Binder1 15th october, 2014

NIGERIA’S MOST AUTHORITATIVE NEWSPAPER IN POLITICS AND BUSINESS

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Vol. 1 No. 239

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N150

Investors lose N803bn in three months

l Insecurity, 2015 elections take toll on stock market Chris Ugwu

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he build-up to the 2015 general election and the insecurity in the country have taken a toll on the stock market

following sell pressure, which has made investors to lose about N803 billion in market capitalisation.

Investigation by New Telegraph showed that the market will also bear more

brunt of the increased spending arising from political activities as the nation’s capital market is likely to witness more sell pressure, particularly in the last quarter of the year

when campaigns will be in full swing for the elections.

Transactions on the equities within the past three-months-and-a- half have continued to extend losing streaks as the mar-

ket, which opened high at N14.027 trillion in market capitalisation and 42,482.48 in index at the beginning of trading on July 1, 2014 closed on Tuesday, at N13.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Chibok march aborted Police bar Ezekwesili-led group from Aso Rock l lLet’s stop politicisation of incident, says Jonathan l‘Boko Haram killed 2,000 soldiers, others’

L-R: Former Governor of Yobe State, Senator Buka Aba Ibrahim; former Governor of Imo State, Chief Achike Udenwa; former Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Abubakar Audu; former Governor of old Enugu State, Senator Jim Nwobodo; Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu; former Governor of Ogun State, Chief Olusegun Osoba; former Governor of Edo State, Chief Lucky Igbinedion and former Governor of Kaduna State, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, during the Former Governors’ Forum visit to the PDP national secretariat in Abuja...yesterday.

PHOTO: ELIJAH OLALUYI

Reps in fresh row over $9.3m arms deal Philip Nyam Abuja

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or the second time in about one month, there was tension in the House of Representatives over the seizure of

Nigeria’s $9.3 million for arms purchase by South African authorities.

The stage for the rowdy session was set when House Minority Leader, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, raised a point of order on matters of privilege

and personal explanation shortly after the resumption of plenary, presided over by House Speaker Aminu Tambuwal.

Gbajabiamila said he was scandalised by what he termed, “damaging editorials in the media” on a

publication in respect to an interview granted by the Deputy Majority Leader, Hon. Leo Ogor, wherein he was alleged to have said the House did not owe anybody apologies for kicking against the motion seeking investigation into

the aborted transaction in South Africa.

He said: ‘’Mr. Speaker, let me bring to the attention of this House a matter that affects me as a legislator as well as other colleagues here. It’s a matter CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

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Quick Read Editorial Exodus of health workers }19 Fashola: FG’s transformation agenda, mere slogan

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Jonathan submits 2015-2017 MTEF to Reps }6

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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

News

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014

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Chibok march on Aso Rock aborted

Yekeen Nurudeen, Emmanuel Onani, Philip Nyam and Sola Adeyemo

A

phalanx of armed riot policewomen, soldiers and other security agents yesterday blocked the road leading to Aso Rock, the seat of power, to prevent a march on it by members of the #BringBackOurGirls (BBOG) advocacy group, championing the release of over 200 schoolgirls kidnapped from Chibok, Borno State, six months ago.

The group, led by a former Minister of Education, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, was on its way to see President Goodluck Jonathan to know how far his administration had gone in the efforts to secure the release of the pupils, who were kidnapped by Boko Haram insurgents while writing their Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE).

It was the second time since the abduction of the schoolgirls that its members would be prevented from having audience with the president.

However, the president, while declaring open a national conference on environmental security, awareness and enforcement in Nigeria, yesterday in Abuja, reassured the nation that government was doing all it could to ensure the release of the schoolgirls just as he called for an end to the politicisation of the abduction saga.

Also at another forum yesterday, the Federal Government said about 2,000 soldiers and others had been killed by Boko Haram since the abduction of the Chibok girls.

The Ezekwesili-led group had on Monday announced the intention to march on Aso Rock as part of activities to mark the six months of the abduction of the Chibok girls.

But their protest march was aborted by a combined team of soldiers and policewomen who barricaded the Yakubu Gowon Crescent, the group’s route to the Presidential Villa.

The protesters, clad in red T-shirts bearing #BringBackOurGirlsNow, carried posters with various inscriptions such as “We are the giant of Africa, we are too big to fail our Chibok girls”; “ We cannot act like they don’t exist, we must help them;” and “Evil rules a nation when a good people stay silent.”

The protest, which lasted for over three hours, led to the closure of all roads leading to the Presidential Villa, causing traffic jam in

the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

When the protesters got to the precinct of the Presidential Villa at 3pm, the policewomen, led by the FCT Commissioner of Police, Mr. Wilson Inalegwu, pleaded with Ezekwesili to wait for 15 minutes.

But when the 15 minutes lapsed, a delegation led by Minister of Women Affairs, Hajia Zainab Maina, came to address the protesters.

In a letter addressed to the president, copies of which were given to journalists, the asked for progress report on efforts to rescue the abductees.

Maina, accompanied

by Minister of Water Resources, Mrs. Mrs. Sarah Ochekpe and Minister of Environment, Mrs. Laurencia Laraba Malam, informed the protesters that Jonathan was busy and could not attend to them.

She assured them that their message would be taken to the president.

“We are here to meet you because Mr. President is very busy today.

He cannot come out; he has meetings and since already you are out that’s why we are asked to come here and meet with you and to apologise for his inability to be here personally. But you can see we are all members of the Federal Executive Council.

“Even though you wrote a letter to the president, he can ask us to come and address you. That’s why we are here to address all of you here. You want to meet with Mr. President and find out why up till now the girls have not been rescued to be reunited with their families. We are here to reassure you as a responsible government, there’s no government in the world that will sit back and be comfortable while the citizens of the country are abducted and we don’t know their condition.

“The government is doing all it can to make sure

that these girls are rescued and be reunited with their families. It is not as if the government is sitting back and watching, doing nothing,” Maina told the protesters.

Earlier before the minister’s address, Ezekwesili had queried why they were stopped from meeting with the president.

She said: “You have joined the police who have prevented us from meeting our President and Commander- in- Chief; the Commissioner of Police did indicate we should wait and then we will be able to proceed to have the meeting.

“We had written the president as part of our global call to action concerning the rescue of the Chibok girls that we would be visiting him exactly on the day that marks six months of the Chibok girls’ abduction.

“We have come to join up and have that meeting so that we can listen

to Mr. President and convey to him the incredible urgency that we desire concerning the rescue of the Chibok girls and to hear from Mr. President what exactly is going on concerning the rescue of the Chibok girls. We are not sure why we are not being allowed to proceed to see Mr. President and so we need to get answers to that.”

However, a parent who has two girls among the missing Chibok girls, Enoch Mark, who came in from Chibok village urged Jonathan to negotiate with Boko Haram to rescue the girls.

Earlier in the day, members of the group were forced to abandon the Unity Fountain, Abuja, the usual sit-out venue when a group of boys and traders, believed to be sponsored by government, stormed the place in the morning.

They said they came to join the mega rally being organised by the group

to the Presidential Villa, but BBOG spokesperson, Tunji Olanrewaju, said they were never part of the group.

Meanwhile, the president has said it is his responsibility as president to secure the release of the Chibok girls.

Jonathan, while declaring open a national conference on environmental security, awareness and enforcement in Nigeria, organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Environment, said: “As an elected official, I want to solve the problem of the Chibok girls. It’s priority on my-to-do list as president. I refuse to pass it on to somebody else. It is my responsibility to solve the problem.

“Our security interests will not permit us to withhold legitimate actions that will bring back the girls. Our institutions won’t allow it either. And CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

L-R: Emir of Gombe, Alhaji Abubakar Shehu-Abubakar; former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar and Gombe State Governor, Ibrahim Dankwambo, during a condolence visit by Abubakar to the emir who lose his father in Gombe...yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

Oil spills: Ogoni community entitles to damages, London court rules Emmanuel Masha Port Harcourt

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High Court sitting in London has ruled that thousands of Ogoni from Bodo community in Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State, who suffered oil spills, are entitled to damages from the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).

The people of Bodo are accusing SPDC of two leaks from its pipelines

in 2008/09, which devastated their community, a fishing town and made thousands of people to lose their livelihood.

The President of the Technological and Construction Court, Mr. Justice Akenhead, hinged the decision on the Oil Pipelines Act. He stated that the damages could be substantial.

Akenhead also blocked an agreement between Shell and the UK law firm, CW Law, in relation to

over 7,000 claims of Nigerians, which the law firm claimed it represented in the dispute.

The court gave Leigh Day the nod to represent the Ogonis, mostly fishermen and farmers in the case.

The judge also upheld an injunction against CW Law which prevents them contacting the people of Bodo on any settlement agreement.

According to a statement by Leigh Day, “the

judge also said there may have already been a major breach of an existing interim injunction against CW Law. He said that Leigh Day had strong evidence that representatives of CW Law had breached the order by continuing to sign up claimants whilst the order was in place.”

The Senior Partner of Leigh Day, Martyn Day, who spoke on the judgement, noted: “We are very pleased that the judge

agreed to block the deal between Shell and CW Law as far as our clients are concerned.

“This paltry deal may have been lucrative to the lawyers involved but it would have meant peanuts for those of our clients caught by it. The Bodo Creek is damaged for decades to come. We will only resolve the claims when Shell is prepared to pay properly for the damage it has caused.”

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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

Fashola: Jonathan’s Transformation Agenda, a mere slogan Muritala Ayinla and Johnchuks Onuanyim

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agos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), yesterday described the Transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan as a mere slogan meant to deceive Nigerians.

According to him, in a country where insecurity, poverty, unemployment, sub-optimal economy, high interest rate, the poor value issues, misuse of power, greed, selfishness, intolerance, nepotism and favouritism, among others continue to worsen by the year, there could be very little to describe as transformational in its system.

Fashola, who delivered a keynote address at the Leadership Newspapers Annual Conference and 2013 Awards Presentation in Abuja, said there was no correlation between the present Nigerian situation and the much-talked about transformation agenda.

In his paper: “Rebuilding the Nation: Lessons from other lands,” the governor said the comments of some Nigerians on the state of the nation underscores the “inefficiency of government, mistrust

between the governed and those governing at the national level.”

Fashola said the unfortunate situation was not a surprise to him. His words: “The signs that there was not going to be any transformation were obvious to me since 2011 or thereabouts. As a mere slogan perhaps yes. As a call to purposeful action, the deception is obvious if you look at the budgets we have presented as a nation, and more critically at how much of it, we have been able to implement.”

Fashola reasoned that for any serious public officer, nation or government the budget is the article of

faith.

“But details of the federal budget pieced together between 2010 and 2013 show that every year in those four years, we have budgeted at least 62 per cent and at most 74 per cent on recurrent spending, while the maximum budget for capital expenditure, from which roads, rail, power, hospitals, bridges, etc can be executed have received at most 38 per cent in 2010 before this administration started, and as little as 26 per cent in 2011.

“If truly there was a desire to make a change for the better which is what transformation means, it should be obvious as a

statement of intent from the budget.

“But contrary to what we profess, our budgets spend more on recurrent; payment of salaries, travel, importing kerosene, petrol, rice and every other imaginable thing. What is transformational about that?”

“Yet some Nigerians, who claim they are more patriotic than us, say that they are Ambassadors of this transformation and that we are wrong because all is well. Really is all well?

“How can we transform if we spent over N2 trillion on importing fuel. This is approximately $12.5 billion.

“According to our own

government, our transformation is evident in the handful of billionaires and the number of their private jets.”

Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State was given the best governorship award, while the five governors that defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to All Progressives Congress (APC) were given the best politicians awards.

Former military Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, who got the Leadership Person Award, in his remarks stated that politicians should criticise policies of government and not personalities.

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L-R: Minister of State for Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Ms. Olajumoke Akinjide; wife of Oyo State Governor, Mrs. Florence Ajimobi; First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan and wife of Ondo State Governor, Mrs. Kemi Mimiko, at the inauguration of Women for Change and Development Initiative, Oyo State office, in Ibadan...yesterday.

PHOTO: nan

Insecurity, 2015 elections take toll on stock market CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

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FIRST NATION AIRWAYS LAGOS-ABUJA (MON-FRI) 06.50; 09:30; 11:45; 16:00 (SAT) 06:50; 11:45 (SUN) 11:45; 16:00 ABUJA-LAGOS (MON-FRI) 09:00; 11:30; 13:40;18:30 (SAT) 09:00; 13:40 (SUN) 13:40; 18:30 LAGOS-PORT-HARCOURT (MON-FRI) 14:45 (SAT) 16:15 (SUN) 14:45 PORT-HARCOURT-LAGOS (MON-FRI) 16:50 (SAT) 18:20 (SUN) 16:50 AEROCONTRACTORS LAGOS-ABUJA (MON-FRI) 06:50; 13:30; 16:30; 19:45 (SAT/SUN) 12:30; 16:45 ABUJA-LAGOS (MON-FRI) 07:30; 13:00; 19:00 (SAT) 12:30 (SUN) 15:30 MEDVIEW AIRLINES LAGOS-ABUJA (MON-FRI) 07:00; 08:50; 12:00; 15:30 (SAT) 10:00; 15:00 (SUN) 17:30; 18:30 ABUJA-LAGOS (MON-FRI) 09:00; 14:00, 15:00; 18:30

TODAY’S WEATHER FORECAST LAGOS

FLIGHT SCHEDULE

224 trillion and 40,051.29 index points. This shows a depreciation of about N803 billion or 6.07 per cent in market valuation.

Managing Partner of Dependable Securities Limited, Mr. Chineyem Anyanwu, speaking on the market development, said the forthcoming 2015 elections and the security challenges being faced by the country contributed to the low returns of the market.

According to him, the nation’s current investment climate, against the backdrop of the two incidents, scares foreign investors and local investors from putting large volume of their income into the capital market.

He said: “A good number of investors have put their money into campaigns. In fact, I anticipate that the market will bounce back fully and perform better as from the beginning of next year.”

Some operators also be-

lieved the recapitalisation directive has, as usual, sparked up share dumping by market speculators.

The Managing Director, Lamberth Securities Limited, Mr. David Adonri, said judging by the political situation ahead of the general election, the market might remain sluggish till the end of the year.

Adonri added that the rising wave of insecurity was threatening efforts put in place so far by the regulators to attract foreign direct investments.

According to him, globalisation and liberalisation of the economies of many nations have made free flow of investment of capital across national borders possible, prompting investors to seek where they could get higher returns within a stable economic climate.

He, however, said if the government failed to decisively confront violent extremism in Nigeria, efforts at attracting foreign investment might fail.

He said: “Vibrancy of the capital market is conditional on the investment climate in every country.

Where insecurity persists, the investment climate will not be conducive. Because peace and progress are intertwined, investment has tendency to always migrate to secure environment where peace is assured.

“Violence kills people and destroys assets. Therefore, no sane investor will risk his hard earned savings in a strife-torn economic environment. This is behind the recent exodus of foreign portfolio investment from our capital market in the wake of deteriorating security situation in Nigeria.

“Globalisation and liberalisation of capital markets have made free flow of investment capital across national borders possible with ease. Frightened domestic investors can move their investments to conducive foreign markets thus compounding the woes of

the capital market. Also, such capital flight can exacerbate the pressure on the domestic currency.”

The prevailing security situation occasioned by long-drawn insurgency has negatively impacted investors’ confidence and limits the realisation of the tremendous potential that the economy presents, especially post Gross Domestic Product rebasing, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has said.

President, LCCI, Mr. Remi Bello, had said recently that it would be difficult to attract investors at this time just as the risk of long term investments in the economy has been heightened by prevailing conditions.

Bello noted that the tempo of economic activities in the North has declined; access to the markets by companies in the southern part of the country has reduced resulting in loss of sales while many enterprises have relocated.

OVERLAND AIRWAYS LAGOS-ILORIN (MON-FRI) 07:15 LAGOS-IBADAN (MON-FRI) 7:00 IBADAN-ABUJA (MON-FRI) 08:00 IBADAN-LAGOS (MON-FRI) 16:30 ILORIN –ABUJA (MON-FRI) 08:30 ILORIN –LAGOS (MON-FRI) 17:00 ABUJA-ASABA (MON-FRI) 10:00 ASABA-ABUJA (MON-FRI) 14:15 ASABA-LAGOS (MON-FRI) 11:30 LAGOS-ASABA (MON-FRI) 13:00 ABUJA-ILORIN 16:00 ABUJA-IBADAN 15:00 ARIK AIR LAGOS-ABUJA (MON-FRI) 07:00; 08:00; 09:00; 11:00 13:00; 15:00; 17:00; 19:00 (SAT) 07:00; 09:00; 11:00; 13:00; 15:00; 17:00; 19:00 (SUN) 11:00; 13:00; 15:00; 17:00; 19:00 ABUJA-LAGOS (MON-FRI) 07:00; 09:00; 11:00; 13:00; 15:00; 17:00; 19:00; 20:00 (SAT) 07:00; 09:00; 11:00; 13:00; 15:00; 17:00; 19:00 (SUN) 09:00; 13:00; 15:00; 17:00; 19:00 LAGOS-PORT-HARCOURT (MON-FRI) 07:00; 09:30; 11:00; 13:30; 15:00; 17:30 (SAT) 07:00; 11:00; 15:00 (SUN) 09:30; 11:00; 13:30; 15:00; 17:30 PORT-HARCOURT-LAGOS (MON-FRI) 07:30; 09:00; 11:30; 13:00; 15:30; 17:00 (SAT) 07:30; 11:30; 09:00; 13:00; 17:00 (SUN) 11:30; 13:00; 15:30; 17:00 ABUJA-PORT-HARCOURT (MON-FRI) 06:45; 10:10; 13:30; 16:50 (SAT/SUN) 06:45; 10:10; 13:30 PORT-HARCOURT-ABUJA (MON-FRI) 08:30; 11:50; 15:10; 18:30 (SAT/SUN) 08:30; 11:50; 15:10

News

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014

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Constitution: Reps begin voting on harmonised amendments lAPC lawmakers halt reversal of Electoral Act revision lSenate passes National Health Bill Philip Nyam and Chukwu David Abuja

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he House of Representatives will today commence clause by clause voting on the 71 harmonised proposed amendments to the 1999 Constitution in the committee of the whole.

This is even as the All Progressives Congress (APC) legislators yesterday stopped their Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) colleagues from reversing the absolute powers granted the Independent

National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the deployment of troops during elections.

Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal announced the decision of the House to commence voting shortly after the presentation of the report of the conference committee on a bill for an act to further alter the provisions of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) by the deputy speaker, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha.

While announcing the decision to begin voting on the amendments, Tambuwal advised state

caucus leaders in the House to mobilise their members for the exercise.

He appealed to the lawmakers to begin to lobby their counterparts at the state Houses of Assembly to approve the proposed amendments to the 1999 Constitution by the National Assembly.

Also, attempts by the deputy leader of the House, Hon. Leo Ogor (PDP, Delta) to compel the House to reverse its earlier decision granting exclusive powers to INEC as the only body to request for deployment of military to election

venues met a brick wall as the APC lawmakers mobilised and killed the motion.

Ogor’s motion was titled “rescission pursuant to order 9, Rule 57 (6) of the standing orders of the House of Representatives on the decision taken in the committee of the whole to retain clause 28 (1) (b) in the proposed amendment to section 29(1) of the principal act (Electoral act, 2010).”

In the motion, Ogor noted that by the provisions of section 217 (1) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Ni-

geria, 1999 (as amended), “there shall be an armed forces for the Federation, which functions by virtue of section 217 (2) (c) includes suppressing insurrection and acting in aid of civil authorities to restore order when called upon to do so by the president, but subject to such conditions as may be prescribed by an act of the National Assembly.”

Ogor’s position was, however, countered by the minority leader, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila (APC Lagos), who submitted that there is no need for the motion to be read on the floor as it has already been passed by the majority members of the House.

But ruling on the mo-

tion, Tambuwal noted that since the motion was already on the order paper, it means that the mover of the motion has notified the House.

However, when the motion was put to voice vote, there was a resounding nays and the speaker had no option but ruled against it.

Meanwhile, the Senate yesterday received the Report of the Conference Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) Bill 2014.

The Upper Chamber also passed the National Health Bill as well as the Bill on the Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun, and Establishment Bill 2014.

Police bar Ezekwesili-led group from Aso Rock CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3

A cross-section of riot policewomen forming a blockade to prevent protesters’ march on Aso Rock in Abuja …yesterday.

Reps in fresh row over $9.3m arms deal CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

bordering on the integrity and sincerity of purpose of members of this House.

“Over the week, there have been many editorials concerning the conduct and position of the House on the smuggling of the seized $9.3 million as voiced by the Deputy Leader of the House, Hon. Leo Ogor, where he said that ‘we’ (the House) do not owe no apologies to Nigerians regarding our action to kill the motion on the matter during plenary.

“This matter raised serious concern to the extent that a constituent of mine challenged me, saying that the House is a part of the problem bedevilling this country due to the comment of just one member who instead of speaking for himself choose to use the word, ‘we’”

“Now, Hon. Ogor is a principal officer. But he does not have the right to speak for the collective interest of members except for himself. So, I take an exception to the use of the word, ‘we’, when he should be speaking for himself.”

Ogor made several attempts to stop Gbajabiamila but the speaker did not oblige him.

But when he finished, Tambuwal expressed shock at the minority leader’s point of order, saying: “Hon. Femi, I’m surprised that you are bringing this matter up at this stage. Have you made any effort to reach Hon. Leo Ogor, asking him to know whether he actually said what was published?’’

Responding to the motion, Ogor said he was disappointed at Gbaja-

biamila’s point of order because both of them had seen each other severally but Gbajabiamila never queried him on the issue.

Ogor said: “My respected colleagues, I want to start my submission by expressing my deepest disappointment at my colleague, the minority leader, for seeing such a publication and not bothering to find out from me if really I granted the said interview or said what was published.”

In his ruling, the Speaker directed that both members see him in his office after the plenary.

The House had last month gone into a rowdy session over attempts to move a motion seeking to discuss the botched $9.3 million arms deal.

The motion, which was sponsored by Deputy

Minority Leader, Hon. Suleiman Kawu Sumalia, was shot down without a debate following the ruling of the House Deputy Speaker, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, who presided.

The decision, however, did not go down well with the All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmakers who walked out on their colleagues.

They later addressed a press conference in which they accused their Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) colleagues of killing the motion.

Meanwhile, a member of the House, Hon. Mohammed Bashir Galadanchi, representing Gwale Federal Constituency of Kano yesterday defected from the PDP to the APC. His letter of defection was read on the floor by Tambuwal.

neither should our conscience. I seize this opportunity to call on the opposition to quit politicisation of the abducted saga and join me to solve the problem.”

The president added that Nigeria was engaged in a major war against Boko Haram and Al-Qaeda and called on the insurgents to unconditionally release the abducted girls and immediately lay down their arms and embrace peace.

He also acknowledged the concern of the Ezekwesili group in keeping government on its toes, saying: “I agree with the BringBackOurGirls campaigners, especially for piling up pressure on us on the issue. But let me be blunt, there are no neat or easy answers to bringing back the girls. I wish there were.”

The president, represented by Mallam, commended the Armed Forces for taking on Boko Haram head on.

He also said his administration would ensure the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and to put appropriate sanctions in place through legislation so that those that pollute the environment know there are consequences to their actions.

Earlier, House Speaker, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, had assured the gathering that the outcome of the conference will form part of the House legislative agenda.

In another development, the Federal Government has said about 2,000 persons, including soldiers, security person-

nel as well as civilians, have been killed by Boko Haram fighters since the abduction of the Chibok girls.

It also warned groups and organisations, including the BBOG, to desist from “subversive preoccupations” and to ensure at all times that their agitation is civil.

Addressing journalists at the National Information Centre (NIC) yesterday in Abuja, the Director General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mr. Mike Omeri, said contrary to views in some quarters, the Federal Government and the Armed Forces were concerned about the Boko Haram insurgency and the continuous abduction of the Chibok girls.

“The Armed Forces and the security agencies have developed an extensive rescue plan and tactical operational methodology embedded within the ongoing military efforts in the North-East,” he added.

He, however, stated that the nature of the ongoing counter-terrorism war, would not allow government to provide the kind of information and details that the public might expect.

Also speaking, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, urged Nigerians to support the ongoing fight against insurgency, including efforts at rescuing the schoolgirls.

He added that it is better to rescue the girls and rehabilitate them, in the event of abuse of any sort, rather than have them dead.

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News

wednesday, OCTOBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

Boko Haram: Nigerian, Cameroonian Defence Chiefs meet Emmanuel Onani

Abuja

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L-R: Group Head, Marketing and Communications, First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Limited, Mr. Ikechukwu Kalu; Zonal Head, Victoria Island branch, Mrs. Omowunmi Kalejaiye; Executive Director, Lagos and South-West, Mr. Femi Bakre; General Manager, Sales, Dana Motors, Amarjeet Singh and Divisional Head, Retail Banking, Mr. Olu Akanmu, at the launch of the FCMB/Dana Motors Partnership in Lagos…yesterday

Alison-Madueke considers emergency meeting over falling oil prices Adeola Yusuf

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he Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani AlisonMadueke is scheduled to meet experts in global crude economics over the dwindling oil price, which has crashed to the four year low.

New Telegraph gathered yesterday that the meeting scheduled for

Vienna, Austria, will be attended by 10 other ministers of energy from Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Nigeria, Africa’s biggest crude exporter, which depends largely on proceeds from crude to service over 85 per cent of its budget, has been having reduction in revenue due to the fall in oil prices.

The fall has been caus-

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Any objection to the registration should be forwarded to the Registrar-General, Corporate Affairs Commission, plot 420 Tigris Crescent, off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days of this publication.

Signed: TRUSTEES PUBLIC NOTICE

ALAUSA SHOPPING MALL OCCUPIERS’ ASSOCIATION The general public is hereby notified that the above mentioned ASSOCIATION has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for registration in accordance with Part C of the Companies and Allied Matters Act LFN (cap 20) Members Of New Trustees 1. Ajayi, Herbert Ademola 2. Olukotun, Femi Adebayo 3. Eka Maria Constance Ebehireme 4. Otiti Saidat Adeola 5. Adebimpe Adewunmi Olanrewaju 6. Ladipo-Ajayi Margaret Ayodele 7. Ololo Peter Ukuoritsemofe Members Of Old Trustees 1. Olawumi Oluwaseyi 2. Abdul Azeez Bakare

3. Mrs Otaniyi Abiola Olufunke AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1. To organize, promote and contract effective security services for the protection

of lives and property of members and people within the premises of the shopping mall 2. To ensure proper upkeep of the environment 3. To liaise with the appropriate local and the state government agencies for the provision and maintenance of the utilities and infrastructure in the mall.

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

Signed: TRUSTEES

ing a split among OPEC leaders about what action should be taken, if any, to halt the slide.

“The minister will meet with other minister on November 27 in Vienna, Austria,” a source at the Ministry of Petroleum Resources told New Telegraph adding, ;’this meeting will be preceded by another meeting with experts in global crude economics on how Nigeria can best manage the situation.”

In recent days, several members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries — Saudi Arabia, Kuwait,

Iraq, Iran and the United Arab Emirates — have cut prices to European and Asian buyers as competition for global market share has grown fierce.

With the price of the global benchmark, Brent crude oil, falling 1.5 percent on Monday to $88.89 a barrel, many analysts said Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s dominant member, might be rethinking its strategy.

Brent oil prices fell more than $2 a barrel to less than $88 on Monday in New York, its lowest since 2010, after key Middle East producers signalled they would keep output high even if that meant lower

Jonathan submits 2015-2017 MTEF to House Philip Nyam Abuja

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resident Goodluck Jonathan yesterday forwarded to the House of Representatives the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) for the period 2015 to 2017, heralding the presentation of the 2015 budget proposal.

Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal read the letter from the president conveying the message.

The letter, however, did not give highlights of the MTEF as how much was being projected to be spent within the period and the anticipated oil benchmark.

The 2007 Fiscal Responsibility Act stipulates that budget estimates for the next fiscal year shall be presented before the joint session of the National Assembly at least

three months to the end of the year. But with less than three months to the end of the year, the 2015 appropriation bill is yet to be submitted to the National Assembly by the executive.

It also stipulates that a MTEF covering three fiscal years be submitted annually to the National Assembly, which will serve as guide for the appropriation bill.

Meanwhile, the Speaker yesterday issued a week ultimatum to the House joint committee on finance, security and loans, debts and aid to furnish the House with a report and recommendations on the $1 billion loan request from President Goodluck Jonathan.

The House had referred the matter to the joint committee to investigate and advise it on the way forward.

prices.

This fall has added to other challenges facing Nigeria’s crude market.

A large backlog of Nigeria’s November loading cargoes has earlier failed to find buyers, while market participants said that trade was the slowest they had ever seen due to ample supply and slack demand.

Less than two weeks before Nigeria’s December export cargoes start coming to market, nearly 40 cargoes of the company’s November-loading cargoes were still available for purchase out of a total of 63 originally offered.

n continuation of The Federal Government’s efforts at enlisting the support of neighbouring countries, in its ongoing counter-terrorism war in the North East, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, will host his Cameroonian counterpart today, at the Defence Headquarters (DHQ).

The three-day meeting, according to a statement by the Director of Defence Information (DDI), Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade, is a follow-up to previous international and regional conferences, aimed at forming a regional front, to deal with the menace of terrorism.

The statement reads in full: “In furtherance of various international contacts

by Nigeria in the efforts to stamp out the scourge of terrorism in the sub-region, a bilateral defence meeting between Nigeria and Cameroun is scheduled to commence on Wednesday at the Defence Headquarters in Abuja.

“The three-day meeting, which is being hosted by Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh will have in attendance his Cameroonian counterpart and his country’s military delegation.

The forum which is a followup to previous international and regional meetings to foster a common ground in the fight against insurgency and terrorism is to fashion out ways of strengthening the existing working relationship and cooperation between the two Armed Forces.

Fintiri resumes as Adamawa Speaker F

ormer acting Governor of Adamawa State, Alhaji Ahmadu Fintiri has resumed duties as the Speaker of the Adamawa State House of Assembly.

He resumed with a vow that “the legislature, as the defender of democracy, will exercise its constitutional duties of ridding Adamawa of bad governance once again without hesitation”.

Fintiri said that during the plenary session yesterday when he addressed members of the state House of Assembly on his resumption.

The returnee Speaker told the members that “as I happily resume my duties, as the Honourable Speaker once again after a brief but action-packed stint as the acting Governor of Adamawa State, I thank honourable colleagues for the overwhelming co-

operation I have enjoyed as your ambassador in the executive arm”.

He thanked them for their personal sacrifices and immense pressure that they had put to ensure that “Our democratic intervention against bad governance and administration succeeded in line with the popular demand of the people of Adamawa State”.

The former Acting Governor commended the members for passing a vote of confidence in him as a worthy representative as well as their resolve to rescue Adamawa State.

He said, “As a law abiding citizen and the number one law maker, I have taken events that occurred in the last couple of days in my strides and pledge to stand by the truth no matter the blackmail and intimidation,” he asserted.

NEW TELEGRAPH wednesday, OCTOBER 15, 2014

confidence

Ekiti Governor-elect describes efforts to stop him as last kick of a dying horse Adesina Wahab Ado-Ekiti

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kiti State Governor-Elect, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, yesterday described efforts being made by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the E-11 group to stop his inauguration tomorrow

7

south — west

Fayose: Nothing’ll stop my inauguration l As JUSUN strike stops re-opening of courts

as the governor as the last kick of a dying horse.

Featuring on a radio and television interview in Ado-Ekiti, he said the outgoing government of Dr. Kayode Fayemi, would leave a debt profile of nearly N84 billion for his administration.

“They took N31 billion in the first instance and paid about N10 billion and they took another N22 billion loan and the state is having N552 mil-

lion monthly deficit and the repayment is till 2020,” he said.

Fayose, who was reacting to a suit reportedly filed at a Federal High Court in Lagos by the APC and the E-11 that was meant to stop his inauguration, said God’s will would prevail no matter the circumstance.

“Everything will work for good for me and the people of Ekiti State.

With the case filed in La-

gos today, we have found out their antics and I am confident that I would be inaugurated.

“I am currently enjoying God’s grace and kindness, which I did not merit. I will work with everybody even within and outside the party.

This is a rare second chance and I will consult widely with everybody before taking policy decisions.

“You people of Ekiti

State saw me that I am not a professor before you voted for me. Those making frantic efforts to go against the will of the people will not succeed.

Their effort is like the last kick of a dying horse and we will triumph,” he said.

Meanwhile, the much expected re-opening of courts in Ekiti State was yesterday aborted by the judicial workers’ strike in the state despite the

directive by the Chief Judge, Justice Ayodeji Daramola that the courts be re-opened.

Checks by our correspondent at the high court complex, Ado-Ekiti and other courts in Ikole, Ijan, Iluomoba, among others, revealed that the workers, under the aegis of Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), did not allow the re-opening of the courts.

Justice Daramola, who gave the order for the court to reopen, acted on the directives of the National Judicial Council (NJC), which had stepped into the crisis rocking the state judiciary in the last few weeks.

The chief judge’s order was contained in a statement by the Chief Registrar, Mr. Femi Fasanmi that all courts in the state should resume work immediately.

Osun PDP blasts lawmakers on appeal court ruling Adeolu Adeyemo Osogbo

O L-R: Chairman, League of Airports and Aviation Correspondents {LAAC}, Mr. Chukwuemeke Iwelunmo; wife of the former Aircraft Calibrator and founder of the Nigeria Aviation Safety Initiative {NASI}, Mrs. Mary Agbeyegbe and her son, Kay, during a press conference marking the 10th anniversary of the death of Capt. Jerry Eyituoyo Agbeyegbe, at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja. yesterday PHOTO: TONY EGUAYE

Ex-lawmakers warn against scuttling Ekiti inauguration Adesina Wahab Ado-Ekiti

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embers of the Ekiti State House of Assembly during the first term of the Governor-Elect, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, yesterday appealed to those trying to scuttle the wish of the people shown by their overwhelming support for Fayose in the June 21 poll to consider the consequences of swimming against the tide.

In a statement signed in Ado-Ekiti by Hons.

Gbadebo Ibuoye, Ol-

ubunmi Olugbade, Amogunniyi Fadare, Ayo Adekoya Benson, Eyeoawa Gabriel Sunday, Leo Olumie Falade and Adewole Bode Albert, the former lawmakers also explained how they were used by external forces to illegally remove Fayose from office then.

The statement was entitled; “Governor Ayo Fayose’s purported impeachment in 2006 - The truth of the matter and our side of the story.”

The ex-lawmakers recollected events that led to the eventual declaration

of a state of emergency in Ekiti, saying some forces coerced them using the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) into committing an act that was illegal.

“In 2006, the leadership of the House of Assembly, specifically the Speaker and the Majority Leader (late Hon. Friday Aderemi and Hon. Babade Kayode) had been indicted by the House in the report of a special committee set up by the House to investigate the activities of the duo and look into the finances of the House.”

Lagos APC promises fair primaries Temitope Ogunbanke

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he All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State yesterday assured all aspirants contesting on the platform of the party that its primaries would be free and fair.

Speaking to New Telegraph yesterday, APC Assistant Publicity Secretary, Hon. Abiodun Salami, said the party is pre-

pared for the 2015 general elections, noting that the APC is not afraid of any opposition party.

He said: “APC primaries will be free and fair.

That is the assurance from the leadership of the party. It is going to be modified open primary and whoever emerges would be the candidate of the party and I think it would be devoid of ran-

cour. The party’s primaries are going to be free and fair; every participant would be involved.

“I want to say that whoever thinks that he or she is going to be favoured through the back door must be living in a fool’s paradise, because the primaries will be free and fair. We are not building on consensus; everybody would have to go through the primaries.”

Senatorial aspirant seeks stronger separation of powers Sola Adeyemo Ibadan

S

enatorial aspirant and stalwart of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State, Alhaji Saka Ominiwe, has called for true separation of powers for smooth running of the nation’s democratic institutions.

Ominiwe in a statement he signed and made available to New Telegraph in Ibadan gave the advice against the backdrop of recent alleged attack on Ekiti State judiciary by some political thugs loyal to the Governor-Elect, Mr.

Ayodele Fayose, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The politician said: “Those attempting to truncate the present democracy would have themselves to blame for these unwholesome practices.”

He observed that in a presidential system, three arms of government exist, the executive, legislative and judiciary, and that “to a large extent, the independence of each arm must be guaranteed to have a smooth running of government,” noting that “one arm is a check on each other.”

Ajimobi: Stop politicising our love for citizens

O

yo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi, has warned opposition parties in the state against unnecessary politicisation of his administration’s policies and programmes that are targeted at ensuring the welfare and well-being of the people.

He gave the warning while speaking at his investiture as the Great Grand Patron of the Association of Primary School Head Teachers of Nigeria (AOPSHON), Oyo State chapter and the turning of the sod of AOPSHON Castle, in Ibadan yesterday.

sun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday described lawmakers in the state House of Assembly as lacking proper interpretation of the Appeal Court ruling on a federal high court sitting in Akure that pronounced that the state Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr. Toyin Akeju, was not qualified to conduct the 2011 elections.

Chairman of the party, Alhaji Ganiyu Olaoluwa, said it is saddening that the lawmakers find it difficult to interpret the judgement of the Appeal Court filed by INEC and Akeju over the judgement of a federal high court in Osogbo, on the matter.

He further said in a statement made available to newsmen that if they lack simple legal knowledge to interpret/understand such simple judgement, they should have sought for assistance from PDP legal experts.

But the Speaker, Hon. Najeem Salaam said: “The intention of the PDP was to cause chaos in the state and the people of the state should ignore the insinuation that was designed to misinterprete the ruling of the Court of Appeal on the notice of appeal filed by the INEC, which has nothing to do with nullification of any election.”

The speaker spoke through his Media Aide, Mr. Goke Butika, in a statement in Osogbo yesterday.

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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

SOUTH-EAST

Obiano defends support for Jonathan Tony Okafor Akwa

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nambra State governor, Chief willie Obiano yesterday defended to his support and that of his party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance(APGA) for the second term ambition of President Goodluck Jonathan in next year’s general elections.

€77.9m

Obiano, who spoke at governenment House, Awka, when a pro- Jonathan group visited him, said Jonathan had shown demonstrable commitment to unite Nigeria as well as evenly develop every part of the country without any prejudice or bias, The governor, who spoke through his Special Adviser on Addministration, Dr.

The amount of money realized from TV rights by AC Milan 2013-2014 season.

Source: Goal.com

Samuel Nnaana, said the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, -led administration in the state appreciated President Jonathan for his unwavering determination to develop the South East geo-political zone, hence the decision of the people in the zone to vote for him massively in next year’s presidential election. “The president has done well

53

The life expectancy (in years) at birth of women in Burundi in 2010-2015.

Source: Un.org

for the Igbo and that is why we are supporting him,” he said.

Speaking earlier, Keribe Ezeanuna, the leader of a pro- Jonathan group known as G7 PatrioticInternational said G7 would mobilize all youths to vote Jonathan because he is the best thing that can happen to Nigerians.

He described the president as a unifying force

82%

The fatality rate of Ebola virus outbreak in Gabon in 2001-2002.

Source: Who.int

in the country, adding that he is the only person that has an agenda that can continue the transformation agenda.

Before visiting government house , the group had held a rally at Aroma in Awka, the Anambra State capital, in support of the call by various groups to persuade the president to vie for a second term in office in 2015.

263,163

The number of air travel passengers of Kano airport (international wing) in 2012.

Source: National Bureau of Statistics

L-R: Registrar, Medical Laboratory Council of Nigeria, Prof. Anthony Emeribe; Director-General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr. Paul Orhii; Executive Secretary, National Health Insurance Scheme, Dr. Femi Thomas, Director, Hospital Services, Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. Patience Osinubi and Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, at the Ministry of Health’s ministerial platform in Abuja …yesterday

APC: Nda-Isaiah promises to revamp industries in S/East Tony Okafor Akwa

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presidential candidate on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Sam Nda-Isaiah, has promised to revamp industrial activities of the Southeast region, if elected president of the country.

He disclosed this in a statement released by his South East campaign office, as he deplored the miserable state of industries in the region, saying this has led to collapse of commerce in the region. He noted that the place known for its leading role in commerce through its many industries, has become a shadow of itself with attendant job losses.

“That is deplorable that the Southeast zone which was home to a number of industries in the past is today deserted by the same industries which have either packed up or have relocated to other climes.

“In a region that was before the civil war the fourth fastest growing economy in the world, is today grappling with a high rate of relocation of industries is indeed saddening. This has led to a high rise of unemployment and crime in the Southeast,” he said.

Group warns PDP against Okorocha’s ‘return bid’ FRSC threatens Nze Benjamin Iroham and nor lacks the moral right “We are not ignorant Steve Uzoechi Comrade Benjamin Ogoke, to rejoin the party even of the clandestine moves legal action against Owerri coordinator and secretary after spending enormous by Governor Rochas respectively and made resources to undermine Okorocha to rejoin the construction companies political pressure available to newsmen in the party in Imo, since be- Peoples Democratic Party A group known as Imo (PDP) and seek re- elecHe said, “The federal Consultative Assembly Owerri, the group posited coming governor in 2011.

Tony Okafor

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he Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) has advised construction companies working on federal highways to put in place road signs to signify that work is on-going on the roads or risk legal actions against them.

Head of the commission’s Benin Zonal Command, Mr Charles Akpabio,, said this in Awka when he visited Anambra command to usher in Christmas season safety measure activities..

Akpabio, who controls Anambra, Delta and Edo states observed that some avoidable accidents had happened because of inadequacies of the constructions companies, who have ignored such essential preventive measures on the roads, adding that the companies must erect signs to alert drivers of the situation of the roads.

government is doing a lot to improve on the road infrastructure in the country so as to reduce crashes and save lives.

“We encourage road users to obey these instructions and not drive in the night without headlamps, they should not endanger others and if they are able to do these, we believe accidents would be reduced.

“FRSC has instructed construction companies to put visible and adequate road signs and the commission will prosecute any of such companies that fails to put in place adequate signs on roads under construction to provide direction, they must do their work in line with international best practices,”.

He maintained that officers of the corps would be moblised to duty in the three states to ensure free and safe traffic in the zone during the Yuletide.

(ICA), has urged President Goodluck Jonathan and the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to shun entreaties by Governor Rochas Okorocha to rejoin the party as part of his plan to seek re- election on the party’s platform in 2015.

In a statement signed by

that governor Okorocha would definitely become a liability to the PDP if allowed to return, as Imo people would swiftly desert PDP and seek alternative platforms to pursue their political ambitions.

The group maintained that having already dumped PDP on two occasions since 1999, the gover-

The group said, “Okorocha is only driven by his second term ambition and nothing else.

And for party to give him the platform to realize that ambition amounts to the PDP insensitively extending an absurdity or better still, a government of a family, by a family and for a family.”

tion as governor of Imo state under its platform in 2015, after he left the party on two occasions following the return of democracy in 1999. This permutation we gathered was hatched upon realizing that his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) was dead on arrival in the South-East.”

Chime commends President, World Bank over erosion control in South-East Uwakwe Abugu Enugu

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overnor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State has commended President Goodluck Jonathan and the World Bank in their efforts towards the control of erosion menace in the South East zone.

Chime spoke through his deputy, Rev. Raphael Nwoye, in an address during a state launch of the

Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) at Michael Okpala Square in Enugu.

The governor noted that all efforts made by the State and Local government areas as well as constituencies to control gully erosion, before now, were at best partially or temporarily effective for reasons that included improper road designs, inadequate drainage systems and poor solid waste management in urban

and semi-urban areas.

Others, he stated, are destructive and unsustainable land use practices that remove protective vegetation cover, over grazing, deforestation, cultivation of marginal lands and uncontrolled mining for building materials and climate change challenges.

Chime regretted that the menace of gully erosion has led to damage of infrastructural projects such as several roads,

highways, reservoirs and pipeline networks as well as natural assets like productive farms and forests.

Noting that Enugu State has the greatest number of erosion sites in Nigeria while Anambra state has the worst erosion sites, he, however, expressed confidence that NEWMAP and World Bank would help the state in tackling the erosion menace as was done in China, Brazil and Israel.

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014

News

SOUTH-SOUTH

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Akwa Ibom SSG may resign on Friday

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L-R: Dettol Brand Ambassador, Patience Ozokwor (Mama G); General Manager, West Africa, Reckitt Benckiser, Rahul Murgai; Marketing Director, West Africa, Silivrili Oguzhan; Nollywood Actress/Producer, Omoni Oboli and pupils of The Royal Master’s School, during the Reckitt Benckiser Global Hand-washing Day media parley in Lagos… yesterday.

PHOTO: SULEIMAN HUSAINI

2015: Ex-governors seek peaceful campaigns, elections Onwuka Nzeshi and Onyekachi Eze ABUJA

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head of the 2015 general elections, the Forum of ExGovernors of Nigeria yesterday urged all political parties and aspirants to the various political offices to eschew violence and rancour during their electioneering campaigns to avoid heating up the polity.

Chairman of the forum and former Governor of old Anambra State, Chief Jim Nwobodo, who led other former gover-

nors on courtesy visits to the secretariats of the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) and All Progressives Congress( APC) said the polity would be better if all political actors played the game of politics with patriotism and without bitterness.

Nwobodo was accompanied on the tour by a former governor of Ogun State, Chief Olusegun Osoba; former governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Ahmed Makarfi; former governor of Kogi State, Prince Audu Abubakar; former governor of Imo State, Chief Achike Udenwa; former governor of Yobe State, Senator

Bukar Abba Ibrahim; former governor of Enugu State, Chief Okwesilieze Nwodo and Chief Lucky Igbinedion, the former governor of Edo State.

The delegation was received at the Secretariat of the PDP, by the National Chairman of the ruling party, Alhaji Adamu Muazu while Chief John Odigie- Oyegun received them at the secretariat of the All Progressives Congress(APC) alongside some members of the National Working Committee of the leading opposition party.

At each point, Nwobodo told the party leaders that the forum of ex- governors

was not a partisan organization but a group of elder statesmen ,who wanted the best for the country.

“What makes our forum very unique is that the two national chairmen of the two dominant political parties are our members (former governors) and both the President and Vice President of Nigeria are also exgovernors and members of our forum. Our forum is to build unity and peace in Nigeria. We are not here for politics.

“This is an election year.

We don’t want quarrels and acrimony. Let us learn to accept defeat when we lose in any election

Wali: NBA blames government Emmanuel Masha Port Harcourt

T

he Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has described the abduction of its immediate past president, Mr. Okey Wali (SAN) as a failure on the part of government, whose duty it noted is to provide security for the citizenry.

NBA noted that the constitution clearly mandates the government to provide security, noting that the kidnap of Wali would not have happened

had the government performed its statutory function.

The National President of NBA, Augustine Alegeh (SAN), who stated this in Obio/Akpor, the Rivers State when he and some leaders of the Bar visited Wali’s family for solidarity, noted the bar was in pains.

He urged government to urgently improve security across the country by taking proactive measures to counter the menace of kidnapping and other forms of criminality.

He said: “We have always said that the principal function of the government is to provide for the welfare of the people.

That is the constitutional role of government and it is important than any other role that government has to play.

“And if we are facing situations where kidnappings still persist, it shows that it is failure on the part of government and we have called on government also to please, step up their act, take more proactive steps at addressing the

security situation in the country.”

Alegeh stressed the need for a solid police force since the country has the resources to police itself. He, however, said that “it was whether we have the will power that is in doubt. But certainly, we have the resources to police the country.”

He added that they will stand with the family, and appealed to the abductors to release him since “he does not possess the health to survive atrocious conditions with them at all times.”

Immigration tragedy: Families protest unfulfilled promises Cajetan Mmuta BENIN

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t was a tale of woes and lamentation for families of victims of the controversial Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) recruitment test in Edo State yesterday. Seven months after, families of dead victims yesterday protested against their neglect by the service and inability of Presi-

dent Goodluck Jonathan to live up to his promise to compensate those affected by the stampede during the exercise.

The Federal Government had pledged three automatic employment slots for all the families whose wards lost their lives in the stampede, including those who sustained injuries and were hospitalized.

But the families, during their protest with placards in Benin, the state

capital, expressed sadness and disappointment that after seven months of the ugly incident, they have been abandoned to suffer amid the irreparable and traumatic experience over the loss of their loved ones without anyone to come to their aide.

It would be recalled that during the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) recruitment testin March, 18 applicants died following a stampede in various

parts of the country.

One person died at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in the state while several others sustained various degrees of injuries.

Some of the placards read: “We are traumatized immigration victims still without jobs”; “Please, allow the souls of the departed NIS victims to rest in peace”; and “Mr. Goodluck Jonathan, we are still waiting for your promise”.

Our goal is to ensure that we have a good country. What is uppermost in our mind is the peaceful coexistence of all persons.

We are also interested in good, peaceful and transparent elections,” he said.

National Chairman of the PDP, Adamu Muazu expressed appreciation at the visit and stressed the importance of all political actors playing the game maturely. Also his counterpart in the APC, Odigie Oyegun said he was thrilled by the visit of his colleagues former governors. He said that the forum must be nursed because it could make the difference tomorrow.

arely a week to the expiration of the date given to political appointees and public officers who are interested in running for offices in 2015, by the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), pressure is currently being mounted on the Akwa Ibom State Secretary to the State Government(SSG), Mr Udom Emmanuel to succeed Governor Godswill Akpabio from May 29,2015.

As at today, over 150 political groups and associations with spread across the three senatorial districts have continued to mount pressure on the former Zenith Bank Executive Director to contest the governorship election in 2015. Already, sources close to the camp of the SSG said that Emmanuel may hearken to the call and resign to take up the challenge on Friday.

Notable among the groups who have thrown their weight behind the yet to be declared ambition include, Itai Afe Annang, Ati Annang, Afigh Iwaad Ekid and youth groups.

The people of Eket nation have concluded plans to host a political rally to drum support for Emmanuel’s aspiration.

Our son was killed in Dubai, says Alamieyeseigha family lKalu, Bayelsa mourn Chris Ejim Yenagoa

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he family of a former Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, yesterday dismissed the claim that his 32 yearold son, Oyamuyefa Alamieyeseigha was killed in the house owned by the former governor in Dubai, United Arab Emirate(UAE).

While some reports claimed the late Oyamiefa, was killed in the house belonging to his father in the Arab country, others claimed that Oyamiefa was murdered by unknown gunmen, who stormed his apartment on Sunday night.

But the family in a statement issued yesterday and signed by the Former Bayelsa Commissioner of Sports, Prince Opukiri Jones-Ere , said that Oyamuyefa was found dead outside his

apartment in Dubai in the early hours of Saturday October 11.

Opukiri Jones-Ere also confirmed a delegation, comprising members of his family and associates had left for Dubai.

“The family wishes to thank the government and Nigerians for their outpouring of sympathy.”

Meanwhile, eminent businessman and former Governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Kalu, yesterday, expressed shock over the death of Oyamuyefa.

Kalu in a condolence message signed by his Special Adviser, Prince Kunle Oyewumi, said: “I was deeply pained when I heard the news of the untimely death of Oyamuyefa. It is devastating considering the age of the deceased. The young man, who had a bright future died in his prime but who are we to question God. My prayer and thoughts are with the deceased’s loved ones and family at this sad moment”.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

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Metro Killings: Police warn parents, guardians Juliana Francis

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orried by the incessant attacks, looting and killings on Lagos Island by gangsters, the police have warned parents and guardians to caution their children against illicit conducts.

The Area ‘A’ Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Imohinmi Edgal, who gave the warning, said that anyone caught with dangerous weapons like guns and cutlasses would be prosecuted.

Speaking at a security meeting organised by the four Community Development Associations (CDAs) at Ward B3, Lagos Island, Edgal said that all the divisional police stations under his command had been directed to deal with youths caught fomenting trouble.

The commander, who spoke through the Crime Officer of Lion Building, the Divisional Police Station, ASP Maikano Joseph, said the police were no longer begging miscreants and armed robbers to change.

He said: “We are going to deal decisively with any of the notorious gang members caught. There will be no bail at the stations but they would be taken to court for prosecution.

“You either warn your children or be ready to face the wrath of law.”

Superintendent (SP) Ayeni Sam, who represented the DPO of Adeniji Adele Police Station, solicited for the support of the community in getting rid of gangs by calling CDA members available or the police, if the miscreants planned attack.

Sam, who is the Divisional Traffic Police Officer (DTO) of the station, warned that only suspects mistakenly arrested during raiding of criminals would be released, through intervention of the CDA members.

ABIODUN BELLO FEATURES Editor

abiodun.bello@newtelegraphonline.com

© Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited

Three KAI officials held for rape, extortion

Muritala Ayinla

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hree officers of Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) were arrested yesterday in Lagos for extortion and allegedly raping a 24-year-old pedestrian, who crossed the expressway.

The suspects, Benjamin Akinade, Olayinka Olowu and Adebayo Ayeni, were among the law enforcement officials who arrested and allegedly extorted those who failed to use the pedestrian bridge at Ojota.

It was learnt that the suspects, after arresting pedestrians for flouting government’s directive to use the pedestrian bridge, would threaten the offenders with spurious fines.

According to investigation, the female victims, which catch their fancy, are sexually harassed or raped before they are released.

It was also learnt that the suspects left their duty post at Iyana-Ipaja to carry out the unlawful acts at Ojota.

But the bubble burst when one of their latest victims, the 24-year-old lady, reported the incident, saying she was released after the officials forced her to sleep with them at an undisclosed hotel near Ojota.

According to the girl, the incident happened about 3:30pm on October 11. She said she was helpless and therefore succumbed to the demand of the suspects in order to regain

Charles Onyekwe ABAKALIKI

A

35-year-old man, Samuel Obura, who claimed to be the pastor of Assembly of Redeemed Christian Church, Ikwo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, is now in police cell for allegedly stealing motorcycles and receiving stolen items.

The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP Chris Anyanwu, told journalists in Abakaliki that the pastor, who hails from Ohalaekwu Amagu community in Ikwo Local Government, was a habitual thief and receiver of stolen goods.

He said: “When the

The suspects

her freedom.

She claimed that she was arrested while trying to cross the expressway at Ojota end of Ikorodu Road when one of the suspects, Akinade, arrested her for not using the pedestrian bridge.

The victim added that the suspects demanded N10,000 from her.

She added that she was intimidated, sexually abused and exploited by the suspects, who, according to her, insisted that “she must use what she

has to set herself free”.

Speaking on the allegation, the KAI Administrator, Mr Onipede Offi, said the case had been handed over to the Lagos State Task Force, Alausa, for proper interrogation and possible prosecution.

Offi said the management of KAI had resolved to restore sanity to the system and would not relent in fishing out bad eggs among its personnel.

He said: “We would make sure that the officials are seriously punished if they are

found guilty of the allegation.”

This, the administrator added, would serve as a deterrent to others in the habit of such act.

Also confirming the incident, the Chairman of the task force, CSP Bayo Sulaiman, said that the law would take its course on the suspects.

He said: “No government would condone criminal acts.

They are just like common criminals. So, the law will take its course on them.”

Pastor, others arrested for theft

The suspects

police conducted a search of the suspect’s house in Ikwo, 13 different brands of motorcycles were recovered from him.”

Anyanwu said the police also arrested two others, Samuel Edet (25) and Moses Alibo (25) who specialised in stealing

‘mobilets’ (ladies motorcycles) from Ebonyi State and ferrying them to Cross River State.

He said: “The suspects operate from Cross River State to steal motorcycles at night and take them to cross River State to sell to buyers.

“The police would like to advise members of the public to be vigilant, especially now that we are in the ember months.”

The PPRO, however, gave the assurance that after investigations, the suspects would be arraigned.

Meanwhile, three vandals of electrical installations in differ-

ent locations are now in police net.

They are Ifeanyichukwu Okoye from Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra State, Sunday Mathias of IsiekeukwuOrlu, Imo State and Nwabueze Oriele of Akuna-Kuna village, Ikwo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.

The Public Relations Officer for the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC), Mr Lazarus Onyearugbulem, said that the situation was unfortunate and wondered why some people take pleasure in discomforting others.

Metro 11

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014

Soldier kills colleague at Bayelsa Govt House Chris Ejim Yenagoa

A

soldier, Lance Corporal Muazu Haruna, attached to the 423 Battalion of the Elele Barracks in Rivers State and stationed at the Bayelsa State Government House, on Monday night, allegedly shot and killed his colleague, Staff Sergeant Ishiaku Shuaibu.

The incident, which occurred about 10pm, did not disrupt the Special Dinner held a few metres away to mark

the 2014 Legal Year for the judiciary with Governor Seriake Dickson present as special guest of honour.

It was gathered that the soldier, who was wearing mufti at the time of the incident, snatched the service rifle from his colleague and shot him dead over unexplained issues.

A security source said that the suspect had arrived from the Elele Military barracks in Rivers State following the payment of his duty allowance.

It was also gathered

that while two other colleagues on duty left the post briefly to attend to some personal matters, Haruna took the opportunity to kill Shuaibu.

“He immediately ran away with the rifle and boarded a commercial tricycle popularly known as Keke NAPEP and headed towards Hospital Road.

“The sound of the gunshots attracted the policemen on duty at the Banquet Hall. The policemen, however, intercepted and stopped the tricycle. The policemen

initially did not know the shots killed the soldier. Upon interrogation and investigation, the body of the soldier was found at his duty post.

“The policemen immediately arrested the killer soldier and the tricycle driver,” a witness said.

A security source, however, said the arrested soldier, who was taken to the Area Command Division of the police, had been handed to the Joint Military Task Force following the intervention of an unnamed captain.

Juliana Francis

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Dickson

Officers, family members thrown out of Ikeja Police College

The officers’ property

Camillus Nnaji

S

ome officers residing at Ikeja Police College in Lagos State have been forced to vacate their residences at Band Blocks 1 and 2.

Some of them, who spoke with our correspondent yesterday, said they had nowhere to take their families to after they were ordered to pack out of the blocks.

One of the officers, an Assis-

tant Superintendent of Police (ASP), who craved anonymity, said early in the morning, five provosts came with an order that they should vacate their houses.

He said: “If you look under the trees, our belongings are exposed to rain and sunshine.

If a senior officer like me, who has served this country for a long time can get this kind of treatment, what about others who are junior officers?

“We are aware and happy

with renovation going on, because it is for our own good, but before the renovation is completed, should we be sleeping outside with our wives and children?”

It was gathered that the Federal Government is currently renovating all structures at Ikeja Police College following President Goodluck Jonathan’s visit to the college.

But this has caused discomfort to some of the residents,

who were forced to pack their belongings outside.

The commandant, CP Yahaya Garba, it was also learnt, initially allowed the officers to be sleeping in their houses as the renovation was going on, but trouble started when at 8pm on Monday, those renovating the quarters wanted to continue their work inside the officers’ flats.

But the officers refused because they wanted to sleep.

This led the contractor to report the matter to the commandant who ordered the officers to immediately vacate the quarters.

When contacted, the commandant directed our correspondent to get in touch with the Police Public Relations Officer of the college.

However, the person who spoke on behalf of the PPRO, Mr. Atado, said the office was just hearing the matter, adding that there was no official signal sent to the office on the issue.

He said: “There is a way we work; if it was an official order, there must be a signal order sent to us, but there was none.

I think it is a verbal order from the commandant.”

‘10% of Lagosians live with mental health disorder’ Appolonia Adeyemi and Muritala Ayinla

L

agos State Government yesterday disclosed that at least 10 per cent of Lagos residents suffer from one mental illness or the other.

The Commissioner for Health, Dr Jide Idris, who said this on the occasion of the World Mental Health Day celebration, disclosed the government had stepped up moves to address the rate of people suffering from mental disorder.

Idris said the victims were not only those seen on the streets but many people who thought they were healthy.

He said: “This is the time for everyone to realise that people

with mental health are just like you and I. They are human beings with separate problems. If we try to understand what their problems are, we will be in a better position to help solve their problems.

“We cannot have full health system, if we do not address the issue of mental health.

“A lot people tend to forget that mental health disorder is just an illness. Many people are suffering from mental health disorder. Mental health issues are not only those ones we see on the street. Majority of the problem you and I have are mental-related.

“Anxiety is part of it, fear is another common one; depression is also a very common one.

So, they are all mental healthrelated. If you want to be fully

healthy, you will have to address these problems.”

The commissioner called on the residents to show emotional and practical support for people living with schizophrenia, a long term disorder of the brain which affects how a person thinks, feels and acts.

According to him, schizophrenia is a relatively common illness in society today.

He urged relatives of people suffering from mental ailment to seek medical attention for their loved ones from specialists.

Also speaking, a Psychiatry Consultant, Abiodun Adewuya, also agreed that 10 per cent of Lagos residents have been mental health challenges.

Adewuya, an Associate Professor at the Lagos State Uni-

Fake Egyptian varsity’s agent jailed

versity College of Medicine (LASUCOM), said the government had developed a model to address mental health problems in all its Primary Health Centres located in 15 places across the state.

The consultant said about 250 healthcare workers were trained on how to care for the victims of mental problems.

He said: “Scientific research always shows that between 10 to 20 per cent population suffer mental illness. So, if we think Lagos population is 25 million, then 2.5 million residents may be suffering from mental health issues.

“But if we do not believe the population is up to that, then we cannot say 2.5 million residents are suffering from mental health disorder.”

Nigerian, Abdul Auwal Yahaya, who pretended to be an agent of Future University, Cairo, Egypt, has been sentenced to nine and a half years’ imprisonment for defrauding prospective applicants.

Justice Dije Abdu Aboki of Kano State High Court on October 10 convicted and sentenced Yahaya without option of fine on a six-count charge bordering on conspiracy, obtaining money by false pretence and forgery.

The Head, Media and Publicity of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Wilson Uwujaren, said the convict would serve seven years’ imprisonment on count two while in respect of counts one, three, four, five and six, he would serve six months each.

Uwujaren added that the convict was also ordered to pay the sum of N2,027,000 in restitution to the complainant.

Man defiles boy, 13 Babatope Okeowo Akure

P

olice in Ondo State yesterday arrested a 35-year-old man identified as Ilesanmi Omojuyigbe for defiling a young boy.

The suspect was said to have forcibly had carnal knowledge of a 13-year-old boy, Babatunde Adebayo, in Iju are of Akure North Local Government.

Briefing journalists on the activities of the command, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr Wole Ogodo, explained that the boy, who lives at 24 College Road, Iju, reported the case at a police station in the town.

According to the boy, the suspect lured him to his room under the pretext that he wanted to buy frozen fish from him.

Ogodo added that the suspect on interrogation confessed to the crime.

He, however, said Omojuyigbe would soon be charged to court.

Similarly, Ogodo said four persons had been arrested for their involvement in cult activities at Okitipupa in Okitipupa Local Government.

12

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014

Stewardship

Matter of principle

Parliament

Enugu 2015

13

Fayemi: My fears for Ekiti

Obasanjo: Drug baron can’t be my zonal PDP leader

Reps’ report in the limbo

Enugu: Between Ugwuanyi’s endorsement and PDP’s directive

14, 15

16

17

40

Politics There is an interesting drama in the Ondo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with the defection of Governor Olusegun Mimiko to the party. BABATOPE OKEOWO reports

Mimiko’s demand, PDP’s resistance It is no longer news that Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State has defected from Labour Party (LP) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), but the consequences of the action may either make or mar the political future of the governor and the ruling party.

Already, the old members of the PDP are up in arms against the governor while the rival All Progressives Congress (APC) is waiting in the wings to cash in on the in-fighting between the new and old members of the self-styled biggest party in Africa. For now, political activities are at a low ebb as politicians are waiting for the actions of the governor and members of the LP who are coming to the PDP. Undoubtedly, the coming of Mimiko to the PDP is an advantage as he has come with all members of the House of Assembly, members of the National Assembly and State Executive Council. With Mimiko’s LP which had come first in all elections held so far in the state fusing with the PDP which was the second, overrunning the opposition APC which usually comes a distant third would be an easy ride. But the integration of old

AYODELE OJO

DEPUTY EDITOR, PoLITICS ayodele.ojo@newtelegraphonline.com

© Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited

Mimiko’s entry ruffles PDP’s feathers

Mimiko

and new members of the party is threatening this advantage.

The major grouse of the old members of the PDP is the demand of the governor to produce the chairman, secretary and youth leader while the other positions including treasurer and women leader would be ceded to the old members. In the PDP’s constitution, the positions are the principal officers while others are just members of the State Working Committee (SWC). The other positions in the SWC are to be shared on 50-50 basis.

Mimiko, in making the demand, was quoted to have said since chairmanship and secretary are critical members of the SWC; it would be in the interest of the government to have the two officers on his side. A situation where the two officers come from different camps would not be in the interest of the government as they would be protecting the

Ibrahim

ideas of their camps instead of that of government. Also, there would also be crisis within the party as the two officers would be working at cross purposes if they did not come from the same camp. For instance, if a letter were to be written by the party, the chairman may not be able to direct its secretary because they come from different political camps.

In order to prevent any crisis within the government and the party, the governor was said to have insisted in producing the principal officers of the party even if they are members of the old PDP. This, it was learnt, did not mean he has candidates for the positions, but to guarantee their loyalty to him and the government.

PDP kicks But the old members are resisting the move, saying in as much as they welcome the governor and other members

of LP into the party; they would however not surrender the party structure to the new members. In a statement by the state Director of Publicity, Ayo Fadaka, the PDP said the national leadership of the party did not carry them along in the negotiation with the governor, and that the defection might be an albatross instead of the advantage it was meant to be.

Lamenting the way they were treated by the national leadership of the party in the negotiation that brought Mimiko into the party, Fadaka said: “We want to bring to the fore our total discomfort and displeasure to the manner the governor’s, carpet crossing was managed by selected leaders of the party at the national level who midwifed the process and did so with a lot of disrespect to the state chairman and members of the SWC. “We believe that this action is calculated to treat the entire

members of this party as inconsequential and of little or no consequence in the fortunes of our own party. Therefore, we declare that this is grossly unfair and so reject outrightly all negotiations purportedly entered into on our behalf without our direct input and blessings. We state in the most unequivocal manner that we repose absolute confidence in the executives of the party at every level in the state, and will take serious exceptions to any action taken directly or indirectly to harm or dismantle them.

“We also state that we welcome Mimiko and his followers to the party in their individual capacities, we also respect the constitution of the PDP, particularly the recognition that it confers on any governor who is a member, however we remain mindful of the fact that CONTINUED ON PAGE 42

14

Politics

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

Since democratisation itself is a journey and not a destination, there must have been valleys, hills and undulating lines that I encountered. Indeed, I encountered several of such. I know I would still have time to properly reflect a lot more deeply about my experience in government

Fayemi

Fayemi: My fears for Ekiti lSays I’ve no regrets governing state Tomorrow, Governor Kayode Fayemi will bow out of the Ekiti Government House after four years in the saddle. For him, the experience has been a mixed bag. Fayemi, says he has no regrets for his actions in the course of service.

In this interview, he speaks on his experience, his plan after leaving office, the vice presidential gambit, relationship with the governor-elect and his fears. AYODELE OJO reports In the twilight of your administration, several personalities have come to Ekiti State to inaugurate your projects. Why now?

I did not keep anything till the end deliberately or inadvertently. It is just a co-incidence that you are seeing the galaxy of stars in Ekiti at this particular period. If you recall, we have done this since our first anniversary in office in the last three years. Every October, we inaugurate series of projects and people come here. We have had both local and international personalities visit to inaugurate one project or the other. This year is no exception. It just so happens

that for this fourth anniversary, we are inaugurating a lot more projects.

We have projects we refer to as legacy projects, one of which is the Ayoba Villa – The Government House. For us, it has been a legacy of service and sacrifice to our people and that whichever way you want to look at it, this was not the Ekiti we met. The Ekiti we met was in a far worse shape from what it is today.

We didn’t have the kind of facilities we have now. Not just on government’s side.

What is often not mentioned is that there is a considerable growth in the private sector activities that we didn’t have then.

As for the distinguished personalities that have honoured us with their presence in Ekiti during this fourth anniversary, it has to do with an identification with a legacy of service to the people of Ekiti State. To many of them, it remains a mystery that we were able to accomplish all these things with the relatively limited resources we have in this state.

The Ekiti you met was a state in crisis, but you were able to ensure peaceful atmosphere until recently. How do you feel that crisis has now surfaced in the state?

I have always said it that in our political clime that if you have a leadership that abhors violence, promote peace, the leadership will do everything within its powers to keep the temperature down in the state but once you create the conditions for irresponsible behaviours, human beings, being what we are will take a cue from the leader. We tried to avoid this and that’s why the recent World Bank report on Ease of Doing Business in Nigeria ranks Ekiti very highly. Many people even expected that bloodshed would have descended on Ekiti by June 22 and I went out of my

way to consciously push the line that sought peace. That whatever issue we might have had with the electoral process, we insisted that this was the way to go: I pulled in the governor-elect, supported him, advised him and kept him in the loop of what was going on. We have managed to create a climate that would allow transition to proceed without any hitch. It could have been otherwise.

In fact, people were surprised that we took the line we took, but we felt the peace of Ekiti is more important than the personal interest of any politician.

But frankly, some people are not surprised that things are already moving in the direction that they predicted as far as the character of the person coming into the office is concerned. We all must find a way of supporting the incoming government to embrace peace.

All that we can do is to continue to find a way to appeal to reason and sense to ensure that the people themselves would demonstrate their resentment to violent tendencies.

Four years in the saddle, what lessons have you learnt?

Politics

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014

You know it is attractive for one to say I learnt a lot of lessons or that I have no regrets. But the truth of the matter is that I’m a student of Gandhian philosophy and one of the most interesting things Gandhi once said was that “freedom is something to be cherished but that must also include freedom to make mistakes. Any freedom that does not include the freedom to make mistakes would not work out.” So, I’m sure in the last four years – since democratisation itself is a journey and not a destination, there must have been valleys, hills and undulating lines that I encountered. Indeed, I encountered several of such. I know I would still have time to properly reflect a lot more deeply about my experience in government, particularly as an activist who made a transition into partisan politics. Somebody once asked me what is the difference? And I said for me really it is a false dichotomy because the things I fought for as an activist were the things that drove what I did as governor. The only thing is that activists being what we are, there is always the tendency to be more romantic about possibilities and about how things should run but then when you get into government it is a different story. Yes, it is a different story but if you are single minded you can still do what you want to do and I want to believe that many of the things I did were driven by the courage of my conviction and my commitment to a life more abundant for our people.

Let us go into the communities and ask what the people want rather than

staying in the comfort of the Governor’s Office to write the state budget. Again, the Freedom of Information Act was something I was involved in from my days as Director, Centre for Democracy and Development, and working with organisations such as the Media Rights Agenda and Civil Liberty Organisation (CLO), we have been campaigning to have the FOI in the country so it wasn’t a surprise that I came into Ekiti and we were the first state to have FOI Act. All the work we did around Gender based Violence Prohibition law, also stemmed from my work as a member of the Board of Baobab for Women’s Human Rights and my wife’s extensive work on gender equality and women empowerment. So, many of the things I did as an activist were the things I did in office. Some of the things were not necessarily the most easily understood or even popular but then others like the Social Security Benefit Scheme for the elderly also came from my community organising experience in the United Kingdom.

So, you could say it is a mistake on my part that I forged ahead nevertheless with my education reforms for example, particularly issues around improving teachers quality but in my view a politician is nothing if he doesn’t possess the courage of his conviction. But I know that the average politician is trained to believe that anything that is unpopular with the masses and the grassroots, even when it is the correct things to do and in the ultimate best interest of the people, you must avoid like a plague. But I pursued the promises I made to Ekiti people because for me, doing what is right is better than doing what is popular or attractive. And that is a lesson that I have no regret believing in. But there were also things that upon reflection created an exaggerated expectation on the part of the people, because when I was pursuing my court case and people have gotten used to many of the things we said we were going to do in office, even though we did them, we didn’t do them in the manner that the opportunistic politicians will do.

Let me give you an example; people, especially the media, have grown fond of the epithet ‘stomach infrastructure.’

This government, and I stand to be challenged, did more of what has become known as stomach infrastructure than any government Ekiti has ever had but we did not do it in the manner others do now. We did not go on the streets and start sharing money. We have no culture of ‘share the money’ but we shared the money on an institutional basis because everybody who got the N5,000 in our social security scheme was getting stomach infrastructure. Every young volunteer who was in our youth empowerment scheme earning N10, 000 a month for doing environmental work or traffic management to paramedics benefitted from stomach infrastructure. The teachers who earn rural allowance or core subject allowance apart from their salaries benefitted from our stomach infrastructure. The artisans too and I can go on and on. So, it depends on your interpretation of these things and your ideological orientation. And like I have often said, as a social democrat, I’m unapologetic about pulling up the weak and the vulnerable in the society. But I’m not going to do it by destroying the values that I grew up with as an Ekiti person. It is those values that have been corrupted by others and are being celebrated as stomach infrastructure on the street.

So, you are averse to this stomach infrastructure thing?

I grew up in this place. I went to a school down the road here and I know that I could not for the life of me recall

seeing some of the things I see on the streets around today. But then that is the dynamism of society. It happens in other places too but as a leader and a politician I owe a duty to the courage of my conviction. And I will say it a thousand and one times, I will never be part of the game of ‘share the money’ in politics. Whether it produces the kind of result the people want or not, they should count me out on that because I’m in politics to make a fundamental difference, not a tokenistic difference, because it is easy to make a tokenistic difference. Ekiti gets averagely N3 billion every month. And if I take N500, 000 out of it and share the money to Okada riders, they’d say “the governor is a free giver”. Then I pocket N1 billion and the hapless urchins on the street are celebrating every time I drive past with dispatch riders, sirens and all the superficial attachments that big people have around them in this country.

For me, I preferred to do politics in a different way. Hundred years along the line, my name would not disappear in this state. You will come to this building and no governor in this state would claim credit for what stands here, Ikogosi and other parts of the state. I have always said that it is easy to forget someone who gave you N500. I’m a student of the Awo School; I cannot recall any time growing up, in all my admiration of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, hearing that he was sitting by the road side eating ‘boli’ (plantain) with some people in order to demonstrate how grassroots he was and I never saw him ride on Okada because he wanted to prove that he was a grassroots person.

You will rather see him in his stretched Mercedes Benz 250 at that time and yet what happened to the same Awolowo for taking tough stand that he believed in? In 1954, he lost an election! Because he said come and pay one pound tax for education. The thing he is most remembered for today is the free education that he was deprecated for at that time. So for me, history teaches a whole range of lessons, it depends on what we want to learn and what we want to jettison but service itself remains the highest form of duty that one can offer one’s society.

So, the lessons are a mixed bag but wait for the book. I will write a book about my experience.

After you lost your re-election bid on June 21, you extended hand of fellowship to the Governor-elect, Mr. Ayodele Fayose. With that, Nigerians were expected a smooth transition. But at what point did things fall apart?

What happened to the same Awolowo for taking tough stand that he believed in?

In 1954, he lost an election!

Because he said come and pay one pound tax for education. The thing he is most remembered for today is the free education that he was deprecated for at that time

15

One thing I always say to you is that I’m not given to playing to the gallery. I’ll not denigrate this office. As an occupant of the office, I hold it in high esteem.

That is why I sought the position and I also hold in high esteem anyone who has either held the office or is coming into the office. And I’m not going to get into personality issues. Suffice it to say though, that the record speaks for itself.

There is no place you will find me or my Chief Press Secretary cast aspersion in the last three months on the Governorelect. Instead, what you will see are people who cast aspersions on me from his camp and then withdraw their aspersions.

For me, there is even nothing wrong in pushing the frontiers of debates but push it on the basis of facts. The steps I took which many saw as unusual, I didn’t see as unusual. I’ve given you the context. I knew the machination behind what transpired in Ekiti and I knew the next phase they were about to move into.

I chose to rescue our people from that because I felt it would be double jeopardy.

And there is no apology for doing that.

This was why I then called the governorelect; listen, I think it would help Ekiti – since you said you have changed to behave more maturely. To approach this in an institutional manner, put your team together, send me a list of people that you want in your transition committee.

Let your team meet with my team and work through a process. If there is anything that is confusing or unclear, please feel free to ask me questions. You have to have the patience of Job if you are conducting yourself in that manner with a brother and a successor-in-waiting and you start reading statements contrary to what decorum dictates.

I’m not someone who will say don’t ask questions. As a matter of fact, I do not expect you to come into any government and not review the activities of the past government. It’ll be irresponsible of you not to review what transpired, how did it transpire, what the gaps that you need information on and if there isn’t we move on. But if you choose not to do that, if you choose to play in the arena of public media because you are either soliciting sympathy in one form or another and creating the impression that what you are coming into is a failed state so to speak; then even if I don’t want to do it as a person, the institutions of government will not have a choice than to respond to you. And this is what has transpired here.

So, if you take that away from it there is no breakdown in our relationship. It’ll interest you to know that up to two days ago I was still signing up some papers for the government coming in. And as you all now know, there is a regular support that has gone to the governor-elect since he won the election. There is no big deal in that. It did not happen in other transitions but I cannot claim to be civilized and exposed as much as I’m and not also borrow a leaf from other places.

If you have a person win an election in America today, automatically certain structured support base comes into effect. It is unofficial here. It is not even something that can be defended because I’ve no budget line for it. So if I choose to do that out of the contingency funds of the government, it is not because I’m afraid of anybody and it is not because I owe anybody that but for me, I wanted the transition to be smooth, however, if someone coming into office prefers brickbat to reason, then clearly we will also have to respond to that.

The 2015 general election is around the corner. How prepared is the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the polls moreso that the Peoples democratic party (PDP) is CONTINUED ON PAGE 48

16 Politics

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo insists that he is still a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In this statement issued to the press, he, however, states that as a principled man, he won’t allow a man indicted for drug baron in the United States to be his zonal leader

Obasanjo: Drug baron can’t be my zonal PDP leader As a former President of Nigeria... I cannot accept that the zonal leader of my political party and, worse still in my zone, will be an indicted drug baron wanted in America. How do I explain that to friends outside Nigeria?

D

uring last week when I was in South Africa as the Chairman of AU Commission of Inquiry on South Sudan and while with my fellow commissioners, we were deliberating on how to help that new country out of its problem of security and violence, I received avalanche of news and cacophony of appeals and pleadings from some quarters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leadership.

There are misunderstandings and misrepresentations which some of those appeals and pleas manifested; hence this explanation from me. Talking of inviting me back to PDP is wrong and it is a great misrepresentation as I have never left PDP and I will never leave PDP. I have said it before and I will say it again, I rose to become the President of Nigeria on the platform of PDP and for that reason alone, I will remain a card-carrying and ward-active member of PDP for as long as I have to be a political party member.

Secondly, nobody has personally offended me as a result of my membership of PDP. If, however, anybody or group feels offended by my continued membership,

Obasanjo

I will offer an unreserved apology but continue to remain in the Party. I have had occasions to say to the President, the Senate President and the party chairman separately that I have no quarrel with any individual or group in the party. There are, for me, issues of principle, morality, honour , integrity, commitment and character which are paramount.

For instance, as a former President of Nigeria, the Chairman of West Af-

rica Commission on Drug and a member of Global Commission on Drug, I cannot accept that the zonal leader of my political party and, worse still in my zone, will be an indicted drug baron wanted in America. How do I explain that to friends outside Nigeria? This is only one of the many issues that I have pointed and still pointing out.

I have national and international standard to maintain and reputation to

keep and sustain. For these reasons, I opted to remain active only at the ward level of the party till the leadership does the needful.

But under no condition will my commitment to Nigeria be diminished. And, for me, it is commitment to Nigeria first and any other commitment can only follow in second or third place. Where any other commitment is in tandem with what I see and understand as commitment to Nigeria, such other commitment will share a pride of place with Nigeria.

I must hasten to thank the President, the Senate President and the Chairman of PDP with whom, at their instances, these issues have been discussed and laid to rest. My interest and commitment to Nigeria go beyond partisan politics.

Today, Nigeria needs all hands on deck to deal with our pressing problems of security including the issue of Chibok girls, widening inequality, infrastructure, impunity, corruption, poverty and youth education, skillacquisition, empowerment and employment. These are issues of concern to most Nigerians. We all need to join hands to move Nigeria forward. I don’t need to be begged for that.

Rather, I beg and appeal to those who are begging me to realise that we must put Nigeria’s interest above politics – party or personal – otherwise, we will all be judged at the bar of history if not the bar of current affairs. In addition, we must preserve, sustain and deepen democracy and democratic practices.

New lease of life for office of the Auditor General of supranational institutions such as ECOWAS, AU, WHO, to the extent of Nigeria’s contribution to such bodies; carrying out audit of all government subsidies as well as their applications and carrying out audit of all government counterpart funded projects in the country.

The creation of Audit Service Commission as advocated by the bill, according to the sponsor, will ensure that the AGF no longer has cause to go the Federal Civil Service Commission for employment or appraisals of his staff.

Philip Nyiam

T

he bill of the week is entitled: “A Bill for an act to repeal the Audit act of 1956, enact the Audit Act of 2014 in order to grant more powers to the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation, establish the Audit Services Commission; and for other matters related thereto.”

The bill is sponsored by Hon. (Mrs) Uche Ekwunife, representing Anaocha/Njikoka/Dunukofia federal constituency of Anambra State. It has already been passed for second reading.

Ekwunife

as South Africa and Ghana have through acts of the parliaments detached the office of the Auditor General from the mainstream civil service in line with the requirements of the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAL) and the African Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions of English Speaking Countries (AFROSAI-E) of which Nigeria is also a member. According to her, Nigeria

is one of the few countries in Africa where the Auditor General still goes cap in hand to the Civil Service Commission for recruitment, promotion and discipline of his staff. The lawmaker observed that this “practice impairs the independence of the Auditor General.”

The bill provides in Section 1(3) that the Auditor General shall have two deputies; while Sections 2 and 3 provides a well-defined qualification/eli-

BILL OF

WEEK

THE

The Bill It is shocking to know that the Office of the Auditor General currently operates in line with an Act of 1956. This is certainly a 21st century abnormally that needs to be corrected.

Therefore, this bill, according to the sponsor, seeks to correct this anomaly and reposition the Office of the Auditor General to enable it discharge its constitutional roles in line with international best practices.

“It will also subject the Office of Auditor General to submit itself to independent audit of its finances as practiced in other jurisdictions,” Ekwunife said.

Ekwunife had while giving details of the bill noted that other African countries such

gibility for appointment as AGF, which is expected to be competitive and transparent.

Section 9 of the bill proposes additional duties for the AGF to include: carrying out forensic audit, carrying out any other emerging audit like performance information audit, disaster related aid audit; carrying out audit

The sponsor Mrs Ekwunife represents Anaocha/Njikoka/Dunukofia federal constituency of Anambra State. She is currently the chairman of the House Committee on Environment and is a member of the committees on Defence, Electoral Matters and Public Accounts. The rest are Public Procurements, Special Duties and Women in Parliament. Ekwunife was first elected to the House in 2007 and re-elected in 2011.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in Accountancy and an MBA. Before delving into politics, she worked with the then Standard Trust Bank (STB) and rose to the position of an area manager. She is a recipient of several awards including an honorary degree in philosophy from the Califormis University.

Politics 17

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014

About a month ago, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, gave a 21-day ultimatum to all committees with pending reports to lay them on the floor of the House. PHILIP NYAM examines some of the defaulting committees The marching order When the House of Representatives resumed plenary on September 16 after a two-month recess, Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal charged all committees that were given assignments to tender their reports within 21 days. The 21 day period elapsed on September 30, the day the House once more adjourned for the 54th Independence and the Eid-el-Kabir celebrations, respectively.

Before the recess, some of the committees had responded, while others were yet to turn in their reports.

Tambuwal had while charging the committees to endeavour to complete their assignment said: “I also note with satisfaction that some committees to which certain critical bills were referred used the period of the recess to expedite action on those referrals.

I hope that those reports will be laid early to facilitate the early passage of these bills. Given the limited time at our disposal against our resolve to conclude work on bills, whose passage time is of the essence, all committees working on such bills are hereby mandated to ensure that their reports are laid within 21 days.”

Reports submitted Some of the reports submitted so far include, the report of the House Committee on Banking and Currency on the urgent need to halt the recent increase in capital base for Bureau De Change operators by 250 per cent; report of the Committee on Legislative Budget and Research on mapping of capital projects in the 2014 Federal Government budgets; report of the Committee on Electoral Matters on a bill for an act to further amend the Electoral Act, No. 6, 2010 to ensure a level playing field for all participants in the electoral process and for more transparent process of conducting elections in Nigeria and for other matters connected therewith; report of the Committee on Electoral Matters on alleged haphazard distribution of permanent voters’ cards by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the imminent disenfranchisement of eligible voters in some states of the federation and report on an act to provide a framework for the regulation, development and management of a national health system and set standards for rendering health services in the federation and for other matters connected therewith.

Apart from these reports, the Public Petitions Committee headed by Hon. Uzo Azubuike submitted several reports on various petitions from individuals to the House. But as many reports that have been submitted by some of these committees, many important issues on which the committees sat or investigated are still hanging.

The PIB The Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) is one of the most crucial bills which fate still hangs in the balance. It is indeed the oldest bill in the National Assembly. Its history is synonymous with the current democratic dispensation. At the beginning of the Seventh House, the PIB came up again and the leadership not oblivious of the controversy it generated decided to set up a 26-member ad hoc committee to conduct public hearings, collate varied views on the proposed legislation and make appropriate recommendations to the House.

Although, the committee headed by the Chief Whip, Hon. Ishaku Mohammed Bawa

Tambuwal

Lawan

Reps’ reports in the limbo (PDP, Taraba) was inaugurated in 2012, the zonal public hearings across the six geopolitical zones were held in April 2013. The zonal public hearings, which held on April 22 and 23, 2013 in the various zones had Ilorin hosting the North-Central public hearing, and Kaduna the North-West, while Gombe hosted the North- East. Lagos was the host of the South-West while Port Harcourt hosted the South-South and Enugu played host for the South-East. The final public hearing took place in Abuja shortly after the zonal hearings. Till today, the report of the ad hoc committee is being expected.

The Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) is one of the most crucial bills which fate still hangs in the balance. It is indeed the oldest bill in the National Assembly

Okonjo-Iweala’s 50 questions In December last year, the House Committee on Finance led by Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin (APC, Kano) posed 50 questions on the state of the economy for the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Although, the minister had addressed the questions early this year, the committee however returned an unsatisfactory verdict on her response and rather reinforced the questions.

In a letter addressed to the minister entitled “Re: state of the economy: observations, request for additional information and invitation to investigative hearing,” the committee said after a detailed analysis of the response provided by the minister, it was discovered that some questions were ignored, misunderstood, partially answered or not answered at all. In all, the lawmakers said 39 of the 50 questions were not answered satisfactorily.

A request for additional answers to 39 questions was forwarded to the minister to be replied not later than February 20, along with an invitation to appear before the committee for a public hearing scheduled to hold from March 3 to 6. Before the House proceeded on the Easter break, the minister had not made a second attempt at answering the questions. But that was last heard about the investigation on the state of the nation’s economy. This report is being awaited for submission.

Probe of Service Wide Votes Another critical assignment before the House Public Accounts Committee is the ongoing investigation of the expenditure from the Service Wide Votes between 2010 and 2013. This investigation has been going on since late 2013 and sordid revelations have so far been made. The committee is yet to wind down on this and it may continue until the House adjourns for the long vaca-

tion. Besides these, the House is currently investigating several other areas in different Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

There are also some important bills at various stages of consideration that may have to be dispensed with. It would need to round off such probes before end of session.

All of this would have to be completed in less than two months. How far the House would go on this, only the quality of commitment from members can decipher.

Probe of Madaki The investigation of Hon. Aliyu Madaki over allegations of $50,000 bribery to stop the motion for the investigation of $9.3 million arms deal seized in South Africa. Madaki had alleged that PDP members in the House received $20,000 each to vote against the motion brought by Deputy Minority Leader, Hon. Abdulrahman Suleiman Kawu, calling for the investigation. The Committee on Ethics and Privileges, which was given two weeks to complete its work on the matter has not even commenced sitting neither has it invited Madaki to appear before it. Whether this investigation would hold at all is left to be seen.

Related to this is the report of the investigation of former chairman of the House Committee on Education, Hon. Farouk Lawan, by the ethics and privileges committee.

Lawan, who was relieved of his chairmanship following allegations of $620,000 bribery by businessman, Femi Otedola during the petroleum subsidy probe was investigated by the committee on the recommendation of the House.

But since the conclusion of the investigation, no report has been submitted to the House.

The ethics and privileges committee is also yet to submit report on its investigation of chairman of the House Committee on Capital Market and other financial institutions, Hon. Herman Hembe. Hembe was accused of demanding N44 million bribe by the DirectorGeneral of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ms. Arunma Oteh.

In his case, the minority whip, Hon. Samson Osagie was mandated to head a special ad hoc committee on ethics and privileges to investigate him. Almost two years after, the report has not seen the light of the day.

As the House reconvenes, once again, all eyes are on these committees to see if they will comply with the speaker’s directive and turn in their reports for the House to deliberate on them.

MORE STORIES ON page 40-43, 48

18

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

Opinion

$9.3m scandal: Is Pastor Ayo at fault?

Mike Arayuwa Wilkie

P

astor Ayo Oritsejafor, General Overseer and Superintendent of the Word of Life Bible Church, erstwhile National Chairman of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) and the incumbent President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) is obviously a high profile clergy man in Christendom, in both local and international contexts.

His Church, by any standard, is one of the biggest and richest in West Africa and the sub-Saharan Africa as a whole. Its global headquarters is based in Ajamimogha, Warri, Delta State.

When the missionary activities of the highly revered pastor extended to the international scène, it became imperative that the wealthy members of the church should contribute to encourage him and act as a catalyst in the spread of the Christian faith. Hence, the need to negotiate a lease to the Eagle Air of a private Bombardier Challenger 600 jet, which was further leased to the Green Coast Produce Limited. It could, therefore, be seen at a glance, that the jet served to assist Pastor Oritsejafor to expedite action on his missionary activities and for commercial purposes. It is relevant to add that the Eagle Air is certainly part of the business interest of the Word of Life Bible Church.

From the aforementioned, the Eagle Air is a legal entity known to law and it cannot operate a business venture without paying the required tax to government as and when due. It is also crystal clear that the Eagle Air further leased the said jet to the Green Coast Produce Limited for effective management and commercialization to enhance maximum profit. Nigeria is not a socialist or communist state but strictly capitalist. The church

cannot be isolated from this capitalism, which equally operates within the ambit of a capitalist structure such as Nigeria and the rest of the capitalist states in most parts of the world.

Eagle Air and Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor ought to be seen as totally different from each other. Eagle Air as a body corporate is distinct from the person and office of Pastor Oritsejafor who is the General Overseer of the Word of Life Bible Church. The two cannot be substituted for each other. The picture has become clearer that the two Nigerian and one Israeli arms contractors chartered the Bombardier Challenger 600 from the Green Coast Produce Limited for a South African trip. The Eagle Air and Pastor Oritsejafor are definitely not in a position to have any idea about how the company operates the aircraft, let alone the customers who chartered or hired it. They were equally not in the know that the jet would be used to ferry a whopping sum of $9.3 million to South Africa.

The management of the Green Coast Produce Limited cannot also be said to have an idea that the aircraft would be used to transport such heavy sum of money.

However, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor in a press briefing admitted that the jet is the property of Eagle Air while the federal government stated clearly, without any iota of contradiction, that the $9.3 million belongs to it. Government further stated that the money was for the purchase of arms and ammunition for the military to fight the Boko Haram insurgents in the North East of Nigeria.

These explanations were enough to have allowed the issue put to a final rest but for the All Progressive Congress (APC) whose aging National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, would rather prefer to politicize it. The man raised some 16 irrelevant questions about the movement of the said money. It is certain that those who suffer from the poverty of confrontation and diarrhea of the

mouth including a few crass opportunistic writers have consistently tried to drag the name of Pastor Oritsejafor into the issue at stake. Even some misguided misfits in Christendom have taken it upon themselves to castigate and rubbish him even when he is not guilty of what transpired. The man of God has actually been ridiculed and maligned with all sorts of unprintable words aimed at ensuring that he is roped in and nailed on this matter.

The National Assembly members have also shown some concerns. For instance, the Senate has already mandated its committee to look into the matter while the House of Representatives have ruled-out the possibility of investigating same. The APC, who lawmakers participated in the proceedings on the floor of the House should have waited for the completion of the process on whether the House should investigate it or not before staging a walkout, in protest against the decision of the members. The APC led by a victim of height deficiency, Samson Osagie from Edo State, in a press conference gave some unacceptable reasons why they staged the walkout.

But, why did they participate in the process, fully, before storming out? This is a question for the APC. It is strange that the barbaric activities of Boko Haram could be condoned by some Nigerians and the APC, which is why they wouldn’t support the federal government buying arms and ammunitions with which to fight and defeat the murderous outfit. The federal government, which tried to do so on the basis of emergency is being scandalized and called names. Whatever approach being adapted by government in this regard should not constitute a problem to anybody. What matters should be the ability of the military to embark on a conquest mission against the Boko Haram and conquer it.

• Prince Wilkie can be reached at pmikky1950@yahoo.com (08023097251)

Nuclear, fossil & renewable energy sources: Matters arising (3) Victor Amorha Continued from yesterday

T

he first nuclear reactor in the world was commissioned in 1949, and that was at the end of World War II when the US government was responding to requests that nuclear technology should be developed for industrial use, as a way of recouping the enormous resources committed to the development of nuclear weapon which was clandestinely embarked on by US government during World War II. Through the 60s and 70s there was high development of nuclear plants in the US until there was the Three Mile Island accident in 1979, which was a partial nuclear melt- down in one of the reactors, that was occasioned by human factor described as “human-computer design oversight”.

That accident crystallized anti-nuclear safety concerns among activists and general public, thereby resulting in new safety regulations for the nuclear industry and the ultimate decline in new reactor construction program in US since the 1970’s. More than 100 orders for various sizes of nuclear plants in various stages of development were cancelled, that ultimately bankrupted many companies.

In the US, nuclear power currently produces 790 TWH or 19.4% of USA’s total power generation, yet there has not been any ground-breaking on new nuclear plants since 1974. For more than thirty years, and it was only in 2012 that the US government’s Nuclear Regulatory commission (NRC) approved the construction of new nuclear reactors at existing Vogtle Nuclear plant in Georgia, Atlanta. Despite the high energy demand in US, the American congress and the citizens have tried to stop the new plants because of the hazards. And this is despite the technological capabilities of US.

Discard Nuclear Plant Idea for LFTZ and Anywhere in Nigeria for Now After the Fukushima power plant disaster, the UN Secretary General Ban Kin Moon stated that UN in consultation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), will develop new stress tests that have to be passed by all countries embarking on nuclear plant construction, before such plant is commissioned. Stress tests imply we must have the knowledge and technology to meet the strict safety standards and we should also avoid the risk of running foul by getting retired nuclear plants from other countries slipping through our borders to be dumped in our environment.

In capturing the incidence scenario and risk analysis, a collapse of nuclear plant in Lekki Free Trade Zone for example, may imply complete evacuation of about 20% of Lagos State and parts of Ogun State. A proper incorporation of risk assessment in the design of such a plant will include environmental impact assessment and emergency response in event of a nuclear disaster, which implies how and where the affected population will be relocated within twenty minutes of a nuclear incidence!

Renewable Energy as Immediate Second Option Renewable energy which is sourced from wind, solar and hydro is the cleanest source of power, but the constraint so far is that except for hydro, the technology is costlier and still being developed for solar and wind. The potential for hydro is very high and in fact Nigeria currently generates up to 1,230MW (out of total paltry capacity of 4,500MW) from hydro power systems in Nigeria. Energy generated from solar and wind sources come mostly in small modules which can be developed for captive sections of the society for mainly domestic and light commercial use in homes and rural communities. Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel announced in 2011 that their seventeen nuclear power stations which then accounted for 17.7% of national electricity supply will be shut down by 2022. Besides being safer source providing 17% energy needs of Germany in 2011, the renewable energy industry employed about 370,000 people. The German government plans to generate renewable energy supplying 35% by 2020 and 100% by 2050 using hydro, solar and wind sources only.

However there is need to set standards and

generate monitoring mechanisms for the solar and wind power equipment being imported into Nigeria because experience has shown that many substandard, untested and inefficient products are dumped in the country, to further worsen our resource drain. For example about four years ago tens of millions of US Dollars was expended by the Federal Government for street lighting contracts in various local governments in Nigeria, but within six months, 90% of these street lights were mere relics of poles and decorative solar panels that were not functional.

Presently virtually all of the street lighting poles are scraps. This is a typical example of wrong application of renewable energy in solving the power supply problem in Nigeria.

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission should cautiously work with the Nigerian Standards Organisation (NSO) to ensure that the renewable energy equipment brought into the country attain minimum performance standards. The good thing is that technology has been developed and all we require are competent technocrats that have the capacity to conduct due diligence on the engineering of the various power equipments that are being installed in the system.

Conclusions and Recommendations In concluding this discuss, I have taken time to justify the need for our government to more effectively drive the development of power supply system in the country, and achieving this key objective has been identified as the real catalyst for the nation’s long-term technological development for employment and wealth creation. Useful references were presented of nations that have leapt beyond damning poverty to be industrial nations and world powers: new status engineered by increase in power generation capacity.

It is also important to note that the secret of successfully developing technologies is to transparently follow established and tested processes and procedures, screening off corruption, petty political interventions and cronyism. It is this kind of project implementation shortfall that put Nigeria’s power supply system in dismal state, which is synonymous reason for the failure of our oil refineries to cumulatively operate below 15% installed capacity, despite hundreds of millions of USD invested in turn around maintenance for each

of them at various times!

Experienced high quality and patriotic Nigerian professional engineers locally and abroad should be given open invitation through a transparent prequalification process in the power projects. Nations like Singapore and China that successfully transformed their development status relied on assembling tested professionals in Diaspora to work with compatriots at home in rebuilding the technological base in collaboration with their international technical partners. Also early recruitment of young engineers and technicians remain very critical step to getting sustainable power systems in terms of design, construction, operations and maintenance. Regrettably, actions so far barely scratch the problem and this trend should change without further delay.

I have tried therefore, to highlight the insidiously grave hazards associated with the various sources of energy, particularly nuclear and the need to avert the consequence. It is encouraging that many Nigerians are looking at the renewable energy option such as solar.

The regulatory arms that will monitor the development of power system in Nigeria should be fully empowered with knowledgeable technocrats that will play the critical role of setting standards and monitoring the performance of the various players in the sector for power generation through fossil fuels and renewable energy sources.

It is my humble submission that for now, nuclear power plant should take the very distant back seat in Nigeria’s choices of resolving the power supply challenges. John Borne & Hoffman, in their book “Governing the Atom: The Politics and Risk” wrote “One reason why nuclear power is seen differently to other technologies lies in its parentage and birth. Nuclear energy was conceived in secrecy, borne of war, and first revealed to the world in horror, any nuclear accident is horror. No matter how many proponents try to separate the peaceful atom, the connection is firmly embedded in the mind of the public”. I cannot say more.

Concluded • Engr Victor Amorha, Chartered Engineer & Management Consultant and MD SAVIC

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014

19

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Exodus of health workers

here are an estimated 10, 000 Nigerian medical doctors practicing in the United States.

This number includes those who migrated from Nigeria as practicing doctors and those who went to school, graduated and practice medicine in the United States as Nigerian-Americans. For a country with as high health personnel deficit as Nigeria (there is one doctor to 6,400 patients in Nigeria as against the WHO benchmark of one doctor to 600 patients), 10,000 of its doctors practicing in one foreign country alone is an atrocious number, indeed! And that number becomes even more frightening when it is considered that there are additional 5-6,000 Nigerian doctors estimated to be practicing in the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabi, UAE and other European and Middle East countries. In fact, as Dr. Julius Kpaduwa, a former President, Association of Nigerian Physicians in Americas, noted, most of the influential Nigerians who go to the US for medical treatment are actually treated by Nigerian doctors. When summed up, there would probably be more Nigerian doctors practicing outside its shores than are here—if recent media reports are anything to go by, there are, for instance, only 16,000 resident doctors in Nigeria, a country of 170million people. To meet the WHO benchmark, according to health experts, Nigeria needs

some 283,333 doctors!

This trend is very disturbing, to say the least. But, it also presents a paradox of sorts, which makes the whole situation even more worrisome: while one large pool of the nation’s qualified medical personnel is practicing outside the country, another large pool of qualified medical personnel within the country is jobless! The two are irreconcilable phenomena but that is the truth. These, to be sure, are very scary statistics, which call for urgent steps to be taken to address the trend and avoid a bleak future.

Kpaduwa, a former Chairman of the Board of Imo State University Teaching Hospital, who spent over 40 years in the US as a practicing physician, said if nothing was done urgently to address the influx of Nigerian doctors into the US and other foreign countries, the number might increase in geometric progression in no distant time and lead to a major crisis in the healthcare delivery system in the country.

What to do? The starting point is for government to invest massively in medical infrastructure so as to put in place modern facilities that constitute the principal reason young, talented medical doctors from the country emigrate to US and other countries to ply their trade, in the first place. The second is to pay doctors much better than they are at the moment and provide other incentives that would moti-

vate medical doctors to practice in rural areas.

The foregoing argument is underscored by the untoward situation in the northern part of the country. Even without Boko Haram, the healthcare delivery system in the north was anything but healthy.

Now, the situation has become more desperate. Thus, while the national doctor-patient ratio is far below the UN benchmark, the situation in the Northern part of the country is much worse. But, generally, there is a disproportionate concentration of medical personnel in urban areas to the detriment of remote areas, despite the huge disease burden such as malaria, tuberculosis, typhoid fever, among others, in rural communities.

This, indeed, is a sorry situation for a country that is confronted with serious healthcare challenges and where a huge proportion of the population lacks access to qualified health personnel and is, therefore, at the mercy of quacks who masquerade as trained health workers.

It is quite regrettable that despite the country’s resources, unemployment and migration have remained high for decades in the medical profession without a wellthought out government intervention strategy to stem the tide. This is unacceptable. There must be a way out of this quagmire. Governments must show a level of commitment to resuscitating the health

care system through systematic funding arrangement.

The problem is with the system.

For, if the pay is comparative, medical facilities and other supporting infrastructure are up-to-date equipment, all of which add up to conducive environment for professional practice, some of these migrating compatriots would prefer to stay back and contribute their quota to the development of their nation in their own field of specialization.

We urge the government and relevant agencies to evolve new strategies to deal with the situation.

One of such strategies, we insist, is to put in place a pragmatic funding system for the health sector.

Others include competitive salary structure for medical personnel; upgrading of medical facilities; establishment of high-class hospitals to accommodate highly-trained medical personnel and opportunities for young doctors to develop themselves.

Importantly too, the Ministry of Health and the various governments must work out plans to shore up the manpower shortage in the health sector through mopping up the unemployed among qualified medical personnel in the country.

Perhaps legislation is needed to correct this anomaly. It is either the process of employment is politicized or there is misplacement of priority or selfishness on the part of government officials.

Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief n Eric Osagie Deputy Managing Directors n Gabriel Akinadewo

Felix Oguejiofor Abugu

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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

Arts Endless search for peace, love, unity Title: Domestic Daddy Author: Adjekpagbon Blessed Mudiaga Publisher: Bulkybon Books Company, Lagos.

Pages: 230 Reviewer: Gift Amukoyo

D

omestic Daddy is a novel set in post-colonial Nigeria. It is written by a presidential award winning author, Adjekpagbon Blessed Mudiaga, with streams of flashback recounting tidbits of the wars that ravaged Nigeria, Africa, and the world in the past. The book reminds one of Chinua Achebe’s book, ‘There Was a country,’ perhaps Biafra that barely glowed in the rising sun, as there is no present existence without a past.

Bringing into limelight three representatives of the major ethnic groups in the country in the characters of Mr. Adolphus Ugochukwu, Alhaji Dauda and, Ilesanmi Adegoke, the trio symbolizes love, support, peace, and emotional comprehension that co-exist amidst unfiltered bitterness. The novel is very engaging from the beginning to end.

The author with his wealth of wits and bank of mirth plunges one into fits of laughter.

The author has a way of serving his readers with comics through many hilarious incidents and characters such as Mrs. Ogheneochuko, Ekaiete alias ‘I-Know-Everybody’s history-In-Nigeria,’ Mrs. Rabbit-MustNot-Escape, Okonoko Darlington, the ‘gagaperen rider’, owner of an ‘ancient bicycle’ and his exclusive escapades as a student of Otovwodo Grammar School. Another noteworthy character is Udu-boy, a sarcastic comedian, whose slaying tongue can mostly

TONY OKUYEME tony.okuyeme@ newtelegraphonline.com

© Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited

induce laughter. For instance, he tells Ororbor, a student in the novel that, “Because your father is a serving commissioner... where bribery and corruption are kings among people…you can afford to eat ten bags of rice, three cows...you happily gulp the nearby lagoon water that is well fertilized by human faeces...no wonder your tummy is as big as that of three women joined together.”

The theme of interlocking destinies through the union between children of bosom friends who reunite and create greater bond also runs through the storyline. As fate prevails, the daughter of Ugochukwu and Nwayiocha gets married to Adegoke’s son. Dauda and Titi’s daughter ties the knot with Udu’s son.

In a cracking shell, the never blossomed love Titi had for Udu back in his school days reincarnates in their children’s love for each other. The novel delves into events of Joy, Halimat, Julius, and Uzo’s amorous relationships with one another, depicting the youth’s exuberant lifestyle. It also portrays an exemplary courtship of the highly cultured Nigerian by Uzo as he says, “Halimat, I want to pay your bride price to start my own family. I love you.” Whereas, Halimat untwines an epitome of love and curiosity among teenage girls with daring modernity, which mesmerises him to blow off her chastity, she tells him: “Are you afraid to touch me? I want you to kiss me.”

But Uzo’s gentlemanly attitude to Halimat is contrary to the affair between Joy and Julius, the playboy, with show of tongue dipped frequently in jars of honey. But Joy pretends that she has forgotten Julius’s name while she is head over heels in love with him from the moment he engages her in frivolous conversations. She tells Julius to give her time to think over his proposal even though she has decided within her mind to be his lover, just as many ladies do for men they eagerly desire to have love

affairs with.

Also, fate itself is oblivious to the uncon-

trollable situations that Joy encounters, despite being chaste, she experi-

Poetrip

All Rounder Adjekpagbon Blessed Mudiaga

I believe everyman is muggy in nature, outwardly and inwardly

I am a city born, bred in a royal traditional town, Toured many villages and hamlets And sucked experiences from depth of local folks.

I have drank from clean pipe-borne water, Ancient streams and wells That makes my being what I am today.

I have lived in humble palaces, Mansions, houses and huts.

I am the all rounder, Who can adapt to any situation life’s wind blows me, I am the all rounder who knows the true feelings Of both the rich and poor, Educated and illiterate.

I am the all rounder who loves life in many settings And make things work in all weather I find myself, as wings of destiny carries me on.

I am the all rounder who lives a humble life Though I could as well swell with arrogance Like an overfed toad, but prides goes Before a fall, and I don’t want to fall As I want to keep standing tall On my humble horse.

I am the all rounder that lives everywhere And always verily take loved ones there.

You may never understand why I am where and what I really am until I take you here: Kiss my tender pillows if you truly love me, even in a jungle.

ences the worst of matrimonial relationship; but Halimat who was defiled before her wedlock lives a happy and successful marital life.

I find the novel highly instructive for any reader. It unfolds themes of love, unity, friendship, betrayal, deceit, war, loss, anguish, value, criticism and destiny. By and large, kudos to the author for emphasizing the feminist in Joy as opposed to conventional single mothers who make despair a headrest and depression a foot stool, when they are jilted by their spouses. I therefore, encourage the public to read the novel, to find out who amongst the prominent men earlier mentioned turned out to be the ‘Domestic Daddy.’ I believe everyman is muggy in nature, outwardly and inwardly.

But, the moment a man sows his seedlings in his wife’s warm soil; he has become domestic and therefore an awaiting daddy.

Theatre in season of Yoruba Romance in Lagos

T

he stage production of Yoruba Romance, a play written by Tyrone Terrence continues this Sunday at Terra Kulture, Lagos.

The show is produced by PAWStudios, and starring notable actors such as Odenike, Patrick Diabuah, Omololu Shodiya and Ijeoma Aniebo.

Directed by AMVCA nominated actor and director Kenneth Uphopho, Yoruba Romance centres on three major characters: Chief Ladoja, Nneka Chilouzor and Chief Chibuzor, Nneka’s father.

Ladoja, an affluent middle aged farmer decides to take a new wife. His options or lack of options, narrows to the daughter of his neighbour Chief Chibuzor, a more affluent businessman. Everything looks good until a long buried land dispute between both families is unearthed. The marriage proposal takes an ugly turn and accusations and counter accusations fly.

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Ebola

Kogi prepares schools for emergency

23

21

UNIZIK

Researchers, outreach to create jobs

26

Education

NUC winning war against illegal varsities ILEGALITIES

The National Universities Commission (NUC) is not relenting in its fight against illegal and fake universities.

Yekeen Nurudeen Abuja

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espite efforts by the National Universities Commission (NUC), the agency supervising the university system, to rid the country of illegal universities, the illicit academic activities have continued to thrive.

Over the years, the war against illegal universities mushrooming in every nook and cranny of the country has remained one of the greatest challenges of the Commission.

But, NUC has vowed to invigorate its fight in ensuring that sanity is restored into the system, as well as run all owners of the illegal universities out of business.

Now, in the centre of a fresh storm of illegal university operation is the trio of Ambi P.N and his two accomplices.

If Ambi and his accomplices had known that they were fishing in trouble water, when they approached the National Universities Commission with the proposal to establish a private university, perhaps they would have had a rethink.

Ambi and two others were said to have proposed the establishment of the Nigerian British University and were awaiting the NUC nod.

However, their proposal met the brick walls when Ambi, who

kayode olanrewaju Editor, education

kayode olanrewaju@ newtelegraphonline.com

© Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited

Minister of Education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau

claimed to be a Professor of Statistics, appeared before the NUC’s Special Committee for Private Universities (SCOPU), and was said to have offered conflicting statements about where he obtained his PhD. His other two accomplices, a lawyer and the promoter of the proposed university were also detected of parading fake certificates, what the NUC Executive Secretary, Professor Julius Okojie described as “fake academic titles”.

“What was more revealing is that the three actors; Ambi, the Chief Consultant who is supposed to be a professor; the proprietor of the proposed university who is supposed to be a PhD holder from Divinity School and the lawyer, were all fake,” Okojie said The Executive Secretary, who recalled how the proposal for the private university landed the trio in trouble, said it was dead on arrival from the name of the university (Nigerian British University) and the fake identity of

Okojie

I have always said that for us to make meaningful progress in that direction, we have to encourage the private sector

the lawyer and proprietor.

While insisting that the trio would soon be charged to court for appropriate prosecution, Okojie lamented the rising cases of abuse of academic titles, which to him has been on the increase in the country.

The NUC, which apart from regulating the university system as its core mandate has over the years clamped down on several illegal universities, with their names published from time to time.

Conscious of their illegal activities, operators of such outlawed institutions have continued to evolve new antics despite the efforts of NUC to nip in the bud their illicit activities.

Irked by the proliferation of illegal universities, New Telegraph investigations revealed that the yearly increase in the number of university admission seekers is one of the factors that embolden owners of illegal universities to hoodwink students through fake admission and bogus certificates.

According to Professor Peter Okebukola, former Executive Secretary of NUC in one of his papers delivered at the Osun State University Foundation Lecture Series, of the more than one million candidates that apply to the universities yearly through the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), less than 500,000 are offered admission into the nation’s 129 universities (40 Federal, 38 state and 51 private universities).

With the establishment of 12 new federal universities by the Federal Government to create more access to tertiary institutions, there are also hints that NUC is in the process of issuing operating licence to nine new private universities, as part of efforts to bridge the access gap in the university system.

Meanwhile, Okojie had disclosed that the establishment of the new universities had already been recommended to Federal ExCONTINUED ON PAGE 22

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Education

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NUC’s war against illegal varsities CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21

ecutive Council through the Education Minister for approval.

The Executive Secretary, who hinted that the private sector is showing tremendous interest in providing facilities in improving tertiary education, said: “I have always said that for us to make meaningful progress in that direction we have to encourage the private sector.”

But on the thriving business of illegal universities, stakeholders attributed the factor aiding it to the lucrative nature of private university education, which has become instant jackpot for owners as unsuspecting parents as well as students are always willing to part with any amount of money to secure university admission.

As part of determination by NUC to rid the system of all illegalities, it is however believed that the move by some illegal universities owners to secure NUC’s approval might not be unconnected with the renewed drive by the Commission to run them out of business.

So far, no fewer than eight operators of illegal universities arrested across the country, whose illegal institutions have been shut down, are currently being prosecuted by the NUC. In one of the NUC weekly bulletins, the Commission released the names of the illegal universities which their owners are being prosecuted.

The list include the National University of Nigeria, Keffi, Nasarawa State; North Central University, Otukpo, Benue State; Christ Alive Christian Seminary and University, Enugu; Richmond Open University, Arochukwu, Abia State; West Coast University, Umuahia, among others.

The bulletin read in part: “In addition to the closure, the following ‘de-

gree mills’ are currently undergoing court actions; the purpose of these actions is to prosecute the proprietors and recover illegal fees and charges on subscribers. For the avoidance of doubt, anybody who patronises or obtains any certificate from any of these illegal institutions does so at his or her own risk.

“Certificates obtained from these sources will not be recognised for the purposes of NYSC, employment and further studies,” NUC warned.

To some stakeholders, the inability of approved 129 universities to absorb the teeming applicants seeking admission into the system yearly due to the low carrying capacities, is responsible for the thriving of illegal institutions.

Mr. Peter Kadiri, an educationist said: “The problem is not far-fetched, every year millions of candidates sit for the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) qualifying examination and at the end only a quarter of them gain admission.

Most of the students are innocently lured to these illegal universities that are being established by fake academics because their process of admission is easy.”

A statistics released by the Federal Ministry of Education showed a startling admission challenges bedevilling the system, in which out of the 1,195,261 candidates that applied for admission in 2008, only 155,860 were admitted, while in 2009 only 185,209 candidates scaled the admission hurdles out of the 1,305,326 candidates that applied.

It also revealed that 1,478,258 candidates wrote the UTME in 2010, about 235,027 were lucky enough to be admitted, while in 2011 out of the 1,618,152 applicants, only 331,206 candidates secured admission, and in 2012 out of the

Mojeed Alabi

T

Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, JAMB Registrar

1,628,986 applicants only about 300,000 succeeded.

However, it pointed out that owners of illegal universities have cashed on this lacuna to exploit students who are being lured into the illegal institutions with the assurance that the certificates awarded are valid like those of approved government universities.

Their students are made to believe that the illegal universities are in affiliation to other recognised universities, while the programmes they run were accredited.

Investigations also indicated that some of these illegal universities have gone a step further by arranging illegal National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) orientation activities for their graduates, despite the clamp down on such illegal NYSC camps by the law enforcement agents.

Following the clamp down, some 62 fake corps members from these illegal universities were apprehended by the Nassarawa State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) at a fake Orientation camp located at Fati Mai-Musa, behind Government Secondary

School, Tama in Nassarawa State some months ago, while some were also arrested in Niger State for similar offence.

Stakeholders have also attributed lack of access to tertiary institutions, particularly university education, as one of the major reasons for the exodus of many Nigerian students to neigbhouring countries such as Republic of Benin and Ghana to attend mushroom and illegal universities.

They, however, traced this to the level of instability in the country’s university calendar due to incessant strikes by academic and non-academic staff unions, resulting to disruption of academic activities and closure of the university system for months.

As a way forward, stakeholders however suggested that the NUC and Federal Government should not relent in the war against illegal universities.

According to them, nothing should justify the establishment and running of fake higher institutions of learning in a country that is grappling with poor quality of graduates in its recognised universities.

‘Why private varsities charge high fees’ Sola Adeyemo Ibadan

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resident and Founder of the Victory International Church (a.k.a Rehoboth Cathedral), Oluyole, Ibadan, Bishop Taiwo Adelakun, has given reasons why private university owners charged high school fees.

He said private universities would continue to charge high fees than public institutions as long as the Federal Government

refuses to subsidise their funding.

The Bishop disclosed this during a press conference organised ahead of the church’s silver jubilee anniversary, where he noted that students in public or government universities are paying lower fees because government is funding their institutions.

Adelakun, the Proprietor of the proposed Dominion University, along Ibadan-Lagos Expressway, said this against the backdrop of criticisms that

EU commissions FUTA, others for research

have continued to trail exorbitant fees charged by private universities, especially those established by church organisations or owners in the country where several members of the congregation could not afford to send their children.

The Dominion University is expected to commence academic activities next year, as all arrangements and structures, according to Adelakun, have been put in place to ensure the smooth take off of the

university.

He, however, said: “The Dominion University, when it finally takes off will be one of the lowestpaying universities in the country. We are only expecting the licence from the National Universities Commission (NUC). By next year, we hope to take off because we have scaled through the hurdles.”

On the high fees charged by private universities, the Bishop added: “University is not like secondary schools.

he European Union (EU) has commissioned the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) and five other institutions including the University of Alicante, Spain to conduct research food security.

The research project which has as theme: “Integrated Soil Fertility Management for Food Security: Matching Capacities in Anglophone West African Nations with Local Needs,” is part of measures aimed at addressing the challenges of food insecurity currently staring the world in the face.

The research project, which is expected be a partnership among the five institutions, will feature four other African universities including the University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana; University of D Schang, Cameroon; Njala University, Sierra Leone, and the University of The Gambia, Gambia.

According to the EU, the initiative was targeted at establishing working relationships among the universities with a view to developing capacity for food research and fostering capacity building and regional integration in Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) for food security in Anglophone West African Universities.

The project, which according to FUTA, has its Nigerian office in the institution’s School of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology (SAAT) building, is also targeted at enhancing Regional Networking in ISFM focusing on Food Security by setting up a Regional Network Centre of Excellence (CoE) in ISFM for food security.

“It is also to develop targeted activities in ISFM for food security at local levels with a view to increasing capacity building towards sustainable food production.”

FUTA Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Adebiyi Daramola said the research collaboration is in tandem with the drive by the institution to continue to contribute meaningfully to evolving solutions to pressing societal problems.

Daramola said the university is blessed with excellent scholars, researchers, facilities, staff and students and that it would play its part creditably well.

Education 23

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Ebola: Kogi prepares schools for emergency

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Cross Section of AUN community at the hall listening to the US Ambassador

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he United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Ambassador James F. Entwistle, has scored the American University of Nigeria (AUN), Yola, Adamawa State a pass mark for its academic excellence and development initiatives.

The Ambassador, who was at the private university with his wife, Dr. Pamela Schmoll on a three-day visit, acknowledged the university’s academic excellence and development initiatives, which he described as a solution to Africa’s several development challenges.

While addressing a press conference at the end of the three-day visit, Entwistle said: “I have been very impressed with AUN, not just because of what you are doing in terms of education, but what you’re doing to make the world around you a better place. For the many activities that you engage in off-campus, I have to give AUN pretty high marks.”

The Ambassador extolled AUN’s contributions to deepening US-Nigerian partnership and for bringing change to the educational sector.

US Ambassador scores AUN programmes high l Challenges African youths on growth His words: “The US and Nigeria have been doing fantastic things together for decades. Look at this university. That stands as a testimony to the American-Nigeria relationship.

One of the things that have changed in my time as US Ambassador is that when I assumed office years ago, almost anything of substance between the two countries took place in the government-to-government level.

“One of the most positive developments I have seen in the past 35 years is the growth of contacts in nations in non-governmental channels; it is relationships between academic institutions which lead to fantastic things such as AUN. So, I am delighted to be here today at AUN and to have a chance to see and celebrate what this

institution represents.”

Besides, Entwistle described the university’s community service as being of great interest to the US Government, stressing that “the US Government is very interested in the many activities that the institution is engaged in off-campus. I had a spectacular session with the AUN-Adamawa Peace Initiative as they talked to me about what the university management is doing to support Internally Displaced Persons. We are looking at supporting their efforts through the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Several activities such as this might be appropriate for US government involvement.”

The Ambassador also urged emerging African youths to tap into the on-

going Young African Leadership Initiative, a US programme aimed at empowering African youths.

AUN President, Prof.

Margee Ensign traced the history of the AUN to the life-changing encounter the founder and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar had with US Peace Corps Volunteers who taught him when he was a young boy.

She recalled that in support of AUN’s development initiative the university launched hash tag campaign #EducateOurGirls in honor of the kidnapped Chibok students and other vulnerable children, in which the United States Peace Corps Association donated $15,000 as well as two scholarships to female students from Northern part of the country.

Lead City Varsity inaugurates College of Health Tech Sola Adeyemo Ibadan

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s part of drive to aid the development of technical education and find lasting solutions to the problems of research, academic and social challenges in its immediate environment, the authorities of the Lead City University (LCU), Ibadan has inaugurated the institution’s College of Health Technology.

The college, according to the university, was established to meet the yearning of the teeming youths, seeking technical education.

With the college - Lead

City College of Health Technology - the university with other relevant professional bodies have kicked off technical education at Diploma level in various health technology-related disciplines for 2014/2015 academic session.

The college, according to the university, would take off with five schools, which include School of Environmental Health, Dental Health Sciences, Community Health, Health Information Management and Pharmacy and Medical Laboratory Sciences.

Determined to provide excellent teaching and learning facilities, the management said

Prof. Jide Owoeye, Council chair

part of the objectives of the college is to “produce middle level manpower in the public and private health sectors, as well as enhance the ability of those willing to re-skill or provide pathways for direct entry admission

into local and foreign universities, especially Lead City University’s affiliates”.

With the stride of projecting the laudable vision of the founding fathers of the institution, to produce the best at all times, the college, according to the management, “promises to provide a wonderful student experience and an outstanding technical learning outcome for its students”.

In another development, the university management has put in place measures to tackle the spread of the deadly Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in its community as the students resumed for the new academic session.

ogi State Education Ministry has put in place measures that will contain and prevent the spread of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in schools in the state.

The Commissioner for Education, Dr. Agnes Okai disclosed this during the flag-off of the distribution of Ebola preventive materials to public and private schools in the state.

Besides, the distribution of materials, the ministry also composed and released an ‘Ebola Anthem’ to promote awareness about the danger of the Ebola virus in schools.

The anthem, which is now being sung by pupils in both public and private primary and secondary schools is to, among other things, serve as a means of mobilization and call to action in promoting good personal hygiene while also using the children as active influencers to communicate efforts being made by the government to prevent the spread of Ebola in Kogi State.

Addressing stakeholders in state’s education project in Lokoja, the state capital, Dr. Okai said that Ebola Preventive Materials, which include scanner thermometers, plastic bucket with tap, liquid soap and protective gear, have been distributed to over 3,000 schools across the state. She noted that the items would be administered by over 7,000 emergency caregivers drawn from teaching and non-teaching members of staff in public and private schools.

The Commissioner, who sang the anthem to the admiration of the pupils and their teachers in some schools she visited, however urged them to make good use of the items to prevent the spread of Ebola Virus Disease.

While noting that children are vulnerable group, she therefore stressed the importance of teaching them good personal hygiene at all times within and outside the school environment. The Ebola anthem reads in part: “Ebola Virus Disease; the deadliest in history; but we will push you out, by taking precaution; by constant washing of hands with water and soap, and keeping environment clean; together we shall push you out …”

The Commissioner expressed gratitude to Governor Idris Wada for the state government’s prompt response to the demand for emergency intervention required to prevent the spread of Ebola ahead of the school resumption in the state.

24 Education Kayode Olanrewaju

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lans have been concluded by the management of the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State (AAUA) to inaugurate the university’s newly completed four-wing and five-storey Senate Building billed for October 17.

The Visitor to the university and Governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko will inaugurate the Senate Building housing 16,000 square metres of exquisite office space on a 12-hectare plot of land.

The five-storey Senate Building complex is a well-thought-out architectural masterpiece with four wings with a central courtyard that helps to illuminate the core area of the complex. Each wing has a central circulation that links the circular circulation of the courtyard for easy connection to one another. The courtyard also serves as a waiting or relaxation space.

The world-class edifice of architectural masterpiece, which is the university’s main Central Administration, also houses the Vice-Chancellor’s Office, the Registry and the Bursary, among others.

The state-of-the-art facilities also house the Senate chamber, council chamber, a large reception hall, cocktail and entertainment lounge,

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

Ajasin Varsity set to open Senate building

The newly constructed Senate Building

five stair halls, three lifts, a covered courtyard and a large foyer.

Other facilities include 104 parking lots with capacity for extension, 143 offices, 149 toilets, 11 conference/board rooms and a generator house with two 1,000 KVA generating sets.

Besides, it has two water fountains, open piazza that can sit 2,500 people and a welllandscaped environment to add to the aesthetic and elegance of the university as most beautiful and best-

equipped Senate Building in any Nigerian universities.

In another development, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof.

Femi Mimiko has become a recipient of the Award of Excellence bestowed on him by the Glamour Communication Ltd., publisher of Glamour News magazine.

The award, according to the organisation, was in recognition of his transformation of the institution into a modern citadel of learning.

Mimiko was honoured alongside the Speaker of

UI challenges workers on service delivery Kayode Olanrewaju

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owards effective service delivery, the management of the University of Ibadan (UI) has equipped the skills of top management officers of the institutions in modern operations of a university system.

It was at a two-day retreat, which took place at Equity Resort (Gateway Hotel), Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, where top officials of the Ivory Tower were exposed to the direction with which the institution seeks in accomplishing its vision and mission.

However, the retreats also afforded the university key officers to reassess its focus and make necessary corrections in the discharge of the duties.

Declaring open the retreat, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Isaac Adewole, said that all categories of workers of the institution should work together as a team to make University

Participants at the retreat

of Ibadan of “our dream a truly 21st Century institution of global ranking.”

He said: “UI has a concentration of talents. It is filled with champions who should work together so that we can go places. We should not be complacent in our responsibilities to the university. We should refocus, repackage, re-energise and reposition ourselves for the system. We should not allow the challenges to frighten us and

we should let our students see us as friends. We must remain bonded to them.”

One of the guest speakers and former Registrar of the university, Chief Moji Ladipo, in his paper: “Administrative Procedure: Things We Overlook but are of Great Importance in our Day-to-Day Administrative Duties,” explained the need for a procedure manual for a more efficient day-to-day administration of the university.

Ondo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Princess Jumoke Akindele; the Olugbo of Ugbo Kingdom, Oba Dr. Fredrick Akinruntan; and Rector, Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo, Prof. Igbekele Ajibefun.

The awards were conferred on them at the 20th anniversary and award presentation ceremony of the organisation, where the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the magazine, Mr. Femi Bello, congratulated the awardees on their numerous achievements in their respective

fields.

He said: “The relentless efforts and commitment, devotion and dedication to hard work and excellent performance of Professor Femi Mimiko have resulted to the radical transformation of Adekunle Ajasin University into a real citadel of learning.”

The Vice-Chancellor’s wife, Mrs. Bosede Mimiko, who received the award on behalf of her husband, thanked Glamour Communication for recognising the efforts of the Vice-Chancellor.

UI Sociology Dept set for golden jubilee A

ll is set for the golden jubilee anniversary of the Department of Sociology, University of Ibadan (UI) as the students for one-week will roll out the drums to celebrate the establishment of their department.

The students, it was gathered would be joined by their colleagues from other Departments of Sociology in other universities.

A release signed by the President of Nigerian Sociological and Anthropological Students` Association (NSASA), University of Ibadan chapter, Tunde Okewole said the ceremony would begin with a rally and indoor games to be held on the university campus.

The celebration, he added would also feature talent hunt, inter-varsity debate and lectures, saying the theme of the interuniversity debate, which would feature students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife; Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State; Crawford University, Igbesa, Ogun State; Lagos State

University (LASU); Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria; University of Benin; Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED); University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN); UNILORN; Lead City University; and University of Port Harcourt, among others.

The theme will centre on “The Relevance of Religion in the face of Development in the 21st Century.”

The week-long activities will be climaxed with a lecture to be delivered by a guest lecturer and an alumnus of the Department, Dr. Ade Dosumu.

His paper would be on: “The Contributions of Leaders and Followers to Nigeria’s Predicaments.”

Other lecturers expected to present papers at the occasion include Mr. Lanre Fashakin, whose paper will be on “Marketing Research,” while Mr. Wale Ajani would give tips on “How to Secure Employment in a very Competitive Labour Market after Graduation.”

Education

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014

UNILORIN medical students win scholarships

Emeka Onwudinjo UNIZIK

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t was excitement galore last week as pioneer graduates of Paul University, a private university located at Awka, the capital of Anambra State received their scrolls at the maiden graduation ceremony of the institution.

Dignitaries at the ceremony, which attracted prominent Nigerians from all walks of life, include Chief Emeka Anyaoku, former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth; Dr. Alex Ekwueme, Nigerian first Vice-President and Mrs. Virgy Etiaba, former Governor of Anambra State.

Others were His Grace Most Revd Ignatius Kattey, the Proprietor of the university; Sir Nnamdi Udensi, Pro-Chancellor of the university; Rt. Rev. Bishop Christian Efobi; Rt. Rev. Bishop Alex Ibezim; and Igwe Gibson Nwosu, Awka traditional ruler.

The high point of the event was the installation of the Chancellor of the university, His Grace, The Most Revd Nicholas D. Okoh, the Archbishop, Metropolitan and Primate of All Nigeria who was represented by the Archbishop of Owerri Ecclesiastical Province, Rt. Revd. Caleb Mmaduoma.

Welcoming guests to the ceremony, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Gaius Igboeli expressed gratitude to Most Revd M.S.C Anikwenwa for his vision in establishing the faith-based university.

He congratulated the pioneer students and their parents, saying: “The parents took an early chance with Paul University at a time when we had little or nothing on the ground except the goodwill and reputation of the Anglican Church, as a foremost leader in quality education provision. We know you can never regret your investment and we are proud that we did not disappoint you.”

Igboeli noted that the university

Ali Toyin Abdul UNILORIN

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The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Igboeli congratulating the best graduand, Miss Ejianya

Paul Varsity graduates pioneer students in style had been able to hire and retain a critical mass of lecturers and other staff, sufficient to maintain the business of teaching, research and other social outreach programmes expected of a university.

On enrolment, the Vice-Chancellor added that the student enrolment has increased marginally over the years, growing from 107 students in 2010 to 289 students in 2013.

According to him, the university has during these years, mounted expansive efforts in advertisement to improve student intake.

Expressing satisfaction on the quality of the graduates produced by the institution, Igboeli charged them to be worthy ambassadors of the institution and the country at large.

Speaking shortly after the ceremony, Dr. Ekwueme said that the graduating students have been

trained to be worthy in character and learning, thanking the benefactors for their unrelenting support to the institution.

Prof. Essien, who represented the Executive Secretary of National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Julius Okojie congratulated the institution’s management for the success achieved, urging them to make more progress.

While responding to the conferment of the Doctor of Civil Laws (D.C.L honoris causa) Chief Emeka Anyaoku described the award as very dear especially as it came from his own state and his Anglican family.

Out of the 57 graduating students, Miss Peace Iruoma Ejianya and Miss Chiemela Adaku Okeke from the Departments of Economics, and History & International Relations respectively graduated with First Class honours.

.5m

jobs to be created by the varsity

Students’ association donates to school

Ajibefun (6th left), members of the executive of the association and members of staff shortly after the donation

Dayo Ojerinde

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25

he Association of Applied Sciences Students of the Rufus Giwa Polytechnic (RUGIPOLY), Owo, Ondo State has donated a millennium signpost, laboratory wears, computer accessories and other equipment to their department.

While commissioning the projects, the Rector of the institution,

Prof. Igbekele Ajibefun lauded the students for deeming it fit to donate the facilities which, according to him, will go a long way to aid their learning.

He lauded the efforts of the Dean of the School, Mr. G.A Ogundahunsi; the Student Adviser, Mr O. Ajigbo and the School Officer, Mr. Akintan Akinyemi for effective supervision of the executive members of the association in order to

ensure that they do right thing.

The Rector, therefore, challenged the students to make good use of the equipment and facilities for effective delivery of their study.

The President of the association, Joel Tafa said: “The donation is the students’ capital project for the 2013/2014 session, as part of our contributions to enhance and complement the massive infrastructural development going on in the institution. It is all about what we can do to help the authority and not only what the managment can do for us.

“But, this would not have been possible without the support of other members of executive of the association, including Akinjinrin Monday, Akinrinmade Rebecca, Ibiwoye Femi, Oladele Jimoh, Adeluwoye Bukola, Ajayi Oluwagbemileke, Okoro Prince, Eyinla Temitope, Ayomobola Ademola, Ogidigbo Thomson and Adegeye Oluwaseyi.”

Principal officers of the polytechnic at the presentation ceremony were the six Heads of Departments under the School of Applied Science, including Messrs. R.A. Mustapha, Omosuli S.V, A.S Abitogun, Ogundele J.O and Mrs. Oso G.K and Mrs. Olutola Agbelusi

o fewer than 10 female medical students of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), have become beneficiaries of a scholarship scheme.

The scholarship scheme was instituted by Media Trust Limited, publishers of the Daily Trust, Weekly Trust, Sunday Trust and Aminiya.

The beneficiaries were presented with their cheques at a ceremony held at the College of Health Sciences.

The scheme, which is under the medical scholarship scheme, was said to have been instituted by the publishing organisation seven years ago.

Ten medical female students from three benefitting universities from the three geo-political zones in Northern part of the country are selected yearly for the scholarship award to the tune of N100, 000 for the completion of their medical training.

The benefitting universities are the University of Maiduguri (North-East Zone), Usman Dan Fodiyo University, Sokoto (North-West Zone) and the University of Ilorin which is selected from the North-Central Zone.

Reacting to the development, The Provost of the University of Ilorin College of Health Sciences, Prof. Wahab Johnson, described the Media Trust initiative as a laudable one, which would go a long way in encouraging the female students and elevates them to be at par with their male counterparts.

Johnson said: “It is a pleasant information to note that you have aptly selected the so-called weaker sex, they are no longer weak anyway. I think your philosophy of wanting to encourage or elevate the other gender to get to class with the male gender is a laudable one.

I want to pray that this association will not be something that would fritter away in the shortest possible time. I also want to pray that whatever you are doing in terms of community service, which I understand is not only in this state, God in His infinite mercy will replace wherever it is coming from.”

The Provost, who noted that it is not easy for a profit-making company to do this kind of thing, added that Media Trust is not the only media organisations in the country, but it is noteworthy that it is probably the only one that has identified this area of community service.

Johnson called for more areas of support from the company in terms of building of hostels and improving the infrastructures of the college.

While presenting the cheques to the beneficiaries on behalf of Media Trust, the company’s Administrative/Legal Officer, Mr. Umar Ibrahim, explained that the gesture was part of the organisation’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) which aimed at encouraging the students to do more in their studies and contribution to the society.

He, however, described the medical profession as the life-centre of any society.

Responding, the beneficiaries described the scholarship award as a thing of joy that would further motivate them in their academic activities.

The Media Trust team including the Senior Advert Executive, Mallam Idris Abubakar and the newspaper’s Kwara State Correspondent, Mr. Abdullateef Aliyu, were received by the duo of the Deans of the Faculties of Basic Medical Sciences and Clinical Science, Prof. A. Akande and Prof. O.T Adedoyin respectively.

26

Education

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

UNIZIK: Researchers, outreach to create jobs Emeka Onwudinjo UNIZIK

R

esearchers at the Nnamdi Azikwe University (UNIZIK), Awka, Anambra State are poised to create jobs for youths through a waste-towealth innovation with polythene waste.

The move is in the bid to engage the youths and create employment opportunity for the younger ones, an idea that will turn polythene waste into wealth and remove such waste from Nigerian streets.

Under the innovation, researchers from UNIZIK are set to create up to half-amillion agricultural jobs from polythene waste.

The research team, led by Ezenekwe Elochukwu, a student of the university, said the innovative would make use of the abundant polythene wastes which are common sight in dumpsites and streets across the country, where they constitute problems

of environmental pollution and flooding, and unsanitary conditions that enhance the spread of diseases.

According to the group, the use of greenhouse structures in crop production is known to offer several benefits that range from increased overall yield with better quality, efficient water utilisation, less use of harmful chemicals, to year-round farming and protection from adverse climatic conditions.

“But, such structures are not utilized by farmers in the country due partly to the fact that conventional greenhouses known to Nigerians are made of glass covering and steel framework, which make them very expensive and out of the reach of local farmers,” they noted.

According to them, in reality, the few greenhouses in the country are largely restricted to research centres, where they are usually used for other purposes other than crop production.

To tackle the associate

problem of high cost of green house in order to enable local farmers engage in greenhouse agriculture, a project was launched by Peace Advocacy and Sustainable Development Outreach (PASDO) and BENUWATTS. The project is to develop suitable low-tech greenhouse structures by sourcing and using locally available and affordable materials in place of the steel frame and glass covering used in conventional structures.

As an alternative to glass, Elochukwu and his team from the Department of Agricultural and Bio-Resources Engineering, have developed cheaper and more flexible material, which incorporates considerable percentage of waste polythene in the production process (while still exhibiting UV-blocking properties and acceptable levels of Photosythetic Active Radiation (PAR) – the actual wavelength range of solar radiation responsible for plant growth).

Varsity workers, students laud VC UNILORIN

W

orkers and students of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) have eulogised the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Abdulganiyu Ambali, on the conferment of the National Honour of the Officer of Order of Niger (OON), conferred on him by President Goodluck Jonathan.

Ambali was among the 350 Nigerians living and dead that were conferred with the national honour by the Jonathan-led Federal government.

Notably, the honour was in recognition of his (ViceChancellor) professional achievements and immense contributions to the country’s education development.

Meanwhile, it is also noteworthy that the immediate past Vice-Chancellor of the university, Professor Isiaq Oloyede was one of the hon-

ourees of the awards.

Oloyede, who is currently the Secretary General of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, served the university as its Vice-Chancellor.

While commenting on the great development, the Chairman of the University of Ilorin chapter of the Academic of Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Dr. AbdulRasheed Adeoye, described the National Honours award conferred on the recipients as a “product of hard work, resilience and dedication to service and humanity.”

According to him, “the two honourees have served the university with passion, vision, commitment and the fear of God, and therefore they deserve to be honoured”.

Adeoye noted that the duo have dedicated their best to the development of the university, adding that “when we have this crops of people leading organisations, we will

grow fast and the country will develop fast.”

In his remarks, the Chairman of the university’s branch of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Mr. Mansur Alfanla said that the two leaders were recognised by the Federal Government for their sterling qualities and hard work.

He described the awardees as “hard working, capable, selfless and reliable people who deserve the honour bestowed on them,” saying: “People in positions of leadership must have the fear of God at heart in whatever they do.”

Alfanla also noted that they must allow their conscience to guide them because history is always there to record whatever one is doing or have done, even as he challenged leaders to be transparent, sincere, principled, open and accommodating.

 Dr Adedimeji is a Senior Lecturer and Director, Centre for Peace and Strategic Studies, Unilorin

The coffee or the cup?

The story goes thus: group of successful alumni who were talking at a re-union dinner decided to visit their old Professor, then retiring.

During the visit, the discussion soon turned into complaints about stress in their work and lives.

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups – porcelain, plastic glass, crystal, plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite – telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

When all the alumni had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: “Notice all the nice-looking and expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases, it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all you really wanted was coffee, not the cup; but you consciously went for the best cups… and then you began eying each other’s cup.

“Now consider this: Life is the coffee; your job, money and position in the society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life. The type of cup one has does not define or change the quality of the life a person lives.

Sometimes by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us.

“God makes the coffee, man chooses the cups. The happiest people don’t have the best of everything.

They just make the best of everything. Live simply for others to simply live. Love generously and you will surely be loved. Care deeply and get the best care you deserve. Speak kindly and God will surely bless you.

Please enjoy your coffee!”

I cannot help admiring the story and the lessons it engenders since I came across it a few years back.

This is because the root of violence, corruption, armed and pen robbery, wickedness, oppression, terrorism and all social evils that assail our country lies in this craze for cups, the best of cups. Few people only appreciate that whatever you are called does not change the quality of your person.

Today, everyone, including entertainers and social

A

Ezenekwe Elo Chukwu (left) and Prof. Uba Nwuba (right) during exhibition of the first prototype of affordable greenhouse structure

Ali Toyin Abdul

EDUPEACE

with Mahfouz A. Adedimeji (08066372516, sms only)

OON

Officer of Order of Niger conferred on the VC

At 77, the former President has returned to school and the whole nation is excited or confounded about it vermin, is in politics to have access to public money. In a state, at least 60 people want to occupy the position of Governor. People kidnap, kill, torture, blackmail and harass others just because they want to have the cup of President, Governor, Minister, Senator, Commissioner, Chairman, Managing Director or what have you. They even strip revered judges!

There are people who hide under political and religious cover or cup but their real identity is that they are criminals.

In saner societies, they would be behind bars for the atrocities they have committed. That a person is a Governor or Minister or man of God or anything is just a façade: a criminal is a criminal; a drunkard a drunkard; a womanizer or a womanizer; a whore in a whore!

This life is short and we can choose to enjoy our coffee rather than quarrel over the cups. We cannot all be Presidents or Governors but we can all be happy if we choose happiness. The sky is so wide for all birds to fly without collision. You hold the key to your own happiness, if you have the right education, the type of which Jean Jacque Rousseau described as “a nourishment to the soul”. You have yourself to compete with; no one is truly your rival.

The secret of life’s sweetness is not in money, power, position or fame. The secret of life’s sweetness lies in knowing that the purpose of this fleeting life is serving God and humanity. The legendary boxer, Muhammad Ali, put it succinctly when he said in a 1978 Time feature, “Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.”

Which one would you prefer, the coffee or the cup?

The coffee is the content, the cup is the container.

The coffee is the real you, your character, your humanity; the cup is your office, your position. Enjoy your coffee!

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014

The Mega City

27

...for the love of Lagos

MEGA CITY EVENT

MY CITY, MY WORLD (Doherty)

LIFE IN THE CITY

Eko Club’s 40th Anniversary

Lagos can be better -Doherty

Oshodi/Isolo and its heaps of refuse

Mile 12 market: Lagos’ home of foodstuff

It is where everybody that wants foodstuff at a reasonable price in Lagos State goes to. But it is not only for Lagosians. It serves the 36 states of the Federation and neighbouring countries who come to buy and sell in the ever-busy market as MOSES KADIRI found out.

Business at the tomato section of the market

M

ile 12 Market in Agboyi-Ketu Local Government Area of Lagos State is home of tomatoes, pepper, onions, plantain, yam and assorted fruits such as oranges, banana, cucumber, pineapple, e.t.c. at wholesale rate . The market also acts as assembly point for foodstuffs “shipped” into Lagos from other states within the country. The increased number of people visiting the market on a daily basis clearly indicates its importance to the country’s economy. With N10,000, an individual can stock his/her food pantry for a month from the market.

The market is ever marshy. As such, customers entering the market always bear in mind the importance of rubber boots to protect their feet

from getting soiled. Activities in the market is beyond human comprehension, even to gain access into the market is a tug of war. The market is thick with human beings and goods scattered all over the place. The intermittent noise does not stop business from going on; it rather makes it more interesting for buyers and sellers. Right from under the bridge where vehicles turn, load carriers, usually called alabaru in Yoruba start dragging passengers, “aunty, let me follow u carry load,” “madam, park here, I no go charge you plenty.”

The market is divided into different session, the tomatoes, yam and plantain and the retail sections where the vegetables and other food items are sold. The tomatoes section seems OUR ERROR

OLUWATOSIN OMONIYI CO-ORDINATOR

tosin.omoniyi@newtelegraphonline.com

© Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited

Last week, due to production error, we carried another story under the headline, “Mile 12 Market: Lagos’ home of foodstuff ”. We regret the error and hereby run the orignal story. Thanks. Editor

to be the biggest part of the market because that is where the heavy duty trucks, lorries of tomatoes, onions, on stand-by waiting to be offloaded.

It is the same thing at the yam section where trailers are ever in queue waiting to offload, wheelbarrow pushers working tirelessly to make ends meet as they dislodge baskets of perishables farm produce from trucks; lorries, carrying customers’ goods to a waiting vehicle. The marathon race at which customers run after wheelbarrow is enough to compete in olympic game.

This popular Mile 12 market has become the melting pot to many homes over several decades. Mostly dominated by Hausa traders, the market is structured in a way to avoid interference. The tomatoes section is different from pepper section. No other item is sold in the large space expect tomatoes. Other sections include grains, tubers, cereals, each with its own chairman. However, there’s overall chairman who sees CONTINUED ON PAGE 28

Why we are changing our drivers’ attitude -LAGBUS Muritala Ayinla he LAGBUS Asset Management Limited, Ttransit managers of the intra- city public mass buses in Lagos State, has begun a

holistic re-training of its over 996 drivers in order improve on its service delivery and address some of the complaints of the residents.

Speaking with New Telegraph, Babatunde Disu, the LAGBUS Managing Director, also urged residents to always report any reckless Lagbus driver found to have contravened the traffic regulations and laws, saying that was the only way to assist the company in improving its services.

Disu, who was reacting to the two Lagbus drivers honoured by the state Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola for distinguishing themselves by complying to the safety rules and regulations, said LAGBUS would do everything possible to reward excellent driving.“We have two of our captains being honoured by the Governor, Babatunde Fashola; one of them has been with us for about five years. Parts of the criteria we looked at are: their attitude to work, what confidence we have had about them over time and how they have managed their vehicles. We also consider whether they have been involved in any accident since they were employed. The honour is fantastic, it just showed what Lagos State stands for and the need for continued improvement and excellent in service. We at LAGBUS, don’t have a choice than to continuously strive at improving in our service delivery,” he said.

He added that the training of other female LAGBUS driver recently employed would come up later, adding that the training of over 996 drivers was to change the attitude of bad eggs among the drivers and to get them adapt to the changing technology and driving skills.

Commenting on the complaints by some commuters about some LAGBUS drivers and officials, he said that “that is one of the reasons for the training. Let the people of Lagos never get tired of reporting such incidents of reckless driving. That is how we can continuously improve. I’m sure if people look at the way our captains have been driving in the last six months and compare it with their experiences were about them a year ago, they would see the improvement.

We will continuously improve,” he said.

Also speaking, the two honoured LAGBUS captains, Mustapha Musiliu and Okuromade Kamoru said they were excited by the honour, saying the award would spur them more to do better. The duo, who said they were recognised and recommended for the honour by their Zonal Supervisors, said they felt elated with the way the state government recognised their attitude towards driving.

“Everything one does in life; one should put in the best. Now I’m being recognised by the Governor as someone who is contributing his own quota to the development of the state,” Kamoru said.

28

News | Mega City

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

Nigeria at 54: Ikeja City Mall partners City FM Mojeed Alabi s part of activities marking NigeAsary, ria’s 54th independence anniverone of Nigeria’s leading city

malls- Ikeja City Mall has partnered a radio station, City FM and the mall’s tenant stores to treat its customers to satisfaction.

Customers were given opportunity to send well wishes on City FM live to their loved ones and sign their goodwill messages to Nigeria on a supersized flag strategically positioned inside the mall.

The mall’s Marketing Manager, Eniola Ositelu, said the aim of the independence show just like every other year, was to change the negative perception people have of the country. “This event is mainly to promote the interest of Nigeria positively in the hearts of our

Lagos to acquire more farmland in Osun, Oyo

A heap of refuse at the council headquarters

Muritala Ayinla

Oshodi/Isolo and its heaps of refuse L Ezekiel Adesawe shodi-Isolo Local Government Ohodi, council is well known place in OsLagos. Built on an area of 45 kilometres square, it was created by the Second Republic Governor of Lagos State, Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande.

It is part of the Ikeja Division of Lagos State. The area includes two constituencies of the National House of Representatives, Oshodi-Isolo I, and Oshodi-Isolo II. In recent years, the Oshodi-Isolo local government area has witnessed different developmental projects covering construction of modern class rooms, libraries, sports centres, roads, poverty alleviation and skill acquisition programmes as well as free health care and medical check-ups among others. Given this situation, it is expected that the local government should be capable of controlling the dumping of refuse as well as abandoned vehicles within its secretariat. Right from the entrance of the

customers and Lagosians as a whole. It is to reaffirm the ‘belief in Nigeria’ and ‘belief in ICM’ spirit,” he said.

He added that the turnout sent the right signal about the subject. Ositelu appreciated the support of the tenant stores and Lagosians, who he said, came out enmasse to make the event memorable. He said there were fantastic prizes to be given out in a draw when people make single receipt purchase(s) of over N25,000 in any store within the mall, and that they could win cash prizes ranging from N50,000, to N150,000.

Other side attractions to mark the celebration included dancing competition, fashion parades, spot the flag game, photographs with the independence cake and the highlight of the day was the cutting of the beautifully decorated Nigerian green and white cake.

secretariat, different posters(political mostly), huge refuse dumpsite, and littered old rickety vehicles totally negates the beauty and real purpose of the secretariat. Through the main gate into the secretariat is a section by the left side of the road that leads to the chairman’s office, where those who work within the secretariat, deposit refuse coming from all the offices. Indeed, the inside of the secretariat is an eyesore and really degrading of what a typical local government should look like.

According to some of the local council workers there, the refuse is dumped within the secretariat because they have no other place to deposit the rubbish. It has become a normal site for them. “I don’t see any big issue here at all. Agreed, there could be proper ways and more decent ways of disposing the rubbish, but again, Waste Management trucks do come in here once in a week to clear it. So there is really no issue in it,” an worker there said.

agos State Government has said that it would soon acquire more lands for agricultural purposes in Osun and Oyo States as part of efforts to ensure food security in the state despite the growing population of residents.

Speaking with New Telegraph, Prince Gbolahan Lawal, state Commissioner for Agriculture and Cooperative, said the dream of achieving a mega city status would not be feasible, if the government is not doing anything to ensure food security for the populace, adding that the moves would not only create jobs but also assist the state in meeting its 25 per cent food production target by 2018.

He explained that food production has commenced on the parcel of land initially acquired from Osun, Ogun and other states, adding that efforts were ongoing to acquire additional 1,000 hectares of arable land from Osun and Ogun states. “For Ogun, we have started production on the 500 hectares, a lot of land clearing has commenced.

For Osun, we have started production because we have 4,000 stands of oil palm and we are doing a lot of vegetables

and pineapple because the land there is about 84 acres. We are in the process of getting additional 1,000 hectares there but we have not concluded that. For Oyo, we are also in the process of getting the final approval. The two governors have expressed their readiness to collaborate with us in this regards,” he said.

Explaining the reason the state is embarking on acquisition of land mass from neighbouring states for food production, Lawal said that limited arable land in the state with huge population necessitated the government’s decision, adding that the action is a global practice. “The arable land in Lagos is not adequate for the people of Lagos.

Real estate is where Lagos has a comparative advantage. While some people are coming from other states to get our land for real estate, why can’t we go to other states to get arable land for farming and other agricultural purposes?

We are not the only state or sub national government doing this. China went to Russia to get land. China’s farm is in Ethiopia. Saudi Arabia got 10,000 hectares of land from Sudan for agricultural purposes; Brazil also has something of that nature in Mozambique. It is a global practice everywhere,” he said.

Mile 12 market: Home of foodstuff CONTINUED FROM PAGE 27

to the affairs of the entire market.

The General Secretary of the Mile 12 Perishable Goods Market Association, Alhaji Abdul Mohammed, affirms the market’s uniqueness. He told Mega City that the uniqueness lays in the varieties of items in the market and the affordability. He said that Mile 12 Market is not an ordinary market, but an international market. “This is where all the 36 states in the country bring perishable items which is what makes it international market. It is not that we brought international market from Western country to Mile 12,” he said.

Mohammed reveals that no matter the farm produce, Mile 12 has it. “If you go round the federation, you will never find a market like this in Lagos.

You cannot find this kind of market anywhere in Africa except in Nigeria, Lagos in particular,” he said. He added: “There was a time some researchers came from America. They didn’t come here directly. They first went to Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Abuja, but they referred them to Mile 12 because this is where you find the largest concealment of farm produce,” he claimed.

Items in Mile 12 market are sold at sub-

sidised rates. A big bag of onions is sold at N14,000, while a basket of onions goes for N4,500. “This is the only market that you come and buy at a subsidised price; people from all over Lagos, the neighbouring states like Oyo, Ondo, Ogun come here to buy their things. Likewise, people come from as far as Togo, Benin Republic, Ghana to buy goods because they know that when they come here, they will surely get what they want at a very good price. The market is neat; that is the law of the state government that we should keep the place tidy, we have been doing that. The leadership of the market have also maintained peace such that anytime anyone comes here to buy anything, they do not need to fear no matter the millions of naira they bring to buy goods; nobody will harass them.

There’s no thief in the market, Mohammed declares. The supply of farm produce to Mile 12 market is basically from the northern part of the country.

The General Secretary said the population and the demand for farm produce makes it necessary for farmers to continue to grow crops, produce food to feed the nation. “lf you check the population of Nigeria from 1960, 1976, 1980 up to 1990, and 2014 the population has increased; only a few state in the 70’s, 80’s produce tomatoes,

Offloading of baskets of tomatoes

onions, and pepper,” he said. “But the agriculture level is now expanding to all the states in the federation; people now eye irrigation; most of the produce you see here is a product of irrigation farming, the dams that government have provided for people to irrigate.”

Mohammed urged the government to focus on agriculture. He noted that agriculture can also boost economy of the country. “If government put more efforts in agriculture, we will be exporting our farm produce to western countries; other countries that depend on agriculture economy have grown.

South Africa now produce more than what we are producing in Nigeria. It is

not that we are not producing, but the modern mechanism are not there, they have safe storage facility. We do not have in Nigeria”, he disclosed. Continuing, he reveals that there are tomatoes that can go round the nation for a year even if it is not the season of tomatoes, but the lack of storage facility has really affected the preservation of the goods.

“We don’t have the mechanism that can preserve them till off-season period; when we are off-season, people spend a lot of money to purchase a basket of tomatoes. We are calling the attention of the Federal Government to assist us with storage facilities so that things will be easy for us and Nigerians.”

Life | In The City

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014

Ordinarily, cemeteries are the resting places of our dear ones who have departed this world. They are places where their remains are kept in remembrance, for them to rest.

But as ELIJAH SAMUEL found out, some cemeteries in Lagos, are not places of rest. The living have made them uncomfortable even for the dead.

29

That the dead may sleep in peace

T

o everything, there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die…

For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts: even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.

All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. …wherefore I perceived that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him.

The above extract from the third chapter of Biblical book of Ecclesiastes, King James Version (KJV) reenacts the vanity that is the intrinsic part of every man on earth. As God, the creator has appropriately apportioned time to things: His verdict that every living creature He created must necessary come to an end demonstrates his supremacy and his unquestionable acts of equitability and orderliness. He deploys death as a leveler of all beings.

And even though death is the inexorable end of every man, it is considered honourable that some level of dignity should still be accorded man in death. But the decrepit condition into which most of the cemeteries in this part of the planet have sunk is deplorable.

A visit to some of the cemeteries, specifically the public ones in the state, not only evokes the reality of the vanity that man is, the endemic ruinous neglect that characterizes public service and facilities is unequivocally lays bare for all to see.

Matori Cemetery is one of the few that are visible in Lagos State. Tucked in the Matori Industrial Estate in Mushin Local Government Area, it shares a fence with the Armed Forces Resettlement Centre, Oshodi.

Its only pathway, which offers access, is lined with notable industries and other warehouses in the area. The mammoth crowd that daily throng the Ladipo Environment as a result massive commercial activities of the Ladipo International Auto Spare parts Markets, betrays the presence and the solemnity for which such facility is associated with.

Right at the cemetery gate, the unkempt condition hits your consciousness: broken slabs and open tombs all around you find. And as further steps were being taken to make enquiry, cold shivers run down the spine as one beheld wide strands of weeds and

Ebony’s millenium cemetery within Atan Cemetery

trees, which have been left to grow to the extent that a long gaze far into the extreme of the cemetery was intercepted by the terrifying darkness of the age-long trees in there. As a voice beckoned to know what the visit was all about, it was a relief that at least, human beings were still around.

From diligent observation and assessment, it appeared the whole place is filled up and hardly can there be any more space left as grave mounds litter every available space in the cemetery.

In the ensuing chat with the cemetery attendant, it was revealing that those in charge of cemeteries seem only to be interested in the monetary gains which accrue there from. Obviously, the place has been left in utter deterioration through systemic abandonment.

“Here, we have two arrangements under which people can bury their dead ones. There is one that is ordinary and the one that is permanent. Under the ordinary arrangement which cost N28, 000, we’ll just dig a grave and cover the corpse with sand and leave it for some time. But under the permanent arrangement, a space is bought for N90, 000. Immediately after the burial, the grave is bordered round with blocks and covered with slabs, which will be cemented and secured,” the attendant explained.

At Atan Cemetery, situated on the road to the University of Lagos, the atmosphere was serene as one could ever imagine. The witnessed serenity could probably have been as a result of New Telegraph’s visit on a day that there was no serious activity. Here, the sanitary condition looked relatively better. Perhaps, this impression which ushers visitors into the interior is enhanced by the

Another section of the Atan Cemetery

Under the ordinary arrangement which costs N28, 000, we’ll just dig a grave and cover the corpse with sand and leave it for some time. tarred access path adorned on the left by aligned tomb stones.

But as one gets to the cemetery’s administrative block, the depravity and dishonorable condition that has become the hallmark of cemeteries in the state once again pounced on one’s sensibility.

Further steps into the interior evoked the wretchedness of the expanse graveyard. This is even more enacted by the location of exquisite model cemeteries: Yaba Cemetery and Ebony Millennium Cemetery.

These are in sharp contrast to the decadence that Atan Cemetery is. Although those models depict luxury and elegance, seemingly for the reserve of the few privileged in the society, it is still unimaginable if it is an official standpoint that

those of the public should deliberately be confined to such deplorable condition.

The sharp difference between these noncontiguous cemeteries is not only in the aesthetics, the pricing sets them far apart.

Findings at the Ebony’s Millennium Cemetery revealed that their vaults are in categories.

Depending on the type, the prices range between N900,000 to N5 million with complimentary services provided within the enclosed compound. But in Atan, a vault goes for N150,000 while the three-layer vault sells for N200,000.

But now, in the era when the state is steadily on the march towards megacity status, much has to be done to bring sanity and restore the lamentable state of public cemeteries. Ostensibly, the ravaging decadence of these public facilities across the state is unacceptable. So, there is an urgent need for the overhaul of cemetery administration in the state. This, of course, will enhance safe health of the citizenry and complement the total wholesomeness of the megacity status.

30

The Mega City

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

UPCOMING EVENTS

Customer Relations and Profitability in Business

Organiser: Purpose Built Services Limited Date: October 18, 2014, 10:00 -11:30 AM Venue: 25b Sunmola Street, Maryland, Lagos.

Own Your Life

Organiser: Morinda Inc Usa And Honey Fountain Ventures Nigeria Date: October 18, 2014, 12:00 PM- 3:30 PM Venue: Sheraton Hotel, Bank Anthony Way, Ikeja, Lagos.

Training for Health providers, Professionals, Leaders Organiser: Totally Natural Wellness Center Date: October 14, 2014, 12:00 -5:00 PM Venue: 8,Yaya Abatan, near excellence hotel Ogba, Lagos.

Start-Up Entrepreneurship Training

Organiser: School of Business Without Boundaries Date: Every Tuesday: 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM Venue: 5 Sunday Ogunyade Street, Behind Mobil Filling Station, Phase II, Gbagada – Lagos.

MEGA CITY EVENTS: Eko Club’s 40th Anniversary

L-R: First President, Eko Club, Lagos, Chief Rasheed Alaba Williams; Elegushi of Ikateland, Oba Saheed Ademola Elegushi; Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola; President, Eko Club, Alhaji Babatunde Faruk Grillo; Alhaja Sekinat Yusuf and Alhaji Tijani Babatunde Folawiyo.

L-R: Elegushi, Fashola and Grillo.

L-R: Fashola, Alaba Williams, Grillo and other members of the Club.

L-R: Fashola, Elegushi, Alaba Williams, Grillo and other members of the Club.

PHOTOS: TONY EGUAYE

Wedding ceremony of Mr. and Mrs. Oloruntoba Kehinde

Groom, Mr. Oloruntoba Kehinde and bride, former Miss. Oluwatosin Kazeem, during their traditional wedding in Lagos… Friday.

L-R: Wife of Minister in Charge, Zion Baptist Church, Elepe, Ikorodu, Lagos, Mrs. Grace Afolabi; the couple and Minister in Charge, Zion Baptist Church, Rev. David Afolabi.

The couple during their solemnization of Holy Matrimony in Lagos… Saturday.

L-R: Groom’s father, Mr. Folorunsho Kehinde; bride’s mother, Mrs. Funmilayo Kazeem; the couple, groom’s mother Mrs. Modinat Kehinde; and bride’s elder brother, Mr. Rahmaon Kazeem.

My City, My World Lagos can be better -Deji Doherty, politician Oluwatosin Omoniyi or Chief Adedeji Fnessman Doherty, a busiand poli-

tician, Lagos is home. “I can’t live anywhere outside Lagos and I can never like anywhere else more than Lagos,” he said.

Apart from the fact that he is born a Lagosian, he likes the people of Doherty Lagos, the community, tradition and its cultural diversity, “No place like Lagos,” he insisted.

Doherty explained that Lagos’ culture is very unique, especially with the mixture of Brazilian and the Aworis. The Brazilian, he said, were the first settlers in Lagos, while the Aworis are the native Lagosians. These two natives embedded into the system their cultures, traditions and norms.

“Lagos is very rich in culture, economic value and social wise,” he said. Doherty pointed out the different unique attributes of the state which marks it out as the commercial nerve centre of the entire nation. He said, it is the destination hub of all imports into the country, “Lagos is the financial hub for the entire West Africa,” he said. He pointed out that Lagos has the largest population in the country and that the highest percentage of the country’s GDP, comes from Lagos, a pointer that Lagos is very rich. He added that a lot of unique things come from Lagos, in terms of culture, health and society.

The rail network for instance, is efficiently working and that add to the beauty of Lagos. The rail system, he said helps with interconnectivity within and outside the state.

Comparing Lagos city with other developed cities, Doherty said Lagos can’t be compared to New York but it can be said to be side-by-side with Accra of Ghana. “We are yet to get to that developed level. Lagos is not yet developed to a desired stage,” he said.

Doherty, however, stated that the beauties, he believed, could be added to Lagos State and its city. He explained that there are so many natives on Lagos Island that are yet to feel the impact of good governance. He called for the decongestion of the urban areas. He said government can create infrastructure and incentives to encourage people to move to places like Epe, Badagry, e.t.c.

“Health care workers for instance, if given the incentive, they would be encouraged to go and help the communities outside urban area,” he said. Doherty pointed out that there is need for waterways transport and rural development. He also said there is need for a drastic turnaround of the anti-private sector tax regime in the state.

Lagos is everything to me -Adebanjo debola Adebanjo is an Epe born Lagosian and Aeverything.

Lagos based business man. For him, Lagos is He said Lagos is rich, friendly and

accommodating. He said even with the general slogan that “Lagos is no man’s land,” the truth is, that is because Lagos is tolerant, according to him. In Lagos, it is easy to find help and one can’t be cheated without recovery. He attributed friendly weather to Lagos’s success. “It is not as extreme as some of the far North weather,” he said. Adebanjo stated that Lagos is known to be the commercial nerve centre and a law enforcing state. He said: “Compared to other states in the country, there is discipline in Lagos. People are forced to comply. If an indisciplined individual comes, he or she has no option but to fall into shape and be disciplined here.” Despite the congestion in Lagos, Adebola said he can never live outside Lagos because he believes that there is safety in the state and Lagos has the best.

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014

FCT Watch

Money

The Investor

Maritime 39

Ebola takes shine off Abuja trade fair

CBN’s contractionary measures to ease inflation in 2015

Need to tame challenges of SMEs financing

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How Calabar Channel contract was awarded

Business What's news

Nigeria’s steel imports may hit $15bn –Aganga Unless deliberate steps are taken to encourage local production of steel and iron, the amount of money spent annually on its importation may triple in the next few years, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Olusegun Aganga, has warned.

p.32

Gas-to-power: Minister pledges aggressive implementation The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, has declared that the ministry is committed to an aggressive and robust implementation of the various initiatives designed to accelerate the provision of adequate gas supply for power generation in line with the Federal Government’s aspiration for the power sector.

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The Business Desk

Ayodele Aminu l Deputy Editor (Business) Bayo Akomolafe l Asst. Editor (Maritime)

Sunday Ojeme l Asst. Editor (Insurance)

Godson Ikoro l Asst. Editor (Money Market)

Dayo Ayeyemi l Property Editor

Adeola Yusuf l Energy Editor

Wole Shadare l Aviation Editor

Chris Ugwu l Capital Market Editor Abdulwahab Isa l Finance Editor Kunle Azeez l Senior Correspondent Chuks Onuanyin l Energy Nnamdi Amadi l Reporter Johnson Adebayo l Asst Production Editor

FDI: Nigeria’s ICT to exceed $32bn INVESTMENT Federal Government’s desire to drive increased investment in information technology has started yielding result Kunle Azeez Dubai, UAE

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igeria is currently making moves to accelerate the growth of local and Foreign Direct Investment (FDIs) into the country’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry faster beyond $32 billion in the coming years.

The resolve of the country to achieve an accelerated growth was accentuated by the Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mr Peter Jack.

Speaking at the on-going Gulf Information Technology Exhibition (GITEX) in Dubai, United Arab Emirate, Jack said that government was interested in driving increased investment in the country’s ICT sector with focus on how foreign investors can support indigenous companies and local innovations.

GITEX Technology Week is being held from 12–16 October at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.

As the official country partner, Nigeria has been headlining the major themes at the on-going GITEX 2014 to attract positive international interest to its burgeoning ICT sector.

This is the second year since the country premiered its presence by setting up the Nigerian Pavilion, promoted

by NITDA to discuss invest-

ment potential in the country’s ICT industry to global investors.

According to the NITDA DG, “this year, Nigeria hopes to further leverage on the global exposure presented

by GITEX to spotlight its local software industry and other sub-IT sectors and that is why we have occupied the centre of activities at the five day event as GITEX official country partner.

“Specifically, we would

be having the ‘Nigeria Investment Forum’ which is a major event that we have planned to attract global IT investment into the country.

Outcome of this event will, no doubt, have far-reaching positive impact on the investment inflow into the country in the coming years to boost our current FDIs of $32 billion.”

Jack also explained other socio-economic benefits to Nigeria as being official part-

ner to the technology show.

Jack said: “Being a GITEX official country partner would, among others, enable Nigeria to increase its brand presence on a global scale where over 140,000 trade visitors will understand what Nigeria have to offer.

“It will also help in breaking down the perception of the risks associated with working in Nigeria’s flourCONTINUED ON PAGE 32

L-R: Executive Director, Sterling Bank Plc, Abubakar Suleiman; Regional Business Executive, Sterling Bank Plc, Mr Obi Egbarin and Chairman, Community One, Festac Residents Association of Nigeria, Dr. Alex Edo, at the official opening of Festac Town branch of Sterling Bank Plc in Lagos.

Dayo Ayeyemi

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n order to facilitate the use of 635 core assets of the successor companies of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), the Federal Government, through its Ministry of Land, Housing and Urban Development, has commenced the process of issuing Certificates of Occupancy (Cs of O) to power distribution companies.

The assets are located in Abuja, Benin, Eko, Enugu, Ibadan, Ikeja, Jos, Kaduna, Kano, Port- Harcourt and Yola.

Minister of Housing, Mrs

FG begins issuance of C of Os on Discos’ core assets Akon Eyakenyi, disclosed that the core assets belonged to eleven electric power distribution companies (Discos) located in various zones of the country.

Speaking when rendering the account of her stewardship at the 2014 Ministerial Platform in Abuja, the minister emphasised that without granting the companies the required Cs of O over the property, they would find it difficult to make use of the

assets.

Mrs Eyakenyi stressed that the ministry was accelerating the process so that the assets could be converted to better use by new companies, adding that the ministry had granted 3,798 Certificates of Occupancy to respective individuals and private organisations in the last four years.

She explained that 1,756 consents for the transfer of CONTINUED ON PAGE 32

Rates Dashboard INFLATION RATE August 2014............................8.5% July 2014.................................8.3% May 2014.................................8.2%

LENDING RATE InterBank Rate....................11.57% Prime Lending Rate...........16.93% Maximum Lending Rate...25.83%

EXCHANGE RATE

EXCHANGE RATE

USD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N156.75 Pounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N254.68 Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N198.08

USD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N155.75 Pounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N251.32 Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N196.76

(Parellel As at Oct 2)

l Foreign Reserves – $39.47bn as at 2/10/2014

Source: CBN

(Official As at Oct 2)

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Business | News

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

Nigeria’s steel imports may hit $15bn –Aganga CAPITAL FLIGHT

Huge loss in revenue from steel importation worries government Dayo Ayeyemi

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nless deliberate steps are taken to encourage local production of steel and iron, the amount of money spent annually on its importation may triple in the next few years, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Olusegun Aganga, has warned.

He noted that if necessary actions were not put in place, the amount could hit $15 billion in a few years.

The minister disclosed that Nigeria currently spends $3.3billion annually on importation of steel and iron.

Aganga disclosed this in Ilorin, Kwara State, during a pre-commissioning visit to Cold Steel

ENERGY

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation alongside JV partners are determined to ensure adequate gas supply Sunday Ojeme

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he Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani AlisonMadueke, has declared that the ministry is committed to an aggressive and robust implementation of the various initiatives designed to accelerate the provision of adequate gas supply for power generation in line with the Federal Government’s aspiration for the power sector.

L-R: Managing Director, Afrinvest West Africa Limited, Mr Ike Chioke; Group Managing Director/CEO, Skye Bank Plc, Mr Timothy Oguntayo and Head, Corporate Communications, Strategy and Research, Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Mr Kayode Lambo, at the signing of the share sale and purchase agreement of Mainstreet Bank Limited in Lagos.

Rolling Mill Complex of Kam Industries Nigeria Limited.

The minister said: “We spend $3.3 billion every year importing those items. In the next few years, that $3.3 billion will become $15 billion. So if people like Kamaldeen (Chairman of KAM) and others do not

do what they are doing, we will remain poor as a nation and our youths will not have jobs in this country.”

The rolling project comprises HR Slitting line, Push-Pull Pickling line, Cold rolling mill, trimming and rewinding line, among other technologies assembled

from 11 countries.

The minister, who inspected the project and the entire KAM facilities founded by Dr. Kamaldeen Yusuf, explained that the project, when fully commissioned, would save the country $4 billion annually in foreign reserves.

Aganga also spoke on

Gas-to-power: Minister pledges aggressive implementation It was learnt that the Minister, who recently announced the N213bn inter-agency initiative to facilitate the liquidation of legacy gas debts in the power sector, stated that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) alongside its Joint Venture Partners were determined to surpass its mandate of providing the required fuel gas as well as gas infrastructure for the smooth operation of power plants in the country.

On gas supply to the upcoming Azura-Edo Power plant in Ihovbor/ Orior Osemwende communities near Benin City, which foundation laying ceremony was performed by President

Goodluck Jonathan at the weekend, Mrs AlisonMadueke disclosed that the 450mw IPP would be supplied with 120mmscuf/per day through the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) and the Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc Joint Venture’s new gas processing facilities at the Oben Gas Plant.

To develop and deliver gas to the project, the minister said that the Joint venture would be investing approximately $200 million.

“The Nigerian Gas Company would be providing gas transportation to the power plant using the 50 km stretch of the Escravos Lagos Pipeline

Spectrum,’’ she said.

She noted that AzuraEdo power plant gas transaction was a pioneer in the two-tier gas pricing arrangement as proposed in the Gas Master Plan which envisions a willing buyer-willing seller pricing.

Mrs Alison-Madueke further stated that Azura and Seplat exemplified the success stories of this administration in the power and oil and gas sectors.

The minister pledged to sustain the existing synergy among the Ministries of Petroleum Resources, Power and the Central Bank of Nigeria in ensuring a strong alignment in power outputs and the requisite gas supply.

FG begins issuance of C of Os on Discos’ core assets CONTINUED FROM PAG E 3 1

land titles were granted to people; while 3,787 serviced plots were created through the ministry.

To address the problem associated with land’s accessibility for development, she explained that the ministry had been working in partnership with the Presidential Technical Committee on

Land Reform (PTCLR) and other stakeholders to tackle the plethora of issues in land administration and management.

The aim, according to her, was to ensure that land owners secure titles and bankable assets, noting that the PTCLR had, in 2013, developed and produced draft Land Use Act regulations.

The minister blamed

implementation of the Land Use Act as a constraint to land accessibility and ownership in the country, stressing that inaccessibility of land due to delays and high cost of titling had weighed down on affordable housing delivery.

She hinted that discussions were on-going with state governors to reduce the cost of land,

title applications and turnaround time to approve land request in order to bring down prices of housing units for the citizenry.

The minister further said that efforts were being intensified to update the land database management/processing system in the country through the Federal Land Information System.

the country’s Industrial Revolution Plan (IRP) which he described as the most robust and comprehensive industrial plan ever evolved in Nigeria with the objective of diversifying the economy and revenue sources.

He pointed out that Nigeria would not be able to afford the huge loss in revenue from the steel importation hence the need to support local industries to come in.

The minister added that President Goodluck Jonathan had already set up a committee on how the nation can make sure that its industries especially in the real sector have access to affordable finance, adding that the Bank of Industry is going to play a major role.

Deputy Managing Director of KAM Industries, Alhaja Mariam Yusuf, said that with the rolling mill, the company could produce vehicle panel bodies in Nigeria and other products like galvanised roofing sheets, pipes, shovels and trowels, among others.

FDI: Nigeria’s ICT to exceed $32bn CONT INU E D FROM PAGE 31

ishing but often misrepresented technology sector.”

Through the Investment forum, Jack noted that “Africa’s most populous country of over 170 million could also win the interests of investors for its various in-country projects to increase its FDI; and open up channels of dialogue between NITDA and other similar government bodies from Africa, Europe and the Middle East.”

Nigeria has a burgeoning technology market despite its being gross under-infrastructure, which policy makers consider as offering exciting investment opportunities.

Part of the government’s initiative to achieve a digital economy in 2015 for the country include deepening broadband penetration by 12 per cent, ICT contribution to Gross Domestic Products to reach 15 per cent; Internet penetration to reach 34 per cent, mobile penetration to reach 100, Internet users to reach 70 million and number of registered ICT companies to increase beyond 350 per cent by next year.

Jack also announced at the event that government has planned an investment support fund of N1.5 billion aimed at

accelerating the development of local technology innovations in the nation’s ICT sector.

Meanwhile, as the country’s agency responsible for ICT policy formulation and implementation under the Ministry of Communication Technology, Jack said that NITDA was committed towards ensuring that ICT contribution to Nigeria’s GDP increases to 15 per cent within three years.

He stated that NITDA has a national ICT Strategic plan with a time line of 2010-2015, whose implementation will help in advancing the auspicious target.

Jack said that the implementation of the plan in sectors such as education, agriculture, health, human capital development, governance, judiciary and national security, has propelled the level of development in the ICT sector in Nigeria.

He added that the impact of the plan and its implementation will be measured and reviewed by next year.

“The vision of the national broadband plan is for Nigeria to be one of a society of connected communities with high speed internet and broadband access that facilitates faster socioeconomic advancement of the nation and its people,” he said.

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014

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FCT Business Watch Amadi Nnamdi Abuja

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o fewer than 350,000 new jobs would be created in the next five years with the implementation of a new Cashew Export Strategy programme initiated by the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC).

Executive Secretary of NEPC Mr Olusegun Awolowo, gave this projection during the implementation agreement signing between the National Cashew Association of Nigeria (NCAN) and USAID/Nigeria Expanded Trade and Transport (NEXTT), a statement by NEPC Head of Communications, Mr Joe Itah, said.

Awolowo said at the occasion that the strategy was to scale-up the volume of cashew production in Nigeria from its present 120,000 tons a year to 300,000 tons in the next four years.

Cashew: NEPC partners USAID to create 350,000 jobs “As the sixth largest producer of raw cashew nut in the world and with cashew grown in almost all states in Nigeria, an increase of 20 per cent from our current production figure would create over 344,000 jobs and $75,875,000 additional income for the nation,” he said.

Responding, Chief of Party for USAID/NEXTT, Mr Alf Monaghan, emphasised the importance of the market, stating that the expectations and needs of the customers should determine the quality and net output of the product.

He said that competition has changed the nature of the market place just as value ad-

dition is critical to the market share that any commodity would have.

Monaghan charged Nigerian exporters to build the brand of local products to enable them attract premium pricing in the international market.

While expressing hope that the support from NEPC and USAID would help the industry to achieve its potentials,

the President of the National Cashew Association of Nigeria (NCAN), Mr Tola Faseru, observed that the cashew sector has the potential to earn $2 billion yearly for the country within the next five years, adding that its labour is dominated by women and youth.

Managing Director of African Cashew Alliance (ACA), Mr Roger Brou, explained that the

group was already working to improve the output of Nigerian farmers by organising training sessions across the country.

In setting the tone for increased quality of Nigeria cashew, Brou disclosed that ACA, in partnership with USAID/NEXTT and NEPC, is already training 4,000 Nigerian cashew farmers as a regional pilot project.

FCT women co-op lauds FG on non-collateral loans

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coalition of 160 multipurpose women cooperative societies under the aegis of Global Women Association has commended the Federal Government’s initiative empowering women to boost their small businesses without collateral.

The women said that the move by the Federal Government was a bold and realistic way to combat poverty at the grassroots even as they said that the action has engendered more trust between Nigerian lowly women in the territory and government.

They said this against the background of the N220 billion Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s loan for small and medium businesses by the Federal Government.

The group’s National Coordinator, Mrs Chinnonso Nwachukwu, said this during its formal launch at the Kabusa Ward of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), adding that no nation survives without micro businesses.

She lauded the president for not politicising the process.

According to her, “no nation thrives without small scale business. All successful nations in the world start from somewhere. That is why we are commending President Goodluck Jonathan for taking this positive initiative that will soon drive Nigeria’s economy.

But, we must advice that he should not use politicians for this noble exercise because they may hijack the process for their own selfish goal.”

Nwachukwu who addressed the community women at the superstar International Acad-

emy, Federal Housing, Lugbe, told them that while the fund is accessible through cooperatives, it is not free cash but a loan that would be revolved.

According to her, the CBN being the custodian of the account where interested women will register their cooperative accounts will only disburse cash to competent small scale business operators that have the capacity to pay back in a maximum of five years with an interest rate of nine per cent.

Nwanchukwu said that most of the women engaged in various skill acquisitions need more training and funds to carry out their businesses, adding that the loan, when disbursed, would be used to enhance their businesses.

“We have over 160 registered cooperatives in the territory with different skills, but the problem the women are facing is that of funds and packaging of the products. As soon as the CBN loan is disbursed, I can assure you that the women will take their businesses to the next level,” she affirmed.

Mrs Nwanchukwu also disclosed that plans have been concluded for a Cooperative Fair in Abuja, aimed at showcasing the various products of small scale businessmen and women, noting that the proposed fair will open doors for foreign investors in Nigeria.

Various representatives of cooperative societies who came for the interface session expressed confidence in the scheme, assuring that the loan will mark the beginning of successful small-scale businesses in the country.

L–R: Show Anchor, Gulder Ultimate Search 11, Chidi Mokeme; Anambra State Governor, Chief Willie Obiano and Sales Director, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Hubert Eze, during the governor’s visit to Gulder Ultimate Search 11 camp in Aguleri, Anambra State

Heritage, Access Banks, Etisalat, others win customer service award Yekeen Nurudeen Abuja

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or placing premium on customers’ satisfaction and effective service delivery, Heritage Bank, Access Bank Plc, Etisalat and 34 other companies have been conferred with the prestigious Nigeria Customer Service Excellence Award.

The award categories cut across 27 sectors of the economy including banking and finance, telecommunication, media, hospitality, transport, real estate, oil and gas and others.

The second edition of the event which held at Ibeto Hotel, Abuja, saw Heritage Bank emerged the most supportive customer service company, while Access Bank and Etisalat won best customer service Company in banking service and best customer Service company in telecommunications.

Other winners at the event were Abuja Urban Mass Transport Company, DHL, DANA Air, Daily Trust, KIA Motors, NNPC, Channels Television, Julius Berger, Lona, Halogen Security among others.

Speaking at the event, the Coordinator of NSCA, Dr. Aliyu Ilias said the award was instituted to celebrate outstanding service excellence across all sectors in the country.

“I want to seize this opportunity to congratulate the winners in this year’s edition; you have served Nigerians efficiently based on the data gathered from your service consumers and we hope this award will propel and motivate you to improve in the area of Customer Service.” He said He explained that the Customer Service Awards is celebrated during the International Customer Service Week adding that the sole objective of the award was to raise the standard of Customer Service

in Nigeria by encouraging companies to go beyond paying lip service to customers.

“We have already set a mechanism in motion that will gather data, process them and then developed into a report; this will form an assessment for companies and also rate them from time to time’’ he said.

In his address, chairman of the event, Senator Dahir Umar who is also the Chairman Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights & Legal Matters emphasized the need for the federal government and Nigerians to repackage themselves to meet up with the global standard.

“Nigerians need to repackage themselves, we need the best in terms of service delivery in the service sector and dividends of democracy as they are called in the government parlance,” he said.

The next edition of the award is scheduled to hold in Lagos next year.

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Business | FCT Watch

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

Ebola takes shine off Abuja trade fair Amadi Nnamdi

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or a cosmopolitan city pacing to acquire the status of commercial hub, stakeholders holding the commercial levers of Abuja city in their wisdom conceived the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

On this platform, the executive members have been organising trade fairs, the annual gathering of local and international investors in the last nine years.

The Abuja trade fair provides opportunity for investors and prospective investors to network and avail themselves of investment opportunities that abound in the city.

Making Abuja a commercial hub The Federal Capital city of Abuja wears dual caps - first as capital city for Nigeria government and a nascent city that is fast evolving to a business hub like Logos state. The presence and location of virtually all regulatory agencies of the government in Abuja clearly underscores the importance of Abuja as a compulsory visit by most technocrats and business men on regular basis.

The Director-General of Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr. Benjamin Dikki, captured the economic hub of Abuja city center during the Bureau’s outing at the trade fair.

Dikki expressed the determination of BPE to partner with Abuja Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (ABUCCIMA) to make Abuja a commercial hub of Nigeria.

He said, “We are easily disposed to partner with ABUCCIMA because we have undertaken, through our program, to always support any initiative by the private sector to grow the nation’s economy especially if it is designed to add value to the transformation agenda of the federal government.

The bureau is desirous that we collectively strive to harness the entrepreneurial spirit of Nigerians and reposition the image of the Federal Capital city as an investment destination and commercial hub of the nation.”

Speaking recently in Abuja, the President of ABUCIMA, Dr. Solomon Nyagba, said the association planned to construct a five-star hotel in Abuja to be equipped with standard facilities.

He also said that the organisation might consider the option of investing in the oil and gas sector by the time the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) concludes the reform of the sector and open it up for public participation.

Other investment outlets listed

by ABUCIMA president include building the largest shopping mall in Abuja and a world-class event centre. To bring these projects into reality, he said that the organisation has entered into partnership with a reputable firm whose identity he refused to disclose.

“It might interest you to know that we are building the biggest mall in the city. Already, we are in partnership with a firm to develop a modern exhibition centre and a 5-star hotel so that we can grab some of these events that nor-

A section of the Abuja Trade Fair

mally take place at Hilton Hotels.

All these we are doing through partnership,” he said.

The Fair proper This year’s 9th Abuja International Trade Fair kicked off on September 23 and closed on October 6, 2014. Unlike previous editions, the 9th edition had ‘Strengthening SMEs for economic growth’ as its focus.’

The fair was officially declared opened by the Governor of Abia State, Chief Theodore Orji, represented by his deputy, Sir Emeka Ananaba.

Nyagba was very clear on the focus of the fair when he said, “The fair offers unrivalled opportunity for business development, as it is a hub for participants to showcase their goods and services. The fair is also expected to provide access to resource and technology findings in a bid to promote revitalisation and diversification of the nation’s economy, particularly the agro allied and mineral resources,” he said.

Nyagba said the theme was carefully crafted taking into consideration that about 75 per cent of the Organised Private Sector constituted the Small and Medium Enterprises, the segment expected to drive the economy.

Objectives Some of the listed objectives of the fair were to promote accelerated development of commerce and industry, promote revitalisation and diversification of Nigerian economy by promoting the nation’s non-oil exports, particularly the agro-allied products and mineral resources, direct attention to the role of private sector in the Nigerian economy and to provide access to resources and technology development.

Ebola scare and investors’ apathy Unlike previous editions of the fair that recorded massive participation of local and international exhibitors, the Ebola outbreak, the global deadly virus with no known cure, led to massive cut back in the number of local and international exhibitors, a fact that was attested to by ABUCIMA President.

Nyagba

the Ebola outbreak, the global deadly virus with no known cure, led to massive cut back in the number of local and international exhibitors

Nyagba admitted that the challenge of outbreak of Ebola virus slowed down the number of participants at the fair. He said most West African countries that used to have a large number of contingents shunned participation at the fair.

Nevertheless, a total of 217 exhibitors, including 12 foreign countries participated in this year’s edition despite the challenge of Ebola; a figure analysts said would have been much higher had Ebola not been in place.

Compared to the 8th edition that recorded over 3,000 exhibitors and 120 foreign countries as participants and a total revenue in excess of N1.5bn raked in; the Ebola scare negatively impacted the 9th edition of the fair.

Exhibitors complain of poor patronage Speaking on the Ebola outbreak, ABUCCIMA president commended both the Federal Government and Lagos state on steps taken to curtail the virus and urged other Africa countries to emulate steps taken by Nigerian government to contain the disease which would have had serious human and economic consequence on the economy of Nigeria.

He further commended the tempo of the economic reforms of the Federal Government of Nigeria, stating that they would create the necessary enabling environment for business to thrive.

Despite the low turnout, the fair was rich in display of array of products ranging from household items, cooking utensils, wares, food items, automobiles, generating sets name them. However, exhibitors complained of poor turnover, which they attributed to Ebola scare and lack of adequate publicity. The poor patronage affected the revenue profile of ABUCIMA. The sum of N1.5 billion was expected to be generated at the fair a figure slightly lower to the amount generated from hosting the 8th edition.

Ibrahim Yusuf, Sales and Special Duties Manager of Solution Business Services Nigeria Limited, complained of poor patronage of the company’s products.

According to him, a lot more

could have been done in terms of publicity to further attract people to the fair. He also added that people complained of inadequate finance, hence the reduction in their purchasing power.

Speaking with New Telegraph, Director-General of ABUCCIMA, Mr. Joe Idowu Wenegieme, said the fair-recorded successes. He said the transactions and business ideas generated during the fair would form part of the economic contributions of the annual fair in making Abuja a commercial hub.

Besides, he said that the 9th edition recorded new participants, which are also a big achievement for the Chamber.

However, some institutions, exhibitors who displayed good norms were singled out for recognition and awards were conferred on them. The list included United Health Insurance, which won the award for best Pharmaceutical Exhibitor, National Communication Commission (NCC) won the award for having the best stand while the best government exhibitor went to Akwa- Ibom State.

Other awardees are; Tummy Food Industry (best food exhibitor), Abuja Enterprises Agency (best SME exhibitor) while Egypt won the award for Best Foreign Exhibitor.

Conclusion The 9th edition of Abuja trade fair had been concluded though, analysts said the low turnout was expected as it coincided with the outbreak of Ebola disease. Exhibitors that relayed their experiences to New Telegraph, commended ABUCIMA for hosting the fair at its permanent site. With the large expanse of land measuring about 31 hectares, they expressed confident that, with unlimited space at its disposal, the leadership of ABUCIMA could carry out future expansion.

“Through PPP, we have given about seven hectares of land to Shoprite to come and build the largest mall here and we are also negotiating with some people, who have contacts with some Japanese companies to come build a 7-star hotel here,” a high ranking ABUCIMA official told New Telegraph.

Business | Money

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014

35

Cbn’s contractionary measures to ease inflation in 2015 Godson Ikoro

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s a sequel to sixth consecutive rise in headline inflation, fears that inflationary growth will soon overshoot the band of 6 -9 percent set by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has become palpable in some states.

Economists often define inflation as a sustained increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.

As the general price level rises, naira, the currency, will buy fewer goods and services. A chief measure of inflation is the inflation rate; the annualised percentage changes in a general price especially the consumer price index over time.

Consequently, fears that inflation will reduce the purchasing power of the Naira, a loss of value in the medium of exchange and unit of account during the 2015 elections became rife as the rise in headline inflation persisted. Analysts explained further that the negative effects of inflation include an increase in the opportunity cost of holding money, uncertainty over future inflation which may discourage investment and savings, and if inflation were rapid enough, shortages of goods as traders begin hoarding.

But despite the nation’s fears that inflation will spike due to up surge in political activities, insurgency and ebola spending, there are strong indications that the contractionary monetary policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria will ease any inflationary pressure the 2015 elections will foist on the country.

A research by the Financial Derivative Company (FDC) on Nigeria’s inflation during political cycles indicate that the trend in the inflation series between 1998 and 2014 indicates the influence of political cycle on consumer prices.

Their analysis of inflation series, during the election window covering the quarter before and a quarter after election month, reveals the relationship with government spending during political cycles.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive of FDC, Mr. Bismarck Rewane, said the headline inflation on year on year basis increased for the sixth consecutive months to a 13 month high value of 8.5 per cent in August from 8.3 per cent in July, and in line with this, he said that food inflation also peaked at 10 per cent (13-month high). But core inflation eased for the second consecutive month from 7.1 per cent to 6.3 per cent in July as its seasonal trend continued.

Given this scenario, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is concerned that the impact of insurgency is forcing a switch to imported foods to meet domestic shortfall. Consequently, the committee has reaffirmed its commitment to sustain efforts at ensuring price stability.

A statement from Cordros Capital Company limited also corroborates FDC. The inflation rate for now remains no concern as the market rate trend has been relatively stable at 8.11per cent over the last 12 months; stressing that the marginal uptrend in inflation will not have adverse impact

Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

The contractionary monetary policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria will ease any inflationary pressure that 2015 elections will foist on the country

CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele

on the fixed income instruments in the short term. It predicated this on the fixed income instruments, given the recent relative stability in the Naira/Dollar exchange rate.

The FDC boss said that political business cycle is mainly characterised by politicians stimulating the economy prior to elections to secure votes. These activities usually lead to increased political spending both from the incumbent government and the opposition, causing an increase in pre-election spending and subsequently increase in consumer process.

Moreover, in the sub Saharan Africa (SSA), the company said the relationship between election cycles and inflation can be more pronounced as most of this spending end up in private purses rather than in the provision of public goods.

Specifically, information from total government expenditure reveals a remarkable increase in government spending in an election year, relative to the year before it.

Citing the 1999 elections, FDC argued that the trend has remained constant as spending rises significantly in election years except for the 2011 election, when the spending was higher in the year before election.

Rewane argued further that while competitive spending among parties and political office seekers during electioneering campaigns and the election itself increases pre-election spending, such actions usually do not translate into immediate significant changes in most economic aggregates due to their lagged and weak multiplier effects. The research findings in the last quarter before the 1999 election, inflation rate picked up gradually.

Headline inflation and elections 1999 In the last quarter before 1999 election, inflation rate picked up gradually. FDC attributed it to the transition of government from military to civilian.

In addition, the over 90 per cent increase in government spending from the previous year resulted in an immediate impact on consumer prices. However, the series moderated after elections, probably due to better management of the economy and reduction in government spending.

2003 and 2007 election Similarly, on the 2003 and 2007, he pointed out that this was the first election under civilian government, coincided with an increase in total government spending; FDC said the rate of inflation eased in the quarter after the election. This shows the lagged impact of preelection political spending.

Also during 2011 election, the inflationary trend coincided with an early increase in total expenditure in 2010 and a contractionary monetary policy response by the Central Bank to check the resulting inflationary pressure from spending. Consequently, he said the impact increased spending was muted by the tight monetary policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The lenders watchdog, achieved this through its inflation targeting.

Its monetary policy goals are to promote effectively goals of maximum employment stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates. The apex bank will deploy its tools to maintain price stability.

At the last Monetary Policy Committee meeting, the lenders watchdog said that headline inflation rose to 8.5 per cent in August from 8.3 in July 2014.

The committee was concerned that the insurgency was forcing a switching from domestic to imported food to meet domestic shortfall with huge impact on external reserves and underscored the need to expedite action to restore normalcy to the troubled region to sustain the tempo of growth. The committee further reaffirmed its commitment to sustain efforts at ensuring price stability.

Conclusion Given the foregoing, the contractionary monetary policy of CBN will likely ease any inflationary pressures from electioneering before 2015 general elections.

However, the lagged effect of the pre-election spending may manifest itself the election.

The analysis and projection of the headline inflation for the quarter before the 2015 election indicates a downward trend, but the delayed impact of the political spending in the run up to the elections is expected to manifest after the election.

36

Business | The Investor

Aruma Oteh

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

Oscar

Sekibo

Need to tame challenges of SMEs financing Chris Ugwu

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ccording to the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), Small and Medium Eenterprises account for over 90 per cent of enterprises in the world and are responsible for 50 to 60 per cent of employment.

Up and coming nations like Nigeria have a lot to gain by helping the SME culture to take root and thrive. This is because the country can only develop better and survive economically under a thriving SME culture. Here in Nigeria, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) placed the total number of SMEs in the country at over 17 million.

Regrettably, Nigeria’s dwindling economy is not helping most of the SME operators to optimise their potential. Whereas, SMEs grow at almost twice the rate of Gross Domestic Product in most markets across Asia, Africa and Middle East, Nigeria’s case is very different.

Challenges The country’s SMEs like their counterparts in other emerging economies are perceived as a high risk segment of the market for banks when it comes to lending. Unstable macroeconomic policies further make banks to be conservative about exposure to them because of their higher failure rate.

Although there are provisions for shortterm loans they are usually made available to larger enterprises perceived to be credit worthy.

According to reports, even the previous public-sponsored financing programmes failed to make the desired impact due largely to high default rates. Few domestic equity sources for SMEs exist due to their inability to meet listing requirements.

Despite the widely acknowledged role of SMEs in fostering economic growth and development, they have continued to face a variety of constraints. Some of the challenges they face are inadequate infrastructural facilities, shortage of skilled manpower, high rate of enterprise mortality, low level of entrepreneurial skills, lack of a conducive operating environment, restricted market access and cumbersome regulatory requirements.

However, a key problem for SMEs is the issue of access to finance. SMEs, especially in developing countries, suffer from lack of access to appropriate funds from both the money and capital markets. This is due in part to the perception of high risks resulting in high mor-

tality rate of the business, poorly prepared project proposals, inadequate collateral, absence of verifiable history of past credits and lack of adequate historical records of the company’s transaction.

Nigeria as a factor While appraising the landscape of SME financing in Nigeria in a forum recently, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Heritage Bank, Mr. Ifie Sekibo, said, “Using Nigeria as a case study, between 2003 and 2009, SME loans as a percentage of total credit, decreased from 7.45 per cent to 0.18 per cent. Yet by 2012, Nigeria had about 17.6 million MSMEs employing about 32.4 million people. Although it is generally accepted that SMEs enhance competition and entrepreneurship, and their development has a positive impact on innovation and productivity growth, policy and infrastructure factors to mitigate risk and costs that SME sector cannot internalise need to be seriously worked upon by all relevant stakeholders.”

He further revealed that in Nigeria, most SMEs die within the first five years of existence while another smaller percentage goes into extinction between the sixth and 10th year, with only five to 10 per cent surviving, thriving and growing into established corporate status. He listed the leading cause of such suboptimal output to include: Poor access to funds, Weak institutional support, Unstable macroeconomics, Complicated and Unstructured Legal framework/Regulation, Inadequate business information, Infrastructure & Business environment and Human capital factors, among others.

Efforts of market regulators Since SMEs are vital for economic growth and development in both industrialised and developing countries by playing a key role in creating new jobs, they need adequate financing to meet needs at each stage of their life cycle, from creation through operation, development, restructuring, recovery and beyond.

That is why the NSE as part of efforts to revive small and medium enterprises investment market launched the Alternative Securities Market (ASeM) -a specialised board to accommodate small and mid-sized companies with high growth potential seeking to access the capital market.

ASeM provides the opportunity for these companies to raise long term capital at rela-

The efforts of the regulators to revive the sector have yielded little or no fruits as few companies listed on the sector have remained in abyss

tively low cost from the capital market, while creating opportunities for growth and institutionalisation of companies listed on the board.

The board, which was specifically designed for emerging businesses, was expected to serve as a veritable platform for them to access the capital market for long term funding. Also, the board seeks to address major challenges of emerging businesses in Nigeria, such as difficulty in accessing long term capital due to high cost of funds as a result of perceived high risk, informal nature of operations and inadequate accounting standards, controls and management of resources.

The Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Stock Exchange Mr. Oscar Onyema said ASeM seeks to address major challenges of emerging businesses in Nigeria, such as difficulty in accessing long term capital due to high cost of fund as a result of perceived high risk, informal nature of operations and inadequate accounting standards, controls and management of resources.

However, the efforts of the regulators to revive the sector have yielded little or no fruits as few companies listed on the sector have remained in abyss.

The NSE-ASeM index, the barometer that measures the activities of the sector has remained flat at 951.09 basis points due to lack of patronage by investors, reflecting the depressive nature of the primary market which serves as the SME’s window to the global investing community.

Conclusion In different parts of the world, SME markets have been established, under the main exchange or as separate exchanges, where listing criteria and disclosure requirements are eased. Some of these models failed, whereas some successful models were introduced, in developed, as well as in emerging market countries which also include Nigeria. However, efforts should be stepped up by NSE and other market regulators to create enabling environments that would reduce to minimum level the challenges faced by this segment of the economy.

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014

Minister orders closure of illegal jetties p.39

37

Maritime

Shippers, LASTMA to tackle Apapa gridlock p.39

Customs stop issuance of demand note ANTI TRADE Customs issue circular to stop sharp practices among officials at port Stories by Bayo Akomolafe

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he Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has barred all Customs units, except the valuation unit, from issuing Demand Note (DN).

DN is issued by Customs to recover revenue that may have been lost to under-valuation or under-declaration of goods.

Its Comptroller General, Dikko Abdulahi, gave the directive against the backdrop of complaints from clearing agents that Customs officers were in the habit of issuing outrageous debit note which importers sometimes find difficult to pay.

It was learnt that those who were unable to pay such abandoned their consignments at the port.

In a circular titled: “Clearance procedure/issuance of Demand Notices” issued on his behalf by the Deputy Comptroller General in charge of tariff and trade, Adewuyi Akinade, the comptroller general said that the Customs headquarters had been inundated with reports of anomalies in the clearance of imported goods at the ports and borders.

Already the circular has been forwarded to all deputy comptrollers-general, assistant comptrollers-general and area controllers.

The circular also stated: “Issuance of frivolous demand notice by officers must be stopped immediately. No other unit of the Service except valuation unit is authorised to issue demand notice on value related issues.

“On no account should any officer reject any decision taken by the headquarters on classification issues. Any officer with observation on such issues should follow official procedure for consideration.

“Headquarters frowns at unnecessary delay of goods at the

The Lagos Port Complex, Apapa

port as a result of dispute arising from importer’s declaration.

Area Controllers are to ensure strict compliance with the extant guidelines and note that non-compliance shall attract appropriate sanctions.”

Meanwhile, the Customs has deployed three Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) to combat smugglers between Lagos and Ogun states.

The APCs were deployed following a gun battle between operatives of the Federal Operations Unit (FOU) Zone A, Lagos and smugglers of rice, used vehicles and other prohibited items through illegal routes in both states.

Also, the anti-smuggling unit has identified the flashpoints and other illegal routes used by smugglers in the Southwest and are now on aggressive patrol to stop them in an attempt to boost

On no account should any officer reject any decision taken by the headquarters on classification issues

the nation’s economy.

It was learnt that officers of the zone have uncovered a hideout in Igbesa Creek, Ogun State, where 11,264 bags of illegally imported 50-kilogramme parboiled rice were seized from smugglers recently.

The controller of the unit, Adamu Turaki, has ordered his officers to destroy all the canoes, the smugglers’ storage facilities and the outboard engines used in transporting the rice through Gbaji River to Nigeria. This, he believed, would frustrate any future attempt by the smugglers.

Turaki said his officers intercepted the rice following intelligence report that smugglers were planning to use the Igbesa creeks to bring in rice through Benin Republic before the EidEl-Kabir celebrations.

He noted: “It is good to note and point out here that the Igbesa creek is reputed as both volatile

and inaccessible particularly for Customs in the past. Several attempts to raid the place before now were met with serious opposition from the smugglers sabotaging the nation’s economy.

“We must also place on record that they have, in the past, attacked Customs patrol teams that have attempted to stop their nefarious activities. I am therefore happy that the Lagos Roving Team led by Assistant Comptroller, Adamu Abubakar Mohammed, was able to deal with the smugglers and make the seizure.

“It is actually amazing to understand the naivety of the Baale of the community, who from all indications seemed not to know that smuggling is an economic crime. He told us point blank that smuggling is their only means of survival and that they use the proceeds from it to develop their community.”

NIMASA to withdraw services from non-compliant terminals

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he International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code’s Designated Authority (DA) in the country, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), has resolved to withdraw all maritime services from facilities found to be operating without complying with the provisions of the ISPS code at ports, terminals and jetties.

It was revealed that some Nigerian port facilities lacked ef-

fective anti-terrorism measures.

ISPS Code is a comprehensive set of measures developed in response to the perceived threats to ships and port facilities in the wake of the 9/11 attacks in the United States. The code is implemented alongside the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), 1974. It has two parts – one mandatory and one recommendatory.

In a marine notice signed by its management, NIMASA said it has exhausted all inter-

mediate measures to compel deficient port facilities to address all indentified areas of non-compliance with the ISPS Code without success.

In line with its mandate as the DA, the agency has commenced withdrawal of maritime services from such ports, terminals and jetties.

It noted: “The withdrawal of maritime services, which implies the stoppage of ship calls at such facilities, shall remain in place until the DA

is satisfied that the minimum requirements for compliance with the ISPS Code have been met in the facilities.”

The US Coast Guard had already imposed condition of entry, which subjects ships that visit US from the affected port facilities in Nigeria to serious security checks before allowing or disallowing such ship into the US ports.

It was learnt that only about 22 port facilities in Nigeria have been certified to be 100

per cent complaint with ISPS code by the agency while over 58 oil jetties and other port facilities were listed as noncompliant facilities.

The purpose of the code is to provide a standardised, consistent framework for evaluating risk, enabling governments to offset changes in threat with changes in vulnerability for ships and port facilities through determination of appropriate security levels and corresponding security measures.

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Business | Maritime

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

Minister orders closure of illegal jetties JOBS Government plans about 5,000 direct and indirect job opportunities in the port Stories by Bayo Akomolafe

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ransport Minister, Senator Idris Umar, has ordered owners of illegal jetties to close down their operations.

He said it would no longer be business as usual for individuals and firms behind the alleged mid-stream discharge of cargoes across the country’s waters.

He gave the order at the commissioining of Onne Ports Complex phase 4 projects and groundbreaking ceremony of Phase 4B recently.

The six-year project is also expected to generate about 5,000 direct and indirect job oppor-

l Opposes mid-stream discharge of cargoes tunities for both professionals during its execution and about 20,000 direct and indirect job opportunities when it is in full operation.

He explained that illegal jetties and midstream discharge of cargoes pose economic and security risk to the nation.

Umar ordered that all cargoes must be discharged at Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) designated terminals.

Umar added that there was no going back in development of ports infrastructure under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement.

It would recall that the Federal Government identified adequate utilisation of the Eastern ports as one of the most effective ways of de-congesting the Lagos ports frequently patronised by importers and exporters.

The Vice President, Namadi

Sambo who unveiled the phase 4 projects and performed the groundbreaking ceremony of phase 4B on behalf of President Goodluck Jonathan said the Federal Government would continue to empower the private sector in line with the transformation agenda.

Sambo advised the private sector to take advantage of the peaceful atmosphere prevailing in the Niger Delta to invest under a PPP arrangement.

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga, who also spoke at the event attended by the Managing Director of NPA, Habib Abdullahi, traditional rulers, among others reintegrated Federal Government resolve to make Nigeria attractive for business.

Also, the Chairman Board of Director of NPA, Chief Tony Anenih, said the development

Nigerian Ports Authority’s tug boat, S.D Gumel Lagos on the Lagos channel

Shippers, LASTMA to tackle Apapa gridlock F

ollowing the incessant gridlocks along the ports access routes, Shippers’ Association Lagos State (SALS) and the management of the Lagos State Transport Management Authority (LASTMA) have resolved to end the perennial gridlock in Apapa.

The President of the association, Rev. Jonathan Nicol disclosed this during a courtesy call to the Managing Director, Apapa Bulk Terminal Limited Capt. Mohammed Basir in Apapa.

Nicol said his association would meet the General Manager of the Lagos State Transport Management Agency

(LASTMA), Babatunde Edu to discuss how to solve the traffic issues.

He stressed: “We have made a blueprint. We will be discussing with LASTMA about how the Apapa road from Mile two, Tin Can to Apapa could be monitored to reduce the traffic situation on the road.”

He said: “This is not a makeshift thing it is a regular thing that will be continued until we have workable roads in and around Apapa, so I believe we will have one of your officers in that meeting on how we can reel out how to tackle the problem of Apapa.”

Basir said the Apapa situation is a priority that needed

the attention of every stakeholder.

He added that the traffic situation would continue to affect businesses as it had been affected the business of his company adversely this year.

The managing director explained: “The Apapa gridlocks is a top priority, Flour Mills of Nigeria was badly affected this year. We doubled our production to about 250, 000 bags a week but it was unfortunate that we are lucky to do 190, 000 bags.

“The shareholders are waiting for dividends, banks are waiting for their money but we have more to do because we are talking too much in this country.”

of phase 4B was consistent with the transformation agenda of the Federal Government.

He noted that the proposed facility would enhance revenue and open up the zone for economic activities including creation of numerous jobs for Nigerians.

He said the facilities would meet the demand of operators in the oil and gas sector, adding that “Intels should be commended for this achievement.”

Vessels may arrive Nigeria, others in barbwires

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essels coming into Nigeria and other neighbouring countries in the Gulf of Guinea may start to carry fencedbarb wire, as new guidelines for ship-protection against piracy come into force.

The move is to prevent sea robbers from attacking vessels that sail to the port terminals in Nigeria and other neighbouring ports.

The updated guidelines released by the Round Table of international shipping industry associations for Owners, Operators and Masters for Protection Against Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea Region,’ also emphasized the importance of information sharing and synergy, among relevant stakeholders.

The guidelines which was jointly developed by Baltic and International Maritime Council (BIMCO), International chamber of Shipping (ICS), Intertanko and Intercargo, was however silent on the fact that it was evolved as a result of increasing fears that piracy was expected to surge, as a result of needs by Nigerians, particularly politicians to raise campaign funds for 2015 elections.

The stakeholders noted: “Piracy and armed robbery in the waters off West Africa has become an established criminal activity of very serious concern to the maritime sector.

“The global shipping industry has therefore acted in concert to update its existing guidelines to take account of what has become a totally unacceptable security situation.”

The group highlighted that though the nature of the attacks against shipping in West Africa differs from that of Somaliabased piracy, the basic principles of the Best Management Practices, previously developed by the industry to help protect against piracy in the Indian Ocean, must also be applicable.

The group noted further, tasking the stakeholders to also take into account, the new regional maritime security initiatives in West Africa, in particular the Maritime Trade Information Sharing Centre for the Gulf of Guinea (MTISC GOG), which is now providing a focal point for information on countering piracy and maritime crime in the region.

Nigerian ship owners groan as China supports shipping lines with $293m

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our shipping lines have received $293.3 million (1.8 billion yuan) in subsidies to retire and upgrade their vessels.

The country said the move was to enable them replace old models with new and greener ones and to generate orders for its shipbuilders, which have been hit by an order slowdown in a global shipping slump.

However, their counterparts in Nigeria are battling to secure loans from the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency’s (NIMASA) Cabotage Vessels Financing Fund (CVFF) in the last 10 years.

Over 35 shipping companies applied for ship acquisition loan under the fund while arrangements were completed to transfer all the applications to the banks for assessment

by Diamond Bank, Fidelity Bank, Skye Bank and Equatorial Trust Bank but up till now, no indigenous shipping lines

have benefited from the fund.

The ship owners are owing banks over $3 billion (N480 billion), according to Chief Isaac Jolapamo, chairman, Nigerian Shipowners Association (NISA) He explained that over 50 per cent of Nigerian shipping companies had been thrown out of business due to poor implementation of the Cabotage Law. The fund to scrap and upgrad old vessels was provided by China’s state-owned shipping line, China Ocean Shipping Group.

Its sister company, Cosco Shipping said it had received 182.9 million yuan for ship upgrades while China Shipping Development Company got 215 million yuan in subsidies for scrapping 15 ships. China Shipping Container Lines received a subsidy of 40 million yuan.

The companies said they expected the subsidies to have a positive impact on their fullyear results.

Business | Maritime

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014

39

How Calabar Channel contract was awarded Findings have revealed that the Articles of Association of the Calabar Channel Managent Company is being altered to enable it serve certain interests. Already aggrieved stakeholders are not happy with the development, BAYO AKOMOLAFE reports

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he intrigues and scandals that led to the cancellation of the procurement process of the N20 billion Calabar channel contract by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the subsequent award of the job in defiance of due process are becoming apparent.

Calabar Channel Management Limited (CCM), a joint venture of NPA and a firm belonging to a serving senator of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), secured the contract in controversial circumstances.

The law stipulates that a procurement of such magnitude must pass through the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) for a certificate of “No Objection”, which is issued after grievances raised by the contending parties have been addressed. But, through a letter in the last week of August, NPA notified bidders of government’s decision to nullify the re-procurement process for the channel in ‘public interest’.

Grievances Investigations revealed that NPA was actually compelled by the Ministry of Transport to discontinue with the re-procurement process to avoid jeopardising the lawmaker’s chances of clinching the job.

It was gathered that the senator had about three years ago, latched on the failed 2010 procurement exercise to outplot all those vying for the job.

Apparently convinced that his firm stood no chance in a competitive bid, he allegedly decided to exploit his relationship with those in the executive arm of the government to bring his dream to fruition.

He came up with the idea of a joint venture between his company and the NPA. Armed with this, he approached the President to seek his assistance in making this a reality.

It was learnt that help came in the form of a Presidential Approval for the formation of the joint venture, which resulted in the incorporation of Calabar Channel Management Limited.

Prior to the approval, the Transport Minister was made to write to the President asking for permission to form a consortium for the dredging of the channel, which immediately received the President’s nod.

Problems According to aggrieved bidders, “the Presidential approval was the tonic the senator and his collaborators in the Ministry of Transport and NPA required to award the maintenance and capital dredging contracts of both Calabar channel and Ibaka Deep-Sea Port to themselves even when Ibaka Port was not mentioned in the so-called approval. They did this without subjecting CCM to prequalification to ascertain its competence as required by the law.”

The aggrieved bidders also claimed that NPA’s equity participation in CCM was only 53 per cent while the senator’s firm holds 47 per cent. This, according to them, is unlike other arrangements in which NPA has interest and where the profit sharing formula is 6o per cent for NPA and 40 per cent for the private firm.

Petition Investigations further revealed that the joint venture deal was sealed without reference to the NPA board and this explains why its Chairman and current PDP

Board of Trustee Chairman, Chief Tony Anineh fought against it.

Anenih was so infuriated that he countered in a petition to the minister. In the protest letter, he warned of the dire consequences of awarding such a huge contract to a company, which to him, “has no reference of past jobs done.”

Anenih also detailed the irregularities that characterised the creation of CCM including 16 flaws which the Ministry of Justice pointed out in respect of the joint venture agreement and which still appeared in the final document.

“The cheery news is that the public outcry that greeted the creation of CCM and the inclusion of Calabar Port and Ibaka Deep- Sea Port has forced CCM to remove Ibaka Port from the joint venture agreement. But, the right thing still needs to be done in respect of the Calabar Port.

Procurement issue “The procurement exercise for Calabar channel should be reopened and only the six bidders that were prequalified for the 2010 exercise should participate.

This is more so as Calabar chan-

In the protest letter, he warned of the dire consequences of awarding such a huge contract to a company, which to him, has no reference of past jobs done

nel has served as a conduit pipe in the last 20 years”, they said.

The document communicating CCM’s resolution on Ibaka Deep-sea Port to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) was signed by one Odutan Olumide Abayomi and the senator. It reads: “At the extra-ordinary General Meeting of the above -mentioned company duly convened and held at its registered office on the 12th of July 2013, the following resolutions were proposed and duly passed as follows: l That the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the Company be altered as follows: That all the clauses i.e. 3(a) (b) (c) (d) (f) and (h) where the word Ibaka Deep Sea Port appear be removed from the Memorandum of Association of the company. l That the articles of Association of the company be altered to reflect the above; l That a Memorandum and Articles of Association incorporating the said alterations be filed with the Corporate Affairs Commission, Abuja and a certified true copy of same be obtained.

Some idled cranes acquired by Ecomarine for it concessioned area at Calabar Port

Nigerian ship owners to fight DPR over OSP fee PROTEST Ship owners complained over extortion by government agency

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he Nigerian Indigenous Ship-owners Association (NISA) may engage the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) in a long war to end the current collection of Offshore Safety Permit fee, which has been described as deliberate “extortion” of the former by the DPPR. Maritime expert and NISA presidential candidate, Captain Niyi Labinjo, stated this at the weekend, pointing out that the continuing collection

of N104,000 ($620) per seafarer, before registering crew to work aboard vessels to pick petroleum products was both outrageous and exploitative.

He noted that the DPR would not issue or renew any DPR license, until it has collected its levy, in respect of OSP charges.

“This is extortion. It is pure extortion, it is a system that milks anyone of $620 per seafarer; and $6,200 (over N1 million) per a crew of 10 seafarers, is nothing short of sheer exploitation.

Labinjo added: “The DPR has nothing to do with seafarers on board a ship. Its business begins with the oil and gas and ends with the vessel, so why raise levy on the crew?”

He posited, explaining that

such collections had directly impacted negatively on the competitiveness of the Nigerian business terrain, despite the efforts of the Federal Government, to the contrary.

Labinjo wondered how an OSP would cost $620 when a Nigerian international passport does not cost up to N15,000; and lamented that the DPR had cashed in on the gentle nature of the NISA vision, to perpetuate the extortion.

“The DPR is helping to increase the running cost of business in the country. It is making the field uncompetitive. It is extortion. It is pure extortion. Ironically, the DPR has no business with the constitution of the crew”, he added.

He noted that NISA had the capacity to end the exploitation.

Speaking on his modus operandi, Labinjo who said his ultimate aim is to “bring back our jobs” would be to harness the professional expertise and commitment of the maritime lawyers with the persevering spirit and skills of the shipowners to frontally engage the DPR, remaining unbending, unrelenting and unwavering until the extortion was ended.

“NISA has the capacity. We have the competence. We must find a legitimate way to stop this extortion. And it may be the one of the steps we must take, as we take decisions to ensure our survival,” he concluded.

40 Politics To what extent has the directive of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) affected the endorsement of Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, a member of the House of Representatives, as the Enugu State consensus governorship candidate in 2015? Asks SHEDDY OZOENE

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

Enugu: Between Ugwuanyi’s endorsement and PDP’s directive

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ast week, the National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) frowned at endorsements of candidates by officials of the party for the 2015 general election at its state chapters. The party’s National Secretary, Prof. Wale Oladipo, said as an unbiased umpire, elected party officials should not be involved in processes aimed at endorsing candidates for the 2015 general election.

Various interpretations have been given this statement with many contending, that it forecloses the idea of party leaders coming together to narrow down contestants for offices as democratic best practices and peculiarities of each state or constituency, dictate.

It has also given rise to discussions bothering on the propriety of the endorsement of President Goodluck Jonathan who was last month adopted by all key organs of the PDP as sole candidate for next year’s presidential election.

In adopting the proposal first mooted by Chief Tony Anenih, Chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees, the PDP reasoned that consensus would guard against rancorous primaries and leave the party in a much stronger position to go into the elections proper.

So what is the import of the new directive? Many reason that the party’s statement on endorsements is at best, cautionary: to guard against arbitrariness and victimization. It cannot be against any level of the party coming together to agree on a candidate in the best tradition of party democracy. Besides, the statement will ultimately encourage the long list of aspirants to queue for nomination forms which are a source of revenue for the party at times like this.

But the gale of consensus has since spread and the party in Enugu, for instance, has followed suit with the endorsement of Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi as the PDP consensus candidate for governorship of Enugu State in the 2015 election.

It has since been followed by that of Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu by the Ebonyi chapter of the PDP. It is still spreading and those who insist on buying the forms may not only be running against the wind of popular decision in their respective states, they will, for all practical purposes, be embarking on a fool’s errand.

Enugu is one good example.

Not only did the exercise produce a candidate that many believe, satisfies the expectation of a gen-

Mu’azu

Ugwuanyi

erality of the party leaders across the state, it followed a process that keeps faith with the established arrangement for rotation of the topmost political positions among the three senatorial zones. The candidate was first produced by the party leaders from his Enugu North Senatorial zone before he was adopted by the other senatorial zones of Enugu East and West.

The choice was eventually ratified on October 4, by the enlarged state caucus of the party, led by the state governor, Sullivan Chime. At all the levels of those stakeholders’ conclaves, the attendance was allinclusive and they unanimously agreed that Enugu North which has never produced a PDP governor since 1999, should take the slot.

The contest for the PDP ticket was always bound to be keen, and if not properly managed, has the potential to create deep divisions.

The decision to go for a consensus candidate was therefore the best option to minimize friction, especially with the large number of aspirants. The Enugu North PDP Caucus, in deciding to pick Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, had keyed into the governor’s preference for a candidate who would unite the party and sustain his administration’s development strides.

How does Ugwuanyi’s endorsement play out against the recent statement by the PDP National Working Committee? As a process that narrows the search for candidates for elective position, it conforms well with both the party’s constitution and political due process. Each of the gathering at which he was unanimously endorsed, was at the instance of stakeholders and political office holders. While members of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT), national and state working committee members may have attended, it was never at the instance of any of the party’s key organs. The preponderance of attendees were former ministers, ambassadors, serving commissioners, national

and state lawmakers, elders, council chairmen and their deputies from the zone.

It is instructive that at the end of deliberations by Enugu North stakeholders, it was Ambassador Fidel Ayogu who moved the motion for Ugwuanyi’s endorsement which was seconded by former deputy governor, Okechukwu Itanyi. Both of them were aspirants.

To underscore their support for a consensus arrangement, all the nine other aspirants among whom was the state PDP chairman, Vita Abba, Okechukwu Itanyi, Pat Asadu, Prince Mathew Agu, Ikeje Asogwa, Simon Ortuanya, Eddy Ugwu, Fidel Ayogu, Osita Ogbu and Dan Onyishi – stepped down for Ugwuanyi.

While Governor Chime may have supported his candidature as an olive branch to members of the National Assembly with whom he has had a lingering disagreement over his insistence that elected legislators who had done two or three terms should not aspire to another term in 2015, there is no doubt that Ugwuanyi is seen as a result-oriented, humble and peace-loving gentleman who would build bridges and sustain the momentum of development in the state. For the Chairman, House of Representatives’ Committee on Marine Transport, who did not even publicly indicate his interest in the contest prior to his adoption, his choice does not only elicit excitement across the state, it raises hope that he would foster the much-desired unity among party faithful in the state.

He brings into the contest a rich private and public sector experience and boasts a character and disposition that endears him to all manner of people irrespective of age and status. In his three cumulative tenures in the House of Representatives, the member representing Igboeze North/Udenu constituency of Enugu State, has distinguished himself as federal legislator and as a man who iden-

Not only did the exercise produce a candidate that many believe, satisfies the expectation of a generality of the party leaders across the state, it follows a process that keeps faith with the established arrangement for rotation of the topmost political position

tifies with the yearnings and aspirations of his constituents and Enugu State at large.

Governor Chime has been beating his chest on the success of the exercise which it is hoped would enthrone a smooth transition at the end of his eight-year tenure.

While debunking insinuations that Ugwuanyi was imposed, he reiterated the party’s readiness to ensure that even those opposed to the state’s stakeholders’ choice as the next governor of Enugu State would still have an opportunity to canvass their points in the party primaries slated for November.

Like he explained, the Enugu PDP has not selected a candidate for the governorship, it was a case of people coming together to express their desire. “We have not elected a governor or selected the PDP candidate, we are saying as a family, this is our number one choice. He will still go through the rigours of primaries, at the appropriate time, he will buy form and be subjected to the party primaries.”

From these, it is obvious that the contest is still open and cannot under any circumstance be described as undemocratic. The threat of court action are simply unnecessary since it does not infringe on the constitution of the party, but rather it does what the constitution encourages, which is dialogue and negotiation.

So what does the consensus in Enugu portend for other recalcitrant aspirants? Like in the president’s endorsement as sole presidential candidate, it would not stop other aspirants from indicating their interests and going for primaries. However, it has already rendered the exercise a mere formality. While the field would remain open, those going against their party decisions would surely be exposing themselves to unnecessary ridicule.

•Ozoene is a public affairs analyst based in Abuja

Politics 41

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014

Recently, the Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, hinted that the harmonisation of the report of both chambers on the proposed amendments to the 1999 Constitution will soon be completed for the final voting to take place.

PHILIP NYAM takes a look at the highlights of the amendments

N’Assembly votes on constitution amendment

T

he House of Representatives ad hoc committee which was constituted in 2011 has a total of 53 members that comprised the principal officers of the House and 37 members each representing the states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Upon inauguration, the committee appointed technical experts on constitutional and legal matters and civil society which assisted it in developing and producing a work plan and draft document that formed the basis of the committee’s deliberations.

The committee received over 200 memoranda from members of the public from which, the technical team sifted some key issues which were formulated into a 43 item Template of Issues which the committee put before Nigerian’s during the Peoples’ Public Sessions (PPS’s) on the review of the constitution simultaneously held on November 10, 2012 in all the 360 federal constituencies in Nigeria.

The committee considered a total of 25 bills referred to it by the House for further legislative inputs.

Highlights of amendments Some of the major highlights of the alterations, which would be voted on after harmonisation include reforms giving autonomy and independence to the local government councils, review of Section 8 to ensure that only elected local government officials participate in the process of state creation and clarifies that only registered voters in a local government can participate in a referendum for the creation of a new state; dispensation of the requirement for assent of the president for the alteration of the constitution in Section 9; the need to proffer a precise definition of indigeneship that eliminates all conflicts; insertion of prohibitory provisions in Section 42 on discrimination against persons living with disability; incorporation of the rights to basic education, favourable environment, free primary and maternal health care services and housing into Chapter IV; provision of grounds for disqualification of a candidate from contesting elections where he has been found guilty of an offence; stipulation of a period not later than 90 days for the presentation of national budget before the expiration of the fiscal year; separation of the office of the minister of Justice from that of the Attorney General of the Federation and scraping of State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECS).

State creation This is one area where both House and Senate would have to reconcile their positions. The Senate President, David Mark, is favourably disposed to creation of additional states and recently assured his Idoma constituents that he would ensure

Mark

that one of the states being agitated for (Apa State) is created. However, the House had jettisoned the idea of state creation claiming that the process is cumbersome.

According to Ihedioha, the House committee had received a total of thirty-five (35) request for creation of new states but that none of the request complied with the procedure for creation of states outlined in the constitution.

Local government system The House followed from the recommendation of the Peoples Public Sessions, which voted overwhelmingly to grant independence and autonomy to local government councils and give the councils their deserved role as catalysts for development at the grassroots.

The House, therefore, created a fixed term for local government councils and prescribed consequences by denial of appropriation to councils that are not democratically elected. The reforms proposed by the committee prescribed the mode of election of local government officials, their functions, tenure, qualifications for elections, and other related matters.

Under the amendment proposed, elections into local government councils will be conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and no longer State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs), which have been recommended to be scrapped.

The House also agreed with the vote of the people and altered the constitution to abrogate “State Joint Local Government Accounts” and empower each local government council to maintain its own special account to be called “local government council allocation account” into which shall be paid directly allocations due to the local government council by the Federal Government from the Federation Account and from the government of the state New states and boundary adjustment The House reviewed the provisions of Section 8 of the 1999 constitution to emphasise the importance of elected local government councils by inserting alterations that will ensure that only elected lo-

Ihedioha

cal government officials can participate in the process for creation of new states. Also, it clarifies that only registered voters in a local government area can participate in a referendum for the creation of a new state.

In Section 9, the House sought to give effect to the result of the voting by the people and by clarifying and removing the ambiguities in language with respect to the alteration of the constitution and further dispensed with the requirement for assent of the president to be obtained for the amendment of the constitution.

The committee agreed with the people that the rigorous provisions for the alteration of the constitution by members of the National Assembly and the participation of the 36 State Houses of Assembly represented such adequate participation of Nigerians and that assent of the President negated the principle contained therein. .

Indigeneship The House altered the heading of Chapter III, Section 25. In order to address the various conflicts and crises surrounding the question of who is an indigene or settler in the community, the committee redefined citizenship, in giving effect to the result of the voting by the people, by removing the divide, meaning that a person who has lived in a community for a

These and other proposed amendments will be voted on by the House upon completion of the harmonisation process.

According to the deputy speaker, both Houses have already reached an understanding to vote simultaneously

specified period of time is entitled to the same rights and privileges as citizens of that community. The amendment under this chapter fully defines indigeneship in a way to eliminate the conflict that this has posed in the past.

Independent candidature The House also recommended allowing for independent candidacy in elections in Nigeria. This is to be subjected to conditions stipulated under the Electoral Act. Financial autonomy In order to entrench the independence of the Offices of the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Auditor-General of the Federation and to insulate them from political control, the House, in keeping with the vote of the people, put these Offices on the first line charge of the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation.

Similarly, the Committee included a new section in the constitution creating a new Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and Accountant-General of the Federal Government to ensure that persons are appointed into these two separate offices for professional management of resources.

The House also strengthened the provisions of Section 80 of the Constitution to plug leakages from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation and public funds of Nigeria to ensure that no expenditure is made by any organ of government without appropriation by the legislature.

Nigeria Police Force The House in section 240 and across the entirety of the constitution deleted the word “Force” from the name of the Nigeria Police, providing for the name of the Police to now be “Nigerian Police” rather than “Nigeria Police Force.”

The House also reviewed memoranda submitted on the judiciary and agreed to address concerns over delay in the courts by limiting the use of interlocutory appeals to stay proceedings in court.

These and other proposed amendments will be voted on by the House upon completion of the harmonisation process.

According to the deputy speaker, both Houses have already reached an understanding to vote simultaneously.

42 Politics

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

Mimiko, PDP bicker over party structure C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 1 3

he is joining as a governor. We say this because PDP is a big party with established structures that must not be treated anyhow. We also understand that Governor Mimiko’s publicly stated goal of decamping into our party is to enable him contribute effectively to the reelection of President Goodluck Jonathan, we must say this is appreciable, but as citizens of Ondo State, we do know that Governor Mimiko currently carries a lot of baggage and liabilities that precludes him from discharging such responsibility.

“He has since descended from that charismatic height he operated from in 2009 when he became governor to a level of scorn as it is known to the generality of our people that his administration has mismanaged our finances and commonwealth most recklessly, took our state from the level of economic buoyancy to a debtor state where public utilities no longer work. Most disappointing of all is the now emerging trend of the inability of government to pay workers’ salaries again as at when due, and even owing two months salaries now.

“This we consider a baggage and liability that will do great harm to the electoral prospects of President Jonathan than any good. Again we underscore the fact that Governor Mimiko is conscious of the fact that he and his party can no longer win any election in our state, hence we say that his defection to our party is inelegant as far as political calculations in our state is concerned. We also want to bring to public domain the fact that before Mimiko’s defection to our party, principal and prominent members of his Labour Party had already abandoned him and his party, and are already members of our party. The list is endless but prominent among them is serving Senator Boluwaji Kunlere.

Therefore, we declare again that our party, the PDP was already set on a winning course before this desire of Mimiko to cross into our party again.

“The generality of our members want it placed on record that they demand proper respect from the leaders of the party in Abuja, and that they equally conduct their research on the viability of people before admitting them to the party. The party also appeals to its members to remain calm and committed to a party that they have toiled consistently to uphold and sustain over these long years. We also urge the people of the state to continue to support our party.”

Peace deal But the governor aware of the stake reached out to party leadership in order to have a good and harmonious relationship within the party. Already, meetings had been held both in Akure, the state capital,

Oke

Abuja and other parts of the state on the need to have one front before the party’s primaries which come up at the end of October.

Many of the old PDP leaders are already seeing reasons with the governor and are ready to key into his political ideas while others are still adamant in their demands against the dissolution of the party’s structures both at the state and local government levels. For instance, the leaders of the PDP in Ondo North Senatorial District including former Minister of Defence, Prince Adetokunbo Kayode (SAN); Director General of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye; Chief of Staff (CoS) to the President, Gen Jones Arogbofa (rtd); representative of Ondo and Ekiti on the board of the Federal Civil Service Commission, Hon. Victor Olabimtan and former Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Hon Taofiq Abdusalam and Senator Bode Olajumoke have agreed on the need to work with the governor for the benefit of the party.

In the Central Senatorial District, many of the leaders including State Coordinator of SURE-P, Adedayo Omolafe popularly called Expensive, former Nigerian Ambassador to Greece and Australia, Prof. Olu Agbi, Chief Segun Adegoke and Mr. Olusola Agbesua, former state chairman of the party, Dr. Tayo Dairo among others have agreed with Mimiko on the need for reform in the party.

In the South Senatorial District, the major disagreement is from Chief Olusola Oke who was the governorship candidate of the party in the 2012 election and Barrister Jimoh Ibrahim who is interested in the governorship ticket of the party in 2016. The others include chairman, Presidential Amnesty Programme, Hon. Kingsley Kuku, Hon. Abayomi

Agbi

Olajumoke

Sheba, Princess Oladunni Odu and Dr. Eddy Olafeso are ready to work with the governor.

The major crux of the disagreement was that Oke has seen himself as the leader of the party after the death of Dr. Olusegun Agagu; he would have to lose the position to the governor. Ibrahim would also want the status quo to remain because he wants to get the ticket of the party in 2016 when the tenure of Mimiko would be winding up. It must, however, be noted that the two gladiators have sizable followership in the state.

The coming of Mimiko to the PDP is an advantage as he has come with all members of the House of Assembly, members of the National Assembly and State Executive Council

APC: Waiting for harvest Aware of the fact most of the states in the country including Anambra, Imo, Ogun, Oyo and Edo lost to the opposition party because of the infighting within the PDP, the repeat of this in Ondo may also spell doom for the party as the opposition APC is waiting to benefit from the crisis that may erupt on the integration of new and old members of the PDP. Before now, the APC said it had reopened its register to accommodate those who might be aggrieved with the political situation in the PDP. The Publicity Secretary, Mr. Abayomi Adesanya, said APC is to commence Continuous Membership Registration (CMR) exercise in the 18 local government areas of the state in order to accommodate new members.

Adesanya said since the LP has been incapacitated with Mimiko’s defection to the PDP, the party is ready to absorb its members to APC. His words: “The Continuous Membership Registration (CMR) was informed by the influx and exodus of politicians and professionals from the LP, PDP, Alliance for Democracy (AD) and other political parties to our great party, the APC. “Of note, in a matter of weeks, many government of-

ficials and politicians would defect from LP and PDP to the APC. The LP has been destroyed beyond redemption, the sick-PDP has further been infected with Political Ebola Virus, (PEV), and the defectors have realised that the APC will offer a purposeful, peoples’ government in Ondo State.

“Aside the defectors, the CMR exercise would offer a window for APC members who are yet to register with our party to do so. And thousands of apolitical indigenes of the state who have been recruited through our mobilisation drive would also register during the CMR exercise.

“The methodology of the CMR exercise offers registration centres in the 203 wards of Ondo State to make the exercise accessible to the good people of the state at the grassroots. We assure all members of APC, especially intending defectors, of a level playing field and equal opportunities for all aspirants. One man will not decide all candidates for all political offices like the narrative of the embattled Labour Party. Our party would conduct primary elections for all political offices according to the party’s guidelines. We are all indigenes of Ondo State, and the reality of status quo in the state has put the task on all indigenes of our dear state to salvage it from this bad and inept leadership.”

Whether or not APC would benefit from the defection of Mimiko to PDP would depend largely on the way the leadership of the party handles the integration of old and new members. But the governor is leaving no stone unturned in order to settle all the differences and move the party and the government forward. Similarly, the national leadership of the party is wading into the matter so that the party would go to the next year election as one body.

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014

43

44

Business | Money Line

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

Currency in circulation hits N1.52 trn –CBN MONEY

The amount of cash currently in use questions the efficiency of the cashless policy Godson Ikoro

D

espite the cashless policy operating nationwide, a total of N1.52 trillion has been reported as currency-incirculations (CIC) in the second quarter, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria.

In the second quarter

report, the apex bank said the figure fell by 3.3 per cent in the review month, compared with the decline of 0.3 per cent recorded at the end of the preceding month. The development, relative to the preceding month, reflected largely the 1.9 per cent decline in its currency outside banks component.

Total deposits at the CBN amounted to N7, 405.2 billion, indicating a decrease of 0.4 per cent below the level at the end of the preceding month.

The development reflected, largely, the decrease in deposits of DMBs and “Others” which more than offset the increase in deposits

by the Federal Government.

Of the total deposits, the percentage shares of the banks, private sector and “others” were 48.4, 6.5 and 45.1 per cent, respectively.

Reserve money (RM) fell by 3.7 per cent to N5.1 trillion at the end of the review month, reflecting the trends in currency-in-circulation and DMBs’ deposits at the CBN. Going by the available data, money market indicators were relatively stable as

T

he inability of London Mining Plc, a Sierra Leone iron-ore producer, to access funds and attract more investors into its project has posed threats to the initial $200 million (N32bn) loan granted the promoters of the business by four banks including Nigeria’s FBN Holdings Plc, Togo’s Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, South Africa’s FirstRand and Standard Chartered Plc. Greg Saffy, analyst at the Johannesburg-based equity research company confirmed the development.

Bloomberg quoted RMB Morgan Stanley as saying that London Mining might

As at

Description

TTM

4.00% 23-Apr-2015 13.05% 16-Aug-2016 15.10% 27-Apr-2017 16.00% 29-Jun-2019 16.39% 27-Jan-2022 10.00% 23-Jul-2030

1.21 2.53 3.22 5.39 7.98 16.47

Tenor (Days) Call 7 30 60 90 180 365

Rate (%) 11.9167 12.3333 12.6667 12.9167 13.2167 13.5000 13.7500

NIBOR

Dec, 2013 Dec, 2013 Dec, 2013 2/5/2014 1/20/2014 11/6/2013 Dec, 2013 Dec, 2013 1/20/2014 2/5/2014 Source:CBN

FGN Bonds Bid Price 90.20 99.25 104.10 109.35 114.15 76.60

Godson Ikoro

F Offer Yield 13.01 13.40 13.47 13.49 13.44 13.59

Price 90.35 99.40 104.40 109.65 114.45 76.90

Tenor (Months) 1 2 3 6 9 12

Rate (%) 12.1827 12.2737 12.3744 12.8521 12.8535 13.8443

Treasury Bills Maturity Date 08-May-14 07-Aug-14 22-Jan-15

Bid 12.10 12.10 12.05

FX

Bid Spot ($/N) 163.28 THE FIXINGS –NIBOR,NITTY and NIFEX of February 6,2014

NITTY

Yield 12.86 13.33 13.35 13.42 13.38 13.53

Money Market Offer 11.85 11.85 11.80 Offer 163.38

default on the $200 million loan provided by the banks as the project is running out of funds as Ebola deters investors and steel making ingredient’s price drops.

The loan was drawn down in full in December, according London Mining’s annual financial statements.

“London Mining may announce that it is going into administration today,” Saffy said.

A spokeswoman for London Mining declined to comment.

The producer said Septrmber 29 it didn’t have sufficient cash without raising further funds as the Ebola outbreak made it more difficult to lure investors and iron-ore prices

fell to a five-year low. The virus has killed more than 4,000 people in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia this year. Iron ore is Sierra Leone’s biggest export earner and accounts for 16 per cent of its economy.

Outside of banks, BlackRock World Mining Trust Plc (BRWM) has been forced to write down the value of a royalty contract it bought from London Mining in 2012, according to an Investec Plc note.

Talks with strategic investors who may have injected more capital ended on October 10, according to London Mining, and the company asked for its stock in the UK to be suspended.

Diamond Bank, GTBank, others to record above average growth

Economic Indicators N14,737,618.7m N16,509,472.5m 8 0.0000 12 10.899 7.96 17.01 US$109.9 US$42,604,781,796.6

The lenders watchdog revealed that throughout the review month, money market rate reflected the liquidity condition in the market.

Consequently, short-term interest rates at the Open Buy Back (OBB) and Overnight Night (ON) segments of the money market were below the monetary policy rate. In addition, treasury bills and FGN Bond rates declined relative to their levels in the preceding month.

Mining: FBN Holdings, ETI, others in N32bn loan exposure

CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele

M2* CPS* INF IBR MPR 91-day NTB DPR PLR Bonny Light Ext Res**

inflow of funds outstripped the outflow and kept the banking system sufficiently liquid during May 2014.

The Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) was retained at 12.00 per cent during the month.

Also, public sector Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) and Liquidity Ratio (LR) were also retained at 75.0 per cent and 30.0 per cent respectively, while the Net Open Position (NOP) limit of banks remained at 1.00 per cent.

Open-Buy-Back (OBB) Overnight (O/N)

Rate (%) 11.33 11.63

NIFEX Spot ($/N)

Bid 163.4000

Offer 163.5000 Source: FMDQ

our Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Diamond Bank, GTBank, and Skye Bank have been predicted to record above average growth at the end of 2014 financial year.

In its third quarter results preview of banks under its universe released yesterday, FBN Capital identified the banks expected to deliver above average growth as FCMB 13.2 per cent, Diamond 25.4 per cent, GT Bank 14.8 per cent and Skye 13.9 per cent.

In the preview, the bank said Q3/9M 2014 results would provide the last opportunity to assess how well banks were faring this year, pointing out that half year (H1 2014) results already showed that its coverage universe was on course for a rather lackluster 2014, with the average H1 annualised (return on average earnings (ROAE) more or less flat compared with the 18.5 per cent that the banks delivered in 2013.

“With no meaningful yearon-year expansion in ROAE expected, attention is likely to shift to the quota on quota (q/q) changes which we expect to provide some positives,” it said.

Accordingly, “We forecast Q3 PBT to grow by 7.5 per cent q/q on average. Notwithstanding, the range across our coverage universe is quite wide.”

However, given that most banks reiterated their guidance on most metrics for 2014 after their Q2 results were published, it believes these forecasts are baked into the market’s expectations.

Similarly, the FBN Capital Equity Research recommendation company also expects the broad group of non-financials that under its cover to begin reporting their Q3 2014 results in the third week of October stressing that PZ Cussons Nigeria published Q1 2015 (endAug) numbers last week.

According to the company, PZ’s figures show that while sales were flattish y/y, both PBT and PAT declined markedly, by 31 per cent y/y each. It argued that the insecurity in the north of the country and increased competition were primarily responsible for the weak results.

“We do not expect a different trend from our core consumer names in the Q3 reporting season. In Q2, earnings growth for most of these companies came in weaker than expected, stifling any real hope of a recovery in the short term,” it said.

Business | Financiel Market News

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014

FMDQ Daily Quotations List

45

13-Oct-14

The FMDQ Daily Quotations List (DQL) comprises market and model prices/rates of foreign exchange ($/N) products, fixed income securities and instruments in the OTC market. The use of this report is subject to the FMDQ OTC PLC Terms of Use and Disclaimer Statement on www.fmdqotc.com.

Bonds FGN Bonds

Price

Rating/Agency

Issuer

NA

NA

Description 4.00 23-APR-2015 13.05 16-AUG-2016 15.10 27-APR-2017 9.85 27-JUL-2017 9.35 31-AUG-2017 10.70 30-MAY-2018 16.00 29-JUN-2019 7.00 23-OCT-2019 16.39 27-JAN-2022 14.20 14-MAR-2024 15.00 28-NOV-2028 12.49 22-MAY-2029 8.50 20-NOV-2029 10.00 23-JUL-2030 12.1493 18-JUL-2034

Issue Date

Coupon (%)

Outstanding Value (N'bn)

Maturity Date

TTM (Yrs)

Bid Yield (%)

Offer Yield (%)

Bid Price

Offer Price

23-Apr-10 16-Aug-13 27-Apr-12 27-Jul-07 31-Aug-07 30-May-08 29-Jun-12 23-Oct-09 27-Jan-12 14-Mar-14 28-Nov-08 22-May-09 20-Nov-09 23-Jul-10 18-Jul-14

4.00 13.05 15.10 9.85 9.35 10.70 16.00 7.00 16.39 14.20 15.00 12.49 8.50 10.00 12.1493

535.00 545.27 452.80 20.00 100.00 300.00 351.30 233.90 600.00 331.35 75.00 150.00 200.00 591.57 105.00

23-Apr-15 16-Aug-16 27-Apr-17 27-Jul-17 31-Aug-17 30-May-18 29-Jun-19 23-Oct-19 27-Jan-22 14-Mar-24 28-Nov-28 22-May-29 20-Nov-29 23-Jul-30 18-Jul-34

0.53 1.84 2.54 2.79 2.88 3.63 4.71 5.03 7.29 9.42 14.13 14.61 15.10 15.78 19.76

11.73 12.43 12.50 12.56 12.57 12.62 12.64 12.70 12.67 12.67 12.64 12.63 12.62 12.63 12.38

11.41 12.34 12.43 12.50 12.50 12.51 12.56 12.60 12.61 12.62 12.59 12.58 12.56 12.58 12.33

96.15 100.95 105.50 93.74 92.39 94.51 111.60 79.28 117.30 108.25 115.35 99.06 72.48 82.15 98.30

96.30 101.10 105.65 93.89 92.54 94.81 111.90 79.58 117.60 108.55 115.65 99.36 72.78 82.45 98.60

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

4,591.19

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

4,557.77

Rating/Agency

Issuer

Description

Issue Date

Coupon (%)

Outstanding Value (N'bn)

Maturity Date

Avg. Life/TTM (Yrs)

# Risk Premium (%)

Valuation Yield (%)

Indicative Price

28-Dec-11 24-May-10 03-Apr-12 09-Dec-11 20-Apr-12 06-Jul-12

0.00 0.00 17.25 0.00/16.00 0.00/16.50 0.00/16.50

978.35 24.56 3.00 112.22 116.70 66.49

31-Oct-14 24-May-15 03-Apr-17 09-Dec-16 20-Apr-17 06-Jul-17

0.05 0.61 1.35 2.16 2.52 2.73

1.00 2.63 2.27 2.00 1.00 1.00

12.34 14.33 14.21 14.52 13.55 13.56

99.40 91.85 103.66 100.28 98.12 95.40

Agency Bonds AMCON FMBN

NA

***LCRM

0.00 AMCON 31-OCT-2014 (SR.5 TR.1) 0.00 FMB 24-MAY-2015 17.25 FMB II 03-APR-2017 0.00/16.00 LCRM 09-DEC-2016 0.00/16.50 LCRM II 20-APR-2017 0.00/16.50 LCRM III 06-JUL-2017

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

1,301.32

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

1,288.62

Sub-National Bonds NIGER

14.00 NIGER 15-OCT-2014

15-Oct-09

14.00

6.00

15-Oct-14

0.01

3.29

14.60

99.99

A+/Agusto

KADUNA

12.50 KADUNA 31-AUG-2015

31-Aug-10

12.50

8.50

31-Aug-15

0.88

4.44

16.04

97.15

A/Agusto

*EBONYI

13.00 EBONYI 30-SEP-2015

30-Sep-10

13.00

4.18

30-Sep-15

0.72

3.23

14.89

98.96

A-/Agusto

*BENUE

14.00 BENUE 30-JUN-2016

30-Jun-11

14.00

6.27

30-Jun-16

1.01

4.46

16.03

98.51

A+/Agusto

*IMO

15.50 IMO 30-JUN-2016

30-Jun-09

15.50

7.37

30-Jun-16

1.01

3.48

15.06

100.97

A+/Agusto; A+/GCR

LAGOS

10.00 LAGOS 19-APR-2017

19-Apr-10

10.00

57.00

19-Apr-17

2.52

5.59

18.14

84.11

A-/Agusto

*BAYELSA

13.75 BAYELSA 30-JUN-2017

30-Jun-10

13.75

29.92

30-Jun-17

1.56

1.00

13.15

101.16

A/Agusto

EDO

14.00 EDO 31-DEC-2017

30-Dec-10

14.00

25.00

31-Dec-17

3.22

1.79

14.38

98.98

A+/Agusto; A+/GCR

*DELTA

14.00 DELTA 30-SEP-2018

30-Sep-11

14.00

34.14

30-Sep-18

2.39

1.80

14.34

99.41

A-/Agusto; A-/GCR

NIGER

14.00 NIGER II 4-OCT-2018

04-Oct-11

14.00

9.00

04-Oct-18

3.98

1.00

13.64

101.06

A/Agusto; A-/GCR†

*EKITI

14.50 EKITI 09-DEC-2018

09-Dec-11

14.50

14.96

09-Dec-18

2.39

1.00

13.54

102.12

A-/Agusto

*NIGER

14.00 NIGER III 12-DEC-2018

12-Dec-13

14.00

11.13

12-Dec-18

2.39

4.78

17.32

93.90

A/Agusto; A-/GCR

*ONDO

15.50 ONDO 14-FEB-2019

14-Feb-12

15.50

27.00

14-Feb-19

2.77

1.00

13.56

102.10

A/Agusto; A-/GCR

*GOMBE

15.50 GOMBE 02-OCT-2019

02-Oct-12

15.50

16.23

02-Oct-19

3.02

1.00

13.58

104.53

Aa-/Agusto; AA-/GCR

LAGOS

14.50 LAGOS 22-NOV-2019

22-Nov-12

14.50

80.00

22-Nov-19

5.11

1.00

13.70

102.83

A/Agusto; A-/GCR

*OSUN

14.75 OSUN 12-DEC-2019

12-Dec-12

14.75

27.51

12-Dec-19

2.99

2.74

15.32

98.75

A/Agusto

*OSUN

14.75 OSUN II 30-SEP-2020

30-Sep-13

14.75

11.40

30-Sep-20

3.52

1.00

13.61

103.03

Aa-/Agusto; AA-/GCR

LAGOS

13.50 LAGOS IV 27-NOV-2020

27-Nov-13

13.50

87.00

27-Nov-20

6.12

1.00

13.71

99.11

A-/Agusto; BBB+/DataPro

KOGI

15.00 KOGI 31-DEC-2020

31-Dec-13

15.00

5.00

31-Dec-20

6.22

1.94

14.65

101.33

A/Agusto A-/GCR

*EKITI *NASARAWA

14.50 EKITI II 31-DEC-2020 15.00 NASARAWA 06-JAN-2021

31-Dec-13

14.50

4.78

31-Dec-20

3.70

1.44

14.06

101.34

06-Jan-14

15.00

4.79

06-Jan-21

3.73

1.95

14.58

101.31

A-/GCR

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

477.18 470.43

Corporate Bonds Aa/Agusto Nil Bbb-/Agusto A-/Agusto

GTB NGC

13.50 GUARANTY TRUST 18-DEC-2014

18-Dec-09

13.50

13.17

18-Dec-14

0.18

5.21

16.64

99.33

µ

17.00 NGC 31-DEC-2014

01-Apr-10

17.00

2.00

31-Dec-14

0.22

8.71

20.16

99.15

*UPDC

10.00 UPDC 17-AUG-2015

17-Aug-10

10.00

3.61

17-Aug-15

0.60

4.88

16.58

96.76

*FLOURMILLS

12.00 FLOURMILLS 9-DEC-2015

09-Dec-10

12.00

13.62

09-Dec-15

0.68

1.00

12.68

100.04 100.47

BB+/GCR

*CHELLARAMS

14.00 CHELLARAMS 06-JAN-2016

06-Jan-11

14.00

0.60

06-Jan-16

0.75

2.63

14.28

A+/Agusto; A-/GCR

NAHCO

13.00 NAHCO 29-SEP-2016

29-Sep-11

13.00

15.00

29-Sep-16

1.96

1.00

13.47

99.19

A-/Agusto

FSDH

14.25 FSDH 25-OCT-2016

25-Oct-13

14.25

5.53

25-Oct-16

2.03

1.34

13.85

100.68

A/GCR

UBA

13.00 UBA 30-SEP-2017

30-Sep-10

13.00

20.00

30-Sep-17

2.97

1.00

13.58

98.62

BBB-/GCR

18.00 C&I LEASING 30-NOV-2017

30-Nov-12

18.00

0.73

30-Nov-17

1.78

1.88

14.21

107.12

BBB+/DataPro†; BB+/GCR

*C & I LEASING *DANA#

MPR+7.00 DANA 9-APR-2018

09-Apr-11

16.00

6.30

09-Apr-18

1.99

3.48

15.97

100.07

A-/DataPro†; BB-/GCR

*TOWER#

MPR+7.00 TOWER 9-SEP-2018

09-Sep-11

18.00

2.90

09-Sep-18

2.16

5.20

17.72

100.70

#

AAA/DataPro†; A+/GCR

*TOWER

MPR+5.25 TOWER 9-SEP-2018

09-Sep-11

16.00

0.80

09-Sep-18

2.16

5.06

17.58

101.76

A/Agusto; A/GCR

UBA

14.00 UBA II 22-SEP-2018

22-Sep-11

14.00

35.00

22-Sep-18

3.94

1.35

13.99

100.00

Bbb+/Agusto; BBB+/GCR

*LA CASERA *CHELLARAMS#

15.75 LA CASERA 18-OCT-2018

18-Oct-13

15.75

2.70

18-Oct-18

2.01

2.29

14.79

MPR+5.00 CHELLARAMS II 17-FEB-2019

17-Feb-12

17.00

0.41

17-Feb-19

2.35

6.11

18.64

97.33

01-Apr-14

16.00

4.50

01-Apr-19

3.22

2.16

14.75

103.09

BBB-/DataPro†; BB+/GCR

101.75

*DANA

16.00 DANA II 1-APR-2019

A+/Agusto; A-/GCR

NAHCO

15.25 NAHCO II 14-NOV-2020

14-Nov-13

15.25

2.05

14-Nov-20

6.09

2.76

15.47

99.12

A/GCR

STANBIC IBTC

182D T.bills+1.20 STANBIC IA 30-SEP-2024

30-Sep-14

N/A

0.10

30-Sep-24

9.97

1.00

13.70

86.61

A/GCR

STANBIC IBTC

13.25 STANBIC IB 30-SEP-2024

30-Sep-14

13.25

15.44

30-Sep-24

9.97

1.00

13.70

97.58

11-Feb-18

3.33

1.00

13.60

91.10

Bid Price

Offer Price

BBB/GCR

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

144.46

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

143.75

Supranational Bond AAA/S&P

10.20 IFC 11-FEB-2018

IFC

11-Feb-13

10.20

12.00

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

12.00 10.93

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION Rating/Agency

Issuer

Description

Issue Date

Coupon (%)

Outstanding Value ($mm)

Maturity Date

Bid Yield (%)

Offer Yield (%)

6.75 JAN 28, 2021

07-Oct-11

6.75

500.00

28-Jan-21

5.06

4.92

108.98

FGN Eurobonds

Prices & Yields

BB-/Fitch; B+/S&P BB-/Fitch; BB-/S&P

FGN

BB-/Fitch; BB-/S&P

109.81

5.13 JUL 12, 2018

12-Jul-13

5.13

500.00

12-Jul-18

4.18

3.95

103.23

104.03

6.38 JUL 12, 2023

12-Jul-13

6.38

500.00

12-Jul-23

5.35

5.24

107.05

107.89

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

1,500.00

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

1,596.27

Corporate Eurobonds B/Fitch; B-/S&P

AFREN PLC I

11.50 FEB 01, 2016

01-Feb-11

11.50

450.00

01-Feb-16

7.35

7.35

105.00

105.00

B+/Fitch; B+/S&P

GTBANK PLC I

7.50 MAY 19, 2016

19-May-11

7.50

500.00

19-May-16

4.19

4.19

105.04

105.04 101.72

B+/S&P

ACCESS BANK PLC

7.25 JUL 25, 2017

25-Jul-12

7.25

350.00

25-Jul-17

6.56

6.56

101.72

B/Fitch; B/S&P

FIDELITY BANK PLC

6.88 MAY 09, 2018

09-May-13

6.88

300.00

02-May-18

8.57

8.13

94.89

96.17

B+/Fitch; B+/S&P

GTBANK PLC

6.00 NOV 08, 2018

08-Nov-13

6.00

400.00

08-Nov-18

5.92

5.64

100.27

101.29 105.75

B/Fitch

AFREN PLC II

10.25 APR 08, 2019

08-Apr-12

10.25

300.00

08-Apr-19

8.67

8.67

105.75

B+/Fitch; BB-/S&P

ZENITH BANK PLC

6.25 APR 22, 2019

22-Apr-14

6.25

500.00

22-Apr-19

6.35

6.35

99.63

99.63

B/Fitch; B/S&P

DIAMOND BANK PLC

8.75 May 21, 2019

21-May-14

8.75

200.00

21-May-19

8.92

8.65

99.35

100.37 101.63

B-/Fitch; B/S&P

FIRST BANK PLC

8.25 AUG 07, 2020

07-Aug-13

8.25

300.00

07-Aug-20

7.68

7.68

101.63

B-/Fitch; B/S&P

AFREN PLC III

6.63 DEC 09, 2020

09-Dec-13

6.63

360.00

09-Dec-20

7.50

7.50

95.75

95.75

B-/Fitch; B/S&P

ACCESS BANK PLC II

9.25/6M USD LIBOR+7.677 JUN 24, 2021

24-Jun-14

9.25

400.00

24-Jun-21

8.68

8.48

103.00

104.00

B-/Fitch; B/S&P

FIRST BANK LTD

B-/S&P

ECOBANK NIG. LTD

8.00/2Y USD SWAP+6.488 JUL 23 2021

23-Jul-14

8.00

450.00

23-Jul-21

7.48

7.48

101.63

101.63

8.75 AUG 14, 2021

14-Aug-14

8.75

250.00

14-Aug-21

8.35

8.14

100.96

102.02

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

4,760.00

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

4,824.84

**Treasury Bills DTM 10 17 24 31 38 45 52 59 73

FIXINGS Maturity 23-Oct-14 30-Oct-14 6-Nov-14 13-Nov-14 20-Nov-14 27-Nov-14 4-Dec-14 11-Dec-14 25-Dec-14

Bid Discount (%) 10.70 10.60 11.00 11.00 10.85 11.00 11.10 11.05 11.00

Offer Discount (%) 10.45 10.35 10.75 10.75 10.60 10.75 10.85 10.80 10.75

Bid Yield (%) 10.73 10.65 11.08 11.10 10.97 11.15 11.28 11.25 11.25

Money Market

NIBOR Tenor O/N 1M 3M 6M

Rate (%) 10.7000 12.7078 13.4613 14.3059

Tenor

Rate (%)

OBB

10.29

O/N

10.54

Tenor Call 1M 3M

REPO

Rate (%) 10.33 12.19 12.96

Foreign Exchange (Spot & Forwards) Tenor

Bid ($/N)

Offer ($/N)

Spot 7D 14D 1M 2M 3M 6M

163.75 164.48 164.74 165.47 166.68 168.03 172.05

163.85 164.69 165.09 166.09 167.86 169.73 175.23

Sub-National Bonds A-/GCR

NIGER

14.00 NIGER 15-OCT-2014

15-Oct-09

14.00

6.00

15-Oct-14

0.01

3.29

14.60

99.99

A+/Agusto

KADUNA

12.50 KADUNA 31-AUG-2015

31-Aug-10

12.50

8.50

31-Aug-15

0.88

4.44

16.04

97.15

A/Agusto

*EBONYI

13.00 EBONYI 30-SEP-2015

30-Sep-10

13.00

4.18

30-Sep-15

0.72

3.23

14.89

98.96

A-/Agusto

*BENUE

14.00 BENUE 30-JUN-2016

30-Jun-11

14.00

6.27

30-Jun-16

1.01

4.46

16.03

98.51

A+/Agusto

*IMO

15.50 IMO 30-JUN-2016

30-Jun-09

15.50

7.37

30-Jun-16

1.01

3.48

15.06

100.97

A+/Agusto; A+/GCR

LAGOS

10.00 LAGOS 19-APR-2017

19-Apr-10

10.00

57.00

19-Apr-17

2.52

5.59

18.14

84.11

A-/Agusto

*BAYELSA

13.75 BAYELSA 30-JUN-2017

30-Jun-10

13.75

29.92

30-Jun-17

1.56

1.00

13.15

101.16

3.22

1.79

14.38

98.98

EDO

14.00 EDO 31-DEC-2017

30-Dec-10

14.00

25.00

31-Dec-17

A+/Agusto; A+/GCR

*DELTA

14.00 DELTA 30-SEP-2018

30-Sep-11

14.00

34.14

30-Sep-18

A-/Agusto; A-/GCR

NIGER

14.00 NIGER II 4-OCT-2018

04-Oct-11

14.00

9.00

04-Oct-18

3.98

1.00

13.64

101.06

A/Agusto; A-/GCR†

*EKITI

14.50 EKITI 09-DEC-2018

09-Dec-11

14.50

14.96

09-Dec-18

2.39

1.00

13.54

102.12

A-/Agusto

*NIGER

14.00 NIGER III 12-DEC-2018

12-Dec-13

14.00

11.13

12-Dec-18

2.39

4.78

17.32

93.90

A/Agusto; A-/GCR

*ONDO

15.50 ONDO 14-FEB-2019

14-Feb-12

15.50

27.00

14-Feb-19

2.77

1.00

13.56

102.10

A/Agusto; A-/GCR

*GOMBE

15.50 GOMBE 02-OCT-2019

02-Oct-12

15.50

16.23

02-Oct-19

3.02

1.00

13.58

104.53

Aa-/Agusto; AA-/GCR

LAGOS

14.50 LAGOS 22-NOV-2019

22-Nov-12

14.50

80.00

22-Nov-19

5.11

1.00

13.70

102.83

A/Agusto; A-/GCR

*OSUN

14.75 OSUN 12-DEC-2019

12-Dec-12

14.75

27.51

12-Dec-19

2.99

2.74

15.32

98.75

A/Agusto

*OSUN

14.75 OSUN II 30-SEP-2020

30-Sep-13

14.75

11.40

30-Sep-20

3.52

1.00

13.61

103.03

Aa-/Agusto; AA-/GCR

LAGOS

6.12

1.00

A/Agusto

46

Business | Financiel Market News

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH 2.39 1.80 14.34 99.41

NSE issues delisting notice to nine companies 27-Nov-13 13.50 Monday , 23 June 2014, it 31-Dec-13 15.00 published a notice of its 31-Dec-13 14.50 intention to delist 24 list06-Jan-14 15.00 ed companies from the Daily Official List (DOL) due to their non-compliance18-Dec-09 with provisions of 13.50 the Listings Rules of17.00 The 01-Apr-10 Exchange 17-Aug-10 and pursuant 10.00 to Clause Gen09-Dec-1015 of the12.00 06-Jan-11 14.00 eral Undertaking.

29-Sep-11 13.00 The NSE said that the 25-Oct-13 14.25 notice provided a three 30-Sep-10 13.00 month window for18.00 each 30-Nov-12 of the affected listed 09-Apr-11 16.00 09-Sep-11 to regularise 18.00 companies 09-Sep-11status with 16.00 its listing the

13.50 LAGOS IV 27-NOV-2020 The firms which 15.00 KOGI 31-DEC-2020 are among the 24 listed A/Agusto *EKITI 14.50 EKITI II 31-DEC-2020 NSE committed to*NASARAWA companies15.00 given three A-/GCR NASARAWA 06-JAN-2021 TOTAL OUTSTANDING zero tolerance on VALUE months notice by the ExTOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATIONchange in June to regumarket infraction larise their listing status Corporate Bonds are: Starcomms Plc, Af13.50 GUARANTY TRUST 18-DEC-2014 Aa/Agusto GTB roil Plc, Jos17.00 International µ NGC 31-DEC-2014 NGC Nil Breweries Plc Invest10.00 and UPDC 17-AUG-2015 Bbb-/Agusto *UPDC Chris Ugwu FLOURMILLS 9-DEC-2015 Allied InsurA-/Agusto *FLOURMILLSment and 12.00 BB+/GCR *CHELLARAMS ance Plc. 14.00 CHELLARAMS 06-JAN-2016 13.00 NAHCO 29-SEP-2016 A+/Agusto; A-/GCR NAHCO he Nigerian Stock Others include Pinna14.25 FSDH 25-OCT-2016 A-/Agusto FSDH Exchange (NSE), cle Point Group Plc, West 13.00 UBA 30-SEP-2017 A/GCR UBA yesterday issued African Glass Industry 18.00 C&I LEASING 30-NOV-2017 BBB-/GCR *C & I LEASING one BB+/GCR month final Plc, NigeriaMPR+7.00 Wire DANA & Cable 9-APR-2018 BBB+/DataPro†; *DANA# TOWERBig 9-SEP-2018 A-/DataPro†; BB-/GCR *TOWER# notice to nine companies Plc, MtechMPR+7.00 Plc and A+/GCR *TOWER# to AAA/DataPro†; take appropriate steps Treat Plc. MPR+5.25 TOWER 9-SEP-2018 14.00 UBA II 22-SEP-2018 UBAor to A/Agusto; effectA/GCR compliance In a notice pasted in 15.75 LA CASERA 18-OCT-2018 Bbb+/Agusto; BBB+/GCR *LA CASERA face delisting if they Exchange’s website ob# MPR+5.00 CHELLARAMS II 17-FEB-2019 BBB-/DataPro†; BB+/GCR *CHELLARAMS failed to meet their*DANA post tained by New 16.00 Telegraph, DANA II 1-APR-2019 BBB/GCR listing obligations . NAHCO the NSE recalled that on 15.25 NAHCO II 14-NOV-2020 A+/Agusto; A-/GCR

SANCTION A-/Agusto; BBB+/DataPro

KOGI

T A/GCR

STANBIC IBTC

182D T.bills+1.20 STANBIC IA 30-SEP-2024

A/GCR

STANBIC IBTC

13.25 STANBIC IB 30-SEP-2024

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

Supranational Bond

10.20 IFC 11-FEB-2018

IFC

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

Abdulwahab TOTAL MARKETIsa CAPITALISATION Abuja

T

Rating/Agency

Issuer

he Securities and ExCommission (SEC) FGNchange Eurobonds Nigeria has won the 2013 BB-/Fitch; B+/S&P edition of the prestigious Africa BB-/Fitch; Index Series Award for the FGN catBB-/S&P egory of the continent’s “Most BB-/Fitch; BB-/S&P innovative Capital Markets Regulator.”

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE The SEC Nigeria also won TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION the award last year, 2012, acCorporateto Eurobonds cording statement by Mr B/Fitch; B-/S&P AFREN PLC I Obi Adindu Communications B+/Fitch; B+/S&P Adviser to SEC DG.GTBANK PLC I B+/S&P ACCESS BANKthe PLC He added: “Winning B/Fitch;back B/S&P -to -backFIDELITY BANK PLC award for the secB+/Fitch; B+/S&P GTBANK PLC ond year running by trumping B/Fitch AFREN PLC II allB+/Fitch; otherBB-/S&P capital market regulaZENITH BANK PLC tory agencies in Africa attests B/Fitch; B/S&P DIAMOND BANK PLC to the high which the B-/Fitch; B/S&P regard in FIRST BANK PLC recent of the Nigerian B-/Fitch;course B/S&P AFREN PLC III capital markets is ACCESS held BANK in the B-/Fitch; B/S&P PLC II B-/Fitch; B/S&P FIRST BANK LTD international market.

B-/S&P

“It speaks to the significant traction which the three- year long reforms being implementDescription ed by the leadership of the SEC, Nigeria’s apex capital markets regulator, finds among foreign 6.75 JAN 28, 2021 investors and observers alike.

“On the ‘Most Innovative 5.13 JUL 12, 2018 Capital Markets Regulator’ 6.38 JUL 12, 2023 award, the judges considered the regulator’s commitment to increasing transparency and efficiency, support for innovative technologies, emFEB 01, 2016 ployment of 11.50 best regulatory 7.50 MAY 19,to 2016foreign practices, openness 7.25 JUL 25,protection 2017 investors, investor MAY 09, 2018 (for instance 6.88 rules to prevent 6.00 NOV 08, 2018 dilution and protect minority 10.25 APR 08, 2019 shareholders), visible impact 6.25 APR 22, 2019 and participation in industry 8.75 May 21, 2019 associations such as07,IOSCO and 8.25 AUG 2020 efforts to create en6.63an DECenabling 09, 2020 vironment capital mar9.25/6Mfor USD the LIBOR+7.677 JUN 24, 2021 8.00/2Y USD kets industry .” SWAP+6.488 JUL 23 2021

3.73

0.18 0.22 0.60 0.68 0.75 1.96 2.03 2.97 1.78 1.99 2.16 2.16

13.71 99.11 the delisting process for 14.65 101.33 the above listed compa1.44 14.06 101.34 1.95nies after 14.58 one month 101.31 of this notice unless they take appropriate steps to effect compliance with their post listing 99.33 obliga5.21 16.64 tions,’’ the NSE said.

8.71 20.16 99.15 The Exchange said it 4.88 16.58 96.76 to100.04 engage 1.00 would continue 12.68 2.63 the 14 14.28 100.47that companies 1.00 13.47 99.19 have taken steps towards 1.34 13.85 100.68 regularising their list1.00 13.58 98.62 view to 1.88 ing status 14.21with a 107.12 them into com3.48 bringing 15.97 100.07 5.20 pliance17.72 100.70post with their 5.06 listing obligations.

17.58 101.76 1.94

22-Sep-11

14.00

35.00

22-Sep-18

3.94

1.35

13.99

100.00

18-Oct-13

15.75

2.70

18-Oct-18

2.01

2.29

14.79

101.75

17-Feb-12

17.00

0.41

17-Feb-19

2.35

6.11

18.64

97.33

01-Apr-14

16.00

4.50

01-Apr-19

3.22

2.16

14.75

103.09

14-Nov-13

15.25

2.05

14-Nov-20

6.09

2.76

15.47

99.12

30-Sep-14

N/A

0.10

30-Sep-24

9.97

1.00

13.70

86.61

30-Sep-14

13.25

15.44

14-Aug-21

8.35

8.14

100.96

102.02

F

14-Aug-14

8.75

250.00

1.00 0.48 per 13.70 97.58 from cent in August, a marginal uptick from the previous month.

Prices increased in all COICOP divisions that yield 1.00 13.60 91.10 the headline index except for the Health, Transportation, and Recreation and Culture divisions. Bid Price Offer Yield (%) Offer Price “After rising at a faster pace for four consecutive Prices & Yields months, the pace of increase 4.92 108.98 109.81 of both Urban and rural prices eased in September.

3.95 103.23 104.03 The Urban Composite CPI 5.24 rose by 8.4107.05 per cent,107.89 down from 8.7 per cent in August, while the Rural Composite CPI rose by 8.2 per cent down from 8.4 percent in the previ7.35month. 105.00 105.00 ous 4.19 105.04 on month 105.04 ba“On a month 6.56 101.72 increased 101.72 at sis, Urban prices 8.13same pace 94.89 in September 96.17 the 101.29 as5.64 observed100.27 in August; The 8.67 105.75 105.75 Urban All items index in6.35 99.63 99.63 creased 0.5 per cent.

Prices 8.65 99.35 100.37 of 7.68 The Rural All- items index 101.63 101.63 rose 0.6 per 7.50 at a faster 95.75pace by95.75 cent up from 8.48 in September, 103.00 104.00 0.57.48 per cent101.63 in August.101.63

4,760.00

FMDQ Daily Quotations List

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

3.70

9.97 a result of 30-Sep-24 slower increases Abdulwahab Isa 144.46 in all groups that contribute Abuja 143.75 to the index. This was in contrast to observations in Aurom 8.5 per cent August gust where 11-Feb-18 a broad array of 11-Feb-13 10.20 12.00 3.33 figure, inflation rate food groups that contribute 12.00 eased down by two per to the index pushed the index 10.93 cent in the month of Sep- higher,” it said. tember to 8.3 per cent, theOutstandingAccording to NBS Bid report, Value Issue Date Coupon (%) Maturity Date Yield (%) monthly inflation report of ($mm) the increase in prices in the the National Bureau con- All Items less Farm Product firmed yesterday, or Core sub-index moved at 07-Oct-11 6.75 500.00 28-Jan-21 5.06 The drop signifies first ease the same pace for the second consecutive month at 6.3 per in the12-Jul-13 rate of increase in food 5.13 500.00 12-Jul-18 4.18 prices from an upward of six cent (year-on-year) while 12-Jul-13 6.38 5.35 months that inflation rate had 500.00 prices eased12-Jul-23 in key divisions consistently notched up. such as the Housing, Water, 1,500.00 The NBS in the report not- 1,596.27 Electricity, Gas and other ed that the weakened pace fuels as a result of muted of price increases recorded increases in housing prices.

01-Feb-11 7.35up in the Headline 11.50 index in 450.00Headline01-Feb-16 Index is made 19-May-11 was as7.50 4.19 September a result 500.00 of the Core19-May-16 Index and Farm 25-Jul-12 increases 7.25in food 350.00 25-Jul-17while 6.56 of slower Produce items Pro09-May-13 6.88 major 300.00 02-May-18 8.57 in prices including other cessed foods are included 08-Nov-13 6.00 400.00 08-Nov-18 Classification of Individual both the Core and food 5.92 sub08-Apr-12 10.25 300.00 08-Apr-19 8.67 Consumption by Purpose . indices, implying that these 22-Apr-14 6.25 500.00 22-Apr-19 6.35 “The food index rose by 9.7 200.00 sub-indices21-May-19 are not mutually21-May-14 8.75 8.92 per cent in September, down exclusive.

07-Aug-13 8.25 300.00 07-Aug-20 7.68 on month7.50bafrom09-Dec-13 10.0 per cent 6.63 recorded 360.00On a month 09-Dec-20 in August. in the in- 400.00 sis, the headline rose 24-Jun-14 The ease9.25 24-Jun-21 index 8.68 23-Jul-14 8.00 was as 450.00 23-Jul-21 7.48 crease in food prices by 0.55 per cent in September,

8.75 AUG 14, 2021

ECOBANK NIG. LTD

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

6.22

Inflation eases to 8.3% in September –NBS

SEC wins most innovative regulatory award AAA/S&P

87.00 Nigerian bourse.27-Nov-20 5.00 31-Dec-20 ‘’Since then, one of the 4.78 31-Dec-20 affected 4.79 companies 06-Jan-21has fully477.18 regularised its listing status.

Further, 14 compa470.43 nies have taken some steps to regularise their listing 13.17 18-Dec-14 status,’’ it said. 31-Dec-14 2.00 The that 3.61 NSE noted 17-Aug-15 the nine have 13.62 companies 09-Dec-15 06-Jan-16 apfailed0.60to take any/or 15.00 29-Sep-16 propriate steps to regula5.53 25-Oct-16 rise their listing status.

20.00 30-Sep-17 ‘’Please note 30-Nov-17 that this 0.73 serves notice 6.30as the final 09-Apr-18 2.90 09-Sep-18Exof delisting.

The 0.80 will proceed 09-Sep-18 change with

13-Oct-14

4,824.84

The FMDQ Daily Quotations List (DQL) comprises market and model prices/rates of foreign exchange ($/N) products, fixedFIXINGS income securities and instruments in the OTC market. The use of this report is subject to **Treasury Bills Money Market Foreign Exchange (Spot & Forwards) the FMDQ DTM OTC PLC Terms of Use and Disclaimer Statement on www.fmdqotc.com.

Maturity Bid Discount (%) Offer Discount (%) Bid Yield (%) Tenor Rate (%)

10 23-Oct-14 10.70 17 30-Oct-14 10.60 24 6-Nov-14 11.00 FGN Bonds 31 13-Nov-14 11.00 38 20-Nov-14 10.85 Rating/Agency Issuer Description 45 27-Nov-14 11.00 52 4-Dec-14 11.10 4.00 23-APR-2015 59 11-Dec-14 11.05 13.05 16-AUG-2016 73 25-Dec-14 11.00 15.10 27-APR-2017 80 1-Jan-15 11.00 87 8-Jan-15 11.05 9.85 27-JUL-2017 94 15-Jan-15 11.00 9.35 31-AUG-2017 101 22-Jan-15 10.80 10.70 30-MAY-2018 108 29-Jan-15 11.00 16.00 29-JUN-2019 115 5-Feb-15 10.85 NA NA 7.00 23-OCT-2019 122 12-Feb-15 11.05 16.39 27-JAN-2022 129 19-Feb-15 10.85 14.20 14-MAR-2024 136 26-Feb-15 11.10 15.00 28-NOV-2028 143 5-Mar-15 11.00 12.49 22-MAY-2029 150 12-Mar-15 11.00 8.50 20-NOV-2029 164 26-Mar-15 11.00 10.00 23-JUL-2030 178 9-Apr-15 11.10 192 23-Apr-15 10.85 12.1493 18-JUL-2034 206 7-May-15 10.40 TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE 297 6-Aug-15 10.80 325 10.60 TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION3-Sep-15 *from the Amortising bonds, the average life is calculated and not the duration

NIBOR

Bonds

10.45 10.35 10.75 10.75 10.60 Issue Date 10.75 10.85 23-Apr-10 10.80 16-Aug-13 10.75 27-Apr-12 10.75 10.80 27-Jul-07 10.75 31-Aug-07 10.55 30-May-08 10.75 29-Jun-12 10.60 23-Oct-09 10.80 27-Jan-12 10.60 14-Mar-14 10.85 28-Nov-08 10.75 22-May-09 10.75 20-Nov-09 10.75 23-Jul-10 10.85 10.60 18-Jul-14 10.15 10.55 10.35

10.73 10.65 11.08 11.10 10.97 Coupon 11.15(%) 11.28 4.00 11.25 13.05 11.25 15.10 11.27 11.35 9.85 11.32 9.35 11.13 10.70 11.37 16.00 11.23 7.00 11.47 16.39 11.28 14.20 11.58 15.00 11.50 12.49 11.52 8.50 11.57 10.00 11.74 11.51 12.1493 11.05 11.84 11.70

Tenor O/N 1M 3M Value Outstanding 6M (N'bn)

Rate (%) 10.7000 12.7078 13.4613 Maturity Date 14.3059

535.00 23-Apr-15 545.27 16-Aug-16 NITTY 452.80 27-Apr-17 Tenor Rate (%) 20.00 27-Jul-17 1M 11.0034 100.00 31-Aug-17 2M 11.2112 300.00 30-May-18 3M 11.2200 351.30 29-Jun-19 6M 11.5963 233.90 23-Oct-19 9M 11.8146 600.00 27-Jan-22 12M 12.0688 331.35 14-Mar-24 75.00 28-Nov-28 150.00 22-May-29 NIFEX 20-Nov-29 200.00 591.57 23-Jul-30 Current Price ($/N) BID($/N)105.00 164.2850 18-Jul-34

OFFER ($/N)

4,591.19

OBB

10.29

O/N

10.54

REPO TTM (Yrs) BidRate Yield Tenor (%)(%) Call 0.53 1M 1.84 3M 2.54 6M

10.33 11.73 12.19 12.43 12.96 12.50 13.63

Description

Issue Date

Spot 7D 14DYield Offer 1M (%) 2M 11.41 3M 12.34 6M 12.43 1Y

2.79 12.56 12.50 2.88 12.57 12.50 3.63 12.62 12.51 :Benchmarks 4.71 12.64 12.56 * :Amortising Bond 5.03 12.70 12.60 µ :Convertible Bond 7.29 12.67 12.61 AMCON: Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria 9.42 12.67 12.62 FGN: Federal Government of Nigeria 14.13 Mortgage Bank 12.64 12.59 FMBN: Federal of Nigeria 14.61 12.63 12.58 IFC: International Finance Corporation 15.10Contractors Receivables 12.62 12.56 LCRM: Local Management 12.63 Company12.58 NAHCO: 15.78 Nigerian Aviation Handling O/N: Overnight 19.76 12.38 12.33 NOTE:

164.3850

UPDC: UAC Property Development Company WAPCO:West Africa Portland Cement Company

Bid ($/N)

Offer ($/N)

163.75 Price 163.85 164.48 164.69 164.74 165.09 Bid Price Offer Price 165.47 166.09 166.68 167.86 96.15 96.30 168.03 169.73 100.95 101.10 172.05 175.23 105.50 105.65 181.40 186.40

93.74 93.89 92.39 92.54 94.51 94.81 NA :Not Applicable 111.60 111.90 # :Floating Rate Bond 79.28 79.58 ***: Deferred coupon bonds 117.30 117.60 108.25 108.55 †: Bond rating expired 115.35 115.65 N/A :Not Available 99.06 99.36 72.48 72.78 82.15 82.45 NGC: Nigeria-German Company UBA: United 98.30 Bank for Africa 98.60

4,557.77

#

Risk Premium is a combination of credit risk and liquidity risk premiums **Exclusive of non-trading t.bills Rating/Agency Issuer

Tenor

Coupon (%)

Outstanding Value (N'bn)

Maturity Date

Avg. Life/TTM (Yrs)

31-Oct-14 24-May-15 03-Apr-17 %09-Dec-16 Exposure_ 20-Apr-17 Mod_Duration 06-Jul-17

0.05 0.61 1.35 2.16 Implied Yield 2.52 2.73

# Risk Premium (%)

Valuation Yield (%)

Indicative Price

Agency Bonds 0.00 AMCON 31-OCT-2014 (SR.5 TR.1) 0.00 FMB 24-MAY-2015 17.25 FMB II 03-APR-2017 0.00/16.00 LCRM 09-DEC-2016 Total Outstanding Modified Duration Buckets Porfolio Market Value(Bn) 0.00/16.50 LCRM II 20-APR-2017 Volume(Bn) ***LCRM 0.00/16.50 LCRM III 06-JUL-2017 AMCON

NA

FMBN

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

<3

1,028.15

998.07

3<5

1,095.85

951.30

947.88

1,027.92

34.53

Market

3,071.88

2,977.29

100.00

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION >5 Sub-National Bonds

28-Dec-11 0.00 24-May-10 FMDQ FGN 0.00BOND 03-Apr-12 17.25 09-Dec-11by 0.00/16.00 Weighting Weighting

by Mkt 20-Apr-12 Vol 0.00/16.50 Outstanding Value 06-Jul-12 0.00/16.50

33.52

33.47

31.95

35.67

978.35

INDEX24.56

3.00 112.22 Bucket Weighting 116.70 66.49

1,301.320.34

14.60

12.47

12.66

1.00 2.63 2.27 2.00 Implied 1.00Price Portfolio 1.00

118.2027

132.8284

12.34 14.33 14.21 14.52 INDEX 13.55 13.56

1,122.68

1,124.74

99.40 91.85 103.66 YTD100.28 Return 98.12 (%) 95.40

12.2685

0.32

30.86

1,288.620.35

31.27

12.4740

54.13

12.61

102.4241

1,197.52

19.7518

100.00

1.00

100.00

12.61

117.4283

1,121.34

12.1338

A-/GCR

NIGER

14.00 NIGER 15-OCT-2014

15-Oct-09

14.00

6.00

15-Oct-14

0.01

3.29

14.60

99.99

A+/Agusto

KADUNA

12.50 KADUNA 31-AUG-2015

31-Aug-10

12.50

8.50

31-Aug-15

0.88

4.44

16.04

97.15

A/Agusto

*EBONYI

13.00 EBONYI 30-SEP-2015

30-Sep-10

13.00

4.18

30-Sep-15

0.72

3.23

14.89

98.96

A-/Agusto

*BENUE

14.00 BENUE 30-JUN-2016

30-Jun-11

14.00

6.27

30-Jun-16

1.01

4.46

16.03

98.51

A+/Agusto

*IMO

15.50 IMO 30-JUN-2016

30-Jun-09

15.50

7.37

30-Jun-16

1.01

3.48

15.06

100.97

A+/Agusto; A+/GCR

LAGOS

10.00 LAGOS 19-APR-2017

19-Apr-10

10.00

57.00

19-Apr-17

2.52

5.59

18.14

84.11

A-/Agusto

*BAYELSA

13.75 BAYELSA 30-JUN-2017

30-Jun-10

13.75

29.92

30-Jun-17

1.56

1.00

13.15

101.16

A/Agusto

EDO

14.00 EDO 31-DEC-2017

30-Dec-10

14.00

25.00

31-Dec-17

3.22

1.79

14.38

98.98

A+/Agusto; A+/GCR

*DELTA

14.00 DELTA 30-SEP-2018

30-Sep-11

14.00

34.14

30-Sep-18

2.39

1.80

14.34

99.41

News 47

NEW TELEGRAPH wednesday, OCTOBER 15, 2014

north

Aliyu denies plan to join APC l Says it’s a lie, PDP is my last bus stop Dan Atori MINNA

N L-R: Director-General, Federal Institute of Industrial Research (FIIRO), Dr. Gloria Elemo; Chairman, Governing Board, Dr. Alex Obi; Vice-President, Namadi Sambo and Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Olusegun Aganga, at the opening of FIIRO’s Investment and Technology Week in Lagos …yesterday.

PHOTO: GODWIN IREKHE

Robbers attack bullion van in Delta, kill Nollywood actor Dominic Adewole Asaba

P

andemonium broke out in Asaba, the Delta state capital yesterday, following a robbery attack on a bullion van ferrying money to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), from Anambra state.

It would be recalled that a similar attack was carried out on bullion van Asaba metropolis by armed robbers few months ago, with some Police escorts attached

to the van killed along Agbor-Asaba expressway while the robbers carted away billions of Naira.

The Police authority in the state, later said the bullion van recovered after the incident an empty bullion van.

However, in yesterday’s robbery incident, the armed robbers did not only attack the bullion van but killed Nollywood actor, Clem Onyeka.

I t was learnt that the rampaging robbers operated along the popular Delta Broadcasting Service (DBS), Road, off

Okpanam Road in the capital city, forcing communters to scamper for safety during amid heavy shooting.

Men of the Delta state police command, which headqaurters was few meters away from the scene of the robbery, however engaged the robbers in a gun battle for several hours before the hoodlums disappeared escaped.

The Actor, the New Telegragh gathered was hit by the robbers bullets while returning from an audition location.

Elechi wants health minister as successor Anule Emmanuel

G

overnor Martins Elechi of Ebonyi State yesterday said that himself and the people of the state have commenced moves to appeal to the Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu, to contest the next governorship elec-

tion in the state.

The governor who spoke to state house correspondents after a meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan said although the minister had no ambition of becoming the state governor or holding any other political office, the state needed a person like Chukwu who is serious-

minded to take over from him.

Speaking, he said the development was not however against the directive of the Peoples Democratic Party’s National Working Committee that forbids state governors from endorsing candidates for the next election.

N85m unredeemed pledges delay veteran village, says FG Emmanuel Onani

Abuja

T

he Nigerian Legion, has lamented the refusal of some individuals and corporate organisations, to redeem pledges made during last year’s Armed Forces Remembrance Day Celebration, saying the development has frustrated plans to build a Veterans’ Village

for Legionnaires.

The disclosure was made yesterday by the chairman of Nigerian Legion, Col. Micah Gaya, at a briefing in Abuja by the Minister of Defence, Lt-Gen. Aliyu Gusau Mohammed (trd), as part of activities preceding the 2015 Armed Forces Remembrance Day Celebration, which comes up on January 15.

According to Gaya, a total of N105 million, was pledged during the 2014 Remembrance Day. He, however, regretted that only N20 million of what was pledged, has so far been redeemed.

Speaking on the issue, the Defence Minister said the committee may consider the option of going public, if that will compel them to redeem their pledges.

Jonathan hails Alaafin Oyo at 76 Anule Emmanuel

P

resident Goodluck Jonathan has commended the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi the third, for his continued support to the Federal Government in its effort to accelerate the pace of socio-

economic development in Nigeria.

The President said this in a statement to facilitate with the Alaafin on the occasion of his 76th birthday tomorrow.

President Jonathan also extolled the monarch’s laudable contributions to peace, harmony

and progress in Oyo State and Nigeria.

“On behalf of my family, the Government and people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I write to convey warm felicitations to Your Highness on the occasion of your 76th birthday anniversary.”

iger State Governor, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, yesterday refuted claims that he and his Jigawa State counterpart, Alhaji Sule Lamido, have plans to decamp to the All Progressive Peoples Party (APC).

He said the claim was not true even as he said that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is his last bus stop.

Governor Aliyu while reiterating his resolve to remain in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), called on Nigerians to discountenance insinuations that he has intention to defect from the party.

In a swift reaction to a publication in one of the national dailies yesterday, Aliyu said: “I led the G-7 to advocate for sanity in the PDP. What we fought for was patriotic and results have been recorded.

And now, the ruling party

Gemade to quit politics at 70 Cephas Iorhemen Makurdi

F

ormer National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Barnabas Gemade, yesterday said if voted back to the senate in next year’s general elections, he would retire from active politics in 2019, at the expiration of the tenure when he will also turn 70.

Gemade said this just as he also said that he has received the nod of the people to re-contest in 2015.

Speaking when he visited the elders and stakeholders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwande on Monday, Gemade, who is contesting the Benue North East senatorial seat with Governor Gabriel Suswam, appealed to the people to ensure that contestants for the position play the game by the rules and not by the guns during the elections.

He told the crowd that his visit to the area was to inform them about his intention to take a second shot at the upper chamber, acknowledging their support throughout his outgoing tenure and promising to provide more dividends of democracy if re-elected.

is set for a victorious outing in the next general elections.

“Every social existence must have crisis, which must be resolved. The PDP has indeed overcome its challenges. What led to the G-7, nPDP shouldn’t be misconstrued as moves to cross to the opposition or divide the ruling party, but a move to bring sanity to the PDP. “Let me once again state clearly that I don’t have intentions to leave PDP for any political party. For me, I don’t think it is proper for a politician

to engage in changing party platform as a strategy. It only exposes the person or group as unserious or inconsistent.

“In my own opinion, I think coming back to your political fold after leaving for another platform is a welcome idea, but reverse is the case once you leave for a different turf entirely. I am indeed very glad PDP has overcome its challenges and set to win at the next general elections. It’s therefore misplaced priority to contemplate leaving now.”

Why Yero is contesting, by deputy governor Ibraheem Musa Kaduna

K

aduna State Governor, Mukhtar Ramalan Yero, will be contesting the 2015 governorship election in order to consolidate on the gains of his administration, the state Deputy Governor, Ambassador Nuhu Bajoga, explained this yesterday.

Bajoga, who made this known when he visited traditional rulers in the southern senatorial district of the state, also said Governor Yero’s purchase of the PDP nomination form last Saturday has finally put paid to speculations that he was not going to contest for the seat.

In a statement issued by his Media Aide, Mr. James Swam, the deputy governor was quoted as

saying that; “I am here personally to officially inform you that Governor Muhktar Ramalan Yero will contest the 2015 governorship election.

“I personally accompanied him first to the party office and later to the headquarters in Abuja last Saturday, where he picked the Expression of Interest and nomination forms. So do not believe those spreading any rumour to the contrary.”

He said as the custodian of the people’s customs, it was imperative for the traditional rulers to hear the story firsthand from government, because of the revered position they occupy in the society. He applauded their role in the restoration of peace and harmony, urging them to continue to support the government in its quest for development.

Kano disco wants more power Ibraheem Musa Kaduna

K

ano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO) yesterday said it is seeking more megawatts of power to be able to meet the needs of its customers in the region.

It said the present power needs of Kano, Jigawa and Katsina States is grossly inadequate to serve the consumers of the three states, saying that explains why some areas are still experiencing power outage in spite of the improvement recorded in electricity supply.

Executive Director, Customers Service and Retail at KEDCO, Garba Haruna, made this known at a consultative meeting between customers and members of National

Electricity Regulatory Commission yesterday.

According to him, Kano used to receive 90 megawatts of electricity daily, but this has increased to 270 megawatts.

“However, this quantity of electricity is still not enough because KEDCO requires about 600 to 700 megawatts in order to satisfy its customers.”

Haruna told the forum that KEDCO will not just rely on the national grid in order to meet its customers’ electricity needs, adding that the company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Ajaokuta Steel Rolling Mills about two months ago.

The executive director said that KEDCO expects about 90 megawatts from Ajaokuta, which will push up its electricity supply.

48 Politics C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 1 5

coming in?

How? Very actively! APC has just finished its congress in this state. You may be aware, we have a new party structure in the state and clearly, these are elections we will always contest for. Right now, you may be aware, we have 25 out of 26 members in our House of Assembly and we have three out of the three senators and we have five out of the six House of Representatives members, including one who came in our platform and then defected. In essence, we were six before that defection. So, it is our expectation that people will contest for those positions. The primaries will be on very soon and I expect that they would be keenly contested.

The judiciary in the state is not sitting now. There are fears that the House of Assembly may not be allowed to function.

I don’t envisage that we would run into the kind of difficulties that you are talking about, but once brigandage and thuggery descend on any society, there is a problem. What we have seen in the courts in Ekiti is monumental travesty that really shouldn’t be supported by any right thinking person. But to think that this is actually being choreographed and coordinated by elements within the Federal Government portends serious danger for Nigeria’s democracy and for the independence of the judiciary.

I hope the judiciary and all of us, all right-thinking Nigerians would stand up firm to challenge what is going on because the minute you start using the military and other security apparatus to hound judges, the Chief Judge of this state was locked out of his own office when he attempted to go into his own court yesterday. This is not what was reported in the newspapers, you are hearing from me; that is what happened to the Chief Judge on Friday and his brother judges. And you have the police commissioner and other security agents who are in cahoots with those subverting the courts. I think there is no adjective to use for deprecating what is happening now, not even in the days of military rule in this country was a court invaded and judges beaten up.

They may disagree with you, they may invite you, they may use somebody to go and talk to you before they deliver judgement, but not even the military in all of its brazenness adopted this jungle justice as a vehicle for getting their own way.

I think you are right if that is extended to the Assembly; it is not impossible that it could be shut down. We have seen that before; it is the judiciary that is the new one. After all, the Assembly in Gbenga Daniel’s Ogun State was shut down for more than a year. So, that is actually not new, it could happen.

But we shall have to deal with that when we get to that bridge.

Your name has featured prominently as one of those being considered as vice presidential hopeful of the APC in the 2015

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

‘My approach to stomach infrastructure differs’

Fayemi

election. What is the true picture?

I don’t even understand this notion of being considered. Do aspirants consider people for vice presidency? I think the way it functions is that you become the candidate of a party and you look for somebody who could work with you and I think as far as the timetable of APC is concerned, we are far from that.

If your question is hypothetical, what are you going to do in the event that you are asked to be vice presidential candidate to whoever emerges as the candidate of your party, basically, I would tell you, one, I am not in the race for presidency. Two, I am a party man through and through and if that were to happen, I certainly would give it a serious thought because if you look at the seat I am occupying, I really did not run for this seat.

I am one of the luckiest Nigerians that you can refer to in that sense.

I was literally head-hunted by my leaders to express an interest in this job and some of our leaders felt that I had what it took at the time to run for the position of governor in Ekiti State. And I wasn’t really one of the frontline people in the party then. We had so many of them, that were veteran politicians running for the office, but once I was eventually convinced to do it, I then sat back and came out with my road map to Ekiti recovery which was broadly accepted by majority of our people. For me, I have leaders in this party and it would be a duty rather than an ambition and there is a distinction in my

view between the two. We have to even first get through a race in a manner that does not lead to factionalisation of our party.

As for the three aspirants – Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, Atiku Abubakar and Rabiu Kwankwaso – to which you referred, they are people I respect and admire greatly but here in the South-West, our decision on who to back will be a collective decision.

This government, and I stand to be challenged, did more of what has become known as stomach infrastructure than any government Ekiti has ever had but we did not do it in the manner others do now. We did not go on the streets and start sharing money.

We have no culture of ‘share the money’

After your tenure, are you going back to the classroom?

Oh certainly, I am a permanent student. I have already received a couple of offers both locally and internationally. I have a lot of jobs to do now. If I am going to go out at all, it will just be for a short period to write and reflect on my experience in Ekiti; it would not be on a permanent basis. You know, I also have an on-going relationship with the University of Ibadan, the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies. And then, we just set up a Regional Institute for Peace and Governance in the Ekiti State University here, so either way, I am going back to the classroom, in one form or another.

If you are called upon by the incoming administration to come and defend certain actions, what will be your response?

Why not? I expect that I would be called to defend certain actions or clarify actions, to explain what I have done in office. That is stewardship.

Anyone who has served must be prepared to render an ac-

count of stewardship, but even before I am called, I mean I have almost 1,500-page hand-over note for the incoming administration and I am sure they would have enough to chew on and if they are not satisfied, I am sure they can ask questions as long as the questions are asked in a manner that does not impugn my character which I hold very dearly. And there is no reason why they should not be free to ask questions. It is a legitimate expectation of any new government to ask questions about what has transpired. They need not necessarily be negative, they may just be because there are things I would have loved to do with the incoming administration, but I wouldn’t be able to do because of the way the incoming administration has conducted itself.

If they conducted themselves appropriately, I do not even see any reason I should not be taking the incoming governor on a tour of this building, and showing him what we have done here and how he can maintain this as a monument to Ekiti, it is not a private property of any governor resident here.

And there is no reason, on the basis of Ekiti development, we should not get together to do these things. I would have loved to bring all the past governors together to see how they can assist our brother who is coming in. For instance, in the course of my tenure, the World Bank have eight projects in this state.

So Ekiti became a major focus state for the World Bank in Nigeria during my tenure. And they are worried now, they are concerned about what is going to happen to their projects and to things we have been doing.

We have projects in agriculture, water, and education. I mean World Bank has over the last four years put in almost $150 million in this state and now, they have solicited, they have asked me to bring the new person so that we sit down, introduce him to them and reassure them that these things would be handled in the manner that would not make them regret the support they have given Ekiti people. Of course, their support is not personal, it is institutional. But in fund raising, we always say it is people that you are comfortable with that you will support and it is not an accident that Ekiti did not have that kind of support before I became governor here.

So, it is going to be a challenge. He would have to reassure development partners.

They don’t have particularly nice stories to tell about past relationships with him. So, I hope we don’t lose out, I hope the World Bank for example doesn’t withdraw its support to Ekiti. Ditto other development agencies.

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014

International Football

Sports News

Di Maria was greedy - Ancelotti

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Sport

AFCON Qualifiers

Arsenal to table £15m for Emenike

Eagles not special –Sudan Coach

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Did you know?

That Rita Nwadike scored Nigeria’s maiden FIFA Women’s World Cup goal on 8 June 1995 in a thrilling 3-3 draw against Canada, in Helsingborg, Sweden.

AWC: Falcons wallop Zambia 6-0, qualify for semifinal Ajibade Olusesan

D Nkwocha

esire Oparanozie scored a brace as Super Falcons of Nigeria, on Tuesday, walloped Zambia 6-0 to move to the semifinal of the Africa Women Championship holding in Namibia.

Nigerian legend, Perpetua Nkwocha, youngster, Assisat Osoala, Ngozi Okobi and Osinachi Ohale scored a goal each to give the eighttime African champions the resounding victory.

Okobi opened the floodgate of

goals as early as second minute when she connected with a through pass from Oparanozie and fired past Zambia goalie. Osinachi increased the tally four minutes later when she headed home a free kick from Ebere Ngozi.

Oparanozie got the third goal for Nigeria in the 26th minute and her third of the tournament when she converted

Eagles need a foreign coach – Owolabi

from the penalty spot after Zambia goalkeeper brought down Oshoala in the vital area.

The Zambians completely lost the chance to claw back into the game when Zulu picked up her second yellow card for a clumsy tackle on Oparanozie in the 39th minute and was sent off.

In the 69th minute of the game Nigerian ladies scored their fourth of

‘Keshi uses and dumps players’ The Sport Team

Adekunle Salami l Deputy Editor, Sports Emmanuel Tobi l Assistant Editor, Sports

Ifeanyi Ibeh l Sports Correspondent

Ajibade Olusesan l Sports Correspondent

Charles Ogundiya l Sports Correspondent © Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited

Charles Ogundiya

F

ormer international, Felix Owolabi, has advised the Nigeria Football Federation to hire a foreign coach to handle the Super Eagles.

Owolabi on Monday exclusively told New Telegraph that only a foreign coach could lead the national team to success.

The former Shooting Stars player said Stephen Keshi

has not behaved as a professional coach just like many other Nigerian coaches that have handled the national team in recent time. He said employing another local tactician would amount to walking the same path over again.

He said: “We need a foreign coach now, one that can handle the players in a professional manner.

Keshi didn’t behave as a professional coach with the

the game through Oshoala.

Oparanozie completed her brace and her fourth goal in the tournament with a fine finish in the 82nd minute.

Ageless Nkwocha completed the rout in the 85th minute, turning her marker inside out before sending a sublime shot home.

Although she did not get on the score sheet, Rivers Angels left-back, Ebere, was voted the MVP of the match for her allround performance.

Keshi

He keeps picking players and dumping them at random

way he handles the national team.

“The players are the one playing the game and not the coaches; so as a coach. there is a problem when you start inviting players that are not good enough for our national team.

“I don’t have anything against Keshi, because we belong to the same generation, I was one of the people rooting for him in the past when he was doing well, I was happy for him, so if I am talking now, it is not with sentiment but with facts. For now let us forget about any Nigerian coach.”

Owoblow as he is fondly called further stated that Keshi’s personal ego and problem with his players has cost the country dearly.

He also berated the coach for using and dumping players for some flimsy excuses while inviting those that can’t offer the team anything.

Owolabi said: “When you just go to China, Saudi Arabia, Qatar to invite players and you want to get the best out of these players within three days of training, it is not possible.

“Honestly, you cannot give what you don’t have, I am hurt as a Nigerian and also as someone that has played the game in the past.

“He keeps picking players and dumping them at random. Some players qualified the country for the World Cup, some won the AFCON for the nation and yet they have been dropped from the team. If they were replaced by better players, nobody will complain.

“If Keshi dropped Ikechukwu Uche for indiscipline, what was the offence of players like Sunday Mba, Brown Ideye, Bright Dike and a host of others?”

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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

In the High court of Nigeria

(1)

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NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014

In the High court of Nigeria

(2)

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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

In the High court of Nigeria

(3)

SPORT | INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014

Ancelotti labels Di Maria greedy C arlo Ancelotti has revealed that Real Madrid decided to cash in on Angel Di Maria this summer due to the Argentine’s hefty wage demands.

The versatile midfielder played a key role in Madrid’s successful Champions League campaign last term as they, at last, won La Decima.

However, Di Maria was then sold to Manchester United in a deal worth €75 million after talks over a contract renewal broke down.

“Di Maria demanded a lot of money and preferred to leave in order to earn more elsewhere. The club simply couldn’t give him the money he wanted,” Ancelotti told Ca-

53

Arsenal to table £15m for Emenike A

dena Cope.

“There are times when a club has to say no. You cannot change the club’s policy for just one player.”

The Madrid coach also had his say on Cristiano Ronaldo and insisted the Portugal international is the best player he has ever coached, while admitting that it is not an easy decision to rotate the attacker.

“I have coached Zinedine Zidane and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but I think Ronaldo is the best player I ever trained.

“It’s never an easy decision to rest him. He nearly always scores when he plays and you almost start each game 1-0 up when he starts. He is a great professional.”

Di Maria

rsenal are scouting powerful Fenerbahce striker Emmanuel Emenike ahead of a possible £15million deal in the January transfer window.

Emenike has been strongly linked with a move to the Premier League in the last 18 months, with Chelsea believed to be close to signing him during the summer.

But now Arsenal are the front runners for his signature with Turkish newspaper Milliyet reporting that Arsene Wenger is lining up a deal for the new year.

It’s claimed that the Frenchman has asked his scouts to watch Emenike closely with Arsenal ready to spend £15million on him if he impresses.

The 27-year-old scored 12 goals in 28 matches last season and picked up nine assists.

Neymar hits four in Brazil win Zambia drop captain Katongo V A

Neymar

four-goal haul from Neymar helped Brazil to a 4-0 win over Japan on Tuesday as Dunga’s strong start to his second spell in charge continued.

Following a disastrous World Cup elimination on home soil under Luiz Felipe Scolari, USA 94-winning captain Dunga has now guided the national side to four consecutive victories without conceding a goal.

Despite Dunga’s criticism of the surface at the Singapore Stadium, skipper Neymar impressed throughout - seeing a freekick hit the post shortly before sending Brazil in front.

Cote d’Ivoire chase double over DRC

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he Elephants are looking to continue with their charge at the top of Group D when they host DR Congo in Abidjan today.

Cote d’Ivoire host DR Congo in the two sides’ final leg Group D doubleheader just four days after an important 2-1 away win over the latter in Kinshasa.

That victory put Cote d’Ivoire’s 2015 Africa Cup qualifying campaign back on track, lifting them from third to second, after going to Kinshasa a month after they were humbled 4-1 away by Group D leaders Cameroon.

“We must approach that game with a lot of concentration. We mustn’t be complacent with regard to our opponents, even if we defeated them on their home ground,” veteran Cote d’Ivoire midfielder Siaka Tiene said.

“We must not think it will be an easy game. We have to give it all on each ball and be rigorous not to have any regret at the end.”

The Elephants have six points, one less than Cameroon and three more than DR Congo with two more matches to go after Wednesday’s fixtures.

Black Stars’ dip in form worries Attram

F

ormer Black Stars striker Godwin Attram thinks the performance of the current setup is below par.

The 2014 FIFA World Cup finalists have struggled to be at the best form in their last three competitive matches- all in the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

A disappointing 1-1 draw with Uganda at home was followed by a nervy 3-2 win at Togo before surrendering a lead to draw 1-1 with Guinea in Casablanca last week.

Attram, a member of Ghana’s 2006 Africa Cup of Nations finals squad, says the team’s performance in recent time is alarming.

“I have to say the Black Stars are yet to excel since the world cup problems in Brazil and that is not good at all,” Attram told Africanfootball.com “They have to try to forget and seek to impress with their performance; it’s only that way that they can truly win back the masses.”

Latching on to Diego Tardelli’s pass, the lively forward took the ball round Eiji Kawashima before doubling his tally early in the second half when he finished one-on-one after a delightful through ball from Philippe Coutinho.

Japan - who ensured Javier Aguirre his first victory against Jamaica on Friday - were unable to respond as Neymar added two more late on.

The dominant victory rounds off a positive tour of Asia that saw Brazil clinch the Superclasico de las Americas against Argentina in Beijing on Saturday.

2015 AFCON FIXTURES Nigeria v Sudan South Africa v Congo

eteran Zambia captain Christopher Katongo has been dropped by coach honour Janza.

The 32-year-old and 2012 Africa Cup winning captain leaves the Zambia fold after ten years in the team.

Katongo departed the team camp in Ndola on Monday just 48 hours before Zambia play Niger in the two sides final leg of their 2015 Africa Cup Group F qualifier doubleheader.

Zambia team manager Lusekelo Kamwambi told the press during the teams’ Monday night training at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola that the decision was not on disciplinary grounds but rather tactical.

“Coach Honour Janza in a bold move aimed at boosting team spirit and unity in Chipolopolo has released captain Christopher Katongo from camp,” Kamwambi said.

“Janza intends to make drastic changes to the squad to face Niger on Wednesday and therefore he wishes to spare the blushes of the captain that might arise from his possible omission from the team.”

Katongo

We must beat Congo - S’Africa star

Mali v Ethiopia Algeria v Malawi

B

Angola v Lesotho B’ Faso vGabon Cameroon v Sierra Leone Ivory Coast v DR Congo Togo v Uganda Ghana v Guinea Cape Verde v Mozambique Zambia v Niger Egypt v Botswana Tunisia v Senegal

afana Bafana and AmaZulu striker Bongani Ndulula says they must win their African Cup of Nations qualifier return match against Congo on Wednesday night.

Bafana are fresh from a 2-0 victory against the Red Devils in Pointe Noire last Saturday and the match in Polokwane could ensure the national team qualifies for Morocco 2015.

Ndulula was speaking after their training session on

Monday in Polokwane and says they’re taking it one game at a time, and as players are aware of their duty.

“We’re happy to have registered a win in Congo, it wasn’t an easy game but it’s past now – our preparations are going well and we know our duty,” said Ndulula.

“This is a must win for us as we’d like to ensure we qualify for next year’s tournament and they’re under pressure we know, so it’s not going to be an easy one.”

Suarez: Barcelona Clasico debut is my fate

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Suarez

uis Suarez believes it’s fate that he could make his Barcelona debut in the Liga match against arch-rivals Real Madrid on October 25.

The Uruguay international will be available for selection again when his four-month ban expires on October 24 and he thinks it’s not a coincidence that he could take on Madrid on his maiden appearance for the Catalans.

“You know, I’m the kind of person who believes that things happen for

a reason, and out of all 19 teams in the league, it’s precisely against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu that I’ll make my comeback. There must be a reason,” Suarez told Barca Magazine.

“I imagine what it’ll be like to pull on the shirt, to be with the rest of the team in the dressing room before the match, getting kitted up to play, and as chance would have it, in such a stadium. It’s a huge coincidence but I’m looking forward to the experience.”

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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014 NEW TELEGRAPH

Nigeria vs Sudan AFCON 2015 QUALIFIERS

Eagles not special –Sudan Coach Musa promises

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udan coach, Mohammed Abdullah, insists his charges will complete the double over African champions, Nigeria, when both nations clash in a 2015 Africa Nation’s Cup (Afcon) qualifier in Abuja on Wednesday.

Sudan’s Falcons of Jediane triumphed 1-0 over the Super Eagles on Saturday in Khartoum and will be looking to repeat the trick in the reverse fixture at the Abuja national stadium on Wednesday.

Abdullah says the win in Khartoum was not a fluke and has promised to shock the reigning African champions yet again.

“Nigeria is a big team but we have studied the Super Eagles very well. We know their strengths and weaknesses and we will go for a win again,” he said.

The Sudanese had their first feel of the Abuja national stadium on Monday and the session was dominated by physical exercises.

Abdallah also drilled his players on set pieces and crosses from both wings during the training session.

He will be looking to get some joy through the latter as Sudan’s solitary goal on Saturday arrived after a cross from the right, headed in emphatically past the helpless Nigerian goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama.

The Sudanese also practiced “breaking up the play” of the opposition in anticipation of a barrage of ceaseless attacks from the Nigerians who will be gunning for an outright win.

Wednesday’s game at the Abuja national stadium will kick off at 5pm.

birthday goals

…As Kanu backs Eagles

A

Abdullah

Keshi blasts Nigerian fans

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Keshi

uper Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi, has sensationally told supersport.com that he has never enjoyed the support of Nigerians from the first day he took charge of the national team in 2011.

Keshi said “only a handful of Nigerians” did not question his professional competence after he was appointed head coach and that the team’s 2013 Africa Cup of Nations (Af-

con) success in South Africa came to many as a shock.

“If I am to be honest, most Nigerians never believed in me or this team from day one. It was only a handful of them (Nigerians) that believed.

“When we won the Nations Cup, they celebrated but they never really believed we could do it,” an angry Keshi said.

Nigeria’s hopes of qualifying for the 2015

Afcon in Morocco hang by a thread after the Super Eagles picked up a solitary point from a possible nine.

The underwhelming results have put Keshi’s position in jeopardy but the “Big Boss’ says he’s not worried about losing his job.

“Yes, I am aware a lot of Nigerians are calling for my head. The truth is, they can’t really call for my head because they did not give me my head.”

Ideye urges Eagles to win remaining games Ifeanyi Ibeh

N

igeria and West Bromwich Albion striker, Brown Ideye, has called on the Super Eagles to forget about last weekend’s loss to Sudan and focus on winning their remaining 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers starting with Wednesday’s encounter in Abuja against the Sudanese.

The Super Eagles, following Saturday’s 1-0 loss to the Falcons in Khartoum, are bottom of Group A, five points behind second-placed Congo, and a further point behind group leaders South Africa.

With only three rounds of matches to play in the qualifiers, the Super Eagles need to win all of their upcoming games to stand a chance of qualifying for Maroc 2015, while hoping other results go their way.

But irrespective of the fact that the team’s fate no longer rests in their hands, Ideye has called on the Eagles to go all out in search of victory from now until the end of the qualifiers.

The striker who described as shameful the outcome of

Aluko calls for fans’ support H ull City and Nigeria striker Sone Aluko wants Nigerian fans to get behind the Super Eagles as the team gets set to play Sudan on Wednesday.

Aluko, who didn’t make the match day squad for the 1-0 loss in Khartoum last weekend, is optimistic that the Eagles can bounce back to winning ways again.

“The game with Sudan is one of those bad days in the office as we failed to get the desired result,” he exclusively told supersport.com “We had the game in our hands in the opening exchanges but couldn’t score when we had the chances.

“Unfortunately Sudan grew in confidence and were able to get their goal.

last weekend’s game in Khartoum told New Telegraph: “I saw the game [in Khartoum] and it was sad watching my friends go down like that in such an important game.

“It’s a shame our fate is no longer in our hands but I know what the guys are capable of.

They just have to dig deep within themselves and remember they can still make it to Morocco.

“But we have to win first and pray that we qualify at the end.

“They should put the Sudan defeat behind them and work hard to win the remaining games,” added the former Dynamo Kiev player, who was part of the AFCON winning team at last year’s tournament Ideye in South Africa.

Giwa charges Eagles to beat Sudan

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mbassador Chris Giwa, owner of Giwa United football club of Jos, has urged the Super Eagles of Nigeria to win today’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Sudan.

In a goodwill message to the team, Giwa called on the players to put their recent losses behind them and concentrate on the big task ahead of today.

“You are the African Champions

s has become the tradition in the Super Eagles camp, Russian-based striker, Ahmed Musa, received a surprise birthday gift when all the players took turns in bathing him with water during Tuesday’s early morning training session of the national team.

The players took the petit winger who returned to training on Tuesday morning after resting for a day following a knock he received in the first leg game in Sudan by surprise. Those who could not grab water cans, poured balls on him before training started under the early morning breeze of Abuja.

Speaking when the team returned to its camp base Musa said he has suspended celebration till after the much-desired win against Sudan on Wednesday. “After that we can paint the town red because we would have gotten our qualification hopes back on track.”

However, team skipper, Vincent Enyeama, said “there will be a short cakecutting ceremony during dinner, according to him, just to show him that he is loved by all and sundry in the team”.

Similarly, Nigerian legend, Nwankwo Kanu, says there will be no stopping the Super Eagles in the last three qualifier games for the Maroc 2015 Nations Cup. “I know the calibre of players in this team, some of them I have played with.

I know the coaching crew and all the assistants, the slogan now is operation win all games”, he declared.

Kanu called for total support from all Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora, noting that what the team is passing through at the moment is common with great teams and all they need to bounce back is the support and understanding of their people.

and you can’t just exit the stage in this way. You must try to surmount all criticisms by winning today’s match.

If you win today, then there will be chances for you to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco next year,” Giwa said.

The club owner, who is still laying claims tenaciously to the leadership of the NFF, also solicited massive support

for the Super Eagles. Giwa urged football loving Nigerians and supporters to conduct themselves well today at the Abuja national stadium. He appealed to fans not to boo or haul stones or sachet water at the players even when they fail to meet expectations, “rather we should pray and cheer them to encourage the players to perform optimally on the field of play”.

Aluko

Everyone is sad we lost but we must forge ahead,” Aluko added.

Nigeria lost the Khartoum tie 1-0 courtesy of a Babeker Bakir goal in the 42nd minute which sent the defending champions to last place in Group A of the 2015 Afcon qualifiers.

Aluko feels all is not lost and wants the fans to keep the faith and support the team as they try to salvage what is left of the qualifying campaign.

“I believe all is not lost, we need everyone to support the team because it is still possible,”Aluko stated.

“I hope to give my best if I’m chosen for the game. I’ll do my best just like every other player to make sure we beat Sudan on Wednesday and get good results in subsequent matches.”

NEW TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014

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Sanctity of Truth

On Marble

One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation.

– Arthur Ashe

NIGERIA’S MOST AUTHORITATIVE NEWSPAPER IN POLITICS AND BUSINESS

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014

N150

World Record Shridhar Chillal (India) holds the world record for the longest fingernails ever reached on a single hand, measuring 6.15 meters (20 feet 2.25 inches). His longest nail is 1.30 meters (4.25 feet).

Food security: Lessons from China GUEST COLUMNIST Tayo Ogunbiyi

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he Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations (UN) observes World Food Day every 16th of October. Incidentally, FAO was established on the 16th of October, 1945. The initial World Food Day edition was held on 16th October, 1981. The essence of the day is to draw the attention of the world to the reality of the crisis of hunger and to promote financial and technical collaboration among diverse governments and nongovernmental organisations.

Indeed, the hunger situation in the world is becoming quite alarming and, as such, need to be carefully brought into the consciousness of all stakeholders. A recent study reveals that an estimated 1.02 billion people across the world suffer from persistent hunger and malnutrition. This, without doubt, is a serious matter worthy of utmost consideration from all policy makers. With a constantly growing population, experts have predicted that by 2020, the globe might face the threat of a major food crisis.

To avoid a looming global food disaster, it is vital that all key global players come together to chart a new course.

This is why the theme of this year’s World Food Day: “Feeding the world, caring for the earth”, is quite apt. The theme is very decisive because it appropriately underscores the significance of agriculture in the protection and preservation of man and his environment.

Therefore, it is expected that efficient expansion in farming will result in sufficient food productions for feeding the world, a process that should ultimately enhance the safety of our environment.

Perhaps, the most important thing that holds the key to human and earth survival is massive investment in agriculture. Investment in agriculture is critical to poverty reduction, especially in developing nations. One way through which issues of food security and poverty eradication could be addressed, across the world, is for governments and their development partners to pay more attention to the development of agriculture.

It is ironic and sad to observe that, despite the apparent status of agriculture as a major driving force in the economies of many developing countries, fewer nations accord the sector the attention it deserves in terms of the much-needed investment outlay. A recent survey indicates a remarkable slump in the flow of foreign aid to agriculture in the last 20 years.

The African food situation, undoubtedly, needs urgent attention. In 2003, member states of the African Union (AU) signed a pact to commit a minimum of 10 per cent of their national budgets to investment in agriculture, but as at 2013, only seven countries, Burkina Faso, Niger, Guinea, Senegal, Mali, Malawi and Ethiopia, have been able to make progress in that regards.

Till date, nations such as Nigeria, Guinea-Bissau and the Democratic Re-

Minister of Agriculture & Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina

José Graziano da Silva, FAO Director-General

public of Congo, allocate a mere three per cent of their national budgets to investment in agriculture. The current situation naturally has far reach-

ing implications on the economy of the continent as most of the countries spend huge amount of money on food importation.

In Nigeria, for instance, in 2010 alone, a staggering N635 billion was spent on wheat importations while another N35 trillion was spent on rice importation as well as N217 billion on sugar importations and another N97 billion on fish importation.

In Nigeria, as a result of the neglect suffered by the sector, the export potential of cash crops such as cocoa, groundnuts, cashew among others, has seriously diminished. It is sad today that we are no longer a major exporter of cocoa, groundnuts, rubber, and palm oil. Ironically, these were the produce that the nation’s founding fathers built the prosperity of the country upon. It is amazing how a nation that was once the biggest poultry producer in Africa now has its total output reduced from 40 million birds annually to about 18 million. Despite the fact that agricultural production rose by 28 per cent during the 1990s, per capita output rose by only 8.5 per cent during the same decade.

Consequently, agriculture has not been able to keep pace with Nigeria’s rapid population growth as evident in the sad reality that Nigeria, which

In Nigeria, for instance, in 2010 alone, a staggering N635 billion was spent on wheat importations while another N35 trillion was spent on rice importation as well as N217 billion on sugar importations and another N97 billion on fish importation

once exported food, now relies heavily on imports to sustain itself. Contented in its newly-found oil wealth, succeeding governments in the country, except, perhaps, until recently, simply allowed investment in agriculture to decline to a ridiculous state. The prospect of the sector, nevertheless, still reflects in its being accountable for over 26.8% of GDP and two-thirds of employment in the country.

To continue in this neglect of agriculture will amount to laying a solid foundation for the perpetration of poverty. The way forward is to develop agriculture to a level where it could attend to the food needs of the population and at the same time become a major source of revenue for government. This used to be the trend in the colonial and immediate post-colonial era when the giant strides attained by the various regions were anchored on agriculture. In the defunct Western Region, for example, the leadership of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo was able to accomplish many firsts namely: the construction of the Liberty Stadium, Ibadan, establishment of the then University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife) , creation of the defunct Western Nigeria Television, formation of several industrial estates, among others, solely from the proceeds of government’s huge investment in agriculture.

This is the time to return to that glorious path. Though, a large chunk of the investment needed to achieve this might have to come from the private sector, but government would have to demonstrate sufficient political will that would spur corporate individuals and groups into diverting their funds for that purpose.

Consequently, government must recreate a modernised professional and commercial farming sector, supported by improved infrastructure and research into high performance seeds and livestock. To encourage the youths to take to agriculture, access to agric related loans must be less cumbersome while large scale farming powered by mechanised infrastructures should be the central goal.

Equally, local food production must be encouraged by making inputs available, giving farmers access to more farm land, providing micro credit at subsidised cost, supporting adequate processing and storage, providing market facilities, and discouraging import of produce with local substitutes through tariffs. It is also important that a significant portion of the country’s annual budget be set aside for the development of the sector. This can be achieved if government reduces its expenses on ventures that are grossly unproductive.

We could draw lessons from China which bounced back from a great famine that took millions of lives between 1958 and 1961 to become the world numero uno in food production. It is only in doing this that the real essence of this year’s World Food Day could be appreciated.

• Ogunbiyi is of the Features Unit, Ministry of Information & Strategy, Ikeja, Lagos State

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