THE NIGERIAN
The Nigerian
1
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10 2014
PUBLISHED SINCE MAY 29, 1968 • Vol. 39 NO.117 • MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2 014 • N100.00
COUNTDOWN Pg. 15
CMYK
Second Tenure: 2013/
2014 Diary Of Governor Oshiomhole’
ARCHICAL MATTERS Pg. 21
IGP Vs Gbokogboko Politicians
Capacity building: HOS commends Edo BENIN CITY – The Edo State Head of Service, Mr. Igbaekemen Jerry Obazele has commended the State
Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole for his commitment to training of civil Servants. Mr. Obazele made this commendation at a
Gov
one day seminar organized by the office of the Head of Service,
in conjunction with Vensil Nigeria Company for senior and middle level officers in the State Public Service. Continues on page 2
Oshiomhole to recall sacked perm sec, CMD
BENIN CITY - Reprieve may have come the way of the sacked Permanent Secretary in the Edo State Hospitals Management Board, Dr Ofure Eboreime and the Chief Medical Director of the Central Hospital, Benin City, Dr Edith KayodeIyasere, as the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Rt Hon Uyi Igbe has pleaded for their recall.
The duo were relieved of their appointment, last week, by Governor Adams Oshiomhole for their role in engaging
casual workers in the Central Hospital. Rt Hon Uyi Igbe who led the Majority Leader of the Assembly, Hon Philip Shaibu, Hon
Elizabeth Ativie and Hon Folly Ogedengbe to the Governor ’s office to plead for the sacked doctors begged the
Governor to temper justice with mercy. He said: “We are here, the leadership of EDHA, to see you concerning Continues on page 2
Nigeria requires consistent development policies - UNIDO ABUJA - The United Nations Industrial D e v e l o p m e n t Organisation (UNIDO) on Sunday, observed that Nigeria required the implementation of consistent workable development policies to become African industrial hub. Dr Patrick Kormawa, the Country Representative of the organisation, made the observation in an interview with newsmen in Abuja. He said that there would be no meaningful development if viable policies and programmes of previous government were often discarded by new administrations. “Nigeria needs consistency and commitment in making its policies workable in order to become an enviable industrial hub in
Africa. “It will become a successful industrial location in Africa if all economic measures are followed diligently. “Countries such as Taiwan, Malaysia and China implemented viable development policies consistently over a long period which developed their economies. “It should not be that whenever a new minister or new government comes on board, it will introduce new programmes and policies. “Nigeria needs to move consistently along with good policies over a long period of time to reap the benefits of good policies. “It took more than 50 years for China to get to where they are today; the same goes for Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea.
TIT BIT
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” - Albert Einstein
“If Nigeria continues on the development programmes it is pursuing, within 20 years, the impact will be seen. “We can modify policies but we don’t stop them. If we are to move to the next stage, we have to continue along the path we have created and we will get there,’’ he said. He assured Nigerian leaders of the commitment of UNIDO to developing institutions that would help Continues on page 2
L-R: Cross River Deputy Governor, Mr. Efiok Cobham; Abebe Dinkesa from Ethiopia (2nd); Kemboi Hillary Kipkorir from Kenya (1st); Kiplimo Philip from Uganda (3rd) and Secretary General, Athletic Federation of Nigeria, Bamiduro Olumide at the 10th Obudu Mountain Race for men in Calabar yesterday.
Additional polling units: Legal luminary
BENIN CITY – Following the insistence of the Attahiru Jega-led Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to go ahead with
the creation of additional polling units which favour the Norther part of the country, a legal icon, Elder Jonathan Obika Aghimien (SAN) has called on relevant authorities to take quick
SABONGIDA-ORA – the leadership and members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Owan-West Local Government Area
have thrown their weight behind the re-election bid of Hon. Mike Ohio Ezomo, representing O w a n - W e s t Constituency in the Edo
By CLIFFORD AGBAJOR
blasts Jega
and decisive decision as to whether or not Jega, should conduct the 2015 general elections before
he throws the nation into another crisis. He made the call while speaking to
Owan West APC leaders back Ohio Ezomo State House of Assembly. The people gave the assurance in
Sabongida-Ora at the flag-off re-election ceremony of Hon. Mike Ezomo into the State House of Assembly. Continues on page 2
newsmen in Benin City at the weekend. The senior advocate pointed out that the insistence of Jega to continue with his plans of creating additional polling units in areas where insurgency has made life difficult, “is calling to question his integrity and impartiality in conducting the election”. He noted that the Continues on page 2
THE NIGERIAN
2
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014
News Oshiomhole to recall sacked perm sec Continued from page 1
Dr. Ofure Eboreime, the Permanent Secretary, Hospital Management Board and Dr. Mrs. Edith Iyasere, Chief Medical Director, HMB. “The House Standing Committee on Health one time went to the Hospital and did oversight functions there and we found that Dr Eboreime is somebody who is very competent and capable. “We are here to appeal to you sir to on compassionate grounds to temper justice with mercy and recall these two persons, Dr. O. Eboreime and Dr. Mrs. Edith Iyasere. He said, “We know that normally, you will not compromise on standards. We appreciate that because that is the reason Edo State has move to the position it is today. He said, “Sir, I am sure, every now and then, people make mistakes and I am sure this is one of the mistakes that people make and I ask on their behalf that you please forgive them”. Hon Folly Ogedegbe representing Owan East who also joined his voice in appealing to the Comrade Governor to temper justice with mercy and recall the duo said, “Even then as NLC President, we know your stand on casualisation, you fought against casualisation of workers and I can imagine how embarrassed you were when you got to know that there were casual workers in the state service where you have long given directives that it should not be. “So on behalf of my own constituency, Owan East and the good people there, I want to appeal to you to please temper justice with mercy and forgive Dr. Ofure Ebeoreime and his colleague, Dr. Mrs. Edith Iyasere, the Chief Medical Director and recall them to work. Responding, Governor Oshiomhole said, “As a parliament that is representative of the people, one that has its ears to the ground and one that is committed to the electorate. I know that when we take decisions, we do receive pressure but let me explain the reason why I took the decision. “I am very privileged to be here and I myself am an employee and all my life, what I have done for a living is to defend workers. “When we talk of workers, not just junior workers but we make a representation for the big and for the small and for the anonymous. I do not take any joy, in fact, it is always a sad moment for me when I take a decision to relieve anybody of his or her job. Comrade Oshiomhole said: “Someone drew my attention to the fact that casual
workers were protesting over non-payment of their salaries and that they have not been paid for several months. “This was shocking to me because, difficult as our finances are and in spite of the fact that many other state governments are in default in the payment of salaries, some three months, some four months, I insisted that in Edo State, the pay day is sacrosanct. Workers are
entitled as a right to their wages. “So to hear that some workers are protesting for not been paid for up to six month is shocking.” Oshiomhole said he was concerned that despite series of directives to management of the Hospital Management Board to normalize all casuals, they still maintained the services of casual workers.
He however assured the leadership of Edo Stte House of Assembly that as a responsible parliament, he will not fail to heed to their plea and urged them to bring the affected persons to his office on Monday, the 10th of November, 2014 to explain the rationale behind their actions and properly apologize to the people of Edo State after which they may be recalled.
HOS commends Edo Gov Continued from page 1 He said that many officers of different categories have benefited form various training programme organized by government. The Head of Service stated that the decision of the government to train its workforce is geared towards broadening their managerial skills as well as their knowledge of public policy formulation and implementation. Represented at the seminar by the Director of Training and Management Services, Mr. Muhammad Ikhelowa, the Head of Service revealed that one of the challenges which have been the bane of government at the Federal, State and Local Government levels is the formulation and
implementation of policies and programmes which rest squarely on the public servants. He maintained that the Edo State government is not oblivious of this hence the choice of the theme of the seminar which is, “Management and Public Policy Formulation,” praying that the lectures at the seminar would address the challenges faced by the officers of government. Mr. Obazele saluted the workers in Edo State Public Service for the peaceful industrial harmony which had existed in the state between the organized labour and the state government and therefore sued for its sustenance. The Chief Executive Officer of Vensil Nigeria Company
who is co-organizing seminar with the state government, Mr. Ebhohimien Onohomhen praised Governor Oshiomhole and the Head of Service, Mr. Igbaekemen for the opportunity given his company to train the state workers. Mr. Onohomhen told the workshop participants that the country is going through transformation and the success, to a larger extent depends on the civil servants who are driving the policies of the government. He added that it is critical that the officers deepen their knowledge and raise the quality delivery of the public service, while challenging them to be ready to take away something that is out of the ordinary from the seminar.
Blasts Jega Continued from page 1 chairman of INEC (Jega) is not greater than the country, stressing that the fact that he is INEC boss does not mean he is not answerable to any person. The legal luminary who expressed deep concern over the unwillingness of the INEC Chairman to suspend the creation of additional polling units observed that, “from the utterances and insistence of the chairman, it looks as if he has made up his mind the type of government he wants and how to arrive at the conclusion, because the generality of Nigerians have
said that there is no basis for creating additional polling units, particularly in the North when it is known to everybody that the people are moving down to the south because of the crisis and you are creating more polling units there, for what purpose, who is going to use it?” “For instance, in Adamawa, where it is obvious now that the INEC will find it difficult to have access to conduct election, where the Boko Haram is claiming to be in control of some local government areas, who are those that will use such polling units, is it Boko Haram? If Jega is
Development policies
Continued from page 1 governments to implement its programmes. He also called on the authorities to fast track industrial evolution by voting credible Nigerians into power. According to him, Nigeria remains one of the focus countries of UNIDO in the “light of its Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development (ISID)’’, aimed at promoting industrialisation. He said that a country’s policies and industrial strategies should necessarily be geared towards promoting the well-being of the people. He insisted that UNIDO
looked at the needs of the country, its policies and development framework to design industrial policies and support them to facilitate investment flows. Kormawa said that UNIDO cooperated with the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment in drawing up industrial plan in 2013 when President Goodluck Jonathan inaugurated Nigerian Industrial Revolution Plan. “The plan is one of the best programmes of the government and in the last 10 years, investment flow in Nigeria has increased,’’ he said.
insisting that he wants more polling units in Borno, who are the people that will use such polling units, is it Boko Haram? That is what Nigerians would ask him”, Elder Aghimien emphasized. On the issue of consensus/endorsement of candidates, Barr. Aghimen noted that the process is part of democratic system, saying that it simply means that, “greater percentage of the people who are expected to nominate a person agree that such a person should represent them”. He, however, explained that the process becomes unacceptable when a few people decide to use their influence or authority to impose the will of the minority on the majority. On whether or not Local Government Councils should be autonomous, Elder Aghimien stated that Nigerians have in the past spoken in favour of local government autonomy as long as the three tiers of government remain in the nation’s constitution. He noted that if the three tiers of government remain in the constitution, local government councils should be autonomous from state government, just as states are autonomous from the federal government, to ensure a better local government administration in the country.
Nigeria, UAE Trade Informal - Envoy
ABUJA – Mr. Ibrahim Auwalu, Nigeria’s Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has observed that trade between both countries is not formal, in spite of the cordial relations between them. He spoke to newsmen in Abuja on Sunday by telephone from Abu Dhabi. “The trade volume is big because a lot of Nigerians visit Dubai regularly for shopping, but about 99 per cent of this trade is informal,’’ he said. He said that the mission is currently negotiating investment promotion and protection agreement in that regard. Auwalu also expressed the hope that the agreement, when signed, would correct the trade imbalance and encourage foreign direct investments in Nigeria. He added that several UAE companies have communicated their readiness to invest in renewable energy, agriculture, mining and realestate business in Nigeria. He expressed also dissatisfaction that the trade between both countries favoured UAE more than Nigeria. “But once we sign the agreement, it will open up Nigerian economy for more investments from companies in the UAE,’’ he said. The ambassador also observed that UAE had become a choice destination
for Nigerians that were interested in real estate business. According to him, Nigerians remain the second largest property owners in Dubai’s real estate sector, after Indians. He said that Nigerians spent more than 110 million dollars (N18 billion) annually on UAE visas. “Moderately, we can say Nigerians have spent close to 1billion dollars in the last ten years on visas to the UAE, excluding the cost of flight tickets, hotels and shopping,’’ he said On the welfare and protection of Nigerian in the UAE, Auwalu said the mission was doing its best to ensure that the rights of Nigerians living in the country were protected. He, nonetheless, expressed regret on the recent murder of a Nigerian, Oyamiefa Alamieyesigha in the country. He said the mission facilitated the transportation of Alamieyesigha’s body to Nigeria for burial. The ambassador also said the remains of a Nigerian woman, who died in August in Abu-Dhabi on-route India, had been transported to Nigeria. He observed that the immediate cause of the woman’s death had caused a scare when the Emirati officials linked it to Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).
Owan West APC leaders
Continued from page 1 As early as 8 a.m., APC members from the eleven wards in Sabongida-Ora had trooped out in their numbers in solidarity with Hon. Mike Ohio Ezomo in his bid to get re-nominated to recontest the Edo State House of Assembly seat. The party faithful with the aspirant danced through major streets in SabongidaOra before heading to the APC local government secretariat where they were received by top notchers of the party in the locality. Receiving the House of Assembly member, the Chairman of APC, OwanWest chapter, Hon. Tunde Omora said, the party is fully committed to claim another victory in the area. He described Hon. Ohio Ezomo as an astute and eloquent legislator and assured him of their support during the nomination. A leader of the party and former Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Hon. Joe Ekpenkhio said, the developmental projects Hon. Ezomo attracted to the area are very visible and called on the people to support him. Hon. Ekpenkhio later made
public an outstanding legislator award earlier presented to Hon. Mike Ezomo by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal. Earlier, Hon.Mike Ohio Ezomo said, he was seeking re-election into the State House of Assembly in order to complete the work he has started. Hon. Ezomo named the construction of market shops, renovation of schools, provision of water, construction of town hall and youth empowerments as some of his major achievements in the locality. The Owan-West Constituency of the House of Assembly member also visited the four traditional rulers in the local government to intimate them of his decision to seek a re-election into the Edo State House of Assembly. The traditional rulers visited include the Odibiado of Sobe, the Onotare of Ozalla, the Oje of Ora and the Okumagbe of Iulleha. They all eulogized Hon. Mike Ohio Ezomo and wished him success in his bid to return to the State House of Assembly.
THE NIGERIAN
3
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10 2014
THE NIGERIAN
4
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014
THE NIGERIAN
5
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10 2014
News Strike:
Teachers Give Ultimatum materials to schools, release of current examination and previous running grants to schools, and the payment of leave grant of secondary schools teachers since Dec ember 2013. ‘’In the same communiqué, we could recall that the NUT humbly requested that the state government or its representative to invite the leadership of the union for a dialogue to address the issues. ‘’Unfortunately, the state government has not considered it necessary to do so, while our
job as teachers in the classroom continues to suffer. “In this regards, therefore, the Nigeria Union of Teachers wish to give the state government an ultimatum of 14 days to address the above issues.” The statement said that failure of government to honour the demands “will force the entire teachers in both primary and secondary schools to down tool and embark on an indefinite strike until our demands are met.”
BIRNIN-KEBBI - The National Orientation Agency (NOA) in Kebbi State has embarked on awareness campaign in rural settlements on voter education. The acting State Director of the agency, Mr. Joseph Yaro, told newsmen in Birnin Kebbi that the campaign was in compliance with the directive from the national headquarters. He said that the agency would enlighten voters on their civic responsibility to ensure their active participation in electing leaders of their choice. “The campaign will focus on women who are unaware of the existing registered political parties and their logos in order to ensure that their votes count,” he said.
He said the campaign would also focus on the electoral rights and responsibilities of eligible voters, adding that “our records show that rural dwellers have not been active during elections”. Yaro stressed the importance of voter education, especially the need to enlighten and educate the electorate. “It is time the citizens become active in democratic system, especially in the election of their leaders. “The campaign will be conducted in three senatorial districts and I urge stakeholders to support the campaign,” he said. Yaro added that the agency would not relent in the campaign to educate the public on government policies and programmes.
EMEVOR (Delta) - The Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mr. Ima Niboro, has in Delta, advised parents to leave good legacies for their children by living exemplary life. Niboro, who gave the advice at the thanksgiving service after the burial of his mother, Deaconess Agnes Ukeseh, said his mother left behind exemplary life that the children must emulate.
He said that although it was a celebration of life, “the passingon of my precious mother still hurts. “I take solace in this inner peace that I feel within me. I am very sure that my mother has gone to be with God because of the life that she lived. “What I always say is that, I hope the day of our own passage; our children will also know the peace we now have in knowing
CHANGE OF NAME
CHANGE OF NAME
OCHIEMHEN – I formerly known and addressed as Ochiemhen Eigbe Peter now wish to be known and addressed as Eboigbe Eigbe Peter. Former documents remain valid. Concerned authorities and the general public please take note.
IGBINIGIE – I formerly known as Miss Esohe Sharon Igbinigie now wish to be known as Mrs. Osagie Esohe Sharon. Former documents remain valid. Concerned authorities and the general public please take note.
CHANGE OF NAME
CHANGE OF NAME
ASEHON - I formerly known as Miss Asehon Victoria Eduzola now wish to be known as Mrs. Omoruyi Omonuwa Victoria Eduzola. Former documents remain valid. Concerned authorities and the general public please take note.
OSAZUWA – I formerly called Miss Osazuwa Irene is now known and called Mrs. Irene Ekhosuehi. All former documents remain valid. Concerned authorities and the general public should please take note.
that, we, the parents have also gone to be with God. “On the day you die, what will your children think? I have peace because I know where my mother is, I know for sure where she is. “The day we will go, will our children have this same peace that they know where we are?. “So, when you think of that, let it guide your steps and lead you in all the things you do in this world so that on that perfect day, you will be with God and your children will have peace.’’ In his sermon at the occasion, Pastor Raphael Tadekhe of the United Believers Mission, urged Nigerians to live as if everyday was their last. He said that “God sometimes blesses children because of the good deeds of their parents; parents should live a good life worthy of emulation. “Life is very short, so don’t trample on people because if you look at this life, there is nothing we are taking away with us when we die. “What future are you giving your children; don’t allow an innocent child to pay for your own mistakes. “What happens in between the day you were born and the day you die is what matters most, because that is what makes up your legacy. “Many people live as if there is no tomorrow and no matter what you have, there is no substitute to the knowledge of the word of God.’’ Tadekhe urged the children of the deceased to keep the light of her good works burning in them.
OSOGBO - Teachers in Osun have given the state government 14-day ultimatum to pay their outstanding allowances, release running grants and provide instructional materials in schools. This was contained in a letter sent to Governor. Rauf Aregbesola by the state chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT). The union warned that failure by the government to meet the demands would lead to indefinite strike in primary and secondary schools. The union had, among other things, demanded the immediate provision of the required instructional materials in schools and release of current examination and previous running grants. According to the letter, the leave grants of secondary school teachers have not been paid since December 2013. The letter, which was signed by the union Chairman, Comrade Olawuyi Emmanuel, also reminded the governor of the contents of a communiqué issued on Oct. 14 where the same issues were raised. “In our last communiqué issued on October 14, 2014, jointly signed by the NUT and ANCOPSS, we requested the state government to honour and give immediate attention to the following demands. “We also demanded the provision of instructional
NOA Begins Campaign On Voter Education
Leave Good Legacies For Your Children, Niboro Advises Parents
THE NIGERIAN
6
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014
News Teaching: FG To Attract Intelligent Youths ABUJA - The Minister of State for Education, Prof. Viola Onwuliri, has expressed the determination of the Federal Government to attract intelligent Nigerian youths to the teaching profession to develop the education sector. Onwuliri, who said this while addressing journalists weekend in Abuja, added that the action would involve strengthening of teacher’s education through overseas training. According to her, the strategy for the realisation of the goal will involve strengthening teacher ’s capacity, provision of additional learning and research facilities, among others. She said it would not be business as usual, whereby students who scored low grades in their examinations were sent to colleges of education to pursue certificates. She added that government would evolve incentives whereby students with high
grades in their examinations would be awarded scholarship to further their education and teach the children at the end of their education. The minister urged teachers to impact positively on their students, saying that teaching was not just about reading notes but also making impact. She described the promotion of the girl-child education as an essential part of the transformation agenda of the present administration. Onwuliri said that such education system would promote the eradication of violence, rape and abuse of the girl-child in schools.
PDP Shifts Presidential Primaries
Governor Mukhtar Yero of Kaduna State (middle), inaugurating the Ultra Modern Teachers’ Complex in Kaduna recently. With him are Chairman, Nigeria Union of Teachers, Kaduna State Chapter, Mr. Audu Amba (left) and Emir of Zazzau, Alhaji Shehu Idris.
Delta To Deliver 150 Housing Units
ASABA The Commissioner for Housing in Delta State Chief Paulinus Akpeki, said that the state government would soon complete the 150 housing units for public servants in the state. Akpeki said this in an
interview with newsmen in Asaba Delta State. He said that the housing project was aimed at meeting the housing needs of public servants in the state and generating revenue for the government. “I am glad to inform you
L-R: Deputy Vice Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Prof. Idowu Olayinka; representative of the Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Adm. Raphael Osondu and representative of the GOC, 2 Division, Brig.-Gen. Johnson Oladeinde at a lecture on Curbing Insecurity in Nigeria Maritime Domain at the University of Ibadan recently.
that the ministry has been executing building projects to meet the housing needs of the people and also to generate revenue for government. “We expect that as soon as the 150 buildings are completed, the civil servants in the state will buy them. “We have been able to record success in this area due to the support we receive from the architects who designed our buildings. “They have helped us to come up with effective and affordable projects in the state,’’ he said. He said that the housing estate located along IbusaAsaba road comprised 51 bedroom flats, 52 bedroom flats and 53 bedroom flats.
Expert Warns Against Consumption Of Cattle With Nodules UYO - A veterinary doctor in Akwa Ibom State, Udo Obot, has warned against the consumption of cattle with nodules on their skins, saying it was dangerous to human health. Obot, the Director of Veterinary Services, Ministry of Agriculture in the state, gave the warning in an interview with newsmen in Uyo on Sunday. He said that cattle with rashes contained bacteria that could cause tuberculosis and should not be slaughtered for consumption.
He advised veterinary doctors and other officers in charge of abattoirs in the state to be very vigilant and ensure that such cattle were detected and isolated. He said: “People should be very careful. Once you see rashes on the meat you want buy, call the attention of the veterinary officer. “Cattle with tuberculosis nodules are not good for human consumption; it is very difficult to kill the
bacteria by boiling. Such meat needs to be discarded. “So, I would advise that people should buy plain meat without rashes. They should consider the colour of the meet and ensure it is jelly-red and not dark-red. Obot observed that some people ignorantly bought live cattle that they would not slaughter in abattoir for ceremonies. He appealed to the people to always submit such cattle
for inspection before killing them for consumption to avoid diseases. The director, nonetheless, expressed concern about the inadequate number of veterinary doctors in the state, appealing to the state government to employ more. He also advised candidates seeking admission into universities to enroll for veterinary medicine, because of its importance to society and its viability as a profession.
According to the commissioner, the average cost of one unit of the buildings is N2.8 million. He noted that the present administration in the state was determined to complete all ongoing housing projects before the expiration of its tenure in May, 2015. He said that the ministry had completed the Delta Towers, Abuja and Government’s Lodge in Lagos, adding that the projects would also generate revenue for the state government. He further recalled that the present administration had completed the new state secretariat project housing five ministries.
ABUJA - The National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has shifted the party‘s presidential primaries from December. 6 to December. 10. This is contained in a statement issued by Alhaji Abubakar Mustapha, National Organising Secretary of the party, on Saturday in Abuja. “In exercise of its powers under Section 29 (2) (a) and (b) of the 2012 constitution of our party as amended, the NWC has approved the review of timetable for the conduct of congresses and primaries,’’ the statement said. This, it said, was preparatory to the 2015 general elections, adding that the new time-table superseded the earlier one. According to the statement, return of presidential nomination and expression of interest forms would close on November. 15, while screening and appeals would be on December. 26 and the National Convention, December. 10. Return of governorship forms by aspirants, according to the new time-table, will now end on November. 14, while screening and appeals would be between November. 22 and 25. The statement said that governorship primaries would now be held on December. 8. According to it, return of forms for House of Assembly will end on November. 14, while primaries and appeal will hold on November. 29 and Nov. 30 respectively. Primaries and appeal for senatorial aspirants would hold on December. 7 and December. 8 respectively the statement added. The statement stated that the Independent National Electoral
Army Releases 125 Boko Haram Suspects MAIDUGURI - The 7 Division of the Nigerian Army, Maiduguri, Weekend handed over another 125 suspected Boko Haram insurgents to the Borno Government after they had been cleared of belonging to the sect. Col. Sani Usman, the spokesman of the division, handed over the suspects to Governor. Kashim Shettima at the Government House in Maiduguri. Usman said that the suspects were arrested in Biu, headquarters of Biu Local Government Area of
Borno, on September 23. “ F o l l o w i n g bombardment on suspected insurgents hide out in September, some of the insurgents decided to flee to other parts of the country to either cause havoc or hide themselves. “The military intercepted them and 254 suspects were arrested in some trucks in Biu. “Out of those arrested, 125 were found to be clean after investigation.” He said that the military decided to free them after realising that they were innocent. “ We decided to hand
THE NIGERIAN
7
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10 2014
Lagos Fashola Blames Unstable Power On FG
Insecurity
Solution Rests In Families
By RAHEEM IBRAHIM
- Cleric
LAGOS - Families can salvage the country from the current security challenges if their foundation is rooted in God, a Catholic cleric has said. The cleric, Rev. Fr. Joseph Nwanua, made the assertion during the closing ceremony of activities to mark “The Year of the Family” at Saints Joachim and Anne Catholic Church, Ijegun, Ikotun, Lagos. Nwanua said that the one week spiritual exercise was centred on the family as a unit that could make or mar the society. “The family is a very important unit of a society, it is a domestic church that produces a moral or criminal society,” he said. Nwanua consequently advised parents to bring up their children in the fear of the Lord and teach them good manners, ethics and moral home training. In a message on the topic: ”The Family Being a Witness of God’’, Rev. Fr. Paul Amenaghawon said the society is a reflection of the family. Amenaghawon said that if the family was not built on love, the society would be full of hatred and crime. “If the family is divided, it will reflect on the society,” he said. The Coordinator, Family and Human Life, Ijegun, Mr Chika Nwaenyi, advised parents to rise up to their responsibilities as role models. A widow, Mrs Ekaete Nduese, said the training of children was important to nation building. “If you train a child, you train a nation. We must bring up our children in the right way because the world is full of crimes,” she told newsmen.
L-R: Former Head of State, Chief Ernest Shonekan, Director-General, Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), Mr. Frank Nweke Jnr; Board Member, NESG, Mrs. Funke Oshiobodu; First Vice Chairman, NESG, Mr. Dick Kramer and Chairman, Mr. Pascal Dozie, at the formal Inauguration of NESG House in Lagos recently.
IEDPU Launches Ultra Modern Secretariat By RAHEEM IBRAHIM
LAGOS - In its efforts to effectively take care of the welfare of indigenes of Ilorin Emirate residing in all Western States of Nigeria, the Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union (IEDPU), Western Zone has concluded plan to launch N50million ultra modern Secretariat in Lagos. The event will also be used to appreciate and award the Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatai Ahmed, including distinguished sons and daughters of the Emirate for their meaningful contributions to the development of the emirate and the state in general. The launching which is expected to take place at Glover Memorial Hall, Custom Street, off Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) will be graced by eminent and distinguished sons and daughters of the Emirate. Among the dignitaries that are
expected to grace the occasion, apart from Governor Ahmed who will be the special guest of honour at the occasion, is the former governor of the state and now a distinguished senator at the Federal Assembly, Senator (Alhaji) Abubakar Bukola Saraki popularly known as ‘leader’ who is going to receive award of excellence, will also be the chief launcher. Also, His Royal Majesty, Oba Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, the Emir of Ilorin is expected to be the royal father of the day while Alhaji Umoru Saro, a business tycoon is going to be the father of the day. The Vice President, Commonwealth Association of Architects, responsible for Africa and Chairman, National Building Code Advisory Committee in Nigeria, Arc Muhammed Jamiu Faworaja is going to be the chairman of the occasion. The National President of IEDPU, Alhaji Ahmed Hadi, his executive members and other
Dignitaris at the launch of “Don’t Play Doctor” with Malaria Campaign in Abuja recently.
eminent sons and daughters of the emirate in business and frontline politicians were to be Guest of Honours at the occasion, while Alhaji Dauda Aduamigba, the chairman,
IEDPU, Western Zone is going to play the Chief Host. The Guest Lecturer of the day is going to be Alhaji Sheikh Sulaimon Farouq Onikijipa
LAGOS - An Oncologist, Dr Omolola Salako, has attributed lack of access to cancer care, inadequate radiotherapy facilities and misdiagnosis as reasons for the poor record of cancer survivors in Nigeria. Salako, who is also the Founder, Sebeccly Cancer Care, an NGO, spoke in Lagos at an awareness campaign on breast cancer. She said that the country did not have a good record of survivors because of many barriers such as inadequate access to cancer care, as many patients have to travel far to access care. “Also, the radiotherapy
facilities available may be faulty and not working or a diagnosis cannot be made. “These are the things that cause delay in the detection and treatment of the disease, “ she said. The oncologist said that there was the need to carry out more awareness campaign to encourage more women to regularly undergo screening for breast and cervical cancer. According to her, early detection of the disease is key to survival. “We need to educate more people on the need to detect cancer early so that we can have more survivers breast cancer in Nigeria. “We want women to do self examination once in a month and women above 40 years old should have a mammogram once in a year,’’ Salako said. Also speaking, the Project Coordinator of the campaign, Mrs Omotigho Ozor, said that men have a major role to play in ensuring that women do their checks and also support them to undergo treatment “The men are very important in supporting their wives, sisters, mothers and encouraging them to go for treatment. “Sometimes, men have the dilemma of allowing their wives to go for treatment. “Such men should not be selfish, but support the women in order for the women to be stable emotionally,’’ she said.
Inadequate Facilities Contribute To Low Cancer Survival - Oncologist
LAGOS - The Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola says the President Goodluck Jonathan-led Federal Government has no excuse for failing to provide electricity for Nigerians, calling for votes against the government. The governor spoke while commissioning the 8.8MW Independent Power Project, IPP, recently, saying it was despicable that the Jonathan government had failed to deliver on its promise to provide the nation with electricity, which he said was not difficult to achieve. According to him, “There is danger that very soon, we will miss the lesson we have learnt over the years. This is because if a government makes a public commitment, the government must fulfil that promise. Electricity was not discovered yesterday, it is over 100 years old and no excuses will be acceptable from the federal government for not providing electricity”. “We are the only nation that has oil and gas and no electricity to its citizens. Angola and Gabon don’t have the kind of oil we have. There are many countries that do not produce oil and they enjoy electricity. Very soon we will make a choice on the next set of leaders and this will be done through the ballot papers,” he said. Fashola stated that “when we made a promise that we will deliver IPP before the end of this year, we delivered it. We have no excuse to say that we can’t deliver. If the National Assembly wakes up tomorrow and said that states should generate electricity, Lagos will do it comfortably. Let no one tell us that there is no gas, there is gas overseas.” The governor said very soon, elections would come, warning Lagosians not to cast their votes for people who could not deliver on their promises, adding that electricity has no tribe or religion, but just development. The governor stated that the Mainland IPP was a collaborative effort between the Ministries of Works and Infrastructure and Energy, stressing that people in these ministries were both Muslims and Christians. “Do not let anyone deceive you that this candidate or that candidate is not a Muslim or Christian, don’t vote for him. Religion will not bring electricity or food. Only good men and women will do so,” he said. The governor also stressed the need for energy conservation, saying that people must be ready to pay for the electricity they consumed. Also on the coming election, Fashola stated that whatever choice is made by the people during the poll would have its consequences, stressing that providing power for the populace should not take more than four years.
THE NIGERIAN
8
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014
Across The Nation
Borno To Reopen Public Schools Nov 17
MAIDUGURI - The Borno Government has said that it would reopen all public schools on November 17 which were closed down early in the year due to security concern. It would be recalled that the schools were shut on March 14, after deadly attacks by the Boko Haram on schools in neighboring Yobe.
Dr Mohammed Dongel, the chairman of the 19-man committee on the resuscitation of primary school education in the state, told newsmen in Maiduguri that measures to safeguard the schools had been adopted. He also said the government had taken extra measures to encourage pupils to return and
ensure friendly atmosphere for teaching and learning. “All things being equal, public schools will reopen for classes on November 17. “Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno has already approved the procurement of chemicals for the fumigation of the schools against reptiles and other
rodents ahead of the reopening,” he said. Dongel, however, said only primary schools would be reopened, while secondary schools would remain closed until the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) taking refuge in the schools were relocated. “We plan to reopen public
secondary schools soon after the primary schools. “We are working on plans to relocate the IDPs to two placesthe Hajj Camp and the International Conference Centre, Maiduguri, so that the schools will be reopened for classes,’’ he said. According to him, the committee has introduced incentives to ensure that students return to school. “You will agree with me that most parents have been traumatised by insurgents’ attacks on schools.
‘Students have also been scared due to incessant attacks on schools, so we need to introduce measures for the purpose of encouraging schools’ enrollment and retention.” He said that some of the measures include the provision of free uniforms and feeding to all students in public schools. “Government has also introduced free daily-meals in all public schools to entice students to stay,” he said, adding that modern instructional materials have been procured to ease teaching and learning.
House of Representatives, has said that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) could not determine his fate as Speaker of the House. The Speaker told newsmen on the sideline of the All Progressives Congress (APC) North-West Zonal Executive meeting in Kaduna. According to him, only God and members of the House of Representatives can decide his fate. Tambuwal, who came to the
meeting without his security details, was surrounded by party members and associates. Earlier, the APC ViceNational Chairman, NorthWest, Mr Inuwa Abdulkadir, had told the gathering that the meeting was to address topical issues bothering the party in particular and the nation in general. He said “issued that will bring about national harmony and promote national development among others are what we are here to discuss.’’ Abdulkadir said APC is waxing stronger by the day, based on the calibre of people who continue to join the party, among them Tambuwal. He described the development as a sign that the party was the only political platform that could bring about the change Nigerians desired.
PDP Cannot Decide My Fate KADUNA - Alhaji Aminu - Tambuwal Tambuwal, the Speaker of the
L-R: Minister of State for Power, Mohammed Wakil, Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo; Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Sen. Anyim Pius Anyim; Permanent Secretary, Minister of Power, Amb. Godknows Igali and Minister of Youth Development, Mr. Boni Haruna at the launch of the National Power Sector Apprehenship Scheme in Abuja recently.
Zakkat Commission Disburses N2.3m To Imams KANO - The Kano State Zakkat and Endowment Commission has disbursed N2.3 million as Zakkat (alms) to 235 Imams in the state. The Director-General of the commission, Alhaji Sufiyanu Gwagwarwa, made the disclosure during a special prayer session conducted for the sustenance of peace in the state and the country in Kano. The session was organised by the board of the commission to seek God’s intervention to the
Imbibe Internal Democracy, Aspirant Advices Parties JALINGO - Sen. Aisha Alhassan, an All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant in Taraba has advised the party to imbibe internal democracy ahead of the 2015 general elections and beyond. Alhassan gave the advice in Jalingo while submitting her nomination form to the leadership of the party. According to her, the party must trail the path of justice by being fair to all its members. “APC is a great party made up of people with track records of excellence. There is no question about that. “However, the success we have so far achieved can only be sustained if the party provides level playing field to all aspirants, irrespective of their cultural and religious affiliations. “Whoever the people decide
current security challenges bedevilling some parts of the country. He said each of the beneficiaries was given N10,000, pointing out that the money was from the amount collected as Zakkat from wealthy Muslims in Kano State. According to him, the commission has selected 1,000 Imams who will benefit from the largesse this year. He urged the Imams to continue to pray for peace, unity and development of the country. He said “there is need for constant prayers for peace in this country, in view of the incessant killing of innocent citizens by insurgents.’’
Kebbi Approves Recruitment Of 4,000 Teachers
Participants at the National Power Sector Apprentiship Scheme (NAPSAS) during the launch in Abuja recently.
FG To Spend $495m Credit On Irrigation
ABUJA - The Federal Government has approved the use of the $495 million (about N77 billion) credit it secured from the International Development Association (IDA) to boost irrigation nationwide. The Minister of State for Finance, Alhaji Bashir Yuguda, stated this when he briefed State House correspondents after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, presided over by Vice-President Namadi Sambo. According to him, the facility is to augment what the Federal Government is doing to improve irrigation throughout
the year. “The first memo is on the approval of an International Development Association’s credit of $495 million for the proposed irrigation management. “The idea about this facility is to upscale what the Federal Government is doing in improving the irrigation system so that we will have year-inyear-out farming season in the country. “Part of the fund under this IDA credit is to upscale the cultivation of the irrigable land
in the country. “Currently, we have an estimated 2.2 million hectares of potentially irrigable land in the country out of which about one million hectares are situated in the Northern parts,“ he said. Yuguda said the facility, to be managed by the Ministry of Water Resources, had four components. He said that out of the sum, $81 million would be spent on Water Resource Management and Dam Operation Improvement just as $294
million would be used for Irrigation Development and Management. He said that while $38 million would be used to enhance agricultural productivity and support the value chain development, $30 million would be spent on governance and institutional framework. According to him, $52 million will be set aside as contingency funds. Commenting on the IDA credit, the Minister of Water Resources, Mrs Sarah Ochekpe, said the loan would be used to upscale the cultivation of the irrigable land in the country. Ochekpe added that part of
BIRNIN KEBBI - The Kebbi State Executive Council has approved the recruitment of 4,000 teachers to be deployed to secondary schools in the state. The approval is contained in a statement signed by Alhaji Abubakar Mu’azu, the Press Secretary to the governor on Saturday in Birnin Kebbi. Mu’azu said the Council had directed the Civil Service Commission to release employment letters to newly employed teachers. The Council, he added, had also directed immediate biometric capturing of the teachers to enable them to receive their salaries immediately. It would be recalled that 20,000 teachers applied for employment in the state in 2012 and 8,000 were considered for training at the state-owned University of Science and Technology. However, 4,000 were employed out of the 8,000 considered for the training.
THE NIGERIAN
9
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10 2014
Abuja Military Rule No Longer Acceptable
2015: ‘My Guber Ambition ABUJA - A Peoples Is Divine’ Democratic Party (PDP)
-Nigerian Envoy
OUAGADOUGOU - The Nigerian Ambassador to Burkina Faso, Mr. David Bala has said that the political crisis in that country was a proof that military rule was no longer acceptable in Africa. Bala stated this in an interview with newsmen on the side line of talks in Ouagadougou, the country’s capital aimed at a speedy resolution of the crisis. The talks were led by President John Mahama of Ghana, joined by Presidents Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria and Macky Sall of Senegal. The three leaders are members of a mediation team raised by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on the crisis. Bala also noted that the popular revolt that forced former President Blaise Campaore to resign on Friday was a warning to African leaders not to underestimate the power of the people. “The lesson here is that we should not underestimate the power of the people because what happened in Burkina Faso took even the opposition by surprise. “Nobody was fully prepared that the president was going almost immediately. “The whole idea was to stop him from amending the constitution which would have allowed him to stand for election again next year.
Minister of Niger Delta, Dr. Stephen Oru (2nd right) and the Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Fatima Bamidele (right), presenting a car key and it’s documents to the outgoing Minister of Niger Delta, Mr. Durius Ishaku and his wife, Ann, during the Sent Forth Dinner in Abuja recently.
FG To Address Military Pension
ABUJA - The Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi OkonjoIweala, has set up a working group to harmonise positions on the payment of pensions to retired military personnel in the country. This is contained in a statement by the Special Adviser to the Minister, Mr. Paul Nwabuikwu in Abuja. The statement said the group was made up of a high-level team from the Federal Ministry of Finance and representatives of military pensioners. It said the group would be chaired by the Director General, Budget Office, Dr Bright Okogu,
and would include the Chairman Military Pension Board and representatives of the military pensioners. Others according to the statement are the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission as well as staff of the Federal Ministry of Finance. It said the move was the outcome of a meeting between a team from the ministry led by Okonjo-Iweala and military pensioners. The pensioners had gathered at the ministry earlier to protest against delays in the payment of their pension arrears.
Nasko Joins Niger Guber Race
ABUJA - Alhaji Umar Nasko, immediate past Chief of Staff to Niger State Governor, said that the state could not be neglected because it had a lot to contribute to the country’s development. Nasko, who is aspiring to be the state’s next governor in 2015, said this while addressing newsmen in Abuja. He spoke at the PDP National Secretariat after submitting his nomination and expression of interest forms to contest the state’s governorship election in 2015. “We believe that Niger State has a lot to contribute towards the development and growth of this country, especially in terms of unity and security,’’ he said. He added that if elected, he would build on the legacies of the state’s current government to drive it to the next level of development. “I have been in class, learnt from a legendary teacher in the person of Dr Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, I have sat in front roll and I believe I have been a very good student. “I have come out top of my class and I believe I am ready and I believe I have the blessing of my teacher to ensure that I carry out this assignment,’’ he said. The aspirant said the vision of the state was to be one of the top three best economies in the country by the year 2020. According to him, the foundation to achieve the vision has been laid by the state’s
governorship aspirant for Delta, Dr Ngozi Elejeme, has said that interest in running for the state’s 2015 governorship race is “backed by God’’. Elejeme, who said this while speaking with newsmen in Abuja, said her mandate was to ensure better living standards for the people of the state. She spoke after submitting her nomination and expression of interest forms to contest the Delta governorship election in 2015. Elejeme, who is the immediate past Director-General of the Nigeria Social Insurance Truth Fund (NSITF), resigned her position recently to contest the election. “This mission is God‘s mission; I didn’t opt to become
current administration based on accountability, transparency and participatory democracy. “We are going to build on this and we hope that by the year 2020, we will achieve our vision; we have a long way to go but we have made remarkable achievements,’’ he said. He added that if elected, he would give priority to security of the state, to ensure that acts
of insurgencies were not experienced. “We have been able to contain threats of insurgents in Niger State and I make bold to say that Niger State is one of the most peaceful states in Nigeria today. “I have been part of whatever was done to ensure that peace was achieved. I assure that I will build on this to ensure the best security in the state. This is one of my top priorities,’’ Nasko said.
The statement said that military pensions were increased by 33 per cent but that pensioners wanted 53 per cent arrears. “The pensioners who acknowledged that they have been receiving a 33 per cent increase on their pensions since August 2013 demanded that the increase should be 53 per cent.’’ They argued that the 53 per cent increase would put them on the same footing with their colleagues who were in active service. “Dr Okonjo-Iweala had delayed her attendance at the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting to engage the pensioners in an honest discussion. “The government team included the Permanent Secretary of the Finance Ministry, the DG Budget and the Chair of the Military Pensions Board,” the statement said. The statement said the minister told the pensioners that the implementation of the 53 per cent increase in public sector wages in 2010, left government with a very high recurrent budget. This, according to the statement poses a significant
funding challenge for the government. “The ministry, with the support of President Goodluck Jonathan, has been working hard to address the challenges.’’ It noted that soldiers who served the nation deserve the greatest honour and consideration. “It was because of this that the Federal Government has implemented a 33 per cent increase in military pensions since August 2013 following a recommendation of a government committee,” it said. The statement said the minister gave assurance that the pension arrears would be paid and proposed that the payment would be in trenches. “Her proposal for the establishment of the working group to discuss and agree on the level of the arrears as well as the schedule of payment was accepted by the pensioners. “The pensioners nominated representatives to join the group. “The representatives of the military pensioners later thanked the minister for giving them accurate information and giving them a listening ear,” it said.
R-L: Political Associate to Mr. Darius Ishaku, Mr. Fred Jankada, Permanent Secretary, Minister of Niger Delta, Mrs. Fatima Bamidele, Minister of Niger Delta, Dr. Stephen Oru and outgoing Minister of State, Mr. Darius Ishaku, during the Sent Forth Dinner for the outgoing Minister in Abuja recently.
governor; God mandated me that he wants me to go and do that great job He used me to do in NSITF. “If God gave me a moribund organisation (NSITF) and within a space of two years, God turned around the organisation to the envy of all, then God will do wonders in Delta through me,’’ she said. She said that her strength had always been God and would enable her to positively transform the state. Elejeme, the only female among the 20 aspirants in the governorship race, stressed that she did not join the race for material gains, but “ to do the will of God’’. “I would, however, agree that the governorship position had been zoned to Delta North and in that zone, I am the aspirant to beat,’’ she said. She stated that she was not intimidated by the array of male aspirants in the race, adding that she had what it would take to emerge as Delta‘s next governor in 2015 “The men are intimidated by me; in fact they are so jittery and afraid, but I always tell them that they are my brothers and at the end of the day, they will support me. “But as it stands today in Delta, I am the number one aspirant; the one people will beat.” Another PDP Delta governorship aspirant, Amb. Chukuwma Oyibode, who also claimed to have been inspired by divine intervention, promised to renew the state‘s infrastructure if elected.”
Man Charged For Cheating ABUJA - The police have arraigned a 33-year-old man, Eniola Gabriel, of Angwa Sarki Orozo, Abuja, in an Area 1 Court, Kado, Abuja, charged with cheating and intimidation. The prosecutor, Insp. Friday Idi, told the court that one Mrs. Okolo Efioma of 47 Ajose Adegun Street, Utako, Abuja, reported the matter at Utako Police Station on October. 29. Idi said that the accused went to Efioma’s restaurant and demanded for food and drinks, valued at N700. He said that after eating, the accused refused to pay and intimidated the complainant with a knife when she requested for her money. The prosecutor said the offences contravened sections 322 and 397 of the Penal Code. However, the accused pleaded not guilty to the charges and the Presiding Judge, Mr. Abubakar Sadiq, granted him bail in the sum of N20,000 with one surety in like sum. Sadiq said the surety must be living within the court’s jurisdiction and adjourned the case until Nov. 17 for further hearing.
THE NIGERIAN
10
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014
Business + Economy
FCTA Mulls Modified Park, Pay System
ABUJA - The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) says it has concluded arrangement to reintroduce a modified ‘’Park and Pay System’’ that will ensure sanity amongst motorists in the FCT. Mr Ifenayi Ughamadu, the Head, Public Relations, Department of the Transport Secretariat, FCTA, told newsmen in Abuja that motorists would, under the new arrangement, enjoy adequate protection. “We had our park and pay system before, and the court suspended our park and pay. “So we have done the needed legal work, submitted to the appropriate quarters . “Very soon, our park and pay system will come up once the legal framework is finished. “ The programme was supposed to transform the transportation sector in the FCT but was badly managed. “ So, we are coming up with
a law that will protect the motorists, the operators and bring sanity to vehicular parking in the city. “When the park and pay will come back again, we are going to have a different, wonderful park and pay operation. “All those mistakes, complaints from the pedestrians were taken care of in the new law that will back the reintroduction of the park and pay system in the FCT.’’ It would be recalled that on April 14, an FCT High Court in Apo, Abuja, declared the“ park and pay system” illegal as there was no enabling law backing the system and it was subsequently stopped. On the ban on motorcycles and tricycles, also known as “Okada’’ and “Keke NAPEP ‘’ within the city centre, Ughamadu said that the new law would also strengthen the ban. He described “okada” and “keke” activities as a menace
Increase Budgetary Allocation To Infrastructure Devt -WFEO ABUJA - The World Federation of Engineering Organisations (WFEO) has urged the Federal Government to increase budgetary allocation to infrastructure development and intensify partnership with private investors to address infrastructure deficit. The President of WFEO, Mr. Marwan Abdelhamid, made the call in an interview with newsmen in Abuja. Abdelhamid said an upward review of the budgetary allocation for infrastructure development would encourage increased private sector participation in the sector. He added that “the private sector is crucially important to this country. “Federal Government should first allocate money for the development of infrastructure, then partner with the private sector. “But if money was not allocated to infrastructure development from the budget, the private sector would not be interested in partnering with government to get projects done.’’ He, however, commended the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE) for its contribution to the growth of professional engineering practice in Africa and at the global level. The WFEO boss, who described Nigerian engineers as skillful and dynamic, said government should engage them in the drive for development of sustainable infrastructure. He said “Nigerian
in the FCT, saying that frequent seizure of the vehicles has not deterred the operators. Ughamadu explained that there was outright ban on ‘’okada and keke’’ only within the central business district and environs. “ If you go out you will see the number of motorcycles being carried in pickup vans and taken to VIO office.
“But despite all the harsh treatment given to them, the operators are still adamant. “But commercial motorcyclists operate in certain areas of Abuja, particularly in the suburbs, so we don’t know why they cannot restrict their operations. Way we banned commercial motorcycling in the city is the way we banned operations of
keke NAPEP. “Keke NAPEP is not supposed to operate in the city, the operators are only allowed to do business in the satellite towns, suburbs and
outskirts and within large estates. “ We would not relent, we would continue to do our work until the city is cleared of this illegality.’’
ABUJA - The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Olusegun
Aganga has said in Abuja that the ministry was focused on implementing Nigeria’s Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP). Aganga stated this at a Public Affairs forum organised by the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs. He described NIRP as the nation’s first comprehensive integrated and strategic road map to industrialisation. Aganga said no country could achieve any meaningful economic growth without a blueprint on its industrial development and growth. The minister said President Goodluck Jonathan administration was committed to bolstering the nation’s economy by providing an environment conducive to industrialisation. It would be recalled that inaugurating NIRP in Abuja in February, Jonathan said: “The NIRP is the flagship industrialisation programme ever embarked upon by this country. “It will fast-track industrialisation, accelerate inclusive economic growth, job creation, transform Nigeria’s business environment and stop the drain on our foreign reserves caused by importing what we can produce locally. “It will help to build our industrial skills, improve our investment climate, raise our product standards, link innovation to industry and ensure local patronage of made-in-Nigeria goods.’’
FG Focused On Industrial Revolution -Minister
Internal Displaced Person looking worried as pots behind her seems empty at the Internally Displaced Persons camp in Riyom Local Government Council of plateau.
engineers have the know-how to develop the infrastructure in the country. “We have had some engineers from Nigeria as vice-presidents of WFEO for a long time. They are very dynamic and cooperate with other nations to expand global practices. “The Federal Government should help and support the efforts of Nigerian Society of Engineers to make African engineers play active role in the world of professional engineering.’’ He reiterated the world engineering body’s commitment to help Nigeria and Africa to deliver Children of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) queue for enrollment into primary sustainable infrastructure. school at Damare Camp, in Yola recently.
NSE Launches CGRS By RAHEEM IBRAHIM
LAGOS -The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) with the Convention on Business Integrity (CBI) has launched the foremost Corporate Governance Rating System (CGRS) in Nigeria. The Corporate Governance Rating System (CGRS) is designed to rate companies listed on The Nigerian Stock Exchange based on their corporate governance and anti-corruption culture, thereby improving the overall perception of and trust in Nigeria’s capital markets and business practices. Speaking at the event, the CEO of the NSE, Mr. Oscar N. Onyema, OON, states that
“with this Corporate Governance Rating System, it is anticipated that there would be an improvement in the overall perception of capital markets and business practices. It is expected that companies will enjoy tangible business advantages from risk-oriented and/or ethically sensitive business partners and investors. In addition, competitors would be challenged to establish the same level of good governance by setting standards of excellence. Companies would not only set themselves apart from their peers, but also contribute to improving the climate for doing business in Nigeria” In his presentation, the Executive Director of CBi,
Mr. Soji Apampa shared the design & pilot phase of the Corporate Governance Rating System which was done between May 2013 and September 2014. “The rating system is based on a holistic multi-stakeholder approach that uses a diverse information collection and verification approach, which relies not only on selfassessments of companies but also on experiences of stakeholders and experts. It is envisioned to be more transparent on rating procedures and rating governance than other Corporate Governance indices”, Apampa said. The HUMBOLDTVIADRINA School of Governance (Berlin/
Germany) was appointed as the International Observer to review and support the process of establishing Nigeria’s Corporate Governance. The CGRS launch event attracted over 500 corporate sector participants joined by government and civil society delegates from Nigeria and across the globe. A series of high-level discussions around the theme, “Better for Business”, provided participants with unique insights into issues of leadership and corporate governance within the Nigerian context. It also highlighted the CGRS framework which has been designed to evaluate companies based on the
quality of corporate integrity; corporate compliance; understanding of fiduciary responsibilities by directors and corporate reputation. The panel discussion moderated by the CEO Resources & Trust, Mr. Opeyemi Agbaje, was made up of corporate governance experts who spoke on the trends and best practises. Panelists include Mr. Andreas Grimminger, PGS Advisors International; Michael Lakota, Managing Director/ CEO, Siemens Nigeria Ltd; Mr. Jermyn Brooks Director, Transparency International and Mrs. Osaretin OdaroOyewumi, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, CLB-SAGE.
THE NIGERIAN
11
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10 2014
Media
Role Of Mass Media In Enlightening Society THE mass media plays a large role in modern society. Indeed, many have argued that people spend more time watching television than in actual human interaction. The film industry is a billion dollar a year enterprise and most individuals tune in daily to their favorite radio station. With all this power, one would think that the mass media would be in an excellent position to initiate social change, positively affect social problems, and help combat social ills that are considered deviant. However, the mass media has largely failed in addressing social problems and if anything, has contributed to the problems that exist in this society. As seen through its presentation of the three major variables of race, class, and gender, the mass media has actually contributed to the social problems it covers, reinforcing them and the various stereotypes that exist, creating a vicious cycle in which these problems continue. Television has become perhaps the primary vehicle that society receives its information and presents its values and expectations. One of the most important roles television plays is its presentation of news and information. What a station chooses to present as newsworthy can play a strong role in how people view their society and the world around them. Often, television news sources have a tendency to only broadcast negative images of minorities. On a nightly basis, individuals are bombarded with stories of minorities engaging in robberies, murders, and rapes, as if minorities are the only ones who monopolize these types of crimes. Very rare are the stories of the inner-city minority male youth who is a scholar or the young mother, who in spite of the odds stacked up against her, graduates from college. In this way, the television media plays a strong role in formulating racial problems. With the
constant display of these negative images, two problems quickly emerge. First, these minority groups become subject to stereotypes as the images presented become fixed mental images and are exaggerated and applied to the group as a whole. Whites, who are the dominant culture, watching the news, learn that minority groups are
less intelligent, more violent, and generally less human. Additionally, the minority groups themselves can develop reactions that are turned inward and create a sense of hopelessness, despair, and self doubt that can lead into even more sociological problems in the form of alcoholism, drug abuse, aggression, and crime. Thus, the images presented by television news help contribute to this vicious, self-reinforcing, cycle and offers little, if any solutions for the problem of racism. Closely linked, to race becomes issues of class. Since the lifestyles of poor, inner-city minorities are portrayed and viewed negatively; a flight of capital and economic activity develops in conjunction with the stereotypes. Those with capital avoid neighborhoods seen as
violent or dangerous, and money is not spent or invested in these communities. Once this happens, minorities become trapped in an economic isolation that is devastating. Jobs quickly disappear, and welfare
diversity of women’s lives and their contributions to society. The advertisement industry, which is a billion dollar a year enterprise, often emphasizes sexuality and the importance of physical attractiveness in an
neighborhoods. As a result, the print media has created an environment of great concern about gangs and gang crime in the inner city. The gang problem becomes a constructed image with great power in public discourse. The fight against gangs can be used to initiate social control even in areas where gangs are not a significant issue. Ironically,
reforms are doomed to failure without hope of potential employment. Once the welfare system fails, the United States will further divide into two societies: one multiracial and reasonably prosperous; the other, disadvantaged and often dark skinned, living in semi permanent poverty. As inner city minority neighborhoods become increasingly poor, there will be more sensational, negative stories of minorities while at the same time, ignoring other methods to present the problems of the inner city and offer feasible solutions. In regards to gender, although the television news media has been much more successful in promoting gender equality as a whole, the mass media does not provide a balanced picture of the
attempt to sell products, and this places undue pressure on women to focus on their appearance. These same advertisers use television as its main tool to send information to the public. Because of this obvious bias in advertisement, diseases such as bulimia and anorexia afflict millions of women and young girls, who are often made to feel insecure because of the constant stream of images of picture perfect women. Print media is another important vehicle in which social problems are developed. As in television media, there can be a large discrepancy in the types of coverage paid to issues of race, class, and gender. Newspapers, when formulating their reports and coverage, have a tendency to focus heavily on the problems of gangs in inner city minority
conformist juveniles are those most often affected by such control strategies, which take the form of curfews, dress codes, and rules of participation. Thus, the symbolic power of the gang metaphor lies in its successful application in settings where the gangs are relatively unimportant or inconsequential. Whether it is used to justify or forbid a particular style of dress, defend skateboarding, or enhance politicians prospects on election day, the gang metaphor is a powerful tool for conjuring up an image that can be exploited by a host of social actors in the quest for power and the negotiation of social influence. Thus, print media can actually construct a social problem and portray it is more prevalent then reality
By JENNIFER KELUBIA
would actually suggest. Print media also has great influence in class issues. By selecting ways in which to present a story on a labor strike, the print media can help influence the success of one class over another, and how these classes are perceived. Additionally, as described previously in relation to television news media, and linked to the issue of race is that media can further the economic difficulty of urban areas based on their coverage. Finally, print media can also reinforce and influence negative gender patterns and constructions through their coverage. The mass media is important in examining social problems, both how they are born and how they persist. The media, through the selection of its coverage and the issues it chooses to present, is extremely powerful force in this society. Race, gender, and class are closely related as stereotypes perpetuated by the mass media about any of these three factors often leads directly to social problems in the other factors as well. The three are also closely linked in helping to explain why media operates in the ways that it does. The media may present information in the manner it does in order to perpetuate the social institutions and behaviors that have been functional for its existence up the present time. When this occurs, this society will move closer to curing ills a the social variables that the current mass media in large part contributes to. The mass media has acted to perpetuate the social problems it covers. The mass media must be considered to be a large part of the problem in areas of race, class, and gender. In order to combat this situation, the mass media must formulate a new plan that makes itself more open to different perspectives and that will also challenge traditional models of race and class and gender.
THE NIGERIAN
12 THE United Nations Office in Nigeria recently put the figures of those directly affected by the Boko Haram insurgency at six million people in the three states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa in the north East of Nigeria. ON the strength of this number, the House of Representatives recently in a motion raised by Hon. Abdulrahman Taraba from Borno state asked the Federal Government to establish rehabilitation camps for the estimated six million internally displaced persons. WE are worried that the federal government’s approach to dealing with the issue of insurgency since it broke out five years ago has been most uninspiring. It is shockingly sad to note that it took the United Nations for Nigerians to be informed that over six million citizens have been displaced by the insurgents. Sadly too, in terms of reality, there is little effort at rehabilitating those affected. ALL Nigerians, particularly in the Northern part and the Federal Capital Territory, innocent and helpless citizens are being bombed in worship houses and other public places, several towns and villages had long been deserted, leaving the victims to roam about with no one to help them. ASIDE being the location of a large-scale Boko Haram abduction in April, Chibok and its neighbouring villages have recently been the target of the attacks. Only recently, gunmen murdered at least 44 people in Kwada and.Kautikari Villages, some 15km away from Chibok. The attacks have led to a mass exodus of villagers, who are citing constant threats to their lives. Leaders of the community revealed that the village is not only unsafe, it has been hit by famine. MORE worrisome is the obvious fact that the internally-displaced persons include women, children and the vulnerable who are lacking in basic healthcare, sanitation, clothing, food
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014 THE NIGERIAN
Insurancy And Refuges Issues and shelter. IT is shameful that despite the vulnerability Of people around these three states, there is no official camp to settle them, compelling them to squat in horrible and untold environments. This situation from various reports has made the victims vulnerable to various hazards such as snake bites, weather extremes and diseases such as cholera, diarrhrea, among others, more especially among women and children. FROM the foregoing, there is clear failure of relevant government agencies to perform their duties. The National Refugees Commission, National Emergency Management Agency and all such care giving institutions of government have abdicated their responsibilities to the victims even at a time when such services were most needed. THIS is why we align with the push of the House of Representatives for the urgent rehabilitation of all victims of insurgency, not only in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe but also in Kaduna, Taraba, Benue and even the Federal Capital Territory. WE call on the Federal Government to make adequate provision for the upkeep of the victims and placing them in transitional settlements. WE call on the National Border Commission and the National Refugee Commission swing into action immediately to build the camps for the displaced six million Nigerians. HOWEVER, the Federal Government should redouble its efforts to stem the tide of insurgency
and senseless bloodletting in the country. Nigeria has never witnessed the scale of near daily attacks, killing thousands of innocent citizens who know nothing about the reasons for the insurgents’ action. The heartless, cruel and inhuman slaughtering and butchery currently being unleashed in the north must be arrested. THE Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Kenneth Minimah has continued to assure that government would put an end to terrorism in Nigeria and has been sounding like a broken record lately. However, we urge the COAS and his counterparts in other armed forces and police to take urgent steps to route the insurgents out of the country and its borders. Mere lip service is not required at this time, but concerted effort. The fifth columnists within the armed forces in the war against terror should be identified, fished out and de well. The securities owe Nigerians a duty to free all kidnapper particularly, students of Government Secondary School, Chibok from the hands of the mindless terrorists to free their parents and loved ones from the agony heartaches. WE also, call on the country’s international friends helping to deal with terrorism to increase their assistance to the nation for quick results as Nigerians are daily looking out - with high hopes for major breakthroughs in the war against terror. THE judiciary on its part, should accelerate the trial of all terror suspects and ensure that all those found wanting are adequately punished for their acji6ns. We believe that dealing with the insurgents head-on remains a permanent solution/o the displacement of hapless citizens and time to do that is now.
THE NIGERIAN
13
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10 2014
Political Platform “Former President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo acknowledged fraud and other electoral lapses, but said the result reflected opinion polls. In a national Television address, he added that if Nigerians did not like the victory of his handpicked successors, they would have an opportunity to vote again in four years.”
Party Primaries And The Intrigues “POLITICAL parties are indispensable for making democracy work and deliver. Finding the proper conditions for better internal functioning and effective legal regulation of political parties is of key importance anywhere”. Parties have formal procedures for the election of their leaders, but these procedures are often disregarded. When they are adhered to the godfathers have means of determining the outcomes. The most important aspect of the parties internal functioning is that the regulatory framework of registration, functioning, conducts and finances of political parties, setting difficult conditions for the registration of political parties tend to give rise to a situation in which political “godfathers” play major roles in internal party politics. At the party congress, leaders are elected and candidates are nominated into elective positions. The elections however, are usually pre-determined and party bosses tend to have a final say in the selection of leaders. This process leads to the continual internal party crisis that the country has experienced over the
By FAMOUS IGUISI
years. Party bosses and godfathers are unwilling to allow internal party democracy, a circumstance that leads to frequent conflicts and constraints. Indeed, over the years, these party bosses have developed comprehensive techniques for eliminating popular aspirants from party posts and for preventing them from being nominated for elective positions. Nigerian parties have a wide range of techniques to eliminate people from party primaries, including the use of power by powerful “party owners”, party barons, state governors, godfathers and so on, zoning and other forms of administrative fiat, violence by thugs or security personnels, bribing of officials and voters to support particular candidates and simply disregard for the results, declaring the losers as the winners. It is true that most party funds however comes through party financiers and the details of these sums rarely enter the formal process of party accounts. Indeed, the role of money in contemporary Nigerian politics is so overwhelming that it tends to supersede other
considerations. Precisely, for this reason the country’s political parties provide only very limited opportunities for marginalised individuals – youths, the poor and women. The marginalisation of women from political power in Nigeria’s patriarchal political system dates back to the colonial era, and women were not allowed to vote in Northern Nigeria until 1976. ‘’This marginalization has continued into the fourth republic and of the 11,881 electable positions available during the 1999 elections. Only 631 women were in convention. Only 181 of them won (a mere 1.6 per cent of the title positions)’’. Following the political primaries for candidates in 2003 elections, it became evident that the elimination of women through a well
orchestrated process of manipulating the outcome, most primaries were virtually party policy across the board. Indeed, the primaries were a charade because most popular candidates – female or male were eliminated by party barons and replaced by other candidates who enjoyed the support of state and party executives. Party primaries in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) resemble coronations rather than political process. The party has dominated Nigeria’s politics for over a decade now since democracy came to the nation, as its operatives wield the political muscle necessary to manipulate the country’s unruly and corrupt electoral system. Former President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo acknowledged fraud and other electoral lapses, but said the result
reflected opinion polls. In a national Television address, he added that if Nigerians did not like the victory of his handpicked successors, they would have an opportunity to vote again in four years. In 2003, the PDP, after four years consolidated their hold on the Nigeria political scene. “Truck loads of money were shared by convention delegates”. Other tools of bribery and intimidation were employed to ensure that President Olusegun Obasanjo defeated Alex Ekwueme at the primaries, thus paving way for a second term. Today, Obasanjo is seen to be the first man in the history of this country to successfully serve two consecutive terms as president. let us hope that Nigeria will not see a repeat of the notoriously corrupt elections that have plagued the country since it became a democracy. Over the years, extremely excessive corruption continue to constitute major challenges to Nigeria as vote rigging and other means of coercion are practiced by all major parties in order to remain competitive. In 1983, it was adjudged by the policy institute at Kuru, Jos that only the 1959 and 1979 elections in Nigeria witnessed minimal rigging. Let our optimism be anchored on the belief that free and fair primaries be conducted in all the political parties in all elections, because the importance and consequences of conducting Kangaroo primaries is enormous as any attempt to
sacrifice free and fair primaries on the altar of some selfish or primordial interests will spell doom to any political party and that will do no one any good. This time around, as we enter another season of Party primaries to prepare successful candidates for February 2015 general elections, every party member must be mindful of what they do because almost all the political parties are founded on the principle of fairness and justice. Let them be mindful of what they do because if for reason of selfish interests we fail to get it right over and over, then Nigeria will be counted as a failed state. Let us ensure that a free and fair election is conducted that will produce credible leaders at all the tiers of government. There should be a level playing field where the wishes of the ordinary party member must count. For too long, Nigerian politicians have used the common people to get into office and quickly dump them. For this reason, Nigerians do not trust politicians to keep their promises. Therefore come election time, they use whatever means available to extract their share of the proverbial national cake from the politicians. Hence, votes are bought and sold by local political operatives. Let us hope that Nigeria will not see a repeat of the notoriously corrupt elections that have plagued the country since it became a democracy.
“For too long, Nigerian politicians have used the common people to get into office and quickly dump them. For this reason, Nigerians do not trust politicians to keep their promises.”
THE NIGERIAN
14
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014
Viewpoint THE study of world power has been blighted by Eurocentric historians who have distorted and ignored the dominant role China played in the world economy between 1100 and 1800. John Hobson’s brilliant historical survey of the world economy during this period provides an abundance of empirical data making the case for China’s economic and technological superiority over Western civilization for the better part of a millennium prior to its conquest and decline in the 19th century. The International Monetary Fund says China has overtaken the United States as the world’s largest economy in recent times. According to business insider report, the IMF estimates that the size of the US economy is $17.4tr, while Chinese economy comes in at $17.6tr. China’s share of the global economy is 16.28 percent, the IMF said this as part of its out look for the world economic growth. These figures are adjusted for the relative costs of living in both countries, known as “purchasing power parity.” As recent as 2005, the Chinese economy was less than half the size of US economy. Moreover, the IMF projects that China’s economy will be 20 percent bigger than that of the US by 2019. China remains the biggest foreign holder of US government debt, holding an estimated $1.27bn is US Treasury Bonds. The United States accuses China of lowering the price of the exports by manipulating its currency. Earlier this year, China and Russia agreed to a measure to undercut the domination of the US dollar as the international reserve currency by paying each other in domestic currencies. China’s re-emergency as a world economic power raises important questions about what we can learn from its previous rise and fall and about the external and internal threats confronting this emerging economic superpower for the immediate future. Under the arrangement we will endeavour to outline the main contours of historical China’s rise to global economic superiority over
Nigeria Can Learn From China’s Economic Growth By OMEIZA ROBINSON OFUJE
West before the 19th century, following closely John Hobson’s account in the Eastern Origins of Western Civilization. Since the majority of Western economic historians (liberal conservative and Marxist) have presented historical China as a stagnant, backward, parochial society, an “oriental despotism”, some detailed correctives will be necessary. It is especially important to emphasize how China, the world technological power between 1100 and 1800, made the West’s emergency possible. It was only by borrowing and assimilating Chiinese innovations that the West was able to make the transition to modern capitalist and imperialist economies. In the second part, we will analyze and discuss the factors and circumstance which led to China’s decline in the 19th century and its subsequent domination, exploitation and pillage by Western imperial countries, first England and then the rest of Europe, Japan and the United States. In part three, a good consideration shall be given to the factors leading to China’s emancipation from colonial and neo-colonial rule and analyze its recent rise to becoming the second largest global economic power. Finally, the past and present threats to China’s rise to global economic power shall be evaluated, highlighting the similarities between British colonialism of the 18th and 19th centuries and the current US
imperial strategies and focusing on past and present Chinese responses. China: The rise and consolidation of Global Power 1100-1800. In a systematic comparative format, John
surpassed the West down to the 18th century. Its innovations in the production of paper, book printing, firearms and tools led to a manufacturing superpower whose goods were transported throughout the world by the most advanced navigational
agriculture resulted in China’s per capita income matching that of Great Britain as late as 1750. China’s dominant global position was challenged by the rise of British imperialism, which had adopted the advanced technological, navigational
system. China possessed the world’s largest commercial ships. In 1588 the largest English ships displaced 400 tons, China’s 3,000 tons. Even as late as the end of the 18th century China’s merchants employed 130,000 private transport ships, several times that of Britain. China retained this pre-eminent position in the world economy up until the early 19th century. British and Europeans manufacturers followed China’s lead, assimilating and borrowing its more advanced technology and were eager to penetrate China’s advanced and lucrative market. Banking, a stable paper money economy, manufacturing and high yields in
and market innovations of China and other Asian countries in order to bypass earlier stages in becoming a world power. Western imperialism and the decline of China The British and Western imperial conquest of the East, was based on the militaristic nature of the imperial state, its nonreciprocal economic relations with overseas trading countries and the Western imperial ideology which motivated and justified overseas conquest. Unlike China, Britain’s industrial revolution and overseas expansion was driven by a military policy. According to Hobson, during the period from 16881815 Great Britain was
President XI Jinping of China.
Hobson provides a wealth of empirical indicators demonstrating China’s global economic superiority over the West and in particular England. These, may include some striking facts: as early as 1078, China was the world’s major producer of steel (125,000 tons); whereas Britain in 1788 produced 76,000 tons. China was the world’s leader in technical innovations in textile manufacturing, seven centuries before Britain’s 18th century “textile revolution” China was the leading trading nation, with long distance trade reaching most of Southern Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe. China’s agricultural revolution and productivity
“Even as late as the end of the 18th century China’s merchants employed 130,000 private transport ships, several times that of Britain. China retained this pre-eminent position in the world economy up until the early 19th century.”
engaged in wars 52% of the time. Whereas the Chinese relied on their open markets and their superior production and sophisticated commercial and banking skills, the British relied on tariff protection, military conquest, the systematic destruction of competitive overseas enterprises as well as the appropriation and plunder of local resources. China’s global predominance was based on ‘reciprocal benefits’ with its trading partners, while Britain relied on mercenary armies of occupation savage repression and a ‘divide and conquer’ policy to foment local rivalries. In the face of native resistance, the British (as well as other Western imperial powers) did not hesitate to exterminate entire communities. Unable to take over the Chinese market through greater economic competitiveness, Britain relied on brute military power. It mobilized, armed and led mercenaries, drawn from its colonies in India and else where to force its exports on China and impose unequal treaties to lower tariffs. As a result, China was flooded with British opium produced on its plantations in Indiadespite Chinese laws forbidding or regulating the importation and sale of the narcotic China’s rulers, long accustomed to its trade and manufacturing superiority, were unprepared for the ‘new imperial rules’ for global power. The West’s willingness to use military power to win colonies, pillage resources and recruit huge mercenary armies commanded by European officers spelt the end for China as a world power. China had based its economic predominance on ‘non-interference in the internal affairs of its trading partners’. In contrast, British imperialists intervened violently in Asia, reorganising local economies to suit the needs of the empire (eliminating economic competitors including more efficient Indian cotton manufacturers) and seized control of local political economic and administrative apparatus to
Continues on pg. 15
THE NIGERIAN
15
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10 2014
Viewpoint Continued from pg. 14 establish the colonial state. British’s empire was built with resources seized from the colonies and through the massive militarization of its economy. It was thus able to secure military supremacy over China. China’s foreign policy was hampered by its ruling elite’s excessive reliance on trade relations. Chinese officials and merchant elite’s sought to appease the British and convinced the emperor to grant devastating extraterritorial concessions opening markets to the detriment of Chinese manufacturers while surrendering local sovereignty. As always the British precipitated internal rivalries and revolts, further destabilizing the country. Western and British penetration and colonization of China’s market created an entire new class. The wealthy Chinese ‘compradores’ imported British goods and facilitated the take over of local markets and resources. Imperialist pillage forced greater exploitation and taxation of the great mass of Chinese peasants and workers. China’s rulers were obliged to pay the war debts and finance trade deficits imposed by the Western imperial powers by sequeezing its peasantry. This drove the peasants to starvation and revolt. By the early 20th century (less than a century after the opium wars) China had descended from world economic power to a broken semi-colonial country with a huge destitude population. The principle ports were controlled by Western imperial officials and the country side was subject to the rule by corrupt and brutal warlords. British opium enslaved millions. British Academics: Eloquent Apologists conquest. The entire Western academic profession first and foremost British imperial historians – attributed British imperial dominance of Asia to English ‘technological superiority’ and China’s misery and colonial status to ‘oriental backwardness; omitting any mention of the millennium of Chinese commercial and technical
progress and superiority up to the dawn of the 19th century. By the end of the 1920s’, with the Japanese imperial invasion, China ceased to exist as a unified country. Under the aegis of imperial rule, hundreds of millions of Chinese had starved or were dispossessed or slaughtered, as the Western powers and Japan plundered its economy. The entire Chinese ‘collaborator’ comprador elite were discredited before the Chinese people. What did remain in the collective memory of the great mass of the Chinese people – and what was totally absent in the accounts of prestigious US and British academic – was the sense of China once having been a prosperous, dynamic and leading world power. Western commentators dismissed this collective memory of China’s ascendancy as the foolish pretensions of nostalgic lords and royalty – empty Han arrogance. The rise of China from the ashes of imperial plunder and humiliation: The Chinese communist revolution. The rise of modern China to become the second largest economy in the world was made possible only through the success of the Chinese communist revolution in the mid-20th century. The people’s liberation ‘Red’ army defeated first the invading Japanese imperial army and later the US imperialist – backed comprador led kuomintary “nationalist” army. This allowed the reunification of China as an independent sovereign state. The communist government abolished the extraterritorial privileges of the Western imperialists, ended the territorial fiedfdom of the regional warlords and gangsters and drove out the millionaire owners of brothels, the traffickers of women and drugs as well as the other “service providers” to the Euro-American Empire. In every sense of the word, the communist revolution forged the modern Chinese state. The new leaders then proceeded to reconstruct an economy ravaged by imperial wars and pillaged
...China’s Economic Growth by Western and Japanese capitalists. After over 150 years of infamy and humiliation the Chinese people recovered their pride and national dignity. These socio-psychological elements were essential in motivating the Chinese to defend their country from US attacks, sabotage, boycotts, and blockades mounted immediately after liberation.
Communist China’s vast free educational and health systems created a healthy, literate and motivated work force. Its highly professional military prevented the US from extending its military empire throughout the Korean peninsula up to China’s territorial frontiers. Justice as past Western scholars and propagandists fabricated a history of a “stagnant and decadent”
power began in 1949 with the removal of the entire parasitic financial, compfradore and speculative classed who had served as the intermediaries for European, Japanese and US imperialists draining China of its great wealth. China’s transition to capitalism began in 1980 when the government initiated a dramatic shift in its economic strategy over
empire to justify their destructive conquent, so too, their modern counterparts have rewritten the first thirty years of Chinese communist history, denying the role of the revolution in developing all the essential elements for a modern economy state and society. It is clear that China’s rapid economic growth was based on the development of its internal market, its rapidly growing cadre of scientists, skilled technicians and workers and the social safety net which protected and promoted working class and peasant mobility were products of communist planning and investments. China’s rise to global
the next three decades, it opened the country to largescale foreign investment, it privatised thousands of industries and it set in motion a process of income concentration based on a deliberate strategy of recreating a dominant economic class of billionaires linked to overseas capitalists. China’s ruling political class embraced the idea of “borrowing” technical know-how and accessing overseas markets from foreign firms in exchange for providing cheap, plentiful labour at the lowest cost. The Chinese state redirected massive public
President Goodluck Jonathan.
Contrary to Western and neoliberal Chinese economists, China’s dynamic growth did not start in 1980. It began in 1950, when the agrarian reform provided land, infrastructure, credits and technical assistance to hundreds of millions of landless and destitute peasants and landless rural workers. Through what is now called “human capital” and gigantic social mobilization, the communists built roads, airfields, bridges, canals and railroads as well as the basic industries, like coal, iron and steel, to form the back bone of the modern Chinese economy.
“China’s new capitalist strategy as well as its double digit growth was based on the profound structural changes and massive public investments made possible by the previous communist government.”
subsidies to promote high capitalist growth by dismantling its national system of free public education and health care. They ended subsidized public housing for hundreds of millions of peasants and urban factory workers and provided funds to real estate speculators for the construction of private luxury apartments and office skyscrapers. China’s new capitalist strategy as well as its double digit growth was based on the profound structural changes and massive public investments made possible by the previous communist government. China’s private sector “take off” was based on the huge public outlays made since 1949. The triumphant new capitalist class and its Western collaborators claimed all the credit for this “economic miracle” as China rose to become the world’s second largest economy. This new Chinese elite have been less eager to announce China’s worldclass status in terms of brutal class inequalities, rivaling only the US. China from imperial dependency to world class competitor China’s sustained growth in its manufacturing sector was a result of highly concentrated public investments, high profits, technological innovations and a protected domestic market. While foreign capital profited, it was always within the framework of the Chinese state’s priorities and regulations. The regime’s dynamic ‘export strategy’ led to huge trade surpluses, which eventually made China one of the world’s largest creditors especially for US debt. In order to maintain its dynamic industries, China has required huge influxes of raw materials, resulting in large-scale overseas investments and trade agreements with agromineral export countries in Africa a nd Latin America. To be contd
THE NIGERIAN
16
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014
Countdown
Second Tenure: 2013/2014 Diar PROLOGUE C O M R A D E GOVERNOR Adams Aliu Oshiomhole was sworn in as Executive Governor of Edo State at Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin on Novermber 12, 2008 and thereafter assumed duty on the next day at Government House, Benin. Invariably by November 12, 2009 he clocked one year in office. On this day, The Nigerian Observer published a diary highlighting his major activities during the period. Since then, the newspaper has established a tradition of always publishing a diary of his administration in the November month of each succeeding year – namely in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. Today, the newspaper begins a serialization of its diary compiled for the calendar year 2013/2014 which encompasses the administration’s second tenure as well as second year in office. Happy reading. November 13, 2013: NTA Benin reported the visit of Mrs. Lucy Omagbon, Ehairman of Ovia North East Local Government Council and elders of the council area to Governor Oshiomhole at Government House, Benin. During the visit, Chief Sunny Uyigue presented to the Governor a report of committee, set up by the council, which undertook a verification exercise of the council’s Primary School Teaching staff. Payment of its emolument had been problematic for the councils, Hence, it carried out the probe. The committee, among other things, took a look at pupils enrolment, as well as the number of teachers
on the council’s payroll and their monthly pay. At the end of the exercise, the committee uncovered several abnormalities. Highlights of them: 112 ghost teachers were discovered on the council’s pay roll. - Eight non-functioning Schools were gulping N3.2m monthly. - 131 Teaching Pre – KG and KG classes. - The Local Government Education Authority inflated the wage bill of Primary School Teachers from N66m Monthly to N80m. Governor Oshiomhole thanked the council chairman and the committee members for the report. He promised to act on it within 24 hours. * The Commissioner For Works, Barr. Osarodion Ogie, while briefing Edo House of Assembly on the performance of his Ministry in 2013 disclosed that: - So far, the State Government has completed the construction of over 500 KMs of roads across the State. - 37% of work had been completed on other roads. - Government had perfected plans to pay its contractors for another 20% of work already completed. - There were plans in place to construct 26 more roads in the state. Furthermore, he said that the recent shortfall in federal allocation to the state as well as the rains had slowed down the pace of road construction in the state. Nevertheless, he told the lawmakers that all the road works in progress would be completed on schedule. * The Commissioner For Housing and Urban
Development, Hon. Francis Evbuomwan laid the foundation stone of the world-class Shoprite Mall at Dumez Road Junction, Benin City. The mall is estimated to cost N7.4 billion, according to Mr. Huarden Marshall, a spokesperson of the mall owners. He explained that his organization chose to site the mall in the state because of its economic viability and the need to create job opportunities for Primary and Secondary workers. He added that the mall would be completed within 18 months. The project incorporates a plan to reclaim the flood/ravaged land on which the mall will be built as well as its environs. November 14, 2013: The President of Moses Lake Medical Team, Dr. Lateef Olaniyan, from the United States paid a courtesy visit to Governor Oshiomhole to brief him on its performance/activities in Oredo Local Government Council Area. The team had been in Benin for the past two weeks, courtesy of the chairman of the council Hon. Osaro Obazee. Prof. Julius Ihonwbere, Secretary to Edo State Government, received the team on behalf of the government. Dr. Lateef Olaniyan informed him that his team performed free surgeries and offered free medical services to over 3000 people in the council areas. Later, he presented the Governor with Action Leadership Award while he conferred the Compassionate Leadership Award. November 15, 2013: Prof. Julius Ihonvbere, Secretary to Edo State Government, clarified the air on the status of Edo
Neighbourhood Watch Committee. He stated categorically that the committee had not be disbanded as claimed by rumour mongers because it is a creation by law. What happened was that the committee was undergoing rationalization to meet the expectations of the public displeased by its ineffectiveness. Hence, the government laid off 2,600 staff of the body for dereliction of duty. Edo State Government, through its Hon. Commissioner for Land and Survey, Barr. Donald Osikhena – Boih, informed the State branch of Nigerian Institute of Estate Surveyors and Valuers that it had terminated its contract with surveyors and valuers in the state. The Commissioner made this assertion at a meeting with the members of the organization in his Office. He gave as a reason for the government’s action the unprofessional behavior of its members undervaluing government properties when their services were hired by government. Thereafter, he advised the organization to re-apply to the Ministry for enlistment if they wanted government to continue patronizing its members who meet its qualification. Mr. Isah Jatto, the chairman of the body thanked the Commissioner for granting them audience and promised to convey his observations to his members. November 18, 2013: There was a minor cabinet reshuffle in Edo State. Barr. Iriogbe Isimeme (Commissioner For Transport) swapped places with Hon. Orobosa Omo Ojo (Commissioner For Special Duties/Oil and
“Prof. Julius Ihonwbere, Secretary to Edo State Government, received the team on behalf of the government. Dr. Lateef Olaniyan informed him that his team performed free surgeries and offered free medical services to over 3000 people in the council areas. Later, he presented the Governor with Action Leadership Award while he conferred the Compassionate Leadership Award.”
By MICHAEL ODIGBE
Gas), according to a press statement issued by Hon. Patrick Obahiagbon, Chief of Staff to the Governor. Local Government chairman, Chief Roland Ibierutonmwen his vicechairman and twelve councilors of Orhionmwon Local Government Council were suspended by Edo House of Assembly following a letter from
Benin, Upper Mission and New Lagos Road. He discovered the duty lapse when he paid unscheduled visits to project sites located in these areas of Benin Metropolis and discovered that traders had spilled into the streets causing traffic congestion in them. November 19, 2013: Prince Clement Agba,
ad in gu
cu de er
Ib sit
O si co
• Governor Adams Oshiomhole
Governor Oshiomhole to the house accusing them of dereliction of duty for travelling to Italy without the state government’s authorization and in total disregard of statutory procedures. Also, suspended was Comrade Roland Alari, Chairman of Uhunmwonde Local Government Council over his alleged assault on councilors in the legislative chambers on November 14, 2013. His suspension was for two months. A committee, headed by Hon. Paul Ohonbamu was constituted by the house to investigate the allegation against him. Five Edo State Transport Management Agency (EDSTMA) officials were relieved of their duties by Governor Oshiomhole on the grounds of abandoning their duty posts at New
Commissioner for Environment and Public Utilities disclosed at his briefing of the Edo House of Assembly that the state government was collaborating with the World Bank, through the facility of the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEW MAN) to put in place mechanism for addressing gully erosion sites in the state. Specifically, he revealed that the State Government had fulfilled all the conditions for the effective execution of 5 proposed erosion sites which had been approved by the World Bank and NEW MAN. He explained that the designs for the gully sites at Ekenhuan and approved. What remained, he said, were bidders for the projects which have been
be It go th
ac
de go tra B R hu go tu S ce St
G de an ve pa at R ve aw
G
THE NIGERIAN
17
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10 2014
Countdown
ry Of Governor Oshiomhole
dvertised in various media line with the World Bank uidelines. He went on to add that: - The World Bank was urrently reviewing the esign of Queen Ede Gully rosion site. - The design for Ewu – bore – Emu gully erosion te was on-going - The Auchi/ shogboge gully erosion te is the most omplicated in nature
sacked the General Manager of Edo State Waste Management Agency as a result of her agency’s failure to clean up New Benin area of Benin Metropolis. The governor also threatened to lock up all the stores at New Benin if their owners didn’t ensure sanitary condition of their environment which at the time was defaced with piles of dirt.
ecause of its eight fingers. would receive overnment attention like he other erosion site. - Edo State has 108 ctive gully erosion site On a final note, he eclared that the state overnment had plans to ansform Ramat Park in enin Metropolis into a ecreation Park after the uge success the state overnment achieved in urning the old King’s quare into a cultural entre of International tandard. November 20, 2013: overnor Oshiomhole, in a emonstration of visible nger at how about 30 ehicles were wrongly arked on the right of way t New Benin/Mission oad, directed that all the ehicles should be towed way. November 21, 2013: overnor Oshiomhole
* Edo State Government appointed Mr. Iyobo Igharo as chairman, Caretaker Committee of Orhionmwon Local Government Council in a statement signed by Prof. Julius Ihonvbere, Secretary to the state government. The statement directed supervisory councilors and special assistants in the council to work with the caretaker Chairman pending the conclusion of the state government’s probe into the unauthorized journey abroad of the elected council chairman, vicechairman, Secretary and Councilors which led to their suspension. In addition, the statement named Barr. Osagie Obayuwana as the chairman of the probe panel. Other members are: Mr. S.O. Ohonba
(Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs; as well as Secretary of the Panel), Peter Ekhator and Andrew Egbadon. The Governor at a meeting with the new Commissioner for Transport, Hon Orobosa Omo Ojo, informed him that 281 of 526 officials of Edo State Transport Management Agency have so far been sacked for dereliction of duty. At the occasion, also, the Governor lamblasted the Committee on War Against Indiscipline (WAI) for nonperformance. He said: “WAI has become indisciplined, its effect was only felt during my first tenure. The outfit is now part of the problem. I am prepared to disband its staff as I did to Neighbourhood Watch Committee, if you don’t work, you will be sacked”. November 25, 2013: A 7-man interim committee to reposition Bendel Insurance Football Club was inaugurated by Governor Oshiomhole. Chairman of the committee was Prof. Julius Ihonvbere, secretary to the State Government. The governor explained that his appointment was a declaration of the importance the State Government attached to the restoration of the club to its past glory. He gave the committee three months to submit its report on how to move the club forward. * Mr. Jerry Obazele was appointed Edo State new Head of Service. Before his elevation to the exalted office, he was the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Youths and sports. Hon Orobosa Omo Ojo, the Commissioner for Transport disclosed in a chat with newsmen while formally resuming office that the state government was committed to revamping Edo Line, a state-owned transport company. He announced that the government was already mapping out arrangement to settle the Company’s huge debts inherited from past
administrations. Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Hon. Adul Oroh, in an interview with journalists in Benin revealed that 768 fish farmers and fish distributors operating as co-operative societies registered with the Department of Fisheries in Edo State have benefitted from the ECOWAS Fund Accelerated Fishery Development Project. However, he noted that more people were yet to benefit from the fund because his Ministry was yet to recover past loans from beneficiaries. He added that his Ministry was aggressively partnering with the state’s Fisheries Loan Advisory Committee (SFLAC) to recover the unpaid loans. Mallam Alasa Ikelowa, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transport, stated that the state government had set up a disciplinary committee to regulate the activities of Edo State Traffic Management Agency. According to him, the action followed criticisms by lawmakers in Edo House of Assembly that the officials of the agency were operating outside the law establishing it. Governor Oshiomhole commissioned 8.5km intercity township roads in Igbanke in Orhionmwon Local Government Area of Edo State as well as the renovated Igbanke Mixed Grammar School, Igbanke. During the event, he expressed delight that the roads would permanently solve the flood and erosion problems in the community. Also, he promised to sink a borehole in the commissioned school. Finally, he gave approval for another 2.5km of road to be built in the community to ease the transportation of commuters. November 27,2014: General Yakubu Gowon (rtd) commended Governor Oshiomhole whom he described as a model of good governance during a courtesy visit to the Governor at Government House, Benin. Gowon said: “I thank you for the good things you are doing
for the state. I am a witness to it and I am delighted to see you. It is always a pleasure to see you. I am also delighted to meet your cabinet and thank them for the great support and advice they have been giving you to achieve these great things…. Governor Oshiomhole paid a working visit to the Oba of Benin, Omo N’Oba N’Edo Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Erediauwa to brief him on his performance as Governor during the first year of his second tenure in office. The Oba received him warmly and after listening to his catalogue of achievements observed: “You have done very well in all you have done for the state. I can say this openly. I often pray for you to our ancestors to keep you going and to keep your treasury going. I want to say KEEP THE FLAG FLYING…. There is one road you want to do which is very close to me, Adesogbe. I heard you want to repair it and I thank you for it”. An 8-man committeeheaded by Engr. David Olukoga, chairman of WAI in Edo State – was established by the Transport Ministry. The outfit has as its mandate: - The removal of all abandoned vehicles causing traffic gridlock in Benin Metropolis as well as illegal parks. - Ensuring that roads are no longer blocked by street traders and residents who usually hold parties on them. - Prevent Igun Street in Benin Metropolis from being used as a mechanic workshop for repairing vehicles. All the mechanics on the street had been directed to relocate to the mechanic village. Edo State Government hosted the Oba of Benin’s book presentation in Benin City. The title of the book is CRADLE OF IDEAS. Prof. Wole Soyinka presented the book on the Oba’s behalf. Chairman of the occasion was General Yakubu Gowon while the Oba was represented by his son, Crown Prine Eheneden Erediauwa. Speaking on the occasion,
Governor Oshiomhole described the Oba as the most principled and resourceful traditional ruler of his generation. He directed that copies of the book should be made available in all state-owned libraries of secondary and tertiary institutions in Edo State. November 28, 2013: Commissioner for Transport, Hon Orobosa Omo Ojo directed the management of Edo Courier Service to work out modalities to completely turn the company around. He gave the order when Mr. Fidelis Osikhena, its General Manager, led other management staff on a courtesy visit to the Commissioner. November 29, 2013: Governor Oshiomhole swore-in Mr. Jerry E. Obazele as Edo State Head of Service with a charge to him to re-position the ailing civil service. The Governor said that steps were being taken to fill existing vacancies in the aging civil service in dire need of an injection of new, fresh blood. Also, he stressed that the civil service equally required innovative ideas for its transformation which only training and retraining of its personnel could provide. In his response, Mr. Jerry Obazele pledged his loyalty and those of the civil service to the state government; and promised to live up to the confidence resposed in him. November 30, 2013: A welder, who turned the walk way for pedestrians at Akpakpava Road, Benin into a workshop was encountered by Governor Oshiomhole. This was despite repeated government warnings to traders and artisans to stay away from public highways and walk ways. In reaction, the governor directed that the welder should be arrested and his tools impounded. The governor also observed that the police had neglected to enforce the law on the blocking of the right of way. Hence, the law in the state was being breached with impunity. To be continued tomorrow
THE NIGERIAN
18
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014
Discourse
Sustaining The Fight Against Corruption MY heart bleeds each time I think about the modus operandi of corrupt leaders in our society, we work very hard to inform the society about the evil of corruption everyday as anti- corruption agent but, this evil persist, the question is why? The issue of Corruption is not a recent one in Nigeria. Since the creation of modern public administration in the country, there have been cases of official misuse of resources for personal enrichment. The rise of public administration and the discovery of oil and gas are two major events seen to have led to the birth of corrupt practices in the country. Over the years, the country has seen its wealth withered with little to show in living conditions of the average human being Since independence, successive governments have been a matter of few holding the cow for the strongest and most cunning to milk, under those circumstances everybody runs over everybody to make good at the expense of others. The pervasive corruption has been blamed on colonialism. These were the words of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. According to him, the nation’s colonial history may have restricted any early influence in an ethical revolution. Throughout the colonial period, most Nigerians were stuck in ignorance and poverty. The trappings
By KELLY OVIE UMUKORO
of flash cars, houses and success of the colonists may influence the poor to see the colonists as symbols of success and to emulate the colonists in different political ways. A view commonly held during the colonial days was that the colonists’ property (cars, houses, farms etc.) are not “our” property. Thus vandalism and looting of public property was not seen as a crime against society. This view is what has degenerated into the more recent disregard for public property and lack of public trust and concern for public goods as a collective national property Some writers have posited different potential causes of Corruption in the country: many blame greed and ostentatious lifestyle as a potential root cause of corruption. To others, societies in love with ostentatious lifestyle may delve into corrupt practice to attitudes of the society may also be a contributing factor. Gift giving as expressions of loyalty or to traditional rulers may be fabrics of the society. Also, a political environment that excludes favors towards elites or wealthy citizens may also be influenced by corruption. Wealthy elites may resort to sleaze in order to gain power and protect their interest. However, the bottom line summarized from the views of most Nigerians is that corruption is a problem
that has to be rooted out. In Nigeria another major cause of corruption is ethnicity called tribalism in Nigeria. Friends and traditional rulers seeking favor from officials may impose difficult strains on the ethical disposition of the official. Many kinsmen may see a government
relationships is a recent colonial and western initiative that may take time to become the norm, deep allegiance to other ethnic groups for administrative decisions earlier on was sometimes viewed suspiciously, and an early institutionalization of a unitary system in the country, may also have led to a further familiar
Sometime ago, a prominent Nigerian was released from prison, members of his family and political associates rolled out their drums to welcome him, the celebration was described by many Nigerians as a show of shame. The big question is how do we sustain the fight against Corruption, when those that are supposed to show good example are now been celebrated as thieves. It has become a modern trend in Nigeria that when a man steals a little amount
Ibrahim Lamorde, EFCC Chairman
official as holding necessary avenues for their personal survival or gain. A culmination of use of official resources for private gain may lead to further pressures on incoming officials from other kinsmen. However, the fact is, the importation of modern rules on interethnic political
groupings induced corruption. Nevertheless, a modern practical approach to leadership and relationships has gradually taken a prominent role in the political process. The necessity for practical inter-dependence and cooperation is at the forefront yearnings for good governance in the country
“Also, proceeds from corruption are used to service prophets for spiritual purposes, the orphanage homes are not left out. The corrupt buy all sorts of food items and clothing to donate to the less privileged ones; it is obvious that money gotten from corrupt means flows down to the rest of us, in one way or the other.”
of money, he will be put in jail for many years, but if he steals more than a billion naira he becomes a celebrity, it is only those that are cut in the art that are called criminals or corrupt victims even some of our political aspirants seeking for power to become the president of this great nation are been financed by those that they once accused of corrupt practices “according to some newspaper reports”. Wealth acquired from corrupt means by most of our corrupt leaders have been injected into the society for dubious purposes, sometimes these monies are used by our
corrupt elites to influence our youths to indulged in all forms of social vices, even some of our religious leaders are not helping matters, these leaders give front seats to corrupt elites to seat in churches, they pay huge amount of tithes and offerings to the amazement of those who know. Also, proceeds from corruption are used to service prophets for spiritual purposes, the orphanage homes are not left out. The corrupt buy all sorts of food items and clothing to donate to the less privileged ones; it is obvious that money gotten from corrupt means flows down to the rest of us, in one way or the other. Corruption has done incalculable damage to the Nigerian economy. It has retarded the growth, smeared the image of the nation and has had other damaging effects on the economy, although some institutions have been set up by past government like the independent corrupt Practices and other Related offences Commissions (ICPC), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commissions (EFCC), still these institutions lack the political will to fight corruption as operators now do the bidding of those who appointed them. If Nigeria must become one of the leading developing economies in Africa and indeed the world at large, the fight against graft must be looked into collectively and taken very seriously. From individual households, schools, religious bodies, government agencies, civil society Organizations, the media among others. Government must set up a strong democratic reform programme that is geared towards good governance and economic stability in the country. Kelly Ovie Umukoro is Communication Officer of Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), a Benin City based Non-Governmental Organisation.
THE NIGERIAN
19
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10 2014
Family Planning
With Eranga Isaac data, but there’s a lot of conversion from one scale to another.” The existence of multiple conclusions though, highlights the importance of making sure that psychological research takes factors of both biology and culture into account. “My view is that neither culture nor biology could win out here, instead I’m hoping that more adequate theoretical models that are based on both will be developed in the future,” Wood said. Menstrual cycle: Study quashes theory that choices and decisions vary at different times of the month * A woman is attracted to the same men regardless of the time of the month * But, very fertile women tend to be attracted to more masculine men * Less fertile women find kind, gentle men more appealing There has long been a theory that women are attracted to
become accepted lore. Our failure to find consistent effects of women’s hormonal cycling on mate preferences does not, of course, rule out such influences. ‘Yet our review suggests these effects are subtle, if at all present.’ She added: ‘By relying on outmoded theories that emphasises biology to the exclusion of culture, evolutionary psychologists may be missing some of the most important, characteristically human processes — our remarkable ability to exert control over our own behaviour.’ The team analysed prior research, which has used a range of factors to indicate male genetic fitness including the size of their jaw, cheekbone and brow ridges, their level of facial hair, the pitch of their voice and their behaviour. The researchers then looked at how scientists carrying out the previous studies had determined
different men depending on the time of the month. The theory goes that they find masculine men appealing when they are ovulating and kind, gentle men desirable when they are less fertile. But now, new research suggests this is not the case. U.S. researchers say that, in fact, there are very few shifts in what women want in a partner at different times in their menstrual cycle. Researchers at the University of Southern California carried out an analysis of more than 58 research experiments. They found that fertile women desire sex with men who seem particularly masculine or genetically fit. However, they found that these women will be equally attracted to masculine men throughout the month. In contrast, the researchers found that women who are not as fertile are more likely to be attracted to kinder, gentler men. But, they are attracted to these men throughout the month, not just when they are at their least fertile. Very fertile women are attracted to masculine men throughout the month while less fertile women are often attracted to gentle men all month. Lead researcher Professor Wendy Wood said: ‘These effects have
fertility, including assessments of reproductive hormone levels and selfreported menstruation cycles, and compared whether fertile women found genetically fit men sexier than infertile women did. The results of the metaanalysis showed that both fertile and non-fertile women prefer men with masculine attributes who demonstrate dominant behaviour. More importantly, the preference for manly men wasn’t any stronger among women who were in the fertile phase of their menstrual cycle. And wherever they were on their menstrual cycles, women also preferred kind men, the researchers found, and these preferences held across both long-term and short-term relationships. ‘A complete model of human reproduction needs to acknowledge women’s impressive capacity to regulate their own behaviour and not fall into the trap of biological determinism,’ said Professor Wood. ‘Regardless of what might have been normative in ancestral history, with the advent of cultural roles and complex group living, women showed the capacity to tailor their reproductive activities to a variety of social roles.’
Effect Of Menstrual Cycle On Women’s Taste In Men
A long-held theory in evolutionary psychology suggests that heterosexual women’s attraction to certain types of men ebbs and flows with their menstrual cycles. But a recent study from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles casts doubt on that claim, causing friction between different schools of thought in psychology. In the last 20 years, various evolutionary psychologists published studies demonstrating that women are more likely to find highly masculine, dominant men more attractive when they are ovulating. In these studies, masculinity is defined by various cues like vocal quality, facial structure, scent and musculature. These traits are thought to indicate genetic fitness, or a high volume of “good genes.” Additionally, researchers suggest that when women are ovulating and fertile, they are more tuned in to these cues for genetic fitness. In an evolutionary sense, this subconscious ability would help a woman choose a good mate with whom to produce a child. Wendy Wood, a professor of psychology at the University of Southern California, aggregated data from 45 published studies and 13 unpublished studies on this topic. She and her colleagues then sifted through the data, looking for patterns in a meta-analysis—a type of
statistical analysis that looks for patterns across multiple studies. They published their findings in the journal Emotion Review. “Overall we didn’t find any effect of cycle phase on women’s preferences,” Wood said. Instead, they found that women are attracted to highly masculine men throughout their cycles. A typical 28-day menstrual cycle is composed of various phases. About halfway through each cycle, surges in certain hormones cause one of the ovaries to release an egg and the cervix to open. These conditions, which last approximately six days, are just right for an egg to be fertilized if it comes into contact with sperm. Outside of that window, a woman is unlikely to become pregnant. Wood said that among the studies she analyzed, those that found shifts in women’s preferences used imprecise measures of fertility. Instead of testing for hormones that would indicate a woman’s fertile phase, the researchers used a “counting” method. They would ask a woman when the first day of her last period was, and then count the number of days it had been since then to determine approximately what phase of her cycle she was in. “Women don’t remember necessarily what phase
they’re at, but also there’s an unreliability in the cycles themselves,” Wood said. Every woman’s cycle is different. Few women consistently have a 28-day cycle, so some women might ovulate on day 10 whereas others ovulate on day 20. The studies that found an effect usually had a fertile phase of nine to 10 days. The phase’s length was determined by counting the number of days from the first day of each woman’s period, determining each woman’s fertile phase, and then averaging across the participants. “The message is that women’s biology doesn’t necessarily drive particular social judgment, but we’re all biological beings, that’s a given,” Wood said. “The idea that menstrual cycles will affect who women find attractive just doesn’t hold up in the research literature.” Not everyone agrees with Wood’s findings. Steven Gangestad, an evolutionary psychologist at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque and author of many of the studies in Wood’s report, took issue with her conclusions. “They did find certain effects, but they dismissed those and explained them away,” Gangestad said. He felt that Wood and her
colleagues’ analysis was too broad and that the patterns of attraction were drowned out in the noise of all the other data. Gangestad pointed to another meta-analysis published recently in the journal Psychological Bulletin that used many of the same studies as Wood’s but found a completely different result. Wood said that the other meta-analysis’s lead author, Kelly Gildersleeve, was her student in a class on meta-analysis. “This is not an uncommon phenomenon to find two meta-analyses that find different conclusions,” said Christopher Schmid, a professor of biostatistics at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island who specializes in metaanalysis. Schmid only looked at Wood’s study, but said that he is unsure how much it can or can’t say about this theory in evolutionary psychology. Part of the problem is the nature of individual studies. Most of the time, the studies test just one or a few factors by having participants look at photos or listen to voice recordings. “You’re only using one of your five senses if you’re looking at a picture,” he said. “I think [Wood has] done as much as you can with these
THE NIGERIAN
20
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014
Opinion
Incredible Power Of Smile SMILE! It improves your face value. Some people say that face the mirror of our thoughts, it reveals all the feelings and emotions hidden deep inside. And smile adds glow to our personality. To express anger, it is said, we strain more nerves, while to smile only a few nerves are put to work and with a charming smile, we can do wonders. Others are put to ease with a sweet smile and they feel we are closer to them. A mere smile even without uttering a word reveals affection, appreciation and at all times, ‘‘laughter is the best medicine’’. May be because it eases our tension, helps the person to establish a good impression. It shows the attitude of the person and willingness to lend a helping hand. A smiling face gets instant welcome. Though the person may not be of much worth otherwise, his mind makes up the difference. It creates a pleasant feeling in the mind of the onlooker. It helps the person to establish a good impression. Smile has its own wonder. It enlivens the atmosphere and creates envy in the minds of the neighbours. They say a sprightly child is an asset. We put a smiling face (smiling bravely) in adversities, in moments of sorrow (feeling of depth) and during other trying periods as social obligation. Then of course, we can smile away certain embarrassing questions or avoid any commitment by using the harmless signal. Furthermore for the salesman, this is an indispensable work tool he cannot do without. It is his survival kit, a preface to the gift of the gab he might possess. This can even be described as bait for his daily bread. Sometimes, if we are not quite welcome, the greeting takes the form of a broad grimace, we no doubt
enjoy a hearty laugh, but what we actually wish is to have the last laugh on certain tricky issues. This calls for the reason why with a flash of smile and being vivacious, we spread exuberance around, It makes the gathering scintillating. Like we score a little more mark in exam simply because of our neat handwriting. In life too, we gain more marks by a cheerful smile and thereby expressing an agreeable face. A tremendous amount of good will is gained through his seemingly simple gesture. Most important benefit of a smiling face is ease of relationship in family. It generates optimism, energy and a keen sense of belonging spontaneously. This collectively leads to togetherness. Isn’t that what a family is all about? Keep smiling and keep your family happy. According to Susan Roane, ‘‘you can’t give a smile away; it always come back’’. With this, she meant that whenever a man smiles, there will always be a corresponding reward which of course is a feeling of satisfaction and fulfillment. A great urban legend has it that it takes seventeen muscles to smile but it takes 43 to frown. Actually, it’s not quite that, but its close and smiling certainly makes people feel better than their frowning. ‘‘As the years passed, Harvey Ball became concerned about the overcommercialization of his symbol, and how its original meaning and intent had become lost in the constant repetition of the market place. out of that concern came his idea for World smile Day (WSD). He thought that we, all of us, should devote one day each year to smiles and kind acts throughout the world. The smiley face knows no
By PIUS O. ABAH politics, no geography and no religion. Harvey’s idea was that for at least once each year, there should be that expression of joy to the fullest which of course will be piloted through smiles. He declared that the first Friday in October each year would henceforth be World Smile Day. Ever since that first world smile day held in 1999, it has continued every year in smiley’s hometown of Worcester, MA and around the world. Smile is a messenger of
people speak when they are smiling. Her work suggests that people can hear the difference between someone speaking while smiling and someone not smiling, even if they cannot see them. A smile cost nothing but gives much. It enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give. It takes but a moment, but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever. None is so rich or mighty that he cannot get along without it and none is so poor that he cannot be rich
good will. Your smile brightens the lives of all who see it. To someone who has seen a dozen people frown, scowl or turn their faces away, your smile is like the sun breaking through the clouds. Especially when that someone is under pressure from his bosses, his customers, teachers, parents or children, a smile can help realize that all is not hopeless, there is joy in the world. British researcher, Amy Drahota studied how
by it. Yet a smile cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away. Some people are too tired to give you a smile. Give them one of yours,, it will even suppress every form of depression or tiredness they may have and reduce it to its barest minimum. No wonder, a medical practitioner, Idrees Farooq wrote an essay on 15 interesting facts about
“In other words, you feel yourself good when you smile and smiling also makes you more attractive for other people.”
smiling. According to him, the word always looks beautiful if you are smiling. Lee Mildon, a great personality says, ‘people seldom notice old clothes if you wear a big smile’’ and that is a great truth about life. so why smile? Because smiling is the great way to keep yourself stand out happy and effectively helping your body to perform better. smile has no language but everyone smile in the same language. Smiling makes your face beautiful because I
have not seen a smiling face that is not beautiful. Smile is very important to improve your stress level , your health and your attractiveness, of course. If you want to live longer and want to be happy, smile is the only way to make it. smiling is at the root we are as human beings. In fact, it’s the very first thing parents take pride in when they monitor their infant’s development. Smiling is a representation of our willingness, affection and our openness to others. Look at a new born baby. It communicates verbally and physically long before and feels the impart of smile at once and responded it always. There have been researches and studies that show that even if a person gives a fake smile to others, such chemicals are
automatically released in his brain that are normally present when he is actually happy and smile with sincerity. In other words, you feel yourself good when you smile and smiling also makes you more attractive for other people. Smile is actually the same thing as an expression of fear and that’s the reason why it is gracious to smile as strangers. You are showing them that you may be a bit afraid of them but not a threat to them. Now you can understand why it is less socially acceptable for women to refrain from smiling than it is for men, and why women often smile wider than men do just because you making yourself a bit easy for others when you smile, and women are normally soft and vulnerable once. Smiling makes us attractive. Your face is public property and it should give always smile at everyone. And unpleasant face can destroy others mood and why should we allow us to inflict our stress to others. Just imagine how much beautiful would the world be if we all smiled at each other? We give love to those people who give smile to us. There is an attraction factor. We want to know a smiling person and figure out what is so good. Frowns, scowls and grimaces all push people away but a smile draws them in. Avoid such smile aging habits to keep your smile always looking great. Smiling changes our mood. Any time when you are feeling down try to put a smile on your face. There is 100% assurance that your mood will change and you will feel better. Smiling can trick the body into helping you change your mood. When you are smiling, not only you will feel happy but also it also changes the mood of others and make things beautiful, with smiling face, you can bring happiness with them. Smile gives you immense attractions from others. Smiling reduces stress. With smile, you can throw your stress away from your face. Smiling helps to prevent you from looking tired, overwhelmed and worn down. In extreme stress, just put a smile on your face and immediately, your stress will reduce and you will have a Continues on page 23
THE NIGERIAN
21
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10 2014
Archival Matters
IGP Vs Gbokogboko
WHEN AIG Suleiman Abba from Jigawa State was appointed as the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) on August 1, 2014 some of us pitied him. Why? It was because of the sordid circumstance of his appointment. It came at a time Nigeria is at war with Boko Haram, Kidnappers, armed robbers, car snatchers, rapists child defilers, 419-ners, pipeline vandals, old thieves, internet fraudsters and of course Gbokogboko politicians. Indeed, it is not easy for an IGP to manage the security of a nation like ours where the loud, noisy and wicked majority think like grave diggers who wish others short lives but pray for abundant life for themselves. Certainly, tackling our Gbokogboko politicians as 2015 beckons is now one of the biggest challenges of our new IGP. Since we got independence in 1960, this brand of disingenuous politicians have been in existence. However, today, they dominate our landscape scarring it with their toxic philosophy, ideology, obtuse presence and warehouse of death, terror and destruction unloaded on political foes. By their visible fruits, you can identify these Gbokogboko politicians even without psychoanalytical wisdom. To start with, they stand democracy on its head. It is no wonder they define democracy as government of politicians, by politicians and for politicians of the ruling party, “to use the words of Godwin Egbe of Edo Broadcasting Service, Benin on September 9, 2014. Invariably, for Gbokogboko politicians, the absurd rule is the dictatorship of party leaders and/or political parties, not the dictatorship of the electorate which voted them into office. For these Gbokogboko politicians also the end justifies the means. Too true, they are Machiavellian tricksters in character. Hence, for them, elections are zero sum, win-win events. Expectedly as the nation foreshadows the 2015
general elections, Gbokogboko politicians would characteristically now be at their old game of cultivating, growing and mentoring thugs. In Ekiti state, not long ago, these thugs assaulted the state chief judge and the rule of law. This caused a stalled miscarriage of the petition of incumbent gentlemanly governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, against Ayo Fayose’s declared victory in the 2014 gubernatorial election. The result was that Ayo Fayose was sworn in as governor on October 16, 2014 without Fayemi’s petition being first disposed off as the 1999 constitution demands. What the Ekiti state’s story illustrates is that a typical Gbokogboko politician never says die. He is always ready to throw spanner in the civil works of democracy. Lest we forget, our self –same Gbokogboko politicians were on duty in Akwa Ibom state recently. They sponsored thugs and cultists who attack Senator Itelen Esuene during her meet –the –people tour of the state in pursuance of her gubernatorial drive to succeed incumbent Governor Godswill Akpabio. Hear her account of the incident as captured in Saturday Vanguard of October 25, 2014. “We were seated both the VIP’s and our party people. And they came, walked up straight to the stage where we sat. The next thing was that the chapter chairman was attacked. Phones and all the things on the table, including the plastic table, were lifted and they were just flying everywhere….. These people came with guns. You could see some
Politicians By MICHAEL ODIGBE
with two guns in their pockets”. If you think all that Gbokogboko politicians are capable of doing is sponsoring thugs to maim, kill and blackmail their opponento into submission in our fragile democracy, you are mistaken. Foul! They are
they dispense slush funds for use in subverting the security cover for credible” elections. Put simply, they are mobile ATM largely a gown out of looted public funds and may be ritual money made for them by juju priests. Incase, you have forgotten, be
in Lagos only to find herself in Agbara forest in the state used by ritualists who already had 200 other victims in their kitty. Every night Gbokogboko politicians throng the forest for human parts used by ritualists to supposedly make money or power portion for them, revealed Mrs. Patience Igho in Saturday Vanguard of October 18, 2014 after her miraculous escape from the forest. The bottom line here is that Gbokogboko politicians encourage ritual killing to thrive and
• Suleiman Abba, I.G of Police
capable of more diabolical atrocities. For instance, their stock-in—trade also encompasses bombing and vandalizing properties belonging to their opponents whether they are private or public. No opposition is tolerated from any quarters. Moreover, these Gbokogboko politicians have access to undeclared huge warchests from which
informed too that it is not unusual to find Gbokogboko politicians patronizing human parts markets at night in secluded forests in the country. Mrs. Patience Igho found herself, mysteriously, in October 2014 in one of these forests in Ogun state. She boarded a commercial bus on her way to Boundary Market, Ajegunle
therefore, they are behind the bizarre incident of missing persons in Nigeria, to an extent. When all their atrocious behavior are put together, one thing is clear. Gbokogboko politicians pose a serious challenge to the 2015 geberal elections. They are like a snake in the roof of house to use the 2006 parable of Efe Osafuomwan, MAN AROUND TOWN
“Moreover, these Gbokogboko politicians have access to undeclared huge warchests from which they dispense slush funds for use in subverting the security cover for credible” elections. Put simply, they are mobile ATM largely a gown out of looted public funds and may be ritual money made for them by juju priests. Incase, you have forgotten, be informed too that it is not unusual to find Gbokogboko politicians patronizing human parts markets at night in secluded forests in the country.”
programme’s anchor. Given this fact, the principal house owner of Nigeria’s security architecture, the IGP, cannot afford to go to sleep at this time. Fortunately enough, he is aware of the danger posed by our Gbokogboko snake politicians. That is why he is awake since he assumed duty on August 1, 2014. So far he has held two high-level strategic meetings in Abuja with his police High Command which comprises all the DIG,s AIGs and CPs across the federation. Although details of the IGP’s security road map aren’t a valuable publicly, a discerning mind could still sniff them from a distance. This is through cues from Edo Police Commissioner, Foluso Adebanjo, each time he addressed men of his command on arrival from these police High Command’ meetings in Abuuja. The decisions of the IGP’s meeting could suggestively be summarized in this way: the days of Gbokogboko politicians are over. Their antics would no loner be tolerated, they would be vehemently resisted by an apolitical police force committed to the rule of law, not the dikta of Gbokogboko gladiatorship now considered a worthless paper currency, stressed the IGP. Hear him: “Politicians with criminal records won’t be allowed to contest in 2015. Already, the police is liaising with the Directorate of security service and the EFCC to ensure this. Also, the police will use the authority of the law and due process to combat the undue radicalism of some politicians because such actions have large potential to cause disturbance of peace and security now, during and after 2015 general election”. Good talk from our IGP. But talk alone wont address the menace of our Grbokogboko politicians. He should put his words into action. Ace music producer, Idowu Ogunade, in 2010, say: ‘An icing on akara ball does not make it a cake”. So IGP stop the Gbokogboko politicians before they stop Nigeria. Their cup of iniquity is full.
THE NIGERIAN
22
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014
THE NIGERIAN
23
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10 2014
Opinion
Continued from page 20
reason to rejoice again. Smiling improves your immune system. It also makes your immune system to function better. While smiling, your function system function well because you feel relaxed and thus prevent you from colds and flu. So smiling can keep you away from the use of medicine. Smiling reduces your blood pressure. There is a great reduction in your blood pressure when you smile. So try to smile if you have a blood pressure monitoring system at home. Take a reading and sit for a while. After then smile for at least one minute and then again check reading while still smiles at your face. Smiling is a natural drug. Researchers have proved that smiling is a natural medication and it releases endorphins, serotonin and natural pain killers. With the
use of these three, you will feel better but with smile, you don’t need to use them because smiling is a natural drug. Smiling makes you seem successful. The more you smile, the more you will look confident and more likely to be promoted. Put a sweet smile at business meetings and appointments and you will feel that people will react to you differently. Of course, you will be more likely to be approached. Smiling makes you beautiful and you look younger. The muscle we use to smile lift the face, making a person appears younger. Don’t go for a face lift, just try to smile your way through the day – you’ll look younger and feel better. Smiling helps you to stay positive. Try this amazing test. Smile and then try to think something negative without losing your smile. You’ll feel it’s hard for you
...Power Of Smile
to think negative while smiling. This is because when we smile, a message is send to the whole body. Smiling is linked with heart and wisdom. What does this all mean? The wisdom of human beings begins with a thought in the heart, but if it remains there, the wisdom is self; serving. In order for that wisdom to make the world a better place, it needs to be expressed through the mouth. When we open our mouth and speak, we share ourselves with the world, smiling is a symbol of our willingness to open up ourselves to others. Smile reflects our caring to others. When we greet someone, we are supposed to smile at them. Smiling exhibit our kindness and openness to relate to another person. When I frown, I close my mouth tightly; I hide my
teeth. I am saying that I do not want to open myself or my wisdom up to anyone. But when I smile, I say to my fellow man, ‘yes, I want to get to know you’. I want to share my wisdom, my insights, and my personal contributions to this world with you. I am showing you my teeth, the window to my world and my wisdom, and I want you to partake in what I want to offer. ‘‘ A smile is the light in your window that tells others that there is a caring, sharing person inside. Smiling is funny. One of the most common times we smile is when something is funny to us. The job of most comedians is to make us laugh, which is sort of an art. By creating things that are funny, many of us laugh and sucks off, which first bring
across our faces a big smile. Smiling is out of ordinary. Although many times we smile when things are funny to us, other times we smile when we find things extremely ridiculous or out of the ordinary. There comes a turning point when something seems so out of the wall that we must smile. That doesn’t mean it is a good or bad thing, but so off-the-wall that we must smile at its shockingness. Go to any magic show, you may find individuals smiling at the tricks. Likewise, watch someone tell an obvious lie and you will find individuals smiling at his ridiculousness. Smiling is welcoming. In almost any restaurant, or one where it involves customer’s service, you will find the workers smiling. It is their job
to welcome you and to make you feel welcome. For this reason they must smile. It is not only done because we must smile but also because the person wants and likes you. Babies do this all the time. Try to pick it up and if it likes you, it will smile, but it does not, it will cry for its mother. When we smile to welcome someone, it is because we like them as well. The final thought is that smiling is, the most beautiful and expressible thing done by any human. Most of the times it is at once but many times it is not. In either case, smiling is such a thing that makes us feel good about others and ourselves too. Each time you smile, you feel a sense of pleasure, employment and happiness. So be happy and smile.
Media As The Fourth Estate Of The Realm By PIUS EDE
PRESIDENT James Madison once declared that “knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own government must arm themselves with power that knowledge brings”. Historians attribute the phrase “Fourth Estate” to a British politician and political thinker, Edmund Burke, who said that aside the three Estates, the Executive, the Judiciary and the parliament, journalists represent the nobility, the clergy and the commoners at the gallery. The politician opined that the media was more powerful than the other three arms of government because of its ability to inform and shape popular opinion on public affairs. The term “public affair reporting” encompasses more than reporting government activities. For reporters on the local Newspapers, the coverage of police beats, the three tiers of government, courts, transportation air, land and sea. Government’s
contractors, other institutions like hospitals and schools, sports, revenue boards, public utilities etc. Depending on your catchment area, the people may be more interested in the coverage of cultural festivals than the celebration of Mr. President’s one year in office. For any reporter to be successful, he must cultivate certain habits like diligence, accuracy and knowledge of sources of information backed by the ethics of the profession. Today I doubt strongly if the likes of Edmund Burke will still use the experience of 1800 on the British and American press to assess the media as the true fourth Estate or watchdog of the society. For instance, in Nigeria many editors and reporters in the field are more of Public Relations Officers to politicians and the three tiers of government. Any form of gratification you accept either in cash or kind before a story is published is a bribe. Bribe as we know is a crime, it is
given to condition your mind to do something wrong. I don’t need to expatiate on this because the Nigeria system calls for it and most journalists cannot do otherwise. In a country where serial killers are being celebrated and honoured with chieftaincy titles, it is only
of those we referred to as honourable law makers at all levels how law makers turned law breakers, but watch it, most of them will still have the effrontery to go back to their constituencies to seek for a return or go for bigger political offices. They have that shameless boldness because they have the money
the stigma, the family would pull out of court and the accused continue in the crime. Civil service is the worst, this is one area where esprit de corps is non-existent. Take for instance a permanent secretary on retirement, even the clerk he facilitated his employment
God that can salvage the situation. We have seen the activities
to buy rice, oil and pepper for the down-trodden to come out and vote for them. Our traditional rulers are not helping matters, most of them rely on cash and kind and not the credibility profile of an individual to merit a title. An ordinary man on the street can tell you what would be the outcome of a case in court, all he needs to know is the personalities and characters involved. A case of rape of a minor can remain in court until the child becomes an adult and due to
will not want to see his face. In fact if he had his way, the permanent secretary’s confidential file will miss until he speak the language the clerk would want to hear. Let me not forget where I started from. Journalists should not be seen as liars due to inconsistencies or in accuracies in sources and statements from members of the public. Journalists traditionally assumed, perhaps that if they reported all the information gathered, it may not help the society, especially when it bordered
“Journalists should not be seen as liars due to inconsistencies or in accuracies in sources and statements from members of the public.”
on security. The stories, labeled “Commentary” or analysis”, critically evaluate the news to help readers better understand it. No human can be totally objective. Families, education, personal interest and religious and political beliefs all influences how reporters cover stories and what stories they see as newsworthy. Nevertheless, they strive to be as impartial and objective as possible. Routine Newsroom practices and encourage impartiality. News stories are rarely the work of a single individual. Normally, an editor assigns a story and a reporter writes it. Several other editors may then evaluate and change it where necessary. Each serves as a check on the others. If one express an opinion in a story, another has a chance to detect and eliminate that bias. While it may be impossible for reporters to write about every conceivable side of an issue in their stories rather than just one. So while total objectivity may be difficult to achieve, balance and fairness in a story can be achieved through thorough reporting and clear writing. Generally, editors omit material that is obscene, gruesome or in poor taste, usually on the grounds that their newspapers or broadcast reach children as well as adults. News organisations avoid specifics about sexual assaults, omits most details of a bloody accidents. Journalists must understand their employers policies.
THE NIGERIAN
24
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014
THE NIGERIAN
25
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10 2014
THE NIGERIAN
26
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014
THE NIGERIAN
27
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10 2014
Issues
Advertising And The Society
EVERYDAY, thousands of advertising messages are churned out through the broadcast media (Tv and Radio) and print media (Newspapers, magazines, blackboards) and even the new media (internet). You switched on the television and you will see some products being pushed on you with some assurance, this is advertising, your mind is being sold to these advertisers. Advertising like other activities such as sales promotion, publicity, public relations, personal selling and propaganda are intended to persuade the public to patronize a product or service. Advertising however, can be defined as a group of activities aiming at and including the dissemination of information in any paid nonpersonate form, concerning an idea, product or service to compel action in accordance with the intent of an identifiable sponsor. This gives companies a way to expose their products to people and hence maximize their sales. Without advertisement, be rest assured that not a single firm or company can grow in this world of competition. Advertising is one of the debated topic in the society, like every other thing it has also some positive as well some negative points. If it has some positive aspect of social
and economical impact on society then it do have some negative impact also. Advertising a public welfare program has positive social impact whereas exposing woman in an advertisement has negative impact on society is sex in advertising business. Advertising has gone a long way to leave an impact it had on the culture of the people in Nigeria to another direction. Obviously, advertising is a useful technique and a useful thing to the business that use it and that’s all of them if they expect to have any customers. Advertising is a means of informing choice and it’s vital and imperative to new entrants in any market. Advertising is a mass marketing technique as such assorted techniques are used for advertising which persuades the consumers and that’s why they need the product which is being advertised. Talking about advertising and the society however, advertisers see it simply as a redistribution of consumption, directing spending from this brand to that one. What they try to do is to promote choice, and simply reflect exiting cultural values. Advertisers focus more on
By KINGSLEY MBADUGHA/AYOBAMI OGUNGBA
the benefits, which they will get from that product rather than what the consumers will get from the product, that is just the bitter truth at least over 65% of the promises we get from advert are false. In reality, advertising doesn’t just expand market share, it expands the size of the market also. While impacting values, it reflects society to a certain degree. New products are made known to the public through advertising easily. They can decide which product they need and why. Thus increasing the consumption and as a result also increasing the demand of the product. Advertising can also be used to generate awareness among public about which product they can use and to which product they can say no. The role of advisement in the society cannot be undermined as it can also be used to educate people about certain dangers or diseases, take for example during the outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in Nigeria and other countries of the world. It is part of the glue that holds our culture together through the expository or the
exposition of various norms about the society that we live in. advertising helps society to share common experience in a landscape populated by brands, images, logos and even silly gingles. Some will say that we define who we are by what we buy and wear. Advertising changes our perception about things that is why it has a great influence on the people in the society. One thing with advertising is that it creates an image in our mind and affects our decision making process, that is the more reason why somebody can easily change his/her mind toward what he/she had planned because of a particular advert he/she came across. Advertising is part of our everyday life. It would be very difficult to ignore even if we tried because they are shown everywhere. They invasively intrude into our lives while we watch our favourite shows whether through adverts directly in the shows or commercials in between the shows. We hear them while driving a car and listening to the radio. We can see them in all pubic places because advertisements are limited to
a particular place, it can be put anywhere considering the fact that what it does is to inform, educate and sensitize the public about what they should know about the latest invention in the society. However, the significant issue of advertisements in our lives and that of the society at large is not the ridiculous amount of adverts that surround us in our daily lives but the unrealistic content and messages they send out to the public. The unrealistic content and messages that is being carried by most of the adverts has done more harm than good to some members of the public or the consumers. Sex advertisement was created by corporation and companies in order to promote and sell their products. Many corporation and companies use sex to sell their products regardless if there are negative messages, have negative impact and effects on the members of the society. Agencies and publicists no longer sought merely to convey objective facts about the products rather they sought to link products with a particular lifestyle, imbibe them with glamour and prestige, and persuade potential consumers that purchasing an item could be, as historian Alan Brinkley describes it, “a personally fulfilling and enriching experience”. The images of advertisement sought to both resonate with and help define the lifestyles of those who bought the product. One amazing thing is people seek to differentiate themselves, so much, so that a particular kind of advertising called “Dog whistle advertising, targets a group with messages only that group can hear and appreciate. Like an inside joke, these adverts reinforce a sense of belonging to the group and show that the advertised company “gets it”. Critics claims that adverts manipulate the public into wasting money on unneeded products. The claim to an extent is justifiable because a good number of people purchase things that they don’t use but simply because the technique that was deployed in the advert was captivating in order words the influence advertising has on the public or the people in the society is really amazing. Another critique said that advertising has corrupted holidays like Christmas and thanksgiving making the
season a time of materialism rather than a deeper celebration of thankfulness. The truth is that, there are other various blames that advertising is causing negative social impact on our lives, even if advertising has a vast good impacts on society, then I can be ruled out or be stated that it has bad impact also. Advertising plays with the minds and emotions of the general public and encourages them to think that buying and depleting are the activities of life. Advertising posters of modem films, where sexuality is shown much than the actual theme that is the central idea or what is called focal point of the movie, can divert the society a lot. Materialism is being much glorified through advertisement, which can again have dangerous consequences. Society is becoming ignorant towards social or world issue because we are too obsessed to satisfy our newly created needs. We want to earn more and more money so that we can buy happiness in forms of products, being advertised as they can bring all the happiness in our lives. The hunger of the people in the society to earn more regardless the main content of the package has made it possible for corporations and companies to deceive them by churning out less quality of what they advertise. Personally, (Ayobami), I totally do not concur with all that critic said about the influence of advertisement on the society. The thing is that the scenario created by the critique tend to present the concept of advertising as a evil to the society. The fact still remains that different advertisement that’s been put forward to the public or the society has negative effects on them but we cannot also sideline the positive aspect of it. Advertisement as a business or company’s techniques has a benefit that is not only limited to the firm that owns the product advertised but to the people that is the consumers in the society. I get most of the clothes, gadgets and other things relevant to me through adverts and it’s good. Advertisement widen and open our minds and also to us the things, precisely products that ordinarily we wouldn’t have known about. A popular saying has it that one thing that is constant is change so we need information about the latest development in the society.
THE NIGERIAN
28
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014
Education
Addressing The Challenges Of TETFund Intervention By SANI ADAMU BY all accounts, the provision of quality tertiary education in a sustainable way is a serious business that requires huge capital investment. This perception is by all means rational, as the incessant strikes by the various unions of the nation’s tertiary educational institutions over the years could be attributed to financial demands. For instance, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) recently asked for over N1.5 trillion from the Federal Government as a precondition for suspending its five-monthold strike which had paralysed academic activities in the nation’s universities. ASUU said that the funds would be used to provide basic infrastructure that would sustain effective learning and make the university system more functional and sustainable. Besides, ASUU insisted that a minimum of 26 per cent of the annual budget should be allocated to the education sector. Similar reasons were also adduced for the closure of the country’s polytechnics for more than 10 months, until recently when the strike was called off, following the intervention of the new Minister of Education, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau. The huge financial requirements of the country’s tertiary institutions informed the Federal Government’s decision to establish the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) in 2011. The Fund is charged with the responsibility of managing, monitoring and disbursing proceeds from the Education Tax to public tertiary institutions in Nigeria. The Act establishing the Fund imposes a 2 per cent Education Tax on the assessable profits of all registered companies in the country. TETFund also monitors the projects executed with the funds allocated to the beneficiaries. More than three years down the line, many of the tertiary institutions have been complaining about their inability to have access to funds from TETFund because of a number of factors. However, Prof. Suleiman Bogoro, the Fund’s Executive Secretary, however, said that one of the major challenges facing the funding programme was the inability of some tertiary institutions to access over N67 billion of the funds earmarked to boost their teaching and learning infrastructure. Bogoro, who spoke recently when he received members of the House Representatives’ Committee on Education, led by its Chairman, Rep. Aminu Suleiman, who were on an
oversight visit to the organisation. He described the trend as worrisome, in view of the general complaints about poor funding of tertiary institutions, leading to persistent strikes by the unions of the institutions over the years. He stressed that the Fund had not recorded any failed project across the country because its stringent guidelines on funds’ disbursement and execution of projects. Bogoro, however, identified improper documentation and problems associated with financial reports as some of the major factors limiting the access of tertiary institutions to the funds. “In the past, TETFund observed with dismay that one of the major problems associated with accessing funds was improper documentation and rendition of financial returns. “It is this problem that necessitated the Fund to come up with a draft format on efficient and effective guidelines for projects, programmes and financial reports,’’ he said. He said that TETFund’s insistence on strict adherence to the guidelines was posing a challenge for the institutions in their efforts to easily access the funds. To ease such difficulties, Borogo said that TETFund was taking a second look at the guidelines so as to ease the hurdles without utter disregard for the due process, as well as laid-down rules and regulations. “In view of this, TETFund recently held a stakeholders’ interactive workshop and town hall meetings in tertiary institutions across the six geopolitical zones of the country,’’ he said. He said that the workshop helped in sensitising the stakeholders to essential aspects of the Public Procurement Act, owing to complaints about the inability of the beneficiaries of TETFund to comply with the Act’s requirements. Bogoro, however, expressed the Fund’s commitment towards effective and efficient delivery of its projects, in line with the Transformation Agenda of
President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration. Nevertheless, Dr Musa Babayo, the Chairman of TETFund’s Board of Trustees, bemoaned the fact that the institutions, which received N22.3 billion as intervention funds in the last 10 years, had
underutilisation of the funds was largely due to the lack of trained laboratory technologists in the area of technical and vocational education across the country. “Specifically, between 2004 and 2007, N7 billion was allocated to technical and vocational education, while
Ibrahim Shekarau, Minister of Education underutilised the funds. He expressed the regret at a recent capacity-building programme organised for laboratory technologists drawn from tertiary institutions in the North-Central and South-West zones in Ilorin. Shedding more light on the underulisation of the funds by the beneficiaries, Babayo said that the funds were released as intervention funds to procure technical and laboratory equipment for the institutions’ laboratories “However, some of the equipment were not installed, while others were underutilised or not properly maintained by the benefiting institutions,’’ said Babayo, who was represented by a former Executive Secretary of the Fund, Alhaji Idris Saidu. He said that the
N15.3 billion was released in 2011 for technical/vocational equipment. “This was done through the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) to the tertiary institutions,” he said. He, nonetheless, said that TETFund recognised the importance of laboratories and technologists in efforts to facilitate and enhance teaching and research activities in the area of scientific studies in tertiary institutions. Babayo said that the recognition kindled the Fund’s interest in providing intervention funds for the procurement of laboratory equipment for the tertiary institutions. “It has, therefore, become imperative that we match capacity-building programmes to funds allocated for
“The quantum of funds allocated to institutions has increased considerably. This year, amount for direct allocation to the beneficiaries has increased by 41 per cent for universities, 49 per cent for polytechnics and 48 per cent for colleges of education, compared to allocations in 2013...”
interventions in all tertiary institutions to ensure optimal benefit for the educational sector and the nation,’’ he said. All the same, some tertiary institutions have applauded TETFund for its intervention programmes, saying that the Fund had been their last resort in their efforts to boost capacity building and infrastructural development. Prof. Godwin Onu, the Rector, Federal Polytechnic , Oko, Anambra State, said that over 500 members of the polytechnic’s staff had benefitted from the TETFund’s capacity building programme via its oversees training scheme. “TETFund is one of the best innovations of the Federal Government to intervene in the funding of tertiary institutions in the country. “I also commend the Fund’s methods of engagement, disbursement and monitoring mechanism to ensure that funds are utilised by the institutions,’’ he added. Sharing similar sentiments, Dr Comfort Oko of the University of Calabar, lauded TETFund but underscored the need to adopt a more proactive approach to enable more institutions to adequately access TETFund’s funding. Describing TETFund as “the mainstay of tertiary institutions in Nigeria’’, Dr Barakat Abubakar, Provost, Federal College of Education (Technical), Gusau, nonetheless, appealed to the Fund to consider funding sports development programmes in tertiary institutions. Mr Gbade Adesola, the Registrar, Federal School of Survey (FSS), Oyo, however, decried the exclusion of monotechnics from the Fund’s coverage. “If the Fund is meant for tertiary education and we offer such programmes which other beneficiary institutions like polytechnics, colleges of education and universities similarly offer; we, therefore, deserve to be included in TETFund’s funding programme. “We also offer post-HND programmes which enable our students to be registered as surveyors,’’ he said. However, Mr. Usman Wali, the TETFund’s Desk Officer at the Federal College of Education, Gombe, said that the college had accessed N3.1 billion from 2009 to date. He said that part of the funds was used for sponsoring 115 lecturers for PhD. and Master’s degree programmes within the country and abroad. “In accessing TETFund’s funds, an institution is expected to decide on the project it wants to execute before communicating this to TETFund. It is also expected to include the bill of quantity and the designs for the project. “With the coming of TETFund, we are now financing the publication of journals and researches,’’ Wali said. Mr Niyi Oduwole, the Head of Corporate Affairs, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-
Iwoye, noted that in spite of the challenges, TETFund ought to be commended for improving tertiary education in Nigeria. “TETFund must be commended for what they are doing to improve the standard of tertiary education in Nigeria. ‘With TETFund, we have been able to boost our service delivery through the provision of infrastructure and capacity building programmes for both teaching and non-teaching staff. “Over 157 teaching and nonteaching staff have benefitted from the training programmes, while we received special intervention funds in 2013 to the tune of N350 million for building the Faculty of Science complex. “Between 2009 and 2012, we got intervention funds to the tune of N1.2 billion and this was used for the provision of a main library, entrepreneurship centre, mechatronic laboratory, lecture theatre and office furniture. If TETFund can continue in this regard, institutions in Nigeria will, in the long run, be able to function well as their foreign counterparts,’’ Oduwole said. As part of efforts to expand the access of the country’s tertiary institutions to funding, the Federal Government recently disbursed N135 billion from TETFund’s funds to public universities, polytechnics and colleges of educations nationwide. The Minister of Education, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, while disbursing the funds to the beneficiaries, said that each of the nation’s public universities would get N912 million, while N661 million would be given to each polytechnic. He added that N581 million would go to each of the nation’s colleges of education. “The quantum of funds allocated to institutions has increased considerably. This year, amount for direct allocation to the beneficiaries has increased by 41 per cent for universities, 49 per cent for polytechnics and 48 per cent for colleges of education, compared to allocations in 2013,” he said. Shekarau, however, warned that the Federal Government would not hesitate to sanction any institution which diverted the funds to any other purposes. “These are resources invested in our public institutions for public good. Institutions must, therefore, demonstrate fiscal responsibility and commitment to ethical standards,” he said. All in all, stakeholders in the education sector urge TETFund to sustain its tempo of intervention, while ensuring effective monitoring of projects’ implementation in order to justify the raison d’être behind its establishment. They, however, advise the Fund to make pragmatic efforts to remove all perceptible encumbrances limiting the access of tertiary institutions to its intervention funds. (NAN)
THE NIGERIAN
29
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10 2014
Society
Self-Discipline And Its Importance DISCIPLINE means order or code of behavior. It is the procreavity of upright and rectitude behavior. Self discipline refers to the ability to control one’s own feeling, desires, likes, and aspirations. Self-Discipline helps to overcome one’s own weaknesses. Life without Self-discipline is no life. We need be guided by rules. We have to be respectful to our elders. We must obey our seniors. This is because without discipline, one will end up in a tragedy. Self-Discipline is most needed for success in life. Discipline is a must whether we are at school or at a home. It is equally necessary whether we are in the office or on the playground. Our life, our society, our country or even the world will go astray without Discipline. So some sorts of Discipline are required everywhere. There is order in Nature. Even small disorder in the world of Nature leads to chaos. Self-Discipline has to be learnt at every walk of life. Childhood is the best period for it. The young mind learns things quickly and easily. At school, the students are taught to behave well. They are taught to respect their elders. Even on the playground the boys are taught to follow the rules of the games. So the student days are the most formative period in which the value of Self-Discipline can be learnt. A man is just like an animal without Self-Discipline. His life and actions become aimless. In the present age, lack of self-discipline is a great evil. It is growing in every walk of life. Both the young and the old do lawless acts. Today crimes and thefts are on the increase. People seem to have forgotten the value of Self-Discipline. Lack of employment is a major cause of indiscipline and unrest. Over population makes the situation still worse. Overcrowding in schools and colleges causes indiscipline. Poverty leads top disorder, unrest and indiscipline. In fact, SelfDiscipline is a good thing. It builds character. It develops strength and unity. It creates a sense of co-operation. So Self-Discipline must be taught from the very childhood. It is a key to success in life. The higher the sense of Self-Discipline, the better it is for the people and the country. Discipline is the process of
training oneself in obedience, self control, skill, etc. The controlled, ordered behaviour results from such training. Discipline is the basis of the whole universe. The solar system is governed by certain laws to maintain perfect harmony and beauty. Without this order, there would be utter chaos. Discipline is a basic requirement of a civilized society. Citizens of a disciplined nation work with a spirit of cooperation and unity. Aristotle has rightly said, “Discipline is obedience to rules formed by the society for the good of all. Discipline should be inculcated from a very young age. Talent and genius alone are not enough to achieve success. Discipline has an equally important role to play. Talents blossom in a disciplined person. Discipline in schools may reduce the violence and vandalism and help the students to focus better on their studies and career. Discipline is important even in the family. Parents must raise their children in a pleasant and disciplined atmosphere. They should teach them the right values. They should themselves lead an orderly life so that their children can learn from their example. Children who grow in disciplined and happy homes become responsible adults. All should follow the rules and regulations laid by law. Discipline means full realization of the sense of responsibility. This will bring progress and prosperity in the society and the nation. A proper and reasonable balance has to be stuck between liberty and discipline. The restraints or discipline must of course be designed for the social good and it is obvious that excessive restraints will inevitably lead to the erosion of human liberties. Another facet of discipline is that as a student what
BY- PIUS O. ABAH
should be our role in ensuring discipline in our society? our role as student in a society entails various things. Firstly, to concentrate on
animals and bacteria have. So, to make human life worthwhile, discipline has to be observed. Nature follows all laws of discipline. It is thus
studies so that we develop into well-educated individuals that makes significant contributions to the society in the future. Many today now take schooling as an entertainment ground where they can play around. It disheartening that students who should be dutiful academically now substitute seriousness for lacadacical attitude such as clubbing, partying, and the host of others. Secondly, to pass on whatever. Disciplines are the be-all and end all of life. Life without discipline is no life. Just as an unpruned garden is no garden but only a wild forest, life without discipline is mere existence which even inanimate objects and
that the sun rises and sets and the flowers bloom and wither. Discipline must be learnt early in life. It is in the fitness of things that the physical drills and sports have been made compulsory in some institutions. These must be made compulsory in all schools and colleges. The first lessons of disciplines are learnt at home when the child is taught to obey his parents, elders and teachers. When the children or young people play in the field or even in the street, they follow certain rules of team-spirit. This set of rules is a part of the spirit of discipline, provided these are followed in all sincerity. Discipline is not denial of liberty. In fact, discipline
and liberty go hand in hand. If we want liberty for ourselves, we have to grant liberty to others also as others may also demand it in equal measure.That can lead to chaos. So, we have to make a compromise and that is discipline. In other words, we have voluntary effort to curtail a part of liberty that we want and others have likewise to do so for our sake. Thus, discipline ensures smooth flow of life. “Discipline” comes from the Latin word” disciplinal”
for proper functioning of society and for becoming better citizens and more importantly better human beings. Discipline is extremely important in student life. They form the core of other virtues like punctuality, cleanliness and honesty. A disciplined student is a ruler of his own. As he can rule his own wishes and habits. Thus discipline lays foundation of achieving better results, outshining in class and more
which means instruction. In most general sense discipline refers to giving systematic instructions but in real life, discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment. Discipline directs work, making it fruitful and excellent. Discipline is the first law of nature. The sun rises and brings the day. It sets and there is night and the moon and the stars are visible. Man is also a unit of nature so just like nature if human beings do not observe discipline the entire social structure would fall like a house of cards. Discipline is necessary on all walks of life , school , college, workplace or society. Discipline therefore, is a way of life. It is necessary
importantly achieving higher goals in life, Goals higher than aimed. The decay of discipline in our society is reflected in violence , bad traffic sense in people and bad behaviour. One must listen to elders , follow others instruction and follow good habits to become disciplined. Self discipline is the major aspect of discipline, it is the regulation by oneself on one’s own heart and mind. This helps to achieve our goals and respect in society. It is rightly said” He that cannot obey, cannot command.” But self discipline is only way to achieve complete Discipline. Discipline is necessary for all achievement, especially great achievements. Without discipline there can be no scientific advances e.g. penicillin, entrepreneurial, industrial or technological achievement, no massproduced motor car, no settled system of law and order, no literary achievement and no exploration and development of a new land because all of these matters require the trained and balanced minds and bodies. Sir Smith has rightly said “Discipline is the refining fire by which talent becomes ability.” So we must
“A man is just like an animal without Self-Discipline. His life and actions become aimless. In the present age, lack of self-discipline is a great evil. It is growing in every walk of life.”
THE NIGERIAN
30
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014
Owan East Set To Clinch Labour Cup
• Courtney Dike
NCAA Rules Why Courtney Dike Refused Nigeria Bonus
NEWS broke during the past week that Courtney Dike had refused to collect the $7000 bonus that accrued to her from being a member of the Nigeria Women U20 side that reached the final of the tournament in Canada. Dike scored two goals for Nigeria, including the tournamentís fastest ever goal, as the Super Falcons finished in second place behind Germany at the 2014 Fifa U20 Womenís World Cup. A presidential bonus offered to her was rejected according to a Nigeria Football Federation official. “When we called her mother to confirm the delivery of the allowances, she declined it and insisted that the opportunity of playing for Nigeria was all the reward the family needed,î said Mohammed Sanusi, the NFFís head of competitions. The 19-year-old student of Oklahoma State University only did the right thing in the circumstances due to her status as an amateur athlete on a scholarship, according to rules governing the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) in the United States. Among the rules for amateur athletes under the NCAA, Dike could not have accepted the $7000 given to her by Nigeria because amateurs are not supposed to be paid ìsalary for participating in athleticsî neither are they allowed to be paid ìprize money above actual and necessary expenses” among many other rules on the
NCAA website. Hence, Dikeís decision, which has split opinion in the Nigerian community, was not, to spite the NFF and neither was it about her being more patriotic than other Nigerian players that accepted their bonuses. According to sports management expert Patrick Omo-Osagie, if Dike had accepted the $7000 bonus, she would have had bigger issues like losing her almost $35,000 annual scholarship which enables her to attend the Oklahoma State University and play for the Cowgirls. “The $7000 is considered as payment for her sport; the only way she could have taken that money and not be in violation of NCAA regulations, is to have taken the money as a daily allowance during the competition,î wrote Omo-Osagie on his Facebook page. “NCAA rules are very funny and unfair, but the payment was so public that if she took it or her family took it, it will be a violation of NCAA rules and she will be sanctioned or might even loose her athletic scholarship. ìShe did the right thing for rejecting the money and we should praise her for that, for she did not try to break the rules she signed on. If the money was refused for any
other reason besides NCAA rules, then I need to know.î Professional athletes are not blocked from accepting bonuses and payments but there are few roles for professionalism in female football in America which could have denied Dike much more in scholarship fees on the long run. Some commentators have already tried to juxtapose Dikeís decision with the Super Eaglesí bonus row at the
World Cup, but it is evident that these two are different circumstances. Dike did the right thing according to the rules of the NCAA and nothing more. If she were a pro-athlete, she would have taken the bonus because she rightly earned it. If she continues to play as well as she is doing, there will be many more bonuses to benefit from after her collegiate days are over.
THE quest by Owan East Local Government male football team to clinch the second edition of Labour Cup soccer tournament began on a bright note when the Ijegbai boys defeated Christian FC, Benin City by two unreplied goals in a group A opener over the weekend. Owan East is hosting the second edition of the under 18 boys and girls football tournament organized by FEYSOC in honour of one of Nigeria’s foremost labour leader Late Michael Imoudu. Teams from the 18 local government areas of Edo state and some neighbouring states are taking part in the youth soccer fiesta which promises plenty of football thrills and exciting moments for football enthusiasts in the state. Speaking during the official opening ceremony at Afuze, the Supervisor for Youth and Sports, Hon Tunde Eseigbe who stood in for the council chairman, Hon (Barr) Jimoh Ijegbi said the present administration in Owan East believes in the development of youth sports as a panacea
East Africans Dominate 10th Obudu Mountain Race THE 10th edition of the Obudu International Mountain Race ended at the Ranch Resort, Obudu, on Saturday, with Kenyaís Kemboi Hilary Kipkorir winning the men race with a time of 1;02:34 minutes.
NNPC Junior Tennis Circuit Ends In Kaduna
THE NNPC Junior Tennis Circuit on Saturday came to an end at the Murtala Square Sporting Complex ,Kaduna, with final matches played in the under 10, 12, and 14 categories, respectively. Abdullahi Ajanaku of Lagos won the boys under 10 Category by beating Richard Gabriel 9-3 while Usman Kushimo of Ogun State defeated Usman Garba of Kano 9-7, to clinch the trophy in the boys under 12 Category. Iye Onoja of Kaduna defeated her sister, Neku Onoja, also of Kaduna 9-5 in the Girls under 12 Category. In the Boys under 14 Category, Gabriel Friday of Kaduna thrashed Benjamin Ayuba of Kaduna by 9 sets to 0. Christopher Itodo of
Kaduna beat Christopher Bulus of Lagos by 9-5 in the boys under 16 Category. The high point of the final day, was the match between Angel Macleod and Marylove Edwards in the Girls under 16 Category, which saw Macleod defeating her opponent 9-5. Macleod, who had featured in a number of competitions, said defeating Marylove did not come easy. “Though the last game I played against her last year was tough, but today’s game was tougher,íí she said. Marylove, on her part, said: “I do not feel bad despite the loss. I am satisfied with the level of my game today.
to youths involvement in social vices. He said the Barr Ijegbailed administration is number one in sports, having won many sporting laurels which include the Governor’s Cup, Skoda cup in Ghana amongst others. He said the local government council will continue to give priority to grassroots sports, adding that it is the way forward for sports development and engaging the minds of youths on positive activities. Hon Eseigbe praised the organizers of the Federation tournament, the federation of Youth Soccer Clubs (FEYSOC) for their consistence, steadfastness and professionalism and sued its sustenance. He promised that the council will ensure a hitchfree event. On his part the sports officer of the local government area, Mr. Edukpe Ohiole thanked Hon. (Barr) Jimoh Ijegbai for providing all the logistics to stage the tournament in the locality this year.
Also speaking on the championships, Godwin Kienka, Coordinator, International Tennis Academy, said that he was impressed with the children performance of the children in the competition. He said that the academy had achieved a lot in training the children in the past ten years, and adding that the next challenge was to prepare the players for the ATP level, where they could be ranked at the age of 16. “By the time they are 19, they will have enough wisdom, knowledge and skills to begin to accumulate points for ATP ranking. A total of 120 children participated in this yearís NNPC Junior Tennis Circuit in Kaduna.
Genet Yalew of Ethiopia won the female category of the race when she returned with the time of 1:01:20 minutes to become the first woman to win the championship back-to-back, having also won the ninth edition. Abebe Dinkesa of Etthiopia, who came second in the ninth edition, also clocked 1:03:09 minutes, while Kiplimo Philip of Uganda clocked 1:03:19 minutes to win the second and third positions in the male categories of the race respectively. Chessang Stella of Uganda won the second position, while Ababel Yesshaneh of Ethiopia came third respectively in the female category with a time of 1:01:31 and 1;03:03 minutes. Nigeran nationale, Emmanuel Gyang, and Cletus Eyo won the finisher and second best finisher in the male category with 1:15:23 and1:18; 47 minutes. Eyo, who is from Cross River, clocked the 19th position, while Gyang was 15th in the raceís ranking in the 11-kilometre race for men. Deborah Pam from Plateau, who came in sixth in the female category with a time of 1:10:09 minutes was adjudged the best finisher in the female category of Saturdayís race.
THE NIGERIAN
31
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10 2014
African Nations Cup In Jeopardy As THE 2015 African Nations Cup is in jeopardy af- Morocco Refuse To Host ter Morocco announced on Saturday that they are no longer willing to host the January tournament this year because of fears over the spread of Ebola. Morocco had previously asked to postpone the event, but African Football Confederation (CAF) rejected that request. CAF then set a deadline of Saturday for Morocco to confirm they will host the tournament, but the nation’s sports ministry declined, sticking to their request to postpone the tournament until 2016. In a lengthy statement posted on their Facebook pager, the ministry wrote, “Because of the occurrence of a force majeure, namely the risk of the pandemic Ebola virus and the adverse and uncontrollable consequences that could result... Morocco is making the request to postpone the African Nations Cup
2015/2016. “With no other nation having taken the opportunity to take over hosting rights from Morocco, CAF officials face the prospect of agreeing to Morocco’s demands to delay the tournament until 2016, or cancel it at great financial cost.” CAF, which must now either choose to cancel the event or move it to another country, is due to respond to Morocco’s request at an executive committee meeting in Cairo next week. Morocco face a ban from future tournaments for withdrawing as hosts. Libya have already withdrawn as the host of the 2017 finals. The virus still rages in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. Morocco are concerned over perceptions that could impact the nation’s tourism industry. Guinea and Sierra Leone
No ‘Serious’ Title Rival To Bayern Munich, Says Jupp Heynckes FORMER Bayern Munich coach Jupp Heynckes cannot see anybody getting close to challenging Pep Guardiola’s side. Bayern opened up a seven-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga with a 40 win at Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday and while Wolfsburg and Borussia Monchengladbach could both reduce that to four points on Sunday, Heynckes does not see either as legitimate title contenders. “Gladbach and Wolfsburg just aren’t far along enough yet to have the self-confidence, security and quality to say they can win the league,” he said in Munich, reports sport1.de. “I certainly don’t believe they do anyway. I cannot see any serious rival to Bayern Munich.” Heynckes led Bayern to a historic Treble two years ago, winning the Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal and Champions League before retiring. The 69-year-old also previously worked for Gladbach and he has praised the way they have come on in recent years, under Lucien Favre.
“They’ve developed really well and have a good playing philosophy and are tactically well schooled, and that is of course down to their coach,” he added.
are both still eligible to qualify but at the bottom of their respective groups. They have played their home qualifiers in different countries to minimise the risk of exposure, Previously affected by the virus, Senegal — whose team are in contention to qualify — was declared Ebola-free on Oct. 17, while Nigeria — the reigning African champions and struggling to qualify — was given the same status by the World Health Organisation three days later.
• Wayne Rooney
Wayne Rooney Can Handle Captaincy Pressure - Roy Hodgson ENGLAND manager Roy Hodgson remains confident Wayne Rooney can handle the weight of captaining both club and country, with Peter Shilton’s international appearance record firmly in his sights.
Rooney is set to join England’s centurions club when, as expected, he will lead the side out at Wembley for the Euro 2016 qualifier against Slovenia on Nov. 15, which is likely to be in front of a sell-out crowd of 80,000. The 29-year-old took over the England armband following the retirement of Steven Gerrard after the World Cup, and was also the
choice to lead the Manchester United side under new manager Louis van Gaal. While Hodgson accepts such expectation can sit heavy on some shoulders, he is confident Rooney will continue to rise to the challenge for a few seasons yet and could challenge goalkeeper Shilton’s landmark England appearance target at 125.
Realís two-goal lead just after the break. Sergio Ramos, Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema also all netted in the 5-1 romp at the Santiago Bernabeu, but Ancelotti singled out Kroos as having impressed him the most. “Kroos was the best player on the pitch and got his first goal,” he told reporters. “I’m surprised he’s at such
a high level. His goal came on the break and he is free to go forward. When he does, Luka Modric holds. They’re a good pair and are playing well.” Ronaldo scored his 18th La Liga goal of the season with a little help from some suspect goalkeeping, but the Portugal international had looked frustrated before eventually finding the net seven minutes from time. Ancelotti did not think there was a problem with Ronaldo’s performance, though, and he highlighted the defensive work put in by the Real talisman and his attacking colleagues. “I didn’t see Cristiano as anxious,” he added. “It’s not a problem if he doesn’t score in a game. A 4-4-2 changes his work on the defensive side but he always attacks down the left. “I appreciate the work of the forwards, especially defensively. That’s what the team needs. They all did well and itís nothing new that Cristiano or Gareth Bale scored.”
Ancelotti Salutes Kroos Display THE Germany international arrived from Bayern Munich during the close-season and has quickly become an integral part of Ancelotti’s midfield, forming a formidable partnership with Luka Modric. Kroos scored his first goal for the club on Saturday, producing a fine finish into the bottom-right corner from 25 yards to beat Cristian Alvarez in the Rayo net, restoring
• Toni Kroos
“I think Wayne is in a very good place at the moment, and he has been a very good player over the past couple of years,” said Hodgson. “I made an effort to meet him before I was officially appointed in that two weeks spell where I was doubling up as West Brom manager. “I was interested in [learning] what am I going to meet here. Will it be someone who is burning to play? Or someone who will take it as ‘well, I will do you a favour for a bit longer if it suits me.’ I met the man who was burning to play, and that is the way he has been all along. “Since he has been made captain, I think he has taken an even further step, both at Manchester United and with us. “The big question is, of course, as one of the few seniors left in the team, absolutely guaranteed if you like a place in the team, the same at Manchester United, I worry the sense of responsibility is going to weigh him down. “We do all we can, myself and the coaching staff, to make sure that will not happen with us, but of course when you take something seriously, it is all very well telling someone to leave your problems behind and don’t worry about them, to get on with your life, it is easy to say, but very hard to do sometimes.” Hodgson added: “That is the danger — sometimes when players take on responsibility, they take on too much and it is to the detriment of their own game.
“We have seen Steven do that on occasions in the past — he cares so much for England, for Liverpool, sometimes they take it all on their shoulders. I think that is very unfair. “I don’t care whether you are a captain or Lionel Messi or [Cristiano] Ronaldo, I don’t think you can be expected to take all the responsibility on your shoulders. “What you should be doing is doing your bit and being as good as you are and inspiring the other players in the team. “At the moment Wayne is coping with it well, but we will have to keep an eye on the situation, as will Louis, to make sure it does not weigh him down. “But until that time comes we have just got to get on with it and be glad that he is doing the job that we as coaching staff want him to do, and ensure that the other players know their jobs so well that they are not relying on him to get them out of trouble.” Rooney certainly seems to have enough left in the tank to push on through to the 2018 World Cup in Russia, by which time he could well have overtaken Sir Bobby Charlton’s 49-goal international record. “He is just 29, so to be honest players can play so much longer than in the past if they look after themselves,” said Hodgson. “If we are generous and give him another five years, which is not beyond the bounds of possibility, he should beat Peter’s record.”
THE NIGERIAN
32
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014
CMYK
Campaore: Ouster Of “IN these traumatic times the best duty any true patriot can do for his fatherland is to challenge the status quo in the harshest way possible, because the best liberation is that achieved from within. No external power can liberate the people…from the deepest abyss of despair, sorrow, anguish and hopelessness” -Quoted from Nowinta’s bookWHERE WE ARE I have deliberately tried to limit my weekly analysis or discussions to issues bordering us in the Federal Republic of Nigeria for some years now. This is because never before are we being confronted with nagging issues of development, insecurity, democracy and poverty etc, particularly since civilian rule came on board again on May 29, 1999. In the early nineties I used to maintain a regular column tagged “Foreign focus”, in the Nigerian Observer newspapers, where I had the marvelous opportunity to thrash various issues globally & continentally as they were being thrown up. That column actually enabled me to come to terms frequently with shakers and makers of world events. It was during that scintillating period that I first discussed Blaise Campaore who had decided in connivance with the mortal enemies of Africa and third world countries in 1987, to snuff life out of his precious and bosom friend-Thomas Sankara, in Quagadougou, Burkina-Faso, via a bloody military coup. To refresh the memory of readers of this column today-President Thomas Sankara, a young, vibrant, focused, dynamic, fearless, uncompromising revolutionary leader of Upper-Volta (renamed
Burkina Faso-land of upright men, by Sankara) was on his way to reposition his country through charismatic and pragmatic leadership before, Blaise Campaore, suddenly staged one of the ruthless and mindless military coup d’états on the soil of Africa, that ended and derailed Sankara’s revolution. 27 years ago, my heart sank as I wept bitterly within the recess of my soul, because a criminal, a useless conspirator and an arch enemy of Africa succeeded in terminating the progress of one of the poorest countries in Africa. Then the senseless elimination of Thomas Sankara reminded me of the cruel machinations of neocolonialists and imperialists, who had violently plucked the lives of Africa’s immortals like Patrice Lumumba of Belgian Congo; Samoral Machel of Mozambigue; Edwardo Mondlane; Ruth first; Amilcar Cabral, Tom Mboya to name a few. 27 years ago, Blaise Campaore murdered an innocent man, an extraordinary political messiah and proceeded to ride rough shod on helpless and hapless citizens. One had thought he had repented, amend his ways and do the right thing, even after transmuting from a military dictator to a civilian despot. But, Blaise Campaore, instead, chose to go the inglorious avenue of demented rulers like IdiAmin Dada (Uganda); Mobutu Sese-seko (Zaire, now, Democratic Republic of Congo; General Sani
A Maggot
Abacha (Nigeria); Robert Mugabe (Zimbabwe); Hosni Mubarak (Egypt); Muamar Gadaffi (Libya); Guassingbe Eyadema (Togo) etc. Therefore, I was never surprised when the opposition parties and leaders in Burkina-Faso, began series of protests several weeks ago, to flush out President Blaise Campaore’s nauseating
stamped his people with excruciating poverty and wanted to continue to run the show of mediocrity, waste, caprice and cant? Blaise Campaore to me is even worse than a maggot, a disgrace to humanity and he should be made to pay dearly for his murderous rule that reduced governance to incompetence, impunity and ridicule. What do we
Campaore had thrown in the towel of power and ran into exile, every effort should be made by the opposition political parties in Burkina- Faso to seek his extradition back to the country to account for his crimes. The people of Burkina-Faso must be
Blaise Campaore ambition of altering the country’s Constitution in order to insert a clause that will make him run for another tenure in office, even, after 27 years of political insanity and retrogression. When I saw and monitored the crisis in Burkina Faso, with about one million protesters (out of 18 million people) constantly on the streets, calling for the end of Campaore’s madness, I knew the end was in sight for one of Africa’s extremely worthless rulers- a maggot. What do we call a man, who had the best of political office, dragged his country into the mud of underdevelopment, and
tag a character that waited until the Parliament building was attacked and set ablaze, before he hastily promised to midwife a transition to democracy within a year? Even, as Blaise
commended with wild applause for standing up against a maggot like Blaise Campaore; they have truly proved beyond any semblance of doubt that sovereignty absolutely belongs to the people.
This is also calling on the organizers of the recent protests in Quagadougou to ensure that their democratic push for electoral sanity in their country is not subverted by the military leaders who have stepped in to fill the vacuum left with the disgraceful ouster of President Campaore Lieutenant- Colonel Yacouba Isaac Zida (who has claimed leadership) and his cohorts must never be allowed to steal their pyrrhic victory; they should be shown the way as soon as possible, as they did to Campaore. After all Burkina- Faso‘s Constitution states explicitly that the head of the National Assembly steps in as president, when a sitting president vacates the scene. African Union’s (AU) leaders and western powers should assist the recent efforts of the people of Burkina-Faso, so that the country can access multiparty democracy that will throw up people oriented leaders as soon as possible. Nowinta, wrote WHERE WE ARE: A CALL FOR D E M O C R AT I C REVOLUTION IN NIGERIA.
“When I saw and monitored the crisis in Burkina Faso, with about one million protesters (out of 18 million people) constantly on the streets, calling for the end of Campaore’s madness, I knew the end was in sight for one of Africa’s extremely worthless rulers- a maggot.”
Printed and published by Bendel Newspapers Company Limited, 24, Airport Road, P.M.B. 1334 Benin City. Telephone; Lagos: 01 4930929, Benin: 052 257492, 257531 Editor: BARR. SOLOMON IMOHIOSEN (KSJI)-(07030699646), Deputy General Manager-Marketing (08023457566), Assistant General Manager-Advertisement (08023808856) Lagos Office: 25A Alli Street, Off Tinubu Square, Lagos Island, Lagos. Abuja Office: Floor 1, Edo House, 75 Ralph Shodeinde Street, Central Business District, Abuja. Tel/Fax: 09-5237631. All correspondence to: 24 Airport Road, Benin City. E-mail: nigerianobserver@yahoo.com (ISSN 0331-2674)