Binder1tuesday, february 25,2014

Sanctity of Truth Facebook.com/newtelegraph

Tuesday, February 25, 2014 Vol. 1 No. 7

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Nigeria’s most authoritative newspaper in politics and business

Nigeria targets 13.27m Sanusi: Sack fever grips NSPMC officials tonnes of rice by 2018 Abdulwahab Isa, Obinna Odoh, Abuja

D

etermined to achieve full local production

of rice, the Federal Government said yesterday that it would vigorously target over 13.27 million CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

Abuja

D

ays after the suspension of the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam

Sanusi Lamido Sanusi,

by President Goodluck Jonathan, sack fever has gripped some top officials of the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC) Plc.

in Abuja.

Already, some of Sanusi’s loyalists in the firm are in panic mood over what could befall them in days ahead.

NSPMC is the Federal

Government firm saddled with the responsibility of producing banknotes, coins and security documents.

It was learnt that when CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

Jonathan: I have absolute powers to suspend Sanusi

lSanusi remains CBN gov lBorno gov’s comments on Boko Haram unfortunate lSilent on re-election plans lNo coverup on $20 billion ‘missing’ oil fund Etaghene Edirin and Temitope Ogunbanke

P

resident Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, declared that he has absolute powers to sus-

pend the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, without resort to the National Assembly.

He stated that he was only mandated to seek approval of the National

Assembly if he wanted to sack him.

The president, who spoke at the Presidential Media Chat in Abuja, said: “The President of Nigeria, by the virtue of the constitution, has the

absolute power to suspend the CBN governor. So, for President to remove anybody, the President must go through the Senate.

CBN, as the number one bank, is not even well defined in the Nigerian

oversight functions over CBN.” The president also noted that Sanusi was only suspended and not sacked, and may be asked to return to his position “today

constitution but the CBN law makes provision that appointing a Governor of CBN, Deputy Governors and Executive Directors, the President appoints and sends to the Senate but the President has

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

L-R: Osun State Deputy Governor, Mrs. Titi Laoye-Tomori; Governors Murtala Nyako (Adamawa); Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto); Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo); Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun); Gen. Muhammadu Buhari; Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso (Kano); former governor of Ogun State, Chief Olusegun Osoba; Governor Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti); and the Interim National Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Bisi Akande, acknowledging cheers from a mammoth crowd of party faithful after their meeting at the Lekan Salami Sports Complex, Adamasingba, Ibadan... yesterday

AT A GLANCE

INSIDE

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FG still ready for talks with Boko Haram Page 5

Shuttle campaign: President Jonathan criss crosses the country ahead of 2015 elections Page 13 & 16

$1.8 billion investments threatened as national grid weakens Page 25

Brazil 2014: Anichebe bags Keshi’s red card Page 51

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Lagos

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Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Buhari, APC governors in Ibadan, vow to tackle unemployment UNACCEPTABLE The current level of unemployment danger to stability.

Sola Adeyemo, Ibadan

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ational leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) converged on Ibadan, Oyo State capital on Monday to chart the way forward on how to address the problem of youth employment bedevilling the nation, which, according to them, is responsible for her inability to match up with the advanced nations of the world.

The occasion was the first Progressive Governance Lecture series of the Progressive Governors Forum held at the Civic Centre, Idi Ape, Ibadan.

Present were the national leader of the APC, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, who was repre-

sented by former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mallam Aminu Bello Masari, the APC Acting National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, former Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) presidential candidate, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), Governors Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo), Rochas Okorocha (Imo), Aliyu Wamako (Sokoto), Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Rabiu Musa Kwakwanso (Kano), Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Rauf Aregbesola (Osun), who was represented by his deputy, Mrs Titi-Laoye Tomori, Chief Olusegun Osoba, as well as the Oyo State deputy governor Chief Alake Adeyemo.

Others included deputy governors of Kwara and Borno, APC Acting Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Pastor Tunde Bakare, Senator Femi Ojudu, Senator Gbenga Ashafa, Oyo State

Speaker, Hon. Monsurat Sunmonu, among others.

Okorocha, Chairman, Progressive Governors Forum, in his opening

speech of “Visioning Progressive Governance: Introducing Progressive Governance Lecture Series”, lamented the un-

employment rate in the country, saying, “the current unemployment situation in Nigeria is unacceptable, and is a danger

or tomorrow” if cleared of allegations against him.

“Sanusi is still the Governor of CBN and people must know that is why there can never be a substantive Governor until the issue is sorted out.

Sanusi can come back tomorrow to continue his work because the issues raised are from the Board of CBN with the Financial Reporting Council; the authority that has power to look into the financial transaction of CBN. “The issue of suspension and removal are very different. Sanusi is still the CBN governor,” he said.

He promised to prosecute Sanusi if he is found guilty of the allegations.

“If Sanusi has no case to answer, how will you prosecute somebody who has no case?” he asked.

The panellist that interviewed the president included Bolaji Tunji, the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of New Tele-

graph; Imoni Amarere of African Independent Television (AIT); Grace Ekpo of Wazobia FM, Abuja and Goodluck Nnaji of Blaze FM, Oraifite in Anambra State.

Jonathan, who described the suspension of the governor of the apex bank as unfortunate, further stated that as the president of the country, he had oversight functions over the apex bank, and must approve everything the bank does.

Jonathan also noted that the CBN cannot effect any change on the nation’s currency, the naira, without consulting or getting his approval.

He said the CBN governor is not part of another country, but responsible to him and other Nigerians, even as he noted that Section 152 of the Nigerian Constitution is not clear on the CBN. “CBN is not even registered in the Nigerian Constitution. If you look at Section 152 of the Constitution, it talks about

C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 3

President Goodluck Jonathan (center); his deputy, Namadi Sambo (fourth left); His Majesty, King Dr. Edward Asiminie William of Bonny Kingdom (third right), and other monarchs during the visit by the chiefs and elders of Bonny at the Presidential Villa, Abuja... yesterday

N30.178bn The total import value of other nuts, fresh or dried in the second year of 2013.

Source: National bureau of statistics

129,810

136

The size of Sudan (in sq. km.), the largest country in Africa.

Source: worldfactsandfigures.com

The highest temperature of El Aziza (in deg. F) in the African country.

Source: worldfactsandfigures.com

Sanusi remains CBN governor, says Jonathan CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

to the social, economic and political stability of Nigeria. It also impacts negatively on our ambi-

executive bodies, like Federal Character Commission, Civil Service Commission, Judicial Service Commission, about 14 of them; the Code of Conduct clearly defines that the President appoints but the Senate must clear.

“So, if somebody tells you that CBN is a different country, it is not true because for the CBN Governor to change the colour of the Naira, the President must approve. And what happens for the CBN account because normally, you audit the CBN, you must publish it and after auditing the CBN account, President must accept that that audit report is right.”

According to him, Sanusi was only asked to step aside to allow investigations into allegations made against him to be carried out, and explained that Sanusi was accused of certain irregularities in the Bank’s 2012 audit report.

The president noted that Sanusi could not pre-

side over his own investigation, hence the need for him to step aside.

“Sanusi has just stepped aside. But immediately the CBN Board and the Financial Reporting Council sort out these grey areas and if it does not affect him, he (Sanusi) can come back to do his work.”

On why he waited this long to suspend Sanusi if the action was based on the 2012 audit report of the bank, Jonathan said while the report was submitted in February 2013, there had been correspondence between the Presidency and the apex bank, which only culminated in the suspension of Sanusi recently.

He also stated that there is no appropriate time to carry out the action, as government had to be careful that such an action does not affect the economy in any negative way. “There is no time that is inappropriate to suspend anybody,” Jonathan said.

He further explained that there are statutory bodies that had to review the report, among them the Financial Reporting Council.

According to him, he had to issue a presidential order for the 2013 audit to be carried out, because review of the 2012 report had not been concluded.

He said: “I am not an accountant and even if I am the best accountant in Nigeria, there are statutory bodies that are meant to do their works. So, I have to send the audit report to the Financial Reporting Council and it is their opinion that counts, not the opinion of the President.

“The first reports that came to me, issues were raised and based on issues raised, I raised a query to the CBN Governor that Financial Reporting Council raised these issues, you need to explain. The governor wrote back and responded to those issues raised in the query. I sent CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

TODAY’S WEATHER FORECAST ABUJA

39o 23o Sunny

PORT HARCOURT

33o 23o Thunder Storm

KANO

37o 14o Sunny

ENUGU

36o 24o Partially Cloudy

IBADAN

34o 25o Partially Cloudy

CALABAR

34o 23o Isolated Storm

MAIDUGURI

39o 19o Sunny

ONITSHA

34o 24o Isolated Storm

NEWS

Sanctity of Truth

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

3

Jonathan blames Obasanjo, Anenih over neglect of Rivers road FAILURE President argues the road could have been completed in their years in office.

Anule Emmanuel

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resident Goodluck Jonathan yesterday accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Tony Anenih, for the abandonment of the Bodo-Bonny road project in Rivers State.

The President, who hosted elders and traditional rulers from the Bonny area of the state at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said that if the former president and former Works Minister had done five kilometres of the road

annually, within the eight years they were in power, “the project would have gone far”.

The Bodo-Bonny road project was first awarded 11 years ago under the Obasanjo administration before it was cancelled.

Responding to the requests by the leader of the delegation, King of Bonny Kingdom, King Edward Asimini William Dappa Pepple 111, Jonathan said: “ We will see how to work with the people of Bonny to improve on the development of the area.

“You need more social amenities so that the people will have what it takes to live a normal life. On the Bonny road project, it is almost like the story of the East-West road that was awarded without proper planning. We will ask the management of the NDDC to see to it.”

Buhari, APC governors in Ibadan, vow to tackle unemployment CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

tions as a country: after all, how can Nigeria, with over 20 million youths who have no jobs and and millions of others wasting away, claim that we want to be a major power in the comity of nations?

“That claim would be laughable if not tragic because we come across as refusing to empower youths on whose shoulders will rest the task of taking Nigeria to the next level. We can no longer remain insensitive to issues around unemployment and the crises of governance in Nigeria”.

Okorocha stressed the vision of the APC to “proactively change Nigeria through responsive governance that will stimulate political and socioeconomic growth ad development of Nigeria and guarantee citizens’ well-being”.

In the governance lecture delivered by Dr. Ayo Teriba entitled: ‘Nigeria’s High Growth-High Unemployment paradox’, he noted that “As

Nigeria’s growth surged in the past one and a half decades, unemployment rate has increased threefold. Elected officials have been unable to translate growth to increased employment, largely because they have left the task of fiscal and monetary policy arrangement in the hands of appointees in who have inadvertently made policy choice that have weakened growth, constrained domestic demand, and worsened the employment rate”.

Teriba was, therefore, of the advice that if Nigeria would make democratic governance a tool for delivering economic tangible and enduring economic benefits in the future, Nigeria needs to make monthly employment data available before the end of each month, fix rail transportation, rethink fiscal policy refocus monetary policy, and ensure that elected officials accept responsibility for policy formulation and coordination”.

“I thank you Royal Majesty and the chiefs, many of whom I have interacted with before, for what you have done for us and for what you will continue to do for us. We show our appreciation. About the Bonny road project, if the previous governments

had been doing it five kilometres a year, by now, we would have gone far.”

“That was during former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s regime. That was when Chief Tony Anenih was Minister of Works. If we have been moving five kilometres

a year from that time to now, by now, we would have gone far.”

The President explained that with the conclusion of reassessment of the project, the road is about to be re-awarded.

“This time, nothing will stop it until it is

concluded. I won’t want to bore you with details of the lapses in the first procurement of the Bodo Bonny road, why the contract didn’t hold was because there were major lapses. It is almost like the story of the East West CONTINUED ON PAGE8

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (right); exchanging pleasantries with former Federal Commissioner for Works and Housing, Alhaji Femi Okunnu (SAN), shortly after a meeting with the members of the Lagos Confab Committee at the Lagos House, Ikeja, Lagos…yesterday. With them is Prince Rabiu Oluwa

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196

The number of countries without a sq. km. of water globally.

Source: worldfactsandfigures.com

The number of countries in the world (including Taiwan).

Source: factmonster.com

192 The number of countries that are members of the United Nations.

Source: factmonster.com

Sanusi: Sack fever grips NSPMC officials CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Sanusi’s suspension was announced by presidential spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati, last Thursday, some of the senior workers started discussing the implication and the likely follow-up changes that may occur in top hierarchy of the Mint.

Sanusi was the board chairman of NSPMC. A senior staff of Mint, who relayed prevailing atmosphere to our correspondent, revealed that the top management hierarchy was caught in the prevailing anxiety.

This, he said, was because the present Acting Managing Director (MD), Nuhu Bamali, a former Director, has been acting in the capacity of the MD in the last 15 months since the former MD, Mr. Ohi Ekomoyon, was sacked by the board of NSPMC on ac-

count of missing currency notes in the Lagos plant.

Ekomoyon, along with the Executive Director, Operations, Lagos factory, Des Isibor; and Head, Security Control of the Lagos factory, Clement Evarue, were sacked in 2012 over allegations of N2 billion stolen from the Lagos plant.

A source said Bamali has outlived the mandatory six months in acting capacity.

In fact, he has been acting in that capacity for 15 months.

Another insider told our correspondent that apart from the acting MD, two other Directors are due for retirement in November as they would be serving out their five years tenure.

They are Mr. Ibrahim M. Babayo, the Executive Director (ED) Financé and Strategy/Chief Finance

Officer and Mr, Mohammed G. Umar, ED operations.

However, he said they are eligible for another five years tenure renewal.

According to the source: “When the news of Sanusi’s suspension was broken on Thursday, you need to be in our plant here to feel the instant reaction it evoked. The guys from the northern part were downcast while those from the south were in an elevated mood. I think some guys from the south are probably of the opinion that with new CBN governor from their zone, the next MD for NSPMC is likely to be someone from their side. If you recall that the former MD was sacked by the Sanusi-led NSPMC board and the man is from the South.

“You should also know that the acting MD has

functioned in that capacity for 15 months as against six months. In fact, two directors are due for retirement this November.”

But the Media Adviser to Mint, Mr. Obi Abiele, denied, in a phone conversation with our correspondent, that Sanusi’s suspension evoked any special atmosphere at the plant factory.

Rather, Abiele said the mint complex was calm.

He said Bamali was boosting the staff morale and work, both in Lagos and Abuja plants, “is going unhindered”.

Abiele said: “Everywhere is calm and I think the scenario you are describing now is a perception problem of few staff.

The Acting MD is boosting staff morale and as I’m talking to you now, work is going on, both in Lagos and Abuja plants”.

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NEWS

Sanctity of Truth

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Why budget passage may be stalled, by Reps LACUNA Budget passage may have to wait over communication gap Philip Nyam,

Abuja

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he House of Representatives yesterday expressed fear that the seeming absence of harmony between the Budget Office and ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of government may hamper the early passage of the 2014 appropriation bill.

Chairman of the House committee on Finance, Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin (APC, Kano) disclosed this at the ongoing budget defence with MDAs in the ministry.

Jibrin made the assertion after revelations by Nigerian Maritime Administration and Security Agency (NIMASA) and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) before the committee that the agencies were not consulted by the budget office before submitting revenue projections for them to the committee.

He said: “The 2014 budget appears to have a lacuna and is therefore not realistic. Going by what we

have just heard, it shows that the budget may only accumulate debts.

“The budget office submitted a document for revenue projections for the 2014 budget, but here are some of the agencies saying no.

For instance, the budget office projected the revenue of FAAN as N17.2 billion but FAAN is saying they projected N56 billion with a view to remitting N500 million. During the fiscal year,” Jibrin observed.

The finance committee chairman also questioned the existence of a gap between the budget provisions and remittances of some of the MDAs and wondered why MDAs expend money that they were supposed to remit.

“Why will you spend without remitting? Your action is in breach of the laws of the land. We have to find ways out of this. Over the years the pattern of generation and remittances take the same pattern.

Why? The whole thing looks like some arranged figures,” Jibrin stressed.

Jibrin, therefore directed that some of the agencies including NIMASA that spent without recourse to appropriation to go and review their submissions and reflect their actual remittances.

He drew their attention

to a directive by the ministry of finance that all MDAs must remit 25 per cent of their earnings as gross revenue to cut costs and insisted that when representing their submission, they should indicate where they got the authority to incur expenditures without appropriation.

Earlier, director in charge of Business Development, Mr. Adeniyi Balogun who represented the

MD had told the committee that the agency was “before 2011 not able to remit by way of surplus, because it didn’t receive subvention at all from the federal government.”

He justified FAAN’s contentious 2014 revenue projection on the basis that it will be gross revenue as the organisation “depends solely on internally generated revenue.”

In his presentation,

the Executive Director in charge of Finance and Administration, NIMASA, Haruna Baba, explained that the basis of the organisation’s contribution to federal coffers depends on the revenue they collect. “Whatever we generate, we take out 30 per cent for maritime infrastructure. Which we spend after an appropriation by the National Assembly,” he said.

Although, it has a backlog unaudited account for six years, NIMASA, which was given until March to do so, said its remittances, including that of this year, is N21.4 billion.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) are expected to take their turn with the committee today (Tuesday).

L-R: Deputy Editor (Abuja), New Telegraph, Mr. Louis Achi; Deputy Managing Director, Mr. Ike Abonyi; Zonal Head, First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Plc, Mr. Akinkolapo Akinwumi; Managing Director, New Telegraph, Mr. Bolaji Tunji; Branch Manager, FCMB, Amina Yaqub; Managing Editor (North), Mr. Suleiman Bisalla; Relations Manager, FCMB, Ifeoma Nebo; Advert Manager, Mr. Taiwo Ahmed; and Assistant Advert Manager, Mr. Suleiman Bappa, during a meeting of the management of the newspaper and the management of FCMB in Abuja… yesterday.

PHOTO:TIMOTHY IKUOMENISAN

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0

The lowest temperature of Vostok (in deg. F) in Antarctica.

Source: worldfactsandfigures.com

2:1

The number of countries in the continent of Antarctica.

Source: worldfactsandfigures.com

The ratio of the total population of Katsina State to the total population of Abia State.

Source: National population commission

‘Saraki will lose Nigeria’s unity not negotiable –Anenih hegemony in 2015’ Ayodele Ojo

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former Chief Whip, Kwara House of Assembly, Chief Iyiola Oyedepo, yesterday said the results of the 2015 general elections would mark the end of Saraki’s hegemony in the state politics.

Oyedepo, who is also a staunch member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), made the observation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ilorin.

He said that the party had become ``a unity rally`` and indivisible entity to flush out the long reign of Saraki in the state.

Oyedepo described the dream of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to perpetrate itself in power

in Kwara as a ``dream that cannot come to reality``.

“The APC in Kwara are in day dream of continuation in power over the rest of us as positive changes will be witnessed in Kwara,’’ he said.

The former Chief Whip said that the federal machinery that Saraki was employing to win elections was no more at his disposal.

According to Oyedepo, the 2015 elections will be based on popular votes which Saraki cannot sustain.

“Whatever has the beginning must have an end; let us begin to celebrate the post-Saraki era in Kwara,” he said.

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hairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Tony Anenih, has stated that Nigeria’s unity is not negotiable even in the face of the current challenges.

Anenih made the call in an address he delivered yesterday at the Southern Leaders’ Summit held in Calabar, Cross River.

He called on Nigerians to support President Goodluck Jonathan in the governance of the nation and to face the challenges created by Boko Haram, the global economic recession and unrest.

Nigerians’ support, he said, will keep the country united.

His words: “The unity

of this country is not negotiable. We must acknowledge the uncommon leadership the President has exhibited in the face of these challenges. Unfortunately, some Nigerians do not see any good in the present administration.

This perception should be killed.”

The summit was convened to articulate Southern Nigeria’s positions at the forthcoming National Conference.

The former Minister of Works commended the initiative, which he said, had been widely accepted.

Anenih said: “The response to the National Conference Committee was quite remarkable; so also is the widespread pre-National Conference Dialogue that is going on

among various groups across the country.

“I commend President Jonathan for his sagacity in giving Nigerians this golden platform to examine areas of concern about the Nigerian federation and find common solutions to those problems that have constituted a hindrance to our evolutionary journey to nationhood.

“I am convinced that the National Conference will strengthen the bonds of unity, the fabric of our federalism and the pillars of our nationhood. The unity of this great nation is not negotiable.

“It is gratifying that different groups – nationalities, civil society organisations, faith-based organisations and academic institutions – are crystal-

lising their positions and preparing well-thoughtout proposals for the National Conference.

“This Southern Leaders’ Summit is, surely, one of the pre-Conference fora which, hopefully, will identify areas of common interest to the States of the South.”

While lamenting the inability Southern states to present a common front, Anenih believed that the summit would provide a platform to identify common concerns.

According to him, “there is no doubt that there are many concerns which they share and need to identify at a platform such as this. Our Northern counterparts have been known to work together as a united front.

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Sanctity of Truth

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Confab: Lagos names reps, demands more revenue allocation Muritala Ayinla

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overnor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State yesterday presented the six-man delegation that would represent the state at the upcoming National Conference.

Fashola said the direction the country is heading requires elders who have wealth of experiences to help it forge ahead, adding that the three Senatorial districts and the ethnic spread in the state were put into consideration in the selection of the state’s delegates.

Fashola spoke while presenting the delegates, to be led by former Federal Commissioner for Works, Mr. Femi Okunnu at the State House, Alausa secretariat.

Fashola explained that the members of the delegation were selected based on their wealth of experience and disposition on issues affecting the state.

The other delegates are: Former AttorneyGeneral of the State, Mr. Olasupo Sasore; former aide to the Governor on Education, Prof. Tunde Samuel; Mr. Waheed Ajani; Mrs. Olufunmilayo Oshinowo-Balogun and a white cap Chief, Prince Rabiu Oluwa.

He charged the delegates to relate with other South-West state delegates. "See what the areas of common interest which can later be translated to national interest, and that can be presented at the conference.”

Responding on behalf of the delegates, Okunnu said, “At this conference, the grey areas which I hope we will have the opportunity to discuss on the position of Lagos state are: Revenue allocation, this is very central to Lagos.

“To allow independent candidacy during election; I believe that if anyone chooses not to belong to any political party, he or she can contest for election and can be voted for. We had it in Nigeria before. It was all modern system that wiped it out.

FG still ready to dialogue with Boko Haram –Jonathan INSURGENCY Door to talks with group still open, says govt Anule Emmanuel

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resident Goodluck Jonathan yesterday said that the federal government has not closed its door of dialogue with members of the Islamic sect, Boko Haram but will continue to open its arms for constructive and meaningful talks in order to

end the insurgency in some part of the North East.

The President stated this in Abuja when he declared open an International seminar on the Observance of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law in Internal Security Operations which held at the National Defence College.

The event was cohosted by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice and the Office

of the National Security Adviser (NSA).

President Jonathan called on members of the Boko Haram sect, to lay down their arms and table their grievances, if any, before government.

He explained that while waiting for the response from the sect, the military operations in the troubled areas would continue to safeguard lives and property. ``Our administration has committed tremendous resources

and adopted several approaches to prosecuting the fight against terror in Nigeria. ``The declaration of a state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States is one of the measures taken to contain the activities of the terrorists. ``The National Committee on Peace and Dialogue in the Northern parts of the country was constituted to explore ways of dialoguing with the boko haram sect with a view to addressing their grievances, if

any. ``I wish to use this platform to renew my previous call to members of the sect to lay down their arms and engage government in a constructive manner in order to address their grievances, if truly they have any reason to do what they are doing. ``However, while we are awaiting a positive response from the sect, it is important to note that government has the responsibility to protect the lives and property of our citizens.

Alleged N450m fraud: EFCC arraigns ex-banker

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President, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote (left) receiving a souvenir from the governor of Niger State, Dr. Mu'azu Babangida Aliyu, when he visited the governor at his residence in Minna.

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20,000

The number of colonies or terrorities in the world.

Source: factmonster.com

The number of colonies or terrorities in the world that are claimed by more than one country.

Source: factmonster.com

The number of tulip bulbs the Netherlands sends to Canada as thanks for their aid in the Second World War. Source: Inktank.fi

INEC to issue chip-based permanent voters' cards, says Jega Onyekachi Eze, Abuja

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hairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, said yesterday that plans had been concluded to issue duly registered voters' cards with chip-based permanent voters' cards (PVCs), which will be swiped with card readers in the 2015 elections.

This, he said, would ensure one hundred per cent verification and authentication of voters.

Jega’s disclosure came as his chief press secretary, Kayode Idowu, again cautioned politicians against early campaigns "Plans have been finalised to roll out a programme of CVR (Continuous Voter Register) nationwide. The

CVR offers fresh opportunity to get more citizens onto the electronic register ahead of 2015 general elections, as we have stopped using Addendum register for elections," the INEC chairman added.

He said the consolidation and de-duplication of biometric register of voters have been concluded, "as a result of which the register of vot-

ers now has tremendous integrity, much better than the one with which 2011 elections were conducted. Indeed, it compares favourably with any register of voters on the African continent."

Jega added that he had upgraded the women's desk he met when he assumed office to a full department, which is being manned by a deputy director.

he Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday, arraigned a former employee of Union Bank, Paul Onwughalu, before a Lagos state High Court sitting in Ikeja.

The suspect was arraigned on a one-count charge bordering on alleged failure to conduct due diligence in financial transactions.

According to a statement signed yesterday by the EFCC's spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, Onwughalu "allegedly failed to conduct due diligence in a mega scam that rocked the bank on 10 January, 2013 when some fraudsters hacked into its database and pulled out hundreds of millions of naira."

It was further alleged in the statement that "The accused allegedly failed to conduct due diligence on Dan Kawu Bureau De Change's account domiciled in Union Bank, before confirming and authorizing the payment of N450, 000,000 (Four Hundred and Fifty Million Naira) to the company."

The accused person, who was said to have pleaded "not guilty", was remanded in Kirikiri Maximum prison on the order of the trial judge, Justice S.S. Ogunsanya, who adjourned the criminal case till February 28, for trial.

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PHOTO-NEWS

L-R: Director of Forestry, Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development, Sunday Moradeyo, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development, Kunle Adeduntan; Head, Leaf Operations, British American Tobacco, Iseyin Agronomy, Thomas Omofoye and the General Manager, British American Tobacco Nigeria Foundation, Abimbola Okoya, at the donation of two motorcycles to the Ministry to enhance Forest Protection and Deforestation held at the Ministry of Agriculture in Ibadan.

Sanctity of Truth

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

L-R: Managing Director, Arik Air, Mr. Chris Ndulue; newly promoted Captain Amir Gaya and Captain Ado Sanusi, during the decoration of the newly promoted staff, at the Arik Air Headquaters, Murtala Muhammed Airport, in Lagos. PHOTO: ADEYANJU OLOWOJOBA

Wife of the Vice President, Hajia Amina Sambo (left) and the Wife of Jigawa State Governor, Hajia Amina Lamido during the closing ceremony of the National Quranic Competition in Dutse….

L-R: Managing Director, Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) Limited, Mr. Ben Langat; Dealer, NBC, Princess Ngozi Okpala; another NBC Dealer, Mrs. Raymond Akwumuka; and National Commercial Director, Nigerian Bottling Company Limited, Mr. Matthieu Seguin, at the 2014 NBC Commercial Convention in Lagos.

L-R: Managing Director/CEO, AVON HMO, Adesimbo Ukiri; Lead Consultant RainyLemon Limited, Abiodun Thorpe; Chief Executive Officer, 360 Nobs, Noble Igwe, and Director, Human Resources, Heirs Holdings, Owen Omogiafo, during the Social Media Week in Lagos.

L-R: Multi Choice Super Dealer, Mr. Kazeem Alase; Branch Coordinator South-west, Multi Choice, Mrs. Bukola Awofeso; Public Relation Manager, GOtv, Miss Efe Obiomah and Marketing Manager, GOtv, Mr. Dare Kafar during the GOtv launch event held at the Democracy Park in Akure, Ondo State.

L-R: Head, High Value Events and Sponsorships, Etisalat Nigeria, Ebi Atawodi; Senegalese music legend, Youssou N’Dour and Acting Chief Executive Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Matthew Willsher at the award ceremony of the inaugural Etisalat Pan African Prize for Literature which held at the Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.

L-R: Director, MTN Foundation, Dennis Okoro; Customer Relations Officer, MTN, Ugonwa Nwoye; Chief Marketing Officer, Larry Annetts, and Executive Secretary, MTN Foundation, Nonny Ugboma, at the Valentine concert, organized by MUSON, at Onikan, Lagos.

7

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Election rigging won’t work in 2015 - Saraki vigilanCe

Nigerians wont allow electoral malpractice, ex-gov. warns Biodun Oyeleye Ilorin

F

ormer Governor of Kwara State, Dr. Bukola Saraki, has warned election riggers to look elsewhere as election rigging will not work in 2015.

According to him, if

the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is relying on security personnel to influence the outcome of the 2015 polls, the party should devise another strategy as people will stand by their votes in the forthcoming general elections in the country, just as they did in Edo State.

Saraki, who spoke with newsmen in Ilorin, Kwara state, opined that the political calculations in the country have been changed from what they

used to be as in 1999, saying from the example of what happened in Edo state, where Governor Adams Oshiomole was re-elected, despite serious opposition from the PDP, it should be clear to politicians that the tactics of old can no longer work in the present time.

“What people don’t understand is that Nigeria of 2014 is different from the past; people are more aware of happenings in the political circle and the level of

commitment is different. I always say if you believe the tactics used in 1999 are what you intend to use in 2014, you are wrong. You could see what happened in Edo state; no matter the agenda, people guarded their votes you will see what will happen in Ekiti and Osun states; people would come out to vote and defend it and any security agents that come would naturally align with where the people are”, he stated.

Suspension: Nasarawa depty gov shuns public functions Godwin Ojoshimite Lafia

A

fter returning from the United States of America, where he attended a Christian conference, Nasarawa State Deputy Governor Dameshi Luka Barau has been absenting himself from public function, the latest one being the foundation stone laying of the model hospital in Lafia yesterday.

The deputy governor's action may not be unconnected to his suspension from the All Progressive Congress (APC).

The event, which was attended by all executive government functionaries in state, had the deputy governor's seat vacant.

Speaking at the event,

Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura said the planned model hospital was informed by overstretching of Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital (DASH) in Lafia.

The governor added that on completion of the new model hospital, it would be furnished with the state-of-the-art facility to enable it compete favourably with other hospitals around the world.

He also said the hospital would be built to accommodate 21 departments and 160 beds in order to accommodate more patients than the DASH. Al-Makura added that the new model hospital would go a long way in reducing 'medical tourism' abroad.

Violence: 400 Nigerians Trapped in Cameroun borders Ibrahim Abdul Yola

A Vice Chancellor ,Federal University of Technology, Akure ,FUTA, Prof. Adebiyi Daramola and the Deputy Vice Chancellor Development ,Prof. Tolulope Akinbogun (middle) with some students at the venue of the orientation programme for fresh students of the institution.

Ekiti South set to grab PDP ticket Adesina Wahab Ado-Ekiti

F

ollowing the decision by the former Police Affairs Minister, Navy Capt. Caleb Olubolade to join the governorship race and the insistence of the former Governor, Ayo Fayose for party primaries, the People’s Democratic Party leaders in Ekiti South are now desperately working to produce a consensus candidate to face others in the event of a PDP primary.

Sources told New Telegraph in Ado-Ekiti on Monday that the step by the PDP leaders in Ekiti South Senatorial District is aimed at preventing the area from losing out completely in the race.

To achieve this, the elders have set up a sevenman panel to arrive at a consensus candidate from the zone within one week.

“If the committee fails to arrive at a consensus, all the aspirants are free to pursue their ambitions individually”, they stated.

The panel, which has its members drawn from across the state, has Mr Olatunde Adetifa as the chairman. Other members include, Femi Ogunleye, Hon. Titi Akidahunsi, Hon. Femi Robinson, exDeputy Governor Tai Lawal, Hon. Samuel Adeyemi and former Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Hon Kola Adefemi.

Aspirants from the zone include Senator Gbenga Aluko, Prince Dayo Adey-

eye, Chief Biodun Aluko, Rt Hon. Femi Bamisile, Chief Bisi Omoyeni, Rt Hon. Tunji Odeyemi, Mr Bimbo Owolabi, Ambassador Dare Bejide, Senator Bode Olowoporoku, Chief Ropo Ogunbolude and Mrs Biodun Olujimi.

Apart from Olubolade and Fayose, other aspirants from Ekiti North and Central Senatorial Districts are Otunba Gbenga Olarewaju, Senator Ayo Arise, Hon. Wale Aribisala, Dr Peter Obafemi among others.

The committee is to scrutinize the credentials of all the aspirants and come up with a candidate that would have the backing of other aspirants that would be able to defeat the duo of Fayose and

Olubolade in any primary.

It was gathered that the coming of Olubolade has raised the stake as some are touting him as the 'anointed' candidate of the Presidency. The former Minister has a close relationship with President Goodluck Jonathan.

Also, Fayose, who has always insisted on fair and free primary, recently challenged others to form a united front against him at the primary.

Olubolade's resignation from the Federal Executive Council has caused confusion in the party with some aspirants suspecting that he must have enlisted the support of the President before taking the bold step.

s African countries continued to repatriate their citizens from the Central African Republic, where continuing violence has led to deteriorating human conditions, over 400 Nigerians are now trapped in Kentzou town in the eastern part of Cameroon.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees had earlier disclosed that over 9,000 people, including Nigerians, had fled to Cameroon in the last 10 days to escape violence in the Central African Republic.

Speaking in a telephone interview some trapped Nigerians appealed to the Federal Government to come to their aid, as over 400 Nigerians are now trapped in Kentzou town of Detua province.

One of the victims, Muhammadu Musdafa said “There is a high risk of cholera and other public health issues. Living conditions are precarious for us here, we are either hosted by impoverished local families or living in

mosques, a stadium or on the streets”, adding that most countries have now decided to bring home their citizens.

Another fleeing Nigerian, simply identified as Dauda, said they fled because of confrontations between the former Seleka and anti-Balaka militiamen in the CAR’s capital, Bangui. He said the fights were also in other towns in the north-west such as Bour, Baboua, Beloko and Cantonnier.

He said some also fled from intense fighting in the areas of Berberati, Carnot, Baoro and Gambala, while others fled because of fear that the anti-Balaka militiamen were advancing toward their areas.

Another female fleeing Nigerian that doesn’t want her name in print said they had also approached various authorities in Cameroon to assist as refugees were mainly women and children. ‘’They include pregnant women and over 50 people living with disabilities and in need of special attention,’’ she said.

8

NEWS

Sanctity of Truth

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

‘Shettima’s comments on Boko Haram unfortunate’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

it back to the Financial Reporting Council, this is the position from the CBN Governor; do you accept it. So, it took time before they could send it back to me. We have to do what we need to do to stabilise the system.”

On the missing $20 billion oil money, Jonathan stated that no responsible government will fold its arms and allow such huge amount of money disappear from its coffers, adding that government will get to the bottom of it.

“Nobody is covering anybody up,” he said.

Jonathan revealed that the planned National Dialogue will be inaugurated

by March 10, a week after the setting up of a secretariat, by appointment of the chairman, deputy chairman, and secretary which will be done on March 3.

He insisted that the conference is not being planned to prevent disintegration and shall not discuss it, as according to him “Nigeria will not disintegrate. We are not saying without the National Conference, Nigeria will break.”

He stated that he will not supervise the break-up of Nigeria, justifying the conference’s defined limits on discussable issues, adding that the result of the confab will not affect his administration significantly, as he had a short time left.

On the centenary anni-

L-R: Grace Ekpo of Wazobia FM; Imoni Amarere of African Independent Television (AIT); President Goodluck Jonathan; Goodluck Nnaji of Blaze FM; and Managing Director/ Editor-in-Chief, New Telegraph, Bolaji Tunji... yesterday

versary, Jonathan stated that for Nigerians to have stayed together for so long was worth celebrating and that many nations had broken up before attaining such feat.

He said that during the event, 100 Nigerians will be honoured, and that it was not an easy task selecting the beneficiaries from about 500 names that were submitted for honours award.

According to him, the government is not spending anything to develop the proposed Centenary City, as it would be funded by the private sector.

When asked if his recent trips to some traditional rulers, churches and party activities across Nigeria, was a prelude to his declaration to run for the presidency in 2015, the

Nigeria targets 13.27m tonnes of rice in 2018 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

tonnes of the product by 2018.

Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Ms Ibukun Odusote, stated this at a stakeholders’ workshop on Pilot Initiative for improved rice seed sector in Coalition for Africa Rice Development (CARD) in Abuja.

Odusote said Nigeria is sparing no efforts to grow the rice sector of the economy and achieve complete import substitution of milled rice sooner than later.

According to her: “The Ministry’s efforts are in tandem with the overall objective of CARD, through the NRDS, to al-

most quadruple rice paddy production in Nigeria from 3.4 million tonnes of paddy in 2007 to 13.27 milllion tonnes by 2018.

“The contribution of quality seed to total crop yield is 15-20%. Quality rice seed, therefore, increases productivity, and also helps to produce uniform paddy with attendant high milling recovery and better quality rice. In this vein, the importance of this workshop cannot be minimised”, the Permanent Secretary stated.

She expressed gratitude to the Japan International Cooperative Agency (JICA) for their support of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA)

president explained that his actions were only a manifestation of his party’s constitution which makes him leader of the party, even though he is he president of everybody.

“Even if I do not contest, I will like to lead my party to victory,” he said.

When pressed further if he will contest in 2015

or not, the president called on Nigerians to wait, that he would make his declaration at the appropriate time, even as he stated that there would always be issues whether he decided to contest or not.

On the onslaught of the Boko Haram sect in some parts of the North, he assured that all security forc-

es are involved in the war, and described the killings in that part of the country as “worrisome.”

The president described as erroneous recent comments attributed to Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima, that it appears the militants have upper hand in the war.

“If we pull-out the mili-

tary from Borno State, let us see if he will be able to stay in the Government House,” the president answered, emphasising the strength of the military operatives working in the state.

The president also promised to improve the power situation in the country.

Group backs call for reduction of LASU tuition fees Wale Elegbede

T

he Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL) has lend its support behind the plea for the reduction of the Lagos State University (LASU) tuition fees.

Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), a human rights lawyer had through a statement on Sunday made a plea to the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Fashola for a reduction in the institution tuition.

In a statement signed by its Executive Chairman, Mr. Debo Adeniran, he decried the inhumanity of the state govern-

ment to Lagosians with the hiked tuition, He said, “We have said it times without number that the anti-poor policies of the Lagos State government is having a bad effect on an average Lagosian.

Whatever warranted the hike in the tuition fees of Lagos State University is not tenable. Every policy of government must be given human face. The minimum wage of a Nigerian worker is a paltry N18, 000 whereas many Nigerians, by extension Lagosians, are living below $1 per day. How many of these people can afford to raise a tuition of N350,

000.00?

“It is so unfortunate that education is only for the children of rich in Nigeria while the unfortunate ones from poor families will have to stay outside no matter how intelligent they are. Many of our present leaders benefitted from the free education policies of the past leaders, some of them even benefited from scholarships to study abroad.

It is man inhumanity to man to take such opportunity beyond the reach of the indigent students. The truth remains that LASU is a government university run by tax payers’

money, hence it should serve the children of the have-nots.”

He stressed that Lagos State government is encouraging corruption by hiking its university’s tuition fee.

“Lagos State should realize that many anti-poor policies of the government have driven many civil servants into looting.

What the Lagos government is simply telling the civil servants who have their wards in LASU is that, they have to steal from government’s coffers to send their children to school if their salaries could not afford it.”

Jonathan blames Obasanjo, Anenih over neglect of Rivers road CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3

Road that was awarded without proper design and so with time, it got stuck.

We just had to come back and that is what happened to the Bodo Bonny Road, we are now going back to proper procurement, proper design, proper cost and this time, God willing, once we start, we will not stop again.

“Also, the Benin Link Road project, which is an

NDDC project, will take off with the new management of NDDC. We must ensure this project is followed up because Bonny needs this road,” he stated.

On the federal housing estate in Bonny which is being built through a Public Private Partnership (PPP) programme and which has stopped because of funds, the President assured the

elders that actions would be taken after the Supervising Minister of Housing, Mohammed Sada, briefs him and the Vice President next week He disclosed that the Federal Polytechnic, Bonny will kick off in September having been included in the 2014 budget while the National Board for Technical Education (NBTC) is set to appoint the Rector,

Registrar and other auxiliary staff for the institution.

King Asimini had told the President ‎that the Bonny-Bodo Road Project has been neglected by successive administrations since 1970s and that it was valued at N24 billion in 2002.

He said the project progressed satisfactorily in 2003 but was abandoned in 2006.

NEWS

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

9

Anti-Tinubu, Buhari posters flood Lagos, as youth groups reject APC Temitope Ogunbanke

A

head of 2015 general elections, some youth organisations have expressed their displeasure against the All Progressives Congress (APC), especially the directives by APC leaders to all the party’s members in the National Assembly to block the passage of 2014 budget.

Two youth organisations, Youth of All Nation (YOAN) and National Youth Force (NYF), which have been expressing their grievances against APC through anti-APC posters, that have flooded some parts of Lagos State, said they don’t have confidence in APC leaders, especially former Head of State, Gen. Muhammadu Bu-

hari and former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

The anti-APC posters pasted in some strategic places in Lagos urged Nigerians to reject APC and its tactics, stating that: “It is time to stop desperate power seekers that play politics with the future of our youth. Youth can no longer entrust their future in the hands of politicking leaders that are not reliable.”

President of Youth of All Nation, Mr. Babatunde Ifenuga, in a statement made available to journalists said that his group finds it absurd that the leadership of APC ordered its members at the National Assembly to block the passage of 2014 budget.

Oil rises to $110 as Libyan output drops

B

rent oil rose to $110 a barrel yesterday as some other risk assets decline on news of supply losses in Africa and expectations of revived oil demand growth.

Libyan oil output declined further over the weekend, falling to 230,000 barrels per day (bpd) on Sunday after a new protest shut the El Sharara field.

Before nationwide protests started in the middle of last year, Libyan oil production was closer to 1.4 million bpd.

"As long as the Libyan security situation is unstable, global oil prices will be buoyed," said Michael Poulsen, analyst at Danish consultancy Global Risk Management.

Brent crude was up 15 cents to $110 a barrel, after settling higher for a second straight week.

U.S. oil rose 25 cents to $102, after climbing for the sixth week in its longest winning streak in more than a year.

Oil markets also found

support from a fairly upbeat meeting of the world's top economies in Sydney.

The top economies announced a target of generating more than two trillion dollars in additional output over five years while creating millions of new jobs.

Oil demand tracks global economic growth closely.

"The outlook is momentarily positive for energy prices," said Michael McCarthy, chief strategist at CMC Markets.

"It is more the demand side of the equation. Reasonable global growth in oil demand is expected."

Investors are also keeping an eye on global political tensions and the potential for further disruption to oil exports.

In South Sudan, the capital of the main oilproducing Upper Nile region, Malakal, remains divided between the army and rebels, government officials say.

A Cross-section of young Medical Laboratory Scientist of Nigeria on a Peaceful Protest over non-implementation of the Direct Entry Point for Medical Laboratory Scientist at the Federal Secretariat, Abuja….yesterday. PHOTO:TIMOTHY IKUOMENISAN

Okada rider sentenced to death for murder END OF THE ROAD

For killing a member of the NYSC, a 26-year old man is to die by hanging Adesina Wahab Ado-Ekiti

A

n Ikere-Ekiti High Court has sentenced a commercial motorcyclist, Theophilus Pius, 26, to death by hanging for the murder of a member of the National Youth Service Corps, Anthonia Okeke, in 2008.

The trial judge, Justice Adegoriola Adeleye, also sentenced Pius to 10 years imprisonment for kidnapping Anthonia, which

SET BACK

Bid to sack defected PDP gonervors suffers set back in court

Tunde Oyesina Abuja

T

he absence of Justice Gabriel Kolawole of a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja yesterday stalled hearing in the suit filed by the People's Democratic Party, PDP, seeking to unseat Governor Rotimi Amaechi and four others who defected to the All Progressive

culminated in her death in the hands of ritual killers.

Delivering his judgement yesterday on the six-year-old case, Justice Adeleye said he found the evidence presented by the Director of Public Prosecutions from the State Ministry of Justice, Mr Adeleye Familoni against Pius as reliable enough to convince him that the accused person was guilty of the case.

"I want to submit that the Prosecution Counsel has been able to prove his case beyond reasonable doubt. He has been able to establish that the defendant is culpable and no criminal shall go unpunished in the face of

law," he said.

Applauding the judgment, Anthonia's elder brother, Mr Obinna Okeke, said the verdict had proven that those with criminal intentions would not have their ways as long as the government was determined to apply the relevant laws against them in a diligent manner.

Okeke, on behalf of the family, thanked the Ekiti State Ministry of Justice, the police, human rights groups and the National Youth Service Corps for their doggedness in the pursuit of the case.

Anthonia, a Chemical Engineering graduate of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, whose father,

Pa Raphael Okeke died in January 2014, owing to the circumstances of her disappearance, was kidnapped in Ilawe-Ekiti in Ekiti Southwest Local Government Area of Ekiti State on December 19, 2008

by Pius and his gang during her service year.

Anthonia, is from Umuno Ndiuno in Ezeagu Local Government of Enugu State.

The State DPP, Mr Familoni, said it was a victory against evil doers and those desirous of making money through fraudulent means, saying the Ministry would continue to help the society in tightening the noose on those with criminal tendencies in the state.

Judge’s absence stalls PDP’s suit to unseat Amaechi, others Congress (APC).

The other governors are Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara), Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso (Kano), Aliyu Wamako (Sokoto) and Muritala Nyako (Adamawa) The court had, at the last adjourned date, fixed yesterday for reports of service but for the absence of the judge, who New Telegraph learnt went for a workshop, the matter could not hold.

The Court however refixed tomorrow (Wednesday) for hearing but all the parties who were present in court said the day would not be convenient for them.

At the last adjourned date, all the five Governors informed the court that the court papers have not been served on them.

The court however asked them if the papers should be served on them

in the court, but they all rejected the service of court papers on them in the court room.

Their rejection was hinged on the ground that the plaintiff had failed to do the proper service allowed by law.

New Telegraph recalls that the PDP, through its counsel, Alex Izinyon SAN, had approached the court seeking to declare the seats of the five governors vacant.

10 NEWS

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Hoodlums clash in Ilorin over ‘rent’ control UNREST

Illegal toll from lotto operators sparks trouble

Biodun Oyeleye Ilorin

H

oodlums threw parts of Ilorin, the Kwara State capital into panic yesterday as they engaged each other in a violent clash. Unconfirmed reports claimed that the violence, which started on Sunday night,

might have claimed about two lives.

But Police spokesperson in the state, Mr. Okasanmi Ajayi, who confirmed the incident, denied any report of casualties. “I am not aware of any casualty yet,” he told our reporter on phone, adding that security men had been deployed to the trouble spots and had contained the situation. He however confirmed that one of the hoodlums was stabbed on Sunday night at the Post Office area of the state capital.

Areas most affected by the violence were, Edun, Emirs Road, Post-Office and neighbouring streets like Muritala, Offa Road, Taiwo Isale etc.

However, a source also spoke about seeing some hoodlums wielding cutlasses in a part of Kilanko area of Offa Garage, some kilometres from the epicentre of the crisis.

“People tried to avoid them as they moved towards the Sawmill in the area,” the source said, adding that one of the hoodlums who appeared

to be the leader was brandishing four new cutlasses. He said he counted about eight hoodlums.

Newspaper salesmen with distribution centres on Emirs road had their businesses disrupted as the armed hoodlums, riding on motorcycles, dashing riding into the vicinity and scaring residents.

Motorists and commuters who were caught in the conflict had a hectic time yesterday as they scampered for safety. Some abandoned their vehicles and only came back to

L-R: Director, Quality Assurance, Lagos State, Mr. Mathew Olayanju; Executive Director, Commance, Promasidor, Mr. Onyekachi Onubegu and Director General, National Mathematics Centre, Prof. Adewale Solarin during a Press Briefing on 2014 Cowbell National Secondary Schools Mathematics Competition, at the Lagos Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos...yesterday.

PHOTO: TONY EGUAYE

PDP youth group declares support for Jonathan, Adeyeye PRO-JONATHAN Group backs Jonathan for second term

Adesina Wahab Ado-Ekiti

Y

ouths in the Ekiti State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) under the aegis of the National Youth Vanguard, have declared their support for President Goodluck Jonathan’s second term bid and Prince Dayo Adeyeye’s governorship ambition.

The Youth Vanguard made this known in a letter dated February

3,2014, written to President Jonathan, entitled; “Declaration of support for your second term ambition and adoption of Prince Dayo Adeyeye as Ekiti PDP governorship candidate.”

The letter, which was signed by the state co-ordinator, Hon. Lawal Adegoke and Secretary; Hon. Yaya Lateef, was signed by 18 out of the 21 state executives members, all the 16 local government co-ordinators and 15 out of the 16 local government women leaders.

The three-page letter read in part; “In our meeting of Sunday, February 2, 2014, members of the PDP Youths Vanguard in Ekiti State unanimously

resolved to support the second term ambition of Mr President, His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, support the governorship ambition of Prince Adedayo Adeyeye and urge that he should be picked as the PDP consensus candidate for Ekiti State; and work assiduously to ensure victory for PDP in the June 21 governorship election and the February 2015

presidential election.

“Our resolve to support the second term ambition of Your Excellency was prompted by the landmark transformational strides, most importantly the establishments of a Federal University and 100,000 Metric Tonnes Silo in Ekiti State, rehabilitation of federal roads in the state, and the proposed Ado-Ekiti Airport, among others.”

change of name DUBRE

Formerly Miss Asabi Oluwaseyi Thomas now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Dubre Oluwaseyi Asabi. All former documents remain valid. General Public note.

pick them after the crisis had subsided.

The unrest, according New Telegraph investigations, was sparked by disagreement over the control of ‘rent’ from some Lotto operators at a popular motor park in the Post Office area. The

lotto operators, according to insider sources, used to pay as much as N2, 000 per day to a particular leader of one of the rival groups with base in Idi-Ape area of the state capital.

There are about five lotto operators in the area, it was learnt.

Delta: PDP, DPP, APC, trade words over one-party state Dominic Adewole Asaba

T

he claim by Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan that Delta state is completely a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) state yesterday sparked the wrath of some registered political parties in the state.

The parties are angry that the governor’s assertion is “a total misrepresentation of the realities on ground.”

The governor, alongside elders and leaders of his party, had told the new National Chairman of his party, Alhaji Adamu Muazu, during a visit to him in Abuja that there was no other party in the oil-rich state except the PDP. Prior to this, the governor said if not that his party was delaying, the remaining opposition legislators at the state and National Assembly would

have declared for the PDP. The state chairman of the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP), Chief Tony Ezeagwu, who debunked the governor’s claim in Asaba yesterday, wondered why he failed to take a cue from previous elections in the state.

According to him, the rerun and governorship election of January 10, and April 24, 2011, respectively, should have taught him a lesson.

He said, “It is unfortunate that the Governor has forgotten so soon, the 2011 election in the state where an opposition party, the Democratic Peoples Party, led

by Chief Great Ogboru, won nine House of Assembly seats, one Senate seat and two Federal House of Representative seats. With that, can it be said that the state is a one party state?

“All we ask from the

INEC cautions politicians against early campaign

M

r Kayode Idowu, Chief Press Secretary to the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has cautioned politicians against early campaign to avoid overheating the polity.

Idowu made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Lagos.

He said that INEC had issued a timetable which clearly indicated the timeline for commencing campaign by political parties and candidates in the country.

According to him, the

commission has repeatedly warned political players to always abide by the provision of the Electoral Act to ensure sanity in the political process.

“We have issued a timetable to indicate the timeline for campaign.

INEC has also repeatedly warned politicians on the need to play politics by the rule”, he said.

He said that though INEC was not a law enforcement or security agency, it was however in a position to ask law enforcement agencies to help in enforcing laws on electioneering campaign.

ACROSS THE NATION

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Osun

AKWA-IBOM

Osogbo

UYO

Osun reopens school The Osun State Government has ordered the reopening of the Ansar Ud Deen High School, Osogbo.

The government gave the directive in a statement in Osogbo on Monday.

The statement, signed by the Permanent Secretary in the state’s ministry of education, Mr Lawrence Oyeniran, said that the school should reopen today.

The school, located

on the Testing Ground, Osogbo, was shut by the government on December 17, 2013, following an uprising by its students.

The statement advised parents and guardians to guard against unwholesome behaviour by their children and wards. ``Any student of the school who fails to conduct himself or herself within the established school rules and regulations will be disciplined,’’ the statement warned.

Govt acquires mammography machines for cancer screening Reprieve may have come for cancer patients in Akwa Ibom State Akwa following the purchase by the state government of mammography machines which would be installed in its general hospitals.

The Commissioner for Health, Dr Ememabasi Bassey, made this known in a message to mark the 2014 World

Katsina Dandume

Dandume council immunises 73, 242 children against polio About 73, 242 children have been immunised against poliomyelitis and other child killer diseases by the Dandume Local Government Area, Katsina State, in

January.

The Primary Healthcare Coordinator in the area, Hajia Binta Maikudi, said this on Monday in Dandume at a stakeholders' meeting, preparatory to the commencement of the next round of immunisation

exercise in February.

Maikudi also launched the distribution of free drugs to 62 health facilities in the area, adding that arrangement had been concluded to ensure increased success in the this month’s exercise.

Cancer Day in Uyo on Tuesday.

Bassey said the machines would assist in the screening, prevention and early diagnosis of cancer and would be installed in some of its general hospitals. ``We are also embarking on various training programmes on cervical cancer management in the three senatorial districts,” he said.

He said that the grassroots would receive special attention under the cancer screening and treatment programme. ``We also hope to commence the vaccination of our school-age girls against cervical cancer. ``Cancer is a non-communicable disease and it is not caused by witchcraft or any diabolical means,” Bassey said, adding that residents should go for regular medical checkups.

11

KANO

Nasarawa

KANO

Lafia

Kano acquires 61 vehicles for mass literacy programme The Kano State Government said on Monday that it had purchased 61 vehicles for the monitoring of mass literacy campaigns in the state this year.

This was disclosed in kano in a chat with journalists by the Executive Secretary of the state Agency for Mass Literacy, Prof. Fatima Umar.

According to her, the vehicles included 11 Volkswagen Golf cars and 50 Boxer motorcycles.

The vehicles are to facilitate the monitoring of the programme, especially in the rural areas, she said.

113,000 The number of jobs created by the US government in January 2014.

Source: factsmonster.com

Nasarawa skills acquisition centres to include driving schools, car wash Driving schools and car wash systems are to be introduced into the Nasarawa State Vocational and Relevant Technology Skills Acquisition Centres.

Alhaji Ibrahim Adamu, the General Manager of the board of the scheme, disclosed this in an interview in Lafia.

According to him it was part of measures to fight unemployment and check youth restiveness in the state.

Adamu said such schemes had become imperative for the overall development of the country.

He said: “Everybody is aware that the major problems facing the country today is youth unemployment and restiveness, which has caused setback to the socioeconomic development of our country.

N9.425bn The total export value of cigarettes containing tobacco at second quarter of 2013.

Source: National bureau of statistics

6,194m The height of Mount McKinley, the highest mountain in North America.

Source: worldfactsandfigures.com

Imo Owerri L-R: Deputy Managing Director, Telegraph Newspaper, Mr. Ike Abonyi and Zonal Head, First City Monument Bank, Mr. Akinkolapo Akinwumi during a meeting of the management of New Telegraph and the management of First City Monument Bank in Abuja…yesterday.

PHOTO:TIMOTHY IKUOMENISAN

KADUNA Kaduna

Kaduna inaugurates nine-man committee for Kaduna United FC The Kaduna State Government on Monday inaugurated a nine-man committee to run its own soccer outfit, the Kaduna United Football Club.

The committee, headed by the Commissioner for Youths and Sports, Mr Bashir Zubairu, has Elisha Yashim and former International Garba

Lawal as Secretary and General Manager, respectively.

Other members of the committee are Dr Ben Omale; Dr Alex Mana; Danjuma Akuso; Magaji Alhassan; Sabo Babayaro and Adamu Aliyu.

In his speech, the commissioner pledged to steer the club to success.

"We have not come to spoil anybody’s work but to work hard and

overcome the challenges facing the club, " he said, adding that the immediate task before the committee was to appraise the club's financial situation and work towards meeting the guidelines set for clubs by the League Management Council (LMC).

Zubairu said the committee would also scout for sponsors to reduce the burden of financing

the team by the state government.

The commissioner disclosed that a bill to provide legal backing for the club would soon be sent to the state House of Assembly.

"We want Kaduna United to participate in continental championships and win the 2014 league to make Kaduna people happy and proud," he said.

Communities block electricity company's entrance over blackout Four communities in Ngor Okpala Council of Imo on Monday barricaded the main entrance of the Owerri Business Unit of the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company in protest against blackout.

The protest, which lasted for over six hours, resulted in gridlock at Amajeke Junction, where the company’s office is located and the nearby Royce Road.

The affected communities are Elelem, Umuhu, Ngor and Ntu.

EKITI kota

New Planting Season begins in Ekiti Far mers in Kota town in Ekiti East Local Government Area of Ekiti have begun bush clearing in preparation for the new planting season.

A check by a correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday showed that majority of the farmers in the area had started clearing hectares of farmlands.

Some of the farmers who could not afford hiring tractors employed the services of local labourers who use manual methods for clearing.

Some of the farmers preferred setting the bush on fire before clearing, while others cut the bush and later set fire to it.

metr 12

A fight between two lovers over money ended in death

Ewa Nnanna

A

mother of seven, Mrs Uzoma Nworie, in Nnachi, Ikwo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, is now in police net for allegedly killing her lover.

The police also arrested a herbalist simply identified as Ituma. The herbalist, also from Ikwo, is said to be an accomplice to the crime allegedly committed last Christmas.

Nworie told reporters at the police headquarters in Abakaliki last week that she gave N350,000 to the lover said to be an Army officer to buy her a car.

The deceased, according to her, did not buy the car, which led to a serious misunderstanding between the two lov-

Tuesday, Febr

www.newtelegraphonline.com/metro

ABIODUN BELLO FEATURES Editor

abiodun. bello@newtelegraphonline.com

0802 393 8212

TUESday, February 25, 2014

DEADLY AFFAIR

Sanctity

NEW TELEGRAPH

Woman kills lover over N350,000 car

ers.

She said: “What happened was that I gave the sum of N350,000 to someone to buy a car for me and the person is my boyfriend. He had been my boyfriend for a long time. So instead of buying the car, he kept on making promises.

“On December 25, 2013, we started fighting over the issue; I slapped him and he died instantly. I did not hit him with anything; I just slapped him at the back of his head. I then took his Siena car to Ituma to keep.”

On his part, Ituma said Nworie brought the car to him to keep for her.

He said: “She said she gave somebody money to buy a car for her but the person refused to do so which made her to impound the person’s car.”

It was gathered that the two suspects fled after the incident until they were arrested by the police.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Chris Anyanwu, who described the incident as barbaric, said the suspect CP, Aduba would soon be arraigned.

Church leaders must live exemplary lives, says cleric

C

hurch leaders and preachers must lead by example for Nigeria to wage a successful war against corruption.

The Ondo State President of Unification of the Cherubim and Seraphim Churches, Primate Ade AdemisokunTurton, said this on Sunday while addressing church leaders and elders at Igbokoda, headquarters of Ilaje Local Government area of the state.

Ademisokun-Turton, who spoke at the

inauguration of the Ilaje chapter of the Unification, called on church leaders, particularly those under the umbrella of the Cherubim and Seraphim, to make the progress and unity of the church and by extension that of the country their priority.

At the inauguration held at C&S Church of Zion International, Igbokoda, Ademisokun-Turton said what was happening in churches across the nation, particularly

in the C&S (the first indigenous church in the country), showed that there were too many titled leaders at the expense of the work of God. He said: “What is happening now is the paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty, because we are interested in so many self-acclaimed titles which will take us nowhere.

“Even with these series of titles, people are moving out of the church day by day,

Murder:

Two cult members die in shootout with police Dominic Adewole, Asaba

T

wo alleged notorious cult members terrorising Ovwian Aladja axis of Delta State have been killed during a gun battle with the police.

The incident occurred on Sunday at Aladja, the steel company town.

The suspects were allegedly involved in criminal activities in the area in the last couple of years.

The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Tina Kalu, who spoke on the incident at the command headquarters in Asaba, said the suspects operated on motorcycles.

Kalu added that the gang recently killed a 22-year-old man in cold blood.

She said: “When our men arrived the scene of the murder, they discovered that the slain

suspect was identified as the leader of the cult group that shot dead a 22-year-old man, Mr. Ugwetor Okpaka, on February 16 at Ifako Road, Ovwian Aladja.”

According to her, another suspected cult member, 25-year-old Shedrack Sume, was also shot dead by members of a rival cult group.

Kalu said Sume was killed three days later when detectives stormed his hideout at DEC town, in Ovwian-Aladja, where one of the rival cult groups was planning to cause mayhem in the community.

She said: “The cult members, on sighting the police, opened fire and in the ensuing gun duel, two of the cult members were gunned down while others escaped with bullet wounds.”

One locally made pistol, according to her, and two live cartridges were recovered from the suspects.

the nation is facing a lot of challenges, government no longer recognises the church anymore, and it is the genuine intervention of prophets that can heal our land.

Earlier in his sermon, the Most Rev. Apostle Isaiah Okunnuwa, urged both the state and the local government executives not to allow partisan politics and segregation get into God’s work, adding that the assignment should be handled with one mind and one voice for better results.

Juliana Francis

F

Braide

ive policemen attached to Area ‘D’ Mushin Police Command, who were arrested and detained three months ago for alleged murder, have been released.

The policemen were detained at the State Criminal Investigations Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba, Lagos.

The cops, who breathed the air of freedom on February 13, were alleged to have shot and killed a suspected Indian hemp smoker.

But the state Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide, refuted the allegation that the men shot and killed a suspect. She said: “Yes, they were arrested and detained, but not for murder. They were detained because of illegal duty and misconduct!

There was no single bullet wound on the body of the deceased!”

Chime, Ekweremadu test might/ PAGE 14 | E-verification: INEC faces daunting challenge / PAGE 17

POLITICS

NEW TELEGRAPH

newtelegraphonline.com/politics

We’ve identified Ekiti flashpoints –Rec

ayodele Ojo

Deputy Editor, politics

ayodele.ojo@newtelegraphonline.com

ayodeleojo@yahoo.com

p-15

TUESday, February 25, 2014

The campaigns begin A year to the 2015 general elections, the leading political parties have kickstarted campaigns for the polls, but FELIX NWANERI reports that the development, apart from heating up an already tensed polity, is a breach of Section 99(1) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), which stipulates the timeframe for electioneering.

T

he build up to the 2015 general elections is gradually taking shape with the various political parties and their likely candidates’ kick-starting campaigns despite the fact that such action contravenes the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), as the polls are still a year ahead.

In the early race of the campaigns is the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by President Goodluck Jonathan. The president has been traversing the country of late, apparently to garner support ahead of his much touted April declaration for a second term.

Penultimate week, the president was in Kano, Oyo, Osun and Lagos states, where he held discussions with the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero; Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade; Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi; Oba of Lagos, Rilwanu Akiolu and the Akran of Badagry, Oba Aholu Menu-Toyi 1.

Though Jonathan had before now had similar sessions with some top religious leaders, he described his visits to the traditional rulers as private. Many, however, saw the move as one that is likely to rev up political activities

POLITICAL NOTES Jonathan, Amaechi divide Rivers

T

L-R: Vice President Namadi Sambo, President Goodluck Jonathan and National Chairman, People Democratic Party, Adamu Mu’azu, acknowledging cheers from the crowd during a political rally in Sokoto.

in the coming days given the enormous influence of tradition and faith on Nigerians.

While feelers revealed that the president’s discussions with the first class monarchs centred mostly on the security challenges in the country, some political observers argued that there was no way discussion on modalities the president could use to gain the support of the SouthWest and the North-West in the forthcoming polls would not have been part of it.

Both zones are the strongholds of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), which is in the vanguard of the battle to unseat Jonathan and his party in 2015.

Accompanied by the Minister of State for Federal Capital Territory, Jumoke Akinjide, the president’s private meeting with Oba Sijuwade lasted 30 minutes, but developments at the palace of the Alaafin of Oyo, later, revealed the agenda of the visit.

Jonathan revealed his mission when he told his audience that he came to thank the people of the state and the entire South-West for the support they gave him during the 2011 elections, adding that he would not say more about that so that he would not be accused of campaigning.

His words: “I thank not only the people of the state but the entire South-West for

the support we received in 2011 and I have come to reciprocate the gesture with the hope that things will continue as well. We are one, I remain your own.”

Despite the president’s insistence that he was not campaigning, a salient question many have asked is: What are the politicians out to achieve with the early campaigns even when some of them are yet to declare their interests and positions they would be contesting in 2015?

A political school of thought that proffered an answer is of the view that the early race is a calculated ploy by those involved to test the political waters and feel the perception of Nigerians ahead of time.

Sokoto grand rally

CROSSFIRE

Concerned about farreaching irregularities under Mallam Sanusi’s watch which have distracted the Central Bank from the pursuit and achievement of its statutory mandate…

President Jonathan has ordered his immediate suspension - Reuben Abati

You can suspend an individual, but you can’t suspend the truth. If this is all about the concerns around oil revenues in the oil sector, if this is going to bring back the $20bn unremitted oil money, then that is fine - Sanusi Lamido Sanusi

CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

he oil-rich Rivers State will be one of the battlegrounds in the 2015 poll.

The all-important elections would be a test of strength between President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Rotimi Amaechi, who has cross-carpeted to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

With the reality of potential loss of Kano and Lagos to the opposition, Rivers is Jonathan’s harvest ground.

But the political crisis in the state will likely affect the support base of the president.

Jonathan secured 10 per cent of his 19, 632, 193 votes from Rivers in 2011 election. The President polled 1, 817,462 (96.9 %) votes against Buhari’s 13, 182 (0.7 %) in the 2011 presidential election.

The president is unlikely to record similar success in Rivers come 2015. With Amaechi on the opposition side, the almost two million votes recorded for Jonathan in 2011 may not be feasible. It is a known fact that the outcome of election in Rivers in successive elections was not a true reflection of the actual voting.

Unlike in 2011 presidential poll, Amaechi will divide Rivers votes and ensure that his new party secures at least the required 25 per cent of the votes cast or more.

Pundits believe that the votes will be monitored more than ever before to prevent the landslide victory usually recorded by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Nyesom Wike, the Supervising Minister of Education, and other PDP gladiators will have to proof their acclaimed control of the political structure and direction of the state in 2015. Already, the state has been polarised but a deeper division is also expected ahead of 2015. The 2015 election will ultimately end up a split victory.

14 POLITICS

Sanctity of Truth

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Enugu: Chime, Ekweremadu test might The emerging struggle among political gladiators in furtherance of their ambition in the 2015 elections in Enugu State is already creating a frightening scenario.

The two major gladiators, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu and Governor Sullivan Chime are clearly getting locked in an epic political battle. UWAKWE ABUGU reports on the political horse trading in the state.

S

ince the return of democracy in 1999, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has dominated the political landscape of Enugu State without serious challenge. As such, the battle for the 2015 elections is now being fiercely fought within the PDP. Although the main opposition, All Progressives Congress (APC) seems to be gathering momentum in the state, political pundits believe that the forthcoming election is going to be largely a PDP affair.

Chime

Two-pronged fight The intra-party fighting in the PDP is mainly about the desire of some national legislators to get return tickets in the February 14, 2015 election. Chief amongst them is the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who incidentally comes from the same senatorial zone as Governor Sullivan Chime and would be serving out his third term by May 2015. The other arm of the fight tearing the PDP bigwigs apart in the state is the issue of who replaces Chime, especially as there has been a consensus that the seat rotates to the highly populous Enugu North senatorial zone which has not had any shot at the governorship since 1992 when the former national chairman of PDP, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, was elected first executive governor of the state.

Chime’s reminder, cookies crumbled The political manouverings and realignments that played out at the peak of the tension over Chime’s medical trip abroad were clear forerunners to the present infighting within the PDP in the state. Many politicians had positioned themselves for leadership during the illness of the governor. It is generally believed that after the medical trip, the rapport between Chime and certain politicians with eyes on some plum elective positions in 2015 tumbled.

On his return, an innocuous reminder by Chime of an agreement reached at the heat of the 2011 primary elections created further cracks in the PDP family. The meeting was attended by state caucus members of the party including National Assembly members and state legislators. The recuperating governor at that time had reminded elective office holders among them that those who would be serving out their respective second, third or fourth terms by 2015 would no longer return in line with the agreement reached in 2011.

“When the governor reminded them of the agreement which means that all those who have served up to two terms and above in their elective positions would no longer return to contest for those same positions, it was Ekweremadu who spoke first and told the gathering that the state was peaceful for now and that 2015 was still far off and that there was no point raising any issue that could create tension,” an aide of the governor told New Telegraph.

According to the aide, Senator Gil Nnaji who represents Enugu East senatorial zone in the National Assembly spoke next to support Ekweremadu.

War drum beats on To some of the combatants, 2015 election is a fight of their life; a make or break situation that would determine what political fate holds out for them beyond 2015.

In the case of Ekweremadu, for instance, his rumoured ambition to replace Governor Chime come 2015 may have come across his mind owing to the seeming opposition from a section of his West Senatorial zone, including the governor, against his return to the Senate for a fourth term. The said opposition against his return is believed to be thickest among the very populous Udi and Ezeagu council areas that constitute quite a chunk of the population of the zone. The other local councils in the zone include Oji River, Awgu and Aninri which is Ekweremadu’s country home. Chime hails from Udi, the largest of the five.

Yet, in Udi, believed to be Chime’s stronghold, Ekweremadu appears to have been penetrating, even getting the chairman of the party in the council area to his camp.

And likewise, just last week, a political pressure group from Awgu, a cultural zone that has been drumming up support for the DSP who is their son, openly called on the governor to run for the Senate seat. Again, for the people of Enugu North Senatorial District of the state who have waited since 1993 to have another opportunity to rule the state and with the visible support Chime has shown for the realisation of that dream, it is unthinkable to speak of Ekweremadu nursing governorship ambition come 2015 to replace Chime who hails from the same zone with him. Many query thus: “Does he want the West to retain governorship for 16 consecutive years?”

Chime had reiterated the decision of his administration to support the emergence of the next governor from the North zone. Hence, the DSP may not be able to run for any election in 2015. That is, if Chime and those opposed to his return would have their way

we know that the DSP has also engaged three persons from each of the 260 wards and he intends to use them as his parallel delegates if this crisis degenerates to a level when he would use his connections in Abuja to try to form a parallel PDP state exco

Ekweremadu

Battle for delegates The PDP will hold its primaries later this year. Certainly, the 260 electoral wards in the 17 local government councils of the state will become the clear battlegrounds. Chime had last December conducted local council elections in which the PDP made a clean sweep of all the seats. Each of the 260 electoral wards will produce three (3) delegates, that is 780 delegates. This number will be added to the list of other statutory delegates who are eligible to partake in the primary elections of the PDP. With the easy way the ruling party swept the polls during the council elections, pundits argue that the governor’s structure would produce almost all the delegates. From the look of things, most of the council chairmen, if not all of them, will continue to be in the governor’s line up come 2015. Apart from the fact that the governor held the key to the emergence of most of them as candidates during the December polls, the state government has the capacity to oust any council boss who is seen as opposition. Hence, the governor, for now, has a firm grip on the structure of the party.

But a source claimed that the camp of the Ekweremadu is not folding its arms in the face of the obvious disadvantage. According to the source, “we know that the DSP has also engaged three persons from each of the 260 wards and he intends to use them as his parallel delegates if this crisis degenerates to a level when he would use his connections in Abuja to try to form a parallel PDP state exco.”

It was learnt that these designated ‘spare’ delegates are being paid monthly stipends. Again, in recent times, Ekweremadu has been visiting communities outside the five local government councils that make up his West Senatorial zone. For instance, in the past few weeks, he has visited Obimo and Ibagwa-Ani communities in Nsukka council area. In fact, in Obimo community, he has done some road and water projects which were elaborately publicized by his Dream FM radio station based in Enugu, the broadcast station itself being seen largely as a political mouthpiece strategically positioned ahead of the 2015 polls.

Presidency as battleground In the build-up to the present political tension in the state, it was gathered that one of the touted areas of strength for those in the camp of the DSP was his closeness to Aso Rock. That line of thought which propounded the belief that the governor does not appear to have a rosy relationship with Mr. President gained ample ground in PDP circles in the state when the apparent friendship between Chime and Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi, was construed as a tool that would make the Enugu helmsCONTINUED ON PAGE 18

POLITICS

Sanctity of Truth

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

The first major electoral battle in 2014 is the governorship election in Ekiti State scheduled for June 21. What is the level of preparation for the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)? Alhaji Halilu Pai, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Ekiti State, provides answers in this interview with WALE ELEGBEDE. Excerpt: Ekiti State will be in the political spotlight as the gubernatorial election holds on June 21. As the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), how prepared are you for this task?

The stakeholders’ meeting that took place on February 12 which the chairman of the commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, chaired himself was part of the preparation. At the meeting, the report and status of voters’ register was shown to all stakeholders. I am sure you know that any credible election will be predicated on the quality of the voters’ register. Secondly, after the stakeholders’ meeting, there is going to be a free VCR, which is the display of the Voters’ Continuous Register to every voter in Ekiti State to see and know their status.

This is being done so that they can know whether their name has appeared in the register. If it has not, then such a person during the continuous voters’ registration will now be captured on the system. The whole idea of what INEC is trying to do is to ensure and encourage participation of more eligible voters, so that no one is disenfranchised. After the continuous voters’ registration, there will be another display because it is also possible that during the continuous voters’ registration, some people may have registered double. This is because we always want to make the register a perfect document, so that there won’t be shortchange of any sort during the registration.

After that, we will continue the voters’ education in local governments, wards and villages. We will educate the voters on what their responsibilities are before, during and after the elections. You may recall that the numbers of voided ballot papers in elections are getting too much. People will go to the polling unit from morning till evening and at the end of the day, more than 20 per cent of the ballot papers are left voided because of lack of education.

Also, between now and the election period, the permanent voters’ cards will be distributed.

Also, between now and election time, those people that for one reason or the other have the need to transfer either interstate or intra-state are going to be treated.

We don’t want people that are outside the state and want to participate in this election to be disenfranchised simply because they are not here in Ekiti when they did the registration in 2011. As we speak, a desk officer of transfer has come here and we have already dedicated 10 DDC machines for that programme. Therefore, we are calling on those concerned to quickly come to INEC’s office in Ado-Ekiti to get

15

We’ve identified Ekiti flashpoints –Pai

Pai

REC’s

F RUM INEC

their cards transferred to Ekiti from other states. There is also provision for those that are moving from one local government to another.

Do you foresee Ekiti being volatile before, during or after the election?

So far, the situation in Ekiti is good. We can say with certain level of confidence that, relatively, the state is not volatile. It is not the way people are seeing it that it is. Certainly, you cannot avoid 100 per cent violence-free environment especially when election is just around the corner. Sometimes, violence erupts through rumours and misinformation. Where things are being x-rayed and people know the truth, the chances of people peddling rumours will be reduced, and when rumour is reduced, then the issue of violence is also reduced.

Secondly, we have what we call InterAgency Consultative Committee on Security, which comprises largely of security agencies. We always want the security agencies to be part of the system because they know the in and out of the areas, they also know where we call the flashpoints.

Whenever we meet, we are able to look at the challenges and proffer solutions.

Also, let me come to these pasting of posters, banners and billboards; they are also causing some violence especially when it is not time for campaign. If people wait for the appropriate time and take actions base on the Electoral Law, there won’t be any violence. We keep advising the political players that they should play the game according to the rule. That is also part of the vision, and we always tell the stakeholders at different fora that they should follow the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended, and if for any reasons they violate it, they will have

themselves to blame.

How many election flashpoints has INEC discovered in Ekiti and where are they?

We have identified many flashpoints and we have discussed them with the security agencies. During our own stakeholders’ meeting at the local government level, we placed emphasis on those areas.

For peace and tranquillity, I won’t mention those flashpoints, so that it won’t become another issue.

To what extent are INEC staff under your watch insulated from the ‘big temptation syndrome’ from politicians and can you vouch for them especially with the Anambra guber experience?

I can say that as far as INEC staff are concerned, to a very large extent, we at the management can really vouch for them as far as compromise is concerned because we have learnt our lessons. That is why in the past, especially on the assumption of duty of this new INEC as from 2010, the staff has largely been set aside and that is why we are using adhoc staff. This is because of adequacy and compromise in the past. But after several elections right from 2011 till now, you will agree with me that the staff themselves have learnt their lessons. That is why the last three governorship elections, our staff have been used as a test and it has really proved that they have changed for the better. It also makes the election process more efficient because that is their job, they already have

Certainly, you cannot avoid 100 per cent violence-free environment especially when election is just around the corner.

Sometimes, violence erupts through rumours and misinformation

the training, rather than employing people within two days to the election, whom are not properly trained and don’t even know the basic rudiments of conducting an election.

Also, we are having continuous training for the staff. Already, we have three stages of election training for the staff alone. We have the train-the-trainers, that is, people will train in conjunction with the Electoral Institute and INEC training department in the headquarters. These ones are now the master trainers who will now train those in the state and the local government level.

This training is not only for INEC staff but also party agents. INEC believes that the more people trained, the more they are aware of the processes.

Should Nigerians expect a perfect election in Ekiti State come June 21 unlike the 2007 governorship and 2009 rerun elections?

Well, with all these arrangements, just as the chairman has said, we are expecting that the Ekiti election will be the best conducted since 2011. Adequate arrangement has been made. Also, there are some other initiatives like this issue of creating Super Racs. These are centres that did not exist before the Anambra election. It is a centre that is very close to the polling unit. A day to the day of election, the ad hoc staff, security and the materials would be there and by 6a.m. on the day of the election, these materials and the personnel are already on their way to the polling unit, such that by 8a.m., elections would just start. It is created to make things faster. The creation of these Super Racs would ensure that materials are sure to be in the polling units at the right time.

Have you ever been approached or lobbied to influence election outcome by politicians before, during and after elections?

The issue is that we have sworn to an oath to be unbiased and provide a level playing field for all parties and contestants.

We are still holding on to that oath religiously. I’m a Muslim and I believe we are not willing for any reason to compromise our stand. That is why whatever anybody says, I believe that is just a mere deception.

We are now expecting about 16 commissioners to come for the election and if each of the commissioner, either National or REC would take charge of one local government each, then the whole burden is now being reduced from me as the REC in Ekiti State.

One of the gubernatorial aspirants in Ekiti State accused you of colluding with the All Progressives Congress (APC) to rig the gubernatorial election. What is your take on this?

Well, I read it in the newspapers but I won’t dignify the allegation with any response because if you were at the stakeholders’ meeting at Ado-Ekiti, INEC National Commissioner in charge of South-West, Prof. Lai Olurode, has already addressed the issue. He told those fabricating such tales to come out with evidence of their allegations.

16 POLITICS

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

If the president’s visits to the royal fathers were strictly private, the same reason cannot be offered for an earlier one he made to Sokoto State on February 8, when he led a high-powered delegation to the Seat of the Caliphate to receive the former governor of the state, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa, who defected to the PDP with his supporters from the APC. In the president’s entourage were Vice President Namadi Sambo, Senate President David Mark; PDP National Chairman, Adamu Muazu and Akwa Ibom State governor, Godswill Akpabio, among others.

Jonathan, who did not fall short of canvassing for votes in the forthcoming polls, told the crowd at the rally that “the PDP is the only party that is stable and it will continue to uphold the tenets of democracy.”

He added that the Federal Government under the PDP will continue to deliver the dividends of democracy, while urging the people of the state not to relent in their support for the party.

The president is not the only one already campaigning on the PDP platform. Several of the party’s out-going governors and serving ministers have kick-started senatorial and governorship campaigns. In most cases, the campaigns are under the guise of civic receptions or birthday parties for the would-be candidates.

Such receptions and parties had been held in honour of the governors of Abia, Ebonyi and Akwa Ibom states; Theodore Orji, Martin Elechi and Akpabio, respectively, where they were “adopted” as candidates for their respective senatorial districts in 2015.

The most recent was that organised in Asaba, Delta State capital last weekend by a group, Delta People’s Forum for the sacked Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godsday Orubebe, and where he declared for the state governorship.

APC not left out The PDP is however not the only party involved in the early campaigns.

The opposition APC has equally been holding rallies across the country with the most recent in Yola, Adamawa State to receive former Vice President Atiku Abubakar into its fold.

Chieftains of the party who graced the event were former Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; former Lagos State military administrator, Brig. Gen Buba Marwa (rtd); Interim National Chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande; Adamawa State governor, Murtala Nyako, former Governors Modu Sherriff (Borno); Danjuma Goje (Gombe); Timipre Sylva (Bayelsa) and Sani Yerima (Zamfara).

The Yola event, like the PDP’s rally in Sokoto was not without the cheering and jeering that usually characterise such occasions.

While Tinubu boasted that the APC

Sanctity of Truth

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

The campaigns begin

L-R: Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; Adamawa State Governor, Murtala Nyako; Interim National Chairman of APC, Chief Bisi Akande and former Borno State governor, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, at the party’s rally in Yola.

would defeat the PDP in the next elections, Nyako said the end of the ruling party had come, urging Nigerians to await the party’s final internment.

The governor added that the PDP brought destruction upon itself through its reign of impunity, highhandedness and lack of unity of purpose in the running of its affairs.

“The PDP has gone for good for the reign of impunity. The party is dead; Nigerians should rally round to bury it,” he said.

INEC warns Amidst the campaigns are repeated warnings by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that politicians and parties already campaigning ahead of the 2015 elections are heating up the polity.

The commission first handed the warning in January through a statement by its chairman’s spokesperson, Kayode Idowu.

The statement said: “It is observed that campaign posters are being indiscriminately displayed, while electioneering broadcasts are being aired outside the statutory provision for campaigning towards elections into various elective offices. The trend is unhealthy and portends ill for the political process. Indeed, it is a threat to Nigeria’s democracy.”

Against this backdrop, INEC called on security agents to apprehend violators whose activities in this regard pose a threat to public order. But, till date no one has been arrested.

The chairman of the commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, reiterated the warning penultimate week in Abuja at a forum on “Broadcast media coverage of election: A preamble to 2015,”

The problem of this country is the PDP and APC, as every indication points to the fact that they want to plunge Nigeria into crisis ahead of the 2015 elections organised by INEC and the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC).

Jega condemned what he described as increased tendency towards preemptive campaigns and warned the various parties to stick to timelines of campaigns to avoid heating up the polity.

“One more issue that gives us increasing concern in INEC is the growing tendency by political parties towards pre-emptive electioneering.

This tendency is a violation of statutory provisions, for instance, Section 99(1) of the Electoral Act 2010 on the time when campaigns can be legally conducted,” he said.

Provisions of the law Section 99(1) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), entitled “Limitation on political broadcast and campaign by political parties” states as follows: “(1)For the purpose of this Act, the period of campaigning in public by every political party shall commence 90 days before polling day and end 24 hours prior to that day. (2) A registered political party which through any person acting on its behalf during the 24 hours before polling day (a) advertises on the facilities of any broadcasting undertaking; or

(b) procures for publication or acquiesces in the publication of an advertisement in a Newspaper, for the purpose of promoting or opposing a particular candidate, is guilty of an offence under this Act and upon conviction shall be liable to a maximum fine of N500,000.

By this provision, campaigns for the 2015 elections are expected to kick off not earlier than November 16, 2014 and end on February 12, 2015, as the polls timetable released recently by INEC shows that the presidential and National Assembly polls will hold on February 14, 2015 while gubernatorial and state Assembly elections are fixed for February 28.

No stopping PDP Despite the provisions of the Electoral Act and INEC’s warning, there seems no stop to the early campaigns for example, the PDP, last week rolled out plans for its zonal and states rallies after a meeting of its governors and Jonathan at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Abia State governor (Orji), who disclosed this to State House correspondents at the end of the meeting, said the planned rallies are meant to sensitise Nigerians and formally receive some politicians who recently defected to the party.

“The meeting was in compliance with what the president promised us that he will be meeting regularly with PDP governors. He met with us and we reviewed party activities, especially the rallies that we are going to hold in the states and zonal levels.

“The rallies are meant to sensitise the people. In Owerri (Imo State), we CONTINUED ON PAGE 18

POLITICS 17

Sanctity of Truth

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

E-verification: INEC faces daunting challenge With the determination of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to use the online voter verification in 2015 elections, ONYEKACHI EZE writes on the challenges ahead.

S

ince 2011, Nigeria has embarked on biometric voters’ registration system. So far, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been able to register over 60 million Nigerians.

During the display of voters’ register for the 2011 election, the commission used the manual register it compiled alongside biometric registration. But as 2015 general elections draw closer, INEC has declared that voter verification will no longer be manual but online. The commission experimented this in the 2013 Anambra State governorship election with disastrous consequence. But INEC chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, is confident that the system will work only if the electorate will be patience enough to use ‘voter status confirmation’ search engine.

Jega dropped the hint of the use of online voter verification in the 2015 elections way back in 2012. At a biennial conference of the CEN in Toronto, Canada, which ended on July 2, 2012, the INEC chairman noted that though the 2011 voter registration was hailed as Nigeria’s best, it was nonetheless perfect. He said INEC intends to move a step further towards achieving perfection in the process with the introduction of online voter verification in 2015.

“There was the challenge of tapping the full potential of biometric voter registration. Because of the little time that we had, we paid attention to issuing temporary voters’ cards that were used for voting in the 2011 elections. Now that we have a little more time, we are working to ensure that by 2015, we will have 100 per cent authentication; so that when a voter comes with his permanent card, which is chip-based and has all the information that we have in the data base, we will use card readers and when you present it, it will be read, with your fingerprints and all other embedded details.

“This will ensure 100 per cent voter authentication. And this is very important in Nigeria because fraud in elections has always been associated with multiple voting and the misuse of the voters’ cards,” Jega had said.

Already, the commission has launched the exercise in Ekiti and Osun states where governorship elections will be held in June and August this year respectively. An average voter is therefore expected to enter his or her details in the form on INEC website: www.inecnigeria.org. Alternatively, the voter can send SMS with State, Last name and Voter Identification Number (VIN) to 081-7164-6879 and response will be sent

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo registering during the last voters’ registration.

within 15 minutes. Only those voting in either Ekiti or Osun who do not find their names on the register uploaded on INEC’s website, will be required to come out for the Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) which commences between March 12 and 19, 2014. Those hitherto on the Addendum List will not find their names on the biometric register and should, therefore, come out during CVR to get recaptured.

Chief Press Secretary to the INEC chairman, Kayode Idowu, said the addendum list, which is susceptible to abuse, is gradually being eliminated.

The addendum list was generated for the 2011 elections from the manual register to accommodate persons who registered during the general exercise that year, but whose data were lost along the line and thus were not captured on the biometric register.

The commission appears to be working seriously to ensure there is no obstacle when the online verification exercise begins next year. INEC will not however, adopt electronic voting during the election. This, Jega explained, is because of the absence of legislations by the National Assembly. “The only thing is that now, our laws prohibit electronic voting.

But there is a process on-going regarding amendments to the Constitution and the Electoral Act, and maybe that aspect will be looked at,” he added.

Many voters claimed they could not find their names in the INEC registration during last year’s Anambra governorship election. Tony Nwoye, governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), his father and uncle were stopped from voting in the election because their names were missing in the voters’ register. Curiously, Nwoye, who was House of Assembly candidate for Anambra-East and West in 2011, voted in the same Offia-nta polling unit 004 where his name could not be found two years later.

Idowu blamed the problem on the fail-

This will ensure 100 per cent voter authentication.

And this is very important in Nigeria because fraud in elections has always been associated with multiple voting and the misuse of the voters’ cards ure of those whose names were missing to verify their status and names during the display of INEC register. INEC used both biometric and addendum registers during the election.

Jega argued that had Nwoye used the ‘voter status confirmation’ search engine, he would have saved himself the embarrassment of not finding his name on the voters’ register.

Analysts, however, wonder how INEC would cope with the situation when all the 36 states of the country and Abuja will be involved.

Online verification has obvious advantages. Number one is the elimination of multiple names in the voter’s register.

According to Idowu, the Advanced Fingerprints Identification System (AFIS) software being used by INEC for deduplication of voters’ consolidated data automatedly retains only one instance of an individual’s data and eliminates the extras.

Idowu believes that some of the persons who accused INEC of disenfranchising them because they could not find their names in the biometric register during the Anambra election were multiple registrants who on Election Day happened to have gone to polling units where the extras had been eliminated.

“For avoidance of doubt, a multiple registrant who on Election Day goes to the polling unit where the extra data had been eliminated will not find his/her name on the biometric register and will not be able to vote. Such a person cannot legitimately accuses INEC of having disenfranchised him/her,” he added.

Also, this will solve the problem cre-

ated by politicians who hijacked the DDC machines to their homes in 2011 and had engaged on multiple registration.

The advantages of online verification notwithstanding, one however, believes that the commission must have done its homework well before arriving at the policy. In 2011 when it embarked on electronic voter registration exercise, there were initial hiccups, ranging from the controversies which trailed the award of Direct Data Capture (DDC) machines used in the exercise, inadequate registration/malfunctioning machines, INEC failure to organise capacity building for the ad hoc staff made of mainly members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) who conducted the exercise to delay in finger scanning due to the way the machines were calibrated by INEC to achieve a high resolution of the fingerprints among others.

This time, INEC appears to be well prepared for the exercise. Cyber café operators who were encountering problems in registering candidates for the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) blamed this on the mop up of the biometric machines by INEC. There are challenges of biometric verification. One of these is the level of technology available in the country.

Luckily, INEC has taken it upon itself to provide the biometric machines. But to avoid the problem that reared its head during the electronic voter registration exercise in 2011, the commission should ensure that there are enough of these machines and also ensure that they are equitably and evenly deployed. The personnel who will man these machines should be properly trained.

Again there is the need by INEC to create public awareness before the commencement of the exercise. INEC blamed the problem that occurred during the governorship election in Anambra State last year on the failure of eligible voters in the state to take the advantage of the display of the Addendum List to check their names. According to Idowu, “whoever can’t find his/ her name when the biometric register is displayed is required to come out during the CVR to get their data recaptured, because such person must have voted in the 2011 elections on the Addendum List.

Failure to come out to get recaptured during the CVR will amount to self-disenfranchisement in 2015 because the Addendum List will no longer be used for elections”. Was such message passed to Anambra electorate during the display of the voter’s register?

One of the greatest drawbacks to the nation’s electoral system is lack of voter education. There is the problem of low voter turnout during elections; there is also the problem of high number of rejected votes during the counting of votes after elections. All these border on inadequate or absence of voter education.

INEC should therefore, collaborate with politicians to get eligible voters educated on the need to check their names during the display of biometric register.

18 POLITICS

Sanctity of Truth

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

The campaigns begin

PDP will reclaim Imo in 2015.

CO N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 1 6

are going to receive some people who are coming back to the party. In other states where people are coming back to the party, they will be received formally,” he said.

Zonal, state rallies begin In line with the plan, the PDP kick-started the zonal and state rallies last Saturday in Owerri, the Imo State capital. The president, as usual graced the event, but said the party was in the state for a unity rally to celebrate returnees to the party and not to campaign.

Among those who returned to the party were former governor of the state, Chief Achike Udenwa; the senator representing Imo East in the National Assembly, Chris Anyanwu; two-time governorship candidate in the state, Senator Ifeanyi Ararume; legal luminary, Chief Mike Ahamba and former Secretary to the State Government, Chief Cosmos Iwu. On the president’s entourage were Vice President Sambo; Muazu; Senate President David Mark; Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu; Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha; Chairman, PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), Chief Tony Anenih and Governor Akpabio President Jonathan, who described the PDP as the only stabilizing factor in Nigeria’s politics, noted that there would be no democracy without the party. According to him, “in terms of ideology, the name, logo and motto have not changed; we believe we are doing the right thing as such there is no need for mutation.”

Jega

Jonathan at a rally

He added: “Political scientists may propound theories of what influences choice of political parties, but we who are practical politicians are concerned with ideology of the party, does the party promote democratic principles and obey the rule of law?

“If you belong to a political party that does not believe in rule of law then, anything can happen. Does the party have any sense of inclusiveness, can everybody be treated equally so that people like Goodluck Jonathan from a peasant family can rise to become president, is the party stable or is it where experiments are still being done?”

He maintained that Imo State is a

PDP state and will continue to be, assuring that the party will regain the state in 2015.

Vice President Sambo commended the people of the state for their support to the president in the 2011 elections and urged them to double their efforts to ensure the PDP regained power in the state.

Mark, on his part, called on the PDP in the state to see the 2011 election lost to another party as history and work towards ensuring that it regained power in 2015.“From your turnout today, it is clear that Imo is anxious for the PDP to return to power in your state,” he said.

Muazu, who regretted that the party lost Imo, including its present governor, Rochas Okorocha to another party as a result of internal wrangling, however assured that the

Dangerous trend Reacting to the development, the Secretary-General of the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP), Chief Willy Ezugwu told New Telegraph that the action of the leading parties shows that they have no respect for the nation’s laws.

He said: “The problem of this country is the PDP and APC, as every indication points to the fact that they want to plunge Nigeria into crisis ahead of the 2015 elections, but my advice to INEC is that it should ensure that provisions of the Electoral Act are implemented to the letter. It should also not allow itself to continued to be manipulated by the so-called big parties, as no individual or group is bigger than the laws of the land.”

Other analysts who spoke on the issue were however of the view that while INEC has a role to play in ensuring that the various political parties play by the rules, the police and other relevant agencies should live up to their responsibilities of facilitating the prosecution of electoral offenders.

The spokesman to the INEC chairman, Idowu, who shared this view, told the newspaper it is the responsibility of the relevant security agencies to stem the dangerous tide of early campaigns.

His words: “We have said it over and over again that it is illegal. It is a breach of the law, but it is an issue that the relevant security agencies must address.”

While there is nothing wrong in aspirants feeling the people’s pulse concerning their respective ambitions ahead of the polls, playing by the rules of the game will spare the nation the crisis that trailed the 2011 elections as a result of over-heating of the polity.

Chime, Ekweremadu test might CO N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 1 4

man defect to APC. But the failure of Chime to leave PDP “was bad news for the camp of Ekweremadu because if Chime had defected, the number two man in the Senate would have had a field day in Enugu PDP”.

The governor’s renewed relation with the Presidency has proved a counter offensive. At the recent swearing-in of 17 local council chairmen, Chime declared that PDP, his government and people of Enugu were in support of President Goodluck Jonathan if he declares his intention to run in 2015.

“If and when he declares his intention to contest the 2015 presidential election, he can be assured that he will have our full support. He does not have to campaign in Enugu State at all,” Chime assured the President.

Return of Ebeano In the build up to the 2015 election, it was learnt that there is an attempt by Ekweremadu to get Chime’s predecessor and leader of the Ebeano political structure in the state, Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani to return to PDP after he defected to People for Democratic Change (PDC) on whose platform he ran for senatorial election in 2011. Both Chime

and Ekweremadu ascended their respective thrones using the Ebeano political structure. It is believed that in trying to bring back Nnamani, the DSP is just trying to loosen Chime’s grip on the party structure.

But Chime has moved to foil the plot. The state chairman of PDP, Engr. Vita Abba, quickly issued a statement on the plot to return Nnamani to the party. “It is a dramatic move that will never see the light of the day,” Abba said, assuring that the party shall employ every possible means to prevent Nnamani from returning to the PDP. He added that the return of the godfather would be an evil omen that would be a gross disservice to the party after the former governor worked hard to destroy PDP and its machineries.

Nocturnal meetings It was gathered that soon after the governor’s ‘foul’ reminder at the stakeholders’ meeting, the affected elective office holders, especially some National Assembly members started holding meetings with the DSP in Abuja and London, among others. A PDP chieftain in the state had told New Telegraph that after one of such meetings held in London, a communique issued was leaked to Chime, a situation that revealed a mole was right in the midst of the political fighters.

The search for ample grounds for support outside the

statutory partisan political players in the state has also taken Chime to the traditional rulers and presidents-general of Town Unions in the state. Last December, the governor hosted them in Enugu where he sensitized the leaders to be vigilant in the area of monitoring projects execution in their respective domains. He urged them to report cases of abandoned projects to relevant authorities. Observers interpreted the governor’s parley and the subject of his briefing as a ploy to trap certain NASS members believed to have been short-changing the people through citing of phantom projects to help them line their pockets. The target, again, is believed to be Ekweremadu and his camp.

Roadblock for NASS members It appears an open secret now in the state that the powerful Chief of Staff to the governor, Mrs. Ifeoma Nwobodo, is set to upstage Senator Gil Nnaji who currently represents Enugu East in the Senate. Nwobodo is said to have floated a campaign team, though not yet made public. Her ambition which if realised would place her at per with her boss if he also runs, has been a source of ill-feeling by Nnaji who clearly has fallen out with the governor. Others who have served from two terms and above include Senator Ayogu Eze, Hon. Ogbuefi Ozomgbachi, Hon. Pat Asadu, and Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.

19

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Our MISSION To publish a newspaper of superior value, upholding the fundamental ethics of journalism: balanced reporting, fairness, accuracy and objectivity.

Sanctity of Truth w w w.new telegraphonli ne.com

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

TUESday, FEBRUARY 25, 2014

A conference designed to fail

T

he nomination of delegates and the articulation of the positions of ‘representation’ on behalf of the estimated 150 million Nigerians at the National Conference, is reaching a crescendo. The delegates will soon assemble in Abuja, and deliberate for three months. The supposed objective is to address irksome issues such as the minority question, marginalisation, injustice, ethnicity, hatreds, fears, religion, mutual suspicion, impunity, false flag terrorism, and numerous glitches threatening the foundation of Nigeria.

Expectedly, government says it balanced meticulous considerations with long and mature deliberations before accepting the recommendations of the 13-man Advisory Committee earlier set up for the conference.

On the strength of higher priority given to the National Conference above working more assiduously to make the environment more conducive for elections next year, government says “the National Conference shall discuss any subject matter, except the indivisibility and indissolubility of Nigeria as a nation, therefore the unity of Nigeria is non-negotiable.

Decisions at the National Conference shall be by consensus; but where it is not achievable, it shall be by 75 per cent majority. The National Conference shall advise the government on the legal framework, legal procedures and

options for integrating the decisions and outcomes of the national conference into the Constitution and laws of the country.”

To facilitate the success of the exercise, a princely N7 billion has been earmarked. Even with the argument by a few that the hefty sum is inadequate for the jamboree, a back-of-the-envelope assessment shows it is sufficient to sink several water boreholes in each of the 774 local government councils in the country, among other more inclusive options that could dilate the welfare curves of the citizenry.

However, we believe that the proposed national conference is dead on arrival and remains a political merry-go-round gimmick. It may lend its usefulness more to political manipulation, alignments and re-alignments, but its chances of convincingly addressing and redressing the touchy questions and angst long bottled up by Nigerians look only very slim. The lingering protests by various groups with regard to feelings of isolation and lopsided composition of delegates are only pointers to the crippling gaps and deficiencies already constituting a plague to the conference.

Not a few believe that Nigeria, in itself, is a construct that never should have existed, considering the country’s, cultural, religious and

other antecedents and conventions.

Added to this is the fact that Nigeria has been a misbegotten federation that would require much more than the outcome of a hushed and restrictive conference of the envisaged hue to reconfigure.

We are unconvinced that the outcome of the proposed exercise would be radically different from previous conferences, despite seeming variations in nomenclature. There is still a wide lacuna created by the absence of any clearly defined legal backing for implementing the recommendations of the delegates. Subjecting the adoption of the recommendations of the delegates to their advice and the caprices of the National Assembly rather makes a mockery of the whole exercise.

We believe that limiting clauses need to be immediately expunged from the sphere of discourse if the conference must show any modicum of seriousness and sincerity.

While the basic ethnic construct of the country should be the fundamental basis of equal representation, not the skewed manipulative interests of a few manipulators.

We further urge the leadership and every stakeholder to do all in their capacity to know, understand and do the right things with the laws of the land. It is also our view that we should save time, en-

ergy and other huge resources by dusting up the recommendations of the previous conferences and other related exercises to fine-tune them in sync with the contemporary realities for more inclusive and value-driven implementation.

Whether as leaders or followers, more Nigerians now need to be convinced to believe in their country beyond singing the national anthem and reciting the national pledge. Nigeria is Africa in terms of population, oil and gas wealth, economic potential as well as the biggest potential market in the continent by any metric. This further underpins our position that the right things need to be done at the right time and place to harness the lush opportunities and resources in the country for more meaningful and sustainable development.

The desire to preserve the unity of the country should go beyond coercion and also lay us all under necessity to respect the rule of law, rebuild trust, appreciate credibility, transparency, accountability and other abandoned national ethos and values. This should spur the much needed truthful commitment to the wellbeing of every citizen, region and ethnic rights and privileges in the country. Citizens’ fears and suspicions are entrenched and must be addressed beyond mere rhetoric and manipulative genuflecting.

BOLAJI TUNJI Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief IKE ABONYI Deputy Managing Director FELIX ABUGU Managing Editor, South SULEIMAN BISALA Managing Editor, North GABRIEL AKINADEWO 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 BIODUN DUROJAIYE News Editor PADE OLAPOJU Production Editor TIMOTHY AKINLEYE Head, Graphics ROBINSON EZEH Head, Admin.

20

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

OPINION

24 hours electricity, dream or reality?

Oseloka Zikora

M

y friend and ace television producer, Amaka Igwe posted an alarm on her Facebook wall.

She had electricity in her home for 48 hours running. Mind you she didn’t say a ‘blackout’. She actually meant power supply to her residence did not blink for all of 2 days.

Now you have to understand her delightful ‘worry’. For a sector with a reputation more inclined to default than performance, she must have wondered if she is still within this clime or having a malaria-induced dream. At least Facebook comments might help restore a sense of balance and reassure her that she still lives in Lagos, Nigeria.

Let me confess that I know Amaka not just for her prolific skills in television scripting and production. I can also testify to her unquestionable character and Christian faith; she is not one to grandstand or embellish or do some public relations stuff. If she says she enjoyed power supply for 2 days running, then I believe her.

To her claims, I have also responded that the feat is no magic. It is rather

a product of hard work, persistent determination and the fact that it is beginning to dawn on all players in the sector that it is no longer business as usual. Current improvement is the immediate outcome of the completed major repairs on many vandalized gas pipelines. Now power generation now hovers around 4150 MW while grid loaded power is over 3800 MW up from between 1800 to 2500 MW when most of the pipelines were vandalized.

So the GenCos are producing more power due to the availability of having more gas supply. Main beneficiaries of the improved gas supply are newly completed NIPP plants especially Olorunsogo, Omotosho and Geregu power plants that were almost shut down due to nonavailability of gas. Egbin plant in Lagos and others also ramped up production due to same reason. Thanks also to a relatively improved grid system with fresh 33KV transmission lines, sub stations and injection transformers.

As it stands today, heavily metered areas will naturally receive more power from the DisCos than unmetered areas, ditto metered commercial and industrial areas. Why; because that ensures

As it stands today, heavily metered areas will naturally receive more power from the Discos than unmetered areas more revenue streams for the DisCos and lowers commercial losses. As you know these classes of consumers pay the highest tariffs. Perhaps this explains why in some cities, some are now getting from 18 hours to 24 hours while some get less, even as low as 8 hours.

This point can be better appreciated when viewed from the perspective that the regulator NERC is whipping DisCos that are not making efforts to meter their customers. According to NERC, the era of estimated billing should be done with. If the Discos don’t have the funds to roll out full metering for consumers, then they should utilize the option of Credit Advance Payment for Metering Implementation.

The DisCos, of course, are not ready to fall under the NERC hammer given

that consumers have the right to seek redress if they believe that their bills are unjustly estimated. On the contrary for metered customers, it is pay as you go, so no one complains.

That however, may not be the sole reason for the disparities in power distribution. There are still areas with weak distribution facilities – such as dilapidated sub stations and distribution lines, and overloaded transformers. Naturally, to avoid heavy technical losses, the DisCos will choose to wheel power to areas not so challenged. After all, they are business entities and will really not be willing to suffer technical losses unnecessarily. More so when they no longer enjoy the luxury of owing GenCos for power supplied. Part of their KPIs is that they must prove offtake credit-worthiness by paying the Bulk trader as and when due.

In all, it is still far from Uhuru. Yes, the Transmission Company has relatively stabilized the grid system, yet it needs to continuously up its game in terms of continued monitoring of the grid system, transmission lines and sub stations to keep them at best optimum performance.

Zikora, a public affairs analyst, contributed this piece from Abuja; email: obizik@yahoo.com

Fashola, Sanusi, el-Rufai and the APC Sylvester Okoro

W

hen Sanusi Lamido Sanusi lost his job, and chose to head for Lagos rather than Abuja where he had a home, many did not read much meaning into it, until it emerged that he was received by All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftains led by none other than one like him, Mallam Nasir el Rufai, in posh cars made available by prominent Lagosians.

That singular act confirmed stories that had been going the rounds in exclusive circles that some of the chieftains of the party had met with the financial rabble rouser in one of the financial capitals of the world, and perfected a grand plan to ruffle Abuja feathers, as a step to gain political capital and preparatory to his joining the party.

Either he neglected to tell them his alleged financial misdemeanours or he told them and the plot was to get him out there, making so much noise about the always-tainted Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) so that any disciplinary measure against him

would be seen as persecution.

But he succeeded halfway as it has now emerged he was rotten to the core and operated a house muddied by alleged financial recklessness of the highest order.

To think that President Goodluck Jonathan had this information since June, last year, and did nothing about it is, to say the least, either an evidence of his naivety or a large-heartedness that is not for a clime like ours.

It is much more confounding that with all this information, Jonathan tried persuading the Emperor of Nigeria’s financial institutions to resign but rebuffed him and perhaps told the story of his encounter with the president on phone to THISDAY newspapers that carried it weeks ago. It is therefore no wonder that, now that the APC deep-throat in government has fallen from his high horse, those presenting warped logic over his sack are apologists from the APC. Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, said: “You see, I don’t understand this kind of economic management. If the man is going in June, there must be a sense in which messaging

about executive tampering with the independence of the Central Bank has economic consequences for investor positioning. This is not a suspension; it’s a sack really because it’s only there’s no power to sack him and they have looked and looked and looked and they have said: we suspend. It’s a sack really. The message you are sending out is that it is better to keep quiet about corruption. That’s what it seems to me.”

Is that so, suddenly-loquacious Governor Fashola?

Would you dare take on Tinubu the way Sanusi took on Jonathan? We all know you would be impeached within the five working days of the wee; so, stop pontificating. Fashola said further, “For me really, if someone in my government tells me that some money is missing and without concluding any investigation, they suspended the person who blew the whistle. It is when the audit is concluded that they can now decide what to do to the man. But now, before the completion of the audit, they have sacked the man who alerted the head of the govern-

ment that money is missing.”

Interesting! Why not hire an audit firm from Chicago to audit the tax system in Lagos State since you became governor and see whether Lagosians, at least the true ones, will allow you to sit in Alausa, and continue to report to that godfather of yours. And who, except Sanusi, is saying that money is missing? In the legal profession where you came from, does the word of one inconsistent loud talking banker confirm a misdeed, even if there was one?

“So what message is the presidency sending out to Nigerians on corruption and others who may want to reveal any atrocity committed in the country?” you asked sir, and you went ahead to answer the same question thus: “The message the presidency is sending out is that Nigerians should keep quiet whenever they see any corruption perpetrated in the country. That is not a good sign for the economy.”

Your Excellency, you are completely wrong, and if your sense of history does not serve you well, I will remind you that no one in all our history

has been able to cow us as has been done in other climes, even western ones. You want an example, Sir? I will give you only one: Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. He has been running riot with his mouth for the past three years like a political governor rather than a financial one who should not rock the boat of state; but remained there because the President, for some inexplicable reason, trusted him and knew Nigerians wanted a breed like him. But it got into his head, and if you read the papers with their deluge of his alleged financial recklessness, it also got into his pocket.

Governor Fashola, please, remove your APC toga for a few minutes and answer this question: should such a man have been retained? Should the amiable Lagos Governor not be aware, may be it would be necessary for him to be told that the President had been told since the first week of June last year, a clear eight months and three weeks ago, to fire the man and his deputies.

Okoro sent this piece from Lagos via sylvesterokoro2013@yahoo.com

OPINION

Sanctity of Truth

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

21

Jonathan: A liberal democrat or weakling?

Tamuno West-Greene

O

ne of the first major challenges that confronted President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, when he assumed power, was how to deal with the mass protests of January 1, 2012, following government’s sudden hike of petrol pump prices from N65 to N141 a litre. The explanation for the increase was that scrapping the fuel subsidy would save $8 billion a year, the bulk of which was falling into the hands of corrupt middlemen.

Not persuaded by government’s reasons for the price hike, Nigerians stormed the streets of our major cities in protest. The demonstrations posed a severe threat to national security, compounded by the Boko Haram insurgency, which was already ravaging some parts of the North. It was an occasion to test Jonathan’s ability for conflict resolution.

In unmistaken terms, he told Nigerians that he would always listen to them, but without abandoning policies and actions that he thought were good for the nation.

So, he decided on a compromise by reducing the cost of a litre of petrol from the proposed N141 to N97. And the protests stopped.

For some political analysts, the President’s decision was nothing but capitulation, a weak leader’s failure to carry through a policy of deregulation that would have resolved a major economic challenge in the country. Many others

interpreted the compromise as a sign of strength and the mark of a listening president. Of course, that singular event only was not sufficient to declare Jonathan as either a democrat or a weakling.

Since the fuel protests, Jonathan’s leadership style has remained a puzzle to political analysts. When in 2013 violence by the Boko Haram insurgents reached its peak in the northern parts of the country, Jonathan was forced to declare a state of emergency in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States. By law, the president had the powers to remove the governors and state assemblies of the affected states and take over their administration. He did not exercise these constitutional powers. Instead, he left the state governors in control and allowed the houses of assembly to function. Some Nigerians interpreted the Jonathan’s decision not to go the whole hog as evidently lacking in courage while, for others, it was yet another instance of his democratic liberalism.

For almost a year now, the Rivers State governor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has been displaying all kinds of impunity. He has, on countless occasions, challenged Jonathan whom he accused of failing in his constitutional duty of protecting the lives and property of Nigerians. The most brazen of them all was when the governor accused the president of posting police commissioner, Joseph Mbu, to Rivers State for the ignoble intention of oppressing and repressing the people of the state.

Jonathan’s critics appear to misinterprete his character and social mien. By upbringing, he is a humble person who is considerate and respectful Ironically, at the last time of making this point, the governor was under the heavy protection of armed policemen deployed

by Commissioner Mbu. In what has become a routine, Amaechi has now got used to speaking, contemptuously and in disparaging manner, about the president and his immediate family, especially the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan. But the Rivers State governor is just one of many others who do not show any regard for the person of Jonathan. Imagine the impudence of Assistant General Secretary of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Alhaji Denja Yaqub who, in 2011, described President Jonathan as “too dull to understand the complexity of Nigerian problems.” If not out of utter disrespect, what possible reason could a politician of Chief Bisi Akande’s calibre have for describing the government of President Jonathan as “a kindergarten administration” or for someone like Sam Nda-Isaiah saying that “Jonathan is not capable of being

a local government chairman”? Read any material written by people such as Lai Mohammed, Nasir el-Rufai or Femi Fani-Kayode and you would almost get the impression that President Jonathan was some nonentity.

Somehow, Jonathan’s critics appear to misinterprete his character and social mien. By upbringing, he is a humble person who is considerate and respectful.

Rather than see strength in these moral attributes, many perceive them as weaknesses. These, as it has turned out, are the sources of Jonathan’s strength. His opponents underrate him, thereby easily playing into his hands. Ask James Onanefe Ibori, former Governor of Delta State!

Is it not curious that soon after receiving Obasanjo’s letter of 2nd December, 2013, in which the former President violently criticised his (Jonathan’s) administration, the President immediately warned all his aides against any criticism of Obasanjo ( he even travelled to Otta to greet the man)? Recall also that the former National Security Adviser (NSA), the late General Owoye Azazi, once told reporters that President Jonathan had stopped him from inviting General Muhammadu Buhari for interrogation on some security issues (NigeriaWorld, August 12, 2012). That much is Jonathan’s respect for his elders and predecessors in office.

West-Green sent this piece from Port Harcourt via Tamunowg@yahoo.com

Of OBJ and politics of godliness Imikan Attah

I

t came as the surprise of the year for me to hear the statement credited to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo that “politics is not for the ungodly”.

For any student of Logic, you are taught a system of reasoning called deductive reasoning. Logical conclusions are drawn based on certain premises.

Taking the statement- politics is not for the ungodly, it is ‘politically correct’ to subject it to rigorous logical imperatives: Premise 1: politics is not for the ungodly Premise 2: OBJ is a politician Therefore: OBJ is godly.

The substance of this conclusion will also be subjected to some examination, not at all rigorous but dispassionate, to determine the mystery of godliness!

Indeed, OBJ’s words and actions are measurable, and worthy of close examination.

Earlier this month, OBJ, on a trip to the UK, told the gathering there that Dr. Jonathan had previously, repeatedly told him that he (Jonathan) would only spend one term in office, and that in view of current denials, that the “most important thing in life” was for one to be a man of one’s words. He then waited long enough for Jonathan’s reaction and when the silence became deafening, he shot back with politics is not for the ungodly. In other words, politics is not for the likes of Dr. Jonathan.

OBJ had one term as President after which his securing his second term ticket as allowed by the constitution became uncertain. OBJ, the apostle of do-or-die politics, then staged and arranged the marking of ballot papers, such that the open secret aspect of the primaries became a mockery, a rape on democracy. He marked out those who voted against him!

During campaigning then, the EFCC repeatedly sent him incriminating evidence of criminal activities of one of the governors. These OBJ waved aside because this governor promised and delivered 100% delegate votes in the above-mentioned presidential primaries.

He even gave the governor the all-clear to contest for a 2nd term (mercifully, at the end of his tenure, the said governor was later tried in a British court and is now serving 14 years for the same offence for which he had apparently been forgiven in Nigeria!

Did this, in Ceaser, seem honorable?! Next, OBJ embarked on the path of tinkering with the constitution, for the critical national issue--of getting himself a 3rd term in office!! When asked if he was indeed making overtures for a 3rd term, he replied that even his chickens were expecting him back at his farm after his 2nd term.

But it was not until the legislature quashed all his surreptitious 3rd term moves that he reluctantly left office.

Was that godly? It is amazing that the same person is now holding a gun to Dr. Jonathan’s head to spend just one term in office.

I happened to have been privileged to have served as one of the masters of ceremony during the presidential visit (by OBJ) to Bayelsa with Dr Jonathan, then governor, as host. At several of the events, OBJ had described Dr. Jonathan as a godly, God-fearing man. Suddenly, curiously just before Dr. Jonathans anticipated declaration to contest a 2nd term, he has become a man whose words are not to be trusted, an ungodly man. Haba!

Again, in OBJ’s curious open letter to Dr. Jonathan, he had harped extensively on the security situation in the North East and alluded to how the Federal Government was not acting. But the same condemnable, murderous actions of the Boko Haram in the North are what the federal OBJ’s federal government unleashed on the people

of the Niger Delta. The government sent a detachment of troops against whole communities of the Niger Delta, over problems of internal conflict. Whole communities were razed (Odi), and the few surviving women and children were repeatedly raped and abused in broad daylight by the soldiers.

All of this is documented and was even presented before the Oputa Panel. That time, nobody raised alarm about the horrors, mayhem and insecurity that had been created. No open letters were sent out.

But, what is a fact is that there is no part of Nigeria that was spared OBJ’s onslaught when he was President.

In Lagos, a state with a population then of over 12 million (the equivalent of 3 full countries) and few local governments on a tiny land mass, the then governor decided to split the state into smaller local governments for more effective governance. But simply because that governor was in the opposition party, OBJ kicked against this brilliant administrative step, and harshly and illegally withheld all their funds from the federation account for years, right up until he left office. OBJ put Lagos people under siege and starved the people, just to play his socalled godly politics.

While the naira plummeted and the cost of staple foods sky-rocked to highest recorded levels, and while the Boko Haram and other militant groups were being formed and birthed under his watch, OBJ spent a great deal of the nation`s resources and of his time ordering presidential jets on junkets around the world, chasing invisible foreign investors at astronomical cost. OBJ went after the oil resources in Akwa Ibom with most unbridled avarice. He decreed that no offshore oil belonged to coastal states, but the centre.

Chief Imikan Attah, a broadcaster and former Daily Sun columnist, wrote from Uyo.

ARTS

22

NEW TELEGRAPH

www.newtelegraphonline.com/arts

TUESDAY, February 25, 2014

The Lion…woos The Shoemaker’s Wonderful Wife for Jos festival of theatre Tony Okuyeme

W

ITH the presentation of Wole Soyinka’s “The Lion and the Jewel” yesterday, as the pre-festival play for the 8th Jos Festival of Theatre, the stage is now set for seven days of breathtaking theatre performances. The festival is on the theme “building understanding and renewing communities”.

Five other plays will also illuminate the stage in this year’s edition of week-long theatre feast organized by Jos Repertory Theatre (JRT) with support of the US Mission Nigeria.

Scheduled for performances at 5pm daily at the premises of the Alliance Francaise, Jos, during the festival are, Federico Garcia Lorca’s “The Shoemaker’s Wonderful Wife”, Charles Fuller’s “Zooman and the Sign”, August Wilson’s “Two Trains Running”, Ladislav Smoljak and Zdenek Sverak’s “The Conquest of the North Pole”, and Akolo James Anthony’s “A Toast of Triumph”.

Last Sunday’s showing of The Lion and the Jewel offered insight into what has been dubbed ‘a bumper drama feast’ for the growing live theatre audience in Jos. Set in the village of Ilunjinle, The Lion and the Jewel tells the story of Baroka (the Lion), the crafty and powerful Bale of the village, Lakunle, the young teacher, influenced by western ways, and Sidi (the Jewel), 'a true village belle', as well as Sadiku, the eldest of Baroka's wives.

Earlier, in a statement, the Artistic Director of JRT, Mr. Patrick Jude Oteh said for the third year running, the US Mission, Nigeria will support the 8th Jos Festival of Theatre 2014, adding that the Embassy of Spain and the Czech Embassy will also feature plays in the festival.

Tomorrow, the festival continues with the showing of Federico Garcia Lorca’s The Shoemaker’s Wonderful Wife. The play will be performed with the collaboration of the Embassy of Spain, Nigeria.

The Shoemaker’s Wonder-

JRT in performance

ful Wife is the story of a middle aged shoemaker who marries a girl young enough to be his first child had he married early. The girl is vain and is wooed by several other suitors including the Mayor of the town. She rejects all of them because according to her, she cannot bear the touch of another man. She torments her husband who eventually runs away from home but missing his wife and home, he decides to come back disguised as a puppet master.

The following day, Thursday 27th February, Charles Fuller’s “Zooman and the Sign” will serenade the stage; and on Friday 28th will be for August Wilson’s “Two Trains Running”. The festival continues on Saturday 1st March, with the stage production of a Czech comedy, Smoljak and Sverak’s “The Conquest of the North Pole”, with the col-

laboration of the Embassy of the Czech Republic, Nigeria.

“Zooman And The Sign” is Charles Fullers version of events that occur in a close knit neighbourhood. It is summer and people are enjoying the beautiful weather. In the midst of this tranquility, Jinny a little girl playing on her porch is killed.

All the neighbours pretend that they did not see the killer.

August Wilson’s play, “Two Trains Running” is the story of life – there are always two trains running - life and death. It is also set in a neighbourhood where the restaurant is the meeting

place for all manner of people.

“The Conquest of the North Pole” tells the story of a group of men who decide to leave Prague for the North Pole and in the process run out of food..

The festival will end with a new play by a new playwright.

It is Akolo James Anthony’s “A Toast of Triumph”. It deals with the very contemporary issue of unemployment. It is Kigbu’s story of how he triumphed over his unemployed status by taking to farming where he eventually ‘makes’ it beyond his wildest dreams. It is a call for all youths to go back to the land to earn an

A Toast of Triumph deals with the very contemporary issue of unemployment. It is Kigbu’s story of how he triumphed over his unemployed status by taking to farming...

honest and decent living.

According to Oteh, all the plays will be performed by talented actors with the introduction of two new directors into the festival organization. “This has followed the pattern in the last two years of the festival where we have witnessed the introduction of two new directors each in the last editions alongside an array of young and talented amateur and professional actors,” he said, adding that in the tradition of the previous festivals, there will be workshops on arts management, salsa dance and directing/acting.

“The 2014 festival is also being supported by Grand Cereals and Oil Mills Limited, the Jos Business School, the French Embassy, Nigeria and Julius Berger PLC alongside other corporate and individual supporters," he said.

ARTS 23

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Omenka Gallery for Cape Town Art Fair Tony Okuyeme

L

AGOS-BASED Omenka Gallery will from February 27 to March 2, 2014, present an exhibition of recent works by American artist, Gary Stephens based in Johannesburg at the Cape Town Art Fair, holding at the BMW Pavilion at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town.

Having lived in Italy for 10 years, Gary Stephens was brought to Lagos for the first time in February 2012 as a birthday gift by an Italian friend, Daniele Scenarelli. Among the places he visited was Balogun Market, which he describes as a “heaven”. There he bought 26 pieces of ankara textiles, each six metres long to take back to South Africa.

The works here are presented in charcoal on paper, acrylic on Ankara fabric (Nigerian wax), and wood and examine the influence of modernity and the

Frida

The Yellow Scarf

spread of global capitalism on post-colonial Africa. Stephens raises questions of hybridity and identity by exploiting the Ankara patterns as he paints his figures over these vibrant patterns. This technique allows for the colours to break through, imbuing his work with a sense

of dynamism, especially when viewed from several angles. Stephens is also successful in his fusion of the comparatively more traditional media of drawing and printmaking with meticulously crafted string systems. Combining long, vertical, repetitive folds and pleats as seen here

in his large-scale braid drawings, these changing optical illusions are heightened when viewed while moving across the picture plane.

Stephen’s creativity stems from his experiences living among societies and people he encounters in his extensive sojourns around Latin America, Asia, Europe, and Africa. In his work, he chooses not to highlight the personal features of his models, but explores from various perspectives the distinctively African sense of wearing a hat; rolled, sitting high, at a certain angle, or with a pair of sunglasses on top. “I want the viewer to enjoy the iconic strength of a woman in a head scarf, not the specific woman, but the scarf as the actual subject.”

Overall, the exhibition addresses issues of personal identity, self-discovery, and history while offering viewers glimpses into how they define themselves in an increasingly globalized world.

Rejuvenating live theatre, Closer it gets for BUAF, Get Reel

A scene in BUAF and Get Reel production of Closer in Lagos

Tony Okuyeme

L

IVE theatre enthusiasts in Lagos were feted to a thought-provoking performance recently with twoday stage production of Patrick Marber’s play, Closer. The performance which was held 27th and 28th December, 2013, at Intercontinental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, was produced by by Beeta Universal Arts Foundation (BUAF) in collaboration with Eku Edewor's Get Reel Production.

The show, theatre enthusiasts reckon was no doubt a boost for the sustained efforts by BUAF to rejuvenate the culture of theatre, create platforms for individuals by providing opportunities for them to exhibit their talents and advance skills for their development.

Directed by Najite Dede, the four-man (two males, two females) cast play featured Kalu Ikeagwu as Larry, Eku Edewor as Alice, Ochuko Oke as Dan and AMVCA nominee Bikiya Graham-Douglas as Anna. It was sponsored by United Bank for Africa (UBA), Intercontinental Lagos, among others. This no doubt is a significant development in both collaboration and sponsorship for theatre.

“I was lucky to have Get Reel Production Work with me and the amazing cast and crew to bring the Play to life,” says Bikiya Graham-Douglas who is the founder and Chief Operating Offi-

cer of BUAF. She added that she chose “Closer” for the season because it is a modern piece that many people will identify themselves in the characters.

“I chose Patrick Marber’s play “Closer” because I wanted something different.

The way he tells the story through the characters is fresh different from anything we have seen on a Nigerian stage and i found it to be challenging. We have to push the boundaries sometimes don't we? It’s a modern piece and I felt many people will identify themselves. Closer is not just any commercial play, it’s for the theatre lover... The audience reaction was very interesting. Most loved it, well from the reactions received while on stage and others who felt the language was too strong found it daunting but when they got over that and focused on the drama, they were spellbound,” Graham-Douglas said, stressing that BUAF remains committed to strengthening theatre in Nigeria by bringing exciting pieces to the forefront of Nigerian entertainment. “Over the years, I have experienced challenges on this journey, but I am encouraged with recent support and the increasing love for theatre, that the future is bright.

I chose Closer because I wanted something different

Working on the project, reaffirmed my commitment to the theatre. “ Set in a few small locales—a hospital room, a studio, a pair of living rooms, a café, a room in the museum, in front of a photo at a showing, a doctor's office, a bench in front of a suggested aquarium, the play “Closer” examines the complex relationships between four persons within the course of four years. There is Dan (, Ochuko Oke), the journalist who is a sensitive and selfish fellow with his head in the clouds, Anna (Bikiya Graham-Douglas) the photographer who is blissfully depressed and keeps making the wrong choices in life based on such, Larry (Kalu Ikeagwu) the dermatologist who is aggressive and a bit chauvinistic, and Alice (Eku Edewor) the stripper, a free spirit who puts up a wall of sarcasm and biting wit to hide the fact that she longs for love.

Dan, a young man, takes Alice a young woman to hospital after she has been hit by a taxi; they fall in love as they wait for the doctor to attend to her injured knee.

Larry, a doctor in dermatology, inspects her leg briefly and leaves. Dan and the young woman introduce themselves—he is Daniel Woolf, an obituary writer and failed writer who tells her how he and his colleagues use euphemisms humorously in their work in obituaries. Upon the girl's prompting, he says his euphemism would be "reserved" and hers would be "disarming". She introduces herself as Alice Ayres, a self-described waif who has a scar along her leg which is shaped like a question mark. Wanting him to spend the rest of the day with her, she calls his editor and tells his boss that he's sick and can't come in to work.

More than a year later, Dan is on the verge of publishing a book based on Alice's past as a stripper, and Anna is taking his photograph for publicity. Dan also falls in love with Anna, though he

is still in a relationship with Alice, having left his former girlfriend for her. Six months later, Dan and Larry meet in an adult chat room. Dan impersonates Anna and has internet sex with Larry.

He tries to play a practical joke on Larry by arranging for Larry to meet him (Dan pretending to be Anna in the chat room) in the London Aquarium the next day. When Larry arrives, stunned to see Anna (who Dan didn't know would actually be there), he acts under the impression that she is the same person from last night and makes a fool of himself.

Anna catches on and explains that it was probably Dan playing a practical joke on him. She reveals that it is her birthday and snaps a photo of Larry. They become a couple.

At Anna's showing, Alice stands in front of her photo, looking at it; Dan is watching her. They have an argument over Alice's presentiment that Dan will leave her. Larry meets Alice, whom he recognises as the woman in the photo, and knows that she is Dan's girlfriend.

Meanwhile, Dan convinces Anna to carry on an affair with him. They cheat on their partners with each other. Finally, one year later, they tell their partners the truth and leave their respective partners for each other.

Alice, devastated, disappears from Dan's life and goes back to stripping, going by the name Jane. Larry finds her at one of the seedy strip clubs in London, where he pushes her to tell the truth about her name. They share a connection based on mutual betrayal and heartbreak.

Despite challenges of funding, Graham-Douglas is hopeful that this year will be a bright one of live theatre. “I'm looking forward to taking this year on.

We have a few exciting projects and worthy collaborations that will resonate with our focus,” she enthused.

24

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

BUSINESS TUESDAY, February 25, 2014

What's news IOCs to cut expenditure in Nigeria -KPMG International Oil Companies (IOCs) in the Nigeria’s oil and gas industry are planning to reduce their Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) in the country and other oil-rich countries, KPMG has revealed.

}p-26

How to address depleting oil reserves - NAPE Depleting oil reserves in Nigeria could only be salvaged by increase in oil exploration, Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists, has said.

}p-27

$381m deal for Oyo field Bumi Armada Berhad, a Malaysiabased offshore oilfield services provider, has said that its whollyowned subsidiaries Armada Oyo Ltd (AOL) and Bumi Armada (Singapore) Pte.

}p-27

Nigeria earns more cash as oil stays above $100 pb The price of oil slipped below $103 a barrel but stayed above $100 per barrels at the weekend, placing Nigeria on the path of earning more cash from the sale of her weekly average of 2.3 million barrels per day exports at the international market.

}p-28

BUSINESS CREW AYODELE AMINU, Deputy Editor (Business) Simeon Ogoegbulem, Dep. Business Editor BAYO AKOMOLAFE, Asst. Editor (Maritime) SUNDAY OJEME, Asst. Editor (Insurance) JONAH IBOMA, ICT Editor DAYO AYEYEMI, Property Editor

}p-29 ayodele aminu, Deputy Editor, business

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

PRIVATISATION The national grid, which is now weak and obsolete, lacks capacity to receive and store 7, 000 Mega watts (MW) that the federal government plans to generate at the end of 2014.

Stories by Adeola Yusuf

T

he national grid, where all power generated across the country is deposited, has become weak in capacity and age, creating a major hurdle to the plans to increase power generation to 7, 000 Mega watts (MW) by the end of 2014, investigation by New Telegraph has shown.

This development is also threatening the $1.8 billion investments in Nigeria’s power sector, which are expected from the new owners of the distribution companies (Discos) in line with the terms of the recent power sector’s privatisation.

Further checks showed that the grid lacks the capacity to carry the 7, 000 Mega Watts (MW), which the government is working vigorously to achieve at the end of 2014.

“This is because, when the facility was being designed, it was not designed to accommodate such a higher power deposit and several pleas by the authorities of the then National Electricity Power authority (NEPA) to upgrade this installation fell on the deaf hears of the military administration,” a member of the grid design team told new Telegraph.

“The government,” he continued, “is aware that the grid needs upgrade and it appears to be working on ensuring that

ADEOLA YUSUF, Energy Editor

L-R: Guest Speaker, Doyin Salami; Chairman, Economic Advisory Team, Delta State, Bismark Rewane; Commissioner for Information, Delta State, Chike Ogeah, and Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State, at a dinner with the Governor on Investment Opportunities in Delta State, in Lagos…on Sunday.

this is done.”

Minister of Power, Professor Chinedu Nebo and his predecessor, Bart Nnaji, have at various functions agreed on the failing state of the national grid.

While Nnaji promised then to begin work on what he called super grids, Nebo, on his part, declared that his office was looking at ways to ensure that it develop the grid capacity to receive power deposit of over 5, 000 Mega watts (MW).

The $1.8billion investments, according to the terms in the agreement obtained by this paper, include proper metering of all customers, procurement of new transformers, upgrade of other distribution infrastructure, reduction in the number of customer interruptions, rolling out of new customer connections and other network expansion programmes.

Notwithstanding the state of national grid, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has, however, expressed readiness

to transmit 7,000 megawatt of electricity sequel to massive expansion work on the country’s transmission lines. The transmission lines initially had the capacity to transmit 5,000 megawatt of electricity that would be generated from generation companies (GENCOs).

According to the Presidential Task Force on Power, Nige-

ria’s peak generation currently stands at 3,600 megawatts.

Although the country hopes to generate above 5,000 megawatts, TCN said it is ready for transmission. TCN General Manager, Public Affairs, Mrs. Seun Olagunju, said the company currently has the capacity to transmit 7,000 megawatts of electricity.

Nigeria hit by 1960s French nuclear test – Report Nigeria has been hit by the radioactive substance from the fallout of France’s first nuclear test in the Sahara desert in 1960s; declassified documents released at the weekend have shown.

These radioactive elements, which cause cancer or cardiovascular diseases, also found their way to the Spanish and Sicilain coasts to the north and the Central African Republic to the south.

“This means tens of millions of potential victims,” lawyer Fatima Benbrahal, who represents Algerians said were “affected by the tests.”

The declassified documents obtained by the Le Parisien newspaper also stated that the French defence ministry lied about the fallout from the nuclear test.

A map unearthed by the Le CONTINUED ON PAGE 26

Rates Dashboard

CHRIS UGWU, Capital Market Editor

INFLATION RATE

Abdulwahab Isa, Finance Editor

January 2014 ...........................8.00% December 2013.......................8.00% November 2013..........................7.90%

Nnamdi Amadi, Reporter

www.newtelegraphonline.com/business

$1.8 bn investments threatened as national grid weakens

DELE ALAO, Brands/Marketing Editor

Chuks Onuanyin, Energy

NEW TELEGRAPH

Kerosene subsidy: The big rip-off

LENDING RATE InterBank Rate. . . . . . . . . . . 10.75% Prime Lending Rate. . . . . . 17.01% Maximum Lending Rate. .24.90%

EXCHANGE RATE

(Parellel As at Feb. 21)

USD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N171.20 Pounds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N284 Euro. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N236

EXCHANGE RATE

(Official As at Feb. 21)

USD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N155.75 Pounds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N259.7 Euro. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N213.5

26

Sanctity of Truth

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

IOCs to cut expenditure in Nigeria, others - KPMG INVESTMENT Most of the International Oil Companies (IOCs) are planning to reduce their Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) in Nigeria and other oil-rich countries.

Adeola Yusuf

I

nternational Oil Companies (IOCs) in the Nigeria’s oil and gas industry are planning to reduce their Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) in the country and other oilrich countries, KPMG has revealed.

Partner and Global Chairman, Energy and Natural Resources Sector, KPMG, Mr. Michiel Soeting, told new Telegraph that if Nigeria and other oil producing nations look at the investment inflow, they will know that there is a threat to investment.

“There is increased scrutiny by the stakeholders of the IOC of their capital expenditure (CAPEX) level. You have seen in the fourth quarter 2013

A

daptation measures are required in Lagos and other megacities to mitigate risk of coastal flooding.

Coastal flooding could be costing the planet’s economies $100,000 billion a year by 2100 according to a report

by Climate News Network.

The report noted that the cost of tackling coastal flooding could be beyond the reach of the poorest countries and ruinously expensive for richer ones.

If global warming continues on its present ominous path and if no significant adaptation measures are launched, more poor people in megacities of Lagos, Shanghai and Manila, among others, will be at risk.

According to new research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, five per cent of the people on the planet – up to 600 million people – could be hit by coastal flooding by the end of the century.

Jochen Hinkel from the Global Climate Forum in Berlin and colleagues have compiled, for the first time, global simulation results on future flood damage to buildings and infrastructure on the world’s coastal flood

L-R: Consultant, Mark George Consulting , John Ekpikhe; Managing Director/CEO, Crisp International Limited, Steve Amadi; Segment Head, Micro Enterprise and Business Development Services, Diamond Bank PLC; Adaeze Ume, and Manager, WAAST Avenue Branch, Owerri, Diamond Bank, Charles Oguibe, at the 40th Diamond BusinessXpress Seminar organized by the Bank in Owerri, Imo State.

announcements that most of the IOCs are talking about reducing their CAPEX because they are not having enough returns,” he said.

Stating that the current energy dynamics had far-reaching impact on Nigeria, Soeting said that Nigeria need to consider how to compete for investments if the federal gov-

ernment thinks it needs these foreign investments.

“A couple of IOCs have pulled out from Iraq because they said the environment is not sustainable and they cannot sell project economics to their investors. So, it is not that there is limitation on where they can make investments; there is no limitation,”

he added.

Corroborating Soeting’s view, the Partner and Head, Tax, Regulatory and People Services, KPMG, Mr. Victor Onyenkpa, outlined two challenges, which Nigeria is facing.

“The first one is that one of our key markets, the United States, is becoming more selfdependent and we have to look

Coastal flooding may cost $100bn yearly - research plains.

They expect drastic increases in economic damage because, as sea levels rise with the decades, so will population and investment: there will be more people with more to lose.

Right now, coastal floods and storm surge damage cost the world between $10 billion and $40 billion yearly.

“If we ignore this problem, the consequences will be dramatic,” says Hinkel.

“Countries need to take action and invest in coastal protection measures, such as building or raising dykes, among other options.”

Meanwhile, the Lagos State government said recently that it would require N440 billion to protect the state’s shoreline, covering 87 kilometres, from problems of coastal erosion and degradation.

According to the Commissioner for Waterfront Infrastructure Development, Mr. Adesegun Abiodun Oniru,

an engineer, the state government had spent over N38 billion for the restoration of its shoreline damaged by coastal erosion occasioned by frequent ocean surge.

Oniru said that the restoration works, which commenced from the back of Eko Atlantic City project to Alpha Beach, covered 7 kilometres stretch of the shoreline.

One unique solution embarked upon by the state government to combat coastal erosion of Lagos shoreline, the commissioner said, was the Eko Atlantic Project, adding that without the project, the whole of Victoria Island and Ikoyi would have been swept away by the ocean surge.

Co-author of the research, Robert Nicholls, from the University of Southampton warns: “If we ignore sea level rise, flood damages will progressively rise and presently good defences will be degraded and ultimately overwhelmed, hence we must

start to adapt now.”

All such projections involve assumptions about the future that cannot be tested, so the authors spread their bets: they considered a range of scenarios involving crude population growth, levels of economic growth with time, and a series of predictions of sea level rise, as icecaps and glaciers melt and as the oceans warm and expand according to predictable physical laws.

But their predictions, although alarming, are only reinforcements of earlier investigation. Last August, a World Bank team calculated that floods would be routinely costing coastal cities $1 trillion a year by 2050.

In July last year, a team from Stanford University in California looked at the challenge of building sea defences and proposed that by far the most efficient solutions would all be natural: dune systems, mangrove forests, reefs, water meadows, kelp

elsewhere to sell Nigeria’s crude.

The second issue is that we are seeing more countries becoming energy players as well. So, investors have more opportunities to make choice in terms of where they will put their money,” he said.

Nigeria hit by 1960s French nuclear test – Report CONTINUED ON PAGE 25

Parisien newspaper shows fallout from the test of the Gerboise Bleue bomb in the Algerian desert reaching western Sicily and southern Spain on the 13th day after the test.

In related documents, declassified last year due to a legal case brought by veterans of France’s nuclear tests, the military claims that doses were low but expert Bruno Barillot tells Le Parisien :“The norms at the time were a lot less strict than today”.

The documents also admit that dangerous levels of iodine-131 and caesium-137 were found in Chad’s capital, N’Djamena, as well as Arak, near Tamanrasset in southern Algeria.

Gerboise Bleue (blue jerboa) was the first nuclear bomb tested by France.

It was four times as powerful as the bomb dropped by the US on Hiroshima.

France carried out 210 nuclear tests in Algeria and Polynesia between 1960 and 1996.

Veterans who were present during the tests have suffered cancer and other diseases and have been fighting for compensation for years but only a small number of cases have been accepted as valid.

ENERGY | BUSINESS

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

27

How to address Nigeria’s depleting oil reserves - NAPE EXPLORATION Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE) wants the federal government, International Oil Companies (IOCs) and other stakeholders to increase efforts on oil exploration to address the depleting oil reserves.

Stories by Adeola Yusuf

D

epleting oil reserves in Nigeria could only be salvaged by increase in oil exploration, Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists, has said.

NAPE President, Adedoja Ojelabi, who stated this on the sideline of the monthly technical meeting of the association in Lagos, said that the ratio of oil production to exploration in Nigeria is not balanced.

“All companies are interested in exploration and production and you cannot continue to produce if you don’t find more oil or gas or hydrocarbon,” she said, adding “ everybody “is cognisance of the fact that you must replace what you are producing and that means we must explore.”

The country, which is targeting 40 billion barrels oil reserves, produces an average of 900million barrels in 12 months based on her 2.5 million daily production, whereas little is done to replace the volume produced on daily basis due to many factors, which NAPE said, it was all out to solve.

L-R: Geoscience Technology Manager, Exxomobil, Mr. John Farre, Managing Dierctor/CEO, Atlantic Subface Energy Consulting Ltd/ Chairman of Session, Mr. Jasper Nwachukwu, President,Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE), Mrs . Adedoja Ojelabi, and Guest Speaker, Mr. David Johnson, at the NAPE’S Monthly Technical /Business Meeting in Lagos.

“There are issues concerning the low exploration.

First of all the technology; there are also issues of finding; there are issues of regulation,” Adedoja said.

He argued that all these “things may make IOCs and independent producers a little bit careful because, you are talking about investments. Investment in the oil sector is capital intensive. It is not something you just jump into without doing your home work.

“We have the PIB, which is pending, hopefully, it would be passed. We also have the new marginal field policy that is on-going. So if you are going to put in a lot of money, you will want to ensure that the environment is okay, free and fair for you to make your money back. I believe all the parties are working to create that enabling environment and those are also the kind of things that NAPE is doing.”

Commending the federal government for the new marginal fields bid round, Ojelabi said: “If that goes through obviously, it would mean that more fields are available for more people to participate in exploring further. I believe some of these fields were inactive for a while and that means you can bring in more

39.66m

$50bn

5,000

barrels of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as petrol consumed by Nigerians in 2013 – Source: Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulating agency (PPPRA)

fresh investment needed in the power sector – Source: Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Olusegun Aganga

metric tonnes being the volume of Dual Purpose Kerosene given to Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) to be sold at N50 per litre under its kero-direct scheme: Source: National President, IPMAN, Alhaji AbdulKadiri

Four bag 8 years jail terms for cable theft PILFERING

Eko Electricity Distribution Company has secured eight years’ imprisonment for four vandals of its electrical cable

A

Tinubu Magistrate Court has sentenced four men to two years imprisonment each after they were found guilty of vandalising electrical cables belonging to the Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) in Lagos.

The convicts: Gedion Owolabi 27 years; Abubakar Isiaka 23

years; Suffianu Hassan 33 years and Sadiq Usman 25 years, were caught vandalising electrical cables at Serena Court, 300 kv, 11/0.415 kv substation at Lekki8 Phase 1 on the 24th September, 2013.

The Court however, on 21st January, 2014 sentenced them to two years imprisonment each after it thoroughly established that they were guilty of the charge.

On the other hand, the EKEDC said at the weekend that it had received high level of cooperation from the Ajiwe Police Station in Ajah and the Langbasa Police station in Oke-Ira area of Ibeju-Lekki to reduce assault on its staff by

customers in the area.

Assistant General Manager, Public affairs of the company, Godwin Idemudia, told New Telegraph that his office had also increased consultation and relationship with its customers to end the incessant assault on its staff “Gedion Owolabi 27 years; Abubakar Isiaka 23 years; Suffianu Hassan 33 years and Sadiq Usman 25 years, were caught vandalising electrical cables at Serena Court, 300kv, 11/0.415 kv substation at Lekki Phase 1 on the 24th September, 2013,” he said.

We believe that this will serve as deterrent to other vandals. On our part, we have increased consultations with our customers to end the incessant assault on our staff in the Ibeju-Lekki area,” he concluded.

people or people who are interested in them.

“If you pay a lot of money for a concession or a lease, at least you’ll want to make your money back. You cannot do that by just sitting on an asset. So, you have to go to explore, if you find the oil that you can produce.

Consequently, if our new marginal field policies come through it will also be a plus for the industry.

“So we come together and discuss how you are finding oil and what your challenges are. The IOCS are doing it, the independent are exploring. Everybody is interested in finding new oil now and that is for the benefit of the country.

“These IOCs are still continuing their business.

Whatever the situation is they are also in it to find oil, keep producing and making money. They are still going on with their business but once we resolve all these pending issues and things, I am sure that the industry will continue to strive. As far as technology goes, the technology is getting better and better every day. So, all we just need to do is to make sure that all the other things are taken care of and hopefully, we will find the 40billion barrels.”

$381m deal for Oyo field

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umi Armada Berhad, a Malaysia-based offshore oilfield services provider, has said that its whollyowned subsidiaries Armada Oyo Ltd (AOL) and Bumi Armada (Singapore) Pte. Ltd (BASPL), have signed two contracts with Oceanic Consultants Nigeria Limited (Oceanic) for the continued deployment of the floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) Armada Perdana at the Oyo field offshore Nigeria.

Oceanic inked a bareboat charter party contract with AOL to charter the FPSO and another contract with BASPL for the provision of operational and maintenance services for the vessel, Bumi Armada said in an announcement on local stock exchange Bursa Malaysia.

FPSO Armada Per-

dana has been working at the Oyo field since 2008 under contracts with the previous field operator Nigerian Agip Exploration Ltd (NAE).

The contracts with NAE were terminated by mutual agreement in Dec. 31, 2013 as NAE is no longer the field operator. Oceanic will now provide the FPSO and related services to the current operator of the Oyo field, CAMAC Energy Inc. Both contracts will run for an initial period of seven years commencing Jan. 1, with options to extend the contracts for two additional periods of 12 months each. The total value of the two contracts for the initial period is approximately $381 million (MYR 1.3 billion).

28 BUSINESS | ENERGY

Sanctity of Truth

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Nigeria earns more cash as oil stays above $100 pb BULLISH Nigeria is to earn more revenue as the price of oil stayed above $100 per barrel in last week’s trading at the international market.

Stories by Adeola Yusuf

T

he price of oil slipped below $103 a barrel but stayed above $100 per barrels at the weekend, placing Nigeria on the path of earning more cash from the sale of her weekly average of 2.3 million barrels per day exports at the international market.

Nigeria, Africa’s biggest crude exporter, had benchmarked $79.5 per barrel in its 2014 budget.

The fall of commodity price from the $103 per barrel came after a report indicated that manufacturing in China, the world's second-biggest economy, shrank again this month.

US crude for March delivery fell 39 cents to close at $102.92 a barrel in New York on the last day of trading for the contract.

Crude for April delivery fell 9 cents to close at $102.75.

Oil prices fell after a monthly survey by HSBC found that China's manufacturing, a driver of the global economy, contracted for a second straight month.

The HSBC purchasing managers' index also declined to the lowest since July, a sign of the extended slowdown in China as leaders in Beijing try to clamp down on an investment boom and refocus the economy on domestic consumption.

"Results from this private sector survey have deteriorated for four months now, which indicates an unambiguous trend of domestic growth deceleration," Societe Generale economist Wei Yao said in a report.

Uncertainty about protests in Venezuela, a major US oil supplier, as well as export disruptions in Libya and South Sudan kept a floor under oil prices.

Prices were also steadied by a weekly report from the US Energy Department released Thursday that revealed that oil stockpiles grew about half as fast as expected, according to analysts surveyed

by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oil used by many US refineries, fell 17 cents to close at $110.30 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

US retail gasoline prices continued their seasonal climb as refineries cut back output to perform maintenance and prepare for a switch to more expensive summer gasoline. The average retail price rose less than a penny to $3.38 per gallon. That's the highest level of the year and 10 cents higher than last month.

Vice President, Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG) workers,Lagos Zone, Alhaji Aliu Balogun (left); Managing Director, Nipco plc, Mr Venkataraman Venkatapathy and Chairman, Lagos Zone NUPENG, Alhaji Tokunbo Korodo, during a courtesy visit to the company by the union leadership in Lagos

Five South East states share 300MW Electricity Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (ENEDC) gets shortfall in power supply

F

ive states in the South East have recorded a shortfall of 2,700 megawatts of electricity as the nationwide epileptic power supply worsened at the weekend, New Telegraph can authoritatively report.

The business and economic activities in the states: Imo, Abia, Ebonyi, Enugu and Anambra states, are grossly been affected by this shortfall as the five states are presently depending on just 300 megawatts of power as against the needed 3,000 megawatts.

Chief Executive Officer of Enugu Electricity Distribution Company, Robert Dickerman, who confirmed the power supply deficit stated that this was caused by inadequate gas supply.

He promised that epileptic power supply in Asaba and its environs would be overcome by April when the installation of the 150 MVA auto transformers would have been com-

pleted.

The quantity of supply, which represents 10 per cent of the power needs of the region, has been worsened by malpractices by customers who evade proper metering by bypassing meters.

This, Dickerman said, informed his company’s move to distribute prepaid meters in the zone.

The Enugu Disco CEO, who said they were investigating whether the bypass of meters was technical or sabotage, observed that they were not billing any customer for power not consumed, pointing out that unless the issue was arrested, they may soon be out of business.

“We however, know that this method might not exactly reflect the actual bill a customer incurred but they should also realise that most of them are undercharged. The SouthEast zone of the country receives only 300 megawatts of electricity instead of the required 3,000 due to issues of natural gas supply from the upstream power sector”, he noted.

The company, he continued, would introduce new pre-paid metering programme that would check meter byepass by customers.

He noted that the company would

device a new programme that would promote the metering system’s integrity as the high rate of the bye-pass was affecting the services rendered to customers.

“This development might put the company out of business if care is not taken, as we would discover whether the bye-pass is due to faulty technological process, fraud from our contractors, staff or customers,” he said.

The Asaba substation, located along Ibusa / Ogwashi-Uku express way and being undertaken by National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) will come on stream in April this year.

With the receipt of a 150 MVA auto transformer at the site, project Manager of AK-AY Elektrick Limited, Odinakachukwu Amobi said, economic activities in the area, which had been at its lowest ebb in the recent times would pick up as soon as the step down from the national grid is completed.

He said: “We are at the peak of the work; at least 90 per cent of it has been completed, with the auto transformer here, be rest assured that Asaba and its environs will have regular power supply.”

BUSINESS | ENERGY 29

Sanctity of Truth

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Kerosene subsidy: The big rip-off

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he Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) declared last weekend that it never received any presidential order to stop subsidy payment on kerosene during the late President Umaru Yar’Adua’s administration. But this explanation is not tenable to the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.

To the ex-CBN’s helmsman, NNPC owes Nigerians explanation “for buying kerosene at N150 and selling at N40, and inflicting that loss on the federation,” when according to him, “a presidential directive since 2009 had mandated the corporation to stop subsidy on kerosene.”

NNPC's Perspective This subsidy has accumulated to $20 billion, which the NNPC had yet to remit to the Federation Account, Sanusi claimed.

But the NNPC declared that it never received any presidential order to stop subsidy payment on kerosene during the late President Umaru Yar’Adua’s administration.

“It is one thing for the President to give a directive, it is another thing for the directive to be communicated down to the various agencies of government,” acting Group General Manager, Public Affairs Division, NNPC, Dr. Omar Farouk Ibrahim had said.

The corporation, according to him, should not be blamed for not implementing the directive on kerosene subsidy because the NNPC did not get any instruction to end subsidy payments on kerosene.

He said: “The point of contention is about kerosene subsidy. We do not doubt that there could be a directive. But what the NNPC is saying is that it is one thing for the President to give a directive, it is another thing for the directive to be communicated down to the various agencies of government.

“The communication line in matters like this is between the President and the minister. And the minister will direct subsidiaries or parastatals working under the ministry. So, in a situation where a directive was given by the President to a minister, then for reasons that are best known to the minister or the ministry, that information was not communicated to the parastatals, then you can’t hold us responsible for not implementing the directive. As far as we are concerned, we have not received the directive.”

He argued that the NNPC was a structured organisation and would not take decisions based on “hearsay.”

Asked to comment on the allegedly missing $20 billion, Ibrahim said the corporation would be able to reconcile its account before the end of the week. According to him, the NNPC would brief the Senate on its findings soon. He said: “A large chunk of this amount is what we are reconciling now and we believe that by the end of the week, we should be able to give our report to the Senate.”

Findings showed that the late President Yar’Adua gave the directive to the then Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dr. Rilwanu Lukman, but it was not communicated to

About $20 billion accumulated revenues have been spent on subsidy for Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK), while many Nigerians buy the product above the N50 regulated price.

ENERGY EDITOR, Adeola Yusuf writes

Consumers queue up for kerosene. inset: Alison-Madueke

the NNPC. A management staff of the corporation, who craved anonymity based on the sensitive nature of the issue, confirmed existence of the letter conveying the Presidential directive in possession of Sanusi. He, however, faulted Lukman for not conveying the directive of the late President to agencies and parastatals under the ministry.

“When the directive was given to the Minister of Petroleum Resources, he did not write formally to the NNPC. So, what that means is that even if the GMD was aware of this directive, it was not addressed to him; it was addressed to his boss. It was the job of his boss to now direct him formally or communicate that directive to him. Up to this minute, we have not received from the NNPC GMD’s office a letter or an instruction or a memo saying that ‘stop kerosene subsidy.’’

He continued: ‘Yes, It is true that in 2009, President Yar’Adua gave a directive. His principal secretary wrote him a memo, which he approved that subsidy on kerosene be eliminated. When this was brought to the attention of the Minister of Petroleum Resources at that time, he immediately consulted with the Finance Minister, the Economic Adviser to the President and a number of other people.

“But unfortunately, they couldn’t go back to the President because that was about the time his ailment worsened. So, they never really got the time to go and sit with him on this matter. So, as far as we are concerned, the NNPC did not get any directive, it stopped at the table of the minister.’’

CBN’s response The suspended CBN Governor however, insisted that there is a presidential

directive eliminating the subsidy payment on kerosene from July, 2009.

A senior official of the bank also said that a copy of the directive had been submitted to the National Assembly investigative committee on the unremitted oil revenue.

The source said that a 20-page memo with 30 appendices, providing documentary backing for all material statements had been provided by the apex bank governor to the committee.

Meanwhile, the CBN Governor, last week, described the kerosene subsidy claim by NNPC as a scam.

According to him, the corporation, by paying kerosene subsidy, confessed to a number of serious infractions. Referring to the data provided by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, he stressed that kerosene was not a subsidised product, adding that the so-called subsidy was rent generated for the benefit of those in the kerosene business.

“The burden of proof was on the NNPC to show where it obtained authorisation to purchase kerosene at N150/litre from Federation funds and sell at about N40/litre, knowing full well that the product sells in the market at N170-N220/litre,” he said, citing records of the Nigeria Ports Authority, NPA. The records, he said, suggest that the NNPC imports about four to six vessels of kerosene a month. Similarly, he said based on industry sources, the Federation Account loses $100 million monthly due to racketeering in the industry.

Committee’s report The committee initially set up by the Federal Government to reconcile the unremitted oil revenue by the NNPC will

submit its report to the government this week.

A top government official, who pleaded not to be named as he was not officially permitted to speak on the issue, confirmed this at the weekend.

He said the report would also be made available to both the National Assembly and the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC).

FAAC is made up of commissioners of finance from the 36 states, the Accountant General of the Federation, Mr. Jonah Otunla, as well as NNPC representatives.

Others are representatives of the Federal Inland Revenue Service; the Nigerian Customs Service; Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission.

The source said the report of the reconciliatory committee on missing oil revenue would be extensively discussed at the FAAC meeting, adding that this would help to deal decisively with the issues concerning returns from revenue agencies, especially the NNPC. However, the minister had said in the course of the reconciliation of oil revenues covering January 2012 to July 2013 that a shortfall of about $10.8 billion (N1.7 trillion) was recorded from the domestic crude oil receipts.

She said while the shortfall had been acknowledged by the NNPC, its magnitude was still being disputed by the corporation.

She had said: “The Finance Ministry and the NNPC have been in discussions to reconcile; we do so every month after Federation Accounts Allocation Committee. We reconcile our figures; it is not an easy thing."

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BUSINESS | ENERGY

Sanctity of Truth

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Lagos under-supplied by 400MW UNDER SUPPLIED Two distribution companies in Lagos got half of their electricity needs last week.

Stories by Adeola Yusuf

D

aily electricity supplies to Lagos State, commercial nerve centre of Nigeria, at the weekend fell short of the expected 1, 000 Mega watt (MW) capacity as it got only 400 MW of power.

Investigation by New Telegraph showed that the state, which is being supplied electricity through Ikeja Eletricity distribution Company (IKEDC) and Eko Electricity Distribution Com-

panies (EKEDC) got a cumulative supply of between 500 MW to 700 MW daily throughout last week.

A source at the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) told this paper that this low daily load to the two distribution companies (discos) was caused by the level of generation. “The TCN does a serious mental work on daily basis to arrive at load transmis-

sion based on energy demand records of all discos and directives. But what you must be aware of is that we are only like transporters of electricity, produced by the generation companies (gencos).

While the average daily electricity supplies to IKEDC last week, according to findings at the TCN was about 400 MW, the EKEDC got a weekly average of about 250 MW.

A section of Ughelli Power Plant

roadmap Stakeholders task new Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Authority (PPPRA), Mr. Farouk A. Ahmed, to tackle corruption.

S

takeholders at the weekend set agenda for the new Executive Secretary of Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Authority (PPPRA), Mr. Farouk A. Ahmed, to tackle corruption rocking the agency.

Ahmed emerged the new PPPRA scribe following the sacking of erstwhile Executive Secretary, Reginald Stanley, by the Presidency.

General Secretary, Petroleum and Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Comrade Sina Olowoshile, who said that it is unfortunate Ahmed is coming at a time when the agency is under pressure following scarcity of premium motor spirit (PMS) otherwise called petrol, advised the new scribe to tackle corruption.

"We know he is a product of the NNPC and he understands the sector very well. It is quite unfortunate that he is coming when the PPPRA is critically challenged considering the fuel scarcity and long queues due to non release of first quarter allocations to marketers," he said.

"The sector he is working is very

Agenda for new PPPRA boss critical to the plight of the masses and she has to be focused and deliver his duty diligently."

It may be recalled that President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan approved the appointment of Mr. Farouk A. Ahmed as Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) with immediate effect.

Mr. Ahmed will take over from the incumbent Executive Secretary, Mr. Reginald C. Stanley who is retiring after 35 years in service.

The incoming Executive Secretary, who hails from Sokoto State, is the current Managing Director of Nidas Marine Ltd., a subsidiary of the NNPC. He comes to his new job at the PPPRA with over 28 years’ experience in the oil and gas industry and a sound commercial and trading background having held senior positions in the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry including Manager, Crude Oil Programming, Nominations, and Shipping and Terminals.

Mr. Ahmed has also served as Executive Director (Commercial), Pipelines and Products Marketing Company Limited (PPMC).

Another marketer who pleaded anonymity called on Ahmed to whether the storm at his agency saying that Farouk is a no nonsense man, who he said he

was sure would deliver.

"I remembered his tenure at the PPMC and he is a straight forward person and doesn't abhor corruption. But it depends on the forces at the PPPRA if they allow him to work. Stanley supposed to leave in May, but it was the cabals that were responsible for his early departure. I will wish he stayed focused and deliver his mandates," he said.

President Jonathan had while announcing the name of Ahmed as new scribe thanked the outgoing Executive Secretary of the PPPRA, Mr. Stanley for his meritorious service to the nation and wishes him well in his future endeavours.

The delay in releasing first quarter allocation by the outgoing Executive Secretary is responsible for emergence of queues at filling stations across the country.

It would be recalled that An increase in the price of petrol last week caused scarcity of the commodity at major filling stations in Lagos and Ogun States.

Many filling stations in both states had a long queues of vehicles waiting to buy the scarce product at an additional price of N100, instead of the government regulated price of N97 last Tuesday.

The reason for the increase in the price was apparently due to the inability of filling stations to get the product,

which forced them to start selling their reserves while others shut down operations.

Meanwhile, The minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani AlisonMadueke at the weekend approved the allocation of the first quarter fuel imports list submitted by Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulating Agency (PPPRA) for all the five Major Oil Marketers, new Telegraph gathered at the weekend.

About 36 independent oil marketers who were previously accredited for the exercise in the last quarter of 2013 were also assured of approval this week.

Ousted Executive secretary of the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulating Agency (PPPRA), Reginald Stanley, checks revealed, had earlier submitted the list to the minister, who foot-dragged on the approval, a move that led to fuel scarcity in Lagos and other parts of Nigeria.

New Executive Secretary, PPPRA, Farouk Ahmed, who was abroad when his name was announced on Friday could not be reached on phone for comment, but a source at the agency told new Telegraph that what remains for the major marketers is to secure imports permit from the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

The independent marketers, he said would get their approval this week.

BUSINESS | ENERGY

Sanctity of Truth

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

INVESTMENT Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) has increased plans to stem the tide of energy loss in its system.

Stories by Adeola Yusuf

T

he management of Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) revealed at the weekend revealed that it had put a lot of investment programmes

EKEDC jerks up investments on power supply in place boost power supply to its customers.

Assistant General Manager Public Affairs Mr. Godwin Idemudia, who said this added that the investment would also assist the company's plan to stem the tide of energy loss.

Idemudia also strongly frowned at the incessant brutalization of EKEDC workers by those he called "disgruntled elements amongst members of the society, while prosecuting their legitimate duties."

Power Transmission Substation

IKEDC spends N11m on vandalised equipment in January SECURITY Management of Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) has partnered State Security Service (SSS) on security.

T

he Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) said at the weekend that it replaced equipment in 42 vandalised Distribution Substations at a cost of over N11 million in January.

The company, which said this in a statements maintained that it had secured the support of security agencies in its quest to stem the rising tide of vandalism to its equipment and installations across the state.

Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Company, Engr. Abiodun Ajifowobaje, said this during a courtesy visits to the Director of Security Services and the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command.

He lamented that the spate of vandalism is becoming worrisome.

"The visits were part of IKEDC’s ongoing stakeholder engagement ac-

31

tivities designed to achieve the support of its customers as the company continues to work towards enhanced power supply through continuing investments, infrastructure upgrade and capacity building," the statement signed by Assistant General Manager, Public Affairs, Pekun Adeyanju read.

Noting that about 11 transformers have been vandalized so far in February, Ajifowobaje, the statement continued, explained that investigations had shown that the cases of vandalism are prevalent in the highbrow areas of Ikeja.

“We must say we appreciate the support we have been receiving from the SSS so far. However, we need more assistance from the agency to check the cases of theft and damage to IKEDC's facilities as this will further boost our efforts at providing the best service possible to customers on our network,” he said.

Ajifowobaje also called for prompt prosecution of persons involved in impersonating IKEDC staff or vandalising the company’s equipment.

In his response, the Director of State Security Services, Mr Achu Ben Olayi

promised to assist the Company to stop vandalism in Lagos State.

Describing vandals are enemies of the Nation, he noted that all hands must be on deck to curb the activity of vandals nationwide.

“The SSS has been playing the role of advocates in areas where we have been called in to check customer restiveness as we believe we all need to own the efforts aimed at ensuring stable power supply in Nigeria. The agency would intensify its surveillance activities to ensure that the tide of vandalism to electricity facilities is stemmed and ultimately eradicated,” he added.

The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, Lagos State Command, Mr Umar Manko also promised to assist IKEDC by working out strategies to combat vandalism. He urged all Nigerians to see be involved in the process of protecting infrastructure that will enhance economic growth and development in Nigeria.

“We are all in this together and we will support efforts geared towards protecting lives and property in Nigeria,” he said.

The company, he said, was deeply worried over the daily attacks on both its staff and wanton destruction of facilities over the alleged not too impressive power supply situation.

The AGM Public Affairs noted that over time members of the public had continued to unnecessary vent their anger on the company’s staff and facilities, not minding the concerted efforts the management of EKEDC was sparing in order to strengthen the network, since they took over the company last November, with a view to enhancing efficient and effective power supply delivery to all its valued customers.

Mr. Idemudia however emphasized that though the management acknowledged the inconveniences and strains of the current power situation on electricity customers, but the solution to the problem was not in the wanton destruction of the company’s property and manpower, rather it required the collaborative efforts of the company and its entire esteemed customers.

He stated that aside from the load limitation from the national grid, chiefly among the challenges being faced by the company was the vandalism of its facilities (both cables and transformers) The revealed that the company had put a lot of investment programmes in place, so as to stem the tide of energy loss and boost power supply to its customers.

The AGM Public Affairs also said the company had stepped up its customer enlightenment campaign programmes in order to sensitize the customers.

Uganda reduces electricity tariffs

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or the first quarter of 2014, power users will pay a little less in tariffs for the units they will consume, Uganda’s Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) announced at the weekend.

Addressing journalists at the media centre, ERA Chairman Richard Santo Apire, said prevailing conditions warranted the decrease in charges, in consumer categories. Tariffs for domestic power fall from Shs 524.5 to Shs 520.4; while the commercial consumer tariff drop to Shs 477.4, from Shs 487.6. Medium industries will also pay Shs 452, down from Shs 458.9, while the large industries will pay Shs 310.4 from Shs 312.8.

The tariffs for street lights stayed at Shs 488.8 per unit. The first 15 units charge remains at Shs 150.

“There was a favourable exchange rate regime where the Uganda Shilling appreciated from Shs 2,688 per dollar in 2013 to Shs 2,524 in 2014,” Apire said.

PROPERTY&ENVIRONMENT PAGE 32, TUESday, February 25, 2014

How mortgages can work in Nigeria, by experts Transformation There are many dead assets in form of land in Nigeria and unless they are titled, Nigerians will not be able to access mortgage.

Stories by Dayo Ayeyemi

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he housing stock in the country is estimated to be a little above 10 million units while home ownership is said to be only 10 per cent as against 92 per cent in Singapore. The housing demand-supply gap is in the region of 16 million units.

Experts have continued to blame this development on lack of functional mortgage system among other factors, while others said that the biggest challenge is the fact that over 90 per cent of the few residential developments are without Certificate of Occupancy and are therefore not covered by any form of mortgage.

Many residential developments in

Housing Housing initiative with mortgage arrangement ready for home buyers and smart investors

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aving fulfilled the yearnings of potential home owners and buyers with quality, luxury and affordable 12 successful residential projects in Lagos area, the promoters of Lekki Gardens have extended the same gesture to residents of Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

Located in Woji Town, the residential estate consists of luxury flats, well finished terrace homes and stylishly designed semi-detached houses beautifully laid out in a good environment.

The estate comes with excellent title while the housing scheme is in close proximity with major projects like Shell Residential, Shell industrial, Trans-Amadi Industrial Area and it has a great access to business and industrial locations like Onne and Eleme.

A moderately priced estate, home

Luxury apartments in Lekki Gardens Estate, Lagos

Nigeria were built or bought without recourse to mortgage due to constraints associated with the process of obtaining title, which is one of the documents needed to secure mortgage facility from banks.

However, there seems to be hope for Nigerians desirous of roofs over their heads as President Goodluck Jonathan recently launched the Nigerian Mortgage Refinance Company. The firm was created to ease Nigerians’ access

to mortgage financing and help lower the funding cost of mortgages.

But one month after the event, housing experts have called on the Federal Government to accelerate the process of land reform to give room for smooth operation of mortgage administration in the country.

They identified the obnoxious Land Use Act with its associated bureaucracy in getting Certificate of Occupancy as well as high cost of title and governor’s

Promoters of Lekki Gardens berth in Port Harcourt seekers and investors can take advantage of the on-going promo to buy into the scheme. One 4-bedroom terrace, 6-bedrrom terrace and semi-detached house in the state cost N23million, N28.5million and N33.5million respectively.

There is also an arrangement for buyers of the different categories of houses to spread their payment as they pay N7.5 million as down payment and pay N750,000 for 24 months; N8.9 million and N900,000 monthly for 24 months; and N11.5million and NI million monthly for 24 months for each category of apartment.

Lekki Gardens, Port Harcourt, also contains a two-bedroom flat which is a shell apartment comprising two wellspaced bedroom with en-suite bathrooms, comfortable living room, a dining area and kitchen with pantry.

A smart investor can own a two-bed-

room apartment in the Port Harcourt estate with an initial deposit of N3.5 million and pay N550,000 monthly for 24 months. One can also pay N14.5million outright and get N1million discount.

Assuring potential buyers/investors the quality of the houses, the promoters said: “Lekki Gardens Port Harcourt carries the unique signature of Lekki Gardens brand, unique architecture, superior convenience, adept security, aesthetics, serenity and affordability that is unmatchable anywhere else.”

The developers have also made available convenient payment plans and mortgage facilities for buyers and investors.

Meanwhile, the developers have an array of projects already completed in Lagos. These include Lekki Gardens Phases 1, 2 and 3. They also pioneered projects such as The Horizon Phases 1 and 2 in Lekki Phase 1 and Ikoyi Gardens.

consent, among others, as major obstacles to effective operation of mortgage system in the country.

Speaking with New Telegraph at the weekend, Chairman, Faculty of Housing, Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), Chief Kola Akomolede, noted that the problem of land titling remains a serious factor in mortgage administration. He added: “Whether you launch mortgage or put money to mortgage, as long as people have land that is not easy for them to get title on, they would not be able to access loan.”

Easy issuance of Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) or registered Deed of Assignment, he said, is part of the reforms Nigerians should expect from government. According to him, there are many people who have land but could not develop them for lack of money.

He said: “Even when you have a good mortgage system, it cannot work without having land with title as there is no mortgage bank that will give you loan unless you have a titled land.”

He also bemoaned exorbitant cost of land title, saying that it has hampered many housing initiatives in the country.

Akomolede narrated the harrowing experience of his client who he said acquired a large expanse of land at Lekki, Lagos, for residential scheme.

According to him, the client approached a foreign bank and the bank was ready to finance the project on the ground that the land has title.

“By the time he applied to Lagos State Government, the amount he was asked C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 3 5

property & ENVIRONMENT 33

Sanctity of Truth

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Lagos orders developer to stop work on Osborne Canal Encroachment Lagos stops contractor to stop flooding Dayo Ayeyemi and Murtala Ayinla

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or encroaching on limitation area as well as violating the state’s environmental law, the Lagos State Government has ordered a developer at the Osborne Foreshore, Ikoyi area, to stop further construction of structures.

Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, gave the order at the weekend during an on-the-spot assessment to the site which was part of the on-going inspection of drainage systems and canals in preparation for this year’s rainy season.

Bello described the construction of the structure as a criminal act that would not be condoned in any form, saying that apart from being constructed on drainage course, being a wetland, which could

lead to heavy flooding during high tide of the lagoon and rainfall, it was being built under high tension cable of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), an act prohibited by both the federal and state governments’ environmental law.

He, therefore, ordered the demolition and evacuation of the structure which had passed the foundation level, warning that any worker found on site would be arrested and prosecuted.

The commissioner said: “It is not only dangerous to the occupants of the estates around here, but also to residents and road users on the Lagos Island as it could cause serious flooding that could claim lives. It is a disaster in waiting, and we will not allow it to happen.

“Whenever there is high water level, this canal will not be able to absorb much water as it has been encroached upon, hence, the entire area will be in danger. We will resist it by all means. It must be stopped.”

When Bello approached the

site manager of the construction company, (names-withheld), it was discovered that the structure, with the plan to build an estate, was approved by the Federal Ministry of the Environment.

“How can this be approved by the Federal Government?

If you look at that fence there, that is the limitation. This is a natural waterway and this is a high tension cable passing through, it is obvious, how can anybody approve this?’

Also speaking on the encroachment, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mr. Muideen Akinsanya, an engineer, explained: “From the lagoon to the foreshore, a limitation has been done in terms of the extent the Federal Government can develop in order to facilitate the backlog for water to be able to recede without

causing any havoc in Lagos.

Meanwhile, Lagos residents have been urged to desist from the habit of discharging their refuse into open drains, water channels and canals as the rainy season approaches.

But to be proactive, the state government has commenced inspection of some drainage projects on the heel of current flooding problems in Europe, especially the United Kingdom, where many residents have been sacked from their homes.

It would be recalled that Lagos State experienced a deluge in 2010 after a prolonged downpour which lasted over 10 hours during which many homes and roads were submerged in water leading to loss of lives.

To avert a reoccurrence, government has commenced

action to ensure that storm water flows through the appropriate primary and secondary channels across the state into the ocean.

Some of the drainage projects visited were located in Lagos Island, Victoria Island, Agege and Alimosho areas.

To show the urgency, Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, led a delegation including journalists to Lagos Island, Lekki and Victoria Island, while the Special Adviser to the Governor on Environment, Dr. Taofik Folami, led another team to Agege and Alimosho areas.

Some of the project sites visited included Elere Channel/Iju Road, Moricass Channel/Awori Steet, Ajasa River/ Awolumate channel in Ijegun and Ikotun Market/Bolorunpelu Market.

Developers demand names of approved PMBs Dayo Ayeyemi

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nxiety has continued to permeate the real estate sector over delay by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in announcing the names of approved Primary Mortgage Banks (PMBs).

Practitioners, who converged on Lagos, expressed worry over the delay, saying that almost two months after the expiration of the December 31, 2013, deadline, the banking watchdog has maintained sealed lips over the issue, leaving them to speculation.

The delay by CBN, they said, would negatively affect their operations. Presently, they said that they are not even sure of the mortgage banks to transact business with, noting that the situation paints a gloomy picture of the sector.

But the Chief Executive Officer, Aso Savings and Loan, Mr Roland Igbinoba, has allayed their fears, saying that they should expect nothing less than 25 approved PMBs at the end of the capitalisation process.

Investigation by New Telegraph revealed that the CBN has been collating and check-

ing detailed reports from the mortgage banks and have commenced the issuance of letters of approval to PMBs that have crossed the consolidation hurdle.

A source said: “CBN does not want to just announce names of capitalised banks while the issue of merger and acquisition among banks that failed to meet the deadline is still on.”

CBN, according to the source, is taking its time to ensure that a thorough job is done before announcing the names of mortgage banks that met the deadline.

A mortgage bank expert, who did not want his name in print, confirmed to New Telegraph that his bank had just received letter of approval from CBN after meeting the N5 billion deadline.

The CBN had, in April 2013, shifted the deadline for compliance with new minimum capital requirements for PMBs, to December 31, 2013. Since then, no fewer than 72 of the mortgage banks have been battling to meet up with the capital base of N5 billion prescribed for their operations by the apex bank.

Site of the new development stopped by the Lagos State Government

Homebuilders urged to engage professionals for construction Dayo Ayeyemi

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s the rainy season beckons, developers and building contractors in Lagos State have been advised to build right and employ the services of qualified professionals in the construction industry to supervise their works and test their materials before putting them to use.

Commissioner in charge of Physical Planning and Urban Development, Mr. Toyin Ayinde, said at the weekend that it has become pertinent to advise developers at this time of the year against using sub-standard construction

materials capable of causing building collapse.

In a statement by the ministry spokesperson, Mrs. Bunmi Olowu-Adekoya, the commissioner noted that builders tend to rush construction work during the dry period to beat the rainy season thereby neglecting the needful.

He encouraged them to seek advice from the ministry or its agency, the Lagos State Building Control Agency, on what to do, recalling that in 2013, one of the five recorded incidents of collapse was as a result of the use of substandard materials.

The commissioner also

reminded the professionals among the developers that they stand the risk of being reported to their professional bodies for appropriate sanctions over any sharp practices perpetrated especially in the area of collusion with property owners or contractors.

He urged developers to display conspicuously a project board on site which should include name of applicant, plan registration number/ date, plan approval number/ date, site location, supervising engineer, supervising architect, start date, due date and contractor’s name.

34 BUSINESS | PROPERTY & ENVIRONMENT

Buy quality when shopping for a great sofa Before you buy a sofa, Abe Abbas, an interior expert @www.about. com, says there is the need to take some time to read about some sofa buying basics, adding that the sofa you are buying should be chosen based on such factors as how you are going to use it and what sofa style would be best for your room.

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hese sofa-buying tips have less to do with fabric selection and focus more on another aspect of sofa buying, namely the quality of a sofa. *The frame should not wobble or creak; it should be sturdy and sit squarely on the floor.

Wobbly or creaky frames mean less sturdy joints, while a strong frame means your sofa will last you longer. *The frame and all the corners should be well padded. Run your hand over them firmly to see. A padded frame will not stick out through the upholstery, it also means less friction for the fabric that is covering the frame. *Check the sofa from behind, and pat the center to make sure it isn’t hollow. *If you are buying a reclining sofa or a sofa bed, all mechanisms should work smoothly. Reclining, or motion furniture is generally more expensive, and you are paying for a functioning, smoothly running mechanism. It makes sense to check those features out at the store. *If the sofa has any metal parts, inspect to see that they are smooth and free of sharp edges. All moving parts on a sofa bed or reclining sofa should clear the fabric completely to avoid tearing. You don’t want any injuries to yourself or damage to your upholstery from a faulty mechanism. *When you check out the back of your sofa , there should be no bumps or hard spots. Run the palm of your hand over it. This is especially important in a tight back sofa. Not only will bumps and hard spots mar the look of your sofa over a short period of time, they

will also feel uncomfortable. *Seat cushions should be firm and resilient and fit snugly within the sofa frame. Additionally, the cushions should regain their shape after you press down and let go. A cushion that stays put when you press down will be flattened in no time, end up looking unsightly and feel uncomfortable when you sit on it.

Cushions that do not fit snugly in place will also lose their shape quickly and the edges will start looking unsightly. *Seats should be comfortable, and for reclining furniture, be comfortable in all different positions. Select deep or shallow seats depending on your height. A taller person will need deeper seats. *The arms should not jiggle or move, and if upholstered, they should be well padded. *If there are buttons, check to see that they are sewn on securely. Loose buttons will come off and end up getting lost in no time. *Just as in well-tailored clothing, patterns and stripes should match at the seams. Although it might not catch your eye right away, mismatched patterns or stripes will give you the sense that something is “off ”. Stripes that match at seams make a sofa look well finished. *Patterns should be centered, and all seams and welts should run straight. An uneven welting and seams that are pulled to either side means that the cover was badly tailored. *For fire safety reasons, look for the gold Upholstered Furniture Action Council (UFAC) tag, indicating that the sofa manufacturer certifies that it is made in accordance with UFAC methods.

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

property & ENVIRONMENT

Sanctity of Truth

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

INVESTMENT Marketing real estate products through the use of social media Dayo Ayeyemi

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ow investors, property developers, facility managers can employ social media as a business tool to increase the sales of their products was further explored at the weekend with some tips from housing experts on how to plan for it.

The event with the theme: “Building your property ladder through social media” also hosted a real estate job creation clinic which attests to the fact that the building/construction sector offers the largest job creation in any continent.

Speaking about the flexibility and effectiveness of social media during the 2nd edition of property buyers’ forum hosted by 3Invest Limited, Mr Tunji Osinulu of ARM Properties stated that the use of online platform has helped to increase the sale of Lakowe Lakes Golf and Country Estates.

He said: “Over 70 per cent of the sales we’ve made on Lakowe Lakes have come from our website.”

Property buyers’ forum is an annual event designed by 3Invest to connect home sellers and buyers.

35

How to build property ladder through social media –Experts Managing Director of AM Facilities, Mr Femi Akintunde, who presented a paper on “Online benchmarking tools in facility management” stated that real estate should be benchmarked with FM online benchmarking system for the purpose of evaluation.

He said: “Real estate being a wealth creation asset, is essential to benchmark with the FM online Benchmarking System that enables you to measure what your peers are doing.”

Chief Executive Officer of 3Invest, Ms Ruth Obih, who presented a paper on how to employ social media as a business tool, highlighted that a successful social media requires a plan.

According to her, people must narrow their focus and determine what platform their target audience are.

Commending organisers of the event, Mr Tayo Sonuga , said: “When Haven Homes first got on social media, we were educated by 3Invest on such mechanism used to direct traffic to our site.”

The programme was followed by the mortgage clinic which featured mortgage doctors from Diamond Bank, walking the attendees through the procedures

for accessing mortgages in line with the recent developments within the sector where the Federal Government and Lagos State Government have floated Mortgage Finance companies.

This was capped with the wealth creation clinic, which was anchored by Mr. Raphael of ARM Investment who gave attendees timely and useful tips on how to build wealth by conscious savings and strategically

investing in the real estate sector.

Exhibitors at the event, some of whom are property developers, presented their products and services to the audience who were mostly homebuyers and mortgage seekers. They Include Grand Imperio, HFP Engineering Services, Property Mart, Alpha Mead Development Company, Rifeng and International Property Development Company.

Some of the participants at the event were Mr. Uzoma Dozie of Diamond Bank, Mrs Ayona Trimnell of Diamond Bank, Mr Athiel Greenidge, Director, 3Invest, Mr Tayo Sonuga, MD, Haven Homes, Mr Obi Asika, Chairman Social Media Week, Mr Weynmi Edodo of IPDC, Mr Brian of HFP production Factory, Ms Allie Morse of Lamudi, and Ajoke Ogunlaja of CMB amongst others.

L-R: Managing Director of AM Facilities, Mr Femi Akintunde; Chief Executive Officer,3Invest, Ms Ruth Obih; and Director of IPDC, Mr Weyinmi Edodo; during the Property Buyers’ Forum held in Lagos at the weekend.

How mortgages can work in Nigeria, by experts CO N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 3 2

Government, the amount he was asked to pay for title to the land was over a billion naira and he said ‘if I have a billion naira, why then am I looking for loan?’”

He noted that the project was stalled because of high demand by the state authority.

Some of the developers have, however, urged government to streamline the multiple layers involved in the approval process to give room for easy processing of documents.

A lecturer in the Department of Estate Management Science, University of Lagos, Professor Gbenga Nubi, remarked at a forum in Lagos that if the state government can get it right, Nigeria will get out of the woods.

According to him, as long as the Land Use Act is still part of the constitution, the problems with land reform will remain.

He noted that there are many dead assets in Nigeria, adding that unless these assets in

form of land are titled, people would find it difficult to get out of poverty.

He disclosed that the secret of the developed nation was based on title and urged government to expedite action on the land reform process to enable Nigerians have access to title.

Also, Vice President of Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN), Mr Adeoye Akintoye, said: “There is no doubt that the Land Use Act is due for a review and amendment.”

He identified rigidity of amendment, lack of transparency and accountability, bureaucracy and high cost of obtaining governor’s consent, particularly for assignment and mortgages, poor land administration regime and obtaining consent for mortgage with its adverse effect on effective foreclosure, as some of the problems associated with the Act. Akintoye insisted that the non-amendment of the Land Use Act will adversely affect creation of legal mortgages.

He said: “The MRC is created to refinance created mortgages.

That presupposes the existence of created mortgages to be refinanced. The presence of consent requirement, especially on mortgage, will slow down creation of mortgage assets. Even where the MRC is liquid to do business, there will be little business to do.

“Another obstacle is availability of mortgage assets.

Currently, estate developers are faced with problems of land acquisition and legal documentation as a result of problems created by the Land Use Act. Where houses are in short supply, definitely there will be reduced business for the MRC,” he explained.

But the immediate past president, Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB), Mr Chucks Omeife, viewed it differently.

He agreed that Land Use Act is a constraint but said that “it is over orchestrated as if all the housing problems revolve around it.”

He said that the Act cannot

be an impediment if other regulatory structures are put in place, adding that the major problem has been housing availability and affordability.

While the issue of affordability is being taken care of to an extent through mortgage refinancing, he noted that the next issue should be the availability and quality of delivered houses to Nigerians so that they can derive maximum benefit in terms of value for money.

He said: “The issue of provision of shelter for Nigerians in line with the constitution is in the domain of government either at the state or federal level.

If the implementer of the Land Use Act is government and it is the one using the same land for housing development, I do not see it as a big challenge.

“The area of concern is where the private sector is involved and where they want security for their investment in land. However, housing refinancing, as the name implies, is an intervention on behalf of individuals where cost of the

house is fully paid for by a PMI and spread over a number of years for the individual to pay for convenience and affordability. The PMI then revert to the mortgage refinancing company for a buy out on behalf of the individual.”

Chairman, Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), Lagos chapter, Pastor Stephen Jagun, explained that in land holding, it is the title that one has that matters. He explained that that has been the essence of all the clamours for reforms expected in the Land Use Amendment Bill.

According to him, if not passed, the expected confidence from investors will not be there, adding that land reform is long overdue and that the longer it takes, the worse off the people will be.

On the acceleration of performance of NMRC, Jagun said that the parameters for its operations look good but warned against any political interference in its operation.

36 BUSINESS | AVIATION In the seemingly unending contest between Boeing and Airbus, no stone is being left unturned, writes, WALEOLA TAOREED

HEAD-TO-HEAD The two companies will also go head-tohead as Boeing launches its 737 MAX to compete with Airbus’ A320neo – longer, more economical versions of their popular predecessors.

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Boeing, Airbus rivalry: Lessons in strategic planning

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HE rivalry between Airbus and Boeing has been a duopoly in the large jet airliner market since the 1990s. This resulted from a series of mergers within the global aerospace industry, with Airbus beginning as a European consortium while the American Boeing absorbed its former arch-rival, McDonnell Douglas in a 1997 merger.

Other manufacturers, such as Lockheed Martin and Convair in the United States and British Aerospace, Dornier and Fokker in Europe, were no longer in a position to compete effectively and withdrew from the market.

During the 1990s, both companies researched the scope for a new model of very large aircraft, compared to the current largest passenger-carrying aircraft then in use, Boeing’s 747.

Boeing decided the project would not be commercially viable, with Airbus launching it’s full-length double-deck aircraft A380 a decade later.

Having outdone each other in the battle for size, the two biggest aircraft makers are now slugging it out on seat sizes.

Not content with the battle between their respective aircraft, most notably the Dreamliner versus A350, the American and European manufacturers have argued over the size of economy seats on their aircraft ahead of this year’s Dubai Air Show.

Airbus is arguing that the air transport sector needs to adopt a standard seat width size of 18 inches (45.72 cm) for long-haul aircraft. Boeing said that such a seat size request was “arbitrary.”

This is not a mere sideshow in the Airbus-Boeing battle, but a real fight for customers.

Many airlines request that Boeing use 17 inch (43.18 cm) seats in its 777-300ER aircraft, as this means the economy section can seat 10 chairs across, and more paying customers per plane is a definite plus for airlines. Airbus uses nine-abreast on the A350 and eight-abreast on the A330.

The U.K.’s London Sleep Center, in conjunction with Airbus, recorded the sleep measurements of six healthy adults in both 17-inch and 18-inch seats. This involved monitoring brainwaves, eye, abdominal, chest and hip leg movement. The conclusion was that “a minimum seat width of 18 inches improved passenger sleep quality by 53 per cent when compared to the 1950s 17 inch standard.

Kevin Keniston, Airbus’ Head of Passenger Comfort, said following the research: “Not only does seat width make a dramatic impact on passenger comfort, but there is now a growing cohort of discerning economy passengers who are not prepared to accept long haul 17 inch crusher seats and instead will choose airlines that offer better seat comfort, often turning to social media or specialist websites to determine true seat value.”

Seat width is an increasingly hot topic when it comes to long-haul air travel given the changing shape of the average flyer.

Aside the sizes of their airplanes and seat sizes that both companies are using as marketing tools to edge out each other and scramble for over $800

A380 aircraft

Nowhere else is the competition between Europe’s Airbus and the US’s Boeing more apparent than in the Middle East, where the region’s impressive airlines and geographical location as a transport hub for the world are becoming ever more obvious. billion aircraft market, Airbus and Boeing’s rivalry has grown all the more intense in recent years as the burgeoning aviation industry continues to be shaped by expanding markets, the rising cost of fuel, a desire for greener and more sustainable aircraft and an increasingly restless global population with a greater will and means to travel than ever before.

Nowhere else is the competition between Europe’s Airbus and the US’s Boeing more apparent than in the Middle East, where the region’s impressive airlines and geographical location as a transport hub for the world are becoming ever more obvious.

Boeing’s performance in the region has been something of a rollercoaster ride. Having been the dominant provider of commercial planes in the 1980s, it took its eye off the ball over the past decade with Airbus picking up the Middle East’s demand for growth.

Last year, Boeing re-established itself as the number one aircraft provider, overtaking Airbus in deliveries for the first time in a number of years and also beating them on orders.

Speaking to a select group of Middle East media in Washington DC recently, Shep Hill, president of Boeing International, said the US maker had its rivals to thank for the group’s resurgence.

“Airbus made us a better company,” said Hill.

“When you’re a monopoly you get lazy.

“Now, I’m not saying we were ever lazy because we always had competitors, but the emergence of Airbus has made us tougher, better, more customer-focused and a more innovative company. I like competition; I think it is good for you.”

It’s understandable that Hill speaks of the intense rivalry as a positive – you are always happy when you are winning. But he must be concerned by the ground breaking A380 and its dominance on Emirates’ Australia-UK route?

“The A380 is a magnificent aircraft. It is quiet, big, fascinating… we just do not think that there is a very large market for that size of aircraft. We don’t mind that Airbus built one that big,” Hill said.

While the A380 monopolises Emirates’ stopover route from the UK to Australia, a partnership enhanced by the Dubai airline’s tie-up with Qantas, Boeing’s 777 family houses its largest fleet in the region, operated again by Emirates.

Though Boeing may believe there is still a place for its 747-8, the future battles will be played out by the 787 Dreamliner, the new 777X family and the Airbus A350.

The two companies will also go head- to-head as Boeing launches its 737 MAX to compete with Airbus’ A320neo – longer, more economical versions of their popular predecessors.

Boeing’s 777X is heavily expected to find its launch customer in the Gulf, with wide speculation focusing on Emirates, despite an early announcement from Lufthansa that they will place an order.

Likewise, Airbus has announced its A350 launch partner as Qatar Airways – reinforcement that both manufacturers view the Middle East as their battleground in the contest for supremacy and market share.

AVIATION | BUSINESS

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

37

Arik Air strengthens Dakar route with Cotonou, Accra connections

Cockpit of Boeing Dreamliner

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rik Air, West and Central Africa’s largest airline, has extended two of its existing routes as the airline continues its expansion programme for the regional West African services.

Starting from March 10, 2014, Arik

Air said it would add Cotonou to its daily route network by operating the Lagos-Dakar flight via Cotonou, the economic capital of Benin Republic.

Similarly, the carrier has concluded plans to equally commence flight services to Dakar, Senegal from March 10.

The Lagos-Cotonou-Dakar route would operate daily with the outbound flight departing the Murtala Muhammed International Airport.

As a result of these developments, Arik Air will be the only carrier offering daily nonstop service to Dakar

Atlantic Aviation commences AW139 helicopter flights for SNEPCo

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ew helicopter-services operator, Atlantic Aviation, supported by one of the world’s leading providers of high-quality transportation to offshore oil and gas producers, has begun commercial flights of Augusta Westland 139 (AW139) helicopters from Lagos.

Atlantic Aviation, a Nigerian company owned by Jagal Group with technical service support from CHC Helicopter, started crew-rotation flights for Shell from Murtala Muhammed International Airport to the Deepwater Discovery drill ship. On its maiden commercial flight, Atlantic Aviation transported nine Transocean employees to the waters around the Shell Bonga concession.

According to a statement by Regional Dirctor, Atlantic Aviation, Shef Syed, the Deepwater Discovery is a fast drilling ship that is boring some 80 holes in a relatively short amount of time in the Gulf of Guinea.

Syed said: “The first flights were significant. These flights are only the first of what we expect will be

many years of helping oil and gas operators to go further, do more and come home safely in Nigeria, one of the world’s fastest growing regions for this industry.

“Today represents a culmination of several months of planning and hard work from many people, to establish and demonstrate Atlantic Aviation. In line with the governments’ strategic agenda on investment, job creation and Nigerian Content Development, Atlantic Aviation is investing in delivering to Nigeria world class standards through quality and excellence.

Shaf further said that with technical service support from CHC for training, flight and engineering standards, Atlantic Aviation will become “the leading helicopter operator in this market.

“Customers will feel reassured by the depth of experience and expertise that we bring to this sector in Nigeria,” he said.

The twin-engine, medium-sized AW139 helicopter, he said, is well suited to current and future requirements of Nigerian offshore drilling, having the

range and capability to operate into the deep water and frontier drilling ultradeep water fields. The AW139 aircraft is a new technology helicopter that meets all the latest offshore safety requirements whilst bringing enhanced customer comfort to the offshore traveller.

Syed also said that with all the regulatory approvals now in place,

from Accra and Cotonou each catering for the needs of both the business and leisure passenger market segments.

The two routes will be operated using the Bombardier CRJ900 aircraft configured to sit 10 Business Class and 64 Economy Class passengers. These routes shall be upgraded to the larger Boeing 737-700 aircraft from the upcoming summer season onwards providing freight forwarders of an additional two tons of belly cargo space to facilitate import and export of commercial goods.

Commenting on the development, Arik’s Managing Director and Executive Vice President, Chris Ndulue, said: “As the dominant commercial airline in West Africa, Arik Air is always seeking to strengthen its services in the region to give guests comfort and value for money. We will not shy away from providing greater choice and a convenient, accessible network to our valued customers in the West Coast of Africa.”

Arik Air is Nigeria and West Africa’s largest airline and operates mainly from two hubs at Murtala Mohammed Airport, Lagos and Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

It operates a fleet of 26 state-of-the art regional, medium haul and long haul aircraft including Airbus A330200 and A340-500, making the airline the first operator of the wide bodied aircraft in West Africa.

Atlantic Aviation intends to ramp-up its operations and introduce more helicopters into the under-served Nigeria market, with additional AW139 helicopters joining the fleet over the coming months.

Atlantic Aviation has established bases with efficient facilities and hangars in Lagos (able to operate out of both Snake Island and international airport) and Port Harcourt, where further investment is being made to develop a state-of-the-art operational hub. The company is able to serve customers on long-term contracts and for hourly charter work.

L – R the picture shows Deputy Managing Director, Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), Mr. Ekow Afedzie; Chief Executive Officer, The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mr. Oscar Onyema and Managing Director, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Mr. Bukar Kyari at the West African Capital Markets Integration Council (WACMIC) Sensitization Workshop in Lagos

38 BUSINESS | AVIATION

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

SAA launches A330-200 on London-Johannesburg route

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frica’s most awarded airline, the South African Airways, (SAA), said it would operate a newer aircraft, the Airbus A330-200 on scheduled flights between London Heathrow and Johannesburg.

SAA General Manager, Gery Kershaw said in a statement that the newer aircraft replaces the current A340-600 used on the route and will operate on SA235, the first of SAA’s two daily departures at 19.00 and selected SA237 flights, which departs at 21:00.

The changes build on SAA’s grow-

ing reputation as winner of “Best African Airline” at the Business Traveller Awards on October14, 2013 and on SAA’s continued focus on service excellence which is a strategic objective of Gaining Altitude, SAA’s Long-Term Turnaround Strategy (LTTS).

Kershaw said: “We’ve listened to feedback from our corporate customers and Voyager members around the aspects of their journey that are important to them. We’re delighted to announce these changes to our summer schedule to strengthen our growing

reputation for quality.”

According to him, South African Airways Business customers can enjoy smaller, more personal cabins and forward facing seats in a 2-2-2 configuration, as well as a 74-inch seat pitch, 180° flat beds and 12-inch on demand widescreen technology.

He further said that business travellers can also relax and enjoy departure and arrivals lounges at both London Heathrow and Johannesburg, including the unique SAA arrivals lounge at Johannesburg or Tambo - the perfect place to

Air France-KLM deepens ties with $100 million strategic investment in GOL A

n exclusive long-term strategic partnership has been signed between Air France-KLM and GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes for commercial cooperation between Brazil and Europe. It includes expanded code sharing, enhanced joint sales activities, more benefits for customers based on both airlines’ frequent flyer programs in Brazilian and European markets.

Chairman/CEO of Air France-KLM, Alexandre de Juniac disclosed that the cooperation in the field of aircraft maintenance is also included in the partnership. This partnership, he said, follows the successful strategic cooperation between GOL and

Delta Airlines, the main partner of Air France-KLM, implemented since 2011.

According to the Chairman, As part of this agreement, Air France-KLM will invest $100 million in GOL. This investment will include a subscription of GOL shares for $52 million, representing 1.5 per cent equity stake. The transaction shall be subject to applicable antitrust approval.

“We are excited to join forces with GOL, a leading carrier in Brazil. We are confident that this comprehensive partnership will create strategic, long term value for both our groups and customers, and significantly enhance Air France-KLM’s commercial

escape the demands of travel and freshen-up before the business day ahead.

The newer A330-200 aircraft, according to him, will offer economy passengers even larger 10 inch widescreen technology, as well as one of the most spacious cabins to Southern Africa, with SAA’s 2-4-2 seat configuration.

SAA operates the first direct flight of the day from Heathrow to Johannesburg and have built an outstanding reputation for punctuality and won the Flight Stats Award for the Most on Time Airline in the World twice in 2013.

position in the region. Brazil, the host of the up-coming World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games, benefits from growing business and leisure traffic volumes.

This collaboration confirms our strategy to establish deep and long-lasting partnerships in regions with relevant growth potential,” he said.

Camiel Eurlings, President, CEO of KLM, will be member of the Alliance Committee of the Board of directors of GOL. Since 2009, Air France-KLM and GOL have been committed to a code-sharing agreement that enables Air France and KLM to offer their customers an additional 28 destinations in Brazil, beyond Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, by placing their codes on flights operated by GOL. The new agreement signed recently is in line with Air France-KLM’s strategy of strengthening its leading position in Brazil and Latin-America.

As for summer 2014, Air France and KLM will increase their offer by operating 41 weekly flights from their hubs at Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam Schiphol. Next to Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Air France will operate as of March 31, 2014, a new route to Brasilia with three weekly flights.

SAHCOL plans multi-million naira investment on facilities S

kyway Aviation Handling Company Limited (SAHCOL) has said that it plans to exceed its customers’ expectation in 2014 by investing more sophisticated ground handling equipment that will earn the company a good return.

Chairman of the company, Taiwo Afolabi, said that in the last four years, huge investment has been made in critical ground equipment running into billions of naira, while plans are on to take delivery of more modern equipment in the months ahead.

“The Ultra-Modern Cargo Warehouse which will become operational in the second quarter of 2014 is stateof-the-art and the first of its kind in West Africa.”

He said that the warehouse will be equipped with modern infrastructure and had been designed to eliminate unprofessional cargo handling practices that are peculiar to the Nigeria environment, which are borne out of “our commitment to change all aspects of ground handling and we will not despair.”

Afolabi said at the just concluded 2014 management retreat that “as service providers, customers are the only reason we are in business today, and for us to remain in business tomorrow,

achieve their various ambitions.

He said that primarily the focus had been on the provision of quality service as well as the welfare of all workers in the firm, stressing that these values have not changed with the commitment of the board to do more.

The SAHCOL boss assured that the Board remains committed to providing every necessary support: - financial or moral, that will make the company emerge as the ground handling of choice, and as an organization that caters for the welfare of her employees.

Afolabi challenged participants that in order to build the organMallam Suleiman Yahyah, Chairman, Board of Directors, nahco Aviance, (right) and Mr. Kayode isation of choice, they must all be Oluwasegun- Ojo, Managing Director, nahco Aviance at the Appreciation Night organized by nahco dedicated to their jobs; pay greater Aviance for its customers at The Sheraton Hotel, Lagos, recently attention to customers; display integrity and transparency at all our collective efforts must be directed loyalty and dedication of workers to times and in all their dealings; at delivering quality service that will duty, SAHCOL would get there. while working as a team ignited by Afolabi recalled that, when the Si- visionary leadership. exceed their expectations. Customers’ satisfaction is the guarantee that the fax Group invested in SAHCOL in 2009 SAHCOL is an Aviation Ground company will earn revenue which through the Bureau for Public Enter- Handling Company (100 percent will translate into salaries for staff prises (BPE), the objectives were clear; owned by the SIFAX Group involved in and profits for shareholders; hence we to reverse the trend of decline and passenger handling, ramp handling, must place premium on having them build a company that could effective- cargo handling/warehousing, aviasatisfied beyond bounds.” ly compete in ground handling, not tion security, baggage reconciliation, He noted that although SAHCOL just in Nigeria but globally; and also crew bus and executive lounge serwas nowhere near its destination, but to provide a platform through which vices, as well as other related ground convinced that by the commitment, employee would develop expertise and handling Services.

BUSINESS | AVIATION

Sanctity of Truth

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

39

The changing face of general aviation Len Assante

T

he December 20, 2013, issue of General Aviation News showcased general aviation’s “up and comers,” a group of innovators who are passionate about changing this industry for the better.

I have had the honor of meeting some of these people and agree they offer some amazing ideas and unmitigated passion for GA. Such passion is desperately needed if GA is to survive in any fashion recognizable to today’s General Aviation News readers.

It is no secret our best days seem to be behind us. According to the FAA, there were approximately 617,000 active certificated pilots in the US as of the end of 2011. This is down from a high of over 827,000 in 1980. This number has been steadily declining and may even be a high estimate as the FAA definition of “active” is quite generous.

Similarly, the numbers of registered GA aircraft and new GA aircraft built have fallen precipitously. Less than 700 new piston aircraft were delivered in 2013, compared to more than 2,700 in 2006.

A decline in the number of pilots, registrations, and airplanes has likely influenced a downward trend in the number of public use airports. In 1990, there were 5,590 in the United States, down to around 5,170 currently.

Finally, these declines have led to several increases. For example, 100LL aviation gasoline is a “boutique” fuel accounting for less than 1% of all gasoline produced. Avgas production continues to decline and it seems only a matter of time until it will no longer be a viable product for any manufacturer at any

Assante

price. Fuel prices average over $6 a gallon today and will continue to rise as production drops. Virtually every other product category in aviation has seen similar increases. Many once-common parts are now unavailable or shockingly expensive.

If this continues, it is only a matter of time before GA vanishes, so what can we do?

First “we” means all of us. Most of the innovators mentioned above are very willing to collaborate for the benefit of the whole industry. This must continue if we are to do the following: Grow more pilots. The most significant thing we can do is to increase the number of active pilots. More pilots means more customers, which means more airplanes and more avionics and

more gas and more parts. It also means lowered cost through economies of scale. Bigger markets equal smaller prices.

Embrace the innovators. GA is a conservative industry, entrenched in old, out-of-date practices and burdened by overwhelming regulation. We still see FBOs that think the best way to train a new pilot is in an airplane twice the age of their average student. In a culture where toddlers are often using iPads and video games have more computing power than the flight management systems on jets, it is going to be very hard to entice potential pilots with 1940’s technology.

Be willing to change. The current pilot population and industry infrastructure must be willing to adopt to the times. This

means changing attitudes and behaviors.

We must embrace our communities, support our airports, open our hangar doors and fence gates. We must share expenses, share ownership, share responsibility, and continue to create a culture of safety first.

Here’s an example. I am affiliated with a company called Aviation Access Project, a startup designed to increase the pilot population by reducing costs of ownership and access. AAP sells managed shares in aircraft, with the average share amounting to 1/8 of an aircraft. Included in the price is a certain number of flying hours per year, usually around 75.

The number one complaint potential owners have about our model is that they have to share their airplane. Most of them don’t currently own anything, and so fly very little, with the average recreational pilot flying somewhere between 50 and 75 hours per year.

There are 4,380 daylight hours in a year. If we have eight pilots flying an airplane 50 hours a year, that equals 400 hours — or less than 10% of the total daylight hours. How does sole ownership make any sense at that level of utilization? We need to be willing to embrace change in order to fulfill our dreams.

Highlighting industry innovators is a valuable service, as it shows us there are new ways to do things, ways that are fun, interactive, high-technology and often not very expensive at all. The more our industry embraces innovation and the more we collaborate as we do so, the better the chances we will stop our march to oblivion.

• Len Assante, a pilot since 1982, is vice president of communications at Aviation Access Project.

Europe’s diesel demonstrator to fly this year

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he diesel engine research and development project that Airbus Helicopters (formerly Eurocopter) is conducting with racing car engine specialist Teos Powertrain Engineering and engine manufacturer Austro Engine, under Europe’s Clean Sky joint technology initiative, has cleared significant milestones.

The demonstration engine is now being tested on an iron bird, before the first flight planned for this year on a modified EC120. The stakeholders in the Green Rotorcraft “integrated technology demonstrator” program hope diesel engines will eventually offer reduced fuel burn on light singles.

The modified EC120 iron bird (which includes an airframe) is located at the Airbus Helicopters factory in Marignane, France. Testing began

last November, after extensive engine trials took place on a dedicated test bench earlier last year. No particular difficulty has been encountered since the beginning of the test phase, project officer Sébastien Dubois told AIN. With the iron bird, engineers are assessing the way the diesel engine interacts, in terms of vibration, with the airframe.

The engine has been powered up very gradually to avoid any problem, Dubois explained.

The process may appear slow but the idea is to avoid surprises such as an unexpected major failure, which could cause several weeks of delay and a serious cost increase, he pointed out. But so far the installation, tests and performance have met expectations. Iron bird testing will continue this quarter.

The engine will then be

installed on the flight-test aircraft. Modifications for the installation began late last year. Ground trials are planned to begin in the third quarter and the first flight is expected to take place later in 2014. The first flight was previously scheduled for April 2014.

The 440-shp demonstrator is a tradeoff between car racing performance and aviation’s safety and durability requirements. Compared to a turboshaft engine, the main benefit of a diesel is its fuel efficiency; Dubois and his partners hope for a 30-percent reduction in fuel burn. But the engine’s main shortcoming is its lower powerto-weight ratio. The HIPE AE 440 engine has a total weight (including oil, accessories, etc.) of 528 pounds. For an equivalent level of performance, a turboshaft would weigh between

265 and 285 pounds. However, on a light helicopter, part of the weight penalty is hoped to be recouped thanks to an airframe adapted for that engine and the smaller amount of fuel needed for a given range.

The V8 engine that is being

tested is the result of a collaboration between France’s Teos and Austria’s Austro Engine. The former company designed the core engine. The latter manufacturer focused on components like the Fadec and, above all, airworthiness.

New space shuttle exhibit opens at Air Force museum

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ational Museum of the U.S. Air Force visitors will be cleared for liftoff when the museum’s new Space Shuttle Exhibit opens to the public on Feb. 26.

The exhibit, which features NASA’s first Crew Compartment Trainer, allows visitors to experience the size and shape of an actual space shuttle orbiter by entering the

payload bay and looking into the flight deck and mid-deck levels.

Following the arrival of the Crew Compartment trainer in summer 2012, work began on the design and construction of a full-scale representation of a NASA shuttle payload bay, engine, and tail sections, along with a 60-seat dedicated CONTINUED ON PAGE 40

40

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Sanctity of Truth

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

New space shuttle exhibit opens at Air Force museum CONTINUED from PAGE 39

educational area or Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Learning Node,

by Display Dynamics of Clayton, Ohio.

These portions of the ex-

hibit, along with visitor observation and access structures, have been completed and the Teal Ruby satellite has been placed inside the payload bay.

In addition, space-related videos will be available for view-

ing in the STEM Learning Node (when it is not in use for other scheduled programs).

Future plans call for the museum to continue populating the exhibit with additional artifacts such as space suits and provide

interpretive information about topics such as astronauts, space science, living in space, and the Air Force’s role in space.

Eventually, the exhibit will be moved to a new Space Gallery in the museum’s fourth build-

ing as part of a multi-phase, long-term expansion plan to house the museum’s growing space collection, as well as the Presidential Aircraft Gallery, Research & Development Gallery and Global Reach Gallery.

Pace shuttle exhibit

CHC Helicopter tendering shares in Initial Public Offering

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HC Group is going public and has begun an initial public offering (IPO) of 29,412,000 of its ordinary shares. The company, parent of CHC Helicopter, will make all of these shares available in the IPO, which is expected to price at $16 to $18 per share. If the underwriters sell more than the allotted shares, they will be able to buy up to 4,411,800 additional ordinary shares at the IPO price, less underwriting discounts, according to CHC. The company’s symbol on the New York Stock Exchange will be HELI. Vancouver-based CHC specializes in helicopter support for oil-and-gas companies and government search-and-rescue agencies and helicopter maintenance through its Heli-One division (Booth No. 1804). CHC Helicopter operates about 240

aircraft in about 30 countries, according to the company.

CHC reported a drop in revenue and earnings in its Fiscal Year 2014 second quarter report, with revenue for the quarter at $443 million, down 1 percent compared to the same period in Fiscal Year 2013. The company had a net loss of $49 million; net earnings were $7 million during the same period last year. The revenue drop is attributed to lower availability of the EC225 fleet and the higher costs needed to return those helicopters to service. Two EC225 ditchings in 2012 led to operating restrictions on the model, which were lifted after gearbox modifications were incorporated. “I’m proud of the leadership CHC brought to that work, and the ability of our people to minimize disruption to customer operations

while those aircraft were suspended from flight during the past year,” said CHC president and CEO William Amelio.

During the second fiscal quarter 2014, oil-and-gas, searchand-rescue and EMS flying revenues climbed 1 percent to $408 million. Countries where flying revenue grew include Australia, Ireland, Malaysia, Norway and the Philippines, while Brazil saw “a sales decline…attributable to customers electing to resume EC225 flights more slowly than elsewhere.”

Other business highlights include a two-year extension of an agreement for services to Statoil at bases in Bergen and Florø in Norway, using a fleet of 10 heavy helicopters; the government of Nigeria has approved CHC joint venture partner Atlantic Aviation

to import AW139s; in Tanzania, CHC received an air operator certificate to fly AW139s and S76C+ helicopters instead of operating based on customerheld permits; CHC ordered nine additional S-92s, with options for another 15; and CHC signed an agreement to buy $100 million worth of helicopters from Airbus Helicopters by the end of 2016.

On the maintenance side, Heli-One sales to third-party customers dropped 17 percent to $35 million during the quarter, with EBITDAR (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and aircraft rental costs) down 45 percent to $16 million. According to CHC, “Similar to in Q1, Heli-One’s EBITDAR was negatively affected by costs incurred to prepare EC225s to return to service, as

well as costs necessary to maximize availability of other CHC aircraft.”

Cessna Citation fleet passes 30m flight hours

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essna reports that the fleet of Citation Jets is passing the 30 million flight hour mark.

More than 6,600 Citations have been delivered to customers around the world since the first Cessna Citation business jet was put into service more than 42 years ago.

Cessna recently celebrated a number of milestones, including the certification of the Citation Sovereign+ and the Citation M2 in December of 2013, the delivery of the 400th CJ3 in March 2013 and delivery of the 400th Citation Mustang (pictured above) in January 2012.

MUM&PARENTING

NEW TELEGRAPH

www.newtelegraphonline.com/mum&parenting

appolonia adeyemi appolonia.adeyemi@newtelegraphonline.com

TUESDAY, February 25, 2014

‘Blame parents for child hawking'

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s the traffic light beamed red, an indication to drivers to stop, an 11-year-old girl hawking oranges, moved closer to the cars and other vehicles. "Sweet Orange!", she shouted to would-be customers. A passenger in one of the commercial vehicles reached out for a N50 orange.

Another hawker, this time a male of about 13 years crossed from the other side of the road, shouting: "Bottled water, Lacasera, Viju, Pepsi, Malt!”

"Give me a bottle of cold Coke, I beg you,” another passenger requested of the male hawker.

The excruciating heat impacting from the scorching sun is much, the passenger repeated to the hearing of the hawker. “I am very thirsty and prefer a very cold coke." As the male hawker handed over the Coke, the customer reached out his hands through the window of the commercial vehicle and grabbed it. He had hardly paid when he opened the sweetened soda drink and gulped contents of the plastic container down his throat.

"Yeah!", he quipped to himself satisfactorily as the drink courses down his patched throat, giving him a soothing feeling. Two other occupants of the same vehicle requested for cold bottled water, but as the hawker reached out for the water to hand it over to his new customers, several vehicles behind blared their horns.

The green traffic light was already on and instantly, the vehicles in front of them moved on. The hawker lost out on that sale.

As the traffic moved, many more hawkers with various wares emerged from adjourning streets. Their wares include cooked and fried groundnuts, Gala, Meat pie, Scorch eggs, Pawpaw, Pineapple, among others. Notably, majority of the hawkers were children whose age ranges from nine to 16 years.

Hawking among school-age children is common in most urban towns and rural communities in the country and the kids involved are used by their parents and guardians to generate money to fund family upkeep.

All such activities targeting children for work have been defined as child labour and these include all economic activity for children under 12 years, any work for those aged 12 to 14 of sufficient hours per week to undermine their health or education, and all ‘hazardous work’, which could threaten the health of children under 18.

Almost all child labour occurs in developing countries, largely in agriculture, but also including domestic service, factory production and backstreet

Some of the hawkers at Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos.

PHOTO: SULEIMAN HUSAINI

Child hawkers are exposed to exhaust fumes from several vehicles as well as dangers of accidents, writes Appolonia Adeyemi workshops, raising the question: why is this happening?

One of the hawkers found on the street, Margaret, told the New Telegraph that her Aunt with whom she lives is the brain behind the hawking. “I don’t like selling Oranges, but I cannot stop selling them because my Aunt insists that I must sell them.

“She brought me from Benue to Lagos State after a promise to my mother that she will enroll me in school. Initially, when I refused to engage in the street trading, she begged me to obey her, saying it will help to generate income for the upkeep of our entire family. Although, I

My Aunty wants me to be hawking the insecticides.

She makes the insecticides and I am the one selling them in the market. If I don’t sell them as she directs, she will beat me

did not like the idea of hawking fruits, I started to do it since four years ago to satisfy her,” said Margaret in an emotionladen voice.

According to her, on a few occasions in the past that she refused to go hawking, there were dire consequences. Her Aunt not only locked her out, Margaret was also denied her meals for the day. “I do not want to sleep outside again. That is why I decided to be hawking any fruit that is in season. I make up to N2,000 sales daily. I go out to hawk after school hours, selling in the streets from about 4p.m to 9p.m, when I finally go home. The routine continues the following day. Saturdays and Sundays are not excluded. I spend over six hours during weekends outside, hawking wares,” she said.

Asked if she would like to return to Benue State so that she can face her studies squarely, she responded in the affirmative, but said that will be possible only when she returns to Benue during the holiday.

Similarly, relating her experience, 16-year-old Chika, a school drop-out, that hawks fried groundnuts along Agidingbi

Road in Ikeja, Lagos said she is carrying out the chores on the instruction of her mother. “If my mother tells me to go and sell groundnuts or any other fruit, I must obey her. My father died seven years ago.

My mother is the only person taking care of me, my younger sister and brother. If I do not go to sell the groundnut, my mother will not be able to feed us,” she said.

Furthermore, New Telegraph ran into another 16-year- old girl, Chioma hawking locally made insecticide. Curiously, she was found at about 9.30a.m. on a school day, moving very briskly from shop to shop at the main Mushin Market, trying to convince traders to buy her wares.

On being asked why she was not in school, her countenance changed suddenly and she became moody. Her words, “My Aunty wants me to be hawking the insecticide. She makes the insecticide and I am the one selling them in the market. If I don’t go to sell them as she directs, she will beat me.”

Sadly, the stories of Margaret, Chika and Chioma are similar to those of many C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 4 2

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‘Blame parents for child hawking' CO N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 4 1

Nigerian children that are compelled to carry out income-generating activities at the risk of their education and health.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the African Union, Charter on the Welfare of the Child in Articles 32 and 15 respectively prohibit child labour, whilst several International Labour Organisations (ILO) Conventions which Nigeria has signed are aimed at eradicating particularly dangerous aspects of child labour.

In Nigeria, the Child Rights Act 2003 has been promulgated into law and domesticated in 21 states of the federation.

Article 32 of the CRA states that children have the right to be protected from economic exploitation, having to participate in work that threatens their health, education, or development, yet in many states, the issue of child labour has been business as usual.

Surprisingly, all these are happening despite global political initiatives to respect the rights of children, together with the production of internationally recognised statistics that are coordinated by the ILO through its International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour.

The 1999 Convention 182 for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour obliges countries to identify and quantify the incidence of such child labour, backed by national plans for its elimination. The ILO aims to achieve this goal by 2016 and timebound country plans should have been in place by 2008.

Hawking impacts children’s education, health Speaking on the impact of street hawking on children, Executive Director of a crisis response centre/sexual violence resource centre, Media Concern Initiative (Mediacon), Dr. Princess Olufemi-Kayode said child hawkers were exposed to exhaust fumes from several non road-worthy vehicles, as well as face dangers of accidents, which can maim or kill them. “It increases chance of child hawkers interaction with street children and miscreants and could result in psychological damage to the former’s psyche as well as changing their mindset

I

s your baby keeping you up all night and you are desperate to get some advice or tips so you are able to sleep again? Do not worry, there are more people with similar experience and there are solutions.

The first six to twelve weeks, babies tend to sleep quite irregularly. But after three or four months, they usually have more regular sleep habits and routines.

It can be difficult to judge what is best, with all the well-meaning ways of looking at things that exist. But you are an expert on your child and know what works for your family. It is usually best, therefore, that you decide what you want and then put plans into action. You can teach your baby to sleep with them or on his/her own, in your bed or in his/

A child hawker in Ijora, Lagos.

in a negative way.

“Even if they are not physically touched, hawkers in the streets, see a lot of things they should not be exposed to at their age and due to this exposure, are already sexually abused. Some end up as victims of rape.”

Causes of child labour According to Olufemi-Kayode, child hawking stems from parental/ guardian challenges. It is parents that actually push the children out because there are no sufficient jobs from which they could eke out a living.

Similarly, the views of Mediacon boss was echoed in the stories of the three child hawkers, Margaret, Chika and Chioma, which clearly shows that poverty is the main reason why they engage in child labour. Poor parents send their children to work for reasons of economic expediency, the consequent denial of education eventually trap another generation of the household within poverty Highlighting another factor that makes hawking flourish, Olufemi- Kayode said most parents were also saddled with too many children, more than they could care for, apart from some being out rightly lazy, making them to abandon the responsibility of providing for their family.

She urged mothers, fathers and guardians to go the extra mile to take care of their family, while recommending the

PHOTO: TONY EGUAYE

empowerment of children to speak up in formal complaints.

Corroborating the empowerment of children as a part of the solution, a child protection officer, Mrs. Ngozi EkwerikeOkoro, National Coordinator of Child to Child Network, said children could play a role to stem the tide of street hawking.

“When children are aware of the dangers street trading poses to their health and education and can assert their rights by speaking out, it can help to address the problem.

Speaking further, Ekwerike-Okoro who is also the Lagos State Coordinator, Child Protection Network, said, "These activities are against the principles enshrined in the CRA, Child Rights Law and the CRC. All children are supposed to be in school. Again, some children go to hawk after closing from school, but parents must recognise the right of children to rest.”

The views of Ekwerike-Okoro and executive director of Mediacon are in line with that of UNICEF, which states that when young children are exposed to long hours of work in harsh and dangerous environments, aspects of their physical, emotional, social, mental and moral development tend to be jeopardised.

The way out is to protect children while parents and guardians live up their responsibility towards their children to ensure a bright future for the ‘leaders of tomorrow’.

Baby sleep problems, solutions

her own. But it is better for you and your baby to stick to a plan.

Every time your baby wakes during

Preparing for pregnancy

the night, it is likely that a parent must repeat whatever it was you did to get your baby to fall asleep at bedtime. If you are

I

f you are reading this article, then most likely you are in the very early stages of planning for a pregnancy. Many women do not get (or take) the opportunity to research what is needed for a happy and healthy pregnancy until after they get pregnant, at which time several precious weeks have been lost.

One thing many people overlook when they decide to get pregnant is the emotional factor.

By planning ahead, you can ensure that you and your body are completely ready for a pregnancy, and that it is as successful as possible.

That being said, do not feel bad if you are not able to complete all these tips, as your body is an amazing machine and can adapt to all types of situations. Just do the best you can and relax!

About one to three months before you plan to get pregnant is a good time to begin preparations. Make an appointment with your doctor for a routine physical and PAP test so they can ensure that everything is ship-shape. Also, talk about going off birth control, as well as any family medical history that you may be concerned about.

nursing to sleep, it is likely that you may do the same every time they wake up.

If you let the baby fall asleep by itself, the baby will be able to get to sleep all by itself.

Regardless of which plan you will choose, it is useful to think of two things: If something is worth doing, it is worth doing thoroughly.

If you decide not to lull baby to sleep, but instead put it in bed while it is sleepy but awake and come back with five to 10 minutes intervals to whisper comforting words, it is better not to give up after 45 minutes.

Otherwise you just show the child that the plan does not apply in the long run.

FEATURES

NEW TELEGRAPH

www.newtelegraphonline.com/features

abiodun bello features Editor

abiodun.bello@newtelegraphonline.com

page 43, TUESDAY, February 25, 2014

Medication errors: Dangerous trend in healthcare delivery M any people have been sent to their early graves because of incorrect diagnosis, which invariably leads to wrong treatment.

For instance, the legal icon and human rights activist, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, who died of cancer on September 5, 2009, was for about a year treated for another ailment.

Gani, as he was fondly called, was initially diagnosed with pneumonia in Nigeria before he was later diagnosed with cancer abroad. It has been argued that had he been correctly diagnosed, the disease which eventually claimed his life could have been reversed and treated.

A similar fate might have befallen many others who might not have had the opportunity of going for further tests.

Also worrisome is another situation in which a person is correctly diagnosed but is given wrong treatment. This is called medication error.

Mrs Kemi Irolu (not real names), today experiences excruciating pains in her legs as a result of wrong treatment.

Many people have either lost their lives or have been maimed as a result of wrong treatment despite appropriate diagnosis, report Abiodun Bello and Appolonia Adeyemi.

Although she was not diagnosed with any ailment, the mother of two, who lives in Ogba area of Lagos metropolis, said she went for family planning at a popular private hospital in Iju-Ishaga area of the state.

She said: “My husband and I decided to wait awhile before having another child so we agreed to visit the hospital. After counselling at the hospital, we decided on a particular method which comes with an injection every three months.

“I had taken the first, second and third injections before it was discovered that I was getting the wrong injection.

“It actually started after the first injection when I began to experience pains in my legs. I thought it was normal. But I always complained at the hospital but nothing changed until another doctor attended to me after the third injection, by

then it was already nine months since I started the family planning.

“It was the new doctor who went through my file and discovered that I was being given injection for someone who had stopped bearing children.”

Even after stopping the injection, Irolu said she was still experiencing enormous pains in her legs as well as psychological torture over the possibility of not being able to conceive again.

“When the pains come, which can be anytime, no matter the analgesic I use, I will be crying,” she added.

Another woman, who simply identified herself as Afolake, said she was diagnosed with typhoid fever at a private hospital but was shocked to discover a few days after she commenced treatment that some of the drugs given to her were for hypertension.

This, according to her, was discovered after she complained that the drugs were making her to sleep excessively.

Medication errors are regarded as unintentional errors which occur while prescribing, dispensing, or administering a medicine under the control of a healthcare professional, patient or consumer.

According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM)’s 1999 report, in the United States, the estimate of costs of general medical errors resulting in injury is between $17 and $29 billion annually.

About 44,000 to 98,000 people die annually as the result of these errors in the United States.

Many factors, according to some medical experts, are responsible for this dangerous trend.

Mr Toyin Adeosun, a pharmacist, said C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 4 4

44 features

Sanctity of Truth

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Medication errors: Dangerous trend in healthcare delivery CO N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 4 3

one of such factors could be pressure on the healthcare provider.

Another reason is the dearth of functional facilities in healthcare centres.

According to a Consultant Physician & Haematologist at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos (CMUL), Prof.

Michael Kehinde, the shortage of proper healthcare facilities that are easy to reach, is a major cause of inappropriate treatment for properly diagnosed health conditions.

The negative attitude of some medical doctors/health workers is another factor contributing to this situation.

Kehinde said the attitude of government officials in charge of setting up healthcare structures, who chose to establish token centres was another factor contributing to poor treatment of diagnosed conditions.

According to him, as communities are developing, it is important that the government build functional health centres there.

“In newly developing communities, people just go about their businesses and nobody bothers about health at all and anytime somebody’s health fails, many wonder why it is so,” he added.

Kehinde and Adeosun agreed that the handwritings of many medical doctors are poor and illegible.

Badly written or an illegible prescription, according to them, often results in the administration of wrong medication.

Relating how illegible prescription once resulted in mistreatment of a patient, Kehinde said during a Doctors Ground Round when medical doctors present cases of interest to instruct healthcare professionals at the Hammersmith Hospital in London, a 32-year-old Irish male patient was brought into the hospital unconscious and a group of physicians looked after him in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

He said when the patient was able to talk; they observed that he could not remember things due to the fact that he had suffered prolonged hypoglycaemia, meaning low blood sugar, resulting from the administration of a wrong medication on him.

Kehinde said the Irish patient had been given a prescription which had Amoxil, antibiotics to be taken once three times daily.

On getting to a drug store, the pharmacist mistakenly read the Amoxil as Dionil, an anti-diabetic medicine. The Dionil was instead dispensed to the patient and he took it once three times daily.

According to Kehinde, the impact of the Dionil, a drug that causes blood sugar to go down, was severe, as it reduced the blood sugar of the patient significantly,

The first thing is to immediately discontinue the use of such drugs and report to the hospital

Health Minister, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu

The late Fawehinmi

Kehinde

Faduyile

leading to hypoglycaemia.

Consequently, he was rushed to the ICU at the Hammersmith Hospital where the doctors cared for him, giving him drip and other medication after which he came back to consciousness.

According to Kehinde, the major problem the patient had after the wrong medication was administered on him was that he could no longer remember things as that wrong drug had affected his brain.

“I often tell young doctors working under me that if such can happen in an advanced country where doctors prescribe correct things and pharmacists dispense correct things, how much more in Nigeria,” the haematologist added.

According to him, in Nigeria, whereas only medical doctors are supposed to prescribe drugs, different categories of healthcare professionals, including nonmedical professionals, prescribe drugs.

The same problem is witnessed concerning drugs dispensation in the country where although, only pharmacists should dispense drugs, different categories of other professionals are doing that, said Kehinde and Adeosun, adding that all these often result in wrong medications for patients.

Similarly, he said the patient must be carried along to let him/her know the specific drugs he/she is to use and why.

Adeosun said it was the inalienable right of the patient to know what type of drug he or she is given.

He said it was not just enough for the pharmacist dispensing the drug to write

on the dispensing envelope that a particular drug should be taken twice or thrice daily.

According to him, drug must be taken at eight hours interval to allow it to metabolise, i.e. for its chemical components to be broken down and be accommodated in the blood stream.

Furthermore, whenever drugs that are not known to nurses and pharmacists are prescribed, he stressed that they should not administer them until they ask the doctors who prescribed them for clarification.

He said: “When nurses and pharmacists do that, I am happy because they want to understand.”

Kehinde also said education of patients was very important.

He said: “When you are giving them (patients) medicines, you tell them what the medicines are going to do because a specific drug may be acceptable to some patients and may not be acceptable to others. Not every drug can be used by anybody.”

Adeosun also agreed with Kehinde on the education of patients. He said patients must insist on knowing what drugs or injection were being prescribed for them.

Adeosun also advised patients on steps to take after being treated for wrong ailment.

According to him, the first thing is to immediately discontinue the use of such drugs and report to the hospital.

He also said the patient could report

to the Medical Council, in the case of a doctor, or if a pharmacist, to the Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria for appropriate action.

The pharmacist disclosed that the laws setting up the councils provide for such.

According to him, the certificates of such medical practitioners can be withdrawnvvv.

He also said such patients could as well approach the court for redress.

Also speaking on the issue, the Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Lagos State chapter, Dr. Francis Faduyile, said it could stem from lack of job satisfaction as a result of poor welfare package for healthcare providers.

He said: “If we have a doctor who is not happy, not comfortable or not satisfied, arising from poor remuneration, which some doctors in the country still experience, the effect will go back to the public.

“This is why the NMA is seriously advocating that all state governments in the country should implement the newly approved Federal Government Consolidated Medical Salary Scale (CONMESS), which is the minimum wage recommended to make the job of doctors all over the federation comfortable so as to translate to better health.

“If I have a patient in front of me and I am thinking of how to feed my wife and children, even if he says something, I may not hear him fully. Those are the things that can cause medical mishap, wrong diagnosis, wrong treatment among others and it is not good for the public.”

45

of Truth

ruary 25, 2014

Expired groundnut oil floods Lagos markets Taiwo Jimoh

C

onsumers have been advised to be vigilant as expired gallons of groundnut oil are now being sold in Lagos markets.

The Chairman of Consumer Rights Awareness, Advocacy and Advancement Initiatives (CRAAI), Comrade Moses Igbude, gave the advice in an interview with our correspondent in Lagos.

Igbude said investigations conducted by his officials revealed this.

The CRAAI chairman said that last week, his officials visited Idumota market in Lagos, where three gallons of a popular

groundnut oil were purchased at relatively cheaper prizes.

According to him, on getting back to the office, it was discovered that the oil had expired since October 2013.

Homeowners’ charter tedious, say Ogun residents RUSH HOUR Home owners rushing to meet registration deadline

Camillus Nnaji

S

ome house owners in Ogun State have cried out over the slow pace of registration in the Homeowners’ Charter (HOC) programme.

The programme tagged: “Mission to Rebuild,” aims to allow homeowners get building plan approval and Certificate of Occupancy (C of O).

To meet the February 28 deadline, many homeowners have to queue for several hours at the HOC centres.

Though some of the landlords, who spoke with NT Metro at the Mowe centre on Monday, praised Governor Ibukinle Amosu for initiating the programme, they however, expressed anger over their endless wait.

One of them, who gave his name as Mr. Anthony Ekeh, said the process was too tedious and cumbersome.

He said: “If you were here on Friday, the line was so long that people stayed under the sun for many hours, while some had to go back home because of the long queue.

“After the registration, the challenge of waiting for your turn for the Homeowners’ Charter staff to visit your property for inspection is there too.

“The government has seen that this programme is well accepted by Ogun State prop-

Home owners struggling to register at the centre on Monday.

erty owners, therefore more personnel should be deployed and more centres created to beat the February 28 deadline.”

The Homeowner’s Charter programme is an initiative of the Ministry

PHOTO: CAMILLUS NNAJI

of Urban and Physical Planning to legalise owners’ properties built without the required approvals or on land belonging to the government.

It gives individuals the opportunity to obtain building plan approvals, C of

O and other title documents.

According to a statement from the ministry, the programme will bring many benefits to the residents of the state as many of them will find it easier to use their houses to secure bank loans.

Five policemen released after three months in custody A source claimed that the men went to raid an Indian hemp joint at the Ijesha area of the metropolis when the policemen allegedly killed the man.

Apparently some of the people resisted arrest and there was a scuffle, which forced the policemen to open fire.

One of the bullets hit the deceased later identified as a 25-year-old apprentice, Mr. Eze Dimunah.

But rather than take the wounded suspect to the hospital, the policemen abandoned him.

“There were two brothers among the suspects arrested. After one of the brothers was shot, the other begged the police to take his brother to the hospital, but they ignored him.

“The policemen took the first batch of suspects to the police station and went for the second. The wounded suspect’s corpse was brought to the station with the second batch.

“When the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) questioned them about the shooting and subsequent killing, they all denied shooting, let alone killing the apprentice.

They were taken before the Area Commander, but they refused to own up to the killing.”

The Area Commander took the men to the Commissioner of Police, Umar Manko, but they also held on to their story.

After listening to them, Manko ordered that the five men should be taken to Braide, for a discreet interview.

It was there they reportedly confessed.

The commissioner therefore ordered their arrest and detention.

Braide, however, explained that the story was far from the truth of what led to Dimunah’s death.

According to her, investigation showed that the five men used to raiding that particular brothel at Ijesha, where Dimunah died.

On that fateful day, the deceased had gone with a friend to drink and have a nice time with some prostitutes, when suddenly they heard people screaming Police! Police!

Police!

It was not the first time police had raided the brothel and nobody wanted to be arrested. Everyone fled.

Dimunah, who was drinking then, bolted from his seat, clutching his bottle of beer.

He ran into a wall, smashing the bottle in the process but he continued to run, still holding the bottle.

The deceased, according to Braide, missed his step and fell on the bottle neck, which slashed his throat.

She said: “This story was narrated to the police by the brothel owner. The brothel owner told us that blood was just gushing out from the slash like a tap. He walked over to the victim and asked him what happened. It was the young man who narrated

this story to him.

“Dimunah shouted for help, crying ‘I don’t want to die, please help me’. Nobody lifted a hand to help him. When the policemen saw him, they just said, ‘sorry’ to him and walked away.

“The man staggered out, clutching his throat, begging anyone to help him to the hospital. A public spirited Nigerian finally assisted him. He took him to the hospital.

The hospital rejected him.

“Dimunah slumped and died just as they were waiting for another car to take them to another hospital. The brothel owner and policemen were arrested for not assisting to save the life of that young man.

“The friend he came with to drink on that day was arrested by the five policemen that night. As they were taking him out, he saw his friend on the ground, covered in blood and begging to be assisted to the hospital. He begged the police to assist Dimunah, but they ignored his pleas.”

46 business | FINANCIAL MARKET NEWS

Sanctity of Truth

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

FMDQ Daily Quotations List

24-Feb-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

NA

FGN

Description 10.50 18-MAR-2014 10.75 31-MAR-2014 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 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

18-Mar-11 31-Mar-07 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 28-Nov-08 22-May-09 20-Nov-09 23-Jul-10

10.50 10.75 9.20 9.25 4.00 13.05 15.10 9.85 9.35 10.70 16.00 7.00 16.39 15.00 12.49 8.50 10.00

320.00 35.00 45.00 100.00 535.00 292.47 452.80 20.00 100.00 300.00 351.30 233.90 600.00 75.00 150.00 200.00 591.57

18-Mar-14 31-Mar-14 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 28-Nov-28 22-May-29 20-Nov-29 23-Jul-30

0.06 0.10 0.34 0.59 1.16 2.47 3.17 3.42 3.52 4.26 5.34 5.66 7.92 14.76 15.24 15.74 16.41

13.35 13.43 13.75 13.88 14.12 13.78 13.97 13.81 13.81 13.79 13.84 13.78 13.85 13.61 13.60 13.58 13.62

5.44 8.39 12.23 12.95 13.96 13.71 13.86 13.69 13.69 13.69 13.77 13.69 13.79 13.56 13.55 13.52 13.56

99.79 99.69 98.44 97.45 89.50 98.50 102.75 89.46 87.91 90.23 107.90 73.91 111.95 108.70 92.91 67.28 76.45

100.29 100.19 98.94 97.95 89.65 98.65 103.05 89.76 88.21 90.53 108.20 74.21 112.25 109.00 93.21 67.58 76.75

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE Rating/Agency

4,402.04 Description

Issuer

Agency Bonds AMCON FMBN

NA

***LCRM

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

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

0.68 1.24 1.61 2.79 3.15 3.36

1.00 2.63 2.27 2.00 1.49 1.00

14.99 16.86 16.30 15.81 15.31 14.81

90.65 81.74 101.43 88.96 86.07 84.61

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 06-Jan-21

0.44 0.64 1.52 0.89 1.42 1.42 3.15 1.98 3.85 2.62 4.61 2.82 2.82 3.41 3.29 5.74 3.35 4.15 6.76 4.16 4.19

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 1.44 1.95

18.59 19.92 18.51 17.46 18.59 17.61 19.41 21.41 15.59 15.61 14.79 14.82 15.03 14.81 16.27 15.72 16.55 16.54 14.78 15.24 15.75

98.05 96.54 92.37 96.22 94.76 97.76 78.54 88.54 95.46 96.73 97.39 99.49 103.64 99.22 98.23 95.42 95.62 94.94 94.57 101.39 101.03

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

0.62 0.81 0.85 1.00 1.07 1.16 2.59 2.67 3.60 2.22 2.12 2.29 2.29 4.58 2.40 2.73 6.72

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

14.91 19.36 22.90 19.25 15.33 16.91 14.81 15.15 18.33 15.68 17.28 19.00 18.86 16.85 16.10 19.92 16.54

98.03 95.71 95.57 92.08 97.04 97.35 96.18 98.02 86.36 105.28 97.98 98.25 101.83 91.13 99.56 94.42 94.80

11-Feb-18

3.96

1.00

14.80

86.55

Maturity Date

Bid Yield (%)

Offer Yield (%)

Bid Price

Offer Price

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

1,304.32

Sub-National Bonds Bbb-/Agusto A-/GCR A+/Agusto A/Agusto Nil A+/Agusto A+/Agusto; A+/GCR A-/Agusto A/Agusto A+/Agusto; A+/GCR Bb+/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 A-/GCR

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

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 06-Jan-14

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 14.50 EKITI II 31-DEC-2020 15.00 NASARAWA 06-JAN-2021

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 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

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

567.90

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

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

Issuer

Issue Date

Coupon (%)

Issue Value ($'mm)

FGN Eurobonds

Prices & Yields

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

FGN

BB-/Fitch; BB-/S&P

6.75 JAN 28, 2021

07-Oct-11

6.75

500.00

28-Jan-21

6.05

5.88

103.93

104.87

5.13 JUL 12, 2018

18-Dec-09

5.13

500.00

12-Jul-18

5.10

4.91

100.09

100.82

6.38 JUL 12, 2023

01-Apr-10

6.38

500.00

12-Jul-23

6.52

6.39

98.99

99.87

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

1,500.00

Corporate Eurobonds Afren PLC I

11.50 FEB 01, 2016

01-Feb-11

11.50

450.00

01-Feb-16

3.95

3.35

113.87

115.08

GTBank PLC I

7.50 MAY 19, 2016

19-May-11

7.50

500.00

19-May-16

5.15

4.60

104.88

106.08

GTBank PLC II

6.00 NOV 08, 2018

08-Nov-13

6.00

400.00

08-Nov-18

6.35

6.15

98.59

99.40

B+/S&P

Access Bank PLC

7.25 JUL 25, 2017

25-Jul-12

7.25

350.00

25-Jul-17

7.25

7.00

100.00

100.75

B/S&P; B/Fitch

Fidelity Bank PLC

6.88 MAY 09, 2018

09-May-13

6.88

300.00

02-May-18

8.27

7.83

95.13

96.63

B/Fitch

Afren PLC II

10.25 APR 08, 2019

08-Apr-12

10.25

300.00

08-Apr-19

5.29

4.73

114.39

115.62

B/S&P; B-/Fitch

First Bank PLC

8.25 AUG 07, 2020

07-Aug-13

8.25

300.00

07-Aug-20

7.25

6.82

103.73

105.42

B+/S&P; B+/Fitch

Afren PLC III

6.63 DEC 09, 2020

09-Dec-13

6.63

360.00

09-Dec-20

6.65

6.44

99.86

100.73

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

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

2,960.00

**Treasury Bills DTM 10 17 24 31 38 45 52 59

FIXINGS Maturities 6-Mar-14 13-Mar-14 20-Mar-14 27-Mar-14 3-Apr-14 10-Apr-14 17-Apr-14 24-Apr-14

Bid 12.70 12.50 12.60 12.90 12.70 13.30 12.55 13.20

Offer 12.45 12.25 12.35 12.65 12.45 13.05 12.30 12.95

^Yield (%) 12.74 12.57 12.71 13.04 12.87 13.52 12.78 13.49

Money Market

NIBOR Tenor CALL 7 DAYS 30 DAYS 60 DAYS 90 DAYS 180 DAYS 365 DAYS

Rate (%) 11.2083 11.5417 11.7917 12.1250 12.3750 12.6250 12.9583

Foreign Exchange (Spot & Forwards)

Tenor

Rate (%)

OBB

10.71

Tenor

Bid ($/N)

Offer ($/N)

10.96

Spot 7D 14D 1M 2M 3M

163.14 164.80 165.05 165.61 166.83 169.42

163.24 165.07 165.45 166.28 168.12 172.10

O/N Tenor Call 1M

REPO

Rate (%) 10.75 11.83

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 15.00 28-NOV-2028 12.49 22-MAY-2029 8.50 20-NOV-2029 10.00 23-JUL-2030

31-Aug-07 30-May-08 29-Jun-12 23-Oct-09 27-Jan-12 28-Nov-08 22-May-09 20-Nov-09 23-Jul-10

9.35 10.70 16.00 7.00 16.39 15.00 12.49 8.50 10.00

100.00 300.00 351.30 233.90 600.00 75.00 150.00 200.00 591.57

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

31-Aug-17 30-May-18 29-Jun-19 23-Oct-19 27-Jan-22 28-Nov-28 22-May-29 20-Nov-29 23-Jul-30

3.52 4.26 5.34 5.66 7.92 14.76 15.24 15.74 16.41

13.81 13.79 13.84 13.78 13.85 13.61 13.60 13.58 13.62

13.69 13.69 13.77 13.69 13.79 13.56 13.55 13.52 13.56

87.91 90.23 107.90 73.91 111.95 108.70 92.91 67.28 76.45

88.21 90.53 108.20 74.21 112.25 109.00 93.21 67.58 76.75

# Risk Premium (%)

Valuation Yield (%)

4,402.04

Rating/Agency

Description

Issuer

Sanctity of Truth

business | FINANCIAL MARKET NEWS

Issue Date

Coupon (%)

Tuesday, February 25, 2014 Agency Bonds

Issue Value (N'bn)

Maturity Date

Avg. Life/TTM (Yrs)

Indicative Price

47

Stock market rebounds with N132bn gain AMCON FMBN

NA

***LCRM

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

RECOVERY

Sub-National Bonds

The market recovered Bbb-/Agusto KWARA A-/GCR NIGER from last week's downturn A+/Agusto KADUNA A/Agusto Nil A+/Agusto A+/Agusto; A+/GCR A-/Agusto A/Agusto A+/Agusto; A+/GCR Bb+/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 A-/GCR

Chris Ugwu

T

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

he Nigerian equities market retraced to close trading for the week in the green zone as investors resumed bargain hunting activities after the market weakened, due to Thursday’s suspension of the Central Bank TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Corporate Bonds

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

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

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

Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, by the Presidency.

Market pundits had pre14.00 KWARA 5-AUG-2014 14.00 NIGER 15-OCT-2014 dicted stability in the mar12.50 KADUNA 31-AUG-2015 13.00 EBONYI 30-SEP-2015 ket this week after the acting 14.00 BENUE 30-JUN-2016 CBN governor, 15.50 IMO 30-JUN-2016 Sarah Alade, 10.00 LAGOS 19-APR-2017 calmed the markets last Fri13.75 BAYELSA 30-JUN-2017 day, pledging 14.00 EDO 31-DEC-2017 to maintain 14.00 DELTA monetary 30-SEP-2018 Sanusi's policies 14.00 NIGER II 4-OCT-2018 and keep the naira within its 14.50 EKITI 09-DEC-2018 14.00 NIGER III 12-DEC-2018 target band of N150-160 to the 15.50 ONDO 14-FEB-2019 dollar.

15.50 GOMBE 02-OCT-2019 14.50 LAGOS 22-NOV-2019 Consequently, at the close 14.75 OSUN 12-DEC-2019 OSUN II 30-SEP-2020 of14.75 trading yesterday, 28 stocks 13.50 LAGOS IV 27-NOV-2020 recorded price appreciation, 14.50 EKITI II 31-DEC-2020 15.00 NASARAWA 06-JAN-2021 the loswhile 18 constituted ers’ table.

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

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

The market twin market indicators, the All-Share In05-Aug-09 14.00 dex and market capitalisation 15-Oct-09 14.00 rose31-Aug-10 by 411.4 points 12.50 or 1.06 30-Sep-10 per cent and N13213.00 billion to 30-Jun-11 14.00 close30-Jun-09 at 38,707.14 index 15.50 points 19-Apr-10 and N12.433 trillion10.00 from the 30-Jun-10 13.75 previous 38,295.74 points and 30-Dec-10 14.00 30-Sep-11 14.00 N12,301 trillion respectively.

04-Oct-11 14.00 09-Dec-11 14.50 of the Further analysis 12-Dec-13 14.00 day’s14-Feb-12 trading showed that 15.50 UBA02-Oct-12 Plc topped 15.50 the day’s 22-Nov-12 14.50 gainers table with14.75 N8.66 per 12-Dec-12 14.75 cent 30-Sep-13 to close at N7.28.

27-Nov-13 13.50 Dangote Sugar14.50 went up 31-Dec-13 06-Jan-14 15.00 by 7.91 per cent to close at N11.59, followed by FBNH Plc 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

I

n order to deepen the transaction activities on the local bourse, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has concluded arrangement to discontinue the old trade notification system, TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE Trade Alert. Mr Oscar Onyema, Supranational Bond the Chief Executive Officer of AAA/S&P IFC the NSE, in a statement, said the TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE bourse would introduce a fresh Rating/Agency Issuer notification system known as X-Alert to all its investors next FGN Eurobonds month.

BB-/Fitch; B+/S&P He said the X-Alert is a new BB-/Fitch; FGN BB-/S&P and improved notification sysBB-/Fitch; BB-/S&P tem, which will provide invesTOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE tors with details of transactions Eurobondsaccount via a onCorporate an investment B-/S&P; B/Fitch PLC I text message on theAfren recipient’s GTBank PLC I B+/S&P; phone B+/Fitch or via an e-mail to mobile GTBank PLC II the recipient’s box. Access Bank PLC B+/S&P

10.20 IFC 11-FEB-2018

DG, NSE, Oscar Onyema Description

“The service, which will allow the investing 6.75 JAN public 28, 2021 know when a transaction has been 5.13 JUL 12, 2018 made on their account, will be 6.38 JUL 12, 2023 run in-house on behalf of The Exchange by the Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) FEB 01, 2016 with reduced11.50 cost implications 7.50 MAY 19, 2016 to both buyers and sellers in the 6.00 NOV 08, 2018 7.25 JULMarket”said 25, 2017 Nigerian Capital

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

0.68 1.24 1.61 2.79 3.15 3.36

80.00 30.00 11.40 87.00 5.00 5.00

22-Nov-19 12-Dec-19 30-Sep-20 27-Nov-20 31-Dec-20 06-Jan-21

5.74 3.35 4.15 6.76 4.16 4.19

with 1,304.32

4.92 per cent increase to close at N12.58 per share re17.00 0.44 spectively. 05-Aug-14 6.00 15-Oct-14 0.64 On the flip side, Wapic Plc 8.50 31-Aug-15 1.52 16.50 30-Sep-15 0.89 led others on the losers table 13.00 30-Jun-16 1.42 with 5.56 per cent to close 18.50 30-Jun-16 1.42 57.00 19-Apr-17 3.15 at 86 kobo per share. AIICO 50.00 30-Jun-17 1.98 Insurance followed, decreas25.00 31-Dec-17 3.85 50.00 30-Sep-18 2.62 ing by 5 per cent to close at 76 9.00 04-Oct-18 4.61 20.00 09-Dec-18 2.82 kobo per share while Cadbury 12.00 12-Dec-18 2.82 Nigeria shed 4,99 per cent to 27.00 14-Feb-19 3.41 20.00 02-Oct-19 3.29 close at N86.25.

1.00 2.63 2.27 2.00 1.49 1.00

14.99 16.86 16.30 15.81 15.31 14.81

90.65 81.74 101.43 88.96 86.07 84.61

1.94 2.74 2.74 1.00 1.44 1.95

15.72 16.55 16.54 14.78 15.24 15.75

95.42 95.62 94.94 94.57 101.39 101.03

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

14.91 19.36 22.90 19.25 15.33 16.91 14.81 15.15 18.33 15.68 17.28 19.00 18.86 16.85 16.10 19.92 16.54

98.03 95.71 95.57 92.08 97.04 97.35 96.18 98.02 86.36 105.28 97.98 98.25 101.83 91.13 99.56 94.42 94.80

On the activity chart, the Banking sub-sector domi4.88 in volume 18.59 98.05 nated terms with 5.99 19.92 96.54 166.2 million shares worth 4.44 18.51 92.37 3.23 billion17.46 N1.7 in 1,902 96.22 deals.

4.46 18.59 94.76 Other financial institutions 3.48 17.61 97.76 5.59 19.41 78.54 followed with 91.3 million 7.60 21.41 88.54 units, worth N546.5 million 1.79 15.59 95.46 15.61 96.73 in 1.80 1,018 deals.

1.00 14.79 97.39 1.00 all, investors 14.82 99.49 In exchanged 1.21 15.03 103.64 337.3 million shares, worth 1.00 14.81 99.22 2.46 billion in 16.275,078 deals.

98.23 N3.1

Africa Prudential Registrars to pay 35k dividend

567.90

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

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

0.62 0.81 0.85 1.00 1.07 1.16 2.59 2.67 3.60 2.22 2.12 2.29 2.29 4.58 2.40 2.73 6.72

NSE dumps Trade Alert, floats new system Chris Ugwu

978.35 24.56 6.00 112.22 116.70 66.49

Chris Ugwu

A

frica Prudential Registrars Plc has proposed a dividend Onyema. of 35 kobo per share, to its “In addition to paying a lot less for transactions, custom- shareholders.

Coming within the first year ers will have updated positions of their accounts at any point in of the company’s listing on the time as this new system offers Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), convenient and easy monitoring the dividend, when ratified by shareholders of the company, of all accounts. There are also 175.67 the added benefits of effective will be paid out on activities for 11-Feb-13 10.20 12.00 11-Feb-18 3.96 fraud alert in cases of unauthor- the 2013 financial year.

12.00 ised transactions on account, reThe proposed dividend payIssue Date Couponconfirm(%) Issue Value ($'mm) Maturity Date Bid Yield (%) duction in time spent ment, according to a statement ing trades and an enhancement from the company, attests to it’s of transparency between the 500.00 determination to add value to 07-Oct-11 6.75 28-Jan-21 6.05 trader and its clients” he added. shareholders, and ensure incre18-Dec-09 5.13 500.00 12-Jul-18 5.10 The NSE recently rolled out ment in shareholder wealth.

01-Apr-10 6.38 500.00 12-Jul-23 6.52 its new generation Trading PlatAnalysts attributed the return form, X-Gen, which according 1,500.00 on the investment as a product to the bourse, is supporting the of the improved financial perfor01-Feb-11 11.50 3.95 FIX protocol and driving the 450.00 mance of the01-Feb-16 company, released 19-May-11 7.50 500.00 19-May-16 5.15 to the NSE last week.

Nigerian Capital Market to the 08-Nov-13 6.00 400.00 08-Nov-18 6.35 25-Jul-12 7.25 350.00 25-Jul-17 in its 7.25 next level.

The company 2013

audited financial statement, posted N1,854,276,000 in revenue, with a profit before tax of N1,212,186,000, while profit after tax stood at N914,456,000. The company’s earnings per share is 46 kobo.

The company noted that the financial results demonstrate that the company is already reaping the rewards of some of its strategic corporate engagements 1.00 14.80 86.55 in the recent past, including the acquisition of UAC Registrars Offer Yield (%) theBid Price non-bank Offer PriceafLimited, oldest filiated registrar in Nigeria .

Prices & Yields It said that its register of 5.88 103.93 104.87 members shall be closed be4.91 100.09 100.82 tween the 17th and 21st of 98.99 6.39 99.87 March 2014. The qualifying date is March 14, 2014. This presupposes that all shareholders on the3.35 register of113.87 members115.08 as at 14 4.60 104.88 106.08 March shall be eligible for the 35 6.15 98.59 99.40 kobo dividend.

7.00 100.00 100.75

B/S&P; B/Fitch

Fidelity Bank PLC

6.88 MAY 09, 2018

09-May-13

6.88

300.00

02-May-18

8.27

7.83

95.13

96.63

B/Fitch

Afren PLC II

10.25 APR 08, 2019

08-Apr-12

10.25

300.00

08-Apr-19

5.29

4.73

114.39

115.62

B/S&P; B-/Fitch

First Bank PLC

8.25 AUG 07, 2020

07-Aug-13

8.25

300.00

07-Aug-20

7.25

6.82

103.73

105.42

B+/S&P; B+/Fitch

Afren PLC III

6.63 DEC 09, 2020

360.00

09-Dec-20

6.65

6.44

99.86

09-Dec-13 6.63 FMDQ Daily Quotations List

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

2,960.00

100.73 24-Feb-14

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

FGN

DTM 10 17 Bonds24 31 38 Rating/Agency 45 52 59 73 80 87 94 101 115 122 164 192 NA 283 318 332 346 360

Maturities 6-Mar-14 13-Mar-14 20-Mar-14 27-Mar-14 3-Apr-14 Issuer 10-Apr-14 17-Apr-14 24-Apr-14 8-May-14 15-May-14 22-May-14 29-May-14 5-Jun-14 19-Jun-14 26-Jun-14 7-Aug-14 4-Sep-14 FGN 4-Dec-14 8-Jan-15 22-Jan-15 5-Feb-15 19-Feb-15

Bid 12.70 12.50 12.60 12.90 12.70 Description 13.30 12.55 10.50 18-MAR-2014 13.20 13.15 10.75 31-MAR-2014 13.10 9.20 29-JUN-2014 13.00 9.25 28-SEP-2014 13.10 4.00 23-APR-2015 13.20 13.05 16-AUG-2016 13.20 15.10 27-APR-2017 13.20 13.20 9.85 27-JUL-2017 12.85 9.35 31-AUG-2017 12.35 10.70 30-MAY-2018 13.00 16.00 29-JUN-2019 12.85 7.00 23-OCT-2019 12.90 13.00 16.39 27-JAN-2022

Offer 12.45 12.25 12.35 12.65 12.45 Issue Date 13.05 12.30 18-Mar-11 12.95 12.90 31-Mar-07 12.85 29-Jun-07 12.75 28-Sep-07 12.85 23-Apr-10 12.95 16-Aug-13 12.95 27-Apr-12 12.95 12.95 27-Jul-07 12.60 31-Aug-07 12.10 30-May-08 12.75 29-Jun-12 12.60 23-Oct-09 12.65 12.75 27-Jan-12

15.00 28-NOV-2028 12.49 22-MAY-2029 8.50 20-NOV-2029 10.00 23-JUL-2030

*from the Amortising bonds, the average life is calculated and not the duration

28-Nov-08 22-May-09 20-Nov-09 23-Jul-10

^Yield (%) 12.74 12.57 12.71 13.04 12.87 Coupon 13.52 (%) 12.78 10.50 13.49 13.51 10.75 13.49 9.20 13.42 9.25 13.56 4.00 13.70 13.05 13.77 15.10 13.81 14.03 9.85 13.78 9.35 13.66 10.70 14.66 16.00 14.55 7.00 14.70 14.91 16.39

15.00 12.49 8.50 10.00

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

Risk Premium is a combination of credit risk and liquidity risk premiums **Exclusive of non-trading t.bills ^Bid yield

Issuer

Description

Issue Date

AMCON

0.00 AMCON 31-OCT-2014 (SR.5 TR.1) 0.00 FMB 24-MAY-2015 17.25 FMB II 03-APR-2017 Porfolio Market 0.00/16.00 LCRM 09-DEC-2016Total Outstanding Value(Bn) Volume(Bn) 0.00/16.50 LCRM II 20-APR-2017 0.00/16.50 LCRM III 06-JUL-2017 1,232.16 1,280.27 1,050.75 951.30 452.25 591.57 2,735.17 2,823.14 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

28-Dec-11 24-May-10 03-Apr-12 Weighting by 09-Dec-11 Outstanding Vol 20-Apr-12 06-Jul-12 45.35 33.70 20.95 100.00 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

Agency Bonds

NA

FMBN Modified Duration Buckets

***LCRM

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE Sub-National Bonds Bbb-/Agusto A-/GCR A+/Agusto A/Agusto Nil A+/Agusto A+/Agusto; A+/GCR A-/Agusto A/Agusto A+/Agusto; A+/GCR Bb+/Agusto; A-/GCR A/Agusto; A-/GCR

<3 3<5 >5 Market

KWARA NIGER KADUNA *EBONYI *BENUE *IMO LAGOS *BAYELSA EDO *DELTA NIGER *EKITI

35.00 31-Mar-14 45.00 29-Jun-14 NITTY 100.00 28-Sep-14 Tenor Rate (%) 535.00 23-Apr-15 1M 13.0322 292.47 16-Aug-16 2M 13.4021 452.80 27-Apr-17 3M 13.5540 6M 13.9092 20.00 27-Jul-17 9M 14.2928 100.00 31-Aug-17 12M 14.8353 300.00 30-May-18 351.30 29-Jun-19 233.90 23-Oct-19 NIFEX 600.00 27-Jan-22 75.00Current Price ($/N) 28-Nov-28 BID($/N)150.00 165.9675 22-May-29 OFFER ($/N) 166.0675 200.00 20-Nov-29 591.57 23-Jul-30

Tenor

Rate (%)

OBB

10.71

Tenor

Bid ($/N)

10.96

Spot 7D 14D Offer Yield 1M (%) 2M 5.44 3M 6M 8.39 1Y 12.23

163.14 164.80 165.05 Bid Price 165.61 166.83 99.79 169.42 172.10 99.69 179.74 98.44

O/N

REPO TTM (Yrs) BidRate Yield Tenor (%)(%) Call 0.06 1M 3M 0.10 6M 0.34

10.75 13.35 11.83 12.58 13.43 12.92 13.75

Maturity Date

Avg. Life/TTM (Yrs)

Risk Premium (%)

31-Oct-14 24-May-15 03-Apr-17 % Exposure_ 09-Dec-16 Mod_Duration 20-Apr-17 06-Jul-17 22.23 38.64 39.14 100.00 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

0.68 1.24 1.61 Implied 2.79Yield 3.15 3.36 13.96 13.85 13.62 13.78 0.44 0.64 1.52 0.89 1.42 1.42 3.15 1.98 3.85 2.62 4.61 2.82

1.00 2.63 2.27 Implied 2.00 Portfolio Price 1.49 1.00 100.1317 117.3818 82.3696 102.2224 4.88 5.99 4.44 3.23 4.46 3.48 5.59 7.60 1.79 1.80 1.00 1.00

0.59 13.88 12.95 1.16 14.12 13.96 2.47 13.78 13.71 :Benchmarks 3.17 Bond 13.97 13.86 * :Amortising µ :Convertible Bond 3.42 13.81 13.69 AMCON: 3.52 Asset Management13.81 Corporation of 13.69 Nigeria FGN: Federal Government of Nigeria 4.26 13.79 13.69 FMBN: Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria 5.34 13.84 13.77 IFC: International Finance Corporation 5.66 Contractors Receivables 13.78 13.69 LCRM: Local Management NAHCO: 7.92 Nigerian Aviation Handling Company 13.85 13.79 NGC: Nigeria-German Company 14.76 13.61 13.56 UBA: United 15.24Bank for Africa13.60 13.55 UPDC: UAC Property Development Company 15.74 13.58 13.52 WAPCO:West Africa Portland Cement Company 16.41 13.62 13.56 NOTE:

Offer ($/N)

Price

163.24 165.07 165.45 Offer Price 166.28 168.12 100.29 172.10 176.17 100.19 188.18 98.94

97.45 97.95 89.50 89.65 98.50 98.65 NA :Not Applicable 102.75 Rate Bond 103.05 # :Floating ***: Deferred coupon bonds 89.46 89.76 87.91 88.21 90.23 90.53 107.90 108.20 73.91 74.21 111.95 112.25 108.70 109.00 92.91 93.21 67.28 67.58 76.45 76.75

4,402.04

#

Rating/Agency

NIBOR Tenor Rate (%) CALL 11.2083 7 DAYS 11.5417 30 DAYS 11.7917 60 DAYSValue 12.1250 Outstanding Maturity Date 90 DAYS 12.3750 (N'bn) 180 DAYS 12.6250 320.00 18-Mar-14 365 DAYS 12.9583

Bonds

Coupon (%)

Issue Value (N'bn)

FMDQ FGN BOND INDEX 0.00 0.00 17.25 Weighting by Mkt 0.00/16.00 Value 0.00/16.50 0.00/16.50 45.05 38.42 16.53 100.00 14.00 14.00 12.50 13.00 14.00 15.50 10.00 13.75 14.00 14.00 14.00 14.50

978.35 24.56 6.00 Bucket112.22 Weighting 116.70 66.49 0.45 1,304.32 0.34 0.21 1.00 17.00 6.00 8.50 16.50 13.00 18.50 57.00 50.00 25.00 50.00 9.00 20.00

#

Valuation Yield (%) 14.99 16.86 16.30 INDEX 15.81 15.31 14.81 1,012.88 993.94 997.15 994.77 18.59 19.92 18.51 17.46 18.59 17.61 19.41 21.41 15.59 15.61 14.79 14.82

Indicative Price 90.65 81.74 101.43 YTD Return 88.96 (%) 86.07 84.61 1.2880 0.6056 0.2850 0.5234 98.05 96.54 92.37 96.22 94.76 97.76 78.54 88.54 95.46 96.73 97.39 99.49

48 BUSINESS | MONEY LINE

Sanctity of Truth

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

'Mortgage Refinancing firm not a threat to FMBN'

Sanusi's ouster: Capital market operators seek friendly policies INVESTMENT Experts want the government to rebuild investor's confidence

S

ome capital market operators yesterday urged the Federal Government to seek policies that would strengthen investors' confidence in the nation's bourse.

They said the nation’s capital market had experienced losses due to the various economic pronouncements and policies of the government.

The operators spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

Mallam Garba Kurfi, the Managing Director, APT Securities and Funds Ltd., said that the suspension of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), had created panic in the market.

Kurfi said that government's recent pronouncement led to investment outflow by discerning investors, especially in the banking sector.

He said that foreign investors were concerned about

Sanusi

the nation's policy on foreign exchange, with a change of leadership at the CBN. Mr David Adonri, the Chief Executive Officer, Lambeth Trust & Investment, said that the tight monetary policy of the CBN and Sanusi's suspension had stalled market growth temporarily.

Adonri said that the banking sector, a major player in the market, had been under intense pressure in the past few weeks. ``The tight monetary policy embarked upon by the CBN has hit the banking sector directly and the sector's woes were further compounded by

Abdulwahab Isa

the shocking suspension of the CBN governor,” Adonri said.

He said that the All-Share Index had dropped by 7.34 per cent year-to-date, while the banking index lost 19.76 per cent, this year.

Adonri, however, expressed optimism that reactions to all these negative events would slow down this week.

Mr Olaleye Williams, the Managing Director, GlobalView Consult & Investments Ltd., urged investors to take advantage of the low price of equities and increase their investment portfolio.

Williams said that the market would likely rebound in a few days, adding that the trend would not last forever.

President Goodluck Jonathan had last Thursday, suspended Sanusi and appointed Mrs Sarah Alade as the acting CBN governor.

Jonathan also forwarded the names of Mr Godwin Emefiele and Adelabu Adekoya to the Senate, for consideration as CBN governor and deputy governor designate, respectively.

Sterling Bank praises Audax

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

S

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

FX

Bid Spot ($/N) 163.28 THE FIXINGS –NIBOR,NITTY and NIFEX of February 6,2014

NITTY

Yield 12.86 13.33 13.35 13.42 13.38 13.53

Money Market Offer 11.85 11.85 11.80 Offer 163.38

T

he establishment of Nigeria Mortgage Refinancing Company (NMRC) does not pose any threat to the survival of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria FMBN, its spokesperson, Mallam Dauda Yusuf, has said.

Speaking with New Telegraph in Abuja, Yusuf said the refinancing firm will complement FMBN's role of creating decent and affordable housing for Nigerians.

Yusuf's clarification came against the backdrop of insinuations in some quarters to effect that, the setting up of NMRC may pose operational threat to the relevance of FMBN as Nigeria's foremost mortgage creating institution.

He said: “The new mortgage refinancing firm will be complimentary to FMBN’s role to reducing over 18 million housing deficit. Any structure created whose objective is to increase the supply of affordable houses to Nigerians is welcome by FMBN. So, the Mortgage Refinancing Company in essence, is coming on stream to collaborate with FMBN to create more affordable housing units for Nige-

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

Rate (%) 11.33 11.63

NIFEX Spot ($/N)

rians", Yusuf explained.

He said FMBN management led by Gimba Ya'u Kumo has been able woo 10 more states to key into the National Housing Fund thus, bringing to 28 the number of states currently contributing to the NHF. The FMBN spokesman said the bank has recorded tremendous achievement in NHF collection from N730 million monthly average collections in 2010 to over N2billion in 2013.

He said the bank has recovered about N5.8 billion from classified loan and another N68 million trapped in some liquidated financial institutions. Besides, he said the institution financed delivery of about 10,000 housing units costing over N40 billion in several estates spread in six geopolitical zones of the country.

The federal government late last year established Mortgage Refinance Company (MRC) whose primary role is to increase the liquidity within the mortgage sub-sector and make available , mortgage credit in Nigeria. It also has the responsibility of reducing mortgage and related costs, and making residential housing more affordable.

Bid 163.4000

Offer 163.5000 Source: FMDQ

terling Bank Plc has commended Audax Solutions for being a recipient of the 2014 Google RISE Awards.

Audax Solutions is a pioneer of the Audax Code School, an initiative to teach Nigerian children programming skills for the web.

The Google RISE Awards, according to a statement from the bank, is an annual global award to recognise excellence in computer science education particularly for children between the ages of 7 and 18.

Audax Solutions and Sterling Bank recently organised the Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek) Hour of Code and a free Boot Camp for kids and adults to spread awareness of the need for computer science education among the youth.

Speaking on the Award, Mr Emeka Onyenwe, the Business Manager of Audax Solutions said that part of the cash grant from the Award will be used to further expand the company’s weekend and holiday activities, which involves children from under-served neighborhoods and public schools in Lagos

State, a priority goal of the organization. “We also plan to offer at least 30 full scholarships for our Easter and Summer Code School in 2014, including training on basic computer skills and the Internet”, he added.

Sterling Bank in a letter to Audax Solutions congratulated the company for the feat achieved; stating that the lender remains committed to the Code School initiative and other similar projects by like-minded institutions who continue to advance the development of human capital especially among the youth in the country.

“We are particularly delighted that the world is taking note of efforts to enhance technological advancement in this part of the world”, the bank added.

The Bank’s Group Head, Strategy and Communications, Mr. Shina Atilola stated that the bank was particularly delighted to have been part of the Computer Science Education Week Hour of Code in Nigeria, organised for the children by Audax last December as the official banker.

Sanctity of Truth

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Daily Summary as of 24/02/2014 Printed 24/02/2014 14:39:39.039

business | CAPITAL MARKET 49

The Nigerian Stock Market Exchange as at February 24, 2014 Daily Summary (Equities)

Daily Summary as of 24/02/2014

Printed 24/02/2014 14:39:39.039

Activity Summary on Board EQTY FINANCIAL SERVICES FINANCIAL SERVICES Totals

Daily Summary (Bonds) Activity Summary on Board DEBT Federal

Bond Name 15.10% FGN APR 2017 16.00% FGN JUN 2019 16.39% FGN JAN 2022 Federal Totals

Symbol FG9B2017S2 FG9B2019S3 FG9B2022S1

No. of Deals 1 1 1 3

DEBT Board Totals

Current Price 103.45 108.35 112.50

3

Bond Activity Totals

Quantity Traded 100 100 100 300

Value Traded 108,511.09 110,943.61 113,858.09 333,312.79

300

333,312.79

300

3

Daily Summary as of 24/02/2014 HEALTHCARE Printed 24/02/2014 Medical 14:39:39.039 Supplies

MORISON INDUSTRIES PLC. Medical Supplies Totals Pharmaceuticals EVANS MEDICAL PLC.

333,312.79

FIDSON HEALTHCARE PLC Activity Summary on Board EQTY

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

Daily Summary (Equities) Activity Summary on Board EQTY AGRICULTURE Crop Production FTN COCOA PROCESSORS PLC OKOMU OIL PALM PLC. PRESCO PLC Crop Production Totals Daily Summary as of 24/02/2014 Printed 24/02/2014 14:39:39.039 Livestock/Animal Specialties LIVESTOCK FEEDS PLC. Livestock/Animal Specialties Totals AGRICULTURE Totals

Symbol FTNCOCOA OKOMUOIL PRESCO

No. of Deals 1 20 19 40

Current Price 0.50 38.40 40.00

Quantity Traded 100,000 136,751 244,034 480,785

Value Traded 50,000.00 5,181,790.65 9,811,552.25 15,043,342.90

Symbol LIVESTOCK

No. of Deals 16 16

Current Price 3.99

Quantity Traded 366,400 366,400

Value Traded 1,442,110.13 1,442,110.13

847,185

16,485,453.03

Daily Summary (Equities)

56

Activity Summary on Board EQTY

Published by The Nigerian Stock Exchange © CONGLOMERATES Diversified Industries A.G. LEVENTIS NIGERIA PLC. CHELLARAMS PLC. JOHN HOLT PLC. TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATION OF NIGERIA PLC U A C N PLC. Diversified Industries Totals

Page Symbol AGLEVENT CHELLARAM JOHNHOLT TRANSCORP UACN

No. of Deals 7 1 1 174 58 241

CONGLOMERATES Totals CONSTRUCTION/REAL ESTATE Building Construction ARBICO PLC. Building Construction Totals Building Structure/Completion/Other COSTAIN (W A) PLC. Building Structure/Completion/Other Totals Infrastructure/Heavy Daily Summary as of 24/02/2014 Construction JULIUS BERGER NIG. PLC. Printed 24/02/2014 14:39:39.039 Infrastructure/Heavy Construction Totals Real Estate Development UACN PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT CO. LIMITED Real Estate Development Totals

Current Price 1.67 3.95 1.27 3.82 67.01

241

of

16,556,369

78,911,710.54

Current Price 5.30

Quantity Traded 100 100

Value Traded 530.00 530.00

Symbol COSTAIN

No. of Deals 13 13

Current Price 1.67

Quantity Traded 382,911 382,911

Value Traded 654,036.03 654,036.03

Symbol JBERGER

No. of Deals 12 12

Current Price 75.00

Quantity Traded 37,016 37,016

Value Traded 2,637,390.00 2,637,390.00

Symbol

No. of Deals 26 26

Current Price 19.60

Quantity Traded 244,080 244,080

Value Traded 4,738,870.30 4,738,870.30

Page 52

2

of

664,107

8,030,826.33

Symbol DUNLOP

No. of Deals 1 1

Current Price 0.50

Quantity Traded 94,369 94,369

Value Traded 47,184.50 47,184.50

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

Symbol GUINNESS INTBREW NB PREMBREW

No. of Deals 70 16 103 1 190

Current Price 162.61 29.45 145.93 0.77

Quantity Traded 211,229 149,155 839,653 700 1,200,737

Value Traded 34,488,853.68 4,342,852.50 121,910,452.10 560.00 160,742,718.28

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

Symbol 7UP

No. of Deals 15 15

Current Price 82.64

Quantity Traded 58,328 58,328

Value Traded 5,011,518.60 5,011,518.60

Symbol DANGFLOUR DANGSUGAR FLOURMILL HONYFLOUR NASCON UNIONDICON UTC

No. of Deals 42 51 70 34 29 1 4

Current Price 9.26 11.59 82.50 3.64 13.00 12.45 0.58

Quantity Traded 235,988 978,233 224,283 632,679 571,694 2,000 17,093

Value Traded 2,193,056.45 10,882,651.48 16,710,852.65 2,274,690.61 7,413,616.40 23,660.00 9,572.08

DANGOTE SUGAR REFINERY PLC FLOUR MILLS NIG. PLC. HONEYWELL FLOUR MILL PLC NATIONAL SALT CO. NIG. PLC UNION DICON SALT PLC. U T C NIG. PLC.

Daily Summary (Equities)

Published

by The Nigerian Stock Exchange © Activity Summary on Board EQTY

CONSUMER GOODS Food Products Food Products Totals

Page

3

of

Symbol

No. of Deals 231

Current Price

Quantity Traded 2,661,970

Value Traded 39,508,099.67

Food Products--Diversified CADBURY NIGERIA PLC. NESTLE NIGERIA PLC. Food Products--Diversified Totals

Symbol CADBURY NESTLE

No. of Deals 61 94 155

Current Price 86.25 1,100.00

Quantity Traded 760,515 166,592 927,107

Value Traded 65,594,418.75 181,640,629.69 247,235,048.44

Household Durables VITAFOAM NIG PLC. Household Durables Totals

Symbol VITAFOAM

No. of Deals 10 10

Current Price 4.10

Quantity Traded 39,475 39,475

Value Traded 163,037.31 163,037.31

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

Symbol PZ UNILEVER

No. of Deals 70 60 130

Current Price 39.12 48.00

Quantity Traded 382,076 341,005 723,081

Value Traded 14,492,711.10 15,774,497.23 30,267,208.33

5,705,067

482,974,815.13

Quantity Traded 56,785,035 7,194,110 806,383 9,100,806 26,092,816

Value Traded 437,118,932.88 45,142,211.10 11,272,535.51 19,127,330.38 621,322,259.28

CONSUMER GOODS Totals FINANCIAL SERVICES Banking ACCESS BANK PLC. Daily Summary as of 24/02/2014 DIAMOND BANK PLC Printed 24/02/2014 14:39:39.039 ECOBANK TRANSNATIONAL INCORPORATED FIDELITY BANK PLC GUARANTY TRUST BANK PLC.

732 Symbol ACCESS DIAMONDBNK ETI FIDELITYBK GUARANTY

No. of Deals 260 104 54 108 423

Daily Summary (Equities)

Current Price 7.64 6.40 14.20 2.17 24.02

Page

Activity Summary Board EQTY Published

by The Nigerian on Stock Exchange ©

Daily Summary as of 24/02/2014 FINANCIAL Printed 24/02/2014SERVICES 14:39:39.039 Banking SKYE BANK PLC STERLING BANK PLC. UNITED BANK FOR AFRICA PLC UNION BANK NIG.PLC.

15

Value Traded 133,073.46 564.00 121.00 61,295,534.81 17,482,417.27 78,911,710.54

No. of Deals 1 1

Published by The Nigerian Stock Exchange © CONSTRUCTION/REAL ESTATE CONSTRUCTION/REAL ESTATE Totals

Daily Summary as of 24/02/2014 Food Products Printed 24/02/2014 14:39:39.039 DANGOTE FLOUR MILLS PLC

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

Symbol ARBICO

DailyUAC-PROP Summary (Equities)

Symbol SKYEBANK STERLNBANK Daily UBA Summary UBN

No. of Deals 169 44 (Equities) 255 34

Current Price 3.45 2.27 7.28 8.15

Quantity Traded 18,891,332 12,494,293 11,174,889 97,423

4

of

Telecommunications Services IHS PLC Telecommunications Services Totals

INDUSTRIAL GOODS Building Materials ASHAKA CEM PLC Published by The Nigerian Stock Exchange © BERGER PAINTS PLC CAP PLC CEMENT CO. OF NORTH.NIG. PLC DANGOTE CEMENT PLC DN MEYER PLC. FIRST ALUMINIUM NIGERIA PLC IPWA PLC PORTLAND PAINTS & PRODUCTS NIGERIA PLC PREMIER PAINTS PLC. LAFARGE WAPCO PLC. Building Materials Totals

15

Symbol UNITYBNK WEMABANK ZENITHBANK

No. of Deals 4 36 411 1,902

Current Price 0.50 0.99 20.55

Quantity Traded 161,714 2,871,102 20,591,939 166,261,842

No. of Deals 1 135 9 4 2 2 6 2 22 1 1 8 20 27 (Equities) 7 35 10 1

Current Price 0.50 0.76 1.04 0.50 0.50 0.58 0.50 0.50 0.60 0.50 0.50 2.19 0.50 0.76 0.50 0.65 0.56 0.50

Quantity Traded 486,542 7,043,984 209,400 53,000 100,874 3,200 41,900 2,500 1,512,290 500,000 250 Page 121,452 15,004,200 3,204,499 1,783,464 2,634,613 2,300,628 390,000

No. of Deals 152 18 532 106 7 23 180 1,018

Current Price 3.75 2.08 12.58 3.40 0.60 19.40 2.62

Quantity Traded 25,778,258 1,974,367 27,954,497 9,133,445 1,144,579 313,413 25,061,176 91,359,735

Value Traded 96,891,299.76 3,970,156.00 344,852,980.79 30,554,558.63 684,567.11 6,068,364.96 63,577,117.51 546,599,044.76

Page

7

of

Value Traded 4,951,237.55 294,381.98 418,887.00 1,182,540.57 9,928,827.76

2,377,302

9,929,555.76 Value Traded 13,621.30 13,621.30

81 Symbol COURTVILLE

No. of Deals 2 2

Current Price 0.81

Quantity Traded 17,690 17,690

Symbol CHAMS ETRANZACT

No. of Deals 1 1 2

Current Price 0.50 2.32

Quantity Traded 2,000,000 Page 400 2,000,400

Symbol

No. of Deals 1 1

Current Price 3.90

Quantity Traded 10,000 10,000

Value Traded 38,100.00 38,100.00

2,028,090

1,052,605.30

Daily Summary (Equities) IHS

5

No. of Deals 7 7

Current Price 2.00

Quantity Traded 150,633 150,633

Value Traded 304,181.00 304,181.00

Packaging/Containers AVON CROWNCAPS & CONTAINERS BETA GLASS CO PLC. Packaging/Containers Totals

Symbol AVONCROWN BETAGLAS

No. of Deals 1 2 Daily Summary (Equities) 3

Current Price 1.63 20.39

Quantity Traded 20,040 1,868 21,908

Value Traded 32,665.20 37,050.52 69,715.72

2,266,599

78,923,162.74

217

Value Traded 1,964,665.78 of 15 17,608.50 10,915,415.73 10,589,546.49 42,887,160.90 1,626.50 50,000.00 5,800.00 91,912.50 10,390.00 12,015,139.62 78,549,266.02

9

Symbol BOCGAS

No. of Deals 1 1

Current Price 6.66

Quantity Traded 823 Page 823

Metals ALUMINIUM EXTRUSION IND. PLC. Metals Totals

Symbol ALEX

No. of Deals 4 4

Current Price 10.50

Quantity Traded 200 200

Value Traded 1,996.00 1,996.00

Mining Services MULTIVERSE PLC Mining Services Totals

Symbol MULTIVERSE

No. of Deals 2 2

Current Price 0.50

Quantity Traded 20,550 20,550

Value Traded 10,275.00 10,275.00

21,573

17,620.50

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

7

Value Traded 5,349.50 of 15 5,349.50

10

Symbol JAPAULOIL

No. of Deals 41 41

Current Price 0.51

Quantity Traded 2,576,672 2,576,672

Value Traded 1,352,924.25 1,352,924.25

Symbol OANDO

No. of Deals 186 186

Current Price 20.15

Quantity Traded 5,781,964 5,781,964

Value Traded 115,912,754.09 115,912,754.09

Symbol

No. of Deals 6 17 59

Current Price 51.70 3.80 93.04

Quantity Traded 1,260 205,616 144,314

Value Traded 61,899.90 775,800.44 12,210,396.72

No. of Deals 16 3 9 110

Current Price 122.00 54.44 173.00

Quantity Traded 6,170 946 4,348 362,654

Value Traded 748,100.24 48,927.12 725,901.33 14,571,025.75

8,721,290

131,836,704.09

Daily Summary (Equities) CONOIL ETERNA FO

Page Symbol MOBIL MRS TOTAL

337

11

of

15

Symbol AFROMEDIA

No. of Deals 2 2

Current Price 0.50

Quantity Traded 200 200

Value Traded 100.00 100.00

Symbol RTBRISCOE

No. of Deals 4 4

Current Price 1.30

Quantity Traded 158,534 158,534

Value Traded 206,144.20 206,144.20

Symbol REDSTAREX TRANSEXPR

No. of Deals 3 5 8

Current Price 4.40 2.55

Quantity Traded 14,450 111,155 125,605

Value Traded 64,220.00 270,606.65 334,826.65

No. of Deals 7 7

Current Price 0.53

Quantity Traded 1,113,793 1,113,793

Value Traded 589,499.23 589,499.23

No. of Deals 1 1 (Equities)

Current Price 0.50

Quantity Traded 250,000 Page 250,000

Symbol ACADEMY

No. of Deals 2

Current Price 2.43

Quantity Traded 200

Value Traded 462.00

Symbol LEARNAFRCA UPL

No. of Deals 4 5 11

Current Price 1.79 4.10

Quantity Traded 2,200 15,852 18,252

Value Traded 3,792.00 65,262.62 69,516.62

Road Transportation ASSOCIATED BUS COMPANY PLC Road Transportation Totals

Symbol ABCTRANS

No. of Deals 4 4

Current Price 0.87

Quantity Traded 50,500 50,500

Value Traded 45,425.00 45,425.00

Specialty SECURE ELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGY PLC Specialty Totals

Symbol NSLTECH

No. of Deals 1 1

Current Price 0.50

Quantity Traded 1,000 1,000

Value Traded 500.00 500.00

Symbol AIRSERVICE NAHCO

No. of Deals 5 34 39

Current Price 2.47 5.44

Quantity Traded 12,550 854,954 867,504

Value Traded 30,673.50 4,680,032.98 4,710,706.48

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

15

Value Traded

8 1,000,000.00 of 15 884.00 1,000,884.00

Symbol CUTIX

Automobile/Auto Part Retailers R T BRISCOE PLC. Automobile/Auto Part Retailers Totals Daily Summary as of 24/02/2014 Printed 24/02/2014 14:39:39.039 Courier/Freight/Delivery

Employment Solutions

C Summary & I LEASING Activity onPLC. Board EQTY Daily Summary as of 24/02/2014

Employment Solutions Totals Printed 24/02/2014 14:39:39.039 SERVICES Media/Entertainment DAAR COMMUNICATIONS PLC Published by The Nigerian Stock Exchange © Media/Entertainment Totals

Activity Summary on Board ACADEMY PRESS PLC. EQTY SERVICES Printing/Publishing LEARN AFRICA PLC UNIVERSITY PRESS PLC. Printing/Publishing Totals

Daily Summary as of 24/02/2014 Transport-Related Services Printed 24/02/2014 14:39:39.039 AIRLINE SERVICES AND LOGISTICS PLC NIGERIAN AVIATION HANDLING COMPANY PLC Transport-Related Services Totals SERVICES Totals

Daily Summary (Equities) Symbol CILEASING

Symbol DAARCOMM

Daily Summary

Daily Summary (Equities)

Published

by The Nigerian Stock Exchange © Activity Summary on Board ASeM

EQTY Board Totals

Value Traded 6 of 15 950.00 125.00 110,445.00 500.00 30,000.00 1,412,117.02 23,035,459.69

Symbol AFRIPRUD CUSTODYINS FBNH FCMB ROYALEX STANBIC UBCAP

Quantity Traded 70,379 146,666 215,730 778,000 2,376,902

No. of Deals 24 16 8 3 80

Electronic and Electrical Products CUTIX PLC.

Daily Summary as of 24/02/2014 Electronic and Electrical Products Totals Printed 24/02/2014 14:39:39.039

SERVICES Advertising AFROMEDIA PLC Advertising Totals

Quantity Traded Page 1,900 250 220,890 1,000 60,000 1,598,565 37,275,401

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

Current Price 69.00 2.00 1.90 1.52

Symbol GLAXOSMITH MAYBAKER NEIMETH PHARMDEKO

OIL AND GAS Totals

Current Price 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.85

Value Traded 134,900.00 10,000.00 173,507.50 318,407.50

Value Traded 1,362,892.90 1,718,887.76

Quantity Traded 110,611 Page 1,950 242,764 1,310,904 182,427 1,100 100,000 10,000 18,000 1,000 115,302 2,094,058

Published byAND The Nigerian Stock Exchange © OIL GAS Petroleum and Petroleum Products Distributors MOBIL OIL NIG PLC. MRS OIL NIGERIA PLC. TOTAL NIGERIA PLC. Petroleum and Petroleum Products Distributors Totals

No. of Deals 1 1 3 1 2 45 346

Quantity Traded 95,000 20,000 347,015 462,015

Quantity Traded 556,242 609,885

6 23

Current Price 17.96 9.50 47.10 8.25 237.40 1.48 0.50 0.58 5.30 10.93 105.10

Petroleum and Petroleum Products Distributors CONOIL PLC ETERNA PLC. FORTE OIL PLC. Activity Summary on Board EQTY

7,502,100.00 2,418,558.28 891,749.00 1,801,193.33 1,267,739.12 195,000.00

Current Price 1.42 0.50 0.50

Current Price 2.45 2.83

EVANSMED FIDSON

No. of Deals 25 2 34 45 43 2 1 1 5 1 48 207

Daily Summary as of 24/02/2014 Integrated Oil and Gas Services Printed 24/02/2014 14:39:39.039 OANDO PLC Integrated Oil and Gas Services Totals

Value Traded 243,271.00 5,424,464.63 219,491.00 26,500.00 50,437.00 1,920.00 20,950.00 1,250.00 901,694.43 250,000.00 125.00 5 of 15 264,879.88

No. of Deals 1 1 3 5

Daily Summary (Equities) Symbol No. of Deals

NATURAL RESOURCES Totals

Value Traded 80,857.00 2,719,207.18 420,566,022.52 1,727,649,044.49

Symbol ABBEYBDS ASOSAVINGS UNHOMES

Value Traded 728.00 728.00

Symbol ASHAKACEM BERGER CAP CCNN DANGCEM DNMEYER FIRSTALUM IPWA PORTPAINT PREMPAINTS WAPCO

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

Value Traded 63,248,546.63 27,133,381.03 79,130,816.41 786,944.57

Mortgage Carriers, Brokers and Services ABBEY BUILDING SOCIETY PLC ASO SAVINGS AND LOANS PLC UNION HOMES SAVINGS AND LOANS PLC. Mortgage Carriers, Brokers and Services Totals

Quantity Traded 400 400

INDUSTRIAL GOODS Activity Summary onTotals Board EQTY

15

2,297,601,956.44

Current Price 1.91

ICT Totals

Printing/Publishing

Insurance Carriers, Brokers and Services Symbol AFRICAN ALLIANCE INSURANCE COMPANY PLC AFRINSURE AIICO INSURANCE PLC. AIICO CONTINENTAL REINSURANCE PLC CONTINSURE CORNERSTONE INSURANCE COMPANY PLC. CORNERST EQUITY ASSURANCE PLC. EQUITYASUR GREAT NIGERIAN INSURANCE PLC GNI GUINEA INSURANCE PLC. GUINEAINS CONSOLIDATED HALLMARK INSURANCE PLC HMARKINS INTERNATIONAL ENERGY INSURANCE COMPANY PLC INTENEGINS LASACO ASSURANCE PLC. LASACO Daily Summary as of 24/02/2014 LINKAGE ASSURANCE PLC LINKASSURE Printed 24/02/2014 14:39:39.039 MANSARD INSURANCE PLC MANSARD Published by The Nigerian Stock Exchange © MUTUAL BENEFITS ASSURANCE PLC. MBENEFIT N.E.M INSURANCE CO (NIG) PLC. NEM Daily Summary NIGER INSURANCE CO. PLC. NIGERINS OASIS INSURANCE PLC OASISINS PRESTIGE ASSURANCE CO. PLC. PRESTIGE Activity Summary on Board EQTY REGENCY ALLIANCE INSURANCE COMPANY PLC REGALINS FINANCIAL SERVICES Insurance Carriers, Brokers and Services Symbol Published by The Nigerian Stock Exchange © STANDARD TRUST ASSURANCE PLC STACO STANDARD ALLIANCE INSURANCE PLC. STDINSURE UNIC INSURANCE PLC. UNIC UNITY KAPITAL ASSURANCE PLC UNITYKAP UNIVERSAL INSURANCE COMPANY PLC UNIVINSURE WAPIC INSURANCE PLC WAPIC Insurance Carriers, Brokers and Services Totals

Published by The Nigerian Stock Exchange ©

Daily Summary as of 24/02/2014 Processing Systems Printed 24/02/2014 14:39:39.039 CHAMS PLCStock Exchange © Published by The Nigerian E-TRANZACT INTERNATIONAL PLC Processing Systems Totals

295,358,993

No. of Deals 1 1

Activity Summary on Board EQTY

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

Symbol MORISON

HEALTHCARE Totals

Quantity Traded 83,694 150 100 16,198,109 274,316 16,556,369

Activity Summary on Board EQTY

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

1

3,271

CONSUMER GOODS Food Products MCNICHOLS PLC Food Products Totals

Symbol MCNICHOLS

77

2,585,388

5,076

337,131,963

3,111,846,128.04

Quantity Traded 173,254 173,254

Value Traded 247,753.22 247,753.22

No. of Deals 2 2

CONSUMER GOODS Totals Published by The Nigerian Stock Exchange ©

Value Traded 125,000.00 of 15 125,000.00

12

Page

Current Price 1.43

2

173,254 Page

6,081,718.18 13

14

of

15

247,753.22 of 15

ASeM Board Totals

2

173,254

247,753.22

Equity Activity Totals

5,078

337,305,217

3,112,093,881.26

Daily Summary (ETP) Exchange Traded Fund

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

Symbol NEWGOLD

No. of Deals 1 1

Current Price 2,117.00

Quantity Traded 101 101

Value Traded 213,817.00 213,817.00

ETF Board Totals

1

101

213,817.00

ETP Activity Totals

1

101

213,817.00

15

Published by The Nigerian Stock Exchange ©

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50 FOREIGN

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Ugandan leader signs anti-gay bill, ignores warning from Obama

U

gandan President Yoweri Museveni yesterday signed a new law that imposes tough penalties for homosexual acts, a move that could jeopardize Uganda’s relationship with the Obama administration and Western donors.

Homosexuality is already illegal in Uganda, but the new legislation imposes a 14-year prison sentence for first-time offenders and life sentences for repeat offenders found guilty of “aggravated homosexuality.”

The law also makes it a crime not to report on anyone who breaks the new law, essentially ensuring that gays will need to live secret lives. The law even makes it a crime for the “promotion” and “recognition” of homosexual relations, including by any government entity or non-governmental organization inside or outside Uganda. And for the first time, lesbians are covered in the new legislation.

“This deeply offensive piece of legislation is an affront to the human rights of all Ugandans and should never have got this

Rebel fighters hold a position as smoke billows during battles against pro-government forces in the outskirts of Aleppo, in Northern Syria...on Sunday.

far,” Michelle Kagari, Africa deputy director at Amnesty International, said in a statement.

She described the law as “draconian and damaging.”

Kagari added: “This legislation will institutionalize hatred and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people in Uganda.

Its passage into law signals a

Egyptian cabinet resigns, paving way for military chief to run for president

E

gyptian Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi announced yesterday that his cabinet was resigning, marking yet another abrupt shift in a nation that has been wracked by insurgency and political and economic uncertainty.

“Today the cabinet took a decision to offer its resignation to the president of the republic,” Beblawi said in a statement to Egyptian state television.

He did not offer any reason for the surprise move. But the mass resignation paves the way for the country’s powerful military commander, Field Marshal Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, who is also the country’s defense minister and first deputy prime minister, to run for president.

Beblawi and the current cabinet were appointed last July, after Sissi led the military in ousting the Egypt’s first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi.

Cabinet reshuffles have occurred frequently in the past three years of political unrest

in Egypt, since a popular uprising ended the 30-year rule of strongman Hosni Mubarak.

But analysts say the country has moved increasingly over the past eight months to resume the profile of a military autocracy. The state has carried out a heavy-handed crackdown on Morsi’s supporters in the Muslim Brotherhood, effectively eradicating an organization that once represented the country’s most organized political force.

The cabinet resignation also came amid a wave of labor strikes that have amplified pressure on the government, which critics say has been slow to propose economic solutions during its nearly eight months in power.

Critics have derided the country’s post-coup interim president and government as puppets of the military leadership. Rumors circulated about an imminent cabinet reshuffle after Egyptians voted last month to approve a new military-backed constitution.

ed States, or on critics within Africa.

Ugandan officials broke out in loud applause when Museveni signed the bill into law at his official residence in front of journalists and dignitaries.

“There's now an attempt at social imperialism, to impose social values. We're sorry to see that you [the West] live the way you live, but we keep quiet about it,” he said, according to Reuters news agency.

The legislation comes six weeks after Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan signed into law a tough ban on homosexuality that also imposes 14-year prison terms for anyone entering a same-sex union. It also sets 10-year prison sentences for those who run gay clubs or organizations. The legislation triggered an outbreak of antigay attacks in parts of Nigeria.

The new Ugandan law is considered to be even more restrictive.

Same-sex relationships are widely prohibited among the continent’s conservative societies. In many countries, including Uganda and Nigeria, homosexuality has been criminalized since British colonial rule, but the laws were seldom enforced.

Today, 38 of Africa’s 54 countries ban same-sex relationships, according to Amnesty International.

very grave episode in the nation’s history.”

The law was signed a week after President Obama said the legislation “will be a step backward for all Ugandans” and that enacting it “will complicate our valued relationship with Uganda.”

The United States is Uganda’s largest donor and staunchest

Western ally, giving more than $400 million in aid annually. The Obama administration is widely expected to review its relationship and possibly take measures against Museveni’s government to show its displeasure.

Museveni on Monday showed no signs of concern over the law’s potential impact on Western donors, including the Unit-

U

Ukraine seeks fugitive ex-leader over ‘mass murder'

kraine issued an arrest warrant yesterday for ousted president Viktor Yanukovych over the "mass murder" of protesters and appealed for $35 billion in Western aid to pull the crisis-hit country from the brink of economic collapse.

The dramatic announcements by the ex-Soviet nation's new Western-leaning team -approved by parliament over a chaotic weekend that saw the pro-Russian leader go into hiding -- came as a top EU envoy arrived in Kiev to buttress its sudden tilt away from Moscow.

Three months of unceasing protests over Yanukovych's shock decision to spurn an historic pact with the European Union in favour of closer ties with its old masters in the Kremlin culminated in days of carnage last week in Kiev that claimed almost 100 lives.

Ukraine's new interim head

of the federal police said he held Yanukovych and his team of feared security insiders directly responsible for the deaths.

"A criminal case has been launched over the mass murder of peaceful civilians. Yanukovych and a number of other officials have been put on a wanted list," acting interior minister Arsen Avakov said in a statement.

Avakov said Yanukovych had tried to flee the country on Saturday out of the eastern city of Donetsk -- his political power base and bastion of proRussian support -- before escaping to Crimea with a team of guards and a cache of weapons the next day.

He said the deposed head of state and his powerful admin-

istration chief Andriy Klyuev had since "travelled by three cars into an unknown direction, having first switched off their modes of communication".

Ukraine has been reeling from both political and financial crises that have seen the nation of 46 million face the threat of splintering between its proWestern and more Russified regions and having to declare a devastating default.

World financial chiefs meeting in Sydney at the weekend raised the possibility of drumming up a huge rescue package that could fill in for $15 billion promised to Yanukovych by Russian President Vladimir Putin -- money that is now on potentially permanent hold.

U.S. Supreme Court declines challenges to gun laws

T

he Supreme Court in the United States yesterday declined to wade into the politically volatile issue of gun control by leaving intact three court rulings rejecting chal-

lenges to federal and state laws.

The court's decision not to hear the cases represented a loss for gun rights advocates, including the National Rifle Association, which was behind

two of the challenges.

The first case involved a challenge by the NRA to a Texas law that prevents 18-20 year olds from carrying handguns in public.

C/wealth Games: Chukwumerijie may quit retirement Emmanuel Tobi

T

here are strong indications that Nigeria’s Olympic bronze medallist, Chika Chukwumerijie, may take another shot at international

competitions following the appointment of a Korean Coach, Mr. Kim Jin Beom, by the Nigeria Taekwondo Federation last week.

New Telegraph scooped

SPORT

AUTHORITATIVE VOICE IN GLOBAL SPORT

that the Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO) mechanical engineering graduate, who is considering retirement, may bounce back into reckoning after par-

ticipating at the Manchester Taekwondo Championship last December, where Nigeria moved from 19th to 17th in the World Taekwondo Federation CONTINUED ON PAGE 55

Did you know?

NEW TELEGRAPH

newtelegraphonline.com/sports

ADEKUNLE SALAMI, DepUTY Editor, SPORTS kunle.salami@newtelegraphonline.com adekunles@yahoo.com

Germany’s Oliver Kahn became the first goalkeeper to win the MVP Award of the World Cup in 2002

TUESday, February 25, 2014

World Cup:

Keshi shuts door against Anichebe Ajibade Olusesan

W

est Brom striker, Victor Anichebe, may have finally lost the opportunity to gain his first World Cup appearance as Coach Stephen Keshi has reportedly made up his mind to exclude the player from his plans for the mundial.

The striker has not played for the Super Eagles since 2011. He is yet to feature under Keshi and all overtures to lure him back to the Eagles

have been unsuccessful.

The player has been on self-imposed exiled. He alleged that the NFF abandoned him when he was injured during one of the Super Eagles’ matches.

Keshi has reportedly attempted to personally talk the player out of his self-imposed break from international football, but his efforts have been fruitless.

The striker, who joined the Baggies from Everton last season has CONTINUED ON PAGE 55

Victor Anichebe (right) in action for Nigeria

Ezekiel won’t dump Nigeria for Belgium -Keshi

}p-53

Olaitan set for Man Utd Match

}p-54

Don’t retire me now, Ekpo tells NWF

}p-55

51

52 SPORT

Sanctity of Truth

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Pepsi celebrates ‘the art of football’

Sport

BUSINESS FOCUS ALL CORPRATE SPONSORSHIP

P

with Emmanuel Tobi emmanuel.tobi@newtelegraphonline.com

0805 400 5669

Premier Lotto Lagos Athletics target future champions Emmanuel Tobi

C

hief Executive Officer of Premier Lotto, Chief Kessington Adebutu, has explained the rationale behind his continuous support for grassroots’ athletes with the sponsorship of the Lagos Premier Lotto Athletics Championship which started on Monday, February 24, at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.

Chief Adebutu said the need to give other sports, especially athletics a good foundation, inspired his company to create a platform for discovering young athletes as well as helping them to focus on their educational pursuits.

“My passion for football is unparalleled, but my love for other sports, especially athletics, cannot be measured and that is why Premier Lotto is sponsoring the Lagos Athletics meet for secondary schools.

“We are encouraging the kids to combine their education with sports and that is why we gave the winners laptops and ipads last year and we hope to extend it by adding educational scholarships to deserving winners,” he added.

Over eight thousand pupils from five hundred secondary schools in Lagos State will compete in the second edition of the Lagos Premier Lotto Athletics Championship.

L-R: Arsenal FC fans, Messrs, Olayinka Balogun, Ibiwoye Olalekan, Gbenga Adegoke, Head, Retail Products, Sterling Bank Plc and Adekalu Jelili-Oriyomi sponsored by Sterling Bank to watch the first leg of the Champions League match between Arsenal FC and Bayern Munich at Silverbird Cinema, Victoria Island, Lagos under the bank’s Arsenal Take-Over project.

Globacom, Setraco boost Okpekpe road race …Adidas, Malta Guinness also involved Charles Ogundiya

T

elecommunications giant, Glabocom, has renewed its commitment to sponsor the annual Okpekpe Road Race in Edo State as the second edition draws near.

According to the outfit organising the race, Pamodzi Sports Marketing, Globacom and some other companies that sponsored the first edition are still involved in this year’s edition with some new ones coming in.

Kingsley Ozumba of Padmozi said; “We still have all the major sponsors of last year’s intact, Globacom, Setraco Nigeria Limited, Adidas, Malta Guinness and some others.

“The second edition will be bigger

than the first. We are still discussing with some other organisations that saw the success of the first edition and who want to be part of this edition,” he revealed.

The race, which covered 10 kilometres (10,000m) over hills and sandy paths was won last year by Moses Masai of Kenya with a time of 29.39 secs; Timothy Troitich of Uganda came second with a time of 29. 44 secs and Yusuf Bitwott came third with 29 .50 secs.

In the female international category, Rono Georgina, also of Kenya, beat DekoZemzen Ahmed of Ethiopia and Sofia Shemsu, also of Ethiopia to the second and third positions respectively.

Heineken brings Champions League trophy to Nigerians

A

s the UEFA Champions League 2013/2014 season hits the knockout phase, the stage is now set for Heineken, the World’s leading international premium lager beer to give Nigerian football fans the opportunity to feel and experience the UEFA Champions League Trophy.

The trophy, which will be in Nigeria from March 13, 2014 with the brand ambassador Ruud Gullit, an ex-international and football star and coach, will remain in the country till March

16, 2014.

The UEFA Champions League Trophy Tour has been presented for eight consecutive years by Heineken international, a UEFA Champions League partner.

In a statement, Mr. Walter Drenth, Marketing Director Nigerian Breweries Plc, said “the Champions League trophy tour is an activity unique to Heineken. No other brand is capable of holding the trophy tour outside of Europe.”

He promised football fans that the brand - in consonance with its tagline of “Opening Your World”- would provide an experience that only Heineken can deliver to its consumers.

On August 31, 2013, Heineken® announced the extension of its sponsorship with the UEFA Champions League. The new agreement means that the brand will continue as an official partner of the world’s most prestigious club football competition up to and including the 2017/2018 season.

epsi officially announced its global creative curation, uniting the exciting worlds of photography, street art and sport to celebrate “The Art of Football” as part of the brand’s 2014 football campaign. Combining world-renowned photographer, Danny Clinch, six of the world’s leading street artists and some of the globe’s best footballers, including Leo Messi, Robin van Persie, Jack Wilshere, David Luiz, Sergio Aguero and Sergio Ramos, Pepsi presents a truly bespoke art collection celebrating the artistry of football.

The resulting artwork – six spectacular 10-foot by 10-foot canvases was created by emerging artistic talent chosen specifically to represent the vibrancy and spirit of the global players’ home countries. Participating artists include UK’s professional doodle bomber, Hattie Stewart, Argentinean urban artist, Jaz, Brazilian illustrator and street artist Ricardo AKN, Barcelona, Spainbased visual artist Zosen, Merijn Hos, visual artists from the Netherlands and Argentinean street artist Ever.

“The Art of Football” collaboration brings the raw energy of street art onto permanent fixtures of art which depict the players – who last month were announced as Pepsi’s global 2014 football ambassadors – in a clash of color, energy and movement to bring to life the beautiful game in a powerful, striking way.

Kristin Patrick, Pepsi Global Chief Marketing Officer, PepsiCo, commented: “There is an instinctive connection between artists and footballers in their energy, passion and creativity – whether it’s on a canvas or a pitch.

We were passionate about creating a visual language that brought the energy and movement of football to life in powerful, unique pieces of art showcasing our players in the spirit of now. These are the hero images of this year’s global Pepsi football campaign and wonderfully capture our Live for Now brand ethos.”

The innovative art collaboration is an important piece of the year-long Pepsi football campaign.

Why MTN backs Lagos Polo tourney –Bamgboye Chimaobi Uchendu

T

elecommunications giant, MTN says the need to identify with the kings informed its decision to invest in the Lagos International Polo tourney.

MTN Sponsorship Manager, Dola Bamgboye, told New Telegraph at the weekend that MTN was a total brand which supports its customers no matter their business level and interests in recreational pastime.

He said; “It’s in our character to iden-

tify with the aspirations of our clients and support them to succeed. No matter how small or big our customers are, we support their dreams.

As you are aware, Polo is the game of kings and the highly placed individuals in the society and we cannot watch the players who are our clients without offering a helping hand.”

The President of Lagos Polo Club, Hon. Habeeb Fasinro, is also full of praises for MTN for making the tournament possible.

He said; “This tournament will be different from the others as we have improved on the health, safety and aesthetics of the club. We wish to thank our sponsors, MTN that had been supporting us for so long.”

Deputy Tournament Manager, Seyi Oyinlola, also said; “We will be introducing something called VVIP and a hospitality suite for our guests and sponsors.

MTN has been throwing its weight behind us for a long time and we would like to appreciate them.”

Leo Messi, one of the 2014 Pepsi Global Football stars in Canvass photo

SPORT 53

Sanctity of Truth

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

CAF to prepare Nigeria, others For Brazil 2014

Nigeria women league, worst packaged –Madu Mercy Jacob

A

former Super Falcons midfielder, Maureen Madu, has criticized the Nigeria Women League led by Dilichukwu Onyedinma, saying that it is the worst female league in the history of the country.

Madu, who once featured for Ado Babes of Onitsha, Pelican Stars of Calabar and Jegede Babes, said the league lacked a marketing face and this has driven intending sponsors away.

The Assistant Coach of Avaldsnes Idrettslag, a Norwegian side, however, said the only way forward was to find a good sponsor that could as well help to market the league.

She said; “If you are

… Confirm Kenya to host 2018 CHAN

Chimaobi Uchendu

C

AF has offered Nigeria and the four other Africa representatives for next summer’s World Cup the chance to prepare their teams at a high performance academy in Cameroon at no cost to break the jinx of a quarterfinal appearance by an African country.

The five, Cameroun, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Algeria have been afforded the chance to use the CAF High Performance Academy in Mbankomo, Cameroon for preparations.

The decision was made at the CAF Executive Committee meeting in Cairo, Egypt last week, after deliberating on ways the football governing body could assist teams from the African continent compete favourably with their counterpart’s across the World at the mundial.

AFN seek new Oduduru at Odukoya tourney Charles Ogundiya

T

he Athletics Federation of Nigeria is looking forward to the coming D. K. Olukoya National Under-18 Athletics Championships for an avenue to develop new talents that will make the country proud in the nearest future.

The third edition of the competition last year produced youth sensations, Divine Oduduru and Eze Brume and the AFN is hoping that another talent will emerge from the fourth edition holding Thursday, February 27 and Friday, February 28, 2014 inside the Sports Complex of Yaba College of Technology, Lagos.

Last year, Oduduru led Delta State to win the competition, winning the boys’ 100m event and leading the Delta quartet to also win the gold medal of the 4x100m in 42.77seconds. Oduduru clocked

Mikel T h e body further hopes that the move will enhance harmony between the sides and ensure that they perform well when they arrive in Brazil in the summer.

Meanwhile, CAF has confirmed Kenya as host of the African Nations Championships, CHAN 2018, after the government made necessary assurances to help in the organisation of the tourney.

Ezekiel won’t dump Nigeria for Belgium -Keshi Jude Opara

Elias holds sports meet Thursday

T Oduduru in action for Nigeria

10.51secs to win the 100m.

Speaking to New Telegraph, the Technical Director of the federation, Navy Commodore Omatseye, said the target was to identify talents that will represent the country in major youth events later in the year.

“The competition will serve as avenue for identifying talents that will represent the country at the African youth games in Botswana and youth Olympics in China later in the year.

“Last year we were able to discover athletes like Oduduru and Brume, both are doing wonderfully well, but they can’t continue to be junior athletes. Few of them can only participate over two years, so there is need to organise this competition every year to get new talents,” he said.

While praising the sponsor, Omatseye said despite bringing the competition forward, they are still willing to foot the bill.

chanced to play in Europe, you will know that what we call women league here is just a child’s play compared to what is obtainable in other countries. Though they started quite ahead of us, but we are not making progress at all.

“Nigeria female football is of age, our problem mostly is administrative.

It is true that since the introduction of women league in Nigeria, we have been struggling, but it is like things are getting worse.

“There is no league that would flourish without good sponsorship and that is the problem that Nigeria women league is suffering from and the onus lies on the administrators to package the league very well in order to attract sponsors.”

he biennial inter-house sports competition of Elias International Schools holds on February 27 at the Oke Odo Senior High School, Ile- Epo, Lagos.

The Gamesmaster of Elias, Joseph Odunsi, said the heat events were a testimony of what to expect in the finals coming up on Thursday.

Red (Sapphire), Blue (Jasper), Green (Emerald) and Yellow (Chrysolyte) are the houses competing for honours in the competition.

According to one of the Coordinators, Mr Monday Dogoh, the heat event was dramatic with Yellow House leading with 15 gold medals while Red had nine and Green House recorded seven gold medals.

Principal of Elias, Mr Josua Afolabi said, “We are looking up to the D-Day with excitement because some of the students really surprised us during the heats.”

Abuja

S

uper Eagles Coach, Stephen Keshi, has dismissed widespread speculations that Standard Liege of Belgium striker, Imoh Ezekiel, is ready to dump Nigeria for Belgium.

Speaking to New Telegraph from his base in the United States of America yesterday Keshi insists the prolific striker, who has found the back of the net nine times this season will be available for Nigeria in the international friendly with Mexico on March 5.

“There is no iota of

truth that Ezekiel is contemplating dumping Nigeria for Belgium, he is a Nigerian and like most Nigerians he is eager to represent his country.

I have been in constant touch with him and he has assured me that he will be available for us and we hope that he will do well for the country”.

The former international also said he will be happy to regroup with his team A for the international friendly since they have never stayed together since November 2013, when they played the last qualifying game for the 2014 World Cup.

New York Knicks chase Ike Diogu Ifeanyi Ibeh

A

merican professional basketball team, New York Knicks, according to reports, is considering whether to use one of their two roster spots on Nigerian power forward Ike Diogu.

Diogu, who was a member of the Nigerian basketball team to the 2012 London Olympics, currently plays for American DLeague outfit Bakersfield, averaging 16.2 points and

8.2 rebounds.

He was with the Knicks during pre-season and was one of the team’s standout players only to be released by the team on the last day of registration despite leading the team in rebounds.

The Knicks, however, now have two open spots, after Metta World Peace and Beno Udrih’s buyouts became official on Monday, and Diogu, who is noted for his mid-range shots, is favourite to grab one of the spots.

54 SPORT

Sanctity of Truth

Olaitan set for Man Utd match Ajibade Olusesan

N

igeria-born striker, Michael Olaitan, is expected to play a key role as Olympiacos hope to dent Manchester United‘s proud record against Greek opposition when the sides meet in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie at the Stadio Georgios Karaiskakis today.

Olaitan has been dominant for the Greek champions since the turn of the year. The striker has racked up

Olaitan

Dortmund target victory in Russia

Drogba: I wanted to retire at Chelsea

G

alatasaray striker, Didier Drogba, admits he wanted to finish his career as a Chelsea player.

Drogba lines up in Turkey for Galatasaray against Chelsea in this week’s Champions League clash.

“I wanted to finish my career at Chelsea, but the club wanted to bring new blood into the group,” Drogba revealed.

Meanwhile, Roman Abramovich wants Drogba to return to Chelsea as coach to help create a production line of striking talent at Stamford Bridge.

Blues boss, Jose Mourinho, was linked with a move for the Galatasaray striker upon his return to Stamford Bridge last summer.

And ahead of teams’ Champions League last-16 clash on Wednesday in Turkey, the Sunday People reports that the pair could finally be reunited this year.

Drogba, 35, is out of contract with Gala at the end of the season and is understood to be open to a move back to London, with his wife and kids still living in Surrey.

impressive eight league goals for the club, six of them in 2014 alone.

Though, he is yet to make a huge impact in the Champions League, in fact, he has managed to play only twice before the club gets to this level but his recent rich vein of form would make it difficult for Coach José Miguel to overlook him for this big tie.

Veteran striker Javier Saviola, is doubtful for this match after he injured his left thigh during the club’s 4-0 win against OFI last weekend and much of the goal–scoring burden will now be shouldered by Olaitan.

Manchester United have never lost to opponents from Greece, but Olympiacos could shock the for mer champions and the Nigerian could be instrumental to that success.

H

aving overcome FC Shakhtar Donetsk in last season’s round of 16, Borussia Dortmund will be keen for another solid a w a y performance as they seek to overcome FC Zenit.

This is the second time the Russian side have made it through to this stage. In 2011/12 they beat SL Benfica 3-2 at home, Roman Shirokov scoring twice, but lost 2-0 away.

Lewandowski A year ago Dortmund drew 2-2 at FC Shakhtar Donetsk thanks to Mats Hummels’ late equaliser with their other goal coming from Robert Lewandowski. In the return leg, Jakub Błaszczykowski scored in a 3-0 win.

The teams are meeting for the first time. Dortmund’s last encounter with Russian opponents came 11 years ago.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FIXTURES Zenit, UEFA Cup winners in 2007/08, have played 12 games against German sides, with Zenit vs Dortmund a record of four wins, three draws and five Olympiacos vs Man Utd losses.

Atletico vow to beat Real

Balotelli in night club brawl

A

C Milan striker Mario Balotelli has reportedly been involved in a fight at a nightclub in Genoa.

The report followed an incident at the Santa Margherita Ligure club in Liguria Bogliasco where Balotelli was reportedly the centre of a brawl after a paparazzi photographer attempted to take pictures of the Rossoneri forward.

Sportsmediaset.it reports that Balotelli was at the club with his brother Enoch following a dinner when the photographer was attempting to harass the 23-year-old and his girlfriend Fanny Neguesha.

The altercation came to blows according to preliminary reports but the incident has neither been confirmed by the nightclub, AC Milan or Mario Balotelli himself.

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

TEAM Chelsea Arsenal Man City Liverpool Tottenham Man United Everton Newcastle Southampton West Ham Hull City Swansea City Aston Villa Norwich City Stoke City Crystal Palace West Brom Sunderland Cardiff City Fulham

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

TEAM Real Madrid Barcelona Atletico Athletic Bilbao Real Sociedad Villarreal Valencia Sevilla Levante Espanyol Celta Vigo Osasuna Granada Elche Getafe Almeria Malaga Valladolid Rayo Vallecano Real Betis

P 27 27 26 27 27 27 26 27 27 27 27 27 27 27 27 26 27 26 27 27

PTS

60 59 57 56 50 45 45 40 39 31 30 28 28 28 27 26 25 24 22 21

LA LIGA

A

tletico Madrid defender, Filipe Luis, has set his sights on beating city rivals Real after a suffering a blip in their Liga title challenge.

Diego Simeone’s charges missed the opportunity to go into next week’s crucial derby level on points with Real after falling to a 3-0 defeat at Osasuna.

The damage was done in the first half as Alvaro Cejudo, Emiliano Armenteros and Roberto Torres all scored before the break.

That setback left Atletico third on the table, level with reigning champions Barcelona and three adrift of Carlo Ancelotti’s Real side.

Filipe Luis understands the difficulty his side will face in overcoming in-form Real next weekend, but is keen to put the Osasuna loss behind him as soon as possible.

“We have a long week to train and prepare well for the match against Real Madrid,” he told the club’s

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Atletico Madrid’s Filipe Luiz (right) fighting for the ball with an opponent recently.

official website. “The way to keep up is to continue working as usual.

“Against Real Madrid it will be a good chance to regain the fight for first place in the standings. We now have the opportunity to catch them, we are only three points away.

“They are a giant team and it will be difficult.

We know it is very difficult. At home we are very strong, and we managed to beat them and we have to continue this work to try to win.”

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Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Sport Trending TWITTER

|@newtelegraphsport

Venus Williams Thanks for all the support in Dubai!

Venus Williams thanks her fans after winning the Dubai Open, defeating Alize Cornet in the final. It was her 45th WTA title. @EleVenbyVenus

Serena Williams Congrats Venus Williams. Not only did u play great... my avenger- but your pose makes me proud!!! .

@serenawilliams

C/wealth Games: Chukwumerijie may quit retirement C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 5 1

yearly ranking.

Chukwumerije, who won a gold medal at the 2007 All-Africa Games in the +80kg class and bronze medal during the 2008 Olympic Games after defeating Akmal Irgashev of Uzbekistan, is contemplating quitting following his not too impressive per-

Keshi shuts door against Anichebe C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 5 1

been in imperious form for his new outfit and has become one of those players outside the mainstream of the current squad expected by Nigerians to represent the country at the mundial.

But, according to a source in the team, Keshi has lost his patience on the player and has practically removed him from his World Cup plans.

The source said Keshi has told the Technical Committee of the NFF that the player can only be considered if he personally call to declare his readiness to return to the national team.

“Keshi is interested in Anichebe, but the coach cannot force the player to play for his country. You will recall that last year Keshi made attempts to get him, but Anichebe has been elusive. The coach has said he will not run after any player, but Anichebe could be given the chance to fight for a shirt in the Eagles if he shows interest in playing for the country again.

“So far, the player is yet to get in touch with Keshi and now the coach has finally ruled him out of the World Cup. He will only make the team to Brazil if something dramatic happens,” the source said.

formance at the 2012 Summer Olympics after failing to make it past his first bout.

Despite being a board member of the Taekwondo Federation, Chika has been channelling his efforts towards developing young athletes with his Chika Chukwumerijie Sports Foundation, creating a platform for them to gain international exposure.

But feelers from the Taekwondo Federation revealed that the board,

RafaE Nadal

Chika (left) fighting an opponent in one of Nigeria’s Olympics qualifiers

I’m very happy after the victory today in Rio.

@RafaelNadal

Brown Ideye led by Mr. George Ashiru, is wooing Chukwumerijie back into the ring, following the appointment of the world class coach, who has been tasked to prepare the national team for all the forthcoming championships like the World Junior Championships, World Youth Olympics and the African Youth Games, African Senior Championships and Commonwealth Taekwondo Championships which will act as a springboard for the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.

Sad loss, but we will not give up. In football, you never give up!

@OfficialIdeye

Robin Soderling Watching my twitter feed right now kind of disgust me, because some people seem to enjoy when athletes from their own country fail.

@RSoderling

Don’t retire me now, Ekpo tells NWF Mercy Jacob

F

ormer African weightlifting champion, Felix Ekpo, has said that he will resist any attempt to force him into early retirement.

The Olympian feared that there was a clandestine move by officials of the Nigeria Weightlifting Federation to dump him from the team to Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Ekpo, who won the overall gold at the 2007 All Africa Games in Algiers, is unhappy with the development and urged the NWF not to retire him now. He insisted he is still relevant and could become valuable in the country’s quest for medals in Glasgow.

“Sincerely speaking, I don’t understand member of this new board, ever since they assumed office, I have been sidelined; they have attended a number of trials and competitions without me. I don’t want to force

myself on them, but I know I am still very much fit and relevant “We did not drop him to Ekpo in the team that is why I don’t hurt him, but we did it for want to be forced into early the good of the sport.

Ekpo has done well in retirement. the past, he has won “I have won so many medals, many medals for the country in many both in Africa and at the world level. I have competitions, but there is time and seabroken the Africa and Commonwealth son for everything, we feel it is time for Games’ records in the 77 kg category, I him to give up-coming athletes a chance. have also made a mark in two Olympics I attended even though I did not win any We believe he also displaces somebody medal, but I believe I can still deliver,” he when coming up and so he should not feel said. so bad. As I am talking to you now, we have discovered somebody in that categoMeanwhile, NWF has explained that ry, in fact, he was supposed to have read Ekpo is aging and needed to be replaced the hand-writing on the wall because we by younger athletes. have had some competitions which we According to an official of the federadid not invite him; he was not even part tion, who did not want his name in print, the veteran weightlifter must give way to of the Commonwealth Games qualifiyounger ones. ers,” the official said.

World Record

On Marble Life’s tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late – Benjamin Franklin

Sanctity of Truth

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

Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon and the truth – Buddha TUESday, FEBRuary 25, 2014.

unsubstantiated Nigeria’s so-called perception problem abroad is largely unsubstantiated

F

irstly, I’d like to thank the editorial board at the New Telegraph for allowing me to share my perspectives from across the pond.

Although, I regularly visit Nigeria and have shared in the universal fascination over the years in its dynamic ascendancy to the global forefront, meeting with and learning from those in the Diaspora and those in-country has granted me with what I believe to be a unique outlook on Nigeria’s present and future ambitions.

I look forward to continuing to download information and ideas from you, the reader, and share my thoughts weekly on how the international community can and should take notice as these aspirations come to fruition.

The Economist Magazine recently featured a robust assessment of Nigeria’s “image problem”, indeed a profile dedicated to its unsubstantiated perception abroad. The piece notably cited President Goodluck Jonathan, who raised this public relations issue during an event at Aso Villa, at a gala that sought to commend the foreign diplomatic community.

The authors labeled the usual suspects behind this continued reputational concern – corruption, threats to territorial integrity, lack of accountability and civil discontent from lingering fragmentation – indexing them as apparent evidence that such opinions on Nigeria from overseas are warranted. However, this lingering perception stands in stark contrast to the acclaimed Oxford Economics projection at close of 2013,that the country will soon overtake South Africa as the economic capital of the continent.

As the President lamented Nigeria’s image as it is presently portrayed by the often-sensationalized acronyms in global media, I took away that more has to be done, beyond bureaucratic gladhanding at galas and word of mouth, to both rally the Diaspora, pivot western policy and incentivize Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

Indeed more can and must be done to refresh the global narrative on Nigeria from within. And two uncomplicated yet uncommon practices in innovation are but examples of doing so while repositioning the West African juggernaut as an ideal business destination.

Island of Sark, the smallest of United Kingdom’s four main Channel Islands, has the smallest prison in the world.

It houses just two prisoners.

N150

Nigeria: When it counts, where it matters World View SAM AMSTERDAM

Reinventing Agribusiness-As-Usual Agriculture Minister Akinwumi Adesina has made intriguing advances in diversifying the country’s output and weaning it off oil revenue dependency as of late. The Nigerian Central Bank has reported that farming accounts for over 41% of the national GDP; nearly 60% of Nigeria’s 170 million citizens are purported to be in the farming industry as it stands today; 3.5 million jobs are set to be created ahead of the Federal elections of 2015.

However and perhaps in-part due to urbanization, the nationhosts a budding generation of students that are less and less interested in agricultural and vocational education. This dilemma is compounded by the fact nearly 80% of Nigeria’s land is arable and continues to go underutilized.

Awe-inspiring institutional overhaul need not be the answerto generating international awareness to a lucrative opportunity for investment. Modestly innovating the academic curriculum with a focus on agribusiness while incentivizing major farming conglomerates(both indigenous and foreign) to offer internships as a form of corporate social responsibility would bea low-cost, low-risk yet high yield solution to the reputational and very real problem of resource squandering.

Nigeria is blessed with a bevy of natural resources, including human

Awe-inspiring institutional overhaul need not be the answer to generating international awareness to a lucrative opportunity for investment

Gooduck Jonathan

capital. Specific measures such as these would reap great reward and enable Nigeria to run like the well-oiled machine that it can be (pun intended).

Curbing Corruption Through Politicking 2.0 Corruption is the proverbial elephant in the room; it has allowed itself to fester in almost all of the institutions capable of unlocking Nigeria’s true potential. The World Bank has estimated that since independence, at least $400 billion USD has gone missing from government coffers, a statistic that fuels worldwide trepidation in actioning the Nigerian opportunity.

This is undoubtedly a political issue.

And corruption often persists unabated when civic accountability falls to the wayside. When citizens feel disconnected to their chosen representatives and believe that their voices aren’t heard, complacency builds and the vicious cycle is allowed to go on.

Government engagement therefore has never been more critical and innovation has its role to play here as well.

In the immediate term, State and Federal election campaigns should institute direct outreach programmes to the electorate and offer SMS mobile text

messaging updates on campaign strategy and progress with regard to checking corruption. Periodic question and answer sessions undertaken on social media would promote accountability on the matter to Nigeria’s ever-growing online community, both at home and in the Diaspora.

Political reform alone will not ensure a zero-tolerance attitude toward corruption. However, holding to the promises of campaigns in a modernly open, interactive manner will better connect words with actions and curb discontent, with the potential to usher in a new era of transparency and e-governance.

Open For Business Nigeria is a dynamically emerging market on the socio-economic upswing.

While its geopolitical ascendancy is by no means inevitable, to divert attention away from such an ample opportunity at this inflection point would be a mistake by the international community.

Bolstering innovation will not only amplify the Nigerian offering to audiences around the world, but also encourage them to participate as bold actors in the transformation of a region and indeed a continent.

Ultimately, Nigeria as Africa’s capital is not but a dream, but a reality worth pursuing.

OmoBaba

POLICE CORPORAL ORDERED TO PAY N10M FOR RAPE - NEWS

- Will that be realised from road block money?

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