Nigerian observer 29 01 2014

The Nigerian

PUBLISHED SINCE MAY 29, 1968 • Vol . 38 NO. 408 •WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 20 14 . N100.00 NATURAL MEDICINE Page 19 Unconventional treatments for diseases

Sales Of Govt Property: Commissioner blasts in the State.

BENIN CITY - Edo opposition party To set the record State Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, MacDonald Obasuke Esq has decried the campaign of calumny spear-headed by the opposition party, accusing the

Government of selling the industries in the State as a distortion of facts.

The Commerce and Industry Commissioner said the series of accusations and alleged

sale of the various industries spread across the three Senatorial Districts, is a calculated attempt to disparage the performance of the present administration

straight, the Commerce and Industry Commissioner pointed out that the present administration inherited Continues on page 2

S/African investors plan Ethanol Refinery

PLACE OF PRAYER Page 21

The power of your tongue

BENIN CITY - South African investors have indicated interest to set up an ethanol refinery in Edo State and turn the state into the China of Africa.

Executive Chairman of Mr. Mbetse told the Industrial Development Governor that from his Holding, South Africa, Mr. reliable findings, Edo State Mxolesi Mbetse made was well-endowed with the disclosure when he abundant Agriculture and paid Governor Adams Natural Resources that Oshiomhole a courtesy could sustain visit at the Government industrialization and House, yesterday. industrial growth, not only He said: “What we in the state and the geowant to do in Edo State political zone but the entire is that in the next five to country. ten years we want to According to him, the completely eliminate the state’s raw material importation of palm oil. potentialities and the We want to ensure that infrastructure already put Nigeria becomes the in place by the next exporter of not only government attracted his palm oil, sugar but also business conglomerate to ethanol. I was in Brazil come and cite a refinery and was amazed at the that would produce and way they used process ethanol using technology to produce palm-oil and sugar-cane. ethanol and today, Brazil He said the large produces billions of availability of raw ethanol”. materials coupled with the

state’s ready manpower would further enhance the industrial base of the state and its output.

Mbetse said further: “When you look at the issue of agriculture and how important it is to Nigeria and the strategic nature of Edo State, it becomes very necessary that all hands must be put on deck to

improve the lives of the people. What we need to do is to, within a foreseeable future, use renewable energy and ethanol is the most important component of this renewable energy.

“There is no other place to do that than Edo State when you look at the infrastructure that the government has done.

The strategic importance of Edo gives me hope that when I look at Edo it is the right place to put up this investment in terms of where you can produce what to be consumed.

“In terms of where to produce enough sugar, palm oil to be consumed locally,

Nigeria is a place to be.

You don’t have to go to India or China. Nigeria is our China. It is not just to produce sugar and export it to China. We have to produce and refine”, he said.

He explained that he has not come to seek financial assistance rather his company has come to Continues on page 2

Govt stresses relevance of taxation

By MATTHEW OKAGHA BENIN CITY – The Edo State Government has emphasised the relevance of taxation and the need for all citizens to fulfill their civic responsibilities at all times.

Speaking yesterday when he received the executive members of Igbo Youths Union during a courtesy visit at Government House, Benin City, the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere stated that governments all over the world cannot do without taxations.

The SSG who was represented by the

Deputy Chief of Staff, Government House, Hon. Stephen Idehenre however, pointed out that the present administration in the state was averse to the concept of multiple taxations.

He promised to draw the attention of the authorities of Oredo Local Government Council with a view to eliminating those taxes already being collected by the state government.

He also promised to convey the request for youth employment to the appropriate quarters.

TIT BIT

“You cannot tell others to emulate you when you have not passed the test of tomorrow.”

- Kingsley Ogbeide-Ihama

Earlier, the President of Igbo Youths Union, Edo State, Nze Nnamdi Duruoha stated that the visit was to formally introduce the new executive of the union, and also to draw the attention of the state government to some of the problems being encountered by their

EVENT: L-R: Chief of Staff, Edo Government House, Hon. Patrick Obahiagbon (left), Edo State Commissioner for Environment and Public Utilities, Prince Clem Agba and his Information and Orientation counterpart, Mr. Louis Odion at a recent event in Government House, Benin City.

Opposition calls for minister’s resignation ... as Senate considers proposal Continues on page 2

2014 Budget:

By JOSES SEDE

ABUJA - Consideration of Budget 2014 started in earnest yesterday, with the

opposition, calling for its outright rejection and resignation of the Minister of Finance and co-ordinating Minister

for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

However, the ruling Peoples Democratic

state following his nomination by the State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.

The Chairman, House Committee on Rules, Business and

Government House, Hon. Phillip Shaibu during the confirmation process said the commissionernominee was educationally qualified for the confirmation.

Party (PDP) senators chorused that the budget be considered and referred to relevant committees of the Senate for necessary

EDHA confirms Commissioner nominee

By KEN ABU BENIN CITY – Edo State House of Assembly has confirmed Mr. Christopher Okaeben as Commissioner in the

Hon. Phillip Shaibu said Okaeben served as Secretary to Oredo Local Government Council between 2010 and 2012 adding that the nominee Continues on page 2

fine tuning so as to redress identified shortcomings in the Budget.

In his lead debate earlier, Senate Leader, Senator Victor NdomaEgba asserted that all the proposals in the Budget were laudable and tailored to meet the critical needs of the country at this point of our democratic evolution and Continues on page 2

News

Commissioner blasts opposition party

Continued from page 1 moribund industries, which were either partially privatized or sold outrightly before the inception of the administration.

He said the opposition led administration which ruined the State and brought her to the knees as a result of corruption and bad leadership should burry its head in shame rather than trivialize issues which are of economic benefits to the State.

The Commerce and

Industry Commissioner absolved the present administration led by Comrade Adams Oshiomhole of any wrong-doing as regards the sale of the industries, pointing out that the opposition led Government in Edo State for eight years should be held responsible for the sales of the industries and mismanaged the proceeds realised, to the detriment of the people.

MacDonald Obasuke Esq tendered documents on how the Government in Edo State

Obinna Nze, the Secretary, Emma Uwakwe and other executive members.

Meanwhile, the immediate past President of Igbo Youth Union and SSA to the Governor on Protocol, Amb. Uche James Okoro was yesterday presented with an award by the union for his effort in piloting the affairs of the union to an enviable height.

privatized the industries, with Bendel Brewery Ltd with its majority shares acquired by Churchgate Industries Ltd in 1992, Edo Pharmaceuticals with its majority shares acquired by Josien Holdings Ltd in 1993, Bendel Feeds and Flour Mills, Ewu, co-financed

by IBN Industries in 1986.

Other industries which the opposition led government in Edo State sold out include the Bendel Cement Company Ltd, purchased by Scancem Holdings now taken over by BUA Group in 2000, Solid Minerals Processing Company Ltd, purchased by Goopex Nigeria Ltd in 2005 and Fruit Juice Processing Company Ltd, Ehor, purchased by Peace Alliance Ltd, Lagos in 2007.

The Commerce and Industry Commissioner queried the rationale behind the accusation by the opposition that the State Government unilaterally sold the industries which according to him, is a figment of their own imagination.

“It is very clear without any ambiguity that the industries which have been the subject matter of discussion were sold by the opposition Government to enhance their fortunes.

The Commissioner for Commerce and Industry viewed the action of the opposition as a deliberate attempt to distract the State Government’s attention on consolidating the transformation agenda of the present administration which is determined more than ever before to complete all ongoing projects and institute a lasting and enduring legacy for posterity.

The Commissioner for Commerce and Industry urged the good people of Edo State to disregard the concocted stories of the opposition intended to smear the good image of the present administration, built over the years as a result of good governance enthroned by the O s h i o m h o l e - l e d administration.

Continued from page 1 solicit the Edo State Government’s support for their investment in the state.

Responding, Governor Oshiomhole said the state government was clear on its

plan to improve the GDP of people in the state, saying putting infrastructure in place without attracting the right investors would yield very little.

“We are clear that our

responsibility is to encourage business that are pro-people that give the people a sense of ownership. Agriculture offers us a unique opportunity to a make a difference”, he added.

specific sectors of the economy.

He further wondered why the Federal Government is still making allocation for Joint Venture Cash Call when other OPEC countries have since stopped the practice.

He said even though N268 billion is voted for SURE-P, Nigerians were daily going abroad for medical treatment when SURE-P funds were being expended in areas where the rich and privileged in the country live and exist.

He said even though there are many guest houses in the Presidency, N700million has been voted for another VIP lodge in the Villa while a teaching hospital is allocated a paltry N300million.

On his part, Senator Ahmed Lawan (Yobe North), was very hard on the allocation to Niger Delta, which he described as a small fraction of the Nigerian population compared to the North East he hail from, stressing that more money should be voted for the region by dint of Boko haram insurgency in the area.

“For the proposal for N2billion, I say we reject it as North East Development Initiative by the federal government compared to N163billion going to the Niger Delta. Are we serious about tackling the problems in the North East.

What we are saying is that the National Assembly should rework the budget. We can leave whatever is proposed for the Niger Delta, I am not against it but we must have to improve what is provided in the proposed budget for the North East.

I want to call on the Minister of Finance to throw in the towel because she has not been able to achieve what the administration wanted her to achieve because there is no safety nets for the citizens”, he continued.

Senator Sadiq Yar’Adua (Katsina Central), noted that the Budget “does not worth the paper because it does not hold anything for the common man”, adding, “everything in the budget is for the political class, for the rich and the bureaucrat; Is our economy better today than 15 years ago? Are we more developed today than 15 years ago? I will call on Okonjo Iweala to resign because she has disappointed us”.

As for Senator Babajide Omowurare (Osun East), the 2014 Budget estimate “is a framework that will certainly consolidate and add impetus to the transformation agenda of this administration and will promote economic growth, wealth creation, poverty reduction and service delivery to all Nigerians. He therefore called for concerted work to redress shortcomings in the budget.

Senator Isa Galaudu, Kebbi North: I support this budget and I urge all good Nigerians to support it. I have other reservations, there are some over bloated expenses. Even with huge security budget, every MDA has security provisions. All these make capital expenditure smaller.

Senators Philip Aduda (FCT) and Paulinus Nwagwu (Ebonyi Central), chorused their support for the budget and called for immediate passage to allow for early implementation.

The debate continues today.

Govt stresses relevance Continued from page 1 of taxation members in the state.

The Igbo Youths Union President further appealed to the state government to grant employment opportunities to qualified Igbo youths resident in the state.

Present during the visit were the Vice President, Mr.

EDHA confirms Commissioner nominee Continued from page 1 is currently serving as the Executive Director, Edo State Petroleum Monitoring Team.

The House therefore confirmed the nominee and urged him to step up sporting activities in the state.

According to the Speaker, Hon. Uyi Igbe:, “I want to tell you that the commissioner nominee is from Oredo West Constituency and I can assure you that he is qualified for the position.”

Nigeria, Ghana CHAN clash Pray for Eagles, Mark charges Nigerians

By JOSES SEDE

ABUJA - Ahead of the Super Eagles of Nigeria and Black Stars of Ghana Semifinal encounter in South Africa today, President of the Senate, Senator David Mark has enjoined Nigerians to pray for Eagles’ victory over their counterparts.

Senator Mark in a goodwill message to the Coach Stephen Keshi led officials and players yesterday urged them to re-enact the team spirit and winning streak that have seen them thus far.

He reminded Nigerians that “all that the Eagles needs now is support and prayers from all of us. The boys have demonstrated the determination and strong will to deliver. I am sure they would do the nation proud”.

Senator Mark reminded the Eagles and their officials of the nation’s hope on them, adding that government on its part will live up to the responsibility in terms of adequate welfare.

The National Assembly on its part, has assured that they will continue to provide adequate appropriation for the over all development of sports in the country.

South African investors plan Ethanol Refinery

Opposition calls for Minister’s resignation

Continued from page 1 to deliver on dividends of democracy as we approach yet another election.

He however called for equity in the distribution of SURE-P funds since it is a “contribution being made by all Nigerians” and lamented what he described as dwindling allocation to the Judiciary since 2011, saying lack of adequate funding would stifle their statutory duties.

Speaking on the Budget, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu described the budget as very important, being the one that precedes the election year, and for completion of on-going projects of federal government and urged quick passage.

He however regretted that some ongoing projects were omitted in the budget proposal and appealed that it should be rectified before the budget is passed.

“As a parliament, we will not want any project to be abandoned,” he stressed and urged the various committees of the Senate to identify such ongoing projects and ensure that monies are voted for their continuation or completion during consideration at committee levels.

Minority Leader George Akume (Benue North West) noted that the national budget represents the engine room of growth and development in the economy, but alleged that, relevant documents have not been supplied to the Senate by the Minister of Finance to enable legislators make meaningful contributions.

He faulted the use of SUREP funds for everything imaginable instead of concentrating the funds for the

Official commitment

Deputy Gov’s wife counsels women

By CLIFFORD AGABJOR

BENIN CITY – Wife of Edo State Deputy Governor, Deaconess Endurance Odubu has urged women to replicate their diligence and commitment at the home front in their offices.

She made the remark when the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Women Committee, Edo State Council, paid her a courtesy visit in Benin City, yesterday.

Deaconess Odubu who described women as catalysts for peace and progress in the society, appreciated their hard work and dedication at the home front.

While acknowledging the

complementary role of women to their male counterpart, the Deputy Governor’s wife described women as excellent managers.

She noted that the civil service is the engine room of government and therefore called for commitment and dynamism from civil servants.

Leader of the State NLC Women Committee, Comrade Caroline Aikoriogie said the visit was to introduce the newly elected executive officers to the wife of the Deputy Governor while appealing to her to encourage the girl-child education as well as protect them from all form of harassment where necessary

Constitution Amendment

Reps vote tomorrow

By EDITH IMOISILI ABUJA - Speaker, House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Waziri Tambuwal yesterday postponed to Thursday 30th 2014 consideration of the report for alteration of some sections of the constitution, to enable some of their members who were not around during the plenary session, to participate in the voting process.

Among the bills to be amended is the alteration of section 143 of the constitution, which is to remove ambiguities in the process of impeachment and the removal of a president and the vice president from office on allegations of gross misconduct procedure, so as to provide for more transparent and democratic procedure for impeachment and removal of the holder of the office.

The bill which was sponsored by Hon. Yakubu Dogara and three others was earlier taken at the public hearing which was held Wednesday December 4 2013, and received endorsement.

This was contained in the report submitted by the House Ad-Hoc committee on the review of the constitution on outstanding bills which was headed by Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihediohan and was yesterday presented to the house.

The house had earlier referred a number of Bills to the Committee for further

legislative input.

The house is seeking the alteration of some sections of the constitution before the setting up of a Conference Committee to liaise with the senate for harmonization purposes.

In his presentation, Rt. Hon. Ihedioha told the house that some of the Bills were omitted during the exercise; some were stood down as they did not undergo public hearing while a few others were referred to the committee after the voting had taken place.

18 sections of the constitutions were slated for amendment, but the bill to alter Section 241 and 242 to provide for a right of appeal from National Industrial court to the Court of Appeal, which was sponsored by Friday Itulah as well as the bill on Sections 277 and 282 which is to vest origin jurisdiction on chieftaincy matters on Sharia Court of Appeal which was sponsored by Hon. Leo Ogor did not receive endorsement at the public hearing.

Meanwhile Dr Joseph kigbu (Nasarawa State) who was formally in APC has officially decamp to PDP. Reading the letter at the plenary section, the Speaker Rt Hon. Waziri Tambuwal told the house that he received the letter from Dr Kigbu notifying him and the house of his defection to the People Democratic Party (PDP).

This brought the number of PDP in the house to 173, while APC is now also 173.

US tasks Nigeria on sustainable democracy

ABUJA - The U.S. yesterday called on Nigeria to develop sustainable democratic process towards the 2015 general elections.

Ms Maria Brewer, the U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission in Nigeria, made the call at a two-day National stakeholder’s forum on Electoral Reform in Abuja.

Brewer explained that advancing democracy by strengthening democratic institutions had been the bedrock of the U.S foreign policy.

“Under the umbrella of

tour U.S. Strategy towards Sub-Saharan Africa, President Obama has underscored the importance for Africa to develop and sustain prosperous democratic nations.

“The U.S. considers itself a partner with Nigeria in ensuring credible elections in 2015,” she said.

Brewer urged participants at the forum to address the country’s election administration and the role of the judiciary during the election process.

News

Parents, Students Call On FG To Consider Stance ABUJA - The Federal Government has been called upon to do all in its powers to reconsider its stance and save the polytechnic education.

Some polytechnic students and parents made the call in seperate interviews with newsmen in Abuja.

They said that the government had a responsibility to ensure the sustenance of the education system.

“The Federal Government says it is making vocational and technical education a top priority.

“It also says it plans to achieve technological advancement and economic

growth through technical and vocational education.

“I think it is important that government reconsiders its stance and take polytechnics serious if it truly plans to achieve this goal,’’ Miss Ruth Gabriel, a student of the Kaduna Polytechnic said.

According to Gabriel, the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) and the continued stay of students at home also signals danger for the country.

She said that many students had taken to certain vices because of idleness.

“As I am speaking to you now, two of my friends got pregnant and one has even

given birth.

“I cannot blame them because it is not everyone that has the strong will to fight off temptation,’’ she added.

The year one Business Administration student, therefore, appealed to government to pay more attention to the plight of polytechnics in the country.

Mr. Raphael Dangana, a non-academic staff of the Federal Polytechnic, Nasarawa, and a parent said government should listen to lecturers and save their children from destruction as a result of the prolonged strike.

Dangana said that polytechnic education, as

important as it was, was becoming unattractive to students because of the way it is being run in the country.

“Every parent wants his or her children to go to the university instead of the polytechnic as it has continued to lose its glory because of the way government is treating the system.

“Not everyone can attend

the university and not every course can be studied in the university; so polytechnic education should be accorded the respect and place it deserves,’’ he advised.

ASUP has been on strike for close to eight months over demands, including the nonrelease of the White Paper on the Visitation Panel to the polytechnics, lack of

implementation of the CONTISS salary structure, and the constitution of a Needs Assessment Committee.

Acting Minister of Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, said in a meeting with ASUP last week that the federal government had met three of the four demands by the union, and demanded that the strike be called off.

Cleric Tasks Police On Impartiality LAGOS - The Cherubim and Seraphim Church has urged the police to be impartial in the enforcement of Electoral Laws during the 2015 general elections.

The Supreme Head of the Church, Most Eminence Abel Akinsanya, stated this in Lagos during the Church 2014 Annual General Conference.

The Supreme Head of the Church said that the forthcoming elections in Ekiti

State would be a litmus test for the police personnel in the way they would conduct themselves in next year’s elections.

Akinsanya, however, stated that it was not enough for the police to protect electoral materials during elections, but that they should also ensure the safety of lives and property.

The spiritual leader also warned parents not to allow their wards to be used as thugs by

politicians before and during next year’s general elections.

Akinsanya, who frowned at the falling standard of education in the country, announced that the Church’s proposed Moses Orimolade University (MOU), Omu-Aran, Kwara, would takeoff before the middle of the year.

“It is the Church’s desire to assist the Federal Government in providing quality education, not only for its members, but for all.

Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, Speaker House of Representative (left) with the Deputy Governor of Edo State, Dr. Egberanmwen Odubu (right) and Hon. Samson Osagie, member House of Representative (middle) during the Speaker’s condolence visit to Edo State Government over the demise of Oloi Esther fo the Benin Monarch, HRM, Oba Erediauwa, the pasing on of Oloi Esther Erediauwa. Benin City. MOSES OBOH.

News Anti-Gay Law ’ll sustain African Culture

LAGOS - The Civil Society Organisations of Nigeria said the law banning same sex marriages in Nigeria would promote and sustain African cultures, heritages and values.

The Secretary of the organisations, Mrs. Ifeyinwa Awagu, told a joint press briefing in Lagos that they include Project for Human Development (PHD), Association of Catholic Medical Practitioners of Nigeria, and Islamic Platform of Nigeria.

The others are: Foundation for African Cultural Heritage (FACH), Global Pro-life Alliance (GPA) and Doctors’ Health Initiative (DHI).

The organisations commended President Goodluck Jonathan for his courage in resisting the pressure from the West and identifying with the values of his people.

The bill banning same sex marriage, and posting strong legal sanctions against the

- Civil Society

offenders, was passed by the National Assembly in May , 2013.

It was signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan on January13, Awagu said that the law was crucial to the national development as it sought to protect the natural family being the fundamental unit of the society.

“The bill banning gay marriage as signed into law by the president is laudable.

“It is one of his best bills so far, which is in the best interest of Nigerian citizens.

“Nigeria is a secular nation, and it is good, if we allow our religions and cultures to guide us.

“I believe strongly that none of the Nigeria’s religions support gay marriage, they all frown at

gay practises, and our cultures also condemn it,“ she said.

Also speaking, Mr. Sonnie Ekwowusi, the Founder, Project for Human Development (PHD), said that western community should respect the sovereignty of Nigeria.

Ekwowusi said laws were made in consonance with the values of the people, and that it was the obligation of every country to protect the morals and traditions of its citizens.

According to him, it is suicidal to import the practises and lifestyles that are alien to Nigeria and seek to impose them in the name of observing international obligations.

“The Nigerian antihomosexuality Act is not ‘inconsistent with Nigeria‘s

international obligations‘ because there is no known domestic law which obliges Nigeria to refrain from enacting such law,“ he said.

Dr. Nkechi Asogwa, commenting on the health implications of homosexuality practises, said that homosexual lifestyle was unhealthy.

Asogwa, who represents the

Doctors’ Health Initiatives, noted that homosexual conduct was neither genetic nor inborn.

She said that it was associated with some physical and psychological health effects.

According to her, homosexual practice is a psychiatric disorder that requires medical attention and therapy.

In his comment, Imam Shefiu

Abdulkareem, of the Islamic Platform of Nigeria, Lagos, said that the act of homosexuality was against God’s vision for humanity and mankind.

“The Western Community sees Nigeria as a dumping ground for their policies and legislations which are most of the time alien to our culture and religion.

2015: Jega Tasks RECs,

Staff On Commitment

ABUJA - The INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, has advised Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) and staff to be more vigilant and cautious as the country prepares for the 2015 general elections.

This information is contained in the INEC daily bulletin issued by the Deputy Director (Publicity) of the commission, Mr. Nick Dazang, in Abuja.

The bulletin said that Jega gave the advice when he addressed the RECs and staff of the commission during the just concluded INEC retreat in

Kaduna.

“All eyes are on us, our friends, partners, concerned citizens, and indeed, even our adversaries.

“We must be more vigilant, be more committed and strengthen our harmony at all levels to achieve the desired results,” the bulletin quoted the chairman as saying.

Jega, the bulletin stated, urged management and staff to do their job with integrity, impartial and non-partisan manner.

He observed that in reviewing the commission’s sundry programmes and plans to be

implemented this year, “it is evident that there will be gaps’’.

It said Jega urged participants at the retreat to ensure that those gaps were filled and that fundamental things that needed to be done were implemented.

It stated that the commission would ensure that competencies were improved and that those who had the capacity to deliver more efficiently were given the opportunity to do so.

It was at the retreat that INEC released the timetables for the Osun and Ekiti governorship elections and that of the 2015 general elections.

L-R: Second Trustee, National Union of Road Transport Workers, Rivers Branch, Mr. Chukwudi Eluozo; Deputy State Chairman, Mr. Ominiayebagha Kalango and Sector Commander, Federal Road Safety Corps, Rivers, Mr. Sunday Oghenekaro during a sensitization visit by the Commander to NURTW office in Port Harcourt recently.

Dr. S. N. Igun (standing) delivering his address at a youth summit organised in Benin City by the Natinoal Orientation Agency (NOA), Edo State. He is flanked by the State Director of NOA Mrs. Magdaline Umunnah (right) and Dr. Nosa Aladeselu. Photo: OSADEBAMWEN SUNDAY.

100,000 Drivers Licence Ready For Collection In Rivers -FRSC Commander Port Harcourt – Mr. Sunday Oghenekaro, the Rivers Sector Commander of Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), said more than 100,000 drivers’ licence were now ready for collection in the state.

Oghenekaro spoke with newsmen during his visit to the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in Port Harcourt.

He said that the sector encountered serious challenges in 2013 in capturing drivers’ data due to poor internet service.

Oghenekaro said the commission had made serious efforts to address the challenges by putting in place effective mechanism to achieve speedy data collation.

“We have heard applicants complain that they had not accessed their original drivers’ licence after being captured and

given temporary licence.

“Poor network is responsible for some of the delays. Even if the commission had five data capturing machines at the sector, if there is no network, we will not work effectively.

“Efforts put in place in addressing these challenges have resulted to production of over 100, 000 processed drivers’ licence now waiting for applicants to collect.

“Applicants should visit the Rivers Internal Revenue Service (RIRS) at number 22, William Jumbo Street, Port Harcourt, to collect their original drivers’ licence,” he said.

Oghenekaro said FRSC, with the RIRS, had adopted three strategies of reaching out to motorists to collect their licence before June 30 phase-out date for old drivers’ licence and number plates.

Landlady Docked For Stabbing Tenant With Knife

LAGOS - A landlady, Uyi Sarah, has been charged before an Ogudu Magistrates’ Court, Lagos, for allegedly stabbing her tenant with a knife.

Sarah, 33, who lives at No. 20, Gregory St., Alapere in Ketu area of Lagos, is facing a twocount charge of assault and malicious damage.

The accused, however, pleaded

not guilty.

The prosecutor, Cpl. Adekemi Adeniran, told the court that the accused committed the offences on January 14, at No. 20, Gregory St., Alapere, at about 7.45 a.m.

He said Sarah assaulted and

stabbed the tenant, Obinna Okereke, with a knife on the left hand.

“The accused also damaged the windscreen and the side mirror of a Toyota Sienna car with registration no. EPE 345 AZ and six plastic containers.

“She also destroyed a T-shirt and a 25-litre jerry can all valued at N186, 000 belonging to Okereke.”

The offences, Adeniran noted, contravened Sections 171 and 348 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

Section 348 stipulates two years imprisonment for offenders.

The Chief Magistrate, Mrs Omolade Awope, granted the accused bail in the sum of N100, 000 with a surety in like sum and adjourned the case to February 21, for hearing.

He said the options included sending bulk SMS to applicants’ next of kin, publishing of applicants’ names in national newspapers and pasting of applicants names on RIRS notice boards.

According to the commander, the options will make it easy for applicants to collect their driver’s license before the license expired and before the June 30 deadline.

Oghenekaro said that the visit to NURTW, Rivers Chapter, was aimed at further strengthening its relationship as well as inform the union of its free drivers training programme.

He said that the union had the largest number of drivers and fleet across the country and as such was a good platform to drive the commission’s road safety campaign.

“Road accidents are mostly caused by drivers’ recklessness which includes the use of mobile phones while driving, excessive speed, influence of alcohol and drugs, impatience, among others.

“We feel that if we reach out to a larger number of commercial drivers to adopt our safety message; we will drastically reduce the number of accidents recorded on our highways,” the commander said.

Oghenekaro called on motorists to obey traffic rules and regulations, stressing that motorists should apply “common sense” at road intersections and right-of-way.

South-South Expert Denies Inadequacy Of Shelter In Nigeria UYO - An Uyo-based Estate Surveyor and Valuer, Mr John Isangedighi, has decried the inadequacy of shelter in the country, saying that 17 million Nigerians had no houses to live in.

Isangedighi, who expressed the concern in an interview with newsmen in Uyo, however, ruled out the possibility of all Nigerians having their own houses.

He said that with the formulation and proper implementation of housing policies, 70 per cent of Nigerians could own houses.

Isangedighi said that it had become very difficult for most Nigerians to have decent shelter because of high cost of building, adding that government should urgently address the ugly situation.

“The government has fallen short of expectation in the provision of houses for citizens in Nigeria in general and Akwa Ibom in particular.

“We know that government has challenges like land administration, finances, legal and regulatory framework, but it is its responsibility to make it possible for citizens to have homes,” he said.

Isangedighi said that there had been appreciable efforts by individuals to provide houses for themselves in the country.

According to him, the government had not done much in terms of housing development.

“By now, I expect the Akwa Ibom State Government, for instance, to have a minimum of seven sites and service schemes within Uyo metropolis,” Isangedigi said.

The estate surveyor and valuer called on the state government to map out sites for high, medium and low density housing estates in the state capital.

He also observed that mortgage institutions in the country had not done much in

real estate development, adding that it was their primary responsibilities to intervene in the sector.

On the collapse of buildings, Isangedighi advised government to strengthen the capacity of its regulatory agencies to enable them to reduce the incidents.

“People with the right competence should handle building projects; the practice needs compliance with architectural designs and specifications,” Isangedighi said.

Fishermen Decry Impact Of Oil Spill

YENAGOA - Fishermen along the Bayelsa coastline have lamented the impact of the November 2013 oil leak from the Brass Oil Export Terminal belonging to Nigerian Agip Company, saying it had affected them negatively.

Mr. Henshaw Oguike, the Chief Information Officer,

National Oil Spills and Detection Response Agency (NOSRA), had said the leak discharged some crude into the Atlantic.

Princess Elizabeth Egbe, Chairman, Artisanal Fishermen Association of Nigeria in

Bayelsa, told newsmen in Yenagoa, that the oil pollution annihilated fishes along the coastline.

Egbe said the development had brought untold hardship to peasant fishermen in the state because they were no longer making catches.

Ex-Governor Urges Army To Support Gen. not be misinterpreted for doubleMinimah cross on other generals in that PORT HARCOURT - Mr. Celestine Omehia, former Governor of Rivers, has urged the Nigerian Army to support the newly-appointed Chief of Army Staff, Maj.-Gen. Kenneth Minimah, in securing the country.

Omehia made the appeal in an interview with newsmen in Port Harcourt while reacting to the appointment of Minimah.

He said the appointment was a huge task that required the cooperation of other top ranking officers and the entire Nigerian Army.

Omehia said the appointment was well deserved and tasked the army to take advantage of the change of leadership to ensure peace and security in the country.

He urged other generals not to be distracted by issues of discrepancies in their hierarchies, but collectively work toward attaining peace, unity, stability and progress in the country.

The former governor said Minimah’s appointment should

cadre, but as a task by God on the general to serve in that capacity.

“The president has done what he is supposed to do constitutionally; the constitution gives him the power to appoint any person in that cadre; if Minimah is one of the persons, the president has only exercised his constitutional right.

L-R: New United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. James Entwistle; Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos and wife of the Ambassadror, Pamela during the visit by the Ambassador to Governor Fashola in Lagos recently.

V.C Assures Students Of Conducive Learning Environment YENAGOA - Prof. Mobolaji Aluko, Vice-Chancellor, Federal University, Otuoke, Bayelsa, has assured students of the institution of the commitment of the management to provide them a conducive learning environment.

The vice-chancellor gave the assurance following Thursday’s protest by the students over

allegations of increased fees in the institution.

Aluko told newsmen in Otuoke that the management had noted the concerns of the students and would address them.

“There has been no increase in fees as alleged. The schedule of fees currently paid by all students was published on the university

website and communicated to students over 10 months ago.

“The university is completely committed to providing university-subsidised accommodation to as many students as possible, particularly fresh students. ‘’This accommodation is a privilege, not a right. Currently, all five but one of our hostels are rented at high rate.

“Provision of comfortable learning and bed spaces and of reliable and adequate electricity and water in our lecture halls and hostel is our goal,’’ he said.

Noting that the task of

providing power to the university community was quite challenging, the vice-chancellor said that the authorities would continue to strive to improve upon the current situation.

He explained that “the prohibitive cost of diesel makes it incumbent to ration electricity supply. ‘’We are committed to providing electricity in academic areas during weekdays from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and in hostels from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week. ‘’Until public electricity becomes available and reliable in Otuoke and the university environs, we can do no more,” Aluko said.

He commended the students for making the protests violencefree and maintained that cooking in hostels was prohibited because of insurance and sanitation concerns.

Aluko said that the challenges facing the institution, especially with the pioneer students, were enormous and solicited the support of all stakeholders to surmount them.

He also expressed regrets that the flood disaster of 2012 compelled the university to close down for six months, which distorted the institution’s academic calendar.

He said that the institution was working out a way to harmonise the academic calendar to be at par with other institutions.

Airforce Pledges To Fight Crime

Fishers killed by ruptured pipeline spillage in the Greek at Imoren Village near Navy town in Lagos recently.

YENAGOA - The Nigeria Air Force has expressed its readiness to collaborate with other security agencies to fight crime in the Niger Delta.

AVM Samuel Abosede, the new Air Officer Commanding (AOC), Mobility Command of the Nigeria Air Force said this shortly after taking over the command from AVM Chris Chukwu.

“We will reinvigorate our joint operations by partnering with security stakeholders in the region to contain economic crimes.

“The command will also do a lot of advocacy in the state for the people to feel its presence and

benefit from its activities,” Abosede said.

He said that the command would work in line with the agenda of the Chief of Air Staff, AVM, Adesola Amosu.

“In the military, we work on hierarchy. We are going to focus on Chief of Air Staff’s agenda for the force. Also, we are going to focus on our level of cooperation with other security forces.

“Before now, we were not actually taking much part in internal security. Now, we will

start to contribute and participate very effectively,” he said.

In his remarks, Chukwu described Abosede as an astute military commander and a seasoned pilot.

“He has all it takes to lead the command. My experience in Bayelsa is one I will cherish for a long time,” he said.

He said that the command had done enough to contain crimes in the Niger Delta region.

Chukwu urged officers and men of the command to extend the cooperation they gave him to his successor.

Across The Nation Leprosy Diagnosis, Treatment Are Free - Association

L-R: Director-General, NAFDAC, Dr. Paul Ohii; representative of Comptroller-General of Customs, DCG John Atte and member, House committee on Diaspora Affairs, Rep. Jerry Alagbaoso at the International Customs Day in Abuja recently.

Senator Cautions Politicians Against Unguarded Comments OKUTA (KWARA) Senator Sha’aba Lafiagi (PDP-Kwara North), has in Okuta, Baruten Local Government Area of Kwara State cautioned Nigerian politicians against comments which could heat up the political situation in the country.

Lafiagi told newsmen that Nigeria’s present political situation gave some cause for concern, saying politicians should be responsible in the comments they made.

“I believe there should not be any kind of fighting. I don’t believe that government should interfere in one party or the other.

“I believe people should also be responsible, knowing full well that heating up the system is not good for the ordinary people,” he said.

The senator noted that the ordinary people would always be at the receiving end if the political situation in the country was heated up.

“If crisis starts, most of

the people that make it up, that is those who created it, always have a way of taking care of themselves.

The ordinary people are only left to suffer,” he said.

Lafiagi added that Nigerians needed to learn and build a virile democracy which would work for the betterment of the people.

“The important thing is that once elections are held and governments are in place, people should be governed and amenities should be provided, while opportunities should be given for the economy to grow.

“But, there is a tradition in this country, whereby we do politicking throughout the four years of an elected group.

“That is not good for the economy, and that is not good for the development of the country. It is not good for social development,’’ the former Kwara governor said.

ENUGU - The German Leprosy and Tuberculosis Relief Association says the diagnosis and treatment of leprosy is free in designated health facilities in the country.

The Chairman and Chief Medical Adviser of the Association, Dr Tony Meka, announced this in Enugu, during an awareness programme to mark the World Leprosy Day. Meka said that all the 774 local governments in the country each had a leprosy and tuberculosis centre.

The chairman expressed delight that the spread of the disease had reduced drastically in the country.

He advised Nigerians to seek medical attention whenever they noticed patches or discoloration on their skins and weakness in their fingers and toes.

“Leprosy is a disease that affects the skin and nerves and

can affect any part of your body.

“It can be associated with loss of sensation and becomes dangerous when not treated,’’ he said.

The chairman said that the disease was curable, especially when detected early, adding that proper case management was based on drugs.

“There are two types of leprosy - Mild leprosy with a multi drug therapy of six months, while the treatment of severe leprosy lasts for one year, with a daily intake of drugs,’’ he explained.

Meka appealed to traditional rulers and religious leaders to assist the association in identifying people with such disease, for quick treatment.

The chairman also warned against discrimination and stigmatisation against people suffering from the disease.

Gov Oshiomhole Is An Inspirational Leader

BENIN CITY - Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, has been described as an inspirational leader whose passion for development and good governance is un-paralled.

A prominent youth activist and Chairman of Ulemon Community Development Association, Iyekogba-Oredo Ward 02, Comrade Julius IrediaAdun, made the assertion during the one year anniversary of the CDA. He noted that government alone cannot provide for the basic needs of the citizenry, hence the necessity for partnership with government by

- Community Chairman

communities and corporate institutions.

Comrade Iredia-Adun stated that as part of efforts geared towards complimenting the developmental strides of the Oshiomhole-led administration, the CDA executed infrastructural projects and empowerment programmes targeted at transforming the lives of the people.

Some of the projects include the massive grading of roads and installations of electricity transformers.

In the area of economic

empowerment and job creation, a public motor park/mass transit was set up to ease the movement of the people following the ban on okada by the state government, maintaining that a total of 24 vehicles, including vulcanizing machines and laundry equipments, were procured and presented to deserving indigenes of the Community.

He commended Comrade Oshiomhole for reconstructing the Airport Road up to the Ogba River Bridge, while he lamented the abandonment of the

Iyekogba Road Project, linking the Ekenwan axis by the NDDC and urged the Comrade Governor to prevail on the authorities of the NDDC to commence the construction of the road project without further delay.

Comrade Iredia-Adun enjoined Edo people to be lawabiding ad peace- loving in order to attract government’s presence including well-meaning individuals and corporate organizations for the rapidsocio-economic transformation of our various communities.

Plaintiff’s Counsel Withdraws

Suit Against NUJ:

BY ROLAND OSAKUE AKURE - The case against the Edo State Council of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) filed by the former Chairman of the Union, Mr. Friday Obanor at the National Industrial Court sitting at Akure, Ondo State again yesterday suffered a setback following the withdrawal of Obanor’s Counsel, I.P Igbuan Esq. from the matter.

In the case with Suit No. NICN/ AK/63/2012, the claimants, Comrade Friday Obanor, Okunbor Kenneth, Ogbomo Osamuyi and Alhaji Usman Abudah had on December 2012 instituted the suit against the BOT of the Union, National and Zonal officers of the Union, the Chairman, NUJ, Edo State Council, Mr. Desmond Agbama, alongside Comrade Titus Akhigbe and Edosa Okunbor,

Secretary and treasurer of the state council respectively and members of credential Committee over an alleged irregularities in the union election which brought in the present executives.

It would be recalled that the Court had earlier struck out a motion filed by the Claimants to restrain the 7 th , 8 th and 9 th defendants (Desmond Agbama, Titus Akhugbe and Edosa Okunbor) from performing their legitimate duties as executive members of the Union.

When the case came up for hearing, yesterday, before the trial Judge, Justice A.N Ubaka, the claimants and their Counsel were conspicuously absent from Court, as the Counsel to the defendants, Ebosele Okhifoh Esq informed the Court that the

counsel to the claimants may have withdrawn from the case as a result of the motion brought before the court to disqualify him.

In the motion brought in pursuant to Rules 7(1), 8 (1) and 31(A) of the rules of Professional ethic of the legal profession sections 172, 318 and the 5 th Schedule Part 1 of the 1999, the defendants argued through their Council, Ebosele Okhifoh Esq that I.P Igbuan being a full-time councilor and a public officer in Owan East Local Government Council in Edo State was not competent or capable of engaging in private legal practice.

They also prayed the court for an order to disqualify the said I.P Igbuan from further appearing in court as Counsel for the claimants being a serving Councilor in

Owan East Local Government of Edo State.

The defendants, who supported the motion with 13 paragraphs affidavit further prayed the court for such further order as it may deem fit to make in the circumstances.

Meanwhile, a counter affidavit to the motion by I.P Igbuan Esq urged the defendants to provide a certified document or letter of his appointment as public officer from his employer, but however withdrew his appearance “suo moto” in order not to delay the hearing in the case.

According to him, “in order for the case not to be delayed as wanted by the Defendants’ Applicants, I.P Igbuan, Esq suo moto hereby withdraw from the suit.”

Justice Ubaka then adjourned the case to 26th February 2014 for hearing.

North APC To Commence Registration Of Members On Feb 5 BIRNIN KEBBI - The Kebbi chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has said that it would begin registration of members in the state on February 5, in preparation for the 2015 general elections.

This was contained in a statement signed by the Interim Chairman of the party in the state, Alhaji Atiku Bunu, in Birnin Kebbi.

The statement said the exercise would take place in 225 electoral wards.

It said the party called on the people of the state to avail themselves of the exercise, that would last for 30 days.

The statement said

registration officials would be deployed to all the electoral wards for the exercise and called on all members of the political parties that had merged into the APC to ensure that they were registered.

It also said that the exercise would guide the party in the smooth conduct of ward, local government and state congresses, scheduled for March 2014.

“The APC will set a good example of orderliness and adherence to party rules and constitutional provisions,” the statement said.

Gov Dakingari Assists Families Of Accident Victims

Chairman, Birniwa Local Council, Alhaji Ali Diginsa, adminstering Oral Polio Vaccine on a child in Birniwa, Jigawa recently.

LG Boss Urges Peaceful Co-existen Among Communities OMU-ARAN (KWARA) Alhaji Luqman Owolewa, the chairman, Irepodun Local Government Council of Kwara, has called for peaceful coexistence between communities in the area.

Owolewa made the call during a meeting of the Kwara-South Senatorial District of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Omu-Aran.

He said that a mutual relationship among the people would assist the government to develop the communities.

Owolewa also urged community leaders to close ranks to raise the standard of living of the people in their communities.

According to Owolewa, no meaningful development can take place in an atmosphere of violence and rancour.

“The desired growth and development can only thrive where peace, love, concord and harmony exist, especially within the party hierarchy,’’ he said.

Owolewa said that his administration had recently purchased two transformers to solve the problem of power outages being experienced in some communities in the area.

The council chairman listed the Omu-Aran Water Works and the Igangu Area as beneficiaries of the transformers.

He also listed other projects aimed at improving the livelihood of the people of the council area to include the rehabilitation of township roads, boreholes, culverts and drains, to enhance human and vehicular movement.

L-R: Chairman, Board of Trustees, Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, Chief Henry Njoku; Comptroller-General, Immigration, Mr. David Paradan; Member, House Committee on Diaspora Affairs, Rep. Jerry Alagbaoso; Deputy Comptroller-General of Customs, Dr. Manassah Jatau; Rrepresentative of Comptroller-General of Customs, Dr. Manassah Jatau; Representative Comptroller-General of Customs, DCG John Atte, Commandant-General of NSCDC, Dr. Ade Abolurin and Controller-General of Prisons, Mr. Zakari Ibrahim, Lauching Naija Customs Magazine at the Internatinoal Customs Day in Abuja recently.

2015:

BIRNIN KEBBI Governor Saidu Dakingari of Kebbi State has provided financial assistance to families of 12 members of the Islamic group, Jama’atu Izalatul Bidi’a Wa’iquamatu Sunnah (JIBWIS), who died in a ghastly motor accident on the Abuja-Suleija Road, on January19.

This was contained in a statement issued by Alhaji Abubakar Mua’zu, the chief press secretary to the governor, which was made available to newsmen in Birnin Kebbi.

The statement did not, however, indicate the amount provided to the beneficiaries.

The victims, who were from the Zuru Local Government Area of the state, were returning from Abuja, after attending a function when they died in the crash.

The release said the governor had since condoled with the families of the deceased.

It said the governor had commended the group for its peaceful propagation of Islam, as well as the existing peaceful co-existence between Muslims and Christians in Zuru.

NSCDC Warns Officers Against Partisanship

SOKOTO - The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has warned its officers and men against being partisan as the 2015 general elections approaches.

The Commandant of the corps in Sokoto State, Alhaji Yusha’u Aliyu, gave the warning in Sokoto in an interview with newsmen.

He said “the corps must provide a level-playing field for all the politicians, irrespective of party affiliations.

“We must be seen to be neutral, free and fair to all citizens of Nigeria who are legally pursuing their political ambitions at all levels,’’ he added.

Aliyu promised the commitment of the corps to execute its mandate of securing lives and property of Nigerians during the elections.

He added that “our doors should remain open to all without

any bias; we will continue to equip our officers and men with the requisite tools to diligently discharge their constitutional duties.

“Also, we will soon embark on massive sensitisation campaigns

to educate politicians on the need to conduct their activities peacefully.’’

He advised politicians not to regard politics as a do or die affair.

“Rather, they should lawfully

engage in it with absolute patriotism and the fear of Allah in their minds.

“Politics should be done to

further enhance the living standard of the electorate and not to aggravate their problems,’’ the commandant stressed.

Northern Govs Demand End To Boko Haram Attacks

MINNA - The Northern States’ Governors Forum has charged security agencies to end the killing of defenseless citizens, especially in the NorthEast region, where suspected Boko Haram members have continued their bloody campaign since 2009.

The forum’s Chairman and Governor of Niger, Dr Babangida Aliyu, stated this in Minna, noting that members of the forum were seriously concerned at the renewed attacks, which have killed 18

persons around Maiduguri.

“The forum is particularly alarmed that the shooting which lead to the dead of 18 persons in Njaba, Mude, Kwaljiri and Kaya villages in Borno followed the same pattern as previous midnight attacks on towns and villages in the region,” he said.

According to a statement signed by the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Danladi Ndayebo, Aliyu described the

fresh attacks as horrendous, callous and inhuman.

He also called on security agencies to halt the incessant clashes between Fulani herdsmen and farmers in the region.

The governor commiserated with the families of the victims and prayed Almighty God to grant eternal rest to the deceased and quick recovery to those who

sustained injuries during the attacks.

Aliyu called on security agencies to do more to protect the lives and properties of citizens, and also ensure that those perpetrating violence in the region were brought to justice.

He reiterated the pledge of the forum to continue to work with other tiers of government to bring an end to security challenges confronting the nation.

Across The Nation

Hospital Records 7,962 Safe Delivery AKURE – Dr. Adesina Akintan, Chief Medical Director, Mother and Child Hospital, Akure, said that the hospital recorded 7,962 safe deliveries and 1,231 caesarean operations in the last one year.

Polio

469 Rejection Cases Recorded In Sokoto,

Akintan, who made this known in an interview with newsmen in Akure, said that the hospital was specifically established to reduce infant and maternal mortality in the state.

It will be recalled that Governor Olusegun Mimiko, established the hospital in

February 2010.

He noted that the hospital always witnessed an average of 20 safe deliveries per day, which amounted to 600 child deliveries per month.

The chief medical director noted that the hospital had impacted positively on infant

and maternal care services in the state and beyond.

Akintan said that the major goal for establishing the hospital was to help the state achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on the reduction of infant and maternal mortality.

He advised residents of the state to make use of the health facilities provided by government for their own benefit.

“I advise pregnant women in the state to seek medical attention and stop patronising prayer houses during childdelivery.

“People from outside come to have the good and free health offered here but our own people prefer going elsewhere, which in most cases lead to complications and deaths,” he added.

NGO Empowers 5,516 Orphans, Vulnerable Children

-Health Official ILLELA (SOKOTO STATE) No fewer than 469 cases of rejection of polio vaccines have been recorded in the 11 wards of Illela Local Government Area of Sokoto State, an official said.

The Director of Health in the area, Hajiya Amina Jibril, disclosed this at Illela to newsmen.

Reports State that the journalists were monitoring the ongoing first round of the 2014 Four-Day Polio Immunisation Campaign which began on Saturday, January 25.

Jibril said 242 out of the cases had been resolved by the officials conducting the exercise.

“Efforts are also ongoing to resolve the remaining cases, with a view to ensuring that all the eligible children of zero to five years of age are fully immunised,” she said.

The director said 10,649 children had already been immunised as at January 25, out of the 93,720 children who were targeted for the exercise.

She commended the local government for providing N700,000 worth of additional drugs and gifts for the children, such as candies.

“The gesture is encouraging the parents to allow their children to be immunised against the dreaded disease,” Jibril said.

On his part, the Director of Health in Gada Local Government, Alhaji Hassan Yabo, said the local government had also replicated what Illela local government did.

“We provided N700,000 worth of additional drugs and children’s gifts to serve as incentives to the parents,’’ he said.

Yabo said 106,160 children of zero to five years of age had been targeted in the area for the exercise.

“We were able to fully immunise 36,012 children on the first day of the exercise on January 25.

“So far, we have not recorded any cases of non-compliance or rejection of the polio vaccines by parents,” he said.

“Our facility utilisation has increased tremendously. So the number of safe deliveries have also increased.

“Hopefully, by the end of this year, we would have reduced maternal and infant mortality to the barest minimum.

“We are achieving our goal of increasing facility utilisation and reducing mortality rate in the state,” he said.

Akintan said, however, that the staff strength of the hospital was inadequate, making the management to adopt the ‘task sharing and task shifting’ strategy.

Senate President David mark (right) presenting a sponsorship trophy to Commissioner for Sport and Youth Development, Benue State, Mr. Egbiri Idaah during the Governor Gabriel Susman Pro-am Gofl Tournament at Otukpo Golf and Country Club in Otukpo, Benue State recently.

ASABA - A Non Governmental Organiation based in Delta, Management Sciences for Health, said it empowered 5,516 orphans and vulnerable children in the state in 2013.

The Coordinator of the organisation, Mrs. Chidinma Okoye, told newsmen in Asaba that out of the number, 2,764

Families of 2002 victims of Ikeja Bomb Blast in a peaceful protest in Lagos recently.

were males and 2,752 were females.

Okoye said that the NGO, which had been working in Delta since May 2010, empowered the orphans and the vulnerable children by providing them with shelter, health, nutritional and educational services.

She said the organisation had provided mosquito nets to 3,863 children, who were also treated for minor illness.

She added that food supplements and de-worming drugs were given to 1,667 of the children, comprising 860 males and 807 females.

The NGO placed 1,784 of the children in schools and provided them with school materials, she noted.

She said the NGO operated in five local government areas of the state through its various arms.

She enumerated the arms as Nigeria Aids Counseling Organisation (NACO), Rural Linkage Network (RULIN), Koyenum Immalah Foundation (KIF) and Riverine Community Health Organisation (RIVCHO).

She, however, lamented that the organisation was facing financial challenges and appealed to the state government to assist it.

A/Ibom To Recruit More Health Workers UYO - The Commissioner for Health in Akwa Ibom, Dr Ememabasi Bassey, has said that the state would recruit more health workers to ensure effective delivery of healthcare services in the state.

Bassey told newsmen in Uyo that the move was to address the shortfall in staff strength of health workers and its attendant hampering of service delivery.

He disclosed that the shortfall in health personnel was necessitated by the expansion of infrastructure in the sector.

“We are aware that there is a shortfall of manpower in the state hospitals and we will address the situation as soon as we are through with our budget defence.

“We are already working towards ensuring that more medical and other relevant personnel are

recruited to make up for the shortfall arising from either death or retirement,” he said.

The commissioner said that the government had plans to upgrade three general hospitals to specialist hospitals in its resolve to continue to ensure quality healthcare delivery.

Bassey said that the general hospitals were the ones in Ikot Ekpene, Eket and Oron.

He added that a diagnostic centre that would serve as a referral institution for the hospitals would soon be inaugurated at Ikot Ekpene.

The commissioner said that the Akwa Ibom 20th Anniversary Hospital in Uyo was nearing completion and would be inaugurated this year.

He said that some health

management consultants, including First Care Group from the U.S. had shown interest in managing the hospital when inaugurated.

Bassey commended Governor God’swill Akpabio for his achievements in the health sector of the state and urged the people to support his administration.

Business + Economy Shiroro Power Plant Repairs To Cause Loadshedding ABUJA - The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) in Abuja has said the Shiroro Power Station would be shut down for three days to rectify some faults in the station.

In a statement issued by TCN’s General Manager (Public Relations), Mrs. Seun Olagunju, it said the “unavoidable shutdown’’ would lead to a drop

in power supply to parts of the country.

“There will be a drop in the quantity of power available for TCN to transmit to the Distribution Companies.

“This is because Shiroro Power Plc has announced that its power station will be shut down for three days, from Monday, January 27, to Wednesday,

12,866 People Benefit Micro Credit Schemes AKURE - The Chairperson, Ondo State Micro Credit Agency (OSMA), Mrs. Banke Sutton, said that 12,866 residents have benefitted from the state government’s micro-credit loan scheme in the last four yours.

Sutton said in an interview with newsmen in Akure that the agency disbursed N500 million to the beneficiaries within the period.

“This is an agency saddled with the responsibilities of giving out soft loans to the downtrodden.

“The loans are revolving and as at today, we have empowered no fewer than 12,866 beneficiaries with N500 million, through our various loan schemes since 2010,” she said.

Sutton said that there were various categories of loans usually given to the beneficiaries.

“There is the Yam Empowerment Loan Scheme (YES) through which N77 million was disbursed to 1,584 yam growers.

“We have the Special Transformation Artisan Repositioning Scheme (STARS) which is mainly for interested artisans; 3,785 have received a total of N271 million under this scheme.

According to her, market women and the widows of deceased members of the Armed Forces in the state, also benefitted from the micro credit schemes.

“A total of N140 million was distributed to 7,232 women under the Special Market Women

Improvement Loan and Empowerment Scheme (SMILES),” she said.

Sutton added that N12 million was disbursed to 265 members of the Widow Empowerment Scheme for Wives of Fallen Heroes (WIRES).

“There is another loan scheme called Special Intervention Programme Loan (SIP), which accommodates any group in dire need of finance for certain projects, “ she said.

Sutton told newsmen that the agency was charging only 9 per cent interest on the loans, with a one year repayment period, except for the WIRES scheme, which is interest-free.

The chairman said that applicants were required to form cooperative societies, to qualify for the loans.

January 29th,” the statement said.

It added that the shutdown was to enable the station’s engineers rectify ground fault on the station’s Carbon Dioxide Control Panel.

The statement said the panel provides vital auxiliary services necessary for the running of the power plant.

It explained that during the period of the shutdown, grid generation would reduce by 300MW, leading to the nationwide load-shedding.

TCN said the impact of the load-shedding would be higher in the Northern axis of the country, especially Kano.

“This is due to voltage instability issues which were previously affecting power supply in that axis,’’ the company said in the statement.

It said the TCN apologised to electricity consumers for the inconvenience the planned loadshedding would cause during the period.

“TCN will continue to work with the power generating stations and distribution companies nationwide to improve and stabilise the power supply situation in the country,’’ the statement said.

L-R: Manager, Plateau Hotel, Mr. Abbe Abdullahi; Plateau Commissioner for Tourism, Pastor Yiljap Abrahim and the the Permanent Secretary, Mr. Sani Abubakar, during the inspection of Plateau Hotel facilities in Jos recently.

Presumptive Tax: More Money JOS -The Director, Individual and Enterprises Income Department, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Mr. Gregory Akeye, has described presumptive tax as another ‘cash cow’ for government.

Presumptive taxes are basically collected by government revenue agencies from small scale business owners.

Akeye made the assertion in Jos

For Govt

while delivering a paper on “Presumptive Tax Regime in Nigeria” at a one-day Sensitisation and Public Dialogue on Presumptive Tax Administration.

He said that presumptive tax regime had limited incidences of tax evasion and could broaden the revenue base of government.

Irrigation Pumps To Be Distributed To Rice Farmers

ASABA -The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, through its Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES), is to distribute 30 irrigation pumps to rice farmers in Delta, to aide them in dry season farming.

Mr. Felix Kehis, the Director of the Ministry in Delta, disclosed this in an interview

with newsmen in Asaba.

Kehis said the ministry would monitor the use of the pumps, which would be given to only genuine farmers.

The director said that the distribution of the pumps was a part of the implementation of the GES initiative in the state, which started in 2013.

He said that the farmers were

supplied with improved rice seedlings under the GES programme, last year.

Kehis added that farmers who received the improved seedlings in selected communities in the state had started harvesting.

He said that so far, reports from the ministry’s monitoring team showed that rice farmers in Delta produced an average of 2.5 tonnes

of rice yield per hectare, despite weather challenges.

“The monitoring process is ongoing and so far, we have monitored more than 120 hectares of rice farms in the state,” he said.

Kehis said that the government’s rice production initiative was to ensure food security, generate employment and create wealth in the country.

BOI Grants N96m Loan To Fish Farmers

Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga (left), with Director-General, Mr. Joseph Odumodu at the inauguration of the steering committee on National quality policy in Abuja recently.

AKURE – Mr. Olatunji Obembe, Chairman, Aquaculture and Fish Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFFAN) in Ondo State, says the members secured over N96 million loan from the Bank of Industry (BOI).

Obembe, who disclosed the amount to Newsmen in Akure, said the loan was granted last year.

He said that it enhanced fish production in the state which resulted in a glut.

Obembe said that the cost of fish production had remained high in the state, due to the high cost of feed and other input.

He said that the farmers had been advised to market their products outside the state to avoid losses.

“The problem is that our farmers are not ready to go out and market their products and I know that the commodity is in demand in some states.

- Official

“As a result of the difficulties encounter in taxing the informal sector, tax administrators over the years employed presumptive tax as a means of bringing operators within the sector to the tax net.

“Presumptive taxation addresses most challenges in the income sector, especially increasing the revenue base of government, offers the possibility of reducing tax evasion at low cost and broadening the revenue base,” he said.

Akeye also said that presumptive tax was a tool for building and sustaining national economies through accountable government and responsive citizens.

Earlier in his address, Chairman, Plateau State Board of Internal Revenue, Mr. Samuel Pam, said the sensisation programme was timely.

He said that this was due to the inability of the state government to effectively capture the informal sector in its revenue collection.

Pam said that the programme was to create awareness on presumptive tax for small businesses operating in the state.

According to him, presumptive tax was solely meant to be administered by State’s Revenue Agencies.

He said that the Nigerian economy had now shifted from oil as government now focused on growing the non-oil sector, especially the micro and small scale enterprises.

“The micro and small scale enterprises constitute the nation’s engine of economic growth for additional internal revenue generation.

“Some of the businesses in this sector include time traders, taxi and road transport workers, restaurant owners, bakeries owners, hair dressers, motor mechanics, furniture makers and host of others,” he said.

Drumbeats

With APOSTLE DR RAPHAEL AYEMERE

How To Achieve Wealth And Fame (1) GOD created the night for mankind not only to sleep and comfort our souls, but He also created it to enable us achieve our goals and dream.

The night responds positively to people who are willing and ready to harness their potentials and resources to achieve what the feeble mind considers as impossible. In fact to any man or woman who can sacrifice greater part of time and life in the night to think and plan for their destiny, the night positively approves: I have observed that prominent men and women across the world who are today envied by millions of people were once considered and seen as nondescript, by the grace of God and their ability to take advantage of the night, they suddenly became personalities to reckon with.

If you have the time, means and money, go and inquire from Bill Gate, Warren Buffet Barrack Obama and other industrialists and great politicians you heard about or probably have met and asked the numbers of hours they spend during the night to think and plan their next line of actions as regards their 1ives and destiny.

The hours of the night have been very useful to me and other great writers across the globe. No writer can write or develop good ideas to affect their generation positively if such ideas are developed in a noisy environment.

You probably may have been told or read in your bible how Jesus withdrew himself from the crowd and his disciples to commune with his heavenly Father in the night hours.

“And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives, and his disciples also followed him.

And when he was at the place, he said unto them, pray that ye enter not into temptation.

And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed.

Saying, father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will, but thine be done.

And there appeared an angel unto him from, heaven, strengthening him.

And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his

sweat was as. it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

And he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow.

And said unto them, why sleep ye? Rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation” , Luke 22 v 39-48.

From the above passage of the scriptures you will observe that Jesus overcame the challenges and obstacles that would have negatively affected his earthly mission through his fervent prayer in the night.

I have also observed and noticed in the lives of others that the battles of life are fought and won in the night more than the few successes we usually achieve during the day.

Please, don’t allow laziness and desire to sleep all through the night rob you of your dream greatness.

Time should be created to sleep, but wealth and fame will only beckon on people who make adequate and judicious use of the night to harness their dream, goals and visions.

FIVE THINGS TO DO IN NIGHT HOUR Number one thing to do during the night hour, is to sleep. God created the night hour for man’s comfort, relaxation and to enjoy peace of mind.

“When you lie down, you will not be afraid, yes, you shall lie down, your sleep be sweet.” Proverbs 3v24.

Suffice it to say that majority of people don’t enjoy good sleep due to worries, anxiety, disappointment, fear and threat to life by their enemies or business failure.

Perfect sleep is a gift from God to his beloved sons and daughters. Ask God for sweet sleep and you shall have it.

Number two thing to do during the night hour is to pray. We are not supposed to spend entire night in sleeping. Greater portion of time should be spent and channeled toward praying for our needs, appreciating God for his kindness and mercy towards us, praying for the needs of others, praying also for the need and problems of your country

and other countries of the world and effective and fervent prayer should also be said for those who are traveling by road, sea and air for their safety. Needn’t I remind you that you should also spend some time in binding an destroying satanic interferences towards your life and destiny.

Number three thing to do during night hours is to think.

Greater portion of your time

If God places high premium on knowledge, I see no reason why you should disregard it or pay less attention to it.

The fifth thing during the night hour is to praise and worship God. Praise and worship is very paramount in the enhancement of the actualization of our goals and dreams in life.

Praise and worship should take greater portion of our night hour if we sincerely

President of your country does that indicate that you have exhausted your dream?

Enlarge your dream is a word of the Lord God Almighty to you irrespective of any position or height you have attained in your society, nation and in the world.

Dreaming to do the impossible and daring to venture into what the weak and fearful people consider unachievable will help to

want to be great, famous and rich.

If you can adhere to these vital instructions and carry them out in the night hours, then success, fame, wealth and riches will never elude you in Jesus Name. Amen.

Enlarge your Dream What are your dreams? Do you dream of building an industry, investing in property and real estate, establishing school, hospital, communication or enlarging your church to sit ten thousand people? At price or sacrifice have you made or paid to ensure that your dreams become actualized?

Assuming you are a President or Chairman of numerous companies, a

enhance your dream.

I have observed that people who can pay the price of enlarging their dreams are the type that pay attention to God’s instruction, value Him and place more emphasis in helping others to achieve their goals and dreams.

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

And God said, let there be light, and there was light.

And God saw the light, that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness.

And God called the light day, and darkness he called

Aliko Dangote

should be spent in creative thinking during night hour, Period of thinking in night hours is what will help you to generate ideas that will enhance your wealth and fame. Effective thinking has made thousands millionaires and billionaires across the world and yours would not be an exception.

The fourth thing to do during night hours is to read and write. The knowledge you acquire during the night hour is what determines the things you have knowledge of during the day time. Reading and writing are very vital if we sincerely want to be rich and famous in life.

“My people perish for lack of knowledge”. Hosea 6v4”.

night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

And God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth”. Genesis lv15,vs26v.28.

The biblical passage above shows the level of God’s dream and the joy of accomplishing his dream.

A thorough and a careful study of the solar system tells the nature of God and his dream for his creatures.

The ability to dream and accomplish our dream has also been given to us by God and as such nothing should limit us from dreaming and achieving dream.

“Verily, Verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me the works that I do shall he do also and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my father.

And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the father may be glorified in the son John 14v12-13.

The biblical reference above unveils God’s mind for his creation and his desire for greatness and attainment of our goal and dreams in life.

God commanded us to do exploits in his name and the responsibility is ours.

He who wants to be rich and famous enlarge his dream and goals and be willing to pay the price at all times irrespective of the odds that might stand against his ambition, dream, vision and goals in his generation.

I have made up my mind to enlarge my dream at all times, obey God, do exploit in his name and fulfill the purpose of God in my life on earth.

I urge you in the name of the Lord to enlarge your dream, fulfill your purpose on earth and use your God given potentials to enjoy wealth and fame.

If you can dream it, then be assured that you can achieve it.

THE crushing poverty level in today’s Nigeria has become so overwhelming that over 70 percent of Nigerians have unwittingly bowed to the pangs of biting hardship.

POVERTY is today a generic term and has been so since attempts at its classification by various study and academic groups with Non Governmental organizations (NGOs) ever more vehement and critical on the problems associated with large scale poverty and ways to improve the economic status of those classified in the group.

SOCIAL scientists in attempt at plausible stratification and definition of the term find it necessary to contrast it with such opposite terms as richness, wealth, comfort, affluence and the likes as the terms carry inherent semantic undertones that most climes solicit sympathy, empathy and compassion from those afflicted with the plague which poverty has come to symbolise.

HOWEVER, by daily interactions within society and among communities and nations, it is clear that poverty has striking universal perception and similarities because of its cross country feature and characteristics. The basic feature being that people suffer hunger and deprivation with not enough to eat, lack shelter and clothing as well as basic necessities required for human existence.

FOR instance, the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights aptly sums up poverty as a “human condition characterized by the sustained or chronic deprivation of the resources, capabilities choices, security and power necessary for the enjoyment of all adequate standard of living and other civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights”.

THERE is, as a result, conscious efforts by many organizations to mitigate time harsh effect of poverty which is more endemic in developing

THE NIGERIAN

Dealing With The Poverty Scourge countries and many parts of Asia while in Nigeria, government’s effort at providing palliatives and putting in place workable measures from some of its economic policies that cause poverty shocks are yet to yield the desired impact.

IT is the concern for the world’s poor and to find solution to speeding poverty crisis that the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (IDEP) is celebrated worldwide in order to push people up the ladder of comfort where health care, food, shelter, clothing’s among others are assured the citizenry without experiencing the pain of deprivation.

IN Nigeria, however, government has put in place social programmes as National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP), National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategies (NEEDS), the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) to tackle problem of youth unemployment, a crucial poverty indicator among the socio cultural stratification.

IT presents a sad scenario that despite several policy initiatives the menace of poverty is a staggering reality and may have accounted for the loophole in myriad of social vices, most notably are high incidence of armed robbery, kidnapping, corruption, advance fee fraud (419), prostitution Rings, human trafficking and “the likes perpetuated and perpetrated by the authors as the quickest route to scale the poverty barrier.

THE United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in its 2000/2001 Human, development report on Nigeria, states that 70 per cent of

Nigerians are in abject poverty while massive unemployment of people and the under utilization of resources are the order of the day.

Since the report, nothing about the poverty level changed dramatically.

IN assessing Nigeria’s poverty level, based on its oil wealth which it described as a mixed blessing, the report explained that it was not the oil resources that are the problem, but the management of those resources.

A general overview of Nigeria’s poverty crisis indicates therefore that there is a fundamental problem which the Federal Government needs to identify and tackle in order to address the continuing poverty level in Nigeria. The NIGERIAN OSERVER urges the government to re-appraise some of its economic policies and those geared towards poverty eradication. Beside, it is remarkable that government insensitivity to suggestions put forward to it is increasing and is not being addressed as they should.

A holistic reappraisal is therefore inevitable at all sectors of the economy and mitigating measures put in place if government is to succeed in it poverty eradication drive.

IN the face of glaring discontent at the increasing poverty level, the World Bank proffered in its report that “oil and natural gas will generate continuing wealth for many years on which Nigeria can build, if it manages this wealth well. If it channels more of this wealth to the development of its people and to the productive use of its land and other resources, then Nigeria has a promising Future”.

WE implore the Federal Government to continue to put policy measures in place to scale down poverty level. Corporate bodies and organisation can play a part by partnering with the various governments to alleviate poverty in the land.

Media NEW social media have become increasingly popular components of our everyday lives in today’s globalizing society. They provide a context where people across the world communicate, exchange messages, share knowledge, and interest with each either regardless of the distance that seperates them.

While cultures around the world value their traditional beliefs and norms that make them so unique, social media links people around the world regardless of differences and geographical boundaries.

People across the globe can interact with each other within seconds of sending and receiving messages. It has brought people from different cultures together in the “global village”. Now, social media is an important part of our lives because it promotes the interconnection and interdependence of our culturally diverse world.

Media for social interaction allows for people to communicate and engage with information that is quickly accessible on the internet. In today’s society, new social media has become more popular in daily patterns and routines because there are an increasing number of internet users.

This communication that occurs in these online contexts promotes interactive dialogues that build understanding of different point of view.

According to (George Town University 2010).

“Now social media means that everyone is a publisher and everyone is a critic.”

People use social media for many reasons, firstly the need for connection and interaction with other people is evident. People desire to fulfill a sense of belonging through support from relating with others. After obtaining physical, physiological and safety needs, people strive to

Impact Of New Social Media On Inter-Cultural Communication belong. New social media provide this opportunity where people can communicate and belong to different networks via vertical communication on the internet.

In relation to this, people use social media to gain knowledge and learn about different opinions and prospective issues, topics and events in our society. Most importantly it is used for socializing; it is a form of media that allows people to participate in conversations and online dialogue without being face to face with others.

Cultural difference influences communication, behavior and values. There are a lot of differences in the way the people irrespective of identity, and gender manage their communicative behavior without social networking sites.

In relation to social media, differences in individualistic and collectivistic cultures, masculinity, feminity, uncertainty avoidance and long term and short term orientation, are apparent in communication behaviors and styles. Therefore the diffusion of new social media across the world has different effects on individual cultures but ultimately promotes interconnection and understanding among global societies.

Usingfacebook as an example, this is a social networking site that was created in 2004 by Mark Zucker Berg; whose mission was to bring people together with different backgrounds and encourage interaction.

There are over 500 million users in the world with a population of over 7.5

By UDONSI AMARACHI K

billion, which means that about 2 out of 14 people have a facebook account. In this case the most visible impact that social media has intercultural

ignoring the factor of distance. Social media brings people together with different backgrounds and encourages interaction.

Twitter is also a form of

dialogue is providing a common media for exchanging messages and many people around the globe can use the internet to communicate and collaborate. There are more the 70 translations available on the site, and about 70% users are outside the U.S according to Mark Zuckerberg,” if facebook were a country it would be the 6 most populated country in the world” this social networking among numerous countries has enriched social lives through

social media that allows people to communicate.

Information through micro blogging. People use micro blogging to “talk about their daily activities and seek or share information. It was created in 2006 to relay real time information to users.

The platform was inspired by creator Tim Dorsey’s introduction of an SMSbased concept that allowed members of his thencompany ‘odeo’ to keep tabs on one another. The name twitter is used to describe a short burst

“New social media have been rapidly spreading across the globe and gaining popularity linking people together, through knowledge, behavior and attitudes.”

of inconsequential information. Twitter has influenced intercultural dialogue because many people world wide are focused on the individual lives of others and have the desire for connection and knowledge of events. This is

would continue to exist unless people actively promote intercultural dialogue and communication competence to achieve harmony and understanding (Georgetown University 2010).

New social media have

an example of how social media has shortened the ties of distance into knowing exactly is doing without a face to face interaction.

The I -phone is a device introduced by Apple in 2007 that combines the function of a mobile phone MP3 player and instant messenger. It combines new innovative features, such as the touch screen and wireless internet access and encompasses different applications that include facebook, twitter, You Tube etc. people can use the I-phone to connect with others on social media sites in a convenient, accessible manner, they can interact on the internet without a face to face dialogue or even a computer.

Intercutural dialogue is critical today in our globalized and blended world where different cultures encounter each other daily, especially through social media violence and trouble

been rapidly spreading across the globe and gaining popularity linking people together, through knowledge, behavior and attitudes, sense of belonging to a greater social network other than one’s own local community is effectively created. The internet exemplifies such a significant means on connecting to a diversity of people, places, ideas and cultures. New social media has provided a way of communication that are not to the limitations of distance and time.

Social media has therefore helped greatly in intercultural communication and it shows that in fast coming years social media would have effectively established a communication link whereby if you are not socially connected, you are socially dead.

Opinion

Oil In Nigeria: Boom Or Doom?

NIGERIA is Africa’s largest oil producer, 7th in OPEC and the 11th largest in the world; the country produces 2.2 million barrels per day.

When oil was first discovered in Oloibiri, Bayelsa State of Nigeria in 1956, there was jubilation all over the country.

That euphoria was predicated on the assumption that oil was wealth and that Nigeria’s economy was launched on a prospective future and that both social and political development will in the next few years be ushered in. The blessings from crude oil resource to Nigeria at large and Niger Delta region in particular take the form of increased government revenue, increased export earnings and the attended improvement, opportunities and linkage effects in economy etc.

At independence, Nigeria had a robust economy driven by the agricultural sector.

The north was rich in groundnut typified by the iconic “groundnut pyramid of Kano. The South had timber and fishery while the east had palm produced. The West complimented the other regions with cocoa plantations. In addition to revenue generated from cash crops, the regions provided arable food crops for the nation. The country was food sufficient and the regional development funded with resources generated by the regions.

There was a healthy rivary between the regions because of the diversified resource base. The regions paid taxes to the central government and built infrastructure to meet the yearnings of the hoi polloi.

Therefore, it may seem paradoxical to some that the country is in such a relative state of disarray. In fact, oil

contributes to 30% of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 90% of total exports and 80% of fiscal revenue. Oil boom brought about a great revenue turn around for Nigeria and further brought it to international limelight as a major oil producing country in Africa, but it also brought about a complete and senseless desecration of the environment especially in the oil sector, loss of indigenous occupation among local communities, corrupt practice and rural to urban migration in search of perceive oil related whitecolour jobs among others.

The impact of the discovery and exploration of crude oil on the environment in Nigeria has been described by some environmentalist as a doom rather than oil boom because of the destruction it has left in it’s wake over the years on the environment and its consequent negative impact on human lives and the ecosystem. Issues of environmental degradation as a result of the exploration of oil in Nigeria has continued to leave sour spots across many oil communities because of the negative impact the activity has on human existence bordering on threats of extinction or wiping out whole communities and their livelihood.

Amnesty international had once stated that many local oil producing communities such as Bodo in Ogoniland where oil pollution has been described by the United Nations as unprecedented, Odi in Bayelsa state and Jesse in Warri Delta State where so many lives and properties were destroyed.

The armed conflict between Ibabu Onicha-Ukweani in Ndokwa East, both in Delta State to mention but a few are all leaving examples.

By BOZIMO NANCY

The woes of crude oil resource which emanate mainly from the exploration and production on the activities of the multinational companies take the form of oil spillage environmental pollution or degradation, destruction of landscape, unemployment,

socio-economic-political instability and pervasive poverty etc. most Nigerian citizens lamented that the rate of poverty and lack of opportunities in this blessed country is one of the reasons why people go into crude oil theft which sometimes leads to fire out-break.

Another problem lies in the fact that it’s oil refineries are a mess, so much so that it refines only a quarter of its own oil. The rest is exported only to be refined overseas and imported back again- a

sad state of affairs. Therefore improving the quality and quantity of oil refineries in the country is vital. It is the only way for Nigerians to stop its reliance on multinational oil companies.

This is easier said than done though, with a market structure that encourages corruption. Corruption in

Nigeria is a widespread as a molten magna from a volcanic eruption. There are incentives for managers to keep their refineries in a state of disrepair. Managers at the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the state oil company which owns the country’s four refineries, soon realized that by putting of maintenance they could award refined product supply contracts to their buddies and pocket the profits. It is generally believed that reducing

“The impact of the discovery and exploration of crude oil on the environment in Nigeria has been described by some environmentalist as a doom rather than oil boom because of the destruction it has left in it’s wake over the years on the environment and its consequent negative impact on human lives and the ecosystem. Issues of environmental degradation as a result of the exploration of oil in Nigeria has continued to leave sour spots across many oil communities because of the negative impact the activity has on human existence bordering on threats of extinction or wiping out whole communities and their livelihood.”

corruption in an economy will bring about improvement in economic growth.

Presently, the nation depends on the oil and gas sector for about 90% 0f her revenue. This is totally unacceptable for a country with a large expanse of arable land and diverse mineral resources. It is not news that corruption

reduces economic growth to anyone though not least to the protesters who took to the streets when president Goodluck Janathan temperately removed the country’s fuel subsidy last two years.

The government has been making moves lately that looks promising. It has decided to abolish the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), the organisation in charge of electricity in the country many cite the organisation as the key determining factor in preventing reform in the electricity generation sector which means that Nigeria suffer from daily black outs and are heaving reliant on corrupted generators. The petroleum industry must be restructured and the revenue allocation formula reviewed to swing the focus to other potentially productive sectors of the economy.

Amnesty for militants just to maintain revenue inflow from oil and gas is amnesia

of the highest order. By making legislative changes and deregulating the energy industries, the Nigerian government hopes that increased, diversified investment will flow into the economy.

At the moment, high oil prices are benefiting from the economy, but a sharp fall could spell disaster. In recent years

telecommunication, finance and insurance have played larger roles in the non-oil contribution to Nigeria’s GDP which is promising.

However, the rate at which these changes are made will depend heavily on Jonathan’s ability to push through reform. By particular back tracking the subsidy, even if temporarily Jonathan has put his leadership abilities into doubt.

Finally, to change this ugly trend which made it look like oil boom in Nigeria is gradually human to oil doom, the federal government of Nigeria should put in place appropriate measures to stem further mismanagement and looting by the “few privilege minority from the major ethnic groups of the revenue derived from export of crude oil and make realistic monetary and fiscal policies that will help alleviate the suffering of the Nigeria Delta people.

Health

Dealing With Conjunctivitis During Harmattan Season

MISS Susy Attah, a Senior Secondary School student, said that she contracted conjunctivitis (a common eye infection) during the 2012 harmattan season.

Attah said that the infection came with itching, redness of the eyes, accompanied by occasional discharge.

“I felt very uncomfortable because of the pain and I could hardly open my eyes.

“What pained me most is that my siblings started getting infected too before I went to the hospital for treatment,’’ she said.

Attah said that she also suffered some stigma because of the eye infection, as people started avoiding contacts with her.

“I became a lot better after seeing an ophthalmologist who gave me proper treatment,’’ she said.

Mr. Pete Akpan, a trader, recalled that when he contracted conjunctivitis, popularly known as “Apollo’’ (red eye), he did not know what to do initially.

He recalled that his friends advised him to use the traditional method of treating the eye infection, adding, however, that the eye problem soon became worse.

“I patronised the traditional medicine peddlers because of my friends’ advice.

“I was asked to use onions and sugar solution but I added salt to the solution to quicken the healing process.

“It was when the pain became more severe that I knew that I was in great danger; so, I decided to visit the eye centre, where I was told that my eye problems had developed some complications,’’ he said.

Akpan said that the ophthalmologist advised him to always consult

medical professionals whenever he had any health challenge, instead of patronising traditional medicine practitioners.

“The doctor told me that I almost lost my eyes due to carelessness and ignorance; he also educated me on how to protect my eyes from infection, especially during the harmattan season,’’ he added.

Dr Chioma Okoye, a consultant with Garki Hospital Abuja, warned people against using traditional medicine to treat conjunctivitis, saying it could cause untold damage to their eyes.

She said that conjunctivitis was an inflammation or infection of the conjunctiva, which was the outer layer of the eye, just beneath the eyelid.

“Conjunctivitis can come in the form of redness of the eye, profuse discharge in the eyes and itching. When the conjunctiva is irritated, it causes discomfort to the eyes.

“People tend to patronise traditional medicine practitioners for eye care and this is wrong,’’ she said.

Okoye said that such practice could be dangerous to the eyes because the traditional medicine practitioners were not trained to treat eye infections.

“I heard that people use salt, water, urine, onion and sugar solution, including breast milk, to take care of conjunctivitis.

“This is wrong because it can complicate simple conjunctivitis and bring up something else,’’ she said.

Okoye explained that when people with eye infections such as conjunctivitis patronised

By ABIEMWENSE MORU

traditional medicine practitioners, the herbal extracts could be dangerous to the eyes when applied.

“Governments need to

rural areas, so that the rural folks will not have to use sugar solution, onion and urine or breast milk to treat their eyes.

Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu

set up primary health care centres in faraway villages across the country and these centres should have capable professionals who can medically take care of the eyes.

“Doctors and nurses should be employed in rural areas, so that people there will not have to patronise traditional medicine practitioners for treatment,” she said.

Okoye said that if the government was able to put all the necessary health facilities in place, the people would have easy access to good medical services.

“Government should make eye treatment facilities available in the

“The best thing to do when you start feeling irritation in your eyes is to locate an eye clinic or hospital for immediate attention,’’ she said.

The consultant said that people should the people to shun self-medication, while making tangible efforts to protect their eyes from any harm.

Okoye, however, underscored the need for good personal hygiene in all eye care efforts, advocating constant washing of hands, while avoiding touching the eyes unnecessarily.

She advised those with eye infections to avoid sharing items like towels and handkerchief, adding

that those who were free from infections should also avoid contacts with infected persons.

She advised people with eye infections to always use cotton wool for their eye care because cotton wool could be easily disposed of.

“If you expose yourself to the agent that causes the initial infection like dirty environment and excessive itching; it can bring it back, the best way is to treat the eye infection and maintain proper hygiene.

“Traditional care givers should desist from treating eyes because eyes are vital organs which should not be toyed with,’’ Okoye said.

Dr James Asoka, the Medical Director, Sheffi Hospital, Egbeda, Lagos, said that health challenges such as pneumonia, asthma and nasal congestion usually cropped up during the harmattan season because of the dusty environment.

“People should wear warm clothing to minimise the likelihood of contracting some of these diseases, “ he said.

Besides, Asoka said that the skin should be wellprotected against the effects of harmattan, which could cause damage to the body as well.

“It is also safer sometimes to wear sunglasses to protect the eyes during the dry season, as the winds are quite dusty and harsh, so as to prevent eye infections,’’ he said.

Sharing similar

sentiments, Dr Olaleye Adewale, a medical doctor at the General Hospital, Gbagada, Lagos, said that people should always keep away from dusty environment to guard against ailments.

“People should ensure that their windows are regularly closed to avoid dust which can trigger health conditions such as asthma.

“Due to the dusty atmosphere, there is also a need for people, particularly those hawking food such as fruits, to imbibe healthy food preservation culture, so as to prevent food-borne diseases.

“Fruits and vegetables should be properly washed before eating. Our drinking water containers should also be properly covered,’’ Adewale said.

Nevertheless, Dr Femi Alade, a pharmacologist with the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, Lagos, said that harmattan was part of nature.

“The season brings about a general drop in the temperature, poor visibility caused by the dusty haze and a complete adjustment in the dressing patterns of individuals.

“People should adapt to this weather by adopting personal and collective measures to minimise the health hazards that could occur,” he said.

All in all, the experts stress the need to promote personal hygiene, while seeking proper medical attention for all their ailments, particularly eye infections, during the dusty, dry season.

“The best thing to do when you start feeling irritation in your eyes is to locate an eye clinic or hospital for immediate attention.’’

Midweek Magazine Introduction IT is very well recognised that developing countries have problems with managing their healthcare delivery systems to the benefit of the majority of citizens, When resources are scarce, without careful management of available funds, the healthcare system falls into even more dislocation and decay. What is more, the situation could be complicated by the lack of facilities, adequate information, political instability, corruption and institutional inefficiency. In her instances, nation may have comparatively adequate resources and yet, have its health system in a state that makes it very difficult to deliver effective healthcare services to the people. In addition to the factors and forces above, the situation could be complicated by the existence of a political elite that has carved out an alternative “state” to cater for its needs. In this situation, the elite, rather than develop the public sphere in terms of facilities, institutions, and services, concentrates on the construction of private alternatives and heavy reliance on foreign alternatives. So, while the public sphere decays, the private sphere expands and get, all the benefits. Scarce resources are deployed to foreign trips for either medical tourism or to take advantage of better services.

It is not unusual to hear of political elites that fly abroad for ailments like toothache and have their spouses go abroad for childbirth. When the custodians of state power and the elite lose confidence in existing healthcare and other institutions, it usually culminates in deeper disregard for issues that affect the populace, policy dislocation, and institutional crises. In developing societies like Nigeria, while is it important to promote the growth of private sector initiatives, the state owes the poor majority a responsibility to invest in and maintain public services and facilities.

Clearly therefore, the political and policy environment can have a direct impact on maternal, newborn and child mortality (MNCM) with far-reaching implications for other sectors of society.

While it is true that societies and regimes are never stagnant, and at times, even

dictatorial regimes are compelled by internal and external factors and forces to adopt a few pro-people policies and programmes especially in the area of MNCM, such gains are often episodic and ephemeral. They fade away as such ineffective, repressive, and corrupt regimes return to their original political and ideological positions. It has been contended that there is often a direct relationship between the character of regimes and leaders and the state of MNCM. In Africa in particular, countries with nondemocratic forms of governance have often done very badly with MNCM. It is therefore not an accident that some changes became noticeable with the so-called “third wave” of political liberalisation, multiparty elections, and steady democratization of society. In large measure, this has been the experience of Nigeria.

Nigeria: a Brief Background Life expectancy in Nigeria is currently established at 53 years according to the 1991 national census in Nigeria; specifically 52.6 for males and 53.8 for females. The crude birth rate declined from 27 to 14 per 1000 in the same period. These statistics have not impressed the WHO that ranked Nigeria 163rd of 191 countries in terms of Disability Adjusted Life Expectancy (DALE) with a value of only 38.3 years.

While the DALE ranked Nigeria higher than countries just covering from civil war like Liberia and Sierra Leone, it was however far behind a neighbouring country like Ghana. The reason for this low ranking was due to the rather high maternal, neonatal, and infant mortality rates in the country.

The Situation of Maternal Mortality in Nigeria Nigeria, in spite of abundant resources and opportunities, and in spite of the numerous, though insufficient, healthcare institutions, continues to rank very low in world statistics on maternal and infant mortality.

Even within Africa, on a comparative basis, Nigeria’s record is rather poor. The reasons are due mainly to bad politics, bad policy and bad leadership.

It is estimated that over 500,000 women die each year globally from complications with pregnancy and childbirth, In Nigeria alone the figure of

The Politics Of Change:

Political Constrain Newborn And Child

By PROF. JULIUS IHONVBERE

deaths from these complications is about 55,000.

While the country constitutes about 2% of global population, it, however, accounts for 10% of maternal deaths at childbirth, this puts it next to India. Of this 55,000 deaths, well over 70% is in the rural areas, and northwest and northeast of the country accounts for about 65% of the mortality ratios.

It is also estimated that while the risk of death from complications at childbirth for women in developing nations is 1 in 61, and 1 in 29 for Sweden, it is 1 in 18 for Nigeria. Debilitating and long-lasting health problems associated with birth maternal health complications is rampant and affects 30 women for every one that dies at childbirth. About 40% of women, about 800,000, that suffer from vesico-vaginal fistula globally are in Nigeria.

Haemorrhage is responsible for 23% of deaths among women that suffer maternal mortality while others are killed by narrow pelvis (11%), eclampsia (11%), abortion (11%), anaemia (11%), infection (17%) and malaria (11%).

It is estimated that about 600,000 women die of clandestine or illegal abortions in Nigeria every year and about 20,000 die from complications arising from abortion. A range of social, economic, health, and other family pressures and complications are responsible for these abortions. But most women, especially in the periurban areas resort to abortions under the “supervision” of unqualified or quack persons posing as medical personnel and the laws are rather weak to punish such criminal activities. Of course, those that survive such abortions, end up with severe problems of infertility and ectopic pregnancy with the accompanying pressures on the family and individuals.

Due to very poor medical facilities at the disposal of the majority of the people, Nigeria records 71 per 1000 infant mortality rate, 140 per 1000 live births of under-five mortality rate, 51 per 1000 live births of perinatal mortality rate. Based on these figure, it is obvious that Nigeria’s record is very poor. Nigeria’s record is below countries such as Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Liberia. Under the WHO indicator of Equality of Child Survival (ECS) that measures “the extent to which underfive mortality reflects pure chance of death (equal to all children) rather than variations in underlying factors.” With the highest value at 1 to represent “complete equality of child survival, unaffected by underlying factors”, Nigeria scored 0.336 and 4th lowest of 191 ranked nations embarrassingly slightly ahead of countries such as Liberia, Mozambique and Central African Republic and worse than Sierra Leone and Angola.

Why is Maternal Mortality High in Nigeria?

It is true that successive governments in Nigeria have paid attention, to varying degrees, to improvements in the area of maternal and infant mortality. It is also true that over time significant successes have been achieved especially when national campaigns have been organised as in the cases of polio and malaria. Yet, all indicators in this critical area, on a comparative global basis remain very low. In fact, in the context of what is actually achievable in the country, the results have been very disappointing. Some of the reasons can be found at the level of policy and leadership and others at the level of societal contradictions.

The literature and Government statements have identified the factors responsible for high rates of

Prof Julius Ihonvbere maternal mortality as including: lack of maternal care, very poor medical facilities, inadequate skilled birth attendants, unorthodox traditional practices, superstition, delays in attending to complications of pregnancy and delivery, high cost of treatment and drugs, poverty and thus poor diet.

Also, the very large proportion of women that deliver their babies with very little or no access to skilled or professional care, or poor use of antenatal and postnatal care, unsupervised use of contraceptive and fertility drugs, and poor sex education

leading to unwanted pregnancies especially by adolescents. It is not unusual therefore that dirty feeding bottles and utensils, serious respiratory infections, measles, and low maternal education contribute to morbidity, and liberty in Nigeria.

There are also institutional and policy factors. The inconsistency of government policy especially in the area of primary health care delivery, insufficient staffing of health facilities, lack of the necessary infrastructure resulting in avoidable delays- lack of beds, water, drugs, doctors,

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Midweek Magazine

ts To Reducing Maternal, d Mortality In Nigeria

ctricity, and other ipment to aid childbirth, h cost of well-equipped vate hospitals, poor salary to pital staff leading to a rather ewarm or lackadaisical tude of staff, and poor pital or healthcare ministration. is not unusual for monies dgeted for healthcare ects to be devoted to other poses in the national or sonal interests of the official harge or for approved funds be poorly utilized due to or supervision and nitoring. There are ances where substandard, e and dangerous drugs and

equipment have been imported at the expense of mothers and infants. Also, the reliance on non professionals to provide leadership in the health sector is equally a problem. By the time the appointee, Minister or Director-General begins to understand the Department or Ministry so much damage has been done at the expense of health care delivery.

Professor Friday Okonofua, has argued that delays in treatment of pregnancy complications constitute about 90% of mortality in Nigeria.

He breaks these delays into three: Type I — “when a pregnant woman with complication fails to get to a hospital in time; Type II— “when the delay is due to difficulty with transportation” and Type III “when there is delay in treatment after the patient has reached the hospital.” According to Okonolua, Type I delay is responsible for 30% of deaths, Type II is responsible for 20% of deaths while Type III accounts for 40% of deaths.

This is very frightening statistics.

When further analysed, Okonofua points out that the causes of Type Ill delays include: the high cost of antenatal, delivery and postnatal services; frequent union organised industrial action in the healthcare sector, delays occasioned by patients not being able to see a nurse or attendant within the hospital; poor supplies and consumables care professionals to work and/or live in the areas where most Nigerians live; poor transportation including lack of ambulances; fuel shortages or the lack of funds to fuel ambulance and the massive brain drain or doctors, nurses and other technicians to Europe, North America, the Middle East and South Africa with direct impact on the quality of available health care delivery.

The problems in Nigeria’s

health system are legion and to excuse any regime or administration since political independent 1960. Overall, it would appear as if leaders at all levels- Federal, State and Local- have taken the people for granted and relied more on rhetorial - palliatives, halfmeasures and opportunistic interventions. They wait for a disaster to occur then rush to do a few visible things that often become moribund within a few months. It is not amazing therefore that on a comparative study of 191 nations of the world, Nigeria ranked very poorly on all factors that were considered: Responsiveness – 149; Fairness in financial contributions — 180; overall goal attainment - 184; health expenditure per capita —176; impact on level of health -175; and overall health system performance - 187. These data speak for themselves and for an oil-rich nation like Nigeria, much more needs to be done to consolidate current or recent achievements, introduce new intervention schemes and improve overall performance.

In Nigeria’s health sector, the policy environment is wrong, the institutional reforms initiated in 1999 have stagnated, and the operation mechanisms have become corrupted. Without doubt the health sector requires a very radical or far-reaching restructuring, more resources, prioritization, and better and more productive partnerships.

Recent Policy Intervention and Achievements It is generally agreed that by May 1999, Nigeria had no

healthcare system to write home about. This is because the health sector had decayed to unprecedented levels.

Laudable public health policies had been abandoned, institutions had decayed and staff demoralisation was very high. Routine immunization was at an all time low, primary and secondary health care facilities were totally dislocated or non functional; equipment were either outdated or broken down all over the country, emergency services were non-functional, many hospitals had no ambulances, and referral systems between various health facilities were simply ineffective.

Public expenditure on health was not even a quarter of the internationally recommended minimum.

All the rather poor data presented earlier had their roots in the governance, corruption, carelessness, insensitivity and poor planning of previous, especially military governments. It was the return to democratic rule in May 1999 that set the foundation for a gradual regeneration and reform of the health care sector and commitment to addressing the issues of maternal and infant mortality.

The system was so bad that at the beginning of 2000, Nigeria was ranked 187th among 191 member countries of the World Health Organisation.

But the problems were so many, the decay so intense and the contradictions so deep that the government could not but try to address all sectors and problems at the same time.

This in itself stretched

resources and made fundamental impact very difficult.

The Reform Agenda of Olusegun Obasanjo Administration identified the health sector for special treatment as a “PRIORITY SECTOR” (along with education, works, agriculture, power, water and security) and initiated the following programmes/policies: Increased budgetary Allocation Beginning with the 2004 budget, the health sector alone (excluding related ministries like water and agriculture) received 8% of allocation. The main focus was to design and implement a ‘viable national health system that could deliver effective, good-quality and affordable services to all Nigerians.’’

Policy Reform The objective was to reform and prioritise attention to those areas that affected the ordinary citizen. In doing this, policies were designed to target diseases such as malaria, tuberculoses, HIV/ AIDS, and reproductive health-related illnesses. The new approach was encapsulated in the Health Sector Reform Program.(HSRP) of the Federal Ministry of Health that was designed to “guide the orderly restoration and improvement of the national health system to improve the quality of lives and lengthen life expectance....” This Program was endorsed by the National Council on Health and the Federal Executive Council.

Increasing public education/ awareness

The Nigerian government invested in health education to promote general awareness on health rights, promote disease prevention and improve public knowledge on obligations on health services.

This was complemented with the creation of a National Health Insurance Scheme as well as a blood transfusion service designed to concretize accessibility to healthcare delivery and safer services.

Local manufacturing of essential drugs The Government took seriously, the manufacturing of essential drugs and reagents including anti-retroviral drugs for the management of HIV/ AIDS related illnesses and also designed programmes to ensure strong antenatal, postnatal and family planning services, to reduce maternal and infant mortality especially in the inner cities and rural areas.

Private sector involvement A special aspect of the reform was to encourage the private sector, including foreign investors to invest heavily in all aspects of health care delivery including the construction and operation of private hospitals and clinics, HIV/AIDS awareness at the workplace, improved maternity and paternity leave for workers, and other related services including counselling.

Supervision and monitoring Government emphasised supervision, coordination, and monitoring of healthcare delivery by agencies and institutions to ensure effective and inefficient deployment of resources, implementation and deliverables especially safety, high quality standards and security for all Nigerians.

Continue on Pg 18

“The literature and Government statements have identified the factors responsible for high rates of maternal mortality as including: lack of maternal care, very poor medical facilities, inadequate skilled birth attendants, unorthodox traditional practices, superstition, delays in attending to complications of pregnancy and delivery, high cost of treatment and drugs, poverty and thus poor diet.”

Continued from Pg 17 The establishment of NAFDAC was to achieve part of these objectives.

Institutional collaboration The reform agenda sought to identify, encourage and facilitate cooperation and collaboration between different healthcare delivery units and related agencies as well as actors while building mutually rewarding partnerships within and beyond Nigeria.

The Government accorded more recognition for Traditional Medicine especially in the areas of ‘research and development, policy and legal development and regulation.”

The National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development was encouraged to collaborate and coordinate issues of intellectual property rights of traditional medicine practitioners, appropriate guidelines and standards for safety. With the assistance of the Africa Regional Office of the WHO, draft Bills on Traditional Medicine Policy, and Establishment of the Traditional Medicine Practitioner’s Council of Nigeria were being prepared.

At the moment, a lot of work is being done under the strict guidelines and monitoring of the Nigeria Natural Medicine Development Agency.

I n s t i t u t i o n a l rehabilitation The Administration sought to improve technology, equipment and general infrastructure in healthcare delivery institutions to improve efficiency, accountability and access to contemporary data and practices; rehabilitate and refurbish all teaching hospitals through the implementation of the VAMED Engineering project to standardize equipment. Under the scheme all Teaching Hospitals were targeted.

Construction of primary healthcare centres Government constructed 200 Primary Health Care (PHC) centers of which 154 were fully stocked with medicines and handed over to communities to co-administer by health workers, local and state governments. There were plans to construct 250 additional primary healthcare centers across the country to make access to services available to the poor.

Introduction of the Ward Health System As a strategy of taking

Midweek Magazine ...And Child Mortality In Nigeria healthcare delivery to the remotest parts of the country, the Federal Ministry of Health introduced the Ward Health System to give added support to the Primary Health Care system.

Return of Nigerian professionals in the Diaspora Through the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation (NIDO) and other avenues, Government tried to encourage the training of nurses and doctors to service all national institutions; facilitate the return, where necessary, of medical and healthcare delivery professionals that had left the country for greener pastures; and improve the conditions of service to encourage creativity, innovation, commitment, service delivery and staff retention.

Inauguration of a National Health Insurance Scheme The National Health Insurance Scheme, was launched beginning with civil servants with plans to make it truly national.

Local Production of Vaccines The National Institute for production of Vaccines and Biological was well-funded with the goal of producing at least 70 percent of essential drugs in Nigeria.

National campaigns The campaign against HIV/ AIDS pandemic which is the most holistic and ambitious in Africa covering awareness. treatment and rehabilitation was intensified through the work of NACA and the Ministry of Health in collaboration with NGOs. NACA was established in the Office of the President to show how seriously the government viewed the campaign. The Oral Polio Vaccine campaign was reinvigorated. The campaign for the total elimination of tuberculosis with the support of the Sasagawa Foundation, as well as campaigns against malaria and Guinea worm continued.

Enhanced water projects Investment in the provision of potable water through the “Water for All Water for Life” Presidential Initiative was pursued with great success by the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and the work of Chinese experts across the country.

War against fake and substandard drugs/food products The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) is on record as having waged an effective war against fake drugs and increasing public awareness on the needs for vigilance against adulterated products.

Its numerous activities have been acknowledged around the world and by ordinary Nigerians.

dimension, consistency and focus of public policies. In Nigeria, as in most of Africa, leadership has been very bad and this has negatively affected public policies.

The pathological fixation on the use of politics to grab raw power and promote primitive accumulation has destabilised political systems, undermined policies, and rapidly eroded public programmes. In fact, in Nigeria, this has become an endemic challenge.

The change that was evident

“Adequate attention was not paid to the extent of systemic decay, institutional paralyses, and levels of efficiency and motivation of staff in existing healthcare delivery institutions.”

Nigeria and the MDGs Goal 4 of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) requires the Nigerian government to reduce mortality rate among children under 5 by two-thirds by the year 2015. Goal 5 requires the state to reduce by two-thirds the maternal mortality rate by the same period.

Based on the discussions above, there is no way that Nigeria can be expected to meet either of these goals. The country’s political economy remains disarticulated and in deep crisis. The contradictions are deep and complex and policies remain disjointed and incapable to meeting the needs of Nigerians.

Managing the Politics of Change It is well known that politics is critical to policy.

Purposeful, progressive and democratic politics will precipitate and reproduce people-focused, peoplesensitive and progressive policies. The leadership of the political system is equally critical to the nature, depth,

in Nigeria between 1999 and 2007 under the Obasanjo regime was largely due to the push from the pains of the pre1999 era, the general feeling of failure at all levels of the government, and the personal drive of the President. As well, there was a team of technocrats around the president that ensured that alternative policies and perspectives were initiated and considered especially between 2003 and 2007. The initiatives outlined above were brought on stream in that period and the state. ensured that the funding and close supervision were provided by the presidency. However, the question remains: why did the policies fail to substantially or significantly improve the data? Why was it impossible for maternal and child mortality to improve?

In some cases, why did Nigeria experience a downward slide by 2007? We advance the following reasons: Adequate attention was not paid to the extent of systemic

decay, institutional paralyses, and levels of efficiency and motivation of staff in existing healthcare delivery institutions; Bad advice by technocrats and civil servants and some development partners to the EXECUTIVE president resulting in waste, complications and policy failure; Poor management of partner support and programmes leading to avoidable competition, duplication and waste; Complex and conflicting bureaucratic structure especially between over 30 priority programmes, numerous agencies and institutions within the Ministry of Health with no streamlined responsibilities and accountability lines; The lack of effective coordination between the three tiers of governance and communities in the location, operation, management and sustenance of healthcare delivery institutions and agencies; Poor leadership at all levels, especially political leadership that failed to emphasise priorities, accountability, transparency and service delivery; Changing the Context of Politics for Better Delivery To alter the existing constraining conditions that militate against effective healthcare deliverables especially in the area of maternal and child mortality, it is critical that five issues be addressed. First is the political context. There is a need to continuing pressure on the politicians and policymakers to do the right thing. They need education, information, training and empowerment to ensure effectiveness. Second, is the technological innovation needed to ensure capacity and capability. This is important to address the issue of delays, training ability to utilise available equipment and respond to new policy environment. Third is the need for civil society to connect, develop effective joint programmes, engage the power brokers and policy makers and engage in massive public education and mobilisation. A fourth option is to either work on political office holders or make direct entry into the political process

to increase the number of committed and credible actors and workers that understand healthcares delivery issues.

Fifth, is for international partners to support and empower civil society organisations healthcare agencies with the required restructuring and repositioning to understand contemporary discourses, policies and approaches to reforming the sector.

Conclusions and Prescriptions All budgeted federal projects must be fully implemented, monitored and evaluated.

Follow-up policies and projects must be designed and considered before the expiration or conclusion of ongoing projects; There should be at least one water borehole per ward in the country and this is easily realizable. In the alternative, a good water system to effectively serve a cluster of villages would serve the same purpose; The goal of a Primary Healthcare Centre per ward in the federation is still feasible and must be pursued to take healthcare delivery to the people. These should be fully managed by the local government and community; Local and State governments must step up sanitation and environmental campaigns. The era of Sanitary Inspectors should be reintroduced to ensure full compliance with sanitary and health regulations; Special attention must be paid to the health needs of women, children and the aged who are often the most vulnerable and neglected segments in the country; and Access to basic health facilities should be liberalized and democratized. Fees must not be charged to see physicians and for emergencies and for the low income, access to health care should be free.

Above all, the constitutional provision on the right to life must be broadened and given meaning to serve as weapons for a popular campaign that will include adequate attention and investment in maternal, newborn and infant mortality levels. Communities and constituencies must be encouraged, mobilised and empower to demand the right to survival and the right to life as democratic rights.

Natural Medicine

With

Dr. MAO

08030717341

Unconventional Treatments For Diseases Conventional treatments for disease conditions are the orthodox procedures for managing ill health. Put simply, what medical doctors in cottage, general and central hospitals practice is using conventional treatments for caring for patients.

Such treatments involves mainly the use of injections, drugs, lotions, syrups as well as other synthetic products which are not biofreiendly.

Invariably, they don’t empower the body to fight disease. Rather, they try to take over the body’s innate function of prerenting and curing illnesses which they are ill-equipped to undertake anyway.

Given this, some people with difficult health challenges often lose hope in the conventional treatments of orthodox hospitals after they couldn’t address their problems. These people therefore migrated to unconventional methods of disease management. And, lo, to their surprise, they were healed by using these methods that relies on plants/animal materials as well as other natural resources for treatment.

This experience inspired today’s column. First of all, let’s talk about the peels of citrus fruits. A lot of us throw them away.

Unknown to such ignorant persons, however, these peels contain a compound identified as polymathoxylated flavone (PMF) which is known to inhibit the synthesis of bad, lowdensity lipoprotein cholesterol as well as triglyceride in the liver.

For your information, bad cholesterol and triglycerides are harmful to the body, most especially the heart. Therefore, if citrus peels prevent the liver from synthesizing cholesterol and trglycerides, it means these

biological substances lower these bad fats. Statin drugs used in conventional medicine perform similar function like citrus peels.

But how many of us can afford the cost of statin drugs? Very few. Yet the efficacy of a medication is not determined by how expensive it is.

All said, this is by the sidelines. There are some people who never even spend a kobo on their illness. Still, they later become well. Take this particular case. Lady D of Radio Bronze, Benin in January 2014 told listeners of how a mysterious illness which inflicted her melted into thin without medication. She explained that she woke up one morning in the new year to discover she was in so much pain that she couldn’t move her limbs. In tears, she sent one of her children to a neighbour requesting she come immediately so that she could rush her to hospital.

Her child left but returned without the neighbour who claimed that she had a visiting guest. This development opened Lady D’s eyes to the reality that in this wicked world “it is every man or woman to his/ herself”. Therefore, she decided to make the trip to the hospital on her own, unassisted by anyone, she explained.

First of all, she got up from her sick bed, walked over to the bathroom and had her bath. While doing so, she noticed that she was feeling a bit well. After her bath she returned to her

sitting room feeling stronger. Then, within an hour of rest there, there was no more signs and

pychosomatic disease.

Was the healing of Lady D due to divine intervention or spiritual medicine? Maybe. Only God knows, see, the point I am out to prove is that it

human urine, cow dung and cow urine for healing.

Well, if you don’t know, human urine since ancient times has been successfully put to use in treating disease categorized as

symptoms of illness in her.

She was well. The idea of going to hospital never arose, again. Serendipity!!!

Could her healing be due to mind or psycho-therapy?

Maybe. This is because anger and negative thoughts troubling the mind can acidify the body or compromise the functions of hormones in the body bringing on illness. To de-acidify the body, all you do is eliminate anger and all negative thoughts from your mind. You don’t need medication to do this and get relief from your

is possible for a person to be healed of his/her illness in an unconventional way.

Therefore, it is absolutely wrong for anyone to posit that salvation lies only in the science of orthodox medicine. God or spiritual science as well as the science of unconventional medicine also have been known to bring succour to ailing people when orthodox medicine couldn’t find solution to their intractable health problems.

All these discourse now bring me to the unconventional issue of

uncurable by orthodox medicine.

Cow dung has also been employed in the management of illness. I have writhen about this in one of my publications NATURAL SECRETS FOR STAYING HEALTHY AND PHYSICALLY FIT. On page 28 of this book I recalled the experience of Mr. Innocent Nuagwu. In 1988, he wrote about how his father’s wife (stepmother) living in one remote village in Kafanchan in Kaduna State cured her breast cancer by

“Therefore, it is absolutely wrong for anyone to posit that salvation lies only in the science of orthodox medicine. God or spiritual science as well as the science of unconventional medicine”.

merely drinking an aqueous extract of cow dung within two weeks. An old woman who is not conventional medical doctor recommended the cow gung therapy to the ailing woman battling with cancerous rotening breasts.

Pronto, she cured her breast

cancer !!

In January 2014, there was news break reported in Daily Newswatch on another unconventional substance used for managing diseases. Enter healing cow urine. In India, knowledgeable people scramble to fetch it for drinking because it is treated like gold. On Prakash, an exponent of Ayurvedic Medicine, has this to say about the healing potentials of cow urine in an interview with Reuters.

“Cow urine offers a cure for around 70 to 80 incurable disease like diabetes and others. All are curable by urine.”

Now, reader, be wise.

Don’t look down on unconventional treatment for diseases. They may hold the only key to your survival when bogged down by an ailment to which orthodox remedies have no answers.

New Horizon

WITH VICTOR ARUIKWU

Sex And Love In Reality (2)

Continued from page 20

“WHAT is that thing called Love?” Sexuality and love are opposed principles”.

(E. Lucks, Eros). A good question above indeed. In the material world, on the basiest level, love is nothing but lust.

It is really love. Love is much more, much more. Love’s actions are not based on the temporary gratification of the senses. “Love becomes Lust the moment you make it a means for the satisfaction of some animalistic needs”, Said Mahatma Ghandhi.

That is lust, and that is what usually goes under the name “LOVE” in this material world. But real love is far different. The Greeks wisely distinguished between the two in their language: eros, physical love, or lust; and agape, spiritual love. In this world, “ I love you” usually means” I lust for you”. Infact there is raw lust and romanticized lust. When certain sentiments surround the sex drive or urge people call it “romantic”. By definition, romance has little to do with reality.

So -called romance sweeps people off their feet with a storm of emotions. People want romantic attachment or togetherness. In a romantic affair, there is the glitter of some excitement and adventure. At last, people think I have finally met the person I’ve been looking for, the love of my life. The sex drive is strong that under the grip of lust, one feels that he wants to posses the sense object (boy or girl) forever and ever. When a man lust over a woman, he experiences a whole range of romantic emotions. He feels tender intimate, protective, solicitous, and gallant. “You make me feel like a man,” he says. “Won’t you be mine”?

“I can’t live without you”. “you and I forever” “You are the only one I’ve being waiting for”. “It’s now or never”. These are the few love expressions in love affairs and how real? The woman wanting to be possessed to belong to a man, says, “I am yours, and I will never love anyone but you”.

Sex can break up families and jeopardize one’s health, wealth and reputation. Men have not hesitated to sacrifice everything for sexual passion.

Even wars have been fought ‘or started over sex.

“How powerful and lustful?”

Still, the mind’s rationalizations are so convincing and the sex drive so strong in man and woman that people will convince themselves of anything, say anything and risk everything just to have a moment of sex — the mighty slogan. Yogis of then tell the story of “Liquid beauty”. Once upon a time, a young prince became carried away and attracted by a beautiful girl named Kesini, who wanted to live a calibate life devoted

desired. Take it and be happy.

The Prince stood dumbfounded and looking at the pot of Kensini’s stool and Kesini’s skinny and tiny appearance without her natural usual beauty. That is an extreme case, but, it is a fact that nothing destroys romantic sensibilities as fast as the stench of mortality.

Romance is an illusion, a dream. Romance doesn’t want to be reminded of things as they are, bad breath perspiration, stinky feet,

to God — In other words, a reverend sister. The prince became captivated at first sight because Kesini was so beautiful having not met with any man since she was born.

The Prince then approach Kesini for marriage, saying that he will die if Kesini refused to marry him. But Kesini resisted saying, I will marry you but come back in two weeks, and my beauty will be for you — dear Prince.

The Prince went away, and for two weeks felt very anxious and troubled.

After two weeks, he returned but could not recognize his proposed wife Kesini. She was shriveled and emaciated like an old hag. She had taken a strong purgative that had thoroughly flushed her body. Seeing the Prince, she asked, do you still want my beauty? The Prince was horrified and speechless. And she added, go to that pot at that corner, and she pointed to a pot full of stool and vomit.

There lies the beauty that you

flatulence, excreta, urine, menses, etcetera, are all unromantic reminders of decay and death. They tell people that, after all, their lover is mortal and beauty is temporary, therefore people are constantly being sold perfumes, powders, toothpaste, deodorants, mouthwash, after-shave and various other toiletries. In the hide and seek game of sex, we must not let it be known that actually we are reeking flesh and blood. It is truly said that beauty is only skin deep, if we peel away a millimeter of

epidermis, how ghastly the sight. How often a “Sexy” face or body has captured our attention only to disappoint us on closer inspection. “Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder”.

True. But what is this façade that fascinates.

What is this stammering veneer, this illusory play of light and shadow, bone, flesh, blood and muscles? Even if the body does possess some inherent beauty, how long can it last? Five years, ten years — Okay. All major religions

warn against fleshy pleasures. To remain steadfast in celibacy; Lord Budha warned that this body is a glorified bag of excrement awaiting burial, which indeed it is.

Mohammad told his followers: “Thy worse enemy is the nafs”, which is between thy legs. The Talmud says, “There is a small organ in the human body which is always angry if one tries to satisfy it, and, always satisfied if one starves it”. And the Mahabarats states that, “Just as fire blazes when fuel is

poured on it, so the sexual appetite is never satiated by indulgence.

What then is the powerful force of lust? And what is this need to love and be loved? It is a fact because we are lonely. We want love, and we want to be loved. We feel a need for intimate relationship. We innately yearn to give everything to another, to surrender to another, to be theirs and theirs alone. Often we hope

for a person “out there” who can answer our every need.

We long for someone who will attract our love forever and ever, someone to whom we can give all our affections, sentiments, hopes and emotions. We all want someone capable of responding in kind, someone who will not disappoint us, who is constant, and whose love will not die, or end.

Such a person cannot exist in this world, where every one and everything is subject to birth, old age, disease and death. That perfect person we are looking for is God, the

reality behind material reflections.

God alone is eternally real.

God alone is all attractive, all beautiful and every thing.

This world is but a perverted reflection of God. Sex is but the distorted material expression of the eternal love existing between God and the soul, or in Christian terms, the relationship between the Bridegroom and his bride. A God fearing person is a person who sees God as the one incorruptible reality behind the mask of various material materials. Plato for instance, refrained from all sensual pleasure through love of contemplation of truth. Plato based his moral system upon the distinction between body and sensual and the spiritual part of our nature, and St. Thomas Aquinas noted. “This is called the neti-neti process”. God is not this, God is not that. And when everything not-God is discarded, God alone ultimately remains. But in that final elimination, everything is found in God because God is part and parcel of everything.

In the Hindu tradition, one of the many sanscrit names for God is Madana Mohana.

Madana is also a name for cupid — lust personified.

Madana or Krishna, means “One who attracts” The idea is that the beauty of Krishna, the all-attractive attract even Cupid. When we are attracted to God, the arrows of Cupid cannot affects us. Cupid — lust personified is impotent in the presence of God. Indeed the sex drive can be transcended only by the grace of God, the all- attractive supreme Personality of Godhead, In this way the desire for sex can be transformed to the desire for God’s consciousness. Once we understand the nature of misdirected desire, we will understand the mistake in desiring any thing other than Continued on page 24

“The Prince then approach Kesini for marriage, saying that he will die if Kesini refused to marry him. But Kesini resisted saying, I will marry you but come back in two weeks, and my beauty will be for you — dear Prince. The Prince went away, and for two weeks felt very anxious and troubled.”

Place Of Prayer

With Pastor Samuel O. Osaghae SMS Only 08030809339

The Power Of Your Tongue GOD has placed in the mouth of every believer a special anointing that can mould or destroy. Situations and circumstances are programmed to respond to the words of your mouth.

Anointing is divine ability made available to stop an evil occurrence. A man that carries anointing is a carrier of divine ability, He has what it takes to put a full stop to occurrences in the lives of believers that are not in line with the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. The anointing ensures that the believer lives a fulfilled life here on earth; a life that is not controlled or manipulated by agents of darkness.

Isaiah 10;27- And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder; and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing, A yoke is anything that prevents you from living your life the way you wish to live it.

A yoke is placed on an animal to restrict its movement and control it. As long as there is a yoke upon a mans life, his progress in life is limited. That man will not have a say in his own affairs, his life will be controlled by whoever has placed the yoke upon him.

A yoke is, thus, an instrument of darkness with which the enemy manipulates a persons life. Yokes are broken when anointing is activated. The anointing brings healing to you, destroys stagnancy, normalizes whatever is wrong in your life and uproots whatever the enemy planted in your life.

Anointing makes God to adjust life’s calendar to suit you, making your miracle to come ahead of time: One major medium by which anointing can be activated is through the spoken word. When a believer speaks a word to a contradicting situation in faith, anointing is released to correct the anomaly. In Ezekiel 37, God took Prophet Ezekiel to a valley of dry bones and asked him to command the dry bones to receive life. Your spoken word carries an anointing that is able to give life to dead situations. When you speak God’s word in faith to any situation, the situation has no choice but to respond to your words.

When a man of God speaks to you, believe his words.

Even when the evidence is yet contradicting, do not doubt the words that have been spoke concerning you.

Have an unshakeable belief in God’s ability to cause a change in every situation, no

matter how hopeless it seems.

Belief is not an idea that you possess, it is an idea that possesses you Your belief in Gods ability must possess you to the extent that you do not believe the evidence that is presented by the enemy.

The bible tells us in Philippians 2:10-11 that at the mention of the name of Jesus, every knee must bow and every tongue must confess that Jesus is Lord. You must close your eyes to contradictory evidence once you have prayed or received prophecy from an anointed man of God concerning any issue.

When an anointed man speaks Gods word over you, believe it. When Jesus walked on the sea in Matt.

14:25-32, He asked Peter to come. Peter was able to walk on the sea because he took hold of the word Jesus had spoken to him. However, when he began to look at the surrounding evidence, he began to sink. Focus on what was spoken to you; grab it, believe it, celebrate it and

operate in it. Walk out on things that can kill your faith.

If you have prayed over any issue, walk out on discussions that are contrary to your expectation.

The Centurion knew the power in the spoken word and asked Jesus to only speak the word-Luke 7:6-10, His servant received healing because of this great faith, Prove your faith by holding strongly to every word God has spoken to you. In Mark4:36-41, during turbulence at sea, Jesus corrected the situation by speaking to the wind. He said, “Peace be still”, and immediately peace was restored. In Mark 11:14, Jesus placed a curse on a fig tree. He did not wait to inspect if what he spoke concerning the tree had been implemented. His word killed the tree from its roots as soon as He spoke but it took a process for the tree to dry up. He went on to declare in vs23: For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be

thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

God expects rugged faith for matured believers. Learn to stand your ground in spite of negative signs and symptoms. The Lord told Elijah that it will rain, but when he sent his servant to check, there was no sign of rain. Elijah did not lose faith; he kept sending his servant to check until the seventh time when the evidence of rain was seen. Insist that what you believe is true. Do not allow any contradicting evidence shake your faith.

Believe your spoken word.

Your statement carries power.

As you begin to-decree what you believe as against a contradiction, anointing is activated that will respond to that situation. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation- Rom. 10; l0.

Do not speak negative statements for they activate negative happenings. It is not enough to just say what you believe once; keep repeating it. That is what is meant by homologia- a truth that is repeated over and over again. Keep decreeing what you want to see until it becomes active in your life.

It is better to die believing than to live in unbelief. Rev. 12:11- And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony. You overcome by the word of your testimony. You also get defeated by the negative words you speak. Your profession works with your imagination. Do not talk like

others, you are different from them, you operate under covenant. Christ has paid the complete price for our redemption, we are now sons and joint heirs with Christ Jesus Heb 9:24, John 1:1213.

The covenant authenticates your victory.

You will only enjoy these benefits if you keep declaring it; the manifestation is in saying it over and over again.

Your mouth is where the power lies. Life and death are in the power of the tongue. What you say will be attracted to you. Ten spies said the enemies where giants;-that the children of Israel were like grasshoppers before them. The ten of them did not enter into the Promised Land. Two of the spies however, said the opposite; that the enemies where bread for the children of Israel. The two of them entered into the Promised Land. Your enemies will be to you what you say they are.

You are created to reign, you will not be ruined. You should always declare words like these: “My enemies cannot stop me; I will make progress even in the midst of my enemies. I am too anointed to die as an ordinary man”. Know your status and talk yourself into it.

Don’t talk’ up your enemies, talk them down.

Boast of who you are and what you carry. David boasted to Goliath even before he flung his sling. His victory was thus in the power of his tongue. God has finished His work; He watches to see what you will call the situation you are faced with. You better believe that your future is not in the hand of any witch. Your future is in your spoken word.

“One major medium by which anointing can be activated is through the spoken word. When a believer speaks a word to a contradicting situation in faith, anointing is released to correct the anomaly.”

International Gunmen Blow Up Natural Gas Pipeline In Egypt

“He could be a protester or someone who infiltrated the demonstrators,” said Police Colonel Charoen Srisasalak.

Yingluck’s meeting with the election authorities comes after the Constitutional Court last Friday ruled that the polls could legally be pushed back because of the civil strife.

The head of Yingluck’s Puea Thai Party said Monday he opposed a postponement and accused the Election Commission of not doing enough to ensure an orderly vote.

The government notes that under the constitution an election

should normally be held no more than 60 days after the dissolution of parliament, which happened in early December.

The opposition argues that an election without reforms will not resolve the long-running political conflict.

The kingdom has been bitterly divided since Yingluck’s older brother, the then-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, was overthrown by royalist generals in a coup more than seven years ago.

Critics accuse the billionaire tycoon-turned-politician of controlling his sister’s

bombings also have spiked and spilled into the capital, Cairo, and other cities. An alQaida-inspired group called Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, or Champions of Jerusalem, has claimed responsibility for most of those attacks.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

Egypt’s state news agency says toppled President Mohammed Morsi has arrived in Cairo for a trial over prison breaks in 2011.

The MENA report Tuesday said Morsi flew by helicopter from Borg al-Arab prison in Alexandria, while some 130 others were driven to Cairo.

The case is rooted in the 2011 escape of more than 20,000 inmates from Egyptian prisons — including Morsi. Also charged are members of the Palestinian militant group Hamas and the Lebanese group Hezbollah.

A lawyer has said the trial appears aimed at “denigrating” Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood group.

It is Morsi’s second court appearance since Egypt’s popularly backed July 3 military coup. He missed a Jan. 8 hearing in another trial after security officials said bad weather grounded a

BANGKOK - Shots were fired at a Thai army facility where the prime minister was meeting yesterday and two people were hurt, an anti-government protest leader said.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was meeting the Election Commission at an army complex to try to settle on a date for a general election. The Commission says the government’s plan to hold the vote next Sunday is too soon, given the unrest in the country,

and wants it delayed by up to four months.

“Someone fired shots. One protester was hurt and the man who fired the shots was hurt too. They have been sent to different hospitals,” Chumpol Jumsai, a protest leader who was at the facility in north Bangkok, told Reuters.

The shots were fired far away from where the meeting was taking place and near where

Kiev began Nov. 21 after President Viktor Yanukovych shelved a long-planned political and economic treaty with the European Union, then accepted a huge bailout package from Russian President Vladimir Putin instead. The crisis was aggravated in recent days after protesters and police clashed violently.

In a statement on the government website, Azarov offered his resignation in order to encourage what he called “socialpolitical compromise.”

Police violently dispersed two of those protests, after which crowds grew substantially, angered by the brutality.

Protesters established an

extensive tent camp in downtown Kiev’s main square, where demonstrators have gathered around-the-clock since early December.

Protesters also seized several buildings, including the city hall, which they have used as makeshift operations centers and shelters.

After Yanukovych approved the anti-protest laws, demonstrations spread to other parts of the country, including to some cities in the Russianspeaking east, the base of Yanukovych’s support.

Also unresolved is the issue that originally set off the protests — Yanukovych’s shelving in November of a long-awaited

about 500 anti-government protesters had gathered.

Yingluck dissolved parliament in December and called the election to try to appease protesters trying to overthrow her. They have rejected the election, wanting political reform before any poll, and on Sunday they prevented advance voting in many parts of the capital.

“Today, we are here to show the government what obstacles lie ahead if it holds the February 2 election,” Somchai Srisutthiyakorn, a member of the Election Commission, told reporters as he went into the meeting.

“We believe chaos will ensue ... Our new recommendation is to hold elections within three or four months,” he added.

The Commission believes security cannot be guaranteed on February 2. It also says candidates have been unable to register in some constituencies, meaning there would not be a quorum to open parliament even if voting went ahead.

The protesters had gathered at the Army Club compound in Bangkok where Yingluck held a cabinet meeting before meeting the Election Commission.

The protests are the latest eruption in a political conflict that has gripped Thailand for eight

in Southeast Asia’s secondlargest economy.

Data on Tuesday showed manufacturing output fell in December for the ninth month running, with the political woes adding to problems caused by weak exports.

The conflict broadly pits Bangkok’s middle class and royalist establishment against the mainly poor, rural backers of Yingluck and her brother, ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

The protesters want to suspend what they say is a fragile democracy destabilized by former telecoms tycoon Thaksin, whom they accuse of nepotism and corruption. They want to eradicate the political influence of his family by altering electoral arrangements in ways they have not spelt out.

As the protest movement drags on into its third month, the government has issued an ultimatum to leaders that they face arrest by Thursday if they do not give up areas of Bangkok they have taken over.

The government has declared a state of emergency in the capital and Labour Minister Chalerm Yoobumrung, in charge of enforcing the decree, said an

Russian President Vladimir Putin visits an exhibition at the Siege of Leningrad Museum in Kirovsk, near St. Petersburg January 27, 2014

CAIRO — Egypt’s state news agency says gunmen have blown up a natural gas pipeline in the volatile Sinai Peninsula.

MENA said yesterday that the explosion took place late Monday night south of el-Arish, the capital of the North Sinai governorate.

It said firefighers teams rushed to the scene to extinguish a fire there.

Gas pipelines have come under attacks several times since the 2011 downfall of longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak. The last attack took place 10 days ago.

The fall of Mubarak led to a fracturing of Egypt’s security agencies. Suicide

Thai Government Wants Controversial Election To Go Ahead

BANGKOK - Thailand’s government wants controversial elections to go ahead this weekend, a deputy prime minister said yesterday, despite threats by opposition protesters to disrupt the polls to stop the ruling party returning to power.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra began talks with election officials who want to delay the vote following street violence in which at least 10 people have been killed and hundreds injured in grenade attacks, drive-by shootings and clashes.

In the latest incident, shots were fired Tuesday near the Bangkok army base where Yingluck was holding meetings, as hundreds of protesters massed outside.

Emergency services said two people were injured although the exact circumstances were not immediately clear.

The Thai capital has been shaken by nearly three months of mass street demonstrations, demanding Yingluck’s elected government step down to make way for an unelected “people’s council” that would oversee reforms aimed at curbing the dominance of her billionaire

family.

The government has shown little enthusiasm for an election delay, which it fears would only prolong the political deadlock.

“We insist that the election on February 2 must be held because the majority of people want the election,” Deputy Prime Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul, who is also the foreign minister, told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

The main opposition Democrat Party is boycotting Sunday’s polls, saying reforms are needed to ensure the vote is truly democratic and to prevent abuse of power by the next government.

Protesters threaten to ‘close every route’ Advance voting over the weekend was marred by widespread disruption by opposition protesters who besieged polling stations and stopped hundreds of thousands from casting ballots.

Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban has threatened to “close every route” to polling stations again for the main election, raising fears of further violence.

An anti-government rally leader was shot dead on Sunday

KIEV, Ukraine - The prime minister of protest-torn Ukraine submitted his resignation yesterday, saying he hoped the move would help bring peaceful resolution to the crisis that has gripped the country for two months.

Mykola Azarov’s resignation would remove one of the figures most despised by the opposition. It came as the parliament opened a special session that is expected to repeal harsh anti-protest laws that were imposed this month.

Those laws set off the policeprotester clashes in which at least three protesters died.

His resignation must be accepted by President Viktor Yanukovych, but that appears to be only a formality.

Yanukovych last week offered the premiership to Arseniy Yatsenyuk, one of the opposition’s top figures.

Yatsenyuk turned down the offer on Monday.

In addition, Yanukovych says an amnesty for dozens of protesters arrested in the demonstrations would be implemented only if protesters leave the streets and vacate buildings that they have occupied. Ending the protests without having other demands met appears unlikely.

The Tuesday moves would fall short of opposition demands, which also include Yanukovych’s resignation and a call for new elections.

The pro-Western protests in

while giving a speech from the back of a pickup truck in a Bangkok suburb, during the campaign by demonstrators to block advance voting.

In another apparently politically related killing, the body of a man wearing a wristband popular among protesters was found Tuesday near a rally site with several bullet wounds, according to police, although the circumstances of his death were unclear.

Shots Fired As Thai PM Meets, Election Body years and which is starting to hurt Warns Of Chaos growth and investor confidence

Ukrainian Premier Submits Resignation

International Ousted Egypt Leader Arrives At Prison Break Trial CAIRO — Egypt’s toppled President Mohammed Morsi has arrived in Cairo for start of his trial yesterday over charges he and some 130 others face for prison breaks during the country’s 2011 revolution, the state news agency reported.

MENA reported that Morsi flew by helicopter from Borg alArab prison in Alexandria. Only 19 other of the 129 defendants in the case, including the leader of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood group and other leading figures, are held by authorities. The rest, including members of the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, are on the run.

The case is rooted in the 2011 escape of more than 20,000 inmates from Egyptian prisons — including Morsi and other Brotherhood members, during the early days of the 18-day uprising against ousted President Hosni

Mubarak in 2011.

Authorities accuse Morsi and the other defendants of plotting to “destroy the Egyptian state and its institutions,” conspiring with the foreign groups who infiltrated to Egypt through Gaza and using the turmoil during the uprising to organize the prison breaks. The prosecutors said more than 800 foreign fighters entered Egypt through Gaza to take part in storming of three prisons and killed a number of police officers and inmates.

A Brotherhood lawyer has said the trial appears aimed at “denigrating” Morsi and the Brotherhood.

It is Morsi’s second court appearance since Egypt’s popularly backed July 3 military coup. He missed a Jan. 8 hearing in another trial after security officials said bad weather grounded a helicopter meant to bring him.

The hearing will be held at a police academy complex in eastern Cairo, where a heavy security presence stood guard Tuesday. State television showed live footage from inside the courtroom, the first time for airing the proceedings of Morsi and Brotherhood officials live.

Morsi is facing three other trials on different charges as well.

Only one of those trials, where he is accused of inciting murder of his opponents while in office, has begun. Many of the charges he faces carry the death sentence.

In his first appearance, Morsi insisted he was still the country’s legitimate president and challenged the legitimacy of the court, regularly interrupting the judges and prosecutors.

At Tuesday’s trial, authorities have put up a glass window over the metal cage typically housing defendants, apparently to control the defendants’ interruption of the

who in 1977 was tortured and died in police custody. Last year, Ramphele formed her own party to challenge the African National Congress, which has been the ruling party since the first all-race vote in 1994.

Ramphele said Tuesday that her decision to merge with the

Democratic Alliance, a larger opposition group, is in the country’s best interests.

President Jacob Zuma and the ANC are the electoral frontrunners but they have lost some support because of corruption, poverty, unemployment and a lack of adequate government services.

South African Opposition Groups Merge JOHANNESBURG — A former anti-apartheid activist and medical doctor who also held a senior position at the World Bank will be the presidential candidate of South Africa’s main opposition party in this year’s elections.

Mamphela Ramphele had a son with activist Steve Biko,

Remembrance

judges.

Since Morsi’ ouster in July 3 in a popularly backed military coup, hundreds of senior Brotherhood leaders have been arrested in a widening crackdown against a group that authorities accuse of retaliating to Morsi’s removal with a violent campaign.

Hundreds of supporters also have been killed in security crackdown on protests that often turned violent. The group denies using violence to achieve its goal of having Morsi reinstated.

On Tuesday, state television reported that gunmen killed a senior police officer as he left his home in the Haram district of Giza, a Cairo neighborhood. Maj. Gen. Mohammed El-Said was the head of the technical office in the interior ministry, which is in charge of the police. The TV report did not elaborate.

Meanwhile Tuesday, MENA reported that gunmen blew up a natural gas pipeline Monday night in the volatile Sinai Peninsula south of el-Arish, the capital of the North Sinai governorate. It said firefighters

Prominent Chinese Rights Activist To Appeal BEIJING - One of China’s chance.”

Sentence most prominent rights activists will appeal against a four-year prison sentence that prompted international criticism, his lawyer said yesterday, because he believes his conviction could set a bad precedent for others on trial.

A court sentenced Xu Zhiyong on Sunday after he campaigned for the rights of children from rural areas to be educated in cities and for officials to disclose their assets.

The United States, the European Union and rights groups have condemned the sentence.

The government has waged a 10-month drive against Xu’s “New Citizens’ Movement”, which advocates working within the system to press for change.

One of the group’s main demands has been for officials to disclose their assets.

While President Xi Jinping has made battling corruption a priority, authorities have shown no sign of agreeing to demands for all officials to disclose assets and at least 20 activists pressing for disclosures have been detained.

Xu has also campaigned for the right of children from rural areas to be educated in cities, where many live with their migrant-worker parents.

Xu’s lawyer, Zhang Qingfang, said Xu was concerned about six other activists on trial this week, one of whom will be sentenced on Wednesday.

“If we don’t appeal, the verdict in these cases will not be changed, they’ll be predetermined,” Zhang told Reuters by telephone. “So we have to fight for a space for them, we have to fight for a

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CAVEAT EMPTOR IT HAS COME to the Notice of MR CHARLES A. IMINA UWAGBOE and MRS. GRACE UYI IMINA UWAGBOE hereinafter called “OUR CLIENTS” that some UNAUTHORISED persons within their family circle have unlawfully placed the property known as No 3 AIDOKHAI AVENUE OFF OYAIDE STREET, OFF BENONI ROAD, G.R.A., BENIN CITY on a land measuring approximately 2338.34 square metres registered as No 9 at page 9 in volume 292 of the Lands Registry Benin City in the Market with a view of selling same without the requisite consent of our clients (the rightful owners).

NOTICE is HEREBY given to the general public, particularly land speculators that the aforesaid property is NOT FOR SALE. ANY person or group of persons or corporate bodies dealing with the said land HOWSOEVER without the consent of the rightful owners MR. CHARLES A. IMINA UWAGBOE and MRS GRACE UYI IMINA UWAGBOE does so at his or her own risk.

In loving memory of our dearly beloved father, grand father and great grand father, LATE PA SAMUEL EKHATOR IZEDONMWEN, who passed on to eternal glory on 29th January, 1967. It is exactly 47 years since you left us to be with the Lord. Daddy, your good legacy is leading us well.

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Fondly remembered by all your children Signed: HILDA OSARIEMEN EKHATOR For the family

rushed to the scene to extinguish a fire there.

Gas pipelines have come under attacks several times since the 2011 downfall of longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak. The last attack took place 10 days ago.

The fall of Mubarak led to a fracturing of Egypt’s security agencies. Suicide bombings also have spiked and spilled into the capital, Cairo, and other cities. An al-Qaida-inspired group called Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, or Champions of Jerusalem, has claimed responsibility for most of those attacks.

Dated 28th day of January, 2014

Zhang said although both he and Xu did not think they would win a lighter sentence with the appeal, they planned to use the opportunity to lay out their points of view about the case.

Zhang said he would file an appeal for Xu within 10 days.

Xu’s trial was China’s highest-profile proceeding against a dissident since 2009, when Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo was tried for subversion after helping organize the “Charter 08” petition urging the end of one-party rule. He was jailed for 11 years.

CHANGE OF NAME AJAYI – I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Jessica Ajayi now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Jessica Sotolova Ajayi. All former documents remain valid.

Concerned authorities and the general public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME CHIAZOR – I, formerly known and addressed as Mrs. Chiazor Blessing Ejiro now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Chiazor Blessing Amaye. All former documents remain valid. Concerned authorities and the general public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME OLASOJI – I, formerly Anthonia Olasoji now wish to be known, called and addressed as Anthonia Ogieriakhi. All former documents remain valid. First Bank of Nigeria Plc and the general public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

OKOTIE – I, formerly called Okotie Faith is now known and called Toritsegin Faith. All former documents remain valid. Concerned authorities and the general public should please take note.

Issues

Dense Political And Economic Sector In Nigeria

IT is no longer news to suggest that Nigeria is on the verge of being completely destroyed by corruption. What is news is that since the middle of the 19th century, the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 to be precise, the biggest theft in the world history has been the colonization of Africa.

Second to that and since 1960, the biggest theft in human history has been the colossal amount of money approximately US $ 450 billion or N285 trillion lost through corruption in Nigeria, the main homeland of blacks in the world. Infact the picture of corruption in Nigeria is sometimes like a horror movie.

This is the compelling reason to begin to understand the political economy of a phenomenon which is doing so much damage to a territory of vast human material resources that are enough to build a modern state that can compete very well with others world wide in the era of globalization.

While Nigeria has effectively or functionally failed, it still retains a national carcass, which can be resuscitated with good leadership.

What colonialism did to integrate the pre-industrial mercantilism and petty production economy of Nigerian colony established fully in 1914 into the global mercantilist, industrial, military-industrialcommunication-entertainment complex in their historical phases. This process of globalization has not been peculiar to Nigeria. What has been exceptional here is the earlier volume of slave trading off the Nigerian coast and the contemporary ruination of the Nigerian political economy by corruption, much of it institutionalized during the military era, and which has become hegemonic with civil rule.

White settler colonialism and European –type productive capacity and a well guided anticolonial ideology have helped propel South Africa forward.

Egypt to the north has similarly performed well even economically, on the basis of political stability founded on a concrete ideology. South African has flourished despite a high crime rate apparently resulting from the transition from injustice too slowly evolving equity. And in the case of Egypt, it has marched on despite regional instability, including cross-border and neighbourhood wars. Where these countries should have been Nigeria’s mate in Africa,

they have disgraced Nigeria in terms of infrastructure and social services, as well as productivity capacity. Not to be outdone, Nigeria has chosen to become the African star in corruption.

The colonial economy of Nigeria was an essentially agricultural and solid materials economy produce like groundnuts, cocoa, palm oil and kernels, beniseed and livestock, including hides and skins were the principal cash agro products. There were also food agro-products like cassava, yam, rice, maize, corn and others. The solid minerals of tin, columbite and coal also nourished the export-oriented Nigeria economy. Even with the discovery of oil. Oloibiri in 1957, the fundamental economic resources of Nigeria are still agriculture and solid minerals, now abandoned for the monoculture of the hydrocarbon industry.

The hydrocarbon or oil and gas which has come to dominate foreign exchange earnings and accounts for much of what is called federation account money provides the funding for emoluments and overhead cost of the public sector and finances the capital projects that are implemented mainly by the private sector.

Nigerian oil and gas are extracted by mainly foreign partners of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) within the quotes of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The excess crude account which captures the surplus from favourable international crude oil pricing has become a controversial fund subject to abuse.

Outside the capital that is managed in the non-contracting private sector, the mainstream economy including manufacturers, bankers and traders, it is the federation account money that has been the main victim of corruption, of course fraud and other forms of crimes exist in the wider society on an accumulation through indigenization, privatization and monetization.

The biggest damage to the society seems to come from the theft of public money which is meant for development purposes like power, education, health, public transportation, water, housing and national security, among other sectors.

All forms of corruption are bad, but the one that bites hardest seems to be political corruption.

However, in the case of federation account, it is

By USIWO OGHENE D. ETHAN distributed to the federal government, states and local governments. Its distribution is in such a way that most non oil producing states receiving about 10 to 15 percent less than the oil producing states. Added to this is

prosecuted. He is reputed to have helped himself with substantially stolen public money while in office.

Another oil state governor is on the run, wanted for theft.

On this one, the whisper is

and Nigeria. I urge our parliamentarians to rise up to their responsibilities and work transparently, respectfully and passionately together for the good of the nation. The newly rebranding project of the government should start from our government through the provision of social amenities like power, creation of jobs, affordable health care delivery system and good roads.

Minister of Finance, Okonjo-Iweala

President Jonathan a policy of 13 percent derivation, the Niger Delta Development Commission, the Niger Delta Ministry, and the community development programmes of oil companies, which also channel its revenues from oil back to oil producing communities for community development, environmental rehabitation, infrastructure and services and human capital development.

Much of this money from government and oil companies is embezzled.

Here are some example: one of the Chief executives of the predecessor to NDDC, a university professor, stole a lot of money and migrated from Nigeria with his television presenter wife.

The “tummy-tuck” governor of oil-rich Bayelsa State was arrested in Europe with large sums of money. He jumped bail and mysteriously returned to Nigeria, only to be impeached and

Yar ’Adua administration.

Diaspora is very happy with the recent High Court judgement in Abuja, which has now made it possible for the Nigerians in the Diaspora to vote and be voted for. As this writer is one of those who have been campaigning for the political and economic rights of the Diaspora people, we commend out judiciary for this laudable development and hope

that he took away from the federation account alone, about US. $667 million or N100 billion in a period of eight years in office, slightly less than his colleague from another oil rich state who took from the same source about US $ 800 million, or N120 billion during the same period. Presently, another former oil-rich state governor is facing charges of stealing “only” US $ 300 million or N45 billion.

POLITICAL REFORM As democracy remains the best vehicle for ensuring positive change and political consciousness is what feeds democracy, Nigerians both at home and in the Diaspora are now yearning for a radical change in terms of economic and political reforms under President Shehu Musa

speeding judgement will be dispensed on remaining electoral cases till pending. For any meaningful development to take place there must be an effective and efficient institutions and this could be understood from the governance perspective.

Governance generally is primarily concerned with two inter-related issues. These are (a) existence of societal institutions for managing social relations: (b) the degree of in (c) dependence enjoyed by each institution in the performance of its assigned duties. It could be said that the state of institutions along these two dimensions determines the quality of governance.

Nigerians are keenly watching and hoping that our Bi-cameral system of government works together for the best interest of Nigerians

ECONOMIC REFORMS Today’s globalization has now made both the developing and developed world trade together.

However, disparity of trade exists between the developed countries and developing countries. World Trade Organization (WTO) should create the level playing field to allow Africans goods to complete internationally. As human beings now live in a globalized world where issue like trade, poverty, HIV aids and climate change just to mention a few transcends barriers and national privatization of industries by nations (mixed market economy) is one of the measures being embarked upon by countries both by the developed and developing worlds to revamp their ailing economies.

“Outside the capital that is managed in the non-contracting private sector, the mainstream economy including manufacturers, bankers and traders, it is the federation account money that has been the main victim of corruption, of course fraud and other forms of crimes exist in the wider society on an accumulation through indigenization, privatization and monetization”.

EVERY WEDNESDAY, WEEK 29, 2014 LUCKY 1.2. X SELECTIONS 2 INTERNATIONAL NOS. HOT PAIRS 3 13 4

19 26 32 45

BANKERS

4

27 47 OUTLOOK

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11 12 13 24 25 26

1. ROCHDALE

45

XXB

2. CELTIC

46

XXB

3. STREWSBURY

32

2XB

4. MAN CITY

6

505

5. FULHAM

4

6. SHEFFIELD

20

7. KILMARNOCK

47

8. IPSWICH

15 CBK

x

USE

GILLINGHAM

ROTHERHAM

IPSWICH KILMARNOCK

9. HULL

5 CBK

10. Q.P.R.

19 XXX

CARDIFF

11. PETERBORUGH

29 X0

BRISTOL C.

12. CREW

26 XI

13. ROTHERHAM

31 XXX

}

14. ROCHDALE

45 TIP

15. SWINDON

33 XP

16. BRISTOL CITY

23 X0

17. BLACKBURN

12 X0X

18. BOURNEMOUTH

13

19. PLYMOUTH

43 NNN

20. STOKE

8

XX

???

27

31

15 47

2 23

} } }

XOX

XOX

CCB CCB TIP TIP

BIG BELLS KILMANOCK

47

ABC

GILLINGHAM

27

XBK

ROTHERHAM

31

CBK

FULHAM

4

DEP

20

EAT

SHEFFIELD

By SAM EHEBHA GSM:08056626091

SATURDAY RITUALS

4 8 33 43 47

GOSSIP NAP

4 15 27 NAP

31 47

}

PAIR

IF NOT NOW WHEN?

47

A 15 P 31

15

EVERY WEDNESDAY, WEEK 29, 2014 WATSON WEST 1.2.X FORECAST

By SAM EHEBHA GSM:08056626091

Your Star

EDITOR’S NAP

RICHWELL NAP

MURPHY NAP

NAP 4 XX 4 XX 4 PAIR 15 OR 47 LET IT BE

NAP 27 XX 27 XX 27 PAIR 4 Vs 6 GOODLUCK

SUNNY NAP

J. B. NAP

NAP 20 XX 20 XX 20

PAIR 10 OR 11 WATCH OUT

OKUNS NAP NAP 48 XX 48 XX48

PAIR 12 OR 13 THERE IS HOPE

NAP 31 XX 31 XX 31 PAIR 23 OR 2 EXECUTIVE

PAKER NAP NAP 24 XX 24 XX 24 PAIR 33 OR 11 FOR SURE

NAP 49 XX 49 XX49 PAIR : 23 or 24 BE A WINNER

PAUL NAP

ODION NAP

NAP 44 XX 44 XX 44 PAIR 3 0R 4 DRAW IS DRAW

NAP 47 XX 47 XX 47 PAIR 27 OR 28 BE MY GUEST

GUESSING GAMES

13

47

12

@

44

20

19

14

SMOKING GUN BEWARE

1 2 15 7 18 22

39 25 26 28 30 34 36 FOR THREE DRAWS?

Violation Of NPFL Moral Rules

Odegbami Advocates Tougher stakeholders, especially the LMC, A former Green Eagles player, must first add value to the league Segun Odegbami, on Monday in Punishment before it could be attractive to Abuja called for tougher punishment for violators of the moral rules guiding the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL).

Odegbami spoke at the day two of the 2013/2014 pre-season workshop organised by the League Management Company (LMC) for captains, chairmen, media officers and chairmen of supporters clubs of the clubs.

“I suggest that extreme measures be taken in any instance where there is a clear infraction of the basic moral rules of the game.

“I am talking about moral rules now, not the content of the match.

Nobody should go and interfere with any decision of the referee.

“Beyond that, there should be very strict and extreme conditions,’’ he said.

Odegbami, one of the resource persons at the workshop, pointed out that the game of football was not all about winning.

He said efforts should be geared towards making football an enjoyable game for the spectators and players in order for marketers and investors to have value for their money.

“This will make everybody go back home with the satisfaction that they have seen a game that has integrity.

“If you win it, let it be seen that it was won with integrity, and if you lose, lose the same way. But be sure that you have given your best.

“You cannot go and intimidate a referee and expect him to perform well. You only kill the game and it cannot progress.

“It is a fact of reciprocity, because as you have done to somebody, another person will also do to you.

“That is why winning away from home is almost becoming impossible in our league, because teams will first of all count their home matches and give themselves points.

“That is also why clubs also keep the telephone numbers of all the referees, and their bank account numbers to negotiate on matches,’’ Odegbami said.

He explained that every negative action in the league has its repercussion.

The former Chairman of gateway FC of Abeokuta then proposed the introduction of secret monitors to identify violators of the league rules.

Odegbami said the LMC should be responsible for match officials’ security to ward off the influence of state Football Association officials who would want match proceeding to go in their favour.

He urged the LMC to liaise with the Commissioners of Police in the states to provide security for the match officials.

This, he said would make them (match officials) have little or no

Aminu Maigari

interaction with the state FA officials.

In his paper titled “Curbing violence at match venues”, Sani Mohammed, a Commissioner of Police from the Police Force Headquarters, Abuja urged football clubs to always co-operate with the police.

Mohammed said the cooperation would help the police in the discharge of their duties without looking for scapegoats at match venues.

Onyeali Ikpe, another resource person at the workshop, said league

prospective sponsors.

Ikpe noted that investors valued products the way they were presented.

The workshop which ended yesterday was is a continuation of the earlier one organised for match officials as well as medical personnel of NPFL clubs on Saturday.

The workshop, taking place at the Abuja National Stadium, is part of LMC’s pre-season programme expected to usher in the 2013/2014 NPFL season on Feb. 21.

Pillars Striker Umar Tries Out In Egypt

PILLARS striker Kabiru Umar is undergoing trials at top Egyptian club Arab Contractors.

“Kabiru is on trials in Egypt with Arab Contractors. He is to be there for a week,” disclosed club spokesman Idris Malikawa.

He has been registered by Pillars for this year’s CAF Champions League.

The former Heartland and Enugu Rangers striker therefore missed the on-going Super 4 in Abuja.

Umar, a skilful striker armed with

a decent shot and pace, joined Pillars from Heartland two seasons, but has yet to replicate the form he showed at the Owerri club as well as at Rangers.

His dipping form has also meant he has been overlooked by the country’s ‘B’ team after being part of coach Stephen Keshi’s team at the onset.

Kabiru Umar (right), slugging it out with an opponent during an NPL game.

Nigeria-Ghana S/Final Duel Today

A Titanic Battle Of TwoWest African Rivals

NIGERIA and Ghana will renew an age-long rivalry when both sides clash on Wednesday in the semi-finals of the African Nations Championship (CHAN) in Bloemfontein, South Africa.

The Black Stars of Ghana had on Sunday defeated DR Congo 1-0 eventual table-toppers Mali, and to set up a mouth-watering west beating Mozambique 4-2 and African clash against Nigeria.

South Africa 3-1.

The Super Eagles had earlier Ghana, on the other hand, overturned a 0-3 half-time finished as winners of Group B deficit to beat Morocco 4-3 in a after securing two 1-0 wins thrilling quarter-final match on against Congo and Ethiopia, and Saturday in Cape Town. a 1-1 draw against Libya.

In the competition’s group But, with Nigeria now a major stage, Nigeria finished as Group favourite for the CHAN title, the A runners-up after losing 1-2 to Ghana/Nigeria rivalry which

Ghana have only conceded one goal, while Nigeria have conceded eight to indicate that they have a defenceline that can be breached at any time.

But can the Black Stars really do this, going by the fact that they have also been goal-shy?

The Eagles, with such a firepower oiled by Ejike Uzoenyi, Ifeanyi Ede and Barnabas Imenger Jr., as well as Rabiu Ali, should have no problem getting past the Ghanaian rear.

Nonetheless, both teams will no doubt be desperate to get the better of each other and keep on to the bragging rights between both countries.

Surely, it is going to be a match to behold at the Free State Stadium.

dates back to 1951 will come into play while both sides’ pedigree will also be considered.

There is no clear-cut distinction between both sides, in terms of past matches at all levels between both sides.

The Super Eagles are making their debut at the CHAN tournament, while Ghana have enjoyed a better level of experience at the championship with this being their third successive appearance.

The Black Stars were at the inaugural finals in Ivory Coast in 2009 where they finished second.

This was after losing 0-2 in the final to DR Congo, the team they earlier beat 3-0 in a group game.

In 2011 at Sudan, they finished 14th in the 16-team event, after suffering three losses in three matches.

Therefore, they will now be

looking forward to doing better by creating what may appear the biggest upset by beating Nigeria who have the best attacking record at the event.

Ghana look to be better, with the manner of their progress so far, leading their group with seven points and winning outrightly in the quarter-finals against the competition’s inaugural champions.

Though Nigeria qualified with six points after an opening game loss, but they have made up for this by shutting out hosts South Africa.

They also created the continent’s greatest comeback record against Morocco.

While Nigeria are topping the statistics chart in terms of goals scored, with 12 in four matches, as against Ghana’s four, it is the opposite case in terms of goals conceded.

NIGERIA international striker Emmanuel Emenike suffered injury when in action for Fenerbahce against Konyaspor on

minute by Mehmet Topuz in Monday night.

Emenike suffered a partial a game his side won 2-1.

A scan was expected to be tear on his right thigh muscle and was substituted in the 80th carried out on the AFCON 2013 top scorer yesterday to ascertain the level of the injury.

The 2013 AFCON goal king was dogged by long-term the Nigerian team would do. But injuries last year. First, an the Eagles are a more tactically hamstring at the Nations Cup disciplined and result-oriented and then a knee injury that team. If the Nigerians approach required surgery in Italy.

He has scored eight goals in the match with the desired determination, it would be very 17 league games for difficult for the Ghanaians to Fenerbahce this season Meanwhile, Emenike has perfect or carry out their match plans.” been acquitted of matchZigilala is confident that fixing charges by the Supreme other teams participating in the Court, Turkey media report. championship do not have what The Nigeria player’s lawyer it takes to deny Nigeria the announced the decision coveted CHAN trophy.

Emenike has been acquitted from the case.

Emenike Injured, Scan To Determine Severity

Stephen Kessi

Ghanian-Born Zigilala Gives Victory To Nigeria

BY NICHOLAS EBOIGBE:

FORMER Coach of Bendel United Football Club of Benin, James Gabrah has declared victory for the Super Eagles of Nigeria in today’s semi-final match with Black Stars of Ghana in the on-going African Nations Championship in South Africa.

Grabrah, a Ghanaian by birth and nick-named ‘Zigilala’ by his admirers, explained that the Nigerian home-based Eagles tutored by Coach

Stephen Keshi have improved in their performance with each match as against the Ghanaian side that got the semi final courtesy of a penalty shoot - out against Congo in the quarterfinal game.

“If you look at the Nigerian team, they have determination and also the spirit of fighting back into reckoning and in the process, defeat their opponent”.

“I am a Ghanaian by birth but that does not mean I should not analyze correctly. The Black Stars struggled to reach this

stage. I watched the two matches.”

Gabrah did not fail to stick out his neck as he predicted a 2-1 win in favour of Nigeria’s Super Eagles.

He advised the Eagles to be consistent in their performance and they would certainly get to the final of the continental football showpiece (CHAN).

“Definitely, the Ghanaians will change their tactics in today’s match, the same way

Evergreen Veteran Pirlo Wins Player Of The Season Award ITALIAN football great Andrea Pirlo was named Serie A player of the 2012/13 season on Monday by his fellow players.

The 34-year-old Juventus playmaker — a pivotal player in the Italy side that won the 2006 World Cup and is set for another appearance in the finals in Brazil later this year — said the award meant extra because it came from his fellow players.

The former Brescia, Inter Milan and AC Milan star — nicknamed ‘Mozart’ by the Juventus fans for his supreme talent — was also named in the team of the season.

“The fact the vote was by my colleagues makes it extra special,” he said before adding he would be remaining with Serie A champions Juventus.

“That is for sure,” added Pirlo, who was also Serie A player of the year in 2012.

Aside from him the team featured unpredictable Italian striker Mario Balotelli and Uruguayan international Edinson Cavani, who had a superb season for Napoli before leaving for French champions Paris Saint Germain in the close season for a transfer fee of 45million euros ($61million).

Serie A

Juve Dominate Annual Awards

THE Gran Gala del Calcio was held yesterday, with Juventus dominating proceedings scooping best player, coach and club awards.

The annual awards recognising the best from the preceding season were held in Milan on Monday evening and for the second year in a row, Andrea Pirlo was named Player of the Year, for his efforts during 2012-13.

Coach of the Year was picked up by Antonio Conte, also for a second successive time, whilst best club was also awarded to the Old Lady.

Organised and run by the Italian Footballers’ Association, the awards are into their third year and nominated by a panel of

Andrea Pirlo

Barca Plan Action Over Neymar Leaks

NEW Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu says the club are considering taking legal action against whoever first leaked the details of Neymar’s transfer and contract into the public domain. “diversion” of money, with The deal that brought the Sandro Rosell resigning as Barca Brazilian attacker to the Camp chief in the wake of the complaint.

Nou last summer is now the Rosell and other Barca figures subject of a court investigation had long maintained that Neymar in Madrid into possible had cost just 57 million euros,

Balotelli Fined For Insulting misdemeanors.

MARIO Balotelli has been “Balotelli will learn,” Prandelli Gesture fined +10,000 for making a told reporters. “He will need a lot provocative gesture to the Cagliari fans after scoring during Milan’s 2-1 win on Sunday.

Serie A’s disciplinary tribunal said Balotelli had “angered the crowd with a provocative and insulting gesture” after securing a crucial goal three minutes from time from his unstoppable freekick.

The former Manchester City striker was also booked for his antics and will miss Milan’s next match against Torino on Saturday evening at the San Siro, as it was his fifth caution.

This will be Balotelli’s seventh suspension of the season after serving a four-match ban for being sent off against Napoli after insulting the referee.

Italy coach Cesare Prandelli was asked about the Balotelli

suspension and he said that the volatile youngster needed love and would soon learn from his

FIFA president Sepp Blatter has acknowledged in an interview with France Football that “it’s not possible” to play in the searing summer heat of Qatar. “[UEFA president] Michel Platini has been saying for the last two years that we can’t play in summer,” Blatter, 77, told the weekly magazine. “Well, that’s his point of view.

“I caused a stir a few months ago by saying that we had to take a lead and see if we could play in

winter. Because 45 degrees Celsius in summer, it’s not possible. FIFA’s Executive Committee therefore decided to make some consultations, the results of which need to be waited for.

“We’ll take a decision at the end of this year if possible, or in 2015. There’s no rush. Personally, I think that if there’s a will, there’s a way.”

Blatter’s comments reinforce those made by FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke recently

of love, he is a guy who we give a lot to and is important for Milan.”

Mario Balotelli

Blatter Keen On 2022 World Cup when he stated to French media the 2022 World Cup would be held in winter.

“We said from the off ‘no’ to January/February 2022 because of the Winter Olympics,” explained Blatter. “The tournament specifications for 2022 planned for a World Cup in June or July. It was, however, also pointed out that — from a medical point of view — playing summer would be a problem.

However, the people who voted didn’t take that into account.”

while a confidentiality agreement with Neymar Sr. precluded them from revealing any further details.

In recent weeks, though, El Mundo and other media outlets in Madrid and Barcelona attained both court documents and details of the player’s contract, leading Bartomeu and director Raul Sanllehi to announce that a total of 86.2 million euros had been paid to the player’s father and his former club Santos in a variety of different ways.

Bartomeu told Mundo Deportivo that he had instructed Barca’s lawyers to see if they should take a case against those responsible for publicising previously private details.

“About the leaks to the press of Neymar’s contract, we already have certain evidence that it did not come from here but from Madrid,” he said. “I have told our lawyers to follow the subject, and if there is anything, to lodge a complaint. We will get to the bottom of it, whether it is a person, a group, a legal practice or a media publication that has published false figures.”

El Mundo said on Tuesday that its sources inside the court said the Spanish tax authorities could view the extras that went to the agency run by Neymar Sr. as salary, and demand the appropriate income tax, which — the report claims — could cost Barca a total of 63 million euros.

The newspaper reports that the total owed could rise further should previous third-party investors DIS and Teisa win cases against Barca and Santos in a Brazilian court.

Meanwhile, Jordi Cases, the Barcelona socio whose petition sparked the court investigation, says he will not now withdraw the initial complaint despite having planned to do so.

Bartomeu is said to have told Cases during a phone call that if he stepped away now the club would not pursue him for any

damages in future, but board spokesperson Toni Freixa apparently withdrew that offer later on for reasons that remain unclear.

Cases told a news conference on Monday that he had wanted written assurances from the club before he instructed his lawyer to tell the Madrid court he was taking back his initial charge.

“My intention was to withdraw the complaint,” Cases said in quotes reported by AS. “I have a very cordial, friendly relationship with the gentleman running Barcelona. For the good of the club, to lower the tension, they said it would be necessary for me to withdraw the complaint. But without anything in writing, I cannot do that.”

Asked if he thought his complaint had forced the resignation of Rosell — who, Sport reports, plans to move to London with his family in search of new professional challenges — Cases said he felt there was still more information about the whole case to come out.

“There must be something more,” Cases said. “You do not resign just for this.”

players, Coaches, referees and journalists.

Juve also saw Giorgio Chiellini, Andrea Barzagli and Arturo Vidal voted into the Best XI. Gran Gala del Calcio 201213 awards Player of the Year: Andrea Pirlo, Juventus Coach of the Year: Antonio Conte, Juventus [second Montella, third Allegri] Team of the Year: Juventus Best XI: Handanovic; Maggio, Barzagli, Chiellini, De Sciglio; Vidal, Pirlo, BorjaValero; Cavani, Balotelli, Di Natale Best goalkeeper: Samir Handanovic, Inter [second Buffon, third Marchetti] Best left-back Mattia De Sciglio, Milan [second Paqual, third Lulic] Best left-centre-back: Giorgio Chiellini, Juventus [second Astori, third Bonucci] Best right-centre-back: Andrea Barzagli, Juventus [second Marquinhos, third Ogbonna] Best right-back: Christian Maggio, Napoli [second Zuniga, third Lichtsteiner] Best creative midfielder: Andrea Pirlo, Juventus [second Diamanti, third De Rossi] Best central midfielder: Borja Valero, Fiorentina [second Pogba, third Marchisio] Best outside midfielder: Arturo Vidal, Juventus [second Hamsik, third Cuadrado] Best attacker: Mario Balotelli, Milan [second Vucinic, third Palacio] Best right-sided forward: Antonio Di Natale, Udinese [second Totti, third Jovetic] Best left-sided forward: Edinson Cavani, Napoli [second Klose, third El Shaarawy] Best youngster: Domenico Berardi, Sassuolo Best women’s footballer: Melania Gabbiadini, Verona Best referee: Nicola Rizzoli

Sepp Blatter, FIFA President

MR. Wellington Okoh is an Honourable Commissioner with Edo State Oil and Gas Producing Area Development Commission (EDOGPADEC).

But beneath his present assignment, Mr Okoh is a consummate athlete who had cut his teeth in boxing both at the State, national and international arena.

He is a former state and national boxing champion. The swarthy Uromi-born boxer attained his boxing glory in 1993 and 1994 when he won the Golden Globe Championship in New England, USA. In this interview with our Group Sports Editor, MATTHEW OKAGHA, Mr Okoh reminisces about sports in the good old days of Bendel State. He also speakes on his effort to rekindle the interest of young aspiring boxers in Edo State. Happy reading: Can you recall what it was like in boxing in the old Bendel State?

In terms of sports generally, Bendel state was always the front-runner, be it in boxing, handball, badminton, soccer or track and field, Bendel State was always on the lead.

Lagos was the only state contending the lead with Bendel and the rivalry was excitingly competitive.

When we go for national sporting competitions, shouts of ‘Up Bendel! Up Bendel!! often rent the air and our people were happy for it.

Our athletes commanded an aura of fear at every national event. Athletes from other states were always jittery when they see us because they know we are there for real competition, we are there to take away the medals that would be presented at the end of every competition.

So Bendel State was always dreaded and admired at the same time back then.

What in your view has changed now?

I think a lot has changed.

When I started bocxing at the age of 12, the facilities and coaches were there.

My interest in boxing started when I watched Mohammed Ali and George Foreman in the famous “Rumble in the jungle” fight in Kinshasa, Zaire.

After watching that epic fight, I took immediately interest in boxing and I was just a teenager in form two or there about. I started boxing and since then I have not looked back.

Well to answer your question, back then, boxing and sports generally was something that everybody was passionate about, everybody was involved in one way or the other.

I cannot say that is exactly the case today. First of all, you must have self-interest and self-determination- you

know what you want to be and where you want to go.

Back then, the government was religiously involved in the development of sports. I am not saying that the government at present does not support sports, but certainly it is not as it was back then in Old Bendel State.

Of course, you know that the then military governor of Bendel State, Brig-Gen Ogbemudia was a sportsman himself and this no doubt, contributed to the intensity of sporting activities in the state.

He loved to come and watch the people –be it track and field, boxing, etc. So, the interest of the government was really focused in sports.

I can remember days when the governor would woke up and come straight to the stadium to watch the sportsmen and women train.

Often, he would admonish the coaches or encourage them as the case maybe.

I think that is what we need to bring back in the state, we need encouragement both from government, corporate bodies and individuals so that we can move our state back to its original position in sports.

Last December, you organized a boxing tournament for fans in Benin City. What motivated you to do that?

Like I said earlier, when I came back from the United state, I went to the Stadium and visited my old gym. The condition in which I met it was nothing to write home about.

I felt inspired to do something and put a call across to one of my colleagues whom we were boxing together in our sporting days in Bendel. His name is Joshua Imadiyi but a lot of people know him as Osmond.

He is presently based in Boston, USA. We decided to put money together and bought some equipment for

We Must Give Encouragement To Our Sportsmen And Women - Okoh our young boxers here to use. Thank God, they are using those equipment today.

I just believe that the only way to arouse the interest of the young and upcoming boxers is to give them

something to look forward to – that is the equipment and the competition.

I decided that December 26

Mr. Wellington Okoh explaining a point during the interview with OBSERVERSports

being a Boxing Day will be ideal to organize a boxing tournmant, which we did. I was told it has never happened for the last 5-10 years.

So that was it, and hopefully, it will become an annual event probably when the government or corporate bodies key in and I am optimistic that this will stimulate the interest of the young ones in boxing as a noble sports.

What is your message to young aspiring boxers?

My message is that when you crave for success, you have to work for it yourself.

Do not wait for the government or anybody to thrust it on you.

It is when you are working hard, showing the determination to succeed that probably someone out there would try to help you.

So, they should remain focused, be enthusiastic in what they are doing and put their minds to it. The sky would be their limit.

Mr. Wellington Okoh

“Back then, the government was religiously involved in the development of sports. I am not saying that the government at present does not support sports, but certainly it is not as it was back then in Old Bendel State.”