Monday, june 8, 2015 binder1 by Newtelegraphonline

Sanctity Of Truth

NIGERIA’S MOST AUTHORITATIVE NEWSPAPER IN POLITICS AND BUSINESS

Monday, June 8, 2015

Vol. 2 No. 474

/newtelegraph

@newtelegraph1 www.newtelegraphonline.com

N150

12 pages of international new york times }23 Why banks can’t fund fuel import, by Skye Bank MD Busines NEW TELEGR

APH MONDAY , JUNE 8, 2015

Money Line

Nigeria’s politica investor interes l transition fuels t in Africa – Diamond

Chris Ugwu

midst the crippling fuel crisis that has gripped Nigeria for months, Group Managing Director, Skye Bank Plc, Mr. Timothy Ogun-

tayo, has given reasons why banks have refused to finance the business. Oguntayo told reporters at the bank's pre-AGM briefing in Lagos at the weekend that lack of a policy statement from the government on financing fuel

importation business discouraged the banks from going into the business. Oil marketers have been at loggerheads with the Federal Government following government's delay in defraying about N200 billion debts owe them.

The marketers had stopped fuel importation on the excuse that government's delay in paying the debt had made them unable to meet their financial obligations to banks that have stopped opening letters of credCONTINUED ON PAGE 6

Stock Watc

Portland Paints: Mulling capital to improve raise returns

Insurance

AGF reitera tes importance retirement of benefits

Interview

‘Local Interne t connects key to economic devt’

42-43

What's neW s

Nigeria impo N1.15trn rice rts years –Inve in five stigation

Nigeria and four other countries will import more year and 2016, rice between this New Telegra learnt. ph has

p.22

Expert seeks of N1.2rn aviatprobe ion revenue

L-R: Nationa l President, Independent Resources, Mr. Petroleum Marketers aging Director Taiye Haruna; Executiv Association e Secretary, of NNPC, Dr. of Nigeria Major David Ige, at a stakeholders Oil Marketers’ Associa (IPMAN), Chief Obasi Lawrence; tion of Nigeria meeting tagged: Permanent (MOMAN), "Petrol Queues Secretary, Mr. Obafem Ministry of Must Go," PURCHASE Petroleum aimed at address i Olawore and represen tative of ing the current petrol scarcity the Group ManIndonesia's , in Abuja Pertam

}21 12 pages of A incisive Business Despite the Interna Revenues (IGRs) lly Generated and the government the sector, intervention funds in there is a discont that there ent have been no appreciable returns in quantit infrastructure in the sector. y of

p.22

The Business

Desk

ayodele aminu

Deputy Editor

(Business)

Bayo akomola

fe Asst. Editor (Maritime ) sunday Ojeme

Asst. Editor (Insuranc

tony Chukwu

ina issued a tender to buy two cargoe s of Qua Iboe from Shell and a a cargo of Escravos from Chevron for August deliver y

Adeola Yusuf

FG’s 2.3m bp target enda d output ngered ’s force

 As Shell

majeure pe

force majeu is one of 400,000 barrelre on termin the country's bigges als with s per day capaci capacity t country $12 billion ty Forca- export 400,000 barrels to manag dos er of Shell's last year, is believe a day last month crude declared over one fifth of Ogoni Resd to be the Nigeria's — toration Project first report of oil estiShell said was still in effect, mated daily produc , Austin at the tion of 2.3 told Delta State govern Igbuku, at sea.equipment sabota million barrels ged out This develo weekend. community ment and . pment threate Reuter leader the Federa "Such an On one occasio s last year. l Government’s ns has yet s reported that Shell eration does underwater opjection of to lift the n, Shell said closed the pro2.3 force majeur not it Forcados day output million barrels per which it declared e, Delta terminal in us in the indust come easy to in May. State on March last month explaining ry, but some , a leak Force Majue that the 4 to repair criminals were able a theft to install al term, which re is a contractu- the declaration of reasons for point" caused by a "crude the theft Invest point without detecti on a pipelin may not meet means that Shell jeure are still in place. force ma- ters (26 feet) below e eight me- undersigations are ongoin on. Oil thieve ligations to its contractual obsea level. g to s and sabote It Igbukutand how this was done," urs Forcados its customers on the have attacked the told stakeh exports. forcados line on severa olders. Meanwhile, The oil l occasions. pipethe bearish Gover nment continued not say howmultinational will sale estima Estimated Nigeria’s at the weekend for ing export much oil is not be- thefts averaged 300,000 tes oil value of crude grades ed, though barrels oil thefts and more than Forcados a day in 2013 and, half of July's with along losses during goes still incurred duringlosses repairs, costwith unsold while 54 carrepairs 15-20 June-lo the roughly last year ading Nigeri INFLATION an carRATE April 2015..... CONTIN UED Rates Da .......................... ON PAGE shboard LENDING 22 .8.7% March 2015..... InterBank Rate..... RATE ........................8 February 2015..... EXCHANGE .5% Prime Lending ...............12.57% RATE ....................8.4 Rate...........17.93 (BDC as at % EXCHANGE Jun 5) Maximum Lending % USD . . . . . . RATE .. Rate...26.83% (Interba Pounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N218 .. USD . . . . . . nk as at Jun 5) Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .N330 .. l Foreig ........... Pounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N199 n Reserv . . . . .N240 .. es – $29.343 Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N308 bn as at 4/06/2015 ........... . . . .N228 Source: CBN

rsists

N'Assembly: APC plots to avoid elections lSaraki, Dogara set for showdown with party Asst. Editor (Moneynyem Market)

Dele alao

Industry & Agric

Editor

Dayo ayeyem i Property Editor

adeola Yusuf Energy Editor

Wole shadare Aviation Editor

Chris Ugwu

Capital Market

Editor

abdulwahab

Isa

Finance Editor

Kunle azeez

Senior Correspon

dent

Chuks Onuanyi Energy

nnamdi amadi Reporter

Johnson adebayo

Asst Productio

n Editor

$12bn

over Senate presidency, House speakership

Quick Read

Editorial

Another death in police custody }19 President Muhammadu Buhari being presented with flowers on his arrival to participate in the G-7 Outreach Programme in Munich, Germany…yesterday.

Buhari meets Obama, Ban Ki Moon at G7 }5 }4 summit

Ministerial list: Party chiefs reject technocrats

News

MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Congratulations!

His Execellency, Samuel Ortom, Executive Governor, Benue State

My family and I wish to congratulate Your Excellency, Samuel Ortom on your election as the Executive Governor of Benue State. This is a true attestation of your ability by the people of Benue State to take the state to the next level. We wish you a successful tenure in office. Signed

Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, MON Chairman,

Slok Shipping

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015

News

MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

N'Assembly: APC plots to avoid elections Donald Ojogo, Chukwu David, Philip Nyam and Babatope Okeowo

he All Progressives Congress (APC) is plotting to stop its aggrieved members in the National Assembly from thwarting its consensus option on the leadership of the Senate and House of Representatives. New Telegraph learnt yesterday that in a bid to ensure the election of Senator Ahmed Lawan as Senate president and Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila as House speaker, the party had mulled writing the Clerk of the National Assembly, Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa, to ensure that the election of leaders for the two chambers would be a mere coronation for the duo. The plot, it was gathered was to ensure that Lawan and Gbajabiamila's challengers, Senator Bukola Saraki and Hon. Yakubu Dogara respectively, would not be nominated for the positions when the legislature would elect its leaders after the inauguration of the eighth National Assembly tomorrow. The crisis over the jockeying for the Senate presidency and House speakership among APC members reached a head at the weekend as some kicked against the results of the straw polls through which Lawan and Gbajabiamila emerged as consensus candidates. Aggrieved members of the party vowed yesterday to defy APC and vote for different candidates, especially in the wake of protests from the camps of Saraki and Dogara. Dogara and his supporters, led by Hon Abdulmumini Jibrin, staged a walkout, describing the mock primary as predetermined while Lawan emerged despite the boycott by Saraki's supporters. Both Saraki and Dogara have also insisted on testing their popularity among their colleagues, irrespective of the party's position. However, the party resorted to damage control in the wake of the brewing crisis as it appealed to all its aggrieved members to put the APC interest above personal interests, adding that they should avoid a situation whereby any other candidates, apart from Lawan and Gbajabiamila will emerge as Senate president and House speaker. However, the APC's plot to stop Saraki and Dogara from running, it was learnt, has split the

party’s National Working Committee (NWC) just as some members of the national caucus have reportedly kicked against the plot. The source said: “The idea(to write the clerk) is to officially communicate to the CNA, intimating him that the party had taken a decision or a particular

position and that nominations should possibly be restricted to the choices listed in the correspondence." As part of the plot to stop Saraki and Dogara, the source said the APC leadership would, in each case, make a lawmaker in each of the two chambers to move a motion for the

adoption of the correspondence from the party. “Those who want Saraki and Dogara out of the race are very vicious and mean; could you imagine that they intend to write the Clerk of the National Assembly to inform him of the decision of the party that choices have been made on the issue of the

leadership of both chambers. “We are watching these developments but there is little or nothing we can do because those who are behind the move are very serious with it and can even blackmail anybody on their way. Unfortunately, this whole saga has polarised all organs of the party,

including the NWC. “What we are told is that it will work but how? The rules of the National Assembly are clear and I do not know if the clerk has the powers to entertain any debate; it is doubtful, he cannot even stop any one from being nominated, so how they intend to push CONTINUED ON PAGE 7

L-R: Vice President, Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce, Mrs. Theresa Ananyi; Managing Director, Shell Petroleum Development Company and Country Chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria, Mr. Osagie Okunbor; Deputy President of of the chamber, Prince Dapo Adelegan; and the chamber's Director General, Mrs. Joyce Akpata, during a visit to Shell Lagos office...on Friday

Ministerial list: Party chiefs reject technocrats Johnchuks Onuanyim Abuja

resident Muhammadu Buhari is in a dilemma on how to constitute his cabinet without hurting his conscience or offending chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC), some of whom were instrumental to his victory in the presidential election. New Telegraph learnt at the weekend that the delay in releasing the list of prospective ministers was due to Buhari's insistence on constituting a cabinet comprising competent and tested technocrats as opposed to the pressure from prominent members of the APC that key ministerial positions must be reserved for them and their associates. A source told New Telegraph that the ministerial list was being delayed because the party chiefs had rejected most of those chosen by Buhari to be part of the cabinet, irrespective of the fact that the eighth session of the National Assembly will be inaugurated tomorrow. The party chieftains, it was learnt, rejected the draft ministerial list of the president because most of

the persons on the list were neither politician nor did they play any critical role during the party's struggle to wrest power from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). According to the source, the president believes that the only way he can bring credibility to his administration and be able to fight corruption without feeling guilty is by using competent technocrats as ministers. "You remember that during the campaigns, President Buhari promised Nigerians that he would make use of technocrats to give his administration the needed boost. He still prefers them to these politicians but the politicians are fighting back seriously. They feel that having worked for the victory of the party, they should be the ones occupying the cabinet positions as a reward for their efforts and investments in the project. "They are not comfortable with this idea of bringing technocrats. They see them as strangers who want to reap where they did not sow. This is the dilemma of Mr. President because much as he would not want to offend his party, he does

not also want to offend his conscience and the electorate who gave him the mandate," the source said. Some of the technocrats who have been recommended to Buhari for appointment include a former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Prof. Charles Soludo; Director of the Lagos Business School, Professor Pat Utomi and a former Minister of Education, Mrs Oby Ezekwesili . But an APC chieftain has faulted the headhunt for technocrats as ministers wondering what makes a person to be a technocrat. According to him, most people who are in politics are also technocrats before they joined politics. The party chieftain said even in the United States, the president would rarely go outside his party to form government. "If Buhari should drop those that worked for and with him to choose people outside it would send a wrong signal in APC and the country's politics," he said. Apart from Buhari's reluctance to appoint politicians as cabinet ministers, New Telegraph gathered that many of the party chieftains angling to

be made ministers had corruption-related cases pending against them at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission( EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission( ICPC). During the campaigns, Buhari had stressed that corrupt politicians would not be part of his government. The source said it was increasingly becoming doubtful if prominent party leaders such as a former Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi; his counterpart from Bayelsa State, Chief Timipre Sylva and former Governor of Anambra State, Senator Chris Ngige, who are said to be positioning themselves to be in the cabinet would make it. Amaechi was the Director General of the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation; Sylva was Chairman of the APC Inauguration Committee while Ngige is one of the leaders of the party in the South East. "Some of the prominent names you hear might not make the ministerial list because there are security reports on them before the president. The security reports have to do with cor-

ruption and the president is mindful of what the international community will say about his government if he appoints some of these people into his cabinet," the source said. In his keynote address at the APC Policy Dialogue on the Implementation of the Agenda for change, former British Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair, had urge Buhari to be true to his word and be true to his mandate. Blair who gave example with his administration in Britain, said: "At the beginning for us, there was nothing easy at all. We discovered some important things pretty quickly. The first thing is that the skills of leadership that take you to government are not the same skills you need to be successful in government. You have to switch from what you were campaigning for when you are in office. You have to switch from a persuader where the tools of your trade are your words to being a CEO where the tools are the deeds and how you extract the best results from those matters. That is the different between being a persuader and being a CEO. One is about words, the other is about deeds."

News

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015

Buhari meets Obama, world leaders at G-7 summit

lFashola, Shettima, Dambazzau accompany president to Germany Anule Emmanuel Abuja

resident Muhammadu Buhari is expected to meet with President Barrack Obama of the United States, Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki Moon, and other world leaders at the

ongoing G7 summit holding in Bavaria, Germany. The president departed Abuja yesterday for the summit and was received on arrival in Munich by the Vice Minister-President of Bavaria, Mrs. Inge Aigner. Buhari is attending the meeting on the invitation of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Before leaving Munich back to Abuja later today, the President will hold bilateral talks with Chancellor Merkel and Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada on the sidelines of the G-7 Outreach Programme. The president is also expected to meet President Francois Hollande of France, Prime Minister

David Cameron of Britain, and other G-7 leaders in the course of the Outreach Session and a working lunch at the Elmau Castle. Other invited Heads of State and international institutions who will join President Buhari at the working session with G-7 leaders today at Elmau include President Jacob Zuma of South Africa,

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, President Macky Sall of Senegal, President Beji Caid Essebsi of Tunisia and Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn of Ethiopia. They also include Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi of Iraq; the Secretary-General of the OECD, Mr. Angel Gurria; the Managing Director

L-R: Secretary-General, Nigerian Gas Association (NGA)/Head, Business Services, Nigerian Gas Company, Lagos Office, Mr. Nestor Martins; President, NGA, Mr. Bolaji Osunsanya and Senior Manager, Business Development, Oando Gas and Power, Odiri Adejo, at the 26th World Gas Conference in Paris, France…recently

PDP: APC lacks clear-cut direction for governance Onyekachi Eze ABUJA

he Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday took a swipe at the All Progressives Congress (APC) accusing leaders of the party of busy fighting for political positions while the nation drifts. The party also noted that the recent visit of President Muhammadu Buhari to Niger and Chad to find solution to the Boko Haram insurgency exposed the hypocrisy of the governing party. PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, lamented that since the APC took over power at the centre, there has been no clear sign of direction but confusion in governance. “The concern of wellmeaning Nigerians is that this may be a pointer to the fact that the APC lacks clear-cut directions on how to govern a nation as complex as Nigeria," the statement added.

PDP observed that though jostling for political offices are expected among politicians in a democracy, Nigerians are not comfortable with the confusion in the APC camp and the dimension it has assumed. According to the party, “the negative effect of the glaring political commotion in the APC is compounding President Buhari’s self-confessed nervousness and puzzlement, his flip-flops and worrisome reneging on campaign promises for which Nigerians will continue to hold him accountable. “Instead of fighting for positions, which betrays their lust, APC leaders should be more concerned with how to help President Buhari, who is still struggling with his ministerial list and basic appointments more than a week after his inauguration." The party accused APC of double standard and insincerity, noting that a party that had criticised former President Goodluck Jonathan's ad-

ministration for seeking regional cooperation to finding solution to the challenge of insurgency is now praising President Buhari for toeing the same path. PDP also condemned the venom with which the APC attacked wellmeaning Nigerians for daring to offer constructive criticisms to Buhari, following apparent loss of tempo in the fight against insurgency since he took office, describing such as unacceptable in a democracy especially in a country like Nigeria where the citizens have been enjoying freedom of expression in the last 16 years under the PDP. “The APC must understand that the hallmark of democracy is freedom of expression and opinion, particularly on governance issues; inalienable rights of all citizens guaranteed by the constitution and which must not be denied them under any guise whatsoever. “Though we had decided to give President Buhari and the ruling party sometime to settle

down, indicators show that the APC is not getting its bearing right and the PDP as a party that has nurtured and sustained democracy in the last 16 years, cannot fold its hands and watch our nation drift towards dangerous undemocratic paths. "We invite the APC to note the concern of Nigerians that the pictures emanating from their camp are not reassuring in this direction," the party said. It said APC should be more concerned with how to end insurgency by the end of July as promised by President Buhari as well as how to pay N5,000 each to 25 million poor Nigerians beginning from the end of June; how to bring the naira to the same value with the dollar; provide allowances to the discharged but unemployed youth corps members for 12 months and how to provide free education and meals for school children, which it promised during the campaigns.

of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Mrs. Christine Largarde; the President of the World Bank Group, Dr. Jim Yong Kim; the Director-General of the International Labour Organisation, Mr. Guy Rider; the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Mrs. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma and the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) are also scheduled to participate in Monday's Outreach Session with G-7 leaders. According to the Senior Special Assistant (Media and Publicity) to the President, Mallam Garba Shehu, who was also on the trip, the Head of the Bavarian regional government will host a dinner in honour of Buhari and other leaders invited to the G-7 Outreach Programme. Governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima; former Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Fashola; and former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Abdulrahman Bello Dambazau, who is being speculated as the next National Security Adviser (NSA), accompanied the president to the summit. The Presidency has explained that "the invitation is a clear indication of the international community's willingness to cooperate with the new government of Nigeria."

NBS: 504,596 Nigerians join labour market in first quarter Abdulwahab Isa Abuja

he National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has disclosed that 504,596 Nigerians joined employment market within the first quarter of 2015. The addition of 504,596 jobs during Q1 2015 has increased unemployment population to 73.4 million from 72.9 million in Q4 2014, representing an increase in the labour force by 0.69 per cent. According to NBS report, the 504,596 economically active persons that joined the labour force were able and willing and actively looking for work between January 1 and March 31 2015. Similarly, the NBS data showed that within the period under review, the total number of persons in full employment increased by 0.88 per cent while the number of underemployed in the labour force during the quarter under review declined by 6.46 per cent resulting in a reduction in the underemployment rate to 16.6 per cent (12.2 million) from 17.9

per cent (13.1 million) in Q4 2014. The number of unemployed in the labour force, on the other hand increased by 861,110 persons representing 18.43 per cent between Q4 2014 and Q1 2015 resulting in an increase in the unemployment rate to 7.5 per cent in Q1 2015 from 6.4 per cent in Q4 2015. The data put the total number of underemployed or unemployed people between ages 15 and 65 for Q1 2015 at 17.7 million people. According to NBS, the fact that the number of people that became unemployed (861,110 people) in the first quarter 2015 exceeded the number of people that entered the labour force within the same period (504,596 persons) is an indication that some persons previously working in full employment lost their jobs while others previously underemployed and doing temporary job or part-time work ended whatever they were doing. In the report, unemployment was highest for persons between the ages of 1524 and 2534.

News

MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Oil reserves fall on exploration worry Adeola Yusuf

igeria’s crude reserves have dipped further to about 33.225 billion barrels from the 37 billion barrels it was in 2012, reducing the life span of the country’s reserves to 40 years. Data compiled by New Telegraph between January 2012 and May 2015, showed that the reserves were depleted with about 2.9775 billion barrels while the search for oil during this period had dipped to the lowest ever in the nation’s history. The ratio of production to exploration, further checks showed, has continued to tumble. This has reduced the country’s production sufficiency and imminent dry up if no further oil discovery is done. While about two billion barrels were depleted from the reserves between January 2012 and March 2014, according to statistics of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), 977.5 million barrels were produced during the 425 days between March 2014 and May 2015, based on an average of 2.3 million barrels per day output. The DPR data, which covered production be-

tween 2012 and 2014, released on March 18, 2014 showed that Nigeria’s oil reserves had dropped from 37 billion to 35 billion barrels in two years (2012-2014). The statistics unveiled by the DPR Director, Mr. George Osahon, linked the reserves’ dip to the country’s reduced crude oil exploration. A data collated by New Telegraph showed a further depletion of about one million barrels between March 2014 and May 2015. Nigeria’s production has recorded high level of stability, which saw the country meeting up with output target of 2.3 million barrels. This volume includes the production of 1.87 million barrels for exports and 445, 000 for local refining. A DPR production schedule seen by our correspondent, however, revealed that the International Oil Companies (IOCs) and the indigenous operators of marginal field acreages produced an average total of two million

barrels per day from January till date. This was due to the relative stability in the production from the oilrich Niger Delta region during the time under review. New oil discoveries, on the other hand, are few and far between and where reported, the reserves are getting smaller. Former President of NAPE, Adedoja Ojelabi, told New Telegraph that changes in the exploration for oil and gas “are even more profound.” She said: “For the first time in several years, the nation’s reserves are showing a sign of decline as exploration drilling has hit the lowest level ever experienced in the nation’s history. “Expectedly, reports of new discoveries are few and far between and where reported, the reserves are getting smaller. The operating landscape is experiencing an unprecedented rate of pluralisation as the industry witnessed the largest number of divestment and acquisition

(D&A) activities that bring new players as operators to the risky business of oil and gas exploration and production.” According to her, the oil and gas industry sector has, in the last five years, witnessed some of the most sweeping changes since crude oil was first discovered in commercial quantity at Oloibiri, Bayelsa State, in 1956. She stated that NAPE would continue to support the government’s efforts aimed at salvaging the nation’s oil industry. The nation’s 40 billion barrels reserves target, she said, was possible if explorationists drill deeper and deploy latest technology. “These and many more could be made possible if there is a boost in investments for exploration,” she said. Osahon had earlier said that huge financial investments had been committed to increasing reserves from the old fields, noting that there has been little progress with oil exploration at the Chad basin.

“Nothing has been found there, but that we have not found anything at the Chad basin as at today does not mean that oil is not in the basin. “We are optimistic about this. We have come up with strategies to boost our reserves and, in due course, we would make this known,” he added. There were 37.2 billion barrels of proven oil reserves in Nigeria as of 2011, making the country the largest oil producer in Africa and the 11th largest in the world, averaging 2.28 million barrels per day in 2006. As at 2011, there were 45 years of supply if no new oil was found. Pipeline vandalism, kidnappings, and militants' takeover of oil facilities have reduced production, which could be increased to three million barrels per day in the absence of such problems. Nigeria is the world’s eighth largest exporter of crude oil and no longer sends 43 per cent of its exports to the United States due to the recent shale

boom of the US. Nigeria is heavily dependent on the oil sector, which accounts for 95 per cent of its export revenues. Nigeria and São Tomé have an agreement in which the Joint Development Authority was created to explore and produce oil in the waters between Sao Tome and Nigeria. Nigeria and Sao Tome share this area, called the Joint Development Zone, or JDZ. This area could contain up to, or over, 14 billion barrels of oil. In 2006, Chevron drilled an exploratory well, called OBO-1 and it was reported that they had discovered over a thousand million barrels of oil in block 1 alone Meanwhile, exploration for oil has been on the decline. While major exploration on Chad basin has been hampered by Boko Haram insurgency, others are being slowed down by the lack of policy direction occasioned, on the other hand, by the foot-dragging on the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).

TODAY’S WEATHER FORECAST LAGOS

ABUJA

PORT HARCOURT

KANO

ENUGU

IBADAN

CALABAR

MAIDUGURI

ONITSHA

28oC 24oC Storm

32oC 23oC Partially Cloudy

21oC 18oC Storm

39oC 24oC Partially Cloudy

29o C 23oC Thunder Storms

26oC 23oC Storm

37o C 25oC Thunder Storms

29oC 23oC Storm

L-R: General Overseer, The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye; his wife, Folu; Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo; his wife, Dolapo; Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode and his wife, Bolanle, during the seventh Excel of Apapa Family service in Lagos…yesterday.

Why banks can’t fund fuel import, by Skye Bank MD CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

it for fuel importation. Oguntayo blamed the inability of the government to give a clear direction on whether or not it will continue the payment of oil subsidy for fuel scarcity being witnessed nationwide. Speaking on the 2014 decline in profits of the bank, he said the dwindling global oil prices, slow pace in real estate investment and challenges in the maritime sector impacted negatively on its bottom-line results. According to him, the bank will soon publish names of delinquent bor-

rowers whose debts have remained non-performing in national newspapers. He added that the bank has collated the list of its chronic debtors and intended to publish them before the end of June. He stated that the lender’s decision was in line with Central Bank of Nigeria's (CBN) directive to halt the rising trend of non-performing loans (NPLs) in the industry and also to ensure that the industry's NPL ratio did not exceed the prudential limit of five per cent. Skye Bank NPL ratio has moved from 3.1 per cent in 2013 to 4.9 per cent in 2014 and as at the close

of first quarter of 2015; it stood at 6.1 per cent. “Skye Bank, by end of June, will publish debtors that have not come forward to either pay or make reasonable repayment programme with the bank. We intend to go after those debtors with any available legal means in order for us to regain our money,” he said. On Skye Bank's exposure to the power sector, Oguntayo put it about N5 billion. “Skye Bank's total exposure to the power sector is about N5 billion and that exposure is not served from the Distribution Companies’ (Discos) rev-

enue because we know it is going to take some time before those Discos begin to generate robust cash flow to service their loan facility,” he stated. He said the bank, in conjunction with four other financial institutions, had financed loan acquisition in the power sector. While speaking on the bank’s N30 billion Tier 1 capital, Oguntayo stated that the new capital would bolster the bank's capacity to explore business and maintain an efficient capital adequacy ratio (CAR). According to him, final arrangement for the capital raising exercise will be

concluded after the bank's annual general meeting scheduled to hold today. He explained that the fund would also assist the bank in the prosecution of its business focus, which is retail banking, with particular emphasis on individuals and small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Oguntayo said the acquisition of Mainstreet Bank Limited had made Skye Bank Nigeria’s fourth largest bank by branch network, with the total branch network standing at 469 with 887 automated teller machines (ATMs) and 6,355 Point of Sales (POS) terminals.

News

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015

Buhari to appoint Service Chiefs this week –Investigation Our Correspondent

trong indications have emerged that President Muhammadu Buhari may likely announce the names of new Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and other Service Chiefs, between today and tomorrow. New Telegraph gathered from highly-placed military sources, that the new appointments will be announced while Buhari will be attending the G7 Summit in Germany. The outgoing Service Chiefs are: Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh (CDS), Lieutenant General Kenneth Minimah (Chief of Army Staff), Vice Admiral Usman Jibrin (Chief of Naval Staff), and Air Marshal Adesola Amosu (Chief of Air Staff). They were all appointed by former President Goodluck Jonathan. This is as tension is said to be brewing in the military, over the likely probe of some of the outgoing Service Chiefs. A source said Buhari has vowed to bring their tenure under "clinical" scrutiny. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the damning report by the Amnesty In-

ternational, may just be a prelude to a holistic investigation of the military, especially as it concerns procurement of equipment and the prosecution of the counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency war in the North-East. New Telegraph gathered that the briefing the president received from the service chiefs last Tuesday, may be the first and only he would need, as he has concluded plans to assemble his own men, who would help execute his security agenda. The source drew attention to the fact that Buhari's official visits to Chad and Niger without the service chiefs, was a clear indication that he would not work with them. His words: "From the information I have, the spokesman for the President will announce the names of the new set of service chiefs between Monday and Tuesday. "It will definitely come as a surprise, largely because the announcement will be made while the Commander-in-Chief will be away in Germany attending a very important summit. "From information available to me, there may

be a major reorganisation, especially as it pertains the operational structure of the Nigerian Army, which is at the centre of the war against terrorism in the North-East," he said. He noted that the decision of President Buhari,

to travel to Chad and Niger republics without taking one or two of them, was an eloquent testimony, that their services will not be needed by his administration. "For those of us in the military, we knew that the President's decision

to travel to discuss how to tackle Boko Haram with leaders of neighbouring Chad and Niger, without the Service Chiefs, was a strong signal that all is not well. "Let me also tell you that the Commander-in-Chief, being a retired General

and having led troops from the 3 Division in Jos when he was the General Officer Commanding (GOC), to contain a territorial threat around Maiduguri border, may likely relocate, albeit temporarily, to rev up the counter-insurgency war," the source stated.

L-R: Vice Chancellor, Babcock University, Prof J. Kayode Makinde; former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Chief Godswill Akpabio and VicePresident, Development & Strategy of the university, Mr. Olakunle Iyanda, at the conferment of doctoral degree on Akpabio in Ilishan Remo, Ogun State...at the weekend.

Saraki, Dogara set for showdown with party over Senate presidency, speakership CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4

the idea through is what we are waiting for. “When the idea first came that Lawan and Gbajabiamila should be, some of us insisted that the leadership of the party should meet the members-elect from the PDP because in both cases, it does appear that we do not have the overwhelming majority to push the choices through without PDP. “The suggestion was rubbished that PDP was not needed at all but today, they are trying to lobby the same PDP members they ignored. How that will translate to what they desire is what we are looking at.” It was gathered that one of APC national leaders, Senator Bola Tinubu, would tonight meet some PDP members of the National Assembly ahead of tomorrow’s inauguration to urge them to back his party's position on the leadership tussle. However, Saraki yesterday dismissed the consensus arrangement that produced Lawan, saying he will for the election tomorrow. Saraki, in a statement, said he had the backing of 65 senators across party

lines for the contest tomorrow. He is bill to unveil his supporters at a press briefing today in Abuja. Out of the 65 senators, Saraki said were supporting him, 39 are in the PDP, which has a total of 49 senators-elect. According to a source, the depletion of Saraki's support base among the APC senators-elect from 35 earlier claimed by his group, the "Like Minds Senators," to 26 on Saturday night, was as a result of last-minute defections by some of them into the Senate Unity Forum, the Lawan support group. Saraki, in the statement by coordinators of the 'Like Minds Senators' , Dino Melaye ( Kogi West) and Rufai Ahmad Sani Yerima (Zamfara West) said the outcome of the APC primary election was not binding on him. His group also insisted on open secret voting process as a way of choosing the Senate president. Also, Dogara's supporters, under the auspices of Consolidation Group, have rejected the choice of Gbajabiamila by the APC. The group has written President Muhammadu Buhari over the crisis in the House.

Briefing the press yesterday in Abuja, leader of the group, Hon. Abdulmumini Jibrin, said the mock election that produced Gbajabiamila was marred by fraud and was against the party's constitution. "The 154 votes they allocated to Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila and gave us three votes show the party has made a mockery of itself. We walked out of the venue and yet somebody allocated votes to us. So members of the public will understand how things have degenerated in our party. "We never participated in that election. We rejected that election. The numbers that were allocated to us, we rejected them. So ask the party to please toe the path of honour and allow us to decide who will be our speaker. The House should be left alone to elect its speaker on Tuesday", he said. The lawmaker, who addressed the press in company of Dogara and other members, accused Tinubu of trying to pocket the House by 'foisting' Gbajabiamila on the lawmakers. He said: "The number four citizen (speaker of the House) of the country cannot be pocketed by one individual because of his

greedy disposition. "In 2011, some of us were in the PDP and we saw what happened. We are not surprised that after huge intimidation, such numbers are being bandied about as the supporters of a candidate. "Just two weeks after swearing in, is this the change that we want to offer Nigerians? The kind of manipulation we saw yesterday, we have not seen before in this country." The lawmakers said Buhari should call the leadership of the party to order. But the party yesterday called for restraint just as it reached out to aggrieved members. It said in a statement in Abuja by its National Secretary, Hon. Mai Mala Buni, that it was natural for some members to be disappointed by the outcome of the straw poll that produced Lawan and Gbajabiamila. ''However, we must put the interest of our party above personal interests and avoid a situation whereby any other candidates, apart from those picked by the party, will emerge as Senate President and House Speaker on Tuesday.

''Any outstanding issues will be resolved by the party so we won't go into Tuesday's election with more than one candidate each for the two posts, Senate president and speaker, House of Representatives,'' it said. According to APC, it will be a shame if, despite its majority in both chambers of the National Assembly, the APC is unable to produce the Senate president and House speaker of its choice. APC explained that its role in the entire business of ensuring a common front within the party ahead of tomorrow's election is that of an honest broker, saying its goal of ensuring that the party does not go into the election with more than one candidate for each post has now been achieved. The party appealed to all aggrieved members to sheathe their swords and allow peace to reign, in the overall interest of not just the party but the nation. Meanwhile, memberselect from the North-West and North-East geopolitical zone have resolved to vote en masse for Gbajabiamila tomorrow. They have also endorsed Hon. Tahir Mo-

hammed Monguno and Hon. Alhassan Ado Doguwa as deputy speaker and majority leader respectively. Spokesman for the group and member-elect for Jigawa State, Mr. Sani Zoro, said the choice of Gbajabiamila was informed by the fact that he had acquitted himself creditable as leader of opposition and it was only natural that he should transmute to the position of speaker. Besides, the SouthWest, where Gbajabiamila hails from, contributed the third highest votes for the APC in the general elections after North-West and North-East and deserved to be rewarded. It was, however, learnt that some APC members have vowed to resist the imposition of Gbajabiamila as speaker. A member-elect from Ondo State said the process through which Gbajabiamila emerged was fraught with irregularities and they would not allow it to stand. The lawmaker-elect queried the rationale for giving all the positions meant for South-West to only Lagos State as if it is the only state in the Yoruba speaking area.

News

First Lady condoles with victims of Yola bomb blast Ibrahim Abdul Yola

he First Lady, Mrs Aisha Buhari, has condoled with victims of the Yola bomb blast, who are receiving treatment in Specialist Hospital and Federal Medical Centre Yola. Buhari, who presented some assistance to the victims, urged the public, particularly NGOs and philanthropists to come to their aid. Represented by Dr Zainab Nyako, wife of the former governor Murtala Nyako, Buhari condemned the incident and wished them speedy recovery and God's mercy on the soul of those who lost their lives. Receiving the representative of the first lady, the Chief Medical Director of Yola Specialist Hospital, Dr Bala Saidu and the Head of Clinical Services of the Federal Medical Centre, Dr Bemi Kala, thanked the first lady for the concerns shown and urged for more support from individuals and organizations for the victims and hospitals. Speaking on behalf of the victims, Mallam Abdulkarim Adamu, also thanked the first lady and all those that has supported them.

national

Agriculture, solid minerals won’t produce enough jobs for Nigerians, says Soludo Mojeed Alabi

he plan by the All Progressives Congress, APC, to invest in agriculture and mining towards resolving the unemployment crisis facing the nation has been faulted by the former Governor of Central Bank, Dr. Charles Soludo. He said that agriculture will even reduce jobs in

Kaduna

heikh Ibraheem Zakzaky has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to re-constitute and re-orient the army in order not to inherit an army that sees citizens as enemies. Sheikh Zakzaky, who is also the leader of Islamic Movement in Nigeria, gave the advice at the annual parade ceremony of the Islamic Movement Volunteer Guards (Khurras) attended by thousands of people at the Zaria Polo ground during the weekend The leader of the Shiite Islamic sect advised Buhari

not expect positive results by using such a disoriented military to settle dispute or crisis because Nigerian military is in itself an agent of crisis and destruction. He accused the Nigerian military of lacking courtesy and standard human relations in dealing with people. He said the military was only familiar with killing unarmed citizens. Citing the 2014 Quds Day massacre in which he alleged that the Nigerian military killed 34 people in broad daylight, including three of his children, Zakzaky further argued that the Nigerian military exhibited high sense of wickedness which also exposed them as the real Boko Haram.

Lateness: Ambode may shut gate against workers Muritala Ayinla

ndication emerged yesterday that the Lagos State Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode may order security personnel to shut the gates against civil servants, who fail to resume duty by 8 am

the long run. Soludo, who had recommended a job manifesto for the government with a target of between eight to 12 million jobs over the next four years, agreed that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration will be running a post-oil economy. The former CBN governor in an interview with an online media platform,

Premium Times, said both the solid minerals and agricultural sector cannot mint the necessary jobs required to fix the country. He said; “Creating value-adding jobs in such an economy with one of the highest rates of urbanization in the world will task our creativity to the limit. The agenda will require a kind of coordination between the federal

and state governments in a manner never seen before. Luckily, the APC states are in majority and I hope their party will rein them in. I have read some newspaper reports that solid minerals sector and agriculture will be the new kids on the block to mint the jobs. That won’t happen! At least not in the manner it is being romanticised about. They would have very limited

L-R: Public Affairs Manager, Lagos and West, Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) Limited, Ms. Ifeoma Okoye; Managing Director, Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), Mr. Ola Oresanya; Recovery Manager, Mrs. Tolulope Adeyo and Head, Public Affairs and Communications, NBC Limited, Mr. Uzo Odenigbo, at a sanitation exercise in Oyingbo Market, Lagos, to commemorate the 2015 World Environment Day.

Zakzaky wants army reconstituted Ibraheem Musa

monday, june 8, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

today. New Telegraph gathered that the move was to elicit the commitment from the civil servants, whom the governor had urged to emulate him by resuming to duty as early as 8.00am.

Osinbajo tasks Nigerians on faithfulness, diligence Muritala Ayinla

ice-President Yemi Osinbajo has urged Nigerians to be faithful, diligent and honest when entrusted with responsibilities. Osinbajo spoke at the 7th Edition of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Apapa Family, Excel Programme held at the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) yesterday. He said: "There are many people who are bright and intelligent but what we lack are faithful men and women; men and women who can be trusted to do the right things, who can be honest, diligent and who can do what needs to be done. “If you are a typist, if you are a receptionist, if you are a security man, be faithful in the little things you are doing. “It is that faithfulness, it is that trustworthiness, it is that loyalty towards the things you are doing and to people you are serving that will lift us up. “That is the change our nation needs. I trust that we, as the children of God, will be not just harbingers

of that change, but will be that change. “Our country is waiting for us; I trust that we are all going to be that change that the nation needs.” On his part, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, reiterated his commitment to ensure that no one is left behind as his administration strives to better the lot of residents in the state in the next four years. The governor said: "As we embark on this journey, no one irrespective of colour, race, status, ability or disability would be left behind as we march progressively towards the destination of our collective destiny. Herein lies our strength today. I ask you that we join hands as we move Lagos and Nigeria to a higher level on the wind of change,” the governor said in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Habib Aruna. Ambode, who stressed that his victory at the April 11 governorship was the handiwork of God and the support of the people, reaffirmed his commitment to using the mandate to change the lives of people

in Lagos. His words: “This would not have been possible but for the love, mercy, and divine favour of our God. I thank you for all your support particularly towards peaceful elections that were held across the nation. I am eternally grateful to God for what He has done and still does in my life. It is now my responsibility to use this position to show forth his goodness by touching as many lives as possible through selfless purpose-driven service.” He commended the RCCG Apapa Family for its intervention and support to about 500 schools in Lagos. “I must commend your bold initiatives and numerous successes over the years. The church has made significant progress in improving the society. Your various intervention projects are highly commendable. “Going forward, I want to assure you of sustained partnership and support from the government of Lagos. Interestingly, your vision is propelled by determined focus and desire for transformative change in the society.”

impact on job creation over the next four years, and over the long-run, agricultural transformation will actually reduce jobs.” Soludo added that the prospects of the solid mineral sector will depend on the policy framework and legislation, dynamics of commodity prices, and the nature of forward and backward integration with the rest of the industrial structure, to make things work adequately. He also spoke about the need for a new constitution, saying creating a new Nigeria as being touted will require the altering of the existing constitution. “ A fundamental point however is that you can’t create the new Nigeria, a post-oil competitive economy without fundamentally altering the existing constitution. The current constitution and the political-governance structures created by it are designed to share and consume the oil rent. A system designed for consumption cannot become efficient for production. Ours is a dysfunctional unitaryfederalism, with a queer fiscal federalism and it won’t go too far.

Group kicks as Kogi Assembly's crisis deepens Muhammad Bashir Lokoja

he Sulaiman Baba Ali Campaign Organisation under the umbrella of Team SBA, has urged the state government to quickly find a lasting solution to the crisis rocking the Kogi State house of assembly crises. The newly inaugurated state House of Assembly, has been neck-deep in leadership crises, which took the total walk out of the 11 members from the All Progressives Congress (APC), denying the new leadership of the House led by the incumbent Speaker, Hon. Momoh Jimoh Lawal. The aggrieved members were accusing the state government of creating the rift following its involvement in the composition of the leadership. But the SBA campaign organisation, through its Media Spokesman, Alhaji Mohammed Abdullahi, berated the state government for not allowing the normal legislative due process to take place.

NEW TELEGRAPH monday, june 8, 2015

News

national

Buhari’ll crush Boko Haram, says Useni Musa Pam Jos

ollowing series of renewed attacks by Boko Haram insurgents, former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT and Senator-elect for Plateau South Senatorial zone, Gen. Jeremiah Timbut Useni, has said that he is optimistic the administration of Gen.

Muhammadu Buhari will crush the sect. Useni urged Nigerians to be patient and support the new administration in its bid to put an end to insurgency and reposition the nation for the good of the citizens. Speaking with journalists in Jos, the Senator-elect also commended the Governor of Plateau, Simon Lalong, for upholding the rule of law and swearing in

the elected Chairman of Langtang North local government area, Dan Dul. Useni, who noted that the governor has started his governance on a good footing, also urged him to give priority to the civil servants by settling the seven months salaries arrears owed to them, even if it means suspending the execution of capital projects for the time being.

He, however, faulted "the wasted money and time" in building of the new Government House by the immediate past administration in the state, saying such huge resources would have been used in other ventures since the state did not lack a befitting government house. His words, "I thank God for the peaceful elections and I congratulate all the winners. It is

Suicide bomber kills two, injures four in Borno

he Borno Police Command yesterday confirmed the killing of two persons after a suspected female suicide bomber detonated an explosive along Baga/Monguno road. Commissioner of Police in the state, Aderemi Opadokun, who spoke in an interview with the

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Maiduguri, said that four persons were also injured. “A female suicide bomber detonated an Improvised Explosive Devise (IED) strapped on her body along Baga/ Monguno highway, killing herself and two others on Saturday.

``Four persons sustained injuries during the attack,’’ he said. He also confirmed an IED explosion near a military check point in Konduga Local Government Area, in which two persons were injured. “It is true that we had a suspected IED explosion at Tungushe village

in Konduga LGA on Saturday near a military check point. “Two persons were injured and they are now being treated at the hospital,’’ he said. Opadokun advised residents to be vigilant and report strange objects to the nearest security check point for action.

Elumelu, Oppenheimer launch book on African investment

Lawan, Gbajabiamila’s emergence divides APC leadership

wo of Africa’s most prominent foundations – the Nigeria-based Tony Elumelu Foundation and the Oppenheimer family’s Brenthurst Foundation of South Africa – launched an important new book titled “Africans Investing in Africa” on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum Africa meeting in Cape Town. The 338-page book covers a range of important topics critical to Africa’s development. It provides a unique perspective of how Africans are leading the way through intra-African trade and investment, documenting how, where and why Africans invest across the continent. The book also identifies the economic, political and social

Johnchuks Onuanyim

experiences that hinder or stimulate investment, and highlights examples of pan-African companies and investors. This book is the outcome of a project conceived in 2011 by the two foundations, and builds on a paper published by their respective principals – Tony O. Elumelu, CON, and Jonathan Oppenheimer – in which they first explored the depth and breadth with which African companies were expanding across the continent and contributing to Africa’s growth. The foundations, have established records of scholarship and policy advice on issues impacting Africa's economic growth and development.

PDP salutes Mark, others Onyekachi Eze ABUJA

he Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has commended immediate-past president of the Senate, Senator David Mark and his deputy, Senator Ike Ekweremadu for stabilizing the upper house, which it said, contributed immensely in deepening the nation’s democracy. In a statement yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, PDP also commended the immediate-past Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal and his deputy,

Hon. Emeka Ihedioha for their efforts in steadying the ship of the last House despite unpredicted daunting challenges. The statement said the party's leadership notes the efforts of the last National Assembly under the Chairmanship of Senator Mark in ensuring unity among lawmakers and leading the federal legislature to provide the much needed direction for national development. “The leadership of the PDP and members of the party appreciate the commitment of our leaders and members in the Seventh National Assembly for their selfless contributions."

Abuja

he mock election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) held on Saturday to produce the candidates for the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives is tearing apart the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party. A source at the national headquarters of the party told New Telegraph that a national officer had threatened to resign if the party upholds the result of the mock election. According to the source, the national officer had threatened the APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, at the second floor of the Transcorp Hotels where the APC Transition Committee has its secretariat.

The source stated that Oyegun had to pacify the national officer not to resign. APC national leadership on Saturday conducted the mock election where members-elect elected Senator Ahmed Lawan and Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila as the candidates for the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives respectively. Also elected were Senator George Akume and Hon. Mohammed Monguno as Deputy Senate President and Deputy Speaker. While Hon. Yakubu Dogara, who is a key contestant for the speakership, stormed out of the venue, Senator Bukola Saraki, who is also a key aspirant to the Office of the Senate President did not come to the venue of the mock election.

PUBLIC NOTICE

regrettable the ongoing security challenges especially in the North East but the President is doing his best right now to see the insurgency brought to an end. "The Buhari I know will not relent until he brings the perpetrators to book. Let us support him, pray for him and be united as a family. "I want commend the governor of Plateau state, Simon Lalong for his sincerity and steadfastness, for swearing-in a Chairman Jang refused to swear in. Justice was done in that act. If he continues that way, Plateau will be better for it." He added this was not a time for blames but the governor should "give priority to workers and pay their salaries even

if capital projects have to be stopped for now for workers to get their salaries, so be it." The former Minister decried the use of N15billion by the immediate past administration to construct a yet-to-be completed Government House, stressing such amounts would have settled the outstanding workers' arrears. "When that administration said it was going to use N4billion to build another Government House, I kicked against it but even when N15billion had been spent, the place is yet to be completed. We wasted money and time in that project. It should be turned into an international hotel to accrue revenue to the state" he maintained.

PUBLIC NOTICE

KASOLAYO MOTORCYCLE RIDERS & DEALERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA The is to inform the general public that the above named ASSOCIATION has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for incorporation under part ‘C’ of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990. The Trustees are: 1. Falade Isaac Adediji - Chairman 2. Akibu Liasu Adeboye 3. Kosamontu Rafiu Tunde 4. Adeleke Oladoyin Abraham 5. Ogundipe Akeem Opeyemi 6. Ajayi Agboola Josiah 7. Adebisi Ayodele 8. Atoyebi Olatunde Yisa AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1. To protect the interest of the members. 2. To carter for the welfare of its members. 3. To provide peaceful co-existence among its members. Any objection to the registration should be forwarded to the RegistrarGeneral, Corporate Affairs Commission, plot 420 Tigris Crescent, off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days of this publication. Signed: TRUSTEES

PUBLIC NOTICE

ASSOCIATION OF HAIRDRESSERS AIYEPE OLODE OSUN

The is to inform the general public that the above named ASSOCIATION has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for incorporation under part ‘C’ of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990. The Trustees are: 1. Olaniyi Falilat 2 Ijisesan Bilikisu 3 Gbadegesin Bola 4 Fatimo Jimoh 5 Hammed Olabisi AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1. To protect the interest of the members. 2. To carter for the welfare of its members. 3. To provide peaceful co-existence among its members. Any objection to the registration should be forwarded to the RegistrarGeneral, Corporate Affairs Commission, plot 420 Tigris Crescent, off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days of this publication. Signed: TRUSTEES

PUBLIC NOTICE

OBA FALABI FOUNDATION

HOSANNA PEOPLE’S CHURCH

The is to inform the general public that the above named FOUNDATION has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for incorporation under part ‘C’ of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990. The Trustees are: 1. Hrm Olatunde Falabi Lanbeloye Iii 2. Hrh Olori Anthonia Aduke Falabi 3. Prince Gbenga Adebayo Falabi 4. Prince Rotimi Jide Falabi 5. Prince Bolanle Tomi Oladapo AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1. To provide scholarship to the students in Ikire and its environment 2. To provide skill acquisition centre for women and youth in Ikire land. 3. To reach out to less privileged in Ikire land and the nation as a whole. Any objection to the registration should be forwarded to the RegistrarGeneral, Corporate Affairs Commission, plot 420 Tigris Crescent, off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days of this publication. Signed: TRUSTEES

The general public is hereby notified that the above named CHURCH has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission Abuja for registration under part ‘C’ of the Companies and Allied Matters Act of1990. The Trustees are: 1. Pastor Arthur Chukwuma 2. Pastor (Mrs) Leone Chukwuma 3. Bro Paul Chukwuma 4. Oladayo Afolabi Esq AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1. To evangelize the word of Christ and teach all nations the everlasting gospel of our Lord and Saviour 2. To preach the word of Christ. 3. Restoring people back to the faith of their fathers, holiness in the church, the miracle working power of God and the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Church as it was in the book of Acts of Apostle and restoring the move of the spirit in the area of the nine gifts and manifestation of the Holy Spirit. Any objection to the registration should be forwarded to the Registrar-General, Corporate Affairs Commission, plot 420 Tigris Crescent, off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days of this publication. Signed: OLADAYO AFOLABI ESQ

MONDAY,JUNE 8, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Metro

Four held for NURTW members’ killing CLASH Four persons suspected to be responsible for the recent killing of NURTW members on Lagos Island are now in police custody

Taiwo Jimoh

etectives attached to the Homicide section of the State Criminal Investigations Department (SCID), Panti, Lagos State, have arrested four persons in connection with the killing of five members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW). The NURTW members were shot dead by members of a faction of the union on Lekki-Ajah Expressway. The state Police Public Relations Officers (PPRO), Kenneth Nwosu, said four persons had been arrested in connection with the killing. According to him, the four suspects, identified as Peter Clement, Yusuf Sanni, Aliyu Yusuf and Ogboduwa, were arrested on Friday at different locations within the metropolis. Nwosu said the suspects were already undergoing interrogation. The five victims were killed on Wednesday night while returning from a naming ceremony at Ajah area of the metropolis.

The victims

They are identified as Samson, Ganiyu, Idris, Ladi and one other.

A witness claimed that the gunmen stopped their chartered bus and shot each of

them point blank. It was gathered that the members of the victims’ fac-

tion attacked the relatives of the assailants on the Lagos Island. The union members, who went on the rampage to protest the death of the five men, attacked traders and residents of the popular Olokodana family house on the Island. It was learnt that one Seego, who was alleged to have caused the crisis that led to the killing of the five men, took to his heels and disappeared from the Lagos Island. A source said: “Information going round, however, is that relatives of the deceased and other aggrieved youths have concluded plans to deal with him.” It was further gathered that some politicians in the state have been blamed for the incessant killings and clashes between the miscreants popularly known as area boys. It was alleged that the politicians used to arm members of NURTW with weapons. A man, who craved anonymity, said: “Politicians should be blamed for these senseless killings and shootings on the Lagos Island. Most of them use these hoodlums to carry out assassinations, kidnappings, robberies and other crimes for their selfish interest. “The different groups, including relatives of the deceased, sympathisers and the perpetrators of the killings alleged that Seego was responsible for most of the deaths of youths in the area. Youths on the Island have vowed to deal with him.” They blamed political leaders of both All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the incessant crises among the miscreants. “When police raid or invade the hideouts of these criminals or arrest them while perpetrating bad acts, these leaders will make calls to the superior officers who will order the police officers to release them,” another source said.

Soldier, cyclist rob tanker drivers Juliana Francis

A ABIODUN BELLO FEATURES Editor

abiodun.bello@newtelegraphonline.com

nti-robbery detectives attached to the Area ‘B’ Police Command, Apapa, Lagos State, have arrested a soldier and a motorcyclist who specialised in robbing tanker drivers. According to the police, the suspect, identified simply as Lance Corporal Jeremiah, attached to Signal Barracks, Apapa, by Liverpool, always attacks tanker drivers with jack knife before dispossessing them of their valuables.

Jeremiah used to carry the operation with the help of a commercial motorcyclist, whom he provided with Army uniform to make the tanker drivers lower their guards and make the robbery easier. While the police are accusing Jeremiah and his partner of robbery, the soldier screamed at them that he was not a robber. A police source said: “He said he did not rob the tanker drivers because he did not use gun, but only used to scare them with his jack knife.” The commercial motorcyclist

told the police that he and Jeremiah had been robbing since last year, adding that it was the soldier who convinced him to join him in the robberies. According to the police, Jeremiah knew that most of the tanker drivers in the evening used to park between Tin Can First Gate and Second Gate. Armed with this knowledge, he would organise the motorcyclist rider, in Army uniform; they would get jack knives and start robbing tanker drivers. A police source said: “The suspects collected N12,000 from

one of the tanker drivers on the fateful day they were arrested. What they usually do, is that, wearing Army uniform, both of them would flag down a tanker driver and rob him. “On this particular day, the driver was trying to manoeuvre a bend, when Jeremiah and his partner jumped out, they ordered him to stop, but he refused. They chased him in their motorbike to Liverpool area. When the driver finally halted, Jeremiah punctured his tyres with his jack knife. They collected N12,000 and phones from him.”

Metro 11

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY,JUNE 8, 2015

City Briefs Woman bathes neighbour with hot water

Youths set ritual killers’ den ablaze

Uchenna Inya Abakaliki

housewife, Mrs Chigozie Ugama, has allegedly poured hot water on her neighbour, a 25-year-old lady, Oluchukwu Nwali, which caused injuries all over her body. The incident occurred at the weekend at Amaeka community in Ezza South Local Government Area of Ebonyi State. The victim was rushed to a private hospital at Onuoji Echara in the local government where she was receiving treatment at press time. Narrating her ordeal, Nwali said she did not believe that the woman could do that to her. She said trouble started after she had a misunderstanding with Ugama. The victim added that she had reported the misunderstanding to the woman’s husband who promised to look into the complaint later. She said: “As I finished complaining to the husband, I did not know that Mrs Ugama had prepared hot water for me. “Immediately I stepped outside, she poured hot inside a bucket and poured it on my body.”

Kingmakers select new Deji of Akure Babatope Okeowo Akure

ingmakers yesterday unanimously selected Prince Kole Aladetoyinbo as the next Deji of Akure, the Ondo State capital. He is to replace Oba Adebiyi Adesida who died over a year ago. Aladetoyinbo, a three time contestant to the throne, defeated 12 other princes to emerge as the monarch of the town subject to the approval of the state government. The Head of the Osupa Ruling House, whose turn is to produce the next monarch, Dr Adebimpe Ogunleye, said the process for the selection of the monarch had been concluded as the kingmakers had chosen one of the princes presented to them. Ogunleye told our correspondent at his house that “the process has been completed. Announcement is being expected from state executive council. That was what we were told by the kingmakers”. He, however, declined comment on the person who emerged, saying he would not want to breach the agreement reached with the kingmakers.

Adeolu Adeyemo Osogbo

he Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has apprehended three members of a notorious fraud syndicate in Osun State for duping unsuspected citizens through fake visa travelling deals. The suspects are Akinlotan Kolawole Olushola, Olayiwola Oladayo and Bolarinwa Adebayo a.k.a Dodo. It was learnt that the trio had allegedly duped an Enugu-based businessman, Hon Nnamchi

The burnt building at the shrine

Babatope Okeowo Akure

ouths have razed down a shrine belonging to suspected ritual killers at Ago Oyinbo, a community on Benin-Ore-Lagos Expressway in Okitipupa Local Government Area of Ondo State. Also, the police have arrested five suspected kidnappers who allegedly specialised in using human beings for ritual at the shrine. The victims, according to investigation, are kidnapped in different parts of the country. The suspected ritual killers were said to have been arrested by policemen attached

to Igbotako Police Division following the report from the residents. They were said to have been using the village for their ritual activities in the last three years without any inhibition. A resident of the town, who gave his name as Execos Adeyeye, said at the weekend that the alleged ritual killers, after kidnapping their victims, would bring them to the shrine and slaughter them for ritual purposes. He said on the phone that sequel to the discovery of the activities of the suspects, the youth reported to the police who stormed the village and arrested about five suspects. Adeyeye added that the

youth also demolished the building being used as the shrine. At the shrine, according to him, were cow horns, different types of clothes reportedly belonging to some of the victims, palm fronds, bottles of gin, calabashes and ‘Ghana must go’ bags, among others. The Baale of the Ago Oyinbo, Chief Moyebi Okeowo, who confirmed the incident, said the shrine started in 2012 when the suspects came to him to request for a space in the village which they wanted to use for a location to shoot films. Okeowo said he asked somebody to take them to the owner of the land, unknown to him that they wanted to use the village as a kidnappers’ den. He said: “When they came to me to beg for a piece of land to shoot their film, I told them I am not the owner of the land and I took them to the brother of the owner of the land who then took them to the wife of the owner in Akure. “So I learnt they were authorised by the wife of the landlord to be using the land and since then they have been using it. When I did not know

what they were using the land for, I told the youth leader to go and report their activities to the police and he later informed me that he had done so.” Okeowo said he was unaware of the nefarious activities of the suspects until last Monday when he got the information that the suspects were using human beings for sacrifice on the land. Also, the Principal of Community Grammar School at the neighbouring community of Kajola in Odigbo Local Government Area of the state, Mr Joseph Edosama, said two of the security guards of the school were among the suspects arrested for conspiring with the suspected kidnappers. He said he had not visited the scene but he was told by those who went there that fetish items and blood were found at the shrine before it was destroyed by the angry youth. When contacted on the telephone, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr Wole Ogodo, said he had not been briefed from the Igbotako Divisional Police Station at press time.

Another petrol explosion averted in Lagos Muritala Ayinla

nother disaster was yesterday averted when a fuel tanker skidded off the road and somersaulted, spilling its content on the road at Lekki in Lagos. The accident occurred around 5am when the driver of the Epe-bound tanker lost control and crashed near Forte Oil filing station. The driver and his assistant, popularly called ‘Motor boy’ were rushed to a nearby hospital for medical attention while efforts were being made to trans load the remaining petroleum content into another tanker. Nobody could also ascertain the cause of the accident but some blamed it on the carelessness of the driver. This came barely 24 hours after a fuel tanker

crashed at Idimu area of the state. In the Saturday incident, about 300 people were rendered homeless as 34 houses, 70 shops and a tricycle were burnt. The government yesterday said it had commenced the enumeration of the victims of Idimu tanker explosion, adding that every affected victim would be properly taken care of. The General Manager, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Dr Femi OkeOsanyintolu, who made the disclosure, said the agency had commenced the enumeration exercise after which other steps would be taken. He said: “We have commenced the enumeration. Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has ordered that

Firefighters trying to prevent fire at the scene

the victims should be taken care of. Our men are on ground for the exercise, even though some are still attending to other emergencies in the state.” Every affected victim would be captured in line with the governor’s

directive.” But the Director of the Lagos State Fire Service, Mr Rasak Fadipe, said the driver of the tanker which cashed yesterday must have slept on the wheel which made him lost control of the vehicle.

NSCDC nabs three for fraud Nichodemus, of N700,000 through a dubious travelling transaction in November last year before nemesis caught against them. One of the NSCDC officials told journalists in Osogbo that Nichodemus was tricked into paying the money into an account belonging to Olushola, an undergraduate of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN). “After receiving a credit alert, Olushola, who was promised N105,000, immedi-

ately went to the bank to collect the money through the Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) and from the counter, while he handed over the balance to Oladayo for onward transmission to Adebayo aka Dodo,” the NSCDC official. However, after a tip-off, the NSCDC officials swung into action and arrested Olushola within the premises of NOUN while trying to process his transfer of study to another location outside Osun State.

After his arrest, he led the NSCDC officials to the hideout of the other two suspects. The suspects allegedly offered the NSCDC officials bribe but they turned it down. The state Commandant of the NSCDC, Tajudeen Balogun, confirmed the arrest of the suspects. He said: “The suspects have since been handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for prosecution.”

NSCDC Commandant, Olu Abolurin

News

NATIONAL

MONDAY,JUNE 8, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

AU, ASUU, others want referendum on Western Sahara lSeek ban on importation of sardine Yekeen Nurudeen Abuja

articipants at the just concluded international conference on the liberation of Western Saharawi have called on the United Nations to hold, without further delay, the referendum for self-determination of the people of Western Sahara in accordance with the relevant UN and OAU resolutions further reaffirmed by the African

Union. In a communique issued at the weekend in Abuja titled “Abuja Declaration on the Decolonisation of Western Sahara”, participants comprising African Union Chairman, Robert Mugabe, representatives of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), diplomats, and Prime Minister of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, Abdelkader Taleb Omar, expressed worries over what they described as the re-colonisation of the African continent via

the unilateral annexation of Western Saharawi. They also lamented the occupation and exploitation of natural resources of the Africa’s last colony the benefit of Morocco, France, Spain, the European Union and other clearly identified world powers, to the detriment of the fundamental right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination and independence. This was as they urged Nigerian government to ban the importation of sardine products from

Morocco into the country as part of economic sanctions to make it yield to demands to grant autonomy to Western Saharawi. The sardine business is said to worth 30million US dollars annually. They also demanded all African states to use their bilateral relations with third parties and to act collectively and individually to exert all forms of pressure on Morocco, including economic sanctions, to compel it to end its illegal occupation of Western Sahara. In the communique signed by the convener

of the conference, Professor Dipo Fashina, participants also reaffirmed that Western Sahara remains a question of de-colonisation to be completed on the basis of the exercise by the people of Western Sahara of their inalienable right to self-determination and independence through a free and fair referendum. While condemning the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara, which they described as a crime against humanity, they said Spain should fulfill its responsibilities concerning the decolonisation of the territory.

NUC warns governors against interfering in varsities Biodun Oyeleye ILORIN

he National Universities Commission (NUC), at the weekend, warned governors from intervening unnecessarily in the affairs of universities owned by their states, saying such action was detrimental to the growth of the university system. Although he did not mention names or give instances, the Executive Secretary of the commission, Professor Julius Okogie, who gave the warning in a goodwill message to the third convocation of Kwara State University (KWASU), Malete, said such act is unacceptable to the commission. Okoye, who was represented at the event by the immediate past Vice Chancellor of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ABTU), Bauchi, Professor Mohammed Hamisu commended the authorities of KWASU on its accomplishments in the last three years and expressed confidence that the leadership of the institution would strive to ensure complete full accreditation for all its courses. He said, “The NUC is aware that some state governments are interfering in the affairs of their universities. That is not acceptable to the NUC. We want to warn those states to stop such interference”. Earlier in his address, the Chancellor of KWASU, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, citing the case of KWASU, had drawn attention of stakeholders to the dwindling financial resources of universities in the country, and called for concerted efforts if the development were not to lead to a complete halt to the progress so far recorded by some institutions.

L-R: Director, Corporate Services, Vitafoam Nigeria Plc, Mr. Tunji Anjorin; Managing Director, Mr Taiwo Adeniyi; Company Secretary, Mr. Lekan Sanni and Chairman, Dr. Dele Makanjuola, during the company’s Annual General Meeting in Lagos... PHOTO: SULEIMAN HUSAINI

APC chieftain advises Buhari to appoint competent hands Yekeen Nurudeen ABUJA

chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC) and National Secretary of Igbo’s-Diaspora Initiative for Buhari, Chief Geo Uguru has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint a competent and seasoned Nigerian from the South East region as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. While speaking with New Telegraph in an interview in Abuja at the weekend, Chief Uguru, who is also a member of Field Operations of APC Presidential Campaign Organisation, said that the South East region has qualified and competent men and women that are ready and willing to add value to the administration of President Buhari if given the chance. He also described as erroneous, the belief that people of South East did not vote for President Buhari, adding that a lot of votes came from the region for the president in the last elections. He said the people of that region have learnt a lot of lessons from what happened to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), noting that a real Igbo man cannot afford not to belong anywhere.

Why we beat Senate to pass PIB law –Reps’ Minority Whip Nkire lauds Cajetan Mmuta BEENIN

eadership of the immediate past 7th assembly of the House of Representatives has given reasons why the lawmakers in the lower house passed the Petroleum Industry Bill before the senate, insisting that it was aimed at ensuring a total reform in the oil and gas sector of the nation’s economy. Minority Whip of the House, Hon. Samson Osagie said the country depends on oil and gas as her sole and major revenue earner, hence there

was an urgent need for the outgoing legislators in the House of Representatives to demonstrate their commitment and support for the present administration in its determination to reform the vital sector for national growth and development. Speaking shortly on arrival from Abuja with newsmen at the Benin airport, Edo state weekend, Osagie said the last minute move was borne out of the desire to give boost to the sector taking into account that Nigeria is a mono economy. He expressed optimism

that the new members of the incoming National Assembly would take a cue from where the past lawmakers had stopped in order to ensure the nation’s optimal growth in the vital sector and other key areas of the economy for the greater good of the citizenry. The APC lawmaker lauded the people of Orhionwmon/ Uhunmwode federal constituency in Edo state in particular and Nigerians at large for the opportunity to serve and for contributing amongst others from the various geo political zones in the capacity to-

NLC urges ILO to support Buhari Yekeen Nurudeen ABUJA

resident of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and leader of the delegation of NLC to the ongoing conference of International Labour Organization (ILO) taking place in Geneva, Swit-

zerland, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, has asked the leadership of the ILO to give the government of President Muhammadu Buhari “the necessary technical and institutional support to revive the culture of social dialogue in the country. Comrade Wabba who presented various chal-

lenges confronting Nigeria at the conference, noted that the NLC was deeply committed to genuine participation in the revival of the social dialogue. He said NLC was eager to discuss the core issues of labour interest including job creation, migration management,

wards the growth of the nation and his state. He said, “What we did was a demonstration of our commitment to ensure transparency in the running of our oil and gas sector to ensure that the petroleum sector is sanitised to the greater advantage of the Nigerian people.” “As you can see, we rounded up with the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).” That was borne out of the desire of the House of Representatives to ensure a reform in the oil and gas sector because you know oil and gas remains the mainstay of our economy”. social protection floors implementation and the broader issues around the structural transformation of the Nigerian economy. The Labour president lamented that the issues of endemic poverty, burgeoning unemployment, frustrating and depressed wage regimes combined with the Boko Haram insurgency have worsened the condition of the child in Nigeria.

new job for Osagie

he new Managing Director of The Sun newspapers, Mr Eric Osagie has been told to aim for the skies as he resumes his new assignment. In his congratulatory message to Mr Osagie, a member of the Board of Trustees (BOT) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Sam Nkire predicted a brighter future for the newspaper chain under Mr Osagie. Chief Nkire, who is a veteran journalist, author and publisher himself, told the new MD, “Though your predecessors, Mike Awoyinfa, Tony Onyima and Femi Adesina performed creditably well, you have no choice but to do even better”. The former National Chairman of the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) further said he believed in the abilities of Mr Eric Osagie both as a journalist and a manager of men.

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015

National Assembly

Curtain falls on Seventh House

16, 17

Politics Successes, failures of Seventh Senate CHUKWU DAVID reviews the achievements and failures of the Seventh Senate in the performance of its legislative functions

he legislature has three core functions to carry out as a democratic institution. These functions include legislation, representation and oversight. Legislation has to do with making laws, which involves passing of bills into law. A bill could be entirely new proposal aiming to establish a new law or it may be aiming to repeal or amend an existing law. Passing motions and making resolutions from such is also a process of lawmaking. The parliament is also deeply involved in the act of representation. Under this role, the legislators bring issues directly affecting their constituents to the legislative chambers for consideration and perhaps resolutions made on them by the whole house or a committee of the house. Such issues include petitions from constituents. Another area legislators carry out their role of representation is attracting developmental projects to their respective constituencies. They achieve this by ensuring that such projects are captured in the annual budgets during budget preparation. They also follow up and make sure that the projects are implemented and according to specifications too. Then, the oversight function is the supervisory or monitoring jurisdiction of the legislature. The parliamentarians monitor the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government to ensure that the budget, once passed into law, are implemented within the provisions of the Appropriation Act. Therefore, it is

Mark

the duty of parliament to monitor releases of funds and proper application by relevant authorities. The Seventh Senate, which was inaugurated on June 6, 2011, in the course of its existence discharged its constitutional responsibilities to the people of Nigeria within the confines of these fundamental functions. It is universally agreed that the most important function of the legislature is passing of appropriation bill, which is also called money bill. It deals with budgets of the country, which is more or less an annual ritual.

ayodele.ojo@newtelegraphonline.com

Annual budgets The Seventh Senate, which had a four-year life span, was able to successfully pass national budgets for the period spanning 2012-2015. For the 2012 budget, the Senate passed a budget figure of N4.8 trillion on March 15, 2012. Then, the Senate on December 20, 2012 passed the 2013 Appropriation Bill of N4.99 trillion into law. Similarly, the Seventh Senate on April 9, 2014 passed the 2014 budget totalling N4.6 trillion. In the same vein, the Red Chamber on April 28, 2015, passed the N4.493 trillion budget for the 2015 fiscal year. That was about five months after it was presented by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

State of emergency On May 14, 2013, former Presi-

AYODELE OJO

DEPUTY Editor, POLITICS

Okonjo-Iweala presenting 2015 budget

The Seventh Senate... received a total of 591 bills within the period of four years it lasted. Out of this number, 123 bills were passed

dent Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states as a result of the menace of the Boko Haram sect in these states. Although the terrorist sect had carried out attacks in other parts of the country particularly in the North, these three states were the hardest hit by the insurgency. However, in seeking to impose the emergency rule across a whole state, the president is required by the constitution to first secure the approval of the National Assembly. The National Assembly eventually gave a six-month approval to the declaration, and Senate was in full support of the emergency proclamation, which has helped to contain the insurgency. At the expiration of the period, there was need for an extension. Some politicians, however, opposed this idea. The governors of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, who were in the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), said that the emergency rule had failed to achieve its goal. Jonathan, in trying to persuade the people to see reason for an extension, said the emergency rule might be prolonged as it was necessary for the military to tackle the insurgency in the North-East. According to him, “terrorism is not a phenomenon a six-month state of emergency can solve.” Finally, the Senate and the House of Representatives approved it in November 2013. Meanwhile, the insurgency did

not abate, compelling the then President to run to the National Assembly for another extension. After much argument, the Senate approved the second request for the martial rule to be sustained in the three North Eastern states on May 20, 2014, though with some conditions attached. It was a clear and warning signal that subsequent request(s) would face serious challenges to be approved by the same parliament. Disappointedly, from the time of the last extension to date, there have been series of ugly developments in the states where the emergency rule was proclaimed, indicating that the insurgency is not abating. Contrary to the expectation of the Federal Government and the Nigerian people in general, the insurgents appeared to have done serious reinforcement to frustrate all efforts by the nation’s armed forces to end their onslaught on the region and Nigerians in general. Therefore, when Jonathan brought another request for third extension, senators vehemently refused to approve it until the duration expired. So, the combined military operations in the NorthEast as at today are not working under emergency rule but the president has enormous constitutional powers to deploy troops to any part of the country where there is crisis that is beyond the control of the Police. CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

Politics

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

Constitution review Although the Fourth Alteration Bill which the National Assembly successfully concluded and passed did not receive presidential assent, due to what some people considered as “playing politics with the bill” by the executive arm, the Senate would be remembered for the efforts it made to bring the amendments to accomplishment. In its effort to alter the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which is heavily criticised as a document with a lot of defects, having been authored by the military, the Senate held public hearings at the zonal levels throughout the six geo-political zones of the country between November 15 and 16, 2012. After the rigorous processes that took a lot of time, energy and resources, the Senate finally passed the Constitution (Fourth Alteration) Bill, on October 21, 2014 while the House earlier passed its own version on October 15, 2014. The two Chambers harmonised their separate versions and then on October 28, 2014, transmitted the amendments to the 36 state Houses of Assembly to also work and vote on it as required by the constitution. Section 9(2) of the 1999 (as amended) provides that an Act to alter the provisions of the Constitution can be passed only when it is supported by twothirds majority of members of the Senate and House of Representatives, as well as supported by twothirds majority of state Houses of Assembly in the country. These conditions were perfectly met and transmitted to the president for assent. Unfortunately, instead of signing the bill into law, the senators received a great shock on April 15, 2015, when the President of the Senate, David Mark, read a letter from President Jonathan, notifying the Upper Chamber that he had withheld his assent to the bill. He refused to sign the document into law on the allegation that the alterations failed to satisfy the strict requirements of Section 9(3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended). Bills and motions The Seventh Senate received a total of 591 bills within the period of four years it lasted. Out of this number, 123 were passed while the remaining 469 are at different stages of legislative processing and consideration. In addition, the Seventh Senate also considered a total of 115 motions, with accompanying resolutions approved thereof during its lifespan. Some of the bills that were considered and passed in the last Senate include: Occupational Safety and Health Bill, Pension Reform Act Amendment (Repeal and Reenactment) Bill, Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Bill, Administration of Criminal Justice Bill, Violence Against Persons Prohibition Bill, Discrimination Against Persons With Disabilities (Prohibition) Bill, Terrorism (Prevention) Act 2011 Bill and Proceeds of Crime Bill amongst others. It is, however, important to note that the Senate under review was able to pass 77 bills between June 6, 2011 and May 2015. Then, for the first time in the life time of the 7th

MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Senate’s regrets on PIB, National Assembly, the Senate on June 3, 2015, adopted 46 bills within 10 minutes, which were earlier passed by the House of Representatives and transmitted to it for concurrence. The Chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Senator Ita Enang, moved for invocation of Order 1(b) and suspension of Order 79(1) of the Senate Standing Order 2011 (as amended) to adopt a special procedure; and to adopt the bills as having passed through first, second and third readings on the floor of the Senate and concur to same. The 46 bills include: Tertiary Education Trust Fund (Establishment etc.) Act (Amendment) Bill; Office of the Nigerian Financial Ombudsman Bill; Institute of Chattered Trustees of Nigeria; National Convict and Criminal Records (Registry); Community Service; People’s Bank of Nigeria Act (Repeal); Nigerian Bank for Commerce and Industry Act (Repeal); National Commission for Rehabilitation Act (Repeal); Maintenance Orders Act (Repeal); Federal Saving Bank Act (Repeal); Loan (State Development) Act (Repeal); Nigerians in Diaspora (Establishment) Commission; Electronic Transactions; Chattered Institute of Statisticians of Nigeria; Nigerian Metallurgical Industry; Federal Audit Commission; National Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation Act (Amendment); Nigerian International Financial Centre (Establishment); and Investment and Securities (Amendment). Others are: Nigerian Communication Satellite; Federal Capital Territory Education Resources Centre (Establishment etc.); Labour Institutions (Establishment); Witness Protection Programme; Institute of Mediators and Conciliators; Legal Education Act (Amendment); National Health Insurance Commission; National Economic Intelligence Committee (Establishment) Act (Repeal); Federal College Dental Technology and Therapy; Federal Capital College of Nursing and Midwifery; Oaths Act (Amendment); Federal Capital Territory Health Management Board (establishment); Passport ((Miscellaneous Provisions) (Amendment); Chattered Institute of Management Accountants of Nigeria; Federal Capital Territory Water Board (Establishment etc.). Also included are: Institute of Local Government and Administration; Whistle-blower Protection; Family Economic Advancement Programme (Establishment, etc) Act (Repeal); Family Support Trust Fund Act (Repeal); Nigeria Industrial Development Bank (Guarantee) Act (Repeal); Other bills are: Treasury Management; Legislative Powers and Privileges Act (Repeal and Re-Enactment); Anti-Torture; Lobbyist (Registration and Regulation; National Hospital for Women and Children, Abuja (Establishment etc) Act (Amendment); Nigerian Prison Act (Repeal and Re-Enactment); and Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Act (Amendment). Justifying the action of the Senate in passing the 46 bills at a sitting, Senator Enang explained

L-R: Veronica Onyegbula and Essai Dangabar and other suspects of the pension probe.

Former Minister of Interior, Abba Moro (second right) and others at the Senate public hearing on the Nigerian Immigration Service recruitment.

that what the Senate and the House of Representatives did in respect of passage of some bills in the last days of the Seventh Assembly was what is known in parliament as legislative reciprocity. He also claimed that the Senate did not breach any law in doing so.

The most conspicuous failure of the Seventh Senate was its inability to pass the PIB

Probes Some of the major probes conducted by the Seventh Senate include the popular N274 billion Pension Fund Scam levelled against the then chairman, Pension Task Team, Mr. Abdulrasheed Abdullahi Maina, John Yusuf, B.G. Kaigama and other members of the team; the Rivers State House of Assembly crisis, the Apo killing. At the heat of the investigation, the Chairman of the disbanded Presidential Pension Reform Task Team, Maina, accused the Etok-led Senate probe panel on the management of pension funds of demanding N3 billion bribe. Senator Etok, who was thoroughly taken aback by the allegation, denied demanding any bribe from Maina. Etok said that the bribery allegation against the committee was part of orchestrated plot by Maina to divert the attention of the committee from the probe. The senator voluntarily offered himself for probe. The Senate was agitated by the ugly development. Consequently, in order not to appear to be cover-

ing Etok and his committee, the Senate mandated its Committee on Ethics and Public Petitions to investigate the allegation and report back to the Chamber for appropriate action on the matter. However, more than one year after the Senate mandated its Committee to probe into the bribery allegation, the Senator Paul Akinyelure panel submitted its report recently, clearing Etok and the committe of demanding any bribe. A member of the Committee on Ethics and Privileges hinted that the panel absolved Etok and other members of his committee because the management of the newspaper that published Maina’s allegation, failed to prove the allegation against the senators beyond reasonable doubts. Other probes carried out by the 7th Senate include the $49.8 billion alleged missing fund in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), BMW bullet proof cars allegedly bought for former Aviation Minister Stella Oduah by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) recruitment tragedy. Equally probed by the last Senate were the Rivers State House of Assembly Crisis and the Apo killing. Stability in 7th Senate The Senate had witnessed in-

Politics

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015

constitution

Enang noted that the passage of the bill by the House of Representatives amounted to effort in futility since the Senate did not pass it. He expressed hope that the 8th Senate would take it up and bring it to a conclusion. NIS recruitment tragedy report Another critical issue, which the Seventh Senate swept under the carpet was the report on the investigation of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) recruitment tragedy. The probe was instituted to ascertain the immediate and remote causes of the March 15, 2014 tragedy, in which some Nigerians, who went for the NIS recruitment test at the various centres across the country lost their lives, and others left with varying degrees of injuries in avoidable stampedes that erupted at the various centres. Senator Atiku Bagudu, who was the chairman of the probe panel, actually submitted the report of the investigation to the Senate on May 28, 2014 but it was not considered until the Seventh Senate expired last week. This failure has led to the insinuation that the report was dumped because of the connection of those who were involved in the exercise with the leadership of the last Senate. Other inconclusive probes by the seventh Senate include: investigations into kerosene subsidy scam, police pension fund fraud, the Stella Oduah probe, $20 billion missing oil money, $15 million private jet/arms scandal, Malabu oil and Ekitigate scandal.

Oduah (right) appearing before the Senate panel probing the aviation car scandal

Ekweremadu presenting reports of the Committee on Constitution Amendment to the Senate.

stability from the inception of this democracy in 1999. However, the situation got better between 2007 and 2015, under the leadership of Senator Mark. Mark, who is reputed for stabilising the Senate during his eight years of presiding over the upper chamber, eliminated the popular “banana peel” which was believed to have been responsible for the fall of previous Senate presidents. For the first time under his leadership as Senate President, there was an improved relationship between the executive and the legislature. His disposition led to the resolution of disputes between the Federal Government and labour unions in the country. Mark’s intervention saved Nigeria from imminent collapse in January 2012 through the role he played towards ending the strike embarked upon by labour unions over the increase in pump price of petrol, which sparked a shutdown in oil production. Also, under the leadership of Mark, the intervention of the Senate brought an end to the strike action embarked upon by lecturers in the nation’s universities. The crisis which lasted for six months was finally resolved in December 2013, due to the intervention of the Senate Committee on Education, which effected a middle ground between the Federal Government and lecturers over the non-pay-

ment of allowances. Report on Petroleum Industry Bill The most conspicuous failure of the Seventh Senate was its inability to pass the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB). It was one bill that Nigerians desperately awaited its passage by the Senate before the end of its lifespan. The bill suffered so much politicking and setback in the National Assembly in the past seven years. It was first introduced to Assembly in 2008. It has even passed many legislative processes. The report was concluded and due to be laid before the Senate but disagreements amongst senators frustrated its presentation and consideration. It was enlisted in the Senate Order Paper three times in the last quarter of the Chamber but was stepped down each time it was called to be laid. In his valedictory speech, the President of the Senate, lamented that the Seventh Senate was not able to pass the PIB. He, however, said that the immediate past Senate had laid solid foundation for the Eighth Senate to take off and achieve success in some of the issues it could not accomplish. He said: “As much as we tried, we did not meet all the targets we set for ourselves. For instance, we were not able to pass the PIB and our constitutional amendment is stalled.” Commenting on the PIB also,

The stalling of the constitutional review exercise is perhaps the most frustrating downside of the 7th National Assembly

Oversight The Seventh Senate also failed in ensuring a watertight oversight of national budget implementation in the last four years of its existence. In the life of the Senate, budget implementation remained abysmal and the lawmakers did little or nothing to rescue the situation. There were usually allegations of connivance of the politicians with officials of MDAs to compromise their constitutional responsibilities for personal gains while embarking on oversight tours of projects in the country. Extra legislative issues in Seventh Senate Deaths: The Seventh Senate lost five of its members. The first was Senator Gyang Dantong, who represented Plateau North Senatorial District, and was the Chairman, Senate Committee on Health. He died on July 8, 2012. On June 30, 2013, death struck again and the Seventh Senate lost another member, Senator Pius Ewherido, who represented Delta Central Senatorial District of Delta State. As that was not enough, exactly one year after, another legislator in the Senate, Senator Dahiru Awaisu Kuta, who represented Niger East, died on June 12, 2014. At another one year interval, Comrade Uche Chukwumerije, passed on. He represented Abia North and was the Chairman, Senate Committee on Education. He died on April 19, 2015. On May 16, 2015, the Seventh Senate lost its fifth member in four years of its existence, Senator Ahmad Zannah, who represented Borno Central Senatorial District. Defections In January 2014, the Seventh Senate witnessed a gale of de-

fections when 11 Senators of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), announced their defection to the APC. The senators who defected were Bukola Saraki (Kwara Central), Shaaba Lafiagi (Kwara North), Mohammed Ali Ndume (Borno South), Danjuma Goje (Gombe Central), Abdullahi Adamu (Nasarawa West) and Magnus Abe (Rivers South East). Others were Wilson Ake (Rivers West), Bindo Jibrilla (Adamawa North), Abdullahi Gobir (Sokoto East) and Alhassan Aisha Jummai (Taraba North). Turnover The Seventh Senate also recorded a low turnover of its members as only 33 out of the 109 Senators returned to the Eighth Senate after the general elections. As many as 76 lost their bid to come back. The turnover ultimately affects the quality of performance of the new Assembly. Most of the best legislators who helped conspicuously in giving vibrancy to the 7th Senate lost their return bid for various reasons apart from national interest. The Leader of the Seventh Senate, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, who served for 12 years and played a leading role in stabilising the Senate and democracy lost to intra party politics and the overbearing influence of godfatherism in Nigerian politics. Also, Enang, who could be described as encyclopaedia of legislative rules, proceedings and processes lost as the former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio, insisted that he must not return to the Senate, even when he himself was elected to replace Senator Aloysius Etok. Summarily, there is no doubt that the Eighth Senate is going to be deeply involved in another round of learning process, which the Seventh Senate had overcome because of the experience garnered by its former members in four years. Ndoma-Egba’s regrets The Leader of the 7th Senate, in his valedictory statement, noted that the failure of former President Jonathan to sign the Fourth Alteration Bill into law was the most frustrating experience of the 7th Senate. He said: “The Senate observes further that from the inception of the Fourth Republic, the refrain has been that the 1999 Constitution is a military contraption that does not reflect the wishes of Nigerians. “As a responsive legislature, the review of the Constitution was paramount in the review of the legislative agenda of the 7th National Assembly to address identifiable loopholes in the constitution, meet the yearnings of Nigerians by giving them a sense of ownership of their grand norm, strengthen our democracy and ensure the continued corporate existence of the country. “However, as much as we tried to bequeath an acceptable constitution, we found ourselves in a legal quagmire induced by the executive, the entire process, efforts and resources needlessly dissipated. Apart from the high turnover of legislators, and the erosion of institutional memory, the stalling of the constitutional review exercise is perhaps the most frustrating down side of the 7th National Assembly.”

16 Politics

MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Lawmakers climbing the National Assembly’s gate

Curtain falls on Seventh House The tenure of the Seventh Assembly of the House of Representatives officially ended on Saturday, June 6, though the lower chamber held its final plenary on June 4. PHILIP NYAM reviews the highlights of the activities of the outgone assembly

n June 6, 2011, when the 7th House of Representatives was inaugurated, members of the lower chamber left no one in doubt as to their resolve to liberate themselves from the control of the Executive. The Assembly officially winded down last Saturday, although it held its last plenary on Thursday, June 4. It was a House that left so much for political analysts to feed on and would not be forgotten in a hurry. Against all odds, the lawmakers elected Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal from Sokoto State and Emeka Ihedioha from Imo State as speaker and deputy speaker respectively. This action was in total disregard to the zoning arrangement of the then ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which had zoned the speaker and deputy speaker positions to the South-West and North-East. But the members preferred Tambu-

wal to the PDP anointed candidate from the South-West, Hon. Mulikat Akande-Adeola, who would later become the Majority Leader. This singular act set the tone for a frosty relationship between the House and the Goodluck Jonathan-led presidency. But in the public eye, the House was applauded for asserting its independence and calling it bluff with the PDP and the executive. The 7th House thereby set a precedence in the election of its leaders, which is today hunting the All Progressives Congress (APC). The governing party is in a dilemma on how to handle its zoning arrangement. This is a product of the independent action of the 7th Assembly. As the 8th Assembly is set to be inaugurated tomorrow, no one is sure where the pendulum will swing in the election of speaker and deputy speaker. The two leading candidates are evenly matched and only the votes will separate them from each other. The election of Tambuwal through an independent and popular will of the members had however placed a big responsibility on the shoulders of the 7th Assembly – that of being the true House of the people; avoiding corruption that had smeared the image of the National Assembly and dented the reputation of lawmakers, particularly those in the lower House. Whether the House lived up to its billings in that aspect, only Nigerians could tell. The 7th House was however a hotchpotch of issues: controversies, achievements and failures. However, from whatever perspective one looks at it, the 7th House was a different kind of

House in many respects. What are the issues that defined the activities of this peculiar assembly?

subsidy regime under the chairmanship of Hon. Farouk Lawan. This pro-people spontaneous reaction by the House earned the lawmakers accolades from not a few Nigerians.

Probe and conflicts On January 1, 2012, the Federal Government announced the sudden removal of petroleum subsidy sparking off nationwide protests and demonstration. The House, which was on Christmas and New Year break, immediately reconvened on January 8, a Sunday, for a special emergency session to kick against the executive decision. It passed a resolution advising the executive to immediately rescind its decision and set up a probe panel to investigate the administration of petroleum

Hembe

Subsidy probe scandal The same decision taken by the House rooting for the reversal of oil subsidy that elevated the image of the lower chamber, almost came back to haunt it. The Farouk Lawan-led probe committee conducted one of the most celebrated investigations of all times in the history of the nation’s parliament and Nigerians followed it up judiciously as the entire exercise was beamed live on television. At the

Oteh

Politics 17

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015

Muhammadu Buhari on May 29. The position of the constitution amendment is now a subject of litigation at the Supreme Court.

Tambuwal after he was tear-gassed by the police before one of the plenary sessions.

end of the investigation, several companies and powerful individuals were indicted by the report of the ad hoc committee. But as the report was being applauded, a scandal broke out as oil magnate, Femi Otedola, accused Lawan of demanding and collecting a $620,000 bribe from him to clear his companies of any wrongdoing in the subsidy fraud. The allegations almost marred the report of the investigation as it cast doubt on its credibility. Lawan was consequently relieved of his position as chairman of the ad hoc committee as well as standing Committee of the House on Education. He was arraigned in court and is still being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over the matter. This scandal came at a time the House was still battling with N44 million bribery allegations levelled against the chairman of its Committee on Capital Market, Hon. Herman Hembe, by the then Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ms Arunma Oteh. Hembe was prosecuted by the EFCC alongside his deputy, Hon. Chris Azubogu, but were found to be innocent and were discharged and acquitted. This was a major achievement for the House in its fight against corruption. At the

Lawan

end of the Capital Market investigation, Oteh was indicted and the committee recommended her sack but President Goodluck Jonathan stood his ground and refused to send her packing. For two years, the House maintained a zero budgetary allocation for SEC, yet Jonathan was undeterred until the woman completed her tenure. Presidency/House conflicts The no love lost between the House and the Executive, which began on June 6, continue unabated. In its avowed stance against corruption, the House continued to probe into activities of the other arms of government and this set them against the executive. There were series of investigations carried out by the 7th Assembly. But as Tambuwal noted in his valedictory address, the 7th House operated almost scandal free as compared to the past Assemblies. Nevertheless, there were moments of apprehension and crisis. Notable amongst these cases was the investigation of the N223 million bullet proof cars purchased by the then Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah. Like in the case of Oteh, the House found Oduah culpable and advised the president to sack her. The probe that however broke the camelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s back was the investiga-

Otedola

In its four-year tenure, the 7th House presented close to 800 bills and passed almost 200

tion of the allegations of wastage of N10 billion on the charter of a private jet for family and official use by the then Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke. The minister refused to appear before the House and instead headed for the court to challenge the powers of the House to summon her. The issue remained unresolved until the 7th Assembly wound up. Jonathan also backed his minister against the House and queried the incessant invitation of ministers and chief executives of parastatals by the lawmakers. Constitution review The conflict between the presidency and the House extended to the constitution amendment. The House successfully conducted a review of the 1999 Constitution and was able to effect its alteration for the fourth time. The House transmitted its version to the Senate and met at a conference committee with the lower House and a clean copy was forwarded to President Jonathan for assent. But the process was truncated as Jonathan raised queries on some issues in the amendment and did not sign it until he handed over to President

Alison-Madueke

Takeover of Rivers Assembly The House in furtherance of its legislative oversight intervened in the volatile political situation in Rivers State. Acting in compliance with the constitutional provision, the House on July 9, 2013 passed a motion mandating the National Assembly to take over the legislative functions of the Rivers State House of Assembly. This resolution came on the heels of the volatile session of the state legislature 24 hours earlier, precisely on July 8, 2013. The Senate concurred on the resolution. It also investigated the grounding of the private jet belonging to the Rivers State government by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) engineered by the presidency as part of its plot to oust former Governor Rotimi Amaechi. The investigation also returned a no case verdict in favour of Amaechi to the chagrin of the PDP-led executive. Defections and its aftermath The political impasse between the presidency and the House degenerated further with the defection of 37 PDP lawmakers to the opposition APC in December 2013. This heightened the tension between the two parties as to whether the PDP or the APC controls the majority in the House. But this was just the beginning as members kept abandoning the ruling party climaxing with the defection of the Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, on October 28, 2014. Tambuwalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s defection opened a vista of political and official miscalculation by the Jonathan Presidency. For almost two years, Tambuwal was rumoured to be planning to dump the PDP but he kept Nigerian guessing until he eventually moved that fateful day. By leaving the majority PDP for APC, Tambuwal became the first minority speaker without an alliance to preside over the House. But as soon as Tambuwal defected, the PDP and the Presidency stepped up its fight to have him impeached or force him to step CONTINUED ON PAGE 20

MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Opinion Glamourising criminality Dominik Umosen

ntil opportunity permits a critical focus on the curious claim by a presidential spokesman that President Muhammadu Buhari preferred to operate from the Defence Building because the Aso Villa was ‘not fit for habitation’, we shall restrict ourselves to wild allegations hurled by the human rights watchdog, Amnesty International against the Nigerian military in its anti-insurgency campaign. Ordinarily, one would have demanded from the exuberant spokesman why the same facilities that satisfactorily hosted the previous occupant suddenly became unfit for habitation to drive change and integrity. Reluctantly, we divert focus to a familiar mischief which has suddenly been stepped up by Amnesty International (AI). In its provocative report alleging war crimes in the North-East released in Abuja, Amnesty International (AI) urged President Buhari to immediately investigate the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh; the Chief of Army Staff(COAS), Lieutenant-General Kenneth Minimah and their immediate predecessors, Admiral Ola Sa’ad Ibrahim (rtd) and Lieutenant-General Azubuike Ihejirika (rtd), respectively, for alleged war crimes. Even without proceeding further, it is patently obvious that AI is on a shameless campaign of blackmail and manipulation of hostile interest in the legitimate internal affairs of a sovereign nation. Thankfully, it is perfectly within the competence of the Nigerian military establishment to defend itself against deliberate provocation and pathetic manipulations designed to undermine the legitimate constitutional responsibili-

ties of the military. ‘Many of these killings appear to be reprisals following attacks by Boko Haram. A senior military official told Amnesty International that such killings were common. Soldiers go to the nearest place and kill all the youths. People killed may be innocent and not armed’, the jaundiced report alleged. It also alleged that ‘in a so-called mop up operation following Boko Haram attack in Baga in 2013, a senior military officer told AI how the military transferred their aggression on the community and at least, 105 people were killed. As I have said before in various fora in the past, including newspaper arguments, the organization should be wary of arrogating to itself the responsibility of defining what constitutes the legitimate responsibilities of institutions in a sovereign nation. Because of intoxicating indulgences like this overbearing attitude, many Nigerians are likely to believe that it came with a mischievous agenda, including a questionable desperation to win sympathy for criminals who abduct teenagers for sex and deploy innocent children as suicide bombers. I recall that AI also mounted a desperate campaign to blackmail security agents for ransacking an abandoned building in Abuja which, allegedly, doubled as hide-out for insurgents’ scouts, spurring some people to allege manipulation of its mandate to glamourise criminality. May be the organization is not aware but at the December lecture of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), the Israeli ambassador in Nigeria, Mr Uriel Parti , accused the Islamic Republic of Iran of sponsoring Islamic fundamentalism to destabilize Africa, using Boko Haram, Al-Shabab and other variants. If the man who read the provocative report in Abuja, on television, was Arabic, not Caucasian, it vindicates

the suggestion of a successful manipulation of reality to conform with the overall agenda to blackmail the military for successfully scuttling elaborate plans to destabilize the country. By subordinating the trauma of victims and pains aggregated from this extreme criminality to exaggerated allegations of abuse, which is a legitimate collateral risk in matters like these, Amnesty International has voluntarily subscribed to a reprehensible attempt to spit on the sovereignty of Nigeria. The charge of mischief appears strengthened by its hypocritical failure to find evidence of abuse in the European hammer slam against the Islamic State insurgents in Iraq and Syria. But every wild propaganda or desperate attempt to spit on the collective memory of victims of Boko Haram criminals must be condemned by Nigerians. Since Amnesty lost its tongue when the same criminals it is rooting for visited the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi, Adamawa State and hacked over 60 Christians to death, castigating those that drove the criminals out of town is neither a civilized nor charitable expression of gratitude. To what do we attribute its self-imposed muteness when the same randy criminals visited Federal Government College in Yobe and abducted female students? Thereafter, the criminals went to Chibok, Borno State and abducted over 200 girls, without a whimper from the organization. Regrettably, neither the anguish of victims nor the predicament of orphans from this criminality means any thing to AI in its desperation to blackmail the military which should insist on apology from this meddlesome sympathizer who wailed louder than the bereaved.

Wike: A new dawn in Rivers “Change is a law of life; those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” – John. F. Kennedy

Nwobodo Chidiebere

hange, by its definition, is dynamic and transitory-certainly apt in the fast evolving world. The nature of our world itself, along with its affairs and secular intricacies, necessitates change. Hence, change is given, a precept that is hardly avoidable. Inevitable as change is, it is sometimes difficult to come to grips with it or the circumstance that warrant it. Though human nature fights change, but it is indispensible and indestructible. The hurricane-like wind of change that swept across Nigeria’s political landscape, did not stop in Abuja—the nation’s seat of power, but in a speed of light, travelled down the garden city of Port Harcourt to sweep out every clog on the state’s wheel of progress that held the hitherto pride of Niger Delta region to a standstill of complacency and retrogression; for over two consecutive years. The catastrophic fall of the great walls of Jericho, erected by retrogressive elements led by ex-governor Amaechi, to thwart the inevitability of this change, attested to this irrefutable assertion that one million battalions of soldiers cannot abort an idea whose time has come. Irrespective of the grandstanding and mudslinging by former “Emperor of Rivers’ empire” in the person of Chibuike Amaechi to avert the much-awaited wind of

change and dews of hope from beckoning in Rivers, it finally came to be on May 29th, 2015 when Governor Nyesom Wike was sworn-in as Rivers State governor against all odds. Upon his swearing-in as the state Chief Executive, Governor Wike hit the grounding running by throwing open the judicial arm of government in the state, which was put under lock and key by the erstwhile governor, who ran the Garden City as a sole administrator. This singular act of the new governor which was made possible by the immediate appointment of a Chief Judge for the state while making his inaugural speech and the reopening of another arm of government—Legislative arm and subsequent election of Speaker and inauguration of the State Assembly marked a new dawn in Rivers state. Before now, Rivers lawyers and litigants whose careers and cases had suffered as a result of one man’s inordinate ambition left the state in search of greener pasture, litigants who could not wait for the wind of change resorted to jungle justice which claimed several lives and properties. The emergence of Nyesom Wike as governor came as a relief to the people of Rivers state who have suffered as a result of political provocations emanating from tyrannical tendencies of the immediate past administration in the state led by Amaechi, who went to the extreme to suspect his own shadow as one of his adversaries. It is still an irreconcilable fact, that a man, who became governor via judicial fiat, would treat this same ladder of judiciary that brought him to power

with some much disdain by ensuring the closure of the state courts for the past eighteen months, just to settle political scores with his perceived enemies. Apart from the unprecedented looting of Rivers resources--including plates and spoons in the Government’s kitchens, Rivers State under the watch of ex-governor Amaechi, degenerated into a state of lawlessness where being lawful became a crime. Taking a close look at the streets of Port Harcourt, it is now obvious that the Garden City is gradually returning to its beehive of activities, where peace of mind and tranquillity is now being taken for granted, unlike what obtained in the past where residents of the state became used to gun shots as if it were children playing with Christmas knockouts. Foreign and local investors have started toppling in to the state again to invest as a result of the friendly business environment which is being made possible by Wike’s few days in office. It is no longer news that Governor Nyesom Wike has recalled Lectures that were sacked by the past administration in the state, flagged off construction and rehabilitation of major roads in the state, and commenced the payment of backlog of salaries owed workers in the state by the previous regime. The million-dollar questions are: what kind of thoughts will be racing through ex-Governor Amaechi’s mind as he reflects on his volatile and crisis ridden second term in office? When the history book of Rivers State will be written, how will he be remembered? Will posterity be kind to him for crippling other two arms of gov-

ernment—Legislature and Judiciary? Will his name be engraved in gold in the heroic hall of fame or be written with ash in the fall of shame? The resources of Rivers people that was brazenly looted and squandered, lives and properties that were destroyed as a result of an individual’s primordial political ideology, is the gain of this illogical political battle ex-Governor Ameachi wagged against his people and conscience, commensurate to what he stand to achieve as a result of this, if any? Ten years or more from now, when the name of ex-Governor Amaechi will be mentioned, what will come to the mind of an average Rivers resident? These are the thought-provoking questions unseen forces of nature will be transmitting through the mind of Ameachi as he ponders on his days in office. As the celebration of peace and return of real governance in Rivers State continue, my candid advice for Governor Nyesom Wike, is for him to avoid any action or inaction that will be motivated by vendetta and vengeance, to enable him concentrate on the myriad of challenges plaguing the Treasure Base of the nation as a result of the ill-conceived decisions taken by the previous administration. Even the activities of the election petition tribunal setting in the state, should not serve as a distraction to him because Rivers people passed vote of confidence on him during the governorship election, and are ready to repeat it again, even if governorship election will be conducted a thousand times in the state. •Chidiebere (chidieberenwobodo@yahoo.com) wrote in from Abuja.

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015

EDITORIAL

Our VISION To build a newspaper organisation anchored on the sanctity of truth.

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

A media partner of

Sanctity of Truth

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

Nigeria’s most authoritative newspaper in politics and business

Another death in police custody

ith the emergence of the Muhammadu Buhari presidency, another opportunity is in the air to get things done properly. Curiously, the ruling All Progressives Congress[APC], stole the hearts of compatriots with its change slogan. The new wind blowing across the nation is not just exclusive to the President and his team, it is for the good of all citizens. The Nigeria Police Force must come to terms with the fact that yesterday is gone, the days of treating fellow Nigerians as animals should be over. The police must wake up, the force must grow up as well. The uniform does not give policemen power of life and death over those they are supposed to protect. Last week, Gbenga Omolo, 70, was sent to the grave by policemen attached to the Special Anti Robbery squad [SARS], in Akure, Ondo state. The senior citizen did not die because he was involved in highway robbery. His offence was not even an offence at all. He challenged a motorist, for obstructing traffic around the Arakale market area. Unknown to Omolu, the man he dared was a police officer. And for being so bold to challenge a disorderly driver, he got the beating of his life. The rabid policeman was not done. The following day, men of the SARS stormed Amudipe street, Akure, arresting people indiscriminately until they found their target working on his car tyre. He was arrested and taken to the station. Members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, rallied round to save one of their own. According to reports, they

On May 27, 2013 Ibrahim Momodu, a final year student of the University of Benin, was allegedly shot dead by the DPO of Ogida police station, Benin

were asked to pay 150,000 Naira before their member could be released. The union was able to raise 100,000 Naira. By the time they rushed back for further negotiations, they found him dead, in police custody. Omolo was tortured to death, by the heartless cops. It is common in police cells, to subject suspects to all forms of inhuman treatment. For the males, in order to extract information ,or confession, a nail could be pierced right through the mouth of their private parts. The more the pains for the unlucky and most times innocent suspects, the more joy the beasts in uniform derive from the gruesome act. Female suspects are used as sex toys. They are raped by male and female officers, even when some of them are in various stages of pregnancy. Some of the ladies are promised freedom in return for sex, which they

eventually do not get, after being violated. There are slangs commonly used by the police in this heinous crime. When a suspect dies while in detention, the relations do not get to know. They will just be informed that the suspect has been transferred to Abuja, if the police station is outside the Federal capital territory. In Lagos , there are allegations that suspects are shot and their bodies thrown into the lagoon. Going to the police station sounds like death sentence. A young man could be accused of stealing a cell phone in the morning and dragged to the police. In the next one hour or two ,he becomes a dead body, Tortured to death. There was the case of a man who was detained in Cross River state for a bailable offence. Within the twinkle of an eye, his body had been deposited in the anatomy department of a tertiary institution. Police brutality and extra judicial killings have gone ahead for so long a time apparently because the men in black believe they are above the law. In June 2005, the world was stunned to hear how five young Nigerian men and a lady, Augusta Arebu, were executed, simply because Ibrahim Danjuma, an Assistant Commissioner of Police[ACP],could not have his way with the female student. The traders were labelled as armed robbers. Known as the Apo Six, nothing came out of the investigations. Danjuma was released by an Abuja court in 2006, and till date, the Divisional Police Officer for Garki Police station ,Abuja where the murder occurred, Othman Abdusalam, has not been arrested,

after escaping from custody. On May 27, 2013 Ibrahim Momodu, a final year student of the University of Benin, was allegedly shot dead by the DPO of Ogida police station, Benin, Mrs Carol Afegba. The police claimed he attempted to open fire first. However, autopsy reports indicated that the undergraduate was shot from the back, with a bullet piercing his heart. Police lawlessness has also attracted the attention of Amnesty International severally. In their 2008 report, it was clearly stated that,” the Nigeria police is responsible for hundreds of unlawful killings every year. Police do not only kill people by shooting them, they also torture them to death, often while they are in detention. The majority of the cases go uninvestigated and the police officers responsible, go unpunished. The families of the victims usually get no justice or redress. Most never found out what happened to their loved ones.” President Buhari, must as a matter of national emergency, carry out reforms in the police. He has to begin with recruitment and training. It is possible, like one former leader once said, that there are so many criminals in the police force, people who had slept in police cells as armed robbers eventually could have found themselves in the same force. Omolo must not die in vain. If his passage will lead to the much expected reforms and corollary change, so be it. Police cells should not be turned to gallows, policemen must also not be law enforcers and undertakers, at the same time.

DAILY TELEGRAPH PUBLISHING COMPANY LIMITED Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief

Funke Egbemode

Editor n Yemi Ajayi

Managing Editor n Suleiman Uba Gaya

Editor, Saturday n Laurence Ani

Editor, Sunday n Emeka Madunagu

Deputy Editor n Emeka Obasi

Deputy Editor n Ayodele Ojo

General Editor n Iyobosa Uwugiaren Bureau Chief, Brussels n Leo Cendrowicz

Bureau Chief, Washington DC n Marshall Comins

Editorial Coordinator, Europe n Sam Amsterdam

News Editor n Geoffrey Ekenna

Bureau Chief, Abuja n Onwuka Nzeshi

Business Development Manager n Taiwo Ahmed

Sales/Circulation Manager n Oyebanji Abiodun

Head, Graphics n Timothy Akinleye

Head, Admin. n Robinson Ezeh

Politics

MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Tambuwal’s House and the eventful years CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17

aside. The then Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba, became a willing tool in the hands of the government and was used to antagonise the speaker and the House. The IG withdrew all the security details attached to the speaker and worked in cahoots with the executive to remove Tambuwal from office. Tambuwal was forced to resort to the courts. The IG refused to recognise Tambuwal as speaker of the House. The speaker had no security until a few weeks to the general elections that

both the Department of State service (DSS) and the police reinstated his security. Of course, the defections in the House created some moments of disquiet in the lower chamber as there were times, the APC attempted to dethrone the PDP principal officers. At some point, it was unclear as to which party was in the majority. Police invasion of NASS The police under the leadership of Abba prompted by the presidency trampled upon democracy when on November 20, 2014 it invaded

the National Assembly in a commando style to arrest Tambuwal and pave way for his impeachment. The House, which had been on recess since after the defection of Tambuwal had recalled its members to consider the request for extension of emergency rule in the North-East geo-political zone on November 20. As early as 6a.m., men of the police and DSS barricaded all the entrances to the National Assembly. Their target was however Tambuwal and his supporters. While the deputy speaker, Ihedioha, was allowed unfettered access

to the chambers, Tambuwal was refused entry as the police led by the FCT Commissioner of Police feigned ignorance of who Tambuwal was and asked him to identify himself. Whereas Ihedioha was comfortably seated in the chambers preparatory to the planned impeachment of Tambuwal, the speaker was subjected to humiliation and harassment by security men. Tambuwal’s supporters, particularly those from the APC, led by Minority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, had to scale the gate and forced the speaker into the House chambers

to conduct the business of the day. The police reacted by firing canisters of tear gas at the lawmakers even at the lobby of the parliament. Although, this action by the lawmakers was condemned by some Nigerians, they defended themselves, saying “they climbed the fence in order to save democracy.” Without that action, Tambuwal would not have had access to the chambers and he may have been impeached even if they were only 10 members on the floor. The situation degenerated to a level that the IG even refused to recognise

Tambuwal as speaker of the House but preferred to refer to him as “one Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal”. At an investigation set up by the House to ascertain the causes of the invasion, Abba in the full glare of cameras bluntly refused to accord the speaker his due recognition forcing the ad hoc committee to dismiss the IG and called off the investigation. The police invasion of the National Assembly almost marred the cordial relationship that existed between the two chambers. Senate President David Mark was almost harassed by members of the House who felt he was working in concert with the PDP and Jonathan to impeach Tambuwal. Passage of PIB In its four-year tenure, the 7th House presented close to 800 bills and passed almost 200. But its passage of the controversial Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) on its last plenary last Thursday, June 4 was the turning point in the activities of the 7th Assembly. Although, the passage of the bill was belated, the House was able to make a mark in its legislative journey considering the obstacles and challenges faced by the PIB. It took the House ad hoc committee on the PIB led by former chief whip, Hon. Ishaku Bawa, almost three years to submit its report and the consideration of the report was marked by high wire politics and intrigues. By passing the PIB, the House took the shine off the Senate that could not make any head way with the bill. Tambuwal’s resignation Another peculiar aspect of the 7th House was the resignation of Tambuwal as speaker on May 26. Having been elected as governor of Sokoto State and billed to take his oath of office on May 29, the House organised a valedictory session for him, where he officially stepped down as speaker while power was transmitted to his deputy, Ihedioha, in acting capacity. This was novel in the history of the parliament because the House Rules only provide for a speaker pro tempore who holds the position for not more than 48 hours. But due to the unity that existed amongst the lawmakers and the shortness of time left, they decided to suspend their rules and raised the deputy speaker to acting capacity.

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015

Nigeria’s political transition fuels investor interest in Africa – Diamond

Portland Paints: Mulling capital raise to improve returns

Stock Watch

Insurance

AGF reiterates importance of retirement benefits

‘Local Internet connects key to economic devt’

42-43

Money Line

Interview

Business What's news

Nigeria imports N1.15trn rice in five years –Investigation Nigeria and four other countries will import more rice between this year and 2016, New Telegraph has learnt.

p.22

Expert seeks probe of N1.2rn aviation revenue Despite the Internally Generated Revenues (IGRs) and the government intervention funds in the sector, there is a discontent that there have been no appreciable returns in quantity of infrastructure in the sector.

p.22

The Business Desk Ayodele Aminu

Deputy Editor (Business)

Bayo Akomolafe

Asst. Editor (Maritime)

Sunday Ojeme

Asst. Editor (Insurance)

Tony Chukwunyem

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

L-R: National President, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Chief Obasi Lawrence; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Mr. Taiye Haruna; Executive Secretary, Major Oil Marketers’ Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Mr. Obafemi Olawore and representative of the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Dr. David Ige, at a stakeholders meeting tagged: "Petrol Queues Must Go," aimed at addressing the current petrol scarcity, in Abuja

PURCHASE Indonesia's Pertamina issued a tender to buy two cargoes of Qua Iboe from Shell and a a cargo of Escravos from Chevron for August delivery

Adeola Yusuf

force majeure on 400,000 barrels per day capacity Forcados crude declared last month was still in effect, Shell said at the weekend. This development threatens the Federal Government’s projection of 2.3 million barrels per day output in May. Force Majuere is a contractual term, which means that Shell may not meet its contractual obligations to its customers on the Forcados exports. The oil multinational will not say how much oil is not being exported, though Forcados

Finance Editor

Kunle Azeez

Senior Correspondent

Chuks Onuanyin Energy

Nnamdi Amadi Reporter

Johnson Adebayo

Asst Production Editor

FG’s 2.3m bpd output target endangered  As Shell’s force majeure persists is one of the country's biggest terminals with capacity to export 400,000 barrels a day — over one fifth of Nigeria's estimated daily production of 2.3 million barrels. Reuters reported that Shell has yet to lift the force majeure, which it declared last month, explaining that the reasons for the declaration of the force majeure are still in place. Oil thieves and saboteurs have attacked the forcados pipeline on several occasions. Government estimates oil thefts averaged 300,000 barrels a day in 2013 and, along with losses during repairs, cost the

country $12 billion last year, manager of Shell's Ogoni Restoration Project, Austin Igbuku, told Delta State government and community leaders last year. On one occasion, Shell said it closed the Forcados terminal in Delta State on March 4 to repair a leak caused by a "crude theft point" on a pipeline eight meters (26 feet) below sea level. It

$12bn Estimated value of oil thefts and losses incurred during repairs last year

is believed to be the first report of oil equipment sabotaged out at sea. "Such an underwater operation does not come easy to us in the industry, but some criminals were able to install a theft point without detection. Investigations are ongoing to understand how this was done," Igbuku told stakeholders. Meanwhile, the bearish sale continued at the weekend for Nigeria’s crude grades with more than half of July's 54 cargoes still unsold while roughly 15-20 June-loading Nigerian carCONTINUED ON PAGE 22

Rates Dashboard INFLATION RATE April 2015................................8.7% March 2015.............................8.5% February 2015.........................8.4%

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

EXCHANGE RATE

(BDC as at Jun 5)

(Interbank as at Jun 5)

USD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N218 Pounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N330 Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N240

l Foreign Reserves – $29.343bn as at 4/06/2015

Source: CBN

USD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N199 Pounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N308 Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N228

Business | News

SOARING Global rice trade to rise to 42.5m metric tons in 2016 Bayo Akomolafe

igeria and four other countries will import more rice between this year and 2016, New Telegraph has learnt. Nigeria imported some 14.7 million metric tons of milled rice valued at N1.15 trillion ($5,768,400,000) in the last five years. This year alone, Nigeria is projected to take delivery of 3,500,000 million metric tons. The current global price per ton is $392.41. According to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation

MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

Nigeria imports N1.15trn rice in five years –Investigation (FAO), there is a renewed demand by the traditional large importers - Nigeria, Bangladeshi, China, the Philippines and Cote d’ Ivoire. FAO anticipates an average per capital rice consumption in 2015-16 to around 57 kilogrammes. In 2010, Nigeria took delivery of 2,400,000 million tons of milled rice

from Asian countries and America; 2011 - 3,200,000 million tons; 2012, 2,800,000 million tons; 2013 - 2,800,000 million tons and 2014 - 3,500,000. Also, FAO has forecast 2015-16 global milled rice productions at around 500.5 million tons, a rise of 1.3 per cent from an estimated 484.2 million

tons in 2014-15. The May 2015 forecast was 500.1 million tons. FAO attributed the increase in global rice production to more buoyant prospect in China, Nigeria and other West African nations. It expects large production from Thailand. The FAO had put 2015-

16 global rice utilisation at 508.6 million tons, up by 1.8 per cent, from an estimated 499.7 million tons in 2014-15. It estimates the 2015-16 global stocks at around 168.8 million tons, down by about 4.5 per cent, from an estimated 181 million tons last year and slightly down from

last month’s forecast of around 168.2 million tons. The UN agency expects most of the decline in India, Thailand Bangladeshi, Myanmar and Indonesia. FAO estimates 2016 global rice trade at around 42.5 million tons, up by about 2.4 per cent from an estimate of 41.5 million tons in 2015 and slightly up from last month’s forecast of around 42.4 million tons.

FG’s 2.3m bpd output target endangered CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21

goes still available. A trader sold a cargo of Antan crude to Europe, but further details were unavailable. He, however, said that Angola’s Sonangol sold another cargo of Pazflor, but neither the buyer nor premium was immediately clear. “Of the primary grades, only Cabinda had sold out for July-loading,” he said, adding that fewer “than 20 cargoes are still for sale for July loading.” Indonesia's Pertamina issued a tender to buy crude oil for August delivery, Reuters added. The news agency noted: “In its tender for July crude, it took two cargoes of Qua Iboe from Shell as well as a cargo of Escravos from Chevron.” It would be recalled that Nigeria had continued to suffer in the escalating duel between the United States and Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Country (OPEC) oil production. The West African nation has lost business in its main market in the US and struggled to gain footholds elsewhere, raising a question for OPEC over whether its decision to fight for market share may have left behind more vulnerable members. In the midst of this trouble, Deutsche Bank has said that Nigeria needs oil prices at $87.90 to balance its budget, a level most oil analysts don't see happening soon. Stubbornly low prices CONTINUED ON PAGE 36

L-R: Head, Global Transaction Banking, Trade Finance-Financial Institutions, Africa and Western Europe, Deutsche Bank, Mr. Ulf-Peter Noetzel; Deputy Country Head, Deutsche Bank AG, Nigeria, Mrs Adeola Azeez; Head, Sales, Transactional Products and Services, West Africa, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Mr. Inwang Akpan and Head of Trade Finance, UK, Global Transaction Banking, Deutsche Bank, Mr. Russell Brown, at the presentation of Gold award to Stanbic IBTC Bank Nigeria at the Deutsche Bank 2014 US Dollar Straight Through Processing excellence award in Lagos.

ABSURD The remodeling projects are not commensurate with the enormous revenue generated

Wole Shadare

espite the Internally Generated Revenues (IGRs) and the government intervention funds in the sector, there is a discontent that there have been no appreciable returns in quantity of infrastructure in the sector. Chief Executive Officer, Centurion Aviation Consultancy, Group Captain John Ojikutu (rtd), disclosed this to New Telegraph at the weekend. He said that a critical examination of the IGR of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) from 2011 at an annual growth rate of six per cent, shows that the agency alone could be generating over N160 billion revenue annually from its 24 airports. Ojikutu noted that the abandoned remodelling projects and those already completed

Expert seeks probe of N1.2rn aviation revenue are not commensurate with the enormous revenue generated by the sector. He said that it would be interesting to know how much revenue is generated annually by the various agencies under the ministry of aviation and how much is owed the public operators by the private operators in the sector. The expert listed some of the sources of IGR as five per cent on ticket sales and outbound passengers/airport service charge on over 15 million passengers at $50 from each outbound international passenger and N1000 on each domestic passenger; the landing and parking charges on about 250,000 air traffic per day; sales charges and about 300,000 tons of cargo freight; air navigational and air traffic control charges on 400,000 air traffic and overflying movement. Others are royalties on the imbalance of over 50 Bilateral Air Services Agreements

(BASA) and on commercial right agreements; charges on over one trillion litres of fuel sales and the revenue on car parks and toll gate concession, rent, offices and land charges, among others, at over 24 airports. Others include aircraft landing and parking with average charges of between $400 on smaller aircraft and $3,000 on bigger ones from over 250 air traffic yearly. Also included are cargo service charges of about N7 per kg on cargo; N2,000 on courier parcels from about 200 million kilogrammes cargo and mails; charges on fuel sales, charges of 40 kobo per litre on about four million litres daily sales amounting to 1.5 trillion litres sales yearly. Other sources of revenue, according to the aviation consultant, land/office rents and charges from concessionaires and major tenants, including airlines and other private op-

erators. He said that given the 2011 statistic data and these sources of revenue, the recent media report that FAAN now wants to boost its revenue by 17 per cent through automation and increasing it up to N70 billion cannot be correct. Consequently, he said: "The automation regime as being conceived by FAAN will not make any significant improvement in the IGR if it would remain below N100 billion. “Secondly, there was a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Aviation Intervention Fund through the Bank of Industry (BIO) of about N232 billion for airlines to pay debts they owed commercial banks and aviation services providers including FAAN. The former Commandant, Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, conservatively put the total revenue that accrued to the agencies to over N1.2 trillion in the past three years

INTERNATIONAL WEEKLY

In collaboration with

Sanctity of Truth

Latin America Balks at U.S. War on Drugs By WILLIAM NEUMAN and SIMON ROMERO

BOGOTÁ, Colombia — Colombia just discarded a cornerstone of the American-backed fight against drugs, blocking the aerial spraying of coca, the plant used to make cocaine. Bolivia kicked out the United States Drug Enforcement Administration years ago and allows farmers to grow small amounts of the crop. Chile, long one of Latin America’s most socially conservative countries, is gathering its first

medical marijuana harvest. Across the Americas, governments are increasingly resisting the tenets of the United Statesled approach to fighting drugs, challenging strategies like prohibition, the eradication of crops and a militarized stance to battling growers. “For the first time in 40 years, there is significant pushback from Latin American countries, which endured much of the drug war’s suffering,” said Paul Gootenberg, a historian on Latin America.

In many ways, the resistance reflects the declining influence of the United States in Latin America and a sweeping sense that its methods to fight drugs in the region have failed. “If you use the same tools for 50 years and the problem isn’t solved, something is not working right,” said Yesid Reyes, the justice minister in Colombia. The shift comes at a time of changing attitudes and concerns in the United States as well. Political figures in countries

like Uruguay, which is cautiously regulating its legal marijuana industry, are looking at American states like Colorado and Washington that have legalized the sale of recreational marijuana. Officials from Uruguay even insist that their controls are more stringent in some ways than Colorado’s. The reasons Latin American countries are calling for an overhaul of drug policies vary from country to country, but they largely involve attempts

to diminish the bloodshed from the drug trade and relieve prison systems strained by surging inmate populations. Latin America’s emergence as a major drug market — Brazil now ranks among the world’s largest cocaine  consumers — is also influencing the debate. “The cost in blood and treasure from the drug war has been overwhelming,” said Bruce M. Bagley, a specialist on the

Continued on Page 26

Defeating Drought In Israel By ISABEL KERSHNER

JERUSALEM — At the peak of the drought, Shabi Zvieli, an Israeli gardener, feared for his livelihood. A hefty tax was placed on excessive household water consumption. Many of Mr. Zvieli’s clients went over to synthetic grass and swapped their seasonal blooms for hardy, indigenous plants. “I worried about where gardening was going,” said Mr. Zvieli, 56. Across the country, Israelis were told to cut their shower time by two minutes. Washing cars with hoses was outlawed, and those few wealthy enough to absorb the cost of maintaining a lawn were permitted to water it only at night. “We were in a situation where we were very, very close to someone opening a tap somewhere in the country and no water would come out,” said Uri Schor, the spokesman for the government’s Water Authority. That was about six years ago. Today, there is plenty of water in Israel. “The fear has gone,” said Mr. Zvieli. A revolution has taken place in Israel. A major national effort to desalinate Mediterranean seawater and to recycle wastewater has provided the country with enough water for all its needs, even during severe droughts. More than 50 percent of the water for Israeli households, agriculture and industry is now artificially produced. “Now there is no problem of water,” said Shaul Ben-Dov, an agronomist at Ramat Rachel. “The price is higher, but we can live a normal life in a country that is half desert.”

INTELLIGENCE

Echoes of Mao when Chinese talk. PAGE 24

URIEL SINAI FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

A hotel pool in the Negev desert, filled with water delivered from a replenished Sea of Galilee in the north. With its pa rt-Mediterra nea n, part-desert climate, Israel had suffered from chronic shortages and exploitation of its natural water resources for decades. The natural fresh water at Israel’s disposal in an average year does not cover its total use of about two trillion liters. The demand for potable water is projected to rise to 1.95 trillion liters by 2030, from 1.2 trillion this year. The turnaround came with a seven-year drought that began in 2005 and peaked in the winter of 2008 to 2009. The country’s main natural water sources —

WORLD TRENDS

A tourist spot’s ties to Wahhabism. PAGE 28

the Sea of Galilee in the north and the mountain and coastal aquifers — were severely depleted, threatening an irreversible deterioration of the water quality. Measures to increase the supply and reduce the demand were accelerated, overseen by the Water Authority, a new agency. Four major, privately owned desalination plants went into operation over the past decade. A fifth one should be ready in months. They will produce more than 492 billion liters of potable water a year, with a goal of 757 billion liters by 2020.

MONEY & BUSINESS

Overhead view of fields aids farmers. PAGE 29

Israel has, in the meantime, become the world leader in recycling wastewater for agriculture. It treats 86 percent of its domestic wastewater and recycles it for agricultural use — about 55 percent of the total water used for agriculture. Spain is second to Israel, recycling 17 percent of its effluent, according to Water Authority data. Before the establishment of the Water Authority, various ministries were responsible for different aspects of the water issue, each with its own interests

Continued on Page 26

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Retracing a continental crash. PAGE 32

THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL WEEKLY

Sanctity of Truth

MONDAY, JUNE 8, 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

U.S. Pushes Back In South China Sea The United States has good reason to push back more forcefully against China’s grab for power in the South China Sea, as Defense Secretary Ashton Carter did on a recent trip to Asia. Beijing has repeatedly ignored earlier warnings to moderate the aggressive behavior that is unsettling its regional neighbors and further undermining its relations with the United States. On May 29, American officials disclosed that China had installed two mobile artillery vehicles on an artificial island it is building in the sea, which is rich in natural resources like oil and gas and where China clearly hopes to establish some form of

hegemony. The weapons are not considered a threat to American naval forces. Still, they reinforce fears that China intends to militarize the Spratly Islands, a collection of reefs and rocks also claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Taiwan, and use them to control the waterway’s shipping lanes and dominate its smaller neighbors. China’s ambitions have become increasingly clear since 2012 when it publicly asserted a claim to 80 percent of the South China Sea. In recent months, photographic evidence from commercial satellites and American spy planes has left little doubt

that China is moving with alarming speed to turn the Spratlys into more substantial land masses, complete with runways and harbors. Some American officials now believe China regards its claims in the South China Sea as nonnegotiable. If so, that’s terrible news for the region but also ultimately for China, which claims it prizes stability but will find it impossible to realize its economic goals if Asia is in constant tension. China’s bullying on the South China Sea has already caused many Asian countries to forge closer defense ties with the United States. Now the Obama administra-

tion has decided to more firmly underscore America’s intention to remain a Pacific power and to ensure that the region and its waters remain accessible to all nations. That is a role the United States has played constructively for decades, promoting a stability that has allowed Japan, South Korea and other countries, including China, to develop. “There should be no mistake: The United States will fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows, as forces do around the world,” Mr. Carter said in his speech. He also called for “an immediate and lasting halt to land reclamation by all claimants.”

Although the administration would prefer a peaceful resolution of all South China Sea disputes, it cannot allow China’s claims to go unchallenged. It sent a surveillance plane close to one of China’s artificial islands, is considering air and sea patrols that could go closer to disputed reefs and shoals, and is expanding military exercises with regional partners. President Barack Obama and President Xi Jinping of China plan to meet later this year. In the meantime, American officials and their Chinese counterparts must avoid any miscalculation that could lead to a direct confrontation.

INTELLIGENCE/MURONG XUECUN

Decades of Communist Party blather have washed through a mighty propaganda machine straight into people’s minds in China, some say. A Chinese government propaganda billboard with the words ‘‘China dream, is my dream’’ near a construction site in Beijing.

Corrupting The Chinese Language Hong Kong On a recent walk along a street in the southern Chinese city of Sanya, I heard a shop pumping out a rock version of the famous Communist Party anthem “Socialism Is Good.” Although I loathe this song, as the music became louder, I still found myself singing along under my breath. “The reactionaries toppled / Imperialists flee with their tails between their legs. ... The Communist Party is good / The Communist Party is good / The Communist Party is a good leader of the people.” For decades, Communist Party songs like this one have been ringing in Chinese people’s ears. For many people, myself included, these songs formed the soundtrack to our youth. Even today, though the party has become Communist in name only, they still flood the airwaves. It’s difficult to overestimate the extent of their influence not only on the Chinese spirit, but on the Chinese language itself. More than 60 years of Communist hate education, inane propaganda and the comprehensive Murong Xuecun is a novelist and blogger and the author of “Leave Me Alone: A Novel of Chengdu.” This article was translated by The New York Times from Chinese. Send comments to intelligence@nytimes.com.

destruction of classical civilization have spawned a new style of speaking and writing. The Chinese language has become brutalized — and the Communist Party is largely to blame. It’s not only government proclamations that clank with harsh cadences and revolutionary fervor, but also literary and scholarly works, and most disturbing, private speech. The default lingo of high party officials includes banal aphorisms like, “to be turned into iron, the metal must be strong.” Official proclamations and the nightly newscasts speak of “social harmony” and the “Chinese spirit.” In addition to promoting the “China Dream” and a strong work ethic, President Xi Jinping is known for uttering lines like, “Never allow eating the Communist Party’s food and then smashing the Communist Party’s cooking pots.” The government’s propaganda and education machinery moved past the revolutionary bloodthirsty bitterness. Our textbooks are litanies of brutal heroic deeds: “Stop a gun with your chest, hold a bomb in your hands, lie on a fire without moving, until you burn to death.” Nearly every Chinese child still wears a red scarf, “dyed with martyr’s blood,” and many grow up singing the young pioneers’ songs: “Always prepared, to perform no-

INTERNATIONAL WEEKLY NANCY LEE Executive editor TOM BRADY Editor ALAN MATTINGLY Managing editor The New York Times International Weekly 620 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10018

EDITORIAL INQUIRIES: nytweekly@nytimes.com SALES AND ADVERTISING INQUIRIES: nytweeklysales@nytimes.com

ANDY WONG/ASSOCIATED PRESS

ble feats, to wipe out our enemy.” Decades of this party blather have washed through a mighty propaganda machine straight into people’s minds and into the Chinese vernacular. In recent years, I have even heard many friends, some dissidents, using the language of our propagandists, and not ironically. Two years ago, in a small town in central Shanxi Province, I overheard two old farmers debating whether a bowl of rice or a steamed bun was more satisfying. As the argument became more heated, one farmer accused the other, without irony, of being a “metaphysicist.” Mao was skeptical of metaphysics and thus it became a dubious concept, used in Chinese propaganda as a pejorative term. It’s fair to assume these two farmers didn’t know much about metaphysics, yet they were using the term as an insult, straight out of the party lexicon. Other phrases like “idealist” and “petit bourgeois sentimentalist” have become everyday terms of abuse, even when those who use them clearly have no real idea what they mean. Revolutionary language is ubiquitous among normal Chinese people. We commonly refer

to economic sectors like industry and agriculture as “battle fronts.” Continuing to work while sick is likened to “the wounded not leaving the front line.” Many big enterprises talk about their marketing teams as “armies” or “troops,” and their sales territories as “battle zones.” The literary scholar Perry Link and others have called this “Mao language.” In a 2012 essay on ChinaFile, the Asia Society’s website, Mr. Link wrote that such talk is “much more freighted with military metaphors and political biases than most.” In that same article, he gave some pointed examples of how Mao language has seeped into everyday usage: “At the ends of banquets, even today, mainland Chinese sometimes urge their friends to xiaomie [annihilate] the leftovers; a mother on a bus, the last time I was in Beijing, answered her little boy, who said, “Ma, I really need to pee!” by saying, “Jianchi! [Be resolute!] Uncle bus driver can’t stop here.” In his 1942 Yan’an speech exhorting authors and artists to “serve the people,” Mao called for writers to use language people can understand. Even in essays he wrote before the Communist Party took power, Mao rebuked

the use of “shady” words that “the masses” wouldn’t understand. In direct response to Mao’s dictates, the party promoted “the people’s language” — a plain and easy- to-understand style. The Communist Party’s dumbing down of our language was a deliberate effort to debase public discourse. In this atmosphere, words lose real meaning. The party can then use words to obfuscate and lie. High party officials talk about building a socialist state under the “rule of law,” but when they use the phrase, they mean that the party uses the law to rule the people. This use of language to obscure and confuse serves a clear objective: to conceal the reality of China’s lack of democracy and to pretend that democracy exists. I can’t claim to have the answer for how to resist the party’s use of language. Nor do I know how to stop it from seeping into our vernacular. Even someone like me, a writer who is acutely aware of how the party tries to manipulate us, can’t avoid humming party songs from time to time. My big fear is best summed up by George Orwell, who wrote, “If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.”

THE NEW YORK TIMES IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN THE FOLLOWING NEWSPAPERS: CLARÍN, ARGENTINA n DER STANDARD, AUSTRIA n LA RAZÓN, BOLIVIA n FOLHA, GAZETA DO POVO AND JORNAL O POVO, BRAZIL n GUELPH MERCURY, THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR, TORONTO STAR AND WATERLOO REGION RECORD, CANADA n LA SEGUNDA, CHILE n EL ESPECTADOR, COLOMBIA n LISTIN DIARIO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC n SÜDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG, GERMANY n PRENSA LIBRE, GUATEMALA n LA REPUBBLICA, ITALY n ASAHI SHIMBUN, JAPAN n DIARIO DE YUCATÁN, EL NORTE, EXPRESO, NOVEDADES DE TABASCO, REFORMA AND SÍNTESIS, MEXICO n EL DIARIO, MEXICO AND UNITED STATES n EL NUEVO DIARIO, NICARAGUA n NEW TELEGRAPH, NIGERIA n CORREO, PERU n MANILA BULLETIN, PHILIPPINES n TODAY, SINGAPORE n EL PAÍS, SPAIN n UNITED DAILY NEWS, TAIWAN n THE OBSERVER, UNITED KINGDOM n THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS AND U-T SAN DIEGO, UNITED STATES

MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015

THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL WEEKLY

Sanctity of Truth

WORLD TRENDS NEWS ANALYSIS

Keeping Peace, Accused of Abuse By SOMINI SENGUPTA

ment is sending the troops back to their home countries and barring them from serving in future missions. The audit, carried out by the Office of Internal Oversight, found that despite the United Nations’ promise of zero tolerance of sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers, effective enforcement “is hindered by a complex architecture, prolonged delays, unknown and varying outcomes and severely deficient assistance.” United Nations officials point to signs of improvement. Allegations of sexual abuse against peacekeepers have declined, they say, though they concede that underreporting is a problem. And they argue that troop-contributing countries are getting better at pursuing accountability and telling the United Nations about it. Sexual abuse by peacekeepers plagues more than United Nations missions. Human Rights Watch compiled a report on rape and sexual exploitation by African Union troops in Somalia in 2012 and 2013. The African Union investigated the allegations, promising zero tolerance, but it said it could not substantiate the majority of cases because the accused soldiers had been sent home. In the Central African Republic case, French and United Nations officials have blamed each other for delays in the investigation. According to the ERIC FEFERBERG/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES Boys in the Central African Republic have children’s testimonies, the suspected accused French peacekeepers of sexual abuse began in abuse, but no one has been charged. December 2013. In May 2014, the troops in Bangui — it is up to the United Nations human rights soldiers’ countries to investigate office appointed an employee in and prosecute such cases. The Bangui to interview children. United Nations has no legal auBy mid-July, the report was sent up the United Nations hierthority to prosecute or punish a country’s soldiers. archy to a director of field operFrance has announced an ations, who said he told his boss official investigation into the of the findings and then gave the accusations against its troops. report to French diplomats in But in many instances, some Geneva. countries do not respond to Not until March 28 did the queries from United Nations United Nations send an official headquarters about how — or copy of its Bangui inquiry to the whether — they investigate their government of France. soldiers abroad, according to a In March, Secretary General recent internal audit obtained Ban Ki-moon recommended by The New York Times. When speedier investigations, a fund countries do punish their troops, to assist victims and the naming the sanctions vary widely. and shaming of those countries The audit found that of all the that do not disclose how they sexual abuse allegations lodged investigate and prosecute their against United Nations persontroops. “Zero tolerance,” for sexual nel, both military and civilian, abuse, he said in a report to the between 2008 and 2013, roughly General Assembly, must mean one-third involved children. working with governments Yet there is a long list of ob“to ensure violators are held stacles to holding perpetrators responsible through financial, responsible, the audit found: disciplinary and/or criminal acInvestigations are mired in bureaucracy; commanders are countability measures.” not held accountable for what Two months later, the story of happens in their ranks; and the French soldiers in the Central most common form of punishAfrican Republic came out. UNITED NATIONS — “Petit, viens,” — little boy, come here — a French soldier called out at a checkpoint in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic. For five months, an unknown number of people in the French forces, sent to protect civilians from the violence tearing the country apart, forced boys to perform oral sex on them, according to testimonies collected by the United Nations. The boys, ages 9 to 15, said they had sometimes been lured with the promise of military rations. Nearly a year after the allegations came to light, no one has been charged, let alone punished. The allegations and the aftermath have highlighted an abiding problem of international peacekeeping: How can foreign forces be held accountable when those who are sent to protect civilians in war zones end up hurting them instead? Whether peacekeepers serve the United Nations or are under their own national commanders — as in the case of the French

PHOTOGRAPHS BY SERGEY PONOMAREV FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Asian Migrants’ Nightmare Persists By CHRIS BUCKLEY and AUSTIN RAMZY

GELUGOR, Malaysia — The more than 3,000 migrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar who have landed in Indonesia and Malaysia ended weeks of a nightmare at sea only to fall into an administrative limbo that could last years, even decades. Malaysia and Indonesia have agreed to shelter the migrants, and thousands more who may still be at sea, on the condition that they be returned home or resettled in third countries within a year. But few countries seem willing to accept the migrants, even the ones who qualify as refugees deserving asylum. There is also a tremendous backlog of applicants seeking resettlement, and the agencies that deal with them are overwhelmed. “Even if we get the U.N. refugee status, we still don’t know how long we must wait before we can be resettled,” said Hasinah Ezahar, 28, who survived illness, hunger and threats from the smugglers she paid for the three-week sea journey with three of her children from western Myanmar. “Until then, our lives are just waiting.” Her family was part of a wave of migrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar seeking to escape poverty and, in the case of ethnic Rohingya like Ms. Hasinah, religious persecution. There are at least 200,000 Rohingya migrants from Myanmar in Bangladesh, and only 32,600 of them have been granted protection as refugees fleeing persecution, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Several hundred have been resettled from refugee camps in Bangladesh to other countries. In Malaysia, those determined to be refugees and eligible for resettlement, a process that could take years, would join more than 45,000 Rohingya who are classified as refugees and are waiting to be taken in Chris Buckley reported from Gelugor; Austin Ramzy from Hong Kong. Michael Forsythe contributed reporting from Hong Kong.

Over 3,000 migrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar landed in Indonesia and Malaysia. A make-shift hospital in Indonesia. Top, Rohingya at a shelter in Indonesia. by another country. They receive no government aid while they wait, nor can they legally take jobs. They also cannot send their children to government-accredited schools and are suspended in a social and legal limbo that local charities and undocumented jobs can only partly relieve. “It’s very frustrating for us,” said Anwar Ahmad, a Rohingya who has lived in Malaysia for 18 years and makes a living in the informal labor market. “We’re grateful that we can stay here, and grateful for the help we receive, but without a stronger official status, I have no future here in Malaysia.” Even winning recognition as refugees through the United Nations refugee agency has become forbiddingly slow. Amy Smith, an executive director of Fortify Rights, a human rights group focusing on Southeast Asia, said the United Nations refugee agency gave priority to those held in detention. About 1,000 recent arrivals are housed in the Belantik immigration detention depot in northern Malaysia. Those detainees, she said, might have their cases decided in seven to nine months. The others will wait even longer. Migration experts say about half of the latest wave are economic migrants from Bangladesh who do not meet the re-

quirements for refugee status. They will be sent home, the Malaysian and Indonesian governments say, where their government may not embrace them. The Rohingya, a stateless Muslim people who have long faced discrimination and have been deprived of basic rights in Myanmar, are likely to meet the criteria for refugee status under international law, namely having “a well-founded fear” of persecution for reasons of race, religion or nationality in their home country. They would be entitled to resettlement in third countries. The foreign ministers of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia said in late May their countries would host any refugees permanently. About 1,000 Rohingyas were resettled in the United States in the last year, and Gambia said that it would take in all the Rohingya migrants, but experts questioned whether it had the capacity. Europe has its own migration crisis. Ms. Hasinah, who lives with her husband and children in a single room, has a more pressing concern: a 13-year-old son she left behind because she could not afford to pay the smugglers to take all four children. Her family is seeking the means to bring him to Malaysia. “Wherever we go,” she said, “it must be with my son.”

THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL WEEKLY

Sanctity of Truth

MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015

WORLD TRENDS

Latin America Balks At War on Drugs Continued from Page 23 Latin American drug trade at the University of Miami. “Leaders are looking at the militarized approach and saying they don’t want 40 more years of Colombian-like policies.” But the alternative is unclear. In Colombia, government officials recently suspended aerial spraying of the coca crop, citing concerns that the herbicide used may cause cancer in humans. But while Mr. Reyes advocates the decriminalization of drug use, he and his government have made no concrete proposals to put that into effect. Mr. Reyes said that Colombia had achieved much success in the fight against drug traffickers and would not back off, and might even resume spraying if it found a safer chemical. Colombia is one of the closest allies of the United States in

Eradication and incarceration failed to cut drug use. Latin America, so its decision to stop aerial spraying was highly symbolic. The tactic was a central part of its American-backed antidrug effort, and Colombia’s decision was made over objections from Washington. But once it was clear that Colombia would go its own way, American officials offered public support. Many Latin American countries are still trying to figure out what their new policies should be. Voters in the region have not embraced the drive to legalize drugs. Politically, it is rarely a win. In Guatemala, President Otto Pérez Molina has said he would consider creating legal, government-regulated markets Randal C. Archibold, Michael S. Schmidt, Susan Abad and Andrea Zarate contributed reporting.

for some drugs to neutralize the power of drug gangs. But he has made no concrete proposals. President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico has said he is open to a debate on legalization, but he has done little to propel discussions on it. Even in Mexico City, a progressive bastion in an otherwise conservative country, decriminalization efforts have faltered. Mr. Peña Nieto came into office with a focus on improving the economy, playing down the country’s problems with drug gangs and organized crime. But in response to the violent attacks of criminal groups, he has captured or killed their top leaders. In Bolivia, President Evo Morales kicked out American D.E.A. agents in 2009 and won an exception to a United Nations antidrug convention that acknowledges the right of Bolivia to allow traditional uses of coca. He also has pushed ahead with a system permitting farmers to grow small plots of coca, which has been chewed as a mild stimulant for centuries. Yet he has not joined calls for legalization of cocaine or other drugs. In Peru, another major producer of cocaine, Congress is considering a law that would allow the armed forces to shoot down planes suspected of carrying drugs. That would reverse a ban that went into place in 2001, after a plane carrying American missionaries was shot down by mistake and two Americans were killed. Brazil passed a drug law intended to keep recreational drug users out of prison, substituting measures like community service. But loopholes in the law have led it to have the opposite effect, and the number of people sent to prison in Brazil for drug offenses, including minor ones, has soared. “There is no consensus in Latin America as to what drug policy should look like,” said Vanda Felbab-Brown, a senior fellow of the Brookings Institution. “What we are definitely going to see is countries increasingly adopting their own policies and experimenting with policies.”

RAUL ARBOLEDA/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES

The feeling in Latin America is that America’s tactics to fight the drug trade have failed. Colombian soldiers burning a coca field last year.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY URIEL SINAI FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Israel Defeats an Old Enemy, Drought Israel says it gives Palestinians more water than it is obliged to. A man showering at a beach in Tel Aviv. Above, an ancient aqueduct in the West Bank.

Continued from Page 23 and lobbies. “There was a lot of hydro-politics,” said Eli Feinerman of the faculty of agriculture, food and environment at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who served for years as a public representative on the authority’s council. “The right hand did not know what the left was doing.” The Israeli government began by making huge cuts in the annual water quotas for farmers, ending decades of extravagant overuse of heavily subsidized water for agriculture. The tax for surplus household use was dropped at the end of 2009, and a two-tiered tariff system was introduced. Regular household water use is now subsidized by a slightly higher rate paid by those who consume more than the basic allotment. Water Authority representatives went house to house offering to fit free devices on shower heads and taps that inject air into the water stream, saving about a third of the water used while still giving the impression of a strong flow. Officials say that wiser use of water has led to a reduction in household consumption of up to 18 percent. And instead of the municipal authorities being responsible for the maintenance of city pipe networks, local corporations have been formed. The money collected for water is reinvested in the infrastructure. Mekorot, the national water company, built the national water carrier 50 years ago, a system for transporting water from the Sea of Galilee in the north through the heavily populated center to the arid south. Now it is building new infrastructure to carry water west to east, from the Mediterranean coast inland. Desalination, long shunned by many as a costly energy-guzzler with a heavy carbon footprint, is becoming cheaper, cleaner and more energy efficient as technologies advance. Sidney Loeb, the American scientist who invented the popular reverse osmosis method, came to live in Israel in 1967 and taught the

ONLINE: WATER REVOLUTION

Images from the battle Israel is winning against dryness: nytimes.com Search Israel water

water professionals here. The Sorek desalination plant rises out of the sandy ground about 15 kilometers south of Tel Aviv. Said to be the largest plant of its kind in the world, it produces 151 billion liters of potable water a year, enough for about a sixth of Israel’s roughly eight million citizens. Miriam Faigon, the director of the solutions department at IDE Technologies, the Israeli company that built three of the plants along the Mediterranean, said that the company had cut energy levels and costs with new technologies and a variety of practical methods. Under a complex arrangement, the plants will be transferred to state ownership after 25 years. For now, the state buys Sorek’s desalinated water for a relatively cheap 58 cents a cubic meter — more than free rainwater, Ms. Faigon acknowledged, “but that’s only if you have it.” Some Israelis are cynical about the water revolution. Tsur Shezaf, who grows wine and olives in the southern Negev, argues that desalination is essentially a privatization of Israel’s water supply that benefits a few tycoons, while recycling for agriculture allows the state to sell the same water twice. Israeli environmentalists say the rush to desalination has

partly come at the expense of alternatives like treating natural water reserves that have become polluted by industry, particularly the military industries in the coastal plain. “We definitely felt that Israel did need to move toward desalination,” said Sarit Caspi-Oron, a water expert at the nongovernment Israel Union for Environmental Defense. “But it is a question of how much, and of priorities. Our first priority was conservation and treating and reclaiming our water sources.” Some environmentalists also say that the open-ocean intake method used by Israel’s desalination plants, as opposed to subsurface intakes, can destroy sea life, sucking in billions of fish eggs and larvae. But Boaz Mayzel, a marine biologist at the Israel Union for Environmental Defense, said that the effects were not yet known and would have to be checked over time. In the parched Middle East, water also has strategic implications. Struggles between Israel and its Arab neighbors over water rights in the Jordan River basin contributed to tensions leading to the 1967 Middle East war. Israel, which shares the mountain aquifer with the West Bank, says it provides the Palestinians with more water than it is obliged to under the existing peace accords. The Palestinians say it is not enough and too expensive. A new era of water generosity could help foster relations with the Palestinians and with Jordan.

MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015

THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL WEEKLY

Sanctity of Truth

WORLD TRENDS NEWS ANALYSIS

More Students in School, but Not Always Learning An educated population is critical for shared prosperity, which is essential to a country’s economic growth. A classroom in King Williams Town, South Africa.

By EDUARDO PORTER

A quarter of a century ago, barely half the children of primary school age in sub-Saharan Africa were enrolled in school. By 2012, the share was 78 percent. In South Asia, primary school enrollment jumped to 94 percent from 75 percent over the same period. Policy makers around the world have come to understand the importance of learning for every aspect of human development. Universal primary education was one of the United Nations’ core Millennium Development Goals, which mobilized large amounts of aid in the first decade of the century for poor countries to expand access. But despite this advance, a peek under the headline statistics suggests that much of the world has progressed little. If the challenge was to provide a minimum standard of education for all, what looks like an enormous improvement too often amounted to a stunning failure. “We’ve made substantial progress around the globe in sending people to school,” said Eric Hanushek, an expert on the economics of education at Stanford University in California. “But a large number of people who have gone to school haven’t learned anything.” Can the world do better? Experts and diplomats have been working for two years to create a set of Sustainable Development Goals to succeed the previous millennium goals in guiding development strategy and steering international aid over the next 15 years. The targets are expected to be adopted by the United Nations in September. An educated population is a critical precondition for broadly

TODD HEISLER FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

shared prosperity — an essential tool for nations seeking a role in the global production chains driving economic growth around the world. But simply pursuing “universal education” will not get us there. It cannot do the job alone. Aiming resources at expanding access will probably be fruitless without an understanding of what a quality education means. And without some clear, measurable standards laying out the skills that must be achieved, the strategy is likely to fall short again. A report published recently by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which runs the PISA standardized tests taken every few years by a sample of 15-year-olds in some 75 countries, offers a distressing take on the state of the world’s learning. Even among relatively wealthy countries, many students fail to master the most basic skills.

Take Mexico, a middle-income economy with its near-universal primary education and a secondary school enrollment of 70 percent. In the 2012 PISA test, 54 percent of Mexican students failed to meet the most basic level of proficiency, which the

A U.N. document with hazy promises of ‘effective’ education. O.E.C.D. considers “necessary for participating productively in modern economies.” Achieving PISA’s Level 1 requires only a sort of functional literacy. Among 15-year-olds, 89 percent of Ghanaians failed to reach this level, as did 74 per-

cent of Indonesians, 64 percent of Brazilians and 24 percent of Americans. It is not surprising that the world settled for targets on the quantity of education but skimped on quality. “Universal education is an agenda with no opposition; it offers free services and swells public employment,” said Justin Sandefur of the Center for Global Development. “Quality is a little more politically contentious.” Policies aimed at promoting enrollment, like subsidies or the conditional cash transfers offered to parents who sent their children to school in Mexico or Brazil, added students to the system without improving its capacity. “Systems were overburdened by the influx of children coming in,” said Chandrika Bahadur, director for Education Initiatives at the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Solutions

Network, “and very quickly it became a problem to ensure that they were learning well.” They weren’t. There is still little information on how well — or badly — children are doing at school in many countries. But a recent effort by the World Bank to measure the quality of education systems in some African countries painted a dismal tableau of what they are being offered. In Uganda, only one in five elementary schoolteachers meets the minimum standard of proficiency in math, language and pedagogy. Few of them spend much time teaching anyway. In surprise visits to public schools, survey takers found that 27 percent of teachers were absent. Of those present, 56 percent were not in the classroom during teaching hours. The O.E.C.D. report proposes providing universal secondary education by 2030 that ensures all students achieve the basic level of skill as measured by PISA. The economic gains, it argues, would more than pay for the effort. The goals under discussion do not focus on quality. The draft of the United Nations document hazily promises “equitable and effective” universal secondary education with “relevant and effective” learning outcomes. But it fails to define the terms. Achieving quality will be tough. But without an improvement not just in the inputs to education (like the number of teachers and time devoted to instruction) but in student performance as well, much of the effort may go to waste. “Equity at the price of poor overall outcomes,” said Andreas Schleicher, who heads PISA at the O.E.C.D., “is not doing anyone any good.”

Man and Machine March On We were supposed to be doomed. It turns out we’re not, at least not right now. The Times recently looked back at the 1960s, a period when the demise LENS of the human race was on many minds. The big worry was overpopulation, a topic that inspired books, pop music and scientific research. Among the notable works was “The Population Bomb,” a 1968 book by Paul R. Ehrlich, a biologist at Stanford University in California, which predicted the next 15 years would bring “an utter breakdown of the capacity of the planet to support humanity.” Hundreds of millions were to have starved to death in the 1970s. So what went wrong — or rather, what went right? For comments, write to nytweekly@nytimes.com.

One of the big advancements, The Times noted, was in agricultural production. High-yield, disease-resistant crops vastly improved the world’s ability to feed itself. And birthrates are falling, for a variety of reasons. That doesn’t mean there aren’t concerns about running out of resources. But much of the concern has shifted from overpopulation to overconsumption. The Times highlighted the warnings of Fred Pearce, a British writer specializing in population issues. “Rising consumption today far outstrips the rising head count as a threat to the planet,” Mr. Pearce wrote in the magazine Prospect five years ago. Given worries about issues like carbon emissions and water shortages, changing the behavior of those doing the consuming has become a science of its own. A group of researchers from Harvard and Yale wrote in The Times that one traditional approach to lowering consumption — raising the cost, be it a higher water bill or a carbon tax — is

often ineffective. What does work, they wrote, is appealing to “people’s desire for others to think highly of them.” This means making it obvious to everyone who is being cooperative and who is being selfish. As an example, they imagined putting up lawn signs in California noting those who pledged to reduce water consumption. They noted a San Francisco software company that sends mailers letting people compare their water use to their neighbors’. “Making others better off is not our main motivation to give,” the researchers wrote. “We cooperate because it makes us look good.” Dr. Ehrlich, the “Population Bomb” author, would probably doubt such efforts. Now 83, he still sees things ending badly, soon. If he were issuing his warning today, he said, “my language would be even more apocalyptic.” Others might still bet on technology’s ability to keep pace with the challenges. While

PASCAL ROSSIGNOL/REUTERS

A biologist predicted in the 1960s that humans would very soon be incapable of feeding the exploding world population. the warnings of gloom were happening back in the 1960s, Gordon Moore was making his own predictions. Then the head of research for Fairchild Semiconductor and later a founder of Intel, he foresaw continuing advances in computing power that have happened so reliably his prediction is known as Moore’s Law. “Moore pretty much anticipated the personal computer,

the cellphone, self-driving cars, the iPad, Big Data and the Apple Watch,” The Times’s Thomas L. Friedman wrote. Mr. Friedman asked Mr. Moore what he had learned from being so right. “I guess one thing I’ve learned,” Mr. Moore answered, “is once you’ve made a successful prediction, avoid making another one.” ALAN MATTINGLY

Sanctity of Truth

THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL WEEKLY

MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015

WORLD TRENDS DIRIYAH JOURNAL

Restoring the Birthplace of the Modern Saudi State By BEN HUBBARD

DIRIYAH, Saudi Arabia — More than 250 years ago, the ancestors of the Saudi royal family and an outcast fundamentalist preacher formed an alliance that has shaped this land ever since. In return for political supremacy, the House of Saud endorsed the doctrine of Sheikh Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhab and followed it to wage jihad against anyone who rejected their creed. That alliance laid the foundations of the modern Saudi state, which has in more recent times used its oil wealth to make the cleric’s rigid doctrine — widely known as Wahhabism — a major force in the Muslim world. And now, this site, the birthplace of it all, is becoming a tourist attraction. Hundreds of laborers are rehabilitating mud palaces once home to the Saud family and building museums celebrating its history. Nearby stands a sleek structure that will house a foundation dedicated to the sheikh and his mission. The project comes at a tough time for Saudi Arabia. Popular revolts and civil wars have shaken the regional order; the drop in oil prices has hit the national budget; and the kingdom is again being accused of promoting an intolerant brand of Islam similar to that of the Islamic State. The development of Diriyah is a pet project of the new king, Sal-

A deal 250 years ago spawned a modern petro-state.

TOMAS MUNITA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

The mud palaces of the Saud family in Diriyah are being rehabilitated, and museums celebrating Saudi Arabian history and Wahhabism are under construction. man. The complex is expected to open in two years at a total cost of about a half-billion dollars. Saudi officials hope the project will link citizens to their past and rehabilitate the reputation of Sheikh Abdul-Wahhab, which they say has been wrongly sullied. While Wahhabism has adherents around the world, many Muslims detest it, because it considers Shiites and followers of other non-Sunni sects — not

to mention Christians and Jews — to be infidels. Others blame Saudi Arabia’s promotion of Wahhabism abroad for giving theological fuel to groups like Al Qaeda and the Islamic State. “It is important for Saudis who are living now, in this century, to know that the state came from a specific place that has been preserved and that it was built on an idea, a true, correct and tolerant ideology that respected others,”

said Abdullah Arrakban of the High Commission for the Development of Riyadh. After the city lay abandoned for centuries, families moved in in the mid-1900s and built new mud-brick homes. The government bought the site in 1982 and the development program began around 1990, when King Salman was the governor of Riyadh Province. He remains among the development’s champions

and has built a palace next door. The complex will feature parks, restaurants, underground parking and a series of museums about traditional Saudi life, warfare and the Arabian horse. Visitors will also be able to stroll through the old mud settlement, Turaif, which was named a Unesco World Heritage site in 2010; shop in a traditional market; and sleep in a boutique hotel. On a recent evening, footpaths snaking between restaurants and coffee shops filled with children playing and riding bicycles, while families picnicked under date palms. Others came for the history. “France is based on the revolution, America is based on the founding fathers and Saudi Arabia is based on the mission of Sheikh Abdul-Wahhab,” said Turki al-Shathri, scion of a prominent clerical family. He dismissed any suggestion that Sheikh Abdul-Wahhab was intolerant or had anything in common with the Islamic State. “Look around,” he said, gesturing at Saudi families strolling and eating ice cream. “Where is the extremism and the terrorism?”

French Veil Bans Widen a Divide By SUZANNE DALEY and ALISSA J. RUBIN

WISSOUS, France — Malek Layouni was not thinking about her Muslim faith, or her head scarf, as she took her excited 9-year-old son to an amusement site near Paris. But, as it turned out, it was all that mattered. Local officials blocked her path to the inflatable toys on a temporary beach, pointing at regulations that prohibit dogs, drunks and symbols of religion. And that meant barring women who wear head scarves. Mrs. Layouni still blushes with humiliation at being turned away in front of friends and neighbors, and at having no answer for her son, who kept asking her, “What did we do wrong?” More than 10 years after France passed its first anti-veil law restricting girls from wearing veils in public schools, the head coverings of observant Muslim women have become one of the most highly volatile issues in the nation’s tense relations with its growing Muslim population. Mainstream politicians continue to push for new measures to deny veiled women access to jobs, educational institutions and community life. They often say they are doing so for the benAya Kordy and Laure Fourquet contributed research from Paris.

efit of public order or in the name of laïcité, the French term for the separation of church and state. But critics say these efforts have encouraged rampant discrimination against Muslims. The result has been to fuel a sense among many Muslims that France, which celebrates Christian holidays in public schools, is engaging in state racism. The ban, some critics say, also serves Islamists, who are eager to drive a deeper wedge between Mus-

Muslim women say they have become the targets of abuse. lims and non-Muslims in the West. France has passed two laws, one in 2004 banning veils in public elementary and secondary schools, and another, enacted in 2011, banning full face veils, which are worn by only a tiny portion of the population. But observant Muslim women in France say the constant talk of new laws has made them targets of abuse, from being spat at to being pushed when they walk on the streets. France, where Muslims make

up an estimated 8 percent of the population, has long displayed discomfort with Muslim women who cover their heads, behavior that is in keeping with the Quran’s teachings on modesty. But in recent years, French leaders have been driven by several factors, including the rise of a far-right movement that deplores what it calls the Islamization of France and the reality that homegrown Muslim extremists have carried out two of the worst attacks in France, including the shootings at the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in January. Many French officials say the ban on full face veils is needed for security reasons, noting that Belgium has a similar ban, and the Netherlands is considering one. They say the ban in schools is in pursuit of laïcité. (Skullcaps and large crosses and other religious signs were banned too, they say.) The concept of laïcité was developed during the French Revolution, and was intended to limit the influence of the Roman Catholic Church in the government. More recently, however, experts say it has become the rallying cry of the right, which has redefined it as a weapon to defend the traditions of French life against what many see as the frightening influence of a growing Muslim population. France’s most recent law, which bars veils that cover the

DMITRY KOSTYUKOV FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

French politicians want more restrictions on veiled women. face, has proved problematic. In the three years since the law took effect, only about 1,000 fines, which can go as high as 150 euros, have been issued. Several women, it seems, have enjoyed goading the police. One woman received more than 80 fines. Few paid them. A wealthy Algerian businessman created a fund to pay for any ticket issued. Many French Muslims scoff at the law, saying wealthy tourists from the Middle East wearing full face veils and carrying expensive handbags are able to stroll down the Champs-Élysées or vacation on the Côte d’Azur without ever being ticketed. They also say that the constant debates over veil laws have confused many people about what is illegal.

Defending his ban on veiled women at the temporary beach, Richard Trinquier, the mayor of Wissous, told a court that he was protecting France’s commitment to secularism. According to newspaper accounts, the mayor said that the presence of religious symbols in public was becoming “an obstacle to living together.” The judge in the Wissous case disagreed, and the beach was eventually opened to Mrs. Layouni. But the event left her traumatized and divided this village. “My husband said that I lost my inner light,” Mrs. Layouni said. After the ruling, the couple, who owned a tearoom in Wissous, also saw their business fall off. They closed it this year, and moved to a neighboring town.

MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015

THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL WEEKLY

Sanctity of Truth

MONEY & BUSINESS

Tech Investors See No Bubble in Froth By CONOR DOUGHERTY

SAN FRANCISCO — It is a wild time in Silicon Valley. Twoyear-old companies are valued in the billions, ramshackle homes are worth millions, and hubris is at the point where otherwise sane businesspeople muse about seceding from the United States. put reason aside and instead But the tech industry’s venbuy into a story. “It’s a complicated social ture capitalists — the finanphenomenon that gets people ciers who bet on companies into trouble, just like smoking when they are little more than too much and drinking too an idea — are going out of their much,” Mr. Shiller said. way to avoid the one word that And bubbles happen again could describe the situation and again, from the Dutch tulip around them. Bubble. bubble of 1636, to the 1929 stock “I guess it is a scary word bubble that led to the Great Debecause in some sense no one wants it to stop,” said Tomasz pression, to the housing bubTunguz, a partner at Redpoint ble that buckled Wall Street in Ventures. “And so if you utter it, 2008. do you pop it?” Even the smartest get caught A bubble, in the economic up. Isaac Newton, whose laws sense, is a period of excessive of motion and gravity arguably speculation in something, make him the most important whether it is tulips, tech compascientist ever, bought into the South Sea Bubble of 1720. It was nies or houses. And it is a loada bad bet on a company granted ed term in the tech industry, a monopoly on trade with South because it reminds people of America by the British. the 1990s dot-com bubble, when He reportedly said: “I can companies with little revenue calculate the motions of the and zero profits sold billions in stock to a naïve public. In 2000, tech stocks crashed, venture capital dried up and many companies were vaporized. “Anybody who lived through that will always wake up and see ghosts,” said Jerry Neumann, founder of Neu Venture Capital in New York. Today, people see shades of 2000 in the valuations assigned to private companies like PETER DASILVA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES Uber, the on-demand cab The valuations of some company, which is raising $1.5 billion at terms companies may remind people of that deem the company the dot-com bust. Palantir, a dataworth $50 billion, and analysis company in California. Slack, the corporate messaging service that heavenly bodies, but not the is about a year old and valued madness of people.” at $2.8 billion in its latest fundSo, do the staggering values ing round. of today’s private tech compaA few years ago, private companies worth more than $1 nies look like yet another bubbillion were rare enough that ble? venture capitalists called them “There’s definitely some cra“unicorns.” Today, there are ziness and people overpaying” 107, according to CB Insights, for stakes in companies, said an analytics firm focused on Anand Sanwal, founder of CB the venture capital industry. Insights. “But a bunch of bad Nobody doubts that many of decisions don’t necessarily tech’s unicorns are real busimean we are in a bubble.” Does George Zachary, a partnesses and that some could prosper for decades. But bener in CRV, a venture capital firm, think we’re in a bubble? “I cause of low interest rates, tech think we’re in a period of overcompanies are raising gobs of money from investors whose valuation and frothiness,” he urgent need for returns has said. pushed them into riskier terSome investors go so far to avoid the word bubble that they ritory. Start-ups have begun describe situations that sound attracting money from funds quite a bit worse. that don’t usually invest in tech Take Charlie O’Donnell, companies before they are pubfounder of Brooklyn Bridge lic. Ventures. When it becomes The problem with the bubble harder to raise money, comquestion is nobody seems to agree on what a bubble is. Robpanies that are funding lossert Shiller, an economist whose es with outside money will be work on stock prices earned forced to cut jobs and slow exhim the 2013 Nobel Prize and pansion, Mr. O’Donnell said. who wrote the book “Irrational But that is not a bubble, he Exuberance,” defined speculasaid. Rather, that would be “the coming zombie start-up apocative bubbles as “a psychological epidemic” in which people lypse.”

Start-ups may be overvalued, but the b-word is taboo.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY MICHAEL CIAGLO FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Farmers’ Work Gets Help From Above By JULIE TURKEWITZ

NUNN, Colorado — As the sun peeks over the fields of organic grain in this grassy patch of the state, some mornings, a dark dot appears in the sky as well, and a loud buzz slices through the pastoral scene. It is a drone, and its pilot is a farmer named Jean Hediger, one of a growing number of American agrarians who have taken to using unmanned aircraft — better known for their use in war, far from the wheat fields of eastern Colorado — to gather information about the health of their crops. In doing so, these farmers are breaking the law. It is illegal to fly drones for commercial purposes without federal permission, and those who do so risk penalties in the thousands of dollars. But the technology holds such promise that farmers are using it anyway, dotting rural skies with devices saddled with tiny video cameras. “This has really become a big deal in ag,” said Ms. Hediger, who is in her early 60s. “Our intent is pure,” she added. “Without being able to fly drones over our fields, they are asking us to remain in the dark ages.” Soon, however, farmers may be able to fly their drones openly. In February, the Federal Aviation Administration proposed new rules that would allow people to fly small unmanned aircraft for commercial reasons. If the regulations are approved, there will be implications across the country: Drones could be used by construction workers, firefighters, filmmakers and others. But few are as excited about this technology as farmers. Ms. Hediger estimated that the device would save her tens of thousands of dollars in the coming years because she would be able to pinpoint which parts of her fields needed fertilizer, water, weed killer or seed. The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, an industry group, said that it expected agriculture to make up

Jimmy Underhill, a drone specialist at Agribotix in Boulder. Top, Jean Hediger using a drone on her Colorado farm. 80 percent of the market for unmanned aircraft after commercial flight is allowed. “It’s invaluable,” said Corey Jacobs, a corn farmer who lives in rural Indiana. Mr. Jacobs, 28, used to spot weeds or weather damage by walking for kilometers through his cornstalks. Now, he simply launches a drone. He built his first unmanned aircraft in 2013 and quickly saw a business opportunity. Today, he

Devices so useful many have broken the law for them. is the founder and sole employee of Extreme UAS, which sells drones to fellow farmers. When he is not on a tractor, he is on Twitter, scouting for new clients. Ms. Hediger, in Colorado, is one of his customers. She runs a 1,375-hectare farm with her husband and her son, Bryce, 26. On a recent spring day, she stood in a wheat field as Bryce sent their newly bought quadcopter hurtling toward the horizon, a cam-

era swinging from its belly. He gripped a white control panel as he peered at a monitor that showed him a bird’s-eye view of the land. He scoured the monitor for weeds, which in past years have devastated their crop, forcing them to halt cultivation on more than half of their land. “Having an aerial view is fabulous,” said Ms. Hediger. Though it could take two years for regulations to change, technology companies are moving quickly in anticipation of wider uses for drones, positioning themselves for an explosion in demand — and catering to rogue fliers in the meantime. Agribotix, in Boulder, Colorado, has sold about 100 drones to farmers and crop consultants — people who travel from farm to farm, deploying drones for growers. But concerns about crowded skies and the possibility of collisions continue to haunt the drone industry remain. Andrew D. Moore, the executive director of the National Agricultural Aviation Association, which represents pilots who fly over farms, laying seed and other products, said he is worried about pilots crashing into drones. “It could be lethal,” he said.

THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL WEEKLY

Sanctity of Truth

MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015

MONEY & BUSINESS

Religions Push to Align Investments With Their Faith By VINOD SREEHARSHA

RIO DE JANEIRO — A Brazilian investment fund is taking to heart the Vatican’s endorsement of leveraging capitalism’s tools to help address inequality. An investment firm, First, is on track this year to raise the country’s largest impact investing fund, which aims to promote social good as well as profitable returns. And it is being supported by players like JPMorgan Chase and the World Bank’s private investment arm. First is also being backed by a major player: a trust established by a 199-year-old international order of the Roman Catholic

Avoiding gunmakers and seeking socially responsible firms. Church. The capital provided by the Oblate International Pastoral Investment Trust is its initial investment in a Brazilian impact fund. The amount, about $7 million, may seem small, but it reflects the growing interest in the sector by Catholic groups worldwide. And for the Catholic Church, the concept seems to dovetail with Pope Francis’s focus on addressing inequality. Ensuring that faith-based investments are consistent with Catholic values has long been difficult. But many people increasingly see impact investing as one way to do so. The fund gauges whether its investments are providing social improvements, such as in education, health care

or the environment. This asset class is making inroads in Brazil, home to the world’s largest Roman Catholic population. First’s fund-raising is expected to soon surpass $98 million and hit its $125 million target this year, according to a person briefed on the fund’s activities. First attracted the attention of the Oblate trust, which manages the assets of more than 230 Roman Catholic congregations in 53 countries and holds about $400 million. Friar Seamus Finn, 65, oversees the trust’s investment to be sure they are consistent with the church’s faith. Its participation reflects a growing interest in impact investing. He travels to Brazil roughly once a year. The trust invested $35.5 million in such funds last year. “We feel we are much closer to the principles than we are at a global multinational,” Friar Finn said. Impact investing is growing globally. The number of organizations catering to interested investors rose 17 percent this year, and they expect to invest $12.2 billion, an increase of 16 percent from last year, according to a report by JPMorgan and the Global Impact Investing Network. The Vatican has long spoken about the need for the markets to reduce inequality, from Pope Leo XIII in his 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum on Capital and Labor to Pope Paul VI’s Populorum Progressio in 1967. Yet Pope Francis, the first pontiff from Latin America, has made this a top priority. He said last year, “It is increasingly intolerable that financial markets are shaping the destiny of peoples rather than serving their needs.” Faith-based investing has

Impact funds balance profits with ethics. Friar Seamus Finn oversees the $400 million Oblate Investment Pastoral Trust.

T. J. KIRKPATRICK FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

been a part of many religions. Islamic financing goes back centuries and has grown in recent decades. The Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes screen for compliance with Shariah law. The United Methodist Church holds $21 billion in assets in 5,000 companies. The investment strategy has shifted, however, from what has long been an exclusionary approach. For example, the Oblate trust prohibits investing in companies that develop assault weapons and handguns. But those rules do not provide a guide on what it should invest in “It suits and fits better with our desire to be constructive and look for positive impact investments rather than excluding things,” Friar Finn said. He said that impact investing was an important asset class in terms of diversifying and manag-

ing the group’s portfolio. Ascension Investment Management, which manages the assets of the largest Catholic nonprofit health care system in the United States, is raising its first dedicated impact investing fund, looking to raise $50 million to $100 million. Catholic Relief Services has set aside $5 million to invest in impact investing funds. The shift to impact investing is likely to be gradual. The Oblate trust does not plan to replace its traditional investments overnight. And multiple challenges remain. One is the number of adequate companies. Rebeca Rocha, the head of Brazil for the Aspen Network, said that although the number of impact investors in the country had tripled since 2012, “it’s very difficult to find a lot of entrepreneurs who have the right profile, understand social impact and

have companies that can scale.” The Catholic Church has faced divisive issues as well. Many in Brazil and the region still have ties to liberation theology, which emphasizes the poor but also shares some aspects of Marxist philosophy and therefore opposes the United States economic system and style of investing. In the past, that view had some basis after several military dictatorships in Latin America received backing by the United States government. The region is much different today, but Friar Finn said he expected some doubters. “Some folks will push back and criticize this and say it is just another way of making the capitalist model look good,” he acknowledged, adding that he welcomed the scrutiny “It is important to not overstate what this can accomplish.”

Ethan Yorke, a California video gamer, says energy drinks help his performance.

while playing Call of Duty and I definitely see improvement, and it gives me very natural energy,” he said. His parents didn’t care, he said, until he started drinking the product every day. The makers of the new drinks say they are natural, without chemicals. People who drink them say they don’t cause jitters or crashes like other energy drinks. G Fuel’s caffeine content, 150 milligrams per 355 milliliters, is higher than many of the Monster and Red Bull drinks, according to Caffeine Informer. GungHo does not disclose its caffeine content, according to Danny Mason, the company’s chief executive The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has asked energy drink makers for more data on caffeine. Caffeine is not the only concern, Dr. Schneider said. Taurine and guarana, a plant extract, also act as stimulants, she said. Ethan Yorke, a high school junior in Lancaster, California, said drinking G Fuel helped him improve his home run average significantly on a baseball video game he plays. “It really feels like you have genuine energy, like you’ve just had a 30-minute-to-an-hour nap,” he said. “And you just have pure energy.”

Sale of ‘Gaming Fuel’ Raising Health Issues By HILARY STOUT

Two popular video gamers posed as snipers wielding real semi-automatic guns at an outdoor range, blasting orbs of fruit and cups of deep orange liquid in ultra slow motion. “Introducing Blood Orange,” announced a video of the spectacle. In the days afterward, online followers ordered tubs of the latest flavor of a powdered energy drink called G Fuel that is marketed as a secret sauce to enhance focus and endurance for virtual battles. “Oh, this is gonna taste so good!” exclaimed one cherub-faced YouTuber, Michael. G Fuel and a competitor called GungHo are a new incarnation of energy drink, growing in popularity while the energy drink industry as a whole has been under scrutiny because of deaths and hospitalizations linked to consumption of caffeine- and sugar-laden beverages. Traditional energy drink makers have played to the growing gamer culture, too. Dr. Marcie Schneider, an ad-

olescent-medicine specialist in Greenwich, Connecticut, worries that most parents do not recognize the dangers of the drinks. “I feel like we have a better sense of how many kids are smoking pot than how many kids are using energy drinks,” Dr. Schneider said. She was an author of a study for the American Academy of Pediatrics that recommended that children and adolescents should never consume energy drinks because of caffeine’s potential to disturb sleeping patterns, increase heart rates and slow brain development. The industry is tapping into the celebrity allure and online fan base of “professional e-athletes,” analysts say, with sponsorships of gaming competitions and players. Gamma Labs, the company selling G Fuel, heavily promotes a Call of Duty clan including those would-be snipers in the video ad. While major energy drink makers — including Red Bull, Rockstar and Monster — voluntarily agreed to stop marketing to children under 12 because of

EMILY BERL FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Some doctors say caffeine is harmful to teenagers. the adverse health effects publicly associated with them, a United States congressional report released this year excoriated those companies and others for continuing to target teenagers, whose brains and bodies are not yet fully developed. The newer gamer drinks are sugar-free and vitamin-infused, but they often contain caffeine that rivals or exceeds that of

some other well-known products, according to Caffeine Informer, which provides information on caffeine levels in food and drink. But business is still booming. Sales of energy drinks and shots internationally are projected to rise to $21 billion by 2017 from $12.5 billion in 2012, according to Packaged Facts, a publisher of market research. In Melbourne, Australia, Finlay Sturzaker spent 100 Australian dollars to order several tubs of a powdered G Fuel drink, only to have his father confiscate it, he said. Finlay, 14, said he found out about the drink on YouTube through the FaZe Call of Duty clan in the commercials. “It makes me more focused

THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL WEEKLY

MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015

Sanctity of Truth

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY NEWS ANALYSIS

Closer Look At the Oceans’ Tiny Creatures

Working Moms May Benefit Children By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER

CHRISTIAN SARDET/CENTRE NACIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE/TARA EXPEDITIONS; BELOW, M.ORMESTAD/KAHIKAI/TARA OCEANS

A four-year ocean expedition found that microbes are profoundly affected by warmer waters. A medusa from the Mediterranean. Below, parasitoid crustaceans eating salps. By KAREN WEINTRAUB

Climate change scientists have known for years that rising temperatures affect sea creatures, from the biggest fish to the microscopic plankton at the base of the ocean food chain. Now, a four-year expedition by a schooner named Tara that sampled microbes from across the world’s oceans is bringing the mechanisms of that change into focus. These tiny creatures, which may be among the oldest on Earth, absorb carbon dioxide, make oxygen, break down waste and nourish other creatures. And they are profoundly affected by water temperature, according to five studies published in Science about Tara’s voyage. “Temperature is the most important environmental factor

Microbes battle to keep the ecosystem in balance. determining the composition of these communities,” said Chris Bowler, an author on all five studies and a genomics expert with the École Normale Supérieure and the National Center for Scientific Research in France. “This would imply that climate change, warming of the oceans, is going to have a strong impact on these organisms and the functions these organisms perform for the well-being of our planet.” The Tara expedition’s findings, researchers said, have added an order of magnitude to what we know of the Tree of Life, expanding its base. The microbes studied range from viruses and bacteria too small to see under a microscope to the single-celled

amoebas or paramecia that children study in biology classes. The new research showed that these microbes are in a const a nt da nce with one another, collaborating and fighting just below the water’s surface. Their interactions keep the ecosystem in balance, preventing any one species from dominating the seas. “A lot of what we didn’t really ever see before in the ocean are predators and parasites, zombies and vampires that are floating through this incredible set of diversity, battling it out,” said Stephen Palumbi, a Stanford University marine biologist who was not involved in the studies. The researchers on the Tara Oceans project, a consortium of 18 institutions, identified roughly 40 million genes in the upper layers of the world’s oceans. The raw data produced by the expedition should allow scientists to predict how microbial life will change as a function of changes in water temperature, said Eric Karsenti, a cell biologist and scientific director of the consortium. One of the new papers tracks the effects warming waters have on bacterial diversity, suggesting that other microbes, like viruses and single-celled organisms, are probably affected as well. Future analysis should allow researchers to build predictive models for what will happen to microbial communities as water temperature changes, Dr. Karsenti said, and how much that will affect oxygen production and carbon dioxide absorption. Life on Earth started in the oceans, so the Tara data also provides new insights into creatures descended from those of a billion

years ago, Dr. Bowler said. “By matching DNA-level information with what these organisms look like, we can learn more about them, more about how they work, and hopefully learn more about our own origins as well.” From 2009 to 2013, the 33-meter research schooner had to evade pirates off the coast of Saudi Arabia, ice in the Arctic and hurricane-force winds in the Magellan Straits linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. As the Tara docked in 210 ports along the way, expedition scientists turned into advocates for the sea, educating children and adults about the creatures they live near but do not know. The research team, which totaled more than 200 people, included experts from 35 countries. Members have begun analyzing their 35,000 samples, with just 579 explored in these five papers. The boat, which has continued to sample in the Arctic and the Mediterranean since 2013, will sail up the Seine this year to highlight ocean security at climate change negotiations in Paris. “Nobody is speaking for the oceans,” said Romain Troublé, the Tara Foundation’s executive director.

Nearly three-quarters of American mothers with children at home are employed. Forty-one percent of adults say the increase in working mothers is bad for society, while just 22 percent say it is good, according to the Pew Research Center. Yet evidence is mounting that having a working mother has some economic, educational and social benefits for children of both sexes. That is not to say that children do not also benefit when their parents spend more time with them — they do. But we make trade-offs in how we spend our time, and research shows that children of working parents also accrue benefits. In a new study of 50,000 adults in 25 countries, daughters of working mothers completed more years of education, were more likely to be employed and in supervisory roles and earned higher incomes. Having a working mother didn’t influence the careers of sons, which researchers said was unsurprising because men were generally expected to work — but sons of working mothers did spend more time on child care and housework. “Part of this working mothers’ guilt has been, ‘Oh, my kids are going to be so much better off if I stay home,’ but what we’re finding in adult outcomes is kids will be so much better off if women spend some time at work,” said Kathleen McGinn, a professor at Harvard Business School and an author of the study. “This is as close to a silver bullet as you can find in terms of helping reduce gender inequalities, both in the workplace and at home,” she said. Other researchers are less confident that the data has proved such a large effect, because it is difficult to know whether a mother who worked caused her daughter to work, or whether other factors were more influential. “The problem is we don’t know how these mothers differed,” said Raquel Fernandez, an economics professor at New York University. “Was it really her mother working who did this, or was it her mother getting an education?” The new study is part of a shift away from focusing on whether working mothers hurt children and toward a richer understanding of the relationship between work and family. A 2010 meta-analysis of 69 studies over 50 years found that in general, children whose mothers worked when they were young had no major learning, behavior or social problems, and tended to be high achievers in school and have less depression and anxiety. The positive effects

were particularly strong for children from low-income or single-parent families; some studies showed negative effects in middle-class or two-income families. Sons raised by working mothers were significantly more likely to have a wife who worked, one study led by Ms. Fernandez found. Ms. McGinn said parents seemed to be serving as role models. “This is our best clue that what’s happening is a real role modeling of skills that somehow conveys to you, ‘Here’s a way to behave, here’s a way you can cope with the various demands of work and home,’” she said. Ms. McGinn said she ran dozens of tests to see if the results could be explained by something other than the mother’s time at work — like the influence of a broader culture in which women worked more frequently, or the benefits of a mother’s increased income — but they could not. She controlled for factors including age, education and family makeup. The effects shrank after she controlled for these, but Ms. McGinn said the difference was still statistically significant. Across 25 countries, 69 percent of women with a working

Role models for the girls, and their sons do housework. mother were employed, and 22 percent were supervisors, compared with 66 percent and 18 percent of those whose mothers stayed home. Daughters of working mothers earned 6 percent more. Sons of working mothers in those countries spent an additional hour a week caring for family members and 17 minutes more per week on housework — which research has found increases women’s labor force involvement and might lead to more stable marriages. The effect was strongest in countries in which there was a bigger divide in opinions about the role of women, like the United States and Israel, and in countries where gender attitudes were more conservative, like Russia and Mexico. It was smallest in countries where there was widespread acceptance of working women, like the Nordic countries. In the United States, attitudes about working parents depend a lot on a family’s circumstances. “We found that most people believe the right decision for a family is the one that works best for them,” said Kathleen Gerson, a sociologist at New York University.

THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL WEEKLY

Sanctity of Truth

MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

India’s Perplexing, and Destructive, Collision Course By KENNETH CHANG

When an unstoppable force like the Indian subcontinent crashes into an immovable object like the Eurasian plate, the consequences include the tallest mountains in the world, earthquakes like the major one that struck Nepal in April and the strong aftershock in the region in May. Many questions about the collision remain unanswered. How did the Indian subcontinent get so quickly to where it is today? How big was India originally? Even the simplest of questions — when did India meet Eurasia, the tectonic plate that Europe and Asia sit on? — is up for debate, with researchers offering answers that differ by some 30 million years. “It’s going to be hard to convince anyone,” said Oliver E. Jagoutz, a geologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and part of a team that outlined its ideas about the collision in the journal Nature Geoscience. Another mystery is why India is still moving at a quick pace — 3.8 to five centimeters a year — driving the devastating earthquakes. “That is one of the biggest problems that we have in plate tectonics,” said Douwe J.J. van Hinsbergen, a professor of earth sciences at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. “It may not seem much, but it’s the rate at which your fingernails grow.” The geologists are like accident investigators trying to decipher what happened from the wreckage, pondering how rocks from the ocean floor ended up high in the Himalayas. Much of the evidence, namely the chunk of India that is jammed under Tibet and the Himalayas, is out of reach. Throughout Earth’s four-anda-half-billion-year history, the chunks of land have alternated between periods when they combined into supercontinents like Pangea, 300 million years ago, and periods when they moved apart, like today. During the age of dinosaurs, Pangea had broken into two con-

EURASIA NORTH AMERICA

EURASIA

LAURASIA

TIBET N E PA L INDIA

NORTH AMERICA

AFRICA

PANGEA 255 million years ago

TODAY SOUTH AMERICA AUSTRALIA

SOUTH AMERICA

AFRICA

GONDWANA

TIBET

INDIA AUSTRALIA A N TA R C T I C A

A N TA R C T I C A THE NEW YORK TIMES

AHMAD MASOOD/REUTERS

The Indian subcontinent, which broke away from an ancient continent, is still running into Asia. Quake damage in Nepal. tinents, Laurasia and Gondwana, and India was a piece of Gondwana, attached to Antarctica and between Africa and Australia. More than 100 million years ago, India broke away and accelerated northward. According to the widely accepted picture, that runaway continental fragment collided with Eurasia 50 million to 55 million years ago in one of the few places today where a piece of continent runs into a continent rather than an ocean plate. But not all of the pieces of the conventional wisdom fit together. New analyses of the magnetism in rocks suggested that the southern edge of Eurasia was farther

north than some had thought, raising the question of whether India was close enough to make contact with Asia by then. Another key question: How much of India has disappeared? If the collision occurred more than 50 million years ago, almost 3,200 kilometers of India must have been pushed under Asia. Scientists agree that something collided. “The question is not so much whether there is a continent colliding 50 million years ago,” Dr. van Hinsbergen said. “The question is whether that is India.” In 2007, Jonathan Aitchison, now a professor of geosciences

at the University of Queensland in Australia, put together an alternative timeline. The collision that people thought was India meeting Asia was actually India hitting an arc of islands south of Asia, and India then pushed these islands into Asia 20 million years later. “We believe the evidence shows India bumped into other things before Asia,” Dr. Aitchison said. Dr. van Hinsbergen came up with a different idea. He proposed that 70 million to 120 million years ago, India split in two as it was moving north. The first piece reached Asia 50 million to 55 million years ago, but the main part lagged behind, not colliding until 20 million to 25 million years ago. Dr. Jagoutz and Leigh H. Royden, a professor of geology and geophysics at M.I.T. looking at rocks in the western Himalaya, have come to a conclusion similar to Dr. Aitchison’s — that India ran into an island arc before it hit Asia — but put the second collision about five million years earlier. In the Nature Geoscience paper, Dr. Royden and Dr. Jagoutz show that the island arc could explain the speed of India’s travels. Generally, the motion of continents is driven by subduction zones — where one tectonic plate passes beneath another and then descends into the Earth’s mantle, pulling everything behind it. Geologists knew there was one

Geologists wonder why a subcontinent is moving so fast. subduction zone where the Indian plate dived under Asia. With an island arc between Asia and India, there would have been two subduction zones pulling on India, SLUG which could explainTECTONICS its velocity. SCOOP But none of this explains why India is still moving so fast. SECTION sci Whatever was of India SIZEnorth 9.05" x 3.1"has long since disappeared into the ORIGIN Jonathan x4340 mantle, and continental crust Graphics x1839 does not provide same downDATE the 0519 ward pull. “It’s yet to be resolved what keeps India moving to the north,” Dr. Royden said. “At the moment, it’s still a work in progress.” Geologists will be hard pressed to deduce what happened to India from the seismological data. Simon L. Klemperer, a geophysicist at Stanford University, said he hopes that the mix of helium isotopes in geothermal springs will help tell whether the mantle below the Himalayan crust is part of the Indian plate or Asian plate. “I agree the jury should still be out,” Dr. Klemperer said. “If I want to hold onto my view, then I need to eventually be able to demolish the arguments.”

Scientists Battle to Save Turtle Species By RACHEL NUWER

An international team of scientists, veterinarians and zookeepers gathered at the Suzhou Zoo near Shanghai. Their desperate mission: the first artificial insemination ever of a softshell turtle, to try to save the species from oblivion. “Even if we get just one or two hatchlings, I will be very happy,” said Gerald Kuchling, a project leader for the Turtle Survival Alliance, a nonprofit conservation group. “Even a single one would give hope for the recovery of this magnificent animal. It would be a turn.” The Yangtze giant softshell turtle — thought to be the largest freshwater turtle in the world — was once common in the Yangtze and Red Rivers. But by the late 1990s, pollution, hunting, dams and development had driven it to

Hopes rest on an 85-year-old female’s eggs. the brink of extinction. There are only four known specimens remaining, and only one female — an 85-year-old resident of the Suzhou Zoo. For years, biologists have been trying to coax her and her 100-year-old mate to produce hatchlings. So far the female has laid clutch after clutch of unfertilized eggs. On May 6, Dr. Kuchling and Lu Shunqing, a turtle specialist from the Wildlife Conservation Society’s China branch, with a team that included turtle experts from the United States, drained the

Suzhou Zoo male’s pond and used a cargo net to wrangle the 60-kilo male turtle onto a stack of car tires that served as a makeshift examination stand. Putting him under anesthesia, the scientists used an electrical probe to induce a partial penile erection. The problem became immediately clear to the scientists: This turtle’s penis was mangled. Two decades earlier, another Yangtze giant softshell turtle had been added to the male’s pond in an attempt to mate the animals. The second turtle turned out to be male, as well, and the two fought. The second male was killed, and the victor suffered serious damage to his shell and, it now appears, to his reproductive organ. The team also examined the male’s sperm — extracted using electrical stimuli — and finally

GERALD KUCHLING/TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE

Pollution, hunting, dams and development have driven the Yangtze giant softshell turtle to the brink of extinction. discovered good news. While motility was low, the sperm were viable. The scientists decided to proceed with artificial insemination of the female. Two other male Yangtze giant softshell turtles are believed to be in Vietnam — one in Hoan Kiem Lake, in the center of Hanoi. But those animals “are pretty much off limits for any non-Vietnamese,” Dr. Kuchling said,

and so a collaborative breeding program seems unlikely. When the female lays her first clutch of eggs, probably by late June, the scientists will know if this first effort was fruitful. “Nobody has ever done this before, and it’s probably a long shot,” Dr. Kuchling said. “But we are all hopeful, and if it doesn’t work this time, we’ll definitely try again. Despair is not an option.”

MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015

THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL WEEKLY

Sanctity of Truth

N E W YO R K

Affordable Units Set Off a Frenzy By MIREYA NAVARRO

PHOTOGRAPHS BY MICHAEL APPLETON FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Looking Out From a New Summit By DAVID W. DUNLAP

With a step-right-up showmanship that does credit to the memory of P. T. Barnum, Legends Hospitality has lifted the curtain on its three-level, $32-a-head observatory near the top of 1 World Trade Center. Everything about the design of One World Observatory and the publicity campaign leading up to its May 29 opening was meant to whet the public’s anticipation of a trip that might be difficult — if not impossible — for some people to make, either because of the cost or because of the emotional trauma that clings to the site of the September 11 attacks. Before the opening, David W. Checketts, the chairman and chief executive of Legends, gave tours to news organizations, including one during heavy fog, making it impossible to verify the observatory’s “See Forever” motto. But the windows in the new tower clearly offer far wider panoramas than those of the old trade center observatory, which were divided into deep, narrow bays between columns. And an interactive mobile tablet, rentable for $15, makes orientation easy no matter the weather, as the screen clearly depicts and annotates whatever part of the skyline one is facing. Acrophobes should be warned about the four-meter-diameter “sky portal,” which looks as if it is suspended over the streets below. The portal’s glass floor is actually looking down on two dozen high-definition screens carrying a live feed from cameras mounted at the base of the building’s spire. But the illusion is unnervingly convincing. And it does not seem farfetched to predict that the bar seats facing the Hudson River on the 101st floor may soon be among the most coveted in New York, though Steve Cuozzo, the restaurant critic at The New York Post, has complained that one cannot dine or drink there without paying the admission fee, because the 60-seat steakhouse and the more casual

The sky portal gives the feeling of being suspended 100 floors above New York’s streets. Live-feed cameras create the illusion. Above, the observatory at 1 World Trade Center opened May 29 on the site of the September 11 attacks. 100-seat cafe and bar and grill are within the observatory. Legends will not disclose the cost of the project. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which selected Legends as the operator, expects to receive about $875 million over the 15-year contract term, said Erica Dumas, a spokeswoman. Mr. Checketts said he expected annual attendance to run from three million to four million visitors. Though its

Panoramic views and dark memories 100 stories up. primary audience is tourists, Legends has evidently paid attention to ever-attentive and critical New Yorkers. Visitors will see a panorama of Lower Manhattan’s history on their 48-second elevator ride to the observatory. Aesthetically, the observatory is appropriately understated, given that the show is on the outside. The walls are of whiteoak veneer and the floors are in black terrazzo, with enormous and helpful compass points

ONLINE: VIEW FROM THE TOP

Slide show offers view of New York: nytimes.com Search Manhattan observatory early

inlaid at each corner. Calming music plays in the background. The 102nd floor, by far the most restrained, is principally to serve as rented event space. The main public observation area is on the 100th floor. Visitors may stay as long as they wish, Mr. Checketts said. But of course, they cannot leave without passing through the gift shop. The most expensive souvenir is a $200 crystal model of 1 World Trade Center. While waiting to board the five elevators, visitors will see and hear the voices and faces of those who built the skyscraper, including Steven Plate, the director of World Trade Center construction for the Port Authority. “You look out, and on a clear day, you can actually see the curvature of the Earth,” Mr. Plate says, adding with a laugh, “So, other than that, there’s nothing to see.” In truth, one has to be quite a bit higher than 386 meters to discern the curvature of the Earth. But One World Observatory is about showmanship, after all.

A glassy new tower in New York City attracted an outcry for featuring one entrance for condominium owners and another for low-income tenants. But having to walk through a so-called poor door has not deterred those seeking an affordable place to live. More than 88,000 people put their name in for the 55 low-priced units, the developer said. “I guess people like it,” said Gary Barnett of Extell Development Company, the developer. “It shows that there’s a tremendous demand for high-quality affordable housing in beautiful neighborhoods.” The separate entrances at the building, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, drew heavy criticism last year from some officials and affordable-housing advocates who saw the configuration as representing unequal treatment. The arrangement puts the affordable apartments in a segment attached to the condo building and is allowed under zoning rules that the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio says it is now working to change. Despite the controversy, it is not surprising that people are knocking down the poor door eager to get in. Housing lotteries, which the city uses to distribute subsidized apartments in new buildings, have been drawing record numbers after the system began allowing online applications in 2013 and as the rental market has gotten tighter. The lotteries are expected to multiply after Mr. de Blasio’s pledge to produce 80,000 new affordable units over 10 years. Already this year, 10 lotteries have been held for 698 units that received about 486,000 applications, officials with the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development said. The units at Extell’s building are eligible to households with incomes of $30,240 to $50,340, with rents listed at $1,082 for a two-bedroom, $895 for a one-bedroom and $833 for a studio in a prime location by the Hudson River. (Market rate units in these neighborhoods would be close to triple those prices.) Mr. Barnett argued that the response showed that the poor door issue was a “made-up controversy.” “The most important thing is to provide affordable housing,” he said. “It’s what people really want.” Affordable-housing advocates are divided on the issue, with some saying the focus should be on building more homes rather than on where to enter them. Although many buildings in New York integrate low-cost units, developers like Mr. Barnett say that segregating the rentals in a separate part of the building is preferable when market-rate units with the best views and amenities are for sale, and can draw top dollar, in turn allowing them to build more affordable units. But in the case of the Upper West Side building, that means the poorer tenants will not have access to the pool, the gym, the bowling alley and the private

theater, among the add-ons used to entice buyers passing through the nonpoor door. (The renters will have their own laundry room, a community room and bike storage.) There are even separate addresses: 50 Riverside Boulevard for the condominiums, and 470 West 62nd Street for the rentals. Mr. Barnett’s company built the low-income rentals in exchange for the freedom to construct more square meters than city rules otherwise allow, a housing strategy called inclusionary zoning. And under current rules, if the developer chooses to attach the affordable segment to the market-rate portion of the project, it is required to provide separate entrances. But the two-door option, adopted in a minority of new projects, is not in keeping with Mr. de Blasio’s liberal political stance, and officials are looking to change housing codes and programs to prohibit them. “We oppose so-called poor doors and will change the necessary rules so that when affordable housing is provided on-site,

VICTOR J. BLUE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

A Manhattan building has different entrances for owners paying market rates and renters who are subsidized. we will not allow separate entrances based on income,” Wiley Norvell, a spokesman for the mayor’s office, said. Councilman Mark Levine said he was seeking ways to keep affordable housing developers from being swamped with ineligible applications. Shelia Martin, chief operating officer of the NYC Housing Partnership, said the screening of applicants for 470 West 62nd Street began in May. After they are randomly ranked, the top several thousand applications are reviewed, and about 2,000 interviews conducted, to find the 55 households that meet income and size requirements. “It’s not the number of applications that we get,” she said. “It’s the quality of applications.” The first winners are expected to start moving in as early as August. On the other side, most of the 219 luxury condos, some of which go for more than $25 million, have sold.

Sanctity of Truth

THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL WEEKLY

MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015

ARTS & DESIGN

Ex-Wrestler Reaching Hollywood’s Stratosphere By MELENA RYZIK

BURLINGTON, Massachusetts — Dwayne Johnson, a wrestler turned actor and better known until recently as the Rock, should be the four-quadrant hero of our time, appealing to old and young, male and female alike. He is a wide-reaching, multiethnic celebrity at a time when audiences crave diversity, and a keen user of social technology. Yet he may be the oddest superstar, a known quantity whose accomplishments — box-office champ of 2013, four-time host of “Saturday Night Live” — are a continual surprise. Unlike the sequels and franchises he has excelled in, his latest film, “San Andreas,” now in worldwide release, is his first top-lining role in a big-budget original story. Along with his HBO series, “Ballers,” debuting this month, and the comedy he is shooting with Kevin Hart here in Massachusetts, “Central Intelligence,” the film could cement his status as a top leading man. Already, “in terms of consumer appeal, he’s in the league there with Brad Pitt,” said Henry Schafer of the Q Scores Company, which measures celebrity likability. Mr. Johnson has maintained a Q score way above average. Mr. Johnson’s greatest successes on screen have come in ensemble films. Last year’s “Hercules,” directed by Brett Ratner, was perceived as a flop in the United States. But it still earned more than $170 million overseas. His allure has grown global. “Nowadays you’re not going to be a movie star if you don’t have international appeal,” said Jeanine Basinger, the chairwoman of the film studies department at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. Mr. Johnson is a third generation wrestler and the only child of a black father and a Samoan mother. To hear him tell it, this moment is the culmination of several years of fighting just to get Hollywood to accept him in

Dwayne Johnson, once known

A leading man named Dwayne, not Brad, gets a shot. all his rippling, jokey glory. The battle entailed switching his management team entirely. “I am going to take a crack at this,” he said of his A-list career goals, “and I have to be me, I have to be me.” “Getting into Hollywood,” he added, “I learned that lesson the hard way.” In 2004, after a sold-out match in New York, Mr. Johnson walked away from wrestling, having

exandra Daddario). Friends call him D.J., but he also gladly answers to the Rock — that’s what P resident Ba rack Oba ma , whom he’s met a few times, calls him. He didn’t elaborate on his nicknames from Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, though he sa id “we’re all buddies.” It’s not easy to preserve an Everyman aura when you’re pals with president s. M r. Johnson seems like he could go for hugs at any time. Or pulverize you if you cross him. He g raduate d with a criminology degree from the University of Miami, and considered joining the F.B.I., though being a college football star intervened. “I wanted to play RYAN CONATY FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES in the N.F.L., and as the Rock, credits hope and optimism for his varied successes. I wanted to make a lot of money,” he made inroads into acting, with said, to slim down his 110-kisaid. “I wanted to buy my mom a the support of Vince McMahon, house.” lo-plus physique to look more like the wrestling impresario. It was The N.F.L. never came callother leading men. Mr. McMahon who cajoled the “If you don’t know any better, ing, but he did buy his parents a producer Lorne Michaels into then you buy into that” stuff, he house, in 1999, before buying one letting the Rock host “Saturday said, cursing. “But it never felt for himself — the first homes anyNight Live” in 2000. Expectagreat to me. Physically, it didn’t one in his family owned. feel great at all.” He said that by 15 he was worktions were not high, but he thorMr. Johnson inveighed against oughly charmed. “He has a woning out and was his full 1.96 mecynicism he has found in Hollyderful sense of timing, he has an ters, with a mustache. In high innate theatricality and because school, “they thought I was an wood. “You get so much further he projects strength, the audiundercover cop,” he said. “I had with optimism and hope,” he no friends.” said. ence kind of relaxes with him,” His popularity now — nearly 23 For “San Andreas,” he earned Mr. Michaels said. million followers on Twitter and a reported $12 million. In it, Mr. As he blazed his path through Instagram — is a testament to his Johnson plays a Los Angeles Hollywood, moving from bareopenness. search-and-rescue specialist. brawn parts (“The Scorpion Brad Peyton, the director of When most of California is hit King”) to ones requiring a deft “San Andreas,” said, “The bigby an earthquake, he sets out to comic touch (“Get Smart”), save his soon-to-be ex-wife (CarMr. Johnson shed his wrestling ger the room, the more comfortname, and he was advised, he la Gugino) and his daughter (Alable he gets.”

Reintroducing Carlos Lyra, Bossa King By JAMES GAVIN

RIO DE JANEIRO — It has been nearly 60 years since the bossa nova sprang out of this city. For most of the world, that cool, minimalist sound, with its insinuating pulse, still defines Brazil. Inside the country, though, the music is a respected but quaint form of nostalgia. But to Carlos Lyra, who wrote and sang many of its most famous songs, bossa remains a zenith of elegance and finesse, symbolic, he feels, of a time when those things mattered in Brazil. Bossa’s most famous composer, Antônio Carlos Jobim, once called Mr. Lyra “a great melodist, harmonist, king of rhythm, of syncopation, of swing” and “singular, without equal.” But unlike Jobim, whose “The Girl From Ipanema” brought him and bossa worldwide fame in 1964, Mr. Lyra had no comparable breakthrough.

A founder of Brazil’s signature sound laments its demise. Now 82, Mr. Lyra composes and performs when he feels the urge, and he went to the United States in May to perform in “Bossabrasil,” at the Manhattan jazz club Birdland. He looks back on his youth as an oasis, reigned over by Juscelino Kubitschek, a democratic president who fostered culture. “Everything was beautiful,” he said. Mr. Lyra was born of privilege. Ensconced in Rio’s fashionable Zona Sul, he studied classical guitar and enjoyed Debussy, Ravel, Villa-Lobos and American film. In 1958, bossa was born. Most

of its songs dealt with the Carioca good life, carefree romance and the sweetness of despair. Mr. Lyra’s did, too, but they also explored more serious issues, like the hardships of life in the slums. On November 21, 1962, he joined a sprawling summit of bossa’s founders at Carnegie Hall in New York. That now-fabled concert launched the music as Brazil’s proudest homegrown export. Mr. Lyra’s songs, starting with his first hit, “Maria Ninguém” (Maria No One), showed up on countless albums. Mr. Lyra had joined the Communist party — a risky move, for Brazil now had a socialist president, João Goulart, whose suspected Communist ties had sparked political tension. On March 31, 1964, a military coup overthrew Goulart and launched a dictatorship. Mr. Lyra was among the first artists to flee.

EU E A BOSSA: UMA HISTORIA DA BOSSA NOVA; ANDRE VIEIRA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Carlos Lyra in 1964, left, and this year in Rio de Janeiro. He moved to New York, then to Mexico, where he stayed for five years. By the time he moved back to Brazil with the American wife he had met in Mexico, Katherine Riddell, a new wave of edgy pop rebels had swept bossa aside. Disgusted with Brazil in the mid-70s, Mr. Lyra took his wife and their daughter, Kay, to live in Los Angeles. After a couple of

years, he was back in Brazil. The dictatorship ended in 1985, but for Mr. Lyra, the damage was done. “Brazil never rose again,” he said. “It’s been down, down, down. Culture now is so without depth. The other day they were playing my songs in an elevator. In today’s musical scene, I’d rather hear music in elevators than on the radio.”

Business | Money Line

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015

Nigeria’s political transition fuels investor interest in Africa – Diamond

Motivation Free, democratic elections reignite interest Tony Chukwunyem

hief Executive Officer of Atlas Mara and former boss of Barclays, Bob Diamond, has said that Nigeria’s successful political transition was the key to switching investor interest back to Africa. He stated this at the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa in South Africa, at the weekend. He noted that although issues like Ebola had raised investor concerns about Africa in October and November last year,

rading in Nigeria's debt market will remain slow, with investors unwilling to take positions until President Muhammadu Buhari unveils his economic policy, dealers have said. Reuters quoted a dealer as saying that "everybody seems to be waiting for a clearer direction from government in terms of composition of the economic team and exchange rates policy direction and concrete steps to restore

“the free and democratic election” in Nigeria had reignited investors’ interest in the continent. He said: "We are very positive about Africa. Of course, nothing goes in a straight line on the continent, but we see investors coming back now." Diamond mentioned agriculture as one of the important areas he wants to focus on in Africa by lending small amounts to people in agriculture who would otherwise not have access to finance. "Our lesson in Africa so far has been that yes,

there are impediments, but there is a big willingness to engage when there is a good opportunity," he said. Diamond regards technology as the biggest challenge on the continent. That is why he wants to provide an intelligent technological solution to analyse data for his company and clients in Africa. "We want to be the leading financial institution in sub-Saharan Africa, with a key presence in all four major trading blocks on the continent," said Diamond.

The ex Barclays CEO set up Atlas Mara in 2013 in partnership with Africa-based entrepreneur, Ashish Thakkar, with a goal to become Africa's leading bank. It raised $300 million in August last year to add to its acquisition war chest and in the following month increased its stake in Union Bank of Nigeria to almost 30 percent with a $270 million investment. Commenting on the Union Bank deal, Diamond said, "This is a very significant acquisition ... we will have

Sluggish bond trading to persist until Buhari unveils policies confidence in the economy." The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had imposed tight controls on the forex market since February in the wake of falling global oil prices and rapid depreciation of the local currency, impacting the offshore investors' interest in the

debt market. "We hope to see renewed interest in the debt market as soon as the new government kick-starts its economic agenda with possible yields falling in tandem," a senior treasurer at an established commercial bank said. Yields on the benchmark debt maturing in

2024 inched up to 13.88 per cent last Friday from 13.83 per cent the previous week. The 2022 paper was trading with a yield of 13.86 per cent, unchanged from the previous week, while the 2016 note inched up slightly to 13.80 per cent against 13.78 per cent.

Economic Indicators As at M2*

N19,142,526.05m

Mar, 2015

CPS*

N18,579,219.49m

Mar, 2015

INF

8.7

May, 2015

MPR

4/6/2015

US$60.75

5/6/2015

US$29,343,929,996

4/6/2015

Bonny Light Ext Res**

TTM 1.20 1.90 4.07 6.65 8.78 15.13 19.12

Tenor (Days) Call 30 90 180

Price 99.24 101.96 106.25 110.89 101.84 68.00 87.93

NIBOR

Rate (%) 9.7850 14.7998 16.0255 17.3338

FGN Bonds

Discount 11.10 12.54 12.96

Bid Yield 11.41 13.38 14.71

Change (%) 0.35 ▲ 0.02 ▲ -0.01 ▼

Bid Yield 13.71 13.86 13.93 13.82 13.82 15.54 13.97

Change (%) -0.07 ▼ 0.07 ▲ 0.09 ▲ 0.03 ▲ 0.11 ▲ 0.00 ↔ 0.03 ▲

Change (%) -0.91 ▼ -0.12 ▼ -0.20 ▼ 0.12 ▲

Price 99.39 102.11 106.55 111.19 102.14 68.30 88.23

Tenor (Months) 1 2 3 6 9 12

Bid Offer Spot ($/N) 197.63 197.73 THE FIXINGS –NIBOR,NITTY and NIFEX of February 6,2014

Offer Yield 13.57 13.77 13.83 13.75 13.76 15.47 13.92

NITTY

Rate (%) 10.6478 11.3892 11.5181 13.4759 14.3558 14.4074

Change (%) -0.07 ▼ 0.07 ▲ 0.09 ▲ 0.03 ▲ 0.11 ▲ 0.00 ↔ 0.03 ▲ Change (%) -0.56 ▼ 0.00 ↔ 0.09 ▲ -0.16▼ 0.01 ▲ -0.02▼

Money Market

Discount 10.85 12.29 12.71

communities: the Southern Africa Development Community, the East Africa Community and Economic Community of West African States.”

Ecobank wins best remittance product award

cobank Rapid T ransfer has been named winner of the “Best Remittance Product in Africa Award” at the Asian Banker’s 2nd Annual Middle East and Africa Awards held at the Ritz Carlton, DIFC, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) at the weekend. Executive Director, South South/South East, Ecobank Nigeria, Kingsley Umadia, said in a statement that the award was well deserved, as Ecobank has taken remittance business to higher level on the continent. He said: “As a bank, we are proud to offer the best in remittance product on the continent. We will continue to strive to remain the best and surpass customers’ expectations at all times.” Umadia explained that Rapid Transfer, one of Ecobank’s Remittance products had achieved tremendous success in the African financial landscape. According to him,

Treasury Bills Maturity Date 03-Sep-15 03-Dec-15 05-May-16

a significant stake in a key Nigerian bank and we will also have established strategic market positions in three of Africa's leading economic

“this product is facilitating economic integration in the region by making available more accurate statistical data for realistic inter-regional policy decisions. Through Rapid Transfer, we have progressively captured and migrated regional transactions from the informal sector to the formal sector and also provide a convenient, accessible, reliable and rapid payment solution for economic operators across the region.” Manager, Middle East & Africa, The Asian Banker, Farrah Brake, said that the award identifies emerging best practices and outstanding achievements in retail financial services in the region. She stated that winners were selected after rigorous research. “The Excellence in Retail Financial Services Programme is run on a completely neutral basis and unfunded over a 2-3 month period, involving a team of researchers assessing financial institutions across Middle East and Africa.”

‘No word from authorities over FX probe’

Source:CBN

Description 13.05 16-AUG-2016 15.10 27-APR-2017 16.00 29-JUN-2019 16.39 27-JAN-2022 14.20 14-MAR-2024 10.00 23-JUL-2030 12.1493 18-JUL-2034

Offer Yield 11.15 13.09 14.39

Change (%) 0.18 ▲

Change (%) Rate (%) 0.35 ▲ Open-Buy-Back (OBB) 8.50 0.02 ▲ Overnight (O/N) 8.92 -0.01 ▼

NIFEX

Bid Spot ($/N) 163.4000

Offer 163.5000

Change (%) -0.92 ▼ -0.92 ▼

Change (%) - 0.01 ▼ Source: FMDQ

arclays Africa Group has not yet been approached by South Africa's competition regulators over a currency fixing probe launched last month, its Chief Executive Officer said last Friday. The bank said it has also not launched its own internal investigation, but will co-operate fully with any investigation, Maria Ramos told Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Africa conference in Cape Town. "We haven't seen what the terms of investigation are. We will co-operate when we know what the investigation is going to cover," Ramos said. The South African Competition Commission on May 19 said it was investigating several global banks for allegedly fixing foreign exchange trades involving the rand currency. The investigation, part of a global push to probe price-rigging in currency

markets, is focussing on trading in currency pairs of the rand, whose daily value of trades ranges between 10 billion rand ($799 million) and 15 billion rand ($1.2 billion). Barclays Africa, which applied for its first banking license in Nigeria, has said that it wants to generate between 20-25 percent of its revenues from outside South Africa, the continent's most advanced economy with a developed banking sector. Besides looking to boost its revenue, the bank was also improving efficiencies at branches, investing in technology platforms and digitisation, such as mobile banking, said Ramos. The bank, which posted a 10 per cent rise in annual earnings in March, would close branches to reduce its real estate exposure, with cost savings estimated at around 40 per cent by next year, she said.

Business | News

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 22

prompted Nigeria to raise the issue of an emergency OPEC meeting earlier this year, though it didn't materialise. A few other countries' oil industries have also been hit as hard as Nigeria, highlighting a challenge for the petroleum cartel ahead of its meeting last Friday. "Once a highly desired, easy-to-refine product, Nigeria's oil is now hard to sell," the agency reported, adding that "in 2014, it fetched over $2 a barrel more than the global benchmark, Brent crude, according to OPEC data. "This year, that premium has plunged to 74 cents, on average — the lowest in a decade." Nigerian cargoes that normally sell a month ahead of delivery have languished without buyers. In early May, at least 80 million barrels of Nigerian and Angolan crude were still seeking buyers, according to Barclays. "Nigeria is in immense pain," said Amrita Sen, chief oil analyst at Energy Aspects. OPEC, last year, abandoned its traditional role of propping up prices through production cuts, figuring that surging American production would depress prices, no matter what it did and opting to fight for market share instead. Within OPEC, Ms. Sen said that Nigeria has been the worst affected by these changes. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the country's oil ministry declined to comment. Its plight highlights divisions within OPEC. Venezuela, Algeria and Angola have also struggled while wealthier OPEC members such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait ramp up production and lock down buyers in Asia. Nigeria's situation also raises a red flag about the strength of a recent oil-price recovery. After crashing from $114 a barrel to $45 from July to January, the Brent price has gone up more than 30 per cent since, closing at about $65 last Friday. "A disconnect between the price of oil-futures' contracts and the price paid in daily physical transactions was a precursor to the collapse last year, though analysts disagree about whether Nigeria is symbolic of the larger market," Dow Jones reported. "The Nigerian barrel is really now the swing barrel," said Eugene Lindell, an oil market analyst at JBC Energy. " That's on our radar and when we see West African barrels underperforming, then

MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

FG’s 2.3m bpd output target endangered we're worried about the global crude market." Nigeria is Africa's largest oil producer and ranks 13th in the world, pumping about two million barrels of oil a day. That is less than the Middle East's biggest producers that include Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq and about the same as Norway. Its flagship crude oil, known as Bonny Light, is similar to American shale oil. It is generally called "light and sweet" because of its low sulfur levels and low density, which means

that it will flow easily at room temperature and is more easily refined into high-value products such as gasoline and diesel. US refineries have generally moved to buy the cheaper, easier-to-access local version rather than importing Nigerian product in recent years. Imports of Nigerian crude oil into the US have plummeted from nearly one million barrels a day in 2010 to less than 60,000 barrels a day in 2014, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Around the world, Ni-

geria's barrels have had trouble competing with cheaper products from the Middle East. It has found buyers in India and Europe, but some new and high-tech refineries in Asia prefer to run different oil grades, leaving Nigeria in need of a new core customer base. That has made it difficult for Nigeria's government to balance its budget. Oil accounts for close to 90 per cent of Nigeria's exports and roughly 75 per cent of its consolidated budgetary revenue, according

to the World Bank. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts Nigeria's oil exports will be worth $52 billion this year, down from $88 billion in 2014. It all comes at a sensitive moment for Nigeria. Penultimate Friday, Mohammadu Buhari was sworn in as president in a rare peaceful transition of power. The country had also recently been rocked by fuel shortages, though some have blamed politics and not revenue problems for the issue. For OPEC, Nigeria's

struggles could signal a potential problem for the group's unity as it decides this week whether to continue its strategy of fighting for market share — a strategy kingpin Saudi Arabia argues is working. According to its latest public projections, the producer group expects non-OPEC production to grow by just 680,000 barrels a day this year, a precipitous drop from 2.17 million barrels a day in 2014. That is expected to increase demand for OPEC's oil.

Business |Stock Watch

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015

OUTLOOK Leveraging the relative strength of United Africa Company of Nigeria

Portland Paints: Mulling capital raise to improve returns

Chris Ugwu

t is an accepted fact that security challenges in some part of the country with the attendant consequences of loss of lives and properties, domestic constraints such as depletion of fiscal buffers, dwindling foreign reserves, erratic supply of public electricity, poor infrastructures, among others, have remained a thorn in the flesh of business operating environment, especially the real sector of the economy. However, while there is no doubt that the overall economic and business climate is a mixed fortune due to mounting economic challenges, Portland Paints and Products Nigeria Plc (PPPN) fairly maintained an upward trend in its 2014 financials. Notwithstanding the difficult business environment, the company sustained its performance during the year under review through proactive responses to market dynamics and competitive pressures. While some companies in the building materials sector were unable to successfully weather the storm due to difficulty in the business milieu, others, like PPPN, managed to firm up its bottom line, hitting 159 per cent from a profit after tax of N57.3 million in 2013 to N148.6 million in 2014. However, due to the lull in the market following massive sell off that saw the market lose considerable chunk of investors’ wealth, market sentiment for the shares of the company has depleted in spite of improved product rebranding and market penetration. Market watchers believe that the stocks might begin to enjoy relative patronage on the back of leveraging on the strength of its parent company-United Africa Company of Nigeria (UACN)-and the recent approval by shareholders to the board of directors to undertake a capital raise by way of Rights Issue. The share price, which closed at N5.48 per share in July 30, 2014, recorded a drop in growth that when the closing bell rang on Friday, the company’s share price stood at N3.99, a decrease of N1.49 kobo per cent or 27.18 per cent year to date. Financials Portland Paints and Products Nigeria Plc (PPPN) had during the 2013 financial year returned to profitability as it recorded a growth in profit after tax of N107.5 million or 148 per cent in 2013 from a loss of N222.7 million in 2012. Operational Profit grew from a loss position of N130.8 million in 2012 to N224.4 million in 2013 while earning per share also grew from loss position of 56 kobo to 27 kobo, accounting for growth of 148 per cent. The year 2014 started on a stellar note as PPNL recorded

Ettah

a significant growth at both the top- and bottom-line levels. The company was able to translate the impressive result at the top-line to bottomline growth as profit before tax surged by 215.5 per cent to N93.25 million in the review period compared to N29.55 million as of Q1 2013. Profit after tax also spiked by 215.5 per cent to N63.41 million in Q1 2014, as against N20.09 million as of Q1 2013. Net margin, a measure of profitability and efficiency, jumped to 8.62 per cent in Q1 2014, as against 3.21 per cent-backed by effective cost control. Operating expenses for the first three months of the year reduced slightly by 1.2 per cent to N252.04 million from N255.08 million as of Q1 2013. Cost-ofsales margin reduced to 53.5 per cent in Q1 2014, compared with 54.7 per cent as of Q1 2013, while gross margin remained flat at 46 per cent. The company reported a growth of 113.7 per cent in profit after tax during the second quarter ended June 2014. According to the company’s notice to the Nigerian Stock Exchange, the company’s net earnings firmed up to N125.7 million as against N58.85 million recorded during the comparable period of 2013, indicating a growth of 113.7 per cent. The company’s revenue grew by 6.3 per cent from N1.35 billion in to 2013 to N1.43 billion in 2014 while the net asset increased to 13 per cent from N967.98 million recorded in 2013 to N1.09 billion during to year under review. Portland Paints recorded significant performance with bottom-line growth hitting 159 per cent from a profit after tax of N57.3 million in 2013 to N148.6 million in 2014. During the period under review, Operational Profit also grew from N174.3

Share price movement of Portland Paints 2014 Jul 31

N5.48

Aug 31

N5.10

Sept 30

N5.50

Oct 31

N5.01

Nov 30

N5.04

Dec 31

N3.90

2015 Jan 31

N3.89

Feb 28

N3.83

Mar 31

N3.30

Apr 30

N3.46

May 8

N3.64

June 5

N3.99

We are realigning our portfolio and making strategic shifts where necessary

million in 2013 to N304.5 million. The company also reported a growth of 62.2 per cent in pretax profit for the year ended December 31, 2014. Its profit before tax firmed up to N194.297 million as against N73.464 million recorded during the comparable period of 2013, indicating a growth of 62.2 per cent. The company’s revenue grew by 2.75 per cent from N2.721 billion in 2013 to N2.798 billion in 2014. Capital raise In pursuit of plans to improve returns and actualise business expansions, shareholders of Portland Paints Plc at the annual general meeting gave approval to the board of directors to undertake a capital raise by way of Rights Issue. The shareholders as part of special business authorised that the amount forming the authorised share capital of the company be increased to N500 million by the creation of 600 million additional ordinary shares of 50 kobo each which shall rank pari-passu in all respects and form the same class with the existing shares in the company. They also approved that the directors be authorised to issue up to 600 million new ordinary shares of 50 kobo each out of the unissued share capital of the company to the existing shareholders or their respective nominees, in proportion of three new shares for every two ordinary shares held by them respectively, or any combination determined by the directors at a price approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Looking ahead Justifying the need to reposition the company for improved

performance into the future, Chairman of the company, Mr Larry Ettah, said: “Consequently, we are realigning our portfolio and making strategic shifts where necessary. We will continue to focus on innovation and seek opportunities to introduce new offerings into our portfolio of brands as well as build capacity in our people.” He noted that the outlook for the Nigerian economy in 2015 was expected to be significantly affected by low crude oil prices, increase in exchange rates of the naira against major currencies, national security issues and the political risk associated with the elections. According to him, the International Monetary Funds (IMF) has projected 4.8 per cent GDP growth for Nigeria, while both the Nigerian government and the World Bank assume a 5.5 per cent growth rate; a decline from the range of 6.5 per cent-7.0 per cent that the Nigerian economy had been growing at for some years now. He stated further: “Oil prices that closed below $60 in December 2014 fell as low as $46.00 in January 2015, leading to the review of the Federal Government’s 2015 budget benchmark from an initial $65 to $53 per barrel. “The decline in oil prices and the resultant fall in the country’s foreign exchange earnings led to a widening of the margin between the foreign exchange rates in the interbank and the RDAS window. To forestall further widening of the gap and allow the Naira to trade around its fair value, the CBN closed the foreign exchange auction system window in February 2015 and introduced the interbank forex (IFEM) trading platform.” Ettah further stressed that inflation was expected to rise from its current single digit to above 10 per cent resulting from devaluation, increase in electricity tariff, 70 per cent import duty on cars and general increase in the cost of imported materials, which points to the fact that consumer demand and purchasing power may experience slow down. He said that the Federal Government, in a bid to shore up its revenue base, planned to implement structural reforms that will drive growth and assist the country in the transition to a less oil-dependent economy. Conclusion Despite the fact that the paint industry in Nigeria has been facing a lot of challenging situations, including high cost due to the importation of the raw materials, it is expected that the industry will continue to implement strategies for the enhancement of its service delivery through restructuring of operations and particularly focus on its areas of competency.

CASH FLOW Inadequate cash flow responsible for unremitted pension funds Sunday Ojeme

ffice of the Accountant General of the Federation has described the Pension Reform Act 2014 as a bold attempt to address the challenges normally faced by retirees. Disclosing this in Abuja, the Director (Consolidated Accounts Department), OAGF, Salawu A. Zubairu, said the Act adequately assigned responsibilities to all parties including the AGF. Zubairu, who spoke during a stakeholders’ meeting organised by the National Pension Commission (PenCom), said although inadequate cash flows occasioned by nonrealisation of budgeted revenues had brought about cases of unremitted pensions allocations in recent years, the various reforms had the potential to address the challenges. Listing some of the roles of the AGF in the scheme, Zubairu said the agency established a uniform set of rules, regulations and standards for administration and payments of retirement

Insurance

AGF reiterates importance of retirement benefits benefits; make provision for the smooth operations of the Contributory Pension Scheme; ensure that every person who worked (in public and private sectors) receives his retirement benefit as and when due; assist workers to save to cater for their

livelihood during old age as well as make provision for transitional arrangement for those covered under the old scheme. According to the provision, Section 6(3) provided that the Accountant-General of the Federation shall make payments

of retirement benefits directly into individual bank accounts of retirees under the scheme existing before 25th June 2004 but had three years to retirement. Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) carry out the functions of the

existing Pension Boards and by S.45(b) prepare and submit monthly payroll of pensioners to the AGF for direct payment into pensioners’ bank accounts. The AGF is required to render returns of such payment to the National Pension Commission

(PenCom) and PTAD. Section 11(3) empowers the employer (FGN) to deduct at source the monthly contribution of the employee and within seven working days after employee is paid his salary, to remit both employer and employee contribution to Pension Fund Custodian specified by the PFA. While deductions are done at source by BOF as reflected in the personnel cost warrant, the AGF is responsible for its remittance at the time salaries are paid.

L-R: Assistant Director, e-Government FMCT, Mr. Olufemi Olufeko; Director, Public Affairs, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Mr. Tony Ojobo; Executive Director, DigitalSENSE Africa, Mrs. Nkemdilim Nweke; Managing Director, Internet Exchange Point Nigeria (IXPN), Mr. Muhammed Rudman and Head of legal, NCC, Mrs Yetunde Akiloyo, during the IPV6 DigitalSENSE Forum in Lagos. PHOTO: TONY EGUAYE

NAICOM approves 23 underwriters’ accounts s the June 30 deadline for the submission of financial accounts of underwriters approaches, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) said it had approved the accounts of 23 firms forwarded to it as at June 2. The commission, in a circular, revealed the names of the approved firms as Mansard Insurance, Wapic life and General; Custodian Life and General; Law Union & Rock, UBA Metro; FBN Life; Oasis Insurance; Zenith Life and General, and Royal Exchange Life and General. Others are AIICO; Prestige Insurance; Consolidated Hallmark; Continental Re; NSIA Insurance; NEM; Leadway Assurance; Unity Kapital and Equity Assurance. The circular also pointed out that responses from three firms that were initially queried

MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

were now under review, while the accounts of 11 firms were queried and those of three other firms are being reviewed. New Telegraph recalled that the regulator in April released a filing on its website where it queried five insurance companies while that of six others were undergoing review. It also pointed out that responses were being awaited from AIICO Insurance Plc, Consolidated Hallmark Insurance, UBA Metropolitan Life, Zenith Life Assurance as well as Zenith General Insurance on the queries extended to them by NAICOM. The information titled ‘Status of 2014 Financial Statements of Insurance Companies as at April 8, 2015, revealed that while six others were having their results reviewed, six others were yet to submit their 2013 audited results to the commission.

ENTITLEMENT Before now, the officers were entirled to between N1 million and N2 million depending on their rank

n a bid to motivate them as well as boost their morale, the Lagos State government has resolved to review the insurance compensation for police officers serving in the state. Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, disclosed this on Friday when he visited the State Police Command. While interacting with with Divisional Police Officers and Area Commanders in the state, Ambode said that the compensation, which covers death and permanent disability to police officers in the line of duty, was last reviewed 16 years ago. A statement on Friday pointed out that before the review, senior police officers were entitled to N2million, Inspectors, N1.5million while officers in got N1million. The governor said although the Federal Government, through the Contributory Pensions Act, had made provisions to assure the lives of all police officers, former governors, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed

LASG to review insurance for police after 16 years Tinubu and Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, had subscribed to additional Group Life scheme for the officers. He stressed that the gesture was borne out of the hazards associated with policing, however adding that the value of the compensation had become grossly inadequate. “Therefore in fulfillment of our resolve to sustain, improve and consolidate on past attainments, I am pleased to announce the upward review of the compensation value as follows; Senior Police Officers, N5million; Inspectors, N3million and Rank and File N2million respectively”, the Governor said. The Governor however seized the occasion to seek the support and cooperation of police officers in facilitating the strict enforcement of the Lagos State Law on Protection Against Violence, 2007, as well as the Criminal Laws of Lagos, 2011, in his renewed effort to wage war against domestic violence against women and rape. “By doing that, we will be sending a strong signal of zero tolerance to such barbaric acts

and also conveying a message of assurance to our women of our commitment to their protection”, the Governor said. Ambode, who was earlier received by the state Commissioner of Police (CP), Mr. Kayode Aderanti, at the Lagos Police Command, thanked the Command for the efforts in keeping the peace in the state in the last eight years, just as he urged them not to rest on their oars. He particularly commended the Police for its role in ensuring peaceful conduct of the 2015 general elections in the state, assurring that the government will continue to put the constraints and concerns of the Force in the front burner. “I consider it compelling to again seek your robust partnership and collaboration as we advance the cause for a safe and secure Lagos state. As 21st Century Police Officers, you are expected to scale up your skills and professional conduct in a manner that the citizens will see you as true friends who will not compromise integrity and forthrightness,” he said.

Business | Insurance

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015

CHALLENGES Stakeholders prepare for imminent challenges Sunday Ojeme

s part of measures to strengthen operations of the Pension Reform Act 2014, the leadership of the Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp) recently

Union Assurance now Ensure Insurance

NION Assurance Company Plc has changed its name to Ensure Insurance PLC to reflect its new ownership, following the successful acquisition of majority stake in the underwriting firm by Greenoaks Global Holdings Limited. The company’s shareholders who gave their approval to change the name at its 1st Extra-Ordinary General Meeting, voted in favour of the name change to reflect the institutions new identity. Part of the special business proposed at the meeting by the Board Chairman, Mr Fola Adeola, was the amendment of the Memorandum and Article of Association of the Company to reflect the change of name. The company will subsequently file the change in its corporate identity at the Corporate Affairs Commission and the National Insurance Commission. Greenoaks Global Holdings Limited (GGH) is a London based investment firm focused on building market-leading insurance businesses in fast-growing frontier and emerging markets. The Greenoaks’ team brings extensive experience in insurance, reinsurance, and operational transformation, having worked with Fortune 500 companies to early-stage emerging market insurers. Its team’s combined experience includes leading financial and professional service firms such as Goldman Sachs, D.E. Shaw, McKinsey & Company, AIG, and Swiss Re. Greenoaks focuses on driving value for its companies over the longrun, and intend to remain long-term owners and operators to drive extraordinary value creation for its stakeholders.

Why we organised training for pension operators –PenOp engaged industry stakeholders in a bid to equip them for the future and developments arising from the revised law. The training engagement, which took place in Lagos, Abuja and PortHarcourt, was designed partly to prepare the operators for the informal sector and tackle challenges currently affecting the industry. It also provided an opportunity for the regulator, the National Pension Commission (PenCom), to enlighten the operators, especially the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs), on new initiatives in the sector based on the revised PRA 2014 by former President Goodluck Jonathan. A statement by the Ex-

ecutive, Secretary PenOp, Ms Susan Oranye, pointed out that the focus of the training was to build the capacity, knowledge base and confidence of the staff, especially those who are at the front line in the organisation they work for. She said, "The pension industry has seen changes, especially in the Pension Reform Act 2014, which came with changes in procedures, required documentation and different issues. "We felt that it was important that all the representatives, staff who have face to face contacts with customers and the general public on a daily bases are brought up to date regarding all the changes, processes, and documen-

tations required. We do not want any of them to offer sub-standard customers service, hence the need for the training." She said the drive for the training was to ensure that across the board, regardless of the pension fund administrator, people need necessary information, they would receive excellent and superlative customers service immediately as they walk in through the doors of PFAs. "The pension industry is still growing and we know that now is the time to inculcate into the system the need for operators to treat their clients well, keep them informed and ensure that all their enquiries and needs are met. That was the the es-

sence of the training. "To make the training more in-depth, for the first year ever, the National Pension Commission (PenCom) was invited to attend the trainings in the three locations. PenCom was there to training the attendees on how to provide excellent customers service in retirement benefits administration. This is because, that is the high point of the pension system - what people get when they retire," she said. She noted that PenCom trained the attendees on various key procedures such as basic calculation of fund pricing, differences between Programmed Withdrawals and Annuity, death benefit requirements and more, adding

that there was robust question and answer sections, where challenges were raised and discussed in a spirited environment. Oranye said the attendees were pleased with benefits they derived from the training, stressing that the effort goes to show that PenOp is not resting on its oars. "We are aware that there is approximately 176 million in this country and about 70 million people in the workforce and currently we have about 6.4 million in the contributory pension scheme," she added. She said PenOp recognised the fact that there were a lot of grounds to cover, and so, it is preparing the operators for the opening of doors to the informal sector, adding that prior to when the gates would be opened, the operators should be prepared, knowledgeable to meet whatever enquiry and also provide the services that are required.

L-R: Executive Director, Legal and Regulatory Services, Vodacom Business Nigeria, Mrs. Nkechi Newton-Denila; Principal, Federal Science and Technical College, Yaba, Mr. Chris Ugorji; Managing Director, Vodacom Business Nigeria, Mr Guy Clarke and Vice Principal, Administration, Federal Science and Technical College, Yaba, Mrs. Jane Nwanah, at the Handing-Over and Commissioning ceremony of Internet Access and 220KVA Standby Generator donated by Vodacom Business Nigeria to Federal Science and Technical College, Yaba in Lagos. PHOTO: SULEIMAN HUSAINI

PREMIUM Insurance business flourishes when policy holders pay premium

oyal Exchange General Insurance Company (REGIC), Nigeria’s foremost insurance underwriter with a focus on General and special risks, has paid out N1.976 billion as claims settlements to its clients at the end of the year 2014. A statement obtained by New Telegraph quoted the Managing Director, Mr. Richard Olutayo Borokini, as saying that the company’s focus was hinged on the prompt settlement of genuine insurance claims, stressing that this would continue to be the

Royal Exchange settles N1.976bn claims business philosophy of the company in the years ahead. He added that the company would continue to support the business community as it strives to increase the manufacturing capacities of industries in the country. “Royal Exchange has once again demonstrated its strength and ability to honour its financial obligations and also protect the interest of its various corporate and individual clients, as there is a conscious effort to have a genuine partnership with the clients based on trust and integrity, core values which was instilled by the founders

of the company and have continued to drive the operations and strategic directions of the company.” “Customer satisfaction is the fulcrum of insurance business and this inevitably builds customer loyalty. Once Royal Exchange is able to pay customers claims as they arise, more and more customers and the general public will have faith to take out insurance policies on their lives and properties because they are convinced that should a claim/loss arise, Royal Exchange will be able to meet its financial obligations to its clients.” Giving a breakdown of the

various amounts paid in the different insurance classes, Borokini said a total of N639 million was paid on Motor and Accident insurance policies accounting for 32.37 per cent of the N1.976 billion paid out as claims, while N552 million was paid out on Fire and Industrial All Risks (IAR) policies, representing 26.4 per cent of total claims paid and Special Risks insurance policies accounted for 25.9 per cent, amounting to N512 million as claims. Other classes of insurance with claims payments include marine insurance policies with N212.2 million paid out as claims, representing 10.7 per cent, while Engineering Insurance policies resulted in total claims payment of N67.8 million paid out, which is about 3.4 per cent of the claims paid to various cleints.

Business | Financial Market News

MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

FMDQ Daily Quotations List

5-Jun-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

Price

Rating/Agency

Issuer

Description ^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 15.54 13-FEB-2020 ^16.39 27-JAN-2022 ^14.20 14-MAR-2024 15.00 28-NOV-2028 12.49 22-MAY-2029 8.50 20-NOV-2029 ^10.00 23-JUL-2030 ^12.1493 18-JUL-2034

Issue Date

Coupon (%)

Outstanding Value (N'bn)

Maturity Date

TTM (Yrs)

Bid Yield (%)

Offer Yield (%)

Bid Price

Offer Price

16-Aug-13 27-Apr-12 27-Jul-07 31-Aug-07 30-May-08 29-Jun-12 23-Oct-09 13-Feb-15 27-Jan-12 14-Mar-14 28-Nov-08 22-May-09 20-Nov-09 23-Jul-10 18-Jul-14

13.05 15.10 9.85 9.35 10.70 16.00 7.00 15.54 16.39 14.20 15.00 12.49 8.50 10.00 12.1493

581.39 476.80 20.00 100.00 300.00 351.30 233.90 193.73 600.00 573.14 75.00 150.00 200.00 591.57 299.50

16-Aug-16 27-Apr-17 27-Jul-17 31-Aug-17 30-May-18 29-Jun-19 23-Oct-19 13-Feb-20 27-Jan-22 14-Mar-24 28-Nov-28 22-May-29 20-Nov-29 23-Jul-30 18-Jul-34

1.20 1.89 2.14 2.24 2.98 4.07 4.38 4.69 6.65 8.77 13.48 13.96 14.46 15.13 19.12

13.78 13.85 13.85 13.86 13.86 13.87 13.87 13.86 13.83 13.82 17.00 17.50 18.08 15.54 13.93

13.64 13.76 13.77 13.77 13.80 13.77 13.76 13.78 13.77 13.76 16.94 17.43 17.98 15.47 13.88

99.17 101.99 92.75 91.54 92.48 106.43 77.97 105.59 110.82 101.82 89.51 74.10 51.34 68.00 88.13

99.32 102.14 92.90 91.69 92.63 106.73 78.27 105.89 111.12 102.12 89.81 74.40 51.64 68.30 88.43

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

4,746.32

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

4,418.86

Rating/Agency

Issuer

Description

Issue Date

Coupon (%)

Outstanding Value (N'bn)

Maturity Date

Avg. Life/TTM (Yrs)

# Risk Premium (%)

Valuation Yield (%)

Modelled Price

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

17.25 0.00/16.00 0.00/16.50 0.00/16.50

2.40 112.22 116.70 66.49

03-Apr-17 08-Dec-16 19-Apr-17 06-Jul-17

0.95 1.51 1.87 2.09

2.27 1.00 2.67 2.85

16.17 14.81 16.51 16.70

100.97 101.55 102.04 98.31

Agency Bonds FMBN ***LCRM

17.25 FMB II 03-APR-2017 0.00/16.00 LCRM 08-DEC-2016 0.00/16.50 LCRM II 19-APR-2017 0.00/16.50 LCRM III 06-JUL-2017

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

297.82

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

300.83

Sub-National Bonds A/Agusto

KADUNA

12.50 KADUNA 31-AUG-2015

31-Aug-10

12.50

8.50

31-Aug-15

0.24

4.44

16.12

99.06

A-/Agusto

*EBONYI

13.00 EBONYI 30-SEP-2015

30-Sep-10

13.00

2.16

30-Sep-15

0.32

3.23

15.44

99.19

BBB+/Agusto

*BENUE

14.00 BENUE 30-JUN-2016

30-Jun-11

14.00

4.86

30-Jun-16

0.59

4.46

18.02

97.85

‡ /Agusto

*IMO

15.50 IMO 30-JUN-2016

30-Jun-09

15.50

5.73

30-Jun-16

0.59

3.48

17.04

99.14

A+/Agusto; ‡ /GCR

LAGOS

10.00 LAGOS 19-APR-2017

19-Apr-10

10.00

57.00

19-Apr-17

1.87

1.00

14.84

92.30

‡ /Agusto

*BAYELSA

13.75 BAYELSA 30-JUN-2017

30-Jun-10

13.75

25.73

30-Jun-17

1.14

1.00

14.91

98.83

‡ /Agusto

EDO

14.00 EDO 31-DEC-2017

30-Dec-10

14.00

25.00

31-Dec-17

2.57

1.79

15.65

96.59

‡ /Agusto; A+/GCR

*DELTA

14.00 DELTA 30-SEP-2018

30-Sep-11

14.00

30.81

30-Sep-18

1.95

1.80

15.65

97.34

Bb-/Agusto; A-/GCR

NIGER

14.00 NIGER II 4-OCT-2018

04-Oct-11

14.00

9.00

04-Oct-18

1.97

1.00

14.85

98.56

‡ /Agusto; A-/GCR†

*EKITI

14.50 EKITI 09-DEC-2018

09-Dec-11

14.50

13.73

09-Dec-18

1.94

1.00

14.85

Bb-/Agusto

*NIGER

14.00 NIGER III 12-DEC-2018

12-Dec-13

14.00

10.20

12-Dec-18

1.95

4.78

18.63

93.08

15.50 ONDO 14-FEB-2019

14-Feb-12

15.50

27.00

14-Feb-19

2.14

1.00

14.85

101.04

02-Oct-12 22-Nov-12 12-Dec-12

15.50 14.50 14.75

15.09 80.00 25.70

02-Oct-19 22-Nov-19 12-Dec-19

2.57 4.47 2.54

2.02 1.00 1.00

15.88 14.87 14.86

99.17 98.82 99.78 97.85

‡ /Agusto; A-/GCR

*ONDO

99.45

BBB+/Agusto; A-/GCR Aa-/Agusto; ‡ /GCR

*GOMBE LAGOS

15.50 GOMBE 02-OCT-2019 14.50 LAGOS 22-NOV-2019

BBB-/Agusto; BBB+/GCR

*OSUN

14.75 OSUN 12-DEC-2019

BBB-/Agusto

*OSUN

14.75 OSUN II 10-OCT-2020

10-Oct-13

14.75

10.78

10-Oct-20

3.08

1.82

15.68

Aa-/Agusto; ‡ /GCR

LAGOS

13.50 LAGOS 27-NOV-2020

27-Nov-13

13.50

87.50

27-Nov-20

5.48

1.00

14.85

95.05

A-/Agusto; BBB+/DataPro

KOGI

15.00 KOGI 31-DEC-2020

31-Dec-13

15.00

5.00

31-Dec-20

5.57

1.00

14.85

100.54

‡ /Agusto A-/GCR

*EKITI *NASARAWA

14.50 EKITI II 31-DEC-2020 15.00 NASARAWA 06-JAN-2021

31-Dec-13

14.50

4.55

31-Dec-20

3.23

1.44

15.30

98.08

06-Jan-14

15.00

4.56

06-Jan-21

3.26

1.00

14.86

100.28

99.47

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

452.88 439.90

Corporate Bonds BBB+/Agusto BBB-/Agusto

*UPDC

10.00 UPDC 17-AUG-2015

17-Aug-10

10.00

2.50

17-Aug-15

0.20

1.00

12.53

*FLOURMILLS

12.00 FLOURMILLS 9-DEC-2015

09-Dec-10

12.00

18.75

09-Dec-15

0.26

1.00

12.80

99.80

BB/GCR

*CHELLARAMS

14.00 CHELLARAMS 06-JAN-2016

06-Jan-11

14.00

0.42

06-Jan-16

0.34

2.63

15.00

99.70

A+/Agusto; A-/GCR

NAHCO

13.00 NAHCO 29-SEP-2016

29-Sep-11

13.00

15.00

29-Sep-16

1.32

1.00

14.86

97.79

A-/Agusto

FSDH

14.25 FSDH 25-OCT-2016

25-Oct-13

14.25

5.53

25-Oct-16

1.39

1.34

15.18

98.83

A/GCR

UBA

13.00 UBA 30-SEP-2017

30-Sep-10

13.00

20.00

30-Sep-17

2.32

1.00

14.86

96.41

BBB-/GCR

18.00 C&I LEASING 30-NOV-2017

30-Nov-12

18.00

0.56

30-Nov-17

1.55

1.88

15.70

103.78

Nil

*C & I LEASING *DANA#{r}

MPR+7.00 DANA 9-APR-2018

09-Apr-11

16.00

5.40

09-Apr-18

1.60

3.84

17.66

97.80

A-/DataPro†; B+/GCR

*TOWER#

MPR+7.00 TOWER 9-SEP-2018

09-Sep-11

18.00

2.54

09-Sep-18

1.76

1.00

14.83

104.51

101.62

AAA/DataPro†; A/GCR

*TOWER

MPR+5.25 TOWER 9-SEP-2018

09-Sep-11

16.00

0.70

09-Sep-18

1.76

1.00

14.83

A+/Agusto; A/GCR

UBA

14.00 UBA II 30-SEP-2018

30-Sep-11

14.00

35.00

30-Sep-18

3.32

3.00

16.87

92.87

BBB+/Agusto; BBB+/GCR

15.75 LA CASERA 18-OCT-2018

18-Oct-13

15.75

2.10

18-Oct-18

1.87

2.29

16.13

99.35

BBB-/DataPro†; BB/GCR

*LA CASERA *CHELLARAMS#

MPR+5.00 CHELLARAMS II 17-FEB-2019

17-Feb-12

18.00

0.36

17-Feb-19

1.95

6.11

19.96

97.08

Nil

*DANA#{r}

16.00 DANA II 1-APR-2019

01-Apr-14

16.00

4.50

01-Apr-19

2.57

2.16

16.02

99.89

A+/Agusto; A-/GCR

NAHCO

15.25 NAHCO II 14-NOV-2020

14-Nov-13

15.25

2.05

14-Nov-20

5.44

2.76

16.61

95.22

BBB/GCR

FCMB

14.25 FCMB I 20-NOV-2021

20-Nov-14

14.25

26.00

20-Nov-21

6.46

1.80

15.63

94.49

A/GCR

UBA

16.45 UBA I 30-DEC-2021

30-Dec-14

16.45

30.50

30-Dec-21

6.57

1.57

15.40

104.22

A/GCR

STANBIC IBTC

182D T.bills+1.20 STANBIC IA 30-SEP-2024

30-Sep-14

11.93

0.10

30-Sep-24

9.32

1.00

15.09

84.38

A/GCR

STANBIC IBTC

13.25 STANBIC IB 30-SEP-2024

30-Sep-14

13.25

15.44

30-Sep-24

9.32

1.00

15.09

90.89

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

187.44

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

182.12

Supranational Bond AAA/S&P

IFC

10.20 IFC 11-FEB-2018

11-Feb-13

10.20

12.00

11-Feb-18

2.69

1.00

14.86

89.94

Aaa/Moody's; AAA/S&P

AfDB

11.25 AFDB 1-FEB-2021

10-Jul-14

11.25

12.95

01-Feb-21

4.75

1.00

14.86

84.96

Bid Price

Offer Price

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

24.95 21.80

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION Rating/Agency

Issuer

Description

Issue Date

Coupon (%)

Outstanding Value ($mm)

Maturity Date

Bid Yield (%)

Offer Yield (%)

6.75 JAN 28, 2021

07-Oct-11

6.75

500.00

28-Jan-21

5.98

5.76

103.63

104.68

5.13 JUL 12, 2018

12-Jul-13

5.13

500.00

12-Jul-18

4.84

4.46

100.82

101.91

6.38 JUL 12, 2023

12-Jul-13

6.38

500.00

12-Jul-23

6.12

5.96

101.62

102.65

FGN Eurobonds

Prices & Yields

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

FGN

BB-/Fitch; BB-/S&P

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

1,500.00

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

1,530.33

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

GTBANK PLC I

7.50 MAY 19, 2016

19-May-11

7.50

500.00

19-May-16

6.28

4.08

101.09

103.12

B+/S&P

ACCESS BANK PLC

7.25 JUL 25, 2017

25-Jul-12

7.25

350.00

25-Jul-17

6.99

100.50

B/Fitch; B/S&P

FIDELITY BANK PLC

6.88 MAY 09, 2018

09-May-13

6.88

300.00

02-May-18

10.31

9.39

91.52

93.70

B+/Fitch; B+/S&P

GTBANK PLC

6.00 NOV 08, 2018

08-Nov-13

6.00

400.00

08-Nov-18

7.56

6.97

95.39

97.08

B+/Fitch; BB-/S&P

ZENITH BANK PLC

6.25 APR 22, 2019

22-Apr-14

6.25

500.00

22-Apr-19

7.22

96.75

B/Fitch; B/S&P

DIAMOND BANK PLC

8.75 May 21, 2019

21-May-14

8.75

200.00

21-May-19

10.05

9.61

95.85

97.23

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

FIRST BANK PLC ACCESS BANK PLC II FIRST BANK LTD

8.25 AUG 07, 2020 9.25/6M USD LIBOR+7.677 JUN 24, 2021 8.00/2Y USD SWAP+6.488 JUL 23 2021

07-Aug-13 24-Jun-14 23-Jul-14

8.25 9.25 8.00

300.00 400.00 450.00

07-Aug-20 24-Jun-21 23-Jul-21

9.18 10.25 9.42

9.18 10.19 9.42

95.70 95.92 92.84

95.70 96.20 92.84

B-/S&P

ECOBANK NIG. LTD

8.75 AUG 14, 2021

14-Aug-14

8.75

250.00

14-Aug-21

10.30

9.89

92.38

94.13

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

3,650.00

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

3,508.26

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

FIXINGS Maturity 25-Jun-15 2-Jul-15 9-Jul-15 16-Jul-15 23-Jul-15 30-Jul-15 6-Aug-15 13-Aug-15

Bid Discount (%) 11.23 10.70 10.32 10.69 11.31 11.25 11.21 11.80

Offer Discount (%) 10.98 10.45 10.07 10.44 11.06 11.00 10.96 11.55

Bid Yield (%) 11.30 10.79 10.42 10.81 11.48 11.44 11.43 12.07

Money Market

NIBOR Tenor O/N 1M 3M 6M

Rate (%) 9.2100 14.7338 16.0117 17.2179

Tenor

Rate (%)

OBB

8.08

O/N Tenor Call 1M

8.50

REPO

Rate (%) 9.75 10.00

Foreign Exchange (Spot & Forwards) Tenor

Bid ($/N)

Offer ($/N)

Spot 7D 14D 1M 2M 3M

198.36 201.81 202.13 202.87 204.24 205.60

198.46 201.93 202.28 203.37 205.31 207.21

Rating/Agency

Issuer

Description

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015 TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

Coupon (%)

16-Aug-13 27-Apr-12 27-Jul-07 31-Aug-07 30-May-08 29-Jun-12 23-Oct-09 13-Feb-15 27-Jan-12 14-Mar-14 28-Nov-08 22-May-09 20-Nov-09 23-Jul-10 18-Jul-14

13.05 15.10 9.85 9.35 10.70 16.00 7.00 15.54 16.39 14.20 15.00 12.49 8.50 10.00 12.1493

(N'bn) 581.39 476.80 20.00 100.00 300.00 351.30 233.90 193.73 600.00 573.14 75.00 150.00 200.00 591.57 299.50

Rating/Agency

Issuer

Exchange to concentrate efforts on delivering strong value proposition

Agency Bonds

FMBN

***LCRM

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

13.78 13.85 13.85 13.86 13.86 13.87 13.87 13.86 13.83 13.82 17.00 17.50 18.08 15.54 13.93

(%) 13.64 13.76 13.77 13.77 13.80 13.77 13.76 13.78 13.77 13.76 16.94 17.43 17.98 15.47 13.88

Bid Price

Offer Price

99.17 101.99 92.75 91.54 92.48 106.43 77.97 105.59 110.82 101.82 89.51 74.10 51.34 68.00 88.13

99.32 102.14 92.90 91.69 92.63 106.73 78.27 105.89 111.12 102.12 89.81 74.40 51.64 68.30 88.43

Business | Financial Market News

A/Agusto

KADUNA

A-/Agusto

*EBONYI

Stock market: NSE to attract more investment inflow Description

17.25 FMB II 03-APR-2017 0.00/16.00 LCRM 08-DEC-2016 0.00/16.50 LCRM II 19-APR-2017 0.00/16.50 LCRM III 06-JUL-2017

Issue Date

Coupon (%)

Outstanding Value (N'bn)

Maturity Date

Avg. Life/TTM (Yrs)

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

17.25 0.00/16.00 0.00/16.50 0.00/16.50

2.40 112.22 116.70 66.49

03-Apr-17 08-Dec-16 19-Apr-17 06-Jul-17

0.95 1.51 1.87 2.09

seize Risknew opportunities, and Modelled Valuation Yield Premium (%) Price incapitalise on our strategic (%) vestments,” he said. 2.27 Council 16.17 100.97Mr. The President, 1.00 14.81 101.55 Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, 2.67 16.51 102.04giv16.70 98.31 ing 2.85 highlight on the financials, said that in 2014, the Exchange recorded impressive growth along key financial indices. 4.44 16.12 99.06 He total 99.19 assets 3.23 noted that 15.44 4.46 18.02 97.85 grew by over 30 per cent, while 3.48 17.04 99.14 net 1.00 assets grew by 29 per cent, 14.84 92.30 1.00 14.91 98.83 year-on-year. 1.79 15.65 96.59 1.80 15.65 in net 97.34 “The growth assets 1.00 14.85 98.56 was1.00 driven by14.85 a consistent rise 99.45 4.78 18.63 93.08 inin trading revenue and other 1.00 14.85 101.04 come. The results were achieved 2.02 15.88 99.17 1.00 14.87 98.82 in spite of thinning operating 1.00 14.86 99.78 margins and 15.68 a fourth quarter 1.82 97.85 1.00 95.05 slowdown in 14.85 market activity ," 1.00 14.85 100.54 he said. 1.44 15.30 98.08 #

300.83

Stories byBonds Chris Ugwu Sub-National

*BENUE s an African hub *IMO for entrepreneurial A+/Agusto; ‡ /GCR LAGOS ‡ /Agusto *BAYELSA growth, the Nige‡ /Agusto EDO rian Stock Exchange ‡ /Agusto; A+/GCR *DELTA Bb-/Agusto; A-/GCR NIGER (NSE) has said that *EKITI one of its ‡ /Agusto; A-/GCR† Bb-/Agusto *NIGER key strategic plan moving for‡ /Agusto; A-/GCR *ONDO ward is to engage the global BBB+/Agusto; A-/GCR *GOMBE Aa-/Agusto; ‡ /GCR LAGOSin orfinancial communities BBB-/Agusto; BBB+/GCR *OSUN der to attract more investment BBB-/Agusto *OSUN Aa-/Agusto;into ‡ /GCR the market. LAGOS inflow A-/Agusto; BBB+/DataPro KOGI The Chief Executive Officer ‡ /Agusto *EKITI A-/GCR of the NSE, Mr. Oscar*NASARAWA Onyema, TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE who stated this in an annual reTOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION port obtained by New Telegraph Corporate Bonds said: “As we work with the reguBBB+/Agusto *UPDC BBB-/Agusto lator and other market interme*FLOURMILLS BB/GCR *CHELLARAMS diaries to streamline the cost of A+/Agusto; A-/GCR NAHCO participation in our market, we A-/Agusto FSDH A/GCR UBA will intensify efforts around deBBB-/GCR *C & I LEASING BBB+/Agusto ‡ /Agusto

livering a clear value proposi12.50 KADUNA 31-AUG-2015 tion for issuers and developing 13.00 EBONYI 30-SEP-2015 BENUE 30-JUN-2016 a truly14.00 sustainable market. 15.50 IMO 30-JUN-2016 “While there is still much to 10.00 LAGOS 19-APR-2017 13.75 BAYELSA 30-JUN-2017 be done, we are confident that 14.00 EDO 31-DEC-2017 we will doDELTA our30-SEP-2018 best under what14.00 14.00 NIGER II 4-OCT-2018 ever scenarios we are presented 14.50 EKITI 09-DEC-2018 14.00 NIGER III 12-DEC-2018 with in 2015. We will concen15.50 ONDO 14-FEB-2019 trate our efforts on delivering 15.50 GOMBE 02-OCT-2019 14.50value LAGOS 22-NOV-2019 a strong proposition, ex14.75 OSUN 12-DEC-2019 tending reach, and 14.75our OSUNglobal II 10-OCT-2020 13.50 LAGOS developing new27-NOV-2020 business oppor15.00 KOGI 31-DEC-2020 tunities for the group.” 14.50 EKITI II 31-DEC-2020 15.00 NASARAWA 06-JAN-2021 Onyema noted that the Exchange’s 2015 outlook was largely influenced by a number of Nigerian macroeconomic 10.00 UPDC 17-AUG-2015 12.00 FLOURMILLS 9-DEC-2015 variables, including crude oil CHELLARAMS 06-JAN-2016 prices,14.00 foreign exchange move13.00 NAHCO 29-SEP-2016 ments,14.25 national security. FSDH 25-OCT-2016 UBA 30-SEP-2017 “A 13.00 strengthening US dol18.00 C&I LEASING 30-NOV-2017

lar may31-Aug-10 precipitate additional 12.50 foreign 30-Sep-10 portfolio investment 13.00 30-Jun-11 14.00 reversal.30-Jun-09 However, the15.50 deeply reduced19-Apr-10 prices of our listed 10.00 30-Jun-10 13.75 securities present domestic in30-Dec-10 14.00 30-Sep-11 14.00 vestors with an opportunity for 04-Oct-11 14.00 informed long-term investing. 09-Dec-11 14.50 14.00 “The 12-Dec-13 business model of the 14-Feb-12 15.50 NSE is sound, our focus is clear, 02-Oct-12 15.50 14.50 and we 22-Nov-12 are well positioned to 12-Dec-12 14.75 take advantage of emerging 10-Oct-13 14.75 13.50 market 27-Nov-13 trends, and economic 31-Dec-13 15.00 and market cycles. With 31-Dec-13 14.50some 06-Jan-14 15.00 hard work and perseverance, I have no doubt that we can be the vibrant exchange that connects Nigeria,17-Aug-10 Africa and the10.00 world,” 12.00 he said. 09-Dec-10 06-Jan-11 14.00 Onyema noted that the 29-Sep-11 13.00 Exchange would continue to 25-Oct-13 14.25 30-Sep-10 13.00 deliver 30-Nov-12 on its strategic com18.00

Nil

*DANA#{r}

MPR+7.00 DANA 9-APR-2018

A-/DataPro†; B+/GCR

*TOWER#

MPR+7.00 TOWER 9-SEP-2018

09-Sep-11

18.00

AAA/DataPro†; A/GCR

*TOWER#

MPR+5.25 TOWER 9-SEP-2018

09-Sep-11

16.00

A+/Agusto; A/GCR

UBA

14.00 UBA II 30-SEP-2018

30-Sep-11

BBB+/Agusto; BBB+/GCR

*LA CASERA *CHELLARAMS#

15.75 LA CASERA 18-OCT-2018

18-Oct-13

15.75

MPR+5.00 CHELLARAMS II 17-FEB-2019

17-Feb-12

18.00

14-Aug-14

8.75

09-Apr-11

16.00

Ethiopia is new investment destination in Africa

14.00

he buzz at the*DANA World cent, the16.00 most all coun- an oil price slump, DANAof II 1-APR-2019 01-Apr-14 is fore- 16.00 Nil 15.25 NAHCO II 14-NOV-2020 A+/Agusto; A-/GCR 14-Nov-13 NAHCO on Economic Forum tries ranked, while those in cast to grow 4.8 per cent this 15.25 14.25 FCMB I 20-NOV-2021 20-Nov-14 14.25 BBB/GCR FCMB an annual Nigeria slumped 17 per cent. year and five 30-Dec-14 per cent next 16.45 16.45 UBA I 30-DEC-2021 A/GCR Africa, UBA T.bills+1.20 STANBIC IA 30-SEP-2024 A/GCR 30-Sep-14 11.93 STANBIC IBTC summit of the continent’s “It’s got182D a government that year. 13.25 STANBIC IB 30-SEP-2024 A/GCR 30-Sep-14 13.25 IBTC rich and powerful,STANBIC is all is managing economic develOn Thursday, Dangote TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE about Ethiopia, where the opment in a very deliberate, Group, the Nigerian comTOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION economy is flourishing and cautious manner,” Dow’s pany controlled by Aliko Supranational Bond for Dangote, Africa’s government embracing se- president10.20 IFC sub-Saharan 11-FEB-2018 AAA/S&P IFC 11-Feb-13 richest 10.20 11.25 McLean, AFDB 1-FEB-2021 Aaa/Moody's; AAA/S&P would spend 11.25 lect foreign capital. AfDB Africa , Ross said in man, said it 10-Jul-14 TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE According to Bloomberg an interview. “It’s the second- $500 million expanding its TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION News, executives from Gen- most populous country in cement plant in Ethiopia, adding to $600 al-Coupon (%) eral Electric Co., Dow Chemi- IssuerAfrica. It hasn’t urbanised Description Rating/Agency Issuemillion Date cal Co., Standard Bank like other African countries, ready invested. FGN Eurobonds Group Limited and Master- but it’s going to. It’s a very “We’ve done quite a lot 6.75 JAN 28, 2021 BB-/Fitch; B+/S&P of Ethiopian07-Oct-11 business,” 6.75 Card Inc. attending the June exciting place.” BB-/Fitch; 5.13 JUL 12, 2018 said Head of 12-Jul-13 Corporate 5.13 is ex3-5 gathering in Cape Town FGN Ethiopia’s economy BB-/S&P BB-/Fitch; Banking 6.38 perJUL cent all singled out the East Afri- pected to expand 8.6 6.38 12, 2023 and Investment 12-Jul-13 BB-/S&P in Standard Bank David this year and 8.5 per cent in can nation as a market with TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE 2016, compared with 10.3 per Munro, which has applied strong potential. TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION Ethiopia was Africa’s cent growth last year, the In- for a license for a represenCorporate Eurobonds eighth-largest recipient of see it as a 7.50 ternational Monetary Fund tative office. “We 7.50 MAY 19, 2016 B+/Fitch; B+/S&P GTBANK PLC I 19-May-11 foreign direct investment last said in its World Economic 7.25 JUL 25, 2017 prospective place B+/S&P ACCESS BANK PLC 25-Jul-12to grow 7.25 MAY 14. 09, 2018 our business. B/Fitch;up B/S&P FIDELITYin BANK PLC 09-May-13 There’s the 6.88 year, from 14th position Outlook released on 6.88 April 6.00 NOV 08, 2018 B+/Fitch; B+/S&P GTBANK PLC 08-Nov-13 2013, a report released by acNigeria, which has Afpossibility of significant re- 6.00 6.25 APR 22, 2019 B+/Fitch; BB-/S&P ZENITH BANK PLC 22-Apr-14 6.25 counting firm, EY, on June 2 rica’s largest economy and sources and it’s within an ec8.75 May 21, 2019 B/Fitch; B/S&P DIAMOND BANK PLC 21-May-14 8.75 8.25 AUG 07, 2020 B-/Fitch; B/S&P FIRST BANK PLC 07-Aug-13 showed. The number ACCESS of projis grappling9.25/6M with energy onomically significant zone, 8.25 USD LIBOR+7.677 JUN 24, 2021 B-/Fitch; B/S&P BANK PLC II 24-Jun-14 9.25 ects inB/S&P Ethiopia surged 88 BANK per LTDshortages and8.00/2Y the USD fallout of JULthe east African trade area.” 8.00 SWAP+6.488 23 2021 B-/Fitch; FIRST 23-Jul-14 #{r}

B-/S&P

Bid Yield (%)

1.20 1.89 2.14 2.24 2.98 4.07 4.38 4.69 6.65 8.77 13.48 13.96 14.46 15.13 19.12

297.82

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

TTM (Yrs)

16-Aug-16 27-Apr-17 27-Jul-17 31-Aug-17 30-May-18 29-Jun-19 23-Oct-19 13-Feb-20 27-Jan-22 14-Mar-24 28-Nov-28 22-May-29 20-Nov-29 23-Jul-30 18-Jul-34

4,418.86

TARGETS

BBB-/DataPro†; BB/GCR

Maturity Date

4,746.32

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

Issue Date

^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 15.54 13-FEB-2020 ^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

8.75 AUG 14, 2021

ECOBANK NIG. LTD

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE

The DQL contains **Treasury Bills^

4.56

06-Jan-21

3.26

1.00

14.86

100.28

452.88 439.90

Lafarge wins CAC compliance award

L 2.50

17-Aug-15

0.20

14-Aug-21

10.30

09-Dec-15 0.26 afarge Africa Plc has 06-Jan-16 0.34 been awarded the best 15.00 29-Sep-16 1.32 Company1.39 of 5.53 Complying 25-Oct-16 20.00 30-Sep-17 2.32 the0.56 Year 2014 by the Corporate 30-Nov-17 1.55 Affairs Commission. 5.40 09-Apr-18 1.60 2.54 09-Sep-18 1.76 The award has to do with the 0.70 09-Sep-18 1.76 extensive compliance require35.00 30-Sep-18 3.32 2.10 1.87 ments of the 18-Oct-18 Companies and 0.36 17-Feb-19 1.95 Allied Matters01-Apr-19 Act and indus4.50 2.57 5.44 try2.05 regulations14-Nov-20 by the Commis26.00 20-Nov-21 6.46 sion, of the 30.50and in recognition 30-Dec-21 6.57 0.10 30-Sep-24 company’s commitment to 9.32 op15.44 30-Sep-24 9.32 erating with the highest ethical 187.44 standards on consistent basis. 182.12 It was presented at the Commission’s annual corporate citi12.00 11-Feb-18 2.69 12.95award held 01-Feb-21 zens' recently. 4.75 24.95 The Chairman, CAC Board of 21.80 Directors, Mr. Funso LaOutstanding Value the rationale for the wal, said Maturity Date Bid Yield (%) ($mm) award was to recognise performance and reward corporate 500.00 28-Jan-21 5.98 excellence among companies 500.00 12-Jul-18 4.84 operating in Nigeria, with the ultimate goal of improving the 500.00 12-Jul-23 6.12 country’s rating in the global 1,500.00 competitiveness index. 1,530.33 To be eligible for consideration, companies must have 500.00 19-May-16 6.28 complied with the requirements 350.00 25-Jul-17 6.99 02-May-18and Allied 10.31 of 300.00 the Companies 400.00 08-Nov-18 7.56 Matters Act and respective 7.22 in500.00 22-Apr-19 dustry statutes and regulations. 200.00 21-May-19 10.05 300.00 9.18 In addition,07-Aug-20 the companies 400.00 24-Jun-21 10.25 must impact on their respective 450.00 23-Jul-21 9.42 18.75 0.42

250.00

1.00

12.53

9.89

92.38

99.47

1.00 12.80 99.80 industries positively through 2.63 15.00 99.70 credible performance in corpo1.00 14.86 97.79 rate1.34 social responsibility .98.83 15.18 1.00 96.41 Lafarge was14.86 among 26 com1.88 15.70 103.78 panies that made the final 3.84 17.66 97.80 list 1.00 14.83 104.51 from1.00 over 800 companies consid14.83 101.62 ered,3.00 with the building solutions 16.87 92.87 2.29 16.13 company emerging as one99.35 of the 6.11 19.96 97.08 eventual nine winners. 2.16 16.02 99.89 2.76 16.61 Outgone Minister for95.22 Com1.80 15.63 94.49 merce, , Mr. 1.57 Trade and 15.40 Industry 104.22 1.00 15.09 presented 84.38 the Olusegun Aganga, 1.00 15.09 90.89 awards to the recipients, while encouraging others to imbibe the best practices of the winners. The Managing 1.00 Group 14.86 89.94 Di1.00 and Chief 14.86 84.96 rector Executive Officer of Lafarge Africa Plc, Mr. Guillaume Roux, reacting to the said, “LaOffer Yielddevelopment, (%) Bid Price Offer Price farge always ensures adherence Prices & Yields to all legal and regulatory re5.76 103.63 104.68 quirements for its activities 4.46 100.82 101.91 everywhere it operates. This is the operate and it is 5.96way we101.62 102.65 in grained in our principles of actions to which every Lafarge employee is committed.” Speaking further on the 4.08 101.09 103.12 awards, he said, ”The stringent 6.99 100.50 100.50 9.39 for nomination 91.52 93.70 criteria provide 6.97 95.39 97.08 evidence of our drive to mak7.22 96.75 96.75 ing a9.61 difference in our industry , 95.85 97.23 9.18 95.70 95.70 communities and in Nigeria as 10.19 95.92 96.20 a whole.” 9.42 92.84 92.84

3,650.00

FMDQ Daily Quotations List

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

mitments, drive operational 8.50 31-Aug-15 0.24 excellence, and create value0.32 for 2.16 30-Sep-15 4.86 30-Jun-16 0.59 the5.73Exchange30-Jun-16 and its various 0.59 stakeholders. 57.00 19-Apr-17 1.87 25.73 30-Jun-17 1.14 “Our businesses are healthy 25.00 31-Dec-17 2.57 30-Sep-18 1.95 as30.81 demonstrated by our results, 9.00 04-Oct-18 1.97 and to that end, we will con13.73 09-Dec-18 1.94 10.20 to deliver 12-Dec-18 1.95 tinue several incen27.00 14-Feb-19 2.14 tives to support the execution 15.09 02-Oct-19 2.57 of 80.00 our growth22-Nov-19 strategy. We 4.47 are 25.70 12-Dec-19 2.54 positioning the10-Oct-20 business to be 10.78 3.08a 87.50 5.48 key player in 27-Nov-20 the sub-Saharan 5.00 31-Dec-20 5.57 region, as well31-Dec-20 as to be agile3.23to 4.55

94.13

5-Jun-15

3,508.26

data relating to, amongst other things, market and model prices, rates of foreign exchange products, fixed income securities and instruments in the financial (the “Information”). The Information does not constitute FIXINGS Moneymarket Market Foreign Exchange (Spot & Forwards) professional,DTM financial or investment advice. We attempt to ensure the Information is accurate; theBidInformation is provided “AS IS” and on an “AS AVAILABLE”Tenor basis and mayRate not(%) be accurate or up to date. We do not guarantee Maturity Bid Discount (%) Offer Discounthowever, (%) Yield (%) NIBOR 20 25-Jun-15 11.23 10.98 11.30 the accuracy,27timeliness, completeness,2-Jul-15 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 Bid ($/N) Offer ($/N) OBB 8.08 of the Information. Tenor 10.70 10.45 10.79 Tenor Rate (%) 34 41 48 55 62 69 83 Rating/Agency 90 97 111 118 132 146 160 181 195 216 223 230 NA 237 244 251 258 265 272 286 293

9-Jul-15 16-Jul-15 23-Jul-15 30-Jul-15 6-Aug-15 13-Aug-15 27-Aug-15 Issuer 3-Sep-15 10-Sep-15 24-Sep-15 1-Oct-15 15-Oct-15 29-Oct-15 12-Nov-15 3-Dec-15 17-Dec-15 7-Jan-16 14-Jan-16 21-Jan-16 NA 28-Jan-16 4-Feb-16 11-Feb-16 18-Feb-16 25-Feb-16 3-Mar-16 17-Mar-16 24-Mar-16

FGN Bonds

307

7-Apr-16

321

21-Apr-16

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE 335

10.32 10.69 11.31 11.25 11.21 11.80 10.72 Description 11.19 11.46 ^13.05 16-AUG-2016 12.22 12.84 ^15.10 27-APR-2017 13.26 9.85 27-JUL-2017 13.50 9.35 31-AUG-2017 13.42 12.62 10.70 30-MAY-2018 12.80 ^16.00 29-JUN-2019 13.10 7.00 23-OCT-2019 13.18 13.14 15.54 13-FEB-2020 13.34 ^16.39 27-JAN-2022 13.12 ^14.20 14-MAR-2024 13.42 13.34 15.00 28-NOV-2028 13.46 12.49 22-MAY-2029 13.24 8.50 20-NOV-2029 13.02 13.04 ^10.00 23-JUL-2030

13.19 ^12.1493 18-JUL-2034

12.94 18-Jul-14

Bonds

10.42 10.81 11.48 11.44 11.43 12.07 10.99 (%) Coupon 11.51 11.81 13.05 12.69 13.39 15.10 13.92 9.85 14.27 9.35 14.25 13.46 10.70 13.74 16.00 14.20 7.00 14.33 14.33 15.54 14.61 16.39 14.38 14.20 14.78 14.72 15.00 14.92 12.49 14.69 8.50 14.50 14.56 10.00 14.83 12.1493

12.92

14.90

5-May-16

12.90

12.65

14.63

2-Jun-16

12.63

12.38

14.44

363

TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

13.17

10.07 10.44 11.06 11.00 10.96 11.55 10.47Date Issue 10.94 11.21 16-Aug-13 11.97 12.59 27-Apr-12 13.01 27-Jul-07 13.25 31-Aug-07 13.17 12.37 30-May-08 12.55 29-Jun-12 12.85 23-Oct-09 12.93 12.89 13-Feb-15 13.09 27-Jan-12 12.87 14-Mar-14 13.17 13.09 28-Nov-08 13.21 22-May-09 12.99 20-Nov-09 12.77 12.79 23-Jul-10

O/N 1M 3M 6M

9.2100 14.7338 16.0117 17.2179

O/N Tenor Call 1M 3M (Yrs) TTM 6M

Outstanding Value Maturity Date (N'bn) NITTY Tenor 581.39 1M 2M 476.80 3M 20.00 6M 100.00 9M 12M 300.00

8.50

REPO

Rate (%) 16-Aug-16 10.6478 11.3892 27-Apr-17 11.5181 27-Jul-17 13.4759 31-Aug-17 14.3558 14.4074 30-May-18

351.30 29-Jun-19 233.90 23-Oct-19 NIFEX 193.73 13-Feb-20 Current Price ($/N) 600.00 27-Jan-22 BID($/N) 198.9500 573.14 14-Mar-24 OFFER ($/N) 199.0500 75.00 28-Nov-28 150.00 22-May-29 200.00 20-Nov-29 591.57 23-Jul-30 299.50 18-Jul-34

Rate (%) 9.75 10.00 Bid10.25 Yield 10.50

(%)

1.20 13.78 13.64 1.89 13.85 13.76 :Benchmarks 2.14 13.85 13.77 * :Amortising Bond 2.24Bond 13.86 13.77 µ :Convertible AMCON: Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria 2.98 13.86 13.80 FGN: Federal Government of Nigeria 4.07 13.87 13.77 FMBN: Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria 4.38 Finance Corporation 13.87 13.76 IFC: International LCRM: Local Contractors Receivables Management 4.69 13.86 13.78 NAHCO: Nigerian Aviation Handling Company 6.65 13.83 13.77 O/N: Overnight 8.77 13.82Company 13.76 UPDC: UAC Property Development WAPCO:West 13.48Africa Portland Cement 17.00 Company16.94 13.96 17.50 17.43 14.46 18.08 17.98 15.13 15.54 15.47 19.12 13.93 13.88

NOTE:

Issuer

Description

Issue Date

Agency Bonds FMBN Modified Duration ***LCRM Buckets

TOTAL OUTSTANDING VALUE TOTAL MARKET CAPITALISATION

<3 3<5 >5 Market

17.25 FMB II 03-APR-2017 0.00/16.00 LCRM 08-DEC-2016 Total Outstanding Porfolio Market Value(Bn) 0.00/16.50 LCRM II 19-APR-2017 Volume(Bn) 0.00/16.50 LCRM III 06-JUL-2017

99.17 101.99

99.32 102.14

106.43

106.73

110.82

111.12

74.10 51.34 68.00 88.13

74.40 51.64 68.30 88.43

Valuation Yield (%)

Modelled Price

NA :Not 92.75 Applicable 92.90 ^ : Market Prices 91.54 91.69 # : Floating Rate Bond ***: Deferred 92.48coupon bonds 92.63

‡ : Bond rating under review 78.27 †: Bond 77.97 rating expired N/A :Not105.59 Available 105.89 {r} :Issuer in receivership

101.82 102.12 NGC: Nigeria-German Company UBA: United 89.51Bank for Africa 89.81

4,418.86

*for the Amortising bonds, the average life is calculated and not the duration

Rating/Agency

198.36 198.46 201.81 201.93 202.13 202.28 Price 203.37 202.87 204.24 205.31 205.60 207.21 206.28 213.47Price Bid Price Offer 220.29 226.27

4,746.32

Risk Premium is a combination of credit risk and liquidity risk premiums **Exclusive of non-trading t.bills

Spot 7D 14D 1M 2M 3M Yield Offer 6M (%) 1Y

Coupon (%)

Outstanding Value (N'bn)

FMDQ FGN BOND INDEX

03-Apr-12 09-Dec-11

Weighting by 20-Apr-12 Outstanding Vol

06-Jul-12

40.58

17.25 0.00/16.00

Weighting by Mkt 0.00/16.50 Value

0.00/16.50

1,436.69

1,409.48

42.87

1,248.50

1,173.14

33.77

37.25

666.23

891.07

25.65

19.88

3,351.42

3,473.69

100.00

2.40 112.22 Bucket 116.70 Weighting 66.49

0.41

Maturity Date

03-Apr-17 08-Dec-16

% Exposure_ 19-Apr-17 Mod_Duration

06-Jul-17

297.820.34

18.33

300.830.26 1.00

Avg. Life/TTM (Yrs)

0.95 1.51 Implied Yield 1.87 2.09

# Risk Premium (%)

2.27 1.00

Implied 2.67 Portfolio Price

2.85

16.17 14.81 INDEX 16.51 16.70

1,185.41

100.97 101.55

YTD Return 102.04 (%)

98.31

13.84

105.8032

39.48

13.83

111.0180

1,107.75

7.0014

42.19

14.87

78.6929

1,106.03

9.8329

100.00

14.27

100.6101

1,136.89

7.7429

9.3995

Sub-National Bonds A/Agusto

KADUNA

12.50 KADUNA 31-AUG-2015

31-Aug-10

12.50

8.50

31-Aug-15

0.24

4.44

16.12

99.06

A-/Agusto

*EBONYI

13.00 EBONYI 30-SEP-2015

30-Sep-10

13.00

2.16

30-Sep-15

0.32

3.23

15.44

99.19

BBB+/Agusto

*BENUE

14.00 BENUE 30-JUN-2016

30-Jun-11

14.00

4.86

30-Jun-16

0.59

4.46

18.02

97.85

‡ /Agusto

*IMO

15.50 IMO 30-JUN-2016

30-Jun-09

15.50

5.73

30-Jun-16

0.59

3.48

17.04

99.14

A+/Agusto; ‡ /GCR

LAGOS

10.00 LAGOS 19-APR-2017

19-Apr-10

10.00

57.00

19-Apr-17

1.87

1.00

14.84

92.30

‡ /Agusto

*BAYELSA

13.75 BAYELSA 30-JUN-2017

30-Jun-10

13.75

25.73

30-Jun-17

1.14

1.00

14.91

98.83

‡ /Agusto

EDO

14.00 EDO 31-DEC-2017

30-Dec-10

14.00

25.00

31-Dec-17

2.57

1.79

15.65

96.59

‡ /Agusto; A+/GCR

*DELTA

14.00 DELTA 30-SEP-2018

30-Sep-11

14.00

30.81

30-Sep-18

1.95

1.80

15.65

97.34

42 Business | Interview Mr. Muhammed Rudman is the Chief Executive Officer of Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN) and Vice President, Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA). In this interview with KUNLE AZEEZ, he talks on the imperatives of deepening local Internet contents in the country and sundry issues. Excerpts: You have been an ardent promoter of local content in the Internet domain in Nigeria. Can you assess the economic imperatives of this advocacy? First of all, let me clarify that local content is obtained in every sector just as you have it in the oil and gas sector. But what we are talking about really is local Internet content and why are we really pushing for local Internet content. It is because of the value chain it provides. One thing you have to realise is that in the entire economy, we have what is called the eye-ball side of the Internet and that is people trying to browse and what are they browsing? Contents! So, you have two sides of the Internet. We call them eye-ball side and the content side. But the content network is the economy engine of the Internet because the eye-ball network is just people browsing and they are the customers while the money and the resources are in the content. If you look at the value-chain, it starts from the domain. One, you register a .ng domain instead of .com or a dot any other global top-level domain. You buy .ng means that you empower Nigerians because Nigerians are the ones managing the .ng. It also reduces capital flight because you pay for the .com and all the rest using US dollar and we want to reverse the trend of people importing products. So, basically, if you buy a dot com, you are importing because you pay a foreign organisation. So, for Nigerians to buy a domain without credit cards is part of it because we want to simplify the process of registering your domain. Apart from registering the domain, where you reduce your capital flight, it is important to host that content locally. Why do you have to host that content locally? First, as long as the content is hosted locally, you pay a local data centre to host your content because if you pay for the hosting of the content abroad, you also pay in dollars. When you want to have a website there, there are three things that need to happen. One, you have to buy the name. The name is independent. Two, you have to buy the physical server, where you host that information. Three, you have to have a designer that will design that website for you. So, the three aspects are what I am talking about as the value chain. So, when you register a .ng domain, your money remains in the economy and host that content locally. You know when you

MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

‘Local Internet connects

Rudman

host that contents locally, you empower those data centres that are within Nigeria. Do you think we have enough internationally-certified data centre hubs in Nigeria to handle local hosting of Internet contents as foreign host companies? Formerly, it was difficult for Nigerians to host contents locally because there were no standard data centres. Now, with the coming of so many data centres that are Tier-3 certified, it means that there is no excuse. When you host those contents locally, what it means is that, apart from your dollars remaining within the economy, those data centre owners will employ more people and those employed would acquire more skills. So, you can see the value chain. That’s one aspect of it. The other aspect is that, as a Nigerian, you want to browse those local sites. It makes it faster because the content is closer to the end-user. Therefore, the speed of the Internet would be quite fast instead of the Internet content in America, which is several thousands of kilometres away. So, you can see the second value chain, where the end-user experience would be enhanced. Another aspect of it is in terms of security. When you host that content locally and Nigerians want to access that content locally, whether you are a bank or an e-commerce

When you register a .ng domain, your money remains in the economy

site, it makes it faster and makes it more secure because it doesn’t have to go through multiple countries for it to come back to Nigeria. And don’t forget that the shorter the path that the package goes, the better for the security. It is like you are going into different borders and your information is passing through different borders, which can easily be intercepted. You’ve heard of the prison project in the United States where they are intercepting traffic. That’s another aspect of it. The third aspect of this local hosting is the resilience, which is the business continuity. Let’s assume that you have a website as a big organisation in Nigeria. You host your servers, say, in London. You have a big problem, where all the submarine cables were down, maybe something happened, like flooding and there is a major problem. In that case, you cannot access you email, because your email server is outside. You cannot access the website, because the website is hosted abroad. With that, there will be disruptions in business flow, but when such a website is hosted locally, what happens? You can communicate locally, you can still run your business smoothly and you can still exchange emails between you and your colleagues and customers, all because your information is residing in Nigeria. So, you can see that hosting locally comes with multiple advantages.

It is a complete value chain from reducing capital flight, increasing and bettering user experience, providing increased security and resilience. The advantages are just enormous if we are to analyse and that is why we have been advocating and insisting on hosting Internet contents within Nigeria. What has been the level of adoption of Internet local content advocacy in Nigeria so far? Before now, to be honest with you, there were very few standard data centres and people were concerned about their website going down in case the data centres go down. But right now, with what is called Tier-3 data centre, which are globally-certified data centres that are adhering to global standards, it means that their websites would not go down, as these Tier3 data centres have taken everything into perspective to ensure that they don’t go down. As it is, these are the current situations and, as it is, encourage people to host locally and through the advocacy side. A lot of people do not understand the benefit of hosting locally. To them, even if you host outside the country, as long as you are hosting, it is the same thing. A lot of people also do not understand why buying Nigerian textile really matters, to them, it is just buying garment, whether it is locally made or foreign made, they don’t care. What they want is just

Business | Interview

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015

key to economic devt’ Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN) Founded 2006 Assets under managment Nil

Membership Nigerian Internet Registration Association

to buy garment. But the reality is that if you buy Nigerian garment, you can consider the whole value chain. One, the manufacturers would be happy, they create more employment opportunities through expansion; they are stable and less capital flights. At the other side of it, you now look at the farmers that produce the cottons that will go into generic and the generic will now supply the textile company. So, you can see that it is a whole value chain. By buying local fabric, you are adding a lot of value from the end farmer to the generic that filters the cotton from the seed and then send it to the manufacturing company. So, these are the things that people do not understand. The only way they can understand is when government begins to push for the advocacy and becomes the early adopters. If government should say ‘we are no longer going to use any uniform made from foreign material for Nigeria police, Nigerian Army, Civil Defence and other agencies and that any uniform must be from locallymanufactured fabric, what then happens? Others will start seeing the value and keying in. So, it is critical for government to provide that advocacy, for government to start hosting contents locally and start encouraging banks and other bigger organisations before you and I will join the bandwagon because we have seen that some of the few leaders have joined and we would now follow. Let’s look at the cost of the Internet in the country. How have we fared in the past years? The cost of the Internet over a period of, say, a decade, has significantly dropped. By Internet here, I mean broadband. Broadband is not really there yet and it is still expensive. When you look at it, it costs between N7,000 and N10,000 monthly and that is when you are talking of what the minimum wage of Nigerians is, which is N18,000. So, if you take about, say N8,000 to get Internet services, that means you will be spending about 50 per cent of your monthly minimum wage on Internet alone. Of course, you cannot afford it; you cannot survive it and that is because the broadband is not yet ubiquitous in Nigeria. What do you think the Federal Ministry of Communication technology seeks to achieve by creating new landing points in other coastal states in Nigeria? Well, by that move, what the ministry wants to achieve is to

Rudman

In terms of membership, we currently have 35 companies and organisations that have connected to our Internet Exchange Point (IXP)

pursue the resilience we are taking about because all the submarines are landing in Lagos with most of them having their landing points in Lekki. So, they are restricted to one place and in case something happens to that particular area, everybody is in trouble and that is why government is saying it wanted to support all the submarine companies to connect at multiple locations across Nigeria. We must realise that it is not only Lagos that has shores, up to six states or thereabout also have shores where you can land those cables. If you land those cables there, it means you are closer to other states. For example, you have a landing point only here in Lagos, it means from here to Rivers, from here to Bayelsa and to all the rest, you have to have a link and if you look at the other side of the country, it would take longer to reach other states, but if you diversify, the resilience would be there in case anything happens to the one here in Lagos, the other ones in other states would take over. How many industry players are currently hosting their Internet contents locally with IXPN? Well, Vodacom Business recently connected to our data centre that we are operating in Rack Centre in Ikeja. They’ve been connected for some time, but they are not the first entrant in the data centre in that location, which is our point of presence (PoP) in Ikeja. They are the first company to connect and others are coming to join them there. Right now, in terms of membership, we currently have 35 companies and organisations that have connected to our Internet Exchange Point (IXP). Some of these companies are Internet Service providers, (ISPs), telcos and content providers. One of them is Google. Google is connected to us today to provide content and the rest. So, we are trying to gain more

as we move around the country. By the time the IXPN data centre facility was inaugurated some years back, we were told that it would be replicated in the six geopolitical zones of the country. Is this target still on course? Yes. Absolutely it is still on course. We actually have a presence now in Port Harcourt, we have in Abuja and we are going into Enugu and Kano. So, it is still in the pipeline, the major issue now is the connection of these sites with the fibre links and that is still in the pipeline, but I think before the end of the second quarter, all the major exchanges would be interconnected and what this means is that local traffic within Nigeria remains local because that is what we want to achieve. What is your assessment of the level of improvement of Internet service delivery in the country? It is improving. I will talk for service providers because many people don’t consider what it takes to provide service to the end users. If you look at all the requirements and that make it really difficult for them to achieve the kind of quality of service that we expect from them. For example, if you are to provide Internet access, you need to have radio antennas, which will go unto a mast and that mast space has to be acquired. In acquiring the mast space, government asks you for all the various taxes for those locations, then you need to pay for fibre to connect the site; the cause of laying fibre due to high cost of Right of Way (RoW). You finish all those bottlenecks, then you are faced with high operational costs, because there is no steady supply of electricity, you will have to generate your own power; so, operational cost for each site is high. Secondly, as you are even doing that some people are busy vandalising that site. So,

the more sites you have, the more problem you have, because you need to pay for a lot of things to have those sites running 24/7. As a result, some of these organisations want to reduce risks by narrowing their operation to certain areas and that is why the service is poor in some locations because it is either you are far away from the antenna or you are close to an antenna where the network is already congested due to overload of traffic and this sometimes results in drop calls. But some things are improving. Right now, we have collocation service providers. Before now, every operator must own its own mast, but with the coming of collocation service providers, they make it easier for service providers to operate, because it reduces their capital expenditure as well as operational expenditures on those sites. This is because instead of only you providing all the supports needed to support a tower facility, you are sharing it with another competitor and the cost drops and there is improvement in the quality of service. You also have to know that the number of customers on those networks is also increasing and this puts pressure on them to constantly upgrade. These are parts of the things that make quality of service an evasive thing and we need to keep pushing to get to where we want to be. What advise do you have for the incoming government, players and the end-users so as to ensure consistent growth of the nation’s ICT sector, going forward? I will advise the incoming government of General Muahmmadu Buhari to maintain the on-going policies that have continued to put the telecoms sector in a consistent path of growth. In this country, we normally formulate a lot of policies but we normally get it wrong when it comes to implementation. So, we need to have key focus, especially with the coming of new government. Let them focus on a few key policies to ensure implementation and also to continue with some of those policies that are good and we have a lot of such good policies in the country. Also, the players should continue to invest to make their network better, host their contents locally because it is cheaper and embracing innovative idea such as collocation to reduce increasing capital and operational cost.

Born 1971 Education Studied Geology and Mining from University of Jos. Done many professional IT certifications locally and internationally. Career Joined IXPN in 2006 Chairman of IPv6 initiative Vice President of the Executive Board of Directors at NiRA DNS Administrator contact for NiRA Network administrator in Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC

Business | Capital Market

MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH Daily Summary as of 05/06/2015 Printed 05/06/2015 15:30:07.007

Daily Summary as of 05/06/2015

Printed 05/06/2015 15:30:07.007

The Nigerian Stock Market Exchange as at June 5, 2015 Daily Summary (Equities)

Daily Summary (Bonds)

Activity Summary on Board DEBT Federal

Bond Name 16.00% FGN JUN 2019 16.39% FGN JAN 2022 Federal Totals

Activity Summary on Board EQTY Symbol FG9B2019S3 FG9B2022S1

DEBT Board Totals

No. of Deals 1 1 2

Current Price 107.70 113.00

Bond Activity Totals

Quantity Traded 1,081 5,636 6717

FINANCIAL SERVICES Other Financial Institutions UBA CAPITAL PLC Other Financial Institutions Totals

Value Traded 1,241,215.86 6,708,054.02 7,949,269.88

6,717

7,949,269.88

FINANCIAL SERVICES Totals

6717

7,949,269.88

HEALTHCARE Pharmaceuticals EVANS MEDICAL PLC. FIDSON HEALTHCARE PLC GLAXO SMITHKLINE CONSUMER NIG. PLC. MAY & BAKER NIGERIA PLC. NEIMETH INTERNATIONAL PHARMACEUTICALS PLC Pharmaceuticals Totals

Daily Summary (Equities) Activity Summary on Board EQTY AGRICULTURE Crop Production OKOMU OIL PALM PLC. PRESCO PLC Crop Production Totals

Daily Summary as of 05/06/2015

Printed 05/06/2015 15:30:07.007 Livestock/Animal Specialties LIVESTOCK FEEDS PLC. Livestock/Animal Specialties Totals AGRICULTURE Totals

Symbol OKOMUOIL PRESCO

No. of Deals 26 62 88

Current Price 30.40 34.50

Quantity Traded 195,839 3,122,769 3,318,608

Value Traded 5,884,894.20 106,110,108.69 111,995,002.89

Symbol LIVESTOCK

No. of Deals 19 19

Current Price 2.25

Quantity Traded 1,077,838 1,077,838

Value Traded 2,451,162.40 2,451,162.40

4,396,446

114,446,165.29

Daily Summary (Equities)

107

Processing Systems CHAMS PLC E-TRANZACT INTERNATIONAL PLC Processing Systems Totals

ICT Totals

Infrastructure/Heavy Construction Daily Summary as of 05/06/2015 JULIUS BERGER NIG. PLC. Printed 05/06/2015 15:30:07.007 Infrastructure/Heavy Construction Totals Real Estate Development UACN PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT CO. LIMITED Real Estate Development Totals

Symbol AGLEVENT JOHNHOLT TRANSCORP UACN

No. of Deals 2 3 137 86 228

Beverages--Non-Alcoholic 7-UP BOTTLING COMP. PLC. Beverages--Non-Alcoholic Totals Food Products DANGOTE FLOUR MILLS PLC DANGOTE SUGAR REFINERY PLC FLOUR MILLS NIG. PLC. HONEYWELL FLOUR MILL PLC Daily Summary as of 05/06/2015 NATIONAL SALT CO. NIG. PLC Printed 05/06/2015 15:30:07.007 Food Products Totals Food Products--Diversified CADBURY NIGERIA PLC. NESTLE NIGERIA PLC. Food Products--Diversified Totals

Current Price 1.54 0.94 2.83 41.70

228

Page Quantity Traded 10,000 14,042 7,897,296 1,429,028 9,350,366 9,350,366

81,007,895.10

No. of Deals 6 1 7

Current Price 1.06 14.46

Quantity Traded 56,985 3,000 59,985

Value Traded 57,554.85 41,220.00 98,774.85

Symbol JBERGER

No. of Deals 19 19

Current Price 52.50

Quantity Traded 129,270 129,270

Value Traded 6,767,455.70 6,767,455.70

No. of Deals 21 (Equities) 21

Current Price 10.00

Quantity Traded 194,806 194,806

Value Traded 1,970,218.20 1,970,218.20

384,061

8,836,448.75

Symbol UAC-PROP

Daily Summary

Symbol CHAMPION GUINNESS INTBREW NB PREMBREW

No. of Deals 10 21 10 83 2 126

Current Price 6.60 165.00 20.01 147.99 3.26

Quantity Traded 21,009 Page 8,759 35,062 4,059,005 1,840 4,125,675

Symbol 7UP

No. of Deals 10 10

Current Price 179.50

Quantity Traded 3,133 3,133

Value Traded 563,729.01 563,729.01

Symbol DANGFLOUR DANGSUGAR FLOURMILL HONYFLOUR NASCON

No. of Deals 24 34 20 8 35 121

Current Price 4.20 6.60 35.69 3.98 7.00

Quantity Traded 163,864 1,802,000 23,035 107,041 703,111 2,799,051

Value Traded 667,085.10 11,893,980.00 802,669.15 420,952.36 5,014,456.54 18,799,143.15

No. of Deals 21 (Equities) 43 64

Current Price 39.90 869.00

Quantity Traded 68,327 75,115 143,442

Value Traded 2,686,826.06 65,223,031.87 67,909,857.93

Symbol VITAFOAM VONO

No. of Deals 48 3 51

Current Price 5.38 1.75

Quantity Traded 1,600,074 51,050 1,651,124

Symbol PZ UNILEVER

No. of Deals 18 29 47

Current Price 29.20 45.50

Quantity Traded 219,381 395,145 614,526

Value Traded 6,398,138.35 17,946,480.69 24,344,619.04

9,336,951

722,842,959.29

Quantity Traded 2,914,432 44,089,164 1,918,085 2,306,296 14,043,615 9,808,132 1,222,552 7,627,134 247,785 2,211,495 693,802 19,373,535

Value Traded 17,633,529.34 194,764,167.93 41,618,968.78 4,296,715.94 383,296,523.87 24,151,358.43 2,507,403.56 39,262,150.79 2,484,665.77 5,683,552.02 689,695.60 386,772,762.28

Symbol CADBURY Daily Summary NESTLE

INDUSTRIAL GOODS

CONSUMER GOODS Household Durables VITAFOAM NIG PLC. VONO PRODUCTS PLC. Household Durables Totals

Personal/Household Products P Z CUSSONS NIGERIA PLC. UNILEVER NIGERIA PLC. Personal/Household Products Totals CONSUMER GOODS Totals FINANCIAL SERVICES Banking ACCESS BANK PLC. DIAMOND BANK PLC ECOBANK TRANSNATIONAL INCORPORATED FIDELITY BANK PLC GUARANTY TRUST BANK PLC. SKYE BANK PLC STERLING BANK PLC. UNITED BANK FOR AFRICA PLC UNION BANK NIG.PLC. UNITY BANK PLC Daily Summary as of 05/06/2015 WEMA BANK PLC. Printed 05/06/2015 15:30:07.007 ZENITH INTERNATIONAL BANK PLC Published by The Nigerian Stock Exchange ©

Insurance Carriers, Brokers and Services

Value Traded 141,169.31 2 of 12 1,403,727.28 701,171.55 600,580,682.92 5,704.00 602,832,455.06

Micro-Finance Banks NPF MICROFINANCE BANK PLC Micro-Finance Banks Totals Mortgage Carriers, Brokers and Services Published by The Nigerian Stock Exchange © RESORT SAVINGS & LOANS PLC Mortgage Carriers, Brokers and Services Totals Other Financial Institutions AFRICA PRUDENTIAL REGISTRARS PLC CUSTODIAN AND ALLIED PLC FBN HOLDINGS PLC FCMB GROUP PLC. STANBIC IBTC HOLDINGS PLC Published by The Nigerian Stock Exchange ©

1,271,414,577.51

Symbol EVANSMED FIDSON GLAXOSMITH MAYBAKER NEIMETH

No. of Deals 3 19 17 8 29 76

Current Price 1.75 3.47 44.11 1.53 1.28

Quantity Traded 3,000 4,834,453 41,231 99,286 3,033,900 8,011,870

Value Traded 5,010.00 16,028,039.43 1,869,390.35 154,596.70 3,688,493.90 21,745,530.38

8,011,870

21,745,530.38

Quantity Traded 149,048 350 149,398

Value Traded 74,524.00 1,186.50 75,710.50

149,398

75,710.50

76 Symbol CHAMS ETRANZACT

No. of Deals 1 1 2

Daily Summary (Equities)

Current Price 0.50 3.39

419 Symbol ACCESS DIAMONDBNK ETI FIDELITYBK GUARANTY SKYEBANK STERLNBANK UBA UBN UNITYBNK WEMABANK ZENITHBANK

No. of Deals 104 57 49 37 344 101 21 143 23 60 22 371

Current Price 6.10 4.44 21.70 1.87 27.50 2.59 2.03 5.15 10.10 2.60 1.02 19.97

Page

Daily Summary (Equities)

Value Traded 8,303,817.60 89,337.50 8,393,155.10

Symbol Symbol

Current Price 1.75

Quantity Traded 16,583 16,583

Value Traded 28,854.42 28,854.42

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

Symbol BETAGLAS

No. of Deals 39 39

Current Price 44.00

Quantity Traded 374,183 374,183

Value Traded 16,077,439.94 16,077,439.94

1,969,921

178,080,847.02

Quantity Traded 100 100

Value Traded 50.00 50.00

197 Symbol JAPAULOIL

No. of Deals 1 1

Current Price 0.50

Daily Summary (Equities)

Page Symbol OANDO

No. of Deals 151 151

Current Price 17.87

Quantity Traded 1,423,253 1,423,253

Value Traded 24,712,461.84 24,712,461.84

Symbol No. of Deals BECOPETRO 4 CONOIL 11 ETERNA 25 Daily Summary (Equities) FO 45

Current Price 0.50 40.00 2.65 159.85

Quantity Traded 248,400 24,831 555,232 146,237

Value Traded 124,200.00 989,256.90 1,473,398.20 23,028,412.54

Activity Summary on Board EQTY OIL AND GAS Petroleum and Petroleum Products Distributors MOBIL OIL NIG PLC. MRS OIL NIGERIA PLC. TOTAL NIGERIA PLC. Petroleum and Petroleum Products Distributors Totals

Exploration and Production SEPLAT PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT COMPANY LTD Exploration and Production Totals

Symbol MOBIL MRS TOTAL

No. of Deals 9 1 13 108

Current Price 156.30 50.54 155.05

Quantity Traded 13,504 30 8,557 996,791

Value Traded 2,016,555.33 1,440.60 1,321,914.10 28,955,177.67

Symbol SEPLAT

No. of Deals 16 16

Current Price 338.00

Quantity Traded 5,723 5,723

Value Traded 1,919,253.00 1,919,253.00

2,425,867

55,586,942.51

OIL AND GAS Totals SERVICES Automobile/Auto Part Retailers R T BRISCOE PLC. Published by The Nigerian Stock Exchange © Automobile/Auto Part Retailers Totals Courier/Freight/Delivery RED STAR EXPRESS PLC Daily Summary as of 05/06/2015 TRANS-NATIONWIDE EXPRESS PLC. Printed 05/06/2015 15:30:07.007 Courier/Freight/Delivery Totals Employment Solutions C & I LEASING PLC. Employment Solutions Totals

276 Symbol RTBRISCOE

No. of Deals 2 2

Current Price 0.75

Quantity Traded 50,100Page 50,100

Symbol REDSTAREX TRANSEXPR

No. of Deals 9 3 12

Current Price 5.10 1.28

Quantity Traded 285,875 13,150 299,025

Value Traded 1,448,738.00 16,043.00 1,464,781.00

Symbol CILEASING

No. of Deals 51 51

Current Price 0.70

Quantity Traded 8,337,618 8,337,618

Value Traded 5,891,035.15 5,891,035.15

Daily Summary (Equities)

Value Traded 37,575.00 of 12 37,575.00

Value Traded 1,103,161,494.31

No. of Deals

Current Price

Quantity Traded

Value Traded

Symbol AIICO CONTINSURE GNI LINKASSURE MANSARD NEM NIGERINS PRESTIGE WAPIC

No. of Deals Current Price 15 1.00 9 1.00 5 0.50 8 0.50 5 2.87 20 0.84 1 0.50 1 0.50 85 0.51 149

Quantity Traded 1,852,110 1,601,200 379,300 1,389,822 5,630 3,137,045 9,800 3,000 16,398,341 24,776,248

Value Traded 1,852,110.00 1,602,220.00 189,650.00 694,911.00 16,766.40 2,560,261.03 4,900.00 1,500.00 8,262,939.95 15,185,258.38

Symbol NPFMCRFBK

No. of Deals Current Price 6 1.14 6

Quantity Traded 24,100 24,100

Value Traded 27,799.00 27,799.00

Symbol RESORTSAL

No. of Deals Current Price 1 0.50 1

Quantity Traded Page 500,000 500,000

Value Traded 12 5 of 250,000.00 250,000.00

Symbol AFRIPRUD CUSTODYINS FBNH FCMB STANBIC

No. of Deals Current Price 76 2.90 14 4.00 308 9.00 45 2.99 39 28.95

Quantity Traded 2,473,928 641,973 11,192,967 1,352,295 1,110,044

Page

Hotels/Lodging IKEJA HOTEL PLC Hotels/Lodging Totals

Symbol IKEJAHOTEL

No. of Deals 3 3

Current Price 3.89

Quantity Traded 2,250 2,250

Value Traded 8,859.00 8,859.00

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

Symbol ACADEMY LEARNAFRCA UPL

No. of Deals 2 5 5 12

Current Price 0.95 1.15 6.05

Quantity Traded 14,360 66,240 52,500 133,100

Value Traded 13,391.20 79,386.00 301,875.00 394,652.20

Road Transportation ASSOCIATED BUS COMPANY PLC Road Transportation Totals

Symbol ABCTRANS

No. of Deals 5 5

Current Price 0.56

Quantity Traded 356,054 356,054

Value Traded 202,132.24 202,132.24

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

Symbol AIRSERVICE NAHCO

No. of Deals 5 15 20

Current Price 2.33 6.11

Quantity Traded 108,035 131,000 239,035

Value Traded 251,741.90 762,460.00 1,014,201.90

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

Symbol CAVERTON

No. of Deals 1 1

Current Price 3.60

Quantity Traded 2,000 2,000

Value Traded 6,840.00 6,840.00

106

9,419,182

9,020,076.49

3,510

198,415,055

2,463,057,152.84

SERVICES Totals Daily Summary as of 05/06/2015 Board Totals Printed EQTY 05/06/2015 15:30:07.007

Page

3,510

198,415,055

2,463,057,152.84

Daily Summary (ETP)

Value Traded 7,160,338.08 2,526,598.36 100,858,219.71 3,964,069.37 32,065,873.76 of

No. of Deals 1 1

Printed 05/06/2015 15:30:07.007 Petroleum and Petroleum Products Distributors BECO PETROLEUM PRODUCT PLC CONOIL PLC ETERNA PLC. FORTE OIL PLC.

Quantity Traded 106,456,027

Symbol CUTIX

OIL AND GAS Integrated Oil and Gas Services OANDO PLC Integrated Oil and Gas Services Totals Daily Summary as of 05/06/2015

Current Price

Page

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

Activity Summary on Board EQTY

No. of Deals 1,332

Daily Summary (Equities)

12 of Value Traded 4,122,839.14 1,914,273.12 1,514,930.16 249,150.27 119,776,271.36 49,088.04 291,130.00 34,056,870.57 161,974,552.66

Page Quantity Traded 196,284 181,039 37,654 24,997 678,588 38,652 76,000 345,941 1,579,155

Activity Summary on Board EQTY FINANCIAL SERVICES Insurance Carriers, Brokers and Services AIICO INSURANCE PLC. CONTINENTAL REINSURANCE PLC GREAT NIGERIAN INSURANCE PLC LINKAGE ASSURANCE PLC MANSARD INSURANCE PLC N.E.M INSURANCE CO (NIG) PLC. NIGER INSURANCE CO. PLC. PRESTIGE ASSURANCE CO. PLC. WAPIC INSURANCE PLC Insurance Carriers, Brokers and Services Totals

152,970,993

2,052

Current Price 21.57 11.00 41.00 10.32 177.00 1.33 3.99 99.00

INDUSTRIAL Totals Daily Summary as ofGOODS 05/06/2015 Printed 05/06/2015 15:30:07.007 OIL AND GAS Energy Equipment and Services JAPAUL OIL & MARITIME SERVICES PLC Energy Equipment and Services Totals

Daily Summary as of 05/06/2015 Activity Summary on Board EQTY Printed 05/06/2015 15:30:07.007 FINANCIAL SERVICES Banking Banking Totals

Value Traded 6,214,926.54 152,790,025.82

No. of Deals 19 23 14 10 49 1 7 34 157

ASHAKA CEM PLC BERGER PAINTS PLC CAP PLC CEMENT CO. OF NORTH.NIG. PLC DANGOTE CEMENT PLC PAINTS AND COATINGS MANUFACTURES PLC PORTLAND PAINTS & PRODUCTS NIGERIA PLC LAFARGE AFRICA PLC. Building Materials Totals

Quantity Traded 4,443,411 21,214,618

Symbol ASHAKACEM BERGER CAP CCNN DANGCEM PAINTCOM PORTPAINT WAPCO

12 1Value Traded of 14,700.00 12,637.80 22,018,439.33 58,962,117.97 81,007,895.10

Symbol COSTAIN GCAPPA

CONSTRUCTION/REAL ESTATE Totals Activity Summary on Board EQTY CONSUMER GOODS Beverages--Brewers/Distillers CHAMPION BREW. PLC. Published by The Nigerian Stock Exchange © GUINNESS NIG PLC INTERNATIONAL BREWERIES PLC. NIGERIAN BREW. PLC. PREMIER BREWERIES PLC Beverages--Brewers/Distillers Totals

Current Price 1.40

Activity Summary on Board EQTY

CONGLOMERATES Totals CONSTRUCTION/REAL ESTATE Building Structure/Completion/Other COSTAIN (W A) PLC. G CAPPA PLC Building Structure/Completion/Other Totals

No. of Deals 82 564

HEALTHCARE Totals

Daily Summary as of 05/06/2015 ICT Printed 05/06/2015 15:30:07.007

Activity Summary on Board EQTY CONGLOMERATES Published by The Nigerian Stock Exchange © Diversified Industries A.G. LEVENTIS NIGERIA PLC. JOHN HOLT PLC. TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATION OF NIGERIA PLC U A C N PLC. Diversified Industries Totals

Symbol UBCAP

Exchange Traded Fund

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

Symbol LOTUSHAL15 NEWGOLD VETGRIF30

No. of Deals 1 2 1 4

Current Price 10.73 2,240.00 15.45

Quantity Traded 5 28 5 38

Value Traded 53.65 63,602.00 77.25 63,732.90

ETF Board Totals

63,732.90

ETP Activity Totals

63,732.90

Photo | News

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015

L-R: Bishop, Diocese of Lagos Mainland, Methodist Church Nigeria, Rt. Revd Isaac Ayobami Olawuyi; newly installed presbyters, Very Rev. Michael Icha Iganga; Very Rev. William Allotey-Pappoe and Secretary of the conference, Bishop Raphael Okpoko, at the installation of the new presbyters in Lagos.

L-R: Head Operations, Tabtha Heritage Foundation, Mrs. Lola Oladimeji; beneficiaries, Miss Grace Solomon; Miss Olanike Abdulazeez; Vice Principal, Admin, Mr. Ahmed Gana Dobi and Dr. Simeon Eghujorbo, at the Tabitha Heritage Foundation free eye glasses donation to Students in Abuja.

PHOTO: ELIJAH OLALUYI

L-R: Fayrouz LOriginal2 Jury Designers, Mai Atafo; April by Kunbi; Marketing Manager, Nigerian Breweries, Olayinka Bakare; Kelechi Amadi-Obi and Rhema Akabuogu of House of Tara, at the final auditions in UNILAG Lagos.

L-R: Brand Manager, Colgate Palmolive Nigeria, Gbadesola Adenrele; the firm’s Oral Consultant, Dr. Oge MacJohnson; general dental practitioners, Dr. Oluwagbeminiyi Shyllon; Dr. Iyabo Sofoluwe-Sadare and Customer Development Manager, Mr. Deinde Elegbede, at the ‘Ask Your Colgate Expert’ forum in Lagos.

Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong (left), receiving the oath paper from the Chairman of Langtang North Local Government, Mr. Dan Dul, in Jos.

L-R: Deputy Inspector General, Dan’Azumi Doma; newly promoted officer, Zanna Ibrahim and Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, during the decoration of newly promoted officers in Abuja.

Pricing Analyst, MTN Nigeria, Mr. Adefemi Adeleke (middle) with some lucky customers, during their arrival from Jerusalem for this year’s pilgrimage, at the Murtala International Airport, Lagos.

L-R: General Manager, Unmissable Incentives Limited, Mr. Sope Durodola; Chairman, Award Panel, Mr. Ikeddy Isiguzo; panel members, Mrs. Falilat Ogunkoya and Mr. Ejiro Omonode, at the inaugural press conference for the 2015 Nigerian Sports award in Lagos. PHOTO: SULEIMAN HUSAINI

News

MONDAY,JUNE 8, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

SOUTH-WEST

Ekiti PDP warns against fresh attack on Fayose lI had a premonition of my husband’s travails, says gov’s wife

Adesina Wahab Ado-Ekiti

he Ekiti State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has raised the alarm that the All Progressives Congress (APC) was planning another crisis that would unsettle the state, barely a week after the impeachment plot of Governor

Ayo Fayose, became unsuccessful. This development was revealed, even as the wife of the governor, Mrs. Feyisetan Fayose, said she had the premonition about the political crisis that rocked the state for three months during which the 19 All Progressives Congress (APC) members of the 4th House of Assembly attempted to remove her husband from office.

They both spoke yesterday during a special thanksgiving service held at the Deeper Life Bible Church, Ajebandele, Ado-Ekiti, to usher in the 5th Ekiti State House of Assembly that was inaugurated by the governor on Friday. According the State Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr Jackson Adebayo, the APC was planning to make the state ungovernable as long as Governor

Fayose, was in office. He alleged that the APC’s strategic committee swung into action immediately the last impeachment move collapsed, saying what they were after was to cause trouble in the state. The PDP called on security agents to keep the APC leaders under watch so that the state could be spared of unwarranted destabilisation of peace.

Meanwhile, a cleric, Prophet Moses Kasali, the General Overseer of the Hour of Mercy Prayer Ministry, Ibadan, Oyo State, has advised Governor Fayose not to relax in prayers and supplication, as there were still challenges ahead of him and his government. He said, “I want to urge Governor Fayose to continue to seek the face of God in a new dimension. He shouldn’t relax because the battle isn’t

yet over. He must, with all humility and repentance, seek God’s face for him to conquer the enemies outside and within” Kasali said. Mrs. Fayose, who gave a testimony during the service, recalled that God revealed to her in her dream that the state would pass through a turbulent period between March and April, this year, but said she got the assurance from God, that they would not abandoned.

PDP blamed for Osun’s salary arrears recklessness Adeolu Adeyemo Osogbo

Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose and his wife, Feyisetan, during a thanksgiving service at the Deeper Life Bible Church, Ajebamidele, Ado Ekiti …yesterday

Alao-Akala likens self to Obasanjo Sola Adeyemo Ibadan

n spite his loss to Governor Abiola Ajimobi in the April 11 governorship election, former Oyo state governor, Chief Adebayo AlaoAkala, has said that his political success could be likened to that of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s. To Alao-Akala, who turned 65 on June 3, there was no way the story of Nigeria and, indeed, that of Oyo state would be told without the mention of his name. Likening his life experience to that of the expresident, Obasanjo, the

governorship candidate of the Labour Party, told New Telegraph that he had been fortunate in life just like Chief Obasanjo, a privilege so rare in the history of human race. Alao-Akala expressed his delight in his Iya Alaro residence, Ogbomoso, during his birthday celebration where many dignitaries trooped and felicitated with him. “When I read the three volumes of “My Watch” written by Chief Obasanjo, I meditated on my life experiences and saw that it has been like that of Chief Obasanjo. It is by grace indeed because not many people are given it. It is rare. God never makes mistake.”

Ex-Osun APC chairman tasks lawmakers on pro-activeness Adeolu Adeyemo Osogbo

he immediate past Chairman of Osun State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Elder Moses Adelowo Adebiyi, yesterday felicitated with the Speaker of the state House Of Assembly, Hon. Najeem Salam and members of the newly inaugurated 6th Assembly of the state, charging to them to be more pro-active in their legislative functions . Adebiyi, in a statement made available to newsmen in Osogbo, appealed to the lawmakers to keep their promise to the electorate, who gave

Declare your assets publicly, SDP tells Aregbesola Adeolu Adeyemo Osogbo

he Social Democratic Party (SDP), Osun State chapter has called on the state governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, to declare his assets publicly or the party would go ahead to publish what it alleged as the hidden assets of the governor. The Chairman of the

party, Mr. Ademola Ishola, who said this in a statement to newsmen in Osogbo at the weekend, threatened that his party knew where Aregbesola’s assets both within and outside the state were, stating “we are ready to publish same, including his huge bank accounts”. Ishola said further, “the party will not rest until everything in the state is

straightened out by the All Progressives Congress (APC) led state and Federal Government.” In its reaction, the APC Director of Publicity and Strategy, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi, told the SDP to go ahead and publish whatever it knows about Aregbesola, as claimed. The party described SDP’s allegation as baseless and far from the truth, saying, the governor knows

them their mandate for the legislative assignment, charging them to be upright to their duties and convince the people of the state that they were up to the task. He remarked: “It is important to realise the fact that democracy is growing fast in the country and people are becoming more aware of their rights.” “Therefore, the lawmakers are enjoined to rise to the challenge of making democracy a tool towards a better life for the entire people of Osun state.” “The need for a greater co-operation with the executive arm in this era of dwindling economy in the state cannot be overemphasized.” his onions and can never get himself involved in unwholesome acts, He said, ‘’Aregbesola was not like them and if they have evidences about their claims, they should go ahead and do what they promised to do.’’ “If they want to declare the asset, they can do it for him, but i think he has done that already. But if is not satisfactory to them, let them do theirs.” he submitted.”

sun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP),yesterday attributed the non-payment of workers’ salaries in the state to financial recklessness on the part of the state governor, Rauf Aregbesola. It, therefore, suggested to the government to “sell the helicopter belonging to “Governor Aregbesola, allegedly bought with the state money, to offset the accumulated debts owed workers in the state.” The party, in a statement by its Director of Publicity Prince Diran Odeyemi, frowned at the non-payment of workers’ ‘salaries and charged the stakeholders to prevail on the governor to stop using the state’s fund for his selfish interest. “What this administration told us was that the helicopter was to be used for surveillance, but we have since discovered that it is only serving the travelling needs of Mr. Aregbesola and his family. This remains one draining pipe of the state’s funds that must be blocked”. “The governor and his

aides should be forthright and stop travelling in chartered aircrafts round the world.” “If President Muhammadu Buhari could fly on British Airways economy class, even when aircrafts in presidential fleet are available, there is need for Governor Aregbesola to borrow a leaf”. While expressing support for workers for demanding their entitlement through industrial action, the party maintained that Osun state found itself in the present state of insolvency because public funds were “recklessly expended on irrelevant, but huge projects and ventures without adequate projection of the funds available to the state”. “The whole world is aware that the former Ekiti lawmakers were highly bribed and haboured with Osun State funds, for several months where they mapped out strategies on how to impeach Governor Fayose. It is also fresh in everybody’s minds the huge amount of money Aregbesola expended on the last Ekiti and Lagos governorship elections and the presidential polls to facilitate the victory of the All Progressives Congress, APC.”

Ambode inaugurates Lagos assembly today Wale Elegbede and Temitope Ogunbanke

fter its initial postponement, the inauguration of the 8th Lagos State House of Assembly will be performed today by the state Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, at the assembly’s complex. The incoming Eigth Assembly is a clear departure from the outgoing house which was dominated by All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmakers. The incoming house has 32 APC lawmakers and eight from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The inauguration,

earlier fixed for last week Thursday, was said to have been postponed over the inability of the APC to select the house leadership for the new assembly. According to sources, the APC, which has majority in the house, may have settled for Hon. Mudasiru Obasa to lead the next Assembly as the Speaker-designate. Obasa, who is from Agege 1 in Lagos West constituency, is a fourth term lawmaker in the Assembly and will have his Deputy in the member representing Lagos Island State Constituency 1, Mr. Wasiu Sanni-Eshinlokun.

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY,JUNE 8, 2015

5O held over French tourist’s death in Ebonyi Charles Onyekwere ABAKALIKI

he police in Ebonyi State, have apprehended over 5O people in connection with the death of a French national, who was in the state on tourism mission. The couple, Mr. Nagnan Dennis, 52, and Mrs. Nagnan Mee Lavaud Liana, 53 were said to have been attacked on Monday night last week around 8pm by unknown gunmen within the Abaomege axis of Onitsha local government area of the state. The attack led to the death of one of their victims, Denis, who was allegedly shot on the leg and marcheted in different parts of his body, until he lost consciousness and later died on the spot.

Confirming the incident, the State Commissioner of Police, CP Maigari Dikko, said 32 suspects were, in the early hours of last week Wednesday, arrested in connection with the incident and that they have already been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), of the state Police Command for further interrogation and prosecution if necessary. The commissioner of police who described the victims as tourists who had travelled through several countries to get to Nigeria added, that about 1,150 euros and N13,000 were also stolen from them by the hoodlums. “Thirty-two suspects were arrested in the early hours of this morning and they are currently being transferred to the SCID for investigation and screen-

News 47

SOUTH-EAST

ing. According to him, the wife of the victim who reported the incident to the police Division in the area told the police through an interpreter that she will be able to identify the people who killed her husband if she saw them. “We got the report yesterday from the DPO of Onitsha LGA about the French nationals, a couple; they were tourists who

left their country on December 2014 and arrived Nigeria through Badagry on 3rd of May, that is last saturday Dikko who noted that the Police Headquarters including the French Embassy had already been communicated over the incident added the deceased was shot by the hoodlums during an argument as they further inflicted machete-cut injuries on him.

Abducted Abia chieftain regains freedom Peter Osondu Aba

Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) chieftain in Abia state, Chief Israel Mark, has regained his freedom from his captors four days after he was kidnapped by unknown gunmen in Aba. It was gathered that Mark, a legal practitioner, was abducted by gunmen at his house on Ozumba Street, Aba last Monday at about 11pm.

The gunmen were said to have shot sporadically, creating tension and confusion in the area before escaping with their victim. After days of captivity, the kidnappers were reported to have abandoned the PDP chieftain at Osisioma Ngwa area, after they had earlier threatened to kill him if he did not cooperate with them. When contacted, spokesman of the Abia State Police Command, DSP Onyeke Ezekiel, said he was not aware of the incident.

Abia Assembly revokes quarry right to two companies Igbeaku Orji Umuahia

he immediate past Abia state House of Assembly, has revoked the quarrying activities of two companies, Asphalt Unity Construction and Allied Bond, ordering them to stop further quarrying of granite stone at Aguokeakpu Amaubiri Lopkaukwu site in the Umunneochi local government area of the state. The directive, which was contained in a resolution passed by the House during one of its winding down sittings in Umuahia, directed Pioneer Sino Chino to take over the site for quarrying. The resolution, which was signed by the Clerk/ Permanent Secretary of the House, JohnPedro

Irokansi , said that any work being carried out at the quarry site by the two companies henceforth will amount to illegality, saying that the House looked at both the oral and documentary evidences, which points to the fact that, Pioneer Sino Chino was the rightful owner of the lease right to the quarry site. The resolution also said that Pioneer Sino Chino, has the legal right to carry out quarrying of granite stone, having satisfied the necessary legal requirement for the business. The House said that the legal right obtained by Pioneer Sino Chino, must be protected at all times even as it added, that the two other companies being barred from working there, should stop fanning the embers of confusion.

L-R: Former Abia State Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Ezinne Ngozi Oji; Managing Director, Aba Mega Mall Limted, Ugo Umeseaka and Group Managing Director, Greenfield Assets Limted, Paul Obanua, at the inauguration of the mall in Aba…at the weekend

Monarch decries govt’s neglect of oil producing communities Igbeaku Orji Umuahia

he traditional ruler of Igiri Ukwu autonomous community in Ukwa West Local Government Area of Abia State, Eze Dr. Jonathan Onwugbufor Ezere, has decried the level of government neglect of oil producing communities with the attendant environmental degradation, poverty and hunger, saying that if nothing was done urgently, people in the communi-

ties would be deprived of means of livelihood. Eze Ezere, said that it was regrettable that in spite of producing the wealth of the nation, their water and land have been damaged by oil spillage and seismic activities of the oil companies, thereby depriving them of their means of livelihood which is agriculture and fishing. The royal father further lamented that Igiri Ukwu Community alone, has 150 functional oil wells

that yield revenue to the Federal and Abia State Governments, yet the area was underdeveloped. He said that the efforts of youths of the community to ensure that pipelines belonging to Shell BP were not vandalized by hoodlums were not appreciated. “This shows that the people are patriotic and law abiding citizens and deserve compensations even as our land has been taken over by the oil companies leaving us with little for farming yet no encouragement from the government”

he said. He therefore called on the government to urgently come to the aid of the community to assuage their suffering occasioned by environmental degradation and hazard from oil exploration and activities. He was also happy for the establishment of Abia State Oil Producing Area Development Commission (ASOPADEC) whose pioneer chairman Chief Sam Nwogu from the community is the state representative in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

Ex-speaker seeks legislative autonomy Umahi decries high debt profile Uchenna Inya ABAKALIKI

former Speaker of Ebonyi State House of Assembly, Hon. Augustine Nwankwegu has called for autonomy of the legislature. He noted that total dependence on the whims of the executives by legislatures have brought many problems into the legislative houses. Nwankwegu spoke during the valedictory session of the 4th Assembly in the

state held at the House of Assembly complex, Abakaliki. He said, ‘’if this autonomy is granted, it will further deepen democracy and help members make more contributions to the governance of country’’. He also called for executive support to all arms of government and condemned the actions of the immediate past administration in the state which he said did not accord the legislative arm its supposed respect which

according to him was the cause of misunderstanding between the executive and legislature till the end of the administration. He advocated for the establishment of Assembly Service Commission in the state legislature to strength the staff and reduce the burden of the Speaker who combines the legislative and administrative duties, adding that the combination of legislative and administrative duties by the Speaker always bring suspicion.

Charles Onyekwere ABAKALIKI

bonyi state Governor, Dave Umahi at the weekend applauded the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Ebonyi State chapter, for contributing to his victory, calling for prayers and collaboration to enable him offset huge debt inherited from the immediate past administration of Chief Martin Elechi.

The governor said this while addressing a crowd of supporters at the Abakaliki Township Stadium, which witnessed the presence of Evangelist Uma Ukpai and other men of God from all Churches in Abakaliki, to mark the end of his 7 days prayer and fasting to seek the presence and assistance of God before assuming office as the governor. Umahi reiterated his preparedness to ensure that those who embezzled the state government funds and defected to other politi-

cal party few days to the end of the immediate past administration face the Economic and financial crimes commission(EFCC) and the Independent corrupt practices and other Related Commission(ICPC) for appropriate actions. He lamented that the funds embezzled by those who worked for the past administration were meant for the development of the state, just as he revealed his commitment to make Ebonyi State an enviable economy in Nigeria.

48 News

Ayade slams waste collection contractors Clement James Calabar

ross River State governor, Ben Ayade, at the weekend, slammed the two contractors handling the evacuation of refuse in Calabar South Local Government area after the expiration of the three-day ultimatum he earlier gave to them to either perform or be sacked. Fielding questions from newsmen at one of the numerous uncleared refuse dumps in the capital city, Ayade ordered that the contract for the evacuation of waste be split into smaller units, saying the decision was prompted by the contractors’ incompetence and lack of capacity to perform efficiently. According to him, “The two contractors handling the evacuation of refuse in the state have not been able to deliver, they do not have the capacity to perform and it is clear that the work is beyond their scope and the only alternative is to split it into smaller units, so that they will meet the scope it takes to keep the city clean.” Describing the attitude of the affected contractors as unacceptable, Ayade said: “For two contractors to handle this huge work with 18 trucks is not acceptable and all this must be brought to an end today.”

south - south

Wike assures Rivers people of democracy dividends

ivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has assured the people of the state of the dividends of democracy, stressing that democracy has returned to the state after years of political bondage. Wike, who spoke at the thanksgiving service of Grassroots Development Initiative (GDI) at St. An-

drew’s Anglican Church, Rumuola Parish, Port Harcourt, said the people can now enjoy all the good that comes with democracy. He also commended GDI, a grassroots group that campaigned for him across the 23 local government areas of the state for its commitment and doggedness for truth, just as

ternal and infant mortality in such areas. The initiative is sponsored by the Shell Petroleum Development Corporation (SPDC’s) joint venture in collaboration with the governments of Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, Imo, Abia and Akwa Ibom States and the New Partnership for Africa Development (NEPAD). “This is a unique intervention that invests not only in the individual beneficiaries, but also in the people, hoping to benefit from their newly acquired skills,” said SPDC’s acting Regional Community Health Manager, Dr. Akinwumi Fajola, at a cheque-

presentation ceremony in Port Harcourt. He said: “The training is in line with SPDC’s commitment to improve healthcare in rural areas and will make the muchneeded difference in hardto-reach locations in the Niger Delta area.” SPDC’s Acting Head of Department, Partnership and Collaboration, Dr. Dennis Oyakhire, commended the state ministries of health for their commitment to the success of the partnership. He said: “In 2014, the beneficiaries received the first instalment of the scholarship fund and today we are happy to be presenting the second and final cheques to them. We are all looking forward to enjoying the benefits of this initiative.”

Group tasks lawmakers on public interest bills Temitope Ogunbanke

coalition of youth groups in Edo State has urged both the state and National Assembly members to work in the interest of the people by making laws that will have direct but positive

he commended the group for the entrenchment of democracy in the state. The governor, who was represented by Nigeria’s Ambassador to South Korea, Ambassador Desmond Akawor, urged the group to work harder in the interest of democracy and the people. He said: “GDI is an instrument that came out at

a point when nobody was allowed to air their views or hold meetings in Rivers State. The leaders of GDI came, exhibited courage and determination. “Through this group, today, we now have democracy in Rivers State, without anybody challenging you of which ever group you want to belong. We now have a Rivers State

L-R: Special Assistant to Edo State Governor, Moye Maleke; Assistant Manager, Youth Segment, MTN, Joseph Ogbuka; winner of N10m in the MTN Cash Quest Promo, Jarius Odogu; Assistant Manager, Masterbrand, MTN, Dapo Olawale and Zonal Coordinator, National Lottery Regulatory Commission, Benin, Maureen Akpata, at the presentation of cheques to winners in the MTNCash Quest Promo, in Benin…at the weekend.

Shell to boost healthcare delivery in Niger Delta ealthcare delivery services in six Niger Delta states will soon be boosted with the training of 300 midwives that will support government’s effort in getting more skilled health workers engaged in rural communities in the region. The 18-month midwifery certification training, which commenced in 2014, aims to produce skilled and motivated change agents in the hinterland, where statistics show that 45 per cent of women are delivered of their babies with the help of unskilled birth attendants, thereby increasing the risk of ma-

monday, june 8, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

impact on the people. The group under the auspices of ‘Edo Youths Front’ in a statement signed by its Coordinator, Dennis Osaretin Agho, after a stakeholders’ meeting in Lagos, urged Edo lawmakers to deliver campaign promises made during electioneering.

“Our lawmakers must work in concert with the current government at both the state and federal level to ensure the speedy development of the state and the delivery of democracy dividend to their constituencies,” the group stated.

Udom approves committee for Ibom deep seaport committee Ibom Deep Seaport gets 10-man committee to realise founding fathers' dream

kwa Ibom State governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, has approved the constitution of a 10-man technical committee on the realisation of Ibom Deep Seaport with Mrs. Mfon Usoro, a one-time Director-General of the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), as chairman. Members of the committee are Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, Mr. Chidi Izuwah, Mr. Idongesit Udofa, Ekong Umo-Otong, Rear Admiral Francis Akpan, Aniekan Ukpanah, Mr. Charles Udonwah, Mrs. Akon Eyakenyi and Etido Inyang. A press release issued in Uyo at the weekend by Ekerete Udoh, Senior

Special Assistant (Media) and Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, said the terms of reference includes working on different phases of the project and to ensure that it is delivered on time. The committee will report directly to the governor. The governor congratulated the members, saying that he expects them to bring to bear on the assignment, their various technical layers of competence. In another development, the Akwa Ibom State government yesterday warned certain people, who he said have been extorting money from unsuspecting members of the public on the pretext of giving them employment in the civil, to desist from such act. A press release signed by Ekerete Udoh, said the government has not appointed any person, agent or proxy, to collect money from people for the purpose of recruitment into any position in the civil service.

born again. “Now, we have the judiciary back after a year. This men and women worked tirelessly to give us hope. Now, we have the state House of Assembly sit at their chambers to discuss issues about Rivers State. “It is difficult to describe where they are coming from, the Dark Age, when our traditional rulers were not allowed to air their views in the state. The traditional stool was balkanised, just to despise those who decided to give advice. “Now, we have taken the leadership of the state, the expectation from us by Rivers people is high while a lot needs to be done. “Every GDI member is a vanguard to this crusade. It is our duty to ensure that no loophole is left, remember what the Bible says, ‘when the hedge is broken, the serpent will bite. They are doing all they can to see they bring you back to the Dark Age. “So, it is our duty, as GDI members, to work hard and ensure that never again, would Rivers State be returned to the Dark Age.”

Ex-lawmaker advocates pay cut for public servants Clement James Calabar

ublic office holders and workers in general have been urged to make sacrifices that will revive the economy of the country by willingly accepting cuts in their salaries and emoluments. A former member of the House of Representatives, Etubom Nya Asuquo, made the appeal in Calabar yesterday after arriving from Abeokuta where he led a delegation of the “Friends of Obansanjo” to attend the burial of the former President’s sister. He said given the current state of the nation’s economy, it was necessary for public office holders to accept pay cut if the economy must be revived. Asuquo, who was in the lower chamber between 1999 and 2003 said: “I have always advocated for the pay cut of public officers because, like I have said many times before, Nigeria has the highest cost of governance in the whole world.” He said governance is about the people and not about individuals, he said a pay cut will enhance the resource base of the country and will enable the government to develop the needed infrastructure.

NEW TELEGRAPH monday, june 8, 2015

FG advises farmers on bird flu prevention Musa Pam Jos

he Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, at the weekend, advised poultry farmers in the country to adopt bio-security measures to stop their birds from contacting avian influenza, also known as bird flu. Malam Sulaiman Ahmed of the Department of Animal Production and Husbandry, in the ministry gave the advice in Jos at a sensitisation workshop for poultry farmers in Plateau State. The theme of the workshop was “Community Capacity Enhancement on Bio-security in Poultry Production.” According to Ahmed, poultry farmers must cultivate the culture of ensuring strict bio-security for the safety of their birds and the people. “The whole issue about bio-security bothers on two factors; first is to ensure that the disease is prevented from coming into your farm, and secondly, in case your farm is affected, to ensure you avert further spread to other farms through effective management,” he said.

ECWA inaugurates N80m guest house Musa Pam Jos

he Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) has inaugurated a three-storey guest house near its headquarters in Jos for use by visiting pastors and members of the public. The guest house was constructed at the cost of N80 million. President of the Church, Rev. Jeremiah Gado, who performed the inauguration, said the guest house would advance the cause of the church. “This project is to meet one of our fourpoint agenda, to mobilise resources that will help reposition ECWA to powerfully proclaim the gospel to mankind.” Gado told newsmen during a post-inauguration interview with newsmen that “it is to serve as a befitting place of rest for our guests, most of who are our pastors that come for our meetings and conferences."

News 49

south NORTH - south

IDPs abandon camp for farming Abdulwahab Isa Abuja

ndications have emerged that farmers, who are victims of Boko Haram attacks living in Internally Displaced Persons’ (IDPs) camps in the North-East are relocating to their farms in continuation of farming activities in the new raining season. Their preference for relocating to the farms is hinged on the return of

the rains as many of the displaced are farmers desirous of engaging in farming in the new season. Head, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), NYSC Girei Yola camp in Adamawa State, Mallam Sali Nuhu Yusuf, confirmed the voluntary relocation of some IDPs to newsmen over the weekend, when a delegation from the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) donated 74 assorted relief materials to the IDPs

at Girei camp. He said from an initial population of over 24, 000 before the March general elections, the population has reduced to slightly above 2, 000 noting that many IDPs, whose place of domain had been recovered from the grip of the insurgents and with the return of the rains, chose to go back to continue with their farming . Men and officers of the Nigeria Customs across all the formations,

contributed resources for the procurement of 74 assorted items, comprising food stuffs, sleeping materials, beverages, clothing materials and foot wears. The presentation was done by the Deputy Comptroller-General (DCG enforcement) Musa Tahir, on behalf of the Comptroller-General, Abdullahi Dikko Inde, to the Adamawa State government. Presenting the items, Tahir said the items were voluntary donations by

men and officers of the service as part of their widow's mite to alleviate the pains and plight of the IDPs. “The Nigeria Customs has several functions, among which is security." Apart from the collection of revenue, the service is currently engaged in joint task force operation in the North-East. Apart from this, the service, as part of its social corporate responsibility, has been doing some social work too.

Niger State governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello (right), during an inspection tour of facilities at the Tungan Kawo Dam, Kontagora. With him are Area Manager of the State Water Board, Mall Haruna Musa and others…yesterday

Masari directs Katsina council areas to give account Ibraheem Musa Kaduna

atsina State governor, Aminu Bello Masari, has directed all the 34 local government chairmen to give account of the money disbursed to them after the gubernatorial election by the immediate past administration of Ibrahim Shema in the state. In a press statement issued yesterday, the governor gave the directive at a meeting with the chairmen where he reiterated that the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration would have zerotolerance for corruption. It will be recalled that the former governor has claimed to have disbursed over N8.5 billion to the local government chairmen in the last few days of his administration. Governor Masari, while assuring that “state resources would

be judiciously utilized” in his administration, warned that anybody caught stealing government money would not be spared of the commensurate punishment. The governor charged the local government chairmen to sit up and face their responsibilities with all seriousness and sense of responsibility, especially in the areas of education and health at the primary and secondary levels. According to Masari, his administration would not tolerate a situation where the crying needs of the people are subordinated to frivolous undertakings that add no value to the society. He stressed that “under our watch, not only are we going to expend resources judiciously, we will also conduct government business over, not under the table according to the needs of the people.”

Cephas Iorhemen

Makurdi

enue State governor, Samuel Ortom, yesterday felicitated with the newly elected Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Terkimbi Ikyange and his Deputy, Hon. James Okefe Ejembi, on their election as leaders of the eighth assembly. Ikyange represents Ushongo constituency on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) while Ejembi represents Okpokwu constituency on

Ortom hails Benue speaker, deputy over their election the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Ortom, in a congratulatory message, said the election was an exhibition of the confidence members have in their leadership qualities, which they hope would be deployed for quality legislation and good governance in the state. He pledged to partner with the assembly’s leaders for efficient and effective service delivery to the people and also so-

licited their cooperation to fast-track the realisation of the development agenda of his administration. The governor expressed happiness that members voted across party lines, and urged them to sustain the development in the interest of the state even as he urged the speaker, his deputy and members to approach their responsibilities with discipline, commitment and grace.

Let your change lead to transformation, cleric tells Buhari Dan Atori MINNA

he Anglican Bishop of Kutugi Diocese in Niger State, Rt. Revd. Jeremiah Kolo, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to translate his ‘Change’ slogan into transformation of the society. The cleric made this call yesterday during his address at the Cathedral

Church of St. John, Kutugi, during the first session of the second synod, adding that Buhari’s government can only sing a new song by fulfilling his promises to the people. According to him, “The synod congratulates President Buhari and Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, Governor of Niger State; however, we desire that the slogan, ‘Change’, be a true change that will result

in the transformation of our country, Nigeria. “The level of corruption and insecurity in the country is worrisome; the government must fulfil its promises.” Speaking on the theme of the synod; “Let us sing a new song,” Kolo charged Nigerians “to have a rethink and repent of evil, corruption, and other social vices so that God will show mercy on us as a country.”

50 WORLD | News

MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

G7 summit opens with tough line on Ukraine

he leaders of Germany and the United States hammered home a tough line on Russia yesterday at the start of a G7 summit dominated by crises in Ukraine and Greece. German Chancellor Angela Merkel kicked off the day by treating US President Barack Obama to some traditional Bavarian beer garden hospitality, with frothy ale, pretzels and oompah brass music played by locals in lederhosen. But after the smiles in the sunshine, both leaders issued a stark warn-

ing to President Vladimir Putin over what Obama said was his "aggression" in Ukraine. "The two leaders agreed that the duration of sanctions should be clearly linked to Russia's full implementation of the Minsk agreements and respect for Ukraine's sovereignty," a statement from the White House said, referring to a ceasefire deal struck in the Belarus capital. The folksy welcome and display of US-German unity contrasted sharply with the leaders' line on Russia, which was excluded from the talks. EU President

Donald Tusk, also attending the meeting at the heavily guarded Elmau Castle retreat, said he wanted to "reconfirm G7 unity on sanctions policy" against Russia, which he said would stay out of the G7 "community of values" as long as "it behaves aggressively with Ukraine and other countries." The Japanese and Canadian leaders had Saturday made a point of visiting Kiev on their way to Germany to voice support for Ukraine's embattled leaders, as government troops again traded fire with pro-Russian rebels in

the east. A key G7 issue would be "standing up to Russian aggression in Ukraine," Obama said ahead of talks with Britain's David Cameron, France's Francois Hollande, Italy's Matteo Renzi, Canada's Stephen Harper and Japan's Shinzo Abe. A recent flareup in fighting in east Ukraine has left at least 28 dead and sparked fears that the escalation will derail the hard-won ceasefire brokered by France and Germany four months ago. Obama, without naming crisis-hit Greece, also pointed at the European

Union's ongoing troubles with debt-hit Athens, mentioning as the top summit issues "the global economy that creates jobs and opportunity" and "maintaining a strong and prosperous European Union". Merkel, a champion of tough reforms and austerity in return for loans had made a last-ditch effort to resolve the Greek crisis in the days before the G7 summit, huddling during the week with the heads of the IMF, European Commission and European Central Bank in Berlin.

Omar al-Bashir forms new government

udanese President Omar al-Bashir has formed a new government a month after winning elections that were boycotted by the main opposition parties and tarnished by a poor turnout. The key foreign ministry portfolio has gone to Ibrahim Ghandour, a former presidential assistant. Mohamed Zayed has been appointed oil minister, while Mustafa Osman Obeid was appointed acting defence minister. The new government will

comprise a total of 31 cabinet ministers. In addition President Bashir has also appointed governors for Sudan's 18 states in what he has vowed will be a "new page" for his country, Speaking at his inauguration last week, the president said that he wanted to repair ties with the West, tackle corruption and bring peace to the country. Another priority is restoring Sudan's ailing economy. Mr Bashir, 71, seized power in an Islamist-backed coup in 1989.

Turks vote in election set to shape Erdogan's legacy

The G7 leaders pose for a family photo on their way to their first working session at the Elmau Castle near GarmischPartenkirchen,Sothern Germany yesterday.

Warships rescue migrants off Libya coast

uropean warships and coast guard vessels have rescued more than 2,000 migrants off the coast of Libya. The Malta-based, Migrant Offshore Aid Station, said it coordinated the operation along with Italian, Irish and German ships. Italy's coastguard could not confirm the numbers, but said it was trying to help around a dozen other vessels. HMS Bulwark, a British Royal

Navy ship, is also making its way towards Libya to assist with the situation. BBC correspondent Jonathan Beale, who is on board, said the ship's crew launched helicopters and landing craft yesterday morning in the expectation they would pick up more migrants. The Bulwark has already saved almost 1,800 people over the past month. Italian navy ship Driade res-

cued 560 of the migrants Saturday, including women and children, while the Irish vessel LE Eithne picked up 310 people. The numbers of migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean in the hope of reaching Europe, has increased by more than 10% in the first five months of 2015. Italy's government predicts a total of 200,000 will arrive on its shores this year, up from 170,000 in 2014.

US, Japan say first test of Raytheon's new SM-3 missile a success

he United States and Japan yesterday announced the first live fire test of Raytheon Co's new Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IIA missile that is being jointly developed by the two countries for a combined cost of around $2 billion. Rick Lehner, spokesman for the US Missile Defense Agency, said the test conducted Saturday from the Point Mugu Sea Range off the coast of California was a success. The SM-3 IIA is a 21-inch variant of an earlier SM-3 missile, which works with the US Aegis combat system built by Lockheed Martin Corp to destroy incoming ballistic missile threats in space. Riki Ellison, who heads

the non-profit Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, said the two countries would spend about $1 billion each to design, test and eventually produce the new missiles, a model for joint weapons development programs. "It is the US Department of Defense's best case of equal funding and engineering shared with an allied country to develop and field a new weapon system to better enhance the national security of both nations," Ellison said in a statement. Raytheon said the new SM-3 IIA missile had bigger rocket motors and a more capable kill vehicle that would allow the missile to engage threats sooner and protect larger regions from short- to intermediate-range

ballistic missile threats. Saturday's test evaluated the performance of the missile's nosecone, steering control, and the separation of its booster, and second and third stages. No intercept was planned, and no target missile was launched, said US and company officials. "The success of this test keeps the program on track for a 2018 deployment at sea and ashore," said Taylor Lawrence, president of Raytheon's missile systems business.Ellison said three more years of testing were planned for the new missile before it was put to use on US Navy Aegis ships, Japan's Kongo ships, and at land-based Aegis Ashore sites in Poland and Romania.

resident Tayyip Erdogan sought a crushing victory for his vision of a "new Turkey" at parliamentary elections on Sunday, a vote that could furnish the country's most divisive modern leader with sweeping executive powers. The mood was tense at some polling stations, particularly in the mainly Kurdish southeast, after a bombing on Friday killed two people and wounded at least 200 at a rally for the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP). The attack has sharpened attention on the HDP, which is looking to enter parliament for the first time as a party. Its success could put an end to 12 years of single-party rule by the AK Party Erdogan founded. Erdogan hopes the AKP can win a resounding majority to change the constitution and

create a US-style executive presidency. Opponents say his vision would lack necessary checks and balances from other branches of state. "They say 'If Erdogan gets what he wants yesterday he will be unstoppable'," Erdogan told a rally in the northeastern province of Ardahan Saturday. "They actually mean Turkey will be unstoppable." While the AKP is expected to again be by far the largest party, it may be unable to secure an outright majority if the HDP crosses the 10 percent threshold to enter parliament. The HDP has widened its appeal beyond its Kurdish core vote to center-left and secularist elements disillusioned with Erdogan. "I am certain the HDP will exceed the threshold. My only worry is the theft of votes," said Bahar Haram, a 25-year-old social services worker voting in Diyarbakir, the biggest city in the southeast, where the HDP draws most of its support.

Orange boss invited to Israel over 窶話oycott' row

srael has invited the head of France's Orange to visit the Jewish state to explain his plans to review ties with an Israeli telecoms firm, a government official said yesterday. The government's invitation was the latest development in a row which erupted Wednesday after Stephane Richard, chief executive of the telecoms giant, said his firm was planning to withdraw its brand from Israel. Israel reacted furiously, accusing him of caving in to a

Palestinian-led boycott campaign, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu branding the move by a company partly-owned by the French government as "miserable." Richard quickly tried to limit the damage, insisting there was no political motivation and telling AFP on the weekend he "sincerely regrets" the furore sparked by the decision. His remarks were dismissed by Partner, Israel's second largest mobile operator which has a licence to use the Orange brand.

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015

News

I can’t rely on home-based Eagles for now – Keshi

International Sport

Barca will not lose hunger for success – Enrique

Women’s World Cup

U-20 World Cup

Sport Ifeanyi Ibeh

ead coach of Nigeria’s Flying Eagles, Manu Garba, has stated that his side fear no foes and believes his players are more than capable of beating Germany to book a place in the quarterfinals of the ongoing FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand. The African champions defeated Hungary 2-0 on Sunday courtesy of a brace by Taiwo Awoniyi to qualify in second place from Group E behind Brazil. The win over the Hungarians was highly deserved for the Flying Eagles who have done well to come back from their opening defeat to Brazil to qualify for the knockout rounds. Up next for Manu’s team is a tough duel against the in-form European champions, Germany, who are so far unbeaten in New Zealand and have scored an impressive 16 goals in their three group stage games. But Manu is not in the least intimidated by the record of the European and is looking forward to the clash in Christchurch. “If you want to be champions, you have to be ready for any team. So, we are prepared for Germany or any other team because we want to win this World Cup,” said Manu after his side’s win against Hungary. “The most important thing right now is that after losing to Brazil, we have come back to qualify for the next round

The Sport Team Adekunle Salami Group Sport Editor

Emmanuel Tobi Assistant Editor, Sport

Ifeanyi Ibeh Sport Correspondent

Ajibade Olusesan Sport Correspondent

Charles Ogundiya Sport Correspondent

Canada, Holland win in Women’s World Cup

Emmanuel Tobi

Canada

F’Eagles must strengthen backline, says Adepoju

Did you know?

FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP

Live from

That it is only the second time in the 23 seasons of the UEFA Champions League that the competition’s top scorer crown has been shared by three players after Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Neymar scored 10 goals each this season.

Flying Eagles ready for Germany, says Manu of the tournament.” A goal in either half by Awoniyi ensured victory for the Flying Eagles against the Hungarians and Manu said his players prevented the Europeans from playing their usual game. “Overall, it was a good game for us. We knew Hungary will try to use the wings and pull out their balls from there, but we stopped them from playing,” said Manu who was part of the Flying Eagles squad at the 1983 World Youth championship in Mexico. He also stated that he would have been happier with more goals on Sunday. “I would probably have been happier had we scored more goals.” A win for the Flying Eagles on Thursday will set up an all-African quarterfinal date with the winner of the second round tie between Ghana and Mali.

Nigeria’s Mustapha Abdullahi and Wilfred Ndidi attempting to stop Hungary’s Donat Zsoter during their match...Sunday

Falcons seek World Cup glory in Canada Emmanuel Tobi Canada

he stage is set as African champions, the Super Falcons, battle Sweden today at their Women’s World Cup opener billed for the Winnipeg Stadium, Canada. The Nigerians will attempt to qualify from the group stage of the competition for the first time, a jinx the team has not broken since 1999. Nigeria’s best outing at the competition was in 1999 when the Super Falcons got to the

quarterfinals coming from 3-0 down against Brazil only to eventually lose 4-3 in extratime thereby failing to reach the semifinals. Falcons coach Edwin Okon while expressing confidence in the ability of his players, stated that the team was mentally ready for their first game of the competition against the Swedes who are rated 10th in the world. Okon said: “We have worked very hard because we are aware of the task ahead of us. We trained twice every day at the Shaughnessy Field since we arrived in Winnipeg and

we had the opportunity to feel the astro turf of the Winnipeg Stadium on Sunday. “I can say that that the team is mentally ready for the Sweden game,” he added. The Super Falcons have qualified for every edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup since inception and have an enviable record on the African continent, winning nine Africa Women Championship with an overall AWC match record of 36 wins and five draws in 45 matches. However being grouped alongside USA, Australia and Sweden seems to be an enor-

mous task. The Swedes, who are making their seventh appearance like Nigeria, dropped no point and conceded just once in their 10 qualifying matches and boast of players like Emma Lund, Jenny Hjohlman, Lotta Schelin and Olivia Schough. But the strength of the Falcons is in the attack with players like Courtney Dike, Esther Sunday, Desire Oparanozie, Iniabasi Umotong, Perpetua Nkwocha, Loveth Ayila, Francisca Odega and Asisat Oshola. Veterans like Onome Ebi and Osinachi Ohale will take charge of the defence line.

52 Sport

MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

I can’t rely on home-based Eagles for now – Keshi Adeolu Johnson Abuja

uper Eagles Manager, Stephen Keshi, has said the two weeks training was not enough for him to raise a home-based team to face Chad in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifier slated for Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna, on June 13. The coach while responding to questions during a media parley at their Bolton White Apartment on Saturday said those who queried him that N120million was too much to prosecute the tie do not understand how things work at this level. “If I chose to use only the home-based players and come out to draw or lose the match, people will say this man is

crazy. So I think we have to do the right thing to make sure we get the maximum result,” Keshi retorted. The former Togo gaffer who said he had a good knowledge of the Chadians disclosed that he played them in 2008 when he was in charge of the Malian national team. “The match against Chad will not be a walkover. They have a French coach and are cuurently in Paris to play a friendly tie. Most of their players play professional football in France, Morocco and Germany. So we must prepare for the tie just like other games,” he added. Keshi said he was impressed with the quality of the players in camp ahead of Saturday’s match. “We have been monitoring them for over two years and we

hope they come in, relax and play for their country,” he said. The former national team skipper said Nigerians should look out for attacking and attractive brand of football on Saturday. He said he deliberately did not invite Mikel Obi and Austin Ejide because he wanted to give the new players a chance. “I invited only one foreign based goalkeeper because I want to give the local ones a chance. We continue to mix them with foreign ones until we get to the desired level,” he posited. Keshi revealed that he missed his former assistants like Daniel Amokachi, Sylvanus Okpala, Ben Alaiya and Emma Attah but explained that would not affect the performance of the team as all of them still remain his friends.

Nigeria’s Azubuike Egwuekwe, vying for the ball with Cote d’Ivoire’s Gervinho, during a friendly tie

Warri Wolves turn attention to league after ouster Charles Ogundiya

W Nigeria’s Ahmed Musa in action against an unnamed South African opponent

We ‘ll overwhelm Chad with goals, says Musa Adeolu Johnson Abuja

uper Eagles striker, Ahmed Musa, has said the players are going against their Chadian counterparts with utmost victory in their minds. The CSKA Moscow forward said what is paramount in their minds was overwhelming victory as they could not afford to toy with the qualification like they did during the 2015 qualifiers. “We have to work very hard and be focused with the little time we have left to train together. We have one more week to blend and am sure we will get better before the encounter,” he said. Musa said although the Chad-

ians might prove a hard nut to crack, but they would try to make Nigerians happy at the end of the encounter. On the new four-year contract he signed with his Russian club, Musa said he was delighted to put pen on paper for CSKA till 2018. “The CSKA fans are wonderful people. They do not want me to leave. I renewed my contract with the club because I am comfortable in Moscow. I have to secure my future first, but If any other contract comes up along the way, I will grab it,” he said. He however begged Nigerians to turn out in large number on Saturday to cheer the Eagles to victory against their opponents.

Nigeria begins campaign at ITTF WJC in Egypt Ajibade Olusesan

igeria will be looking forward to a successful outing as the International Table Tennis Federation World Junior Circuit serves off today (Monday) in Cairo, Egypt. Nigeria join 13 others countries including the hosts in competing for honours as the tournament serves off with the team event in

the junior and cadet divisions. To emphasis the quality of Nigeria, the West African giant has been listed among the top seeded teams of the competition. 14 events in junior, cadet and mini cadet will be contested for by 138 players from Nigeria, Algeria, Botswana, India, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Romania, Slovakia, Togo, Tunisia and hosts, Egypt.

arri Wolves management and players have said the target now will be to battle for the Nigeria Professional Football League title after the team’s elimination from the continent on Saturday. Speaking with New Telegraph, the General Manager of the team, Davidson Owumi, and some of the players said

it was unfortunate that the team was eliminated, but that work must start now to take the team back to the continent. “We will have to concentrate fully on the domestic league now that we are out of the continent,” Owumi said. “I can assure everyone that Warri Wolves will be back on the continent next year.” Midfielder, Bathlomew Ibenegbu, said the target now would be to win the domestic

league. The former Heartland of Owerri player said: “We have to move on from the loss against AC Leopard and see how we can win the league because we have to be back on the continent next year.” Striker Freedom Omoforma also called on his teammates to give the league their best shot and end the club’s long time wait for a major trophy.

Eagles/Chad: Tickets go on sale Thursday

ickets for Saturday’s 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match between the Super Eagles and the Senior National Team of will go on sale in selected outlets in Kaduna on Thursday, officials have confirmed to thenff.com. Saturday’s match will be the first by the Super Eagles on the natural turf of Ahmadu Bello Stadium since a 4-0 international friendly victory over the Stallions of Burkina Faso on September 10, 2013. It will also be the first international match at the

venue since the U-20 National Team, Flying Eagles, earned a 4-0 win over their Tanzanian counterparts in a qualifying match for the 2015 African Youth Championship, in May 2014. Officials have informed to thenff.com that tickets into the VIP stand at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium will cost N2,000, with the grandstand to go for N500 and the popular area tickets to be sold for N300 only. The Super Eagles also defeated their Zambian counterparts 2-0 in a friendly match

in Kaduna on November 15, 2011 – Coach Stephen Keshi’s second match in charge of the squad after being named coach on November 2, 2011 in his first stint. Also, the Super Eagles B walloped their Ivorian counterparts 4-1 in Kaduna in July 2013, prior to qualifying for the African Nations Championship for the first time. Meanwhile, all the players required by Coach Stephen Keshi to prosecute the match in Kaduna are now in camp, with the arrival of Chinabased Aaron Samuel.

Anambra agog for 1st AFN Golden League Charles Ogundiya

he newly laid tartan track of the Rojeny Stadium, Oba, Anambra State will be on fire this week as the 1st Athletic Federation of Nigeria-organised Golden League takes centre stage. The Golden League scheduled for Thursday June 11, is a competition for home-based athletes to keep them in top shape before the AFN/CRS All Nigeria Athletics Championships that serve as trials for the Beijing 2015 IAAF World Championships and Congo 2015 All Africa Games. The nation’s best athletes

are expected to be at Rojeny to compete for various cash prizes at the one-day meet. Meanwhile, AFN Technical Director Omatseye Nesiama has appealed to all states/ clubs interested in participating in AFN-organised activities in 2015 to register with the AFN Secretariat with immediate effect. They are to pay the affiliation fees before the commencement of the League or any of the AFN-organised competitions for 2015. Athletes would also be required to obtain identity cards which shall act as their license for competing in the

season. “As determined by the League Organising Committee, transport subsidy and, in some cases, accommodation subsidy, where accommodation is not provided, shall be provided for the top four finishers in each of the Golden League events,” Nesiama said. “All participating athletes shall compete in their state or club uniform especially in the relays.’’ He also said doping control procedures shall be carried out in accordance with IAAF anti-doping regulations for all athletes in the AFN top20 list.

International Sport 53

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015

Blatter: Why I quit FIFA

epp Blatter has revealed the reasons why he quit his position as Fifa president, stating that he did it for the good of football and the organisation. The 79-year-old beat Prince Ali of Jordan in the presidential election to win a fifth term in power on June 29, but was urged to quit following a host of serious allegations. US authorities arrested seven Fifa executives on suspicion of corruption and bribery, while Swiss officials have opened a separate case

Barcelona celebrating with the Champions League trophy...Saturday

season and we’ve lost six and drawn four. “It’s one of the best seasons in Barca’s history. “But this club needs more trophies. We’re the best side in Europe but we have to keep going and get more. “The players are still hungry for victories, the key thing is they enjoy winning so much.” Incredibly, despite a phenomenal season for Enrique and Barca, doubts remain about his future with the club.

Even after the win in Berlin, he refused to confirm if he’d still be in charge next term. He said: “As for my own future, the time will come when decisions have to be made. “I have to thank all the people who trusted me and thought I was the best person to lead Barcelona with my staff. “I’m happy with the work we’ve done this season. I just want to savour it with the fans and then we’ll think about next season.”

ussia and Qatar could be stripped of the right to host the World Cup in 2018 and 2022 respectively if allegations of corruption in their bids are proved, according to Fifa’s Audit and Compliance Committee chairman. Both bids are currently under investigation from Swiss authorities, with the FBI also reportedly paying close attention as world football’s governing body continues to be wracked by controversy. And compliance chief Domenico Scala has warned that the tournaments could well be relocated should those investigations uncover

any wrongdoings. “If evidence should emerge that the awards to Qatar and Russia only came about thanks to bought votes, then the awards could be invalidated,” Scala told SonntagsZeitung. “This evidence has not yet been brought forth.” The ongoing furore over world football was sparked by a United States Department of Justice indictment of 14 individuals, including nine past and present Fifa officials, on charges of racketeering conspiracy and corruption – not linked to the Qatar and Russia bids. Sepp Blatter announced he would step down as president just

Glo rallies support for Super Falcons

ational telecoms operator, Globacom, has called on the women’s national team, the Super Falcons, to pick the three points at stake by defeating Sweden in the opening Group D match of the 2015 FIFA Women World Cup in Canada on Monday. “While we understand that the task of defeating Sweden and picking the three points at stake may not be easy, we believe this is still possible given the quality of players in the current squad of Super Falcons,” Globacom said in a statement in Lagos on Sunday. Much is expected from the Falcons as they aim to qualify from a very tough group and move

to the knock out stage. The other teams in the group are USA, winner of the Women World Cup in1991 and 1999, Sweden, runners up in 2013 and bronze winner in1991 and 2011 as well as Australia, quarter finalists in 2007 and 2011. “Although the Super Falcons are in a group perceived to be very tough, we believe we have the calibre of players that can help the team to top the group. They should ensure that they not only qualify from Group D, but also surpass the quarter final record set by the Super Falcons team that represented Africa at the 1999 Women World Cup in USA,” the statement added.

FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP

Emmanuel Tobi Live from

Canada

Blatter

Fifa president before later withdrawing - are among those who called for Blatter to step down. Meanwhile, former Fifa vice-president Jack Warner claimed earlier this week that he would reveal the whole truth behind Fifa’s alleged corruption.

Russia, Qatar may forfeit hosting right – FIFA official

Barca will not lose hunger R for success – Enrique

uis Enrique hailed one of the greatest seasons in Barcelona’s history last night after winning the Champions League trophy. But the Nou Camp boss vowed he and his players will NEVER lose their hunger for glory. The Catalans secured a glorious Treble in Berlin with a 3-1 win over Juventus courtesy of goals from Ivan Rakitic, Luis Suarez and Neymar. Enrique said: “This is our 60th match of the

looking into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. He told Bild am Sonntag: “I have provided my office in order to reduce the pressure put on the Fifa. “I am just interested in protecting Fifa as an institution and football in general. In an extraordinary congress further reforms will be presented and a new president will be elected.” Uefa president Michel Platini and former Portugal star Luis Figo - who launched a bid to become

four days after being reelected for a fifth term over the controversy, a move Scala claimed could “fundamentally change” the governance of football worldwide.

Scala

Canada snippets Sun still shining at 9pm One of the most fascinating things that caught our attention on arrival in Winnipeg Friday night was the atmosphere in the city. The sun was still shining like it was 4pm in Nigeria. The sun does not go down until 10pm most times which is like the equivalent of 6pm in Lagos. Super Falcons’ Desire Oparanozie, vying with a South African player

Canada, Holland win in Women’s World Cup

hristine Sinclair’s controversial late penalty got hosts Canada off to a winning start at the Women’s World Cup with a 1-0 win over China, while the Netherlands beat New Zealand by the same score. The Group A doubleheader in Edmonton on Saturday kicked off four weeks of football across Canada and was preceded by an opening ceremony in front of a packed and passionate crowd of

53,038 at the Commonwealth Stadium. The party atmosphere amid a sea of red and white flags was complete when 31-year-old Sinclair stepped up two minutes into added time to score a penalty awarded for Zhao Rong’s foul on substitute Adriana Leon. It was Canada captain Sinclair’s 154th goal in 224 internationals. “Only one woman in the world could step up like that in the 90th

minute and write that script,” said Canada coach John Herdman. “I’m glad we could sneak a win. We have the three points and are on the road.” The other game was played immediately after at the same stadium, and Lieke Martens gave the Dutch newcomers their first World Cup goal to condemn New Zealand to a 10th defeat in as many games spanning three tournaments.

Great Stadium The Winnipeg University Stadium is a great edifice to behold. The multipurpose stadium located at the corner of St. James Street and Maroons Road, is built for the Canadian Football League’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The media tribune and newly created extension is a delight for journalists to behold. Accreditation in two minutes Accreditation is always a major concern for journalists, but I spent just less than two minutes for my accreditation courtesy of the sophisticated electronic gadgets provided by the Canadian Local Organising Committee.

Sport

MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH

FIFA U-20 World Cup

F’Eagles must strengthen backline, says Adepoju Charles Ogundiya

Serbia Vs Hungary

Dunedin

USA Vs Colombia

Wellington

Ukraine Vs Senegal

Auckland

THURSDAY, JUNE 11 Austria Vs Uzbekistan

Whangarei

Germany Vs Nigeria

Christchurch New Plymouth

Ifeanyi Ibeh

F Donat Zsoter of Hungary and Akinjide Idowu of Nigeria battle for the ball

things up in the defence because the game will be more tactical and a lot of discipline at the back will be needed to scale through. We must not lose concentration at all.” The former Shooting Stars of Ibadan General

Manager, who was one of Nigeria’s stars at the 1989 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Saudi Arabia, further stated that the team would go far if they put their acts together and play as a unit. “Knowing Germany for what they are, they will be

ungary U-20 national team head coach Bernd Storck has described his side’s opponents in Sunday’s FIFA U-20 World Cup tie in New Plymouth, Nigeria’s Flying Eagles, as ‘difficult’. The German-born coach, speaking after his side’s 2-0 loss to the African champions, also stated that the fitness level of his players was below the required 100 per cent when they came up against the Nigerians. Storck admitted that his

team had a good spell in the opening 15 minutes of the game at the Stadium Takarani, but accepted that the Flying Eagles were better. “Today (Sunday) our players’ fitness level was not at 100 per cent, as it was against Brazil, and to keep pace with an opposition like Nigeria is difficult,” he said. “We started well for the first 15 minutes but they were better. I wanted to give a chance to all my players so I can test their

French Open final

Wawrinka stuns Djokovic to win title

Wellington

Enaholo ready for Germany test

ovak Djokovic’s dreams of authenticating his greatness were brutally thrown back in his face on Sunday as Stan Wawrinka shocked him to win the French Open. Like his coach Boris Becker and many other outstanding players, the world number one is still without the clay court Grand Slam to his name as he was beaten 4-6 6-4 6-3 6-4 by the Swiss in three hours and 12 minutes. Djokovic hoped to join Rod Laver, Andre Agassi, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer as the only players in the modern era to win all four Majors, but must come back again next year to give it another try. Wawrinka, whose confi-

Ghana Vs Mali

Brazil Vs Uruguay

studying our pattern of play and looking for our weaknesses so as to exploit them,” he said. “I will advise the team to play together as a unit and not leave room for mistakes because they will be exploited by the Germans.”

Playing Nigeria was difficult, admits Hungary coach

Storck

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10

Portugal Vs New Zealand Hamilton

ormer Nigeria midfielder, Mutiu Adepoju, has charged the Flying Eagles’ technical crew to work on the team’s defence before the second round game against Germany, even as he congratulated the team for progressing to the second round of the ongoing FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand. Speaking with New Telegraph, the coordinator of Kwara Football Academy said the game against Germany would be difficult. “There are no second chances at this stage unlike the group stage where it was easy to make amends after the 4-2 loss to Brazil in the first game,” said Adepoju. He added: “Germany are very good and we must tidy

ROUND OF 16 MATCHES

dence was massively boosted by a first Grand Slam win over Federer in the quarter finals, said ‘I am sure Novak will win it one year.’ The whole tournament has been a massive turnaround for Wawrinka. He began it fifteen days ago furious at an article on the official Roland Garros website that detailed his recent marriage split, and ended it two Sundays later lifting the trophy. He was a popular enough winner although the crowd was surprisingly even handed throughout, given that he is a Francophone and was clearly the underdog. The result also ends any hopes Djokovic has of doing the calendar year Grand

level against these quality sides and I am happy that I managed to do that. The former Borussia Dortmund assistant coach is now hoping that his players can recover their fitness in time for Wednesday’s match against Serbia at the Otago Stadium in Dunedin. “About our opponents Serbia, I have seen a little bit of their games so far and I hope my players will be 100 per cent fit in time for that game,” said Storck.

lying Eagles goalkeeper, Joshua Enaholo, has declared his readiness to take on the free-scoring Germans in Thursday’s FIFA U-20 World Cup second round tie in Christchurch. A brace from Taiwo Awoniyi was all the reigning African champions needed to silence the Hungarians in Sunday’s crucial tie in New Plymouth and Enaholo for a second straight game kept a clean sheet at the World Cup. The MFM of Lagos star has shown considerable improvement since letting in four goals against Brazil in Nigeria’s opening day 4-2 loss to Brazil. And as he gets set to man the posts for the Flying Eagles when they come up against European champions Germany on Thursday, Enaholo, who has redeemed himself after his two blunders proved costly for the Flying Eagles against the Brazilians, is confident he and his teammates will come out on top against the free-scoring Germans who have scored 16 goals in three games. “Let them come. We are ready for them,” said Enaholo. Thursday’s game will commence by 8.30AM Nigerian time at the Christchurch Stadium.

Enaholo

I almost withdrew – Williams

erena Williams has admitted she nearly withdrew from the French Open final after falling ill in the lead up to the match. The American managed to fight off a brave charge from Lucie Safarova to win 6-3 6-7 (2-7) 6-2 on Saturday afternoon. Williams secured her third title in Paris and with it also won her 20th Grand Slam title. Although she produced the

Slam, something his form suggested he was capable of. He now has to decide whether to play a grass court warm up event ahead of Wimbledon, either at Queens or at Halle in Germany. Djokovic had beaten ninetime champion Rafael Nadal and Britain’s Andy Murray en route to the final, but Wawrinka, who won the boys’ singles title at Roland Garros in 2003, cemented his place among the elite with an outstanding performance. The tone was set in the opening game as Djokovic earned a break point but Wawrinka edged an enthralling 39-shot rally, the longest of the tournament Wawrinka lifts the French Open trophy so far, to survive and hold.

goods, Williams has now admitted that she was suffering with flu in the lead up to the final. She said: “Is it the most difficult Grand Slam I’ve ever won? For sure. When you have the flu your whole body aches. That’s kind of what I have been dealing with. “Even now I just really don’t have any energy and I just want to go to bed.

Special Features 55

NEW TELEGRAPH MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015

Oko Poly: Matters arising John Obodoeze

ow that the ministerial panel first set up in February to unravel the cause(s) of the crises that have rocked the Federal Polytechnic Oko in Anambra State for three years now is set to visit the institution after several postponements occasioned by the impunity associated with immediate past government, one hopes that peace will return to the beleaguered institution. The panel which everyone had hoped that would act pretty quickly due to the explosive nature of the crises kept on dilly dallying until the Minister that set it up left office. People are now expressing fears that the panel may not do transparent work sensing it would go the way of the previous ones. Their fear may not be misplaced as no one has been able to explain why the panel which was set up by the immediate past Minister of Education, Ibrahim Shakarau, could not sit in March despite the fact that the panel was given two weeks to submit its report due to the urgent need to restore peace in the institution. Observers attributed the panel’s inability to sit in March to the role being played by top members of the ruling PDP from the Southeast, some of whom are right inside the Presidency, to retain the rector in office at all cost. As the staff, students and indigenes of the host community continued to worry why the panel could not sit, the Minister finally inaugurated the panel on the eve of his departure (just exactly one week to the end of the life of the past administration). Since then people have been wondering the rationale behind the two-week ultimatum given to the panel to finish its work when the Minister who knew why he set up the panel in the first instance had left office. The million naira question now is “who will implement the report of this panel since it demands attention? The general opinion now is that the panel should be disbanded and a new one set up by the Presidency since people see the panel as being manipulated by highly placed people from the immediate past government and some staff of the ministry of education who are in the rector’s payroll. Really, what is happening at the Federal Polytechnic, Oko requires presidential intervention since all efforts made at the ministerial level, state level and community level to restore peace to the institution failed woefully. Even the one set up by the Anambra State government to unmask those behind the vandalization of the traditional ruler’s palace could not come up with its findings more than one year after it was set up. Many people have attributed the inability of the various panels set up to settle the crisis between the Management and the various unions in the institution on the one hand and the institution and the host community on the other hand to the Management’s divide and

rule tactics. Little wonder the traditional ruler of the town stated in one of his press releases that the rector is capable of “corrupting even the elect”. For more than one year now the rector has temporarily relocated to Abuja where he shuttles between the Presidency and the ministry of education looking for one protection or the other. This constant trip to Abuja has left the administration of the school totally in limbo as the two lackeys he picked as his deputies are currently preoccupied with the issuance of queries to the perceived enemies of the Management and forcing the HODs to endorse the result sheets which the lecturers have refused to endorse because the lecturers claim that the results did not emanate through the normal process of examination. Right now before any staff gets the financial support of the Management to attend any conference either locally or internationally, he or she MUST belong to the so called “Integrity Group”. This group which condones all the evils being perpetrated in the institution also compiled a list of lecturers the Management alleged belonged to APC whose appointments were to be terminated had the PDP won the presidential election. To prove that his temporary relocation to Abuja is not in vain after all, the rector openly boasted during the last Academic Board (AB) meeting which he chaired that those who are thinking that his days in office are numbered should better go and take malaria tablets as he is now more at home with the new APC government that he was with the out gone PDP government. This statement has ignited fresh tension in the institution as the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics has given him a 14 day ultimatum, which expires on June 11, to resolve all the issues in contention with the union or face a total withdrawal of the lecturers’ services. However, the people are waiting to see how the APC government which wants to sanitize the rot created in this country by the PDP-controlled federal government will go ahead hobnobbing with this rector who is a product of PDP’s impunity in governance. The impunity exhibited by top high ranking PDP members from the South East through the rector resulted in turning the school into a laboratory of sorts where they bring their specimen either in form of the Chairman of the Governing Council or emergency contractors for experimentation. Currently, the Governing Council working in league with the Management has resorted to the crude method of recruiting academic staff in any institution of higher learning or even secondary school. The Council has asked the members of the non-academic staff most of whom obtained questionable certificates to apply for conversion to teaching staff instead of advertising for the vacancies so that the best brains outside can compete with those already in the system. This is what the past rectors did and it is even what is

obtainable elsewhere. Fresh graduates who are well tutored are idling away in our town and villages and you are converting somebody who has been working in the school as either a cleaner, clerk or security personnel to academic staff. An opinion poll conducted among the members of the various unions in the institution and host community to find a lasting solution to the crisis in the institution shows that more than 90 per cent of the people want the rector to step aside so that an incorruptible panel to be set up by the Presidency will look into the immediate and remote causes of the crises in school. And the same majority of those polled want the Federal Government to emulate what a former Military Administrator of Ogun State did when similar crisis rocked the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (Mapoly) in the state. The Governor after collecting the credentials of those vying for the position of the rector of the school subjected the selection of the right candidate to a democratic process. Under the system all the academic staff and representatives of the non- academic and student unions voted for or against the candidates. From this process the Governor picked the candidate who was acceptable to all and sundry. One really believes the fact that if this process is introduced at the Federal Polytechnic Oko, the crisis currently rocking the institution will come to permanent end because an unusual situation they say requires an unusual solution. Apart from an astute polytechnics administrator in the person of Dr. Yusuf Awodi who was brought in, in an acting capacity when similar albeit lesser in magnitude than the present one rocked the institution in 2006, available records show that the crisis usually witnessed in the school emanates from the imposition of rectors in the school especially those from the university system. As it is today, majority of the members of staff of the institution are calling for the return of former rector of the school, Professor Eugene Nwadialor whom they claimed impacted positively on the lives of members of staff of the institution and the host community. The general opinion is that this former rector or any other less controversial person should be appointed in an acting capacity for six months to restore peace to the institution before a substantive rector can be appointed. Finally, the appeal being made by the entire members of the polytechnic community as well as the host community is that President Muhammed Buhari should act quickly to restore peace in the institution and by extension to the community in line with the wind of change blowing across the country. • Obodoeze wrote in from Abuja.

A day out for albinos Fred Nwaozor

lbinism is a genetic deficiency of melanin pigment production in which the carrier, either a person or animal, possesses very white skin, white hair and pink eyes. It is usually inherited as an autosomal recessive condition. The carrier of the syndrome is generally regarded as an ‘Albino’. In albinism, a number of different chromosomes are involved, depending upon the type. There are two major classes of albinism, namely; Oculocutaneous albinism and Ocular albinism. Oculocutaneous albinism affects the eyes, hair and skin, whereas only the eyes are affected in Ocular albinism. Approximately one in seventeen thousand (17,000) persons worldwide has one of the types of albinism. It is noteworthy that, albinism can affect any race and has been extensively studied in other animal species like mouse. Visual plights are a significant feature of albinism. In albinism condition, Melanin is reduced or could be totally absent in the eye, skin, hair as well as the brain, thereby causing mal-

development of neural pathways related to vision. Abnormalities in cone morphology have also been detected in the fovea. More so, severe nystagmus, photophobia, strabismus, and reduced visual acuity are common features. The precise appearance of an albino depends on which syndrome or condition is involved. Medical analysts are of the view that people with albinism have red eyes, but the colour of the iris varies from a dull grey to blue or even brown. In albinism condition, a brown iris is common among ethnic groups with darker pigmentation. Under certain lighting conditions, there is a reddish or violet hue that reflects through the iris from the retina and the eyes then appear red, similar to the red eye in flash photography. In some types of albinism, the red colour can reflect back through the iris as well as the pupil. Diagnosis is based on careful history of pigment development and an examination of the skin, hair and eyes. The only type of albinism that has white hair at birth is the OCA1. The most accurate test for determining the specific type of albinism is a genetic

test, though the test is useful only for families that have individuals with albinism. Hence it cannot be performed practically as a screening test for the general population. On Saturday June 13, the world willmark the maiden International Albinism Awareness Day. On Wednesday 19th of November 2014, the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) adopted June 13 each year as the International Albinism Awareness Day via a historic resolution. June 13 was chosen because it was on that day in 2013 that the UN adopted its first ever resolution on albinism. The UN calls on all stakeholders to use this day to take action that will end discrimination, stigma, intimidation, humiliation, attacks, and what have you, against persons living with albinism worldwide. To this end, we can take action by indulging in the following: • Inviting a local organization of persons with albinism to address our respective institutions. • Creating discussion forums in our workplaces on how we, both individu-

ally and collectively, can contribute towards ending the discrimination experienced by persons with albinism through our own belief systems. • Encouraging our friends, associates, relations, and/or employees, as the case may be, to spend reasonable time with the various societies of persons with albinism in order to assist them in addressing discrimination, among other uncalled treatments. And finally, but not the least, sponsoring a local radio, television or print media campaign on June 13 to raise awareness about the rights of persons with albinism. In addition, as the global community marks the first annual International Albinism Awareness Day, there is a pressing need for the law makers to enact a strict law that would thoroughly address all the challenges being faced by albinos in Nigeria with a view to actualising a country where fairness and equity are seen as its watchword. •Nwaozor ( frednwaozor@gmail.com), is a Public Affairs Analyst & Civil Rights Activist (+2348028608056)

On Marble

World Record

Sanctity of Truth

Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.

– Arthur Ashe

NIGERIA’S MOST AUTHORITATIVE NEWSPAPER IN POLITICS AND BUSINESS

MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015

N150

The Long Beach Peninsula is known for its continuous sand beaches on the Pacific Ocean side, 28 miles (45 km) in extent, claimed to be the longest beach in the United States and the world's largest drivable beach, however is second to Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh.

Moving Nigeria forward Reforming the electoral process

ear readers, in the next few weeks, I am going to focus on issues critical to moving the Nigeria project to the next level. Today, I want to deal with the imperatives of reforming the electoral process. The peaceful transition of power in Nigeria following the outcome of the 2015 general elections came to a grand finale on Friday 29th May with the official handover ceremonies at Eagle Square. Nigerians finally heaved a sigh of relief that the doomsday predictions of the western media of a crisis of apocalyptic proportions did not materialize. For now, they are happy to move on with their lives for the next four years. Not so for the family of Engr. Mike Nwafor of Ogbaku in Mbaitoli local government area of Imo State. I met Nwafor sometime in January this year. A hardworking and pleasant man. He had been recommended to me by a friend who had used his services. I quickly took a liking to his calm mien and obvious lack of guile. I gave him a job in my house under construction in Owerri. Mike as I preferred to call him, told me during one of our meetings that he had relocated his family comprising his wife and two kids to Owerri following the charged atmosphere in Abuja then in anticipation of the violence expected to follow a Muhammadu Buhari loss. The Presidential election was subsequently postponed by six weeks from February 14 to March 28. However, Mike was wrong as Buhari won the election and there were no reprisal attacks as predicted. So on May 10th 2015, after completing his work at Owerri, Mike loaded his wife and two children into a “Young shall Grow” bus headed to Abuja from Owerri. According to his relations who called me a week after, Mike and his two lovely children were roasted to death when the bus exploded into flames on been hit by a falling petrol tanker following a break failure at Ukpella in Edo state. The story is that an army checkpoint had stopped the bus for routine harassment which travelers by road in Nigeria are regularly subjected to when the tanker hit it from behind. His wife survived because she was able to exit the bus as she was sitting near the front door when the tanker fell on the bus. Mike and his two young children Chioma aged (10) and Chimaoge merely 1 ½ and four others died in the inferno and were given mass burial in an unmarked grave near the site of the accident. The bodies were burnt beyond recognition and we do not have the technology for dna identification. So on 19th June, I will join several of Mike’s relatives at Ogbaku to accord him and his children final burial rites when empty coffins containing sand taken from the crash site will be the final remains of a good man and his lovely children. Beautiful lives caught in the high votex of Nigeria’s political environment. In the euphoria of a

The Blunt Edge CHUKA ODOM Leisure & Puzzle }40 chukaodom@yahoo.com

Buhari

Boboye Oyeyemi

successful transition, it is convenient to forget Mike and tens of other Nigerians who lost their lives, victims of our unstable and fragile democracy. One of the hallmarks of a stable democracy is the existence of a credible electoral process that fulfills the most basic obligation of democracy – free, fair and credible elections. Elections are regular and are even held at short notices in some countries. The results are routinely accepted by all the parties and contestants. Not so in Nigeria. The electoral season heralds a period of fear and frantic prayers. In my church special prayers are composed by the Bishop for recitation after mass every sunday in all the parishes. In one stanza, it implores God to spare us from “the impending anarchy, chaos and destruction” that awaits innocent citizens. Any wonder then that western political analysts still consider Nigeria an investment risk in spite of all the boasts of upsurge in direct foreign investments. Fifty-five years after our independence, we are content to celebrate peaceful transitions; something that is taken for granted elsewhere. The fact that President Jonathan could have cited a number of reasons to cling to power is an indication that we are still within the parameters of a banana republic. It is for this same reason that I have conceded to President Goodluck Jonathan all the accolades he received for his gracious departure. A few of our past leaders cannot honestly say they would have done the same under the same circumstances. I believe this is the appropriate

time to take a hard look at our electoral process. The 2014 National Conference report of the Committee on Political Parties and electoral matters has very useful suggestions on election management. Those recommendations should be carefully studied and the relevant portions implemented. The report of the electoral reform committee otherwise known as the Justice Uwais report of 2008 is a very useful document in our search for creating an enabling platform for credible elections. Instead of wasting more resources on this matter, government should marry the recommendations in these two reports and move swiftly to commence the implementation ahead of the 2019 general elections. We should also look at the Ghana model which makes the office of the chairman of electoral body electable. A truly independent electoral body will commence now to build internal capacity for electoral duties, instead of the ad-hoc approach that leads to fear and confusion. No amount invested to achieve an efficient electoral process is too much. It is an investment in our political stability and progress. The alternative has been more expensive as we have learnt from experience. A sound and credible electoral system is the foundation for a new Nigeria which the Buhari administration can build upon to move Nigeria forward. And it is achievable. The greatest hindrance to a functional electoral system is the determination of the political class to stay on in power by all means and at all costs thereby stifling competitive elec-

toral process. They prefer to remote control all aspects of the process from primaries to the elections proper, thus creating chaos, fear and uncertainty during elections. This is the criminal system that delayed Buhari’s victory for several years. It will be ironical if Buhari leaves office without bequeathing to Nigerians a credible electoral system, thus setting the stage for frustrating (like he was) another patriot who genuinely wants to serve. The fight against corruption would have been half won when our electoral process begins to function like in other democracies. Nigerians would not have to be thrown into a state of fear and unnecessary anxiety every election season. Investors would no longer plan in four year cycles and the lives of innocent Nigerians like Mike and his lovely children would not be so senselessly wasted. Stop this carnage please! In a space of one week, scores of innocent Nigerians have lost their lives in road carnage involving fuel tankers. On Sunday 31st May, some 69 persons including a pregnant woman were burnt beyond recognition at Upper Iweka in Onitsha, some 14 buses and motorcycles were destroyed in the inferno. The cause of the accident, according to reports is break failure. On 3rd June, a tanker laden with fuel fell and later exploded in Alimosho in Lagos State. The fire which could not be controlled immediately spread and burnt more than 80 shops, 18 vehicles and five tricycles. No responsible government would treat these huge and massive loss of lives and properties as routine. Nowhere in the world would such tragic dereliction of duty resulting in mass death and destruction go unpunished. If the Buhari administration intends to be taken seriously by Nigerians, it must use these two incidents to set the tone for public accountability. Who own these tankers? Were they road worthy? Were all safety precautions in the transportation of highly inflammable materials taken? What about the drivers, were they sober or under the influence of alcohol at the time of these incidents. Where is the FRSC in all of this or is their role limited to removing corpses at accident scenes. The President should intervene and stop this slaughter of innocent Nigerians on our roads. A good leader apart from been upright should be caring and compassionate. I had expected the president to extend his condolences to the bereaved families. No affairs of state are more important than the lives of the people governed. The Corps Marshal of the FRSC should resign immediately to pave way for a proper organization that would take responsibility for this kind of avoidable mishap. What a shame!

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 Hotlines: (Lagos 0902 928 1425), (Abuja 0805 5118488) Email: info@newtelegraphonline.com Website: www.newtelegraphonline.com ISSN 2354-4317 Editor: YEMI AJAYI.