3rd March 2016

NIGERIA’S MOST INFORMATIVE NEWSPAPER NO 16,449

THURSDAY, 3 MARCH, 2016

Olubadan: All set for Adetunji's coronation tomorrow •His palace, Mapo Hall wearing new look •Glo to sponsor activities •Oyo CP warns miscreants against violence

www.tribuneonlineng.com

Awo memorial symposium holds in Ikenne today

Nigerian Tribune

@nigeriantribune

NJC bars Justice Ajugomobia from elevation, places her on watch list —P41

Nigerian Tribune

N150

2016 budget will be ready by March 17 —NASS

Ese is 6 months pregnant —Findings —P14

—P6

—P16

•Arrives Yenagoa amidst tight security •Abductor, syndicate will face severe punishment —IGP —Pgs7,12 •Release my son, he's innocent —Abductor's father

Senate probes NDDC over N40bn abandoned projects

•Indicts oil companies, others over 13% derivation fund —P12

Soldiers flog protesting women in Delta

•Destroy 9 motorcycles, 13 bicycles —P6

Police Force Public Relations Officer, Bisi Kolawole, with mother of the abducted 14-year-old Ese, Mrs Rose Oruru, at the Police Headquarters, during a press conference in Abuja, on Wednesday. PHOTO: SUNDAY OSUNRAYI

Boko Haram: Army commutes Ransome-Kuti's dismissal sentence to demotion —P16

Abductors of Lagos female students demand N200m ransom •Parents evacuate children •Those evacuated are to write UTME —School source •Academic activities suspended, may resume today

—P8

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interview Nigeria’ll do better if each region is granted enough autonomy —Awolowo Dosumu

Executive Director, Obafemi Awolowo Foundation (OAF), Dr. Olatokunbo Awolowo Dosumu, on Tuesday last week, addressed a press conference in Lagos on the activities lined up to celebrate the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s 107th birthday posthumously. The former Nigerian Ambassador to The Netherlands, in this interview with LANRE ADEWOLE and BOLA BADMUS, speaks on varying national issues. Excerpts:

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OOKING at education in the South-West, the statistics on the ground is indicative of the South-West dropping its front runner toga and people are wondering what is happening to us. We used to be number one in education. Now, the latest data from WAEC shows that Lagos, which led other South-West states, ranked 6th behind South-East states in the 2015 WAEC examination. What would you say is responsible for that decline?

First of all, any decline is disappointing for a region that held a pride of place in terms of education. That is not acceptable.

Any decline cannot be acceptable and all I can say is that a lot needs to be done to put things right. I say first of all, training of teachers’ needs to be beefed up; teachers morale needs to be enhanced. People have to be given the motivation to do the job and the basic tools with which knowledge would be imparted to the children have to be produced. All of this has to do with money.

The last time I looked through the percentage of the budget, as recommended

by UNESCO, that should be deployed for education, when I was preparing a paper to be delivered at a conference sometime ago, I am afraid, Nigeria fell way below that percentage. In the days of Chief Awolowo, when free education was established and was going on, what they deplored to education was way in excess of what UNESCO now suggests should be the case. And in those days, their philosophy was that the priority in their budget would go to those things that would enhance the quality of lives of the citizenry. And anything that didn’t fit that description would go to the back burner. So I think in the area of budgeting, a lot of reviews and, a lot of reforms need to be done. Fortunately, the World Bank also believes in the United Nations’ human development paradigm, where they are now saying that all efforts must be geared towards the development of every single individual, which is the message that Papa always used to proclaim so many years ago and which the Action Group actually propounded—freedom for all and life more abundant.

So I think I would expect government

Dr. Olatokunbo Awolowo Dosumu from the South-West to follow in Papa’s footsteps in that regard and make sure that education becomes their number one priority. In any case, we are already in and we are moving more and more into a knowledge-driven world and there is no way by which we can compete with the developed world without developing individuals. We are not saying there shouldn’t be access to private education and private health and private everything, what Papa was saying was equality of opportunity.

Those who go to public schools must also get quality education there.

I read a quote on the back page of Punch newspaper, I would not say who

was quoted, but he was saying that in 20 years’ time, public universities would be no more; it would all be private universities. I have to say I was unhappy for the rest of that day. I had headache. Even now that I am remembering it, I still feel unhappy, because what does that consign the children of people who cannot afford to go to private universities to? What does that consign the prospect of Nigeria for development to? That is not saying very much about our seriousness to develop.

I think in order to truly do justice to Papa’s memory and to his legacy, those who are there should do more.

Do you think the leaders of the South-West now are living up to the standard or building on the legacy that Chief Awolowo left in the area of education?

All I can say is that they are trying their best. There can only be one Chief Awolowo and Papa had a team. They are probably working under constraints that I am not aware of, I don’t know. But I am just asking that they do more to develop every individual that is in their territory, just as Papa did.

There is a world of difference becontinues pg5

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Thursday, 3 March, 2016

‘At Awo Foundation, we deal with idea about how to move the country forward’ thing; that is not going to happen. It is not going to be possible. But at the same time, I suppose that is what they are trying to do now, to encourage people to buy goods produced in Nigeria. The quality has to be of a certain level in order to expand the manufacturing base. You need a lot of foreign exchange, because, unfortunately, we don’t produce the machinery here either.

So we are kind of being between the devil and the deep blue sea at the moment.

continued from pg 4

tween what we were used to during Papa’s time and what is really happening now. Can you try and place exactly where the problem lies in Nigeria?

The problem is on both sides of the divide. There is a problem with the followership and there is a problem with the leadership. In the days of Papa, Papa emerged leader because that was the decision of the followership. He was identified and asked to lead. In other words, the followership at that time knew what they wanted and they were discerning enough to look at all the individuals that aspired to leadership and they came to the decision that this one is likely to do the job.

There is a book written by a German scholar about Papa and he said that in Yoruba land, they chose their leaders based on their perception of who was more likely to set aside his own interest to pursue their own interest. That book tries to situate his emergence as the leader within the traditional setting: how they always chose leaders, even in the Osugbos and in the cultures of various towns.

These days, can we say the same thing of the followership? In those days, people did ask questions. There were always meetings; the followership joined parties of their choice and paid money into the coffers of those parties so that they would have a voice. And they did. They would go to meeting faithfully every Sunday of every week whenever they chose to have their meetings and they would go there and ask the leadership hard questions about the amenities they promised, or this or that.

And, therefore, there was interaction and only people they could trust emerged.

When democracy came only trusted hands were voted into office. Is that the case now? Because in a case where people buy their way into office, I am afraid there is very little that can be achieved.

You participated in the National Conference organised by the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan. A report was submitted and there have been calls on the current president not to discard the report by throwing the baby out with the bathwater. What is your position on this, looking at the human and material resources that went into that conference?

It will be a great pity if the report is abandoned, because there were a lot of recommendations in there that would help us to move forward. I am so certain about that.

First of all, federalism. That is the first and foremost issue. Is this the kind of federalism that was bequeathed to our generation? I am not so sure. In the case where the states are subservient to the centre, I don’t think it is healthy. I just believe we would do better if, as in the First Republic, each region was given enough autonomy.

And then I think the concept of sharing money from Abuja just caused everybody to sleep and not to work hard.

I was going to ask about the decline in oil prices which has put Nigeria’s economy in bad shape and the fall

Dr Awolowo Dosumu in the value of naira. What do you think government should do to reverse this trend?

Well, now we are at a crossroads where we have no choice but to do those things that could have been better done in the days of plenty. First of all diversify the economy; second of all, develop every Nigerian so that we can find innovators among us, innovators not only in technical terms, but in terms of ideas too. So I think it is the only way out. We have to look for other ways. I think that is just common sense. We have to look for other ways of making money. We absolutely have to.

In the days of Joseph, in Egypt, he kept food aside in the seven years of plenty, when he knew that there was famine coming. But whether you know there was famine in the offing or not, I think common sense dictates that you keep money in the days of plenty so that in case of rainy days, you can have something to fall back on.

Ma, they say the pressure on the dollar, the rate at which dollar is being demanded caused the fall in the value of naira, especially because Nigerians are used to importing all manner of items. But people who are in support of free economy would say you can import anything into the country and that we should allow free economy. Are you supporting a situation where the country would have to say we are banning this and we are banning that in the light of the situation we are in now?

I think the entire world has moved beyond a situation where you can close your doors and ban this and ban that. So to some extent, you have to protect home economy from so many issues, but at the

same time, I don’t think we live in a world where you can be isolated anymore and you cannot.

But even now they are saying that Nigerians go to the extent of even importing toothpicks into the country.

Yes, that is why I said you need to protect your economy. You need to be sensible about what you bring in and toothpick is what can be produced here in Nigeria. I think, it is a thin line, it is a very, very thin line between closing your doors and making sure that your economy is not open to all sorts of funny intrusion. I think it is something that needs to be done and it has to be done. We have to work that fine line now. You cannot say you are closing your doors, that you are banning every-

In the days of Chief Awolowo, when free education was established and was going on, what they deployed to education was way in excess of what UNESCO now suggests should be the case

We can’t divorce your activities from politics. I remember during the government of Jonathan, you were at the forefront of agitation for inclusion of Yoruba race in national offices and that eventually got us the office of the Chief of Staff to the President after so many pilgrimages to Aso Rock. Now there are also claims that the current government is shortchanging Yoruba race, and we are still expecting people like you to be at the forefront again. Why is the pilgrimage not being undertaken this time around to Aso Rock? As an addendum to that, many would still recall the brilliant governorship race you ran in Lagos many years back, then suddenly you are completely out of Lagos politics.

Have you moved more to advocacy now than partisan politicking?

I moved to advocacy since 1992. Since I set up this place, we cannot afford to be partisan. We just cannot afford to be partisan, because Papa, as I have often said, Papa, on the 9th of May 1987, transited from being a person to an idea. Papa is an idea now and his philosophy is available to all. Look at the Millennium Development Goals, if you look at the goals in the Action Group of those days, just look at them and what they did, you would see that they share some similarities. If you look at his thought on human development, you would see that it is exactly what the World Bank is proposing now about human development index of its human development paradigm.

So, there is nothing partisan about what he was saying. It was just that the only vehicle by which he could actualise his vision was through politics and that was why he was a partisan politician and that was probably why his opponents shot down anything that he stood for. But I believe across the political divide now. We have progressives everywhere and people who believe in what he stood for. So I have moved to advocacy. Anybody who follows Papa’s legacy and tries to move his vision into reality is my friend. So I am not a partisan politician, I ceased to be a partisan politician the moment this foundation came into being. What we deal with is idea about how to move the country forward.

On the marginalisation question, we are giving them, this administration, time; they’ve only been there less than a year.

So I am sure, you know we went on the platform of the Yoruba Unity Forum, and the Yoruba Unity Forum encompasses all shades of political opinion. Right now, there are some among us who have access to make these things move high up there, but I suppose we have to exhaust that route first before we go public.

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Thursday, 3 March, 2016

62 years after: Awo’s legendary feats revisited

By Moses Olorode

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NE of the greatest achievements of the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, whose posthumous birthday we will be celebrating on March 6, 2016) was the adroit manner with which he galvanized the resources of old Western Region to record monumental feats.

Today, state governors go cap in hand begging the Federal Government for money to pay their workers’ salaries while they also depend heavily on it to foot the bills of capital projects in their respective domains.

But reverse was the case when Chief Awolowo was piloting the affairs of the old Western Region.

Chief Obafemi Awolowo became Premier of the old Western Region in 1954 at the age of 45 years. In his inaugural speech on Thursday, October 5, 1954, Chief (then Mr) Awolowo had declared in the Western House of Assembly that what he needed from that moment on was “purity of thought, purity of words and purity of deeds.”

He said “what I need at this hour and hereafter is neither wealth nor fame nor social standing. What I need henceforth above all things is purity of thought, purity of words and purity of deeds.

“It is only by faithfully striving hard for the cultivation of these ideals that one can be near as possible to the throne of grace and the centre of power and repose. For it is nearness to God that can bestow on me His divine guidance and wisdom which I very much require to enable me discharge my onerous duties.”

As Awo was blazing economic trails, his counterparts in the Northern and Eastern States openly wondered where he was getting the funds with which he was creating the waves.

While he was building the famous Cocoa House (the ultra modern 22 storey skyscraper in Ibadan), he was also constructing the biggest Olympic-size stadium in Nigeria – the Liberty Stadium and at the same time beaming news and current affairs to his people through the first television network in Africa – the WNTV/WNBS. Awolowo continued to blaze the trail with the introduction of free primary education throughout the Western Region, built the Bodija Housing Estate, the State Secretariat Complex

Awo memorial symposium holds in Ikenne today

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N response to the continuing demand for good governance anchored on the timeless ideas of the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, top stakeholders in Nigeria’s academic, political, business and social sectors will, today, converge on the Efunyella Hall, Ikenne Remo, Ogun State residence of the sage, for the 2016 Obafemi Awolowo Memorial Symposium.

The symposium, which will be chaired by the Ka-

duna State governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, will feature top academics and intellectuals from around the world, who will engage the theme: “Awo, Then and Now: Politics, Economy and Education.”

The symposium, at which the Ondo State governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko and his Imo State counterpart, Chief Rochas Okorocha are guests of honour, will be hosted by the Ogun State governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun and moderated by

renowned scholar, Professor Ladipo Adamolekun.

While the Keynote Address will be given by Segun Gbadegesin, Professor of Philosophy and Interim Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, Howard University, USA, distinguished intellectuals, including former Minister of Education, Dr Oby Ezekwesili; Afenifere chieftain, Dr Femi Okurounmu; Professor Ayo Olukotun and Professor Williams Alade Fawole will serve as panellists at the symposium.

Soldiers go berserk, flog protesting women in Delta

•Destroy 9 motorcycles, 13 bicycles Ebenezer Adurokiya - Warri Chief Awolowo and many road networks, all of which structure have remained strong and solid more than half a century after their construction. And all of these funded from only the farm produce and internally generated revenue.

And as if all the aforementioned were not enough to draw the envy of other sister regions like the North and the East, Awolowo threw the then almighty Federal Government off the balance when he announced an unprecedented pay rise for its thousands of workers which the Federal Government could not afford to pay its own employees.

In banner headlines carried by the Sunday Times of October 10, 1954, titled: “5s A Day for West Government Workers”, the government announced the jumbo pay for its workers and immediately agitation commenced

by Federal Government workers for a similar pay rise. But three weeks later on October 31, 1954, the same paper carried another report quoting the Federal Government as telling its workers that it would not allow itself to be stampeded into paying the new wages.

It is note-worthy that workers in the two other regions did not even bother themselves with agitation for this jumbo pay increase because they knew their own governments could not afford to pay even half of it.

Today, while state governments look up to the Federal Government for bail-outs to pay their workers, Chief Awolowo was actually creating precepts which even the Federal Government could not match.

It is spectacular feats like these that prompted President Ibrahim Babangida to shower encomiums on Chief Awolowo during his 77th birthday celebrations in 1987. In a letter personally signed by him, the former president said: “When you were Premier of Western Nigeria in the 50s you established an administration that was second to none on the continent of Africa and initiated far-sighted projects and programmes of relevance and significance for the citizens of this country who were lucky to reside in that part of Nigeria at that time.

In the domain of politics, President Babangida said Chief Awolowo had been able to attract wide and strong support “while those opposed to you politically have had to recognize your sterling qualities as a worthy competitor.”

These last words of President Babangida were confirmed by the late Biafran war lord, Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu who was generally perceived as an arch-enemy to the late sage.

In a glowing tribute when he paid a condolence visit to the Awolowo family in Ikenne, Ojukwu openly described Chief Awolowo as “the best President Nigeria never had.”

Today, as we celebrate yet another posthumous birthday of our sage and avatar, we of the PCN pray that the legacies he left behind will continue to have positive impact on our people – from generation to generation.

•Olorode is the Chairman, Positive Change Network (PCN)

HUNDREDS of women, most of them in their 70s, were, Wednesday morning, given the beating of their lives by soldiers, for protesting against the acquisition of a disputed land.

The women, numbering about 500, went on the peaceful protest at OvreEku (Iwevbo) community, Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State, over a land said to have been in dispute for years between Edo and Delta states.

They had converged at Eku community in black attires and marched to the disputed land, bearing a coffin wrapped with palm fronds, to express their displeasure on the alleged sale of the land to one PRESCO Oil Company.

The soldiers, over 10, were said to have been deployed from 4th Brigade, Benin Garrison Unit, to guard the acquired land belonging to the company.

It was gathered that when the women got to the spot at about 10.45 a.m, they were accosted by the soldiers, who ordered them to leave the site.

But the women were said to have insisted on having an audience with, at least, a representative of the company before they could take their leave.

The soldiers were said to have felt slighted by the women’s request and adamance, which prompted the leader of the troop, identified as the Unit Commander, Lieutenant E.D. Oworobo, to cock his rifle and ordered his boys to begin to flog the women under his supervision.

Reminiscent of the dark days of military regime in the country, the soldiers, armed with sticks and whips, also went after some of the women, who were fleeing into the woods, hounding and beating them to stupor.

Described as a pathetic sight, some of the women, who could not run as a result of old age, were caught

Senate to amend JAMB Act Ayodele Adesanmi - Abuja SENATE, on Wednesday, resolved to amend the Act establishing the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), to extend the validity of its Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) result from one year to three years.

The Senate also resolved that the examination fees be reviewed downwards to N2,500, while change of course and institutions, as well as any other changes surrounding the examination be made free.

These followed the con-

sideration of a report by the Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFund, headed by Senator Binta Marsi Garba (APC Adamawa).

up by the wild soldiers, who began to trample upon them with their boots, as well as flogged them with canes improvised from tree branches.

Nigerian Tribune also gathered that the soldiers, at about 11.30 a.m, further went berserk and invaded parts of Ovre-Eku community.

There, they were said to have destroyed no fewer than nine motorcycles and 13 bicycles belonging to residents of the community, who had fled into the woods, following the arrival of more soldiers in a white Hilux van.

It was also gathered that two journalists, who had accompanied the protesting women, narrowly escaped the brutality of the ravenous khaki men.

As of the time of filing this report, scores of the protesting women, who had fled into the woods, could not be located.

It was also gathered that some of the women, whom the soldiers caught up with during the hot chase, were now in their custody.

Meanwhile, when contacted on why he ordered his boys to brutalise the protesting, but harmless women, the Unit Commander, Lieutenant Oworobo simply growled: “You are a fool and a madman.”

7 news

Thursday, 3 March, 2016

Ese is 6 months pregnant —Findings Arrives Yenagoa amidst tight security From Chris Agbambu and Austin Ebipade

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TRONG indications emerged on Wednesday, that the abducted Ese Oruru, who was handed over to her mother, may have been impregnated

by Yunusa Dahiru, who took her to Kano and kept her at the Emir’s palace.

Investigations revealed that Yunusa, a.k.a. Yellow, may have impregnated her before eloping with her to Kano.

All entreaties to police authorities to reveal the result of the medical examinations carried out by police doctors met stiff walls.

However, anxiety mounted on Wednesday, when the police authorities could not bring Ese forward to be handed over to her mother during the brief press conference addressed by the Force’s spokesperson, Olabisi Kolawole.

Informed sources disclosed to Nigerian Tribune that Ese was being protected because of her tender age and the agonising trauma she would face if handed over to her mother in the full glare of cameras and journalists.

However, authoritative police source told Nigerian Tribune that the medical test may have revealed

that Ese’s pregnancy should not be less than five months.

Force spokesperson, Kolawole, denied the report that the test may have revealed pregnancy, “I am not aware of that,” she said.

The source revealed that the result of the medical investigation had remained a secret and would only be given to the parents and the Investigating Police Officer (IPO).

The source further added

that the decision not to produce Ese before journalists was a deliberate ploy so people would not notice the condition of the girl.

Meanwhile, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr

INSPECTOR-General of Police (IGP), Mr Solomon Arase, on Wednesday, announced severe punishments against Yinusa Dahiru, the abductor of Ese Oruru, alongside other key actors in the seven-monthold saga, to serve as a deterrent to others involving in such vicious acts.

Arase, who also declared that any officer indicted of professional dereliction would be firmly dealt with, accordingly, disclosed this at the Force Headquarters in Abuja, shortly before Ese’s mother, Mrs Rose Oruru, was led to take custody of her daughter.

Speaking through the Force Public Relations Officer, Olabisi Kolawole, the IGP declared that “aside prosecution of the actors directly involved in this case, an in-house administrative inquiry has also been designed to review the professional conducts of officers responsible for the initial investigation of this case.

“The victim is currently be-

getting to Abuja at night.

The IPO also went with the suspect, Yunusa, to Bayelsa State, to conclude investigation on the matter, for possible prosecution. continues pg16

Why she was absent during handover —Police To undergo medical examination before reunion Chris Agbambu and Adetola Bademosi - Abuja ESE Oruru, who was allegedly abducted in Bayelsa State, will undergo psychological, emotional and medical examination before reunion with her parents, the Force spokesperson, Olabisi Kolawole, disclosed on Wednesday.

Ese, was absent at the handing over, while her mother, Mrs Rose Oruru, was in attendance.

The Force spokesperson, who addressed journalists in Abuja, said the victim could not appear before the media, as the case involved a minor.

According to her, there is need to respect the privacy and other protective rights of the girl-child.

“As we share the joy of the safe release of Ese, let me appeal to ladies and gentlemen of the press, of the crucial need to respect

the privacy and other protective rights of the girlchild and her family at the moment.

“This is a minimum legal and international requirement in cases of this nature. As a civilised nation, this is the standard, we should not compromise in the longterm interest of the girl-child victim and her traumatised family,” she said.

She disclosed that the victim, who would be handed over to her parents after passing through psychology, emotional and medical examinations, was currently being attended to by officers of the Gender and Child Protection Unit of the Force, as well as a team of medical experts.

“A team from the Medical Department of the Force are also extending medical attention to the girl. Upon certifying her medical status and emotional state,

Ese will be reunited with her parents, who are already around to work with police professionals in this regards,” she added.

Kolawole, however, confirmed the arrest of the abductor, Yunusa Dahiru (Alias Yellow) and other actors in the abduction saga, saying they would be brought to deserved justice.

She further added that the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Solomon Arase, had ordered an inhouse administrative inquiry designed to review the professional conducts of officers responsible for the initial investigation of this case.

According to her, “any officer indicted of professional dereliction will be firmly dealt with, accordingly.

“This is the only way this nation can make a clear statement in unison that

Her abductor, syndicate will face severe punishment —IG Chris Agbambu - Abuja

Solomon Arase, on Wednesday, provided funds for the purchase of air ticket for Ese, her mother, Rose and the IPO, Edith Washington.

Ese’s mother had to travel all day on Tuesday before

ing granted psychological and emotional support by officers of the Gender and Child Protection Unit of the Force which handles cases of this nature that touch on violence against children.

“In addition, a team from the Medical Department of the Force is also extending medical attention to the girl child. Upon certifying her medical status and emotional state, Ese Oruru will be re-united with her parents who are already around to work with police professionals in this regards.

“The background to this incident is that on the 20th of August, 2015, Mr Charles Oruru of Michael Iseh Street, Opolo, Yenagoa, reported at the Ekiki Police Divisional headquarters that his 13-year-old daughter, Ese, had been abducted by one Yunusa Dahiru (alias Yellow), who hails from Tofa village in Kura Local Government Area of Kano State, but resident in Yenegoa at the time.

“The complainant added that the suspect escaped to Kano with the girl, with in-

tent to permanently deprive her parents of legitimate access to her. Consequent upon the complaint, one Mohammed Dan Kano, who was privy to the criminal machination, was traced and arrested by a team of detectives from Bayelsa State police command.

“Following facts elicited from Mohammed Dan Kano on the whereabouts of the principal suspect and the victim, on September 1, 2015, a team of detectives accompanied by the father of the victim and Alhaji KC Dahiru, chairman of Arewa Community in Yenagoa, left Yenagoa for Kano alongside Mohammed Dan Kano, in furtherance of the investigation.

“On arrival in Kano, it was confirmed that the Kano State Sharia Commission and the Office of the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 1 headquarters, had already waded into the matter. It was also confirmed that the victim was in custody of the commission.

“All civil efforts to secure the release and reunion of

the victim with her parents, however, remained hampered by some bureaucratic and complex intertwining factors, until a few days ago, when the attention of the IGP was drawn to the incident and accompanying challenges by the Bayelsa State Commissioner of Police.

“Following the prompt intervention of the IGP, I am delighted to confirm that the police have today, secured the release of Ese, the girlchild victim from the Kano State Sharia Commission.

She is currently in safe custody of officers of the Gender Unit of the Force. I can also confirm that the Force has also taken into custody, Yunusa Dahiru alias Yellow, her abductor.”

Meanwhile, the mother of the rescued Ese, Mrs Rose Oruru, has appreciated Nigerians, as well as the Nigeria Police and well-wishers, who assisted in one way or the other to ensure that her daughter was brought back alive and safe, saying she could not say much for now.

any individual that violates the sanctity of the rights of our children shall be dealt with in accordance with extant laws of our country.”

In her remarks, mother of the victim, Mrs Rose Oruru, commended efforts of the Nigeria Police in helping to find the abducted girl.

It will be recalled that Ese was abducted by one Yinusa, alias Yellow, from her mother’s shop in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, on August 12, 2015 and whisked to

Kano State.

Ese, who was reportedly freed on Monday, following a directive by Arase, to the Commissioner of Police, Kano State, Mohammed Katsina, on Wednesday, to liase with the state’s Emirate Council and relevant persons, arrived at the Force Headquarters, on Tuesday.

According to her father, Mr Charles Oruru, prior efforts to get his child freed last year were futile, but for the recent interventions from civil society groups and the media.

Release my son, he’s innocent —Abductor’s father Kola Oyelere - Kano ALHAJI Dahiru Bala, a 55-year-old father of Inusa Dahiru Bala, who is alleged to have abducted Ese Oruru from Bayelsa State to Kano State, where he islamised and married her, has appealed to the security authorities to release his son from custody, declaring he was innocent.

According to him, Ese Oruru fell in love with his 25-year-old son, adding that she willingly left Bayelsa for Tofa village not on compulsion, as well as accepted Islam and got married to Inusa at will.

Bala, who disclosed this in an exclusive interview on Wednesday, at his residence in Tofa village, in Kura Local Government Area of the Kano State, absolved his son of any wrong doing.

However, while speaking with the head of Tofa village, Mallam Yusuf Suleman, aged 50, he confirmed that Inusa, popularly referred to as Yunusa Yellow in media reports, actually went by the true name, Inusa Dahiru Bala.

His words: “Inusa is one of our sons in this village, his father is Dahiru Bala. He was born here 25 years ago.

He left here and travelled to Bayelsa in search of greener pasture.

He came back with the girl and informed me that he is going to get married to her and that she had converted to Islam. I took them to the

district head, who directed they be taken to the Emir of Kano.”

According to him, the Emir travelled out of the ancient city at the time of the incident, noting that one of the senior councilors in the Kano Emirate Council instructed that the matter be taken to the state Shariah Commission for appropriate action.

However, when the Emir returned from his sojourn, after being briefed on the matter, directed the matter to be taken over by the Nigeria Police Zone 1 for further actions.

“At this juncture, my function terminated, since duty and loyalty is to the Emir.

The matter was transferred to the police and I was no longer involved, only for the matter to resurface last week,” he said.

He described the act by Inusa Dahiru Bala as a disgrace to the village, stating that by this singular act, the name of the village and the state had been tarnished.

While speaking with residents of the area, who preferred anonymity, they disclosed that Inusa married Ese sometimes last year and they lived happily in the village.

They said Ese’s parents paid several visits to the village in a bid to compel her to return home with them, “but the visits failed to yield intended result,” the source said.

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Thursday, 3 March, 2016

Nigerian Tribune

Lagos

Edited by

Lanre Adewole

olanreade@yahoo.com

0811 695 4647

Ikorodu schoolgirls abductors •I’m too traumatised to talk — Father of abducted girl •Parents evacuate children •Those evacuated are going to write JAMB — School source • ‘Onyabo’ boys join rescue team

Jacob Segun Olatunji and Kolawole Daniel, Lekan Olabulo, Sylvester Okoruwa and Naza Okoli

T

HE abductors of three students of the Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary in Ikorodu area of Lagos State have finally contacted one of the families of the abducted students and have demanded a ransom of N200 million.

Security information disclosed on Wednesday that the father of one of the abducted girls was contacted.

“The fact of the matter is that the kidnappers have called the father of one of the abducted girls and they have demanded for ransom. They asked for N200 million for the three girls but they actually sent that message to other parents and the school management,” the source revealed.

The police source, however, declined to comment on the next move of the police in the state, saying that disclosing such information might jeopardise ongoing investigations.

A source also told Lagos Metro that the abductors did not appear to be particular about their victims, as those abducted were said to have just been picked randomly.

It was also gathered that but for divine intervention, the abductors had wanted to take away more than three students.

“They did not have anybody in mind when they were going. They actually just wanted to kidnap students from that school and collect money from the management,” the police source said.

Parents evacuate children Despite the safety assurance from the state government and school management, a couple of parents, on Wednesday, took their children away from the school.

Lagos Metro counted about four parents who took their children away even in school uniform with their belongings being moved out of the dormitory into their parents’ cars.

One of the parents told Lagos Metro that his son was going to participate in the ongoing JAMB UTME. A staff of the school, however, told Lagos Metro that parents who were adamant on taking their children away were no longer being dissuaded.

It was learnt that almost all the parents ran to the school in panic because students were not officially allowed to possess commu-

nication gadgets while in session, including mobile phones. The inability of parents to directly confirm from their wards that they were not among the abductees was said to have necessitated the panic trips.

Parents not evacuating children — School source Meanwhile the school management has kicked against reports that some parents had started withdrawing their students from the school.

The source, who pleaded anonymity, while speaking with Lagos Metro said that the few students, who left the school, were going to write the Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) examinations.

“We don’t have anything to hide in this thing. Only three students were taken away and nobody has come to withdraw his or her student. Those who are going out are those who want to write JAMB and they are coming back as soon as they finish their examinations,” the source said.

I’m too traumatised to talk — Father of abducted girl •We are sorrowful —Uncle Father to one of the abducted girls, Mr Toyin Popoolaniyan, on Wednesday, blatantly refused all entreaties by the Lagos Metro to speak on the abduction of his daughter; Tofunmi.

Spotting buba and sokoto of Ankara fabric, the distraught-looking father, who appeared to be in his mid-50s, just bellowed “no, no, no” immediately the reporter approached him.

The man who was surrounded by sympathisers, who stood around him, looked forlornly into space in front of a block of offices, immediately after the principal’s office.

Efforts at taking his photograph both openly and discreetly were thwarted by a combination of the eagle-eyes school authorities and sympathisers.

However, his brother and uncle to the abducted girl, Mr Abiodun Awomuti, told Lagos Metro that Tofunmi was well known to him since he was always serving as an emissary whenever her father wanted to send school needs to her.

Awomuti said because he lives in the Ikorodu neighbourhood, Tofunmi’s father found it more convenient to send her needs in school through him and expressed the

Lagos State deputy governor, Dr (Mrs) Oluranti Adebule (middle) and the majority leader, Lagos House of Assembly, Honourable Sanai Agunbiade (right); being shown the point of escape of the gang of armed men who abducted three female students of Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary School, by the Principal, Venerable Olaoluwa Adeyemi, during a visit to the school at Agunfoye Lugbusi Village, Adamo, Ikorodu, on Wednesday.

deep sorrow which the family was passing through but disclosed that he would not withdraw his own son who is also a student of the school.

He added that but for the Monday incident, the school had been running very well, making it one of the best in the area.

Local vigilance “Onyabo” joins rescue team Members of the local vigilante group in Ikorodu area of Lagos State popularly known as “Onyabo”, on Wednesday, joined the rescue team in search of the abducted students.

Members of the group were, on Wednesday, seen around the school premises in readiness for order from the police.

One of the local vigilantes, who pleaded anonymity, told Lagos Metro that their presence in the school was as a result of an agreement that they had with the police.

“We are not just here. We were invited by the police to join the search team and we will do our best to ensure that the students are rescued,” the vigilante member said.

CP, vigilantes in closed-door meeting •School principal blames media Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr Fatai Owoseni had two sessions of meeting with about seven members of the vigilance group, strategising on how to rescue the abducted schoolgirls.

The meeting took place on Wednesday morning, in the office of the school principal, Venerable Olaoluwa Adeyemi.

One of the choppers of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) is detailed for sky patrol.

The vigilante group was reportedly brought in because of its knowledge of the area and more importantly for intelligence gathering, since its members are also of the community.

The school principal, however, blamed the media for negative reportage of the incident, saying instead of praying for the girls’ safe return, media was causing more damage with alleged negative coverage.

He requested journalists to vacate the school premises, adding that he had contacted a television station to complain about the alleged slanting of an interview granted to its reporters.

A journalist from another television station in Lagos was reportedly walked out of the school premises by him on Tuesday.

Abduction connected to my riot act to Ikorodu criminals — Ambode •Praises gallant students who resisted abductors Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, on Wednesday, has stated that the abduction of the schoolgirls in Ikorodu may not be unconnected with his recent visit to some parts of town where he read the riot act to vandals and criminal gangs on the resolve of the state government to take the battle to their hideouts in a spirited effort to secure the pipelines.

“We believe this is a case of evil fighting back but Lagos will neither succumb to threats of lawlessness nor bow to terror. Our resolve

is very clear; we will assist the Police and other security agencies in dealing decisively with this one unfortunate case and prevent future reoccurrence. We will deploy the resources at our disposal to safeguard every life and property within our care,” he said.

Ambode, however, in a statement signed by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Steve Ayorinde, condemned the unfortunate incident, just as he assured that the Police and other security operatives have swung into action, with useful leads and with an unwavering determination to track down the perpetrators of the act and ensure the safe return of the girls.

“We have not been silent on this unfortunate development. In a delicate security matter of this nature, where young innocent people are involved and management of information demands utmost circumspect, we were convinced that swift and coordinated reaction, guided by intelligence reports on the part of the Police, was a better and more sensitive approach to take, rather than a sensational, panic-stricken reaction,” Governor Ambode said.

We will invoke spirits of our ancestors — Lugbusi family As search intensifies for the abducted schoolgirls, the family which owns the land on which the school is built has decided to invoke the spirits of its ancestors in getting to the root of the unprecedented incident.

The land is owned by the Lugbusi family of Ikorodu.

The head of the family, Chief

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Thursday, 3 March, 2016

Nigerian Tribune

metro

demand N200 million

•We’ll invoke spirits of our ancestors — Lugbusi family •Bricklayer fingered as abductors’ link • Ambode praises gallant students who resisted abductors •Academic activities suspended, may resume today

Reps give IGP marching order on immediate rescue The House of Representatives on Wednesday mandated the Inspector-General of the Police, Mr Solomon Arase to intensify efforts to ensure that the three girls abducted from Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary School, Ikorodu, Lagos State were safely released and perpetrators apprehended The resolution by the House was sequel to a motion on matters of urgent public importance entitled “urgent need to seek the release of abducted female students of Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary School in Ikorodu, Lagos,” sponsored by Honourable Babjimi Benson.

Honourable Benson representing Ikorodu Federal Constituency

of Lagos State lamented that it was alarming that “more than 24 hours after the incidence, the Nigeria Police Force and other concerned agencies of government have not been able to reunite the abducted girls with their parents.”

He pointed out that “the incidence of insecurity in Ikorodu Federal Constituency of Lagos State is becoming worrisome as the security agencies of government are finding it difficult to protect lives and properties of the people of the area.”

He pleaded that all the security agencies should put all necessary machinery in motion in ensuring that the perpetrators were apprehended and brought to book accordingly.

While contributing to the motion, Honourable Ekpoattai Ime said: “I urge this Honourable house and the IGP to intensify efforts to recover the girls. This is sad we have to put an end to this ugly development.”

The House adopted the motion when it was put to a voice vote by the Speaker Honourable Yakubu Dogara and mandated the Police and other agencies to step up strict surveillance in Ikorodu and all schools in the state to avoid similar occurrence.

with adults, for health reasons and for their privacy and protection; as parents we must not unduly expose our children to health

risks. These facilities are partly meant to discourage open urination defecation which can deface and pollute the environment.”

were gathered into the school hall for praise and prayer.

Lagos Metro sighted parents yesterday on the school premises, but the school authorities barred journalists from having physical contacts with their children.

Parents were allowed to wave to their children from a not-toofar distance after children being sought had been identified and brought out of the hall.

One of the students, with his parents, leaving the school premises.

Michael Omoloju in an interview with Lagos Metro disclosed that the family resorted to the traditional way because such had never been the case around the community until the Monday night incident.

According to him, “Our ancestors will be the ones to settle the case. Something like this had never happened here. The school got the land from our family and because it had never happened before only our ancestors will settle it.”

The school is owned by the Anglican community in Lagos.

Omoloju, who didn’t say in specific terms how the ancestors would come into it and what would befall the culprits also called on the state government to increase security presence in the neighbourhood, adding that a police-post, is a necessity around the school.

Bricklayer fingered as abductors’ link Preliminary investigation has reportedly fingered a bricklayer engaged by the school authorities for maintenance work, as the linkman for the abductors.

Sources revealed to Lagos Metro that the unnamed and yet-to-be publicly-identified bricklayer guided the abductors through the bushy path where the school’s fence was drilled for passage onto the premises.

The said bricklayer reportedly worked alongside others on the same classroom where the girls were taken away on Monday night. Other bricklayers and artisans were still seen carrying out

minor maintenance work on the said classroom despite the incident.

The students were reportedly having their evening prep when the bricklayer allegedly led the gang through the drilled fence to the class for the operations. He was said to have worked on the same classroom at the weekend, which reportedly gave him an insight into the timing of night activities in the school.

DSS, soldiers, police storm school •We won’t rest until they are released — Adebule Lagos State deputy governor, Mrs Ranti Adebule while on a fact-finding trip to the school on Wednesday, promised that the state government would not rest until the abducted girls are released.

She said certain security measures had been taken by the government to ensure the safety of the students, adding that the measures had been communicated to the school authorities.

She noted that as a mother, she was worried about the incident, with a promise that the needful which she didn’t disclose, was being done.

Upon her arrival, she was received by Bishop Fape of Remo Diocese and went straight into the principal’s office after signing the visitor’s register. She later visited the drilled part of the school fence where the kidnappers allegedly used to enter the premises.

Meanwhile, the entire school environment has been a beehive of security operatives’ activities,

consisting of officers of the Department of State Services (DSS), police and military.

Academic activities suspended Academic activities had recently been suspended at the school but may resume today.

Lagos Metro observed that all the classes were empty on Wednesday, while all the students

Ambode’s wife warns parents over children’s safety in public places Bola Badmus

FOLLOWING security concerns, wife of Lagos State governor, Mrs Bolanle Ambode, has called on parents to ensure that their children and wards are always accompanied by adults at public places.

Mrs Ambode made the call on Tuesday, while speaking at the official commissioning and handing over of 10 children’s convenience, which she donated to the Kanu Ndubusi Park in Ikeja, saying that she was motivated to provide the conveniences at the park because of the need to separate children’s facilities from that of the adults due to attendant health risk.

The governor’s wife was represented by the state’s Commissioner for the Environment, Dr Babatunde Adejare.

Mrs Ambode, who expressed commitment towards improving the welfare and generating happiness for children, added that, “At public places like this, children should not share facilities

Traffic offence: Mobile Court

jails woman 3 months, DSS officer 6 months Bola Badmus LAGOS State Mobile Court has on Tuesday sentenced a female car owner, Mrs. Willyfred Amuta, to threemonth imprisonment for parking on the walkway along Obafemi Awolowo Way in Ikeja.

The woman, who drove XTERRA Jeep with registration no MUS 672 CL, was said to have struggled with men of the Task Force before her arrest was effected and charge before the court presided over by Magistrate Ola-

lekan Aka-Bashorun sitting in Ikeja division.

She was, however, giving an option of fine of N20,000. as an option to a jail term.

Also, the same mobile court also convicted a police officer, Denny Chukwudi, who was arrested on Monday for parking on walkway in Ikeja.

He was sentenced to sixmonth imprisonment.

Chukwudi, a spy police, who was arrested driving white colour truck with registration no Lagos AGL106CJ, was, however, given a fine option of N30,000.

businessnews Naira depreciates by N5 against dollar, pounds 10

Chima Nwokoji -Lagos

T

HE naira on Wednesday depreciated against the dollar at the parallel market closing at N320, as against Tuesday close of N315 to a dollar at the same market.

The local currency exchanged for N330 to the Euro and an appreciable N430 to the British Pounds Sterling as against N435 it traded on Tuesday.

At the official market, the Nigerian currency closed at N199 to the dollar, N216 to the Euro and N278 to the British Pound Sterling according to traders.

Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, President, Association of Bureau de Change Operators in Nigeria, said unauthorised persons posing as Bureau de Change (BDC) operators caused irregular fluctuations in the parallel market.

He was reacting to the accusation by the Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, that speculators and BDC operators connive to bring down the rate of naira in the foreign exchange market.

Gwadabe said the recent decision of the CBN to stop the sale of foreign exchange to BDC operators made the business unsustainable to its members, thereby leaving room for unauthorised dealers to flood the market.

“People think that BDC operators are making a lot of money these days. But it’s not true. People do not understand that there are a lot of participants in the parallel market.

“I can authoritatively tell you that about 80 per cent of all registered BDCs in the country have closed down

Thursday, 3 March, 2016

since the CBN stopped the sale of dollar to BDCs. “Right now, the unlicensed BDCs are currently more than the licensed ones all over the country. And their activities are not regulated because they are not registered.

“So right now, the market

is in the hands of speculators and these unlicensed BDCs,’’ he said.

Gwadabe advised the CBN to come up with a robust, effective and efficient monitoring and supervision of all players in the market.

He also called on the CBN to audit big corporate insti-

tutions which he claimed had become major players in the foreign exchange market.

Gwadabe also confirmed that CBN had commenced the payment of about N96.5 billion to the 2,839 licensed BDC operators in the country.

President Buhari (right) and visiting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, addressing a joint news conference after a bilateral meeting at the Presidential Villa, in Abuja, on Wednesday. PHOTO: NAN

Buhari, Turkish President meet as trade volume hits $1.1bn Leon Usigbe -Abuja PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa Abuja hosted visiting Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who disclosed that trade volume between his country and Nigeria was now $1.145 billion.

He arrived at 11.50 a.m. to a lavish military reception organised by a detachment of the Brigade of Guards before both leaders went into closed door meeting for bilateral discussions.

Addressing a joint news conference at the end of their meeting, the Turkish President revealed that Nigeria was an important partner to Turkey as a regional and global actor, adding that the bilateral agreements signed between both countries would help strengthen their relations.

Erdogan, who came to Nigeria with a number of Turkish businessmen to explore business opportunities with their Nigerian counterparts, noted that the trade volume

was heavily in favor of Nigeria at the moment.

He expressed delight that both countries were ready to cooperate with each other in different sectors for the good of their citizens.

Erdogan said: “The country (Nigeria) is a regional and global actor. Nigeria is one of the sub-Saharan countries that we see as a strategic partner.

“We had the opportunity to look into our bilateral relations as well as leading and global developments.

“The agreements and

FG orders LADOL to stop further investment on $500m facility Tola Adenubi -Lagos THE Federal Government has asked the management of the Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics (LADOL) base to stop further investment on its $500 million worth Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) facility until it resolves the controversy surrounding its concession agreement and battle over wet cargoes with another oil and gas concessionaire in the eastern ports, INTELS. Speaking at a stakeholders’ meeting in Lagos recently, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, asked LADOL to stick to its concession agreement and Federal Government’s directive that all oil and gas cargoes should be handled at desig-

He said the amount was part refund for their N35 million deposit at the CBN, adding that the process was taking too long and the CBN should fast track it.

CBN has meanwhile taken measures to improve the value of naira at the parallel market.

nated terminals.

The minister also asked the company to stop further investment stating that, “it could be best if the company stops further investment pending when the case is fully decided.”

The minister at the stakeholder meeting said INTELS had a concession agreement with the Federal Government to handle oil and gas cargoes and this cannot be changed suddenly unless the agreement expires.

Though, he acknowledged that LADOL has been investing continuously in its terminal, the minister said that this cannot change the law. ”When government entered into agreement with INTELS, they gave them licence to handle oil and

gas cargoes, so why then do you take away oil and gas cargoes from where the agreement says to somewhere else? It is because the matter is in court that is delaying me, if not, I won’t support LADOL.” “If indeed there was such agreement that all oil and gas cargoes should be brought to Warri, Onne and Calabar, then it would be wrong to take part of somebody’s job and give it to another person” Amaechi said.

But, in a swift reaction, Managing Director of LADOL; Mrs Emmy Jadesinmi argued that there had been a presidential directive of former presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Umar Yar’ adua, cancelling the diversion of all oil and gas cargoes to the eastern ports.

She argued that diverting oil and gas cargoes to Eastern ports would create monopoly and lack of level playing field for foreign investors.

Jadesinmi added that LADOL has invested over US $500million in its facilities around the Snake Island in Apapa Lagos.

“Our agreement with NPA clearly states that we are to develop a deep offshore logistics base, we have invested $500 million and I believe the outcome of that investment is going to create 50,000 jobs in Nigeria.

“We are the single largest investor on NPA facility in Nigeria. We are simply asking for our agreement to be respected and be respected as a free zone,” she pleaded.

MoUs that we have signed are important instruments that will help improve our relations even further.

“As we speak, our business people are connecting with their Nigerian counterparts.

I encourage business Turkish people to make investments in Nigeria.

“Looking at the population of Nigeria and Turkey put together, we are talking about 260 million people and this is a very important market.

“Our total trade volume is currently at $1.145 billion.

Our export is $314 million and our import is $831 million.

“As you see, the result is to the favour of Nigeria. I believe that if the two countries combine forces making use of our own respective resources, we would be able to come up with even better outcomes.

“I want to call on Nigerian business people to also make investment in Turkey.

We are ready to expand all the sectors that we can to them, particularly as Turkish construction contracting companies ranks second in the world.

“We are ready to share our experiences particularly in the area of irrigation and agriculture.”

In his remarks, President Buhari thanked his guest for identifying with Nigeria and for Turkey’s interest in investing in Nigeria.

Nigerian Tribune

Market Capitalisation gains N192bn on 2.25% lift KehindeAkinseinde-Jayeoba - Lagos TRADING on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) continued on a steady uptick as 2.25 per cent elevation was recorded on major indicators.

On Wednesday, the All Share Index closed at 25,472.46 basis points adding 558.52 basis points, while market capitalisation closed at N8.74 trillion having added N192 billion.

Market turnover also closed positive as volume moved up by 72.21 per cent against 65.81 per cent decline recorded in the previous session.

Market breadth recorded positive returns as Tiger Branded Consumer Goods Plc led 21 gainers against 15 losers topped by Fidson Pharmaceutical Plc, a slight improved performance when compared with previous outlook of 20 gainers against 15 losers.

Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and Zenith Bank Plc led the market value list as both had 43.3 per cent of the overall turnover having staked N379.1 billion and N330.2 billion respectively.

PwC is strongest business to business brand —Brand Finance PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS (PwC) a professional services firm has been named the strongest business to business brand and one of the world’s ten most powerful brands by Brand Finance in its annual index. The Brand Finance index is an annual assessment of the brand value of over 500 of the world’s best known businesses.

PwC achieved the highest score (AAA+) for the sixth year in a row assessing the brand as ‘exceptionally strong and well managed’.

The assessment measures a range of metrics including brand awareness, satisfaction and recommendations, financial performance and internal investment, market share and revenues.

It also examines corporate responsibility, governance, and the views of internal and external stakeholders.

Organizations are then judged relative to their competitors.

PwC achieved the highest ranking and score amongst its closest sector rivals.

businessnews NLC, Ikeja Disco set for showdown over workers’ disengagement 11

Olatunde Dodondawa- Lagos

T

HE Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the management of Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) are set for showdown over disengagement of workers.

The NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, has given the IKEDC management till next Monday to recall the affected workers, “otherwise, we will pocket all your facilities across the state.”

He said national industrial actions may be the last resort of the management of Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company refused to reinstate the affected workers.

However, when contacted, the Head of Corporate Communications, IKEDC, Felix Ofulue, argued that the company did not sack any worker.

According to him, “we did not sack any worker. It is every company’s policy to conduct appraisal exer-

Thursday, 3 March, 2016

cise for its workers. Some may have fallen below expected performance in their appraisals.

“The affected workers are not up to 400 as claimed by labour. Where did they get the figure. The company recently employ about 200 employees as part of its repositioning exercise.”

He concluded by saying that “in the last few months, the electricity

distribution company has scaled up the metering programme in order to meet the expectations of our customers and further reduce the agitation on estimated billing.

“It has also achieved significant strides in human capital development, which is critical to the repositioning programme.

“As part of the strategic initiative, the company

also embarked on a re-engineering exercise focused on aligning the company’s structure with its operating model and optimising human capital capacity for better efficiency.”

However, in solidarity with the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), the National Executive Council of the box headed by Wabba warned IKEDC management that

“you must recall all the workers affected by your ill-conceived decision.

Specifically, if by Monday, March 7, 2016 all the affected workers are not recalled, we shall mobilise members of all our 44 affiliates, including our civil society allies and pro people organisations to massively picket your facilities in their various locations.

Lagos airport undergoes TSA security report Shola Adekola-Lagos A four-man team from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), United States of America are currently in the country, carrying out the Security Audit of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) Lagos in line with TSA security procedures.

The team led by Transportation Security Specialist (TSS),were in the Aviation House on Monday, February 29, 2016 to brief the Director-General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Captain Muhtar Usman on the exercise.

According to him, “they would, in the course of the exercise observe the implementation of aviation security measures in place at the MMIA and exchange technical expertise in line with International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Annex 17 and International Aviation Security Standard and best Practices.

The team is also expected to conduct inspections on the implementation of TSA security procedures of Arik Airlines being the only Nigeria carrier that operates direct flight to United States and that of Delta Airline and United Airline, that both currently operate flight in and out of Nigeria.

GE Global CEO, Jeff Immelt, Chairman of Heirs Holdings Tony Elumelu, GE Africa CEO Jay Ireland and GE Nigeria CEO Lazarus Angbazo at an interactive session between GE and Heirs Holdings in Lagos.

Crash on oil price, warning to the economy —Ogbeh Collins Nnabuife-Abuja

THE Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, on Wednesday said that the sudden crash of oil price in the global market is a warning to the economy and the need for diver-

sification of the economy.

Chief Ogbeh stated this while inaugurating the Technical Working Group of Agricultural Roadmap in Abuja.

He said the fall of oil price means that Nigeria cannot continue to depend on oil, but needs to diversify

the economy through improvement on agricultural productivity.

According to him, “the sudden crash in oil price within the last one year is a signal to us as a country that we cannot afford to continue to depend on oil alone for our national rev-

BPE seeks collaboration with concession and regulatory commission Gbola Subair-Abuja

ACTING Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Dr Vincent Onome Akpotaire has solicited closer ties between the bureau and the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission (ICRC) to service the Nigerian economy.

Speaking in Abuja when he led other management staff of the Bureau on a courtesy visit to the Director-General of ICRC, Mr Aminu Diko, the BPE acting boss said though the two agencies had distinct roles, it was incumbent on them to collaborate and synergise for the benefit of the Federal Government’s Reforms and infrastructure development programme.

Akpotaire said that

though there was a need for the two organisations to adhere to their terms of engagement for the benefit of Nigerians,” BPE has a long history of brown field concession which cannot be wished away.”

He decried the notion by some ministries, departments and agencies of a strained relationship between BPE and ICRC and stated that this had rubbed off negatively on the mandate of the two agencies.

He noted that some MDAs have used such seeming friction to frustrate genuine effort at synergy, thus hurting the national economic growth and infrastructure development.

The acting DG said BPE and ICRC must collaborate to privatise all the enterprises that are scheduled

in the BPE Act and that all the obstacles militating against the realisation of the objective must be tackled. According to him, “we need to sustain interaction and evolve a strong bond and erase that perception of a frosty relationship between the two agencies.”

He said as a first step, both agencies should form joint Project Advisory Teams (JPATs) and define roles of agencies and engage the MDAs that interface with both organisations.

Earlier, the Director-General of the ICRC, Mr Diko said that BPE and ICRC were partners, noting that the BPE is the engine room for the Reforms and Privatisation programme of the Federal Government.

enue.

“We have to diversify, and that diversification holds a lot of promises through agriculture.”

Chief Ogbeh, however said that the roadmap was intended to be a strategy document to illuminate the path towards a successful journey to restoring agriculture pride of the as a nation.

“We need to fashion out how to liberate Nigeria from the stranglehold of food importation. We need to deliberate on how our states would get down to the work on food production for the teeming population that might soon hit 200 million.

“With our foreign reserve at less than US$30 billion, the government, realistically, cannot afford to encourage more importation of foods, particularly those we have the comparative advantage to produce in-country.

“We won’t will sit idly and watch our agricultural resources waste away. Our reforms will address the labour composition in agriculture,” he added.

The Minister said that the ministry will help states to produce food by collaborating other ministries, departments and agencies.

Nigerian Tribune

Aragbada warns against devaluation

A former newspaper editor and retired bank executive, Mr. Phil Aragbada, has described the call for the naira devaluation by some people as a tenuous proposition doomed to fail the acid test of economic logic.

During a press briefing at the Nigeria Union of Journalist (NUJ) Press Centre, Iyaganku, Ibadan, Mr. Aragbada explained that devaluation would amount to a double jeopardy for the nation, as the monolithic status of our economy as evinced by the export of crude oil majorly, already constrained the country to the whims and caprices of the consuming nation.

The economic analyst, who is the Chief Executive Officer of the Fultatet Communications, said that Nigeria as a member of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was restricted by production quota, implying that depreciation would not add a pint of crude oil to the export limit

by OPEC. Added to this limitation, according to Mr. Aragbada, is that Nigeria still chronically groans from under – capacity utilization of the refineries leading to the importation of refined fuel, meaning that the importer might expend higher quantity of local currency to acquire the scarce dollar should there be devaluation, thereby invalidating any expected benefit from global slump in the price of the refined fuel.

Dismissing the parallel market value as a gauge for the strength or weakness of the naira as jejune, Mr. Aragbada said that no serious government would abdicate one of its sole responsibilities of ensuring macro – economic stability in the land, to black market sector where gluttonous demand for foreign currencies could hardly be moderated by the conventional monetary and fiscal policies of the government.

Devaluing the Naira now, he further stressed, would rubbish the 2016 budget as most of the proposed infrastructural development that demand huge foreign components would gulp larger quantum of foreign currencies at greater disadvantage to other sectors.

Calling on the three tiers of governments to restore confidence in foreign investors through the enhancement of security, infrastructure and annihilation of corruption, Mr. Aragbada admonished Nigerians to demonstrate adequate patriotism through the patronage of locally made goods.

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Thursday, 3 March, 2016

Interview session with the Orurus From Austin Ebipade and Alphonsus Agborh

My joy is not yet full until... —Father

S

TILL in a fix at his Opolo resident in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, Charles Oruru, father of the abducted 14-year-old Ese, told the Nigerian Tribune that his joy is not yet full until he beholds and have his daughter by his side in his house.

Though he posited that it was respite that both local and international outcry had forced the Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, to instruct the Sharia Court and all stakeholders involved in the saga to release his daughter, who was 13 years old when she was abducted in August, 2015.

He openly lauded the role of the media, even as he noted it was cheering to hear from his wife (Ese’s mother) that she had reunited with their daughter, but reiterated that his joy would know no bounds when both Ese and the mother return to their Opolo residence in Yenagoa.

When asked why Ese and the mother were yet to return to Yenagoa, he pointed out that from feelers, he learnt that the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, is planning an official handover to the AIG Zone 5, who in turn would provide security for the mother and daughter to the Bayelsa State police command in Yenagoa.

Continuing, he said he also learnt that the state police command, alongside civil society and government officials, would also perform official handover to the biological parents.

He told Nigerian Tribune that in spite being jobless, his joy would be to behold his daughter, who was abducted by Yinusa, who got her converted to Islam and renamed her Aisha, even as he prayed the law to bring all accomplices in Ese’s ordeal to justice.

Ese’s father also showed sign of worries that his wife and daughter were taking time to return to Yenagoa, because all things being equal, his expectation was that they should arrive not later than 3.00 p.m.

I’m becoming impatient —Faith Oruru (sister) 19 years

She was elated after the cheering news that their mother has reunited with abducted Ese at Force Headquarters, Louise Edet, Abuja, She prayed that she is in good condition, adding that the family missed her dearly.

Continuing, she told Nigerian Tribune that she is fond of Ese because of her cheerful smile and dance, even she described her as a happy child, whose presence elicits joy to all around her.

She confessed as at when this interview was conducted that she was almost becoming impatient, because she felt they were going to return early on Wednesday, just as she prayed for their safe arrival.

Everything is on standstill —Onome Oruru (Ese’s immediate elder brother), 16 years

He alluded that their expectation was that Ese and their mother would return to Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital not later than 3.00 p.m, but as at press time, they are yet to return, even when we are yearning to hug her and welcome her back home from the den of her abductors.”

According to him, we have prepared her favourite food and the music she loved to dance to, but everything is on standstill, with no celebration until we see her.

Our joy will be complete when she’s back —Patricia Oruru (eldest sister), 21 years She told Nigerian Tribune that their joy would be complete when she is back in the house they used to live before her abduction, but pointed that they were happy that Ese has reunited with their mother in Abuja.

Continuing, she said her excitement would go viral when she touches her sister, even as she expressed little worry over their delay in getting to Yenagoa.

Nigerian Tribune also gathered from neigbhours around the Orurus’ residence, who would not want their name in print, that they were also eagerly awaiting Ese’s arrival, because of her jovial nature, adding that she was loved by all around the area.

They opined that the family had lived peaceably

with their neighbours and that the abducted Ese and her siblings were respectful and loved in the area.

They said further they were also waiting to give her a befitting welcome.

‘I will not only get her checked medically, also spiritually’

Mr Charles Oruru said though his abducted daughter (Ese) had gone through medical check up in Abuja, he would still conduct another medical test on her to ensure that she is not infected with any sexually transmitted disease, among others.

He also suspected that

Ese could have suffered hypnotism and that he would not hesitate to seek spiritual help to reorient her state of mind, having stayed in captivity for six month in an environment completely different from her cultural background.

No notification of handover —Bayelsa police command

Bayelsa State Public Relations Officer (PRO), DSP Asinim Butswat, has said the command had not been notified of any handover, adding that there was no news that the abducted Ese had arrived in Yenagoa.

He, however, noted that should anything worth con-

signing to press came up, the command would do so.

She will be rehabilitated —Bayelsa govt The Bayelsa State government has assured that Ese would be rehabilitated, even as they enjoined parents to be vigilant, because nobody is sure of his next neigbhour.

Governor Seriake Dickson pledged the government’s preparedness to support every effort geared at not only reuniting Ese with her family in Yenagoa, but also ensure her proper rehabilitation and reintegration into the society, so to continue leading her

normal life.

Prosecute her abductors —Delta gov Delta State governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, has expressed shock at the abduction of the 14-year-old Ese Oruru, from Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, August last year, as he called on the police to prosecute her abductors.

In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Charles Ehiedu Aniagwu, in Asaba, Okowa also condemned the action as an unheard-of incident, given the age of the girl, an indigene of Delta State, who was forced into marriage by her abductor without the consent of her parents.

Nigerian Army arrests 4 Boko Haram spies in Bauchi Chris Agbambu - Abuja THE headquarters of 33 Artillery Brigade, Nigerian Army, in Bauchi, has arrested four persons suspected to be Boko Haram spies, who were on the surveillance of Madalla church before it was bombed.

Director, Army Public Relations, Colonel Sani Usman Kukasheka, who made this disclosure in a press statement made available

to the Nigerian Tribune in Abuja, gave the suspects’ names as Victor Moses, Abubakar Shettima, as well as Salisu Mohammed Bello and Umar Sadiq Madaki.

He said the suspects had been carrying out surveillance mission for the dreaded terrorists group on target for suicide bombings or attacks, but luck ran out on them when Victor Moses went to a mosque in Bauchi and pretended that he want-

ed to be converted to Islam and the people, suspecting he was not genuine, promptly reported the matter.

On interrogation, according to Colonel Kukasheka, Moses confirmed that he was working for an Islamic cleric in Gombe (now at large) and that their point of contact was Abubakar Shetima, who was residing in Jos, the state capital.

The Army’s PRO added that he confessed to casing

targets for suicide bomb attacks, including that of the Catholic Church Madalla, Suleja, Niger State, on Christmas Day in 2011.

The accused persons were currently undergoing further interrogation.

They were paraded by the Commander 33 Artillery Brigade, Brigadier-General Abraham Dusu, at the Brigade’s Headquarters, Shadawanka Barracks, Bauchi, on Monday.

Senate probes NDDC over N40bn abandoned projects Dapo Falade - Port Harcourt THE Senate has indicted the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) over various uncompleted projects spread across the Niger Delta region and which value was put at over N40 billion.

This was as the upper chamber of the National Assembly had commenced investigations into the financial activities and projects of the interventionist agency, beginning from its inception in 2000.

This came to the fore when acting chairman of NDDC, Mrs Ibim Semenitari, received members of the Senate Committee on the Niger Delta in her office in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, on Wednesday.

Addressing the NDDC boss, chairman of the committee, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, disclosed that the Senate was on factfinding mission, based on a referral that there was a petition about the performance of the commission since its inception.

He said most of the aban-

doned projects littered the entire states under the supervision of the commission, including Bayelsa (which he said had the highest number), Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Imo, Abia, Cross River and Ondo.

“A few things we have discovered from your bookswe discovered that in Bayelsa, you have 33 abandoned projects and you have already paid N10.74 billion as mobilisation on those projects. That is the state we have the highest number of abandoned projects in this Niger Delta region.

“In Akwa Ibom, you have paid more than N6 billion.

In Rivers, about N4 billion (paid) for abandoned projects; in Delta, more than N2 billion; in Imo, over N2.6 billion; in Abia, N1.8 billion, Cross River, N1.1 billion, Ondo, over N926 million.

“But in Ondo State, there is a project that the commission awarded, but because your report was not comprehensive, you did not cover it in your report.

We are also doing our own investigation outside what you gave to us.

“That is the multi-billion offshore protection and reclamation project at Ayetoro, Ondo State, awarded to Gallet Nigeria Limited about 2004 and subsequently assigned to Dredging Atlantic Limited.

“This project, valued at N6.2 billion and abandoned for over six years, NDDC has committed N3.9 billion. This project is not in any of the documents you gave to us. There are many other projects like that we have discovered. We cannot just keep quiet, because our people are crying. If we cannot speak out, then we are not representing the people,” he said.

Senator Nwaoboshi said the committee oversights NDDC, the Ministry of Niger Delta and the Amnesty Programme of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, adding that its mission was not to witch-hunt.

He also disclosed that the various oil and gas companies operating within the region, as well as NAPIMS, had violated their responsibility of paying the constitutionally-required 13 per cent derivation fund.

The Senate committee, however, exonerated the acting NDDC Managing Director of any complicity in the revealed sleaze in the commission, noting that she would not have been involved, having assumed office barely some three months ago.

Responding, the NDDC acting Managing Director, Mrs Semenitari, intimated the committee of measures she had put in place to ensure accountability and equity since she assumed office and expressed her willingness to work for the development of the Niger Delta region.

Meanwhile, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, has called for greater inputs of states in the conception and execution of key projects by NDDC to reduce incidents of duplication of projects by states and the commission.

He said this while speaking when the Senate Committee on Niger Delta paid him a courtesy visit in his office, on Wednesday.

“It is important for states to make inputs, so that necessary projects are executed by NDDC,” he said.

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Thursday, 3 March, 2016

Olubadan’s coronation: Adetunji’s palace wears new look

By Tunde Ogunesan

T

HE Popoyemoja palace of the 41st Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Saliu Akanmu Olasupo Adetunji, Aje Ogungunniso 1, has continued to wear new look as painters, bricklayers and other artisans were busy putting finishing touches on the palace in readiness for Friday’s coronation.

When the Nigerian Tri-

bune visited the palace on Wednesday, artisans were working at high pace.

The painting of the front view of the building was almost completed while those laying the interlocking stones inside the car park of the palace were

nearing completion. Bricklayers working on the upcoming structure were also busy working on the structure.

Though, there was no government statement, the road leading to the palace from Iyana-Asuni junction

could turned to a one way any moment from now to allow free flow of traffic.

The mark of “ONE WAY” with an arrow had been inscribed on the road, though there is no awareness to that effect.

Also, the Oyo State gov-

ernment has erected several billboards announcing Chief Adetunji as the new Olubadan after official announcement during a press conference on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, sources informed the Nigerian Tribune that the traditional

Oyo CP warns miscreants against violence

By Tunde Ogunesan

OYO State Commissioner of Police, Leye Oyebade, on Wednesday, warned miscreants in the state against any act of violence that could cause chaos during the coronation of Olubadan of Ibadan.

This was contained in a statement signed by the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Adekunle Ajisebutu and made available to the Nigerian Tribune.

Oyebade said “credible intelligence at the command” revealed that some disgruntled persons or group are making sinister plans to cause breach of peace during the event on Friday.

According to the statement, “credible intelligence at the disposal of the Command has revealed that some disgruntled persons or group whose activities are antithetical to the progress of the state are making sinister plans to cause breach of peace during the forthcoming coronation of the new Olubadan, slated for March 4, 2016.

“To forestall any breakdown of law and order before, during and after the coronation, therefore, the Commissioner of Police has ordered massive deployment of serious-minded conventional policemen including highly-trained Mobile Policemen, operatives of the Special Anti-robbery Squad, Counter Terrorism Unit, Explosive Ordinance Department (EOD), State Intelligence Bureau, the Mounted troupes, and sniffer dogs to provide adequate security to guarantee safety of lives and property of the citizenry during the period.

“Also, all Divisional Traffic Officers and State Traffic Officers have been mandated to ensure free flow of traffic during the period,” he said.

Popoyemoja residence of High Chief Saliu Adetunji undergoing renovation, in preparation for tomorrow’s coronation.

The Mapo Hall in Ibadan undergoing renovation in preparation for tomorrow’s coronation of High Chief Saliu Adetunji as the 41st Olubadan of Ibadanland.

Igbo General Assembly aligns with Olubadan-in-Council on Eze Ndigbo

By Tunde Ogunesan

THE Igbo people in Ibadanland under the umbrella of Igbo, General Assembly (IGA), have declared their support for the steps taken so far by the Olubadan-in Council to put an end to the issue of Eze Ndigbo in Ibadanland.

This position was contained in a statement issued and signed by the Balogun of Igbos in Ibadanland, Chief Aloy Obi, and made available to the Nigerian Tribune.

Chief Obi, who faulted the word used to describe the Olubadan-in-Council by Chief Alex Anozie, stated that the South-East traditional rulers and Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide have made their stand clear that “Eze” must not be used anywhere outside Igboland.

According to him, “anything that will negatively affect the Igbos and or their assets by infuriating the Ibadan people must be avoided. Dr Alex Anozie, as a tenant, has little or

nothing to protect when compared to the great assets of majority of Igbos in Ibadanland. Their shops and houses in Ibadan need not to be put in danger by Alex Anozie wearing crown and installing people as chiefs.”

Chief Obi further stated that the case of Ondo State where the Deji of Akure banned the Eze Ndigbo, which negatively affected some Igbo traders, is still fresh in memory and the repeat of such must be avoided in Ibadan.

He, however, made it clear that the “Igbo people in Ibadanland under the umbrella of Igbo General Assembly are in support of the steps so far taken by the Olubadan-in Council to put an end to a fake king parading himself as such in another kingdom.

“We are peaceful and law-abiding and we will not sit back and watch an individual or a group bastardise the long built cordial relationship between the Igbos and Ibadan people, our hosts,” Obi stated.

Nigerian Tribune

rite for the new Olubadan had since started on Tuesday and is expected to terminate on Friday morning when he will be installed as the 41st Olubadan of Ibadan by the Laboseinde family.

Glo sponsors coronation activities GLOBACOM has been announced as the sponsor of activities lined up for the coronation of the new Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Saliu Adetunji, who would be publicly crowned on Friday.

While expressing happiness that Globacom had taken up the sponsorship of the epoch-making occasion, the Chairman, Olubadan Coronation Reception Planning Committee, Professor Taoheed Adedoja, enthused that the company had again displayed its unalloyed commitment to the common good of the nation.

“We are delighted that Dr Mike Adenuga has not forgotten his foundation which was laid in Ibadanland where he lived and schooled before he became an international brand. We appreciate his sense of belonging to the city of Ibadan and the tenacity of purpose which has marked him out as a true Nigerian in word and deeds,” Adedoja quipped.

The coronation is scheduled to hold at the Oja’Ba Square and will be graced by traditional rulers, prominent sons and daughters of Ibadanland, and captains of industry.

High point of Globacom’s sponsorship is the royal banquet to be organised in honour of the new monarch with eminent sons and daughters of Ibadanland in attendance. The banquet will hold on Saturday, March 5, at the Ibadan Recreation Club.

Speaking on its rational for sponsoring the coronation ceremony, Globacom said it remained proud of the cultural heritage of the Nigerian people from all the geo-political zones, adding that it was committed to promoting their cultures through robust support for celebrations of festivals and events with strong traditional values.

The company also added that it felt proud to associate with the tradition of unity and stability which the Olubadan of Ibadanland’s stool symbolises.

Oba Adetunji, who is the 41st Olubadan of Ibadanland, succeeds the late monarch, Oba Odulana Odugade who joined his ancestors last December at the age of 101.

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Thursday, 3 March, 2016

Attack on Falae: Police promise full investigation It’s not good for police image —Group

Hakeem Gbadamosi - Akure

P

OLICE authorities have assured that the incident that led to the shooting of the car of the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF)), Chief Olu Falae, on Tuesday, along Akure-Ilesa Expressway, will be fully investigated.

Speaking on the development, the Ondo State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Femi Joseph, said the command had commenced investigation on the

matter.

“What I can say for now is that the case has just been officially reported at the command and we have stepped into investigation.

Even though the incident is outside our jurisdiction, we will still investigate it,” Joseph said.

But the Personal Assistant to Chief Falae, Moshood Raji, explained that the mater had been reported at the headquarters of the command in Akure, the state capital, on Wednesday.

He disclosed that police commissioners from Ondo

and Osun have met with Chief Falae on Wednesday with a promise to apprehend the culprit soon.

He said, “Ondo police commissioner invited his counterpart from Osun State to decide which command should handle the matter. Osun CP asked Ondo to go ahead with the investigation since Chief Falae resides in Ondo and if there is a need to transfer the case to Osun they would know later.”

He disclosed that the case had been handed over to the State Criminal Investigative

Department to check the roll-call of the men on duty posts on Tuesday to know whether the policemen who escorted the bullion van were from Ondo or Osun.

Meanwhile, Police authorities in the country have been called upon to fish out police officers behind the shooting of the car of the former SGF, Chief Olu Falae, on Tuesday, along Akure-Ilesa Expressway.

This call was made by a pan Yoruba group, Defence for Yoruba Peoples Right.

The group condemned the action of the police officers, saying the attack was not

good for the image of the country’s Police.

The President of the group, Muyideen Olamoyegun, who condemned the attack, called on the Police authorities from Ondo and Osun states to investigate the incident and bring the trigger-happy policeman to book in order to serve as deterrent to others.

Olamoyegun said, “I think the CP has to do something about this issue. The recklessness of the policemen who escort bullion vans is too much. They have killed many people as a result of their recklessness. If the bullet had hit Chief Falae, that is how he would have killed the man. We are hearing this because it concerns Falae, so many unknown Nigerians have been killed by policemen.

We’ll continue to contribute to nation’s technological advancement —MAPOLY rector Olayinka Olukoya - Abeokuta

From right, Ondo State governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko; Head of Communication, Consumer NG, Funsho Williams; Head, Strategy & Development, Consumer NG, Falade Olaotan; Aneofik Akpan and the Special Assistant on Digital Media to the Governor, John Paul Akinduro, at the presentation of the “Seal of Trust” on Kaadi Igbeayo as best e-governance card by Consumer NG to the state government, at the Governor’s Office, Akure, on Wednesday.

7th anniversary: We’ve worked for our people —Mimiko ONDO State governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, on Wednesday, appraised the achievements of his administration since he came to office seven years ago and declared that he has really worked for the people of the state as he promised during his electioneering campaign.

Addressing party faithful that came to congratulate him on the successful double celebration of his seventh anniversary and 40th anniversary of the creation of the state, Mimiko said his administration had tried to address the everyday concern of his people.

According to him, his government has made a tremendous impact in all sectors of the state’s economy including health, education, agriculture, infrastructure and rural development.

Specifically, he said that his administration had retooled to show the people that governance is about them, restating the mantra of his administration at its inception that “I have worked for the people of

this state.”

He said that the testimonies of prominent Nigerians in the course of the celebration which ended at the weekend have really shown that “we have worked for our people.”

His words: “I can say

with clear conscience that we have been able to impact on our people positively.”

He particularly noted that the testimony of former Commonwealth Secretary General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, eulogising his

administration for an unprecedented performance, is a brilliant endorsement which makes him feel good, and a vindication of other endorsements that his administration has got nationally and internationally.

Ekiti to build N200m artisans’ village EKITI State governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose, has said the state government, in conjunction with some banks, will build artisans’ village along Ikere Road, Ado-Ekiti.

He made the disclosure in Ado-Ekiti while meeting with artisans and members of the Nigerian Automobile Technicians Association (NATA), at the Jibowu Hall, Government House, Ado-Ekiti.

A release, on Wednesday, by the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr Idowu Adelusi, quoted the governor as saying that the project could cost the state government about N200 million.

The meeting, which was called to resolve the dispute between Ekiti Artisans’ As-

sociation and NATA over the parcel of land the proposed village would be built, resolved that a committee be set up to find ways the two unions could work together.

While pleading their case before the governor, the state chairman of NATA, Alo Babatunde, said the land was allocated to them by the state government during the first tenure of Fayose about 10 years ago, and that the National Automotive Council had concluded plans to build an automotive centre for them on the land.

He said members of his association were surprised to hear that the other group had gone there early this year to clear the land for

another purpose.

The chairman of the artisans’ group, Mr Julius Adu, said Governor Fayose promised them a land for their village last year and that state officials showed them the place.

While intervening in the matter, Fayose thanked both sides for maintaining peace and not taking the law into their hands.

“Thank you for making the state governable for me. You have not taken the law into your hands. People want to hear whatever I want to say because you people are supporting and backing me.

Most governments of the past had no time for you.

The government can not solve all problems but must listen to the people.”

THE Rector, Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY), Professor Oludele Itiola, has said that the institution will continue to contribute its quota to the development of technology in the country.

He said this in his address during the matriculation ceremony of over 4,000 newly admitted students for the 2015/2016 academic session, held at the OGD Auditorium.

The rector noted that students of the institution had continued to engage in the production of solar-powered streetlights, tricycles, kerosene-petrol combing generating set, fuel efficient generating set, electronic ballot boxes among others.

Professor Itiola said the school stood out from its contemporaries in terms of programmes accreditation, saying the institution could favourably compete with others.

He advised the new students to be focussed, committed and disciplined, so as to attain the height of excellence and remarkable achievements.

Itiola also counselled the students to shun any campus vices that could undermine their academic programme, emphasising that the institution would not hesitate to expel anyone found culpable engaging in indecent dressing, examination malpractices, stealing, cultism, fighting and thuggery.

Nigerian Tribune

I’ll create thousands of jobs within months if voted as Ondo gov —AD aspirant Bola Badmus - Lagos

GOVERNORSHIP aspirant on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in the forthcoming poll in Ondo State, Joseph Eniola Ojajuni, has promised to make available 100,000 jobs if elected into office within a few months.

He said he would achieve this by encouraging over 170 companies from Europe to invest in the state, among others.

“I am going to use my wealth of experience to bring over 170 companies from Europe to invest in the state,” he said.

This was just as the aspirant, a youthful entrepreneur, urged the people of the state, especially youths, not to allow themselves to be used as campaign tools ahead of 2016 governorship election.

Ojajuni, who hails from Igbokoda in Ilaje Local Government Area, said this in a statement while declaring his intention to contest the 2016 governorship.

The AD chieftain also promised free primary, secondary and tertiary education as well as good health services, recalling that the people of Ondo State enjoyed true dividends of democracy under the AD leadership of late Governor Adebayo Adefarati.

Oke-Ogun Poly suspends semester exams FOLLOWING the calculated attempt by unregistered students to disrupt the 2015/2016 first semester examination of the Oke Ogun Polytechnic, Saki, which has entered its second day, the polytechnic authority has rescheduled the examination for Monday, March 7.

The school’s management which made this known in a release issued at the end of its emergency meeting, on Tuesday, stated that those students yet to pay their tuition fees would be allowed to do so online as well as complete registration formalities.

The release, made available to newsmen by the registrar of the institution, Mr Oluwole Oyewole, stated further that no student should be found within the school premises until Monday when the school would be re-opened.

The statement further warned students to comply strictly with the order.

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Nigerian Tribune

Biafra: Ohanaeze denies receiving gratification from Presidency Jude Ossai -Enugu

T

HE Ohanaeze Ndigbo leadership has denied receiving gratification from the Presidency to abandon Biafra struggle, saying the allegation levelled against it by promoters of Biafra Radio is false and unfounded.

Briefing newsmen at the

end of its first National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Enugu, on Wednesday, the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Enwo Igariwey, also cautioned officials of the Igbo group against inflammatory statements, adding that they should get clearance from their national secretariat before going to press.

Igariwey said the Ohanaeze Ndigbo was not comfortable with various positions being expressed on national issues by officials of the organisation, stressing that such was undermining the unity of Ndigbo.

“These are difficult times and we must speak with one voice to avoid misunderstanding and misrepre-

sentations.

“For instance, Ohanaeze has made no statements on the issue of Indigenous peoples of Biafra (IPOB).

We’ve never pretended to be speaking for either the MASSOB or IPOB. “We have gone into no such negotiations with any person, so the allegations of Ohanaeze speaking on their behalf are unfounded

Kogi assembly crisis deepens as factional speaker, other sit Yinka Oladoyinbo -Lokoja

THE crisis in the Kogi State House of Assembly continued on Wednesday, as the Umar Imam-led faction of the assembly sat to consider the 2016 budget of the state.

However, the rank of the faction rose from five to 10, as two of those supporting the embattled speaker, Momoh Jimoh Lawal, had joined the Imam faction.

Apart from this, three

newly elected members from the just concluded rerun also joined the former group of five.

At the resumed sitting of the faction, the legislators also elected two other principal officials; with Kekere Abdulkareem (Okehi 1) elected as deputy speaker and Idoko Moses as minority whip.

Also, the now 10-member caucus conducted the second reading of the budget presented last December by former Gov-

ernor Idris Wada and referred it to the committee level.

Speaking at the commencement of the sitting, Umar said in spite of what the other caucus may be fielding the public, peace had returned to assembly following intervention of critical stakeholders both within and outside the state.

The factional speaker pledged not to betray the trust placed on him to lead them, calling on the

other faction to sheath their sword and work for the common interest of the state.

“I emphasise that I will not let you down and that I will, at all times, strive to justify your confidence.

This House since its inauguration has been on turbulent waters. We cannot afford to let our people down; time waits for none of us when eight of the 48 months of our sojourn here are spent stilling the tides,” he said.

2016 budget will be ready March 17 —NASS Jacob Segun Olatunji and Kolawole Daniel -Abuja

THE National Assembly, on Wednesday, said the 2016 budget will be passed

by March 17.

At a joint press briefing, chairmen of the Senate and House of Representatives Committees on Appropriation, Senator Danjuma Goje and Honourable Jibrin Abdulmumin, said the budget report would be laid in both chambers on March 16, after which it would be considered and passed the next day.

Senator Goje said a lot of hard work had been put into the 2016 budget proposals, stressing that “the various sub-committees of the two chambers have interacted with their various respective MDAs, the committees have produced their reports and all the committees of the two chambers have fully submitted their reports.”

Speaking further, he said “we have been working very hard round the clock at the same time at the weekends and we will continue to do that until we finish the compilation of our reports.

The essence of the press conference is to give Nigerians a progress report.”

Adding his voice, Honourable Abdulmumin said “after all consultation with the leadership of the House and Senate, we can confirm to you that all things being equal, we should be able to lay our report of the 2016

Appropriation bill before the House and the Senate on March 16 and the consideration, hopefully, should be done on the 17th.

“So it is safe for us to conclude that the 2016 Appropriation bill will be passed on the 17th of March 2016.

“We are going to open, in the next few days, consultation with the relevant stakeholders in this process, most especially the executive arm of government, particularly in the case of the House, we are going to engage the Min-

ister of Budget and Planning, Minister of Finance and the Director-General, Budget Office. Most importantly, we are working hand in hand with the Senate and we are putting in our best on a daily basis,” he stated.

Boko Haram: Army commutes Ransome-Kuti’s dismissed sentence to demotion THE Nigerian ?Army Council has recommended the release from jail and demotion of Enitan Ransome-Kuti, the former Commander of the Multi National Joint Task Force, who was convicted by a military court and sentenced to six months imprisonment.

The council also recommended that he be reabsorbed into the service and deployed, Sahara Reporters reported Wednesday, citing a confidential army memo.

Mr. Ransome-Kuti, a Brigadier-General, was sentenced by a special court martial on October 15, 2015, for alleged offences during the war against Boko Haram.

He was punished for “cowardly behaviour” and for “failure to perform military duties” after Boko Haram militants overran a heavily fortified military base in Baga, Borno State, on January 3, 2015.

Ransome-Kuti was also found guilty of “miscellaneous offences relating to

service property.”

After his conviction and imprisonment, his lawyer, Femi Falana, requested his release, pending the determination of his appeal, a request that was turned down by the military authorities.

On Monday, Falana petitioned the army authorities, demanding his freedom, saying his client was still held in prison custody despite completing his jail term.

He insisted Ransome-Kuti was “unjustly convicted” by the court martial.

“As the findings of the special court martial are subject to the confirmation of the appropriate authority, we made a strong representation to the Army council on behalf of our client,” Mr Falana stated in the petition dated February 26, 2016.

Falana said the army’s refusal to release his client was a violation of Section 160 of the Armed Forces Act (Cap A20) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

“Thus, you caused our client to serve the six-month prison term without the confirmation of the findings of the special court martial by the Army Council,” he said.

and should be discountenanced.

“Few weeks ago, there was somebody who claimed to be a member of the advisory committee of the Imeobi, stating that Ohanaeze had endorsed Uzo Kalu in his Senate election. We found that as very embarrassing as there was no such NEC and there ought not to be any such discussion in NEC, as Ohanaeze cannot be endorsing one Igbo man against another Igbo man.

“We had to repute that story and stop any other Igbo person from making statements on behalf of Ohanaeze without clearance from the PresidentGeneral.

“The youth wing is not permitted to make any statement under the name of Ohaneze without clear-

ance from the PresidentGeneral. It was also resolved that no member of NEC can issue statement under the name Ohanaeze without clearance from either the President-General or secretary-general till further notice,” he said.

The President General reiterated the fact that the organisation held meeting with the United States Consul-General on Igbo perception of Nigeria last week Friday, stressing that the youth wing leader of the group accused to have represented the IPOB at the meeting was neither there nor at any youth group of Igbo extraction.

“Ohanaeze is not about IPOB but about the general interest of Igbos. Ohaaneze is not a member of IPOB,” he concluded.

Ese, mum arrive Yenagoa amidst tight security Police bar media from speaking with her Continued from front page

ESE and her mother arrived Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, at about 7.30 p.m. on Wednesday amidst tight security and were taken to the state police command headquarters for adequate security.

Sympathisers and neighbuors had been waiting to catch a glimpse of Ese, as they converged on her mother’s restaurant at Opolo suburb in Yenagoa.

Information later filtered through that Ese and her mother, for security reasons, had been retired to the police officers’ mess, where they would pass the night. The development caused the waiting crowd to disperse to their various homes.

When the Nigerian Tri-

bune got to the officers’ mess, after getting the information that she had arrived at the state capital, the entrance was barricaded by fierce looking policemen, who refused journalists access to the girl.

Findings revealed that the father and the officers were holding meeting on the modalities to hand her over to the family.

A policeman (name withheld) told the Nigerian Tribune that the girl was traumatic and might not be in a right state of mind to grant interview at the moment of filing the report.

Inside source also informed that Ese would be in police custody at the officers’ mess, but assured that the media may be allowed to speak with her tomorrow.

MOSOP petitions Buhari, NASS, CoAS over military invasion of Ogoniland Dapo Falade -Port Harcourt THE Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari, the Federal Government, the National Assembly, the Chief of Army Staff and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) over the recent military invasion of Ogoni communities, leading to loss of lives and destruction of properties.

A copy of the petition, entitled: “Protest Against the Unprovoked Military Invasion of Ogoni Communities Occasioning Wanton Killings of Innocent Citizens and Residents,” was made

available to the Nigerian Tribune in Port Harcourt, on Wednesday.

MOSOP President, Mr Legborsi Pyagbara, who signed the petition, insisted that the killing incidents were no response to any crisis whatsoever in the area, noting that none existed.

He expressed dismay at the tactics and callousness with which the Yeghe, Bori/ Zaakpon operations were executed, stressing that it demonstrated dreadful extremism and sinister motive.

MOSOP also insisted that the military campaign violated all known rules of engagement, as well as infringed on the human rights of the people, including the inalienable right of the vic-

tims to life.

“We are compelled to protest to you regarding the unwarranted and unprovoked murderous invasion of Ogoni communities by the military, particularly belonging to the 2nd Brigade of the Nigerian Army, based in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, which took place on Monday, 22 and Tuesday, 23 February, 2016.

“The condemnable military attacks led to wanton destruction of lives and properties in Yeghe, Bori (the capital of Ogoni) and Zaakpon communities.

The affected communities: Yeghe is in Gokana Local Government Area, while Bori and Zaakpon are both in Khana Local Government Council.

17

Thursday, 3 March, 2016 With Tommy Adegbite 0811 695 4631 tommyabijo@yahoo.com

From left, national treasurer, Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE), Chief (Mrs) Bola Doherty; Secretary General, YCE, Chief Idowu Sofola; Kwara State governor, Dr Abdulfatah Ahmed; President YCE, General Adeyinka Adebayo and others, during a courtesy visit to the governor at Government House, Ilorin.

From left, Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer, Coca-Cola Company; Alex Cummings; Sales Representative, Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) Limited, Oduma Harris; CEO, Gold Fatos Company, Mrs Olabisi Oshodi; Managing Director, NBC Limited, Ben Langat and the Group CEO, Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company, Dimitris Lois, during a trade visit to NBC/CocaCola dealers in Lagos, on Monday.

From left, chairman on the occasion, Professor Ayo Olukotun; guest speaker, Professor Nuga Owens-Ibie; Professor Victor Adeyeye and Professor F.O. Nyemutu Roberts, during the Ibadan seminar series of Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER), held at the Conference Centre of NISER, Ojoo, Ibadan, recently. PHOTO: YEMI FUNSO-OKE

From left, Adeniyi Adebisi, Akeem Aimashiko, Odemakinde Bolanle, Soliat Tijani, Sikirat Olaitan, Adesoye Lawal, Mufutau Lawal, Adeyemi Lawal, Alhaji Misitura Lawal and Saminu Lawal, at the 20th remembrance ceremony of their father, Alhaji (Chief ) Dhikrullahi Ademola Lawal, recently.

Bishop John Adeyemo Ojekunle (right) decorating the newly installed Bishop Oluseun Adeoye at Sufficient Grace and Truth Ministry, Okinni, Osun State, recently.

From left, Etisalat Nigeria’s Directors of Consumer Segment, Adeolu Dairo; Channel Sales, Victor Nwaobia; Retail Sales, Lou Odunuga and the Brand and Experience, Elvis Ogiemwanye, during the company’s 2016 Channel Partners Conference, in Lagos, at the weekend.

From left, Tunde Laniyan, Mrs Ekom Ndofia, Dr Usiere Udofia (graduand) Dr Udoh Udofia and other guest, during the induction ceremony into the medical and dental professions for the MBBS and BDS second batch 2014/2015, held at Paul Hendrickse Lecture Theatre, College of Medicine, UCH, Ibadan, recently. PHOTO: D’TOYIN

From left, former Secretary to the State Government, Osun State, Alhaji Fatai Akinbade; the new Bishop Oluseun Adeoye and former Commissioner of Justice, Osun State, Niyi Owolade, after the consecration ceremony in Okinni, Osun State. PHOTO: TOMMY ADEGBITE.

For bookings, contact ’Laolu Afolabi on 08054681741 or Tommy Adegbite on 08116954631

18

Thursday, 3 March, 2016

yournews

SEND YOUR SHORT MESSAGES TO: 08054005323, 08055001746

•The royal dance! PHOTO: TOMMY ADEGBITE

Attention, Oyo Police boss I want to use this opportunity to intimate the Oyo State Police Commissioner, Mr Leye Oyebade, of the artificial curfew in Oyo Town. The town is now under the control of street thugs and hoodlums who battle it out among themselves for the control of the ancient town.

Recently, there was a clash of supremacy among the various criminal groups in the town that residents of Iyalamu, Lagbodoko, Agunpopo, Tengba, Oja Akesan, among other areas, could not venture out of their houses.

I want to let the CP know that the police formation in the town cannot control these criminals, and I am urging the CP to come to our rescue in Oyo town before the situation degenerates further.

I know the CP is an action man, and he would move swiftly to arrest the situation.

•Balogun Tajudeen, 08078856462

Nigeria: A tough country to live in IF I have the opportunity to leave this country, then I won’t think twice before leaving with my family.

Why do we really enjoy suffering our fellow citizens? Why do some people feel comfortable profiting from bad situations?

In developed countries, everybody is working for the progress of the society; while politicians are doing their best to improve the facilities, business people are working to reduce the cost of products and services.

The opposite is the case in Nigeria; business people are always working to profit from the alreadyburdened citizens, while government mismanagement is also not helping matters.

Just a couple of weeks ago, we started buying fuel for N86.50, and just when everybody began heaving sighs of relief, the current scarcity surfaced.

I think it is high time the Federal Government told us what is really happening; why can’t Nigerians be happy in their country?;

why is it that some people thrive at the misfortune of others?

We have refineries, but they are not functioning optimally. Who are those

responsible for blowing up oil pipelines in the Niger Delta?

I think the President should be firmer in his quest to restore sanity in

the country. Nigerians need a tough leader to bring senses into us, and I know President Muhammadu Buhari fits the bill.

Nigerians are really not

asking for too much; we just want to live in comfort.

turn a new leaf, to avoid God’s punishment.

The leaders and the followers should go back to the scriptures for God to reveal His glory in all of us, with a divine comfort. Also, the clerics should speak and preach the true messages of

God to the church and the nation and open the ears of the people to God’s approved ways of life.

Also, Nigerians should re-dedicate themselves to the service of God and humanity. Also the difficult situation facing the country demands a lot of sacrifice from the collective efforts of both the leaders and the led.

Men of God are not left out, they should always pray for the nation’s leaders so that they will be able to surmount every obstacle on the way and lead well.

With this, Nigeria can attain greatness, peace, tranquility and God’s blessings.

•Stanley Umoh, 08029518875

Achieving a greater Nigeria POLITICAL office holders must justify people’s confidence in them by striving to fulfill their promises, especially the ones they made during electioneering campaigns. This is because this is the only way that the change of government can make meaning to them.

Fundamental issues affecting the country such as insecurity, corruption, unemployment and poor power supply should be given prompt attention.

Also, the political consciousness of the people is now high and they will no longer vote for those who cannot add value to their lives.

Nigerian political leaders should also turn from their wicked ways and evils, so as not to incur the wrath of

God. Clearly, Nigerian politicians do a lot of things which God hates. They tell lies under oath, trust in deceitful works and so on.

They make promises and break them and worship gods, hence, they should

Need for establishment of banks in Ogwuashi-Ukwu COMMERCIAL banks in the country should come and site their branches in Ogwuashi-Ukwu Town, Delta State.

This will go a long way in easing the difficulties being experienced by traders and even students of the Delta State Polytechnic, who now travel to other com-

munities for their banking needs.

I hope the leadership of these new generation banks will see this as an opportunity to expand their branches, while capturing more customers.

•Feyisetan Akeeb Kareem, 08098245620

•Prophet Oladipupo Funmilade-Joel, 08033733470.

19

editorial

Thursday, 3 March, 2016

Nigerian Tribune

Motorists and fake insurance papers

T

HE Director-General, Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA), Mr. Sunday Thomas, disclosed recently that about 12 million Nigerian motorists carry fake insurance papers. He noted that, most times, car owners are not even aware that their vehicle insurance papers are fake. According to media reports, the DG explained that the Nigerian Insurance Industry Database (NIID) was introduced to curb the proliferation of fake motor insurance papers, provide information on the details of vehicles available on Nigerian roads, and enhance the verification of certificates in owners’ possession. As he disclosed, a motorist can now check his or her motor insurance policy status by sending his or her vehicle details through Short Message Service (SMS) to a dedicated NIID number or through the website of the database.

Indeed, the Motor Vehicles Act stipulates that every vehicle should be compulsorily insured for third party risk. In general, a major objective of insurance policies is to help road accident victims and the legal representatives of deceased victims to secure substantial compensation. The compensation can be obtained only if the motor vehicle involved in an accident is insured. For this reason, vehicle insurance benefits both the accident victims as well as the vehicle owners, who are saved the stress of compensation payment out of their pockets.

To this end, not only should every vehicle be covered by a valid insurance, it should be driven by a person who has a valid license. In the case of commercial vehicles, validity of permit and fitness should be ascertained.

However, the revelation of the NIA boss hints at a baffling statistics on vehicle insurance defaulters in a country whose Gross Domestic Product (GDP) could be better enhanced if vehicle insurance fees are appropriately channeled through authorized and registered insurance companies. Sadly, investigations have revealed that there are so many motorists in the country who endanger the lives of other road users by driving vehicles without valid insurance certificates.

Instead of obtaining certified papers that would provide insurance cover and compensation in times of accidents

and monumental disasters on the roads, a large number of Nigerian motorists seek unauthorized papers at cheaper rates from fraudsters.

Significantly, the NIA separated expired insurance policies acquired by motorists from the tenable and unexpired ones in order to determine the actual number of vehicles with genuine insurance. While the vehicles on Nigerian roads are estimated to be between 16 and 17 million, according to the NIA boss, the NIID had only registered about 4.3 million vehicles. There is thus much work for the association to do in collaboration with the Nigerian Police Force and other relevant law enforcement agencies to ensure increase in the number of motorists with genuine vehicle insurance certificates in the country.

It is worth stating that, just as it is necessary for the NIID to work in conjunction with the Nigeria Police to raid offices and areas notorious for the sale of fake insurance papers, intelligence-driven mechanisms should also be put in place to identify and prosecute fraudulent agents who have bastardized the system with the issuance of fake and unauthorized vehicle insurance papers. It is our position that, as a complementary effort to the NIID’s use of electronic mobile gadgets for the purpose of confirming the genuineness of motor insurance documents as quickly as possible, it should initiate widespread public enlightenment on the acquisition of valid vehicle insurance policy.

The current salutary practice is that once a motorist registers with any of the approved insurance outfits, the NIID immediately issues an insurance policy identification that is unique to the motorist’s licensed number plate, since insurance papers are processed together with other vehicle papers. In the spirit of sanitizing the system, the approved insurance companies operating in Nigeria also have pivotal roles to play in terms of timely and regular uploading of the details of vehicles covered onto the database, so that the NIID can constantly update its statistics and provide an accurate picture of compliance with the country’s insurance regulations at all times.

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20

opinion

Thursday, 3 March, 2016

Giving girls the opportunity to thrive

By Tabitha Makinde

A

BOUT 16 million girls between the ages of 15 and 19 years give birth each year, which account for 11 per cent of all births worldwide. Ninety-five per cent of these births occur in low and middle income countries.

The average adolescent birth rate in middle income countries is more than twice as high as that in high income countries, with the rate in low-income countries being five times as high. (WHO, 2008) At the regional level, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has the highest adolescent fertility rate in the world at 108 births (per 1,000 in 15 to 19 year olds), followed by Latin America and the Caribbean at 68 births (per 1,000 in 15 to 19 year olds). South Asia (SA) and East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) have adolescent fertility rates of 39 and 19 births (per 1,000 in 15 to 19 year olds) respectively. (World Bank, 2014) In Nigeria, the Health and Demographic Survey in 2013 revealed that 23 per cent of girls between ages 15 and 19 have begun childbearing, 17 per cent have had a child and five per cent are pregnant with their first child with Katsina State emerging as the state having the highest teenage pregnancy where more than half of women aged 15 and 19 have begun childbearing.

Adolescent birth rate in Nigeria is 112 births per 1,000 women ages 15 and 19 (World Bank, 2015).

Poverty, sexual abuse, ignorance and child marriage, which are deeply rooted in cultural and religious beliefs, are salient factors responsible for teenage pregnancies in Nigeria. Teenage pregnancy varied markedly in the Northern and Southern geopolitical zones and rural areas, with one in every three teenage girls in the North and one out of 10 in the South.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) defined a ‘child’ as a person below the age of 18, unless the laws of a particular country set the legal age for adulthood younger (Article 1, CRC). While Nigeria signed the CRC and the national legislation legislature has passed the Child Rights Act in Abuja, the law appears to have differing levels of acceptance and implementation among Nigerian states.

Many girls (between ages 10 and 18), who according to the CRC are ‘children’ are still given out in marriages without their free and full consent. Parents frequently arrange marriages for their daughters without their input or consent. Article 3 of the

CRC states that the best interests of children must be the primary concern in making decisions that may affect them, but this is usually not the case among parents, especially in the North and rural areas.

A study by World Bank group in 2015 showed that adolescent childbearing is closely tied to marital status. Around half (ranging from 42 per cent in Nepal to 55 per cent in Nigeria) of evermarried adolescents women have given birth According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), “Pregnancies among girls less than 18 years of age have irreparable consequences. It violates the rights of girls, with lifethreatening consequences in terms of sexual and reproductive health, and poses high development costs for communities, particularly in perpetuating the cycle of poverty.”

Compared with women who delay childbearing until their 20s, teen mothers are more likely to drop out of school and have low educational attainment; to face unemployment, poverty, and welfare dependency; to experience more rapid repeat pregnancy; to become single mothers; and to experience divorce, if they marry. Infants of teen mothers are more likely to be premature and experience infant mortality. The children of teenage mothers do less well on indicators of health and social wellbeing than do children of older mothers. The health, social and economic implications of teenage pregnancies are enormous as pregnancy is the greatest killer of teenage girls worldwide. The consequences of teenage pregnancy include unsafe abortion, pregnancy complications, poor ante-natal care, weak pelvic bones, high fertility rate, curtailment of education attainment and unstable marital life. Teenage pregnancy also means that more children will be born to women during their reproductive years, leading to an increased population growth for a country.

Teenage pregnancy is a major health concern because of its

association with higher morbidity and mortality for both the mother and the child. Health consequences include not yet being physically ready for pregnancy and childbirth, leading to complications and malnutrition as the majority of adolescents tend to come from lower-income households. Stillbirths and death in the first week of life are 50 per cent higher among babies born to mothers younger than 20 years than among babies born to mothers 20–29 years old. Deaths during the first month of life are 50–100 per cent more frequent if the mother is an adolescent, the younger the mother, the higher the risk. (WHO) Many health problems are particularly associated with negative outcomes of pregnancy during adolescence. These include anemia, malaria, HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, postpartum hemorrhage and mental disorders, such as depression. Also, the rates of preterm birth, low birth weight and asphyxia are higher among the children of adolescents, all of which increase the chance of death and of future health problems for the baby.

Studies have shown that delaying adolescent births could significantly lower population growth rates, potentially generating broad economic and social benefits, in addition to improving the health of adolescents. In this regard, WHO recommends that age at marriage should be increased to 18 years, with full consent of the girl child and age at first pregnancy should be increased to 20years. Other strategies of reducing the incidence of teenage pregnancy include the provision of schools in rural areas where teenage pregnancy is prevalent, implementing Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) for poor parents who send their girls to school, incorporating comprehensive sex education into schools’ curriculum with abstinence as a focus, reducing coerced sex among adolescents, reducing unsafe abortion among adolescents, increasing use of skilled antenatal, childbirth and postnatal care among adolescents, and provision of rehabilitation centers for already pregnant adolescents so as to encourage them to go back to school after giving births. Reducing the rate of teenage pregnancy will help reduce the population of Nigeria, raise a healthy and productive labour force, increase the economic productivity of the country and much more will help girls reach their full potentials.

•Makinde is of the University of Ibadan.

Reducing train accidents in Nigeria

By Oke Peter SINCE the establishment of railway transportation in the country in October 1912 by Lord Fredrick Lugard, it has contributed immensely to the nation’s economic development. The reason for its introduction was to open the interiors of the Northern parts of the country to the South for commerce.

The Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) is, therefore, responsible for the regulation and safety of this important sector of the economy. However, after many years of being comatose, the railway is back; this transportation sector was revived by the immediate past administration, but, with its revival comes a rise in the number of accidents involving trains in the country.

This high rate of train collisions and accidents, therefore, calls for serious concern. It is worrisome that many lives have been lost to preventable rail accidents as a result of ignorance on the part of victims, and the inexperience of train drivers. While it has been discovered that it is extremely difficult for trains to come to a stop – even if they are moving slowly, as their weight and momentum means that it could take a very long time for them to brake to a halt, people are advised to steer clear of rail tracks.

A report published in a newspaper recently told the pathetic story of a deaf and dumb male graduate, who was crushed to death by a train around Oyingbo area of Lagos. An eyewitness said all efforts made by people to save the victim proved abortive as he did not respond to signs and alerts transmitted to him to leave the rail track. His body was cut into two, while his arms and legs were chopped off.

Sadly also, in August 2015, a truck rammed into a moving train at Agege Crossing area of Lagos. Two men, who hanged on the train, died from the injuries they sustained as a result of the accident. Recently, some train passengers narrowly escaped death when the 10-coach Iddo-bound train rammed into a trailer at Ilupeju Railway Crossing, near Oshodi, Lagos. It was reported that the incident was the third in that month involving passenger trains ramming into vehicles at railway crossings in Lagos metropolis.

Sometime in December 2015, three persons inside a car were

crushed to death by a train in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.

The crushed victims were said to be coming from the Northern part of the country and heading to Offa. There are also many unreported cases of train accidents as well. However, no matter the advantage, trains should be well-regulated so that they would not be getting involved in accidents frequently.

With all these accidents, one wonders whether train drivers and locomotive engineers are really trained on how to prevent accidents. It is unfortunate that during previous accidents, the regulatory body hardly responds to distress calls, no matter the numbers of causalities. For how long will this trend continue?

Or is this how we will continue sacrificing human lives to make railway transportation viable in the country? We should realise that this is not how trains kill in developed country.

If government is serious about the revival of the rail sector, passengers’ safety should be prioritised. Just as we have the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) responsible for monitoring vehicles on the highways, and the Nigeria Airspace Management Authority (NAMA) in charge of the aviation sector, the Federal Government should set up a taskforce to monitor rail tracks and stations across the country for better performance.

The taskforce should monitor cases of overloading, particularly passengers who are in the habit of sitting, or hanging onto the train to get to their destinations. Train drivers should also be

cautioned on excessive speed to avoid collisions.

Unauthorised crossings by vehicles should be monitored and restricted. It has been discovered that train derailment, that is, when a train disconnects from its track, is caused mainly due to collision or human error.

Again, people who cross the train track should be careful at all times; they should not assume that they can hear a train coming, as modern trains are much quieter than ever before.

Speed limit for trains should also be monitored.

Motorists should never stop on the tracks; drivers should have it in mind that once they stop on rail tracks and a train approaches, it might be too late before they move out of the track, thereby causing a collision with the train; such accidents are always very fatal.

On the part of the authorities, it is important that safety signs, as well as security personnel, are put in place to maintain law and order at railway crossings. Damaged gates and barriers should be reconstructed at railways crossings to prevent accidents, while provision of automatic warning systems to notify train drivers and engineers of any unexpected events at railway crossings will be of great advantage. This system will transmit streaming video from the relevant railway crossings to both the approaching trains and the control centre. Railway transportation is too technical to be left in the hands of quacks, and as a result, qualified personnel must be employed by the railway authorities.

It is high time the Federal Government embarked on sensitisation campaign on the use of the railway crossings. Jingles and television commercials, as well as fliers, should be provided at rail crossings to educate road users and motorists.

Nigerians, especially the young ones who are in the habit of using earpiece to listen to music on their mobile phones on the highways and rail tracks, are hereby advised to stop the habit for their own good.

Finally, passengers must obey the directives of personnel on board the trains, as such instructions can save lives.

•Oke Peter is on the staff of the Nigerian Tribune

21

Thursday, 3 March, 2016

Femi Olukunle Coordinating Editor 08158610216

Group to commence Islamic Centre project Christian Okeke -Abuja A group, Jama’atul Izalatil Bid’ah WaIkamatis Sunnah, is to commence construction of an Islamic Centre at the Guzape District of Abuja.

Already, a fund-raising event has been held to source for funds for the project.

Represented at the event by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, President Muhammadu Buhari commended the group for uniting Muslim community through the preaching of Islamic tenets on obedience to constituted authority, good morals and the need for harmonious co-existence.

He said their efforts had greatly enhanced the unity and socio-economic development of the country.

While charging religious leaders in the country to do more to support the Federal Government’s efforts to transform the country by entrenching the culture of good governance and overcoming the security challenges facing the country., Buhari noted that religious leaders had a duty to support the government in sustaining the peace and tranquility being

Long queues of vehicles and jerry cans returned to the Nigerian roads after a few weeks of respite.

Continues pg22

Fuel queue: NNPC intensifies collaboration with major oil marketers Christian Okeke -Abuja

T

HE Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has intensified efforts to end fuel queues across the country through collaboration with the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) and other downstream industry players.

Already, the corporation has secured the commitment of the leadership of the marketers for effective collaboration.

According to the Corporation, to achieve end to the queues, truck-out to filling stations in the Lagos area has been increased from the regular 245 to 295 trucks per day (9.7 million) while truck-out to fuel stations in Abuja from Suleja depot has been stepped up to 210 trucks per day (6.9million litres) from the regular supply of 160 trucks per day.

The NNPC explained that similar increment in supply volume had been activated in the Port Harcourt, Calabar, Kano and Kaduna areas to ensure seamless availability of petroleum products across every nook and cranny of the country.

While appealing for understanding and support from members of the public, the NNPC assured that it was doing everything possible to end the prevailing challenges experienced by motorists, commuters and the general public in ac-

cessing petrol.

The NNPC also announced that the

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, has directed the full

activation of an Intra-Ministerial Joint Monitoring Task Force made up of officials of Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) and the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC), to ensure and enforce compliance to laid down rules and regulations governing the supply and distribution of petroleum products.

It said: “Within the last 48 hours, we have received six cargoes of petrol (270 million litres) and beginning from 1st March, 2016, we shall begin to receive one cargo of petrol every day (45 million litres).”

Crew 1. Christian Okeke chidiabujatribune@ yahoo.com 08030947856 2. Clement Idoko idokoajiga@yahoo. co.uk 08034412281

Crowd at a filling station owing to fuel scarcity.

Ministry to establish technology villages in 6 geo-political zones —Pg.22

Agric-based group asks FG to revisit cassava bread —Pg.22 policy

3. Kolawole Daniel kolawoledaniels@yahoo.co.uk 08030763782 4. Adetola Bademosi gloriaadetola@ gmail.com 08182214290 5. Collins Nnabuife chideraacollins@yahoo.com 08039521408 Abuja Xtra email & GSM: abujaxtra@ gmail.com 08054501406

22

abujaextra

Thursday, 3 March, 2016

Ministry to establish technology villages in 6 geo-political zones Ademola Adegbite-Abuja EDERAL Ministry of Science and Technology is set to establish technology villages in the six geo-political zones in the country, with a view to exploring the creativity potentials embedded in the informal sector.

F

The minister in charge of the ministry, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, while inspecting an excavator manufactured by Mr. Felix Nwachukwu, an indigene of Imo State in Abuja, said establishing the technology villages was subject to availability of funds.

He described Nwachukwu as a great Ni-

gerian and stressed the need to have all intellectual properties patented so as to attract more inventors and innovators.

According to him, “We want you to patent it so that you will own the intellectual properties, and whatever money that will come out of it will be your own. There were multitudes of creative Nigerians in the informal sector with a technological intellect capable of helping the nation close the technological gaps existing in many areas of the economy.”

He went further to say: “We have in our programme that we will be establishing technology villages in the six geo-political areas of the country once the resources are available, but we will start with one,

and the essence of that technology village is to take care of the inventions and creativity of those who are in the informal sector.

“Those with a lot of talents, skills and ability, those who are very creative, have to be taken care of so that we can ensure nothing stops them from moving their own ideas from mere ideas to product and services,” he added.

Earlier, Nwachukwu bemoaned what he described as poor attitude of successive governments in recognising the importance of technology.

He disclosed that the excavator was fabricated locally with a view to addressing the technological gap in the country.

Agric-based group asks FG to revisit cassava bread policy From left, Executive Secretary, Nigeria Christian Pilgrimage Commission (NCPC),John Kennedy Opara; Senator Ayo Arise and Speaker,Federal House of Representative, Honourable Yakubu Dogara exchanging pleasantries during the second Christian Pilgrimage Stakeholders Summit in Abuja recently. PHOTO: SUNDAY OSUNRAYI

From left, Founder, DiasFunds Africa Ltd., Obinali Egele exchanging Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Director General, National Commission for Museum and Monument, Malam Yusuff Abdulahi Usman while Director, Administration and Supply, Barrister Emeka Omoegbu looks on with interest, during the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for digital Images Museum between the Commission and Diasfunds in Abuja recently. PHOTO: SUNDAY OSUNRAYI

From right, FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello; President, Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa and the FCT Chief Judge, Justice Ishaq Bello, during the inauguration of the Criminal Justice Monitoring Committee by the Chief Judge in Abuja.

Group to commence Islamic Centre project Continued from pg21

currently enjoined across the country.

He said: “There is no doubt that what we are witnessing today is something that is very important to us as Muslims and indeed to the community and society at large. We all have a duty to continue to support the leader of this group so that he can continue to do the good things that he has been doing for over thirty years”.

The President commended past and present administrations of the FCT for giving priority to religious organisations in land allocations for the establishment of worship centres and schools for proper grooming of the future leaders of the country.

Buhari acknowledged that the establishment of the proposed Islamic centre by

the Jama’atul Izalatil Bid’ah WaIkamatis Sunnah in Abuja was an important milestone which required the support of all, adding that efforts should be made to ensure the completion of the project in order to enhance the educational development of the nation.

Earlier in his remarks, the National Chairman of the Ulama Council of JIBWIS, Sheikh Sani Yahaya Jingir, said the proposed Islamic Community Centre would include a Mosque, Islamic school, conference hall and guest quarters.

He called for prayers for the success of the President Muhammdu Buhari-led administration and charged Muslims all over the country to support the on-going reforms aimed at making life better for the entire citizens of this country.

Adetola Bademosi-Abuja AN agricultural-based group, African Centre for Food, Agriculture and Sustainable development (Afri-CASD), has called on the Federal Government to revisit the cassava bread policy.

The Centre said the decision would boost cassava production and minimise cost of importing wheat flour and other commodities used by bakers.

Speaking in Abuja, the Executive Director of the group, Mr Bamidele Adanikin, urged the new administration to continue with the cassava bread policy implementation to reduce imports and boost the nation’s economy, as he said that it was no more news that the hike in dollar was already taking its toll on the prices of goods and services in the country.

According to him, the immediate past administration invested huge sum to acquire about 18 large-scale, high-quality cassava flour processing plants from China for the production of the flour.

He said the flour produce was mixed with wheat flour by bakers and confectioners in the right proportion to produce the cassava bread.

According to him, in a time where the country is trying to prioritise agriculture, there should be policies that would promote continuity especially those that are pro-masses.

The Afri-CASD boss recalled that the erstwhile Minister of Agriculture, Akinwumi Adesina, was optimistic that the scaling up of cassava supply would ensure a gradual replacement of wheat flour in bread by 50 per cent within the next three to five years.

According to him, the introduced cassava bread, which has 10 per cent inclusion of cassava flour, is already available in shops across the country.

Adanikin revealed that the Federal Government as at then provided over N9 billion under the Cassava Bread Fund to enable the production chain scale up to the target.

As a result, the cassava inclusion in bread and other confectionery products then led to a decline in wheat importation by five per cent, from 4.2 million metric tonnes to 3.7 million metric tonnes.

He lamented that in some parts of the country, the prices of bread had gone up due to new import rate.

He said: “The new government, led by President Muhammadu Buhari, should build on the agricultural policy of the erstwhile administration and make it better especially on reducing food imports and encouraging local production.

“We don’t know about other policies, but as farmers, agriculture is capable of reviving our economy and ensuring that agriculture takes its rightful place among other sectors.

FRSC, Health Ministry, others to forge alliance on national emergencies Clemetn Idoko-Abuja THE Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Federal Ministry of Health and other emergency management institutions in the country are to forge greater collaboration for effective management of national emergencies.

This is even as the Minister of State for Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, lamented lack of proper synergy in response and management national emergencies as result inter-agency rivalries.

Ehanire had a discussion with the Corps Marshal and Chief Executive of FRSC, Mr Boboye Oyeyemi, during which he appealed to Nigerians to support the present administration to achieve the desired change in healthcare.

The minister of state said that there was urgent need for all relevant stakeholders in emergency management institutions to join hands in creating the needed synergy

that could provide a world-class platform for disaster management in the country.

He noted that what FRSC had done was an indication of the possibilities that existed if all other stakeholders keyed into the initiative.

The minister pledged to ensure that a system of revolving fund was put in place for treatment of victims of emergencies rescued and brought to hospitals so as to resolve the issue of rejection by hospitals management.

He also promised to work towards effective collation of data on emergencies in the country by strengthening the present inter-ministerial committee responsible for the purpose.

Speaking, Corps Marshal of FRSC, Boboye Oyeyemi, commended the minister for taking time to undergo facility tour of all the infrastructural facilities of the FRSC located at Gwagawalada, Kado and the National Headquarters.

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Thursday, 3 March, 2016

education

Adamu

Editor: Laolu Harolds 08111845016 tribune.education@yahoo.com

Fagge

Fashina

ASUU and the fresh drums of war

The signs are ominous that the relative peace hitherto found by the nation’s Ivory Towers may soon be disturbed unless the federal government pulls the breaks on what ASUU regards as its growing ‘meddlesomeness’ in the affairs of the universities. CLEMENT IDOKO writes

I

N the past, one of the critical demands by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) which sometimes led to prolonged industrial actions was the issue of university autonomy. The lecturers had fought vehemently for the university autonomy and academic freedom to save the Ivory Tower from the draconian and autocratic military regimes that had dominated the nation’s polity.

The meddlesomeness of the military leaders then was not helpful for the smooth running of the universities in achieving the goals of teaching, learning and research as well as rendering community service.

Stakeholders have argued that university autonomy and academic freedom are essential to the advancement, transmission and application of knowledge.

Over the past few years, however, it appears ASUU indeed achieved a measure of what they had always desired. At least, now universities have a greater say in appointing vice chancellors, among other ‘freedoms’.

But events of the past few weeks appear set to draw back the hand of that clock, especially with mass sack and appointments of 13 vice chancellors (through executive fiat) by the federal government.

The ASUU president, Dr Nasir Fagge, and his two predecessors – Dr Dipo Fashina, and Dr Abdullahi Sule-Kano – last week addressed a news conference in Abuja, where they expressed the union’s fears over the gradual erosion of the university autonomy, with a clear threat to return to the trenches against the federal govern-

ment if steps were not taken to correct the anomalies in the system.

Fagge and his colleagues noted at the occasion that the Universities (Miscellaneous) (Amendment) Act 2003 made ample provision for the university autonomy, but that these provisions were always observed in the breach by the federal government.

They lamented government’s lack of commitment towards providing enabling environment for complete autonomy and academic freedom, and the overbearing influence of government officials on the running of the institutions.

University autonomy, in the actual sense, relates to the protection of the university from interference by government officials in the day-to-day running of the institution, especially on issues relating to: selection of students; appointment and removal of the vice chancellor; determination of the content of university education and the control of degree standards; determination of size and the rate of growth; establishment of the balance between teaching, research and advanced study; and the allocation of recurrent income among the various categories of expenditure.

The universal idea of the university is that it is a community of scholars who are free to pursue knowledge without undue interference from any quarters. So, every university has its own law which spells out the functions of the various organs in the institutions, such as the governing council, senate, congregation, committee of deans, faculty, department, and so on.

Autonomy rightly given means that indi-

vidual universities have complete authority to determine their needs and provide their funding; nominate and empower their governing councils; determine their academic programmes and recruitment policies as well as general administration.

But since government still funds university education in Nigeria, the issue of complete autonomy remains a mirage. Because it is assumed that federal universities do not charge fees in Nigeria, government has continued to take up the responsibility of funding its universities within the limits made possible by its resource base.

The ASUU president, while reacting to the recent sack of the vice chancellors and immediate appointment of new ones, said such action was in violation of the provisions of the Universities Autonomy Act. The removal and appointment of the affected vice chancellors was ordered by the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari, who is the Visitor to the federal universities.

Fagge insisted that going by the provisions of the Universities (Miscellaneous) (Amendment) Act 2003, only the governing councils are empowered to appoint remove vice chancellors.

According him, ASUU had way back in 2011 condemned the manner in which the new universities were established through executive fiat by the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.

He said: “For upward of four years, the laws establishing these universities were not gazetted. All our entreaties to make

government correct this anomaly fell on deaf ears. The latest developments in these universities have justified our consistent demand for proper governance structures and processes in the Nigerian university system.

“In the first place, vice chancellors were arbitrarily appointed into these institutions and governing councils instituted without making their enabling law public. And we are worried that the same circle of illegality is playing out again.

“In a university where there is the law, only the governing council is empowered to remove a vice chancellor from office ‘for a good cause’; And only a council has the power to appoint a vice chancellor in accordance with the law,” ASUU president said.

In the appointment of a vice chancellor, the council only selects and informs the Visitor to the universities.

As clearly spelt out in the Universities (Miscellaneous Provisions) Amendment Act 2003, 4 (b): ‘The Council shall select and appoint as vice chancellor one candidate from among the three candidates recommended to it and thereby inform the Visitor. The vice chancellor can be removed from office by the governing council on grounds of his or her conduct or inability to discharge the functions of his or her office, as a result of infirmity of the body or mind, at the initiative of the Council, Senate, or the Congregation after due process’ ASUU, therefore, called on the federal government to toe the path of legality and due process by gazetting the law appointing the councils and mandating the councils to immediately commence the process of appointing the new vice chancellors of the affected universities.

Also, the Universities (Miscellaneous Provision) (Amendment) Act 2003, provides for a five-year tenure, non-renewable for a vice chancellor in the Nigerian university system. This was why ASUU president in contribution to the debate over the removal of the vice chancellor of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Professor Vincent Ado-Tenebe, argued that he should not be given “an extended term of even one day.”

Fagge said available information to the union suggested that the NOUN vice chancellor had served a five-year term guaranteed under the Act.

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Thursday, 3 March, 2016

Speakers advocate robust vocational training As Lagos City Polytechnic graduates 657 Naza Okoli -Lagos THE need for graduates of tertiary institutions, particularly polytechnics, to embrace the challenge of creating, rather than seeking, jobs, formed the thrust of the messages delivered by speakers at the 10th convocation of Lagos City Polytechnic, held last weekend at the LTV 8 (Blue Roof) Ikeja, Lagos.

The president and chairman of governing council of the polytechnic, Babatunde Odufuwa, said there had been a “shift” from the primary objective behind the establishment of polytechnics, and called for a return to the original idea.

“It is obvious that our focus is shifting,” he said.

“We have concentrated our attention in raising men and women who would only be fitted for whitecollar jobs and neglecting those core areas that would make them self-reliant.

“The polytechnic is the training ground for practical experience. This is time to refocus. With so many construction works in roads, housing and other sectors, we need functional manpower to drive the processes. If our teeming youth are motivated and rightly directed, the issue of unemployment will vanish from our society.”

Also speaking, the deputy vice president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Alhaji Razak Jaiyeola, who delivered the Convocation Lecture

entitled ‘The Journey to Financial Freedom’, charged the graduates to pursue entrepreneurial projects that are in line with their natural talents and acquired skills.

“A significant challenge any entrepreneur faces are: lack of finance, manpower, infrastructure, and regulatory challenges,” he said.

He, however, noted that

graduates who demonstrate “understanding of the business and the business environment” and who have integrity and team spirit would easily attract support from funders.

A total of 271 candidates were conferred with National Diplomas, while 386 bagged Higher National Diplomas from the different departments and schools in the polytechnic.

ACU appoints new registrar, bursar THE governing council of the Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, has appointed Mrs Adenike Fatogun as the new registrar of the institution.

The new registrar is an alumnus of the University of Ilorin and the Lagos State University.

Mrs Fatogun had served between 2009 and 2011 as Commissioner for Education and Special Adviser on Higher Education to the Ondo

State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko With over 32 years experience, Mrs Fatogun has held several administrative positions both within and outside the university system, and is a member of several professional organizations, including the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM), Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (ACIPMN)

and the Nigerian Institute of Training and Development (NITD).

In the same vein, the university has also appointed Mr Abiodun Ola Ademosun as the new bursar.

Ademosun is an alumnus of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), where he obtained a BSc in Chemistry, and the University of Jos where he obtained his postrgraduate Diploma in Management.

Ademosun started his career as a Senior Accountant with the Federal Ministry of Education, Lagos in 1979 and thereafter worked in many sectors of the economy.

He became a chartered accountant in 1989 and became a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria in 2000.

Both appointments take immediate effect.

The secret of my success – Dada, UNILAG’s best valedictorian I consider an examination as an opportunity to sell myself as a product, to my lecturer/examiner who can be seen as a consumer. If your product is not unique and doesn’t add value to the consumer, they don’t buy it. For me, they buy my product when I get an A. The key thing is: understanding the consumer. Listen to everything they say even when they don’t realize they are communicating. Add something they care about to what you offer. It’s quite simple because the lecturers actually give clues when they speak. Regrettably, most students are distracted and engage in side chats. As such, they don’t learn the clues they need.

Ayodele Samuel Dada, on Tuesday, set a bold record at the University of Lagos as he became the first student to graduate with a CGPA of 5.00 – what the Vice Chancellor of the 54-year-old university, Professor Rahamon Bello, described as “a perfect score.” In this interview with NAZA OKOLI, the graduate of Psychology speaks of his abiding passion for his chosen course and his uncommon determination to succeed.

YOU have a calm, soft, voice. Have you always spoken like this?

That is my regular disposition but when I have to educate or communicate, I take it up a notch or two. Being soft-spoken is sometimes useful because people don’t see you coming. I try not to speak until I have something important to say.

How is it possible that a student can score As in all the courses he takes in school?

Scoring As is about preparation.

Preparation, for me, isn’t just about studying. It involves understanding the personality of the examiner, the culture of a department and other variables which others may consider ancillary to the matter of academics. I favour the quote by the Chinese military strategist, Sun Tzu (4th century BC), who believed that the victorious general is already victorious before the battle while the defeated general enters battle and struggles to find the victory. When you prepare well, you win before the battle.

But Psychology isn’t Mathematics.

I am aware it involves a lot of writing and thinking and analysis.

How is it that you managed to impress your teachers consistently throughout your years on this campus?

Psychology is a blend of several things. Statistics and biology compose significant parts of the discipline. As such, I believe the rules of success are similar. If you discover a discipline where your interest and passion intersects with your ability, you will be brilliant in spite of yourself. For me, that is psychology.

People who are not so intelligent or perceptive can tell when you’re passionate about something. Thankfully, my lecturers are very intelligent people.

Students often say their lecturers sometimes deliberately reduce their marks just to “teach them a lesson” or just to make them “humble” or “put them in their place”. Did you not experience this?

I concede that some lecturers could do that to students. I, however, believe that it is possible to be consistent until they

realize that it is in their interest to treat you fairly. When lecturers are able to see that you really care about the discipline and you don’t write exams for marks or just to pass, they identify with you.

Psychology is my life. All those who have met me can tell.

Have you always known it would be 5:00? At what point did you begin to “scheme” this?

I did not plan for a 5.0. I just wanted to do each test, assignment, presentation and exam very well. All I cared about was doing well each day. By getting it right and pushing the boundaries each time, I wanted people to see psychology differently. To see it as something we can use every day to solve problems.

Psychology is not well understood or recognized in Nigeria and I thought it was possible to change that. We only discover how real an “impossibility” is when we test its resolve, when we challenge its will to survive.

How did you relate with your classmates? Did they like you? Did they feel threatened?

I had a great relationship with my colleagues because I tried to assist others to rise. I made efforts to ensure that others around me had a better fighting chance. I proposed a culture of sharing whatever materials we had and I had wonderful colleagues who supported this perspective of life. I didn’t condone any form of exam collaboration and I never participated in such. However, in the course of the session we tried to help each other become better. It was then I realized that many people have the ability to do well in school. The only problem is with their motivation, since they wonder if their certificates would take them anywhere. Motivation is a psychological issue.

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education

Winners emerge in mathematics quiz

By Olatunji Awe WINNERS have emerged from the second edition of the annual mathematics quiz competition organised for primary and secondary schools in Ibafo, Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State.

Over 170 students from 15 schools participated in the competition, which was organised by Mr Olorunlogbon Oloruntoba, the proprietor of Great Global Tutorial Academy.

Some of the schools are Mega School, Great Global Tutorial Academy, Living Faith School, Kingdom of Knowledge, Best Legacy, Mighty Stars, Precious Seeds, Success Gate, Royalfield Academy, Christ Tower, Best Brain Tutorial Academy, and Radiant Comprehensive College – all in Obafemi Owode Local Government.

The first category (Primary) winners are Adenekan Abdulsalam of Caros Standard School (first position); Folorunso Olamide of Christ Tower School (second position), while Oshinowo Imela of Precious Seed School came third.

The second category (Junior) winners are Ike Francis Ebube, Adefila Quadri and Tijani Saheed from Mega Schools.

All the winners were presented with Certificate of Participation and textbooks in their related fields.

Speaking with Tribune Education after the programme, Mr Olorunlogbo Oloruntoba Great appealed to non-governmental and corporate organisations for support.

“I want to appeal to the various non-governmental organisations in our society and corporate organisations to support the programme. By next edition, we want to give the winners laptops and some informative materials.

Thursday 3, March 2016

Ambode, others celebrate with alma mater, FGC Warri, at 50 • Task new students on commitment EbenezerAdurokiya-Warri

G

OVERNOR Akinwumi Ambode of Lagos State last weekend tasked students of the Federal Government College, Warri, Delta State, to be more dedicated and committed to their academic pursuits.

He gave the advice on the occasion of the 50th anniversary celebration of the school.

Ambode, who graduated from the college 42 years ago, was at the occasion with other alumni such as the deputy governor of Kaduna State, Mr Barnabas Bala; Chief Chyna Iwuan-

yanwu, who is the National President of the Federal Government College, Warri Old Students Association, and Professor G. G. Darah of the Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka, among others.

Visibly excited, Mr Ambode and other old students arrived the college in their

white long-sleeve shirts and a white pair of trousers (the uniform of the college) while their female counterparts appeared in the green and white uniform.

This show of solidarity from the old students stirred a vivacious uproar from the students, who described the gesture as a sign

Vice Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Professor Idowu Olayinka (2nd left); Registrar, Mr. Olujimi Olukoya (2nd right); Director, Pan African University, University of Ibadan, Professor Matthew Abatan (left), and the Director, Directorate of Public Communication, Mr. Olatunji Oladejo (right) during the orientation programme for the Students of Pan African University, Life and Earth Sciences Institute (Including Health and Agriculture) (PAULESI), University of Ibadan.

Proprietor, teachers and pupils of Sunlight Group of Schools, Olonde Estate, after Gbopa Bus Stop, Ologuneru, Ibadan, during their excursion to the Nigerian Tribune, Imalefalafia, Ibadan.

of love and passion for their great college.

Amobode and his colleagues also took turns to recite the school anthem with the students.

Elated, Ambode said the “over seven years I spent here while I was a student, due to the teaching and morals obtained here, is a privilege. This great college has been existing for 50 years now. I got admitted here 42 years ago, and we are here today to celebrate our school; to bring back the original symbol the way it was, going back to the wall to the drawing board to bring back our school again.

“I was a school prefect when I was here, and I am happy that the school has produced great people. I want to say to our present students to be committed with what they are doing, wishing them the best of all, that they will be greater than us.”

He urged his colleagues to work together to help nurture the vision of the school, assuring the principal of bringing back the good old days.

On his part, the deputy governor of Kaduna State, Mr Bala, said “it is a pleasure to be part of the celebration of my alma mater's Golden Jubilee.”

He said he was one of the successful students who graduated in 1975, and that the college has produced the best students in West Africa and in Nigeria.

Bala urged the current students to be dedicated to their academics and should never neglect the reading culture, saying it is a way to project the best outcome of students.

Don harps on need for GIS for effective administration Sam Nwaoko-Ado-Ekiti AN expert in Geographic Information System (GIS) has emphasized the need for government at all levels to properly fund and equip all Surveying and Geo-informatics laboratories in institutions of higher learning across the country for meaningful development of the country.

A surveyor and Chief Lecturer at the Department of Surveying and Geo-Informatics, Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti, Felix Oluwadiya Ajibade, who made this assertion, said “no meaningful

development can take place without adequate mapping of lands and training of manpower, which could only be achieved through Geographic Information System.”

Ajibade stated this while delivering the 19th edition of the Professor Edward Kanu Obiakor Lecture Series of the polytechnic recently at the institution's Conference Hall.

Ajibade, who is also the Dean of the polytechnic’s Continuing Education Centre, spoke on the topic, ‘Surveying and Geographic Information System: Inevitable Friends of all Professions’.

He observed that inadequate or outright lack of upto-date information might have been the remote cause of the failures being experienced in relation to government polices at all levels.

While alluding to the fact that Geography Information System (GIS) is a veritable tool that could be applied to virtually all the sectors of Nigeria’s economy, he said “every profession has some element of Surveying and Geo-informatics, stressing that Geographic Information System, or rather Surveying and GIS are professions’-friendly."

The polytechnic don contended that only a well organised GIS could assist government at all levels to make far-reaching decisions to visualise spatially referenced population patterns, trends and relationships, and that GIS could also be an important component to assist government in population census only if it could be deployed and adequately employed by the government.

“Government should put in place a robust land administration policy that is guided by the existing laws of the land,” he said, and that “both the fed-

eral and state governments in Nigeria should equip the relevant ministries, departments and agencies under their watch with GIS and surveying software that would tackle emanating challenges.”

In her remarks, the rector of the institution, Dr. Taiwo Theresa Akande, described Ajibade as “a professional who had greatly achieved not only in the field of Surveying and Geo-informatics, but also in administration.”

She advised government at all levels to "embrace research and factor it into policies that would bring about the overall development of the country."

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Work hard, shun vices, AAUA VC tells new students THE vice chancellor of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State, Professor Igbekele Ajibefun, has warned newly admitted students of the institution to embrace the university’s culture of hard work, innovation, and discipline and to eschew social vices as the institution has robust legal and administrative instruments for apprehending lawbreakers and flushing them out of the system.

Ajibefun gave the warning on Thursday at the matriculation of 4,196 new students.

He reminded the students that they were chosen from among the 17,000 candidates that applied for admission to the institution.

This, according to him, means that they belong to a privileged few who survived the rigorous screening and admission exercise.

Ajibefun said the university would continue to provide a “platform for robust academic environment, culture and content for its students to fulfil their aspirations and ambitions.”

He said further: “On your part as students, you are expected to be law-abiding, disciplined, studious and outstanding. I am persuaded that you chose AAUA over and above other universities because of the outstanding performances and its global appeal. I, therefore, urge you to be partakers of the workforce that achieved this appeal and to be torchbearers of these ideals.

“It is the deliberate policy of Adekunle Ajasin University to produce globally competitive graduates. The university provides allround education and offers immeasurable windows of opportunities for its students. Academic success and personal enrichment mixed with character bring the best out of every person and help them to add value to self and the society.

“I look forward to shaking hands with you on completion of your programmes at record time.”

The vice chancellor took time to list some former students of the university who have excelled in their chosen fields and have brought glory to their own lives, their families, and the university.

Thursday, 3 March, 2016

Kano to introduce Arabic language in schools Kola Oyelere- Kano

K

ANO State government will soon introduce Arabic Language into public primary and sec-

ondary schools curricula because of its significance in understanding Islam and because it is one of the official languages of the United Nations.

Governor Abdullahi

Umar Ganduje disclosed this during a reception organised by the Manarul Hudah Islamiyya, in honour of Umar Sani Fagge, a lecturer with the Bayero University, Kano, who re-

cently bagged a doctorate from the university.

Ganduje explained that Saudi Arabia has pledged to support the state government to achieve the objectives of introducing the

Proprietress, teachers and pupils of Blessed Kiddies Private School, Imalefalafia, Oke-Ado, Ibadan, during their Excursion to the Nigerian Tribune, Oke-Ado, Ibadan, on Tuesday. PHOTO: D’TOYIN

Teachers and pupils of D-Way International Nursery/Primary School, Yidi Arola, Apete, Ibadan, during their excursion to Tribune House, Imalefalafia, Ibadan, recently. Photo: Yemi Funso-Oke.

Arabic language, adding that learning the language would not only facilitate religious scholarship but also commerce.

The governor recalled that before the colonisation of Nigeria, people from the northern part of the country learnt Arabic and used to communicate on paper with the language and its locally adapted form, known as Ajami.

He, however, lamented that many Muslims in the state today do not understand the religion of Islam due to poor understanding of the Arabic language, and that the teaching of the language from primary school level would help pupils to understand it.

The governor pledged that his administration would rehabilitate Islamic schools through the State Standing Committee on Education, maintaining that already, N10 million has been given to each of the committees in the 44 local government areas for the rehabilitation of schools in their domains.

He described Dr. Umar Sani Fagge as an outstanding scholar, and lauded him for his contribution to Islamic learning and propagation.

The former vice chancellors of the university, Professors Sani Zahraddeen and Abubakar Rashid spoke glowingly of the honoree and his contribution to learning and societal reorientation in the state.

In his remarks, Dr. Fagge thanked God Almighty for making the attainment of the doctorate possible, and thanked organisers of the party for honouring him.

Avoid food products from animals treated with antibiotics — FUNAAB Don WITH the recent ban on the use of Antibiotic Growth Promoters (AGP) on animals by the European Union (EU), Nigerians have been advised against consuming animal products such as meat, eggs and milk that contain traces of such drugs.

This call was made by Professor Samuel Abiola, an expert in Monogastric Animal Production in the Department of Animal Production and Health, College of Animal Science and Livestock Production (COLANIM), Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB).

The researcher revealed that the EU’s move to discourage the use of antibiotics in treating animals had

made animal scientists to look for other ways of improving performance and health of animals by using Phytobiotics, which are plant derivatives.

Speaking on his research grant entitled ‘Ethno-Veterinary Interventions and Phytobiotics Options in Contemporary and Conventional Poultry Production Systems’, which was sponsored by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) and supervised by the university’s Directorate of Grants Management (DGM), Professor Abiola said that it had been documented that there were residual effects in such meat, milk and eggs due to the over-use of the AGP and the failure to ob-

serve withdrawal period, thus necessitating the ban by the EU. In finding out the potential of plant derivatives in the treatment of animals at the village level, he said a multidisciplinary research team was set up in FUNAAB comprising veterinarians, agricultural economists, agricultural extension experts and animal scientists with the involvement of postgraduate and undergraduate students.

The research team, according to him, was able to gather from the preliminary study that different plants, roots and herbs were being used in the treatment of parasitic and bacterial infections in the animals.

According to Professor Abiola, the most important plant being used is known as lageneria breviflora (known as tangiri in Yoruba language). The fruit, he said, contains some phytochemicals and active ingredients that help in combating certain infections in animals.

He expressed his delight over the achievements made in the research, which had produced two doctoral students, and four first degree graduates.

Findings from the research have also been presented at conferences.

On the EU ban, Professor Abiola frowned at the inability to export some Nigerian agricultural products to Europe and

America owing to failure of the country to meet the required international standards and specifications.

On why Nigeria is not meeting the required international standards, he said it was difficult for the country to meet the required standards because of non-adherence to rules and regulations, particularly on livestock production and processing. For instance, abattoir and slaughter slab operations are very defective in many places in Nigeria, he concluded.

Professor Abiola warned that meat meant for human consumption could easily be contaminated in many ways right from the time of slaughtering, processing and transporting to the market.

27

Thursday, 3 March, 2016

Nigerian Tribune

Group Business Editor

aviation Nigerian market’ll be strong for another 80 years

Just last month, foreign airlines had problems repatriating their huge funds, has that been resolved and what is the collaboration between BA and the Nigerian government in view of the foreign exchange policy?

As you know, there are some challenges at the moment with the Nigerian government. At the moment we are working on it. There are ways things are resolved. A partnership of 80 years, if you don’t have the understanding at 80 years of being together, you will never have. We are constantly working with the arms of government, the Central Bank of Nigeria, Ministry of Finance, IATA to ensure that we can get support. We are getting support from government. The matter will be resolved in a matter of time.

Operating in an economy for 80 years, it means something is unique. What is that uniqueness that has kept you going in Nigeria?

I will say the people. We have a very strong base of loyal customers, some spanning four, five generations of particular families. In Nigeria, whatever you sell, you are good.

We have the population. By our sheer population, we are very strong market for any product. When you take our product which is airline, we continue to be the bridge to bring people from Nigeria into the world, connecting investors from the world back into Nigeria. It is the number and loyalty we have enjoyed over these years. We have a strong position of point to point.

How do you describe the Nigerian market to British Airways and how can the government help to grow the sector?

From this point of view, the Nigerian market is not different from many other markets globally. There is a lot of competition, challenges with the economy, but again, this is similar to many of the markets am responsible for in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Abu Dhabi, but we are a very dynamic company, we adjust our products and aircraft among demands. Nigeria is a very strong market and still a strong market and will be strong for another 80 years.

Shola Adekola

m:0803 365 4818 e:sholanig@yahoo.com

Is there anything specific on the West African, Nigerian route in terms of new products?

At the moment we operate a mix of B747 and B777 to Lagos and Abuja. We keep on reviewing our work as network changes. We operate B777 in Abuja and B747 and B777 in Nigeria and this is the current plan.

Come October 2016, the leading British carrier, British Airways will be celebrating its 80 years of flying into Nigeria. In this interview with Shola Adekola in BA’s head office in London, the airlines’ Head of Africa, Middle East and Central Asia Sales, Paolo De Renzis spoke on preparations towards the 80 years celebration and the future plans of the airline for Nigeria and African market.

H

anchor

cluding mentorship from our CEO, Keith Williams to get experience on civil engineering side of the operations. We like to continue that and roll out the second phase. Those students were from the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria and Aviation school in Ilorin, Kwara State. I suspect that the second phase will be better and bigger than the phase one. The Britishness stops us from making too much noise. Even the Leaders of Tomorrow, you just want to impact on lives without making too much of publicity stunt. We impact on lives and want them to be the ones talking. We are also in partnership with Comet relief to ensure that people’s lives are impacted.

—British Airways

OW would you rate your market in Nigeria and West Africa, Middle East and North Africa?

In Africa, we have a very strong position in particular in Nigeria. As I said, Africa is one of the most important markets; particularly South Africa and Nigeria are some of the biggest markets.

Sulaimon Olanrewaju

m:08055001708 e:lanresulaimon@yahoo.com t:@lanresulaimon

Apart from Lagos to Abuja, are you planning to extend your operations to other destinations in Nigeria?

At the moment, it is no. But we should ask you that question. There is a big issue in Nigeria about multiple designation and the local airlines are raising eye brow. We are guided by the agreement between Nigeria and the UK which is the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA). No matter how you like, you can’t just say you want Port-Harcourt, if it is not in the agreement, you cannot go there. If it is not in the agreement you cannot do it, no matter if we want it until Nigerian and British government come together and we are designated to do that. So, we may really like PH because we have a lot of customers there, but we are guided by the law that exists between the two countries.

You used to have a lot of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects. In 80 years, can you list some of the projects you have done as a gift to Nigerian communities?

There are lots of things we are doing in that area. I know you remember the Kuje school in Abuja. The support is on-going. I was in Kuje late last year to look at the computer class that we started. If you know the history; it was a school where people were under the tree. BA actually rebuilt the school, provided portable water. Last year, we were involved in Leaders of Tomorrow project. Some of you were involved where we identified six promising Nigerian students in aviation and tried to get them ready for the future. That was phase one. It was a fantastic programme. We brought them to London. They spent a week in a place in Lagos before we brought them to London where they spent one month themselves in different areas of the airline in-

We are aware of challenging times in Nigeria. Load factors are very strong but cannot be more than statistics, our operation is very strong and Nigeria remains our very strong market.

Your operation in terms of capacity and market share?

Unfortunately, I cannot share commercial sensitive information when it comes to market share. We have been operating to Nigeria for 80 years. That means that our operation is strong but I cannot be specific when it comes to commercial sensitive figures.

In the course of your explanation, you talked about bringing in B777 to replace the B747 that they are used to, would you still have the First class configuration on that airplane What informed this market?

Could it be as a result of shrinking market?

Absolutely, the B777 operate to Nigeria with First Class both to Lagos and Abuja. The First Class is a very important market for us. We keep on reviewing our capacity and we have been quite flexible with our capacity. We keep on operating B747 now but we will be reviewing this in the coming week.

The Nigeria economy is currently having issues.

People cannot get foreign exchange, how much impact does it have on you in terms of passenger volume?

We are aware of challenging times in Nigeria. Load factors are very strong but cannot be more than statistics, our operation is very strong and Nigeria remains our very strong market. We are still very positive about Nigeria.

Nigerian airlines are very weak and fragmented.

In which way does the BA want to assist Nigerian carriers?

This is something I cannot comment on. Strategic decision is taking up with our company because they take strategic decisions on airline partnership.

You will be 80 years very soon. What are you going to give to Nigerians in terms of fare?

I am not going to reveal what we are going to do in Nigeria for our 80th year. When it comes to fares, our fares are very competitive and we keep on reviewing our price.

On the passenger side, I still hear people talk about issues around transit visa, is there anything BA could do to ease this or smoothen this without cutting corners to ensure that people connecting their flights?

Not for Nigeria. The BA work closely with the British government to ensure that when it comes to transit visa to make sure that the process is very smooth as possible. Nothing specific for Nigeria but we do it for everywhere and for many markets in the Middle East like Kuwait, UAE citizens in terms of easier process in terms of visas.

Your challenges while operating into Nigeria and Africa?

Everywhere is challenging. Infact competition is challenging. The fact that you have competition is challenging. As far as you deal with some common issues, it is challenging.

What we are trying to do is to as a company is to rise above the challenges by making our operations safe and successful. If we have been there for 80 years, it means we can master challenges.

28

aviation

Thursday, 3 March, 2016

Nigerian Tribune

crucial moment With Shola Adekola

0803 365 4818

Nigeria/Qatar air pact: Let the rip off continue The news filtered into the country’s aviation sector few days ago that Nigeria and Qatar have just signed a Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) to pave way for direct flights between major cities in the two countries.

Signing the agreement on behalf of Nigeria was the minister of state for aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika while the Minister of Transportation and Communications for Qatar signed on behalf of his country.

Since the news of the air transport agreement was made public, there have been reactions from across the aviation sector with most people describing the development as another policy suicide taken by the President Muhammadu Buhari led government against the sector.

Those in this school of thought may not be far from the truth as it was not clear if government actually did its homework well before signing the agreement.

That the government goofed by signing the agreement may not be an understatement considering the ongoing calls by major key players across the sector and even outside it for the government to review the over 78 BASAs it has with various countries in view of their lopsidedness.

It is on record that majority of the BASAs were signed by past governments at the expense of the country without due consultations.

Agreed that the bilateral system has its basis under the Chicago convention and associated multilateral treaties, but BASAs provide basic framework under which airlines are granted economic bilateral rights to fly two countries.

It is doubtful if the required framework attached to the agreements were well explored by the representatives of Nigeria at the Ministry of Aviation before they signed them.

Before other countries sign this type of agreement, they weigh the gains available for their countries especially their airlines. In other words, such agreements must be of economic and business benefits to their countries and citizens before signing.

Obviously, this is not the case with Nigeria where few people rush to sign such agreements perhaps because they lack the understanding of the implications or otherwise.

Prior to now, many of the BASAs so far signed had added no value to Nigeria and its aviation sector except that they gave the airlines from such countries the undue advantages over the indigenous airlines.

While no one could blame the foreign countries for exploring the negligence on the part of Nigeria’s ministry of aviation officials, it is however disturbing that despite the criticisms and call for the review of the existing BASAs, the government still rushed to sign the Qatar agreement without first putting its house in order by tackling the myriad of challenges confronting its aviation sector especially the ones tearing its domestic carriers apart.

Despite the obvious predicaments dragging the local airlines down which include the government unfriendly policies and hostile business environment, the same government rather than fortifying the airlines and empowering the sector has been foot dragging.

Why the rush to sign agreement with other countries when no adequate arrangements have been made for any carrier from Nigeria to reciprocate.

This latest agreement is coming at a very wrong time and the Minister of State for aviation on behalf of government has many questions to answer as to why the rush to sign this agreement.

Such questions must include under which agreement has the Qatar airline (Etihad) been operating to the country all these while. Is the new agreement a review of the existing BASA or there was none before this agreement or is it to formalise the existing one or was the previous agreement a unilateral one that has no knowledge of the responsible authorities?

These questions are calling for answers or else the rush to sign the Qatar agreement would have been taken to mean that the call for the review of the questionable agreements does not make sense to the government, hence, the rip off of Nigeria continues.

‘Scarcity of aviation fuel hampers flight operations’ Stories by Shola Adekola

The ongoing scarcity of petroleum products across the country has started taking its toll on flight operations due to the non availability of aviation fuel otherwise known as Jet A1 in the aviation parlance.

As a result of this, scores of passengers are stranded at the airports as their flights are either delayed or cancelled by the airlines.

Prior to the resurgence of long queues across filling stations in the country, the epileptic supply of aviation has been a major hurdle the airline operators have been contending with.

Following the scarcity of petroleum in the past weeks, the airline operators have been faced with the shortage in the supply of the commodity.

Many of the oil marketers have refused to supply the product on the excuse of high exchange rate.

In view of the situation, many of the airlines have been rescheduling their flights while some either delay their flights, combine flights or cancel them.

The dicey situation was confirmed by Arik Air yesterday when it raised the

alarm that the non availability of the commodity has hampered its operations.

In a statement issued by the spokesperson of the airline, Ola Banji and made available to the media, the airline lamented how the scarcity of the commodity has led to flight delays or cancellations.

“The limited supply of JET A1 (aviation fuel) across the country in the last few days has greatly hampered our flight operations.

“With over a hundred flights daily, this limited supply of aviation fuel has resulted, regrettably, into flight delays and sometimes outright cancellations.

“We appeal to our valued passengers to bear with us at this time even as we remain committed to providing safe

Training of fire fighters our priority-FAAN MD Officers and men of the Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting Services of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) have declared that they will continue to receive professional training at par with global standards.

This is just as they said they will also un-

NCAA parleys IATA on aviation safety in Africa

In a move to further improve air transport safety in Africa, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and Nigeria have pledged to collaborate closely in developing and rolling out a set of measures intended to enhance the African Union’s 2012 Abuja Declaration on Aviation Safety in Africa.

This pledge was a key outcome from a meeting held between Nigeria’s Civil Aviation Authority Director General, Captain Muhtar Usman and Tanja Grobotek, IATA’s Regional Director, Safety and Flight Operations, Africa and Middle East.

Captain Usman of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), described the endorsement of the Abuja Declara-

and comfortable flight experience.

“We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience our passengers may have suffered due to the fuel shortage.”

One of the domestic airlines spoken to however said as at the time of filing this report that they have not cancelled or delayed their flights as they still possess the fuel that they can operate with till the end of the day.

The airline official however said he could not guarantee flight operations will be from today, Wednesday.

Foreign airlines who are not left out of the crisis have found an alternative as they stop at neighbouring countries like Ghana to refuel before flying to Nigeria to avoid being caught up in the crisis.

tion as ”one of the most significant steps taken to boost aviation safety and development on the African continent.”

“Nigeria is committed to supporting its implementation across the sub-Saharan Africa through developing new strategies that will see the recent gains on Africa’s safety record sustained and even improved,” he added.

Since the Abuja Declaration’s adoption in 2012, Africa’s safety performance has improved significantly.

Notwithstanding these important and valuable gains, when measured proportionally, the continent continues to have the world’s highest hull-loss rate per million flights.

dergo overseas programme to enhance their proficiency in fire fighting at all Nigerian airports in line with recommendation of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

The Managing Director of FAAN, Mr Saleh Dunoma dropped the hint at the Crew Commanders/fire fighter initial/ Renal course at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja.

Dunoma who was represented at the event by his Chief of Staff, Mr Kabiru Mohammed, commended the fire men and called on them to take advantage of the ongoing training programme to improve on their professional competence, which would ensure safety at airports.

The station commandant, Mr Adebola Odugbemi, while emphasizing the importance of training, promised to share his knowledge and experience on the job with the participating staff.

The three week programme is being undertaken by fire and fighting officers drawn from different airports across the country.

Dana Air partners Vlisco to celebrate Int’l Women’s Day on board

Dana Air has announced that it will be partnering Vlisco, the manufacturer of premium Dutch wax fabric, popularly called Hollandais, to gift women aboard its flights on International Women’s Day. Packages to be enjoyed on board the airline’s flight would include Vlisco’s premium Hollandais fabric.

According to the Accountable Manager of Dana Air, Mr Obi Mbanuzuo; “Dana Air is proud to partner Vlisco to

celebrate and compensate its female guests on the auspicious occasion of the International Women’s Day coming up on the 8th of March, 2016.”

Obi, While stating that there was no better day to show commitment to its female guests, said the airline will always partner worthy initiatives that will encourage women in their areas of endeavour and celebrate them as the pillars of the family and by extension, our dear country.

The Marketing Manager of Vlisco Nigeria Limited, Mrs Adaeze Alilonu, while speaking on the partnership with Dana Air, said “we are partnering with Dana Air to celebrate and reward our women for their continuous extraordinary role in building our communities and the nation, as we have done consistently in the past four years with our Vlisco women’s month award.

This year, we want to celebrate even more women.”

29

Thursday, 3 March, 2016

Nigerian Tribune

anchor

maritime

Tola Adenubi

m:07068476673 e:adenubiadetola@yahoo.com

N500bn revenue target tears maritime operators apart The Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi recently stated that agencies in the nation’s maritime sector have been given N500 billion revenue target for 2016.

In this report, TOLA ADENUBI x-rays the contrasting views of port operators and users to the new revenue order.

O

PERATORS have expressed divergent views on the clamour by the Federal Government that agencies in the nation’s maritime sector generate N500 billion by end of the year.

Obviously, the FG is desperate to raise funds from all potential sectors giving the fall of the price of crude oil in the international market.

This singular drive to raise alternative revenue generating avenue has put many agencies of government in the maritime sector under intense pressure to shore up the nations federation account. However, the setting of a specific target has drawn the ire of some of the operators who thinks government has taken it too far as regards revenue generation.

Bickering ship-owners A factional president of the Nigerian Indigenous Ship-owners Association (NISA), Captain Niyi Dada Labinjo has lampooned the Minister of Transport for setting a revenue target for maritime agencies, stating that this was partly among the reasons some past heads of these agencies squandered public funds.

According to him, “the minister needs to understand that no government all over the world funds maritime industry. What government does all over the world is to support the maritime sector with policies that will make the sector attractive for private sector participation.

“Our government is not doing what they promised to do.

According to the Act setting up the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), the agency is not a revenue generating agency. The minister needs to go and read the

NIMASA Act again.

“There is nowhere in the NIMASA Act where it is stated that the agency should generate money for government. What the Act says is that the money NIMASA collects should be used to run the agency operations and develop the maritime industry.

The money NIMASA collects, the Act says it should be used to develop shipping. That is where government policies come into play.

“There is nowhere in the Act that it is stated that NIMASA should generate revenue. Why is the Minister of Transportation asking maritime agencies to generate N500 billion? Where does he expect them to get such money? Is it because the last NIMASA administration under Patrick Akpobolokemi squandered and looted billions of money?

The minister needs to understand that no government all over the world funds maritime industry.

What government does all over the world is to support the maritime sector with policies that will make the sector attractive for private sector participation.

“Because the last NIMASA administration looted and squandered public funds does not mean that the money from shipping should be contributed as revenue into government coffers. The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) are both a revenue generating agency.

NIMASA and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) are not revenue generating agencies.

“In the maritime industry, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) is a revenue generating agency because it manages infrastructure in the maritime sector. NPA manages ports infrastructure, so government expects money from the NPA through the use of ports infrastructure by the private investors.

“It is absolute rubbish for anybody to encourage NIMASA to use the money that it ought to use to develop the maritime sector for other purposes. It is financial misapplication and a criminal offence.

“The Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN) Oron is expending thousands of graduates yearly, where are the ships for them to practise on? NIMASA is expected to allocate 5 per cent of its budget for MAN, Oron, not to pursue a revenue target. This will help the academy to develop the capacity of MAN, Oron. This is stated in the NIMASA Act. “The Act also states that 25 per cent of all the money that NIMASA collects should be used for shipping development. Why is the minister misinterpreting the Act? If he does not know, he should please go and read the Act.” Cautious terminal opera-

tors While the indigenous ship-owners remain agitated over the Federal Government revenue target, the seaport concessionaires have decided to adopt a rather cautious approach to the whole imbroglio.

Speaking to the Nigerian Tribune in an exclusive interview, the spokesman of the Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN), Bolaji Akinola, stated that the terminal operators are solidly behind the Federal Government’s new revenue formula at the nation’s maritime domain.

“Don’t forget that as terminal operators, we are also agents of government. Many people don’t know this. We are at the ports to help government provide services in the maritime industry.

“For every money that the terminal operators generate, Federal Government, through the NPA gets part of it. So because we work with government, we have always supported the government aspirations to make the most out of port operations.

“We all know what is happening in the economy with the crash of oil revenue. As expected, government will look into other sources to make more money, and it is rightly looking into the maritime sector to ensure the budget is properly funded; and we as terminal operators will support that. Everyone has to support the government to make this happen. There has to be sacrifices,” the STOAN image maker stated.

Agitated port users Although the Minister of Transportation has consistently stated that there won’t be any need to

hike port levies and fees towards attaining the set target, some port users are already becoming agitated that the common man on the street will be at the receiving end of the increased revenue expectation.

According to Pius David, Managing Director, Uburu Maritime Limited, a cargo clearing firm, if the agencies are put under intense pressure to meet a revenue target, and in-turn transfer such pressure on the operators, Nigerians will be at the receiving end of any hike in port levies.

In his words, “these agencies get money for government through port levies and fees that they collect from operators like the terminal operators and vessel operators. We just hope this sudden revenue target for government agencies like the NPA does not translate to hike in port levies and fees on the terminal operators who we are dealing with directly.

“If such arises, then it is the common man on the street that will suffer because if the terminal operators are forced to pay higher port levies and fees all in the name of meeting a certain revenue target, I am sure the terminal operators too will jerk up the fees we pay inside the port terminals because they are in business to make profit; meaning the cost of doing business at the ports might just go up again.

“The minister said that he expects them to block all revenue loopholes and leakages in order to meet this target, but how, many of them will do that when they are feeding fat on this leakages?

“We just hope it does not lead to increased cost of doing business at the ports.”

maritime N86.2bn debt: FG may review seaport concession agreement 30

Stories by Tola Adenubi - Lagos

F

OLLOWING the huge debt owed the Federal Government by terminal operators who were given spaces to manage across Nigerian seaports in 2006 and remit payment in the form of lease and cargo throughput fees into government coffers through the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA); indications are rife that the Federal Government is considering reviewing the port concession agreement which will clock a decade by mid 2016.

According to an impeccable source at the Federal Ministry of Transport (FMOT) who refused to have her name in print due to the sensitive nature of the issue, the Federal Government is not comfortable with the debt profile of many of these terminal operators and is looking at reviewing the agreement on its 10th year anniversary.

In her words, “the debt profile of these terminal operators is disturbing, most importantly at this period when the Federal Government needs money to fund the 2016 budget. Meetings are going on in higher quarters to look at ways government can avoid this kind of situation in the nearest future.

“It is unacceptable that government can be broke and some individuals owe the same government so much. A review of the port concession agreement cannot be ruled out from likely discussions at these meetings.”

Terminal operators running various terminals across Nigeria’s seaports, due to inability to purchase Dollars from financial institutions, are currently indebted to the Federal Government to the tune of N86.2 billion for lease and cargo throughput fees as at December 2015.

The terminal operators indebted to government are APMoller Terminals, Five Star Logistics, BUA Limited, ENL, Apapa Bulk Terminal, Greenview Development Nigeria. Others are Josephdam Terminal, Tin Can Island Container Terminal, Port and Cargo Handling Services and Port and Terminal Multi-purpose Services Limited.

The debts are accumulated fees, charges and rentals that are yet to be paid into the purse of the federal government, owner of the ports that were concessioned to terminal operators.

Thursday, 3 March, 2016

A breakdown of the amount being owed to government as at December 2015 showed that the top three debtors are AP Moller Terminal that owes a total of $1.8 million, Five Star Logistics whose lease, throughput fees stand at $6.4 million while N13.6 million debt in movable assets was recorded against

BUA Limited.

Other debtors are ENL whose indebtedness to the government stands at $2.3 million; Apapa Bulk Terminal Ltd (ABTL), a subsidiary of Flourmills Nigeria Plc debt was put at $2.9 million; Greenview Development Nigeria Limited owned by Dangote Group

owed a sum of $4.3 million while $476,016.52 was also recorded against Josephdam terminal.

Also indebted to the government are Tin Can Island Container Terminal, (TICT); Port and Cargo Handling Services owned

by Sifax Group, and Port and Terminal Multi-purpose

Services Limited (PTML) $1.5 million, $4.4 million , $746,896.08 and Royalties of N766.3 million respectively.

According to findings, Port and Terminal Operators Nigeria Limited owed a total of N15.5 billion in throughput, lease, fees and monies accruable to movable assets.

Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo welcoming the Managing Director of Grimaldi Agency Nigeria Limited, operators of the Port and Terminal Multi Services Limited (PTML), Ascanio Russo and the General Manager of PTML Terminal, Tunde Kesinro to his office at the State House, Abuja when the duo paid a courtesy call on him recently.

CTN: 22,000 ENS issued free to shippers in 4 months

CONTRARY to insinuations and fears that the Cargo Tracking Note (CTN) will add to the cost of doing business at thee seaports, a senior official of the consultancy firm handling the project; Messrs Transport and Port Management System (TPMS), has disclosed that about 22,000 Entry Summary Declarations (ENS) for Cargo Tracking Notes (CTN) have been issued since November 3, 2015 at no cost to anyone or firm.

The Manager, Communication and Technical Support of TPMS; Mr Opeyemi Oke stated this at the 2nd Shippers’ Day Celebration and Exhibition held in Lagos recently.

Harping on the benefits if CTN, Oke explained that, “CTN is not about the revenue. CTN keeps in view the safety and security of all categories of goods such as Roll On/Roll Off (RORO), containers and bulk cargoes, including hydrocarbons.”

He also said that the security of revenue related to port traffic was ascertained by the CTN. On why

the initiative failed when it was first in traduced in 2010, Oke explained that the CTN turned controversial in 2010 because a lot of things went wrong.

In his words, agents were billed as much as 350 Euros per container, that was why the CTN failed when it was first introduced.

Oke also said that as at December 1, 2015, 27 surcharges were imposed on Nigerian-bound cargoes apart from the basic freight charges and that the components of the freight were also hidden to every shipper.

It would be recalled that the CTN scheme being promoted by the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) is designed to help reduce significantly the stifling bureaucracy at the port terminals and land borders, despite the “huge” investments in infrastructure and ICT. Experts have said that, going by the last survey sponsored by the World Bank (Doing Business 2016 Data for Nigeria), border compliance for imports into Nigeria takes on

the average 12 days at a cost of $1,077, whereas the average for sub-Saharan Africa is 6.5 days at a cost of $643. For documentary compliance, average time in Nigeria is seven days at a cost of $564.

The report also added that, for sub-Saharan Africa, average time for docu-

mentary compliance is five days at a cost of $351.

These costs are outside the “freight payable” charged by the carrier, which could be between $3000 and $5000 per TEU, depending on the type of good and from which part of the world the ship is sailing from.

Nigerian Tribune

False declaration, bane of 48-hour cargo clearance —Apapa Customs

CONTROLLER, Apapa Area Command of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Comptroller Willy Egbudin has said that dishonest declaration by clearing agents has been the bane of achieving 48-hour cargo clearance in the port.

Egbudin who was speaking when he received members of the Maritime Reporters Association of Nigeria (MARAN) in his office recently lamented that despite repeated admonitions, some agents do not see the need to comply with trade regulations and make genuine declarations.

“We still have discrepancies in declaration. Most agents are still not transparent in their declarations. If they make honest declaration, it will make clearance of their cargo fast, save them from incurring demurrage and help Customs to facilitate 48-hour cargo clearance policy of the government.

We will achieve 48 hours if honest declaration is done by the trade community,” he said.

Speaking on the command’s revenue performance, the Controller said despite the low cargo traffic in the port at the beginning of the year, the command still made impressive performance in its revenue generation as it generated sum of N24 billion in January 2016.

“We are not doing badly in revenue generation although there is low volume of import,” he said.

He assured that more revenue would be generated by the command as import trade in the country improves, charging importers to desist from importing prohibited items.

Safety certification: SIFAX haulage trucks get NPA approval ALL the trucks owned by SIFAX Haulage & Logistics Limited, a subsidiary of SIFAX Group, have received the approval of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) haulage truck registration team.

The eleven-man NPA Safety department team led

by Engineer Adeola David, Principal Manager, Safety, Western Ports, visited the Ijora office of the company to ascertain the road worthiness of the trucks and they were given a clean bill of health.

According to David, the registration exercise is part of NPA’s resolve to stop rickety trucks from operat-

ing in the country’s ports, adding that using sub-standard trucks in the industry has resulted in various avoidable accidents. He further expressed his gladness at the high standards of the trucks deployed by SIFAX Haulage.

He said: “I am really impressed with what we have seen here today, I must commend SIFAX Haulage for its strict adherence to truck safety standards. This exercise has been fruitful so far and I must say that as a regulator, we are happy that an operator has deemed it fit to do the right thing. All the trucks are well maintained and have all the

necessary gadgets and instruments needed and we are happy to say that they have passed our test by all standards.”

Speaking after the registration exercise, Mr Saheed Lasisi, General Manager, SIFAX Haulage & Logistics Limited, said the positive outcome was a result of professionalism, dedicated work force and a massive investment made by SIFAX Group in the company.

“We are excited about this test and its outcome. There has been a massive investment in the business by our holding company, SIFAX Group, in the last few years.”

31

Thursday, 3 March, 2016

With Adewale Oshodi tribunearts@yahoo.com 08054005323

‘Why Nigerians should have basic knowledge of law’ KEHINDE Adegbite is a legal practitioner who has written two law books targeted at non-lawyers. In this interview with ADEWALE OSHODI, he speaks on his passion for writing, and why it is important for nonlawyers to have a basic knowledge of the law.

EXCERPTS:

they will tell you the cost, which is affordable. One thing about the Will is that it does not have any effect while the maker is alive. One can go to the Probate Section to change some aspect if one so wishes, and it will be there until the maker passes on, and that is when it becomes an authority.

Do you really think lawyers will be comfortable with your books?

It is even good for lawyers because it will make their work easier; it will help them in discharging their professional duties to their clients better. When the people have a general knowledge of the law, then the society will function as it should. However, such books may appear new in Nigeria, but in some developed countries, including Britain, they are common. This is why the level of legal literacy in such environments is high. The fact that books like these have been written does not mean that lawyers will be threatened. It also does not mean that because somebody has gotten the book, he can start performing the functions of a lawyer.

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OU are a lawyer, and you have published two lawrelated books; what do you really want to achieve with the publications?

The first book, How to Write Your Will With Ease (2013), and second one, Learning the law in Nigeria (2015), are meant essentially for non-lawyers, that is, the general members of the public, to educate them on some aspects of the law. I realised that there are some basic things non-lawyers ought to know about the law, but which many don’t know. For instance, the book on how to write the Will; I realised that a lot of people don’t write their Wills, and it is because they don’t have the information on how to go about it. Some even think writing a Will is so complicated, but it is not. Therefore, this book will show people how to write a Will without the assistance of lawyers; it also explains the reason it is important for one to have a Will, particularly those who have large estates and properties.

The second book addresses almost every subject in law. It discusses contracts, land matters, relationship with the different organs of government, particularly the police, and so on. If there is anywhere where people ought to know their rights, then it is in Nigeria; many don’t really know their rights under the law, and that is why they are being cheated; many are being brutalised daily by security agents, and after that, they are arrested and detained without any legal justification, but because they don’t know their rights under the law, they just keep quiet. So these are some of the reasons both books are important. One good thing about the books is that the language is simplified, meaning anybody can read and understand them.

On the issue of writing a Will, is it really possible to do it without the assistance of a lawyer; will it be legally binding after the owner’s passage?

It is really possible to write one’s Will without the assistance of a lawyer, but, if the person writing the Will knows that he has a large estate, then it is better he gets a lawyer to do it; however, if the asset is moderate, and he doesn’t want to incur the cost of hiring a lawyer, then he can follow the step-by-step guide in the book.

One thing that Nigerians should know is that there is no special requirement in

•Barrister Kehinde Adegbite writing a Will— write the Will, get it type, and then take it to the Probate Section in the High Court in the capital of the state

you are living. Then inform them you want to lodge your Will and they will just take about four copies of the Will, and

Promoting Yoruba cultural values through poetry A review of Thomas Kolawole’s poetry collection, Genuine Yoruba Poetry.

THOMAS Kolawole’s poetry collection has 12 poems, which focus on different aspects of Yoruba culture.

The first poem, Name, explains the reason Yoruba people should protect their names. In this poem, the poet admits that a good name is better than gold nor silver, while urging Yoruba sons and daughters to protect the legacies they inherited from their parents. The poet further discusses the meaning of names, as well as the importance of having a good name.

In the second poem, The Land of Africa, the poet describes Africa as the source of all black people in the world. He explains that White people might have described

Africa as the land of darkness, “but the truth is that we have been administering ourselves before colonisation.”

The focus on time is the third poem in the collection; the poet highlights the importance of keeping to time. He further laments the issue of ‘African time’ which is now so common among Nigerians.

Another poem in the collection talks on the need to be versatile. The poet explains that a versatile person is an hardworking person.

“A true Yoruba son or daughter should not be lazy; being lazy will bring about poverty, but when a man is hardworking, then with patience, he will be successful in his chosen profession.”

Sir Kolawole’s poetry collection is a must-read for every Yoruba man, as it teaches the race’s values.

Your second book simplifies everything about the law for the general public, what are the benefits of having the knowledge of how the law works in the society?

Nigerians really need to be literate legally; many people have gone on to sign contracts which will not pay them in the long run, because they didn’t know what they were signing. Many people have gone on to lose properties because they didn’t have any idea about how the law works.

Also, some people are being cheated by those in positions of authority, and because they don’t know their rights, they just keep quiet. These books make the reader to be aware about the position of the law on certain issues, and when somebody is aware of what the law says on such issues, then he wouldn’t run foul of the law, nor would he be cheated by anybody or institution. So the books will make Nigerians appreciate our legal system better.

So what are you working on next?

Writing books is my passion; I can say it is my calling, and I have writing since my days at the university. My next book will focus on marriage. The book, What The Law Says About Marriage and Divorce, will dwell extensively on marriage and divorce, and it will reveal what makes a marriage legal. For instance, if a man married his first wife the traditional way, and then he contracts another marriage with another woman in the Registry, which of the two is legal, and which is illegal? The truth is that the first marriage is the legal marriage, while the one contracted in the Registry, which is the Court marriage, is illegal. So there are some technicalities involved in marriage and divorces which I will deal extensively on in the upcoming book.

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arts&review

Thursday, 3 March, 2016

For leaders to succeed in the workplace A review of Olatunde Adepoju’s book, The Leader and His Giant: Overcoming the Leadership Giant.

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EADERSHIP, according to the Encarta dictionary, is the ability to lead, guide, direct or influence people, but unfortunately, this skill is degenerating everyday among the people, and thus, this is the reason Dr Olatunde Adepoju, is focusing on this important aspect of human life in his new book, The Leader and His Giant: Overcoming the Leadership Giant.

Leadership is not only meant for politicians or labour union leaders, but for everybody in our day-to-day lives — we exhibit leadership potentials in religious centres, market places, schools, workplaces, among others. The degeneration in exhibiting these qualities, particularly in the

workplace, is what has brought about the publishing of the book.

According to Dr Adepoju, a United

States based human motivator, “while discrimination, sexual harassment, bullying and disenfranchisement have become illegal and socially unacceptable, leadership styles have not always progressed with the times. “ My experience in banking, finance and administration necessitated a need to write on healthy relationships in the workplace… The problems or challenges in many organisations have become unsurmountable ‘giants’ to many leaders, and the underlying reason is the difficulties leaders encounter managing diverse groups.”

The 12-chapter book first discusses the issue of gender, which has a very strong effect on the way people act, behave and think. According to the author, people have been conditioned differently by societal norms and pressure in the way they perceive and process issues.

This chapter thus discusses gender-

Ooni to host 2016 talking drum festival

By Oluwabunmi Ajayi THE Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi, has promised to host this year’s Ayan Agalu festival in Ile-Ife, Osun State, while saying that all hands must be on deck towards ensuring the survival of the Yoruba culture.

Ooni Ogunwusi stated this when the Board of Trustees of the Ayan Agalu Foundation, which organises the Talking Drum festival, paid him a courtesy visit at the palace in Ile-Ife, last week.

The royal father said the Yoruba culture is the most sophisticated culture in the world, “but if we don’t promote it, then nobody will know about what we have.

“Yoruba people are scattered all over the world, while many people from United States, Brazil, Cuba, Trinidad and Tobago, Colombia, among other countries, trace their ancestry to Yorubaland.

“It is, therefore, our responsibility to ensure that we keep what we have for posterity’s sake; we must pass our culture to the next generation so that it won’t die a natural death; we must let our children appreciate the beauty of the language, as well as our dressing.

“In the area of entertainment and communication, the talking drum is just so important, and I am happy that the Ayan Agalu Foundation has been promoting the talking drum festival for some years now.

“In Yorubaland, apart from for entertainment, the talking drum communicates; this is what other cultures don’t have, and we must continue to work towards promoting our cultural values,” the Ooni said, while saying he would host this year’s talking drum festival in his palace.

Earlier, the Project Director of the Ayan Agalu Foundation, Mr Morakinyo Daramola, thanked the Ooni for hosting the team, saying the royal father is encouraging every Yoruba son and daughter by being assessable.

Speaking on the talking drum festival, Daramola said, “the aim of the festival is to restore pride to Yoruba people, develop talents in the art of communicating and entertaining with the talking drum, as well as passing the values of the cul-

•The Ooni, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi (with a talking drum), with members of the Board of Trustees of Ayan Agalu Foundation.

ture from this generation to the coming one.

“Through the talking drum festival, we have been able to encourage many Yoruba people to learn about and appreciate the talking drum. Until now, not many people know that one can communicate with the talking drum, but through our involvement, we have been able to contribute our quota to the development of the Yoruba culture,” Daramola said.

A member of the board and popular Yoruba cultural activist, Chief Yemi Ogunyemi, while speaking, commended Ooni Ogunwusi for his efforts towards reviving the Yoruba culture.

“We really love the manner through which you are promoting peace among Yoruba sons and daughters, and we know your reign will bring development to Yorubaland in general,” Chief Ogunyemi, a veteran broadcaster, said.

affiliated behaviours, and how modern society has shown a shift in gender roles and gender identity; that the lines have become much more blurred than ever before, meaning that ‘there is nothing a man can do that a woman cannot.’

Another issue in the workplace is the educational status of employees. In a workplace, there are bound to be people who have different educational backgrounds, and such, the author believes that a good leader should be able to manage these classes of people with different skills.

Some of the skills a good leader can use in succeeding in his assignment is persuasiveness; the leader must know that some people are easily persuaded, while some are difficult to convince. There is also the issue of motivation, where employees are commended for a good job, which will, therefore, make them do more.

A good leader is also defined by how he handles the issue of race, ethnicity, language and religion; a leader must know those things that go against the values of people of a particular race or ethnic group, or people who profess a particular religion. Race, ethnicity and religion are just so sensitive that if the leader is not careful, they might cause wrangling among the workforce.

A good leader must also have good communication and listening skills; he must know that people are raised differently, and no two people are the same, so he must be ready to listen to get people’s perception to different issues, particularly when it comes to the issue of diversity.

“Being diverse opens up a wealth of possibilities, helps to encourage productivity and fosters innovations. When differences are valued, they create an environment that allows people free expressions, generate individual productivity, stimulate organisational effectiveness and produce sustained and healthy competition.”

Dr Adepoju, through this book, has given every leader what he needs to be successful in how he manages his workplace.

It is, therefore, a must-read for leaders of organisations, and everybody aspiring to be a leader.

One good thing about the book is that the values learnt can also be applied to other areas of life, not necessarily the workplace alone.

Dr Adepoju, who is based in Fairburn, Georgia, works for the United States government, and has published several books and articles on leadership and marriage.

Warner Bros to produce Chinese language movies WARNER Brothers has teamed up with a Chinese investment firm to develop Chinese language films, as Hollywood continues its push into the country’s lucrative movie market.

The joint venture with China Media Capital (CMC) was launched just before Chinese President, Xi Jinping’s official visit to the US recently.

China’s box office has already taken $4.7bn (£3bn) so far this year.

That’s almost as much as it made in the past two years. Studios like the Walt Disney Co, Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation SKG have also recently joined forces with Chinese businesses in an attempt to capitalise on China’s box office growth.

Global studios have historically had difficulty with China’s strict censorship laws and its strict quota system of just 34 imported films each year.

But films that qualify as co-productions and meet various criteria are exempt from the quota.

“The country’s incredibly rich history and culture provide a huge trove of great stories, and we want to help tell those stories for new generations of filmgoers, in China and around the world,” said Kevin Tsujihara, chairman and chief executive of Warner Bros, in a statement.

The joint venture with CMC will be named the Flagship Entertainment Group Ltd. Meanwhile, film executives from the UK and China recently meet in London in an

attempt to thrash out similar deals.

It follows the ratification of a co-production treaty in the UK last year, which will allow qualifying productions to access to benefits including film tax relief. Films produced under the scheme will also be exempt from China’s quota system.

This venture will go a long way in bringing Chinese films to homes in the United Kingdom.

Apart from movies, China is aiming to be a big player as far as entertainment is concerned. It believes this is one area that will make its society free, while relaxing the mood of its citizens.

China has one of the highest suicide rates in the world, and it hopes to reduce this through entertainment.

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Thursday, 3 March, 2016 Editor:

health you&EYE

Sade Oguntola sadeboguntola@yahoo.com 0805 506 9260

naturalhealth

sex,sexuality&You

Spitting up nonstop in babies, sign of a serious illness?

By Sade Oguntola

A

nyone who’s ever taken care of an infant knows that babies often spit up. Frequent spitting up is absolutely normal in most cases and not a symptom of poor health. As long as the child is alert, reasonably content, gaining weight, and not showing other signs of illness, this is not usually a cause for concern.

But what is causing the baby’s food to come back up so frequently? When is frequent spitting up a sign of a more serious illness? Does the baby need medicine to treat the problem?

It’s easy to understand why some parents and other caretakers are concerned. Their minds are flooded with such questions as : Is the infant getting enough nourishment? Is frequent spitting up a sign of a more serious illness? Does the baby need medicine to treat the problem?

Frequent spitting up is absolutely normal in most cases and not a symptom of poor health. As long as the child is alert, reasonably content, gaining weight, and not showing other signs of illness, this is not usually a cause for concern.

Howbeit, “sometimes, what parents call spitting or regurgitation in the newborn can be normal, although it occurs for different reasons,” said Dr Akinlolu Adepoju, a consultant paediatrician at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Oyo State.

For instance, maturity is a factor. “Those that are born preterm or premature are at a higher risk of regurgitating than those who are term,” he said.

Also, frequent spitting up could also be a sign of a bigger problem arising from a problem with the food pipe or oesophagus.

The food pipe that links the mouth to the stomach has a sphincter, which is like a door. Any weakness, in the muscles around the sphincter, can cause frequent spitting.

When the ring of muscle between the oesophagus and the stomach—the lower oesophageal sphincter (LES)—is not fully mature in some babies, it allows stomach contents to flow backward.

But in time, the LES will mature and open only when

natural health

Herbal porridge, good for diabetes control —Scientists

Page 37

the baby swallows and will remain tightly closed the rest of the time, keeping stomach contents where they belong. By the time the child is 18 months of age or younger, the problem— known as gastroesophageal reflux (GER)—usually resolves by itself.

In some cases, spitting occurs when the baby is overfed. “Rather than check for other things that might make him or her cry such as wet diapers, irritability or wanting to sleep, mothers interpret crying to meet hunger and puts the baby back to breast. As such, the child starts to spit it out,” he said.

Reducing frequent spitting in children Proper positioning of the baby while feeding is important to prevent frequenting spitting out of food or saliva. Aside positioning the child upright while eating and immediately after feeding, giving little food at a time can help to reduce its incidence.

To reduce spitting, “for a baby that breastfeeds, you allow the baby to belch before changing to the other breast,” he said.

In some instance, adding food thickeners to the food, say the infant formulae, will ensure the baby easily retains it in his stomach. The thicker the food, the lesser the chances of such food being regurgitated.

When to worry A situation where the child is persistently coughing or wheezing, has trouble swallowing or continues to vomit forceful, persistently cries or has noisy breathing, especially after feeding, Dr Adepoju, said requires taking the baby to the hospital.

Of course, where the child vomits out blood with food, this is a danger sign that needs prompt medical attention. “The

INSIDE Every single child that dies matters —Ibeziako, PAN President Page 36 HEALTH QUOTE

content of the stomach is acidic and its acidic content would affect the food pipe, causing some damage,” he declared.

A child that is not gaining weight or who refuses to feed needs to be seen by a doctor. The same is the case if the child often cries, lifting up his legs probably after feeding, a sign that probably he or she is having some pain in the abdomen.

Milk allergy in some children may account for recurring vomiting. Some children with lactose intolerance only stop vomiting when the artificial milk is stopped. Switching to a hypo-allergic formula may also be helpful.

Treatment for frequent spitting As for what drugs may or may not be needed, that is a determination the health care professional must make after conducting a thorough physical examination. But experts suggest that parents should be ready to discuss the baby’s mealtime behaviours in some detail, as well as the child’s general mood.

Before an appointment, parents should be prepared to answer questions such as: •Does the baby spit up at every feeding?

•How much liquid is the baby spitting up?

•Are you breast-feeding?

•If not breast-feeding, what type of formula are you using?

•Have you recently switched formulas?

news Nigerians laud astymin as more winners emerge in the ‘get alert’ promo Page 35

Sex, sexuality & your health

Why does sex hurt?

Page 37

Today, more than 95% of all chronic disease is caused by food choice, toxic food ingredients, nutritional deficiencies and lack of physical exercise. –Mike Adams

34

Thursday, 3 March, 2016

Dr. Ben Ajayi 0805 400 5447

you-and-eye@gmail.com

Strange things happen in Nigeria

I

Dear Yomi, woke up this morning, feeling fine. I slept much better last night despite the heat. I guess, it was because my body has learnt to cope with the heat again.

After all, I was only away for just three weeks. I am also less irritable today; the smile has returned to my face and I am able to think better. remember you once asked me if it was true that we use fewer muscles to smile than to frown. I haven’t seen any proof behind this old saying but some studies have shown the opposite, that a smile uses about 10 muscles while a small frown uses six. So Yomi, please keep on smiling. A smile on your face can melt a heart of steel.

However, my mind continues to dwell on the news item I read about in the newspapers yesterday. It is about a 14-year-old girl who was abducted and from Balyesa State, taken to Kano and forced into ‘marriage.’

First of all, I was confused about why ‘abducted’ was used instead of ‘kidnapped.’ So immediately, I went after the numerous dictionaries on the Internet to check the meaning of the two words.

One says, “There is a difference in meaning between ‘abduction’ and ‘kidnapping’.

To abduct someone is to carry the person away against their will by force or deceitful means. The motive or the intent of the

I

abductor(s) is known only after the victim is released or set free.” Another dictionary says, “The terms abduction and kidnapping are sometimes used interchangeably. At common law, kidnapping consisted of the forcible abduction or stealing or carrying But what amazes me is that, unlike the Chibok girls, the police have been able to identify the culprit and locate the whereabouts of the kidnapped or abducted child but one year after, are helpless. This is stranger than fiction.

Yomi, you can now understand why I refused to see your friend’s 14-year-old daughter the first time she came unaccompanied to the hospital. Except in an emergency situation, a doctor cannot examine an underage child without the permission of one of the parents or someone standing in loco parentis (standing in place of the parents). There are therefore both ethical and legal implications!

An underage child is a minor. It is trite law that a minor cannot give consent for a medical examination or procedure. If a doctor asked her to use some medications three times daily and she decided to use them six or more times daily and hurts herself in the process, except the instructions have been passed through an adult, the doctor would be liable.

Let us leave the lawyers and the law enforcement agencies to do their work. The

real reason I am writing you is to remind you that next week is the World Glaucoma Week. It is dedicated to creating awareness about glaucoma. Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness in Nigeria.

Sadly, it causes neither pain nor discomfort and the sufferer is completely oblivious to its presence.

You don’t know you have it; you can’t know you have it, in the early stages, except by a comprehensive eye examination. Those who know they have it are complacent about

Except in an emergency situation, a doctor cannot examine an underage child without the permission of one of the parents or someone standing in loco parentis (standing in place of the parents).

its treatment, because the medications often make them uncomfortable and sometimes cause blurring of vision.

Yomi, I know throughout last year, you did not have an eye examination. We are already in the third month of the year 2016 and you have not yet had your eyes examined. I wouldn’t want any of my friends to go blind. Please, I am on my knees begging you to spare the time for a visit to an ophthalmologist for a comprehensive eye examination.

It took almost one year and intense pressure for the police to intervene actively in Ese’s abduction or kidnap case. During that one year, several things have changed irreversibly for her. Her emotional state has been disrupted; her schooling affected; her relationship with her family members and friends are disrupted for life. If she is lucky, she would escape HIV infection and perhaps pregnancy.

The scars, even though, invisible are indelible and would hunt her for life. So is undiagnosed glaucoma. Whatever vision is lost can never be restored. Every facet of your life would be affected. Early diagnosis and treatment is the key to keeping your sight in glaucoma.

Yomi, do please do me a favour, before this week runs out, have your eyes examined and thereafter, ensure the examination is repeated yearly.

Now, sickle cell couples can have healthy children —IVF expert

By Sade Oguntola A fertility expert, Professor Oladapo Ashiru, has assured that couples with sickle cell traits can through what is called Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) and IVF have healthy children who will not have to contend with the dreaded disease all their lives.

Ashiru, the Chief Medical Director, Medical Art Centre and Mart Medicare, Ikeja, Lagos gave the assurance at the 2016 Institute of Genetic Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine lecture in Ibadan.

Ashiru described Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) as a reproductive technology used through IVF to diagnose genetic diseases, such as sickle cell anaemia and autism, in pregnancy or before an embryo implantation.

With this technology, Ashiru said, it is now possible to implant a healthy embryo free of sickle cell into a woman through the IVF, irrespective of her genotype – whether AS or SS – and that of her spouse.

According to him, : “What we do is to first stimulate the woman to produce many eggs.

We then take the eggs, fertilise them with the husband’s sperm and allow them to grow for

Guest Lecturer, Professor of Reproductive Endocrinology, Professor Oladapo Ashiru,[left]; Chief Medical Director, University College Hospital[UCH] Ibadan, Professor Temitope Alonge, Emeritus Professor Oladipo Akinkugbe and Chairman,Institute of Generic Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, Professor Gabriel Ogunmola at the event recently in Ibadan. three days in the laboratory. On the third day, we take these embryos and analyse them for any abnormalities.

“If there are 10 embryos, we analyse all of them, based on that, we know the complete typing and make up of each of these embryos. We are then able to screen the bad or abnormal embryos and we can take the good embryos and put back in the woman for fertilisation.”

The expert, who declared that the first healthy sickle cell free baby was born in 2013, declared that his clinic was currently supervising many of such pregnancies.

He assured that all women with sickle cell disease can avail themselves healthy children that are free of sickle cell disease provided they are neither old nor have any other medi-

cal issue.

While the technology comes useful also for couples with other genetic diseases that want healthy children, he declared, “the peace of having a sickle cell free baby cannot be compared with what is experienced having to live with a person with sickle cell disease through life.”

Ashiru, who remarked that the treatment cost about N3million, however, declared that sickle cell carriers that are yet to marry should think twice marrying each other given the risk of having children with sickle cell disease.

Statistics, he said, indicated that sickle cell disease occurs in about one to two per cent of Nigeria’s population, and as such the country has the largest number of people with the

disease.

Chief Medical Director, University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Professor Temitope Alonge, the chairman at the lecture, described Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) as a technology that had given a new dimension to person’s with sickle cell falling in love and marrying.

He said “as much as we preach and yet people fall in love, IVF can help ensure such couples produce healthy babies without having to take to the advice of their priests.”

Emeritus Professor, Oladipo Akinkugbe, who said Nigerians have the expertise to make giant strides in science, however, decried non-availability of working tools and the need for increased interdisciplinary studies.

35 healthnews

Thursday, 3 March, 2016

How Nigeria can end violence against children —Ban Ki-moon

By Sade Oguntola

S

ecretary-General of the United Nations, UN, Mr Ban Ki-moon, has identified major goals the Federal Government must pursue urgently if it must succeed in its recent offensive on violence against children.

These include a childfocused, multidisciplinary and time-bound national and state-level strategy; an explicit ban on all forms of violence against children, backed by effective enforcement; increased efforts to make violence against children socially unacceptable and lastly, the establishment of a sound data and research system.

Ki-moon who spoke at the launch of the Lagos State government’s End Violence Against Child Abuse Campaign by the Ministry for Women Affairs & Poverty Alleviation in partnership with UNICEF in Lagos.

The UN Chief who spoke through his Special Representative on Violence against Children, Ms Marta

Santos Pais, said beyond the negative impact of violence on children and their families, it weakens the foundation of social prog-

ress, generates huge costs for society, slows economic development and erodes nations’ human and social capital.

The Governor of Lagos State, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, launching the “End Violence Against Child Abuse Campaign” decried

parents meting any form of violence on children across the state, whether in the form of sanction or discipline.

President of the Nigerian Association of Nephrology(NAN), Professor Babatunde Salako during an advocacy visit to the Vice-President , Professor Yemi Osibajo by NAN to seek government’s support for the care of kidney disease and kidney patients in Abuja, recently.

Nigerians laud Astymin as more winners emerge in the ‘get alert’ promo As more winners continue to emerge every day in the Astymin Get Alert Promo, ceaseless accolades have begun to trail the Astymin brand from many Nigerians, including winners who emerged and are being rewarded by the brand.

The promo which commenced on the 1st of February to reward Nigerians for their loyalty and support, as part of the celebration of its fifteen years of existence in the country, has seen many Nigerians smiling to the bank courtesy of the promo.

Many of the winners believe that Astymin is not only delivering positively on their health and well-being through its essential aminoacid and multivitamins, it is also putting smiles on their faces by subtly touching their lives where it matters.

One of the lucky winners, Inuolaji Bukola Ajara shared her experience on the Astymin Get Alert Promo and how she intends to improve her business with her prize reward. She said she has been using Astymin with her family after trying it the first time, following doctor’s recommendation.

Since then, Astymin had been their regular daily multivitamin for her entire household.

Apparently excited by the reward, another winner, Pastor Mrs Esther Fekumo

from Igbalu area of Ikorodu, Lagos said she got to know about Astymin over a year ago.

According to her, the brand has consistently delivered on its promise of quality amino acid-enriched multivitamin that boosts the body immune system and enhances general wellbeing for her family.

“I tried it, it is very good.

It kept my body very fine.

My daughter also took this same Astymin sometimes ago and it boosted all the vitamins that were needed in her body. That is why we have been using it continuously in our family”, Pastor Fekumo said.

Mr Isaac Ewuba Edafe from Benin-City, who is also a winner, corroborated Bukola and Fekumo’s claims, saying that apart from the on-going Promo which is an additional reward to its customers, Astymin has remained a top-notch multivitamin for his family.

“Astymin is what I buy for my entire family because it is very good. It is totally different from other multivitamins in the market. When you start taking it, you will immediately feel the effect on your body generally. This promo is just like an additional bonus for me because I and my family are already enjoying the benefits of Astymin on our health”, he

said.

The Astymin Get Alert Promo, which has been doling out N100, 000 to lucky winners every day since the commencement of the promo, is an engaging brand experience that will deliver both health and financial value to Nigerians. It is the brand’s way of rewarding consumers with total well-being for their bodies, money in their pockets and smiles on their faces.

The Astymin Get Alert promo is a year-long campaign that allows interested participants to win instant cash prizes by simply buying Astymin from any nearby pharmacy and checking the body of the bottle pack for the Astymin Get Alert seal with a scratch box. The box is scratched to reveal an entry number, which will be sent to the short code, 1393 for confirmation. Instant SMS reply will confirm the

entry with further instructions. Draws will be done daily and 10 winners will be selected by the system.

The prize reward will be sent to the winners either through online transfer or hand collection at the Fidson Head office. Winners’ list will be published on the ASTYMIN website’s landing page, social networks, as well as on the Punch and Guardian newspapers every month.

The governor who spoke through the Deputy Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Wasiu Sanni Eshitokun, said, “Sanctions must not be malicious or cruel. I call on you all to stop abusing children and meting on them inappropriate punishments in the name of enforcing discipline. Otherwise, be ready to face the law if reported.”

The state Commissioner for Women Affairs, Hon. (Mrs)Lola Akande, however, who described the launch as the domestication of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s Year of Action to End Violence against Children, said it would be followed by intense sensitisation and reorientation of both parents and children.

Akande advised every child to either feel free to also walk into any family court to lay their complaint, or call on the ministry if they find themselves in any unpleasant situation, promising to come rescue them from the scene immediately.

Chairman, National Population Commission, Mr Eze Duruiheoma, SAN , in his presentation of the survey on Violence against Children in Nigeria, said “One in two children experience physical violence; one in four girls and one in ten boys experience sexual violence; and one in six girls and one in five boys experience emotional violence. The majority of children do not tell anyone what has happened to them and fewer than five per cent receive the help they need to recover.”

Oyo, poor on malaria testing in the community-Survey A three-day survey by the National Malaria Elimination Programme on treatment of malaria has found that many cases of malaria were not confirmed before treatment, suggesting non availability of rapid diagnostic test (RDT) for malaria in the community.

National Malaria Elimination Programme had commenced in 10 states and including eight local governments from the senatorial district in Oyo State a survey to collect baseline data on registered vendors and pharmacists that provide malaria treatment, rapid diagnostic test for malaria and number of malaria cases they treat and so on.

The field survey also found that monothera-

pies for treatment of malaria such as chloroquine was rife in many medicine shops just as many of the shops were not licensed to practice for the year.

Although many of the patent medicine vendors and pharmacists scored high on clinical assessment of uncomplicated malaria, the survey found that treatment of malaria was still done without prior testing to be sure the fever was due to malaria.

Mr Okigbe Egbuta, Director, procurement and Supply Management, National Malaria Elimination Programme reacting to the findings of the survey said that “this will help us to strategise and deploy rapid diagnostic test kits for malaria to these facilities.”

According to him, “rapid diagnostic test kits are already in the country, accessibility is just the issue.

The other half of our unit that should push them out to the private sector have enough of these RDTs. Egbuta, stating that stocking of monotherapies for malaria treatment was a national problem, linked the demand for it to ignorance of people in the community on the national guideline for malaria.

“What we would now do is to actually enforce what is in the guideline. The guideline says that malaria must only be treated with Artemisin Combination Therapies (ACTs) and not with any other monotherapy. It is because of this that NAFDAC has deregistered

some monotherapies.”

Egbuta, however, said contrary to the thinking of patent medicine vendors, under the guideline, they are permitted to test for malaria before treating malaria.

“It is ignorance on the part of law enforcement agencies and the patent medicine vendors that they cannot test for malaria.

The guideline determines what they should do and what they should not do.

“What the law enforcement agencies are capitalising upon is the guideline on injections and injectables that patent medicine vendors are not supposed to do. But this is not applicable to rapid diagnostic test kits for malaria,” he declared.

36

Thursday, 3 March, 2016

healthpeople Every single child that dies matters —Ibeziako, PAN President

President, Paediatric Association of Nigeria (PAN), Dr Ngozi Ibeziako, in this interview with SADE OGUNTOLA, critiques the state of health of Nigerian children, asking that Nigeria be more accountable for child survival. Excerpts:

E

very case of a child that dies matters, even if it was at birth.

Where does accountability come to play with stakeholders share expertise at Nigeria’s inaugural summit on accountability for reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health?

Every newborn counts. For us in Paediatric Association of Nigeria, ensuring that every baby counts is accountability for us. Nigeria’s health indexes are still very embarrassing and abysmal. Our under five and infant mortality rates are largely from what we consider as preventable causes.

Many babies still die in their first 28 days of life, what is termed neonatal mortality rate, largely from what we consider as preventable causes. The causes range from infection, neonatal jaundice to prematurity.

So, what we are now saying is that with a little bit of attention to some issues that affect newborns’ health like improving the quality of care during antenatal and delivery and in the immediate post delivery period, we can make a lot of difference, so that the babies will stop dying.

The contribution of neonatal mortality to under-five mortality rate is about 50 per cent and we can make a lot of difference if we make sure that the babies survive. Not just that they survive, but also that they thrive and develop to their full potentials because they are the leaders of tomorrow.

If the human capacity is there, they should be able to identify what we call high risk pregnancies and move them on to the next level of care. So, what we are saying is that the primary healthcare should become functional and with human capacity appropriate for that level and also, that there should be an appropriate channel of referral to the next level.

No woman should be denied access to care.

The obstetricians have what is called emergency obstetrics care,through which some of these problems could be addressed. A woman should not be left to die because she did not register, two wrongs do not make a right.

You mentioned that many of the deaths in neonates are largely preventable. What are the causes?

They include infections, which can be handled using appropriate antibiotics in the correct dosage and duration if the capacity is there.

Neonatal jaundice is still a major killer of our babies because people do not yet recognise that it can leave a lasting destruction on the brain of the child. But most times, they die. However, it is a largely preventable cause of death. Neonatal jaundice, if cut early, can be managed, not even by exchange blood transfusion but by some other interventions.

This will prevent its complications.

However, many mothers do not even recognise babies at risk. You would notice that the

ing excreted and gives the baby a yellow colour. So, giving glucose water as treatment for neonatal jaundice is a fallacy, it prolongs the time for the baby to get appropriate attention.

Why then does the baby loses his or her life?

It can make the baby loses his or her life because most times, the neonatal jaundice may coexist with other conditions such as an infection. If you have 10 mature babies, eight will have straightforward jaundice. The other babies may have an element of infection that will compound the situation.

Talking about Nigeria’s state of neonatal care, are we doing enough?

We could do better. The thing is that neonatal care is limited to tertiary centres and perhaps some secondary healthcare facilities.

Neonatal care has gone high-tech, requiring incubators, ventilators, and so on. It is not every health facility that can have them. But if you have skilled persons, and it is not just doctors, but also nurses that are trained as paediatric nurses or neonatal nurses, they would make a lot of impact. They can do routine antenatal care and recognise when something is wrong and move such children fast enough to the next level of care.

colour of the skin of such babies would tend to be changing and they may not feed well.

Often times, some mothers only give such things as glucose water. But this is wrong.

Prematurity is a problem and it needs a specialist care. The important thing is to resuscitate the baby, keep it warm and send on to the next level of care. There is something we call Kangaroo care; this can be adopted to ensure the baby is kept warm while being moved to the next level of care. So, there are simple interventions that can be helpful.

Also, birth asphyxia is a major morbidity that these babies suffer because there is no skilled birth attendant. Nature made it that

the baby presents with the head. If labour is prolonged or the baby is not lying the way it should lie, its passage through the birth canal becomes difficult and that baby becomes compromised.

So, if there is no skilled birth attendant at delivery, this can lead to a lot of challenges.

Of course, if the woman had attended antenatal care, doctors would have detected that the baby is not lying as it should and moved the woman on to access better care.

The media no doubt can be of help both to sensitise and educate on some of these simple interventions to our save babies’ lives.

People are just not aware but many of these little interventions can make a lot of difference.

A woman should not be left to die because she did not register, two wrongs do not make a right.

You talked about giving glucose and water, is it wrong to do this?

It should not be for neonatal jaundice; it is bad practice. In fact, most mothers will tell you that the babies starts having diarrhoea.

Glucose is a large molecule that attracts water to it and gives the baby diarrhoea, but it does not address neonatal jaundice. Neonatal jaundice is just the breakdown of red blood cells, which the baby cannot handle.

The baby’s liver is not mature enough to handle the break down products of red blood cells. It stays back in the body instead of be-

As members of the Paediatric Association of Nigeria, what are you doing to ensure that things get better? Does Nigeria have enough paediatricians to also help out?

We are advocating that things get better.

We will continue to advocate for children to make things better. As at the time we held our last conference, there were about 800 paediatricians. The ratio of one paediatrician to Nigeria’s population is just not right but we are trying to do our best.

But of course, the distribution is skewed more towards the urban centres than the grassroots where their attention is most needed. If policy makers will make life a little more comfortable, perhaps paediatricians in the urban areas would go to the secondary levels and community levels.

Talking about children in prisons, they hardly get specialist care because once a woman serving a prison sentence is delivered, she is given the child and sent back to the prison.

What is your opinion?

No doubt, the prison services also have medical experts that run clinics in prison.

On how it operates, your guess is as good as mine. But when you imprison a pregnant woman, you are imprisoning at least two persons.

I once had a case in the teaching hospital the woman came from Enugu prisons and she was delivered of her baby in the hospital.

Of course, we had prison warders that were there with her. When she was ready to go, they said she was to go back to the prison and that she was to return with her new baby also to prison. Her offence, to start with, was that she fought with a neighbour.

Fortunately for me too, at that point in time, I had a high court judge whose son was also on admission. So, I talked to him about the issue. To cut the long story short, the woman finally went home from the hospital with her baby. She did not return to the prison. Every child delivered by a prisoner goes back with the mother to the prison. It is pathetic.

37

Thursday, 3 March, 2016

Herbal porridge, good for diabetes control —Scientists

natural

health

By Sade Oguntola

C

ertainly, there is no substitute for a balanced healthy diet, but adding certain foods may help those with diabetes keep sugar levels under control.

Beans and non-starchy vegetables such as broccoli, cucumber, and carrots have made headlines as foods that might be able to help reduce the risk of diabetes or help maintain healthy blood sugar levels. However, a healthy diet for diabetes is also porridge made from whole grains and vegetables and herbs such as cabbage, bitter leaf, broccoli, and Scoparia dulcis known with blood sugar lowering effects.

Scoparia dulcis is used as a herbal remedy by diabetics worldwide given its ability to lower blood sugar. Products such as tablets and tea made from this herb are currently available in the international market.

Researchers found incorporating Scoparia dulcis into different porridge, including that made from rice, a common mode of ingesting this herb proven to have anti-hyperglycaemic and anti-hyperlipidaemic effects.

Porridges are more palatable and fulfilling compared to a mere water extract of herbs or tablets and could be ingested as a meal. It is a staple food in much of Africa often made from different grains and food products. It was primarily a savoury dish, with meats, root crops, vegetables and herbs added for flavour.

In a randomised crossover clinical trial published in the 2015 BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, researchers found out that an herbal porridge made with Scoparia dulcis ensured a lowering of blood’s sugar and cholesterol levels.

The study involved 35 persons aged between 35 and 70 years with type 2 diabetic patients that were on medication, with mild and moderate diabetes. Those already with complications of diabetes were exempted. They were

Why does sex hurt?

Pain during or after sex should not be ignored; sex should be enjoyed and not endured. In a situation where an individual either male or female feels uncomfortable due to a form of pain or other during or after sex, then, he or she should be careful and look for solutions..

Pain during sex can be caused by many things, such as illness, infection, physical problems and or psychological problems If an individual feels pains during or after sex, this means his or her body is trying to say something is wrong, so do not ignore it. Know that it is time to see your doctor for a checkup.

Funny enough, a lot of people ignore stuffs like this because they feel it is trivial and some feel too embarrassed to speak about their sexual problems. Either of these reasons is not enough to make you jeopardise your sexual well being. If you find talking about your sexual problems embarrassing, remember that doctors are used to dealing with problems like this.

It is also important for us to know that pain during sex can affect both men and women. Women can experience pain during or after sex, either in the vagina or deeper in the pelvis. Pain in the vagina could be caused by an infection; thrush or a sexually transmitted infection (STI), such as chlamydia, gonorrhoea or genital herpes .

The menopause: changing hormone levels can make your vagina dry, lack of sexual arousal at any age, vaginismus; a condition where muscles in or around the vagina shut tightly, making sex painful or impossible.

Genital irritation or allergy caused by spermicides, latex

recruited from the Diabetes clinic of the Family Practice Centre, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka.

Test group consumed commercially produced SDC for 3 days/week for three months and the control group any other food. The SDC was made from tender leaves of Scoparia dulcis, scraped coconut kernel and red rice [in 25: 15: 10 (w/w/w) ratio] At the onset and end of each study period, their blood sugar and cholesterol levels were tested. Also, the possibility of its toxicity on body organs was assessed.

They found that porridge made with SDC leaf extract decreased blood sugar levels in type 2 diabetic patients, thus contributing to a reduction of micro-vascular and other fatal complications in diabetics, including death.

Also, the porridge had no effect on cholesterol measurements. Also no toxicity was observed at the dose

Leaves of Scoparia dulcis

sex,sexuality

&your health With Monica Taiwo

strictly adult teenagers, adult & geriatric sexual well being

08187754992 (sms only) taiwomonica@gmail.com condoms or products such as soap and shampoo are also contributory factors.

Pain felt inside the pelvis can be caused by conditions such as; pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), endometriosis, fibroids growing near your vagina or cervix, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and constipation Some causes of painful sex for men include; infections like thrush, just like in women; which can lead to soreness and itching, and some STIs, such as herpes.

If a man’s foreskin is tight, penetration can be painful, as the foreskin is pushed back. Small tears in the foreskin that cannot be seen but cause soreness and a sharp, stinging pain around the tear and also inflammation of the prostate gland.

Testiclular pain and swelling can sometimes be caused by getting sexually aroused but not ejaculating. It can also be a sign of an infection.

If you have pain during or after sex, you should get advice from your doctor, this is very important, he or she will then refer you to a specialist, if need be. They can assess what is causing the

tested.

Given that rice based herbal porridge is more palatable and fulfilling than a leaf extract or a tablet, they recommended that porridge used for this study would be a better breakfast meal for diabetics due to its medium glycemic index (GI), blood sugar lowering effects and absence of toxicity.

Leaf extracts of Scoparia dulcis, is used as an herbal remedy by diabetics worldwide. Referred to as Romafada (Hausa), Aiya (Igbo), Mesen-mesen gogoro (Yoruba), the plant has been used in the management of sickle cell anaemia for over two decades. This plant also called sweet broomweed is also used for chest diseases, cough, conjunctivitis and gonorrhoea.

In Brazil, it has been used for various problems such as haemorrhoids and wounds, while it is used in Nicaragua for anaemia, burns, and headaches.

Previously, researchers have also said that non-starchy vegetables such as broccoli, cucumber, and carrots as well as spices such as cinnamon can also help prevent surges in blood sugar levels while providing essential nutrients.

A 2013 study published in the journal Annals of Family Medicine showed that cinnamon is linked to a significant drop in fasting blood sugar levels. Cinnamon may stimulate insulin secretions from the pancreas.

There’s some evidence that oat, which is also high in soluble fibre, may also help with blood glucose control.

Scientists found an increase in fibre, especially cereals, in the diet was linked to a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

A new study shows those with the highest total fibre intake - more than 26g per day - had an 18 per cent lower risk of developing diabetes compared to those eating less than 19g a day. The study was published in Diabetologia, the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes. problem and whether you need any treatment.

If you have pain, unusual discharge, itchiness or soreness around your genitals, they may recommend treatment for thrush or an STI test. If your vagina is dry, you may be advised to try using a lubricating product; preferably water-based product. But be careful if you are using condoms, because oil-based lubricants can damage them and make them ineffective and if you have an allergy or irritation around your genitals, you may be advised to avoid using products that could be causing it.

If there’s an emotional reason or anxiety that is causing the problems, a counsellor or sex therapist may be able to help you.

38

Thursday, 3 March, 2016

Victor Ogunyinka

health

m: +234-806 642 7323 e: ogunyinkavictor@gmail.com : @vogunyinka

free to express themselves and they just take in whatever they are told, not knowing that they have a say in how their health is being catered for.”

Adekeye highlighted the rights of patients to include “Right to life, right to human dignity and must be treated with respect, right to disclosure, right to timely and professional medical care, right to confidentiality and privacy, right to timely disclosure of a medical error, right to special referrals where necessary and right of a patient to be discharged at his/ her own request, except the patient has some bills to balance.”

When asked if the patient has the right to know what prescription he is giving by a doctor, Adekeye said: “A patient has the right to know and reject whatever treatment he is given.

If the law has said you have these rights as a patient, whenever a doctor writes a prescription, you should be able to ask questions because the law supports you to, but conversely, just like the patient has rights, the doctors also have rights to take care of their patients.”

Furthermore, Dr Taiwo Aderemi, Chief Medical Director of Safepath Hospital, Ibadan, hinted that the right of a patient is a critical issue, stating that “the medical understanding of right is quite different from that of a layman.” He added that “unless you are a direct witness, you will hear different versions of an incident, probably because of the level of service delivery, some are dissatisfied, thinking that their right has been abused”.

Reacting to whether a patient is privy to the content of his/her prescription, Dr Aderemi said: “The case note belongs to the medical establishment; no patient is expected to handle it. When you handle it, you are not expected to even read the content. When some people have the faintest idea of what is wrong with them, it has been established that they (patients) sometimes abuse it by deviating from the doctor’s instruction, which could be dangerous to their health. If they give you a prescription on a particular diagnosis that is lose ended, another time, when you feel that same symptom or you know another person exhibiting such symptoms, you may likely refer to the casenote and play the doctor.

“The hospital environment is a subset of the larger society; however, medicine, being a very noble profession, its proactice should standout and differ from other aspect of life. There is a part of medicine we call social medicine, where they engender you to your patient. The core principle of that programme is empathy; put yourself in their shoes and ask yourself what if I am the patient, how do I expect to be treated, then, you will be able to fathom a lasting relationship with your patients,” he concluded.

The right of a patient is open ended, while many medical practitioners have lost their license to what is considered an infringement on patients’ rights, some have managed to win the legal battle.

VICTOR OGUNYINKA writes on the rights of patients and the limitations.

I

T is a known fact that everybody has a right backed by the constitution, but what determines the violation of these rights is what experts and human right activists have disagreed over in countless cases.

More critically, the rights of patients in the hospital have been a subject of endless debate, owing to the disparity in belief of the medical practitioner and their legal counterpart.

The case of Dr John Okonkwo against the Medical and Dental Practitioners Tribunal, where a patient, who on the premise of religion, refused blood transfusion, which the patient needed to save her life comes to mind. On that ground, the doctor discharged her with a written note that she refused blood transfusion despite appeals and threat that she might die. Dr Okonkwo ended up treating the patient according to her wish, witnessed by her husband and uncle, but on the long run, the patient died.

Dr Okonkwo was charged by the medical tribunal and found guilty. But on getting to the Supreme Court, the judgment was upturned, citing that “The patient’s constitutional right to object to medical treatment or, particularly, as in this case, to blood transfusion on religious grounds is founded on fundamental rights protected by the 1979 Constitution as follows: (i) right to privacy: section 34; (ii) right to freedom of thought, conscience and religious: section 35...”

According to medical analysts and human right groups, the reason behind the abuse of right of patients or hospital visitors is based on the fact that patients are ignorant of their fundamental rights and more so, patients revere medical practitioners so highly that even when their rights are abused, they find it forbidden to protest.

An opinion poll on the Nigerian Tribune website (www.tribuneonlineng. com) to ascertain whether hospital users know their rights revealed that 68 per cent of hospital users don’t know their rights, 28 per cent of the respondents revealed that they know their rights and five per cent of respondents are indifferent about whether or not their rights should be known.

While speaking to a medical analyst, Joyce Ajayi, about the rights of patients, she noted that many medical practitioners have abused the rights of their patients in ways that have endangered their lives. She added that medical practitioners don’t take their time to understand the problems of their patients before giving out prescriptions.

“There is a case of a diabetic patient that died of sore throat because the drugs he was given aggravated his condition. It is not that the drugs they gave him were bad, but it shot up his sugar level and that led to his death. He went to a hospital where they didn’t have his medical records and didn’t bother to do a background check. Patients are supposed to be familiar with their problems as well as the doctors,” she said.

Some hospital visitors recounted their experiences of what they think was an abuse of right by their caregivers.

Omolola Adeleke, a middle aged mother recalled that whenever her newly born baby’s doctor in one of the teaching hospi-

Patients’ rights:

Any limitation to professionalism?

tals collected blood samples from her baby, she (the student doctor) didn’t always control the blood flow with a cotton wool and when she told the doctor about it, she was shunned and continued repeating the routine, until she almost took a physical action against her.

Also, a businessman, Alhaji Quadri Kazeem, explained that “I once visited a government hospital with my indisposed child; they knew that it was a case they couldn’t handle, but technically delayed us for reasons best known to them.

They asked us to go and get some amount of money for deposit, we did and when we returned, they said all the beds were occupied.

Thank God the child didn’t die eventually.”

Speaking to Oluwatodimu Adekeye, a legal analyst at LawPavilion, Ibadan, Oyo State, on the rights of patients and hospital visitors, he stated that a patient’s right has to do with the entitlement of a patient in the course of being treated by a medical practitioner as right guided under the law, while he is under the care of a medical practitioner.

Adekeye noted the law has a clear protection for the right of patients, but “patients don’t know their rights and you can’t enforce what you don’t know.

They give medical practitioners a godly attribute such that they are not always

Unless you are a direct witness, you will hear different versions of an incident, probably because of the level of service delivery. Some are dissatisfied, thinking that their right has been abused

39

Thursday, 3 March, 2016 Taiwo Adisa - 08072000046 Group Politics Editor tai_adis@yahoo.com

YUF and the renewed push for national cohesion A Think Tank under the chairmanship of Senator Okurounmu was inaugurated with the responsibility of analyzing government programmes and policies to articulate the implications to the nation and in particular the South-West.

Ooni Ogunwusi

T

HAT the Yoruba Unity Forum (YUF), an apolitcal group and the brain child of the late Yeye Oodua of Yorubaland, Chief (Mrs) HID Awolowo,was established to foster unity and oneness in the Yoruba nation is no longer news. However, sustaining the vision of Yoruba unity after the transition of its founders, Oba Okunade Sijuwade and Chief Mrs HID Awolowo, is the herculean task before the forum now.

The matriarch of the Awolowo dynasty, worried by the divisions among Yoruba people, especially among frontline Yoruba leaders, had jointly established the forum with the late Ooni of Ife, to ensure that the Southwest states spoke with one voice in pursuit of a common goal. Her desire was to see a strong and virile Yoruba nation, with leaders from different political parties working for a common purpose to develop Yorubaland. Indeed, ahead of the 2015 general election, the late Yeye Oodua had struck a chord in many stakeholders across the zone when she advised that the Yoruba should not play second fiddle in the new dispensation.

Still, can the crop of leaders in the forum sustain the founder’s desires and dreams after their demise? The answer may have been unwittingly provided, considering the determination and the zeal displayed by members of the forum who met on February 17 during. The meeting was significant in two respects. First, it was the first quarterly meeting of the forum held at the Efunyela Hall, Ikenne-Remo, Ogun State. Second, and more significant, it was the first meeting

Gbonigi

Despite the exit of its founders, the Yoruba Unity Forum (YUF), an umbrella body of South-West leaders across political and economic divides, appears unshaken in its resolve to ensure the cohesion of the Yoruba race and the nation at large, YINKA OLUKOYA writes. of the forum after the transition of the Yeye Oodua on September 19,2015.

The significant milestone that was recorded at the meeting was the election of the new chairman, deputy chairman and three vice chairmen. The new chairman of the forum is The Right Reverend Bolanle Gbonigi (retd). Until his election, he had been deputy chairman. Archbishop Ayo Ladigbolu (retd), the new deputy chairman, was previously a vice chairman of the forum. Senator Femi Okurounmu and Ambassador (Dr) Olatokunbo Awolowo Dosumu are now vicechairmen.Their election was ratified during the National Executive Committee meeting of the forum.

Another step taken by the forum to bring peace and unity to the Yoruba nation was the appointment of the new Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi (Ojaja 11), as its new patron after the demise of Oba Sijuwade. The move has been hailed by stakeholders who expressed the belief that Oba Ogunwusi would further consolidate on the agenda for Yoruba unity that he had become noted for nationally, within the short period since his assumption of office as the Arole Oodua. In addition to this strategic move, however, the forum decided to create state chapters so as to spread the gospel of unity to the nooks and crannies of Yorubaland.

Addressing the well attended meeting, Gbonigi assured of his readiness to pursue brotherliness, which he said would engender progress in Yoruba nation.

To that end, he sought the cooperation of all sons and daughters of Yorubaland to achieve the set objectives of the forum, highlighting some of its activities in maintaining a strong presence in the Southern Nigeria Peoples Assembly where issues of importance to Southern Nigeria are engaged.

Gbonigi announced that a Think Tank under the chairmanship of Senator Okurounmu had been inaugurated with the responsibility of analysing government programmes and policies to articulate the implications to the nation and in particular the South-West.

The Think Tank, he noted, would also analyze annual national budgets to determine total allocation to the zones and evaluate the relevance of projects earmarked for the South-West in the budget to its socio-economic development.

Another responsibiliy thrust on the committee is to conduct research on national issues to assist YUF take informed positions that would not be detrimental to the interest of Yoruba nation; and to collaborate with Southwest state governments to develop a blueprint for the industrial, educational,

scientific and technological advancement of the zone with clearly defined goals. Gbonigi noted that the fall in Naira against the United States dollar had made foreign exchange difficult for manufacturers to obtain at official rate, submitting that the economy should be given desired attention in the interest of the country.

To Gbonigi, “The year 2016 will certainly be very challenging for our country, Nigeria and indeed for us, the citizens. With the US dollar exchanging in the parallel market for over N300 and foreign exchange difficult to obtain at the official rate by manufacturers, it is clear that the economy, if not given the desired attention, may begin to shrink, leading to massive job losses. I therefore call on the managers of the Nigerian economy to act decisively by putting in place necessary measures to restore investor confidence in the economy and save millions of jobs currently under threat.�

In a communique issued after much deliberation on renaissance of Yoruba culture, creation of state chapters of the forum and matter bordering on finance, the forum expressed worry about the deteriorating state of the economy; increasing youth unemployment and the rapid fall in the exchange rate. It urged that urgent steps be taken by the government to ameliorate the plight of the masses while not relenting on its fight against corruption.

In a move quite consistent with the ideals of its founders, YUF advocated that allowances of public functionaries, whether elected or appointed, must be brought down minimally in view of the current economic doldrums confronting the country, while emphasising the need for the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari to commence the implementation of the 2014 National Conference.

Given the tone of discussions at the forum and the views expressed by its members at various public outings, it may be safe to assume that the quest for Yoruba unity and national cohesion did not die with the founders of the forum.

Thursday, 3 March, 2016 40 news Saraki begins talks with local manufacturers over Trial of former NIMASA DG project vehicles

Opponents blackmail him over cars purchase —Aide Taiwo Adisa - Abuja

S

ENATE President Bukola Saraki has opened talks with some local car assembly plants over the planned purchase of Project Vehicles for Senate Standing Committees.

Special Adviser to the Senate President on special Duties and Intra-Parliamentary Affairs, who disclosed this on Wednesday, said that some political opponents of the Senate

president have been unduly blackmailing him with the purchase of official vehicles in the National Assembly.

He said that Saraki was determined to encourage made in Nigeria goods and had also insisted that the National Assembly should only replace one of his official cars, whereas he is entitled to two.

According to him, Senator Saraki, has remained focused on his determination to help reduce cost of governance in the country,

adding that he has retained his personal cars in the convoy of the Senate President to further reduce cost of governance.

He said that most of the vehicles inherited by the Senate President had gone bad and that the official car once stopped him at the National Mosque, Abuja and on a trip to Lafia, Nasarawa State.

The Special Adviser, who was a member of the House of Representatives in the seventh National Assem-

bly, said that in his determination to ensure Made in Nigeria cars, the senate president was encouraging the amendment of the nation’s laws to reduce costs of procuring the project vehicles.

Mustapha said: He (Saraki) had met with local automobile Assembly plant owners. This is a man that believe that we should look inwards and save Nigeria foreign exchange to boost the power of the naira.

He added: “Saraki was

entitled to two vehicles but only one was replaced in his convoy and that he decided on his own, because of the economic situation of the country, to minimise government expenses.

“Saraki decided to be using the old official car as the spare car. He just changed a single vehicle in line with the position of president of the country who said we should try as much as possible to reduce costs of governance.

“He did this despite having witnessed embarrassing situations. We went to the National mosque, one of the vehicles attached to the senate president could not start and we have to abandon the vehicle there.

“We went to Nasarawa, getting there, the vehicle of the whole senate president drove in, could not come back with us. So, changing just a single vehicle in his convoy should not be an issue at all.”

Minna High Court sentences 42-year-old man to death by hanging Adelowo Oladipo - Minna

Chairman, Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission (NCPC), The Most Reverend Nicholas Okoh, presenting the 2015 NCPC Pilgrimage report to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Babachir David Lawal, while the Executive Secretary, NCPC, Mr John Kennedy Opara, watches, at the SGF office, Abuja, on Wednesday.

Suswam’s trial over alleged N3.1bn fraud continues March 22 Sunday Ejike - Abuja

JUSTICE Ahmed Ramat Mohammed of a Federal High Court in Abuja, on Wednesday, adjourned the trial of the former Benue State governor, Gabriel Torwua Suswam and two others, who are standing trial over alleged fraud of N3.1billion till March 22, 2016.

When the matter came up on Wednesday, a witness brought by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commissions (EFCC) told the court how Suswam directed him to pay the sum of N3.1 billion from the proceeds of the sales of Benue State shares to a personal account belonging to a Bureau de Change.

The witness, Aluyi Victor, a port folio manager with Elixir Investment Company Limited told the court that it was later discovered, after carrying out a private investigation that the account where the money was paid into belonged to a Bureau de change.

Led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacob (SAN), the witness told the court that Elixir Investment Company limited

received a verbal instruction to sell the Benue State government shares from Suswam through his then Commissioner of Finance, Omadachi Okolobia.

He said, “After the sale was completed, we realised the total sum of N9.4 billion.

The money was subsequently paid out into three bank accounts following the in-

structions we received from the Benue Investment and Property Company Limited.

“N1 billion was paid into Benue Investment and Property company bank account; N5.3 billion was paid to the Ministry of Finance account while the remaining N3.1 billion was paid into the account which, after our investigation; we discovered

belonged to a Bureau De Change,” he added.

He told the court that Elixir, on discovery that the third account does not belong to the Benue State government, raised the observation but was told that the account belonged to Fanffash Resources, the state ministry of account project account.

FG receives 2015 Christian Pilgrimage report Clement Idoko - Abuja

THE Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Engineer Babachir David Lawal, has commended the Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission (NCPC) for the innovations introduced by the body to fund its activities and inspire Nigerians who perform the Christian holy pilgrimage.

He made the remarks on Wednesday in his office, when he received the 2015 Report of the Commission.

This was contained in a statement on Wednesday by the Director of Press, Mr Bolaji Adebiyi.

He assured the body that government would do all within its powers to address the key challenges of the Commission and ensure that the Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) signed with Israel becomes operational and that debts owed the commission were recovered.

The SGF also noted with admiration the small size of the staff nominal roll of the commission and declared that it would ensure that the recurrent expenditure of the commission remained reasonable and that more funds

were available for capital projects.

He advised the commission to ensure that it did not run foul of government policy on the Treasury Single Account (TSA) despite its commercialisation programme.

Finally, he urged the commission to at all times, remain non-partisan in the discharge of its responsibilities.

The chairman of the Nigerian Christian Pilgrimage Commission, Reverend Nicolas Okoh, earlier, told the SGF that altogether, four pilgrimages were conducted in 2015.

A state High Court sitting in Minna, has sentenced to death by hanging, a 42-yearold man, Mohammad Haruna, after finding him guilty of killing 12-year-old Shamsideen in a bush in Kagara, the headquarters of the Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State.

The presiding Judge, Hon Justice Aisha Bawa Bwari, who handed down the judgment in the case which has lasted four years, said the convict contravened sections 221 of the Penal Code.

Delivering her judgment, Justice Bwari said the court examined the surrounding circumstances of the case and found that the proper evidence arrived at had shown without any iota of doubt that the first accused person and no one else caused the death of the deceased teenager.

She stated further that the circumstantial evidence adduced by the prosecution was convincing and “it is in the light of the foregoing that the court finds the first accused, Mohammed Haruna, guilty of the offence of culpable homicide punishable under Section 221.

“You are to be hanged by the neck until you are dead,” she declared.

Justice Bwari however, discharged the second accused in the case, one Musa Ahmadu, for want of enough evidence for his conviction.

adjourned till March 10 Ayomide Owonibi Odekanyin - Lagos

JUSTICE Ibrahim Buba of a Federal High Court,Lagos, has further adjourned the trial of ex -NIMASA Director- General, Patrick Akpobolokemi and nine others accused of fraud till March 10.

Akpobolokemi was arraigned alongside: Captain Ezekiel Agaba, Ekene Nwakuche, Governor Juan and three companies, namely Blockz and Stonz Limited, Kenzo Logistics Limited and Al-Kenzo Logistic Limited, on a 22-count charge.

At Wednesday’s proceedings, a manager with a new generation bank and Prosecution Witness (PW 10), Rita Ifeadi , who is a branch manager of the bank ,at Bar Beach, Lagos, was led in evidence by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC’s) counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, identified all the accused and some companies indicted in the alleged theft and explained how she developed relationship with them in the course of performing her official duty.

Bello inaugurates committee on communities’ demands Yinka Oladoyinbo - Lokoja

KOGI State governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, on Wednesday, said he has set up a committee to collate the demands of various communities in the state with the aim of ensuring government intervention.

Besides, the governor also called on the warring communities in Ibaji, who have been engaging in boundary dispute with other neighbouring communities of Anambra State to embrace peace.

He said the Federal Government had expressed its readiness to resolve the disputes Bello stated this in Lokoja, the state capital, when Ibaji Community Development Association, paid him a thank you visit over the appointment of Chief Simon Achuba, as the deputy governor of the state.

The governor said the committee on fact- finding on what are lacking in the communities would go around the local government areas of the state to ascertain their areas of needs.

According to the governor, the reason behind that action is to know the immediate needs of the people and priotised it.

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FG slams 10-count charge on ex-CDS, Badeh

...to arraign him today Sunday Ejike - Abuja

T

HE Federal Government has filed a 10-count charge at the Federal High Court in Abuja, against the former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh and his company, Iyalikam Nigeria Limited.

The charge, bordering on criminal breach of trust and corruption, dated February 26, 2016 and endorsed by Aliyu Yusuf,

Deputy Director, Legal, EFCC, specifically accused the former Defence Chief of unlawfully using funds meant for the Nigerian Air Force to purchase landed properties in choice areas in Abuja, between January and December 2013, while serving as Chief of Air Staff.

There are strong indications that Badeh would be arraigned today before Justice Okon Abang.

EFCC, which is prosecuting the matter on behalf of

the Federal Government alleged that Badeh, while serving as Chief of Air Staff and Iyalikam Nig Ltd, between January and December 2013 did use Dollar equipment of the sum of N1.1 billion removed from the accounts of the Nigerian Air Force to purchase for themselves a mansion at Maitama, Abuja.

EFCC said the accused person reasonably ought to have known that the said funds formed part of the proceeds of unlawful activ-

ity (to wit) criminal breach of trust and corruption.

The offence, the EFCC said was contrary to Section 15 (2) (d) of money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended) and punishable under Section 15 (3) of the same Act. Badeh and his company were also accused of removing from the accounts of the NAF, and did use Dollar equivalent of N650 million to purchase a commercial plot at plot 1386, Oda crescent Cadastral

New NOUN VC assumes duty zone Ao7 Wuse ll, Abuja.

The offence, the EFCC said was contrary to Section 15 (2) (d) of money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended) and punishable under Section 15 (3) of the same Act. The defendants were said to have between March 28 and December 2013, in Abuja did use an aggregate sum of N878,362,732.94 removed from NAF accounts and paid into account of Rytebuilders Technologies Ltd with Zenith bank plc for construction of a shopping mall in plot 1386, Cadastral zone.

It was equally alleged that the defendants removed the sum of N304million from the accounts of the NAF and paid it to Rytebuilders for the completion of the shopping mall.

NJC bars Justice Ajumogobia from elevation, places her on watch list Sunday Ejike - Abuja

Mr Perry Calderwood, High Commissioner of Canada in Nigeria (third left); Mr Tunde Anifowose-Kelani, CEO, Seigener Sabithos Limited (middle) and the Seigener Sabithos staff, during the Canada Exhibition at Federal Palace Hotel, Lagos, recently.

Bribery scandal: Ricky Tarfa files fresh evidence AyomideOwonibiOdekanyinLagos EMBATTLED Senior Advocate of Nigeria on Wednesday presented new evidence before a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, in a bribery case brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

It would be recalled that Tarfa was indicted by EFCC for allegedly bribing a judge of Federal High Court with the sum of N225,000.

EFCC made the allegation in their evidence, in opposition to violation of rights suit filed by Tarfa against the commission, its acting chairman, Ibrahim Magu and some officials before the court.

The trial judge, Justice Mohammed Idris, had earlier fixed February 29, for judgment in the suit but at the fixed date, the embattled lawyer filed another application, seeking to tender new evidence in order to exonerate himself over allegation of bribery levelled against him.

However, EFCC repre-

sented by Mr Wahab Shittu, opposed the application filed for tendering of new evidence.

Ruling on the application yesterday, Justice Idris agreed with Tarfa. He said: “In the interest of justice, a party should be allowed to bring any evidence or material that would aid his case.”

Further hearing in the matter continues today (Thursday).

The new evidence admitted by the court was an affidavit of urgency deposed to by Rickey Tarfa’s head of chambers, Segun Odubela.

In the new evidence, it was disclosed that a former

staff of the chambers, Mohammed Awwal Yunusa, an indigene of Kogi State, was the owner of the Access bank account the anti graft agency had earlier said belonged to Justice Mohammed Yunusa, where it alleged a sum of N225,000 was paid in by Tarfa as a bribe.

Reps ask FG to carry out comprehensive audit of revenue sources Jacob Segun Olatunji and Kolawole Daniel - Abuja THE House of Representatives on Wednesday urged the executive arm of government to undertake an inventory of all the sources of revenue for the country.

The House resolution was sequel to a motion moved

by Honourable Sergius Ogun, entitled “need for comprehensive Audit of all sources of revenue in Nigeria.”

According to him, “Nigeria has been portrayed as essentially a mono commodity economy whose

source of revenue is crude oil despite the country being blessed with sundry natural resources capable of boosting its revenue baseline, thereby enhancing its economic fortunes and reducing the rate of poverty which has perennially plagued it.”

He added that little had been paid to other veritable sources of revenue, thus diverting the attention of the appropriate institutions and agencies of government from focusing on these other sources.

Speaking further, he said, that current trend in global economies suggest

a downward slide in the price of crude oil thus, necessitating the urgent need to look inwards with a view to exploring other variable means of revenue generation to enable government meet its huge financial obligations.

To this end, he said that if an effective audit of the various sources of revenue generation is done, it would assist the Federal Government to explore and exploit those other sources and also enable the National Assembly to track those sources for the purpose of making appropriate budgetary decisions.

Nigerian Tribune

THE National Judicial Council (NJC) has issued Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia of a Federal High Court in Lagos with warning over misconduct and put her on the “Watch-List” of the Council for the next four years.

NJC took the decision at its meeting held on February 24 and 25, 2016 under the chairmanship of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmud Mohammed.

As part of her punishment for misconduct, Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia would also not be considered for any elevation to the Court of Appeal or any Ad-hoc judicial appointment till her retirement from the Bench.

A statement signed by the Acting Director information of the NJC, Soji Oye, said the decision was sequel to the petition written against Justice Rita OfiliAjumogobia by one Victoria Ayeni, alleging misconduct and injustice on the part of Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia for failing to deliver judgment in Suit No: FHC/AB/ CS/31/2011, a Pre-Election matter between Victoria A. A. Ayeni and Olusola Sonuga and two others.

She was also alleged to have adjourned the PreElection matter severally until the termination of the life span of the Ogun State House of Assembly.

The decision of the National Judicial Council on Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia is with immediate effect, the statement added.

Naza Okoli - Lagos THE newly appointed vice chancellor of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Professor Abdalla Uba Adamu, has assumed duty, a statement issued on Wednesday, by the university’s spokesperson, Dr Ronke Ogunmakin, has said.

While taking over the mantle of leadership from his predecessor, Professor Vincent Ado Tenebe, at the headquarters of the university in Lagos, Adamu said his vision for NOUN “revolves around VERB” and went on to define the acronym as “Vibrant, Energetic, Re-armed and Ballistic.”

According to the statement, the new vice chancellor’s goal is to “take education to the door step of every Nigerian, while ensuring the sustenance of the core values of accessibility, affordability and flexible learning for which NOUN is reputed.” Adamu also pledged “to consolidate and even surpass the legacy of his predecessor.”

The statement noted further that the new vice chancellor “hails from one of the royal houses in Kano State and holds a double professorship in Science Education (1997) and Media and Cultural Communication (2012) from Bayero University, Kano, where he was a lecturer until his appointment as vice chancellor.”

el-Rufai appoints former FIRS boss as consultant Muhammad Sabiu - Kaduna GOVERNOR Nasir elRufai of Kaduna State has approved the appointment of the former chairman of Federal Internal Revenue Service (FIRS), Mrs Ifueko Omogui Okauru, as a consultant to the rejuvenated Kaduna State Internal Revenue Service (KADIRS).

This was contained in a press statement issued to newsmen in Kaduna, on Wednesday and signed by the governor’s media aide, Mr Samuel Aruwan.

The statement said, “Following the passage of the Tax Codification Law, the Kaduna State government has announced further steps towards achieving the goal of improving its generation and collection of internal revenues.

“To this end, the government has approved the appointment of Ifueko Omogui Okauru as a consultant to the agency.”

42 news Arms deal: EFCC files additional evidence against Dokpesi

Thursday, 3 March, 2016

Sunday Ejike -Abuja

T

HE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Wednesday, filed addition-

al proof of evidence against the founder of DAAR Communications Plc, Chief Raymond Aleogho Dokpesi, who is standing trial over his involvement in the N2.1 billion arms purchase

fraud brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

EFCC’s counsel, Rotimi Jacobs, told the trial Judge, Justice John Tsoho

that the additional proof of evidence was filed against Dokpesi along with additional list of witnesses that would testify for the Federal Government to prove the six-count charge pre-

From left, representative of the Minister of Health, Mrs Beauty Okologu; chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Colonel Muhammad Abdallah (retd); acting Director-General of NAFDAC, Mrs Yetunde Oni and the Country Representative of UNODC, Ms Cristina Albertin, during the official dissemination of 2015 Annual Report of International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), at NAFDAC headquarters, Abuja. PHOTO: SUNDAY OSUNRAYI.

$24bn oil swap deal: Reps threaten to sanction Diezani, Momoh Jacob Segun Olatunji and Kolawole Daniel -Abuja THE House of Representatives, on Wednesday, threatened to take appropriate disciplinary action against the immediate past Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison- Maduekwe and a former Managing Director of the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC), Mr Haruna Momoh, over their refusal to appear before its ad hoc committee investigating crude oil for refined products exchange arrangement known as oil swap.

The Honourable Zakari Mohammed-led ad hoc committee investigating the crude oil arrangement (oil swap) between 2010 and 2014, which disclosed this on Wednesday, in Abuja, at the resumption of hearing of the probe, lamented that the actions of the duo would not be allowed to go without appropriate sanction .

Honourable Zakari stated that it was disheartening that despite the official notices to the duo to appear before the committee on Wednesday, on the transactions, they decided to stay away.

According to him,” AlisonMaduekwe neither sent a representative nor a written submission explaining her reasons for not presenting herself before the committee.”

“It is unfortunate that they turned down our invitation, anyone who knows

them should tell them they are daring the parliament.

We have taken note and we are going to take appropriate action against them,” he threatened.

However, Momoh sent his younger brother Sule-

man Momoh, who said his brother was indisposed.

According to him,”I’m here to represent my brother, he could not be here because he is indisposed. He sent me to submit his presentation and supporting documents

to the committee.”

This came just as the committee condemned the failure of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to carry out its statutory responsibility of inspecting all incoming cargoes into the country.

NIS recruitment fraud: Court returns Abba Moro to Kuje Prison Sunday Ejike -Abuja A Federal High Court in Abuja, on Wednesday, sent former Minister of Interior, Abba Moro back to Kuje Prison, pending the decision of the court on his application for bail fixed for today.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had, on Monday, arraigned Moro alongside a former Director in the ministry, F.O. Alayebami and former Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Anastasia Daniel Nwobia on 11-count charge bordering on complicity in a N676 million immigration recruitment scam.

The trial Judge, Justice Anwuli Chikere had, at the last sitting of the court, ordered that Moro be remanded at Kuje Prison in Abuja, pending the decision of the court on his application for bail.

The court said the second defendant, Mrs Anastasia Daniel-Nwobia, who was granted administrative bail on the ground that she

is currently nursing a baby, should continue enjoying the bail.

When the case came up on Wednesday, counsel to Moro, Akinlolu Kehinde moved his bail application by urging the court to ad-

mit his client on bail on liberal terms, saying the alleged offences are bailable in nature, adding that his client was a former minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and would not jump bail.

ferred against Dokpesi.

However, Dokpesi’s counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun, who led three other Senior Advocates of Nigeria, challenged the competence of the fresh evidence against his client, on the ground that it was not validly put before the court.

He argued that the leave (permission) of the court ought to have been sought and obtained before the additional proof of evidence can be validly used against Dokpesi.

Besides, Olanipekun complained that the additional proof of evidence served on the defendant by the prosecution was so faint that it could hardly be read to prepare a good defence for his client.

Olanipekun said it would take binocular equipment to read the processes served on him by the EFCC, adding also that the implication of the poor quality of the EFCC papers was that Dokpesi’s legal team would not be able to make use of the documents for the defence.

Jacobs, in his own submission, told the court that the processes served on the defendant were legible, and wondered why the defence was making issue out of it.

He claimed that the documents of the prosecution were served on the defence a week ago, adding that, as senior counsel, they ought to have drawn his attention to their complaint for him to give remedy,but agreed to serve the defendant clean copies of the processes for the trial to proceed and to avoid dissipating energies on a minor issue.

After consultation with parties in the matter, the trial Judge, Justice John Tsoho adjourned the matter till April 28 and 29, 2016 to commence trial.

West Africa, key transit point for drug trafficking —INCB Report Adetola Bademosi -Abuja REPORT has it that West Africa, including Nigeria, stand as key drug trafficking transit points particularly used by traffickers to traffic cocaine into Europe.

This was contained in the 2015 annual report of the International Narcotic Control Board (INCB), which was officially launched by the UNODC Country Representative, Ms. Cristina Albertine in Abuja, on Wednesday.

It stated that West Africa is used by traffickers to smuggle cocaine and other drugs into Europe, while North Africa remains the primary source of drugs entering Europe.

The report, also alerted on the emergence of 602 new psychoactive substanc-

es which was reported by member states in October, 2015, describing this as a growing threat to public health.

According to the report, there has been 55 per cent increase from the previous year, when only 388 new substances were reported.

The report read: “keeping up with this pace represents a key challenge for the international drug control system which will need to come up with more flexible and workable approaches to tackle the threat of new psychoactive substances.”

While delivering his keynote address, the chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency NDLEA, Colonel Muhammad Abdallah (retd) explained that the 2015 Annu-

al Report of the INBC, not only focuses on the health and welfare of mankind, but also on the challenges and opportunities for the international control of drugs.

According to him, the report was coming at a time when African countries are now emerging as significant transshipment point for the illicit diversion of precursor chemicals.

“The low level of commercial and pharmacological regulation and a frequent lack of trade monitoring and weak customs capacities in many African countries compared to those in other regions of the world have made the continent attractive as a transshipment hub for precursor chemicals used in illicit drug manufacturing.”

NAFDAC secures 7yrs prison term against fake drug manufacturer A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, on Wednesday, sentenced a lady, Clara Onah, 35, to seven years imprisonment, over manufacturing, distribution and sale of fake drugs.

Onah was charged by the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria on fivecount charge bordering on possession and sale of fake drugs.

A graduate of Microbiology of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a postgraduate student of Mass Communication, Onah resides at No 12, Mosalashi Street, Alagbado in Lagos.

In the charge sheet, the accused was said to have committed the offence on January 26, 2016.

The prosecutor, Umaru Shamaki told the court that the accused sold fake brand of 200 mg of Amazon Amagyl a brand of Metronidazole tablets to members of the public.

Sheriff appoints rival as personal aide Leon Usigbe and Jacob Segun Olatunji -Abuja THE national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, has appointed Senator Sa’idu Umar Kumo as his Special Adviser on National Assembly Relations.

Kumo was one of the chairmanship aspirants, who refused to step down for Sheriff, and had to slug it out with the new party boss in the recent election conducted by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party to elect a new party national chairman.

Sheriff also appointed Mr Inusa Mohammed as his Principal Secretary while Chief Uche Nnaji was named as the Political Adviser to the National Chairman.

Similarly, Senator Ighoyota Amori (JP) has been appointed as Special Adviser, Reconciliation and Conflict Management.

According to a statement issued by the national secretary of the PDP, Professor Adewale Oladipo, in Abuja, on Wednesday, the national leadership of the party had approved the appointments which the statement said, are with immediate effect.

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UN lifts embargo on trade between Nigeria, other countries Ademola Adegbite - Abuja

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INISTER of Environment, Mrs Amina M o h a m med, on Wednesday, announced that the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), has lifted the suspension on trade between Nigeria and other countries in all endangered plants as well as animal species and other related products.

Mrs Mohammed, who made this announcement in Abuja, as the country joined the rest of the world in marking the 2016 World Wildlife Day, admonished Nigerians to do everything within the ambit of the law to protect the country’s wildlife.

It will be recalled that Nigeria was suspended from international trade in endangered species in March 2015, following the country’s inability to sub-

mit an adequate National Ivory Action Plan (NIAP) in accordance with the provisions of the convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild Fauna and Flora(Plants and animals).

According to her: “endangering wildlife threatens our personal well -being, the livelihood of local communities and our natural heritage. Wildlife forms a significant part of our bio-diversity and plays

a unique role as an indicator of ecological change.

She said: the theme for the programme tagged: The future of wildlife is in our hands,” is a clarion call to all and sundry that protecting and conserving our wildlife throughout the world should be our individual and collective responsibility.

Wildlife exploitation, illicit trade and habitat fragmentation are the key threats to bio-diversity as

Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki (left), exchanging pleasantries with Senator David Mark, after his swearing-in at the National Assembly complex, Abuja, on Wednesday.

Gunmen kidnap director in Kaduna As robbers snatch journalist’s car Muhammad Sabiu - Kaduna GUNMEN last Saturday, kidnapped a director with the Kaduna State Ministry of Finance, Aminu Sambo, on his farm in Kaduna.

It was gathered that Sambo was kidnapped on his farm in Kan Gimi , Igabi Local Government Area of the state A reliable source told newsmen on Wednesday that Sambo, who lives at Unguwan Dosa, a suburb of Kaduna metropolis, had ahready spent five days with the kidnappers.

The family source, while appealing for unconditional release of the victim, explained that the kidnappers were demanding for a huge sum of money before his release.

“Our brother Sambo was kidnapped last Saturday on his farm at Kan Gimi.

We are praying and appealing to the kidnappers to release him unconditionally.”

“Sambo is a gentle man to the core, who loves peace. We are pleading with the kidnappers not to harm him.”

It was gathered that security operatives had al-

ready launched a thorough search for the whereabouts of the victim and his subsequent release.

However, attempt to get the reaction of the police proved abortive as the Kaduna State Police Command spokesman, DSP Abubakar Zubairu, refused to pick the call put to him.

Meanwhile, some armed robbery suspects snatched a Honda Accord, be-

longing to the Kaduna correspondent of the Agence France-Presse (AFP) Mr Victor Ulasi, when he was admitted in a private clinic at Narayi in Kaduna.

The AFP correspondent, who said he was attacked by the hoodlums on Wednesday, said the incident occurred on the eve of Valentine Day (February 13) around 9:30 p.m.

According to him, the attackers succeeded in robbing him of his car and two mobile phones.

“I was on my hospital bed when five men came into the room, when they realised that I’m alone, they ordered me to surrender my mobile phones and my car keys at gun point”.

He, however, said he had since reported the issue to the police in the state.

No automatic tickets for Ndoma-Egba, other PDP defectors in C’River —APC chairman Anthony Ubong - Calabar

THE acting chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Cross River State, Mr John Ochala, has said that former senate leader, Victor NdomaEgba and other chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who defected to APC, who may be nursing ambition to contest election on the platform of the party in future would not be given automatic

tickets.

It will be recalled that over 1,000 prominent members of PDP, including Ndoma-Egba, former governor of the State, Chief Clement Ebri, had defected to APC in the state.

Ochala, who stated this while addressing newsmen in Calabar, on Wednesday, said there will be no preferential treatment for PDP defectors, adding that those aspiring for political offices would not be given auto-

matic tickets.

“They too will have to queue but that no member would be disadvantaged,” each of these new entrants, who may wish to aspire for any political office during next elections, will individually canvass for their votes.”

“And let me stress that our party shall not give automatic tickets to anyone of them. But, I must say that their defection portends great prospect for APC.”

they concern thousands of plants and animals’ species and can lead to extinction, if not properly addressed.

“Hence, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution designated the convention on international trade in Endangered Species (CITES) of Wild Fauna and Flora secretariat as an instrument for monitoring illegal trade in wildlife species. CITES is also the facilitator for the global observance of the special day for wildlife,” she added.

The minister, therefore, implored Nigerians to think of the future generation with a change of attitude towards wildlife exploitation and conservation of the ecosystem, saying that, without wildlife, Nigeria would lose the opportunity of economic and social value which wildlife brought to the ecosystem.

She said the ministry was the focal point of implementation and had domesticated the convention, “the Endangered Species Act”, to conserve the wild species that were almost driven into extinction due to over exploitation, habitat change and illicit trafficking such as cheetahs, lions, tigers, leopard, Gorilla, Manatee and high value timbers such as Ebony, Mahogany among others.

Mark sworn in as senator for the 6th time

THE senate, on Wednesday, gave its immediate past president, Senator David Mark, a standing ovation, as he was sworn - in for the sixth record time Mark was sworn in at exactly 11.00 a.m. in the hallowed chamber by the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, after taking the traditional oath of office and allegiance.

However, after the swearing-in ceremony, senators at the plenary session, rose in solidarity with Senator Mark as they took turns to exchange pleasantries with him.

He had expressed appreciation to his constituents and Nigerians for the support and prayers that helped him win the Benue South rerun recently.

Senator Mark is currently the longest serving senator in Nigeria.

Jigawa govt renovates 220 schools Adamu Amadu - Dutse JIGAWA State government has commenced the construction and renovation of over 220 primary and junionr secondary schools across the state.

This was disclosed by the chairman, Jigawa State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Alhaji Salisu Zakari, on Wednesday, while addressing newsmen in Dutse, the stare capital.

He said the project is part of 2013 Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) couterpart funds abandoned by the last administration and accessed by the current administration.

He also stated that over 156 primary and secondary schools in the state are currently under renovation so as to improve teaching and learning activites.

Speaking on the training of teachers, the chairmen disclosed that the state government in collaboration with Teachers’ Development Programme (TDP) and Educational Sector Support Programme in Nigeria (ESSPIN), trained over 2,000 teachers across the 27 local government areas of the state.

Anniversary THE ninth anniversary and Fidau for the late Alhaji Ganiyu Asuni, who died on March 3, 2007, will take place on Sunday, March 6, at his residence, X7/819c, Challenge, Ibadan,Oyo State, at 12:00 p.m.

Alhaji Asuni, a native of Abigi town, a water side community in ogun State, died at the age of 96 years and buried according to Islamic rites on March 3, 2007.

The late Asuni, who was a devout Muslim during his life time, was survived

by Alhaji Yekeen Asuni, Gbenga Asusni, Fatai Asuni, Seri Asuni as well as many children and grand children.

Alhaji Ganiyu Asuni

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Thursday, 3 March, 2016

Oreke marble site: Court restrains traditional rulers from lease, extraction Biola Azeez-Ilorin

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WARA State High Court, OmuAran division, has restrained two traditional rulers of Oreke towns in Ifelodun Local Government Area of the state from doing anything on the marble site of Orekeland pending the determination of the substantive suit before the court.

The affected monarchs are Oloreke of Oreke, Oba Abdulkadir Ahmed Dada Olukondo II and his counterpart Oloreke of Oreke-Okegbo, Oba Joseph Sunday Olakunle Adefila Ayogunmoge III. The order was handed down by Justice M. T. Umar following a motion on notice for interlocutory injunction filed by the Oloreke of OrekeOkegbo, in suit No: KWS/ OM/8/2015.

The court ordered that the two traditional rulers, their agents and privies should desist from further managing the marble site or give approval for or lease any part of the land where marble is discovered in Orekeland in Ifelodun Local Government Area of the state for the purpose of extracting marble or quarrying henceforth pending the determination of the substantive suit before the court.

Oba Adefila (counterclaimant) in a 10-paragraph affidavit deposed to by himself, informed the court through his counsel, M. O. Aminu, that Oba

Dada (claimant/respondent) had trespassed, taken possession of the land belonging to Oreke and leasing part of the land with mineral resources deposit to Platoon Rocks

and Minerals Limited without his consent and authority.

He further submitted that he inherited the lands situate and lying at Oreke from his forefathers from

time immemorial and had been in possession of same ever since.

According to Aminu, the claimant/respondent had taken possession of the land and leased same to

Deputy National President of Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), Chief Ayoola Sadiku (second left), presenting certificate of office to the new Lagos State chairman of the association, Alhaji Sikiru Kaka, while the zonal Chairman, South-West, Alhaji Ganiyu Salami looks on, during the inauguration of the association’s new state executive, at Sagamu, Ogun State. PHOTO: TUNDE ADEGBOLA.

ership and possession of the lands if the defendant/respondent is allowed to continue in his dastard act”.

The counter-claimant further alleged that in December 2015, more than 20 trailers loaded with marble patronised the claimant/respondent and huge amounts were paid to them.

“I know as a fact that if the claimant/respondent is not restrained, the whole marble will be exhausted thereby leaving nothing at the end of the suit,” the counsel said, urging the court to grant his application in the interest of justice.”

In his statement of claim, Oba Dada (claimant) through his counsel, O. L. Omoloye, urged the court to restrain the counter-claimant by themselves, agents, privies, or servant from disturbing, harassing, molesting, assaulting, attacking or threatening his life and disturbing the quiet and peaceful enjoyment of their land, the subject matter of this suit.”

The judge, adjourned the matter till March 23, 2016.

Communal clash: Judicial commission submits report to Ahmed Biola Azeez-Ilorin

THE Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the Share/ Tsaragi communal clash in Kwara State has submitted its report to Governor Ab-

dulfatah Ahmed.

Speaking during the submission of the six-volume report in Ilorin on Monday, Governor Ahmed said he would examine and implement the recommenda-

tions as a way of putting a stop to the recurring communal clash.

“I have no doubt that the recommendations in the report will provide lasting solution to commu-

Onipede’s defection: Community restates support for Fayose DESPITE the defection of Nigeria’s former Ambassador to the Republic of Congo, Princess Jolaade Onipede, from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), people of her community, Ilasa-Ekiti, have pledged their commitment and support for the administration of Governor Ayodele Fayose.

The people, led by the Alasa of Ilasa, Oba Ajayi Omolagba, made the pledge while on a courtesy call on Governor Fayose at the Governor’s Office, Ado-Ekiti.

A member of Ekiti State House of Assembly, Honourable Pelemo Dare, representing Ekiti East Constituency II, who spoke on behalf of the community, described the defection of Onipede as an act least expected of her going by what she benefited from the PDP and the support the party gave her in her moments of persecution by the APC-led government of

unsuspecting members of the public for monetary considerations.

He argued that the interest of his client would be prejudiced “since they are deprived of the own-

Kayode Fayemi.

The lawmaker said it was unfortunate that Onipede now wines and dines with the people who rejected and frustrated her as the regent of Ilasa-Ekiti.

According to the lawmaker, the APC government under Fayemi refused to accord Onipede recognition as the regent, instead it imposed somebody else as the regent of the town.

The lawmaker recalled that Onipede was chased out of the palace and humiliated by the APC government.

According to a press statement issued by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr Idowu Adelusi, the lawmaker said that immediately Fayose returned to office, he granted recognition to Onipede as the regent and when Onipede pleaded with the governor to expedite action for Ilasa to have a substantive monarch, the governor obliged.

He also recalled that when Onipede defected to the

PDP in 2002, Fayose did everything to make her comfortable and she became the PDP women leader, but immediately Fayose left government, she joined the group of betrayals.

While pleading with Fayose to see Ilasa as bigger than Onipede, the lawmaker pledged that the entire Ekiti East Local Government would continue to support Fayose and the PDP. Earlier, in his address, Oba Omolagba eulogised the governor for giving the community a monarch three years after the demise of the former Alasa.

The royal father continued: “We know the good things you have done for Ilasa Community, the town cannot forget you or betray you. The entire community is behind you. There was stagnation in the town but what you did by giving us a king is helping Ilasa to move forward.”

In his remarks, the governor appreciated the peo-

ple for coming, promising government’s assistance to the community.

The governor also promised to visit the town soon to celebrate with them but asked for the support of Ilasa people for his government.

Fayose urged the people to be law-abiding and never allow criminals to operate in their midst.

nal clash between Share/ Tsaragi communities and ensure peace in both communities. Let me at this juncture assure you that the commission’s report will be thoroughly examined and the recommendations implemented to the fullest,” Governor Ahmed said.

The governor appealed to the people of the two communities to embrace peace and draw strength and inspiration from their diversity for the development of both communities.

He added that the people of both communities should learn from the December 2015 crisis and use it to build a more united, peace-

ful and cohesive society.

Also speaking, the chairman of the commission of inquiry, Justice Suleiman Akanbi, said a total of 23 memoranda were received from both communities while witnesses were also summoned.

Justice Akanbi said members of the commission also visited the scene of the incident as well as traditional rulers of the two neighbouring communities.

He said he was confident that if the recommendations were fully implemented, there would be lasting solution to the perennial clash between the people of the two communities.

Daleko community gets new CDAs

By Seyi Sokoya

SIX new Community Development Associations have been created from Daleko Mowe Community Development Associations in Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State.

The six newly created CDAs are Asiwaju, Ifesowapo, Garden City, Ifeloju, Likeminds and Super Excellence.

Speaking at the inagu-

ration and presentation of certificates to the new CDAs recently, the Chairman of Daleko Community Development Association, Engineer Funsho Ayeni, noted that the new CDAs were created for effective management, enhanced participation and even distribution of amenities in the communities.

Ayeni, who is also the chairman of Mowe Community Development Committe, noted that for com-

munities to be effectively covered in terms of even distribution of dividends of democracy by the government, there was need to break the association into smaller manageable units.

He therefore, on behalf of the executive and the people of the community, expressed appreciation to the governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, for his approval of the process that led to the creation of the new CDAs.

45

Thursday, 3 March, 2016

foreig naffairs with seyi gesinde

08116954632 foreignnewseditor@gmail.com

Syrian refugees mark 5,000th birth at Zaatari clinic

T Kholoud Ahmad Suleiman is living in Zaatari with her husband and now two children. PHOTO: Muhammad Hamed/Reuters.

HE 5,000th birth at Zaatari’s delivery clinic was celebrated at the Syrian refugee camp, where red roses were given to all mothers, and falafel from the father’s workplace was served.

Rima, born on Tuesday, is the second child to Khoulod Ahmad Suleiman, 21, and

Australian sex abuse victims want meeting with Pope

her husband Mohammad Salameh, who is 22. Twoyear-old Alaa was also born in Zaatari, a camp which houses around 80,000 Syrian refugees.

The family appears to epitomise much of the Syrian refugee experience during the war, which is soon to enter its sixth year. Rima

and her big sister were both born in Jordan, where their parents were also married, and the newborn is named after the Jordanian doctor who delivered her.

Khouloud and Mohammad are both from Deraa, in Syria’s south, and left the country two and three years ago, respectively.

Burundi crisis: Fears as govt starts census to register foreigners

AUSTRALIAN victims of child sex abuse who are in Rome watching the testimony of Cardinal George Pell have said they want a meeting with Pope Francis.

Cardinal Pell is being questioned by an Australian Royal Commission over what he knew about sex abuse by priests in Australia.

He is testifying via videolink, after he was excused from returning home due to ill health.

He has said he would be happy to meet with the survivors.

In a statement Cardinal Pell proposed meeting small groups of survivors without lawyers or media present on Thursday.

More than 400 people have been killed in Burundi and more than 240,000 have fled the country since the violence began. PHOTO:

DONALD Trump and Hillary Clinton carved out dominant positions in their party nominating races on Super Tuesday, marching ever closer to a scorchedearth general election clash.

Trump swamped his rivals by piling up seven wins across the nation, demonstrating broad appeal for his anti-establishment movement. Clinton also had a strong night, winning seven states and showing her strength with minorities in

the South.

Trump won across the conservative South in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia, but also captured more moderate Massachusetts and Vermont.

“This has been an amazing night,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. He vowed to be a “unifier” and to go after Clinton with a singular focus once the GOP race eventually

THE Burundian government has launched a census to register all foreigners, sparking fears among overseas nationals that the scheme could be a pretext for state surveillance.

All non-Burundians in the country will be required to report to border police offices within the next two months, a public security ministry spokesman said on Tuesday.

Several foreigners told the AFP new agency they feared it was a pretext to track them.

Many Rwandans said the process could lead to their community be-

ing victimised.

Last month, AlainGuillaume Bunyoni, Burundi’s public security minister, said the move was aimed at granting foreigners a biometric ID card.

Foreign nationals will be required to attend police stations in person and carry their travel documents.

“We don’t know how the police will use this data and with the violence that has already struck the Rwandan community... I think that I will also have to leave he country,” said a Rwandan national born in Burundi 40 years ago.

They knew each other from home, but it is in Zaatari they got married, and have now started a family.

“When we each arrived we thought we would be here for around two to three months,” Mohammad said.

“But when we realised that it was going to be a much longer time, we decided to start a family here.”

Khoulod said Rima’s birth went well, and that she received all the medical attention and help she needed in the run-up to the delivery.

The young woman was a little shy, and not at first totally enthusiastic about the attention her landmark baby is giving her and her family.

But she beams when looking at her newborn, and says she hopes for more children - but after a break of two or three years.

Mohammad is lucky to have work - Syrians are technically not allowed to work in Jordan, but in the camp many work in informal jobs.

He works 12 hours a day, seven days a week in the falafel shop, which earns him only $211 a month - and with that he must support an extended family of six in total.

Super Tuesday: Clinton, Trump win big, Cruz takes Texas, Rubio scores first win winds up.

But Trump’s GOP rivals vowed to fight on. Ted Cruz won his home state of Texas, the biggest single prize of the night, and added Oklahoma

otherNEWS

Trump

and Alaska. And Florida Sen. Marco Rubio finally landed his first win of the 2016 season in the Minnesota Republican caucuses.

And time is running out for

Clinton

the panicking Republican establishment to deny the billionaire the nomination, amid fears his brand of volatile anti-immigrant rhetoric could cost the party not just the White House, but the Senate.

CNN projects that Trump has so far won 233 delegates on Super Tuesday, well ahead of Cruz with 188 and Rubio with 90. That gives the billionaire a total of 315 delegates in the overall race, compared to 205 for Cruz and 106

for Rubio. A total of 1,237 delegates are required to win the Republican nomination.

In the Democratic race, Clinton won seven states, building up a delegate cushion over her insurgent rival Bernie Sanders. She rode her support among AfricanAmerican voters on a Southern sweep through Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia, and added Massachusetts, a state Sanders had hoped to win.

MH370: Likely debris of crashed plane found in Mozambique Major 7.8 magnitude earthquake strikes off Indonesia A piece of wreckage apparently from a Boeing 777 like the missing MH370 airliner was found washed ashore over the weekend on the coast of Mozambique, a U.S. official told CNN on Wednesday.

The newly discovered debris is on its way to Malaysia for further examination.

The wreckage is a piece of horizontal stabilizer skin,

the U.S. official said.

The horizontal stabilizer is the part of the aircraft’s tail that is horizontal as the plane flies.

A second aviation source said there was no record of any Boeing 777 missing other than Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board.

Malaysia Airlines called

Part of the debris of the missing MH370.

the identification “speculative.”

A powerful and shallow earthquake struck off Indonesia’s Sumatra island, sending panicked residents rushing from their homes in a region hit hard by quakes and tsunamis in the past.

The quake struck at a depth of 10 kilometres on Wednesday, triggering a tsunami alert for parts of Sumatra, including West Sumatra, North Sumatra and Aceh, the local

BMKG quake monitoring agency said.

Hours later, the tsunami warning was lifted. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

The epicentre was several hundred kilometres from the Mentawai Islands, a small chain southwest of the country’s main western island of Sumatra.

The quake was felt strongly

The quake struck at a depth of 10 kilometres, triggering a tsunami alert for parts of Sumatra. PHOTO: EPA.

in Padang, a major city on western Sumatra, sparking panic.

46

Thursday, 3 March, 2016 Editor: Ganiyu Salman tribunesporteditor@yahoo.com 08053789060

Nigerian coaches slam Pinnick Saliu Gbadamosi - Abuja THE Nigeria Football Coaches Association has declared that the president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Mr Amaju Pinnick, was unfair to indigenous coaches with his declaration that the era of local coaches handling the senior national team, the Super Eagles, ended with Sunday Oliseh.

Speaking in Abuja, president of the association, Bitrus Bewarang, stated that Pinnick’s statement was the most unfortunate.

According to Bewarang, Nigerian coaches had con-

ITTF championship:

Nigeria, Egypt land in q/finals

AFRICA’S flagbearers in the ongoing ITTF World Team Championship, Nigeria and Egypt have affirmed their readiness to gain promotion to the Championship Division after both teams secured their places in the quarter-final of the men’s division two.

Nigeria completed its unbeaten run in group F with a 3-0 rout of Vietnam to make it five wins in five matches, while Egypt was made to work hard for its last group victory against Hungary.

But at last it was the North Africans that prevailed over the Europeans 3-1 to record their fifth win in group G. To top group F, Nigeria defeated Turkey, Switzerland, India, Slovakia and Vietnam, while Egypt overcame Mexico, Norway, Argentina, Slovenia and Hungary.

For Nigeria, this is the first time the West African giants will be unbeaten in all their matches.

The Segun Toriolainspired team narrowly missed out from the qualification in 2014 in Japan, after losing to England in the quarter-final of the championship.

Nigeria and Egypt will now battle with other qualified teams for places in the last four of the championship.

Speaking after the victory over Hungary, Egypt’s Mohammed El-Beiali said: “I am so happy that we won and I must thank God for this victory.”

tributed immensely to the development of the game in country, saying the NFF should always give indigenous coaches equal respect as it accord foreign coaches.

“The attention of the Nigeria Football Coaches Association has been drawn to a statement credited to the NFF president, Amaju Pinnick that enough is enough for Nigerian coaches in the Super Eagles. We want to say as an association that the statement from the NFF President was the most unfortunate in the present dispensation.

“This statement is coming at time when the present administration is struggling to conserve the little foreign currencies that it is available, that is when the NFF leadership is thinking of embarking on a jamboree of employing a foreign coach who may not be competent as those that are based here at home.

“Moreover, it has become very evident that the NFF find it very difficult to fulfil all their contractual agreement with indigenous coaches whenever they are engaged, a situation they would not be the same when they employ a foreigner,” Bewarang stated.

The former General Manager of Plateau United FC added his association was worried over Pinnick’s statement, particularly that the NFF had drafted local coaches on a rescue mission to handle the Super Eagles’ double header African Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier against the Pharaohs of Egypt.

Nigeria’s Edith Agu Ogoke (left) exchanges punches with Russian Nadezda Torlopova during their middleweight bout at the London 2012 Olympics. Male boxers will fight without headgears at Rio Olympics.

Rio Olympics: Male boxers will fight without headguards –IOC

F

OR the first time in 32 years, male boxers will trade punches without headgears at this year’s Rio Olympic Games after the International Olympic Com-

mittee (IOC) sanctioned a change introduced by the International Boxing Association (AIBA).

IOC endorsed a decision originally taken by AIBA’s executive committee fol-

lowing London 2012 to unanimously end the use of headguards in all of their elite men’s competitions.

AIBA’s medical commission’s claim to have studied 11,000 bouts around the

Ronaldo, Ramos set to quit Real Madrid REAL Madrid pair of Cristiano Ronaldo and Sergio Ramos have shocked the club by handing in transfer requests, according to Spanish news outlet Sport.

It was initially reported by Spanish TV programme

El Chiringuito - that both players sought an audience with Florentino Perez and personally asked for his blessing, as they wish to leave the decorated outfit in the midst of an ongoing turmoil.

From left, the winner of the 2016 Glo-sponsored Lisabi Festival Ayo competition, Ronke Lawal who represented Abeokuta South LG in a contest with the first runner up, Sadiat Sokunbi from Ifo LG, while the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo and other high chiefs watch at the Ake Palace ground on Tuesday.

The meeting reportedly took place after Madrid’s 1-0 defeat at the hands of cross-town rivals Atletico Madrid. Ronaldo, in particular, was left incensed at the result and launched an astonishing tirade at his team-mates, claiming that the team would be in first place if everyone else was as good as him.

“If everyone was as good as me, maybe we would be first,” he said, as quoted by​ Goal.com.

“I do not want to belittle anyone but when they are not the best it is difficult to win. I like to play with Karim, Bale and Marcelo.

“I do not mean that Jese, Lucas [Vazquez] and [Mateo] Kovacic are not good, they are very good, but to win a competition you need the best and that has been our main problem this year.”

world, producing several scientific studies that it is actually safer for boxers to compete without headguards then with them.

The IOC said AIBA had presented medical research that showed concussions were less likely to occur without headgear than with.

“AIBA provided medical and technical data that showed the number of concussions is lower without headgear,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams said. “They have done a lot of research in the last three years. The rule will go ahead for Rio.” Boxers have been wearing headguards since the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. The last Games without headguards were in Moscow 1980.

The rubber-stamping of the AIBA’s decision was contained in the report of the IOC medical commission presented to the Executive Board by Turkey’s Uğur Erdener, a qualified doctor.

He said it was up to AIBA to make the rules for their own sport.

Women, who only made their debut in Olympic boxing at London 2012, will still wear headguards at Rio Olympics.

47

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Phone 08140575314, 08085005634 and smile to the bank on Monday.

INNOCENT NAP (08095602590) 18 NAP 19

4 special draws N6, 000 Wk 32= No 1x 9x 31x 30x 4 special draws N6,000 Wk 33 No Nap 25x 33x 35x 45x Two bankers N3,000 wk 32= No 9x 29x Pair 1x 2f Two bankers N3,000 wk 33 No 25x 35x pair 12f 45x KEY letter A.A. at Home No 48. 49 To control 4 special draws this wk 32 cup cost N6, 000 Two bankers cost N3,000 wk 32 No 1x 9x 29x 30x Wk 33 No 25x 33x 35x 45x wk 34 No Nap Nap Nap Nap. Send MTN card 08095602590 the game will be sent to you by text message = 08095602590.

HOPE NAPS & CO 081071284149

BANK ON NO 9XX19 BANK ON NO 9 Bank on no 19 as a fixed draw for wk 34 it must play on Saturday. With 3 other.

Play it any where the 3 draws must come on board on Saturday. Promoter must play you at first bank Plc Account No 3088328923 in person of Mr. Gbadebo Stephen A week 34 cost just N10, 000, by popular demand the price remain N10, 000. Please take note. Make sure your payment is confirmed for you to get the releases Bank No 9xxx No 19xxx No 9 & 19xxx be sure of your winning. God bless Bye – 08107128449.

MBA EXPERT (08104694618) PAIR: 14XX 25

Thursday, 3- 9 March, 2016 MODUPE (08033566694) 10- 26- 28. 2drs Call for super winning now.

MADAM DE MADAM – 08023329191 (05 MUST 06)

WK 33= 30 X 35X 44XX 14F SCUNTHORPE HOME 30. AGAIN. Scunthorpe on Southend at home 30 is Scheduled for 3 fixed Naps Congratulation Scunthorpe in 2 way winnings firstly at home 30 and setting of scunthorpe on Southend.

Week 19 – 15x 31x 42xxx – 06x 05x Week 34 – X X X - 05x 06x Pair= BOURNE’MOUTH and No 6 and other Confirmed 3 fixed matches again.

Madam at work again, our week 19 winners this advert serves as a reminder. All newly interested winning stakers are welcomed. Call Mr Joshua for your winning details our media manager – N50, 000 – Goodluck.

MANCITY SYSTEM F.A. CUP SYSTEM C 08135888720= 47. 48

3 Wks operation wk 31. 32.33 4 Special draws N6, 000 Wk 31 RED No 8x 19x 30x 33x 4 Special draws N6, 000 Wk 32 No 18x 29x 30x 31x 4 special draws N6, 000 Wk 33 No 5x 25x 35x 45x wk 34 No Nap Nap Nap Nap Two Bankers N3000 WK 31 RED No 19x 30x pair 8x 5f Two Bankers N3000 WK 32 No 18x 30x Pair 29f 31x Wk 33 No 25x 35x Pair 30x 40x Stakers try to get MANCITY. 4 SPECIAL Draws this Wk 34 cost N6, 000.

Two Bankers this wk 34 cost N3000= 4/4. Send Mtn Card to 08135888720.

IKECHUKWU & BROS INT. NAP – 08168157259 SWANSEA MUST NORWICH 05/06X

2/2 YEARS WINNING PROJECT. Records are kept for confirmation while event makes History.

Week21-2012 – 12x 29x 38xxx – 8/9x Week37-2014–16x27x44xxx– 29/30x Week 34 – 2016 – X X X - 5/6 Our recent success is from God and our reliable forign experts on their unrelented efforts that touches many stakers financial status, N35,000.

SIR. MICHAEL NAP 15 PAIR 19 (09091874579)

Congratulation to all those that got my last week release as they won with 5xx 30xx 33xx 3/3 the pair 19f 21xx making 4/5/ Meanwhile 3/3 and 4/5 this week cost just N15,000. Call for Acct No or mode of payment and bank on 15 pair 19 for X.

THE-LILIES-

08086944309 (34 MUST 37)

The Lilies is really set to put a smile on your face. Call for our 3 unfailing jackpot x and win big jackpot on pools fortune is assured this wk 34.

Madam Emilia, 08068523407.

15CBK (32 or 33) Call for details.

SUNDERLAND SYSTEM 25.

26. 09038460009= 8 NAP 9

4. SPECIAL DRAWS N6, 000 WK 32 NO 9x 18x 30x 40x= N6, 000 4. Special draws N6, 000 Wk 33 NO 21x 22x 30x 45x= N6, 000 4. Special draws N6, 000 Wk 34 No Nap Nap Nap Nap= N6, 000 Two Bankers N3000 WK 32 9x 30x Pair 19f 40x Two Bankers N3000 WK 33 NO 22x 30x PAIR 25x 26 Two Bankers N3000 Wk 34 NO NAP NAP PAIR NAP NAP Time to win Pool this wk 34 Sunderland system 4 special draws this wk 34 with play = 4/4. Correct hurry up to get your copy to day two Bankers cost N3000 wk 32. No 9x 30x 19x 40.

4 Bankers wk 32 No 9x 18x 30x 40x= 4/4 send MTN card 09038460009.

VICTORIOUS VICTOR -08126994034 22 - 26 - 28 - 30 - 43.

A week to CUP-CUP- a week after Cup. The above free games is guaranteed for sure win to start our 3 weeks 6th round enveloped Naps.

First week free win, 2nd week=N100,000. 3rd and final week-

EMIRATES FLY-

08087104491.(31 MUST 33)

KEY-HULL CITY AWAY NO 11 again Reference to week 31 pair WESTHAM pair SCUNTHROPE Week 31- 14x 19x 46xx – 30xx 33x Week 34 -X X X - 31xx 33x Emirate in another grandstand win on 3 fixed matched and a bonus pair WESTHAM & SCUNTHROPE. Our week 31 winners of 8 draws. Please be informed again. N25,000.

WEEK 34 STATUS. EKO – 8 AND 13 LKO – 9 SUNDAY – 2 AND 10 VOID – 11 AND 17

The much expected windfall from the last of the 3 weeks operation GET-UP was frustrated as week 33 results refused to chimax the operation with success. With this unfortunate outcome notwithstanding, CONSOLATION to bring back past losses is at your finger tip this week 34 which is the 8th Blue colour coupon pools settings. Week 06 matches played at the week-end of 22nd/23rd August 2015 kick-started the Blue colour series with a harvest of draws numbering 21 which included 2 dusters of 5 draws in the Premiership and 3 draws in the skyebet ISREAL BAIL OUT WINNING CONTD. 09085712800 League Two all chained respectively.

Meanwhile, Derby and Shrewsbury on STOKE SANDWICH 3 WEEKS NAP Week 8, 9 and 10 now 33, 34 nos 14 and 25 in the Championship and and 35.Follow our Advert for details.

League once attract big focus this week DR B4 DR – 08062748396. PORTVALE–SCUNTHROPE HOME 30.

34 with reference to weeks 06 and 30 Portvale weeks 30 & 31 – Scunthrope week 33 & 34. respectively. Other games worth touch- 3 undisputed fixed draws – N50,000 ing in dude Southend, Dagenham, Leyton O. and mansfied among others. Call MR AKIN ON 2 WEEKS BREAK TILL WEEK 36. BE PREPARED. or text for 3 NAP plus a pair.

IKECHUKWU, 08168157259 IN ANOTHER 2/2 YRS. W/PROJECT

HOPE NAP & CO – 08107128449 (BANK NO 9 AND 19) Promoters must pay back all cost with our special release for this week 33 with the free above pair. All payments favour of Mr Gbadebo Stephen A. at First Bank acc. Number 3088328923.

N10, 000 on popular demand. Call details your wining is sure.

THE CUP MANAGER ON PARADE NEXT WEEK AMUKO & ASSO. 07014686970. OPERATES INCUP WEEKS ONLY. MADAM ON CURRENT WINNING INSTRUCTION 08023329191

DRAW COMMANDER

BEST ENGLISH MAGIC

TWO BANKERS N3,000 WK 33 X25X X35X PAIR X05X X35X

WK 34 NAP NAP PAIR NAP NAP

WK 35 NAP NAP PAIR NAP NAP

TWO BANKERS N3,000 WK 33 X22X X45X PAIR X25X X26F

WK 34 NAP NAP PAIR NAP NAP

WK 35 NAP NAP PAIR NAP NAP

JOINTLY 4 SPECIAL DRAWS N25,000 WK 33 NO 5X 25X 35X 45X= 4/4 WK 34 BLUE-BLUE-BLUE-BLUE = 4/4. SEND MTN CARD TO 08095602590.

FOCUS UNBEATABLE ON FIVE WKS 31-35 OPERATION: NAP XXX

: INE 44.

L T HO 1717 79 080

WK 31= 14X 26X 33X Pair 19x 12f= 4/5 WK 32= 09X 37X 40X Pair 18x 19f= 4/5 WK 33 Nap failed ???

WK 34 Nap Nap Nap Nap Nap= 5/5 WK 35 Nap Nap Nap Nap Nap= 5/5 Sure Nap cost N20, 000 weekly

SATURDAY RESULT SUNDAY RESULT TWO BANKERS N3,000 WK 33 X25X X44X PAIR X05X F23F

WK 34 NAP NAP PAIR NAP NAP

WK 35 NAP NAP PAIR NAP NAP

TWO BANKERS N3,000 WK 33 X35X X45X PAIR X21X X22X

WK 34 NAP NAP PAIR NAP NAP

WK 35 NAP NAP PAIR NAP NAP

JOINTLY 4 SPECIAL DRAWS N25,000 WK 33 NO 05X 25X 30X 44XX. WK 28 NO 16X 30X 34X 37X =4/4. SEND MTN CARD TO 08139714848.

MAGIC KINGDOM-08056753098/07085060512

(A) 01X 03X 08XXX PAIR 31 and 33. (B) 31x 32x 33xxx 01x28 Congrats, this is another promising week sure, the above games is starting our 3 weeks Bumper win in week 34, 35 (CUP) and 36 cost N10,000. Payment to BAlogun Adesina Kamoru at F.C.M.Bank a/c no: 0279550010, Wema Bank acc no: 0206965116 or G.T. Bank acct no: 0115505082. Call for details. Good luck.

PLEASE COMPLY WITH OUR NO ADVERT NO WRITE-UP POLICY —MANAGEMENT

SIDELINES

NO 16,449

N150

THURSDAY, 3 MARCH, 2016

“Where there is a separation of the duties of investigation and prosecution, there will be increased likelihood of fairness to an accused who will by this development be shielded from unfair persecution or even prosecution.”

O

VER Over the course of several weeks I discussed the loss of public confidence in the justice delivery system in Nigeria and why lawyers alone should not be blamed but before I could complete my discussion the decision of government to appoint new vice chancellors for some Federal universities attracted national attention necessitating my comment on that matter. I therefore shelved further discussion on the need to separate the investigative and prosecutorial functions of EFCC and ICPC. As noted earlier, such a separation of the investigative and prosecutorial functions of the EFCC, ICPC and other law enforcement bodies separation of function will ensure that the investigator does not loose objectivity in assessing cases before charging suspects to court. In addition, the following has also been acknowledged as advantages for such a separation. a.

Accountability – Separating the two functions and investing them in different bodies will bring about accountability in the system as this will ensure a system of checks and balances in the process of investigation, indictment, prosecution and conviction. b.

Fairness to the accused – Where there is a separation of the duties of investigation and prosecution, there will be increased likelihood of fairness to an accused who will by this development be shielded from unfair persecution or even prosecution. c.

Efficiency – There will be increased efficiency in the overall administration of criminal justice.

NEED TO CULTIVATE DEDICATED POOL OF PUBLIC PROSECUTORS Nigeria has at the Federal level the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. This is also replicated in the Ministries of Justice of all the states with their own Directorates of Public Prosecution. Furthermore, EFCC

OFR, CON, SAN, LL.D, D.Litt

Nigerian, on Tuesday, shunned the “No banking day” order by the civil rights movement. Does this mean that, as Afrobeat king, Fela Anikulapo Kuti sang in one of his songs, Nigerians are experts at “suffering and smiling”?

afeonthursday

aareafe@gmail.com

Justice: Loss of public confidence — Need to separate investigative and prosecutorial functions of EFCC, ICPC (7) and the ICPC also have their own prosecution units. However, experience has shown that the EFCC and the ICPC occasionally instruct private legal practitioners to conduct prosecution. While I do not doubt the competence of such private legal practitioners, I believe that if left unchecked the practice may deny prosecutors being paid by tax payers the opportunity of honing their prosecutorial skills. Prosecution of financial crimes including money laundering requires expertise not just to investigate but also to prosecute. Such expertise can only be best acquired through constant involvement in prosecution. I therefore advocate intensive training of a dedicated pool of public prosecutors to handle prosecution of matters bothering on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Act and the Independent and Corrupt Practices and Other related offences Act. This is indeed the practice in most other jurisdiction in which public prosecutors are given adequate training in specialized areas of the law such as organized crime, human trafficking, sexual abuse etc.

CIVIL MATTERS The complaint of poor delivery of justice also stems from the time it takes between the institution of an action in court to hearing and conclusion of the matter. I have highlighted several factors which contribute to this including the attitude of litigants themselves. However, I know from experience that some delays are occasioned by the decision of parties to take full advan-

tage of the rules of procedure of the court.

For example, matters such as amendment of pleadings and challenges to the jurisdiction of the court provided opportunities for recalcitrant defendants to unduly delay hearings. However, to meet the challenge there have been changes to the various rules of court beginning from the innovation brought about by the High Court of Lagos Civil Procedure Rules in 2004 which introduced the following amongst others: 1.

Frontloading of Witness Statement on Oath - By this, parties are required to file along with their claims statements of their witnesses already reduced to writing and sworn before a Commissioner for Oath.

This obviates the need for long examination in chief, a process which used to take hours if not days.

2.

Frontloading of documents - By this, parties are also required to file alongside their originating processes, copies of documents they intend to rely upon at the trial. This also saves time during trial.

3. Limitation on Amendments – There was also introduced a limitation on a number of times a party could amend his pleadings during trial proper.

The above provisions were replicated in a number of rules of several courts. In 2009, the Federal High Court Rules took matters a step further by expressly regulating the time within which a defendant could file an application to challenge the jurisdiction of the court and also permitting the Judge in some instances, to hear such objections together

with the merit of the case. These and similar provisions were also adapted for use in the hearing of the various election petition and together with a constitutional limitation on the period of hearing of such petitions brought about expeditious hearing of same.

However, there can be further improvement and one such area I believe can still be positively impacted upon is the manner in which matters are listed or adjourned.

At the present moment, matters are not adjourned and heard from day to day and are often adjourned to permit parties take certain steps in the matters such as amendments and joinder of parties etc. I however advocate a system whereby the trial of matters is fixed for hearing on a day to day basis after conclusion of all preliminary matters. In such a system, a Judge need not list 30 matters on his cause list. He may limit himself to perhaps two of three matters a day with the knowledge and conviction that those matters must proceed to hearing as planned and must not be adjourned save for extreme reasons. This can be applied to both criminal and civil matters. In the United States, matters may take a year or even two to get to hearing, but once hearing commences it is hardly ever adjourned until conclusion. Thus high profile cases such as the trial of Michael Jackson and OJ Simpson proceeded on a day to day basis.

Next week, I will consider whether or not judges are to blame for loss of public confidence in our justice delivery system.

I’m not under pressure to beat Egypt —Siasia As Eagles release list today Saliu Gbadamosi - Abuja NIGERIA interim head coach, Samson Siasia, has declared that he is not under pressure to beat the Pharaohs of Egypt, in this month’s crucial Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2017 qualifiers.

The technical crew is expected to release the list of players invited for the double header against Egypt today, as the Super Eagles open training camp on Sunday, with players from the domestic league.

Siasia, however, declared that he was not under any pressure to win against Egypt.

“I am not feeling any pressure. All we want to do is to make sure that we do well in the next coming games. That it is,” Siasia, who led the Dream Team to win silver at the Beijing 2008 Olympics said.

Siasia, told journalists in Abuja that coaching the Eagles was not like a mountain that could not be climbed but was only a tough task.

“The job of handling the Super Eagles is not too tasking but rather it is a big challenge. It is not like a mountain we cannot climb, but it is a very tough one,” said.

Speaking on his preparation for the AF-

CON qualifiers, Siasia said that he planned to hold discussions with ex-skipper, Vincent Enyeama, who retired from international duties after his altercation with former coach Sunday Oliseh, and West Ham striker, Emmanuel Emenike.

He said if the duo could help the Eagles in the crucial qualifiers, he would be glad to have them back in the team.

“If they can help us of course we will be happy to see them back in the team.”

The former international informed that: “We actually discussed with the technical director, Shuaibu Amodu to try to put the list of the invited players together. So after

the meeting of the technical committee on Thursday (today), then the list would be released.”

WEEK 4 RESULTS Nigeria Premier League IfeanyiUbah Lobi Stars Wikki Tourists Abia Warriors FC Giwa

MFM, Lagos Akwa United Warri Wolves Tornadoes

3 3 3 0 2 2 2 0 2

3SC

El-Kanemi Plateau Pillars Rivers Utd Sunshine Heartland Rangers Nasarawa

Printed and Published by the African Newspapers of Nigeria PLC, Imalefalafia Street, Oke-Ado, Ibadan. E mail: editornigeriantribune@yahoo.com Website: www.tribuneonlineng.com MANAGING DIRECTOR / EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: EDWARD DICKSON. EDITOR: DEBO ABDULAI. All Correspondence to P.O. Box 78, Ibadan. ISSN 2712. ABC Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulation. 03/03/2016.

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