Binder1 june 26, 2014 by Newtelegraphonline

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Thursday, June 26, 2014 Vol. 1 No. 128

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Super Eagles qualify for second round

lDespite slim loss to Argentina

igeria progressed into the second round of the 2014 FIFA World Cup despite losing 3-2 to Argentina yesterday in the last Group F game.

Super Eagles needed to avoid defeat against Argentina or hoped that Iran did not win against Bosnia. Thankfully, the Bosnians beat Iran 3-1, a

result that sent Nigeria into the second round of the tournament for the first time since 1998. Eagles, who did not concede a goal in their first

two games, went down as early as third minute as Lionel Messi scored for the Argentines. Di Maria produced great movement CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

Editor, 24 others killed in Abuja, Lagos blasts lBoko Haram kills 16 soldiers in Borno lDeath toll now 48 in attacks on Kaduna villages Our Reporters

bout 45 minutes before the kick-off of the Nigeria-Argentina World Cup match yesterday, powerful twin explosions rocked the busy Banex and Emab Plazas in Abuja, and another explosion rocked the Folawiyo Towers in Apapa, Lagos. While 21 people were confirmed dead in the twin blasts in Abuja, four others were said to have been killed in the Lagos terrorist attack. Among the dead in the third terrorist attack on Abuja in the last two months, is the Managing Editor (North) of New Telegraph, Mr. Suleiman Bisalla. The explosions came after the April and May CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

Security agents and rescue workers at the scene of the explosions in Abuja...yesterday.

Jonathan: Insurgency worse than civil war l50 suspected Boko Haram members intercepted in Enugu Emmanuel Onani and Anule Emmanuel Abuja

resident Goodluck Jonathan yesterday described the insurgency being prosecuted by

Boko Haram in the northern part of the country as worse than the 1967-1970 civil war. He told a delegation of

Bishops of The African Church, led by the Prelate, Emmanuel Udofia, who visited him at the State House, Abuja that while

the civil war had the government pitted against a known rebel army demarcated by boundary, fighting Boko Haram, whose

The late Bisalla

terrorist activities in the last five years have claimed about 12,000 lives, was a different ball game. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

Nigeria earns N30trn revenue from extractive sector

Lagos

Storm

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Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, June 26, 2014

New Telegraph Editor among the dead CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

bombings in Nyanya, a suburb of the capital, for which Boko Haram claimed responsibility. Bisalla, 46, Bisalla left the Abuja office of the New Telegraph newspaper at about 3.30pm for the Emab plaza to fix his telephone handset when the explosions occurred. Bisalla’s corpse has been deposited at the Maitama General Hospital, along with others. Bisalla’s elder brother, Mohammed, who was the only person allowed into the hospital yesterday, confirmed the death. Bisalla, a former Deputy Editor with the Daily Trust in Abuja, joined the New Telegraph late last year. The late Managing Editor hailed from Gindiri in Mangul Local Government Area of Plateau State. A statement by Mohammed said he would be buried today, according to Islamic rites. Managing Director of Daily Telegraph Publishing Company, Mr. Gabriel Akinadewo, described Bisalla as a thorough bred and hardworking journalist who will be greatly missed by the company. At the scene of the incident, blood splattered a wide area and New Telegraph counted over 25 damaged vehicles littering the cordoned off crime scene.

TODAY’S WEATHER FORECAST

Although the police confirmed 21 dead in the explosions and 15 injured, it was learnt that the casualty figure might be higher. At the crime scene, a massive crowd was held back by security agencies comprising the police, army and the civil defence corps. Heavily armed security agents combed the scene collecting exhibits that would aid investigation. In front of the partially destroyed Diamond Bank

29oC 22oC Rain Storms

PORT HARCOURT

28oC 22oC Storms

KANO

38oC 24oC Mostly Sunny

ENUGU

32o C 23oC Thunder Storms

IBADAN

29o C 22oC Storms

CALABAR

28oC 22oC Storms

MAIDUGURI

39oC 27oC Mostly Sunny

ONITSHA

31oC 22oC Storms

He said: “We were preparing to watch the Nigeria-Argentina World Cup match when 45 minutes before the match could start, we heard a big explosion. The explosion came twice. When I came out I saw fire and large smoke. “I observed some casualties, about 10 people or thereabouts, who were dead. Some women who were selling banana and other fruits were affected. “The security agencies came on time. It was

only the fire service that did not come on time. I am satisfied with the response speed and general intervention of the authorities,” he said. Confirming the incident, Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Mr. Frank Mba, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), said 21 persons were killed while 17 others who sustained varying degrees of injuries, were receiving treatments at difCONTINUED ON PAGE 3

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

President Goodluck Jonathan (left) receiving a plaque from the Primate of African Church, Most Revd. Emmanuel Udofia, during a courtesy visit on the president by Bishops of the church in Abuja…yesterday PHOTO: TIMOTHY IKUOMENISAN.

Jonathan: Insurgency worse than civil war CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

ABUJA

in Banex Plaza two vehicles, a Honda car with registration number ABJ477-K and another car with registration number RBC260-AP whose brand could not be determined because of its total destruction, smouldered. A businessman, Ikechukwu Sunday Anazodo, of Suite A-31 Emab Plaza, told New Telegraph that they were waiting to watch the Nigeria-Argentina match when the blasts occurred.

FLIGHT SCHEDULE

He also assured the delegation that despite the challenges, the nation would overcome the menace of Boko Haram since “light will surely subdue darkness.” The terrorist activities of Boko Haram also featured yesterday at a bilateral discussion between Jonathan and the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Mr. Hailemariam Desalegn, where the two leaders agreed to be at the forefront of the fight against terrorism and extremism in Africa. Besides, the Federal Government said yesterday that investigators probing the suspicious movement of 486 “travellers” intercepted about two weeks ago in Abia State had unearthed information that “will shock Nigerians.” Of the number of travellers, detained on the grounds that they were suspected members of Boko Haram, 144 were found to be innocent have been released. Jonathan, during his meeting with The African Church bishops, however,

urged religious leaders to continue with their prayers for the country, which according to him, have kept Nigeria from being subdued by the terrorists. The president, who also lamented the neglect of moral and religious education, promised that his administration would continue to improve the welfare of Nigerians as part of efforts towards tackling the spread of insurgency. Earlier, Udofia had said the Boko Haram menace had been the most unfortunate challenge to the Jonathan administration despite the humane and all-inclusive approach of the government. Jonathan and Desalegn during their meeting also discussed terrorism and agreed to work together to tackle the menace in Africa. Desalegn, at a joint press conference with Jonathan at the end of his two-day official visit to Nigeria, said there were indications that the resort to suicide bombing by terrorists was a sign that they were being defeated. He said there was need

for leaders from worst hit countries in Africa to be at the forefront of joint actions to stop funding of terrorism. Desalegn, who described terrorism as a bankrupt ideology, explained that the fight against terror was succeeding and the various sects are being weakened. According to him, the East African region has been fighting terrorism for the past 10 years and only cooperation with leaders of worst-hit countries will end terrorism on the continent. ”You know terrorism is not an African agenda only; there have been terror attacks on Boston and many parts of the globe, so it is not something that is new to Nigeria, Ethiopia and other African countries. We have to see it as a global phenomenon that has to be tackled together in unison. It shouldn’t be left to this or that region or this or that country. We have to bear in mind the genesis of this terrorism. “So we in the continent who understand and are the worst hit by terrorists should be the ones leading

the process. That is what we agreed that if Nigeria and Ethiopia and other African nations who have been hit time and again by terrorism will take the forefront in fighting this process, we can get others to come on board,” he added. Jonathan, in his remarks, explained that Nigeria has a lot to learn from Ethiopia in the fight against terrorism and stressed the need for African investors to invest in the continent and create more jobs for the youths. In a communiqué read by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Nurudeen Mohammed, both leaders condemned the growing incidence of terrorism and the menace it constitutes to many countries, particularly in Africa, where it has manifested itself in the Horn of Africa as El-Shabab, in Mali and the Sahel as Al-Qaeda-in-the Maghreb (AQIM) and as Boko Haram in Nigeria. They also expressed concern at the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, which CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

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

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Nigeria earns N30trn revenue from extractive sector in four years lFresh audit reveals abuses of statutory fund provisions James Nwabueze Abuja

he Federal Government made not less than N30 trillion from the extractive sector between 2007 and 2011, according to a report released yesterday by the Nigerian Extractive industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI). NEITI, in the report

on Fiscal Allocation and Statutory Disbursement Audit released in Abuja, said of the N30.09 trillion remitted into the Federation Account within the period, mineral revenue remittances accounted for N23. 7 trillion while those from the non-mineral sector accounted for the balance. According to NEITI

Chairman, Ledum Mitee, the report also uncovered massive abuses of the fuel subsidy scheme by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and other government agencies managing the scheme. The report highlighted discrepancies in what solid minerals mining companies paid in royalty, taxes and other levies in 2011 to

the Federal Government and what it actually received. It also noted that the Federal Government had been using funds of some of its agencies for the purpose other than what they were set up. The foremost agencies which suffered disbursement shortfalls from the Federation Account, ac-

Former military President, General Ibrahim Babangida (third right) with some of the late Abdulazeez Alao-Arisekola’s children, during Babangida’s visit to the family in Ibadan...yesterday

cording to the report, include the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), Natural Resources Development Fund (NRDF), Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Ecological Fund Administration (EFA) and the Stabilisation Fund (SF). The disbursement breakdown, however, shows that the beneficiaries are either shortchanged or there is outright diversion of funds for other purposes. For instance, the report indicated that while the share of Derivation and Ecological Funds stood at N164 billion between 2007 and 2011, and another N53 billion from its receipts from the Excess Crude Account (ECA), disbursements were made to other beneficiaries outside its primary purpose. It also said the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) was being owed N19 billion out of the N43 billion due to the agency. It further discovered that out of 139 projects undertaken by the fund, only 36 were completed in the

years under review. On the PTDF, the report said while a total of N109.67 billion was collected by the Federal Government within the period, only N77.87 billion was remitted to the fund. “The Act provides that all signature bonuses should be credited into the PTDF account, however, the Federal Government pegged the sum of $100,000,000 as annual fund to the agency from 2007,” it said. It also discovered that the Federal Government abused the NRDF, set up to develop alternative sources of revenue from natural resources. The report said the NRDF, with about N365billion transferred to it within the period under review, had become a loose fund available for government to borrow to meet other obligations. “These include funding budget deficits, fertilizer and agriculture etc. Under this circumstance, there is an outstanding debt of N339.05 billion due from the Federal Government based on withdrawals so far made,” the report said.

Boko Haram kills 16 soldiers in Borno attack CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

ferent hospitals. Mba added that 15 vehicles were damaged in the attack, which occurred at about 4pm. He said the wounded had been taken to Wuse General Hospital and the National Hospital Abuja. He said security operatives’ “most important assignment now is to secure lives, at the crime scene.” Investigations, he added, had begun. At the Maitama General Hospital, an official of the hospital confirmed 12 dead, and 35 injured while at the National Hospital, seven bodies were brought to the mortuary, most of them burnt beyond recognition. But the hospital only admitted five of bodies, for lack of space. The other two were sent to other hospitals. An eyewitness who claimed to be present when the blast occurred, told New Telegraph that the bomb was planted by a suspect who disembarked from a bike. According to him, “The man rode on a power bike, dropped a polythene bag containing the bomb, and sped off.” A security source also told New Telegraph that “one suspect was promptly

arrested by security operatives. Also speaking on the incident, the Coordinator, National Information Centre, Mr. Mike Omeri, said soldiers killed one of the suspected bombers and arrested another. Omeri told newsmen in Abuja that the attackers came on a power bike and planted an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) by the entrance of the shopping mall. He also confirmed the death of 21 persons and 17 others injured in the blast which also damaged several vehicles. According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the suspects, who attempted to flee the scene of the incident, were shot and arrested by personnel of the Guards Brigade on patrol duty in the area. One of them later died from wounds sustained from gunshots while a bag containing IEDs was also recovered from the suspects. Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Senator Bala Mohammed, who visited the Maitama General Hospital, assured the victims that the Federal Government would foot their medical bills. Mohammed advised

residents to be very vigilant at all times and report suspicious movements to security agencies for prompt action to check such attacks. Also yesterday in Adamawa State, one person was feared killed in an explosion at Lumo Kuturu Market in Mubi, Mubi South Local Government Area. Eyewitnesses said the explosion occurred when a gas cylinder fell out of a moving vehicle belonging to a new generation bank while police said the blast was caused by a bomb planted by the side of the road targeting a police patrol vehicle. The Police Public Relations Officer of the Adamawa State Command, Mr. Abubakar Othman, however, said nobody was killed or injured. The explosion caused pandemonium in the town as people scampered in all directions for safety. The market was temporarily closed. A source at the General Hospital, Mubi, said the lone victim died of cardiac arrest following the psychological trauma that he went through. According to an eyewitness, the bomb blasts in Lagos occured at the Folawiyo Towers, located in Apapa, when twin bombs planted by a suspected terrorist dressed in hijab went off.

Four people were said to have been killed in the incident. Suspected Boko Haram members were also said to have attacked a military post at Bulabulin Ngaura in Damboa Local Government Area of Borno State, killing about 16 soldiers. One of the soldiers who escaped the attack told reporters in Maiduguri that they were subdued by the insurgents. He said: “Some of my colleagues were abducted and many others escaped with bullet wounds. Dozens of Boko Haram insurgents stormed our checkpoint at Bulabulin on Tuesday night. “The terrorists came in a convoy of over 30 vehicles, mounted with Anti Aircraft guns.” On how he was able to escape unhurt, he said, “I was at the checkpoint when the terrorists came, we tried our best but they had advantage over us. They had AA and we had AK47 rifles that are not fully loaded. When we realised that they have taken over the place, some of us escaped to Maiduguri and other places but many could not make it. “As I am talking to you, 16 bodies of our colleagues have been brought to Maiduguri; these are besides those that sustained injuries and many others that are missing in action.”

Efforts to confirm the story prove abortive as at press time. Meanwhile, the police have put the death toll in the attack on some villages in Sanga Local Government Area of Kaduna State at 48. It was also learnt that the attack, which began on Monday night, continued on Tuesday as gunmen raided five more villages in the area, forcing the council chairman, Mr. Emmanuel Adamu Danzaria to declare a 24-hour curfew. The chairman who said 28 more lives were lost on Tuesday, said yesterday that the curfew was imposed to forestall further loss of lives and to restore normalcy. A source told New Telegraph that the attackers who stormed Fadan Karshi, Nandu and Kabamu villages between 1 am and 11 am on Tuesday, killed about 70 people and retreated. However, they returned and attacked Dogon Daji, Kobin, Hayin Kwalta Kabani, Gani, Kwasu, and Dorowa a few hours later, raising the death toll to about 100. The Kaduna State Police Command spokesman, Alhaji Aminu Lawan, however, put the death toll at 48. The state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) condemned the killings in the southern

part of the state. Addressing a news conference yesterday, the CAN Secretary, Rev. Sunday Ibrahim, said the killings were unjustifiable and clearly devilish. He appealed for calm and called on the Federal Government, the Kaduna State Government and security agencies to redouble their commitment so that the situation can be effectively tackled. However, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday described as worrisome, that each time the PDP-led Federal Government or the party records major achievement, there will be terror attack on the country. The aim, the party stated, was to destablise the country and portray the Federal Government as incapable of protecting lives and property of Nigerians. The party reacting to last Monday’s bomb attack on the School of Hygiene in Kano and attacks on some Kaduna communities, said in a statement by its National Secretary, Prof. Wale Oladipo, that the attacks were “kill joy”, which it noted, came just days after the party’s resounding victory in Ekiti State governorship election and ahead of the ground-breaking and unveiling ceremony of the Centenary City by President Goodluck Jonathan last Tuesday.

NEWS

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Tambuwal carpets political class for playing politics with military …says ‘he’s not above the law’ Philip Nyam Abuja

peaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, yesterday expressed fear over attempts by the political leadership in the country to drag the military into partisan politics. Tambuwal, who disclosed this in his address at the commencement of the fourth and final session of the 7th Assembly of the House, however com-

mended the military for its professionalism and called for the establishment of a Counter Terrorism Force to tackle Boko Haram. “Honourable Colleagues, for much of the last 15 years of democracy practice in the country, the Nigerian military has conducted itself most professionally by limiting itself to its constitutional role. “Recent events whereby the political leadership appears to be gradually pulling the military into partisan political roles are

most worrisome. When the military becomes the preferred agency for clamping down on the media; for the grounding of aircraft and closure of airports; and for forcibly restricting the freedom of citizens, including elected officials, through arrests, detention and false imprisonment then there is need for us to return to the drawing board of democratic governance,” he stated. Tambuwa added: “It is important for those of us holding public office in

trust for the people to be reminded that employing security reasons and security reports as justification for each and every governance infraction is not an acceptable practice in a democracy. “On our part as a legislature, we would be betraying the hallowed doctrine of separation of powers and abdicating our constitutional duty of checks and balances if we decide to look the other way when tyranny rears its ugly head in our nation.” He commended the Independent National Elec-

L-R: Anambra State Governor, Chief Willie Obiano; novelist, Chimamanda Adichie and wife of the governor, Ebele, at the special lecture to mark the governor’s 100 days in office in Awka...yesterday

Confab: Kutigi evicts journalists from plenary Onwuka Nzeshi ABUJA

edia coverage of the ongoing national conference was disrupted yesterday as the Chairman of the Conference, Justice Idris Kutigi, sent media practitioners packing from the press gallery, thus preventing them from covering the proceedings. The delegates were billed to deliberate on the report of the Committee on National Security and journalists were just settling down to commence the coverage of the session when Kutigi ordered them out of the hall. “All journalists should leave the hall. Journalists should get out of the hall. I mean they should vamoose immediately,” said Kutigi in a tone that left no room for excuses, explanations or possible compromise. As soon as the order was given, security operatives

swooped on journalists at the gallery to enforce it. This resulted in a nearscuffle and altercations between the law enforcement agents and journalists who were angry that they were being ordered out of the session without any decorum. On getting out of the hall, journalists gathered in clusters to discuss the eviction and decide their next line of action. Some journalists expressed dismay that they had not been fairly treated since the commencement of the conference and wondered why they could not be politely excused even if the conference considered them as security risks. While this was going on outside, the Assistant Secretary, Media and Communications of the Conference, Mr. Akpadem James, led a group of delegates representing the media industry at the conference to meet with and pacify the journalists. The

peace building delegation included the Chairman of Daar Communications, Chief Raymond Dokpesi; former National President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Malam Sani Zoro; a representative of the NUJ, Mr. Lanre Ogundipe and a representative of the Nigeria Guild of Editors, Mr. Isaac Ighure. They were later joined by Senator Florence Ita Giwa to appeal to journalists not to be angry at the development. Dokpesi, who spoke on behalf of the delegation, explained that the action taken by Kutigi was probably due to the nature of the issues to be discussed at the session. He said that while it has often been the practice to excuse journalists from the coverage of discussions on national security, the manner the gallery was cleared was wrong. He disclosed that all the representatives of the media, civil society and

lawyers at the conference were not in support of the forced eviction of journalists from the session and had threatened to stage a walk-out before reason prevailed. According to him, the protest and threat by the coalition of delegates over the eviction of journalists generated a heated debate among confab participants in the hall. Dokpesi disclosed that during the debate, opinions were divided but the conference was convinced that the manner in which journalists were sent out was wrong. He said that Kutigi’s action must be a carryover from his background and training as a judge who was more used to issuing orders than employing diplomacy in the discharge of his duties. The Committee on National Security had in its report made several recommendations on how CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

toral Commission (INEC) for conducting a credible election in Ekiti State and the spirit of good sportsmanship displayed by contestants in the governorship election. “We highly commend this spirit of sportsmanship which for long has been a scarce commodity in our polity. I am confident that when the history of political contests in Nigeria is written, these great Nigerians will be allotted a prominent line,” he noted. The Speaker called for the establishment of a Counter Terrorism Force to combat terrorism in the country. Narrating his ordeal in Kaduna, Tambuwal explained that neither him nor any member of the House was above the law. “I want to tell you that I’m not above the law. As recently as last week Wednesday when I was travelling to Paris, I subjected myself to screening by staff of the Air France here at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport. My luggage was requested to be searched, and I obliged them; I gave them my luggage. My physical person was frisked, and I allowed that to happen without any

resistance. “That is to show everyone that I am not averse to being subjected to scrutiny or screening by constituted authorities. Several times that I go out of this country, I have been extended courtesies and privileges whereby even my own luggage were not subjected to that because I am the Speaker of the House of Representatives,” he said. He cautioned his colleagues: “No one out there should have any impression that any of us here in the House of Representatives or in the National Assembly is above the law; that is not the message we are sending. What we are talking about is the institution of the legislature and not the individuals that are constituted in the Nigerian legislature.” Earlier, the House mandated its committees on Defence, Army, Police Affairs, Interior and public safety to investigate the matter and report back to the House within one week. This was after an executive session that lasted for over two hours. The resolution was sequel to a motion under matters of urgent national importance moved by Hon. Ogbuefi Ozomgbachi (PDP Enugu), who moved that the House should do everything possible to ensure that the office of the Speaker is not undermined by anybody, and is accorded the utmost respect it deserved.

Super Eagles qualify for second round CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

down the left to charge into the area and fire in towards the near post, and although his effort was knocked on to the post, Messi arrived to blast in the rebound in emphatic fashion. Eagles responded immediately with a beautiful strike from Ahmed Musa in the fourth minute. The African champions halted Messi in his tracks in their own half and launched a deadly counter-attack. Eventually Musa latched on to the ball on the left flank, he cut into the area and on to his right foot, before lashing an exquisite finish past Romero and into the far side of the goal. A minute into first-half injury time, and having forced a brilliant save from the keeper with an earlier free-kick, Messi re-established La Albiceleste’s lead from an almost-identical position. This time, there was no chance for Enyeama, with the Barcelona star curling a left-foot shot from 25 yards that cleared

the wall and dropped just inside the right-hand post. But once again, Nigeria wasted little time in responding to Messi’s brilliance. Just a couple of minutes into the second half, Musa emulated the Argentina skipper by completing a double of his own, racing through and wrong-footing Sergio Romero with a low shot into the bottom-left corner. Argentina would not be denied a third straight win, though, and they secured the points just three minutes later. It was the scrappiest of all five goals, with Marcos Rojo bundling a corner home with his knee, but that didn’t matter to the Albiceleste fans or to the scorer, who had never before found the target for his national team. With the result, Nigeria placed second behind Argentina with four points, while Bosnia who have three points and Iran who ended the tournament with just one point crashed out.

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, June 26, 2014

CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA In furtherance of the transparency and full disclosure stance of the Central bank of Nigeria, the Monetary Policy Committee has decided that henceforth the lending rates obtainable in all Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) be made public to guide business decisions. Consequently, find below the applicable rates for each of the DMBs as at June 20, 2014. The rates will also be available on the website of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Average Deposit and Lending Rates as at June 20, 2014 S/N

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

S/N

l 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

NAME OF BANK

Access Bank Citi Bank Nigeria Diamond Bank Ecobank Nigeria Enterprise Bank Ltd FCMB Fidelity Bank First Bank of Nigeria Heritage Bank Guaranty Trust Bank Keystone Bank Ltd MainStreet Bank Ltd Skye Bank Stanbic IBTC Bank Standard Chartered Bank Sterling Bank Union Bank United Bank for Africa Unity Bank Wema Bank Zenith Bank

NAME OF BANK

Deposit Rate Demand Savings Time Deposit Deposit Deposit Ave.Int Ave.Int Ave.Int Rate Rate Rate 3.60 8.21 2.25 3.60 8.58 1.05 3.60 10.70 0.01 3.60 9.97 0.20 3.60 7.13 1.05 3.60 12.25 2.00 3.60 11.00 3.60 9.14 3.99 11.48 0.50 3.60 7.40 1.41 3.24 7.98 0.10 3.60 9.58 3.60 10.26 1.95 3.60 9.81 3.60 7.50 1.25 3.60 8.37 0.50 3.60 8.24 0.09 3.60 9.80 0.5-1.00 3.00 3.5-11.00 1.67 3.74 9.24 3.60 3.60 8.50

Agriculture Prime 7.00 16.00 14.00 19.00 25.00 17.50 6.00 9.00 22.00 7.00 n/a 16.28 14.00 5.50 13.00 7.00 20.00 7.00 24.00 25.00 17.00

Max. 25.00 21.00 22.00 30.00 29.00 26.50 26.00 24.00 27.00 25.00 n/a 27.00 14.00 28.00 16.00 26.00 20.00 24.00 30.00 24.00 18.00

General Comm. Prime Max. 11.00 16.00 17.00 15.00 25.00 17.50 17.00 20.00 22.00 13.00 21.00 16.28 25.00 13.75 13.00 16.00 22.00 20.00 22.00 25.00 17.00

25.00 21.00 26.00 33.00 29.00 29.50 26.00 26.00 27.00 25.00 26.00 27.00 28.00 28.00 16.00 27.00 25.00 24.00 30.00 25.00 27.00

Mining & Quarrying Prime Max. 16.00 17.00 19.00 25.00 17.50 17.00 20.00 22.00 22.00 19.00 16.28 25.00 16.00 13.00 16.00 22.00 20.00 22.00 25.00 17.00

21.00 25.00 30.00 29.00 10.55 26.00 26.00 27.00 25.00 24.00 27.00 28.00 27.00 16.00 28.00 25.00 24.00 30.00 23.00 23.00

Mortgage Prime 14.00 17.00 11.00 25.00 17.50 17.00 20.00 22.00 8.00 19.00 16.28 25.00 16.00 17.00 16.00 22.00 24.00 22.00 25.00 17.00

Max. 25.00 25.00 30.00 29.00 19.95 26.00 26.00 27.00 25.00 24.00 27.00 28.00 26.00 20.00 25.00 25.00 26.00 30.00 24.00 23.00

Lending Rate Oil & Gas

Manufacturing

Prime

13.00 16.00 17.00 17.50 25.00 17.50 17.00 20.00 22.00 15.00 19.00 16.28 25.00 16.00 15.00 16.50 22.00 16.50 22.00 25.00 17.00

Max. 25.00 21.00 25.00 30.50 29.00 25.50 26.00 26.00 27.00 25.00 24.00 27.00 28.00 27.00 19.00 27.00 25.00 24.00 30.00 22.00 24.00

Lending Rate Transp. & Comm. Prime Max. 15.00 16.00 17.00 15.00 25.00 17.50 17.00 20.00 22.00 12.00 19.00 16.28 25.00 16.00 13.00 15.00 22.00 20.00 22.00 25.00 17.00

25.00 21.00 25.00 30.00 29.00 25.50 26.00 26.00 27.00 25.00 24.00 27.00 28.00 27.00 16.00 27.00 25.00 24.00 30.00 22.00 25.00

7.00 16.00 17.00 15.00 25.00 17.50 17.00 20.00 22.00 4.00 19.00 16.28 25.00 12.50 16.00 16.00 22.00 16.50 22.00 25.00 17.00

Management

25.00 21.00 25.00 30.00 29.00 25.00 26.00 26.00 27.00 25.00 24.00 27.00 28.00 27.00 20.00 27.00 25.00 24.00 30.00 22.00 24.50

11.00 16.00 17.00 17.50 25.00 17.50 17.00 20.00 22.00 10.00 19.00 16.28 25.00 16.00 13.00 15.00 22.00 20.00 22.00 25.00 17.00

Fin. & Ins.

25.00 21.00 25.00 30.00 29.00 25.50 26.00 26.00 27.00 25.00 24.00 27.00 28.00 26.00 16.00 28.00 25.00 24.00 30.00 24.00 24.00

Govt.

Prime

Max.

Prime

Max.

15.00 16.00 17.00 17.00 25.00 17.50 17.00 20.00 22.00 16.00 21.00 16.28 25.00 13.75 13.00 16.00 22.00 16.50 22.00 25.00 18.00

25.00 21.00 25.00 30.00 29.00 25.50 26.00 26.00 27.00 25.00 26.00 27.00 28.00 27.00 15.00 26.00 25.00 24.00 30.00 22.00 24.00

13.50 17.00 15.00 25.00 17.50 17.00 19.00 22.00 7.00 21.00 16.28 25.00 14.00 14.75 22.00 20.00 22.00 25.00 17.00

19.00 23.00 30.00 29.00 25.50 26.00 26.00 27.00 19.00 26.00 27.00 28.00 24.00 22.00 25.00 24.00 30.00 23.00 24.00

These are the interest rates banks charge the public on loans and advances. It reflects the cost of borrowings and also includes all charges and commissions levied by banks. (Signed)

Max.

Real Estate & Const Prime Max.

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Nyako: Police drafted to guard lawmakers’ homes lGroups threaten actions against Assembly Ibrahim Abdul Yola

s the political crisis between Governor Murtala Nyako, his deputy, Bala Ngillari and the Adamawa State lawmakers deepens, policemen are now guarding the legislators and their residences. A pressure group has also threatened to file contempt of court charge against the lawmakers, while another has asked the National Assembly to take over the legislative functions of the Adamawa Assembly. Police authorities have drafted its personnel to guard the residents of the legislators. Reports say that most of the lawmakers who fled to Abuja last week after passing the motion to serve Governor Nyako and his deputy with notice of impeachment, are yet to return for fear of people’s anger over what they described as impediment to progress in governance.

An impeccable source in the House of Assembly, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told journalists that policemen had been drafted to the lawmakers’ residence to encourage them to return home. However, despite the security presence, many of the lawmakers are yet to return home while those who returned do not sleep at home. At the assembly emergency sitting on Monday, only 10 of the 25 lawmakers showed up for the session where they adopted the votes and proceedings of the house’s last sittings. When contacted on the deployment of policemen, the Adamawa Police Command Public Relations Officer, DSP Othman Abubakar, said he was just arriving his office and needed time to confirm if there was anything like deployment of policemen to the residence of lawmakers. Reacting to the development, the Chief Press Secretary to the state’s

Kutigi evicts journalists from confab plenary CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4

to improve the national security situation in Nigeria. The 67-page report recommended among other things, the involvement of the states in National Security Council meetings and a constitutional provision for quarterly meetings of the council except during emergencies. It seeks to restructure the security architecture by enshrining in the Constitution the Office of Chairman, Joint Chief of Staff to be held by the Chief of Defence Staff; ensure a merit based appointment of the Chief of Defence Staff and Service Chiefs as well as the creation of a Border Protection Force to secure the nation’s borders. The report seeks a review of the Armed Forces Act to eliminate inconsistencies with the constitution, improve the welfare of officers, boost the morale of the force and strengthen the independence of members of a court martial. It recommends that a minimum of 2.3 per cent of the GDP be used to fund the Armed Forces in line with the recommendations of the United Nations. The funding of the Armed Forces, the report

said, should be on first line charge and should be deployed to equipping the army and making it ready for deployment whenever the need arises. Besides, the committee has recommended a reorganisation of the Defence Industry Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) to make it more productive and efficient; create an enabling environment for private sector participation in the local manufacture of military equipment and commit at least five per cent of the defence budget to research and development. Other highlights of the report include the maintenance of a federal but decentralized control of the police; consultation with state governors in posting state commissioners of police and a constitutional provision for the commissioners of police to comply with directives of state governors, flowing from state security council meetings. The committee recommended the deployment of officers of the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) and below to their respective states of origin for ease of intelligence gathering and investigation of crimes.

Speaker, Mr. Solomon Kumangar, said he was not aware of such happenings but opined that considering the security situation in the zone, no chance should be taken. Kumangar explained that the effort, if at all it was true, was needed in the current situation. A group under the aegis of Adamawa Concerned Citizens petitioned the Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, to wade into the Adamawa political cri-

sis by taking over the activities of the state assembly. The group accused the lawmakers of collecting financial inducement to remove the state governor, Nyako, stressing that that was the genesis of the crisis. In a petition addressed to Speaker Tambuwal and signed by the state coordinator of the association, Mr. James Musa, the group urged the federal lawmakers to urgently take over legislative functions in Adamawa to forestall a breakdown of law and order. The petition therefore

urged the Speaker and the National Assembly to invoke relevant sections of the constitution of Nigeria which empowers them to suspend and to also take over legislative activities of any erring state assembly to apply same on Adamawa State House of Assembly. It further requested the Speaker to cause or commence immediate investigation into the financial inducement allegation and to also identify the governor from the Niger Delta so as to have him punished for diverting public funds.

Also reacting, a former member of the state Assembly and former PDP Chairman in the state, Umar Mijinyawa Kugama, has threatened to drag the state legislators to court for the Assembly’s defiance of a court order stopping them from publishing impeachment notice in newspapers. Kugama said the desperation of the state legislators amounted to a mockery of the principle of separation of powers. He therefore advised them to sheathe their swords and allow the state to move forward.

L-R: Group Managing Director/CEO, UAC of Nigeria PLC (UAC), Mr. Larry Ettah; Chairman, Senator Udoma U. Udoma; National Coordinator, Independent Shareholders Solidarity Association, Sir Sunny Nwosu and Company Secretary, UAC of Nigeria Plc, after the company’s Annual General Meeting in Lagos…yesterday. PHOTO: SULEIMAN HUSAINI

Jonathan: Insurgency worse than civil war CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

contributes significantly to the instability and insecurity in different parts of the world, especially in Africa. Meanwhile, the Federal Government yesterday said findings from ongoing investigations into the suspicious movement of 486 “travellers” intercepted about two weeks ago in Abia State “will shock Nigerians.” Director General of National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mr. Mike Omeri, at a press briefing yesterday in Abuja, said security agencies were on the trail of a suspect who “packaged” the ill-fated trip to Port Harcourt. “One of the suspects connected with the package of the trip has been named and investigation is thoroughly continuing to unravel the issues involved in the incident,” he stated. Omeri, who doubles as the Coordinator of the National Information Centre (NIC), added that during investigation in which the identity of the suspect that

coordinated the trip was revealed, interrogators found 144 of those earlier arrested to be innocent and released them. “Remember two weeks ago, 486 persons travelling in a convoy of 35 buses were intercepted in Abia state, as at today, 144 of the number have been released. “It is expected that the media and general public will be kept abreast of further developments. Importantly, one of the suspects connected with the package of the trip has been named and investigation is thoroughly continuing to unravel the issues involved in the incident,” he said. According to him, investigations are ongoing and those cleared will be allowed to go. The arrest of the suspects has pitted the northern state governors against their counterparts in the South-East as the two sides have continued to exchange brickbats over the detention of the travellers.

While the North decried what it considered the profiling of the travellers because they are northerners, the SouthEast warned against hasty clearance of the suspects, especially in the wake of the report that one of them was found to be a wanted Boko Haram kingpin. It was also learnt yesterday that security agents intercepted a luxury bus at Obollo Afor in Udenu Local Government Area of Enugu State conveying over 50 suspected members of Boko Haram. A report by an online news portal, 247ureports. com, said the suspects were heading to different parts of South-East and South- South. They were apprehended in the wee hours yesterday by a team of National Task Force on Small Arms, Ammunitions and Light Weapons. At the state police headquarters, the suspects were seen filing out of the bus with registration number, AKD816XG into the premises of the com-

mand. The vehicle, belonging to the Young Shall Grow Transport Company, was impounded during a stopand-search exercise by the security agents. The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Mohammed Adamu Abubakar, declined comment on the arrest, saying he was yet to get detail on the incident. Items recovered from the alleged insurgents, it was gathered, included arms as well as bags containing army uniforms. Omeri also debunked media reports that 60 persons were abducted in Borno. “We hereby wish to state that based on available facts before us, there was no abduction of 60 persons in Borno State. “It is on record that our findings also corroborated by the position of the Borno State Government as conveyed by Governor Kashim Shettima, who said that there are no sufficient facts on the alleged abduction of 60 persons,” he said.

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BOOST

President Jonathan is bent on taking the police to next level Philip Nyam Abuja

resident Goodluck Jonathan yesterday sent a request to the National Assembly for the approval of the sum of N79.020 billion as counterpart funding out of the proposed N1.5 trillion for Police reform. The president’s request was contained in a letter dated June 16, 2014 and addressed to Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal House of Representatives titled “Strategy for the

Police Reform: Jonathan seeks N79.020bn counterpart fund implementation the Nigeria Police Force Reform Programme (NPRP).” The sum of N1.5 trillion is required for the implementation of the Programme over a period of six years. According to Jonathan, “60 percent funding of the programme was to be sourced from the three tiers of Government and the organised private sector and international Development Partners. The combined annual contributions from the public sector comprising

federal, state, and local governments was estimated to be N150 billion of which N79.020 billion was to be from the Federal Government. He said, “Notwithstanding this commitment, the realistic flow of funds has met with setbacks to the effect that the reform implementation has been tardy, even as security challenges keep increasing. “In a decisive move to address the situation, the IICPRP set up a Funding Technical Sub-Commit-

tee to advise on the most effective way to fund the Nigeria Police Force Reform Programme.” Jonathan noted that “The committee, among other things, recommended special funding by the three tiers of Government to be sourced from the next six years. The report of the committee was subsequently presented to the National Economic Council (NEC) for consideration. “The National Economic Council agreed to and recommended a

deduction of one percent from the monthly allocations of the federal, state, and local Governments, to be sourced as a first line charge subject to legislative endorsement at both federal and state levels for interested participating states.” Jonathan who called for expedited consideration and passage of the bill, stressed the need to strengthen the Police Force in view of the foregoing and the current escalating security challenges.

“I have given the recommendation of the National Economic Council favourable consideration, consequent upon which I hereby seek the consent of the National Assembly for the deduction of one percent from the Statutory Allocation of the Federal Government of Nigeria as Federal Government contribution for the implementation of the Police Reform Programme.” It will be recalled that the Federal Government had since April 2008 approved the MD Yusuf report for the reform of the Nigeria Police Force, and consequently inaugurated the Interim Implementation Committee for Police Reform Programme (IICPRP).

Alison-Madueke: Nigeria to rescue EU with gas supply Adeola Yusuf as production in NigeGhigh ria has hit an all-time of eight billion cu-

L-R: Author and Traditional ruler, Prof. Chukwuemeka Ike; former Vice Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Prof. Ayo Banjo and Chairman, University Press, Dr Lalekan Are, at the University Press Authors Forum in Ibadan …yesterday

Confab rejects self-determination clause Louis Achi and Onwuka Nzeshi ABUJA

he National Conference yesterday voted against a proposal seeking a clause granting ethnic groups, states and regional blocks the right to self-determination in the Nigerian Constitution. The adoption put paid to the fears that some groups at the conference were out to insert the self-determination clause in the constitution in order to pave way for their breakaway. There had been fears that the SouthSouth region was prepairing grounds for a possible

secession from Nigeria if its demand for total resource control failed to fly at the conference. The rejection came same day the delegates deferred taking a decision on whether the report of the conference should be subjected to a referendum and a new constitution produced from the outcome of the conference. A group within the conference had earlier in the day proposed that the conference commence the process of producing a new constitution to replace the existing 1999 Constitution. Colonel Tony Nyam, a delegate representing the

South-South had proposed the idea of a new constitution. Nyam had asked the conference to " commence the long overdue process of replacing the military dictator-imposed 1999 Constitution with the peoples of Nigeria referendum-approved democratic federal constitution of Nigeria." Although, the proposal suffered a setback, the conference is expected to revisit it when it considers other reports. The conference considered and adopted the report of its Committee on Law, Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Reforms. A total of 320 delegates

President attends AU summit in Malabo today Anule Emmanuel resident Goodluck Pdeparted Jonathan yesterday Abuja for Ma-

labo, Equatorial Guinea, to participate in the 23rd Ordinary Session of the African Union’s Summit of Heads of State and Government. A statement by the Special Adviser to the

President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, said the President and other African leaders participating in the Summit would also deliberate on the appointment of Judges of the African Court of Justice, the appointment of Judges of the African Human Rights Court of Justice and the appointment of

the President and Vice President of the Pan-African University. In keeping with the African Union’s declaration of 2014 as the Year of Agriculture and Food Security, discussions at the summit will, among others, focus on the evolution and implementation of fresh strategies and mea-

indicated their interest to speak on the report but this was pruned down to 120 . However, only 80 delegates were able to contribute to the debate which lasted about four hours. In the course of considering the report, the delegates approved a recommendation that the practice of plea bargain should be abolished following criticisms that it had encouraged corruption rather than cure the problem .The conference also approved the establishment of special courts, including Constitutional Courts and AntiCorruption Courts. sures to improve agricultural production and food security in the continent. According to Abati, the African Heads of State and Government are expected to also consider and adopt the decisions and recommendations of the 25th Regular Session of the African Union’s Executive Board and the Declarations of the 23rd Ordinary Session of the Conference of the Union.

bic feet per day, Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, has said. The minister said this as the Federal Government declared its resolve to support the long term gas supply for the European Union countries as part of intervention to end the gas supply crises rocking Europe. Europe imports about 66 per cent of its natural gas consumption and of this, more than 40 per cent comes from Russia. The European Commission said it has finally realised that the Ukrainian crisis has been mismanaged and, as a consequence, will create future risks for Europe’s energy supply. Speaking after discussion with Günther Oettinger, the EU Energy Commissioner, on the margins of the 11th EUOPEC Energy Dialogue Ministerial Meeting in Brussels, Belgium, Alison-Madueke who is the Alternate President of the OPEC Conference, said the country is prime to explore its gas potential to the fullest. The discussions, according to a statement by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Ohi Alegbe, focused on the role Nigeria can play in supporting the EU’s energy sector priorities, and particularly the long-term security and diversification of gas supplies. Alison-Madueke highlighted that gas production has increased to over eight billion cubic feet per day, and Nigeria is the eighth largest gas

producer in the world, and sixth largest gas supplier to Europe. The minister emphasised that Nigeria has over 180 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of discovered gas reserves and up to 600 tcf of undiscovered gas reserves, noting that significant investment is planned to support expansion of the sector in the coming years. “While increasing domestic power generation is a priority for the government, export capacity will also rapidly grow, particularly as new LNG projects are completed,” she noted. Oettinger said that he recognise the longterm potential of Nigeria’s energy sector and would welcome further discussions to explore ways for greater collaboration between the EU and Nigeria. Speaking further, Alison-Madueke observed: “It was an extremely productive meeting with Mr. Oettinger, and I look forward to continuing to work with him to build an even stronger relationship between Nigeria and the EU.” Earlier, AlisonMadueke had given a keynote address at the Ministerial Meeting, in her role as Alternate President of the OPEC Conference, during which she highlighted the strength of the trade and energy relations between OPEC and the EU countries. She noted that OPEC countries supply the EU with over 30 per cent of annual oil consumption and nearly 20 per cent of annual gas demand. She highlighted the role of OPEC in ensuring stability, transparency and predictability in the international oil markets, which is essential as the global economies recover and strengthen.

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Boko Haram'll not distract Nigeria, says cleric • As Abeokuta Catholic Diocese ordains new bishop Kunle Olayeni

Abeokuta

he Bishop of Catholic DiTFelix ocese of Ekiti, Most Rev. Ajakaye, yesterday

L-R: Chairman of the occasion, Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu (rtd); son of the late MKO Abiola, Abdulmumin; author of the book, Chief Frank Kokori; publisher, Chief Joop Berkhout and former Ogun State Governor, Chief Olusegun Osoba, during the presentation of the book, Frank Kokori: The Struggle for June 12, in Lagos…yesterday

Lagos to sanction health operators Prepare your handover notes, with rickety ambulances Babatope tells Aregbesola

Muritala Ayinla orried by the continued operation of rickety vehicles used as ambulances by owners of medical facilities in the state, the Lagos State Government yesterday said that it would soon sanction hospitals and healthcare centres, who use all sorts of vehicles as ambulance. The state also said it was working on policy that would ensure that all ambu-

lances used by the private medical facilities are registered and accredited so as to maintain standard required of them. Special Adviser to the Governor on Public Health, Dr Yewande Adeshina, made the disclosure at the 5th Stakeholders meeting of the state Health Facility Monitoring and Accreditation Agency, HEFAMAA held at the Adeyemi Bero Auditorium, Lagos State Secretariat Alausa, Ikeja.

Abia frees 13 inmates Ikechukwu Ucheoma Umuahia

bout 13 inmates at the Umuahia Federal prisons in Abia State yesterday regained their freedom during the second round of jail delivery by the Chief Judge of Abia State, Justice Nnenna Otti. Justice Otti reiterated

that her decision to decongest the prison was in line with the provisions of section 1(i) of the Criminal Justice Release Form Custody Provision Act. She revealed that the Umuahia prisons with a capacity to house 500 inmates currently houses about 781 inmates with inadequate facilities.

Peace concert turns to campaign in Taraba Sabiu Mustapha

JALINGO

he First Taraba Peace concert organised yesterday, by the Taraba State Chapter of the National Youth Council of Nigeria, NYCN, turned to an electioneering campaign for President Goodluck Jonathan and the Acting Governor of the State, Al-

haji Garba Umar. Hundreds of youths, students, traditional rulers, as well as top government functionaries in the state attended the event. But the Emir of Muri, His Royal Highness Alhaji Abbas NJidda Tafida, left the event a minute after his arrival, which surprised almost all the people that attended event.

Youths appeal to security agencies to halt attacks Musa Pam

Jos

from six local govYteauouths ernment areas of PlaState have appealed

to security agencies, especially the Special Task Force, STF to stay alert and step up efforts at stopping the incessant attacks in the State by "unknown

gunmen". The youths also appealed to the agencies to protect young girls from harm which could jeopardize their future as mothers, even as they urged their contemporaries in the state not to make themselves ready tools in the hand of politicians as the 2015 general elections approach.

Adeolu Adeyemo

OSOGBO

activities Athesofcampaign the flag bearer of Osun State Peoples

Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Iyiola Omisore continues, former Minister for Transport, Chief Ebenezer Babatope yesterday said that the party would dislodge the APCled government in the state. He also appealed to the Governor of the state, Rauf Aregbesola, to prepare his handover notes as he would soon quit the corridor of power.

Babatope, who said this at Okebode at the campaign ground, said "my brother, Aregbesola is in trouble. He is in a deep mess as a result of the Ekiti election's result. We have witnessed the demise of APC in the South West by the outcome of that poll." “Apart from the victory recorded in Ekiti during last Saturday gubernatorial poll, the masses in Osun State are eager to dislodge the All Progressive Congress (APC)-led government on August and the voice of the people is the voice of God.”

Court stops IG from arresting Alison-Madueke Tunde Oyesina

ABUJA

Federal High Court sitAordered ting in Abuja yesterday the Inspector

General of Police Mohammed Abubakar not to arrest the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, in the event that the National Assembly ordered for her arrest over the scheduled probe of the Minister and the NNPC that is to commence today. Justice Gabriel Kolawole gave the order following a suit instituted by Diezani and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) who are plaintiffs in the matter through their counsel, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), seeking to stop the National Assembly who are defendants from directly investigating her and the NNPC. The court held; "In line with order 56, Rule 1 of the Federal High Court Civil Procedure Rule, 2009, I direct the applicant to ensure that a certified true copy of the enrolment of this ruling be served on the Inspector General of

Police. Being a creation of the constitution, he will not unleash his machinery in aid of the National Assembly in defiance of the court proceedings and contravene the constitution. "The IGP shall not accede to any legislative order to direct the arrest of the plaintiffs (Diezani and the NNPC." The case was later adjourned to July 9 for argument on the motion on notice for the interlocutory injunction. New Telegraph recalls that the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, had filed the fresh application for an interim injunction to restrain the House of Representatives from going ahead with the probe of the allegation that she spent N10bn on a chartered aircraft. The fresh application filed on through one of her lawyers, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), followed her apprehension that the House of Representatives would carry out its threat to commence the probe today and tomorrow.

urged Nigerians not to be distracted by the terror activities of the Boko Haram sect. The cleric said this at the Episcopal consecration and installation of the new Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Abeokuta, Monsignor Peter Olukayode Odetoyinbo. The event, graced by eminent personalities, including former Archbishop of Ibadan, Felix Alaba Job; Alake and Paramount Ruler of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo, and Olubara of Ibara, Oba Jacob Omolade, was held at the St. Bernadette Catholic School, OkeIlewo, Abeokuta. Governor Ibikunle Amosun was represented on the occasion by his Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs. Elizabeth Sonubi. In his homily, Ajakaye charged Christians to adhere strictly to their faith and move closer to God. He noted that the coun-

try was faced with myriads of challenges, including terrorism, unemployment, religious, political, armed and pen robberies, abduction and a dearth of moral consciousness. The bishop stressed the need for the church to play significant role in ensuring a national rebirth. He said, "In this light, I humbly enjoin our church, the Catholic Church, which has been praying consistently for the nation to fashion out practical ways of addressing the myriads of problems in Nigeria. Not to speak out is to lose out. "For today and posterity, we must keep talking when necessary and be proactive in our words and deeds. Above all, there is the need to walk our prayer and talk. This is not the period for timidity. "In fact, we need to begin to speak out against every form of evil. The church has a meaningful role to play in the struggle for a true united Nigeria where the rule of law, peace and justice will be upheld as the world is watching the scenarios unfolding in Nigeria."

Anambra-Kogi boundary dispute takes ugly turn Onah. O Onah

ONITSHA

he Obale community of TState Igala, in Ibaji L.G.A of Kogi and Enugu Otu Aguleri

have engaged in a fresh intercommunity clash. They are fighting over the ownership of the oil producing area which is home to OPL915 and OPL916. Following the development, the Omamballa Indigenous Association, comprising Anambra East, Anambra West and Ayamelum Local Govern-

ment areas has warned that the communities will not fold their hands and watch external aggressors to attack, kill and maim their brothers and sisters in Enugu Otu Aguleri. The group called on the Federal and state governments to intervene without further delay. Speaking through its Legal Adviser, Barr. G. Chidume and the Igwe-elect of the town, Igwe Paul Igweze, they harped on the need to maintain the peace in the area.

Amosun approves car, housing loans for workers State Governor, Osun,gun Senator Ibikunle Amohas approved car

and housing loans for civil servants as a way of boosting their morale and efficiency at work. Amosun also promised to implement 27.5 per cent Peculiar Allowance for teachers as well as payment of outstanding allowances. The governor made the announcement yesterday during an interactive session with workers in an event tagged “A day out with Mr. Governor” held at the Cultural Centre, Kuto, Abeokuta as part of activities marking the

2014 Public Service Day in the state. According to him, the approval of the loans became necessary to allow the civil servants a choice of either buying the news houses built by government or build their own at any location. With the minimum of N500, 000 as car loan for officers on Grade Levels one to six, housing loan of N1m to the same category of workers and a maximum of N2m and N5m car and housing loan respectively for officers on Grade Level 16 to 17.

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Thursday, June 26, 2014

Babangida visits Ibadan to mourn Arisekola-Alao Sola Adeyemo Ibadan

ormer head of State, Fmosi Gen. Ibrahim BadaBabangida(rtd) has

described the late Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland, Alhaji Abdul-Azeez Arisekola-Alao as an exemplary philanthropist who no one can easily forget in a hurry. He said this when he paid a condolence visit to the deceased's family at the Basorun, OluwoKekere residence, Ibadan. Received by the former Minister for Youths and Sports, Professor Taoheed Adedoja, Chairman, Honeywell, Dr. Oba Otudeko and former governor of Oyo State, Dr Omololu Olunloyo, Babangida in his condolence message wrote, "On behalf of myself, family and delegation, we are here to convey our con-

dolence to the Arisekola family. I spoke with him two weeks before his demise and he promised to see me immediately he came back. I didn't know that Allah had another plan for him. "Aare left a big legacy for us to emulate. We would have asked for a long life for him but Allah knows best. If you ask for a long life for someone, it should not be how old you live for but how. Long life is the good work the individual left behind and that was what Aare Arisekola has left. "He has left good footprint in the path of life. He will forever be remembered for his kind and philanthropic gesture". While welcoming the visitors, Dr Otudeko noted that Arisekola was a unique individual who impacted many lives before his death.

Uniabuja Registrar sent on compulsory leave Emeldah Ogene Abuja

he Registrar, UniverTMuhammad sity of Abuja, Alhaji Bello Mod-

ibbo has been sent on compulsory leave by the Governing Council following the expiration of his tenure. He was also alleged to have attempted to meddle into the appointment of a new Vice Chancellor. New Telegraph learnt that though Modibbo`s tenure in office has long expired, but by openly backing one of the shortlisted candidates, that might have been responsible for the sudden decision by the Council. Meanwhile, unfavor-

able security reports on some of the shortlisted candidates contesting for the post of Vice Chancellor and the late submission of reports on other contenders have forced the Governing Council of the University to postpone till next week the decision on who will eventually take the post. A senior lecturer and member of the University senate who pleaded anonymity told New Telegraph that security reports on two out of the three shortlisted candidates were not favourable forcing the University council to call up more names from the reserve list.

Edo lawmakers fight over embrellas Cajetan Mmuta BENIN

in Edo state dePandolice ployed to maintain peace order at the legislative

complex yesterday averted a bloody fight among lawmakers of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state. The APC legislators and their PDP counterparts engaged each other in shouting match over umbrellas to protect themselves as early morning rain beat them black and blue in front of the Chief Anthony Enahoro on Kings Square in Benin the state capital. The lawmakers stormed the entrance gate early in the day but none gained access into the hallowed chambers but were stranded along party lines in front of the main entrance gate while hordes

of anti-riot policemen that guard the areas against any breach of peace stood watch. But as the waiting game continued, eight PDP lawmakers provided umbrellas inscribed with the PDP logo and of the same number for their protection from the downpour while the 16 APC counterparts without umbrella stood in the rain. The Majority Leader of the House, Hon. Philip Shaibu who was irked by the action of PDP members asked them to stop campaigning as it was not yet time for such development but he was quickly confronted by the member representing Orhionmwon South constituency, Hon. Friday Ogieriakhi who taunted the APC lawmakers to come in for shelter under the PDP big umbrella for protection at all times.

L-R: Executive Secretary, National Health Insurance Scheme, (NHIS), Dr. Femi Thomas; Kwara State Governor, Dr. Abdulfatah Ahmed and Commissioner for Health, Alhaji Kayode Abdul Issa, during a Courtesy Call to the Governor's office, Ilorin…yesterday

24%

The percentage of population under 15 years in Brazil in 2012. Source: Un.org

SUSPENSE

Former PDP chairman still has to wait for one more month to know his fate Tunde Oyesina Abuja

n Abuja High Court yesterday fixed July 25 for judgment in the suit against former chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Vincent Ogbulafor over alleged fraud. The trial judge, Justice Ishaq Bello fixed the date after the adoption of written addresses by counsels in the case. Ogbulafor was arChukwu David Abuja

he Senate yesterday devoted its plenary session to their late colleague, Senator Dahiru Awaisu Kuta, who died on Thursday, June 12, 2014 at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, Lagos. The Senate also implored the Federal Government to immortalise the late legislator, by naming the national headquarters of the Hydropower Producing Areas Development Commission, (HYPADEC), located in Minna, Niger State, "Awaisu Kuta House". Members of the Upper Chamber, one after another, extolled the noble virtues of Senator Kuta, who was an ardent chieftain of the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP, and represented Niger East Senatorial District from 2007 till when he bowed to death a fortnight ago. Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba had moved a motion, which he cosponsored with the rest

783m

The number of people without improved sources of drinking water worldwide. Source: Who.int

10.9m

The number of people with diabetes (20-79 years) in Russia Federation in 2013. Source: Idp.com

N104m scam: Court decides Ogbulafor’s fate July 25 raigned by the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) along with Emeka Ebilah, who was a member of National Economic Intelligence Committee (NEIC)over alleged award of fictitious contracts to the tune of N104 million. Adopting his address, defence counsel James Egwuonwu prayed the court to discharge the accused persons for want of evidence. He said no monies were traced directly to the former PDP chairman or his companies.

Meanwhile, Ebilah has indicated intention to appeal three questions of law brought for the interpretation of the court. According to his counsel, Eghwere Osiaje, section 295 (2) of the 1999 Constitution provides for a trial court to refer an issue of law to the Appeal Court if a party requests it. However, prosecution counsel Marcus Abu urged the court to discountenance the application, arguing that the questions, which includes

whether the government can prosecute in a matter in which it has benefited by taxing the funds, are not “substantial issues of law.” The ICPC lists the companies that benefitted from the contracts to include: Emperor Nigeria Ltd; N15 million; DHL Consultants Ltd N12.3 million; Chekwas Industries Ltd: N27.2 million; Ebilah-Salmon and Partners: N6.7 million; Henchriko Nigeria Ltd: N93.3 million; and Comp-Con Associates: N13.6 million.

Senate pays tributes to Kuta of the 108 Senators, entitled, "demise of Senator Dahiru Awaisu Kuta (1949-2014). Leading the debate on the motion, Senator Ndoma-Egba said: "Senate notes with heavy heart and a deep sense of loss the demise of Senator Dahiru Awaisu Kuta, a serving Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on Thursday 12th June 2014 at the age of 65 years; "The Senate notes that Senator Dahiru Awaisu Kuta was born on 16th April, 1949 to the family of Awaisu Abdu at Kuta, Headquarters of Shiroro Local Government of Niger State; "The Senate notes further that the Late Senator Dahiru Awaisu Kuta began his Primary Education at Central Primary School, Minna from 1958 to 1963 and proceeded to Government Secondary School, Abuja where he obtained his West African School Certificate between 1964 and 1968. He also attended Government College Bida for

his Higher School Certificate before proceeding to Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria from 1971 to 1975, where he obtained a B.A (Hons) degree in History. Not done, he further went to the University of Ife, Ile-Ife from 1980 to 1981 and acquired a Postgraduate Diploma in Public Administration; "The late Senator was a devout Muslim throughout his life time and a good family man who loved all his children and cared for the needy irrespective of personal, ethnic or religious affiliations. He was a teacher, consummate public servant, an astute politician and philanthropist who positively touched many lives in his life time”. At the end of the motion, Ndoma-Egba prayed the Senators to observe a minute silence in honour of their late colleague. He also prayed the Senate to send a delegation to condole with his family, the people and Government of Niger State.

However, Senator Sahabi Alhaji Ya'U, representing Zamfara North brought additional motion, asking the Senate to implore the Federal Government to honour Kuta by naming the headquarters of the Hydro-power Producing Areas Development Commission (HYPADEC), located in Minna, Niger State after him. In an emotion-laden remark, President of the Senate, David Mark, who presided over the session, said: "I have the most difficult task today to express the feelings of our colleagues on the death of Senator Kuta. It is to me as a bad dream. Even up till now, it appears to me that I am still dreaming. "I first met Kuta when I was posted to Niger State as a military administrator. In my encounter with Kuta, I found him patriotic and nationalistic. He was a young, energetic Nigerian, who showed so much love for the country", Mark noted.

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THURsday, JUNE 26, 2014

NDLEA arrests 73 drug suspects Dan Atori Minna

he National Drug Law Enforcement Tsuspected Agency (NDLEA) said it had arrested 73 drug couriers from January to

June in Niger State. The state NDLEA Commander, Abdulallahi Abdul, disclosed this yesterday at a press briefing to mark this year’s International Day against drug abuse and illicit drug trafficking, held in his office in Minna, the state capital. The command, according to Abdul, made a total seizure of 1.1 tons of hard drugs and psychotropic substances in the state which comprise 927.50 kilogrammes of cannabis sativa and 180.90 kilogrammes of psychotropic substances. He added that out of the 927.50 kilogrammes of cannabis sativa, there was a singular seizure on Lagos-Kontagora Road of 627 kilogrammes of cannabis sativa in April that was being transported to Sokoto State. Abdul said the command had been able to secure the conviction of 16 male suspects that were sentenced to various jail terms while the remaining cases were at various stages of prosecution at the court. On the Demand Reduction Angle, 13 persons with cases of drug-related health problems were admitted from January to June 2014 for counselling, treatment and rehabilitation depending on the cases, he said.

Snake kills Lord’s Chosen pastor Clement James Calabar

snake, described as being “spiritual”, on Sunday killed the Pastor of Lord’s Chosen AChurch, Pastor Vincent Eban in Kakwagom,

Boki Local Government Area of Cross River State. Eban, who until his death was also a teacher at Excellence Secondary School, Okundi village, hailed from Panyia, a village near Kakwagom, both in Boki Local Government Area. Investigation, however, showed that the late pastor’s church is different from the popular the Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Church presided over by Pastor Lazarus Muoka. A witness, Mr Edward Akan, said Eban had finished preaching in his church at Kakwagom and was about to mount his motorcycle to return to his house at Panyia, when a snake suddenly appeared, bit him and disappeared. Akan, who claimed to have witnessed the incident, said the snake bit Eban on his lap and before people could come out, it had disappeared. He said: “As soon as he (the pastor) wanted to start his motorcycle, the snake came out from the side cover of his motorcycle and bit him on his lap. “After the snake bit him, he shouted for help and when members of the church rushed to help him, the snake disappeared. “He was rushed to the health centre for treatment, and was later referred to go for traditional treatment. As soon as he got to the traditional medicine man, the pastor died.” One of his students, who preferred anonymity, said that Eban was a disciplined teacher who took his work seriously.

abiodun. bello@newtelegraphonline.com; otuntise@yahoo.co.uk

0802 393 8212 A police source said that the suspects were arrested through a tip-off. According to the source, the first to be arrested was Mr Waheed Ajigbotoloun, who led officials of the State Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) to the shops and homes of the other four suspects. Ogunsola explained that he sells herbs at the Ile-Epo market area of Abule Egba, Lagos, adding that he used to get his human part supplies from Ajigbotoloun. He added: “I bought human heads, by this, I mean the skull. I also bought pieces of human meat which could be any part of the body. The price ranges from N6,000 to N10,000. The supplier gets them from Joju Cemetery in Sango-Ota, Ogun State. I was introduced L-R: Olalekan, Ogunsola to him around October 2013. Abass and Wasiu “Another seller who does the same in Ile Epo market is called Mr Lukman whom we also call ‘Oosa’. I have bought only six human skulls. I got a fresh human hand also while going from Cele bus stop to Super bus stop. I did not know whether it was a man or woman’s hand.” Olalekan, 40, residing at IpetuIjesa, Jankara, Ijaiye area of Lagos disclosed that he is married and has three kids. According to him, he had been selling human parts at the Oja Oba he had been dealing in human parts while market for the past three years. still studying at LASU. He said: “I sell each for N6,000 or The suspect was arrested alongside his N7,000. They told me they got the part alleged partners in crime, such as Oye- from the cemetery. I have sold five to six bamiji Olalekan, Alfa Rasheed Abass and pieces of human heads. I know it was Akorede Wasiu. wrong, but I was looking for money.” “I have sold human parts to Alfas, Abass, 50, who lives at Ile Ogbo pastors, and native doctors. I sold to two Street in Ajegunle area of Lagos, pastors this year, but cannot remember was in charge of calling prayers to the names of their churches now. The his mosque. He said that the name pastors use it to make their churches of the mosque is Edalere mosque, move forward. I use them too for soup also located at Ajegunle, Toll Gate and powder. But now I feel bad about it. area. Abass also confessed to being a I sold to four or five Alfas too. The first pastor I sold to was at Sango-Ota and he native doctor, aside from being a paid me N24,500 for human skull,” the Muslim cleric. He said: “I use human parts for father of one said. The suspect, who graduated from treatment of my patients. I had used LASU in February as part of the 2013/2014 it twice before. I paid N1,500 for the set, disclosed that he finished his univer- human part. I used it for a mentally sity education with money made from ill boy. The boy got cured. He went back to school afterwards.” selling human parts.

I sell human parts to Christian, Muslim clerics, says suspect END TIME To draw worshippers to themselves and make more money, some socalled men of God, both Christians and Muslims, buy human parts for ritual purposes Juliana Francis

26-year-old accounting graduate of the Lagos State University (LASU), Olakunle Ogunsola, who trades in human parts, said his clients ranged from pastors to Muslim clerics. According to him, these so-called men of God and Alfas buy human parts for rituals to make their congregations grow. Ogunsola, described as the ring leader of the gang that sells human parts, said

Suspect dies in police, robbers’ shootout Dahiru Suleiman Dutse

olice in Jigawa State, working in conjunction with IGP Monitoring Unit and Alhaji Ali Kwara, engaged a three-man gang of armed robbers in a gun battle. In the encounter, one the robbers lost his life, while the remaining two escaped with bullet wounds. The state Police Commissioner, Mr Kayode Theophilus, disclosed this while addressing a press conference in Dutse. The robbers, who engaged the joint patrol team in a gun battle on KiyawaDutse Road, rode in a Honda Accord car with registration number ABC 860 MU. Items recovered from the robbers include some documents bearing the name of one Yusuf Usman Abuja, one Barrett pistol, and four rounds of live ammunition. Others are five ATM cards, one iden-

tity card bearing the name of Yusuf Suleiman, a bunch of keys, three complimentary cards, among others. During the briefing, Theophilus reaffirmed the command’s commitments

File picture of suspected armed robbers with recovered guns and ammunition

towards protecting lives and property. He also solicited public cooperation in providing the police with useful information in a bid to make Jigawa crime-free.

METRO

Thursday, June 26, 2014

We’ll make 2015 polls Man jailed 30 violence-free, AIG promises months for possessing cannabis

I use human parts for treatment of my patients. I had used it twice before. I paid N1,500 for the human part

Bus kills hawker Shola Adefuwa

n unidentified man in his middle twenties was crushed to death by an onrushing commercial bus, popularly called Danfo. The accident occurred late Tuesday night at Jungle bus stop on Pen Cinema-Iju Road in IfakoIjaiye Local Government Area of Lagos State. Witnesses told our correspondent that the young man, who was hawking cashew nuts, was sitting on the road divider, when the fully-loaded bus hit him. The man died on the spot. One of the hawkers, who refused to give his name or that of the victim, said the driver must have lost control of the vehicle before hitting the man. The driver was said to have fled when he discovered he had killed someone. The passengers were also said to have sustained minor injuries. The witness said immediately after killing the boy, the other commercial bus drivers removed the number plate. “I think the bus lost its brake,” he added. Policemen took the body away in a Volvo car around 10:45pm. They, however, refused to speak to with journalists.

country, Nigeria.” Nasarawa also warned those who may want to cause disorderliness in the state after the election to have a rethink. “I seize this medium to issue a notice of warning to any individual or group of people in Ekiti State with intentions to disrupt public peace or spur violence in any L-R: Nasarawa and the Commissioner of Police, Ikechukwu A. part of the state, to desist Aduba, at the briefing. henceforth or else face Dele Alao the full wrath of the law. “I assure all that the state remains uoyed by the peaceful conduct of very secured even in this post-election the Ekiti State governorship elec- period. I want to assure all of you that tion held last Saturday, the police we are still around and we are not in a have promised to make the 2015 general hurry to leave the state.” elections violence-free. Reviewing strategies employed for The Assistant Inspector General of the poll, the AIG in charge of Zone 9 Police in charge of security in the Ekiti said the police hierarchy deployed ofState governorship election, AIG Ballah ficers across the entire state, comprising Magaji Nasarawa, made the pledge while personnel of the Police Mobile Force, addressing journalists in Ado-Ekiti. Special Protection Units, Counter-TerHe said: “On behalf of the Inspector- rorism Units, Anti-Bomb Squad, the Air General of Police, I wish to emphatically Wing and the K9 section, among others. state that the standard witnessed in the He said: “We also worked with the full conduct of a peaceful and orderly Ekiti cooperation of the entire residents of State governorship election 2014, should Ekiti State and all other stakeholders, be considered by all, as a demonstration particularly the Independent National of the commitment and readiness of the Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Nigeria Police Force in ensuring the press, in maintaining a levelled playing conduct of very peaceful, credible and ground for the conduct of a free and fair acceptable 2015 general elections in our election.

Woman kidnaps neighbour’s seven-year-old boy

Okeke

Taiwo Jimoh

35-years-old mother of four, identified as Mrs Rosemary Chukwu, is now cooling her feet in police cell for allegedly stealing her neighbour’s child. The suspect, who is a member of Jesus Divine Healing and Deliverance Catholic Ministry in Majidun, Ikodrodu area of Lagos State, alleged stole the seven-year-old boy about 6.30am yesterday, while he was preparing for school. Mrs Mary Alabi, their landlady, told our correspondent that the boy, Taye Emmanuel, was sent by her mother to go fetch water from the well and prepared for school. She said: “The mother of the boy was inside the bathroom expecting the boy to bring the water she asked him to go and fetch. “When she did not see the boy, she and some other members of the house went outside in search of the boy thinking that he might have fallen inside the well. “When they were doing all that the kidnapper was part of those searching for the boy, she was even telling us to go to a private school at our street to check the boy. “But a lady called Rose, who was with us in the search, said all of us could not face the same direction, that was how we split into different groups.” The landlady added that while the search was on, the suspect had perfected her plan.

The church

Alabi said that when Chukwu saw that they had gone in another direction, she went straight into a nearby bush and brought out the boy, who she had kept inside a ‘Ghana Must Go’ bag. According to her, the suspect had tied the boy’s hands and covered his mouth white clothes before keeping him in the bag. “Rose saw the woman when she was to trying to escape with the boy inside the bag and called our attention to it. “We recued and rushed him to a nearby hospital, because the boy had almost suffocated in the bag,” Alabi added. Some witnesses claimed the woman said she was taking the boy to her church. When our correspondent visited the church, fierce looking policemen attached to the Rapid Response Squad, Ipakodo Police Division and those from Ebute were stationed there. Some of the youth in the area attacked and looted the house of the general overseer of the church. They allegedly rescued some people from the house, who claimed they were kidnapped from different parts of the country. One of them, who gave his name as Onwurah Okeke, who looked malnourished and haggard, said he had been living in the church since 2012. “I was brought to the church from Anambra State by my wife and our pastor there. They claimed that I was insane. My grudge

Chukwu

Rose saw the woman when she was to trying to escape with the boy inside the bag and called our attention to it with my wife then was that she wanted to kill my mother and she did not obey me as the head of the house,” the 52-year-old man said. Okeke, who showed his hands to our correspondent, said he had been chained down since 2012. He said: “They feed me twice in a day. I don’t who is paying for my feeding here.” The man, who everybody thought was a madman, said he was once a Marine policeman in Akwa Ibom State. He called on the police and the Lagos State Government to seal the church. The general overseer of the church was said to have fled, before the mob reached his house. The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Ngozi Braide, did not pick her calls to confirm the incident.

Chris Ejim Yenagoa

Federal High Court sitting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State yesterday senAtenced of a 26-year-old man, Peter

Okoh, to 30 months in prison for illegal possession of two kilogramme of Cannabis Sativa popularly known as Indian Hemp. The action brought drama in the court as female lawyers went into tears uncontrollably. This is the state Commander, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Mr Frank Heanachor, on Monday announced the arrest of over 107 drug dealers. The 26-year-old indigene of Delta State, who changed his plea from not guilty to guilty, received the sympathy of the female lawyers, following the reading of provided minimum sentence of 15years for such crime as illegal possession. Justice I. E. Ekwo, who was not moved by the tears from female lawyers and the accused, conducted an accelerated hearing on the case with the officials of the NDLEA present as witnesses. The key witness, an NDLEA Staff Officer, A. Edwin, told the court that the accused was arrested on February 26 by two operatives of the agency identified as Ebitah Courage and Wellington Emmanuel. He said: “The accused was caught with weeds suspected to be Cannabis Sativa. The agency carried out a field test with the United Nations’ test kits. The result proved positive.” The witness presented to the court exhibits identified as certificate of test analysis, the backing of substance, result from scientific aid and result from forensic text from a laboratory in Lagos. Counsel to the accused, Miss Chika Eberechukwu, pleaded with the court that her client, who is a first offender and had stayed in custody for the last five months, should be treated with leniency. She said: “Your Lordship should please consider the time in detention.” The presiding judge, Justice I. E. Ekwo, before delivering his ruling, engaged the accused in conversation and reprimanded him for putting his aged parents through the ordeal of witnessing his incarceration. He said: “Do you know that if I apply the minimum sentence of 15 years, how old do you think you would be by the time you come out?” Ekwo said in view of the confirmation of the accused as first offender and his guilty plea “and the fact that the accused did not challenge the evidences, both oral and print, provided by the NDLEA, I hereby sentence the accused to two years and six months”. Meanwhile, while briefing journalists in Yenagoa as part of the activities marking this year’s International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Substance, Hanachor said 96 of the suspects were males while 11 were females. He said the arrests and seizures were made possible through the collaboration of other security agencies, adding that the various drug types the agency seized, including cocaine, weighed 109.669 kilogrammes in the last six months.

12 NEWS

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, June 26, 2014

PDP National Secretary: Court hears Oyinlola, others’ objection June 30

Osun 2015: APC challenges PDP to campaign

Joseph Onyekwere ustice Chukwujekwu Aneke, of the Federal High Court, Lagos, yesterday fixed June 30, for hearing in the suit challenging the recognition of Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, as the national secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The plaintiffs in the suit are state chairmen of the party in Ogun, Oyo, Osun and Ondo as well as financial secretaries in Lagos and Ekiti. They are Chief Adebayo Dayo, Alhaji Olayinka Taiwo, Alhaji Gani Olaoluwa, Chief Ebenezer Alabi, Dr. Tope Aluko and Chief Taiwo Kuye. The plaintiffs filed the action through an amended originating summons No. FHC/L/ CS/122/14, praying the court to order the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise Prof. Olawale Oladipo, as the

sun State chapter of OCongress the All Progressives (APC) yesterday

national secretary of the PDP. Joined as respondents are INEC and the PDP. INEC and PDP are the first and second respondents respectively, while Oyinlola is the third respondent. Oyinlola was reinstated to the office by the Court of Appeal on November 6, 2014. Dissatisfied with the decision, the respondents/appellants proceeded to the Supreme Court to challenge the ruling. While the ruling subsists, the PDP announced the suspension of Oyinlola, prompting him to file another action at the Federal High Court, Abuja, challenging the suspension. In addition, a motion brought before the Supreme Court for a Stay of Execution of the Court of Appeal judgement which reinstated Oyinlola would be heard on July 6, 2014. At the hearing yesterday, INEC counsel, Vilba

Kintai, raised a preliminary objection, urging the court to strike out the suit for lack of jurisdiction. The commission argued that it does not recognise Oladipo as the national secretary of the PDP, because the party leadership had not produced any court order to that effect, as advised. “This court does not have the jurisdiction to entertain this matter. It should be struck out,” he prayed. The electoral body said the issue brought by the plaintiff was an intraparty dispute, which the court had no jurisdiction over. “It also contended that the suit brought against it had no cause of action, asking the court to dismiss same, strike it out, or strike its name off as a respondent.” Similarly, Oyinlola’s counsel, Gbeyoga Oyewole, filed a preliminary objection and counter affidavit, seeking the dismissal of the suit. He argued

that the suit is subjudice, because a sister case is existing in a court in Abuja. “The matter cannot be entertained by your lordship in order to avoid conflicting decisions,” he stated. Oyewole also argued that the man, who the plaintiffs are seeking to be pronounced the national secretary of the PDP, is not even a party to the present suit. “How can you cry more than the bereaved? Can you shave a man’s hair in his absence?” he queried. Counsel to PDP, Yamzat Yusuf, said he was just served the processes and needed time to respond. However, counsel to the plaintiff, Ifeoma Esom, prayed the court to dismiss the preliminary objections raised by the defendants. Consequently, Justice Aneke adjourned the matter to Monday June 30, 2014 for further hearing.

Adeolu Adeyemo

OSOGBO

challenged the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to come out from its shell and campaign openly to test its' popularity. APC Director of Publicity and Strategy, Kunle Oyatomi, who challenged PDP in a statement made available to newsmen in Osogbo, said that even with the encouragement they have from APC’s loss of Ekiti, the PDP still cannot summon the courage to hit the campaign trail “running and smoking.” The APC asked Senator Iyiola Omisore to abandon his “back-door and sinister campaigns, which rely more on a rigging plan than an open contest. “They cannot come out because they know they lack the support to mount a challenge against Governor Rauf Aregbesola. “If truly they are popular, they should hit the campaign trail and demonstrate grassroots support for the public to see how credible their claims are to unseat Governor Rauf Aregbesola, in the August 9 election. “It is curious that 45 days to the election, the PDP and its governorship candidate are not visible on the campaign trail. “They are only loud with the lies they propagate in the media, and the

false claims of support that is non-existent in cities and towns of Osun. “But in contrast, Governor Rauf Aregbesola is going about his campaigns with unprecedented crowd that demonstrate massive grassroots support, which is only reminiscent of Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s political campaigns of the 70’s and 80’s.” According to the APC; “The governor’s campaigns have been swelling in crowd participation right from Ile-Ife to Ikire, to Iwo and Ikirun with such enthusiastic multitude of supporters that even the media is taking particular notice. Yet the PDP is visibly absent. “The PDP should recognise that Osun is a different ball game completely. “That it happened somewhere else in the South-West doesn’t mean it will happen in Osun. At least, we demonstrated that in 2011, when the rest of the South-West voted for Jonathan but Osun voted for Ribadu.” “Ekiti may have fallen, but Osun stands firm and we are demonstrating it already in the campaign trail,” the APC boasted. “What the PDP made possible in Ekiti will be impossible in Osun, because the circumstances are different in every material particular.” “If the election was not rigged in Ekiti, it cannot be rigged in Osun,”the APC declared.

ITF to train 2m Nigerians annually Dominic Adewole

ASABA

irector General of the DFund Industrial Training (ITF), Mrs. Juliet

L-R: Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke; Head of the Federal Service, Alhaji Bukar Goni Aji; Minister of Labour, Emeka Wogu and Minister of State for Works, Ambassador Bashir Yuguda, during the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja…yesterday PHOTO: TIMOTHY IKUOMENISAN

Labour Party 'll take over Ogun, say Isiaka, Adebutu Kunle Olayeni

Abeokuta

abour Party (LP) govLOgun ernorship aspirant in State, Prince Gboye-

ga Isiaka, and a chieftain of the party, Hon. Oladipupo Adebutu, have said that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) government in the state would be unseated in the 2015 general elections. Isiaka and Adebutu spoke with reporters in Ilaro, Yewa South Local Government shortly after a meeting of LP members in Ogun West senatorial district. They said the outcome

of last Saturday’s governorship election in Ekiti State was an indication of the impending change in the political landscape of the South-West in the next general elections. Isiaka said the LP remained the best alternative to the ruling APC, notwithstanding the fact that the party came a distant third in the Ekiti poll. He added that the Ekiti election, in which Ayo Fayose defeated Governor Kayode Fayemi, had further demystified the incumbency factor. “What the Ekiti election did was to tell us that

the incumbency factor is a farce. Now, in each location, people will have to determine: what is the alternative they are looking for? I think that is the issue. So, for me, I am convinced that here in Ogun State, that alternative is Labour Party,” he said. Isiaka, who contested but lost the 2011 governorship on the platform of Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN), said he possessed the required experience to govern the state. On his part, Adebutu said the APC has become disconnected from the common man. He said: “APC has lost

touch with the common man. What we have now is over-taxation, over-intrusion and entire indisposition to the welfare of the people. All this has contributed to the general populace rejecting the APC. “That the APC lost is not going to be an Ekiti phenomenon. It’s a phenomenon all through the country, because the generality of APC leaders are not with the people and you will see it in Ogun State in the next few months; they will be wiped out totally by the landslide victory of Labour Party.”

Chukkas-Onaeko, yesterday said the Federal Government needs to train two million Nigerians to realise its avowed transformation agenda. Speaking in Asaba at the opening of the sixth management retreat of the fund, the director general said the National Skills Development Programme (NISDP) - the hard skills component of the National Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP), has empowered over 35,000 youths nationwide in its first three phases. While she said two million people would be trained annually, she added that the fund at the disposal of the agency has equipped Nigerians with entrepreneurial skills, a figure she claimed “was different from the hundreds of thousands that were trained through our other programmes.” The director general, who spoke on the topic; “Leadership and Leading Change,” said a lot

still has to be done if the nation must meet the manpower needed for the transformation agenda of the present administration. She said: “However, the manpower requirements of the Federal Government’s Transformation Agenda, requires that we should do more. It is against this backdrop that I was given the task to train two million Nigerians annually, when I was appointed Director General of the ITF.” She appealed for support from state governors and the organised private sector “through patronage of our training programmes and prompt remittance of training contributions.” Delta State governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, represented by his Deputy, Prof. Amos Utuama, said the ITF programmes were in line with the social and economic empowerment programmes already in place in Delta State, advising the agency to embark on intensive sensitisation on its activities, especially the skills acquisition programmes, under the NISDP.

ODUMAKIN: INVISIBLE HANDS MANIPULATING CONFAB / PAGE 16 | IRIKEFE: NO ALTERNATIVE TO JONATHAN IN 2015 / PAGE 14

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THURSDAY, JUNE 26, 2014

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NATIONAL CONFERENCE Pro-democracy activist, Chief Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) is a delegate at the National Conference. Although he is one of the eggheads that went to the dialogue with high hopes for a new Nigeria, Agbakoba appears to be giving up on the exercise which he says has become more or less motions without movement. He speaks with ONWUKA NZESHI on democracy, change and the unfolding drama at the conference. Excerpts: Nigeria’s democracy has been on for 15 years. What are your impressions? Yes. We have democracy, but we are still very fragile. The National Conference seeks to address the issues. But are we doing it? I don’t think so. I feel disappointed in the discussions, I think the agenda is overloaded. The work plan shows that the most critical issues we have been discussing – devolution of power, structure of government have been given only the last two days. I came here personally in order to discuss Nigeria’s political system not environment, not labour and the other issues. So, I think that on the whole, the national conference has been a bit diffused with too many things. You know when you talk about too many things, you don’t get essence of the discussion. How did the conference get here? The programme is so diluted and whether this will give us the answers we are looking for, I don’t know. I doubt it but I will like to be an optimist and would want to believe that whatever we resolve might then go on for implementation either at the legislative or constitutional levels. But already, we know the outcomes. The outcomes are weak. Basically, the North seems to want the status quo to remain; the South-East was interested in one state; the South-West was interested in regionalism and the South-South wanted resource control. Does this mean that nothing will change after this conference? The conference is essentially protecting the status quo. Like I said earlier, the North wants the situation to remain the same, the SouthSouth is fixated on resource control and the South-East where I come from, I think they got it all wrong as their key demand was a state. So going away from here, Nigeria is the

Agbakoba

Agbakoba: I feel disappointed in discourse so far

same. I am not sure whether we can change anything. Fifteen years after the rebirth of democracy, I remain very sceptical because what we have as democracy is not good enough.

Why are we finding it difficult to make changes in the polity? We have got too many issues among ourselves. We are still carrying the baggage of Biafra. We know our problems but we seem to be shying away from the solutions. We are stuck in

our ethnic trenches. We need to think less of ourselves and more about how this country can move forward. It is like a hair cut. If you have a very bushy hair, unless you cut it you cannot have fresh air. Now I understand why America said we would expire in 2015. Nobody is serious about confronting Nigeria’s problems. You see everybody in the hall there? We all know the problems of our country but we are all going round and round the solutions. Before this conference,

CROSSFIRE The Ekiti election has come and gone, but the highly militarised and commercialised process of the election, which must have, in one way or the other, affected its results substantially, cannot just be waved aside -George Akume

I salute the effort of Mr. President, who graciously provided adequate security manpower and logistics to ensure that no life was lost, thereby giving Ekiti voters adequate confidence in coming out to vote -Andy Uba

I have been in about 10 government committees, so when they were talking on environment, I was laughing. We say the same thing every time and everywhere but nothing happens thereafter. We are not committed to taking the bull by the horns. What should the conference do to save Nigeria? Restructure. The structure of Nigeria is wrong. The structure should have taken into account our diversities. Now this conference hasn’t addressed that, so we are going to carry on with the old structure. Periodically, a snake sheds its old skin and takes on a fresh body. Nigeria needs to shed its old skin. If it doesn’t shed its old skin and it continues to panel beat itself, it will be heading for destruction. What we are doing here is panel-beating. We need to address Nigeria’s issues frontally and in a revolutionary manner to bring about some fundamental changes and transformation. But that is not happening here. We are missing a great opportunity to put our country on the right track and I don’t know what the consequences might be in the future.

14 POLITICS | THURSDAY INTERVIEW

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Irikefe: No alternative to Jonathan in 2015 Dr. Benjamin Irikefe is the Secretary, Board of Trustees of the National Coalition for Jonathan/Sambo re-election in 2015. In this interview with YEKEEN NURUDEEN, he speaks on the chances of President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 elections. Excerpt: Why are you rooting for President Goodluck Jonathan and Sambo? We decided to root for these two gentlemen because we have looked at their track records and performance and we have looked at the entire polity and people who are jostling for 2011 presidential election and we feel that they are the most qualified. We feel that based on the complexities on the ground, the way and manner Jonathan has been handling the various sectors of the economy, he has been able to tarry over serious challenges. For instance, look at the insurgency in the North-East; if he had responded very fast by beginning to declare state of emergency and removing state governors, they would say ‘this man is becoming dictatorial’. But he has been very systematic and the thing is working. Again, look at the power sector, over the years, right from independence till now, we have been having all kinds of problems in the sector. Now he has been able to successfully remove government’s hands from power sector, because we know the example in the telecom sector. Whether you are a groundnut seller, you can communicate with anybody in Europe, and I believe that within this year, we are not talking about 100 per cent power but there will be a great change in the power problem. If you had sampled the opinion of many Nigerians, people will tell you that the two of them have not really done well in handling some issues, especially regarding security challenges. How are you going to come to his defence in this area, sir? Well, I am not a mere person in security. I was a member of the Presidential Panel on National Security and I understand the national security infrastructure and the national security procedures and the issue of complexity of the country. This is an insurgency that is not domestic; it has its foreign components. Because you cannot tell me that people have all kinds of weapons, rocket propelled grenades, they seem not to be short of ammunition and so on and so forth. So, it is something that is alien. This security threat is not limited to Nigeria. Let us not give a picture that Jonathan is weak; it is across the whole world. So, it is something that is alien and because of the complexity of the country. If you begin to rush and take rash decisions, they will begin to accuse you. The Chief of Army Staff has relocated to the zone and they are beginning to get the sources of these weapons and ammunition being used by these insurgents. It is not a battle that is going to be won overnight but the military, especially the army is beginning to be on top of the situation. It is not easy. Do you believe that Jonathan can win the 2015 presidential election, given the current opposition against him? I must tell you with all sense of responsibility that if you conduct an election today, President Jonathan would win that election. You don’t go and head a parastatal that you want to become a presidential candidate. The challenges of the country today are not caused by President Jonathan, they have been there. It is just like going into the pit of hell. These problems have been there and we have kept on filling it, it is now that they are begin-

ning to see the light of the day. For instance, in the power sector, this is the first time in the history of the country that power has been handed over to core investors. Though we know that it will be expensive, the issue of power is going to become a thing of the past very soon. Because of his leadership style, which has won people’s hearts, he will triumph over others. There are people who just woke up and thought that they will get popularity by beginning to make unfounded criticisms of the president. This is the only country where people will just wake up and begin to abuse the president, people who have been made to become governors, people who have been made to become ministers, people who have been made to be federal legislators. They get up and abandon their political party just like a woman abandoning her husband and go outside her matrimonial home and begin to abuse the husband. I don’t have any doubt, it is not a question of whether President Jonathan will win the election; it is the margin. You will be surprised. If he fails what happens? If he fails? Yes. The President has remained in PDP, he is the most focused. Why it looks as if you are not seeing deliverables; we know about operations management – we have raw materials as input, unfinished goods as work in progress and finished goods as output. The raw materials have come in, the stage we are at the moment, a lot of what President Jonathan is doing is at the stage of ‘work in progress, or semi-finished goods’. That is why you are not seeing the deliverables but in the fullness of time, the output, the finished products will begin to come out. That is why it appears that despite all the efforts, there is nothing happening. In the event that Jonathan does not win, what happens? If Jonathan does not win, heaven will not fall but his track record will speak for him at the election. I have given you an example here that out of the 100 per cent, he has already scored 59 per cent. He has already had about 59 out of 60 and just left with 40 per cent in examination. But people who have zero per cent because of the fact that they are moving from one political party to the other have lost 20 per cent. So, there is no way Jonathan will lose the election. Don’t you think the APC will be able to give the president a run for his money? You see, this is a gathering of people who are deceiving themselves; they were not people who were friends

I contested elections in 1999, 2003 and 2007. It was in 2010 that all these nonsense came up. Back home in Benue they have failed

Irikefe

before. We know the antecedents of these people that are there; they were not friends of yesteryears, they are strange bed follows that are gathering themselves and such a union, you know that the end result is going to end up in chaos. There is fear that in the event that President Jonathan wins, Nigeria may break up given the fact that some northern leaders are already threatening war that the power should actually return to them. Even Mujaheed Asari-Dokubo is threatening war should Jonathan fail to win in 2015. Let me tell you, the mere fact that Nigeria has celebrated its centenary shows that Nigeria will not break up. Alhaji Mujaheed Asari Dokubo is a freedom fighter. Just like any other Nigerians, he has the right to express his own view. There are people that would just get up and begin to abuse the president and heaven has not fallen. I am not saying that if President Jonathan did not win the election, people will riot; there will be war and all that, I did not say that. But I know that based on his track record, victory will be on his side. I have given the analogy that a man cannot go to party A, party B, party C and you see such a man as someone you can entrust the destiny of the country into his hands. If it is from 2019, yes. But now, I don’t see any alternative to President Jonathan at this time to rescue Nigeria from chaos. How solid is your group to add value to the aspiration of Jonathan and Sambo?

I think it is the number one group. It is not a group of just a bundle of hungry men. You saw them at the inauguration. You saw all kinds of people who are really patriots, people who want the country to move forward are in the group and not people who are looking for crumbs to eat but those who have. They are responsible people, matured people. The Chairman, Board of Trustee is a former governor, people know that I am not a hungry man looking for food to eat; I am not looking for any appointment or elective position but we know that at this time, there is no alternative to President Jonathan, there is none at all. As a former member of the Presidential Panel on National Security, how do you think the insurgency in the North could be handled, considering President Jonathan’s claim that some of the insurgents are in his government? You see, because of the recalcitrance of the issue at hand, I think there is need to call for external help. The problem in Nigeria is that we underrated the issue of insurgency. To be truthful, they have to collaborate with neighbouring countries for joint operations. We know that in Chad and Mali, the extremists are there. We need to have joint operations with all the countries that are bordering Nigeria. There are countries and organisations in the Western world that have special skills on how to contain insurgency. The government should co-opt them. Countries like the USA, Britain and Israeli should be moved in for that purpose.

POLITICS | THURSDAY INTERVIEW 15

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Alleged certificate forgery:

My traducers aren’t getting tired –Suswam ing these allegations has gone to Government College, Makurdi to ask for my results. The school even pasted the result on the board; anybody who visits the school can see it. We sat for WAEC in 1982. The year I was admitted into University of Lagos, and the year I graduated are there. If you go to either the Law School or the Supreme Court you will see the year I was called to the bar. So, this is a case of character assassination. All my certificates bear the same name. I have many secondary school mates; they are all over the country.

In Benue State, there are renewed claims by some persons that Governor Gabriel Suswam forged his academic credentials. They are back in court. In this interview with some journalists in Abuja recently, Suswam points fingers at his political opponents who want to stop his senatorial ambition in 2015, and tells them that only God can stop him from going to Senate. YEKEEN NURUDEEN was there. Recently a magazine published, for the second time, alleged forgery of academic certificates by you; why is this certificate issue still lingering? The people who are behind this shameful and criminal act know why they are doing it. They only want to assassinate my character. All my certificates are verifiable. All the institutions gave me admission based on my results. Along the line I lost my results to robbers. When I applied for admission, the university needed to see the originals before they could give me the admission. I gave my Special Assistant (SA) then who is still my SA all my certificates. It was not only me, the former minister of the Niger Delta ministry also applied for admission. Two of us gave him our certificates to take to the university. Armed robbers took his vehicles and left with all the certificates. That was how I lost all my certificates. I quickly applied to all the institutions I attended -University of Lagos, Law School, WAEC. Of course my certificate from Harvard got lost totally; there was no way I could apply for that one. I made a police report and applied with it. Nigerian Law School told me that they don’t re-issue certificates but they gave me a statement: “To whom it may concern”. Luckily I had photocopies of all my certificates. I had sent to University of Jos for another programme that I also applied for – Masters in Law. University of Lagos replied and re-issued me a statement which indicated that I lost my certificate. As I said earlier, Nigerian Law School did the same. Two months after I had applied, WAEC sent me a result. I have never used that result because I am purely an Arts student but the results they sent to me were sciences. I didn’t need that and I never made any reference to it. Now, I contested in 2007 for governorship, there was no issue. In 2010 when I was getting ready to go for my second term, a magazine known as Power Steering had as its headline ‘Suswam a fake lawyer’. I thought it was a joke. Somebody brought the magazine to me and I read a claim by one Chidoke that he forged a certificate for me and that I refused to pay him. I made a report to the Inspector General of Police. So because the boy was asking for money, police pretended that they lodged money in the

Did you write WAEC when you rejected the wrong results sent to you? No I didn’t, I ignored it. I didn’t touch the result. The people making this allegation went to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), asking for the results I used to contest elections. They didn’t know that nobody puts certificates in INEC’s files. The electoral body only looks at the credentials and gives them back to the owner. We have told them that they can ask INEC to appear in court and present my results. Since the case started in courts- from Federal High Court to Appeal Court, nobody has produced the fake results which they claim I have. The people who contested with me have been making the claims but they have not been able to produce the so called fake result. The court asked them to produce it so that WAEC will publish its own, but none has produced it. I don’t know where the person who has been publishing some certificates in his magazine got that thing. It is not my certificate. They don’t want to get tired even when they have failed. Suswam

bank for him and asked him to go and cash it. They were able to arrest him through that means. The publisher of the magazine was also arrested. We commenced the case on that. They had their usual tactics and ensured that the case was delayed in the court. They claimed they discussed something with the magistrate; they accused him of all manner of things. They established that they had a communication with the magistrate which they recorded. Thank God they were fighting within themselves. They presented the magistrate as someone they claimed was taking money from me. The court decided to move the woman and transfer the case to the High court. We have not commenced the case at the High Court. They are claiming that I don’t have WAEC. I have all my certificates and I would like the public to see and know who is telling lies. I know that somebody somewhere could not destroy me in Benue; he wants to tarnish my national image by presenting me as a fake person. I finished my secondary school at Government College Makurdi, I attended SBS, University of Lagos. I read law at University of Lagos. I didn’t go to Community University. There is no way I would have forged a certificate with which I was admitted into University of Lagos to read Law. This cannot happen. Forgery of certificate was not even common at the time I attended university. In my fourth year in secondary school, I wrote and passed my GCE. While I may not boast of being an intellectual, I have always known that I

I contested elections in 1999, 2003 and 2007. It was in 2010 that all these nonsense came up. Back home in Benue they have failed am brilliant. I passed my GCE before my year of graduation from secondary school. If I wanted I would have left for university after my form four. I have my WAEC certificate which I had after my secondary school. The aim of these lies is just to tarnish my image. They could not remove me as governor, now they want to tarnish my image. I want the public to see my results and know who is telling the truth and who is lying. I am going to court; I have already briefed my lawyers. This is criminal defamation. They have taken me to the public court, I must prove my innocence. Aren’t there some of your classmates who are ready to testify in your favour? I don’t need any classmate to come and testify for me, I have my certificates. What do I need classmates for? It is when you are in doubt of your academic claims that you begin to look for someone to come and make case for you. I have all my certificates with me, the schools I attended are credible. None of these people mak-

Why do you think some people are still after you when you are constitutionally on your last term? Has it got anything to do with your successor? No, they just want to tarnish my image. They want to reduce me in the eyes of Nigerians, nothing more than that. I contested elections in 1999, 2003 and 2007. It was in 2010 that all these nonsense came up. Back home in Benue they have failed. If they didn’t succeed in moving me out and I am set to go to the Senate they want to do everything to stop me. What they do not know is that only God can stop me, no man can stop me. Are you suspecting those who are nursing similar senatorial ambition with you of being behind the renewed campaign against you? This allegation first came from opponents in the All Progressives Congress (APC). In fact, the lawyers who were defending the APC opponents at the Supreme Court are the same lawyers defending the people pursuing the case now. So, I think it is still coming from the same group of persons. Are you saying that within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) you have no rivals? If any person is contesting, he is free to do so. I have no problem with that. We have somebody who is a senator now and who obviously would want to re-contest. I have created a level playing field, I have said let’s all go to the field. I am not muzzling anybody. Anybody who wins at the end of the day gets the ticket; it’s a free contest. In other places governors muzzle those who want to contest with them. I won’t do that, I won’t even exchange words with anybody.

16 POLITICS | THURSDAY INTERVIEW

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, June 26, 2014

NATIONAL CONFERENCE Yinka Odumakin is a known face in the human rights and pro-democracy circles in Nigeria. Odumakin is currently a delegate at the ongoing National Conference where he is representing the SouthWest. In this interview with ONWUKA NZESHI, he bares his mind on a wide range of issues including June 12, democracy in Nigeria and the National Conference. Excerpts: It’s 21 years after the historic June 12 presidential election. What special memories do you have of this date in Nigeria’s history? It looks like yesterday when Nigerians trooped out on June 12, 1993 to pass a referendum on the regime of General Ibrahim Babangida to say that we were tired of military rule and wanted democracy. There were two candidates that stood for the presidential election - Chief MKO Abiola of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Alhaji Bashir Tofa of the National Republican Convention (NRC). Abiola galvanized Nigerians with his campaigns of fight against poverty and his track record in the Nigerian public space was unbeatable. For the first time, we saw a Southerner winning most of the votes in the North, including defeating his opponent in his Kano home. We saw a Muslim/Muslim ticket winning in a predominantly Christian area like Cross River State. It was the freest and fairest election we have ever had in the history of this country. Unfortunately, Babangida annulled that election and set Nigeria on a reverse gear. We had a five year battle with the military in our bid to revalidate that mandate. In the process, Abiola died, his wife was killed by the military junta and so many activists were either killed, jailed or forced into exile. Looking back, it is unfortunate that election was annulled. You see how many days we spent here on the issue of religion, an issue that June 12 would have resolved. If they had allowed June 12 to stay, nobody will be talking about Muslim or Christian leadership in Nigeria today because we had moved beyond that level in 1993. But sadly, Nigeria is much more divided 21 years after June 12 than we were before the amalgamation of 1914. Whereas June 12 promised us free and fair elections where the people’s votes counted, what manner of elections do we hold in our country today? The latest joke is the local government elections in Kano. A state that was won by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) three years ago; every ward and every council is now under the All Progressives Congress (APC) simply because the governor of the state moved from the PDP to APC a few months ago. That tells you the nature of elections in Nigeria today. Unlike June 12 when the votes counted, the votes today are of no more value than the ballot box that is just brought out to fulfil all righteousness. Today, all we do is just give a semblance of an election so that people will say there was an election. Free and fair election was one of the things that June 12 promised us but for the annulment of the election by the evil Odumakin cabal.

Odumakin: Invisible hands manipulating confab After the bitter experience of June 12 and the struggles that practically chased the military away from the political arena, do you think that Nigeria’s democracy has grown? I think you actually used the right word. The military was actually humiliated in that battle and they went back to the barracks with their tails in-between their legs. You saw the speed at which General Abdulsalami Abubakar, the man who took over after Abacha died handed over, leaving behind a lot of bobby traps for us. This is why we are here at this conference. The 1999 Constitution is a booby trap for democracy. Fifteen years after our so-called democracy, now the indices are very clear: in 1999, the incidence of poverty in Nigeria was 46 per cent, today it is almost 80 per cent; in 1999, life expectancy in our country was 54 years, today it is around 46 years; in 1999, we were having 64 per cent pass in School Certificate Examinations, in recent years there were times we had 98 per cent failure. So, when you look at all the indices, our lives have regressed. What has happened is that in the last 15 years of our democracy, we have produced the richest man in Africa, but we have also produced millions of the poorest people in Africa. The reason we now have the people in the Forbes List is because we have sentenced millions of our people to penury. You can see the level of corruption in the land. In 1999, we were metering corruption in millions and a few billions, but today for corruption to be real corruption, it must be in multiples of billions and trillions. When you look at the disparity in lifestyle between those who rode on the back of the people to power and the people themselves, it is amazing. Just go to the airports in Lagos and Abuja and see the number of private jets there. It is like a car park in Shoprite. Who are the owners of these jets? People who have been in public office in the last 15 years. So, I think that 21

If they had allowed June 12 to stay, nobody will be talking about Muslim or Christian leadership in Nigeria today because we had moved beyond that level in 1993. But sadly, Nigeria is much more divided 21 years after June 12 than we were before the amalgamation of 1914 years after June 12 and 15 years after MKO Abiola died in detention, we have not done well as a democracy. You have been in this conference for almost three months, given the trend of events here do you think Nigeria will make some progress after this conference? I have my doubts and my doubts stem from the fact that a lot of our compatriots especially from the far North have come here with the mindset to maintain the status quo. They seem to have come here to stall anything that may bring about autonomy, that can give people the freedom to determine the pace of their lives. They have come with an attitude of our way, their will and my fear is that by the time we get to the critical issues that have been warehoused towards the end of the conference, I see a lot of tilt and tension at this conference. So, if they are coming with the belief that they may come back

to power next year so they can run Nigeria the old way, it will be very difficult. It does appear as if the various committees have not really made any serious recommendations that would bring about significant changes in our country. Does that not suggest that the whole exercise might be a waste of time? Well, what many people do not understand about Nigeria is that there are two levels of government in power. There is the visible government and there is the invisible government. The visible government is the one where you have Goodluck Jonathan as President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. But the invisible government that is at work, that you don’t see is the one that has ensured that those committees did not come out with far-reaching recommendations. It is that invisible government that ensured that all those critical issues have been put towards the end of this conference. It is that invisible government that is trying to change the rule of the game and shift the goal post in the middle of the game. That is the power of the invisible government in Nigeria. You don’t see it but it is there and every now and then, you see its actions. You don’t know where those actions are coming from but it is at work. Where is this strange government located? Oh, the invisible government of Nigeria is located in the ideology of Sharia and its operatives. So, what is your advice to the conference at this stage? Well, I believe that what we need at this stage are measures and recommendations that would first of all devolve powers to the federating units so that we can stop the level of corruption and waste that is going on and bring governance closer to the people. We need to restructure the country because the present structure cannot deliver anything positive. We have tried it over the years and it has not worked. It is not going to work. We need a new structure. These are the things the Committees on Political Restructuring and Devolution of Powers ought to do. But I am afraid that there is an attempt to ensure that those things are not done. I consider the structure of the country as the hardware of the polity. Anything you are doing on the economy, agriculture, energy and the rest are software. If you have a software and you have no appropriate hardware to deploy it, it becomes a waste of money. If this conference come up with the best education policy in the world today and we still have this same old structure, it will be a waste of time. Is it in Chibok that you are going to implement the policy? The governable space in Nigeria today is shrinking and we need to do proper restructuring to expand the governable space in Nigeria but we are shying away from it. What we are trying to do here can be likened to a situation where a man has a wound and instead of applying medication to that wound, we just put plaster or bandage on it and hope that the wound will heal. It would not heal. It will only attract tetanus or even become cancerous.

POLITICS | THURSDAY INTERVIEW 17

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, June 26, 2014

NATIONAL CONFERENCE Former Speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly and a delegate on the platform of former Speakers’ Forum, Hon. Terseer Tsumba is worried about the high cost of governance in Nigeria, but rejects the move to make the legislature bear the brunt. He speaks with ONWUKA NZESHI on issues affecting the confab. What is your view on the allegation that the legislature in Nigeria has become a drain pipe and a major factor responsible for the high cost of governance? The issue of the legislature which is my constituency is very critical. A lot of attention has been given to the issue. We are operating a presidential system and we have three arms of government. We have the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary, but the attention of most people in this country is directed towards the legislature and that is because it is a common knowledge that it is the least developed arm of government and the most exposed to the people. Most people don’t know what happens in the judiciary; most people do not know what happens in the Presidency, or what the ministers do. But they know the in and out of the legislature because they interact with the legislators at the state and national levels. They know exactly the take home pay of the legislator. They sometimes know the budgetary provisions for the National Assembly Service Commission. I was in the state legislature for instance; we never had autonomy. We depended on the executive for everything. Even something as small as traveling to Abuja, we had to apply for allowances to come to Abuja. Most of the things that apply to the National Assembly do not apply to the state Assemblies because most states do not have Assembly Service Commissions but you have a National Assembly Service Commission that is even on first line charge. So, it is easier for legislators at the national level to operate than the states. I think there is a lot of misunderstanding about what happens in the legislature. I will personally urge them to give the legislature a chance to develop. We can’t allow an arm of government to remain underdeveloped against the two other arms that have been developed over the years. We will definitely have a problem with our democracy. I am completely opposed to the issue of high cost of governance. I think we should apply moderation in whatever we do and fight corruption. A situation where a budget is proposed and passed but not signed till almost the middle of the year is not good because you will operate the budget for six months and by October or November, people in the executive give out false contracts just to make money and then the money circulates just within the bureaucracy. They turn around to accuse the political class that they are the ones benefitting from the system. I think these are the gaps that we need to close up so that we can move forward as a country. About two committees of the conference have proposed a part-time legislature and a unicameral legislature. What is your view on this? I am a parliamentarian and I do not support part-time legislature. I do not also support unicameral legislature. I am looking forward to running for the

Tsumba: Part-time legislature not in Nigeria’s interest

How much money is usually budgeted on roads? I am from Benue and I usually travel between Abuja, Akwanga, Lafa to Makurdi. I know the state of the road. I know that that road has passed through about three budgets. I know how much money could have gone into that road yet every year you still see people moving trucks on that road but the project hasn’t been completed. What does that tell you? It goes to show that we are not paying attention to the issue of development of infrastructure in this country.

Tsumba

Senate in my state so I can’t support unicameral legislature. Besides, as it is now, if you look at the constitution, there are a particular number of days that the National Assembly and the State Houses of Assembly sit in a year. Like the former Senate President, Dr. Adolphus Wabara said, the legislature is already on parttime because it sits for only three days (between Monday and Thursday) in a week. In the executive, do we know when the ministers are on seat? We don’t know when the ministers come on but as we talk, the President is still sending a list of ministerial nominees which needs to be approved by the National Assembly. People are saying we should have part-time legislature but they have not bothered to find out the implications of such a decision. When our late President, Umaru Yar’Adua was sick and this problem of power vacuum came, the National Assembly had to invoke the Doctrine of Necessity to make Jonathan the Acting President. If the legislature were to be on part-time, what would have happened? Would he have been calling them to return from their recess or what? The legislature is an arm of government in a system where we are doing checks and balances and it needs to be there at all times to be able to respond to some of these emergencies. In a democracy, issues do arise from time to time and the legislature ought to be ready and working at all times. I think our problem is not the issue of making legislators to work on part-time basis; our problem is corruption. Much as I do not support part-time legislature, I am opposed to excessive cost of governance. We need to reduce it. We also need to be mindful of our population. We don’t even know how many we are. Some say we are 170 million while others say we are 150 million. There are a lot of Nigerian that are dying in poverty. We who are politicians know what we go through every day in trying to meet the needs of the people. I know that we need to reduce the cost of governance and if there is anything you want us to do, we will do it. We need to revive some of our

ailing industries to create job opportunities for our people. If we do that we will better for it. Those who are calling for the unicameral legislature are saying that the legislature is gulping a lot of money and that the country should be worried about the financial implications of running two chambers of national legislature. But I shouldn’t be worried about a minister hiring a plane for N10 billion? Is that what you are asking me? As it is, that is an allegation which has not been proven. An allegation that is being swept under the table. It is an allegation, but if I allege that you dabbled with N10 billion and you suddenly go to court to stop me from pursuing that allegation, what does that tell you? See, the problem in Nigeria is that nobody looks at himself; we are always looking at another person and finding faults. The issue of corruption cannot be resolved in this way. The legislature is an arm of government that usually has a budget and that budget if it is of excess can be reduced. But a situation where you do a budget running into trillions and the capital project component of the budget is not implemented then you release this money on the second or third quarter and you have series of abandoned projects. What does that tell you about our country? Look at the state of our roads. They are death traps today. You dare not travel in the night because you don’t know when you will run into a trailer packed on the road.

People are saying we should have part-time legislature, but they have not bothered to find out the implications of such a decision

Are you in support of the devolution of powers to the zones rather than the states? I am in support of the proposal that power should devolve from the centre to the states. We are not talking about zones; we are talking about individual states assessing themselves to know how much they are worth and how they can get more funds to run their affairs. This is the only way you can reach out to the millions of people whom we represent. Now fertilizers are distributed in Abuja on telephone. How many farmers from my place have phones to be able to get this fertilizer? People have shown me the alert they received right here in this hall that two bags of fertilizer has been allocated to them. Does that sound real to you? How are they going to reach the millions of farmers across the country? I think the states need to be very serious. People who seek power should know that they are seeking power not for themselves but for the people they represent. I subscribe to the idea that much of this agriculture the Federal Government should have limited participation even though under the Land Use Act they are said to own all the land. Truly speaking, the Federal Government does not control the millions of farmers across the states. So, let agriculture be the business of the states while the Federal Government should be concerned with the issues of policy. With what has been going on since this conference started, do you think that the confab has got the capacity to chart a new course for Nigeria? When you bring about 500 people from different backgrounds, you should expect the kind of crisis we are having here. But so far, a lot of issues have been resolved at the confab. I know that as Nigerians, there is a common desire to live together. Most Nigerians do not subscribe to the idea that we should break up. Even at this conference, there is a determination that in spite of all our differences, we should remain together as one country. What bothers me is whether the government would have the political will to implement the decisions of this conference. After putting us here to spend this amount of time and resources, the government must be prepared to find a way of implementing the recommendations of this conference. In his inaugural speech, Mr. President talked about subjecting our decisions to a referendum. We are not discussing only one issue here. We have 20 committees that dealt with a wide range of issues. How do you throw all these issues to a referendum considering our level of education in this country? How many Nigerians know what referendum is all about? So, the government needs to have the political will to implement the decisions of this conference if Mr President wants to be reckoned with in history.

POLITICS | THURSDAY INTERVIEW

What are the chances of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the August 9 governorship election in Osun State? The transformation by Governor Rauf Aregbesola-led administration in the last three and half years in Osun has shown that it is government of the people for the people. These can be seen in all our programmes and activities. Today in the state, we have Opon Imo and we have uniforms for all our students. We have transformed our educational infrastructure. We have good roads and we are generating wealth. This will attract investors with peaceful environment. Our hospitals have been upgraded for the benefit of downtrodden masses. With all these achievements, I believe that no candidate can match Ogbeni. I believe that by August 9, the mandate will be renewed. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Senator Iyiola Omisore is from your area in Ile-Ife; what are your chances of delivering your constituency during the governorship election? Yes, he is from my ward. In 2011, he lost in our ward. Whatever they are telling you outside is just grandstanding. The only thing they believe in is violence. We don’t believe in violence; we know our people and they know that we are working for them. This is a warning signal to them that they should not waste their resources and time. They should not take violence into the election; as we are propagating our own programmes and manifestoes they should come with their own too and let the people do the comparison. They should compare their own Osun of seven and half years to our own Osun of three and half years. I know that this is a period of returns. An adage says “One good term deserves another.” The present government in Osun has done a lot for my people in IleIfe, so in whatever way we are looking at it, we want this development to continue. That is why we are working seriously to make sure that, not only that we win, but win convincingly in all ramifications. What is on the ground now, in terms of the infrastructural development in Ile-Ife has so much endeared the people to Governor Aregbesola and our party. They believe any government that has done this much must be supported. I can tell you categorically that the people of Ife are for Aregbesola and they will support him to rule beyond 2014. What is your take on the call for the removal of Osun State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr. Rufus Akeju, on account of lack of capability to conduct a credible election? I will say that those calling for his removal are just crying. What has Akeju done wrong? Is it because he refused to do their bidding? Is that the reason why they are running after him? What has he done in the past elections that showed that he was tilting towards a particular party? We had one-man-onevote and the opposition parties suffered an all-round defeat. Is it because they want him to upturn the result and he refused? Is that the reason? We need to ask them. The only unsubstantiated reason they have been parading around is that Akeju is related to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Who has established that? What linkage has established that? They are already afraid of the defeat that awaits them at the poll soon. Going back to Ile Ife, a politician there said he wants to become the governor of Osun State, let me tell you, he has no capacity to be a state governor; the charisma is not there at all. We are from the same place, but the level that Osun has attained in the last three and half years requires a focused leader, not a mere rabble-rouser who cannot comprehend the complex nature of governance in our state. The tourism industry in Osun State is now experiencing turnaround, what is really

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Osun guber poll: ‘Omisore no match for Aregbesola’

Alhaji Sikiru Adetona Ayedun, Osun State Commissioner for Home Affairs, Tourism and Culture, believes that Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s achievements will speak for him during the August 9 governorship election in the state. The Ife-born politician and All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, in this interview, also speaks on the call for the removal of Osun State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr. Rufus Akeju. TEMITOPE OGUNBANKE reports

Ayedun

the magic wand? The magic wand concerning turnaround in Osun is not other than our desire to turn Osun to one of the tourism hubs in Nigeria; the state being the cultural centre of Yoruba nation and custodian of Yoruba culture and cultural artefacts. Also, the turnaround is an integral part of the six master plan of Aregbesola to develop Osun. The aim of the government is to banish poverty and hunger, to create wealth, to provide qualitative education. All what we are doing is part of the executing the master plan of the governor. In the first instance, I will attribute the prevailing atmosphere of peace and security in the state as one of factors responsible for the growth of the hospitality industry here. Again, Aregbesola’s administration has been busy opening up the state through massive development of road infrastructure, education and health. These are some of the things responsible for the growth of hospitality and tourism in the state. We are well aware that there is no one that needed to carry out a transaction that would not need a befitting place to do so. And that is why we pay attention to regulation of standards in the hospitality business so as to make it more attractive to tourists, visitors and would-be investors alike. I believe our commitment and intervention to make the industry competitive is responsible for the growth in the industry in the state.

torical sites, we have done a stadiumlike podium at Osun Osogbo groove. If you go to Olumere, we have constructed a stair case to take visitors to the second level of the water base. The artists are working on how to get the best for Olumere and to have opportunity to stay overnight there. We are also working on the statue of Oduduwa and Opa Oranyan at Ile-Ife. We have also attracted attention and patronage for Osun Osogbo and Olojo festival that every year, everybody look-up to the festivals. As a focused government, we have divided our tourism agenda into four broad areas. We have the socio-religious, religious, socio-traditional and eco-tourism. All these attract investors.

What are some of the innovations that you have brought into the hospitality sector so far? In turning around most of our his-

As the commissioner for Tourism, Culture and Home Affairs, how do you manage the balance between religion and culture? Being the commissioner, everybody

He has no capacity to be a state governor; the charisma is not there at all. We are from the same place, but the level that Osun has attained in the last three and half years requires a person with a focused leader

knows it is a public office in which you have opportunities to manage different kind of people. The constitution of Nigeria says that governance should deal with all citizens of the state not minding the religion or educational background or social background. In this case, since we know that Osun is the nerve of Yoruba in Nigeria, we recognise all the religion in the state. We know that we have traditionalists, Christians and Muslims also. We believe that religion exists while culture exists as well. There is no contradiction. We are very clear in our stand on religion and culture. We are convinced that our rich cultural heritage should not be jettisoned because of religion. There is the need for constant re-awakening by putting on the front burner, the search for who we are as a people. The beauty of the whole thing is that we have a culture that thrives on integrity, uprightness, industry, good communal living, and a well established system of punishment for the erring ones in the society. It is sad that when foreign religions came, we started to cast aspersion on our culture to the point of seeing it as diabolical. What is the government doing to ensure that Yoruba language is not fading out among students and the younger generation? In the APC-controlled states in the South-West, it is compulsory for students to study Yoruba Language, History and Civics from primary one to the secondary level so that they will be able to speak their language, know their origin and know the background of where they are.

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EDITORIAL

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, June 26, 2014

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Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon and the truth – Buddha

THURSday, JUNE 26, 2014

Comatose gas projects deserve urgent lifeline

oncerned experts have predicted that Nigeria may lose substantial market opportunities if it further foot-drags in developing its abandoned gas projects. Current estimates show the country is losing about $1.5 billion revenue from that sector. Two Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plants located in Brass in Bayelsa and Olokola in Ogun State have been abandoned over the last five years. Stakeholders have therefore warned that Nigeria’s desire to expand its market share in the global gas supply may suffer serious setbacks if the two other LNG plants remain comatose. Non-takeoff of the Brass and Olokola LNG projects has cost the country over $1.5 billion. Over $500 million and $1billion have been spent on the 5.5 million metric ton per annum Olokola LNG and 10 million metric ton per annum on the Brass LNG respectively, of which government through the NNPC accounted for over $700 million or 48 percent. According to Victor Eremosele, a consultant who has just retired from the Nigeria LNG Limited, the market windows available for these projects now may soon disappear because by 2020, from available evidence, a situation will definitely arise where significant funds have been spent by other countries on their gas projects and these countries would now become new sources of supply of gas

to the market. Eromosele’s presentation at the World Petroleum Congress, in Moscow, Russia, needs to be closely looked at by the presentation administration. According to him, the Shale gas from the United States of America and other gas discoveries elsewhere could make the it difficult for the two plants to find viable markets because the price of gas at the international market has started dropping and major discoveries of gas across Africa and the world, may sooner or later impact negatively on the revenue from Nigeria LNGs because of shrinking market. “Nigeria should just get serious and fix those two other LNG projects. I mean, they have three LNG projects: get them started, and get them running and then compete; otherwise, that window will soon disappear because, by 2020, we will find a situation where significant funds have been spent by other countries and those Capex are actually converting to new sources of supply to the market,” Eromosele admonished. He stated that prices will trend southwards to around $9 because there are about six exporters with licences in the US and it is expected that this would continue going forward. “This simply means that the market will change.”According to him, the NLNG still survived three years after the focus shifted to Shale gas because it was selling most of our LNG products; instead

of the Atlantic Basin in Europe and America, it started selling in Japan. “This is however at a very high cost,” he said, “because, to get to Japan, it’s three times the distance of getting to Europe. So it’ll cost you more but, at the end of the day, we found the strategy worked.” It has become a very bad Nigerian style of governance to embark on grandiose projects without the dedication of ensuring completion. The end result is that what starts with much fanfare becomes an embarrasing white elephant project and a financial black-hole. The Ajaokuta Steel Complex and the various steel rolling mills, and similar cases all over the country, have been sources of disgraceful reckless financial hemorrhage over the years. In 2012 a presidential panel set up to look into cases of abandoned federal government projects with terms of reference that included taking inventory of all ongoing projects and determining compliance with due process, status of execution and financial involvement, as well as militating constraints for accelerated completion submitted its report. That report itself has become a white elephant project despite identifying 11,886 abandoned projects nationwide. The administration must jettison the culture of waste and profligacy, starting with the two abandoned gas projects. They are too important to the economic well-being and survival

of the citizenry to be allowed to rot away. The investment that has gone into the projects already is very massive, so the government should through due diligence and transparent privatisation process kick-start the projects and see to their immediate completion. Gas is a very important natural resource and a critical revenue earner, but which has not been put to optimal use in the country. Gas is still being flared and the date for ending the colossal waste has been procrastinated severally, indicating government’s lack of seriousness to deal with the dire situation in the sector. Government should give the resuscitation of the gas projects utmost priority. Over the years in the country, successive administrations have paid lip service to the issue of abandoned projects, some even promised to complete abandoned projects which they never did, and this very disturbing state of affairs is common to all the tiers of government in the country. Those in government must therefore understand that the very essence of governance is to serve and impact the polity positively. They must cultivate and imbibe the culture of self service and not personal aggrandizement. It makes sense to stop embarking on new projects for a season and concentrate on abandoned or uncompleted projects starting with the two comatose gas plants. GABRIEL AKINADEWO Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief FELIX OGUEJIOFOR ABUGU Deputy Managing Director/DEIC SULEIMAN BISALLA Managing Editor, North YEMI AJAYI Editor, Daily LAURENCE ANI Editor, Saturday EMEKA MADUNAGU Editor, Sunday LEO CENDROWICZ Bureau Chief, Brussels MARSHALL COMINS Bureau Chief, Washington DC SAM AMSTERDAM Editorial Coordinator, Europe EMMAN SHEHU (PhD) Chairman, Editorial Board GEOFFREY EKENNA News Editor PADE OLAPOJU Production Editor TIMOTHY AKINLEYE Head, Graphics ROBINSON EZEH Head, Admin.

Sanctity of Truth

OPINION Drug use, abuse and illicit trafficking Rasak Musbau

lobally, June 26 of every year is designated the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. Established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1987, this day serves as a reminder of the goals agreed to by Member States of creating an international society free of drug abuse. It aims to raise awareness of the major problems that illicit drugs present to society and at the same time, remind youths and adults not to make the mistake of experimenting with drugs. A drug is a substance used for medical purposes that changes the state or function of the body. On the other hand, drug abuse is a situation when drug is taken more than it is prescribed. It could be seen as the use of illicit drugs, or the abuse of prescription or over-the-counter drugs. It could further be defined as the deliberate use of chemical substances for reasons other than intended medical purposes and which results in physical, mental emotional or social impairment of the user. World Health Organisation (WHO) defined substance abuse as “the harmful or hazardous use of psychoactive substances, including alcohol and illicit drugs”. It is estimated that about 76.3 million people struggle with alcohol use disorders contributing to 1.8 million deaths per year. The United Nations reported that around 185 million people globally over the age of 15 were consuming drugs by the end of the 20th century. In Nigeria, there is currently an unending desire by governments at all level to sensitize her citizens, especially the youths, of the evil of drug use and abuse . Drug use and abuse is the primary reason why many youths are incarcerated, as well as a source of crime and health problem. It has become unprecedented problem in Nigeria that the number of youth incarcerated in various prisons across the country has increase dramatically over the last few decades. As a matter of fact, majority of these youths have been arrested for drug offences, and/or have a drug abuse problem. Some of the factors contributing to this arrest are the public awareness of the danger in drug abuse and the “war on Drugs” declared by the Federal Government using various agencies like the NDLEA, NAFDAC etc.

There are lots of reasons why people take illegal drugs. Some take them to escape their problems while others are bored, curious or just want to feel good. People may be pressured into taking drugs to “fit in” with a particular crowd (such as is the case with street urchins, road unions, cult group etc.) or they may take drugs to rebel or get attention. People can become addicted to illegal drugs as well as drugs prescribed by doctors. When prescription drugs are taken the right way, they are safe and there is usually little chance of addiction. However, prescription drugs can be dangerous if they are abused (for example, taking too much or taking them when they are not needed). Mothers and guardians often administer drugs on their children with impunity. Some of the most commonly abused prescription drugs are painkillers and anti-anxiety drugs. The more worrisome drug abuse in our environment is that of marijuana, cocaine and alcohol. Many Nigerians do not regard alcohol as a very potent drug because it is readily available and its use is socially accepted by the society. In some societies , drinking behavior is considered important for the whole social order and so drinking is defined and limited in accordance with fundamental motifs of the culture. Youth constitutes a major portion of drug abusers. This should be of concern to everyone of us in view of the place of youth in national development. While casual use of marijuana and alcohols exist among the affluence, it is more common among the school drop-outs, homeless and unemployed. From ancient times, the use of drugs has always been an inseparable part of occultism and the youth in tertiary institutions are deeply involved in this practice. The criminal activities of the drug users are now becoming too frequent for comfort. At most of the dark spots in major cities, criminals openly use banned drugs. To worsen the situation, some of them operate like cults, carving out territories of influence where they intimidate, rape and rob innocent residents at will. It is important to illustrate what drugs such as marijuana do to the body and minds of the users. For instance, marijuana’s smoke is toxic and can lead to serious health disorders, including cancer. The negative effects also include confusion, acute panic reactions, anxiety attacks, fear and loss of self-control. Chronic marijuana users may develop a motivational syndrome characterized by pas-

Thursday, June 26, 2014

sivity, decreased motivation, and preoccupation with taking drugs. Like alcoholic intoxication, marijuana intoxication impairs judgment, comprehension, memory, speech, problem-solving abilities. Of particular worry is the permanence of its illeffect among people who began smoking in adolescence. Aside the smokers, everyone of us, as passive smoker is a potential victim of some of the ill-effects. Yet, there is hardly any area in Nigeria free of this drug problem and the subsequent criminal behaviour of its users. No doubt, when you give people a foothold, it might turn to become a strong hold. Thus, the gory tale of open use of marijuana is an indictment on the part of our security operatives, especially the anti-narcotic agency. Ironically, some security agents legalised this illegal drug through their own illegal act of extorting money from traders. Some of them are also criminals in uniform who smoke at same spots where criminal activities are planned and executed by hoodlums. The traditional standards and values that place additional responsibility on holder of public offices in sane society is almost nil here in Nigeria. The police in particular will, in the years to come, have much more to do if the trend of crime and behaviour that aids drug is not given attention it deserves now. Plainly put, our anti-drug war is still cosmetic in approach. It will be foolhardy to be satisfied with current efforts that focus mainly on mere sensitising at motor-parks and running jingles in the media without effectively starting the war from the production and distribution outlets. Treatment of cause should be more important than its symptoms. In sum, anti-narcotic agency must step up the clampdown on the production, control of the sale, distribution and use of illicit drugs. Agencies of government saddled with national orientation and those with responsibility of curbing crimes must be up and doing. In this regard, Lagos State Government’s establishment of Drug-Free Club and plan to include drug abuse in its school curriculum is commendable. As this year’s International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking is celebrated globally, it is important to emphasise that a joint effort aimed at breaking the chain of addiction is the only way to stop the menace of drug abuse in the world.

Chibok girls: In defence of the President Mark Debo Taiwo “It is his first duty to protect the man (meaning himself) who holds the fate of others in his hands.” – Plutarch (46120 AD).

uring the Biafra/Nigeria Civil War in 1967-1970, the then Nigeria military had a slogan jingled daily on the radio that says “to keep Nigeria one, is a task that must be done.” I think the civil duty of every responsible citizen of this country is to see her overcoming all the myriad of contradictions against her survival and stability in this trying period of our nationhood. To keep Nigeria one is not the responsibility of the military or president alone but it should be a collective and contributory efforts of each and every one of us. No matter the level of anybody’s perceived grievances against the president or the Nigerian state, to look for its downfall and disintegration or for an outbreak of war is a dislocation in patriotism. Mother Teresa affirmed that “if we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” It is unfortunate that what we could have used as our scorecard to negotiate economic benefit with the global entity is now our predicament. In view of our enormous potentials as a nation, unity would have prodded us to becoming a big economy in the Africa continent if properly harnessed. We need to understand that we all need one another and belong to one another to achieve greatness. The campaign of calumny against

the person of President Jonathan is unbecoming and is getting too embarrassing. If we present our president too cheap to the world, we can’t expect them to accord him his right value. For the defeated United States of America’s presidential candidate, Mr. John McCain to be referring to our president as “some guy called Goodluck Jonathan” is highly disgusting, an affront and very undiplomatic, as according to Lawrence Steme, “respect for ourselves guides our morals; respect for others guides our manners.” I also smelt a rat when the North and the opposition seemed to leave patriotism behind them in their pursuit of parochial political goals and called on the president to visit Chibok at this parlous state of insecurity in the area. Being unnecessarily sentimental is highly mischievous. Why is the call for Jonathan to visit Chibok so vociferous? Is it perhaps a clandestine, sinister plan to have the insurgents assassinate him? We all remember what happened to General Aguiyi Ironsi in Western Region when he visited the region after the January 1966 coup, how he was killed by the Hausa khaki boys at Ibadan. The president has the right to protect himself first because “It is his first duty to protect the man (meaning himself) who holds the fate of others in his hands.” Plutarch (46-120 AD). During the militancy in Niger Delta, Late President Yar’adua deployed the then Vice-President Jonathan to go and meet with the militants in the creeks to persuade them to lay down their arms and embrace amnesty. Then Vice-President Jonathan went along with other Ijaw

leaders, and the president of the Christians Association of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Oritsajafor, so, why can’t these people call on their Ulamas in the Northeastern region, and their political leaders and emirs, to mobilize themselves, and venture into the Sambisa forest which terrain they are well accustomed to, and persuade their armed boys to surrender and embrace peace just like Jonathan accomplished, at least to demonstrate their love and patriotism for Nigeria? They should persuade the insurgents to listen to the voice of reason by accepting the government’s offer of negotiation instead of being dismissive of government’s intention. So, for anybody to begin to accuse the president of insincerity is tantamount to a serious threat to the stability of this nation, and it may raise doubt over such persons’ genuineness. It will be arrant tomfoolery and tommyrot for the president to visit Chibok now because of the conspiracy theory that is gaining the ground. Inasmuch as I do not want to exonerate the Federal Government of culpability considering their slow response to insurgent attacks, yet I want to believe that the claims by the Chibok locals that the military had the foreknowledge of the attack four hours before the invasion is not totally acceptable to any scientific reasoning. One of the locals claimed in one national daily that when he heard that the Boko Haram insurgents had arrived the village, he put a call to his daughter who is a student of the school to find out if security officers, their teachers and the principal were with them and as the answer was negative he instructed her to run away from the dormitory, knowing well

that when the insurgents are done they would descend on the school. She heeded the warning and ran away. Why couldn’t the locals do exactly as this man did? When they heard that the insurgents were marching on Chibok and alerted the military without response, they could have gone to dismiss the students and send them to their various homes, this could have averted the abduction of the over 200 of them. Now when the four sick Chibok girls were released, to whom were they released to, how did they get to their homes, who first saw and informed who? Did anybody just spot them at Sambisa forest wondering around or were they found in their homes? Was any security agency alerted before they were released to their parents? Let our love for this nation guides our actions. There is God o o. As General Moshe Dayan, hero of Israel’s six days victory over the Arabs in1967 said, “If you want to make peace, you don’t talk to your friends you talk to your enemies” The Federal Government should brace up to dialogue with the insurgents and evaluate what other steps to take to facilitate the release of the girls without the use of force. The government should learn from America itself, how Barrack Obama swapped five high level Taliban prisoners to secure the release of the 28 years old Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who was detained for five years in eastern Afghanistan. • Pastor Mark Debo Taiwo, (markdebotaiwo@gmail.com) is the National Co-ordinator, Operation Moving Nigeria Forward &Nigeria Anti-Corruption Initiative.

HEALTH THURSday, JUNE 26, 2014

Fruits and 21 vegetables are good sources of vitamin c

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Cervical cancer: Parents asked to pay for children's vaccination Medical experts are calling on parents, guardians and care-givers to pay for the provision of Human Papilloma virus vaccination to reduce cancer deaths in the country, APPOLONIA ADEYEMI writes

Even in developed countries, Okoye noted that interventions that have been effective in impacting cancer have not been initiatives of governments. "Most of them have been initiatives of non governmental organisations

s part of efforts to reduce the rising cases of cervical cancer in Nigeria, a Radiologist, Prof. Ifeoma Okoye has advised indigent parents and guardians to vaccinate their girl child against cervical cancer. Okoye, also the Founder of Breast Without Spot, a non government organisation, (NGO), made the call at the inauguration of a School-Based Cervical Cancer Vaccination Awareness Initiative which was launched in Lagos recently. The programme will be disseminated to other states of the federation. Prof. Okoye who is a specialist in the treatment of cancer, encouraged many parents to key into the initiative aimed to vaccinate at least, two million females and males against cervical cancer in Nigeria in the next two years. Given the long queues to access most government services and shortage of funds vis-a-vis other competing projects, Okoye reasoned that millions of Nigerian girls who are not captured in the free federal government funded cervical caner vaccination, will ultimately receive the needed intervention if their parents pay to get them vaccinated.. The main objective is to prevent them from contracting cervical cancer. The World Health Organisation (WHO) as well as public health officials recommend vaccination of young women against HPV to prevent cervical cancer, and to reduce the number of treatments for cervical cancer precursors. Similarly, the HPV vaccination is recommended for preteen girls and boys at age 11 or 12 years. HPV vaccine is also recommended for girls ages 13 through 26 years and for boys ages 13 through 21 years, who have not yet been vaccinated. So if your son or daughter hasn’t started or need the HPV vaccine series - it’s not too late to talk to their doctor about getting it for them now. Two vaccines— Cervarix and Gardasil are presently available in the country. Based on the data that 26 Nigerian women die daily as a result of cervical cancer, Okoye said, “This is alarming and most of the cases are rampant in the developing countries like Nigeria." Presently, in the market two vaccines that are available costs N16,500 and N25,000 respectively. "According to Okoye vaccination age may be extended to women that have attained 40 years but they must be testing or screened before being vaccinated. While the testing is to determine if there is the presence of HPV, the screen-

Only 1,400 girls were vaccinated with the Human Papiloma Vaccine (HPV) at the first phase of Nigeria’s Cancer Control Plan. File Photo of August 2011 shows First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan (second left) dressing Miss Hannah Dahiru after being immunised by the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu (second right) and former Minister of State for Health, Dr. Mohammed Ali Pate (right) watches

Prof. Okoye

ing is to determine if there are already changes going on in the cervix that should be addressed. Okoye said any girl undertaking the vaccination must take the vaccination in three doses. Either of the two vaccines is given on day one (zero dose); the second dose is given one month after; while the third dose is taken on the sixth month. Debunking claims that many poor Nigerians cannot afford to pay for the vaccination for their children, the professor of radiology said since the free vaccinations during the first phase of Nigeria’s Cancer Control Plan which terminated in 2013, "we haven’t seen any extra statistics showing than more children have been vaccinated." Not less than 1,400 in Nigerians benefited from that scheme. Even in developed countries, Okoye noted that interventions that have been effective in impacting cancer have not been initiatives of governments. "Most of them have been initiatives of non governmental organisations and through their efforts; they have raised a lot of funding that has assisted researchers to do a lot of research into the treatment of cancer." Besides, the radiologist said "the cost

of the vaccination is virtually negligible when matched against the cost of radiation therapy, chemotherapy, surgical intention, among other cancer treatment." Speaking further, Okoye said given the low level of awareness about cervical cancer, the School-Based Cervical Cancer Vaccination Awareness Initiative provides options for the general population while giving them the advantage of making an informed choice to prevent cervical cancer. Considering that the objective is to prevent cervical cancer and save lives, Okoye urged parents to re-order their priorities. "Many Nigerian women who spend expensively to wear artificial hair could go natural for six months while saving the funds to vaccine their teenagers," she reasoned. Highlighting more instances of worthless and exorbitant spending on the part of many Nigerian parents, Okoye said, "in preparations for some weddings, many parents pay between N15,000 to N20,000 for 'asoebi' (identical clothing for ceremonial occasions). "Lets get our priorities right, she charged, saying, even the same women will refuse to spend N3,000 to do mammography based on the believe that N3,000 is too expensive for mammography service." Okoye attributed this negative attitude to lack of knowledge. “If we really believe that we are going to save lives with the HPV vaccination initiative, people will do it." The School-Based Cervical Cancer Vaccination Awareness Initiative targets parents in private schools because they can afford this vaccination initiative for their children. Similarly, by extension, the initiative is targeted at heads of schools and proprietors and others from different spheres of society. "We are encouraging individuals and philanthropists to contribute for those who cannot pay for this vaccination for their children,” Okoye said, adding.

"Are you torched? Even if it is N1,000 monthly, for 15 months you can contribute to pay for a child and save humanity." According to data from the United States Centre for Disease Control, worldwide, HPV , the main culprit for cervical cancer, is the most common sexually transmitted infection in adults. For example, more than 80 percent of American women will have contracted at least one strain of HPV by age fifty, in Nigeria, Okoye said that cervical cancer was killing more people worldwide than HIV/ AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria put together. She said: “We conducted a survey and discovered that cervical cancer is the second cancer killer among women in Nigeria and it is also the tenth in cervical cancer death worldwide. Statistics from the World Health Organisation (WHO) shows that, “Fortyeight million women are at risk of cervical cancer: 17,550 women are diagnosed yearly, 9,659 women die annually and 26 women die on daily basis in Nigeria. “It, therefore, requires a proactive political commitment to fight the scourge,” said Okoye. According to her, cervical cancer is 99 per cent preventable and prevention was necessary for the reduction and control of cancer burden in the country. C O N T I N U E D on PA G E 2 2

Cervical cancer risk factors There are several risk factors for the development of cervical cancer, both genetic and environmental. These include: l Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Infection

l Family History of Cervical Cancer l Age l Sexual and Reproductive History l Socioeconomic Status l Smoking l HIV Infection l In Utero DES Exposure l Long-term use of oral contraceptives

22 HEALTH

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Disability: Lagos heightens advocacy for inclusive society

he Special Adviser to Lagos State Governor on Youth and Social Development, Dr. Enitan Badru said addressing the challenges and welfare of people with disabilities (PWD) will eradicate poverty in the society. Badru said this at a First Bi-Annual Stakeholders Forum organised by the Lagos State Office for Disability Affairs (LASODA) last week in Lagos. The theme of the programme is: “Toward Achieving an Inclusive Society in Lagos`. He said that PWD represented a large chunk of the society as they constituted about 20 per cent of the State population. "A greater number of PWDs are also experiencing the biting economic challenges currently facing the nation. ``Lack of basic infrastructure and amenities led to poverty and hardship of the people generally with cost of living on the rise. "And if lack of social amenities could lead to poverty among the generality of people, how much more for the people with disabilities? ``he said. Badru said that the Lagos State Government was making ceaseless effort to ensure that no one is discriminated against on account of his disability. MrsToluAnimashaun, The Chairman of LASODA said that achieving an inclusive society required collaborative efforts from families, governments, civil society organisations, private sector, the media and non government organisations (NGOs). Animashaun said that the State Government had taken steps to make life livable for PWDs through the establishment of LASODA which enforces the Lagos State Special Peoples’ Law, enacted in 2011. She also said that plans had been perfected to partner with the Lagos State Residents Registration Agency, LASRRA, for the registration of all disable persons in the State. According to her, it will assist the State Government to make informed and inclusive decisions that would incorporate the interest of PWDs. "Very soon, there will be public enlightenment campaigns. We are going to work hand-in-hand with the state registration agency (LASRA), which is designing a portal for disability. And there will be some designated centres for registration, ``she said. Also speaking, Dr. Adebukola Adebayo, a visually impaired, advocated for a social model angle to issues relating to PWDs as against the charity model which according to him is discriminatory in nature. Adebayo explained that PWDs were denied of their right to education, free

with Dr. Ihuoma Uko-Ndukwe

ada.ndukwe@yahoo.com

Risk factors for urinary tract infections (UTI) BACTERIAL DISEASE Increasing fluid intake and emptying bladder before and after sex can help in managing this condition

Awelenge

movement, employment, accessing information, obtaining proper health care, exercising political rights and making their own decisions. He also said that people tend to treat PWDs with prejudice and cruelty only because they did not understand their needs. According to him, PWDs are dynamic, complex and multi-dimensional in nature. “People need to change their perception that every disabled person is a beggar or in need of assistance. “People living with disabilities get offended when people refer to them with derogatory phrases such as “disabled person or physically challenged. ``Don’t judge anybody based on his disability. Nobody chooses to become disabled," he said. In his remark, Dr. Babatunde Awelenge, the General Manager of the LASODA advised the public to relate and show empathy rather than sympathy to PWDs. Awelenje said that there was the need for Nigerians to be properly oriented on how to deal with people living with disabilities (PWDs). According to him, persons with disabilities are seeking equality in all aspect of life. ``What the people with disability need is just a level-playing field. This was demonstrated in the last paralympic where persons with disability did Nigeria proud," he said.

Parents urged to pay for cervical cancer vaccination C O N T I N U E D f r o m PA G E 2 1

The radiologist then urged government at all levels to improve and strengthen the healthcare system in terms of funding, infrastructure upgrade and training of medical personnel. She also urged Nigerians to imbibe regular health check to prevent late detection of cancer cases and cancer mortality. Also speaking, Dr. Joy Agbara, the Senior Registrar of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), said it was unacceptable that many women still died when cervical cancer was preventable, treatable and curable. Agbara said that lack of awareness, resources and low budgetary allocation

to the health sector contributed to the country’s high rate of the disease burden. She said: “Cervical cancer has no particular symptoms but women should look out for signs such as pains around the cervix, painful intercourse, foul smelly discharge, weight loss and weakness. In her remark, Funmilayo James, the BWS National Coordinator, said the school-based vaccination initiative was adopted to prevent cervical cancer in countries. James said the initiative involved parents and school owners or administrators to consent and sponsor the vaccination of girls between the age of nine and 13 as a primary prevention.

he urinary system consists of two kidneys located on each side of the spine, , specifically in the mid back, the bladder and the urethra, the structures that participate in the secretion and elimination of urine. Up to one to two liters of waste and extra water passes through the root of the kideys as waste, moves down the two urethras into a balloon like sac called the bladder, and when the bladder squeezes, the urine flows out through an opening called urethra to the outside environment. A urinary tract infection (UTI) is a bacterial process affecting any part of the urinary tract, most commonly the bladder and urethra and it is the second most common type of infection in the body. You may have UTI if you notice pain or burning sensation when you use the bathroom, fever, tiredness or shakiness, an urge to use the bathroom often, pressure in your lower belly, urine that smells bad or looks cloudy or reddish or less commonly nausea or back pain. RISK FACTORS: UTI is most common in sexually active young women, in men with inflamed prostrate, pregnant women and in persons with anatomical obstruction or spinal cord injury. UTI is the most common bacterial infection in women, with more than half of all women suffering it. There is, at least one UTI in their lifetime. Bacteria called E.COLI. ( escherichia coli) is the most common cause of UTI. Other causes can be staphalococcus baceria or saprophyticus bacteria, among others. There are two types of UTI---simple uncomplicated and complicated Simple uncomplicated UTI: Symptoms are confined to the lower urinary tract (and can be painful urination, frequent urination, urgency to urinate, and pain around the pubic area. Similarly, the upper urinary tract infection can manifest as back pain, fever and some nausea, etc. COMPLICATED UTI are caused by: 1) Extremes in age ( pre-adolescent and post menopausal women). 2) Long history of kidney infectio. 3) Diabeties mellitus--uncontrolled. 4) HIV 5) Pregnancy 6) Recent use of instruments (including sexual toys, in-dwelling catheters, etc., and 7) History of childhood UTI RECURRENT UTI are relapses that occur after the successful treatment of an earlier episode (infection) commonly caused by re-infection that is most common in sexually active women after initial treatment. One of the most common causes is increased frequency of sexual activity, new sex partner, spermicidal use, and it represents a risk for the bacteria to climb up into the upper urinary tract (into the kidney) causing more complications and more difficult to treat.

PHOTO: Everythingessential.me

Nocturia (urinating at night) and persistence of symptoms between UTI episodes are some of the signs. It is also seen in women after reaching menopause. For the post menopausal women, those with urinary tract structure abnormalities and those that have developed resistance to antibiotics, treatment with tropical estrogen cream may reduce the incidence of recurrent UTI). There is no proven association between recurrent UTIs and pre or post sex urination, wiping patterns, douching, use of tight undergarments or delayed voiding habits. MEN: The occurrence of UTI is very low in men between the ages 15 to 50 years but it is more common in homosexuals. Similarly, UTI is common in men who have sex with infected women, and uncircumcised men. It can also be seen in those with chronic illnesses like diabetes mellitus, alcoholics and those that live in nursing homes on a long time basis (mostly due to inadequate care) . PREGNANCY: All pregnant women are required by law to have urine dipstick done at every prenatal visit and should be treated of any positive urinalysis showing bacterial infections with or without symptoms because of the complicating effects to the unborn child. Partners of such pregnant women should also be treated. Management: Non pharmacological therapies include increasing fluid intake, drinking cranberry juice, women should empty their bladder before and after sex, avoid contraceptive diaphragm, and cleaning the perineum wiping from front to back. There are first line simple antibiotics that can be taken in three to five days. It should also be noted that resistance of antibiotic grows when the treatment is not completed as prescribed. In some recurrent UTI cases, prophylactic uses of antibiotic daily at night and after sex have shown effectiveness in reducing the risk of recurrent UTI. Most non penicillin antibiotic has been known to be very effective in treating simple, complicated and recurrent UTIs.

UTI is the most common bacterial infection in women, with more than half of all women suffering it

HEALTH

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Vitamin C essential to fight cold, diseases SUPER DRUG Effectiveness of vitamin C is shown in its anti-oxidant potentials Oluwatosin Omoniyi itamin C, a well known and over the counter drug, was one of the earliest supplements commonly used by almost everyone, either for the treatment of allergy or ailments ranging from cancer to the common cold. Overtime, the drug became so common and even got abused that its potency declined probably by those who adulterated it. Here are new findings about the acceptable vitamin. Well, the real essence of vitamin C has been in wont as medical experts have urged Nigerians to go for it this rainy season. The call was made due to the increasing number of patients suffering from flu, cold and catarrh. At the St.Leo Medical Centre, Ikeja, Lagos, for instance, about 21 of the patients on queue waiting to see doctors were those with flu, cough and catarrh and or respiratory tract infection. Dr. Bayo, general medical practitioner at the hospital; as he is fondly called told New Telegraph Health that for past one month,” out of every five patients, three of them have flu.” He however advised patients to go on simple vitamin C as it is anti-oxidant that is very essential for people at this period. Dr. Obi Byron, another general medical practitioner at the hospital highlighted the essence of Vitamin C. It includes the removal of free radicals that could damage cells and cause aging. He said it helps the absorption of iron and folic acid in the production of red blood cells. It also helps the epithelium (lining of tissues in the body system) growth. He however suggested that vitamin C should be taken naturally in fruits and vegetables or as over-the-counter (OTC) drug. According to David Brownstein, top holistic medicine practitioners and longtime advocate of vitamin C therapy, “the supplement’s comeback is long overdue. “Along with exercise and a plant-based diet, vitamin C is one of the best things you can do for your heart," he said.

Doctors lost interest in vitamin C because they wanted to prescribe antibiotics to everyone," he said. "Now that the dangers of antibiotic overuse are becoming known, there should be more research on vitamin C to fight infection

Fresh fruits and vegetables are natural sources of vitamin C

Ugu, a local vegetable

He stated that other importance of vitamin C as a drug that: *Fights superbugs. Vitamin C kills antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis germs. *Cuts the risk of colds in half. Dr. Brownstein said a review of five randomised trials on people undergoing heavy short-term physical stress (such as long-distance runners and soldiers in training) found that taking vitamin C cuts the number of expected common colds in half. *It also reduces shortness of breath. Brownstein explained that the vitamin was found to help people who become short of breath or coughed during exercise. Findings in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) prompted the lead scientist in the study to recommend vitamin C as an

inexpensive and readily available supplement for people with lung issues or who have problems exercising because of breathing problems. *It lowers cholesterol. A series of studies, including one that analysed 13 randomised, placebo-control studies (the so-called "gold standard" of medical research), found that taking vitamin C regularly lowers LDL-cholesterol (the "bad" cholesterol) as well as triglycerides, which are now considered in some cases even more deadly than LDL-cholesterol. "Doctors lost interest in vitamin C because they wanted to prescribe antibiotics to everyone," he said. "Now that the dangers of antibiotic overuse are becoming known, there should be more research on vitamin C to fight infection,” he suggested. "Before antibiotics became popular, vitamin C was used to cure diseases like polio and pertussis (whooping cough), so there is no reason why it wouldn’t treat those diseases today, as well as the newer diseases." Dr. Brownstein stated that in the journey of his practice, he uses vitamin C to treat arthritis, asthma, allergies, constipation, infections, thyroid disease, subclinical scurvy, constipation, and other ailment. He recommends 3,000 to 5,000

milligrams of vitamin C daily for these diseases. Vitamin C also has potential in treating cancer, he said. He recommends 10,000 to 20,000 mg for cancer patients. Mega doses of vitamin C generally have no side effects other than diarrhea for some people, which goes away when the dose is decreased, according to Dr.Brownstein. Another proponent of vitamin C, top cardiologist, Chauncey Crandall, M.D., says it is an excellent weapon against heart disease. "Lots of people already take vitamin C to prevent colds, but it does more than that, it also helps protect the heart," he said. According to him, vitamin C aids the heart in three ways: First, it helps reduce concentrations of C-reactive protein in the blood. The body produces C-reactive protein during inflammation, which is increasingly being seen as a precursor for heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease. Second, vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant, which means it helps the body’s cells reduce the oxidation that occurs with metabolism. Oxidation creates free radicals, which can damage the heart’s coronary arteries, setting the stage for atherosclerosis, the disease process that causes coronary heart disease. Thirdly, vitamin C improves the overall functioning of the heart, in addition to its cholesterol-lowering power, Dr. Crandall said.

Lagos free reconstructive surgery boosts child development Shola Adefuwa Lagos Dr. Jide Idris said about 100 patients will benefit from the nine days he Lagos State Government in part- reconstructive surgery exercise. The nership with Rotary International congenital facial deformit leaves a gap District 9110 and American-based or split in either the upper lip or the roof NGO, Alliance for Smile has started of the mouth. free reconstructive surgery for people Idris disclosed that a cleft lip and/ with cleft lip and palate, a congenital fa- or palate deformity can lead to feeding, speech and hearing problems, ear infeccial deformity. Lagos State Commissioner for Health, tions, dental decay, jaw development prob-

L-R Permanent Secretary for Ministry of Health Dr. Modele Osunkiyesi; Commissioner for Health in Lagos State; Dr. Jide Idris; and Mission Director for Rotary International, Mrs. Barbara Fisher at the press conference on free cleft lip and palate reconstruction surgery held in Lagos

lems and psychosocial issues. The commissioner for health said, although the occurrence of this health condition in Africa is minimal compared to Asia and other parts of the world, when they do develop, “they cause a significant degree of limitation in a child’s development, physically and psychologically”. According to him, the Free Cleft Lip and Palate Reconstructive Surgery Programme which is one of the programmes of the Lagos State administration, is aimed at improving the health status of the citizens of the state. The corrective surgery for facial deformities is accessible to all, especially the disadvantaged of the society, he said. Consequently, the Lagos State Government has taken steps to address these and other health issues of its citizens in order to boost their health status and indirectly improve their productivity, and their economic wellbeing”, he said. Idris explained that most cleft problems can either be picked up at the routine 20 week scan or soon after birth, stressing that the cost of correcting these anomalies can be burdensome for the affected parents, as it involves not only surgical correction but rehabilitative therapy as well.

Lagos State Government is aware that the challenges of healthcare globally are becoming more challenging due to the increased incidence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and healthcare issues related with aging, obesity and the growing population size as well as the increased cost of healthcare spending, he said. The State is committed to improving the health status of its citizens by ensuring access to affordable, qualitative services and ensuring best practices. According to the Mission Director of Rotary International, Barbara Fisher, this program is to reduce the cleft lip and palate to zero percent.

The corrective surgery for facial deformities is accessible to all especially the disadvantaged in the society

24 HEALTH CHILD PROTECTION Children face huge risks when parents and guardians negate their protective duty Shola Adefuwa

hild Protection Solutions (CPS), a non government organisation, has urged governments at all levels and parents to pay more attention to the security of children in the country. Also, CPS has urged government at all levels to create legal and social framework to protect children.

study, in the "British Medical Journal", showed a sudden fall in antidepressant prescriptions and a rise in suicide attempts after media reports of the connection. The team at Harvard Medical School said the unintended effect was "disturbing". Experts said similar changes had been seen in other countries. In 2003, there were concerns about an increased suicide risk from some antidepressants. It led to the United States (U.S) Food and Drug Administration changing the medicine warnings and widespread media reports. However, there was concern that the reports were exaggerated and missed out the benefits of antide-

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Pay more attention to children's security, experts tell government, parents The founder of CPS, Mr. Taiwo Akinlami made these calls at a programme organised by Child to Child Network, to create awareness on child protection. Akinlami said, “You know the state of our country today. There is gross insecurity and there is a lot of crises out there. “Children are no longer save. Some of them are being kidnapped. Some are being rapped and we know that it is not enough for us to mourn the situation and cry.

“Rather, we should do something meaningful to move forward in defense of our children and that is the essence of the programme. According to Akinlami, if Nigerians gather in twenties, in fifties, in sixties and discuss this issue, this nation will move forward. He said, “It is just drops of water that become a big ocean that causes a flood, it does not happen by just a drop but a drop here and a drop there will

Anti-depressant suicide warnings ‘may have backfired' pressants. The study, which followed 2.5 million teenagers and young adults between 2000 and 2010, showed an immediate impact of the warnings. Prescriptions fell by a third in teenagers and by a quarter in young adults. The number of suicide attempts increased by 22 percent in teenagers and 34 percent in young adults. Overall it led to an additional 77 attempts, the researchers estimated. The report concluded: "It is disturbing that after the health advisories, warnings and media reports about the relation between antidepressant use and

suicidality in young people, we found substantial reductions in antidepressant treatment and simultaneous, small but meaningful increases in suicide attempts." One of the researchers, Prof Stephen Soumerai, said: "This is an extraordinarily difficult public health problem, and if we don't get it right, it can backfire in serious ways.”These drugs can save lives. The media concentrated more on the relatively small risk than on the significant upside." Prof Keith Hawton, the director of the centre for suicide research at the University of Oxford in the UK, said: "The

Gum disease is the largest cause of tooth loss in Nigerian adults, says UK dentist

UK-based Dentist, Dr. Uchenna Okoye has said gum disease is one of the largest causes of tooth loss in adults in the country. She made the disclosure at the 2014 Nigerian Dental Association’s (NDA) annual conference held recently in Lagos during the launch of Oral-B’s Premium Gum protection line. Dr. Okoye, who is a cosmetic dental surgeon with London Smiling Dental Clinic in the United Kingdom (UK), and also a member of American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry and British Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, has over 20 years of professional practice. While delivering her papers at the NDA conference, she identified various causes of bad oral hygiene to be, among other

cause a flood and the flood.” Blaming insecurity of children on parents, Akinlami said, most parents not all parents have lost their bearing when it comes to child protection. “They do not understand what their responsibilities are. So, it is important that we teach them and encourage them,” he said. Furthermore, Akinlami urged the three tiers of government to empower parents because within them lie rooms

of protection for the family. “That’s number one. We have the community and we have the state, as well as the international community.” According to a child writer, Oyinkansola Oyelabi lamented that although, children are innocent but exposed to so many dangers. "We, the children deserve a future of certainty and not that of fear, terror and intimidation. Don’t put in danger into the future of the child. You were left to grow into adults. Please, leave us to grow." She noted that flowers blossom when it is not cut off from its source of life but when cut off from its source of life, it withers.

things, low quality toothpastes. “Over the years in my practice as a Dentist, I have come to realise that gum disease is one of the largest causes of tooth loss in adults as one in every two adults have suffered from one form of gum disease or the other. They can develop when plaque bacteria accumulate and release toxic substances leading to bad breath; leading to increased sensitivity and even increasing the likelihood of getting cavities. And if you consume toothpastes without Stannous Complex, which fundamentally should help fight against gum disease, you are exposing yourself to great oral discomfort,” Dr. Okoye stressed. She, nonetheless, referenced the new Oral-B Pro-Expert toothpaste – an extension of the Oral-B toothpaste - as having 70 percent

increase in Stannous Complex content. Speaking further on the new Oral-B Pro-Expert brand, Ayotomiwa Ajewole, the Brand Communications Manager for Oral-B, said, “Stannous complex in Oral B is clinically proven to prevent tooth sensitivity, provide protection from tooth holes, limit bacterial build up, prevent tartar build up and reduce gum problems. It also whitens the teeth and aids fresh breath.” The Pro-Flex toothbrush, Ajewole stated, is the most advanced technology toothbrush from the stable of Procter & Gamble in Nigeria. It has specially designed angles scientifically proven to effectively get rid of plaque causing bacteria; it has been proven to significantly reduce plaque along the gum line.

L-R: Former Super Eagles team member, Mutiu Adepoju; Dr. Safeguard, Dr. Nkechi Olalere; P&G Communications Manager, Tomiwa Ajewole; and Former Super Eagles goal keeper, Peter Rufai at the Safeguard Family Funfair event which held in Lagos

results of this study are important. "Such findings illustrate the powerful impact that such announcements can have on clinician behaviour. "Until now there has not been convincing evidence that such changes in

A patient taking a drug

practice have affected suicidal behaviour. "The U.S study suggests that this may have happened, although fortunately without evidence of an increase in actual suicides."

PHOTO: BBC

Firm decries rising cases of counterfeit drugs

n commemoration of the World Anti Drug counterfeiting day, Sanofi pharmaceuticals has described the rise in product counterfeiting across the globe as alarming and lamented that medicines for treating chronic and serious diseases such as cardiovascular diseases or cancer are now being counterfeited. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 10 to 15 percent of the global drug supply is fake, adding that the figure is higher in Africa where fake medicines may account for up to 30 percent of medicines in circulation. In a statement issued in Lagos on Tuesday, Sanofi Nigeria’s Anti-counterfeit Coordinator, Mrs. Uzo Amatokwu, noted that awareness about the prevalence of fake drugs was still low, adding that it will take concerted efforts of medicine manufacturers, governments and stakeholders to fight and win the counterfeit drugs battle. “The general public is not sufficiently informed about the existence of counterfeit drugs and the risks it may be taking in certain purchasing situations. Counterfeit medicines are a real danger to patients’ health. For example, they may not contain the same amount of active ingredient as the genuine drug or not meet the same requirements in terms of quality, efficiency and safety as the genuine treatments. It takes collaboration to really

fight the counterfeit battle.” Amatokwu stated. Continuing, she added that “patients run a number of risks. Besides the presence of toxic substances, these medicines can be inactive and cause major adverse effects and complications for patients.” It will be recalled that a Pharmaceutical Security Institute “2011 situation report” revealed that medicines were the leading counterfeit products seized by European customs, ahead of counterfeit cigarettes. As part of its efforts to stamp out counterfeit drugs and in accordance with the directive by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) in 2012 to all Market Authorisation Holders, Sanofi Nigeria implemented the Mobile Authentication Service (MAS) an anti-counterfeit tool deployed with high-security labels to help both the patients and distributors ensure product authenticity verification for its antibiotics or antimalarials products. Amatokwu further revealed that Sanofi recently signed a partnership with Interpol together with 29 major pharmaceutical companies at a total cost of 4.5 million euros, which covers the creation of the Interpol Pharmaceutical Crime Program focusing on fighting counterfeit medicines and combines training with targeted enforcement actions.

LAW THURSDAY, JUNE 26, 2014

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Fagbohungbe, Oyebode, others back delegates on scrapping of First Lady’s office Should the office of the First Lady be scrapped as being proposed by the delegates at the ongoing national conference? Lawyers say yes. Joseph Onyekwere and Appolos Christian report

otwithstanding its subtle role in the nation’s socioeconomic development, lawyers have described the office of First Lady as a mere conduit pipe for corrupt practices by the occupiers. This, they said must be abolished or prohibited if the war on corruption must be won. Besides, they said since it was not recognised by the Constitution, keeping it amounts to corruption personification. Apparently unanimous, the lawyers, who are Senior Advocates of Nigeria, insisted that since the office of the First Lady had constituted a drain on the nation’s resources; an embodiment of corruption; needless and unproductive, allowing it to flourish ‘is an embarrassment to Nigerians’. Although they agreed that the privileges being enjoy by the occupiers were not limited to Nigeria, their complimentary role had no legal backing, hence, the office was needless as it was nothing but an avenue for corruption. It must be prohibited, they enthused. Their position came a few days after delegates at the national conference proposed that the office which had no legal backing must be scrapped. The delegates had last week pushed for the prohibition of office of the First Lady since it enjoys no constitutional backings. For instance, Chief Felix Fagbohungbe, a Senior Advocate, simply said the ‘office is not good for our society”. He went on: “It drains our resources. It's needless and unproductive. It is an office that has embarrassed Nigerians and therefore, should be totally scrapped if it exists at all. Even though it is not constitutionally recognized, it should be abolished. For me, it is a waste of resources because the office always embarrasses Nigerians both at home and abroad. It does not add any value to governance. Because there is no law establishing it, the abolition can only be a policy decision. Such policy decision would discourage it”. He was echoed by a law teacher and Professor of In-

Oyebode

ternational law and jurisprudence, Akin Oyebode, who said though First Ladies across the world enjoy some privileges, they deserve no recognition as being accorded in the country. He said: “The office of the First Lady is not unique to Nigeria. In most countries of the world, the First Ladies enjoy such privileges whether legally or by convention. The spouse of a head of state seems to have a complimentary role to her husband and vice versa. You remember when Margaret Thatcher was the Prime Minister, although she was not head of state, the husband though maintained low profile, he worked behind his wife. What I am saying is that the office of the First Lady enjoys no recognition in the constitution. “But what we have seen in Nigeria is an exponential increase in the profile of the First Lady so much that the office of the First Lady seems to be overreacting and seems to reduce as a subsidiary of the office of the president. That is the peculiar Nigerian situation where we find First Ladies trying to overshadow their spouses - talk of Maryam Babangida, Maryam Abacha and now Patience Jonathan, who issues statements after her husband has spoken. I don't understand that. “Generally speaking, the spouse of a head of state should be seen and not heard. But Nigerian situation is not the case. I think they suffer from panic and want to blow their role out of proportion. Remember that the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi SAN, went to court to challenge Maryam Babangida that the First Lady’s office was unknown to law. Right now,

Fagbohungbe

the First Lady perhaps has coat of arms and office of the First Lady which is unknown to law. Nigerians have kept quiet over the years. By and large I think we have to reconsider what should be the role of the spouse of the president. But as long as I know, it has no recognition in the constitution. I don't think it is necessary to recognize the office of the First Lady in the constitution. That would be carrying a good joke too far. When the wife of a head of state wants to act, she should act in such a way that would not put the office of her husband in abeyance. She might take care of young people in terms of encouraging them, She should not be seen as a counter-voice to the office of the president. As I said, the office of the First Lady is really honorific. She should not really go beyond or step out of bounds in order not to compromise or jeopardize the office of the president. It is not good to be embedded in the constitution in my views. It is against international best practices”. Another Senior Advocate, Chief Awa Kalu, said “as far as I am concerned, you cannot scrap the office of the First Lady because the office does not exist either constitutionally or legally. It is simply a political

The allegation of budgetary allocations to the office is the thing that Nigerians should fight. You cannot fight the office

Kalu

contraption and so you can't scrap it. He said: “The allegation of budgetary allocations to the office is the thing that Nigerians should fight. You cannot fight the office. If people are making allocation to an office that does not exist, people should fight the allocation, not the office because there is no such office. Anybody who is the wife of the president is a First Lady, but whether there is an office of the First Lady is a different kettle of fish. In the United States they have the First Lady; they have in England too. But they are simply there as a social reality. So, they should carry out their responsibilities in that context, not to get an office. Even in the White House, the First Lady has an office, but there is no budgetary allocation to that office. It's an NGO! Albert Akpomudje SAN, said “why should the office of the First Lady exist? Akpomudje said: “The national conference is only speaking the minds of ordinary Nigerians. First Ladies carry it too high to the extent that it begins to look as if it is an arm of the government. Of course, Nigerians being very cowardly begin to absolve the First Lady. “For example, the role that the First Lady played in the issue of the abduction of Chibok girls; she set up herself as the chairman of the panel of inquiry and was cross-examining everyone, giving Nigerians the impression that such a thing didn't happen; that it was framed up. For the First Lady to gather people and be doing such a thing was really embarrassing. If not the way she looks at herself as an arm of

the of government, she would not try it. So, it's being misused by the First Ladies. Some use it as an NGO to siphon money. So, I'm in total support that it should be scrapped, though the office is not known to law, it exists. So, it's either we recognize it or we don't allow the office to operate. They have conference office in that Aso Rock and gradually they receive allocations and nobody will know. The money of this country that goes into all kinds of stupid things is too much. People are suffering on the road, they won't go and pick them up, but when they want to show their ego; they will say these people - I give you this and that. So if it doesn't exist at all, it won't be given the prominence it is having now. I'm perfectly in support of the scrapping. In his view, Adetunji Fadairo, a Senior Advocates said “ there is no such office in the constitution, it is an illegal office. It is a name given to the wife of the president or governors, but any budget given to it is illegal. It is not a constitutional office, so if it receives allocation, it is wrong. He continued: “So, there is nothing to be abolished. I think what they should do is that the lawmakers should make sure that they prepare the budget in such a way that gives nothing for the office of the First Lady. There is no such office, so there should be no budget for such office. That is the way I see it. A former Dean , Faculty of Law University of Benin, Prof Itsay Sagay, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said CO NTINUED O N PAGE23

26 LAW Lagos State Government has said that it is now faster to get a Certificate of Occupancy. As a practitioner in the area of property law, how fast is the process and what are the procedures? The law remains the same largely. It is administrative procedure that has been adjusted to make it less rigorous. The first thing is once you get a piece of land, you get a survey plan, go to the land division to chat to see if it is within the government acquisition or not. After clearing with that you get your deed of assignment. Then you get your own survey in your own name. There is a new survey regime in Lagos State now. They don't take old survey plan again. It has to conform to the new survey plan. So, once you get that survey plan with your documents, you go to the land registry. They will give you a list of charges to pay to government such as stamp duty, capital development levy and facilitation fee. Once you pay everything and submit them there, and follow it effectively and conscientiously, you might get it within six months. But you just need to be up and doing to ensure that you get it out. Some people who pay quickly get it within four months. Are those charges in your own opinion really justified? You pay your capital development levy and nothing is being done. It is a rip-off. You get to some places even within Lekki scheme 1, the roads are not well paved. You get to some government estates, the roads are over used and have become bedeviled with potholes and floods. So, you now look at it as the mindlessness of those in authority. It makes you look at them as people who collect money for capital development levy and you don't put anything on ground, yet you keep harassing people. It is not right; something has to be done about it. How do we relate it with the power vested on the various state governors by the Land Use Act as the custodians of lands in their jurisdictions? It is the state governments so to speak that all the lands in the land are vested with. The Land Use Act did not come to abrogate the rights of the original owners; rather it makes them deemed guarantees. Where the government needs any piece of land for over-riding public interest, it must serve a notice of intention to acquire and ask the original owners to come up with their claims. Then, it would be looked at by the experts and certain amounts of money would be paid for that in-exhausted development before the notice of acquisition will come out, acquiring that property. But no state government has done that! Not in recent times! In the North they use to do that, but not in the South West here. Here, they would have knocked down your building for purposes of road construction; expose you to the vagaries of weather and then ask you to start queuing up; to come and process your claims with the government. During the course of doing that, some people died - some people who have no place to go because they have retired and had built the house many years ago or inherited it from their parents. Because of the frustration that the government subject them

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Lawyer faults Fashola on capital development levy Kayode Bankole plies his law trade in Lagos. Bankole, an expert in property law, speaks on demolition of private properties in the Centre of Excellence, Land Use Act, national conference, corruption in judiciary, speedy dispensation of justice, among others. JOSEPH ONYEKWERE met him.

Bankole

to, they die and the government eventually will not pay any claim. That is not the intention of the Land Use Act. It is being observed more in the breach by the state governments. So how do we overcome that challenge? The first thing is that those in government should know that they are put there by God and this God is a God of Justice. Any injustice they meted out to the people would someday be meted out to them whether they like it or not. It is the law of Karma. Even the scripture recognises that: whatever you want people to do to you, do likewise unto them. If you acquire people's property just because you want to score political point and you now start constructing double carriage way on it and you did not pay compensation for it; be sure that what goes round will come round to you too one day. Two: the judiciary is not helping matters. When you even rush to the court for an injunction when your house is marked for demolition, most courts would not grant that injunction because of the reason of corruption; either they are expecting something or they have a personal application before the governor or that in future they will need the patronage of the state government,

therefore litigants who come before them suffer. And the judges too should know that some will do it to them and if they don't do it to them, they will do it to their children. I was in Ogbomoso last week and saw state government breaking thousands of houses, thereby exposing these people to the vagaries of weather and still refuse to pay compensation for these people to even move elsewhere. Some of them rushed to court, as I am speaking with you now, the courts have not listed their matters for hearing. Some of the victims who are elderly are dying. The third issue is that citizens must learn to insist on their legal rights. It is by insisting on your legal rights that you get Justice in Nigeria. If the state courts that have jurisdiction over the matter do not dispense Justice, when you get to the Court of Appeal, you will

You pay your capital development levy and nothing is being done. It is a rip-off. You get to some places even within Lekki scheme 1, the roads are not well paved.

get justice there. A poor man, retired, old and whose property has been demolished, how does he get the money to sponsor the case? So, you see a whole system that is bedeviled with injustice, callousness and corruption. Therefore, people do not believe in the judicial system again. What of the slow pace of Justice delivery system in the country? That is also part of it. What then do you think should be done to fast track the process? The only thing that needs to be done is by getting the right people into the Bench. Some judges who know the law are not afraid to dispense Justice. But when you see a judge who always grants adjournment at every excuse, you know that such a judge is not grounded in his law or he has been compromised. It is either he is not well grounded in law or has been compromised. But it could be a case management problem such that he might not be abreast with the attitude of giving a Bench ruling in certain mattersâ&#x20AC;Ś It is still point to the fact that he does not know his law. If you are grounded in your law, within fifteen minutes, you get a Bench ruling if you are before a well-grounded judge. When the judge doesn't know the position

of the law or has been compromised, he will grant you four to five weeks adjournment and when you get there, he tells you your ruling is not ready. When you get there again, he tells you your ruling is not ready. At times, rulings stay in courts for eight months. But if a judge is well grounded as to what the position of law is, you can't play pranks on them. So, what I am telling you is that if the right people are called to the Bench, then there will be a systematic fast track of judicial process. But if the wrong persons are there, the way some of them found themselves to the Bench, there is no law that you can put in place. So, what mechanisms should be put in place to ensure that the right people are there? I want to believe that now that the national conference is on and the Constitution is being amended, there should be a provision in the Constitution for the selection of judges, wherein the number of cases that you have handled as a lawyer would determine whether you should be called to the Bench. And these do not mean interlocutory applications. It must be trials conducted, possibly up to the Court of Appeal. And of course, the issue of your conduct - whether you are the right kind of person to be appointed into the Bench! There must be security checks. So, the NBA should have an input because lawyers know themselves. I believe when you do these, the system will become faster with or without the case management rules that we put there. Even with the case management system, cases still linger up to five years in courts. What is the role of Information Communications Technology (ICT) in the search for speedy dispensation of Justice? There is what is called garbage in, garbage out. The ICT will not run on its own. The human element is what will run the ICT, so if the human element is not right, the ICT will not work. Beautifully, the world is going digital, but the quality of persons that should be called to the Bench matters most. In the past, there were no ICT or computers, yet you see Supreme Court judgments very brief, concise and straightforward. In the 60's, it was so. You read them in All Nigeria Law report, maybe two or three pages in those days. But now you see a very lengthy decision just in simple interlocutory application. A judge will write fifty pages in such decisions! If you know your law, you cite three or four of the recent authorities and do your judgment. Go and look at some of the old reports and you will be impressed. So, for you, the Bench has lost its steam? The Bench is part of the problem. What about lawyers, where do they come in? In a judicial system, the Bench is the most important factor. If the Bench is upright, an indolent lawyer will find

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Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Awa Kalu, others push for prohibition of First Lady’s office CO N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 2 1

Bankole

You get to some government estates, the roads are over used and have become bedeviled with potholes and floods himself out of the court system, he will refuse to go to court because he knows that the judge will not take nonsense from him. Fifty per cent of the uprightness of the judiciary lies with the Bench. There are some judges here in Lagos that some lawyers will not like to appear before them because they know that they know their onions. And if you are going, you have to go through your file at least three times so that you quickly answer any question raised. For instance, I don't see how you will go to the Court of Appeal and will not prepare very well. There are three judges there. That is not the place you can go unprepared, ditto to the Supreme Court and you know that before you can go there, you must have proved your work at the High Court they know that you know your law very well and your judgments have stood the test of appeals before you get there. So, when you get to the Court of Appeal, you see that all the lawyers are on their toes even when it is not their own case that is going on, they still listen with attention because they want to know if they have made a mistake so they can quickly rectify it by seeking for an adjournment. There is no waste of time there. A committee of the national conference has recommended that we have a special court to try corruption cases. What are your views about this? What is the definition of corruption? The word corruption is so wide - anything not done right deliberately qualifies as corruption. So, the whole legal system is about tackling corrupt. Maybe the proponents of the idea are looking at official corruption? We are just running after shadows and leave the substance. Where the shadow of the tree is bent, you don't strengthen that shadow, you strengthen the tree itself and then, the shadow itself would be strengthened. Who are the people

dispensing Justice? Are most of them not corrupt? If they are upright, there is no reason why a corruption case needs to last more than three to four months. But because corruption is endemic, the case of corruption will last so long. Two: we don't have enough personnel on the Bench. We heard that Lagos state has a population that is close to 20 million. How many courts do we have in Lagos state? Are they up to 150? With a population of about 20 million, what is wrong in having 500 judges? You now see a judge on a Monday morning treating about 40 cases; just one human being! How will corruption not creep in; how will tardiness not creep in? Even if you give him the best computer that he can get! So, we have a few numbers of judges in our state High Courts. What of the appellate court? If you are fortunate you have three months adjournment as a Senior Advocate. At the Supreme Court, if you file a case in May 2014, you will be fortunate if it comes up for hearing in December 2014. So, what I am saying is that we need to create more courts and appoint more judges. Two, decentralize the appellate court; let the states have their own Court of Appeal. The panels of the Supreme Court too should be increased to about ten and should be made to sit either in the regions or zones. Why do I have to go to Abuja to get final judgment in a case that happens in Badagry? Do you think the farmer there in Badagry will be able to sponsor both himself and his lawyer there to Abuja? Increase the panel of the Supreme Court to about ten or twelve and then distribute them among the zones of the country such that the ones for South west might sit in Lagos or Ibadan. It is a shorter distance. The one in Maiduguri might sit somewhere in Gombe. The one in Sokoto might sit somewhere in Kano while the one in South East might sit in Enugu and South South sit in Calabar or Benin. So you bring Justice closer to the people. Justice is too expensive in this country. When you do this thing, you will discover that you are knocking corruption right at its heart. Get the right kind of people to the Bench, let the court be available and decentralize the court system and see that the issue of corruption in the system will reduce drastically.

“there is no such office in law but the First Ladies tend to have never relented in creating such an institution. It is an informal institution. He went on: “If the office is not in law, how would it be scrapped? I think it is definitely uncalled for and unnecessary. It is irrelevant. The fact that some wives of presidents parade themselves and give themselves functions and so on is a function of underdevelopment. As we get more developed and the political culture gets more sophisticated and more civilized, you will find out that everything will take its shape. The future so called First Ladies would be more restrained, more self-respectful, quiet and they would contribute to development. In their positions, they can do good also, but not in terms of promoting themselves, exercising powers, being arrogant and powerful. They won't do that. That is part of underdevelopment. We are going to have more refined First Ladies in future as our political culture develops and they are going to be an asset. So let us leave it. We will gradually become more civilized and they would put off some of those things we are criticizing now. Olu Daramola, SAN, said “in the eye of the law, there is no First Lady office. Since the office is unknown to the law there may be no need to scrap the office. The wasteful venture was created by General Babangida whose wife squandered a lot of resources on the so called Better Life for Rural Women which turned out to be a jamboree to massage her huge ego. Nothing positive came out of the venture but succeeding governments since then have been using the office to create wealth for their wives. The new constitution must discourage the use of public resources by the wives of elected officials for personal aggrandizement. Chief Bolaji Ayorinde SAN, said “there is no office of the first lady under any law. Ordinarily the funds allocated to the government house should be sufficient to support any social activities of wife of the Governor or the President including her security. Paul Annaba SAN said, “was such thing as First lady’s office in any time in the constitution? That position never existed in the first place, so how can anyone talk about scrapping what does not exist? In fact what should be said in the first place is to prohibit and not to scrap.

The office should not exist or be created, but government can continue to encourage first ladies at the various levels of government to enable them continue supporting their husbands and spouses as the case may be in discharging their responsibilities to Nigerians “I quarrel with the word scrap because we only elect president and governors and not first ladies. But that does not mean their wives should not support their husband in the work they are doing or a man supporting the wife… and it should be a supplementary role and not in the level it has been carried presently in the country. “When we talk about public service, we begin to have all manner of officers in the office of first ladies… it is very wrong. Chief Gani Fawehinmi of blessed memory went to court over that issue at a point. I don’t support the office of first lady being elevated as if it is constitutional. “But also, I don’t support prohibiting women from supporting their husbands in supplementary capacity for the course of good governance. Joseph Nwobike SAN said: “Personally, I don’t think there is a need to have an office of the first lady in any capacity at all because first lady is not a public office holder but a wife to a public office holder. So, she can continue to perform that role and also carry out some social services as she may deem fit to. “I am strongly in support of the opinion against elevating the office as though it is constitutional. “However, it is also of a truth that these first ladies have immensely contributed to the development of the sociopolitical fortunes of Nigerians particularly among the women and children, so we should not forget that. “However, the office should not exist or be created, but government can continue to encourage first ladies at the various levels of government to enable them continue supporting their husbands and spouses as the case may be in discharging their responsibilities to Nigerians”.

Mr. Augustine Alegeh SAN receving his award from Justice Okeanya-Ine at the NBA Benin Law Week

28 JURIST

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Why Midwest Bar must produce NBA President, says Alegeh He is the chairman Database Committee of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) and member NBA National Executive Committee. Augustine Oyarekhua Alegeh, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, tells Judiciary Editor, FOLUSO OGUNMODEDE his ambition to become the 24th President of the lawyers’ umbrella body come July 14. date to lead the Bar at this time is evident from a close review of the programmes contained in my manifesto. The programmes I have put forward are contemporary. They deal with the present challenges of lawyers. They don’t address the problems like politicians with promises and grandiose ideas. We have come forward with specific details and specific programmes and we have set out on how to achieve these programmes. We have taken on the welfare of lawyers and I believe that definitely a lot has to be done about the welfare of lawyers. When we take care of the welfare of our lawyers then each member will fulfill their obligations to the association as they will have a sense of belonging in the association. Each member will then be a human rights defender and rule of law proponent in their respective communities. This would ensure the observance of the rule of law at all levels in our country. This must be of paramount importance to the association. I have put forward different programs. Firstly, from our Bar Practicing Fees, I propose to institute an insurance policy for lawyers. The policy would be flexible to meet the beliefs and needs of our lawyers. It would be a choice based policy where each member would be able to opt for the policy that meets his peculiar expectations. If we h a v e 60,000 lawyers paying practicing

Alegeh, SAN

You are one of the candidates running for the NBA presidency, why do you want to lead the Bar? I mean, why do you think you should be the one that lawyers should elect as their president? Firstly, I take it to be a positive development that more lawyers are taking interest in the affairs of the Bar, with over 120,000 lawyers enrolled at the Bar. If more lawyers take interest in the affairs of the Bar, then we’ll have better association at the end of the day. This is because as we get more people, the quality of those involved in running the association will improve. On your question specifically, as they say in law, the briefs have been filed. All the manifestoes of the candidates are in. The reason why I am the best candi-

fees and we take N500 from each lawyer to have a group insurance policy, it would amount to N30m yearly premium available for payment to insurance companies. If we increase the figure a little bit more, to maybe N1, 000, it would translate to N60m or if we take 5% of every lawyer’s practicing fees, you can imagine what it would amount to. I give the various scenarios because I do not see the President of the NBA as a maximum ruler who sits down and decrees what he wants. If elected, I intend to sit down with the National Officers, National Executive Committee, branch chairmen and with colleagues who are in insurance business to come up with a workable and acceptable plan to de-

termine the premium that would be available for the insurance scheme. You’ll also see in my campaign that I said I am going to involve all the 109 branch chairmen and our Bar leaders in both policy formulation and policy implementation. Currently, lawyers pay between N5, 000 and N50, 000. If on the average we take N25, 000 as our base and decide to use 5% (N1,250) of that as our insurance premium, it would amount to about N37.5m if only 30,000 lawyers pay BPF. If we have a group insurance policy with a yearly premium of N37.5m, increasing to maybe N50m, I am sure that we’ll be able to get the best insurance policies available for lawyers. This is something that lawyers should not pay extra for. All we need is to deduct the agreed percentage from the Bar practicing fees paid by each lawyer to fund the insurance premium payment. This will also have additional benefits for the association itself as it would encourage more lawyers to pay their BPF yearly. The increase in the number of lawyers paying BPF would increase and enhance the revenue base of the association. This is because lawyers who may presently not be paying BPF would see a need to pay up in view of the added benefit of a flexible insurance policy. As the number of those paying increases, the percentage deducted from practicing fees for the insurance may even be reduced. This is something that is within our reach. As Bar Practicing Fees are paid as at March 31, we’ll know how much we are getting and we’ll know how much we’ll expend on the insurance policy that will cover our members. I am the only candidate in this election who has put forward clear identifiable practical proposals. I propose to increase the share of branches from Bar practicing fees from the present 10 per cent to 20 per cent. It is a constitutional matter and I intend to seek an amendment to the NBA Constitution to achieve this proposal. The proposal would also have a tied on proposal to allow remittance of BPF share to branches by direct debit via a standing order from the BPF account. This would ensure that the branches get their share timeously and would relieve the National Secretariat of the burden of calculating, computing and remitting the share to branches through the existing cumbersome process. I intend to seek constitutional amendment to enable us have electronic voting at our NBA national elections with the hope that same will eventually apply to NBA branches. The concept of travelling to the Delegates Conference to vote in July when you will also need to travel for AGC in August is burdensome. Given the security challenges in the country, we should avoid doing things that will make us gather in large numbers. I don’t think we should expose ourselves to security hazards unnecessarily. We need to be security conscious. Moreover, we cannot be an association in a digital age and cannot take advantage of digital solutions at our fingertips. Electronic voting is at our fingertips and we can no longer avoid it. If you understand the cost of elections to the NBA, you will realise that we can no longer do without electronic voting. Let’s assume that the National Secretariat will provide accommodation for three delegates per branch. 109 branches multiply by three, will give you 327 rooms for two nights. If we estimate the average cost of a hotel room in Abuja to be N15, 000, it will cost about N9.8m on accommodation alone. These same people can in the comfort of their homes vote electronically. If you don’t like that, they can go to the Bar Centre, or at their Bar meeting they log on to a laptop and vote. Each delegate of the branch can vote in the branch as the branch can set up laptops and do secret balloting in the branch instead of travelling to vote. That would save the cost of accommodation for the association. Let’s talk about transportation of 327 people traveling to Abuja on an average of N40, 000. Lawyers will have to come from Sokoto, Badagry, Maiduguri and all over the country and some will have to risk driving through Boko Haram infested areas to come and vote. The cost of transportation alone would be in the region

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Thursday, June 26, 2014

I am the only candidate in this election who has put forward clear identifiable practical proposals. I propose to increase the share of branches from Bar practicing fees from the present 10 per cent to 20 per cent of N13m and this is money we can save. This money that we can plough back into continuing legal education, money we can plough back into annual general conference. So, if we make all these savings, my definite promise is to have reduced affordable conference fees. Everything ties to each other. I want to make this point that service to an association must be selfless service, but that service must also come with clear cut ideas that will bring positive change. I have read all the manifestoes and I challenge you to read all of them. You will be satisfied that the only clear cut ideas are those that I offer and I have clear ideas of how to implement them. How would accomplish all these laudable things you have promised to do within a two-year tenure? I mean, how do you intend to achieve all these within such a short time? I believe that the tenure of two years is long enough. I have three programmes; I don’t have 10, 12 or 16. Just three and all my programmes are mind based programmes- Refocus, Reform and Reinvigorate. Let’s all understand that our welfare is of primary importance to us. Once you develop an idea and it sinks into people, you don’t need 100 years in office. A lot of people have been asking ‘why have we not had this insurance policy in place? We had it some years ago, what happened? We need to understand that even if you want four or seven years, it still won’t be enough if you don’t know how to go about it. Personally, I believe that tenure of one year is enough to make landmark changes in the NBA, refocus on the welfare of members, reform the secretariat, reinvigorate the entire Bar as the voice of the people. These are things you can achieve in six months. When I was challenged to create a database for the NBA, a programme that had been tried by several administrations and failed, in 60 days I had it up and running! On the insurance policy for instance, I propose open architecture, where a lawyer can come and say ‘I want retirement benefits.’ Another lawyer can come in and say ‘I want an accident policy.’ The insurance company can say ‘we can give you a crossbreed, but you will get a little from each. If you want to put all your eggs in one basket, it’s your choice.’ There are different packages. Once you pay your practicing fees, your name is given to the insurance company as a beneficiary of the scheme. It’s automatic and very simple. I have another programme for example. I would propose that NBA would work with Chief Judges of the High Courts and other Heads of courts to make certain changes in our rules. For instance a practice direction stipulating that only affidavits prepared by lawyers should be allowed for filing, would go a long way to eradicate false depositions and also provide an additional revenue source for lawyers. An affidavit is a creation of the Evidence Act and it should be a deposition of truth. But today, if you depose to an affidavit for instance that ‘I Mr. X is the Chief Judge of Lagos State,’ take it to any High Court in Lagos State and file that affidavit, it will be accepted for filing. But are you the Chief Judge of Lagos State? All they

Alegeh, SAN

do is ask ‘how much have you paid?’ they stamp it and they give it back to you. But you see that is not the aim of an affidavit. An affidavit ought to be a statement of truth. When we insist that ‘each affidavit must be prepared by a lawyer” all the false depositions in affidavits will stop. Will a lawyer prepare such an affidavit, sign and put his stamp and seal? If you go to the Federal High Court today and file an affidavit, you must affix a passport photograph. But that is not the requirement of the Evidence Act. It was brought about by a simple Practice Direction of the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court. I intend if I am elected and sworn in, to have a meeting with all branch chairmen. We’ll come up with a menu of requests to the CJs and the chairmen will then go to the CJs in their respective states to implement these things. If a CJ agrees, practice directions can be done in one month. I don’t have to travel to every branch to implement this. Why do I have to travel to every branch? The chairmen in these states represent the NBA. They are the ones that will meet their state CJs. The issue on whether a term of two years will be more than enough happens because one man wants to do everything. Our campaign slogan is ‘Together We Can’. This is why I say my programmes are easily achievable. We have a Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces; does he need to carry a gun and start shooting every bullet by himself ? No, he has frontline generals. In the NBA, the frontline generals are the branch chairmen. That is why I need to get them involved. A branch chairman who does

When I was challenged to create a database for the NBA, a programme that had been tried by several administrations and failed, in 60 days I had it up and running!

ALLEGEH AT A GLANCE • He is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria • Ex-chairman Database Committee of the NBA, 2010-2012 • Ex-chairman NBA Database Committee, 2012-2014 • Ex-alternate chairman Technical Committee on Conference Planning 2012 • Chairman, NBA Election Petition Review Workshop • Ex-Member NBA National Executive Committee, 2010-2012 • Member NBA National Executive Committee, 2012-2014 • Member NBA House Fund Raising Committee not believe in a policy will find it difficult to work with him. The best way is to sit down and brainstorm with them so they understand the formulation of the policy and are thereby properly equipped to implement same. How do you declare a state of emergency on legal education as contained in your manifesto? Since I was called to the Bar 27 years ago, I heard that standards are falling. Each year standards keep falling. I don’t like complaining, I believe in practical solutions. I asked myself, we have members in the Council of legal Education and we must give them an NBA position for them to push for implementation at the Council. I intend to declare a state of emergency and I intend to involve those in academia, those who have a stake in legal education and we’ll sit down together and examine all the issues in legal education. Beyond declaring a state of emergency, I also said ‘develop and put forward an NBA position.’ That is critical. Now, if we are teaching law students about Petroleum law, we have to get lecturers from Sciences to teach them about hydrocarbons. They have to understand the composition and content of petroleum. If you want to teach them business

law, you must get someone from business administration and accounting to teach them the basics in that field. What I have learnt in my interaction with foreign lawyers during international Arbitrations is that when you are discussing with them, you wonder whether it’s an accountant that you are talking with or whether it’s a chemist. You hear them talk about Bonny Crude and they tell you ‘this one is heavier.’ So, I asked them, ‘were you an engineer before?’ they said ‘no’. When we are being taught about Petroleum law now, they also teach us about the petroleum.’ So, we need to go to Harvard, Oxford and some of the best schools in the world, get their course curriculum and ask ourselves, ‘which one of these do we intend to remodel our curriculum after? It may seem Utopian! It may be too high for us to achieve in one day, but let us start from somewhere and determine where we want to go and the changes we want to put in place. If the NBA comes up with a position on legal education, it should be asking ‘what are the criteria for employing lecturers at the law schools or the universities? Is it who knows man? Or is it competence?’ We need to keep asking these questions. I am not an educationist, but what I know is that I employ lawyers and the quality of service they give to me is unacceptable. For some time I used to think they were lazy, but everybody can’t be lazy. They were sent to us ill-equipped. What I do currently is that I employ and train you for three months. If I see that there is promise, I keep you. The only case where we let go is where we see that this person is totally lost. We have a requirement. When we want to employ, we ask the candidates to come with an article written by them on any topic in law. We will not choose for you. Choose and write it by yourself, and if you see the kind of things we get! When we have identified the problem, as a people, as a nation and as a profession, then we can begin to address them. Should we not at this stage consider it necessary to discuss and tackle these issues frontally? What is the state of our law school campuses? What is the student-lecturer ratio? If it’s too low, then we know we have to employ more lecturers. So, for me education ties up to welfare, although many people don’t see it that way. Let me point out again that I don’t claim to have the solution, but I have identified the problem. A problem identified is half solved. We have professors of law all over the country, and some are Senior Advocates. Some of them taught me. Professor Sagay SAN was my lecturer and he is still in active practice. We can call them together. We have people like Professor Tunde Ogunwewo, who practices here and lectures in Queens College, London and in Harvard. We have people like Professor Chidi Odinkalu and many more quality materials. We can call them together to challenge them on how things are done in those institutions and subsequently come up with a curriculum that would address all these issues. How do you address the fate of lawyers in the North East who have lost their practice as a result of the activities of the Boko Haram insurgents? I mean, what steps would you take if you become the president of the NBA? Some things you do out of concern for your brother will touch you eventually. This morning I receive a text message ‘Thanks, we pray for you and wish you success in the forthcoming elections. I admire your courage at the launch of the NBA fund in Gombe branch.’ This was from a Magistrate in Gombe. I don’t know him personally, but he was in the hall that day. We were there to deliver speeches, but I said ‘we have colleagues next door whose professional lives are in shambles. What should we do for them?’ I launched that appeal fund on that day, and today people are rushing to add money to that appeal fund.

30 LAW | NEWS

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Ondo CJ, NBA battle over ‘obnoxious’ bail conditions

Cross section of aggrieved Ondo lawyers

AT LOGGERHEADS Lawyers lock horns with Ondo judiciary over obnoxious conditions of bail

or two weeks now, lawyers under the auspices of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) in Ondo State have abandoned the courts over what they termed as ‘obnoxious’ bail conditions announced by the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Olaseinde Kumuyi. Although the Chief Judge had said the new direction was to ensure that sureties are responsible citizens with evidence of genuine tax clearance, its intention had met a brick wall as lawyers who believed that the new bail conditions would impact negatively on the justice system in the state resorted to court boycott to register their displeasure. The court boycott, which began on June 11 by the Akure chapter of the NBA, has spread to other branches of the association effectively crippling activities in the state judiciary. The lawyers led by the chairman of the Akure branch of the NBA, Prince Lawrence Kayode Dare and the Secretary, Mr Kayode Olorunfemi and other senior members of the association created scene as judicial officers were prevented from attending to litigants. Aside this, lawyers also matched into the courtrooms to ensure full compliance with the directive of the NBA that no judicial activities of any kind must be allowed to take place within the precincts of the court premises. The major reason for the dispute was the circular CROD/0012/0161 signed by Chief S.A Akinrinsola, directing to all Magistrates and Registrars making the sureties to produce tax clearance before they can be allowed to stand for any accused in the law court. The circular dated May 27,

entitled “Pre-condition for approval of Bail Applications” read “I have been directed to inform you that henceforth, a pre-condition for approval/ perfection of all bail applications shall among others include the production of evidence of payment of tax for the current year or tax clearance by the surety/sureties. You are to adhere strictly to this directive” Lawyers, apparently Irked by this circular, which they called ‘killer decree’, called for an emergency meeting where the decision to protest the implementation of the circular was taken. In a letter by the NBA written to the Chief Judge, the aggrieved lawyers said since June 6 when the Magistrates complied with the order, many innocent people have been clamped in detention when they could not produce the tax clearance as directed by the courts. They said in the letter that “on Friday, 6th June, 2014, all the Magistrates in Ondo State complied with the said order and many accused persons were taken to prison custody because they were unable to perfect the conditions of bails stipulated in the circular. “The Registrars of courts referred the sureties to the Board of Internal Revenue office, Akure. When they got to the office, they were told to pay N75,000.00 as tax clearance for each sureties making the sum of N150,000.00 for two sureties for each of the accused person. To worsen the matter, it takes a week before tax clearance certificate is issued. This means that two sureties to an accused person who can afford to pay N150.000.00 will be in prison custody for a week before his release is effected even for simple offences.” Although to them, the Chief Judge had right to issue Practice Direction which must be signed by him the circular was not Practice Direction, hence since the grant or refusal of bail is discretionary on the part of the judges and Magistrates, they should be allowed to exercise such discretions. Miffed by this, the leader-

ship of the association on day one, moved from one courtroom to the other from where they matched to the nearby magistrate’s courts in order to ensure that none of the courts in the town attended to litigants. Armed with different placards like "the Chief Registrar cannot dictate to our courts", "Judiciary is not a legislative body", "Discretion is still part of our law, free our courts now", "CJ protect the judiciary not the executive" and "Obnoxious tax clearance, Mimiko's voice, CJ' hand" Others included "Judiciary not a tax collector", "Judiciary last hope of common man, don't dash it", "Mimiko, don't kill the justice system in Ondo state with your regime of tax." Dare said the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Olaseinde Kumuyi has been given three days ultimatum within which to reverse the practice direction or face permanent closure of all the courts in the state. According to him, the directive that those standing sureties for an accused person should show three years tax clearance would deny many people access to justice. Dare said the directive which the Chief Judge had no power to issue would turn the state to ‘police state’, describing it as "unconstitutional, null and void for a Chief Judge to impose conditions of bail to his learned brother judges" Senior lawyers including, Chiefs Dapo Agbede, Adedefe Oni, Tunde Olofinsawo, Wale Omotosho and Baba Omojola said the magistrate’s courts were being governed by Magistrate’s Courts Law of Ondo state, 2006 and not by a mere

Mimiko must not be allowed to kill the justice system in Ondo State with his obnoxious tax regime

circular letter signed by the Chief Registrar. On day two, the aggrieved lawyers congregated at the court and threatened to drag the Chief Judge of the state to court over the new bail conditions prescribed by him. As early as 8 a.m., the lawyers had blocked the gates of the court and told lawyers and litigants to go back home as the court would not attend to them. Led by their chairman, Dare and his Secretary, Olorunfemi, the lawyers prevented all the courtrooms from attending to litigants as they matched into the courtrooms to ensure total compliance with the directive of the NBA. They went to a magistrate’s court sitting along Oluwatuyi road and drove both litigants and lawyers out of the courtroom. Addressing reporters at the court premises, Dare said the Chief Judge, Justice Kumuyi was yet to comply with the three-day ultimatum within which to reverse the practice direction, threatening that no lawyers and judges would be allowed to conduct any judicial activities in any of the the state’s courts unless the controversial circular was withdrawn. Besides, he threatened to initiate an action in court against the Chief Judge in order to compel him to withdrawal of the circular. This, he said would deny many indigent people access to justice should the directive that those standing sureties for an accused person should show three years tax clearance was not jettisoned. Since then, the lawyers have always congregated at the court daily and prevented any of the courts from attending to litigants or accused persons. However, the crisis worsened when ten lawyers were locked up on the order of a chief magistrate. The were Olawale Dan, Bankole Alabi, Oju Kekemeke, Kayode Adewusi, Soji Adedeko, Israel Aluko, Muyiwa Familusi, Tunji Oso and others. They were hauled behind bars when they led others to enforce the court boycott pronounced by the NBA when the courtroom was locked against them. Briefing reporters about their ordeal, Adedeko said they were in the court premises to tell their colleagues about the NBA decision but discovered that one of the officials had used padlock to lock the entrance of the court. To him the experience was a sour one as one of the vehicles which they took to the premises was marked as exhibit and was to be taken away until other lawyers mobilized to the court and forcibly took the car away. Adedeko said the official who claimed to be an environmental official locked them inside the court and went away with the key. According to him, it was when one of the officials of the court wanted to leave the premises that the key was opened and they had to take the opportunity to remove the key and escaped from custody.

Young Lawyer's Forum For young lawyers, especially ‘new wigs,’ appearing before a judge for the first time can be daunting. A shaky voice; clenched fists; pounding heart; dry mouth – these are some signs of the anxiety that can throw a new lawyer off-balance, and possibly lead to awkward or embarrassing moments in court.

‘I felt unease at my first court appearance'

e is a partner at Rosberg Legal Practitioners and Arbitrators. Greg Nwakogo told New Telegraph his first day in court this way: “I felt unease at my first court appearance.” I recall that I felt unease upon making my first appearance in court; but beyond that I felt a sense of fulfillment and was somewhat proud to belong to the noble profession. A bank had obtained judgment against a company that was indebted to it. My client was another bank and it was believed that the judgment debtor had an account with my client. The judgment creditor wanted my client to use the judgment debtor’s money in its custody to pay off the debt. However, it happened that the debtor did not maintain an account with my client and so prior to the appearance, we filed an affidavit to show that the debtor had no money in our client’s custody and I addressed the court unaided to that effect and my client was discharged from the matter. I had time to prepare and I did justice to the matter at hand. Preparation is key to making a good appearance in court. I wouldn’t say I was intimidated or embarrassed; I think I was just a bit unease. Like I said earlier, I felt a sense of pride to be one of those that addressed the judge. My advice would be for young lawyers to continually train and retrain. They should try to develop expertise in a specific area of law that is of interest to them; and then get a mentor, a more senior lawyer, who they can always have recourse to for guidance. I’m sure if they do this they will be fine.

Nwakogo

BUSINESS THURSDAY, JUNE 26, 2014

WHAT'S NEWS Only 10% Nigeria’s ginning capacity in use The troubled Nigerian textile sector may continue to play at very low ebb for a long time as only 10 per cent of the country’s total ginning capacity is currently in use due to cotton seed shortage, a paper originating from Olam, a commercial farming outfit, says.

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Nigerians, others in slavery in Qatar firms, says report

Nigerians are among the 94 per cent of Qatar work force engaged in modern day slavery, the United States in its human trafficking watch list for 2014 report has declared.

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‘75% Nigerian workers experience stress-related illnesses’ No fewer than 75 per cent of Nigerian workers are experiencing stress-related illnesses, a study by global workplace provider, Regus has revealed, according to Financial Derivative’s new magazine, Relaxnomics.

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Plans for multistakeholder Internet governance gathers steam Plan for the eventual transition of the stewardship of the Internet's technical functions to global multi-stakeholder model of the management gathered steam as the over 3,300 people from around the world have registered for ICANN's 50th meeting in London, making it the largest in the organisation's history.

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BUSINESS CREW AYODELE AMINU, Deputy Editor (Business) SIMEON OGOEGBULEM, Dep. Business Editor BAYO AKOMOLAFE, Asst. Editor (Maritime) SUNDAY OJEME, Asst. Editor (Insurance) SIAKA MOMOH, Asst. Editor (Industry/Agric) GODSON IKORO , Asst. Editor (Money Market) JONAH IBOMA, ICT Editor DAYO ADEYEMI, Property Editor ADEOLA YUSUF, Energy Editor

31 NEW TELEGRAPH

www.newtelegraphonline.com/business

}p-37 AYODELE AMINU, DEPUTY EDITOR, BUSINESS

ayodele.aminu@newtelegraphonline.com ayodeleaminu@yahoo.com

Domestic participation in Nigeria stock market rises to N109.8bn BOOST Local investors’ confidence improving on the local bourse

Chris Ugwu

omestic participation at the nation’s bourse increased to N109.75 billion (about $0.71 billion) in May 2014, up 18.9 per cent from January figure. According to a report by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPI) ceded about 8.88 per cent of trading to domestic investors as foreign transactions decreased marginally from 49.28 per cent to 45.56 per cent over the same period. Total transactions increased by 10.79 per cent from N181.97 billion in January to N201.61 billion in May and FPIs’ inflows accounted for 20.47 per cent of total transactions while the outflows accounted for 25.09 per cent of the total transactions. On a monthly basis, The Nigerian Stock Exchange polls trading figures from major custodians and market operators on their foreign portfolio investments (FPI). In comparison to the same period in 2013, there was no change in total FPI, whilst the total domestic transactions increased by 13.32 per cent. FPI outflows outpaced inflows which were the same when compared to the same period in 2013. Overall, there was a 6.84 per cent increase in total transactions in comparison to the same period in 2013. According to reports, the highlights of the domestic composition of transactions on the Exchange showed that total domestic transactions increased by 18.91 per cent from January to May 2014. The institutional composition of the domestic market which was about 46.80 per cent at the end of January increased to 54.84 per cent at the end of May whilst the retail composi-

L-R: Director, Retail Sales, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Charles Ogunwuyi; Country Manager, Core Group Africa and authorised distributor of Apple products in Nigeria, Mr. Sachin Verma and Head, Devices, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Olayiwola Onafowokan, at the official launch of iPhone 5s on the Etisalat network which held at the Etisalat Experience Centre, in Lagos.

tion decreased from 53.20 per cent to 45.16 per cent in the same period. Meanwhile, the NSE said that more investors are returning to the capital market, increasing

domestic participation. Executive Director, Business Development, NSE, Mr Haruna Jalo-Waziri, said this recently at the 2014 ‘Putting Investors First’ Day organised by the Exchange

DELE ALAO, Brands/Marketing Editor ABDULWAHAB ISA, Finance Editor CHUKS ONUANYIN, Energy NNAMDI AMADI, Reporter JOHNSON ADEBAYO, Asst. Production Editor

PHOTO: SULEIMAN HUSAINI

in partnership with the CFA Society of Nigeria. According to Jalo-Waziri, CONTINUED ON PAGE 32

Angsts over $13bn plastic waste’s harm to marine ecosystems POLLUTION Plastic contamination threatens marine life, tourism, fisheries and businesses Dayo Ayeyemi

nxiety has continued to mount over the threat that widespread plastic waste poses to marine life, with conservative estimates of the overall financial damage of plastics to ecosystems stand-

ing at $13 billion yearly, two reports released by the United Nations Environment Assembly have stated. The 11th edition of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Year Book looks at 10 issues flagged as emerging by previous reports over the past decade, including plastic waste in the ocean. It gives an update on each issue and provides options for action. Other areas covered include the environmental impacts of excess nitrogen and marine aquaculture, air pollution’s deadly toll, and the potential of citizen science. As one of the ways out, the reports urged companies to

WOLE SHADARE, Aviation Editor CHRIS UGWU, Capital Market Editor

ENSURING SAFETY AGAINST CYBERCRIMES

monitor their plastic use and publish the results in annual reports. Besides, the report urges companies to commit to reducing the environmental impact of plastic through clear targets and deadlines and innovate to increase resource efficiency and recycling. It reads: “There should be an increased focus on awareness campaigns to discourage littering and prevent plastic waste from reaching the ocean. An application that allows consumers to check whether a product contains micro-beads is already available. CONTINUED ON PAGE 32

Rates Dashboard INFLATION RATE April 2014...............................7.9% March 2014............................7.8% Feburary 2014 ........................7.7%

LENDING RATE

EXCHANGE RATE

(Parellel As at June 20)

USD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N166.50 InterBank Rate . . . . . . . . . 10.50% Pounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N284 Prime Lending Rate. . . . . 16.93% Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N227.50 Maximum Lending Rate..25.83% • Foreign Reserves – $37.08bn as at 19/06/2014

EXCHANGE RATE

(Official As at June 20)

USD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N156.73 Pounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N266.36 Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N212.62 Source: CBN

BUSINESS | NEWS

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Only 10% Nigeria’s ginning capacity in use CAPITAL INERTIA Country’s cotton seed refining capacity is underutilised

Siaka Momoh

he troubled Nigerian textile sector may continue to play at very low ebb for a long time as only 10 per cent of the country’s total gin-

ning capacity is currently in use due to cotton seed shortage, a paper originating from Olam, a commercial farming outfit, says. Production output, according to the paper, is declining, with current year crop expected to be only 80,000 metric tons seed cotton (about 20,000 metric tons lint equivalent). It adds that Nigerian cotton has very low yield levels (average 550 kg seed cotton per hectare, compared to global average of two metric tons per hectare. Oil mills that use cotton seeds as raw material are also facing

raw material shortage due to cotton seed unavailability, the paper says. According to industry experts, cotton production in the country has taken a downward trend as the gap between demand and supply is becoming wider every year because the supply does not equate demand. If such situation persists, it means that the demand for raw material cannot be met by local industries. The current cotton production in Nigeria as reported by United States Agency for international Development (USAID) is 120,000 tons in 2012.

USAID further reported that China, India, United States and Pakistan accounts for 70 per cent of the world total. Olam, for instance, has a fixed investment of about $3 million in its ginnery based in Zaria, Kaduna State with an annual ginning capacity of 30,000 metric tons seed cotton. Current utilisation of this plant is only 25 per cent of installed capacity due to non-availability of raw materials. The cotton production areas in Nigeria are divided into three ecological zones, namely: the Northern cotton zone which

comprises of Kano, Kaduna, Sokoto, Kebbi and Jigawa states which contribute 60 to 65 per cent of the cotton produced in Nigeria. Also the Eastern cotton zone which comprises of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Yobe and Taraba states contribute 30-35 per cent of the total cotton production in Nigeria while the third ecological area known as the Southern cotton zone is made up of Kwara, Niger, Kogi, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Edo states, contributing 5 per cent of the total cotton production in Nigeria.

Domestic participation in Nigeria stock market rises to N109.8bn CONTINUED FROM PAGE 31

Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Enterprise Bank Limited, Mallam Ahmed Kuru (In blue track suit, middle) leading the second edition of the Enterprise Bank Walk-For-Life campaign in Lagos.

Nigerians, others in slavery in Qatar firms, says report

Treated like animals, forced to live in squalor ABUSE Approximately 1.2 million men and women are suffering primarily in Qatar’s construction, oil and gas, service and transportation industries Bayo Akomolafe

igerians are among the 94 per cent of Qatar work force engaged in modern day slavery, the United States in its human trafficking watch list for 2014 report has declared. Other country in the approximately 1.2 million men and women country’s workforce are Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Sudan, Thailand, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, Kenya, Burma, and China. Qatar’s treatment of its massive foreign workforce has been under the international spotlight as it launches a massive construction programme

for the infrastructure for the world football showcase in 2022. The US report said that Qatar was a destination country for men and women subjected to forced labour and, to a much lesser extent, forced prostitution. Sponsorship systems for foreign workers exist in most Gulf countries, which employ millions of foreigners, especially from Asia. The system has been strongly criticised by human rights groups and likened to modern-day slavery. In March, an investigation by International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) claimed that foreign workers in Qatar were being kept in an “apartheid situation” where they are “treated like animals” and forced to live in squalor. The report said that they had voluntarily migrated to Qatar to work as low and semiskilled workers, primarily in the construction, oil and gas, service, and transportation industries, as well as domestic work. The United States has already voiced its growing concern about modern-day slavery in Qatar after it down-

graded the Gulf state on its human trafficking watch list for 2014. The move followed revelations of alleged maltreatment of migrant workers in the country amid a major construction boom as it prepares to host the World Cup tournament in 2022. Qatar was demoted to a Tier 2 watch list, with the report recommending that the Gulf state abolishes or significantly amends provisions of Qatar’s restrictive sponsorship system, which authorities have recently agreed to. The country was previously on the Tier 2 watch list in 2011 but was upgraded for 2012 and 2013. In 2007, it was listed among the Tier 3 countries, alongside Saudi Arabia, as one of the world’s worst offenders. The report also calls for Qatar to “significantly increase efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking offences, and convict and punish traffickers, particularly for forced labour crimes. “There cannot be impunity for those who traffic in human beings,” said John Kerry, the US secretary of state, “it must end,” he added.

although the Nigerian Capital Market shows signs of improved investor confidence, the Exchange still has work to do. He said: “Year-to-date 2014, local investors participation in our market outweighs foreign participation. It can be recalled that as of end of first quarter 2013, local investors accounted for close to 60 per cent of transaction value in the Nigerian capital market, while foreign investors were responsible for about 40 per cent. “This turn of events contrasted sharply with the circumstances between 2009 and

the first half of 2012 when local investors eschewed the market on account of losses they sustained in the aftermath of the near meltdown of 2008 with transaction values being controlled by foreign investors to the tune of 80 per cent in certain instances.” The NSE executive director also said that improved regulatory environment and performance of quoted companies from 2012 till date had positively impacted on stock market prices and overall market indices, while the average daily value of shares traded had also risen significantly.

Angsts over $13bn plastic waste’s harm to marine ecosystems CONTINUED FROM PAGE 31

“Since plastic particles can be ingested by marine organisms and potentially accumulate and deliver toxins through the food web, efforts should be stepped up to fill the knowledge gaps and better understand the capacity of various plastics to absorb and transfer persistent, toxic and bio-accumulating chemicals,” the reports suggested. Valuing Plastic, a UNEP-supported report produced by the Plastic Disclosure Project (PDP) and Trucost, suggested managing and disclosing plastic use in the consumer goods industry. It discovered that the overall natural capital cost of plastic use in the consumer goods sector each year is $75 billion. This is the financial impacts resulting from issues such as pollution of the marine environment or air pollution caused by incinerating plastic. The report said that over 30 per cent of the natural capital costs of plastic are due to greenhouse gas emissions from raw material extraction and processing, noting that marine pollution was the largest downstream cost, and that the figure of $13 billion is likely a significant underestimate. “Plastics have come to play a crucial role in modern life, but the environmental impacts of the way we use them cannot be ignored,” said Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General

and UNEP Executive Director. “These reports show that reducing, recycling and redesigning products that use plastics can bring multiple green economy benefits - from reducing economic damage to marine ecosystems and the tourism and fisheries industries, vital for many developing countries, to bringing savings and opportunities for innovation to companies while reducing reputational risks. Our economies are still largely fossil-fuel based, with the environmental, economic and health costs hidden,” he added. “For example, in the polar regions, scientists have recently found tiny pieces of plastic trapped in sea ice. Transported by ocean currents across great distances, these contaminated particles eventually become a source of chemicals in our food. The key course of action is to prevent plastic debris from entering the environment in the first place, which translates into a single powerful objective: reduce, reuse and recycle.” Since 2011, when the UNEP Year Book process last looked at plastic waste in the ocean, concern has grown over microplastics (particles up to 5 mm in diameter, either manufactured or created when plastic breaks down). Their ingestion has been widely reported in marine organisms, including seabirds, fish, mussels, worms and zooplankton.

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Fact File

Interception of contrabands by Customs officials

NACCIMA advocates body to keep Customs alert The dialogue session was intended to get relevant stakeholders from the public and private sectors to brainstorm and proffer solutions to the challenges being faced by importers and exporters at the ports Stories by Siaka Momoh

he National Association of Chambers of Commerce Industry Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) has called for an independent body that will keep the Nigerian Customs on its toes. This was part of the communiqué issued at the end of a one-day national dialogue on unlocking gridlocks at the ports, an initiative of stakeholders in the shipping industry held recently in Lagos. The dialogue session was intended to get relevant stakeholders from the public and private sectors to brainstorm and proffer solutions to the challenges being faced by importers and exporters at the ports, especially with the recently introduced Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS). The dialogue was expected to produce a communiqué that would assist the Federal Government and its relevant MDAs in frontally tackling and resolving the problems towards achieving the objective of the National Export Strategy

in the country. According to the communiqué, “there is need to set up an arbitrary body independent of Customs administration for prompt review and correction in connection with Customs regulation, documentation and process as contained in WTOArticles VII-11, Articles X-(3)(B) and WCO Chapter 10 and Section 36 of the constitution of Nigeria, which is globally adopted for ease of procedure. The cluster of implementation and final decision on Customs Service, which contravenes the WTO/WCO binding protocols, should be removed.” It says in the process of disagreement or investigation by the NCS on any goods, with the importers/agents, the provision of 152 of the Customs and Excise Management Act C 45 of 2004 should apply for waiver of demurrage and rent by the NCS. “The valuation of goods in the port should comply with the agreement on the implementation of Article VII of the GATT

1994 that was domesticated under Customs and Excise Management (Amendment) Act 2003, based on Transaction Value, with six sequential principles and criteria as legally applied globally. Uplifting/imposing of value by NCS without treatment contravenes Customs & Excise Management Act 20 of 2003. The v`aluation of goods, classification and rule of origin must be treated, without any penalty and must not be imposed in line with WTO Article VII.” It adds that the Risk Management System (RMS) should be developed and reviewed to accommodate homogenous goods based on the principle of blue and green channels/lane, so as to enable the goods exit the Port within 24 hours, in line with the adopted prescribed procedure and that the inspection of goods must conform with the protocol of the WCO Safe Framework for standard to facilitate and secure global trade, for pre-screening, tracking, out bound and inbound inspection of goods be-

fore shipment to Nigeria. It also stated that Nigerian cargo must be inspected before shipment in to Nigeria to reduce the influx of arms, ammunition and weapon of mass destruction (WMD) as is practiced globally. “Policy inconsistency on cargo clearance at the ports should be discontinued. Uplifting Enhance E-operations in the Port documentation process examination of goods should be done and released on time, most especially for intermediate raw materials. The fast-track process introduced by the Customs should be made efficient and port-user-friendly,” it says. The communiqué asks that the cumbersome cargo examination done locally should be discontinued and replaced with billboard inspection to be done abroad and that an electronic system of manifest must be introduced at the ports for use by Customs and shipping companies. It says there should be transparency in all ports documentation and procedures.

UNIDO to provide capacitybuilding for developing countries

ealising that enhancing the capacity of developing countries and countries with economies in transition to participate in global trade is becoming increasingly critical for the economic growth of these countries, United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) will continue to support enterprises in their

efforts to offer competitive, safe, reliable and cost-effective products in world markets, a statement from the organisation has said. It notes that the ability of enterprises in these countries to trade internationally depends increasingly more on their ability to enter into global value chains that are established by

transnational corporations. “On the one hand, this requires working on the supply side, enabling enterprises to manufacture products with high-export potential in the quantities and at the level of quality required by the markets. On the other hand, it requires evidence of CONTINUED ON PAGE 34

With 816 MFIs and more than 6,600 branches in operation at the start of 2012, Nigeria boasts Africa’s largest microfinance market. A 2012 study carried out in China of 5,333 urban residents from Hangzhou, Nanjing, Yinchuan, Harbin, Guangzhou, and Taiyuan found that 36 per cent of them were severely stressed with 34-44 year olds recording higher stress levels than those aged 55 and older. Paul Newton of Oxford University found a disturbing amount of fake malaria drugs sold in Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam and disappointedly concluded, "... about half of the artesunate contained no active ingredient. India is the world's second largest producer of vegetables (next only to China) and the third largest producer of fruit (Brazil and USA ranked first and second respectively). However, the country only ranks 15 when it comes to exports of these products. The large volume of traffic in the city of Lagos is posing great challenge to the movement of cargo and empty containers in and out of the ports. Poor connectivity to the hinterland arising from inadequate road and rail network links between the ports and the hinterland is also a problem. Another problem is location of tank farms close to the ports causing fuel tankers to compete with cargo trucks on the same limited space of roads. Majority of Freight Forwarders are engaged in genuine business and are committed to a smooth and speedy delivery of cargo. Some unscrupulous Freight Forwarders engage in sharp practices. In the process of discharging their duties, such Freight Forwarders seek to cut corners in attempt to either reduce cost for the shipper or to increase their own profit. SMEs expect to benefit from the Internet primarily as an improved platform for marketing, giving them better access to customers and improving their customer relationship management.

BUSINESS | INDUSTRY

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Beefing up beer concoctions It is an interesting story that is bringing to limelight local brews that are backbenchers in the market. These local brews are today fortunate recipients of the rebranding exercise of modern brewers, SIAKA MOMOH writes.

eefing up beer concoctions is good for Nigeria and its the economy. After all, this is the promotion of local content in our manufacturing that we have been singing about all long. So, let the Nigerian Breweries and Guinness, as well

as the SABMiller of this world, continue to flex muscles over who should have dominance in the beer market. The more they flex their competitive muscles, the better for Nigeria’s economy. It is an interesting story that is bringing to limelight local brews that are backbenchers in the market. These local brews are today fortunate recipients of the rebranding exercise of our modern brewers. According to Euromonitor, concoction beers or cheap beers are growing in popularity as the alcoholic drink of choice for many low-income sub-Saharan African consumers. These products, says the report, are relatively affordable, partly due to the use of low-cost and locally grown fermentable starches such as

sorghum, cassava and millet. “These concoctions, however, are increasingly becoming a modern business, involving major global brewers such as SABMiller and Diageo. Such companies are using factory lines, thus replacing homemade traditional wooden drums with brick liquid carton packaging and focusing on rural-centric distribution networks,” it explains. Although, according to Euromonitor International, volume growth of sorghum beers in South Africa began to slow towards two per cent in 2013, there remains potential for further growth beyond this market in the rest of Africa. As the illegal or untaxed trade of alcohol remains prominent in many African markets, compa-

A white lady having a taste of Burukutu

UNIDO to provide countries capacity-building C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 3 6

market conformity, enabling these same enterprises to ensure that their products conform to the relevant international standards, in particular private buyer requirements, and technical requirements.” It says: “On the supply side, UNIDO will continue to support enterprises in their efforts to offer competitive, safe, reliable and cost-effective products in world markets.” This, it says, requires identifying sectors and products that have competitive potential and are suitable for local value addition as well as analyzing and assessing trends in industrial performance at national, regional and global level, and formulating strategies and policies designed to improve industrial competitiveness and to overcome technical barriers to trade (TBT) and comply with sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures (SPS). It adds that UNIDO further assists developing countries and economies in transition upgrade their manufacturing processes in sectors with highexport potential to internationally acceptable levels and

ssupport the creation of export consortia, a specialized form of SME network as well as designing and implementing national and regional commodity-based trade capacity-building programmes, in cooperation with international partner agencies such as WTO, ITC, FAO and CFC. The statement adds: “With respect to conformity, UNIDO will continue to help enterprises comply with international standards and market requirements, and will assist countries that have recently acceded to WTO, or are in the accession process, to develop the conformity infrastructure needed, in particular, to fulfill the requirements and obligations under the WTO TBT agreement and the agreement on the Application of SPS measures. “It will do so by developing capacities in national standards bodies to perform internationally-recognized product testing and calibration based on analyses of infrastructural and service gaps in metrology, testing and inspection services, and by developing accreditation institutions to accredit laboratories, system certifiers and inspection bodies.”

The statement says UNIDO will also provide assistance to address the growing significance of private sector requirements for enterprise systems and product standards. “Of particular importance are the standards regarding food hygiene and food safety (ISO 22000), but there are also other important international systems standards such as quality management (ISO 9001), environmental management (ISO 14001), and social accountability (SA 8000), it says. “It will also support producers in performing self-declarations of conformity such as the CE markings and others. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is also an area where international buyers are increasingly requiring exporter compliance, especially in light of the international standard on social responsibility (ISO 26000).” UNIDO aspires to reduce poverty through inclusive and sustainable industrial development. It wants all countries to have the opportunity to grow a flourishing productive sector, to increase their participation in international trade and to safeguard their environment.

nies like SABMiller are seeking to commercialise concoctions and expand affordability to low-income consumers. Diageo’s attempt has worked well as a result of the use of transactional packaging to reduce costs; such an example can be seen in Kenya where the Senator Keg brand is sold in large returnable containers suitable only for communal consumption. Diageo’s Guinness Nigeria Plc currently has Orijin, a spirit drink with herbal extracts in the Nigerian market. This appears to be part of the answer to SABMiller’s challenge. It may however be one that is meant to compete with Alomo Bitters, a popular spirit drink in the market. It is not clear, what specific cheap beer concoctions Heineken’s Nigeria Breweries Plc and Guinness will introduce into the Nigerian market. They have cassava as raw material to work on and Pito and Burukutu to add value to. It took SABMiller a long time to introduce Impala – cassava beer – into Mozambique. “SABMiller has commercialised opaque beer variant Chibuku Shake-Shake to undercut unbranded concoctions. Yet, regardless of such innovative attempts to bring illicit trade to the fore by investing in commercialising traditional concoctions, there still remain limitations to their future success,” it says. The battle for share of Nigeria’s robust beer market, kick-started by the entry of SABMiller of South Africa, is raging. A report from Imara, a pan-African financial services group, revealed reasons why beer giants in the industry, local and international, are at war over who controls this African important liquor market. The beer market is growing by around seven per cent in volume terms a year, yet consumption per capita remains low in comparison to many international markets, suggesting continued growth is in prospect, says the Imara report. Imara’s team of investment researchers stay close to developments in the West African nation as a dedicated Nigerian equities portfolio features strongly in the group’s suite of internationally marketed sub-Saharan investment funds. Jonathan Chew, manager of the Imara Nigeria Fund, reports that SABMiller is about to disturb “what was a cozy duopoly” by entering a Nigerian brewing industry that has been dominated for years by Guinness and Nigerian Breweries. “The beer market is growing by around seven percent in volume terms a year. Yet consumption per capita remains low in comparison to many international markets, suggesting continued growth is in prospect,” according to Imara analysts.

SABMiller It would be recalled that SABMiller, South African world brewing giant, in 2009, bought Pabod Breweries, Port Harcourt where it owns 57 per cent and Voltic Nigeria Limited (Voltic produces tablewater), Lagos owning 80 per cent of the company, and Standard Breweries in Ibadan, using these companies for soft landing in Nigeria. For over five years or thereabout, this world number two brewer tried to open shop in Nigeria. In its quest to tap a $3 billion (N45.9 billion) informal market, the giant brewer is encouraging farmers to raise cassava and barley for its new discount beers. Nigerian Breweries But in an apparent response to SABMiller’s entry into the Nigerian market, Heineken N.V., Nigerian Breweries Plc parent company stepped up the struggle for domination of the Nigerian beer market in Nigeria with its acquisition of two holding companies from the Sona Group which has controlling interests in five breweries in Nigeria. Heineken’s buying of Sona Group’s Sona Breweries PLC, Sango Ota, Ogun State, International Beer & Beverages Ind. Ltd., Kaduna State, Champion Breweries PLC, Uyo, AkwaIbom State, Life Breweries Co. Ltd, Onitsha, Anambra State, Benue Brewery Ltd, Makurdi, Benue State, is seen by industry players as a move to strengthen Nigerian Breweries position in the Nigerian beer market and further response to SABMiller’s entry into Nigerian market. Of the five breweries being acquired, Champion Breweries is listed. The acquisition provides Heineken with an additional technical capacity of 3.7 million hectolitres, helping to alleviate the company’s current capacity constraints in the market and improving the geographic location of its breweries. And interestingly, this Heineken’s move is clearly a smooth move to puncture SABMiller’s soft-landing strategy - entry into the Nigerian beer market from the fringes, what with acquiring breweries in Onitsha, Uyo, and Makurdi. SABMiller is currently operating from Port Harcourt, moved Voltic Nigeria Limited from Lagos to the South East, and has set up brewing plant in Onitsha. Heineken is taking the battle to them. This will enable Heineken to take advantage of the attractive future growth opportunities that exist in different regions of the country. The acquisition has been funded from existing resources. The acquired breweries will continue to provide and expand contract brewing services to Nigerian Breweries and Consolidated Breweries for the meantime, while continuing to own, brew and support the Goldberg, Williams Dark C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 3 6

BUSINESS | INDUSTRY 35

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, June 26, 2014

How to invest in shopping bags, bread wrappers

Enterprise with

Strokes

INVESTMENT Introducing a cottage industry venture that needs little capital, little space and low technological know-how Don Abraham

he business is a cottage industry that needs little capital, little space and low technological knowhow. The raw materials and the machinery and equipment needed are all locally available. The product: This cottage industry produces polythene bags popularly known as shopping bags and which are used by bakers, pastry sellers and food sellers, anong others, to wrap bread of all sizes, cakes ‘chinchin’, fresh tomatoes, ‘egwusi’, rice, salt, okra, sugar, ‘garri’, meat, chilled water and other food items. These bags are of immense benefit to restauranteurs and ‘bukataria’ owners who use them to wrap ‘amala’ and ‘foofoo’. The bags are, however, used most extensively by bakers both in urban and rural areas. That people still sell unwrapped bread and other confectionery products, especially in the rural areas, is a testimony that these nylon wraps are insufficient to go round thousands of bakeries availabe. Each of these bakeries on the average produces about 3,000 loaves of bread daily. These should be wrapped with polythene in or-

der to preserve the loaves and keep them hygienic. With the increasing awareness to keep the staple foods hygienic, and the increase in the daily consumption of bread, demand for the wraps will always be on the increase. Shopping bags on their part and in addition to some of the uses mentioned above are used extensively for carrying items purchased in the markets, shopping centers and departmental stores. In research institutes, palm, cocoa and other plantations as well as horticultural companies, they are used for planting, nurturing and transporting/transplanting seedlings and flowers. The plant: The machinery and equipment required to produce the polythene wraps and shopping bags are locally available, cheap, occupy small space and easy to manipulate. The products are cut from extruded polythene film rolls purchased from any of the major plastics producing companies that specialise in or include film extrusion in their production line. The film rolls are then fed into the machine, which cuts and seals the bags in different sizes as required. These are then packed ready for sale. The operation of the machine does not require any specialist skill and only one operator is required per machine. The market: The main consumers of the products are bakers, pastry makers, research institutions, supermarkets, and market women. The market women, the pastry makers, supermarket operators and restaurants need

them to sell their wares. Any unemployed or retired person who goes into the production of these polythene wrappers and shopping bags will more than make a living from it instead of walking the streets in search of non-existent white-collar jobs. If he succeeds in having four bakeries to supply the wrappers, he will have an uphill task meeting their demands. Project cost N’000 Pre-investment expenses 80 Machinery and equipment 87 Stand-by generator 80 Rented accommodation 36 Raw materials for takeoff 40 Contingencies 33 Total investment cost 3 Implementation: To implement this project, one needs to prepare a comprehensive, realistic and up-to-date feasibility report, rent the necessary accommodation, purchase and install the machine after sourcing the raw materials and train the staff to operate the machines. Any serious prospective investor interested in this project can contact the writer for assistance to explore further what has been presented here or any other business. The equipment supplier is willing to help the investor to install the necessary equipment, establish the business and train the relevant line staff while the writer can help source the funds to kick-start the project. Don Abraham’s contact: talk2dco@yahoo.com

siakamomoh@yahoo.com 08061396410

Product adulteration

Shopping bag factory

Siaka Momoh

roduct counterfeiting is a worrisome global phenomenon that demands frank attention. Counterfeit product have ruined economies, causing plant shut downs and heart shaking job losses. John Engler, president, National Association of Manufacturers, United States of America, says counterfeit products account for a staggering 5 to 7 percent of world trade, a volume of almost $500 billion (N75.9 trillion) annually. Counterfeiting is evil. It not only violates the intellectual property rights of manufacturers, it also puts consumers in serious danger. Dangers range from ingestion of fake pharmaceuticals to accidents caused by substandard parts. China is a culprit. It engages in unfair trade practices, including wholesale counterfeiting of U.S. products. It has huge factories dedicated to making products that look exactly like U.S. brand name goods. This Chinese criminal practice is not limited to business relations with the United States. Worldwide, China is a problem to economies. Tonnes of Chinese products, sub-standard products dominate markets. Stories are told of Nigerians who approach factories in China to manufacture fake products for them. We hear they take the originals of these products to Chinese manufacturers and instruct them to counterfeit them. When products are counterfeited, they cause job loss in countries where the counterfeited products are brought into. Counterfeited textile products imported into Nigeria caused textile plants shut downs and

by extension massive job losses. According to Oladele Hunsu, first national vice president of the National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUT-GTWN), some textile factories cut down their workforce from 500 to 250, and some from 800 to 400. By 1996, the workforce (direct employment) in the industry was close to 140, 000. The figure has sharply dropped to 25,000. In all, over 500,000 allied jobs have been lost to the redundancies and plant closures in the industry the last 25 years or thereabout. Way back in eighties Nigeria had 120 textile factories. Today, this figure has dropped to 45. The productive capacity of the sector is so low to the extent that about 90 per cent of textiles/fabrics needs of Nigeria are being fed through importation. Intellectual property theft affects the nation’s movie, music and books industries with owners of vides, DVDs,CDs and books losing billions of naira to unrepentant pirates of their products. Reports have it that in his recent study of fake pharmaceuticals, Paul Newton of Oxford University found a disturbing amount of fake malaria drugs sold in Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam and disappointedly concluded, "...about half of the artesunate contained no active ingredient. So, logically, if malaria is a public health problem in Southeast Asia and is potentially fatal, if people are taking these drugs that contain starch and chalk, they are very unlikely to survive their malaria infection."

‘75% Nigerian workers experience stress-related illnesses’ Contributing factors to the length of time were bad roads, police roadblocks, and insufficient public transport alternatives. Siaka Momoh o fewer than 75 per cent of Nencing Nigerian workers are experistress-related illnesses, a

study by global workplace provider, Regus has revealed, according to Financial Derivative’s new magazine, Relaxnomics. It says that one of the highest contributors to this stress is the daily commute. A study of Nigerian commuters in each of the 36 states conducted in 2011 by V-Park Management Solutions Limited shows that Lagos commuters spend the most time on the road from home to work. “Professionals working in Lagos spend three hours and 55 minutes to and from work for a 15 kilometer journey,” the study says.

This is reportedly the highest figure in Africa. Abuja came second with commuters spending an average of three hours and 40 minutes. Port Harcourt, Kano, and Ibadan record three hours and 37 minutes, three hours and 30 minutes, and three hours and 13 minutes respectively. Contributing factors to the length of time were bad roads, police roadblocks, and insufficient public transport alternatives. Majority of the participants in the study that were surveyed reported a high level of fatigue and stress from their daily commute. These egregious commuting times are compounded by a C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 3 6

36 BUSINESS | INDUSTRY

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, June 26, 2014

I N D U ST RY C H I E F TA I N

Peter Eshikena: Building capacity in dairy farming STRATEGY Eshikena is on the driving seat of a company committed to boosting the entire value chain of milk production process Siaka Momoh

eter Eshikena is the CEO of Friesland CampinaWAMCO, a frontline milk manufacturing company that has done business in Nigeria for 40 years. Eshikena, who assumed office not too long ago, told his team on assumption of office that “the job is not a one-man show; we really have to make it a success.” He believes that the team is well geared up to ensure that FrieslandCampinaWAMCO delivers better results than it has ever done. For him, the current harsh business environment in Nigeria is not peculiar to FrieslandCampinaWAMCO. He says: “All companies operating in Nigeria operate under the same environment. In any case, I do not want to see it as harsh. I see it as an opportunity.” He explains: “If you look at the poverty level in Nigeria, which is put at 50 per cent of the population or less than $2 a day, people tend to think that there is no market here. But this is wrong. The big opportunity in that market has not yet been tapped in terms of the proposition that we can make to address that level of consumers. Companies in general have not made enough effort. That is an area, which we are working on now to tap into opportunities that are available. “Two, we sell a product, milk, which is a most complete food

– most complete food in the sense that knowledge about milk is still very limited even for myself. Until a few years ago, I never knew the enormous potentials that milk possessed. You can have other foods in any kind of format, but milk is the most complete food that if we can make Nigerians take one glass of it per day, the potential of growth, of healthy living we will be able to achieve will be enormous.” Only r e c e n t l y, FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc celebrated the 2014 World Milk Day with the theme ‘World Class Nutrition’. FrieslandCampinaWAMCO is passionate about milk and is committed to ensuring that Nigerians get the best dairy nutrition every day, said the Public and Regulatory Affairs Manager, Ore Famurewa. As experts in milk production, FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria, in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, has been working with various communities across the country to build capacity in dairy farming, through Dairy Development Programme (DPP). The project currently boasts of four highly equipped Milk Collection Centres in Fasola, Alaga, Maya-Eruwa and Iseyin communities in Oyo State and Milk Bulking Centres with about 72 farming communities actively engaged in dairy farming. It is a strategic sustainability initiative for the company’s business and a key Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) priority amongst others like, Health and Nutrition and Sustainable Value Chain. In fact, it is part of FrieslandCampina’s (the parent companies) global strategy. FrieslandCampina’s ambition is to create the most

‘75% Nigerian workers experience stress-related illness’ C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 3 5

lack of exercise and a healthy diet. Many commuters spend a lot of time seated in a stationary position while driving to and from work, and also spend a lot of time in a stationary position rooted to their office desks. They get home in a state of fatigue and then stay in a further inactive state on the couch. This sedentary lifestyle is combined with carbohydraterich food, which, without exercise, is stored in the body as fat. This continues to accumulate over weeks and months and can contribute to obesity, high blood pressure, lethargy, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, and depression. At 52.05 years, Nigeria currently ranks 210th out of 220 countries for life expectancy according to the CIA World Factbook. The adverse effects of stress and its offshoots on health

are a major contributor to this figure. Nigerian men are below the average at 49.35 years while women are above at 55.77 years. Today, according to Relaxnomics, over half of the world’s population is made up of city dwellers and it is estimated that by 2050, 69 per cent of the world’s inhabitants will be in cities. City life is generally considered to be stressful with inhabitants facing more crowded streets, more noise, and higher levels of crime, and more demanding work environments than individuals living outside the city limits. A 2012 study carried out in China of 5,333 urban residents from Hangzhou, Nanjing, Yinchuan, Harbin, Guangzhou, and Taiyuan found that 36 per cent of them were severely stressed with 34-44 year olds recording higher stress levels than those aged 55 and older, says Relaxnomics. “Nigeria is not excluded from this phenomenon,” it says.

successful, professional and attractive dairy company for its member dairy farmers, employees, customers and consumers and for society. The world market’s growing demand for healthy, sustainably produced food offers FrieslandCampina opportunities. To fulfil this ambition, FrieslandCampina formulated the route2020 strategy for the period 2010-2020. The key words are sustainable growth and value creation: the sustainable growth of the Com-

pany and maximising the value of all the milk produced by the Cooperative’s member dairy farmers. Peter Eshikena says: “All the milk collection centres we have built are operational. The yield that we get from those centres is on the increase, but it is still a small drop compared to the volume of milk that we process... But it is a long yielding process – it is not a process that you start and you get the result immediately. You have to be patient;

Peter Eshikena

you have to invest in it...It is a gradual process and we believe we will get there. He explains why we are still way back in dairy production in Nigeria: “The breed of our cows, the weather condition, the availability of good pasture, availability of water, good roads (which are all on the low side), are the things that are making it very difficult for us to be self sufficient in dairy milk production now. Cow farming is a big time business. If you go to where our parent company is situated, you will find out that you have to take care of the entire value chain – from grass to glass, right from the field where the cow is treated, to how you milk the cow, to how you process the milk, and eventually how you package it as a finished product that the consumers will buy.” Before his appointment as CEO, Peter Eshikena was the Sales Director and Deputy Managing Director of FrieslandCampina WAMCO. He joined FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria PLC in 1985 as Shift Production Manager in Can Factory Department before moving up as Logistics Manager in the Logistics Department in 1991. He later became the Project Manager, Total Quality Management in the Quality Assurance Department in 1996. Eshikena later became Sales Administrative and Logistics Manager, Distribution Manager, Sales Manager and later Sales Director and Deputy Managing Director until he was appointed Managing Director. Eshikena is by profession a Mechanical Engineer and has an Executive MBA from the International School of Management, University of Navarra in Spain. He is an alumnus of the Lagos Business School.

Beefing up beer concoctions C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 3 5

Ale and Malta Gold brands as well as various smaller regional brands. Guinness’ response And Guinness Nigeria Plc, the local unit of Diageo Plc (DGE), heightened the ongoing beer war tempo by announcing plans to spend 52 billion naira ($335.8 million) on expanding brewing capacity in the country. The Guinness move, was no doubt, an apparent response to the Heineken N.V.’s acquisition of two holding companies from the Sona Group, which has controlling interests in five breweries in Nigeria, and SABMiller Africa’s entry into Nigeria. According to our investigations, with the current expansion in the nation’s brewery sector, firms in the sector will benefit from economies of scale and huge volume of Foreign Direct Investment, innovations and its attendant healthy competition.

Vetiva Research predicts a booming market for investors in the beer market in Nigeria. It argues according to the IMF, the Nigerian economy is estimated to grow at an average of 7 per cent over the next four years while the population is expected to grow at about 3 per cent. “This along with a youthful population enmeshed in a culture in which entertainment has gained a foot-hold, present key drivers for the Nigerian beer market. A growing, largely youthful population, with increased disposable incomes is expected to drive beer consumption, leading us to estimate that the Nigerian beer market will grow at an average of 8 per cent over the next 5 years,” the Lagos based research company says. The outcome of all these activities is job creation and improved standard of living. Africa’s beer market Brewers operating in the African market still have a lot of room for future growth as

beer consumption on the continent is still far from saturation levels. Imara Africa Securities says in a new research report that although Africa is the sixth largest beer producer by volume, producing 4.8 percent of global beer after China (23 percent), USA (13 percent), Russia (6 percent), Brazil (6 percent) and Germany (5 percent), it has one of the lowest global per-capita consumption rates due to the meagre purchasing power of consumers. Average annual per capita beer consumption in Africa is 6 litres, the lowest of all regions, with the exception of the Middle East, which is significantly lower owing to its large Islamic population. “There exists significant headroom for growth in sales volumes and profit margins for African brewers,” said Imara. “Only Namibia, Botswana and South Africa have made headway in increasing per capita consumption to near saturation levels.”

BUSINESS 37

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, June 26, 2014

The use of the Internet for committing crime has been growing in recent times with all parts of the world now involved. JONAH IBOMA examines the latest trends and concerted efforts at overcoming the challenges of this new form of technology-based criminality

he Internet is the world’s biggest technological revolution since the invention of the computer. This is because it has assumed the position of the world’s top means of communication of voice, video and data. The central role that the internet is playing is so immense that financial transactions, telecommunications and even broadcast all now heavily depend on it. It has also now become an established means of education such that it effectively solves the problem of mass education and geographical limitation that often prevents people from access to information. Even the health industry and many more areas of human endeavour use the Internet as a means of doing their jobs. However, just as the case with every good thing that has been made by man, the internet has also been turned into an effective means of committing different types of crimes, especially financial. Nigeria has for long been known for being in the forefront of online-based scams through the popular advanced fee fraud known as 419. In one of the most popular forms of the crime, letters are written to unsuspecting individuals offering them a portion of some wealth stashed away by some corrupt military or political office holders in Africa. Unsuspecting persons that respond to such mails are made to part with money in the end. Recently, however, this sort of online criminality has spread round the entire west coast of Africa, with countries such as Ghana, Benin Republic and Togo now actively involved. However, this sort of internet scam is just one of the several types of criminality that is perpetrated using the internet. One of the ways the Internet is being used for crimes today is to get access to details of bank accounts, debit and credit cards, among others. As a result, a firm that specializes in tracking internet based financial crimes, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), reported recently that the costs of such crimes had been steadily soaring. The report titled: “Net Losses – Estimating the Global Cost of Cybercrime” pegged the annual worldwide economic cost of cybercrime at between $375 and $575 billion – or between 15 per cent and 20 per cent of the entire value generated each year through the Internet. The report also pointed out that some

cybercrime gangs around the world had grown so elaborate, organised, and profitable, that they are on the same level as nation-states when it comes to their capacity to breach networks, steal data, and evade detection. “Cybercrime produces high returns at low risk and (relatively) low cost for hackers,” said the report. “These groups have repeatedly shown they can overcome almost any cyber defence. Financial crime in cyberspace now occurs at industrial scale.” Perhaps there’s no clearer – or more troubling – illustration of this industrial scale than the emergence of “crime as a service”, which is when buyers and sellers connect in the cyber underground and transact on everything from both specific and general malware attacks (such as the recently dismantled Gameover Zeus botnet), to stock market manipulation, to money laundering, to purchasing goods with stolen credit cards, and the list goes on. “Someone who wants to infect computers with a particular type of malware would go to one of the organised crime groups and ask them – crime as a service – can you infect 20,000 computers and for that we’ll pay you so much,” commented Paul Gillen, head of operations at McAfee’s European Cybercrime Center. “They do that and they get a pay-per-infection rate. It is quite a sophisticated business model.” The problem of cybercrime was the

Cyber threat is real and it can be a threat to national economy and national security

focus of a recent conference by the Office of the National Security Adviser, (ONSA), where the threat posed by internet scams to Nigeria and the world at large was discussed. At the event, internet experts warned that Nigeria risked losing about $15 million to cyber theft by 2020 if precautionary steps were not taken to curb the trend. It was also revealed that Nigeria lost N641 billion in 2013 to cybercrime. According to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nigeria lost about N7.33 billion in 2007 to cybercrime, while recently a House of Representatives member was defrauded of N4.3 million and another fleeced of N600 million. It was also revealed that MTN Nigeria’s transaction worth over N70 million in electronic recharge cards sent via email to a customer was intercepted by a cyber thief in London, who later sent the recharge pins to another scammer in Nigeria for sale. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recently disclosed that some banks in the country also lost N40 million to cybercrime in 2013 alone. From the policy document of the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), it identified five top cyber threats to include cybercrime, cyber espionage, cyber conflict, cyber terrorism and child online abuse and exploitation. Cybercrime is further divided into phishing and spam mails. Various speakers at the 2014 National Cyber Security Forum (NCSF) organised by ONSA, in conjunction with the Ministry of Technology and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in Lagos were of the opinion that collaboration with youths may provide the solution for ending cyber crime since the age brackets of cyber CONTINUED ON PAGE 38

W it h

Ensuring safety against cybercrimes

TECHTalk Jonah Iboma 08050498516

NCC’s belated dominant operator threat

the Nigerian Communications Renedecently, Commission was reported to have threatto sanction MTN Nigeria Communica-

tions for abusing its dominant position in the country’s telecommunications market. The threat emanated from the failure of MTN to comply with the requirements of the policy dominant operator in telecommunications market as stated by the industry regulator. In the policy, firms that have achieved certain level of dominance in a segment of the telecommunications market are expected to provide platform for other small players to survive. It must be stated that the move by NCC is not surprising to any keen follower of the Nigerian communications market. Over the years, most telecommunications companies with some form of advantage tend to behave as if they do not owe the market some responsibilities. Although some players might look at the move by NCC as a welcome development, I think it is belated in some sense. The major telecommunications operators in the country have for a long time been behaving as firms that do not owe the nation a responsibility of development. It is clear that the craze for profit is at the centre of almost all their activities except for some few corporate social responsibilities initiatives. NCC’s pronouncement on Globacom and MTN as dominant operators in 2013 was the outcome of its study of the assessment of the level of competition in the Nigerian telecommunications industry. In 2010, NCC had conducted a similar study. But none of the service providers could be considered a dominant player. But in a repeat exercise in June 2012, NCC came up with a verdict that two operators – MTN and Glo – are the ‘biggest of Nigerian telecom operators’. So for the operators to not have adjusted to this position that they have been identified to occupy, is not a good thing. It must be said that the move by the industry regulator to affirm its position of control of what goes on in the telecommunications market on the issue of dominant operator, is absolutely welcome at this time. I remember that NCC has for over five years stated its intention to name some companies as dominant operators and this was done last year. The primary purpose of identifying some operators as dominant is to ensure fair pricing that will ensure that smaller operators survive. The telecommunications is an industry that has many elements and where big players can easily stifle the growth of small players and the essence of dominant operator providing facilities and pricing model that is balanced is to allow other operators to survive. It must also be mentioned that the bigger operators, no matter their size cannot provide service for all, especially in a country as large as Nigeria. Smaller operators have a role to play in the industry especially in areas that are NCC’s intervention should have been quicker in its action considering the value being generated in the market and the current gaps that are existing in it. Although the market has seen the consistent development of the wireless sector, the fixed sector is suffering greatly and it is just a matter of common sense to know that no country can depend solely on wireless telephony to survive. Nigeria needs to move on to developing the fixed line and the only to achieve that is by encouraging investment in fixed services. NCC’s decision to award unified access services licences to the major mobile operators in the hope that they will develop the fixed market has not succeeded as most of them are focused on getting quick money from mobile sector.

BUSINESS | ICT

ADMINISTRATION Experts show interest in ensuring success of freer Internet control policy Jonah Iboma

lan for the eventual transition of the stewardship of the Internet's technical functions to global multi-stakeholder model of the management gathered steam as the over 3,300 people from around the world have registered for ICANN's 50th meeting in London, making it the largest in the organisation's history.

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Plans for multi-stakeholder Internet governance gathers steam The number of interested global players who want to have their input in the new internet management order following the decision by the United States Government to give up its current stewardship of the management of the Internet to ICANN. "Today is a great day for advancement of the multistakeholder model and its inclusivity," said Fadi Chehadé, President and Chief Executive

Officer of ICANN. "ICANN 50 is a milestone meeting for many reasons, not the least of which is the remarkable affirmations of the multistakeholder model it has brought." Chehadé applauded the Chinese government's adoption of the Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) deployment and the expansion of the IPv6 protocol, which he said will assure the expansion of the continued global expan-

L-R: Country Manager, Aviat Networks, Ghana, Deon Meyer, receiving the Microwave Backhaul Provider of the Year Award from Akin Haphtal, Group Publisher, Instinct Media, at the Ghana Telecom awards... recently

MTN, PriceCheck to unveil app in Nigeria

outh African mobile netSNaspers work operator, MTN, and owned online price

comparison company, PriceCheck, are launching a cobranded app in Nigeria. MTN and PriceCheck already have a co-branded app for the South African market which was launched in March this year. The application enables MTN network users to compare prices of goods and commodities through an online directory integrated in the co-branded app. Now, the two companies are targeting Africa’s biggest economy, Nigeria, with the app. “We will be sending out a news release on this shortly. But, yes, the deal is already

signed and we are launching a co-branded app in Nigeria,” PriceCheck Chief Executive officer, Andre de Wet, said in South Africa recently. The PriceCheck CEO spoke after his presentation together with MTN chief commercial officer Pieter Verkade at the Mondato Africa Summit on Mobile Financial Services in Sandton, Johannesburg. PriceCheck’s de Wet said mobile commerce is slowly taking shape in Africa, although its effectiveness and full integration is only likely to be felt in the next two years. Rough estimates show that on a monthly average, PriceCheck receives in excess of 1.5 million

unique shoppers searching for products on its web and mobile sites. Given that MTN has over 50 million subscribers in Nigeria, the partnership is being viewed as a way of getting success in Africa’s largest economy and most populous nation. MTN and PriceCheck then are planning to ride on this growing trend in the usage of mobile sites by the shopping populace in South Africa as well as other African countries. De Wet further told delegates at the Mondato Africa Summit that less than 1per cent of retail happens online, yet as much as 40per cent of the buying decision process starts on mobile device.

Ensuring safety over increasing cybercrimes CONTINUED from PAGE 37

perpetrators are usually in the range of 15 to 35 years. In a presentation themed, “Towards Multi-Stakeholders Partnership for National Cyber Security Engagement,” the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Science and Technology, Dr. Tunji Olaopa, noted that 0.8 per cent of the global economy is attributed to cyber crime and that the United Kingdom is ranked 5th among countries with incessant cyber crime. He noted that cyber crime has led to 1.6 million job losses annually in Europe. Said he: “Cyber crime is no

longer an emerging threat but it is here. It is a growing industry that is being perpetrated from homes.” Also commenting on the menace of cybercrime, Dr. Eugene Juwah, the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC lamented that cyber threat is real and that it can be a threat to national economy and national security. Although, many online scams involve attacking account of individuals, a new dimension was recently added when some individuals actually collude with banks staff and send unsuspecting bank alerts to individuals, especial-

ly bureau de change operators, as if they had paid for some transactions and collect cash only for the individual to get to the bank and find out that the alert is false. Generally, experts advice that in order to avoid being a victim of cyber crime, people should keep their credit cards safe, guide against unauthorised access to pin numbers, keep passwords secret, double check online request supposedly made by one’s bank. Also, people were advised to avoid hurriedly parting with cash or goods for transaction that are done online until one checks account balance personally.

sion of the Internet. DNSSEC is a suite of specifications for securing certain kinds of information provided by the Domain Name System as used on Internet Protocol networks. Minister Lu Wei of China's Cyberspace Affairs Administration told attendees, "We all hold one single aspiration, i.e. to improve the governance of the Internet. This is in line with ICANN's vision of 'One World, One Internet'." Lu expressed appreciation and support for the advancements of the multistakeholder model that framed the NETmundial meeting in Sao Paulo, Brazil in April. Lu's comments followed the recognition of the newly formed Lebanon Internet Centre or LINC. Dr. Imad Hoballah, a member of the LINC Board, said, "The multistakeholder approach draws its strength from the ability to bring together diverse views, and align them to a common goal of a global, interoperable Internet." Chehadé acknowledged the announcements by both Lebanon and China, "Both are a testament to the world's growing commitment to an inclusive

multi-stakeholder Internet governance model, as is the remarkably high participation from so many people from every region of the world." The United Kingdom's Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries Edward Vaizey told attendees, "The Internet, as it has been governed, has to be seen as an unqualified success story. It's created the opportunity for massive economic growth and for greater intellectual freedom. So if we're going to look at the governance of the Internet, it's important that we preserve those principles." Board Chair, Dr. Stephen Crocker, embraced ICANN's maturation to meet the needs of an expanding online world. "Our world, - the Internet world… is constantly evolving, changing to meet the everexpanding number of global Internet users" The Board Chair for the UK Internet registry Nominet, Baroness Rennie Fritchie said, "We approach the challenge of Internet governance with the same appetite, finding better ways of doing our bit, working together and a desire to make real progress."

Phase3 Telecom seeks gender equation for ICT growth

he Chief Executive Officer of Phase3 Telecom, Mr. Stanley Jegede, says that developing technology skills for women and harnessing those skills promptly is critical to rapid national development and economic empowerment. Speaking on the firm’s support of the 2014 edition of the International Girls in ICT Day Celebration, organised by eBusiness Life Communications, Jegede noted that the era in which the professions in the IT/ICT global space was largely dominated by the male gender; is coming to an end. He added that it is an exciting progress that the female gender in our world today are now taking on the immense potentials and possibilities of the IT professional fields based on the realization that very few jobs exist for men that are not also open to woman. He is optimistic that the global progress will also be hugely experienced in Nigeria and West Africa as more and more institutions and agencies advocate ICT skills for women in these regions. Notably, West African women are significantly under-represented across the board in ICT – from education and training programs right through to high level careers in the sector whether in academia or industry. It is ingenious that eBusiness Life have organized

a forum to encourage Nigerian girls to take up the ICT path in their career choice. And Jegede CEO of Phase3 Telecom strongly points out in an interview in that “we must help young Nigerian girls to see the advantages and dividends of this dynamic and fast-evolving-sector”. He said: “We know that one of the key elements of addressing poverty is the empowerment of women and there is no better way of doing that today than giving women ICT empowerment. There are many women with amazing talent and this has to be brought to aid our social and economic development”. He maintains that this and building a crop of young Nigerians to actively participate and compete in the evolving as well as innovative technological space globally; is the basis for Phase3 Telecom’s commitment to always support the International Girls in ICT day celebration. The Phase3 Telecom sponsored International Girls in ICT Day Nigeria being championed in Nigeria by eBusiness Life Communications is an initiative backed by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) member states; to create a global environment that empowers and encourages girls and women to consider careers in the growing field of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).

BUSINESS | ICT

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Amazon’s Fire Phone matches iPhone features competition

control - features "expensive, groundbreaking technology", and Amazon is using the price to signal that, added James McQuivey, principal analyst at Forrester. Ryan Huang, market strategist at IG says for it to be successful Amazon will need to entice a small portion of its 250

E-Commerce giant revs up battle in mobile phone market

lectronic-commerce giant, Amazon, last week unveiled its long-awaited Fire Phone handset with pricing being its big surprise as it unexpected matched iPhones or Galaxy smartphones. Amazon had in initially priced its tablets cheaper than those offered by Samsung and Apple and industry watchers had expected it to offer its smartphone notably cheaper than competing brands. It did not. Pricing the device in line with premium smartphones is not without good reason, say analysts, noting that Amazon wants to make it clear that its hardware is just as good as its competitors. "Matching the pricing of

million active customers get the new smartphone. The phone, described by some as a shopping device, includes a service called "Firefly," whereby the phone can identify products using its camera and add them to your Amazon account. Loyal Amazon consumers connected to the device could

Fire Phone versus iPhone

iPhone

Fire phone

Apple…that is surprising. [But] from one perspective, they don't want to go in there and present a phone that is differentiated, yet much cheaper," Jason Moser, senior analyst at the Motley Fool said last week. The 4.7-inch phone - equipped with 3-D imaging and gesture

Size Weight Screen Resolution OS SD Card Slot Processor

123.8 x 58.6 x 7.6 (mm) 112g 4.0-inch LCD 1136 x 640 pixels iOS 7.1 No 64-bit A7 chip

Storage Processor

16GB, 32GB, or 64GB 64-bit A7 chip

RAM Connectivity Bluetooth Battery Ave. Price

1GB Wi-Fi, LTE, HSPA+ Yes, version 4.0 1570mAh $200+

139.2 x 66.5 x 8.9 (mm) 160g 4.7-inch 720p IPS 1280 x 720 pixels Fire OS 3.5 No Quad-core 2.2GHz Snapdragon 800 32GB or 64GB Quad-core 2.2GHz Snapdragon 800 2GB Wi-Fi, LTE, HSPA+, NFC Yes, version 3.0 2400mAh, removable $200+

Source: digitaltrends.com

boost sales of videos, music and merchandise from its website. A major challenge to the Fire Phone's success, however, could be convincing potential consumers to switch over to AT&T - the device's exclusive carrier - from other mobile networks, notes McQuivey of Forrester. "[Amazon's] customers already have really good smartphones - and many of them aren't with AT&T. To convince those people to switch over you're going to have to do a little pushing. I think Amazon will have to offer more than just a year of free Amazon Prime service," he said. Brian White, analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald says while the Fire Phone will receive plenty of media coverage, it's unlikely to impact Apple's iPhone franchise. "In our view, [Amazon's] announcement represents another attempt by Internet-related players to compete in the mobile device world. These initiatives have left Apple unscathed in recent years," White said.

Virgin Mobile mulls additional MVNO services in Africa A

frican mobile network operators could face further competition soon as Virgin Mobile plans to roll out more mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) in North and Sub-Saharan Africa. Mikkel Vinter, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Virgin Mobile Middle East and Africa, said at the MVNOs Industry Summit in Sandton, Johannesburg on Tuesday the company was looking to tap further into the huge opportunities in providing such services in the continent. Virgin Mobile launched MVNO service in South Africa in 2006. Vinter said Deloitte figures showed there are 1,200 MVNOs active globally, 800 of which are in Europe and less than 10 in Africa, which offers a huge opportunity to companies such as Virgin. “The MVNO is still in its infancy in other markets. So it is still very early days. But let’s not cry over that, it is an opportunity,” he said. “The potential for Africa is at least 500 MVNOs over the next 10 years. What a fantastic opportunity. I don’t think there is any other market out there that has the same opportunity.” He said the African market was attractive from a demographic perspective, as well as the fact Africa is still seeing growth in mobile penetration, which has become stagnant or even declined in Europe. “We’ve seen how the mobile businesses have literally

driven revolution in Egypt for example, and there is no doubt that in Africa the mobile space is very high on the list of technologies changing the continent,” Vinter said. Vinter said, however, that MVNOs needed to demonstrate they could add value for operators. “You need to prove as an MVNO that you are really bringing something to the party that the operator is not able to do,” he said. “We see the two most important opportunities being in the youth and ethnic spaces.” Virgin has launched FRiENDi Mobile in the Middle East and Asia in order to appeal to the ethnic segment, which comprises a great number of people living away from their country of birth, while Virgin Mobile is targeting the youth market. Vinter did identify some challenges from operating in Africa, but said Virgin Mobile was not put off by them. “The continent is very diverse. There are big countries, there are small countries, there are wealthy countries, there are poor countries. This means that your proposition must be very flexible,” he said. “There is a heavy government involvement still in the telecoms sector. In many markets telecoms is a strategic industry and the government takes a lot of interest, from a revenue perspective but also from a security perspective. “It is still early days in telecoms liberalisation.”

L-R: Head of Africa Trading, Global Markets, Richard Robinson; Deputy Country Head, Adeola Azeez; Executive ViceChairman, Nigerian Communications Commission, Dr Eugene Juwah; and Head, Representative Office of Deutsche Bank in Nigeria, Charles W.J Weller, during a visit by a team of investors and officials from Deutsche Bank to the NCC recently… in Abuja

Airtel Nigeria wins best corporate website award Nigeria, has emerged pany. committed to realizing one of the telecoms operator with Atheirtel A citation read in honour our key objectives of becombest corporate website ac- of Airtel at the event said the ing a data-centric organizacording to Web Jurist panelists and leading consulting firm, Philips Consulting, organizers of the highly respected and prestigious Web Jurist Awards. According to the organizers, Airtel beat all its closest rivals including MTN, Etisalat and Glo to clinch the coveted prize in the telecoms category at an event that was attended by telecoms professionals, bankers, business leaders and pundits within the Information Communications Technology domain. Airtel Nigeria’s General Manager, Revenue Assurance, Kingsley Unah, received the award on behalf of the com-

company’s corporate website has the best aesthetics and sits on an elevated pedestal when compared with other contenders in the category. The organizers also said the criteria used in the rating of websites of corporate organisations in Nigeria include aesthetics, technical aspects, web content, customer experience and performance. Commenting on the accolade, Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director, Airtel Nigeria, Segun Ogunsanya, said the honour is a glowing testimony to the company’s efforts at repositioning as Nigeria’s leading mobile Internet Company. “At Airtel Nigeria, we are

tion and Nigeria’s number one mobile Internet Company. We are glad that our corporate website bears testimony to this and we will continue to engage telecoms consumers in Nigeria via our revolutionary corporate website, www. ng.airtel.com ,” he said. The Web-Jurist ratings were conceived by e-business experts at Phillips Consulting. The ratings commenced in May 2001 with version 1.0. Its primary objective was to critically and objectively evaluate the effectiveness of websites in Nigeria, focusing initially on the financial services industry and taking into account what the customer wants.

FEATURES

NEW TELEGRAPH

newtelegraphonline.com/entrepreneur

ABIODUN BELLO FEATURES EDITOR

THURSDAY, JUNE 26, 2014

abiodun.bello@newtelegraphonline.com otuntise@yahoo.co.uk

Edo: Leveraging on foreign partnership for development Edo State seems to be one of the very few states making real efforts to tap on international influence and indigenes’ potential to develop, writes ERNEST OMOARELOJIE

he Bible says that “a prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house,” Mark 6 verse 4 (KJV). This probably fits Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State. This was demonstrated on May 9, when the Deputy British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Peter Carter, came to the Government House, Benin City. The visitor came with a message that the international community not only appreciates the governor’s development commitment to the state but also is aware of the level of his seriousness to see that development indices are self-evident everywhere across the state. The envoy, who was in the state to kick start what he referred to a relationship of mutual benefits to the state and the United Kingdom, expressed the satisfaction of his home government about Oshiomhole’s development strides. He also made known the UK’s willingness to collaborate with the administration in the realisation of its set objectives in the areas of human capital development, economic diversification, arts and culture. The deputy high commissioner told the governor that his home governor was willing to assist the state provide basic teaching skills for teachers. It is on record that Carter’s visit was not the first time members of the international community have come to the state with offers to collaborate with the Oshiomhole administration. What is important with the visits is that having assessed and concluded that the administration has taken (is still taking) well-considered steps towards ensuring that the state becomes a yardstick for measuring sustainable development in the country, they took the option of collaborating with it ostensibly to encourage other state governments on the need to pursue people-oriented programmes. To the administration’s credit, teams from the European Union (EU), United States of America (USA), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and a number of others have been in the state for the same purpose. However, the visit of the British envoy brought to the fore the fact that members of the international community have identified the administration as a credible example of good governance.

Carter (left) and Oshiomhole during the visit

In other words, they have made the point that the Oshiomhole administration has performed commendably well enough to attract the attention of genuine investors across the globe. Of course, the best way to demonstrate that confidence is the visit of representatives of very credible agents of leading global governments and international organisations. Remarkably, the visit by the British envoy is target specific - a proof that his home government is abreast of Edo State’s development needs. For instance, one of the areas it wishes to collaborate with the Oshiomhole administration is on the need to re-energise economic diversification policy. Others include boosting its quest to acquaint its public school teachers with basic teaching skills and adding pep to its human capital development drive. No one needs to rationalise the reasons behind the selection as each of them is very instrumental to economic development. For instance, it has been argued that the time had come for the country to consider taking concrete steps towards implementing its diversification and privatisation policies. Stakeholders are united on the need to move away from its current mono-economy anchored almost entirely on revenue accruing from crude oil given that it is not inexhaustible. For so long, even as the need to diversify the economy has been adjudged inevitable, attempts by the Federal Government to concretise the decision has been more or less cosmetic. However, it appears that some state governments, led by Edo and Delta, decided not to be affected by the leth-

argy at the centre. Even at that, there is an urgent need to accelerate the diversification process as it represents the only viable option for a truly sustainable economic growth and ensuring that the country reaps the bounty of its agricultural potential. This is the same point the British envoy made when he noted that the country must begin to look beyond oil as its major revenue earner since it is increasingly becoming clear that oil as a major source of energy is not only exhaustible but also on the decline. That, he added, was part of the reasons his home government decided to visit the state with a view to finding possible avenues for cooperation. On his part, Oshiomhole made the point that indeed, diversification has become an inevitable option the country must not delay its full implementation if it is truly committed to sustainable development. However, in what appears to be an obvious attempt to prove that Edo State recognises the danger in monoeconomy, the governor pointed out that the state had undertaken a number of development initiatives that were not the result of oil funds. He ascribed the success of the project to deliberate and concerted agricultural policies. According to him, the state achieved the feat due largely to its decision to develop not only the service sector but also the entrepreneurial potential of the people so that they may become self-sufficient. Regrettably, the governor pointed out that even as the diversification option is an official federal government policy, there are still a number of certain government self-imposed impediments that have no business in present-day diversification or privatisation reality.

He cited the examples of half-hearted power privatisation and inappropriate monetary policies. Oshiomhole pointed out that across the globe, economic development is dependent, in the main, on stable power supply. That perhaps explains why Nigerians celebrated attempts by the central government to privatise the sector, believing that it is genuine. But, as it turned out, the process has proven to be more of a policy decision in name as the Federal Government still maintains a monopoly of sort over vital economic main planks, including power generation. For instance, none of those involved in power generation is allowed to independently sell what it generates as only the central government has the monopoly. “There are impediments to diversification. No state can develop power independently without selling it first to the federal monopoly. In other words, we still have issues with power reform as the power sector is still centralised,” Oshiomhole pointed out. The governor also frowned at the issue of inappropriate monetary policy which, according to him, is obviously against the principles of entrepreneurial development. He emphasised that there is the need for a single digit interest regime if business is to thrive in the country. According to him, if interest remains high as it currently is, businesses will be stifled as none will be able to meet its financial obligations at its current 20 per cent rate before reaching any level of profitability. The case would be different if interest rate is in single digit. • Omoarelojie writes from Benin

BUSINESS | MONEY LINE

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Nigeria needs N20tn to meet housing deficit Kaduna. Jokosenumi said the target of the mortgage sector was to increase housing stock to 25 per cent from 15 per cent in 2012. The FSS 2020 is to establish a secondary market to strengthen and deepen the domestic market, integrating and enhancing it with external financial markets and to promote sustainable development. Although he acknowledged that the sector had been moribund for about three years, Jokosenumi explained that the CBN was engrossed in working out processes of mortgage institutions and other financial institutions coincidentally with AMCON. He stressed that the funds to mitigate the huge gap were not there even if the houses

SHELTER Nigerians need good housing, food and security for basic comfort.

Godson Ikoro

head of the debut of the nation’s Mortgage Refinancing bank, the country needs about N20 trillion to provide basic housing for 17million households by the Year 2020. The Head, Financial Systems Strategy (FSS 2020) at the Central Bank of Nigeria, Engineer Oluwatosin Jokosenumi, dropped the hint at a seminar with journalists in

were to cost a minimum of N5million, underscoring the high cost of housing. Jokosenumi averred that the cost of housing would remain unbearable for as long as the nation had not adopted the right approach to housing. He noted that the cost of housing was dictated by the cost of land, choice of house and type of construction and nearness to raw materials. He noted that government established the Nigerian Building and Road Institute to research and make cost of housing available, stressing that Nigeria could reduce the cost of housing by adapting laterite, to make building blocks. However, he pointed out that Nigerians were very ostentatious, high taste and

South Africa, Nigeria collaborate to mine gold

frican economic superpowers, Nigeria and South Africa, are exploring collaborative ventures to develop artisanal and small-scale gold mining in Nigeria. Although South Africa is featured as the largest gold miner on the continent and the sixth largest miner of the mineral globally, Nigeria is not buoyant in mining gold and majority of gold mining that takes place in the country are carried out by artisanal min-

ers. Nigeria’s Minister of Steel and Development, Musa Sada, said the partnership would see Nigeria acquire mining equipment and expertise from South Africa owing to the many artisans operating in the country’s developing mining sector. He added, “Our focus is on gold because we have a lot of artisanal and small-scale miners. “We realised that we are wasting a lot of resources

and not getting as much as we should from mining. So, we need to improve on our mining technology and commodity pricing.” Most of Nigeria’s gold deposits are found in the northern states. Nigeria recently surpassed South Africa as the continent’s biggest economy after a recent economic rebasing. Gold mining constitutes less than one per cent to the country’s GDP.

Economic Indicators As at M2* CPS* INF IBR MPR 91-day NTB DPR PLR Bonny Light Ext Res**

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

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

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

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

Open-Buy-Back (OBB) Overnight (O/N)

Rate (%) 11.33 11.63

NIFEX Spot ($/N)

Bid 163.4000

Offer 163.5000 Source: FMDQ

always wanted to impress others. To buttress this point, he declared that people who bought the low cost housing under former President Shagari between 1983 and 1989, had restructured them, stressing that cost of housing would never be the same except for the basic affordable type that people can afford. FSS 2020 key priorities in the sector is to establish a secondary mortgage market, attract affordable international credit to fund affordable housing programmes,such that individuals would pay for over a period of time. According to him, key priorities to be achieved between 2013 and 2020 is to measure

mortgage assets in the mortgage market as a percentage of mortgage market, increase housing stock from 15 per cent to 30 per cent and raise mortgage contribution from 1.4 per cent to 10 per cent. This will be funded by international loans for affordable housing programmes as this is also expected to increase up to 40 per cent by 2020. This will involve development of affordable housing clusters by the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Securities and Exchange Commission and the practice of Mortgage Asset Registry System, in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (FMLHUD).

Nigerian, Turkish entrepreneurs to build juice factory by 2015 igerian and Turkish entreNbuild preneurs have resolved to juice factory in Nigeria

next year. The Secretary General of Turkish Business Group, Murat Sakartepe, said the groups discussions on plan to develop the factory in partnership with Nigerian entrepreneurs in Africa’s biggest economy by 2015, had reached advanced stages. The establishment of the company is in line with the investment Turkish entrepreneurs hope to make in Nigeria before the second quarter of 2016. Sakartepe told the news agency in Izmir, Turkey that members of the group would be leveraging on the investment potential offered by the African nation, with latest GDP figures proving an attractive incentive for investors. “No good business can be done in Africa now without Nigeria,” Sakartepe said. Nigeria’s GDP is expected to rise at 7.9 and 8.8 per cent for

2014 and 2015 respectively. This was predicted to spark a similar surge in foreign investment inflow during this period. Sakartepe said aside the proposed establishment of the juice factory, the group would be hoping to make credible investment in the country’s manufacturing and mining sectors. He restated the group’s interest in investing in Nigeria, adding that between last year and now, the group had undertaken 230 business trips to Nigeria and other African countries for assessment. According to him, the group has also offered internship opportunities to 18 Nigerian students in Turkish universities to build a healthy business relationship with Nigeria. The Federation of the Aegean and Mediterranean Industrialists and Businesspeople is a business federation of 42 business associations in Turkey with about 12,500 members.

Samsung CFO warns of soft Q2 earnings amsung Electronics ComSearnings pany Limited expects its for the second quar-

ter to be "not that good", a senior company executive said on Wednesday, amid growing worries about weak sales for its key Smartphone business. Lee Sang-hoon, chief financial officer for the world's largest smartphone maker, made the remark to local reporters. A Samsung spokeswoman confirmed the comment and said the executive did not elaborate further. Analysts have recently raised concerns that the company's cash cow handset business will disappoint amid intensifying competition and slowing smartphone market growth. The firm's shares closed down 1.9 per cent on Wednesday, reflecting the pessimism. "Chinese carriers' inventory adjustment of mid-tolow tier 3G phones and weak

Galaxy S5 sell-through will likely limit second quarter smartphone shipments to 78.2 million units," Shinhan Investment said in a report, tipping an April-June quarter operating profit of 8.09 trillion won (4.68 billion pounds) compared with a 9.53 trillion won profit in the second quarter of 2013. For the April-June period of this year, average forecast from 39 analysts surveyed by Thomson, tips the firm to report a 8.58 trillion won profit -- in line with a 8.5 trillion won profit reported for the January-March period. Star Mine's Smart Estimate, which gives greater weighting to the more accurate analysts, suggests further downside risk with a forecast for 8.05 trillion won profit for the second quarter. Samsung is expected to give its earnings guidance for the second quarter in early July.

Daily Summary as of 25/06/2014

Printed 25/06/2014 15:12:52.052

42 BUSINESS | CAPITAL MARKET

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Daily Summary (Bonds)

Daily Summary as of 25/06/2014 Printed 25/06/2014 15:12:52.052

The Nigerian Stock Market Exchange as at June 25, 2014

No Debt Trading Activity

Daily Summary (Equities)

Activity Summary on Board EQTY

Activity Summary on Board EQTY AGRICULTURE Crop Production OKOMU OIL PALM PLC. PRESCO PLC Crop Production Totals Livestock/Animal Specialties LIVESTOCK FEEDS PLC. Livestock/Animal Specialties Totals

Symbol OKOMUOIL PRESCO

No. of Deals 50 11 61

Current Price 33.48 36.00

Quantity Traded 451,104 30,853 481,957

Value Traded 14,890,427.19 1,121,315.69 16,011,742.88

Symbol LIVESTOCK

No. of Deals 42 42

Current Price 3.15

Quantity Traded 2,164,232 2,164,232

Value Traded 6,678,712.80 6,678,712.80

2,646,189

22,690,455.68

Quantity Traded 249,940 576,941,608 114,572 577,306,120

Value Traded 352,434.05 3,026,542,395.98 6,849,278.66 3,033,744,108.69

577,306,120

3,033,744,108.69

AGRICULTURE Totals CONGLOMERATES Diversified Industries Daily Summary as LEVENTIS of 25/06/2014 A.G. NIGERIA PLC. Printed 25/06/2014 15:12:52.052 TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATION OF NIGERIA PLC U A C N PLC. Diversified Industries Totals CONGLOMERATES Totals

103 Symbol AGLEVENT TRANSCORP UACN

No. of Deals 8 543 45 596

Daily Summary (Equities)

Current Price 1.44 5.23 60.20

596

ICT Computer Based Systems COURTEVILLE BUSINESS SOLUTIONS PLC Computer Based Systems Totals

No. of Deals 14 14

Current Price 1.24

Quantity Traded Page 464,232 464,232

Infrastructure/Heavy Construction JULIUS BERGER NIG. PLC. Infrastructure/Heavy Construction Totals

Symbol JBERGER

No. of Deals 15 15

Current Price 76.45

Quantity Traded 58,847 58,847

Value Traded 4,295,377.70 4,295,377.70

Real Estate Development UACN PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT CO. LIMITED Real Estate Development Totals

Symbol UAC-PROP

No. of Deals 22 22

Current Price 18.00

Quantity Traded 310,628 310,628

Value Traded 5,590,545.00 5,590,545.00

Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) UPDC REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) Totals

Symbol UPDCREIT

No. of Deals 1 1

Current Price 10.47

Quantity Traded 500 500

Value Traded 4,975.00 4,975.00

834,207

10,475,704.70

Quantity Traded 70,000 11,576 188,213 127,214 511,148 3,660,647

Value Traded 749,000.00 8,566.24 33,888,458.74 3,325,554.27 1,318,761.84 631,267,802.38

CONSTRUCTION/REAL ESTATE Totals CONSUMER GOODS

GOLDEN GUINEA BREW. PLC. GUINNESS NIG PLC INTERNATIONAL BREWERIES PLC. JOS INT. BREWERIES PLC. NIGERIAN BREW. PLC.

52 Symbol CHAMPION GOLDBREW GUINNESS INTBREW JOSBREW Daily Summary NB

No. of Deals 3 2 53 16 2 (Equities) 81

Current Price 10.70 0.71 180.20 26.03 2.58 172.00

Activity Summary on Board EQTY

Page

Published by The Nigerian Stock Exchange ©

CONSUMER GOODS Beverages--Brewers/Distillers Beverages--Brewers/Distillers Totals

Current Price

Quantity Traded 4,568,798

Value Traded 670,558,143.47

Beverages--Non-Alcoholic 7-UP BOTTLING COMP. PLC. Beverages--Non-Alcoholic Totals

Symbol 7UP

No. of Deals 12 12

Current Price 91.00

Quantity Traded 5,228 5,228

Value Traded 483,710.75 483,710.75

Food Products DANGOTE FLOUR MILLS PLC DANGOTE SUGAR REFINERY PLC FLOUR MILLS NIG. PLC. HONEYWELL FLOUR MILL PLC NATIONAL SALT CO. NIG. PLC N NIG. FLOUR MILLS PLC. U T C NIG. PLC. Food Products Totals

Symbol DANGFLOUR DANGSUGAR FLOURMILL HONYFLOUR NASCON NNFM UTC

No. of Deals 42 59 45 55 82 2 1 286

Current Price 8.08 9.42 77.00 4.10 11.05 19.75 0.54

Quantity Traded 147,246 2,351,633 131,879 2,363,887 4,566,261 7,547 6 9,568,459

Value Traded 1,192,286.44 22,055,931.10 10,092,589.71 9,608,403.85 51,660,016.69 141,657.19 3.12 94,750,888.10

Symbol CADBURY NESTLE

No. of Deals 19 53 72

Current Price 81.89 1,050.00

Quantity Traded 19,367 84,206 103,573

Value Traded 1,507,467.82 88,297,344.19 89,804,812.01

Symbol No. of Deals VITAFOAM 33 Daily Summary (Equities) 33

Current Price 4.44

Quantity Traded 721,078 721,078

Value Traded 3,109,736.62 3,109,736.62

Current Price 34.40 50.00

Quantity Traded 769,970 1,342,950 2,112,920

Personal/Household Products P Z CUSSONS NIGERIA PLC. UNILEVER NIGERIA PLC. Personal/Household Products Totals

Symbol PZ UNILEVER

No. of Deals 82 49 131

CONSUMER GOODS Totals FINANCIAL SERVICES Banking ACCESS BANK PLC. DIAMOND BANK PLC ECOBANK TRANSNATIONAL INCORPORATED FIDELITY BANK PLC GUARANTY TRUST BANK PLC. Daily Summary as of 25/06/2014 SKYE15:12:52.052 BANK PLC Printed 25/06/2014 STERLING BANK PLC. UNITED BANK FOR AFRICA PLC UNION BANK NIG.PLC. UNITY BANK PLC WEMA BANK PLC.

Insurance Carriers, and Published by The Nigerian StockBrokers Exchange © Services AIICO INSURANCE PLC. CONTINENTAL REINSURANCE PLC GUINEA INSURANCE PLC. INTERNATIONAL ENERGY INSURANCE COMPANY PLC LASACO ASSURANCE PLC. LAW UNION AND ROCK INS. PLC. LINKAGE ASSURANCE PLC MANSARD INSURANCE PLC MUTUAL BENEFITS ASSURANCE PLC. N.E.M INSURANCE CO (NIG) PLC. OASIS INSURANCE PLC PRESTIGE ASSURANCE CO. PLC. Daily Summary as of 25/06/2014 SOVEREIGN TRUST INSURANCE PLC Printed 25/06/2014 15:12:52.052 STANDARD ALLIANCE INSURANCE PLC. UNIVERSAL INSURANCE COMPANY PLC WAPIC INSURANCE PLC Insurance Carriers, Brokers and Services Totals Micro-Finance Banks NPF MICROFINANCE BANK PLC

Activity Summary on Board EQTY FINANCIAL SERVICES Published by The Nigerian Stock Exchange © Micro-Finance Banks Micro-Finance Banks Totals

Other Financial Institutions AFRICA PRUDENTIAL REGISTRARS PLC CUSTODIAN AND ALLIED PLC FBN HOLDINGS PLC FCMB GROUP PLC. ROYAL EXCHANGE PLC. STANBIC IBTC HOLDINGS PLC UBA CAPITAL PLC Other Financial Institutions Totals

691 Symbol No. of Deals ACCESS 192 DIAMONDBNK 53 ETI 109 FIDELITYBK 108 GUARANTY 321 SKYEBANK 136 STERLNBANK 33 UBA 203 UBN 62 Daily Summary (Equities) UNITYBNK 14 WEMABANK 42

HEALTHCARE Totals Published by The Nigerian Stock Exchange ©

No. of Deals 1 1

Current Price 0.50

Quantity Traded 50,000 50,000

Value Traded 25,000.00 25,000.00

IT Services NCR (NIGERIA) PLC. IT Services Totals

Symbol NCR

No. of Deals 4 4

Current Price 15.20

Quantity Traded 7,898 7,898

Value Traded 120,125.60 120,125.60

Processing Systems CHAMS PLC Processing Systems Totals

Symbol CHAMS

No. of Deals 2 2

Current Price 0.50

Quantity Traded 2,000 2,000

Value Traded 1,000.00 1,000.00

Telecommunications Services

Symbol MTI

No. of Deals 1

Current Price 0.50

Quantity Traded 400

Value Traded 200.00

Page

Value Traded 27,143,357.33 67,108,937.34 94,252,294.67

17,080,056

952,959,585.62

Current Price 9.70 6.40 16.49 2.02 28.94 3.30 2.32 7.85 10.00 0.50 0.99

Quantity Traded 20,807,366 2,490,539 17,014,156 6,036,402 20,182,946 10,535,296 4,861,832 12,826,661 232,637 3,828,111 6,202,730

Value Traded 201,951,370.92 15,829,554.81 284,311,581.62 12,104,103.79 584,015,621.38 34,792,459.34 11,291,159.95 100,223,989.91 2,342,217.16 1,914,055.50 6,133,154.18

Value Traded 716,312,743.38 1,971,222,011.94

5 of 13 Value Traded

2,451 Symbol EVANSMED FIDSON GLAXOSMITH MAYBAKER NEIMETH PHARMDEKO

No. of Deals 9 37 32 22 18 1 119 119

Current Price 2.40 3.10 65.00 1.72 1.23 1.50

2,264,763

2,015,639.07

Value Traded 4,818,892.63 7,299,862.11 640,345,038.45 9,165,266.69 45,271.17 23,760,176.48 14,048,128.95 699,482,636.48

286,611,873

2,744,060,418.46

Quantity Traded 43,817 2,183,662 694,701 1,581,234 486,963 1,200 4,991,577

Value Traded 106,133.16 6,608,589.52 44,744,955.58 2,647,784.04 599,106.95 1,800.00 54,708,369.25

4,991,577

54,708,369.25

Page

Quantity Traded 68,833 400 69,233

Value Traded 129,406.04 200.00 129,606.04

Packaging/Containers BETA GLASS CO PLC. Packaging/Containers Totals

Symbol BETAGLAS

No. of Deals 4 4

Current Price 16.59

Quantity Traded 2,231 2,231

Value Traded 37,931.68 37,931.68

8,610,282

811,258,508.04

B.O.C. GASES PLC. Published by The Nigerian Stock Exchange © Chemicals Totals

312 Symbol BOCGAS

Petroleum and Petroleum Products Distributors CONOIL PLC ETERNA PLC. FORTE PLC. Daily Summary as ofOIL 25/06/2014 MOBIL15:12:52.052 OIL NIG PLC. Printed 25/06/2014 MRS OIL NIGERIA PLC. TOTAL NIGERIA PLC. Petroleum and Petroleum Products Distributors Totals

No. of Deals 2 2

Current Price 5.76

Quantity Traded 958 Page 958

Symbol No. of Deals Daily Summary (Equities)

Current Price 0.50

Quantity Traded 3,150,400 3,150,400

Current Price 0.79

Quantity Traded 3,172 3,172

Value Traded 2,410.72 2,410.72

3,154,530

1,582,879.72

MULTIVERSE

2 2

Page

Symbol THOMASWY

No. of Deals 2 2 6

Value Traded 5,269.00 of 13 5,269.00

Value Traded 1,575,200.00 1,575,200.00 9

Symbol JAPAULOIL

No. of Deals 383 383

Current Price 0.72

Quantity Traded 42,586,602 42,586,602

Value Traded 29,769,298.23 29,769,298.23

Symbol OANDO

No. of Deals 825 825

Current Price 30.38

Quantity Traded 21,315,295 21,315,295

Value Traded 666,325,578.35 666,325,578.35

Symbol CONOIL ETERNA FO MOBIL MRS TOTAL

No. of Deals 35 60 26 32 8 14 175

Current Price 67.80 4.78 250.01 131.55 70.00 171.60

Quantity Traded 206,565 1,631,604 137,596 98,221 21,590 37,245 2,132,821

Value Traded 13,307,278.25 7,829,867.76 32,680,425.96 13,158,786.16 1,444,825.00 6,401,391.57 74,822,574.70

Symbol SEPLAT

No. of Deals 27

Current Price 675.10

Quantity Traded 95,717

Value Traded 64,824,681.17

Symbol

No. of Deals 27

Current Price

Quantity Traded 95,717

Daily Summary (Equities)

1,410

Page

Value Traded 64,824,681.17

66,130,435

835,742,132.45

Symbol RTBRISCOE

No. of Deals 24 24

Current Price 1.03

Quantity Traded 640,460 640,460

Value Traded 668,828.20 668,828.20

Courier/Freight/Delivery RED STAR EXPRESS PLC TRANS-NATIONWIDE EXPRESS PLC. Courier/Freight/Delivery Totals

Symbol REDSTAREX TRANSEXPR

No. of Deals 8 2 10

Current Price 4.93 2.13

Quantity Traded 50,500 1,100 51,600

Value Traded 242,900.00 2,253.00 245,153.00

Employment Solutions C & I LEASING PLC. Employment Solutions Totals

Symbol CILEASING

No. of Deals 13 13

Current Price 0.54

Quantity Traded 1,445,298 1,445,298

Value Traded 781,960.92 781,960.92

Symbol IKEJAHOTEL

No. of Deals 13 13

Current Price 0.90

Quantity Traded 427,600 427,600

Value Traded 379,366.00 379,366.00

Symbol No. of Deals Daily Summary (Equities)

Current Price 0.50

Quantity Traded 368,157 368,157

Value Traded 184,078.50 184,078.50

Daily Summary as of 25/06/2014 Printed 25/06/2014 15:12:52.052 Hotels/Lodging

IKEJA HOTEL PLC Hotels/Lodging Totals

Media/Entertainment DAAR COMMUNICATIONS PLC Media/Entertainment Totals

DAARCOMM

1 1

Activity Summary on Board EQTY Published by The Nigerian Stock Exchange © SERVICES

Page

Printing/Publishing LEARN AFRICA PLC UNIVERSITY PRESS PLC. Printing/Publishing Totals

Symbol LEARNAFRCA UPL

No. of Deals 11 6 17

Current Price 1.65 4.35

Quantity Traded 314,239 13,078 327,317

Value Traded 493,517.65 56,063.08 549,580.73

Road Transportation ASSOCIATED BUS COMPANY PLC Road Transportation Totals

Symbol ABCTRANS

No. of Deals 18 18

Current Price 0.87

Quantity Traded 2,742,375 2,742,375

Value Traded 2,385,866.25 2,385,866.25

Transport-Related Services AIRLINE SERVICES AND LOGISTICS PLC NIGERIAN AVIATION HANDLING COMPANY PLC Transport-Related Services Totals

Symbol AIRSERVICE NAHCO

No. of Deals 11 36 47

Current Price 2.41 4.90

Quantity Traded 555,950 1,310,797 1,866,747

Value Traded 1,320,025.00 6,415,306.28 7,735,331.28

Support and Logistics CAVERTON OFFSHORE SUPPORT GRP PLC Support and Logistics Totals

Symbol CAVERTON

No. of Deals 85 85

Current Price 7.26

Quantity Traded 2,450,063 2,450,063

Value Traded 17,595,489.77 17,595,489.77

228

10,319,617

30,525,654.65

EQTY Board Totals

5,983

978,542,960

8,498,348,903.42

Equity Activity Totals

5,983

978,542,960

8,498,348,903.42

SERVICES Totals Daily Summary as of 25/06/2014 Printed 25/06/2014 15:12:52.052

Exchange Traded Fund

Name NEWGOLD EXCHANGE TRADED FUND (ETF) VETIVA GRIFFIN 30 ETF Published by The Nigerian Stock Exchange © Exchange Traded Fund Totals

Current Price 1.97 0.50

SERVICES Automobile/Auto Part Retailers R T BRISCOE PLC. Automobile/Auto Part Retailers Totals

Page Quantity Traded

Quantity Traded 1,467,616 2,052,036 41,595,306 2,223,588 88,767 919,121 6,018,870 54,365,304

Value Traded 15,764,016.27 20,829,576.15

Page

OIL AND GAS Totals

Value Traded 2,015,639.07

Current Price 3.25 3.57 15.80 4.25 0.53 26.00 2.32

Quantity Traded 397,763 1,788,507

20 74

No. of Deals 3 1 4

Exploration and Production Totals

Quantity Traded 2,264,763

No. of Deals 63 22 447 61 12 41 106 752

Current Price 40.00 11.64

CAP CCNN

Symbol CUTIX NIWICABLE

OIL AND GAS

Current Price 0.89

Symbol AFRIPRUD CUSTODYINS FBNH FCMB ROYALEX STANBIC UBCAP

Symbol No. of Deals Daily Summary (Equities)

Electronic and Electrical Products CUTIX PLC. NIGERIAN WIRE AND CABLE PLC. Electronic and Electrical Products Totals

Published by The Nigerian Stock Exchange © Exploration and Production

No. of Deals 11

Current Price

Quantity Traded 1,662,482 50,747

Value Traded 411,489,462.66 1,856.00 200.00 314,249,606.42 811,090,970.32

Exploration and Production SEPLAT PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT COMPANY LTD Activity Summary on Board EQTY

4Value Traded of 13 5,474,350.64 1,456,132.56 200.00 594,585.66 14,380.00 1,000.00 200.00 839,616.00 4,940,542.88 2,172,155.71 92,551.96 310,345.23 1,250.00 750.00 15,000.00 55,427,070.33 71,340,130.97

Value Traded 48,311,334.12 444,918.70

Current Price 29.00 9.00

Quantity Traded 1,796,916 1,600 400 2,840,403 8,538,818

Integrated Oil and Gas Services OANDO PLC Integrated Oil and Gas Services Totals

Quantity Traded Page 6,441,921 1,334,984 400 1,133,066 28,760 2,000 400 327,050 9,501,044 2,564,649 180,048 581,649 2,500 1,500 30,000 73,939,256 96,069,227

601,086.16

Current Price 235.00 1.11 0.50 112.00

OIL AND GAS Energy Equipment and Services JAPAUL OIL & MARITIME SERVICES PLC Energy Equipment and Services Totals

Current Price 0.85 1.09 0.50 0.53 0.50 0.50 0.50 2.52 0.52 0.84 0.51 0.54 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.76

858,074

No. of Deals 79 16

NATURAL RESOURCES Totals

No. of Deals 42 8 1 19 3 1 1 8 19 33 6 7 1 1 1 62 213

200.00

No. of Deals 58 2 1 54 304

Paper/Forest Products THOMAS WYATT NIG. PLC. Paper/Forest Products Totals

Symbol AIICO CONTINSURE GUINEAINS INTENEGINS LASACO LAWUNION LINKASSURE MANSARD MBENEFIT NEM OASISINS PRESTIGE SOVRENINS STDINSURE UNIVINSURE WAPIC

No. of Deals 11

Symbol ASHAKACEM BERGER

Activity Summary on Board EQTY

400

Symbol DANGCEM DNMEYER IPWA WAPCO

Published by The Nigerian Stock Exchange © NATURAL RESOURCES

Quantity Traded 28,893,903 133,912,579

Symbol

INDUSTRIAL GOODS Building Materials DANGOTE CEMENT PLC DN MEYER PLC. IPWA PLC LAFARGE WAPCO PLC. Building Materials Totals

Mining Services MULTIVERSE PLC Mining Services Totals

Current Price 25.00

Symbol NPFMCRFBK

Activity Summary on Board EQTY

Daily Summary (Equities)

INDUSTRIAL GOODS Totals

No. of Deals 202 1,475

Daily Summary (Equities)

Building Materials CAP PLC CEMENT CO. OF NORTH.NIG. PLC

Daily Summary asRESOURCES of 25/06/2014 NATURAL Printed 25/06/2014 15:12:52.052 Chemicals

Symbol ZENITHBANK

FINANCIAL SERVICES Totals HEALTHCARE Pharmaceuticals EVANS MEDICAL PLC. FIDSON HEALTHCARE PLC GLAXO SMITHKLINE CONSUMER NIG. PLC. MAY & BAKER NIGERIA PLC. NEIMETH INTERNATIONAL PHARMACEUTICALS PLC PHARMA-DEKO PLC. Pharmaceuticals Totals

Symbol OMATEK

INDUSTRIAL GOODS

Activity Summary on Board EQTY FINANCIAL SERVICES Banking ZENITH INTERNATIONAL BANK PLC Banking Totals

Computers and Peripherals OMATEK VENTURES PLC Computers and Peripherals Totals

Daily Summary as of 25/06/2014 Building Materials Printed 25/06/2014 15:12:52.052 ASHAKA CEM PLC BERGER PAINTS PLC Activity Summary on Board EQTY

Activity Summary on Board EQTY CONSUMER GOODS Published by The Nigerian Stock Exchange ©

Value Traded 454,760.56 454,760.56

ICT Totals

Value Traded of 13 584,807.00 584,807.00

No. of Deals 157

Household Durables VITAFOAM NIG PLC. Household Durables Totals

Quantity Traded 797,776 797,776

Telecommunications Services Totals

Symbol

Food Products--Diversified CADBURY NIGERIA PLC. Daily Summary as of 25/06/2014 NESTLE NIGERIA PLC. Printed 25/06/2014 15:12:52.052 Food Products--Diversified Totals

Current Price 0.57

Published by The Nigerian Stock Exchange © INDUSTRIAL GOODS

Symbol COSTAIN

Daily Summary as of 25/06/2014 Beverages--Brewers/Distillers Printed 25/06/2014 15:12:52.052 CHAMPION BREW. PLC.

No. of Deals 7 7

Daily Summary as of 25/06/2014 MASS TELECOMMUNICATION INNOVATIONS NIGERIA PLC 15:12:52.052 Printed 25/06/2014

Activity Summary on Board EQTY CONSTRUCTION/REAL ESTATE Building Structure/Completion/Other Published byCOSTAIN The Nigerian Exchange © (W Stock A) PLC. Building Structure/Completion/Other Totals

Symbol COURTVILLE

Daily Summary (ETP) Symbol NEWGOLD VETGRIF30

No. of Deals 1 1 2

Current Price 2,075.00 19.12

Quantity Traded 7 2,000 Page 2,007

Value Traded 14,525.00

12 38,240.00 of 13 52,765.00

ETF Board Totals

2,007

52,765.00

ETP Activity Totals

2,007

52,765.00

BUSINESS | FINANCIAL MARKET 43

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, June 26, 2014

FMDQ Daily Quotations List

25-Jun-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.

Bonds

Price

FGN Bonds Issuer

Rating/Agency

Description 9.25 28-SEP-2014 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

Issue Date

Coupon (%)

Outstanding Value (N'bn)

28-Sep-07 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

9.25 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

100.00 535.00 500.27 452.80 20.00 100.00 300.00 351.30 233.90 600.00 165.17 75.00 150.00 200.00 591.57

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE Rating/Agency

Bid Price

Offer Price

0.26 0.83 2.14 2.84 3.09 3.18 3.93 5.01 5.33 7.59 9.72 14.43 14.91 15.41 16.08

10.72 10.73 11.52 11.51 11.45 11.45 11.47 11.56 11.56 12.15 12.26 12.75 12.80 12.86 12.99

10.13 10.06 11.44 11.45 11.33 11.33 11.37 11.48 11.47 12.10 12.21 12.71 12.76 12.80 12.94

99.57 94.79 102.80 108.45 95.91 94.49 97.61 116.55 82.21 120.60 110.80 114.67 97.91 71.05 80.00

99.72 95.29 102.95 108.60 96.21 94.79 97.91 116.85 82.51 120.90 111.10 114.97 98.21 71.35 80.30

Maturity Date

TTM (Yrs)

28-Sep-14 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

4,375.01 Issuer

Agency Bonds AMCON FMBN

Bid Yield (%)

Offer Yield (%)

***LCRM

Description

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

Issue Date

Coupon (%)

Issue 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 6.00 112.22 116.70 66.49

31-Oct-14 24-May-15 03-Apr-17 09-Dec-16 20-Apr-17 06-Jul-17

0.35 0.91 1.40 2.46 2.82 3.03

1.00 2.63 2.27 2.00 1.00 1.00

11.60 13.32 13.20 13.39 12.43 12.45

96.12 88.89 105.37 98.45 96.94 94.46

05-Aug-14 15-Oct-14 31-Aug-15 30-Sep-15 30-Jun-16 30-Jun-16 19-Apr-17 30-Jun-17 31-Dec-17 30-Sep-18 04-Oct-18 09-Dec-18 12-Dec-18 14-Feb-19 02-Oct-19 22-Nov-19 12-Dec-19 30-Sep-20 27-Nov-20 31-Dec-20 31-Dec-20 06-Jan-21

0.11 0.31 1.18 0.79 1.08 1.09 2.82 1.65 3.52 2.49 4.28 2.69 2.69 3.07 3.14 5.41 3.20 3.82 6.43 6.52 3.82 3.86

1.56 3.29 4.44 3.23 4.46 3.48 5.59 1.00 1.79 1.80 1.00 1.00 4.78 1.00 1.00 1.00 2.74 1.00 1.00 1.94 1.44 1.95

11.75 13.82 15.22 13.97 15.17 14.20 17.02 12.10 13.25 13.19 12.47 12.42 16.20 12.45 12.45 12.58 14.19 12.46 12.82 13.78 12.90 13.41

100.18 99.94 97.10 99.86 98.73 101.53 84.74 102.65 102.05 101.86 104.90 104.59 95.57 105.03 107.79 107.34 101.38 106.61 102.89 105.13 116.44 116.11

07-Oct-14 18-Dec-14 31-Dec-14 17-Aug-15 09-Dec-15 06-Jan-16 29-Sep-16 25-Oct-16 30-Sep-17 30-Nov-17 09-Apr-18 09-Sep-18 09-Sep-18 22-Sep-18 18-Oct-18 17-Feb-19 01-Apr-19 14-Nov-20

0.28 0.48 0.52 0.66 0.98 0.82 2.26 2.33 3.27 2.08 2.04 2.21 2.21 4.24 2.31 2.40 3.52 6.39

1.00 5.21 8.71 4.88 1.00 2.63 1.00 1.34 1.00 1.88 3.48 5.20 5.06 1.35 2.29 6.11 2.16 2.76

11.49 16.04 19.56 15.67 11.67 13.36 12.37 12.72 12.45 13.23 14.82 16.56 16.42 12.82 13.66 17.49 13.62 14.57

99.92 98.85 98.79 96.32 100.46 100.72 101.16 102.97 101.38 109.28 102.33 102.93 101.95 103.72 104.26 99.32 106.48 102.72

11-Feb-18

3.63

1.00

12.46

93.53

Maturity Date

Bid Yield (%)

Offer Yield (%)

Bid Price

Offer Price

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

1,304.32

Sub-National Bonds A/Agusto A-/GCR A+/Agusto A/Agusto Nil A+/Agusto A+/Agusto; A+/GCR A-/Agusto A/Agusto A+/Agusto; A+/GCR A-/Agusto; A-/GCR A/Agusto; A-/GCR† A-/Agusto A/Agusto; A-/GCR A/Agusto; A-/GCR Aa-/Agusto; AA-/GCR A/Agusto; A-/GCR A/Agusto Aa-/Agusto; AA-/GCR A-/Agusto; BBB+/DataPro A/Agusto A-/GCR

KWARA NIGER KADUNA *EBONYI *BENUE *IMO LAGOS *BAYELSA EDO *DELTA NIGER *EKITI *NIGER *ONDO *GOMBE LAGOS *OSUN *OSUN LAGOS KOGI *EKITI *NASARAWA

14.00 KWARA 5-AUG-2014 14.00 NIGER 15-OCT-2014 12.50 KADUNA 31-AUG-2015 13.00 EBONYI 30-SEP-2015 14.00 BENUE 30-JUN-2016 15.50 IMO 30-JUN-2016 10.00 LAGOS 19-APR-2017 13.75 BAYELSA 30-JUN-2017 14.00 EDO 31-DEC-2017 14.00 DELTA 30-SEP-2018 14.00 NIGER II 4-OCT-2018 14.50 EKITI 09-DEC-2018 14.00 NIGER III 12-DEC-2018 15.50 ONDO 14-FEB-2019 15.50 GOMBE 02-OCT-2019 14.50 LAGOS 22-NOV-2019 14.75 OSUN 12-DEC-2019 14.75 OSUN II 30-SEP-2020 13.50 LAGOS IV 27-NOV-2020 15.00 KOGI 31-DEC-2020 14.50 EKITI II 31-DEC-2020 15.00 NASARAWA 06-JAN-2021

05-Aug-09 15-Oct-09 31-Aug-10 30-Sep-10 30-Jun-11 30-Jun-09 19-Apr-10 30-Jun-10 30-Dec-10 30-Sep-11 04-Oct-11 09-Dec-11 12-Dec-13 14-Feb-12 02-Oct-12 22-Nov-12 12-Dec-12 30-Sep-13 27-Nov-13 31-Dec-13 31-Dec-13 06-Jan-14

14.00 14.00 12.50 13.00 14.00 15.50 10.00 13.75 14.00 14.00 14.00 14.50 14.00 15.50 15.50 14.50 14.75 14.75 13.50 15.00 14.50 15.00

17.00 6.00 8.50 16.50 13.00 18.50 57.00 50.00 25.00 50.00 9.00 20.00 12.00 27.00 20.00 80.00 30.00 11.40 87.00 5.00 5.00 5.00

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

572.90

Corporate Bonds A+/Agusto; AA/GCR Aa/Agusto Nil Bbb-/Agusto A-/Agusto BB+/GCR A+/Agusto; A-/GCR A-/Agusto A/GCR BBB-/GCR BBB+/DataPro†; BB+/GCR A-/DataPro†; BB-/GCR AAA/DataPro†; A+/GCR A/Agusto; A/GCR Bbb+/Agusto; BBB+/GCR BBB-/DataPro†; BB+/GCR BBB/GCR A+/Agusto; A-/GCR

LAFARGE WAPCO GTB µ NGC *UPDC *FLOURMILLS *CHELLARAMS NAHCO FSDH UBA *C & I LEASING *DANA# *TOWER# *TOWER# UBA *LA CASERA *CHELLARAMS# *DANA NAHCO

11.50 LAFARGE WAPCO 7-OCT 2014 13.50 GUARANTY TRUST 18-DEC-2014 17.00 NGC 31-DEC-2014 10.00 UPDC 17-AUG-2015 12.00 FLOURMILLS 9-DEC-2015 14.00 CHELLARAMS 06-JAN-2016 13.00 NAHCO 29-SEP-2016 14.25 FSDH 25-OCT-2016 13.00 UBA 30-SEP-2017 18.00 C&I LEASING 30-NOV-2017 MPR+7.00 DANA 9-APR-2018 MPR+7.00 TOWER 9-SEP-2018 MPR+5.25 TOWER 9-SEP-2018 14.00 UBA II 22-SEP-2018 15.75 LA CASERA 18-OCT-2018 MPR+5.00 CHELLARAMS II 17-FEB-2019 16.00 DANA II 1-APR-2019 15.25 NAHCO II 14-NOV-2020

07-Oct-11 18-Dec-09 01-Apr-10 17-Aug-10 09-Dec-10 06-Jan-11 29-Sep-11 25-Oct-13 30-Sep-10 30-Nov-12 09-Apr-11 09-Sep-11 09-Sep-11 22-Sep-11 18-Oct-13 17-Feb-12 01-Apr-14 14-Nov-13

11.50 13.50 17.00 10.00 12.00 14.00 13.00 14.25 13.00 18.00 16.00 18.00 16.00 14.00 15.75 17.00 16.00 15.25

11.80 13.17 2.00 15.00 37.50 1.50 15.00 5.53 20.00 0.94 8.01 3.63 1.00 35.00 3.00 0.54 4.50 2.05

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

180.17

Supranational Bond AAA/S&P

10.20 IFC 11-FEB-2018

IFC

11-Feb-13

10.20

12.00

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE Rating/Agency

12.00 Issuer

Description

Issue Date

Coupon (%)

Issue Value ($'mm)

FGN Eurobonds

Prices & Yields

BB-/Fitch; B+/S&P BB-/Fitch; BB-/S&P

FGN

BB-/Fitch; BB-/S&P

6.75 JAN 28, 2021

07-Oct-11

6.75

500.00

28-Jan-21

4.91

4.76

110.23

111.15

5.13 JUL 12, 2018

18-Dec-09

5.13

500.00

12-Jul-18

4.19

3.98

103.43

104.25

6.38 JUL 12, 2023

01-Apr-10

6.38

500.00

12-Jul-23

5.30

5.18

107.62

108.54

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

1,500.00

Corporate Eurobonds AFREN PLC I

11.50 FEB 01, 2016

01-Feb-11

11.50

450.00

01-Feb-16

3.95

3.12

111.48

112.87

GTBANK PLC I

7.50 MAY 19, 2016

19-May-11

7.50

500.00

19-May-16

4.99

4.22

104.45

105.88

GTBANK PLC

6.00 NOV 08, 2018

08-Nov-13

6.00

400.00

08-Nov-18

6.16

5.90

99.38

100.36

7.25 JUL 25, 2017

25-Jul-12

7.25

350.00

25-Jul-17

7.05

6.48

100.53

102.11

6.88 MAY 09, 2018

09-May-13

6.88

300.00

02-May-18

8.66

8.25

94.24

95.52

AFREN PLC

10.25 APR 08, 2019

08-Apr-12

10.25

300.00

08-Apr-19

5.20

4.39

113.12

114.62

ZENITH BANK PLC FIRST BANK PLC

6.25 APR 22, 2019

22-Apr-14

6.25

500.00

22-Apr-19

6.41

6.21

99.33

100.16

B/S&P; B-/Fitch

8.25 AUG 07, 2020

07-Aug-13

8.25

300.00

07-Aug-20

7.11

6.69

103.99

105.50

B+/S&P; B+/Fitch

AFREN PLC

6.63 DEC 09, 2020

09-Dec-13

6.63

360.00

09-Dec-20

5.82

5.55

103.13

104.18

B-/S&P; B/Fitch B+/S&P; B+/Fitch B+/S&P B/S&P; B/Fitch B/Fitch B+/Fitch; BB-/S&P

ACCESS BANK PLC FIDELITY BANK PLC

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

3,460.00

**Treasury Bills DTM 8 15 22 29 36 43

FIXINGS Maturity 3-Jul-14 10-Jul-14 17-Jul-14 24-Jul-14 31-Jul-14 7-Aug-14

Bid Discount (%) 10.25 8.00 10.10 9.85 10.00 9.90

Offer Discount (%) 10.00 7.75 9.85 9.60 9.75 9.65

Bid Yield (%) 10.27 8.03 10.16 9.93 10.10 10.02

Money Market

NIBOR Tenor O/N 1M 3M 6M

Rate (%) 10.5000 12.0872 13.0270 14.0210

Foreign Exchange (Spot & Forwards)

Tenor

Rate (%)

OBB

10.25

Tenor

Bid ($/N)

Offer ($/N)

10.50

Spot 7D 14D 1M

162.90 163.00 163.26 163.84

163.00 163.26 163.48 164.36

O/N Tenor

REPO

Rate (%)

06-Jul-12

0.00/16.50

66.49

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

06-Jul-17

3.03

1.00

12.45

94.46

1,304.32

KWARA NIGER KADUNA *EBONYI *BENUE *IMO LAGOS *BAYELSA EDO *DELTA NIGER *EKITI *NIGER *ONDO *GOMBE LAGOS *OSUN *OSUN LAGOS KOGI *EKITI *NASARAWA

14.00 KWARA 5-AUG-2014 14.00 NIGER 15-OCT-2014 12.50 KADUNA 31-AUG-2015 13.00 EBONYI 30-SEP-2015 14.00 BENUE 30-JUN-2016 15.50 IMO 30-JUN-2016 10.00 LAGOS 19-APR-2017 13.75 BAYELSA 30-JUN-2017 14.00 EDO 31-DEC-2017 14.00 DELTA 30-SEP-2018 14.00 NIGER II 4-OCT-2018 14.50 EKITI 09-DEC-2018 14.00 NIGER III 12-DEC-2018 15.50 ONDO 14-FEB-2019 15.50 GOMBE 02-OCT-2019 14.50 LAGOS 22-NOV-2019 14.75 OSUN 12-DEC-2019 14.75 OSUN II 30-SEP-2020 13.50 LAGOS IV 27-NOV-2020 said the Quotation Committeee 31-DEC-2020 of 15.00 the KOGI National Council of the 14.50 EKITI II 31-DEC-2020 NSE had approved the delisting 15.00 NASARAWA 06-JAN-2021

05-Aug-09 14.00 15-Oct-09 14.00 31-Aug-10 12.50 30-Sep-10 13.00 30-Jun-11 14.00 30-Jun-09 15.50 19-Apr-10 10.00 30-Jun-10 13.75 30-Dec-10 14.00 30-Sep-11 14.00 04-Oct-11 14.00 09-Dec-11 14.50 12-Dec-13 14.00 14-Feb-12 15.50 02-Oct-12 15.50 22-Nov-12 14.50 12-Dec-12 14.75 30-Sep-13 14.75 27-Nov-13 13.50 arrived at its decision. 31-Dec-13 15.00 Onyema said that the position 31-Dec-13 14.50 of shareholders who15.00 criticise 06-Jan-14

BUSINESS | FINANCIAL MARKET NEWS

INFRACTION

NSE reinstates commitment to ensure compliance to post listing requirements Stories by Chris Ugwu

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

Corporate Bonds he Nigerian

Stock Ex-

change (NSE) hasLAFARGE described A+/Agusto; AA/GCR WAPCO the intention to delist Aa/Agusto GTB about Nil21 companies as µa NGC move by Bbb-/Agusto to further *UPDC regulators protect A-/Agusto *FLOURMILLS investors' interest through its BB+/GCR *CHELLARAMS zero tolerance posture on marA+/Agusto; A-/GCR NAHCO ketA-/Agusto infractions. FSDH Chief Executive Officer of A/GCR UBA the NSE, Mr. Oscar Onyema, BBB-/GCR *C & I LEASING stated this yesterday at the sec# BBB+/DataPro†; BB+/GCR *DANA ond quarterBB-/GCR meeting of the #CapA-/DataPro†; *TOWER ital Market A+/GCR Committee (CMC) # AAA/DataPro†; *TOWER held in Lagos. A/Agusto; A/GCR UBA The NSEBBB+/GCR had served a noBbb+/Agusto; *LA CASERA BBB-/DataPro†; BB+/GCR *CHELLARAMS tice to 21 companies planning# to BBB/GCR delist them for failing *DANA to file A+/Agusto; A-/GCR quarterly and annualNAHCO financial TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUEunder statements as required the listing rules. Supranational Bond The notice, which was postAAA/S&P IFCwebsite, ed on the Exchange’s TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

17.00 05-Aug-14 0.11 6.00 15-Oct-14 0.31 8.50 31-Aug-15 1.18 16.50 30-Sep-15 0.79 13.00 30-Jun-16 1.08 18.50 30-Jun-16 1.09 57.00 19-Apr-17 2.82 50.00 30-Jun-17 1.65 25.00 31-Dec-17 3.52 50.00 30-Sep-18 2.49 9.00 04-Oct-18 4.28 20.00 09-Dec-18 2.69 12.00 12-Dec-18 2.69 27.00 14-Feb-19 3.07 20.00 02-Oct-19 3.14 80.00 22-Nov-19 5.41 30.00 12-Dec-19 3.20 11.40 30-Sep-20 3.82 87.00 27-Nov-20 6.43 your financial statement to the 5.00 31-Dec-20 6.52 regulators. On what basis are 5.00 31-Dec-20 3.82 they 5.00 protesting?”. 06-Jan-21 3.86

Sanctity of Truth

Plan to delist Daar, Starcomms, others in investors’ interest –Onyema of the companies. Some of the companies affected are, Daar Commu11.50 LAFARGE WAPCO 2014 Plc, nications Plc, Big7-OCT Treat 13.50 GUARANTY TRUST 18-DEC-2014 Starcomms Plc and UTC Plc, 17.00 NGC 31-DEC-2014 IPWA Plc, Nigeria Wire and 10.00 UPDC 17-AUG-2015 Cable Plc, Afroil Plc and Gold12.00 FLOURMILLS 9-DEC-2015 link Insurance Plc. 14.00 CHELLARAMS 06-JAN-2016 Onyema was speaking 13.00 NAHCO 29-SEP-2016 against the backdrop of some 14.25 FSDH 25-OCT-2016 shareholders' demand for bet13.00 UBA 30-SEP-2017 ter18.00 protection investors in C&I LEASINGfor 30-NOV-2017 theMPR+7.00 country , following the disDANA 9-APR-2018 closure by the9-SEP-2018 Nigerian Stock MPR+7.00 TOWER Exchange that it was in the proMPR+5.25 TOWER 9-SEP-2018 14.00 II 22-SEP-2018 cess ofUBA delisting 21 companies. 15.75 LAshareholders, CASERA 18-OCT-2018 who laThe MPR+5.00 CHELLARAMS II 17-FEB-2019 mented that investors, especial16.00 DANA II 1-APR-2019 ly domestic retail investors, al15.25suffered NAHCO II 14-NOV-2020 ways significant losses whenever companies were delisted, said there was the need for the Exchange to provide 10.20 IFC 11-FEB-2018 more information about how it

the plan because it was meant to emasculate their investment was erroneous as the exercise 07-Oct-11 of the exchange's 11.50 is a testimony 18-Dec-09 to zero 13.50 commitment tolerance 01-Apr-10 for non-compliance to17.00 post list17-Aug-10 10.00 ing rules and requirements. 12.00 He 09-Dec-10 said, “We have listing 06-Jan-11 14.00 standards and we are simply 29-Sep-11 13.00 enforcing the standards. What 25-Oct-13 14.25 we have done is to indicate some 30-Sep-10 13.00 companies that are going to be 30-Nov-12 18.00 delisted and not that16.00 we have 09-Apr-11 delisted them. We put them on 09-Sep-11 18.00 notice09-Sep-11 that we are very serious 16.00 about22-Sep-11 it. 14.00 "I want to note that 18-Oct-13 15.75a number of17-Feb-12 shareholders 17.00 said that we are01-Apr-14 not protecting16.00 their in15.25 terest;14-Nov-13 in reality we are protecting them. I am making it very clear that you cannot be a listed company and stayed for two or 10.20 three 11-Feb-13 years without providing

He added that the NSE like any other exchanges had every right to list and delist companies. 11.80 0.28 Speaking 07-Oct-14 on the demutuali13.17 0.48 sation of the18-Dec-14 exchange , Ony2.00 said the 31-Dec-14 0.52 ema regulators were 15.00 17-Aug-15 0.66 working hard towards it with 0.98 a37.50 committee09-Dec-15 in place. 1.50 06-Jan-16 0.82 He said, "We cannot demu15.00 29-Sep-16 2.26 tuslise in a vacuum, but within 5.53 25-Oct-16 2.33

572.90

20.00 30-Sep-17 3.27 0.94 30-Nov-17 2.08 8.01 09-Apr-18 2.04 3.63 09-Sep-18 2.21 1.00 09-Sep-18 2.21 35.00 22-Sep-18 4.24 3.00 18-Oct-18 2.31 0.54hareholders 17-Feb-19 of UAC of2.40 Ni4.50geria Plc01-Apr-19 yesterday at3.52 the 2.05Annual General 14-Nov-20 6.39 Meeting

Issuer

Description

has been named the Ebycobank Best Trade Bank in Nigeria London-based Trade FiFGN Eurobonds

nance, as Nigeria continues to implement economic 6.75 JAN 28,and 2021 strucBB-/Fitch; B+/S&P tural reforms to create a stronger BB-/Fitch; FGN 5.13 JULeconomy 12, 2018 nance magazine in their 2013 and a more diverse . BB-/S&P Awards for Excellence. “Our pan-African orientaBB-/Fitch; JUL 12, 2023 Their annual survey ranks tion presents6.38enormous opBB-/S&P firms based on votes gathered portunities for intra-African TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE from industry players and mem- trade,”said Foluke Aboderin, bers of theEurobonds magazine's editorial Executive Director, Corporate Corporate team. Manufacturers, exporters, Bank, Ecobank Nigeria. 11.50 FEB 01, 2016 “We B-/S&P; B/Fitch AFREN PLC I importers, traders, government have been particularly active in 7.50 MAY 19, 2016 GTBANK PLC I B+/S&P; B+/Fitch and multilateral agencies were the oil and gas6.00 sector but we are NOV 08, 2018 GTBANK PLC consulted for their input on this seeing increasing for 7.25 JULdemand 25, 2017 B+/S&P ACCESS BANK PLC survey . our innovative 6.88financing MAY 09, 2018 soluB/S&P; B/Fitch FIDELITY BANK PLC This award comes amidst tions, including online cor10.25our APR 08, 2019 B/Fitch AFREN PLC a growing demand for trade fi- porate banking6.25 service, Ecobank APR 22, 2019 B+/Fitch; BB-/S&P ZENITH BANK PLC

will eventually lead us to demutuslisation." On NASD OTC, the Director 1.00 11.49Nigeria99.92 General of the Stock 5.21 16.04Aruma 98.85 Exchange Ms. Otteh, 8.71that 12 companies 19.56 98.79listsaid had 15.67 96.32 ed 4.88 so far since the commence1.00 100.46 ment in May 11.67 2013 and that six 2.63 13.36 100.72 more companies were currently 1.00 12.37 101.16 being processed. 1.34 12.72 102.97 1.00 12.45 101.38 1.88 13.23 109.28 3.48 14.82 102.33 5.20 16.56 102.93 5.06 16.42 101.95 1.35 12.82 103.72 2.29 13.66 104.26 6.11 17.49 99.32 at Addressing shareholders 13.62 the2.16 AGM in Lagos, UAC106.48 Chair2.76 Senator14.57 102.72 man, Udoma Udo Udo-

Shareholders endorse UAC's N3.3bn dividend

180.17 approved

the company’s N3.3 billion dividend, amounting to N1.75 per every 50 kobo share, 12.00 11-Feb-18 3.63 for the 2013 financial year even 12.00 as the company assured of steady growth in profitability Issue Date Coupon (%) Issue Value Maturity Date Bid Yield (%) and($'mm) expansion. The shareholders who lauded Omni, from other key sectors in the company for the dividend the Nigerian , such as pay-out said 28-Jan-21 they were appre07-Oct-11 economy 6.75 500.00 4.91 telecoms, power, manufacturing ciative of the efforts which the 18-Dec-09 5.13 500.00 and agriculture.” company put12-Jul-18 in place to drive 4.19 In 2013, Ecobank Nigeria fa- the company for increased re01-Apr-10 6.38 500.00 on investment. 12-Jul-23 5.30 cilitated $1.2billion of petroleum turn product import deals and over 1,500.00 They said, over the years, the $450million of trade in crude oil company had been very consisacross the West African region. tent in delivering results. Additionally Nigeria 450.00 The company announced 01-Feb-11 , Ecobank 11.50 01-Feb-16 3.95 a structured $100million7.50 of oil and top of 13 per 4.99 cent 19-May-11 500.00line growth 19-May-16 gas deals on behalf of petroleum from to 08-Nov-13 6.00 400.00 N69.6 billion 08-Nov-18 in 2012 6.16 importers in Southern N78.7 in 2013 as opera25-Jul-12 7.25 Africa. 350.00 billion25-Jul-17 7.05 Ecobank Nigeria also facilitated tional profit02-May-18 grew from N11.5 09-May-13 6.88 300.00 8.66 the export billion to N15.3 billion during 08-Apr-12of various 10.25non-oil 300.00 08-Apr-19 5.20 products across Africa. the 22-Apr-14 6.25 500.00period. 22-Apr-19 6.41

Ecobank gets best trade bank in Nigeria Rating/Agency

1.56 11.75 100.18 3.29 13.82 99.94 4.44 15.22 97.10 3.23 13.97 99.86 4.46 15.17 98.73 3.48 14.20 101.53 5.59 17.02 84.74 1.00 12.10 Thursday, June102.65 26, 2014 1.79 13.25 102.05 1.80 13.19 101.86 1.00 12.47 104.90 1.00 12.42 104.59 4.78 16.20 95.57 1.00 12.45 105.03 1.00 12.45 107.79 1.00 12.58 107.34 2.74 14.19 101.38 1.00 12.46 106.61 1.00 12.82 102.89 a framework and we are work1.94 13.78 105.13 ing1.44 with SEC12.90 to get the 116.44 proper frame that 1.95 work and 13.41 structure 116.11

ma, said the performance was made possible due to innovative and proactive responses to mar93.53 ket1.00 dynamics12.46 and competitive pressures by management “During the year we acOffer Yield (%)twoBid Price companies, Offer Price quired new Livestock Feeds PLC and Port& Yields landPrices Paints and Products Nigeria4.76 PLC; and continued to build 110.23 111.15 on our strategy of working with partners who103.43 bring value to our 3.98 104.25 businesses. 107.62 have strategic 5.18 currently 108.54 “We partners in Tiger Brands Limited for UAC Foods Limited, Imperial Logistics for MDS Logistics Limited and Famous Brands 3.12 111.48 112.87 for our4.22 UAC Restaurants Limited 104.45 105.88 businesses. These bold100.36 initia5.90 99.38 tives have repositioned our 6.48 100.53 102.11 group for sustainable growth 8.25 94.24 95.52 and4.39improved performance in 113.12 114.62 the6.21 years ahead,” 99.33 he said. 100.16

B/S&P; B-/Fitch

FIRST BANK PLC

8.25 AUG 07, 2020

07-Aug-13

8.25

300.00

07-Aug-20

7.11

6.69

103.99

105.50

B+/S&P; B+/Fitch

AFREN PLC

6.63 DEC 09, 2020

09-Dec-13

6.63

360.00

09-Dec-20

5.82

5.55

103.13

104.18

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

FMDQ Daily Quotations List

3,460.00

25-Jun-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 **Treasury Bills FIXINGS Money Market Foreign Exchange (Spot & Forwards) to the FMDQ OTC PLC Terms of Use and Disclaimer Statement.

DTM 8 15 FGN Bonds 22 29 36 Rating/Agency 43 50 57 64 71 78 85 92 99 106 113 120 127 148 162 197 211 225 TOTAL OUTSTANDING 239 253 288 Rating/Agency 302 316

VALUE

Agency Bonds

Maturity 3-Jul-14 10-Jul-14 17-Jul-14 24-Jul-14 31-Jul-14 Issuer 7-Aug-14 14-Aug-14 21-Aug-14 28-Aug-14 4-Sep-14 11-Sep-14 18-Sep-14 25-Sep-14 2-Oct-14 9-Oct-14 16-Oct-14 23-Oct-14 30-Oct-14 20-Nov-14 4-Dec-14 8-Jan-15 22-Jan-15 5-Feb-15 19-Feb-15 5-Mar-15 9-Apr-15 Issuer 23-Apr-15 7-May-15

Bid Discount (%) Offer Discount (%) 10.25 10.00 8.00 7.75 10.10 9.85 9.85 9.60 10.00 9.75 Description Issue Date 9.90 9.65 10.10 9.85 9.25 28-SEP-2014 28-Sep-07 10.00 9.75 4.00 23-APR-2015 23-Apr-10 10.15 9.90 13.05 16-AUG-2016 16-Aug-13 10.25 10.00 15.10 27-APR-2017 27-Apr-12 10.60 10.35 9.85 27-JUL-2017 27-Jul-07 10.65 10.40 9.35 31-AUG-2017 31-Aug-07 10.30 10.05 10.70 30-MAY-2018 30-May-08 10.70 10.45 16.00 29-JUN-2019 29-Jun-12 10.50 10.25 7.00 23-OCT-2019 23-Oct-09 10.75 10.50 16.39 27-JAN-2022 27-Jan-12 10.75 10.50 14.20 14-MAR-2024 14-Mar-14 10.80 10.55 15.00 28-NOV-2028 28-Nov-08 10.30 10.05 12.49 22-MAY-2029 22-May-09 10.35 10.10 8.50 20-NOV-2029 20-Nov-09 10.30 10.05 10.00 23-JUL-2030 23-Jul-10 10.30 10.05 10.30 10.05 10.35 10.10 10.35 10.10 10.05 9.80 Description 10.05 9.80 9.85 9.60

0.00 AMCON 31-OCT-2014 (SR.5 TR.1) AMCON *from the Amortising 0.00 FMB 24-MAY-2015 #bonds, the average life is Risk Premium is a combination of credit risk and liquidity risk premiums FMBN 17.25 FMB II 03-APR-2017 **Exclusive NA of non-trading t.bills 0.00/16.00 LCRM 09-DEC-2016 ***LCRM 0.00/16.50 LCRM II 20-APR-2017 0.00/16.50 LCRM III 06-JUL-2017

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

Bid Yield (%) NIBOR 10.27 Bonds 8.03 Tenor Rate (%) 10.16 O/N 10.5000 9.93 1M 12.0872 Outstanding Value 10.10(%) 3M 13.0270 Coupon Maturity Date (N'bn) 10.02 6M 14.0210 10.24 9.25 100.00 28-Sep-14 10.16 4.00 535.00 23-Apr-15 10.33 13.05 500.27 NITTY 16-Aug-16 10.46 15.10 452.80 27-Apr-17 10.85 Tenor Rate (%) 9.85 20.00 27-Jul-17 10.92 1M 9.9996 9.35 100.00 31-Aug-17 10.57 2M 10.2338 10.70 300.00 30-May-18 11.02 3M 10.7777 16.00 351.30 29-Jun-19 10.83 6M 10.8878 7.00 233.90 23-Oct-19 11.12 9M 11.1034 16.39 600.00 27-Jan-22 11.14 12M 11.2882 14.20 165.17 14-Mar-24 11.22 15.00 75.00 28-Nov-28 10.75 12.49 150.00 22-May-29 10.85 NIFEX 20-Nov-29 8.50 200.00 10.91 10.00 591.57 23-Jul-30 10.95 Current Price ($/N) 11.00 BID($/N) 162.6375 4,375.01 11.10 OFFER ($/N) 162.7375 11.15 10.92 Issue Date Coupon (%) Issue Value (N'bn) 10.96 10.77

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 6.00 112.22 116.70 66.49

Tenor

Rate (%)

OBB

10.25

Tenor

10.50

Spot 7D Offer Yield 14D (%) 1M 2M 10.13 3M 10.06 6M 11.44 1Y 11.45

O/N

TTM (Yrs)REPO Bid Yield (%) Tenor Call 0.26 1M 0.83 3M 2.14 6M 2.84

Rate (%) 10.25 10.72 12.32 10.73 13.31 11.52 13.94 11.51 3.09 11.45 11.33 11.45 11.33 NOTE: 3.18 3.93 11.47 11.37 :Benchmarks 5.01 11.56 11.48 * :Amortising Bond 5.33 11.56 11.47 µ :Convertible Bond 7.59 12.15 12.10 AMCON: Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria 9.72 12.26 12.21 FGN: Federal Government of Nigeria 14.43 Mortgage Bank 12.75 FMBN: Federal of Nigeria 12.71 14.91 12.80 12.76 IFC: International Finance Corporation 15.41 Contractors Receivables 12.86 12.80 LCRM: Local Management 12.99 12.94 NAHCO:16.08 Nigerian Aviation Handling Company O/N: Overnight UPDC: UAC Property Development Company WAPCO:West Africa Portland Cement Company # Risk Avg. Life/TTM Maturity Date Premium (Yrs)

(%)

31-Oct-14 24-May-15 03-Apr-17 09-Dec-16 20-Apr-17 06-Jul-17

0.35 0.91 1.40 2.46 2.82 3.03

1.00 2.63 2.27 2.00 1.00 1.00

0.11 0.31Yield Implied 1.18 0.79 11.51 1.08 1.09 11.97 2.82 12.82 1.65 12.27 3.52 2.49 4.28 2.69 2.69 3.07 3.14 5.41 3.20 3.82 6.43

1.56 Implied 3.29 Portfolio Price 4.44 3.23 116.2338 4.46 3.48 131.5864 5.59 94.9329 1.00 115.6647 1.79 1.80 1.00 1.00 4.78 1.00 1.00 1.00 2.74 1.00 1.00

Bid ($/N)

Price

Offer ($/N)

162.90 163.00 163.00 163.26 163.26 163.48 Offer Price Bid Price 163.84 164.36 165.01 165.93 99.57 99.72 166.30 167.47 94.79 95.29 169.94 172.53 102.80 102.95 177.78 182.87 108.45 108.60 95.91 96.21 94.49 94.79 97.61 97.91 NA :Not Applicable 116.55 116.85 # :Floating Rate Bond 82.21 82.51 ***: Deferred coupon bonds 120.60 120.90 110.80 111.10 †: Bond rating expired 114.67 114.97 97.91 98.21 71.05 71.35 80.00 80.30 NGC: Nigeria-German Company UBA: United Bank for Africa

Valuation Yield (%)

Indicative Price

11.60 13.32 13.20 13.39 12.43 12.45

96.12 88.89 105.37 98.45 96.94 94.46

1,304.32

FMDQ FGN BOND INDEX

KWARA Modified Duration NIGER Buckets KADUNA *EBONYI <3 *BENUE 3<5 *IMO LAGOS >5 *BAYELSA Market EDO *DELTA NIGER *EKITI *NIGER *ONDO *GOMBE LAGOS *OSUN *OSUN LAGOS

14.00 KWARA 5-AUG-2014 Porfolio Market Total Outstanding 14.00 NIGER 15-OCT-2014 Value(Bn) Volume(Bn) 12.50 KADUNA 31-AUG-2015 13.00 EBONYI 30-SEP-2015 1,005.34 953.07 14.00 BENUE 30-JUN-2016 1,133.04 951.30 15.50 IMO 30-JUN-2016 10.00 LAGOS 19-APR-2017 656.26 756.74 13.75 BAYELSA2,794.64 30-JUN-2017 2,661.11 14.00 EDO 31-DEC-2017 14.00 DELTA 30-SEP-2018 14.00 NIGER II 4-OCT-2018 14.50 EKITI 09-DEC-2018 14.00 NIGER III 12-DEC-2018 15.50 ONDO 14-FEB-2019 15.50 GOMBE 02-OCT-2019 14.50 LAGOS 22-NOV-2019 14.75 OSUN 12-DEC-2019 14.75 OSUN II 30-SEP-2020 13.50 LAGOS IV 27-NOV-2020

05-Aug-09 Weighting 15-Oct-09by Outstanding Vol 31-Aug-10 30-Sep-10 35.81 30-Jun-11 30-Jun-09 35.75 19-Apr-1028.44 30-Jun-10 100.00 30-Dec-10 30-Sep-11 04-Oct-11 09-Dec-11 12-Dec-13 14-Feb-12 02-Oct-12 22-Nov-12 12-Dec-12 30-Sep-13 27-Nov-13

14.00 Weighting 14.00by Mkt Value 12.50 13.00 14.00 35.97 15.50 40.54 10.00 23.48 13.75 100.00 14.00 14.00 14.00 14.50 14.00 15.50 15.50 14.50 14.75 14.75 13.50

17.00 Bucket 6.00 Weighting 8.50 16.50 13.00 0.36 18.50 0.36 57.00 0.28 50.00 1.00 25.00 50.00 9.00 20.00 12.00 27.00 20.00 80.00 30.00 11.40 87.00

05-Aug-14 % 15-Oct-14 Exposure_ Mod_Duration 31-Aug-15 30-Sep-15 18.27 30-Jun-16 30-Jun-16 36.30 19-Apr-17 45.43 30-Jun-17 100.00 31-Dec-17 30-Sep-18 04-Oct-18 09-Dec-18 12-Dec-18 14-Feb-19 02-Oct-19 22-Nov-19 12-Dec-19 30-Sep-20 27-Nov-20

11.75 13.82 INDEX 15.22 13.97 1,103.98 15.17 14.20 1,114.22 17.02 1,107.47 12.10 1,098.69 13.25 13.19 12.47 12.42 16.20 12.45 12.45 12.58 14.19 12.46 12.82

100.18 YTD99.94 Return (%) 97.10 99.86 10.3984 98.73 101.53 11.4223 84.74 10.7468 102.65 9.8692 102.05 101.86 104.90 104.59 95.57 105.03 107.79 107.34 101.38 106.61 102.89

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, June 26, 2014

CONFIDENCE

PDP can never win Rivers, says APC

Ikanya, APC boss in Rivers thinks nothing can compare his state forget about winning in the state next year. with Ekiti Chairman of the party,

Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, in a statement issued Yekeen Nurudeen yesterday, dismissed as Abuja a fluke, PDP’s victory in the Ekiti governorship ivers State chapter of election. the All Progressives He said the results of Congress (APC) yester- the election would go a day said the Peoples Demo- long way in uniting and cratic Party (PDP) should strengthening the APC,

Adum faults Suswam, adopts Al-Makura Cephas Iorhemen

Makurdi

ormer Commissioner for Justice in Benue State and governorship aspirant in next year’s general elections, Alex Adum, has promised to improve on the working document of Governor Gabriel Suswam. According to him, there was the need to review the blueprint of ‘Our Benue, Our Future’ as it has failed to address some teething problems confronting the people. Speaking at a news briefing at the NUJ House in Makurdi, Adum said Suswam’s development plan only achieved 30 per cent in its' implementation, stressing that there was the need for a review to be able to improve on the quality of lives of the people. Adum, who further faulted the process of land administration in the state, also reiterated his desire to ameliorate the problem through proper restructuring in the interest of the people. “The land master plan has been completely distorted. The manner they allocate land to individuals is indeed regrettable. For example, look at Achusa, behind the Assembly Quarters in Makurdi, there is no plan; land is just being allo-

cated anyhow. If I become governor, I will stop indiscriminate land allocation,” he said. The former commissioner, who resigned from office a fortnight ago to pursue his gubernatorial ambition, frowned at the state’s shares in Julius Berger Plc, which stands at between N70 and N80 million without been properly utilized, saying the shares are warehoused at the Benue Investment and Property Company (BIPC). He lauded Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura’s model in the development of primary schools in Nasarawa State, saying if elected governor, he would adopt the model to reposition primary school education in Benue. He promised to utilize all available means to improve the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to surpass the N250 billion realized in the last four years. “The existing leakages in the State Revenue Service, which permits the fleecing away of a substantial part of what is generated by some unscrupulous revenue officials, will be eliminated by the strict appliance of sanctions and introduction of special tracking mechanism,” Adum said.

Akinbade vows to remain in LP abour Party governorLAugust ship candidate in the 9, election in Osun State, Alhaji Fatai Akinbade, has debunked rumours making the rounds that he has defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Akinbade also dispelled the speculation that he has been disqualified from participating in the coming governorship election, assuring he would not only contest, but would win the coming poll. In a statement by his Director of Media, Mr. Kayode Oladeji, the former Secretary to the State Government, said the rumours could be traced to other contenders in the race, who he claimed were threatened by his enviable records.

According to the LP flag bearer, he was no longer a member of the PDP and would not go back to the party, adding that INEC has cleared him to contest the election. “My opponents are threatened by my track record and acceptability by the people, they know that at the coming polls, I will beat them silly and that is why they are cooking all kinds of stories that will not take them anywhere.” He added that the people are well informed and as such could not be deceived under whatever guise, stressing that; “I am the man the people want and come August 9, the dream of electing me as the governor shall come to pass by the grace of God and the support of our people.”

adding that what happened in Ekiti did not portend any danger for the party in 2015. “This development, which was unexpected, does not portend anything or any danger for the APC in 2015, especially in Rivers State. The Ekiti election has come and gone and we have learnt our lessons, which

89,070

will ensure a better outing in other elections. “That election will go a long way to unite and strengthen us to present a better APC to Nigerians for the battle to rescue and reposition Nigeria,” he said. Ikanya said it was erroneous to think that what happened in Ekiti would affect Rivers State

The number of refugees and people in refugee-like situation at the beginning of 2010. Source: Blatantworld.com

politics come 2015. “The factors that led to the defeat in Ekiti are well known, but are totally different from the case in Rivers State. No matter the challenges or odds, Rivers remains an APC State. I am supremely confident that the good people of Rivers State will renew their cov-

10%

The percentage of industrial use of water in low and middle-income countries. Source: Unesco.org

enant with APC with a landslide in 2015,” he said. He, however, advised APC faithful not to panic or fear about the future of the party, noting that “Rivers people have since adopted APC as the party of their choice and there is nothing the doomed PDP or any other party can do about that.”

N4.12bn

The internally generated revenue of Adamawa State in 2011. Source: National Bureau of Statistics

L-R: Registrar, Board of Fellows, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (BOFPSON), Mr. Elijah Mohammed; Chairman, Mr. Adesanmi Popoola and Vice Chairman, Hajiya Wosilat Giwa, at the mid year meeting of the society in Ibadan …yesterday

Ngama lambasts Gaidam Delta 2015: Manager's allies Hassan Jirgi

DAMATURU

or mer Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Yarima Lawan Ngama, has said that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is on track to take over the governorship of Yobe State. He said that Yobe as is one of the most backward states in Nigeria, the people of the state have suffered enough on account of the poor leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration. Speaking to newsmen, Ngama said the administration of Governor Ibrahim Gaidam, with his policy of family and friends in gover nment, has made nonsense of governance. “You must either be his friend or a member of his family before you can benefit from government.” According to him,

the APC merger was not really a merger in Yobe, because the people in the defunct CPC and ACN were never integrated and even within the APC, they have been fragmented and many of them are now coming to the PDP. He said: “Let me tell you, we have given Yobe citizens hope that this time around, change is going to take place. Since we started the reward underground campaign to motivate people, many APC supporters have defected to the PDP in all the 17 local gover nment areas. “All we need to do now is to educate our people that backwardness is a disease. Its said that some people have accepted backwardness as the will of God, and they thought there is no attentive, but I say there is an alternative, the PDP is the one.”

beat governorship drums

embers of the Delta M Progressive Elite (DPE) have joined

other pressure groups in Delta State to urge Senator James Ebiowou Manager, to contest for the governorship election come 2015. The call on the senator was a unanimous decision made at an enlarged meeting of members of the group held in Yenagoa and Warri, respectively. Addressing the people, Chairman, Delta Progressive Elite, Ambassador Sele Dise, said the call became necessary following the all-round development that was witnessed across the three senatorial districts under his watch as senator and what he accomplished as the Commissioner for Works in Delta under the former administration of Chief James Onanefe Ibori.

Dise said the election of Senator James Manager into the Government House in Asaba, would enable him channel more development to the three senatorial districts, stressing that he is an allround developer. Other speakers at the occasion outlined the contributions of Senator Manager to include crossing the most famous Bomadi Bridge linking other remote towns and villages. Other roads and bridges, which he constructed, but were not completed, are also in the pipeline "when elected as governor, massive training of personnel and the rehabilitation of roads, scholarships for primary and secondary schools, including other programmes would receive his attention if given the opportunity to serve the people," one of them said.

46 NEWS

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Ondo: Judges boycott law week Babatope Okeowo Akure

he crisis between lawyers in Ondo State under the auspices of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) and the judiciary over the circular making production of tax clearance compulsory before a person can stand as surety worsened yesterday as judges in the state high court boycotted the law week of the association. None of the judges invited for the occasion showed up, including the Chief Judge, Justice Olaseinde Kumuyi who was supposed to be the special guest of honour. The Chief Judge of the Customary Court of Appeal, Justice Folasade Aguda-Taiwo, who was slated as chairman of the morning session, was nowhere around the venue of the event. Similarly, Justice Adegboyega Adebusoye, who was billed to give a key note address only sent his address and did not show up. However, the governor

of the state, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, represented by Commissioner for Natural Resources, Chief Tunde Atere, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Eyitayo Jegede (SAN) were present. The lawyers in return said they would boycott the legal year being organised by the state judiciary. They said they would continue with their strike action until the Chief Judge withdraws the circular that makes compulsory the production of tax certificate before a person can stand as surety for an

accused person in a law court. But former President of NBA, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) advised the warring factions to sheath their swords in the interest of the judiciary in the state. Olanipekun said the lawyers could not function without the judges and the judiciary could not operate without the bar, saying the absence of the judges of the state high court at the law week was worrisome. The legal luminary said he would lead other senior members of the bar to the governor and

The number of Paris Saint Germain FC players that will participate in the 2014 World Cup. Source: Goal.com

the Chief Judge to see how the dispute could be resolved within the week. His words "Look at what is happening, NBA holding an annual Law Week without any judge present. I am not happy about it and again the lawyers are also boycotting the courts. I am also not happy about it. I am also from this catchment area. I was a Law officer in this state. What it means is that some of us will work behind the scene to ensure that we can move the administration of justice in this state further and farther. "In a situation where

406,750

The total area (in sq. km) of Paraguay. Source: Worldfactsandfigures.com

the question of condition should be attached to bail, we will talk to the CJ and to ourselves as lawyers where we should go and where we should not go. What we should do and what we should not do." Similarly, the Attorney General of the state, Jedege said there was need for reconciliation between the bar and the bench in the interest of the rule of law and democracy. Jegede advised the lawyers to call off the strike and allow the Chief Judge to withdraw the controversial circular.

$US449.9bn

The nominal GDP of Norway (World Bank) in 2009. Source: Blatantworld.com

Cleric boosts Nasarawa school Abdulwahab Isa Abuja

Priest, Rev. Fr. AhasCatholic Lawrence Anyembugu, been lauded for insti-

tuting academic awards of excellence in his old school, G.S.S Aloce, Nasarawa. The Manager, Tons Computer Ltd, Abuja, Dr. Nosa Uwei, who gave the commendation said the priest’s gesture of selfless service is worth emulating by others as a way of giving back to society, especially in the area of academic development. Rev. Anyembugu, the Parish Priest of St. Sylvester Catholic Church, New Nyanya, Nasarawa State, graduated from G.S.S. Aloce 20 years ago. “In appreciation of the significant role the school played in my life and indeed the lives of a generation of other students, I have decided to contribute my widow’s mite by giving awards to brilliant students of the college,” he had said recently. Scheduled to hold at the school’s auditorium along the Keffi-Akwanga highway on Friday June 27, 2014, the awards ceremony is expected to be graced by dignitaries from different walks of life, including community and religious leaders, royal fathers, educationists, old students of G.S.S Aloce, as well as the school’s principal.

L-R: Secretary for Education, Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), Mallam Kabiru Usman; Director General, National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mr. Mike Omeri and Representative of the Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Mr. Stephen Ikata, at the opening ceremony of a National Workshop on Security Awareness for Public and Private schools in FCT in Abuja…on Tuesday

Send our kids back to school, group urges Suswam UNBELIEVABLE For 8 months, pupils in Benue primary schools have stayed home over teachers' strike Appolonia Adeyemi

wo Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) working on children’s right and welfare, namely the Centre for Children’s Health Education, Orientation and Protection (CEE-HOPE Nigeria) and the Charles & Doosurgh Abaagu Foundation (C & DAF) have called on the Benue State Government to end the eight-month strike by primary school teachers in the state in the interest of the affected pupils. In a recent joint press statement, the groups urged the Gabriel Suswam

administration to consider justice, fairness and sheer pity for the pupils. “For eight months now, pupils in all government primary schools in Benue have remained at home over a disagreement on the N18, 000 Minimum Wage. If our government has the interest of these future leaders, it would demonstrate doggedness in the cause of ensuring the matter doesn’t get this far for the singular purpose of saving the futures of innocent Benue children,” said Uever Kelvin Iorundu, Team Leader of C&DAF, Abuja. He called on the Benue State Government to urgently enter into dialogue with the teachers with a view to ending the protracted impasse and to get the children back to school. “Denying children a

right as basic as primary education can be termed a crime against humanity because by these very acts we jeopardise an entire generation, either the children being denied education or the society that stands to be negatively impacted by the harms that illiteracy

portends,” added Betty Abah, Executive Director of CEE-HOPE. “How can we sincerely say we are fighting terrorism in Nigeria when we consciously deprive children the illumination, empowerment and civility that education bestows?’ She further queried.

Plateau govt shuns Assembly over probe Musa Pam Jos

he Plateau State GovTsolved ernment may have reto sever relation-

ship with the state House of Assembly following the move by the House to investigate the finances of the executive. The latest move by the state government maybe to arm-twist the law makers from conducting their oversight functions at the ministries, department and agencies. The state government had earlier barred all its civil servants and political appointees from relating with the state House in their official capacities. Secretary to the state government, Shedrack Best, who authorized the ban has made it mandatory for all civil servants and political appointees to seek clearance and approval from the state governor before honouring any invitation from the law makers. In the latest memo sent to the house, the state Ministry of Transport informed the house that it would not permit the House oversight functions in the ministry unless it received approval of the state governor. The House had written to the ministry notifying it of its plans by the Committee on Transport to pay a working visit to the ministry. The memo which emanated from the office of the state Commissioner for Transport, Abubakar Dashe, dated June 20, 2014 read in part: "Referring to your letter dated 17th June 2024, I am under instruction to write and inform you that the honourable commissioner has written to government house for clearance but has not been cleared.” The memo with the title 'Re: Working Visit' and made available to New Telegraph added: "We appeal you shift the proposed visit pending when we get the clearance from government house."

Expert faults FG’s plan to privatise banks Suleiman Bisalla and Simeon Ogoegbulem Abuja

ormer governorship FCongress candidate of the defunct for Progressive

Change (CPC), Alhaji Abubakar Aliyu, has faulted government plans to privatize the Bank of Agriculture (BoA) and the Bank of Industry (BoI). The National Council on Privatization (NCP) had earlier in the year an-

nounced that machinery had be set in motion for the sale of government equity in the two Development Finance Institutions (DFIs). But Aliyu said plans by government to privatize the two DFIs run counter to the present administration’s Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA). Aliyu, an agronomist, described the two institutions as special-purpose vehicles put in place by

past administrations to help small-scale farmers and promoters of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across the country. He noted that the two institutions were established to provide soft loans to farmers at interest rates below two digits. Government’s vision, he added, was to encourage farmers to support food security iniative and support the national economy.

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Katsina inaugurates inter-faith committee Ahmed Sani Mohammed State governKa atsina ment has inaugurated seven-member state

L-R: Plateau Commissioner for Water Resources, Mr. Idi Waziri; Governor Jonah Jang; Commissioner for Works, Mr Chris Hassan and others, during the inspection of Yelwa Dam in Jos South Local Government Area…yesterday

25.7%

The percentage prevalence of diabetes (20-79 years) in Cook Islands in 2013. Source: Idp.com

360,000

The total number of internet users in Georgia in 2010. Source: Blatantworld.com

0.26

The number of fixed-telephone subscriptions per 100 inhabitants of Chad in 2011. Source: Itu.int

Rapists to get life imprisonment in Kano PUNISHMENT Rapists in Kano now to pay dearly for their crime Muhammad Kabir KANO

ano State House of Assembly yesterday passed the state’s anti-rapist bill, which stipulates life imprisonment for anybody found guilty and convicted.

The bill, sponsored by the Deputy Majority Leader, Hon. Yusuf Babangida Sulaiman, representing Gwale Local Government, also stipulates 14 years imprisonment for a convicted rapist. Similarly, the bill, according to the deputy majority leader is to make anybody who engages in the dastardly act pay dearly for his actions. It also stipulates a fine of N200,000 with another money that would take care of the victim.

Also in the bill, Yusuf Babangida Sulaiman, said the House inserted another punishment for randy lecturers and anybody who takes advantage of their positions to seduce or intimate female students. Lamenting that ‘it is disheartening and totally unacceptable for octogenarians to rape minors without corresponding punishment, he said that was why the lawmakers came up with the bill to protect the people.

The deputy majority leader revealed that “the House was compelled to take such hard stance to check rampant cases of rape as such cases has being on the increase in recent years, especially among minors, who are still innocent.” Hon. Sulaiman said: “We have done our best to discourage such cases and anyone who dares would pay handsomely for it and we are serious about it, therefore they should not make mistake about it.”

NEMA appeals to states to improve funding

Kuta's demise: Aliyu denies interest in Senate

Umar Danladi Ado

Chukwu David

Sokoto

irector General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Alhaji Sani Sidi, has called on state governments in the country to improve the funding of their emergency management agencies. Sidi spoke at the opening of a one-day interactive meeting of stakeholders on disaster management in Sokoto, yesterday. He was represented by the agency's Director of Planning, Dr. Zanna Mohammed, who also appealed to state governments to make disaster management a priority by enhancing the coordination mechanisms of their various emergency management agencies. “Such agencies should also be strengthened as this will improve on our collec-

tive responsibilities. “I am also calling on the states under the Sokoto operations office to give it the maximum support and cooperation,” he added. The director general said such support will help in collectively achieving the purpose of timely response. This, Sidi said, will greatly reduce the negative impact associated with disasters. “I will like to register our appreciation to the Sokoto State government for all the assistance offered to realise the establishment of the operations office in Sokoto,” he averred. Governor Aliyu Wamakko said his administration attaches greater attention to timely disaster mitigation and prevention. “The establishment of the Sokoto operations office by the Federal Government is therefore commendable.

Abuja

iger State governor, Babangida Aliyu, yesterday denied having quarrel with the late Senator Dahiru Awaisu Kuta, who until his death two weeks ago, represented Niger East senatorial district, just as he refuted speculations that he was planning to come to the Senate in 2015. Governor Aliyu spoke at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja, while leading a delegation of the state government and the family of late Senator Kuta to witness Senate's valedictory session in honour of the deceased. There were speculations that the governor was planning to contest the Niger East senatori-

al seat, after his second term in office and that the move had allegedly brought bickering between him and Senator Kuta, as the two of them are from the same senatorial district. However, Aliyu, who spoke with journalists after the valedictory session, described the late Kuta as a prominent indigene of the state, who would be seriously missed by the people and government of the state. He said: “I am happy that the Senate recommended that the HYPERDEC headquarters be named after him. Our concern most importantly is the family that he left behind. He has been in the elective office from the House of Assembly to the House of Representatives and then to the Senate.

standing committee on inter-faith. Inaugurating the committee, Governor Ibrahim Shehu Shema, directed members of the committee to liaise with security agencies to identify problems that may arise within the society so as to know how to offer solution to them. “You should solicit the support of traditional institutions and other stakeholder to achieve success” he said. Shema further directed the committee to enhance understanding and cooperation between the two faith. The governor, who appreciated the current peace in the state said Katsina indigenes are living with other tribes without any hindrance for many years. Shema called on other states in the federation to establish similar committees in view of its importance in promoting peaceful coexistence. He called on committee members to fear God and dedicated themselves in discharging their assignment.

Responding, Chairman of the committee, former Grand Khadi, Isa Mohammed Dodo, pledged readiness of the committee to do everything possible to promote peaceful coexistence among the different faith in the state. Meanwhile, Katsina State Agency for the Control of AIDs (SACA) has disbursed N69 million to 25 non-governmental organisation (NGO) for the fight against HIV/AIDs. At an occasion held in Katsina yesterday, Executive Secretary of SACA, Dr. Muhtari Hassan Kankia, said the amount was disbursed to complement effort of the NGOs. Kankia said the amount was disbursed to 25 NGOs out of the 60 that applied for the fund and it was done after screening the activities of each NGO. He commended the NGOs for working with the agency, especially in the area of awareness toward stopping the spread of the disease. Kankia said HIV/ AIDS prevalence in the state has dropped to 0.7 percent against two percent previously while the agency has opened eighteen centers for distribution of drugs to victims.

Kogi to partner US investors on agriculture, tourism Muhammad Bashir

Lokoja

Idris Wada of Gtheovernor Kogi State has said that state government has

concluded arrangements to partner some investors from the United State to boost the state agricultural and tourism potential. The governor, who arrived in Lokoja yesterday from his one week trip to America, said the investors had earlier visited the state for feasibility studies, confirming the agricultural fertility of the state. Wada, who spoke through his Special Adviser Media and Strategy, Mr. Jacob Edi, told journalists that three local government areas have already been marked out for the projects. Edi stressed further that Kogi State would eventually become the real food basket of Nigeria, when the agricultural activities commence. The selected local government areas include Ibaji, Idah and Bassa, stressing that the areas were chosen because of the feasibility study conducted by the experts, which clearly shows that those local governments have the needed arable soil capable of yielding more crops.

He said the crops to be planted include rice, soya beans, corn and wheat. The media adviser added that within some months, the state will begin to export crops and also processed products. “The experts have concluded their feasibility study and very soon they will arrive in the state with their equipment to commence farming, this will also create employment for our teeming youths as government cannot employ everybody into the civil service. “The beauty of the whole package is that those investors will also train our own farmers on the modern technique of farming so that by the time they leave our people will have the technical knowhow to continue from where they would stop,” he stated. Similarly, the state government is partnering with other investors to turn around the 1,500 above sea level Mountain Patti into a tourist haven. Edi explained that chalets with every sporting facility will be constructed atop the mountain, with Cable Cars linking the mountain with the prestigious Confluence Beach Hotel.

48 NEWS

CHARMS

Call on voters to rely on amulets irks PDP supporters Adesina Wahab Ado-Ekiti

he Ayo Fayose Campaign Organisation (AFCO) has described the Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, as "one of the dangers to democracy in Nigeria". That is going by his utterances, especially his call on the All Progressives Congress (APC) supporters to attack security agents with charms and amulets during the August 9, 2014 governorship election in the state.

EKITI 2014

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Aregbesola, dangerous to Nigeria's democracy, says Fayose ...Group condemns comment, cautions Sani

Also, the Goodluck Solidarity Mandate (GSM), Ekiti State chapter, has faulted the statements credited to the governor and the President, Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria, Mallam Shehu Sani, that election was fraught with irregularities. AFCO also condemned the comment by Aregbesola that the election was manipulated to favour the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Mr Ayo Fayose. The Director General of AFCO, Chief Dipo

Anisulowo, said in a release issued yesterday in Ado-Ekiti that Nigerians should not be surprised that Aregbesola could describe an election that was applauded by the whole world as the best in the history of electioneering in Nigeria as fraudulent, adding that the governor was only expressing his fear of losing the power that he got through judicial manipulation. The Fayose Campaign Organisation also described Aregbesola's

claim that the election, which Fayose won convincingly was fraudulent, as "a function of fear of an impending defeat onAugust 9, 2014 that has enveloped the minds of Aregbesola and his All Progressives Congress (APC) cohorts in Osun State as a result of the party's scandalous loss in Ekiti to the PDP last Saturday." While urging Nigerians to ignore Aregbesola, AFCO said; "It is shameful that some people whose mouths should

naturally be padlocked still speak on elections in Nigeria. "Isn't it funny that Aregbesola, who has never won any election in Osun State, but was imposed through a court judgment that cancelled results in 10 out of 30 local councils in Osun State is the only one talking about Ekiti election being fraudulent?" Speaking further, Anisulowo said; "It is obvious that Aregbesola is afraid, having seen the failure of reliance on thugs to rig election during last Saturday's elec-

tion. "We are aware of his thugs known as 'State Boys' that he brought to Ekiti last week, but were rendered useless by the heavy presence of security agents. "We have also heard the governor openly encouraging and inciting violence by openly saying that 'any security officer who misbehaves will know that we are children of Oduduwa while asking members of his party to come to their polling units with charms and amulets.' According to the State Coordinator of GSM, Mr Stephen Oladipupo and Secretary, Olaiya Bosede, Nigerians should not be cynical that something good could come from the country.

‘We were shot out'

Mojeed Alabi

a fall-out of the last Ainsgovernorship election Ekiti State, a political

A cross-section of journalists at the 2014 Press Week, organised by the Nigeria Union of Journalists, during a visit to an Ophanage in Ikeja, Lagos… yesterday. PHOTO: TONY EGUAYE

Olanipekun in Akure, commends INEC Babatope Okeowo Akure

former President of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN yesterday commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the peaceful conduct of the Ekiti State governorship election. Olanipekun, who was in Akure for the annual law week organised by the Akure chapter of the NBA, said the conduct of the election has raised the bar in the conduct of elections in the country. The legal luminary, said the INEC should build on the Ekiti elecBiodun Oyeleye Ilorin

wara State GoverKAhmed nor, Dr Abdulfatah has described

the outcome of the Ekiti State gubernatorial election won by Chief Peter Ayodele Fayose as a positive development and an indication that democracy was on course in the country.

tion so as to deepen democracy in the country. His words: "The elections have come and gone and I am proud of what happened. I am not talking in terms of who won and who lost but how the election was conducted I understand it was the most peaceful and fairest of all elections in Nigeria. The turnout of the people, the orderliness and the peace, that enveloped the entire state. "No life was lost; no fighting; no ballot box snatching, no rigging. It’s been pronounced and adjudged as one of the best, if not the best election Nigeria has ever

conducted. And the way and manner Governor Kayode Fayemi accepted what happened, showed that history is being made. It’s civilized, it’s never happened in this country. "Perhaps, the nearest we had to it was when late Dr Olusegun Agagu defeated late Chief Adebayo Adefarati in 2003. Baba Adefarati admitted that election was rigged in some areas, but at the same time, he accepted it and that he congratulated him. "That is the beginning of democratic civilization and I pray that others will emulate what happened in Ekiti State.

Ahmed sees good signs ahead

Ahmed, who said this in a congratulatory message to the Governor-elect on his success at the polls, noted that the fact that the election went peacefully and an incumbent was defeated, shows that Nigerians cherish democracy, especially when the atmosphere is conducive.

The Governor said the political class should imbibe an enduring lesson of the Ekiti political experiment that elections can be conducted devoid of hooliganism and lack of respect for the sanctity of life. He commended the Independent National

I think that they have showcased what democracy should be before and after election. Olanipekun said INEC should replicate what they have done in Ekiti in subsequent elections. According to him, "I understand that for every local government, the ballot papers were customized. So, the ballot papers meant for Ikere would not be used in Ado, which is the next town. And the one meant for Ise would not be used in Emure, which is a twin town to Ise. So, it’s not possible now to snatch ballot papers from Omuo and bring them to other parts of Ekiti.” Electoral Commission (INEC), the police and other security agencies for ensuring that the election was peaceful and largely free and fair. According to the governor, the Ekiti election sign posts the fact that Nigeria has capacity to conduct free and fair elections, if the political class shows positive disposition to such.

forum- Providence People’s Congress has linked the low turnout by the electorates to the decision by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to deny it participation in the poll. It said it was denied registration. The group, in a statement issued yesterday and signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Dr. Loveday Omorodion, stated that the choice of the People’s Democratic Party’s candidate in the

poll, Mr. Ayodele Fayose by the electorate did not mean Fayose was the best candidate, but because better candidates were denied participation. The statement read in part: “Getting the right candidate at election is dependent on options that are available to electorates, when formidable associations are delayed, denied and stalled from participating in elections by the electoral body, it is a fraud on the electorates. “We believe we had fulfilled all requirements for registration early enough to have participated in Ekiti poll but INEC had kept us waiting."

Women Arise impressed Temitope Ogunbanke omen Arise for Change W Initiative has commended the Independent

National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the successful conduct of last Saturday's governorship election in Ekiti State. The group, in a statement by its President, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, stated that as an INEC accredited group that observed the election in Ekiti State, Women Arise is of the view that INEC has done a far better job over the last gubernatorial elections in

Anambra State. Apart from INEC, the group also congratulated the Nigeria Police Force, the Army, other security agencies and the people of Ekiti State for the peaceful conduct of the election. Women Arise also averred that; “If the conduct of the gubernatorial election in Ekiti State is anything to go by, we can safely conclude that the present day INEC is set to restore Nigeria back to the path of transparent, free and fair, democratic elections.”

Osoba: APC must wake up Etaghene Edirin ormer Governor of FOsoba, Ogun State, Chief Segun has stated that the

just concluded governorship election in Ekiti State is a wakeup call for the All Progressives Congress (APC) to work harder to retain the South West area of the country. Osoba, who stated this yesterday in Lagos at the launch of a book, titled ‘Frank Kokori: the Struggle of June 12’, noted that the APC as a party, would

want to put the election behind it and move on. He also commended Governor Kayode Fayemi for what he described as his display of a high level magnanimity that is strange to Nigeria. While debunking rumours that he is in talks to decamp to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the former governor stated that he could never join a conservative party. “One thing, I will never do till I die, I will never join a conservative party.

AFRICA | NEWS

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Nearly 50 killed in fresh violence in Central Africa

early 50 people have been killed in three days in a fresh surge of sectarian violence in the Central African Republic, a peacekeeping officer said yesterday. The violence was triggered by the killing of 17 Muslims at a camp in the central Bambari region on Monday, by gunmen claiming to be from a mostly Christian militia called the anti-balaka. Peacekeepers say the massacre has led to a series of reprisals and counter reprisals. “Nearly 50 people have been killed since Monday during violence in the Bambari region and nearby villages,” the officer from the African Union force MISCA told AFP. “Most of the victims were shot or stabbed to death.” The deeply impoverished Central African Republic has seen more than a year of un-

rest, with violence between mostly-Muslim ex-Seleka rebels and largely Christian militias leaving thousands dead and about a quarter of the population displaced. The MISCA officer said the latest violence has been carried out both by “uncontrolled individuals and by small groups”, and that civilians have been fleeing towards the cathedral, the archbishops palace, and local government buildings for safety. “Apart from attacks aimed at civilians and the burning down of houses, there are also clashes that appear to be coordinated attacks by armed groups,” both from Christian and Muslim militias, said the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity. An anti-balaka representative in the capital Bangui denied being behind the latest violence, saying they did not recognise

“these out-of-control young rebels acting on their own initiative”. “At a time when anti-balaka and ex-Seleka are in contact, discussing peace and reconciliation, the anti-balaka does not engage in such acts,” militia spokesman Brice-Emotion Namsio said. Bambari, a mining town where ex-Seleka rebels have established their headquarters, is being closely watched by French soldiers from the Sangaris mission and African peacekeepers from the MISCA force although they have not been able to contain the violence. Fighting in a village outside the town in early June left at least 22 people dead, both Muslim and Christian, according to security officials, and last week 10 bodies showing signs of torture were found in a river in the

People demonstrate in front of French soldiers of the “Sangaris Operation” on June 23, 2014 in Bimbo near Bangui to protest against a disarmament operation PHOTO: AP/ Pacome Pabandji

Planet of the dying apes: Experts alarmed over shrinking habitats

he accelerated and unsustainable exploitation of the earth’s primary natural resources has become a major threat to apes in Africa and Asia, a major United Nations environment conference heard yesterday. Speaking on the sidelines of the UN Environment Assembly, conservationists said infrastructure development and extraction of natural resources including timber, minerals, oil and gas have devastated the prime habitat of apes and pushed chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos, orangutans and gibbons closer to extinction. “There’s absolutely no doubt that extractive industries are severely impacting on apes and their habitats,” said Helga Rainer, conservation director of the Great Apes programme at the Arcus Foundation, the world’s largest private funder

of ape conservation. “Only five out of 27 ape (habitats) do not have a mining project within their range and there is also an indirect impact associated with infrastructure development such as roads and railways,” she added. But while the cost to apes of economic development has been acknowledged for decades, researchers say more needs to be done to integrate their preservation into broader social, economic and environmental policies. “We need to develop safeguards and environmental policies that can address these issues effectively,” said Jef Dupain, director of the African Apes Initiative at the Nairobi-based African Wildlife Foundation. Experts predict that at the current rate, human development will have impacted 90 percent of the apes’ habitat in Africa and 99 percent in Asia

by 2030, according to a new report titled “State of the Apes: Extractive Industries and Ape Conservation”. All species of apes are listed as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), some critically so. There are about 880 mountain gorillas across Uganda, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo, while Cross River gorillas in Cameroon and Nigeria are thought not to exceed 250. “There’s a lot of pressure from mining activities, so you can see the pressure being exerted,” said Andrew Seguya, executive director of the Ugandan Wildlife Authority. In Asia, Sumatran orangutans are believed to have declined by 50 percent since 1992, and the entire population of Hainan black-crested gibbons in China amounts to just 21 individuals.

region. The Seleka seized power in Bangui in a coup in March 2013, ousting President Francois Bozize and installing Michel Djotodia as head of state until he resigned last January, giving way to a transitional regime. Many Seleka forces went rogue and killed, raped and looted civilians, leading to a backlash with the emergence

of anti-balaka (anti-machete) forces, who are equally accused of widespread atrocities, primarily targeting the Muslim minority. In a report released on Tuesday, advocacy group the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) said that “war crimes and crimes against humanity” continue to be carried out as the conflict rages in the former French colony.

Five bombs explode in Cairo metro stations, five hurt

ive makeshift bombs exploded at four Cairo metro stations yesterday morning, wounding at least five people, while another detonated near a courthouse in the capital, officials said. Militants have stepped up attacks in Egypt, mostly against security forces, since the army ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 and the authorities launched a deadly crackdown on his supporters. Four bombs exploded within minutes of each other at three metro stations as commuters made their way to work during morning rush hour, while a fifth went off hours later at another station, a police official told AFP. One struck at Ghamra station, in central Cairo, and the others hit Hadayek al-Kobba in the north, and Shubra al-Kheima and Ezbet al-Nakhl on the outskirts of the capital. All of the blasts were caused by “very primary” devices of “low intensity” that were placed in trash cans on platforms of the stations, the police official said. Four people were wounded by the first string of blasts, senior health ministry official Ahmed Al-Ansari told AFP, while a fifth was hurt in Ezbet al-Nakhl, the police official said. Interior ministry spokesman Hani Abdel Latif said a man who had been carrying one explosive device in his bag was among the wounded at Shubra al-Kheima. Latif said the man “appeared to be a Muslim Brotherhood member” as an image of a four-finger salute used by

Morsi supporters was found on his telephone. The authorities have blamed the Brotherhood, from which Morsi hails, for the attacks rocking the country and have blacklisted the Islamist movement as a terrorist organisation. Another makeshift bomb placed under a car exploded near a courthouse north of Cairo, wounding a woman, and a second was defused at the site, said Abdel Latif. The attacks come after a court last week confirmed death sentences on 183 Islamists, including Brotherhood chief Mohamed Badie, and nearly a month after Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the ex-army chief who led Morsi’s ouster, was elected president. Since Morsi’s ouster, a crackdown on his supporters has left more than 1,400 people dead and seen at least 15,000 jailed. Much of the violence is focused in the north of the Sinai Peninsula, but militants have extended their reach to Cairo and the Nile Delta, carrying out a series of high-profile assaults in the heart of the capital. An Al-Qaeda inspired jihadist group based in the Sinai, AnsarBeit al-Maqdis (Partisans of Jerusalem), has claimed some of the deadliest attacks on security forces, as well as a failed assassination attempt against the interior minister in September. A little-known jihadist group, AjnadMisr (Soldiers of Egypt), has also claimed a string of attacks on police in Cairo. The government says the militants have killed about 500 people, most of them security personnel.

Mali arrest suspected Islamist fugitive linked to jail break

ali security forces have arrested Mahamed Aly Ag Wadoussene, a fugitive at the heart of a jail break in Mali’s capital on June 16 in which at least two people were killed and 22 prisoners escaped, officials said yesterday. Ag Wadoussene, who shot his way out of the prison, was being held for his alleged role in the 2011 kidnapping of two French citizens who ended up in the hands of al Qaeda’s in north Africa. The kidnapping and jail break served as a reminder about the fragile security situ-

ation in the West African state after a 2012 coup led to the collapse of the army, allowing al Qaeda-linked Islamists to occupy three vast desert regions for nearly a year. “Mahamed Aly Ag Wadoussene was arrested in Bamako. We knew he was going to try and contact his girlfriend, who lives with a family in Bamako,” Major Modibo Traoré, a Mali army spokesman told Reuters. Colonel Souleymane Maiga, confirmed the arrest, adding that Ag Wadoussene was arrested, Tuesday night at the Hamdalaye neighborhood in the Malian capital.

50 WORLD | NEWS

Phone hacking: Cameron apologizes to parliament

ritish Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday, apologised to parliament for hiring Andy Coulson, his ex-media chief, after Coulson was found guilty of being part of a phonehacking conspiracy. “I take full responsibility for employing Andy Coulson, I did so on the basis of assurances that I received. I am sorry, this was the wrong decision,” Cameron told parliament. But in heated exchanges, Ed Miliband, the leader of Britain’s opposition Labour party, repeatedly called Cameron’s judgment into question saying he had wilfully ignored warnings about Coulson and did not have any answers to a series of questions about the scandal. “Today we know that for four years the prime minister’s handpicked closest adviser was a criminal and brought disgrace to Downing Street. We now also know that the prime minister wilfully ignored multiple warnings about him,” said Miliband. “The prime minister will always be remem-

Steve Uzoechi

over nor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State has urged the Federal Government of Nigeria to re-consider the recommendations of the Human Rights Violations Investigation Commission (HRVIC) otherwise known as the Oputa Panel presided over by Late Justice Chukwudifu Oputa. He made the call while speaking at the Special Day of Tribute event organized by the Imo State government in honour

of the late jurist. Okorocha averred that if government had diligently implemented the recommendations of the panel, most of Nigeria’s present day socio-political challenges may have been resolved. He urged the Oputa family to build on the worthy legacy left behind by Justice Chukwudifu Oputa. Earlier in his address, the National Chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun paid glowing tribute to Justice Oputa describing him as a principled, firm

and upright jurist. He said: “For Justice Oputa, moral integrity should always be the legal practitioner’s lodestar, the core principle from which not even the slightest deviation may be entertained.” Oyegun charged practicing professional colleagues of the late Oputa and the Nigerian citizenry at large to ‘emulate Oputa’s passion for honesty, moral austerity and professional dedication.’ Highlights of the event include the laying of wreaths and signing of the condolence register.

Amosun bans generating sets in Ogun ministries, agencies Fomer Editor of the News of the World Andy Coulson leaving the Old Baitley Courthouse in London

bered as being the first ever occupant of his office who brought a criminal into the heart of Downing Street,” he said, referring to the British leader’s office. Miliband has long questioned Cameron’s

judgment over Coulson who resigned as editor of Rupert Murdoch’s now defunct News of the World newspaper in 2007 when two of its employees were jailed for phonehacking before Cameron hired him.

signed to help the Iraqi security forces have arrived. Fighting was reported to have continued on Wednesday, with an attack by rebels on the Balad airbase, about 80km (50 miles) north of Baghdad. Meanwhile, the crisis in Iraq is being discussed by Nato leaders meeting in Brussels. They have been joined by US Secretary of State John Kerry, who has just returned from a two-day visit to Baghdad and Irbil. In his weekly televised address, Mr Maliki called on “all political forces to reconcile” in the face of a “fierce ter-

rorist onslaught”. But the Shia prime minister gave no promise of greater representation in government for the minority Sunni Arab community, whose anger at what they say are his sectarian and authoritarian policies has been exploited by jihadist militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis). Mr Maliki said forming an emergency administration that included all religious and ethnic groups would go against the results of April’s parliamentary elections, which were won by his State of Law alliance.

Filipino ex-sex slaves demand justice from Japan ilipino women forced into prostitution by the Japanese military during World War II marched yesterday to the Japanese Embassy to demand justice and to criticize Philippine President Benigno Aquino III’s silence on the issue during his visit to Japan. Six women in their 80s and some two dozen supporters and activists picketed the embassy to call on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to apologize and compensate them for their ordeal. “Abe should be made to answer for what

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Nigeria should re-visit Oputa Panel report, says Okorocha

OWERRI

Iraqi PM rejects emergency ‘salvation’ government

raq’s Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has rejected calls for an emergency “national salvation” government to help counter jihadistled Sunni rebels. Such calls represented a “coup against the constitution and an attempt to end the democratic experience”, he warned. The US has led appeals to the country’s political leaders to rise above sectarian and ethnic divisions. Government forces have been unable to recapture the territory seized by the rebels this month. Almost half of the 300 US military advisers as-

NEWS

the Japanese soldiers did to us,” said EstelitaDy, 84. “Justice is what we need, justice now.” Dy denied she and others were voluntary prostitutes, as Japanese nationalists have contended. She said her ordeal began when she was arrested by Japanese troops and shoved into a truck against her will. “We are already old (but) we will not stop until we can obtain real justice, until we can make sure that there will be peace based on justice,” said Virginia Villarma, also 84. The women and their sup-

porters say Japan must go beyond statements and resolve the issue after a Japanese panel last week affirmed the validity of a study that led to Japan’s landmark 1993 apology for forcing Asian women into wartime prostitution. South Korea and China have criticized Abe for backpedaling from past Japanese apologies and acknowledgements of wartime atrocities, and the two countries saw the recent review as an attempt to undermine the 1993 apology.

Kunle Olayeni Abeokuta

gun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, yesterday ordered the removal of small generating sets in all ministries, departments and agencies of the state government. Amosun, who gave the directive during an interactive session with civil servants in Abeokuta, said the use of over 66 generating sets by different agencies of government was unacceptable. He also disclosed that his administration expends N62million monthly to operate the mini-power plants installed at the State Secretariat, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta by his predecessor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel. At the session tagged ‘A day with Mr. Governor,’ civil servants asked various questions about certain policies and programmes of the Amosunled administration. The governor, who restated his commitment to the welfare of workers,

said the problem of inadequate power supply to government secretariat and agencies would soon be addressed. He pointed out that the State Executive Council had approved alternative means of providing power supply to the government secretariat and all agencies. Amosun explained that the mini power plants inherited by his administration were difficult to maintain as it takes about N62million monthly to keep them running. According to him, the contractors that handled the mini power plants dragged the government to court claiming the state was still owing them N4.5billion outstanding cost of the equipment. He added that a sum of N5billion was needed to effect repairs in the sevenmegawatts power plant installed in Oke-Mosan, thus leading the state government to think of alternative means of supplying electricity to its ministries, departments and agencies.

Amosun, who described the civil service as the engine room of government, said his administration was committed to providing adequate welfare packages for workers. “Civil servants are not my enemies; they are my bedrock. We have paid N18,000 minimum wage to workers and extended it down to the local government areas. We have been harbingers of good things in Ogun State,” he added. The governor disclosed that 6,391 workers had been promoted in the last three years, adding that the state government would in October commence the disbursement of car and housing loans for civil servants. He also assured that the outstanding 13th month salaries of workers for 2013 fiscal year would be paid together with next month’s salaries. Amosun further announced the reduction of the cost of the housing units promised for civil servants in the state.

Fashola: Why Fayemi conceded defeat Muritala Ayinla

overnor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State yesterday spoke on last weekend’s election in governorship Ekiti State, saying the All Progressive Congress has not foreclosed the drama that played out in the election that produced Mr Ayodele Fasyose as the winner of the poll.   He explained that Governor Fayemi was aware that the Peoples Democratic Party-led Federal Government was prepared to cause mayhem after the election, saying that was

why the outgoing Governor conceded defeat. He explained that many Ekiti people would have been slaughtered if Fayemi had reacted otherwise.  Fashola, who expressed doubt about the authenticity of the result announced by Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, said there were many questions to ask and issues to ponder over, saying no incumbent governor has lost election like that in the country.    Briefing journalists yesterday after a closeddoor meeting with ViceChairman of the 20 Local

Government and 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDA) at the State House, Marina, Fashola said it was hard to believe that somebody who still has a case with EFCC was said to be elected as the governor of Ekiti.   The governor berated the argument that people of Ekiti State voted for PDP because they were induced with money, saying if Fayemi was believed to have been voted out because of too much grammar than politics, would they say his deputy and the Speaker of the State House of Assembly is speaking too much English too?

SPORT

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ADEKUNLE SALAMI, DepUTY Editor, SPORTS

kunle.salami@newtelegraphonline.com adekunles@yahoo.com

AUTHORITATIVE VOICE IN GLOBAL SPORT

thursday, june 26, 2014

I’ve proved critics wrong – Musa

hmed Musa on Wednesday said he had proved his critics wrong with his display against Argentina at the Estardo Beira in Porto Allegre. Musa scored Nigeria’s two goals and could have made it

three but for Pablo Zabaleta who blocked his low drive in the second half. “People say so many things about me and the players but the games are not easy. I am happy with the two goals and the fact that Nigerians saw a

different Musa today. I will work hard to do better in future games for Nigeria,” he said. On the game generally, Musa said Nigerians should be proud of the efforts put in by the team against Argen-

tina. He said; “We had a very good game generally and my happiness is that we are through to the second round of the competition. “It is not easy playing against a team like Argen-

tina but we gave a good account of ourselves and we were just unlucky not to have earned a draw.” Musa is the first Nigerian player to score two goals for Nigeria in a World Cup match.

More focused Eagles can go far –Keshi l Says team showed Argentina too much respect

Final Group F Table Group F P W D L F A GD Pts 1. Argentina 3 3 0 0 6 3 3 9 2. Nigeria 3 1 1 1 3 3 0 4 Goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama 3. Bosnia 3 1 0 2 4 4 0 3 of Nigeria shares a joke with 4. Iran 3 0 1 2 1 4 -3 1 Lionel Messi of Argentina

uper Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi, was a happy man even in defeat on Wednesday as Nigeria succumbed to the Argentine national team in the final Group F match decided in Porto Alegre. Lionel Messi scored twice in the 3-2 victory while Ahmed Musa scored a goal in each half for Nigeria. Marcos Rojo was the scorer of Argentina’s other goal. But irrespective of the loss, the reigning African champions were able to qualify for the round of 16, and Keshi said he was happy with the second half performance of his players as they were more

mobile and held on more to the ball, unlike in the first half when they showed too much respect to the opposition. Keshi said: “It was a good match overall. We could have done better but we gave the Argentines too much respect in the first half. “In the second half we came out and played our football. If we had done that from the start, it would have been a different game. “But going to the second round is also good for us because the team is doing well now and we hope to do better as we move on in the competition.”

Michael Babatunde ruled out of World Cup

Babatunde Micheal Nat igeria’s may have had his last kick the ongoing World Cup due

Babatunde

to the injury sustained on Wednesday against Argentina. Babatunde broke his arm and is due to undergo surgery anytime from now.

Eagles coach Stephen Keshi confirmed that his case was a bad one. He said; “It was bad. He broke his arm and he is going for surgery. I don’t think he will be part of the competition anymore. It is unfortunate.” Babatunde who had his

first cap for Nigeria during the warm up games for the World Cup plays for Volyn Lutsk of Ukraine. He was particularly outstanding in the 1-0 victory recorded by Nigeria against Bosnia-Herzegovina and was also doing well against Ar-

gentina until he sustained the injury. Babatunde provided the assist for the first goal which Ahmed Musa converted intelligently. Sad enough, it was a shot taken by Ogenyi Onazi that broke the arm of the Ukraine- based player.

52 SPORT

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Thursday, June 26, 2014

FIFA WORLD CUP

I take responsibility for Italy’s failure -Prandelli

Prandelli

ust as Dino Zoff did in the wake of Italy’s defeat to France in the final of UEFA EURO 2000, Cesare Prandelli tendered his resignation following La Nazionale’s exit from the 2014 World Cup Brazil after his side was sent out of the 2014 World Cup by Uruguay and took responsibility for Italy’s failure to progress in the competition. “When the project is a failure, then you have to take responsibilities,” said the

coach after watching his side go down 1-0 to Uruguay, a bitter blow that prompted him to call time on his stint in charge. Honest, demanding, upright and committed to playing the game the right way, Prandelli is a fair-minded coach who has always been committed to team discipline, even going to the length of introducing a code of conduct after agreeing to take on the job in May 2010.

Getting down to work after La Nazionale’s deflating display at South Africa 2010, the new man won over his bosses, the players and the fans alike, breathing new life into the national team. Aside from taking La Squadra Azzurra to the final of UEFA EURO 2012 and overseeing a fine performance at last year’s FIFA Confederations Cup, perhaps his biggest achievement was to transform the image of a side long noted for its commitment to catenaccio. While his unconditional support for the fiery Mario Balotelli was the trigger for much debate whenever the player overstepped the line, Prandelli stood tall in the face of criticism and calmly explained the reasons for his faith in him. “When you have someone as talented as he is, you just have to be patient,” he once said of AC Milan striker. “The time will come when the talent has to start taking responsibilities.” Before Prandelli had even announced he was stepping down, national team captain Gianluigi Buffon offered some veiled criticism of his teammates. “People often say that changes need to be made, that Buffon, (Andrea) Pirlo, (Daniele) De Rossi, (Giorgio) Chiellini and (Andrea) Barzagli are too old,” said the veteran keeper.

Raul: Spain players past their prime

eal Madrid legend, Raul Gonzalez, believes Spain are past their prime and need to look to the next generation to replace stalwarts such as captain Iker Casillas. The reigning champions were eliminated in the group stage of this year’s World Cup – the first team to go out and only the fifth defending champions to fall at this hurdle – after suffering shock defeats to Netherlands and Chile. La Roja midfielder Xabi Alonso admitted after the losses that the team lacked the desire and hunger to retain their title in Brazil, comments which the Madrid man was singled out for. However, Raul – who played for Spain between 1996 and 2006 – has backed Alonso’s criticism of the team, indicating that it was always going to be difficult to win the World Cup with a group of

players who are not at their peak. “Instead of arguing [that] this individual would have been better than that [one], let’s agree that the generation that brought Spain all the glory is past its prime,” Raul told The Times of India. “Casillas, Xavi, [Andres] Iniesta, Xabi Alonso won all that was there to be won but in Brazil, perhaps with the exception of Iniesta, they looked jaded. So we do need replacements.” He added: “Preferably, they should come from the next generation and we must use as many of them as possible in our Euro 2016 qualifying campaign. “There were too many stalwarts who may not play for Spain again and before banishing them, one must remember with fondness what they have achieved.” Despite his nation’s disap-

pointing campaign in the tournament this summer, Raul remains optimistic about Spain’s future and believes that the new generation of players are good enough to help La Roja defend their European title in France in 2016. “Spain has a tremendous system of producing talented footballers. All good things come to an end even as hopes of a bright future have been raised. Wait for a new Spain in two years when we defend our European crown,” Raul said. “For the record, Spain beat Australia 3-0 in their last match and David Villa, Fernando Torres and Juan Mata scored. Does it mean Vicente del Bosque would have been better off using these players in the previous games? It’s a valid question and we must look for the answer as we embark on a mission to rebuild.” Raul

“The fact is that when the cart needs to be pulled it’s these old guys who are there to pull it. They should be given a little more respect, not for what they’ve done in the past but for what they still represent.” Following the 1-0 defeat to Costa Rica, a game in which Italy looked worn out after their exertions against England, Prandelli stayed true to his principles by replacing the incapacitated De Rossi with a striker, Ciro Immobile, rather than another defensive midfielder. Having never played together, Balotelli and his new strike partner failed to click against the Uruguayans. “We didn’t create a single chance, probably because we have technical limitations or because the structure of the team wasn’t right,” said the coach. “It’s my mistake. I take full responsibility for the project’s failure.” That mistake could possibly have been covered up by a piece of Balotelli inspiration, though there was none of that on show in Natal. Disappointed with his striker’s efforts, to the extent that he hauled him off at half-time, and no doubt aware that a more adventurous choice of tactics might have changed the outcome, Prandelli followed his principles once more at the final whistle. Irked by comments about the extension of his contract through to 2016 – signed just before the tournament – and knowing full well he would be the focal point for the inevitable criticism, he took the decision to step aside and let a new era of Italian football begin.

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AFRICA FOCUS Ghana airlifts $3 million to Black Stars G

Cote d’Ivoire coach resigns

abri Lamouchi has SIvory resigned as Coach of Coast after the El-

ephants were knocked out of the World Cup. The former France international’s contract was due to expire at the end of the tournament, but with his side eliminated at the group stage, Lamouchi has decided to step down. A 2-1 defeat to Greece condemned Ivory Coast to third place in Group C, with Greece progressing behind Colombia. Ivory Coast would have qualified with a draw but conceded a late penalty, joining Japan on the way home.

hana’s government said that it was sending more than $3 million in cash on a chartered plane to Brazil to pay appearance fees for its World Cup squad. Deputy Sports Minister Joseph Yamin told radio station Citi FM in Accra that the government chartered a plane to fly from Ghana to Brazil on

Tuesday, after the Black Stars demanded their appearance fee and rejected having the money wired to them. “The players haven’t been paid their appearance fee as of today,” Yamin said. “It’s as a result of the decision as to which mode of payment should be affected in this current World Cup.” A statement from the Ghana Football Associa-

tion said President John Dramani Mahama personally assured the players that they would receive their money. “The government is pre-financing the payment of the Black Stars appearance fees which will be reimbursed when FIFA’s prize-money for Ghana’s participation in the World Cup is paid after the tournament in Brazil,” the statement said.

Transfer Updates

Barca sign Chile goalkeeper, Bravo

arcelona have announced they have B reached an agreement with Real Sociedad to sign goalkeeper Claudio Bravo

on a four-year contract. The 31-year-old Chile international thus ends an eight-year career with the Basque side, who he joined in 2006 from Chilean side Colo Colo. Barca and La Real have been negotiating for Bravo since the end of last season and a deal was delayed due to Barca midfielder Jonathan dos Santos’refusal to join the Basques on a permanent basis as part of the deal.

Chelsea offer Kroos £125,000-a-week) helsea have emerged as the new C favourites to sign Toni Kroos after offering the Bayern Munich man a

five-year-deal worth £125,000-a-week. Kroos, who has rejected the offer of a new contract at Bayern, looks all but certain to depart the club this summer, and Chelsea have now made an offer to sign him. Manchester United and Real Madrid have also previously made approaches for the player, but neither can get near Chelsea’s giant offer.

Ghana players celebrating

Lamouchi

Man Utd set to sign Herrera for $47m

Algeria coach focused on Russia

Herrera

eports from the UK Rchester suggest that ManUnited have all

but sealed a $47 million deal for Spanish midfielder Ander Herrera. The Athletic Bilbao playmaker was chased by United during the last transfer window but the potential deal unraveled on deadline day. However it looks as though Herrera will be heading to Old Trafford after all, as he is said to have agreed a four-year deal and United have met the buyout clause of $47 million in his contract, with Sky Sports reporting that clause is set to rise to $55 million on July 1.

lgeria manager Vahid Halilhodzic is concentrating on securing a place in the round of 16 of the 2014 World Cup rather than talks surrounding his future. Following their 4-2 victory over South Korea on Sunday, the African side is certainly in with a chance of advancing to the knockout stages and a draw against Russia would likely secure progression. The 61-year-old coach

has been linked with a return to club football management with former club Trabzonspor, but the Bosnian is keen to remain focused on his task in Brazil. “I’m at the World Cup and I am preparing for the World Cup. I do not want to talk about (the Trabzonspor links),” he said. “I know I have a lot of offers, but for now, I am preparing for a historic match for Algeria.”

Eto’o sheds tears over Cameroon exit he 2014 World Cup Tcaptain, was likely Cameroon Samuel Eto’o’s

last and it did not go as he would’ve hoped. The team’s all-time leading scorer only managed to play in their opening loss to Mexico before a knee injury sidelined him for the losses to Croatia and Brazil that followed, eliminating Cameroon. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he even had to step in to break up a fight between teammates Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Benjamin Moukandjo. Needless to say, Eto’o

probably needed a hug after all this and as Cameroon left Brazil, he found someone who felt the same way. As the team got on their bus to head for the airport, a young fan shouted for the three-time Champions League winner and instead of waving or shaking hands, Eto’o put down his bag and gave the boy a world class hug. When Eto’o saw that he was overcome with emotion, he rubbed the kid’s head and hugged him again, sharing a moment that appeared to bring tears

Kolo Touré: African players don’t think enough d’Ivoire centre-back Cthatôte Kolo Touré believes poor defending cost

them dearly against Greece in Fortaleza on Tuesday, in their final Group C clash of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. “We gave them the stick to beat us, we gave them the match,” Kolo told L’Equipe after the game, insisting on their lack of defensive discipline. “We first managed to hold on, but all of us must defend. People often question Côte d’Ivoire’s defence, but we saw it again today. When there are thirty seconds remaining, we musthaveelevenplayerswithin our own 18 meters. “Unfortunately, this is the problem of the African teams, we don’t think enough.”

Arsenal not signing Balotelli –Wenger

rsenal manager Arsene Wenger, A has said that he is not considering any offer to sign Italy striker

Mario Balotelli from AC Milan. Reports in the English media suggested Wenger could make a 25 million pound bid for the former Manchester City player. But the Gunners boss responded to a question from fellow studio guest Ruud Gullit about the rumoured move by saying: “No -- no, that’s pure invention. “We cannot believe absolutely everything that is on the internet or is in newspapers. It’s not true.”

Gomis close to Swansea move Gomis has agreed a deal BHisafetimbi to move to Swansea City. arrival in Wales brings an end to

a long saga in which Newcastle United have been linked with the Ligue 1 striker. Gomis is expected in Swansea by excited fans but the Magpies opted against moving for the out of contract star from Lyon.

Fulham sign Schalke defender hampionship club Fulham have C completed the signing of Tim Hoogland on a free transfer after the de-

fender left German Bundesliga side Schalke. The 29-year-old right-back has signed a one-year deal with the Whites. Hoogland, a former Germany Under-20 international, began his career with the Gelsenkirchen side and moved to Mainz in 2007. Toure

54 SPORT

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Thursday, June 26, 2014

News Updates Cabaye hails Deschamps for French revolution

Ghana, Portugal in make or mar tie

ortugal and Ghana meet on Thursday and for the first time ever at senior level, in the knowledge that three points may not be enough to save their respective FIFA World Cup campaigns. Both teams have taken just one point from their first two Group G encounters, and a draw between Germany and the United States in the other pool fixture would make the outcome in Brasilia irrelevant. Portugal’s task is particularly difficult as a 4-0 defeat to Germany in their opener has left them with a vastly inferior goal difference, and they need a huge goal swing, as well as three points, if their World Cup is to be extended until at least the last 16. In terms of team selection, Cristiano Ronaldo is expected to feature, despite a persistent knee problem, but a hamstring complaint has ruled out full-back Fabio Coentrao. Centre-back Bruno Alves is also believed to be struggling to shake off a knock, but Pepe will return from suspension.

rance midfielder, Yohan Cabaye has hailed coach Didier Deschamps as the driving force behind their excellent FIFA World Cup campaign so far. Four years ago in South Africa, France exited the tour nament at the group stage after registering just one goal and one point, while they only just got through UEFA qualifying for Brazil 2014 in a play-off against Ukraine. In Brazil, however, France

Ghana’s Sulley Muntari sliding in to tackle Germany’s Mesut Ozil

Like their Portuguese counterparts, Ghana also have a solitary point, although at -1, their goal difference could prove to be pivotal if the USA were to lose to Germany. Head coach, Kwesi Appiah, will have to do without the services of Sulley Muntari, who is suspended, but Kevin-Prince Boateng is expected to keep his place in the starting line-up.

Matches

Ghana

Portugal

Drawn

Goals for

Wins Losses

FIFA ranking

Ballack charges Ozil to show ‘magic’ against US

ichael Ballack has called for Mesut Ozil to do more to influence games and create magic moments after the Germany playmaker’s lukewarm start to the World Cup. “I am surprised by the critical views on Mesut Ozil,” Ballack told German paper Express. “For me, he is and he remains an extraordinary player.” “Yes, he has not had a over-

Italy need real men –De Rossi taly midfielder Daniele De failed to reach the last 16. Imates Rossi has slammed his teamPrandelli offered his resignation following their shock following back-to-back defeats for FIFA World Cup exit, claiming the country needs “real men”. Cesare Prandelli’s side failed to make it out of Group D after Tuesday’s 1-0 loss to Uruguay saw them finish third - the second consecutive World Cup in which Italy have

Head-to-head

whelmingly good match at the World Cup until now, but he did not disappoint me either. He needs a magic moment, he must force this moment to happen.” Germany won their opening group game 4-0 against Portugal, but Ozil was unable to make it onto the scoresheet or put his name to any assists. In their second match against Ghana, he again failed to leave

his mark on the scoreline as Joachim Low’s side fell behind before fighting back to a 2-2 draw. Ballack believes that Low should remain patient with the playmaker, however, and trust in Ozil’s calibre that he will come good. “In these situations, Low must back him. Other nations envy us for having players like him or Mario Gotze. They can make the difference.”

have looked lethal in attack and - apart from the final 10 minutes of their match against Switzerland - miserly in defence. “He gave us his confidence. He managed to create a group of players who get along very well, on the pitch and outside,” the Paris Saint-Ger main midfielder said. “He brings his quality as a coach and a tactician. The group is living very well and he is largely responsible of that.”

De Rossi

Italy but De Rossi - absent from the final group game due to a leg injury - appeared to take aim at controversial compatriot Mario Balotelli, who recently posted a picture via Twitter showcasing his Panini collection with his sticker in every slot. “There were certainly components that affected the result, like the heat or the refereeing, but we must not cling to these things,” said De Rossi. “We must forget about all this quickly. Actually, I take that back: we should remember well what went wrong and begin again with real men. “We need real men, not Panini stickers or characters. These are of no use to the Nazionale.”

Norwegian wins bet on ‘cannibal’ Suarez

Ramos vows to return Spain to the top pain defender, SerSpromised gio Ramos, has to help re-

Ramos

turn the country to its former glory following a dismal FIFA World Cup campaign. The 2010 champions got off to a dreadful start as they suffered a 5-1 defeat at the hands of eventual group winners the Netherlands, before falling to a 2-0 loss against Chile. That result saw them eliminated from the competition, but they did at least save some face with 3-0 win

over Australia in their closing fixture. And, after returning to his homeland, Real Madrid vice-captain Ramos took to Twitter to make a promise to Spanish supporters. “Falling isn’t important, what is is knowing how to get up,” he tweeted. “We’ll bring you back the pride of feeling like champions.” Spain’s UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying campaign kicks off against Macedonia on September 8.

Suarez

gambling company AwonSwedish says a punter in Norway has 5,600 kroner ($916) on a bet

that Uruguay striker Luis Suarez would bite someone during the World Cup. Betsson group spokesman Mikael Mellqvist told The Associated Press in an email on Wednesday that a bettor in Norway won the money on a 32 kroner bet, increasing the

outlay 175-fold. He said the company received bets on a Suarez bite amounting to “six-figures in Norwegian kroner.” Norwegian media identified the winner as Thomas Syversen, who reportedly was asleep during the Uruguay-Italy game on Tuesday, when Suarez allegedly bit Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini on the left shoulder.

SPORT

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, June 26, 2014

ITTF Lagos World Tour: Onaolapo pulls upset as tourney ends today Ajibade Olusesan

igeria’s Ojo Onaolapo on Wednesday, at the ongoing International Table Tennis Federation Lagos World Tour, pulled an upset as he defeated one of the tournament’s favorites, , Saka Suraju, in the round of 16 match of the men’s singles. The youngster beat the Congo Brazzaville player 4-1 to set up a quarterfinal clash against the tournament number two seed, Egypt’s Lashin. The match was ongoing as at press time. However, fifth seed, Aruna

Quadri, has said that he was still not satisfied with his performance in the competition despite easing to 4-1 win over Yin Jing Yuam of Singapore in round of 16. “I am yet to be in good shape but I hope to improve with each game, his serves proved difficult for me, I can progress with every match,” he said. Meanwhile, the semifinal of and the final of the competition will hold today but the identities of the players that would play in those stages were yet unknown as at press time.

Wimbledon: Murray demolishes Rola to reach third round …Li, Radwanska, Venus through to third round

eigning champion Andy Murray was an easy secondround winner Wednesday at Wimbledon. The third-seeded two-time major champion blasted 2013 NCAA singles champion Blaz Rola, of Slovenia, 6-1, 6-1, 6-0 on the No. 1 Court at the All England Club, where Murray has now won his last 15 matches, including an Olympic gold medal run in 2012.

Murray beat Novak Djokovic in last year’s final to give Britain its first male singles Wimbledon champion in 77 years. A Day 3 upset came when Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky ousted 12th-seeded French Open semifinalist Ernests Gulbis, of Latvia, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5). Stakhovsky famously stunned Roger Federer in the second round here last year. Australian Open champion Li

Na, former Wimbledon runner-up Agnieszka Radwanska and fivetime titlist Venus Williams were a trio of second-round winners Wednesday at The Championships in the ladies singles. The second-seeded Li defeated Austrian Yvonne Meusburger 6-2, 6-2 in just over an hour. The Chinese star converted 6-of-10 break-point opportunities and held a lopsided 33-4 advantage in winners. Radwanska was tested in the first set by Australian Casey Dellacqua before posting a 6-4, 6-0 victory. The Pole was the runner-up at the All England Club two years ago.

Eagles remain Africa’s biggest hope –Itumeleng Emmanuel Tobi Porto Alegre

upersport’s Communication Smeleng, Manager, Africa, Senne Ituhas thrown her weight

behind Nigeria’s Super Eagles to continue their glorious run in making the continent proud at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Africa’s powerhouses like Cameroon and Ivory Coast have crashed out of the tournament with Nigeria, Ghana and Algeria left to project the prowess of African football at the world stage!

Itumenleng who expressed disappointment at the poor performance of Cameroon, also lamented the painful exit of Ivory Coast from the Mundial “Nigeria remain Africa’s biggest hope for a quarter-final ticket because the Super Eagles have shown determination, team play and power which Africa is noted for. “We are so proud of the Super Eagles and it was not a mistake or coincidence that we invested so much to broadcast the matches live to Nigerians and Africans as a whole,” she said.

Brazil 2014 Group Stage Fixtures Date

Thursday June 12 A Friday June 13 A Friday June 13 B Friday June 13 B Saturday June 14 C Saturday June 14 C Saturday June 14 D Saturday June 15 D Sunday June 15 E Sunday June 15 E Sunday June 15 F Monday June 16 G Monday June 16 F Monday June 16 G Tuesday June 17 H Tuesday June 17 A Tuesday June 17 H Wed June 18 B Wed June 18 B Wed June 18 A Thursday June 19 C Thursday June 19 D Thursday June 19 C Friday June 20 D Friday June 20 E Friday June 20 E Saturday June 21 F Saturday June 21 G Saturday June 21 F Sunday June 22 H Sunday June 22 H Sunday June 22 G Monday June 23 B Monday June 23B Monday June 23A Monday June 23A Tuesday June 24 D Tuesday June 24 D Tuesday June 24 C Tuesday June 24 C Wed June 25 F Wed June 25 F Wed June 25 E Wed June 25 E Thursday June 26 G Thursday June 26 G Thursday June 26 H Thursday June 26 H

Group Teams

Brazil V Croatia Mexico V Cameroon Spain V Netherlands Chile V Australia Colombia V Greece Uruguay V Costa Rica England V Italy Côte d’Ivoire V Japan Switzerland V Ecuador France V Honduras Argentina V Bosnia & H Germany V Portugal IRAN V NIGERIA Ghana V USA Belgium V Algeria Brazil V Mexico Russia V Korea Republic Australia V Netherlands Spain V Chile Cameroon V Croatia Colombia V Côte d’Ivoire Uruguay V England Japan V Greece Italy V Costa Rica Switzerland V France Honduras V Ecuador Argentina V Iran Germany V Ghana NIGERIA V BOSNIA & H Belgium V Russia Korea Republic V Algeria USA V Portugal Netherlands V Chile Australia V Spain Cameroon V Brazil Croatia V Mexico Italy V Uruguay Costa Rica V England Japan V Colombia Greece V Côte d’Ivoire Nigeria V Argentina Bosnia V Iran Honduras V Switzerland Ecuador V France Portugal V Ghana USA V Germany Korea Rep V Belgium Algeria V Russia

Time

9pm 5pm 8pm 11pm 5pm 8pm 11pm 2am 5pm 8pm 11pm 5pm 8pm 11pm 5pm 8pm 10pm 5pm 8pm 11pm 5pm 8pm 11pm 5pm 8pm 11pm 5pm 8pm 11pm 5pm 8pm 11pm 5pm 5pm 9pm 9pm 5pm 5pm 9pm 9pm 5pm 5pm 11pm 11pm 5pm 5pm 9pm 9pm

Venue

Results

Arena Corinthians, Sao Paulo Estadio das Dunas, Natal Arena Fonte Nova, Salvador Arena Pantanal, Cuiaba Estadio Mineirao, Belo Horizonte Estadio Castelao, Fortaleza Arena Amazonia, Manaus Arena Pernambuco, Recife Estadio Nacional, Brasilia Estadio Beira-Rio, Porto Alegre Maracanã, Rio De Janeiro Arena Fonte Nova, Salvador Arena da Baixada, Curitiba Estadio das Dunas, Natal Estadio Mineirao, Belo Horizonte Estadio Castelao, Fortaleza Arena Pantanal, Cuiaba Estadio Beira-Rio, Porto Alegre Maracanã, Rio De Janeiro Arena Amazonia, Manaus Estadio Nacional, Brasilia Arena Corinthians, Sao Paulo Estadio das Dunas, Natal Arena Pernambuco, Recife Arena Fonte Nova, Salvador Arena da Baixada, Curitiba Estadio Mineirao, Belo Horizonte Estadio Castelao, Fortaleza Arena Pantanal, Cuiaba Maracanã, Rio De Janeiro Estadio Beira-Rio, Porto Alegre Arena Amazonia, Manaus Arena Corinthians, Sao Paulo Estadio Nacional, Brasilia Estadio Nacional, Brasilia Arena Pernambuco, Recife Estadio das Dunas, Natal Estadio Mineirao, Belo Horizonte Arena Pantanal, Cuiaba Estadio Castelao, Fortaleza Estadio Beira-Rio, Porto Alegre Arena Fonte Nova, Salvador Arena Amazonia, Manaus Maracanã, Rio De Janeiro Estadio Nacional, Brasilia Arena Pernambuco, Recife Arena Corinthians, Sao Paulo Arena da Baixada, Curitiba

3 - 1 1-0 1 - 5 3 - 1 3-0 1-3 1-2 2-1 2-1 3-0 2-1 4-0 0-0 1-2 2-1 0- 0 1-1 2-3 0-2 0-4 2-1 2-1 0-0 1-2 2-5 1-2 1-0 2-2 1-0 1-0 2-4 2-2 2-0 0-3 1-4 1-3 0-1 0-0 1-4 2-1 2-3 3-1

C’wealth Games: Junior athletes set for world stage Charles Ogundiya igeria youth champions, NBrume Divine Oduduru and Ese will be taking on some of the world’s top athletes at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland after both were included in the Nigerian team for the Games. Both athletes have been churning out impressive performances which culminated in gold medals at the just-concluded All Nigeria Athletics Championship in Calabar, Cross River state. Oduduru won the men’s 200m ahead of more established senior colleagues like Obinna Metu, while Brume was the star of the women’s

long jump event, taking advantage of the absence of Blessing Okagbare to win gold. Speaking to New Telegraph, Oduduru said he has learnt a big lesson from his first outing at the world stage when he beat the starter’s gun at the IAAF World Youth Championships in Donetsk, Ukraine last year. “I have learnt my lesson after what happened at the World Youth Championships last year which I can attribute to lack of experience. But I have been able to correct that, and this time around, I am ready to challenge anyone so as to bring honour to my country,” he said.

Riley releases statement on LeBron opting-out of Heat contract

iami Heat president Pat Riley is the man on the hot seat now that LeBron James has opted out with the Miami Heat. But he knew all of it was coming, the opt out and the pressure. Riley sounded prepared for it at his end of season press conference, challenging LeBron James not to leave the Heat, noting that the Spurs or the Showtime Lakers or the Bird-era Celtics didn’t break up with a Finals loss. Riley released an official statement reacting to LeBron’s decision to opt out. “I was informed this morning of his intentions. We fully expected LeBron to opt-out and exercise his free agent rights,

so this does not come as a surprise. “As I said recently, players have a right to free agency and when they have these opportunities, the right to explore their options. The last four seasons have been historic and LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Erik Spoelstra have led the Miami HEAT to one of the most unprecedented runs in the history of the NBA. We look forward to sitting down with LeBron and his representatives and talking about our future together. At the moment, we are preparing for the opportunities in the Draft and Free Agency as we continue with our goal of winning NBA Championships.”

World Record

On Marble

A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.

– Albert Einstein

Sanctity of Truth

w w w. new tel eg rap ho nl i ne. co m

Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon and the truth – Buddha THURSday, JUNE 26, 2014

The longest tongue measures 9.8 cm (3.86 in) from the tip to the middle of his closed top lip and was achieved by Stephen Taylor (United Kingdom), at Westwood Medical Centre, Coventry, United Kingdom, on 11 February 2009.

N150

Fayemi, Fayose and tragedy of a democracy

t is going to be a laborious exercise to write on the activities of leaders or rulers in Africa who, one way or the other, manipulated the political process to remain in power. Pitiably, there is this penchant for an African to always replace the future with the present, erroneously believing that today will not become history one day. That is why over the years, an individual has been substituted for the state. ‘Me, mine and myself ’ has become a phrase for equating the holder of an office to the office. Even when it is glaring that people are impoverished, anger is in the land and power is slipping away, a dictator, despot or maximum ruler, prodded on by sycophants, will always believe that all is well. In desperation, rather than obey people’s democratic choice, bloodthirsty maniacs in public offices are ready to plunge the state into a prolonged war. They have stupidly forgotten that one day, if they don’t leave power, power will leave them. Obviously, at the centre of this ‘sittightism’ among rulers in this part of the world is a measure of moral bankruptcy coupled with a decayed economic and political structure in which winners take all. Politics is seen as a means to an end. With no second address, an average Nigerian politician would kill to get to public office because his primitive greed can only be satisfied if he is addressed as Chairman of XYZ Local Government, His Excellency, Governor ABC of Ojukokoro State or President You chop I chop of Nigeria. Those who were alive in the 70s would remember the late dictator of Uganda, Idi Amin Dada. At any public gathering, he was introduced as ‘His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular, the uncrowned King of Scotland’ Amin was deposed in April, 1979 and died on August 16, 2003. Almost 11 years after his death, I wonder if anybody in Uganda today still recites this ‘His Excellency, President for Life...’ nonsense at public gatherings. The tragedy of a despot is that he would have been deceived by sycophants and praise singers that without him, the state would cease to exist, that his exit from office means the extinction of society. So, he will be brainwashed that his perpetual stay in office must not be greeted with opposition or resistance. Thus, the heating up of the polity would start. Agitation and demonstration from the oppressed would become the order of the day and eventually, something or somebody must give way. Joseph Stalin, the Supreme Ruler of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) from 1929 to 1953, was one of the most dreaded dictators of the 20th Century. He was so brutal that he would kill anyone for any reason and no reason. From 1930, he launched the Great Purge, one of the most blood thirsty and murderous policies in history.

TALKING TOUGH GABRIEL AKINADEWO gabyfola@hotmail.com - 08023010222 (sms only)

Fayemi (left) and Fayose when the Governor-elect visited him on Monday

He was so terrible that any visit to his office or residence without prior clearance attracted instant death. The fear to go near him, even by his bodyguards, eventually killed him on March 6, 1953 when he suffered a stroke and was unconscious for hours. Sixtyone years after his death, Russia continues to exist as a nation. What of the dictator who was satan in human form, Adolf Hitler? While campaigning for the presidency in April 1932, he promised: “In the Third Reich, every German girl will find a husband” but between January 30, 1933 when he assumed office and April 30, 1945 when he committed suicide, he killed all the potential husbands. He was so brutal that after each massacre by his band of murderous fanatics, he would start jumping in celebration mood. Sixty-nine years after he became history, Germany has emerged stronger as the leading economic power in Europe. The lesson dictators refuse to imbibe is in Ecclesiastes 12: 13-14: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments. For this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgement, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” The summary of the above sermon (so to say) is this: In our democratic struggle, all Nigerians, irrespective of political affiliation, must give credit to one man: Governor John Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State.

We must thank this amiable politician for acting like a foreigner, not a Nigerian, last Sunday, less than 24 hours after former Governor Ayo Fayose of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won the governorship election in the Fountain of Knowledge. That Fayemi, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, lost the election is not the issue. Even when it is clear that an election is lost, that is when some unscrupulous aides of an incumbent would insist on destroying the state instead of relinquishing power. I am sure some would have advised Fayemi that “we must fight this out”. “Having satisfied the requirements of the law and scoring the highest number of votes, Ayodele Fayose of the Peoples Democratic Party is, therefore, returned elected,” the Chief Returning Officer of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Isaac Asuzu, said while announcing the result. If Fayemi had wanted to challenge the result (the Nigerian way), it would have made the process expensive. I always argue that whether parliamentary or presidential, it is not the system we operate that is expensive, it is the operators. That is why billions of naira would be wasted at tribunals after every election. This is the reason it has been difficult for this democracy to work. But Fayemi has set a precedence that politicians must learn from, whether seeking re-election or trying to wrest

power from an incumbent. He is one politician who brought honour and integrity to public office. Nobody doubts the fact that Fayemi worked (he still has more than three months in office) and in the build-up to the election, he campaigned vigorously in all the 177 wards in the state but the people said ‘no, you are not returning to that office’. The people’s choice was clear on this matter but whether their choice was right or wrong is another matter. A few hours after the announcement by the Returning Officer, Fayemi conceded defeat and congratulated Fayose. That he was gracious in defeat is not the story here but with the way his conduct has defused tension in the Fountain of Knowledge shows that his democratic disposition is a pointer to the kind of future we want for our democracy. Given his conduct last Sunday, Fayemi has shown that he loves the people of Ekiti more than himself. He has not behaved like dictators in other lands who, with their conduct, have subjected their people to harrowing times. In Africa, these sit-tight leaders do not entertain any plan of leaving office unless death forces them to do so. Some of them are Robert Mugabe (Zimbabwe, since 1980); Paul Biya (Cameroun, since 1982); Dennis Sassou Nguesso (Congo Republic, 1979 to 1992 and 1997 till date); Jose Eduardo Dos Santos (Angola, 1979); Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo (Equatorial Guinea, 1979); Yoweri Museveni (Uganda, 1986); Blaise Compaore (Burkina Faso, 1987) and Omar Hassan Al-Bashir (Sudan, 1989). In 2015, I can bet it with anything that in this country, many incumbents and challengers will not emulate Fayemi’s admission that public office is not worth plunging a state or political structure into chaos for. And therein lies the tragedy of Nigerian democracy.

OmoBaba

EFCC SUSPENDS FAYOSE’S CORRUPTION TRIAL - News

– Yes o! Anything is possible for the governor-elect!

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