Nigerian observer 03 02 2014

The Nigerian

PUBLISHED SINCE MAY 29, 1968 • Vol . 38 NO.411• MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2014 • N100.00

cmyk

FAMILY PLANNING

Pg 19 Understanding Risk Factors Associated With Maternal Deaths

SCIENCE Pg. 22

Food Production And Storage

Why EIRS sealed SUBEB

By VICTOR OMOALU

BENIN CITY – The Edo State Internal Revenue Service (EIRS) has sealed up the

premises of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) for tax withholding liability owed the state government to the tune of N41,

199,905.5k The sealing up which was carried out by the Tax Intelligence and E n f o r c e m e n t Department of the EIRS came on the heels of the

revenue agency’s effort at ensuring that government ministries, departments and agencies fulfill their tax responsibilities to the Continues on page 2

Benin Water Storm Project

Drains to gulp N160bn

BENIN CITY - The Edo Government has said that the sum of One hundred and sixty billion Naira (N160bn) is required for the construction of primary and secondary drains connected to the mega Benin Water Storm project.

According to him, the The Commissioner for Benin water storm Environment in the state, project would take up to Mr. Clem Agba, made 20 years to complete the disclosure in an depending on the interview with newsmen availability of fund. in Benin.

The commissioner Agba said the amount explained that the design was not part of the cost of the project which of construction of roads, covered the state capital walkways, streetlights and its environ would and other projects address the perennial encompassed in the flooding problem. mega water project.

through the secondary drain of the water scheme.

Agba, however, said that the Uwelu axis of the state capital was the

He said the Okhoro, Uwelu and Upper Lawani

areas as well as the Central Business District

in the city had already started getting water

Continues on page 2

Killing of truck driver

Police begin investigation

By EUBALDUS ENAHORO/MIKE OSAROGIAGBON

BENIN CITY- Edo State Police Command has commenced investigation into the death of a diesel truck driver allegedly shot by an unknown personnel of the Police Special Protection Unit (SPU) in Benin City, weekend.

A statement issued by the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Moses Eguavoen advised the relations of the truck driver and members of the public to remain calm while

investigation is in progress.

“Information received by the Edo State Police Command reveals that on February 2, 2014 about 1930hrs, one Aisagbonbuan Osagie, male, aged 35 years, a driver in charge of a Diesel truck with registration number Delta AYB 601 XA was shot dead by suspected unknown personnel of Police Special Protection Unit, SPU, while driving against traffic along Ikpoba Hill on Benin Auchi Express road, Benin City.

“Investigation is on

TIT-BITS “Our most difficult wishes for God to approve are; the wishes for us to be in absolute control of our lives, and the lives of others.” - Kingsley Ogbeide-Ihama

going with a view to identifying and arresting the culprit.

The Command is by this medium requesting relations of the deceased person and members of the public to remain calm while investigation is in progress.

“So far, nothing suggests that any Continues on page 2

THANKSGIVING SERVICE: L-R: Mr. Ken Imasuagbon, former governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party, Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State and Rev. Felix Omobude, President, Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) at a thanksgiving service for Imasuagbon held at the New Covenant Bible Church, Benin City yesterday.

Defection hoax unsettles Senate

By JOSES SEDE

ABUJA - There is uneasy calm in the Senate of the Federal Republic over rumored defection notice from certain senators of the Peoples Democratic

Party leaning to Senate President David Mark.

The rumor that some PDP senators have resolved to dump the party started sometime December 2013, shortly before the National Assembly proceeded for

the Yuletide break.

It was believed then that about 52 senators would announce their defection to the All

Progressive Congress (APC) on resumption, but this was not to be.

Investigation revealed that the senators had

Dr. Pius Egberanmwen Odubu has charged the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM) to

develop new programmes and concepts that would address the

management and leadership skills deficit that are evident in the

Odubu tasks NIM on leadership

By CLIFFORD AGBAJOR

BENIN CITY – Edo State Deputy Governor,

Continues on page 2

chickened out for fear of losing their seats permanently, more so, when Senator Ita Enang briefed the press on the implication of defection.

We also learnt that the senate president had insisted on the individual bearing his or her burden of defection and not a collective effort as was being pushed by the senators.

However, the rumour became more Continues on page 2

News

Defection hoax unsettles

Continued from page 1

worrisome when the interim national publicity secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed announced that no fewer than eleven PDP Senators had defected to the APC. Lai also stated that a formal letter to this effect had been delivered to Senate President David Mark and was expected to be read on the floor of the Senate Wednesday afternoon.

According to the APC spokesperson, this is only the first installment of many other Senators of the People’s Democratic Party expected to defect to the All Progressives Congress soon.

He enumerated the defecting senators to include: Bukola Saraki (Kwara Central), Mohammed Shaba Lafiaji (Kwara North), Umaru Dahiru (Sokoto South), Magnus Ngei Abe (Rivers South-East), Wilson Asinobi Ake (Rivers West), Bindawa Muhammed Jibrill (Adamawa North), Mohammed Danjuma Goje (Gombe central), Aisha Jummai Alhassan (Taraba North), Mohammed Ali Ndume (Borno South), Abdulahi Adamu (Nasarawa West), and Ibrahim Abdullahi Gobir (Sokoto East).

However, the alleged defection was not mentioned at the plenary as the senators were engrossed in the 2014 Budget consideration. As at close of work Wednesday, it was yet not known if the matter would come up under announcement Thursday.

Senate President Mark also announced at the end of the session that the PDP caucus in the Senate was to meet with the national chairman of the party, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu and the PDP governors at his Apo mansion in Abuja.

Meanwhile, a Federal High Court in Abuja has adjourned ruling to February 5 in a suit filed by 37 lawmakers who defected to the APC, seeking to stop the declaration of their seats vacant.

Justice Ahmed Mohammed fixed the date Wednesday, after counsel to the lawmakers, Mr. Mahmoud Magaji (SAN), informed the court that he had yet to duly serve Speaker Aminu Tambuwal.

The lawmakers had asked for an interlocutory injunction seeking to stop Tambuwal, PDP and INEC from declaring their seats vacant following their defection to the APC. Magaji had prayed the court to grant an order for all parties in the suit to maintain the status quo pending the determination of the substantive suit.

Counsel to the defendants, Joe Gadzama (SAN) also told the court that they were unable to effect hearing notice on the Speaker to enable the court to go on with its proceedings.

Justice Mohammed then ordered that a court bailiff should effect the service

within three days, and adjourned the case to February 5 for ruling.

At the last adjourned date, Justice Mohammed had reserved ruling in the matter for Jan. 29 because the originating summons, filed by the plaintiffs’ counsel, was not ripe for hearing.

He had told parties that he would only hear the preliminary objection subject to whether the said originating summons would be ripe for hearing by the

adjourned date.

According to reports, National Assembly members who defected to the opposition APC had gone to court seeking an order of court to stop the defendants from sacking them.

Joined in the suit as defendants are the PDP National Chairman, Senate President, Speaker House of Representatives, the Peoples Democratic Party and the Independent

National Electoral Commission.

However, Gadzama had challenged the court’s jurisdiction in entertaining the matter by way of a preliminary objection.

Gadzama had argued that the plaintiffs lacked the requisite legal standing to institute the suit, which, he said, was wrongly commenced by way of an originating summons, instead of a writ of summons.

Odubu tasks NIM

Continued from page 1 country.

He gave the charge at the 2013 end-of-year luncheon/ award ceremony of the Institute, Oredo Chapter, which took place weekend in Benin City.

Dr. Odubu noted that as

Drain Continued from page 1

biggest catchment area in the water storm project.

He said that the area had eight kilometers primary drain and one kilometer double cell drain discharging water into the Ogba River.

The commissioner also disclosed that 98 per cent of roads in the Government Reserve Area (GRA) in Benin had no drains, resulting in road failure in the area.

He said that work would soon commence in the area, adding that the project had been phased with priority given to areas with greater threat to the environment.

professional managers in the country, members should do all within their reach to ensure commitment, transparency, honesty, integrity and absolute professionalism.

According to him, NIM as a professional body is expected to play a pivotal role in the nation’s quest to develop the critical mass for human capacity enhancement.

The deputy governor observed that the state government is convinced that the quality of human capacity remains the bedrock on which social and infrastructural development of the society can be built, hence the state government places high premium on the development of its work force through training and retraining.

He however, stressed the need for NIM to assist the state government in the areas of workshop/seminars as well as specialized and targeted trainings.

The Chairman of the

EIRS sealed SUBEB Revenue Service, hence the

Continued from page 1 state government.

Speaking on the development, the State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Louis Odion, stated that the revenue agency’s action was in line with the relevant tax law.

The commissioner pointed out that SUBEB is an independent body of the state government, adding that all taxes from contract awards have not been remitted to the State Internal

sealing up.

It would be noted that a High Court in Benin City had in a suit between the Edo State Board of Internal Revenue vs State Universal Basic Education Board, in a motion ex-parte with suit No. B/RC/1/2014, granted a distrain order to the EIRS to distrain SUBEB. It was learnt that as at the time of filing this report, efforts were being made by the management of SUBEB towards setting the tax liability.

occasion and former Governor of Edo State, Chief John Odigie – Oyegun said the event provided opportunity for a discuss on topical issues affecting the nation’s economy and proffering the way forward.

Chairman of NIM, Oredo Chapter, Princess Ekiuwa Inneh, stated that the event was organized by the chapter to provide platform for members to interact on management issues as well as to appreciate some members of the chapter who have distinguished themselves in various fields of human endeavour.

Edo SACA to engage more NGOs to fight HIV/AIDS BENIN CITY - Mrs. Itohan Osunde, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Edo State Agency for the Control of HIV/ AIDS (Edo SACA), has said the agency will involve more NGOs to fight the disease in the state.

Osunde, who made the disclosure in Benin, said the state government had yet to engage most of the NonGovernmental Organisations on HIV/AIDs prevention.

She attributed the high prevalence rate of the disease in the state to the lean resources of the NGOs fighting against it. ‘‘These NGOs have been working with little resources and somehow have limitations in the fight against HIV/AIDS. “We are going through what is called the HIV/AIDS Fund (HAF) process. We are approaching the conclusive end which is the contract negotiation,’’ Osunde told Journalists.

Killing of truck driver

Continued from page 1

personnel of Edo State Police Command is responsible for the unwholesome act. The command also wishes to pledge its commitment to unravel the circumstances behind the killing. It is important to note that the venue of the offence is a gateway to other states in the country and therefore facilitated the escape of the passer-by personnel of the Police Special Protection Unit responsible for the act as stated by eye witnesses at

the scene, who have made statements to the police,” the statement noted.

Meanwhile, The NIGERIAN OBSERVER investigation revealed that a trigger-happy policeman killed a lorry driver at the weekend, in Benin City. The victim identified as Osagie Egbon (a.k.a. Odion) Odion was shot inside his truck at Temboga junction, Ikpoba Hill, last Saturday in the State Capital.

It was gathered that the killer cop alleged to be escorting yet-to-be identified man opened fire on the driver

on sighting him driving on the wrong lane.

It could not be immediately ascertained whether the victim was actually driving on the wrong lane but residents say its not enough to kill him.

They described the killing as barbaric and called on police authorities to fish out the killer cop and make him to face the law. It was further learnt that the victim had paid N200,000.00 the previous day, to someone who on the basis gave him the lorry on hire-purchase.

The remains of the lorry driver has been deposited in a mortuary in Benin City.

Asaba to host Anglican Bishops THE Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion, Bendel Ecclesiastical Province, will hold a meeting of its council of Bishops from February 11th – 12th 2014 at St. Peter Cathedral, Asaba, Delta State.

According to the Archbishop of the province Dr. F.J. Imaechi JP, the theme of the conference is UNCHANGING GOD IN A CHANGING WORLD.” (Hebrews 13:8).

A release by the Provincial Public Relations Officer, Sir Rufus O. Isaac, said delegates are expected at Asaba at 4pm on Tuesday, February 11th to hold a preliminary session of the meeting while and action plan for the development of provincial activities for the

year 2014 – 2015 will be deliberated upon on Wednesday, February 12th.

The council meeting of Bishops is a platform where Bishops review the work of the Gospel and also consider the state of the Nation with a view to proffering solution to the perceived problems.

Most Rev. Dr. F.J. Imaekhai

New UBTH Geriatric Unit begins operation Soon

BENIN CITY - The University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) has said that its newly established Geriatric Unit would spring into action in the next eight weeks.

The hospital’s Chief Medical Director, Prof.

Michael Ibadin, told newsmen in Benin that the unit would care for old persons who might not necessarily be sick.

“We have a unit that is coming up; the hospital is almost 40 years but this will be the first time we are going to have a geriatric unit.

“We have sponsored a consultant physician abroad to study the care of the elderly and she is back in the country.

“A ward has been earmarked in the hospital for geriatrics but some modifications need to be done in the ward to suit the needs of old people.

“After the modifications, the geriatric ward will be opened

for use by the public,” the professor said.

Ibadin disclosed that 20 nurses would be trained to run the unit in the hospital.

“These are elderly people who may not be sick.

“Some may be sick; so, the nurses who will be taking care of them must have to be patient, because taking care of the elderly is a bit challenging.

“Geriatric care is for old people who may not necessarily have any disease but they are taken care of because of their age,’’ he said.

He added that the geriatric care services would be such that the average family could afford.

“It will not be too cheap because we do not want a situation where people will dump their aged and run away.

“And it will not be too expensive because it is a government-owned hospital,’’ Ibadin said.

By EDITH IMOISILI

uniform by unauthorized persons across the country and these uniforms are used for armed robbery, most Nigerians fell victim thinking that it was the actual armed forces or security men that were on duty.”

Hon. Abiodun further noted that most thugs now wear these security agents uniform to perpetrate electoral fraud during election and that in one of the Local Government election, some men in army uniform were seen snatching electoral boxes.

In his plea Abiodun asked the house to enact a law that will make it impossible for anybody who is not an Agent of Government to put on the uniform.

He further added that any unauthorized person(s) caught selling or buying the security uniform should be arrested and prosecuted as it is an act of illegality.

Reps move to ban illegal use of Army uniform

ABUJA - If the Bill on the illegal use of government scurity uniform sees the light of the day, it shall become a criminal offence and punishable under the criminal law for anybody caught selling, buying, or wearing any uniform belonging to the Armed Forces, Police as well as the Paramilitary.

This resolution which was taken Wednesday last week and passed the second reading was referred to Special Ad - Hoc committee on constitutional review for further legislative in put.

Presenting the motion on the floor of the house, Hon. Faleke Abiodun(Lagos) told the house that it has become imperative to address the illegal use of security uniform

by Nigerian citizens.

“Mr. Speaker, we are witnessing the use of Military

News

Nose Picking Can Lead To Respiratory Tract - Expert ABUJA – Dr. Baba Ahmed, a public health physician with National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS) has advised the public against nose-picking as such habit could predispose one to upper respiratory tract infection.

Ahmed told newsmen in Abuja that the respiratory tract has cilia which could filter germs to prevent the growth of organisms.

Cilia are hair-like structures found in the respiratory tract where they help to move bacteria

and mucous away from the lungs.

He said that burning of waste close to the house, dust; cold or very hot air and injured nose and could cause organisms’ growth in the upper respiratory tracts.

Ahmed said that social habits like smoking could cause the lining of the upper respiratory tract to be prone to infection.

He said that a change in temperature could also distort the normal function of the pressure in the humidity of the nasal canal.

“The respiratory tract is a system of two wings collection of tubes of various sizes which starts from the openings of the nose deep into the lungs.

“Naturally, the respiratory tracts just like any other opening in the body have protective layers around it. For the respiratory tract, it has a lining that covers it; secreting certain substances.

“Again it has cilia; hair-like structures so that it can trap out things; so if the condition is not conducive for the trapped, it

will react.

“Most of the reactions are protective mechanism to prevent penetration of certain organisms because the positioning of the upper respiratory tract makes it prone to injury,” Ahmed

explained.

He said that the upper respiratory tract shares communication within and outside the body; hence it could be prone to infection because of

the openings at the tracts.

“This means for one to breathe in air, it must pass through the openings which are modified to serve different purposes such as filtering and warming the air.

FRSC To Intenschool Effort To Promote Professionalism LAGOS - Mr Ademola Lawal, Zonal Commanding Officer of the RS2 Command of the FRSC said that the commission would intensify efforts to improve professionalism in the company.

Lawal told newsmen in Lagos that the commission was putting measures in place to get the cooperation of the company’s workers to achieve set goals.

Lawal who is also the Commanding Officer of the Ogun and Lagos States Command, assured motorists of improved services in road traffic management this year.

“The zone will intensify effort in improving the skills of personnel to enable them offer better services to road users this year.

“The Lagos Command has just organised a regiment dinner for the first time in the FRSC, to promote good and healthy relationship, aimed at uniting our forces in road crash reduction.

“It is the beginning of good things, we will continue to do it every year and incorporate all officers.

“We have realised the need for us to join hands in the fight against impunity on our roads and change the culture of bad driving.

“We can only move the zone forward if we build confidence in our staff and raise our professionalism in service delivery.

“United we stand, divided we fall; we want to strengthen our cord of cooperation and professionalism to further reduce road traffic tragedies this year.”

Lawal called on FRSC officers to be committed and uphold the integrity of the commission, assuring that their labour would be rewarded.

“Many officers were rewarded in 2013 for carrying out their job systematically and professionally and many will still be rewarded.

“Let everyone strive to distinguish himself in the discharge of functions.

“Any officer that carries out his operations in a systematic and professional way will be rewarded and this is the beginning of climbing to higher realm.’’

He, however, warned officers to desist from unethical practices that could tarnish their names and that of the commission.

The FRSC Sector Commander for Lagos State, Mr Chidi Nkwonta, also told newsmen that the command had lined up programmes, aimed at boosting staff ’s morale and professionalism.

“One of my agenda is to improve the confidence of our staff through re-orientation and professional training to boost their morale for the task. “ That is why I organised the first ever regimental dinner and award night in the last quarter of 2013, to boost their confidence and promote comradeship.

“I want to restore the spirit of comradeship because we can only achieve our mandate if we come together as one,’’ Nkwonta said.

Reports say that the FRSC maiden dinner and award night, held on January 24 featured top officials from the Nigerian Army, State Security Service, Special Marshals and other law enforcement agents.

Officers who excelled in their patrol operations in the last quarter of 2013 were given awards.

Rt. Hon. Uyi Igbe, Speaker Edo State House of Assembly signing the condolence Register of Late Chief Festus Amen. Osayinmwen, the father of Hon. Patrick Osayimwen member, representing Oredo East, Edo State House of Assembly when Mr. Speaker led the Honourable members of the House on a condolence visit to the lawmaker family house recently. Photo: GODWIN ISEGUAN.

Psychologist Recommends Holistic Approach To Manage Stress Related Ailments ABUJA - Mr Adedotun Ajiboye, a Clinical Psychologist with Ekiti University Teaching Hospital, Ado Ekiti, has recommended holistic approach in managing stress related ailments.

Ajiboye told newsmen in Abuja that it was important to use psychological model if medical model was not working for the patients.

He said stress related disorder, also known as psychosomatic disorder, had a psychological origin.

“Stress is a physical presentation without physical origin but with psychological origin. It can affect the body like an ulcer.

“It is important for one who is experiencing stress, and has

Hon. Jude Ise-Idehen, member representative Ikpoba-Okha Constituency Edo State House of Assembly (arrowed) in a group photograph with the President and members of Niger Deltal Youth Vanguard shortly after he has received an Award of Excellence for his immense contribution toward youth Empowerment from the youth vanguage during the youth courtesy call to him in office recently.

Photo: GODWIN ISEGUAN.

ulcer, to see a doctor.

“If there is no cure, the doctor can suspect something else and refer the patient for clinical interviews on social and cultural factors’’, he said.

He said other factors that might be responsible for stress included academic, psychological and physical trauma.

Ajiboye advised that if medical model, which is the use of drugs, was not working

for the ulcer, psychological or bio-psycho-social model should be adopted.

He, however, said that prevention could be by adopting biological approach for the patient to eat well if he was not doing so.

Ajiboye said another approach could be psychological, that is by giving the person coping skills such as training.

He said the patient could also be helped by adopting

social approach such as environment, family members, peer groups and work place, among others, to reduce stress.

Ajiboye advised people, who experienced stress related ailments, to seek the help of a medical practitioner.

He also urged health practitioners to imbibe holistic approach to managing patients with stress related ailments.

Stress Emotional Tumour Can Cause Heart Burn, Says Expert LAGOS - A General Physician, Dr Femi Amao, has identified stress, emotional turmoil and anger as likely causes of heartburn.

Amao, in an interview with newsmen in Lagos, said that acidic foods like carbonated drinks, spicy foods, fatty and fried foods could also cause heartburn.

“People should ensure that their food is properly cooked, to reduce the acidic content.

“It is advisable to soak beans for a while to release the acid, drain and cook properly.

“Frequent sufferers of heartburn should eat early before going to bed, to help reduce the number of occurrences.

“Also, eating lots of raw fruits and vegetables can aid quick digestion and prevent heartburn,” Amao said.

He advised that overweight people should lose weight, adding that excess weight could increase the risk of heartburn.

Also speaking, a Nutritionist, Miss Nike Oshinowo of the Gbagada General Hospital, Lagos, described heartburn as “an irritation of the gullet caused by stomach acid”.

According to her, excessive production of gastric acid in the stomach leads to heartburn.

“It creates a burning discomfort in the upper abdomen or below the breast bone.

“Most people will have heartburn at one point or the other in their lives, while it occurs in some people more often.”

She said that frequent sufferers of heartburn could

be traced to “stressful lifestyle’’.

“Stressful life can cause some unhealthy changes in your life, like drinking, smoking and eating late at night.

“All these activities can trigger heartburn.

“Heartburn is also common in pregnant women, hypertensive people and those who get angry often,” she said.

Oshinowo said that heartburn could be avoided by eating meals slowly and in small portions.

“People who suffer from heartburn frequently can prevent it by avoiding heavy and late night foods.

“Going to bed with a full stomach allows stomach acid to travel up to the gullet and this may cause irritation that could result in heartburn,” she added.

News Absence Of Witness Stalls Oil Firms’ LAGOS - A Federal High Suit Against NPA Court, Lagos, has fixed April 9 for hearing in a suit filed by three oil firms against the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) over drilling charges imposed on them.

The plaintiffs are: Transocean Sedco Forex, Noble Drilling and Pacific International Drilling.

They are challenging the charges imposed on them by the NPA for drilling within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

The case which was fixed for the plaintiffs to open their case was stalled due to the absence of a witness.

Counsel to the plaintiff, Mr Chris Ache, told the trial judge, Justice James Tsoho, that although the matter was ripe for trial, one of the witnesses was in Brazil.

He, therefore, applied for an adjournment to enable him to provide another witness.

The defence counsel, Mr Ame Ogie, objected to the adjournment and urged the court to strike out the suit, arguing that the plaintiff had always failed to produce witnesses in court.

Tsoho, however, adjourned the case to April 9 at the instance of the plaintiff.

In their statement of claim, the plaintiffs contended that the NPA had imposed on them charges running into millions of dollars for drilling within the EEZ. They averred that four oil

giants — Shell, Mobil, Chevron and Total — had engaged their services to prospect for oil within the EEZ. The plaintiffs argued that as drilling companies, they took their rigs directly from the location at EEZ because they did not fall within the definition of “cargo’’ which must be discharged at the conventional ports.

They also argued that since the Minister of Transport did not declare the EEZ as a compulsory pilotage districts they were not under any obligation to pay the pilotage dues.

Consequently, the drilling giants filed the suits challenging the NPA’s demands for the charges.

NPA, in its statement of defence, argued that when the oil giants engaged the services of the plaintiffs to drill the oil wells, the plaintiffs took their rigs directly to the EEZ without the necessary permit.

NPA stated that such rigs were usually brought in from abroad but that the drilling companies must obtain temporary import permits to bring in the rigs as cargos before they were moved to the EEZ. It said this was to prevent the payment of import duties by the drilling companies.

He said this permission was never sort and obtained by the plaintiffs.

The defendants also argued that under the provisions of the Customs Act, the rigs should be discharged at regular ports before they were taken to the offshore drilling sites at the EEZ. According to NPA, an exception arises when the drilling companies obtain waivers to take the rigs directly to the offshore sites and that the plaintiffs did not obtain such waivers.

The defendants, therefore, argued that the drilling companies must pay the dues as stipulated under the Compulsory Pilotage Order of 1996, which declared the EEZ as compulsory pilotage districts.

show us the right way and I am glad that President Jonathan became that leader when he signed the same sex marriage prohibition bill.’’ he added.

The clergy man advised those who engaged in such act, to

have a rethink, adding; “it is a condemnable act and those who did it were condemned’’.

“The Bible tells us that Sodom and Gomorrah, engaged in such act and were condemned to ashes.’’

Only 47% Rural Dwellers Access Improved children in those ABUJA - The UNICEF Drinking Water – UNICEF 100 countries gained school said only 47 per cent of rural dwellers have access to improved drinking water in Nigeria, against 75 per cent in the urban areas.

This is contained in a statement quoting ‘The State of the World’s Children 2014’ report issued from the Communication Office, UNICEF Nigeria and signed

by Mr Geoffrey Njoku, in Abuja.

The statement added that the disparity continued even in HIV prevalence as young girls’ record 1.3 per cent,

Ban On Same-Sex Marriage, Signposts Respect For will of Nigerians - North East CAN BAUCHI - The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), North-East zone, has described President Goodluck Jonathan’s assent to the same sex marriage prohibition law, as a demonstration of his respect for the will of Nigerians.

The Chairman of CAN in the zone, Rev. Shuaibu Byel, told newsmen in Bauchi that the President deserved commendation on the matter.

“The President acted on the will of Nigerians; it is our decision and our choice, and we must commend him for respecting the decision, in spite of the on-going criticism by the international community.

“This is a clear indication that democracy has come to stay in this country, where the will of the majority counts,’’ he said.

Byel described the same sex marriage as evil, demonic and anti-God. According to him, signing the anti-gay law will go a long way in saving the country from the health and moral implications of same sex marriage.

“We needed a leader that will

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar (right), Edo State Deputy Governor, Dr. Pius Odubu and a chieftain of All Progressive Congress (APC), Chief Tom Ikimi at the Benin Airport on arrival of the former Vice President for a visit to Edo State. Photo: MOSES OBOH.

while the boys have only 0.7 per cent.

“Access to education shows some disparity too in favour of boys.

Net enrolment rate for boys into primary school is 60 per cent, while girls has 55 per cent.

“Net attendance is 72 per cent of boys and 68 per cent for girls’’ The statement stated that the data showed that improvements in nutrition have led to a 37 per cent drop in stunting since 1990.

It noted that there had been tremendous progress since the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) was signed in 1989.

It also showed that 90 million children who would have died before reaching the age of five, if child mortality rates had stuck at their 1990

Cross section of matriculating students of the School of Health Technology, Universrity of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) recently. Photo: IMHAZITO BRIGHT

level have, instead, lived.

It added that such was possible because of progress in delivering immunizations, health, and water and sanitation services.

“Primary school enrolment has increased, even in the least developed countries: Whereas in 1990, only 53 in

admission by 2011, the number had improved to 81 in 100, it quoted’’.

It called for greater effort and innovation to identify and address the gaps that prevent the most disadvantaged of the world’s 2.2 billion children from enjoying their rights.

ABUJA - The United Nation Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) has attributed Nigeria’s slow pace development to inconsistency in the country’s industrial policy.

UNIDO Country Representative in Nigeria, Dr Patrick Kormawa, stated this in an interview with newsmen in Abuja.

Kormawa said that Nigeria’s over-dependence on export of raw materials would not enhance development, adding that dependence on export of finished product was a major key to economic development.

He said that Nigeria had over the years focused on export of raw materials, especially oil, without focusing on non-oil sector such as industry and agriculture.

“Nigeria did not address fundamental constraints to competitiveness; as a result of this businesses crumbled and products were rejected,” he said.

Kormawa also blamed the problem on lack of a well defined trade policy that was integrated with a clear investment policy and a detailed industrial policy plan.

“No country in the entire world can thrive by depending on exportation of raw materials rather than exporting finish products.

“The more a country

specialises in the production of raw materials which, of course Africa has found itself in, the poorer it becomes.

“The Europeans and Americans have developed through value-added activities not by exporting oil or agricultural commodities but by making and doing things.

He pledged the commitment of UNIDO to offer necessary support that would enhance diversification of the nation’s economy by boosting trade and investment through publicprivate initiatives.

He said that UNIDO had concluded plans to set up quality infrastructure in Nigeria to facilitate international trade and competitiveness in international markets for Nigerian products.

Kormawa said that the project, if fully executed, would help to reduce rejection of made in Nigeria products due to low quality.

“The challenges facing Nigeria globally, in terms of acceptability of its product, is inconsistency in industrial policies.

“No country can develop where the largest proportion of its people are engaged in selling of raw materials.

“This country, over the years, has engaged in selling crude oil and by simple mathematics, you sell crude oil at N100 and you buy refined product at N150.

UNIDO Identifies Cause Of Nigeria’s Industrial Devt

News NGO Tasks Parents On Safety Of Children ASABA - An NGO, International Centre for Women Empowerment and Child Development (ICWECD), has urged parents to assume the responsibility of taking their children and wards to school to ensure their safety.

The Executive Director of the organisation, Mrs Bridget Anyafulu, made the call in an interview with newsmen in Asaba.

She also advised them to

Okhunmwun Community Resolves Boundary Dispute

By ROLAND OSAKUE OKHUNMWUN (OVIA NORTH EAST) – The Okhunmwun Community in Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State weekend commenced the process of finding lasting solutions to the bickering over land border between Iguoshodin Nebudin and Iguadolor communities in the locality.

The bickering had created tension which culminated in the destruction of property in the area.

At the meeting conveyed for both communities by Okhunmwun Community the ‘Odionwere’ of Okhunmwun Community, Chief Osarobo Ogboe said he had conveyed the meeting as chief host of the two communities with a view to ensuring that the bickering does not degenerate.

While noting that the location, known and called as ‘Isiomwon’ is the original boundary of the two bickering communities, Chief Ogboe disclosed that Iguoshodin Nebudin had earlier reported a case of encroachment on its land by neighbouring Iguadolor Community.

“I know that the original boundary was marked at old mile 10 pillar and popularly known and called ‘Isiomwon’, a position that has stood the test of time between the two communities”, he said.

After several scheduled meeting which he said Iguadolor Community refused to attend, “we decided to reschedule another meeting for Saturday February 1, 2014 for the last time and today, they have failed to turn up as usual”.

“As the ‘Odionwere’ of the parent community, it is my responsibility to demarcate the boundary between the two villages and that is what I have done today; this is how our ancestors demarcated it in the past”, he said.

Speaking at the occasion, the Odionwere of Iguogbe Community, Chief Joseph Aghedo commended Okhunmwun Community for the steps taken to resolve the boundary dispute.

adequately monitor their children and wards, adding that suspected kidnappers usually carried out their nefarious activities when they observed free movement of children in lonely environment.

“The idea of parents sending their children to school alone should be discouraged to avoid falling into the hands of kidnappers,’’ she added.

Anyafulu also urged parents and guardians to teach their children and wards security and safety tips in order to avoid being victims of kidnappers.

According to her, children are not too young to be taught safety and security tips which in most cases will be useful to them when the need arises.

Delta Police Command Gets New PPRO

By INNEH BARTH

Hon. Festus Ebea, Deputy Speaker, Edo State House of Assembly, cutting the tape to commission the projects provided at Osemwende, by Ramat Park by Hon. Jude IseIdehen, member representing Ikpoba-Okha Constituency as part of his 2011 constituency project recently. Photo: GODWIN ISEGUAN.

Fire Safety Consultants, Vendors To Register With Govt – Commissioner

BENIN CITY – All Fire Safety Consultants and Vendors of Fire Safety equipment operating Edo State

have been advised to register their operational outfits with the state government through the Ministry of Transport on Forestry Road, Benin City, in

order to legalise their operations in the state.

This advice is contained in a Government Special Announcement signed by the

Increased Revenue: AFAN Tasks Govt On Agriculture, Others ABUJA – Dr. Tunde Arosanyin, the National Financial Secretary, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), urged the Federal Government to focus on agriculture and other non-oil sub-sectors of the economy, to increase revenue generation.

Arosanyin, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, said that sectors like agriculture, if properly funded, would perform better.

“Government has been complaining about dwindling revenue in the oil sector, but I believe with political will to track all leakages in our oil revenue, we should have a stable budget.

“And then refocusing on the non-oil sector like agriculture can effectively increase revenue.

“With a firm budget for agriculture, there is minimal risk in the health sector because the people will be well fed, which will save more money in the health sector.”

According to Arosanyin, studies have shown that agriculture is to be the biggest employer of labour, which is another justification for a significant increase in the sector’s budgetary allocation.

“It is the only sector that has the capacity and capability to reduce unemployment in the country.

“From UN’s data and also the International Labour Organisation’s data, every African country has about 55 to

65 per cent unemployable labour force within ages 20 to 45.

“These hands can engage in labour but have nothing to do, which is another serious challenge, and that is a major pointer to crisis that is ravaging all African countries.”

The AFAN official also added that an increase in budgetary allocation to agriculture would be in conformity with the 2003 Maputo Declaration adopted by African Heads of States and Governments.

African leaders in the declaration, committed themselves to allocating 10 per

cent of their individual annual national budgets to agriculture with a view to improving food production and food security.

So far, only eight countries (Nigeria not included) had met that target.

Commissioner for Transport, Hon. Orobosa Omo-Ojo (JP) and made available to newsmen in Benin City.

The statement emphasises that, “it is an offence to operate such outfit without due registration with Edo State government through the Ministry of Transport as it negates the policy of the National Fire Safety Code of Nigeria as contained in Part (v) of sections 35, 36 and 37 of the National Fire Safety Code for Federal or State Fire Service.”

ASABA - A new Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) has been appointed for Delta State Police Command.

She is DSP. Celestina Tochukwu Amadi Kalu.

She takes over from DSP. Charles Muka who has been acting as PPRO since the unfortunate death of ASP. Lucky Uyabeme.

A holder Bachelor’s Degree in English Language from the University of Maiduguri, Borno State, she hails from Enugwu Agidi in Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra State. She joined the Nigeria Police Force as a Cadet Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Course 22/2005 and began her career at Ebonyi State Police Command.

In 2010, she mobilized into 31, Police Mobile Force, Ogwashi - Uku and was demobilized in 2013.

The new PPRO, who has had a good affinity with the Command, did her one year mandatory NYSC programme with PPMC Warri in 2000/2001.

She is a member of International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP).

Socially, she is the current President of Rotary Club of Asaba, GRA. She is happily married with four kids.

Police Uncover Stolen Vehicles Refurbishing Workshop

By INNEH BARTH ASABA - Delta State Police Command in its determination to stem the tide of crime has uncovered a workshop where stolen vehicles are refurbished

before they are sold to unsuspecting buyers The State Commissioner of Police, Ikechukwu Aduba, who briefed Journalists in Asaba, the state capital said the work shop located at F. Okoji Mdah close

500 KVA transformer donated to Ward 2 at Odia Street, Off Agbor Road by Hon. Jude Ise-Idehen, member representing Ikpoba-Okha Constituency, Edo State House of Assembly as part of his 2012 constituency project recently. Photo: GODWIN ISEGUAN.

off Amb. Leo Okogwu Street, Asaba the State Capital was discovered following a tip off received by the command.

He disclosed that there was information that one Toyota highlander Jeep with Reg. No AKD703 AE (Lagos) was snatched at gun point in Trans Ekulu, Enugu.

According to him, detectives working on a tip off stormed the workshop and arrested five suspects.

Those arrested he gave their names as; Ikechukwu Okoye, Chidiebere Owuse, Ekemefuna Odenigbo, Nzube Eze, Chinedu Agulobe and one Felix Ndah who’s suspected to be the owner of the landed property where the workshop is situated.

Items recovered at the scene include; the snatched highlander Jeep, L 300 Mitsubishi bus with Reg. No. EG 743 GGE (Lagos) and thirteen other Vehicles, Several plate numbers and instruments used for panel beating and painting of vehicles.

The commission however, sued for synergy between the security agencies and members of the public so that crime could be jointly tackled.

South West My Performance ’ll Break Second Term Myth, Says Ajimobi

Grandaunds of Basic Counter terrorism course for soldiers of the 70th Regular intate, demonstrating during the ceremony in Jayi, Kaduna State on Friday.

Women Farmers In Ogun Call For More Govt Support

IJEBU-ODE (OGUN)- A group of women farmers in Ogun on Sunday urged the Federal Government to consider channeling more resources to women farmers in ensuring household food security.

The farmers, supported by the Country Women Association of Nigeria (COWAN), a non profitmaking organisation, made the call in an interview with newsmen in Ijebu-Ode. Speaking to newsmen on the sidelines of a meeting organised

by COWAN, the women said sustainable agriculture could only be feasible through the input of women farmers.

Mrs Jessica Vonkat, COWAN’s State Co-ordinator in Plateau, said not much was being done by government and various stakeholders towards integrating rural women producers in agricultural interventions.

She said this was in spite of their playing a leading role in farming and contributing to the national food reserve.

“The purpose of forming this organisation was solely to seek ways of uplifting grassroots women.

“This is necessary as they are faced with problems in accessing the requisite knowledge to turn their agricultural enterprises into viable and profitable entities, as well as seeking funding.

“The vital role women play in rural agricultural production has been previously underestimated, yet this lack of recognition of women’s contribution in agriculture and rural development has persisted,” Vonkat said.

She said women made up the majority of rural agricultural producers and were the backbone of food supply.

“Regardless of their limited access to land and discriminative property rights, which is rather unfortunate, they still have to perform their duties as mothers.”

The Plateau COWAN coordinator said government should consider coming up with initiatives which support women farmers since they were among the most vulnerable groups.

Mrs Dorcas Owokade, the Chairperson, Association of Small Scale Agro Producers in Nigeria (ASSAPIN), IjebuIrawo Chapter in Ogun, said women farmers were still being marginalised.

“The support we are getting from government is not tangible but there are promises still to be fulfilled.

“We need to fully participate in farming so that we can boost the country’s food security and ensure that the nation doesn’t

IBADAN - Dr Nike Bello, a Lecturer and Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, has described breast cancer as the greatest killer of women worldwide.

Bello said this in an interview with newmen in Ibadan.

The consultant, who said that one out of eight women in Nigeria developed breast cancer monthly, described the disease as a silent killer which should be controlled.

The gynaecologist defined breast cancer as an uncontrolled growth of breast cells.

She said the cells occurred due to mutations or abnormal changes in the genes responsible for regulating the growth of cells and keeping them healthy.

According to her, breast cancer can be treated and managed successfully if detected early and advised women of reproductive age to always examine their breasts immediately after their menses.

She said hormonal level is low

after menses and any sign of mass or lump would easily be revealed.

“Women from the age of 18 and above should examine their breasts monthly after each monthly flow. All breast cancers are not the same but can be treated.

“More tests have to be done to find out the specific pattern and the extent of the disease or stages.

“This important step is called “staging”. After accurate diagnosis and proper staging, a suitable treatment plan is made,” she said.

According to Bello, there are several modalities of the treatment including surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy and hormonal therapy, which are used in a combination.

“Every woman should cultivate the habit of visiting primary health care centres for her health needs.“ “Please, be aware that these diseases do not present any noticeable symptoms until at later stages, and this could be too

expensive to treat and manage.

“The World Health Organisation (WHO) statistics show that 22 per cent of women are affected by this killer disease,” she said.

Expert Says Breast Cancer Is Silent Killer Of Woman

import to cover food deficit,” Owokade said.

Another farmer, Mrs Mary Mabinuori, who is a fish breeder, said women faced difficulties in accessing inputs with a few benefiting under government’s agricultural mechanisation programme.

“We have not mechanised the way we do our work. So, you will find that we use what is commonly known as hoes to do our work.

“You will find that the output is low. So, we need to come up with a voice that is convincing to our donors and to our governments so that they can give a helping hand to feed this nation.

“We need tractors, and we need harvesters,” said Mabinuori.

On her part, Mrs. Adetoun Sanni, a cassava and maize farmer from Ogun Waterside area, encouraged more women and youths to embrace farming, saying it was profitable if done properly.

COWAN, established in 1982, is an organisation for rural women.

It intends to assist them in overcoming key problems inhibiting their participation in food production and socioeconomic development.

IBADAN - Governor. Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State at the weekend said that his performance in office would break the jinx of an elusive second term ticket for the incumbent in the state.

Ajimobi said this during a meeting he held with Automobile Dealers Association in Ibadan.

According to him, the myth of second term in Oyo State had been stretched beyond its relevance as the idea of a performing governor serving the people was not factored into it.

Ajimobi said that this was also the myth that was represented in the notion that Ibadan people do not serve as governor twice.

He said he was serving the people of Ibadan and Oyo State in general.

Ajimobi stated that since he was the one serving the people of Ibadan and Oyo State in general, the notion does not apply to him.

“We are serving the people, not the people serving us”, he said.

Ajimobi cited the case of Awolowo and Akintola as Governors that ruled the State twice, thereby debunking the notion that no governor had ever served twice in Oyo State.

“I am ready to serve the people as long as the constitution

permits.

“Anyone who occupies a position of power should make good use of it, as whatever anyone does with what God had given them would be recorded for posterity.

“Those in position of authority should always make good use of the opportunity and make positive impacts in the lives of the people and do this with the fear of God”, he said.

While counselling the car dealers to eschew violence and bickering among themselves, he said he was the governor of all, irrespective of party affiliations.

“As a governor, I am apolitical.

I am the father of all, no matter your political affiliation.

“I urge all of you to be more united and to shun all forms of violence, bearing in mind that no meaningful development can take place where there are rancour and hatred”, he said.

He said that all the warring road transport union workers have been told that government was not interested in making use of them for election.

Chairman of the association, Malam Kamorudeen Jayeola, commended the governor for the peace and infrastructure that his administration had brought to the state.

Jayeola said that the governor had surpassed the expectations of all the people of the state.

Anglican Communion To Counsel Gays ABEOKUTA - The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) has concluded arrangements for counselling and prayer sessions for those suffering from same-sex attraction, the Primate, the Most. Rev. Nicholas Okoh, has said.

Okoh made the plan known in Abeokuta Ogun State during a sermon at a church service held to mark the 70th birthday of his predecessor, the Most. Rev. Peter Akinola.

The service was held at the Cathedral of St. Peter, Ake, Abeokuta.

Okoh noted that the act negated the injunction of God and amounted to querying His authority.

The primate described the agitation for same-sex marriage

as an invitation for God’s wrath.

He also warned of an imminent disaster in places where the act had been officially accepted.

Okoh also commended President Goodluck Jonathan for signing the anti-gay bill to law.

He also commended the National Assembly for making the bill scale through legislative hurdles.

The service was attended by prominent Nigerians, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the former Head of the Interim National Government, Chief Ernest Shonekan, former VicePresident, Alex Ekwueme, and Ogun State Governor, Chief Ibikuinle Amosun.

P r e s i d e n t Johnson Ellen Sirleaf of Liberia (left), with former Senior Special Assistant to the President on MDGs, Hajia Amina Az-Zubair after a meeting on the post 2015 at the 22nd ordinary session of the African Union in Addis Ababa recently.

Lagos

Dieticians Advise Nigerians On Regular LAGOS -Two dieticians, Dr Femi Afolabi and Mrs. Funke Green Tea Intake

Vehicles presented to Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) Zonal Executive Managers in Abuja recently.

Bello have advised Nigerians to cultivate the habit of using healthy supplements like green tea at the early stage in life to ensure healthy living.

They told newsmen in separate interviews that the habit of drinking green tea would aid the understanding of the mechanisms of action in the body.

Afolabi, a dietician at the Federal Medical Centre, Lagos, said that green tea could help lower blood sugar level regulate blood pressure

Lagos Records 84 Tankers Fire emergency numbers’’ for LAGOS - The Lagos State Incidents members of the public in Fire Service said that the state recorded 84 petroleum tanker fire incidents in 2013.

Mr Rasaq Fadipe, the state Director of the Fire Service, disclosed this in an interview with newsmen in Lagos.

Fadipe said that the number of tanker fire incidents recorded in 2013 was higher than the previous years.

According him, petroleum tankers and articulated trucks constitute the highest number of traffic fire incidents in the state.

“About 75 per cent of the incidents were recorded in urban centres, while about 10 lives were lost in separate tanker fire incidents last year,’’ the director said.

He attributed the success to the enlightenment campaign on preventive measures for people to adopt, saying this would be sustained.

Fadipe said that the Lagos State Fire Service had received various safety equipment from Governor Babatunde Fashola to protect workers during fire fighting missions.

“We have received 500 helmets, 500 fully kitted cloths, 500 safety boots and other safety equipment.

“We have also started rehabilitating all hydrant water locations in the state to fast-track fire fighting service,’’ he said.

He, however, warned people against self-help in such emergencies, saying that they should rather notify appropriate authorities to avoid preventable losses.

Fadipe said that fire spread faster during the harmattan and advised people to take

precautionary measures against fire outbreaks, particularly during the dry season.

He said that his men had responded to five different fire outbreaks within the last 24 hours.

Fadipe said that the service had acquired 32 new firefighting vehicles to effectively combat fire outbreaks in the state.

He said that the fire trucks, which had synthetic ladder in them to fight fire in highrise places, would be delivered in March.

Fadipe expressed the resolve of the service to improve its operations and commended Fashola for revamping the establishment.

“Governor Fashola has been very supportive of the Fire Service since he assumed office. As we speak, 32 new fire-fighting vehicles have been purchased to boost our operations.

“The vehicles are still in the U.S, but we are going to take delivery in March.

“They are modern firefighting vehicles containing foam, air and water, which would better our rescue operations,’’ Fadipe said.

He said that two additional aerial ladders, to combat fire outbreaks in high-rise buildings, would accompany the vehicles to Nigeria.

“These aerial ladders are very important in a megacity like Lagos, where we have many high-rise buildings,’’ the fire service chief said.

The director said the service had introduced two “three-digit toll-free

case of fire outbreaks.

“A resident can just dial 767 or 112 from his or her phone, even without airtime, and his or her message will get to the command centre for prompt attention,’’ he said.

Fadipe said that the relationship between the service and members of the public had improved due to the current state of affairs in the service.

He solicited for a sustained cordial relationship between the service, public and other service providers to prevent further loss of lives and property.

and burn extra fat in the body.

“Green tea, which is rich in polyphenols, has a powerful anti-oxidant that kills cancer cells without harming healthy tissues.

“The polyphenols contains compounds that fight cancer.

“It is also effective in lowering cholesterol levels and inhibiting the abnormal formation of blood clots that can cause heart attacks and stroke,’’ he said.

Afolabi said that Nigerians should try and drink at least three cups of green tea a day for better living.

“Drinking at least three cups of green tea a day is important in helping us understand the possible mechanisms of action in the body.

“The best way to have the green tea is using hot water; using a little of milk and sugar is also preferable, but not excess of it.

“It is also advisable to be taking it once in the morning, afternoon and night. This can improve blood flow around the body, the dietician said.

Afolabi said Nigerians should not ignore supplements prescribed by experts, especially the green tea, which could help improve the health of many Nigerians.

“Nigerians tend to be more cautious of their health when they are already diagnosed of

Igbo leaders of Thought after their 5th Summit in Enugu recently.

a symptom which at times might have been critical,’’ the dietician observed.

Bello, who works with the General Hospital, Gbagada, Lagos, said that green tea leaves could destroy bacteria and help to prevent tooth decay and food poisoning.

“It can also kill the bacteria that cause dental plaque.’’

She described green tea leaves as “a very good source of minerals in the body’’, adding that it contains high concentration of powerful anti-oxidants.

“Anti-oxidants are substances that search free radicals damaging compounds in human body, alter cells and kill cancerous cells.”

Bello explained that the consumption of the leaves also regulates body temperature, blood sugar, promote digestion and improve mental process.

According to her, it has the potential of lowering cholesterol level in men, and inhibits the growth of prostate and breast cancer cells.

“Women under the age of 50, who consume three or more cups of green tea leaves per day are 37 per cent less likely to develop breast cancer compared to women who do not drink the product.

“The risk of prostate cancer also declines with the increasing frequency and quantity of green tea leaves consumed.”

She also said that regular intake of the tea reduces the sugar level in diabetic patients and slows its growth.

“Other areas of green tea efficacy include boosting metabolism, burning excess fat, reducing inflammation and slowing cartilage breakdown “It also helps in the treatment of genital warts as well as preventing symptoms of colds and influenza,’’ she said.

Academic Excellence: Association Promises Continued LAGOS - Mr. Emman said.

Orhiaki, the Chairman, King’s Mrs. Comfort Uduehi, ViceCollaboration With FG College Parent-Teacher Principal (Academics), who led Association (KCPTA) Lagos said the body would continue to partner with the Federal Government in the drive for academic excellence.

Orhiaki spoke against the backdrop of the success recorded by the institution at the just concluded National Secondary Schools Debate competition in Abuja Over 30 schools drawn from the public and private sectors participated in the competition.

The winner of the competition will represent Nigeria at the

World Secondary Schools Debate scheduled for August in Thailand.

“I want to state that I am overwhelmed with joy at the news of seeing King’s College come tops in the competition and subsequently qualify to fly the country’s flag at the international stage.

“I feel elated at this development as this shows that King’s college is still King’s college.

“Also, the effort the PTA is putting in the school by way of assisting in the area of

infrastructure development has not been in vain.

“We will, on our own, continue to contribute our quota in ensuring that this college is taken to its deserved height because government alone cannot do everything,” he said.

The chairman noted that as part of the association’s effort toward creating a good learning environment, part of the multimillion naira five storey hostel project under construction was nearing completion.

“We are taking the entire project in strides because we

want the best for our children.

The project has reached a considerable stage currently as we are now at the fourth floor.

“The ground floor, which has the dining hall, has been equipped and put to use. The first and second floors have also been completed and furnished and have equally been put to use by our SS3 students.

“This has significantly addressed the acute accommodation challenge that had before now bedevilled the 104 year-old institution,” he

the King’s College team to the competition, told newsmen that the feat achieved by the students was inspirational and commendable.

Uduehi said that the development showed that Federal Government institutions remained the best in the country.

“We shall be representing the country at the international stage come August in Thailand and I want to say that we are looking forward to an equally challenging but interesting intellectual contest,” she said.

News

Alleged N3m Theft Sales Rep contravened Section 285 and LAGOS - An employee of a Docked 363 of the Criminal Law of pharmaceutical company, Johnson Ogunlana, arraigned in a Yaba Magistrates’ Court in Lagos for stealing goods worth three million naira from his employer.

Ogunlana, 40, a sales representative, who lives at No. 13, Abioye St., Abioye Junction, Suite Road, Egan in Igando, Lagos, is facing a two-count charge of stealing and issuing a dud cheque.

The Prosecutor, Insp. Godwin Anyanwu, told the court that the accused committed the offences between February and October 2012 at No. 17, Simpson St., Ebute Meta, Lagos.

He said that Ogunlana, an employee of Pharmatex Nigeria Ltd., had taken delivery of pharmaceutical products worth three million naira from the company.

Anyanwu said that the accused, however, failed to remit the proceeds from the sale of the products and instead converted the money to his personal use.

He said that the accused was expected to deposit the proceeds from each sale in the company’s account but failed to do so.

Anyanwu said that one Adeyemi Okunsanya, the complainant, confronted the accused, who thereafter, issued

a First Bank cheque, dated Sept.

30, 2012 in the value of three million naira.

The prosecutor said that when the company lodged the cheque at the bank, it was returned unpaid because of insufficient money in the account.

He said that the offences

Lagos State, 2011.

Ogunlana, however, entered a plea of not guilty.

The Magistrate, Mrs Adekorede Ajibade, granted the accused bail in the sum of N200,000 with two sureties in like sum.

She adjourned the case to March 3 for mention.

Electrician, 28 Faces Robbery, Charges IKEJA -A 28-year-old electrician, David Mba, who allegedly robbed some people of their possessions valued at N350, 500, was charged before an Ikeja Magistrates’ Court.

The accused, who resides at No 11, Bola Fawale St., Elewe in Ikotun, a Lagos suburb, is facing a three-count charge bordering on conspiracy and robbery.

The prosecutor, Insp. Edet Okoi, said the accused with others still at large committed the offences on November. 15, 2013 at No. 7, Bola Fawale St., Elewe, Ikotun.

He said the accused robbed two men — Tajudeen Alabi and Matthew Ajayi — of mobile phones and a wedding ring worth N350, 500.

‘The accused claimed that he

was just a victim of circumstances.

“He said he was sleeping when he heard shouts of “thief, thief’’ on the street and that when he stepped out, he saw two men already escaping.

“Mba claimed that he was mistakenly picked by the mob as the perpetrator of the crime.”

Okoi noted that the offences contravened Sections 295 (1) and 297 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

If convicted, the accused may face 21 years imprisonment.

He, however, pleaded not guilty.

The Magistrate, Mrs Margaret Dan-Oni, granted the accused bail in the sum of N100, 000 with two sureties in like sum.

She adjourned the case to Feb. 25 for mention.

Possession Of Fraudulent Documents, Undergraduate Bags 18 Months IKEJA - An Ikeja High Court has sentenced an undergraduate, Damola Ekundayo, to 18 months imprisonment for being in possession of documents used for facilitating Internet fraud.

Justice Oluwatoyin Ipaye handed the sentence to Ekundayo, 27, after he pleaded guilty to a threecount charge bordering on the offence during his rearraignment.

The judge convicted Ekundayo, who claimed to be a student of Lead City University in Oyo State, and

consequently sentenced him to 18 months imprisonment on each of the counts.

According to her, the sentence is to run concurrently beginning from November.11, 2013, when Ekundayo was first arraigned for the offence.

The convict was charged to court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

He had pleaded not guilty to the charge during the previous arraignment.

Ekundayo, however, later entered a plea bargain agreement with the EFCC and

opted to plead guilty to the charge.

The EFCC counsel, Mrs. Zainab Etuh, had said Ekundayo was arrested on May 6, 2013 in Lagos, for possession of fraudulent documents.

Etuh said the accused was in possession of an electronic mail address, under the alias of Trisha Douglas, which he wanted to use to perpetrate fraud on the Internet.

She said his offence contravened Section 318 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State of Nigeria 2011.

L-R: Nigeria’s Ambassador to Ethiopia, Amb. Paul Lolo; Minister of State 2 for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Nurudeen Mohammed and President Goodluck Jonathan, at teh 22nd Ordinary session of the African Union in Addis Ababa weekend.

Deputy Editor-In-Chief, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mr. Tony Nezianya (left), welcoming the Zonal Manager, Nigerian Copyright Commission, Mr Chris Nkwocha to the Agency’s Lagos Office during a courtesy visit in Lagos at the weekend.

LASEMA, NNPC Tackle Raptured Pipeline As Ijegun - Imore LAGOS - The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) and PPMC on Monday said they had put up measures to check any fire outbreak from the ruptured pipeline in IjegunImore on January. 26.

Mr Olusegun MagnusDavies, the spokesman for LASEMA, advised the residents to be calm and guide against anything that would cause fire from the pipeline.

It will be recalled that ruptured pipeline, on January.

26, spilled petrol into the creek at Ijegun-Imore near Navy Town in Ojo Local Government Area of Lagos.

“We are here today to guide against any fire explosion. We have been warning the residents not to

light matches or start their motors or smoke cigarette.

“The management of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has sent engineers to the site and repair work on the ruptured pipeline has started.

“The whole area will be fumigated when the repair work is completed,” he said.

Our correspondent, who visited the spill site, observed that engineers from PPMC had siphoned petrol from the ruptured pipeline.

Some of the residents, who spoke with newsmen, appealed to the NNPC to fast track the repair of the ruptured pipeline.

They said that majority of the residents had vacated the area because of fear of

possible explosion.

Mr. Nurudeen Olu-Fatunbi, one of the community leaders, said that pipelines at Imore were leaking in the last 12 months.

Olu-Fatunbi said that the community had reported the matter to NNPC. “This is not the first time that we are experiencing petrol spill in this area,” he said.

Olu-Fatunbi appealed to the NNPC to make sure that the ruptured pipelines were protected after the repairs.

Mr. Sunny Onotor, a resident in the area, urged NNPC to provide a telephone hotline through which the residents could reach the corporation in case of emergency.

Speedy Registration Of UPN - Dr Frederick Fashuro Approach To INEC

LAGOS - Dr Frederick Fasehun, Interim National Chairman, Steering Committee of the yet to be registered Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), on Tuesday urged the nation’s electoral body to speedily register the party.

Fasehun made the call in an interview with newsmen Lagos following the release of the timetable for the Ekiti and Osun governorship elections and the 2015 general elections.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had on Friday released the timetable, fixing the Presidential and National Assembly elections for Feb. 14, 2015 and those of State

Assembly and Governorship for Feb. 28, 2015.

The commission also fixed the governorship election in Ekiti for June 21, 2014 and that of Osun for Aug. 9, 2014.

Fasehun said the delay in registration of the party had left some of its aspirants at crossroads.

“The election timetable for the governorship elections for Ekiti and Osun are out. We have aspirants for those elections and we are sincerely hoping INEC will give us the certificate of registration soon.

“The registration of political parties is a prerogative of INEC. We can only but hope that we get registered soon,’’ he said.

Fasehun noted that the UPN, on November. 18, 2013, submitted the party’s constitution, manifesto, memorandum of agreement, list of Protem national executives and sworn affidavit, among others, to INEC. “We paid the mandatory N1million registration fee to the commission in May 2013.

“All roadblocks to our registration have been dismantled and we expect INEC to do the inevitable any moment from now.

“We don’t envisage any problem. UPN is certainly on the move to being the truly Nigerian party that its founding father, Pa Obafemi Awolowo established it to be,” Fasehun said.

Abuja

Women Advised To Serve God Heartily

ABUJA - Women have been advised to render service unto the Lord heartily and in accordance with His standard.

Ven. Michael Oluwarohunbi, the Vicar of the Cathedral Church, Anglican Communion, gave the advice in a sermon in Abuja over the weekend.

He spoke at the Holy Eucharist Re-dedication Service of 2014 Mothers’ Union/Women’s Guild of the Abuja Diocese of the Church.

Oluwarohunbi, who is also the Bishop-elect of Yewa Diocese of the communion, took his text from Colossians, Chapter 3, verse 23 which says: “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men.’’

The readings for the service were taken from Isaiah 51: 1-8 and Galatians 3:23-29.

The preacher reminded the women that God did not create anyone to be a liability and for this reason, everyone should discover and key into God’s purpose for her, being guided by His standard.

He reminded every woman that as a “Christian daughter, wife, mother and grandmother, you have roles to play at all levels’’, stressing that being a Christian woman is a calling.

“Do your work with passion and every sense of responsibility for we shall be accountable to the Lord.’’

He further charged the

women to make God the ultimate goal of their service; employing all the good virtues God had endowed them with, while shunning eye service, gossip and pride.

The vicar told the women to strive to make a positive difference in the course of their service in 2014, in order to receive God’s blessings.

The Primate, the Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, represented by the women’s Chaplain, Ven. Peter Okunromade, pledged his continued support and assistance to all the women’s activities.

Okoh urged all women to embrace and discharge their responsibilities at home, in church and in the work place diligently and with the fear of God, with an assurance that God would release His blessings on them.

Mrs. Nkasiobi Okoh, the wife of the Primate and National President, Mothers’ Union/ Women’s Guild of the church, commended the women for the very impressive turnout for the service.

She thanked the primate and the entire clergy for their continued support toward advancing the women’s work not only in Abuja Diocese, but also in other dioceses across the country.

She said the women would continue to complement the work fathers in the Lord in the church as well as play their role as dutiful and responsible Christian women, with a view to raising Godly children and homes.

She congratulated the bishopelect and prayed for God’s enabling power and grace to discharge this important spiritual duty successfully.

She urged the women to attend the enthronement service scheduled to hold on Feb. 18 at Ibadan.

Highlights of the 2014 activities of the Abuja Diocese included the Mothering Sunday, Sports Fiesta, Prayer Retreat and Archdeaconry and Diocesan Conferences.

L-R: Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Environment, Mr. Enobong Uwah, Special Assistant to teh Governor on Technical Matters, Mr. Etido Inyang and NUJ President, Malam Mohammed Garba during inspection of the State Government’s Erosion Control Project in Uyo.

FG Advises Cameroon

Nigerians In Bakassi:

ABUJA -The Federal Government weekend urged the Cameroon to allow Nigerians living in Bakassi Peninsular to exercise their rights to pursue legitimate activities for their livelihoods.

The Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr Mohammed Adoke, made the appeal in Abuja at the 32nd Session of the Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission (CNMC) meeting.

He said the Federal Government was ready to protect the interest of all Nigerians irrespective of their

place of domicile.

“We also enjoin our compatriots living in Cameroon to continue to cooperate with the authorities in Cameroon, obey the laws and above all, live peacefully with their host communities’’, the minister said.

Adoke said that the CNMC was able to achieve the transitional regime of five years provided by the Green Tree Agreement on the Bakassi zone.

He also said that the commission had signed the framework agreement on joint

border security patrol.

The minister said that the effort would help to curb the insecurity in the zone.

The AGF further said that the commission was able to execute the Needs Assessment and validation of the progress documents for the two countries.

He added that this was in respect of confidence building project for the communities along the boundaries.

Adoke held that the commission was challenged to ensure that the assignment

would conclude expeditiously, in a manner that the national institutions would be strengthened.

According to him, the two countries must work to strengthen the commission‘s cooperation and provide for the border component in its operations.

He said this was where relevant national institutions and experts from both countries would jointly address issues relating to the boundary.

Mr Said Djinnit, the UN representative of CNMC, said the commission had endorsed agreement on 1,893 km out of estimated 2,100 km.

FG Targets Women As Water, Sanitation Managers

Participants at the 1st meeting of Speakers of the National Assemblies of the Lake Chad Basin Commission in Abuja recently.

ABUJA - The Federal Government is targeting the involvement of girls and women in managing water kiosks and public sanitation systems at designated points across the country.

Dr Chii Akporji, Special Adviser to the Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi OkonjoIweala, made this known in an interview with newsmen in Abuja.

“The Growing Girls and Women in Nigeria Initiative was first presented in the 2013

APC Inaugurates Interim Leadership In Kogi, Borno

ABUJA - A nine-member Interim Committee has been inaugurated for the APC in Kogi.

The party’s Interim National Vice Chairman, retired Gen. Abdullahi Aboki, performed the ceremony at its headquarters in Abuja weekend.

Aboki told the members to

endeavour to win over many indigenes, especially the youths.

“Go to all the nooks and crannies of the state to win members for our party and ensure a peaceful registration during the membership registration”,

Aboki said.

He also called on all the existing members to rally round the newly inaugurated executive committee members for the collective interest of the party.

The interim Chairman, Mr. Kassim Mabo,

promised to ensure thorough registration of old and new members of APC in the state.

Other members of the include Mr. Isaac Ekpa (Secretary); Mr. Patrick Daudu, (Treasurer); Mr. Augustine Ajibade (Organising Secretary) and Mr. Abdullahi Sodiq (Publicity Secretary).

budget and it was widely acclaimed.

“The initial budget allocated to it was N3billion to institutionalise it within the MDAs. “An attempt at mainstreaming gender into the budgeting process is a way of really making sure that women and girl issues are properly integrated into the development process of the country and contribute effectively to the economic growth.

“We are still in the pilot phase, to make women leaders in water management; it’s a huge stride in the process.

“Other ministries have also made significant progress in their implementation so we are looking to see how it will play out.

“It’s been successful so far and we are looking forward to more successes in the future.”

Akporji said the Girls and Women in Nigeria Initiative (G-WIN) Project was done in

partnership with the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development.

She said the Ministry of Finance would collaborate with five pilot ministries to mainstream women and girls into their programmes by developing their skills so as to improve their livelihood.

These ministries include the ministries of agriculture, communications technology, health, water resources and works.

“It’s a process where we work with the five pilot ministries to help them develop key result within their work mandate targeting the improvement of the lives of girls and women in the rural areas.

“For example, if the Ministry of Health is undertaking the training of young people, they will develop training specifically for girls; peer-to-peer training on health issues,’’ she said.

Busines+Economy IITA Launches Research On Sustainable Weed Management ABUJA – The International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, and its partners have launched a five-year research project on sustainable weed management practices for cassava farms.

This is contained in a statement issued by Mr. Godwin Atser, the information officer of the institute and made available in Abuja.

The statement said that the project aims to find solutions to labour-intensive weeding usually carried out by women.

It said that the project would also seek to increase cassava productivity in the country.

“The project is seeking to find solutions to the labourintensive weeding usually performed by women and children and to increase cassava productivity for 125,000 Nigerian farm families.

“The project has the potential to serve as a livelihood transformation model for all cassava-producing states in Nigeria.”

According to the statement, cassava is generally grown by smallholder farmers, who appreciate its tolerance of drought and poor soils and its prospects in Nigeria.

It stated that research was imperative because Nigeria, as the world’s largest cassava producer, was being threatened by insufficiently developed weed management practices.

It also said that hand and hoe weeding was the predominant weed control practices on smallholder cassava farms and takes 50 to 80 per cent of the total labour budget of cassava growers.

The statement said the aim of the research was to develop state-of-the-art weed management practices.

According to the statement, the research would seek to combine improved cassava varieties with proper planting dates, plant populations, and plant nutrition options.

It quoted the Project Manager, Dr Alfred Dixon, as

saying that weeding required up to 500 hours of labour per hectare to prevent economic loss in cassava roots.

It further quoted him as saying that the hand and hoe weeding also compromised women’s responsibilities and the children’s education.

“Addressing the complex issue of hunger and poverty is no easy task, and so we see the value in engaging in new research.

“We are deploying our best resources to ensure that smallholder farmers have access to the best innovations to increase their agricultural productivity and improve the nutrition of their families.”

L-R: National Secretary-General, Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), Comrade Yusuf Adeniyi; RTEAN National President, Chief Musa Shehu and RTEAN Lagos State Chairman, Chief Adefowope Olorode at the presentation of vehicles to RTEAN Zonal Executive Managers in Abuja recently.

Infrastructure Deficit: Sanusi Blames Absence ABUJA - Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Of Low-Interest Finance Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has attributed the infrastructure deficit being recorded in the country to absence of long-term low-interest financing.

Sanusi said this in Abuja when members of the board of the

Minister of State 2 Foreign Affairs, Dr. Nurudeen Mohammed (right), and Portuguese Minister of State and Foreign Affairs, Mr. Rui Machete, exchange pleasantries after a bilatera talks at the 22nd Ordinary Session of the AU in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia recenty.

Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) visited him.

He said a major gap in the country’s financial system was the absence of long-term lowinterest financing, pointing out that countries worldwide which finance infrastructure usually provided such facility.

“People need to look at how some countries did it. In China, they set up state-owned banks and those banks lend money at seven to nine per cent for 10 to15 years for the building of infrastructure.

“Sometimes, the loans go bad and when they build up the bad loans, the Chinese government will issue a bond, recapitalise the banks and they will continue lending,’’ the CBN governor said.

Sanusi said the funds used would be recovered from the industry and income taxes after building the infrastructure.

He said infrastructure development was the surest way to diversify the income base of the country.

The CBN governor said the apex bank had pushed about N850 billion in long-term lowinterest fund into the economy.

“This was done under the bank’s intervention scheme in

the power, aviation and agriculture sectors,’’ he said.

Sanusi admitted that the N220 billion Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Fund was yet to be disbursed to entrepreneurs, but assured that action would be taken on it shortly.

He advised that the Federal Government must ensure that funds in the capital market and the pension funds were used to fund infrastructure development in the country.

The CBN governor also said he planned setting up a “policy think-tank’’ for Africa after he had left office in June, saying this would help to facilitate the continent’s development.

“When I leave office, one of my real objectives is to set up a policy think-tank for Africa and, for me, this is the kind of issues I like to engage in.

“In Abuja, we have just realised that the biggest deficit facing African countries is a policy deficit and not money deficit, because we have got the money all over,’’ he said.

Sanusi said it was unfortunate that Nigeria would have more than 25 billion dollars in pension funds and not one million dollar of it could be put

“Countries like China and South Africa have placed outright ban on light weight plastic bags while some other countries have placed tax levies on the manufacture, retailer and buyers of light weight bags.

“We are going to be gradual in the phasing out process as well, so that we will not cause havoc to the livelihood of people working in the industry.

“We will also use alternative sources that are economically feasible and environmentfriendly to replace the nondegradable products,’’ the

official said.

He further said that the ministry would start the process of phasing out with a pilot project whereby manufacturers would be required to introduce a substance called “addictive” that would reduce the nonbiodegradable component in their products.

Reports state that several countries have adopted measures to reduce the production and use of plastic materials by the imposition of taxes, fines, restriction or outright ban of plastic shopping bags.

Ministry To Phase Out Non-Biodegradable Plastics - Official ABUJA - The Federal Ministry of Environment has developed a draft action plan for the phasing out of light weight non-biodegradable plastics in the country, a top official of the ministry.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told newsmen in Abuja, said that the draft action plan had already been adopted by stakeholders in the sector.

He recalled that the ministry, in collaboration with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), had in

December 2013, organised a workshop to sensitise Nigerians on the process.

“What we intend to do now is to follow the implementation of the action plan since the awareness has already started; the next step is to source funds from UNIDO to implement the plan.

“Once we have funds, we will continue with other activities in the process of phasing out heavy non-biodegradable plastics.’’

Officially, it was not possible to completely phase out nonbiodegradable plastics because

of its importance in the society.

He cited the example of a plastic chair, which is a nonbiodegradable component, to buttress his point.

He said that the ministry would start with the phasing out of light weight non-degradable plastics such as table water sachets and polythene bags.

“Those countries that have succeeded in phasing out the substance started with placing a ban on the light weight ones.

into infrastructure development.

“Something is definitely wrong,’’ he said.

Earlier, the Chairman of ICRC board, Senator. Ken Nnamani, had commended the apex bank for its support in developing a draft infrastructure finance policy for the country.

He said the visit was to work out avenues to deepen CBN’s Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiative.

Nnamani said the ICRC was currently involved in precontract regulatory activities with respect to the PPP projects concerning the CBN, NIPOST and Federal Ministry of Communications Technology.

“We urge you to accelerate this project as it will play a key role in reviving the Post Office as an institution, while providing viable financial services to low income Nigerians, especially in the rural areas,’’ he said.

Nnamani also urged the CBN to establish a PPP intervention fund and develop a long-term infrastructure financing and funding framework “to provide long tenor funds to support PPP projects”.

“A dedicated PPP infrastructure intervention fund will accelerate critical infrastructure development in Nigeria by making low interest long-term capital available to PPP project sponsors,’’ he said.

The former senate president said the proposed intervention fund would also provide support to ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) and the ICRC for various PPP projects and development efforts.

He expressed optimism that the commission would partner with the apex bank to develop appropriate mechanism “to unlock capital market and pension funds for infrastructure financing in a sustainable manner’’.

Book Preview

The Benin– Ife Controversy:

Clash Of Myths Of Origins Preview By ANDY EGBON

T

HE latest and master piece, authored by Wajeed Obomeghie, The Benin–Ife Controversy: Clash of Myths of Origins has hit the market.

The 339 pages book, a new entry to his publications, is a compendium of essays, features, speeches and reports of various authors and interests on the nexus between the Benin and the Ife Kingdom.

was exuberated in 2004 during the launch of the book; I Remain Sir, Your Obedient Servant, an autobiography of the Benin Monarch, His Royal Majesty, Oba Erediauwa, when he stated that the progenitor of the Yoruba race was one Ekaladeran, a Benin Prince.

The Benin-Ife Controversy: Clash of Myths of Origins provides an opportunity for the

“It is an expose on the controversy generated on the subject, and also provides readers and the general public the opportunity to evaluate and re-evaluate the different schools of thought in order to re-awaken their sense of history.”

It provides the various perspectives by over 45 authors on the controversy that has trailed their origin of the kingdoms, in an attempt to situate the true position.

It is an expose on the controversy generated on the subject and also provides readers and the general public the opportunity to evaluate and reevaluate the different schools of thought in order to re-awaken their sense of history.

The controversy

public to re-appraise public reactions and comments that trailed the public presentation of the book authored by the Oba. It also tries to situate and harmonize the various perspectives on the controversy as well as provide the frame-work to logically situate the true origin of the two Kingdoms.

The author, Wajeed Obomeghie is an alumnus of Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna; Rivers State

University of Science and technology, PortHarcourt and a holder of PostGraduate Diploma in Journalism of the International Institution of

Journalism, Abuja.

He is also a member of Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) and the Association of I n f o r m a t i o n

Marketers of Nigeria (AIMN).

Wajeed Obomeghie has to his credit, two fantastic highly historical and inspirational publications;

Manhood Initiation Festival in Auchi (2002) and Unleash Your Inspiration: Anthology of Highly Motivational Series and Poems (2011).

World History

Casualties And War Crimes ESTIMATE for the total casualties of the war vary, because many deaths went unrecorded. Most suggest that some 60 million people died in the war, including about 20 million soldiers and 40 million civilians. Many civilians died because of disease, starvation, massacres bombing and deliberate genocide. The Soviet Union lost around 27 million people during the war; including 8.7 million military and 19 million civilian deaths. Germany sustained 5.3 million military losses, mostly on the eastern front and during the final battles in Germany.

Many of these deaths were caused by war crimes committed by German and Japanese forces in occupied territories. An estimated 11 to 17 million civilians died as a direct or indirect result of Nazi ideological policies, including systematic genocide of around six million Jews during the holocaust along with a further five million Romans, slaves, homosexuals and other ethnic and minority groups.

The most well-known Japanese atrocity was the Nnanking massacre, in which several hundred thousand Chinese civilians were raped and murdered.

The Axis forces employed limited biological and chemical weapons. The Italians used mustard gas during their conquest of Abyssinia.

While many of the Axis’s acts were brought to trial in the world’s first international tribunals, incidents caused by the Allies were not.

Examples of such Allied action include population

transfer in the soviet union and Japanese American internment in the united States; the operation of keelhaul, expulsion of Germans after world war II mass rape of German women by soviet red army, the soviet unions’ Katyn massacre, for which Germans faced counter accusations of responsibility. Large numbers of famine deaths can also be partially attributed to the war, such as Bengal famine 1943 and the Vietnamese famine of 1944-45.

Additionally, Nazi concentration camps, the Soviet gulags (Labour camps) led to the death of citizens of occupied countries such as Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, as well as German prisoners of war (POWS) and even Soviet citizens who had been or were thought to be supporters of the Nazis sixty per cent of Soviet POWs of the Germans died during the war. Richard Avery asserts 5:7 million soviet POWs, of those, 57 per cent died as were killed, a total of 3.6 million.

Japanese prisoner - of - war camps, many of which were used as labour camps, also had high death rates. The International Military Tribunal for the far East found the death rate of western prisoners was 27.1 per cent (far American POWs, 37 per cent) seven times that of POWs under the Germans and Italians.

While 37,583 prisoners from the UK, 28,500 from the Netherlands, and 14,473 from United States were released after the surrender of Japan, the number for the Chinese was only 56.

In accordance with the Allied agreement made at the

By IKHUENBOR O. VIKRAN Yalta conference millions of POWs and civilians, were used as forced labour by the Soviet Union. In Hungary’s case Hungarians were forced to work for the Soviet Union until 1955.

Causes of the Second World War. The Second World War was caused by: (a) Hitler’s Aims (b) He wanted Lebensraum (Living space) in order to

a fascist Roman empire in the Medierranean and Africa (e.g. Abssinian invasion of 1935) 2. Japan - Japan wanted a Nipponese empire in the Pacific, extending into China and Australia (e.g.

Manchurian invasion in 1931) Germany Italy and Japan were hostile to communism (USSR) and this way to cause war and vice versa.

gain self - sufficiency (autarchy) (3) He wanted to dominate Europe and the world.

To achieve or actualize any of the above, the need to disobey and break the Treaty of Versailles (28/6/1919) and this could lead to war. b) The aggression of Hitler’s Allies 1. Italy - Mussolini wanted

c) Democratic Powers were passive 1) USA - isolated 2) France - France was unlikely, and reluctant to intervene against Germany because she could not rely on Britain’s and America’s support.

3) Britain Between 1934 and 1937, Britain was sympathetic to German

Many of these deaths were caused by war crimes committed

by German and Japanese forces in occupied territories. An estimated 11 to 17 million civilians died as a direct or indirect result of Nazi ideological policies, including systematic genocide of around six million Jews during the holocaust along with a further five million Romans, slaves, homosexuals and other ethnic and minority groups.

recovery between May 1937 and March 1939, Britain appeased Germany. d) The League of Nations failed to keep peace.

Reasons for causes of war 1) The rearmament of Germany was a cause for war because it broke the Treaty of Versailles (28th June, 1919).

2) The remilitarization of the Rhineland (7th March, 1936) was a cause of war because it broke the treaty of Versailles and the locarno pacts (1925).

3) The Rome - Berlin, Axis (October 1936) was a cause of war because it united the aggressive fascist powers and

(8) The Nazi-soviet pact (29th 1939) caused war because it sealed Poland’s downfall.

(9) The Nazi invasion of Poland (1st September 1939) caused war because Britain had guaranteed Poland’s borders.

There were also long and short term causes Long term (a) The harshness of the of Versailles (28th June, 1919) on Germany.

• Land losses • Reparations • War guilt (b)The failure of the league of Nations to:

divided Europe into hostile camps.

4) Chamberlains’ appeasement policy (after May 1937 - March 1939) was a cause of war because it broke the Treaty of Versailles and Treaty of St. Germaine (10th September, 1919).

5) The Anschluss of Germany with Austria (13th March, 1938) was a cause of war because it broke the treaty of Versailles and treaty of St. Germain (10th September 1919).

6) The Nazi annexation of the Sudetenland after the Munich conference (29th September 1938) was a cause of war, because it broke the Treaty of St. Germain.

7) The Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, caused war because it defiled he Munich agreement and ended Britain’s appeasement policy.

* Keep peace • Bring about disarmament.

Short term (a) Hitler’s aggression: • His aims • His action (b) The aggression of other powers; • Italy - Abyssinia (1935), Rome - Berlin Axis, Anti Commintern Pact, Albania * Japan - Manchuria (19310, Anti — Commintern Pact (November 1937) • Russia - Nazi - Soviet Pact, Invasion of Poland. (c) The democracies were too passive. * USA - isolation • France - would not do anything without Britain’s support.

• Britain - sympathetic towards Germany.

Immediate a. German invasion of Poland (1st September, 1939).

Discourse

Plight Of Widowhood In Nigeria

By AGEDA H. FORTUNE WITH the wave of feminism in Nigeria, one would think all acts of injustice and humiliation against women would become a thing of the remote past. Since a decade or so ago, the phrase “women empowerment” has become a common terminology in Nigeria. The government in a bid to demonstrate its support for this movement has created centers for women development both at the state and federal levels.

This changes in Nigeria polity, though positive does not in actuality bring an end to the numerous woes encountered by women on regular basis. Women are seen as second class citizens and most times at the receiving end of ignominious acts of discrimination, contempt, neglect, victimization and other forms of human right violations.

The fact that some of these unwholesome acts are founded on the traditions, culture and structures of the Nigerian society is even more disturbing. One example in this direction is the case of widowhood in Nigeria.

Widowhood in Nigeria is no longer a state of being, but an institution as the many rituals and practices together

with the regulations and impositions that go along with it makes it an institution.

This institution is interpreted and understood in the context of the culture and traditions of the people which regulates its operations. To this end, every woman whose husband dies is expected to adhere strictly to the unwritten ordinances and rituals of widowhood, which are imposed by culture and tradition. Widowhood is a dreaded experience by most Nigerian women not just because of the loss of a husband, but as it includes inhuman treatments like rejection, abuse, denial, oppression, subjugation and defilement and to them its best described as a nightmare.

Widowhood may be referred to both widows and widowers but in Africa and in Nigeria particularly, it is the women that experience its harshness. Despite the fact that there are over 250 different ethnic groups in Nigeria, the conception of widowhood and the rituals widow go through are almost the same. They face defacements and dethronement which includes: shaving completely the widow’s hair, stigmatizing her with a

particular mourning dress, forcing her to sleep on bare floor, possibly staying for days without a bath and forcing her to wail, sometimes very noisy and injuring herself in the process. And mostly in the rural areas widows are subjected to what is called ritual cleansing which includes bathing or sleeping with the husband’s body and the widow having sexual intercourse with her brotherin-law.

They are forced into levirate marriage or widow inheritance, a situation where a male member of a family inherits a widow after the death of her husband. As even the Customary Law sees the widow as a property of the former husband’s family. Her trouble increases when she tries to resist advances which sometimes culminate in sexual harassment.

Sometimes, if the man had no children or only one child, his relatives sometimes plead

with the widow to consider marrying any man of her choice from amongst them, this is mostly done with the relatives that are aware that the widow is enlightened and empowered through education.

The widows are also disinherited of all her husband’s wealth and properties especially if the widow have no grown up child or children. For instance, a widow was forcefully asked to hand over her husband’s checkbook by her husband’s relatives with all his valuables confiscated by them not considering the widow’s state and well being.

The practice of widowhood to a great extent involves discrimination against women, and the denial of their rights to human dignity and equality. Sometimes, a widow is accused of witchcraft, she is accused of having killed her husband which most times is used as a strategy by the relatives to

WHO is a friend? A friend is a person that one knows, like and trust, that is not a member of your family, a friend is a person who is ready to give all he/she has for you, he/she is a trusted confidant who is honest to you. A friend share same view with you and is ready to stand by you like a saying goes, ‘show me your friend and I will tell you who you are’.

What are friends for, friend are there to push you when life stops you, to give you a word when you are lonely, to give you a smile when you are depressed, a friend is your eye when you are blind, a ear when you can’t hear, a friend contributes to everything that involves you. They are valuable like gold, and are expensive. They bring good luck and Sherlock to you.

Friends are valuable and should not be taken for granted because your success depends on those who support, help and give you a push in life that is what a friend do, “no man can make it alone in life”.

Even with all there qualities, some friends are good, some are bad just as we have bad and good sides of everything.

The good friends would always bring out the best in you but the bad one’s would pull you down. The good one’s would always want to see you happy and always brighten your day and beautify your world but the bad one’s would always want to make you cry so they can tell you sorry. This is why as a person you must know your friend to know whether he/she is a good or bad friend.

For you to know and differentiate the good ones from the bad ones you must check for some of these qualities; some qualities in a good friend a good friend is honest. Honesty is absolutely essential in maintaining friendship. They share accurate picture of who they are and they tell things the way

have been set to carefully pay attention to the plights of widows in Africa. Such organizations includes: The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Right; it protects widows from inhuman, humiliating and degrading treatments, it makes a widow an automatic guardian and custodian of her children unless it is contrary to the interest and welfare of the children. The right to remarry and to whomever she chooses and right to equitable share in inheritance of property of her husband. This right are hardly recognized in Nigeria especially as the widows do not know of their existence.

Women in general should be educated on their rights and privileges in the society. The Nigerian government should ensure the protection of widows with more strict laws and see to their enforcements.

More job opportunities should be available for Nigerians especially in the rural areas to reduce the rate of poverty because if everyone has his own property, there will be no need to drag a late brother’s own from his widowed wife.

“Their state of destitution, poverty and rejection is nothing to write home about. Sometimes, some resort to all kinds of jobs including prostitution, to make a living and the situation becomes tougher in some cases, they withdraw their children from school to hawk on the Street which increases illiteracy level amongst children especially in the rural areas.”

“Knowing Your Friend”

By IFUNANYA ONGEKAOZURU

beat the widow off guard.

Widows are most times also forbidden from working and so can hardly earn a decent living.

All these things done to widows affects them in several ways, like psychologically.

The experience and stigmatization of being most often a time leaves them perpetually wounded. The practice also exposes widows to diseases and health problems. Being forced to sleep on the bare floor or to stay for many days without having their bath irrespective of their situations makes them vulnerable to infections.

Their state of destitution, poverty and rejection is nothing to write home about.

Sometimes, some resort to all kinds of jobs including prostitution, to make a living and the situation becomes tougher in some cases, they withdraw their children from school to hawk on the Street which increases illiteracy level amongst children especially in the rural areas.

There are bodies which

they are even if will hurt you or they themselves, they let you know he truth.

A good friend is loyal he/she would always stick to you no matter the situation. They are always close to you in good or bad time.

They take correction from you even if what you are saying is trustful.

A good friend is capable of keeping secret.

A good friend understands you, he/she knows what you like and dislike so he does what you like and does not do what you dislike.

A good friend is supportive. He/she is always there when you need him and when not needed. He encourage you.

A good friend should always being comfort to you and must be able to make you freely talk to him/her about confidential issues.

A good friend would always want to share what he/she has with you. It could be clothes, ideas money or anything.

Good friend always show they care, they are ready to give

you shoulder to lean on.

Good friends are good listeners they listen to what you have to say and advise you.

On the other hand, some qualities of bad friend include the following.

They are dishonest: They do not tell you the truth if even they know it will hurt you.

They are selfish: They want things for themselves, it is always about me, myself and I. They are uncaring: They don’t care what happens to you at all, they don’t want to hear it.

They do not support you especially if what you want to do is to your own benefit.

They backbite and also betray you.

They don’t keep your secret, they share it with others to mock you.

They always pick up unnecessary quarrel.

They want your things especially the best of them and they never give you theirs.

There are many ways to differentiate the good friends from the bad ones. Therefore, knowing your friend is very vital and remember, “your friend can make you or mar you”.

“The good friends would always bring out the best in you but the bad one’s would pull you down. The good one’s would always want to see you happy and always brighten your day and beautify your world but the bad one’s would always want to make you cry so they can tell you sorry. This is why as a person you must know your friend to know whether he/she is a good or bad friend.”

Footprints

MARTIN Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) was an American clergyman and Nobel Prize winner. He was one of the key arrowheads of the American civil rights movement and a prominent advocate of nonviolent protest. King’s challenges to segregation and racial discrimination in the 1950s and 1960s helped convince many white Americans to support the cause of civil rights in the United States.

After his assassination in 1968, King became both a national and global symbol of protest in the struggle for racial justice.

R e v Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta Georgia. He was the eldest son of Martin Luther King, Sr., a Baptist minister, and Alberta Williams King. His father served as pastor of a large Atlanta church, Ebenezer Baptist, which had been founded by Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, maternal grandfather. King, Jr., was ordained as a Baptist minister at age 18.

King attended local segregated public schools, where he excelled. He entered nearby Morehouse College at age 15 and graduated with a bachelor ’s degree in sociology in 1948. After graduating with honors from Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania in 1951, he went to Boston University where he earned a doctoral degree in systematic theology in 1955.

King’s public-speaking abilities—which would become renowned as his stature grew in the civil rights movement— developed slowly during his collegiate years. He won a second-place prize in a speech contest while an undergraduate at Morehouse, but received Cs in two public-speaking courses in his first year at Crozer. By the end of his third year at Crozer, however, professors were praising King for the powerful impression he made in public speeches and

discussions.

Throughout his education, King was exposed to influences that related Christian theology to the struggles of oppressed peoples. At Morehouse, Crozer, and Boston University, he studied the teachings on nonviolent protest of Indian leader Mohandas Gandhi. King also read and heard the sermons of white Protestant ministers who preached against American racism.

Benjamin E. Mays, president of Morehouse and a leader in the national community of racially liberal clergymen, was especially important in shaping King’s theological development.

While in Boston, King met Coretta Scott, a music student and native of Alabama. They were married in 1953 and would have four children. In 1954 King accepted his first pastorate at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, a church with a welleducated congregation that had recently been led by a minister who had protested against segregation.

Montgomery’s black community had long-standing grievances about the mistreatment of blacks on city buses. Many white bus drivers treated blacks rudely, often cursing them and humiliating them by enforcing the city’s segregation laws, which forced black riders to sit in the back of buses and give up their seats to white passengers on crowded buses. By the early 1950s Montgomery’s blacks had discussed boycotting the buses in an effort to gain better treatment—but not necessarily to end segregation.

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a leading member of the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), was ordered by a bus driver to give up her seat to a white passenger. When she

The Unforgettable Rev

refused, she was arrested and taken to jail. Local leaders of the NAACP, especially Edgar D. Nixon, recognized that the arrest of the popular and highly respected Parks was the event that could rally local blacks to a bus protest.

Nixon also believed that a citywide protest should be led by someone who could unify the community. Unlike Nixon and other leaders in Montgomery’s black community, the recently arrived King had no enemies. Furthermore, Nixon saw King’s publicspeaking gifts as great assets in the battle for black civil rights in Montgomery. King was soon chosen as president of the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), the organization that directed the bus boycott.

The Montgomery bus boycott lasted for more than a year, demonstrating a new spirit of protest among Southern blacks. King’s serious demeanor and consistent appeal to Christian brotherhood and American idealism made a positive impression on whites outside the South. Incidents of violence against black protesters, including the bombing of King’s home, focused media attention on Montgomery. In February 1956 an attorney for the MIA filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking an injunction against Montgomery’s segregated seating practices. The federal court ruled in favor of the MIA, ordering the city’s buses to be desegregated, but the city government appealed the ruling to the United States Supreme Court. By the time the Supreme Court upheld the lower court decision in November 1956, King was a national figure. His memoir of the bus boycott, Stride Toward Freedom (1958), provided a thoughtful account of that

experience and further extended King’s national influence.

In 1957 King helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), an organization of black churches and ministers that aimed to challenge racial segregation. As SCLC’s president, King became the organization’s dominant personality and its primary intellectual influence. He was responsible for much of the organization’s fundraising, which he frequently conducted in conjunction with preaching engagements in Northern churches.

SCLC sought to complement the NAACP’s legal efforts to dismantle segregation through the courts, with King and other SCLC leaders encouraging the use of nonviolent direct action to protest discrimination. These activities included marches, demonstrations, and boycotts. The violent responses that direct action provoked from some whites eventually forced the federal government to confront the issues of injustice and racism in the South.

King made strategic alliances with Northern whites that later bolstered his success at influencing public opinion in the United States. Through Bayard Rustin, a black civil rights and peace activist, King forged connections to older radical activists, many of them Jewish, who provided money and advice about strategy. King’s closest adviser at times was Stanley Levison, a Jewish activist and former member of the American Communist Party.

King also developed strong ties to leading white Protestant ministers in the North, with whom he shared theological and moral views.

In 1959 King visited India and worked out more clearly his understanding of Gandhi’s principle of nonviolent persuasion, called satyagraha, which King had determined to use as his main

instrument of social protest.

The next year he gave up his pastorate in Montgomery to become co-pastor (with his father) of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.

In the early 1960s, King led SCLC in a series of protest campaigns that gained national attention.

The first was in 1961 in Albany, Georgia, where SCLC joined local demonstrations against segregated restaurants, hotels, transit, and housing.

SCLC increased the size of the demonstrations in an effort to create so much dissent and disorder that local white officials would be forced to end segregation to restore normal business relations. The strategy did not work in Albany. During months of protests, Albany’s police chief jailed hundreds of demonstrators without visible police violence. Eventually the protesters’ energy, and the money to bail out protesters, ran out.

The strategy did work, however, in Birmingham, Alabama, when SCLC joined a local protest during the spring of 1963. The protest was led by SCLC member Fred Shuttlesworth, one of the ministers who had worked with King in 1957 in organizing SCLC. Shuttlesworth believed that the Birmingham police commissioner, Eugene “Bull” Connor, would meet protesters with violence. In May 1963 King and his SCLC staff escalated antisegregation marches in Birmingham by encouraging teenagers and school children to join.

Hundreds of singing children filled the streets of downtown Birmingham, angering Connor, who sent police officers with attack dogs and firefighters with high-pressure water hoses against the marchers.

Scenes of young protesters

“In the early 1960s, King led SCLC in a series of protest campaigns that gained national attention.

The first was in 1961 in Albany, Georgia, where SCLC joined local demonstrations against segregated restaurants, hotels, transit, and housing. SCLC increased the size of the demonstrations in an effort to create so much dissent and disorder that local white officials would be forced to end segregation to restore normal business relations. The strategy did not work in Albany. During months of protests, Albany’s police chief jailed hundreds of demonstrators without visible police violence. Eventually the protesters’ energy, and the money to bail out protesters, ran out.”

WIT

being attacked by dogs and pinned against buildings by torrents of water from fire hoses were shown in newspapers and on televisions around the world.

During the demonstrations, King was arrested and sent to jail. He wrote a letter from his jail cell to local clergymen who had criticized him for creating disorder in the city. His “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” which argued that individuals had the moral right and responsibility to disobey unjust laws, was widely read at the time and added to King’s standing as a moral leader.

National reaction to the Birmingham violence built support for the struggle for black civil rights. The demonstrations forced

whit end segr Even prot Ame legi King orga Was prote for j Aug deliv an a 200 supp Drea hop mov mov histo one up a mea hold evid

Footprints

Martin Luther King Jr

TH OBUSEH JUDE

te leaders to negotiate an to some forms of egation in Birmingham. n more important, the tests encouraged many ericans to support national slation against. g and other black leaders anized the 1963 March on shington, a massive est in Washington, D.C., obs and civil rights. On gust 28, 1963, King vered a stirring address to audience of more than ,000 civil rights porters. His “I Have a am” speech expressed the es of the civil rights vement in oratory as ving as any in American ory: “I have a dream that day this nation will rise and live out the true aning of its creed: ‘We d these truths to be selfdent, that all men are

created equal.’ … I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

The speech and the march built on the Birmingham demonstrations to create the political momentum that resulted in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited segregation in

public accommodations, as well as discrimination in education and employment.

As a result of King’s effectiveness as a leader of the American civil rights movement and his highly visible moral stance he was awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize for peace.

In 1965 SCLC joined a voting-rights protest march that was planned to go from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital of Montgomery, more than 80 km (50 mi) away. The goal of the march was to draw national attention to the struggle for black voting rights in the state. Police beat and teargassed the marchers just outside of Selma, and televised scenes of the violence, on a day that came to be known as Bloody Sunday, resulted in an outpouring of support to continue the march. SCLC petitioned for and received a federal court order barring police from interfering with a renewed march to Montgomery. Two weeks after Bloody Sunday, more than 3,000 people, including a core of 300 marchers who would make the entire trip, set out toward Montgomery.

They arrived in Montgomery five days later, where King addressed a rally of more than 20,000 people in front of the capitol b u i l d i n g .

The march created support for the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which President Lyndon Johnson signed into law in August. The act suspended (and amendments to the act later banned) the use of literacy tests and other voter qualification tests that often had been used to prevent blacks from registering to vote.

After the Selma protests, King had fewer dramatic successes in his struggle for black civil rights. Many white Americans who had supported his work believed that the job was done. In

many ways, the nation’s appetite for civil rights progress had been filled.

King also lost support among white Americans when he joined the growing number of antiwar activists in 1965 and began to criticize publicly American foreign policy in Vietnam.

King’s outspoken opposition to the Vietnam War (19591975) also angered President Johnson. On the other hand, some of King’s white supporters agreed with his criticisms of United States involvement in Vietnam so strongly that they shifted their activism from civil rights to the antiwar movement.

By the mid-1960s King’s role as the unchallenged leader of the civil rights movement was questioned by many younger blacks.

Activists such as Stokely Carmichael of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) argued that King’s nonviolent protest strategies and appeals to moral idealism were useless in the face of sustained violence by whites. Some also rejected the leadership of ministers.

In addition, many SNCC organizers resented King, feeling that often they had put in the hard work of planning and organizing protests, only to have the charismatic King arrive later and receive much of the credit. In 1966 the Black Power movement, advocated most forcefully

by Carmichael, captured the nation’s attention and suggested that King’s influence among blacks was waning. Black Power advocates looked more to the beliefs of the recently assassinated black Muslim leader, Malcolm X, whose insistence on black selfreliance and the right of blacks to defend themselves against violent attacks had been embraced by many African Americans.

With internal divisions beginning to divide the civil rights movement, King shifted his focus to racial injustice in the North.

Realizing that the economic difficulties of blacks in Northern cities had largely been ignored, SCLC broadened its civil rights agenda by focusing on issues related to black poverty.

King established a headquarters in a Chicago apartment in 1966, using that as a base to organize protests against housing and employment discrimination in the city. Black Baptist ministers who disagreed with many of SCLC’s tactics, especially the confrontational act of sending black protesters into all-white neighborhoods, publicly opposed King’s efforts. The protests did not lead to significant gains and were often met with violent counterdemonstrations by whites, including neo-Nazis and members of the Ku Klux Klan, a secret terrorist organization that was opposed to integration.

Throughout 1966 and 1967 King increasingly turned the focus of his civil rights activism throughout the country to economic issues.

He began to argue for redistribution of the nation’s economic wealth to overcome entrenched black poverty. In 1967 he began planning a Poor People’s Campaign to pressure.

This emphasis on economic rights took King to Memphis, Tennessee, to support striking black garbage workers in the spring of 1968. He was assassinated in Memphis by a sniper on April 4. News of the assassination resulted in an outpouring of shock and anger throughout the nation and the world, prompting riots in more than 100 United States cities in the days following King’s death.

In 1969 James Earl Ray, an escaped white convict, pleaded guilty to the murder of King and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. Ray later recanted his confession.

Although over the years many investigators have suspected that Ray did not act alone, no accomplices have ever been identified. In 1999 a jury in a Memphis civil trial brought by King’s family found that a widespread conspiracy not involving Ray led to King’s assassination. However, most investigators continued to believe that Ray was the killer.

After King’s death, historians researching his life and career discovered that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) often tapped King’s phone line and reported on his private life to the president and other government officials.

The FBI’s reason for invading his privacy was that King associated with Communists and other “radicals.”

After his death, King came to represent black courage and achievement, high moral leadership, and the ability of Americans to address and overcome racial divisions.

Recollections of his criticisms of U.S. foreign policy and poverty faded, and his soaring rhetoric calling for racial justice and an integrated society became almost as familiar to subsequent generations of Americans as the Declaration of Independence.

King’s historical importance was memorialized at the Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Nonviolent Social Change, a research institute in Atlanta where his tomb is located. The King Center is located at the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site, which includes King’s birthplace and the Ebenezer Church. Perhaps the most important memorial is the national holiday in King’s honor, designated by the Congress of the United States in 1983 and observed on the third Monday in January, a day that falls on or near King’s birthday of January 15.

“After his death, King came to represent black courage and achievement, high moral leadership, and the ability of Americans to address and overcome racial divisions. Recollections of his criticisms of U.S. foreign policy and poverty faded, and his soaring rhetoric calling for racial justice and an integrated society became almost as familiar to subsequent generations of Americans as the Declaration of Independence.”

Issues IN recent times, the National Orientation Agency (NOA) has engaged in a series of sensitisation programmes for the purpose of promoting acceptable ethos and mores in the Nigerian society.

With the slogan “Do the Right Thing’’, NOA has organised some public sensitisation workshops with themes such as “Keep to time’’; “Avoid Dirt, be Clean’’; “Exam ethics’’; “Clean and Healthy Lifestyle’’ and “Wash Nigeria’’, among others.

Observers note that the public sensitisation campaign is part of measures aimed at changing the attitude of most Nigerians.

They concede that pragmatic approaches are required from all stakeholders to check moral decadence and sustain positive values in the society.

Mr James Ekweremadu, an Abuja-based businessman, said that moral decadence, violence, mistrust and other social vices were becoming rampant in the Nigerian society.

He underscored the need to initiate structured campaigns to promote sound mores and ethos in the country.

Dr Florence Akin-Aina, the Executive Director, T.Y Danjuma Foundation, said that that most of the security challenges and crises facing the country stemmed from wrong fundamental orientation of the citizens.

Akin-Aina, who spoke in one of the sensitisation workshops organised by NOA in Abuja, stressed that the agency deserved

the support of everyone to enable it to succeed in its mandate to re-orientate Nigerians.

In the same vein, Prof.

Bem Angwe, the Executive Secretary, National Human Rights Commission, urged the public to support NOA in efforts to educate Nigerians on their rights and how to enforce them.

Angwe pledged that the commission would collaborate with NOA in the campaign towards repositioning the psyche of Nigerians as regards human rights.

He said that the commission was statutorily empowered to review legislation and administrative policies of government and its agencies, while recommending appropriate amendments where necessary.

The Director-General of NOA, Mr Mike Omeri, urged the citizens to promote peace, justice and sustainability of moral values by responding to the public sensitisation programmes.

He described people who were calling for Nigeria’s disintegration through violence and pandemonium as enemies of the nation.

Omeri, however, vouched for the determination of the country’s security agencies to ensure that such antisocial people were apprehended and brought to justice.

“Nigerians must contribute their own quota to entrenching world peace; this can be done by denouncing all those who seek to divide us along ethnic, religious, political and other lines.

NOA And Nation-Building Efforts

By FEMI OGUNSHOLA “Such people do not mean well for this nation; we must shun them and their evil predictions of bloodshed.

“Good citizens of Nigeria should report suspicious persons and activities immediately they are spotted because they do not have another country,’’ he said.

Omeri said that if the citizens adopted the attitude of doing the right thing at the right time, President Goodluck Jonathan’s Transformation Agenda for the country’s development would be quite successful.

“The Director-General of NOA, Mr Mike Omeri, urged the citizens to promote peace, justice and sustainability of moral values by responding to the public sensitisation programmes.

He described people who were calling for Nigeria’s disintegration through violence and pandemonium as enemies of the nation.”

Also speaking at the workshop, Chief Edem Duke, the Minister of Culture, Tourism and National Orientation, emphasised the need reorientate the youth for effective attitudinal transformation.

He noted that the attitudinal deficiencies in the youth had somewhat denied them access to most of the youth empowerment initiatives introduced by the government.

He urged the youth to show more interest in issues relating to national development, insisting that the youth could never benefit from government investments in human capital development without appropriate value orientation.

According to the minister, the Federal Government is creating more youth empowerment programmes and platforms for youth development.

Duke, nonetheless, called on the youth to have due regard for national symbols, saying that as future leaders, they should also learn how to live exemplary life.

He said that NOA was

working with the National Assembly to make a law that would make the abuse of national symbols an offence.

“NOA is seeking the amendment of the Ordinance Act to ensure that anyone caught defacing the national symbols or handling them without respect is punished.

“The positive values depicted by the national symbols could evoke certain attitudes and emotions toward the nation.

“We believe that our national core values, as enumerated in the 1999 Constitution, are expressed in our national symbols.

“This should further find practical expression in the manifestation of those values by Nigerians through the inspiration they draw from our national symbols,’’ he said.

Sharing similar sentiments, Dr Alex Ekwueme, a former VicePresident, observed that the growing disrespect for national symbols was part of the decline in national values.

Ekwueme, who made the observation at the Patriots Assembly organised to

commemorate the National Symbols Day in Abuja recently, noted that national symbols were carefully chosen to promote unity and peaceful coexistence among Nigerians.

“National symbols are cautiously chosen to serve some good purposes in an individual, in particular, and in the society, in general.

“For instance, in the national anthem and the pledge; the words — ‘One nation bound in freedom, peace and unity’ and ‘To defend her unity and uphold her honour and glory’ — are carefully selected to strike the conscience of Nigerians,’’ he said.

To educate the public on these values, observers insist that NOA, in line with its mandate, should enlighten Nigerians on government policies, while mobilising public support for the policies.

They call on all Nigerians to imbibe the culture of celebrating the country’s uniqueness, identity and accomplishments to demonstrate the national desire for a truly developed and united nation.

Family Planning

Understanding Risk Factors Associated With Maternal deaths A mother’s survival is crucial to her baby’s survival.

Studies have shown that the baby’s risk of dying is increased by a factor of ten if the mother dies. “The outcome of a baby’s health is determined largely by the mother’s health and nutrition, reinenforcing the oftenquoted statement that ‘survival starts from the womb”, says world vision.

Some of the most significant maternal health issues include the risks associated with child birth, the widespread prevalence of maternal anaemia and mother’s susceptibility to various infections diseases.

The following below describes these three significant risks factors to the mother.

1- Improving maternal survival in childbirth What are the common causes of maternal deaths surrounding pregnancy and childbirth?

According S.O. Rustein in “further evidence of the effects of preceding birth intervals on Neonatal, infant, and under-five-years mortality and nutritional status in developing countries: Evidence from the demographic and health surveys macro international, 2008”, ‘worldwide, more than 80 per cent of maternal deaths are pregnancy related, such as severe bleeding, pregnancy induced hypertensions, infection, prolonged or obstructed labour, and complications from unsafe abortions’. These

By ERANGA ISAAC causes, according to UNICEF progress for children: A report card on maternal mortality September 2008, these causes lead to death for approximately 342,000 to live in developing countries, primarily is sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

According to WHO ‘women and health: to day’s evidence, tomorrow’s agenda’ 2009, poor nutrition contributes to these maternal deaths. Women with severe anaemia in pregnancy, for example, have a 3.5 times greater chance of dying from obstetric complications compared with non-anemic pregnant women.

Globally, new estimates show that more than 50 per cent of maternal deaths are directly caused by massive bleeding (haemorrhage, 35 per cent) and high blood pressure (hypertension, 18 per cent) with 18 per cent accounted for by indirect causes such as HIV and AIDS, malaria and heart diseases. As said earlier, these causes lead to death for approximately 342,000 to 500,000 women each year, primarily in sub-Sahara African and South Asia. In development countries, however, the leading causes of maternal deaths are related to complications of anaethesia and caesarean sections. What accounts for the disparity in causes of maternal deaths? The major

causes of death require emergency obstetric care, which is either lacking or poorly functioning in developing countries. Heath systems, as obtainable in most Primary Health Care Centres in Nigeria, are often ill-equipped and lack skilled staff able to perform life saving procedures such as obstetric surgery. There remains an uneven distribution of skilled workforce personnel, an absence or paucity of basic emergency supplies and equipment, and substandard practices to effectively respond to these life threatening complications.

Along with weak health care systems, another issue is that pregnant women in developing countries tend not to seek health care. Women choose not to use health services for various reasons, including.

• Tradition and

cultural perception (i.e perceiving the health facility as ‘a place to die’) • E c o n o m i c constraints • Poor quality of services, including the importance of accessing skilled Birth Attendants (SBAs), especially for birthing complications • Lack of decision – making power among women to decide where to give birth, leading to delayed decisions to seek help.

• Inability to recognize and skillfully treat pregnancy and childbirth danger signs.

• Poor transport and communication links between facilities and communities.

2 Reducing maternal anaemia

What is anemia and how prevalent is it?

Anemia, defined as low blood haemoglobin (HGB) level is a very common global public health problem. An estimated 1.6 billion people or one quarter of the world’s population, are affected.

Amaemia prevalence is highest in developing countries. Although both males and females of all ages are affected, the most vulnerable groups are pregnant women and young children. Worldwide, 42 per cent of pregnant women (56 million individuals) suffer from anaemia, with the highest prevalence rates in Africa (57 per cent, or 17 million women) and the highest absolute numbers in South-East Asia (48 percent, or 18 million women), says, B.de Benoist, Mclean, I. Egli, M. Cogs well, eds in “worldwide prevalence of anemia 1993-2005, cited from global database on anaemia WHO 2008” Causes of anaemia Iron deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency and the major cause of anaemia worldwide.

The Word Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that iron deficiency is responsible for approximately 50 per cent of all anaemia cases. Other significant causes include deficiencies of other nutrients, malaria, helminthes infections (usually hookworm), and a variety of other diseases. Effect management of anaemia in high prevalence contexts requires an analysis of the main contributors and implementation of an integrated package interventions to address all major causes, as contained in a “joint statement by WHO/ UNICEF,” under the heading ‘focusing on anaemia towards an integrated approach for effective anaemia control’ – WHO 2004.

What are the consequences of anaemia?

Women with anaemia often experience decreased cognitive ability and work productivity and increased fatigue, morbidity and mortality. The shocking thing about it is that women with severe anaemia in pregnancy have 3.5 times greater chance of dying from obstetrical complications compared with non-anemic pregnant women. Anaemia, according

to The Lancet 371 (9608): 243-260.2008, is estimated to cause approximately 115,000 maternal deaths annually.

Studies have also shown that maternal iron deficiency anaemia in early pregnancy causes a greater risk of preterm (premature) delivery and consequently, Low Birth Weight (LBW). LBW greatly increase the risk of neonatal mortality and mobility and is closely connected with deficts in health, development and cognitive growth for the surviving infant. C.M. Chaparro’s “setting the stage for child health and development: prevention of iron deficiency in early infancy”, cited from nutr 138: 25292533.2008, added that even in full-term, normal birth weight infants of iron deficient mothers have reduced iron stores continuing into the first year of life, thereby increasing their vulnerability to anaemia. This, according to J. Beard’s “why iron deficiency is important in infant development cited from J Nutr 138: 235 4-6.

2008, contributes to compromised cognitive development in early childhood, even if the iron deficiency is later corrected.

How can we prevent anaemia?

Anaemia among pregnant women can be reduced and prevented through the following interventions (both promoting and ensuring availability).

Eating adequate iron-rich foods that enhance iron absorption and fortified foods (e.g. liver animal foods dark green leafy vegetables, fortified staples).

• Fortification is the addition of vitamins or minerals to foods in order to meet the nutrient needs or targeted group of people.

• Iron/folate supplementation • De-warming, in areas with high warm loads • Ant malaria prophylaxis during pregnancy in malaria-endemic areas.

• Sleeping under a long-lasting insecticide treated net (LLIN) in malaria endemic areas.

To be continued next week

Globally, new estimates show that more than 50 per cent of maternal deaths are directly caused by massive bleeding (haemorrhage, 35 per cent) and high blood pressure (hypertension, 18 per cent) with 18 per cent accounted for by indirect causes such as HIV and AIDS, malaria and heart diseases. As said earlier, these causes lead to death for approximately 342,000 to 500,000 women each year, primarily in sub-Sahara African and South Asia. In development countries, however, the leading causes of maternal deaths are related to complications of anaethesia and caesarean sections.

Development “Stakeholders want governments at all levels to give priority to road construction and rehabilitation because of importance of roads in the development of the nation’s economy.”

Stepping-up construction BY most accounts, road transportation is the most preferred mode of transportation in Nigeria, as it accounts for 99.5 per cent of the nation’s passengers’ and freight services.

However, out of the 200,000 kilometres of roads in the country, only 39,000 kilometres are paved.

Experts, however, insist that Nigeria’s road network is grossly inadequate for a country that is aspiring to become one of the 20 leading economies in the world by the year 2020.

To redress the deficit, experts say Nigeria needs to construct 14,000 kilometres of roads annually in the next four years.

The Minister of Works, Mr. Mike Onolememen, said recently in Abuja that the present government was determined to boost construction and rehabilitation of roads across the country.

He said that the length of roads fixed by the present administration improved from 4,000 kilometres in 2011 to 20,000 kilometres in 2013.

He said that more road projects would be initiated in 2014, while roads in

By CHIJIOKE OKORONKWO different stages of construction would be completed within the year.

According to him, some of the roads that will be completed in the year include Abuja-Lokoja and Benin-Ore dual carriage way.

Onolememen said that although budgetary provision for the ministry was low, critical projects would be accorded priority, noting that the country needed N500 billion annually for four years for a sustainable road network.

“It is true that the budget of the Ministry of Works just like any other ministry dropped as a result of the challenges the government has faced in its revenue

generation.

“The good news is that many of these road projects, such as AbujaLokoja and Benin-Ore dual carriage way, would be completed and commissioned this year.

“The completion will leave us with the outstanding section of the Benin-Ore dual carriage way, only from Ajebandele to Sagamu, which we have included in the budget for 2014.

“Hopefully, when the budget is approved, we shall be awarding contract for the asphalt overlay of that section from Benin to Shagamu, covering a distance of more than 270

kilometres,’’ he said.

He said that the ministry would rehabilitate, reconstruct; and in some cases expand some of the roads that were essential for socio-economic development.

The minister listed the roads as the: “KanoMaiduguri, OnitshaEnugu, Lagos-Ibadan , the Oweto Bridge, Second Niger Bridge,’’ and other arterial roads.

The minister announced that government planned to construct a new bridge to link Lekki and Ikorodu axis in Lagos State as a way of decongesting the roads.

“That is what we call the Lagos-Ajah Ring Road, and part of it is to have a new bridge from the Lekki Free Trade Zone across the

lagoon that will connect that part of Lekki to Ikorodu,’’ he said.

On roads in the SouthEast zone, Onolememen said that some arterial roads in area were bad, but assured they would be given a face-lift.

He also corrected an impression that all the Federal Government roads in the region were bad.

“It is in the south eastern part of the country that we have the Obiozora-Ishiagu road which is one of our best roads, comparable to anywhere in the world,’’ he said.

On the Lagos-Abidjan Trans-West African Highway, the minister said that five countries had given their nod for commencement of construction work in 2014.

According to Onolememen, the countries are: Nigeria, Benin Republic, Togo, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire “‘They are determined to ensure that they have a dual carriage way running from Lagos to Abidjan.

“The heads of states of the country have given us the marching order that they want construction work to start before the end of 2014,’’ he said.

Stakeholders want governments at all levels to give priority to road construction and rehabilitation because of

“Onolememen said that although budgetary provision for the ministry was low, critical projects would be accorded priority, noting that the country needed N500 billion annually for four years for a sustainable road network.

“It is true that the budget of the Ministry of Works just like any other ministry dropped as a result of the challenges the government has faced in its revenue generation.”

importance of roads in the development of the nation’s economy.

Mr. Gbenga Akintola, the Executive Chairman, Lagos State Public Works Corporation, who addressed a forum recently in Lagos, just like at the federal level, assured Lagos residents that government would continue to give priority to construction of roads.

He said that the corporation would rehabilitate 1,400 roads in the state in 2014, noting that 988 roads were rehabilitated in 2013 and 705 in 2012.

Mr. Godwin Madueke, the Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure in Enugu State, also echoed the government’s efforts in roads’ construction and rehabilitation.

He said that reconstruction of the Milken Hill road, one of the oldest major roads in the eastern part of the country has commenced.

According to him, the 11.7 kilometres road, which was the first major road linking Enugu to the northern and southern parts of the country, will be reconstructed at the cost N2.4 billion and will be completed this year.

“This Milken Hill road is as old as the coal city, which is 105 years now; so, we now rename the road as the Centenary Road to mark the 100 years of the city and the country,’’ he said.

Besides Enugu and Lagos states, other states are complementing the efforts of the Federal Government in the construction and rehabilitation of roads.

The efforts should be sustained as road transportation remains the preferred means of transportation in Nigeria.

Archival Matters

Nigeria: Airborne,

Low Altitude

WHEN ASUU went on strike on July 1, 2012, the union was justified, strike was apparently its best option for saving our universities from total collapse.

See, there is a lot of rot in our university system. But ASUU atleast wanted the major issue of poor funding to be tackled first.

Na small small dem day take catch monkey. No bi so?

That is why the union placed adequate funding imperative of our universities on the front banner.

In case, you are still in the dark about what constitutes adequate funding of education, here in UNESCO datum on it. The world body prescribes that atleast 26 percent of a nation’s annual budget should be spent on education.

However, this is not the case in Nigeria. See a comparative table below for an introductory proof of this fact: Nation Funding % *Ghana … … … …

30% *Ivory Coast … … … …

30% *Uganda … … … …

27% *South Africa … … … …

25.3% *Kenya … … … …

23% *Botswana … … … …

19% *Morocco … … … …

17.7% *Tunisia … … … …

17% *Nigeria … … … …

8%

From this 9-nation table of African countries, it is crystal clear that Nigeria is under-funding education but ironically is funding very well the meals of our political leaders in office, their security votes, medical bills and other sundry items.

Funding of our primary, secondary, colleges of education and polytechnics are no better. Hear the director-general of Nigerian Institute of Science Laboratory Technology, Ibadan in The Nation of October 31, 2013: “Science laboratories in our secondary schools are in a mess”. Why? They are also not well funded. It is for the same reason of poor funding that provoked the strike of polytechnic lecturers in Nigeria.

Our health sector isn’t faring any better. It is on a sick bed like other sectors. The World Health Organisation recommends a ratio of one doctor to 6000 persons. But what we have here in Nigeria is one doctor attending to a population of over 100,000 people. Is it any wonder patients die on the outpatient department and in hospitals while waiting for doctor’s attention? Is it any surprise some doctors recommend drugs for their patients half way through their complaints?

Who wan die? Nobody. And, so, the privileged in our society flee abroad for medical tourism. They know our health sector is in shambles. Yes, they are aware, we parade insufficient medical doctors, quacks inexperienced nurses and midwives, incompetent pharmacist, clandestine laboratory scientists and shambolic chemists who sell fake drugs. So, they prefer to travel abroad to seek medicare.

Indeed, things are in a state of disequilibrium in our nation.

Another clear evidence of this scenario is that anyone with cash in hand can purchase a medical certificate. I did not talk about driving licence. I mean medical certificate. The late Osita Nwadiosi bought one. With it, he became qualified to participate in the fitness test for referees at the National Stadium, Lagos on November 5, 2013. During the event, he collapsed and died. On searching his pocket, the Nigeria Football Federation Committee found a Ventolin Inhaler on him!!! He was an asthmatic. Yet a Nigerian doctor gave him a medical certificate of fitness for the tasking aerobic fitness test of the committee.

Is this all? Who-side. Visit most of our public hospitals on excursion. Hmmm, you will be greeted by the malodorous odour from their dilapidated, dirty toilets. You will discover some of these toilets and bathroom don’t even have doors. Cockroaches, mosquitoes, lizards and rodents can be seen competing pro-actively for space and patients’ food remnants in the ward. In addition, you will find some mortuaries in these hospitals proclaiming their grotesque

By MICHAEL ODIGBE

presence through their emission of toxic smell worse than hydrogen sulphide!!

To crown it all, some of these hospitals have plenty of grasses for grooming grass- cutters for sale and mentoring snakes. This is because the hospital authorities don’t bother to mow the grasses in their already derelict premises. A beneficiary of these grasses are emergency dry cleaners in such hospitals who now use the grasses as ropelines for

been able to conduct an accurate census. This explains why controversy dogged the true population of Lagos State after the 2006 census. The government of the state claims it has a population of 17 million people while the National Population Commission say it is 9 million. Take your pick.

Without an accurate population figures, economic planning is difficult. That is why Nigeria has scheduled to conduct a census in 2016 at a tentative cost of N600 billion.

Methinks, that this census exercise however won’t still give Nigeria an idea of its true population. My skepticism is based on the fact that the people who rigged other census weren’t severely punished. Therefore, it is sheer phantasmagoria to expect Nigeria’s tested and trusted criminals won’t manipulate the 2016 census. A crab can never walk straight. NEVER. Once again, therefore, we are on a mission to waste a whooping N600 billion on what I like to call Censusmania 2016. This is in a season of anomie when the federal government informed Nigerians no funds were missing from

President Goodluck Jonathan

Senator David Mark

spreading their washed clothes or those of their sick, admitted relatives.

Lest I forget, ward in these hospitals are sometimes turned into markets where recharge cards and other items are sold to patients by indoor nurses/midwives as well as traveling salesmen or women.

How about security in most of these hospitals? It is porous. Imagine, on November 18, 2013 ritualists stormed a hospital in Ado-Ekiti at 1 a.m. in search for a day-year old baby. Now hear this. There is a professor of urology with a crammed clinic somewhere in Nigeria established to make money, not give Hippocratic medication to sick people. That is Nigeria for you. It is no man’s land of Hobbesian ethics.

Another worrisome issue. Ask our Bureau of Statistics to tell you the accurate population of Nigeria. It can’t give you the figure. Don’t blame the bureau for its poverty of knowledge. No be him fault. Since 1816, Nigeria has not

the NNPC account. Later, CBN’s brave boss Lamido Sanusi screamed in a letter to a request by Senate Committee On Finance that indeed 49.8 billion dollars was technically missing. This is because from CBN books the NNPC exported 65.3 billion dollars worth of crude oil between January 2012 – July 2013. But the agency only paid 15.5 billion dollars into the CBN’s account. It was after the CBN’s whistleblowing that NNPC’s own account was reconciled. At the end of the day, 10.8 billion dollars was discovered to be really missing. Not long afterwards, NNPC announced that it had spent the “missing” 10.8 billion dollars on oil subsidy payments on behalf of the finance ministry. Can Abacha beat this circumlocution on the missing funds by NNPC? I doubt.

Well, given her shortcomings, one can say that Nigeria is airborne but flying at low altitude in cloudy weather to no destination in particular. Her pilot has lost his two engines.

Only a “miracle” can now save his passengers and crew on FLIGHT 2015 from a crash.

How about security in most of these hospitals? It is porous.

Imagine, on November 18, 2013 ritualists stormed a hospital in Ado-Ekiti at 1 a.m. in search for a day-year old baby. Now hear this. There is a professor of urology with a crammed clinic somewhere in Nigeria established to make money, not give Hippocratic medication to sick people. That is Nigeria for you.

It is no man’s land of Hobbesian ethics.

Science

Food Production And Storage THE factors that affect food production are as below.

Land area, diseases and pest, rainfall, finance, basic amenities, transportation, storage and processing facilities.

Agricultural education, government attitude on development of agriculture farming techniques, soil PH, soil micro-organism, texture, temperature and wind are amongst others to be mentioned.

Land area This has affected food production alot, most farmers, do not have larger kind areas to farm, because most lands are far off their locations and many not be able to travel long distances because of lack of many and personal vehicles. Even most of the lands, have been sold off due to quest for money so they have little lands to farm, and land matters a lot in large food production, it therefore goes that small land, small food and big land, big food production.

Diseases and pest In food production and storage, diseases and pests constitute a great threat, which causes a great loss in food production and during storage periods. The ways to solve these problem is by effective pest and disease measure.

Rainfall Rainfall is very important in food production. It has been known from time immorial that whenever there is adequate rainfall, there is an abundance increase for food production for that year, but in a situation where rainfall is not abundant due to certain weather condition, food production decrease.

Hence people who try to solve this problem have resulted to irrigation method.

Finance This has hindered a lot of farmers, because they lack money, they can not go into large farm practice, they cannot buy tractors and harvesters

and because they cannot get these equipments, they cannot increase food production in the society, hence there is low food yield, but in a situation where by the farmer is very rich, he goes into mechanised farm system and food production is greatly increased.

Basic amenities When farmers lack basic amenities such as electricity and water. It causes a decrease in food production and people defect from rural areas to urban areas.

For government to solve these problems, they have to provide these basic

amenities in the rural villages, so that the able bodied men, can settle in the villages and produce more food for the populace.

Transportation Bad roads after many years has been one of the major problems hinding large scale food production. A farmer may have a very large acre of land, with enough crops planted but due to bad roads, he cannot transport his crops to where people can get in contact with them for either consumption or for export. All his efforts are wasted. To stop this problem, and also increase food production, good roads have to be constructed so that there

With OYAKHIL OME CLEMENTIN A AKHILOME CLEMENTINA

is easy transportation of food from rural areas to urban areas.

Storage and processing facilities Good storage and processing facilities has lead to an increase in food production. Take for example, a farmer, produces yams, sold the ones he could sell, the remains he builds a yam barn and stores them there, but no matter how airy the barn is, they must still get rotten, and the aim of storage is defected and hinders food production and lead to food spoilage.

Agricultural education When there is an awareness based on the importance of farming, it will eventually lead to an increase in food production, but when then is no intensified

agricultural awareness, it will result to low food yields.

Government attitude to development of agriculture When government lack interest in agriculture, thereby not allocating money to agricultural sector because it is not interested in it so, also government official not i m p l e m e n t i n g agricultural programmes, you find out that farmers, will not get information concerning the latest technique on farming methods or hybrid seeds to improve crop production.

The communication gap, leeds to destruction of food production instead of increasing food production.

Farming techniques A farmer should be able to know the latest technique on how to improve crop yield, like crop rotation, when a farmer practices crop rotation as well as practicing the use of machinery such as tractors and harvesters, food production, increases because even the crops will not be attacked by plant diseases and if there is no plant diseases, crop production increases, unlike when there is monocropping on a piece of land, as soon as they contact disease, it spreads all over the entire farmland as they do not have any resistance towards that.

“Bad roads after many years has been one of the major problems hinding large scale food production. A farmer may have a very large acre of land, with enough crops planted but due to bad roads, he cannot transport his crops to where people can get in contact with them for either consumption or for export. All his efforts are wasted. To stop this problem, and also increase food production, good roads have to be constructed so that there is easy transportation of food from rural areas to urban areas.�

Viewpoint Insurgency In The North, A Burden Yet To Be Conquered WHEN Mr. Oswald Mbuyiseni MtShali wrote in his poem titled Nightfall in Soweto several years ago that Nightfall comes like a dreaded disease, seeping through the pores of a healthy body and ravaging it beyond repair a murderer’s hand lurking in the shadows, clasping the dagger, strikes down the helpless victim, he was not trying to show his skillfulness in the use of words neither was he trying to impress anybody but to convey his sad feelings to the world of how the few whites have decided to lord it over blacks and their reign of terror in South Africa.

In Nigeria, since the emergence of the dreaded Boko Haram in 2002, it has appeared that the Nightfall in Soweto is now Nightfall in Nigeria especially in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe which happen to be some parts of the Northern Nigeria.

The electronics and the print media are awashed with news of the killings of innocent Nigerians as there is no day that passes- by without having their wanton killing being reported. A situation that has forced the indigenous people and nonindigenes of the affected areas to abandon their homes, turning them into refugees in their neighbouring states and

By JEFFERY NEGBEDION countries.

Several impressions have been made about the stands of this dreaded sect. Some said it is politically motivated to make the country ungovernable for President Goodluck. This was credited to the statement made by Gen Muhammed Buhari when he lost out in the April 2011 General Election that he will make the country ungovernable for him. Others said it is religiously motivated to impose Islamic religion on the Christians and that they are fighting the course of Allah.

But along the line, it became more confusing when they decided to embark on raping spree on their female captives, an act which the Quran kicks against. And as if that was not enough, the group also launched an attack against Adobayaro, the emir of Kano, killing some of his guards on the spot while he narrowly escaped death. He was later flown abroad for treatment where he spent a good number of months.

The bombing of some mosques in the north was also a rude shock to them.

As it is now, the idea of whether it is politically or religiously instituted to witch - hunt a set of people

PUBLIC NOTICE

ALBERT BOXING CLUB

The general public is hereby notified that the above named Club has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for registration under the Companies and Allied Matters Act No.1 of 1990.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1. Mr. Albert Onolunose – Chairman 2. Sir Isaac Ikhuoria – Technical Director 3. Ikhuoria Kenneth – Secretary/Legal Adviser 4. Enahoro Albert – 1st Trustee 5. Eromosele Albert – 2nd Trustee 6. Jegbefume Albert – 3rd Trustee BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1. Development of boxing as a sport in Nigeria 2. Promotion of youth development through boxing in Nigeria.

3. Organization of Boxing competitions in Nigeria and all over the world 4. provision of educational and financial support for boxing talents both males and females.

5. Collaboration with other local and international boxing clubs or associations in areas of sponsorship etc.

6. Collaboration with government on key areas of youth development in boxing.

Any objection to this 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: Ikhuoria Kenneth

has been ruled out because it seemed that virtually everybody has had its own fair share from the ill wind blowing across country.

The activities of the Islamic sect have not only claimed lives of hundreds of people and property worth billions of naira destroyed in these three states, but have brought about high level of unemployment in the country. Because before the sudden appearance of the Boko Haram, Nigerians especially graduates flock these states for either white collar jobs or for other

menial jobs to make ends meet thereby contributing to the Gross Domestic product of the economy. But today all of these is now a mirage.

Combating this ugly element from spreading to other states, several measures were adopted.

State Governors were made

imposing a ban on the use of motorbike on June 2013.

Although this idea, with its temporary adverse effect on the masses paid off by reducing the number of strange faces trooping into our various states, we still hear the echoes of bomb blast and death in the northern states.

The Federal Government under the leadership of President Goodluck Ebele

has become a thorn on the flesh of the people of Nigeria. Mr. President has appointed and fired several chief of army staff whom he felt had not been able to nip in the bud the increasing killings by the Boko Haram.

The recent chief of army staff fired was Lt Gen .O. Azubuike Ihejerika who wept bitterly before the public. The cause of his tears is still a mystery to the

to see reasons with the Federal ii Government that they must work together to proffer solution to the problem. This they did by imposing ban on the use of motorbikes popularly as Okada in their states.

Edo state as one of the security conscious states under the leadership of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, complied to the security warning by

Jonathan had earlier in April 2013 imposed a dusk to dawn curfew in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa state to clamp down their rate of operations to probably put an end to their actions and to restore peace in the affected areas. And it is to last for three months and possibly extend or reduce it depending on its effect within the set time.

Wrestling this group that

people of Nigeria which him alone can provide an answer to. It however goes beyond tears to conquer the dreaded Boko Haram, a lesson which his successor must be abreast with. Although, the Federal Government under the reign of President Goodluck Jonathan has recorded a huge success in sports, roads, education, food security, aviation, Boko Haram insurgency is still a burden yet to be conquered by

Several impressions have been made about the stands of this dreaded sect. Some said it is politically motivated to make the country ungovernable for President Goodluck. This was credited to the statement made by Gen Muhammed Buhari when he lost out in the April 2011 General Election that he will make the country ungovernable for him. Others said it is religiously motivated to impose Islamic religion on the Christians and that they are fighting the course of Allah.

International

Mexican Castaway Begins Long Journey Home MAJURO (Marshall Islands) - A Mexican castaway who says he survived more than a year drifting at sea pleaded yesterday to be taken home as he was picked up from the remote Pacific island where he had washed ashore.

“I want to get back to Mexico,” the castaway, who identified himself as Jose Ivan, told interpreter Magui Vaca as he was about to board a Marshall Islands patrol vessel to be taken from Ebon Atoll to the capital Majuro for a medical examination.

“I feel bad,” he told Vaca of his physical and mental state. “I am so far away. I don’t know where I am or what happened.”

An emaciated Jose Ivan was found last Thursday clad only in

ragged underpants, when his 24foot fibreglass boat with propellerless engines floated on to the reef at Ebon Atoll, the southernmost cluster of coral islands in the Marshalls.

He managed to communicate to his rescuers that he had drifted across a 12,500 kilometre (8,000 miles) expanse of Pacific Ocean north of the equator between southern Mexico and the Marshall Islands.

Jose Ivan told Vaca he left his home in Mexico to go shark fishing on December 24, 2012, putting his time at sea at 13 months, not the 16 months his rescuers initially believed.

“It’s been difficult trying to communicate with him,” said

Ebon Mayor Ione deBrum who had only been able to communicate with the Mexican by drawing pictures.

“I’ve gotten to know him through pictures he’s drawing.

He said he was on his way to El Salvador by boat when it started drifting.”

No details have yet emerged as to why he began drifting, or what happened to a companion he said had died a few months ago.

Vaca said Ivan was disorientated and did not know what had happened during his many months at sea.

“He feels a little desperate and he wants to get back to Mexico, but he doesn’t know how,” she said.

When Ebon islanders discovered Ivan on their remote atoll he was sporting a long beard and was unable to walk without assistance.

He indicated that he survived by eating turtles, birds and fish and drinking turtle blood when there was no rain.

There was no fishing gear on the boat and Jose Ivan suggested he caught turtles and birds with his bare hands. There was a turtle on the boat when it landed at Ebon.

“We’ve been feeding him nutritious island food and he’s getting better,” deBrum said.

“He has pain in both knees so

he cannot stand up by himself.

Otherwise, he’s OK.” Vaca was on a yacht in Majuro Atoll — around 320 kilometres north of Ebon — when she was briefly able to speak to Jose Ivan via radio before he was ushered on to the patrol vessel for the estimated 18-hour trip to Majuro.

Israeli Minister Slams Kerry’s Boycott settlements. In the latest JERUSALEM - Israel’s Warning example, Denmark’s largest economics minister lashed out at U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry Sunday for warning against a growing boycott movement against the Jewish state should peace talks with the Palestinians fail.

Naftali Bennett, from the religious, pro-settler Jewish Home party, has been a fierce critic of the Kerry-led talks and a persistent gadfly to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is negotiating against a backdrop of increasing international pressure to reach a deal coupled with a growing call for boycotting Israel.

A small but growing number of European businesses and pension funds have begun to drop investments or limit trade with Israeli firms involved in West Bank settlements. At a security conference in Germany this weekend, Kerry warned that a breakdown in IsraeliPalestinian talks would accelerate this trend.

“Today’s status quo absolutely, to a certainty, I promise you 100 percent, cannot be maintained. It’s not sustainable. It’s illusionary.

There’s a momentary prosperity, there’s a momentary peace,” Kerry said.

Bennett said all “the advice givers” should know that Israel will not abandon its land because of economic threats.

“We expect our friends around the world to stand beside us, against anti-Semitic boycott efforts targeting Israel, and not for them to be their amplifier,” he said, in a clear barb. “Only security will bring economic stability, not a terrorist state next to Ben-Gurion Airport.”

Tzipi Livni, Israel’s chief negotiator, came to Kerry’s defense, saying he was merely expressing concern for Israel’s future.

Over the past six months, Kerry has held endless backand-forth talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in hopes of

reaching a framework for a peace agreement. He is expected to present his ideas in the coming weeks and both sides have balked at some of his expected proposals.

Israeli nationalist leaders like Bennett, for instance, oppose a Palestinian state that is based on the pre-1967 borders. More than 500,000 settlers live in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in the 1967 war and which the Palestinians now hope will be part of their future state. Known to religious Jews as Judea and Samaria, they are parts of the biblical land of Israel and hardliners object to ceding either area on both spiritual and security grounds. Any expected peace accord would put the fate of dozens of settlements at risk.

But European officials have warned that Israel could face deepening economic isolation if it presses forward with the construction of more

bank, Danske Bank, blacklisted Israel’s Bank Hapoalim because of its links to settlement construction.

Once dismissed as a fringe issue, the boycott threat is now

Indonesian rescuers lift an abandoned motorcycle as they look for victims of an eruption of Mount Sinabung volcano, in Karo district yesterday.

Next Round Of Nuclear Talks: Kerry, Iran’s Zarif Discuss

MUNICH (Germany) - US Secretary of State John Kerry held a rare meeting with his Iranian counterpart Sunday to discuss the next steps in resolving Western fears over Iran’s contested nuclear programme.

World powers are due to hold another round of talks with Iran on February 18 after reaching an initial accord in November to curb the nuclear activities and open up them up so as to allay Western concerns Tehran is seeking nuclear weapons.

Kerry and Iran’s Mohammad Javad Zarif “discussed the upcoming negotiations with the P5+1 and the EU on a

comprehensive agreement that will begin in Vienna next month,” a senior US State Department official said.

“Kerry reiterated the importance of both sides negotiating in good faith and Iran abiding by its commitments under the Joint Plan of Action (agreed in November),” said the official.

“He also made clear that the United States will continue to enforce existing sanctions,” he added.

The official said Kerry also pressed Zarif to “work

US Secretary of Foreign Affairs John Kerry salutes as he attends the 50th Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 1, 2014. The conference on security policy takes place recently.

cooperatively with us” to help detained US citizens Robert Levinson, Amir Hekmati and Saeed Abedini return home.

Further details of the meeting were not immediately available.

Tehran has always insisted that its nuclear programme is for peaceful ends only. But the West, unconvinced and worried by signs of possible atomic weapons development, has imposed ever tighter sanctions

hoping to stop Iran getting to a ‘break-out’ point.

In November, Iran agreed with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — plus Germany that it would roll back the programme and open it up to wider inspections.

In return, the world powers agreed to partially lift tough sanctions that have caused immense damage to the Iranian economy.

Kerry Meets With Iranian Foreign MUNICH - U.S. Secretary Minister

of State John Kerry met with Iran’s foreign minister Sunday on the sidelines of a security conference in Germany, pressing Iran to abide by the commitments it has already made ahead of new negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear program.

Kerry’s meeting with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif comes after Iran agreed with world powers November 24 to halt its most sensitive uranium enrichment activities in return for an easing of Western sanctions.

Implemented Jan. 20, the agreement will be in effect for six months while further negotiations are held aimed at reaching a permanent agreement eliminating concerns that Tehran might use its nuclear program to build nuclear weapons.

Tehran denies such aims but says it is ready to reach a deal

in exchange for full sanctions relief.

Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said Friday after meeting with Zarif that Iran had agreed to a new round of negotiations on February 18 in Vienna with a six-nation group — the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany.

In his one-on-one meeting Sunday on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, Kerry reiterated to Zarif the importance of both sides negotiating in good faith, and of Iran abiding by its commitments, according to the State Department.

Kerry also made clear that the United States will continue to enforce remaining sanctions, it said.

Zarif was scheduled to address the conference later in the day.

International Tense Thai Elections Go Ahead Despite Protest BANGKOK - Protesters trying to derail Thailand’s national elections Sunday forced the closure of hundreds of polling stations in a highly contentious vote that has become the latest flash point in the country’s deepening political crisis.

Around the country, the vast majority of voting stations were open and polling proceeded relatively peacefully. Polling stations closed for the day with no reports of violent clashes, easing fears of bloodshed a day after gun battles in Bangkok left seven people wounded.

The national focus was riveted to the capital where 488 of the capital’s 6,600 polling stations were shut and several skirmishes broke out between protesters intent on disrupting the vote and frustrated would-be voters. The Election Commission said the closure of polls affected more than 6 million registered voters.

In some cases, protesters formed blockades to prevent voters from entering polling stations. Elsewhere, protesters

blocked the delivery of ballots and other election materials, preventing voting stations from opening.

The Election Commission said that hundreds of polling stations in the south, an opposition stronghold, faced similar problems.

Angry voters at one Bangkok district stood outside of closed voting stations waving their identification cards and shouting “Election! Election!”

“We have the right to vote.

You don’t have the right to take that away from us,” said Sasikarn Wannachokechai, a 51year-old Bangkok resident who said she had never missed a chance to vote.

The outcome of the vote will almost certainly be inconclusive.

Because protesters blocked candidate registrations in some districts, parliament will not have enough members to convene.

That means beleaguered Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra will be unable to form a government or even pass a budget, and Thailand will be stuck in political limbo

for months as by-elections are run in constituencies that were unable to vote.

Official results were not expected for weeks, with final counting delayed until all districts have voted. Advance voting that was scheduled for last Sunday but thwarted in many districts has now been rescheduled for late February.

The conflict pits demonstrators who say they want to suspend the country’s

fragile democracy to institute anti-corruption reforms against Yingluck’s supporters who know the election will not solve the nation’s crisis but insist the right to vote should not be taken away.

The protesters, a minority that cannot win power at the polls, are demanding the government be replaced by an unelected council that would rewrite political and electoral laws to combat deepseated problems of corruption and money politics. Yingluck has

refused to step down, arguing she is open to reform and that such a council would be unconstitutional.

“This is not a fair election,” said Ampai Pittajit, 65, a retired civil servant helping to block ballot boxes in the Bangkok district of Ratchathewi. “I’m doing this because I want reforms before an election. I understand those who are saying this is violating their rights. But

Government Retakes Machar’s Home Town Say South Sudan Rebels

Car Bomb Wounds Three Three Civilians In Egypt’s Sinai CAIRO - A car bomb targeting a bus carrying Egyptian soldiers wounded three civilians in the restive Sinai Peninsula on Sunday, security officials said.

An explosives-laden car was detonated by remote control near government buildings in the town of Rafah, on the border with the Palestinian Gaza strip, they said.

The blast went off around 10 metres (yards) from the bus transporting soldiers who were on leave.

Militants have stepped up attacks on Egyptian security forces in north Sinai since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July, killing scores of soldiers and policemen.

The jihadist group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis (Partisans of Jerusalem) has claimed some of the deadliest attacks in Egypt since Morsi’s overthrow.

Analysts say the group is

inspired by Al-Qaeda, but Egyptian security officials claim it is derived from the nowbanned Muslim Brotherhood, to which Morsi belongs.

The army has poured troops into the mountainous and underdeveloped peninsula to combat the growing militancy.

Riot police line up as seen through protesters’ barricades in central Kiev, Ukraine on Saturday. Ukraine’s embattled president Viktor Yanukovych is talking sick leave as the country’s political crisis continues without signs of resolution.

Radicals A Wild Carm Ukraine’s Protest

KIEV, Ukraine - Wearing masks, helmets and protective gear on the arms and legs, radical activists are the wild card of the Ukraine protests now starting their third month, declaring they’re ready to resume violence if the stalemate persists.

When the protests started in December, attracting not only tens of thousands of Ukrainians but a flurry of visits from Western officials, the gatherings’ determined peacefulness was an integral part of their claim to legitimacy.

But in mid-January, the image

what about our rights to be heard?”

Fears of violence were high after a gun battle erupted Saturday at a busy Bangkok intersection between government supporters and protesters trying to block delivery of ballots.

The exchange of fire was the latest flare-up in a months-long campaign by protesters to overthrow Yingluck’s government, which they accuse of corruption. The violence crystallized the power struggle that has devolved into a battle of wills between the government and protesters — and those caught between who insist on their right to vote.

Under heavy police security, Yingluck cast her vote at a polling station in northeastern Bangkok, cheered on by supporters.

of placid but principled people changed sharply, to frightening scenes of protesters heaving stones and firebombs at police.

The violence was sparked by the radicals within the larger protest movement, angered by President Viktor Yanukovych’s implementation of harsh antiprotest laws and increasingly impatient with the protesters’ failure to achieve any of their demands.

In a vivid demonstration of frustration, they sprayed opposition leader Vitali Klitschko, the towering former heavyweight boxing champion, with a fire

An armed South Sudanese government soldier poses near a village in Bor where an exchange of heavy artillery fire rocked the strategic town recently.

extinguisher when he pleaded for clashes to stop.

An uneasy truce settled in days later after three protesters died, but with no government concessions apparently in the works, the radicals say they’re preparing to fight again.

“We are ready for a national mobilization and complete blockade of the government quarter. The time for chatter has passed,” the leader of the radical group Pravy Sektor (Right Sector), Dmitry Jarosh, told The Associated Press. The group nominally cooperates with protest leaders, but often sharply differs with their views.

Another radical group, Spilna Sprava (Common Cause), refuses cooperation with the main opposition camp.

Klitschko and opposition comrade Arseniy Yatsenyuk were in Munich on Saturday seeking Western officials’ support for the protesters. In the early weeks of the demonstrations, Western officials made a flurry of visits to Ukraine and to speak from the protest’s main stage. But since the violence, appearances have been few.

Russia, meanwhile, appears eager to use the radicals to tar the entire protest movement.

On Saturday, speaking at the international security conference in Munich, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov lashed out at the West for allegedly inciting “increasingly violent” protests.

“Why don’t we hear condemnations of those who seize and hold government buildings, burn, torch the police,

use racist and anti-Semitic and Nazi slogans?” Lavrov said.

The radicals include demonstrators allied with extreme nationalist elements that have an anti-Semitic cast and laud the Ukrainian partisans who fought alongside Nazi soldiers against the Red Army in World War II. Some factions don’t even support closer ties with the European Union, the issue that set off the protests, complaining that the EU is too liberal about gay rights and immigration.

The total number of radicals in the protests is difficult to estimate, but Pravy Sektor alone claims to have some 300 “active fighters” in Kiev and the organization’s page on the Facebook analogue Vkontakte shows 150,000 supporters.

Spilna Sprava claims thousands of supporters.

Their emergence is clearly a worry to more moderate protest leaders.

“The situation in Ukraine is so tense that radical groups appear like mushrooms after the rain,” said Andrew Paruby, coordinator of the volunteer security corps for the mainstream protesters.

After the clashes with police erupted on Jan. 19, Yanukovych made his first efforts toward concessions to the protests. The moves — including an amnesty for arrested protesters if demonstrators leave some buildings they occupy and a repeal of the anti-protest laws — were greeted with disdain by the broad opposition. But the radicals drew the conclusion that these tentative steps indicate they should step up street fighting.

JUBA - South Sudan government forces have recaptured Leer, the hometown of nominal rebel leader Riek Machar in the northern oilproducing state of Unity, a spokesman for the rebels said on Sunday.

Government soldiers and allied militia “advanced on Leer town on February 1, 2014 destroying everything on their path. (President Salva) Kiir’s forces burned down the whole of Leer town and the entire surrounding villages,” a statement from rebel spokesman Lul Ruai Koang said.

There was no independent confirmation that Leer had changed hands.

But medical charity Doctors without Borders (MSF, Medecins sans Frontieres) reported on Friday that a team of its local health workers had taken “several dozen of the most seriously ill patients from Leer hospital with them into the bush, fearing for their safety”.

“Other patients who were well enough to leave of their own accord also fled, and there are no longer any patients or staff left at Leer hospital,” MSF said.

Koang accused the government troops of having hunted down and killed women and children and elderly people who had gone to hide in nearby bushes and swampy areas.

“The latest destruction of Leer town...has no strategic, operational or tactical importance,” the spokesman said, accusing Kiir of having merely derived “satisfaction” from destroying Machar’s home town.

Since the South Sudan conflict started in mid-December both sides have traded accusations of abuses, with the United Nations and rights groups reporting that both sides have committed atrocities.

Thousands have been killed in the conflict and over 700,000 people have fled their homes in seven weeks of violence.

A ceasefire has theoretically been in place for almost 10 days but multiple violations have been reported.

International US, Iran Meet To Discuss Final MUNICH (Reuters) - The Nuclear Accord foreign ministers of the United States and Iran held rare private talks in Germany yesterday to discuss the next stage in efforts to reach a definitive agreement to end a decade-old dispute over Iran’s nuclear program.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference to talk about nuclear negotiations between six world powers and Iran that will resume in Vienna on February 18.

The talks will aim to settle the nuclear dispute after Iran agreed, under a landmark preliminary deal last

• US President Barack Obama

Rebels Flee Central African Republic BANGUI (Central African Republic) - Around 200 rebel fighters in the Central African Republic who surrendered to African Union troops at the weekend in the key town of Sibut fled overnight, a military source said on Sunday.

“Unfortunately they fled in the night. They’ve gone to Kaga Bandoro,” an officer in the African Union force (MISCA) told AFP. Kaga Bandoro is some 160 kilometres (100 miles) north of Sibut, the town which had been held for several days by former members of the mainly Muslim Seleka rebellion — causing terrified residents to flee — before it was recaptured by MISCA troops on Saturday.

It is thought the rebels fled because of fear of revenge

attacks by members of the antibalaka Christian militia. They had initially agreed to be held by peacekeepers.

According to Colonel Abdelkader Djelani, a Seleka officer who was part of the group which fled Sibut, the rebels were concerned about the lack of security around them.

“We want solutions and really secure camps. In Bangui, Seleka confined to camps... (were) attacked by anti-balaka.”

He added that the former Seleka rebels were “ready to disarm” depending on the conditions.

Some of the residents of the town were cautiously thinking of returning home after news that African Union soldiers were now in control.

One resident, Innocent, said

Rival Rebel Leader, Al-Qaida BEIRUT - Al-Qaida fighters Fighters killed the leader of a rival Islamic brigade in a twin car bombing near Syria’s northern city of Aleppo, an attack likely to further exacerbate rebel infighting even as government forces continued their intense shelling of opposition-held areas of the city yesterday.

Syrian aircraft bombed buildings, burying people underneath rubble in the Bab Neirab area, said the Aleppo Media Center. It wasn’t immediately clear how many casualties there were.

The bombings came after military aircraft dropped barrels packed with explosives over rebel-held areas on Saturday, killing dozens, including an attack that killed 34 people in the rebel-held neighborhood of al-Bab, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The group collates the country’s war death toll.

Syrian forces have inched into eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo in recent weeks, their most important advance there since rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar Assad seized the areas in mid-

2012.

Activists say the troops’ advance has been mostly been propelled by military aircraft heavily bombing residential areas, smashing buildings into rubble, forcing civilians and rebels to flee.

They’ve also been assisted by weeks of rebel infighting that has pitted a loose alliance of Syrian fighters against al-Qaida linked extremists of the Islamic State of the Iraq and the Levant.

Fighting was likely to be exacerbated further after Islamic State fighters undertook a twin suicide bombing that killed 26 people on Saturday, including the military leader of a rebel group.

The attack targeted the base of rivals, the Tawheed Brigades, and killed commander Adnan Bakkour, said Rami Abdurrahman of the Observatory.

The al-Qaida linked Islamic State also killed another prominent commander of another rebel brigade, said analyst Charles Lister of the Brookings Doha Center.

however there were still fears among the general population because the “Seleka were very violent with us”.

A Gabonese contingent from MISCA entered the town on Saturday.

The taking of the northern town was the latest challenge faced by peacekeepers struggling to maintain order in a country the size of France with a long history of coups, attempted coups and army mutinies.

MISCA is supported by a French contingent of around 1,600 troops, and the European Union has committed a further 500 troops.

However, the interior of the country is a lawless zone ruled by warlords, with few or no foreign troops present, and newly elected transitional President Catherine Samba Panza has said more troops are needed.

The capture of Sibut came on the same day that the peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic received pledges of $132 million from

other African states.

“We will be judged and measured by our efforts to protect the people of the Central African Republic,” UN Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliassonhe said.

“We must not let them down... we must not fail to prevent another huge tragedy in Africa.”

AU officials said a total of $410 million (304 million euros) is required just to keep MISCA going for one year.

A total of almost $315 million has now been raised or pledged for Central African Republic.

The Central African Republic descended into chaos 10 months ago when the Seleka overthrew the government and installed one of their leaders, Michel Djotodia, as the country’s first Muslim president.

Djotodia failed to control his Seleka fighters, who began targeting people from the Christian majority, prompting the emergence of self-defence groups that launched revenge attacks on Muslims amid reports of murder, mutilation, rape and looting by both sides.

November, to halt its most sensitive nuclear operations in return for winning some relief from sanctions.

In his talks with Zarif, Kerry stressed the importance of both sides negotiating in good faith and Iran abiding by its commitments under the November interim accord, a U.S. State Department official said.

The United States and European Union suspended some sanctions on Iran under the interim deal, but Kerry made clear to Zarif that the United States will continue to enforce other sanctions.

There was no immediate comment from Iran on the talks.

Kerry and Zarif have met several times since Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate, was elected last June, leading to a thaw in

ties with the West after years of confrontation and hostile rhetoric.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who coordinates the nuclear talks with Iran on behalf of the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, welcomed the meeting between Kerry and Zarif.

“It is incredibly important that as the international community now looks to build towards the comprehensive talks, that the dialogue is taking place and that we’re working out how to develop a comprehensive approach to this,” she told reporters in Munich.

But Republican U.S. Senator John McCain sounded a cautious note, saying Iran had a long record of deception, and accusing Iran of cheating.

Indonesia Volcano Eruption Fears Death Toll May Rise KARO (Indonesia) Indonesian officials searched through thick ash for bodies yesterday after Mount Sinabung volcano erupted, killing at least 15 people, with the only sign of life an ownerless mobile phone ringing inside an abandoned bag.

Dark, searing clouds engulfed victims during the eruption on Saturday, leaving rescuers with little hope of finding survivors as they searched through ash up to 30 centimetres (12 inches) thick.

Officials said about 170 people armed with chainsaws and oxygen apparatus spread out through the destruction in Sukameriah village, just 2.7 kilometres (1.7 miles) from Sinabung’s crater, Sunday before the search was called off.

“There’s no sign of human

Former Multinational Force of Central Africa (FOMAC) soldiers put on the new Africanled International Support Mission to the Central African Republic (MISCA) green berets during a ceremony in Bangui recently.

life. All the crops were gone.

Many houses were damaged and those still standing were covered in thick white ash. It was hard to walk in ash which nearly reached my calves,” Gito, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, told AFP. “We didn’t find bodies but we picked up a bag belonging to one of the victims. The cellphone was ringing,” he added.

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency, was unable to put a figure to the number of people still missing, but said there was a “chance” that the death toll might rise.

Residents had been evacuated from the village, located in the “red zone” around the volcano where human activities are strictly banned.

“It’s very dangerous and completely out of bounds. But many of the tourists still secretly went to the area to take photographs,” disaster official Tri Budiarto said.

The search was halted Sunday afternoon, said Lieutenant Colonel Asep Sukarna, who led the operation.

“After two visits to the village, the volcanology agency recommended that we stop search for safety reasons.

Visibility is low because of the thick smog and we could hear volcanic tremors,” he told AFP. “I doubt it would be possible for anyone to survive the heat clouds yesterday. So far, we have not found any more bodies,” he said.

The volcano on the western island of Sumatra started erupting in September, but on Saturday spewed hot rocks and ash 2,000 metres (16,00 feet) into the air, blanketing the surrounding countryside with grey dust.

Health

Self-Medication: Journey embark on health education and public enlightenment campaigns so as to stem the menace of self-medication because of its adverse effects on the health of the citizenry,’’ Egwu says.

patients without the doctor’s prescriptions; that explains why the Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria insists on the use of professionals in dispensing drugs in all pharmacy outlets.

“The council also insists that anybody who wants to buy drugs must have a prescription; the pharmacist should not only dish out the prescribed

He says that some people often prefer to resort to self-help tendencies, rather than seeking the right procedures for getting help.

Miss Kennag Thomas, a civil servant, who was once a victim of selfmedication, argues that paucity of funds is a major contributory factor to menace of self-medication.

She urges the government to speed up its plans to enrol all Nigerians for the National Health

He said that the intake of drugs that are not prescribed by doctors has led to the disability of many children.

Kolawole advises pharmacists to refrain from selling drugs to patients without prescriptions, calling on the Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria to insist on the use of professionals in dispensing drugs in all pharmacy outlets.

“The council should also insist that anybody who

However, Mr. Kelvin Wombo, an Abuja-based community health worker, insists that most people who indulge in selfmedication do so in order to avoid the payment of consultation fees and other charges in hospitals and other health institutions.

He stresses that one of the resultant effects of selfmedication is that most patients often end up treating the ailment halfway because of improper dosage.

“We don’t sell drugs to

drug but he or she should also explain how the person should take it,’’ he said.

Wombo called on the government to embark on structured public sensitisation campaigns that would discourage the public from selfmedication.

Dr Abiodu Awolusi of the National Hospital, Abuja, nonetheless, notes that many people remain undaunted and somewhat indifferent to the campaign against self-medication.

Insurance Scheme.

Mr. Olaolu Ajide, a teacher, insists that tangible efforts should be made by all relevant authorities and stakeholders to demand for the doctor’s prescriptions before doling out medicines to the people.

All the same, Mr. Jide Kolawole, a pharmacist, says that the use of drugs, that are not prescribed by doctors during pregnancy, is also responsible for the deformity of some newborns.

wants to buy drugs ought to have a prescription from a qualified health professional,’’ he adds.

Kolawole also urges government at all levels to embark on designed public sensitisation campaigns to sensitise the people to the dangers of self-medication.

All in all, experts underscore the need for the government and its health agencies to develop pragmatic approaches to tackle the growing menace of self-medication in the country.

To self-destruction ONCE upon a time, Mrs. Patricia Omorodion, a mother of four, took ill and she resorted to selfmedication.

The middle-aged woman was having sharp pains in the lower part of her abdomen and she used a drug which a friend gave to her.

“I was on the medication for close to two weeks without any effect. The pain persisted and it became so severe that I could no longer bear it.

“I then visited a hospital and ran some tests; I was told by the doctor that I had appendicitis,’’ Omorodion recalled.

“I was quite lucky that the inflamed appendix had not ruptured, as that could have led to serious or even fatal complications,’’ she said.

Similarly, Mrs. Kate Andah, a teacher, nearly paid the supreme price for her carelessness.

Andah once resorted to self-medication for a presumed illness, which led to her developing liver toxicity.

“I used to have constant headache and whenever it occurred, I used paracetamol. In fact, I don’t run out of paracetamol in my house.

“I kept taking paracetamol over a long period of time and this resulted in liver toxicity. I later discovered that the headache was a symptom of high blood pressure, which I never knew I had,’’ she said.

Besides, Mr. Okon Abasi, a civil servant, said that self-medication had made him to develop peptic ulcer.

“I was taking aspirin for pains because I thought it was better than other pain killers, not knowing I was taking the wrong dosage.

“The pains persisted and a friend advised me to see a doctor. It was then I found out that I had been taking the wrong dosage.

“The doctor told me that a persistent use of drugs like aspirin dose can be injurious; in fact, that was what led to my developing peptic ulcer,’’ Abasi said.

These are just some instances of the

By OHUNENE SALIHU consequences of selfmedication and health officials express concern about the rising wave of such cases in the country nowadays.

Self-medication, however, appears to be a global problem, as the World Health Organisation (WHO) describes it as the selection and use of medicines by individuals to treat self-recognised illnesses or symptoms.

The WHO even says that the medicines could include herbal and traditional products.

Mr. Mike Egwu, a pharmacist with the Garki Hospital, Abuja, stresses that self-medication is a harmful practice, as unguided use of drugs unknowingly damages the people’s health.

“There has been growing cases of self-prescription of drugs in the country, while the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria and the Pharmacist’s Council of Nigeria are working together to address the situation.

“When a patient takes a particular line of drugs and it works, he will pass it to his sister or brother, even friends when they complain of similar symptoms, without the necessary prescription from a medical doctor, thereby endangering their health,’’ he says.

Egwu, however, concedes that many people are unable to seek proper medical advice on their ailments because of financial constraints.

“Lack of funds makes some people to resort to self-medication; that is why the government should speed up its plans for everyone to be on the health insurance scheme,’’ he adds.

The pharmacist emphasises that a potent way of addressing the menace of self-medication is for pharmacists and medicine stores to demand for doctors’ prescriptions whenever they are dispensing drugs to patients or customers.

“All relevant authorities should also endeavour to

“The pharmacist emphasises that a potent way of addressing the menace of self-medication is for pharmacists and medicine stores to demand for doctors’ prescriptions whenever they are dispensing drugs to patients or customers.

“All relevant authorities should also endeavour to embark on health education and public enlightenment campaigns so as to stem the menace of self-medication because of its adverse effects on the health of the citizenry”

Ameobis Make Derby History AMEOBI brothers became the first siblings to start a Tyne-Wear derby in more than 50 years when Shola and Sammy Ameobi started for Newcastle against Sunderland on Saturday.

This was the 149th TyneWear derby at St James’ Park.

Robledos’ played in the Christmas and Boxing Day derbies of 1951.

George Robledo scored twice for Newcastle in a 4-1 win at Roker Park before he and brother Ted, both born in Chile, played in a 2-2 draw at St James’ Park the

following day.

Manager Alan Pardew turned to the Ameobis as a result of the sales, suspensions and injuries which have torn his starting line-up apart, but he could not avoid a third consecutive defeat to neighbours Sunderland, who ran away 30 winners.

The last time this was achieved was in 1923.

Shola Ameobi led the attack line in place of Loic Remy, whose failed appeal to the FA on Thursday meant he sat out the derby and two more games for his altercation with Norwich City’s Bradley Johnson on Tuesday night.

Moyes Defiant As United’s Top-Four Bid Falters

MANCHESTER United manager David Moyes had no concerns about his side’s performance despite the champions suffering their eighth Premier League defeat of the season at Stoke City’s windswept Britannia Stadium. season remaining.

Charlie Adam scored twice, But the United manager was either side of a Robin van Persie unperturbed by his side’s 2-1 equaliser, to secure the Potters’ loss, which was their fourth first league win over United defeat of 2014 in all since 1984 and seriously hinder competitions. the defending champions’ hopes He pinpointed the deflection of qualifying for next season’s off Michael Carrick for Adam’s Champions League. first-half opener and the quality Moyes’ men could end the of the Stoke midfielder’s second weekend nine points off the top goal as reasons why United four if rivals Liverpool beat West Bromwich Albion on Sunday, and closing that gap would appear a difficult task with only 14 games of the

should not be too downbeat about their display.

“I thought the performance was really good,” he said. “I thought we played well, so I don’t think the question about a poor performance is right.

“We made numerous opportunities, played well, lost a goal from a free-kick 30 yards from goal that took a deflection, and (conceded) a worldy. I thought we were the better team.

“They got a goal, we got back in it, I thought we were the team more likely and I thought on the

• David Moyes

day we did enough to certainly get something from the game.”

With Jonny Evans hobbling off in the 11th minute, Adam’s deflected opener and then a head injury to Phil Jones, Moyes could count himself unlucky, but his side also squandered several chances.

“I thought we had bad luck, I really did,” he said.

“It was our own downfall that we really didn’t take our chances. We must have got to the byline eight, nine, 10 times and never picked someone out in the box, so it is our own doing, but I thought we played well.

“The conditions didn’t make for a great game. There were a lot of stoppages, which made it quite difficult, but I was pleased with how we did.

“There wasn’t an awful lot that I could say we didn’t do well. I just thought we didn’t finish it off.”

Adam opened the scoring in the 38th minute when his speculative free-kick from distance hit Carrick’s knee and left United goalkeeper David de Gea helplessly wrong-footed.

Man Utd Win Great Start For Me

OSAZE Odemwingie has said Saturday’s win over Manchester United was a perfect way to mark his home debut for Stoke City.

The 32-year-old made his debut against Sunderland in midweek and marked his first

Sir Alex Ferguson, former Man United Manager

City Have Underachieved JOSE Mourinho has continued to snipe at Manchester City by claiming the club should have won more trophies considering their huge spending.

With Chelsea travelling to the Etihad Stadium today for what could prove a crucial fixture in this season’s title race, Mourinho has already goaded Manuel Pellegrini by claiming City have been “lucky” with refereeing

• Jose Mourinho

decisions this season.

The Blues boss has now insisted the Premier League leaders have underachieved since their takeover by Sheikh Mansour in 2008. Under Pellegrini’s predecessor Roberto Mancini, City won an FA Cup in 2011 and their first Premier League title for 44 years in 2012, but twice failed to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League.

- Mourinho

“They won one title, won a couple of cups,” Mourinho said. “Only in Europe they didn’t do well, or close to doing well. Speaking objectively, they did very bad in the Champions League in previous seasons, also in the Europa League.

“But the team is fantastic, the squad is fantastic and normally they [should] win more titles.”

With City through to the last 16 of the Champions League for the first time, Mourinho also joked that Pellegrini should do his research before their tie against Barcelona — a reference to Pellegrini’s miscalculation at Bayern Munich when his side could have advanced as group winners had they scored one more goal.

“The first thing to be successful in Europe is to know the rules of the competition.

That’s the first thing,” Mourinho joked.

Jose-mourinho-hopingmanchester-city-win, and that Chelsea will be in a better position to challenge next season.

He added: “I enjoy building a team. I enjoy building the future. I enjoy not working just for today, and next season to start again with another team, spending a lot of money again, selling a lot of players, bringing in a lot of players.

“I’m enjoying this very, very much. To be the underdog I don’t enjoy. [But] I think I’m going to enjoy next season. It is more me — and I think it’s more Chelsea too — to start next season and say immediately we are candidates, the same way the others are candidates.”

Asked if Chelsea could keep up with City in the transfer market, Mourinho said: “We think that we are not very far from having a squad that allows us to compete face to face with every club, doesn’t matter how much the investment is, doesn’t matter how much the financial play is ‘fair’ or ‘dodgy’.”

- Osaze

home appearance by helping Stoke to a first Premier League win over United following a 21 success at the Britannia Stadium.

“It is the first time I have heard of Stoke City beating Manchester United so it makes this victory even more special and we just need to build on this,” a delighted Osaze celebrated.

“We know that in the table everyone is so close to each other. Every point can take you up or send you down so what makes this victory very special is that maybe people didn’t expect us to win.

“It felt great, I’ve played here a couple of times before but today’s support was fantastic. I felt welcome from the first day I came here and to start with a victory here on my

home debut feels really good.

“The manager ’s speech (before the game) was very inspiring. If we keep going like this we are going to achieve everything we want this season.”

Mark Hughes deployed Odemwingie in an unfamiliar wide role, but the forward said his team-mates had made the transition easier for him.

“I’m happy to play anywhere up front in the line,” he said.

“There were a lot of overloads from the left side today(Saturday) and I had to do a little bit more of a defensive job which is possibly not something that I am best at.

“But I had to do it for the team and I am grateful to my team-mates for encouraging me to do that. They were always there for me and I hope things will continue in the same way.”

• Osaze (left) battles for the ball with Young weekend

Schalke Confirm Draxler Bid Rejected SCHALKE sporting director Horst Heldt has confirmed the club did turn down an offer for Julian Draxler but gave a cryptic answer as to whether it had come from Arsenal.

Arsenal were reported to be on the verge of agreeing a deal for the Germany international as the transfer window drew to a close, but Heldt said last week that there had been no negotiations and Arsene Wenger insisted: “The Draxler situation has been created by the newspapers, not by me.”

However, the player himself indicated to Sky television in Germany that Heldt had “offers on the table,” and Heldt has now confirmed at least one offer came in, although he remained coy over the identity of the club.

“I can confirm that there was a request. It had the dimension of a transfer that you don’t do any day of the week. It was a decent deal, but insufficient for us to accept,” he told journalists in the mixed zone after the 2-1 victory over Wolfsburg on Saturday.

He added: “It came from a club to the north of us.”

Der Westen believes that Heldt was referring to England, and potentially Arsenal, but as London is no further north than Gelsenkirchen, that would seem to suggest Schalke’s Bundesliga rivals Wolfsburg, perhaps the only club further north who could afford such a transfer, or a club in Russia.

Despite Heldt recently announcing that Draxler’s muchpublicised 45.5 million euro release clause was only in effect last summer, he accepts that the attacker will depart at some stage.

Julian Draxler

Imo Ezekiel Bags 8th Goal

YOUNGSTER Imoh Ezekiel returned to scoring ways in Belgium when he netted his eighth goal as Standard Liege thrashed Cercle Brugge 4-0.

The 36 Lion of Lagos product doubled Standard Liege lead in the 55th minute and was substituted by Igor de Camargo in the 74th minute.

Standard Liege remain top of the league with 57 points from 24 games.

Former Enugu Rangers striker Michael Uchebo was in action for Cercle Brugge and lasted for 46 minutes before he was hauled off.

“The time will come for him to change clubs, but it hasn’t happened now and I don’t necessarily think it will happen this summer,” he said.

“However, with his quality, Julian is unstoppable. He will be a top player in Europe.”

Heldt warned that the player would not come cheap, adding: “The rules of the game are clearly defined for the summer.

Someone must have the courage to do it.”

Draxler said he accepted Schalke’s decision to reject last week’s offer.

He told Sky: “It is true that there were offers on the table for me during this winter window.

Obviously I’m not going to say who from, but there were offers.

It shows how much I’m appreciated at this club if Horst

Heldt rejects offers without me being asked. Of course I’m happy about that.”

Asked whether one of the offers was Arsenal, Draxler, who is currently working his way back to fitness, replied: “I don’t know.

“I wasn’t too aware of everything that was going on in the media — I was just focusing on my fitness. Of course I wasn’t completely unaware of everything that was being said.”

He insisted he was uncertain as to whether he would still be at Schalke at the start of next season as he concentrates on earning a place in Germany’s World Cup squad.

“I haven’t thought that far ahead because I know the next three months are going to be really tough,” he said.

Clarence Seedorf

Milan Stay Unbeaten Under Seedorf CLARENCE Seedorf maintained his unbeaten start as AC Milan coach with an entertaining 1-1 Serie A draw against a flamboyant Torino at the San Siro on Saturday.

Milan came back from a poor start to draw level through Adil Rami’s deflected long-range strike five minutes into the second period, but failed to snatch a winner to stay in ninth place on 29 points, four behind Inter Milan in fifth.

“I’m very happy because

it’s come at a pretty complicated time for me, after four or five months without playing,” Rami told reporters after scoring his first goal in Italy.

French international Rami agreed in October to sign for Milan on loan from Valencia in the January transfer

DUDA scored a brace for Malaga as they came back from behind to secure a 3-2 win over Sevilla in a La Liga encounter at La Rosaleda on Saturday night.

Samuel scored the other goal for the Anchovies while Carlos Bacca and Federico Fazio were on target for the Sevillistas.

The visitors fired the first shot in anger when Ivan Rakitic found Jose Antonio Reyes on the right, but his effort was saved by Willy Caballero.

Malaga then squandered back-to-back chances with Vitorino Antunes firing wide in the 20th minute, while Nordin Amrabat was also unable to hit the target a minute later.

Eliseu had an even better chance in the 24th minute when a freekick from Duda was cleared into his path just outside the box, but he fired wide of the post.

The home side eventually opened the scoring in the 31st minute as Duda converted from the penalty spot after he had been brought down inside the box

by Coke.

Unai Emery made two changes at the break, bringin on Kevin Gameiro and Diogo Figuieras in place of Reyes and Coke as he looked to chase the game.

The Sevillistas didn’t have to wait too long for the equaliser as Bacca fired home from the centre of the box in the 49th minute after he was put through by Vicente Iborra.

The Colombian had another opportunity seven minutes later when he connected with a cross from Rakitic, but this time he headed over the crossbar.

Sevilla took the lead in the 66th minute as Fazio outjumped his marker in the centre of the box to head home from Rakitic’s freekick.

Fernando Tissone then had two chances to get his side back on level terms, but he was denied by Beto in the 69th minute and failed to beat the Sevilla goalkeeper again two minutes later.

Malaga responded by making two changes in the 72nd minute and the move paid off five minutes later as the substitutes combined for

window but asked the La Liga club to be immediately allowed to train with the Italian club.

“I think with time and hard work I can carry on like this.

It was difficult today because Torino are a very good side,” added the 28-year-old after his third Serie A appearance.

Giampiero Ventura’s Torino stayed sixth and level on 33 points with Inter, who travel

Malaga Down Sevilla In Thrilling Derby the equaliser.

Mounir El Hamdoui found Samuel on the right and he drilled his shot into the top left corner.

The hosts stole the win in the 83rd minute as Duda fired home from Pablo Perez’ low cross to grab his brace in a heated Andalusian derby.

to Juventus for the Derby of Italy on Sunday (1945 GMT).

“From the first day I said our objective was neither safety nor Europe. We wanted to become a player in Serie A and we are growing game by game, said Ventura.

They will disappointed, however, they missed the chance to leapfrog Inter into the European places after a thrilling first half display in which Ciro Immobile give the away side the lead with a brilliant breakaway goal after 17 minutes.

Immobile broke the offside trap before leaving defender Daniele Bonera on the floor with an expert shimmy and coolly slipping his 11th goal of an impressive season past Milan keeper Christian Abbiati.

“Defenders let me go to the left because they know I’m right-footed, so I just look to get past to the left and get a shot away,” said Immobile,

whose form might attract Italy manager Cesare Prandelli’s attentions with Giuseppe Rossi out with a knee injury.

Fiorentina missed the chance to draw level on points with third-placed Napoli after losing 1-0 at Cagliari for whom Mauricio Pinilla converted a first-half penalty.

Vincenzo Montella’s fourthplaced Fiorentina stayed on 41 points, three behind Napoli, who visit Atalanta on Sunday (1400 GMT), after a lacklustre display in which they created little as hosts Cagliari climbed to 13th on 24 points.

Udinese are a point and a place behind Cagliari after a 2-0 win at Bologna, Antonio Di Natale grabbing his fifth goal of the season from the penalty spot after 15 minutes and Nicolas Lopez scoring on the counter-attack in stoppage time to leave their hosts one point and one place above the relegation zone.

Bayern Not Planning Toni Kroos Sale

BAYERN Munich insist they have no intention of selling Toni Kroos before his contract expires in 2015.

Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said last month that the club had been unable to agree an extension due to financial differences, with reports suggesting the Germany international wants to double his current salary.

Manchester United have been linked with Kroos after manager David Moyes was pictured with one of the player’s agents at a recent Bayern game, and Pep Guardiola subsequently suggested the 24-year-old could be sold.

Doubts over his future increased when he threw his gloves at the bench in frustration when substituted during the club’s 2-1 win over Stuttgart on Wednesday, which Kroos has since discussed in Bild.

However, Bayern sporting director Matthias Sammer maintains the club are not contemplating allowing the midfielder to leave in the summer.

“We have no intention of selling Toni prematurely,” he told Sueddeutsche Zeitung. “As [Bayern president] Uli Hoeness recently said: Bayern are a buying club, not a selling club.”

Sammer indicated that they would be willing to allow Kroos to run down his contract if no new deal is reached.

“We want to extend Toni’s deal — everyone at the club agrees on that [but] it’s not a straightforward matter,” he said.

“You can’t say that the odds are 80-20 or even 70-30 [in favour of an extension].”

Sammer suggested Kroos and Thiago Alcantara could form a

midfield partnership comparable to Xavi and Andres Iniesta at Barcelona.

“Kroos is the more strategic of the two players, similar to Xavi,” he said. “Thiago is more like Iniesta — he takes a riskier approach, producing moments of genius.”

Toni Kroos

First Joy As Libya Crowned CHAN Champions LIBYA won their first continental tournament Saturday after beating Ghana in the African Nations Championship 4-3 on penalties when their final ended 0-0 after extra time.

Excellent goalkeeping by the Mediterranean Knights’ Muhammad Nashnoush and a poorly-aimed attempt that went wide from Ghana’s Joshua Tijane clinched the victory following a lacklustre game.

A fast-paced start raised expectations of an energetic clash, but play slowed after the first 15 minutes and failed to recover.

The match ended goalless after extra time, mirroring the result from both semifinals.

The best goal opportunities appeared in extra time, when play picked up as both teams frantically tried to score in the quarterfull 64,000-seater Cape Town stadium.

Having come on the pitch late in the second half, Libya’s star scorer Abdelsalam Omar failed to add to his two earlier goals in the tournament.

He came within a hair’s breadth of hitting home 16 minutes into extra time, but his header in front of the box went straight into keeper Stephen Adam’s hands.

South Africa’s Bernard Parker was the highest scorer with four goals, though the hosts fell out in the group stages.

Black Stars goalkeeper Adams shone during the

game with daring saves, but was left dumbfounded when it was most important in the penalty shootouts.

Here Nashnoush dealt a psychological blow to the West African side by blocking their first two attempts.

Ahmed El Trbi scored Libya’s sixth spot-kick with Joshua Tijani missing his for Ghana.

Libya become the second champions of the tournament, which is reserved for home-based players from around the continent, joining Democratic Republic of Congo who won the inaugural edition in 2009.

Earlier the evening Nigeria beat Zimbabwe 1-0 for third place.

Libya players celebrate after winning 2014 CHAN finals

CHAN Comes Of Age For CAF With South Africa 2014 CAPE TOWN (SOUTH AFRICA) - The 2014 African Nations Championship (CHAN) held in South Africa has left in its wake one of the competition’s most keenly-contested editions since the maiden edition in 2009.

The competition held from Jan. 11 to Feb. 1 saw the homebased Super Eagles from Nigeria having a stuttering start to the tournament through their 1-2 loss to the Eagles of Mali.

But, after the initial setback, the team eventually hit its stride and almost made it to the final where Ghana lost to Libya in a repeat of the 2009 edition’s final.

The Nigerian team, made up of domestic league players, was appearing in the CHAN tournament for the first time ever.

But, in spite of this, it still gave a good account of itself in the typical never-say-die Nigerian spirit, a feat which

earned the players many accolades.

Of particular note were the accolades of their chief coach, Stephen Keshi, who noted that the players had grown in stature and were beginning to understand his tactical demands.

Keshi added that he would consider drafting some of the players into the provisional squad for the Brazil 2014 World Cup in June, with the way some of them performed.

“I am so happy with the boys’ performances over these three weeks. They have grown in stature, and they are beginning to understand what I want and the

winning the country’s first seniors title since winning the 1982 Africa Cup of Nations finals in Libya.

The Local Black Stars drew 0-0 after extra-time but were piped to the title in sudden death of penalty shoo-out losing 4-3 to the Mediterranean Knights.

“We cannot say there is anything that went wrong.

We did our best but things didn’t work out the way we wanted. We have taken it on the chin. We just lost the game,” Konadu humbly said.

“What this tournament showed is that African football is on the rise. The level of this competition has really risen by each tournament.

“This particular

competition has been a massive success. We need to congratulate the tournament organisers for a job well done.

“We have a bunch of good players who can take Ghana to the next level. We were solid at the back but could have done a little better upfront.

“The experience in South Africa for the past month has been an eye-opener. We really need such tournaments in Africa to give local based players a chance to show their talent.”

This was Ghana’s second attempt at winning the African Nations Championship after losing 20 to DR Congo in the inaugural edition hosted by Ivory Coast in 2009.

We Were Unlucky To Lose CHAN Final - Konadu GHANA coach Maxwell Konadu believes his side were simply unlucky to lose on penalties to Libya in the final of the African Nations Championship.

Konadu claims his troops gave their best shot of

Maxwell Konadu

mentality to express the game the way I want.

“I am happy about that in spite of the fact that they wanted to play in the final and did not get there. But they still showed their mental strength against the Zimbabweans.

“The major goal for me in this tournament was to expose these players and see if I can draft a couple of them into my World Cup squad in five months’ time,’’ he said.

In terms of performance, all the 16 teams played very attractive football.

This was to the admiration of fans, and even the skeptics who saw nothing good in the competition considered the pet project of the Confederation of African Football (CAF).

Responding to a question at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, CAF’s Secretary-General Hicham El Hamrani, said he was very happy at the way everything had gone.

“I am never fully satisfied and

I think that’s the natural thing for me — never fully satisfied. I can never be. But, with this, I am satisfied with how things are going.

“It is a true appreciation, from a professional perspective at CAF, of what has been going on, how it is organised and the level it has reached.

“I am very satisfied as a CAF official about how the tournament has been going, the level of play, the organisation and the co-operation in general from the local organising body involved,’’ he said.

One unfortunate aspect about CHAN 2014 was that the host country’s performance could not take it to past the first round stage of the competition, a development which incurred the wrath of the country’ Sports Minister.

The minister described the players as a “bunch of losers’’ and added that the players were behaving as if they were doing

THE dramatic political and social turmoil that Libya has been experiencing since the civil war broke out in 2011 prevented them from hosting CHAN 2014, but who would have predicted them winning it?

But winning the trophy is exactly what they did in South Africa, beating Ghana on penalties after a 0-0 result after extra time in Saturday’s final.

Deprived of all national competitions between 2011 and 2013, the local Mediterranean Knights had managed to qualify for the tournament’s finals thanks to the withdrawal of a more fancied Algerian side.

Libya travelled to South Africa only to learn and gain experience under the guidance of their new coach, Javier

Clemente, who took over the job last October.

But a 2-0 surprise victory over Ethiopia in their Group C opening game followed by a 11 draw against group favourites Ghana boosted their confidence.

Libya booked their ticket for the knock-out stage in dramatic style with an extra-time equaliser against Congo in their last first round encounter, and there was no way Gabon, Zimbabwe or the Black Stars could stop them.

The best side might have not won at the end, and while fans did not witness the most entertaining of cup finals, it was one that can teach you many lessons.

Clemente’s boys were not out to secure a World Cup spot or to

their country a big favour by adorning its jersey.

A sports psychologist in Cape Town, Demore Pretorius, said the players lacked the required discipline to play for their national team.

“Sports is a mind game and it has psychological demands.

Ninety per cent is the mental aspect, while 10 per cent is the physical aspect.

“In this regard, our players were not focused. They lost focus in their matches and, as I said earlier, you have to be disciplined in order to imbibe these critical attributes,’’ he said.

Now that the competition has grown in stature, it will surely impact positively on the domestic league of many of the 16 countries which participated, and others too.

This is because each player will strive to perform well, in order to be invited to the national team for subsequent tournaments.

Libya’s CHAN Fairytale Journey impress agents and scouts. They were just fighting for their suffering country and people, and once again football has rewarded the side which showed the most determination as a team through the competition.

And what a morale boost for the Libyan people who had their biggest celebration since the revolution.

“Libya’s football team has managed to do what the politicians have spectacularly failed to do – bring the country together,” said a fan in Tripoli after the game.

Libya will host the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, and no doubt that they will give it all to extend their South African fairytale.

2014 CHAN ... 2014 CHAN ... 2014 CHAN ... 2014 CHAN

Super Eagles Cherish Bronze NIGERIA have said they will cherish their third-place finish at the 2014 CHAN after they crashed out to rivals Ghana in the semis.

Nigeria edged past Zimbabwe 1-0 in Saturday in Cape Town to finish third at the tournament.

A cross section of the players told MTNFootball.com they were disappointed not to win the 2014 CHAN, but will be consoled with finishing third.

Ugonna Uzochukwu told MTNFootball.com: “This was my first competition as a national team player and I feel so happy winning the bronze medal.

“Though I am disappointed we couldn’t win the

competition because that was my target, but God knows the best.”

Left back Francis Benjamin said he was happy he did not leave South Africa empty handed.

“It is a thing of joy for us to win the bronze, we give God all the glory. We aimed

• Chinonso Obiozor

CAF Changes Date, Venue Of 2014 Super Cup Stadium.

The statement explained that the decision taken by the CAF Executive Committee was informed by “organisational reasons’’.

It said the match will involve the 2013 CAF Champions League winners, Al Ahly of Egypt, and the 2013 Orange CAF Confederation Cup

winners, CS Sfaxien of Tunisia.

It would be recalled that the match will be the second meeting between the two clubs after the 2009 edition which Al Ahly won 2-1 in Cairo.

Ahly is the most successful club in the history of the CAF Super Cup with five titles (2002, 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2013), while Sfaxien were runners-up in 2008 and 2009.

Fans Laud Super Eagles For Clinching Bronze

FOOTBALL fans on Saturday commended the Super Eagles for their 1-0 victory over their Zimbabwean counterparts in the third place match of the African Nations Championship (CHAN).

Some of them who spoke to newsmen said the Eagles did well to clinch the bronze trophy after 1-4 semi-final loss to Ghana.

Chinonso Obiozor’s 82nd

Anything Is Possible Now NIGERIA’s winning goal scorer against Zimbabwe, Chinonso Obiozor, says the CHAN 2014 event gave young players like himself a great opportunity and that he “learnt a lot” from coach Stephen Keshi.

Obiozor netted an 85th minute headed goal to seal the game and give the Super Eagles of Nigeria the bronze medal at Cape Town Stadium.

It was the first match of the tournament for Obiozor, a tall 20-year-old forward from Rangers International back in Nigeria.

“Thank God because it was not easy being my first match tonight, and to win the man of the match award was a very great experience for me,” Obiozor told MTNFootball after the game.

“The CHAN tournament has been very good because it improves the young players from the home clubs.

Anything is possible for us now … we are on step closer

higher when we arrived here but we thank God for what he has done for us,” he reasoned.

Warri Wolves forward Joshua Obaje said he was happy they have something to show for their efforts at the end of the day.

“We just have to thank god

THE Confederation of African Football (CAF) yesterday announced a change in the date of the 2014 CAF Super Cup match to Thursday, February 20 from Saturday, February 22.

A statement on the football body’s website also said the one-off match will now take place at the Air Defence Stadium in Cairo, Egypt at 7 p.m. local time.

Match was earlier billed for the Cairo International

- Obiozor

to making the World Cup squad, for some of us this could actually happen now.

“I am now looking to move to Europe … any better offer that comes I will go.”

Obiozor, like most of his teammates at CHAN 2014, has enjoyed working with coach Stephen ‘Big Boss’ Keshi and says it has helped him mature.

“Keshi is the type of coach who always motivates you and says ‘come on boys, you can do it’. He has really showed us how to work hard for results.

“I just want to thank everybody in South Africa for a great tournament and a good time,” Obiozor says.

minute goal was the decider for the two sides and gave the Nigerian side the victory.

Victor Orji, the President of the Federation of Public Service Games Association (FEPSGA), said the team’s performance showed the normal Eagles’ fighting spirit.

“Although, the game saw only

a goal, the players’ performance today showed the normal Super Eagles’ spirit.

“It was a compact game and they deserved the victory because it shows that we are growing.

“It is not all about winning with a wide margin’’, Orji said.

The FEPSGA boss said the Super Eagles could be rated

Okah, said the player ’s performance gave hope to the Nigerian league which have over the years lacked commanding respect among fans.

“Their performance in this competition has given our league exposure because people will now be interested in Nigerian leagues.

“People will want to be part of the league that can produce the calibre of the players that represented Nigeria in the competition.

“So, it is a good one for us in terms of appearance and for our league development’’, he said.

Reports say that Nigeria made its first appearance at the continental championship which is in its third edition.

The tournament, which kicked off on January11, ended on February1 with the final match between Ghana and Libya.

Enugu To Spend N59m On Sports Competitions • Stephen Keshi

NUGA Games: FUT Minna VC Assures PROF. Musbau Akanji, ViceAthletes Of Support Chancellor, Federal University of Technology (FUT), Minna, said the institution would support its athletes at the forthcoming Nigerian

above average.

“Although our league is not rated as one of the best, the boys proved that a Nigerian team can up its game anywhere.

“They were coordinated and disciplined throughout the tournament’’, Orji said.

Erasmus Onuh, former coach of ABS Football Club of Ilorin, said the players displayed resilience in spite of the fact that they did not qualify for the final.

“Although everyone was out for them to reach the final which they didn’t, the team did not allow the last defeat to Ghana to weigh them down with what they played today.

“That shows how good the team and the technical crew are and they have done well to give us at least a bronze in their first appearance at CHAN’’, Onuh said.

A civil servant, Jeremiah

Universities Games Association (NUGA) Games.

Akanji pledged the institution’s support during the special aerobics exercise for the athletes on Saturday at the institution’s Bosso campus.

He urged them to be good ambassadors of the university at the Games which would begin on February 22.

The vice-chancellor also commended the athletes for sacrificing their time to qualify for the NUGA Games.

He said the University Sports Committee had put appropriate measures in place for their welfare during the competition.

He, however, said that the second semester examination would not be postponed because of the clash in date with the Games.

“Shifting the examination because of the NUGA Games will obstruct the newly amended academic calendar’’ he said.

He said the management will seek approval of the university senate to enable the athletes participate in the competition and return to write their examination after the event.

Akanji promised to visit the athletes at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife during the Games and wished them an injury-free training and competition.

He added that the university would take full responsibility for injured athletes during the Games.

“You are adding to the value of the university and we must do everything possible to support you,” he said.

THE Enugu State Government says it will spend N59 million on sports competitions in public secondary and technical schools this year.

Mr. Chuks Ugwoke, the state Commissioner for Information, announced this in Enugu on Saturday after the state executive council meeting.

The commissioner said the council approved the funds to boost sporting activities among the students and to prepare them for professional sporting career.

He said government would provide equipment and manpower to facilitate effective training in the schools.

“The re-introduction of interhouse sports competition in 2012 in the state will be sustained with adequate funding.

“The testimony of its success is that the state team performed well in the just- concluded National Under-17 Sports Festival held in Abuja.

“The state presented athletes solely from products of the school sports system and 16 contingents from them have

been invited for the forthcoming World Youths Championship this year’’, he said.

The commissioner said the executive council also approved over N1billion for the furnishing of the new secretariat complex, House of Assembly and the new governor’s office.

Ugwoke said the furnishing was to provide environment conducive to work in and enhance productivity and service delivery.

He disclosed that the council approved N231million for the execution of community projects in 24 communities.

“These projects will be executed through a tripartite partnership of the state, local government and the benefitting communities.

“The state governments’ share will be N139.11million, local government will pay N69.55millon while the 24 communities will pay N23.18million’’, he said.

The commissioner said the projects would range from provision of bore-holes, hospitals, classrooms and construction of access roads.