Monday, february 02, 2015 binder1 by Newtelegraphonline

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Monday, February 2, 2015

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Vol. 1 No. 348

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12 pages of the new york times }23

Investors shun $5bn gas pipeline project Adeola Yusuf

nvestors are reluctant in bankrolling the $5 billion Abuja-KadunaKano gas pipeline project due to the volatility in the oil and gas sector oc-

casioned by the sustained price rout in the international crude oil market, New Telegraph has gathered. A source at the Nigerian National petroleum corporation (NNPC) said

at the weekend that work on the project, which is the first Public-PrivatePartnership (PPP) on gas in Nigeria, was behind schedule as a result of the banks' position, which is also informed by the de-

valuation of naira. “The September 2014 deadline set to achieve a milestone on the project failed because of the troubled oil and gas market. As we speak now, we are reviewing our initial bank-

ability assessment and we are likely to continue to review this because of the dynamic nature of the gas supply situation. “We know that in order to secure bank-ability we CONTINUED ON PAGE 7

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Bodies litter Borno, Yobe as Boko Haram strikes

lArmy cracks down on 188 soldiers for cowardice

Quick Read L-R: Speaker, Sokoto State House of Assembly, Hon Abubakar Tureta; Speaker, House of Representatives and All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate for the state, Hon Aminu Tambuwal and the state Governor, Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko, at a campaign rally in Gada Local Government Area...at the weekend.

FG kits police for general elections Emmanuel Onani Abuja

he Federal Government has begun retooling the police to

enhance their operational efficiency ahead of this month's general elections. Towards this end, President Goodluck Jonathan, at the weekend, inaugurated the first batch of 2,

554 patrol vehicles for distribution to police formations nationwide. Jonathan, represented by Vice-President Namadi Sambo, said in Abuja that in addition, the Federal

Government had spent a total of N125 billion within a period of five years on the police. It has also trained 65,000 officers and men in areas CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

Travel Advisory

Your guide to local and international flights }4

Editorial

Looming defections amid campaigns }19 Soludo to Okonjo-Iweala: N30trn stolen }8 under your watch

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015

Travel Advisory

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

International Flight Schedule Air France

Destination Abuja- Paris Paris-Lagos Paris-PHC PHC-Paris Paris –Abuja Lagos –Paris

Flight No. AF 513 AF 3822 AF514 AF513 AF514 AF3849

Departure 23.55hrs 10.55hrs 11:00hrs 21:20hrs 11:00hrs 23:55hrs

Arrival 6:05hrs 17:15hrs 19:15hrs 6:05hrs 17:00hrs 6:20hrs

Amsterdam-Lagos Lagos-Amsterdam

KL587 KL588

13:15hrs 23:05hrs

20:00hrs 05:50hrs

KLM

ARIK AIRLINES

Lagos-London London-Lagos Lagos-New York

W3 101 W3 102 W3 107 (Mon, Wed , Fri) New York-Lagos W3 108 (Tues,Thurs, Fri) Lagos-Johannesburg W3 103 Johannesburg-Lagos W3 104 Lagos-Douala - (Tues, Wed ,Thur) Douala-Lagos - (Tues, Wed, Thur) Lagos-Accra -

VIRGIN ATLANTIC

Lagos-London London-Lagos

VS 652 VS 651

11:00hrs 22:40hrs

17:00hrs 4:40hrs

Lagos- Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi-Lagos

EY 0672 (Sunday) (Monday) (Saturday) EY 955

20.45hrs 09:50hrs 09.20 hrs 06:30hrs

07:00hrs 20:05hrs 20:10hrs 11:45hrs

Lagos-Cairo Cairo-Lagos

MS 876 MS 875

14:25hrs 08:30hrs

22:20hrs 13:30hrs

ETIHAD AIRWAYS

EGYPT AIR

KENYA AIRWAYS

12:00hrs 21:30hrs 23:50hrs

18:30hrs 05:15hrs 05:30hrs

Lagos-Nairobi Nairobi-Lagos

KQ 533 KQ 534

12:30hrs 18:00hrs

19:35hrs 23:45hrs

12:30hrs

16:00hrs

Lagos-Kigali

11:15hrs

16:45hrs

10:45hrs 09:35hrs 11:10hrs 13:25hrs 07:20hrs 17:00hrs 08:05hrs 13:35hrs 18:00hrs

hrs 14:44hrs hrs hrs hrs hrs hrs hrs hrs

AWB 201 (Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun) AWB 202 (Tue, Thur, Sat, Sun)

14:00hrs

17:30hrs

22:35hrs 15:10hrs

06:00hrs 21:20hrs

17:00hrs 06:00hrs 08:00hrs 17:00hrs 08:00hrs 15:20hrs 21:00hrs

hrs hrs hrs hrs hrs hrs hrs

01:00hrs

hrs

BA075 BA074 BA 082 BA 083

17:55hrs 00:00hrs 09:00hrs 22:40hrs

11:55hrs 5:50hrs 14:35hrs 06:00hrs

Lebanon-Lagos Lagos-Lebanon

MEA 571 MEA 572

3:00hrs 14:00hrs

8:00hrs 19:00hrs

Lagos-Dubai Lagos-Dubai Dubai-Lagos Dubai-Lagos Abuja-Dubai

EK 7821 (Sun-Sat) EK 7822 EK 7831 EK 7811 EK 761

21:30hrs 14:40hrs 07:35hrs 14:20hrs 23:55hrs

07:40hrs 01:05hrs 12:50hrs 19:45hrs 10:30hrs

Lagos-Doha Flight Doha-Lagos Flight

QR 1414 (daily) QR 1415

14:55hrs 07:20hrs

23:45hrs 13:35hrs

Lagos-Atlanta Atlanta-Lagos

DL053 DL 054

22:15hrs 5:15hrs

05:32hrs 16:15hrs

Accra-Lagos

Abuja-Accra Accra-Abuja Lagos-Freetown Freetown-Lagos Lagos-Banjul Banjul-Lagos Lagos-Dakar Dakar-Lagos

-(Tue, Thur, Sat, Sun) -(Mon, Wed, Fri) -(Daily) - (Wed, Fri, Sun) -(Wed, Fri, Sun) -(Wed, Fri, Sun) -(Wed, Fri, Sun) -(Mon, Tue, Thur, Fri,Sat) -(Tue,Wed, Fri,Sat,Sun)

BRITISH AIRWAYS

London-Lagos Lagos-London Abuja-London Abuja-London

Middle East Airlines (Two flights weekly (Tues & Friday) to Lagos)

EMIRATES AIRLINES

QATAR AIRWAYS DELTA AIRLINES

UNITED AIRLINES

Lagos-Houston Houston-Lagos

UA 143 UA 142

10:10hrs 19:10hrs

6:05hrs 15.15hrs

Lagos - Addis Ababa ET900 Addis Ababa - Lagos ET901 Abuja - Addis Ababa ET910 Addis Ababa - Abuja ET911 Enugu - Addis Ababa ET930 Addis Ababa - Enugu ET931 Kano - Addis Ababa ET930 Addis Ababa - Kano ET931

13:15hrs 09:00hrs 13:40hrs 09:40hrs 12:00hrs 09:20hrs 14:05hrs 09:20hrs

20:25hrs 12:15hr 20:10hrs 12:20hrs 20:50hrs 11:15hrs 20:50hrs 13:20hrs

Lagos-Madrid Madrid-Lagos

IB 3337 IB 3336

22:55hrs 16:00hrs

5:25+1hrs 20:20hrs

Lagos-Casablanca Casablanca-Lagos

AT738 AT 737

06:25hrs 02:15hrs

09:55hrs 6:00hrs

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES

IBERIA

air maroc

RwandAir

Kigali-Lagos

Turkish Airlines

Lagos-Istanbul Nairobi-Lagos

332 333

Air Côte d'Ivoire Lagos to Abidjan Abidjan to Lagos

HF 851 (Tues, Thurs, Fri, Sun) HF 852 (Mon,Wed, Thurs, Sat)

ASKY AIRLINES

Destination Lome to Abuja Abuja-Lome- Kinshasa Kinshasa-Abuja Abuja-Lome Lome-Lagos Lagos-Libreville Libreville-Kinshasa Kinshasa-Libreville Libreville-Lagos Lagos-Lome Lome-Lagos Lagos-Libreville Libreville-Brazaville Brazaville-Libreville Brazzaville-Lagos Lagos-Lome

10:10hrs

10:50hrs

19:20hrs

21.50hrs

Flight No. KP 032 (Tue-Fri) KP 032 ( Tue-Fri)

Departure Arrival 14:00hrs 15:55hrs 16:30hrs 18:15hrs

KP 033 (Wed-Sat) KP O33 (Wed-Sat) KP O40 (Sun-Sat) KP 040 (Sun-Sat) KP 040 (Sun-Sat) KP041 (Tue-Sat) KP 041 (Tue-Sat) KP 041 (Tue-Sat) KP O44 (Tue-Fri) KP 044 (Tue-Fri) KP 044 (Tue-Fri) KP O45 (Wed-Sat) KP 045 (Wed-Sat) KP 045 (Wed-Sat)

8:20hrs 10:35hrs 13:00hr 14:40hrs 17:00hrs 7:15hrs 9:35hrs 11:55hrs 13:10hrs 14:50hrs 17:10hrs 07:00hrs 09:20hrs 11:40hrs

10:00hrs 12:20hrs 14:00hrs 16:30hrs 18:45hrs 08:55hrs 11:25hrs 12:45hrs 14:10hrs 16:40hrs 18:50hrs 08:40hrs 11:10hrs 12:30hrs

Local FLIGHT SCHEDULE ARIK AIR LAGOS-ABUJA (MON-FRI) 07:00; 08:00; 09:00; 11:00 13:00; 15:00; 17:00; 19:00 (SAT) 07:00; 09:00; 11:00; 13:00; 15:00; 17:00; 19:00 (SUN) 11:00; 13:00; 15:00; 17:00; 19:00 ABUJA-LAGOS (MON-FRI) 07:00; 09:00; 11:00; 13:00; 15:00; 17:00; 19:00; 20:00 (SAT) 07:00; 09:00; 11:00; 13:00; 15:00; 17:00; 19:00 (SUN) 09:00; 13:00; 15:00; 17:00; 19:00 LAGOS-PORT-HARCOURT (MON-FRI)07:00; 09:30; 11:00; 13:30; 15:00; 17:30 (SAT) 07:00; 11:00; 15:00 (SUN) 09:30; 11:00; 13:30; 15:00; 17:30 PORT-HARCOURT-LAGOS (MON-FRI) 07:30; 09:00; 11:30; 13:00; 15:30; 17:00 (SAT) 07:30; 11:30; 09:00; 13:00; 17:00 (SUN) 11:30; 13:00; 15:30; 17:00 ABUJA-PORT-HARCOURT (MON-FRI) 06:45; 10:10; 13:30; 16:50 (SAT/SUN) 06:45; 10:10; 13:30 PORT-HARCOURT-ABUJA (MON-FRI) 08:30; 11:50; 15:10; 18:30 (SAT/SUN) 08:30; 11:50; 15:10 AZMAN FLIGHT SCHEDULE WEEKLY SCHEDULE Kano-Lagos 8:00am Lagos-Abuja 10:30am Abuja-Lagos 12:40pm Lagos-Abuja/Kano 4:00pm Abuja-Kano 5:45pm Kaduna-Lagos 8:00am Lagos-Kan 10:10am Kano-Abuja/Lagos 12:40pm Abuja-Lagos 1:00pm Abuja-Lagos 2:40pm Lagos-Kaduna 5:00pm WEEKEND SCHEDULE SATURDAY Kano-Lagos 8:00am Lagos-Abuja 10:30am Abuja-Lagos 1:00pm Lagos-Kano 4:00pm Kaduna-Lagos 8:00am Lagos-Kano 4:00pm Sunday Kano-Lagos 8:00am Lagos-Kano 10:30am Kano-Abuja/Lagos 1:20pm Abuja-Lagos 2:40pm Lagos-Kaduna 5:00pm FIRST NATION AIRWAYS LAGOS-ABUJA (MON-FRI) 06.50; 09:30; 11:45; 16:00 (SAT) 06:50; 11:45 (SUN) 11:45; 16:00 ABUJA-LAGOS (MON-FRI) 09:00; 11:30; 13:40;18:30 (SAT) 09:00; 13:40 (SUN) 13:40; 18:30 LAGOS-PORT-HARCOURT (MON-FRI) 14:45

(SAT) 16:15 (SUN) 14:45 PORT-HARCOURT-LAGOS (MON-FRI) 16:50 (SAT) 18:20 (SUN) 16:50 AEROCONTRACTORS LAGOS-ABUJA (MON-FRI) 06:50; 13:30; 16:30; 19:45 (SAT/SUN) 12:30; 16:45 ABUJA-LAGOS (MON-FRI) 07:30; 13:00; 19:00 (SAT) 12:30 (SUN) 15:30

MEDVIEW AIRLINES LAGOS-ABUJA (MON-FRI) 07:00; 08:50; 12:00; 15:30 (SAT) 10:00; 15:00 (SUN) 17:30; 18:30 ABUJA-LAGOS (MON-FRI) 09:00; 14:00, 15:00; 18:30 OVERLAND AIRWAYS LAGOS-ILORIN (MON-FRI) 07:15 LAGOS-IBADAN (MON-FRI) 7:00

IBADAN-ABUJA (MON-FRI) 08:00 IBADAN-LAGOS (MON-FRI) 16:30 ILORIN –ABUJA (MON-FRI) 08:30 ILORIN –LAGOS (MON-FRI) 17:00 ABUJA-ASABA (MON-FRI) 10:00 ASABA-ABUJA (MON-FRI) 14:15 ASABA-LAGOS (MON-FRI) 11:30 LAGOS-ASABA (MON-FRI) 13:00 ABUJA-ILORIN 16:00 ABUJA-IBADAN 15:00

News

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015

Bodies litter Borno, Yobe as Boko Haram strikes Emmanuel Onani, Onyekachi Eze, Ahmed Miringa and Hassan Jirgi

t was yet another bloody weekend in Borno and Yobe states yesterday as Boko Haram struck in two towns, killing scores of people. Bodies littered streets of Maiduguri and Potiskum after yet another failed bid by the insurgents to overrun the Borno State capital and a suicide bombing at the home of a member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Sabo Garbu. The insurgents, in a renewed attempt to capture Maiduguri, launched attacks from four points in the wee hours of yesterday that left about 100 people dead. The attacks came a day after Chadian army killed 120 insurgents during a clash on Saturday in Cameroon.

According to sources, the insurgents, who engaged troops in a fivehour gunfight, yet again lost their bid to overrun Maiduguri as they were repelled by soldiers, who were assisted by members of the local militia. Yesterday's attack on Maiduguri was the second attempt in a week by Boko Haram to seize the Borno State capital. It was gathered that the Boko Haram terrorists who came in from different locations were successfully repelled by the combined efforts of the military, Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and Civilian JTF and with aerial support from the Nigerian Air Force. The insurgents came in through Molai village on Maiduguri Damboa Road; Ngom village on Maiduguri-Ngala Road; Zabarmari village and Bama Road A member of the Civil-

ian JTF who craved for anonymity, said corpses of the Boko Haram insurgents were seen littering the Maiduguri-Damboa Road. He said: “The insurgents killed some residents of Molai village while on their way to invade Maiduguri but the military and our members successfully repelled the attack. "I counted over 50 corpses of insurgents apart from those bombed by the aircraft who were burnt beyond recognition. “I think these attacks were as a result of the sacking of the insurgents by Nigerian troops and Cameroonian soldiers from Bama and Gwoza respectively." A resident of Gwoza who fled to Maiduguri as a result of the capturing of the town, Alhaji Ahmed Dugshe, said he received a call from his brother who fled to Cameroon that the Cameroonian troops had sacked Boko Haram ter-

rorists from Gwoza town. In Maiduguri, a senior army officer said the militants were "everywhere," attacking from all four roads leading into the city. Another officer said hundreds of insurgents, as many as 500, were killed before they fled and many weapons were recovered, including artillery guns and rocket-propelled grenades. Both officers spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not supposed to speak to reporters. Witnesses said some bombs launched from a Nigerian jet fighter killed civilians. Many homes were hit by bombs, including one in Zannari neighbourhood that killed seven civilians, according to neighbours who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation from the military. Confirming the attacks on Maiduguri, Director of Defence Information (DDI), Major General Chris

Olukolade, in a statement yesterday, said mopping-up operation was ongoing. The statement, issued by Olukolade, said troops inflicted severe casualty on the fighters while calm has since returned to Maiduguri. Olukolade said weapons and equipment seized from the terrorists include armoured vehicles, two artillery guns and 17 Hilux vehicles. Borno State Governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, has, however, commended youths in the state for teaming up with soldiers to defend Maiduguri from being captured by Boko Haram. The governor, in a statement by his media aide, Mallam Isa Guzau, said: “I have never been as proud of our youths in Borno State as much as I am today. The youth have since 2013 rose in firm defence of the good people of Borno State, and today, they have

L-R: Chairman, MainOne, Ms. Funke Opeke; Group Managing Director, Skye Bank Plc, Mr. Timothy Oguntayo; Chairman, Honeywell Group, Mr. Oba Otudeko; Group Managing Director, Mainstreet Bank Limited, Mrs. Amaka Onwughalu and Managing Director, Chapel Hill Denham, Mr. Bolaji Balogun, at a forum organised by Skye Bank in Lagos...at the weekend.

Documentary on Buhari: APC threatens to sue NTA lAsks NBC to probe AIT Tunde Oyesina ABUJA

he All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council has threatened to sue the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) over alleged hate and fabricated documentary against its presidential candidate, Major General Muhammadu Buhari. The party also asked the Director General of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to investigate the African Independent Television (AIT), over the said documentary. The campaign council of Buhari also wrote to the

Director General of the NTA to tender an apology to APC and its presidential candidate. The two letters were written by the Director of Legal of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Mr. Chukwuma-Machukwu Ume (SAN) who is also the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Imo State. "I therefore demand your good office to immediate investigate the said hate broadcast with a view to taking appropriate punitive steps against AIT and its comrades in this unholy act," the letter stated. APC also asked the DG, NTA to disclose to it the real sponsors of the hate

documentary and to also meet with the APC's National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, with the view to packaging a retrieval broadcast. "Failure on your side to comply immediately with the above demands, would certainly force us to take drastic court action against you," the letter to the DG NTA read. The council said NTA was goaded into carefully and intentionally turning the respected television into a ready tool for hate groups that do not wish Nigeria well. The letter to NBC's DG calling for AIT probe and dated January 26, 2015 reads: "I bring to your at-

tention the fabricated and hate broadcast by AIT against APC and its presidential candidate. "This hate broadcast has been on from Saturday, January 24, 2015 to Sunday January 25, 2015 at 11p.m. "All well-meaning Nigerians and persons all over the world are worried that Daar Communications Plc. could do this evil to Nigerians' sensibilities by broadcasting fixed and fabricated lies for hate purposes. "The twisting of facts on the broadcast is unprecedented." The campaign council noted the allusion to the fact that Buhari had contested in the past and

failed but cited the case of Abraham Lincoln who failed elections for over seven times yet he became one of the best presidents of the United States of America. "APC and her presidential candidate are aware that every life has its past but that past must not be a fabricated one. No nation can build its future and elect its true leaders on falsehood and hate broadcast. The broadcast is utter disservice to Nigeria." The APC campaign council said that at this solemn period of general elections, Nigeria electorate should not be treated to this disturbing level of fabricated and hate broadcast.

once again proved to all of us that they have by playing complementary roles, taken our collective destiny in their hands and we are full of gratitude to them for their sacrifices that cannot be sufficiently rewarded no matter what government does for them by way of compensation or encouragement.” The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) also lauded the military for stopping Boko Haram from overrunning Maiduguri. The party, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Olisa Metuh, said the members of the armed forces had shown exceptional patriotism while risking their lives to protect those of other citizens in ensuring that the nation is rid of the terrorists. The party condoled with the families of the victims of the attacks, comforted the displaced and the wounded and prayed God to restore enduring peace in the country. Besides Borno, Boko Haram launched another attack in Potiskum where a suicide bomber killed seven persons. Witnesses and a police officer told AFP that they evacuated eight bodies, including the suicide bombers to hospital." Another report by Reuters said the suicide bomber blew himself up outside the house of a legislator. The bomber walked up to Garbu, before detonating the explosives, which claimed the lives of eight people. Also at the weekend, Chadian forces killed 120 Boko Haram militants in a battle in the north of neighbouring Cameroon that began when the insurgents attacked its troops. The army said in a statement on Saturday that three Chadian soldiers were killed in the battle. Meanwhile, the Nigerian Army is set to inaugurate a new General CourtMartial (GCM) to try 188 officers and soldiers accused of misconduct and negligence of duty that have impaired the ongoing anti-terrorism campaign in the North-East. The Nigerian Army is set to inaugurate a new General Court-Martial (GCM) to try 188 officers and soldiers accused of misconduct and negligence of duty that have impaired the ongoing antiterrorism campaign in the North-East. New Telegraph gathered from a top military source that a Lieutenant Colonel, three Majors, three Captains, one SubCONTINUED ON PAGE 7

News

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Jonathan’s adoption: Talks with nine presidential candidates fail lOkorie, Ayeni, Maina vow not to step down for president

Onyekachi Eze, Johnchuks Onuanyim and Yekeen Nurudeen

he much-anticipated political alignment between the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and nine other un-named presidential candidates may have hit the rocks. The alignment, which would have seen the other presidential candidates stepping down for President Jonathan was to have been concluded yesterday. The midwife of the alignment, National Unity Group (NUG), a coalition of interest groups working for the re-election of President Jonathan, told journalists on Saturday that discussions with the candidates had reached advanced stage and would be concluded on Sunday. NUG Secretary, Dr. Cairo Ojougboh, who briefed journalists on the matter, however, admitted that "We are still incubating the pro-

cess. What has happened today is very encouraging, we made appreciate progress. They have gone back to discuss with their political parties. "For now, it will not proper to start naming the nine presidential candidates involved. By tomorrow, we will be able to unveil their proper identities and their political parties". But attempts to reach Ojougboh yesterday on the outcome of the meeting were not successful. When contacted, Special Adviser on Political Affairs to the president, Professor Rufai' Alkali pleaded

for time to investigate the matter. Fourteen political parties are fielding candidate for the presidential election. Meanwhile, some of the presidential candidates have denied plan to step down for President Jonathan. Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Dr. Mani Ibrahim Ahmed, yesterday distanced himself from the adoption arrangement. He told New Telegraph in Abuja that he was never part of such arrangement and he is very much in the

race for the February 14 election. Mani said his party has no record of adopting any candidate when it has its own candidate. His words: "I'm very much in the race and as you can see we are just coming out of the presidential debate for my running mate.” Also, the presidential candidate of the African Peoples Alliance (APA), Dr. Adebayo Musa Ayeni stated that he would not step down for Jonathan. "No, I am not among them. I am not aware and nobody consulted me,” he said.

The candidate of the United Progressives Party (UPP), Chief Chekwas Okorie, said he has no plans to step down for Jonathan. He said nobody has contacted him on the possibility of stepping down for the presiden. Asked if he was among the candidates that may step down for Jonathan, Okorie retorted: “God forbid. I would do no such thing in my life. I would not even support the endorsement of Jonathan by my party. My whole interest is to give the Igbo an identity. That is why I founded

APGA and the UPP at different times. That is also why in 2003 and 2007, we fielded the late Dim Chukwuemeka OdumegwuOjukwu for presidency. If at this point I withdraw for Jonathan, Ojukwu will not forgive me; the Igbo will not forgive me. “What would they use to convince me to step down? The money they will use has not been minted. Is it now that I am ranking third in the race that I will now step down for Jonathan. They know I won’t step down. That is why they are using a faction of Ohanaeze to endorse him.”

TODAY’S WEATHER FORECAST LAGOS

33o C 26oC Very Cloudy

ABUJA

39oC

23oC

Partially Cloudy

L-R: Head, Sales and Distribution, Etisalat Nigeria, Oluwatosin Olulana; Chief Executive Officer, Matthew Willsher; Chief Executive Officer, Royal Serve Wireless Nigeria, Olusola Alabi and Vice-President, Consumer Sales and Services, Etisalat Nigeria, Ken Ogujiofor, at the annual Etisalat conference in Lagos...at the weekend.

PORT HARCOURT

28o C 18oC Thunder Storms

KANO

14oC

38oC

25oC

Partially Cloudy

IBADAN

36oC

25oC

Partially Cloudy

CALABAR

33o C 23oC Thunder Storms

MAIDUGURI

ONITSHA

FG kits police for general elections CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

36oC

Partially Cloudy

ENUGU

PHOTO: SULEIMAN HUSAINMI

38oC 15oC Partially Cloudy

38oC

24oC

Partially Cloudy

of operations, administration and intelligence among others. The president said the vehicles were meant to enhance the capacity of the police to ensure adequate security before, during and after the February elections. According to him, the vehicles are "the first largest, singular provision by any government." He added that the administration, as part of its transformation agenda, was determined to "bequeath a well-equipped, people-oriented police force" to Nigerians. The president said a projection of N1.5 trillion was made over a sixyear period for a holistic reform of the police with counterpart funds coming from the federal, state and

local governments as well as donor agencies. He, however, regretted that so far, only the Federal Government has been providing funds for the implementation of the reforms since 2010, when it was conceptualised. "The procurement (of the patrol vehicles) is aimed at boosting the capacity of the Nigeria Police Force towards providing round-the-clock security for the forthcoming elections in particular, and the general security of lives and property," he stated. He expressed the hope that the police will reciprocate the Federal Government's gesture by using the vehicles for the purpose for which they were procured. Jonathan said: "The procurement of these ve-

hicles is aimed at boosting the capacity of the Nigerian Police Force to deliver effectively, efficiently and appreciably. "A well-equipped and adequately motivated police force will assist in no small measure in ensuring the security needed in the drive to economic growth and development of Nigeria. "And in view of the strong commitment of government to provide for the Nigeria Police Force within available resources, it is my hope that the gesture by government will be reciprocated by assisting the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in ensuring the conduct of free elections this month. "It is also expected that the deployment of these operational vehicles will

translate to enhanced surveillance of our communities in order to improve security. "I call on politicians, their supporters and their sympathisers to eschew all forms of violence and unlawful practices, both in words and conduct, before and after elections. "Let us eschew any form of violence; we should condemn any form of violence before, during and after elections. We should know that elections will come and go but Nigeria will remain as one nation and one people." Also, the Minister of Police Affairs, Alhaji Jelili Adesiyan, said the current administration's reforms in the police force had helped in the reduction of abuse of firearms and ensuring training of more personnel, among other in-

novations. Earlier, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Suleiman Abba, had commended the president for his commitment to empowering the police to discharge their constitutional roles He said the inauguration of the patrol vehicles would strengthen the operational capacity of the police and boost their preparedness for the forthcoming 2015 elections. He added the police would ensure total implementation of their strategic guidelines to ensure peaceful elections. "With these vehicles, the Nigeria Police is also better prepared to present a stronger challenge against all forms of crimes, which have been threatening public security and safety in the country," Abba said.

News

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015

I remain committed to peaceful polls –Jonathan Kunle Olayeni Abeokuta

resident Goodluck Jonathan has restated his administration's commitment towards the conduct of peaceful and violence-free elections in the country. He also assured that men of the Nigeria Police and other security agencies would demonstrate professionalism in the supervision and monitoring of the poll. He spoke at the weekend during the passing-out parade of Cadet Assistant Superintendent of Police and Inspectors of Police in Iperu-Remo, Ikenne local government area of Ogun State. No fewer than 306 ca-

dets, comprising 218 Assistant Superintendent of Police and 88 Inspectors passed out from the Police College of Information Technology, Abeokuta. The president, who was represented at the passingout parade by the Minister of Police Affairs, AbdulJelili Adesiyan, warned political leaders against inflammatory statements that are capable of inciting violence ahead of the general elections. He also urged religious leaders and faith-based organisations to mind their utterances, which he observed could go a long way to make or break the peace and security of the nation. Jonathan advised political and religious leaders to embark on civic education and re-orientate their followers.

The president, however, enthused that political killings and assassinations which characterised previous administrations had not been recorded under his government. He explained that the Federal Government had adequately trained the police towards meeting the challenges of the forthcoming elections. He vowed to make the police to demonstrate impartiality and exhibit due respect for the rights of the citizens in order to guarantee safety and security. He said: "For the first time in the history of politics in this country, we have a president that has demonstrated total commitment to the conduct of peaceful and violence free elections. "Notably in the past five

years, there has not been political killings and assassinations that characterized previous government in Nigeria. In this way, Mr. President has amply demonstrated in words and action his unalloyed commitment to peaceful and violence-free elections for the country. "I want to assure our citizens that in the conduct of the 2015 general elections, our policemen have been trained and will continue to demonstrate professionalism and act with impartiality and exhibit due respect for the rights of the citizens in order to guarantee the safety and security of all before, during and after the elections." Jonathan congratulated the graduating police officers, charging them to see

their training as a call to service and re-dedication to national duty. In his remarks, the Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba, said there was need for multi-faceted approach to deal with the challenges confronting the Nigerian Police. Abba, who was represented by the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of Operations, Hashimu Argungu, however, noted that the police remained stronger and more respected despite current challenges. He warned that the leadership of the police will not condone corruption in the system, stressing that commensurate punishment awaits anybody found engaging in corrupt practices and indolence.

L-R: Director-General, National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mike Omeri; Chief Executive Officer, NEO2 Limited, Fola Akinmolayan; General Manager, Consumer Marketing, MTN Nigeria, Richard Iweanoge and Director, Voter Education, Independence National Electoral Commission (INEC), Oluwole Osaze Uzzi, at the unveiling of the MTN BetterMe app for the 2015 elections, in Abuja…at the weekend.

Investors shun $5bn gas pipeline project CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

need to be very firm on the gas supply, so that all of these things are being done or were being done to put the project in place to attract the right investment. “Not only this project, banks are cold towards some other projects and the falling gas price as well as the devaluation of naira are the reasons they have adduced for this,” the source said. The total pipeline project between Calabar to Kano is estimated to cost about $5 billion and the government’s efforts to bring private investors to partake in the project makes it to be more rigorous in terms of bank-ability, before the investors can come in to fund the project.

“This entails that we have to close in on all engineering designs and all that, the right of way also has to be mapped out, environmental impact assessment also has to be done. All of these are critical requirements before you access international funds. But more importantly also is assurance on revenues because the investors want to be sure that if they put in such amount of money, they would recoup it at the end of the day. So, getting all of these done actually takes a lot longer than normal unlike when the project is being funded 100 per cent by government,” the NNPC had said in a statement it earlier issued on the project. “So over the last year or

so we have been working diligently, we have done the right of way survey for the entire pipeline length, we have progressed with the engineering and we hope to cross a major threshold by the end of September. “So, I think all the work being done is very relevant to the project going forward. Essentially the committee would have to look at how to ascertain what can be adapted incrementally to get the project going, so they would be looking at options now and all that work that has been done in the past would now manifest,” the oil corporation added. Quoting its Group Executive Director, Gas and Power, Dr. David Ige, the statement by Group General Manager, Group Pub-

lic Affairs Division, Mr. Ohi Alegbe, stated that the Abuja Kaduna-Kano (AKK) project was relevant to the Gas Master Plan. “The intention of the gas master plan is to grow the economy with natural gas. Currently, half of the entire country is not connected to gas infrastructure, so, by the time we open up the northern part of Nigeria to gas, we would begin to see significant boost in the cost effectiveness of energy sources that has an immediate impact on the industrialisation of the North and job creation. “So, the real intent of the gas master plan is brought to light with a project like this. The Abuja-Kaduna-Kano gas pipe-

line project is essentially designed to function as a backbone into the heart of the North and from there we will begin to build eastward and westward,” he said. Nigeria’s foreign reserves fell to a four-month low of $34.38 billion as at January 28, down 20.3 per cent from $43.16 billion a year earlier, owing to drawdown by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to defend the naira, which has lost about 16 per cent of its value in the last seven months. The price of spot liquefied natural gas, a source of foreign exchange earning for Nigeria, has also fallen to $7.20 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) last Friday from $8.00 penultimate/ week.

Army cracks down on 188 soldiers for cowardice CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

Lieutenant and 180 soldiers, will be arraigned this week on offences bordering on disobedience to particular and standing orders, failure to perform military duties, and cowardice. The source said already, the Army authorities had appointed Brigadier General S. Abdulhameed of the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) Abuja, as the president of the yet-to-be inaugurated GCM. According to the source, who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, the new GCM will have Lieutenant-Colonel Ukpe Ukpe as the judge advocate while Captain Okonkwo is the lead prosecuting counsel. The source said the accused officers and soldiers would stand trial in a case to be known as Nigerian Army (NA) vs Lt. Col Enang and others. They are being accused of misconduct in respect of the ongoing counterterrorism operation in the North-East. "The Army is set to try eight officers and 180 soldiers on offences relating to disobedience to particular and standing orders, failure to perform military duties and cowardice. "In fact, a fine officer from the DHQ, Brigadier General S. Abdulhameed, has been appointed to head the court-martial. "Actually, the new courtmartial was to be inaugurated on Friday, January 30, but that was no to be. "I think that exercise will happen this week," the source stated. However, the position of a Brigadier General and some Lieutenant Colonels, who are currently being held by the Army, is not clear.” The General and his lieutenants are being held in connection with the attack on and takeover of Baga, a town in Borno State, by Boko Haram. It was gathered that the General, who was the Brigade Commander of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) in Baga before it was overran by Boko Haram, is currently being held alongside his field commanders and may be soon tried. Another source, however, said the Brigade Commander sustained injuries and was receiving treatment at an undisclosed military hospital. Efforts to get official comments from Olukolade, did not yield results, as he neither picked his calls, nor reply a text message sent to his phone. But he had in a statement on Friday said all officers in key positions of the MNJTF would account for their actions or inactions that led to the fall of Baga.

News

NATIONAL

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

JNI cautions against election violence Ibraheem Musa KADUNA

ama'atu Nasril Islam (JNI) has called on principal contenders in the presidential and gubernatorial races to guard against actions and utterances in order not to trigger violence before, during and after the February elections. JNI also called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to perform its duty with sincerity, by demonstrating real commitment to free, fair and credible elections. Addressing newsmen in Kaduna, the Secretary General of JNI, Dr. Khalid Abubakar Aliyu, urged those seeking elective offices to respect the Abuja Peace Accord which was signed by the political

parties, by playing politics with maturity. According to him, in any election there must be winners and losers but the country would only get it right when elections are seen to be transparent and credible and losers accept defeat in good faith. For this reason, JNI also called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to perform its duty with faith and sincerity to God and to the country, by demonstrating real commitment to free, fair and credible elections. "It is our firm belief that doing everything possible to forestall violence and save lives and property in the forthcoming elections is our collective obligation that we all have to discharge and we must therefore, stand up to do it faithfully and devoutly,” Aliyu said.

Polls: FG summons emergency meeting of Education Commissioners, stakeholders Yekeen Nurudeen ABUJA

he Federal Government has summoned an emergency meeting of the 36 Commissioners of Education in the country to deliberate on whether to shut down schools before the commencement of the general elections. New Telegraph gathered that while some institutions would be shut down and resume after the elections, others that are writing examinations have to complete them before February 14.

This follows palpable fear and tension that have enveloped major cities especially flashpoints in Northern Nigeria that were prone to post-election violence in the 2011 general elections. Minister of Education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, who made the announcement at the weekend in Abuja, during an interactive session with journalists, the Federal Government must meet with all stakeholders to decide on what to do about the institutions of learning ahead of elections.

Debate: Buhari must answer Nigerians' questions —Adeyeye Adesina Wahab and Yekeen Nurudeen

inister of State for Works, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, has said that the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, must attend the presidential election debate, as Nigerians have many questions to ask the retired army general. Adeyeye, in a statement in Ado-Ekiti yesterday, said Nigerians would want those aspiring to lead them to tell them how they would want to govern them. "Buhari and other presidential candidates must answer questions from Nigerians that they want to govern. It is obvious that Buhari is empty intellectually and is avoiding the presidential election debate so as not to ridicule himself.

"If Buhari is not comfortable with the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON), he should tell Nigerians under which platform he wants his competence and mental alertness to be measured. "Buhari can even choose which organisation to organise the debate and the venue. He can choose CNN, Aljazeera or BBC. "All we are demanding is to see Buhari, who has been unable to speak for more than five minutes in any of the APC presidential campaign rallies, respond to questions from Nigerians for three hours," Adeyeye said. While questioning the mental alertness of Buhari, Adeyeye said; "On Saturday, during the APC campaign rally in Ilorin, Kwara State, Buhari referred to Senator Bukola Saraki as governor of Kwara State.

L-R: APC Presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari; Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari and Vice-Presidential candidate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, during a campaign visit to the Emir in Ilorin.

Soludo to Okonjo-Iweala: N30trn stolen under your watch Ayodele Aminu

ormer Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Prominent Economist, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, yesterday revealed that an estimated sum of N30trillion had been pilfered under President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration. Soludo, in a 6491-word (10-page) response to Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who is the Minister of Finance and coordinating Minister of Economy, said the Nigerian economy was in for a very turbulent time this year because the economy had been grossly mishandled. The Federal Government had last Wednesday said that the five-year tenure of Soludo as the Governor of the CBN between 2004 and 2009 was a disaster to the banking sector. The comment came on the heels of an earlier article by Soludo last Monday in which he claimed that the Nigerian economy under Jonathan had per-

formed woefully. In a statement by Okonjo-Iweala last Wednesday, described Soludo’s as an “embittered loser in the Nigerian political space.” However Soludo, in his new article made available yesterday, said if the prices of crude oil in the international market failed to rebound, Nigeria was facing an unprecedented level of economic crisis with horrible attendant hardships for the citizenry. “Our public finance is hemorrhaging to the point that estimated over N30tn is missing or stolen or unaccounted for, or simply mismanaged,” the former Soludo said. In Soludo’s response labeled, ‘Ngozi OkonjoIweala and the missing trillions’, he said the sharp slide in the nairadollar exchange rate from N158 a few months ago to N215 currently showed that trouble was already at the doorstep. Said Soludo: “Unless oil price recovers, this is just the beginning.” The for-

mer CBN Governor, who declared that “for the sake of Nigeria, I won’t keep quiet anymore!”, said his earlier article was written out of the concern that the 2015 elections campaign was being conducted in manner that did not show that the economy was in crisis. He said, “Part of my frustration is that five years after, everything I warned about has come to happen and we are conducting our campaigns as if we are not in crisis. As a concerned Nigerian, I have a duty to speak out again.” Giving details of the N30trillon stolen under Jonathan, Soludo said: “Under you as Minister of Finance and coordinator of the economy, the basket of our national treasury is leaking profusely from all sides. Just a few illustrations! First, you admit that ‘oil theft’ has reduced oil output from the average 2.3 - 2.4 million barrels per day (mpd) to 1.95mpd (meaning that at least 350,000 to 450,000 barrels

per day are being ‘stolen’. On the average of 400,000 per day and the oil prices over the past four years, it comes to about $60 billion ‘stolen’ in just four years. In today’s exchange rate, that is about N12.6trillion. This is at a time of cessation of crisis in the Niger Delta and amnesty programme. Can you tell Nigerians how much the amnesty programme costs, and also the annual cost for ‘protecting’ the pipelines and security of oil wells? And the ‘thieves’ are spirits? “Second, my earlier article stated that the minimum forex reserves should have been at least $90 billion by now and you did not challenge it. Rather it is about $30billion, meaning that gross mismanagement has denied the country some $60billion or another N12.6trillon. Now add the ‘missing’ $20billion from the NNPC. You promised a forensic audit report ‘soon’, and more than a year later the report itself is still ‘missing".

Why aliens registered as voters in Nigeria Onyekachi Eze

l INEC extends collection of PVCs to February 8

naians married to Nigerians and who presently live in Calabar, Cross River State, were allegedly persuaded by some politicians to register so that they could vote in the forthcoming general elections. There have also been speculations that Chadians and Nigeriens living in communities in the northern borders of Nigeria might have also registered as voters in Nigeria.

ABUJA

s Nigerians go to the polls in less than two weeks from today, facts have emerged on why names of some foreigners may be found in the register of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and many Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) remain uncollected few days to the crucial elections. Last week, report emerged that some Gha-

As at the last count, no fewer than 24 million PVCs were still unclaimed, fuelling speculations that their owners may have either died or were no longer interested in exercising their franchise in the forthcoming elections. New Telegraph investigations revealed that the inclusion of the names of some foreigners in the voters' register might be one of the reasons for the apparent bloated popula-

tion of voters in some parts of the country. A source in INEC disclosed that it was also partly responsible for huge number of PVCs yet to be distributed. The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said a good percentage of the unclaimed PVCs belonged to illegal aliens and Nigerians who indulged in multiple registration at the time INEC was compiling the register.

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015

News

NATIONAL

CBN inaugurates payment governance structure, others PLATFORM

Central Bank sets up new payment governance structure

Godson Ikoro

he Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) at the weekend formally inaugurated the payments system governance structure, which has at the pinnacle, the Payment

System Strategy Board, four Payments Scheme Boards, nine Initiatives Working Groups and the four Special Interest Working Groups. The Payment System Strategy Board is to provide strategic direction for the National Payments System and oversee the activities of other boards. The CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, said that the PSSB will replace the National Payment Systems Council (NPSC), and will be the pinnacle organisation

for the governance, management and operation of the Nigerian Payment Systems. The terms of reference he gave the Boards includes provision of strategic direction and driving the overall National Payments System Strategy; provision of cross-scheme priorities and resource allocation and arbitrate in crossscheme decisions in addition to those outlined in the draft Payment Systems Management Bill. The Board, which shall be chaired by the

Governor of the CBN, would have the following members: The Minister of the Ministry of Communication Technology; the Accountant General of the Federation, and four Deputy Governors of the CBN and the Chairmen of the four Payment Scheme Boards. Other members are independent Directors from the end-user community represented by the Director Generals, of NACCIMA and Consumers Protection Council,; the Director Generals of the Securities and

Exchange Commission (SEC) and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC); the Chairmen of two subcommittees of the Bankers' Committee(Payments Infrastructures and Financial Literacy subcommittees); the Executive Chairmen of the Nigerian Communication Commission and Federal Inland Revenue Service and the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice . While reviewing the performance of the PSV2020, Emefiele said: “There is no doubt that

we have indeed recorded many successes along the way; however, we do not intend to rest on our oars. In that sense, looking in retrospective, and interpreting the future of our payments system in the light of the present; we see our accomplishments as a stepping stone, bearing in mind that there are still a great deal to be done.” He recalled that at the International Conference mentioned, the Payments System Vision 2020 Strategy Document (Release 2) was launched.

Truck Driver Wins 2015 Range Rover in Airtel Red Hot Promo Final

truck driver, Mr. Abiodun Adio has emerged the lucky winner of the 2015 Range Rover Vogue’s grand prize of the Airtel’s Red Hot Promo Season 2. The draw signifying the grand finale of the 60 days, 60 millionaires annual promo, was held at the corporate headquarters of Airtel situated on Banana Island, Lagos. The draw was conducted in the presence of journalists and independent auditors, TCQ&A. The winner of the

L-R: Chairman, Nigeria Society for the Blind (NSB), Mrs. Biola Agbaje; Vice-Chairman, Asiwaju Fola Osibo and member, Mrs. Arit TundeImoyo, at a press briefing on activities marking NSB’s 60th anniversary in Lagos…at the weekend. PHOTO: TONY EGUAYE

INEC shifts PVCs' collection deadline to February 8

he Independent National Electoral Commission has extended the deadline for collection of Permanent Voter Cards to Sunday, February 8, 2015. This information was contained in a statement issued by the Chief Press

Secretary to INEC Chairman, Mr. Kayode Idowu, in Abuja yesterday. He said this information supersedes the earlier deadline of Saturday, January 31 2015. Idowu said the extension was intended to give registered voters yet to

collect their PVCs the opportunity to do so in readiness for the February 2015 general elections. He said: “INEC hereby calls on duly registered persons not to delay in going to collect their cards before the expiration of

the new deadline. “The Commission reaffirms its determination to make the 2015 elections free, fair, credible and peaceful; and urges all stakeholders, including voters, to spare no effort in working towards the same objective.”

Bird Flu: Non-restriction of poultry Oshiomhole: PDP will crumble products blamed for spread Nigeria’s economy if… Appolonia Adeyemi

gainst the background of bird flu outbreak in 11 states of the federation, experts have blamed the rapid spread of the avian influenza virus in poultries on lack of proper surveillance over animals which provide food for the populace. Reacting to the news of the bird flu outbreak and its impact on both the poultry industry and human health, a doctor of Veterinary Medicine and Lecturer in the Department of Veterinary Public Health at the University of Ibadan, Isaac Olatoye lamented that Nigeria was not doing active and passive surveillance

in poultries to ensure that veterinary experts follow cases of infected birds just like tracking the cases of the Ebola Disease Virus (EVD) when it happened in the country last year. Besides, he noted that after the initial outbreak of bird flu in the Kano and Lagos states, the movement of poultry products from one farm to the other and from state to state should have been restricted as a measure to check the spread of avian influenza virus. Avian flu, also known as bird flu and more formally as avian influenza refers to flu caused by viruses that infect birds and make them ill. It is an infectious disease of birds.

Cajetan Mmuta BENIN

overnor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State says the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will run the Nigerian economy aground if not voted out on February 14. He said already, the party has killed the nation’s currency, the naira. Speaking at two separate rallies of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Agbede, Etsako West Local Government Area and at Udaba, Etsako Central Local Government Area of the state on Saturday, Oshiomhole said the PDP was clueless on how to

handle the economy and have left the economy worse than they met it in 1999. He said: “When the PDP took over power in 1999, the naira was better than it is today. Now, they have killed the naira. Today, a dollar is equivalent to 210 naira; that means cost of products, especially imported products have all gone up and all the basic things needed by the poor have all gone up as a result of the devaluation of the naira.” The governor says the PDP only tells Nigerians empty promises of what they intend to do, saying “the PDP is full of promises."

Range Rover SUV valued at N30 million, Adio was lost for words when contacted on phone. He initially thought it was a fraudulent phone call when the news was broken to him right at the venue. Adio, who could not believe his luck, confirmed that he was a commercial truck driver residing at Akute area of Lagos State. The star prize, according to Airtel officials, will be officially presented to him on Wednesday, February 4, 2015 in Lagos.

ECOWAS Parliament’s to sign enhancement of powers Act in Abuja today Philip Nyam ABUJA

he First 2015 Extra Ordinary Session of the Third Legislature of the ECOWAS Parliament will begin today, February 2, in Abuja, the capital city of Nigeria, with the consideration of the current situation on the Enhancement of the Powers of the Parliament top on the agenda. It would be recalled that the Supplementary Act on the enhancement of the powers of ECOWAS Parliament was approved by the 73rd Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS

Council of Ministers and adopted in Abuja by the 46th Ordinary Summit of the Authority of Heads of State and Government in December, 2014. The ceremonial signing of the Act was however postponed. Nonetheless, with the adoption by the Authority of the Supplementary Act on enhancement of its powers, the Parliament shall amongst other roles, exercise Parliamentary oversight functions on the activities of the community institutions and organs; jointly with Council, approve the Community Budget.

PUBLIC NOTICE

TOTAL RECOVERY POWER MINISTRY

This is to inform the general public that the above named Ministry has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission, Abuja for registration under part ‘C’ of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990. The Trustees are: 1. Pastor Utibe James Udo — General Overseer 2. Mrs. Itohowo Utibe James 3. Elder (Engr.) Okon Akpan Nya 4. Mrs. Mayen Udofia Nkwa 5. Mrs. Ikwo Okon Nya AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: 1. To preach the word of God all over the world starting with Nigeria. 2. To nurture Christian growth through preaching teaching, teaching the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and Fellowship 3. To bring people closer to God by teaching them to believe in the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit and the Bible. 4. To proclaim the good works of our Lord Jesus Christ and to promote peace and love among individuals. Any objections to this registration should be forward to the Registrar General Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, Off Aguyi Ironsi Street, P.M.B 194, Maitama, Abuja within twenty eight (28) days of this publication. Signed: PASTOR UTIBE JAMES UDO General Overseer

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Metro

Immigration recovers PVCs from aliens Juliana Francis

File picture of pipeline explosion at Arepo

BUNKERING Again, pipelines explode in Ikorodu area of Lagos as armed thieves attempt to steal oil Taiwo Jimoh

uspected oil pipeline vandals yesterday struck at Elepete village in Ikorodu West Local Government Area of Lagos State, leading to a massive explosion. The explosion occurred about 4am after the vandals attacked a pipeline, passing through the community. A police source said that although there was no casualty, the residents of the area had immediately called the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) head office. “We were inside the security post built for us by the NNPC to monitor the activities of vandals when we heard gunshots. The sound of the gunshots directed to our side woke

Explosion in Lagos as oil thieves strike again us up. We quickly picked our arms and tried to repel them,” the source added. The policeman said that the explosion was not at Arepo as earlier feared, but Elepete village. He said: “The explosion did not occur at Arepo. The place where the fire is coming from is called Elepete village in Ikorodu area of Lagos State. But the vandals passed through the creeks of Arepo to get to Elepete, to perpetrate their act. “We cannot cross the creeks because we have not received any directive from our superior officers.” A resident of the area, who

Makurdi

T FEATURES Editor

abiodun. bello@newtelegraphonline.com

fence Corps (NSCDC) officers and kidnapped two. The Ogun State NSCDC Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr Kareem Olarewaju, confirmed the explosion. The PRO said there was a rupture on the NNPC pipeline caused by some suspected vandals. He said: “The explosion did not occur on the soil of Arepo. Ongoing investigation conducted by our men showed that the explosion occurred at an area called Elepete village in Ikorodu, a boundary with Arepo.” Efforts to speak with his Lagos State counterpart, Mr. Chibuzor Mefo, via the phone were abortive.

CGI, David Parradang

Fake journalists arrested at Benue NUJ election Cephas Iorhemen

ABIODUN BELLO

craved anonymity, said: “We were surprised to see another explosion this morning (yesterday). We want the state government and the Federal Government to work together and put a final stop to these incessant attacks from vandals. “We are scared because of the smoke we inhale whenever there is an explosion. We don’t know the effect of this smoke on our health.” A week ago, oil pipeline vandals attacked Owutu Police Station, where they killed two policemen, a commercial motorcyclist and injured several others. They also shot two Nigeria Security and Civil De-

he Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) said it had arrested some foreigners posing as Nigerians at registration units and recovered Permanent Voter Cards (PVC) from them. The Lagos State Controller of Immigration, NIS, Mrs Justina Ahmedu, said the suspects would be repatriated immediately. According to her, citizens of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have no business in the election even though they reside in the country. She disclosed that some Ghanaians had been arrested for such offence and PVCs recovered from them Ahmedu added that some immigration officers went undercover, moving from on registration centre to the other, where they nabbed these foreigners. She said: “This raid will continue. Our officers will continue going to registration centres to keep eyes on foreigners who want to collect the PVC. “This election is strictly for Nigerians. If we come across them, we will be left with no other option than to arrest and repatriate them. Already, we have some Ghanaians in our custody that will be repatriated immediately.”

he Benue State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has handed over two young men parading themselves as journalists to the police for impersonation. The suspects (names withheld) were arrested while trying to vote during the triennial state conference held at the NUJ House during which new

executive officials were elected to steer the affairs of the union in the next three years. The impostors claimed to be reporting for a local newspaper known as “National Times” owned by the Senior Special Adviser to Governor Gabriel Suswam on Media and Public Affairs, Chief Joseph Anawa. Luck ran out on the fake journalists when the electoral panel conducting the elections led by the NUJ Zone ‘D’ Assis-

tant National Secretary, Mr James Uwem, Vice President, Mathias Omale and General Secretary, Chief Wilson Bako (JP) all of the zone, alongside agents of the candidates for the election, spotted them. Bako accosted them and said: “Gentlemen, if you are true journalists, explain the 5Ws and H?” The said: “Sir, we do not have our National ID cards.” Their response infuriated

the NUJ national officials, who immediately handed them over to the police. The men were later taken to the police ‘D’ Division located opposite the NUJ Secretariat. The national officials expressed worry over the infiltration of journalism by interlopers and advised the new leadership of the council to apply aggressive tactics in fighting the menace to reposition the union.

Metro 11

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015

Man, girlfriend killed over pharmacist’s murder Cephas Iorhemen Makurdi

T IG, Suleiman Abba

here was anxiety in Gboko town, the traditional homestead of the Tiv nation, yesterday following the murder of a young man and his girlfriend by gunmen. The man, identified simply as ‘Stecco,’ was said to have been killed for trying to unravel the killers of a pharmacist, Ternenge Labe, in the area last week. Investigation showed that Stecco was the leader of the group investigating Labe’s murder. It was gathered that the gunmen, numbering about five, stormed

Stecco’s residence on Ahmadu Bello Way, Gboko, about 5:50am. The gunmen called the deceased from his sleep to come outside. Stecco responded swiftly. But as he opened his door, he was shot twice in the chest and head. He reportedly died on the spot. Thereafter, the assailants also shot and killed a lady believed to be Stecco’s girlfriend. The state Commissioner of Police, Mr Hyacinth Dagala, confirmed the incident. He said Stecco was an informant to the police on Labe’s killing. The commissioner added the police were investigating the matter.

Ekiti ex-commissioner loses wife

rs. Funke Ekundayo, wife of the immediate past Commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation, Ekiti State, Mr Tayo Ekundayo, is dead. She was 57 years old. The family said in a statement Mrs. Ekundayo died during a brief illness in Ado-Ekiti on January 31. Until her death, the deceased was a senior education officer with the Lagos State Government. She is survived by her husband and children. Burial arrangements would be announced by the family later.

The late Ekundayo

NDLEA prosecutes MD, freight forwarder for N130m drugs Juliana Francis

he National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said it was prosecuting two men over an alleged unlawful possession, dealing and conspiracy to divert powdery substance suspected to be ephedrine valued at $550,000 (about to N130 million). The Head, Media and Publicity, NDLEA, Mr Mitchel Ofoyeju, said the agency was the Managing Director of Richy Gold, Jude Onwusonye Ejike and a freight forwarder, Bernard Amanze Anyanwu, over unlawful possession, dealing and conspiracy to divert powdery substance suspected to be ephedrine. This, according to him, is contrary to and punishable under the NDLEA Act CAP N30 Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It was gathered that the illegal deal was exposed when men of the Special Anti-Rob-

bery Squad (SARS), Lagos Command, intercepted Anyanwu, 49, with the drug at Ijesha on Oshodi-Apapa Expressway. While being quizzed by police, Anyawu said that the 25kg drum of ephedrine was sent to him by his friend, one Hipo Njoku, who, according to him, lives in India. He was later transferred to the NDLEA for further action. The NDLEA Chairman, Ahmadu Giade, warned that the import licence of Richy Gold International Limited would be withdrawn over alleged diversion of ephedrine, a precursor chemicals used for the production of narcotic drugs. Ofoyeju said: “Preliminary investigation by the NDLEA revealed that a drum containing 25kg of ephedrine was diverted from the warehouse of Richy Gold International. The company imported ephedrine in excess of their requirement as they only used 25kg in a year. “It was also discovered that

the management of Richy Gold has failed to justify why they requested for 250kg when their annual production capacity is 25kg. The estimated street value of the 250kg ephedrine is $550,000.” The NDLEA Joint Task Force led by Commander Olumuyiwa Adeniyi carried out a follow-up operation on the premises of Richy Gold at Amuwo Odofin Industrial Estate, Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, Lagos. Adeniyi said: “During search, nine blue drums containing ephedrine which are similar to the one found with Anyanwu were discovered. The managing director of Richy Gold was invited to witness the search operations and they were taken to the office for further investigation.” Stating his own side of the story, Anyawu said: “I used to clear a variety of goods including pharmaceuticals and chemicals. I was arrested by the police with a blue drum

Anyanwu

containing ephedrine which I cleared for Richy Gold International.” Ejike, 40, said that the recovered ephedrine belonged to him. He said: “I imported 250kg of ephedrine in 2013 legally with import permit from National Agency for Food

5,000 MFM members pray for peaceful polls Appolonia Adeyemi

ountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries at the weekend conducted an open intercessory prayer to engender peace in this month’s general election. Over 5,000 members of the church converged on the popular Gani Fawehinmi Park at Ojota, Lagos and Opebi Link Road junction on Kudirat Abiola Way, formerly Oregun Road for the progamme. The worshippers also staged a walk, while preaching that peace must reign in Nigeria during and after the elections. Participants at the “Peace Intercessors Summit,” who took off from the Gani Fawehinmi Park, prayed for a peaceful Nigeria before walking through Ikorodu Road through Kudirat Abiola Way to Opebi Link Road where fer-

Participants at the programme

vent prayers for peaceful elections were conducted. The participants also distributed tracks to pedestrians during the walk while they urged the public to refrain from propagating violence before, during and after the

elections. The National Coordinator of the Peace Group in MFM, Pastor Godwin Akpan, said the “Peace Intercessors Summit” prophesised the message of peace. He said: “Where people are

preaching violence, we are telling them that it does not dwell in the word of God like that. The Bible says there will be peace in our Jerusalem. We are actually coming out to counter prophesies of some people.” According to him, some pastors have prophesised that the 2015 elections would break Nigeria. On the contrary, Akpan said with the word of God, “and by the Grace of God, there will be peace in this election”. The cleric noted that the programme was done outdoor to inspire the public, to encourage Nigerians to play their role and to look up to God for peaceful elections. On the timing of the programme, Akpan said: “We have been praying for peace all over the country. Lagos State is the 14th state we have gone so far to conduct such prayers.”

Ejike

and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC). Bernard has been my customs licensed agent for the past 10 years. When NDLEA raided my company premises, I was surprised that one drum of 25kg ephedrine was missing. It is the storekeeper that can explain what happened. ”

Motorcyclists kill 10-year-old pupil Flora Onwudiwe

wo commercial motorcyclists ran over a 10-yearold primary school pupil at Ajegunle area of Lagos State. The boy, whose name could not be ascertained at press time, reportedly died on the spot. A witness said that one of the motorcyclists was riding on Arumoh Street heading to Layinka Street while the other was negotiating into Arumoh Street. Both motorcycles hit the pupil, who was walking to school about 8am on the fateful day. Another witness, who gave his name simply as Chinedu, said that people wept when they saw the little boy writhing in pains on the ground. Chinedu said that the riders and their passengers also sustained injuries.

News

NATIONAL

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Suspected stowaway arrested at Lagos airport Wole Shadare

teenager, Samuel Ogundeyi, suspected to be a stowaway was arrested in the tyre compartment of an aircraft yesterday. The aircraft was said to have been parked in the hangar of Execujet terminal of Murtala Muhammed International Airport Lagos. A source told journalists late yesterday that the

teenager was discovered at about 5pm when pilots of the aircraft marked MMYNA, were carrying out a routine inspection on the aircraft before starting the engine. The pilot in command of the aircraft was said to have detected the boy in the tyre compartment of the airplane. Also two handsets without sim cards which the suspect claimed ownership were also found in the same compartment.

In his confessional statement, the suspect claimed he had entered the hangar through the facility of the Headquarters, Air Defence Corp of Nigerian Air Force located next to the Presidential/ VIP Lounge in the airport, on Saturday night with the help of a person he identified only as 'a brother' The boy, who spoke in Yoruba and Pidgin English Languages, said he was able to cross the run-

way L18 runway over to ExecuJet facility located in the international wing of the airport, a distance of about one kilometre, at night when he noticed there was no flight landing or taking off on the runway. The aircraft, operated by Tag Aviation, was said to have flown in a former Minister of Petroleum, Chief Dan Etete into Lagos airport on Saturday night and parked at the private hangar, where it

was expected to take off yesterday afternoon before the incident happened. All efforts by our correspondent to get the Nigerian Air Force, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to comment on the incident proved abortive. Calls made to their lines were not going through. However, a military source who preferred anonymity described the al-

Minister recalls suspended NCAA DG

Diaspora group backs Ekweremadu Felix Nwaneri

Wole Shadare

former Acting Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Benedict Adeyileka, an aircraft engineer who was suspended by the Minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka has been recalled. He was said to have been recalled after he was said to have been cleared by a panel that investigated allegation of massively employing people in the agency through the back door. Adeyileka and his team helped Nigeria to retain the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Category aviation status in September 2014. It came at a time all hopes of retaining the US highest aviation safety rating were fading. A source in the Ministry of Aviation, who spoke to New Telegraph under strict condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the former Acting DG has returned to the agency. But it could not be confirmed as at press time, his position in the NCAA as the aviation regulatory body had since had a substantive Director General in the person of Captain Mukhtar Usman. Adeyileka confirmed that he had indeed been recalled in a text message to New Telegraph . He said, “Yes o. I am back. I give glory to God. The operators stood up for me, and most of the people in the industry rose to my support. The media too has been good”. It would be recalled that there was power tussle in the agency late last year. It was gathered that the current imbroglio started when Captain Usman, the current DG sacked no fewer than 187 workers employed by Adeyileka, when he was acting as Director General of the agency.

legation of the stowaway entering the airside of the airport through airforce facility as an attempt by the terminal operator to cover up security lapses on its side. The source however suggested that search light should be beamed on the security network of the terminal to get to the roots of the matter.

L-R: Co-Chairman, Nigerian Trust Fund, Ms. Amina Salihu; sole female presidential candidate, Kowa Party, Prof. Remi Sonaiya; former Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs. Josephine Anenih; Executive Director, Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC), Dr. Abiola Akinyode-Afolabi and member, All Progressives Congress (APC), Mrs. Bukola Bada, at the Mentors and Mentees meeting, entitled: "Securing Champions for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Issues in Nigeria” in Lagos …at the weekend. PHOTO:GODWINIREKHE

Strike: One million health INEC, MTN partner on voter workers may boycott elections education Appolonia Adeyemi

he Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria (AMLSN) and Nigeria Society for Physiotherapists (NSP) have called on the over one million health workers under the umbrella of the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) in all tiers of government alongside their dependants to boycott the 2015 elections. In statement signed by the President of PSN, Olumide Akintayo and made available to the New Telegraph, the trio also threatened to extend the ongoing strike by health workers in public hospitals under JOHESU to the private sector if the Federal Government fails to accede to their demands by the first week of February. To this end, the trio have called on former Heads of State, women groups, civil right societies, opinion moulders and other men of goodwill to draw the attention of the Federal Govern-

ment to the fact that “our health facilities have become centres of death because of government ineptitude.” The three associations stated that these moves have become necessary because of the insensitivity of the Federal Government and its failure to resolve the threemonth old strike by JOHESU which has resulted in millions of Nigerians being denied access to health care. He said: “The private sector strike will be phased as we shall in the first instance invite practitioners in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja to withdraw services for a few hours for successive days before we shall extend same to all the 36 States in view of apparent government insensitivity which is both deplorable and lamentable.” “Government and the retinue of politicians know next to nothing about the golden nuggets of good governance as sanctity of life counts for nothing to these people,” stated the president of the PSN.

Clem Khena-OGBENA

o fewer than 60million MTN subscribers have been provided with the newly launched voter education app, otherwise known as 2015 Better Me. The facility is a collaborative effort of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), National Orientation Agency (NOA) and MTN Nigeria. The app, meant to enhance and deepen Nigeria’s electoral process, has a vast and robust content, providing, among others, segments on the 2015 elec-

tions. The product, which was launched in Abuja, at the weekend by MTN Nigeria, has been described as a worthwhile innovation and a milestone in voter education. The new app enables subscribers to seamlessly access information relating to the elections, from the comfort of their mobile phones. A subscriber can access information on candidates for the elections, their plans and manifestoes as well as the strategic thrust and policy direction of the various political parties, among others from the convenience of the mobile phone.

political pressure group, Pan Ndi-Igbo Foundation (PNF USA) has backed the re-election bid of the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, saying his stellar performance in the National Assembly will earn him victory in the February 14 National Assembly election. Describing Ekweremadu as a consensus builder, whose legislative skills and knowledge are worthy of emulation, the Dallas, Texas, United States-based group, in a statement made available to New Telegraph, enjoined Nigerians to support the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to maintain majority in the National Assembly so that the deputy senate president will continue to serve the people. “Ekweremadu is a reflection of a true Nigerian, whose virtue is to work within the system to effect meaningful change. We give him our maximum support as we beckon on Nigerians to support Ekweremadu’s party to maintain majority in the National Assembly so that he will continue to serve us. “We are proud of Ike Ekweremadu, a formidable leader, and a flawless and consummate legislator, who knows how to work well with people from a diverse background to accomplish our country’s work."

Twin explosions rock Gombe as Jonathan visits Taiwo Jimoh

n continuation of his campaigns, President Good luck Jonathan will today visit the Gombe State. That is few hours after a twin explosion rocked the city yesterday. It was learnt that the first explosion occurred near the popular grain market in the state capital, as the attackers who came into the market with a motorcycle also

died in the process after detonating the bomb. The Vehicles parked in the market was said to be damaged while the shoes of those who died in the attack littered the market. Our correspondent also gathered that after few hours, another explosion rocked a timber market in the state, where four people were seriously injured as the structure in the market were not left out of the attack.

According to the Gombe State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Atajiri Fwaje, the two bombers came into market with motorcycle before detonating their bomb. The state Governor, Muhammed Dankwabo urged all residents to go about their normal business as his government will not leave any stone unturned to arrest the perpetrators of the act.

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015

Nigeria’s unity

Intolerance

Presidency

Electoral-violence

Anenih: Jonathan’s re-election’ll strengthen North, S’South alliance

Police, thugs clash over president’s posters, billboards

APC berates DSS, police over ex-militants’ threats

Rivers APC seeks foreign help

Politics Twelve days to the presidential election, plots are getting thicker to stop the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Major General Muhammadu Buhari over alleged perjury. Three different groups have taken legal actions to that effect. TUNDE OYESINA examines the claims of each of the parties

Buhari’s certificate: Battle shifts to court

ess than two weeks before the presidential election, the battle to stop the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Major General Muhammadu Buhari, has been taken to the court. While two different parties have approached two different courts, another is also threatening to approach the court, asking it to stop Buhari from participating in the election. The foundation of all the suits in court bothers on the certificate of the former Head of State, and his alleged giving of false information to a public officer wherein he deposed in his affidavit that his school certificate is with the military. Buhari opens up On January 20, the military came out to deny the possession of Buhari’s certificates, saying there is no certificate in the former Head of State’s file. The twist forced Buhari to clear the air on the certificate issue. And on January 21, he opened up on the controversy. He said: “I had assumed all along that all my records were in the custody of the Military Secretary of the Nigerian Army. Much to my surprise, we are now told that although a record of the result is available, there are no copies of the certificates in my personal file. This is why I formally requested my old school the Provincial Secondary School, Katsina [which is now known as Government College, Katsina] to make available the school’s copy of the result of the Cambridge/West African School Certificate.”

AYODELE OJO

DEPUTY Editor, POLITICS ayodele.ojo@newtelegraphonline.com

INDEP ELECT ENDENT NAT ORAL C IO OMMIS NAL SION

Buhari

Litigation begins Kick starting the legal attack on Buhari was the Coalition of Concerned Lawyers of Nigeria who on January 25 called on the Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba, to investigate the alleged perjury and forged school certificate. Speaking through its leader, Chief Amaechi Nwaiwu (SAN), the coalition noted that the University of Cambridge result sheet attached to the school result released by Government College, Katsina has an alteration on the Mathematics column which suggests an attempt at concealment. Amaechi added that the coalition would have approached the court to challenge the certificate but for the strike embarked upon by judiciary workers. The coalition further noted that the results sheet which was attributed to the Cambridge examination body and released by Buhari’s former school is clearly super imposition of one document on another. Plot thickens A day after the coalition of lawyers called for the arrest of Buhari, an Abujabased lawyer, Chukwunweike Okafor approached the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja seeking the disqualification of Buhari from contesting in the

February 14 polls. Okafor premised his suit on the ground that there was no evidence that Buhari possessed the academic qualifications he claimed. Okafor, via an originating summons, is asking for an order compelling the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to remove or delete the name of Buhari and his party, APC, from the list of persons and political

parties eligible to contest for the office of president. Listed in the suit are Buhari, APC and INEC as first to third defendant. The suit is yet to be assigned to a judge. Okafor, however, wants the court to hold that the information contained in Buhari’s Form C.F 001 stating that his educational qualification in the West African School Leaving Certificate (WASC) is false and is thereby disqualified from contesting in the general elections. He also wants the court to declare that the information contained in Buhari’s affidavit dated November 24, 2014 stating that the Secretary, Military Board is in custody of his WASC is false and is thereby disqualified from contesting in the general elections. Also, the plaintiff wants Buhari disqualified from contesting the February polls by reason of giving false information on oath in his Form C.F 001 and the affidavit dated November 24, 2014. Okafor averred in his affidavit that Buhari having stated on oath that his educational qualification is the West African School Leaving Certificate and failed to produce same has given false information in the INEC’s form C.F 001. He added that the affidavit of Buhari dated November 24, 2014 stating that his educational qualifications are with the Secretary, Military Board does not substitute proof to INEC of his educational qualifications. Okafor also stated that Buhari is claiming a statement of result issued by Government Secondary School, Katsina, belonging to one Mohammed Buhari, who is not the same as the presidential candidate of APC. As if that was not enough, another group headed by one Shield Jones Ufot on January 27 slammed a fresh criminal suit on Buhari before an Abuja Magistrate Court over alleged giving of false evidence. The complainants, Shield Jones Ufot, Jimmy David, Ogueri Enwerem and Tochukwu Okorie had on behalf of their CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

Politics

Wale Elegbede

hairman of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Tony Anenih has called on the North and the SouthSouth to strengthen their age-long political alliance by voting overwhelmingly for President Goodluck Jonathan. He said a loss for Jonathan would amount to short-changing people of the South-South geopolitical zone Anenih, who recently urged Nigerians to ensure the unity of the country during and after the elections, said in a statement yesterday that the North should consider the decades of cooperation given by the people of the South-South to candidates of the North and reciprocate the gesture with a renewed mandate for Jonathan. The statement reads: “Last week, I made a passionate appeal to Nigerians on the need for us to ensure, during the forthcoming elections, that the nation remains unified and keeps moving forward in unity. With a few days to commencement of the 2015 presidential election, I find it expedient to send this appeal specifically to our brothers and sisters in the Northern states. “The election is the most important as it is the precursor to the elections at the state level, which

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Anenih: Jonathan’s re-election’ll strengthen North, S’South alliance come up on February 28. For me, however, the critical issue in the February 14 presidential election is justice. While I do not intend to wish away your legitimate right to be president, I urge you to consider the decades of cooperation given by the people of the SouthSouth to candidates of the North. “In all the democratic elections in Nigerian history in which a Northerner had contested, statistics show that the South-South often voted overwhelmingly for such a candidate.” While narrating instances of political pact between the two zones, he explained that: “In the First Republic, political parties in the South-South were in alliance with the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) while in 1979, the SouthSouth people voted massively for Alhaji Shehu Shagari of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN). Most recently, the zone also voted massively for Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua who got over 80 per cent of the votes in all the states of the SouthSouth. “What I ask of you is to reciprocate this show of solidarity and vote mas-

INDEP ELECT ENDENT NAT ORAL C IO OMMIS NAL SION

sively for our son, President Goodluck Jonathan, on February 14. This will only be a fair reward for the consistency of our friendship. “I need to emphasise

that this is the first time the South-South has had the opportunity to produce the president of Nigeria. It is an opportunity for which we have been grateful since 2011. However, the people of the zone would feel shortchanged, if they were to be denied the opportunity to have a full complement of tenure. A second term for President Jonathan, who remains the best candidate for the presidency, will be the only just arrangement that the people of the zone would

cherish. “May I say that the choice of voting for President Jonathan has been made easy for us all by his commendable performance in all the sectors of our national life during his first tenure. “I seek your massive support for President Goodluck Jonathan at the presidential election on February 14. We need to continue to strengthen the bridge of unity and understanding among all the people of this great nation. It is only by

making concessions and compromises that we can transform our diversity into great strength. There is no greater time for concessions and compromises than now.” He also urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to up its ante, noting that in any human endeavour, there is always room for improvement. The PDP BoT chairman expressed hope that the 2015 presidential election will be better than the previous ones.

L-R: Former Bayelsa State governor, Timipre Sylva; National Vice Chairman (South-South) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hilland Etah and National Commissioner representing Bayelsa State at the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission (RMFAC), Frank Akpoebi, during a press briefing announcing the defection of Akpoebi, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to APC in PHOTO: ELIJAH OLALUYI Abuja …at the weekend.

Police, thugs clash over Buhari has something to hide – George president’s posters, billboards Debate boycott: serve as the hub of seaand designated the town should be voted out. Idris Salisu Gusau

andemonium broke out in Gusau, the Zamfara State capital yesterday when security agents clashed with political thugs suspected to be All Progressives Congress (APC) supporters who allegedly besieged the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential campaign office to destroy posters, billboards and other facilities in the office. It was gathered that the crisis begun when a former governor of the state and APC leader, Senator Ahmad Sani Yarima and Governor Abdul’azeez Yari Abubakar accompanied by thousands of party supporters were returning to Gusau from a rally in Mafara through Sokoto road where Jonathan presidential campaign office is situated. “The thugs in the campaign convoy were chanting ‘APC Change’, ‘Buhari is the next Nigeria’s

President.’ They almost overpowered the armed police officers stationed to protect the campaign office of the president, the police used tear gas to disperse the mob,” the source said. The eyewitness noted that the police action attracted hundreds of APC youths to the scene and they started pelting the security agents with stone and they made attempt to destroy the presidential campaign billboards and the PDP flags within the premises. New Telegraph learnt that the youth were acting a reprisal for an earlier attack on APC offices in some local governments, when the police and other security agents allegedly refused to take similar preventive action. When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer of the state command, ASP Lawal Abdullahi confirmed the incident, assuring that the police is on the trail of perpetrators and will bring them to book.

Wale Elegbede

ormer Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bode George, yesterday carpeted the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Major General Muhammadu Buhari, for boycotting a national debate organised for presidential candidates. George, who spoke at a rally in Epe, where the PDP governorship candidate, for Lagos State, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, decried the suffering of the people

as the heart of an ocean economy, queried why Buhari refused to participate in the debate. George said: “Why will you have a presidential candidate who cannot address the people? Why is Buhari running away from debating? Democracy is government of the people, for the people, by the people –not government for Bola Tinubu and his family. “Debate is part of democracy. Any candidate who boycotts an election debate has something to hide and

“Let the APC candidate come and defend his planned programmes for Nigeria and his records as former Head of State for he who comes to equity must come with clean hands. “Buhari needs Nigerians’ support to win so he must come and defend the controversies surrounding him,” George said. Speaking at the rally, Agbaje said the ocean economy of his programme would be headquartered in Epe, and an industry for food processing would be established in the town, which would

food supplies to Nigeria and West Africa. He promised to complete the Lekki-Epe expressway, as well as solve the six-year electricity problem plaguing the community, saying a caring government would not wait for five to six years to solve the people’s power headache. He said: “I want you to quote me: When we come in May 29, you will not pay the toll at the EpeLekki toll gate anymore.” He also promised to provide water and employment.

Obasanjo’s associate, Majekodunmi, dumps PDP for APC in Ogun Sola Adeyemo Ibadan

very close associate of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Femi Majekodunmi, has defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ogun State. The Baagbile of Eg-

baland while speaking with journalists at the weekend in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, said his leaving the PDP at this time “is primarily to serve the interest of the people better.” According to him, the leadership of the APC in Ogun State and at the national level are capable of delivering the dividends of democracy to

the people. Majekodunmi said: “while I will not deny the fact that I am a founding member of the PDP and have contributed immensely to its development both at the state and national levels, it however comes to a time in the life of a politician to take a decision that will serve the interest of the people more.

“Given the fact that a politician does not exist on his own but because of his supporters and loyalists, I decided to join the APC to serve the interest of the generality of the people of our dear country. And with many of those we share the same thought already in the party, I know that together we will all make the party one to be proud of.”

Politics

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015

APC berates DSS, police over ex-militants’ threats Temitope Ogunbanke

he All Progressives Congress (APC) has decried the silence of the Department of State Service (DSS) and the Police over the threat of violence by ex-Niger Delta militants should President Goodluck Jonathan lose the February 14 presidential election. The opposition party said the failure of the security agencies to act is an indication of double standard and lack of fairness. APC in a statement issued in Lagos yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, noted that the same security agencies that reacted with hysteria to the harmless comments by Governor Rotimi Amaechi have suddenly lost their voices when the ex-militants threatened to wage war on the nation. “When Governor

Amaechi said soldiers had the right to protest if their welfare was not taken care of, the DSS was at its most efficient level, with its voluble spokesperson threatening fire and brimstone and only stopping short of arresting the governor, despite his immunity. “When the same Governor Amaechi said the APC will form a parallel government if the February 14 and 28 elections are rigged, the same DSS and the police sought to outdo one another with threats and condemnation of what they called ‘inciting comments’, even when Amaechi’s warning was conditional. “Now, the ex-militants have said President Jonathan must be re-elected or they will unleash violence on the country. In other words, it is immaterial whether or not he loses in a free and fair election. There is no clearer indication of impunity than the

action of the ex-militants, who issued their threats in the Bayelsa Government House, with the governor of the state in attendance. “More than a week later, the DSS has been missing in action while the police, in what can pass as a most shocking reaction, said they are still studying the ex-militants’ comments. Even after former Minister of Defence, General Theophilus Danjuma, called for the arrest of the ex-militants for their treasonable threats, and the ex-militants had the audacity to repeat the threats, the police still continued to ‘study’ the threats. This is simply unbelievable,” it said. APC said the implication of the conspiracy of inaction by the DSS and the police is that under the administration of President Jonathan, there are different rules for different Nigerians, wondering how the security agencies can be trusted to provide

a level playing ground for all political parties before, during and after the forthcoming general elections. “For supporters of President Jonathan, there is no law, there is no police, there is no DSS. Their support for the President is a licence for lawlessness and irresponsibility, and if at all there is any law, they remain far above such law. That is why they could dare the entire nation by issuing such treasonable comments and get away with their action,” the party said. “On our part, the fact that the DSS and the police have failed to move against the war-mongering ex-militants is a confirmation of what we have always believed: that national institutions have been deployed in the pursuit of partisan, rather than national interests under the administration of President Jonathan,” APC added.

Ambode to Lagosians: Employ me as project manager Wale Elegbede

overnorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, has said that the vast and dynamic nature of Lagos State requires that a governor with cognate public service experience be in the saddle of affairs in the state. Ambode spoke on the sidelines of the presidential rally of his party in Lagos over the weekend. In a statement signed by his Director of Media and Communications, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, the APC governorship candidate said Lagosians want continuity, adding that the state has witnessed an irreversible growth and development in the past 16 years. He said: “If Lagos is a project, I dare say that I have served as a plumber, a builder, a carpenter and a foreman. I am now seeking the support of Lago-

sians to put me in charge as the Project Manager. He said: “I seek a clean, secure and a more prosperous Lagos, driven by a robust economy and grounded on equity, fairness and justice,” adding that in the collective determination to make Lagos rank not just as one of the fastest growing economies in Africa, but to make the state one of the most liveable and business-friendly cities in the world, “Lagos cannot afford to baby-sit a governor without cognate experience at this point in its development, but should elect a governor who will hit the ground running by continuing with the good works of the incumbent governor.” Ambode said the presidential election on February 14 points to a new dawn for Nigeria under the leadership of Major General Muhammadu Buhari, the APC Presidential candidate.

‘I’ll make a difference’ Felix Nwaneri

L-R: Edo State governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomole; All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Lagos State, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode; Osun State governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola and former member of the House of Representatives,Dina Melaye at the presidential mega rally held in Lagos on Friday.

eoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for Oshodi/Isolo State Constituency 11 of Lagos State in the forthcoming elections, Sir Jude Idimogu has promised to serve the people of the area better and make a change if given the mandate. Idimogu, who gave the assurance in an interview with New Telegraph, also pledged to partner with other members of the incoming Lagos State House of Assembly to approve projects that will impact positively on the people of the constituency. According to him, having lived in the constituency for over 25

years, he understands the needs of the people and will work towards addressing them. He said: “The constituency is in total mess. There are bad roads everywhere, but I believe that I will persuade my colleagues to make laws that will impact on the people of my constituency and Lagos State at large. “There is also the issue of low-cost housing. Today, the ruling party claims to have built several houses but those houses are not less than N40 million each. A PDP government in Lagos State will actualise a low-cost housing scheme. Our governorship candidate has been emphasising on that and we are supporting him.”

el-Rufai advises supporters against violence Group calls for extension Ibraheem Musa Kaduna

he All Progressives Congress (APC) gubernatorial candidate in Kaduna State, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, has advised his supporters against resorting to violence in the run up to the coming election, no matter the provocation. el-Rufai, who gave the advice yesterday in Gwantu, headquarters of Sanga Local Government Area, noted that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members intend to provoke violence in order to give room for the

government to impose curfew during election. According to him, the curfew will enable the PDP-led government to rig the election. “Do not give them the room to effect their plans. So, if they abuse you, don’t retaliate. If they throw punches at you, just dodge the punches. If they slap you on the right cheek, give them the left cheek like the holy book said,” el-Rufai told his supporters who gathered at the stadium. The APC candidate also told his supporters that the only way to fight PDP is by their votes. “We should use our votes

INDEP ELECT ENDENT NAT ORAL C IO OMMIS NAL SION

to vote out this corrupt government from the state to the federal level,” he added. el-Rufai further advised APC supporters to vote for the party’s candidates in all elections, arguing that it is only an APC-led government that will bring the required

change in the country. Speaking earlier, Alhaji Suleiman Othman Hunkuyi, the Director of the el-Rufai Campaign Council said that the people of Sanga council should reconsider their ardent support for PDP. According to him, Governor Muktar Yero had never visited Southern Kaduna to commiserate with the people over the incessant attacks that have been occurring in the area throughout his two years in office. “Now that he is seeking for your votes, he has come to you because election is around the corner,” he pointed out.

of February polls group, Nigeria in their PVCs. This is the My Heart Initia- same story all over the A tive, has called for an country. Those who are extension of the February poll by two to three weeks on account that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has failed to supply Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) to about 30 million eligible voters. The group in a statement issued yesterday noted that many voters in Opelu/Ibaragun in Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State are yet to collect their PVCs. “Many people in Ifo have not collected

saying no to extension are ignorant. The PVC is not only for election; it is a recognised document for identification for financial and other means of identity for Nigeria. “INEC has four years of preparing for this exercise. Three weeks is not much to correct and put things in order. We therefore appeal to all Nigerians and political parties to see reason that the proper thing is done,” the group stated.

16 Politics

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Buhari’s certificate: Battle shifts to court CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13

counsel, Ugochukwu Ezekiel,brought a direct criminal complaint pursuant to Section 143(5) and 152 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The complainants cited Buhari as the only defendant in the suit. The complainants alleged that Buhari gave a false evidence to a public officer contrary to Section 157 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 158 of the Penal Code Law. They also submit-

ted that Buhari never sat for the West African Examination Council examination in 1961 as he claimed and that in the entire records of the school and West African Examination Council, there appeared no name of the said Muhammadu Buhari. They further contended that the actions of the accused constitute offences of giving false evidence to a public officer contrary to Section 157 of the Penal Code Law and punishable under Section 158 of the Penal Code Law.

Meanwhile, none of the courts have fixed a date for hearing of the suits. ‘I’m not bothered’ Reacting to the suit, Buhari on January 28 said he was not bothered, adding that he was not surprised with the situation of things because such should be expected in Nigeria. He further stated that those seeking the court to disqualify him should have heeded the INEC on the issue. He, however, said the

people in court had no case as he had run for presidency three times in the past. “Well, I am not surprised. This is Nigeria. If the people are serious about this election, they should listen to INEC. This is the fourth time I am running for this election. “We said whoever is dissatisfied should go to court and they are now in court, let them remain there,” he added. APC, PDP kick The APC had on January 27 said it was ready

for the legal battle, adding that it was not bothered by the legal challenge to the eligibility of its presidential candidate to contest the presidential election. Speaking through its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan of masterminding the legal challenge to Buhari’s eligibility. He further stated that the PDP and Jonathan were doing everything

possible to make sure that the elections were postponed. The PDP had earlier expressed doubt over the certificate describing it as a super imposition and forgery of documents. Speaking through the Director of the Directorate of Media and Publicity of the organisation, Femi Fani-Kayode, the party said the result, released on January 21, after controversies surrounding Buhari’s academic qualifications and his eligibility to contest the presidency in February 14 broke, was a fraud. From legal minds Reacting to the suits, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief Awa Kalu, said that the suit in itself will be a waste of time on the ground that the election is in a matter of days and the constitution anticipates that any decision by the court will be carried forward until the right of appeal is exhausted. “So, if an action is initiated now and it is decided one way or the other, how will a party get the right to exhaust the rights afforded by the constitution to exercise his right of appeal, if the decision goes against him either way? “The matter is an exercise in futility. Constitutional provisions for qualification for elective offices is so simplistic that even a ‘goat’ could be deemed to have a primary six school leaving certificate, unless they are looking for school certificate in sophisticated sense. If you look at Section 318 of the constitution, it has sub sections that define school certificate which included any qualification accepted by INEC,” Kalu stated. But Chief Amaechi Nwaiwu (SAN), opined that Buhari should be investigated by the police and be prosecuted if eventually found guilty of perjury and forged certificate. Commenting further, Amaechi noted that the University of Cambridge result sheet attached to the school result released by Government College Katsina has an alteration on the Mathematics column which suggests an attempt at concealment. He further noted that the results sheet which was attributed to the Cambridge examination body and released by Buhari’s former school is clearly super imposition of one document on another. Nwaiwu further stated that since Buhari has relied on the school certificate, he is bound to produce it and not only a statement of result.

Politics 17

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015

Electoral-violence:

Rivers APC seeks foreign help Rivers State is in the news again. Every passing day, violence breaks out in the state ahead of the February elections. The All Progressives Congress (APC) has sought the intervention of the international community. EMMANUEL MASHA reports

he recent spate of political violence in Rivers State did not start overnight. It was a manifestation of the bitter political rivalry between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC). Starting from when crisis erupted in the State House of Assembly to clashes among supporters of both parties, some observers had predicted that the road to the 2015 general elections would not be smooth. It will be recalled that in the first week of January 2014, the state High Court in Ahoada was bombed, at a time when the people of the state had not come to terms with the crisis in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, following the suspension of the former chairman, Hon. Timothy Nsirim by the Rivers State House of Assembly. Eventually, there was an explosion in the council secretariat, which eventually led to it being sealed and taken over by the police. Lately, there have been shootings in broad daylight and at nights, as well as the use of dynamites in attacks which experts have described as politically-motivated. Onetime Petroleum Minister, Prof. Tam David-West, described the situation in Rivers as an indication that Nigeria is a failed state, explaining that a situation where hoodlums control territories without being challenged by security agencies portends danger. A few weeks ago, the United States Ambassador to Nigeria, James Entwistle, supervised a peace pact signed by three top governorship candidates in Rivers State, as a move to check violence during the forthcoming elections. In the agreement, the candidates: Hon. Dakuku Peterside of the APC; Barr. Nyesom Wike of the PDP and Prince Tonye Princewill of the Labour Party (LP) all agreed to work towards a non-violent election. Entwistle urged the candidates to preach peace to their followers during and after the elections, irrespective of the outcome, noting that there was absolutely no need for violence. He said: “Rivers State and Nigeria in general are very important to the world. The desire of the international community is to see a peaceful, violence-free election next month.

Amaechi

“The candidates should tell their supporters to ensure that they do not do anything that will cause violence during the election or after it. That is our desire. That is what the world wants to see because Nigeria is very important.” Despite optimism expressed by some over the agreement, the animosity, bickering, threat and intimidation are mainly perpetrated by low-standing party supporters, those who act alone in the name of party, and watch from the sidelines as party leadership defends such actions in ignorance. This has ultimately made the agreement to appear to have failed. Police, APC and PDP parley That was probably the reason, the state police command, under the Commissioner of Police; Dan Bature invited the political parties in the state to a meeting. That was a few days after President Goodluck Jonathan and General Muhammadu Buhari had signed a non-violence pact. The CP urged his guests to emulate Jonathan and Buhari, noting that both men were sending a message across to their supporters not to see election as a do-or-die. He said: “As the Treasure Base of the Nation (Rivers), the international community is here. They want to be sure the environment is conducive enough for them to do their business. The essential message in the concept of non-violence is that democracy is freedom to be in any political party. It is not a situation that calls for rancour. Most of the things happening here are unnecessary. You cannot run to anywhere after destroying your state. Some communities here in Rivers have been deserted. “We will encourage dialogue and interaction. And as a law enforcing agency, we have the capacity to handle the consequences of any behaviour. We will visit the wrath of the law on whoever acts outside the laws. Unfortunately, the courts are not working, but that does not mean we will not charge people

Wike

INDEP ELECT ENDENT NAT ORAL C IO OMMIS NAL SION

Today, the PDP is living above the law, because they feel there will be no consequences for their actions

Peterside

to court when it starts working. I know you are all responsible, but I do know that if you reprimand your supporters, they will not heat up the polity. “Because of posters, people can matchet themselves to death. Your supporters are unnecessarily overzealous, please talk to them… Please assist us to police the electoral process, so that we enjoy the electoral process.” But it was at the meeting that the two major political parties – the PDP and APC disagreed on who should take responsibility for the recent bombings of the APC’s secretariat in two local government areas. While the APC blamed the PDP for the bombings of the party’s secretariat in Okrika and Andoni local government areas, the PDP says that the bombings were masterminded by the APC to remove attention from the recent killing of some PDP stalwarts. The PDP chairman, Mr. Felix Obuah and his APC counterpart, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, almost turned the meeting to a court room as their comments further provoked allegations and counterallegations, while the CP, and the representative of the State Security Service (SSS), listened with enthusiasm. Harassment of party supporters Ikanya, who spoke first, alleged that PDP members were harassing APC members, and acting as if nobody can hold them accountable for their actions, just as he accused the police of arbitrarily arresting its members, even when the PDP supporters had carried out attacks against APC members. He said: “There was a time the posters of APC members were being destroyed, that was when they said that we only existed on posters and billboards. It took the intervention of Mr. President before they stopped destroying our posters and billboards. “Today, the PDP is living above the law, because they feel there will be no consequences for their ac-

tions. Today, PDP supporters have graduated from matcheting our members to bombing. While we subscribe to the code of conduct to ensure a violence-free election, please we want the police to arrest PDP members who go against the law. If we leave this meeting, and we are bombed again, I will not honour another invitation. Who does not know what they are doing. The police surely know those behind the mayhem in this state.” But PDP’s Obuah accused the APC of crying wolf when there was none, saying that the current problem is caused by the APC government. “The APC chairman has accused the PDP of violence and bombings in the state, but he only wanted to divert attention to the recent killing of our members. They are the ones burning their headquarters. We are law-abiding citizens. “The APC has a grand design to create problem because they have lost faith in the electoral process. They know they will not do well at the polls. For the PDP, we will tell our supporters to remain peaceful.” UN, AI, AU to the rescue The latest move for peace and “level playing field” was taken a few days ago by the APC at an international press conference at the Atlantic Hall, Hotel Presidential, Port Harcourt, where its governorship candidate, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, Ikanya, and Senator Magnus Abe told the world that it has come to the stage where the United Nations, Amnesty International, the African Union, the International Red Cross and other international agencies to intervene in Rivers. Ikanya said: “We call on Amnesty International, the International Red Cross, the relevant organs of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN) to immediately commence independent inquiry into the gruesome attacks and killings CONTINUED ON PAGE 20

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Opinion Buhari, APC and intimidation politics Braxton Solukwe

bout a fortnight ago, presidential candidates in the February 14, 2015 elections were made to sign a peace accord which was witnessed by the former Secretary-General of the United Nations Organisation (UNO); Ambassador Koffi Annan of Ghana and erstwhile Secretary-General of The Commonwealth of Nations; Chief Emeka Anyaoku of Nigeria amongst other dignitaries in Abuja. Prominent among the presidential contenders who participated in the peace accord deal were Dr. Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and General Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Both of them, like others, undertook in writing to promote a peaceful electioneering campaign and also to ensure that their followers conducted themselves in a peaceful and non-violent manner before, during and after the elections. Perhaps; guided by the experience of 2011 during which over 800 Nigerians were killed by angry supporters of Buhari who lost to Jonathan in that year’s presidential election, conveners of the peace accord event thought it necessary to take such step in other to forestall a re-occurrence in the 2015 elections. The deal had also come barely a month after a one time External Affairs Minister; Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, publicly enjoined all parties to show some tolerance and seek peace so that the nation would not break after the election, as ominous signs were on the horizon to suggest same. He had called on other elder statesmen to intervene. What Akinyemi had succeeded in doing was to remind Nigeria’s political office seekers and their supporters that the world is no longer on that bestial page where might is regarded as being right. The world’s new social order is now etched on civilised attitude that seeks the eternal promotion of peace, good conduct with a strong abhorrence to violent tendencies. The presidential candidates, the APC and its presidential flag bearer, Muhammadu Buhari do not seem to believe in the oath they have taken to promote a violent free electioneering campaign. Otherwise, how can one explain the current regime of hate speeches and violent tendencies that are already indicative of the dangers ahead? The APC flag bearer had in the past been credited with hate speeches that tended to undermine the peace and security of the nation. He has not been quite mindful of the fact that true democrats are not known for hate speeches as such attitude is capable of inciting people to violence and violence anywhere is counter-

Perhaps; guided by the experience of 2011 during which over 800 Nigerians were killed by angry supporters of Buhari who lost to Jonathan in that year’s presidential election, conveners of the peace accord event thought it necessary to take such step in other to forestall a re-occurrence in the 2015 elections productive and destructive. Clear observation reveals that contrary to what obtains in civilised world, where intimidation and coercion do not find place, our own system as far as the APC presidential candidate is concerned, thrives more on intimidation, coercion and violence ostensibly due to his military background. The party itself is intolerant of contrary ideas and that has helped to heat up the polity. An example was the recent saga surrounding his secondary school certificate. While PDP and other Nigerians had wanted him to provide evidence of his having passed through a secondary school and obtaining the school certificate, the opposition party and Buhari chose to see it as a mischief geared towards stopping his ambition. Even the declaration by authorities of the military that his credentials were not in his service file as earlier claimed by him was seen as orchestrated attempt by the PDP to rubbish his presidential pursuit and he went ahead to castigate the party and all those who had genuinely asked him to provide the credentials as a requirement to qualify for the office he is seeking to occupy. Though, his school certificate was eventually tendered to the Nigerian public through the effort of his former college, yet Buhari did it arrogantly as he had all the time to put his curriculum vitae in order before it became public knowledge that he did not submit his

school certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Quite intolerant of the demand for his certificate by the Nigerian public and the PDP, Buhari and APC had invented all manner of hate speeches to castigate Jonathan and bring his name to ridicule such that APC supporters in parts of northern region found it convenient to hurl stones at him during his recent campaign in Katsina, the home state of Buhari. It is evident that in this part of the north where Buhari comes from, PDP members and their supporters are intimidated, with vehicles burnt or damaged which is the direct opposite of what obtained in Bayelsa when Buhari went there to campaign. For the records, General Buhari had gone to Jonathan’s home state – Bayelsa about two weeks ago to campaign. The former head of state, his APC chieftains and their supporters were accorded a warm reception by everybody including PDP supporters. There was no incident of hurling of stones at Buhari or APC officials as was the case in Katsina. Although the APC had promptly condemned the attitude of its stone-throwing supporters, yet such condemnation can only be taken with a pinch of salt as the determination of the supporters to act in such a manner was a product of the party’s culture of intolerance and its flag bearer’s life of intimidation and incivility as exemplified in 2011 prior to and following his defeat in the presidential election of that year. As the 2015 presidential election gathers momentum with the APC trying by hook or crook to upstage the ruling PDP, it is instructive to remind the opposition party that its politics of intolerance has the potentials to re-enact what happened in countries like Rwanda, Kenya and elsewhere. The monumental genocide that saw thousands of Hutsi and Tutsi to their early graves (for example) was a product of intolerant co-habitation and politics that pitched Hutsi and Tutsi in Rwanda and Burundi against each other for years. We certainly do not want to see such a scenario in Nigeria. One would conclude this piece by reminding Buhari and APC as a party that the essence of democracy is for people to elect whoever they want irrespective of ethnic background, religion, sex or otherwise. Nigerians in every zone should be allowed to freely choose and associate with whoever they want to lead them either as president, governor or lawmaker. Choosing a path of intimidation, hate or violence can only lead to destruction which will ultimately favour nobody. • Solukwe is a journalist and writes from Lagos

The antidote to electoral violence Yisa Jemimah Amos

ecently, President Goodluck Jonathan, former Head of State, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (Rtd) and a host of others signed a peace pact as part of efforts to ensure a violence free Nigeria after the 2015 general elections. This act seems to be a welcome development to many. Who feel the pact would frustrate the anticipated possibility of violence in the country, as it were shortly after the 2011 polls. More so, the prediction of the United States of America that Nigeria would break up by 2015, has strengthened the suspicion of many Nigerians that the 2015 elections would be greeted with another blood bath; thus, the pact is a welcome development. However, it is not enough to sign a peace pact without looking deep into solving the problems that resulted in post election violence in the time

past. Election in a democratic setting, is viewed as the sole and most reliable barometer to determine power equation as leaders are determined through the view of the electorate via ballot boxes. But Nigerians believe that their mandates over the years have been defiled and not respected due to series of electoral malpractices and power play where “anointed candidates” are ushered into power by the “political heavy weights” that be in the society, this triggers annoyance from the hapless citizens who helplessly resort to violence on live and property of both government buildings and private properties. This peace pact signed by the presidential aspirants in collaboration with the coalition of all political parties could only be realistic if the political hawks who in so many cases mastermind dreary situation to satisfy their dubious quest for wealth, repent and allow the will of the elec-

torate to rule over the will of political god fathers. Similarly, violence, provocative statements during campaign rally should be avoided and politicians who make such statements should be called to order and punished for such treasonable words. The statement made by the Kaduna State Governor , Mukhtar Ramalan Vero that, “anyone who burns our campaign vehicles, we shall revenge” is an indication that politicians are also stake holders of the act of violence , such utterance should be reversed because it is illogical. The Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), has a big role to play by ensuring that the votes of the people count in this very election , this is the only peace pact that can ensure a violence free election after the February polls. The police should also try their best to ensure that the will of the people prevails by protecting the votes of the electorate from political hawks. Transparency should be ensured throughout the election exercise to con-

vince the people that the result is not manipulated, and people should not be intimidated by heavy military weapons which are supposed to be used in sambisa forest to free the chibok girls. No matter the preaching, not even the Pastors or Imams, Goodluck or Buhari cannot hold the hands of aggressive Nigerians from violence in 2015, if the election is rigged. The most viable tool that can ensure a violence free Nigeria is for all stakeholders to ensure strict monitoring of the election process and guard against rigging and all sorts of malpractices that characterise Nigeria’s elections. By so doing, Nigeria and Nigerians would make history and shall make the whole world proud by conducting a free, fair and violence free election, and that feat would also disappoint the prophets of doom who think our dear country shall breakup by 2015. • Amos sent this piece from Department of Mass Communication, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai, Niger State.

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Looming defections amid campaigns

rom all appearances, civilization remains a work in tedious progress in Nigeria, especially in the nation’s political arena. Ahead of the 2015 general elections one of the most significant defining features of life in this quirky theatre is political defections even as political campaigns intensify. Neither rooted in ideology nor nationalistic convictions, the quest for relevance during this impending milestone poll and beyond appears to be the main driving force behind the recurring defection by the nation’s politicians. Defections, counter-defections and curious somersaults by politicians dot the political landscape. Perhaps, not surprisingly, the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party and the major opposition All Progressives Congress have been more affected. With boring regularity, members of these parties have always justified this morally questionable game by deploying such phrases as “irreconcilable differences and lack of internal democracy in their previous parties” as the bases for their action. What obtains today is in violent contrast with late icons like Sir Ahmadu Bello, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the nation’s founding fathers who were guided by definable ideologies with which

they laid the foundation for the development of their regions and Nigeria at large. Many politicians today quickly defect to another political party once their personal interests and political ambitions are not met in any party. The examples are legion but a few here will help dramatise this strange feature of Nigerian politics which the constitution has provided an enabling hazy lacuna to be easily exploited. Former governor of Kano State, now the Minister of Education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, dumped APC on January 29, 2014 for PDP alongside the former Sokoto State governor, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa. The duo had before then described the PDP as an evil party. The two former governors, among the brains behind the merger of the Action Congress of Nigeria, the All Nigeria Peoples Party and the Congress for Progressive Change to form the APC on February 6, 2013 had often told those who cared to listen, their reasons for defecting to the PDP. The core reason of the mega coalition they cobbled was of course, to wrestle power from the PDP. Announcing his defection after a meeting of stakeholders held in his Kano residence, Shekarau said he left the APC because of the injustice in the party. Though Bafarawa dumped the APC for

PDP a day before Shekarau, he was protesting the emergence of the current Governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko, as the APC leader in the state. The list of defectors is long. While former governor of the crisis-ridden Borno State, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, announced his defection to the ruling PDP, former Osun State Governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola defected to APC. Nuhu Ribadu who embraced the APC when it was formed dumped the party for the PDP, the party he had described as a disaster and a total failure during his presidential campaign in 2011, to pursue his governorship ambition. Tom Ikimi who is perceived to have no particular conviction had also traversed the defunct APP, ANPP, ACN and APC. Former Anambra State governor Peter Obi recently resigned his position as the Board of Trustee Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance under which he was elected governor for two terms of four years each and joined PDP. Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko joined the defection bandwagon when he dumped his Labour Party and joined the PDP. Mimiko also collapsed his political structure under the “Iroko Frontiers” to a platform called “Believe Nigeria, Trust Goodluck” targeted at

leveraging President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election bid next month. We believe that although there is no operative, specific law stopping a politician from moving from one party to the other, there is need to cobble such a law by the parliament. Mere moralizing cannot stop or stem it. The fact that defecting politicians still hold onto the initial mandates they won on the platform of their erstwhile parties hardly lends any respectability to this practice. Added to this retrogressive practice is the emerging political campaign trends which are increasingly verging on the atrocious. Several current examples show that the Fourth Republic can indeed be endangered if political leaders do not properly rein in their unruly hordes. Frequent reports of attacks against different parties speak to the urgent need for caution, especially by both the leadership and followership of political parties. In all, it cannot be denied against the background of provable facts that politics in Nigeria has become largely an economic enterprise and worse often, an ethno-religious project. This unseemly and unprogressive scenario needs and can be changed. This is possible if our fractured political intelligentsia can submit themselves to new thinking with genuine conviction to create a new Nigeria.

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Politics

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Electoral-violence: Rivers APC seeks foreign help CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17

in Rivers State. We call on these and other humanitarian and democratic organisations and institutions to set up high powered election monitoring networks, teams and processes to monitor the election in Rivers State to avert unnecessary bloodbath which may cripple our already weakened economy. “An acceptable electoral outcome is possible in Rivers State but only if the elections are truly free and fair. There cannot be free and fair election if the spate of violence, high

handedness, intimidation and terror is not halted. We pledge to remain law abiding but we shall defend ourselves, our people and their votes by all lawful means.” The party identified electoral violence as the greatest danger confronting the country’s democracy, shortly before it presented a video documentary detailing the attacks of its members and destruction of properties in the state by the PDP. Ikanya particularly lamented that a situation where PDP supporters attack APC members under

the watch of security operatives, was troubling and an attempt by the PDP to win Rivers at all cost. “This is our distress call to all men, women, organisations, nations and people who cherish democracy to intervene before it is too late. It is unimaginable that a president who himself claims his roots from the Niger Delta region and who assumed office on the wings of agitations for equity and justice would permit unprovoked premeditated violent attacks on the same people he hopes to ride on their primordial sentiments to

retain his presidency. “The president’s cavalier attitude to the escalating violence in the state borders on criminal negligence because he knows or ought to know (or in the least remember) the level of arms in circulation and the historical volatility of the state (and region),” the APC state chairman stated. Violence in Rivers He also said that the alleged destruction of lives and property in the state by the PDP, started when the Goodluck Jonathan government deployed the

former Commissioner for Police, Mbu Joseph Mbu, to the state, noting that violence returned fully when Mbu “shamelessly escorted known criminals and outlaws through the streets of Port Harcourt in the guise of a demonstration…” He said: “The PDP having established its machinery for violence now began to unleash mayhem in the form of physical attacks on the APC members, killing and causing grievous bodily harm on our members across the state, destroying properties worth

millions of naira. “It began with a tragicomedy of sorts which held the nation’s attention for several weeks. In the full glare of the nation, five disgruntled and misguided House of Assembly members led by one Evans Bipi, and sponsored by the then Minister of State for Education (both of whom are adopted sons of the president and his wife), in the company of countless thugs, escorted by Mbu’s band of policemen attempted to overrun the State House of Assembly.” Abe said the constitution has given the people of the state the right to join any political party of their choice, noting that they should not be killed for that. “The irrational obsession of the PDP in taking over Rivers State is because of the state’s economic importance to Nigeria,” he said, adding that because of the presence of the First Lady in Okrika, attempts by the party to organise a rally have been futile. He said that known criminals acting as PDP thugs were being released after their arrests by the police, just as he said that soldiers attached to an aspiring senator from his senatorial district a few days ago, almost chased him out of the road for driving while their principal was on the road. Abe, however, while reacting to a question, strongly dismissed the allegation often made by the PDP that the APC was sponsoring violence against itself in order to win the sympathy of voters, saying that such argument should be discarded because it does not make sense for it to deliberately attack its members. For Peterside, while reacting to another allegation by the PDP that his emergence as governorship candidate over Abe has created division in the party, which their supporters are using to perpetuate violence, said such argument was “malicious, unkind, laughable and mischievous,” noting that the bond that holds him and Abe “is a greater Rivers State.” Peterside said he thought that the violence would seize after he, Wike, and Princewill of the LP signed a peace agreement under the watch of the US ambassador to Nigeria, but that the attack on the venue for the party’s rally in Okrika has proved otherwise. A PDP chieftain, however, described the appeal for international help as a “calculated move by the APC to blame its unpreparedness for the election on the PDP.”

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p.22

Adeola Yusuf

the weak crude market works through into gas contracts. “There’s a combination of very low demand and higher supply availability,” a trader said. Traders said that Japanese utility, Tohoku Electric, purchased an LNG cargo for

delivery in the third week of March at a price in the low $7 per million British thermal unit (mmBtu) range. In other tender results, European commodity traders won the lion’s share of a closely-watched tender to supply Egypt with $2.2 billion

worth of LNG, as they work to expand into a business typically dominated by the oil majors. Compounding the issue, Indonesia has 25 uncommitted cargoes of LNG, which may be offered on the spot market CONTINUED ON PAGE 22

The Business Desk Ayodele Aminu

Deputy Editor (Business)

Bayo Akomolafe

Asst. Editor (Maritime)

Sunday Ojeme

Asst. Editor (Insurance)

Godson Ikoro

Asst. Editor (Money Market)

Dele Alao

Industry & Agric Editor

Dayo Ayeyemi Property Editor

Adeola Yusuf Energy Editor

Wole Shadare Aviation Editor

Chris Ugwu

Capital Market Editor

Abdulwahab Isa

he Federal Government’s revenue projection dipped at the weekend as prices of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) fell from $8 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) to $7.20. The Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited, one of Nigeria’s gas marketing companies, which in 2014 paid $1 billion in corporate income tax (CIT) to government for the 2013 financial year, is expected to contribute over five per cent to government’s 2014 revenue projection through its income tax payment to the federation account. Asian spot liquefied natural gas prices for March delivery, however, extended losses as winter demand failed to materialise to the extent hoped, Reuters reported, quoting a trader source. The price of spot LNG fell to $7.20 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) last Friday from $8.00 the previous week. “There’s simply no demand, it’s difficult to even say what the price is because you cannot see bids from the Far East,” a trader said. “There are some opportunistic buyers, but not much else.” Oil prices have shed over 50 per cent since June, under pressure from a glut in supply. The LNG market is facing a similar challenge as new supply comes on stream, while at the same time, the full force of

Finance Editor

Kunle Azeez

Senior Correspondent

Chuks Onuanyin Energy

Nnamdi Amadi Reporter

Johnson Adebayo

Asst Production Editor

L-R: Executive Director, Finance & Strategy, Sterling Bank Plc, Mr. Abubakar Suleiman; Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Kayode Aderainti and Chief Security Officer, Sterling Bank Plc, Mr. Igba Austin Iwar, at the presentation of Police truck and other security equipment by Sterling the Bank to the Lagos State Police Command, at the weekend.

Experts seek NCAA’s policy review on aircraft purchase Wole Shadare

takeholders in the aviation industry have called for the review of policy on aircraft acquisition, particularly for new entrants.

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) Act stipulates a minimum of two aircraft for new entrants. However, experts told New Telegraph that the aviation regulatory body ought to make it compulsory for new

carriers to begin operations with a minimum of four airplanes to guarantee that the airlines remain in operations even whenever they take their planes offshore for mainteCONTINUED ON PAGE 22

Rates Dashboard INFLATION RATE December 2014.........................8% November 2014........................7.9% October 2014............................8.1%

PHOTO: SULEIMAN HUSAINI

LENDING RATE InterBank Rate....................12.57% Prime Lending Rate...........17.93% Maximum Lending Rate...26.83%

EXCHANGE RATE (Parallel as at Jan. 30)

USD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N209 Pounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N298 Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N229

l Foreign Reserves – $34.337bn as at 29/01/2015

Source: CBN

EXCHANGE RATE (Official as at Jan. 30)

USD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N169 Pounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N254.46 Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N195.57

Business | News

BAD POLICY Local farmers in pain as importers of palm oil enjoy reckless waivers from government Bayo Akomolafe

he Federal Government may limit palm oil importation into the country, New Telegraph has learnt. The proposed policy is coming at a time some vessels have been positioned to flood the ports with palm oil this year, even as it emerged that Nigeria has imported N225.66 billion worth of the product in the last three years. A report by the Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (GTBank) in its 2015 macroeconomic outlook also confirmed that government might introduce some restrictions on palm oil. Twenty litres of the commodity is sold at N6, 000 in the Nigerian markets, while one metric tonne goes for N300, 000. The GTBank report said that significant drop in Nigeria’s revenue as a result of the slide in crude oil prices may compel the Federal Government to impose further

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Govt may restrict palm oil import restrictions on certain agricultural products such as nuts and rubber goods. According to the weekly report of ports obtained by our correspondent, two vessels will discharge 23,200 metric tons of the commodities valued at N6.96 billion before the end of this week. Already, MV Champion Spirit has arrived at the Apapa Bulk Terminal Limited of the Lagos Port Complex at the weekend with 5,000 metric tons. Also, Sira berthed on Sunday with 18,200 tons at the same terminal. Between 2012 and 2014, the country has taken delivery of the commodity valued at N218.7 billion, due to short supply in the markets. It was learnt that palm oil importers have been enjoying reckless waivers from government over the years, at the expense of local palm oil farmers. The major exporter of the commodity to the country is Malaysia. Annual palm oil export from Malaysia and Indonesia, the largest producers, is valued at $50 billion in the global market. PZ Cussons, Unilever

Plc and other manufacturing companies use palm oil daily for various productions, but the local production cannot sustain them, leading to importation. It, was learnt that 90 percent of the palm oil being imported is consumed by the food industry, while 10 per cent is used by the non-food industry. The annual consumption of palm oil in the country is 1.2 million metric tonnes. Producers of noodles, vegetable oil, biscuits, chips, margarines, shortenings, cereals, baked stuff, washing detergents and even cosmetics are said to rely on imported crude palm oil. Between 1950s and

1960s, Nigeria was the largest producer of crude oil palm in the world with a market share of 43 per cent. It supplied 645,000 metric tons of palm oil, across the global market annually, but the reverse has been the case in the last seven years. Oil palm is found in Ondo, Abia, Enugu, Anambra, Ogun, Bayelsa, Akwa-Ibom, Ebonyi, Imo, Cross River, Delta, Ekiti, Osun, Oyo, and Rivers states. Record obtained by New Telegraph from Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) revealed that MV Grace berthed at the Apapa Bulk Terminal Limited, Lagos Port Complex in January 2013 to discharge 4,500

metric tons of the commodity. Also, MV Tina Theresa berthed with 4,000 metric tons of the commodity at Josepdam terminal at Tincan Island port in Lagos. In February, some 12,000 metric tons of the commodity were discharged at Josepdam terminal, Tin Island Port by MV Megacore Honami. Also, in 2014, MV Wappen Von Berlin ferried 2,000 metric tonnes to Apapa bulk Terminal, Lagos Port, Apapa. In the last six months, the Lagos Port Complex and Tin Can Port have taken delivery of 101,400 metric tonnes. MSK Belfast was also moored in the same month to discharge 5,000

metric tons of the commodity. Last June, two vessels, MV ThorMargaux and MV Dogmar Theresa, discharged 2,000 metric tonnes at Josepdam terminal in Tin can Island Port and 3,000 metric tonnes at Apapa Bulk Terminal Limited respectively. Also, MV Endelo Swan, berthed with 1,500 metric tonnes in August while 2,700 metric tonnes was offloaded by MV Sea power in September. Shipping experts, Dr Zebulon Ikokide, national president of the Nigerian Institute of Freight Forwarding blamed the government for the importation of the commodity.

FG’s revenue plan dips as LNG price falls CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21

in 2015 and may have to curb production if they cannot be sold quickly, upstream oil and gas regulator, SKKMigas said. Meanwhile, Vitol, Noble Group and Trafigura will supply most of the LNG, with oil major, BP, covering the remainder, traders said. Mexican state-owned utility, CFE, bought eight cargoes, with Trafigura awarded the bulk of the volume, selling seven cargoes, while oil major, BP, sold the remaining cargo. Traders said the Indonesian cargoes added to the already bearish sentiment in the market. A key supply issue in the market was resolved last Friday when Yemen lifted force majeure on LNG deliveries from its Balhaf plant. Production at Norway’s Snoehvit LNG plant continued to be on hold after a gas leak on Tuesday, operator Statoil STL.OL said. Delays in concluding investment decision on Nigeria’s gas project such as the NLNG Train 7, Brass LNG and OKLNG continue to

limit the country’s drive to find new but already crowded LNG market. Echoing some of the precarious challenges of the Nigerian LNG business, the Managing Director/CEO, Nigeria LNG Limited, Mr. Babs Omotowa, at the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (CIPM) conference held recently in Abuja, said the shale gas find and new mega LNG plants in East Africa are threats not made easy by the delayed passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB). He lamented that the NLNG Train 7, which will allow Nigeria to add eight million metric tonnes or 40 per cent to its current production capacity and attract over $12 billion investments is yet to take off years after. The Nigeria LNG project is considered one of the most important economic projects being carried out in Nigeria. The project is a vital part of the Federal Government’s diversification programme and has already generated significant revenues and foreign exchange for the nation.

L-R: President, Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS), Mr. Albert Okumagba; Chairman, HoneyWell Group, Dr. Oba Otudeko and Chairman, Association of Stockbroking Houses of Nigeria (ASHON), Mr. Emeka Madubuike, at a one-day dialogue on “The Capital Market and the 2015 Federal Budget,” in Lagos. PHOTO:GODWIN IREKHE

Experts seek NCAA’s policy review CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21

nance. A former spokesman for Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), Mohammed Tukur, in a chat with New Telegraph, noted that although times are hard, the NCAA needs to raise the bar for carriers in order to sustain their operations and ensure that those coming into the sector are serious players. Many of the airlines have, in the past, ceased operations, albeit temporarily, because these aircraft are brought in for operations almost at the same time. But by regulations, these equipment are taken out of the country at the same time for repairs. The repairs, especially the B, C and D checks, are not done in Nigeria because of lack of aircraft maintenance facilities. It was learnt that a Comprehensive (C) Check on B737 classic and maintenance

in Europe, the United States or in Cairo, Egypt, or Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, costs $1 million. For Next Gen aircraft such as the B737-700/800, the airlines pay $2 million for maintenance. Aircraft maintenance that should have been done in the country but executed abroad has eroded the profit of the carriers. At the last count, Nigeria reportedly lost N23.2 trillion ($150 billion) in capital flight through offshore aircraft repairs due to the non-availability of a functional national hangar. Some aircraft maintenance engineers claimed that lack of MRO facilities had cost the operators and government over $150 billion since the essence of a hangar project was highlighted over two decades ago. However, Deputy General Manager, Public Affairs of NCAA, Sam Adurogboye, told New Telegraph that the NCAA regulation is very ex-

plicit on the issue. He explained that airlines have the choice to wet-lease aircraft for the period of time their airplanes would be out for repairs or maintenance, but not exceeding four months. A wet lease is a leasing arrangement whereby one airline (the lessor) provides an aircraft, complete crew, maintenance and insurance (ACMI) to another airline or other type of business, acting as a broker of air travel (the lessee), which pays by hours operated. The lessee provides fuel, airport fees and any other duties and taxes, among others. The flight uses the flight number of the lessee. A wet lease generally lasts between one month and two years; a shorter duration would be considered an ad hoc charter. A wet lease is typically utilised during peak traffic seasons or annual heavy maintenance checks, or to initiate new routes.

INTERNATIONAL WEEKLY

In collaboration with

Sanctity of Truth

Divorced Catholics’ Standing Reviewed By MICHAEL PAULSON

Mark Garren does not take communion when he goes to church. Sometimes he walks up to the priest, crosses his arms over his chest and touches his shoulders to signal that he is seeking a blessing. More often, mindful of his divorce years ago, Mr. Garren, a 64-year-old from Illinois, remains in his pew, watching as the others in his row move to the front of the church. Pamela Crawford, 46, of Virginia, is having none of that. Twice divorced, she, too, feels judged by her church, but when she goes to Mass, she walks up with the rest of the congregation. “If God has a problem with me taking communion, we’ll sort it out,” she said. Facing millions of divorced Catholics around the world, many of whom express frustration over their status in the church, the Vatican has begun a remarkable re-examination of the church’s treatment of worshipers whose marriages have broken apart. Pope Francis has set in motion a high-level debate about whether and how the church could change its posture toward those who are divorced without altering a doctrine that declares marriage to be permanent and indissoluble. The battle lines are clear: Some high-level church officials, most notably the conference of German bishops, want the church to relax its rules so that divorced Catholics can more fully return to church life, particularly by receiving communion, even if they have remarried. Traditionalists

Continued on Page 27

JABIN BOTSFORD/THE NEW YORK TIMES

Katherine Metres and her fiancé sought annulments.

INTELLIGENCE

Xi Jinping’s crusade raises doubts. PAGE 24

PHOTOGRAPHS BY URIEL SINAI FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Risking Malaria to Find Food Africa’s Poorest Use Insecticide-Treated Mosquito Nets to Catch Fish By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN

BANGWEULU WETLANDS, Zambia — Out here on the endless swamps, Mwewa Ndefi gets up at dawn and starts to unclump a mosquito net. Nets like his are considered one of the cheapest and most effective ways to stop a disease that kills at least half a million Africans each year. But nobody in Mr. Ndefi’s hut, including his seven children, sleeps under a net at night. Instead, Mr. Ndefi has taken his family’s supply of anti-malaria nets and sewn them together to drag the bottom of the swamp ponds for fish. “I know it’s not right,” Mr. Ndefi said, “but without these nets, we wouldn’t eat.” Across Africa, mosquito-net fishing is a growing problem. Hundreds of millions of insecticide-treated nets have been passed out in recent years, arriving by the truckload in poor, waterside communities where people have been trying to scrape by with substandard fishing gear for as long as anyone can remember. All of a sudden, there are light, soft, surprisingly strong nets — for free. “The nets go straight out of the bag into the sea,” said Isabel Marques da Silva, a marine biologist at Universidade Lúrio in Mozambique. “That’s why the incidence for malaria here is so high. The people don’t use the mosquito nets for mosquitoes. They use them to fish.”

WORLD TRENDS

China fails to put a dent in drugs’ rise. PAGE 25

A woman with her children, being treated for malaria in Tanzania. In parts of Africa, including Lake Victoria in Kenya, above, mosquito nets used for fishing may be contaminating fish and water supplies. ONLINE: AFRICA’S UBIQUITOUS MESH

Mosquito nets play other roles in community life. A video and slide show: nytimes.com Search Zambia nets But the unsparing mesh, with holes smaller than mosquitoes, traps much more life than traditional fishing nets do. Scientists say that could imperil already stressed fish populations, a critical food source for millions of the world’s poorest people.

Fistfights are breaking out on the beaches of Madagascar between fishermen who fear that the nets will ruin their livelihoods, and those who say they will starve without them. Congolese officials have snatched and burned the nets, and in August, Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, threatened to jail anyone fishing with a mosquito net. Many of these insecticide-treated nets are dragged through the same lakes and rivers people drink from, raising concerns

Continued on Page 27

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

ARTS & DESIGN

Pluto and Ceres getting their close-ups. PAGE 32

Powerful voice steps into spotlight. PAGE 34

THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL WEEKLY

Sanctity of Truth

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015

O P I N I O N & C O M M E N TA RY

ED I T O R I A L S O F T H E T I M ES

The Shifting Realities in Syria As recently as October, Secretary of State John Kerry of the United States argued that there will never be peace in Syria as long as President Bashar al-Assad “remains the focus of power” there. Even now, American officials continue to insist that any lasting political solution will require Mr. Assad’s exit. But the unsettling truth is that the brutal dictator is still clinging to power and the United States and its allies are going to have to live with him, at least for now. Mr. Kerry seemed tacitly to acknowledge as much recently when he urged Mr. Assad to change his policies, while omitting the usual call for him to leave office. In the last year, the situation in Syria has changed quickly and dramatically. The Is-

lamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, now controls about half the country, while the rebels America counted on to defeat Mr. Assad have become weaker in the face of steady gains by the regime. There seems no chance that Mr. Assad will leave power voluntarily anytime soon or that he will be forced out by the non-ISIS rebels unless the United States intervenes directly, a course President Barack Obama has rejected. Besides, the greater threat now is not Mr. Assad but the Islamic State, especially if it continues to expand in Syria, entices more foreign fighters into its ranks and uses its territory to launch attacks on the West. A recent study by the RAND Corporation, which does research for the American government, says the collapse of

the Assad regime, while unlikely now, would be the “worst possible outcome” for American interests — depriving Syria of its remaining state institutions and creating more space for the Islamic State and others to spread mayhem. This was not the scenario envisioned in 2011 when Syrians staged peaceful protests against Mr. Assad’s government. President Barack Obama and European leaders called for Mr. Assad to resign and pressured him with sanctions. The dictator, armed by Russia and Iran, retaliated with his air force and barrel bombs, fueling a civil war in which some 200,000 Syrians have been killed and countless towns destroyed. Mr. Obama’s approach to the conflict remains the most inchoate element of his campaign

against the Islamic State. While the Americans and Mr. Assad ostensibly share a common enemy, the two parties are not formally collaborating. Yet American fighter planes invade Syrian airspace to bomb Islamic State targets. If the main threat is the Islamic State and the goal is to defeat it, might the West at some point be forced to work with Mr. Assad? The Obama administration says it is training Syrian rebels to assist the United States-led air campaign against the Islamic State, but those fighters will not be engaged for another few months, and there are serious doubts about whether they can ever be effective. Figuring out Syria’s longer-term future is even more complicated. American officials see an emerging interna-

tional consensus on the need for a long-term diplomatic solution between Mr. Assad and diverse rebel groups. There is also interest in United Nations-led cease-fires in local communities like Aleppo that might serve as a basis for a broader peace. But it’s unclear how plausible any of the ideas are. The idea of a capable force of “moderate” Syrians that can overthrow Mr. Assad has proved to be a fantasy. The United States Congress must, of course, have a role in advising how to wage this new war against the Islamic State. But it has shirked its duty, and after months of American military action in Iraq and Syria, it has failed to authorize or even seriously debate how this indefinite war should be conducted.

INTELLIGENCE/MURONG XUECUN

Many top Chinese officials have been arrested or investigated since President Xi Jinping took power, but few of them have been the family members of senior Communist Party founders.

Xi’s Selective Punishment Hong Kong A Chinese government official I know was put under shuanggui, the secretive system of internal Communist Party investigation in which victims are detained, questioned without counsel and sometimes tortured. He was held for several months last year, and he now awaits trial. This midlevel apparatchik in Yunnan Province was responsible for city planning and construction. I don’t know why they targeted him — shuanggui is so opaque. Friends think he was an able official who may have taken a few bribes. But the most probable reason for his travails with the authorities was that his political patron also got in trouble. I don’t know who his political godfather was, but in the last year a tempest has shaken Yunnan and indeed, the whole country. A huge number of top officials have been either arrested or placed under investigation. Some have been driven to suicide. Quite likely this official’s political sponsor was one of these people. Whenever a top official falls, people aren’t concerned about what Murong Xuecun is a novelist and blogger and the author of “Leave Me Alone: A Novel of Chengdu.” This article was translated by Harvey Thomlinson from the Chinese. Send comments to intelligence@nytimes.com.

he has done, but with those he might bring down with him. In the past two years, President Xi Jinping’s anticorruption drive has burnished his reputation with the Chinese media. And some in the international commentariat have also expressed support, and even praise, for Mr. Xi’s campaign. Yet suspicions persist that the crackdown is selective. In my view, the anticorruption push is more of a Stalinist purge than a genuine attempt to clean up the government. Charges are

A purge instead of a real attempt to clean up the government. framed with reference to party regulations, not the law. Investigations are run by K.G.B.-type cadres, not the regular judicial system. China’s media do not report on cases until they are made public, after which there is a barrage of almost identically worded reports used to incriminate the suspect. Most telling of all, the purge has mainly targeted specific party factions, while those groups that support and pledge loyalty to Mr. Xi appear untouched.

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Many analysts say that Mr. Xi’s most important supporters are the so-called second generation reds — descendants of senior Communist Party founders. (Mr. Xi himself is one of them.) This privileged tribe enjoys almost unimaginable power, access to limitless resources and extraordinary opportunities for enrichment. They are seldom investigated. The rule-proving exception, the former Chongqing party chief Bo Xilai fell from grace after a power struggle rather than from the amount of money he embezzled, as the government claimed. (Before Mr. Xi rose to power, Mr. Bo was his most powerful rival within the party.) Even so, the handling of Mr. Bo’s case differed greatly from those of officials cut from humbler cloth, such as Zhou Yongkang, a former high-ranking official without family ties to party elite who is now under investigation for corruption. The waves of arrests during the investigation of Mr. Zhou swept up his family and staff, and extended to the departments and places where he had worked before. To deal with Mr. Zhou, the net was cast wide across Sichuan Province and the oil industry. High officials in China exercise unchecked power (until they don’t). There are few restrictions on their ability to promote their followers, and they can be brazen in accepting bribes. Their departments, their territories — these are their private domains. As the former party secretary of Taian, Hu Jianxue, famously remarked, “When an official reaches my level, he answers to no one.” But in Mr. Xi’s former fiefdoms — before attaining national power he held office in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces — as best I

ALY SONG/REUTERS

can tell not one official above the deputy provincial level has been arrested for corruption. Recently the question was raised in a post on the Internet: Why have no “big tigers” been found in Fujian and Zhejiang? The message was almost immediately deleted. It seems unlikely that Mr. Xi will let this campaign roll on indefinitely. If the investigations of high officials continue into Mr. Xi’s second five-year term, it might suggest personal incompetence. Once Mr. Xi has vanquished any possible perceived threats to his power, he will end it. And when it’s over, Mr. Xi’s followers will revert to their corrupt ways. Yet many Chinese people harbor illusions about Mr. Xi. At a recent get-together, a professor asked me: When Xi Jinping has all the power in his hands, what will he do with it? This professor seemed to think that Mr. Xi might use his authority to guide China toward democracy. But this notion is wishful thinking. For a dictator, power is not a means to an end, power is the end. Mr. Xi’s anticorruption drive has led to the downfall of thousands of corrupt officials, but where are the signs that he will establish a system that safeguards against corruption in the

future? Where is the promise that he might subject his own power or that of his cronies to oversight? A leader who stamps on freedom of expression, basks in the praise of a sycophantic media and fills jails with honest dissenters has no interest in democracy. He is just another dictator. Besides, anticorruption campaigns don’t guarantee real justice. When the government media run reports about cases that are still under investigation and gloat about how severely corrupt officials are being punished, it seems improbable that the accused will get a proper defense. They may well have committed crimes, but they have rights too, even if they have denied them to others. As deputy director of the Hunan Province justice department, Wan Chuanyou oversaw the surveillance and intimidation of rights lawyers. According to the lawyer Cai Ying, in May 2014 Mr. Wan stopped Mr. Cai several times from meeting with someone accused in a shuanggui investigation. Cai Ying asked him: If one day you are placed under investigation, what will you do? Wan Chuanyou answered: How could that possibly happen to me? Five months later, Wan Chuanyou was put under shuanggui.

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THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL WEEKLY

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Sanctity of Truth

WORLD TRENDS

Drug Use Persists Despite Crackdown By DAN LEVIN

BEIJING — Despite the crowds and the risk of arrest, the African man standing outside an Adidas outlet here one recent wintry evening was brazen in his pitch. “Hey man, you want to smoke something?” he asked a passer-by, before offering his wares: cocaine, ecstasy and crystal methamphetamine, all highly illegal in China. The man was but one of several drug dealers who are a fixture in Sanlitun, one of Beijing’s diplomatic districts, just down the block from a police station. Their presence would seem to defy the Chinese government’s ambitious claims of a six-month crackdown on drugs that is underway in 108 cities. The Ministry of Public Security recently announced that the Chinese police had arrested 60,500 suspects on drug offenses and seized more than 11 metric tons of narcotics since the

CHINA STRINGER NETWORK/REUTERS

Harsh drug laws have not curtailed recreational use. A seizure in Guangdong. latest operation, called “Ban drugs in hundreds of cities,” began in October, according to the Xinhua state news agency. But for all the reported successes of China’s expanding antidrug campaigns — which last year included the arrest of celebrities like the son of the movie star Jackie Chan and the burning of 400 tons of methamphetamine ingredients — some question whether the police are winning lasting victories in what the authorities have called a “people’s war.” China’s growing prosperity has turned recreational drug use into an $82 billion annual domestic business, according to the National Narcotics Control Commission. There are 2.76 million drug users registered with the Chinese government, three-quarters of them under 35. Yet even the police admit that such figures convey only a fraction of the drug problem. In October, Liu Yuejin, director general of the government’s anti-narcotics division, estimated the actual number of addicts at roughly 13 million, half of whom are suspected of Chen Jiehao and Becky Davis contributed reporting.

Chinese prosperity fuels recreational narcotics use. using methamphetamine, up from nine percent of addicts who were suspected of using that drug in 2008. “China is facing a grim task in curbing synthetic drugs, including ‘ice,’ which more and more of China’s drug addicts tend to use,” he said, using the street name for crystal methamphetamine, according to the state-run China Daily newspaper. China has some of the world’s harshest drug laws: Those caught trafficking large amounts of drugs can face the death penalty, and the police have the authority to send casual drug users to compulsory rehabilitation centers, which human rights groups say are little more than labor camps. Although heroin is the most commonly used illegal drug among rural Chinese, the country’s booming cities have become major markets for methamphetamine. Drug use also spans the breadth of Chinese society. In December, 41 government officials in the southeastern province of Yunnan were expelled from the Communist Party after failing drug tests. A few months earlier, a 17-year-old girl in the southern province of Jiangxi posted photos on social media of herself and friends snorting ketamine at a nightclub in the province of Jiangxi. She was detained. In some cities, the police allow dealers to operate undisturbed — until they need to fill a quota, according to He Mukun, a former addict and drug counselor in Yunnan. Mr. He said the police in Yunan rarely arrested drug dealers, preferring to use them as informants during crackdowns. “The police think, ‘In the future, when my boss gives me an assignment to catch drug users, what happens if I can’t find any?’ ” he said. “But if a cop knows a drug seller, he can just ask for a bunch of names. You get huge numbers that way.” Indeed, the eye-popping statistics from the Ministry of Public Security appear intended to impress: In a five-month crackdown last year, the police were said to have “totally uncovered” 50,827 drug cases, arrested 56,989 suspects and seized 26.5 tons of drugs, an increase in seizures of 126.8 percent over the same period a year earlier. Despite those numbers, the nation’s drug problem continues unabated. As for drug traffickers higher up the chain, Mr. He suggested that some were politically connected and, thus, protected. “The police usually can’t touch them,” he said.

SAUDI PRESS AGENCY

King Abdullah, right, was a big supporter of Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

As Neighbors Falter in Region, Influence of Saudis Has Grown By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

CAIRO — The rulers of Saudi Arabia trembled when the Arab Spring broke out four years ago. But far from undermining the Saudi dynasty, the ensuing chaos across the region appears instead to have lifted the monarchy to unrivaled power. As a new king assumes the throne in Riyadh, the stability-first authoritarianism that the Saudis have favored is resurgent from Tunis to Cairo to Manama. The Islamists that the Saudis once feared are on the run. The catch, analysts say, is that the ascendance of the Saudis is largely a byproduct of the feebleness of so many of the states around them, including Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Bahrain and Tunisia. The Saudis are propping up the Kingdom of Bahrain, and are fighting to support the government in Baghdad. Billions of dollars from Saudi coffers are sustaining friendly governments in Egypt and Jordan. Saudi-backed militias are fighting in Libya, and Saudi-owned news media provide critical support for the monarchy’s favored factions in Tunisia and elsewhere. The kingdom can claim victories, including the military-installed government in Cairo and the elected government in Tunis. But its efforts have not yielded any sign of stability in Syria, Iraq or Libya. A Saudi-backed transition plan in Yemen has collapsed, leaving rebels supported by Iran in charge of the capital. For an absolute monarchy, Saudi Arabia’s taking the lead in the effort to reshape the region is an unexpected outcome of the Arab Spring. “It is ironic or anachronistic if viewed from outside,” said Gamal Abdel Gawad, a researcher at the state-funded Al Ahram Center for Strategic and International Studies in Cairo, especially if one believes “the region is in urgent need of democracy.” “But the last four years have

testified against that,” he said, “and if the region is most in need of stability, effective governance and resources — all of which Saudi Arabia has — then it makes sense that it would play a leadership role.” King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia died on January 23 with a sense of vindication, analysts and diplomats say. Robert W. Jordan, a former United States ambassador to Saudi Arabia, said that at a social visit to the royal court a few years ago, he had thanked King Abdullah “for not saying, ‘I told you so.’ ” The king merely chuckled. “Because the truth is he has said ‘I told you so’ many times,” Mr. Jordan said. Among the king’s complaints, Mr. Jordan said, were the urgency of the Bush administration’s promotion of democracy, the

The Arab Spring gives a monarchy an unexpected boost. vacuum left when the Americans withdrew from Iraq, the Obama administration’s embrace of the Arab Spring revolts, and particularly the failure to fulfill threats of military action against President Bashar al-Assad of Syria. Like Syria, the Saudis — now led by King Salman — have kept a lid on sectarian tensions between the kingdom’s minority of Shiite Muslims and its Sunni rulers. As the most populous Arab state, Egypt was long considered the de facto Arab leader. But when the revolution that ousted President Hosni Mubarak in 2011 plunged Egypt into turmoil, Saudi Arabia “assumed its responsibilities” as regional captain, Mr. Abdel Gawad said. The Saudi rulers quietly rued the subsequent election of Islamists

from the Muslim Brotherhood. When Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, then a general and a former military attaché to Saudi Arabia, led a military takeover in 2013, Saudi Arabia became his most important sponsor, providing more than $12 billion. Saudi Arabia, along with the United Arab Emirates, is now committed to sustaining Mr. Sisi’s government with billions of dollars in aid. “They are ready to stand behind the Egyptian economy for quite a long time, because the strategic cost of the failure would be even more of a burden if Egypt collapses,” said Mustafa Alani, an analyst at the Gulf Research Center. In addition to Saudi Arabia’s role in Bahrain and Iraq, it is taking a role in hosting American efforts to train rebels fighting Mr. Assad’s forces in Syria. The Saudis’ Al Arabiya satellite network and other regional media outlets provide sympathetic coverage of the anti-Brotherhood factions in every country in the region. And Riyadh is providing indirect support for the anti-Islamist faction fighting for power in Libya, through its client, Egypt, and its allies, the Emirates. In Tunisia, the Saudis contributed financial aid to help stabilize the government and lent public “moral support” to the anti-Islamist leaders, Mr. Alani said, defeating the Islamist party in elections. Saudi Arabia has emerged as a leader because “they were able to stand the storm,” he said. “So now they feel that, ‘yes, you survived, great, but you need to stabilize the environment around you if you want to survive longer.’ ” Still, Toby Jones, a historian at Rutgers University in New Jersey who studies Saudi Arabia, said it was too soon to judge. “They are backing the same cast of characters that landed them in a vulnerable position in the first place,” when the Arab Spring shook the region in 2011, he said. “This just turns back the clock.”

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Rebels Haunted Colombian Childhood HAVANA — A variation of the scene has played out in nightmares I began having as a child. Guerrilla fighters with dirty camouflage uniforms and rifles walk toward me. Their glares are callous. I watch as black rubber boots caked with ESSAY mud advance toward me. I am cornered, trapped. Growing up in Colombia, I imagined being kidnapped by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a Marxist-inspired guerrilla group that has battled the government for over half a century. Yet, on a recent afternoon, I found myself with two members of the FARC at a hotel bar in Havana. “Are you guys by chance Colombian?” I asked meekly, verifying that these were the men who had agreed to meet me. When they nodded, I sat at a table and talked with countrymen I grew up fearing and loathing. Years ago, these men would likely have seen me as fair game to hold for ransom, an embodiment of the class of privileged Colombians they call oligarchs. Years ago, I might have felt relief to see news footage of their bodies left on the battlefield. But this is a new era for Colombians. So I shook hands and ordered a round of beers. A little over two years ago, the first team from the FARC traveled from jungle hideouts to Havana for peace talks with the government of President Juan Manuel Santos. The negotiations here have forced all Colombians to examine a painful past. There is reason to be hopeful: Late last year, the FARC declared a unilateral, indefinite cease-fire that seems to be largely holding, and the Colombian government recently stated its willingness to work toward a bilateral suspension of hostilities as soon as possible. The FARC, with about 7,000 members, is by far the largest insurgency group in Colombia’s conflict. Getting it to disband would go a long way toward ending a cycle of bloodshed that has claimed an estimated seven million victims, including people who have been slain, abducted or displaced. If a peace deal is signed, Mr. Santos has vowed to put it before voters as a referendum. During my first meeting with the FARC members we stuck to pleasantries. I asked to interview Luciano Marín Arango, known by his alias, Iván Márquez, the second-in-command and lead negotiator. A couple of days later, they summoned me. Inside, were two leaders whose faces I recognized from fugitive bulletins: Jorge Torres, 61, known as Pablo Catatumbo, and Felix Antonio Muñoz, 55, known as Pastor Alape. With

ERNESTO LONDOÑO

Cultivating Our Impractical Sides

CHRISTIAN ESCOBAR MORA/EUROPEAN PRESSPHOTO AGENCY

FARC is the largest insurgency group in Colombia’s war. Removing the body of a soldier killed in December. them were two young women. I asked what they had heard from their victims, many of whom have been invited to Havana to offer their accounts. Mr. Muñoz said that the prevailing sentiment during the peace negotiations in Havana is not recrimination. “Despite the pain, the victims have not conveyed hate, but rather an immense desire for peace,” he said. Mr. Muñoz, however, was quick to point out that the people who have traveled to Havana to offer testimony as the two sides map out an accord include victims of government forces and right-wing paramilitaries, which committed some of the most heinous abuses in the conflict. Many FARC members, he told me, have suffered enormously, too. The two women watched me warily. I asked one, who goes by the alias Camila Cienfuegos, how she wound up in the group. As a child, she told me, she dreamed of being a journalist. But in her late teens, she saw no good avenues to get ahead and found in the guerrillas camaraderie and protection. “You see the differences that exist,” said Ms. Cienfuegos, 34. “Some people can go to school, and some people can’t.” Samy Flores, 27, said Colombians are often forced to pick a side. She did so as a teenager. “All that surrounds you is war and suffering,” she said. “If you remain as a civilian, you’re exposed.” I grew up in a house with two maids and attended a private American school where many of my classmates were dropped off in bulletproof cars packed with bodyguards. For years, many wealthy Colombians had the ability to keep the war distant. As a child, I would sometimes ask my father, as he tucked me into bed, how close the nearest battleground was. Four, six hours, he would say, comfortingly. But in fact it was a lot closer. One evening when I was around 9, we were robbed at gunpoint in our house. As heavily armed thieves packed my mother’s jewelry and our electronic appliances into bags, one spotted a framed photo of me, smiling as a 3-year-old, at Walt Disney World. “I also would have wanted my kids to meet Mickey Mouse,” the robber said derisively. The men forced my dad to open a safe at gunpoint, warning

that if he didn’t, they would abduct my 2-year-old sister. During the 1990s, the war crept into the cities. Targeted assassinations of judges and prosecutors became routine. Bombings occurred with chilling frequency. Kidnappings, most carried out by the FARC, were so rampant many Colombians took out ransom insurance. When I finally got an audience with Mr. Marín, the group’s top man in Havana, he showed no remorse for all the kidnappings, though even the FARC has disavowed that tactic. “Retentions,” he corrected me, “were done to support rebellion.” He also brushed aside questions about the group’s role in drug trafficking, which has been well documented. But Mr. Marín did say he had found the testimony of the victims of both sides haunting. “We’ve borne witness to the pain that weighs on many Colombians as a result of this confrontation,” he said. The two sides have reached tentative agreements about agrarian reforms, a long-term approach to curb the drug trade and a political compromise that would allow the guerrilla group to compete at the ballot box. The final and most complex task involves agreeing on who will be punished, and how severely, for abuses committed in wartime, and how to absorb rank-and-file guerrilla members into civilian society. Mr. Marín argues that guerrilla leaders shouldn’t face prison sentences. “We are not going to ask for forgiveness for having taken up arms,” he said. Colombian government officials are struggling to draw up a transitional justice system that strikes the right balance. “Blanket amnesty is out of the question,” the government’s top negotiator, Sergio Jaramillo, said. “There has to be accountability.” Mr. Marín said all Colombians must come together for an “act of collective pardon.” “We need to pledge to a ‘never again,’ ” he said. That night, I lay awake thinking about how anxious I felt as a child. I yearned for the country I left behind as a teenager and thought about how little it still felt like home. I don’t trust Mr. Marín. But our best hope might require having faith in his words.

Bill Hayes saw a girl on a Manhattan-bound subway train one day recently and noticed she was reading a book with a title along the lines of “Becoming LENS a Practical Thinker.” “I had an impulse to tear the book from her hands,” Mr. Hayes wrote in The Times. “Don’t do that,” I wanted to say. “Practicality will not get you where you want to go.” His own experience serves as a guide. He recalled when he first arrived in New York City, he hopped on a train headed for Far Rockaway, which as any New Yorker will tell you is the opposite direction from Manhattan. “But taking wrong trains, encountering unexpected delays and suffering occasional mechanical breakdowns is inevitable to any journey really worth taking,” Mr. Hayes wrote. His career move at age 48 — coming to New York City to try to make a life as a writer — revealed his impractical side. And the more he cultivated that side, he said, the better off he was. “Every life-altering decision I’ve ever made has seemed, at first blush, misguided, misjudged or plain foolish,” he wrote, “and ultimately turned out to be the opposite: every seemingly wrong person I’ve fallen for, every big trip I’ve splurged on, every great apartment taken that I could not realistically afford.” The notion of what is practical, for something as simple as lunch, depends on where you sit. Or work. The media business in New York conducts its affairs over power lunches at Midtown restaurants like Michael’s or the Four Seasons. But for new media companies, influenced by the business ethos of Silicon Valley, a sit-down lunch feels too formal. When Kanyi Maqubela, a partner at Collaborative Fund, decided to invest $500,000 in an education start-up, he met with its founder over food truck pizza in San Francisco, For comments, write to nytweekly@nytimes.com.

took a walk and sat at an outdoor plaza. Lunch at a restaurant would be impractical, Mr. Maqubela said. “It’s harder to pull out a computer and go through an investment deck and a slide show,” he told The Times. The entire meeting lasted about 45 minutes. For transportation in New York, you can’t get much more impractical than a Citroën, as the cars have all but disappeared from the area. But Brian Brandt, who owns a record label for contemporary classic and jazz composers, has been driving Citroëns for 40 years, since he bought a used 1966 DS for $300 when he was 17. A few years ago, Mr. Brandt decided to apprentice as a mechanic under Winsley Thomas, who worked at the company’s headquarters in Englewood, New Jersey, from 1968 until it closed in 1977. Local Citroën owners bring their garage work, but it’s not a lucrative business. “I guess I have two imprac-

Rewarding journeys can start with a misstep. tical businesses,” Mr. Brandt told The Times. “There’s such a lack of return in the record industry, but I still enjoy setting up recording sessions in concert halls.” Like a lot of baby boomers, Kevin Monko, 58, once dreamed of playing music for a living. Life’s practicalities intervened, in the form of a job as a commercial photographer, a wife, children and a move to the suburbs. But on a recent weekend, he was playing guitar at a farmers market outside Philadelphia. Mr. Monko has recorded a CD, and along with a rotating group of mandolin players and trombonists, plays various gigs. “When I am playing music, I can’t get much happier,” he told The Times. “I am lucky enough to get people to play with me in a variety of bands, and we go play in different places, make a little money, and just have a lot of fun.” TOM BRADY

Some people find that their more impractical decisions lead to important discoveries and breakthroughs.

LEAH NASH FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015

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WORLD TRENDS

Risking Malaria In Order To Eat Continued from Page 23 about toxins. Most scientists say the risks to people are minimal, because the dosages are low and humans quickly metabolize one of the most common insecticides used on nets, permethrin. But with coldblooded animals, it’s a different story. “If you’re using freshly treated nets in a smallish stream or a bay in the lake, it’s quite likely you’re going to kill fish you don’t intend to kill,” said Dan Strickman, a senior program officer for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has invested heavily in malaria research and development. The leading mosquito net manufacturers insist that their products are not dangerous. Still, many nets are labeled: “Do not wash in a lake or a river.” When asked about this, Egon Weinmueller, a public health executive for BASF, a major netmaker, said, “We want to avoid any form of contamination.” The full extent of mosquito-net fishing is unknown. “In regards to what we face, it’s an infinitesimal problem, maybe 1 percent,” said Seth Faison, a spokesman for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which has financed the purchase of 450 million nets. But 1 percent would still amount to millions of nets. And one study showed that in several villages along Lake Tanganyika, a body of water shared by four East African nations, 87.2 percent of households used mosquito

PHOTOGRAPHS BY URIEL SINAI FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Some Africans use mosquito nets as fishing nets as well as soccer goals and chicken coops. In Zambia, children separated fish caught with nets that had been treated with insecticide. nets to fish. The World Health Organization says the nets are a primary reason malaria death rates in Africa have been cut in half since 2000. But in poor areas, mosquito nets become many other things: soccer goals and chicken coops, bridal veils and funeral shrouds. For many uses, a secondhand net, which has less insecticide on

it, will do. But for fishing, “new mosquito nets are the best,” said David Owich, who fishes on Lake Victoria. “No holes.” Out on the Bangweulu flood plains of Zambia, a reed basket used to be the primary fishing technology. But the other day, when one of Mr. Ndefi’s neighbors went to check some fish traps, it was obvious why mosquito mesh had replaced it. A trap

made from traditional reeds was empty. The trap next to it, made from a mosquito net, was jumping with tiny silvery fish. “It’s simple economics,” said Carl Huchzermeyer, a fisheries manager in Bangweulu. “You could spend two days making a basket out of reeds, or just use a mosquito net.” Recent surveys show that Zambia’s fish populations are dwindling. Harris Phiri, a fisheries official, blamed deforestation, rapid population growth and the widespread use of mosquito nets. “They are catching very small fish that haven’t matured,” Mr. Phiri said. “The stocks won’t be able to grow.” Anthony Hay, an associate professor of environmental toxicology at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, said fish could absorb some of the toxins in the nets, leaving people to ingest them when they eat the fish.

In most places where people fish with mosquito nets, they tend to be those without boats or even tackle. They work from shore, tugging the nets through shallow waters, precisely where many species spawn, destroying breeding grounds. Amy Lehman, an American physician and the founder of the Lake Tanganyika Floating Health Clinic, wonders if there might be better malaria solutions. “Why is this question not being asked?” she said. “Is it that we don’t really want to know the answer?” For now for Mr. Ndefi, it is a simple, if painful, matter of choice. He knows all too well the dangers of malaria. His own toddler son, Junior, died of the disease four years ago. Mr. Ndefi hopes his family can survive future bouts of the disease. But he knows his loved ones will not last long without food.

Divorced Catholics’ Status Under Review Continued from Page 23 are pushing back, arguing that the indissolubility of marriage is ordained by God and therefore nonnegotiable. In October, bishops from around the world argued about divorce, among other topics, at a synod on family issues; this October, a larger group of bishops will meet for a second Vatican synod at which they will decide whether to recommend changes. The decision of whether to act will be up to Francis. Helen Alvaré, a law professor at George Mason University in Arlington, Virginia and a former spokeswoman for the American bishops, said the indissolubility of marriage is a Catholic essential, “a key to the entire Roman Catholic cosmology — our understanding of the world, God, our relationship with him and our relationship to one another.” But, she added, questions about the place of divorced worshipers in the church fit into a larger context of uncer-

tainty for those who do not fully live out the church’s ideals. “There’s a lot of divorced Catholics out there, and have we let these sheep wander without reaching out to them?” Ms. Alvaré asked. The church does offer a solution for some: Apply for an annulment. Local priests make these determinations based on church

Women face a tribunal of men in seeking annulment. laws that allow annulments for reasons like mental illness and a “grave defect of discretion of judgment concerning the essential matrimonial rights and duties.” Some divorced Catholics praised the annulment process.

Katherine Metres, 42, a writer in Washington, D.C., said, “The priests said, ‘We want to help you come to terms with your marriage.’ ” But now her fiancé is having trouble getting an annulment, and the couple is frustrated. Many said the process was intrusive and costly. Francis addressed those concerns recently when he told church judges, “I would like all marriage processes to be free of charge.” Then, at a conference on annulments, he said the proceedings are “often perceived by spouses as long and wearisome.” Women in particular expressed unhappiness at feeling interrogated by church tribunals. “You’re dealing with an abusive husband who is male, and then you have to go to a male to get the annulment, and a bunch of males sit at a table and decide whether your decision was correct,” said Denise Stookesberry, 58, of St. Louis, Missouri. “It certainly alienated me as a woman.”

MELISSA LYTTLE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

When Andrea Webb remarried without an annulment, a priest said her status was akin to that of an adulterer. Andrea Webb, 47, of Palm Harbor, Florida, stopped going to church after deciding she would be able to get an annulment only if she criticized her ex-husband in ways that were not truthful. “Everyone can say, ‘Go get another flavor of soda if you don’t like this one,’ but I don’t want to be Methodist or Lutheran,” she said. For many others, the church

makes too many demands for re-entry to church life. “I was married — I entered into it with the right ideas, and to say different would be a lie,” said Carol Trankle, 72, of Rapid City, South Dakota, who stopped going to church 40 years ago. “I consider myself a Catholic to this day,” she said. “I just can’t participate.”

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North Koreans Seduced By Soaps From South By CHOE SANG-HUN

SEOUL, South Korea — As a math professor in North Korea, Jang Se-yul was among the nation’s relatively privileged classes; he got to sit in special seats in restaurants and on crowded trains. Then he risked it all — for a soap opera from South Korea. This television temptation was “Scent of a Man,” about the forbidden love between an ex-convict and his stepsister. A graduate student offered him the bundle of banned CDs smuggled into the North. Mr. Jang and five other professors huddled in one of their homes binge watching until dawn. They were careful to pull the curtains to escape prying eyes. But they were caught anyway and demoted to manual labor at a power plant. Mr. Jang said they most likely escaped prison only because they paid bribes, but facing a lifetime of social stigma — and having had a glimpse of

Sneaking visions of comfort to inspire viewers. the comforts of South Korea in “Scent of a Man” — he decided to defect. He now leads a defectors’ group that sends soap operas and other entertainment to the North to help inspire people to demand an end to authoritarian rule. “I am sure these soaps have an impact on North Koreans, and I am the proof,” he said. “In the future, if they spread, they can even help foster anti-government movements. That’s why the North Korean authorities are so desperate to stop them from spreading.” The decidedly lowbrow dramas — with names like “Bad Housewife” and “Red Bean Bread” — have become a cultural Trojan horse, sneaking visions of the bustling South into the tightly controlled, impoverished North. South Korean intelligence reported hearing that North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, was so shaken by the spread of

the soaps that, in the fall, he ordered the execution of 10 Workers’ Party officials accused of succumbing to the shows’ allure. The infiltration of the dramas into even elite circles is a potent indication of the challenges Mr. Kim faces in a globalized world. (The arrival in the North of bootleg copies of “The Interview,” the comedy North Korea viewed as an “act of war,” is another.) South Korea’s soap operas have found audiences worldwide, including in the United States and in such unlikely places as Cuba. Some people credit their emotionally charged plots; others the enviable fashions that are part of the “Korean Wave.” A study by Seoul National University’s Institute for Peace and Unification of 149 recent defectors showed that more than eight in 10 had been exposed to South Korean movies or songs before fleeing the North. But most of them lived in areas close to China, where it is easier for smugglers to maneuver, and it is unclear how widely such entertainment has spread. Still, the defectors say that the soaps are a potent tool for exposing North Koreans to the outside world after years of mixed results from official psychological warfare that included shortwave radio broadcasts and propaganda messages blared over the border from loudspeakers in the South. For some North Koreans, the emotional tug of the soaps was powerful enough to change their lives, forever. Defectors say the soaps have had an outsize impact, less for their often outlandish plots than their portrayals of the creature comforts of South Korea. It was those portraits of wealth, Jeon Hyo-jin said, that inspired her to make the dangerous decision to flee in 2013 at the age of 18. “The kitchens with hot and cold tap water, people dating in a cafe, cars clogging streets, women wearing different clothes each day — unlike us who wore the same padded jacket, day in day out,” said Ms. Jeon, who lives in Seoul. “Through the dramas, I learned how strange my own country was, how full of lies.”

JEAN CHUNG FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Jang Se-yul, who defected after viewing a South Korean soap, sends DVDs of the shows back to the North.

SANI MAIKATANGA/ASSOCIATED PRESS; BELOW, FLORIAN PLAUCHEUR/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES

In Nigeria, Fear Lifts Ex-General By ADAM NOSSITER

KADUNA, Nigeria — Boisterous crowds packed the streets for the retired general, while young men climbed lampposts to glimpse his gaunt face. Others danced on careening motorcycles, brandishing homemade brooms, symbols of his campaign. With Nigeria’s presidential election only weeks away, Boko Haram’s unchecked rampaging here in the country’s north is helping to propel the 72-year-old general, Muhammadu Buhari, to the forefront. After ruling Nigeria with an iron hand 30 years ago, Mr. Buhari is now a serious threat at the ballot box. “The state is collapsing and everybody is frightened,” Jibrin Ibrahim of the Center for Democracy and Development said of Boko Haram. He added: “A lot of people are frightened that these people can take over the whole country. So a lot of people are saying, ‘Give Buhari a chance.’ ” A Buhari victory over President Goodluck Jonathan would be a rare upset for an incumbent in a country where petrodollars have long flowed and the presidency has great latitude to distribute them. But oil prices have crashed; attacks on schools, markets and entire villages continue unabated; and Nigeria’s army has been thoroughly incapable of stopping Boko Haram, which now controls portions of the northeast. Maiduguri, the major city in Nigeria’s northeast, came under attack from Boko Haram on January 25. “They are becoming more and more sophisticated by the day,” said Kashim Shettima, the governor of Borno State, of which Maiduguri is the capital. “We have to solve it; it’s the first problem of the country,” Mr. Buhari said recently about the battle with Boko Haram. The campaign has become a fight between Buhari partisans in the mostly Muslim north and supporters of Mr. Jonathan in the largely Christian south. Mr. Buhari’s tenure as Nigeria’s military ruler was brief: a 20-month stint in the 1980s, ended by another military coup. Yet it is remembered with trepidation by many Nigerians. His

Boko Haram’s gains have pushed some Nigerians to back the former general Muhammadu Buhari, above, at a rally.

self-proclaimed “war against indiscipline” was carried to “sadistic levels, glorying in the humiliation of a people,” wrote the Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka. Mr. Buhari forced tardy civil servants to perform frog jumps, jailed journalists for critical articles, and expelled tens of thousands of immigrants, blaming them for the country’s problems. The current president and his party, which has held power since military rule ended more than 15 years ago, have made this past a central part of Mr. Jonathan’s re-election strategy. Fullpage newspaper ads suggest that Mr. Buhari is eager to introduce

With army losses, a leader known for discipline returns. Shariah law all over the country. But Mr. Buhari’s supporters are far more interested in the instability shaking the north. Many of them turned out in this northern metropolis recently for a glimpse of the general. Hadiza Bala Usman, the main campaigner for the return of more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram last spring, was waiting for the general at the airport here. Nine months after their abduction, the girls remain missing. “The resources meant for the military don’t go to the military; the bullets and boots don’t go to the soldiers,” Ms. Usman said. “And what is happening to security, you see it in all the sectors.”

“The support we’re giving” to Mr. Buhari “is for ending the insurgency,” she added. A retired general in the crowd, Alhassan Usman, who is not related to Ms. Usman, agreed, expressing anger that Boko Haram had gained the upper hand over Nigeria’s soldiers. “The issue is lack of discipline,” he said. Mr. Buhari stood as ramrod straight as he had in the days when he rose in a coup against Nigeria’s fledgling, but corrupt, democracy. After taking power, he soon instituted what he called his attempt to straighten out a chaotic nation. He is expected to do particularly well in the Muslim north. Still, his campaign faces stiff obstacles. Tens of thousands of people in northern Nigeria have been displaced, and many of them will be unable to vote in the February 14 election. Mr. Buhari spoke only briefly to the packed stands in a downtown stadium, vaguely promising greater security, prosperity and better education. It was his presence, and an implicit promise of austerity and military action, that the crowd seemed to want. Though supporters insist he will knock out the Islamists, the retired general is far more cautious. “We have to see the whole picture,” Mr. Buhari said. “We’ll ask them to brief us, one by one. Why haven’t they been performing?” He focused on the individual failures in confronting Boko Haram — the misspent money, the lack of weaponry for the soldiers, their lack of motivation for the fight — rather than on an overall condemnation of the army. His jaw muscles tightening, he said, “This is not the Nigerian Army I knew.”

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MONEY & BUSINESS

Boeing and Airbus have enough orders to stay busy for eight years. A Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Jet Makers May Feel Pinch From Oil Prices By NICOLA CLARK

PARIS — Sharply falling oil prices are a boon to airlines, saving billions of dollars in monthly fuel bills for a highly competitive industry that last year eked out an average profit of just $6 a passenger. But what is good news for the airlines raises questions for the world’s largest jet makers, Boeing and Airbus, which have been riding a wave of demand for the latest fuel-efficient jets, driven in large part by the high price of oil. The concern is that the current drop in oil prices could prompt airlines to delay orders, after nearly a decade in which the aircraft makers have benefited from a boom in orders. “What has propelled the market to record growth are two factors: cheap cash and expensive fuel,” said Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst with the Teal Group in suburban Washington. “Now something has changed.” If the fall in the price of oil continues, airlines would be motivated to keep their older, fuel-guzzling jets flying for a few more years and delay new orders in hopes of saving money.

The total backlog of unfilled orders for Boeing and Airbus stands at more than 12,000 aircraft, valued at close to $2 trillion and enough to keep their assembly lines humming for more than eight years. And orders kept coming in last year. Airbus said recently that it secured purchase contracts for a net 1,456 jets last year, down slightly from 1,503 planes in 2013, and that it delivered 629 in 2014. And Boeing recently reported 1,432 net orders in 2014, up from 1,355 a year earlier, and 723 plane deliveries for the year — an industry record. Boeing and Airbus each control roughly half the market for airliners with more than 100 seats. Gains in fuel efficiency have topped the manufacturers’ lists of selling points for their newest generation of commercial jets. They include recently upgraded versions of short-range workhorses like the Boeing 737 and the Airbus A320, as well as lightweight, wide-bodied models made from carbon fiber like the Boeing 787 Dreamliner or the Airbus A350. Weaker growth, in addition to

PHOTOGRAPHS BY STUART ISETT FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Airlines’ need for fuel-efficient planes grows less urgent. the influx of new planes and a flood of new low-cost players in the air travel market, has already translated into a glut of available airline seats in parts of Asia, driving down ticket prices there. “You are beginning to see the effects of overcapacity on airline profitability,” said Nick Cunningham of Agency Partners, a brokerage firm in London. “You can’t keep on adding capacity without bankrupting the industry,” Mr. Cunningham said. Falling oil prices may exacerbate the overcapacity problem by tempting airlines to lower fares in an effort to increase market share, said Adam M. Pilarski of

Avitas, an aviation consulting firm in Virginia. That not only reduces the cash that airlines have available to pay for new planes they have ordered, he said, but also increases the odds that financially shaky carriers will delay or cancel orders — or not survive long enough to take delivery of their jets. “Manufacturers know that when they sell a plane today for delivery in nine years, by then the environment might change,” Mr. Pilarski said. “The airline may change its mind, or it might not even be in business anymore.” Airbus filed a lawsuit in December against Skymark, a struggling Japanese budget carrier that canceled a $2 billion order for six A380 superjumbo passenger jets in July. Airbus’s claim, filed in a British court, seeks unspecified damages. Any prolonged slowdown in the overall replacement rate could put the brakes on Boeing

Sex-Themed Magazines Tilt Artistic By RAVI SOMAIYA

Pornography used to mean Playboy or Penthouse or another of the hundreds of glossy magazines kept on high shelves and purchased furtively. In the not too distant past, Playboy and Penthouse each sold five million or more copies a month, and were so much a part of the culture that in 1986 an American judge ruled that denying blind people a Braille version of Playboy violated their rights. But traditional pornographic magazines have fallen victim to boundless quantities of nudity online and rapidly declining print sales. Last summer, Larry Flynt, the founder of Hustler, acknowledged that the print version of his magazine was not going to be around much longer. A newer breed has taken their place in specialty magazine stores and independent booksellers. About a dozen newer sexthemed magazines, often with predominantly female editorial staffs, are blending nudity with art, fashion and philosophy. They

In print, editors say nudity just isn’t enough anymore. include Adult and 25 from New York, Irène from Paris and Extra Extra out of Rotterdam. Though they remain focused on the naked body, these magazines are seeking to move sex in print periodicals from under the mattress up onto the coffee table. In stark contrast to online pornography, with much of it free, these niche publications sell for a premium — often more than 17 euros, or $20 — to thousands of people, or tens of thousands, rather than millions. Playboy, which at one time once sold almost six million copies a month in the United States, now sells about a million, according to the Alliance for Audited Media.Penthouse, which sold nearly five million copies, now

sells about 100,000. The biggest of the newer magazines, a French publication called Lui, has sold as many as 350,000 copies in France. Despite their relatively small audience, the magazines are influencing the direction of the pornography industry, according to Theo Sapoutzis, chief executive of the trade organization Adult Video News. “They have an elegant style,” he said. Sarah Nicole Prickett, one of Adult magazine’s founders, said, “The difference between porn and erotica is the lighting,” quoting the former sex actress Gloria Leonard. Ms. Prickett and Berkeley Poole said that in founding Adult they sought to create an atmosphere very different from online pornography or the sex advice in women’s magazines like Cosmopolitan or digital dating apps like Grindr and Tinder, which ask you to swipe images. Adult, for example, recently published an account of a straight man’s youthful dalliance with homosexuality. There are

and Airbus delivery rates, analysts said. A study published last year by Ascend, an aviation consultancy based in London, found that about 50 percent of all new jet deliveries over the past five years had been for replacement purposes rather than growth. Plane makers, though, are showing few signs of concern. Darren Hulst of Boeing said airlines will still need new aircraft “to continue to grow and take advantage of the tailwinds in the operating cost environment.” Fabrice Brégier of Airbus said that with oil prices impossible to predict, airlines would be wise to keep buying aircraft with lower fuel consumption. But he also emphasized that Airbus could weather any decline in orders. “We have almost 6,400 aircraft in the backlog,” Mr. Brégier said. “So we could, in principle, even sustain no orders for three to four years.”

Berkeley Poole, far left, and Sarah Nicole Prickett, founders of Adult magazine.

RAMSAY DE GIVE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

photographs by John Edmonds, an employee of a public library in Washington who takes nude portraits of young men, some of whom he knows, and others whom he persuades to be photographed. The magazine’s sex columnist, Chelsea G. Summers, is in her 50s rather her 20s. A print magazine “has the power to make you stop and look at an image and consider it,” Ms. Prickett said. In Europe, Frédéric Beigbed-

er, a French novelist, recently revamped Lui. Mr. Beigbeder, the editor in chief, said he was modeling it after Playboy in its heyday, when it was known, in part, for featuring writing by the likes of Saul Bellow, Vladimir Nabokov and Joyce Carol Oates. “We chose to do something very glamorous, very high society,” he said. “It is a tribute to the ’60s and ’70s. That was the big era for Playboy.” At Casa Magazines, a store in New York packed from floor to ceiling with almost every imaginable incarnation of the printed word, traditional pornographic magazines used to be big sellers. Now, instead of stealth buyers seeking only nudity, the store gets unapologetic browsers of magazines like Adult and Treats, a similar publication based in Los Angeles, said Mohammed Imran, a store employee. “Mostly,” he said, pointing toward a stack of the newer kind of magazines, “they buy these ones for the photography.”

THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL WEEKLY

Sanctity of Truth

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015

MONEY & BUSINESS NEWS ANALYSIS

Where Inequality Is Declining By EDUARDO PORTER

SANTIAGO — Chile is a stellar performer by almost any standard. Income per person has grown fourfold over the last quarter-century and many Chileans see their nation as within shouting range of the advanced industrial world. Yet the shanties outside this Andean capital are a reminder that Chile has not shaken the curse that has plagued Latin America for centuries: an immense gap between rich and poor. According to the World Bank, the richest 10 percent of Chileans capture $42 out of every $100 worth of disposable income. In Spain, where the median income is 30 percent higher than in Chile, the comparable figure is $25. “We have not managed to break the growth model that produces dynamics of exclu-

What’s behind a region’s shrinking income gap? sion,” said Juan Carlos Feres, president of the Overcoming Poverty Foundation here. Even so, Chile, like much of Latin America, is one of the few places where the income gap is shrinking rather than widening. Using the “Gini index,” researchers from Tulane University in New Orleans, the World Bank and the United Nations Development Program found that income inequality was lower in 2012 than it had been in 2000 in 16 of the 18 Latin American countries for which there was data to track the trend. The index ranges from 0 in an egalitarian utopia where everybody earned exactly the same, to 100 where one person held every penny. The income gap shrank in countries run by left-leaning populist governments, like Venezuela and Argentina, and countries run by mar-

ket-friendly governments to their right, like Peru and Colombia. While scholars can point to programs contributing to the narrowing gap in some countries — the increase in Brazil’s minimum wage or the expansion of pensions in Argentina — nobody quite understands what is driving the regionwide dynamic. Latin American leaders have started to congratulate themselves for the accomplishment. But the improvement might be a symptom not of success in fighting poverty but of economic vulnerability. Government redistribution appears to have played some role in reducing the income gap. But Nora Lustig at Tulane and her fellow researchers concluded that new government transfers and changes in pensions accounted for only 30 percent of inequality’s decline. Most of the action appears to have happened in the job market. It could be a result of Latin America’s “massive” increase in the supply of university-educated workers, lowering graduates’ wage premium, said Jaime Ruiz-Tagle of the University of Chile. He also said he fears that the decline has to do with a drop in the demand for skill. China’s need for raw materials pushed up the value of currencies in the region even as its cheap manufactured exports undercut Latin American countries’ weak industrial base, reducing their demand for skilled workers. “In this case, the fall of inequality would be bad news over the long term,” said Augusto de la Torre of the World Bank. “We would be specializing in sectors that require less knowledge.” The World Bank argues that the only viable long-term path is to invest in more skill-intensive industries. That makes sense. But in doing so, Latin America may have to join the rest of the developed world in confronting the challenge of achieving growth without widening the income gap further.

VICTOR RUIZ CABALLERO/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Income inequality plagues Latin America, but the gap is shrinking in many countries. Shanties in Santiago, Chile.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY JASON HENRY FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Lending Formula Relies on Web By STEVE LOHR

SAN FRANCISCO — When bankers of the future decide whether to make a loan, they may look to see if potential customers use only capital letters when filling out forms, or at the amount of time they spend online reading terms and conditions — and not so much at credit history. These signals about behavior — picked up by sophisticated software that can scan thousands of pieces of data about online and offline lives — are the focus of a handful of start-ups that are creating new models of lending. No single signal is definitive, but each is a piece in a mosaic, a predictive picture, compiled by collecting an array of information from diverse sources, including household buyinwg habits, bill-paying records and social network connections. “We’re building the consumer bank of the future,” said Louis Beryl, chief executive of Earnest, one of the new lenders. Yet the technology is so new that the potential is unproved. Also, applying data science to consumer lending raises questions, especially for regulators who enforce anti-discrimination laws. None of the new start-ups are consumer banks in the full-service sense of taking deposits. Instead, they are focused on transforming the economics of underwriting and the experience of consumer borrowing — and hope to make more loans available at lower cost for millions of Americans. Earnest uses the new tools to make personal loans. Affirm, another start-up, offers alternatives to credit cards for online purchases. And another, ZestFinance, has focused on the relative niche market of payday loans. They all look past customers’ credit histories to what the tools of data science, or big data, have to say. The new technology, proponents say, makes for more accurate assessments of creditworthiness, which will broaden the lending market and reduce the cost of borrowing. Major banks, credit card companies and Internet giants are studying the upstarts and their techniques — and watching for the perils. One danger is that the

Employees at Earnest, which offers personal loans based on nontraditional factors. Top, how a customer uses capital letters may help him get credit from Affirm. software could end up discriminating against certain racial or ethnic groups without being programmed to do so. “A decision is made about you, and you have no idea why it was done,” said Rajeev V. Date, a venture investor and former banker. “That is disquieting.” Affirm of San Francisco began its credit card alternative for online purchases in July and is on track to lend $100 million during its first 12 months. More than 100 online merchants are now using its installment loan product, Buy With Affirm. Next up, the company says, will be student loans. These are the first steps in a larger plan. “The long game is to

Big data instead of credit history in making loans. use data and software to chew up and revolutionize the financial ecosystem,” said Max Levchin, chief executive of Affirm and a founder of PayPal, the leading Internet payment service. Mr. Beryl of Earnest got turned down for a loan to pay for education expenses when he was getting both an M.B.A. and a public policy degree at Harvard University. By then, Mr. Beryl had worked for a few years on Wall Street. As a graduate student, he was adding to a résumé that screamed earning potential. The lesson he took from the loan rejection was that traditional banks take a narrow view of

loan applicants. Earnest was founded in 2013, and began lending last year. In 2014, its loans reached $8 million. The typical Earnest loan is for a few thousand dollars, though they can range up to $30,000. Many of the loans are for relocation expenses and for professional training. So far, Earnest’s borrowers are mainly college graduates, ages 22 to 34. “The most mispriced group in the loan market is financially responsible young people,” Mr. Beryl said. Ananta Pandey, 22, used a loan from Affirm in August to buy an $850 mattress from Casper, an online retailer. Ms. Pandey graduated last year from Barnard College in New York, where she majored in computer science, and she now works as a software engineer in the city. The mattress was for a move into an apartment that she shares with three roommates. Ms. Pandey has only one credit card that she got not long ago, and it has a low limit. The setup costs for the apartment were a temporary spike in her expenses, and the Affirm loan, Ms. Pandey said, gave her financial flexibility. Ms. Pandey appreciated the “very seamless” process. Affirm asks borrowers for their cellphone number, their name, date of birth and the last four digits of their Social Security number. Affirm then asks the applicant to reply to a text message, to authenticate the person’s identity. Affirm makes the underwriting decision almost immediately. The entire process is generally completed in two minutes or less.

THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL WEEKLY

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015

Sanctity of Truth

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Making the Cells and Tissue Bigger, to Get a Better Look By JOHN MARKOFF

A new laboratory technique enables researchers to see minuscule biological features, such as individual neurons and synapses, at a nearly molecular scale through conventional optical microscopes. In a paper published recently in the journal Science, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said they were able to increase the physical size of cells and tissue by as much as five times while still preserving their structure. They call the new technique expansion microscopy. By extending the resolving power of conventional microscopes, scientists can glimpse the protein structures that form ion channels and the outline of the membrane that holds the genome within a cell. The researchers have examined minute neural circuits, gaining new insights into local connections in the brain and a better understanding of larger networks. The maximum resolving power of conventional microscopes is about 200 nanometers. (A human hair is about 500 times wider.) In recent decades, scientists have struggled to push past these limits. Last year, three scientists received a Nobel Prize for a technique in which fluorescent molecules are used to extend the resolving power of optical microscopes. But the technique requires specialized equipment and is costly. With expansion microscopy, Edward S. Boyden of the M.I.T. Center for Neurobiological Engineering and his colleagues were able to observe objects originally measuring just 70 nanometers in

ED BOYDEN, FEI CHEN, PAUL TILLBERG/MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Through expansion microscopy, scientists can get a detailed three-dimensional image of a mouse hippocampus. cultured cells and brain tissue through an optical microscope. They were also able to produce super-resolution animations in which the viewer “flies” through a detailed three-dimensional image of a mouse hippocampus. “We hope we have a technology that will allow you to scan the nervous system of entire animals,” Dr. Boyden said. The idea began as a joke, according to Dr. Boyden. But he and two graduate students realized it might be feasible after exploring the work of Toyoichi Tanaka, who

Fluorescence and gels multiply a microscope’s power. discovered a class of “intelligent” gels that respond to stimuli such as water. One of those materials is a polymer widely used today in diapers, which absorbs 200 times to 300 times its mass in water. The researchers realized it was per-

fect for forcing biological tissue to swell. The researchers apply fluorescent dye to the sample. Then they infuse the tissue with the chemical building blocks of the polymer. The blocks form the polymer inside the tissue, which is then chemically “chopped up” so it can be enlarged. Then, just add water. The tissue expands, and the tiny structures traced in fluorescence burst into view. Expansion microscopy may permit scientists to create three-dimensional models of

A Sweet Challenge For Food Detectives

Much Chinese honey reaches the United States via other countries. A beekeeper near Qinghai Lake, China.

By PETER ANDREY SMITH

SAVANNAH, Georgia — There are three vials filled with a sticky, yellowish substance here at the United States Customs and Border Protection’s laboratory. Honey, or so an importer has claimed. The task: Determine whether the samples are adulterated with sweeteners or syrups, and, if they really are mostly honey, figure out where it originated. If the honey comes from China, often the case, the entire shipment may be subject to additional taxes. Honey has been a focal point for the lab and the source of a long-running international food scam — known as honey laundering — that has challenged even the existing forensic technology. Some 70 percent of the honey consumed in America is imported. In 2001, the Commerce Department enacted a stiff tariff on Chinese honey after American producers complained that Chinese competitors were dumping their products on the market. Then, honey imports from other countries spiked, including from nations not known for large

The mystery: Is the honey real, and where is it from? bee populations. According to the American Honey Producers Association, Malaysian beekeepers, for example, have the capacity to make about 20,000 kilos of honey annually, but the country has exported as much as 17 million kilos of honey to the United States in a year. In an effort to stanch the flow of illicit honey, chemists here have tested thousands of samples from ports across the Southeast. In 2008, the lab demonstrated with about 90 percent accuracy that honey imported from Thailand, the Philippines and Russia had originated in China. Robert Redmond and Christopher Kana, two of the lab’s chemists, recently took a honey sample and added an acid to digest it. The result looked like muddy water.

large areas in the brains of animals, making it possible to map biological processes from one region to the next. And the technique may reveal the structures of individual proteins, structural detail inside cells and other biological features in near-molecular detail. Dr. Boyden said the imaging technique will not directly capture dynamic processes in the brain, but it may make it possible to gain insight into brain function by taking samples before and after events.

XIAO LU CHU/GETTY IMAGES

Scientists recently have demonstrated that subtle chemical variations in many foods, including honey — undetectable to the tongue or the naked eye — can give a strong indication of where it originated. The lab’s analytic work depends on these geographic “tracers.” Once a sample is diluted, the liquid is pumped into a device called a mass spectrometer. Inside, a nebulizer turns the sample into a fine mist over heated argon, a process that yields a distinct signature of trace elements. The spectrometer can measure chromium, iron, copper and other elements to several parts per quadrillion. Each combination reflects the composition of soils: The elements were taken

up by flowering plants and foraged by bees. Soils vary by region, and by statistically comparing the presence of some 40 different elements to a reference database, the Customs agency scientists can ascertain the probable origins of samples. At first, the detection of transshipped honey relied on a simple test for an unapproved antibiotic, chloramphenicol, discovered in Chinese honey. Carson Watts, former director of the lab in Savannah, said the Chinese quit using it when “word got out.” Around 2006, some importers appeared to be cutting honey with high-fructose rice syrup or disguising cheap, pure honey as an artificial blend. (At the time,

the import duty applied to artificial blends that were more than 50 percent honey by weight.) The problem? Reliably determining the ratio of rice syrup to honey is nearly impossible. “An importer could present goods to Customs and say, ‘This is 90 percent rice syrup, 10 percent honey,’ and Customs really has no way of knowing,” said Michael J. Coursey, a lawyer who has represented American honey producers. In 2011, the government accused three companies of importing millions of dollars’ worth of rice fructose blend that was mostly honey. The importers said the product was less than 50 percent honey. The scientists in Savannah produced evidence that pollen in the blends showed the substance to be mostly honey. But defense lawyers challenged the research on scientific grounds. The case was dismissed. The most sophisticated chemical analysis may have its limits. But for the moment, the food detectives are undeterred. Mr. Redmond said, “If it’s honey from Malaysia, then we’re testing for China.”

THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL WEEKLY

Sanctity of Truth

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

The Case for Letting Children Have Freedom By JANE E. BRODY

Lenore Skenazy, a New York City mother of two, earned the nickname “America’s Worst Mom” after reporting in a newspaper column that she had allowed her younger son, then 9, to ride the subway alone. The criticism she endured, including a threat of arrest for child endangerment, intensified her desire to encourage parents to give their children the freedom they need to develop self-confidence and resilience. One result was the publication in 2009 of her book “Free Range Kids: How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children (Without Going Nuts With Worry).” A second result is the Free Range Kids Project and a 13-part TV series, “World’s Worst Mom.” In it, Ms. Skenazy rescues children from parents’ overprotectiveness by guiding the children through a sequence of

Despite a drop in dangers, parents remain afraid. once-forbidden activities and showing the parents how well the children do. Parents who subscribe to Ms. Skenazy’s approach include Danielle and Alexander Meitiv in Washington. The couple made news recently after allowing their children — Rafi, 10, and Dvora, 6 — to walk home alone from a local park. The children were stopped by the police, and the family is now under investigation by a social agency. In the first episode of “World’s Worst Mom,” 10-yearold Sam’s mother won’t let him ride a bike (“she’s afraid I’ll fall and get hurt”), cut up his own meat or play “rough sports” like skating. The plea from Sam: “I just want to do things by myself.” In an interview, Ms. Skenazy said, “Having been brainwashed by all the stories we hear, there’s a prevailing fear that any time you’re not di-

rectly supervising your child, you’re putting the child in danger.” The publicity given to crimes has created an exaggerated fear of the dangers children face if left to navigate and play on their own. But Peter Gray, a psychologist at Boston College, said: “The actual rate of strangers abducting or molesting children is very small. It’s more likely to happen at the hands of a relative or family friend. The statistics show no increase in childhood dangers. If anything, there’s been a decrease.” Dr. Gray, author of “Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life,” said, “If children are not allowed to take routine risks, they’ll be less likely to be able to handle real risks when they do occur.” His college’s counseling office has seen a doubling in emergency calls in the last five years, “mainly for problems kids used to solve on their own,” like being called a bad name by a roommate. In the past, children made up their own games and acquired important skills in the process. “In pickup games,” Dr. Gray said, “children make the rules, negotiate, and figure out what’s fair to keep everyone happy. They develop creativity, empathy and the ability to read the minds of other players.” Dr. Gray links the rise in childhood depression and anxiety to the decline in free play among young children. “Young people today are less likely to have a sense of control over their own lives and more likely to feel they are the victims of circumstances, ” he said. Children today spend many more hours indoors than in years past, which in part accounts for the rise in childhood obesity and Type 2 diabetes. As Ms. Skenazy put it, “if parents truly believe children must be supervised every second of the day, then they can’t walk to school, play in the park, or wake up Saturday morning, get on their bikes and go have an adventure.”

JOYCE HESSELBERTH

FROM ABOVE: NASA; GEORGE SHELTON/NASA; GARY I. ROTHSTEIN/EUROPEAN PRESSPHOTO AGENCY

Closing In on Two Dwarf Planets By KENNETH CHANG

Small and round, it was once a planet but is now cast off as too diminutive. In March, a spacecraft from NASA, the American space agency, will arrive there to begin the first close-up examination of a dwarf planet. It is not Pluto, but Ceres, 965 kilometers wide, the largest of the asteroids between Mars and Jupiter. “We’re going to reveal the fascinating details of a giant world of rock and ice,” said Marc Rayman, the chief engineer for NASA’s Dawn spacecraft. Later, the bigger dwarf planet Pluto will have its close-up when NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft zips past. These missions are expected to uncover clues about the origins of our solar system. They will also rekindle the debate over what constitutes a planet. The encounter phase of the New Horizons mission officially began on January 15, 180 days before the spacecraft’s closest approach. New Horizons, launched in 2006 on a 4.8-billion-kilometer trip to Pluto, has begun photographing it. Pluto’s demotion from planethood in 2006 left fuzzy notions of what a planet is. The International Astronomical Union, which is in charge of nomenclature, invented a category, dwarf planets, to place Pluto and Eris, an object discovered a decade ago. Confusingly, the group decreed that dwarf planets — Ceres was promoted from asteroid at the same time — were not planets. S. Alan Stern, the principal investigator for New Horizons, calls the current definition stupid. “They got it really wrong,” he said. Marc W. Buie, a member of the New Horizons team, agrees with Dr. Stern but wishes the issue would go away. “You have to get past this wall of this nonscientific issue before you get to the good things,” he said. And there are plenty of good things for scientists to figure out. Why did Pluto, which had had a consistent reddish hue since Clyde Tombaugh spotted it in 1930, suddenly turn redder from 2000 to 2002? How many moons circle Pluto? For decades, astronomers knew of one moon, Charon, but the Hubble Space Telescope has spied four more: Hydra, Nix, Styx and Kerberos.

The spacecraft Dawn, above and in a rendering, top, will examine Ceres; New Horizons, lifting off in 2006, is photographing Pluto.

Dr. Buie said the color change could be the result of the northern pole now being in continual sunlight, burning off the shiny veneer. Even the question of Pluto’s size does not have a precise answer. Dr. Buie said estimates of Pluto’s diameter range from 2,300 kilometers to 2,340 kilometers. “I’m interested in seeing every single result, every measurement, every byte of information that’s going to come out of that spacecraft,” Dr. Buie said. When Ceres was discovered, in 1801, it was added to the roster of planets. Within six years, three more objects were spotted in the region — Pallas, Juno and Vesta. But as astronomers found more and more, they thought it was ridiculous to call every one a planet. The rocks became asteroids, not planets. Almost no one cared much that Ceres was round and not a planet until round Pluto suddenly became a nonplanet. The common notion of planet is “a big thing orbiting the sun.” The International Astronomical Union attempted to codify the “big” aspect by stating that a full-fledged planet “has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit,” while a dwarf planet needs only to be large enough that its gravity has pulled it into a roundish shape. But even those

who liked the notion underlying the “cleared the neighborhood” clause — essentially that a planet is the gravitationally dominant object in its orbit — said the astronomical union did not explain it very well. “It’s trying to be right, but it’s written terribly,” said Michael E. Brown, the California Institute of Technology astronomer who found Eris, setting off the events culminating in Pluto’s demotion. Dr. Stern and Christopher T. Russell, the principal investigator for the Dawn mission, focus more on the intrinsic properties rather than gravitational interactions. Vesta, which Dawn studied, has some planetlike features, although it is shaped more like a potato than a sphere. “If all of the scientific community starts referring to Vesta and Ceres and Pluto as planets, then eventually everyone will come along,” Dr. Russell said. “We’re going to let the bodies speak for themselves.” Many Pluto fans advocate eliminating the “cleared the neighborhood” requirement. That would add Pluto and Ceres, and two other icy worlds discovered beyond Neptune by Dr. Brown — Haumea and Makemake. Dr. Stern goes further. If a planet is defined by its physical properties, not its dynamical ones, then anything round but not a star is a planet. “Some of them orbit other planets,” he said. “Get over it.”

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015

THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL WEEKLY

Sanctity of Truth

STYLES

Mansions Get Bigger, Leaving Los Angeles in the Dust By PETER HALDEMAN

At the end of a narrow, twisting side street rises a knoll that until recently was largely covered with scrub brush. Now the hilltop is sheared and graded, and construction has begun. When it is finished, a modern compound of glass and steel will rise two stories, encompass several structures and span some 8,360 square meters. It will be someone’s home. In an article titled “Here Comes L.A.’s Biggest Residence,” the Los Angeles Business Journal said the house, with an estimated sale price “in the $150 million range,” will feature a cantilevered tennis court and five swimming pools. “We’re talking 200 construction trucks a day,” fumed Fred Rosen, a neighbor who used to run Ticketmaster, a computerized ticketing company, and is a member of a homeowners alliance. “Then multiply that by all the other giant projects.” Nearly a million cubic meters of this hillside have been taken out. He added: “What happens when the next earthquake comes? How nuts is all this?” By “all this,” he means not just the house with five swimming pools but the ever-expanding number of houses the size of Hyatt resorts rising in the most ex-

pensive precincts of Los Angeles. Built for the most part on speculation and bestowed with names as assuming as their dimensions, these behemoths are transforming once leafy and placid neighborhoods into dusty enclaves carved by retaining walls and overrun by dirt haulers and cement mixers. In Mr. Rosen’s neighborhood, ground was recently broken on a roughly 7,000-square-meter Mediterranean mansion for a citizen of Qatar. And Mohamed Hadid, a prolific and high-profile developer, is known for two palaces that measure 4,460 square meters each: Le Palais in Beverly Hills, which has a swan pond and a Jacuzzi that seats 20 people, and Le Belvédère in Bel Air, which features a Turkish hammam and a ballroom for 250. Le Belvédère was reportedly purchased by an Indonesian buyer, and Le Palais sold to a daughter of President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan. Jeffrey Hyland, a Beverly Hills developer, said the market for these Versailles knockoffs is “flight capital.” “It’s oligarchs, oilgarchs, peo-

ple from Asia, people who came up with the next app for the iPhone,” Mr. Hyland said. While global wealth is pouring into other American cities as well, Los Angeles is still a relative bargain, he said, adding: “Here you can buy the best house for $3,000 a square foot. In Man-

GARY HOVLAND

hattan, you’re looking at $11,000 a square foot and you get a skybox.” Speculators are tapping the demand, snapping up the best lots, bulldozing whatever is on them and building not only domiciles but also West Coast “lifestyles.” There’s the dream house of Abdulaziz bin Abdullah bin Ab-

dulaziz al-Saud, of Saudi Arabia. Mr. Abdulaziz purchased a Spanish colonial residence in Benedict Canyon from the movie producer Jon Peters, tore it down, and submitted plans to build a 7,900-square-meter estate. Neighbors like Michael Ovitz, a founder of the Creative Artists Agency, promptly started a drive to stop him. (Mr. Ovitz — whose trophy house, a contemporary villa cum art museum designed by Michael Maltzan, measures 2,600 square meters — was able to persuade the prince to downsize slightly after pointing out that two of the structures he planned to build looked down on his backyard.) As the number of Los Angeles’s buildable lots dwindles and land values soar, houses that are out of scale with their surroundings are popping up everywhere. City ordinances intended to keep building sizes proportional to lot dimensions are riddled with loopholes. “We weren’t even aware of how much development had been approved over the counter,” said Paul Koretz, a City Councilman who has introduced measures to limit exemptions, develop more

Global wealth overwhelms a city known for excess. proactive inspections and require environmental reviews for certain homes over a certain size. For now, perhaps neighbors fed up with months of construction should remember that things could be worse. In hilly Trousdale Estates, out-of-control construction trucks killed two Los Angeles police officers in eerily similar accidents last year. Another truck in the same area struck two parked cars and flipped over, dumping eight metric tons of hot asphalt onto the front lawn of Eric Kranzler, a talent manager whose midcentury modern home was recently featured in Architectural Digest. Such incidents haunt Mr. Rosen, who said he gets several emails a day from neighbors complaining about menacing trucks. Still, when it comes to the largest residential building project in the city, he tries to maintain a sense of humor. “I tell people we got upset about it,” he said, “because I didn’t get the gift shop concession.”

Where the Children Are Spoiled, by Design By JULIE TURKEWITZ

AURORA, Colorado — It was a day out at the spa for Paige Ehresman and her closest friends. Manicures. Makeup. And gossip — about second grade. The spa industry has begun to cater to children in a big way. In most major American cities, there are now day spas for children, offering massages, facials and other treatments for girls (and sometimes boys) too young to have had their first pimple. “I feel like the best princess in the world,” said Paige, who celebrated her seventh birthday at Sweet and Sassy, a national chain of spas with cosmetologists specially trained to work with children. After the beauty treatments, Paige and her guests walked down a red carpet and disap-

peared into a hot pink limousine, which took them for a spin around the parking lot. One 6-year-old guest documented the revelry in a series of selfies. These sanctuaries of luxury proudly pamper their charges, wrapping them in custom-size robes, suggesting oil rubs for heels worn rough by barefoot play, and lifting clients onto massage tables when they are too small to do it themselves. On the high end, the “kids’ treatments” menu at the Beverly Wilshire spa in Beverly Hills, California, charges $50 for a 15-minute “princess facial,” which includes “a facial cleanse and massage.” For the mass market, there is the $30 Orbeez Luxury Spa at Toys “R” Us, a toy that looks like a pedicure station in which girls can immerse their feet in

PHOTOGRAPHS BY ERIN HULL FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Sophie Park, 7, got a pampering at a Sweet and Sassy spa, an American chain that caters to the young. After being pampered, children can take a ride in the spa’s pink limousine. ONLINE: FACIALS ‘R’ US

A video and more images of the Pampers set being pampered: nytimes.com Search kid spas

tiny gel-filled balls. Madeline Levine, a child psychologist and author, called the child spa “the worst idea ever.” But Paige’s mother, Kari Ehresman, 33, said she was thrilled to be able to treat the girls to a day of playful pampering. “They do deserve something special,” said Ms. Ehresman, who paid about $400 for the party. Paige and her 8-year-old sister, Makayla, had

begged for beauty treatments, but Ms. Ehresman had found her own adult spa to be inappropriate for them. Most child spas make their money on birthday party packages. At one New York-area chain, Seriously Spoiled Salon and Spa, parties cost $500 to $3,000. Christine Carter, the author of “Raising Happiness: 10 Simple Steps for More Joyful Kids and Happier Parents,” cautioned parents against sending their offspring to places where they are told, “We’re going to treat you like a Kardashian.” But Lynne McNees of the International Spa Association said,

“Let’s get them early, and get those really good habits.” At Sweet and Sassy in Aurora, parents and daughters had plenty of praise for the experience. “I feel reeeeeeeally relaxed,” said Peyton Ruddell, who had just turned 10. Nearby, Ken and Jen Brown raved about the manicure their toddler, Faith, 3, got as a birthday treat. As Faith scooted her diapered rear out of her seat, Mr. Brown, 41, said they had arranged a ride for her in the limousine. And after that? “Well,” he said, “we want to get her potty trained.”

THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL WEEKLY

Sanctity of Truth

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015

ARTS & DESIGN

Talented Voice Gives Old Songs New Life By JON PARELES

NASHVILLE, Tennessee — It’s probably a safe bet that on a recent afternoon at the Soundcheck rehearsal studio complex, only Studio D held a band playing a replica of an 1858 fretless minstrel banjo and two sets of bones, the handheld percussion instrument, in a medley of tunes at least 150 years Rhiannon old. Giddens That would be the band led by Rhiannon Giddens. She has been celebrated on the folk circuit as a member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, dedicated to the tradition of the African-American string bands of the 1920s and 1930s. The group’s 2010 release, “Genuine Negro Jig,” won a Grammy for best traditional folk album. But now, Ms. Giddens is releasing her debut solo album, “Tomorrow Is My Turn,” on February 10. Her producer, T Bone Burnett, was also behind Americana blockbusters like the Alison Krauss-Robert Plant collaboration, “Raising Sand.” He said that Ms. Giddens has “a pretty profound gift.” She flinched at the idea of being a star. “As my mom always said, you never do anything for money, power or prestige,” she said. “I believe that. This is a calling.” That calling is to give old songs new life. “What’s really interesting to me,” Ms. Giddens added, “is to have a connection to what was going on in the past, but to make it a living thing.” For many, her emergence is overdue. Along with Chocolate Drops fans, those would include people who saw her in “Another Day, Another Time,” the 2013 concert and documentary revisiting the 1960s folk revival, and those hearing her in 2014 as a member of the New Basement Tapes, writing songs with rediscovered Bob Dylan lyrics alongside Elvis Costello, Jim James, Marcus Mumford and Taylor Goldsmith. Ms. Giddens and her band worked through material gathered from Nina Simone, Dolly Parton, the gospel pioneer Sister

By JOHN ANDERSON

“Timbuktu,” the latest feature from the veteran Mauritanian filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako, is hardly a comedy. But the film’s Muslim jihadist invaders, who subject the title city to their own perversion of Shariah law, are not only oppressors but also buffoons. They obsess over soccer but forbid that it be played; they ban smoking and sneak cigarettes. They stone adulterers to death and lust after other men’s wives. Their rules are arbitrary and unending. For Mr. Sissako, depicting your enemy as ridiculous renders him impotent. But he says that what’s equally important, especially for a humanist artist, is representing the world as it is — hapless, stu-

Rosetta Tharpe and the mysterious blueswoman Geeshie Wiley. On her album, the old songs are remade with modern resources and twists. Ms. Giddens, Dom Flemons and Justin Robinson started the Carolina Chocolate Drops after they met at the Black Banjo Gathering, a 2005 convention in North Carolina devoted to the African-American string-band legacy. In the group, whose lineup has changed, Ms. Giddens takes turns on lead vocals with the other band members, a setup she preferred. Mr. Burnett noted: “It’s good to have other people around her to absorb the blows. But in her case, it seemed like she was being, I won’t say wasted, but underutilized.” Although Ms. Giddens grew up in North Carolina, a wellspring of country-blues, the music she heard at home was the folk-revival catalog of Peter, Paul and Mary, and Joan Baez. When she got serious about singing, she turned to opera, earning a degree in vocal performance. She was drawn to string-band music when she went to a contra dance while at Oberlin College in Ohio, expecting English country dances. Instead, she found rural American old-time music. She took up the banjo and fiddle. She also delved into the Celtic side of Appalachian tradition. And she found time to explore Native American singing and to visit Gambia to study the akonting, a centuries-old West African ancestor of the banjo. In a way Ms. Giddens brings back an archetype of the folk revival: the opera-trained singer taking up traditional songs, like Marian Anderson and Odetta. But at 37, Ms. Giddens is also a musician of the Internet era. She embraced the song “Tomorrow Is My Turn,” originally from Charles Aznavour, after seeing a riveting YouTube clip of Nina Simone singing it in London. “You can interpret it as me saying, ‘Tomorrow is my turn,’ like I finally get to have a solo record, but it actually has nothing to do with that,” Ms. Giddens said. “I was watching her and just thinking this was the soundtrack for her.”

LISETTE POOLE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

The artist Kadir López of Cuba uses gangster mugshots as a reference to capitalism.

Cuban Artists Expect Buyers By VICTORIA BURNETT

HAVANA — Kadir López was working in his studio at his elegant home here when the doorbell rang. It was the actors Will Smith and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. “I had no idea they were coming,” said Mr. López, whose work incorporates salvaged American signs and ads that were torn down after Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution. About an hour and $45,000 later, Mr. Smith had bought “Coca Cola-Galiano,” a 2.4-by-1.2-meter Coca-Cola sign on which Mr. López had superimposed a 1950s photograph of what was once one of the most bustling commercial streets in Havana. A year later, Mr. López is still happily incredulous. “Where else in the world does Will Smith turn up on an artist’s doorstep?” he said. Now more collectors, art connoisseurs and institutions are eagerly gearing up to travel to Cuba after President Barack Obama’s decision to loosen the American economic embargo. Here they will find an art scene where artists who have been cut off from supplies and the Internet have at the same time been celebrated by international buyers whose curiosity and determination brought them to Cuba long before talk of a thaw. Cuban artists — from the most established to those still studying at the Higher Institute of Art — receive visits from institutions like the Museum of Modern Art and from intellectuals who travel to Cuba on “people-to-people” trips that are permitted under the embargo. “The phenomenon is very unusual,” said Carlos Garaicoa, a

photographer and sculptor who splits his time between Havana and Madrid. “I doubt it happens anywhere else.” That pipeline of art lovers is about to grow, predicts Alberto Magnan, whose New York gallery Magnan Metz specializes in Cuban art. Mr. Magnan received 25 calls from collectors on December 17, after President Obama announced that the two countries would move to restore diplomatic ties. He is now booked through March with Cuba visits. Steve Wilson, a Louisville, Kentucky-based collector with Mr. Magnan in Havana, bought eight pieces, with price tags be-

Artists could travel, but few are known outside Havana. tween $1,500 and $15,000 at the Fábrica de Arte Cubano, in a converted factory. Mr. Wilson, a founder of 21c Museum Hotels, which house contemporary artworks, said he hoped the diplomatic opening would allow him to organize residencies for Cuban artists in the United States and vice versa. “I love the fact that more people will be able to come and see this work,” he said. Since the 1990s, the Cuban government has given extra freedom to artists, allowing them to travel and keep much of their income. Jonathan S. Blue, a Louisville

In ‘Timbuktu,’ the Jihadist as Clown pid and hypocritical, perhaps, but also complicated. “To portray a jihadist as simply a bad guy, who does not in any way resemble me, who’s completely different, that’s not completely true,” Mr. Sissako said. “The jihadist is also other things” — like a soccer fan, perhaps. “He’s also a fragile being. And fragility is an element that can make anybody tip over into horror.” The movie, which recently received an Oscar nomination for best foreign language film, is lushly photographed, poetic and, like much of Mr. Sissako’s work, imbued with elements of fable.

Filming took place in Mauritania because of a suicide bombing in Timbuktu, Mali, at the time. A tent-dwelling family on the desert outskirts of the city is drawn into violence not so much through direct contact with the Muslim fundamentalists but by the tensions that their fierce repression creates, including the flogging of musicians, the destruction of art and the prosecution of romantic love. As remote as Timbuktu is in the Western mind, the film has a political immediacy sharpened by the recent extremist attacks in Paris and Boko Haram’s

massacres in Nigeria. Mahen Bonetti of the New York African Film Festival said that “Timbuktu,” which is in wide release, casts no judgments. “He lets the viewers come in and make their own decisions,” she said. “It’s very nuanced but simple enough that anyone can understand it.” Critics appear to agree. Stephen Holden of The New York Times called it “a breathtakingly beautiful, heartbreaking study of a settled tribal culture overrun by jihadists.” Mr. Sissako, a Muslim, said it was important for people to stop

financier who has a dozen Cuban pieces whose prices ranged from $2,500 to $300,000, said he would return to Cuba for the fifth time. “I think the time between seeing a piece I like and the decision to purchase will be decreased,” he said. Mr. Blue’s Cuban works include a vinyl record made of coiled eight-track cassette tape by Glenda León, and two pieces by Alexandre Arrechea, including “Sherry Netherland,” a steel sculpture of the New York apartment hotel. While Cuban artists enjoy the attention of foreign art lovers, few islanders have the income to buy art, said Adrián Fernández, 30, who set up a studio in 2013 with fellow artists Frank Mujica, 29, and Alex Hernandez Dueñas, 32. After receiving free nine-year art educations, they are now examples of the contradictions facing artists: The three, whose works sell for between $500 and $8,000, are represented by a Belgian gallery, Verbeeck-Van Dyck. Their studio is in a house in an upscale neighborhood — they got a deal from a divorcing couple, though they wouldn’t say how much they paid. But they have to bring everything they need, from track lighting to canvasses, from abroad. And, Mr. Fernández confessed, “We are all still living with our parents.” Sandra Levinson of the Center for Cuban Studies in New York said that as more collectors go to Cuba, the artists will become less accessible. “They can’t spend all their time meeting foreigners” who drop in, she said. “They have to be able to find time to work.”

perceiving themselves as straitjacketed by a clash of cultures, to move forward as one and to reject the “absurdity” of jihad. One of the more memorable scenes in “Timbuktu” involves boys playing soccer without a ball in the hope of escaping the iron justice of the jihadists. The idea arose from bans imposed by the Timbuktu jihadists on activities from soccer to singing. “This is forbidding something you can’t forbid,” he said. “If you forbid someone to sing, he’s going to sing in his head; he will sing lullabies in the ear of his child.” Mr. Sissako said he decided to film the game without a ball “to show resistance.” “That was important to me,” he said. “Art must be optimistic.”

Business | Money Line

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015

TASK Effective and errorfree operation of the account will boost IGR Godson Ikoro

he design and operation of the newly introduced Treasury Single Account (TSA), an e-collection account system is simple and efficient to enable numerous people paying into government accounts through banks do so seamlessly. The Director, Banking and Payment Systems Department, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dipo Fatokun, gave this assurance while speaking on e-collections and cashless society at a sensitisation

Why banks must embrace Treasury Single Account, by CBN workshop for banks in Lagos last weekend. He assured the banks that the sensitisation workshop was to ensure that the system worked very well, procedures made efficient and simple so that operators and payers would be clear about this when paying to government. He said: “The biggest chunk of those that will use the facility are not even the MDAs; you can count the number of MDAs, but it may not be easy to count the number of payers bank customers who will have to use this system, in paying to government, so it

must be simple for them to understand and to be efficient.” Lauding the digitised collection, Fatokun said the benefits derivable from the cashless policy and e-collection is the increase in government’s internally generated revenue even as government has a firmer grip on the economic policy and control of inflation. He cited the examples of Lagos and Ogun states, whose internally generated revenue increased as soon as they adopted the cashless policy to buttress his point. According to him,

when they introduced the Lagos State revenue circle management, there was an increase in the collection and it grew annually at an average of six per cent, but after the pilot of the cashless policy started in 2012, it grew by 10 per cent, which was quite substantial. Similarly, Ogun State started the pilot scheme in 11 state -owned tertiary institutions in response to revenue leakages in the institutions. At the end of the first three months, they reported revenue of N2.5billion, which is about 195 per cent increase in the first

Enterprise Bank begins Moneygram ‘Naija Send’

n a bid to serve its customers better, Enterprise Bank Limited has commenced MoneyGram “Naija Send,” an outbound money transfer services from Nigeria with MoneyGram International. MoneyGram “Naija Send” enables walk-in and existing customers enjoy the opportunity of sending money abroad on the MoneyGram International platform.

The product, according to a statement from the bank, is designed for everybody and has proven to be a convenient means of meeting personal financial needs. Such needs include payment of school fees, pocket money and other educational expenses for parents who have children schooling abroad. Under this service, money is sent in naira but received in the currency

of the receiving country. This eliminates the risk attached to carrying physical cash in transit while travelling abroad. For additional security, money sent from Nigeria cannot be received in Nigeria. With its introduction, customers can now walk into over 150 branches of the bank across the country to receive or send money to their loved ones in over 200 countries. This establishes Enterprise

Bank firmly as a Send and Receive Agent of MoneyGram International. A statement from the Corporate Communications Department of the bank said this was one of the many ways Enterprise Bank Limited, which is currently undergoing a business combination with Heritage Bank Limited, positively impact the lives of customers both in Nigeria and in the Diaspora.

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

N14,737,618.7m N16,509,472.5m 8 0.0000 12 10.899 7.96 17.01 US$109.9 US$42,604,781,796.6

Description

TTM

4.00% 23-Apr-2015 13.05% 16-Aug-2016 15.10% 27-Apr-2017 16.00% 29-Jun-2019 16.39% 27-Jan-2022 10.00% 23-Jul-2030

1.21 2.53 3.22 5.39 7.98 16.47

Tenor (Days) Call 7 30 60 90 180 365

Rate (%) 11.9167 12.3333 12.6667 12.9167 13.2167 13.5000 13.7500

NIBOR

Dec, 2013 Dec, 2013 Dec, 2013 2/5/2014 1/20/2014 11/6/2013 Dec, 2013 Dec, 2013 1/20/2014 2/5/2014 Source:CBN

FGN Bonds Bid Price 90.20 99.25 104.10 109.35 114.15 76.60

Offer Yield 13.01 13.40 13.47 13.49 13.44 13.59

Price 90.35 99.40 104.40 109.65 114.45 76.90

Tenor (Months) 1 2 3 6 9 12

Rate (%) 12.1827 12.2737 12.3744 12.8521 12.8535 13.8443

Treasury Bills Maturity Date 08-May-14 07-Aug-14 22-Jan-15

Bid 12.10 12.10 12.05

Bid Spot ($/N) 163.28 THE FIXINGS –NIBOR,NITTY and NIFEX of February 6,2014

NITTY

Yield 12.86 13.33 13.35 13.42 13.38 13.53

Money Market Offer 11.85 11.85 11.80 Offer 163.38

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

Rate (%) 11.33 11.63

NIFEX Spot ($/N)

Bid 163.4000

Offer 163.5000 Source: FMDQ

quarter of 2011, with no increase in school fees and number of students. While noting that the issuance of online receipt, the transaction defining appropriate procedures for refunds for over collection, as part of the sensitisation programme, he sought the cooperation of banks and stakeholders, stressing that the Federal Government ecollection would succeed. He said that the apex bank was aware that in any system, like the e-collection, there were bound to be issues; but that if the mechanism to redress the complaints was not in place, people would lose trust and confidence and would not want to use the system again. Also speaking at the workshop, the representative of the Accountant General of the Federa-

tion, Mr. Susarumso Jared, said that the ecollection processes were a flipside of e-payment. On his part, the Managing Director and Chief Executive of System Specs, Mr. John Obaro, gave insight on how the remita platform works, stressing that it was an integrated solution for e-collection, e-payment, e-invoicing, e-billing and e-scheduling. Earlier in her welcome address, Deputy Director and Head, Banking Services Division of Central Bank of Nigeria, Mrs. Margaret Ogundana, gave an insight on the sensitisation workshop. Citing the work of various committees set up to articulate and execute the project since 2013, Ogundana said that the project climaxed when it went live on January 1.

Gunners’ promo winners praise Sterling Bank  SMAA winners receive $15,000 prize

inners of the Sterling Bank Gunners promo, Messrs. Oseni Tajudeen Adekunle and Segun Oghe John, who travelled to London last weekend to watch the match between Arsenal and Aston Villa at the Emirates Stadium, courtesy of the lender, have commended it for its role in the development of sports in Nigeria. The duo also described their experience in the UK as unique and indelible. The two winners, who spoke from the Emirates Stadium before the match last Sunday, stated that the initiative was capable of attracting foreign clubs and other sports related businesses to take more interest in the development of sports in Nigeria through strategic partnership with Sterling Bank. According to Sterling Bank, the two winners are among the five picked at the promo draw held at the Sterling Towers, the bank’s corporate head office in Lagos, to watch the Arsenal versus Aston Villa match. The three, who could not make the trip due to personal reasons, are Oduntan Femi Abimbola, Tamunokubie Tamunobarao and Obi Blessing Uwachukwu. They will be compensated by the bank in like sum. In all, 30 winners will

emerge from five draws making it six winners per draw. An excited Oseni, who spoke with journalists at the Emirates Stadium, said: “The experience is wonderful. Setting my eyes on the players as they arrived in the stadium and seeing the best manager in the world, Arsene Wenger, is wonderful.” Oseni, who noted that he did not open the account just for the purpose of being selected for the draws, also commended the bank for a flawless arrangement of the trip. “The entire process was flawless. Right from the head office of the bank from where we took off to the airport, the arrangement was superb. The bank had also put in place adequate arrangement for accommodation, feeding and transportation, which made live very easy.” Meanwhile, the winners of the Social Media Award Africa have received $15,000 as prize money from Sterling Bank Plc. The prize money was handed over to the winners at the SMAA presentations tagged: “Night of Virtual Wonders” designed to reward excellence among social media practitioners in the African continent. Each winner went home with $1,000.

Business | Stock Watch

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Vono Products: Harsh milieu stifles profit Share price movement of Vono Products Plc

TOUGH TIME Cost of production slows growth rate

2014

Chris Ugwu

he manufacturing industry has continued to grapple with a mixture of positive and negative challenges despite the fact that some other sectors of economy have witnessed a leap. Over the years, the odds against manufacturers in the Nigerian foam and furniture industry have grown. The success of a handful of some of these companies, such as Vitafoam, Vono Products, Unifoam among others, are yet to translate to the overall growth of the industry where most manufacturers are finding it difficult to break even and produce at optimal level. The challenges besetting the sub-sector range from high cost of production, rising cost of production materials, influx of fake foams and furniture, lack of good laboratories, labour unrest, and poor power supply, to lack of adequate infrastructure, regulatory challenges among others. Counterfeiting and imitation of products are also one of the major challenges facing the industry at large. However, despite industry challenges, economy generally is faced with some enormous socioeconomic challenges, which has worsened the situation. There is no doubt that the security challenges in Northern part of the country with the attendance consequences of loss of lives and properties as well as domestic constraints such as depletion of fiscal buffers, dwindling foreign reserves, erratic supply of public electricity, poor infrastructure, among others, have remain a thorn to the business operating environment. While some companies were able to successfully weather the storm notwithstanding the difficulty in business environment, others were not. Vono Products Plc is one of those industries that have remained under cost pressures on many fronts as the foam-manufacturing company struggles with high financial leverage and tight top-line. While the turnover witnessed mixed grill, the company held tightly to operating expenses but finance expenses continued to deplete the bottomline. The company got its fair share from the mixed fortune as its audited report and accounts throughout the 2014 financial year indicated substantial decline in profits. The harsh operating environment has kept return on investment on the low ebb. Market sentiment for the shares of the company has also declined following the general massive sell-off that hit the equities market due to drop in oil price and build up to 2015 elec-

Feb 28

N1.66

Mar 31

N1.66

Apr 30

N1.58

May 31

N1.58

Jun 30

N1.44

Jul 31

N1.37

Aug 31

N1.09

Sept 30

N1.49

Oct 31

N1.23

Nov 30

N1.05

Dec 31

N1.12 2015

Jan 30

N1.17

million in the corresponding period of 2013.

Yinusa

tions. The share price, which closed at N1.66 per share in February 28, 2014 recorded a decline in value that when the closing bell rang on Friday, translating into a decrease of 49 kobo or 41.8 per cent year to date. Corporate profile Vono Products Plc is involved in the manufacturing of mattresses and bedsprings. The company provides metal furniture, beds, interior spring mattresses, foam and foam products; vehicle seats, and rests chairs. The firm was listed on the Exchange on 9th April, 1974. Financials A cursory look at the 2014 financials showed the group’s revenue during the 2014 first quarter ended December 31, 2013 dropped by 23.9 per cent from N253.917 million to N193.161 million. The company recorded loss after tax of N5.624 million during the first quarter from a profit of N11.208 million during the comparable period of 2013, representing a loss of 150.2 per cent, while loss before tax stood at N4.523 million from a profit of N12.183 million, accounting for a loss of 137.1 per cent. Also, the half year ended March 31, 2014 saw the company recording a drop of 2.67 per cent from N453.403 million in 2013 to N441.585 million during the period under review in 2014. The company posted a loss after tax of N4.621 million for the half year 2014 as against a profit

The company’s performance remains constrained by some challenges including high cost of operation arising from decadent infrastructure

of N3.090 million during the comparable period of 2013. Loss before profit also stood at N2.254 million from the profit position of N6.012 million in 2013. In spite the firming up of the revenue marginally during the third quarter, the company’s bottom line continued to deplete as witnessed in third quarter of 2014. In a filing with the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Vono Products posted a 3.1 per cent growth in revenue for the third quarter ended June 2014, to N628.358 million in 2014 from N609.235 million during the comparable period of 2013. Loss before tax stood at N19.413 million from a profit position of N0.402 million, representing a decline of 4,929.1 per cent, while loss after tax stood at N22.626 million in contrast to N3.207 million loss recorded in 2013, accounting for a decline of 605.5 per cent. The company extended losing streaks with a loss of N5.159 million during the financial year ended 30 September 2014. In a filing with the Exchange, the company posted a loss after tax of N5.159 million compared with a loss of N4.884 million recorded during the comparable period of 2013. However, the company’s profit before tax increased from N1.523 million posted in the previous year to N2.457 million during the year under review, accounting for a growth of 40 per cent. Its revenue also rose to 5.4 per cent to N889.666 million in the review period of 2014 from N841.414

Outlook Chairman of the company, Dr. Mohammed Yinusa, had told the company’s shareholders that the board was leveraging opportunities in the economy in a bid to improve its fortunes. Yinusa, who said this recently at the company’s 53rd Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Lagos, added that the board was poised to introduce new strategies that would enable the company achieve sustained growth. “Despite the encouraging economic outlook, the company’s performance remains constrained by some challenges including high cost of operation arising from decadent infrastructure,” he said. Commenting on the plans by the board to boost the company’s profitability, the Vono Products chairman explained that experts in the real estate industry have established a deficit of over 15 million housing units in the country. He added that for the deficit to be bridged in the coming years, furniture and steel goods consumption were envisaged to rise significantly. According to Yinusa, it is also expected that the education sector will receive greater attention from the government at all levels, thereby generating demand for the company’s products. “The company will leverage these opportunities to grow the top-line. We will continue to take advantage of Vitafoam’s vast distribution network to increase visibility for the company’s products,” he said. To enable the company harness low hanging opportunities already identified, he said the board intends to enhance technical capability through joint venture arrangements with select foreign partners with potentials to add value to the business. “This arrangement will hopefully serve to address the current challenge of working capital that has constrained the company’s ability to operate efficiently over the years,” the chairman said.

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015

Insurance

NAICOM firms up aviation risks transfer LAWFUL Regulator moves to ensure contracts are conducted lawfully

Sunday Ojeme

few weeks after inaugurating the Technical Management Board of the Energy and Allied Risks Insurance Pool of Nigeria (EAIPN), the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has stepped up opportunities for the industry with an order that the establishment of underwriting terms and conditions for any aviation and its associated risks in Nigeria must be the responsibility of the insurers transacting business in the country. The new order, which came through a circular to the underwriters, gave them freedom to seek expert advice from their facultative reinsurers for appropriate risk rating/ pricing. This directive, contained in a new circular signed by NAICOM’s Director (Authorisation and Policy), Pius Agboola, on behalf of the Commissioner for Insurance, Fola Daniel, warned that “Failure to comply with the provisions of this circular, shall in addition to imposition of penalties, result in the insurer being banned from writing further business in this class and may lead to the suspension or withdrawal of its licence.” The circular reads in part: “All aviation business shall be conducted in accordance with insurance laws and other relevant regulations. “The establishment of underwriting terms and conditions for any aviation and its associated risks in Nigeria shall be the responsibility of an insurer duly licensed to transact insurance business in Nigeria. This is without prejudice to an insurer’s need to seek expert advice from its facultative reinsurers for appropriate risk rating/ pricing. “An insurer shall ensure that all aviation insurance transactions are conducted in compliance with contract certainty principles and require-

L-R: Managing Director, Premium Pension, Mr Wison Ideva; Mrs Mfon Usoro; Independent Director, Paul Usoro (SAN) and Chairman, Aliyu Abdulrahman Dikko, during a meeting at Premium Pension office in Abuja, last week.

ments. “An aviation insurance liability policy for any Nigeria domiciled risk shall conform to the minimum passenger liability limit as required by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority.” It added that every insurer and coinsurer shall, prior to accepting, signing, and or stamping any aviation insurance policy/schedule of coinsurers, carry out risk measurement and exposure assessment viz-a-viz its available capacity. NAICOM further stated that the net retention/ deductible of an insurer under any treaty, on per risk basis, shall not constitute more than 5 per cent of its shareholders’ fund. Besides, every insurer is required to submit to the commission, its board approved maximum exposure limit/ risk appetite (in numeric terms) on all aviation risks acceptances and its aviation insurance treaty for the following year on or before December 15 of every year or 15 days before effective renewal date for those whose treaty renewal dates do not fall on January 1. As at today, aviation, oil and gas risks are considered the big ticket in the industry where the local underwriters are playing far below expectation as a result of low capacity. About two weeks ago,

the Commissioner for Insurance, Mr. Fola Daniel, in a bid to entrench the industry’s operations deeply into the oil and gas sector, inaugurated the Technical Management Board of the Energy and Allied Risks Insurance Pool of Nigeria (EAIPN). The Pool is being promoted by member companies of the Nigerian Insurers Association. The Chairman of the Board, Mr. Wole Oshin, stated that the Pool currently had 14 subscribers, who have contributed 40 per cent of their subscribed lines amounting to $4 million. The companies cur-

rently in the league are Leadway Assurance Company limited, Custodian And Allied Insurance Plc, Aiico Insurance Plc, Lasaco Assurance Plc, Royal Exchange Insurance Co. Ltd, Consolidated Hallmark Insurance Plc, Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc, Linkage Assurance Plc, Industrial and General Insurance Plc, Nigerian Agric Insurance Corporation (NAIC), Sterling Assurance Company Limited, Prestige Assurance Plc, NEM Insurance Plc and NSIA Insurance. Africa Re emerged as the Manager of the Pool after a rigorous selection process and the company

is expected to use its global outreach and experience to manage the pool profitably and build the requisite capacity. Oshin said, “The Technical Management Board went through a rigorous process in selecting Africa Re as the Manager of the Pool. They have a very strong pedigree and an excellent track record in the management of Pools.” We are really counting on their expertise to build capacity and grow the local market and we trust that they will deliver on this mandate.” He expressed the hope that with NAICOM’s backing, “there will be a

structure that will guarantee the continuous funding of the Pool and to ensure that the Pool will be adequately patronised. “The Board of the Pool anticipates a situation where a large proportion of businesses emanating from the country will have some element of the Pool.” In his response, Daniel said the coming of the pool was long overdue as the benefits were immense and most international players in oil and gas business were anxiously waiting for the Nigerian market to make the bold move. He promised that the Commission would support the pool and encourage more insurance companies to subscribe, adding that the Energy and Allied Insurance pool of Nigeria presented a great opportunity for the insurance industry to retain capacity and reduce capital flight. “I can tell you that I am delighted to have this event today. All my discussions with some players at the Lloyds market in London point to the fact that Nigeria is not ready to retain capacity and grow the market because the players have refused to establish pools. With the inauguration of the technical management Board of the pool today, you have taken the bold and positive step to curb capital flight and grow the local capacity and I am sure the multinationals will be excited about this” he stated.

New pension scheme key to national development, says Ideva

he Managing Director of Premium Pension Limited, Mr. Wilson Ideva, has said that the new contributory pension scheme will soon be pivotal to the social and economic development of Nigeria. He made this assertion at the company’s corporate head office in Abuja recently. He said: “The more people identify with and subscribe to the new pension scheme the more people remain assured of a secure future and the more funds are amassed under the scheme for national development. “Some of the remarkable

infrastructural development witnessed recently have benefitted from pension funds invested through government bonds.” He pointed out that various other sectors would begin in no distant time to benefit from the scheme, adding that the previously unfunded defined benefit scheme remained a far cry from the new contributory pension scheme in terms of the advantages and possibilities unpacked by the latter. He said. “While the old defined benefit scheme left a deficit of over two trillion Naira and contributed to the numerous huddles in the pay-

ment of pension benefits, the new scheme is closing in on the sum of N5 trillion as funds under management even with less than 10 per cent market penetration.” He further noted that while the old scheme was fraught with corruption and inconsistencies, the contributory pension scheme has made life more comfortable for retirees and kept corruption at bay. Ideva said, “Since 2004 I do not think that people still queue up to access pension benefits. People now go to their Pension Fund Administrators (PFA) to get their benefits as soon as they retire.”

Business | Insurance

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

African Risk Capacity payouts to exceed $25m POOL Losses from natural and man-made disasters to be curtailed

he African Union’s African Risk Capacity’s affiliated mutual insurance company, ARC Ltd, is set to make claim payouts of more than $25 million to three

of its member states belonging to its catastrophe insurance pool. The pool was recently established to help them become more resilient to extreme weather events and protect food insecure populations. Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, is the Chairperson at ARC. Okonjo-Iweala had applauded the creation of the catastrophe insurance pool, describing it as a transformative mo-

ment in the continent’s efforts to take ownership and use aids more effectively. She described the move as “an unprecedented way of organising with our partners, with Africa taking the lead – taking our collective destiny into our own hands, rather than relying on the international community for bailouts.” The ARC catastrophe insurance pool aims to help governments’ in Africa to reduce their reliance on external aid

in the event of natural catastrophes. The ARC’s announcement said: “Defined growing seasons in three Sahelian countries, Niger, Mauritania and Senegal, have recently ended and payouts totaling over $25 million will be made by ARC Ltd based on parametric calculations using ARC’s in-house drought monitoring and loss calculation software, Africa RiskView (ARV). “Following certification of each Government’s Final Implemen-

tation Plan (FIP) by the ARC Governing Board’s Peer Review Mechanism, payouts will be made in the coming week. FIPs define the use of the insurance payout to provide immediate support to food-insecure populations.” Robert Piper, the UN Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Sahel, commented: “These first payments by ARC represent a milestone in Government leadership and financial innovation for emergency response

across the Sahel.” The bulletin also explained that an “initial review of ARV modelled impacts suggests that the number of food-insecure people has been accurately captured; indeed, ARC’s information and action is spearheading what will be a substantial global emergency response over the coming months to mitigate what could otherwise become a major food security crisis. ARC Ltd payouts are parametric so quickly disburse and have impact; that impact can be more than four times greater than traditional drought response. In the case of the Sahel, payouts will benefit several million foodinsecure people through programs targeted to the specific needs of each country.” Dr. Lars Thunell, Chairman of ARC Ltd’s Board of Directors commented: “We are pleased that ARC’s support of Governments’ comprehensive planning for and financing of drought risk is being proven so quickly to be a paradigm shift in the way drought is managed across the African continent.” The Sahel region of West Africa has long been a focus of attention in the humanitarian community, with major droughts in the mid1980s and early 1990s causing widespread loss of life and trapping millions in a cycle of low economic growth potential. While rainfall has generally been increasing in the Sahel since the mid-1990s, food insecurity remains a chronic problem when seasonal rains are insufficient for staple crop production. Dr. Richard Wilcox, Founding Director General of ARC Agency, noted: “This is a transformative moment in African food security demonstrating the potential for cost effective disaster financing.” ARC Ltd. represents a new way of providing coverage to some of the world’s poorest regions. It was capitalized through financing by the UK’s Department for International Development and Germany’s KfW on behalf of BMZ, the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. “It operates under sustainable business principles, consistent with regulatory requirements and international best-practice for capital adequacy,” the bulletin explained.

Business | Movers, Shakers & Appointment

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015

CBN ratifies chair, vice chair for Unity Bank

he Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has approved the appointment of Mr Thomas A. Etuh and Alhaji Aminu Babangida as chairman and vice chairman of the Board of Directors of Unity Bank Plc. In a letter to the bank dated January 23, 2015 and signed by the director of banking supervision, their appointments followed the resignation of the former Chairman, Alhaji Lamis Shehu Dikko, who resigned from the board in December,

2014, to pursue his political aspirations. Etuh, who was appointed pioneer vice chairman of the Board of Directors, Unity Bank Plc on April 22, 2014, has varied experiences, gained from over two decades of contribution to the public and private sectors of the economy, especially agriculture. An astute businessman and experienced entrepreneur, he has served as a Director in several companies in Nigeria and has chaired a number of board com-

Babangida

Etuh

mittees in Unity Bank including finance and general purpose committee, board gover-

nance and nominations committee, among others. Etuh studied Manage-

UTC Nigeria appoints six directors

ix directors have been appointed to the board of UTC Nigeria Plc. The company has notified the Nigerian Stock Exchange of the appointments. The directors include: Mr Olaoluwa Akinkugbe (Chairman), Ms Imoni Akpofure, Mr Offong Ambah, Ms Olubunmi Fayokun, Ms Olatoyosi Kolawole and Mr Adedotun Sulaiman. The Chairman/CEO of L.A. Consultancies Limited, Akinkugbe commenced his career in 1971 at Nestle Nigeria, before joining Nigerian Bottling Company in 1973 and later Coca-Cola International as external affairs director for Nigeria, but with portfolio spanning the English West Africa in the areas covering government affairs, corporate social responsibility, media and communications. Also, Akpofure holds a bachelor degree in civil engineering from Imperial College, London; Master of Science degree in environmental engineering from Newcastle University, UK, and an MBA from INSEAD, France and practiced as a chartered civil engineer in UK before returning to Nigeria. Prior to her return to Nigeria to consult inde-

Adedotun

pendently, Akpofure was based in Paris, as director for Western Europe at the International Financial Corporation (IFC), with responsibility for managing IFC’s relationships with Western European shareholders and donors, business development with, and relationship management of European companies, as well as building partnerships with other stakeholders in Europe. Ambah is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Marine Networks Limited, an indigenous oil services company. He was also the Group Chief Executive Officer of Old Mutual West Africa. Prior to Old Mutual, he served as an Executive Director on the board of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, and as Chief Executive of Eco-

bank Capital. Offong, before his return to Ecobank in 2005, had been appointed the Interim chairman of the board of directors of Allstates Trust Bank by the Central Bank of Nigeria, and had previously served as an executive director of United Bank for Africa Plc. Fayokun graduated from the University of Ife, in 1984, with a bachelor’s degree in law and was admitted to the Nigerian Bar in 1985. She is a partner in the corporate and commercial department of Aluko & Oyebode, with extensive experience in energy and natural resources law. She heads the firm’s capital market and M&A practices and also advices on matters pertaining to project and infrastructure finance, banking, power, aviation, publicprivate partnerships (PPPs) and privatisation. Kolawole is the Managing Director of Avdeo Energy Ltd. She was previously a principal consultant and co-founder of Integrated Business Strategies (IBS). Prior to IBS, she was a management consultant in the financial institutions group at A.T Kearney and also worked for Guaranty Trust Bank as

an independent strategy consultant, serving small to medium companies in the retail and food industries. Her industry expertise includes banking, oil and gas, and education. Kolawole holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management in Cambridge Massachusetts, USA, a postgraduate diploma in business administration from the University of Manchester, UK, and a bachelors’ degree in food science and technology from the Obafemi Awowolo University, Ile-Ife. Sulaiman is a renowned management consultant and expert in organisational development, enterprise transformation and business process re-engineering. He is an alumnus of the University of Lagos who obtained a First Class Honours Degree in Business Administration in 1975. Suleiman also qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1978. He attended the Programme for Management Development (PMD) at the Harvard Business School in 1990. He started his professional career as a diplomat, including a stint at the Nigerian Embassy in Washington DC as a consular officer between 1976 and 1978.

Kumo returns as Federal Mortgage Bank MD

Kumo

he Federal Government has re-appointed Mr Gimba Ya’u Kumo, as the managing director of Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN). Three other members of the board, Charles Mfe Nyor-Ajiva, Richard John Esin and KolaDaisi Arinola Morenike, were also inaugurated by the Housing Minister, Mrs Akon Eyakenyi. Already, real estate

developers in the country had lauded the re-appointment of the managing director, describing it as a good development to housing programme in Nigeria. The National President of the Real Estate Development Association of Nigeria (REDAN), Chief Olabode Afolayan, who spoke on behalf of developers at the inauguration of FMBN board, commend-

ed President Goodluck Jonathan for his foresightedness in approving the re-appointment of Kumo, stressing that he had in the last four years succeeded in repositioning the mortgage bank. He explained: “The bank, under Kumo, has witnessed tremendous growth with over four million civil servants registering with the National Housing Fund.”

ment, Banking and Public Administration at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi and University of Jos, respectively. The new Vice Chairman Alhaji Aminu Babangida, is an entrepreneur, a co-founder/chief executive officer of Phoenix Energy, Abuja and team member of the El-Amin International School, Minna. He has also worked on the trading floor of Trafigura BV, London, UK.

Babangida was appointed to the Board of Unity Bank Plc in 2011 where he has held chairmanship and membership positions in some board committees including credit, audit, information technology & strategy committee, among others. He attended Regents Business School, London and Westminster Business School London where he obtained a BA in International Business and MA in International Business Management respectively.

Indian is Dangote Cement’s CEO

angote Cement Plc has appointed an Indian, Mr Onne van der Weijde, as chief executive officer. Van der Weijde, who took over from Devakumar Edwin resumed yesterday. Edwin said that the transition comes at a time when some of the large capital expenditure projects of Dangote Industries Limited which he handled, have started to materialise. He explained that the management change may pave the way for a London listing of DanWeijde gote Cement.

Ufot now APCON Chair

he Federal Government has appointed a new Chairman for the Governing Council of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON). He is the Group Managing Director of SO&U Group and a former President of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), Mr Udeme Ufot. Widely respected for his contributions to the marketing communications industry in Nigeria, Ufot has served several tenures as council member of APCON and chaired many sub-committees. In year 2,000, he was a member of the publicity sub-committee of the organising committee of the 40th independence celebration set up by the Federal Government. Ufot served as a director of the Nigeria Economic Summit Group, Nigeria’s leading public/private sector partnership economic think tank for over seven years. He was joint chairman of the organising committee of Summit 12 in 2006, having worked as a key member of and later sub-committee chair, in the planning committees of Summits 8, 9, 10 and 11. He continues to serve on the board. Ufot

Business | Financial Market News

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

FMDQ Daily Quotations List

30-Jan-15

The DQL contains data relating to, amongst other things, market and model prices, rates of foreign exchange products, fixed income securities and instruments in the financial market (the “Information”). The Information does not constitute professional, financial or investment advice. We attempt to ensure the Information is accurate; however, the Information is provided “AS IS” and on an “AS AVAILABLE” basis and may not be accurate or up to date. We do not guarantee the accuracy, timeliness, completeness, performance or fitness for a particular purpose of any of the Information, neither do we accept liability for the results of any action taken on the basis of the Information.

Bonds

FGN Bonds Issuer

Rating/Agency

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

Description 4.00 23-APR-2015 13.05 16-AUG-2016 15.10 27-APR-2017 9.85 27-JUL-2017 9.35 31-AUG-2017 10.70 30-MAY-2018 16.00 29-JUN-2019 7.00 23-OCT-2019 16.39 27-JAN-2022 14.20 14-MAR-2024 15.00 28-NOV-2028 12.49 22-MAY-2029 8.50 20-NOV-2029 10.00 23-JUL-2030 12.1493 18-JUL-2034

Issue Date

Coupon (%)

23-Apr-10 16-Aug-13 27-Apr-12 27-Jul-07 31-Aug-07 30-May-08 29-Jun-12 23-Oct-09 27-Jan-12 14-Mar-14 28-Nov-08 22-May-09 20-Nov-09 23-Jul-10 18-Jul-14

4.00 13.05 15.10 9.85 9.35 10.70 16.00 7.00 16.39 14.20 15.00 12.49 8.50 10.00 12.1493

535.00 581.39 476.80 20.00 100.00 300.00 351.30 233.90 600.00 434.68 75.00 150.00 200.00 591.57 206.00

Maturity Date

TTM (Yrs)

Bid Price

Offer Price

23-Apr-15 16-Aug-16 27-Apr-17 27-Jul-17 31-Aug-17 30-May-18 29-Jun-19 23-Oct-19 27-Jan-22 14-Mar-24 28-Nov-28 22-May-29 20-Nov-29 23-Jul-30 18-Jul-34

0.23 1.54 2.24 2.49 2.58 3.33 4.41 4.73 6.99 9.12 13.83 14.31 14.81 15.48 19.46

14.13 15.06 15.25 15.25 15.25 15.24 15.24 15.23 15.24 15.07 15.55 15.62 15.70 15.39 15.51

13.44 14.94 15.17 15.17 15.17 15.11 15.14 15.12 15.17 15.01 15.49 15.56 15.62 15.32 15.45

97.73 97.30 99.65 89.14 87.77 88.42 102.35 72.92 104.85 95.70 96.85 82.22 58.98 68.50 79.50

97.88 97.45 99.80 89.29 87.92 88.72 102.65 73.22 105.15 96.00 97.15 82.52 59.28 68.80 79.80

Bid Yield (%) Offer Yield (%)

4,855.63

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION Rating/Agency

Price

Outstanding Value (N'bn)

4,404.66 Issuer

Agency Bonds FMBN ***LCRM

Description

Issue Date

Coupon (%)

Outstanding Value (N'bn)

Maturity Date

Avg. Life/TTM (Yrs)

# Risk Premium (%)

Valuation Yield (%)

Indicative Price

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

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

0.00 17.25 0.00/16.00 0.00/16.50 0.00/16.50

24.56 2.70 112.22 116.70 66.49

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

0.31 1.18 1.86 2.22 2.43

2.63 2.27 2.00 1.00 1.00

17.18 17.69 17.14 16.21 16.24

94.87 99.66 98.31 97.10 93.85

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 10-Oct-20 27-Nov-20 31-Dec-20 31-Dec-20 06-Jan-21

0.58 0.42 0.94 0.94 2.22 1.48 2.92 2.09 3.68 2.29 2.29 2.47 2.73 4.81 2.79 3.34 5.82 5.92 3.58 3.61

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

19.82 18.24 20.04 19.06 16.21 16.09 17.04 16.99 16.24 16.22 20.00 16.25 16.25 16.23 17.99 16.24 16.23 17.17 16.68 17.19

96.12 98.47 95.33 97.39 88.77 97.22 93.20 95.05 93.92 97.06 89.82 96.69 98.60 94.30 93.31 96.41 89.89 92.07 94.63 94.62

17-Aug-15 09-Dec-15 06-Jan-16 29-Sep-16 25-Oct-16 30-Sep-17 30-Nov-17 09-Apr-18 09-Sep-18 09-Sep-18 22-Sep-18 18-Oct-18 17-Feb-19 01-Apr-19 14-Nov-20 30-Sep-24 30-Sep-24

0.31 0.61 0.69 1.66 1.73 2.67 1.69 1.69 1.85 1.85 3.64 1.96 2.05 2.92 5.79 9.67 9.67

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

19.38 16.40 18.07 16.10 16.46 16.25 16.99 18.59 20.34 20.20 16.59 17.45 21.29 17.41 17.99 16.00 16.00

96.09 98.08 97.83 95.57 96.71 93.14 102.56 96.63 96.66 101.71 93.07 97.55 94.72 97.01 90.30 80.22 86.62

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

322.67

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

312.04

Sub-National Bonds A/Agusto A-/Agusto BBB+/Agusto ‡ /Agusto ‡ /Agusto; ‡ /GCR ‡ /Agusto ‡ /Agusto ‡ /Agusto; A+/GCR ‡ /Agusto; A-/GCR ‡ /Agusto; A-/GCR† ‡ /Agusto ‡ /Agusto; A-/GCR BBB+/Agusto; A-/GCR ‡ /Agusto; ‡ /GCR BBB-/Agusto; A-/GCR ‡ /Agusto ‡ /Agusto; ‡ /GCR A-/Agusto; BBB+/DataPro ‡ /Agusto A-/GCR

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

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 10-OCT-2020 13.50 LAGOS IV 27-NOV-2020 15.00 KOGI 31-DEC-2020 14.50 EKITI II 31-DEC-2020 15.00 NASARAWA 06-JAN-2021

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 10-Oct-13 27-Nov-13 31-Dec-13 31-Dec-13 06-Jan-14

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

8.50 4.18 4.86 5.73 57.00 25.73 25.00 34.14 9.00 13.73 10.20 27.00 16.23 80.00 26.62 11.10 87.50 5.00 4.55 4.56

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

460.61 429.74

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

*UPDC *FLOURMILLS *CHELLARAMS NAHCO FSDH UBA *C & I LEASING *DANA#{r} *TOWER# *TOWER# UBA *LA CASERA *CHELLARAMS# *DANA#{r} NAHCO STANBIC IBTC STANBIC IBTC

10.00 UPDC 17-AUG-2015 12.00 FLOURMILLS 9-DEC-2015 14.00 CHELLARAMS 06-JAN-2016 13.00 NAHCO 29-SEP-2016 14.25 FSDH 25-OCT-2016 13.00 UBA 30-SEP-2017 18.00 C&I LEASING 30-NOV-2017 MPR+7.00 DANA 9-APR-2018 MPR+7.00 TOWER 9-SEP-2018 MPR+5.25 TOWER 9-SEP-2018 14.00 UBA II 22-SEP-2018 15.75 LA CASERA 18-OCT-2018 MPR+5.00 CHELLARAMS II 17-FEB-2019 16.00 DANA II 1-APR-2019 15.25 NAHCO II 14-NOV-2020 182D T.bills+1.20 STANBIC IA 30-SEP-2024 13.25 STANBIC IB 30-SEP-2024

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

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

10.00 12.00 14.00 13.00 14.25 13.00 18.00 16.00 18.00 16.00 14.00 15.75 18.00 16.00 15.25 11.93 13.25

3.61 9.34 0.42 15.00 5.53 20.00 0.64 6.30 2.90 0.80 35.00 2.40 0.41 4.50 2.05 0.10 15.44

124.44

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

116.69

Supranational Bond AAA/S&P

IFC

Aaa/Moody's; AAA/S&P

AfDB

10.20 IFC 11-FEB-2018

11-Feb-13

10.20

12.00

11-Feb-18

3.03

1.00

16.25

85.95

11.25 AFDB 1-FEB-2021

10-Jul-14

11.25

12.95

01-Feb-21

4.26

1.00

16.23

85.34

Bid Price

Offer Price

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION Rating/Agency

24.95 21.37 Issuer

Description

Issue Date

Coupon (%)

Outstanding Value ($mm)

Maturity Date

Bid Yield (%)

Offer Yield (%)

6.75 JAN 28, 2021

07-Oct-11

6.75

500.00

28-Jan-21

7.45

7.20

96.68

97.84

5.13 JUL 12, 2018

12-Jul-13

5.13

500.00

12-Jul-18

6.21

5.85

96.68

97.78

6.38 JUL 12, 2023

12-Jul-13

6.38

500.00

12-Jul-23

7.70

7.49

91.88

93.11

FGN Eurobonds

Prices & Yields

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

FGN

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

1,500.00

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

1,426.17

Corporate Eurobonds B/Fitch; B-/S&P

AFREN PLC I

11.50 FEB 01, 2016

01-Feb-11

11.50

450.00

01-Feb-16

174.41

33.50

B+/Fitch; B+/S&P

GTBANK PLC I

7.50 MAY 19, 2016

19-May-11

7.50

500.00

19-May-16

6.97

100.63

B+/S&P

ACCESS BANK PLC

B/Fitch; B/S&P

FIDELITY BANK PLC

B+/Fitch; B+/S&P

GTBANK PLC

B/Fitch

AFREN PLC II

B+/Fitch; BB-/S&P

ZENITH BANK PLC

B/Fitch; B/S&P

DIAMOND BANK PLC

B-/Fitch; B/S&P

FIRST BANK PLC

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

AFREN PLC III ACCESS BANK PLC II FIRST BANK LTD

B-/S&P

ECOBANK NIG. LTD

7.25 JUL 25, 2017

25-Jul-12

7.25

350.00

25-Jul-17

6.88 MAY 09, 2018

11.28

91.50

09-May-13

6.88

300.00

02-May-18

6.00 NOV 08, 2018

13.47

12.47

83.00

85.33

08-Nov-13

6.00

400.00

08-Nov-18

10.25 APR 08, 2019

10.91

9.81

85.14

88.24

08-Apr-12

10.25

300.00

08-Apr-19

6.25 APR 22, 2019

41.17

40.50

22-Apr-14

6.25

500.00

22-Apr-19

8.75 May 21, 2019

10.76

85.00

21-May-14

8.75

200.00

21-May-19

8.25 AUG 07, 2020

15.06

13.59

80.51

84.60

07-Aug-13

8.25

300.00

07-Aug-20

6.63 DEC 09, 2020 9.25/6M USD LIBOR+7.677 JUN 24, 2021 8.00/2Y USD SWAP+6.488 JUL 23 2021

9.97

92.00

09-Dec-13 24-Jun-14 23-Jul-14

6.63 9.25 8.00

360.00 400.00 450.00

09-Dec-20 24-Jun-21 23-Jul-21

31.70 13.22 12.40

31.70 12.80 12.40

35.00 83.00 80.00

35.00 84.63 80.00

8.75 AUG 14, 2021

14-Aug-14

8.75

250.00

14-Aug-21

10.76

10.30

89.82

91.82

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

4,760.00 3,589.77

**Treasury Bills DTM 13 20 27 34 41 48 55 62 69

FIXINGS Maturity 12-Feb-15 19-Feb-15 26-Feb-15 5-Mar-15 12-Mar-15 19-Mar-15 26-Mar-15 2-Apr-15 9-Apr-15

Bid Discount (%) 11.30 12.10 12.55 12.10 12.70 11.80 13.00 13.95 13.25

Offer Discount (%) 11.05 11.85 12.30 11.85 12.45 11.55 12.75 13.70 13.00

Bid Yield (%) 11.35 12.18 12.67 12.24 12.88 11.99 13.26 14.29 13.59

Money Market

NIBOR Tenor O/N 1M 3M 6M

Rate (%) 9.2500 13.7343 15.0936 16.1032

Foreign Exchange (Spot & Forwards)

Tenor

Rate (%)

OBB

8.67

Tenor

Bid ($/N)

Offer ($/N)

O/N

9.25

Spot 7D 14D 1M 2M 3M 6M

187.50 187.79 188.08 188.77 190.05 191.32 195.68

187.60 187.90 188.23 189.24 191.05 192.82 198.64

Tenor Call 1M 3M

REPO

Rate (%) 9.50 13.00 13.50

***LCRM

0.00/16.50 LCRM II 20-APR-2017 0.00/16.50 LCRM III 06-JUL-2017

20-Apr-12 06-Jul-12

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

0.00/16.50 0.00/16.50

116.70 66.49

20-Apr-17 06-Jul-17

2.22 2.43

1.00 1.00

16.21 16.24

97.10 93.85

8.50 4.18 4.86 5.73 57.00 25.73 25.00 34.14 9.00 13.73 10.20 27.00 16.23 80.00 26.62 11.10 87.50 5.00 4.55 4.56

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 10-Oct-20 27-Nov-20 31-Dec-20 31-Dec-20 06-Jan-21

0.58 0.42 0.94 0.94 2.22 1.48 2.92 2.09 3.68 2.29 2.29 2.47 2.73 4.81 2.79 3.34 5.82 5.92 3.58 3.61

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

19.82 18.24 20.04 19.06 16.21 16.09 17.04 16.99 16.24 16.22 20.00 16.25 16.25 16.23 17.99 16.24 16.23 17.17 16.68 17.19

96.12 98.47 95.33 97.39 88.77 97.22 93.20 95.05 93.92 97.06 89.82 96.69 98.60 94.30 93.31 96.41 89.89 92.07 94.63 94.62

15.44

30-Sep-24

9.67

1.00

16.00

86.62

322.67

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

312.04

Sub-National Bonds A/Agusto KADUNA A-/Agusto *EBONYI BBB+/Agusto *BENUE ‡ /Agusto *IMO NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015 ‡ /Agusto; ‡ /GCR LAGOS ‡ /Agusto *BAYELSA ‡ /Agusto EDO ‡ /Agusto; A+/GCR *DELTA ‡ /Agusto; A-/GCR NIGER ‡ /Agusto; A-/GCR† *EKITI ‡ /Agusto *NIGER ‡ /Agusto; A-/GCR *ONDO BBB+/Agusto; A-/GCR *GOMBE ‡ /Agusto; ‡ /GCR LAGOS BBB-/Agusto; A-/GCR *OSUN ‡ /Agusto *OSUN ‡ /Agusto; ‡ /GCR LAGOS A-/Agusto; BBB+/DataPro KOGI ‡ /Agusto *EKITI A-/GCR *NASARAWA

Stakeholders seek review of privatisation programme

Stories by Chris Ugwu

he Chartered Institute TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE of Stockbrokers (CIS) TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

has called on the Federal Government to ‡ /Agusto *UPDC consider of at BBB-/Agustothe divestment *FLOURMILLS least 20 per cent holdings in the BB/GCR *CHELLARAMS A+/Agusto; A-/GCR NAHCO power companies to the NigeA-/Agusto FSDH rian investing public as prepaA/GCR UBA ration for listing their shares BBB-/GCR *C & I LEASING onNila stock exchange. *DANA#{r} # A-/DataPro†; B+/GCR The President, CIS, Albert *TOWER # AAA/DataPro†; A/GCR Okumagba, made the*TOWER call at a A/Agusto; A/GCR UBA Capone-day dialogue on ‘The Bbb+/Agusto; BBB+/GCR CASERA ital Market and 2015*LA Federal BBB-/DataPro†; BB/GCR *CHELLARAMS# Corporate Bonds

*DANA#{r}

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 10-Oct-13 27-Nov-13 31-Dec-13 31-Dec-13 06-Jan-14

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

01-Apr-14

16.00 15.25 11.93 13.25

Business | Financial Market News

Stockbrokers advocate 20% public holdings in power

APPRAISAL

Nil A+/Agusto; A-/GCR A/GCR A/GCR

Budget,‘ organised by the leaders of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS), Association of 10.00 Stockbroking Houses UPDC 17-AUG-2015 of Nigeria (ASHON) and As12.00 FLOURMILLS 9-DEC-2015 14.00of CHELLARAMS sociation Issuing06-JAN-2016 Houses of NAHCO 29-SEP-2016 Nigeria13.00 (AIHN) in Lagos. 14.25 FSDH 25-OCT-2016 Okumagba noted that an13.00 UBA 30-SEP-2017 other approach national 18.00 C&I LEASINGto 30-NOV-2017 savingsMPR+7.00 is the review DANA 9-APR-2018of the MPR+7.00 TOWER 9-SEP-2018 privatisation programme of MPR+5.25Government TOWER 9-SEP-2018 and the Federal 14.00 UBA II 22-SEP-2018 the divestment of its holdings 15.75 LA CASERA 18-OCT-2018 in the privatised companies in MPR+5.00 CHELLARAMS II 17-FEB-2019 16.00 DANA II 1-APR-2019

order to mobilise funds and encourage the private sector operators to develop the economy while the17-Aug-10 government provides 10.00 an enabling environment. 09-Dec-10 12.00 “In addition, in order to 06-Jan-11 14.00 29-Sep-11 13.00 solve the perennial housing 25-Oct-13 problem, more Real 14.25 Estate 30-Sep-10 13.00 Investment Trusts (REITs) 30-Nov-12 18.00 should be created as a16.00 matter 09-Apr-11 09-Sep-11 18.00 of urgency to boost investment 09-Sep-11 16.00 in the real estate sector,” he 22-Sep-11 14.00 said. 18-Oct-13 15.75 Speaking on the effect of 17-Feb-12 18.00

Foreign investors hope for post-election naira devaluation

15.25 NAHCO II 14-NOV-2020 14-Nov-13 umbling oil prices NAHCO 182D T.bills+1.20 STANBIC IA 30-SEP-2024 30-Sep-14 STANBIC IBTC and political chaos 13.25 STANBIC IB 30-SEP-2024 30-Sep-14 STANBIC IBTC have eroded NigeTOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE ria’s lure for foreign invesTOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION tors, but they are likely to venture back if authori- Some reckon the currency more attractive than it was Supranational Bond 10.20 IFC 11-FEB-2018 price in ties will allow what some must fall another 10 to 15 - but does it really AAA/S&P 11-Feb-13 IFC 11.25 AFDB 1-FEB-2021 Aaa/Moody's; AAA/S&P 10-Jul-14 AfDB said. say is a much-needed cur- per cent to reach fair value. the risk?” Bou-Diab TOTALdevaluation. OUTSTANDING VALUE rency According to Reuters, a Investors believe that TOTAL MARKETofCAPITALISATION The price oil, which portfolio manager at Bel- despite its decline, the is the source of 70 per cent levue Fund’s pan-African, naira remains expensive Description Rating/Agency Date after more thanIssue a decade of Nigeria government Issuer Malek Bou-Diab, equities revenue has fallen 60 per fund with $110 million of booming oil prices. FGN Eurobonds cent since last June, push- under management, for Its real effective ex6.75 JAN 07-Oct-11 - a BB-/Fitch; B+/S&P a 28, 2021 ing stocks down by a third instance, wants to see change rate (REER) devaluation of at least 10 over the same period. Lomeasure used to determine BB-/Fitch; FGN 5.13 JUL 12, 2018 12-Jul-13 calBB-/S&P bond yields are two per cent before consider- whether an exchange rate BB-/Fitch; 6.38 JUL 12, 2023 12-Jul-13 percentage points higher. ing adding to his Nigeria is overvalued or undervalBB-/S&P Adding to the pressure holdings. ued - indicates the naira TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE are almost daily attacks Foreign investors such was 27.5 per cent above its TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION by the Islamist militants as Bou-Diab pulled almost 10-year average by midCorporate Eurobonds Boko Haram and political $1 billion out of Nigerian December. 11.5011 FEB 01, 2016For an economy 01-Feb-11 B/Fitch; B-/S&P as the country AFREN PLC equities I in the first that reuncertainty MAY 19, 2016 B+/Fitch; B+/S&P GTBANK PLC I faces a closely fought elecmonths of 2014, stock7.50 marlies on oil exports,19-May-11 an expenJUL 25, 2017 B+/S&P PLC tion on February 14. ACCESS BANK ket data show. Along 7.25 with sive currency is a25-Jul-12 drag. But 6.88 MAY 09, 2018 09-May-13 B/Fitch; The B/S&P naira’s 20 per FIDELITY cent BANK thePLC index’s 32 per cent fall in because Nigeria imports al6.00 NOV 08, 2018 08-Nov-13 B+/Fitch; B+/S&P depreciation in the GTBANK past PLCthe past year, that has made most 80 per cent of what it 10.25 APR 08, 2019 08-Apr-12 B/Fitch AFREN PLC II year has further eroded share valuations cheap, but consumes, authorities are 6.25 APR 22, 2019 22-Apr-14 B+/Fitch; BB-/S&P ZENITH BANK PLC the dollar he PLC is not tempted yet. 8.75 May 21, 2019 reluctant to allow the cur21-May-14 B/Fitch; B/S&Pvalue of foreign DIAMOND BANK funds’ holdings. ButFIRST theBANK PLC“For the short term, I 07, 2020 rency to depreciate faster 8.25 AUG 07-Aug-13 B-/Fitch; B/S&P 6.63 DEC 09, 2020 09-Dec-13 B-/Fitch; B/S&P AFREN PLC understand III the argument depreciation has not gone for fear of inflation before 9.25/6M USD LIBOR+7.677 JUN 24, 2021 24-Jun-14 B/S&P investorsACCESS II valuation. farB-/Fitch; enough, say. BANK of PLC low Yes, it is elections. 8.00/2Y USD SWAP+6.488 JUL 23 2021 B-/Fitch; B/S&P

FIRST BANK LTD

B-/S&P

ECOBANK NIG. LTD

8.75 AUG 14, 2021

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

the interest rate on the mar460.61 ket, the President of AIHN, Mr. 429.74 Victor Ogiemwonyi, said: “We believe that devaluation of 0.31 the 3.61 17-Aug-15 naira 9.34 has potential 09-Dec-15 to prevent 0.61 round-tripping and protect0.69 lo0.42 06-Jan-16 1.66 cal15.00 industries29-Sep-16 among others. 5.53 25-Oct-16 However, it appears that 1.73 the 20.00 30-Sep-17 2.67 CBN is currently over-protect0.64 30-Nov-17 1.69 ing6.30the naira09-Apr-18 value and thus 1.69 2.90 09-Sep-18 while also 1.85 making it artificial 0.80 1.85 depleting the 09-Sep-18 nation’s foreign 35.00 22-Sep-18 3.64 reserve in defending the naira 2.40 18-Oct-18 1.96 exchange rate.” 0.41 17-Feb-19 2.05 He noted that since the 4.50 01-Apr-19 2.92 2.05 of the 14-Nov-20 5.79 value foreign reserve 0.10 30-Sep-24 9.67 essentially determined the

country’s capacity to borrow internationally and to support international trade, the continuous hemorrhaging of 4.88 19.38 96.09 the1.00 reserves was 16.40 not in the 98.08 best interest of the country.97.83 2.63 18.07 1.00 16.10 95.57 “While keeping the man1.34 96.71 aged float, we16.46 believe that the 1.00 16.25 93.14 currency should be allowed a 1.88 16.99 102.56 wider say up to96.63 N200/ 3.48 band, 18.59 5.20 The CBN 20.34 may need 96.66 US$. to 5.06 101.71 intervene if 20.20 the new band is 1.35 16.59 breached. We believe 93.07 that at 2.29 17.45 97.55 N200, it would become94.72 unat6.11 21.29 tractive for speculators to en2.16 17.41 97.01 2.76in any profitable 17.99 90.30 gage business 80.22 that1.00requires16.00 hard currency .”

124.44

116.69 Seven-Up reports 13% net earnings growth

oft drink11-Feb-18 producer, Seven3.03 01-Feb-21 4.26 Up Bottling Company Plc, has posted a 13.7 per cent 24.95 21.37 rise in profit after tax for third quarter ended December 31, Outstanding Value Maturity Date Bid Yield (%) 2014. ($mm) In a filing with the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), 500.00 28-Jan-21 7.45 the company’s post-tax profit grew to N4.541 billion dur500.00 12-Jul-18 6.21 ing the period under review 12-Jul-23 billion7.70 as500.00 against N3.917 recorded 1,500.00 the previous year, representing an increase of 13.7 1,426.17 per cent. Profit before tax stood 01-Feb-16as against 174.41 at450.00 N5.822 billion 500.00 billion 19-May-16 6.97 N5.104 posted the pre350.00 year, accounting 25-Jul-17 11.28a vious for 300.00 02-May-18 growth of 12.3 per cent. 13.47 400.00 08-Nov-18 Also, turnover firmed10.91 up 300.00 08-Apr-19 41.17 to500.00 N59.829 billion during the 22-Apr-19 10.76 period, with N54.954 200.00 compared 21-May-19 15.06 billion same period9.97of 300.00 in the07-Aug-20 360.00 09-Dec-20 a growth 31.70 last year, indicating 24-Jun-21 13.22 of400.00 8.1 per cent.

10.20

12.00

11.25

12.95

Coupon (%)

6.75 5.13 6.38

11.50 7.50 7.25 6.88 6.00 10.25 6.25 8.75 8.25

23-Jul-14

6.63 9.25 8.00

14-Aug-14

8.75

450.00

23-Jul-21

12.40

250.00

14-Aug-21

10.76

The management of 1.00 16.25 85.95NSE 16.23 last year 85.34 inhad1.00in October cluded the company to the league of high priced stocks. The Exchange’s Head of Offer Yield (%) Surveillance, Bid Price Offer Price Market Mr. Abimbola Babalola, stated Prices & Yields that the analysis of the trad96.68 of Seven-Up 97.84 ing7.20activities indicated that in the last six 5.85 96.68 97.78 months the company had 91.88 met7.49the criteria set 93.11 by the Exchange and thus included among the high priced stocks. In 2012, with the roll out of market making, the NSE intro174.41 a pilot33.50 33.50 unduced programme 100.63 100.63 der6.97 which stockbrokers could 11.28 prices91.50 move of high 91.50 priced 12.47 with 10,000 83.00 85.33 stocks shares. 9.81 85.14 88.24 According to Babalola, 41.17 40.50 40.50 these high priced stocks are 10.76 85.00 85.00 securities that have traded 13.59 80.51 84.60 an average of N100 9.97 92.00 or more 92.00 per 31.70 in four35.00 share out of the35.00 last six 12.80 83.00 84.63 months period. 12.40

80.00

10.30

89.82

91.82

4,760.00 30-Jan-15 3,589.77 The DQL contains data relating to, amongst other things, market and model prices, rates of foreign exchange products, fixed income securities and instruments in the financial market (the “Information”). The Information does not constitute **Treasury Bills FIXINGS Money Market Exchange (Spot Forwards)the professional, financial or investment advice. We attempt to ensure the Information is accurate; however, the Information is provided “AS IS” and on an “AS AVAILABLE” basis and may not be accurate orForeign up to date. We do not &guarantee DTM Maturity Offer (%) Bid Yield do (%) we accept liability forNIBOR Tenor accuracy, timeliness, completeness, performance or fitness forBida Discount particular(%) purpose of anyDiscount of the Information, neither the results of any action taken on the basis ofRate the(%) Information. 13 20 27 FGN Bonds 34 41 48 Rating/Agency 55 62 69 76 83 90 97 104 111 NA 125 132 146 153 167 174 181 188 216 307 TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE 321 TOTAL MARKET 342 CAPITALISATION 356

FMDQ Daily Quotations List

12-Feb-15 19-Feb-15 26-Feb-15 5-Mar-15 12-Mar-15 19-Mar-15 Issuer 26-Mar-15 2-Apr-15 9-Apr-15 16-Apr-15 23-Apr-15 30-Apr-15 7-May-15 14-May-15 21-May-15 NA 4-Jun-15 11-Jun-15 25-Jun-15 2-Jul-15 16-Jul-15 23-Jul-15 30-Jul-15 6-Aug-15 3-Sep-15 3-Dec-15 17-Dec-15 7-Jan-16 21-Jan-16

11.30 12.10 12.55 12.10 12.70 11.80 Description 13.00 13.95 4.00 23-APR-2015 13.25 13.05 16-AUG-2016 13.30 15.10 27-APR-2017 13.40 9.85 27-JUL-2017 13.55 9.35 31-AUG-2017 12.20 10.70 30-MAY-2018 12.65 16.00 29-JUN-2019 14.00 14.10 7.00 23-OCT-2019 14.20 16.39 27-JAN-2022 14.35 14.20 14-MAR-2024 14.40 15.00 28-NOV-2028 13.44 12.49 22-MAY-2029 14.15 8.50 20-NOV-2029 14.25 10.00 23-JUL-2030 13.75 12.1493 18-JUL-2034 13.85 13.75 13.60 13.90 14.00

11.05 11.85 12.30 11.85 12.45 11.55Date Issue 12.75 13.70 23-Apr-10 13.00 16-Aug-13 13.05 27-Apr-12 13.15 27-Jul-07 13.30 31-Aug-07 11.95 30-May-08 12.40 29-Jun-12 13.75 13.85 23-Oct-09 13.95 27-Jan-12 14.10 14-Mar-14 14.15 28-Nov-08 13.19 22-May-09 13.90 20-Nov-09 14.00 23-Jul-10 13.50 18-Jul-14 13.60 13.50 13.35 13.65 13.75

Description

Rating/Agency Issuer *for the Amortising bonds, the average life is calculated and not the duration

11.35 12.18 12.67 12.24 12.88 11.99 (%) Coupon 13.26 14.29 4.00 13.59 13.05 13.68 15.10 13.82 9.85 14.02 9.35 12.61 10.70 13.12 16.00 14.62 14.82 7.00 14.97 16.39 15.22 14.20 15.33 15.00 14.32 12.49 15.17 8.50 15.33 10.00 14.80 12.1493 15.09

Bonds

15.55 15.45 15.98 16.21

Tenor O/N 1M 3M Outstanding Value 6M

(N'bn)

535.00 23-Apr-15 581.39 NITTY 16-Aug-16 476.80 27-Apr-17 Tenor Rate (%) 20.00 27-Jul-17 1M 12.3221 100.00 31-Aug-17 2M 13.2863 300.00 30-May-18 3M 13.9381 351.30 29-Jun-19 6M 14.3391 9M 15.2451 233.90 23-Oct-19 12M 16.3820 600.00 27-Jan-22 434.68 14-Mar-24 75.00 28-Nov-28 150.00 NIFEX 22-May-29 200.00 20-Nov-29 Current Price ($/N) 591.57 23-Jul-30 BID($/N) 190.1300 206.00 18-Jul-34 OFFER ($/N) 190.2300

4,855.63

Coupon (%)

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE Modified Duration Buckets TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

<3 3<5 KADUNA >5 *EBONYI *BENUE Market *IMO LAGOS *BAYELSA EDO *DELTA NIGER *EKITI *NIGER *ONDO *GOMBE

Porfolio Market Value(Bn)

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

Total Outstanding Volume(Bn)

1,016.90 1,385.51 12.50 KADUNA 31-AUG-2015 546.73 13.00 EBONYI 30-SEP-2015 2,949.14 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

OBB

8.67

Tenor

Bid ($/N)

9.25

WAPCO:West Africa Portland Cement Company

Weighting by Outstanding Vol

0.00 17.25 0.00/16.00 0.00/16.50 FGN BOND 0.00/16.50

Weighting by Mkt Value

Outstanding Value (N'bn) 24.56 2.70 112.22 116.70 INDEX 66.49

322.67 Bucket Weighting

312.04

Maturity Date

Avg. Life/TTM (Yrs)

# Risk Premium (%)

Valuation Yield (%)

Indicative Price

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

0.31 1.18 1.86 2.22 2.43

2.63 2.27 2.00 1.00 1.00

17.18 17.69 17.14 16.21 16.24

94.87 99.66 98.31 97.10 93.85

% Exposure_ Mod_Duration

Implied Yield

Implied Portfolio Price

32.63

34.48

0.33

13.04

15.16

118.1421

1,122.11

1,365.98

43.09 31-Aug-10 24.28 30-Sep-10

12.5046.98 13.0018.54

8.50 0.43 4.18 0.24 4.86 1.00 5.73 57.00 25.73 25.00 34.14 9.00 13.73 10.20 27.00 16.23

46.30 31-Aug-15 40.65 30-Sep-15

15.18 0.58 15.42 0.42

121.2862 4.44 84.7799 3.23 111.3971 4.46 3.48 1.00 1.00 1.79 1.80 1.00 1.00 4.78 1.00 1.00

1,027.01 19.82 991.23 18.24

3,169.73

100.00 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

100.00 14.00 15.50 10.00 13.75 14.00 14.00 14.00 14.50 14.00 15.50 15.50

100.00 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

15.28 0.94 0.94 2.22 1.48 2.92 2.09 3.68 2.29 2.29 2.47 2.73

YTD Return (%)

INDEX

1,034.18 769.57

Offer ($/N)

Spot 187.50 187.60 Price 187.90 7D 187.79 REPO 14D 188.08 188.23 Tenor RateYield (%) (%) Offer1M 188.77 189.24Price Offer TTM (Yrs) Bid Yield (%) Bid Price Call 9.50 2M 190.05 191.05 1M 13.00 3M 191.32 192.82 0.23 14.13 13.44 97.73 97.88 3M 13.50 6M 195.68 198.64 1.54 15.06 14.94 97.30 97.45 6M 14.00 1Y 204.98 210.55 2.24 15.25 15.17 99.65 99.80 2.49 15.25 15.17 89.14 89.29 NOTE: 2.58 15.25 15.17 87.77 87.92 3.33 15.24 15.11 88.72 :Benchmarks NA :Not 88.42 Applicable 4.41Bond 15.24 15.14 102.35 * :Amortising # :Floating Rate Bond 102.65 µ :Convertible ***: Deferred 4.73 Bond 15.23 15.12 72.92coupon bonds 73.22 AMCON: Asset of Nigeria 6.99 Management Corporation 15.24 15.17 104.85 105.15 FGN: Federal Government of Nigeria ‡ : Bond rating under review 9.12 15.07 15.01 95.70 96.00 FMBN: Federal of Nigeria †: Bond rating 13.83 Mortgage Bank15.55 15.49 96.85 expired 97.15 IFC: International Finance Corporation N/A :Not Available 14.31 15.62 15.56 82.22 82.52 LCRM: Local Contractors Receivables Management {r} :Issuer in receivership 14.81 15.70 15.62 58.98 59.28 NAHCO: Nigerian Aviation Handling Company 15.48 15.39 15.32 68.50 68.80 NGC: Nigeria-German Company O/N: Overnight 19.46 15.51 15.45 79.50 79.80 UPDC: UAC Property Development Company UBA: United Bank for Africa O/N

4,404.66

Issue Date

Risk Premium is a combination of credit risk and liquidity risk premiums Agency Bonds **Exclusive of non-trading t.bills 0.00 FMB 24-MAY-2015 FMBN 17.25 FMB II 03-APR-2017 0.00/16.00 LCRM 09-DEC-2016 ***LCRM 0.00/16.50 LCRM II 20-APR-2017 0.00/16.50 LCRM III 06-JUL-2017

Rate (%) 9.2500 13.7343 15.0936 16.1032Date Maturity

1,063.75 20.04 19.06 16.21 16.09 17.04 16.99 16.24 16.22 20.00 16.25 16.25

1.2872 -

1.4255 96.12 1.5679 98.47 0.8114 95.33 97.39 88.77 97.22 93.20 95.05 93.92 97.06 89.82 96.69 98.60

Business | Interview

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Piracy threatens publishing The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Learn Africa Plc, Mr. Segun Oladipo, in this interview with Chris Ugwu, speaks on the challenges facing publishing companies in the country and sundry issues.

There is strong feeling that, perhaps, over two-third of book industry revenue goes to pirates

Oladipo

How do you assess the Nigerian economy going by the rebasing of the economy and security challenges? The rebasing of Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which makes Nigeria the largest economy in Africa and the 26th in the world has generated increased interest in business activities in this country. I have read reports of several foreign investors expressing strong desire to establish manufacturing and trading concerns in the country. Obviously, this would create more employment opportunities and the disposable income of more Nigerian families. I feel confident that the multiplier effects of increased foreign direct investment would be beneficial to our people.

Concerning security, the activities of the insurgents in the North have had serious impacts on our promotional activities and revenue generation. Our representatives have not been able to move freely in order to sell the benefits of our excellent products to the teachers and decision makers in the educational sector. The mobile sales teams can only operate in restricted areas and this is causing us a lot of concerns. As a matter of fact, some schools have been closed down and some bookshops have stopped operating due to security problem. Many of the teachers in those areas have also lost the opportunity to update their knowledge and upgrade their skills through attendance at capacity building events like the seminars that we are currently

organising across the country. Moreover, many of the state governments that used to procure books for distribution among their public schools have stopped doing so and this represents loss of significant business. They are allocating more resources to fighting the criminal elements in order to guarantee security of lives and properties. What are the challenges faced by publishing companies in Nigeria? The book publishing industry is faced with several serious constraints, just like many other industries in Nigeria. The peculiar thing is that we are in a business that supports the development of the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s human capital. It is an industry that can influence our agriculture, health-

care, transportation, security and almost every aspect of our existence as a nation. It also has a role to play in the well-being of every household. Every family needs intellectual development and you can hardly achieve that without books - whether in hard copy or in digital format. Without any doubt, the poor reading culture in Nigeria is a big challenge to publishing industry. Books rank very low on the preference list of an average Nigerian and this has made it difficult to achieve turnover that is commensurate with our huge population. Some parents would rather spend money on electrical appliances, jewellery, clothes and frivolous ceremonies than buy recommended books for their children. It is so bad, but for the intervention of government, even textbook purchase for core subjects like Mathematics, English language and the Sciences, may suffer. It is easy to look at the level of poverty and say there is no purchasing power. The irony, however, is that education can provide opportunities that can lift people out of abject poverty and neglect. As a matter of fact, many of the successful professionals and public figures in the country today came from humble backgrounds. They were able to rise above the circumstances of their birth through the acquisition of excellent education, perseverance, self-discipline and strong faith in God. I hope parents, especially those in low-income category, will continue to provide the resources and encouragement that their children need to learn. The greatest threat to the survival and prosperity of the publishing industry in our country is piracy. It is an assault on the intellectual rights of authors and discourages creativity. As a matter of fact, some of them pass off out-dated books as new editions to unsuspecting buyers. It is also possible for pirates to use money that is derived from their criminal trade to finance other dangerous activities. It is painful that some crooks engage in unauthorised printing of fast moving titles from established publishers and sell them at ridiculous prices. They can afford to do that because they have not invested time and resources in content development. Besides, they do not have employees that promote these publications among teachers and school administrators. They also do not organise training for teachers and support school libraries like we do periodically, nor do they carry out corporate social responsibility initiatives to supplement government efforts. In addition, they neither pay royalties to authors as rewards for intellectual creativity nor pay taxes to support the developmental programmes

Business | Interview

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015

industry in Nigeria –Oladipo BIODATA Education:

Bsc, Business Administration, University of Ilorin Experience: Over 23 years Previous position: Sales Representative, Longman Nigeria Plc, 1992; Senior District Manager, North Central, Longman Nigeria Plc, 2005; Executive Director, Sales, Longman Nigeria Plc, 2009; Managing Director/CEO, Learn Africa Plc, 2013 to date.

of government. Estimates vary, there is strong feeling that perhaps over two-thirds of book industry revenue goes to pirates. The problem has affected the growth of the industry, hampered its ability to generate additional employment opportunities for the growing youth population and limited its contribution to national economy. While one recognises the efforts that government has been making through the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), it is obvious that there is room for improvement. We need to replicate the success recorded at the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control. Government should increase budgetary allocation to NCC to enable it engage more personnel and carry out more raids against the book pirates. Moreover, the law enforcement agencies, most especially the police and the customs, should engage in greater collaboration with the publishers and the NCC in order to curtail the nefarious activities of book pirates. We would also like to appeal to school authorities, parents, booksellers and the general reading public not to purchase pirated copies. Besides, the cost of fund is still very high and this is a serious headache for companies in Nigeria. As a matter of fact, some companies are unable to pay dividends to shareholders because the greater percentage of what they should have declared as profit was used to pay interest on credit facilities that they obtained from banks. Perhaps, the CBN needs to initiate policies that can address this concern and encourage the private sector to increase capacity utilisation and establish new factories that can reduce the current high level of unemployment. How has the divestment of the company’s majority shareholder impacted its operations? We have successfully introduced new titles into the Nigerian market as replacements for some of the Pearson Education titles that were withdrawn from our list. Also, we have originated 96 new titles and produced over 20 million copies of our various publications. Without doubt, we have been able to broaden the range of our product portfolio in order to meet the increasingly growing and dynamic needs of our customers.

To what extent have you restructured the entire business activities to consistently add value to shareholders’ investment and enhance its growth? We have reviewed many of our titles in order to comply with the changes in curricula requirements and feedback that we got from teachers and other stakeholders in the educational sector. We have also introduced new titles to meet market demand and I am happy to say that they have been enjoying warm reception across the country. In addition, we have implemented several measures to achieve greater coverage of our market, improve control mechanisms, strengthen distribution network and guarantee the efficiency of our people and systems. I feel confident that the steps we have taken will enable us achieve a sustained increase in our turnover and raise the level of profitability. As one of the leading educational publishers that are strongly committed to human capital development, what has been your CSR in education and human empowerment? You may recall that we announced the establishment of Learn Africa Education Development Foundation during the unveiling of our new brand name and logo in 2012. It was established to support the growth and development of the education sector through the provision of educational infrastructure and engagement in philanthropic activities that promote learning. I am happy to report that this corporate social responsibility arm of the company has been making remarkable progress. It instituted the Annual NECO Excellence Awards for students, teachers and schools at the senior secondary level. The objective was and remains to underscore the importance of excellence in education in our national development as well as encourage hard work, diligent scholarship and healthy competition. The awards recognise the top three candidates at the June/July Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations (SSCE) conducted by the National Examination Council in every state of the federation and Abuja. In addition, one teacher from the school that produced the 1st placed candidate is also recognised while all the schools that produced winners receive free books from the foundation. The maiden edition of the event took place in 2012 during which 111 students, 97 schools and 37 teachers won various awards. A similar event took place last year and we are already making preparations to ensure that this year’s event is even more successful. Moreover, we periodically organise training programmes for teachers of primary and secondary schools across the country. This initiative enables them to be exposed to latest innovations

As a matter of fact, some companies are unable to pay dividends to shareholders because the greater percentage of what they should have declared as profit was used to pay interest on credit facilities that they obtained from banks

Oladipo

and developments in classroom management, educational assessment and motivation, teaching methodologies, early childhood education, lesson planning and other relevant issues. They also have the opportunities of exchanging ideas with their colleagues from other schools and listening to experts’ advice on how to cope with the frequent challenges that they encounter in their profession. Furthermore, we invest a lot of funds into the development of school libraries through the donation of books. We are interested in encouraging students to imbibe the culture of reading, not only to enhance their academic performance, but also as a means of developing their personality. What is the future prospect of your

Oladipo

company? The future of our company is very bright considering the unflinching support of our shareholders, our solid capital base, the resourcefulness of our employees, the high quality management team, the visionary board and the treasured assistance of other stakeholders. We are determined to achieve a quantum leap in turnover and profitability through broader coverage of the market and efficient of operations. We are also committed to the establishment of our titles on the key subjects as leaders in the preprimary, basic and senior secondary segments of our market. All these would enable us to continuously out-pace our competitors in the book publishing industry while generating impressive return on investment.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Special Features 45

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015

2015 elections and the infrastructure of gullibility Erahodu Oseghale

t will go down as one of the puzzling peculiarities of Nigerian politics that performance in terms of delivery of the dividends of democracy is not the determining factor in election success. It has been dubbed politics of “stomach infrastructure” by pundits, borrowing from Ayo Fayose’s imaginative reference to the effectiveness of dishing out food and clothing items instead of roads and hospitals in his marvellous defeat of Kayode Fayemi. An even more bizarre version of this freak democracy is now playing out at the presidential level as General Muhammadu Buhari leads the APC in a vigorous campaign against President Goodluck Jonathan, flaunting nothing more than his thirty-year-old notoriety as a tyrannical enforcer of draconian decrees! In this democratic con-game, even school certificates have no value but for the constitutional provision requiring them as proof of literacy. To put it bluntly : Buhari’s claim to a right of return to rule Nigeria is entirely premised on pontificating and promises since he has spent all his post-ouster decades battling polls and court verdicts that consistently confirm his “perpetual in-electability”, as Nasir ElRufai once diagnosed. Yet he has emerged again for the 2015 polls, defying his own teary-eyed vows never to contest again and a fatigued frame depicting all the wear and tear of a 73 year old legionnaire. Any right thinking person would expect such a cashiered character to be praying for a blessed berth at the gates of heaven, not elbowing and rough-tackling his way towards a fourth lame-duck foray into presidential electioneering. Wiser counsel would have him engaged instead in grooming a much younger, generationally-correct, successor for his timed-out and obsoleted presidential ambition. But old habits, like the old soldier, never dies!

The fact that someone so bereft of electability on age and performance grounds can still clinch the hotly-contested ticket of a party parading itself as “progressive”, edging out more youthful and mentally alert personalities like Abubakar Atiku and Rabiu Kwankwaso, presents an even more preposterous poser to those who rightly believe progress means moving forward not retrogressing. The only sane explanation for such antics is that the APC strategists actually find Buhari’s eclipsing life-span very suitable for the back-door succession to the Presidency of Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, as a surreptitious short-cut to power for the Yoruba, thereby outwitting the Hausa-Fulani hegemonists with their own son, sorry grandfather. But that is all about the elitist political treachery that brought together such a mind-boggling mixture of strange bed-fellows united temporarily by their irreconcilable ambitions. It is amazing how Buhari managed to get swallowed into the company of those he once swore he would keep at arm’s length and still insist on his own incorrigibility. This is another credential he would prefer to keep in military vaults. The real tragedy however is that all the liabilities of perpetual in-electability, advance age, dubious company and, above all, zero-performance record in everything but rigid dictatorial tendencies, have fermented into a potent brew that seizes the sensibilities of the gullible fringe of northern masses with a bewildering binge of hero-worshipping anchored solely on their sadistic hatred for the rich and the privileged whom Buhari regularly projects as thieves and rogues responsible for mass poverty, unemployment and insecurity. It never occurs to the misled mobs that wealth and opportunity are precisely the panacea for their own liberation from misery and hopelessness. Neither do they ever think about the harm that has befallen the nation more from the armed termination of democratic rule, notably by General Buhari

and his successor-serial coupists than could ever be attributed to the rich and the privileged. President Jonathan now has to contend with the awkward challenge of proving his indelible development transformation record currently changing the landscape and the economic fortunes of Nigeria positively amid the baseless, mischievous and misleading campaign of calumny orchestrated by a leading villain in the destruction of the nation’s potentials under rapacious military dictatorship. Those who spread the deliberate disinformation about President Jonathan “doing nothing” about the Boko Haram insurgency, for example, were responsible for derailing the Nigerian armed forces from their professional calling in defence of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Nigeria by railroading them into political piracy and plundering of the public treasuries in the guise of “corrective crusade against corruption.” Imagine a prominent military mogul like Buhari not acknowledging President Jonathan’s heroic resuscitation of the railways which was neglected, ground to a halt and abandoned for decades by his fellow militaricians. The list of monumental achievements of the Goodluck Jonathan Administration in all spheres of human endeavour and economic significance in only four years should have been sufficient support to guarantee him a well-deserved second term, without the distraction and challenge of Nigeria’s most notorious enemies of democracy and economic progress, now maliciously masquerading as champions of democracy and promoters of progress and development. That is the tragedy of the infrastructure of gullibility propping up the presidential ambition of General Buhari and his APC collaborators. A tragedy terminating on February 14, God willing. • Erahodu Oseghale wrote in from Benin.

Who wants an incorruptible leader? Jason Oguejiofor

o be incorruptible is to be scarcely swayed by the lure of lucre. It is the personal attribute of a man who realizes, unlike most of us, that it does not take millions (more like billions now) and the oft-vicious struggle to acquire them, to satisfy human needs, even wants. Supporters of General Muhammadu (Mohammed?) Buhari, the APC presidential hopeful, routinely crow about how he would allegedly accept only N2.5m of the hefty N25m annual pension due to him as a former head of state, as evidence that the man is the best person to fight corruption in Nigeria if elected president. Which may well be true. Except that being personally incorruptible does not exactly translate to the incorruptibility of all persons on a leader's team, as Buhari's leadership history has clearly shown. We will give a few examples to back our claims. But before then, permit me to say that the word corruption has become so thoroughly abused that wittingly or unwittingly, we seem to have invested it with a rather invincible persona, one that we can't even begin to scratch, but which, in reality, it does not possess. While corruption is ahydra-headed evil afflicting the Nigerian system that must be fought tooth and nail, I hold the view that incompetence or what Dr. Douglas Anele of University of Lags has described as lack of emotional intelligence, is worse than corruption. For, if a man is incorruptible but does not have the competence to properly utilize the resources available to him (that is, what is left after corruption has taken its toll) to achieve good governance, or cannot effectively put members of his team on leash so they don't eat the bone hanging on their necks, he is worse than the corrupt but competent man who, in spite of corrup-

tion, is able to properly apply the little resources at his disposal to achieve some laudable governance objectives. There was once a prince of the Yoruba nation who governed Lagos State. Confronted with the near total collapse of the road infrastructure in Lagos, the prince at a loss as to what to do simply developed an alibi. His ready excuse for doing practically nothing about the pathetic state of Lagos roads then was that there was no bitumen with which to surface the roads. Lagosians complained and cursed but the prince obviously was 'clueless'. Either because of his obvious incompetence or in spite of it, the prince was removed and in was brought another prince, this time from Adamawa. In less than three months of Mohammed Buba Marwa's posting to Lagos, residents witnessed remarkable transformation. By the time Marwa's military administration in Lagos ended in May 1999, he had set a pace that the civilian administration of Ahmed Bola Tinubu had to struggle to beat. Let's face it: in spite of corruption, governments in Lagos, Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Cross River, Rivers, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Anambra, Delta, Edo, Bayelsa, Ondo and several others, have performed creditably. At the federal level, Jonathan has performed beyond expectation. Yet, every time you read newspaper, or listen to radio commentaries, you would think nothing positive at all is happening in the country because of corruption. The point, then, is this: Mouhammadu Buhari may be incorruptible but he has proved over time that he is not particularly a good leader. A lot has been said about his clannishness and religious bigotry (as head of state in 1985, he voted for a Nigerien Fulani Muslim to become OAU Secretary General over and above Nigeria's Peter Onu, a northerner like Buhari who only happened to be a Christian) but that is not the issue in contention here. What

should worry every discerning Nigerian is that on several occasions in the past, opportunities had presented themselves for the APC presidential hopeful to prove his mettle as an effective leader but on each occasion, he had failed to live up to expectations. Consider a few examples: As federal commissioner for Petroleum Resources, Buhari was in charge of NNPC. While he held sway at the Corporation, a whopping $2.8 billion was illegally transferred from NNPC’s Midland Bank account in London to a private account. Miss Vera Ifudu who reported the scam was ignominiously dismissed by the NTA. While it may be true that Buhari did not personally misappropriate the fund, many agree that a more effective manager would never have allowed such a colossal loss of public money under his watch. Buhari's tour of duty as the Executive Chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund was not exactly a stellar outing for an incorruptible man. Obasanjo, judge, jury and prosecutor all at once, may have absolved the APC presidential hopeful of any personal wrong doing as PTF Chairman, but it is instructive that the executive summary of the report of the interim management committee set up by Obasanjo's government to examine the books of PTF showed that some N25b could not be properly accounted for by the PTF management. A lot has also been said about the unchecked 53 suitcases brought in by the former Emir of Gwandu during the currency change programme of 1984, but it bears reemphasis because it also at the core of our argument here. The point to note is that the suitcases were allowed to pass unchecked through customs by Buhari's aid de-camp, then Major Mustapha Jokolo. And it is just possible that Buhari did not know about this incident. But, it says a lot about the personality of the man. Other examples abound--of how several

other serious cases of unbridled corruption took place under General Buhari's watch as military head of state but he could do nothing about them. Indeed, it is estimated that over $8b was spent by Buhari's PTF without any appreciable impact on the socio-economic landscape of the country. Or, can any one still point to any standing legacy of the Petroleum Trust Fund, which this nation can use as a testimony to Muhammadu Buhari's frugality, managerial acumen and transparency as a leader? On the other hand, between 2011 and now, Jonathan whom they unjustifiably label 'corrupt' has significantly changed the country's development narrative, whether it is in the field of agricultural production, which has more than tripled; youth and women empowerment through entrepreneurship, education, roads construction and reconstruction, rail transport and the like. Yet, they would not give him credit for anything. I repeat that competence and sound knowledge and understanding of development issues are more important than a leader's so-called incorruptibility. We don't need a leader who is incorruptible but members of his team stink with financial malfeasance. We don't need an incorruptible leader who does not understand what the development issues in the modern era are. A 72- year old leader who cancelled a modern rail project just to punish a section of the country when he was still young and vibrant at 42, cannot be trusted to understand the challenges of development in an era of globalization. So, it is not just enough that Muhammadu Buhari is incorruptible. The problem is that he simply does not have what it takes--the emotional intelligence, sound knowledge and understanding. • Oguejiofor lives in Lagos.

News

DISPUTE

Military administration blamed for university's age-long woes

Kayode Olanrewaju

he former ViceChancellor of Lagos State University (LASU), Prof. Olabode Abisogun Leigh, has said he left N664 million in the coffers of the university while leaving office in 2005. The former vicechancellor revealed this even as he said that over N350 million was spent by his administration to upgrade LASU workers’ salaries from HATISS 3 to HATISS 4, when the Federal Government changed salaries’ structure in the universities and the Lagos State government refused to pay the 36-month arrears owed the workers. He said this was done to avert the industrial dispute that was looming at the time and which, if allowed, would have caused a disruption to the university calendar. Leigh, who was also the Chairman of the Special Technical Committee on the Establishment of the Lagos State University in 1982, however, said his successor should be asked to explain how the monies were spent. Speaking in an exclusive interview with New

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

SOUTH - WEST

Ex-VC blames LASU’s crisis on faulty foundation Telegraph, the retired Professor of Quantitative Genetics, said the management was able to do all that through money generated from the School of Part-Time Studies without taking a kobo from the state government, even when regular students were paying a paltry N250 as school fee per session. Meanwhile, the former vice-chancellor has attributed the incessant crises in the university

to what he called foundational problems, saying the military regime that sacked the administration of Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande, the then Lagos State governor and the initiator of the LASU project, threw spanners in the work as the original concept of the university development was tampered with. Leigh, who insisted that though the Jakande administration did not

have sufficient time to consolidate all the ideas as well as the original concept and plan of the university, blamed the military administration for the age-long woes betiding the institution. He said: “Everything had gone wrong with the setup of the university ab initio, whether by deliberate action or inaction, but it is unfortunate that the man who established the university did not have

sufficient time to consolidate on all his ideas and to run it before the military government turned everything upside down. That is the major problem LASU is still facing today. “In the original plan, we wanted to do away with all domestic matters surrounding the administration of a university. We didn’t want to be bogged down by lack of water, electricity, bad food and what have you."

L-R: Oyo State governor/APC governorship candidate, Abiola Ajimobi; Teslim Folarin of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); Engr. Seyi Makinde of the Social Democratic Party (SDP); Pastor Taiwo Otegbeye of Action Alliance (AA); Deacon Olalere Samson of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and Alhaji Olaide Olayiwola of KOWA Party, at the gubernatorial debate organised by the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Ibadan Network Centre …at the weekend

APC warns PDP against jubilation ahead of tribunal’s judgement Adeolu Adeyemo OSOGBO

sun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the weekend warned the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) against sending wrong signals to members of the public by making them believe that judgement in the petition filed by its governorship candidate, Senator Iyiola Omisore, challenging the

victory of Aregbesola in the August 9 election has been delivered in their favour. The APC Director of Publicity and Strategy, Kunle Oyatomi, who gave this warning in a press conference in Osogbo, said APC is worried about the wrong impression sent within and outside the state by the PDP that judgement that favours it has been given by the tribunal, when it has not. He said contrary to

Afenifere slams Buhari over commitment to unity Adesina Wahab ADO-EKITI

he Ekiti State chapter of the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, yesterday slammed the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the February elections, General Muhammadu Buhari, over his commitment to unity and peace in the country. The group said going by Buhari’s antecedents,

it is yet to be convinced that Buhari believes in the unity and oneness of Nigeria. In a press release issued in Ado-Ekiti yesterday and signed by Chief A. Alonge and Chief Femi Balogun, the chairman and secretary of the group respectively, it said it was wrong for someone like Buhari, who has refused to attend the Council of States’ meetings since 2007, to rule Nigeria.

PDP’s belief and attiude, the tribunal sitting on the case is not purchasable. According to Oyatomi, “The APC is not disturbed by the fallacies of the PDP, but when these lies threaten the peace as they did during the silly jubilation they had on the streets of Osogbo and elsewhere, it becomes a security threat which must be nipped in the bud. “That is why we want to alert members

of the public to be on their guard, not to allow PDP create mayhem by spreading falsehood capable of disturbing the peace. If the PDP in Osun State cannot win an election through the ballot box, there is no way such lies can make the party victorious through the Election Petition Tribunal because the honourable court deals in law, not in lies.” Meanwhile, the PDP Chairman in the state, Alhaji Ganiyu Olaoluwa,

in a separate statement said: “Our party supporters knew why they went to the streets. Those of them at the court heard the proceedings. They heard what the lawyers of both parties said. “The APC lawyer admitted that the figure recorded for the party was inflated. Our expatriate scanned our votes and found them valid. The only thing their lawyer was saying was that we did not contest other wards,” he concluded.

‘We are removing bottlenecks to LG poll’ Adesina Wahab ADO-EKITI

kiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, yesterday said his administration is removing all the bottlenecks to the smooth conduct of local government election in the state. Fayose, who spoke at a rally in Ilawe-Ekiti, Ekiti South-West Local Government, said he and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) knew the importance of taking governance to the grassroots through the local government and would do everything possible to ensure that. Speaking on his political career since 2003, Fayose said: “I have considered my return to Ekiti Government House as a rare mercy of God. And I have realised that God has done this through you. I am like a house that was built by you that needs to be fenced, so that robbers won’t be able to penetrate. “That is why I am appealing to you to vote for the PDP in all elections in February. You have tasted our opposition and likewise my government and you know I am better off, because I know exactly where the shoe pinches. I am always on the same page with you. “That was why I came up with candidates who would not take your votes and run away the way the APC members in the state and National Assembly have been doing in the last four years. “Whether somebody from your town is picked as APC candidate or not, just because of the love you have for me and my ability to deliver, vote for the PDP. And I want to assure you of equitable distribution of resources within the limit of the resources available to Ekiti State during my tenure,” the governor said.

Aregbesola: PDP won't win any seat in elections

APC accuses Fayose of clamping down on opposition

sun State governor, Rauf Aregbesola, yesterday said just as his party dealt with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2011 state and National Assembly polls in the state, no single seat would be left for the opposition in the February elections. Aregbesola spoke in Iwo during a campaign rally for candidates standing for elections in all the senatorial districts and state constituencies in

Adesina Wahab

the state. The campaign tour took Aregbesola to Iwo, Ola Oluwa and Ayedire Local Government areas, which form the federal constituency. He told the crowd in Iwo, Ogbagba, Telemu Ile Ogbo and Oluponna that the Yoruba never have anything in common with anti-progressive elements. He said the Yoruba have always pitched their tents with the progressives since the First Republic.

ADO-EKITI

he All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in Ekiti Central senatorial election in the February elections, Mr. Gbenga Olofin, has accused Governor Ayo Fayose of intimidating and harassing opposition figures in the state. Olofin in a statement in Ado-Ekiti yesterday, said the action of the governor was to eventually rig the

election in favour of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He, however, added that the opposition would not allow such plan to come to pass. Reacting to the accusation, Governor Fayose, who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Idowu Adelusi, said it was not true that the opposition was being harassed, but that it was only preparing the ground for the excuse it would give when it loses in the elections.

News 47

SOUTH-EAST

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015

Court restrains Elechi from seeking N15bn bond Uchenna Inya Abakaliki.

Federal High court sitting in Lagos, has restrained the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Nigerian Stock Exchange(NSE), from approving the N15 billion bond sort by Governor Martin Elechi of Ebonyi State, towards the completion of projects embarked upon by his administration. Giving ruling on the interim injunction brought

before the court by the counsel to the plaintiff Hon. Odefa Obasi Odefa of Ebonyi State House of Assembly, praying the court to restrain the Ebonyi State Government and its agencies from acquiring a new bond without the approval of the State House of Assembly, the presiding Judge, Justice I.N Buba ordered the 1st and 2nd defendants, the SEC and the NSE to maintain the status quo on the issue. He further gave the order, that the two regu-

latory authorities of the capital market shall not permit or authorize the Governor of the State, Attorney-General, Commissioner for Finance and the Ministry of Finance of the State to raise or procure bonds without the prior approval of the State Assembly, pending the hearing of the motion on notice at the Federal High court Abakaliki to be fixed by that court in Abakaliki. The court also ordered that the certified true copy of the enrolled or-

der of the court be served on the SEC and NSE as defendants in the case. It however ordered that the case file shall be remitted to Abakaliki division not later than today while the enrolled order shall also be served on all the defendants at Ebonyi. “That the 1st and 2nd defendants; the SEC and NSE shall maintain the status quo and shall not permit and or authorize the 3rd-7th defendants to raise and or procure bonds or any other se-

curities in the name of the 4th defendant without the prior approval of the 8th defendant pending the hearing of the motion on notice at the federal high court Abakaliki to be fixed by that court in Abakaliki”. The Ebonyi state government had last year applied for N15 billion bond from capital market of which over N9 billion was approved by the Nigeria Stock Exchange but is yet to be released to the present administration.

L-R: Ogun State All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) governorship candidate, Prof. David Olufemi Bamgbose; Anambra State governor, Chief Willie Obiano and National Chairman, Victor Umeh, at the unveiling of Olufemi in Abeokuta…at the weekend

PPA candidate reveals plans for constituency Norman Obinna

he Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) House of Representatives candidate for Aba North/South federal constituency, Mr. Mascot Uzor Kalu, has said that his aim is to bring about positive change and qualitative representation to his people. Kalu, who made this submission at the office of the Aba Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (ACCIMA) during his manifesto presentation in Aba, said what is happening in Aba is an eye sore, which requires a drastic change. In his manifesto titled: “My covenant with Aba North/South people,” Kalu, who served as the youngest Chief of Staff for three years under Governor Theodore Orji before he resigned from his position, said he will partner with relevant agencies and organisations to provide 1, 000 jobs for young school leavers and graduates in the area. He said he intends to achieve this through companies, state organisations and federal institutions as well as private and public companies.

Nkire cautions soldiers Ngige’s kinsmen declare support for Umeh

n All Progressives Congress stalwart, Chief Sam Nkire, has called on the military, the police and all other security agencies in the country to respect the will of the people during the coming elections and not allow themselves to be used by the ruling party to militarise the forthcoming general election. Speaking in Abuja, Nkire a former National Chairman of the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), stated the security agencies in the have only have their statutory role as defenders of the people first, before government officials and political office holders. He said what Nigeria needed at this period of her history was a Peoples army, police and not institutions that obeyed unlawful “orders from above”. He noted that Nigeria would be better for it, if law enforcement agents obeyed the rule of law and not unlawful orders from political office holders.

According to him, any attempt to allow politicians politicise any arm of the security agencies would compromise the integrity of the agencies and spell doom for Nigeria’s democracy. He accused the ruling party PDP of planning to cling to power by all means even when it is obvious that it had performed poorly especially during the regime of President Goodluck Jonathan. Nkire said everyone is feeling the wind of change blowing across the country and that Nigerians would not accept the election result if it does not reflect the general desire for change. The member Board of Trustees (BOT) of the APC, appealed to the Nigerian electorate to give APC a chance to bring the country back to path of development and integrity by voting Gen Mohammed Buhari for president and other APC candidates in all the political offices being contested.

Tony Okafor Awka

he kinsmen of Senator Chris Ngige in Idemili Local Government yesterday declared their support for Chief Victor Umeh of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), who is eyeing the senatorial seat in the February 14 election. To them, Umeh had given Ndigbo a political identity in the country via his administration of APGA

for nearly a decade now. Speaking through the local government Chairman of Idemili South, Prince Henry Ezenwa, the people described the national chairman of APGA as a champion of the Igbo cause. They attributed the development in Anambra State in general and Idemili area in particular under APGA in the last eight years to what they called Umeh’s catalytic roles. According to them, “In certain climes, Umeh

would have no opposition to his senatorial ambition, because of his role in the development of the state and in Igbo cause. They therefore vowed to vote overwhelmingly for the APGA boss in the February 14 poll. Addressing leaders and elders of the area, Umeh restated that he decided to go to the senate to ensure that the resolutions reached at the last National Conference as they concern the Igbo would be

duly implemented. “I have got no fewer than 35 titles across Igboland and a national honour; so I don’t think adding senator to my name would make any difference to me. I’m going to the senate to ensure that what we agreed at the national conference are implemented and there is no other way to ensure this than by electing fearless people, who have Igbo interests, to the National Assembly,” he submitted.

Okpara varsity VC advocates zero tolerance for cultism Igbeaku Orji Umuahia

he Vice Chancellor of the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU), Abia State Professor Hilary Edeoga, has told students of the institution management under him, would grant zero tolerance to cultism, gangsterism, prostitution, among other vices. Edeoga, stated this

to the over 5000 fresh matriculating students of the school at the weekend,staing that it was good conduct and proper behaviour of the students that would guarantee their success in the Institution since the management has done its best to ensure a conducive learning environment for them. According to the VC, the rights and privileges they enjoy as students of

MOUAU could be withdrawn if their conduct was inimical to the honour of the university. “I therefore enjoin all of you to be of good behavior and law abiding at all times as the present management maintains zero tolerance for all forms and shades of indiscipline. “You should eschew all acts of indiscipline including, cultism, gangsterism, extortion, pros-

titution, armed robbery, indecent dressing and all other vices that can lead to your expulsion from this University,” he warned. The VC, revealed that the University management said Edeoga, has prioritized student’s welfare, hinting that in addition to existing infrastructure, measures were being taken to provide more hostels, lecture theaters and laboratories for research work.

News

SOUTH-SOUTH

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Ex-militants pass vote of confidence on Jonathan CREDIBLE

Former fighters endorse Mr. President for a new tenure Cajetan Mmuta BENIN

x-militant leaders of the third batch of the Federal Government amnesty programme in Edo State yesterday passed a vote of confidence on President Goodluck Jona-

than with a call on all Nigerians to rally round the Peoples Democratic Party led administration to ensure the re-election of the President in the February 14 election. Leaders of the group, in a statement in Benin City, signed by Campaign Telete, the Coordinator of the third phase of the amnesty, Edwin Ojujoh, and one Edah, appealed to Nigerians, particularly the political class and aggrieved ex-militants to shun inciting statements capable of disturbing public peace as the nation gets set to go to the polls.

They stated that Nigeria cannot afford to break up over the general election. They also frowned on the endorsement of the opposition APC Presidential candidate Gen Muhammadu Buhari by some ex-militants allegedly led by one Godwin Ogidigba, stating that such a decision was only aimed, at attracting undue sympathy of some politicians and does not represent the interest of beneficiaries of the Federal Government amnesty programme”. The statement reads, “We wish to state clearly

that the position of Mr. Ogidigba amounts to a voyage of fishing and his views about President Jonathan should not be taken seriously because it falls short of public expectation”. The ex-militants said those who claimed to have endorsed the opposition are only self-seeking. “We wish to clarify that President Jonathan has not abandoned the Amnesty programme initiated by President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua in 2009”. The leaders of the body said, “For the purpose of emphasis, the

Niger Delta region which used to be engulfed by widespread insecurity, including kidnapping, bombing of oil installations and other inhuman activities, has remained peaceful and progressive since the emergence of President Jonathan”. They stated that the President Jonathan’s administration established 12 new Federal Universities including Maritime University, Delta state and Federal University, Otuoke, Bayelsa State, and in the process solved the yearly admission problem faced by Nigerian youths.

L-R: Bayelsa State Head of Service, Dr. Josephine Igodo; Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Edmond Allison Oguru; Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson and Director-General, Centre for Women Development, Eunice Akene, shortly after the inauguration of the board in Yenagoa.

University don condemns proliferation of churches Tony Anichebe Uyo

eligious institutions in the country have been charged to see their mission as a genuine call to liberate humanity from earthly misery, rather than been seen as hypocritical. Speaking at the University of Uyo 43rd lecture held at the University town campus Professor John Umoh, of the Sociology Department, in a lecture titled “Reaping the Earthly Dividends before the Heavenly Reward: The Civic (socioeconomic institution) dimension of the religious institution, noted that religion as a system of organization plays an indispensable role of a functional society. He stated that efforts should be made to improve the social wellbeing of the citizens. He said, “The religious institutions should

consider themselves to be not only instruments of spiritual salvation, but also experts of community development so as to demonstrate their good intention towards the people’s welfare.” The erudite lecturer condemned the proliferation of churches in the country which he said has undermined community development, and encouraged religious fraudsters. He called for government control of churches through requirements of licences and permits of operation. In her remarks, the Vice Chancellor of the University, professor Comfort Ekpo stressed the importance of religion in the life of man. She noted that what science cannot explain, religion can do better. Ekpo praised Umoh for the well researched lecture he delivered, noting “it will help people in the confused state”.

Chris Ejim YENAGOA

he Speaker of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Hon. Konbowei Benson Friday, has said that the Assembly under his leadership,has passed forty seven people-oriented bills, reiterating that the laws have impacted positively on the lives of the people of the state. Friday revealed this at Olugbobiri, headquarters of Southern Ijaw Constituency 4, while on the presidential campaign tour of the area, led by the Director General of the Bayelsa

Ijaw leader faults call for Tompolo’s arrest Gabriel Choba UGHELLI

prominent Chief of Gbaramatu and Ogulagha Kingdoms in Delta State, Captain Beck Hitler, has faulted the call by former Defence Minister, General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma, for the arrest of Government Ekpemupolo (Tompolo), over recent threats by some of the ex- militant leaders to declare war, if President Goodluck Jonathan losses the presidential election. Hitler, who spoke yesterday, said, it was quite unfortunate that the call was made by General Danjuma, who didn’t call for the arrest of General Muhammadu Buhari, APC presidential candidate when he issued similar threats in 2011. The Ijaw Chief also said it was wrong for General Danjuma, to have described Government Ekpemupolo, Asari Dokubo and other ex-militants as irresponsible individuals, adding they have contributed immensely to the development of Niger Delta region. “We see the call made by General Danjuma to arrest Tompolo and others as clear oppression and a hidden agenda to deny President Goodlcuk Jonathan victory on February 14. The people of Niger Delta are strongly supporting President Jonathan’s reelection”, Hitler added.

Bayelsa Assembly passed 47 bills in three years, says Speaker Central Subcommittee, Rt. Hon. Talford Ongolo. He said that plans have reached an advanced stage to disburse another batch of small and micro enterprise grants to 150 youths from Southern Ijaw Constituency 4, as part of his on-going small and micro enterprise grants, to enable the beneficiaries start small businesses, instead of staying idle at home. The Speaker, reassured the people of the constitu-

ency that he would continue to empower them to the best of his ability as their representative in the State House of Assembly, by investing in the education of the youth, informing that a minimum of three hundred students in tertiary institutions from the area are currently benefiting from his personal bursary programme. Friday, who is also the flag bearer of the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Par-

ty (PDP), for Southern Constituency 4, in the forthcoming State House of Assembly election, said eighty women from the constituency have so far benefited from his small and micro enterprise business grant of one hundred thousand naira per person, saying that the grant was meant to assist petty traders in rural communities with a view to enable them to start small businesses in support of their families.

Edo tertiary schools, lecturers mobilise support for president Cajetan Mmuta BENIN

ecturers drawn from all the Colleges of Education and Polytechnics in Edo State, have declared their support for President Goodluck Jonathan, pointing out that the welfare of Nigerians will be improved better under the

current administration. Operating under the aegis of the Edo Academia, the lecturers maintained that their to resolve to back President Jonathan was informed by his outstanding performance indices on key policy issues, analysis, creation of opportunities and developmental strides

of his transformation. Speaking at the weekened, member of the state academia, Professor Sam Guobadia said the choices before Nigerians were two-fold with one representing a way forward and another a way backward. Guobadia said, “The business of governance is a steady and

an ongoing one. Truncation of policies and programmes has been the bane of leadership in Nigeria..much has been achieved in recent years under the transformation agenda of the present government and other creative programmes for gainful employment of Nigerian youths”.

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015

News 49

NORTH

Yari accuses Shinkafi of diverting N30bn Idris Salisu Gusau

amfara State governor, Abdul’azeez Yari Abubakar and gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused former state governor and gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mahmuda Aliyu Shinkafi,

30.31m

The total surface area (in sq. km) of Africa in 2012. Source: Un.org

of diverting public funds worth over N30 billion during his administration. Governor Yari, who challenged the former governor over the weekend during his re-election campaign in Gusau, the Zamfara State capital, told APC supporters that his predecessor in office received $99.5 million being refund from the Paris Club on behalf of the government and

people of the state and that the money was diverted for his selfish end. He said even though his administration had set up a Judicial Commission of Inquiry to investigate the whereabouts of the missing funds, he said their findings showed that no remittance was sent into the state government coffers. He further alleged that “the former gover-

8.54

The number of fixed-telephone subscriptions per 100 inhabitants of Albania in 2004. Source: Itu.int

nor while in office, had personally keyed into an agreement with a Chinese firm for the construction of a private cement company at Amanawa in Sokoto State at the cost of N75 billion.” He said out of this amount, “N25 billion was diverted from the state treasury for such a personal project, only for him to lose the 2011 election and was left with no option

340,831

The total number of connected fixed wired or wireless lines of Nigeria in May 2014. Source: Ncc.gov.ng

than to allow the unidentified Chinese firm disappear with the money.” Governor Yari said “the controversial contract agreement will lapse in 2016, but yet, the former governor is still planning to raise N20 billion from the state’s coffers if elected in the February elections. He urged the people not to vote the PDP and Mahmud Shinkafi to save the economy from sinking.

The crude death rate of the Caribbean in 2010-2015. Source: Un.org

L-R: Chief Marketing Officer, MTN Nigeria, Mr. Bayo Adekanmbi; member, Fumel Emirate Council, Alhaji Ahmed Aminu and Emir of Fumel, Jigawa State, Dr. Ahmad Sani, at the 2nd Kannywood Awards in Abuja…at the weekend

Aliyu: Report all PVC issues to govt Dan Atori MINNA

he Niger State governor, Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu, has called on the electorate to report any problem relating to the collection of Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) to the state government. Aliyu, who spoke at a Maulud celebration organised by Tijanniyya Islamic sect in Minna yesterday said it is the civic responsibility of every citizen to ensure that they collect their permanent voters’ cards. The governor said having a PVC is a right and the only tool to elect people who can deliver on campaign promises. He added that the state government is ready to intervene once the electorate alert on any form of challenge that might hinder the collection of the cards. He said the turnout in previous elections was

low. He also said most registered voters either failed to collect their voters’ cards or refused to come out and exercise their civic duties on polling days. Accordingly, he said “Zone B has over 900, 000 voters but only 200, 000 of them bothered to vote in the last election.” The governor urged the people to respect the result of a valid election and accept the outcome as an act ordained by God. He said it is the civic responsibility of people to support those who will emerge winners to foster peace. He called on the people to eschew religious and ethnic sentiments, urging them to vote strictly based on a candidate’s ability to deliver campaign promises. He said his government is committed to guaranteeing the freedom of religious practices in line with constitutional provisions.

Benue guber candidates poised for debate Cephas Iorhemen Makurdi

t least eight governorship candidates in Benue State are now battle ready to challenge each other in the gubernatorial debate designed to explain their respective programmes for the people of the state. The debate, which is bid to hold on Saturday, February 7, at the main auditorium of J. S. Tarka Foundation is organised by the TivnetInc, a nonpartisan and non-political Internet discussion group. The moderator of the event, Prof. Jossy Uvah, said in a statement released to New Telegraph yesterday that the purpose of the debate is to help the process of entrenching democratic principles and practice in the state. The debate is also meant to encourage the electorate effectively engage the candidates on how they intend to tackle key development challenges confronting the state. Uvah said an extensive list of what he called ‘Ground Rules’ aimed to ensure fair play and transparency has already been sent to the candidates, appealing to them and other stakeholders to educate their supporters about the need for civility and politeness throughout the event.

‘My victory’ll boost APC’s chances in Niger’ Dan Atori MINNA

he senator-elect in Niger East senatorial bye-election, David Umaru, yesterday said he is not afraid of Governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu, when the two will square it up on February 28, this year. Umaru, who spoke at a press conference at his Minna base, said his victory at the tribunal will boost his chances and galvanise the efforts of the All Progressives Con-

gress (APC) in the forthcoming general election. Responding to questions on his readiness to square up with Governor Aliyu, Umaru said: “I am not afraid of him, we are very ready. I can assure you that this election is not going to be for the high and mighty but for credible people. I predict something higher than a landslide victory.” He further said: “The verdict by the tribunal has shown that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) does not have the power to do and undo any-

more in the state. What is wrong is wrong. We need re-orientation,” he said. Reacting to PDP’s claim that it will appeal the verdict of the tribunal, Umaru said: “I am not afraid that somebody is appealing. There are competent lawyers who understand the law and I am sure they will defend the verdict. “A statement has been made that the PDP cannot keep trampling on people or continues to do the wrong thing. This is a clear message to the PDP that time is over for its reliance over

the years on rigging and manipulation of results. “It doesn’t really matter if I spend only one day as a senator of the Federal Republic to represent my people, but the mandate of the people is what matters. The right to appeal is fundamental in our legal system. Everybody has the right to exercise it.” He further allayed the fear that the PDP, out of panic, has begun to intimidate and harass supporters of the APC to cajole them into voting for their party during the elections.

Defected commissioners have no electoral value, says PDP Musa Pam Jos

he Director-General of Gyang Pwajok Campaign Organisation in Plateau State, Hon. Daniel Kungmi, yesterday described six of the commissioners who worked with Governor

Jonah Jang in his first tenure and who recently defected to the All Progressives Party (APC) as people with no electoral value. He said the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is working very hard to deliver their candidates

from the House of Assembly to the Presidency in the February general election. Kungmi stated this yesterday in a chat with journalists in Jos, the Plateau State capital. According to him, “Most of the commissioners that claimed to

have defected recently to the APC were those that failed to perform their duties while in office. “They were the troublemakers of our party and they do not command supporters, the party is glad that they have defected to where they belong,” he said.

50 News

WORLD | News

Gani Adams backs Jonathan, cautions politicians Wole Shadare

eader of Oodua Peoples’ Congress (OPC), Mr. Gani Adams, has urged Nigerian politicians to guard against their utterances in a bid not to truncate the country's democracy. He stressed that what the citizenry wanted are issue-based campaigns. Speaking at the weekend at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, shortly before he departed for

Istanbul, he particularly took a swipe at the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) for dissipating their energy on abusing the incumbent president, Goodluck Jonathan in their rallies. According to him, “Mr. President is taking his time to elaborate what he has done and what he will still do for Nigeria. The opposition is just focusing on insecurity and the insecurity is coming from a particular

zone of the country”. Speaking on insurgency that has ravaged many parts of North East, the OPC leader said he believed that the APC’s Presidential candidate, General Mohammed Buhari (rtd), as a former military Head of State and a General in the Army, has the right as a good Nigerian to assist the sitting government in reducing the massive insecurity in the country and not until when he gets to power.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Hong Kong residents march for democracy

housands of pro-democracy demonstrators marched through Hong Kong's streets yesterday in the first major rally since mass protests last year. Chanting "No fake universal suffrage. I want genuine universal suffrage," the demonstrators held yellow umbrellas, which became a symbol of the earlier protests when the activists wielded them as a defense against police

using pepper spray. The event appeared orderly and peaceful throughout the day. The annual march usually is held on Jan. 1 but was delayed for a month this year to coincide with the government's second round of consultations on electoral reform. The demonstrators oppose the Chinese government's decision that candidates in the 2017 election for Hong Kong chief executive will be vetted by a largely

Beijing-controlled nominating committee. The final election plan must be approved by a twothirds majority in Hong Kong's Legislative Council before submitting to authorities in Beijing. But pro-democracy legislators, who hold 40 percent of the seats, have said they would veto the screening proposal. "This is pseudo universal suffrage, we do not have the rights to elect who we want," said protester Julia Choi.

Oyo opposition candidates disagree with Ajimobi on public schools Sola Adeyemo Ibadan

gainst the allegation by some governorship candidates in the opposition parties in Oyo State that there are more private schools than public schools, depicting inadequacy in the education sector, Governor Abiola Ajimobi yesterday said that private schools could not boast of the figures controlled by the

government. Speaking at a heated governorship debate organised by Radio Nigeria, Ibadan, where six governorship candidates were present, the All Progressives Congress candidate said it was impossible to stop establishment of private schools, but that his administration had taken steps to revamp the education sector in several ways. Noting that more parents now prefer public schools to private ones

in the state, Ajimobi said “This administration has improved on the education sector in the state. From the record we have, the number of pupils in public schools in the state has risen to 1,333,000. How many pupils can the private schools boast of ? We cannot stop people from establishing private schools but what we can do is to improve on the standard in public school,” the governor explained.

Tax evasion: Agbaje got it wrong, LAGS insists Muritala Ayinla, Temitope Ogunbanke

he Lagos State Government yesterday said that the Peoples Democratic Party governorship candidate in the state, Mr Jimi Agbaje defaulted in the payment of Land Use Charge for his company and not his residence. In a statement signed by the Special Adviser to Governor Babatunde Fashola and made avail-

able to New Telegraph, the government said the letter of acknowledgement issued to him and published in some national dailies was for a different property owned by Agbaje and not his business premises, accusing the PDP governorship candidate of misinforming the public. The statement read in part: "We consider it necessary to make a response to the rebuttal of Mr. Jimi Agbaje in some

newspapers to the assertion by His Excellency, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, Governor of Lagos State on the subsisting default in Land Use Charge payment of N1, 629, 064.62 by JayKay Pharmacy Limited on the above mentioned property. "For clarity, the issue at hand has to do with Mr. Jimi Agbaje’s business premises at 9, Randle Close, Apapa and not 1, Bombay Crescent, Apapa GRA, for which he was commended.

Nigeria not for sale, Jonathan's group tells APC Kunle Olayeni Abeokuta

eam Jonathan, a socio-political group campaigning for the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan in Ogun State, has flayed the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) for allegedly criticising the president's achievements. The group also cautioned former President Olusegun Obasanjo against hobnobbing with former Head of State and APC presidential candidate, Maj-Gen. Mu-

hammadu Buhari (rtd) as the presidential election draws nearer. The state Coordinator of Team Jonathan, Hon. Isaac Oyero, said this while addressing the people of Ogun West Senatorial District at the Multipurpose Hall, Ilaro in continuation of the group's sensitization tour to the state's three senatorial districts. He urged the APC to come up with its programmes, rather than using provocative statements against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led Federal Government. Oyero declared that Ni-

geria was not for sale and warned opposition politicians to desist from self-serving actions in the interest of the country. While highlighting some of the achievements of Jonathan in four years, Oyero noted that fuel has been consistently available in virtually all filling stations in the country compared to the tenure of his predecessors in office. "Let us give President Jonathan kudos for his prompt attention to the dreaded Ebola disease otherwise the outbreak would have claimed thousands of lives of Nigeria," he added.

Thousands of pro-democracy activists in a democracy march to Central in Hong Kong yesterday.

Freed Al Jazeera journalist leaves Egypt for Australia

l Jazeera journalist Peter Greste left Egypt for his native Australia yesterday after serving 400 days in a Cairo prison on charges that included aiding a terrorist group, security officials said. There was no immediate word on the fate of his two Al Jazeera colleagues - CanadianEgyptian Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian national Baher Mohamed - who were also jailed in the case that

provoked an international outcry. The three were sentenced to seven to 10 years on charges including spreading lies to help a "terrorist organisation" - a reference to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. Greste's release came as Egypt is reeling from one of the bloodiest attacks in years. More than 30 security forces were killed Thursday night in Sinai, and ensuing comments from President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi sug-

gested he was in no mood for compromise. Many Egyptians see Qatarbased Al Jazeera as a force determined to destabilise the country, a view that has been encouraged in the local media, which has labelled the journalists "The Marriott Cell" because they worked from a hotel of the U S-based chain. Egyptian authorities accuse Al Jazeera of backing the Muslim Brotherhood, the movement which then army chief Sisi toppled in 2013.

Japan outraged over beheading

apan and other nations condemned with outrage and horror yesterday the beheading purportedly by the Islamic State group of Kenji Goto, a journalist who sought through his coverage of Syria to convey the plight of refugees, children and other victims of war. The failure to save Goto raised fears for the life of a Jordanian fight-

er pilot also held hostage by the extremists. Unlike earlier messages, an online video purporting to show an Islamic State group militant beheading Goto, circulated via social media late Saturday by militant sympathizers, did not mention the pilot. Goto's slaying shocked this country, which up to now had not become directly embroiled in the

fight against the militants. "I feel indignation over this immoral and heinous act of terrorism," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters after convening an emergency Cabinet meeting. When I think of the grief of his family, I am left speechless," he said. "The government has been doing its utmost in responding to win his release, and we are filled with deep regret."

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015

International Sport

Sport News

AFCON 2015

Emenike ends goal drought after spiritual cleansing

Arsenal massacre Villa 5-0

Ghana beat Guinea 3-0, cruise to semis

Sport

Did you know? That the oldest EPL goal scorer was Teddy Sheringham at 40 years and 268 days

Djokovic wins fifth Australian Open title

ovak Djokovic won his fifth Australian Open title and his eighth career Grand Slam while extending Andy Murray’s misery at Melbourne Park. Djokovic beat Murray 7-6 (5), 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-0 in the final on Sunday, rele g ating the Scotsman to runner-up status for the fourth time in four

Djokovic

chest in celebration. At the end of the match, Djokovic threw his racket into the crowd at Rod Laver Arena. Roy Emerson, the only other man with five or more Australian titles, was in the crowd and Djokovic a c k n ow l e d g e d the presence of the sixtime champion. “I’m so grateful to

tries. Murray had lost twice previously to Djokovic in 2011 and 2013 and to Roger Federer in 2010. D j o kov i c sw u n g momentum in a close match with a service break in the eighth game of the third set, winning four straight points. When he took a 4-0 lead in the last set, he smacked his fist hard against his

Eagles: Agali, Fatusi insist on Keshi

Agali

Keshi

The Sport Team Adekunle Salami Group Sport Editor

Emmanuel Tobi

Nigeria’s Micheal Uchebo battling Argentina’s Mascherano at Brazil 2014

Assistant Editor, Sports

Ifeanyi Ibeh Sports Correspondent

Ajibade Olusesan Sports Correspondent

Charles Ogundiya Sports Correspondent

Ajibade Olusesan

ormer Super Eagles players, Victor Agali and Teslim Fatusi, have advised the Nigeria Football Federation to allow Coach Stephen Keshi continue as the handler of the national team. Agali believes Eagles will gain from continuity of the technical crew. He said the NFF would create more problems in

be standing here as a champion for the fifth time, and to be in the elite group of players — Roy Emerson, Rod Laver and all the legends of our sport,” Djokovic said. Murray sat slumped over in his chair after the match, awaiting the presentations, and once again received the runner-up plate instead of the trophy.

the team if the body hired a new man to take over. He said that rather than starting all over again, it was better to guide the coach to correct the mistakes he made in his first spell. “We don’t have to blow the issue of Keshi out of proportion because I think the right decision is to allow him continue. The problem with the team is not about the coach, there is something fundamentally wrong with Nigerian

football and that is what we need to address. “If we hire a foreign coach, are we going to bring Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo to play for us I can tell you that if you bring them and we don’t solve our problems the results will be the same. “I think we should give Keshi about three to four years contract, while we sit down and think about how to solve the fundamental problems that we have.” On his part, Fatusi noted that Keshi made some mistakes which made the last days of his first spell end on a bad note. He said that allowing the coach to continue was however the best option under the circumstances. “ Keshi made a lot of mistakes such as his refusal to invite players like Obafemi Martins and Ike Uche into the team. But I believe he has learnt from his mistakes and will not do that again if retained. He has proved to us that he is a good coach by winning the Nations Cup. He took over the team at a very difficult time and made the players champions. So we have to look at those positive things and give him the job again,” he said.

SPORT

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

ITTF Africa failure won’t affect my ranking – Quadri Ajibade Olusesan

orld’s best table tennis player in 2014, Aruna Quadri, said that his inability to win gold medal in the men’s singles of the just concluded International Table Tennis Federation Africa Championship in Egypt would not affect his ITTF world rankings. Quadri was heavily tipped to win the men’s singles following an impressive 2014 but the 26-year old was shocked

Quadri

Ajibade Olusesan

uper Eagles striker, Emmanuel Emenike, last Saturday, ended his goal drought when he hit the target in Fenerbahçe’s 2-1 win over Karabükspor. Interestingly, the striker who last scored for the Yellow Canaries in November 2014 is believed to have ended his sufferings after undergoing spiritual cleansing ahead of the match. Reports emerged in Turkey that the Nigerian international visited a Turkish spiritual home where he underwent a shamanic ritual to break a curse purportedly placed on him by an unnamed compatriot. Apparently, the former Spartak Moscow

Emenike

Quadri said that although he was shocked to have lost at that stage, he was happy to have won gold medal in the men’s doubles. “I won more points than I lost and I think my ranking will remain the same and I will not go below 30 in the world. I am disappointed that I lost the game but that is sport for you, it is difficult sometimes to tell what will happen. Generally, it was not a bad tournament for me, the men’s doubles gold crowned my efforts in the competition,” he said.

Watching AFCON on TV terrible, says Aluko

Emenike ends goal drought after spiritual cleansing player felt the potency of the spiritual healing as he fired past Karabükspor‘s goalkeeper in the 58th minute of the encounter. In England, Sammy Ameobi returned to scoring ways when he got Newcastle’s second goal in their 3-0 win at Hull City. The Nigerian who last scored in a 2-1 win over Tottenham last November hit target in the 50th minute to earn the Magpies their eight win of

by World number 195 Mohamed El-Beiali who defeated him in the quarterfinal of the competition. There have been fears that his early ouster might affect his rankings but in an interview with our correspondent the player said that rather than going down in the ranking he had actually gained more points that would take him further up in the rankings. He said that he beat players who were ranked higher than the player that beat him, a development that had earned him more points.

Emmanuel Tobi

the season. In Belgium, K.A.A Gent forward, Moses Simon, went home with the match ball after scoring a hattrick during his side’s 3-3 draw with Sporting Lokeren. The Nigerian, who made his first start for his new side after his transfer from AS Trencin in January, will be disappointed by his team’s defence, as he gave them the lead three times but poor defending ensured Lokeren got a share of the spoils. Nigerian duo of Aminu Umar and Chikeluba Ofoedu scored a brace each for their clubs in Turkey. Umar helped Osmanlispor to a 3-0 thrashing of hosts Elazigspor while Ofoedu scored a brace for Samsunspor in a 4-0 trouncing of Giresunspor.

ull City of England winger, Sone Aluko, has described the experience of watching the 2015 Nations Cup in Equatorial Guinea on television as terrible. Aluko who has watched many games on television said it had been a frustrating experience but is hoping to use Hull City’s fight against relegation from the Premier League as an avenue to bounce back stronger. “Watching the African Nations has been like watching the Premier League before

you play in it,” said Aluko, who scored both goals as Nigeria crashed out of the qualifiers with a 2-2 draw against South Africa. “You just wish you could be there. It is awful to miss out and that is how we will all feel if Hull were not in the Premier League next season. “If you taste something, to have it taken away from you is painful. That is one of the worst things that can happen in your life. And that it is why we are very determined to remain in this league.”

Eguma rues Eduok’s departure January transfer window. “Of course we miss Emem. He was our best player last season but we must rise up to the occasion from now,” Eguma told SuperSport. “Apart from his (Eduok’s) absence, there are other factors that have slowed us down.” Eduok Eguma knows his team will need a quick turnolphins FC coach around in form as they Stanley Eguma adprepare for the 2015 CAF mited the side sorely Confederations Cup cammissed Emem Eduok following their woeful performance in the Nigeria hana’s under-20s are Premier Football League considering a warmSuper 4 tournament. up friendly against rivals The Port Harcourt outfit lost all four of their Nigeria before flying out matches in the friendly to Europe for their final competition as they strug- preparations for the 2015 gled to adapt to life with- African Youth Championout star player, Eduok, ship. The management of who left for Tunisian giants Esperance in the the Black Satellites team received an offer to play

paign, which kicks off on the weekend of February 13-15. “We cannot continue to play like this. I have spoken to the players about it to make them understand that to be successful on the continent they need to raise their game,” he said. Charles Ogundiya “We have done our igeria national U-20 homework on our (prelimiteam, the Flying nary round) opponents (Leones Vegetarianos) and we Eagles, ended their parare sure that we will get a ticipation at the Super 4 tournament in style afpositive result.”

Flying Eagles end Super-4 in style

lAs Pillars edge Enyimba 1-0

Ghana eye friendly match against Flying Eagles Ivory Coast over two legs we also have the opportu-

Flying Eagles duo of Taiwo Awoniyi (Left) and captain Musa Mohammed celebrating after scoring at goal

but now also have the option of playing Nigeria’s Flying Eagles. Ghana intend playing two friendly games from mid-February before departing Accra on February 21, for camping in Antalya, Turkey. “Aside from Ivory Coast,

nity of playing Nigeria and we should be making a firm decision very soon. We want the team to have the best preparations and we believe we are on course,” Kingsley Owusu Bonsu, a member of the Ghana under-20 management team said.

ter forcing U-23 Eagles to a 3-3 draw at the Abuja National Stadium on Sunday, thereby winning the tournament with 13 points from five games. Similarly, Christian Obiozor’s 41st minute goal made all the difference as Kano Pillars overcame rivals Enyimba International in the second match of the Match Day 5’s fixtures of the Glo Premier League Super-4 tournament in Abuja on Sunday. Meanwhile, Warri Wolves had the upper hand in the battle of the

two Confederation Cup hopefuls as a late Abu Azeez strike gave the Seasiders a 2-1 win over Glo Premier League Super-4 Tournament whipping boys, Dolphins of Port Harcourt. Defender Onyekachi Akakem gave Dolphins the lead on the fifth minute but the Federations Cup finalists were pegged back when Sikiru Adewale leveled scores 10 minutes before the break before Abu Azeez scored with one minute of regulation time left to give victory to Wolves.

International Sport 53

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015

Arsenal massacre Villa 5-0

esut Ozil and Theo Walcott were back in the starting line-up after long absences and set up an important victory, which sees Arsene Wenger’s men climb above rivals Tottenham and into fifth position. The German World Cup winner, making his first league start in four

months, set up Olivier Giroud for Arsenal’s early opener and the roles were reversed after half-time as Ozil made it 2-0. Walcott added a third and there were further goals for Santi Cazorla, from the penalty spot, and Hector Bellerin as Paul Lambert’s men faded badly. Villa remain just three

Serena eyes more Grand Slams titles

Benteke(right) and Laurent Koscielny

Transfer News Lazio midfielder for Torino loan move

azio’s Alvaro Gonzalez is all but set to join Torino on loan until the end of the season, with the Granata having the option to sign the player permanently in the summer. The versatile Uruguayan, who is capable of playing in midfield or as a fullback, has barely featured for the Biancocelesti this season, making just four Serie A appearances and had been linked with a move away from the Stadio Olimpico. According to Sky Sport Italia, the 30-year-old will join Torino on loan, with the Turin outfit having the option to sign the player for around €2.5 million at the end of the current season.

erena Williams will adjust her playing schedule to focus on more Grand Slam titles after claiming the 19th of her career in Melbourne on Saturday. Williams extended her winning streak against Maria Sharapova to 16 matches with a hard-fought 6-3 7-6 (7/5) victory under the roof on Rod Laver

Drogba: I’ll be at Chelsea next season

helsea striker Didier Drogba says he will remain at the club next season, despite his current deal expiring in the summer. The 36-year-old returned to Stamford Bridge in July after stints with Shanghai Shenhua and Galatasaray, signing a one-year contract with the Blues. Drogba has made 27 appearances, many as a substitue, in all competitions for Jose Mourinho’s men this season and says he is happy to continue in west London. “My project for next year will be on a pitch with Chelsea,” he told Telefoot.

Man Utd make £35m bid for PSG star Marquinhos

anchester United have launched an ambitious £35million bid to land PSG defender Marquinhos as the transfer deadline ends. The Red Devils are in the market for a new centre-back, and Louis van Gaal is ready to splash the cash in order to secure the Brazilian’s signature. Borussia Dortmund’s Mats Hummels and Dynamo Kiev’s Aleksandar Dragovic were previously on the Dutchman’s wish-list, but Marquinhos is now his first-choice target due to his age and value for money. The 20-year-old has impressed since joining the French champions from Roma in 2013 for a whopping £24m. Marquinhos, also equally capable at right-back, has only featured eight times under Laurent Blanc this season, and would jump at the chance to get regular action at Old Trafford.

Matheus joins AS Monaco

atheus Thiago De Carvalho, a 22 year-old M forward, has joined AS Monaco from Brazilian side Atletico Barra da Tijuca, on a loan deal until the end of the season. Born on 11 March 1992, he previously had a spell at Brazilian club Fluminense.

Serena

Arena, claiming a sixth Australian Open title and first since 2010. It means the 33-year-old moved out of a tie with Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova on 18 Grand Slam singles titles and within three of the open-era record of 22 held by Steffi Graf. She said she would play less regular WTA Tour events to ensure she was at her peak for the next Grand Slam the French Open in Paris from May 24 to June 7. “When I think about Paris, I don’t think about 20. I just think about winning there,” Williams said. “It’s the one Slam I don’t have more than two titles. I only have two there. “So I think now that I got this under my belt, I’m a little more comfortable with my ranking now. Now I can really move. I did so bad last year at Roland Garros and Wimbledon as well [losing in the second and third round respectively.

Equatorial Guinea 2015 AFCON Ghana beatGuinea3-0,cruisetosemis hana eased into their touchline to strike an outra-

fifth consecutive Africa Cup of Nations semi-final by beating a poor Guinea 3-0. Christian Atsu set them on their way after only four minutes, stroking in from Andre Ayew’s clever backheel. Guinea gifted Ghana a second when Baissama Sankoh horribly sliced a clearance and Kwesi Appiah ran clean through on goal to slot home. Atsu made it 3-0 after the hour, coming in from the right

geous shot into the top corner. The match was a stark contrast from the drama of Saturday’s quarter-finals, in which DR Congo and Equatorial Guinea came from behind to win - the latter in controversial circumstances. From the start of this game there was only going to be one winner as Ghana barely had to break sweat to defeat Guinea, who had qualified for the last eight through the drawing of lots at the expense of Mali.

Tunisia coach blames referee for exit T unisia coach Georges Leekens has blasted referee Rajindrapasad Seechurn from Mauritius over his decision to award a penalty against his team, which eventually led to their elimination from the AFCON on Saturday night. Javier Balboa dispatched the penalty and drew Equatorial Guinea level before grabbing the match winner in extra time through a superb free kick to qualify Nzalang Nacional to a first-ever AFCON semi-final. “It is difficult to accept the decision of the referee. This

victory was certainly not merited, not in this way. We were the better team. This was too bad for football and Tunisia didn’t deserve this,” fired a furious Tunisia coach. Meanwhile, Claude Le Roy has admitted his Congo-Brazzaville side was punished by DR Congo after failing to handle the euphoria of a 2-0 lead. Congo Brazzaville squandered a two-goal advantage after a scoreless first half to collapse 4-2 to DR Congo in a 2015 Africa Cup quarterfinal derby played in Bata on Saturday night.

points above the relegation zone and are without a win in eight league matches, having failed to score in their last six - a new club record. Alexis Sanchez was not risked but was barely missed as Arsenal exhibited their counter-attacking best in the second half and Villa’s wait for a goal stretched past 10 hours. The inclusion of Ozil and Walcott - the latter making his first league start since January 2014 - were the only changes Wenger made to the team that beat Manchester City last time out in the Premier League. Both were early on, Walcott’s pace enabling him to threaten in behind straight from the kick-off, before Ozil teed up the opening goal after just eight minutes.

RESULTS European Premier League Hull City 0 – 3 Newcastle Crystal Palace 0 – 1 Everton Liverpool 2 - 0 West Ham Man United 3 – 1 Leicester Stoke City 3 – 1 QPR Sunderland 2 – 0 Burnley West Brom 0 – 3 Tottenham Chelsea 1 – 1 Man City Arsenal 5 – 0 Aston Villa

Serie A Sassuolo 3 - 1Inter Atalanta 2 – 1 Cagliari Cesena 2 – 1 Lazio Chievo 1 – 2 Napoli Palermo 2 – 1 Hellas Torino 5 – 1 Sampdoria Udinese 0 – 0 Juventus

La Liga Vallecano 1 – 2 Deportivo Real Madrid 4 – 1 Sociedad Eibar 1 – 3 Atletico Granada 1 – 0 Elche Celta Vigo 1 – 0 Cordoba Levante 0 – 2 Bilbao

Bundesliga Wolfsburg 4 – 1 Bayern Freiburg 4 – 1 Frankfurt Hamburger 0 – 2 Cologne Mainz 5 – 0 Paderborn Schalke 1 – 0 Hannover Stuttgart 0 - 1Mo’gladbach Leverkusen 0 – 0 Dortmund

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE Team P GD 1 Chelsea 23 32 2 Man City 23 23 3 Man Utd 23 17 4 Southampton 23 20 5 Arsenal 23 19 6 Tottenham 23 5

Pts 53 48 43 42 42 40

7 Liverpool 8 West Ham 9 Swansea 10 Stoke 11 Newcastle 12 Everton 13 C/Palace 14 Sunderland 15 West Brom 16 Aston Villa 17 Burnley 18 Hull City 19 QPR 20 Leicester

38 36 33 32 30 26 23 23 22 22 20 19 19 17

23 23 23 23 23 23 23 23 23 23 23 23 23 23

6 8 -3 -2 -6 -3 -9 -12 -12 -19 -17 -13 -18 -16

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015

On Marble

After crosses and losses, men grow humbler and wiser. â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Ben Franklin

Sanctity of Truth

2015 elections and the infrastructure of gullibility

NIGERIAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S MOST AUTHORITATIVE NEWSPAPER IN POLITICS AND BUSINESS

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015

nce again supporters of the APC, whilst chanting ''sai Buhari'' and carrying brooms, have stoned our candidate President Goodluck Jonathan whilst he was on his way to a rally in the north. It happened in Yola, Adamawa state. This is the third time that this has happened in the last few days. The first time it happened in Katsina state and then in Bauchi. In the case of Bauchi state the violence resulted in the brutalisation, wounding and hospitalisation of no less than six of President Jonathan's security operatives. In Yola, just as it was in Katsina and Bauchi, the whole thing was well-orchestrated and wellfunded by the APC and there is an obvious conspiracy to hurt and intimidate the President and his supporters and prevent them from campaigning in the north. This is despite the fact that Jonathan is very popular in many parts of the north and he has millions of followers there. We wish to assure the APC that this barbaric and uncivilised behaviour will not deter Mr. President from campaigning in every nook and cranny of this country because his supporters, in both the north and the south, expect no less from him. The question that Nigerians must ask is this: will Buhari not call his supporters to order and stop this violence unless and until someone is killed? Is that what he and his APC want? Do they want the President and those that go on campaign with him dead? Why do they delight in violence and intimidation? Are they scared of a free and fair election? Can they not handle the prospect of defeat? Has it finally dawned on them that they are going to lose the election woefully and consequently they wish to avoid that by creating a crisis in the country? We have warned them over and over again about the consequences of their reckless and dangerous behaviour, their fondness of physically attacking the President and his campaign team and their irresponsible and insatiable appetite for aggression but General Buhari and the APC have refused to call their supporters to order. Instead they have continued to relish and delight in their habitual violence and in the most heinous and hideous forms of unprovoked attacks. Worse still they have consistently encouraged such behaviour in others. It is no wonder that Buhari was once nominated by the terrorist organisation Boko Haram as their negotiator and spokesman when the idea of dialogue with the Federal Government was first mooted in 2014. Equally relevant is the fact that the official spokesman of the APC, Lai Mohammed, objected to the proscription of Boko Haram and described it as being ''unconstitutional and unjust'' a few months ago. This was after the terrorists had slaughtered over 20,000 innocent and defenceless Nigerians. Such is the love that the APC have for violence and those that revel in it. Sadly it does not stop there. Worthy of note is the fact that when Buhari's supporters butchered a number of people,

Erahodu Oseghale

N150

A culture of violence Crossfire FEMI FANI-KAYODE ffk2011@aol.com

Jonathan

Buhari

including some youth corpers, after he lost the election in 2011 he refused to apologise to the families of those that were so brutally and callously murdered and he expressed absolutely no remorse. This was despite the fact that the killings were done in his name and despite the fact that the Nigerian people and indeed the international community expressed their outrage about those killings and the attendant acts of violence, arson, rioting and vandalisation that went with them. One wonders if the same uncharitable and insensitive 2011 spirit still resides in Buhari? Is there any indication that he has changed? Is he pre-

paring for a repeat performance of what his supporters did after losing the election four years? Does he still hold to his ''baboon and dog will both be soaked in blood'' philosophy if he loses the February 14 election? Are his supporters and allies still threatening to ''make the country ungovernable'' after he loses the election? We sincerely hope not because this time he and his supporters may not get away with it so lightly. We wish to take this opportunity to serve them notice of a final warning: if they do not desist from these unprovoked attacks and if anything untoward should happen to President Goodluck Jonathan whilst he is on campaign or even after the election the consequences will be grave and worse than they can possibly imagine. Buhari was not attacked by supporters of the PDP when he campaigned anywhere in the south so why should President Jonathan be attacked by supporters of the APC when he campaigns in the north? Enough is enough. The madness has to stop. The violent behaviour of the APC is utterly reprehensible and we condemn it in the strongest terms. Under no circumstances should violence be condoned or encouraged by them or anyone else because this is simply an election and not a war. The truth is that the APC have become utterly desperate because they can see defeat staring them in the face. They have found it difficult to come to terms

Our position is that Buhari is not qualified under the law to run for the Presidency because he has not been able to produce or display his secondary school certificate as required by law

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with the fact their their candidate is a man with questionable credentials who has been rejected by the Nigerian people and who does not have the strength, energy, fortitude or vision to govern Nigeria. They also find it difficult to accept the fact that he is a perjurer who falsely swore to an affidavit and lied under oath that he had a secondary school certificate and that that certificate was with the army. This obnoxious and odious mendacity goes to the very heart of the issue of character and integrity and it is indicative of the fact that not only is Buhari unfit to rule Nigeria but also that his party is a haven of questionable individuals. If this were not the case why would Asiwaju Bola Tinubu boldly assert that ''certificate or no certificate'' the Nigerian people must vote for Buhari. Could there be a more graphic example of impunity, disdain for the rule of law and moral laxity than this? Our position is that Buhari is not qualified under the law to run for the Presidency because he has not been able to produce or display his secondary school certificate as required by law and this is the basic requirement for anyone that wishes to aspire to that exalted office. We also believe that he was not even qualified to have gone to the Officers Training College of the Nigerian Armed Forces in 1962 because he never had the prerequisite qualifications to be admitted. At best he ought to have remained a non-commissioned officer and not a commissioned officer of the Nigerian army. We believe that based on that, he ought to be stripped of all the entitlements and ranks that he attained within the army over the last 46 years. The truth is that with Buhari, the more you look the less you see. His story and whole history is shrouded with double-speak and double-standards and we shall continue to alert the Nigerian people about the dangers of electing such a questionable character as their President and putting him in power. In a futile attempt to cover his shame, the latest development is that some desperate individuals have now fraudulently procured a fake and forged result sheet which is meant to fool Nigerians into thinking that Buhari actually passed his exams. Yet the Nigerian people, as wise and discerning as ever, cannot be fooled. They know that if they were to put such questionable people in power it would result in utter disaster. Buhari's quest for power and his mantra of change is a mere illusion. He will fail simply because our people wish to move our country forward and they do not want a return to the ugly past. By their consistent and continued acts of violence General Buhari and his APC have not only violated the historic Kofi Annan-led Abuja Peace Accord, they have also effectively raped it. Despite their desperate attempts to silence and intimidate us, we shall continue to raise cogent issues about their fitness to lead our nation, their modus operandi, their policies and their conduct and we shall continue to ask the relevant questions. The game is on.

Printed and Published by Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Ltd: Head Office: No. 1A, Ajumobi Street, Off ACME Road, Agidingbi, Ikeja-Lagos. Tel: +234 1-2219496, 2219498. Abuja Office: Orji Kalu House, Plot 322, by Banex Junction, Mabushi, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Advert Hotline: 01-8541248, Email: info@newtelegraphonline.com Website: www.newtelegraphonline.com ISSN 2354-4317 Editor: YEMI AJAYI.