor in the 2012 gubernatorial election in the state. To them, the coming of Mimiko will make them regain the relevance which they lost to their romance with the governor during the last gubernatorial election.

However, opponents of the defection argue that Mimiko has lost his popularity and relevance in the politics of the state, and therefore, he will not add any value to the party.

39

labour matters Tuesday, September 16, 2014

few people and we are demanding that everybody is paid as is done in other universities.

Has the union actually made efforts to raise this issue with management?

Balogun

TOP LABOUR UNIONS IN NIGERIA

1. The Radio Television Theatre and Art Workers Union of Nigeria (RATTAWU) is an umbrella Union comprising of all Radio, Television presenters and producers 2. The Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) Registered as an umbrella body of judiciary workers across the country 3. The Medical and Health Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MHWUN) Umbrella union of health workers across the country

Mismanagement Killing Kogi State University – Comrade Balogun Comrade Moses Balogun is the chairman of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) Kogi State University (KSU) chapter. In this interview with Michael Oche, he spoke on some issues affecting staff welfare at the university and how it has led to the poor rating of the institution.

Can you tell us more about the rancour presently going on between the various unions of the Kogi State University and the management of the institution?

This agitation has been on ground since 2009. And it is the result of the agreement of 2009 signed between various unions and the government. As we are talking to you, apart from the salary aspect,

and that of the peculiar allowance that has been implemented in the university, all the allowances that are supposed to be paid, were paid partially to some people management felt are loyal to them. There is discrimination in the mode of payment. Our major problem is the management of the university who to reasons best known to them vowed that they will not pay us. They are just paying

We have met management more than 40 times. We have records of letters to management that is more than 165. We have written to the university council more than 28 times and to Kogi state government more than 18 times.

Throughout this period, we have met with the governor twice. We have met the deputy governor and we have met the head of service.

To the extent the governor set up a committee through the office of head of service, we met for six months, and at the end of the day there was no resolution. The only resolution was that we should submit evidences to prove that other universities are paying in Nigeria, which we did. Yet, there was no result. We now believed the council was not working, so the council was dissolved and a new council was constituted. But to our greatest surprise within the shortest period, they lost focus and fell into the trap of management. Council set up a committee. The committee met and made viable and reasonable recommendations based on documents submitted by the four unions. And for somebody in management to scuttle it out with council and set up another committee that had not result.

Take for instance, council met for five days and it was on the last day that we were invited. That is to tell you that it was a deliberate act to ensure that there was no meaningful deliberation. Because our welfare is not their priority.

The principal officers including the Vice Chancellor, the registrar, librarian, bursa, the university is not owning them a kobo. They are paying themselves fully. Why is it that the staff are not being paid.

Management may not take

you serious because they believe that you are only clamoring for welfare of your members. Does this agitation in any way affect the quality of the institution?

Of course this affects the university system. As a staff of the university, you can move once you get a better offer somewhere else.

People are leaving. The implication too is that good hands are not coming. For instance, let’s take the issue of tax. A Professor from a federal university cross-carpeting, is paying less than N10, 000 as tax.

But in Kogi state university, he will be paying between N60, 000 to N65, 000. Such a person will not come to the school because he will be discouraged to pay such outrageous tax. When there are not good hands and the few good ones are leaving, it certainly affects the rating of the university. For instance, in a year, we lost more than 8 PhD holders who are senior lecturers. They got their PhD and left because they trained themselves. So, we are grooming quality materials for other state universities. So it is really affecting the integrity and rating of the university.

It seems you have exhausted every means of dialogue with the management. What other options are you considering?

As far as we are concern, strike is the last option because we have used dialogue. We have used networking. We have used diplomacy. We have negotiated. We have gone on warning strike. We want to believe that government is not properly informed on what is happening. Management will never tell the state government the true position of things.

Strike is the last option. Though we don’t want to be forced into considering that, because if we are to go on strike now, it’s going to be different. In-as-much as we are fighting for the welfare of our staff. We are fighting to maintain integrity of the university.

For instance, in a year, we lost more than 8 PhD holders who are senior lecturers.

They got their PhD and left

Labour: How Important Is Education In Trade Unionism?

By Michael oche, Abuja

Kaigama

One of the major roles of trade union is its agitation for better wages for its members, income redistribution and closing the wealth disparity as well as addressing the vast inequalities in the society. To achieve these objectives, unions are always at loggerhead with government or employers of labour.

However, unionists are always skilled negotiators and sometimes, government and employers may

wonder how labour leaders acquire such power to organise large number of followers.

“Education to the NLC is a social detergent that washes the dirt of poverty, ignorance and other social vices that ravage the Nigerian society,” the NLC president, Abdulwahed Omar told LEADERSHIP. “An enlightened working class will have new consciousness which will help members understand that the individual person should not override the collective person

but supplement and integrate each other.” He said further.

In recent years, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) is placing more emphasis on educating its members so as to empower them.

One of such fora was the recently held 2014 national rain school.

With the theme “Inequality and socio-political instability: issues and challenges for the working class” the 2014 Rain School was organised under three modular courses namely, Leadership, Organizers and Gender with the

following objectives: To bring trade unionists together to share ideas and experiences, to provide a platform for workers to examine the level of inequality and sociopolitical instability in Nigeria, to raise workers’ consciousness towards building popular power for redistribution of wealth and social justice.

Speaking on the relevance of the school, Omar said, “The modules of the 2014 rain school were ➔ CONTINUES ON PAGE 40

40 labour matters ➔ CONTINUES ON PAGE 39

designed to provide training for trade union leaders and activists who are drawn from the affiliate unions and state councils of the NLC so as to prepare them to have the necessary skills and competencies that would confer on them the intellectual authority to protect and defend their rights and that of their members at the workplace and in the society.”

According to Omar, “it is in the light of this, that the NLC places monumental emphasis on packaging its educational programmes in such a way that it can x-ray these societal problems and also provide a forum like the rain school so that members of its affiliate can

interact and proffer solutions to these problems.”

Speaking further, he said, “We in the NLC believe that, the educated man has been the initiator and pacesetter of human progress over the ages. This therefore makes the NLC to make the education of its members a top priority of its agenda in order to contribute to the development of the Nigerian society thought robust engagements that would guarantee workers’ rights, interests and progress in the workplace and in the larger society.”

Also speaking, Dr. Awopetu Idowu of the department of zoology Obafemi Awolowo university, Ile-Ife who was a guest lecturer at this year’s school said, “the issue for

Tuesday, September 16, 2014 the Nigerian working class includes poverty, ignorance and illiteracy ethnicity and religious bigotry, understanding the tenets of democracy, imbibing class consciousness, fighting impunity and waging war against corruption.

He said, “Struggling for better wages, income redistribution and closing the wealth disparity is one way of addressing the vast inequalities in the society.

Overcoming ignorance and illiteracy is a major task for the working class. The workers’ education goes beyond classroom learning, it is one that prepares workers for leadership.

“Workers education should be seen as a means of liberating the working people from the destructive power of fear,

pointing the way toward the goal of rehabilitation of selfconfidence and their ability to shape their future. It also allows the working people to recover their dignity, integrity and self-realization. Above all, like formal education, allows for the understanding of national and international issues. Workers education allows for the understanding of the problem s dealing with prejudices and the resultant tensions and antagonisms which politicians and the ruling class use to divide our people, project themselves into power and sustain their hegemony.”

The head of education and research at the NLC, comrade Valentine Udeh also told leadership: “What we

FG Committed To Boosting Job Creation – Wogu

NECA Wants Involvement of Private Sectors In Jobs Board

By michael oche, Abuja

By Taiwo Ogunmola-Omilani, Lagos

The Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) has called the federal government to involve private sectors in the composition of Presidential Jobs Board of Nigeria which is meant to address high unemployment rate in the country.

This was disclosed in a statement signed by the Director General of NECA, Segun Oshinowo.

While welcoming the federal government’s initiative, he noted,” the composition of the Board, unfortunately, does not include the real private sector in Nigeria. Often times, government equates successful entrepreneurs to the face and representation of the private sector.

“The private sector has formidable Institutions such as NECA, Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria (MAN), Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), among others which represent grassroots enterprises and entrepreneurs.”

Oshinowo maintained that the Institutions are better placed and positioned to work with the government in creating sustainable jobs.

According to him, “This is a welcome development that would aid in addressing the time bomb of high unemployment among our youth, currently put at 80% by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in June, 2014.

“We hope that this initiative will not go the way of others whose outcome were never known to the public or implemented for the benefits of the country.”

try to do is mold the skills of our members to engage government policies and also to engage other policies that are anti-labour and also to help in overall development of the nation.”

He said further, “If you look at the topics that are dealt on in this school, you find out that we try to draw the process of developing policies for the congress. The vibrancy you see in our members even in terms of engagement on issues ranging from pension minimum wage, these are part of contributions this school has done in terms of labour movement. They say knowledge is power. It is when you have knowledge that you are able to negotiate or resolve industrial issues.”

L-R: Director of Productivity Measurement and Standards, Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity, Mrs. Theresa Braimah; Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Dr. Clement Illoh and DG, National Productivity Centre, Dr. Paul Bdliya at Workshop on Implementing National Policy on Productivity and Basic productivity Improvement Techniques in Workplaces

NULGE Commends FG over Statutory Allocations To LGAs By michael oche, Abuja

The National Union of Local Government Employees(NULGE) has commended federal government on its effort to ensure prompt and steady release of funds to local government councils in the country.

National President of NULGE, Comrade Ibrahim Khalid who made known during a courtesy visit to the Special Adviser to the president on Political Matters , Prof. Ahmed Rufai Alkali also blamed the increasing insecurity in the North eastern part of the country on what he described as excruciating control of the Local government by state governors.

According to him, “I wish to place on record that throughout the stay of this president in leadership, no local government, out of the 774 councils in the country, have cried of not receiving its statutory allocation even for one month,”.

The NULGE boss also said the

worsening security situation in the area could be checked if the various LGAs being the third tier of governance and closer to the grass root is not abandoned.

Khalid who said NULGE is behind President Jonathan’s transformation agenda, also sought to have an audience with the President to discuss ways in which the local government system could be made more vibrant,having just survived threats of scrapping at the justconcluded National Conference.

He added that its clamour for full autonomy of the local councils was far from over just as it reiterated that government took the third tier of governance into consideration when it conceptualised the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Project (SURE-P) hence infrastructural developments seen in most parts of the country.

“There is need for us to dialogue with Mr President,especially concerning

the just-concluded national conference which made far reaching recommendations on local government systems.

“Particularly regarding the operations of the third tier of government in Nigeria and to intimate him of our forthcoming national workshop which will have as its theme:”Mobilisation of Grassroot Support for the Transformation Agenda”.

“Insecurity has been able to thrive in the country because of the absence of leadership at the community levels. The 774 local government councils in Nigeria which ordinarily should constitute a formidable force in the fight against insurgencies are constantly being ignored”.

Speaking also, special Adviser to the president on political matters, Prof. Alkali said most Nigerians suffer from short memory syndrome which accounts for why they can’t reflect much on the impact this current administration has made on the lives of Nigerians.

The minister of labour and productivity, EmekaWogu, has affirmed that the transformation agenda policy of the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan is geared towards growing Nigeria’s economy with corresponding increases in people’s welfare and job creation.

The minister who was represented by the Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity, Dr. Clement Illoh, stated this in Abuja, while declaring open the meeting of stakeholders to adopt the Nigeria’s Report on Employment, Poverty Eradication and Inclusive Development for presentation at the Extra Ordinary Summit of the African Union Heads of States and Governments.

He said, “It is instructive to note, however, that the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, had taken bold steps which are deliberately geared towards growing Nigeria’s economy with corresponding increases in people’s welfare and job creation”.

He added that “Nigeria has not only demonstrated a high level of political commitment to employment promotion among African member states but has consistently submitted her reports to the African Union”.

Wogu further stated that; increasing unemployment and underemployment, rising cost of living and poor working conditions had impacted negatively on most nations’ economies. He emphasized that the aforementioned monumental challenges to effective national growth and development amongst others, prompted the African Union Head of State and Government extra-ordinary summit, held in September, 2004 at Quagadougou, Burkina Faso with the pledge to put employment at the centre of their economic and social policies.

News north-central 41

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

‘Proliferation Of Firearms, Cause Of Nasarawa Violence’

By Donatus Nadi, Lafia

Nasarawa State government yesterday expressed serious concern over the proliferation of firearms and other deadly weapons in the state, saying it was one of the factors that led to incessant cases of communal clashes at the slightest provocation.

The secretary to the State Government (SSG) Hajiya Zainab T. Abdulmumin, made the observation in Lafia yesterday when she played host to a visiting team from Jaiz bank who were in the state for the formal presentation of relief materials to those displaced by communal clashes in the state.

She expressed regret that Nasarawa, which was hitherto a haven of peace, has become a theatre of violence which can be attributed partly to arms proliferation, adding that all the violent clashes witnessed in the state in the recent past have in-

short news Saraki, Atunwa Mourn Afolayan, Kwara APC Scribe The chairman, Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology, Dr. Bukola Saraki has described the death of the state’s secretary of the APC, Prince Yemi Afolayan, as an immeasurable loss to the state.

Also, the speaker of the state House of Assembly, Barr.

Rasaq Atunwa has described the death of Afolayan as shocking and monumental loss to the people of the state in particular and Nigeria in general.

By Abdullahi Olesin, Ilorin

ternal causes without any external influences.

Hajiya Abdulmumin noted that the community-based conflict resolution mechanism adopted by the Nasarawa State government was yielding positive results and said the state was not only contending with internally displaced persons (IDPs) occasioned by happenings in the state but had in the past months witnessed an influx of refugees from Taraba and Kaduna states, who are camped in various centres in Lafia, Wamba and Akwanga local government areas.

Making the donation, Engr.

Garba Abubakar Mohammed, who is the chairman of the Charity and Development Foundation of the bank, said their gesture was in fulfillment of their corporate social responsibility which they have so far extended to eight other states which include those in the troubled north-eastern region.

2015: Dino Melaye Counsels Kogi Electorate An aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi State, Hon Dino Melaye, has assured that his party would take the state by storm.

The former House of Representatives member who represented Kabba/Bunu federal constituency on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) noted that the philosophy of APC had set an agenda for victory.

Melaye alleged that the eight years Senator Smart Adeyemi represented West Senatorial District was a colossal failure, pointing out that the only alternative is the APC, with him as the person to salvage the situation.

The former representative made this comment at the NUJ press centre, Lugard road, Lokoja, during the flag-off his declaration of intention to contest West Senatorial District’s ticket for the Senate, recently.

Dino who was chairman, House Committee on Information during his tenure, maintained that experience had shown that to make impact on the people one must be able to draw attention to the plight of the people, something that Senator Smart Adeyemi failed to do.

By Sam Egwu, Lokoja

short news Police Designate Thuggery As Act Of Terrorism The Kwara State Police Command has designated political thuggery as an act of terrorism.

The new commissioner of police in the state, Salihu Garba, disclosed this in Ilorin yesterday during his maiden press conference.

He warned against defacing or outright destruction of political bill boards, saying that the command has zero tolerance for acts of political thuggery in whatever guise.

“Destroying bill boards will not stop the person who will win the election from winning, but that act constitutes a breach of public peace.”

By Abdullahi Olesin, Ilorin

Niger State governor Dr Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu bidding farewell to intending pilgrims shortly before their take-off to Saudi Arabia, at the Minna International Airport. PHOTO BY GOVERNMENT HOUSE

Parliamentary Staff Union Suspends President, Treasurer

BY Abu Nmodu, Minna

The national executive council meeting of the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN) has approved the suspension of its national president, Comrade Fatai Jimoh, and the treasurer, Emmanuel Apeh.

A communiqué at the end of the association’s meeting at Dogon Koli Hotel, Minna, at the weekend disclosed that the officials were suspended based on some constitutional breaches.

The communiqué, signed by the chairman of the session and chairman of Balyelsa State chapter, Comrade Siso Reginald Simeon, and the secretary who is the chairman of Nasarawa State chapter Samuel Abu Iyenenzo, as well as two others said that the council has resolved that the deputy national president Bala Hadi should take over as the acting national president.

Similarly, the communiqué added that “the council unanimously resolved that the appointment

of the secretary general Comrade D.D.Y. Suleiman be terminated forthwith and in his place the secretary, Nasarawa State chapter of the union Comrade Samuel Iyenenzo Abu was appointed as the acting secretary general.

“The council also resolved that a special national delegates conference be convened in October 2014 and the council urged all chapters of the union to pay their check-off dues in September 2014. in line with rule 20(A)5 of the constitution.”

2015: Gen Useni Seeks Support For Jonathan

By Achor Abimaje, Jos

An elder statesman and former minister of the Federal capital Territory (FCT), Lt. Gen. Jeremiah Useni (rtd), has stressed that the transformation agenda of the President Goodluck Jonathan has witnessed giant strides in the agriculture and power sector of the Nigerian economy, pushing high the rating of the country in terms of GDP as the biggest economy in Africa.

Useni, who stated this yesterday while addressing newsmen at his residence in Jos, affirmed that for these achievements, President Jonathan should con-

test the forthcoming 2015 presidential elections, adding that he deserves an automatic ticket. .He said “You would agree with me that the purposeful and well focused implementation of government programmes with very clear standards for monitoring have very tremendous” .

“Some of these developmental strides can be seen in major installations being commissioned all over the nation, not to talk of the innovative dry session rice farming and processing plants designed to boost rice production with excess for export” “In the area of infrastructural development , the Second Niger Bridge under construction,

the resustication of the railway system linking the south with the northern parts of the country and the numerous roads network across the country are there for every one to see ,” he added Useni, who is also the chairman, Board of Trustees, Arewa Consultative Forum, further said: “I commend the giant strides taken by President Goodluck Jonathan to curb the menace of the Boko Haram insurgency and wish to commend, in particular, the commitment of the federal government for his foresight and unflinching efforts to end this ugly security situation.”

2015: Only 120, 000 Kwarans Support Jonathan’s Re-election

By Abdullahi Olesin, Ilorin

Indications have emerged that vast majority of the electorate in Kwara State may not vote for the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as well as President Goodluck Jonathan during the 2015 general elections.

This is because only 120, 000 Kwarans out of about 1.5million people in the north central participated in the collection of sig-

natures on Jonathan’s re-election bid.

Kwara boasts of about one million votes but recorded a total of 503, 000 votes during the 2011 governorship elections in the state.

Also, about 400,000 Kwarans registered as members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state during the last registration exercise conducted by the party.

However, the minster of National Planning, Dr. Abubakar Sulaiman, during an interactive session with journalists in Ilorin, on Sunday said that the issue of signatories was not the issue.

The minister said that the PDP had mapped out strategies to wrest power from the APC during the 2015 general elections in the state.

He decried what he termed as high poverty rate in the state.

42 news south-west Lafarge Wapco Trains, Employs Young Nigerians Lafarge Wapco Cement company, makers of Elephant cement, has begun training young Nigerians in apprenticeship and is offering the trainees employment upon completion of the programme.

This was disclosed at the graduation of the first set of young men and women who underwent 18 months intensive training under the tutelage of the firm’s experts led by the MD/CEO of the firm, Mr Joe Hodson, at Isofin, Ewekoro local government area of Ogun State.

Mr Hodson, who assumed leadership of the company in 2009, further stated that Nigeria had the potential to rule the world given the abundance of human resources and talents that abound in the country.

“I have been to many places around the world and Nigeria is the country with the best ‘can do spirit’. There is enormous talents in this country and that is why we have decided, starting with this first set of apprentices, to train Nigerians in practical skills that can sustain them.”

By Gbenga Adeboye, Abeokuta

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Defection: Appeal Court Sacks Ondo Rep, Declares Seat Vacant *I’m heading for Supreme Court – Abegunde

By Tope Fayehun, , Akure

The Appeal Court sitting in Akure, the Ondo State capital, yesterday sacked the lawmaker representing Akure South/North federal constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon Sunday Abegunde.

Abegunde had approached the appellate court to appeal the judgment of Justice Okeke of the Federal High Court

which had earlier ruled that the seat of the federal legislator be vacant in May 2012.

The lawmaker, who is a former member of the ruling Labour Party (LP), defected to the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), justifying his defection by claiming that his former party had a crisis which led to a division within the party.

It would be recalled that the lawmaker, under the platform of the ruling party in the state, won the

House of Representative election in April 2011 but defected to the ACN few months after.

While upholding the judgement of the lower court, the appellate court presided over by Justice A.G Mishella, said Abegunde’s appeal lacked merit, and that there was no division in his former party as claimed.

The court then asked the appellant to vacate the seat, having violated the provisions of Section 68 (1) (g) of the consti-

tution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended .

The court also held that there was no division within the LP to warrant a defection from it and that the appellant should vacate his seat as a member of the House of Representatives representing Akure South/North federal constituency.

However, in a swift reaction, the lawmaker has vowed to challenge the judgment at the Supreme Court.

Hajj Operations Start At FAAN’s Designated Airports The airlifting of pilgrims to Saudi Arabia for the 2014 Hajj has commenced at all Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN)-controlled airports across the country.

On Wednesday, September 10, no fewer than 502 intending pilgrims departed from the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano aboard MaxAirlines to Saudi Arabia to perform this year’s Hajj, as part of the 5,708 pilgrims scheduled for this year’s Hajj operations from Kano.

According to the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), about 15,000 pilgrims are expected to participate in this year’s exercise from different parts of the country.

This follows the approval of their visas by the Saudi embassy.

By Nkem Osuagwu, Lagos

Shun Social Vices, Osun Lawmaker Tells Nigerian Youths Member of the Osun State House of Assembly, Hon. Kamil Oyedele, has cautioned Nigerian youths against acts capable of truncating their glorious future as leaders of tomorrow.

He gave the advice at Ifon Orolu, headquarters of Orolu local government, while addressing youths of his constituency during a roundtable discussion tagged “Leadership and Followership” organised

by Young Changers International.

The member representing Irepodun/Orolu state constituency pointed out that the position of a leader is for people of noble character, integrity and good virtues.

By Joshua Dada, Osogbo

Members of Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) in the electricity sector protesting their plight in the NDA, ECN,NEPA/ PHCN pension arrangement at the Lagos State Government House, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos, yesterday. PHOTO BY GBENGA

short news FG Introduces SelfReliance Programme For Women, Youth A gender-sensitive programme targeted at providing extra income-generating activities for women and youths to make them self-reliant and contribute to the country’s socio-economic development has been unveiled by the federal government through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The programme, according to the permanent secretary of the ministry, Mrs. Ibukun Odusote, is being implemented under the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA).

It involves tackling the problems of unemployment, creating wealth and food security.

By Tope Fayehun, Akure

Oct 16: Ekiti MDAs To Prepare Hand-over Notes

by ALO ABIOLA, , Ado-Ekiti

Ahead of October 16 hand-over date, heads of ministries, agencies and parastatals in Ekiti State have been directed to begin preparation of their hand-over reports.

The state governor,Dr Kayode Fayemi, gave the directive yesterday at the inaugural sitting of the

19-man transition committee in Ado Ekiti, the state capital.

The secretary to the state government, Dr Ganiyu Owolabi, who represented the governor at the sitting, explained that the committee was set up to ensure a smooth takeover by the new administration on October 16.

Owolabi, who doubles as chair-

man of the committee, added that information concerning facts and figures regarding the activities of the outgoing government should be looked at to avoid falsehood or misrepresentation of facts.

While assuring that questions raised or clarification sought by the Fayose side would be welcomed, he declared that the out-

going government will continue to act effectively until the expiration of its tenure of office.

“There cannot be a vacuum in governance and it must be known that the present government has a mandate of four years during which it is expected to provide leadership without fail”, Owolabi said.

Amosun’s Aide Resigns, Joins PDP

By Gbenga Adeboye, Abeokuta

One of the aides to Ogun State governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, has resigned her appointment with the state government and defected to Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Barrister Abimbola Balogun, who served as special adviser on Environment, told a PDP gathering at Ijebu Igbo, Ijebu North local government, on Sunday that she tendered her letter of resignation last Thursday.

According to her, she had been part of Amosun’s admin-

istration since 2011, saying her decision to quit was borne out her passion for hardwork which was no more coming to her office.

“I have been in this government since inception. I was sworn in as special adviser on Environment precisely on the 21st of July, 2011 and we swung into action.

“I began to work day and night when I was in the Ministry of Environment. It got to a stage that the governor himself called me to Exco to take a bow in recognition of my contribution.”

Balogun said when she noticed that work was no longer coming to her office, she approached the governor who did nothing to change the situation.

“Along the line, I didn’t know what happened, I just saw that work was no more coming and I went to him and said ‘Sir, I don’t like being bored, I want to work and that’s why I’m here.”

“He said the position is just for me to occupy and that the people doing the work were there. And who were the people doing the work? Just five people - his brother, his cousins and

members of his family.”

She further stated that she waited for a while hoping things would change, saying she had to resign eventually to take her destiny in her own hands.

“I waited patiently, maybe he would change, but he did not, and I needed to move on because it’s my life and destiny and I have got to take it in my hands and that was why I moved on to join the PDP. It took me time to assess the situation and l looked at all the parties on ground before deciding and I knew that PDP was the way for me.”

news Lagos 43

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Strike Looms In Unity Schools The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has concluded arrangements to call its members in the Federal Ministry of Education, including those in the 104 Unity Schools and Inspectorate Departments, out on strike.

The union is vexed over the refusal of the management to honour the agreement reached with the officials of the association in respect of all outstanding labour issues affecting members of the union in the establishment.

“By this decision, the 104 Federal Unity Colleges will not reopen for the next academic session scheduled to begin on the 22nd of September, 2014,” the union stated in a press statement issued in Lagos and signed by its secretary-general, Comrade Alade Bashir Lawal.

By Taiwo Ogunmola-Omilani, Lagos

Lagos BRT Vandalism: Tribunal Appeals To Witnesses To Provide Information

By Olugbenga Soyele, Lagos

The chairman of the Tribunal of Inquiry into the road traffic accident and vandalism of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) buses, Justice Ebenezer Adebajo (rtd.) yesterday appealed to members of the public who witnessed the incident to come forward with information on the incident.

Justice Adebajo made the appeal at the inaugural sitting of the tribunal, which was set up

by the Lagos State government to investigate the incident which took place at Palm Grove area of the state.

In his inaugural address, the tribunal’s chairman assured all those that would appear before it of fair hearing, adding that the tribunal would ensure confidentiality of witnesses where it is required.

He urged witnesses of the incident not to entertain any fear, stressing that they would

be well protected against any form of intimidation.

According to Justice Adebajo, this is the only way to ensure that the tribunal does a thorough job and makes appropriate recommendation that would ensure that such ugly incident does not happen again.

Although the military was not present at the sitting, Justice Adebajo claimed that the chief of army staff, Major

General Kenneth Minimah and the Brigade Commander of the 9th Mechanised Division, Ikeja Cantonment, Brigadier General Lubo has assured him that they would appear before the tribunal.

Another member of the panel, Jude Igbanoi also said that the tribunal expanded its scope of activities as it is prepared to take memoranda from people who want to remain anonymous.

short news N43m Fraud: Absence Of Judge Stalls Islamic Clerics’ Trial

SIN Campaign Commends Lagos For Inquiry Into Soldiers’ Rampage An NGO, Stop Impunity Nigeria (SIN) Campaign, yesterday commended the Lagos State government for setting up a Tribunal of Inquiry into the road traffic accident in which a soldier was killed and the subsequent arson and vandalising of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) buses by the soldiers on July 4, 2014.

In a statement made available to LEADERSHIP yesterday, signed by the executive director, Media Rights Agenda (MRA), Mr Edetaen Ojo, the SIN campaign described the action of the soldiers, who went on rampage following the accidental killing of their colleague, burning every BRT vehicle in sight and attacking civilians including journalists, as “an act of impunity, a major social problem perverting the Nigerian polity.”

By Ruth Tene Natsa, Abuja

Synagogue Collapse: CDHR Gives FG, Lagos 48 Hours To Probe The Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) has given the federal and Lagos State governments 48 hours ultimatum to commence a full scale investigation to unravel the cause of the Synagogue Guest House collapse in Ikotun area of Lagos State.

In a statement signed by the committee’s national president and treasurer, Comrade Sunny Enenuvwedia and Deji Adebowale respectively, CDHR said the government must unravel the identities of the strange helicopter and plane that flew low over the building four times within 24 minutes before its sudden collapse.

By George Okojie, Lagos

Work in progress at the Iganmu light rail station in Lagos, yesterday. PHOTO BY NAN.

LASU’s External Students Protest Late Release Of Results

By Taiwo Ogunmola-Omilani, Lagos

The students of Lagos State University External System yesterday staged a peaceful protest against the extended academic calendar and the delay in the issuance of results by the management of the institution.

Master Abolaji Azeez who led the protest told newsmen that they were faced with numerous challenges such as exorbitant school fees and lack of identification cards among others. The students stormed Lagos State governor’s office during the protest.

Students in all external campuses of the institution had earlier alleged that there were instances where two students shared the same matriculation number.

They also argued that students admitted into the school between 2009 and 2001 were yet to be issued admission letters.

Azeez said, “Most of our students left the school after spending seven years and it would take them another five years before they collect their results. We hardly receive lectures and we have incompetent lecturers.

“We paid N105,000 as school fees compared to what others pay.

The management doesn’t issue us identification cards and we don’t do continuous assessments.”

The students revealed that they had written letters to Governor Babatunde Fashola and the vice chancellor, Professor John Obafunwa, but nothing has been done to address the issues raised in the letters.

“I ought to spend five years, but it has been extended to six years; most of our ladies are now married because of the number of years we have spent in the school,” he said.

The ongoing trial of four Ilorinbased Islamic clerics before the Federal High Court in Lagos for allegedly defrauding a businesswoman, Mrs Basirat Akinbisehin of N43million was yesterday stalled due to the absence of the trial judge, Justice Okon Abang.

The clerics, Jimoh Kadiri, 61; Mohammed Ibrahim, 36; Mohammed Isah, 29; and Ojo Ogunlade, 30 are facing a five-count charge of conspiracy and fraud.

The accused persons, who were arraigned before the court on August 30, 2013, had pleaded not guilty to the charges and granted bail.

By Olugbenga Soyele, Lagos

FOI Act: SERAP Gives CBN 14 Days To Name Alleged Terror Sponsor

By Olugbenga Soyele, Lagos

A civil society organisation, SocioEconomic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has given the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) a 14day ultimatum to make public the name of the alleged sponsor of the terror group, Boko Haram linked to the bank.

SERAP also threatened to drag the CBN to court under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act if it fails to provide information on the alleged sponsor.

The organisation, in a Freedom of Information request to the governor of the CBN, Godwin Emefiele, which was signed by its executive director, Adetokunbo Mumuni,

stated that the information would ensure full accountability by those involved in international crimes.

An international negotiator, Dr Stephen Davis, who claimed to be involved in negotiations on behalf of the federal government with commanders of Boko Haram for the release of over 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by the sect last April, had

named a former top official of the CBN among those that have provided funds and other logistics to Boko Haram.

SERAP also asked Emefiele to provide “within 14 days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter, information on the exact nature and duration of any such transactions.”

44

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

2015 YOBE STATE

‌WHERE DO WE STAND? If the public view, opinion polls, decay in infrastructural development plus inability of the APC lead government in Yobe State to fulfil its promises, its inability to compete with its sister states created in the same year (1991), if all this is anything to go by, then it will be appropriate to conclude that the present APC lead government in the state should start packing out of the Yobe State Government House. The electorates in the state have woken-up from sleep, withholding of civil servant salaries, sentiments, tribal and regional differences to intimidate voters will no longer hold water this time around.

While the fear of PDP has lead the APC government in the state to celebrate every little misunderstanding within PDP, it is now disturbing to the APC lead government that PDP is united, it is disturbing that PDP is becoming stronger every day. The leadership of PDP in the state over time have realised the significance of uniting, the need for giving Yobeans what they deserve, this has led to mending of fences among aggrieved PDP members and stakeholder.

The recent indication of interest by serving senators and members of federal house representatives to join PDP ahead of 2015 election is a clear indication that come 2015 PDP is party of all.

Since 2011, despite not having government at the state level, despite intimidation of our members in state civil service and LGA, we never relent in associating with our youths and our supporters, at our level we always intimate our state excos and party leaders in Abuja of the problems affecting our youths and our communities.

Over time they have carried us along, led us to benefit positively from the transformation agenda of Mr President HE Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, assured us to be strong and resist all the intimidation.

We have gain supporters over time, our numbers is in thousands, they intimidate we resist, they detest our party and we love our president transformation agenda, and now they are losing while we are gaining followers and Insha Allah come 2015 Yobe state will be the first to deliver its votes to PDP at all levels.

The destiny of a transformed and fully developed Yobe state lies in our thumb-print, our silence over the years has lead our state to be a laughing stock among states created same year, if those who sacrificed their efforts in working towards the creation of Yobe state will imagine Yobe remaining in almost same position after 23 years they will have had a second thought. Living the affairs of our state in the hands of FAFs will only make us two steps backward while our sister states are four steps ahead of us.

Come 2015 our votes will count, we wish to appeal to our youths, our elders, our stakeholders and our royal fathers to support the call to transform Yobe state, the call to meet up with our sister states the call to make Yobe a role model not a laughing stock. The success attained by other state is not by accident or by coincidence but by the will of the electorates to vote for credible leaders irrespective of tribe, region and other sentiments, we call on all Yobeans to join the call, pray for the cause and vote for PDP come 2015.

When politicians make promises, PDP sets examples, our PDP governors in Jigawa and Bauchi promised to build Airport and today their pilgrims are being airlifted to perform this year’s pilgrim in their own land, Yobe state airport still remains unfulfilled promise, our

pilgrims wander between Kano and Maiduguri, a times not knowing were to be airlifted at the 11 hour, not to talk of the challenges of traveling long journey just to be airlifted.

We want to call our supporters that, we have waited a long time, we should not be deterred by any intimidation, we should remain firm and resist all sabotage , APC has failed us, Yobe is lagging behind, unemployment is at its peak, absence of government is normal in our state, we have to wake up, support PDP, and vote PDP. Let our votes be casted to PDP or remains invalid.

Those who sabotage PDP success, those who sale out PDP and deceived electorate will not be allowed to succeed this time, we will support the cause that will salvage our youths, we will stand firm and make sure the interest of the youths is depended, we will support PDP at all levels.

While we envy our neighbouring states of Taraba, Gombe Bauchi Jigawa for he people oriented projects promised and executed by their respective Governors, Mega project not Wash Boreholes, Airports not renovations and paintings of round-about, women and youth empowerment not just payments of Monthly hard-earn right (Salaries of civil servants). We call on those states to do justice to the party that brought in their governors, we call on them to support and vote for PDP at all levels.

Nigerians who lived long enough to follow the history of political development in this country will also agree with me that President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is one of the very few leaders in Nigeria who have demonstrated great will in pursue development programmes and standing firm in the unity and oneness of Nigeria as a nation, this he stood by despite many challenges and saboteurs.

Mr. President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan deserves nothing less than our total loyalty and support, we hope that he answer our call to re-contest come 2015. The great improvement recorded in the power sector of our country, solid minerals development, the economy, education, agriculture, road maintenance, youth and women empowerment necessitates our intentions to call on our like-minds both men and women to support our course, support Mr President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and never relent until he answers our call to BABANGIDA ALH. AUDU YADI contest come 2015.

NATIONAL ORGANIZING SECRETARY TRANSFORMATION MOVEMENT GROUP FOR JONATHAN 2015

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

‘I’m Not In Bayelsa To Determine The Governor In 2016’ The newly deployed commissioner of police in Bayelsa State, Valentine Ntomchukwu yesterday resumed duty at the Police Headquarters, saying he was not posted to the state to play politics of who becomes governor in 2016.

Valentine Ntomchukwu,while speaking yesterday with newsmen, after the inspection of the Parade of Guard at the Headquaters of the State Police Command, described as “figment of reporter’s imagination” the report published by some national dailies(not LEADERSHIP) alleging that his posting was influenced by the wife of the president to upstage the administration of Governor Serieke Dickson.

NtomChukwu said “I don’t think I have come to the State for Political reasons.I have not read the report but I neared someone talking about it.I think such report is real.It is the figment of the reporter’s imagination.”

By Osa Okhomina,Yenagoa

news south-South south-East 45

PDP Loses 2,000 To APC In Edo

ByPatrick Ochoga, Benin City

The rank of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State depleted last weekend, as the party lost over 2,000 members to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Igueben local government area of the state.

Governor Adams Oshiomhole who received the defectors led by Eronmosele Aisabor said the government has upgraded the College of Education, Igueben to a campus of the University of Education, Ekiadolor.

According to him, “I have come to assure you in the next two and a half years of my stewardship, there is more good news for the people of Igueben. The future of our state would be replaced from the politics of wuru wuru to a politics of educating our people. That is why we are building schools. We need teachers who are properly trained to teach our children.

“We decided to upgrade the Colleges of Education to degree awarding institutions to give people the chance of taking teaching jobs by upgrading Ekiadolor to University

of Education. By that decision, the Igueben College has become a campus of the University of Education.

“I have not spent eight years only six and by the time I have spent eight years I would do more.

So don’t listen to them when they tell you to decamp to a torn umbrella that has failed to produce any meaningful development in years.

Did the umbrella build schools, roads and water? So ask before you act,” he said.

“I call on you to listen so that we can rescue Nigeria. I won’t listen to anybody who wants me to do

the politics of the individual rather than politics of development. I would not listen to these people because Nigeria is failing as leaders are putting themselves before their people.

“You must understand the basis for political contestations. The times are gone when people would vote without asking questions. The times are gone when the welfare of the few is seen as the basis for the decision of the majority. This is why I ask an open question: in the ten years of PDP, what can any of you count?”

short news Bayelsa Council Denies Plot To Upstage Assembly Speaker

2015: Gov Akpabio Deserves Senate Seat – Bara Following the rapid development and democratic dividends in oil rich Akwa Ibom State, under Governor Godswill Akpabio led administration, a non-governmental organisation, House2House for Democracy, at the weekend, said the governor deserves a seat in the Senate in 2015.

The director-general, House2House, Hon. Ogidi Ben Bara, described development in the state as unprecedented, and on behalf of the organisation called on the governor to contest for the senatorial slot for his senatorial district come 2015.

Bara said, “We have heard and seen the unprecedented infrastructural development going on in Akwa Ibom State.”

By Ebriku John Friday, Abuja

Ebola: Rivers To Prosecute Clerics Operating Treatment Wards The Rivers State government has said it will not hesitate to prosecute leaders of religious organisations in the state that operate admission and treatment wards in their churches and mosques.

The state commissioner for health, Dr. Sampson Parker disclosed this yesterday at EberiOmuma, headquarters of Omuma local government area of the state, during a sensitisation campaign on Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

Parker said, “We are telling pastors and other religious leaders against setting up of admission wards or centres in the churches.”

By Anayo Onukwugha, Port Harcourt

Eke-Awka market women protesting the imposition of a caretaker committee chairman on the market by the Awka South Amalgamated Traders Association Union (ASMATU) in Awka, yesterday. PHOTOBY NAN

Nigeria’ll Not Fail, Ndoma-Egba Assures Nigerian Youths

By Lanre Arotimi, Calabar

The Senate leader, Victor NdomaEgba, has assured Nigerian youths that Nigeria will not fail in spite of the current security challenges she is facing in the North East part of the country.

He gave the assurance yesterday in Calabar during the award of scholarship to 42 indigent students drawn from Cross River central senatorial district of the state.

While noting that the youths are the most valuable resource of any nation, Senator Ndoma-Egba

expressed hope about Nigeria’s ability to come out of her security challenges even stronger.

“Inspite of our challenges, Nigeria will excel. We hear of Boko Haram and they think Nigeria has failed. Nigeria has not failed, and Nigeria will not fail.

“It will come to an end. But in spite of these challenges, we must remain focused on our young men and women because they are the ones to take Nigeria to the next level”, he said.

Ndoma-Egba, who disclosed that his annual scholarship as well

as empowerment programmes are youth oriented, stated that “the real resource of any nation is not its oil, is not its mineral but rather a youthful, educated and skilled population”.

As the senate leader revealed how he enjoyed several privileges as a youth in the past, he promised to sustain the scholarship scheme which according to him, is worth over N70million.

The current scholarship award, is coming on the heels of a recent massive empowerment of his constituents.”

The chairman of Southern Ijaw local government council in Bayelsa State, Hon. Remember Ogbe yesterday described as “untrue” the claim that the Oil and Gas Task Force of the council is being used as a political weapon to remove the state assembly speaker, Hon. Kombowei Benson.

According to Hon. Remember Ogbe, though the Task Force was created by the local government council to tackle crude oil thieves, pipeline vandals and illegal refinery operators whose activities have impacted negatively on the environment,the claims by the politicians involved in the reported plot to remove the speaker is wicked.

Osa Okhomina, Yenagoa

Tension In Oron Over Killing Of Naval Officers

By Bernard Tolani Dada, Uyo

Two naval ratings were at the weekend reportedly killed by a gang of sea pirates on the high sea in Oron, south west of Akwa Ibom State.

The incident occurred when some dare devil pirates operating on the high sea and dispossessing passengers of commercial boats coming from Calabar in

Cross River State of their belongings noticed that some naval officers who are members of the Joint Task Force patrolling the high sea were among the passengers.

On sighting the naval officers the pirates descended on them with cutlass and other dangerous weapons killing them in cold blood.

An eyewitness and one of the passengers who refused to give his

name told LEADERSHIP that the naval officers were beheaded and their bodies thrown into the sea before the pirates disappeared.

Following the dastardly act, according to the eyewitness, the operational base of the navy in Oron swung into action by mobilising their men and pursued the fleeing sea robbers shooting sporadically into the air but it was too late as none of the pirates was appre-

hended.

The navy in Oron were said to have in recent times given the sea pirates operating on the Atlantic a good fight in a bid to reducing their activities.

At the time of filing this report, the bodies and the severed heads of the naval officers were yet to be found but naval authorities were said to have launched a massive manhunt for the criminals.

46

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Why North Can’t Stop Jonathan In 2015 Former Senator from Akwa Ibom state and Pioneer National Publicity Secretary of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Anietie Okon, has criticized the recent controversial creation of more polling units by the nations’s electoral body (INEC) which was in overwhelmingly in favour of the North, accusing the INEC boss, Prof Attahiru Jega of having a hidden agenda. In this interview with the POLITICS EDITOR, CELESTINE OKAFOR in Abuja, Okon spoke on 2015, insurgency, National Confab, among other contemporary issues.

You were a delegate to the just concluded National Conference which the President, Goodluck Jonathan recently received the report of its resolutions. The president has promised to send that report to both the National Assembly and the National Council of States. But since there is no provision for a referendum in the constitution as people have requested, how do we go about implementing those resolutions? l don’t see any problem with the implementation of the Conference Report. The National Assembly is not a lifeless body. It carries the vestments of the wishes, the expectations and hopes of the Nigerian People. It is an institution capable of rising to the yearnings of the people of this country. And there are antecedents which are with us today. The Doctrine of Necessity which was an inspired construction of the National Assembly to lift the country out of the constitutional cul-sac which the unfortunate demise of president Umaru Musa Yar’Adua forced the country into, is a clear and indisputable example.

You can see from the current of public opinion, the desires of the people across the length and breath of this country, that there are germane issues that must be resolved through a referendum.

The President at the inauguration of the National Conference, made it clear that the National Assembly will be called upon to create the necessary legislation for the holding of a referendum in such areas that have become absolutely necessary for decisions requiring direct citizenry participation. l don’t therefore see any impediments to a resort to that process. Referendum has always been an instrument, a tool for determining fundamental political decisions. l believe that in the recommendations and amendments of the Conference, there are sufficient and incontrovertible grounds for amending the constitution. There are in other words, critical issues that will definitely fall within the purview of the National Assembly. And for such issues to achieve the national mandate, they must necessarily be subjected

- Sen. Anietie Okon

to established procedures. I think that there is a healthy presumption that the National Assembly will rise to the challenge and call of duty to help ensure a more wholesome and healthier nation.

The question is not whether the National Assembly is in a position to accept or reject the conclusions and amendments that have been thrown up by the National Conference. Rather, The National Assembly must now administer the constitutional baptism which is its prerogative to turn those recommendations and amendments into laws and sections of the constitution for the well being of the Nigerian citizenry. These amendments you will recall, have been authored by a gathering of Nigerians of all works of life and generations.

The Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, said last week that President Goodluck Jonathan should find a way to handle the report of that conference. Many people interpreted it to mean that he had indirectly told the president that the National Assembly will have nothing to do with that Conference Report. Do you also understand it that way?

I do not accept that interpretation as conveying the intendment and spirit of the words as allegedly uttered by the Distinguished Deputy Senate President. For me and also for a lot of people, what the Deputy Senate President said must be seen as a call to the Executive Arm to expeditiously deliver on the conclusions The Conference. And in doing so, they should diligently sieve through the report, sorting out those items that have to be transformed into laws to be channelled through laid down processes and presented as executive bills to The National Assembly.

That’s my reading of what Senator Ekweremadu is reported to have said. Mr President is certainly not going to dump the report of the conference like rough and uncut diamonds on the National Assembly. The report must be in a state that conforms to the normal state of issues being placed before the National Assembly.The Executive is expected to bring to the National Assembly, all the bills that have been indicated through the resolutions and amendments of The National Conference.

The pro-Jonathan Coalition group known as the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN), have endorsed President Goodluck Jonathan through their nationwide rallies, to re-contest in 2015 elections on the grounds that the President has performed well so far. Do you agree with them?

Yes! I agree with the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) and other support

groups like Goodluck Support Group (GSG) and VITALI which are inspired by true and patriotic leaders like Prof Jerry Gana and Senator Ibrahim Mantu.

And the Political Adviser to the President, Prof Rufai Alkali recently set up a committee headed by General Adamu Ibrahim with a view to harnessing the various support groups ahead of 2015. What is your take?

I endorse the initiative and direction of Prof Alkali. It falls within his turf to rein in these disparate support groups for the President and to ensure that they sustain the credibility of the President’s bid whenever he decides to come to contest.

We don’t want the enthusiasm especially the boisterousness that is evident in the style of TAN to push the campaigns beyond sublime levels. The decision of the Political Adviser is appropriate and timely. The various groups must be brought within some limits of discipline and streamlining so that their presentations whether on television, radio and in print, stay on message. The overriding interest of all Political Action Committees (PACs) as they are known in the United States of America, is the goal of mobilization with as much resources as they can garner. But it is important that their zealousness does not push the real substance of the President’s achievements beyond the facts and reality.

Therefore, there must be a

machinery and code of conduct that ensures that presentations stay on message. And the type of message that will be crafted for the president’s campaign will be the one that will state the facts as they are, so as to sustain the credibility of the campaign. It is counterproductive to scream utopia, when we have not reached there. We are marching towards the goal of a wholesome nation.

That is the message that should be delivered. That is the virtue of humility that should be the selling point for us.

People like you played a major role at the critical moment in the political marketing of President Jonathan during his presidential campaign in the 2011 elections.

Are you going to be involved in the same project this time, considering the fact that leading players like you in that campaign project lost out in terms of patronage and rewards for your political efforts?

I don’t know what you mean by patronage. For us and here, I refer to those who worked with me, our primary motivation was the challenge of ensuring that a new order prevails. And that the ideology of equality of persons and equal opportunity also prevails.

And we’ve been vindicated by a lot of revolutionary and landmark developments in the political growth of the country. Such landmark developments as the National Conference that has institutionalized the equality of

persons through revolutionary provisions like the rotation principle that trickles down through the federal, state and local government structures and which has guaranteed the right of every Nigerian to aspire to any political office in the land.

While one appreciates the energy that the GSG and TAN and other support groups are showing, we cannot fail to look at the main structure that will carry the President and that is the party (PDP) itself. The Party is the infrastructure that must be tuned ready for the elections. It is the machinery that is effectively on ground that covers the entire country. And nothing can supplant the Party. We have a responsibility, to re-energize our base which is the Party. The party is the main base from the cells to the wards, to the local government chapters and their various arms.

And clearly and definitely, the base has to be fired up because that is the machinery that will deliver the president through both the primaries and the election proper.

What the PACs are doing now is to create the consciousness, create a build-up for the challenge. One can not derogate the role of the PACs. I believe that the action of the President’s political adviser in streamlining the PACs, is in recognition of the limitations of PACs in spite of the energy and the vigor of the various support groups. Welcome as they are, the danger of over zealousness, is to allow overladed presentations of the critical achievements of Mr

President to be delivered in a way that raise questions of veracity.

The opposition All Progressive Congress (APC) has given indication that they are looking at fielding a presidential candidate they considered as credible like General Muhammadu Buhari. For your party PDP, is it President Goodluck Jonathan or somebody else?

We are settled about who the PDP presidential candidate is. It is President Goodluck Jonathan.

But it does not mean that there won’t be pretenders to the ticket of the party at the convention.

The fact remains that President Jonathan has met the mark. Those other Presidential aspirations in the party will not be worth a passing glance. In the realms of democracy, nobody will seriously seek to challenge the incumbent who is usually the leader of the party. He enjoys the right of first refusal. The party must out of a sense of duty and mission, offer the incumbent President the ticket and he has the option to accept or refuse the ticket. That is why in our party the PDP, it is a given that Mr President will run for a second term. It is within his constitutional right to do so, and he will also run on his record. I want to say here without fear of challenge, that the president has done well. There have been clear and foresighted initiatives in areas that appeared to have been foreclosed as being too daunting to tread. The President is addressing the restoration

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Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Why North Can’t Stop Jonathan In 2015 of decayed infrastructure and in spite of the humongous cost of containing the scourge of insurgency, the has exhibited discernible capacity in spurring growth in key sectors of our economy.

And l begin to see clear signs that the economy is expanding.

We are moving forward. What remains for now, is the urgency to mount an effective counterinsurgency campaign. I do not think any government would have envisaged the enormity of the grievous security behemoth that it now poses. In the circumstance provision of resources for containment has forced unexpected curtailment of provisions for other critical arrears of administration and the economy.To that extent, there have been an imperative review of priority pecking order of government estimates and funding and consequentially, constrictions, on the levels and range of deliveries in the economic sphere of the nation.

When people talk about the achievements of Jonathan’s government, they regret that corruption is alleged to be so pervasive in his era. The international community and their agencies have said this much, citing the present ineffectiveness of the existing anti-corruption agencies like the ICPC and EFCC as a compounding factor. Are there no point there?

How has the government paralyzed or made the anticorruption agencies ineffective?

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Chairman, Ibrahim Lamode, recently told the Senate Committee probing the performance of those agencies that the Commission had no more than N2 million in its accounts to carry out its statutory functions. Why won’t the government fund such important agency it had set up?

Corruption can be described as endemic, but it didn’t start now.

What is happening is that it had built up. But corruption had been there. And the anti-corruption agencies can not say that it is the government that is crippling their efforts. There have been over twenty-five cases of the EFCC particularly against high profile political office holders and so on.

We must raise questions about the preparedness of these anticorruption agencies and their capacities and level of competence in handling obvious cases of corruption. I dare them to come out and say that Mr President debarred them from taking anybody to court.They can not aver to that. If as we know, they are have been able to go after smaller fries and obtained convictions and confiscations and all that, what then is the force that has withheld their hands in pursuing the celebrated cases in which major public officers are allegedly

fingered? If the origins of cases of corruption are essentially what we are from the assortment of the media and they have carried out investigations and found out that those people were not culpable they should tell the country and also tell the world that the facts they found were in clear contradiction to what had been published. It is not enough to just come out and loudly commence investigations on the basis of what the media have thrown up or the rumors and petitions that have been bandied about. I suspect that is the major feed on which the extent and level of corruption in the country has been gauged.

Agencies that have been set up to deal with cases of corruption in both low and high places, should be seen to be doing their work or discharging their responsibilities rather than allow the public to speculate about why there have been no progress or what may have informed the lack of progress in the fight against corruption.

Some Northern Elders group have come out to threaten that President Jonathan should not contest the 2015 presidential election mainly on the basis that he has not been able to contain insurgency violence in the land.

Do you have a different view?

My collorary to the threat, is that there should be no elections in 2015, if they posit that the President should not contest because of the impaired security in some parts of the country simple!

If they insist that the withdrawal or surrender by Mr President of his legitimacies is the panacea to the roiling insurrection in certain parts of the country, the obvious conclusion is that the elders share intimacies with and are privy to the conspiracies that hatched and spawned the insurrection in that section of our country. A number of us had always suspected complicit involvement of a class of leaders as having been progenitors and shared paternal seeding of the ferment of insecurity to leverage political power to their advantage and control.

Already, some politicians have canvassed that the 2015 general elections should be forgotten or put in abeyance, until the issue of insecurity is finally resolved ...?

No, we can not allow the country to be held to ransom by the intrigues of a section of the socalled leaders who are dinosaurs from some political jurassic park, because they do not know or they have refused to accept the reality of a new Great Nigeria Coalition sprung from an irreversible real demographic.

Let me now dwell on their aim and the frightful consequences because an interpretative extension can be given to the position and stand they have taken. Our interpretation inter alia are basic truths from their statement:

1. That President Jonathan should relinquish any plans to bid for re-election because in their considered conclusions he has either refused or is apathetic to the crisis raging in a particular subregion of the country.

2. That only a President of a particular regional extraction will be acceptable to them.

I invite you to contemplate the consequential response to the following scenario: that even given its very unlikely happenstance, a president of northern extraction emerges, and the insurgency suddenly disappears.

It will be proof beyond doubt that they were complicit in the dark and wicked intrigues that sprung this insurrection. In an earlier interview, l had posited that this insurgency and terrorist activities were home grown and essentially self- inflicted.

Are you insinuating that certain leaders from the a North probably created this insecurity situation as a leverage to scuttle the re-election of President Jonathan in 2015?

Oh yes! If their major recommendation as a panacea for the insurgency to stop is that Mr president should step down and completely disavow his constitutional right to stand for election next year, then they can extend the president tenure in office by canvassing that we should not do an election. That is the interpretative extension that we can give to their position that Jonathan should not re-contest because of the insurgency.

An Australian government negotiator with the Boko Haram, Steven Davis, has blamed the escalation of this insurgency on former Army Chief of Staff, General Azubike Ihejirika and former governor of Borno state, Senator Ali Modu Sherrif, as the sponsors. Based on this revelation, the leadership of the APC on Tuesday called on the government to prosecute the sponsors of the insurgents at the international criminal court (ICC). Are you in agreement?

The allegations by the Australian, Steven Davis, sounds to me completely zany. The gusto and alcoholic gloating with which the APC lunged into the story, defines their limited appreciation of their responsibility to this country.

Was Davis, by mentioning the former Army Chief, suggesting that the federal government was sponsoring insurgency against itself? As far as l am concerned, that allegation was a poorly scripted despatch, because the former chief of army staff was directed by the president in line with his duty, to quell the insurgency. So l don’t think that the president, from what l know about him, will accept the loss of lives through the insurgency activities, just for the purpose of retaining power over

who? Mr Davis story was simply a poorly scripted distraction.

Clearly, poorly scripted, and there are no pillars of logic to base that type of position. If Davis was hired by government, he should have exercised discipline and responsibility in making his security report available to the government that hired him instead of staying from a safe distance to concoct his heresy.

For whatever purpose, his story falls below the line of admissible logic. Don’t forget, that this same president made an open statement that nobody, even his own desire to seek office, can justify the loss of a single life. No office is high enough for sacrifice with the lives of innocent people. No president, especially the type of president we have in this country today, will initiate any move that leaves in its wake the degree of devastation we have witnessed recently. How can a President engage in such callous and heinous conspiracy including murdering thousands of persons and displacing a whole lot of others just to stay in power? I don’t really give thought to such fallacy because it is a position for me, that deserves contemptuous dismissal.

Don’t forget that the anxiety for Mr President to quarter and snuff out the insurgency, has brought to his door steps, assorted journey men of fortune, who, based on their different levels of introductions, have promised all manner of solutions and delivered nothing and the country had been the poorer for indulging them.

Certainly, Davies falls within this class of scammers. His exposè was the most disingenuous and speaks volumes of his quality or lack of it.

In the 2011 general elections, you dared some interests in the North when they opposed Jonathan’s bid to contest for presidency on the basis of zoning understanding. You insisted that the president must contest in 2011 and in this 2015 elections.

Are still standing on that position?

I have found no reason to reverse my self.

Some of the Northern political leaders like Maitama Sule have said that the way the trend of things are in the country now regarding her unity, that the North is prepared in case of any eventuality. Can you interpret that statement by Maitama Sule?

With due respect, Maitama Sule and co, should have defined the eventuality. I don’t answer to incomplete positions. What is the eventuality? Anyway, we have just come from a National Conference in which there were clear reaffirmations during the debate on the present political territory called Nigeria. Most people had the opportunity to want to opt out. But as far as l know, we had debates, committees and also the plenary, nobody, no section, indicated the interest to break up

- Sen. Anietie Okon

the country. As a matter of fact, l was among those who did position papers on how to nurture the idea of one Nigeria. The principle of zoning recognized the right of every Nigerian to aspire for the leadership of the country. This zoning is a peculiar arrangement that is only suitable because of our state of development in other to manage the various emotions that accompany the arrangement for power sharing in the country.

INEC recently created some new polling units in the country ahead of the 2015 general elections. About seventy percent of it was allocated to the North while a negligible thirty percent was given to the South. How do react to this?

As far as l am concern, it is a clear plot by the leadership of INEC to be used as a trump card to subvert whatever the Nigerian electorate decide at the poll in 2015. INEC, in doing that, created a bank of votes that it intends to use to pander to the desires of some leaders in the North especially in the presidential election. And that arrangement by INEC will not fly.

It is so completely skewed against the South. There is clearly a flight from sanity somewhere in INEC. How they intend to push that through eventually, will remain one of the wonders of our recent times.

INEC’s action is clearly in breach of the democratic tendencies and occurrences any where in the world. And you notice that a lot of the new polling units are in places where we have unrefutted reports that the population there have emptied, either into the Cameron or into other parts of the country. So INEC has created those controversial polling units as a veritable tool to rig elections in keeping with whatever script that had been handed down.

The question is: what was the basis in arriving at the skewed and vaunted 85 percent and not 60 or 50 percent proportional distribution? If as INEC claims that some states were having excess polling units and therefore do not deserve more polling units, why and where was the justification in allocating additional 121 polling unit on the basis of equality of states? Let INEC convince the public that this new polling units are not for the Northern region.

INEC has decided to use the Finger Identification System of Registered Voters which are more unreliable data when it decided to create units. What were they trying to disguise? What were they trying to cover up? The disproportionate allocation to a section of the country, belies the reality of current situation on ground in those areas. The question remains that with this proposal, are the people in INEC preparing polling units for ghosts or for real humans? You have polling units in places where the populace obviously have ceased to live normally. These are areas of interrogation that must be placed

before INEC. It means that there must be some existing collusion.

We noticed that when they conducted election in Yobe, there was no question of disturbance. So there are so many interrogatories.

INEC has really descended into the trenches for the battle in the 2015 elections. The same INEC that said recently that there is no possibility of holding elections in all parts of the country is now readily saying that the elections should hold every where. And l posit that if the security situation allows for the elections to be held, then the entire leadership of INEC and the insurgents including certain leaders in the North, are complicit in the intrigues that midwifed this insurrection. We are waiting to see how all these will play out. INEC’s new position is an act of subversion to the security of the country.

How do you see the return of APC chieftains like Chief Tom Ikimi, Senator Joshua Dariye and former Bornu governor, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff to your party PDP. Their defection seem to be too celebrated by the PDP. At the National Conference, we made a provision that made it impossible for anybody holding a mandate to defect to another political party from the platform through which the person was elected and still retain his or her position. That means that the defector must go back to those who elected him to seek their fresh mandate by standing for election.

The defection of anybody holding any mandate is in bad taste. There is a need to inject some level of discipline and decency in the polity. That is why the conference came to the conclusion that it is absolutely necessary for such persons to go and re-validate their mandate.

As a political leader in the South- South, how would you assess the capability of the new PDP National Vice Chairman for the South-South zone, Hon. Cairo Ojuogboh. What are your expectations of him?

He deserves the position. Cairo is a man with a wealth of experience.

He was in the party (PDP) from the beginning. He is one of our party’s front bearers. He went to the National Assembly in 1999 as a member of the House of Representatives, and chaired the House Committee on Petroleum Sector. He comes properly and suitably recommended with a good credential too numerous to mention. I am very optimistic that as someone who has played a significant role in the political affairs of the South-South especially since the beginning of this political dispensation, l have no doubt that he will be able represent the interest of the zone well.

END.

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Tuesday, September 16, 2014

THE CONCEPT OF REALISM Atiku Abubakar: Towards A Realistic Way Forward

By now there is no contention among Nigerians as to the fact that the country is on the edge of a precipice.

The state of insecurity is extreme because of the prevailing failure by the Goodluck administration to provide adequate mechanism for tackling terrorism and all forms of identity-based conflicts, structural imbalances continue to impede real development – not the ‘indices’ on paper that the government flaunts as evidence of progress, the Transformation Agenda, to all intents and purposes, is a tall order, maybe even a sham. The broken promises of 2011 remain broken.

As we continue to manage the anger, sadness, fears, disillusionments, and disappointments engendered by Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, there is a greater sense among us of the exigency of our situation. We must ask ourselves the right questions: what is our most pressing need? Who can serve that need?

Doubtless the PDP hangs on to the apparatus of power like grim death. Given the party’s track record of failure and deceit, and also with President Goodluck steering the wheel, the history of broken promises will only repeat itself. This extends logically to the point that our most pressing need as stakeholders in the establishment of the common good is to replace not just the PDP but Goodluck as well.

In deed it is a tragedy of our nation at this time that we are hard-pressed to identify, profile, and harness extraordinary qualities in deserving personalities – qualities that people with the requisite candour and open mindedness universally celebrate in leaders.

The Turakin Adamawa, Atiku Abubakar answers our second question in terms of competence to serve the need to replace or remove PDP and its leader. He (the Turaki) must be recognized as much for being a survivor of the pangs of the birth of democracy in the not too distant past, as a stickler for its sustenance, and in many respects, as an echo of the idealism of such great individuals in the histories of nations around the world who pioneered or facilitated change by daring to be misunderstood.

To bring the Turaki vibrantly alife and anchor him strongly and deservedly in the powerful drama of our incipient democracy will probably require a juxtaposition of the extraordinary qualities of magnanimity and sacrifice on the one hand, and dogged perseverance and shrewdness on the other. The political storm that raged between 2005 and 2007 left us in no doubt.

Against the other contending aspirants even within the APC he exhibits a greater flexibility that will command international acceptance. He demonstrates a more consistent commitment to putting the Nigerian project to rest as evidenced by his possession of a sound Policy Document for the nation, which he continues to review against changing circumstances (the only presidential hopeful to do that). And in a country where ethnic identities are stronger than national citizenship and religion continues to be the greatest rallying point in the polity, his across-the-board appeal amongst both Muslims and Christians makes him a force that can blaze the trail for a broad-based socio-political enterprise.

We, of the CONCEPT OF REALISM organization call on well-meaning Nigerians who understand the pressing need, not just for change but for supporting the very individual who can usher in the change process, to join us as we opt to throw our weight behind Turakin Adamawa. We invite you all to a political conference with the theme, “THE POLITICAL SAGACITY OF ATIKU ABUBAKAR,” scheduled to take place at Gamji Multi-Purpose Centre (Hassan Usman Katsina Park) kaduna on Saturday 20th September, 2014, by 12 noon.

Please do come!

Contact: 08091855599, 08023798357

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Tuesday, September 16, 2014

APC STAKE-HOLDERS FORUM KATSINA NORTH (DAURA) SENATORIAL ZONE

Distinguished Senator Abubakar Sadiq Yaradua, Gawu Avenue, Kofar Kaura Layout, Katsina

1st September, 2014

Dear Distinguished Senator,

SENATOR SADIQ YARADUA: PLEASE BE OUR PARTY’S FLAG-BEARER

Y

our Excellency (Inshallah) Sir, the peop.le that are before you today are major APC stake holders from all the 12 Local Government Areas that make-up the Katsina North Senatorial Zone, otherwise known as Daura Senatonal Zone. They include senior party members; women and the youths, party elders, party mobilisers, party executive members at the ward and local government levels and teeming party stalwarts and supporters. There are at least 60 people from each of the 12 Local Government Areas in the Zone.

Your Excellency (Inshallah) and Most Distinguished Senator, we are here this afternoon with a single mission;a message from the people of Daura Zone (Katsina North Senatorial Zone) especially the teeming members of our great party, the All Progressives Congress. The message is a simple one: to call on you to come and be the flag-bearer of our party, the APC. in the 2015 Gubernatorial Election in Katsina State.

Distinguished Senator Sir, some of us,indeed if not majority of the people of Daura Zone,have been closely following and monitoring your progress and performance(s) in the National Assembly since your election as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,representing our sister zone, Katsina Central. Our verdict is unequivocal: You have done marvellously well and performed beyond the expectation of many.. For the sake of emphasis,allow us, sir,to state the facts as we know them: 1.

You are the f1rst Senator ever in the history of Katsina State to have visited all the 116 wards of your constituency (in most cases multiple times) while still in office. This is true representation and true “change” from what was (is) the norm.These frequent visits enabled you to hear directly from your electors their problems and expectations and for you to explain to them the happenings in the National Assembly.

2.

You made it a habit to vis1t your constituency regularly and frequently (almost every week or every other week) for the last three years,thus creating synergy and understanding between you and your constituents.

3.

You have been one of the shining stars from the North in the Senate, in terms of effective representation, persuasive and well-articulated contributions on the hallow floor of the Senate and during committee deliberations generally reflecting the true views and opinions of those you represent.

4.

You have brought development to your constituency through constituency projects (truedividends of democracy) as follows: a. You have constructed over 400 hand-pumps scattered all over the 11 LGAs of your constituency through Sokoto Rima River Basin Development Authority (SRRBDA), MDG Office and the Energy Commission in the last 3years. b. You have constructed a number of solar-powered water schemes in some LGAs in your constituency c. You have ensured the allocation of funds in the 2012/13 Budget for the Jibiya Dam in Jibiya LGA and the completion of the Abdallawa Earth dam in Kaita Local Govt Area all under Sokoto Rima (SRRBDA). d. You have constructed blocks of 3-classrooms block in Kaita, Kaita LGA, Nassarawa,Shema wand in Dutsinma LGA,Kore in Batagarawa LGA and Jibiya in Jibiya LGA e. You have constructed a 3-classroom block Islamiyya School in Kurfi, Kurfi Local Government Area. f.

You have supplied 100 solar-powered computers each (complete with servers and internet connectivity) to Day Secondary School Banye in Charanchi LGA, Community Secondary School,Rimi in Rimi LGAand Community Secondary School Safana in Safana LGA. g. You are currently constructing an orphanage with 4 large dormitories, kitchen, dining room, TV room,basketball and volleyball pitches,etc. in Kaita Town of Kaita LGA which you intend to donate to a religious organisation. You have in addition through the MDG’s office constructed 2-blocks of 6-clasrooms to be run by the orphanage for the education of the in mates and boys and girls of neighbouring villages. h. You have supplied, through the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA), a “cold-chain” for the storage of vaccines, medicines, blood, needles, syringes etc. (fully solar-powered) for 68 Rural Health Centres in your constituency (the biggest coldchain project in Nigeria in the last 5 years) in addition to an ambulance and a 4-wheel drive Land-cruiser. i.

You have constructed,through the Nigeria Ports Plc’s Social Responsibility Scheme a Primary Health Centre in Gurza village in Danmusa LGA. j.

You have through the MDG office rehabilitated the Marrarabar-Bakiyawa to Bakiyawa Town Road in Batagarawa LGA (still awaiting the tarring of the road post-rehabilitation). k. You have rehabilitated the Gidan Isa Gachi to Gidan Bebeji Road in Sha’iskawa Qtrs. in Katsina LGA in 2013 when the road became unmotorable.

I. You have through the National Rural Electrification Agency provided 300 KVA transformers to various communities in your constituency in Katsina city including (Janbango, Tudun.

Yan-lihidda qtrs.),Gino Village (Civil Defence) in Batagarawa LGA and Batsariin Batsari LGA while those for Yantumaki in Danmusa LGA,Dandagoro in Batagarawa LGA and others are being awaited. m. You have financed the re-cabling of more than 13 power transformers (300 KVA) within Katsina Metropolis including those in Kerau, Sha’iskawa,Kofar-Marusa, Filin-Fives, Sabon layi,Abbatuwa,etc. and also in Kore in Batagarawa LGA. n. You have Constructed hundreds of tube wells through Sokoto Rima) SRRBDA for farmers in Ri mi,Kaita,Dutsinma,Kurfi,Charanchi,Jibiya,and Safana LGAs o. You have supplied through the Sokoto Rima (SRRBDA) irrigation pumps to a number of Farmers in various LGAs in your Constituency. p. You have given out free cars to allll(eleven) CPC/APC) LocaI Government Party Chairmen. q. You gave a brand new motorcycle to each of the 19 Local Government Party Executives in all the eleven (11) LGAs ofyourconstituency (a total of 209 motorcycles) free. r.

You gave each of the 117 Ward Party Chairmen in your constituency brand new motorcycles free. s.

You have given out over 320 brand new motorcycles to party stalwarts and your supporters free. t.

You have distributed more than 37 cars to your supporters, party stalwarts and elders of the party free.

u. v.

w. x.

You have assisted women with knitting machines, sewing machines, spaghetti making machines free of charge.

You have assisted numerous indigent students in tertiary institutions with financial support for the purchase of examinations forms, payment of school fees, payment of examination/ schoolentrance fees and feeding.

You have supported the poor. the less privilegedand the weak in the payment of their hospitalbills or purchase of prescribed medicines and drugs.

You have indeed helped many of your constituents to find jobs in the Police, Immigration, Civil Defence, some universities and in other MDAs such as the Nigeria Ports, NIMASA, Consumer Protection Agency, Court of Appeal, NOA, National Pension Commission, Electricity Regulatory Commission,FIIRS,etc.

In terms of your experiences,we believe you are eminently qualified having worked at alltiers of government (Local State and Federal) and indeedthe private sector.

At the LocalGovernment level you have worked as a school teacher at Sada Primary School in Kankia,FarinYaro and Garama Primary Schools in Katsina and Bakiyawa Primary School in Batagarawa LGA. You also worked atthe Information Unit of Mani Local Government Area. For the years you spent as a Local Government employee you worked with dedication, diligence and commitment.

At the State levelyou worked as Chief Press Secretary to Governor John Yahaya Madaki and Alhaji Saidu Barda. You were Chief Adviser to both Governors and had a very close relationship with them. However, it is a well-known fact that you did not exploit your closeness to them to corruptly enrich yourself nor did you use your office to ask/solicit for or obtained directly or indirectly any contract or government patronage from any government ministry, department or the governors themselves nor ask for or receive gratification from any contractor.

At the Federal Level, you worked as Chief Commercial Officer at the National Maritime Authority under Alh Munnir Ja’afaru, Alh Buba Galadima and Mr Patrick John Egesi as DGs all of whom at various formalor informal fora have vouched for your goodcharacter and incorruptibility. Throughout your stay at the NMA you never directly or indirectly asked or solicited for nor obtained or executed any contract or engaged in any form of corruption. You were also an Executive Director at the Nigeria Ports Pic in-charge of Corporate Services and later Operations,Marine and Regulatory Services and you did no not blemish your records.You were known by many staff as an anti-corruption Tsar and throughout your tenure you did not directly or indirectly ask or solicit for nor obtained or executed any contract nor didyou receive any form of bribe from anyoneincluding Terminal Operators, Shipping Companies and Agencies.

You were also at the House of Representatives as a Member (1999 2003) and later Chief of Staff to Honourable Speaker Aminu Bello Masari (2003 -2007) and gained a lot of experience in governance.

As Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs you worked closely with Gov Sule Lamido (then Foreign Minister) and Hon Oubem Onyia (then Minister of State), and never asked or solidted for nor obtained any contract or even asked the Honourable Ministers, the Ministry or its agencies and embassies world-wide for any kind of gratification or “support” for yourself or the committee.

As Chief of Staff to Speaker Aminu Bello Masari,youdid not engage in any corrupt practior abuse of office by way of receiving gratification in any form or shape,asking or soliciting for contracts nor obtained or executed any contract from the management of the National Assembly, House Committees or any government ministry or agency. Even currently as a Senator of the Federal Republic who belongs to a number of key Senate Committees including Marine,Niger Delta and Environment,you have truly distinguished yourself. You have never asked or solicited for nor obtained or executed any contract from the Ministries or Department under the purview of these committees or any Government Agency, Ministry or Parastatals. What a record,sir!

You have also worked for Today Newspapers under the Editorship of Malam Kabiru Yusuf (Chairman/CEO of Daily Trust) and you proved yourself as a very hard-working intelligent and conscientious and incorruptibel journalist. Your record is the same when you worked for the African Serviceof the British Broadcasting Corporation(BBC) in London as a roving correspondent under Mr Barry Burgess and Mr NeilCurry.

Distinguished sir,in terms of your educational attainment the records are there for everyone to see and compare with those who are in the fray for the contest to the office of Governor of Katsina State, under the banner of the APC. You have a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Degree in Mass Communication (second Class;Upper Dlv.) graduating as one of the best in your class.You equally have a Master of Business Administration Degree from the Bayero University, Kana and a Master of Science Degree in political Science,from the University of Lagos,where you also had one of the best results in your class.

You are and have always beena grass-root politician who believes in thepower of the “small”, down-trodden party supporter.You did not rush yourself into elective contest but started fromthe bottom and up.You began your politicalcareer in the Youth wing of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) as an ordinary party supporter; then became a strong supporter and local financier in the SOcial Democratic Party (SOP), then became member of the House Representatives and now Senator of the FederalRepublic.

Considering all of the above, our people have no option other than to demand that you come forward and quickly too to be the All Progressives Congress flag-bearer in the 2015 elections.We have the absolute belief that you have the education, the track record, the disposition, the philosophical understanding of the meaning of power and what to do with it and the commitment to serve our people in the right manner and in the right way. This is your opportunity, your time and your duty to our people.

For us you are the best candidate with the right age and the right experience to be our governor. For our Party,the APC,(if it really wants to win the Katsina State Governorship) you are the only person who has all it takes (followership,courage and principles) to face the PDP head-long and triumph over it.

Please Senator Yar’adua, come home. Our zone is behind you. We pray to the Almighty Allah to give you the wisdom to accept our call.

Faithfully Yours For and on behalf of all

Lawan Mani

Buhari Abdullah Alh Abdu Sarkin Shanu

50 news NATIONAL I Tamed The Beast In Rivers – Mbu Assistant inspector-general of police, AIG Joseph Mbu, yesterday boasted of his exploits and prowess as commissioner of police in Rivers State, describing himself as a lion who tamed the ‘leopard of Port Harcourt’.

Mbu, apparently alluding to his several skirmishes with Rivers State governor, Gov Rotimi Amaechi, when in charge of the police force in the state, said that it was only a lion that could tame a leopard.

Recently promoted AIG Mbu, who made this known while handing over to the new FCT commissioner of Police, Wilson Inalegwu, advised his successor to be firm in his dealings with policemen in his command and avoid soiling himself.

“I advise you (CP) to carry the senior officers along in your administration. It is only a lion that can tame a leopard. I tamed the leopard in Port Harcourt; each time he remembers my face, he would remember how I tamed him,” Mbu said, eliciting loud laughter from the audience.

He advised Inalegwu to discourage policemen from going for special duties, noting that the obligation of policemen was to the general public and not to provide protection for only VIPs. He also urged the new CP not to deal with his personnel with sentiments.

By Chika Otuchikere, Abuja

Hundreds Register As Glo Xchange Agents In Abeokuta, Onitsha, Kano Over two hundred Nigerians on Saturday thronged the Town Hall meeting and one day training organised for prospective sales agents for Nigeria’s first super mobile money network, Glo Xchange at Spices Event Centre, Abeokuta, Onitsha and Kano.

The cities played host over the weekend to the Town Hall meetings arranged by Glo and partner banks to enlighten the public and prospective agents on the rudiments of the Mobile Money business.

Addressing the participants in Abeokuta, Globacom’s Mobile Money expert, Mr. Tim Mukata described the Glo Xchange agentship as a veritable avenue for business minded Nigerians to make money on every transaction without losing their initial deposits.

“Being a Glo Xchange agent is a win-win situation for agents as the floating capital remains the same at any point in time. The agents will get commissions on every transaction, attract clients to purchase other merchandising items in their shops and carry out transfer of money anytime of the day, seven days a week. It is very safe and easy and I implore Nigerians from all parts of the country to join the train,” Mr. Mukata added.

By Millie Ibe, Abuja

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Northern Elders Fault ACF Over Remark On Jonathan, Security

By Chibuzo Ukaibe, Abuja

Northern Elders Council (NEC), led by elder statesman, Alhaji Tanko Yakasai, faulted Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) for saying that President Goodluck Jonathan does not like the North.

Describing the statement as outrageous and uncharitable,

Yakasai, a founding member of the ACF, alleged while speaking at a press briefing yesterday, that the ACF has been “hijacked” by desperate opposition politicians, stressing however that the forum does not speak for the North.

Yakasai. who said they regret totally the way and manner the ACF chairman addressed Presi-

dent Jonathan, added that “to say that President Jonathan doesn’t like the North is outrageous and uncharitable. And to say that he has failed is untrue.”

He added, “NEC received the statement with complete surprise and total bewilderment.

The ACF leadership appears not to adhere to the tradition of the organisation which was originally

conceived as a non-partisan umbrella organisation to harmonise and promote all shades of interests and opinions in the North.

“The statement accredited to the chairman has confirmed the allegations of partisanship and the claim that ACF is hob-knobbing with opposition elements and unrepentant critics of Jonathan administration.”

short news Ebola: Malaysia Pledges To Help West Africa With 2m Gloves Malaysian government has announced plans to send more than 20 million medical rubber gloves to five African nations battling the deadly Ebola virus to address a crucial shortage faced by overwhelmed health workers.

The country’s President Goodluck Jonathan (6th right), with some ministers and members of a delegation from the Society for Pro- prime minister, tection of Women Against Abuse (SOPWA), after a meeting at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO BY NAN. Najib Razak, in a statement made available to Reuters news agency, said the Southeast Asian nation is a leading

by Onukogu Kanayo Jubal, Abuja give them a chance. ident has done the same for the manufacturer of rubOkhai said, “We have been ask- women. It is only fair that the same ber gloves, producThe leadership of the nation has ing for youth inclusiveness in gov- be applied to the nation’s young ing about 60 percent been advised to lay a trusted base ernance and, having carried out people. of the world’s supply for the future of the nation by some assessments and worked with “The nation has about 43 or 46 of latex medical trusting in her youth and giving the the office of the special adviser to ministers, thereabouts. What is gloves. more opportunities to lead and par- the president on youth affairs, it wrong in making about 10 or 15 of “Shortage of rubtake in governance. is clear that most of the local gov- them young people? This is the only ber gloves in affected Speaking at a press conference ernment chairmen, councillors and way to help them prepare for ‘acciAfrican nations has organised by the Peoples’ Demo- grassroots politicians are youths. dental leadership’ and prepare for led to more deaths cratic Party National Youth Fron- Statistically, we have reached that; the challenges of the future. If the and raised risks that tier (PDPNYF), yesterday in Abuja, what Nigerian youths want now is minister of finance is a seasoned the virus will spread the frontier’s national coordinator, 30 per cent inclusiveness in elec- global economist, what prevents among doctors.”

Comrade Austin Usman Okhai, tive positions and appointments. the president from appointing the pointed out that it is high time the “The only way we can get this is minister of state for finance from

By Abdullahi nation’s leaders realised the poten- by parleying with the presidential being a far younger person who’s Umar, with tial of her youths for leading and candidates. Remember, the pres- got potential?” agency report

Nigerians Youths Insist On 30% Representation

Katsina 2015: APC Group Endorses Senator Yar’Adua

By Muazu Elazeh, Katsina

The Daura zonal branch of APC Stakeholders’ Forum, a pressure group of the opposition All Progressives Congress in Katsina State, has urged Senator Sadik Yar’Adua (APC, Katsina Central) to join the Katsina State gubernatorial race.

In a letter addressed to Senator Yar’Adua, a copy of which

was made available to newsmen, the group insisted that its call was informed by the senator’s track records of achievement.

The group, in a five page letter signed by the trio of Buhari Abdallah, Lawal Mani and Abdu Sarkin Shanu, said Senator Yar’Adua “has done marvellously well and performed far above what used to be the norm,

hence the calls on him serve to the state in a bigger capacity”.

“Majority of the people of Daura zone have been closely following and monitoring your progress and our verdict is that you have left indelible marks so we want you to provide direction for the entire state by 2015”, the group said.

It added that it was impressed with Senator Yar’Adua’s track

records in the area of attracting developmental projects to Katsina Central zone, insisting that he has all it takes to confront the challenges of development facing Katsina State.

“You are the only person who has all it takes; in terms of followership, courage and principles, to face the PDP head long and triumph over it”, the group said.

news NATIONAL 51

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Group Condemns Hasty Manner Of Suntai’s Arrival From Britain

Ebola: NMA Okays Sept 22 School Resumption

A civil society group under the aegis of Committee for Peace and Justice has criticised the hasty manner Taraba State governor, Danbaba Suntai, was brought back from Britain to resume office, describing it as inhuman and unexpected treatment from those who claim to be his friends.

Convener of the group, Ezekiel Tukua while addressing a press conference in Abuja yesterday, said on two occasions against medical advice, some cabal had ‘plugged’ Suntai from medical care for selfish political parade.

According to him, heartless politicians have turned a sad event into a weapon of politicking, without caring about the safety and survival of the governor.

The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) yesterday dropped its opposition to the federal government’s directive to schools to resume on September 22 as against October 12 over the Ebola Virus Disease in the country.

NMA’s president, Dr. Kayode Obembe announced the reversal in a stakeholders’ meeting organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Education.

By Edegbe Odemwingie, and, Adesuwa Tsan Abuja

“In regard to the issue of schools resumption for the first term of the 2014/2015 academic year from this September, it is important that in order not to feed into the unhealthy fear monster in the country, school should resume.”

Obembe stated that NMA’s reversal was on the condition that the federal government maintain “highest level of vigilance” in the several entry points, ensure comprehensive screening of travellers and resuscitate infectious disease

hospital in states among other conditions.

NMA had previously argued that schools should not be reopened until all those under surveillance for the Ebola Virus Disease in the country are certified free.

At the meeting, education minister, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau stated that that government’s directive was based on “professional advice” from the Ministry of Health, a position NMA previously rejected.

The minister also refuted allegations that the education ministry was influenced by private school owners to bring forward school resumption to September 22 as against an earlier reported October 12.

Shekarau, “It (resumption date) was a unanimous decision taken after a meeting with all state education commissioners and the health ministry. The ministry (education) also wrote all state governors to give the directive more weight.

short news Bomb Blast: NEMA Donates Medical Consumables, Drugs To 14 Hospitals

By Igho Oyoyo, Abuja

2015: Jonathan Thanks Ndigbo For Continued Support Ahead of the 2015 presidential elections, President Goodluck Jonathan has expressed appreciation to Ndigbo for their continued support for his transformation agenda just as he pledged not to disappoint them.

Speaking through the minister of labour, Chief Emeka Wogu who received the leadership of the South East Amalgamation for Jonathan/Sambo who brought a letter from the just concluded World Igbo Congress (WIC) in America where Ndigbo in the Diaspora and the Americas endorsed the president for a second term in office, the president expressed his gratitude to the Igbo nation for finding him worthy for a second term in office.

By Millie Ibe, Abuja

We’ve Enough Laws To Deal With Terrorism – SAN A senior advocate of Nigeia(SAN) Mr. Ahmed Raji, has said that the steady rise in acts of terrorism in the country cannot be attribued to defects in our laws.

According to the SAN, the Terrorism Prevention Act (TPA) is the country’s principal tool in prosecuting terrorism, adding that the fundamental rights of suspects or accused persons should be respected.

He mentioned that before an individual may be detained for investigation purposes for a period in excess of the constitutionally permitted time, the investigating body must seek and obtain an order of the federal high court.

By Kunle Olasanmi Abuja

In line with its mandate to respond and offer relief material to areas and persons affected with disaster, the National Emergency Management Agency has donated drugs and medical consumables to 14 hospitals Senate President David Mark (left) with visiting Indian instructors that taught him at NDA Course 3 in the 60s, Maj Gen Surinder Jain that participated and Lt Gen Kumar Gaur, during their visit in Abuja on Sunday night. PHOTO BY NAN. actively in the treatment of the Nyanya and Emab bomb blasts.

BY ANAYO ONUKWUGHA, Port Harcourt Party (PDP) in the heat of the cri- en the opportunity in 2015.

The drugs Mohammed further stated that sis that rocked the party last year to and medical Presidential campaign posters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) APC has credible, enviable, strong consumables, the Kano State governor, Alha- is the first stalwart of the party to and fearless leaders across the worth millions of ji Rab’iu Musa Kwakwanso have publicly declare his intention to oc- country. He said they were in the naira, were yesflooded Port Harcourt, the Rivers cupy Aso Rock in 2015. state to seek their support and interday, received State capital.

Speaking when the Kwankwaso form them that they were on a naat the National Checks by LEADERSHIP re- Presidential Campaign Team vis- tion-wide consultation for KwankHospital Abuja, vealed that the posters, which have ited the APC state officials at the waso’s presidency.

Garki Hospital, the presidential hopeful dressed in state secretariat in Port Harcourt, “Our mission is to tell you that FCT Health and attire of the three dominant tribes yesterday, chairman of the team, Dr we strongly feel and believe that Service Secrein Nigeria, Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo, Danjuma Mohammed stated that this country is going in the wrong tariat, Maitama were seen in strategic positions in the Kano State governor has done direction. We need change and this General Hospital the Port Harcourt metropolis. a lot in transforming Kano State in change is not going to come easy, and Wuse GenKwankwaso, who is one of the terms of infrastructure, education, this change is not going to come eral Hospital. progressive governors that defect- and other laudable projects and has on a platter of gold. We have to put

By Ejike Ejike, ed from the Peoples Democratic ability to liberate the country if giv- heads together.

Abuja

2015: Kwankwaso’s Campaign Posters Flood Port Harcourt

FG Set To Constitute Task Force On Abandoned Projects

By Igho Oyoyo, Abuja

The federal government has said that to curb problems of projects abandonment in Nigeria, it is set to constitute a task force to monitor and evaluate the performance of projects in various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

The head of service of the federation, Mr. Danladi Kifasi dis-

closed this in Abuja yesterday at an interactive meeting with all permanent secretaries and directors on a new course for the service.

According to Kifasi, one of the biggest challenges and most disturbing trends in national development effort is the abandonment of projects which cannot be entirely blamed on the civil service, but some part falls with-

in their purview and that they must take all measures to bring the trend to a stop.

He added that some directorate level staff had been directly linked with poor project planning, design and supervision, thereby leading to delay, project failure and abandonment.

Kifasi stated, “I am therefore constituting a project performance and monitoring task

force in my office. The task force will monitor and evaluate performance of projects in various MDAs and report directly to me.

While necessary serious sanctions will be taken against any staff that is found wanting.”

The head of service revealed that officers who work hard especially the directorate level would be identified and rewarded.

52 OPINION

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Reponse To Metuh On Ikimi’s Defection And APC

By Sunday Dare

Poor Olisa Metuh. In him, we see a man who derives perverse enjoyment in publicly demonstrating that he occupies a position that is much too big for him. Through his own actions, he is found wanting.

Through his own words, he shows that silence would be his best policy.

In his latest tirade, Metuh seeks to criticize the APC because of the party’s reaction to the departure of the dour yet overly ambitious Tom Ikimi from the APC. Strange that Metuh feels he must leap to the rescue of such a ruthless and shameless political fighter as Ikimi. Stranger still is that Metuh seems more concerned about the Ikimi departure than the APC is as a party. Tom Ikimi suffers from delusion of grandeur and in the PDP he will find his co-travellers. He needs his ego constantly fed and in PDP he will be lucky not to have it starved.

His recent attempt to denigrate the leadership of the APC, its leadership and the person of Bola Tinubu is merely the ranting of an ant.

It falls within the same time worn and tenuous arguments.

It offers no fresh thinking, but simply offends our nostrils.

Like, his paymaster, Olisa is shadow boxing where there are no shadows. He is engaged in dynamic inactivity. His feeble attempt to talk down Tinubu is easily dismissible. If not for the PDP that gave him a job, his ilk will never have such temerity to speak the garbage they spill out.

Metuh seems to occupy a strange universe where the personal feelings of Ikimi are more important to him and his mission as PDP mouthpiece than are the national security and welfare of millions of our people.

Strange man. Strange party. The PDP represents everything that is wrong with Nigeria. A party of ill-breds and career politicians.

Metuh’s babysitting services is more needed by a cruel Presidency that profits from the misfortunes of the citizens.

The fact of the matter is that Metuh thought Ikimi’s departure would be a bombshell, fatally wounding the APC. He was set to take advantage of the matter.

He may even have huddled with the carpetbagging Ikimi to help him craft his evil epistles against the APC. However, the bomb Metuh expected turned out to be a small, damp firecracker

Metuh

that could not even illicit a spark much less an explosion.

Investing hope that Ikimi’s departure would seriously injure the APC, Metuh was not only barking up the wrong tree, he had entered the wrong forest. Metuh had entered deep into fantasyland. Thus, let us endeavor to give him a piece of reality so that he might stop these flights of fancy and actually devote some time to the serious questions most Nigerians now ask of his party, PDP when it comes to their security and economic welfare.

In a sane party, Olisa Metuh would be confined to the fringes. But here he is given a national platform to insult the sensibilities of millions of Nigerians with his twisted logic and rationalization of the actions of Nigeria’s most inept and clueless leadership. Rather than face up to the failures of the PDP government, he seems have been placed on full time detail attacking the APC and its leaders. When you have no positive account of your own, and then attack that of the other party. This seems to be his motto and strategy. It is both naked and corrupt.

Olisa Metuh represents the pettiness and arrogance that has made this government blind to the fact that unprecedented tragedy had occurred on their watch while they were busily preening themselves and reveling in the sweet soft things that high office provides to those who care mostly about themselves.

While Boko Haram attacks us with guns, bombs and bullets, our very government fights us

Those whose personal views or ambitions are incompatible with the party will leave.

Instead of hurting APC this helps the party because it makes it more coherent and united to core principles

with deceit, trickery and lack of moral courage. Boko Haram assaults the body but this government and ruling party ambush our national spirit.

So that we may reach our finer destiny, both need to go and to take their broken megaphone, Olisa Metuh, with them.

It would behoove the errant messenger of the errant ruling party to waste less time in his sophomoric examination of the APC internal dynamics and spend more time trying to figure out and explain the grand failures of policy and promise committed by the party to which he is so proudly a member. Why hasn’t this government rescued the girls of Chibok who have now been missing nearly six months? It seems we are no closer to their freedom then we were the day they were abducted from their families.

Why did the government deploy so vast an array and arsenal of security forces and weaponry, including hooded gunmen, to intimidate and scare people during the recent elections in Ekiti and Osun? Is this a harbinger of what is to come during the 2015 general elections? If government musters such an energetic armed presence in peaceful States, how come it can’t deploy such a massive contingent in order to checkmate Boko Haram advances in northern Nigeria. Book Haram appears to be gaining ground daily, even declaring a caliphate. Yet, Meth is silent to this momentous challenge to national sovereignty and safety. Yet, his pen drips with poison because some APC members and Tinubu tell the truth about Mr. Ikimi.

The APC is undergoing a winnowing process. Those whose personal views or ambitions are incompatible with the party will leave. Instead of hurting APC, this helps the party because it makes it more coherent and united to core principles. That the PDP can be home to anything and anybody no matter how craven is not a virtue. The ability of the PDP to be an indiscriminate receptacle only shows the party’s moral bankruptcy; it is not evidence of ecumenical appeal.

In this winnowing process, numerous people may depart but again the APC will be the better, more harmonious for it. Ikimi left and the APC still stands.

-Dare, Special Adviser, Media to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu

Every Tuesday Ahmad B Kaita (MHR) 07081888802 (SMS only) email: babbaahmed@yahoo.com

That Presidential Trip To Chad

I

t’s no longer a possibility but a sad reality that whenever President Goodluck Jonathan packs his luggage for another round of globe trotting, Nigeria will automatically be subjected to another round of embarrassment. In the recent past, specifically under this regime, Nigeria was subjected to unimaginable and unprecedented unpresidential behavior by President Jonathan while attending international events.

Once, the president was declared missing when he failed to show up to address the Special Assembly in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the African Union (AU). Hard as Abati/Okupe/Maku tried to downplay that unfortunate diplomatic embarrassment, many people still like to accept a more reasonable explanation of what really happened as reported by the Sahara Reporters.

It was not only probable but highly convincing that the president and few members of his crew completely forgot what took them to Addis Ababa and instead went on a holiday binge consequently exhausting themselves to be able to attend the meeting. The embarrassment on the part of the rest of Nigeria’s crew and the confusion among the rest of the delegates when the president failed to show up is better imagined. It was even suggested the President was in the “toilet” when the speakers were booming for him to take the stand.

After Addis Ababa, many thought the president had learned a lesson. How wrong! If anything, that experience seem to have emboldened him to be more careless with Nigeria’s honor. The next outing was no less embarrassing. While going to America to attend the 68th United Nations General Assembly, the president went with an unprecedented 600-man delegation. He set a new world record for “public fund wastage” and set tongues wagging from both foreign and local observers. Coterie of media aides had a field day making a buck here and there while trying to deny or even kill the story. Thankfully today Maku/ Abati/Okupe have been branded liars by Foreign Affairs minister, Ambassador Aminu Wali who confirmed there were as many as 600 in the UN entourage of the President. I’m not going to talk about the President going on another trip only for Nigerians to be told he collapsed and was receiving attention in a hospital for ailments Nigerians are yet to be told about, which many have since filled the blanks using snippets from reputable online magazines.

The mother of them all came only in few days ago. In what many saw as a direct assault on the psyche of the nation, Senator Ali Modu-Sheriff (of the Dr. Davis infamy) was not only sighted in the presidential entourage on a recent trip to Chad to discuss solutions to the ongoing intractable war on insurgency, but he seemed so indispensable.

Pictures of Modu-Sheriff and President Jonathan discussing with the Chadian President went viral provoking global condemnation.

Very few could forgive the president for his public romance with Modu-Sheriff despite the grievous allegations of complicity in the ongoing fight against insurgency hanging on his neck. Of course, the president cannot pretend not to know that the SSS have indicated interest to investigate Modu-Sheriff based on allegations by Dr. Davis.

What kind of a President will be caught dancing salsa with a suspected criminal in public. I wonder what report the SSS could write about ModuSheriff when it’s obvious he’s close to the president especially when viewed from the conviction that the SSS as being projected and promoted by Marilyn Ogar is fully domesticated and could be said to be the “Intelligence” arm of the PDP.

53

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

world

news ➌➎ ➏

➎ US, Nato Troops Begin Ukraine Military Exercise

About 1,300 troops from 15 countries - including the US and other Nato members - have begun a military exercise near Lviv in western Ukraine.

The US says the drill had been planned before the current crisis in eastern Ukraine, where government forces have been battling pro-Russian rebels.

Thousands of tourists and locals in Mexico have taken refuge in luxury hotels, converted into shelters, after Hurricane Odile crashed into the northwest, taking down trees with powerful winds.

The hurricane, a category three storm on the five-level SaffirSimpson scale, packed 205km per hour winds when it made landfall near Cabo, according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC).

An Afghan appeals court sentenced five men to death on Monday, for armed robbery and sexual assault while invalidating the death sentences given to two other defendants reducing

them to 20 years in prison for unrelated crimes.

The defendants were accused of attacking an Afghan family driving home from a wedding outside of Kabul.

by President Goodluck Jonathan.

It is not surprising that Timi Frank will go this path. The opposition has never wanted the issue to go away even after the matter has been resolved. They have latched on $20 billion even though Sanusi, who made the wild allegation, was not convinced about the allegation. That’s why he said it could be $20 billion, $10.8 billion or anything in between as if the difference between both figures is only a few hundreds of naira or dollars.

Him and the stable he writes for, Leadership have been known for this type of mudslinging and murder of facts to serve political ends.

The publisher of his medium, who has been going round the country campaigning to be president of Nigeria in 2015 on the platform of the opposition APC, believes that the best way he can achieve his ambition is by pulling government institutions and government officials down. In doing this, he uses his medium to dress lies in magnificent apparel to deceive the public.

But Nigerians are no fools.

So, nothing good can come from Timi Frank. He cannot deceive anybody. The Senate president, David Mark, who presided over the Senate deliberation on the finance committee’s report said the report had laid to rest the “rumours” that heated the polity, adding that the report before the Senate was a fact and no longer a rumour.

Any person who has knowledge of elementary economics will know that if $20 billion is missing the Nigerian economy will collapse. Where will such amount of money be kept?

With the publication of the article, Timi Frank has earned his pay. He must have since taken the copy to his pay masters to prove to them that he can deliver. Let him smile to the bank. That is what he is worth but Nigerians are watching.

➐ ➍➊➋

➊ Egypt Sentences ➋ UN Peacekeepers

Brotherhood Leader To 25 Years In Jail

Relocates In Golan Heights

Egypt has sentenced Mohamed Badie, the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, and 14 others to 25 years in jail for murder and inciting violence, Reuters news agency has reported.

Badie was one of thousands of Brotherhood figures and supporters arrested in a deadly crackdown following the army’s toppling in July of former president Mohamed Morsi.

UN peacekeepers in the Golan Heights have been “temporarily relocated” from four positions and one camp on the Syrian side of the Syrian-Israeli border, a UN source has confirmed, after recent clashes with al-Qaeda-linked fighters.

“Staff in UN positions 10, 16, 31 and 37, as well as Camp Faouar on the (Syrian) side are being relocated,” Reuters news agency reported citing a diplomatic source. yesterday.

➏ Mexico Hunkers

Down As Hurricane Hits Coast ➐ Afghan Court

Sentences Gang Rapists To Death

Timi Frank’s Obsession With Phantom $20bn ➔ FROM BACK PAGE

“The committee could not see how the figure of $49.8 billion was arrived at by the CBN Governor for instance,” adding “there was never any unremitted $49.8 billion.”

Further, it said: “The CBN governor at the first hearing had put forward the figure of US$12 billion as monies to be reconciled and changed his position to $US $20 billion at subsequent hearing. At the conclusion of his written submission, he posited that it could be US $20 billion, US$10.8 billion or anything in between,” it said.

On the alleged unremitted $20 billion, the committee however, said it found that the sum of$218 million considered as federation account share of the third party financing was still in dispute and therefore should be remitted by NNPC. It also noted that another sum of $447.8 million which it described as the federation account share from the $6.815 billion lift-

ings by NNPC on behalf of NPDC remained in dispute.

Also in dispute, according to the report, is $262 million which the committee described as expenses incurred by the NNPC in respect of holding strategic reserve pipeline maintenance and management cost/capital expenditure.

The committee therefore asked the corporation to refund this sum of money into the federation account, saying NNPC could not satisfactorily defend it even though it acknowledged that the sum is still very much in dispute by the corporation.

Eventually, when the committee opened the 73-page report for debate on Thursday, July 10, 2014, it approved all these submissions. During the debate, Senate had lots of knocks for Sanusi whom it described as cooking up allegations without considering the weight of his office and the effect such an unfounded allegation would have on the nation.

Specifically, Senators Ayogu Eze

(Enugu North) and Heineken Lokpobiri (Bayelsa West), said it was regrettable that Sanusi while occupying a position of that magnitude opted to mislead the public with falsehood.

The Senate’s findings appeared to have justified the position of NNPC on the issue. The corporation had argued that the allegation was politically motivated. NNPC also accused Sanusi of lacking technical knowledge of the workings in the oil industry.

According to the corporation, the allegation was not based on facts but rather an orchestration meant to score cheap political points and embarrass the government. It was however later revealed that Sanusi came up with the allegation to divert attention from his investigation by the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN), which was closing in on him following financial recklessness observed in the 2012 CBN audited accounts on the strength of which he was later suspended on February 20, 2014

— Bada is a public policy analyst based in Lagos

54

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Keshi Not Good For Eagles — Babayaro Former Nigeria international Emmanuel Babayaro has declared that no Nigerian coach is good enough to handle the Super Eagles.

Babayaro added that he was never convinced from the onset that Stephen Keshi was the right man for the Eagles job. “I don’t think Keshi is the man for the job. I never thought any Nigerian coach is the right person for the Eagles. And note this, it has

without sentiments would have invited every other person.”

“We have to bring the players.

They will create competition which at the end of the day makes every other player better.”

Criticisms have mounted over Keshi’s non-inclusion of Villarreal striker Ikechukwu Uche, saying recently that the player has said he should be begged before he would return to play for Nigeria.

nothing to do with their ability as coaches. As coaches they may be terrific, but I have always maintained, an average Nigerian myself inclusive, we are very sentimental people and football and sentiments they don’t go together.

“That is why we have this situation where Keshi never invites the best hands, for one sentimental reason or the other.

On a good day, somebody else

World Scrabble Champ Leads Over 50 Pros To Akpabio Classics

By SALIFU USMAN, Abuja

The Current World Scrabble Champion Nigel Richards of Switzerland will lead over 50 foreign professionals to this year’s 8th Godswill Akpabio International Scrabble Classics to kick off at Mboho Mkparawa Ibibio Hall Udo Udoma, Uyo on Wednesday September 24.

Confirming his participation, he said former world champions and other foreign stars from UK, USA, Pakistan, Thailand, New Zealand, Kenya, Ghana, Zambia, South Africa and other foreign athletes will compete.

Speaking to LEADERSHIP sports yesterday ahead of the

The date for the FIBA Africa Zone 3 Championship has been confirmed for October 13 – 19, 2014 in Ouagadogou, Burkina Faso and it will be for men and women teams Col Sam Ahmedu, FIBA

Africa Zone 3 president

event, president Nigeria Scrabble Federation (NSF), Suleiman Gora, said if not for the fear of Ebola virus, it would have witnessed an unprecedented attendance with the crop of foreign players expected to turnout for the 8th edition of the annual Godswill Akpabio International Classic.

“Even though the issue of Ebola virus scared away a lot of foreign players, the world champion, Nigel Richard will be here. We also have players coming from Kenya and other African countries, USA, UK, Pakistan, Thailand and so on.

We have received of a lot notes from many foreign players confirming their participation.

If not for the Ebola crisis, the foreign presence would have been enormous because a lot of them want to participate. Despite the Ebola crisis in Africa, we still have world champions and some of other foreign players wanting to come and participate.” he said.

He assured that the stae ministry of health, Akwa Ibom state scrabble association and hotel owners are putting adequate measures to ensure that the 5-day event is Ebola free.

He revealed the wining prize for this year’s event has also Scrabble players been increased to $22, 000 for respectively. In addition to the master category, $10, 000 for Nigerian players that will troop intermediate and $9, 000 each for into Uyo for the classics, over both open and veteran categories 50 foreign-based players have

FIBA Africa Zone 3 Club Qualifiers Oct 13 The FIBA Africa Zone 3 qualifying tournament has been confirmed to hold from October 13 – 19, 2014 in Ouagadogou, the capital city of Burkina Faso.

Confirming the date, the FIBA Africa Zone 3 president, Col Sam Ahmedu said that the date has been formalised as the host country has accepted to host the tournament that will see teams from Nigeria, Benin Republic, Togo, Ghana, Cote d’ Ivoire, Niger, Liberia and host Burkina Faso in attendance.

He noted that the tournament will be for male and female teams

from the eight countries and says he looks forward to the teams being on ground for the event which will see two teams each male and female teams emerging as representatives of the zone.

“The date for the FIBA Africa Zone 3 Championship has been confirmed for October 13 – 19, 2014 in Ouagadogou, Burkina Faso and it will be for men and women teams and we expect that all the teams that are representing their countries will be in attendance.”

The go ahead however, means that FIBA Africa may have soft

WORLD CUP SUPERSTARS Name: Paul Labile Pogba Date of Birth: 15 March, 1993 Place of Birth: France Club: Juventus World Cups: 1

Pogba

so far registered for the event that will see competitions in Masters, Veterans, Intermediate and Opens categories.

Paul Pogba is a French professional footballer who plays for Italian club Juventus in Serie A. He operates primarily as a midfielder and is comfortable at playing both in attack and defence. Pogba was described by his former club Manchester United as a “powerful, skilful, and creative” player who has “an eye for goal and a penchant for the spectacular”. After his transfer to Juventus, he gained the nickname Il Polpo Paul (“Paul the Octopus”) for his long legs that look like tentacles during tackling or running. Pogba played for France with the national youth football

team, representing his nation at all levels. He captained his U-16 team to victories at the Aegean Cup and the Tournoi du Val-deMarne and, at U-17 level, played at the 2010 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship.

He captained his nation to victory at the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup and took home the Best Player award for his performances during the tournament. He made his debut for the senior French national team on 22 March 2013 in a 3–1 win against Georgia, and scored his first World Cup goal on 30 June 2014 against Nigeria.

In the round of 16, Pogba scored a 79th minute opening goal and was named man of the match

by FIFA as Les Bleus defeated Nigeria 2–0 in Brasília and on 13 July, Pogba was named the tournament’s Best Young Player.

peddled on the Champions League format that was earlier proposed.

Most clubs on the African continent had complained that they were not ready as they did not plan for the financial implication.

In a related development, the President of FIBA Africa, Mr. Haman Niang, was elected First Vice President of FIBA (International Basketball Federation) and member of the Executive Committee last Saturday, September 13, 2014.

The election was held on the sidelines of the World Cup FIBA ‘SPAIN 2014 “which ended Sunday, September 14, 2014.

Ahmedu

Mixed Feelings For Orelesi Over Ukranian Club Debut Nurudeen Orelesi has told AfricanFootball.com he is delighted to debut for his Ukrainian club Metalurh Zaporizhya on Sunday, but sad they lost the game 3-0 at Volyn.

“I feel good to start and finish the game on my debut and I put in my very best in the game, but I wasn’t happy that we lost the game, that is football,” Orelesi told AfricanFootball.com The versatile player expressed his delight to have made a switch from Albania to Ukraine because he needed a change environment and new challenge, so he is ready for it with Metalurh Zaporizhya.

“I feel good, great and delighted to join Metalurh Zaporizhya. I needed a change of environment and new challenge after seeing it

all in Albania,” he said.

“I will try my best to make sure my team ranked among the best and win trophies.”

He further revealed that he will miss his team mates and fans at Skenderbeu Korce.

“I will miss all my teammates at Skenderbeu and the club fans.

We had good time together,” Orelesi said.

He signed a two-year deal with the Ukrainian club and has been assigned jersey number 88.

He has won Albania Super League three times in 2011/2012, 2012/2013 and 2013/2014, won Albania Cup in 2011/2012 and Super Cup in 2013. He has played for Salamanca (Spain) and SC Bonifika (Slovenia).

Follow these reports on leadership.ng/sports

sports 55

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Anelka Joins Mumbai In ISL Nicolas Anelka has become the latest high-profile name to sign up for the inaugural Indian Super League (ISL) after the Mumbai franchise announced the signing of the former French striker on Monday.

The 35-year-old, who has played for a host of English Premier League clubs including Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool, will join compatriots David Trezeguet and Robert Pires in the league that will run from October 12 to December 20.

Gyan

Gyan’s Al Ain Eye ACL Final Spot Anelka

Davis Cup: Federer Leads Switzerland To Final World number three Roger Federer helped Switzerland reach their first Davis Cup final in 22 years following a win over Italy in Geneva.

Switzerland led 2-1 going into Sunday’s final two matches and Federer beat Fabio Fognini 6-2

6-3 7-6 (7-4) to give his country an unassailable 3-1 lead. The victory celebrations then included Federer, 33, being carried on his team-mates’ shoulders on a lap of honour. In the final, Switzerland will meet France, who beat the Czech Republic.

The Gulf’s deadliest striker comes up against one of its most miserly defences when Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal host Emirati club Al Ain in the first leg of their Asian Champions League semifinal in Riyadh today.

A sell-out crowd of 67 000 is expected at King Fahd Stadium for a match that will help decide who plays South Korea’s FC Seoul or Australia’s Western Sydney Wanderers in a two-legged final starting next month. Also at stake are bragging rights in the Gulf, a football-mad region that has struggled at both club and national team level over the past decade despite its vast wealth.

Al Ain have been the great entertainers in this year’s ACL, shrugging off indifferent domestic form to plunder 23 goals in 10 games as they topped their qualifying group and won all four knock-out matches. Ghanaian Asamoah Gyan is their talisman, netting 12 goals in the ACL, but the emphasis on attack has sometimes left Al Ain exposed at the back and the 2003 continental champions have managed only two clean sheets in the competition this term. Gyan has been in sensational form since joining Al Ain in 2011, scoring 85 goals in 75 domestic games to help the club win backto-back titles in 2012 and 2013, the last a record 11th crown.

Real On Redemption Mission Against Basel Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti believes Tuesday’s Champions League Group B opener at home to Basel will be a good chance for the holders to put a poor start to their domestic campaign behind them. Real were beaten 2-1 by champions Atletico Madrid at the Bernabeu on Saturday, their second successive La Liga reverse, and some of the club’s notoriously demanding fans made their anger clear by roundly whistling cap-

tain and goalkeeper Iker Casillas.

The experienced Ancelotti, one of only six people to win Europe’s elite club competition as both player and coach, noted on Monday that Real also stuttered at the beginning of last season before securing a record-extending 10th European title and winning the King’s Cup. “I feel like a coach who has to fix things in the team, the same as happened last year,” he told a news conference.

Injuries Hit Bayern Ahead Man City Clash Bayern Munich are struggling with fitness and injury problems ahead of their Champions League group opener against Manchester City tomorrow.

Dutchman Arjen Robben is doubtful after missing training on Sunday with a knee problem and fellow winger Franck Ribery

made his season debut on Saturday, coming on as a substitute and scoring in the 2-0 win over VfB Stuttgart.

Coach Pep Guardiola, however, will need to reshuffle his defence with Holger Badstuber tearing a thigh muscle tendon during the game and set to undergo surgery.

Liverpool Won’t Treat Ludogorets Lightly Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has promised to treat Champions League outsiders Ludogorets with the utmost respect when the little-known Bulgarian side make their debut in the group stage of the competition at Anfield today.

“We’ll respect them like we

would if we were playing Real Madrid,” Rodgers told a news conference yesterday.

Saturday’s 1-0 home defeat by Aston Villa should help the Premier League side avoid any complacency and the manner of it convinced Rodgers that his newlook defence must improve.

Kagawa Boost For Dortmund Against Arsenal Borussia Dortmund received a big boost just ahead of the kick-off of their Champions League season at home against Arsenal with Shinji Kagawa’s return to Germany easing the injury loss of Marco Reus. The 2013 Champions League runners-up Dortmund had bad news when Reus went down with a sprained ankle and partially torn ankle ligament on international duty last week, sidelining the German star for four weeks.

Helping compensate for

his loss was the arrival of Japanese international Kagawa, who came back to Dortmund after an unsuccessful run with Manchester United.

And after just two weeks of training, the 25-year-old reminded the Dortmund faithful exactly why they loved him so much prior to his departure for England.

At the weekend, Kagawa assisted on Adrian Ramos’s goal and then scored a goal himself before coming off after 64 minutes with cramp in Dortmund’s 3-1 win over Freiburg.

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16.09.14 www.leadership.ng

comrade Timi Frank

Tuesday Column:

— Doctor Seuss

For God and countrY

No. 2,257

TUESDAY

N150

Timi Frank’s Obsession With Phantom $20bn 08070888888 (text only)

By John ABiolA-BAdA

These are interesting times for Nigeria. It is a time in which people revel in propaganda and falsehood. As we make steady progress to the election year of 2015, there will be more mudslinging, character assassination and all kinds of propaganda to score cheap political goals or to gain some advantage even if short term.

It is trite to say that the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy is petroleum and that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), being the government agency that manages the nation’ oil resources will constantly be under public scrutiny.

There is nothing wrong in keeping an eye on public agencies. It puts those agencies and public officers on their toes, thus making them to discharge their duties transparently.

However, it becomes destructive when someone deliberately engages in tale of lies to pull certain individuals down and run down public institutions.

Ever since the former governor of the Central Bank and now Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, made the wild allegation of missing money in NNPC account, some individuals have decided not to let the matter rest, long after it has been established that no money was missing.

Timi Frank’s article in Leadership newspaper of Tuesday, September 9 is the latest of such diatribes by paid writers who pose as commentators. He did not offer any fresh insight. Of course there is no fresh insight to offer because the matter has long been resolved

by Senate in favour of the NNPC. Timi Frank wrote: “Nigerians must not forget so soon that the whereabouts of $20billion of the nation’s oil revenue is still shrouded in mystery. The former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and now Emir of Kano, Mallam Muhammadu Sanusi II, had shocked the world with incontrovertible evidence that $49.8billion of crude sales was yet to be remit-

ted into the Federation Account by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Even though the allegation was contained in a confidential letter to President Goodluck Jonathan by Sanusi, no action was taken until the matter became public knowledge through the press, about three months after the president got the letter.

“The nation was appalled. The uproar it generated had sent the relevant machinery of government into over-drive. The Senate waded in and referred the matter to its Committee on Finance for “thorough investigation”. Public and private hearings were conducted.

Countless reconciliation meetings

Senate resolved that no money was missing after painstakingly deliberating on the 73-page report of its finance committee. The committee headed by Senator Ahmed Makarfi did a very thorough job for which it was applauded by the entire Senate.

Sanusi’s allegation was contained in a letter to President Goodluck Jonathan in September last year but the allegation became an issue only when the letter was leaked to former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the press two months later. Initially, Sanusi had alleged that the NNPC had failed to remit $49.8 billion to the federation account over a 19-month

RIGHT OF REPLY were held by the CBN, NNPC, Ministry of Finance (MoF), Ministry of Petroleum Resources (MoPR), Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) and the auditor-general of the federation”.

On the above score, Timi Frank had revealed himself as one who engages in cheap blackmail, one who is incapable of intellectual rigour before he puts pen to paper.

As recent as September 9, 2014, Timi Frank is still obsessed with N49.8 billion, a figure which even Sanusi felt so embarrassed that he had to change it and kept changing figures in a way that surprised not only the discerning Nigerian public but even the Senate committee that was set up to look into the matter.

It is actually shameful that somebody who calls himself a columnist will go this low. How much did his masters pay him that he would not border about his integrity on an issue that is public knowledge?

It is necessary to do a flash-back to put the issue in proper context.

It was just a couple of months ago, specifically in July that Senate deliberated on the report of its finance committee that investigated the allegation of missing funds against the NNPC by Sanusi. The

period.

According to him, between January 2012 and July 2013, NNPC lifted $65 billion worth of crude oil and only remitted $15 billion into the federation account. This implied that about $50 billion was missing from the federation account.

The magnitude of the allegation and the wild reactions which accompanied it from Nigerians and the international community made the Senate to mandate its committee on finance on December 11, 2013, to investigate the allegation and report its findings to the Senate. The decision followed a motion on a matter of urgent national importance raised by Senator Olubunmi Adetumbi (Ekiti North) during which he drew Senate’s attention to a newspaper report on the alleged missing funds.

The Senate also asked the committee to investigate the allegation of N700 million subsidy payment by NNPC on kerosene daily. The latter mandate followed a motion

by Senator Babajide Omoworare (Osun East).

The committee began its investigative hearing on December 18, 2013. At the Senate Committee Room, venue of the hearing, tension was high as people expected to

see further explosions from Sanusi whose allegation had been widely believed by the greater percentage of Nigeria’s population ahead of investigation.

Sanusi, then still governor of CBN was invited to substantiate his allegation. But it was a shocked audience that listened to Sanusi quietly saying that it was actually $12 billion that was missing and no longer $49.8 billion as he had earlier claimed.

At this point, Co-ordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi OkonjoIweala, interrupted him, saying Sanusi’s claim of missing $12 billion was also false, disclosing that it was actually $10.8 billion that was yet to be reconciled by inter agencies.

Sanusi then urged the committee to suspend the hearing to enable him and other stakeholders continue with ongoing reconciliation efforts at the time.

Upon the return to the public hearing on February 4, 2014, the committee only expected an update on the ongoing reconciliation over the outstanding $10.8 billion, but was again shocked when Sanusi reeled out another allegation, saying it was no longer $10.8 billion that was missing but this time, $20 billion. According to him, NNPC had shipped $67 billion worth of crude oil and remitted only $47 billion into the federation account between January 2012 and July 2013, leaving the balance of $20 billion unaccounted for. Further, he claimed that only $14 billion directly came into the federation account out of the total $67 billion in addition to the $15 billion he claimed that NNPC paid to Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

With Sanusi coming up with different figures, the original mandate of the Makarfi committee shifted from the probe of $49.8 billion to $20 billion. It is important to note that from the take-off of the public hearing, it had been established that between January 2012 and July 2013, NNPC had remitted $47 billion into the federation account. Breakdown of the

timifrank@leadership.ng remittances as later submitted by CBN before the committee were $14 billion as payment on equity crude; $15 billion as payment to FIRS by international oil companies (IOCs) as the value of crude lifted by NNPC on behalf of FIRS; $16 billion as domestic crude and $2 billion royalty payments to Department of Petroleum Resources

by IOCs. While CBN claimed that it was $15 billion that was remitted to FIRS by NNPC, FIRS established that NNPC actually paid $16 billion to it. The committee confirmed the latter.

The fresh allegation by Sanusi compelled the committee to assemble all stakeholders including the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke; Auditor-General of the Federation, Sam Ukura; NNPC’s subsidiary, Nigeria Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), besides ministers of finance and petroleum, CBN, NNPC and third party agents.

However, in its 73-page report, the committee submitted that it could not reconcile how Sanusi arrived at the alleged missing $49.8 billion and therefore dismissed the allegation as false and a figment of Sanusi’s imagination. It also accused Sanusi of reversing himself several times before the committee. ➔ continued on PaGe 53

GHANA MUST GO Insecurity: Jonathan has failed woefully to protect Nigerians — ACF

He knows!

leadershiP (issn 0331-328X) is published in abuja by LEADERSHIP GROUP LIMITED, 27 ibrahim tahir lane, off shehu Musa Yar’adua Way, utako district, abuja. Advert: 08107181220 (abuja), 08033257681 (lagos) News: 08111811228 P. o. box 9514, Garki ii, abuja. lagos office: 34/36 adegbola street, anifowose, off oba akran, ikeja. e-mail: info@leadership.ng, advert@leadership.ng, newsroom@leadership.ng

FEATURE /BUSINESS 19

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

4.5%

African airlines reported growth of 4.9 per cent, with capacity rising 4.5 per cent, following an improved load factor of 70.2 per cent, the continent’s August report would be impacted hugely by the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

215

4.2bn

Africa was represented by 215 participants at the Internet Governance Forum which witnessed a total of 2,374 on-site participants

e-Tranzact is quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange with a fully paid up capital of billion shares.

It Is Changing Lifestyles

Omobola Johnson, ICT Minister

The company has 30 million users and strategic partnerships with Visa Incorporated, Visa Europe, RBSGroup, Telefonica Digital and FIS to develop and deliver Mobile Money services, processing four billion mobile transactions annually to the value of $88billion.

On its board are chairman and nonexecutive director, Peter Ayliffe, Elizabeth Buse, chief executive Monitise Group; deputy chief executive and chief commercial officer, Lee Cameron; chief financial officer, Brad Petzer; senior independent nonexecutive director, David Dey. The company has five independent non-executive directors comprising Colin Tucker, Sushovan Hussain, Tim Wade, Amanda Burton and Paulette Garafalo, while Tom Houghton serves on its board as a non-executive director representing the interests of Visa where he works.

Chams Chams Plc, one of Nigeria’s leading information communication technology and identity management company owns both Chams Mobile and Paymaster, both of which are licensed mobile money companies in Nigeria.

Chams Mobile Limited and Paymaster were awarded mobile money licenses by the Central Bank of Nigeria in 2012.

Until recently, Chams Mobile was fully owned by Chams Plc however, Chams’ board agreed strategy to focus on its core business of identity management, but retains a minority shareholding in Chams Mobile and will continue to provide the benefits of its existing business and relationships to support Chams Mobile and ensure profitability.

M-Kudi Another mobile money company is M-Kudi Nigeria Limited which was

established in 2009 for the exclusive purpose of providing Mobile Money Transfer Services to the Nigerian Public. M-Kudi operates in partnership with a Californian based payment company, Emida.

M-Kudi which is using Emida’s world class top up and mobile wallet enterprise payments suite, began building its agent network in January 2011, boasts of over 10,000 customers and plans more than 20,000 agents by2014. The company expects eight million users of its mobile payments services within the next two years.

Richard Akerele, is the chairman of M-Kudi.

M-Kudi allows both unbanked and banked personnel to send money via their mobile device across Nigeria.

This channel enables end users to transact electronic Person to Person payments, payment for goods and services, and airtime purchase. Since going live, M-kudi has been building its partner network to include banks, telecommunication operators and a robust, trustworthy Agent Network.

Eartholeum Eartholeum Networks Limited is an innovative Nigerian based international e-business company that was set up in 2004 and owns QikQik, a Nigerian-grown world class mobile payment ecosystem. The company is run by Adebola Adeyinka as chief executive, who was formerly head of corporate banking at Fidelity Bank Plc. How Mobile Money Is Changing Lifestyles Nigeria, banks and non bank-led Mobile Money Operators (MMO) are partnering with telecom companies such as Globacom, MTN, Airtel, Etisalat and Visafone and they have

different short codes for transaction.

Wallet-based MM services are popular in most markets. This is a wallet that exists on your phone that stores eMoney.

There is also Over The Counter (OTC) services are also in existence. This is where no wallet is used and users must visit an agent to perform transactions.

The third is Agent Networks which are extensively used by both servicetypes to reach the end-user. Existing Technologies such as USSD, SIM Toolkit or Smartphone Apps are used to perform transactions and debit/ credit balances.

An example of MM registration is First Monie implemented by First Bank.

FirstMonie Mobile account can be open in three ways from the comfort of your room. (1) From your mobile phone, dial *894# with your Airtel, Glo, Etislat or MTN line. Then follow the prompt. Create your secret security four digit pin and key in this pin each time you want to transact any business using your FirstMonie account.

2) You can visit http://www. firstmonie.com/imobile from your computer or mobile phone and register. 3) If you are using blackberry, iPhone, or Android phone, you can download FirstMonie App from Blackberry world, App store and Google Play stores.

Immediately after your account opening, your account balance will be zero naira. Funding your mobile account can be in three different ways.

• Via registered FirstMonie Agent near you who will collect cash from you and send the cash to your FirstMonie account. You then receive sms notification saying that your account has been funded. You can dial *894# to check your balance.

• Via ATM: Visit any First bank ATM, insert your card and pin, select “send money” option.

Select “To mobile phone” option.

Enter your First Monie account Number (which is your mobile phone number), Enter amount and confirm.

• Via First Bank Account: here, you need to first of all visit any first bank Branch and fill a mandate form that will link your First Bank Account with First Monie Account. After that dial *894#, select “First Bank Services” then “load Money from Bank “ option.

Sending money to someone in a rural area requires the presence of MM Agent who provides physical cash to the recipient subscriber for cashing out.

How it works: The MNO works with a Partner Bank to offer the service.

•

MNO selects and recruits agents for their MM network.

• MNO starts a Mobile Money marketing campaign.

• Agent 1 goes to bank and buys eMoney with cash.

• Subscriber 1 registers for service.

• Subscriber 1 performs cash-in at Agent 1, converting cash to eMoney.

• Subscriber 1 now has eMoney to perform transactions i.e. a P2P transfer.

• Subscriber 2 receives the message and performs a cash-out at Agent 2.

Using MM To Pay For Goods and Services at Merchant E-commerce websites can integrate Mobile Money Weblink into their shopping cart software.

Customer choose to pay via Mobile Money for the goods and services from participating merchants. Customer gives merchant his/her mobile number via phone, fax, email etc.

Merchant can bill the customer via IVR, Mobile Money website or SMS. When merchant requests for payment with customer’s mobile number, Mobile Money sends an SMS with a Bill Reference Number to customer requesting customer to to reply with their 6-Digit Security PIN to approve the payment.

Customer authorizes payment by replying the SMS with the Bill Reference Number and customer’s 6-digit SECURITY PIN. Mobile Money authenticates customer’s SECURITY PIN and requests for bank approval on transaction.

Upon receipt of bank’s confirmation to debit customer’s mobile credit account or mobile Debit account, Mobile Money will send a payment notification with details to merchant as well as customer.

Merchant can deliver the goods / services.

Benefits For Financial Inclusion There are many reasons to be excited about mobile phones as a way to distribute cash transfers, such as government payments or NGO cash-for-work programs. First, cash transfers are often sent to groups of people in multiple locations, and it can be easier to reach them via mobile than to bring them together in one place.

It is also easier to track payments if they are sent electronically, which can reduce corruption and increase confidence that the right amount of money ends up with the right individuals. A third possible benefit is that relying on a network of mobile money agents who already handle cash will increase security over creating new systems for transporting cash.

NEWS /FCT watch 33

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Okada Ban Still In Force – FCTA

Okoya

By Catherine Agbo

The Federal Capital Territory Administration ha warned that the

ban against operation of commercial motorcyclists popularly called Okada in the capital city, is still in force and has warned all operators to steer clear of the federal capital city.

Coordinator of Abuja Metropolitan Management Council and Vice Chairman of the FCT multi-sectoral task force, Arch Reuben Okoya, gave the warning while addressing city cleaning stakeholders at the weekend in Abuja.

He reminded all Okada riders and operators of keke NAPEP that it is illegal for them to operate within the capital city, maintaining that the ban on Keke NAPEP remains in force in the city metropolis including the whole of Garki, Wuse, Asokoro,

Maitama, Jabi, Gwarinpa, Utako, Durumi, Lokogoma and Apo, except within big estates where they may be permitted to ply by the estate managers.

“All concerned are hereby informed that keke NAPEP is not allowed to operate within the federal capital city. As a matter of fact, they are only allowed to operate within the satellite towns and big estates (provided that the estate owners or managers agree with them).

“All Keke operators plying the city centre major roads are flouting FCT route operation directives and those disobeying the directives would be apprehended by the task force team, the VIO, the police and other security agencies under the task team.

A Julius Berger yard

Sack Threat: Julius Berger Guards Petition Minister

By Igho Oyoyo

Security guards attached to Julius Berger Nigeria Plc in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has petitioned the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Emeka Wogu, over the company’s plan to sack over 500 of its members.

This was contained in a petition, filed on behalf of the group through their counsel, Barr.

Omar Musa, of Messrs Ultimate Chambers, Omar and Co, titled, “petition of officers and men of the security department of Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, Abuja

Zone, against the management of the company over plans to illegally lay-off security staff numbering over 500 in Abuja.”

The petition which also copied the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Public Complaints Commission (PCC), National Human Right Commission (NHRC) and 17 others said it became obvious to the staff after a meeting with the management held on August 28, 2014, in Abuja, that there were plans to illegally and coercively lay off over 500 Nigerian citizens, who are legal staff of the company.

It further said that the management deployed a segment of armed mobile policemen to facilitate the achievement of their illegal objective on September 1, 2014, adding that the action was already interfering with the smooth security operation at the company’s sites, yards and camps.

The petition read in part, “it is apparent that compliance to the laws of the federation does not allow for the mass lay-off planned by the company. It is a violation of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The security department of the company is as old as the company’s presence in Nigeria, dating back to over a period of about 50-year-old.”

In his reaction, the public affairs advisor of the company, Mr. Clement Iloba, confirmed the claim. He, however, said that the affected staff would be given all their entitlements, adding that the company’s gradually disengagement of the security staff was done after due consultation and consideration in line with the company’s legal requirement.

Jiba Reiterates Commitment To Grassroots Development The chairman of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Hon. Micah Jiba, has vowed not to relent in his effort to execute developmental projects that has direct bearing on residents of the council.

Jiba disclosed this during a press conference to announce his intention to contest as the president of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON), saying that the antecedents of the developmental projects he has been able to complete during his second tenure as the chairman of AMAC speaks for itself.

According to him, so many council chairmen could not deliver on developmental projects due to paucity of funds and lack of financial autonomy from the federal allocation, adding that his mission is to make local government autonomy a reality once he is voted in as the ALGON president.

Jiba, the incumbent FCT ALGON chairman, wondered why some state governments are yet to conduct proper local government elections thereby depriving the grass root citizenry of the presence of the government.

“If the presidential election, National Assembly and governors elections would take place during the upcoming 2015 general elections, there is no reason why the local government election should not take place in some states. If become the ALGON President, I will approach the challenges of the local government with wisdom by lobbying the National Assembly, governors forum and the presidency,” he added.

By Igho Oyoyo

Did You Know That Julius Berger Nigeria Plc is a Nigerian construction company headquartered in Abuja, FCT.

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It is the biggest construction company in Nigeria.

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The company is playing a major role in the realisation of Abuja’s master plan.

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It continues to build and expand essential traffic networks in and around the city.