Binder1 may 1, 2014 by Newtelegraphonline

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Thursday, May 1, 2014 Vol. 1 No. 72

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Multibillion PTDF projects abandoned in PTI lContractors allege connivance of Presidency, PTI management

Joe Obende Warri

ulti-billion projects of the Petroleum Development Trust

Fund (PDTF) at the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) in Effurun, near Warri in Delta State have been abandoned with expensive equipment rotting

away. New Telegraph’s investigation shows that the contract was awarded to a company (names withheld) owned by a major

contractor in the Presidency since 2005. The projects include the renovation of offices, staff quarters, hostels, C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 4

L-R: GMD/CEO, Sterling Bank Plc, Mr. Yemi Adeola; Chairman, Alhaji Sulaiman Adegunwa, and Company Secretary, Mrs. Justina Lewa, during the bank’s 52nd AGM in Lagos…yesterday. PHOTO: SULEIMAN HUSAINI

2015: APC moves to dump Buhari, Atiku

lFashola Committee roots for a northern gov lForecloses Muslim-Muslim ticket Ike Abonyi Abuja

here are strong indications that the main opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) may not look the

way of its two main presidential aspirants, former Head of State, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar for presidential candidacy. New Telegraph gath-

ered from authoritative sources that a Strategy Committee of the party headed by the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, has advised the party to jettison the idea of fielding either Buhari

or Abubakar. Rather, the committee wants the party to look in the direction of a northern Muslim governor if it really wants to challenge the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan who is likely to

emerge the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential flag bearer. The suggestion is contained in a two-page document titled “Memo to His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu: 2015, implications

of Muslim/Muslim Ticket and the Burden of APC Presidential candidate” distributed to select party leaders at a meeting last Saturday, April 26. The meeting took C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 2

Chibok girls: Mark, Tambuwal, Ihedioha defy down pour to address protesters

L-R: Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha; Senate President David Mark and Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal receiving women protesting the abduction of schoolgirls in Abuja…yesterday

L-R: Former Minister of Education, Obi Ezekwesili, and wife of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Titi, during the protest at the National Assembly complex, in Abuja …yesterday PHOTOS: Timothy Ikuomenisan

National Conference extended by six weeks

Onwuka Nzeshi ABUJA

National Conference Thecurrently holding in

Abuja has been extended by six weeks. The conference will now end on July 31 instead of the earlier terminal date of

June 19. New Telegraph had weeks ago exclusively reported that the conference might be extended by the

Page 3

slow pace of work, particularly due to the unending arguments of delegates over virtually every matter. A new work plan re-

leased by the leadership of the conference yesterday indicates that the timetable was adjusted following the C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 2

LAGOS

Thunder Storms

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National Conference extended for six weeks CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

realisation that the committees still have a lot of work to do. According to the new work plan, Monday 21stThursday 24th July would be devoted to the consideration of draft report of the conference while the last week starting on Monday 28th and ending Thursday July 31st will be for the production and signing of the final report. Although there was no official explanation for the extension, New Telegraph learnt that it may not be unconnected with the workload still left undone at the various committees. It was also gathered that the managers of the conference sought the extension from the Presidency to cover up for the period lost to public holidays and the forthcoming World Economic Forum which many delegates would attend. Some delegates had earlier kicked against any extension of the conference because of the possible negative perception such an extension may evoke in the public. Others feared that an extension was being promoted by some interest groups to make the conference encroach on the preparations for the 2015

general elections and possibly prevent the said elections from holding. Meanwhile, after several days of heated debates, tension and adjournments, the Committee on Power Devolution yesterday agreed that states should be allowed to participate alongside the Federal Government in the exploitation of mineral resources in the country. It has also recommended the establishment of a special fund for the exploration and development of mineral deposits in states where they have been lying fallow and untapped. Item 39 on the Exclusive Legislative List in the 1999 Constitution which deals with powers to legislate on mines, minerals and

geological surveys had polarised the committee for several days. The bone of contention has been who, between the state and Federal Governments, should exercise control over minerals found anywhere in Nigeria. Delegates from the South had canvassed that the issue should be placed on the Concurrent List to enable both tiers of government share the powers and responsibilities while their counterparts from the North had insisted on allowing the Federal Government exercise its current monopoly on these resources. However, yesterday, the delegates came up with a compromise position and recommended that the

item should remain on the Exclusive Legislative List but with a proviso – that the Federal Government should no longer run a monopoly in this sphere but should allow the states to become active participants in the exploration and exploitation of minerals found in their domains. Co-Chairman of the Committee on Power Devolution, Obong Victor Attah said however that whatever they have done in the committee was still subject to the approval of the plenary. He said it was a difficult decision given the divergence of views among delegates but expressed satisfaction that a common position was reached at the end of the day.

Attah said that throughout the deliberations of the committee, nobody faulted Section 44 (3) of the Constitution which stated clearly that all minerals under above, upon wherever it is found belong to the Federal Government of Nigeria. If we have moved the Item 39 of the Constitution to the Concurrent List, it would have suggested that a state could issue licence for mining and for oil exploration, which is not correct at least by the provision of the Constitution as we have it today. It was a very difficult one to resolve but we finally resolved that it must remain in the Exclusive List. “But because there were complaints, several C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 4

35o C 24oC Partially Cloudy

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IBADAN

33oC 24oC Storms

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32oC 23oC Storms

MAIDUGURI

41o C 27oC Partially Cloudy

ONITSHA

33o C 24oC Thunder Storms

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

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 L-R: Group Deputy Managing Director, Access Bank Plc, Mr. Obinna Nwosu; Group Managing Director, Mr. Herbert Wigwe; Chairman, Mr. Gbenga Oyebode and Company Secretary, Mr. Sunday Ekwochi during the bank’s 25th Annual General Meeting in Lagos...yesterday

2015: APC may dump Buhari, Atiku C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 2

KANO

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

MEDVIEW AIRLINES LAGOS-ABUJA (MON-FRI) 07:00; 08:50; 12:00; 15:30 (SAT) 10:00; 15:00 (SUN) 17:30; 18:30 ABUJA-LAGOS (MON-FRI) 09:00; 14:00, 15:00; 18:30

TODAY’S WEATHER FORECAST ABUJA

FLIGHT SCHEDULE

place at No. 26, Bourdillon Street, Ikoyi, Lagos and was attended by 15 party leaders, including the Interim National Chairman, Bisi Akande; Interim Deputy National Chairman, Aminu Bello Masari; Fashola; Tinubu; Saliu Lukman, Director General of Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF); Murtala Usman Aliyu; former Bauchi State Deputy Governor, Garuba Ghadi. Others are former governors of Abia and Edo states, Ogbonnaya Onu and John Odigie-Oyegun respectively as well as Senator Olubunmi Adetunbi and Hon. Femi Gbajamila. Former Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nasir el Rufai, could not attend apparently because he was still mourning his daughter. El Rufai is a die-hard Bu-

hari man who is likely to oppose the report. According to New Telegraph source, Fashola, while leaving the meeting for another function, urged participants to study the documents carefully. On Buhari’s chances, the report noted that after three attempts, a fourth outing, if not well handled, could be disastrous for the party. The report argued that Buhari was more prone to media attack over his human rights credentials and religious zeal notwithstanding his perceived uprightness and trustworthiness. On Atiku, the report said: “There are lots of suspicions on Atiku’s personality as a politician.” Like in Buhari’s case, the report noted that even though Atiku is believed to have “deep pockets”, there are lots of baggage of suspicions among the

political class, with the international community being wary of him. The report advised the party to rather “consider working for the emergence of a Muslim presidential candidate of Northern extraction from among the present Northern Governors.” Among other contents of the document are that a Muslim/Muslim presidential ticket for the party can negatively affect the party’s fortunes, especially in the South-West where it currently enjoys almost 100 per cent support. The ticket, the document warned further, would make it easier for Jonathan and PDP to secure the support of European countries and the United States. The report dismissed the 1993 Muslim/Muslim ticket when Chief M.K.O Abiola and Babagana

Kingibe won the presidential election on the Social Democratic Party (PDP) platform, noting that the situation now is different; the country being more polarized religiously. The report, however, berated the former aviation minister, Femi Fani-Kayode for unnecessarily sensationalising the Muslim/ Muslim ticket even when the party had not taken a decision. New Telegraph source said that the report was not thoroughly deliberated on as participants were not keen to make their views known in the absence of Fashola and the Ekiti State governor, Kayode Feyemi, Chairman and Secretary of the committee respectively. Tinubu and Onu reportedly favoured waiting for Fashola to come and defend his report at a new date.

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

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Abducted School girls: Mark, Tambuwal, Ihedioha, defy down pour to address protesters Chukwu David, Ummul-Fadal Babagirei and Muhammad Kabir

or the second day running, the aggrieved women of Chibok, Borno State, whose children were abducted by the Boko Haram insurgents a fortnight ago and other concerned Nigerian women, yesterday besieged the National Assembly, impressing on the lawmakers to intervene and facilitate the release of the affected schoolgirls. The same women, numbering over 200, stormed the apex legislative complex on Tuesday, calling on the President of the Senate, David Mark and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, to come to their immediate help and effect the safe rescue of the girls. However, the leaders of the two legislative chambers could not attend to them in person as senators Barnabas Gemade, Ali Ndume, Nenadi Usman and others went to represent Mark. However, the women, defying the heavy down pour, revisited the lawmakers to demonstrate the seriousness of their cause. They came to urge the legislators to do something urgently to rescue their daughters, whose whereabouts had remained uncertain. In response to the wailing women, Mark, Tambuwal and the Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha threw themselves into

Women protesting the abduction of female students of Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State in Abuja …yesterday

the heavy rain of yesterday evening to attend to the protesters. Addressing the protesters, Mark said: “Our hearts are with you at this critical moment. The senators and members of the House wept over this abduction. We have reached an unbearable stage. We can no longer tolerate this. “We are drenched. Totally soaked in the rain. It is better to be drenched in the rain and get our children freed from their captors. If it means standing in the rain until the girls are freed we are prepared to do so. “We are lost for words. We can only apologise that it is taking this long to get these girls released. We are not going to rest until the last of the girls is freed. All the security apparatus, all of us must get involved in this battle. There is no mistaking the fact that we

are in a state of war. With God on our side, we shall triumph over evil.” The women, most of them weeping uncontrollably, urged the government to employ all that was needed to rescue the girls. One of the Speakers and former Education Minister, Oby Ezekwesili, said that the situation had become intolerable, stressing that nothing should be left to chance to save the children. She reminded the government at all levels that the primary goal of government was the security of lives and property of its citizens as well as promoting happiness and progress among the people. “The mothers felt they have been abandoned not just by the government but by all; that is why we are here to show them that we are with them,” the former minister said, adding

“bring back our girls, that is all we are saying.” This statement later became the sing song of the rally. Ezekwesili, who wept in the course of her speech, gave a 24-hour ultimatum for government to show action otherwise the women, she said, would be back on the streets for a bigger rally. Women activist, Saudatu Ma’adi, said Nigerian women would continue to make noise until the girls were rescued. While weeping, she said that relevant authorities should search and rescue, and bring the missing girls alive. “Together we will make impact. We will continue to press for the release of the girls,” she said. One of the coordinators of the rally, Hadiza Bala Usman, regretted that even though security budget is huge, such appropriation is

not seen reflecting in the security of lives of Nigerians. She observed that the kidnap of the girls happened in the part of the country where girl child education was being frowned at, noting that the action was likely to compound the problem. Usman lamented that defence officials were giving conflicting reports about the incident. “We will continue to protest until the girls are found,” Usman declared. Father of one of the girls, Sambido Hosea, pleaded with government to rescue the girls immediately. He said mothers of the girls were already getting set to go into Sambisa Forest in search of the girls, adding that once they leave, the fathers would have to follow. “If all of us go and do not come back, then there

will be no Chibok again. It means Chibok community is wiped out,” he said. Similarly, mother of one of the missing girls appealed to government to intensify the search for the missing girls and bring them back, adding that the parents will prefer to see even their corpses to bury them than to be left in this agony. There was also protest in Kano as members of civil societies thronged the Government House to protest the abduction of the schoolgirls. Abubakar Balarabe Muhmood (SAN) who led the protesters said the incident was a national calamity that questioned the legitimacy of the government. Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso used the protest to call on politicians to bury their differences so as to rescue the abducted girls.

Release names, pictures of abducted Insurgency: FG assures foreigners of safety schoolgirls –PDP tells principal Onyekachi Eze ABUJA

he Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday challenged the principal of the Federal Government Girls College, Chibok in Borno State to release the names and photographs of the abducted schoolgirls. PDP National Women Leader, Ambassador Kema Chikwe, at a prayer session for the security of the nation in Abuja, said there remained many unanswered questions over the kidnap. “How did it happen? Who saw it happen? Who did not see it happen? Who is behind this?” she

queried. Chikwe, who admitted that Nigeria was facing a lot of security challenges, called on women in the country to intensify their prayers for peace to return to the country. “We are still facing the frightening problem of Boko Haram, a monster that has taken the lives of many innocent Nigerians. We face unrelenting menace of kidnapping, armed robbery has become more overwhelming. There is no newspaper that does not carry news of rape, even babies. There is hypocrisy about corruption among individual Nigerians. The last straw that broke the camel’s back was the

kidnap of Chibok schoolgirls,” the PDP National Woman Leader noted. Chikwe said those behind the crimes are lovers of darkness rather than light and called on God to touch their hearts. Chairman of the occasion, Senator Helen Esuene, stated that women were noted for peace. She noted that women are home builders and often suffer trauma in times of crisis. “We are home builders; we went through the pains of labour; women are the ones who carry these children in their wombs. There is not much we can do than to pray because prayer is the answer to ev-

ery problem,” she added. Esuene noted that the abducted girls would have been leaders of tomorrow. She believes that there is divine intervention and asked the women to prays to God who sees everything to bring them back. The women who were dressed in black, had 13 prayer points for the nation. Christian and Muslim prayers were offered on the occasion. The Christian prayer was led by Rev. Fr. Asogu while Sheik Tjani led the Muslim prayers. The women later visited hospitals to condole with the victims of Nyanya bomb blast.

Johnchuks Onuanyim Abuja.

he Federal Government yesterday assured foreigners resident in Nigeria of their safety notwithstanding the level of insurgency. The government also stated that the abducted female students of Government Girls College, Chibok, Borno State would be rescued unhurt. The Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, disclosed this when the British High Commission delegation paid him a courtesy call in his office in Abuja. The delegation that included the British

High Commissioner, Mr. Andrew Peacock, was led by the Head of the Home Office in-charge of immigration Counter Terrorism and financial crimes. Mr. Hugh Ind. The minister also commended the British Government for suspending the visa requirements for Nigerians. He said: “Federal Government will take the necessary steps to ensure the war against terrorism is won. We will make sure that the abducted children are rescued without hurt and also we will do everything in our power to ensure the safety of foreigners in the country.”

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New fixed charges regime begins today James Nwabueze Abuja

ith effect from today, electricity customers, who experience 15 continuous or cumulative days of outage, will not be required to pay the monthly fixed charge to their respective distribution companies (DISCOs).

Speaking in Abuja yesterday, chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Sam Amadi, however, warned that the new rule does not apply to non-payment of electricity bill or other actions of the consumers. Amadi also declared that the continued reten-

Multibillion PTDF projects abandoned in PTI CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

main gate, the building of a multi-purpose laboratory and administrative block. The contract was later sub-contracted to smaller contractors. Investigations show that the main contractor had received a large chunk of the contract sum or has been fully paid from the Presidency, but has failed to pay the subcontractors who, though started work in earnest, have since abandoned the various projects. For instance, the laboratory building has been completed but with no equipment fittings as the equipment required to make it functional was dumped in the building and is rotting away. Expensive batteries attached to some of the equipment have either gone bad or expired. Some of the equipment have gone rusty due to long exposure to the weather. Two trailer loads of split unit air conditioners meant for the staff quarters and other buildings, New Telegraph gathered, were at a time driven into the institute’s premises only for the trucks to disappear later with their cargo. Suppliers of the air conditioners are believed to have either been paid fully for the items or they

were paid just for the “road show”. The central water supply project for the school has been abandoned with staff now compelled to sink individual bore-holes for their apartments. Some of the renovations carried out, such as the re-roofing of staff quarters, have been nullified by the roofs being blown off. Some members of staff have had to vacate their quarters because of this development. “It would have been better if the roofs had been left the way they were because they were not getting blown off,” lamented one of the occupants of the quarters. Reliable sources at the Institute told New Telegraph that matters were the way they were because “the whole thing is a huge connivance between the Presidency, the contractors and PTI management.” When contacted on the development, the Head, Public Affairs of PTI, Mr. Brown Ukanefimoni, told New Telegraph on phone that he could not speak offhand on the issue. He promised to meet with the committee saddled with the supervision of the projects and get back to this reporter. As at the time of filing this reporter last night, Ukanefimoni had not got back.

tion of the fixed charge remains an essential component of the bill. “Upon due consideration of these complaints by the consumers, and considering the role of NERC in Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI), the commission, as provided under Section 32(d) and Section 32(f) of the EPSR Act 2005, it is hereby ordered that effective May 1, 2014, where any customer of a distribution licensee has not received electricity supply for a period of 15 days in a month, such a

ity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, to mark the 2014 Workers’ Day, the party said the past 12 months had been particularly challenging for Nigerian workers due to worsening state of social infrastructure, especially the dwindling power supply which has affected production and forced many companies to downsize or relocate to neighbouring

and is not peculiar to Nigeria. It is to be borne by electricity customers at all times, once they are connected to supply. It is not tied to consumption. “Fixed or permanent investments need to be made and need to be paid for and maintained. Electricity customers need to have the required infrastructure that will enable them enjoy electricity either on demand or when it is available,” he added. The fixed charge is an element of a customer’s electricity bill that is

Members of civil society protesting in Government House, Kano…yesterday

charged on a monthly basis and is intended to allow for the recovery of the cost associated with the fixed or permanent investments required to generate, transmit and distribute electricity. The fixed charge is made up of fixed or permanent investments like poles, cables, transformers, cost of maintenance of the fixed or permanent investments, as well as the capacity charge that is paid to generating companies, as long as they are available to generate.

PHOTO: Muhammed Kabir

National Conference extended by six weeks CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

complaints of the need to diversify the economy, there was a decision that we must find a way of getting states somehow involved in the processes of exploitation of mineral resources. So, we resolved that while the item remains in the Exclusive List, we will redefine what is there. “We resolved that all minerals including oil fields, oil mining, geological surveys and natural gas remain in the Exclusive List provided that: (a) “the Government of States where the mining

APC to workers: Keep hope alive he All Progressives Congress (APC) has urged Nigerian workers to remain strong and keep hope alive, despite the prevailing situation that has seen many of them lose their jobs or have their pay cheques drastically eroded amidst rising cost of living. In a statement issued in Lagos yesterday by its Interim National Public-

customer shall not be required to pay fixed charge, provided the disruption is not due to non-payment of electricity bill or other actions of the consumers like tampering with electricity infrastructure, vandalism, or it is totally unrelated to the fault of the distribution company,” Amadi said. Amadu also reacted to series of comments from consumers about the fixed charge, including whether it is fair and legal. “The fixed charge is a universal best practice,

countries. It also noted that the prevailing state of insecurity in the country had either forced many to relocate to safer climes, with the attendant loss of job opportunities; drastically curtailed workers’ productive abilities and also reduced the inflow of foreign investments that could lead to the creation of more jobs.

activities take place shall be involved in matters relating thereto.” (b) “The government of the Federation shall make special grants to develop mines and minerals in states where such resources are undeveloped.” According to Attah, the resolution would provide the needed legal and constitutional framework to move the country forward as states will become involved in mining and exploration of minerals. He said that the recommended amendment of this constitutional provision will also give states the leverage to get involved in decisions on mining and exploration activities in their states. In a swift reaction to the development, a delegate of the South South zone, Prof. Godwin Darah, described it as the triumph of reasoning together to break a jigsaw puzzle. Darah said the patriotic proposals of members of the committee on the matter finally won the acceptance of all delegates. Former Deputy President of the Senate, Alhaji Ibrahim Mantu also hailed the decision as a major

breakthrough in the work of the committee. Mantu acknowledged the difficulties delegates encountered before reaching a consensus on the matter. “We have to thank God for what he has done. Everybody came back this morning to contribute in a patriotic manner. The good news is that we have been able to cross the hurdle that looked impossible in the last few days. We have unanimously agreed that mineral resources including oil, coal, bitumen or gold should remain on the Exclusive Legislative List. But we also said that we need to make provision for the exploitation of all the natural endowments in this country.” Elder statesman, Chief Ayo Adebanjo said the matter had been resolved and that all parties had agreed that states should be involved in the development of the minerals in their states. “It is no longer a question of the Federal Government doing it all alone. The issue of minerals is still on the Exclusive List but the Federal Government will not do it without involv-

ing the states where these minerals are domiciled,” he said. In another development, the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) yesterday kicked against the proposed movement of labour matters from the exclusive to the concurrent legislative list. President of the NLC, Comrade Abdulwahid Omar, who led other labour leaders to the Committee on Power Devolution said the recommendation was not in the interest of Nigerian workers. Omar urged the committee to reverse the decision as the matter had been such a contentious one that even the National Assembly had to reverse itself when it took a similar decision. Omar warned that the move would not augur well for workers in terms of the policy on minimum wage. According to him, it was important for the country to sustain a common remuneration system and removing labour from the exclusive list would empower state governments pay whatever they like to their workers.

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May Day: IGP assures workers of security Emmanuel Onani Abuja

he Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Abubakar, has said that the force will provide adequate security during and after the May Day rallies today. Nigerian Workers are joining others all over the world to observe workers day. To achieve this, the IGP has given a marching order to all Police Commands to, as a matter of priority, put in place" robust security measures aimed at ensuring a hitch-free event." Abubakar's directive was contained in a statement signed by the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), CSP Frank Mba. The statement reads: "As the Nigerian workers join their counterparts worldwide to mark the International Workers’ Day celebration, the Inspector General of Police, IGP MD Abuba-

kar, has assured them of adequate security during the occasion and beyond. The IGP notes that the Force will leave no stone unturned in ensuring the safety and security of Nigerian workers, as they participate in all lined-up May Day activities nationwide. In this wise, the IGP has ordered all Police Commands to put in place robust security measures aimed at ensuring a hitch-free event. "The IGP, while congratulating the workers, also charges them to conduct themselves peacefully and ensure that they do not play into the hands of unpatriotic elements who may want to seize the occasion to foment trouble. He further enjoins the workers taking part in the numerous events slated for the occasion to be vigilant at all the venues and to report any unusual or suspicious activities to the Police or other law enforcement agencies."

Senator raises the alarm over terrorists' base in Taraba Chukwu David Abuja

enator Emmanuel Bwacha (PDP Taraba South) yesterday raised the alarm on the floor of the senate. He alleged that a strange helicopter had been dropping strange armed personnel and equipment in the Dakar area of the state. He said this had been causing apprehension among the residents. Bwacha, brought the matter to the floor through a point of order, urging the Federal Government and the military authorities to quickly move to the area and prevent the insurgents before they established another 'Sambisa camp' in Taraba State. He said, "I want to say

that our attention has been drawn to a suspicious movements and activities around Dakar in Taraba State and it is believed also that a helicopter is dropping materials and personnel around the place. "We fear that this may be another Sambisa that is in the making in Taraba State. I recall that sometime in December, our colleague, Senator Alkali Jajare, drew our attention to the fact that what is happening in Yobe and Borno States could spread to other states of the federation not only in the North East. "What has happened in my constituency appears to be a confirmation of what our colleague had drawn our attention to."

L-R: Head of Nutrition, Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. Cris Isokpunwu; Managing Director/CEO, Nestle Nigeria Plc, Mr. Dharnesh Gordhon and President, Nutrition Society of Ngeria, Prof. Ngozi Nnam, during the 2014 Nestle Creating Shared Value Media Workshop held in Lagos… yesterday PHOTO: TONY EGUAYE

Boko Haram, Fulani herdsmen attack Anambra, Borno, villages, kill 14 TERROR

100 gunmen in the North and cattle rearers down south go on killing spree Ahmed Miringa, Maiduguri Uwakwe Abugu, Awka

unmen suspected to be Boko Haram terrorists yesterday invaded Kwapchi village of Damboa Local Government Area of Borno State killing 12 people. Several houses, shops, a church and a primary school were also set ablaze. Down south, their counterparts in terrorism, Fulani herdsmen, invaded a farmland in Omasi, Ayamelum Council Area of Anambra State. Two persons were reportedly killed while one was critically injured. Kwapchi is a remote village between Askira Uba and Chibok council areas where about 250 school girls were abduct-

ed a fortnight ago. A resident of Kwapchi, Thliza said, "The gunmen numbering over 100 using Toyota Hilux vehicles and motorcycles invaded the community at about 4am yesterday when many residents were still asleep and ordered harmless residents out of their houses. "The gunmen, who carried Ak47 rifles, Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and petrol bombs gathered almost 90 percent of the residents in one of the primary schools in the area and opened fire on them, before setting ablaze the school and residential houses.” According to him, 12 bodies had been recovered and those injured could not be taken to the hospital about 18 kilometres away for fear of attack. Another resident related that the attackers had a field day wreaking havoc on the village: "They gathered all of us at one of the schools before opening fire… we fled in different direc-

tions and luckily, I found myself in a bush where I hid till 6am." When contacted on phone, the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, DSP Gideon Jubrin said, he was not aware of the incident, but promised to make verification and get back to our correspondent. He never did. "Actually, I am just hearing this from you, but we have not received official clarification or information from the Divisional Police Officer in Damboa Council Area, but as soon as we get details, I will furnish you please," Gideon had said. However, a top security officer who is not authorized to talk to the press, confirmed the incident, saying, "Yes, there was an attack in Kwapchi on Wednesday morning which claimed 12 lives, while several houses and a church were destroyed". And in Anambra State, two persons were reportedly killed while onother was critically injured yesterday when some Fulani herdsmen invaded a farmland in Omasi,

Anambra State. It was gathered late yesterday that, officials of the state government from the Government House, Awka, visited Omasi and met some elders of the area, including the traditional ruler, Igwe Boniface Okeji and a former Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr. Paul Idenigbo as well as the chairman of the local government, Mr. Catchi Obiora to prevent youths of the area from reprisal attacks. It was also gathered that the officials assured the members of the community that the situation would be properly handled and that the perpetrators would be fished out and dealt with according to the law. The state police command had already swung into action to avert an escalation of the incident. Spokesperson of the state police command, Mr. Emeka Chukwuemeka, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said, "We are on top of the situation, and I can assure you, it will not escalate."

Tension in Anambra community over factional war Uwakwe Abugu Awka

arely two weeks after part of the palace of the traditional ruler of Oko in Anambra State, Igwe Laz Ekwueme, was torched and one person shot over factional crisis between some members of the community and the monarch, a similar crisis is brewing in Ekwulobia, another Anambra community. Leaders of eight villages, out of nine are locked in battle with the

traditional ruler of the community, Igwe Emmanuel Onyeneke. Yesterday, none of the two warring factions in the brewing crisis between the natural ruler, a former boss of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria( PHCN) and leaders of the embattled Ekwulobia People’s Assembly, as well as leaders of the eight villages on one side, seemed ready to shift grounds; a development that subsisted in Oko community before it exploded two weeks

ago. Whereas, members of the executive of Ekwulobia People’s Assembly claimed yesterday while briefing newsmen that their monarch and his cohorts had breeched all directives handed down by an Aguata High Court on the issue of the leadership of the community and other heady issues causing trouble in the area, Igwe Onyeneke, dismissed them as an illegal body, which he will not deal with. At the briefing yes-

terday at Ekwulobia, representatives of the eight villages and members of the community’s assembly spoke agitatedly, warning that it was only a matter of time before possible mayhem would break out in the community, if Governor Willie Obiano would not call the monarch and a former chairman of the Aguata council area, Mr. Titus Anigbogu to order. They also frowned at the manner 25 persons gathered in one of the villages last week Fri-

day to organise what they called a kangaroo election of the leaders of the people ostensibly supported by a new Special Adviser to Governor Obiano on Chieftaincy Affairs, wondering how the Government official went ahead to do that in spite of subsisting court orders compelling the two parties to maintain the statusquo ante Led by the first vice president of the Ekwulobia People’s Assembly, Mr. Onyebuchi Igbokwe , the leaders of the various villages reeled out

allegations against the traditional ruler and Anigbogu, including fomenting trouble at the usually volatile Ekwulobia Motor Park, changing decisions of the assembly of the people reached during their meetings, shutting out the rest of the community in making the list of 20 vigilante men forwarded to the state government for employment and flouting all court orders on the lingering dispute in the community, among others.

ekiti 2014

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Bamidele's defection to LP best for him - Nwanyanwu CAMPAIGN

Party chairman gives reasons why LP governor is performing while canvassing for votes in Ekiti

Stories by Adesina Wahab, Ado-Ekiti

he National Chairman of the Labour Party, LP, Mr Dan Nwanyanwu, has said the decision of the member of House of Representatives, Ekiti Central Constituency 1, Hon. Opeyemi Bamidele, to join the party was the best political decision taken by the lawmaker.

Speaking at a rally in Ado-Ekiti on Tuesday evening, Nwanyanwu said it would afford Bamidele, who is seeking the governorship seat of the state on the platform of the party, the opportunity to realise his dream. According to him, Bamidele would not be under any pressure from any political godfather as it is the case with some parties. Nwanyanwu, therefore, called on the people of the state to vote massively for Bamidele in the June 21 poll. "There is no godfather who will bring him the list of commissioners, if he wins the election.

Nobody will sit in Lagos and order him to give contracts to people from outside the state, which will lead to capital flight. "That is why our man, Gover nor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State is doing well. Apart from that, the good programmes of Labour Party that are being implemented in Ondo will be replicated here," he said. He noted that the party would reduce the fees being paid by students in the Ekiti State University and other tertiary institutions. Also, speaking at the rally, Mimiko urged Ekiti people to vote Bamidele as their next governor, and described him as a

man of character, integrity and a man who has a combination of uncommon virtue with experience to deliver the good of democracy. Mimiko, who said Bamidele would play politics of inclusiveness and not politics of exclusiveness, said he would provide jobs for the people, so that life would be more meaningful for the people. In his speech, Bamidele promised to provide unusual leadership in Ekiti State, saying he would not be a governor who would go to the capital market to borrow money to run the state, describing such governor as a gov-

L-R: Ekiti State Deputy Governor, Prof. Modupe Adelabu; Governor Kayode Fayemi; Afro Juju Musician, Sir Sina Peters; and member, Federal House of Representatives, Ekiti South Constituency 2, Bamidele Faparusi, during Feyemi's Re-Election campaign tour of Ode-Ekiti, Gboyin LGA... yesterday

Police arrest three for gunrunning l Deliver us from APCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s violence - PDP

he Police in AdoEkiti have arrested three persons said to be staff of Ilejemeje Local Government Area of Ekiti State for alleged gun running. The police are also on the trail of five others, who bolted away from the spot that they were accosted in Ikere-Ekiti on Tuesday night. Confirming the incident yesterday, the Commissioner of Police, Ekiti State Command, Mr Felix Uyanna, said four assorted guns, charms and bottles of hot drinks were among the items recovered from the suspects. Explaining how the suspects were picked up while inside a bus belonging to Ilejemeje Local Government, he said the suspects had lodged in a hotel in Ik-

ere for some days and that their conduct gave room for suspicion from members of the public, who alerted the police. They were subsequently arrested at a checkpoint by policemen. Uyanna added that the case was being investigated by men of the State Criminal Investigations Department (SCID) and that necessary action would be taken after the completion of investigation. That happened just as the Ayo Fayose Campaign Organisation raised the alarm that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) was out to exterminate members of the opposition in the state. Addressing journalists, the Deputy Director General of AFCO,

Mr Owoseni Ajayi, said the arrest of some aides of the Caretaker Chairman of Ilejemeje Local Government was an example of the order given APC members by their leaders to be fully armed and torment opponents. "We have it on authority that the arrest of the people in Ikere-Ekiti is what the state government has mandated all the local governments to do. They are armed to the teeth and want to unleash terror on the opposition. "We are calling on the police and the Department of State Security Service to search the homes of APC leaders, who are bent on causing trouble. They want to recruit people from nearby states, especially Osun, to create trouble in the state," Owoseni said.

ernor that lacks creativity in the running of the state. Bamidele promised students qualitative ed-

ucation, human capital development and that he would grow the economy of the state through industrialization.

Fayemi promises goodies for rural dwellers

eople living in rural areas in Ekiti State are to enjoy more dividends of democracy as Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, has promised to empower more people at the grassroots to boost the local economy. The governor, who noted that most of the rural areas are far from urban life, said if rural dwellers are well-empowered, they would be selfdependent enough to cater to their needs and the needs of their families. Fayemi spoke during his campaign tour to four communities in Gbonyin Local Government area of the state. Communities visited by the governor's campaign trail included Iro, Egbe, Imesi and Agbado, where he was received by residents, who promised to use their votes to return him into office. He was accompanied by the senator representing Ekiti South, Chief Anthony Adeniyi, House of Representatives member representing Ekiti South II Federal Constituency, Mr. Bamidele Faparusi; Ekiti Assembly Speaker, Dr. Adewale Omirin; Secretary to the State Government, Dr. Ganiyu Owolabi; state APC Chairman, Chief Olajide Awe and other party leaders.

Addressing the people of Egbe-Ekiti, Governor Fayemi said his government had provided basic amenities such as roads, quality healthcare, among others, in rural areas in the state to make life easier for the people in those communities. He added that increased empowerment of the people in rural areas would be a major programme of his second term in office. Fayemi also said the APC remained the best platform for the consolidation of the transformation being witnessed in the state. He urged the people of Egbe not to be intimidated and stand by their votes to prevent candidates, who represent darkness from coming to power again in the state. Fayemi said: "Nobody can intimidate you here; there is no way you can see the right way and head into the bush. There is light in Ekiti; we are no longer in darkness. "We are already witnessing progress in Ekiti and we will never retrogress again. We have done a lot, but there is still more to do and by the grace of God, on June 21, something great will happen through your votes for the APC".

Police threaten to impound branded vehicles T he Commissioner of Police, Ekiti State Command, Mr. Felix Uyanna, has threatened to impound branded vehicles of politicians that are not registered with the appropriate authorities. He also said the command will no longer tolerate a situation that some politicians go about in vehicles with tinted glasses, which have no permission of the authorities. He warned political parties and directors of their campaign organisations that "drivers of such party-branded vehicles may be prosecuted while such vehicles are impounded." He said this yesterday in Ado-Ekiti at a meeting with stakeholders in the June 21 governorship election. Uyanna also lam-

basted political parties in the state over what he referred to as consistent violence in the conduct of the parties' campaigns and rallies in the build-up to the June 21 governorship election in the state. Uyanna said it was regrettable that since the commencement of campaigns for the election, political parties had failed to prevent violence in their campaigns, despite his warnings and appeals for peaceful campaigns. He said, "Since the commencement of campaigns/rallies, it is unfortunate that our appeals and warnings have remained largely unheeded. "Incidents of politically-related criminal cases such as malicious damage of posters, billboards, banners and other valuable property, going armed,

assault occasioning harm, attempted murder, wounding have not abated." He lamented that the crimes "cut across the three major political parties in the state," but noted that "the only difference is in terms of frequency and depth of involvement." Uyanna regretted what he described as intolerance among the members of the contesting political parties, saying "the level of intolerance exhibited by all political actors towards one another is unjustifiable." According to him, the command had "so far recorded 25 politicallyrelated criminal cases in which 14 have been charged to various courts of competent jurisdiction, while others are at various stages of investigation."

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Reps to investigate privatisation, concession of Ajaokuta Steel Philip Nyam Abuja

he House of Re p r e s e n t a t iv e s yesterday mandated its joint Committee on Steel, Privatisation and Commercialisation and Justice to investigate the concession and privatisation of the Ajaokuta Steel Rolling Mill (ASRM) for further legislative action. The mandate was given following the adoption of

a motion sponsored by Hon. Ben Nwankwo (PDP, Anambra) on the “promise and failure of ASRM.” Nwankwo recalled that the company was commissioned in 1983 at 95 per cent completion state as it was thought that funds to be generated from the production of steel from the completed components of the integrated steel plant will fund the completion of the remaining five percent of the project. He said after the overthrow of the Shehu

Shagari administration in 1983, the Russian engineers engaged in the construction of the steel company left the country and the company fell into a “decrepit state as a result of poor funding, inept management and neglect by successive military governments.” The lawmaker alleged that in 2005, ASRM together with the National Iron Ore Mining Company (NIOMC), Itakpe were concessioned to two Indian firms: Global Infrastruc-

Babangida Aliyu fires aides Dan Atori MINNA

iger State governor, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, yesterday sacked five of his aides and has submitted names of five nominees to the state House of assembly. The aides were sacked on account of their ambition to contest for various positions in the 2015 general elections.

The governor had given members of his cabinet and other principal officers in the state aspiring into any political post in 2015 till the end of April to resign their appointments or be forcefully kicked out. To this end, the governor has forwarded a list of five nominees to the state House of Assembly for consideration and appointment as commissioners into the state executive council. Some of the aides in-

volved, according to findings, include the Commissioners of Works, Alhaji Mu’azu Mohammed Bawa; Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Yusuf Garba Tagwai. Others are the Head of Service, Alhaji Abbas Bello; the Chief of staff, Joshua Bawa; the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Idris Kpaki Saidu and the Deputy Chief of Staff, Alhaji Mohammed Saba.

ture Holdings Limited and Global Steel Holdings Limited with detailed due diligence on the ability and competence of the concessionaires to effectively and profitably manage the companies. He added that the concessionaires allegedly administered the companies in ways contrary to the concession agreement, which included alleged unfair labour practices, assets stripping and other practices inimical to the proper functioning of the

companies. Nwankwo observed that; “Owing to the complaints regarding the operation of ASRM and NIOMC by the concessionaries, the government of President Umaru Yar’Adua revoked the concession agreement in 2007, leading to protracted proceedings at the International Centre for Commercial Arbitration in London. According to him, the recent disclosures indicate that the Federal Government has re-acquired

the ASRM from Global Infrastructural Holding Limited “in circumstances that are still hazy, while the fate of the NIOMC is still unclear.” The lawmaker, who described the turn of events at the steel company as “a national disaster,” said “a sole administrator has been appointed to administer ASRM, while an Ukrainian company has reportedly been appointed as its managers “on terms that can best be described as unclear.”

Bini group backs Erediauwa over trip to Aso Villa Cajetan Mmuta BENIN

group, the Ainsocio-cultural Otueroto Foundation, Benin, Edo State, has

backed the Crown Prince of Benin kingdom, Prince Ehenede Erediauwa, for his courage in delivering the endorsement message of the Oba of Benin

Kingdom, Omo N’Oba N’Edo Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Erediuwa, to President Goodluck Jonathan, urging him to contest the 2015 general elections. Members of the foundation blasted critics of the Benin crown prince, Prince Eheneden Erediauwa, for referring to the heir apparent as an ‘Owambe

Prince in Aso Villa.’ The group said the Binis regarded the Oba of Benin and the crown prince as super human beings ruling over God’s people on earth. President of Otueroto Foundation, Elder Peter Agbonkonkon, told newsmen that the crown prince’s visit to President Goodluck Jonathan was in the interest of the nation.

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Thursday, May 1, 2014

3.8 million residents yet to pay tax, says Lagos govt

may day 2014

Muritala Ayinla

he Lagos State government yesterday said about 3.8 million taxable residents of Lagos State are yet to pay tax this year, even as it warned that stringent measures would be taken against tax defaulters. Special Adviser to the

Governor on Taxation, Mr. Abimbola Shodipo, who made the disclosure yesterday, said only 4.2 million residents had been captured in the state’s tax net out of an estimated 8 million taxable residents, describing the development as unfair. Shodipo said: “The population of Lagos is 21

million and by our demography and survey, which is in line with global best practices. “About 8 million people should be paying tax and as at today, 4.2 million people pay tax in Lagos State and through this effort of prosecuting tax defaulters, we were able to collected about N160 million.”

‘New policy on indiscriminate posting of posters underway’

Anambra State Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Chief Tony Nnacheta (left) and Governor Willie Obiano, at the flag-off of a youth Security Awareness Campaign in Awka…yesterday

Senate wants better conditions for Nigerian workers Chukwu David Abuja

he Senate yesterday called for better conditions of service and improved welfare packages for Nigerian workers, describing them as the nation’s engine room. The call was in solidarity with Nigerian workers

on the commemoration of this year’s Workers’ Day that is being celebrated across the world today, The senate took the position after deliberating on a motion moved by Senator Awaisu Kuta (PDP Niger East), who recommended, among others, that workers should be commended for their wonderful contribu-

tions to the development of the country. Senator Kuta said all artisans and workers in both the public and private sectors had been making serious sacrifices in order to move the nation forward, saying that such patriotic efforts should receive symbiotic reward from the country.

Atiku hails workers’ sacrifices, resilience Yekeen Nurudeen Abuja

s Nigerian workers join their counterparts across the globe to mark this year’s Workers’ Day, former Vice-President and a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar, yesterday extolled Nigerian workers’ patriotism, sacrifices and

their unbroken faith in Nigeria, especially at these troubled times. In a statement released by his media office in Abuja yesterday on the occasion of the May Day, the former vice-president said workers are the greatest assets of the nation, because human capital is the pivot around which development revolves.

Atiku extolled the sacrifices, perseverance and the indomitable spirit of the Nigerian workers in the face of grim and tough challenges of economic survival. He said the weakening purchasing power of the workers might naturally affect morale, but urged the workers to soldier on and to never lose hope.

Stakeholders urge civil servants to pray for Nigeria Muhammad Ahmad Lafia

frontline politician and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stakeholder in Nasarawa State, Alhaji Yusuf Agabi, has urged civil servant across the country to use the period of the workers’ day to pray for the unity of the country.

In a statement signed by him titled; “Workers’ Day: Unite for Peace,” Agabi called on civil servants to use the period to strengthen the unity and continuous existence of the country. He said there was hope for the country despite the enormous chal-

lenges facing it at the moment. He added that with prayers, he believed God will touch the heart of those behind the crisis. “The abduction of schoolgirls in Borno State, the Nyanya bombing and the recent communal clash in Iggah community calls for fervent prayers.”

Bamidele hails workers on May Day

hairman, House Committee on Legislative Budget and Research in the House of Representatives and Labour Party governorship candidate in Ekiti State, Hon. Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, yesterday congratulated Nigerian workers on this year’s celebration.

While sending a solidarity message to Nigerian workers, Bamidele said despite prominent contributions of workers to the growth and development of the country, workers have been part of the marginalised, traumatised and the most neglected in the scheme of things. He added that workers

and their children are the ones at the receiving end of most of the harsh economic policies of government all over the world. According to him, in Nigeria for instance, workers, artisans and peasants have had cause to come to bear the brunt of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) in the country.

Make workers’ welfare top priority, says APGA Temitope Ogunbanke he All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has urged governments at all levels and organisations to make workers’ welfare a top priority and ensure that they motivate them in the task of building a

strong economy. APGA in its May Day message made available to New Telegraph yesterday by Victor Eneh, the Senior Special Assistant, Media to APGA National Chairman, Chief Maxi Okwu, also urged workers

to be committed in the task of building an egalitarian society. “The All Progressives Grand Alliance congratulates the leadership and members of Nigeria Labour Congress on the occasion of the May Day celebrations.

Muritala Ayinla edia managers handling publicity for politicians in Lagos State may have to wait for a moment as the state government yesterday said that plans are ongoing to develop a modality for the pasting of posters. The government said it would not allow any politician or party mem-

ber to litter the state with posters, adding that stringent policies are being designed to check illegal pasting of posters in unauthorised places. The Managing Director of the Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency (LASAA), George Noah, who made the disclosure, said the agency is fully prepared for the 2015 election advertisement management in the state,

adding that presently, the state has about 20, 000 illegal posters pasted around the state daily. He said: “2015 will be totally different from other election years. We will not condone indiscriminate pasting of posters. We are already working on policies to checkmate that; we will soon reveal our policies on posters’ pasting in Lagos State,” Noah said.

Fuel crisis to end soon in Oyo Sola Adeyemo

Ibadan

s a way of finding a lasting solution to the perennial fuel problem in the state, Oyo State government yesterday met with the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation at the Apata, Ibadan depot and head of the Department of Petroleum Resources. It had for the past two months being hectic

purchasing petrol in the state as many filling stations have closed shop and those dispensing it do so at higher prices between N110 or N120 per litre as opposed to the official rate of N97. After a closed-door meeting with the Depot Manager at NNPC, Shina Adedeji, leader of the government delegation and Commissioner for Special Duties in the state, Azeez Bonuola, told journalists that the scarcity of the

product was due to a technical fault at Mosinmi depot in Ogun State. “The depot manager gave useful information that will guide the state government in finding a lasting solution to the problem. “He said the problem at Mosinmi was caused by a technical fault, which resulted in the low supply of fuel to Ibadan and other parts of the state. He said that in the next few days, the problem would be fixed,” said the commissioner.

Borno gets new Grand Khadi, two perm secs Ahmed Mringa MAIDUGURI

orno State government has appointed a new Grand Khadi and two permanent secretaries to fill the vacancies created by the retirement of former holders of the positions. The new Grand Khadi is Umar Ramat Mukaila

of the state Sharia Court of Appeal while the Permanent Secretaries are Alhaji Adamu Idrisa Timta and Abba Kaka Abba Jato. The swearing in, which took place at the Government House, Maiduguri, was presided over by Governor Kashim Shettima while the state Chief Judge, Justice Kadhim

Zanna, administered the Oath of Office. Speaking at the occasion, Governor Shettima described the judiciary as the last hope of the common man and the hope of those in democracy, stressing that; “As a government we must promote and preserve the integrity of the judicial arm.”

FCT Minister wants closer Nigeria/Belgium ties Johnchuks Onuanyim Abuja

he Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA)yesterdaystressed the need for closer bilateral ties between Abuja and Brussels,towardsthemutual economic advancement of

Nigeria and Belgium. FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed, represented by the FCTA Permanent Secretary, John Chukwu, stated this when the Belgian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Dirk Verheyen, paid him a courtesy call at the headquar-

ters of the FCTA. The visit was to discuss modalities for the impending visit of a 60-man Belgian trade mission to Nigeria between June 4 and 6, 2014 to explore closer bilateral relations between Nigeria and Belgium.

‘FG’s private partnership investment drive frustrated’ Sola Adeyemo

Ibadan

ederal Government’s effort to drive the nation’s economy through its Private Partnership Project (PPP) aimed at enticing foreign and local investors is being frustrated by judicial bottlenecks, the Group Managing Director of

Odu’a Investment Company Limited, Adebayo Jimoh, has said. Jimoh said this when the National President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, Kalil Mohammed, paid a visit to the company’s corporate headquarters at Cocoa House, Ibadan, on Tuesday.

To Jimoh, many people took advantage of legal loopholes in the PPP arrangement to scare investors away, therebylimitingemployment opportunities in the country. “There are loopholes in the legal system guiding the coming of investors into the Nigerian economy and some people are taking advantage of them.

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ELECTION

Anambra Governor is not only busy in his office, he frequents the courtroom to keep the job Leo Sobechi

here was a mild drama yesterday at the resumed hearing of Dr. Chike Obidigbo’s petition challenging the return of Chief Willie Obiano as the candidate of All Progressives Grand Alliance, (APGA) and winner of the governorship election in Anambra State. The counsel to the Independent National

Double registration: INEC tenders, withdraws Obiano’s letter electoral Commission, INEC sought to tender a letter purportedly written by Obiano. Obidigbo, prosecution witness (PW4); who was recalled to give his evidence after the Court of Appeal restored the issue of double registration against Obiano, adopted his oral testimony on April 15 and reiterated that the 1st respondent, Obiano, registered in Ifako Iluseyi in Kosofe

Local Council of Lagos State. Responding to a question by the 1st respondent’s counsel, Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, whether there was any court judgment that declared the 1st respondent guilty of multiple registration, Obidigbo stated that the certified true copy of the Independent National Electoral Commission’s Voter Register for 2011 election is evidence of

such electoral offence. The petitioner said that INEC was not created to make mistakes saying that to that extent, INEC was a perfect body, adding that he did not have to be at the Eri Primary School to see Obiano during the registration. He said he relied on INEC document certified by the court as evidence. But during cross examination by R. Awolo-

mo, counsel to INEC, Obidigbo told the tribunal that he would not know if his position would change about the issue of multiple registrations, stressing that INEC being a perfect organization, its records as at April 24, 2014 stand as fact, whereupon Awolomo fished out a letter purportedly written by Obiano applying for the transfer of his voter registration from Lagos to Anambra. However, counsel to the petitioner, Oba Maduabuchi, challenging the admissibility of the letter stated: “For a document to be admitted, it must be pleaded and for a respondent, it must be frontloaded. Where it would be tendered through a witness, and it sought to contradict the witness, it can only do so if it is different from what he said”.

Citing section 231 of the Evidence Act, Maduabuchi rejected the document just as the INEC counsel pleaded with the tribunal to withdraw the document and it was withdrawn. Before adjourning sitting to Friday May 2, for continuation of hearing, Chairman of the Governorship Election Tribunal, Ishaq Bello, commended Senator Chris Ngige, saying that the synergy built around the depositions of multiple registrations was of immense relief to the tribunal. Speaking to journalists shortly after the sitting, Obidigbo noted that perfection of INEC was limited by the mischievous exclusion of his name from the list of governorship candidates adding that it hopes that the tribunal would right the wrong and restore his mandate.

Yuguda: Communication is it Yuzarsif Alhassan Bauchi

overnor Isa Yuguda of Gobserved Bauchi State yesteday that part of the

L-R: Dr. Tajudeen Lawal; Elder Segun Demuren; the bride, Victoria Otubu; Prof. Joseph Otubu and Dr. Israel Akinadewo, at the wedding ceremony of Victoria Otubu, in Lagos

45.1m

The total population of Tanzania in 2010. Source: Blatantworld.com

20.7%

The percentage of households with internet access at home in CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) of 2008. Source: Itu.int

4.17m

The total number of internet users of Finland in 2007. Source: Blatantworld.com

Ojerinde faults N4m JAMB allocation Disunity: Ondo APC blames Pedro claim, says it’s mere gossip Babatope Okeowo

Kayode Olanrewaju

he Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board Registrar, Professor Dibu Ojerinde, yesterday described as untrue, unfounded and baseless the claim that the Board received only N4 million as Federal Government allocation, last year. A source at the board, who did not want his name in print, had in a telephone interview told New Telegraph over the weekend that the examination body, saddled with the conduct of qualifying examinations into all tertiary institutions (universities, polytechnics and colleges of education) in the country got only N4

million as allocation from the Federal Government for that year. The source, also wondered that there were years the board did not receive any allocation from the government to carry out its operations and activities, saying therefore the board relies solely on the service charges collected on candidates’ registration fees for its examinations for its operations. The source was responding to the extra N1,000 charged by JAMB for the purchase of results checker scratch cards for candidates to check their results of the just released Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), conducted by the board.

Akure

executive was Abyparallel yesterday constituted some aggrieved

members of the Ondo State chapter of the All Progressive Congress (APC). Led by Capt Ademola Ariyo, (rtd) the party members at a press conference rejected the congress of the party that produced Mr. Duernimi Isaacs Kekemeke as the Chairman of the party. They said Kekemeke is still a member of the rival Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and would resist a situation where the party would be ruling the APC by proxy. The new factional executive consists of members of defunct All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP); faction of the Ac-

tion Congress of Nigeria (ACN), and Congress for Political Change (CPC). Aside Ariyo, who was a BOT member of defunct ANPP, the factional leadership has Mr. Olalekan Obolo as Secretary and Yemisi Aladesaye as the Treasurer. In a statement read by Benjamin Akinbobola, a chieftain of defunct ACN, the group accused the Chief Femi Pedro-led congress committee of manipulation of voters' accreditation and votes, deliberately taking sides with a faction of the party and violence in the course of the congresses. His words: "We condemn in strong terms and declare Mr. Pedro as persona non grata and therefore declare all the congresses conducted by him in Ondo State as not free and fair."

challenges confronting governance today is the absence of proper understanding of the place of communication in the growth and development of the society. The governor, therefore, implored members of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) to deliberate on this challenge with a view to finding ways of narrowing the gap between the government and the governed. Declaring open the National Executive Council meeting of the NUJ in Bauchi on Tuesday; Yuguda said his administration accords priority to in-

formation dissemination, especially in ensuring unhindered communication between the government and the people particularly those at the grassroots. Represented by the State Commissioner of Information, Salihu Ibrahim Halilu, Yuguda explained that it was for this reason that the government provided additional channels of communication to meet the needs and address issues and problems pertaining to rural communities in the state. Speaking earlier at the occasion, the Commissioner of Information, Salihu Ibrahim Halilu, said Bauchi is proud to host the meeting of cream of professionals, who have been playing a significant role in shaping the destiny of the nation.

Politicians troop to Kogi PDP Muhammad Bashir Lokoja

he Chairman of the TParty Peoples Democratic , (PDP) in Kogi State,

Alhaji Hassan Salawu, has called for synergy between the state and the Local Governments to bring development closer to the grassroots. The chairman, who was speaking in Ajaokuta during the reception ceremony for some members of the All Progressives Congress, who defected to the PDP, stressed the need for closer ties between the state and the local councils. According to him, the Governor of Kogi State Captain Idris Wada has delivered on his mandate by providing the

good dividends of democracy to the people at the grassroots. He commended the Ajaokuta council chairman, Aloysius Okino, for his visionary and purposeful leadership, which has necessitated the defection of the opposition to the ruling party in the area. He charged the new members to continue to work for the success of the party in the state, saying that they have equal rights in the party just like the older members. Speaking earlier, the chairman of the council, Aloysius Okino, said he has tried to provide social amenities to the people of the area, saying that the decampees will not regret joining the PDP.

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NUT carpets Suswam over 25% salary reduction claim WINDOW DRESSING

Teachers reject Benue governor’s self serving pay cut

Yekeen Nurudeen Abuja

enue State Governor, Gabriel Suswam, has come under fire from the national leadership of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) over his claim that his salary and that of other political office holders have been reduced by 25 per cent to make a marginal increase in the salaries of primary school teachers in the state. The union in a statement issued in Abuja yesterday by its National President, Comrade Mi-

chael Alogba, described the governor’s commitment as feeble and undesirable. The NUT condemnation came even as it urged members of the public to disregard Governor Suswam’s claim on the salary reduction issue. It said such commitment by the governor was not only unsustainable, but self-seeking and was aimed at scoring cheap political point without addressing the issue. “We view this unsustainable commitment by the governor as selfseeking, which is aimed at scoring cheap political point without addressing the major issue. We call on the general public to disregard such political grandstanding. The demand of the Nigeria Union of Teachers is the full implementation of the national minimum

wage as applicable to all public servants in Benue State without exception to primary school teachers in the interest of justice and fairness. It is immoral and unjustifiable for the governor to deny primary school teachers the national minimum wage on the pretext that the state government lacks the financial capacity to pay primary school teachers, while others in the same public service are enjoying the wage increase since 2011,” it said. The NUT further lamented that primary school pupils, who have been at home since October 2013, are at the verge of losing a whole session while their mates across the country are going in for third term. “We stand by the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed on June

14, 2013 with the Benue State government on the implementation of the National Minimum wage to primary school teachers in the state,” the union said. The union also bemoaned the 10-month-old strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) and the five-month closure of Colleges of Education due to the strike embarked upon by the College of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU), noting that such strikes portend great danger for the country. It called on President Goodluck Jonathan to, as a matter of urgency, intervene in the matter for academic activities to be restored in the affected institutions as well as the protracted closure of primary schools in Benue State.

Budget: NIDAN wants transparency Steve Uzoechi OWERRI

ransparency advocacy group, the Niger Delta Anti-Corruption Network (NIDAN) has called on Nigerians, particularly citizens of the Niger Delta to take a lot more interest in the budget process in their states. While saying that an opaque budget system is the root of corruption, under-development and poverty in the oil-rich region, the group urged Nigerians to vote for politicians that would be committed to the implementation of an open budget system, if elected into office. The organisation, which is a network of civil society and community-based organisations and individuals in the Niger Delta, said upon the conclusion of party primaries this year, it would write to all competing political parties to either endorse the execution

of an open budget system or to decline in writing. The Central Coordinator of NIDAN, Mr. Jude Ohanele, who briefed newsmen in Owerri on the agenda of the organisation regretted that no state in the Niger Delta runs an open budget with the exception of Cross Rivers that operates a budget system that has a little semblance to an open budget. Ohanele, who described an open budget as a mechanism whereby all the people in a country or a state could access information on the revenues that are collected, the amount of funds allocated to different types of spending and how international donor assistance and other public resources are used, regretted that the economic plight of the region has continued to deteriorate in spite of the availability of huge resources because of the non-implementation of an open budget system.

Chinese Premier to visit Nigeria

Ummal-fadal Babagirei

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Senator Bala Mohammed (left) and former Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, when he paid the Minister a courtesy visit in Abuja…yesterday

33.6

25.4%

940,000

The number of journalist per 1m inhabitants The percentage of households with a computer The number of adults and children estimatof Mauritius in 2005. in developing countries in 2011. ed to be living with HIV in Uganda in 2008. Source: Blatantworld.com Source: Itu.int Source: Blatantworld.com

2015: Ajiboso leads campaign for Christian governor in Lagos Temitope Ogunbanke

head of the 2015 governorship election in Lagos State, a pressure group, the Christian Conscience, has charged Lagosians to work toward the emergence of a Christian governor in the state. Speaking yesterday at the inauguration of the state council of the group, Chairman of the

group and former Lagos State Commissioner for Agriculture and Cooperatives, Chief Enock Ajiboso, implored Christians to register as voters and be prepared to run for elective offices at all levels. He said: “It is noteworthy to say that Christians have supported people of other religions through campaigns and elections into offices, particularly into the office of the Governor of Lagos State; and

it is obvious that the prolonged dominance of people of other religions has led to the marginalisation of credible Christians for appointment as political office holders. “Therefore, it is our intention to reach out to every Christian in Lagos State and to partner with them on this project of having a Christian governor to succeed the incumbent governor of the state.

“Christian Conscience is steered towards galvanising support for the emergence of a Christian governor at the next general elections, to encourage all eligible Christians to register as voters, to encourage Christians to run for elections at all levels, to mobilise human and material resources towards the attainment of these objectives and to promote religious harmony in the state.”

resident Goodluck Jonathan will on May 6, play host to the Chinese Premier, Mr. Li Keqiang, who will be visiting Nigeria. A statement issued by the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday confirmed this. According to the statement, during his visit, Keqiang will be gracing the plenary session of the World Economic Forum for Africa. The government of the two countries will be signing six major agreements/Memorandum of

Understanding (MoU), some of which include economic and technical cooperation, exchange of letters for China-aided Nigeria anti-malaria drugs programme, bilateral air service agreement, among others, the statement said. Keqiang is expected to lead a 129-member delegation consisting of top government officials and captains of industry from his country. The visit, which is part of a four-nation tour, is the first visit of Keqiang to Africa since his assumption of office as the leader of the People’s Republic of China.

Pa Ladimeji Adebiyi Ayorinde dies at 85 Founding National President, Agricultural and Allied Workers Union of Nigeria (AAWUN), Chief Ladimeji Adebiyi Ayorinde, JP is dead. Chief Ayorinde who was the Bobajiro Olubadan of Ibadanland died on Monday, January 13, 2014 at the age of 85. He was the first officer in West Africa under the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Ibadan, to take over responsibility for the fertilizer programme in Western State from a Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) expert .He was also the former President of Young Men Christian

Association (YMCA) of Ibadan and the longest serving President of YMCA, Mapo Church, Ibadan. Chief Ayorinde is survived by many children and grandchildren among whom are Rev. (Dr.) Abodunrin Ayorinde, Yetunde Ayorinde, Yemi Ayorinde, Pastor Abioye Ayorinde of the Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State (BCOS), Mrs. Funmi James and Lekan Ayorinde. Funeral rites for the deceased will commence on Thursday, May 1, 2014 with a Christian wake keep at Obafemi Awolowo Stadium, Oke Ado, Ibadan.

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Learn from Gulak’s fall, Reps wade into ASUP, Nyako tells politicians COEASU face-off with govt G Ibrahim Abdul Yola

ATTENTION

Members of the House of Representatives want government to jaw-jaw with lecturers

Philip Nyam Abuja

he House of Representatives yesterday directed its Committee on Education to immediately intervene to find a solution to the lingering strike by members of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP) and Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU). The resolution was taken at the plenary following a motion on matters of urgent national

24.56

importance moved by Raphael Nnanna Igbokwe (PDP-Imo) on the need for the leadership of the House to interface with the Federal Government as well as the striking unions in order to resolve the ten-month-old impasse. In his lead debate, Igbokwe submitted that the continuous staying at home of the affected students posed a great danger, not only to the educational development of the students but also to the social wellbeing of the nation in general. He argued that “It is worrisome that the Polytechnics and Colleges of Education have been shut down for 10 months, moreso that ASUP and COEASU began their agitation even before the

The number of fixed-telephone subscriptions of inhabitants of Argentina in 2010. Source: Itu.int

Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) embarked on their strike. And I remember that a platform was created by this House for its resolution, but surprisingly, nothing has been done about their agitations.” According to him, “The continuous closure of these institutions is inimical to the wellbeing of our society.” Deputy Chairman of the House Committee on Education, Rose Okoh (PDP, Cross River), who was called up by the Deputy Speaker to brief the House said it was unfortunate that the strike had not been given the attention it deserved. She noted that for a long while, no meeting had been held between the striking unions and the Federal Government

31.57m

The total number of internet users of France in 2007. Source: Blatantworld.com

delegation thereby prolonging the early resolution of the disagreement. According to her, issues surrounding the agitation have been haphazardly handled. “Agreements reached between the Federal Government and the unions were not implemented even when the unions agreed to make concession on their demands and which they did. The government has allowed the crisis to linger.” Consequently, the Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha, who presided over the plenary, ruled that the Education Committee step into the matter and make appropriate recommendations to the House leadership on how to resolve the impasse once and for all.

8.43m

The total population of Jakarta, Indonesia in 2010. Source: Blatantworld.com

L-R: Financial Controller, Megacare Group, Kolawole Ladipo; Managing Director/CEO, Olayinka Oredola and General Manager, Nkem Chimezie, during the launch of Online Healthcare Mart in Lagos.

Fix judiciary to attract investors, NBA tells FG Tunde Oyesina Abuja

f the Federal Government is serious about attracting foreign investors, it should fix the country’s judiciary, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) declared yesterday. National president of the association, Okey Wali (SAN), stated this in Abuja at the valedictory court session in honour of Justice Christopher Chukwuma-Eneh who bowed out of the apex court at the retirement

age of 70 years. He explained that an efficient judiciary will inspire the confidence of potential investors far better than jetting round the globe searching for them. According to him, the earlier the Federal Government appreciated that the judiciary was pivotal to the wellbeing of the country, the better for everybody. While admitting that the judiciary is facing immense problems, Wali submitted that there were bad eggs on the bench, "so bad that

they have exhibited the potentials of destroying the judiciary, and by extension, this nation. "They are worse than the mob, they are doing more harm to this nation, than the worst terrorist group in the world, Boko Haram. As 2015 approaches, they are getting more daring. The sad thing is that the public perception is worse than this, because to the public, it is the judiciary that is letting Nigerians down." In the bid to rid the Bar of bad eggs,Wali said, in

the last 12 months, 11 legal practitioners had been disbarred with two suspended for five years for professional misconduct. He added that over 47 were being tried by the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) and over 126 are being investigated by the NBA. In his own address on behalf of the Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria, K.S Okeaya-Inneh (SAN) called for a reform at all levels of the judiciary.

overnor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State has urged the political class to learn a big lesson from the rise and fall of Ahmed Gulak, the former Presidential Adviser on Political Matters sacked on Tuesday. Nyako also noted the reported jubilation by people of Gulak Town in Madagali Local Government Area in the state over the sack as a pointer to the transient nature of power. Nyako, who spoke through his director of press and public affairs,

Mallam Ahmad Sajoh, regretted that though Gulak was supposed to be an adviser to the president, he turned himself to a spokesman of the presidency insulting and vilifying imagined enemies. “But today, the real presidential spokesman has spoken by showing the exit route to him (Gulak) unceremoniously.” Investig ation by New Telegraph in yola showed that even in the state capital, some politicians lauded the Presidency for reducing factors over-heating the polity by removing Gulak.

APGA crisis: Appeal Court reserves judgement Tunde Oyesina Abuja

he Court of Appeal Abuja Division has reserved judgment in the appeal brought by the sacked National Chairman and Secretary of All Progressive Grand Alliance, Chief Victor Umeh and Alhaji Sani Shinkafi respectively challenging the decision of a Federal High Court in Abuja which had on January 15 removed them and other national officers from office. The court presided over by Justice Abubakar Datti Yahaya, reserved judgment on the appeal after counsel in the matter had adopted their briefs of argument. Counsel to Umeh and Shinkafi, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) who led Patrick Ikwueto (SAN), had while adopting his brief of arguments decried a situation where lower courts adjudicate over matters that have been heard and determined by superior courts. Olanipekun noted: "This abuse of court process must stop. A typical example of this impunity is the letter written by the first respondent to INEC in August 2012 as the National Chairman of Citizens Popular Party (CPP) and this man came back in 2013 and is challenging the convention convention conducted by APGA in 2011 when he was a Chairman of another political party. Every lower court is bound by the decision of the court of Appeal and the first respondent (Okwu) is in contempt of the subsisting decision of the Court of Appeal when he went ahead to say that he was elected as the National Chairman of APGA on the same date the said order of stay of execution

was granted by the Court of Appeal. "I ask the court to allow the appeal and dismiss the preliminary objection brought by the respondents. We urge your Lordships to allow the appeal and also note that three of the plaintiffs at the lower court had before the hearing said they were no longer interested in the case, yet the lower court went ahead with the case and retained them as co-plaintiffs. A party can withdraw his matter at any time without the leave of court. What my learned friend has addressed your Lords on are the internal affairs of a political party, which the courts lack the jurisdiction to adjudicate on and the judgment of the Court of Appeal Enugu Division made it very clear. "The court could not have had the jurisdiction without APGA being a party in the suit. The lower court could not have decided on that issue that affects the internal affairs of the party without the presence of APGA. The court was talking about the constitution and the convention of APGA without the party being there. It amounts to shaving their heads in their absence" he added. Counsel to Maxi Okwu and the four other respondents in the matter, Chief Chris Uche (SAN) had while adopting his brief told the court that the appeal was incompetent and should be dismissed. His words: "In the arguments we have shown that the appeal is incompetent as it does not have the particulars required in law. We adopt our brief of argument and I submit that we adopted the issues for determination in a distilled manner.

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I bought gun from LASU undergraduate –Suspect A suspect denies police claim that he is a gunrunner, saying he only uses his guns to fight on the side of land grabbers Juliana Francis

suspected gunrunner, Ismaila Adebayo, is now cooling his heels in the cell of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Ikeja, Lagos State. But the man, who the police said used to hire guns out to armed robbers at a fee, vehemently denied being a gunrunner. Adebayo went to prison in 2012 because a robber fingered him as the

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one who gave him the gun he used for operation. This time again, the suspected gunrunner was arrested because another robbery suspect told the police that one of the guns recovered from his gang, was hired from Adebayo. But the man said the first gun was stolen from him by the robber, while he hired the second gun to members of the gang because they told him they were going to fight another gang over land issue. Adebayo claimed he did not know they were going for robbery. While admitting that he bought the first gun from an undergraduate of the Lagos State University (LASU), who belonged to the Eiye Confraternity, he could not give tangible explanation on how he came to be in possession of the second gun. Police, however, believe that Ade-

bayo had other guns hidden somewhere, which he had refused to reveal to them. Adebayo Narrating his first journey to prison, Adebayo said: “I sold the land to Lukmon. The land belonged to my father. It was my father who said I should assist him in selling his land in Abeokuta. “After I sold the land to Lukmon, he started building a house on the land. There was a gun I kept at the site. I bought that gun from Wale, a LASU undergraduate. The student was a member of Eiye Confraternity. I bought the gun from him for N10,000. “Lukmon discovered it and started using it for robbery. “I didn’t even know he was into robbery. I later heard that he was returning from a robbery operation when policemen in Lagos, on ‘stop-

ing interrogation, Mohammed confessed that the pistol was given to him by his boss. The bodyguard told the police that Balogun claimed to be the commandant general of the Mission for African Chaplaincy. Balogun, the commissioner said, confirmed that he gave the gun to Mohammed to protect him. It was learnt that when the police conducted a search in Balogun’s house, they discovered two cartridges and an expended cartridge, detectives’ gadgets, some paramilitary uniforms and the tinted Toyota Hilux vehicle whose registration number was concealed by the suspects. Madawaki said the painting of the vehicle in military colours and the concealing of the number plate showed intent to commit crime. He said the activities of the chaplaincy had constituted a threat to the state as thousands of people, including the jobless and civil servants, had been brainwashed to join the organisation as a paramilitary organisation in the country.

The commissioner said with the level of insecurity in the country, no group or organisation would be allowed to possess illegal firearms, adding that the group was purely a church-based organisation and should be seen as that. It was gathered that in most public functions in the state, the chaplain members who dress and get kitted like military personnel, usually usurp the functions of the police as they allegedly harass innocent citizens with their military camouflage. The commandant, it was also learnt, used to move in a convoy and hobnob with security chiefs in the state thereby creating an impression that the organisation was receiving attention at both the Presidency and the National Assembly just like the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC). This was why the commandant general was being treated like an Army general while the organisation uses Army ranks for all its officers. While answering questions from journalists, Balogun said his group

Taiwo Jimoh

and-search,’ flagged him down. They found the gun and arrested him. During interrogation, he told the police that the gun belonged to me. They came and arrested me. “I’m not into robbery. We were charged to court and remanded in prison. The gun was not for robbery. I used it for fight over land matters. I left prison just last year. “In this present operation, I got a gun for the gang. I won’t do it again. I spent a year in prison. It has not been up to seven months that I left prison. But what members of the gang told me was that they wanted the gun to fight another gang over land matter. I didn’t know they were robbers.”

wo suspected memb internet fraud synd cialises in defraudi pecting wealthy foreign dire need of husbands a the custody of the Poli Fraud Unit (SFU), Lago The suspects, Henry Ogu (29) and Yunusa (42), were arrested follo tition from an America in New Jersey. The petitioner alle sometime in April 201 Ogu on a dating site both started a relations lasted for months unt pect manipulated and to believe that he was in Nigeria and needed s cial assistance. She claimed that $350,000 to the two acco bers provided by the su The Police Public Re ficer, SFU, DSP Ngozi Agu, said the account were Sky Bank accoun 36204796 and Ecobank number 04087350 belo Faneece Business Serv national. Police investigation, to her, showed that th holder is Okonkwo o A1, Giwa Road, U/Mu na, where he was sub arrested.

Abducted Poly rector survives cr regains fre Yusuf Shuaib Lokoja

Mission for African Chaplaincy CG arrested for bearing arm T

Muhammad Bashir Lokoja

middle-aged man, Sam Keddy Balogun, has been arrested by the police in Lokoja, Kogi State for being in possession of firearm. Balogun, who the police said, claimed to be the commandantgeneral of the Mission for African Chaplaincy, a Christian organisation, was arrested along with his bodyguard. The police also impounded his Toyota Hilux vehicle, painted in military colours. This, according to the police, portrays the Christian group as a paramilitary organisation recognised by the law to intimidate and deceive the public. Parading the suspects before journalists, the state Police Commissioner, Seidu Madawaki, said his men arrested one Saliu Mohammed, who claimed to be Balogun’s bodyguard, with a short gun. The commissioner said that dur-

Balogun (right) and Mohammed

was a selfless organisation which had been in existence since the 18th Century and was brought into the state in 2005. He admitted that he acquired the gun illegally and pleaded with the police to forgive him. According to him, his organisation has been organising a series of prayer sessions for the police, the military and security agencies.

he abducted Rector al Polytechnic, Idah Akpata, has regaine following an accident wh tors’ car involved. Gunmen on Monday n the rector about 8pm, afte way into his house. The assailant dump their car booth and sped But on the way, the dri of the vehicle and ramm not too far away from th The abductors, who s ous injuries, managed to ing the rector in the car “Villagers, who rush of the accident appare the victims, discovered somebody in the booth and legs were tied,” a craved anonymity, told o dent. The witness added th ing him, the villagers di the rector of the polyte domain. “They untied him an the hospital for treatme It was gathered that been discharged from t An employee of the who craved anonymi about two months ago, the institution, Mr Oni kidnapped.

Insecurity: ‘Govt not doing enough to protect Nigerians’ / PAGE 16 | APC’ll meet its waterloo in 2015 –Kuye / PAGE 17

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Social security’ll curb corruption in Nigeria –German Consul-General What are the structural or constitutional similarity between the Nigerian federal system and that of Germany? Nigeria, of course, is a young nation in its constitutional existence. Both are republics. Relatively in terms of constitutional arrangement, but we have some things in common. Germany has 16 federal states and Nigeria has 36. So, with that, there is a difference. In Germany, the regional tribes have developed over the centuries which means what we have reflected in our constitution is a product of centuries of regional development. The situation here is a bit different. Just last week, I attended a very interesting lecture by an historian on the amalgamation process of Nigeria in 1914 during which very different ethnic and regional parts of this country were brought together. So, the independent constitution was based on that experience. Contextually, there is still a struggle for overcoming the regional differences. If you look into the German constitution, an important part is a political situation whereby the federating states participate very strongly in tax and budget revenue; and beyond that, we have a system of equalizing prosperity because one of the constitutional gains is to create similar conditions of living all over Germany and there was really a great challenge to meet up with that after Germany’s unification when we had five new federal states which had been dismantled as a central state, with different economic systems. And given the fact that at the time of German unification, the former was nearly bankrupt and the country had to restructure or re-establish the old structures. So, I think the challenges were different on one hand, and on the other hand, I think if Nigerians are interested in looking into the German federal system and if perhaps to review its constitutional aspect and gather information from other parts of the world, the German experience would be an interesting reference. Can you identify the gains and benefits of Nigeria/German relations in recent times? I think one cannot really strike a balance which is in pros and cons of relation but a positive fact in itself is that we have been having a cordial diplomatic relationship for years, and we have many things we can learn from each other. As I said earlier, it has been a very positive way of dealing with each other. Despite problems in everyday life, there is something we could definitely learn from Nigeria; on the other hand, as we are all very much aware of the already mentioned dynamics of Nigerians, there are, however, shortcomings especially in the energy supply. And as you might have known, there have been many discussions on how to support Nigeria in overcoming the problem in

The Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Lagos, Mr. Michael Derus, speaks on how to curb corruption in Nigeria and his country’s several efforts at assisting Nigeria in various sectors, among other salient issues in this interview with WALE ELEGBEDE

The signed MoU is the basis for the facilitation of the engagement of private sector in that field and the government itself now has power station which is established here. Germany, especially in sustainable energy, is considered globally, as a world market leader – we are very strong in using alternative energy sources and sustainable energy, especially for local and regional power generation in the country like Nigeria there is much room for implementing projects like that. How is Germany dealing with corruption and what cues can Nigeria take from you in her fight against corruption? Corruption constitutes a crime, so we have criminal investigation in cases that occur. The general level of corruption in developed countries is different because we have over a long time established authorities and administrative procedures in which people know what their rights are. For instance, in any administration, people ask for the service they need with information of whether they have to pay a fee or not; for example when it comes to medicals where people don’t have to pay before being admitted because it is the fundamental rights of citizens to always ask for what they need from the authority. So, the attitude and knowledge of people that they do not owe anybody in order to be admitted is a very important step to creating a general awareness that a citizen is entitled to quick services hence not being exploited. I think these things are fundamental things that should be made public so that people would know.

Derus

The general level of corruption in developed countries is different because we have, over a long time, established authorities and administrative procedures in which people know what their rights are power supply. And to that end, in 2008, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the two nations referred to as the Nigeria-Germany electricity partnership. In the first five years of this memorandum of understanding since 2008, despite the fact that we have not seen so many concrete results, we have

a strong feeling that the Federal Government’s dedication to do everything to make sure that the activation of the energy sector is achieved; and that has been the reason for the renewal of this memorandum of understanding last year October with the signing of a new MoU which is based on the 2008 template and declaration of intents which has the main goals of Germany’s support in terms of building up energy supply through sustainable source like water, wind and solar. Of course this is to foster the way for using gas here for the benefit of Nigerians and also for Germany, to have German companies on ground to do things like this on the spot and having access to Nigerian products like oil and especially gas for the German market. Despite that we have a very intense exchange at the political level, there is a bilateral commission which has been meeting, though in recent times we have not had meeting but the commission is still on ground. Depending on the confirmation on the Nigerian side, Germany has the next round of this bilateral commission till this year so that we can have an intense way of contacting each other.

Can you identify policies and schemes that can be used to curb the menace of corruption in developing countries like Nigeria? I think if people could catch up in their personal income situation, if they have more social security, the challenge of unfair treatment and the number of people asking for bribe will go down. That is a problem, which, on a long term basis, will be solved because there is no rule that in certain parts of the world people are more corrupt – it has to do with social and economic nature of a particular country. So, I am very confident that with all the efforts government is deploying to curb corruption, if the phenomenon stops, Nigeria will make progress that will also be in favour of the social economic development. Are Nigerians benefiting from DAAD scholarship and what is the projection for the future? The academic cooperation which has been established since Nigeria’s independence is the Germany exchange service. We have, in general number, around 145 scholarships per year mainly in the field or courses that are related CONTINUED ON PAGE 18

14 POLITICS | THURSDAY INTERVIEW Hon. Haruna Yerima represented Biu North Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives from 2003 to 2007. Now he is a delegate at the ongoing National Conference. In this interview with IBRAHEEM MUSA in Kaduna, Yerima articulated why the north is against resource control Other geopolitical zones have been pushing their agenda at the ongoing confab. For example the South South wants resource control and the South-East wants an additional state. However, the North is yet to articulate its demands in spite of the fact that you have a Northern Delegates’ Forum. What does the north want in this conference? Well, to be frank with you, we do have an agenda; the North has an agenda within the confines of Nigeria existing as one single entity. We have presented our demands. The Northern Delegates’ Forum has to an extent gotten a group of intellectuals, including veteran journalists and retired civil servants to draw up a position for the North. They have done that. Apart from that, each and every state has presented its own stand on most of the issues that are being discussed at the conference. The North has a stand on each issue that is being discussed now. And the objectives of our positions are going to be pursued by all northerners at the various committees. One of the contentious issues at the confab is resource control. What is the North’s stand on this? If you observe carefully, there are two phrases in vogue in this country. They are ‘True Federalism’ and ‘Resource Control.’ To start with, there is nothing like true federalism. As a political scientist, I know that there are no two federal systems that are identical in this world. Everyone is different; so which one is true and which is false? This concept has been introduced in Nigeria simply because some sections of the country want to be independent; they want powers devolved to the states. Second, the phrase ‘Resource Control’ has also been introduce to mean the control by the individual states where minerals are found. These states want 100 per cent resource control or at least 50 per cent. Now, this is absurd because the oil bearing states are saying this out of ignorance. There are no oil producing states in Nigeria; Nigeria is simply an oil producing country. Constitutionally, Section 44(c) clearly states that all minerals, including oil and gas belong to the Federal Government. Therefore, if oil is found in a state, it doesn’t own that oil. On resource control, at best what is going to happen is that we will maintain the status quo. For now, the South South has a lot of money because they get this 13 per cent derivation. What four states in the region get in a month on this 13 per cent derivation, is more than what the entire North gets. There is also a Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs. There is also the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). There are also funds that have been devoted to the amnesty programme. They have enough money, what has been happening is that they have been squandering it. There are powerful families in the South South, powerful traditional rulers and a group of elite that have been stealing this money. This is basically their own problem; we do have our own

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Why North is against resource control –Yerima

Yerima

in the North, of this class that exploits our people. The North has been clamouring for the revisit of onshore/offshore dichotomy even before the confab was mooted… It was a mistake to even make the dichotomy. Some of the proponents are saying that in international law, every oil-producing state must own the oil that is found in the waters that are adjacent to it. The reference to state in international law is referring to Nigeria as a nation because international law does not recognise states that are created internally by nations. It only recognises the nations as states. But the agitators of resource control want section 44 of the constitution which you quoted earlier, amended to accommodate their demand. Do you think that the conference has the powers to amend this or any aspect of the constitution or even make recommendations for amendment? Well, that section cannot be amended because if you do that, there will be chaos. As soon as this is done, then you are creating enclaves that will want to go their ways and Nigeria will break up. This is exactly what we don’t want. How is it even possible to amend the constitution and remove that provision? Before an amendment is made, the issue has to go to the National Assembly and you have to get two-thirds of all the State Assemblies to agree. That can’t materialise. Even though there is no legal instrument to back the ongoing national conference, it is going to be completely impossible to abrogate such a provision in the 1999 Constitution. Remember, it was stipulated in our rules that for a resolution to pass, there has to be consensus. If it fails, then we have to vote and for an issue to be adopted, 70 per cent of the delegates must vote for it. Now, it is going to be completely impossible to have

If you give them this leverage, then next time they will go a step further towards owning the resources 100 per cent. So, you don’t take the risk of allowing even a small window for them to capitalise on. That is precisely the issue. So, we are not going to actually allow that to happen that 70 per cent. Is it because proponents of resource control sense this defeat that was why they approached the issue through devolution of powers, whereby they wanted minerals to be removed from the Exclusive to the Concurrent lists? Let me tell you what happened last week. When we came to the issue of minerals while looking at items that should be removed from the Exclusive List to the Concurrent List, they wanted it transferred to the Concurrent List but we disagreed. We were about adopting the position to allow the status quo but the chairman of the committee, Obong Victor Attah exhibited some form of parochialism or selfishness by playing politics because he was not comfortable with the position. He delayed and subsequently stopped us from adopting the resolution. Time ran out and we deferred the issue till Monday April 28. The South South had already prepared a draft, listing items that should be on

the Exclusive and Concurrent lists and distributed it to members of the committee to guide our discussions. On the list, minerals, oil and gas were removed from the Exclusive to the Concurrent List. The chairman said that the list was to guide us but we saw where they were going and all of us northern members rejected it. We have concluded our plans, northern delegates know how to approach the issue. A motion is being prepared at this moment by one us, to be presented. What we are going to present it is that the status quo should remain because there was a stalemate. Where there is a stalemate, they will call for a vote and if we are going to do so, we have to go by the rules guiding the procedure of the main conference because they are applicable to the committees. And the rule says 70 per cent and they cannot get that percentage at the committee level. If they will be frank with themselves, our work might even finish next week simply because, we will tell them that we should not waste our time because you are not going to get anything new, not a single kobo over what you are getting now. The argument is that by transferring oil and gas to the Concurrent List, they are not saying that states should own the resources. Rather, they want to have inputs in the exploration of these resources even though they will be owned by the Federal Government. Why is the North against this? These are all confused positions that one will only guess what will happen next. Now, if you give them this leverage, then next time they will go a step further towards owning the resources 100 per cent. So, you don’t take the risk of allowing even a small window for them to capitalise on. That is precisely the issue. So, we are not going to actually allow that to happen. Let the status quo remain.

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Thursday, May 1, 2014

Nigeria and Pakistan have maintained diplomatic ties for several decades, extending to military cooperation, but trade activities remain low. In this interview, the Pakistani High Commissioner to Nigeria, His Excellency, Muhammad Ashraf Saleem tells SULEIMAN BISALLA and UMMAL-FADAL BABAGIREI that both countries have a lot to benefit from each other, especially in the battle against terrorism. Excerpts What has been the relationship between Pakistan and Nigeria? Pakistan has been having some kind of interactions with Africa, especially at the level of trade with eastern and northern Africa. Some interactions also took place with South Africa, especially when the British came to Africa and brought along with them Indian nationals, including Pakistanis, at that time, to South Africa. Historically, however, there has been little interaction between West Africa and Pakistan. But after the independence of Pakistan in 1947 and that of Nigeria in 1960, Pakistan and Nigeria established diplomatic relations and today we enjoy a very friendly and cordial relationship with Nigeria. In spite of the long relationship between the two countries, there has been very little trade. But the tide came in the 70s and 80s when many Pakistani educationists, doctors and engineers came to Nigeria. They came particularly to Northern Nigeria because of our religious affinity. Initially, not many Pakistanis felt very comfortable here. After the 90s their presence has been reduced and there could be several reasons for that: there were economic reasons and the effect of the Middle East on Pakistan. The Middle East has had a lot of impact on Pakistan and because of these developments, many of our people migrated back to Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Kuwait and all those places in the Middle East. All these developments have had some impact on our relationship with Nigeria. However, our volume of trade with Nigeria has been going up, sometimes to the tune of $200 million per year. Generally, the balance of trade has been in Pakistan’s favour. But there have been years when the balance of trade tilted in Nigeria’s favour particularly when Pakistan had to import cotton from Nigeria. Pakistan is an agricultural economy and has a lot of textile industries. We have a cotton growing area. But then our cotton failed, we had to import some cotton from Nigeria and that was when the balance of trade turned in favour of Nigeria. Today, the trade volume has come down a little bit and the main reason is that our rice cannot enter here because of the very high duty on rice. Our garments cannot enter Nigeria because the government has placed a restriction on the import of garments. Then a lot of rice from India, Thailand and in certain cases from Vietnam come into Benin and Cameroon, and then smuggled into Nigeria. Some rice also flow from Pakistan. So, because of this, I see the volume of trade between Pakistan, Benin and Cameroon going up, but that with Nigeria coming down. Now you can understand the reason. We want to have genuine trade with Nigeria. For example, Pakistan is very keen to import Nigerian cashew nuts, as well as hides and skin. These are two

Pakistan, Nigeria cooperating against terrorism –Envoy

if you do not have those manufacturing and repair facilities, how will your people get used to using such machinery? There will always be problem. It will be costly to import all those machinery and use them especially when you do not have the mechanism infrastructure. You don’t have the workshops, so there will always be a problem. The other reason that took Nigeria away from agriculture is oil resources. Nigeria’s export of over $100 billion is mainly oil. Pakistan is having exports reaching only $26 billion annually. But we produce everything; we do not have to import food from outside. We produce all our food in the country. We don’t have to import rice. The other day the Minister of Agriculture gave a statement that after China, Nigeria is the biggest rice importer in the world. But Pakistan does not have to import these things. Despite low exports, since we do not import food, we meet all our food needs at home and that sustains us and our society as well. It also creates many jobs for the people. Jobless people create so many problems; violence and so on. So, that is why agriculture is very important for Nigeria.

Saleem

products that Nigeria can export very well and Pakistan needs them. Similarly, Pakistan is prepared to help Nigeria. As I said, Pakistan is an agricultural economy. Whereas Nigeria has a population of over 170 million people, Pakistan has a population of 193 million today. You can see that Pakistan is smaller than Nigeria in terms of land mass but population wise, we are almost 23 million more than Nigeria. In spite of the huge population, Pakistan is able to feed itself and even export wheat and rice in large quantity annually. Pakistani rice, particularly the superior quality that we call ‘Basmati’ is exported to Europe, America, and Middle East and all over the world. We also have the per-boiled rice which we export to other countries. The third thing which Pakistan exports in large quantity is sugar. Apart from these we also export good quality fabrics and garments; they sell in the USA and Europe without problem, and the prices are comparatively lower than those you get in America and Europe. I say this because I ask most of my Nigerian friends to give me feedback when they visit Pakistan, and many of them have come back to tell me that they bought clothes from there at very cheap rates. But since there is a ban on importation of garments in Nigeria, people here cannot benefit from the cheaper garments from Pakistan. Pakistan is also an exporter of mangoes and oranges. So, if Pakistan can make progress in this area, we can help Nigeria also to do that. Nigeria has always been an agricultural country. We have read about the groundnut pyramids and all those things. Where are they now? Today you need to revive your agricultural economy. There are lots of benefits in agriculture. It provides jobs and helps to alleviate the unemployment of a country. Pakistan does not have more than six to seven per cent rate of unemployment because a lot of people are engaged in agriculture. Today, Pakistan manufactures 100 per cent of agricultural machinery in terms of tractors and all other agricultural equip-

Nigeria has to take a step. Again the government has to have its priority set. From Pakistan, it is an open cheque for Nigeria. Not in terms of money because we do not have money in Pakistan, but we have lots of skills and technology to pass on in this area agriculture technology ment. We have a very elaborate infrastructure in repair and maintenance of all kinds of agricultural machinery as well as spare parts. It is very important. If you do not have the repair and maintenance infrastructure, a tractor may not last more than two to three years here. But the same tractor may last for more than 15 to 20 years in Pakistan. So, that is the advantage. Similarly, Pakistan has got very good seeds in all its crops and we are prepared to help Nigeria in that area and it will all happen here, not in Pakistan. Initially, you can train your people in Pakistani agricultural institutions, particularly our universities. Pakistan has got very elaborate four to five agriculture universities that train people and they go out to the country side and help our farmers in production. To cap it, Pakistan has very good irrigation system through the dams. Considering the background you just gave, is it correct to say that Nigeria’s inability to develop the technology to produce tractors and other farm implements has big effect on its agricultural economy? Modern agricultural economy depends on these modern implements, so

In what ways do you think Pakistan can collaborate with Nigeria to boost agriculture? Pakistan can help in many ways. It can help in establishing the plants for manufacturing the implements. You start manufacturing the implements here and that will spread the technology. You can start with the assembling of tractors, and then go for a division programme. Ultimately, you will be producing 90 per cent of the spare parts from within your country. You will give birth to a very elaborate vendor industry, once you start manufacturing some of these implements. That is how you can start and I think that it will not take long for Nigeria because a lot of people are educated. It is a lot easier for the educated people to get those skills. Also Nigeria does not have problem of funds which Pakistan faced initially. Pakistan is prepared to help in all areas in establishing those workshops. You see, Pakistan and Nigeria are two countries that have abundant manpower. We do not have to import manpower and Nigeria does not have to import manpower from Pakistan. The only thing Nigeria has to import from Pakistan is a few tractors, and that will also be for a very limited time. Nigeria has to take a step. Again the government has to have its priority set. From Pakistan, it is an open cheque for Nigeria. Not in terms of money because we do not have money in Pakistan but we have lots of skills and technology to pass on in this area - agriculture technology. How long have you been in Nigeria? Almost one year two months now. Since you came to Nigeria, what efforts have you made to get the government of Nigeria to embrace the proposal on reviving our agricultural economy? I have met people; we have been able to talk via certain delegations coming from Pakistan to Nigeria. People who are actually engaged in agriculture and are producing machinery have come here. Unfortunately, we have not been able to make much headway because it has to be both ways. I can only provide something when you are willing to get it. But we are still trying to create that enabling environment where most likely, our people will start cooperating particularly with the private sector. Presently, there is no agreement between Pakistan and Nigeria where peoCONTINUED ON PAGE 18

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Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Insecurity: Govt not doing enough to protect Nigerians –Onabis Francis Onabis, a presidential aspirant on the platform of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) during the 2011 general election, in this interview with TEMITOPE OGUNBANKE, says President Goodluck Jonathan has not shown the right political will to fight corruption. Onabis, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) also speaks on the state of insecurity in Nigeria and his party’s preparation for 2015 elections, among other issues. Excerpts: How do you see the increasing rate of terror attacks across the country? First and foremost, I want to use this medium to send my condolence to the families of Nigerians who lost their lives in the Abuja bomb blast and the families of the girls abducted in Borno State. Every Nigerian must by now be angry with all these terror attacks. To say the least, I don’t think the government is doing enough to protect Nigerians. You can imagine that we don’t have the accurate figures of the abducted girls; we don’t know what is happening to them in the den of terrorists they found themselves. I am very sure it is not palatable and someone should not be sleeping; the President and Service Chiefs should give explanation. If those kids were their daughters will President Goodluck Jonathan go to Kano and be dancing? Nigerians are tired of the killings and we have lost any sense of hope that this Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government can protect them. President Jonathan has lost reasoning and idea on how to fight insurgency. Nigerians must rise and defend their unity. This government has nothing new to offer; it’s same old story, they rephrase their condolence messages after every attack, they don’t do further investigations. How many perpetrators of this evil has been brought to book? We must realise that these attacks on innocent citizens have proved conclusively that the Federal Government and security agencies have no idea as to how to confront growing terrorism. Nigerians irrespective of where they live; who they are, deserve to be protected from all form of attack be it external or internal. But this government has failed to protect lives and properties of its citizen, which is its fundamental responsibility. Section 14(2)b of the 1999 Constitution states that, security and welfare of the people is the primary purpose of the government. Do you think the government can really tackle the insurgency? Nigerian politicians created this hell in Nigeria and Boko Haram and the likes are the demons that crawled out of it, for the simple reason that they wanted to win election at all cost. The way I see it, President Jonathan should call his fellow politicians to put an end to this terror. The president should seek help from politicians irrespective of their political parties, enough of politicising insecurity in the country. It is affecting Nigerians not politicians, most of the victims of these attacks don’t belong to any political party. The government should also seek help from the international communities and bordered countries because it might be difficult for us as a country to overcome terrorism but with the right political will, international support and cooperation from the citizens, I am sure Nigeria will defeat insurgency. How would you assess the Jonathan-led administration? My assessment of Jonathan’s government is 10 per cent. As a demo-

they are doing many things wrong. What is your view on the reported plan of the APC fielding a Muslim-Muslim candidate in the 2015 presidential election? Personally, there is nothing wrong in any political party fielding Muslim/Muslim candidates or Christian/ Christian candidates. What Nigeria needs now is a leader who is not afraid to perform his duty, who has the problem of the masses at heart; a selfless leader who will tackle corruption headlong, who will build lasting legacies and strengthen existing institutions. It does not matter which part of Nigeria they come from, their religion or if they are both brothers. Nigerians need someone who will address its fundamental problems, and it is pitiable that some politically exposed young Nigerians are wearing religious and tribal labels. Nigerians must begin to think beyond religion and ethnicity to move forward. In 1993, we voted for MKO Abiola and Babagana Kingibe because we believed they would perform. What Nigerians need is performance. The poor man on the street needs food on his table, our unemployed graduates need jobs. If a Muslim offers a Christian a job, will he reject it? We should not allow some politicians to be using religion to divide us, we are stronger than that. Your party has accused the president of flouting electoral regulation on election campaign. What does this portend for 2015 presidential election? The people who make the laws are the ones breaking the law. That is Nigeria for you. As a president, one would expect him to respect the electoral laws, whatever name they call it, unity rally or not, a rally is a rally. And the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should be brave to sanction the PDP for that, but you see INEC also is not independent as they claim; they are toothless dogs who only bark at opposition parties. If the president is violating a rule he should be called to order and sanctioned. Until things are done in the right way in Nigeria, we will not get result. Also this shows that INEC is not prepared to give a level playing ground to all candidates in the election, INEC should summon the courage to apply the appropriate sanction on violators of its rule, not trading blames.

The President and Service Chiefs should give explanation. If those kids were their daughters, will President Goodluck Jonathan go to Kano and be dancing? Nigerians are tired of the killings and we have lost any sense of hope that this Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government can protect them

Your party, the APC, had crises among its members during the recent congresses. Don’t you think this will affect the chances of the party in the general election? The party leadership has been managing all these internal crises very well and we in Edo State, particularly in Uromi, conducted a peaceful congress. You know it is a contest and everybody will want to struggle for power, but I can assure you that in areas where there are issues, the party will come out more stronger and united. I will agree with you that APC has not really learnt anything from the problems of the ruling party. Hopefully, we should be able to put our house in order before the general election. I want APC to do things differently from PDP. We have to learn from their mistakes. There is something that is breaking that party today. It is in the public domain. If we can learn from those things, put it in our constitution, we will be the best party in this country.

agency could not prosecute Stella Oduah despite all evidence in public domain against her. You see a government where a Minister of Petroleum and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) cannot account for billions of dollars, where more than $40 billion is missing and nobody is in jail. I don’t think that government has performed credibly well. Yes, they might be doing few things right, but

You aspired to be president in the 2011 election, how was the experience like and what’s your political aspiration for 2015? The experience was very interesting. Meeting a lot of people, learning how to play the games, in some cases change the game and the players here. I am still learning, I hope I will get there. But on my aspiration in 2015, I will make my intention known at the right time.

Onabis

7 Questions

cratically elected president, one would have expected the President to at least solve one major problem in Nigeria. Can you see any problem facing ordinary Nigerians on the street that has been solved by this present administration? Even the power sector this government says they have transformed, Nigerians anywhere in the country are not enjoying power supply for 10 hours. They said our economy was rebased but the poor man on the street wants food on his table not figures on the papers. But you will be surprised that PDP after 14 years of ruling this country has not been able to generate adequate power supply for the people. The rate of corruption is increasing daily. It saddens me that it is coming more from those in the central government and the president has not shown the right political will to fight corruption. If almost every minister in the cabinet are having various allegations of corruption, that shows something is very wrong. Our anti-corruption agencies are no longer effective. Before we knew of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) but today that

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Thursday, May 1, 2014

How do you see the recent decision of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to zone the 2015 governorship to Lagos East Senatorial district of Lagos State? It is a political cajole. Bola Tinubu is the sole administrator of the party, so whatever he says is the final. Just wait and see what would become of that declaration of zoning. Many people are of the view that the reason why APC zoned the governorship is because of some interests. Definitely. Tinubu is the sole administrator of the party, so he who pays the piper, dictates the tune. So, it is left to the members if they like it or not but such a thing can never happen in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), where somebody can just stand up overnight and say this is what is going to happen. The PDP has a collective administration by the leadership, executives and all stakeholders.

APC’ll meet its waterloo in 2015 –Kuye Chief Taiwo Kuye, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, in this interview with TEMITOPE OGUNBANKE and WALE ELEGBEDE, speaks on the battle for the control of South-West and his party’s preparation to take over from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2015. Excerpts:

Are you saying there are ulterior motives to such zoning arrangement? It is an eyesore. We have been hearing names of some political deadwoods that are unknown to the political life of Lagos. The incumbent Speaker, Aderemi Ikuforiji, who is standing trial before the court for alleged corruption is also contesting. There are so many of them, who are political shambles and political opportunists. They are opportunists because they are made by Tinubu and they have never been tested. The electorate are not concerned about zoning. They are bothered about voting for the party of their choice but when we go into the political mainstream, we will tell them the negative and positive of what APC is doing. With the APC zoning its governorship to Lagos East, is there any probability of PDP following suit in the choice of its governorship candidate? Don’t worry, that is in our chest. We will keep that to our chest and at the appropriate time, we would tell Lagosians where the PDP governorship candidate is going to come from. I am not inclined with Tinubu because he has no political sense. Tinubu is only safeguarding his pot of pepper soup, which he believes is Lagos. So, forget about him zoning the governorship to any zone or looking for a Christian or not. Whatever he can do, let him go and bring a Babalawo or an Ifa man to be governor, he will lose in 2015 election. They will meet there waterloo. Some people are of the view that a PDP chieftain, Buruji Kashamu, is trying to meddle into the affairs of Lagos and that he already has someone that he wants to install as governor. In terms of mobilisation, the six states in the zone belong to Buruji Kashamu as the chairman, Mobilisation and Organisation of the PDP in the South-West. Is it an official role? It is an official role, appointed by the National Working Committee (NWC). It is an official role for him as the chairman, Mobilisation and Organisation in the South-West. So, if you look at it, virtually all the APC governors in SouthWest are seriously jittery over Kashamu because they know what is going to befall them in the elections. Just as they are jittery, they are also laughing behind that Kashamu has so many issues hanging on his neck, most especially the alleged drug issue, deportation and repatriation. All these are campaigns of calumny. Is America sleeping? America came to this country about seven-eight years ago to extradite somebody because of the same issue you are talking about. Kashamu has evidence of what he has done and he told them. In fact, in one of his interviews, he said he has never even been to America in his life since he was born. They are trying to put up a campaign of political calumny against

Looking at the recent altercation between Fashola and Obanikoro over the Ilubinrin Housing project, many people are of the view that PDP is trying to use the minister to cause confusion in Lagos. The APC has not been winning elections successfully in Lagos right from 1999; from AD to AC, AC to ACN and ACN to APC. They rig, unleash violence, bribe the Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs), INEC, police and army. All these things are what we are going to forestall in 2015. With one-man-one-vote, APC cannot win election in Lagos. Nobody can trouble Obanikoro, he is a Minister of State for Defence and under the constitution as an agent of the Federal Government, he should assist where there is going to be trouble. He is welcome and he is not bringing the soldiers for PDP. Soldiers have been monitoring elections in the past, so they will come to Lagos and monitor elections. All the rigging devices that are being propagated by the APC would be minimised and cut short. Looking at Ilubirin project, Lagos State government have come out to say that the place is for a housing project for the masses. What is your take on this? How many housing projects and for who? Everything they said is a complete farce. They have permutation for everything they do. Ilubirin has been shared already. Tinubu has taken his slot, Fashola has taken his own and stalwarts of APC have taken their lots in Federal Government land. We have woken up; we are going to resist any attempt to usurp any Federal Government property in Lagos any longer.

Kuye

Buruji Kashamu because they know the man is a political caterpillar; he is going to destroy them. He will destroy APC in South-West, displace all the governors. Governor Rauf Aregbesola is jittery because of Senator Iyiola Omisore, because he knows what is on the ground, ditto Ogun and Lagos states. The case of Lagos is not even PDP versus APC; it is APC versus the electorate. Local government elections are supposed to take place in Lagos this year and there is information that it might not hold... The information is on our palm and we are preparing our grounds to see what we can do. They must conduct that election. I learnt that Governor Babatunde Fashola consulted Tinubu that he wanted to conduct a local government election and Tinubu told him point blank: “PDP will defeat you flatly if you conduct any election. You better go and put in caretaker committees in all the 57 councils or else you will meet your waterloo.” It is in the public domain that during the last local government election in Lagos State, PDP won close to 200 councillors and 18 local government chairmen but the whole thing was overruled at the election tribunal set up by them. And this is one of the reasons why majority are clamouring for the cancelation of state electoral commissions, so that all election would be conducted by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro came under spotlight in the last few weeks, especially in Lagos over the Ilubirin Housing scheme... Does Ilubirin belong to the state government? It is because the centre has been overlooking many things particularly dur-

ing this administration of Jonathan. It is not done anywhere and with what Obanikoro started, we are going to reposses all Federal Government utilities within Lagos. We are going to take over highways, institutions, offices and everything that belongs to the Federal Government in Lagos. There is an act to that effect but because the central is trying to maintain a friendly relationship with the state, they are turning it to be another thing. Are you trying to say that Lagos State government is usurping many things that belong to the Federal Government? Yes. What is the business of the state government with decorating highways? If a new person comes to Lagos, they will say Governor Fashola is working and doing roads. How many local government and state roads are motorable in Lagos? Instead of them to concentrate on local government and state roads, they bothered themselves with the business of federal roads, which they usually use to siphon money.

Tinubu is only safeguarding his pot of pepper soup, which he believes is Lagos... Whatever he can do, let him go and bring a Babalawo or an Ifa man to be governor, he will lose in 2015

But the Federal Government is in Abuja and some of the properties in questions are in the custody of the Lagos State government. It must be supported by the constitution, not that you just rise up one day and by fiat take over the property of the Federal Government. You cannot just do that by fiat. Has Fashola been guilty of that? Yes. He is a lawyer and he must know better. Go and ask him, he is a lawyer and he must know better. You don’t just wake up one day and just overrun the property of the Federal Government just by fiat and say because it is in your custody. Do you foresee Jonathan flying PDP presidential ticket in 2015? He is the official candidate. The last PDP National Executive Council (NEC) meeting has given him a clean bill to go and contest. NEC is the highest decision making body of PDP, so anybody that is grumble is only grumbling in his room. But the opposition from the likes of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and others cannot be overlooked. Anybody that knows Obasanjo should tell him to go and retire to his library at Abeokuta because no other president will come on board and allow him to practice all the nonsense he is doing with Jonathan. But APC is seriously planning to stop Jonathan in 2015. How can APC government come on board in 2015? They will not win nine states in Nigeria i n 2015. You must calculate a state won by a party before you can jump to the presidency. When you win nine or 10 states out of 36, then what are the permutations and the calculation that you want to use for the presidency? Jonathan will score 25 per cent in the whole 36 states as required by the constitution.

POLITICS | THURSDAY INTERVIEW

CO N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 1 5

ple should feel secure to come to each other’s country and invest. We are trying to have a bilateral investment treaty signed with Nigeria. It is almost in its final stages now and we hope that within this year, we will be able to sign it. Once that is signed, people are going to feel more secure coming over and investing, and all that. Second, as of now, there is no branch of any Nigerian bank in Pakistan and there is no branch of any Pakistan bank in Nigeria. In that agreement, we are trying to make sure that at least, three of the banks should be able to have branches on both sides. There are other things also. For example, we also have a joint ministerial commission. It existed since 1993 but the only first meeting we had was in Islamabad. After that we are trying to have a meeting in Abuja. So far, we are still working on it but it has not been finalised. I am trying to see that it is held at least in the first half of this year. Before Nigeria gears up for the election, we should have that meeting because once you get into the election mood, then probably it will be difficult to have it. Nigeria has had some form of military cooperation with Pakistan for a long time. Now that the two countries are faced with terrorist attacks of a similar nature, are both countries comparing notes in the efforts to tackle this problem? You are actually right that we are facing almost similar problems. The way you have your Boko Haram, we have our TTP and both are very militant organisations. In the case of Pakistan, the problem has existed a little longer. It started when the Russians occupied Afghanistan. Almost five million Afghan refugees came to Pakistan. Out of the five million that originally came to Pakistan, three million are still there and Pakistan is supporting them. Are they still there as refugees or they have been integrated into the society? Some have been integrated but majority are in the refugee camps. Pashtuns are on both sides of the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Half of Pashtun are in Pakistan while half are in Afghanistan. I think that a little more than half are in Pakistan and they are from

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Saleem: Like Pakistan, Nigeria can survive on agriculture, but… We are facing almost similar problems. The way you have your Boko Haram, we have our TTP and both are very militant organisations. In the case of Pakistan, the problem has existed a little longer

Saleem

the same tribe, same families. It’s just like a Fulani person living in Cameroun, you cannot stop him from coming to Nigeria; particularly, Northern Nigeria. It is very difficult. So, in Pakistan, we have a similar problem. Now, this TTP is a comparatively recent phenomenon. It came into existence somewhere around 2004 and 2005. This was a post 9/11 phenomenon, I would say, and the Pakistani Police, paramilitary forces, Army and Air force have been fighting them and this fight is still on. We have been sharing our experiences with our Nigerian friends and Pakistan has trained some Nigerian military people in our country. We have shared our experiences with the Nigerian police. The Inspector General of Police (IGP) of Nigeria was there in Pakistan around the 9th to 15th of February this year and we are cooperating with each other in many areas. I do not want to go into details but we are certainly cooperating.

Similarly, Pakistan Air force and Nigeria Air force are cooperating in the areas of communication equipment and maintenance of some of the aircraft which are commonly held by the Pakistan Air Force and Nigeria Air Force. We all have similar type of aircraft. We are helping in the maintenance and reviving some of those aircraft. Similarly, we are also cooperating at the intelligence level. The problem of terrorism is not restricted to Nigeria and Pakistan alone. It is a global issue and we are cooperating with other countries that are willing to support each other in terms of intelligence and all those things. But I am sure the Nigerian military will work on the issues in the North-East and find a solution to the insurgency there. In all the time you have spent in Nigeria, how have you found the Nigerian people? This is my first assignment to Nigeria. I got to know about Nigeria from some friends. I am basically a military person and there was this friend of mine when we were Majors; one Major Obiakor who later became Lieutenant General in the Nigerian Army. We were together in Indonesia and we were very good friends. Generally, Nigerian people are very friendly. We, the Pakistanis find Nigerians very friendly.

We see your people as not just friendly but very confident people. I see a lot of urge from among Nigerians to move forward. I have no problem living here. Despite the difference in eating habits, Nigerians also seem to like chilies. We also like chilies and being Muslims, we find halal food without problem. Then fruits; pineapple, papaya, oranges are very okay. I take them almost every day and feel happy with that. But there is a bit of difference. For example, our mango in Pakistan is slightly different. Your mango perishes quickly while Pakistani mangoes survive. We have most of the time grafted mangoes which are very sweet and mangoes grow in Pakistan during summers and in the summer heat, mango gains richness in terms of taste. Do you do genetic improvements on your fruits? Yes, particularly mango and orange. Your orange can also be improved upon a lot. I do not know why Nigerians have not done that because these two fruits can grow very well here and they can be genetically improved. Believe me what we have done in Pakistan is beautiful. Now our mangoes go to Europe, the Americas and Japan as well. Our orange is exported mostly to the Middle East. It finds lots of market there. We do not have direct flight from Pakistan to Nigeria otherwise we could have imported some for display here. These are two fruits that can really incorporate value. But it’s like people here are not interested in these things. I find that they are more interested in the business of importation of other things but not fruits. Nigeria has a lot of potential. You have so much water and land and the land is all fertile. Nigeria also has so many people that can be put to work. They are not lethargic people; people only become lethargic when you do not put them to work. The leadership of the nation has to leverage on these potential. I wish Nigeria all the best.

Social security’ll curb corruption in Nigeria –German Consul-General tive fields. Just recently, an MoU was signed between Industrial Training Fund and the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry on vocational training. I think that is not only a contribution to qualification for better jobs but also a first step and incentive to upgrading labour force qualification in the country. So, for potential investors who come to Nigeria, to verify whether it makes sense to have a direct investment here or not, are always asking for professional skills. And vocational training is always a good contribution to that.

CO N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 1 3

to development. I think we will have maintained a level and if you look back in time, I think it has been a very positive cooperation. Last year, at the University of Ibadan we had an alumni meeting. What I heard from our German academic exchange lecturers there was that around 2000 Nigerians have done their postgraduate programmes in Germany. What is your opinion on the recent confirmation of Nigeria as the biggest economy in Africa? It is something that did not come as a surprise, everyone expected it and I would not underestimate the effect that such would have on the psyche of foreign investors. On the other hand, one has to see, not only the economic strength of the country but also the individual income situation which has not changed through the rebasing. So, there is, on one hand, a very positive impact through the rebasing, on the other hand, one has to see through the fact that there is a lot to do in terms of individual income situation which has not changed through the rebasing. So, the Nigerian labour force should catch up with that and I think the fact that we can observe such an improvement, in terms of the growth of the middle class, it is a good signal. Despite

I think if people could catch up in their personal income situation, if they have more social security, the challenge of unfair treatment and the number of people asking for bribe will go down that, there is still a lot of work that has to be done. I can only repeat that the power problem does not only affect the economy sector but also the private including individuals. I have the feeling that this rebasing is a very strong incentives for the Nigerian economy. In your own projection, does this reflect in the standard of living of the people? There are two sides to it. One, we have to look at the parameters which form the basis of the rebasing, which are expression of the general fundamentals of the economy and on the other hand, there is still a gap compared to South Africa which now is number two and which has, maybe, three times the personal income. But I think that this rebasing might be an incentive in

Derus

social and economic programme and also in the effort at combating social crisis. The already mentioned forms of cooperation between Germany and Nigeria might also help in addressing some of these issues. Let me mention in this context another very important strategy which might also have a very positive impact on the situation on ground. There is need for vocational training, like that of Germany in which we do not only do training on the job, but receive more education in their respec-

How factual are the complaints that your embassy denies Nigerian visa on untenable grounds? There are of course, different reasons for denial. I can tell you that we have very strict regulations which we have to obey and follow. That means we cannot arbitrarily deny someone visa if such an individual is qualified. So, wherever people fulfil the requirement of travelling to Germany for a short time stay or long time stay, visas will be granted. The requirements for travelling may be different, we expect people who go to Germany, during their stay, to have a secure financial basis that would sustain them over a certain period of time. The motive for going to Europe or Germany may be different.

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EDITORIAL

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Thursday, May 1, 2014

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THURSday, MAY 1, 2014

The worth of Nigerian workers

oday is important globally for members of the working class. It has been set aside to recognize their invaluable contributions to the economy and the lengthy struggles that made it possible for their significance to be appreciated. Nigerian workers have not had a fair deal from the successive administrations. Despite being the valuable goose that produces the nation’s wealth, their working condition is deplorable and appalling. Therefore, as Nigerian workers celebrate this year’s May Day, it is necessary that a point will be made by labour activists and unionists that workers here need to be equated with their counterparts in other countries in terms of meaningful living standards and wages. The question of apparent lack of living wage for the Nigerian worker both in the private and public sector should take the front burner. It is a matter that requires urgent attention, given that even the minimum wage remains a subject of controversy. Workers and the leaders would most likely point at the increasing depreciation of the national currency, coupled with the global economic meltdown and consequent loss of workers’ purchasing power. Apart from the matter of salaries, the Nigerian worker is also in constant need of decent and affordable accommodation, afford-

able medical care and social security, especially when he is without job or advanced in age. Labour unions and their leaders appear contented with cutting May Day cakes and interacting with politicians who would offer them unfulfilled mouth-watering promises. The general social and economic challenges facing Nigerian workers are most daunting such that our labour unions should use the May Day celebration to drum to the hearing of the government the exigent need for not just a living wage, but a better standard of living for their members and the entire populace. If political office holders and national legislators can earn “fantastic wage bills”, Nigerian workers and indeed Nigerians deserve a human, living and meaningful wage bill, not meager sums that are penurious and insignificant in every way. For over a decade, massive unemployment has been the greatest challenge facing the Nigerian youth. Universities, polytechnics and colleges of education churn out graduates on annual basis without corresponding job opportunities to absorb them. There appears to be no viable plan in this direction, while the creation of more educational institutions is being considered. This is a recipe for disaster. A growing army of unemployed youths is a fertile recruiting round for all kinds of societal deviancy. Casualization of workers is an-

other major issue in the employment saga in Nigeria. This has left many workers vulnerable to all sorts of abuses, manipulations and victimization by their employers. The oil sector which is regarded as Nigeria’s economy driver is the worst culprit. In many companies, employees have to negotiate retrenchment and redundancies with their employers, while some employees are banned from belonging to trade unions. Many workers, especially bankers have lost their jobs due to elitist banking reforms, while civil servants whose jobs are seemingly more secure live from hand to mouth. But more importantly, Labour ought to be the most organized group in society and can make a lot more impact on the development process. It should see itself as a think-tank for policy advocacy, coming up with alternative policy frameworks that are informed and result-oriented on the key questions of Nigerian economy and society. This, it seems to us, could involve the provision of information and ideas about job creation, the state of the economy, housing, health, and education as well as the plight of retirees who are left without their gratuities and monthly pension for a long time. If, therefore, at the May Day rallies today, the labour union leaders dance around workers welfare and dish out the salad of empty rhetorics that are features of past celebrations, work-

ers and indeed Nigerians should all ask themselves the essence of the May Day celebration. This is because most of the labour union leaders rub shoulders with the high and mighty in the society, they are very comfortable and not in touch with the real workers, and in the process trade away the rights of the workers for a mess of porridge which is most unfortunate. Therefore, this year’s workers day should not be another routine jamboree or bazaar for speech making and mockery of the deprived Nigerian workers. It is a truism to say that the government is the largest employer of labour in the country. To this end, government has a lot of responsibility to promote the dignity of labour in every way possible and enhance workers’ welfare. The democracy we are nurturing can only flourish in an environment of industrial harmony. However, it appears that very little attention is being paid to workers in the public and private sectors that provide the funds that make the country function. They need government’s encouragement through provision of basic infrastructure and working accommodation at reasonable, not exploitative cost. Furthermore, the ordinary workers would want to know from their leaders the pragmatic steps they intend to take to better their welfare as well as the society at large. The betrayal of workers by their leaders and the government must stop.

GABRIEL AKINADEWO Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief IKE ABONYI Deputy Managing Director/DEIC FELIX OGUEJIOFOR ABUGU Managing Editor, South SULEIMAN BISALLA Managing Editor, North AYODELE OJO Acting 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 2015: APC and its credo of violence Johnson Momodu

n Nigeria, as in virtually all parts of Africa, when elders speak, younger people are expected to listen, obey and act accordingly. For this reason, the recent “rig and roast” statement attributed to former Lagos State governor and national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, raises serious concerns for all Nigerians who care about peace in the country. A man who by virtue of his age can be considered an elder, Tinubu is reported to have said: “It will be rig and roast,” in reference to the Ekiti governorship election during a speech at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Oyo State. Let it be clear that the conditionality of “rigging” before “roasting” being advocated by Tinubu does not in any way lessen the seriousness of his incitement of violence. Past experience has shown that wherever and whenever Tinubu’s APC has lost an election, be it to the All Progressives Grand Alliance (as happened in the recent Anambra governorship elections), or the Labour Party (as happened in Ondo State), or the Peoples Democratic Party (as has happened in many parts of the country), the first utterance that Tinubu has regularly made is to declare that the election in question was rigged. The only elections that are never rigged, as far as Tinubu is concerned, are those won by the APC. How such an oddity is possible in a country with multiple political tendencies like Nigeria is something only Tinubu can explain. And he might also wish to explain how come no party has enjoyed questionable electoral victories at the courts like the APC. Setting aside the intemperate nature of Tinubu’s statement, it is important to revisit something similar that was said earlier by General Muhammadu Buhari, another national leader of the APC. Buhari, whose statement was re-

Chris Ngwodo

ith just under a year to the national elections, President Goodluck Jonathan’s run for a second term in office is virtually a foregone conclusion within the ruling People’s Democratic Party. There is no such certainty in the opposition All People’s Congress where certain party bigwigs surely have their preference but are mulling over how best to stage the “uncontroversial” emergence of their anointed favourite as the party’s presidential candidate. Their challenge is to orchestrate a “consensus choice” and avoid an unnecessarily rancorous primary contest that fails to throw up the desired outcome. Astute political watchers with long memories can sense the huge potential for a self-inflicted disaster here. Consensus politics, especially in opposition parties, has had an inglorious record in the Fourth Republic. In 1999, the gerontocratic leadership of the Afenifere and the Alliance for Democracy surreptitiously anointed Olu Falae as presidential candidate ahead of the popular Bola Ige. The AD then forged an alliance with the All People’s Party and fielded the presidential ticket

corded during a BBC Hausa interview, spoke in his vernacular, perhaps in the hope of restricting his unstatesmanlike words to his preferred audience. Nevertheless, his words were easily translated into English for all Nigerians to bear witness. According to Buhari, “If what happened in 2011 should again happen in 2015, by the grace of God, the dog and the baboon would all be soaked in blood.” Coming from a man who, from all indications, still harbours the ambition of becoming Nigeria’s president, these were most inappropriate words. When taken together, Tinubu’s “rig and roast” utterance and Buhari’s “the dog and the baboon would all be soaked in blood” statement paint a clear and present danger of a very violent APC. The question that all well-meaning Nigerians should pose to these leaders of the APC is simple: considering the serious issue of insecurity brought about by the despicable acts of Boko Haram in some parts of the country, are these APC leaders really advocating more violence in Nigeria all in their quest to win elections? It is also necessary to ask: if members of the APC heed the exhortations of their leaders and embark on a campaign of “soaking dogs and baboons” (whoever these terms may refer to) in “blood” and “roasting” people (as if they were chicken), do they expect that others would merely fold their hands and watch? Is the APC, in its campaign of inciting violence across the land, seriously expecting Nigerians who are already suffering from Boko Haram mayhem to vote for a blood-thirsty party? Not content with inciting violence and bloodshed, Tinubu also used his Ogbomoso speech to attempt to ridicule the recent rebasing of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures. In his misguided attempt to poke fun at something as fundamental as the rebased GDP figures, Tinubu failed to provide answers to what should be done about the productivity in the country’s entertainment industry, the addition of which formed part of the increase in the nation’s GDP

Thursday, May 1, 2014

figures. Tinubu’s unwillingness to concede that President Goodluck Jonathan is doing anything positive in the country is clearly behind his ill-advised attempt to diminish the positive effects of the rebased GDP figures. But the reality is that whether he acknowledges it or not, Nigerians know well enough that things are getting better in the nation’s economy. As it has been stated by several well-meaning Nigerians, since GDP measures productivity within an economy, and productivity anywhere is affected by morale, it follows that the fact that Nigeria’s economy is now the largest in Africa is clearly a major morale-booster to Nigerians in all walks of life. Moreover, Tinubu’s reluctance to admit that things are getting better under the Jonathan administration pales into insignificance as former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who is now a leading light of the APC, is on record as saying: “To the [Jonathan] government’s credit, an ambitious Almajiri education scheme has been put in place. This year, the Federal Government built and handed over tens of Almajiri Model Schools to state governments. As part of this scheme there is a commendable focus on girl-child education.” Even Lagos, a frontline state of the APC where Tinubu served without distinction for eight years as governor, is a beneficiary of the transformation being pursued by the Jonathan administration. Amongst other projects, in 2013 the Jonathan administration approved construction of the first ever deep sea port in Nigeria to be sited at Lekki, Lagos State. And while Tinubu is going about inciting his supporters to “roast” other human beings in his quest for political relevance, Jonathan has consistently insisted that no Nigerian life is worth sacrificing in order to ensure his success at the polls. The difference between Jonathan and Tinubu could not be more pronounced. • Momodu sent this piece from Benin City, Edo State.

The curse of consensus of Falae and Umaru Shinkafi. It was a disastrous gambit. Dissatisfied by the manner of the ticket’s emergence, APP stalwarts like Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu and Olusola Saraki left the party with the latter actually working against Falae’s bid. Ige, angered by what he considered the backstabbing antics of the Afenifere old guard withdrew, and subsequently accepted a ministerial appointment from the victorious President Olusegun Obasanjo. In 2003, the All Nigeria People’s Party’s consensual choice of Muhammadu Buhari and Chuba Okadigbo alienated rival contenders who felt cheated and promptly decamped to various tents thereby weakening the chances of the ticket. In 2007, the ANPP’s apparatchiks essentially foisted Buhari on the party as its presidential contender even though Zamfara State governor Ahmed Sani enjoyed far greater support among the party delegates and his fellow governors. The selection of Buhari caused no small disputation within the ANPP and accounted for why the governors and some of the party elders virtually abandoned him following his defeat at the polls. In 2011, the Congress for Progressive Change, which was established as a ve-

hicle for Buhari’s third presidential bid floundered, crippled by organizational and resource deficits. An eleventh hour proposed merger with the Action Congress collapsed. The proposed alliance which had been championed by some leading elements within the AC fatally undermined its own presidential contender, Nuhu Ribadu, who was left feeling betrayed by influential powers within his own party. These antecedents are worth revisiting as the APC mulls over its choice of presidential flag-bearer with strong speculation in the media anticipating a BuhariBola Tinubu ticket. For all his popularity on the Northern street, Buhari has never actually won a primary contest in three attempts. His serial candidacies have been contrived by party barons – a scenario that the APC may reprise. Much of the APC’s reputational strengths derive from its impressive cast of state governors. Yet, apparently none of them is seriously in the reckoning for the presidential nomination. This may yet lead to fissures in the party with the governors on one side. Recent rumblings about the propriety of a “Muslim-Muslim” ticket not only reflect concerns about its electability and its alleged representational

limitations; they also mask resentment at the anticipated result of a consensus arrangement. Consensus works in the ruling party precisely because it has more patronage with which to ply malcontents and defuse their grievances. Opposition parties typically lack the resources with which to placate those who are disfavoured by the process of consensual anointment. This is why the question of whether the APC can survive its own presidential nomination process is especially salient. Clearly, Nigerian democrats are petrified of internal party democracy. Parties that are not bound by ideological affinity but by calculations of mutual gain, the happy coincidence of personal appetites and shared hatred of their opponents can scarcely provide platforms for transformative politics. Besides, in the morallyambiguous terrain of Nigerian politics, the enemy of your enemy can still be your enemy. It is precisely because of this ideological incoherence and its resultant distrust that party leaders prefer the consensual selection of candidates. They fear that open democratic contests would lead to unintended tickets. • Chrisngwodo.blogspot.com

LAW THURSDAY, MAY 1, 2014

think this is an irresponsible thing to say considering the sensitive nature of the Boko Haram issue and the havoc wrecked on the Nigerian people by the clueless, yet deadly sect. "The Nyako letter has again brought to the fore the irresponsibility of the ruling class”. With these, lawyers yesterday joined the fray, condemning Governor Nyako’s letter to his colleagues in the north, accusing the Federal Government of a sinister motive to wipe off from the face of the earth people of northern origin through a ‘phantom’ Boko Haram. Particularly, they described the governor’s allegation as ‘unfortunate’, ‘irresponsible’ and uncalled for as it was capable of igniting internecine warefare, insisting that Governor Nyako must be probed with a view to substantiating the alleged genocide on the north by the Federal Government. Nyako had on April 16, told his fellow governors in the north that “we are in deep trouble. We have begun to sleep with both our eyes widely open”. He went on: “No wonder, we in the Northern Nigeria are now facing an organised ethno-religious campaigns of hate, fuelled by the federal administration to make communities which hitherto have remained peaceful for centuries to start killing the minorities in their midst and to facilitate mass killings of the innocent and the arbitrary arrests and torture of elders of minority ethnic groups in the various northern communities. The reader is please requested to note what has been happening in Plateau State and the recent happenings in Benue and Nasarawa States. We, in Adamawa State, have been battling this heinous machination in the last three years. Yes, we noticed it! We also saw it as the Beginning of Genocide. Genocide kingpins are now on prowl in Northern Nigeria”. This, however generated security, political and legal heat across the nation as eminent Nigerians including lawyers described Nyako’s letter as capable of inciting the north and the south against each other. Yesterday, lawyers joined the fray as they called for the impeachment, arrest and investigation of Nyako on the genocide allegation. Otunba Kunle Kalejaye, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria described Nyako’s allegation as spurious and irresponsible, tasking the Federal Government to unearth the motive and the veracity of his claim as the alleged genocide was a 'serious' one. He said: “I think this is an irresponsible thing to say considering the sensitive nature of the Boko Haram issue and the havoc wrecked on the Nigerian people by the clueless, yet deadly sect. "The Nyako letter has again brought to the fore the irresponsibility of the ruling class. There is the shade of opinion that the President is too soft on Boko Haram, but genocide is a serious allegation and Nyako cannot be serious in his allegation. Is he really speaking on behalf of the almajiris and the oppressed people of the North, whose commonwealth had been hijacked by the ruthless ruling class or the privileged ruling class, who see their powers being reduced by Boko Haram? "The Boko Haram issue is beyond politics. It is the failure of the Northern ruling class and Nyako should blame himself and others like him who contributed to the system failure in the North. He should hide his head in shame instead

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FOLUSO OGUNMODEDE JUDICIARY Editor

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CONFAB, a complete farce - JB Daudu

}p-24&25

Genocide: Kalejaye, Abayomi blame Nyako Claims by Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State that President Goodluck Jonathan-led government is using a ‘phantom’ Boko Haram to kill innocent northerners yesterday received condemnation by lawyers. TUNDE OYESINA reports

Kalejaiye, SAN

of making spurious allegations". Although Kalejaye’s colleague in the Inner Bar, Mr. John Bayeshea, SAN called for caution, he asked Nigerians to be vigilant as all hands must be on deck to bring the alleged genocide and its controversy under control, urging parties to exhibit maturity as Nigeria’s unity was not negotiable. Bayeshea said: “I don’t want to be judgmental on either side. I want to look at it from the perspective of probably a concerned governor who feels that the federal government has not done enough to put down the insurgency; you know the governors in those areas seem to be at the receiving end there. That is why he is alleging genocide probably because he believes that the government is negligent in protecting his people; that the government has not done well enough. But I don’t really believe that he means that government is sending the insurgents to the areas to go and kill innocent Nigerians deliberately. Having said that, I will say that, all hands must be on deck and that these allegations and counter allegations with the president seem to talk down on the governor will not do any of us any good. The president and the governor must show maturity; let’s all be committed to defeating this scourge, this horrible and horrendous thing. But of course, we can’t stop saying that the unity of this country is not negotiable but all of us must be committed to it and work on it”. Another lawyer, Abiodun Alebiousu simply described Nyako’s allegation as unfortunate and uncalled for, especially at a time when the nation’s security and unity was under threat. He said: "The fact that he is a gover-

Dr. Abayomi

The Boko Haram issue is beyond politics. It is the failure of the Northern ruling class and Nyako should blame himself and others like him who contributed to the system failure in the North nor does not matter. He could be picked up anytime he vacates office. The law of incitement is clear, even at the international level as those who advised him into taking the fatal steps ought to realise that the world is guided by law. To an activist lawyer, who spoke on behalf of United Nigeria Forum(UNF), Yunana Shibkau stated that Nigeria being the last hope of the black race, must not be allowed to go ablaze following the utterances of the likes of Nyako. To him: "By accusing the Federal Government headed by a Christian from the Southern part of the country of the grave crime of promoting and sponsoring genocide, Nyako’s memo was patently intended to be a call of war by the Muslim population in the northern part of the country. “The members of Adamawa State House of Assembly should, if they are in their right state of mind, commence impeachment proceedings against Nyako. We are calling for his impeachment through constitutional means and thereafter, he should be charged to court. We are happy at the ongoing national conference and as such, the process for the

Kehinde, SAN

removal of immunity clause should be taken into consideration by delegates.” He, however called on the security agencies to “go after Nyako and compel him to speak more because there is something he is hides. “The Nyako’s memo is a pointed signal of what to expect from the forces that have vowed that, it is either them in 2015 or the whole of us perish. Mr. President cannot go on handling the issues of fundamental threats to the nation’s corporate existence with kid gloves.” Shibkau was echoed by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, A.T Kehinde, who said there was no good in Nyako's statement to the nation, describing the genocide’s allegation as capable of setting the nation on fire. He added that at a time like this when the country is facing serious degree of insecurity, statement of such should be avoided as much as possible, insisting that it could spark up hostility among the different tribes in the country. "The issue of Boko Haram is something that we should join hands to fight and not that why the federal government is waging the war some will see it as another thing. When a house is divided against itself, such house will never stand. He said: "A situation where innocent students are being killed on a regular basis,some students being kidnapped, innocent souls being killed and injured for none of their wrong doing. It is saddening and I think this dreaded show should stop". In his view, Dr. Tunji Abayomi described the statement as most unfortunate coming at a time when the country was still battling with insecurity as it CONTINUED ON PAGE27

22 LAW | NEWS Foluso Ogunmodede

arely forty-eight hours after he asked the leadership of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) to honour an alleged arrangement which had ceded the next NBA president to the South-west, former president of NBA , Dr. Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, may not have anticipated the barrage of questions trailing his position. Reason: Some lawyers not questioned his position but yesterday described it as ‘unthinkable’. They said there was no ‘ zoning configuration’ which precluded the Midwest Bar Forum from fielding its own candidate for the NBA topmost post, insist-

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Midwest Bar to Agbakoba: NBA presidency not Southwest’s birth right ing that heaven would not fall should lawyers from the Midwest back their own candidate for the NBA topmost post come July. Agbakoba had on Tuesday wired a letter to the NBA President, Mr. Okey Wali, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria ,warning him of a dire consequence should the Southwest be denied of the right to produce the next NBA President on the grounds of a zoning arrangement which had ceded

Falana, others tackle FG on abducted schoolgirls l Seek suspension of campaign by politicians Foluso Ogunmodede

orried by the unending search for the 234 abducted schoolgirls by the Islamic insurgents, six civil society groups and the fiery lagos lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, SAN has called on Nigerians to prevail on the People’s Democratic Party(PDP) led government to cancel any official duties including political rallies until the abducted students were rescued from their abductors. Miffed by what they described as shameful the government’s inability to produce and rescue the schoolgirls from their abductors barely two weeks after their school was attacked by the insurgents, they were unanimous that no political rallies must take place in any part of the country until joy was restored to the parents and wards of the abducted schoolgirls. Besides, the groups led by their leaders- Femi Falana, Jaye Gaskia, Abiola Akiode, Ezenwa Nwagwu, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, Joe Okei Odumakin and Kyauta Giwa , tasked security agencies to deploy their necessary arsenal and ensure that the abducted students were rescued from their abductors without further delay. They said: “We call on the security and intelligence services as well as the Police and the Armed forces to not only take practical steps to ensure the immediate rescue of the abducted school girls along with others languishing in the various detention dens of terrorist and criminal gangs across the country. “We demand the establishment of a crisis center on this issue, open and accessible to the families and the public, and through which daily updates on the rescue efforts are given to affected families and the nation at large. “We are worried that two weeks after the abduction of234 teenage school children, and days after nearly 44 of them, through their own efforts escaped from their abductors not only has the entire security architecture failed to locate let alone rescue the pupils but also the political elite leadership has

the association’s next president to the Southwest. Bu his colleagues from the Midwest Bar promptly said that Agbakoba lied as there was no zoning configuration that ceded the association’s president to the region. In a statement by the Midwest Bar, signed by its Chairman, Chief Ferdinand Orbih, SAN ,they described Agbakoba’s letter as unthinkable. It reads: “We would not want to believe that the letter under reference was indeed written by Dr. Olisa Agbakoba S.A.N. Our disbelief stems from the fact that at a meeting held in March, 2012 to address the legitimate demands and aspiration of the Midwest Bar Forum for the NBA presidential slot, Dr. Olisa Agbakoba submitted a written position wherein he clearly stated that for the purpose of the zoning of the NBA presidency, both the Midwest Bar Forum and the Egbe Amofin belong to the WEST. The meeting was presided over by Mr. J.B. Daudu,

SAN (the then president of the NBA) and the prominent and respected leaders that attended included Chief T.J.Okpoko SAN, and Chief Bamidele Aiku SAN, who represented the Midwest Bar Forum and the Egbe Amofin respectively. In fact, it is unthinkable that a man of his status would turn around to take a contrary position because of his support for a particular candidate and /or the exigencies of the present election. It is important to note that there is no SOUTH WEST in the informal zoning configuaration of the NBA as far as the office of the presidency is concerned. For the avoidance of doubt, the three recognized zones are NORTH, EAST and WEST (i.e Egbe Amofin and Midwest) In the unlikely event that the letter under reference was indeed written by Dr. Olisa Agbakoba SAN, there is need to remind him that a decision has already be taken by the leaders and elders of the Bar at the afore-

said meeting in Abuja, in March, 2012 . At the meeting, the NBA 2014 presidency was zoned to the WEST thus; leaving the door open for any member of the Midwest Bar Forum or Egbe Amofin to contest the election. The South-West-(Egbe Amofin) and the Midwest Bar Forum have since moved beyond Dr. Agbakoba (SAN)’s partisan position. Both parties have already agreed that they belong to the WEST. However, the unresolved issue is as to which of the two fora in the WEST will field a candidate in 2014. Efforts to resolve the question of precedence on the basis of fairness and propriety have not yielded dividend. On that note, the parties concerned have agreed to meet at Phillipi, i.e at the polls for the NBA to choose between the contesting WESTERN (Midwest and Egbe Amofin) candidates. Dr. Agbakoba therefore has every right to vote for his candidate on Election Day but he has no right to peddle untruth and cry louder than the bereaved.

...Adekoya, FIDA want FG to overhaul security tactics Appolonia Adeyemi Falana, SAN

continued to engage in a shameless blame game, competing to make political gains out of our collective misery. “In a country with more than 100 million out of school children, with a majority of them being girls, it is a shame that the political elite, its regime, and the security and armed forces over which it superintends are unable to assure our collective security, and ensure that we not only keep enrolled school pupils in school, but that we make the school environment safe enough to encourage and attract out of school children and their parents. “Furthermore, just over 14 days after the dastardly bomb blast in Nyanya Abuja, which left over 75 people killed and hundreds wounded and or missing, the nation has continued to be subjected to wanton acts of terrorism and criminalities that continue to leave scores of our compatriots dead, wounded, maimed, orphaned, widowed and traumatized among other things. “Yet in the face of these deepening monumental crises of existential proportions confronting our nation and people; the political leadership continue to be incapable of rising to the occasion, while the military and security forces along with the intelligence services continue to be dithering, as if overwhelmed by the challenge. “At such a critical moment such as this, it is incumbent on ordinary Nigerians to rise to the occasion, make their voices heard, and call the leadership to order.

oremost female Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mrs. Funke Adekoya (SAN) has urged the Federal Government to urgently overhaul the nation’s security architecture to tackle the unending insurgency and secure lives and property. Adekoya, who commiserated with the nation and families of the victims of the Nyanya Bus Park, Abuja bombing, described the abduction of over 100 students of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok as “scary.” However, the former NBA 1st Vice President commended the security agencies for rescuing most of the girls, urging them to “spare no effort” in ensuring that all the students are reunited with their loved ones. She said : “My heart goes out to the families of these students. This is one of the worst nightmares a parent can face in his or her lifetime. The trauma must be indescribable. That is why all hands must be on deck to ensure that every single girl affected by this abduction is speedily reunited with her family.” However, Adekoya urged the security agencies to completely overhaul their security machinery to ensure that schools especially in the North East of the country are given adequate protection. “The time has come to adopt new security and intelligence approaches to combat the growing insurgency around the country. “While we call on all Nigerians to bond together and be more vigilant in the face of renewed terrorist threats, all hurdles confronting the secu-

rity agencies must be tackled. Our intelligence gathering tactics must be overhauled while inter-agency cooperation has become even more critical.” It is recalled that bombs exploded at Nyanya on the outskirts of Abuja, killing 75 persons while about 140 others were injured. Less than 24 hours later, over 100 students sitting for the ongoing senior secondary school certificate examination were abducted by insurgents. The insurgents had attacked the school in Chibok town, a distance of 141 kilometres from Maiduguri at about 10 p.m., exchanging gunfire with security operatives and burning down houses and shops. Aside from carting away huge food items and vehicles, the insurgents were said to have thoroughly ransacked the female hostels and herded the students in several trucks. The incident occurred barely three weeks after the Borno State Government closed down all public schools and sent more than 120,000 students home to avert further attacks. The insurgents had attacked many schools in the North East, killing scores of students and some teaching staff. Boko Haram, which translates as "western education is sin," has carried out deadly attacks on other schools in the North East. In a clip released by the group March 23, its leader Abubakar Shekau threatened to launch raids and abduct girls from schools. Also, the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) has called on members of the dreaded Boko Haram sect to release the school girls they abducted at Chibok, Borno State on April 16.

In a statement issued by FIDA and jointly signed by its National President, Ms. Hauwa Evelyn Shekarau and National Secretary, Mrs. Chigoziri Ojiaka, the organisation is tasking the Federal Government to come up with more effective, actionable and concrete strategies to combat the Boko Haram insurgence. “A situation where innocent young girls are abducted, used as sex slaves and subsequently returned to their families pregnant and or clutching babies is certainly deplorable, condemnable and the most traumatic experience that can be wished for any person,” the duo said. FIDA therefore declared preparedness to support all legitimate efforts including all within its power to ensure the protection of women and children everywhere in the country. “We plead with the insurgents, in the name of God which they profess to be upholding, to immediately release all abducted young girls, women and children forcefully taken into their custody,” they said. Similarly, they expressed grave sorrow and horror at the activities of the insurgents, particularly the latest strategy of killing children and abducting young girls from school. They traced the terror activities, starting from the reported incident where 22 students were killed in a village in Mamudo, to the dastardly attack on Federal Government College, Buni Yadi, Yobe State where 29 male students were burnt alive, throats slit and or gunned down in cold blood to the recent abduction of over 200 female students from the Government Girls Secondary School (GGSS) in Chibok.

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Thursday, May 1, 2014

‘Governors cannot appoint, dismiss judge without recourse to NJC' SC. 281/2010 Hon. Justice Raliat Elelu-Habeeb (Chief Judge Kwara state ,Planitiff).v. NJC, Hon. Attorney-General of the Federation, Hon. Attorney-General of Kwara state and House of Assembly Kwara state (Defendants). Before their Lordships; Justices Mahmmud Mohammed (JSC), Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen (JSC),Christopher Mit chell Chukwuma-Eneh (JSC),Muhammad Saifullah MuntakaCoomassie(JSC), Olufunlola Oyelola Adekeye(JSC),Mary Ukaego PeterOdili (JSC) and Olukayode Ariwoola (JSC).

Justice Aloma Mukhtar, CJN

Adoke, SAN

in its decision that the Federal High Court lacked jurisdiction in the matter brought before it by the plaintiff/ appellant and therefore urged this court to dismiss the appeal most especially having regard to the cases of Odiase and Anor. v. Agho and Ors. (1972) 1 All NLR (Pt. 1) 170 and Nwahueze v. Okoye (1988)2 XWLR (Pt. 9 1)661. The concurrent findings of fact, by the two courts below that the appellant's case is one challenging the decision of the Governor and the House of Assembly of Kwara State remains intact in the absence of any appeal against those findings. For the 3rd respondent, the Kwara State House of Assembly, in the respondent's brief of argument filed by its learned senior counsel, Yusuf Ali on October 29, 201 0, the issue distilled from the 3 grounds of appeal filed by the 1st appellant reads: "Whether having regard to the complaint of the respondent and the reliefs sought by her in her originating summons, the Court of Appeal was not right and correct in holding that the Federal High Court lacked jurisdiction to hear and determine her case?” Learned senior counsel, must have inadvertently referred to the appellant as the respondent in the above issue identified in the 3rd respondent's brief. The words “respondents” therefore in the issue as identified must be read as the appellant. As far as the learned senior counsel is concerned, the questions for determination and the reliefs sought by the appellant in her originating summons, reveal quite clearly that the Court of Appeal was right in its decision that the Federal High Court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit as formulated on the authority of the cases of Egbonu v. B.R.T.C. (1997) 12 NWLR (Pt. 531) 29 at 43 and Inakoju v. Adeleke (2007) All FWLR (Pt. 353)3, (2007) 4 NWLR (Pt.1025) 427 at 588-589, as the court will not examine the counter-affidavit of the respondents even where it has been filed that from questions for determination and the reliefs claimed in the originating summons, the appellant's case was against the action of the respondent and the Governor of Kwara State as parties while the subject matter of the suit solely concerned the Government of Kwara State because there was no re-

lief claimed against the National Judicial Council or the Attorney-General of the Federation who were merely joined as respondents, without any basis. On jurisdiction or competence of court, learned senior counsel relying on the leading authority on the subject in the case of Madukolu v. Nkemdilim (1962) All NLR (Pt. 2)581 at [2012] All 589 – 590, (1962) 2 SCNLR 341, argued that the trial court wrongly entertained the matter since the subject matter of the case being the power of the 2nd and 3rd respondents to remove the appellant as the Chief Judge of Kwara State by the Governor and the House of Assembly of Kwara State is not within the jurisdiction of the trial court under Section 251 of the Constitution as claimed by the appellant. Several cases cited in support of this submission include Onuorah v. Kaduna Refinery & Petrochemical Co. Ltd (2005) All FWLR (Pt.256) 1356, (2005) XWLR (Pt. 921) 393 at 404 - 405 and Oloruntoba-Oju v. Abdul-Raheem (2009) All FWLR (Pt. 497) 1, (2009) 13 XWLR (Pt. 1157) 83 at 127. Learned senior counsel referred to the findings of the trial court at page 532 of the record, to the effect that the appellant was at the trial court to challenge the decision of the Governor and the House of Assembly of Kwara State to remove her as the chief judge of the State and contended that the subject matter of the suit was clearly outside the jurisdiction of the trial court and that the cases at Ladoja v. I.N.E.C. (2007) All FWLR (Pt. 377) 934, (2007)7 SC 99 at 160 and Peter Obi v. I.N.E.C. (2007) All FWLR (pt. 378 ) 1116. (2007) 7 SC 268, heavily relied upon by the appellant, are not relevant to the present case. With regard to the stand of the appellant that because the interpretation of the Constitution was involved in the case now at hand, the Federal High Court is the proper forum for the resolution of the dispute by virtue of Section 251(1)(q) and (r) of the Constitution, it is the view of the learned senior counsel that by virtue of Section 272 of the Constitution, the High Court also has the vires to interpret provisions of the Constitution in cases before the court. Learned senior counsel for the 3rd respondent concluded by pointing out that the cases of N.E.P.A. v. Edegbenro

CO N T I N U E D F R O M L A S T W E E K

or the 2nd respondent, the Hon. Attorney-General of Kwara State, his learned senior counsel, Adelodun, in the respondent's brief of argument filed on September 22, 2010, saw the issue for determination in this appeal as follows: "Whether having regard to the nature of this suit, particularly the reliefs sought, the lower court was not right in holding that the Federal High Court had no jurisdiction to hear and determine the appellant's case." Learned senior counsel to 2nd respondent is also of the strong view that the law is well settled that in the determination of the question whether or not a court has jurisdiction to adjudicate on a matter, the primary consideration is the plaintiff's statement of claim, which in this case is the appellant's originating summons showing the reliefs sought as laid down in Adeyemi v. Opeyori (1976) 10 NSCC 455 at 4-64, cited and applied in Inakoju v. Adeleke (2007) All FWLR (Pt. 353)3, (2007 ) 4 NWLR (Pt.1025 ) 427 at 588 – 589, including the affidavit in support of the originating summons to the exclusion of any other processesespecially those tiled by the respondents. All the same, from the relevant process, the learned senior Counsel, argued that the appellant's complaint and grievance. Before the trial court was the action and the decision of the Kwara State Government, epitomized by the Governor and the House of Assembly that the reliefs sought by the appellant have nothing, to do with any complaints against the National Judicial Council or the Attorney-General of the federation so as to vest the Federal High Court with jurisdiction in matter under Section 251 ( 1 )(p)(q)(r) as rightly found by the court below particularly following the decisions of this court in N.E.P.A. v. Edegbenro (2002)18 NWLR (Pt. 798) 79. (2003) FWLR (Pt.139) 1556 and Dr. Taiwo Oloruntoba-Oju and Ors. v. Professor Shuaib 0. Abdul -Raheem (2009) All FWLR (Pt. 497)1, ( 2009) 13 NWLR (Pt. 1157 ) 83 at 127 . The learned senior counsel, relying on a number of decisions of the Court of Appeal in Enweremadu v. Ohajuruka (2001) 23 WRN 53 at 6, (2002) FWLR (Pt. 103) 472; N.N.P. C. v. Okwor and Ors. (1998) 7 NWLR (Pt. 559) 637 at 650 and Minister for Works & Housing v. Tomas (Nig.) Ltd (2002) FWLR (Pt. 1 24) 456, (2002) 2 NWLR (Pt. 752) 740 at 788, concluded that the appellant's case having failed to satisfy the two basic preconditions of the parties, being Federal Government or any of its agencies and the subject matter of the action must relate to the validity or otherwise of the action or decision of the Federal Government or any of its agencies, the court below was right

Any defect in competence is fatal, for the proceedings are a nullity, however well conducted and decided; the defect is extrinsic to the jurisdiction

LAW | REPORT 23 (2003) FWLR (Pt. 139) 1556 and Osakue v. Federnl College of Education (Technical) Asaba (201 0) All FWLR (Pt. 522) 1601, (2010) 10 NWLR (Pt. 1201)1 at 34, relied upon by the appellant on the facts, are not relevant to the present case and therefore urged this court to dismiss the appeal and affirm the decision of the court below. Irrespective of the manner in which the issue for determination in this appeal was framed in the appellant's brief, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd respondents' briefs of argument respectively as earlier quoted in full in the judgment, the real issue for determination as agreed by all the parties is simply; whether having regard to the two questions submitted for determination and the reliefs sought by the appellant in the originating summons, the court below was right in holding that the Federal High Court lacked jurisdiction to entertain and determine the appellant's suit. The issue such as this, of when a court, has jurisdiction or competence has long been settled in the jurisprudence of Nigeria from the time of the decision of this court in the well known and highly celebrated case of Madukolu and Ors. v. Nkemdiliw and Ors (1962) All NLR (Pt. 2) 581 at 589 - 590 where the position of the law was laid down thus: "Before discussing those portions of the record, I shall make some observations on jurisdiction and the competence of a court. Put briefly, a court is competent when: 1. It is properly constituted as regards numbers and qualifications of the members of the Bench, and no member is disqualified for one reason or another; and 2. The subject matter" of the case is within its jurisdiction, and there is no feature in the case which prevents the court from exercising its jurisdiction; and 3. The case comes before the court initiated by due process of law, and upon fulfilment of any condition precedent to the exercise of jurisdiction. Any defect in competence is fatal, for the proceedings are a nullity, however well conducted and decided; the defect is extrinsic to the jurisdiction." Applying the above guiding pronouncements on the issue to the jurisdiction to the case at hand, it is not difficult to see that there is no problem whatsoever with the Constitution of the trial court or the qualification of its learned presiding judge, nor is there any cloud surrounding the requirement that the case of the appellant was brought before the trial court upon fulfilment of the condition precedent to the exercise of jurisdiction . However, what calls for determination in the present case is whether or not the subject matter of the action is within the jurisdiction of the leading authorities on the subject of jurisdiction particularly of the Federal High Court vis-a-vis the State High Court in Tukur.v. Government of Gongola State (1989) 4 NWLR (Pt. 117) 517 at 549 Adetayo v. Ademola (2010) All FWLR (Pt. 533) 1806 at C 1825-1826, Ladoja v. l.N.E.C, (2007) All FWLR (Pt. 37) 934, (2007) 7 SC 99 at 160: Peter Obi v. l.N.E.C. (2007) All FWLR (Pt. 378) 1116. (2007) 7 SC 268 and Inakoju v. Adeleke (2007) All FWLR (Pt. 353) 3, (2007) 4 NWLR (Pt. 1025142) at 588 – 58, where Tobi JSC expounded the law on how jurisdiction of a trial court is determined especially where the action was commenced by originating summons supported by affidavit where he said: "In determination of whether or not a court has jurisdiction, the court process to be used is the pleadings of the plaintiff, which is the statement of claim; it is the case put up by the plaintiff that determines the jurisdiction of the court. In this case, as the action was commenced by originating summons, the court process to be used is the affidavit in support of the summons..." TO B E CO N T I N U E D

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National conference, a complete farce - JB Daudu HE is the immediate past president of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA). Mr. Joseph Bodunrin Daudu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, speaks on his career spanning over three decades, national conference and sundry issues. TUNDE OYESINA met him.

Daudu, SAN

E joined the men of wig and gown about 34 years ago following his call to the Nigerian Bar. Mr. Joseph Bodunrin Daudu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and immediate past president of the lawyers’ umbrella, is an alumnus of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in Kaduna state. Popularly called JB by his numerous admirers and colleagues, he is one of the Senior Advocates of Nigeria whose chambers had trained no fewer than 20,000 of the nation’s over 150,000 lawyers in the last two decades. Daudu, a Notary Public,the title he earned barely seven years at the Bar, gave a graphic accounts of his foray into the profession that had earned him fame. He became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria 15 years after he donned the wig and gown. He told New Telegraph this way: “I was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1980 after graduating with LL.B Hons in 1979 from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. I did the compulsory National Youth Corps program in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital where I cut my teeth in the law firms of Boma Obuoforibo and Co., and CV Georgewill and Co. I later went into full private legal practice with the firm of Dr Hamed Kusamotu and Co., Zaria and in 1986 went on to establish the firm of J B Daudu and Co., which now has offices in Abuja, Kaduna and Zaria. At seven years post-call in the year 1987, I was appointed a Notary Public. As a Bar man, the Senior Advocate, who led the Bar between 2010 and 2012 as its president, held its first Bar office at the association’s branch level between 1983 and 1986 in Zaria as Secretary. Daudu said: “I am an active member of the Nigerian Bar Association and I

The ongoing conference in my view, and with respect to its organisers and attendees, is a complete farce; it will end up as a disappointment have served and still serve the Bar in the following capacities; • Secretary NBA Zaria Branch 19831986, • Chairman NBA Zaria Branch 19871990, • Vice Chairman NBA Kaduna Branch 1992 • Chairman NBA Kaduna Branch 1993. • Member Judiciary Committee of the NBA 2000-2002 • Member Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee 2003-2007 • Member National Executive Committee of the NBA 1987till date • President Nigerian Bar Association 2010-2012 • Member Body of Benchers 2002-2010 • Life Bencher 2010 till date, • Member National Judicial Council 2008-2012, • Member High Powered Committee of Stakeholders for the reform of the legal profession and justice sector in Nigeria 2011-2012. • Chairman Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee 2012 till date. • I was conferred with the coveted rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria in 1995. I have been an Associate member of the American Bar Association since 1993 till date, holder of a post-graduate

Diploma in International Commercial Arbitration, Keble College Oxford, organized by the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, United Kingdom 2007. Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators FCIArb 2007 and Fellow Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies 2013 FNIALS. Asked why he read law, the former NBA president said “I lived in a university campus as a child where the law faculty was situated. Thus, I had always wanted to read law as my first choice. My role model is Chief F.R.A. Williams, SAN CFR (of blessed memory). He, however lamented the quality of advocacy in today’s lawyers, describing his early days in practice as an embodiment of ‘profession with the best ethics’. Daudu said: “The practice of law was taken very seriously then. Lawyers approached the profession with the best ethics. The society was not this corrupt then, so, there were boundaries that lawyers would not cross then. The quality of advocacy was at its highest but since then there has been a rapid decline in the value or worth of legal representation. However, notwithstanding these visible negative signs, there have been areas of improvement and versatility in the profession. I am not in the habit of classifying cases as controversial or challenging or otherwise. However, I treat every case as challenging and devote the same amount of attention and energy to them. On national conference, Daudu said “the ongoing conference in my view, and with respect to its organisers and attendees , a complete farce; it will end up as a disappointment. “The conference was conceptualized initially as a Sovereign Conference, then as a national conference and finally as just ‘Conference’. These terminologies have different constitutional and political connotations. With the coming into effect of the 1999 Constitution, all political, legislative and judicial authority took its root from that hallowed document. “Some may have argued that the Constitution was not sufficiently

autochthonous and that it told a lie against itself referring to the preamble which declared that the Constitution was bequeathed to the nation by the People, when it was bequeathed by the military. Yet the same critics took benefit from the Constitution in the guise of high political offices, etc. Thus it is my humble view that any political change must come at this point of time from or within the framework of the said Constitution. It borders on treason and political adventurism to seek political change outside the four walls of the 1999 Constitution. However, the Constitution provides for freedom of expression and association. So, it is permissible for people to come together and review or chart a way forward for the nation. So, any group of people can meet to discuss the direction of the nation or even discuss our problems. But the real question is : what is the business of government to organise a constitutional conference which people expect will lead to a positive change for the nation? Is it part of its remit under the Constitution it has sworn to uphold to propose change outside the ambit or contemplation of the Constitution? Is the Conference anticipated by the current or proposed Appropriation Acts? Where is the money for the Conference coming from? And who will account to the nation at the end of the day or implement the supposed proposals of this talk shop? The answers to these questions are obvious. No one will account or implement. This is indeed a constitutional irresponsibility and that is why the National Assembly is carrying on unperturbed with its own process of constitutional amendment. The scenario can be likened to squabbles by the wives of a rich permissive polygamist. The truth is that government and governance is seen by a majority of Nigerians as a wayward cash cow to be milked mercilessly for the benefit of a few so-called political gladiators and their chosen acolytes. That is how this Conference is envisioned. Government was initially opposed to the idea but as it has not performed as projected or expected, a school of

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I do not foresee free and fair elections in 2015. The politicians who will be vying for elective office in the 2015 general elections, have grown very vicious and forgotten the code of conduct for politicians and politics

JB DAUDU AT A GLANCE • He is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria • Immediate past president Nigeria Bar Association 2010-2012 • Former Secretary NBA Zaria Branch 1983-1986 • Former Chairman NBA Zaria Branch 1987-1990 • Member National Executive Committee of the NBA 1987 till date • Former Vice Chairman NBA Kaduna Branch 1992 • Former Chairman NBA Kaduna Branch 1993 • Ex-member Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee 2003-2007 • Ex- member Judiciary Committee of the NBA 2000-2002 • Ex-member Body of Benchers 2002-2010 • Life Bencher • Ex-member Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee 2003-2007 • Ex-member National Judicial Council 2008-2012 • Ex-member High Powered Committee of Stakeholders for the reform of the Legal Profession and Justice Sector in Nigeria 2011-2012 • Chairman Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee • Associate member of the American Bar Association since 1993 till date • Holder, post-graduate Diploma in International Commercial Arbitration, Keble College Oxford, United Kingdom 2007 • Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators FCIArb 2007 • Fellow Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies 2013 FNIALS thought is of the view that it wishes to place the Conference as part of its achievements. Finally, with the squabbles within the Conference now eclipsing the short-sighted objectives of government, the latter may well have begun to regret ever dabbling into this venture. In my humble view, the conference is unnecessary and it is a colossal waste of precious time and resources. Daudu, however took a swipe at the 2015 general elections and concluded that the election would not be free and fair as the politicians had suddenly become ‘vicious’. He said: “Frankly, I do not foresee free and fair elections in 2015. The politicians who will be vying for elective office in the 2015 general elections, have grown very vicious and forgotten the code of conduct for politicians and politics. “It appears without a shadow of doubt that majority of political office seekers and holders are there for what they can make for themselves. This has produced unbridled corruption in Nigeria and since no one gets punished for stealing or misappropriating public funds, many people are embold-

Daudu, SAN

ened to go into politics, acquire political office and steal on a very large scale. 2015 will not be different. The signs are already there for a rancorous and very violent election. On underfunding of judiciary, he said “underfunding the judiciary harbours grave and disastrous consequences for all and sundry. “However, a lot of factors have brought us to this point where the executive is emboldened to castrate the Judiciary by underfunding it. The principal factor is the perceived corruption in the system. The Judiciary as an arm of government does not on its own help matters. All these however, do not justify the slashing of judiciary funds. We can expect delays in the disposal of cases as the main consequence of underfunding. On why there is a persistent call for the abolition of the coveted title of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Daudu said “the supposed clamour for the abolition of the rank of SAN is political and rooted in envy by a majority of those who cannot aspire to the rank because they are not qualified. It is a case of the fox labelling the grapes on the treetop as being sour because it cannot reach it.

“For the minority who genuinely feel that the rank has been polluted by unwarranted politics and corruption, they can take solace in the fact that although the entire society is corrupt the selectors still do their best to be fair. It is a privilege or preferment and therefore a variety of factors have to be considered. The sad aspect is that quite a number of those who are calling for the scrapping of the rank do not know the details of the statutory requirements for becoming a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. The selection

Where is the money for the Conference coming from? And who will account to the nation at the end of the day or implement the supposed proposals of this talk shop?

process no doubt needs constant refinement and for the selectors to operate with the fear of God and transparent fairness. On the allegations that the NBA election is an expensive one, he said “every election is expensive; you need to travel from place to place, meet people, and persuade them that you are the best man or woman for the job. “Logistically, NBA elections are very expensive. I am sure that is what he means by ‘money politics’. However if he or she means that voters are bribed then that would be a dent on the collective image of lawyers. It is also a criminal offence and one would need hard proof before commenting further. Asked why new wigs are poorly remunerated, Daudu said my position over the years is that new wigs must be paid appropriately but they must realise that the process of their legal education continues until at least 5 years after they have been called to the Bar. It is a pity that a substantial number of new entrants place too high a premium on money at the expense of learning the ropes. I am however not saying that new lawyers should not be well paid.

26 LAW | INTERVIEW

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Why FG must handle insurgence as There is a new president for the Court of Appeal amidst controversy that only the most senior justice must preside, how would you look at her emergence and your expectations? I welcome Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa’s appointment because I see it as the Judiciary is waking up to see the need of taking the best person and not the most senior for such appointment. This, think we should start to consider in terms of appointment to the top job. The agenda I set for her is the same agenda if Justice Bulkachuwa were a male; that is, to restore the confidence of the public and the legal profession in the Court of Appeal. The legal profession believes that matters are unduly delayed in the Court of Appeal and there are too many conflicting judgment coming from the different divisions of the same Court. She has to sort out those issues to ensure that all judges get decisions from various divisions and where there are conflicts, they should be able to meet and decide that if this matter comes up in another case, these are the principles that must be followed. Restore the confidence in the public because many of the judges in the Court of Appeal would sit on the election petitions tribunals and this is how old saga came about, the feeling that judges of the Court of Appeal were compromised. It does not matter whether the new President is female or male. How do you think the interest of the NBA would be represented when it rejected the slot allocated to it for Confab In respect of NBA not being in national confab, I see it as positive and negative. The positive is that it has told us what the government thinks of the NBA; that we are not important enough to have more than one slot. When FIDA (women lawyers) have two slots, women in business have two slots, the civil society has six slots, or so. It is an opportunity for introspection, for us to look at ourselves and why did the government think it is only one slot that we at the NBA deserved. The position of the NBA, is not going to be the position of lawyers who are there, representing other interests. If you are a lawyer there on the ticket of the civil society, the position you will be representing will be the view of the civil society on the national question, whereas the view of the Nigeria Bar Association should be the views of enthroning democracy and enhancing the rule of law irrespective of whether it is a Southwest agenda or North east agenda or Niger Delta agenda. We would look at the issue of federalism, from the point of view of the law and the rule of law. A lawyer representing the Niger Delta would look at the issue of federalism from how it affects the Niger Delta. So, that is the positive. It gives us the opportunity to look at ourselves. The negative is that we don’t have an impartial rule of law based-position to go to the national confab. I’m glad that about 11 Senior Advocates of Nigeria are there, but their views would not be the same on all the points because it depends on the platform from which they were nominated and their interests. Generally, what is your opinion on the nation’s security challenge? I’m very much concerned with the insecurity in the country and the increased attacks on girls and rape. It saddens me that the powers that be are looking at it purely from a security angle. If you look at other countries where they had conflicts and war, this is what has happened. Women and girls were kidnapped and became sex slaves. The Lord’s army in Uganda

She heads the dispute resolution practice group at AELEX, a full-service law firm with offices in Lagos, Port-Harcourt, Abuja and Accra, Ghana. A holder of an LLM from the Harvard Law School, foremost female Senior Advocate and strong contender for the presidency of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Mrs. Olufunke Adekoya speaks with Judiciary Editor, FOLUSO OGUNMODEDE on Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa’s appointment as the Court of Appeal President, the abduction of 234 schoolgirls, security challenge, NBA’s rejection of one slot for confab and sundry issues.

We’ve refused to face the fact that there is a war going on in Nigeria. We say it is civil unrest, it is insurgency. It’s a guerrilla warfare started this way. They would go and kidnapped girls. Another example is the outbreak of AIDS in South Africa. This situation started in South Africa where people were told if you rape a young baby or three year old girl, it would cure AIDS. It seems that as a nation, we are becoming very insular. We are looking at things from the view of the world perspective. This is because we are insular. We are looking at it from the point of security and people are managing to go into schools and break them down before taking away children. We have to look at it from the global perspective and that will give us an answer. The answer is : we have to raise strong institutions, not just security institution. It is when there is frustration, when there is despair, when there is a sense of helplessness in any country that leads to a state of war. We’ve refused to face the fact that

there is a war going on in Nigeria. We say it is civil unrest, it is insurgency. It’s a guerrilla warfare. When you get to such situation, that is, when you get the frustration of men just going and carrying away women and taking them into their camps, forcing them into marriage, rape and keeping them as slaves. It is that sense of desperation, helplessness and frustration that the government needs to focus on. That is what will solve the Boko Haram crisis. That is what will solve this question of random attacks on women. When a man feels helpless and the way to boost his sense of self-esteem is to establish power; to say I’m not helpless. And the way for him to express that, is to grab someone who has less physical power than himself and exert power over her. Until we see from that sense beyond looking at only security, by sending the military to guard the village, schools, will not solve the problem. What we need to do is to build self-esteem back in ourselves as the population. And that is a whole range of things. It covers the economy, education, giving hope for a better future by building op-

If you look at other countries where they had conflicts and war, this is what has happened. Women and girls were kidnapped and became sex slaves

portunities for entrepreneurship, selfdevelopment and employment. That is what will solve the problem we have on the ground, otherwise we will just slide into oblivion, just slowly, slowly and one day we would just wake up and realise there is no structure, no government, everybody is doing whatever he thinks. Do you support the use of doctrine of de novo? Personally, I don’t support the continued usage of the doctrine de novo. I think the doctrine was useful when we did not have front-loading procedures and written witness statements. So, you went into the witness box, you gave your evidence in chief orally, the judge wrote it down. And as you were giving your evidence in chief orally, the judge was able to assess whether you were a witness of truth or you were coached. The purpose of the cross-examination is to try and destroy your demeanour and to test the truth of what you are saying. Now that everything is being front-loaded, which means you file a written witness statement which stands as your evidence in chief, there is nowhere really where your demeanour is tested other than cross-examination. Cross-examination is to elicit the difference between what you have said in your evidence in chief and what you say under cross-examination. To my mind, I think we don’t need to start matters de nono. What we may do is to

INTERVIEW | LAW

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, May 1, 2014

guerrilla warfare -Adekoya Until we see from that sense beyond looking at only security, by sending the military to guard the village, schools, will not solve the problem give the judge discretion if he has read the record to decide if he wants to start de novo. But if he has read the record and the witness statement as well as the cross-examination, and says carry on from where you stopped, I think it should be accepted that way. How would you see the newly inaugurated committee on raping of young girls? I mean, would it not amount to usurping the role of the court? I heard it on radio and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not clear on what the committee is all about: whether it is to educate, investigate or ameliorate the lives of the victims. But clearly the function of the court of law is for those who have been charged with rape to have an opportunity to discharge their burden of proof and may be free or convicted if they are guilty. Anything the committee wants to do that may impinge on the function of the court, is contrary to the rule of law and tenets of democracy which is separation of powers. What is your view on the face-off between the NJC and the Rivers State Judiciary? The whole situation is an interesting position that throws up the problem of the federal system that we are running. It is a direct conflict between the power of the federal government in terms of the NJC, and the power of the state government to appoint the state chief judge. And we wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know the answer until the court determines it. I, personally would have rather preffered that the court should have been allowed to run the system by appealing the decision and anybody who is satisfied with the appointment of Justice Agumagu should have appealed the decision of the Federal High Court that said yes he can be appointed, because that was the result of that decision. It is the interpretation as to whether the NJCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recommendation is mandatory or not because that really is the essence of

Adekoya, SAN

that decision. At the end of the day we would have new law. It would broaden our jurisprudence. I would have preferred that that decision had been appealed rather than what we read in the newspapers that the judge who gave the decision was queried for giving a

decision that is contrary to what the NJC had said. This is because the NJC is not a court of law, and so whatever the decision of the NJC can actually be brought to court, to be quashed or interpreted or overturned. For me the whole controversy is a good develop-

ment. This is because at the end of the day the relationship between the NJC and the state and the extent the binding recommendation would become clearer when the judges have determined it. And hopefully that it may even go up to the Supreme Court for clarity.

Lawyers blame Nyako, northern govs over genocide claim CONTINUED F R O M PAGE 21

would not make any sense to utter statement that would further place the country on an unsecured edge . He said: "In my own opinion, this type of statement is not good for the country at a time like this. The Federal Government cannot be blamed for imposing a state of emergency in the troubled North Eastern states. "If we have emergency rule and still have this level of insecurity, it will make more sense to fight it with every means. Emergency rule is used to tackle emergency situation. "Boko Haram is an emergency which needs emergency approach, it will be dangerous to remove emergency rule from the troubled states at least for now. Boko Haram is a monu-

mental danger on the lives and properties of Nigerians and nobody should be seen trying to increase the degree of insecurity". To a former minister, Chief Edwin Clark, there was need for leaders and patriotic Nigerians to close rank and team up with the federal government in a collective fight to rid the nation of terrorists no matter where they come from. He said: "It was therefore puzzling and incomprehensible for me to read a statement credited to Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa state, an elected governor, who accused the federal government of committing genocide against northerners under the guise of fighting terrorists. "This, to my mind is most callous, bizarre, insensitive, impenitent, and irrespon-

In my own opinion, this type of statement is not good for the country at a time like this. The Federal Government cannot be blamed for imposing a state of emergency in the troubled North Eastern states sible, especially coming from a retired officer and serving governor, who was supposedly democratically elected. "Nyako's comments is nothing short of treasonable felony because it is glaringly a case of inciting innocent citizens in the North, who daily suffer

the trauma of terrorist attack against the federal government. "This is why the statement made by Governor Nyako must not be treated with levity but deserves all serious check and attention because of the inherent security implications. If he feigns ignorant of his deprecatory innuendo , the security agencies should without further delay call him to order appropriately". To Olumiyiwa Agbede , Governor Nyako had gone too far with such statement adding that the security agencies should find a way to curb politicians from making such inflammatory statements that could set the country on fire. He said: "Nyako's statement is by no small means a coal of fire dropped on a dry grass, the grass will surely catch fire

and the entire heap will surely burn. Such a word is not expected from the calibre of people like Nyako, who should know more of security by virtue of his training as a military personnel. "The matter is not a joking one at all, but rather one that should be taken so seriously with a commensurate action. Although, there have been several reactions from several quarters, but those ones are not enough, the federal government who is the custodian of the unity of the entire country should take him up on such statement. "If this statement and the speaker is not dealt with, we shall still hear more from different people and this is not doing any member of this country or the country itself any good".

28 LAW | FILE

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Wali and NBA governance: A legacy foretold

Okey Wali, SAN

Emeka Nwadioke

he Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), has a special place in the annals of Nigerian history. At very critical moments in our national life, the NBA has always stood up to be counted. As professional associations go, the NBA is sui generis, purely in a class by itself. The reasons are self-evident. At times when some military adventurists seized the nation by the jugular, the NBA took to the trenches, battling for the soul of the nation. At other times when wayward political merchants threatened to derail our nascent democracy, the Bar was ready and willing to

shed its blood to beat back the marauders. Unsurprisingly, most NBA members are ever eager to recall with nostalgia the glory days of the NBA as exemplified by the fiery and quintessential Bar activist, Alao Aka-Bashorun, who held sway as NBA President between 1987 and 1989. He was not alone. Those eras essentially typified the raison d’être of the Bar as perhaps the last bastion of our democracy. Indeed, it is not for nothing that the founding fathers of the association chose its motto as “promoting the rule of law.” Accordingly, the NBA has over the years garnered varying soubriquets as ‘the voice of the voiceless’ and the ‘conscience of the nation.’ This is consistent with the fact that the NBA has been in the forefront of initiatives aimed to advance the rule of law and administration of justice, secure the independence of the Judiciary, combat corruption and governmental ineptitude, and promote respect for civil rights. The activism of the Nigeria Bar is however consistent with the general tenor of the Bar in progressive jurisdictions. Remarkably, the “long march” initiated by Pakistan’s Lawyers’ Movement over the illegal deposition of the country’s Chief Justice ultimately forced that country’s maximum ruler General Pervez Musharraf to resign in August 2008. However, if truth be told, NBA gover-

nance has not always been rosy or garbed in activism; indeed, it has been a tale of roses and thorns, perhaps only capped by the hiatus that attended the association between 1992 and 1998. The widespread perception that the NBA apparatchik had on more than one occasion been hijacked by mercenaries and reactionary elements for the sole purpose of feathering their own nest and that of their sponsors or co-travellers simply refuses to abate. But that is a story for another day. It was former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Chief Richard Akinjide (SAN) who had warned that the NBA Presidency is no tea party. His words: “It is a very great and noble office which carries benefits and burdens.” Akinjide should know. He was the NBA President between 1970 and 1973. Indeed, current NBA President Okey Wali (SAN) alluded to the arduous task at hand when he said: “All over the world,

The NBA which had hitherto played a critical role in the political development of our country has become a shadow of itself

building institutions is not easy, and that is even more difficult in a country like Nigeria with weak institutions.” That NBA governance requires immense strengthening was clearly borne out by the Professor Chidi Odinkalu Committee Report which passed a damning verdict on the running of the NBA Secretariat thus: “The Secretariat of the NBA is severely under-capacitated, with an unclear mission, an insecure future, and hugely unrealized potential. The NBA itself does not offer a clear value proposition to its members.” The committee was set up by Wali. It is recalled that Wali had ran his campaign on a 10-point agenda. In walking his talk, the NBA President set up 24 committees to drive the process. He organized a Bar Leaders’ Summit to fashion a Strategic Plan for the association, and set up zonal NBA disciplinary committees to investigate cases of professional misconduct among lawyers. The administration also targeted capacity building for branches and lawyers, even as the NBA Building Development Fund Raising Committee was set up to raise funds to build a new NBA National Head Office. It also spearheaded an NBA Summit on Peace and Security in Nigeria, sought to engage the National Assembly in fast tracking Justice Sector Bills, and assured that the welfare of lawyers would remain paramount.

Why defected PDP lawmakers must vacate seats CONT INU ED F R O M LA S T W EEK

Fred Latimore Oghenesivbe

he word “Shall” is the same as “Must”, and when a legal order is a must, it remains so until that section of the constitution is either amended or a new constitution replaces the present one. Until that happens, the word “shall” must be obeyed or complied with by those affected by the court judgment. The defection of Hon. Bamidele Opeyemi, in the House of Representatives from the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) to the Labour Party (LP), is perfect and legally consistent with Section 68 (1)(g) of the Constitution under review. The ACN merger with two other political parties to become APC automatically provided the moral and constitutional grounds for any member of the defunct ACN, CPC and ANPP parties to either remain and become a member of the new APC party or opt out to become a member of another political party entirely while retaining his/her seat and recognition in the House. Except the defected PDP members of the House have cause to show by means of judicial precedent or any other valid references laced with superior legal arguments pointing to show that their defection complied with all known and existing constitutional or other legal requirements, the appeal will certainly be a futile legal exercise and a waste of huge personal, group or public funds. This provision in the constitution cannot be misinterpreted by using any political innuendo or through a press conference or power of legal oratory. It is obvious that those affected by the court judgment may fail in their appeal if the strict legal interpretation of this section of the constitution is applied, and I am pretty sure that the superior courts shall do justice to the appeal. This is one section of the constitution that is very plain and direct to the point, not complicated and do not require the services of a Constitutional Law Professor to explain its valid legal ingredients. Therefore, what the court has done is to “call the spade, a spade” as enshrined in the constitution. In my considered legal

Dr. Oghenesivbe

opinion, the ruling was never influenced by the ruling PDP as alleged by Hon. Osagie of the APC during his press conference at the National Assembly, widely reported by the Nigerian mass media. The legal opinion put forward by Hon. Osagie (a lawyer) that the order of the court amounted to an “orbiter dicta” (personal opinion) of the judge is far from the truth. He should be prosecuted for casting damaging aspersions at the Judge. He alleged that Justice Ademola acted the script given to him by the ruling PDP. The Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee or any other body concerned should look into the validity or other of this grave allegation which may have caused Justice Ademola invaluable moral and mental frustrations. His image has been defamed as a result of the unsubstantiated allegation. To free the Judge from mental, moral and psychological torture occasioned by the political rascality of the accuser, Hon. Osagie must be made to prove his allegation beyond reasonable doubt because his reckless utterances may have ultimately fractured the professional reputation of the Judge. The allegation was made outside the hallowed Chambers of the House when not in session and therefore not protected by House immunity. It must be stated again and again, that the defection of the thirty-seven former

PDP members is inconsistent with the provisions of Section 68(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, and as such the affected members of the House should honourably vacate their seats, except as I earlier mentioned, the APC or the affected members of the House have other superior judicial precedents that would legally puncture Justice Ademola’s ruling. The Black Law Dictionary and Dictionary.com defined the word “Vacate” as intended by Section 68 (1)(g) of the Constitution to mean “give up possession or occupancy of or to give up or relinquish an office, position, et al. To “Vacate” in the instant case also mean “to leave a seat, to make something null and void, to move, leave a place uninhabitable or to leave a job position, et al. These definitions at law are consistent with Justice Ademola’s order that the affected members of the former PDP who defected to the APC should honourably resign their positions and quit the National Assembly. This is not the Judge “orbiter dicta” as claimed by Hon. Osagie during his press conference. The Judge rightly and correctly used the wordings contained in Section 68 (1)(g) of the Constitution, as amended. Therefore, the words “shall vacate” as used in this section did not give room for any option, as to whether the members should remain in the House or quit. The court order is the direct position of the law in relation to their defection for the fact that the House tenure is yet to expire, no division occurred in PDP and the party did not merge with another political party. These are the legal reasons why the affected members must vacate their seats.

It must be stated again and again, that the defection of the thirty-seven former PDP members is inconsistent with the provisions of Section 68(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution as amended

In conclusion therefore, Justice Ademola was right in law to have ordered the affected thirty-seven members to honourably resign their positions haven breached that section of the constitution, after all they are honourable people who are expected to conduct themselves as such. They must therefore quit the stage at the National Assembly in compliance with the provision of Section 68 (1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended. After all, to remain a member of the House is neither by force nor by inheritance. It is a mandate freely given by their constituents and if that mandate is fractured by the actions and inactions of the beneficiary, it follows that the law must be invoked or applied to do justice or to correct any defect or lacuna created by the offender of the constitutional provision. The only option left for them under the prevailing circumstances is to go through another valid party and electioneering processes to re-contest their individual seat in a bye-election to be conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at a later date. And if the affected House members actually got the mandate of their respective constituents to defect from PDP to APC, it follows that their supporters also defected with them which is to say that winning the bye-election will be an easy landslide victories for them. But if on the other hand their supporters were not carried along in the defection saga, then of course they should accept the electioneering consequences of their actions and inactions. This is a case that is of paramount importance and interest to students and practitioners of constitutional law and jurisprudence in Nigeria and elsewhere in the world. As for the appeal, we shall keep our fingers crossed and watch the legal tussle and its subsequent outcome in the superior courts. In the meantime, the affected thirty-seven members of the House of Representatives should vacate their seats pending the final determination of the matter by the appellate courts. *Dr. Oghenesivbe PhD is National President The Green White Green Vanguard, a socio-economic and political advocacy group based in Lagos

BUSINESS THURSDAY, MAY 1, 2014

WHAT'S NEWS MTN plans fibre to home service in South Africa MTN is pushing forward with aggressive deployment of fibre to the home (FTTH) in high-density urban areas in South Africa, with a plan for commercial launch of the offering by June.

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‘European market opens for Nigerian fruits, vegetables’ Immense opportunities for Nigerian fruits and vegetable export remain untapped even as the European market is wide open for these tropical crops.

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Fibre-body autos: Threat to economy Take a close look at the automobiles on our roads – cars, buses and trucks; what do you see? Look closely and you will find stitches on their once smooth bodies before they became victims of road accidents.

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Laser technology driving consumables market –IDC The latest insights from International Data Corporation (IDC) has revealed that technology consumables market in the Middle East and Africa (MEA), has recorded significant growth in terms of value due to an ongoing shift from inkjet devices to laser technology and from black and white to color.

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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) JONAH IBOMA, ICT Editor DAYO ADEYEMI, Property Editor ADEOLA YUSUF, Energy Editor

GROWTH Consistent ICT growth propels Nigeria to top of African internet connections

Jona Iboma

igeria now represents at least 29 per cent of all internet users in Africa, according to details released by the Ministry of Communications Technology. In a special report chronicling the achievements of the ministry for the past three years after its creation, the Federal Minister of Communications Technology, (FMCT), Mrs. Omobola Johnson, also said that Nigeria had been able to grow telephony teledensity from 64 per cent to 86 per cent within the same period. “As at June 2012, Nigeria was home to 48.4 million internet users from 45 million as at the end of 2011, according to ITU statistics. The 2012 figures represents 28 per cent penetration rate and 29 per cent of total internet users in Africa, making Nigeria the largest internet market in Africa by volume,” she said. Mrs Johnson said that her ministry was focusing on using ICT to develop both private and public sectors to improve

Ayodele Aminu

he world economy produced goods and services worth over $90 trillion in 2011, new data released by the International Comparison Programme (ICP), which has inputs from the World Bank, has revealed. It also noted that almost half of the world’s total output came from low and middle income countries. Under the authority of the United Nations Statistical Commission, the 2011 round of ICP covered 199 economies - the most extensive effort to

CHUKS ONUANYIN, Energy NNAMDI AMADI, Reporter

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AYODELE AMINU, DEPUTY EDITOR, BUSINESS

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

governance, adding that a lot of success had been achieved in this regard. “More specifically, the mandate of the ministry is to facilitate universal access to communication infrastructure, promote the utilisation of ICT in all spheres of life, promote and facilitate the development of the ICT industry and its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and facilitate the employment of technology

to drive transparency in government and effective public service delivery. “Under three years, the FMCT has pursued its mandate keenly and assiduously, delivering the first integrated National lT Policy, Nigeria's first ever National Broadband Plan and a Nigerian Content Plan for the ICT sector to increase the participation of Nigerian companies and domestic value added in this lucrative and fast growing sector,”

she said. Mrs Johnson said that through a special programme called the Naijacloud, the ministry created awareness of ICTenabled job opportunities and over I 0,000 workers have joined online platforms. She said that since the programme commenced, they have earned globally competitive income. CONTINUED ON PAGE 30

L-R: Managing Director/CEO, Vision and Talent, Mr. Paul Uduk; Director of Administration and Corporate Programme, Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc, Rose Oputa, and Deputy Human Resource Manager, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS), Mr Oluyinka Williams, at a workshop organised by Vision and Talent in Lagos.

PHOTO:ADEYANJU OLOWOJOBA

World economy produced $90trn goods in 2011 –World Bank Low, middle income countries account for half measure Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs) across countries ever. ICP 2011 estimates benefited from a number of methodological improvements over past efforts to calculate PPPs, the report said. The ICP’s principal outputs are PPPs for 2011 and estimates of PPP-based gross domestic

product (GDP) and its major components in aggregate and per capita terms. When converting national economic measures (e.g. GDP), into a common currency, PPPs are a more direct measure of what money can buy than exchange rates. ICP implementation was

led and coordinated by the ICP Global Office, hosted by the World Bank, in partnership with regional agencies overseeing activities in eight geographic regions: Africa, Asia and the Pacific, CommonCONTINUED ON PAGE 30

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BENEFITS OF MANUFACTURING WITH FIBRE

INFLATION RATE March 2014...........................7.08% February 2014........................7.70% January 2014 ........................8.00%

LENDING RATE InterBank Rate . . . . . . . . . 10.50% Prime Lending Rate. . . . . 16.93% Maximum Lending Rate..25.83%

EXCHANGE RATE

(Parellel As at April 25)

USD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N169.50 Pounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N284 Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N236

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USD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N155.73 Pounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N261.56 Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N215.34 Source: CBN

30 BUSINESS | NEWS

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Thursday, May 1, 2014

MTN plans fibre to home service in South Africa COMPETITION MTN moves to cover more markets in South Africa

Jonah Iboma

TN is pushing forward with aggressive deployment of fibre to the home (FTTH) in highdensity urban areas in South Africa, with a plan for com-

mercial launch of the offering by June. However, while MTN is already moving ahead with FTTH services in South Africa, it is yet to be known when such plans would be unfolded in Nigeria, the operator’s largest market. Despite having a collection of licences that allow it to offer several services including fixed network, MTN is yet to rollout effective metropolitan fibre across many cities, although it has acquired a number of fixed services companies, notably, VGC Communications. The failure of major Nigeri-

World economy produced $90trn goods in 2011 –World Bank CONTINUED FROM PAGE 29

wealth of Independent States (CIS), Latin America, the Caribbean, Western Asia, Pacific Islands, and the countries of the regular PPP programme managed by the Statistical Office of the European Communities

(Eurostat) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). In addition, two "singleton" economies, Georgia and Iran, participated in bilateral exercises with partner economies, without being part of any regional compari-

an-based operators to expand into fixed services despite having acquired unified access services licences is a major reason why the country's fixed line connections have been dropping in recent times The telecoms company said the rollout follows a trial of its high-speed FTTH service in a gated community outside of Johannesburg, which saw the successful commercial delivery of FTTH capable of 100 mbps for the first time in Africa – with over 60 per cent of trial participants having signed up for the service. It said that among areas being targeted in high-population areas are high-rise buildings, gated communities and thickly populated suburbs with an anticipated launch date of June 1. Commenting on the plan, Chief Technology Officer, MTN South Africa, Eben Al-

bertyn, said: “We are massively excited by the momentum that our pre-launch has already created. By pioneering the technology in South Africa (and indeed Africa, for the current set of speeds on offer), we are sealing our position as the provider of choice.” Pricing of the service is only available to residents in launch areas and will be negotiated on a case-by-case basis depending on the amount of infrastructure, civil engineering and internet speed desired. Further FTTH roll out will be demand-driven, with MTN inviting homeowner associations and the public to express their interest in the service by contacting the operator directly on email. General Manager, Products and Solutions at MTN South Africa, Mike Fairon, said:

“What I look forward to the most is how fibre to the home opens up the door to making the Connected Home a reality.” It was reported last November that South African part state-owned operator, Telkom, was planning commercial launch FTTH services by the end of 2014, with trials of a 100 mbps service proceeding well. Meanwhile, there are indications also that the country’s dominant operator, Vodacom, is working on launching FTTH offerings, but no details or time frame had been given. “We’re actively rolling out fibre in business parks. We are getting ready to do the same in gated communities and are currently building the fibre backbones to make this possible. It’s too early to give any concrete details on FTTH,” said a Vodacom spokesperson.

Nigeria represents 29% African Internet users CONTINUED FROM PAGE 29

The minister also said that special purposeful investments in ICT incubators has led to the creation of the first ever IT Innovation Fund and that a fledgling innovation ecosystem is being nurtured to produce successful enterpreneurs and companies in the ICT sector. She said that its FMCT has

focused on four priority areas in order to fulfill its vision and the execution of its mandate. “Our current focus has yielded significant dividends. The ICT sector is growing at 24 per cent annually and the contribution of ICT to the nation’s GDP has increased from 5.6 per cent since the ministry's creation in 2011 to 7.8 per cent in 2013,” she stated.

Ogun rakes in N2.3bn from Homeowners’ project Dayo Ayeyemi

he Ogun State government may have generated N2.3 billion from its Homeowners’ Charter programme. New Telegraph gathered that 135,000 landlords applied for the programme, which lasted between December 2013 and March 28,2014 According to the procedures of the scheme, each applicant paid N5,000 for the collection of form and another N10,000 at the point of submission, totaling N15,000. If 135,000 people applied for the homeowners’ initiative with N15,000 each, this implies that the government generated about N2.3 billion from sale and submission of forms. Fielding questions from journalists during the ongoing 14th edition of the Lagos Housing Fair, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Physical Planning in Ogun State, Mr Stephen Adewolu, a town planner, had disclosed that 135,000 applications were received through the home charter initiative. He stated that the challenge was the process of visitation and inspection of each property site, and that

his ministry is doing everything possible to overcome that. He pointed out that though the ministry lacks capacity in term of the number of officials needed to carry out the inspection and assessment of the sites, but that government has increased the personnel to complement the civil servants in this regard. Adewolu described the initiative as the best thing that had happened to low-income landlords in the state, saying that before now, they had to pay over N200,000 for plan approval alone and another sum of money for the Certificate of Occupancy which, according to him, may not happen in two years. Ogun State government had, late last year, unveiled a scheme that will enable homeowners in the state regularise and properly document their properties, known as Ogun State Homeowners’ Charter Programme. Apart from forming an integral part of the government’s mission to rebuild the state, the scheme, according to the state government, will provide data for the mediumterm planning for provision of roads, schools, hospitals and other essential services.

L-R:: The Branch Manager, Kebbi, of First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Limited, Mr. Musa Salihu Sakaba, presenting the key of a Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) to Mr. Dangero Adamu, the winner of the vehicle at the grand finale of the North Regional draw of the FCMB 30th Anniversary Promo. The event took place recently in Kebbi state.

‘European market opens for Nigerian fruits, vegetables’ Siaka Momoh

mmense opportunities for Nigerian fruits and vegetable export remain untapped even as the European market is wide open for these tropical crops. Commercial Manager, SubSaharan Africa, DHL Aviation, Abayomi Adetola, disclosed this in Lagos. He said: “Government needs to open up the market for people, ensure certification issues are addressed and ensure that the international airports have facilities for agricultural produce exports, not depending on the existing cargo facilities. “We have markets in Europe for most of the products that are getting spoilt here in Nigeria. We want to open up Nigeria for agricultural export so that we will be less dependent on oil. This is an area that can create a lot of jobs for the farmers, for those doing the packaging and those who truck the products to the airport,” he said.

He noted that the airports in Nigeria are not yet developed for the exports of perishables, and the imports into Europe often get destroyed. Acknowledging the role of the Federal Government in positively changing the situation under the agricultural transformation agenda, he said that infrastructural issues such as cold rooms are yet to be developed for the export of perishables, while the available infrastructure was only designed for imports. Adetola noted that prospects are bright for Nigeria, with government backing, adding: “If we are doing it individually, it will take a very long time for us to get to where we want to get to. Most airlines drop their cargo here in Nigeria and go to Accra to pick fresh products, or to Nairobi to pick flowers. They burn fuel in going to these places. If they have something to pick from Nigeria, the prices will be lower. We will be able to compete favourably at the ex-

port market. It will create a lot of jobs for many Nigerians.” In his opinion, Nigeria is yet to begin any serious production and export of spices, which are of high demand elsewhere. From Nigeria, he said, “spices are not yet part of the export. From Douala alone, weekly, no less than 60 tons of fresh fruits and vegetables are sent to Europe through DHL alone. Other airline cargo services come to drop their cargo in Nigeria and go to some other West African countries to pick up perishables back to Europe. We found also that, until last year, Nigeria is the only country from which we have not been picking anything. Stressing one of the reasons for low level of export, Adetola said: “From my experience, we have too many agencies compared to other exporting countries. People that are going to sign your documents are up to six or seven, but in Accra and Douala, they are just about two.”

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Fact File

Peugeot market-ready cars

Carbon fibre-body autos: Threat to economy, automobile body minders Isn’t this a threat to our fragile steel industry, automotive policy, and auto industry sector? SIAKA MOMOH asks.

ake a close look at the automobiles on our roads – cars, buses and trucks; what do you see? Look closely and you will find stitches on their once smooth bodies before they became victims of road accidents. Perhaps, like many, you have never bothered to note that apart from surviving passengers in vehicles that are involved in accidents that get parts of their torn bodies stitched, ‘injured’ vehicles get stitched too. This was not the case in the past when such bodies were made of steel. Our local automobile body minders, popularly known as panel-beaters, are wizards in art of putting damaged vehicles’ bodies back into proper shape. They can now do this no more as most of the cars on the road now have carbon fibre bodies. That is the vogue now. Carbon fibre bodies cannot be panel-beated; they must either be stitched or replaced. With stitching, the aesthetic beauty of the car is lost; replacement is higher cost for the vehicle owner and loss of revenue for the body minder. The expertise for proper stitching is not there. Ganiyu Ajadi, a panel beater, based in Festac Town, Lagos, told New Telegraph: “Steel is better for us because with steel-bodied vehicles, we make more money. We panelbeat steels but can’t do same for fibre. We need to stitch and this is not our line; we are not trained to stitch. In fact, what

we do mostly is to advise the owners of damaged vehicles to replace the part. So what we do these days is replace-damaged parts of vehicles. What this means is that we now earn less money. Musiliu Oriade of Ugbe Quarters near Ikare in Ondo State expressed view similar to Ajadi’s. Said he: “The coming of fibre-bodied vehicles is bad luck for us panel beaters. You cannot panel-beat these vehicles and we are not trained to stitch fibre. The options opened to us therefore are either to go for retraining or lose the job to those who have the expertise in doing this.” They may surely have to go for retraining. They should go and ask typists or stenographers in companies, in the media for instance, who were

forced to retrain with the advent of computer. In fact, journalists had no choice but train on how to use the computer. Most of us today may not be able to recall when last we used the pen. It is now the era of singing keyboards. Impact on the steel industry We must therefore be worried on how much this is going to affect our crawling steel industry which we are struggling to revive. We must be worried also about our automobile industry which, of recent, is receiving serious attention from government. Is the Federal Government Automotive Policy looking at carbon fibre or steel or aluminum? One is asking this question in the light of the fact that comments are abound about how the steel industry will be

useful to local manufacturing of automobiles. There have been lengthy talks about how production of flat sheets at Ajaokuta will help support the nation’s automobile industry. Some informed industry stake holders argue some parts of a vehicle like the chassis will still remain steel. Agreed, but fact is less of steel or aluminum will be used with time. Where are we? Carbon fibre According to Wikipedia, Carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer, carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic or carbon-fiber reinforced thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP or often simply carbon fiber, or even carbon), is an extremely strong and light fiber-reinforced polymer C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 3 2

Nigeria, others benefit from P&G’s potable water project CARING P&G provides safe drinking water to children in over 75 countries across the globe. Siaka Momoh

igeria has been listed as one of the several countries that benefited from Procter & Gamble’s (P&G) seven billion litres of clean drinking water delivered through the company’s global non-profit Children’s Safe Drinking Wa-

ter (CSDW) programme. According to a statement by Lisa Popyk of P&G Global Sustainability Communications from the global headquarters of fast-moving consumer goods giant in Cincinnati, United States, P&G through its CSDW has delivered over seven billion litres of clean drinking water to families in about 75 countries across the world since its establishment nine years ago. P&G runs the CSDW programme in collaboration with Population Services International (PSI), CARE, Save the Children, World Vision, the US government, and others. The programme continues to save lives in Nigeria and several

other African states including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda and in several other countries. The programme has yielded great results since its commencement nine years ago. According to the statement, “during the last nine years, working with over 140 partners, the P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water programme has provided clean drinking water in over 75 countries. Over seven billion litres of purified drinking water have been provided which have C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 3 4

Nigerian economy’s gross domestic product (GDP) to $509.9-billion placed it well above South Africa’s nominal GDP of $322-billion and elevated Nigeria to the position of the largest economy in Africa. South African businesses discovered after the fall of apartheid and the entry of global competitors into their hitherto protected domestic market that they were less than competitive. Technology, skills levels, access to capital, governance, operating models, to name a few, will all come into focus in an increasingly competitive domestic market. The macro environment in which Nigerian executives must learn to operate will become increasingly complex. Developing strategies to successfully steer companies through a rapidly changing, uncertain and complex environment will be critical in a re-based economy. Executives will need to find ways to navigate this environment by taking advantage of the growing role and impact that technology has in influencing business trends. But it is not only in Nigeria that CEOs are struggling with complexity. In a recent global Deloitte CEO survey, 87 per cent of CEOs are saying that they face deeper and faster cycles in their businesses than ever before with each subsequent revolution happening faster than those before. Shakeups like the European financial crises were felt worldwide and Nigeria was not immune from the shock. Africa is expected to grow by 5.3 per cent in 2014 with sub Saharan Africa forecast to grow by 6.1 per cent in 2014 and 5.8 per cent in 2015. Over 75 per cent of global CEOs described collaboration as the number one trait in employees critical to organisational success. More variables are salient to business decisions than ever before, and the interrelations between them are increasingly non-linear. 88 per cent of global CEOs say their business environments are becoming more complex while less than 50 per cent of them feel uncertain about how to cope with that change. Companies looking to operate on the African continent cannot be guaranteed long-term certainty or a high degree of predictability as the continent offers unique challenges. These markets are characterised by several challenges that contribute to the perception of Africa as a risky destination for business. Poor governance, the prevalence or perception of corruption, tenuous legislative frameworks, fragile security of tenure and unclear royalty and tax regimes make strategic decisions difficult on the continent. Furthermore, longstanding issues such as civil unrest, insurgency and a history of ethnic conflict pose additional operational risks in certain countries. Infrastructure also remains a significant barrier for African operations. Beyond socio-economic and political complexities, the lack of appropriate infrastructure across the continent is a further barrier for companies operating in industrial and service sectors.

BUSINESS | INDUSTRY

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Benefits of manufacturing with fibre INNOVATION Manufacturing with fibre saves fuel and reduces harmful exhaust emissions.

Olajumoke Familoni

he World Steel Association today pointed out that materials such as carbon fiber, aluminum and magnesium give off 5-to20 times more greenhouse gases during manufacturing than does steel. Therefore, when car manufacturers build these materials instead of steel into their vehicles, they are increasing their carbon footprint from a total life cycle perspective, worldsteel claims. Carbon fiber composites and hybrid composites are roughly one-half the weight of aluminum and one-quarter the weight of steel. As noted above, a lightweight composite component makes it more desirable to engineers develop-

ing a wide variety of products and parts. The days are long gone when it was considered that the heavier the product the better the quality. Environmental benefits of weight reduction Products made from composite Fibre Reinforced Plastics (FRP) materials offer significant environmental benefits because of their characteristically low weight, good mechanical properties and excellent resistance to corrosion. For example, composites used in cars can substantially reduce overall weight – by as much as 40 per cent compared to steel. Over the lifetime of the car, this means many thousands of litres of fuel saved and consequent reductions in harmful exhaust emissions. Many automotive manufacturers therefore use composite body parts – not just in lower series vehicles such as MPVs (minivans), estate cars and sports / utility vehicles (4x4s) - but also in higher series models. Greener engines thanks to composites When it comes to under the

bonnet applications, FRP composites are also an environmentally attractive alternative to metals. For engine oil sumps and valve covers, for example, FRP fulfils all the mechanical strength requirements (e.g. a

sump must be able to support the weight of the engine), but also delivers added-value environmental benefits. These include a reduction in noise and harshness levels and improved engine efficien-

cy, since the engine warms up faster and reaches operational efficiency sooner. The result is less fuel wasted during cold starting and also during operation, due to the lower weight of the engine.

Workers in an automobile assembly plant

Fibre: Threat to economy, automobile body minders CONTINUED from PAGE 31

which contains carbon fibers. Although carbon fiber can be relatively expensive, it has many applications in aerospace and automotive fields, such as Formula One racing and wherever high strengthto-weight ratio and rigidity are required such as sailing boats and rowing shell hulls, top-end bicycles and motorcycles. As manufacturing techniques improve and costs reduce, it is becoming increasingly common in small consumer goods that require strength, lightness and stiffness such as laptop bodies, tripod legs, tent poles, fishing rods, hockey sticks, bows and arrows, racquet frames, stringed instrument bodies, drum shells, golf clubs, crash helmets and billiards cues. We are told that automotive manufacturing costs can be cut by 80 per cent with carbon fiber-based autos versus steel-based ones due to greatly

Market-ready vehicles at Innoson Motors

reduced tooling and simpler assembly and joining. But such cost savings are said to be currently overshadowed with carbon fiber material prices upwards of $16/lb. The argument: If carbon fiber costs can be driven down to $5/lb (for largetow, standard-modulus, automotive-grade creel fiber), a carbon-fiber-based auto would become cost-competitive with a steel-based auto. Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI)’s analysis of composites aligns with studies by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Oak Ridge national Laboratory (ORNL) showing that manufacturing fixed costs can be reduced by 80 per cent from a steel-automotive baseline with composite manufacturing methods. This translates to a 35 per cent overall savings since costs are spread over 250,000 units of annual production. Unfortunately, the same analyses

show that all cost reductions associated with body-in-white and/or composite manufacturing techniques are currently overshadowed by higher material cost. For carbon-fiberbased autos to compete with steel ones at the same production volume, carbon fiber costs would need to decrease from their current $16 per pound price by about 60 per cent - yet ORNL thinks this is plausible. For the avoidance of doubt, let us look at what is going on; let us look at the thinking in the global automobile industry. Take this from Automotive News: BMW’s electric i3, which went on sale in Germany on November 13, 2013, was the first mass-produced car made largely from carbon fiber. BMW’s bid to transform the way it makes cars started with hundreds of thousands of fine white strands snaking upwards in a production hall in rural Washington in the United States. BMW used the

sleek, black filaments for the passenger frame of the i3 electric car, which went on sale at dealers in Germany November 2013 and around the world in the following months. It was the first effort to mass-produce a car made largely from carbon fiber and represented the biggest shift in automobile production since at least the 1980s when the first all-aluminum car frames were made. The strategy started taking shape a little over six years ago, as Norbert Reithofer, then newly appointed CEO, examined trends affecting the industry and concluded that increased environmental awareness would likely prompt tougher emissions regulations that could make the future of autobahn cruisers like the 5-series sedan unsustainable. “Looking forward to 2020, we saw threats to our business model,” Chief Financial Officer, Friedrich Eichiner, who was head of strategic planning at the time, said in an interview in Munich. “We had to find a way to bring models like the 6 series, 7 series and X5 into the future.” For BMW to continue to sell cars that live up to the company’s “ultimate driving machine” claim, the manufacturer needed to offset those emissions with a viable electric vehicle for growing cities, where more potential customers would live. That was the start of the i3. High cost The downside is that it’s prohibitively expensive. Consultancy Frost & Sullivan estimates that carbon fiber costs about $20 (15 Euros) per kilogramme. That compares to

about $1 (0.74 Euros) for steel. BMW’s goal is to get the expense of a carbon-fiber frame down to the level of aluminum by 2020. Think differently While most carmakers are experimenting with carbon fiber, none are rushing to follow BMW. Daimler’s MercedesBenz brand doesn’t see carbon fiber as critical. Instead, it’s engineering autos that can be powered by conventional engines as well as electric motors and plans by 2017 to roll out fuel cell cars, which have a longer range than battery-only vehicles. “We think differently” about the benefits of building cars with carbon fiber, Daimler Chief Financial Officer, Bodo Uebber, said in an interview. “Let’s see who has the better answer.” Audi, BMW’s closest rival in luxury-car sales, looks to mix and match materials, including aluminum, lightweight steel as well as carbon fiber, rather than rely on one single solution, spokesman Josef Schlossmacher said. Steel limits “The investment in carbon fiber isn’t about a single vehicle, but about future-proofing our entire portfolio and therefore our business,” said Eichiner. “There’s no way around making cars lighter, and steel is reaching its limit.” In BMW’s Leipzig factory, steel is no longer the measure of toughness. A sign there reads “nerves of carbon fiber.” “Daimler AG (Stuttgart, Germany), maker of Mercedes-Benz cars, is set to make a big push into CFRP,” says Automotive News.

BUSINESS | INDUSTRY 33

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, May 1, 2014

How to invest in toothpick production MARKET There is a large and growing market for toothpick. Don Abraham

y recent survey findings have shown that the market for toothpicks in Nigeria and ECOWAS exists, is large, has the prospects of expanding and is sustainable. The relevant raw materials to produce them are 100 per cent locally available all the year round and can be sourced cheaply. These then imply that toothpicks manufacturing project will produce at its optimal capacity and that in no distant time, the invested funds will be recouped. Toothpicks are used daily to remove the unwanted leftovers which stick to the teeth in one’s mouth after each meal. These include vegetables, fibre, bones, fish and meat. The raw materials: Raw materials for making toothpicks are either wood or bamboo. Light round plastic containers, to which the company’s logo printed on paper can be glued, are used to pack them in 100s. Pre-printed small light paper cartons are used to package the finished product. All these inputs are sourced locally which is one big advantage this project has, namely the assurance of regular supply of the raw materials, steady production and profitability. But despite these and the simplicity of the technology involved in toothpicks production, most of their consumption is met largely through importation, as there are very few plants in the country currently producing toothpicks. This implies that all finished products will most likely be sold off quickly if their quality is high. The market: Virtually everybody use toothpick daily and so there is a large and growing market for it both in Nigeria and the neighbouring East, West and Central African countries. Toothpicks can be sold locally to satisfy the needs of the market or can be exported to earn scarce foreign exchange because of its high export potential. To export toothpicks and indeed any products, profitably and successfully, one needs to have at his fingertips all it takes to get into export market trade, how to finance it from the various financial institutions, the necessary good quality measures needed, the names and addresses of honest, reliable and genuine buyers, dependable local sources of good quality products, how to source a confirmed order that is backed up with genuine payment, how to repatriate

and use the export proceeds. sticks to smoothen the surAny serious and interested face, shaving the round sticks investor can pick up from this to have either double-pointed writer a copy of “Understand- or single-pointed ends, arranging export trade and finance.” ing and packaging the finished Equipment: The plant and product. machinery needed for bamboo Profitability: On a smalltoothpicks production include scale and given seven hours’ round cross cutting machine, production per shift per day, hand splitter, slicing machine, 1,440,000 toothpicks can be prostick-making machine, tooth- duced and given 250 working picks and skewer sizing ma- days a year, the output is 360 chine, dust collector and pol- million toothpicks after allowishing, shaving and arranging ing for wastages. Currently, a machines. For a project using pack of toothpicks sells for wood as its raw material, the N15 per 100 sticks packet. plant and machinery needed If the promoter allows a disare wood peeler, horizontal count of N5/packet, his turncutter, dryer, wood-making over, production and marketmachine, toothpicks and skewing expenses and profit before er sizer, polisher, shaver, dust tax are shown below: collector, toothpick arranger Sales for the year N36,000,000 and cutter/grinder. Production and Thus it can be seen that sales expenses (N20,500,000) an industrialist can combine Profit before tax bamboo and wood toothpicks (first year) N15,500,000 production under one roof Per cent return on sales to ensure all-year-round production and satisfaction 43.1 per cent; of customer preferences for Return on investment either wood or bamboo tooth- 320.1 per cent; picks. Payback period (about) Project cost estimate: To roughly four months. start this project on a good note, the entrepreneur has to This is considered a profitincur the following relevant able and feasible project which is recommended to entreprecosts the detailed costing of which can be obtained on re- neurs for implementation quest: more so now that toothpicks importation has been banned and the few local manufactur N’000 ers are having a hard time Factory house and offices ? working day and night trying Plant and machinery 2,750 to satisfy a fraction of the marUtilities (including generator) 950 ket demand. Pre-investment 200 Funding: Given the appropriate funding mix, the projWorking capital 700 ect can be financed by co-opContingency 230 erative societies, banks, local 4,830 government councils or state Production processes: governments, individuals and The processes involved in corporate organisations. This the production of toothpicks is because it is a profitable, exinclude, briefly, the cutting port-oriented project that adds of the knots from the round value to the local raw materibamboo sticks, cutting these als through processing. It also to required length, splitting has a short payback period them to equal width, dividing and therefore should attract or skewing the bamboo sticks ready financing. to required thickness, shaping or skewing these to round DON ABRAHAM can be sticks, bleaching and drying, contacted through: talk2dco@ polishing the skewed round yahoo.com

Toothpick

with Enterprise Strokes

Siaka Momoh

siakamomoh@yahoo.com

An encounter with ‘area boys’ hey are a common feature time around. But this encounTconfronting in Lagos. They are found ter led me to discovering the trucks along nuisance they constitute to Marina and Oshodi-Apapa motorway, extorting money from drivers. Thrice, I was forced to have contact with these social miscreants called ‘area boys’ in Lagos. You need to pray you never have anything to do with them. My first encounter was on Lagos Island, by the Public Affairs Section of the US Consul-General’s Office on Broad Street where my car broke down. It was getting late, about 8 pm. One of them, who perhaps must have spent the better part of his life doing the ‘area boy’ thing because from all indication, he looked a spent force, came to me to ask what the matter was. I told him nothing was the matter since he was inconsequential, for me. He left and somehow, the car responded but only took me as far as the Bank of Industry, still on Broad Street, where I struck a deal with the security men on duty, who kept watch over it until the following day when my mechanic fixed it. But this was at a price. The second experience was also on Lagos Island, this time on Marina. I had a flat tyre and so had to pull the car out of the busy Marina Street to a point I thought was an automobile workshop which however turned out to be one of their hot spots along the road. One of them immediately showed up to offer help. I obliged. All he needed to do was to replace the flat tyre with the spare. This was something I could do on my own but I was neatly dressed up for an appointment at Lagos Business School and did not want my suit smeared. But there was another strong point I could not ignore: Area boys consider it their right to offer such service as long as you are in their territory. To resist is to court their attack. But as soon as he commenced changing the tyre, others moved in from various directions and offered to join the one I had contracted for the job. They were eight in all – eight men to replace one flat tyre! I sensed trouble and politely told them I needed only one hand and that hand had been hired. They grumbled and stayed off, but hung around. I paid the one I contracted N100 on completion of the job and he announced to them “Na only N100 card chairman give me o, make una ask for una own o…” Before they could react, I jumped into my car and zoomed off. Only recently, I had another encounter with them, by Hassan Bus-stop along the Oshodi/Apapa Expressway. I had had enough experience dealing with them so it was easy dismissing them this

traders in the second-hand electricity generators market at Hasan bus-stop. You cannot take delivery of generators from this market without paying commissions to them – they collect commissions on sales made by someone else. This practice, I gather, obtains in similar markets across Lagos. Commercial drivers in Lagos pay them fees grudgingly. The latest in their art is to create toll gates in place across Lagos where road construction works are going on. They man tollgates, day and night up to 10/12pm! They do this with policemen, LASTMA and FRSC men looking the other way. Na wao. The Lagos Badagry motorway is a popular axis. This social miscreant’s menace is a global phenomenon. Let us draw from an experience in Skopje. Skopje is the capital of the Republic of Macedonia. As largest city in the country, it is a political, economic, and cultural center of Macedonia. It lies on the upper course of the Vardar River and is located on a major north-south Balkan route between Belgrade and Athens. The first impression of a visitor to Skopje is invariably the same: it is a new and modern city. It is a trading center for the cotton, tobacco, grains, and livestock produced in the surrounding region. The city also has manufacturing facilities for iron and steel, electrical machinery, chemicals, textiles, carpets, and foods. This is one good side any tourist will love to be associated with. The testimony of a tourist recorded in Skopje Travel Guide titled Street Safety: Ghettos are the same all around the world, tells the story. The tourist in question had an experience in a particular area near the Turkish Bazaar, a poorest neighbourhood in Skopje. While on a familiarity walk, he strolled into the neighbourhood, oblivious to the neighbourhood’s reputation as a combat zone where he had a close shave with death. He encountered three of the ugliest, nastiest, thuggish Albanians known to mankind. Without hesitation, one demanded money from him in English. Speaking fluent Italian, he responded, “Non parlo inglese.” And as luck would have it, a shop proprietor was kind enough to translate for the thugs. “Give me your money.” The punk spoke, only this time he brandished a knife. One thing saved his life, he could speak little Albanian, their language and he let them know he was in Kosovo for three months ‘fighting’ their course.

34 BUSINESS | INDUSTRY

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Ayo, the ‘Moinmoin’ entrepreneur S

he has been at an event in the US sharing tables with Bill Clinton and Obama. In 2009, she was participant at a dinner organised by ExxonMobil, Goldman Sachs and others. Once upon a time, aspiring entrepreneurs had the opportunity of leveraging on Peter Bamkole’s deep knowledge of the enterprise environment in Nigeria. Peter Bamkole is the director. Pan Atlantic University’s Enterprise Development Centre. They were all gathered at Pan Atlantic University, Ajah, Lagos. Addressing them, Peter Bamkole said: “Nigerians have entrepreneurship spirit but the spirit needs to be nurtured.” He noted with satisfaction that it was a good thing that our universities now teach entrepreneurship “but the practical aspect of entrepreneurship is very important. This is what we do at EDC.” Then he told the story of Ayo Megbope, owner of No left Over, a catering outfit that has become renowned globally for Moinmoin (bean paste). She is a graduate of Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women programme run by EDC in Nigeria. The business earned its present global outlook after her stint with EDC.

Ayo, who could not address an audience of 20 people, is today a regular face at big events and “electrifies the audience.” Bamkole said that she had been at an event in the US sharing tables with Bill Clinton and Obama. In 2009, she was participant at a dinner organised by ExxonMobil, Goldman Sachs and others. The topic of the dinner was investing in Girls and Women. Some of her co-participants were Sarah Brown, wife of British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown; Ann Cotton, chief executive, Camfed International; Melanne Verveer, Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues, Office of the Secretary, US Department of State; and Muhammad Yunus, founder and managing director, Grameen Bank. And only recently Ayo was on a panel of 1000 entrepreneurs in Turkey. On the panel with her were the co-founder of Youtube and founder of Skype. Ayo sent in these words to participants at Pan African University, Lekki: “Be innovative. Keep trying. The wealth of a nation is in the creative minds of its people.” And the University of Maryland student entrepreneur, Bankole went on to tell the story of a student entrepreneur

Ayo Megbope at work

at the University of Maryland, US. The student is 21 years old and he is in his second year. His tuition fee is $21,000. And in his second year, he is already recording $1 million turnover!

Dettol rewards grand prize winner D ettol has rewarded the grand prize winner of its Price Awareness Mobile Activation (PAMA) campaign, Mrs. Doyin Rebecca Ntosi, with a new Kia Rio car. The campaign was launched to raise consumers’ awareness of the reduction in the price of Dettol Soap from N120 to N100 and to reinforce the brand’s market leadership in the health and hygiene segment. Presenting the car keys in Lagos, the Marketing Director for West Africa, Reckitt Benckiser, Mr. Oguzhan Silivrili, said that the reduction in the price of Dettol soap was part of initiatives to make it more afford-

able for Nigerians in line with the company’s mission and vision of promoting healthier lives and happy homes. “We want to make Dettol more affordable for everybody because we don’t believe that health is a privilege for Nigerians,” he said while noting that the campaign, which coincided with the commemoration of the 50-year presence of Dettol in the Nigerian market, was also aimed at rewarding consumer loyalty to the brand over the years. Responding, Mrs. Ntosi, a caterer and mother of two from Abia State, expressed joy for being the proud owner

of a new car, which she said was the first to be owned by her family. She thanked Dettol and Reckitt Benckiser for rewarding consumers and for fulfilling their promise. During the months-long campaign, approximately 320 million Short Message Services (SMS) were sent to over 40 million MTN subscribers informing them of the price change. The messages also prompted them to play the Dettol mobile quiz, an interactive SMS-based game purposely designed to gauge their awareness of the price change and knowledge of the brand Dettol. Over 700,000 people participated.

Bottom of the pyramid business strategy best business model in pions new thinking and new Indian friend, he changed to Tintohe the world now is tapping ways of doing business in the small size satche packaging world’s poor markets. While and that was it. people at the bottom of the pyramid, Subhomoy Bhattacharjee, executive editor, Financial Express of India, told a cross section of business chieftains and diplomats in Lagos recently. Bhattacharjee, who spoke at a discussion forum organised by Lagos Business School (Pan African University) and the Indian High commission in Nigeria, said “unless this is done, businesses will not be able to scale up”. “In India, every major business has changed its business model to this and volumes have gone up. Bangladesh adopted this model and has emerged a successful economy whilst Pakistan which is doing otherwise has problems,” he said. The BOP concept cham-

this high-level aspiration is not necessarily new, the current concept, also known as B24B (business-to-4-billion), was coined by influential business academics C. K. Prahalad and Stuart Hart a few years ago in a working paper, which then became a series of important and well-cited articles. At a forum in Lagos recently, a Nigerian entrepreneur and small enterprise person told the audience how an advice from an Indian to him on mode of packaging – a poor-friendly packaging strategy, moved his sales volume up dramatically. The entrepreneur who manufactures black soap (Ose Dudu) in syrup form, started off with fanciful high cost big size packaging. On the advice of his

These authors made the simple yet powerful observation that four billion people remain outside of the global market system. The BOP concept frames this stunning fact as both a tremendous need and real opportunity for corporations. The BOP represents a vast, unexploited, multitrillion-dollar marketplace. For companies struggling with maturing markets, floundering business models, and serious questions about who their customers of the future will be, these are important markets to crack. But tapping into these overlooked markets will require companies to reconfigure their business assumptions, models, and practices.

“Would you expect such a student to go for paid employment after graduation?” he asked rhetorically. One interesting aspect of the story was that the student in question lived

with 89 other entrepreneurship students in a hall and below the hall was an enterprise centre where they all meet for training and for networking, among other things.

Nigeria, others benefit from P&G’s potable water project CONTINUED from PAGE 31

helped avert over 293 million days of illness and helped save an estimated 39,000 lives.” Working with many partners across the world, the P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water programme has also provided water purification packets for emergency relief in many major natural disasters in the last nine years, including the Southeast Asia tsunami; hurricanes in the Caribbean and Philippians; floods in the Philippines, Bangladesh, Myanmar, India, Cambodia, Thailand, and Pakistan; earthquakes in Pakistan, China, Haiti, Chile, and Indonesia; cholera outbreaks in much of Africa; and the West Africa/ Sahel famine. “P&G is proud to reach this

Safe drinking water

milestone of delivering seven billion litres of clean water to children and families. Together with our partners, we are providing a simple to use, but life-changing solution,” said Allison Tummon Kamphuis, P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water Leader. “As we advance the program toward our goal of saving one life every hour, we are motivated to help many more children and families get the clean water they need, whether in a rural village or during natural disasters.” The programme is part of Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) commitment to save one life every hour by the year 2020. Just recently, the P&G CSDW delivered its seven billionth litre of clean drinking water to a family in Brazil. The seven billionth litre donation marks the expansion of CSDW into Brazil with implementation partner ChildFund. The seven billionth litre was provided to Claudia and Gilberto Pereira Barbosa and their four children near the community of Araçuai in the Jequitinhonha Valley region with local partner ChildFund. Living in the dry, dusty rural south-eastern region of Brazil, the family has been drinking from a contaminated river nearby for years - their only water source.

BUSINESS 35

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, May 1, 2014

The Federal Government, recently, named Mr. Peter Jack, as the Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), after months of uncertainly about the leadership direction of the agency. In this piece, JONAH IBOMA catalogues industry stakeholders’ views on what the direction of the new leadership of NITDA should be in order to fast-track IT development in Nigeria.

he development of Nigeria’s Information technology and telecommunications sectors has been one of the major thrusts of government since Nigeria returned to democratic rule in 1999. At that time, the country’s telecommunications sector was in a sorry state, as the number of connected phone lines put teledensity at less than 0.5 per cent. There was confusion as to how to introduce mobile telephony service in the country, especially at a time that the mobile revolution was changing the face of communications globally. Government had tried unsuccessfully to licence mobile operators and the entire exercise ended in great controversy. In order to address the problem, the Federal Government decided to overhaul the Nigerian Communications Commission that it had set up a few years earlier to implement a national telecommunication policy and appointed a new helmsman, Ernest Ndukwe, to take over the reins of power from Emmanuel Nnamah. While, government was doing this in the telecommunications sector, the information technology industry also received its portion of intervention as NITDA was also set up. Formerly known as the National Information Technology Unit in the Ministry of Science and Technology, the body was separated from the ministry in 2001 and the late Prof. Gabriel Ajayi appointed its pioneer DG. However, with the entry of Ndukwe, telecommunications industry in Nigeria received a complete transformation that has become one of the brightest achievements of Nigeria’s democratic experience, the same thing appears not to have happened in the information technology sector. NITDA, which was a special agency set up to help implement a national IT policy that experts had drawn-up earlier, has been one organisation that is still crawling rather than running in a jet age. The organisation initially seemed to be doing very well when Ajayi was in charge. However, with his death, the activities of NITDA seemed to have entered into a serious lull, although he was equally replaced by another professor, Cleopas Angaye. To this end, government's recent appointment of Mr. Peter Jack as the director general of the agency has been viewed by industry stakeholders as yet another opportunity for the IT development to receive the needed boost and put Nigeria among the top nations in the world, just as telecommunications has done. According to the President, Nigeria Computer Society, Prof. David

Jack

Adewunmi

Adewunmi, there is an urgent need for adequately qualified human resources to be developed in Nigeria, and NITDA must be at the forefront of this. Aside that, he advised that Jack must ensure that IT reaches the nooks and crannies of Nigeria so that it forms the basis of business and social life. He said: “I would like to see the new DG of NITDA looking at human capital development as well as bringing ICT infrastructure to the door step of every Nigerian.” Another area that another IT expert advised NITDA to focus on is how to ensure that safety and disaster recovery standards are improved in the IT sector, given the wide use of computers today. The Chief Executive Officer, TeePee Nigeria Limited, Mr. Tokunbo Pearce, said that the recurring issues of fire disasters in public and private buildings call for a review of how ICT infrastructure are deployed in the country in order to minimise the possible negative implications of such development. He said: “Basically, the whole idea is to create an enabling environment to reduce apparent losses of data hardware and data.

The new DG of NITDA should look at human capital development and bring ICT infrastructure to every Nigerian

Data hardware (servers etc) can be insured, but data itself cannot. Therefore, there is the need to adequately prevent them against disasters. Also, physical security to IT hardware and data determines the success of any organisation that wants high ISO certification, a concept that helps promote the integrity of any organisation in the business world.” Also, the President of Nigerian Internet group, Mr. Lanre Ajayi, advised that NITDA must move with the times as Nigeria seemed to have fallen behind other nations in IT development. “NITDA should wake up from its slumber," he said, adding that the fact that the agency got a younger person this time around as its head could be of great benefit to the country. “Jack is a well respected and welltravelled person and his wealth of experience and international exposure should help NITDA. Aside this, the fact that he has also been an insider, who understands the working of the agency, should also help him to properly lead the agency in the right direction,” he said. Jack is a former technical director of NITDA and had worked under both Professor Ajayi and ºProf. Aganye. He was involved in many projects in the agency including plans to create an electronic government strategy for Nigeria. However, with NITDA recently launching projects such as the National Computer Emergency Readiness and Response Team (CERRT) to check threats of cyber attacks in the country as well as the business outsourcing programmes, the entry of Jack could give the agency a fresh push.

TECHTalk

W it h

Stakeholders seek improved performance from NITDA

Jonah Iboma 08050498516

Improving e-payment security in Nigeria

n furtherance of its efforts to combat electronic card fraud in Nigeria’s financial system, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced last week that banks had until November 30 to meet payment card security specifications. In a circular entitled “Circular on timeline for PCIDSS certification by all deposit money banks, switches, processors,” CBN said that it would “invoke appropriate sanctions for non-compliance with the provisions of this circular.” It would be recalled that a 2012 circular on the need to combat card fraud in Nigeria said that Nigerian banks should comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCIDSS) before December 31, 2012. The extension of the deadline, the circular added, followed requests by many of the banks to enable them complete the certification process. CBN said that it had engaged the services of three Qualified Security Assessors (QSAs) to conduct pre-certification assessment of banks to determine their readiness. The move by CBN is indeed a timely and necessary one in view of the increasing risks electronic payment card holders and even electronic payment is facing in the country generally. The issue of card security has been one of importance right from the time electronic payment systems began to take root in the country about 12 years ago. It would be recalled that when Nigeria started using debit cards, they were introduced based on magnetic stripe cards technology where information of the user was stored in a magnetic stripe attached to the back of the electronic card. At this time, newer and more reliable technologies, especially EMV standards, were being developed and were just making market entry. The thinking then was that Nigerians were not then sophisticated enough to engage in card frauds. However, within a few years, experience quickly taught both the CBN and government technology agencies and banks that the country must deploy highly secured cards as local criminals and those who had lived in other countries where cards had been in use for years, quickly found the loophole in Nigerian cards and exploited them. The fact that people also complained that withdrawals were made in their accounts at locations that they had never been whereas they had their cards with them, showed that the issue of card security must be taken very seriously. In the more advanced economies where electronic cards had been in use for years, credit card theft and use is still commonplace. This shows that there is always a risk in using cards as payment system. In Nigeria, there is another issue of banks not having their customers service available 24/7 the way telecommunication companies do. This must be addressed especially, as there are now reports that cards are stolen at the weekends and used to withdraw large sums of money from their owners accounts who may not reach bank customer care until working day. Technologically speaking, Nigerians are very smart and any attempt to underestimate the understanding of technology application, especially by the young population, would be a huge error. Therefore, the move by CBN is a welcome development.

BUSINESS | ICT

CHANGING TIMES Technology tools must be developed in line with new weather realities.

new report by the International Telecommunications Union has said that the global ICT industry must develop adaptive practices as climate change impacts increase. The report titled: “Resilient Pathways: The adaptation of the ICT sector to climate change” recommends that positioning climate change in the sector’s agenda requires the active engagement of stakeholders at all levels, fostering the adoption of innovative

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, May 1, 2014

‘Built-in ICT resilience required for climate change' measures to better cope with, respond and adjust to change. The report was produced in conjunction with United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) and United Nations Education and Scientific Organisation (UNESCO) with the support from Deutsche Telekom. The launch of the report follows the addition of a new ICT Solutions pillar in the UNFCCC’s Momentum for Change initiative, which ITU welcomes as a very positive step towards

strengthening the transformational potential of ICTs as part of climate change responses. The “resilient pathways” highlighted in this report constitute desirable routes of action amidst an increasingly interdependent and changing international environment. These pathways can allow the ICT sector to go beyond shortterm reactive measures, in order to improve its overall adaptability to future unforeseen effects, while approaching adaptation from a collaborative,

multi-level perspective. ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun I. Touré, said: “Mainstreaming climate-resilient innovation in research and development needs to become a priority. We need to foster a new, more flexible mindset and new learning processes to take into account robustness in the face of climate change impact when designing these fundamental technologies. ITU, together with key partners like UNESCO, UNFCCC and the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI), stand ready to support the international community in this endeavour.” Luis Neves, Group Sustainability and Climate Change Officer, Deutsche Telekom said: “It’s clear that the ICT industry is a powerful force in terms of adapting to climate change. For precisely that reason it’s equally clear that we must generate new solutions with resilience in mind. This report provides some concrete guidelines for in-

dustry on how to incorporate some of those principles into the development of new technology.” The report recommends a number of adaptive actions based on the principle of resilience. It highlights, for example, the need for improvements in telecommunication service coverage, particularly in locations vulnerable to climate change impacts. It also recommends the development of new work to strengthen the resilience of ICT infrastructure. It notes that ICT sector stakeholders face the challenge of building greater awareness of, and resilience to climate change impacts, especially in the context of increasingly interconnected and interdependent business and supply chains. In this respect, the report highlights the Nairobi Work Programme on impacts, vulnerability and adaptation to climate change (NWP), of which ITU is a partner.

OneCard Nigeria deploys SAP Business ONE Cloud Jonah Iboma L-R: Delta State Deputy Governor, Prof. Amos Utuama (SAN); Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan; Executive Secretary, MTN Foundation, Ms Nonny Ugboma and Commissioner for Health, Dr. Joseph Otumara, during the formal handover of the Foundation’s (MTNF) Y’ello Doctor Mobile Medical Intervention Scheme to the state government in Asaba.

Etisalat launches automated recharge service Jonah Iboma

tisalat has introduced an automated recharge model (instant and mandate options) that enables customers recharge their phones or buy data electronically, wherever they may be, at whatever time of the day. The service, according to the firm, will provide airtime topup for its subscribers. According to details made available to New Telegraph, the firm said that the automated recharge mandate service allows Etisalat subscribers who have bank accounts and are registered on the Internet banking platform to leave an instruction with their banks for their Etisalat line or lines to be credited with the desired amount of airtime on specific dates or once a certain airtime credit level is reached. Customers, the firm explained, could also buy credit for themselves, family and friends with the automated recharge instant option by filling in the details on the Etisalat transaction page provided on their bank’s Internet banking platform. Director, Business Segment, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Lucas Dada, said that the offerings had the backing of the Nigeria InterBank Settlement System (NISS) to ensure safety. “Etisalat has unveiled these innovative recharge solutions to ensure that our customers

never worry about running out of credit again. These options offer customers simple and convenient means of buying airtime and data bundles, as well as making post-paid bill payments directly from their bank accounts through Internet banking,” he stated. Dada said that customers could access these services simply by logging on to their on-line banking platform and selecting Etisalat on the NIBSS e-BillsPay in the payment or bill payment section. He advised that customers could take advantage of the automated recharge mandate to control telephone spending by setting up a specific amount

to debit and specific date to recharge or buy data bundles. He said: “Customers can set up a mandate instructing the bank to debit their bank accounts and credit the same amount to their lines on a specific date or once a certain airtime-credit level is reached. These offerings are so flexible that a customer can topup from as low as N50 up to any amount desired.” Executive Director, Business Development, NIBSS, Mrs. Christabel Onyejekwe, was quoted as saying that “this service rides on the eBillsPay service, which is powered by the Instant Payment platform provided by NIBSS, which all Nigerian banks are already connected to.

Nigeria, a fast movOthatneCard ing consumer goods company provides top up solutions

on multiple platforms has announced the implementation of SAP Business ONE Cloud for its operations. SAP Business ONE Cloud is a cloud-based subscription offering that provides small businesses or subsidiaries of large companies with a single software solution to manage critical business processes. OneCard Nigeria announced that its decision to adopt SAP solution, after evaluating various offerings in the market, was based on SAP’s robust platform, which is well suited to support its mission of providing world class services that impact lives positively. The Chief Executive Officer, OneCard Nigeria, Mr. Ahmad Baba, said: “We have chosen SAP Business ONE Cloud for our business because it provides a comprehensive and fully integrated offering built on proven best practices. SAP Business

BBC to deliver Hausa news via BBM in Nigeria he British Broadcasting Cor- tor for the Social Media Hub at Hausa has prioritised its moTa partnership poration (BBC) has announced BBC News, said: “We had been bile offer as our key platform with BlackBerry speaking to BlackBerry for a to reach our audiences. The to deliver news from its Hausa service to its users in Nigeria, offering five BBC Hausa news alerts daily via BlackBerry Messenger (BBM). The new service is part of BBC’s move to use chat apps to deliver its content to, and engage with, a wider demographic of users. Each alert contains story links subscribers can share, along with their comments and story ideas. Trushar Barot, assistant edi-

few months about their plans to develop their BBM product. We were keen to try and find a BBC service that we felt would be a good fit to test the service. Many Nigerians use BBM, with consumption of news content on mobile phones also very high, so linking up with the BBC Hausa service felt like the right choice.” BBC Hausa editor Mansur Liman said: “With over 96 per cent of the traffic to the bbchausa.com website coming to its mobile version, BBC

launch of the BBC Hausa BBM in Nigeria – our biggest market – is a great development which will allow us to tap into new audiences, and also create a very simple, cheap and immediate way of connecting us with our users there.” To subscribe, individuals are required to download the latest version of BBM available on iOS, Android and BlackBerry smartphones, and search for ‘BBC Hausa’ from the ‘Channels’ tab.

ONE Cloud has delivered us a best fit for our unique business requirements.’’ Chief Operating Officer, OneCard Nigeria, Mr. AliKajubi, also confirmed that the choice of SAP Business ONE Cloud was logical. He said: “We know that we can count on SAP to help our business grow. The ERP engine provided by SAP makes it possible for us to have timely and accurate information all the time. This is a major requirement in today’s business environment.” SAP Business ONE Cloud was implemented for OneCard Nigeria by STREAD IT, SAP’s ONE Cloud partner in Nigeria. The Chief Executive Officer, STREAD IT, OlalekanAjayi, said: “One major advantage that SAP Business ONE Cloud offers firms such as OneCard, is that it is a single application that integrates all core business functions, including financials, sales, customer relationship management, inventory and operations.” He advised small and midsized businesses to consider making a switch to SAP Business ONE Cloud because of the solution’s extensibility as it can be easily integrated into a company’s existing core application. According to him, “huge upfront capital outlay is known to usually make small and midsized businesses shy away from investing in IT infrastructure for their organisation. With SAP Business ONE Cloud, however, this problem is nonexistent as implementation runs on an attractive flexible monthly ‘pay-as you-go’ structure, which eases the burden of huge upfront investment”. Addressing the issue of data security, Olalekan disclosed that all data are hosted in an SAP Certified Data Centre.

BUSINESS | ICT

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, May 1, 2014

First commercial contactless payment solution deployed easy Mobile Money has Tdeployment announced the successful of Nigeria’s first

commercial near field communication (NFC) contactless payments solution. Chief executive officer (CEO) of Teasy Mobile Money, Musa Ali Baba, said that in addition to making retail payments easier and faster, the innovation also guarantees customer satisfaction. “We are very excited with the market opportunity that this solution will bring, we believe that retail payments will seriously drive up the volume of transactions as well as grow customer confidence in the mobile payments space,” Baba said. “We want to make smaller payments quick, convenient,

and contactless can offer just that.” He said that the company has always been at the forefront of providing innovative solutions to drive the adoption of mobile payments as well as financial inclusion. “The company saw the gap and the need to enable wallet payments at existing POS (point of sale) terminals,” he said. The solution was provided by VeriFone Mobile Money, which includes the UNI-verse wallet enablement solution integrating the mobile wallet, banking and telecommunications provider networks with point of sale. Teasy has also deployed VeriFone NFC POS terminals as well as mPOS terminals supporting NFC running on the Android operating system.

‘Phase3 Telecom is best fibre infrastructure provider’

elecommunications infrastructure company, Phase3 Telecom, has been named the National Fibre Infrastructure Provider of the Year for the 2014 Beacon of ICT (BoICT) Awards. Organised by Communication Week Media Limited, publishers of Nigeria CommunicationsWeek magazine, the awards is a platform to acknowledge and celebrate key success stories in the industry in the past year. According to the publishers’ spokesperson, over 250,000 Nigerians voted in the different awards categories with Phase3 Telecom emerging as the clear winner in the National Fibre Infrastructure Provider of the Year” category with 90, 015 votes cast from December 1, 2013, to March 21, 2014. In a congratulatory message, Editor-in-Chief, CommunicationsWeek, Mr. Ken Nwogbo, said that the emergence of Phase3 Telecom as the Best

Fibre infrastructure Provider in this year’s award reinstates the hard work and commitment they are recognised for in the telecom industry. They are currently the most reliable fibre infrastructure company in Nigeria and that must be applauded and celebrated, he added. He said: “The honour is a testament of Phase3’s talents, innovations, contributions and commitments to the growth of the ICT industry and we are happy that Nigerians have recognised their hard work, sincerity and dedication towards the development of the sector.” The Chief Executive Officer, Phase3 Telecom, Mr. Stanley Jegede, expressed his delight at Phase3 being recognised for the modest efforts the firm has invested in using the best technology to build a strong, secure, quality network to ensure the connectivity of all Nigerians and the West African sub-region with the rest of the world.

Microsoft to drop Nokia brand name icrosoft will drop the Nokia M brand name, Stephen Elop, executive vice president of

Microsoft’s Devices Group has said, though it is yet to decide on how to rebrand its newly acquired mobile division. Microsoft, last week, completed the acquisition of Nokia’s Devices and Services business bringing to an end months of approvals and negotiations with the company saying that it will now focus on $50 billion affordable phone market. Elop, who has returned to Microsoft having left to join Nokia in 2010 as chief executive officer, was speaking in an online forum when he said that Nokia would be renamed, though he denied rumours it would become Microsoft Mobile. “Microsoft Mobile Oy is a

legal construct that was created to facilitate the merger,” Elop said. “It is not a brand that will be seen by consumers. The Nokia brand is available to Microsoft to use for its mobile phones products for a period of time, but Nokia as a brand will not be used for long going forward for smartphones. Work is underway to select the go forward smartphone brand.” Elop also denied using his position at Nokia for the benefit of Microsoft. “I have only ever worked on behalf of and for the benefit of Nokia shareholders while at Nokia,” he said. “Additionally, all fundamental business and strategy decisions were made with the support and approval of the Nokia board of directors, which I was a member.”

Laser technology driving consumables market –IDC ADVANCEMENT New technology helps improve sales of peripherals and others. Jonah Iboma

he latest insights from International Data Corporation (IDC) has revealed that technology consumables market in the Middle East and Africa (MEA), has recorded significant growth in terms of value due to an ongoing shift from inkjet devices to laser technology and from black and white to color. It, however, said that the market remained relatively flat in volume terms during the second half of 2013 as the market grew just 0.6 per cent year on year in unit terms. It said that revenue was up 7.2 per cent over the same period. The inkjet consumables segment suffered year-on-year declines of 2.1per cent in volume and 3.9 per cent in value in the second half of 2013, and the downturn was seen across all key markets in the MEA region, with the exception of the

UAE. According to the firm, the shrinking installed base of inkjet devices in the consumer segment is being driven by the proliferation of smartphones and tablets, which, it said, negated the need for home printing, while the decline in the enterprise segment is being caused by increasing migration to laser devices. However, IDC said that the picture is much brighter in the laser segment, where shipments of toner consumables were up 4.5 per cent year on year in volume and an impressive 11.2 per cent in value. Significant growth was reported across the region, thanks mainly to increased adoption of multi-function printers (particularly color devices), which had a positive impact on the page volumes seen within this segment. While the MEA region is generally not impacted by compatible and counterfeit consumables to the extent seen in other regions around the world, anecdotal evidence gathered by IDC from the region's channel community suggests they are facing increasing competition within the market from parallel (or gray) imports. These consumables are original

products that are sourced into the region through unofficial channels. Demand for such products is generally strong as they are cheaper than the same consumables sold through official distribution channels, and IDC believes that the challenge presented by such imports to vendors of OEM products will only intensify as the market continues to grow. Ashwin Venkatchari, Senior Program Manager for imaging, printing, and document solutions at IDC Middle East, Africa, and Turkey, said, "The MEA consumables market offers attractive revenue opportunities for OEM vendors. Compatibles primarily maintain market share in the entry-level segment and therefore do not pose a serious threat to OEM vendors in the region (with the exception of Turkey). The OEM vendors have also done a commendable job in combating the scourge of counterfeit products. However, the most serious threat to growth in the MEA region is posed by parallel imports. As such, OEM vendors must come up with consistent and sustainable strategies to address this issue if they are to fully capitalise on the growth opportunities that this region has to offer."

Chief Operating Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Tolu Ojo (left) and Director, Enterprise Business, Tawa Bolarin, at the SME Forum organised by Airtel Nigeria at the Abuja Sheraton Hotel.

Cowrie Partners set to deepen infrastructure investment in Nigeria uoyed by the World Bank Going by the World Bank re- ties open to private sector playBstructure report that Nigeria infra- port, there is therefore a need ers in the provision and financchallenges will re- to mobilise various sources ing of infrastructure projects. quire sustained expenditure of almost $14.2 billion per year over the next decade, and the recent GDP rebasing, Cowrie Partners, in collaboration with the UK Trade and Investment, Voice of Leaders and the Oxford Business Group, is presenting the inaugural Nigeria Infrastructure Building Conference to hold on June 26, in Lagos. The conference is targeted at creating the forum to address topical issues pertaining to infrastructure building for Nigeria, and will focus also on sustainable sources of infrastructure funding.

of financing, including the private sector, local banks and international financial institutions with the view of increasing the financing envelope for infrastructure, according to Sola Adeyegbe, Partner, Cowrie Partners, at a media chat in Lagos. The conference, as an important infrastructure stakeholder engagement event, “will offer participants a thorough update on the latest developments and government policies related to infrastructure building. Educate prospective investors and financiers about the prospects and the opportuni-

“Showcase in practical terms how private public partnership (PPP) and how other project financing methods can be a sustainable means for financing and management of infrastructure. “Bring together the public and private sectors to generate ideas that will provide useful inputs to the necessary review of relevant laws, regulations and policies to bring them in line with international best practise leading to the creation of the environment that attracts fresh investments and sustains infrastructure development,” Adeyegbe said.

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, May 1, 2014

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ABIODUN BELLO FEATURES EDITOR

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THURSDAY, MAY 1, 2014

Nigeria and Mugabe’s corruption jibes Nigerians need to create a corrupt-free society and not be sentimental about Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s taunts, writes JUDE OPARA

ecently, the media was awash with the comments credited to the Zimbabwean President, Robert Gabriel Mugabe, castigating Nigeria as a very corrupt country where nothing works until bribe is offered. In the past, some countries like the United States and Britain have had cause to chide Nigeria on issues like corruption and the need to build strong institutions and not strong individuals. Such nations may talk because they seem to have, to an extent, practiced what they want Nigeria to do. Mugabe said during his 90th birthday bash which took place in Singapore that: “Are we now like Nigeria where you have to reach your pocket to get anything done? “You see, we used to go to Nigeria and every time we went there we had to carry extra cash in our pockets to corruptly pay for everything. You get into a plane in Nigeria and you sit there and the crew keeps dilly dallying without taking off as they wait for you to pay them to fly the plane.” Mugabe came to power in 1980 and since then has refused to let go. In fact, at 90, most Zimbabweans believe their president will die in office. Mugabe was reputed to have blown three million pounds sterling to organise the wedding of his daughter, Bona. But ironically, there are fears that the country may not be able to pay workers promptly this year. Last year, Mugabe won a disputed reelection which instantly forced many investors to withdraw their money from the economy even as he is reputed to have anything he wants from the treasury for his numerous foreign trips. He does not have to account to anybody. The President is also said to have travelled outside Zimbabwe at least once every month while he and his wife, Grace, are the largest landowners in the country. Looking at the world corruption index, Nigeria is ranked as the 163rd worst corrupt nation while Mugabe’s Zimbabwe is number 170. The above information about Mugabe and his country necessitates a comparison between Nigeria and Zimbabwe to find out if the man is justified in his comments. Agreed, there is a rising wave of corruption in Nigeria and yes Nigeria may be a little better than Zimbabwe when it comes to corruption. But after a careful exami-

Jonathan

nation, it is obvious that Nigerians gave Mugabe the opportunity to insult them. If it was the President of America or the British Prime Minister or even the President of Ghana who spoke so about Nigeria, most people would have said they were right to have said so because of how they had been managing their own countries but when it was coming from someone like Mugabe who most analysts believe does not have the moral rights to so address Nigeria then it means that there is a problem somewhere. Why will Nigeria not be cited as an example of corruption? On a daily basis, there are tales of missing billions if not from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), it will be from the Pension Fund, if not from the Police Equipment Fund, it will be from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), or many other Federal Government agencies and departments. Unfortunately, while Nigerians usually hear of the missing billions and the feeble attempt of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to prosecute the offenders, they never hear anything thereafter; while nobody has been sent to jail or meant to refund the stolen money. Another thing is the penchant of President Goodluck Jonathan to rise to the defence of the indicted government agencies whenever the issue of corruption is mentioned. This, certainly, gives a wrong signal because the number one citizen usually tells the world that the issue of corruption in Nigeria is always blown out of proportion. In a country where being a cabinet minister just for one or two years guaran-

Mugabe

tees a huge financial empire means that there are many leakages that enhance corruption. Many Nigerians watched with consternation how John Yakubu Yusuf, convicted of stealing billions of naira belonging to pensioners, was given a paltry N750,000 fine. How can one classify what happened in different Nigerian cities on March 15 when about 19 job-seekers died while attending a recruitment exercise organised by the Minister of Interior, Abba Moro? That is another classical case of corruption because from all intent and purposes, the collection of N1,000 from each of the over 700,000 applicants that applied was a huge fraud. If the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) was to employ a little under 5,000 people, why collecting application form from over half a million people for a period of over four months? If not for the financial attraction, certainly they would not have invited more than 10,000 applicants. In a country where one must have to get a note or complimentary card of somebody in government to secure an employment, that is a clear case of corruption, because merit is already compromised. Many analysts have argued that the ingredient that fuels corruption is impunity which has been given life because the government agencies seem to have lost the gut to implement laws and punish offenders. Because nobody gets punished, especially in high profile offences, others are encouraged to do so. For instance, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission,

Prof. Attahiru Jega, will always say that the commission has prosecuted about 200 electoral offenders since the 2011 general elections but no one has head of a prominent politician prosecuted even as most of them were caught committing electoral offences. In a country where a lot of people have grown so powerful that the state even fears to whip them into line each time they contravene the law means that there is a problem because where there is no rule of law, what reigns is impunity which in turn breeds and shelters corruption. Former American Secretary of State, Senator Hilary Clinton, once advised Nigeria to try and build more of strong institutions instead of building strong individuals. But till date, there is nothing to suggest that the country is thinking in that direction. Rather, the country is sinking deep into the status of a failed state due largely to the number of strong individuals it is building daily. An African adage says that “any time your enemy gives you some harsh words, he or she is only giving you hard advice and if you take a proper look at it, it will reveal that there are a lot of things you are probably not doing the right way”. So instead of dissipating energy condemning the verbal insults from Mugabe, what Nigerians should do is to take a second look at their national life and begin to make the necessary changes that will not afford Mugabe and his likes the opportunity to insult Nigeria and its citizens. There is need to separate the message from the messenger.

40 40 FEATURES

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Ekpe

The Nigeria Police, State Traffic Division ‘B’ OPS Dept, Ikeja, Lagos.

Nigeria Police Force on a part of transformation Despite public opprobrium, there are officers, with zeal and genuine intension, trying in their own little ways to reform the police, writes ISIOMA MADIKE

he Nigeria Police Force appears to be the most vilified institution with all manner of people saying many unsavoury things about the organisation. But, the occasion of Wednesday, April 23, firmly indicated that it is not all bad news as many agreed, like the Biblical Nazareth, that something good can still come out of the force. It was a collection of influential personalities in the Nigerian society. The gathering was to inaugurate the administrative and training hall of the Lagos State Traffic Division, Ikeja. And the roll-call of those in attendance was intimidating. From Her Excellency, Mrs Abimbola Emmanuella Fasola, Lagos State governor’s wife, to the state Commissioner of Police, Umar Manko, it was obvious from the faces around that the occasion was worth the assemblage. Even though, some of the personalities were represented, it did little to diminish in any form the significance of the event. Others in attendance were: Retired Commissioner of Police, Yakubu Alkali; the state Commissioner for Transport, Hon. Kayode Opeifa, the Ikeja Local Government chairman; HRM, Oba Raufu Matemi, the Olu of Ikeja; father of the day, Bishop Steven D. Ogedengbe and HRH, Eze Uche I.C Dimgba, Eze Indi-Igbo of Ikeja, who was the chief launcher. Highly represented as well was the National President of Tipper Garage, Techno Nigeria Limited, Managing Director, Revive Nigeria Limited; MD, Slot Nigeria Limited, Tokunbo Macaulay (an engineer), Dr Abimbola Macaulay of Cottage Hospital, Police College, Ikeja, Adebisi A. Sogunle (a lawyer) as well as Eproam-chairman Ikeja Central, Keke Marwa Operators’ Association. The project, according to the State Traffic Officer (STO) and Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), Margaret Ekpe, was

conceived two and half years ago, to reposition the old building, which was in a total shambles and had become an eye-sore to the occupants and the general public. It was said to have been built in the late 1950s by the colonial masters. Due to its state of dilapidation, the entire workforce was exposed to grave danger; this forced the personnel moral down to the lowest ebb. It was not, however, enough to dampen the spirit of Ekpe, but instead prompted her proactive thinking that has now lifted the moral of men of the division. Armed with this inspirational thinking, Ekpe wrote the then Commissioner of Police, now retired, Alkali, intimating him of the state of the building. It did not take much effort before Alkali acted. He expressly gave approval to Ekpe and her team to go out and solicit funds. The calibre of the personalities that honoured the policewoman’s invitation to inaugurate the building only justified William Butler Yeats assertion: “Think where man’s glory most begins and ends and say my glory was I had such friends.” What transpired on April 23 could only have been an attestation of someone with dependable friends. On that occasion, the police, as an institution, was truly the friend of the Nigerian populace. Ekpe did not stop there. She took a bold step to put verve to this philosophy by intimating Manko of the project when he assumed office as the CP of the state as well. Like his predecessor, Manko gave his full support. He gave direction on how to fulfil this noble dream. The commissioner equally helped to mobilise public-spirited individuals and corporate organisations for the needed fund. But, like the famed Oliver Twist, Ekpe was not done yet as she used the occasion of the inauguration to further solicit for more philanthropic gesture to raise funds

for the completion and renovation of the dressing rooms, canteen and toilets in the State Traffic Division. Currently, there are no such facilities for men of the division to either eat or change their dressing. Such state of things, many reasoned, would, no doubt be unfavourable to any decent being. Instructively, many who gathered to witness the momentous event saw Ekpe as a rare gem with exceptional foresight that is uncommon in Nigeria’s security circles. Only a few, they say, could be found in that class with such commitment. She seems to fit into The Translator’s conjecture where Ward Just said, “every man had to test himself, and if he was courageous you could ask for where he grew up.” This gentle and unpretentious CSP appears to be fulfilling the time-tested prophecy of Just. Important historical events are generally the product of men and opportunity. A leader appears when the stars in Heaven are in the right conjecture – at a crucial moment when a leader, and possibly the leader alone, can exert a decisive influence. The course of events may then be decided for good or evil, depending on the type of man who emerges and the environment in which he seizes the initiative. Ekpe, no doubt, is seizing this ample opportunity to show class. Though, she admitted that managing traffic in Lagos is very challenging and stressful. “Many would deliberately want to scuttle your work. Another thing that is also very glaring is the fact that a lot of Lagosians are in a hurry and some would intentionally course obstruction just to cast a slur on your job. “It is not easy facing members of the public on a daily basis. Some, most of the time, would not want to obey signals and

they most times fight our men too. But we are now so used to them and we know how to manage them,” she said. Ekpe disclosed that one of the strategies adopted was a resolve to keep smiling so that “you can appeal to larger members of the populace. And when some say thank you for doing what you are doing, it gladdens one’s heart because some people appreciate what you are doing. I strive at all times to be an agent of change and make the place I go to better than I met it; that gives me joy. “I have done similar things like the one you are witnessing here today in the other divisions I have been Divisional Police Officer (DPO), especially at the Anthony Division and the Juvenile Child Care Centre in Lagos here”. Like Martin Luther King Jr, she seems to be on a mission. She has a dream: to recover the Nigerian civilisation. She is zestful and believes the problem with Nigeria is its weak institutions. She is in the police with an eye, along with like minds, to set the force on a part of transformation. She would not want to discuss this because of the institution she represents, though. But investigations on her behavioural proclivity are too inspiring to ignore. She is, in her own small way, attempting to project the police which, has for long, remained in the dark end of public reckoning, in good light. She does her job with utmost faith, believing in her ability to contribute to efforts to restore public confidence in the police. A very forceful private person, whose motivation to be part of the process that will change the society for good cannot be taken for granted. Ekpe is not particular about position but about the system, and about what the Nigerian society is turning into. She said: “We don’t deserve all of these. I believe in egalitarian society where the greatest good will be made available to the greatest number and anything short of that will just be an exercise in futility.” Those who are close to this enterprising officer from Oron in Akwa Ibom State see her involvement in police psyche reform as part of her ideological orientation. She grew up believing in herself and what she can offer to her fatherland, they say. Ekpe is also very passionate about general reforms in the wider Nigerian society without which, she believes, the country would continue to trudge in disarray.

HEALTH THURSday, May 1 , 2014

innamon, though not common in this part of the world, its efficacy and health purpose is well known by those who bother about their wellbeing. It is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several trees from the genus ‘Cinnamomum’ that is used in both sweet and savoury foods. Cinnamon is the name for a dozen species of trees and the commercial spice products that some of them produce. Cinnamon comes in two varieties -- Ceylon cinnamon and cassia cinnamon. Cassia cinnamon is the kind most Americans use for baking and cooking. It is also the variety most researchers have used when they have studied cinnamon and diabetes. It is available in Nigerian markets. It can be found among wares of soup condiments in the local markets. In a recent research conducted at the Copenhagen University, Denmark, it was found that when the doctors treated their patients with a mixture of one tablespoon honey and half teaspoon of cinnamon powder before breakfast, they found that within a week, out of the 200 people so treated, practically 73 patients were totally relieved of pain, and within a month, mostly all the patients who could not walk or move around because of arthritis started walking without pain. The study revealed a lot of health complications that can be treated with cinnamon!

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Healing benefits of cinnamon, honey

Studies have revealed a lot of ill health conditions that can be treated with cinnamon, a spice obtained from the inner bark of several trees from the genus cinnamomum. In this report, OLUWATOSIN OMONIYI captures the uses of this spice and honey to achieve healthy living

ARTHRITIS: Arthritis patients are advised to take one cup of hot water with two tablespoons of honey and one small teaspoon of cinnamon powder twice daily. “If taken regularly even chronic arthritis can be cured.” BLADDER INFECTIONS: Two tablespoons of cinnamon powder and one teaspoon of honey in a glass of lukewarm water and drink it. It destroys the germs in the bladder. CHOLESTEROL: Two tablespoons of honey and three teaspoons of cinnamon powder mixed in 16 ounces of tea water, given to a cholesterol patient, was found to reduce the level of cholesterol in the blood by 10 percent within two hours. As mentioned for arthritic patients, if taken three times a day, any chronic cholesterol is cured. According to information stated in the research, pure honey taken with food daily relieves complaints of cholesterol. COLDS: Those suffering from common or severe colds should take one tablespoon lukewarm honey with quarter spoon cinnamon powder daily for three days. This process, it explained will cure most chronic cough, cold, and clear the sinuses. HEART DISEASES: Make a paste of honey and cinnamon powder, apply on bread, instead of jelly and jam, and eat it regularly for breakfast. It reduces the cholesterol in the arteries and saves the patient from heart attack. The research showed that regular use of cinnamon relieves loss of breath and strengthens the heart beat. It cited examples of America and Canada, whereby various nursing homes have treated patients successfully and have found that as you age, the arteries and veins lose their flexibility and get clogged; honey and cinnamon revitalise the arteries and veins. UPSET STOMACH: Honey taken with cinnamon powder cures stomach ache and also clears stomach ulcers from the root.

Cinnamon

GAS: According to studies done in India and Japan recently, it is revealed that if honey is taken with cinnamon powder, the stomach is relieved of gas. INFLUENZA – FLU: Researchers stated that it is a proven fact that honey contains a natural 'ingredient' which kills the influenza germs and saves the patient from flu. INDIGESTION: Cinnamon powder sprinkled on two tablespoons of honey taken before food relieves acidity and digests the heaviest of meals. IMMUNE SYSTEM: Daily use of honey and cinnamon powder strengthens the immune system and protects the body from bacterial and viral attacks. Scientists have found that honey has various vitamins and iron in large amounts. Constant use of honey strengthens the white blood

Arthritis patients are advised to take one cup of hot water with two tablespoons of honey and one small teaspoon of cinnamon powder twice daily. “If taken regularly even chronic arthritis can be cured

Honey

corpuscles to fight bacterial and viral diseases. LONGEVITY: Tea made with honey and cinnamon powder, when taken regularly, arrests the ravages of old age. Take four spoons of honey, one spoon of cinnamon powder, and three cups of water and boil to make like tea. Drink 1/4 cup, three to four times a day. It keeps the skin fresh and soft and arrests old age. Life spans also increases and even a 100 year old might start performing the chores of a 20-year-old. PIMPLES: Three tablespoons of honey and one teaspoon of cinnamon powder paste. Apply this paste on the pimples before sleeping and wash it next morning with warm water. If done daily for two weeks, it removes pimples from the root. Dr. Milton Brown, of National Cancer Institute's Chemical Biology Program at Georgetown University Medical Center in the United States (U.S), said his research showed how cinnamon is used for FATIGUE: the sugar content of honey is more helpful rather than being detrimental to the strength of the body. Senior citizens, who take honey and cinnamon powder in equal parts, are more alert and flexible. He said that a half tablespoon of honey taken in a glass of water and sprinkled with cinnamon powder, taken daily after brushing and in the afternoon at about 3:00 p.m. when the vitality of the body starts to decrease, increases the vitality of the body within a week. CANCER: Research in Japan and Australia has revealed that advanced cancer of the stomach and bones have been cured successfully. Patients suffering from these kinds

of cancer should daily take one tablespoon of honey with one teaspoon of cinnamon powder for one month three times a day. BAD BREATH: It should be taken as first thing in the morning, gargle with one teaspoon of honey and cinnamon powder mixed in hot water, so their breath stays fresh throughout the day. HEARING LOSS: Daily morning and night honey and cinnamon powder, taken in equal parts helps restore hearing. Diabetes: though not specific, the research stated that cinnamon appears to be safe in those with diabetes. The American Diabetes Association discounted its use in the treatment of diabetes. The association said some of the researches done so far have shown that cinnamon may lower blood sugar by decreasing insulin resistance. It explained that in people with type 2 diabetes, the sugar-lowering hormone, insulin does not work as well. This leads to higher blood sugar levels. In one study, volunteers ate from one to six grams of cinnamon for 40 days. One gram of ground cinnamon is about half a teaspoon. Researchers found that cinnamon reduced cholesterol by about 18 per cent and blood sugar levels by 24 per cent. In another study, volunteers ate cinnamon and rice pudding after a meal. These volunteers had reduced blood sugar levels. The American Diabetes Association added that taking cinnamon with drugs that affect the liver may increase the risk of liver problems. “If you take any medication, talk to your doctor before taking cinnamon. People with liver damage should be careful, however, because large amounts of cinnamon may increase liver problems.”

42 HEALTH

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Kudos for Ondo maternal healthcare

he maternal and child healthcare programme of the Ondo State Government has been declared as the best in Nigeria. The Coordinator of German Partner of the Rotary Maternal and Child Project, Prof. Robert Zinser, made the declaration during a courtesy visit to Governor Olusegun Mimiko in his office in Akure. Prof. Zinser noted that the government has set a standard in the health sector that can compete with global best practices, adding that they were amazed at the world class hospitals and facilities put in place by the state government to address maternal death in the state. He said they were in the state to seek collaboration

Mimiko

with the state government on Rotary international quality assurance programme and door-to-door family planning of the organisation. While corroborating the position of the organisation, Chairman of the project in Ni-

geria, Dr. Kolawole Owoka, assured of their readiness to scale up maternal and child health in the state and stressed that the state government had the pace in healthcare for other states to copy. In his response, Mimiko thanked the organisation for its positive role in addressing maternal death in Nigeria. He assured that his administration would key into the quality assurance programme of the project aimed at granting international accreditation and acceptability to facilities in all health facilities in the state. The governor thus promised his administration's continued determination to reduce maternal death in the state.

Kidney cancer patient seeks N1.5m for surgery

ll that eight-year-old Miss Esther, the only child of Mr. Adolphus and Mrs. Jennifer Osheku requires to stay alive is the sum of N1, 500,000.00 (one million five hundred thousand naira only). At the moment, everyone who knows her is out, cap in hand in search of this amount. Esther, who was born after 10 years of childlessness, has cancer of the kidney but desires to live despite this condition. More so, she had undergone a successful surgery at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH). To continue to live, she now requires a post cancer surgery treatment which includes continuous chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Getting funds for this further treatment is a big challenge. Her mother, Mrs. Jennifer Osheku recalled that precisely on July 6, 2013, her daughter called out to her and said; “mummy, this place (touching her belly) is paining me”. At first, she said she assumed it was something a little massaging with on ointment could solve but, on a closer look, she observed Esther’s belly was very hard and abnormally large in size. Even after administering some drugs, Esther’s condition deteriorated. “So, I took her to Oluyide General Hospital. There they recommended an X-Ray. When the pain didn’t subside, I took her to LUTH where a scan revealed there was a growth on the kidney. The CT scan then, revealed it was cancer. That was how the doctors recommended chemotherapy. But, during her February admission in LUTH, again the size of her belly did not reduce and CT Scan was recommended. The doctor and professor in charge of the treatment said, based on the scan, the growth was increasing and spreading radically. “It has got to the pelvic and crossed to all the lower part of the abdomen. “It has become an emergency case for surgical operation. He gave them two weeks to do it. However, the Children Living With Cancer Foundation (CLWCF), a non government organisation intervened and provided fund for that surgery and the operation was successful. Giving an insight into periodic medical expenditures Esther had incurred, Mrs Osheku said: “Depending on her condition, when we come for the chemotherapy, we spend between N60,000 and N70,000 for the five-day chemo. If there is no problem along the line. For instance, if there is no malaria or fever, we can spend between N55,000 and

with Dr. Ihuoma Uko-Ndukwe

ada.ndukwe@yahoo.com

Daily headaches: What type do you have?

eadache is a common pain condition affecting about half of the adult population worldwide. Some types are alarming and very serious and might lead to severe consequences. Headaches can be disabling and can sometimes bring to an end one’s daily activities leading to poorer quality of life when it is so severe and constant. Constant daily headache can be defined as headache on 15 days/month for at least three months. Short duration headaches are defined as lasting less than four hours, while long duration headache lasts more than four hours. Most daily headaches are low risk. That is, it is non alarming but there are some types of serious headaches that can be considered red flags for more serious problems, based on whether it comes with fever, changes in body behaviour, with any infection/or diseases in place before the headache. They will require immediate attention. Anxiety and depression/stress cause most of the many daily headaches and if managed properly will significantly reduce their occurrence.

DIFFERENTIATING BETWEEN LOW RISK (NON ALARMING) AND HIGH RISK (ALARMING) HEADACHES

Esther

N60,000. Sometimes, if it is ordinary admission, we can spend N30,000 to N25,000.00. According to President of CLWCF, Dr. Nneka Nwobbi, the next step in the treatment is to continue with chemotherapy which CLWCF has been paying for. As of today, the chemo drug she has been receiving is about N60,000. Nwobbi said the further treatment will have to run for about six months or more. “We’re going to see how the tumor responds to the radiotherapy. But, it won’t be anything less than six months. Esther undergoes the chemo every three weeks. . Radiotherapy is about N150, 000.00 for like five courses." Nwobbi said, “We want Nigerians to come to her aid. This is a woman that has nothing whatsoever. She’s not working. Her husband is a security man in a church. We know how difficult times are.” Please note: you can reach out to Esther through Children Living With Cancer Foundation, Diamond Bank, Account no: 0001180 414 or 0803 315 6908 and 0812 710 5904.

LOW RISK is that which affects one that is younger than 30 years old and one affecting someone with history of similar headache. Similarly, there will be no change in headache pattern and no changes in behaviour or how one feels like. In addition, there will be no numbness, tingling, confusion, dizziness, vision changes and seizures. Furthermore, there will be no long term infection like HIV or stroke in an affected person. HIGH RISKS are headaches that are ALARMING or DANGEROUS. These include a headache that is made worse by sitting up or lying down, sudden excruciating headache where one can call it, “worse headache of one’s life, occurs after age 50, involves personality changes like not being aware of one’s environment, involving seizures, vision changes, numbness, severe headache during pregnancy and after pregnancy as well as during the nursing period. Also high risks headache save those with fever and rash, weight loss, severe muscle weakness, neck stiffness (indication of possible meningitis) a headache that wakes one up from sleep and remains sustained through early morning, and worsening headache. All these will require immediate medical attention.

PRIMARY HEADACHE:

LONG DURATION HEADACHE: 1. TENSION HEADACHE is the most common type and affects 40 percent of the population. This type of headache is mostly felt at the back of the head but can be felt all over sometimes. It is pressure-like and can be felt on both sides of the head. Women are more affected and it is best characterised as bilateral sides of the head, pressure or feelings of tightening, of moderate severity, not worsened by physical activity such as walking, climbing up/down the stairs and no nausea or vomiting noted. 2. MIGRAINE HEADACHE: Some of the risk factors for migraine headache are medication overuse, snoring at night, stressful life events, obesity, being female, low education and socioeconomic status. Physical activity often worsens migraine and it is mostly accompanied

by long duration, nausea, vomiting and pounding in quality, sensitivity to light and sensitivity to sound. People with migraine prefer to stay still/in a dark quiet room and most have a certain feeling or sensation when the headache is about to start, including feelings like pins/ needles all over, seeing spots/of flashing lights or lines, numbness and some reversible speech disturbance. 3. DRUG REBOUND AND MEDICATION OVERUSE HEADACHE: Drug rebound headache is a common treatable cause of migraine headache. Affected people have been taking headache-relieving medications daily or almost daily, but the sustained use of this medication for more than three days per week is sufficient to develop rebound headaches. SHORT DURATION-LESS THAN 4 HRS: 1. COUGH: This can arise from hard coughing and pushing down when coughing. It can last up to 30 minutes. 2. AFTER -SEX HEADACHE 3. EXERTIONAL HEADACHE can be brought on from physical exertion, over exercising and can last from five minutes to two days. 4. STABBING HEADCAHE is mostly felt around the eyes especially both sides of the upper face. 5. HYPNIC Headache develops during sleep, lasts more than 15 minutes after wakening up, and affects one after age 50. 6. CLUSTER HEADACHE can be mistaken for migraine and can be recognided as daily or near daily headache. It is felt mostly one sided and can be very excruciating. It starts suddenly, can be very brief lasting from 15 minutes to three hour duration. It can be accompanied by red eyes and /or shedding of tears, nasal congestion (stuffy nose) and running nose, eyelid becoming puffy, forehead and facial sweating and sometimes restlessness steps in. It affects people mostly after age 30 and can occur every other day. 7. Usually, family history can play a big role and the key difference from migraine is that cluster headache is brief; occurring almost daily, can persist for weeks and months at a time before disappearing for possible months/ years and then re-appears unlike migraine headache. Most effective treatment can be in the form of oxygen during attack and preventive medications. TREATMENT: Several behavior changes have been known to help decrease or eliminate most low risk headaches. Cessation of coffee drinking and cigarette smoking has been known to help and relaxation techniques have been shown to decrease the duration and how often headaches occur. Similarly, some prescription medications have also been known to not only cure them but control their reoccurrence.

Anxiety and depression/ stress cause most of the many daily headaches and if managed properly will significantly reduce their occurrence

HEALTH

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Home birth no longer the norm – Expert Adesola

hen the telephone of Mark Olojede (not real name) rang at 6.30a.m, early on Monday morning, he had no premonition that his pregnant sister was in labour. The tone of the voice at the other end of the telephone said it all. There is danger. Lara who had been in labour at home since Saturday, was now being rushed to a private hospital nearby in Ketu. “Your sister is in danger. The plancenta of the unborn baby is obstructing delivery, prompting Lara’s husband, Mr. Babatunde Grange to seek help in a private health facility in Ketu. He presumed that given the delay in the delivery, the unborn baby may be delivered through a cesarian surgery but the hospital will demand some deposit before commencing treatment. “There is no dime on me”, Grange blurted out to Olojede, his inlaw. “If the proposed medical intervention at Ketu is further delayed due to lack of money, I am afraid of what may develop," he said. He added, “come immediately with any amount of money on you. Meet me at Oludara Medical Centre and Maternity Home at Ketu Bustop. The private hospital is adjacent to the Police Station at Ketu Bustop. You won’t miss it. Come now to save your sister.” Olojede who was already shivering all over out of fear and anxiety over the situation of Lara could hardly find words to express himself. He dashed into his bedroom, quickly searched his suitcase for any money left there. Luckily, he got up to N15,000 and off he went to Ketu. It did not take him up to 40 minutes to move from Palm Groove where he lives to the hospital in Ketu. On Olojede’s arrival, he was directed to pay the money to the cashier who issued him a receipt. By that time, Lara was already in the theatre where doctors carried out the surgery and delivered the baby. Fortunately for Olojede, both his sister and the new baby were alive but he alone paid the N170,000 delivery fee. Lara’s husband was unable to contribute any money on ground of being unemployed. He had actually hoped that the latest delivery would be normal as the three previous births of his wife had been, but he was wrong. Lara’s husband is not the only one that banks on normal home delivery. Many low income women who reside in both rural and urban areas always depend on home births whenever their pregnant wives are due. Many simply stay back at home until they go into labour. While some have a smooth sail, others end up with complications. Often, eleventh hour efforts to get such pregnant women to the appropriate health facilities sometimes yield positively, saving their lives. However, for some, it is tale of woes. Many pregnant women whose delivery developed complications have died in the process, increasing the already high incidence of maternal death in the country. Mrs Fausat Olatunde falls into this second group. Her first delivery of a baby boy was through a caesarian surgery which her mother and elder sisters frowned at. “Who says you can’t have your baby through normal delivery? Whoever took you to that hospital where the operation was carried out is to blame. It shouldn’t happen again,” her mother charged. “Three years later, when Mrs Olatunde’s

With a maternal mortality ratio (MMR) of 545 per 100,000 live births, Nigeria ranks second only to India in the global maternal death statistics. But change of attitude by women and society through ante-natal attendance, taking delivery, through skilled attendants, among others can turn the table, reports APPOLONIA ADEYEMI second pregnancy was due, she was persuaded not to register with any health facility to enable her go through normal delivery at home. Unfortunately, three days after the commencement of labour, the baby could not be delivered due to complications. Last minute effort to rush her to a nearby hospital failed. She died even before getting to the hospital. Sadly, every minute, a woman dies during pregnancy, labour and puerperium. Each year approximately eight million women suffer pregnancy related complications worldwide out of which over 500,000 maternal deaths are recorded. Although, 99 percent of the deaths occur in low-income countries especially sub-Saharan Africa, most of the deaths are preventable, said , Dr. Adeleke Adesola, a consultant gynaecologist. According to Adesola, skilled attendance (doctor, nurse/midwife) at delivery has been advocated as the single most important intervention in preventing maternal deaths, yet less than 50 percent of deliveries are attended by skilled birth attendants. This factor has continued to fuel maternal death in this environment. Having a baby at home used to be ideal but with unsanitary conditions, haphazard medical care and complications arising from labour and delivery, medical experts are now discouraging women from engaging in home birth. To address the high maternal deaths with a view to reduce them, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has recommended a minimum of four antenatal visits for pregnant women, comprising interventions such as tetanus toxoid vaccination, screening and treatment for infections, and identification of warning signs during pregnancy. Many health problems in pregnant women can be prevented, detected and treated during antenatal care visits with trained health workers. Globally, during the period from 2005 to 2012, about 55 percent of pregnant women attended the recommended minimum four times antenatal care. The proportion of pregnant women in developing countries who attended at least four antenatal care visits has increased from approximately 37 percent in 1990 to about 50 percent in 2011 but, in low-income countries, only 37 percent of pregnant women attended four times or more antenatal care during 2005 to 2012. Trend data on the proportion of women attending at least four times ante-

WHO has recommended a minimum of four antenatal visits, comprising interventions such as tetanus toxoid vaccination, screening and treatment for infections, and identification of warning signs during pregnancy

A baby boy after birth

natal care are not available for all countries. However, available data indicates that there has been little improvement in this indicator in the past decade. In modern times, the continued practice of home birth which puts many pregnant women at risk, has been blamed on religious belief, social and traditional practices, poverty as well as lack of education. This reflects the situation of Mr. Grange who could not pay delivery fee. Medical experts condemned this widespread negative practice by many families who cannot meet their financial responsibility concerning delivery. Families have been urged to plan every pregnancy and and to use contraceptives to prevent unwanted pregnancies. There is no doubt that while some home birth will be safe, some which will result in complications. The following factors pose risk to pregnant women during home delivery. • Haemorrahge which contributes 26 percent of maternal death is a condition in which a person bleeds so much and cannot stop the flow; • Ectopic pregnancy which occurs when an embryo implants somewhere other than the uterus such as the one in the fallopian tube; • Prolonged labour occurs when the fetus has not been delivered within three hours in a nuliparous woman, or two hours in multiparous woman, after her cervix has become fully dilated. It contributes to 18 percent of maternal death; • Eclampsia is an acute and life-threatening complication of pregnancy characterised seizures (convulsions) that are not related to an existing brain condition; • Abortion which contributes 11 percent of maternal death, is the ending of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo viability; and • Sepsis, which contributes 11 percent of maternal death, is a common and poten-

A pregnant woman

Causes of maternal death/ percentage of contribution • haemorrahge 26% • ectopic pregnancy 5% • prolonged labour 18% • eclampsia 17 % • abortion 11% • sepsis 11% tially life-threatening condition triggered by an infection. Adesola said each death or complication in a pregnant woman represents an individual tragedy to the woman, her partner, children and family but the quality of care provided to a pregnant woman is a key determinant of maternal outcome. Besides, he noted that simple changes in practice by health practitioners, women and society, can save lives. What this means is that adopting changes in line with global best practices can save the lives of other women who toe the path of Mrs. Olatunde who lost her life during home birth.

44 HEALTH

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Lagos recorded 570,000 malaria cases in 2013 Appolonia Adeyemi and Muritala Ayinla

he Lagos State Government has said it recorded about 570,000 cases of malaria last year. Briefing journalists on the activities lined up to wage war against Malaria in commemoration of the 2013 World Malaria Day, the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr Jide Idris, said: "In Lagos, transmission of malaria is stable and all year round about 570,000

cases were reported in 2013 compared to 566,212 cases in 2012 on the diseases surveillance and notification report. This could be attributed to the cosmopolitan nature of Lagos, abundant distribution of coastal areas and the behaviour of many of its inhabitants, which encourage the availability of stagnant water resulting in breeding sites for the anopheles." The word anopheles is used to refer to female mosquitoes that carry the malaria causing parasites that transmit the disease to human beings.

The malarial parasite, plasmodium, is transmitted to humans solely through the bite of female Anopheles mosquitoes. Idris said that the education of Hausa community which took place at the Tego Barracks in Apapa on Friday, was part of the programme to eliminate malaria in that community, adding that wrong perception of people about malaria remains the most difficult challenge confronting the state. The commissioner reit-

erated that sensitisation of residents is key to eradicating malaria. Noting that the prevalence of malaria in Nigeria has economic implications on the nation, Idris said malaria accounts for loss of N132 billion as a result of absenteeism from work and schools. He added, "We have to educate, sensitise them fiwrst on what people must understand on how it can be contacted and when it occurs. We are working with the Federal Ministry of Health on the

Idris

prevention of the deadly disease in the country." According to Idris, awareness campaign on malaria focused on Hausa communities to ensure equity in the dissemination of malaria elimination information to the grass roots, adding that the community had been marginalised due to language and cultural differences.

Sanofi: Malaria still priority concern in Africa

eading healthcare company, Sanofi, has restated its commitment to the fight against malaria, during a press conference held in conjunction with the Lagos State Ministry of Health, on April 24th, to commemorate this year’s World Malaria Day. The Conference, under this year’s theme ‘Invest in the Future: Defeat Malaria’ and attended by officials of the Lagos State Ministry of Health, focused on impact of Malaria especially on children, its prevalence in Africa and initiatives being implemented by the healthcare company to raise awareness and prevention in communities. Sanofi noted that according to latest estimates, released in December 2013 by the World Health Organisation (WHO), there were about 207 million cases of malaria in 2012, with an uncertainty range of 135 million to 287 million and an estimated 627 000 deaths, with an uncertainty range of 473 000 to 789 000. Speaking at the Conference, Medical and Regulatory Affairs Director, Sanofi, Dr. Fifen Inoussa, shared Sanofi’s experience in Africa since establishing its presence over 50 years ago. “Africa is a diversified, multicultural and colourful continent. We believe it is the future of the world and because malaria is most prevalent in Africa than other continents, we have made malaria one of our major concerns. Dr. Inoussa said it was with these concerns in view that Sanofi consistently develops partnerships with local healthcare stakeholders in order to broaden its reach to the communities and children. ‘Today, the need of the patient is priority. This is why we create information and education tools, tailored to local specificities, which are made available to public health authorities and non government organisations (NGOs) to improve malaria knowledge

among these healthcare stakeholders and also the communities. At Sanofi, we understand that drugs alone are not enough. A comprehensive approach is essential to prevent, diagnose and treat malaria,” he said. Also speaking at the conference, Product Manager, Malaria Portfolio at Sanofi, Ms. Estelle Dogbo, said 50 percent of the global population is exposed to malaria and more than 200 million malaria attacks have been recorded. ‘There have been 660, 000 deaths reported around the world and 90 percent of these deaths were in Africa. Recent data released by the World Health Organisation (WHO), showed that in 2013, an African child dies of malaria every minute in Africa. So, Africa is still the continent with the highest transmission rate. At Sanofi, in our fight against malaria, we consistently work at raising awareness of the disease among families and children. Among our initiatives is an interactive and fun tool, called the Moski Kit, which we developed to help children learn about malaria and understand how their environment or habits expose them to more risks. Also present at the Conference and representing the State Health Commissioner, the Senior Medical Officer I and Malaria Program Officer at the Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr. Victoria Omoera, said in order to reduce the disease burden associated with malaria, it was important that citizens in the State were equipped with the right information to enable them take appropriate actions as regards malaria control. The Lagos State Ministry of Health also commended the contributions of Sanofi in fighting the scourge of malaria by increasing awareness amongst school children who have been identified to be good change agents.

L-R: Head of Communications, Sanofi, Chidilim Menakaya; Marketing and Business Development Director, Herman Addae; Dr. Omoera; Dr. Inoussa, and Key Account Manager, Sanofi, Aderinsola Taiwo, during the commemoration of the World Malaria Day in Lagos.

FG targets 2015 to eradicate polio Obinna Odoh Abuja

he Federal Government has pledged more commitment in polio eradication and said that 2015 dead line for eliminating the disease by President Goodluck Jonathan is achievable despite security challenges in some parts of the country. The Executive Director of National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Ado Mohammed who stated this in Abuja during 27TH Expert Review Committee meeting

on Polio and Routine Immunisation in Nigeria said that Nigeria is surmounting the challenge of polio problems. Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a highly contagious viral infection that can lead to paralysis, breathing problems, or even death. Children younger than five years old are more vulnerable to the disease. Speaking on efforts to eradicate the disease, Mohammed revealed that the NPHCDA through the support of government and other development partners has made unprecedent-

ed progress that has never been seen in the history of health in Nigeria. According to Dr. Mohammed, “Nigeria has made more progress in polio eradication globally more than any other country; we have been able to reduce polio cases in Nigeria by 60 percent, We have also been able to confine the generic cluster by almost 96 percent. We have been able to confine and restrict the virus. This year only one case has been seen in Dala Local Government of Kano State.”

Use of unqualified personnel for polio immunisation condemned Samuel Iyang

he Veteran Welfare Groups has drawn the attention of Lagos State Ministry of Health to the quality of staff administering polio vaccines, claiming that they lack required skills. In a statement, the group urged

officials of the state ministry of health to ensure that the those used to administer vaccined on children in the polio eradication programme are duly qualified. According to Primate Ayoola Omonigbehins, investigation has shown that some of the recruited staffs for the programme are less professionally qualified to give injec-

tions. “Even though, anytime they carry out the polio exercises, they by pass some houses while they even mark (list) most uncompleted buildings, vacant stalls and abandoned churches. Some of those they use are junior secondary school students. “We remind them not to play politics with lives of our generation and generations yet unborn.

of Truth

May 1, 2014

12 arraigned for killing suspected kidnappers

abs two for defrauding ican lady $350,000 A

bers of an dicate speing unsusn women in are now in ice Special os. y Chinedu Okonkwo owing a pean resident

eged that 13, she met and they ship which til the susmade her in trouble some finan-

she sent ount numuspect. elations OfIsintumet numbers nt number k account onging to vices Inter-

, according he account of number uazu Kadubsequently

Adeolu Adeyemo Osogbo

Okonkwo

His arrest led to the arrest of the principal suspect, Ogu. Okonkwo, from Amuri Nkanu West Local Government Area of Enugu State, is a patent medicine dealer that runs a Bureau De Change. He confessed to the police that he is the account holder of Faneece Business Services International and admitted that he provided his two bank accounts for the illicit transactions. Okonkwo added Ogu provided him with his account number where he transferred the money after converting it to naira. According to him, he always deducts a commission of N2 per dollar before paying in the money. Ogu, from Amafor – Ishingwa Umuahia, Abia State, claimed to be one of the directors of Raydeus Synergy Nigeria Limited. He also told the police that

Idah r rash, eedom

r of the Federh, Mr Mathew ed his freedom hich his abduc-

night abducted er forcing their

ped Akpata in d away. iver lost control med into a tree he polytechnic. sustained serio get away, leavbooth. hed to the scene ently to assist that there was h whose hands witness, who our correspon-

Ogu

he sent Okonkwo’s account details to the victim who in turn paid $295,000 into the account which his accomplice converted to naira before paying into his Diamond Bank. Ogu also said that he had spent all the money. According to him, he used N9 million to purchase a heavy duty generating plant which police had recovered. He purchased a plot of land for N800,000 on Lagos – Ibadan Expressway while the police recovered N2 million cash from him. Isintume-Agu said investigation was on-going, adding that effort was being intensified to recover the remaining money fraudulently obtained from the complainant or the proceeds thereof. She said: “Suspects will be charged to court to serve as a deterrent to others.”

Magistrates’ Court sitting in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, yesterday remanded about 12 persons in prison custody for allegedly setting three suspected kidnappers ablaze. The accused are Lawal Ismail (22), Andrew Simeon (22), Surajudeen Sulaeman (35), Taiye Taiwo (20), Abolaji Mattew (30), Kamorudeen Seidu and Ogundele Tosin (40). Others are Olasunkanmi Ahmed (20), Sule Yahya (23), Akande Ibikunle (22), Ajibola Samuel (21) and Olanrewaju Olawale (21). Though they pleaded not guilty to the four-count charge of conspiracy, breach

of peace, jungle justice and murder preferred against them, the state police prosecutor, DSP Promise Akanwa, told the court that the accused killed Segun Akinwale, Aliyu Mohammed and Seun Gbaja, by setting them ablaze. Akanwa added that the accused had between April 24 and 26 conspired to kill the suspects and set them ablaze. The magistrate, Mr. Mohammed Lasisi, ordered the accused to be remanded in prison custody. Pandemonium broke out last Friday in different parts of Osogbo, when angry youths burnt three suspected kidnappers to death at Ayetoro, Igbonna and plantation areas of the town. It was learnt that the

Lagos shuts 317 pharmacies, 28 hospitals –Commissioner Muritala Ayinla

he Lagos State Government has in the last one year sealed 317 pharmacies and 28 hospitals for offences such as illegal dealing in pharmaceutical products and others. The Commissioner for Health, Dr Jide Idris, who disclosed this while briefing journalists on the activities of his ministry in the last one year, also disclosed that the registration of 1,089 private health facilities was renewed and 305 new phar-

Alleged N2bn scholarship fraud: Court remands ex-UNILAG student Dominic Adewole Asaba

or accusing the Delta State Scholarship Board of swindling beneficiaries of N2 billion, one Ezenweani Ambrose was yesterday remanded in prison custody. The suspect, who was arraigned before Magistrates’ Court 1, Asaba, was charged for raising false alarm and defamation of character, thereby contravening Section 375 of the Criminal Code Law, Cap C21, Vol. 1, Laws of Delta State (2006). Ambrose was also accused of intent to defraud the National Association of Delta State Students (NADESSTU) of thousands of naira contrary to Section 419 of the Criminal Code of Law, Cap C21,

suspected kidnapper at Ayetoro area was carrying a polythene bag containing a baby boy. The other two were said to be in possession of babies. Speaking on the development, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Ibrahim Maishanu, condemned jungle justice. Maishanu said the police would not allow people to take law into their hands. He said: “The police are on top of the situation in the state and will not allow it to degenerate to another thing. “The police will not allow the state to be turned into a theatre of crisis and will do everything to forestall further breakdown of law and order.”

Vol.1 of Laws of Delta State (2006). The suspect, a former student of the University of Lagos, wrote a story on Sahara reporters last week, portraying Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan’s bursary scheme as a sham. Prior to the protest, he staged in Asaba, Ambrose indicted members of the board, including the Chairman, Rev. Fr. Buchi Aninye, a Catholic Priest, the executive secretary of the board and the Commissioner for Higher Education, Prof. Hope Eghagha, of infiltrating the list of beneficiaries with ghost names. The case, tagged: 217c/2014, Commissioner of Police versus Ezenweani Ambrose, 32, had triggered controversy among students of the oil rich state’s origin. Before police swooped on Am-

brose, Eghagha had ordered his lawyer to begin an initial legal action against the suspect. Eghagha said although “a cabal within the institutions once cornered funds meant for students, the state government has never released N2 billion at any one time for bursary awards”. He explained that whatever was saved as a result of plugged leakages was ploughed back into payment for the following year with the approval of the State Executive Council. Shortly after the suspect pleaded not guilty to the two-count charge, the magistrate refused his bail application and ordered him to be remanded in prison custody. The magistrate adjourned the case till May 9.

macy outlets were opened during the period. According to him, 45 new patent medicine shops were registered while approval for 84 premises is being awaited. The commissioner added that with this development, Lagos now had 2,547 pharmacy outlets across the state. Idris said the facilities shut down violated health practices. According to him, the state has no alternative but to shut the facilities to avert any mortality resulting from sales and production of dangerous products. He added that the state might shut another 114 health facilities out of the 1,182 monitored in the last 12 months. Idris also disclosed that the Lagos State Ambulance Service (LASAMBUS) attended to 2,203 road accident victims while 5,634 emergency cases were attended to in the year under review. The commissioner explained that among the victims, 13 suffered gunshot wounds; 49 from assaults and 267 were paediatric emergencies. Idris said the government screened 35,243 pupils in 67 public schools from 28 councils and Local Council Development Areas. He said: “The most prevalent medical conditions seen among the pupils were scabies/ ringworm, 6,343 (18 per cent), malnutrition 5,286 (15 per cent), and acute respiratory infection 4,581 (13 per cent). The commissioner added that to address malnutrition, 59,303 pupils in 1,023 public primary schools benefitted from the 1.5 million milk sachet distributed by the government in partnership with a private organisation. He said: “Our state through its nutrition programme has trained and empowered 1,128 community malnutrition trackers to facilitate the early detection of malnutrition among children under five years in various communities.”

Mob beats kidnap suspect to stupor Taiwo Jimoh

hat after rescuiscovered he is echnic in their

nd took him to ent,” he added. the rector had the hospital. e polytechnic, ity, said that , the bursar of Achumu, was Okoye

suspected kidnapper, Favour Okoye, escaped death by a whisker yesterday when an angry mob beat her to coma and attempted to lynch her. The incident happened about 2.55pm at Toro area of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital. It took the intervention of men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Cor ps (NSCDC) to save the middle-aged woman.

The state NSCDC Public Relations Officer, Kareem Olanrewaju, said men of the outfit met the woman in a pool of blood. Olanrewaju said it was a taxi driver who alerted the NSCDC officials who were monitoring infrastructure around Akin-Olugbade, Pepsi and Toto areas. He said: “Immediately we got the infor mation, our men were drafted to the scene to rescue the woman.” According to him, the NSCDC officials had to call for reinforce-

ment because the mob insisted on killing the suspect. “The situation became more violent when the ar med men of the NSCDC ar rived. While the youth were throwing pebbles at us for not allowing them to do their wish. They broke the windscreen of one of our vehicles,” Olanrewaju added. He said the alle ged kidnapper was in a state of coma as she could not talk, adding that the NSCDC officials rushed her to the Federal Medical Centre.

46 BUSINESS | FINANCIAL MARKET NEWS

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, May 1, 2014

FMDQ Daily Quotations List

30-Apr-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 9.20 29-JUN-2014 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)

Maturity Date

TTM (Yrs)

Bid Yield (%)

Offer Yield (%)

Bid Price

Offer Price

29-Jun-07 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

9.20 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

45.00 100.00 535.00 435.27 452.80 20.00 100.00 300.00 351.30 233.90 600.00 75.00 75.00 150.00 200.00 591.57

29-Jun-14 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

0.16 0.41 0.98 2.30 2.99 3.24 3.34 4.08 5.16 5.48 7.75 9.87 14.58 15.06 15.56 16.23

10.72 11.33 12.21 13.00 13.05 12.99 12.99 12.98 13.06 12.98 13.03 13.09 13.29 13.31 13.34 13.43

9.82 10.95 11.62 12.92 12.99 12.86 12.87 12.88 12.98 12.89 12.98 13.04 13.25 13.27 13.28 13.38

99.70 99.15 92.62 100.05 104.95 91.87 90.37 92.91 110.75 77.04 116.00 106.00 110.87 94.67 68.57 77.50

99.85 99.30 93.12 100.20 105.10 92.17 90.67 93.21 111.05 77.34 116.30 106.30 111.17 94.97 68.87 77.80

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE Rating/Agency

4,264.84 Issuer

Agency Bonds AMCON FMBN

***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

0.50 1.07 1.55 2.61 2.97 3.18

1.00 2.63 2.27 2.00 1.49 1.00

12.52 14.90 14.80 14.90 14.47 13.99

94.11 85.79 103.41 93.30 90.28 88.82

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

0.27 0.46 1.34 0.94 1.24 1.24 2.97 1.80 3.67 2.64 4.43 2.65 2.65 3.23 3.29 5.56 3.26 3.97 6.58 6.67 3.98 4.01

4.88 5.99 4.44 3.23 4.46 3.48 5.59 7.60 1.79 1.80 1.00 1.00 1.21 1.00 2.46 1.94 2.74 2.74 1.00 1.94 1.44 1.95

15.80 17.40 16.85 15.38 16.82 15.84 18.57 20.26 14.78 14.71 13.98 13.91 14.12 13.99 15.45 14.92 15.73 15.72 13.98 14.92 14.42 14.93

99.40 98.51 94.93 98.27 97.09 99.99 81.07 90.59 97.81 98.64 100.02 101.42 111.21 101.33 100.22 98.42 97.68 97.30 97.95 100.27 108.08 107.75

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 14-Nov-20

0.44 0.64 0.67 0.82 0.90 0.98 2.42 2.49 3.42 2.04 2.19 2.36 2.36 4.40 2.47 2.55 6.54

1.00 5.21 8.71 4.88 1.00 2.63 1.00 1.34 4.52 1.88 3.48 5.20 5.06 3.06 2.29 6.11 2.76

12.36 16.92 20.47 16.85 13.09 14.83 13.86 14.21 17.51 14.65 16.29 18.04 17.90 16.04 15.16 19.00 15.74

99.61 97.97 97.84 95.06 99.28 99.66 98.26 100.07 88.73 106.90 99.63 100.19 101.93 93.68 101.21 96.49 98.02

11-Feb-18

3.79

1.00

13.99

89.12

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 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# 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 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 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 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 2.05

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

175.67

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)

Maturity Date

Bid Yield (%)

Offer Yield (%)

6.75 JAN 28, 2021

07-Oct-11

6.75

500.00

28-Jan-21

5.23

5.08

108.51

109.42

5.13 JUL 12, 2018

18-Dec-09

5.13

500.00

12-Jul-18

4.45

4.25

102.53

103.31

6.38 JUL 12, 2023

01-Apr-10

6.38

500.00

12-Jul-23

5.69

5.56

104.87

105.79

FGN Eurobonds

Prices & Yields

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

FGN

BB-/Fitch; BB-/S&P

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

3.79

3.22

112.85

113.89

GTBANK PLC I

7.50 MAY 19, 2016

19-May-11

7.50

500.00

19-May-16

5.28

4.46

104.24

105.85

GTBANK PLC

6.00 NOV 08, 2018

08-Nov-13

6.00

400.00

08-Nov-18

6.14

5.89

99.46

100.43

7.25 JUL 25, 2017

25-Jul-12

7.25

350.00

25-Jul-17

7.08

6.68

100.48

101.61

6.88 MAY 09, 2018

09-May-13

6.88

300.00

02-May-18

8.22

7.70

95.48

97.20

AFREN PLC

10.25 APR 08, 2019

08-Apr-12

10.25

300.00

08-Apr-19

5.26

4.58

113.65

115.02

ZENITH BANK PLC FIRST BANK PLC

6.25 APR 22, 2019

22-Apr-14

6.25

500.00

22-Apr-19

6.29

6.13

99.84

100.50

B/S&P; B-/Fitch

8.25 AUG 07, 2020

07-Aug-13

8.25

300.00

07-Aug-20

7.13

6.70

104.04

105.64

B+/S&P; B+/Fitch

AFREN PLC

6.63 DEC 09, 2020

09-Dec-13

6.63

360.00

09-Dec-20

6.59

6.32

100.13

101.18

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 50

FIXINGS Maturity 8-May-14 15-May-14 22-May-14 29-May-14 5-Jun-14 19-Jun-14

Bid Discount (%) 10.05 10.15 10.15 10.15 10.15 10.65

Offer Discount (%) 9.80 9.90 9.90 9.90 9.90 10.40

Bid Yield (%) 10.07 10.19 10.21 10.23 10.25 10.81

Money Market

NIBOR Tenor O/N 1M 3M 6M

Rate (%) 10.5417 12.4844 13.2176 14.2554

Foreign Exchange (Spot & Forwards)

Tenor

Rate (%)

OBB

10.25

Tenor

Bid ($/N)

Offer ($/N)

O/N

10.50

Spot 7D 14D 1M

160.57 160.87 161.13 161.70

160.67 161.14 161.50 162.41

Tenor

REPO

Rate (%)

***LCRM

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

09-Dec-11 20-Apr-12 06-Jul-12

0.00/16.00 0.00/16.50 0.00/16.50

112.22 116.70 66.49

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

09-Dec-16 20-Apr-17 06-Jul-17

2.61 2.97 3.18

2.00 1.49 1.00

14.90 14.47 13.99

93.30 90.28 88.82

1,304.32

Sub-National Bonds A/Agusto A-/GCR A+/Agusto A/Agusto Nil Thursday, A+/AgustoMay 1, 2014 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 Sanctity of Truth

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 ciative of the efforts made by ONDO 14-FEB-2019 of the bank the15.50 management GOMBE 02-OCT-2019 to 15.50 judiciously use its capital LAGOS 22-NOV-2019 to 14.50 achieve optimum perfor14.75 OSUN 12-DEC-2019 mance. 14.75 OSUN II 30-SEP-2020 National Coordinator, Prag13.50 LAGOS IV 27-NOV-2020 matic Shareholders Associa15.00 KOGI 31-DEC-2020 tion, Bisi Bakare noted 14.50Mrs. EKITI II 31-DEC-2020 that improvement in the 15.00the 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 said the14.00 Adegunwa, bank re14-Feb-12 15.50 mained committed to running 02-Oct-12 15.50 a responsible and concerned 22-Nov-12 14.50 business. He noted that in sync 12-Dec-12 14.75 with 30-Sep-13 these guiding principles, 14.75 the board its 27-Nov-13 has redefined 13.50 purpose as an institution to 31-Dec-13 15.00 enrich lives. 31-Dec-13 14.50 06-Jan-14 15.00essence “This captures our

17.00 05-Aug-14 0.27 6.00 15-Oct-14 0.46 8.50 31-Aug-15 1.34 16.50 30-Sep-15 0.94 13.00 30-Jun-16 1.24 18.50 30-Jun-16 1.24 57.00 19-Apr-17 2.97 50.00 30-Jun-17 1.80 25.00 31-Dec-17 3.67 50.00 30-Sep-18 2.64 9.00 04-Oct-18 4.43 20.00 09-Dec-18 2.65 12.00 12-Dec-18components 2.65 pabilities. Other 27.00our capital 14-Feb-19 3.23 of raising exercise 20.00 02-Oct-19 3.29 are on course and on going.” 80.00 22-Nov-19 5.56 Speaking in the same vein, 30.00 12-Dec-19 3.26 the Managing Director/ Chief 11.40 30-Sep-20 3.97 Executive Officer, Mr. Yemi 87.00 27-Nov-20 6.58 Adeola, said31-Dec-20 he was confident 5.00 6.67 and of the bank’s 5.00 resilience 31-Dec-20 3.98 5.00 06-Jan-21 4.01 business model and execution

4.88 15.80 99.40 5.99 17.40 98.51 4.44 16.85 94.93 3.23 15.38 98.27 4.46 16.82 97.09 3.48 15.84 99.99 5.59 18.57 81.07 7.60 20.26 90.59 1.79 14.78 97.81 1.80 14.71 98.64 1.00 13.98 100.02 1.00 13.91 101.42 1.21 14.12 111.21sinraising programme with 1.00 13.99 and priorities 101.33 gle-mindedness 2.46 15.45 100.22 risk management in order to 1.94 14.92 98.42 strengthen the foundation for 2.74 15.73 97.68 an2.74 enduring15.72 institution. We 97.30 will also speed up investments 1.00 13.98 97.95 to grow our retail base 1.94 14.92 funding 100.27 and emphasis14.42 service delivery 1.44 108.08 1.95 all channels 14.93 107.75 across to enhance

BUSINESS | FINANCIAL MARKET NEWS

Shareholders laud Sterling Bank’s performance SUSTAINABILITY Sterling Bank has maintained stellar performance over the years

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

Stories by Chris Ugwu Corporate Bonds

A+/Agusto; AA/GCR WAPCO hareholders ofLAFARGE Sterling Aa/Agusto GTB Bank Plc yesterday laudµ Nil NGC ed their Board and ManBbb-/Agusto *UPDC agement for being consisA-/Agusto *FLOURMILLS tent in dividend payment. BB+/GCR *CHELLARAMS They also praisedNAHCO the lendA+/Agusto; A-/GCR erA-/Agusto for its stellar performance FSDH inA/GCR 2013 and the first quarter UBA of BBB-/GCR 2014. *C & I LEASING BBB+/DataPro†; BB+/GCR *DANA The shareholders also# comA-/DataPro†; BB-/GCR *TOWER# of mended the management # AAA/DataPro†; A+/GCR *TOWER the bank for its bold step toA/Agusto; A/GCR wards consolidatingUBA its operaBbb+/Agusto; BBB+/GCR *LA CASERA tions. BBB-/DataPro†; BB+/GCR *CHELLARAMS# President, Association for A+/Agusto; A-/GCR NAHCO

the Advancement of Rights TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE of Nigerian Shareholders (AARNS), SupranationalDr. BondFaruk Umar, said shareholders were AAA/S&P IFC appre-

share price of the bank on the stock market was indicative of the optimism on the future of 11.50 LAFARGE WAPCO 7-OCT 2014 the13.50 bank. GUARANTY TRUST 18-DEC-2014 Sir Sunny Nwosu, Nation17.00 NGC 31-DEC-2014 al 10.00 Coordinator Independent UPDC 17-AUG-2015 Shareholders Association of 12.00 FLOURMILLS 9-DEC-2015 Nigeria (ISAN), noted that 14.00 CHELLARAMS 06-JAN-2016 the13.00 company has consistently NAHCO 29-SEP-2016 14.25 FSDH 25-OCT-2016 rewarded investors with con13.00 UBA 30-SEP-2017 but called for sistent dividend; 18.00 C&I LEASING 30-NOV-2017 enhanced dividend. MPR+7.00 DANA 9-APR-2018 With overwhelming majorTOWER 9-SEP-2018 approved ity,MPR+7.00 the shareholders TOWER 9-SEP-2018 theMPR+5.25 increase of the bank’s au14.00 UBA II 22-SEP-2018 thorized share capital. 15.75 LA CASERA 18-OCT-2018 They approved 25 kobo diviMPR+5.00 CHELLARAMS II 17-FEB-2019 dend for every share of 50 kobo 15.25 NAHCO II 14-NOV-2020 proposed by the board of directors of the company. In his address, chairman, Sterling Bank Plc, Alhaji S.A 10.20 IFC 11-FEB-2018

and forms the fulcrum of our engagement with stakeholders, without whom our exis11.50 tence07-Oct-11 would be meaningless. 18-Dec-09 13.50 He01-Apr-10 told shareholders that se17.00 quel to their affirmation at the 17-Aug-10 10.00 last AGM for the bank 09-Dec-10 12.00to raise capital, that the bank success06-Jan-11 14.00 fully 29-Sep-11 commenced the 13.00process with 25-Oct-13 a right issue, which was 14.25 over-30-Sep-10 subscribed. According to 13.00 him, 30-Nov-12 total proceeds 18.00 amounted 09-Apr-11 16.00 to 12.9 billion, representing 09-Sep-11 18.00 a 103.3 per cent subscription 16.00 rate. 09-Sep-11 14.00 He22-Sep-11 said: “Consequently we 18-Oct-13 15.75 closed the year with a total 17-Feb-12 17.00 equity capital of N63 billion. 14-Nov-13 15.25 This we achieved through your support and it is a measure of your confidence in the bank’s strategy and its execution ca11-Feb-13 10.20

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

Bulls return to Nigerian Stock Exchange Rating/Agency

Issuer

Description

FGN Eurobonds

he bulls made a sluggish re- rose one basis point, as bulls 6.75return. JAN 28, 2021Driven Nigerian Capi- made sluggish tal market yesterday as the by Nigerian Breweries, indigBB-/Fitch; FGN 5.13 JUL 12, 2018 BB-/S&P local bourse closed marginally, enous upstream petroleum and BB-/Fitch; N4 billion in market gaining exploration company Seplat Pe6.38 JUL 12,, 2023 BB-/S&P capitalisation. troleum, and financial services TOTAL OUTSTANDING The market hadVALUE remained stocks - First Bank Holdings, on the bearish trend for the Zenith Bank and Guaranty Corporate Eurobonds past few weeks as profit taking Trust Bank, the stock market FEB 01, 2016 B-/S&P; B/Fitch AFREN PLC I overshadowed the market, caus- closed on the11.50 green as market 7.50 MAY 19, 2016 GTBANK PLC I ing investors sentiment returned in positive B+/S&P; B+/Fitchto lose substantive 6.00 NOV 08, 2018 PLC amount of investibleGTBANK funds. mood. 7.25 JUL 25, 2017 B+/S&P ACCESS BANK At the close of trading, keyPLC Seplat Petroleum strength09, 2018 B/S&P; B/Fitch BANK PLC ened further 6.88 market parameters,FIDELITY the NSE by MAY N29.81 to close 10.25 APR 08, 2019 B/Fitch AFREN PLC ASI and market capitalisation, at N626.31 per share while reBB-/Fitch; B+/S&P turn on the

B+/Fitch; BB-/S&P

6.25 APR 22, 2019

Issue Date

Coupon (%)

capabilities. 572.90

“We will pursue our capital

our customers’ experiences, “ Adeola noted.

11.80 07-Oct-14 0.44 13.17 18-Dec-14 0.64 2.00 31-Dec-14 0.67 15.00 17-Aug-15 0.82 37.50 nilever Nigeria 09-Dec-15 Plc, one 0.90of soap makers 1.50 the leading 06-Jan-16 0.98in has reported 15.00 the country 29-Sep-16 2.42 a 46 pre5.53per cent decline 25-Oct-16 in its 2.49 tax 20.00 profit. 30-Sep-17 3.42 0.94In filings30-Nov-17 2.04 with the Nigeria 8.01 09-Apr-18 2.19 Stock Exchange (NSE), the com3.63 09-Sep-18 2.36 pany’s pre-tax profit went down 1.00 46 per cent 09-Sep-18 by from N2.0212.36 bil35.00 22-Sep-18 lion in the first quarter of 4.40 2013 3.00 18-Oct-18 2.47 to N1.089 billion in the review 0.54 17-Feb-19 2.55 period of 2014. 2.05 14-Nov-20 6.54

1.00 12.36 99.61 5.21 16.92 97.97 8.71 20.47 97.84 4.88 16.85 95.06 ed 1.00 in same period 13.09 of 2013. 99.28 Similarly, revenue dropped 2.63 14.83 99.66 2.81.00 per cent from N14.233 13.86 98.26 billion 1.34to N13.834 14.21billion.100.07 According to analysts 4.52 17.51 88.73 at 1.88 Research, 14.65 106.90 ARM the overall 3.48 16.29 reflected 99.63Unicurrent results 5.20 18.04 vulnerability 100.19 lever’s natural 17.90 101.93 to 5.06 volume slowdown in its 3.06 93.68 sizable HPC 16.04 segment as pres2.29 101.21 sures mount 15.16 on consumer dis6.11 19.00 96.49 cretionary incomes. 2.76 15.74 98.02

Unilever Q1 profit drop 46%

Also, post-tax profit declined 40.6 per cent as the company declared N750.629 million compared with N1.264 billion report12.00 11-Feb-18 3.79

175.67

12.00

Cadbury Nigeria, moderated Maturity Date Bid Yield (%) by N3.95 to close at N75.05. Similarly, building materials manufacturers, Lafarge Ce500.00 ment Wapco28-Jan-21 and Dangote5.23 Cement, fell by N1.54 and N0.99 500.00 12-Jul-18 4.45 to close at N108.50 and N226.01 per share respectively . 500.00 12-Jul-23 5.69 Further analysis of the 1,500.00 trading showed that the Banking subsector of the Financial Services sector 450.00 01-Feb-16 3.79 remained the most active 500.00 19-May-16 5.28 during the week (measured 400.00 6.1494 by turnover08-Nov-18 volume); with 350.00 25-Jul-17 million shares worth N1.077.08 bil300.00 02-May-18 8.22in lion exchanged by investors 300.00 5.26 1490 deals. 08-Apr-19

Issue Value ($'mm)

fined petroleum products mar6.75 gained keter,07-Oct-11 Mobil Nigeria, N2.12 to close at N118.22. Also, 18-Dec-09 5.13 shares of top tier financial services01-Apr-10 providers, Zenith 6.38 Bank and Guaranty Trust Bank, rose up by N0.78 and N0.21 to close at N22.70 and N26.23 per share respectively. On01-Feb-11 the flip side, 11.50 shares of 19-May-11 7.50 multinutrition and wellness 08-Nov-13 6.00 national, Nestle Nigeria, shed 25-Jul-12 7.25 040.00 N40.00 to close at N1, 09-May-13 even as 6.88 per share multinational08-Apr-12 confectionery10.25 company,

ZENITH BANK PLC FIRST BANK PLC

22-Apr-14

6.25

500.00

22-Apr-19

6.29

B/S&P; B-/Fitch

8.25 AUG 07, 2020

07-Aug-13

8.25

300.00

07-Aug-20

7.13

B+/S&P; B+/Fitch

AFREN PLC

6.63 DEC 09, 2020

09-Dec-13

6.63

360.00

09-Dec-20

6.59

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

FMDQ Daily Quotations List

They noted that although the onset of electoral cycle could raise prospects about an uptick in sales, 1.00 13.99 the intensify89.12 ing competition from cheaper priced substitutes will likely result in subdued revenue Offer Yield (%) Bid Price Offer Price growth in coming quarters. “Furthermore, its drive to Prices & Yields increase distribution expen5.08 108.51 top-line 109.42and diture to bolster rising debt levels, which will 4.25 likely result102.53 in higher103.31 interest5.56 expense suggests a 105.79 weaker 104.87 earnings trajectory in coming quarters. Unilever trades at a current PE of 41.5x vs. 22.4x for Bloomberg Middle East 3.22 112.85 113.89 and Africa peers. Our current 4.46 104.24 fair value estimate for105.85 Unile99.46 100.43 ver5.89 is at N35.5,which implies a 6.68 recommendation 100.48 101.61 SELL to its 7.70trading95.48 97.20 last price at N47.04. 4.58valuation 113.65 Our model is115.02 under 6.13 review,” they99.84 noted. 100.50 6.70

104.04

105.64

6.32

100.13

101.18

3,460.00

30-Apr-14

The FMDQ Bills Daily Quotations List (DQL) comprises market and model prices/rates of foreign exchange ($/N) products, FIXINGS fixed income securities and instruments in the OTC market. The use of this report is subject **Treasury Money Market Foreign Exchange (Spot & Forwards) to the FMDQ OTC PLC Terms Maturity of Use and Disclaimer Statement. Offer Discount (%) DTM Bid Discount (%) Bid Yield (%) Tenor Rate (%)

8 8-May-14 10.05 9.80 15 15-May-14 10.15 9.90 FGN Bonds 22 22-May-14 10.15 9.90 29 29-May-14 10.15 9.90 36 5-Jun-14 10.15 9.90 Issuer Description Rating/Agency Issue Date 50 19-Jun-14 10.65 10.40 57 26-Jun-14 10.45 10.20 9.20 29-JUN-2014 29-Jun-07 64 3-Jul-14 10.45 10.20 9.25 28-SEP-2014 28-Sep-07 71 10-Jul-14 10.10 9.85 4.00 23-APR-2015 23-Apr-10 78 17-Jul-14 10.55 10.30 13.05 16-AUG-2016 16-Aug-13 85 24-Jul-14 10.55 10.30 15.10 27-APR-2017 27-Apr-12 92 31-Jul-14 10.55 10.30 9.85 27-JUL-2017 27-Jul-07 99 7-Aug-14 10.30 10.05 9.35 31-AUG-2017 31-Aug-07 106 14-Aug-14 10.70 10.45 10.70 30-MAY-2018 30-May-08 113 21-Aug-14 10.70 10.45 NA NA 16.00 29-JUN-2019 29-Jun-12 120 28-Aug-14 10.85 10.60 7.00 23-OCT-2019 23-Oct-09 127 4-Sep-14 10.55 10.30 16.39 27-JAN-2022 27-Jan-12 162 9-Oct-14 10.85 10.60 14.20 14-MAR-2024 14-Mar-14 218 4-Dec-14 10.60 10.35 15.00 28-NOV-2028 28-Nov-08 253 8-Jan-15 11.10 10.85 12.49 22-MAY-2029 22-May-09 267 22-Jan-15 11.15 10.90 8.50 20-NOV-2029 20-Nov-09 281 5-Feb-15 11.20 10.95 295 19-Feb-15 11.05 10.80 10.00 23-JUL-2030 23-Jul-10 309 11.10 10.85 TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE 5-Mar-15 344 9-Apr-15 11.20 10.95 358 23-Apr-15 11.20 10.95 *from the Amortising Description Rating/Agency Issuer #bonds, the average is Risk Premium is a life combination of credit risk and liquidity risk premiums

10.07 10.19 10.21 10.23 10.25 Coupon (%) 10.81 10.62 9.20 10.65 9.25 10.30 4.00 10.79 13.05 10.82 15.10 10.84 9.85 10.60 9.35 11.04 10.70 11.07 16.00 11.25 7.00 10.95 16.39 11.40 14.20 11.32 15.00 12.03 12.49 12.14 8.50 12.26 12.13 10.00 12.25 12.52 12.58

NIBOR

Bonds

Issue Date

Tenor O/N 1M Outstanding 3M Value (N'bn) 6M

Rate (%) 10.5417 12.4844 13.2176 Maturity Date 14.2554

45.00 100.00 NITTY 535.00 435.27 Tenor 452.80 1M 20.00 2M 100.00 3M 300.00 6M 351.30 9M 233.90 12M 600.00 75.00 75.00 NIFEX 150.00 200.00 Current Price ($/N) BID($/N)591.57 OFFER ($/N)

4,264.84

Coupon (%)

29-Jun-14 28-Sep-14 23-Apr-15 16-Aug-16 Rate (%) 27-Apr-17 10.2427 27-Jul-17 10.6448 31-Aug-17 10.7991 30-May-18 11.2129 29-Jun-19 12.1307 23-Oct-19 12.3247 27-Jan-22 14-Mar-24 28-Nov-28 22-May-29 20-Nov-29 160.5500 23-Jul-30 160.6500

Issue Value (N'bn)

OBB

10.25

Spot O/N 10.50 7D Offer Yield 14D TTM (Yrs)REPO Bid Yield (%) (%) Tenor Rate (%) 1M Call 10.25 2M 0.16 10.72 9.82 1M 11.65 3M 0.41 11.33 10.95 3M 12.53 6M 0.98 12.21 11.62 6M 13.68 1Y 2.30 13.00 12.92 2.99 13.05 12.99 NOTE: 3.24 12.99 12.86 3.34 12.99 12.87 :Benchmarks 4.08 Bond 12.98 12.88 * :Amortising 5.16 Bond 13.06 12.98 µ :Convertible AMCON: 5.48 Asset Management12.98 Corporation of 12.89 Nigeria 7.75 Government of 13.03 12.98 FGN: Federal Nigeria 9.87 13.09 13.04 FMBN: Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria 14.58 13.29 13.25 IFC: International Finance Corporation 15.06 Contractors Receivables 13.31 13.27 LCRM: Local Management 13.34 13.28 NAHCO:15.56 Nigerian Aviation Handling Company 16.23 13.43 13.38 O/N: Overnight UPDC: UAC Property Development Company WAPCO:West Africa Portland Cement Company

AMCON FMBN

***LCRM

0.00 AMCON 31-OCT-2014 (SR.5 TR.1) 0.00 FMB 24-MAY-2015 17.25 FMB II 03-APR-2017 0.00/16.00 LCRM 09-DEC-2016 0.00/16.50 LCRM II 20-APR-2017 0.00/16.50 LCRM III 06-JUL-2017

28-Dec-11 24-May-10 03-Apr-12 09-Dec-11 20-Apr-12 06-Jul-12

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE 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

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

0.00 0.00 17.25 0.00/16.00 0.00/16.50 FMDQ0.00/16.50 FGN BOND

978.35 24.56 6.00 112.22 116.70 INDEX 66.49

Bid ($/N)

Offer ($/N)

160.57 Price 160.67 160.87 161.14 161.13 161.50 Offer Price Bid Price 161.70 162.41 162.85 164.18 99.70 99.85 164.11 166.06 99.15 99.30 167.73 171.90 92.62 93.12 174.66 183.67 100.05 100.20 104.95 105.10 91.87 92.17 90.37 90.67 NA :Not Applicable 92.91 Rate Bond 93.21 # :Floating 110.75 coupon bonds 111.05 ***: Deferred 77.04 77.34 116.00 †: Bond rating expired 116.30 106.00 106.30 110.87 111.17 94.67 94.97 68.57 68.87 NGC: Nigeria-German Company UBA: United 77.50 Bank for Africa 77.80

Maturity Date

Avg. Life/TTM (Yrs)

Risk Premium (%)

Valuation Yield (%)

Indicative Price

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

0.50 1.07 1.55 2.61 2.97 3.18

1.00 2.63 2.27 2.00 1.49 1.00

12.52 14.90 14.80 14.90 14.47 13.99

94.11 85.79 103.41 93.30 90.28 88.82

Implied Yield 0.27 0.46 1.34 13.03 0.94 13.04 1.24 13.43 1.24 13.20 2.97 1.80 3.67 2.64 4.43 2.65 2.65 3.23 3.29 5.56 3.26 3.97

Implied Portfolio 4.88Price 5.99 4.44 111.0049 3.23 123.9749 4.46 85.2878 3.48 109.8222 5.59 7.60 1.79 1.80 1.00 1.00 1.21 1.00 2.46 1.94 2.74 2.74

**Exclusive of non-trading t.bills

Agency Bonds

Tenor

1,304.32 Porfolio Market Total Outstanding Value(Bn) Volume(Bn) 14.00 KWARA 5-AUG-2014 14.00 NIGER 15-OCT-2014 12.50 KADUNA 31-AUG-2015 910.70 888.07 13.00 EBONYI 30-SEP-2015 1,085.06 951.30 14.00 BENUE 30-JUN-2016 458.47 591.57 15.50 IMO 30-JUN-2016 2,454.23 2,430.94 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

Weighting by Outstanding 05-Aug-09Vol 15-Oct-09 31-Aug-10 36.53 30-Sep-1039.13 30-Jun-11 24.33 30-Jun-09 100.00 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

Weighting by Mkt Value 14.00

14.00 12.50 37.11 13.00 44.21 14.00 18.68 15.50 100.00 10.00 13.75 14.00 14.00 14.00 14.50 14.00 15.50 15.50 14.50 14.75 14.75

Bucket Weighting 17.00 6.00 8.50 0.37 16.50 0.39 13.00 0.24 18.50 1.00 57.00 50.00 25.00 50.00 9.00 20.00 12.00 27.00 20.00 80.00 30.00 11.40

% Exposure_ Mod_Duration 05-Aug-14 15-Oct-14 31-Aug-15 19.59 30-Sep-15 39.76 30-Jun-16 40.65 30-Jun-16 100.00 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

INDEX 15.80 17.40 16.85 1,054.32 15.38 1,049.77 16.82 1,032.48 15.84 1,042.07 18.57 20.26 14.78 14.71 13.98 13.91 14.12 13.99 15.45 14.92 15.73 15.72

YTD Return (%) 99.40

98.51 94.93 5.4320 98.27 4.9772 97.09 3.2477 99.99 4.2070 81.07 90.59 97.81 98.64 100.02 101.42 111.21 101.33 100.22 98.42 97.68 97.30

48 BUSINESS | MONEY LINE

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Nigerian banks lead in 2014 African Banker Awards African Development Bank, Uganda. Award for Innovation in Banking went to Banco Unico, Mozambique Banque Centrale Populaire, Morocco, Citi, USA, FirstBank, Nigeria and Nedbank, South Africa. The institutions selected for Socially Responsible Bank of the Year award are Fidelity Bank, Nigeria; GTBank, Nigeria; Investec Asset Management and South Africa; Nedbank, South Africa. Institutions selected for Financial Inclusion category are ACSI, Ethiopia; Barclays, Uganda; Diamond Bank, Nigeria MasterCard, UAE and Trust Merchant Bank, DR Congo. The Deal of the Year – Equity went to "Fidelity Bank”, Amethis Finance, France, "OCI N.V's $10.5billion acquisition offer”, Barclays Bank, Egypt, "Atlas Mara Co-Nvest –S$325million IPO”, Citigroup Global Markets, UK, "AECI sale of property assets to Shanghai Zendai”, Standard Bank, South Africa, "Oando Plc $341 million rights issue on the Nigerian Stock Exchange and JSE Limited,” Vetiva, Nigeria. The following transactions were selected for the Deal of the Year – Debt - "Republic of South Africa – US$2billion 5.875per cent Eurobond due 2025”, Standard Bank and RMB, UK, "Roll-out of Africa's largest petroleum oil refinery and petrochemical/fertilizer plant by Dangote Group”, Standard Chartered Bank,

HIGH FLYERS Nigerian banks have continued to dust their African counterparts

Bayo Akomolafe

igerian banks and their executives topped the list of those shortlisted for this year’s African Banker magazine's 2014 African Banker Awards. Some of these lenders, according to a statement from the organisers, include GTBank, FBN Capital, Fidelity Bank, Diamond Bank, United Bank for Africa, Rand Merchant Bank and Standard Bank, The African Banker Awards is being organised by African Banker magazine and Business in Africa Events. Those chosen for the African Banker of the Year category are Bisi Onasanya, Group managing director/CEO, First Bank of Nigeria; Bola Adesola, MD/CEO, Standard Chartered Bank South Africa and Segun Agbaje, managing director, Guaranty Trust Bank. Others are Dr. Charles Kimei, CRDB Bank, Tanzania and Joao Figueiredo, Banco Unico, Mozambique; Pedro Pinto Coelho, CEO, Standard Bank, Angola and Vivienne Yeda, Director General, East

UK, "Implats Dual Currency Convertible Bond”, Standard Bank, South Africa, "Project Desert KERL”, FBN Capital, Nigeria, "$500million financing facility to Government of Senegal”, Banque Centrale Populaire, Morocco, "Avon and Dedisa peaking power transactions”and Nedbank Capital, South Africa. The Fund of the Year went to Amethis Finance, France, Emerging Capital Partners, UK, Investec Africa Credit Opportunities Fund and Credit Opportunities Fund, UK, Investec Asset Management, South Africa, Standard Chartered Private Equity, South Africa, Best Retail Bank in Africa, Banque Centrale Populaire, Morocco, GTBank, Nigeria, Nedbank, South Africa, State Bank Mauritius and United Bank for Africa, Nigeria. Institutions selected for Investment Bank of the Year are EFG Hermes, Egypt, Citi Group, South Africa, FBN Capital, Nigeria and Rand Merchant Bank. Thirty-six banks and financial institutions jostled for the top prizes available for the eighth edition of the competition. According to the organisers, final winners will be announced at the prestigious Awards ceremony and gala dinner on the 21st May in Kigali, Rwanda, during the African Development Bank Annual Meetings. The Group Publisher of

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

African Banker magazine and Head of the African Banker Awards Committee, Mr Omar Ben Yedder, said: “The transactions are encouraging because of their level of sophistication and also they highlight the amount of activity now taking place throughout the continent, some of which transformative, such as what we are seeing in the power sector.” Commenting on the industry as a whole, Ben Yedder, said: "The banking and finan-

cial services industry continues to develop rapidly, even if we'd like it to work harder and see it participate more actively in the real economy. It continues to be one of the fastest growing industries and we are pleased to see new entrants coming into the space, something we hope will help to elevate the bar in terms of products and services. This can only work to better serve the interests of the African consumer.”

FCMB grows Q1 profit by 15% Chris Ugwu

irst City Monument Bank ((FCMB) Plc has recorded a growth of 15 per cent in profit for the first quarter ended, March 31, 2014. The group in a filing with the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) reported a profit after tax of N4.8 billion during the year under review as against N4.1 billion in the corresponding period of 2013, representing an increase of 15 per cent. The pre-tax profit equally rose by 15 per cent to N5.5 billion in 2014, from N4.8 billion in 2013. The gross earnings stood at N33.8 billion in contrast to N31.4 billion, amounting to 8 per cent increase. Net interest income appreciated by 25 per cent, from N13.1 billion to N16.3 billion. Analysts at FBN Capital said that funding income was the main driver behind the growth in profitability: it grew 25 per cent y/y to N16.4billion, more than compensating for a muted result in non-interest income (-2.2 per cent y/y decline to N6.0billion). “As such, profit before provisions rose 16 per cent y/y to N22.4billion. This growth was strong enough to offset increases in both loan loss provision (from a low base) and operating expenses. Sequentially the

growth was stronger than y/y changes, with PBT increasing by 61 per cent and PAT 43 percent. Again, the driver behind the growth was funding income, which rose 9 per cent q/q, but a sharp fall in loan loss provisions also helped. A 10 per cent q/q growth in net loans relative to a decline of 4 per cent q/q in deposits was supportive for funding income growth. Noninterest income fell 22 per cent q/q; however, we would not read too much into this given the lumpy nature of this revenue line,” they said. The analysts noted that relative to their forecasts, PBT was in line but PAT came in better than they were expecting by 10 per cent because of a lower tax charge and the positive result on the other comprehensive income line. “Judging by the fact that full year consensus PBT of N21.3billion is close to our published forecast of N21.8billion, we believe expectations for Q1 2014 PBT would have been similar to ours. We would not expect significant changes to full year consensus estimates as a result of the Q1 2014 results. For FCMB to deliver a meaningful increase in ROE in 2014 over and above the 11.3 per cent it reported in 2013, the next three quarters will have to be even stronger.

‘DLM is best investment bank’ Dayo Ayeyemi

unn Loren Merrifield (DLM) has been announced as award winner for Best Investment Bank in Nigeria, in the prestigious Financial Awards 2014 by International Finance Magazine (IFM). In statement released by the editorial board of International Finance Magazine (IFM), the category for Best Investment Bank Nigeria won by Dunn Loren Merrifield is among the first batch of 14 global recipients presently announced for the coveted financial award. According to the statement, Dunn Loren Merrifield emerged winner in the category after rigorous panel screening and received an overwhelming voting support from IFM readers worldwide. The Financial Award plaque will be presented to Dunn Loren Merrified at a

ceremony during the ‘Investments in Nigeria Summit’ in Lagos later this year. Commenting on the award announcement, the founder Dunn Loren Merrifield, Mr. Sonnie Ayere said, “This is an increasing recognition of the work our firm is doing in the development of our financial sector”. Dunn Loren Merrifield commenced operation in 2009 and was the firm to structure the first “AAA” rated corporate bond listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, independently advised on the first sub-sovereign debt restructuring transaction in Nigeria and was in 2012 appointed by the Federal Ministry of Finance as advisers to set up the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC), which was officially launched by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan on January 16, 2014.

BUSINESS | CAPITAL MARKET 49

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Daily Summary as of 30/04/2014 Printed 30/04/2014 15:41:37.037

The Nigerian Stock Market Exchange as at April 30, 2014

Daily Summary as of 30/04/2014

Printed 30/04/2014 15:41:37.037

Daily Summary (Equities)

Activity Summary on Board EQTY

Daily Summary (Bonds)

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

Activity Summary on Board DEBT Federal

Bond Name 16.39% FGN JAN 2022 Federal Totals

Symbol FG9B2022S1

DEBT Board Totals

No. of Deals 1 1

Current Price 122.50

Bond Activity Totals

Quantity Traded 1,500 1500

Value Traded 1,904,053.08 1,904,053.08

1,500

1,904,053.08

1500

1,904,053.08

Livestock/Animal Specialties LIVESTOCK FEEDS PLC. Livestock/Animal Specialties Totals

Symbol LIVESTOCK

Daily Summary as of 30/04/2014 Printed 30/04/2014 15:41:37.037

No. of Deals 42 11 53

Current Price 33.50 40.12

No. of Deals 7 7

AGRICULTURE Totals

CONGLOMERATES Diversified Industries A.G. LEVENTIS NIGERIA PLC.

Quantity Traded 555,512 257,460 812,972

Value Traded 18,965,123.86 10,366,453.80 29,331,577.66

Current Price 3.30

Quantity Traded 56,881 56,881

Value Traded 178,606.34 178,606.34

869,853

29,510,184.00

Current Price 1.56

Quantity Traded 7,629

Value Traded 12,035.23

60 Symbol No. of Deals Daily Summary (Equities) AGLEVENT 5

Activity Summary on Board EQTY

Page

CONGLOMERATES Diversified Industries CHELLARAMS PLC. TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATION OF NIGERIA PLC U A C N PLC. Diversified Industries Totals

Symbol CHELLARAM TRANSCORP UACN

No. of Deals 1 186 71 263

CONGLOMERATES Totals

263

CONSTRUCTION/REAL ESTATE Building Structure/Completion/Other COSTAIN (W A) PLC. Building Structure/Completion/Other Totals Infrastructure/Heavy Construction JULIUS NIG. PLC. Summary as ofBERGER 30/04/2014 Infrastructure/Heavy Construction Totals

Daily Printed 30/04/2014 15:41:37.037

Real Estate Development UACN PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT CO. LIMITED Real Estate Development Totals Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) UPDC REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) Totals

Current Price 3.95 3.45 56.56

13,946,128

65,204,128.09

No. of Deals 23 23

Current Price 1.47

Quantity Traded 797,887 797,887

Value Traded 1,084,863.50 1,084,863.50

Symbol JBERGER

No. of Deals 28 28

Current Price 70.90

Quantity Traded 697,344 697,344

Value Traded 48,909,466.99 48,909,466.99

Symbol UAC-PROP

No. of Deals 62 62

Current Price 24.06

Quantity Traded 876,385 876,385

Value Traded 21,104,927.21 21,104,927.21

Symbol

No. of Deals 1 1

Current Price 11.02

Quantity Traded 100 100

Value Traded 1,047.00 1,047.00

CONSTRUCTION/REAL ESTATE Totals

114

Activity Summary on Board EQTY

2,371,716 Page

Computers and Peripherals OMATEK VENTURES PLC

Computers and Peripherals Totals Daily Summary as of 30/04/2014 Printed 30/04/2014 15:41:37.037 IT Services

COMPUTER WAREHOUSE GROUP PLC TRIPPLE GEE AND COMPANY PLC. IT Services Totals Processing Systems

Activity Summary CHAMS PLC on Board EQTY

Value Traded 28,331.60 47,365,648.79 17,798,112.47 65,204,128.09

Symbol COSTAIN

Daily Summary (Equities) UPDCREIT

CONSUMER GOODS Automobiles/Auto Parts DN TYRE & RUBBER PLC Automobiles/Auto Parts Totals

Quantity Traded 7,535 13,619,027 311,937 13,946,128

ICT Totals

INDUSTRIAL GOODS Building Materials AFRICAN PAINTS (NIGERIA) PLC. ASHAKA CEM PLC BERGER PAINTS PLC CAP PLC CEMENT CO. OF NORTH.NIG. PLC DANGOTE CEMENT PLC DN MEYER PLC. FIRST ALUMINIUM NIGERIA PLC LAFARGE WAPCO PLC. Building Materials Totals 14

No. of Deals 1 1

Current Price 0.50

Quantity Traded 500,000 500,000

Value Traded 250,000.00 250,000.00

Beverages--Brewers/Distillers GUINNESS NIG PLC INTERNATIONAL BREWERIES PLC. NIGERIAN BREW. PLC. Beverages--Brewers/Distillers Totals

Symbol GUINNESS INTBREW NB

No. of Deals 103 27 113 243

Current Price 176.00 26.00 150.00

Quantity Traded 217,459 230,960 13,690,468 14,138,887

Value Traded 38,108,914.30 5,722,288.70 2,045,252,981.54 2,089,084,184.54

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

Symbol 7UP

No. of Deals 1 1

Current Price 90.00

Quantity Traded 9,800 9,800

Value Traded 837,900.00 837,900.00

Symbol No. of Deals DANGFLOUR 56 DANGSUGAR 151 FLOURMILL 51 HONYFLOUR 35 MULTITREX 1 NASCON 46 NNFM 1 UNIONDICON 15 Daily Summary (Equities) UTC 2 358

Current Price 8.08 9.90 68.43 3.69 0.50 11.51 22.01 14.11 0.53

Quantity Traded 299,120 4,712,212 213,025 1,077,001 2,000 1,406,100 5 453,551 9,887 8,172,901

Value Traded 2,350,679.09 46,034,338.20 14,464,953.65 3,920,162.05 1,040.00 16,180,641.77 104.55 6,056,752.27 5,240.11 89,013,911.69 3Value Traded of 14

Activity Summary on Board EQTY CONSUMER GOODS Food Products--Diversified

Symbol CADBURY NESTLE

No. of Deals 31 72 103

Current Price 75.05 1,040.00

Quantity Traded Page 203,991 130,383 334,374

Household Durables VITAFOAM NIG PLC. Household Durables Totals

Symbol VITAFOAM

No. of Deals 15 15

Current Price 4.30

Quantity Traded 501,706 501,706

Value Traded 2,123,858.32 2,123,858.32

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

Symbol PZ UNILEVER

No. of Deals 42 60 102

Current Price 36.00 47.50

Quantity Traded 335,897 379,693 715,590

Value Traded 12,011,484.40 18,215,434.52 30,226,918.92

24,373,258

2,361,369,385.99

Current Price 8.19 6.06 13.50 1.95 26.23 3.49 2.20 6.75

Quantity Traded 9,384,764 4,964,174 5,811,911 1,665,609 9,727,800 10,590,775 13,041,076 13,327,144

Value Traded 76,592,194.54 30,091,799.39 76,943,907.25 3,229,861.60 259,118,538.69 36,522,920.63 29,042,789.15 90,754,247.46

Current Price 9.95 0.50

Quantity Traded 997,187 1,004,300

NESTLE NIGERIA PLC. Food Products--Diversified Totals

CONSUMER GOODS Totals FINANCIAL SERVICES Daily Summary as of 30/04/2014 Banking ACCESS BANK PLC. Printed 30/04/2014 15:41:37.037 DIAMOND BANK PLC ECOBANK TRANSNATIONAL INCORPORATED FIDELITY BANK PLC Daily Summary as of 30/04/2014 GUARANTY TRUST BANK PLC. Printed 30/04/2014 15:41:37.037 SKYE BANK PLC STERLING BANK PLC. Activity Summary Board EQTY UNITED BANKon FOR AFRICA PLC

823 Symbol ACCESS DIAMONDBNK ETI FIDELITYBK GUARANTY Daily Summary SKYEBANK STERLNBANK UBA

FINANCIAL SERVICES Banking UNION BANK NIG.PLC. Activity Summary on Board EQTY UNITY BANK PLC

FINANCIAL SERVICES Banking WEMA BANK PLC. ZENITH INTERNATIONAL BANK PLC Banking Totals Insurance Carriers, Brokers and Services AIICO INSURANCE PLC. CONTINENTAL REINSURANCE PLC CORNERSTONE INSURANCE COMPANY PLC. GREAT NIGERIAN INSURANCE PLC CONSOLIDATED HALLMARK INSURANCE PLC INTERNATIONAL ENERGY INSURANCE COMPANY PLC MANSARD INSURANCE PLC MUTUAL BENEFITS ASSURANCE PLC. N.E.M INSURANCE CO (NIG) PLC. NIGER INSURANCE CO. PLC. OASIS INSURANCE PLC PRESTIGE ASSURANCE CO. PLC. Daily Summary as of 30/04/2014 STANDARD ALLIANCE INSURANCE PLC. Printed 30/04/2014 15:41:37.037 UNITY KAPITAL ASSURANCE PLC WAPIC INSURANCE PLC Carriers, Brokers and Published byInsurance The Nigerian Stock Exchange © Services Totals Micro-Finance Banks FORTIS MICROFINANCE BANK PLC

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

No. of Deals 100 93 87 53 308 (Equities) 126 57 200

Daily Summary (Equities) Symbol UBN UNITYBNK

Symbol WEMABANK ZENITHBANK Symbol AIICO CONTINSURE CORNERST GNI HMARKINS INTENEGINS MANSARD MBENEFIT NEM NIGERINS OASISINS PRESTIGE STDINSURE UNITYKAP WAPIC

No. of Deals 89 10

No. of Deals 31 336 1,490

Current Price 0.98 22.70

No. of Deals 21 14 6 1 2 11 2 1 29 3 13 4 5 3 28 143

Current Price 0.79 0.98 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.54 2.31 0.50 0.76 0.50 0.55 0.60 0.50 0.50 0.72

Quantity Traded 840,145 2,001,340 614,146 10 100 223,994 2,262 1,500 3,588,490 150,000 764,390 4,293 1,020,000 300 977,682 10,188,652 Page

No. of Deals 1 6

Current Price 6.27 0.81

Quantity Traded 100 100,280

Daily Summary (Equities) Symbol FORTISMFB NPFMCRFBK

Page

Quantity Traded 3,178,321 20,323,541 94,016,602

Page

Daily Summary as of 30/04/2014

Packaging/Containers Published by The Nigerian Stock Exchange © Printed 30/04/2014 15:41:37.037 BETA GLASS CO PLC. Packaging/Containers Totals

INDUSTRIAL GOODS Totals

Value Traded 9,887,746.88 502,150.00

OIL AND GAS Energy Equipment and Services JAPAUL OIL & MARITIME SERVICES PLC Energy Equipment and Services Totals Integrated Oil and Gas Services OANDO PLC Integrated Oil and Gas Services Totals Petroleum and Petroleum Products Distributors BECO PETROLEUM PRODUCT PLC

Daily Summary as ofPLC 30/04/2014 CONOIL Printed 30/04/2014 15:41:37.037 ETERNA PLC.

SERVICES Apparel Retailers LENNARDS (NIG) PLC. Apparel Retailers Totals

Symbol INFINITY

No. of Deals 2 2

Current Price 1.61

Quantity Traded 300 300

Value Traded 468.00 468.00

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

Symbol AFRIPRUD CUSTODYINS FBNH FCMB ROYALEX STANBIC UBCAP

No. of Deals 65 30 768 85 8 35 44 1,035

Current Price 3.04 2.35 14.16 3.54 0.62 23.00 2.25

Quantity Traded 5,926,528 3,485,000 72,060,978 5,252,248 45,500 2,591,315 3,242,954 92,604,523

Value Traded 17,910,593.58 7,948,320.00 1,028,011,224.69 18,415,470.91 27,304.00 59,547,843.05 7,296,701.50 1,139,157,457.73

196,910,457

2,223,000,912.35

Current Price 0.50

Quantity Traded 200 200

Value Traded 100.00 100.00

No. of Deals 1 1 2 Daily Summary (Equities)

Current Price 5.48 1.97

Quantity Traded 100 50 150

Value Traded 521.00 94.00 615.00

Current Price 0.50

Quantity Traded 53,400

Value Traded 26,700.00 8Value Traded of 14 26,700.00

Symbol CWG TRIPPLEG

Symbol CHAMS

No. of Deals 2

Symbol

No. of Deals 2

Current Price

Page Quantity Traded 53,400

Symbol MTI

No. of Deals 1

Current Price 0.50

Quantity Traded 300

Value Traded 81,832.20

300

150.00

121,300

71,307.50

Symbol

No. of Deals

Current Price

Quantity Traded

Value Traded

Symbol AFRPAINTS ASHAKACEM BERGER CAP CCNN DANGCEM DNMEYER FIRSTALUM WAPCO

No. of Deals 1 39 11 27 15 79 2 4 67 245

Current Price 2.72 16.50 8.75 40.35 9.15 226.01 1.06 0.50 108.50

Quantity Traded 2,000 1,382,027 107,878 196,646 122,265 286,710 2,250 136,533 745,493 2,981,802

Value Traded 5,180.00 22,739,655.15 947,963.19 7,920,469.90 1,120,174.25 65,011,556.29 2,497.50 68,266.50 80,002,678.56 177,818,441.34

Symbol CUTIX

No. of Deals 3 3

Current Price 1.90

Quantity Traded 59,033 59,033

Value Traded 112,162.70 112,162.70

Symbol BETAGLAS

No. of Deals 1 1

Current Price 18.97

Page Quantity Traded 333 333

249

9Value Traded of 14 6,003.99 6,003.99

3,041,168

177,936,608.03

Symbol BOCGAS

No. of Deals 4 4

Current Price 6.47

Quantity Traded 5,620 5,620

Value Traded 34,563.00 34,563.00

Symbol ALEX

No. of Deals 4 4

Current Price 10.50

Quantity Traded 220 220

Page

Value Traded 2,195.60 2,195.60

5,840

36,758.60

Symbol JAPAULOIL

No. of Deals 7 7

Current Price 0.50

Quantity Traded 603,127 603,127

Value Traded 301,563.50 301,563.50

Symbol OANDO

No. of Deals 182 182

Current Price 16.00

Quantity Traded 3,615,930 3,615,930

Value Traded 57,767,491.50 57,767,491.50

Symbol No. of Deals BECOPETRO 1 CONOIL 32 ETERNA 4 FO 27 MOBIL 35 MRSSummary (Equities) 2 Daily TOTAL 25 126

Current Price 0.50 49.20 3.61 148.99 118.22 51.72 161.20

Quantity Traded 393 115,047 65,040 231,710 53,522 122 38,104 503,938

Value Traded 196.50 5,211,557.57 234,794.40 31,195,710.80 6,310,213.80 5,995.08 5,876,769.92 48,835,238.07

Symbol SEPLAT

No. of Deals 33 33

Current Price 626.31

Quantity Traded 430,954 Page 430,954

348

Value Traded 265,348,473.34

11 of 14 265,348,473.34

5,153,949

372,252,766.41

Symbol RTBRISCOE

No. of Deals 6 6

Current Price 1.19

Quantity Traded 133,447 133,447

Value Traded 158,801.93 158,801.93

Symbol REDSTAREX TRANSEXPR

No. of Deals 12 4 16

Current Price 4.16 2.13

Quantity Traded 627,500 49,901 677,401

Value Traded 2,644,910.00 101,316.03 2,746,226.03

Symbol CAPHOTEL IKEJAHOTEL

No. of Deals 3 4 7

Current Price 4.55 0.63

Quantity Traded 60 45,050 45,110

Value Traded 259.80 29,283.00 29,542.80

Symbol DAARCOMM

No. of Deals 8

Current Price 0.50

Quantity Traded 424,200

Value Traded 212,100.00

Symbol

No. of Deals 8

Current Price

Quantity Traded 424,200

Value Traded 212,100.00

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

Symbol ACADEMY LEARNAFRCA UPL

No. of Deals 2 14 4 20

Current Price 1.80 1.61 4.00

Quantity Traded 1,500 519,297 170,000 690,797

Value Traded 2,565.00 835,568.96 680,000.00 1,518,133.96

Road Transportation ASSOCIATED BUS COMPANY PLC Road Transportation Totals

Symbol ABCTRANS

No. of Deals 12 12

Current Price 0.82

Quantity Traded 46,798,570 46,798,570

Value Traded 38,684,336.65 38,684,336.65

Specialty SECURE ELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGY PLC Specialty Totals

Symbol NSLTECH

No. of Deals 2 2

Current Price 0.50

Quantity Traded 170 170

Value Traded 85.00 85.00

Transport-Related Services

Symbol AIRSERVICE NAHCO

No. of Deals 7 67 74

Current Price 2.14 4.60

Quantity Traded 861,580 2,776,484 3,638,064

Value Traded 1,843,781.20 13,362,378.04 15,206,159.24

147

52,417,759

58,586,885.61

4,799

300,257,816

5,377,945,759.28

Printed 30/04/2014 15:41:37.037 Hotels/Lodging

CAPITAL HOTEL PLC IKEJA HOTEL PLC Hotels/Lodging Totals

Daily Summary (Equities)

SERVICES Media/Entertainment Media/Entertainment Totals

Page

AIRLINE SERVICES AND LOGISTICS PLC Daily Summary as of 30/04/2014 NIGERIAN AVIATION HANDLING COMPANY PLC Printed 30/04/2014 15:41:37.037 Transport-Related Services Totals SERVICES Totals

EQTY Board Totals

Daily Summary (Equities)

Activity Summary on Board ASeM OIL Published byAND The GAS Nigerian Stock Exchange © Petroleum and Petroleum Products Distributors NAVITUS ENERGY PLC Petroleum and Petroleum Products Distributors Totals

Symbol UNIONVENT

No. of Deals 1 1

Current Price 0.66

Page Quantity Traded 200 200

OIL AND GAS Totals

200

138.00

ASeM Board Totals

200

138.00

Equity Activity Totals

4,800

300,258,016

5,377,945,897.28

Daily Summary (ETP) Exchange Traded Fund

Name NEWGOLD EXCHANGE TRADED FUND (ETF) VETIVA GRIFFIN 30 ETF Exchange Traded Fund Totals

Symbol NEWGOLD VETGRIF30

No. of Deals 1 1 2

Current Price 2,016.00 17.47

Quantity Traded 13 1,000 1,013

Value Traded 26,208.00 17,470.00 43,678.00

No. of Deals 1 1

Current Price 3.72

Quantity Traded 1,000 1,000

Value Traded 3,540.00 3,540.00

ETF Board Totals

1,013

43,678.00

Symbol EVANSMED

No. of Deals 13

Current Price 2.46

Quantity Traded 156,576

Value Traded 381,116.32

ETP Activity Totals

1,013

43,678.00

13 of 14 Value Traded 138.00 138.00

Symbol EKOCORP

Page

Value Traded 31,500.00 31,500.00

Value Traded 150.00

Quantity Traded 10,000 10,000

Activity Summary on Board EQTY

Value Traded 596.00 81,236.20

Mortgage Carriers, Brokers and Services INFINITY TRUST MORTGAGE BANK PLC Mortgage Carriers, Brokers and Services Totals

Pharmaceuticals EVANS MEDICAL PLC.

No. of Deals 2 2

Current Price 3.31

Media/Entertainment DAAR COMMUNICATIONS PLC

Value Traded 668,003.94 1,927,628.20 307,075.00 5.00 50.00 120,136.26 5,202.60 750.00 2,725,456.23 75,000.00 409,547.79 2,575.80 510,000.00 150.00 692,583.17 5 7,444,163.99 of 14

Quantity Traded 100,380

2,677

Symbol OMATEK

No. of Deals 2 2

Courier/Freight/Delivery RED STAR EXPRESS PLC TRANS-NATIONWIDE EXPRESS PLC. Courier/Freight/Delivery Totals Daily Summary as of 30/04/2014

Current Price

HEALTHCARE Healthcare Providers EKOCORP PLC. Healthcare Providers Totals

Value Traded 43,742.50 43,742.50

Symbol LENNARDS

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

No. of Deals 7

18,876,518.00

Quantity Traded 67,250 67,250

OIL AND GAS Totals

Symbol

FINANCIAL SERVICES Totals

FORTE OIL PLC. MOBIL OIL NIG PLC. MRS OIL NIGERIA PLC. TOTAL NIGERIA PLC. Petroleum and Petroleum Activity Summary on BoardProducts EQTY Distributors Totals

OIL AND GAS Exploration and Production SEPLAT PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT COMPANY LTD Published byExploration The Nigerian Stock ExchangeTotals © and Production

1,046,388 Current Price 0.71

NATURAL RESOURCES Totals

Value Traded 3,116,043.24 460,514,791.60 1,076,316,990.43

EQTY

NATURAL RESOURCES Metals ALUMINIUM EXTRUSION IND. PLC. Metals Totals

Value Traded 1,167,221.78 16,997,130.23 212,384.46 114,874.01 251.20 18,872,978.00

No. of Deals 6 6

Daily Summary (Equities)

15,310,499.55 134,522,112.97 149,832,612.52

Electronic and Electrical Products CUTIX PLC. Electronic and Electrical Products Totals

NATURAL RESOURCES Chemicals B.O.C. GASES PLC. Activity Summary on Board Chemicals Totals

Quantity Traded 420,872 246,156 124,545 97,079 160 1,045,388

Symbol COURTVILLE

Daily Summary (Equities)

INDUSTRIAL GOODS Activity Summary on Board EQTY Building Materials

Symbol DUNLOP

Food Products DANGOTE FLOUR MILLS PLC DANGOTE SUGAR REFINERY PLC FLOUR MILLS NIG. PLC. HONEYWELL FLOUR MILL PLC MULTI-TREX INTEGRATED FOODS PLC Daily Summary as of 30/04/2014 Printed 30/04/2014 15:41:37.037 NATIONAL SALT CO. NIG. PLC N NIG. FLOUR MILLS PLC. UNION DICON SALT PLC. U T C NIG. PLC. Food Products Totals

ICT Systems Published byProcessing The Nigerian Stock Exchange © Processing Systems Totals Telecommunications Services Daily Summary as of 30/04/2014 MASS TELECOMMUNICATION INNOVATIONS NIGERIA Printed 30/04/2014 15:41:37.037 PLC Telecommunications Services Totals

71,100,304.70 2

Current Price 2.83 69.50 1.78 1.24 1.57

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

Activity Summary on Board EQTY Symbol OKOMUOIL PRESCO

No. of Deals 25 26 23 6 3 96

HEALTHCARE Totals

Daily Summary (Equities)

AGRICULTURE Crop Production OKOMU OIL PALM PLC. PRESCO PLC Crop Production Totals

Symbol FIDSON GLAXOSMITH MAYBAKER NEIMETH PHARMDEKO

Page

50 WORLD | NEWS

Sanctity of Truth

Egypt’s judges rebuff criticism of death sentences E gypt’s Justice Minister has rebuffed international criticism of a mass trial this week in which some 680 defendants were sentenced

to death, saying the judiciary is not a tool of executive authority and that rulings can be overturned upon appeal. “Egyptian judges are inde-

After a death penalty ruling, the prosecutor must appeal along with the defendant in line with normal judicial propendent and there is no control cess, he added. “The judge is a over them,” Nayer Osman told human being. He can make a reporters. “No one in the state mistake like any other human is directing the judge, neither being,” he said. Osman added that commenting on the vera minister, nor an official.” dicts “is not acceptable by all means ... we don’t accept any intervention by any means.” Later in the day, New Yorkbased Human Rights Watch condemned another recent Egyptian court decision: a ban on the April 6 youth organization issued two days ago. The group said it was an “escalation in the government’s campaign against all peaceful opposition.” April 6 is an influential group, one of several that engineered the 2011 uprising against longtime dictator, Hosni Mubarak that set off nearly three years of unrest. The court ordered the takeover of the group’s offices. “Banning political dissent won’t make it go away,” said

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. Also yesterday, a court sentenced 21 Brotherhood supporters including the group’s supreme guide and a prominent Salafi preacher to a year in prison with labor for insulting judges during their trial. Mohammed Badie, the spiritual leader of the banned group was charged along with 19 others for “insulting the court” by turning his back to the room. Earlier, Safwat Hegazy, a strong supporter of deposed Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, was sentenced for refusing to remain silent in court and speaking to the judge in an inappropriate manner. Hegazy, Badie and the 19 others were sentenced while on trial with 130 others including Morsi, for escaping from prison during the country’s 2011 uprising. Hegazy was a key speaker at the main proMorsi sit-in dispersed by security forces last August.

India’s newest state votes for the first time Modi displays the victory symbols to spporters after casting his vote in Ahmadabad, India yesterday

Scores injured as blast rocks train station in China

n explosion at a railway station in Urumqi, capital of China’s restive far western region of Xinjiang, yesterday injured some people, state media said. The blast happened at Urumqi’s south railway station, the official Xinhua news agency reported. The People’s Daily said on its official microblog that some people had been injured and taken to hospital. Neither of the media outlets said what caused the blast. Pictures on China’s Twitterlike Weibo service, which Reuters could not independently verify, showed blood on suitcases and debris on the ground in front of the station. Another picture showed what appeared to be a small blast area near a police post, though it was un-

clear if there were any casualties in the photograph. Calls to the Xinjiang government seeking comment were not answered. “Police are evacuating people in surrounding areas,” Xinhua said. “Police have cordoned off all entrances to the square of the station. Armed police have been deployed in the square.” The blast came just as President Xi Jinping was wrapping up a four-day visit to the region. It was not clear if he was still in Xinjiang at the time. “The long-term stability of Xinjiang is vital to the whole country’s reform, development and stability; to the country’s unity, ethnic harmony and national security as well as to the great revival of the Chinese nation,” Xinhua quoted Xi as

saying during his visit. Xinjiang, resource-rich and strategically located on the borders of central Asia, has been beset by violence for years, blamed by the government on Islamist militants and separatists. Exiles and many rights groups say the real cause of the unrest is China’s heavyhanded policies, including curbs on Islam and the culture and language of the Muslim Uighur people who call Xinjiang home. China’s nervousness about Islamist militancy has grown since a car burst into flames on the edge of Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in October, and 29 people were stabbed to death last month in the southwestern city of Kunming.

Canada to assist Nigeria strengthen health sector

he Canadian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Perry John Calderwood has pledged his country’s support to help Nigeria strengthen its health sector. The High Commissioner gave the assurance in Abuja, recently when he paid a courtesy visit to the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu. He said that Nigeria remains Canada’s reliable ally and very

important partner, adding that over the years, Canada has rendered tremendous assistance to Nigeria in diverse ways. The purpose of his visit, he said was to discuss health issues and expand bilateral relations between the two countries, adding that his country will help to address challenges in Nigeria’s health sector. He said that the area of focus will be to address maternal and child health, polio and ma-

laria, among other issues.Earlier, the minister of health said that Nigeria has been working with Canada in the area of primary healthcare particularly the Saving One Million Lives Initiative. While assuring of Nigeria’s continued cooperation, he thanked the Canadian Government for funding some of Nigeria’s projects not only in health sector but also in other areas through its various development agencies.

illions of people in nine states across India, including the newest state of Telangana, voted yesterday in the latest phase of the country’s massive general election. With 814 million eligible voters in India, the election is being held in phases over six weeks. Voters are choosing the 543 members of Parliament’s lower house, with results expected on May 16. The voters included Narendra Modi, the prime ministerial hopeful from the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party. Modi, the chief minister of western Gujarat state, sparked a controversy by taking a photo of his inked finger while holding a small lotus flower, his party’s symbol, after he cast his vote. Angry supporters of the ruling Congress party complained to election authorities that Modi had flouted election laws by canvassing for votes in violation of rules forbidding campaigning on election day. The two national parties are locked in a tense battle for control of the next national government, with Congress facing a possible drubbing due to corruption scandals and a recent economic slowdown. Yestaerday, the seventh phase of the election, nearly 140 million people were eligible to vote for 89 seats in Parliament, including all 26 for Gujarat. Elections were also being held in northern Punjab state and in the eastern states of Bihar and West Bengal. Security was tight in Uttar Pradesh, with tens of thousands of paramilitary troops and police deployed across the state. In elections last week, supporters of political parties took over 11 polling stations in Rampur constituency, said Umesh Sinha, the state’s chief electoral officer. A new

election was ordered and took place Tuesday. Sinha said police were given shoot-on-sight orders to prevent any outbreak of violence or any attempt to disrupt Wednesday’s voting. Abhinav Sharma, 24, said he waited for two hours in sweltering weather at a polling station in Lucknow, but was reluctant to vote for any of the candidates. “Most politic Turnout in the Srinagar constituency in Indian-held Kashmir was low after separatist groups called for a boycott to protest India’s continuing rule over the disputed region. Thousands of police and paramilitary soldiers patrolled deserted streets. Security forces detained about 700 Kashmiri residents ahead of the polls in a bid to prevent protests or violence. Despite the arrests, scores of protesters hurled rocks at polling stations and government forces at about 20 locations. A young man was killed and two others critically injured as government forces fired at the protesters, police said. More clashes erupted after the firing incident. At least four policemen were injured, police said. An election official was injured when a bus carrying poll officials was attacked by protesters with stones in another neighborhood of Srinagar, police said. Indian-controlled Kashmir elects six members of Parliament’s lower house In Telangana, around 28 million people were expected to vote for 17 seats in Parliament and 119 seats in the state assembly. Telangana, India’s 29th state, was carved out of Andhra Pradesh state in February after nearly six decades of street protests and strikes.

SPORT

NEW TELEGRAPH

newtelegraphonline.com/sports

ADEKUNLE SALAMI, DepUTY Editor, SPORTS

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

thursday, MAY 1, 2014

AUTHORITATIVE VOICE IN GLOBAL SPORT

Did you know?

That Mia Hamm, the most successful US soccer player was once the national collegiate player of North Carolina University. Mia also represented the 1999 World Cup and the two ‘Olympic gold’ winning US teams

Table Tennis: Nigeria pummels Bosnia

Record: Ronaldo hails teammates, coach

Match-fixing: Lulu challenges Perumal to name culprits

}p.54

}p.53

}p.54

Edin Dzeko

Godfrey Oboabona

Bosnia,Nigeria’s biggest threat -Oparaku Move to resolve handball crisis fails …Pressure group returns to court Mercy Jacob

E Dauda

f for ts by the Director General of Nigeria Sports Commission, G b e n g a E l e g b e l e ye, t o settle the dif ferences between the Me g a Handb a l l Ve t e r a n s a n d t h e President of the Nigeria Handball Federation, Yu s u f D a u d a , s e e m s t o

h ave f a i l e d a s t h e p re s sure g roup retur ns to c our t. T he M HV P ublic Relations Of ficer Ayo Joshua, said his g roup waited on the DG to reconvene the peace meeting but he has not been forthcoming, hence their decision to continue the le g al suit. He said the g roup will be

in cour t on Tuesday. Joshua said the MHV is ready to withdraw the c a s e b e f o r e n e x t we e k i f t h e D a u d a - l e d g ro u p is ready to acce pt their ter ms of settlement, insisting that their actions are guided not by personal g ains, but by a desire to see handball g row in the country.

“We will head back to cour t on Tuesday since we have not heard from the DG, maybe this is as a result of his busy schedule, but we have no other option than to continue the cour t case,” h e sai d . I t wo u l d b e r e c a l l e d th at th e ou tcome of l ast e l e c t i o n i n t o t h e b o a rd of the HFN has been a su bje ct of crisis.

52 SPORT

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, May 1, 2014

TURNING POINT

Charles Ogundiya

Beating didn’t stop me from playing football -Patrick Pascal

“I

give glory to Almighty God for giving me the talent that turned me into what I am today. The beginning was rough, but no one has a smooth beginning. When I was in primary school, the only thing I always wanted to do, apart from going to school, was to play football. At every little opportunity, I will be out in the streets playing football with my mates. But this came at a cost as I would be on the receiving end of my parents’ whip. “Parents want their children to be educated but the beatings never stopped me from going out to play all over again the next day. I just loved the game; something kept pushing me to go out and play football. I will say my breakthrough came from Coach Kashimawo Laloko. Before leaving secondary school, I was playing for a small club called Kerl-Kerl, but immediately after my secondary school, I got a job in the maintenance department of the Central Bank of Nigeria. We were actually given employment in order to be able to play for the bank’s football team. There used to be a competition amongst banking institutions called the Bankers’ Cup, and we took part in it. “After some years, our coach, Garuba Hilar, left to set up Wikki Tourists of Bauchi, and I was drafted to the team along with Baba Jubril, who had played for Nigeria a few years earlier at the U-17 World Cup in Canada, in 1987. Despite my young age, I was the second highestpaid player in the team, as well as the vice-captain. Jubril was the captain and the highest-paid player because of his experience and where he was coming from. “Laloko just came back from Gambia, where he had been their national team coach, to handle

Pascal

Wikki. After he left Wikki, Shooting Stars were having problems; they were second from bottom in the league and facing relegation, so they were searching for players that could turn around their fortune. “Laloko told them about me and they came for me. That was how I became a Shooting Stars player. The late Chief Femi Olukanmi was the chairman of the club, and he gave me the chance to grow at the club

FIFA tasks NFF on Match-fixing allegation

he Federation of International Football has formally written to the Nigeria Football Association to indicate interest in the match-fixing allegation by a Singaporean convict, Wilson Raj Perumal, over a 2010 World Cup qualifier match involving the Mozambique and Tunisia national teams. The world soccer governing body had in a letter to the Glass House, which the federation acknowledged the receipt of on Tuesday, promised to work with the federation officials to investigate the allegation, disclosing that it has referred the matter to its Ethics Committee for full investigations. While confirming the receipt of FIFA letter on Wednesday in Abuja, a top management staff of the federation revealed that FIFA has promised to watch the clips of the tapes of all the Super Eagles matches and other countries in the group in the qualifiers to determine the strength of the allegation before making pronouncement on the issue. Investigation further revealed that the world soccer governing body has written to the Football Federation of Mozambique, which Perumal allegedly paid $100,000 to its officials to secure the win over Tunisia and saw Nigeria pick the

ticket ahead of Tunisia in the group for the World Cup. The NFF officer noted that the alleged match fixer has been on the watch list of the football government body for a long time over his past roles in match fixing before he was eventually arrested in Finland through an Interpol tip, stressing that the federation has mandated its Integrity Officer, Mohammed Sanusi, as well as its Match-fixing Investigative Officer, Christian Emeruwa, to be in constant communication with the FIFA Security Committee on Match Fixing Matters to ensure that they dig deeper into the claim. While dismissing the claim, the NFF officer insisted: “It is primarily not our case, since it is a World Cup match that the allegation is all about. I can confirm that we have received a correspondence from FIFA over the allegation and they have decided to investigate everything about it. “We are in full support of the decision because we all know that the unfound allegation is coming from a drowning man. But the federation has referred the matter to its Integrity and Match Fixing Investigative Officers to be in continuous touch with FIFA until the end of the investigation.”

before heading overseas. “For the national team, I actually joined the U-23 team at the same time as Emmanuel Amuneke and Tijani Babangida, but I was quite young so it was difficult for me to break into the national team. That was how I wasn’t able to make the final list to the Cairo ‘91 All Africa Games but four years later, I was in the team that went to Harare ’95. “As a matter of fact, I initially

joined the national team when I was at CBN. I played for CBN during the Bankers Cup and it was from there I was called up to the U-23 team. James Peters was the one in charge at the time. “When Clemens Westerhof and Jo Bonfere came, the two national teams, the Under-23 and Super Eagles were both camped in Ota, at the Obasanjo Farms, and the big boys like Stephen Keshi, Samson Siasia and Daniel Amokachi were there. I can tell you that I joined the national team because of my talent and not because I knew somebody. Back then, if you are dropped from the national team, you know that it is because the person replacing you is better than you. “The most memorable time of my career is now that I’m a member of NFF; despite all my years playing, I thank God that I didn’t have any serious injury, even now I can easily pick my boot and say I want to play. It is one thing that I am always grateful to God for. “Some of my mates had to end their career because of injury, but I thank God I did not end mine because of that. As an administrator, my job with the Bauchi State government opened doors for me to be part of the NFF which has always been my ambition when I was playing. I never wanted to become a coach like some of my colleagues; my target had always been the Glass House.I started out as the Team Manager of Wikki before becoming the chairman of the team, after which I was made the Special Adviser on Sports to the governor. Now that I am working with the NFF, it is something that gives me great joy because, if you look at it, how many of my mates are there currently? Most of them only want to coach the national team, but my ambition had always been to get into the Glass House and now that it has happened, I am grateful to God.”

Okpekpe race : Detachable 1,500 seater stadium installed Charles Ogundiya

s part of efforts to add glamour to the forthcoming 10-km race, a detachable mini stadium of 1,500 capacity is currently being installed in Okpekpe. The presentation of prizes and other functions relating to the event will hold inside the moveable mini-stadium. Our correspondent learnt that engineers are seriously working to ensure completion before Saturday May 3rd. The moveable stadium, according to one of the engineers on site, was imported and it is first of its kind. “As we were told, last year’s event after the race was held in a place that was sandy and not too comfortable. All we are putting in place is to meet international standard, hence the importation of the detachable mini stadium. Many people have not seen it before, it is strong and comfortable, “ the engineer said.

Action from the Okpekpe race starting point

Similarly, Nigeria Guinness plc and Glo Mobile Communications are also branding the entire area, including the detachable mini stadium ahead of the Okpekpe International 10 kilometres road race. Guinness plc are installing make-shift beer bar in Okpekpe community, Apanna and Auchi where their products will be served . Glo Mobile Communications has promised to provide free WiFi services for all visitors and the host community during

the event. The starting point at Apanna is also to be marked and branded by Glo Mobile Communication and Guinness plc. Each kilometer is marked and branded by Glo mobile communication and Guinness up to the finishing point. There is excitement in Okpekpe community and its environs. Peaks Milk has also flooded the community with trailer loads of their products, which they say will be shared to the children in Okpekpe.

SPORT 53

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Ronaldo

C Ronaldo hails teammates, coach for record feat

Juventus to overturn Benfica deficit

hile they close in on retaining the Serie A title, Juventus are confident they can overturn a 2-1 deficit in the second leg of their Europa League semi-final against Benfica on Thursday. The teams, both two-time European champions, meet at the Juventus Stadium in Turin looking to clinch a place in the final, which will be played at the same venue on May 14. That is a huge source of motivation for Juve, who are looking for a first European title in 18 years and are eyeing a trophy double after beating Sassuolo 3-1 on Monday to move to within two points of securing a third consecutive Serie A title. “We are obviously satisfied with the victory against Sassuolo, but our thoughts move immediately to another important game against Benfica,” said Juventus midfielder Claudio Marchisio after Monday’s game, in which he scored as the Bianconeri came from behind to win. “It will be a difficult match, but we already showed in the first leg that we were up to the task.”

Match-fixing claims scary -Oliseh Chimaobi Uchendu

former Super Eagles captain, Sunday Oliseh, has described allegation by a convicted Singaporean matchfixer, who claimed to have helped Nigeria qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, as scary, even as he doubts the authenticity of the claim. Oliseh who played for Nigeria at USA’94 and France’98 World Cup called on the Nigeria Football Federation not to only deny the claims on the pages of newspapers, but also to come out with facts that would vindicate Nigeria as a clean football playing nation. He said fraudsters who carry out their activities unhindered by security agencies, give Nigeria bad image, but insisted that Nigerian football is freefrom fraud such as match- fixing, especially at the national team level. He said; “This revelation is scary, I must say, but I doubt the whistleblower’s sincerity. I watched matches that we played to qualify for the 2010 World Cup, they were as clear as any spectators can imagine. Though, the mind is wicked and deceitful, I am sure Nigeria will come out of this unscathed. “I want to urge the NFF not to treat this matter with kid gloves because FIFA dislikes issues that border on match fixing. We have our name to protect as a football power house in Africa, and any move outside this can give a wrong impression.”

ristiano Ronaldo has praised his Real Madrid teammates after he broke the record for the most goals in a single Champions League season. Ronaldo scored twice in Madrid’s 4-0 victory at Bayern Munich in their Champions League semifinal second leg on Tuesday, taking his tally for the competition this season to 16. In doing so, he moved past former AC Milan striker Jose Altafini, who

scored 14 goals in the 1962-63 European Cup, and Lionel Messi, who equalled that tally for Barcelona in their 201112 Champions League campaign. Ronaldo netted his 15th when putting Madrid 3-0 up on the night, and he said on the club’s official website: “I was looking for it and I knew I needed one goal but I was not going to be mad if it didn’t happen.” The record-breaking goal came as he finished off a sweeping counter-attack involving Gareth Bale, and

Bayern must learn from defeat- Robben

ayern Munich midfielder Arjen Robben has admitted that they were “hit hard” by their defeat to Real Madrid in Tuesday’s Champions League semi-final second leg and has urged his team-mates to learn from their mistakes for next season. The Bundesliga champions were beaten 4-0 at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday as Sergio Ramos and Cristiano Ronaldo both netted twice after Madrid had previously already won the first leg 1-0, though the Dutch winger believes that there are still plenty of positives for Bayern this season. “It’s not about the margin of defeat. We’re hugely disappointed and it’s really hit us hard. We won’t be going to Lisbon and that’s all that matters. We need to learn from this for next sea-

he added: “It was a great ball from Bale. The whole team helped me. I’m really happy to break the Champions League record but what I want is to win it and we’re very excited.” Ronaldo said current Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti deserved “all the praise,” adding: “He has changed everything. He has changed the mentality of the players.” bit more. It was a very good decision by [Ancelotti] to take me off. Now to play this final is a dream for me.”

Zanetti wants Inter Milan stay

I Robben

son,” Robben told Uefa’s official website. “We’ve been in the final in three of the last five seasons. It didn’t work out now because the other team was better than us. We wanted to attack and we were punished.”

nter Milan President Erik Thohir announced yesterday that Javier Zanetti will retire from football at the end of this season. From the next season onward, Inter legend Zanetti is “going to be part of the management” at the Milan club. This marks the end of a long career for the Argentine, who started playing professional football for Talleres in Argentina’s second division in 1992 before switching to Inter in 1995. As Inter captain, he won the Champions League, the Serie A, the domestic cup and the FIFA Club World Cup in 2010.

CBN Open: Players to get more money Eagles can get to Ogundiya money for winners in the 2013 edition was quarter final -Utaka Charles reviewed upwards from N9.06m to N14.3m. he 36th edition of the Central Bank of This year’s edition will see the winners

Ajibade Olusesan

Nigeria senior tennis championship promises to be bigger than previous editions according to the organisers. The Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department of the CBN, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, made this declaration during Wednesday’s press briefing to herald the championship scheduled for the tennis courts of the National Stadium, Surulere from May 9th to 17th. He also announced increment in the prize money of the annual competition. “In order to make participation at this forthcoming event more competitive and attractive for players, the total price

ringe Super Eagles player, Peter Utaka, believes Nigeria can reach at least the quarterfinal of the 2014 World Cup. Nigeria is yet to go beyond the second round of the tournament since its first appearance in United States in 1994 and the Beijing Guoan of China striker said that the team can go steps further when the fiesta takes centre stage in Brazil in June. The former Odense of Denmark said that the Stephen Keshi side had the potential to shock the world. “I am confident that Nigeria will do well at the World Cup. Don’t forget we are African champions and a lot of countries will be looking forward to seeing or mer President of the Nigeus do well at the tournament. I am sure ria Football Federation, Alhaji the boys will not disappoint the country. Sani Lulu, has award academic “We are definitely going to get out of our group even though it is a tough scholarships to 10 U-13 players to continue their educational career group.”

in the Men’s and Ladies’ singles collecting a sum of N700,000 each, while the runners up in each categories will go home with N500,000 each,” he said. Okorafor added that the wheel-chair tennis, introduced in the last edition, has come to stay, assuring that wheelchair players will have the opportunity to fight for prize money at this year’s edition. Okorafor said; “It is worthy of note that the wheel-chair tennis players were in Kenya early this year where they qualified for the World Cup scheduled to hold in the Netherlands on the 24th of May.”

Lulu splashes N7.25m scholarship on 10 players

L-R: Nathan Asare, Arsenal Coach; Olu Gabriel, ARS Clinic participant from Nigeriat; Rupen Shah, Arsenal Coach and Luke Wilson, Arsenal Partnership Manager at the on-going Airtel/Arsenal Soccer Clinic in Rwanda. Olu Gabriel was honoured for his outstanding presentation in one of the classroom sessions.

at the FOSLA Academy in Abuja. The award which is worth N7.25m yearly, will see each of the 10 lucky players who were picked from the competition organised by the Academy in Kogi State and FCT enjoy the scholarships all through their secondary and tertiary education. According to the for mer NFF boss, who is the Proprietor of the Academy, this gesture is his little way of giving back to the society, especially among young players from the less privileged families. “The Academy would sponsor them all through their educational careers, and managing their playing careers effectively. It is our dream to see future Nigerian stars emerge from the Academy. Currently, we have over 50 players in the Academy, and higher percentage of them is sponsored by the school. The senior students would be writing their JSS 3 exams this year,” Lulu said.

54 SPORT

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Nigeria will win medals in Rio 2016 –Elegbeleye Jude Opara Abuja

Osaze (right) in action against Greece at the 2010 South Africa World Cup

irector General of the National Sports Commission, Gbenga Elegbeleye, has assured Nigerians that his commission was putting in place measures to ensure that the country’s contingent to the Brazil 2016 Olympic Games will perform very well. Elegbeleye told journalists in Abuja during the week that already most of the athletes discovered from the first edition of the National Youth Games that held in Abuja last year, are now in various training camps where they are expected to mature and represent the country at the world’s biggest single sporting event. “Nigeria should be winning medals at the Olympics, we believe that preparation to participate in the Olympics must start as soon as the last one ends and that is why we have started grooming our youths already and may be in Brazil 2016 we will have a good showing and by the next Olympics we will be having enough athletes to compete with the best in the world.” The former federal law maker also used the occasion to state that the country’s contingent to the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow Scotland, have started training by engaging in mainly foreign competitions where they have the opportunity of competing with the very best. He said: “For the Commonwealth Games coming up in July, our task is to prepare the

‘Bosnia, Nigeria’s biggest threat’ Mercy Jacob

former Super Eagles defender, Mobi Oparaku, believes the Super Eagles will have their hands full when they confront Bosnia at the World Cup coming up in Brazil, noting that the Europeans are going to be the biggest threat to Nigeria’s dream of progressing into the tournament’s knockout rounds. The 1996 Olympic Games gold medallist, in an interview with New Telegraph, said the Super Eagles technical crew, led by Stephen Keshi, need to develop tactics that would counter whatever it is the Bosnians plan to present in Brazil in order to avoid crashing out of the World Cup in the first round. Oparaku said, “Truth is I am

scared of Bosnia. It marvels me when people keep talking about Argentina and Iran as being the opponents that could give Nigeria a run for their money in Brazil. “Although this is Bosnia’s first ever World Cup, they are very dangerous and capable of ruining Nigeria’s dream of getting to the knockout stage.” Oparaku was in the Nigerian team that lost 3-0 to Yugoslavia in a pre France 98 World Cup friendly and the former defender stressed that countries from that part of the world play compact football. “Don’t forget Bosnia was a part of the old Yugoslavia. I have watched them severally, they have good technical knowledge and talents that could do damage to any

Match-fixing: Lulu challenges Perumal to name culprits

Emmanuel Tobi and Mercy Jacob

ani Lulu, the Nigeria Football Federation President when the alleged match fixing was carried out, has denied any knowledge of Wilson Raj Perumal’s claims, insisting it is a lie from the pit of hell. Perumal claimed in a published book that he influenced results to help the Super Eagles to qualify for the 2010 Mundial. The match fixer also said Nigeria football authorities promised him the right to organise their pre-2010 World Cup friendlies, as well as part of the money FIFA pays to help teams prepare for the tournament. The Singaporean was also said to have influenced the appointment of the referee that officiated the June 1 friendly match in which Nigeria beat Argentina 4-1 in Abuja. The former NFF boss, in an interview with New Telegraph, said he had not met with the Singaporean, let alone having any transaction with him. Lulu challenged him to go public with the names of people he did the business with.

team in the World Cup. “I don’t know if Keshi and his technical crew have watched them, but I will advise that they do as. Bosnia is not a team you will just wake up and meet without good preparation,” Oparaku said. He also advised Keshi to forgive players like Ikechukwu Uche and Osaze Odemwingie and consider them for the World Cup if he hopes to do well in Brazil. “Aside from Bosnia being our biggest problem in Brazil, failure to forgive some players would be the next thing that could work ag ainst the Super Eagles. “I want to advise Keshi to use them and make our country proud.”

Abia Governor hails Maigari’s achievements

Lulu said: “What I feel the media should do is to investigate in details the alleged match-fixing claims. Perumal is accusing Nigeria not Lulu, I will only react if he mentions my name to have had any dealings with him, but for now, I think I should be left out of this case. The truth is that I don’t know the man. I have never met him in my life. Lulu continued; “Let him produce the evidence to prove his claim of qualifying Nigeria for 2010 World Cup in South Africa.”

Lulu

Elegbeleye

athletes for the Games and we have been going for foreign meets where we compete with other countries whether they are in the Commonwealth or not, thereby knowing our own level of fitness. For instance, our athletes are in the United States, they competed in the Pen Relays and our female team came second behind the United States, we defeated Jamaica and that is a good showing for the nation.” Elegbeleye also assured that the welfare of the athletes and their coaches will not pose any problem, adding that the leadership of the NSC was poised to ensure that everything that will help the athletes to excel would be provided by the authorities.

World T/Table Tennis tourney: Nigeria pummels Bosnia-Herzegovina

igeria table tennis team, on Wednesday, showed the Super Eagles how to beat Bosnia-Herzegovina when the Segun Toriola-led side thrashed the European side 3-1 at the ongoing World Team Table Tennis Championship in Tokyo, Japan Toriola started the onslaught, while Aruna Quadri increased the tally to 2-0 but Ojo Onaolapo fell in the third game to put the game at 2-1. Like a true leader, Toriola rounded up the match with a win to give Nigeria a 3-1 win. However, the respite of the female team was thwarted yesterday when they were beaten 3-0 by Portugal in their fourth game. Out of the four matches played so far by the Funke Oshonaike-captained side, the team has lost three with the only win recorded against Italy on Tuesday. The team last group game will be against Turkey on Thursday. But the male team has done creditably winning three out of its four matches with the only defeat, which they suffered against Czech Republic. The team will also on Thursday battle Canada in their bid to gain promotion to the elite division. Meanwhile, victory over the Slovak Republic on the first day of play but defeats against China and DPR Korea meant that Romanian trio of Daniela Monteiro Dodean, Elizabeta Samara and Bernadette Szocs, success against Austria was vital in their Women’s Championship Division contest.

he Executive Governor of Abia State, Chief Theodore Orji on Tuesday poured encomiums on the President of Nigeria Football Federation Alhaji Aminu Maigari, on the latter’s leadership style and several accomplishments in the past four years in office. He said, “I must praise your leadership style, which has been commended by several leading stakeholders of the game in Nigeria, Africa and the world, and it is obvious that your style is working. “Our country has never had it so good on and off the field of play. “Your administration has achieved so much within its less-than-four years in office, with triumphs at the FIFA U-17 World Cup and the Africa Cup of Nations having been followed by qualification for the FIFA World Cup.” Speaking earlier, the NFF President commended the efforts of Governor Orji and his administration for the giant strides in football development, particularly the sponsorship of three top clubs in the country: Enyimba FC and Abia Warriors in the Nigeria Professional Football League, and Abia Toriola and morountoun Comets in the Nigeria National League.

NATIONAL CONFERENCE

Sanctity of Truth

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Louis Achi Abuja

he massive security lock-down of Abuja, underway, ahead of the May 7-9 World Economic Forum (WEF), has forced the adjustment of National Conference committees work-plans and adjournment of sittings. Speaking with New telegraph yesterday, Mr. James Akpandem, Assistant Secretary, Media and Communications of the National Conference clarified that some of the confab delegates

NEWS 55

World Economic Forum disrupts confab

l Committees adjust work-plans, adjourn sittings were going to participate at the World Economic Forum. He further explained that many delegates lodging at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel would have to yield their accommodations to priority

international WEF participants. According to him, part of the Central Area, Abuja, would be cordoned off due to security imperatives, adding that to ensure some unifor mity, it

would be illogical to allow some unaffected confab delegates continue working while others affected by disruptions occasioned by WEF cannot synergise appropriately. Akpandem also con-

L-R: Acting DG of National Pension Commission, Mrs. Bola Ogunrinmade; Mrs. Chinelo Anohu-Amazu; Comrade Joe Oke Odumakin and Com. Lycil Offiong after a briefing on the operations of the National Pension Commission before the Committee on Civil service, Labour,Youth and Sports of the National Conference in Abuja…yesterday PHOTO: TIMOTHY IKUOMENISAN.

firmed that the conclusion date for committees submission of their reports has been shifted to May 15 to accommodate the WEF disruption. Meanwhile, the Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Frank Mba, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja yesterday that security had also been beefed up at the proposed venue of the forum. Mba said that adequate security arrangements had been made at the designated hotels and guest houses where the delegates would be accommodated. “We will ensure that the participants at the summit get the best in terms of security. “The first thing we have done is actually to strengthen the security at all the gateways to the nation. “This is predicated on the fact that the conference is an international summit and that a lot of dignitaries will be coming from outside Nigeria.”

PenCom bars non-contributing states from borrowing Lateef Ibrahim Abuja

tate governments which are not contributing to the Pension Commission (PenCom) scheme would no longer be allowed to borrow or float bonds based on accrued savings from the commission. The Acting DirectorGeneral of PenCom, Mrs Chinelo Anohu Amazu disclosed this when she appeared yesterday before the Civil Society, Labour and Sports Committee of the National

Louis Achi Abuja

enhancement of Terargeting energy security and powdiversification options

in the country, the federal government has revealed it is fast-tracking development of coal resources and construction of coal-fired plants under its Coal-toPower initiative. This position was expressed by the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Arc. Musa Mohammed Sada who briefed the National Conference Committee on Energy, at the NICON Luxury Hotel, Abuja venue of the com-

Conference in Abuja. PenCom, Anohu Amazu pointed out, has over the last decade moved from a N2 trillion deficit to a growing asset of over N4 trillion. She maintained that it is morally wrong for some states who have failed to buy into the new pension reform to now float bonds seeking to borrow money from the PenCom fund and depriving other participating states of benefiting from same. In her words, “What we are saying is that

no state will be allowed to float bond or borrow from a pension fund if such a state is not participating in the scheme. “If you are not contributing into the fund, whose fund would you want to borrow from?” The New Telegraph gathered from impeccable sources at PenCom that only 23 states out of the 36 states of the federation and Federal Capital Territory have so far domesticated the pension reform law in their domains. Mrs Anohu Amazu,

however, suggested that money meant for the payment of pension should be released directly to the pensioners instead of lodgement in an account which, in most cases, is prone to abuse. She explained that the next focus of investment by PenCom, apart from bonds, would be Real Estate and infrastructure. The PenCom boss appealed to the committee to beam its searchlight on non-remittance of contributions of workers by their employers. She pointed out that

the misunderstanding of the workings of PenCom in some quarters has led the management to start public enlightenment and opening up of offices nationwide. She explained that in the ten years of the contributory pension scheme, there has been no single corruption incident. According to her, “It is imperative that you do something to stop corruption before you go after those who have corruptly enriched themselves.

Govt fast-tracking coal power generation – Minister mittee’s meeting. Sada who was summoned by the Committee on Energy, revealed that 22 coal fields spread over 18 states with total estimated reserves of 2.7 billion tonnes with 650million tonnes proven, exists in Nigeria. The states include Enugu, Ebonyi, Anambra, Abia, Imo, Delta, Edo, Ondo, Kogi, Nasarawa, Gombe, Adamawa, Plateau, Kwara, Borno, Bauchi, Sokoto and Benues. Quoting World Bank sources, the mines and

steel development boss stated that, “The proportion of electricity generated from coal resources in the world is 42 per cent as against 5 per cent for oil, 21 per cent for natural gas, 15 per cent for hydro, 14 per cent for nuclear and 3 per cent from other renewable sources.” According to him, “USA generates about 50 per cent of its electricity from coal, 21 per cent from natural gas and 18 per cent from nuclear. China, a reputed industrial nation generates

about 80 per cent of its power from coal and just 1 per cent from natural gas. “South Africa generates almost 95 per cent of its power from coal resources alone. Nigeria with the least power generation amongst the listed countries relies on about 65 per cent natural gas and 28 per cent hydro. “This is why Nigeria must join the rest of the world in the coal-topower project to speedily improve its per capita electricity production from 156KWh to much

higher values s in China (2,488KWh), South Africa (5,444KWh), or at least India (714KWh).” In further elaboration, Sada stated that value chain benefits accruable to host states and communities from coal mining are immeasurable. “Coal for energy is a relatively low cost investment. Low-cost electricity will promote employment opportunities, industrial and economic development by attracting new business and help to sustain existing ones,” he said.

Confab committee proposes 65 years retirement age for civil servants Lateef Ibrahim Abuja

he Mrs. Ebele OkekeTcommittee led Public Service of the Na-

tional Conference Committee has recommended an increase of retirement age of civil servants to 65 years or 40 years in service. Under the present civil service rule, 60 years retirement age or 35 years in service is applicable. The committee chairman, Mrs. Okeke who disclosed this in an interview yesterday in Abuja, said it was also proposed that the labour laws should remain on the exclusive list in the constitution. Her words, “We also recommended that the labour laws should remain on the exclusive list in the constitution. From what we have understood, the laws protect those who have no voice. They protect the majority who are Nigerian workers because the states would like to pay them peanut”. Okeke, an engineer, explained that her committee also made a strong case for people living with disabilities. According to her, “We have suggested that they should be given consideration when there are vacancies. We have suggested a certain percentage for them.

Committee recommends removal of mineral proceeds from exclusive list Lateef Ibrahim Abuja

days seem to Bingetter await the oil producstates in the country

as the National Conference committee on Public Finance and Revenue has resolved that the monies accruing from sale of mineral resources should be removed from the exclusive list to the concurrent list. In the event of the resolution scaling through at the plenary session of the conference when debate commences on reports of the various committees, states where the resources are domiciled would begin to enjoy more proceeds from the resources. A member of the committee, Chief Edem Bassey, who confirmed this to newsmen in Abuja, added that the committee also agreed that there should be a distinction between the federation account and the federal government’s account.

World Record

On Marble Be a good person but don’t waste time to prove it.

Sanctity of Truth

– Manas Disoriya

w w w. new tel eg rap ho nl i ne. co m

The most career goals in Olympic football (female) is 11 and was achieved by Cristiane (Brazil) at the London 2012 Olympic Games match against Cameroon on 25 July 2012.

Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon and the truth – Buddha THURSday, MAY 1, 2014

N150

The challenge before Buhari N

o less a legitimate quest, General Muhammad Buhari’s desire to rule Nigeria again under a democratic setting is not in doubt. However ,what is doubtful is his strategy of trying to realize this ambition? Thrice a presidential candidate, one had expected Buhari to learn some lessons and avoid repeating mistakes of the past. Some great minds have argued that there is hope of finding a better way if only one can learn not to do things the way people do them who do not succeed. With all his experiences in our political space, has the lanky Daura born army General really been able to determine which bridge to cross and which to burn? It is therefore either that Buhari’s managers have been unfair to him or he has deliberately declined the flexibility needed to navigate the nation’s peculiar political terrain. That Buhari is not a corrupt man is long established but is that enough credential for him to climb a ladder which steps were nailed by corrupt persons? Has Buhari sincerely tried to really harness this huge potential knowing that downtrodden folks love it but the elites are not at ease with it? Has Buhari not allowed his detractors to hijack and dictate the tune of the music for him? Today in our political space, Buhari’s enviable political credential of incorruptibility has been successfully drowned by the dummy of his opponents that he is an Islamic bigot and a fundamentalist. There has not been any deliberate attempt by the General and his minders to correct the impression to the extent that it now sticks. It was therefore shocking to read on 17th April 2014, Buhari’s statement responding to the spokesman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olisa Metuh who had allegedly linked Buhari with the Boko Haram sect. The General asked Metuh to tender an unreserved public apology for linking him with the terrorist group. According to him, Metuh’s very serious allegations that his (Buhari) utterances were responsible for the current state of insecurity and terrorism bedeviling Nigeria were absolutely without basis. Suspecting that Metuh may have gotten his impression from one of his interviews, Buhari further explained, “I used the Hausa idiom “kare jini, Biri jini”, which according to him is a metaphor for a very tough fight but, like the Islamic fundamentalist toga they falsely put on me because they cannot impinge on my person and professional integrity, PDP apologists deliberately twisted this idiom to mean I called for violence”. Buhari should have known that politics is a game where truth and trust are very scarce commodities and should have been more tacti-

cal. That he even threatened to go to court makes the matter worse. I really sympathise with him because I do not see how going to court to interpret this Hausa idiom would help his already dented political image. Rather, this course will be otherwise because when arguments roll out from lawyers and the media capture them it would not be what a presidential candidate needs at the time. What the ex-military head of state needs which he has not been doing is actions that would help shore up his good intention for Nigeria as an incorruptible leader. Majority of the common people of this country, including this writer, desire an incorruptible leader like Buhari. However, the truth which stands like a light in the dark is that nobody can be President in today’s Nigeria not until he/ she has conquered the almighty elite class. To conquer them is herculean and it may involve working around them and not to be looking at them as thieves even though they are. Recent patriotic statements from Buhari on Boko Haram is perhaps the type of action that brings him out as having other qualities outside just being a “holyman” when it comes to tampering with public fund. The political elite, especially from the Muslim north, fall over each other for Buhari but not necessarily out of love and conviction but just to take advantage of his mass followership. Governors, senators, state and federal parliamentarians and other politicians all want to use his platform to enrich and elevate their political profiles but do very little to help grow his own. Though the constitution of Nigeria is very clear on how to be president through voting and with some measurable spread across the country, Buhari’s followers never concerned themselves about how to achieve it. That is why he had ignored some geo-political zones in the country during his campaigns. Ahead of 2015 presidential poll, Buhari’s managers and supporters, driven by selfish rather than patriotic interests, are already toying with the crazy idea of giving him a MuslimMuslim ticket. They continue to rationalize that what is important is quality of leadership. For somebody who is already battling to untangle himself from the fundamentalist toga to carry Muslim-Muslim ticket is clearly a swift way to failure.

Perhaps, at over 70 years of age Buhari can begin to consider a new status rather than presidential candidacy every four years. The accolade he received from a crosssection of Nigerians including President Goodluck Jonathan when he made his outstanding patriotic statement on terrorism recently could be an alluring prospect to him that there could also be satisfaction in statesmanship

Buhari

Perhaps, at over 70 years of age Buhari can begin to consider a new status rather than presidential candidacy every four years. The accolade he received from a cross-section of Nigerians including President Goodluck Jonathan when he made his outstanding patriotic statement on terrorism recently could be an alluring prospect to him that there could also be satisfaction in statesmanship. American theologian and preacher James Freeman Clarke once said that “The difference between a politician and a statesman is that a politician thinks of the next election and a statesman thinks of the next generation”. At 70 plus and as a former leader of this country, should Buhari be thinking of next election or next generation? Big question! Ohi Aligbe’s Big Task It is not often that government makes appointment and it is well received in public eye as a square peg in a square hole. The recent announcement of ace broadcaster Ohi Aligbe as the Group Public Affairs Manager of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is one of the very rare spot-on appointments. But Ohi should know he has taken a very difficult job. Why not, the most maligned corporate institution in Ni-

geria today is the NNPC. In the same vein, the most harried public officer today in this country is the Minister of Petroleum Diezani-Alison Madueke. It is Ohi’s task to manage the images of these two. Public opinion is strong that NNPC is an arrogant institution and that the minister in charge is an arrogant woman. It is Ohi who must bring his expertise to bear to change this perception; a difficult brief indeed. In newsrooms there is a saying that a friend in government is a friend lost. Please, may we not lose you and may the corruption in NNPC not consume you. Who is saying amen to this?

OmoBaba

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