Nigerian observer 23 07 2013

THE NIGERIAN

The Nigerian

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TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

PUBLISHED SINCE MAY 29, 1968 • Vol . 38 • NO. 280 • TUESDAY, JULY 23, 20 13 • N 100.00

Perspective Pages 16 - 17 Resolving Crisis Of Fiscal Federalism And Control Of Oil Revenue In Nigeria

What Role For Subsidiarity Principle?

Reversion Of Land To Govt

Commissioner urges community to maintain peace BENIN CITY – Edo State Commissioner, Ministry of Lands and Survey, Barr. OsikhenaBoih Donald has appealed to Oregbeni community to maintain peace and be law abiding to ensure

harmonious relationship with the Military authority especially with respect to the former Army Barracks in the area.

In a press statement

yesterday, Commissioner said that the land on which former Army Barrack was located had been formally released to Edo State Government.

He added that talks were on to realize the physical transfer of the said land, pointing out that the Army authority in Edo State had been very friendly and co-operative Continues on page 2

2015

NUTRITIONAL HEALTH AND DIETETICS

Page 14

Cholesterol Madness

Pray for Nigeria, Oshiomhole

BENIN CITY - Governor Adams Oshiomhole has charged the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN to speak out against the ills of the society, stand on the path of truth and pray for the nation as we approach 2015.

Government House in The Governor made Benin City the appeal yesterday The Governor said, when the National “for me, Nigeria is Executive members of treading the ground that the Christian Association might threaten the of Nigeria (CAN), led by foundation of our its General-Secretary, existence. So I want CAN Rev Musa Asake, having shown courage, representing the CAN having spoken out even President, Pastor Ayo in the days of military Oritsejafor paid him a dictatorship, now in a courtesy visit at the democracy, we need more of that courage.

STOP OIL BUNKERING

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· · · · · ·

People of Edo State, Government has discovered that inspite of measures taken by security agents in the State to stop illegal oil bunkering, perpetrators of this shady business have continued unabated.

The State Government is warning all those still involved in oil bunkering in the State to, in their own interest, stop this shady and dubious business forthwith as stiffer penalties await them.

Any person or group of persons caught in the illegal business will be dealt with according to the law.

All vehicles and equipment used will be burnt.

Be patriotic, report any person suspected to be in the business of oil bunkering to the authorities concerned.

Join Government to rid the State of enemies of progress.

Edo State must continue to move forward.

This message is from the Edo State Ministry of Information and Orientation

tells Xtian leaders

“Things happening around, for me, represent very dangerous signals.

There are people who do not wish the country well and unfortunately there

are men and women who cannot claim to have a future and

messing up the future for everybody else. It is the lot of the Christian community to speak out where it matters, so that those who are deaf can listen and those who are blind may have their sight Continues on page 2

Human traffickers may get 10-yr jail term

By JOSES SEDE ABUJA - If the proposed anti human trafficking laws materializes, traffickers on conviction are in for ten years minimum imprisonment in addition to fines.

This followed opening of a joint public hearing on the Bill For An Act to Repeal the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Law Enforcement Administration Act 2003.

Declaring open the public hearing yesterday, Senate President, David Mark noted that modem slavery still exist at home, factories and even behind closed doors in the cities.

He therefore noted that the public hearing represented another milestone in the national campaign to take the fight against human trafficking to a higher level.

The government tough stance is informed by Continues on page 2

VISIT: Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State (left) receiving Rev. Musa Asake, General Secretary, Christian Association of Nigeria and Rt. Rev. Peter Imasuen (right) during a courtesy visit of the National Executive members of the Christian Association of Nigeria, to Government House in Benin City yesterday. Photo: CHARITY OZIGBO-ESERE.

Capacity building

FG gives N50bn

ABUJA - The Minister of Power, Prof.

Chinedu Nebo, yesterday

said the Federal Government gave N50 billion to the National

Power Training Institute of Nigeria (NAPTIN) for its electrical engineering

training.

This is contained in a statement issued Continues on page 2

have called on lawmakers in the Rivers State House of Assembly to amend the

2010 Public Procurement law in order to ensure proper accountability and transparency in all

procurement of goods and services in the state.

The civil society group is made up of Africa

Economic Justice (ANEEJ), Institute of Human Rights and Continues on page 2

ANEEJ wants Rivers Procurement Network for BENIN CITY - Civil Law amended Environment and Society organizations

THE NIGERIAN

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TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

News

ANEEJ wants Rivers Procurement Law transparency in the it would invoke the Continued from page 1 amended that procurement of goods and Freedom of Information Act to Humanitarian Law, Climate services in the state.

Change Network, Community Conciliation and Development Initiative, Community Environment Development Network and Universal Peer Review. In a communiqué jointly signed by the group after a Town Hall meeting organized in Port Harcourt recently by ANEEJ with support from EED Germany and made available to newsmen in Benin City, the group said the process with which the Public Procurement Law was passed into law is flawed with abnormalities.

It therefore called for an amendment of the law by the Rivers State House of Assembly for proper accountability and

Furthermore, the civil society group said they observed that lack of public awareness has contributed to non effective implementation

r estored

so that together we will build a nation that is God fearing and where the people will benefit from the resources that God so generously endowed us with,” he noted.

The Governor said “we need a lot of activism as we approach 2015, that a nation is not like a private

Human traffickers may get 10-yr jail term

Commissioner urges community to maintain peace Continued from page 1

in the process of the physical hand over.

The commissioner was informed by Oregbeni community during a recent courtesy visit that they were being harassed by the Army.

He however advised the community to maintain peace and live in harmony with the military.

Earlier in their response, they thanked the Comrade Governor for the giant stride of being able to revert the land from the Federal Government back to Edo State Government and the good people of Edo State.

enable enquires into the level of compliance with the public procurement law and as well put monitoring mechanism in place to monitor the implementation.

Pray for Nigeria, Oshiomhole tells Xtian Continued from page 1 leaders

Continued from page 1

what the Sen. Umar Dahiru led joint panel of the National Assembly described as serious threat to national security and one that denigrates human dignity and our collective common value system and norms.

In the proposed legislative piece, definition of trafficking has been broadened to include activities such as procurement or recruitment of any person for organ harvesting.

It has also been worked to provide for greater integration of counter-trafficking strategies by including a wider range of state security agencies and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs).

Speaking at the occasion, House of Representatives Chairman of Human Rights Committee, Hon. Beni Lar, stressed the need to make provision for holding the parents and/or wards of minors criminally liable when they fail to verify where their children are being taken, when such failures are negligent.

She stressed that the problem of human trafficking in Nigeria is real and compelling, adding, “it is multifaceted and one that violates fundamental human rights, increases global health risks, contributes to transnational organized crime, and undermines national, regional and international

of the law adding that, the people of Rivers State have not felt the presence of the Bureau for Public Procurement in the state.

The group however said

security and stability”.

More so, Hon. Lar regretted that Nigeria was currently a source, transit and destination country for women and children subjected to forced prostitution, adding that Nigerians boys were often trafficked for purpose of street vending, domestic service, mining, stone quarries, agriculture and begging.

To this end, she asserted that the time to redress the problem was now, stressing, “this is the time to address it, for if not now, when? And if not us, who?”

enterprise, that only the people are permanent, leaders will necessary come and go and that is the promise of democracy, we need you to help all of us.

Right now many of us are worried about the goings on in the country, I cannot carry protest now because I will be misunderstood and my heart is in the mood of protesting, so that my own children will not inherit the iniquities of the evil we see every day.”

He urged Christians to continue to pray for the continued existence of the nation, saying “it is the prayers of our Christian brothers and Muslim brothers that keep Nigeria going”, noting that “we are in very challenging times and we are buffeted with a good number of elite entrusted with state powers at various levels privatising those powers and behaving

as if they are gods and dealing ruthlessly with those who are powerless and applying the resources in a manner that is offensive to the poor”, he added Earlier, the General Secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Rev. Asake representing the President, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor expressed joy at the achievements of the governor in the delivery to the people of the state.

“We in the CAN are happy with what you are doing in Edo State, our men and women continue to give us pleasant reports of your great support for the church and your delivery of democracy dividends and people oriented projects in Education, Health, youth empowerment and infrastructural development.

“We have come to thank you and pray for you for the good work you are doing. God who brought you here will never let you down,” he added.

FG gives N50bn

Continued from page 1

yesterday in Abuja by Mrs. Kande Daniel, the minister’s Special Adviser on Media and Communication.

The statement said that the minister made this known during a presentation on Manpower Requirement, Cost Implications and NAPTIN’s Training Capacity at the 29th Meeting of the Board of Niger Delta Power Holding Company of Nigeria (NDPHC) and operators of NIPP at the State House, Abuja on July 19.

According to him, NAPTIN currently has 500 students who are about to graduate from the institute.

He stressed the need for adequate funding, adding that N50 billion had already been disbursed to the institute.

Nebo added that the sum was capable of bridging the gap in electrical engineering programmes in the education sector of the country.

The statement quoted the vice president as earlier saying that the institute was established to take care of personnel training in the power sector.

He said that NAPTIN would now be able to train the much-needed manpower in the power sector, stressing that it would be operating the power plants even after their privatisation.

Sambo, however, said the institution should be upgraded to attract the patronage of other companies within and outside the country, adding that the private sector

should be involved.

He expressed dissatisfaction over inadequate funds from the M u l t i - Ye a r - Ta r i f f - O r d e r (MYTO) and inability of generation companies to pay for gas.

He called for a meeting next week to be attended by Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Mr. Sam Amadi, the Chairman of the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and other stakeholders.

He frowned at some contractors who had not completed their work, especially the work at the Gwagwalada sub-station which he said was 90 per cent completed.

Sambo said that although the time table for the inauguration of the substation had been drawn, adding, “I cannot take Mr President to commission the power project that will fail immediately after commissioning.

“This administration wants to deliver electricity to Nigerians.’’

LAGOS - No fewer than 41 suspected drug traffickers were apprehended with 253.390 kilogrammes of narcotics with an estimated street value of N2.3 billion by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

The NDLEA Head of Public Affairs, Mitchell Ofoyeju who disclosed this on Sunday said that the drugs were intercepted between January and June 2013, with 39 males and two females arrested.

According to him, “The command also won 53 cases most of which were charged to court in 2012”.

Giving the breakdown of the drug, NDLEA Airport Commander, Hamza Umar said the bulk of the drugs were methamphetamine, saying “in the first half of the year, the airport command successfully seized 253.390kg of various illegal drugs.

Methamphetamine alone

weighed 169.290kg. This was followed by cannabis with 47.230kg. Cocaine is 31.475kg and heroin 5.395kg. In all, 41 persons were arrested comprising 39 males and two females”.

Further analysis showed that in the first quarter, 172.175kg of drugs were intercepted while 81.215kg were seized in second quarter.

Out of this total, 19.195kg were detected during inward screening operations while 234.195kg were seized during outward operations.

Seizures of methamphetamine and cannabis weighing 169.290kg and 47.230kg respectively were meant for export.

“It is pertinent to note that the airport seizure is a reflection of the fact that both methamphetamine and cannabis are locally produced in the country.

“The development has made

NDLEA arrests 41 drug

By RAHEEM IBRAHIM suspects

Oba Palace suspends Enogie

BENIN CITY – The Enogie of Utekon community, Chief Eguagie Omoruyi Imasuen has been suspended as Enogie of the community with immediate effect.

This was made known through a release signed by the secretary, Benin Traditional Council, Frank Irabor on the authority of the

Benin Monarch, Omo N’Oba N’Edo, Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Erediauwa.

The suspension is sequel to the Enogie’s disregard for Benin customs and tradition and undermining the authority of the Oba.

AAU gets new governing council

By MERCY IYAHEN

BENIN CITY – Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has approved the constitution of the Governing Council of Ambrose Alli University (AAU) Ekpoma.

A relase signed by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Prof.

Julius Ihonvbere listed the members to include Prof.

Gregory Akenzua, Chairman while members include Prof.

T.O. K. Audu, Dr. Andrew Isegun, and Prof. Tom. Imobighe.

Other members are Mr. Andrew Okwilagbe, Dr. Esohe Jacobs, Prince Tony Omoaghe and Dr. G. Ogboghodor.

According to the release, their appointment takes immediate effect.

Kidnapping Bill scales 2nd reading

By KEN ABU/WINIFRED OSASOBO BENIN CITY – A bill for a law to prohibit the act of kidnapping and the committing of any act as an explicit or implicit condition for the release of a kidnapped person in Edo State, was yesterday given its second reading on the floor of parliament.

Leading the debate in favour of the bill, the Minority Whip and Chief sponsor of the bill, Hon. Kingsley Ehigiamusor stated that the bill seeks to outlaw kidnapping in the state, noting that the sanctity of Human Life’s is too sacred that sterner measures must be put in place to preserve it.

He noted that the bill would eradicate insecurity in the state as well as protect the society, saying kidnapping is inimical to the progress and development of any society hence the death penalties advocated for kidnappers.

Contributing to the debate on the bill the Majority Leader, Hon. Philip Shaibu described the deliberations on the bill as timely as it would help solve the security problem in the state and the dehumanizing torture victims are subjected to when kidnapped.

He further said that there are no visible investments in any society plagued by challenges of insecurity which the bill seeks to address and invariably making the state investorfriendly.

On his part, the Chief Whip, Hon. Foly Ogedengbe noted that the primary responsibility of government is to protect lives and property in the state, hence parliament has a statutory duty to protect the people of the state from criminals who unleash mayhem, terror and torture of unimaginable magnitude, by passing the bill to check kidnapping though.

Other lawmakers who

contributed to the debate included Hon. Victor Edoror, Hon. Elizabeth Ativie, Hon. Patrick Osayimwen, Hon. Paul Ohonbamu and Hon. Abdulrazak Momoh who spoke in favour of the bill condemned the vicious act of kidnapping, describing it as an unholy occupation which youths engage in for quick money.

They noted that the inherent potentials of youths that would have been channeled towards meaningful development is rather tailored towards kidnapping.

The speaker of the House Hon. Uyi Igbe while summing up deliberations on the bill, re-echoed the views of the other lawmakers and therefore referred the bill to the House Standing Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters for functioning.

The committee’s report is expected to be submitted to the House within 24hrs ahead of its passage into law.

Also, during yesterday’s plenary session, the receipt of a letter from the state Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole requesting parliament to confirm the nomination of six nominees as members of the Edo State Information Communication and Technology Agency (ICTA).

The speaker, Hon. Uyi Igbe in his response, directed the nominees to forward 30 copies of their Curriculum Vitae (C.V’s) to the House Committee on Rules, Business and Government House within 24 hours.

The committee is expected to screen and forward its report to the House.

The nominees include Miss. Yemi Kerry – Managing Director; Donald Omorodion, Eni Anabor, Peace Onaiwu; Kenny Abioma and Igbinanmwan Abieyuwa as Directors.

THE NIGERIAN

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TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

Inside Edo Otaru Urges Govt On Fin. Mgt

Senators, Others Pay Last Respect To Legogie

By MORRISON HAYBLE

EKPERI (ETSAKO CENTRAL)- Political and business associates friends and well wishers of the late former Deputy Senate President Senator Albert Osuma Legogie converged weekend at Ugbekpe Ekperi Etsako Central Local Government Area of Edo State his home town to pay their last respects to a man described by many as a focused politician, epitome of knowledge and of a selfless personality.

Amongst the front liners at the funeral ceremony were a delegation from the National Assembly led by Senator George Akume who represented the senate president senator David Mark, delegation front Edo State government, Traditional Rulers and a cross section of the public who demonstrated solidarity for the Legogie family.

At a crowed thanksgiving service that climaxed the three day burial ceremony, held at the saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church, Azukhala /Ugbekpe-Ekperi, the parish Priest, Rev. father Lawrence Adoralo whose homily centred on the need for hospital and heeding the words of God lamented that people were pre-occupied with materialism that they no longer have time for God. Rev. father Adoralo entreated the congregation and the family of the deceased to strive hard, no matter how busy to return to God and realign with Him so that He could direct their ways.

While admonishing the congregation to be more concerned about spiritual exercise that would take them to God, the clergy reminded them of how Abraham entertained strangers unknown to him that they were Gods angels. He therefore stressed the need for hospitality to one another saying it remains the essence of life.

In a remark, eldest son of the decease, Mr. Victor Legogie described his late father as a humble, yet strong in character and a loving fair politician who said the need to encourage generational

change.

Victor Legogie spoke of his late father as a man who wished for a better Nigeria and regretted that this dream could not be realized before he passed the expressed hope that with collective approach, the country could experience development, noting however that the desired change could be made possible if all Nigerians contributed their input to the building of the Nigeria nation.

Late Albert Legogie belonged to several professional bodies including the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA before he became a senator in 1992.

By MORRISON HAYBLE

Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State (right), Barr. Festus Keyamu and Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu at the funeral mass for the late Senator Pius Ewherido in Warri at the weekend. PHOTO: CHARITY OZIGBO-ESERE

Residents Appeal For Govt Intervention Over Erosion Threatened Roads AGENEBODE (EDO)-A cross section of residents of Agenebode, Etsako East Local Government Area, Edo has appealed to the state government to fix the Fugar/Agenebode road which is under threat from gully erosion.

The residents made the appeal in separate interviews with newsmen on Monday.

When newsmen visited the Agenebode end of the road, it observed that the road had almost been cut into two by the erosion.

The gully, which is about 20 metres deep, over 100 metres long and about 30 metres wide, started about a year ago. It has worsened since the commencement of this year’s rainy season.

The residents and motorists

stressed that if urgent steps were not taken to address the problem, Agenedobe could be cut off from some parts of the state.

Mr Gideon Akpata, a resident of the area, told newsmen that social interaction between Agenebode residents and other neighbouring communities would be hampered if nothing was done to address the gully

Accident: Emergency Cases Have

Reduced At Central Hospital

By EMMANUEL EGOBIAMBU/ OYENMWEN OMOROGBE BENIN CITY- The Medical Director (CMD) Central Hospital Benin City, Dr. Edith Kayode-Iyasere, said the rate of emergencies due to accidents has dropped since Edo State Government ban on the use of motorcycle popularly known as Okada.

In an exclusive interview with The NIGERIAN OBSERVER in Benin City the CMD said the number of emergency victims brought to the hospital has reduced drastically.

According to her, most “Okada” riders could be having poor vision which may be hard for passengers to identify while boarding the motorcycle.

According to her, giving same persons that have poor vision the duty of taking people from one place to the other, is another thing that contributes to road accidents”,.

She noted that apart from accident the overexposure of motorcyclists to wind in is not good.

When you enter bikes, the way your chest and your whole body is exposed to the excess wind that

blows, affects your cardio”, a development, she added is even worse for asthmatic patients.

Dr. Iyasere noted that the ban would help in checking crime rate as most crimes are committed using bike.

Speaking, an orthopedic with the hospital Dr. B.O. Uwadiae noted that since the ban on motorcycle the hospital has not recorded any case of amputation.

Amputation victims/patience weekly, before the ban on “Okada” last month.

Also, Dr. Alex Okon who corroborated the observation of

the hospital noted that since the ban cases of accident emergencies have reduced drastically.

He stated that most family bread winners have died untimely while others equally sustained injuries which eventually deformed and make them liabilities to their immediate family as well as limit their contributions to the society.

Corroborating Dr. Okon, Dr. Akhabue said the high incidence of fracture recorded in the hospital has been on the down side since the ban took effect.

erosion.

He said the present situation of the road was beyond the ability of the local government council to contain, adding that only the Edo Government could fix it.

“We are calling on the state government to come to our aid before we are cut off. This is a major road and we can not afford to do without it,” he said.

Mr Peter Aidojie, a transporter, told newsmen that, if the condition of the road became worse than its present state, lots of people would lose their sources of livelihood.

“As a transporter, I ply this road on a daily basis and it is from here I take care of my family. If this road is cut into two, I don’t know what will happen to me and my family,” he said.

Another resident, Patrick Uhua, however, noted that apart from the road being cut into two, its present state still constituted a threat to lives.

“Only God knows what will happen to anybody who is not conversant with this road, especially at night. Government should please act fast to avert a disaster,” he told newsmen.

Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, Barr Festus Keyamo and Mr. Sam Amuka, publisher of Vanguard Newspapers, during the governor’s visit to Barr. Keyamo at his Warri residence in Delta State. PHOTO: CHARITY OZIGBO-ESERE

AUCHI- Government at all levels in the country have been admonished to be proactive in financial management by ensuring provision for future exigencies in the preparation of their budgets.

The Otaru of Auchi Kingdom, HRH Alhaji A.H. Momoh, Ikelebe 111 gave the advice weekend in a remark as Special Guest at ceremony held in Auchi.

Alhaji A.H. Momoh who expressed worry that budgets were often devoid of certain allocation for the future, emphasized that budgetary management must be based on realistic value and centred an available income and not just the figures on paper.

A Chartered Accountant by profession, the Royal Father cautioned that Nigeria might be managing liabilities by the year 2015 given her current financial recklessness and its inability to pay debts because expectation of contraction in oil production and price were never put into consideration.

The Otaru of Auchi lamented that a situation where 75 percent of budgeted sum go outside the budget was unhealthy and hopeless adding that it was impossible to liquidate debts of management of liabilities continues to dominate.

Mrs. Ifaluyi For Burial

By ISEMHENBITA FAITH BENIN CITY- The family of Obayewana of Iguotor Village in Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State have announced the death of their mother, Grand mother, sister, InLaw and Aunty, late Mrs. Ariagbonse Ifaluti (Nee Iyogie).

Late Mrs. Ariagbonse Ifaluyi who died on the of May 17, 2013, at the age of 85 would be buried be buried at N 4, Ekmadose Street, Off 2 nd Osaro Street, Okhohugbo Quarters Useh Benin City on Thursday July 25, 2013.

On Friday July 26, 2013 family rites will follow on Saturday 27, July 2013 The ceremony would climax with social dance at Evbuotubu Secondary School Compound at noon.

Late Mrs. Ariagbonse Ifaluyi

THE NIGERIAN

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TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

Inside Edo Varsity Don Installed Rotary District Governor EKPOMA - A university Don, Dr. Charles Onianwa has been installed governor of District 9140 of the Rotary International in Ekpoma, Edo State.

District 9140 of Rotary International consists of 11 south-south and South Eastern States of Nigeria.

Rotary is an organization of business and professional leaders united L-R: Representative of the Senate President, Senator George Akume, Prince Malik Afegbua and Prince Usman Shagadi worldwide to provide Chieftains of Action Congness of Nigeria (ACN), Edo State during the funeral mass for Late Senator Albert Legogie, former Deputy Senate President, in Ugbekpu Ekperi, Etsako Central Local Government Area, Edo State at the weekend humanitarian service, as PHOTO: CHARITY OZIGBO-ESERE well as building goodwill and peace in the world, in addition to encouraging high ethical standards in all vocations. The organization was founded by Paul Harris of USA in 1905. movement especially at night and In his acceptance speech, displace many employed it has reduced the high commuters having to treck long persons inability of labour the new District Governor, incidence of casualties beside

By ANUGOR BLESSING curbing incessant armed distances and increase in some while the states of many Oniawa, a lecturer at the IFEOMA/ISEMHENBITA FAITH goods and services. workers and businessmen robbery and kidnapping.

Ambrose Alli University, Besides, he said the ban has

Commuters Express Mixed Feelings

Effects Of Motorcycle Ban:

BENIN CITY- Barely a month after the ban on use of motorcycle popularly called “Okada” in Benin City residents of the locality have expressed mixed feeling over the effects of the ban.

While some people see the ban as a laudable one for which Edo State Government deserves applaud, others believes that it was a unhealthy development.

This is coming in the wake of the authorities of Central Hospital, Benin City observation that the hospital has recorded less casualty since the commencement of the ban.

A respondent, Mr. Sunday, Edosa, welcoming the ban, said

He also observed that the many people who have abandoned artisanship for commercial motorcycle rising would now go back to learn or continue with their trade.

Another respondent, Kester, a staff of a new generation bank in Benin City noted that as laudable as it is considering the health benefit it will occasion, the full benefits would manifest with time.

On the contrary, one Okogba Emmanuel said the negative effects of the ban is telling much on the people especially as the ban came about during the raining season.

He listed the negative effects to include increase in cost of transportation restriction in

have been redefined.

Ekpoma pledged to give credible leadership to make the district best in the country.

Disclosing the theme of his tenure as, “Engage Rotary, Change Lives” DG Oniawa promised to focus attention on rotary’s first choice priority project“Polio Eradication”.

He equally pledged to execute sustainable projects that would significantly impact the community and build a strong, vibrant and viable district.

Onianwa, a 2-star Paul Harris Fellow (PHF), and a recipient of the four avenues of service citation, has been a member of the Rotary Club of Ekpoma since 1994.

He is to serve as district governor for one year.

Ikpoba-Okha LG Presents Chairs, for assisting them.

BENIN CITY- The Ikpoba Desks To Schools Pulpils in their various Okha Local Government Council has presented a 240 sets of chairs and desks to four primary Schools in the locality.

The schools are Ologbosere Primary School, Ugbekun Primary School, Isohon Primary School and Ogonerie Primary School.

Making the presentation the chairman of the council, Hon. (Mrs.) Itohan Osahon – Ogbeide said the gesture is aimed at creating a conducive

learning environment for pupils in the locality.

According to her, it was in fulfillment of her electioneering promise to give pupils in the local government area, a greater sence of belonging, assuring that the act would be extended to other primary schools in the locality.

She also promised the

council’ readiness to provide fans in all the classrooms as well as sink water borehole for the schools in order for the pupils and staff make optimal use of the toilet facilities in the schools.

Speaking on behalf of benefiting schools, the Headmistress of Ugbekun Primary School, Mrs. Enabulele appreciated the council’s gesture and thanked Hon. (Mrs.) osahon-Ogbeide

remarks noted that since Hon. (Mrs.) Osahon Ogbeide was elected, they have been looking forward to the promise fulfilled and appealed for more of such chairs with desks.

In her entourage were the Vice Chairman, of the council, Hon. Benson Osifo and the Secretary to the local government, Pastor Kennedy Osifo.

Commissioner Assures Protection Of Intellectual Property BENIN CITYEdo Commissioner for Arts, Culture and Tourism, Miss Jemitola Aanena, has promised professional entertainers that the Edo Government would ensure protection of their intellectual property.

She also said that the government was planning to propose a bill which would make mandatory the sponsorship of activities of entertainers to safeguard local content in the tourism sector.

Aanena said this during an interview with newsmen in Benin.

“We are already working on a bill about sponsorship and increasing local content of what entertainers do here.

This government

acknowledges that there are challenges encountered by our local artistes, especially in the area of sponsorship by multinational companies.

“The interests of the Edo youth and upcoming entertainers are in our heart as a government,“ she said.

Aanena, however, advised entertainers to be determined and have self confidence in their chosen profession.

“A person can be blessed with intelligence and talent, but lacking self-confidence can be an obstacle to achieving success,“ she said.

“There is need for entertainers in this state to be unique and stand out as heroes and pace setters in the global industry.“

The children of Late, Senator Albert Legogie, former Deputy Senate President at the funeral mass at SS Peter and Paul Catholic Church Ugbekpe Ekperi, Etsako Central Local Government Area of Edo State at the weekend PHOTO: CHARITY OZIGBO-ESERE

THE NIGERIAN

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TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

Across The Nation

Hard Work: Navy Tasks Graduating PORT HARCOURT-The Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Naval Command, Rear Admiral Joe Aikhomu, has called on graduating students of Nigerian Navy

AD Wants Immunity Clause Retained

ABUJA- The Alliance for Democracy (AD), has called for the retention of the immunity clause for the president and the governors in the ongoing constitution review.

Mr Rafiu Salau, National Secretary of the party, told newsmen in Abuja that the measure would allow public office holders do their job without distractions.

He added that the retention would not give room for unnecessary challenges from the opposition pointing out that it was the best way to move democracy forward in the country.

“The issue of immunity is coming up now just because of the level of our democracy,” he said.

Secondary School, Port Harcourt, to be focused, diligent and determined.

Aikhomu, represented by Navy Captain Adetola Bamidele, made the call at the passing out ceremony of the students in Port Harcourt.

He said that only diligence and determination with hard work would make them excel in the competitive global economy.

“No one climbs the ladder of success with hands in the pocket; no durable success is achievable through indolence and short-cuts.

“I advise you to be focused, determined and make selfdiscipline your watch-word,” he said.

He also urged them to be tolerant while competing with others, and humble when they became prominent leaders of

tomorrow.

The commandant of the school, Captain Elizabeth Okoh, advised other students to rise above the challenges that would come their way anywhere they go.

She urged them not to relent until they inscribe their names in the book of great achievers for their benefits and that of their parents and the society at large.

“I have no doubt that enough

The SSG, Edo State, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere (right) presenting a copy of the signed second phase additional licence agreement with Oracle corporation, on behalf of the State government to Mr. Osaze Ezekiel, Business Intelligence Manager and Sales Manager, Oracle corporation (left), while the Managing Director, State Information Communication Technology, Yemi Keri (middle) looks on. PHOTO: QUEENETH A. OROBEDO

CNPP Urges FG To Revitalise ABUJA- The Conference in 2020 with Education System economies of Nigerian Political Parties poorly educated third rate (CNPP) has urged the Federal Government to take steps to revitalise the country’s education sector.

CNPP’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr Osita Okechukwu, made the call in Abuja in a statement made available to newsmen.

According to the statement, the call is coming against the backdrop of the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

“CNPP is in solidarity with ASUU in the legitimate demand to revitalise our educational system and promote development of our universities’ centres of excellence.

“The CNPP has carefully reviewed the 2001 and 2009 ASUU’s agreement with the Federal Government and has doubt that education is in the Transformation Agenda of the present

administration.’’

Okechukwu said that only two out of the nine agreements reached in 2009 between the Federal Government and ASUU had been honoured.

According to him, the two agreements are the reinstatement of governing councils and retirement age of lecturers.

“We regard the reinstatement of governing councils as inconsequential and self serving,” he said.

He said the important and crucial items in the MoU like the stimulation of the university system with N100 billion and progressive increase of annual budget of education among others “were consigned to the dust bin”.

“We are concerned that no Nigerian University is listed among the 100 best universities in the world.

“May we ask how will Nigeria be listed among the first 20 world leading

university graduates who are encumbered and brain drained,” he said.

Students

investment in terms of academic competence and character moulding have been injected into your grooming.

“To this end, the command expects you to explore all these virtues in all that you choose to do in future,” the

commandant said.

Okoh also advised parents to always invest in the education of their children to make them a worthy citizen of the country.

She further charged the parents to work hard in order to benefit from their children when they get old.

IIORIN- The Kwara Independent Electoral Commission said it had started preparations to ensure credible and acceptable local government election on October 26.

The chairman of the commission, Dr AbdulRahman Ajidagba, stated this in an interview with newsmen in IIorin.

Ajidagba said the research and documentation unit of the commission had taken steps to guide against any flaws during the election.

The chairman said the commission would work tirelessly to ensure timely arrival of electoral materials at the polling centres in the 16 local government areas of the state.

He said all arrangements had been perfected to use boats and other logistics to transport electoral materials to riverine areas of the, and that the commission would soon start a sensitisation programme in the areas to

ensure a hitch-free poll.

“The commission will soon begin a tour of the local government areas to meet with stakeholders, including traditional rulers in an effort to ensure credible, free and fair election,’’ he said.

The chairman said the commission had identified 1, 870 polling units across the state where election would take place.

Ajidagba also said that campaign by the various political parties would end on October 25.

“Aspirants from all political parties should guide against campaign of calumny and the use of thugs,’’ the chairman warned.

The chairman, who said the state government did not interfere in the activities of the commission, assured all parties of level-playing field.

He warned aspirants and supporters against indiscriminate pasting of posters in unauthorised places.

Kwara SIEC Says LG Poll Will Be Credible

The Executive Chairman, Edo State Internal Revenue Service, Chief Sir Oseni Elamah exchanging pleasantries with the Country Head representative of NIIT, Mr. Pankaj Meheswari during the franchise agreement ceremony between the Oseni Elamah ICT Institute and the NIIT recently.

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TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

Across The Nation Only Voters Can Remove Elected Leaders -Jonathan

Former Commonwealth Secretary-General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku (L), Discussing with former Minister of Power, Prof.

Barth Nnaji, at Emeka Anyaoku lecture series on Good Governance and book presentation in Asaba, Delta, recently.

ABUJA - The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has enjoined its recruited officers to uphold the ethics, tenets and core values of the organisation.

Chairman of the commission, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde gave the charge at the passing out ceremony of 62 officers of the Detective Assistant Cadet Course.

“The agency is not your regular government agency. If you have not gotten that in the past six months, then you do not deserve to be here.

“We do not entertain or manage second-bests here; if there is any bar set in the public service for professionalism, EFCC surpasses it and if there is any bar set for integrity, EFCC easily scales it.

“Therefore, professionalism,

ABUJA - President Goodluck Jonathan has restated the opposition of Nigeria and the African Union to the unconstitutional removal of any democratically-elected government.

A statement by the President’s Senior Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati, said Jonathan made this known during an audience with Amb. Raouf Saad, Special Envoy of the Interim President of Egypt, Mr. Adly Mansour at the State House, Marina, Lagos.

According to the statement, Jonathan declared that the Federal Government maintains its stand that only the electorate in any country have the constitutional right to remove an elected leader. ‘‘Welcoming the assurance by Amb. Saad that the Egyptian military were not currently involved in the day-to-day administration of the country, President Jonathan advised the

EFCC Advises Officers On Core Values integrity and discipline must be your watchwords at all times,’’ he added.

According to Lamorde, the detective assistant cadet course made up of 62 officers is the first set of operatives employed by the commission.

He added that by this exercise, the commission was making effort to tackle some potential vulnerability inherent in the commission’s current personnel structure.

The chairman said EFCC was attempting to fill a vacuum in the guard and security details personnel, which is presently

being filled by gallant men and women of the Nigeria Mobile Police Force.

Lamorde said with the intensive training, the officers would form the resilient foundation of a corps

of EFCC guard and personnel security that would do the commission proud.

He commended the commandant of the EFCC Academy, Mr. Ayo Olowonihi and his team for leading the operatives through the training.

He added that he was

impressed with the transformation of the officers.

Olowonihi thanked the chairman for making the programme successful.

“The journey which began on January 3 with 67 young cadets has come to an end with 62 of them completing the course.

NGO Secures Inmates since March 3, 2012 for the Release offence of murder.

LAGOS - The Stephen and Solomon Foundation, a Lagosbased non-governmental organisation (NGO), has facilitated the release from the Ikoyi Prisons of three inmates, including a woman, who are awaiting trial.

This is contained in a statement by a Lagos-based lawyer and human rights activist, Chief Gabriel Giwa-Amu, who is the head of the foundation.

According to Giwa-Amu, the inmates who were released through the foundation had spent between three months and four years awaiting trial.

“The inability to provide evidence as well as lack of commitment on the part of the prosecutors helped in setting them free,’’ he said in the statement.

The lawyer said the freed accused persons included Bukky Razak who had been in custody since April 16, 2013 for the offence of stealing.

“There is also one Josephine Jacob who has been standing trial

‘The other one is Tunde Adio who has been standing trial since Sept. 10, 2009 at the Magistrate Court 3, Yaba for alleged robbery,’’ he said.

Giwa-Amu then restated his commitment to the defence of the poor and the defenceless in the society.

L-R: Chairman, Lagos Business School, Prof. Pat Utomi, Delta Commissioner for Housing, Chief Paulinus Akpeki, Commissioner for Education in Anambra, Mrs Uju Okeke, Former Minister of Power, Prof. Bart Nnaji, Former Secretary-General, Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku and Managing Director, Anabel, Group of companies, Mr. Nicholas Okoye, at the 3rd Emeka Anyaoku Lecture series on good Governance and book presentation in Asaba recently

Tambuwal Calls For Infrastructure Integration

ABUJA - The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, on Wednesday called for the infrastructure integration of the West African sub-region.

He called for infrastructure linkages in the power sector, gas supply, road network and aviation to attain the integration of the region.

Tambuwal made the call at the 10th Regional African, Caribbean, Pacific and European Union Joint

Parliamentary Assembly meeting in Abuja.

“The issue of regional integration broken into infrastructure linkages and Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) should also be accorded priority at this meeting,” he said.

He said that the Economic Community of West African states had been a pace-setter in regional integration since it was formed in1975.

The speaker stressed that there was a need for the region to address the rising unemployment rate .

“As lawmakers, we need to proffer solutions to the rising unemployment in our region, which is a time-bomb if not addressed with a sense of urgency,” he said.

Tambuwal called for collaborative efforts to tackle the problems of oil theft, illegal oil bunkering and piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.

“The problems of oil theft, illegal oil bunkering and piracy in the region are matters deserving of collaborative and co-operative approaches of our countries and the international community,” he said.

He said that the National

Assembly was considering a legislation to deal with the problem of oil theft and revenue leakages.

“The National Assembly of Nigeria is considering a legislation to deal decisively with this menace.

“We call for the cooperation of all parliaments the world over to join in sanctioning oil companies and other persons engaged in this nefarious act,” he said.

The speaker noted that protests in North Africa had impacted negatively on the region.

“As a region, we have been negatively impacted by the Arab spring, and particularly the fall of the Gaddafi regime in Libya.

interim government to do all within it powers to return Egypt to democratic rule as quickly as possible. ‘‘The President told the Special Envoy that Egypt was very important to Africa and that Nigeria and the African Union will, therefore, give the country all necessary support to ensure that it returns to the path of constitutionalism and political stability as quickly as possible,” it further stated.

Jonathan condemned recent terrorist activities on Mount Sinai and reaffirmed the Federal Government’s full commitment to working with the rest of the world to combat terrorism, saying that “no person or group has the right to intimidate others with acts of terror”.

Earlier, Amb. Saad, who was in Lagos to brief President Jonathan on the current situation in Egypt against the background of the opposition of Nigeria and the African Union to the unconstitutional change of government in Egypt and the country’s suspension from the continental body, praised Nigeria’s leadership role in Africa.

The Egyptian Envoy sought President Jonathan’s advice on how Egypt could best overcome its current difficulties.

Training Of Children

Director Tasks Parents, Teachers ZARIA (KADUNA) - Parents and teachers have been urged to intensify proper training of children to guarantee productive future generation.

Alhaji Abubakar Mohammed, the Director of Private Schools, Kaduna State Ministry of Education, made the call in Zaria, Kaduna state on Saturday.

Mohammed spoke at the Graduation and Prize-Giving Day of Madalla Nursery, Primary and Secondary School, TudunWada.

The director stressed that decent future generation would only be realised when both parents and teachers played their necessary complementary roles.

He enjoined the students to be patient, obedient, disciplined and committed to their studies to ensure success in life.

The proprietor of the school, Malam Garba Umar-Nyas, lauded the ministry’s effort at ensuring adequate supervision of private schools across the state.

Umar-Nyas appealed for support and cooperation of parents to move the school to greater heights.

Reports say that the high points of the ceremony included the presentation of awards and prizes to students who excelled in various subjects.

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TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

Across The Nation Lawmaker Counsels Politicians On Values

Borno To Establish Health Care Agency MAIDUGURI - The Borno Government said it planned to establish its Primary Health Care Development Agency in a bid to fast-track the implementation of its health care programmes.

Governor Kashim Shettima stated this shortly after he was presented with an award as the 2012 North-East Best Performing Governor in Polio Eradication.

Shettima said the objective was to prepare ground for the provision of comprehensive health care services to the people, especially those at the grass roots.

He said the state House of Assembly had already passed the bill for the setting up of the agency.

“I want to state, without fear of contradiction, that Borno is committed to improving health care delivery to its people especially in the area of improving maternal health “The State House of Assembly has just passed the bill for the establishment of the state Primary Health Care Development Agency,” Shettima said.

He added that the state government had put in place machinery for the take-off of the agency.

“We are putting in place structures for the take-off of the agency in a very short while,’’ the governor said.

He said the target was mainly to eradicate maternal mortality in the state by 2015.

Shettima however thanked the Federal Ministry of Health for the award, and praised the state’s Commissioner for Health.

“I think the credit should go to the Commissioner for Health, Dr Salma Kolo, for her hard work and dedication to duty,’’ she said.

Presenting the award, Dr Mohammed Pate, the Minister of State for Health, said it was in recognition of the governor’s efforts in the campaign against polio in the state.

“We wish to commend your successes in polio eradication in the last two years. This commendation is more essential when you consider the security challenges facing the state,” Pate said.

He urged other state governors to emulate Shettima by striving hard to eradicate polio from Nigeria.

L-R: Secretary to Lagos State Government, Dr Ranti Adebule, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Mr Femi Olugbile, Special Adviser to the Goveernor on Public Health, Dr Yewande Adesina, Gov Babatunde Fashola of Lagos and Commissioner for Health, Dr Jide Idris at the inauguration of Lagos State Secretary Clinic in Alausa recently

Nutritionist Insists On Healthy Diets

Pregnant Women: LAGOS - A nutritionist, Miss Olufunmilola Osinowo, has charged pregnant women to eat healthy and nutritious diets, in order to help their babies grow and develop properly.

Osinowo, of the Gbagada General Hospital in Lagos made the plea during an interview with newsmen in Lagos.

“A healthy and nutritious diet during pregnancy is very important for a woman, to enable her to cope adequately with the changes occurring in her body.

“Eating a healthy diet also guarantees the baby’s health in pregnancy and after birth; it is very crucial to the baby’s growth

and development.

“Balanced, healthy diets during pregnancy, limit the risk of preterm delivery, stillbirth, tiredness and depression,’’ she said.

According to her, pregnancy increases the woman’s need for many nutrients, adding that “it is not difficult to meet these needs if you eat a variety of foods from the main food groups’’.

“You don’t need to go on a special diet, but it is important to eat a variety of different foods every day, to get the right balance of nutrients that you and your baby need,” she said.

The nutritionist added that healthy diets involved the right

“During pregnancy, the mother’s body absorbs calcium from food more efficiently, to help meet the needs of the baby.

Dairy foods and okro are rich in calcium.

“A pregnant woman should also remember to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, because these provide vitamins and minerals, as well as fibre, which help digestion and prevent constipation,” she said.

Osinowo said that dark green leafy vegetables like spinach and ‘ugwu‘ were also rich in folic acid.

She noted that folic acid is essential for blood formation and for the building of body cells.

Osinowo said that taking folic acid supplements too was important around the time of conception and in the first few weeks of pregnancy, to help prevent some types of birth defects.

The nutritionist advised that pregnant women should not eat more than they normally eat.

“You will probably find that you are more hungry than usual; this does not mean you should eat more during meals, even if you are expecting twins or triplets.

“You should also avoid snacking on foods that are high in fat and sugar, so as not to become overweight and The Lagos State Secretariat Clinic inaugurated by Gov. Babatunde Fashola of Lagos in undermine your own and the Alausa recently baby’s health,” she added. balance of proteins, carbohydrates, minerals and fats, and consuming a wide variety of vegetables and fruits.

“As a pregnant woman, you need carbohydrates like rice, yams, sweet potatoes, pasta and bread which are also rich in fibre, iron and vitamins, to help fight tiredness.

“Proteins should also be included in meal planning.

Among the rich sources of proteins are meat, fish, egg and beans.

“Calcium is also important during pregnancy, as well as breast feeding, for the formation of the baby’s bones.

FG Urged To Focus On Mitigation

Climate Change:

LAGOS - Prof. Temi Ologunorisa, Director, Centre for Climate Change and Environmental Research, Osun State University, Oshogbo, has urged the Federal Government to focus more on climate change mitigation and adaptation mechanisms.

Ologunorisa said in a telephone interview with newsmen that the National Assembly ought to have commenced constructive discussions on the Climate Change Bill.

“Good governance in

contemporary times cannot be divorced from instituting productive public laws on climate change mitigation and adaptation.

“And everybody knows that climate change could have grave social, economic and political implications, if little attention is given to it by any government, “ he said.

Ologunorisa, therefore, urged

the Federal Government to inaugurate a Climate Change Commission, to ensure that adequate action was taken to address climate change.

“By now, most indigenous climatologists expect that decisive actions to curb the effects of climate change would have reached phenomenal levels. “ The position of Special Adviser on Climate Change

ought to be in place by now at both the state and federal levels,“ he said.

Ologunorisa said the cost of adaptation was very high, thus requiring that governments engage the private sector and other stakeholders for positive policy outcomes.

He added that expert opinions should drive government policies relating to the management of the environment.

ILORIN - Senator Simeon Ajibola, who represents Kwara South Senatorial District, has advised politicians to imbibe ethical values that would encourage speedy development of their constituencies.

Ajibola gave the advice in a statement issued by his personal assistant, Mr. Gani Ibrahim, after the monthly disbursement of N1.3 million empowerment stipends.

According to the statement, the beneficiaries were drawn from the seven local government areas in the district.

He said that elected political office holders would do more to better the lot of the electorate if politicians shun campaign of calumny and unfounded allegations of nonperformance.

“There is a need for our politicians to encourage those of us who have the interest of our constituents at heart to do more for our people; the pull him down syndrome must stop,’’ it said.

He said the exercise gulped N25 million in the last 20 months, adding that more than 64 beneficiaries received amounts ranging from N10, 000 to N20,000.

He said the gesture was in addition to the equipment and tools distributed to artisans in the district.

Chief Samuel Ogunrinde, Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party in Ekiti Local Government Area, commended the senator for the gesture, urging him not to relent on his efforts.

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TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

Across The Nation

Population Commission Establishes More Registration Centres

ABUJA - The National Population Commission (NPC) in the FCT says it has established 106 registration centres for registration of births and deaths in the territory.

The Head of the Vital Registration Department of the commission, Mr Matthew Sunday, stated this in an interview with newsmen in Abuja.

Sunday, who is in the FCT, stated that birth registration was necessary for national planning.

According to him, the data was also important for monitoring of fertility and mortality rates in the FCT. He said that the registration centres were located in public and private health facilities, including some palaces of traditional rulers Sunday said that health personnel including immunisation officials had been engaged to assist the commission capture vital data that occurred in their areas of activities.

“For national planning, through this birth registration we can monitor even our fertility rate and

Yobe Vaccinates 5.2m Animals DAMATURU - Dr Mustapha Gaidam, Programme Manager, Yobe Livestock Pilot Development Programme, said 5.2 million livestock had been vaccinated against various diseases since 2009 in the State.

Mustapha told newsmen in Damaturu that the state was now targeting 1.7 million cattle, sheep, goats and dogs in the 2013 mass vaccination.

He explained that 800,000 herds of cattle were to be vaccinated against Contagious Bovine Pleuro Pneumonia (CBPP) and Black Quarter (BQ).

“Also, 900,000 sheep and goats will be vaccinated against pest de petit ruminantes and 2,500 dogs will be vaccinated against rabies”, he said.

The programme manager said arrangement had been concluded to sensitise livestock farmers for mass participation in the vaccination.

Gaidam noted that it was necessary to vaccinate the animals because of cross boundary grazing.

“The cross boundary nomadic livestock husbandry practice makes the livestock vulnerable to diseases”, he stressed.

He held that to avoid farmer and grazer conflicts, the programme demarcated 945 kilometers of cattle routes and beaconed same to check against encroachment.

“We have consistently cultivated mucuna beans and stylosanthesis in Dilawa, Gumsi, Tarajem, Alagarno, Mashio, Gumsa, Nasari/Jakusko, Gujba and Nguru grazing reserves to promote livestock food supplements”, he said.

The manager solicited the cooperation of livestock farmers, opinion leaders and veterinary officers to work for the success of the 2013 vaccination.

This, he added, was to ensure increased meat and dairy production in the state.”

in doing this, we started in FCT in 1992, with only four centres and that was a pilot stage, but since then a lot of efforts have been made and today we have 106 centres spread across the territory.

“Most of these centres are located in public health facilities though we have a few in private medical facilities and some in public places like palace and all the rest.“ Sunday said that the commission had the mandate to capture vital data that occurred in FCT including births, marriages, divorce and deaths.

He said statistics were important as they were capable of changing individual’s status in life.

“In vital registration, we try to capture all vital events that take place in FCT and these include, birth itself, marriage, divorce, death. We record these events on a permanent and continuous basis.

“Why are we registering births and deaths? Because of its tremendous use; it’s a double way thing for the person that collect the certificate and for government.

“Like for the case of birth; the birth registration of any child is the first right of any child and is a fundamental human right; this birth registration gives the child an identity, gives the child a

nationality and there are so many other uses for access to education, access to medical facility, for electoral purposes and for juvenile justice.“ Sunday stated that it was the mandate of the NPC to record the demographic data of children in each locality for planning purposes.

He said there would be no effective planning in the nation

without adequate data, adding: “Even for death, the family of the dead cannot access the entitlement of the deceased if there is no evidence from the national population commission confirming the death.

“The same goes for insurance, gratuity, planning and other things.’’

Sunday stated that disease occurrences and their related

causes and deaths could be monitored through registration, adding that stillbirths were registered to ascertain their incidence rate in an area.

“We have also entered into partnership with UNICEF and religious leaders in the FCT to help in the campaign for birth and death registration.

“We have started experimenting to ensure that our

ICAN Plans Catch Them Young Programme

Gov Peter Obi of Anambra (2nd-R) and the Bishop of Anglican Diocese on the Niger, Bishop Owen Nwokolo (R), during inspection of buildings erected in Iyienu Mission Hospital, Ogidi by Anambra Government recently.

INEC To Review Voters Register

ABUJA - The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it will review the voters’ register from August 19 to August 25, for the forthcoming governorship election in Anambra on November 16.

Prof. Attahiru Jega, INEC Chairman, who said this at a stakeholders meeting in Abuja, said the review was to accommodate all eligible voters.

“Our preparations for the elections include doing continuous voters’ registration from August 19 to August 25 in order to update the register as required by law before the elections.

“Doing this will give an opportunity for all those who have attained 18 years, since the last registration in 2011, to register.

“It is also for all those who

registers are present in churches and mosques to capture children that were not previously registered.”

Sunday noted that most people were yet to understand and appreciate the importance of birth and death certificates, adding that this had posed a challenge to the commission.

“We also have logistic problems; getting to hard-toreach areas in the FCT. In some communities in the area councils like Kwali, Abaji and Kuje, localities.”

have registered but have their details in the manual register, not in the electronic register, to be updated.

According to him, the meeting will offer opportunity for wide ranging consultations with all the parties involved in the election.

Jega said that credible elections were hinged on credible voters’ register, adding that INEC was conscious of the fact and placed premium on the exercise.

“In this regard, we are leaving no stone unturned in order to clean up and have a very credible register for Anambra before the November16 governorship elections.

Jega said that all political parties had revalidated the Code of Conduct for political parties which had reaffirmed

their commitment to the deepening of democracy through a credible electoral process.

According to him, the Anambra election will be the first test case of the reaffirmed code of conduct which hinged on responsible conduct by political parties and their supporters.

The code of conduct, he added, entailed; decorum, civility and mutual respect for one another, decent, lawful and peaceful campaigns in accordance with the best practices as well as democratic norms.

Representatives of political parties that attended the meeting expressed optimism of the chances of their party to emerge victorious in the forthcoming election.

Chief Victor Umeh, the National Chairman, All

Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), promised that his party would retain the governorship position in the state.

“We hold the flag in the state and we are here to meet with the people we are going to form alliances with after winning the election,’’ Umeh said Mr Peter Okala, the State Chairman, National Conscience Party (NCP), said the party was optimistic of winning the election as it stood for justice and equity.

“The founder of the party, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, stood for justice and that remains our focus,’’ Okala said.

Mr Mathias Aneke, the state Chairman of APGA, said that the focus of the party was based on integrity, adding that it looked forward to a credible election.

“INEC Chairman is honest and we have faith in him, but that does not mean that INEC does not have fifth columnists; so we are watching out,’’ Aneke said.

Reports say that 15 political parties attended the meeting.

OTA - (Ogun StateThe Chairman, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Ota District, Mr Omojola Adebayo, has said that the institute’s ‘Catch Them Young’ programme would be strengthened, to capture more youths into the accounting profession.

Adebayo said this at the official inauguration and Investiture of new executives of ICAN, Ota and District Society in Ogun State.

He also said that the programme was to provide career talks for youths, particularly students in the secondary schools and tertiary institutions.

Adebayo said that the chapter would operate within the framework of the primary activities of the district, as clearly indicated in the ICAN bye law for district societies.

The chairman added that his administration would uphold the tenets of the institute, as well as support the members and students, within the district level.

Also, the immediate-past President of the district, Prof.

Enyi Patrick Enyi, said that the district had been able to impact on numerous economic and industrial establishments within Ota and environs.

Enyi said that the district also turned out more than 500 accounting graduates annually, with the benefits of choosing the ICAN brand.

He added that the district had also partnered with other bodies in Ota, including ICAN/ Accounting Technical Scheme West Africa (ATSWA).

Enyi said that the location of Ota as a satellite town to Lagos implied that businesses and industrial concerns were constantly on the increase in the

Stakeholders Canvass 10 Percent Host Community Fund PIB:

Members of Staff of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), registering some people for the National Identity Card at the National Assembly in Abuja recently.

LAGOS - Mr. Sunny Ofehe, founder of Hope for Niger Delta Campaign (HNDC), on Saturday called for the inclusion of 10 per cent Host Community Fund in the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).

Ofehe, who made the call in a statement issued in Lagos, also urged the National Assembly to expedite action on the passage of the bill aimed at reforming the oil sector.

“The inclusion of the 10 per cent will help in the further development of the Niger Delta.

“It will also help to create more entrepreneurs, boost employment opportunities, help in the development of infrastructure and raise the per capita earning of people in the region.

The statement added that the passage of the bill would minimise youth restiveness.

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TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

Lagos Poverty: Cleric Tasks Wealthy

Muslims

LAGOS- A good Muslim should use his wealth to get his family out of poverty, the Chief Missioner, Ansar Deen Society of Nigeria, Fadeyi branch, Alhaji Abdul-Lateef Ekundayo has said.

Speaking at the annual Salvador Ramadan lecture in Lagos, Ekundayo noted that “there is no reward for a rich man who neglects his family and goes about giving zakat (alms).’’

According to him, it is not enough for a Muslim to give zakat when his family is suffering.

Muslims give a small percentage of their annual savings as alms or charity, called zakat.

It is considered to be a personal responsibility for Muslims to ease economic hardship of others and eliminate inequality.

The missioner urged Muslims to be more spiritually-inclined and be guided by Islamic injunctions in their daily activities.

He advised wealthy Muslims to serve God diligently and to also assist those in need by giving zakat.

Ekundayo said that a good Muslim should endeavour to live above board and give his or her children good education.

“What will it profit a man who inherits the whole world but loses his soul.’’

He advised them to take great pains to investigate the wealth of donors, noting that “some make wealth righteously, while the sources of some could be through evil

deeds.’’

The missioner also urged Muslims to refrain from sinful acts during Ramadan, noting that some continued to indulge in sinful activities during Ramadan.

The sponsor of the lecture, Alhaji Moshood Salvador, said he had been sponsoring such lecture in the last 15 years and giving zakat to people.

“During Ramadan, there is a need to let people know what is right and what is wrong and to be their brother’s keepers,’’ Salvador told newsmen.

He said that it was necessary to properly inform the people about religious injunctions in order to build a better society, According to him people’s minds are easily accessible during Ramadan, and it is better to “load’’ their minds with Godly activities during the period.

Salvador said he would give

zakat to 1,000 people a day up from 50 people he started with 15 years ago.

“The significance is that is that at the end of Ramadan, we have the festival and no family will be happy not to have what to eat or wear on the festival day.

“It happened to me before and I was not happy. To reduce the number of people that will not be happy at that period, that is why I am giving zakat,’’ Salvador said.

He said that the 2014 edition of the lecture would be held at the National Stadium because of the expected large turnout of people.

Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno (left), receiving donations for Boko Haram victims from the Chairman, Gaiz Bank, Alhaji Umar Abdulmutalab in Maiduguri yesterday.

Police Arrest 12 Robbery Suspects IKEJA- The Lagos State Police Command has announced the arrest of 12 suspected armed robbers in the state in the last 10 days.

It also said it recovered several arms, ammunition and three stolen vehicles.

The Police/Public Relations Officer for the

Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno with officials of Gaiz Bank that paid him a visit in Maiduguri yesterday

Observe Democratic Ideals, NGE Tells Politicians

LAGOS- Worried by some untoward developments in the polity, the Nigerian Guild of Editors has urged political leaders to conduct themselves in a manner that would engender the highest democratic ideals.

In a communiqué at the end of its Standing Committee meeting in Lagos, the guild expressed concern on the recent conduct of some political leaders, saying it could derail the country’s democracy.

“We note with dismay the recent conduct of some political leaders, which has the tendency to derail the country’s hard-earned democracy.

“We urge political leaders to

conduct themselves in a manner that will engender the highest democratic ideals,’’ the guild said.

The communiqué, which was signed by NGE President, Femi Adesina, and its Secretary, Isaac Ighure, was emailed to newsmen.

On the ongoing industrial actions by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), the editors urged all parties involved to return to the negotiation table.

The statement added:“ They should return to the negotiation table to resolve all outstanding issues in the

interest of the students, who are future leaders of the nation.’’

The NGE also noted the efforts by certain groups to revive some provisions of the Nigerian Press Council, which a competent court of law had voided.

It urged that the judgment of the court on the matter should be respected by all concerned, saying “such efforts may be tantamount to an attempt to gag the media.’’

The NGE recalled that the Federal Government had on May 4, on the World Press Freedom Day, withdrawn a court case against two journalists of the Leadership

Newspapers in Abuja.

“The guild notes with concern the recent rearraignment of the two journalists and is of the position that the considerations that made the Federal Government to withdraw the case in the first instance should subsist,’’ it said.

It also expressed worry that the Nigerian media were operating under difficult conditions, as most of their inputs were imported.

The editors, therefore, appealed to the government to waive import duties on all news media inputs, especially newsprint and broadcast equipment.

command, DSP Ngozi Braide, disclosed this to newsmen in Ikeja.

According to her, the suspects were arrested in various robbery operations between July 6 and July 16, across the state, while some of their accomplices escaped with bullet wounds.

Braide said that the cases were being investigated at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti St., Yaba.

She said that a team of policemen attached to the Dopemu Division arrested a suspected armed robber with multiple injuries all over his body on July 6.

According to her, the suspect was in possession of a fabricated metal in form of a pistol.

Braide added that another team of policemen attached to the Onikan Division, posted to the Military Hospital, arrested one suspected armed robber with one locally-made shot gun, two cartridges and an axe on the same day.

She further told newsmen that also on that date, a Police Patrol team attached to Elemoro Division arrested two suspected armed robbers for allegedly robbing a passerby at Ajebo Close, Lakowe, Ibeju-Lekki.

The police image maker disclosed that other members of the gang fled on sighting the police and abandoned two Toyota Camry Saloon Cars with Reg. Nos. LSD 912 AT and LSR 389 AP. She said that on July 8,

policemen attached to Makinde Division recovered one locally made single barrel pistol, with one live cartridge inside a commercial Volkswagen Golf Saloon Car with Reg. No. XN 17 APP. Braide explained that the said vehicle was abandoned at Oshodi Motor Park, but nobody was arrested in connection with the case.

According to her, on July 8, policemen attached to Ijede Division arrested four suspected cult members, adding that the suspects had earlier stabbed one Mr Adeleke Dada, of Oyambo Security Company with a broken bottle.

Braide disclosed that two locally made pistols, three axes and a Honda Car with Reg. No. LSR 417 BB were also recovered from the suspects.

She said that policemen attached to Dolphin Estate Division responded to a distress call at No.119A, Etiosa Way, Dolphin Estate, where two suspected armed robbers were arrested.

Braide said that the suspects had earlier robbed one Seata Ukpemo on July 16.

The spokesperson disclosed that one double edged dagger, two locally made pistols and ten live cartridges were recovered from the suspects.

Braide added that policemen attached to Igando Division, while on patrol along Igando/Ikotun Road, also arrested two suspected armed robbers on July 16 and one locally made pistol was recovered from them.

THE NIGERIAN

10

TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

Across The Nation Sanitation: Yenagoa Residents Allege

Some of the 677 people displaced by armed robbers and camped at Faskari Model Primary School in Faskari Local Government Area, Katsina State for fear of reprisal attack recently.

Intimidation

YENAGOA- Residents of Yenagoa in Bayelsa have decried what they described as harassment, intimidation and arbitrary arrest of innocent citizens by workers of the state Environmental Sanitation Authority.

Reports say that the Bayelsa sanitation authority was recently charged by Gov. Seriake Dickson to clean up Yenagoa, the capital city.

The charge came as refuse heaps continued to litter all parts of the state capital, and Dickson said the poor sanitary condition was unacceptable to his administration.

However, some Yenagoa residents told newsmen they wanted the government to take urgent steps to call the officials of the agency to order as “they are going beyond their limits’’.

Reports also revealed that more than 100 Yenagoa residents,

including children, were on Friday arrested between 8 p.m and 10 p.m by officials of the authority’s Waste Disposal Unit.

According to a source, those arrested were handed over to the police with the instruction that they should only be released after the payment of N5,000 each.

“Those who could not pay the sum slept at the police station until their relatives or guardians or friends located them and still paid the sum of N5,000 before they were released,’’ the source said.

Reports say that the authority had recently announced that all waste materials should only be taken to the designated refuse dumps on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

This was to be between the hours of 7 p.m and 10 p.m, while such waste materials should be

“The towns are Borun/Njua/ Okubushuyu, Orimekpang, Okundi, Wula and Katchan in Boki and Agoi Ibami, Ago Ekpo, Ekom Agoi, Okem and Assiga Old Town in Yakurr,’’ Etowa said.

The project’s Consultant, Mr Adebayo Ajao, also told newsmen the total project package was 94 million Euros (N1.94 billion) with EDF

contributing 80 million Euros (N1.65 billion).

“The six focal states, the participating local government areas and the benefiting communities will contribute 13 million Euros (N269 million), while UNICEF contributes 1 million Euros,’’ he said.

Ajao said the project was being implemented in two phases, spanning two years.

Water, Sanitation Programme Excites Cross River CALABAR- The Cross River Government is glad that the state is part of the Water and Sanitation Sector Reform Programme Phase II (WSSSRP II) in Nigeria, an official has said.

The state’s Deputy Governor, Mr. Efiok Gobham, stated this on the sidelines of the launching of the 94 million Euros-worth WSSSRP II. Reports say that the launching also signaled the commencement of the 10th European Development Fund (EDF) project in the state.

Cobham said the state

government was happy as the programme would address the challenges encountered in the first phase of the project.

“Some of the challenges include delay in the payment of counterpart contributions by some partners in the programme and the lack of sustainability.

“Issues of design concept, project sizes and power supply, running cost, human capacity gaps, financial contributions and similar factors in the last five years should be regarded as lessons learnt.

“Such should also be used to

LAGOS- In a bid to decongest the roads of container-laden trailers, the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) says it will commence haulage of containers from Lagos to Kaduna and Kano States in August.

Similarly, the corporation said its third weekly passenger train service from Lagos to Kano would begin on Thursday.

Mr. David Ndakotsu, NRC’s Head of Public Relations Department, told newsmen in Lagos that arrangements had been concluded to transport containers from APM Terminals at Apapa Port to container depots in Kaduna and Kano.

“As from August, we will start the haulage of containers from APM Terminals in Apapa Port to the container depots of Inland Container Nigeria Ltd. in Kaduna and Kano States.

“The initiative is in furtherance of the corporation’s public-private partnership.’’

Ndakotsu also said an agreement had been signed with a company for the weekly haulage of its bran and wheat flour from Lagos to Kaduna— under the programme.

freighted weekly from Apapa to Kaduna.

“The service will commence before the end of July,’’ the NRC spokesman added.

On the third weekly LagosKano passenger train service, Ndakotsu said the train would depart Lagos at 11.00 a.m. every Thursday with arrival time of 5.00 p.m. in Kano the following day.

He said with the additional service, the number of passengers to be moved on the route would increase from 3,500 to 5,500.

“It is anticipated that the third weekly train service will help to decongest existing services and avail passengers more comfortable and pleasant trips,’’ Ndakotsu told newsmen.

Newsmen reports that the first weekly Lagos-Kano passenger train service, which was inaugurated on Dec. 21, 2012, departs Lagos at noon every Friday.

The second weekly train service, which departs Lagos at 9.00 a.m. on Tuesdays, terminates at Ilorin, Kwara, with a connecting train from Offa to Kano.

NRC To Begin Container “About 436 tonnes of the Haulage products are expected to be

improve on subsequent programmes. I hope the 10th EDF will address this and other related issues,’’ he said.

The state government also commended the European Union (EU) and UNICEF for selecting Cross River among the states for the project.

“The occasion affords us the opportunity to express our resolve to continue to work in close collaboration with our development partners, the EU and UNICEF towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2015,’’ Cobham said.

The state Commissioner for Water Resources, Mr Elemi Etowa, also told journalists the project would consolidate on the gains of WSSSRP I and address the weaknesses experienced in the programme.

He said the first phase of the programme was implemented in five Local Government Areas of the state, including Boki, Etung, Obubra, Odukpani and Yakurr.

According to him, the programme included policy and institutional reforms, urban and small towns and rural water supply, as well as sanitation works.

“This second phase shall consolidate on policy and institutional reforms, as well as establish new water supply and sanitation infrastructure in 10 small towns of the two selfselected local government areas (LGAs) of Boki and Yakurr.

bagged with black polythene bags only sold by the authority .

While it appears the residents have been obeying the policy, the inability to get the recommended bags has however led them into using their own bags to package the waste materials.

Mr. Jeff Yeigba, who claimed to be a victim of the harassment, said: “The manner with which these sanitation boys have been going about the work is very wrong.

“They will not listen to anything, their impunity is despicable. It is rather unfortunate that Gov. Dickson is allowing these touts to embarrass people.

“Some of them even boasted that the job has been given to them for their exploits in Dickson’s election and that no power in the state can stop them.

“I just came out to dump my refuse bag and I was told that I should buy their bag to package the waste.

“I then told them that I had no money on me as I am not aware of the new policy, but they should let me call my brother to bring money for me from the house so that I can buy.

“I then called my brother, and while I was waiting for him, the boys came with a bus and ordered me to go inside their vehicle without allowing me to explain anything.

Transition Chairman of Faskari Local Government, Alhaji Isiyaku Faskari-Ahmad (2nd right) and representative of the District Head of Faskari, Alhaji Lawal Garba (left), inspecting relief materials for displaced people in Faskari recently.

Zakkat: Commission Tasks Wealthy

KANO- The Kano State Zakkat and Endowment Commission has called on wealthy individuals in the state to ensure the prompt payment of their “zakkat’’.

The Director-General of the commission, Alhaji Sufiyanu Gwagwarwa, made the call in an interview with newsmen in Kano.

He said the call was necessary in order to enable the commission disburse same to the poor, so as to discourage them from begging.

Newsmen reports that “zakkat’’ is a form of alms, which

Muslims On Prompt Payment is a percentage of a Muslim’s wealth that is given out to the needy.

Gwagwarwa added that the call was also necessary in view of the refusal of many well-to-do persons in the state to pay their “zakkat’’ as and when due.

“The whole idea behind giving `zakkat’ to the poor, according to the dictates of the Holy Qur’an, is to enable them use the money to establish some useful ventures which will make them

to be self-reliant.

“It is however unfortunate that in spite of several reminders and appeals to wealthy persons in the state, very few of them are responding.

“You need to see the number of needy persons that troop to our office on daily basis in anticipation of collecting the ‘zakkat’,’’ he said.

The director-general described what was collected from the “zakkat’’ so far as “grossly

inadequate” to cater for the number of people who besieged the commission daily.

“What we collected is nothing to write home about, considering the number of the needy who besiege the commission daily,’’ he said.

Gwagwarwa said it was important for wealthy individuals to pay “zakkat’’ without necessarily being reminded because it was clear that God would also replenish their wealth.

THE NIGERIAN

11

TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

NSE DAILY ACTIVITY SUMMARY (EQUITIES) AS AT YESTERDAY(22/07/13) Stocks

Open

Close

Change

Deals

Units

Value

MBENEFIT

0.5

0.5

0

1

200

100

7UP

65

69.5

4.5

15

88,927

6,140,226.70

MCNICHOLS

1.57

1.57

0

3

109,700

156,574.00

ABCTRANS

1.29

1.21

-0.08

40

1,826,785

2,271,013.03

MOBIL

117.81

116.95

-0.86

20

109,217

12,756,845.96

ACADEMY

1.8

1.8

0

3

8,830

15,894.00

MRS

25.05

25.05

0

14

16,131

404,081.55

ACCESS

11.19

11.06

-0.13

200

7,759,984

86,475,026.57

MULTITREX

0.5

0.5

0

2

55,000

27,500.00

7.25

6.73

-0.52

56

2,100,002

14,449,056.95

AFRIPRUD

1.85

1.9

0.05

73

1,823,313

3,461,557.91

NAHCO

AGLEVENT

1.45

1.45

0

9

97,799

142,638.27

NASCON

12.99

12.95

-0.04

52

818,948

10,531,315.28

AIICO

0.9

0.92

0.02

51

6,518,511

5,898,673.90

NB

176.5

170.3

-6.2

246

1,652,731

287,211,929.09

1.38

1.48

0.1

41

1,574,436

2,241,501.49 4,856,099.22

AIRSERVICE

4.46

4.51

0.05

11

264,910

1,208,332.10

NEIMETH

ARBICO

5.6

5.6

0

1

1,056

5,385.60

NEM

0.72

0.72

0

43

6,684,731

ASHAKACEM

26.65

25.5

-1.15

54

593,225

15,474,962.11

NESTLE

1000

999

-1

31

56,401

56,051,687.19

7.36

7.36

0

2

1,291

8,559.33 525,000.00

ASOSAVINGS

0.5

0.5

0

2

3,600,000

1,800,000.00

NIG-GERMAN

BERGER

9.26

9.26

0

14

102,318

974,540.00

NIGERINS

0.5

0.5

0

5

1,050,000

BETAGLAS

10

10.9

0.9

2

64,360

702,680.00

NNFM

26.5

26.5

0

1

99

2,624.49

BOCGAS

6.77

6.77

0

7

20,000

140,563.90

NPFMCRFBK

0.96

0.96

0

9

398,000

382,080.00

CADBURY

53.05

52.4

-0.65

91

917,374

48,523,206.70

OANDO

13.5

14

0.5

271

7,998,908

108,527,382.20

CAP

45.15

48.3

3.15

29

204,230

9,628,758.43

OKOMUOIL

47

45.9

-1.1

37

1,049,083

47,673,466.34

CCNN

9.9

9.65

-0.25

37

1,013,100

9,812,048.00

PAINTCOM

1.66

1.66

0

13

797,000

1,344,260.00

CHAMPION

8.54

8.54

0

1

30,000

281,700.00

PHARMDEKO

1.87

1.87

0

2

306,342

572,860.54

CHAMS

0.5

0.5

0

3

1,101,000

550,500.00

PORTPAINT

5.78

6.2

0.42

10

161,567

956,123.00

CILEASING

0.5

0.5

0

1

3,499

1,749.50

PREMBREW

0.68

0.68

0

2

2,500

1,850.00

CONOIL

25.3

27.83

2.53

33

334,345

9,207,818.23

PRESCO

40

40

0

51

412,644

16,428,653.05

CONTINSURE

1.26

1.37

0.11

11

229,186

291,955.20

PRESTIGE

0.53

0.53

0

11

1,020,046

540,581.80

CORNERST

0.54

0.58

0.04

18

1,068,617

558,313.50

PZ

48.5

48.5

0

71

387,467

17,911,048.44

COSTAIN

1.45

1.31

-0.14

53

2,569,191

3,400,985.21

REDSTAREX

4.75

4.76

0.01

16

413,734

1,884,051.64

COURTVILLE

0.64

0.64

0

6

170,100

109,064.00

ROYALEX

0.62

0.62

0

8

63,860

40,013.40

CUSTODYINS

1.58

1.6

0.02

26

5,047,670

7,999,266.91

RTBRISCOE

1.52

1.59

0.07

23

741,546

1,181,511.48

CUTIX

1.98

1.98

0

14

193,344

382,297.06

SKYEBANK

4.81

4.8

-0.01

102

4,319,657

20,691,194.21

0.5

0.5

0

1

52,750

26,375.00

15.45

15.43

-0.02

18

702,025

10,843,099.54

DAARCOMM

0.5

0.5

0

3

4,000

2,000.00

SOVRENINS

DANGCEM

190

189.97

-0.03

88

907,465

172,415,404.23

STANBIC

DANGFLOUR

9.5

9.5

0

46

321,189

3,067,841.42

STDINSURE

0.5

0.5

0

1

577,300

288,650.00

2.73

2.6

-0.13

257

88,216,387

221,720,232.18

0.5

0.5

0

1

1,000

500

DANGSUGAR

12.22

12.26

0.04

80

5,141,811

63,379,914.99

STERLNBANK

DIAMONDBNK

6.9

6.85

-0.05

91

5,717,057

38,985,831.06

TANTALIZER

DNMEYER

1.48

1.48

0

4

14,996

22,075.75

THOMASWY

0.98

0.98

0

1

1,155

1,027.95

159.99

159.99

0

14

12,318

2,019,241.76

1.43

1.4

-0.03

150

21,923,288

31,253,653.34

DUNLOP

0.5

0.5

0

1

250,000

125,000.00

TOTAL

ETERNA

3.2

3.3

0.1

18

207,965

675,958.00

TRANSCORP

ETI

14.75

14.6

-0.15

74

971,201

14,243,136.14

TRANSEXPR

1.99

1.8

-0.19

1

60,000

108,000.00

EVANSMED

4.44

4.44

0

21

858,258

3,810,665.52

TRIPPLEG

2.29

2.29

0

3

25,191

52,145.37

FBNH

18.65

18.32

-0.33

581

13,175,868

243,203,946.45

UAC-PROP

15.99

15.99

0

18

98,222

1,507,069.48

FCMB

4.86

4.76

-0.1

52

764,639

3,682,346.69

UACN

63

63

0

57

465,572

29,130,744.85

FIDELITYBK

3.1

3.1

0

113

7,221,782

22,120,474.22

UBA

8.34

8.31

-0.03

280

21,982,709

182,806,454.28

FIDSON

2.05

2.02

-0.03

45

3,137,470

6,392,506.10

UBCAP

1.14

1.1

-0.04

144

13,694,187

15,178,102.29

FLOURMILL

90

86.3

-3.7

79

527,177

45,853,308.36

UBN

12.35

12.46

0.11

74

1,166,502

14,460,012.01

FO

29.76

32.73

2.97

54

588,742

19,266,299.90

UNIC

0.5

0.5

0

1

2,984

1,492.00

FTNCOCOA

0.5

0.5

0

1

13,222

6,611.00

UNILEVER

62

62.5

0.5

110

2,009,430

125,600,410.89

0.6

0.59

-0.01

48

12,109,476

7,185,808.60

0.5

0.5

0

2

2,940

1,470.00

GLAXOSMITH

55

58.5

3.5

48

722,695

41,388,055.40

UNITYBNK

GUARANTY

26.42

26.34

-0.08

337

6,327,247

166,666,401.81

UNITYKAP

GUINNESS

260

260

0

51

64,630

16,386,059.47

UPDCREIT

10.5

10.5

0

2

40,000

410,000.00

4.8

4.5

-0.3

11

340,368

1,538,798.00

0.79

0.8

0.01

34

1,768,665

1,418,734.97

HMARKINS

0.5

0.5

0

4

73,000

36,500.00

UPL

HONYFLOUR

3.36

3.2

-0.16

90

2,313,620

7,640,446.39

UTC

IHS

3.79

3.42

-0.37

10

675,000

2,364,910.00

VITAFOAM

4.41

4.41

0

7

37,400

168,237.00

1.54

1.54

0

1

1,000

1,390.00

IKEJAHOTEL

0.94

0.94

0

15

542,028

507,403.32

VONO

INTBREW

24.69

24.82

0.13

69

1,042,655

25,666,973.12

WAPCO

99.75

99.5

-0.25

65

912,880

90,663,300.40

INTENEGINS

2.5

2.5

0

3

7,500

16,875.00

WAPIC

0.9

0.9

0

2

5,700

4,845.00

INTERLINK

4.9

4.9

0

1

1,000

4,410.00

WEMABANK

1.16

1.16

0

20

548,956

635,483.34

IPWA

1.29

1.17

-0.12

29

6,995,452

8,267,088.36

ZENITHBANK

21.6

21.4

-0.2

300

9,391,831

201,574,873.77

JAPAULOIL

0.51

0.53

0.02

73

7,531,392

3,953,383.16

JBERGER

83.75

83.75

0

17

73,983

5,858,162.70

JOHNHOLT

1.42

1.4

-0.02

9

546,354

760,346.66

JOSBREW

0.99

0.99

0

3

61,400

55,260.00

LEARNAFRCA

1.8

1.8

0

3

20,000

35,610.00

LIVESTOCK

4.92

4.76

-0.16

29

1,217,282

5,811,406.72

MANSARD

2.14

2.2

0.06

29

1,660,662

3,601,197.13

MAYBAKER

2.7

2.9

0.2

21

321,900

928,708.20

TOP 10 GAINERS Stock 7UP GLAXOSMITH CAP FO CONOIL BETAGLAS OANDO UNILEVER PORTPAINT MAYBAKER

Close 69.5 58.5 48.3 32.73 27.83 10.9 14 62.5 6.2 2.9

TOP TOP 10 10 LOSERS GAINERS Gain 4.5 3.5 3.15 2.97 2.53 0.9 0.5 0.5 0.42 0.2

Stock NB FLOURMILL ASHAKACEM OKOMUOIL NESTLE MOBIL CADBURY NAHCO IHS FBNH

Close 170.3 86.3 25.5 45.9 999 116.95 52.4 6.73 3.42 18.32

Loss -6.2 -3.7 -1.15 -1.1 -1 -0.86 -0.65 -0.52 -0.37 -0.33

THE NIGERIAN

12

TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

NIGERIA currently owes a total debt of $50.9bn or N7.93tn to both local and international creditors.

Information from the Debt Management Office (DMO) established during the Olusegun Obasanjo era showed that the nation’s external debt stood at $6.92bn about N1.08tn as at June this year, while the domestic debt is a staggering $43.99bn or N6.85tn.

ACCORDING to reports, the external debt component comprises debts owed by both Federal and the thirty-six (36) State Governments of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory. The domestic debt, on the other hand is owed solely by the Federal Government.

THE nation’s total debt stock increased by a whopping $13.91bn representing a negative growth rate of 37.59 per cent over a three year period (June 2011-June 2013).

We are alarmed at the huge debt overhang particularly, the local debt burden. World Bank and other yardsticks expects a 40% to 60% foreign to local debt ratio for the nation’s economy to be on a stable track. But what we have today is 88 per cent local debt with the external standing at 12.

GIVEN a relatively low Nigeria external debt profile, Britton Wood Institution’s hawks are already advising government to borrow from external sources to stabilise the nation’s debt profile. This advice must not be heeded by the Federal Government because it represents a booby trap for the nation.

THE Director General of the Nigeria Debt Management Office, Dr. Abraham Nwankwo, had recently said compared to the level of foreign debt, the Federal Government had over- borrowed from domestic sources. This is condemnable. We expect our government at all levels to embark on responsible borrowing and not mortgaging the future of unborn Nigerians.

WE had also expected that with the assumption of office of former Managing Director of World Bank as Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the nation would witness a reduction in the country’s local debt, instead the local debts has ballooned to unacceptable levels, yet there are deft moves by the same government to continue to borrow, even from erstwhile co-third world nations-Japan and China.

WE are alarmed that Dr. Nngozi Okonjo Iweala who during her first coming as Finance Minister celebrated the reduction of Nigeria’s external debt

THE NIGERIAN

Nigeria’s $50.9bn Debt Burden from $32billion to $4billion vide the Paris Club debt deal, as her major achievement in office is today as head of the nation’s economic team leading the country back to the road of indebtedness with its attendant consequences.

WE re-assert that the Federal Government has not proved that it is responsible enough to manage both external and local loans efficiently to the benefits of all Nigerians. Securing debt forgiveness or debt relief took Nigeria almost three decades to achieve when loans borrowed were looted and stashed in private bank accounts overseas by corrupt Nigerians who acted in tandem with their foreign collaborators.

LESSONS from our debt relief since 2005 put at some $1billion or N160billion annually which government claims it is spending on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for which a special office, Special Adviser (SA) to the President on MDGs was created is a complete write off. With barely two years to 2015, Nigeria is off track in meeting any of the eight MDGs, which suggests poor utilization of the debt relief funds. A typical example was in Edo State, where the PDP administration squandered over $7million dollars meant for urban water in Benin City during the 18 months interregnum.

Several of such official corruption abound across the country, yet no suspect has been arraigned let alone jailed on account of the stealing debt relief funds across the country.

WHILE we appreciate the need for any government to borrow from both internal and external sources to finance development, we are worried that the a whole lot of institutional weakness in the area of systems that would guarantee transparent and accountable utilization of borrowed resources are not yet in place.

This is evident in the controversy and corruption that is associated with key Federal Government institutions and agencies.

FOR instance, the sleaze in the disbursement and

utilization of subsidy on petrol, the corruption that has hampered the development of the power sector where billions of dollars have been sunk in the past five years with same status of epileptic supplies and the corruption that have led to the ballooning of recurrent expenditure of the Federal Government put at over 74 per cent of the 2012 budget and over 72 per cent in the 2013 budget leaves Nigerians with the belief that government has not demonstrated enough commitment to fight graft.

ALSO, it is a shame that some of the sources of funds for the nation’s development are from India and China which were classified as developing countries along with Nigeria in the 70s. Both countries have since left Nigeria in that classification and are now referred to as emerging economies and are members of the G20, this again is traceable to irresponsible leadership over the years characterised by massive looting of public treasury and official corruption by those who held public offices.

NIGERIA must halt the crippling effects of local debts to the nation’s economy.

Government needs to showcase its willingness to keep to its commitments and prudently utilize national resources by making the power sector work. This, Nigerians have severally told the Federal Government would leapfrog the economy as the astronomic cost of power used by manufacturers and other industrialists vide generators would drop drastically. This would also reduce the price of made in Nigeria goods and lead to real economic growth.

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan should make conscious efforts to diversify the nation’s economy. He should focus on the agricultural sector, manufacturing sector and ICT. BUT more importantly, we believe government needs to plug all avenues of leakages of its Internally Generated Revenue. It equally need to fight graft and prosecute all those who have defrauded this nation irrespective of how highly placed. The major obstacle over the years against anti-graft war is that there are so many sacred cows and untouchables. Government has left Nigerians with the conclusion that only perceived enemies of Government or political opponents are the ones sought after by anti-graft agencies. Unless, Government shows clear commitments to fighting corruption, Nigerians would not trust such government to mange huge external or domestic loans.

THE NIGERIAN

13

TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

Avoiding The Deluge (1)

WHEN the American colonies united in 1776 to challenge British imperialism, it was because they had grown tired of being impoverished.

When the French people rose in unison against Monarchical absolutism in 1789, it was to say a resounding “no” to centuries of despotism, and “yes” to a new order of popular rule. When the citizens of the Philippines toppled the dictatorship of Marcus, it was an expression of their yearnings for change.

When the passive resistance of black South Africans ultimately defeated the Apartheid regime, there was a reason for it. When the Arab world exploded some few years ago, it was in response to the prodding of the smothering force of change.

This piece is dedicated to all the misruling scions of the “Federal Republic of Nigeria”; to those individuals who have at one time or the other been privileged to hold one political office or the other at the different cadres of government, but abused their call to serve; to the current defilers of the Nigerian State whose taboos against the people have continued unabated; to the greedy Mongrels who have turned Nigeria into a business venture; to the merciless mercenaries in mufti who have been engaged in an internecine class war with their less privileged countrymen since the onset of this comatose project. If you belong to this clique of Banditti, the following lines are for you. It became expedient in the wake of some very frightening visions I had a couple of nights ago; visions that made me break out in a cold sweat when I woke up in the middle of the night; visions of blood, death, tears, waste and misery; visions of things to come if things remain the way they presently are. So, what exactly did I see?

The first scene of my visions opened with a large map of Nigeria sitting

majestically atop a high mountain. Next, I saw a group of brightly appareled individuals dragging a multitude dressed in rags behind them in chains. The group in chains was intermittently wiped, cursed and ordered to “keep moving” by their drivers. All pleas by these oppressed souls were met with stiffer punishments from their slavers. At this juncture, a silent voice pointed out to me that “the oppressed multitudes you see are fellow Nigerians” and “the wellattired ones maltreating them are the ruling political elites.

This revelation was quite baffling, but more was yet to come.

Suddenly, I saw the well-appareled group brandishing some crude weapons - cutlasses, hoes, sledge-hammers, cudgels etal — with which they were attempting to deface the Nigerian map. While the cannibalization of the map was going on, a tiny faction separated itself from the group and attempted pushing the map off the mountain top.

At this juncture, a raucous sound went up in the camp of the slaves: sounds of fetters breaking off, coupled with shouts of “freedom” renting the air. Then, a new group of individuals mounted on green and white Stallions broke through the steel fortifications of the slave camp, freed and armed the now liberated slaves with more sophisticated weapons — rifles, grenades, Bazookas, rocket launchers etal — than those of their lords, and led a great Calvary charge against the individuals destroying the Nigerian map.

The following scenes were more horrifying.

I saw a lot of calamity befalling the Nigerian ruling elite; saw the forceful toppling of this apathetic system by the victims of its cruelties; saw a very angry mob confronting the security

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forces with nothing but their sheer will; saw the poor casting of their fears and rising up against their oppressors There was pandemonium everywhere as people ran helter-skater trying to make the best of the unfolding drama. I watched these spectacles with trepidation, as I wondered what they all meant.

Next, I saw the purpleclad enemies of the state being dragged out of their cozy igloos and burnt alive on stakes. I heard screams of agony from the wounded;

during the Holocaust. Their egg-like castles could not withstand the barrages of their enemies. Their porous fortifications collapsed like packs of cards. All their vain defenses proved incapable of protecting them. Their eyes darted around for help, but none was forthcoming. There was palpable fear in their eyes; that emasculating kind

of the military, police, etal attacking their benefactors, mowing them down like unwanted weeds; saw the armed forces joining the people’s army — as happened during the French Revolution - as they matched on the Bastilles of power, battering them down in a blaze of patriotic fury.

Finally, I saw the select

privy to in my sleep; reflected on what the whole revelations were about. Gradually, all the missing pieces started coming together. The visions were revelations of events yet to unfold in Nigeria; projected scenarios of the likely outcome of the no-love-lost relationship between the Nigerian ruling elites and the largely exploited,

hisses of self-pity and regret from the incarcerated; heart wrenching pleas from the captured. I saw mighty men reduced to nothing; saw the wealthy lose their possessions; saw the once powerful thrusting about in defeat; saw the rulers chased out of their mansions by the ruled; saw lots of dark smoke everywhere, as everything belonging to the old brigade was destroyed by a blazing inferno. Yes, I saw these scenes... and even more.

The conditions of the powerful were pitiable; more pitiable than those of the Jews

of fear that saps us of our manhood: “Heard I known”, “I should have listened”, “this should not be happening to me”, “God please save us”, I heard some of them muttering under labored breadths. These were pitiable sights indeed; sights of the miserable depths into which the once powerful had sunk; graphic images of the emptiness of power when it is lost; picturesque representations of all that is vain and inglorious.

Another shocking sight was that of the security forces turning against their masters;

group of individuals, who had earlier liberated the slaves from the concentration camps, at the head of a mighty crowd all dressed in Nigeria’s national colours, singing joyful choruses in celebration of the defeat of the old brigade. I heard shouts of “victory for the masses” and “peace in Nigeria”, from the crowd. It was a more heartwarming scenario compared to the previous ones; a pleasing relief from the bloody scenes that had held me spellbound while they lasted; a welcome escape from the symphonies of death and destruction that had held the ruling elites in its trancelike grip.

I woke up from my nightmarish slumber with a loud scream that woke up everybody in my house.

Sitting up on my bed, I asked my startled wife for a cup of cold water, as I tried to make meaning out of all I had been

impoverished, and abused masses; a timely warning for the I woke up from my nightmarish slumber with a loud scream that woke up everybody in my house.

Sitting up on my bed, I asked my startled wife for a cup of cold water, as I tried to make meaning out of all I had been privy to in my sleep; reflected on what the whole revelations were about. Gradually, all the missing pieces started coming together. The visions were revelations of events yet to unfold in Nigeria; projected scenarios of the likely outcome of the no-love-lost relationship between the Nigerian ruling elites and the largely exploited, impoverished, and abused masses; a timely warning for the animals in human skin ruining Nigeria to change their depraved ways or face the winnowing music of forceful change.

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“I woke up from my nightmarish slumber with a loud scream that woke up everybody in my house. Sitting up on my bed, I asked my startled wife for a cup of cold water, as I tried to make meaning out of all I had been privy to in my sleep; reflected on what the whole revelations were about. Gradually, all the missing pieces started coming together. The visions were revelations of events yet to unfold in Nigeria.”

THE NIGERIAN

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TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

Nutritional Health And Dietetics

Cholesterol Madness

LIKE the Eskimos who have in their language twenty-seven different words for snow, we have come up with almost as many to describe cholesterol. We have HDL cholesterol which can be further subdivided into HDL2 and HDL3 cholesterol.

LDL cholesterol, VLDH cholesterol, ID2 cholesterol and a whole slew of others if you start differentiating by apoprotein structures found on the surface of the various cholesterol complexes.

Not everybody is conversant with this alkane language of cholesterol research but they are certainly alert to the specter of high cholesterol and all its sinister ramifications.

Cholesterol has become the ultimate measure of health and fitness to be bragged about if low and confessed to if elevated.

What exactly is cholesterol?

Should you be concerned about it? Where does it come from. How do you get rid of it or how at the very least, do you control it?

Cholesterol is absolutely essential for life, cholesterol is not really a fat at all, it’s a pearly coloured waxy, slid alcohol, that is, soapy to the touch. The bulk of the cholesterol is in your body, the other 93 percent is located in every cell of the body, where its unique waxy, soapy consistency provides the cell membranes with their structural integrity and regulates the flow of nutrients into waste products out of the cells.

In addition, among its other diverse and essential functions are these cholesterol which is the building block from which your body makes several important hormones. The adrenal hormones, aldosterone, which regulate blood pressure and hydrocortisone, the body’s natural steroid and the sex hormones-estragen and testosterone. If you don’t have enough cholesterol, you won’t make enough sex hormones.

Cholesterol is the main component of bile acids, which aid in the digestion of foods particularly, fatty foods. Without cholesterol, we could not absorb the essential fat soluble vitamins A,D,E and K from the food we eat.

Cholesterol is necessary for normal growth and development of the brain and the nervous system.

Cholesterol coats the nerves and makes the transmission of nerve impulses possible.

Cholesterol gives the skin its ability to shed water.

Cholesterol is a precursor of vitamin D in the skin, when exposed to sunlight, this precursor molecules is converted to its active form for use in the body.

Cholesterol is important for normal growth and repair of tissues, since, every cell membrane and the organelles, the tiny structures inside the cells that carry out specific functions within the cells are rich in cholesterol plays a major role in the transportation of triglycerides, blood fats, throughout the circulatory system.

Cholesterol plays a major role in the transportation, is absolutely essential for good health, without it, you die, without cholesterol we would lose the strength and stability of our cells, rendering them much less resistant to invasion by infection and malignancy.

Infact, a grave sign of illness, such as cancer development or crippling arthritic, is a falling cholesterol level.

Where Does Cholesterol Come From?

Although, some cholesterol indeed does come from food, the vast majority (80 percent) is produced by the body itself.

Infact, every cell in the body is capable of making its own cholesterol. Most don’t have and rely instead on that made in the liver, intestines and skin, with the liver responsible for the lion’s share of the production. Due to the body’s need for large amounts of cholesterol, a feedback loop exists so that,

With

O.C. Madu

whenever, dietary intake decrease’s the livers synthesis, increases and in an opposite fashion.

When the diet is rich in cholesterol, the liver’s synthesis is reduced. This self regulation helps explain the baffling research findings that blood cholesterol levels vary only minimally in the face of

not in the restriction of dietary cholesterol or fat but, in the dietary manipulation of the internal cholesterol regulatory system. Unfortunately, there is a glitch in the works that causes all the problems.

The Fly In The Ointment.

Nature endowed or afflicted us with a minor design flaw that creates

tasks required of them to make life possible.

Where does the cholesterol for all this construction come from?

Basically two sources, the cell either extracts

are inside the cells (primarily of the liver), not out in the blood stream.

When cholesterol cause its artery- clogging mischief, where does that occur? In the walls of the arteries

enormous variations in the dietary intake. As a matter of fact, most people, contrary to what people read or hear daily consume almost unlimited amounts of cholesterol without significantly increasing their blood cholesterol levels.

That being the case, people having excessive blood cholesterol levels and many do, must have problem with the ability of their bodies to regulate cholesterol levels internally.

The Key To Lowering Cholesterol Levels The key to lowering blood cholesterol levels is

most of the problems we have with excessive cholesterol. Cholesterol levels are regulated only inside the cell. Why is this design flaw it, because problems arise due to excess cholesterol in the blood, yet the cholesterol level in the blood isn’t regulated, there is no feedback loop to signal the need for the body to lower cholesterol levels in the blood when they get too high.

The cells of the body require a steady supply of cholesterol to build and repair cell membranes and to carry out all the other

cholesterol from the blood or makes its own or both.

The important thing is that the interior of the cell needs plenty of cholesterol, so the interior is where the cholesterol sensors are located. Falling cholesterol levels within the cell trigger these sensors to fire off message to the production machinery within the cell to increase the supply, make it or get more from the blood.

By these means, the level of cholesterol inside the cell is maintained tightly within narrow optimal range.

The point to remember is that the sensors that dictate cellular need for cholesterol

supplying the heart and the major arteries supplying the body and brain, not in the cells with cholesterol sensors.

This system glitch is analogous to having a big powerful air conditioner in a house and putting the thermostat that controls it into a small, hot, airtight, closer. The cooling machinery could be cranking out enough cold air to form iciless on the woodwork throughout the house, but the thermostat in the closet would never know.

To be concluded next week.

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“The cells of the body require a steady supply of cholesterol to build and repair cell membranes and to carry out all the other tasks required of them to make life possible”

THE NIGERIAN

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TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

Levels Of Truth In Dialogue MY article, “THE VALUE OF TRUTH IN DIALOGUE”, published in the Sunday Trust and Pilot newspapers of June 16, 2013 have attracted some questions and reactions that call for the need to clarify some concepts like natural truth, moral truth and religious truth”. This is important given that the media has given us a platform for dialogue in addition to the usual seminars and workshops.

Natural Truth: There are some religions that are simply called “natural religion” or “religion of nature” because they believe that God, the soul, spirits, and the supernatural are not separate from nature. They do not bother much about extraordinary visions and revelations like Frank Lloyd Wright who said: “I believe in God, only I spell it Nature.”

The history of natural religion can be traced to Aristotle hylomophism that reduced the world to matter and form.

Monotheism in the past thought that heaven and hell were physical places, locating heaven in the sky and hell in everlasting fire. The new age and some ethnic religions today practise natural religion in the context of what is made available to the senses. Some African Religions arrived at the concept of “Almighty God” through observation of nature and natural occurrences. The oriental religions approach God through nature. Although some naturalist could end up in pantheism, wherein God is seen as part of every physical thing, it should be recognised that some monotheistic religions arrived at the unity of God through natural events.

Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century relied heavily on nature to explain how God is perceived without reference to special revelation or religious experience. From nature he was able to propose the five ways (Quinque viæ) to prove the existence of God from the arguments of the unmoved mover, the first

cause, from contingency, from degree and the teleological argument. These arguments are expounded in Summa Theologica (ST, Ia, q.

2 a. 3 co) and Summa Contra Gentiles (SCG 1.13). This argument can also be true of the belief in the one God of Sikhism, Vedantic and Bhaktic Hinduism. Natural truth enables people to hold conversations as natural human beings in search of truth without seeking conversion to a particular religion but conversion to the supreme good (Summum Bonum).

Moral Truth: In Kant’s 1785 Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals, (3rd edition, Hackett p. 30), he says that human beings occupy a special place in creation, and morality can be summed up in one ultimate commandment of reason, or imperative, from which all duties and obligations derive.”

Hypothetical imperatives define a certain end of an action. For example, “if I wish to quench my thirst, I must drink something; if I wish to acquire knowledge, I must learn. On the other hand, a categorical imperative justifies an end in itself such that you “Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time will that it should become a universal law”. That is to say, act in such a way that every body want to behave like you or be like you. Let no one encounter you and regrets meeting you. Kant viewed the individual as a rationally self-conscious being with “impure” freedom of choice to “do or to refrain from doing as one pleases”.

Naturally, a person should know what is good and what is evil in the quest for happiness. For instance, no religion accepts adultery, murder, violence, stealing as morally right. Moral truth is acceptable to every rational person irrespective of religion. From a person’s actions it can be judged whether he or she loves God whose essence is “good”.

God identified Cornelius in

his natural life. His only credentials were the things he was doing morally outside any of the recognised religions. He was a centurion of the Italia cohort stationed in Caesarea. He had a united and happy household, devout and God fearing. He was generous and prayed constantly to God (Acts 10, 12). Although Cornelius was not a Jew and an adherent of Judaism, God noticed him and told Peter about him. His respect for human beings was

manifested in his reception of Peter. “As Peter reached the house, Cornelius went out to meet him, fell at his feet and did him reverence. But Peter helped him up. Stand up he said, I am only a man (Acts 10, 25-26). Through the actions of Cornelius, Peter came to another awareness of divine truth. “I now really understand, he said, that God has no favourites, but that anybody of any nationality who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him“(Acts 10, 34-35). The natural law from where moral truth is derived is infused in the human person.

Consequently, God can be

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found in the good activities of the human person. The life of Cornelius was acceptable to the Christian community.

Peter only confirmed what was already evident through baptism. The Muslim can identify with Cornelius because his almsgiving, prayer and fasting are part of

that makes others believe what you say.

Religious Truth: A Muslim friend told me recently that the only religion that will exist in heaven is Islam. Critically, we can say that the truth of this statement is that in heaven, there may be no organized religion except life

“Trinity” means “Three Gods” whereas, for Christians, God the father does not imply a biological father as if God has a wife that gave birth to Jesus. Some Muslims have been asked why God talk in the plural “we” in the Qur’an. Why do we still pray for the peace of

the pillars of Islam.

The truth about a person does not depend on certificates and what the person claims to be. The certificate ought to certify the actions, performance, skills and capacity of a person. If a person cannot perform the duties in accordance with what the certificate says then the person is not true to himself or herself. The moral truth about a person can be captured in key performance indicators. Jesus said, even if you do not believe in me; believe in the works that I do (John 10, 37-38). Moral truth makes a person credible. It is who you are and what you are

in peace and love with God for those who have naturally and morally submitted to the will of God. When the Catholics say, “Outside the Church, there is no salvation”, the implication is that the Church has all that is required to lead one to heaven. My life as a Catholic priest should defend the truth of the Catholic faith. It is not enough for me to be a priest if my actions do not uphold natural and moral truths. I should be seen to do the work of God. It is those who do the will of God that share in the gift of salvation that is abundant in the Church.

Nothing has divided the world more than arguments on religious truths. This is why doctrinal issues are sometimes avoided in interreligious dialogue. In discussing religious truths, concepts could mean different things to different people. In the middle ages, a term like “substance” almost rocked the Church. For the Muslim,

Allah to be upon the prophets who are already enjoying the peace of God in heaven?

Religious truths make religious issues sensitive and delicate hence natural truth and moral actions explain religious truth better than all philosophical and theological arguments. The report in some news papers and ttp:// www.jackophite.com that a “man surrenders Boko Haram son to JTF in Maiduguri” is seen by so many people as a practical way of teaching the true tenets of Islam. If we accept the dignity and value of the human person, we shall forever live in peace here and hereafter.

“The truth about a person does not depend on certificates and what the person claims to be. The certificate ought to certify the actions, performance, skills and capacity of a person. If a person cannot perform the duties in accordance with what the certificate says then the person is not true to himself or herself. The moral truth about a person can be captured in key performance indicators. Jesus said, even if you do not believe in me; believe in the works that I do (John 10, 37-38). Moral truth makes a person credible.”

Fr. Prof. Cornelius Afebu Omonokhua is the Director of Mission and Dialogue of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, Abuja and Consultor of the Commission for Religious Relations with Muslims (C.R.R.M), Vatican C i t y . (comonokhua@hotmail.com)

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TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

Perspective INTRODUCTORY: It gives me tremendous pleasure to be part of this momentous occasion. I feel particularly honoured to be requested by the distinguished organizers to make this presentation. As a Nigerian and an indigene of the Niger Delta, I have spent a considerable portion of my adult life agonizing over the issues for which we are all gathered here today. Indeed, as proof of my deep concern I have devoted an enormous part of my academic pursuit towards researching the problems of fiscal federalism and the lingering question of control of oil revenue resources in Nigeria. Today, I shall share my thoughts with you on what I considered a reasonable approach to articulating and dealing with the problem.

In my presentation, I shall briefly state the conceptual basis of my paper, particularly the ideas of fiscal Federal and control of oil revenue. I shall then outline their historical context in Nigeria. In the third section, I shall discuss the subsidiarity principle and what role it could play to resolve the crisis of fiscal federalism and control of oil revenue in the country. In the fourth rubric, I outline strategies to realizing the objectives of fiscal federalism and control of oil revenue in Nigeria. In the final section, I conclude.

1. Fiscal Federalism and Control of Oil Revenue: Conceptual Framework What is fiscal federalism and how does it connect with the issue of oil revenue and its control? Although the meaning of fiscal federalism can by no means be simply stated, it is sufficient here to offer a simple definition and what it generally implicates in the federal system. By fiscal federalism, we refer to the scheme of intergovernmental relations with regards to public sector finances among the different tiers of government in the federal system. The public sector in a federation consists of at least three different levels, the federal government, the states and the local governments.

The central concern of public sector financial relations is to align responsibilities and fiscal instruments with the proper level of government.

The subject matter of fiscal federalism therefore is how to fashion out which functions of government are best centralized and which are best placed in the sphere of decentralized levels of government. In essence, fiscal federalism addresses the vertical structure of public

finance in a federation and explores the roles of the different levels of government as well as the ways they relate to one another.

The notion of fiscal federalism is connected with the issue of control of revenue, including oil revenue because the fiscal arrangement of a federation determines the share of intergovernmental revenue which accrues vertically to the federal government and the subunits (states and local governments) on one hand; and horizontally between the subunits. There is a continuing global debate about how best to design an acceptable fiscal federalism template in a federation; or to put it succinctly, there is an intense argument in virtually all federations about the best intergovernmental fiscal arrangement that can meet the aspirations of the different vertical and horizontal segments of the federal system. What is however not in doubt is that finding a palatable solution which meets the aspiration of all subnational governments (states and local governments, in this context) remains quite a difficult task.

Some reasons have been proffered for this dilemma, one of which is that political interests diverge widely especially when huge revenues are involved. Thus, for instance, the more affluent states which contribute to public sector revenue mobilization are very sensitive about their wellbeing, especially about what accrues to them. These states are more inclined to push for reforms in their favour. On the other hand, states that have less capacity to derive or mobilize public sector revenue and which benefit from redistribution or equalization in intergovernmental revenue transfers tend to oppose reforms that would eliminate redistribution or equalization in place of subnational control of public sector revenue.

The question then is whether it is really possible to restructure fiscal federalism in the light of these contrasting tendencies. The proper answer to this question will probably resolve the current intense agitation over fiscal federalism and control of oil revenue in Nigeria, which is the central focus of this presentation. But, before discussing our preferred solution, it is necessary to set out the historical background of the problem in Nigeria.

II. Background to crisis of Fiscal Federalism and Control of Oil Revenue in Nigeria

Resolving Crisis Of Fiscal Federalism An

What Role For Subs The crisis of fiscal federalism and agitation for control of oil revenue have become serious issues that have the potential of dismembering Nigeria.

Although these matters have broad national implication, it appears that the tension spawned by the issues emanates more from the Niger Delta or oil-bearing part of the country. The impression you get from this scenario is that there appears to be a conscious gang-up against the oil bearing or Niger Delta area manifested by the desire to continue with the expropriation of oil revenue accruing from the area for the unconscionable benefits of the rest of the country. Thus, whenever the issues of fiscal federalism and control of oil revenue are raised, the non-oil bearing parts of Nigeria seem to rally together to resist any attempt at reform to reverse the current obnoxious constitutional provisions whereby the “Government of the Federation” takes ownership of all revenues coming from oil (vide: section 44 (3) of the 1999 Constitution) only to superintend their disbursement on the basis of the formula prescribed in section 162 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended); regard being had to the minimum 13% derivation principle provided for in the proviso to section 162(2) of the Constitution.

Of course this gang up should not surprise anyone of us because we are talking of money matters here. Anyone who has become accustomed to stealing from his neighbour would be hell bent on sustaining that evil machination since it guarantees the thief continuous easy access to cheap loot. The thief would care less that as a result of his evil act, the neighbor continues to suffer privation.

What is paramount in the thief’s mind is his own interest and nothing else.

Seriously speaking, how did we arrive at this situation?

Before independence in 1960 the founding fathers such as Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Aihaji Ahmadu Bello, the Saduana of Sokoto and foremost minority leaders such as Chief Dappa Prieye agreed with the departing British colonial

By DR EDO

administration on a template of fiscal federalism. This was after years of intense negotiations which if had failed to yield acceptable result before independence would have led the different parts of the country to go their separate ways )just as it happened to the greater India in 1948 when just before independence it was broken into current day India and Pakistan (including current Bangladesh) due to the inability of their founding fathers to agree on a number of fundamental issues of coexistence.

But Nigeria chose to remain one indivisible federation on the basis of clearly articulated fiscal federal arrangement.

Many writers have set out the fine lines of this fiscal arrangement. Perhaps Prof.

I.E. Sagay, himself a distinguished Niger Deltan, puts the point clearer when he made the following remark on the nature of fiscal federalism that existed under the 1960/ 63 Constitutions. According to him: …although the Constitution(s) did not provide for the ownership and control of mineral resources by the producing state or community, the entitlement of the producing state to 50% of the proceeds, and a share in another 30% with the federal Government being entitled to only 20% was a reflection of the derivative principle which is the economic indication of federalism.

This fiscal arrangement remained in place until the military struck in January, 1966. Since then, the table has turned almost inexorably to the point that from 50% share of oil mineral resources clearly enshrined in the Constitutions of 1960/63, the stake plummeted to about 1% during the period of military rule and even during the civilian government of President Shehu Shagari (1979 — 83). Even this minimal share of 1% or just over was only provided for in an Act of Parliament, the Appropriation Act and not constitutionally guaranteed unlike the position in the first republic. It was not until the 1 994-1995 ill-fated constitutional conference organized by the Late General Sani Abacha regime that the idea of restoring the derivation principle to the

constitution was muted and subsequently enshrined in the 1999 Constitution leaving the percentage of calculation to a mere 13% minimum, as if the majority non-oil bearing part of Nigeria would ever voluntarily agree to an increase above 13%!

Yet, there seems to be a level of veiled double standard in section 162 (2) of the 1999 Constitution, the section which institutes the principle of derivation. It does not specially mention what

derived which are entitled to up to 20%!

III. What Role for the Subsidiarily Principle?

As I begin to wind down this presentation, I shall now turn to proffering a solution to the difficult challenges posed by the fiscal federalism deficit in Nigeria’s current federal system especially as it affects control of oil revenue. I shall proceed by making a few quick observations. the country

pr in sy th pl go if in ow w fr w in

must stop pretending to be an island unto itself or playing the ostrich in regard to the crisis and tension generated by the problem of skewed fiscal arrangement. Second, there is no one-off solution to the problem as many parts of the country have become so accustomed to a clearly dysfunctional and dependency system of intergovernmental revenue transfer. Third, the solution offered by the subsidiarity principle which is discussed shortly presupposes that democratic institutions at the subunits (both states and local governments) are firmed-up in such a way as to have a more robust parliament at the state level and a more autonomous system of local government administration which at the minimum

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of

President Goodluck Jonathan

percentage of derivation should be adopted in calculating revenue accruable to the federation account from non-oil sources. Thus, it has been reported that the current percentage for calculating derivation from Value Added Tax (VAT) and a number of solid mineral resources are 20% and 55%, respectively.

The net implication of this is quite clear. Since most parts of the oil-bearing states especially the Niger Delta area lack vital solid mineral resources, non-oil bearing parts of Nigeria where virtually all of the country’s solid mineral resources are based gain up to 55% from revenue derived from these minerals. Same can also be said of states like Lagos, Kano, and Kaduna from where more VAT revenues are

THE NIGERIAN

17

TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

Perspective

nd Control Of Oil Revenue In Nigeria

sidiarity Principle?

OBA B. OMOREGIE

f regular succession.

Now, by the subsidiarity rinciple we refer to that ntrinsic fulcrum of the federal ystem which postulates that he central government should lay only a supporting role in overnance, acting if and only the constituent units are ncapable of acting on their wn”. The etymology of the word subsidiarity is said to be rom the Latin “subsidium” which refer to auxiliary troops n the Roman military. The

justice exceed their capacities.”

With this understanding, it is pertinent to emphasize that most established federations of the world are generally designed according to the dictates of the subsidiarity principle. Indeed, established federations such as the United States of America, Canada, Switzerland, Australia and Germany have clearly fashioned their constitutions along the line of subsidiarity, with firm judicial

dern notion of it is traceable two sources, one academic the writings of Johannes husius (1603) and the other clesiastical in the Roman tholic Quardragesimo Anno blished by the papacy in 31. About 30 years ago in 86, the United States tholic Bishops articulated an erview of the principle bmitting that the “This nciple states that in order to otect basic justice, vernment should undertake y those initiatives which ceeds the capacities of ividuals or groups acting dependently. Government ould not replace or destroy aller communities and ividual initiative. Rather, it ould help them contribute re effectively to social wellng and supplement their ivity when the demands of

endorsement by their apex courts. Thus, in these countries, the subunits are regarded as the laboratory of development where experimentation and innovations take place. In the event that these experiments or innovations pay off in one part of the federation, the federal government may, as especially happens in the United States and Germany, spread the benefits to willing states through mandates backed by grants-in-aid. Hence, it is said that the subsidiarity principle is not only a justification for local action but in appropriate situations could be a justification for national or central government intervention.

However, what we find in Nigeria seems to be totally different. There is no clear

principled parameter or template for the enormous powers distributed to the federal government. The federal government has assumed the status of a leviathan with awesome powers over all conceivable government affairs. In contrast, the subunits are mere geographical expression with severely limited distributed powers. Even concurrent list of powers for which the subunits could have been active is more or less an exclusive federal domain.

First, because of the federalism principle of Covering the Field which is constitutionally enshrined in section 4 (5) of the 1999 Constitution by which the states are barred from legislating inconsistently on matters on the concurrent list in the event of existing federal legislation on the particular matter. Second, because of the intrinsic design of the concurrent list itself. There, certain matters are named as exclusive federal matters, irrespective of the fact that there is no existing federal legislation. One such matter is electricity supply in areas designated as covered or to be covered by the National Grid System.

The resultant effect of this enormous federal legislative powers both in the 68 item Exclusive List and the 30 item Concurrent List is the sheer avaricious thirst for funds by the federal government and hence the total nationalization of oil mineral resources and the astonishing anti-federal intergovernmental fiscal arrangement in Nigeria by which the federal government allocates more than half of federation revenue to itself.

Yet, this does not tell the whole story. In addition to federal government appropriation of more funds to itself to meet its unwieldy legislative powers, there remains the serious problem of horizontal fiscal or revenue equalization arrangement in section 162 of the 1999 Constitution which prescribes that revenue accruing to the Federation Account including those from oil revenue shall be distributed in accordance with the dictates of population of each state, equality of states, internal revenue generation, land mass, terrain and population density. In truth, of these parameters only “internal revenue generation”

can lend itself to proper empirical verification or ascertainment. The rest are subjective variables. Thus, while oil-bearing states (which are small in land mass and population) are limited to earn only 13 % minimum from oil revenue (a verifiable derivative product) derived from their domain, non-oil bearing state$,, especially those from the north with large land mass and population (the latter still quite a contentious statistics) take benefit of these other parameters without the limitation of percentage in calculating the revenue accruing to them.

Furthermore, although “terrain” is included as a parameter for calculating revenue allocation in section 162, the meaning of the word cannot be limited to the terrible environmental condition of the oil-bearing states so as to give them an advantage in revenue allocation from the Federation Account. Other States with difficult terrains, and they cut across the country, can also stake revenue claims ( they have been doing) under the head of “terrain” even as they contribute nothing tangible to the revenue profile of the Federation Account which is currently funded up to 90% from oil revenue derived from the oil-bearing states.

It has been argued that with the 13% derivation revenue allocation and the intervention expected from the Niger Delta Ministry and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) enough concessions appear to have been made to the oilbearing states. Even as I believe that creating a Ministry for the Niger Delta and establishment of a body such as the NDDC are needless anti-federalism, bureaucratic approaches to dealing with a situation that requires the application of the subsidiarity principle, I do not agree with the proposition that 13% as derivative minimum is acceptable, given the constitutional history which I have recalled above. The unfortunate result of military intervention in reversing the pre-1960 fiscal federalism agreement of the founding fathers, notwithstanding, Nigeria continues to trace its legal

history as an independent sovereign nation to the year 1960 and not the years of military rule. Why then should we casually forget this historical agreement? In any event, with whom was the agreement to settle for 13% struck instead of 50% before it was enshrined in the 1999 Constitution? How did the military government arrive at the percentage?

My elementary Contract Law teaches me that no one can the held bound by an agreement to which he/she was never privy.

It could also be argued that to concede further revenue base to the oil-bearing states would create all the problems which the reversal of the pre1966 constitutional arrangement was meant to achieve, which as claimed by some writers was to preserve the corporate existence of the country in the face of increasing threat posed by more oil revenue accruals to the oil bearing states.

Concerning this claim, nothing could be further from the truth. On my part, I would submit that quite simply, the military juntas foisted this untoward situation of centralized intergovernmental transfer, with strong emphasis on equalization, all in a bid to have a firm grip of the entire country, perhaps to stave off centrifugal tendencies which resulted from their unwarranted intervention in government.

The events of the civil war and thereafter further exacerbated these tendencies.

In fact, former President Olusegun Obasanjo is on record to have unequivocally declared that the civil war fought because of oil mineral resources. However, I wish to stress that greater danger lies ahead if we sustain this journey to nowhere. If the federal government continues to expropriate oil revenue and take a larger chunk of the accruals while at the same time superintending over what goes to the subunits as it currently does under a policy of equalization, the patience of the oil-bearing states would sooner than later boil over.

IV. The Solution Strategies Having regard to the foregoing, we proffer the following strategies for resolving the crisis at hand: a. Reaffirmation of the fiscal federalism agreements in the pre-1966 constitutional texts in order to restore the 50% derivation and 30% distributable pool revenue allocation formula in intergovernmental fiscal transfer. c. As a matter of urgency

and in accordance with the subsidiarity principle, the federal government should shed weight and leave the states to act as laboratories of development. d. Institution of a system of federal grant-in-aid, rather than equalization in intergovernmental fiscal arrangements. e. Constitutional review/ Constitutional Conference to institute subsidiarity principle and fiscal federalism. f. More political will and rigorous articulation of the crisis from Niger Delta intelligentsia, politicians and technocrats. g. Political alignment with groups (including political parties) outside the Niger Delta with strong belief in fiscal federalism / subsidiarity principle. h. More crusade in support of federalism in general. i. More media visibility of voices of Niger Delta with less and less of tacit or open support for militancy but for intellectual engagement.

V. Conclusion In this presentation, I have focused on a number of issues in my quest to proffer a solution to the lingering problems of fiscal federalism and oil revenue control in Nigeria. I have argued that the crisis was brought about during the military era. In sum, I believe that the problem of dependency created by the years of implementation of equalization in intergovernmental fiscal relation as well as the need to meet the enormous legislative responsibilities of the federal government have created difficulty in reversing the current system of fiscal federalism to the agreed position prior to 1966.I have opined that by adopting the principle of subsidiarity in formulating distribution of powers in Nigeria, the federal government could considerably shed weight and leave the states to act as the laboratory of development as they are in other established federations. To meet the special needs of national aspirations, a system of federal grant-in-aid could be instituted to support less financially endowed states.

This way, the inordinate quest for funds from oil revenue, both horizontally by non-oil bearing states, and vertically by the federal government would become a thing of the past.

Dr Edoba B Omoregie is an Associate Professor of Law & Head of Dept of Private & Property Law, UNIBEN

THE NIGERIAN

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TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

Leadership

WHEN you achieve a position of leadership for the first time, things change in your daily world. Maybe you notice the size of your paycheck is bigger, or maybe you notice subtle changes in personal relationships—with your peers especially. Or maybe your office is bigger, it’s better appointed, and even has a window. Perhaps your self-esteem goes up a notch or two. With all that (and more) you may also get some nagging worries as you feel the weight of responsibility settling in on your shoulders and a sense of aloneness creeps in. These are all things you likely noticed during your early days in the new position. While there is much focus on developing the competencies to take on this new role, there is less said about something that is more important to your initial and long-term effectiveness. They are the three toughest daily choices a leader must make.

Unavoidable Choices They are choices that you must make because you cannot avoid any of these. They are choices you will make one way or the other anyway, and perhaps not even consciously. Yet, if there are right and good choices to make consciously, choices that make a difference, why not make them from the start? It could make all the difference not only in your life but even more so in the mission and in the lives of those you serve.

And, when you look back on your career and your time as a leader, you will better be able to do so without regret. As Soren Kierkegaard has rightly observed, “You live your life forward and understand it backward.”

Looking Backwards An interesting commentary on just that perspective is provided

by Richard Leider1 who spent nearly 20 years interviewing older adults—people over 65— asking them deep questions about life. One question he consistently asked was this: “If you could live your life over again, what would you do differently?” Strikingly, three themes were repeated over and over: • I would be more reflective, take time to think because life passes so quickly and I was too busy doing to think adequately; • I would be more courageous, take more risks; I played it too

With BAMIDELE MICHAEL

The Toughest Choices A Leader Must Make close to the vest; and finally, • I would be clear, far earlier, on what my purpose was in life.

Your First Toughest Choice This latter point he makes is your first choice—what is your purpose in life and how will it guide you each day? Do you have a clear life mission statement?

To paraphrase the words of Jim Collins, if this nation is

place both Lincoln and Martin Luther King went for the core beliefs that drove them to keep the Republic intact and to reach the dream that all people live together as created equals. It was not the Constitution that energized their calling, but the Declaration of Independence.

We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men were created equal. That they were

going to be built to last, you will have to preserve the core values and beliefs and the core purpose on which we were founded. That is your choice to make.

Perhaps the most important choice you will make as a leader is what will be your telos, your enduring purpose—who and what will you follow—what will be at your core; what will you place before the people you lead as the purpose that gets them out of bed each morning. It is the task of a leader to connect people with purpose.

There is no better place to go for perspective on this than the

endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights. …. that in order to secure these rights governments were instituted among men deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

Our power and authority as leaders is not of self or of position. It is conferred by those we serve.

Our mission is to secure the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness by serving others.

This is often a choice that comes at a cost—to keep that focus true in the face of self-

“Perhaps the most important choice you will make as a leader is what will be your telos, your enduring purpose—who and what will you follow—what will be at your core; what will you place before the people you lead as the purpose that gets them out of bed each morning. It is the task of a leader to connect people with purpose.”

interest and conflicting visions of others.

The Second Choice The second choice that you will be making as leaders is how you will use your most precious resource: time. If you are clear on your purpose, it makes it much easier to begin to focus the way you use your time.

Sometimes we focus so much on competencies in leaders we

forget that the daily reality on the ground is one of time priority. Look at your calendar if you want to know where your priorities lie in reality—maybe it’s meetings or e-mail or phone calls. These are all things that eat our lunch if we let them.

How we spend our time directly impacts on what we ultimately accomplish with others; how we spend our time depends on what we use as our purpose for living. If I could somewhat shift the balance of how you spend your time, I’d suggest two things: 1.

Focus on defining reality. What do I mean? Max De Pree says the first task of a leader is to define reality—what is true. Speak the truth to power, speak the truth to those who work for you, and be transparent about yourself. Don’t leave it to others to tell you that you are naked. I have yet to work with an organization that does not have what Annette Simmons calls “dangerous truths” that need to be spoken. Sometimes it requires what Thomas More did for Henry VIII-speak the

truth to power. Sometimes it requires what we all hate to do, give someone honest feedback about their performance. And sometimes it means opening ourselves to honest feedback from our folks or saying “I screwed up.” But these “dangerous truths” require courage and they require that we devote time to talking honestly and openly to people and encouraging the same for ourselves. Truth helps in driving fear out of the organization by making it a safe place for truth

telling. It is one of the most productive uses of your time you will ever experience. And it’s hard.

As Solzhenitsyn said, “One word of truth outweighs the whole world.”

2. Focus on developing your most valuable assets. Max De Pree goes on to say that if the first task is to define reality, “the last is to say thank you and in between a leader becomes a servant and a debtor—the measure of your effectiveness is found in the lives of those that follow you—are they growing, adapting, being creative?” The coin of the realm in today’s organizations is resolutely human capital (an awkward term)—people—because the assets of an organization reside primarily between the ears and in the hearts of those who are in the organization. That’s why serving those who are in your organization, focusing on their development and their careers is such a good choice. It not only helps in building the real assets of an organization, it is

08064496136 transformative—it changes people and organizations helping them become places of grace (and truth). And particularly I would add growing the next generation of leaders behind you—leaders of competence and character.

Some call that servant leadership and it’s a soft skill that pays hard dividends. But that’s your choice.

The Third Choice The third choice you make is where your energies take you at the end of each day. Consider this poem for a minute: Ozymandius

By Percy Bysshe Shelley I met a traveler from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read, Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed, And on the pedestal these words appear: “My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings: Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Are we building monuments to ourselves or are we building something into the purpose and people of the organization that will endure? It’s a good question for reflection at the end of the week.

Choosing In closing, what I’d like to encourage you to do in these times of such difficulty for our Nation is to be open-eyed about the choices before you as leaders. Don’t simply stumble along letting your in-box or your too-full calendar guide you.

Choose the humble purpose of public service over pragmatism and personal gain.

Choose courageous truth over self-deception and fear.

Choose to serve others rather than to be served.

Grow the next generation of servant leaders behind you.

Build a great and safe place for people to work and find their purpose and calling. Leave your legacy in the lives of others.

It is in such a life that you will meet a true servant leader down the road one day and that leader will be you: grown much larger in the ways that matter— perhaps forever.

THE NIGERIAN

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TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

Drumbeats

How To Prepare For One’s Death (6)

VISIT the Poor, those in Prison, Hospital and the Less Privilege ones in your society Some of the things that glorify God, gladden his heart, enhance Our productivity and longevity on earth is our ability to care for the poor. Visit those in prisons and hospitals and help the less privileged ones in our midst.

A man or woman who wants to die peacefully, joyfully and gracefully should see this as a responsibility and a debt he owes God and humanity and then should constantly visit the poor, those in prison and in the hospital in order to care for them, encourage them, Strengthen their faith in God and give them hope for a better future that await them.

Each time I visit those in hospital, prisoners and help the poor there is always an increase of Gods anointing in my life, increase of financial blessings, peace of mind and a high sense of fulfillment in my heart.

To be candid with you, my exposure, blessing and fame came into my life as a result of my constant prayers for the sick ones in the hospital.

As I write this book, I have a strong urge in my spirit and heart to spend this Christmas with the sick people in the hospital and visit those in prison in other to care for them, encourage them and pray for them.

You might be saying in your heart right now that it is of no use visiting people in the hospital, the poor and those in prison when you have nothing to give them Friends, the truth is that there is nobody on earth who has nothing to give from that little you claim to have. Even if you have nothing to give as you claim, then give the poor,

those in hospital and prison your time, your prayer, encouragement and your care.

We owe it a responsibility to always encourage the poor, the weak Ones and sick ones in our Society.

Make God happy by your conduct and attitude you display daily, weekly or yearly. Show your love to the orphans, poor, sick ones and those in prison.

ASK GOD TO REVEAL ANY UNCONFESSED SIN IN YOUR HEART AND ACT UPON IT Friends, it’s of no use pretending to be righteous and holy in the sight of God and man when you know deep down in your heart that your ways are not right with God. If I may ask, is there any thing you are hiding from your wife, children, your husband, your lawyer and your pastor? You may hide that secret or sin from people.

But you can’t hide it from God. In other to die peacefully and joyfully you must form the habit of always asking God to reveal any unconfessed sin in your heart and life and act on it. You act on it by renouncing and forsaking them.

“What shall we say the?

Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized in to his death?

Therefore we are buried with him my baptism into death: that like Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness

of his resurrection.

Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. “Romans 6vs l 6.

“If any be in Christ lie is a new creature old things are passed away, behold all things became new.”

I urge you in the name of the Lord to shun any unconfessed sin in your life and be dead to self, shun any act of unrighteousness.

Failure to confess our sin and forsake them has the capacity to hinder our blissful death and enslave our life and destiny to Satan in eternity. God forbids Of what use living in

“A man or woman who wants to die peacefully, joyfully and gracefully should see this as a responsibility and a debt he owes God and humanity and then should constantly visit the poor, those in prison and in the hospital in order to care for them, encourage them, Strengthen their faith in God and give them hope for a better future that await them.”

With Apostle Dr. Raphael O. Ayemere 08035459593

affluence, influence.

Wealth and fame and later finds yourself in hell fire in eternity with Satan and his agents?

As for me and my household 1 want us to spend our eternity in heaven with Jesus Christ, Moses and with the entire saint who died in Christ.

people across the globe were once lured into the act owing to bad company and wrong associations.

Our parents, elderly men

The way of the wicked is as darkness, they not at what they stumble.

“Proverbs 4v14-19 The above passage of

D I S S O C I AT E YOURSELF FROM BAD COMPANY The company you keep to a great extent has the capacity to alter your destiny negatively or positively.

‘Someone says, the company you keep tells the kind of person you are, the food you eat, the clothes you wear, the kind of business you do, the wife or husband you marry and the places you go to in life.”

Another wise man says evi1 communication corrupts good manners.” in other to die peacefully, joyfully and gracefully then you must dissociate yourself from bad company.

Majority of hired assassins, armed robbers and kidnappers you see or hear daily terrorizing and destroying and killing

and women in our society and our teachers in tertiary and higher institution warn us constantly to dissociate ourselves from bad company because of the bad effects and influence such company could cause to our lives.

“Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in, the way of evil men.

Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.

For they sleep not, except they have done mischief and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.

For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.

But the path of the just is as he shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.

the scripture tells you the effect of bad company.

Friends, I say to you again that bad company can ruin your life and prevent you from achieving your goals and dreams in life.

Bad company could accelerate the purchase of your ticket to hell fire and hinder you from spending eternity with God Almighty in heaven.

If you love your family and value your life, then run away from bad company before they destroy your life and destiny.

Were it not for Gods mercy, family, warnings from people, beatings and law enforcement agency, bad company would have ruined my life and my generation.

THE NIGERIAN

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TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

Opinion THE present administration in Edo State led by comrade Adams Oshiomhole has redefined the act of governance in the state through its massive transformation agenda.

This breath –taking transformation agenda of the comrade governor is being felt in every nook and caranny of Edo state, especially in the areas of road construction/ rehabilitation, health care delivery, water supply, youth empowerment and prudent management of human and material resources.

For instance, when comrade Oshiomhole came on board in late 2008, most of the primary and secondary schools in the state were in shamble.

Many parents and guardians at that time, preferred to send their wards to private schools due to the pathetic state of public schools across the state.

But story has changed to the admiration of all.

Most parents now prefer

public schools due to the astonishing infrastructures turn-around, coupled with rejuvenated manpower.

Under the first and second phases of total school transformation programme, the state government has constructed and renovated classrooms, assemble halls, staff rooms, administrative blocks, toilet and other facilities.

This laudible effort of the state government is to enable environment, among others.

It is however important to state at this point that the task of taking the education sector of Edo state to the promised land, particularly as it affects public primary and secondary schools, should not be left in the hands of government alone.

For example, in the area of sports, Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) in the various public primary and secondary schools can do something with a view to

Need For PTA To Support Oshiomhole’s Transformation promoting sports activities.

In other words, parentteacher associations in these

By EKPEN BAZUAYE

schools should genuinely come together and provide

Gov Adams Oshiomhole

Why ‘Immunity Clause’ Should Be Removed

I begin to think of making preposition to Government to get rid of ‘immunity clause’ on the political scene Immunity clause may be having a dynamic rationale behind which it was constitutinalized. Perhaps, to guide against redundant petitions and distractions of some eminent public office holders such as Presidents and Governors. But it is evident in the recent time, the essence of which immunity clause was determined has been altered by insensitive and egocentric politicians. If the word ‘immunity clause’ can be detached from the English Language dictionary, may be corruption would have been considerably minimized and if not totally eradicated. You may harmonize with me that immunity clause has aided corruption extremely in this part of the country. It is against this background that however, I am strongly driven by my impulse to write exclusively on the subject, and bring the attention of Government to this precarious and heartbreaking situation. But if you can keep your head when the predicament, the public is losing their sleep, then, it seems you probably

By OZUNGWE T. GODWIN

don’t comprehend the problem. Bureaucracy has defended the status quo of the immunity clause long after the quo has lost its status, misused, and mismanaged by conceited politicians.

It is on this note that, the constitution should be amended to remove the immunity clause within the margins of Nigeria’s geological entity and politics.

Immunity clause has been misrepresented to accrued prosperity and creates supremacy to politicians. The concept has raised a public excruciation.

Today, democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half the people are right more than half the time. I think the trouble with the country is that, it is all signposts and no destination because of the deplorable position of corrupt practices which has dented the image of this country.

We should know that, politics is an art of drawing sufficient conclusion from sufficient premises.

Immunity clause should be restricted only to diplomats in Diasporas, because they are serving in foreign lands.

If sincerely we are to fight all vices of corruption, immunity clause should be removed. Other countries may be corrupt, but Nigeria’s case is so upsetting and ruthless that, Nigeria has been ranked one of the most corruptible countries in the world today. How does that make you feel as a Nigerian?

Lets us be upright and be vertical in the course of services to the nation.

Anyone found wanting of corruption should be made to face the law immediately without any further delays.

No one should be given anyone the option to steal more and more until he leaves the office.

It is in this country that corruption is encouraged so to speak, a country where people steal billions and would be asked to pay fine of a token and be free. Today, such people are flaunting their stolen wealth in the society. Even if some of them are sent to the prison, they may just serve a small jail term under house arrest, for few months and be free.

Whereas, people are in prisons today for stealing two thousand naira or even less.

Any other thing can wait; politicians want to win

David Mark, Senate President

sports facilities, especially in the areas of football, basketball, athletics, volley ball, table/ lawn tennis etc.

In the western world, which also applies to us, there is a widely held belief that a proportion of delinquency among students stem from misuse of leisure time.

The point is that if pupils/ students are engaged in sporting activities during leisure, it could reduce criminal tendencies among primary and secondary school students, hence parent – teacher associations in various public schools should support Edo state government by providing sports facilities that will keep their wards busy during leisure.

In the past, Game masters

election by all means, because it is in politics that you make quick money.

Every successful revolution puts on in time robes tyrants of their immoral inspiration or impetus. Revolution is the solution to pollution.

Reforms are less to be dreaded than revolutions, for they causes less reactions. I may not be a partisan politician,I may not know a lot about politics you may say, but I am sure to say that, I can recognize a good and honest politician when I see one. It is in politics that your family history can be traced.

Man is born perfect; it is the quest for politics and power that corrupts him extremely.

If the immunity clause formation protects president for example, and the legislatures by the virtue of the two third majorities have the pivotal power to remove him from the office, then, that is to say that, immunity clause is less to the powers of the legislatures. When the news of death penalty for corruption hits the air waves and made headlines in the news papers, I was highly delighted, and overwhelmed, I said to myself, Nigeria has founded the prescription to put an end to the saga of corruption in the country. But little or less I am feeling the impact of the implementation

played prominent roles in schools by promoting sports, ranging from athletics to football.

But, from the look of things, it appears the activities of game masters have waned over the years, hence parentteacher associations should come to the rescue by contributing their quota towards the reawakening of sports activities in public schools across the state.

Apart from keeping pupils/ students busy outside their academic work, thereby reducing the possibility of being involved in cultism, rape, robbery, among others, talents will also be discovered (catching them young), and in the process some of them could become great sports men and women.

of death penalty or, was it ever implemented? When the money for police pension was embezzled amounting to billions of naira, I said this man would be use to serve as deterrent. But to my almost surprise he was not. He was released on bay, and even asked to pay a fine of seven hundred and fifty thousand naira to be free. I don’t want to see Nigeria’s political system or judicial law courts as casinos and not cathedrals.

Let’s call a spade a spade and not as agricultural farm tool, the constitution does not provide exceptions for anyone to be above the law.

In china, corruption is drastically minimized as a result of the death sentence conveyed with it. A country with out an effective law can never achieve result in a situation like this. If we must overcome corruption in this country, we must work together to our desired goal. by working together, we should adopt the chinese constitutional law of death penalty or, sentence if you like, and the law should be effective. Immunity clause is properly manage in other countries like, Ghana, South Africa, Liberia and others.

And this is an issue that Government should not over look, if the people are to be led the desired direction they would want to go.

THE NIGERIAN

21

TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

Issues Education

EXAMINATION malpractice is one of the ills plaguing our educational system. It is a situation whereby a candidate wants to get a qualification or certificate without really working hard for it.

The question now is what are the causes of e x a m i n a t i o n malpractices? One cause of examination malpractice is the emphasis place on paper qualifications in this country. This has led to increase in the forgery and buying of certificates.

We, therefore, have lots of individuals, in schools, industries, ministries and other place that cannot defend their certificates.

Many Nigerians have chains of certificates but they cannot really show that they earn such certificates. This is why positive thinking say: “Do not say I was brilliant at school but show it now” There was the story of an expatriate who wanted a job as a foreman in a company in Nigeria. When he could not be appointed because he had no certificate to produce even though he had been a foreman of many years experience in a big company in his country, he went back home Three months later he came back with a certificate showing that he has B.Sc certificate and he was appointed immediately as an engineer in a

g o v e r n m e n t establishment Alhaji Saisu buhari, a one-time speaker of the House of Representatives was found to have a forged certificate of TORONTO U N I V E R S I T Y, CANADA. for this he was shown the way out of the house.

From the above, you can see placing much emphasis on paper qualification is misleading; we should therefore desist from it.

Another factor, which has contributed to e x a m i n a t i o n malpractice, is the rush to acquire wealth. This rush has been encourage by the attitude of the society which does not care how you acquire your wealth Once you acquire wealth, whether by hook or crook, the society regards you as a successful person. You are lavished with honour in any gathering and at fund-raising ceremonies.

You are given red-carpet treatment because you belong to a class of people who can donate millions of naira. A university professor within the limits of his income may not be invited to such a function. If at all he is invited, he is given a back seat just because he cannot donate a fabulous amount of money. As a result of this type of attitude, there is low public morality in the society. It is the type that those who acquire wealth or success by

Causes Of Examination Malpractice

corruption practices.

Majority of students, therefore, see nothing wrong in passing their examination through cheating and dishonest practices. After all, other live in affluence on account of the wealth they acquired through

By ISAAC IKHINAEDE

Furthermore, the high cost of education is another cause of examination malpractice in Nigeria. The money

Prof Ruqayyatu Rufai, Minister for Education

cheating and other dishonest practices.

Infact, people make money from qualifications, smuggling, hoarding of scarce commodities, forgery, impersonation, bribery and corruption, stealing, armed robbery, diversion of public funds and equipment to private use, to make name a few of the thousand and one ways in which Nigerians become wealthy or successful.

involved in enrolment for examination as a door-die affair. This is because he may not be able to get this fabulous amounts of money to enroll for the examination if he misses the opportunity of passing it at a first attempt. This accounts for why such darling students bring dangerous weapons such as knives, daggers, cutlasses etc to the examination hails.

Besides, the high level of

“Many of these external candidates are dropouts from their former schools whose character cannot be ascertained by the unsuspecting principals of such schools. And because of greed and the quest for quick money by school heads, exorbitant fees are collected from them regardless of their past conduct of performance as examination cheats. As a result, these students only come to the examination hall to cheat to the chagrin of honest candidates who have spent their time preparing for such examination.”

indiscipline and corruption in Nigeria is another cause of e x a m i n a t i o n malpractice. The law enforcement agents are allegedly.

At examination centers instead of preventing e x a m i n a t i o n malpractices they collect money from the students and close their eyes to any malpractices in the exanimation hail. The invigilators and supervisors are also in the same categories.

Most of them always bought over by the principal or the students.

On the other hand, school proprietors or school heads promote e x a m i n a t i o n malpractices. It is the philosophy of private school proprietors or public school principals.

The private school proprietor sees the performances of his students during the final examinations as a yard stick for getting more students, increasing the population of the school and earning more money for the school. As a result of this he engages in e x a m i n a t i o n malpractices of the highest order.

The public school, on the other hand, also sees performance in the final examination in school as criteria to raising their student’s population and in gaining promotion.

Sometimes the government for instance uses the percentage pass in the final examination in promoting the school heads. This is how examination malpractice is encouraged in public schools today.

More so, over enrolment of external candidates by principal into their schools for examination is another factor. Many of these external candidates are dropouts from their former schools whose character cannot be ascertained by the unsuspecting principals of such schools. And because of greed and the quest for quick money by school heads, exorbitant fees are collected from them regardless of their past conduct of performance as examination cheats. As a result, these students only come to the examination hall to cheat to the chagrin of honest candidates who have spent their time preparing for such examination.

Immoral relationship in schools is again another cause of e x a m i n a t i o n malpractices. It makes the teacher to write or employs someone to write examination for his girl friend an event pronounced in secondary and higher institutions.

Conclusively, in combating Examination malpractice in Edo State the commissioner of Basic Education Hon Patrick Aguinede, and his higher Education, counterpart, Barr. Osifo and all Directors in the various ministry of Education, the principal Educationists, principals of senior & Junior Secondary school should collectively come together to form a formidable pillar to fight the examination malpractices that is almost a contagious disease that always wants to tear apart the standard of Education in Edo state in particular and Nigeria in general.

THE NIGERIAN

22

TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

Issues IT was a cold day, as the heavens had opened its mouth earlier. The coldness of the day, not withstanding, was basking in the eupaoria of her newly –purchased phone. She had wonted to call her elder sister to know how the plans for the wedding (her wedding), was going.

However, the situation turned into an annoying one. What could that be?

As she picked up her phone and dialed her sister’s number, shock was written all over her face as the voice from the network operator said ‘Your account balance is not sufficient for the call.

Please, recharge your account and try again later!” What surprised her most was the fact that she had just finished recharging her phone.

Again, she dialed the number. The response that came was: “The number you are calling is not reachable at the moment, please try again later”. To cap it all, the “network” on her phone, went out making it impossible to reach anyone. She was cut-off from the world.

Similarly, a story was told of a customer of one of the big G.S.M service operators in the country who had N1,500 deducted from his account balance. This, the G.S.M company, said was due to a service the customer entered into.

According to the student, he had opted out of the service a long while ago

Addressing Poor Telecommunication Services In Nigeria

By EMMANUEL EGOBIAMBU

but was shocked to the marrow when he checked his balance and discovered it was on the red side (showing red).

He called the service provider, but they told him that there was nothing can be done to change the story. These scenanos above, have become part of the daily routine for most G.SM subscribers in Nigeria since its advent of in 2001. Although, one cannot wish away the positives that the coming of moble telephony has brought to the country, it is also pertiment to note that the service rendered

by G.SM service providers, have been ridden with problems.

According to the N i g e r i a n Communications Commission, the number of connected lines as at January 2013 is 154, 562, 024. This growing number of subscribers, have equally made the quality of service provided by service to remain poor The poor quality service provided in the n a t i o n ’ s telecommunication sector, comes in varied shades and in patterns.

According to reports, instances abound where a customer who is trying to call someone is disappointed when the phone keeps saying:

“error, in connection” or “unable to connect”. At other time, the customers are left to their fate with lost network.

Connectivity” lost in some areas for days and

not end it. If by mistake, the customer gets into any of their tips/sms services, be sure that such person is going to pass through hell before the deductions his account

that the infrastructure in the sector cannot exist in vacuum as there has to be equal growth in other sectors.

Similarly, there is the nagging problem of

G.S.M services. Last year, nor less than 30 base stations were damaged through bombing. Most of these stations, are yet to be rebuilt thereby leading to

weeks.

Again, there is the issue of unsolicited messages and deduction . As if these texts messages are signs of improved services, network providers bombard subscribers with flirt of messages.

These texts are mostly promotional in nature.

It is either you are called to subscribe to a service or to get one tip or the other. That does

are halted.

However, experts have identified various factors as propellants of the poor quality telecommunication in the country. According to Corporate Service Executive, MTN, Wale Goodluck, “the same infrastructure challenges that have bedeviled the power industry also affect the telecommunications industry.” He explained

epileptic power supply.

In a memorandum presented by the Association of Telecommunications companies of Nigeria (ATON) to the senate committee on Communication, the cost of installing a base station and special antennas with N24, 750, 000. To The Managing Director, Ericsson Nigeria, Kamar Abass, the unstable power supply experienced in Nigeria, is not so in most parts of the globe.

Furthermore, ALTON Chairman, Gbenga Adebayo noted that insecurity of telecoms facilities, is also fuelling the perennial poor nature of

low quality service.

Reports also suggest that telecommunication firms record not less than 70 cases of vandalism of infrastructure every month.

With a population of about 160 million and about $5. 750 billion invested into the sector, it is hoped that the perennial low-quality service will fizzle out soon. Although, the NCC slammed N1. 17 billion on MTN, Airtel, Etisalat and Globacom for poor services in 2012, there is need for more stringent measures to curtail the unsatisfactory nature of services been rolled out by the telecomm operators. Subscribers deserve better service.

“With a population of about 160 million and about $5. 750 billion invested into the sector, it is hoped that the perennial low-quality service will fizzle out soon. Although, the NCC slammed N1. 17 billion on MTN, Airtel, Etisalat and Globacom for poor services in 2012, there is need for more stringent measures to curtail the unsatisfactory nature of services been rolled out by the telecomm operators. Subscribers deserve better service.”

THE NIGERIAN

23

TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

Culture

Another Season Of Reunion, Celebration

Osun Osogbo Festival:

TO most of the devotees of Osun goddess – a Yoruba river deity – the Osun Osogbo Festival is an annual event that brings together people from far and wide, irrespective of their socio-cultural and religious background, for a cultural reunion.

Celebrated every August in Osogbo, the capital of Osun State, the fiesta presents an opportunity for the indigenes of Osogbo, their friends and wellwishers as well as funloving tourists to converge on the town for the yearly celebration.

In spite of their different religious backgrounds, the people often intermingle with the worshipers of Osun deity in performing the ceremonial rites, although the development has often elicited the resentment of the adherents of other religions, particularly Islam and Christianity.

Such dissents notwithstanding, tourism experts insist that the festival remains a veritable tourist attraction, which could also be used to expand Nigeria’s revenue base and launder its image.

The experts note that the festival has gained a global recognition to such an extent that the Osun Grove was enlisted as a world heritage site in Durban, South Africa, on

July 15, 2005.

They also commend the efforts of an Austrian priestess of Osun deity, the late Susanne Wenger, to popularise the festival and enrich its appeal.

It is, therefore, not uncommon to see different people from different countries across the world at the Osun Osogbo festival, as the carnival has grown to become an international cultural carnival.

Speaking on the festival, Mr Boyeh Abodunrin, the Secretary of the Budget Implementation Committee of the 2012 edition of the festival, noted that some people had some erroneous perceptions of the Osun Osogbo celebration.

“Contrary to some views in certain quarters, Osun Osogbo is not idolatry; the sustenance of the festival up to the present time is a matter of history and the people of Osogbo cannot afford to lose their heritage to civilisation just like that.

“One cannot, because of new developments, abandon what is good in his or her own culture and embrace civilisation, even when the festival could be realigned with modernism,’’ he said.

Abodunrin said that due to Osun Osogbo, August had become a unique month among the citizens of the state,

By YEMI IDRIS-ADULOJU

particularly the indigenes of Osogbo.

He expatiated that August had been set aside for the celebration and the

goddess is known for giving babies to barren women and healing those who are afflicted by various diseases.

traditional cleansing of Osogbo, as well as the cultural re-union of the people with their ancestors.

Sharing similar sentiments, a devotee, Mrs Bosede Taiwo, argued that it was somewhat improper to think that Osun-Osogbo was idolatry.

“Osun goddess was created by God to help advance the cause of humanity; this is why the

“In essence, the goddess is known for peace, love and progress, which are the virtues associated with God and the dreams of a progressive society,” she said.

Besides, Taiwo said that the Osun deity was not associated with any form of blood shedding, adding that there had been no reports of any wrongdoing during the celebration of Osun

“Contrary to some views in certain quarters, Osun Osogbo is not idolatry; the sustenance of the festival up to the present time is a matter of history and the people of Osogbo cannot afford to lose their heritage to civilisation just like that.”

Osogbo festival.

Another devotee, Mrs Mulikat Rasheed, said that people would always identify with the festival since many people had been cured of their

various ailments via the Osun deity’s intervention.

“We have the belief that God is using Osun goddess to do good things and those who benefit from her benevolence at the shrine usually have strong faith, which is also a requirement for anyone who wants favour from God. “So, if people derive pleasure from celebrating Osun Osogbo for the peace, love and progress the goddess gives them; then, the festival is worth celebrating,’’ said Rasheed, who is also the leader of all the princesses in Ataoja’s palace Commenting on this year ’s Osun Osogbo festival, Mr Sikiru

Ayedun, Osun State’s Commissioner for Home Affairs, Culture and Tourism, said that the fiesta, which would hold in August, would attract tourists and potential investors to the state.

He reiterated that the festival was expected to attract tourists, investors and others who were interested in experiencing the rich arts and culture of the people of the state.

“There will be series of side-attractions during the festival, and the tourists and visitors will be entertained and exposed to the rich cultural heritage of our people,’’ he said.

Meanwhile, Alhaji AbdulRasaq Adejare, the Aare Alasa of Osogbo has announced Aug. 23 as the date for this year’s Osun Osogbo celebration.

The celebration, which entails the worship of the Osun goddess, is usually accompanied by some kind of thanksgiving and commemoration of the ancestors.

The festival, which customarily begins with the clearing of traditional paths to the Osun Grove, usually reaches a crescendo with the departure of the votary maid — Arugba-Osun – from the shrine with a calabash, which contains some antiquities to worship the deity.

The votary maid with the calabash goes for royal blessing from the Ataoja of Osogbo, the traditional ruler, and later leads the procession to the shrine at the grove.

The votary maid, a virgin picked from the family of the incumbent traditional ruler, must, however, not stumble while going or coming from the grove.

All the same, analysts urge the government and the organisers of Osun Osogbo Festival to make concerted efforts to justify the high international rating of the festival.

THE NIGERIAN

24

TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

International

Compiled by

FAITH OKHUELEIGBE

Asian Stocks Mixed After Japan BEIJING - Chinese stocks fell Election recovery.

By contrast, China’s slowdown but other Asian markets edged up

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (centre) is seen between photographers as he poses for a photograph

Portugal’s President Anibal Cavaco Silva addresses the country from the Belem presidential palace in Lisbon

Monday after Japan’s ruling party won a majority in parliament’s upper house and a mandate to push ahead economic reforms.

Oil stayed above $108 a barrel amid signs of an improving U.S. economy.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 was little changed at 14,587.26 following Sunday’s election. The outcome — a victory for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose “Abenomics” program aimed at sparking an economic revival — was widely expected and already had been factored into trading strategies.

“The results of Sunday’s Upper House elections are probably the best outcome for the equity markets, especially if, as seems likely, the yen resumes its gradual decline,” said Marcel Thieliant of Capital Economics in a report.

Markets in Singapore, Seoul, Taipei and Sydney rose in light trading.

China was the region’s exception, with its benchmark Shanghai Composite Index off 0.6 percent at 1,981.34 after sentiment was dampened by last week’s data showing economic growth slowed for a second quarter.

There was little impact from Beijing’s lifting Friday of controls on interest banks can charge on loans.

The move, one element of longpromised financial reforms, could lead to lower rates for healthy borrowers and might help to boost growth. But analysts say the

Pressure On Portugal Eases After Crisis Defused LISBON, PORTUGAL Portuguese stocks rose Monday and the country’s borrowing costs fell after a governing crisis was defused by a decision to allow the fragile coalition to remain in charge, eliminating for now the prospect of snap elections.

Shares on Lisbon’s PSI 20 exchange were up 1.7 percent in afternoon trading while the interest rate on the benchmark 10-year bond fell 0.36 percentage points to 6.37 percent.

Investors got a boost of confidence after President Anibal Cavaco Silva late Sunday said the best option for Portugal is for the coalition to stay in power. It nearly fractured on July 2 when Foreign Minister Paulo Portas offered his resignation. Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho sought to save the coalition by offering Portas a position as his deputy.

Cavaco Silva did not say whether he would accept Portas’ nomination to the new post. But his decision to give the coalition another chance put on the backburner the possibility of holding early elections amid broad public discontent over

harsh austerity measures the government has pushed through to abide by the terms of its 78 billion euros ($102 billion) international bailout.

Analysts were divided on whether the government will survive until elections scheduled for 2015.

“A cabinet reshuffle as was previously expected before Cavaco Silva’s intervention remains likely in the near future; while imminent elections are now doubtful, this government is unlikely to last until 2015,” said Rahman Mujtaba, of the Eurasia Group political risk consultancy, in a note to clients.

The two main parties that make up the coalition have been at odds over austerity and will have a difficult time implementing painful economic policies that are expected to make life even more difficult for Portugal’s citizens. A proposal outlining reforms that must be implemented over the next two years will probably submitted to Parliament sometime after the summer, Mujtaba said.

“Both parties are expected to stagger on trying to implement the bailout agreement as the Portuguese president decides on what steps to take next,” said Michael Hewson, an analyst for

London-based CMC Markets UK. “This failure to adopt consensus is becoming all too familiar in the politics of southern Europe.”

Hewson said investors remain

concerned that Portugal may not be able issue new debt next year.

The country could be forced to seek another bailout if it is unable to comply with a plan for it to exit its current rescue program in 2014.

immediate impact will be limited because a cap on interest paid on deposits remains in place, suppressing returns to savers and depressing consumer spending.

“Rate liberalization alone will not be able to address all the problems that China faces today,” said Credit Suisse economists Dong Tao and Weishen Deng in a report. “The core issue today is that private investment interest weakened significantly.”

Elsewhere, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.1 percent to 21,309.71 and Taiwan’s Taiex added 0.8 percent to 8,125.16.

Sydney’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.7 percent to 5,008.7. Benchmarks in Manila and New Zealand also rose.

On Friday, U.S. stock prices were hurt by a slump in technology issues including Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and IBM. The Standard & Poor’s 500 gained 0.2 percent while the Dow Jones Industrial average was almost unchanged.

Japan’s stagnant economy is showing signs of perking up, helped by the aggressive monetary and fiscal stimulus that Abe has implemented since he took office in late December.

Stocks have surged, business confidence is improving and the weaker yen has eased pressure on exporters.

Long-term growth requires changes to boost competitiveness and cope with Japan’s rapidly graying population and soaring national debt.

Abe faces a decision this fall on whether to follow through on raising the sales tax next April from 5 percent to 8 percent, a move needed to shore up Japan’s public finances, but one that many worry will derail the

Radical Myanmar Buddhist Monk YANGON- A bomb exploded Unhurt In Bomb Blast meters away from a radical Buddhist monk as he delivered a mass sermon in Myanmar, police said on Monday, the latest flareup in tensions pitting Buddhists against minority Muslims.

Wirathu, the prominent monk who heads a movement accused of stirring violence against Muslims, said he believed the blast on Sunday evening in Myanmar ’s second city, Mandalay, was intended to silence him.

The home-made bomb went off inside a parked car, according to police and witnesses. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Tensions have been smoldering between radical elements of Myanmar’s Buddhist majority and Muslims. Bouts of religious violence have killed at least 237 people and displaced 150,000 in the past year, testing the resolve of a two-year-old quasi-civilian government.

The device exploded during a ceremony conducted by Wirathu, who once called himself “the Burmese bin Laden”. He is the chief proponent of a movement known as 969, which reformist President Thein Sein’s office has described as a “symbol of peace”.

Wirathu was unharmed, despite being 40 feet from the blast, according to police. Five people were slightly injured, including a novice monk.

Sources close to Wirathu could not be immediately reached for comment. However, the monk told Radio Free Asia’s Burmese service that he had previously received a sound recording containing a threat to his life, which he believed was the voice of a Muslim cleric.

The bomb, he said, was intended to silence him.

“I’ve no idea who exactly carried out this explosion. But it must have been done by those

who usually carry out terrorist acts,” he told Radio Free Asia.

“The motive could be to shut my mouth.” ile picture shows Buddhist monk Wirathu speaking during …

Buddhist monk Wirathu speaks to his fellow monks during a monks assembly at a monastery in Hmawbi to …

Reuters investigations in two of the hotspots of unrest Rakhine state and the central city of Meikhtila - have revealed the violence was on both occasions fanned by monks who led Buddhist mobs.

“We can say it was a small hand-made bomb that caused the explosion. We are not in a position to reveal any more information at the moment since investigation is ongoing,” a Mandalay police officer told Reuters by telephone, requesting anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

is deepening, prompting some analysts to say Beijing might need to launch a new stimulus to prevent a plunge in growth.

Economic growth fell to a twodecade low of 7.5 percent in the three months ending in June from 7.7 percent the previous quarter.

Retail sales and investment growth also weakened, while surveys showed June manufacturing activity contracted.

New communist leaders who are in their first year in power are trying to shift the basis of China’s growth from exports and investment to more selfsustaining domestic consumption. They say slower growth is acceptable but some analysts warn an accelerating downturn might force them to temporarily reverse course and step up government spending.

In currency markets, the dollar declined to 99.91 yen from the previous trading session’s 100.6 yen. The euro rose to $1.3155 from $1.3141.

Benchmark crude gained 34 cents to $108.21 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Pope Prays For World Youth Day

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis has thanked pilgrims in St. Peter ’s Square for their good wishes for his impending journey to Brazil for World Youth Day. The pope departed from his prepared text during the traditional Sunday Angelus blessing to point to a large banner with “Buon Viaggio,” or “Good Trip,” written across it.

“I ask you to join me spiritually through prayer on the journey I will be begin tomorrow,” Francis said.

More than a million young Catholics are expected to celebrate their new pope during World Youth Day in Rio. The 76-year-old Argentine became the church’s first pontiff from the Americas in March, and the trip to Brazil is his first international journey since becoming pope.

THE NIGERIAN

25

TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

International

Compiled by

FAITH OKHUELEIGBE

Japan’s Ruling Bloc Wins Upper House twisted parliament, the LDP is Election going to face a test of whether we

TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling coalition won a solid majority in the upper house of parliament in elections, gaining control of both chambers and a mandate to press ahead with difficult economic reforms.

The win is an endorsement of the Liberal Democratic Party’s “Abenomics” program, which has helped spark a tentative economic recovery in Japan. It’s also a vindication for Abe, who lost upper house elections in 2007 during his previous stint as prime minister.

“We’ve won the public’s support for decisive and stable politics so that we can pursue our economic policies, and we will make sure to live up to the expectations,” Abe told public broadcaster NHK late Sunday after he was projected to win based on exit polls and early results. Official results were expected sometime Monday.

The victory also offers the hawkish Abe more leeway to advance his conservative policy goals, including revising the country’s pacifist constitution and bolstering Japan’s military, which could further strain ties with key neighbors China and South Korea, who are embroiled in territorial disputes with Japan.

Controlling both houses of parliament has been an elusive goal in recent years. A divided parliament has had difficulty passing legislation, and voters fed up with the gridlock and high leadership turnover appeared willing to opt for the perceived safety of the LDP, which has ruled Japan for most of the postWorld War II era.

Abe said voters supported the LDP to push his party’s economic policies and said it would be the government’s top priority.

“Now that we got rid of the

can push forward the economic policies so that the people can really feel the effect on their lives,” Abe told NHK. Japan’s stagnant economy is showing signs of perking up, helped by the aggressive monetary and fiscal stimuli that Abe has implemented since he took office in late December.

Stocks have surged, business confidence is improving and the weaker yen has eased pressure on vital exporters.

“I want them to carry on doing their best as the economy seems to be picking up,” Naohisa Hayashi, a 35-year-old man who runs his own business, said after casting his ballot in Tokyo.

But long-term growth will depend on sweeping changes to boost competitiveness and help cope with Japan’s rapidly graying population and soaring national debt.

Japan’s Prime Minister and the leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Shinzo Abe

Togo Family Dynasty May Be Tested In Polls

LOME, TOGO - Pierre Warga is among the majority of Togo’s 6 million citizens who have spent their entire lives ruled by the Gnassingbe family.

Eyadema Gnassingbe was in power for 38 years before dying of a heart attack in 2005. His son Faure Gnassingbe was then installed by the military before winning a highly flawed and violent election later that year, and a re-election in 2010.

The small West African country goes to the polls Thursday for legislative elections that will test whether recent signs of discontent might legitimately threaten Gnassingbe’s hold on power. Some experts say there may be, for the first time, vulnerabilities in a country that has seen an increasingly daring public outcry against entrenched poverty, high youth unemployment and controversial crackdowns by the security forces.

“The regime is still strong but the president is not as strong as his father,” said Lydie Boka, a Togo expert and manager of the France-based risk analysis firm Strategico. “The population is younger, they are interested in information technology and they are following what’s going on in the world. It’s going to be harder for the regime to win outright.”

Development has lagged under Gnassingbe. Despite new campaign promises for better education and more jobs, the literacy rate remains stubbornly low at 57 percent, according to this year’s United Nations Human Development Report.

The African Development Bank has voiced concern about youth unemployment and underemployment, which it says together affect nearly 30 percent of Togo’s young workers.

“How can I have any confidence when the government makes these promises?” asked

Warga, a 27-year-old communications student. “They haven’t been able to accomplish these things for the last 40 years.”

In this year’s U.N. Development Program survey of “life satisfaction” in 159 countries worldwide, Togo placed dead last.

Togo’s citizens are increasingly acting on their frustrations. In December 2011, students in the northern city of Kara staged massive demonstrations over a decision to cut financial assistance. The protests grew more violent after the movement’s leader was arrested, prompting the police to respond with beatings and tear gas.

The Open Society Institute for West Africa, in an analysis published last year, called the incident a “landmark” event because it occurred outside the context of elections and because it was in the north, an area that has traditionally been a bastion of support for the Gnassingbes, who hail from there.

More demonstrations erupted last year over controversial changes to the country’s election law ahead of the legislative vote, which was originally scheduled for last October. Prime Minister Gilbert Fossoun Hounbgo

stepped down in July, but issues over the election — including the role of the opposition in the electoral commission — remained unresolved.

The following month, female activists announced a weeklong sex strike to call for the president’s resignation.

This year, tension has been exacerbated by mysterious fires in January at major markets in Lome and Kara. The opposition has accused the government of using the fires as a pretext to arrest its activists, some of whom remain behind bars.

Marcel Magloire Kuakuvi, a political philosophy professor at the University of Lome, said the timing is ripe for opposition gains, but that those leaders will need to overcome the ruling party’s financial advantage as well as the support it enjoys from the military.

The opposition landscape is in flux, however. The leader of the opposition party with the most seats in parliament, Gilchrist Olympio, agreed to join a unity government three years ago. Two main opposition coalitions failed to coordinate going into talks about how Thursday’s vote would be run, and did not secure major concessions on the composition of the electoral commission and other outstanding issues.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel meets with Afghanistan’s Interior Minister Ghulam Mujtaba Patang

Afghan Parliament Dismisses Interim Minister Over Worsening Security KABUL - Afghanistan’s parliament voted on Monday to dismiss one of the country’s chief security ministers, impeaching the interior minister in a potential blow to stability as NATO-led international forces speed up their withdrawal.

The fractious parliament said Ghulam Mujtaba Patang, as head of a 157,000-strong police force, had presided over worsening security, including along a major highway running from the capital Kabul to Kandahar that is a crucial economic lifeline targeted

by Taliban insurgents.

“Afghanistan’s interior minister, with 136 votes against

him, is disqualified from the ministry and I ask the president of the Islamic republic of Afghanistan to announce another person for this position,” said speaker of parliament Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi.

It was unclear whether President Hamid Karzai would accept the vote as his administration tries to strengthen stability ahead of presidential elections and a pullout of NATO troops next year. Karzai has previously opted to keep ministers in their roles in acting capacity after similar votes.

Lawmakers said Patang, a former provincial police chief

Abbas Aide: Path To Mideast Talk Still Blocked JERUSALEM - The path to formal negotiations with Israel is still blocked despite a U.S. suggestion that the sides are close to returning to the table, a senior Palestinian official said in another sign of skepticism that peace talks will resume.

Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said in a statement late Sunday that for actual peace talks to resume, Israel must first accept its pre-1967 war frontier as a

baseline and halt settlement building, demands Israel’s leader has rejected in the past.

The Palestinians seek a state in the lands Israel captured in 1967.

He said that Abbas agreed to send a delegate to Washington to continue lower-level preliminary talks with an Israeli counterpart about the terms for negotiations. The Washington talks are meant to “overcome the obstacles that still stand in the way of launching

negotiations,” he said.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced this weekend that an agreement has been reached that establishes the basis for resuming peace talks that collapsed about five years ago.

Gaps remain on three issues Palestinians say need to be settled before talks can begin — the baseline for border talks, the extent of a possible Israeli settlement slowdown and a timetable for releasing longdetained Palestinian prisoners.

The Palestinians want to establish a state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War. Abbas seeks a commitment from Netanyahu that Israel’s pre-1967 border will serve as a baseline for negotiations.

Israel has been insisting that that peace talks resume without preconditions and that all issues like settlements and security should be resolved through dialogue.

liked by Karzai’s Western backers, had also failed to fight corruption in the force and refused a summons to parliament, which has increasingly flexed its muscle against Karzai’s power.

But Patang, in a startling revelation, said 2,748 police officers, or almost two percent of the force, had been killed by insurgent gunmen in the four months since March 21, and argued it was the job of the more heavily-armed military to protect remote areas and highways.

“I’m on the threshold of NATO’s withdrawal,” he said.

“There will be lots of problems, there will be lots of challenges.

From March 21st up to now, I swear to god, 2,748 police have been martyred. Imagine what effect it has on my mind.”

The parliament last August voted to remove former Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and then Interior Minister Bismillah Mohammadi over a series of insurgent assassinations of top officials and incidents of cross-border fire with Pakistan.

Foreign troops are increasingly handing security responsibility to the 350,000-strong Afghan security forces as NATO-led forces look to withdraw from the unpopular war by the end of 2014.

THE NIGERIAN

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TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

Compiled by

International

OKHUELEIGBE FAITH

Iraq: 25 Soldiers, Police Dead In Prison Raid BAGHDAD - Jailbreak attempts at two major prisons outside Baghdad have claimed the lives of at least 25 members of Iraq’s security forces, while a car bombing targeting soldiers early yesterday killed another 12, according to officials.

There were conflicting reports on whether inmates had escaped.

Local media and jihadist Internet forums reported some prisoners had managed to flee, but authorities have not officially reported any break-outs. Many of the thousands of inmates are insurgents, including members of al-Qaida’s Iraq branch, who have been convicted on terrorism-related charges.

The prison attacks that began late Sunday at lock-ups in Taji and Abu Ghraib, both in the outskirts of the capital, are the latest indication of deteriorating security conditions across the country. Government forces combed surrounding areas for attackers and guards at Taji

appeared on high alert with assault rifles at the ready early yesterday.

Attackers detonated bombs and lobbed mortar rounds at Taji prison, 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of Baghdad. A suicide car bomber then attacked the main gate while another suicide bomber blew himself up nearby, sparking clashes between militants and the guards, according to police.

As the battle raged for about two hours outside, rioting inmates set fire to blankets and furniture, police said.

Fifteen soldiers were killed and 13 others were wounded in the Taji attack, they said. At least six among the militants were also reported killed.

A similar raid unfolded at the prison in Abu Ghraib in Baghdad’s western suburbs.

Insurgents there struck the prison walls with mortar rounds and a car bomb, and at least one militant blew himself up at the

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

OKHIDEMEH - I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Precious Lere Okhidemeh now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Precious Lere Kingsley-Izzi. All former documents remain valid.

Concerned authorities and the general public should please take note.

EHIARIMWIAN - I, formerly Miss Ehiarimwian Rosemary Ogie now Mrs. Okoduwa Rosemary Ogie. All former documents remain valid.

General public and all concerned authorities should please take note.

main gate.

Ten policemen were killed and 19 others were wounded, they added. Four militants were reported killed in that attack.

Security forces reported finding undetonated car bombs and explosive belts used by suicide bombers near both prisons after the attacks.

The U.S. military previously operated the prisons in Taji and Abu Ghraib but handed control of both facilities back to Iraqi

authorities before the last American troops departed in December 2011.

Abuse of prisoners at the hands of American guards inside Abu Ghraib following the 2003 U.S.led invasion sparked outrage around the world and helped fuel anti-American sentiment in Iraq.

In a separate incident early yesterday, a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laded car into an army patrol in northern Iraq, killing at least 12 people,

police and medical officials said.

The suicide bomber hit the patrol while traveling in a residential area in the city of Mosul, killing nine soldiers and three civilians, a police officer said. He added that 14 others, included four civilians, were wounded.

Mosul, 360 kilometers (220 miles) northwest of Baghdad, is one of Iraq’s major flashpoints.

Three medical officials confirmed the casualty figures.

They spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release information.

A surge of attacks has killed more than 450 Iraqis since the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan on July 10. It comes amid a larger spike in bloodshed in recent months that is raising fears of a return to the widespread sectarian killing that pushed the country to the brink of civil war after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

JERUSALEM - Israeli and Palestinian officials voiced skepticism Sunday that they can move toward a peace deal, as the sides inched toward what may be the first round of significant negotiations in five years.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced late last week that an agreement has been reached that establishes the basis for resuming peace talks. He cautioned that such an agreement still needs to be formalized, suggesting that gaps remain.

In his first on-camera comment Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to lower expectations by saying the talks will be tough and any agreement would have to be ratified by Israelis in a national referendum.

Netanyahu pledged to insist on Israel’s security needs above all — saying his main guiding principles will be to maintain a Jewish majority in Israel and avoid a future Palestinian state in the West Bank becoming an Iranian-backed “terror state.”

A lifelong hawk, Netanyahu has been a reluctant latecomer to the idea of Palestinian statehood, and his critics say he uses the pretext of security to avoid engaging in good-faith negotiations.

“I am committed to two objectives that must guide the result — if there will be a result.

And if there will be a result, it will be put to a national referendum,” he said at the start of his weekly Cabinet meeting.

“It won’t be easy. But we are entering the talks with integrity, honesty, and hope that this process is handled responsibly, seriously and to the point.”

Hardliners have floated referendum proposals before, usually as an attempt to add an additional obstacle to any efforts to cede war-won territories as part of a future peace agreement.

Palestinian officials were silent Sunday.

Palestinian President

Mahmoud Abbas has not spoken about the possible resumption of negotiations since Kerry’s announcement Friday. In an attempt to restrict official Palestinian comment, Abbas’ office said only two top aides, Nabil Abu Rdeneh and Yasser Abed Rabbo would be allowed to speak to reporters. Neither was available Sunday.

Abbas had previously refused to negotiate with Israel so long as settlement construction continued in part of his hoped-for state.

Netanyahu countered by saying he would only enter talks without preconditions.

The two sides are now set to hold more talks in Washington in coming days or weeks on the framework of negotiations, meaning a resumption of talks is not yet assured.

Gaps remain on three issues Palestinians say need to be settled before talks can begin — the baseline for border talks, the extent of a possible Israeli

settlement slowdown and a timetable for releasing veteran Palestinian prisoners.

The Palestinians want to establish a state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War. Abbas seeks a commitment from Netanyahu that Israel’s pre-1967 border will serve as a baseline for negotiations, but the Israeli leader has refused to do so. Previous rounds of negotiations were conducted on those lines.

Two Palestinian officials said Saturday that Abbas agreed to resume talks only after Kerry gave him a letter guaranteeing that the pre-1967 borders would serve as a baseline. The officials, privy to internal discussions, spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

A Western official denied the 1967 borders would be the starting point for negotiators.

Israelis, Palestinians Skeptical About Peace Talks

BENIN TRADITIONAL COUNCIL OBA PALACE, BENIN CITY

PALACE PRESS RELEASE CHANTAY WEDS JULIUS

This Press Release is issued on the authority of Omo N’Oba N’Edo Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba of Benin, to inform members of the general public that the Enogie of Utekon, Chief Eguagie Omoruyi Imasuen has been suspended from being the Enogie of that community with immediate effect.

This is sequel to his total disregard for Benin customs and tradition, and undermining the authority of the Oba of Benin.

The Solemnization of marriage between former Miss Chantay Blazer (Based in New Jersey, USA) and Mr. Julius Osayande Osifo (An I.T. Support) took place on Monday 21st July, 2013 at the Oredo Local Government Council Marriage Registry in Benin City. Amongst those present were Mr. Sunday.O. Osifo, Mrs. Happy Abiona, Mr. & Mrs. Olaniyi Abiona, Rev. Patrick Rapu, family members, relations, friends and well wishers. Picture shows the couple at the Registry. Congratulations. PHOTO: SONNIE .E.

Oba ghato ‘kpere, Ise. Signed: FRANK IRABOR SECRETARY, BENIN TRADITIONAL COUNCIL

THE NIGERIAN

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TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

Health

Attaining MDGs Via Family Planning THE theme of the 2013 World Population Day is “Universal Access to Reproductive Health Services’’.

It focuses on adolescent pregnancy and aims at increasing the people’s awareness on population issues such as family planning, gender equality, poverty, maternal health and human rights.

The day is observed on every July 11 to re-awaken the people’s consciousness on issues such as family planning, which observers describe as a cardinal element in efforts to achieve healthy living.

Prof. Oladapo Ladipo, a reproductive health consultant, stressed that effective family planning could aid the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

“Family planning is all about having children at the convenient time and not by chance; the Federal Government has identified the need for population management to ensure healthy living.

“Without mainstreaming family planning in all our activities, we are unlikely to meet any of the MDGs. “The reason is that family planning reduces the family size to a level that is acceptable, in line with the goals of government policy on population and development for effective national planning,’’ he said.

Ladipo observed that family planning would also create spared resources to invest in education,

By JACINTA NWACHUKWU

housing, health, roads, agriculture and food security, while ensuring national security.

He, however, said that women should be empowered to participate more meaningfully in productive activities which would foster national development.

As logical as the professor ’s argument appears to be, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) declares that more than 222 million women worldwide lack access to effective family planning services.

Dr Babatunde Osotimehin, the UNFPA’s Executive Director, also announced recently at a forum in Abuja that no fewer than 800 women died every day in the process of giving birth to babies.

According to him, UNFPA’s vision is to ensure a world where every pregnancy is wanted, while all child deliveries are safe.

But Mrs Gladys Uche, a mother of five children, noted that even though there was increased public awareness on family planning, the quest of couples for a particular sex of children and their love for bearing many children had continued to be a drawback to the campaign.

“I think the love for more children is still prevalent in our society; people want to have as many children as God can give them.

“Another trouble is the sex of the children; if a

woman continues to give birth to female children always, the tendency is for her to continue making babies until she is able to satisfy her husband and the society by giving birth to a male child,’’ she added.

Another challenge facing family planning is the issue

have children and mothers that are healthy; families that can manage their affairs well and more importantly, the women and children will be able to live meaningful lives,’’ she said.

However, observers have been asking questions as to the family size which is considered to be ideal.

Mr Charles Nwaokoma, the Federal Commissioner

were now the vogue across the world.

“Nigeria cannot afford to lag behind when other countries have started planning for small families, based on logical economic considerations,’’ he added.

Nwaokoma noted that the use of contraceptives as a family planning method in Nigeria was quite insignificant, adding that large families and increased population had some socioeconomic implications, particularly if the population was not trained.

The commissioner attributed the upsurge of

Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, Minister for Health

of child spacing.

Dr Mairo Mandara, the Co-chair, Family Planning Action Group, argued that in efforts to foster a good socio-economic development, women should space their children properly in a way that would enable them to remain healthy.

“The essence of this is that in the end, families will

for National Population Commission in Rivers, described a planned family as “a small family size of two or three; as this will support better training of children and bring less pressure on parents.’’

He urged Nigerians to plan the size of their families so as to guard against future problems, insisting that small families

“Another trouble is the sex of the children; if a woman continues to give birth to female children always, the tendency is for her to continue making babies until she is able to satisfy her husband and the society by giving birth to a male child.’’

militancy and other crimes in the society to large families, stressing that some parents could not train their children.

Nwaokoma particularly warned women against the temptation of having many children, insisting that giving birth to many children could put their lives at risk.

Nevertheless, Mrs Adebukola Salako, the FCT Coordinator of Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative, a nongovernmental organisation, stressed that there were some factors limiting people’s access to family planning services.

“What we have is a situation where women are

afraid to visit the hospital; some of them are even scared, thinking that family planning services are expensive but this is not so.

“I advise women to always go to hospital to find out whatever they are told; it is only when this is done that they can access good of even free services,’’ she said.

Salako, however, stressed that universal access to family planning services was important in efforts to ensure that women got pregnant whenever they wanted to have babies.

She said that universal access to reproductive health by 2015 was also one of the targets of the MDGs, insisting, however, that women should leave a gap of between two and three years in childbearing.

All the same, Salako emphasised that Nigeria could only solve the problems of massive unemployment, child labour and violent crises if it paid more attention to family planning programmes.

All these arguments notwithstanding, Dr Fred Achem, the President of Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics of Nigeria, stressed that the role of men in ensuring effective family planning practices in Nigeria could not be overemphasised.

He underscored the need for men to have the interests of their families at heart by planning, whenever they wanted to raise a family, about the number of children they intended to have.

Achem urged couples to always visit specialists for information and advice in order to raise responsible families.

He argued that if family units failed to adopt any method of family planning, the outcome would be unbridled population growth.

He stressed that uncontrolled population growth would definitely affect national planning processes, adding that this was not good for a developing country like Nigeria.

THE NIGERIAN

28

TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

Jose Backs Ronaldo To Stay At Real FORMER Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho is confident Cristiano Ronaldo will remain at the Bernabeu this summer despite interest from Manchester United.

Mourinho, now the Chelsea boss for the second time in his career, believes the Portuguese forward will not follow his lead and return to a familiar old club, believing United are destined to fall short in their pursuit.

“I know Ronaldo loves Man United and I know he loves the Premier League, but I think he is going to stay [at Real],” Mourinho said. “It’s just a feeling, no contact, nothing just a feeling.”

Due to Real’s strong financial situation, Mourinho does not see how United manager

David Moyes could entice the Spanish club to sell arguably their most important player, or offer a salary capable of tempting the player himself.

He said: “What I know is that Real Madrid is such a rich club they don’t need to sell.

“It is such a rich club I think they can beat any offer a club can have on Ronaldo.”

Ronaldo played in Real’s friendly against Bournemouth at Dean Court on Sunday evening.

Afterwards, current Real boss Carlo Ancelotti underlined his certainty that Ronaldo will be staying with the club.

Asked about Ronaldo’s future, the Italian said: “His future is at Real Madrid, there is no question about this.”

AC Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani has revealed Stephan El Shaarawy has turned down a lucrative offer from a Premier League club to stay with Milan.

El Shaarawy was the focus of widespread interest until committing himself to the Rossoneri after talks with Galliani and honorary president Silvio Berlusconi. Prior to that meeting, Galliani had received an offer which matched the club’s valuation, but it did not tempt the 20-year-old into a move.

The 20-year-old has been targeted by Manchester City and Chelsea after scoring 16 league goals for Milan last season, with a bid of +30 million being made by an unnamed club.

Galliani is now looking forward to seeing the Italy international spearheading the Rossoneri attack in tandem with fellow Azzurri Mario Balotelli this season.

“El Shaarawy and Balotelli are great friends and if there’s any problem, then it is of a tactical nature and not because of their character,” he said. “We received a huge offer for

Stephan and he said the money he earns at Milan is enough for him.

“He’s a fan of this club and he is more than happy here. I’m convinced he will play a great season.”

By turning down such an offer, El Shaarawy demonstrated that money is not the only motivation in football, although Galliani admits it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep hold of or attract similar players to Serie A. “I think it is more than impossible for a player like Zlatan Ibrahimovic to return to Italy,” he said at a charity event. “He has a salary which is not compatible with the Italian league.”

El Shaarawy Commits To Milan

Pep Wins First Bayern Trophy

Cristiano Ronaldo

Lyon Insist Gourcuff Is Staying

LYON’S presidential advisor Bernard Lacombe has told the club’s TV channel Yoann Gourcuff will not leave the seven-time Ligue 1 champions this summer.

Gourcuff, 27, has proven while Arsenal are also underwhelming since his +22 reportedly keeping an eye on million move from Bordeaux his situation. Only last week, in summer 2010, and though however, did the Rennes youth he featured regularly in the academy product tell OL’s second half of last season after official website he planned on an injury-blighted opening helping the club’s own young portion of the campaign, his talents flourish in the first team. status as the club’s highest He said: “When I was the wage earner meant he could same age as these players, it leave the Stade de Gerland as wasn’t exactly the same OL seek to balance their situation. There were more books. experienced players around However, though OL me. But it’s good,” the former president Jean-Michel Aulas AC Milan player stated, adding has spoken about the his own passion for the game possibility the France remains intact after a difficult, international could find a new injury-peppered last campaign. employer this summer, his “These youngsters are selfclosest confidante told OL TV the ex-AC Milan midfielder would still be part of Remi Garde’s squad for 2013-14.

He said: “Yoann Gourcuff won’t leave during this transfer window. The president told me that there were opportunities, but all three parties need to be in agreement. The president has had, it’s true, a lot of approaches, and that has enabled him to have a different point of view other than OL’s and he’s talked about it with Yoann. But I don’t think he’ll leave.”

Gourcuff has been strongly linked to Atletico Madrid as Yoann Gourcuff well as Valencia and Monaco

disciplined, focused. They need to continue relying on the whole squad. I don’t have a particular role with regard to them. I simply wish to transmit them my desire to enjoy yourself and that they feel that they can count on me on the pitch. I’m here, available, ready to help them.

“I’m have a hunger to play, I want to play with the ball as much as possible to get my feeling back, and then to refind that technical understanding with the others without neglecting the physical aspect of things. It’s important at this time. You have to acquire a good technical and physical basis without wearing yourself out.”

Diouf Unlikely To Leave Hannover HANNOVER 96 have no plans to sell Mame Diouf for under +10 million after a proposed move back to the Premier League apparently fell through.

Diouf, who has moved into the last year of his contract with Hannover, had been linked with a switch to Stoke, German media reports.

At the weekend, several German newspapers claimed that Stoke had offered +7 million plus bonuses for the

25-year-old. But Hannover are holding out for +10 million for a player who has scored 18 goals in 38 Bundesliga games since being signed in January 2012.

Diouf ’s agent, Jim Solbakken, arrived at Hannover’s summer training camp in Austria late on Friday and general manager Dirk Dufner raged: “He did not bring any Stoke offer with him. I don’t know what he wants here.”

On Monday, however, kicker reported that Hannover had not accepted an official Stoke offer. But Dufner admitted that plans to extend Diouf’s contract had been put on hold.

Solbakken then told kicker that it was likely Diouf would not leave during this window.

“Mame will not extend his contract before August 31, I am 1000% sure of that. But Mame will stay. He will play

for Hannover next season.”

Kicker believes that this is mostly down to no other club being willing to meet Hannover’s asking price for a player who will be available for a cut-price fee in January with his contract running down.

“We will not start talking about a new deal before the first months of the upcoming year,” Solbakken is quoted as saying.

NEW Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola won his first trophy at the club after the German giants thumped Borussia Monchengladbach 5-1 in the final of the Telekom Cup. The defending Bundesliga champions were quick to assert their dominance in the final with Franck Ribery and Philipp Lahm hitting the back of the net before summer signing Thiago Alcantara scored his first goal in a Bayern shirt.

Monchengladbach managed to pull one back just before halftime through Luuk de Jong, but further strikes to Arjen Robben and Thomas Muller completed the rout.

Meanwhile, Borussia Dortmund claimed third place in the competition after defeating Hamburg 1-0.

Last season’s Champions League finalists secured the victory, and their fifth win of this pre-season, through Jonas Hofmann’s first-half strike.

Rayo, Madrid Cash In On Negredo Deal RAYO Vallecano and Real Madrid will reportedly receive payment following Alvaro Negredo’s move from Sevilla to Manchester City.

The 27-year-old has completed his move to the English club for a fee that is estimated around 25 million euros and Rayo Herald reports that his former clubs are set to benefit from the deal.

The Spaniard joined Sevilla from Madrid in 2009 and the Whites are set to receive 4.4 million euros from his transfer fee.

Meanwhile, Rayo, who developed the player from 2001 to 2005, are expected to receive a fee of 500 000 euros.

Negredo is the second player to complete the move from the Ramon-Sanchez Pizjuan to the Etihad Stadium following the transfer of right winger Jesus Navas.

Alvaro Negredo

THE NIGERIAN

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TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

Van Persie Demands Stronger United

David Moyes

Jose Mourinho

Moyes Ready For Jose Mind Games

MANCHESTER United manager David Moyes says he is ready for any mind games with Chelsea’s Jose Mourinho.

There have been transfer business”. suggestions that Mourinho “I’ve not had any more has been trying to get under news since we last spoke Moyes’ skin over the last few yesterday,” said Moyes. “I days, particularly with his have no more updates so I comments about Wayne couldn’t give you anything Rooney. positive or negative.”

Moyes has not been drawn Robin van Persie would into reacting to those remarks like to see Cesc Fabregas but insists he will not shy come to United though. Asked away from doing so in the by host broadcaster Channel future.

Seven immediately after the And, answering a question game whether it would be a from a fellow Scot in the good thing to be reunited with aftermath of Manchester his former captain at Arsenal, United’s 5-1 win over the A- the Dutchman replied: “Of League All Stars in Sydney, course, he’s a great player.”

Moyes showed no sign of However, Van Persie then being overwhelmed by admitted he had not spoken to Mourinho’s approach.

Fabregas about the situation, “It sounds like your which has become more accent’s like mine and if complicated due to the you’re from Glasgow then decision of Tito Vilanova to you enjoy those sorts of stand down as Barcelona things, so bring it on,” said manager because of ongoing Moyes. cancer treatment.

Moyes admitted there had Introduced for the final half been no developments on hour of his first pre-season attempts to bring in appearance, Van Persie reinforcements, even though wasted no time in showing the executive vice-chairman Ed goalscoring prowess that Woodward returned home brought him back-to-back three days early on “urgent

Golden Boot trophies, in there to score. If he wrapping up a comfortable continues to work as hard as that for the team he will get his victory for Moyes’ men.

Goalscoring honours went to Jesse Lingard and Danny Welbeck though. Lingard had the honour of scoring the first goal of Moyes’ reign and the 20year-old from Warrington added another after half-time.

Welbeck matched his fellow academy graduate, making a handy contribution given he only found the net on two occasions last season.

“It was impressive that Danny got a couple of goals,” said Moyes. “I said to him afterwards that on another night he might have got four or five.

“But you have to keep getting

rewards. He showed a little bit of versatility tonight in everything he did.”

Lingard impressed on last summer’s tour of South Africa but has still to make first-team breakthrough and spent a short period on loan at Leicester last season.

“Jesse played well tonight,” said Moyes. “I was hoping he would get a hat-trick. For a young boy to get that at Manchester United is a big thing. He set up Robin for his goal with a nicely weighted pass, he worked really hard and showed a lot of maturity.

It is good.”

The Price At Which United Will will table a second bid Sell Rooney club of £24 million this week and

A fee of £30 million will clinch the ‘deal of the summer’, according to the Daily Mirror, which reports that Manchester United will agree to sell Wayne Rooney to Chelsea. But, crucially perhaps (or not), the

sensational transfer will not go through in time for the forward to make what would have been a dramatic return to Old Trafford in a blue shirt on August 26.

“The Stamford Bridge

Nasri ‘Hurt’ By Unfair Criticism

MANCHESTER City’s Sami Nasri has revealed that he was ‘hurt’ by the criticism directed his way and feels most of it was unjustified.

Former City coach Roberto Mancini voiced his frustration at the Frenchman’s inconsistent form and revealed back in March that he wanted to ‘punch’ Nasri for only playing at half mast.

Nasri, however, feels that a lot of the talk about him was uncalled for and that he

was portrayed poorly.

“I’m feeling more relaxed, but the last few months were very trying for me. Emotionally, I went through several moments of doubt and reassessment,” he told FIFA.com.

“Some of the criticism I got hurt me, and lots of bad things were said.

“I accept criticism as long as it’s justified, but there were lots of lies about me. I made mistakes, I

ROBIN van Persie has warned Manchester United they have to get better if they want to retain their title.

The Dutchman was the Premier League’s top scorer last year as United became champions for the 20th time but believes their rivals will raise their game in a bid to deny them a 21st title.

Van Persie came off the bench to score his first goal under new manager David Moyes in Saturday’s 5-1 win over an ALeague All Star XI and then said he expects a stronger challenge from teams such as Manchester City and Chelsea in the forthcoming campaign.

“We have to improve to stay ahead of them because over the last few years the English league has become better and better,” he is quoted as saying in the Guardian. “Every single team has got harder to beat. Everyone wants to be successful. Moyes wants to be successful. He has been working very hard and he has spoken to every single player individually.”

Van Persie ended his long wait to win the Premier League in his debut season at Old Trafford but the former Arsenal captain insists his appetite for success was not sated by that.

He added: “I still have more years left and it’s not like I am saying: ‘Yeah, we won the league so that’s me done’. I want more now. It makes me even more hungry. I was very hungry last year but now I am more hungry.

“I want to win more this time.

know, but I’m not the ugly duckling that some people seem to think.”

Nasri also described City’s whole season as a ‘disappointment’ and an outright ‘failure’ in having walked away without any silverware.

“It was certainly a very disappointing season and losing our title of English champions was a failure that was difficult for the whole squad to swallow,” he added.

“We didn’t manage to win a single trophy, and that’s disappointing for a club with the standing of Manchester City. We had a very testing year but we’ll learn from our mistakes to have an excellent season next year.”

They were champions of England for the first time in 44 years in 201112 but finished 11 points behind Manchester United in the following campaign.

feel they can get their man for around the £30m mark – despite Manchester United’s insistence the England man is not for sale,” the paper reports.

“While Chelsea feel the champions have no option but to sell before the transfer window shuts on September 2, they are willing to have to wait until the final days to get their man.

“The Blues are resigned to not landing Rooney in time for him to return to Old Trafford in a Blues shirt on August 26. If the Reds are successful in their ongoing quest to land Cesc Fabregas from Barcelona, Chelsea expect United will be able to ‘sell’ his arrival as an ‘upgrade’ to justify the departure of Rooney to Chelsea.:

The club wants to win more.

Last year we won the league and that was great but this time we want to win the league and more as well.”

Villas-Boas Chases More Signings SPURS manager Andre Villas-Boas said on Monday that he wants to add more new signings to his squad, after swooping for Belgium frontman Nacer Chadli.

A Tottenham squad that included star man Gareth Bale landed in Hong Kong ahead of their clash with Sunderland in the Barclays Asia Trophy on Wednesday.

There has been speculation linking Welsh wing wizard Bale with a big-money move away from White Hart Lane, but Villas-Boas said he was looking at bolstering his side.

“We will continue to do our market and we have not stopped yet, for sure,” said Villas-Boas, who is reportedly chasing at least one more striker.

The Portuguese has so far brought in the Brazilian forward Paulinho and the international Chadli is poised to join from the Dutch side FC Twente, subject to personal terms and a medical.

“Chadli’s a player we’ve been following for quite some time and we managed to strike a deal in the last few days,” said Villas-Boas, whose side narrowly missed out to rivals Arsenal last season for a prized spot in the Champions League.

“He’s a player who is extremely versatile and can play in several positions up front. He played with tremendous success on the left for Twente as a winger and as an attacker for Belgium. We look forward to having him on board with us.”

The 23-year-old will not play in Hong Kong, VillasBoas said.

Tottenham start their Premier League campaign away at Crystal Palace on August 18.

Andre Villas-Boas

THE NIGERIAN

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TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

Heynckes, Koeman Deny Barca Link FORMER Bayern Munich coach Jupp Heynckes and Feyenoord coach Ronald Koeman have denied rumours linking them with the vacant Barcelona job.

Heynckes led the Bavarians to a treble last season after stepping down to be replaced by former Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola.

However, the 68-year-old says he is enjoying his retirement and not considering a move to the Camp Nou. “Succeeding Vilanova?

Impossible. I’m enjoying life,” he told Sky Sports.

“I do sports and take care

Date Set For Soldado Bids

VALENCIA have set a deadline of August 3rd for clubs to submit bids for their striker Roberto Soldado, with Tottenham among those strongly linked with a move for the Spain striker.

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers has also been rumoured to be weighing up a bid for the Spain international as the future of his striker Luis Suarez continues to be shrouded in uncertainty, while Napoli boss Rafael Benitez is also reported to be interested in the 28-year-old.

Valencia president Amadeo Salvo has suggested he is ready to cut a deal with clubs chasing Soldado’s signature, but he wants the future of the hitman, who is reported to have an £18m release clause in his contract, resolved in the next two weeks.

“If any club wants our striker they are obliged to accept our conditions and the price on the market has a clause,” he is quoted in the Daily Mirror. “Until August 3, we accept that a deal may happen and we can negotiate, but after that date, he will not leave us.”

Soldado fired an impressive 24 La Liga goals last season, as well as a Champions League hattrick, and has been a consistent performer for Valencia since moving to the Mestalla from Getafe in 2009.

of my animals and garden.”

Meanwhile, Koeman, who played for Barcelona from 1985 and 1995 also gave a similar response when e was asked about the possibility of returning to the Camp Nou as a coach.

“Succeeding Vilanova? I don’t think about that at all,” he told reporters.

“I don’t know who it should be, I just care about Vilanova.”

Barcelona have now been linked with Argentinean coach Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino, who is the former coach of Newell’s Old Boys.

German FA Considers Red Card ‘Parole’

THE German Football Association (DFB) is to introduce a system of “parole” for red cards in an attempt to make punishments “more preventative than repressive”.

Hans Lorenz, the president our sanctions to be more of the DFB sports tribunal, preventative than repressive. revealed the plans in an “It would come into effect interview. They mean that, with shorter bans.” from October, longer bans But the proposal received could partially be on a parole mixed feedback from system.

Bundesliga clubs and players.

It would mean FA officials Borussia Dortmund coach could hand players a seven- Jurgen Klopp said: “What do match ban with three of them you have to do to get a fourbeing on parole, he explained. match ban? That would be Lorenz told Welt Am unsportsmanlike or violent Sonntag: “With the beginning conduct. I wouldn’t know of the new term, we will shape

Hamburg Ponders Bid For HAMBURG are and Borussia Jelavic Munich considering a bid for Dortmund.

Everton striker Nikica Jelavic, sporting director Oliver Kreuzer has said.

Kreuzer said he hoped the Merseysiders would be willing to sell the Croatia international, but added that Hamburg had to work out whether a deal would be financially viable.

“Jelavic would be exactly the right player for us. He is a really dangerous striker,” he said. “But we have to scrutinise whether it is financially possible.”

Jelavic, 27, who scored seven goals last season, could be allowed to leave Goodison Park by new Toffees manager Roberto Martinez, Kreuzer said, adding: “I have heard that Everton’s new manager wants to sell him.”

However, before making a move for the striker – likely to cost around +7 million - Hamburg would need to offload some fringe players.

“Day in, day out, I talk to all the agents, but nothing has come up yet,” Kreuzer said. “If we manage that [to sell two or three players] we could work out if a loan

or a payment in instalments would be possible.”

Hamburg conceded five goals and failed to score any during a pre-season tournament in Monchenglabach at the weekend, losing to Bayern

Their strikers, Latvia international Artjoms Rudnevs, 25, and summer signing Jacques Zoua, 21, played 60 minutes each, and Hamburg coach Thorsten Fink said: “They both have certain strengths and certain weaknesses.”

Nikica Jelavic

performance. Two freak goals, an attempted cross from Katsande goes into the top corner and a volley into the ground loops over the goalkeeper,” he said after the game.

“In the second-half we brought a lot more of the regulars back into the team, but in the last 30 minutes of the game the boys were off their feet. Some had to play 120 minutes, some 150 minutes because we tried to share the workload. In the end it was too much for them.”

Larsen remained optimistic despite the result, suggesting it was more about getting game time in his squad, and he believes all that is left is some ‘fine tuning’.

“But the objective was to get

mileage on the legs and I think we accomplished that,” he continued. “It was very difficult when you finish (the first game) at 12:30, finish eating at 13:30 and get on the field at 15:00 - but we won’t complain. We’ll keep soldiering on.

“It’s fine tuning nowcorrecting a few of the errors that we have made. But I think with two-and-a-half weeks to go, from a fitness perspective, we are exactly where we want to be. Just a few tactical tweaks here and there and I am sure we will be fine.”

The coach went on to praise several of the young trialists that took part in the tournament, and confirmed he will be meeting with the technical board in the week to discuss what shall be done with them.

from my time at the German FA, and I think he is a very honourable and capable man.

“My first thought about this is that it is a step back from the straight line towards more flexibility which gives those responsible more scope. I have to say that is a good idea.”

Thirty-one players were sent off in straight red card incidents last season.

One ban – that of Dortmund’s Marcel Schmelzer - was overturned after TV pictures showed the referee had got it wrong.

FC Augsburg’s Giovanni Sio received the season’s only four-match ban after a foul in their game against Greuther Furth.

Athletics

Injury Ends Rudisha’s Season

OLYMPIC 800 metres c hampion and world record-

It Was Too Much - Celtic Coach BLOEMFONTEIN Celtic coach Clinton Larsen says playing back-to-back game against the University of Pretoria and Kaizer Chiefs in the Gauteng Cup was ‘too much’, but claimed it was more about getting minutes in the legs.

The Phunya Sele Sele fell to a staggering 4-1 defeat to Kaizer Chiefs in the final of the Gauteng Cup on Sunday afternoon, in which Willard Katsande and Simpiwhe Tshabalala scored ‘freak goals’.

Katsande’s effort was a long ranger just off the halfway line, while the Bafana Bafana midfielder’s strike struck the turf and bounced over the goalkeeper.

“I think it was a good first-half

why that player than should be allowed parole.”

But Klopp said it would be “cool” if players sent off and banned despite it being unclear whether the decision was right were allowed to play on parole after a review.

But Hamburg’s Germany international Marcell Jansen said: “That would be nonsense. The referee has to decide on the pitch, not some judges in the courtroom.”

Jansen said he believed a player allowed to play on parole would “not play freely” because they would have that status in mind.

Bayern Munich sporting director Matthias Sammer. however, backed the move, saying: “I know Mr Lorenz

holder David Rudisha will miss the remainder of the season and is unlikely to race again until at least March next year, the Kenyan athlete’s coach has said.

Rudisha pulled out of next month’s World Championships in Moscow after failing to recover from a knee injury that will prevent him from defending his 800m crown at the August 10-18 event.

His coach, Colm O’Connell said the 2011 Daegu world champion contemplated racing at Diamond League events in Zurich in late August or in Brussels in September but chose against rushing back from injury.

“We considered it but felt it was better to give him enough time to recover,” O’Connell told Reuters from his base in Iten, a small village in Kenya’s Rift Valley area that is the home to many of the country’s middle and long-distance champion

David Rudisha

runners.

“His knee is actually already healing but Moscow came a bit too soon.”

O’Connell said Rudisha planned to start next season by defending his title at Doha’s Diamond League event in May, though his competitive return could take place in Australia two months earlier.

“There is a race in Melbourne and a race in Sydney. He will possibly go there to run,” said O’Connell, an Irish missionary who has coached the 24-year-old since he was a teenager.

Rudisha became a global athletics icon when he smashed the 800m world record in the final at the 2012 London Games, adding an Olympic gold to his world crown.

“Defending his (world) title

would have been fantastic and on that side, it has been a disappointment,” O’Connell added. “But he took it well, he’s in good spirits.”

THE NIGERIAN

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TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

Emenike Thrilled With Full Recovery

Nigeria League

Enyimba Force Draw At Nasarawa SIX-time champions Enyimba forced hosts Nasarawa United to a 11 draw in Lafia on Sunday.

Enyimba are now third on the table with 35 points, while Nasarawa United have 29 points.

Victor Namo put the home team ahead to take his goals’ haul to eight, before Bishop Onyeudo equalised for Enyimba to take his

tally to nine goals.

Namo told MTNFootball.com Enyimba were lucky to get a point from the game.

“We deserved to win but we didn’t. We outplayed Enyimba but they were just lucky to get a point from the match. We won’t let it weigh us down as we are looking forward to our next game,” Namo said.

1-0 at home in continuation of the Nigeria league on Sunday.

Heartland now have 31 points, while Warri Wolves remain on 34 points.

Ebere Odichie scored the only goal of the match in the first half.

‘The Naze

Millionaires’ captain Chinedu Efugh told MTNFootball.com that it was not an easy game but they kept calm to turn back their hardfighting visitors.

“It was not an easy match, but we fought hard to get the needed victory. Wolves gave us good match,” Efugh said.

Heartland Pip Warri HEARTLAND Wolves subdued Warri Wolves

NIGERIA striker Emmanuel Emenike has hailed his full recovery from long-term injuries after he scored on his return on Sunday.

Emenike scored for Spartak Moscow in a 2-0 win at Ural. He scored Spartak second goal in the 90th minute after coming on as a 63rd minute substitute for Yura Movsisyan.

“I thank God for the progress I have made. My job on the field as a striker is to score goals, I will be

Emmanuel Emenike

Rangers Do Double Over Nembe City

HOSTS Rangers defeated Nembe City 2-0 in a Nigeria league Week 22 match on Sunday to complete a double over the visitors.

M e n s h a k Rangers also beat Nembe City 2-1 in Yenegoa in a Chukwubuikem scored the week 2 game and have now second goal on his home debut to put the game recorded 33 points.

Ugonna Uzochukwu beyond hard-fighting gave ‘The Flying Nembe City.

Oghogho Oduokpe told Antelopes’ the lead in the MTNFootball.com that the second half with a rocket game was tough but shot from 30 metres after Rangers deserved their Oghogho Oduokpe missed victory. a first half penalty.

3SC Held At Home Again

HOME team 3SC failed to beat Dolphins in a Nigeria league Week 22 game as the teams battled to a goalless draw.

The game was played behind closed door after a recent crowd trouble after the match against Kwara United.

3SC now have 27 points, while Dolphins are on 33 points.

Dolphins midfielder Hassan Hussein told MTNFootball.com that it was a good game for them which they ought to have even won.

“We played well and deserved not to lose. We went for victory but we couldn’t get it. An away point is a good result which we will build on,” he said.

Meanwhile, El Kanemi Warriors recorded the only away victory of the week with a 1-0 win over

Wikki Tourists in Bauchi.

El Kanemi now have 34 points, Wikki have recorded 23 points.

Chadian striker Hassan Hissein scored the backbreaking goal in the 85th minute and that sparked the home fans to invade the pitch.

“We played better and the victory was a deserved one.

The home team’s fans entered the field and caused a commotion. They beat our players and the cameraman.

We don’t deserve this.

There must be a stop to this,” lamented El Kanemi vice-chairman Modu Adamu Bata.

Meanwhile, Nigeria FA executive committee member Leye Adepoju was beaten up by fans soon 3SC were held to a 0-0 draw by Dolphins.

The angry thugs attacked the Oyo FA chairman after he allegedly ordered the

glad to get more goals and help my team get many victories in the subsequent games.

I don’t just want to be scoring goals, I always want to score goals that will give my team victory.”

The big striker was first sidelined by a hamstring injury he suffered against Mali at the 2013 AFCON in South Africa.

He then suffered a longterm knee injury in his comeback game for his Russian club and needed surgery in Italy subsequently.

Emenike said his appreciation will go to his family and fans. “From the bottom of my heart, I dedicate the goal to my family and fans all over the world for standing by me during the time I was injured,” Emenike told MTNFootball.com

security to lock all the entrances to the stadium, which caused them of entering to surrounding of the stadium alongside with media officer of 3SC, Jubril Arowolo and journalists.

Adepoju was rescue by his friends after he already received some punches from the thugs.

In a telephone conversation, Adepoju

confirmed the story that he was attacked by thugs after the game, saying “they (thugs) were instigated”.

Adepoju’s disciplinary and organising committee ordered Shooting Stars to play three home matches behind closed doors after crowd trouble during the home game against Kwara United

SOUTH African Schools Football Association National Coordinator Themba Shabalala believes healthy competition at school level will boost the development of South African football.

Shabalala was speaking at the Eastern Cape leg of the McDonalds Under-14 Schools League which took place at the Rotary Stadium in Mthatha on Saturday.

“We need to build a system of play as a country,” he said.

“We need to create

opportunities and platforms to scout for talent and involving schools increases the capacity of these various development programmes.

“We’ll be very happy if some of the players who have participated in this tournament make it to the national junior teams or even play professionally in the next five years.

“This is the fourth year of McDonalds’ involvement in school football and we’re happy because every year we

“It was a tough game, I even missed a penalty but I thank God we won. We deserved it,” he declared.

Weekk 22 Results Bayelsa Akwa 3SC ABS Sunshine Sharks Heartland Rangers Nasarawa Wikki

1 2 0 1 3 2 1 2 1 0

Pillars Lobi Dolphins Gombe Kwara Kaduna Wolves Nembe Enyimba El Kanemi

0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1

Eneramo Dismisses Heart Surgery Report MICHAEL Eneramo has told MTNFootball.com he underwent a knee surgery and not a heart operation as reported by the media.

“I didn’t undergo a heart

Schools Football On The Rise

see different faces and different schools and that is a sign of growth.

“We are hoping to reach more schools in different areas with every tournament and that will go a long way in unearthing talent from all corners of the country.”

Vulamazibuko, a school from Aliwal North, will now represent the Eastern Cape at the national championships which will take place at the Sinaba Stadium in Daveyton on September 19-21.

surgery. What I did was a minor surgery on my (knee) meniscus. It was a successful one and I will recover in two, three weeks to join my team Besiktas. I don’t know where the story of heart operation came from. It was not true,” the Nigeria striker told MTNFootball.com Eneramo has signed a two-year deal with the Turkish giants Besiktas and will join the team’s training camp in Austria soon ahead of the resumption of the new season.

Last season, the big striker fired 12 goals in the league for another Turkish club Sivasspor.

He featured for Lobi Stars in the Nigeria league as well as Esperance of Tunisia.

THE NIGERIAN

CMYK

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TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

Indiscretions Of A First Lady THERE have been some African First Ladies whose controversial hold on the reigns of power either stifled or destroyed outrightly the political future of their spouses, but I doubt if any of their indiscretions would supercede those of Dame Patience Jonathan. The urge to wield their self imposed powers, the consequence of a prevalent culture of condescension, seems to have always been the only reason for their actions.

With dame Patience, I have very little doubt that this, and a burning urge to fight a deep rooted feeling of low self esteem, has been the inspiration.

Whether we like it or not, she has succeeded in redefining the rules of the Nigerian political game, albeit with a belligerent approach.

Dame Patience is not the only African First Lady to have imposed her whims on her husband’s aides, political appointees and other elected officials, but there is very little doubt that her reputation as a forceful and intrusive character who hardly bends to contrary opinions is exaggerated. It is also obvious that she either has not read much about the consequences of those First Ladies’ actions on their spouses or she simply does not care.

There is also hardly anyone who can compete with the many gaffes for which she has gained a special reputation. From her usually rib cracking attempts at rewriting english syntax to her unabashed display of a strong preference for feral politics and avarice. No one beats “the dame” at her game. There are quite a few that are worth mentioning here: during President Jonathan’s visit to the United States in September 2012, she breached protocol by disembarking from the aircraft before the President, and shaking hands with officials waiting on the tarmac while the president was still coming down from the plane. No one understands how that could have happened when she must have been briefed by presidential staff about the necessary protocol. Obviously, in her usual character, she must have told them off or decided simply not to listen. Because of this lack

of finesse, the dame presented the presidential staff as inexperienced and unprofessional.

Another example was at a press briefing shortly after being sworn-in as Permanent Secretary (PS) in Bayelsa State on July 20, 2012, dame Patience made her desire for constitutional recognition of the Office of the First Lady, and the financial trappings that could go with it, known when, obviously selfabsorbed, she said recognising the First Lady in an official capacity will “enable the occupier of that position to enjoy benefits of the office like their husbands on retirement”. Her message was clear and unpretentious.

Her appointment as a PS was a bold political statement and a disingenious move that exposed her avarice and queried the rationale behind the government’s anti-ghost worker campaign; considering her tight schedule as First Lady, she would be regularly absent from her official functions as a state government employee.

It was quite absurd of dame Patience to be canvassing for constitutional recognition of her role as a spouse of an elected official at the same time as she was accepting a job appointment that had a salary and several other financial perks attached.

Even worse is the fact that she had gone ahead to create a seal for the office of the first lady, an office that is not recognised by the constitution, has no official responsibilities or salary, and is only ceremonial. In any sane society, that is nothing short of seizing state powers.

I doubt if anyone can restrict dame Patience’s new found love of politics, not with the sense of self worth she believes it has given her. However, while she continues to bathe in the murk that now defines her every utterance and action and the trappings of presidential opulence, she has either completely ignored the consequences of her actions on the fate of her husband or has become immune to the very real dangers that her actions

portend for Nigeria’s political stability. If her aides had been doing a good job, she would have realised by now that her smartest move would have been to remain silent on politics and more vocal on the myriad pressing social issues that have stifled development in Nigeria.

She chooses to do the opposite of this, and for reasons best known to her too.

Dame Patience is known

moving in and out of their houses.”

There was nothing new about the security formations around her residence though, but what made this visit, with all its military trappings, interesting was the fact that

Dame Patience Jonathan for her intrusive visits to state capitals with her usual retinue of staff and friends and a convoy that would usually stretch for several blocks. Anyone who has ever been a victim of one of those visits is aware of the heavy-handedness of the police, closing almost all municipal access roads to traffic as her intimidating convoy drives past. We saw this in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, recently. This is how one report explains it: “Mrs. Jonathan’s security arrangement paralysed activities in the Port Harcourt Government Reservation Area for the four days of her visit.

Armoured personnel carriers were deployed at two points, while gunwielding operatives manned the points leading to her private residence. Many people missed their appointments because they were prevented from

her arrangements had even curtailed the movement of the constitutionally recognised head of the state government, Rotimi Amaechi. She obviously saw nothing wrong in this, breaking all known constitutional rules on governance structure. She probably intended it that way, considering the immense powers she has arrogated to herself as wife of the president and her angst over Amaechi’s rejection of her attempts at dictating the political pace in the state. To crown her interference in Rivers state politics, we saw recently how her influence on some members of the state assembly fuelled an open combat between members in the House as attempts were made to impeach a “disloyal” Speaker, who chose to pitch his tent with governor Amaechi even when Amaechi was openly opposed to Dame Patience’s

involvement in state affairs.

One of those members, Evans Bipi, did not hide the fact that he and his cohorts were stirred by the disrespect shown his “mummy” and “Jesus Christ on earth” by governor Amaechi.

The excesses of dame Patience have even been criticised by members of the presidential team. He may want to distance himself now from the scathing remarks he made about her in 2010, but Rueben Abati’s position was clear and pertinent. In an oped he wrote about dame Patience’s interference with government functions in Rivers state, and her attempt to impose her whims on governor Amaechi, Abati questioned her right to interfere in matters that were constitutionally beyond her jurisdiction. For the sake of posterity, it is necessary to quote from that lucid piece.

In Abati’s words, “...Dame Patience must have felt compelled to be a partisan stakeholder and intercessor.

She needed to put Rotimi Amaechi, the state Governor in his place and that was what she did...” He says “A state Governor is a duly elected official; and in a Federal system, he is not answerable to the President, and nowhere is the president granted the powers of a Headmaster over state governors. In Okrika, Dame Patience behaved so impatiently and spoke to Governor Amaechi as if he is on the staff of the Presidency.”

Abati adds that “The wife of the President of Nigeria, or a state Governor, or a local council chairman, is not a state official. The same applies to husbands if the gender is reversed. He or she is unknown to the constitution or the governance structure.

Recent history has however made it a convention to have the spouses of persons in such positions under the guise of providing support, play some ceremonial roles.

This has been routinely abused. Under the Jonathan presidency, Dame Patience Jonathan even got a special allocation in the original budget for the 2010 Golden

jubilee anniversary whereas she has no official, financial reporting responsibilities! The international standard is that spouses in these circumstances must not only appear but be seen to be above board like Caesar’s wife. They must not misbehave like Marie Antoinette.” Abati may not be bold enough to express such opinions anymore but we thank him for doing so then and vindicating many of us.

A spouse of an elected official is expected to handle the position with grace, humility, and be smart enough to recognise their role as mere appendages to the office. Where they fail to recognise this, they stand the risk of turning the tide of public opinion against their elected spouses. We have seen this happen several times around the world. No one would easily forget the consequences of Laurent Gbagbo’s wife, Simone’s insistence on holding on to power even after her husband had clearly lost the elections in Cote d’Ivoire in 2010. In the words of Raila Odinga, appointed by the African Union to broker a deal between Gbagbo and presidential challenger and election winner Alassane Outtara; “He [Gbagbo] had agreed to leave,” Odinga reportedly told a news reporter, “but he went and talked to the wife, and she refused.

Each time he talked to the wife, he came back a different person. She was the biggest stumbling block...”

When they stormed the palace and found Gbagbo in a bunker, they asked if he wanted to be taken with his wife. In Mr Odinga’s words. “He said: ‘No! Take her far away from me. I don’t want to see her.” For Gbagbo it was too late to correct the indiscretions of his spouse. It is not too late yet for president Jonathan if he intends to maintain what little clout he has left.

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