18th April 2016

NIGERIA’S MOST INFORMATIVE NEWSPAPER NO 16,481

MONDAY, 18 APRIL, 2016

www.tribuneonlineng.com

Fresh crisis looms in PDP over Modu Sheriff

•Govs, party leaders divided —P4

Nigerian Tribune

CAN to Buhari: Use recovered loot to improve economy —P29

@nigeriantribune

TribuneOnline

Ondo hits gold, set to begin bitumen exploration —P30

Nigerian Tribune

N150

Army uncovers Boko Haram's underground food storage —P29

Economy: Danger looms over 2016 budget impasse •How lawmakers 'padded' agric ministry's budget •Prices of food items soar 233 killed in Ecuador’s biggest earthquake in decades

—P2

FG seeks $2.5bn loan from World Bank, others —P11

Falana writes Dogara, cautions Reps on CCT Act amendment —P32

A security officer assessing the extent of damage after the earthquake, on Sunday. PHOTO: REUTERS STORY ON PAGE 37

NNPC staff kidnapped in Kaduna —P2

2 news

Monday, 18 April, 2016

Economy: Danger looms over 2016 budget impasse

•Govt may shut down in June •‘NASS padded Agric Ministry’s budget by N12.6 bn’ Taiwo Adisa, Adesanya Adejokun and Ayodele Adesanmi - Abuja

F

OR the first time, governance may shut down unless either President Muhammadu Buhari or the National Assembly blinks early enough over the 2016 budget.

Sources in the polity had noted that this would be the first time such a development would happen, as the Constitution only gives the executive power to spend 50 per cent of the previous year’s budget for six months in the absence of a new budget.

The development came upon the discovery of another alleged padding of the budget of Ministry of Agriculture to the tune of N12. 6 billion.

It was gathered that while the lawmakers reduced the ministry’s N40.918 billion budget proposal to N31.618 billion, they also injected fresh 386 projects worth N12.6 billion. It was not clear whether all the said projects were constituency projects.

The N6.07 trillion budget passed on March 23 had been a source of squabble between the executive and the legislature, with the executive alleging fresh padding and removal of some key projects.

The executive had alleged many of its flagship projects were either removed or distorted by legislators while working on the budget bill.

A Presidency source, however, insisted that President Buhari would not assent the budget as passed.

Though the House of Representatives had made its intention known to review the budget if it received complaints from the executive, the Senate said last week, that it was only awaiting a supplementary budget in case the executive had objections to the passed budget.

That could be a source of potential government shutdown, as the government cannot spend any money legally after June.

A source close to the Presidential Villa said: “Buhari will not sign that Appropriation Bill into law and he has already made his intention known to the assemblymen.

“He has been consulting widely with both legal and political associates on how to deal with the situation. A former leader even met with him shortly before he left for China.”

“The president has so far relied on the constitutional provision, which allows him

to spend up to 50 per cent of the previous year’s budget, but that could snap if the crisis is not resolved by end of June.

“And if the worst should happen and the National Assembly refuses to rework the budget proposal, the government will rather shut down than for him to allow the old forces of retrogression to have their way and humiliate him.”

It was learnt that at the emergency Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting held to review the budget as passed by the National Assembly, there was a consensus to reject the document and return it to the lawmakers.

Sources in the executive said the flagship projects by which Buhari intended to convince Nigerians that his administration meant well were removed or distorted.

A contentious one remains the new standard gauge rail lines between Lagos and Calabar.

“Imagine, Britain introduced electric train in 1860 and Nigerians are still being ferried in old dilapidated locomotives that take three days and most times more, to travel between Lagos and Kano,” a source said, adding that some of the other projects included recruitment of 500,000 teachers, construction of 105 new health centres across the 36 states, construction of 2000 kilometres of roads and that most of these had been distorted by the legislators.

Sources in the executive also said the decision to resist the legislature on the budget was taken, pursuant to the advice given by the legal minds within the administration who were of the view that the legislature did not have the right to increase budgetary votes.

They also claimed that the legislature could, however, reduce proposals if they believed that there was price inflation or if the projects were frivolous.

A source said: “But how can they inject new projects or raise the figures? Do they have the capacity to

commission consultants to design projects? And if projects have not been designed by the executive, how can they vote money for it?

“Actually, President Buhari feels that there are some elements within and outside the National Assembly determined to distort his lofty intentions to emancipate Nigerians.”

Such arguments had, however, remained recurrent in the budget circles for many years now.

An attempt to settle the rift once and for all was to be taken by the administration of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua in 2008, when he threatened to drag the lawmakers to the Supreme Court, but he could not pull it through because of the fear of total shut down of government.

President Buhari said in Abuja on Sunday night that he would only sign the budget that will do good to a maximum number of Nigerians.

Speaking through his spokesman, Mr Femi Adesina, on a Channels Television programme, Politics Today, he said when asked he would sign the 2016 budget into law, that he would not wish to sign the budget but to critically look into it sector by sector.

“For example, the budget was reduced by N17bn, the president would like to know why it was reduced and where the amount reduced was taken to.

“The president will only sign a document that the executive agrees to,” he said.

Also on Sunday, it emerged that the budget of the Ministry of Agriculture had run into another hitch, following the discovery of alleged paddings by the lawmakers.

A source close to the ministry said projects worth N12.6 billion were injected into the budget proposals.

The source listed some of the projects to include Federal College of Produce Inspection and Stored Products, Kano N550.6 million; Agricultural Research and Management

Institute, Ilorin, N225 million; National Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation, Ilorin, N422.4 million; National Cereal Research Institute, Badeggi, N257.5 million; National Veterinary Research Institute, Vom, N35 million; National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike, N484 million; National Institute for Oil Palm Research, Benin, N177.8 million; Institute of Agricultural Research, Zaria, N243.3 million; National Animal Product Research Institute, Zaria, N345.5 million; National Horticulture Research Institute, Ibadan, N62 million;Cocoa Research Institute, Ibadan, N90 million; Institute of Agricultural Research and Training, Ibadan, N18 million; Rubber Research Institute, Benin, N70 million and the National Institute for Fresh Water Fish, New Bussa, Niger State N205 million.

Others were National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services, Zaria, N60 million; Veterinary Council of Nigeria N26.2 million; Federal College of Animal Health and Production, Ibadan, N68.6 million; Federal College of Agriculture, Akure, N342 million; Federal College of Agriculture, Moor Plantation, Ibadan, N154.1 million; Federal College of Agriculture, Ishiagu, N316 million; Federal College of Fresh Water Fisheries Technology, New Bussa, N92 million; Federal College of Animal Health and Production, Vomiting N83 million; College of Veterinary and Medical Laboratory, Vomiting N50 million; Federal College of Fresh Water Fisheries, Baggage N77.8 million; Federal College of Fisheries and Marine Technology, Lagos N254 million; Federal Cooperative College, Ibadan N40 million; Federal Cooperative College, Kaduna.

N270.2 million; Federal Cooperative College, Oji River, N7 million; Federal College of Land Resources Technology, Owerri, N147 million; Federal College of Land Resources, Kuru, Jos, N35 million; Federal College of Horticulture, Dadin Kowa, Gombe

N455.8 million; Nigerian Stored Product Research, Ilorin, N955.1 million; National Agriculture Seeds Council N70 million; Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Services, N50 million; Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria, N150 million; Lake Chad Research Institute, Maiduguri, N185 million; National Institute of Oceanography and Marine Research, N185 million.

A source close to the appropriation process said it was good that the House had decided to review the budget.

The source said: “We are happy that the Speaker hinted that the issue of the budget will be revisited this week, but what some of us want is the understanding of Nigerians in this matter.

“The issue of this controversial budget has to be carefully done this time round, because some persons who think they were smarter had already led the entire parliament into collision, with the executive and indeed, Nigerians.

“They have done this by inserting projects without the knowledge of others, either in the appropriation or relevant sectoral committees and presenting same as the collective decision of the House or the entire parliament.

“The implication is that if the president did not insist on details, most National Assembly members would not have had the opportunity to know what went behind them.”

Another source raised the issue of inbalance in the allocations to the Ministry of Health, adding that out of the N7.2 billion infused into the agencies under the ministry, only a paltry sum of N2.3 billion was allocated to the South, while N4.3 billion was allocated to the North.

The most annoying thing is in those areas where those who inserted the projects have interests, the cost of projects is nothing less than N100 million.

“That is how to know who had interest in where and what, because from the look

of things, how does it make sense that Federal Cooperative College, Ibadan, will get N40 million, that of Oji River will be given N7 million and that of Kaduna got N270 million,” he alleged.

It was also alleged that some projects unconnected with the agriculture sector were included in the details of the ministry’s budget.

They included erosion control in Federal University, Kashere, Kwadon and Garin Alhaji, at the cost of N200 million, N100 million and N45 million, respectively.

Others were provision of 58 boreholes for 29 rural communities and an additional 50 rural communities in the sum of N175 million and N150.4 million, respectively, whereas the communities were not named.

Out of the N90 million allocated to the Cocoa Research Institute in Ibadan, various sums were allotted to different sub-heads, including the provision of rubber seeds and seedling in Igbotako, Okitipupa (N5million), training and empowerment of youths in poultry farming in Oluyole, Ibadan (N20 million) and provision of cassava processing plant in Etsako East Local Government Area of Edo State (N10 million).

Out of the items included in the budget for the Rubber Research Institute, Benin, two were equally outside the focus of rubber. These were training and empowerment of youth and women in fish farming in Ndokwa, Delta State, as well as fabrication, installation of cassava processing machines in Owan West Local Government Area of Edo State, at N10 million and N20 million, respectively.

Also, the sum of N1 billion was allocated to two projects in Kwara South, the senatorial district of the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki. They were for the construction of rural roads for the sum of N700 million, as well as empowerment of women and youth in agricultural products for another sum of N300 million.

Prices of commodities skyrocketting, killing —Findings

By Yemisi Aofolaju WITH the lingering petrol scarcity and its attendant effects on Nigerians, the Federal Government should, as a matter of urgency, find ways of cushioning the untold hardship brought upon Nigerians.

The government of the day has introduced several

policies that can encourage local production of consumables, such as ban on importation of essential commodities, but this happens to be one of the policies that have been rubbished by scarcity of fuel in the last couple of months.

Visits to major markets in Lagos and Ibadan, revealed low patronage, meaning

that the purchasing power of many Nigerians had dropped, especially in the face of backlog of unpaid salaries.

It is no longer news that many states in the federation have been unable to meet their monthly obligation of paying workers’ salaries as at when due.

The situation in Agege market, in Lagos, was the

same as that of Bodija, in Ibadan, when the Nigerian Tribune visited the markets at the weekend.

In fact, major warehouses which were usually dotted by long queues were devoid of such, as they had exhausted all their stocks of imported brands of commodities, ranging from rice, vegetable oil, tinned foods,

among others.

As of December 2015, a bag of real long grain rice in the name of Royal Umbrella, Special Caprice, Mama Gold, Mama Africa, Elephant, PJS, Tomato among others, was N10,200, with various short and medium grains going for between N8,000 and N9,000. But as continues pg3

3 news

Monday, 18 April, 2016

Again, Saraki’s group uncovers planned sponsored protests Taiwo Adisa - Abuja

T

HE camp of Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, said on Sunday that it has uncovered another planned sponsored protests against the nation’s number three man, in a bid to force him to resign from office.

Sources close to the nation’s number three man said at the weekend, that some top politicians had at the weekend, concluded plans to mobilise protesters to storm Abuja and capmapign against Saraki’s continued stay in office.

Special Adviser to the Senate President on Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, confirmed the move in a chat on Sunday, saying the alarm from his office, last week, started a similar protest march.

The media office of the Senate President had, last week, raised a similar alarm in the wake of the ongoing trial of the Senate President at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).

It was gathered that those behind the plot to mobilise protesters against Saraki had perfected their moves in Lagos and Kaduna at the weekend, by concluding on the need to mobilise some former Student Union leaders to lead the charge.

A source in the know said that the politicians behind the plot held a meeting with 16 ex-student union leaders to conclude on the strategies at the weekend.

It was gathered that the protest march was planned to take place in three locations— Lagos, Abuja and Kaduna.

The source said: “They were assured that police permit and security guarantee will be provided, so that the ex-students could swing into action and time the commencement of the protests to Monday, when the Saraki case at the CCT will resume.

“The student leaders were instructed to anchor their messages for demanding Saraki’s exit from the Senate Presidency on many issues,

including the CCT case, the Panama Papers, the delay in passage of 2016 budget and need to get the Senate to support the Presidency.

“In their plan, when you load the messages, you will allow different members of the public to choose whichever message resonate with

them. The plan is to bombard the Senate President and ensure that they give him a heavy push to see if he will fall.”

Saraki’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Olaniyonu, who also confirmed the development, said in a telephone inter-

view, that the alarm raised by his office frustrated similar efforts last week.

He said there were new plots to create chaos and confusion in a bid to force the Senate President out of office.

He said: “Last week, we alerted members of the public about this constant plot

by those who feel they can achieve through the back door what they failed to achieve on the floor of the Senate.

“They are merely trying to create public disorder and short-circuit the ongoing judicial process. As far as we are concerned, the Senate

Prices of commodities skyrocketting, killing —Findings continued from pg2

of last weekend, in both cities, the long grain stuff was not available and where available, a bag sold for N15,000. The usual flooding of the markets with both short and medium grains seem to have abated, as a bag now costs N13,000.

A jute bag of brown beans (Oloyin) sells for between N24,500 and N25,800, as against N19,800, while drum now goes for N19,200 as against N15,600.

Yam flour price that was previously determined by climatic conditions has remained on the high side, as a jute bag goes for N60,000, while the medium bag sells for N45,000.

Gari, which always come to the rescue of the cashstrapped, is no longer for the poor as a tin/bowl has risen from N1,500 to N2,500, a 10-kilogramme bag of semovita now sells for N2,700, as against N2,200, wheat price per 10-kilogramme bag has equally gone up with N200, from N2,200 to N2,400.

The various brands of imported vegetable oils that were sold for N6,500 last December, now sell for N10,000 for a 25-litre keg.

Though they come in different brands, like Kings, Emperor, Moi, Hayart, it will take a discerning consumer to get the sealed keg and not the refill from neighbouring Cotonou for almost the same price.

A 10-kilogramme pack of frozen turkey or chicken obtainable for just N6,500/ N7,000 four months ago is sold between N8,000 and N9,000.

Commodities like tinned

tomato puree, sweet corn, Farrows green beans, hot dog, mayonnaise, hot dog, red kidney bean among others are almost double their original prices.

Giant size of the various brands of tomato puree (St Rita, Gino, De Rica, De Gold, Pomo etc), which sells for N900 before, now costs between N1,200 and N1,500, depending on the city of purchase.

Sweet Corn, whether Green Giant or Napa, which sold for N150, now costs between N180 and N220; Red Kidney bean now sells

for N250, as against N160; Hot Dog (sausage) was originally N200, but now N275, while big bottle Bama Mayonnaise salad cream has gone as high as N1,300, against N900.

The saying that butter is not for the monkey is applicable to what is currently going on, as the confectionary industry is not comfortable with the prices of its raw materials, as the common margarine is getting out of hand. A 50- kilogramme bag of wheat flour irrespective of its maker sells for N9,300, as against N6,500,

50-kilogramme bag of sugar was 7,000 before now. It now costs N9,400.

A-10 kilogramme bucket of Topper margarine, which sold for N5,800, now sells for N7,500, while the least in this family sells for N4,500. Common yeast that sold for N350 for a pack is now N600, with flavouring a roll (12 bottles) selling for N1,500, as against N1,000.

Family special staple, noodles for both young and old sells for N1,500 against N1,250.

If the sky-hitting prices were occasioned by the

UNLIKE in the past, Nigerians are no longer smiling in their suffering.

This was the submission of the Christian Welfare Initiatives, religious advocacy group, in a statement on the state of the nation.

The group said there was despondency in the land.

The statement, signed by

the president, Archbishop Magnus Adeyemi Atilade, called on Nigerians to declare a universal day of prayer on April 29.

According to the statement: “Nigerians saw the need for change, which we thought we can bring about by ourselves through a new dispensation. At present, there is a general feeling of disappointment and despair.

policy on importation of consumables, how do we explain a big basket of tomato which shelf life is only a few days now selling for as much as N20,000? A medium bag of Tatashe (long pepper) that usually sells for N5,000 is now N12,000 with a three-litre bucket of Rodo going for between N700 and N1,300, which was before now sold for N500.

A cross section of traders spoken with blamed the prices on government’s ban on importation and the lingering fuel crises.

Gunmen kill 4, kidnap 1 in Rivers Dapo Falade - Port Harcourt FOUR persons were killed by unknown gunmen in three separate attacks in different parts of Rivers State, between last Thursday and Saturday.

The attacks were carried out in Ogale, Bomu and Elele communities of Eleme, Gokana and Ikwerre local government areas of the state.

It was gathered that two persons, Lekia Nzeregbara and Fred Teedom, were shot dead by the yet-to-be identified killers at Ogale community and Bomu Town, in Eleme and Gokana local government areas between Thursday and Friday nights, respectively.

Chairman, caretaker committee of Gokana Local Government Area, Austin Sor, confirmed the two incidents to newsmen in Port Harcourt, the state capital.

He condemned the killings and called on the po-

lice to launch an immediate investigation into the killings.

“On Thursday, Mr Lekia Nzeregbara was gunned down at Ogale in Eleme Local Government Area.

His death is one too many to mention. We totally condemn that.

“Shortly after that, at about 6.30 or 7.00 p.m, a youth leader, Mr Fred Teedom, from Bomu and was also shot dead.

“I know that, like I was told that those that shot him are these cult boys from that community. We also want the Nigerian Police and other security agencies to conduct their investigation and ensure that the culprits are brought to book,” he said.

Also, unknown gunmen killed two persons and kidnapped another one after they attacked a compound at Elele community, at

Hardship and suffering caused by the unavailability of essential life commodities (electricity, food, transportation, water, etc) are eroding the confidence and hope of the citizens.

“Thank God we have opened the veil on the face of some of our commonwealth thieves. Yet, we don’t know if any monies have been recovered. If so, where

around 8.00 p.m. Saturday night.

A senior police officer at the Elele Divisional Headquarters confirmed the incident, as he said efforts were being made to track the perpetrators of the act.

However, when contacted, Rivers Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Ahmad Muhammad, simply said: “I can’t confirm, because I don’t have such report.”

NNPC staffer kidnapped in Kaduna Muhammad Sabiu - Kaduna A staffer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC),Yusuf Abdulkadir, was reported to have been kidnapped at his residence, at Rigachikun, in Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

It was gathered that he worked at the corporate headquarters of the organ-

isation in Abuja.

Reliable source told newsmen that the kidnappers stormed his residence at about 10.00 p.m. on Saturday and whisked him away to an unknown destination.

The source affirmed that the hoodlums might have been trailing him, saying “the moment he entered the gate of his house, they picked him up.

Nigerians suffering, but not smiling —Christian Welfare Initiatives Fixes April 29 for universal prayer Lanre Adewole - Lagos

President has not been found guilty by any competent court of law and he enjoys overwhelming support of a large majority of the senators.

“To that end, he is not going to be stampeded out of office by those who sponsored candidates for the office last year and lost.”

are the monies and what are they being used for? We have taken one step forward and four steps backwards; no light/power, no water, no fuel, no food.

“Before, there was suffering, yet our people could smile. Yes indeed, but the situation is challenging. The people are still suffering, but they are not smiling anymore. There is frustration

and anger.

“Where do we turn to for a solution or way out of our problems? The Spirit of God is pointing the way out of our problems; turn to God in prayers, declare a universal day of prayer April 29, move the hand of the Lord and command the day for seven days, let the will of Gid be accomplished in Nigeria.”

“They trailed him to the house yesterday (Saturday), dragged him out of his car at gunpoint and whisked him away.

“He works at NNPC Towers, Abuja, but at weekends, drives to Kaduna, where his family members reside,” the source declared.

According to the source, the family had reported the kidnap of the NNPC staff to the Rigachikun police.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Zubairu Abubakar, said the command was yet to be briefed on the incident by the DPO of the area.

It will be recalled that no fewer than 26 kidnappers and 458 suspects had been arrested by the Kaduna State police within the last 10 days.

This was announced by the Assistant Inspector General of Police Balleh M. Nasarawa, when he was parading the suspects at the Police College Kaduna, on Friday.

4 news Fresh crisis looms in PDP over Modu Sheriff

Monday, 18 April, 2016

•Govs, NASS, leaders at loggerheads •Zoning committee meets tomorrow •S/West deserves national chairmanship —George •Sheriff, Oladipo set to return as chairman, secretary From Taiwo Adisa, Jacob Segun Olatunji, Leon Usigbe, Bola Badmus, Moses Alao and Adamu Amadu

A

fresh crisis appears to be brewing within the ranks of the Peoples Democratoc Party (PDP), following the discovery of a plan to extend the tenure of the former governor of Borno State, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, as the party’s national chairman.

A gentleman understanding among stakeholders, including the PDP Governors’ Forum, yielded the temporary peace when Sheriff emerged the chairman in February and he was expected to leave the stage in May when the party plans to hold its national convention.

But it was understood, at the weekend, that the zoning committee of the party, which met in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, had zoned the national chairman position to the North-East, a development that would leave Sheriff in sole position to remain on his seat.

Sources close to the party alleged that the zoning committee was working towards the answer, following a plot to retain Sheriff on the seat.

A member of the committee, which met in Uyo, said the meetings were being stage-managed to favour Sheriff and probably other members of the National Working Committee (NWC).

The member, who did not want his name in print, said some of the committee members were deliberately left out of the meeting, adding that betraying the gentleman’s agreement that brought Sheriff to office could spell doom for the PDP. “The zoning committee was packaged to deliver Sheriff as the national chairman and I can assure you, it will lead to the death of the PDP. “Maybe we are already working towards the prediction of the governor of Borno State who said Sheriff would be the undertaker of the PDP. The APC is fumbling right now and without a strong opposition, the coast could have been cleared for the ruling party ahead 2019,” the committee member said.

It was gathered that while some governors of the PDP were pushing for the retention of Sheriff, some of the other governors were also kicking against the plot.

Sources, however, said aside the rejection of the idea by the Board of Trustees (BoT), some stakeholders in the North and the South were also opposed to

the idea of retaining Sheriff on the job.

It was gathered that some northern stakeholders were opposed to retaining Sheriff as national chairman, as they think it could give him undue advantage in the race for the party’s presidential ticket in 2019.

It was also gathered that the National Assembly caucus of the party would also pick up its rested opposition if it became obvious that Sheriff would be retained on the seat.

A source said many of the party’s chieftains might face the exit if Sheriff retained the seat after the May 21 convention.

“The right thing to do now is to zone the national chairmanship seat to the South, so as to allow the presidential candidate freely emerge from the North. But with the plot to retain Sheriff, not a few members could face the exit door,” a leader of the party said on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the party will meet tomorrow in Abuja, to finalise the formula to be used in sharing its elective positions, ahead its national convention slated for next month.

An informed source told the Nigerian Tribune, in Abuja, on Sunday, that the committee took the decision at the end of its preliminary meeting in Uyo on Saturday night, where it also identified the specific offices available for zoning.

Nigerian Tribune’s source said in constituting the new National Working Committee (NWC) of the party, the committee was considering increasing the number of the present 12 by one, by creating the offices of two deputy national chairmen against the present one.

According to the source, if the proposal was approved, the party would now have one deputy national chairman each for the North and South, as it was during inception.

Also, the Nigerian Tribune gathered that the committee had divided the country into North and South, while the two zones would later share the positions given them into three sub-zones.

The source further explained that under the proposed arrangement, if approved, the deputies would swap zones, meaning that “if a substantive principal officer comes from the North, definitely the deputy must come from the South.”

According to our source, “to ensure that all the members of the committee have an input in the zoning arrangement before arriv-

ing at a final decision, the chairman of the committee, who is also the Akwa Ibom State governor, Emmanuel Udom, designed a form which every member is expected to fill against the final meeting in Abuja, tomorrow.”

The source further added that some members of the committee even presented position papers on the way forward for the zoning formula, which was extensively debated and adopted where necessary.

Nigerian Tribune, however, gathered that if all the feelers from the Uyo meeting were anything to go by, the position of the national chairman of the party would still remain in the North for now, ahead 2019 when the zone was expected to field a presidential candidate, as already agreed to by all the statutory organs of the party.

“The debate at Uyo was very frank and all-inclusive. It was open and cordial. I can now confidently say the PDP is alive again. It was scientifically done, no one or group can manipulate the process,” the source declared.

Don’t contest, honour your words, Babatope cautions Modu-Sheriff Ahead the national convention of the party, a former Transport minister, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, on Sunday, cautioned the national chairman of the party, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, not to seek for tenure elongation or contest for same office again, in his own interest and integrity.

In a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja, Babatope, a member of the Board of Trustees (BOT) of the party, said the honourable thing left for Senator Modu Sheriff now was not to contest, but to honour his words and leave by May 21 date set for him by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party.

Babatope vowed that if Senator Modu Sheriff tried anything funny by manipulating himself into the office, the democrats in the party would mobilise and force him out of office.

According to him, “I do not believe Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff will seek for tenure elongation. I hope he will honour his words not to contest at the Port-Harcourt national convention.”

S/ West deserves PDP national chairmanship -George Former deputy national chairman of the party, Chief Olabode George, said the South West zone deserves the position of national chairman, contending that

the zone remained the only one that had not got the position since 1999.

George said this while addressing newsmen after his return from private visit overseas, just as he urged the PDP national chairman, Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff, to honour his word and hand over to an elected chairman at the national convention scheduled to hold on May 21.

The PDP chieftain, in his address, entitled: “Our party at crossroads,” said the national chairmanship position of the party should come to South-West now.

According to George, this was the right thing to be expected in the spirit of equity and fairness, “which is the foundation and principle of our founding fathers.

“The South West is a significant zone for the Nigeria federation which cannot and must not be treated with levity.”

Commenting on the delegation that went to the NEC of the party to pronounce that the SouthWest was not interested in the national chairmanship position, George said he was very sad when he heard of it.

He said the delegation did not consult with the elders of the party in the SouthWest before embarking on the misadventure, saying that “my reaction is that when we started the journey to rebuild the PDP in the South West, none of those people was a member of the party. None of them.

“Some of them, along the line, jumped on board

the ship. The constitution, the foundation, the wherewithal which attracted them to join the party, they had no understanding of any. How can anybody in a family be washing his dirty linen in the market?

It is like one bringing curse home.

“Let them come and tell Yoruba people that they don’t want something good for them and see what would happen. They were even saying that the chairmanship should remain in the North, are they really Oodua sons?”, George said.

George asked that the zoning committee should be allowed to do its work, adding that the report must be based on justice and equity.

He, however, said the national chairman, Senator Sheriff, had a very significant role to play in the crucial transitional process about to begin in the party.

Sheriff, Oladipo set to return as national chairman, secretary Notwithstanding the zoning of the PDP national officials to the six geopolitical zones by a committee headed by the Akwa Ibom State governor, Udom Emmanuel, on Saturday, the party’s national chairman and national secretary, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff and Professor Wale Oladipo respectively, are set to retain their seats in the May 21 national convention.

Investigations by the Nigerian Tribune revealed that the zoning of the party positions, which allotted

the chairmanship post to the North while giving the posts of national secretary, national publicity secretary and national auditor to the South-West, were grand plots to have Oladipo and Sheriff returned to their respective offices during the convention.

The posts of deputy national chairman, national organising secretary and youth leader were zoned to the South-East by the committee, it was gathered.

But an insider in the party, who spoke on a condition of anonymity, said the zoning committee’s position was like working to the answer, as it was already clear that the way had to be paved for the duo of Sheriff and Oladipo to retain the posts of national chairman and national secretary.

He noted that those who got wind of the plot ahead last Saturday’s meeting were behind the publication in a national newspaper (not Nigerian Tribune), which claimed that the national chairmanship post had been zoned to the SouthSouth, while the North was to get the national secretary and presidential candidate’s slots, adding that the publication was to preempt the scheme for Sheriff and Oladipo’s return.

That publication, which the leadership of the party discredited, had also maintained that the party had placed a ban on any current member of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party from contesting any post in the forthcoming convention.

2 directors in trouble for ‘padding’ payroll in PDP headquarters

•Sheriff sets up panel •Police cancel his official visit to Jigawa today Jacob Segun Olatunji and Leon Usigbe -Abuja NATIONAL chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, has set up an administrative panel to look into the financial transactions at the national secretariat of the party.

A source close to the office, who revealed this to the Nigerian Tribune, in Abuja, at the weekend, said the action became necessary, following the discovery of several ghost workers in the payroll of the party at the recent table payment of staff salary he ordered.

It was learnt that during the exercise he personally supervised at national secretariat of the party in Abuja, the monthly wage bill of over N40 million suddenly came down by less than half.

According to the Nigerian Tribune source, during the exercise, it was also discovered that some of the aides of the immediate past national chairman of the party, Alhaji Adamu Mua’zu, who left office almost a year ago, were still on the payroll of the party till date, while a large number of the aides of the members of the NWC were also on the payroll.

“I can tell you that right now the chairman is not happy with what he discovered personally during the recent table payment of salary to the workers. Most of the aides of the former chairman, Adamu Mua’zu, are still on the payroll. Many aides to the members of the NWC are also on the payroll, which makes the monthly wage bill on the high side,”

the source added.

“As a starting point, the number of the aides to the NWC members will be slashed drastically based on the reality on the ground, because as we speak, the purse of the party is total zero and the national chairman himself has to go and source for money personally to pay the staff. An administrative panel will be put in place to look into the party’s accounts,” the source stated.

Nigerian Tribune also learnt that, already, fear of sack has gripped two directors at the national secretariat of the party over their alleged roles in the padding of the payroll of the staff and the whereabouts of the millions of naira collected by the ghost workers over the years, which was discovered by the national chairman himself.

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Monday, 18 April, 2016

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Monday, 18 April, 2016

Lagos

Edited by

Lanre Adewole

olanreade@yahoo.com

0811 695 4647

Gbagada hoodlums, task force in gun duel •Officer attacked with broken bottle •Leader, 15 members arrested Bola Badmus

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AGOS State Environmental Sanitation and Special Offenses Unit (Task Force) and a gang of hoodlums on Saturday engaged in gun-battle that led to the arrest of the gang leader, Tunde Aigboje, popularly called ‘Tallest’.

Apart from Tunde, 15 members of his gang, who allegedly terrorise people around Gbagada and Oworonshoki areas of the state, were also arrested.

The gang leader and his members, according a statement by the public affairs officer of the Task Force, Mr Taofik Adebayo, were arrested after some stiff resistance.

Adebayo said the hoodlums, who attacked Task Force Police and paramilitary men with cutlass, guns and broken bottles, succeeded in inflicting injury on one paramilitary officer, Mr Duncan Daniel with bot-

tle and cutlass. He added that, while the fracas lasted,

the entire Oworonshoki to Anthony express roads were

The paramilitary officer attacked by hoodlums at Gbagada.

blocked by these hoodlums and miscreants.

According to Adebayo, the agency acted on a petition it received from residents around Gbagada and Oworonshoki about the activities of these hoodlums.

He said the paramilitary officer who was attacked in the clash had his five fingers affected after being attacked with with bottles and cutlass and has since been taken to Lagos State Emergency Unit at toll-gate. He added that the officer was immediately referred to Igbobi Orthopedic Hospital for an urgent surgery on his left hand.

He, however, said the ‘Lagos Light Up’ initiative by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has really assisted the agency, stating that criminals and miscreants were easily noticed when carrying out their devilish act at night. “There is no more hideout for criminals as everywhere, including under bridges have been illuminated,” he said.

Igbo group seeks harmony among ethnic nationalities Bola Badmus A group called New Igbo Vision, in Lagos State, has urged all Ndigbos to partner with government in enhancing and encouraging inter-ethnic harmony between the diverse ethnic nationalities in the state as a way of fostering national unity and cohesion.

Leader of the group and Lagos State All Progressives Congress (APC) Publicity Secretary, Mr Joe Igbokwe, made the call while address-

Nigerian Tribune

ing a press conference in Lagos, at the weekend, saying building of alliances and networks between Ndigbo and other people in Nigeria would benefit all.

He equally appealed to all Ndigbo in the state to come together and save the resourceful harmony, which they had built with their hosts and mend broken fences.

“We are making a passionate appeal to Ndigbo in all parts of Lagos who are passionate towards promot-

ing progressive politics and the interests of Ndigbo to key into this noble idea and join in rebuilding a badly damaged bridge that have hitherto contributed immensely to the huge and monumental successes Ndigbo have made in Lagos.

“We appeal to all Igbos to look deeper and see the big picture and get involved in repairing very critical bridges that have sustained the monumental Igbo progress for many years now.

“We are using this platform to let Ndigbo know that we are critical parts and parcel of Lagos and we must get directly involved, once again, in the task of building Lagos,” Igbokwe said.

He urged them to think forward in rebuilding the confidence between them and their hosts, saying, “This is the important message the Igbo Vision is promoting and we have the long term interests of Ndigbo at heart and in advancing this mission.”

Beninoise househelp stabs employer’s mother to death Ayomide Owonibi Odekanyin AN 18-year-old Beninoise housekeeper, Christian Yavine, has been arrested and charged to court for allegedly killing her employer’s mother by stabbing her with a knife.

Yavine was on Friday charged with murder at an Ikeja High Court. She, however, denied committing the offence, after the charge was interpreted to her in French Language, through an interpreter, as she does not speak English.

The prosecution, led by Mr Akin George, told the court that the accused committed the offence on July

1, 2014 at Block 74, Flat 2, Ijaiye Low Cost Housing Estate, Pen Cinema.

“The accused unlawfully killed one Mrs Mariam Abiola, his employer’s mother, by stabbing her with a knife on the throat,” George said, adding that the offence was a violation of Section 221 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

Yavine’s employer, Mrs Ajoke Akinsemoyin, and her brother, Mr Olawole Abiola, were in court as witnesses for the state.

Justice Oluwatoyin Ipaye remanded Yavine in prison custody and adjourned the case till May 11 and May 12 for trial.

Ajah, Badagry, Awoyaya dredgers threatened with expulsion Tola Adenubi THE National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) has revealed that the agency is set to chase indebted sand dredgers out of Ajah, Sango-tedo, Awoyaya, Badagry and other places where sand dredging activities take place due to the fact that many are yet to pay the Federal Government for dredging activities for the 2016.

This is even as the agency revealed that only two sand dredging companies have paid the Federal Government for 2016.

Speaking at a stakeholder’s forum held recently in Lagos, the Area Manager, NIWA-Lagos, Muazu Sambo said, “as far as NIWA records show, Madudel and Seamap are the only two sand dredging companies in Lagos that have made payment for the 2016 dredging activities. They have regularised their per-

mit and submitted all requirement including Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).

“For those who are yet to make payment into Federal Government coffers, we will come after errant sand dredging companies in Badore, Sango-Tedo, Awoyaya to ensure compliance is made and anyone that we catch operating without having fulfilled all payment into government coffers, we will seize their dredgers.”

On payment made to State Governments as regards dredging activities, Sambo explained that, “The law is explicit on who collects payment for dredging activities on inland waterways and there is a court judgement subsisting on that. No State government has the power to do that because it is the exclusive reserve of the Federal Government, not even the Lagos State Government (LASG).

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Monday, 18 April, 2016

Nigerian Tribune

metro Workers threaten mass protest over water shortage Soji-Eze Fagbemi

Queue of motorists at MRS petrol station, Alapere, on Sunday. PHOTO: SYLVESTER OKORUWA.

Sawmiller association splits, faction supports relocation to Agbowa Bola Badmus A coalition of Lagos sawmillers have thrown their weights behind the relocation plans of the Lagos State government, saying it was high time all stakeholders supported the initiative to stop the distortion of the state built- environment.

President of Lagos Island Sawmillers Association, Alhaji Ganiyu Onikeku, who addressed a press conference held at the weekend at the Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre, Lagos, dissociated his members from the ongoing litigation instituted against the state government by aggrieved stakeholders.

Onikeku said the relocation would have happened long before now, saying the exercise would have taken place during the administration of ex-Governor Lateef Jakande but could not as the administration was toppled.

“The relocation resurfaced again during the administration of former governor, Bola Tinubu, we were about to relocate to Ejirin axis to commence business but the location was not suitable for our business. After several discussions, the stakeholders and Tinubu decided to search for another location

in the state,” he said.

“From our search, we discovered Agbowa. We informed the governor of our findings and he directed that work commence immediately. It was the former governor of the state

Mr Babatunde Fashola that started the work in conjunction with the stakeholders. We accepted the plan brought by the ministry after condemning several plans brought forward. And when Governor Akinwunmi

Ambode assumed office; he took the baton from where Fashola stopped,” he added.

Onikeku affirmed that nothing was done in the absence of the stakeholders, saying they were all carried along in the relocation plans.

AN acute shortage of water has hit Lagos State; prompting the Lagos State workers, under the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE), to threaten a mass protest, across the state.

In a statement issued at the weekend, the union condemned the water crisis stating that it would mobilise all the workers to embark on mass protest if the Lagos State Government failed to arrest the situation, this week.

In a statement signed by its General Secretary, Comrade Yusuf Zambuk, AUPCTRE, called on the state government to, therefore, immediately restore water supply to all nooks and crannies of Lagos State unconditionally.

It read in parts, “AUPCTRE, therefore, calls on the State Government to immediately restore water supply to all nooks and crannies of Lagos State unconditionally as AUPCTRE will not hesitate to mobilise

Police arrest woman for raising false alarm Olalekan Olabulo A family of six, including two children, narrowly escaped death over the weekend, after a woman raised false alarm that the family members were armed robbers and that they just snatched a Toyota saloon car from her.

The woman, later identified as Lauretta Ehon, has been arrested by operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS), who later transferred her to the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) of the state police command.

It was gathered that the policemen were on Saturday evening on patrol around Ori Oke Ogudu Ojota area of the state, when the arrested woman ran to them and lied that she had just been robbed.

The RRS team, led by Inspector Christian Onawona

gave the said vehicle a chase but were caught in traffic and in order to catch up with the alleged armed robbers, one of the officers got off from the operational vehicle and mounted a motor bike to chase the acclaimed robbers.

However, the occupants of the car, which was being chased never, had an inkling that they were on the verge of being mistaken for robbers and that the police were trailing them.

Upon hearing the gunshots fired into the air by the officer, the driver of the vehicle applied the brake instantly and the police officer cautiously approached them, only to discover that the occupants were three females, one male and two children. At this point, the police officer got to know that the complainant raised a false alarm.

The story later turned out to be far from the truth. What

really transpired between the woman that raised false alarm and the owner of the victims’ car was a business transaction which occurred about six years ago.

The husband to the woman who raised false alarm and the owner of the car transacted a business which had to do with clearing of Tokunbo car from overseas. Unfortunately, the vehicle went into

demurrage after the client (Mr Ehon) paid the clearing agent, (Mr Balogun) and the matter was said to have been amicably settled, since both of them worked in the same company.

The image maker in charge of the state police command, Dolapo Badmos, confirmed the arrest of the suspect and commended the police inspector for his bravery.

its members, other Civil Society Organisations and International Community to embark on a mass protest should the Lagos State government fails to restore water supply immediately.”

Comrade Zambuk pointed out that this was contrary to the promises made to Lagosians during the 2015 governorship electioneering campaign that the APC government, if elected will promote good governance by providing basic amenities and social services that will promote the welfare and well being of the people of Lagos State.

Govt engages 1,300 teachers, charges them on professionalism THE Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board has urged the 1,300 newly employed primary school teachers in the state to see their employment as a call to duty and service to humanity.

This was contained in a statement by the Public Affairs Officer of the board, Mr Seyi Akitoye, made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos.

The board, on April 15, issued appointment letters to the newly employed primary school teachers.

This was in response to the directive of the state Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode to employ 1,300 primary school teachers to boost the manpower in the public primary schools.

Members of a white garment church returning to their church, with the generator, after unsuccessful search for fuel.

PHOTO: SYLVESTER OKORUWA.

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Monday, 18 April, 2016

Youth empowerment panacea for insurgency in Nigeria — NDC Boss

By Kehinde Adio

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HE Commandant, National Defence College, Nigeria (NDC), Rear Admiral Samuel Alade has observed that youth empowerment is a major factor in the insurgency control process in Nigeria.

This observation was drawn from his lecture which he delivered at Bowen University, Iwo, Osun State to mark the maiden distinguished guest lecture series of the Department of Political Science of the university, held recently.

Real Admiral Alade, in his lecture entitled ‘Insurgency and State Use of Force.

The Nigeria experience’, emphasised the need for

Nigeria to identify the root causes of its peculiar insurgency, in order to find solution to them.

According to him, the use of force to stem insurgency influence in a country is necessary, but not sufficient to solve the problem.

“In view of this, it has become expedient for government to empower the youth to be self-sufficient and shun all vices that constitute threats to their immediate environment and the nation at large.

“This development goes beyond academic skills

and competence, youths should be endowed with a sense of safety, selfesteem. Moresor, youth should be encouraged to join the Armed Forces of Nigeria to defend their fatherland.

“Moreover, government should continue to engage in poverty alleviation programmes, among the general public, especially in the northern part of the country, with education that will promote tolerance and co-existence irrespective of religion and tribes,” he said.

Nigerian Tribune

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Monday, 18 April, 2016

Nigerian Tribune Monday, 18 April, 2016 10 businessnews Customs impound N572m worth of contraband in Lagos Customs Tola Adenubi-lagos

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HE Federal Operations Unit Zone ‘A’ of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) has impounded various contraband items ranging from imported frozen poultry products, foreign parboiled rice, vehicles, vegetable oil, trucks of unprocessed teak woods and other general merchandise worth N572,100,700.00 in Lagos.

This disclosure was made by the Controller Federal Operations Unit Zone ‘A’, Comptroller Umar Mohammed Dahir while on inspection tour of the warehouse with senior officers in the Unit for onthe-spot-assessment of the latest remarkable seizures recorded by the Unit.

He said a total of 4,911 bags of 50kg parboiled rice, 15,048 cartons of imported frozen products, 1,884 of unprocessed teak woods and unspecified number of general merchandise were intercepted by his operatives through intelligence recently.

He added that the latest onslaught came against the backdrop of the recent directive on the ban of Rice importation through the land borders by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).

He gave the Duty Paid Value (DPV) of the Rice, frozen poultry products, vegetable oil and other general merchandise aside the teak wood over N572 million only.

The Controller said three new Toyota Prado jeeps were also intercepted during the same period, even

though their status could not be ascertained as at the time of filing in this report.

He, however, confirmed that the agent had been requested to produce the customs documents which would expectedly provide

the necessary clue on the status of the vehicles.

He disclosed that most of the seizures of frozen products were carefully concealed with frozen fish ostensibly to divert the attention of the operatives.

restricted for now through the seaports as against the border stations and warned rice importers to adhere very strictly with the latest policy or be ready to face the full wrath of the law.

impound N572m worth of contraband in Lagos Tola Adenubi-lagos

oracle pix caption: From left, Country Managing Director, Oracle Nigeria, Adebayo Sanni; CX Leader, Oracle West Africa, Austin Oshodi; Oracle Cloud Champion, Adeola Adebari and IDM/Webcenter Consultant, Hamilton Iyoha at the Oracle Cloud Day held on Thursday in Lagos.

‘How FG policies are killing Nigerian airlines’ Shola Adekola-Lagos

THE continuous signing of Bilateral Air Service Agreements (BASAs) by the Federal Government with several foreign countries coupled with other unfriendly policies would continue to hinder growth of Nigerian airlines.

The immediate past President of Aviation Round

Table (ART), Captain Dele Ore, said this in an interview with some journalist at the weekend.

Ore identified the lack of sufficiently trained and type-rated technical personnel in the nation’s aviation sector as to why would expatriates would continue to take over the jobs of local people.

The former pilot and cur-

FG commends Nestle’s N5.6bn water factory promises enabling investment environment THE federal government has commended Nestle Nigeria Plc for opening a new N5.6billion water factory in the Abuja Federal Capital Territory.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo who commissioned the factory on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday appreciated the company for making Nigeria a choice investment destination by building its second water factory in Abaji in the Federal Capital Territory to complement the existing Agbara factory in Ogun State.

The government applauded Nestle Nigeria Plc for its contribution to industrial expansion and economic growth of the country and called on other multi-national companies as well as other well meaning Nigerians to emulate Nestle in developing the country rather than investing outside the shores of Nigeria.

Vice President Osinbajo promised government’s readiness to continue cre-

He confirmed that at other instances, cooling vans were used in concealing the products with the same criminal intent.

On the issue of Rice, the Controller clarified that importation of rice is only

ating enabling environment for investors, adding that government will partner with the private sector in building the economy.

He expressed satisfaction with the level at which the Federal Capital Territory is attracting investment, saying this has make Abuja one of the fastest economy growing capital city in Africa.

Executive Vice President, Nestle S.A and Head of Nestle Waters, Marco Settembri emphasized the contribution of Nestle Waters to healthy hydration, he said “we are committed to helping people leads healthier lives as water is surely the best way to fulfil daily hydration needs”. He said the goal of the company is to provide families in Nigeria and all around the world with an affordable and convenient daily healthy hydration solution.

Also speaking at the occasion, Dhameni Gordhon, Managing Director of Nestle Nigeria Plc underlined Nestle’s firm commitment

to the development of Nigeria. “Our company has been present in Nigeria for 55 years. We are committed to continue to bring significant value to society through local sourcing, the creation of jobs and by offering high quality, nutritious food and beverages to the Nigerian population,” he said.

rently an aviation lawyer, attributed bad policy formulations and implementations of the government in the past led to the early collapse of many airlines in the country, even as he stressed that despite this, such bad policies still continued unabated by the government.

Ore, who took a swipe at the government over multiple entries for foreign airlines without any reciprocity from their Nigerian counterparts, insisted that there was nothing wrong with signing of BASAs, but said the nation must benefit with such arrangements.

The aviation lawyer, who refused to comment on the recent BASA signed between Nigeria and Qatar government, added that: “Nothing has happened to improve the policies for the airlines. Our policies will

soon drown airlines that are operational. We still have multiple entry points for foreign carriers. With that policy, we are killing our domestic carriers. We are indirectly opening up our airspace courtesy of such agreements.

“It’s only the ground handling companies that are doing well in the sector while others are crawling.

We don’t have enough places to train personnel for the sector and nothing has been done in the past six months of Sen. Hadi Sirika as a Minister of State for Aviation to curtail capital flights in the sector,” he said.

Still warning on the high level of expatriates taking over positions of local technical personnel, Ore cautioned that in the next 10 years that it might be worse for the Nigerian aviation industry.

We’ll soon stop hosting data abroad —Minister

By Bode Adewumi

THE Minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu, has said that once Nigerian Data Centres have enough capacity locally to handle data generated within the country, the Nigerian government will put a stop to its data being hosted abroad.

Shittu, who visited Rack Centre, Nigeria premium Tier lll Data Centre in Lagos recently, said he was passionate about local data “and as soon as we have ca-

pacity, all our data will be hosted within, I just want to be sure we have capacity” Managing Director of Rack Centre, Ayotunde Coker said the data centre collocation provider based in Lagos, Nigeria had just doubled its capacity from 119 racks to 255 racks within seven months and that company is indeed working towards the objective of meeting local demand.

“We intend to build that capacity, we have the blueprint and we have proved

that it can be done by our doubling the capacity of the centre within just seven months ahead of time and within budget, and that the capacity can be increased again to 600 racks within another seven months once it is identified that the market exists for the expansion” he said.

Shittu said if the local capacity could be met within a year from now, the government would compel Ministries, Departments and Agencies to host locally.

THE Federal Operations Unit Zone ‘A’ of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) has impounded various contraband items ranging from imported frozen poultry products, foreign parboiled rice, vehicles, vegetable oil, trucks of unprocessed teak woods and other general merchandise worth N572,100,700.00 in Lagos.

This disclosure was made by the Controller Federal Operations Unit Zone ‘A’, Comptroller Umar Mohammed Dahir while on inspection tour of the warehouse with senior officers in the Unit for onthe-spot-assessment of the latest remarkable seizures recorded by the Unit.

He said a total of 4,911 bags of 50kg parboiled rice, 15,048 cartons of imported frozen products, 1,884 of unprocessed teak woods and unspecified number of general merchandise were intercepted by his operatives through intelligence recently.

He added that the latest onslaught came against the backdrop of the recent directive on the ban of Rice importation through the land borders by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).

He gave the Duty Paid Value (DPV) of the Rice, frozen poultry products, vegetable oil and other general merchandise aside the teak wood over N572 million only.

The Controller said three new Toyota Prado jeeps were also intercepted during the same period, even though their status could not be ascertained as at the time of filing in this report. He, however, confirmed that the agent had been requested to produce the customs documents which would expectedly provide the necessary clue on the status of the vehicles.

He disclosed that most of the seizures of frozen products were carefully concealed with frozen fish ostensibly to divert the attention of the operatives.

He confirmed that at other instances, cooling vans were used in concealing the products with the same criminal intent.

On the issue of Rice, the Controller clarified that importation of rice is only restricted for now through the seaports as against the border stations and warned rice importers to adhere very strictly with the latest policy or be ready to face the full wrath of the law.

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Monday, 18 April, 2016

Power supply: Labour accuses DISCOs of fraud Olatunde Dodondawa-Lagos

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ABOUR union in Nigeria had accused distribution companies of fraud who have failed Nigerians and showed no appreciable impact on the power sector since its privatization three years ago.

The President-General of Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies(SSEAC), Engineer Chris Okonkwo, stated this at the weekend in Lagos.

He also accused the distribution companies of defaulting in collection and payment to service providers in the sector contrary to the agreement they reached when they took over the assets from government.

He regretted that the government has not deemed it fit to call the companies to order with a view to ensuring compliance with due process.

He said the fact that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) gave the distribution companies over N200billion intervention fund while the former still cry wolves over electricity tariff and price of gas speak volume of the insincerity on the part of the companies.

He also said most of the new owners of the distribution companies lack technical expertise, experience and financial wherewithal to effectively and efficiently run the nation’s power sector.

According to him, the actions of the distribution are calculated to fleece customers of their funds amidst

epileptic power service and failure to honour it’s version of agreement to other service providers in the country.

He also took a swipe at some of the companies for refusing their workers to unionise,adding that the development is counterproductive to the growth of the sector.

He also said it was wrong to blame the workers for sabotaging efficient power distribution,adding that it’s the companies that should be held responsible for sabotaging workers through unfair labour practices.

According to him, it is misnomer to liken picketing of some distribution

companies to an act of sabotage since the action is recognise in labour as an act to get companies to accede to the request of workers.

He said his administration would not rest on its oars to ensure that the power sector is best run in line with global standard as well guarantee the welfare of workers therein.

From left, Dr Tae Lawal (Ekiti); Chief Olajumoke Ogunkeyede (Osun); Dr (Mrs) Adepeju Esan (Oyo) and GMD/CEO, Odua Investment Company Limited, Mr Adewale Raji, at the prize giving award to the staffs of Odua Investment Company Limited, ehdl at the company’s headquarter, Ibdan, on Friday. PHOTO: TOMMY ADEGBITE

Odu’a GMD promises transparency and accountability

By Tunde Ogunesan

THE General Managing Director/CEO Odu’a Investment Company Limited, Adewale Raji, has promised both the staff and the board of the organisation a more robust organisation in the new business year in realms of transparency and accountability.

The GMD/CEO made this known awhile addressing members of the staff of the company at the weekend, during a programme to reward staff performance for the year 2015 held at floor 22 Cocoa House, Ibadan.

According to Raji, “We’re trying to get our heads above the water. In truth, things are tough, the income and revenue are not as predictable as it is before.

“At a time like this, it puts more pressure on us as employees, to actually get back to our cocoon and do things out of the ordinary to be able to get to where we are heading.”

“I guess that we are lucky with the backing we get from the entire board in terms of pushing the aspiration of Odu’a as a group forward at a time like this,” he said.

FG seeks $2.5bn loan from World Bank, others Sulaimon Olanrewaju - Washington DC

THE Federal Government, on Sunday, said it was in discussion with the World Bank and the Islamic Development Bank, IDB, for a $2.5 billion concessionary loan to support the country in the implementation of this year’s budget.

This is even as it confirmed its discussions with other governments, especially the United States Government on ways to curb illegal capital inflows as a strategic option of mitigating terrorism and other crimes across national frontiers globally.

Giving these hints during the valedictory briefings on the World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings in Washington, DC, the Finance Minister, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, who led the Nigerian delegation to the Meetings, explained that the loan was required to bridge the N1.8 trillion projected deficit gap, particularly in financing the infrastructure projects.

The Minister hinted that apart from the World Bank, the African Development Bank, other private investors had also indicated their readiness to support the current drive to reposition the economy by providing micro finance support to women entrepreneurs, particularly

those engaging in agricultural activities and other productive engagements at micro level.

According to her, “We had discussions with the World Bank around our budget support request and we have been able to have very productive meetings to understand what the next steps are in the process and we are very positive of a good outcome.”

The Minister, who described the meetings as beneficial to the country in view of experiences and relationships entered with relevant agencies and institutions interested in the Nigerian economy, explained that most stakeholders, particularly foreign investors and multilateral institutions, had expressed interest in partnering with the Federal Government to boost the economy.

She said, “The gains are various and important for the Nigerian Government. At least we were able to network with our colleagues, other ministers of Finance of the G7 countries and the G24 countries and compared notes and their experiences. I think this reinforces the validation that the course we have chosen to restructure Nigeria is the

right one.

“We got many endorsements and the direction in which we seek to take the Nigerian economy. Specifically we held bilateral meetings with specific bilateral agencies, including the Islamic Development Bank , where we have agreed to work together on a microfinance scheme for women; the Japanese development agency where we have agreed to work together on power projects and they have agreed to make significant investments in the area of power, which I think will be very beneficial for Nigeria and the IFC, similarly we had a meeting with them this morning ( Sunday ), again talking about investment in power and some of our banks to shore up their positions and similarly the AfDB, agreements again for investments in agriculture and collaborations in a range of initiatives that would help us to diversify the economy.”

On the issue of the IMF loan debate, the Minister said that the position of the Nigerian government was to continue to discuss with development finance and other institutions and agencies but that substantial part of funding the country’s projects and programmes would be

based on home-grown solutions given the capacity of the country to do this.

She said, “We are not saying Nigeria does not have challenges. We recognize the challenges and we are facing those challenges. But what we want is an opportunity to take those challenges of providing our solutions by ourselves. In fact we are more resilient that mist economies, the country is adjusting and the Government is going through tough economic adjustments on how to spend money and be very efficient, to make sure more revenue come in, trying to block leakages. We are fixing the problems ourselves. And that’s the point we are trying to say .we feel that as Nigerians we have the capacity and we have the will, more importantly both political and the will of the people to sort our problems out in our own way. That’s the point we are making. We are. It denying the fact that there are problems, but we have all it takes to address them and have designed the programmes because we have the local knowledge to correct them.”

Specifically, she reiterated government’s ongoing diversification agenda of the economy and broadening the tax base as key among

other measures being pursued by the government to spur growth and achieve macroeconomic stability in the long run.

On his own, the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, spoke on the various monetary policy measures of the government to boost productivity at all levels of the economy, adding that both in the medium and long terms, the various policies, including the forex policy regime, are bound to stimulate the economy.

On the deal with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, he said, “Basically talking about the transaction between Nigeria and China, in 2015, basically all countries of the world were challenged.

But after 2015, China’s growth turned out to be the strongest. All the countries of the world have challenges but at least China is coming out stronger than her peers.

On the swap, I think the important thing here is that about the time we have been holding discussions with the people’s Bank of China about the swap arrangement which entails the use of RNB for trade transaction between Nigeria and China. So what we did was to sign a mandate between the CBN and the Industrial and Commercial

Bank of China which is the biggest bank in the world to act as our agent in consummating the deal between the CBN and the People’s Bank of China and basically the issues are two folds: that it affords Nigeria traders opportunities to open letters of credit using the RNB as a currency, rather than using the Dollar.”

According to him, in furtherance of its statutory mandate, the apex bank is also focusing more to expand lending to key sectors such as agriculture, mining and manufacturing, adding that some of the immediate gains of the fiscal and monetary policies are the increasing foreign investments in the economy.

Emefiele pointed out that it was not in the nation’s economic interest to continue to have indeterminate adjustment of the Naira just on mere speculative premise since doing so without any correlation with structural adjustment of the economy would be counter-productive.

He described the current moves by the government to diversify the economy as desirable to efforts aimed at mitigating the risks posed by the current commodity export-triggered fiscal headwinds to the economy.

news Plateau govt moves to revitalise moribund firm 12

Isaac Shobayo - Jos

AS part of efforts by the Plateau State government to resuscitate its moribund industries, the government has signed a partnership agreement with an indigenous beverage firm for the revitalisation of Highland Bottling Company, Barkin Ladi, owned by the state government.

At the signing of the agreement in Jos with Hummer Drinks, the chairman of the technical board of the Plateau Investment and Property Company, Mr Ezekiel Gomos, said it was the realisation of one of the campaign promises of Governor Simon Lalong to revitalise moribund and non-functional industries in the state.

According to him, it was also culmination of years of long search for a technical partner for the company since 1995 when the fortunes of the company went down the drain.

Gomos said the signing of the agreement, though, a small step, was the beginning of a big journey ahead, stressing that it was an op-

portunity that the state would not like to miss.

He said that by the agreement, the company would have 67 per cent equity holding while the PIPC would have 33, adding that it was a deviation from the former practice where the state would attempt to have everything, but at the end had nothing at all.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO),of Hummer Drinks, Mr Joseph Umoru, said his company would

THE presiding bishop, Sword of the Spirit Ministries, Bishop Francis WaleOke, has stressed the need for the citizens to pray for the leadership for the desired change to happen and for the liberation of the missing Chibok girls.

It will be recalled that no fewer than 276 schoolgirls were abducted by the Boko Haram sect on April 15, 2014.

The cleric said the recovery of the missing Chibok

PHOTOS: YEMI FUNSO-OKE

BURIAL CEREMONY OF MRS FLORENCE OLUWAFUNMILAYO ATERE, MOTHER OF BISHOP OF AWORI CHURCH OF NIGERIA (ANGLICAN COMMUNION), RIGHT REVEREND DR J. AKIN ATERE, HELD AT ST JOHN ANGLICAN PARISH CHURCH, IKESE-OKA AKOKO, ONDO STATE.

inject about N100 million to bring the company back to life.

Umoru said that Hummer Drinks had the expertise, capability and the skills to run a beverage company, adding that the company also had the strategy to produce well-tasted world- class branding, with a clear understanding of the opportunities available in Nigeria, especially, in the demand for soft drinks.

Chibok girls: Bishop Oke calls for prayer

By Dare Adekanmbi

Monday, 18 April, 2016

girls, as well as other challenges besetting the nation could be achieved through fervent prayers by the people.

The cleric spoke during the Advanced Ministers’ Seminar held in Ibadan recently, in reaction to the success being recorded against the terrorist group.

He said the nation needed the hands of God to help those at the helm of affairs to succeed and it takes the intervention of God for the girls to be freed.�

Bishop Akin Atere and his wife, Foluso, during the lying-in-state of Mrs Florence Olufunmilayo Atere, held at Oka Akoko, Ondo State, on Friday.

Cross section of bishops during the wake keep.

Cross section of bishops during the burial and thanksgiving service.

From left, Bishop Akin Atere, Mrs Foluso Atere, Chief Titus Aiyewumi, Mrs Rebecca Aiyewumi, Mr Olukorede Balogun and Mr Oluwole Aiyewumi.

Cross section of G7 and their wives during the burial.

13

editorial

W

Monday, 18 April, 2016

Nigerian Tribune

NFF’s house of discord

HEREAS those who live in glass houses should not throw stones, the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) headquarters, the Glass House, harbours perpetual stone throwers. To the chagrin of millions of football enthusiasts in Nigeria and beyond, the Glass House has become a house of intermittent commotion, perpetually at a crossroads. Rather than inspire confidence, football administrators in the country are fast becoming a band of kill-joys.

When the draws for qualification for Afcon 2017 scheduled for Gabon were announced by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), few Nigerians imagined that the country would fail to qualify, given the abundant talents within and outside the country. An untoward trend is gradually being unleashed on the country, as qualification for major continental and global tournaments has become a gamble. While the NFF gropes in the dark trying to fashion puerile excuses after letting the country down at such a crucial moment, millions of Nigerians undergo psychological trauma.

One reason for the pathetic situation in the football fraternity in Nigeria is the prevalence of administrators pursuing their personal interests at the expense of the national pride and prestige. Coupled with this is the propensity of core stakeholders to sacrifice quality for mediocrity in the choice of players for the Super Eagles. Thus, it is becoming increasingly rare to find Nigerian players listed for global recognition and reward through institutionalised awards like the CAF African Footballer of the Year, where Nigeria gained pre-eminence in the past. Such inadequacies as ethnicity, indifference, greed and ineptitude in the nation’s football fraternity have equally forced some quality and promising young players to don the jerseys of other countries.

We believe that one way to reverse the trend is to de-politicize sports generally, bringing an end to the stranglehold of the cabal of football administrators and their godfathers within the corridors of power. At different times in the past, these forces brought shame and disgrace to the country through scandalous actions and inactions. From the scandalous circumstances that surrounded the exit of Coach Sunday Oliseh to the current imbroglio occasioned by the court matter exhumed by Chris Giwa against the Amaju Pinnick-led NFF executive, it is obvious that some powerful forces in official circles are not ready to end their despicable roles and interventions that have often triggered angry reactions from the world football governing body, FIFA. In our previous comment, we had warned that the interference by the Minister of Sports, Solomon Dalung, in the settled matter

of NFF leadership would spell doom for Nigerian football.

Curiously, as the FIFA hammer dangles over Nigeria, Dalung is busy berating the press for alleged sensationalism and sermonising on the impropriety of FIFA rules. Until Dalung initiated his so-called “peace meeting” between Giwa and Pinnick, had Giwa had not kept his peace following his failure at the available channels for redress recognized by FIFA, including the Court of Arbitration for Sports? Was Nigeria not aware of FIFA rules when it opted to join the organisation?

On another level, Pinnick has dismissed the call for his resignation over the 2017 AFCON qualification disaster as wishful thinking. To underscore his resolve, he is advocating the hiring of a foreign coach for the Super Eagles. We are convinced that the critical problem with the national team, going by available records, is not suggestive of the quality of local coaches that have handled it so far. Instead, it is about the gross incompetence, ineptitude and lack of direction and sincerity in the administration of football in the country. If local coaches were generally incompetent, FIFA and CAF would not saddle seasoned Nigerian coaches with critical assignments pertaining to football.

We must also warn that unless the belligerent forces sheathe their swords, the turbulence over leadership at the Glass House could further imperil preparations for the World Cup tournament. Those that are still trying to aggravate the sorry state of Nigerian football and bring the country to further disrepute must realize that they can no longer take the nation for a ride in view of the unifying power of the round leather game to the diverse peoples of the country.

Today, Nigeria cannot confidently declare that two or more of its soccer players can make the list of Africa’s first eleven.

Painfully, too, the nation has failed two times in a row to qualify for the prestigious Afcon championship. It is time the country went back to the drawing board with a mission to produce the likes of Haruna Ilerika, Austin Okocha, Kanu Nwankwo, Finidi George, Segun Odegbami and Rashidi Yekini, who shone like a million stars and became global idols. No foreign coach can perform any magic in an atmosphere of blurred direction. The magic wand lies in putting the House of football in Nigeria in order and evolving a pragmatic developmental programme, as well as eschewing acts that could necessitate FIFA’s sledge hammer.

It will be disastrous if Nigeria misses out in the 2018 World Cup in Russia, and the time to do the needful is now. The gains of qualification for all major tournaments are too enormous to be ignored. The high turnover of coaches and players is symptomatic of the degeneration in Nigerian football.

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14 LETTERS TO THE

Monday, 18 April, 2016

editor

Letters to the editor should be sent to letters@tribune.com.ng or by sms to 08053412982.

It MUST be accompanied by the full name and address of the writer.

On President Buhari’s China trip

P

RESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari’s foreign trips have started yielding positive fruits, with the Chinese government’s pledge to support Nigeria with about $6billion for infrastructural and agricultural development.

Apart from these, we also got the support of Chinese businessmen who promised that they would invest in our power, energy and transportation sectors. We all know that the challenges we are facing as a country today arose because we don’t have enough refineries to refine the crude oil we extract from our land.

As a result of President Buhari’s visit to China, it is hoped that very soon, we will have more Chinese companies coming to invest in the areas we are having challenges at the moment. The fact that the

Chinese President, Xi Jingping, specifically pledged to support Nigeria is a huge boost for us, as Chinese businessmen will see no obstacle to investing in our country. Apart from China, President Buhari had visited several other countries, and when the benefits start materialising, then we will realise that the president knows what he is doing by his frequent visits abroad.

Now, if President Buhari had not travelled to China, how would we have gotten the huge economic support that we got from the Chinese government.

I, therefore, want to charge Nigerians, particularly those who consider themselves as political activists, not to distract the government from achieving its promises to the people. President Buhari could have become dejected as a result of insults coming his

way, and therefore, shelve the China trip; nobody would then realise what we would lose. The president is just about completing the first year in a fouryear presidency, and some of us are already crucifying him that he is performing badly. The truth is that this government needs time to turn things around.

It is unfortunate that previous governments, particularly administrations that reigned after our return to civil rule in 1999, did not leave any tangible legacy at the expiration of their governments.

If one government had succeeded in providing stable power supply for the country, another could

have built two more refineries, while another could have focused on the terrible condition of our roads, then President Buhari will not have much burden on his head as he has now.

At the moment, it is just as if we are starting afresh, and this is enough justification for us to give the president enough time to

put things into shape.

However, with the visible benefits from the China trip, it is hoped that others will soon begin to manifest.

•Dauda Ismail, Abuja. dismaila02@gmail. com

NLC, shelve planned strike against fuel scarcity THE Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), last week, promised to embark on a one-day strike to protest against the challenges facing the Nigerian people, particularly in the area of fuel scarcity. The labour union later said it could also extend the one-day strike to a full week so that the Federal Government would realise the pains Ni-

gerians are going through.

However, instead of a strike, I think the NLC leadership should meet with President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, to know what efforts are being taken towards ending the fuel scarcity in the country.

Going on strike to pro-

test the fuel scarcity is like blaming the Federal Government, under the leadership of President Buhari, for the challenges we are facing in the country today. Now, let us look at why we have the scarcity in the first place. The truth is that our refineries cannot refine enough fuel to satisfy local consumption, and the option before the country is to import, but this had been enmeshed in unimaginable fraud at the detriment of the Nigerian people.

Now, if we are to solve the problem, we need the contruction of new refineries, which cannot be built overnight.

We should also not forget that former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s gov-

ernment granted licenses to establish refineries to some investors, but we are yet to see any being built, except the one belonging to Alhaji Aliko Dangote, which is expected to start production in the next couple of years. We should ask questions why our investors prefer importing petroleum products instead of building their refineries.

With this, I think we should allow reason to prevail, as going on strike will not solve any problem; it will only make life more difficult for Nigerians. I believe we will soon overcome our challenges if we are patient.

•Idayat Kassim, Ilorin, Kwara State.

Attack on female traffic warden: Kudos to IGP LAST week, the media was awashed with the report of a Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Ikenne, Ogun State, who brutalised a female traffic warden in Abeokuta for daring to stop his private car.

According to the report, the traffic warden, in the course of her duty, had stopped the private vehicle of the DPO, and this had infuriated him; he, thereby, drove into a filling station, changed into his police uniform, and went to beat the warden to stupor.

Newspapers also reported it that on reading about the incident, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr Solomon Arase, immediately ordered the demotion of the DPO, as well as his transfer from his station.

The police have many good people in its fold, but there are also many wolves in sheep clothing in the force. If this former DPO could have beaten a fellow police officer like that, then what hope would a civillian who offends him have? He would have shot the civillian, while claiming that he attempted to steal his property.

While this will be a lesson to other police officers who are monsters, I think a dismissal would have served the former DPO right.

The police should, therefore, embark on psychiatric tests before employing people into its fold, as many people have mental disorders like the former DPO. •Yemisi Soares, Lagos.

15

opinion

Monday, 18 April, 2016

Lasisi Olagunju Lasgunju@yahoo.com (08111813053)

E

VERY word, every expression in every language has a history. ‘Scapegoat’ is one word with interesting histories in religion and mythology. You remember the Old Testament’s ritual of Yom Kippur (Lev. 16:8–10), when a goat is “symbolically burdened with the sins of the Jewish people (and is) then thrown over a precipice outside Jerusalem to rid the nation of its iniquities?” The story of Pandora and her famed box is the Greek’s own history of the first scapegoat. The troubled world you and I live in today was a very happy, peaceful garden of only men until one day, Zeus, the senior prefect of the Greek pantheon decided, out of annoyance, to create a woman (Pandora) out of clay.

On Pandora’s way to earth, Zeus gave her a jar (box?) with a stern warning never to open it. But the god that gave Pandora the jar with the warning also gave her curiosity which made her damn all consequences. She opened the jar and thus unleashed anarchy and all troubles on the world. Pandora was the first woman and the first scapegoat. You remember the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve’s story too in the Bible?

Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the devil. The devil is the ultimate scapegoat. Nobody took responsibility for the actions willfully carried out. The Qu’ran also has a similar version.

There are always scapegoats to blame for all missing or rotten tubers of yam in Nigeria. No one owns up as the last user of Nigeria’s missing knife. Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has blamed ‘some governors’ for the lack of political will to save for the rainy day as the cause of the economic dire straits Nigeria is presently in. Before her, the Hailers of Buhari had composed scapegoating as a refrain to explain away every failing of their beloved government. But Ngozi has changed the narrative.

She is supposed to be a Wailer, pointing fingers in the opposite direction. If she were not a woman, I would have said she has, instead, decided to stand outside the home of her former boss and shoot piss into his parlour. But no, that metaphor wouldn’t be appropriate. She is a woman and a woman pisses from the back... Could she pass that buck to someone else, especially when we all can remember that Jonathan knew his limitations in almost all things, including “wills” and “politics” and thus handed over his government to someone he christened “coordinating minister for the economy?” When you remember that all government matters are ultimately

Federal Republic of goats

economic, you would realise that the person who coordinates the economy in a democracy is actually the one with the political knife. So, if Ngozi’s thesis is correct that you and I suffer today because there were no savings under Jonathan, then the person to blame is the one who wielded real power in that government, not some spoilt-brat governors, and certainly not Jonathan who had the political will to hand over his powers to the person whom we all thought had knowledge. Now, that person is pointing fingers at someone else.

For everything that goes wrong in Nigeria today, somebody else must be responsible. There must be a fall guy to carry all the opprobrious consequences of actions collectively taken.

The dollar is the another latest scapegoat. It is responsible for our economic woes and so we must kill it with the Chinese Yuan. We blame the dollar and rush to embrace the Yuan forgetting that even the owners of the Yuan have a very large chunk of their foreign reserves in Dollars. So, if the American Dollar was actually the goat that ate our yam, why has it not developed appetite for the very delicious Chinese variety?

Or, maybe, I should just say that if you play ludo with your yam, should you complain if goats who know the worth of the tuber eat it? The Chinese goat not only loves its yam, it loves others’ yam too and would stop at nothing to distract any lazy-thinking African farmer. But then, this is not the first

time self-inflicted economic woes are blamed on outsiders.

Medieval Europe, from the 13th to the 14th century removed from their countries, (and even killed) money-lending Jews ostensibly to save their economies.

Will I be right to say that in Nigeria, one is either a goat or a scapegoat? But there is the third group —farmers who plant the yam the goats eat with impunity. They are the miserable victims of the finger-pointing goats. They are anonymous almost in everything. They live unacknowledged, lose their yam to privileged goats and in death, they are unsung, forgotten.

Nigeria is a country of yam-eating goats and rain-beaten scapegoats. When you ask who unleashed N250 per litre petrol on us? You are likely to hear “Scapegoat.” Who did not put the all important Calabar-Lagos rail project in the original budget proposal presented to the National Assembly by President Buhari? Scapegoat. Who do we blame for the ensuing media war on the matter between the all powerful executive and the pitiably cowering legislature? Scapegoat. Poor scapegoat is forever at the receiving end of all powers that fail. Until May 29 last year, Jonathan was the goat in government. From May 29, 2015, he has been the scapegoat. Maybe by May this year, he will mark his first year outside power releasing his own version of our country’s scapegoating narrative.

Chibok two years on: Remembering all Boko Haram’s victims

By Salil Shetty

IN September 2014, a 19-year-old woman whom I will call Aisha was celebrating a friend’s wedding in a small village in north-eastern Nigeria when Boko Haram attacked. The fighters killed the groom and many of the male guests. They abducted Aisha, along with other women, including her sister and the bride.

They were taken to a Boko Haram camp in Gulak, Adamawa State, home to about 100 other abducted girls. Over the three months she was held captive, Aisha was raped repeatedly, sometimes by groups of up to six fighters. She was taught to use firearms, detonate bombs and attack villages.

She was sent on “operations”, including an attack on her own village. She says she did not kill anyone herself — but she met women and girls who told her that they had.

Stories like Aisha’s do not make for easy reading. Hers is just one of many told to Amnesty International researchers in the two years since more than 200 schoolgirls were abducted from a secondary school in the town of Chibok, Borno State. The fate of the schoolgirls made headlines around the world. But those girls, still missing, are sadly only a small proportion of those abducted by Boko Haram in recent years. Thousands of women and girls have been abducted by the armed group. Men and boys have also been taken at gunpoint and systematically executed or forced to join the fighters.

Amnesty International’s research found that abducted girls were taken directly to Boko Haram’s camps in remote communities or to makeshift transit camps. From these transit camps Boko Haram moved them to houses in towns and villages and indoctrinated them with their ideology in preparation for marriage. The suffering of these abducted women and girls, some of whom were forced not only to marry fighters but also to become fighters themselves, is beyond comprehension.

Over the course of the past few years, there have been notable successes by the combined forces from Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Benin and Niger that have given Nigerians some hope, although there are also concerns about the potential for human rights abuses by these forces. In addition, the support from the international community since President Buhari’s election as President provides an opportunity for Nigeria to protect civilians in the northeast. But there is a huge amount to be done.

The abducted must be found and returned and President Buhari should spare no effort in using all lawful means to protect civilians from Boko Haram attacks. But he has to ensure that there is no repeat of the extra-judicial killings and human rights violations committed by the Nigerian military in the past in its fight against Boko Haram. The authorities must also urgently ensure humanitarian assistance reaches those in need, particularly to more than a million people forced to flee their homes.

The conflict in the northeast has created religious tensions, and the Muhammadu Buhari government will, therefore, have to act swiftly to prevent a lasting legacy of distrust between some Muslim and Christian communities, especially in areas ravaged by Boko Haram attacks.

An important element of the post-conflict reconciliation process will be a thorough, impartial and independent investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity.

So far the Nigerian government has not taken adequate

steps to investigate crimes committed by both sides of the conflict. This is another challenge that Mr. Buhari must address with utmost urgency. Nigerians and the world are expecting to see if his commitment that the “government will investigate all human rights violations, including by the military” — will soon be translated into concrete action.

But if the International Criminal Court, which has already launched a preliminary examination, determines that Nigeria is unable or unwilling to investigate these crimes or bring suspects to justice, it may decide to initiate a full investigation. It is vital that the government ensures that bodies are disinterred from mass graves, that victims and witnesses are given the opportunity to give evidence and that the perpetrators are brought to justice. Only then will the pattern of impunity that has plagued Nigeria be broken.

Two years after their abduction, the Chibok girls have come to symbolize all the innocent people whose lives have been destroyed by Boko Haram. There is still hope that the Chibok schoolgirls may one day be reunited with their families.

Aisha eventually made it home. She escaped in January 2015, fleeing through the bush in the dead of night. During her time in captivity, she saw more than 50 people killed by Boko Haram, including her sister. They were buried in shallow graves and the smell of their rotting corpses hung heavy in the air. Aisha walked for three days until she reached a village where she was given shelter for two days, a change of clothes and 500 naira ($2.50). She then set off again, for another five days, until she reached her home. When she got there she discovered that her father had died soon after she and her sister had been abducted. The local doctor had put his death down to a coronary thrombosis brought on by high blood pressure. Others believed that no medical language was needed: Aisha’s father died of a broken heart.

•Shetty is the Secretary General of Amnesty International.

16

Monday, 18 April, 2016 Taiwo Adisa - 08072000046 Group Politics Editor taiadis@yahoo.com

Buhari

Saraki

Presidency, NASS and endless budget brouhaha Once again, the Presidency and the National Assembly are engaged in a cat and mouse over the final details of the 2016 Budget. Group Politics Editor, TAIWO ADISA examines the endless squabbles over the fiscal document.

T

OPSY-TURVY! That is the simple description that fits the 2016 budget submitted to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari on December 22, 2015. The confusion has been apparent from day one and its trajectory thus far may not come as a surprise to those closely monitoring the budget process in the National Assembly.

First, the budget was presented too deep into December.

It was the last working day in the National Assembly for the year. Thus, copies of the document were not made available to the lawmakers as they embarked on the endof-the-year recess. Again, rather than allow the National Assembly take charge of the fiscal document from day one as it was in the past, by allowing the legislature print the copies of the proposal, the executive decided to hold back this time by printing copies of the budget for the lawmakers.

In fact, the shortage of the document even in the National Assembly was not just pronounced but also created a sense of distortion in the system. Many immediately went about with the impression that something fundamental was wrong with the budget.

It was not that shocking therefore when stories started flying around the budget document. It was first alleged that the document was being swapped by the executive, while another alarm sounded from the legislature to the effect that the document was missing. By the time the lawmakers resumed in January, the stories around the

budget had taken new dimensions. The Senate accused Senator Ita Enang, Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari (Senate) of surreptitiously swapping the document and presenting a different copy other than what was presented to the National Assembly by the President.

While that died down, the series of denials of the document by Ministers and Heads of parastatals was unprecedented. Ministers arrived the National Assembly one after the other and denounced the budget and that added to the monumental padding and repetition of line items in

The closest to this in the last 16 years is the 2008 Budget under the late President Umaru Yar’Adua. He had refused to assent the budget on the basis of new projects initiated by the National Assembly.

the document left so much to be desired. At a stage, it was suggested that the Federal Government should consider withdrawing the budget and presenting a tidy one. But the National Assembly insisted that it was no longer feasible at that stage, since the President had formally submitted the document to the joint session of the National Assembly, which also amounted to a First Reading of the budget.

Somehow, the National Assembly took it upon itself to clean the budget and pass it as appropriate. The expectation was that by working closely with the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), the lawmakers would be able to come with an acceptable document. That was however not to be as the document faced a series of uphill tasks shortly after its eventual passage on March 23.

The Presidency, in an emerging style which is becoming identifiable with this administration, came through the backdoor to announce reasons the budget would not be assented to by the President. A week earlier, a similar style was adopted in announcing the refusal of the President to assent to the document because the National Assembly failed to present details of the budget. That done, the same behind-the-scene approach was adopted in naming a series of flaws noticed in the budget document by the Presidency Two days after an emergency Federal Executive Council meeting was called to review the budget as passed, reports emanated from unofficial channels to indicate that the National Assembly had “padded� the budget afresh, besides expunging some projects considered as legacy projects.

Several allegations were leveled against the NASS through the unofficial sources which however quoted directly from official documents. The allegations include the Continues on pg 17

17

politics&policy

Monday, 18 April, 2016

The claims and counter-claims Continued from pg 16

alleged removal of the Lagos-Calabar coastal rail project from the Ministry of Transport; reduction in the amount proposed for completion of the Idu-Kaduna rail project; and major reductions in the amounts voted for ongoing projects, while new projects were said to be inserted by the National Assembly. In the contention of the presidency sources, if the template adopted by the National Assembly was to be adopted, no meaningful infrastructure would be delivered at the end of the year.

Besides, the legislature was accused of expunging funds meant for purchase of essential drugs in the health sector. The FEC meeting was also said to have observed that NASS also juggled provisions made for agencies in the Ministries of Agriculture and Water Resources, while allegedly moving the funds to provision of rural health facilities and boreholes.

The National Assembly would however not allow the insinuations go unattended to. Spokesmen of the two chambers of the Assembly on Sunday rose in defence of the appropriation bill as passed, adding that the legislature cannot just return the budget to the executive the same way it was presented.

Senator Sabi Abdullahi, who chairs Senate Committee on Media and Publicity, said in a telephone interview that the National Assembly acted within the law. His colleague in the House of Representatives, Honourable Abdurazaq Namdas also said that the National Assembly was not a rubber stamp. The spokesmen said that the National Assembly acted within the law in handling the budget as, according to them, the lawmakers did not pad the budget in any way.

Chairman, House Committee on Appropriation, Hon Abdumumin Jibril, however chose to throw more light on the issue through several tweets on Sunday. He tweeted: “Lagos-Calabar Railway line was NEVER captured in the budget that was sent by the Executive. How then could it have been removed by NASS? I actually find it shocking that even some National Dailies made the removal their headlines. A little research would have helped.

“All they and those spreading the false information needed to have done is check the initial document sent by the Executive. The NASS has always been on the receiving end of bad press. This is being capitalised on in the conversations on Budget2016 and all its headaches and controversies didn’t emanate from NASS. “Take the budget of the Ministry of Transportation was overshot by N54b. That is, by the time you add up the items on the ministry’s budget.....you’d still have a gap of N54b. N54billion lying there without being allocated.

NASS has a responsibility and here it did the right thing What NASS did with the N54billion; We added N39.7b to the Lagos-Kano Rail project. This will help complete the project once and for all. We also allocated N10b of this sum to the airports’ navigation and security apparatus.

“We often make so much noise about airport security after major plane crashes. But we need not wait for crashes to enhance safety at airports. We allocated the balance to Baro Ports for its completion and equipping. Baro Port is strategic to our economic development.”

“Much ado about vaccines that weren’t even there! The budget of the ministry of Health was the most controversial. The Minister of Health came to deny the document that was presented to the NASS by the Executive for the 2nd time. It is important to have a fact based conversation on these issues instead of the obvious attempts by some to mislead the general public.”

Senate spokesman, Senator Sabi Abdullahi said the NASS did a good job on the budget. He stated: “I can say authoritatively that we did not pad the budget at all. I reject that in its entirety. We appropriated in line with what we believe the issues are and we did so in consultation with the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs),” Senator Sabi said, adding that the power of Appropriation belongs to the National Assembly.

“We have done our part and we acted within the law. But there can be disagreements and that is why it is a democracy. If they have any objection, they can bring it up and we will look at it. I am clearly aware that we adjusted the budget to suit the programmes of President Muhammadu Buhari.

We did everything in consultation with the MDAs.” House spokesman also reacted in like manner saying that the National Assembly did not set out to frustrate the administration of President Buhari in passing the budget.

Amaechi He added that the NASS was not a rubber stamp. Namdas said: “What I want you to know is that we did our job in line with the programme of the President.

“The budget cannot be sent back to the President just the way it was presented to us but what we passed was in line with the policy and programmes of Federal Government.

We are not out to frustrate the President as been speculated in some quarters.”

But the budget controversy was to get messier on Monday as the National Assembly roared enough is enough.

The Senate and the House of Representatives came out practically smoking against the executive on Monday with the clear message pointing the direction of budget stalemate. Speaker Yakubu Dogara, who tweeted severally on his handle said that there was a deliberate ploy to heap the blames for the budget on NASS. Speaker Dogara, in tweets on Monday, said that the suggestion that the executive submitted the proposal on Lagos- Calabar rail project was a blatant lie and a way of playing the North against the South. He said: “Playing this North- South game is unhelpful. That’s simply the goal of the planters of this factoid. “Barefaced lies! Where is the evidence of provision of N60 billion for coastal rail line in the budget estimate?...Amaechi does not have any constitutional powers to prepare a budget estimate nd lay same before NASS.” In a strongly worded statement also last Monday, Sabi accused the executive of deliberate blackmail in the budget process. He said that the said Lagos-Calabar rail project was never included in the budget proposal. Though the Chairman, Senate Committee on Land Transport, Senator Gbenga Ashafa said that the Minister of Transport, Chief Rotimi Amaechi submitted the proposal to his committee during budget defence session, Sabi had insisted that Amaechi should either show proof of the proposal or resign.

The current imbroglio is however of different dimensions. It is fastassuming an ego trip.

He also said that the Presidency should stop engaging in alleged “surreptitious campaigns of calumny against the Senate in order to cover up its serial errors.”

Senator Sabi said in a statement that the insinuation that the National Assembly removed the proposal for Lagos Calabar rail project was a ruse and deliberate blackmail.

Ashafa had, however, said in a statement that his committee discovered a “floating” N54 billion in the budget of Ministry of Transport which was recommended to be converted for use of the project. The Senator said that though the project was not in the original budget document presented by President Muhammadu Buhari on December 22, 2015, the Minister of Transport, Chief Rotimi Amaechi later requested before the committee that the Lagos- Calabar Rail Project be included in the budget.

But Senator Abdullahi Sabi said in a statement he issued on behalf of the Senate that the National Assembly had actually “bent backwards to wring a coherent document out of the excessively flawed and chaotic versions of the budget proposal submitted to the National Assembly.”

His angry statement showcased a Senate ready for war.

He stated: “While the executive is mandated to prepare and lay before the National Assembly a proposed budget detailing projects to be executed, it should be made clear that the responsibility and power of appropriation lies with the National Assembly.

“If the presidency expects us to return the budget proposal to them without any adjustments, then some people must be living in a different era and probably have not come to terms with democracy.

“We make bold to say however, that the said Lagos-Calabar rail project was not included in the budget proposal presented to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari and we challenge anyone who has any evidence to the contrary to present such to Nigerians.”

He further said: “Since the beginning of the 2016 budget process, it is clear that the National Assembly has suffered all manners of falsehood, deliberate distortion of facts, and outright blackmail, deliberately aimed at poisoning the minds of the people against the institution of the National Assembly.

While the budget process has been replete with instances of altercations between the executive and the legislature in the past, it must be noted that the 2016 budget process has recorded an unprecedented magnitude of bad blood.

The closest to this in the last 16 years is the 2008 Budget under the late President Umaru Yar’Adua. Yar’Adua had refused to assent the budget on the basis of new projects initiated by the National Assembly. His legal minds had submitted that the National Assembly had no power to initiate fresh projects. Even then, the altercations were tempered. The Presidency then had threatened to approach the Supreme Court for explanations but it backed down and adopted dialogue when it was discovered that the government could shut down if the legal process was not completed by June.

“The budget crisis under Yar’Adua was happening in April and it was discovered that if a suit was instituted at the Supreme Court, it could take the court more than June and the Constitution only empowers the executive to spend without budget only for six months,” a lawmaker who witnessed it all then said.

Outside the Yar’Adua budget saga, governments since the commencement on the Fourth Republic have largely engaged the Assembly on issues of Budget Benchmark and constituency projects. The Jonathan government battled the Assembly more on issues of oil benchmark for the budget, while the Olusegun Obasanjo administration contended with the lawmakers on the power to inject new projects. While Obasanjo solved the problem by simply signing the budget but embark on selective implementation, the Yar’Adua and Jonathan’s government engaged the lawmakers.

Such engagements yielded the institution of Constituency projects which commenced in 2008 with a bill of N100 billion for the 469 Senatorial and Federal Constituencies but has now been slashed to N60 billion.

The current imbroglio is however of different dimensions. It is fast-assuming an ego trip. The National Assembly is saying ‘we helped you cleaned up a messy budget,’ while the Presidency appears to be saying that the adjustments made by NASS were off the mark of its developmental agenda. Only effective dialogue would break the dice.

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politicscommentary

Monday, 18 April, 2016

Our party at a crossroads

Modu-Sheriff

By Olabode George

T

HE wise Chinese people say in their proverb that “may you live in interesting time!” This is both a challenge and a moral inspiration. Let me hasten to say that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is now living in interesting time. We are at a moral crossroads, struggling with the survival of our party. We are at a pivotal junction wrestling with what the future holds for us all.

Indeed, we are now confronted with a troubled destiny as a party. We are equally confronted with our relevance as opposition party in the great march to deepen the democratic processes of our country. The PDP must now re-evaluate itself. We must reassess our values. We must re-appraise our mission. We must look through our party vision and invariably rebuild our party in the crucial journey towards 2019.

Our party was founded on the principles of fairness, justice and equity. We represent all the diverse colorations of our great nation. From the vast stretches of the Savannah in the North to the huge coastal waters of the South, we define the richness, the cultural beauty and the limitless aspirations of our people. Our party represents the hope, the inclinations and the endless possibilities of all our people regardless of tribe and tongue. That was our foundation. That was the vision of our founding fathers. That was the principle that gave our party the winning ways and the tremendous acceptability of the past.

But we have derailed from the classical beginning. We have detoured foolishly from the redemptive path. We have lost our bearings. We have left the safety of our anchor for the perilous and the unknown shores. We are now adrift, circling in turbulent waters.

Fellow party men and women, we must discard this new attitude of ruinous greed and desperate avarice. We must abandon the creed of irreverent conspiracy and the recourse to petty malice. This disturbing madness will not and cannot prevail again. We must confront new realities. We must jettison the crude, inordinate greed of the recent past. We must eschew the unhealthy and the baseless character assassination in the crazy struggle for power. The eyes of our people are upon us all. We must be strong and resolute. We must rededicate ourselves to the new horizon. We must discountenance the desperate campaign of calumny to pull others down because of personal advantages. We must put the interest of our party far above any parochial position.

We lost the last general election not because the opposition party at that time was better than us. We lost the election because there was no unity. We lost the election because we harboured some agent provocateurs whose goals and visions were not about our collective victory but about what they could get for themselves.

If we want to prevail in future; if we are really serious about the complete overhaul of our great party, we must never again allow such fifth columnists to gain any position of influence and relevance in our party. We must be very critical and prudent in choosing those who should lead us.

To rebuild our party; to re-establish ourselves in fresh and determined vigour, we must weed out the decaying roots that can bear no good fruits. We must eliminate through the process of sifting and sorting the poisonous seeds that can endanger the healthy growth of our party. We can never again harbour insidious elements who would plant one foot in PDP in day time and another foot in APC at night.

What is now at stake is not about party in-fighting and the desperate tussle for position. What is important now is genuine service and commitment. We must all rededicate ourselves to work as a solid , formidable team.

We must first devote ourselves to the path of hard work and absolute selflessness. We must be resolute about sacrifice and the sincerity of purpose. We must be determined about quality leadership and the pursuit of excellence. Our resolve now is not about personal pursuit. Our focus should be predicated on the summative good and the glory of our party. We must now move away from the dubious recourse to personal agenda. This party is greater than all of us. The unity of the nation is more treasurable than the narrow selfseeking individual advantages. The goal and the vision of our party should be about the greater glory of our nation.

We must work and speak as a united body. We must deliberately seek out the best and the brightest among us to occupy positions of leadership. We must immediately discard personal biases and narrow prejudices in our search for credible leadership. We must never again mortgage the collective destiny of our party because of immediate material gains or because of petty animosity against individuals. We are entering a very crucial and critical phase in the remolding and the restructuring process of our great party. There cannot be any mistake or mis-step. We must be truthful, sincere and genuine with ourselves and with our conscience.

We must be honourable and fair in our deliberations as we move forward.

We cannot build a new leadership on the platform of discord and disunity. We cannot erect a firm and formidable

To rebuild our party, we must weed out the decaying roots that can bear no good fruits. We must eliminate through the process of sifting and sorting the poisonous seeds that can endanger the healthy growth of our party.

structure on the rickety planks of jealousy and envy. This is why we must restore discipline and strong adherence to constitutional purity. Indeed, indiscipline has contributed a great deal to our recent defeat. When some people become too overbloated with inordinate ambition; when some people think that every position should come to them, they will have no respect for the rules and regulations.

They will invariably trample upon orderliness and the due process. Specifically, we must never again tolerate and overindulge those who insist on bringing down the roof because they lost fair and square in party primaries. Civilized men and women must acknowledge defeat and move on with their lives.The very few disgruntled characters who will threaten hell and brimstone because things don’t go their way are the greatest enemies of our democratic process. It is remarkable to note that those who were beating their chests and making the greatest noise about their relevance and viability are now keeping a safe distance from the shores of our land! What an irony!

Our national chairman, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, has a very significant role to play in this crucial transitional process as we move towards our Congresses and the National Convention. His task is very daunting and challenging. I wish him God’s guidance as he maneuvers carefully in re-establishing a solid foundation for our party. I implore him to be faithful to his words and his promise in the processes of giving our party a new strong and firm foundation. I want to believe the chairman is an honorable man. He must honour his word to handover to an elected chairman at the National Convention on May 21st this year. This is the only way that he will be on the positive side of history.

Let me now acknowledge the conscionable and selfless leadership role of the members of our Board of Trustees (BoT) amid the current challenges. They are worthy men and women. They are dedicated and honourable leaders who treasure the unity of the party far above narrow interests. Under the able and wise chairmanship of Senator Walid Jibrin, the BoT has risen to its constitutional role of the conscience of our party with exemplary grace and nobility of character. It is true that the BoT is indeed the last vanguard of our defence line. The BoT is the sacred anchor of our constitution. It is the custodian of our values and ideals. It is our reliable and responsible bulwark in the moment of crisis and trials. It has been very consistent.

Our governors have been equally resolute, relentless and ultimately tireless in their dedication and commitment to bring back our party to its winning ways. The PDP Governors’ Forum under the leadership of Governor Olusegun Mimiko, continues to demonstrate a strong vision and statesmanship quality in its matured intervention in the affairs of our party. Some of our former ministers and the majority of our lawmakers have also been very resolute and sincere in their relentless crusade for fairness and equity, especially as it relates to the zoning of the party offices. This is indeed a very delicate issue. The zoning must be predicated on justice and equitable balance to ensure the continuity and the democratic pedigree of our party.

At this crucial juncture, we need credible, responsive, experienced, resourceful, creative and matured men and women at every level of our party leadership. This is not the time for mere praise singers and time-servers. This is not the time for untested, untried and inexperienced neophytes.

We need good, qualitative people to rise up to lead our party towards victory in 2019. We need people of integrity and formidable status. We need leaders with strong, unimpeachable character and with massive networking that can stand up with awesome presence and tame our major opponents.

And as a responsible and constructive opposition party, we need those who will guide our party with solid intellectual footing and balanced integrity. We need those who will lead us with sharp, engaging level of articulation without subjecting our party and the critical issue of the state to the gutter level. We need people who will raise the standard of discourse and enlightened debate. Yes, opposition does not translate into abusive and irresponsible discourse; irreverent gutter debates do not win votes or mobilise people into the party. We must win the hearts and the minds of our people through superior arguments and through superior vision. We must work hard with strong convictions and believable appeal.

We must begin that critical task now. Ours is a rescue mission. We dare not fail again. We must commit all available resources into the great mission ahead. The time is short. The road is rough and long. But the duty must be done. This is the time we need the voice of reason and not the noise of anger.

This is the time we need the symbol of hope and unity.

Chief George is a former deputy national chairman of PDP.

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+ entrepreneurship

Nigerian Tribune

anchor Ruth Olurounbi

m:0811 695 4637 e:ruth.olurounbi@tribuneonlineng.com t:@Olurounbi

Global presence:

How Google’s helping SMEs compete favourably R

By Ruth Olurounbi

ESEARCH has shown that by 2020, internet users in Africa will rise to half a billion people. This, therefore, presents an opportunity for African businesses

and digital entrepreneurs.

If statistics are accurate, in Nigeria for instance, more than 80 per cent of the country uses the internet, just as more than 60 per cent of the South African population are internet users.

As internet penetration in Africa in-

creases, therefore, so do the chances of increased economic development on the continent, and a better life for the people. And as a report from McKinsey & Company showed the internet could add $300 billion to Africa’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

According to the report, internet’s profound impact on economic development across Africa, could, by 2025, boost the continent’s economy by $300 billion.

Continues on pg20

inside

Stanbic IBTC Bank lists how SMEs can access debt, equity financing Participants at Google’s digital training for SMEs in Nigeria.

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+ entrepreneurship

Stanbic IBTC Bank lists how SMEs can access debt, equity financing Chima Nwokoji - Lagos THE head, Small and Medium scale (SME) Banking, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Obinna Ukachukwu, has encouraged business owners and entrepreneurs to engage the services of professionals to ensure the right structures are in place to be able to access necessary capital.

“When you have generated capital, you have determined your business’ worth, you then need someone to attest to that in form of documentations, whether it is your banker, your auditor or your tax man. Having these in place will make it easier for you to attract debt or equity financing,” Ukachukwu said.

Capital is the single most important factor necessary for the sustainable growth of small and medium scale enterprises, He gave this clarification at the 2016 Global Possibilities Summit of Inspired Woman of Worth (iWOW) network which held in Lagos, recently.

Ukachukwu, who was a guest speaker and panelist at the summit, spoke on ‘How to Find, Create, Manage, Grow and Keep Real Money for your Business’. He said without capital it would be difficult for any business to attract finance or investment. Ukachukwu defined capital as the value of and the history behind a business. According to him, if a promoter of a business does not know the value of the business, it is very unlikely that any investor or financier will be comfortable committing their money because the equity or debt investor is bringing in money in exchange for value.

“If you don’t know the value of your business then you do not expect a debt investor to put in his money,” Ukachukwu said. He, however, assured that Stanbic IBTC Bank continues to work with operators in the SME sector, particularly through capacity building and information sharing, to ensure they build capital. He explained that the value of a business can be determined if the proper structures, such as proper book keeping, annual reports, tax returns, auditor’s report, and record of banking transactions, which form the history of the business, have been put in place.

He expressed confidence that Stanbic IBTC Bank will continue to assist the growth of micro, small and medium scale enterprises through targeted product and service offerings. According to him, the Stanbic IBTC SME seminars and the Virtual Business Centre (BizDirect) are two of the bank’s interventions to help build capacity and share needed information.

Stanbic IBTC Bank is a subsidiary of Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC, a full service financial services group with a clear focus on three main business pillars - Corporate and Investment Banking, Personal and Business Banking and Wealth Management.

Standard Bank Group, to which Stanbic IBTC Holdings belongs, is rooted in Africa with strategic representation in 20 key sub-Saharan countries and other emerging markets; Standard Bank has been in operation for over 151 years and is focused on building first-class on-the-ground financial services organisations in chosen countries in Africa and connecting other selected emerging markets to Africa and to each other.

Africa’s digital economy:

As Google empowers SMEs

competition Seedstars World 2016 opens application for its $1m competition

By Ruth Olurounbi THE African tour of Seedstars World, the global seed stage startup competition for emerging markets and fast-growing startup ecosystems, has been announced.

The tour will cover 20 African countries in search of promising entrepreneurs.

Alisee De Tonnac, CEO of Seedstars World, said: “We are incredibly excited about this year’s Seedstars World tour and how it ties into our other initiatives such as Seedspace and the Seedstars Academy in Lagos. Our goal is to impact people’s lives in emerging markets through the use of technology and we will have a very strong focus on expanding our impact around the

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Monday, 18 April, 2016

world and on the African continent in particular.”

The tour, scheduled to kick off from Maputo, Mozambique, on May 13, 2016, comprises of boot camps and pitching competitions, for the opportunity to compete at the Seedstars Summit in Switzerland, for $1 million equity investment alongside additional prizes.

Applications from Mozambique, South Africa, Botswana, Angola, Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Mali, Senegal, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt and Tunisia, are expected from startups not less than two years old, have received less than US$500, 000 in funding and the potential to scale regionally and globally.

Continues from pg19

d picture of Africa’s Although statistics show a pretty goo the reality remained that potential development and growth, d in many of African digital skills are still under-develope African economies to get countries, this “making it harder for Google in a blog post. to g the most out of the web,” accordin a unit of Alphabet To bridge the gap, therefore, Google, digital skills to one ging brin is th, mon Inc, starting from this million people living in Africa. est and boldest move Although this is possibly Google’s bigg ca, this is not its Afri in ing yet, in terms of digital skills train the continent. on de divi tal digi first attempt at closing the Digital Business ManThrough its now rested programme, more African businesses agement (DBM), designed to bring cans digital entrepreonline, Google had trained many Afri m. neurs grow the digital ecosyste eted at females only, in At one of the DBM programme targ en’s Day in 2015, parcommemoration of International Wom

ing program, gained ticipants, upon completion of the train tal agency focused on digi a run and the skills needed to set up nesses. offering Google products to small busi Google, Affiong Osueria Nig , ager Man ng keti Country Mar announce Google’s to chukwu, at the press conference held ple in Africa, said peo ion commitment to training one mill trained in Nigeria, been had ple more than 11,000 young peo Kenya and SA in the last one month. ia Management and Google’s sponsored Advanced Med was also part of the corWriting at the Lagos Business School continent’s digital the to g poration’s attempt at contributin economy. erian entrepreneurs The recent venture, which many Nig es targeted at them, have hailed as one of the best initiativ r, Google Country iazo will, according to Juliet Ehimuan-Ch oyment in Africa by mpl une Manager is aimed to help reduce “job creators” inme beco to ths you empowering unemployed to help business owners stead of being job seekers, as well as

leverage the internet to promote their business globally.

Given that youth unemployment across Africa is high – South Africa’s unemployment rate stands at 35 per cent, Kenya, 17 per cent and 13 per cent in Nigeria, developing digital entrepreneurship and creating new job opportunities for young people is critical to Africa’s transformative growth, Google said.

“The internet is at the heart of economic growth and the Digital Skills Program is aimed at helping more Africans play a part in the digital economy. Everyone can succeed online, start a new business, grow their existing one, or share their passion,” Ehimuan-Chiazor said.

It will be recalled that in August 2015, Google launched an initiative that many stakeholders and industry players believed would change the way small business owners and entrepreneurs do business across the world, most especially in Africa.

Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, Communications and PR manager for Google Africa, speaking with Entrepreneurship+ at the time, said: “A smart phone with apps and access to the full internet can provide new opportunities for entrepreneurs. On the one hand, it helps existing businesses work or reach their customers more efficiently. On the other, it opens the door to new businesses as people develop local apps, which can truly change people’s lives for the better.

“Suddenly, people in Nigeria are pursuing the cycle of engagement and innovation that was once the exclusive reserves of Silicon Valley... access to information through the full internet and the right apps on an Android device can literally mean the difference between life and death.”

The Android One initiative would serve as a catalyst for the new digital skills training, for which millions of people in Africa would take their businesses to the next level.

To run this new programme, Google says it will support its partner, a South Africa company, Livity Africa, to run two training programmes, ‘Digify Bytes’ to give digital skills to young people looking to develop a digital career and ‘Digify Pro’, a three-month immersion program for digital specialists.

Already, these programmes have been launched in Nigeria, with a four-day ‘Digify Bytes’ training held at the Mulliner Towers, in February this year; as well as Kenya and South Africa.

The project lead and Head of SMB Marketing & Digital Education, Sub-Saharan Africa at Google, Bunmi Banjo, explained that the second element of the programmes, digifyafrica.com - an online-learning portal, houses a range of digital skills courses, available to anyone in Africa.

According to the corporation, the online learning portal been designed to be as “light” as possible because data cost is an issue for many African users, to help people manage data usage.

The training programme, according to Banjo, will take care of subjects ranging from content creation, digital strategy, web design, UX, social media and app development, with the aim to help young Africans develop the skills to build businesses, create jobs and contribute to the economy.

The programmes, which are expected to scale to reach more people in the next 12 months, are being helped by a group of 65 volunteer Googlers from around the world, helping the Livity team with content development, ‘training the trainers’ and, in some cases, delivering the training sessions, the corporation said.

According to Banjo, there will be 50 courses on the online platform, targeted at young people from ages of 18 to 35, with no special educational background.

To bring the training programme to more people, Google said in a statement that: “We’re also talking to a number of other potential partners across Africa with a view to scaling the digital skills training program and helping to reach even more young people in more countries.”

Growth

4 calls to action for entrepreneurs to unite 2015 was an amazing year for entrepreneurs. With your leadership through #EntrepreneursUNite, we passed Goal 8, the global goal focused on job creation and economic opportunity for all, with support from more than 1.2 billion people -- now a top priority for the United Nations for the next 15 years.

The second-biggest accomplishment was completing an extensive quantitative study on women entrepreneurs in 31 countries around the world. The Global Women Entrepreneur Leaders Scorecard comprised 70 percent of the world’s female population, to gain a macro perspective of what needs to change to help entrepreneurs scale.

Now that we know the roadblocks for small businesses and have succeeded in pushing them to the top of the U.N.’s list, the hard work begins. We’re in the mode of implementing key parts of Goal 8 to create the 600 million new jobs by 2025 that the United States needs to employ the entire eligible workforce. We’re focusing on country-level initiatives, while working with world leaders to increase entrepreneurs’ access to our four pillars of success -- capital, markets, talent and technology.

Capital It’s difficult, and sometimes impossible, for entrepreneurs to build sustainable businesses when policies aren’t business-friendly. Crafting tax codes that support entrepreneurship and innovation that are easy to understand is key to unlocking a founder’s potential. In the long run, leaders are unlocking the potential for an entrepreneur to create the jobs needed to boost the economy, and making the nation as a whole more competitive. To the same end, creating a tax environment that allows entrepreneurs to fail and start back up again is equally as important. We’re pushing hard for government leaders to recognize this, and we’re encouraging them to provide development grants and special compliance assistance to startups so they can scale.

Markets To be future-ready, entrepreneurs today must be

global from the start. They must look for customers, partners, suppliers, workers and materials beyond their immediate region. To make it easier for smalltown businesses to become global companies, we’re pushing for lower trade and non-tariff barriers and sound procurement policies. We’re also calling for programs that make it easier for businesses to get started, such as a one-stop registration program.

That’s how you break through barriers.

Talent Finding top-tier talent is essential for any ambitious entrepreneur. Networking groups, such as the Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network for global entrepreneurs and the Circular Board or 1776 for burgeoning American companies, make it easier for progressive people to meet like-minded folks.

Immigration policies that welcome highly-skilled talent are also necessary to build competitive businesses. Lastly, we should be focused on encouraging entrepreneurship in children. So we’re focused on programs that inspire kids to think big and engage them in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, because this is how we create the new generation of talent.

Technology Emerging technologies are dramatically driving down the costs to start and scale a business. We need to keep building to enable every company to succeed. Dell has partnered with world-class technology leaders to keep businesses secure and agile, and it will continue to innovate. We’ve also urged that leaders make access to high-speed Internet a priority, through public-private partnerships, municipal initiatives and financing, because it will help create new businesses that were never before possible.

By 2030, our vision is to enable a billion entrepreneurs to scale and be future ready. We’re optimistic we can achieve that if we keep our focus on these four pillars and our wonderful partners!

Culled from entrepreneur.com

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tribune

business

Nigerian Tribune

Group Business Editor Sulaimon Olanrewaju

m:08055001708 e:lanresulaimon@yahoo.com t:@lanresulaimon

IMF, Nigeria stick to their guns on forex policy

Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, in a chat with the World Bank President, Dr Jim Yong Kim, during a G 24 Ministers’ meeting, at the 2016 Spring Meetings of the World Bank/IMF in Washington DC.

At the just concluded World Bank/International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings in Washington DC, the din for Nigeria to reset her economic policies and allow foreign exchange flexibility went up a decibel, but the resolve of the country to pursue the policy that she thinks is in the best interest of her people was also unmistakable. SULAIMON OLANREWAJU reports.

T

HE Spring Meetings of the World Bank/International Monetary Fund, which were rounded off yesterday, provided both the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Nigeria to ventilate their views on what they considered the best way out of the country’s current economic challenges, especially with respect to the foreign exchange policy.

At an interactive session with journalists last Thursday, Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of IMF, in response to a question on how Nigeria could exit the current economic challenges, gave three recommendations viz; the need to seek help from international institutions that are willing to offer such help, diversification of the economy and the readiness of the government to “be open-minded about using flexibility of exchange rate in order to absorb some of the shock.”

This view of the IMF boss on the foreign exchange is not in any way different from that which she canvassed during her visit to the country in January this year. Then she had said that “Exchange rate flexibility, both up or down can help soften the impact of external shocks, make output and employment less volatile, and help build external reserves. It can also help avoid the need for costly foreign exchange

restrictions, which should, in any case, remain temporary.”

The view is also the same as the submission of the fund in its 2016 Article IV, which was released on March 31 this year.

In the article, IMF had said that it did not “support the policies that have given rise to the exchange restrictions and MCP.” It therefore urged the government “to articulate a speedy and monitor-able exit strategy for their removal, thus allowing an improved functioning of the foreign exchange market.”

While justifying its position, IMF had posited that toeing the line of its recommendation would “help narrow the exchange rate spread between the BDC/ parallel and the interbank markets.”

The article added that “the combination of monetary easing, an inflexible exchange

rate regime, and exchange restrictions has failed to spur economic activity, while fuelling expectations of currency devaluation, and casting doubt on the authorities’ commitment to their inflation objective.

“This has eroded external buffers and given rise to a situation where the external position is weaker than what would be consistent with Nigeria’s fundamentals and desirable policy settings. With the implementation of a credible package of policies to support the adjustment of the economy to the large, permanent termsof-trade shock, the exchange rate should be allowed to adjust to the underlying fundamentals and exchange restrictions removed, facilitating the diversification of the economy. A forward-looking monetary policy strategy should be elaborated to help improve its effectiveness.”

We have great opportunities to reset the Nigerian economy and ensure that as we go forward, growth will be in a sustainable manner so that we won’t be vulnerable to oil price fluctuations.

However, Dr Antoinette Sayeh, Director of the African Department at IMF, at a press briefing on Friday, added a new dimension to the argument for Nigeria to subject the determination of her currency value to market forces when she said that the restrictions imposed by the government on the foreign exchange by the government were not in alignment with Nigeria’s commitments as an IMF member country.

According to Sayeh, “Those restrictions are at odds with Nigeria’s commitment as an IMF member country in terms of exchange restrictions. So, we hope that those restrictions can be eliminated, and that Nigeria can move to a more flexible management of exchange rates.”

She added, “The authorities initiated an initial devaluation of the naira to be able to help them adjust to the shock. But since that time, they have put in measures to limit movements of the exchange rate and also put in administrative measures to limit access to foreign exchange of some sectors, which we think has been detrimental to the growth and recovery in Nigeria.”

Sayeh also called for the harmonization of policies to achieve inclusive growth. She Continues pg23

23

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Monday, 18 April, 2016

Nigerian Tribune

‘We have great opportunities to reset Nigeria’s economy’ Continues pg 22

said, “On the monetary side, we have seen a recent increase in the policy rate that is encouraging in terms of looking at an overall package for adjusting to the shock.

It is not simply fiscal policy on its own, or monetary policy on its own, or exchange rate policy on its own, but a combination of those as a coherent package, and in addition to structural reforms that Nigeria needs to take forward to adjust appropriately to the shock in a way that promotes inclusive growth.”

The African Department chief, while acknowledging efforts of the country at improving governance, also called for the diversification of the economy.

She said, “Nigeria depends on oil considerably. The nature of the revenues that Nigeria currently gets does not reflect what is a more varied economy, and Nigeria is very dependent on oil revenues.

Revenues, as a whole for Nigeria, are only about 7.5 per cent, very low revenue to GDP ratio, and Nigeria now has the challenge to broaden them, diversify revenue sources to make sure that it can continue to finance its need beyond oil, and that is certainly a focus of the authorities currently, to expand their tax base, and to increase non-oil revenues.”

She added that this was a very important priority for the country from the perspective of creating the fiscal space needed to spend in a way that would promote growth. “Growth has, of course, come down considerably in Nigeria, to some 2.5 per cent last year from what used to be closer to 6 per cent. So, it’s been quite an impact there.”

Ms Sayeh noted that on the fiscal side, efforts were on to raise more revenue to take a look at the expenditure side, and make sure that the investments being taken forward were those that would sustain growth, adding that these were the thrust of the 2016 budget.

She also called for economic reset.

Similarly at a panel discussion on “Sub -Saharan Africa: Just a Rough Patch” later on Friday, a contributor wanted to know why Nigeria was adamant about foreign exchange restrictions, saying the reluctance to subject the currency to market forces might result in the exit of investors from the country.

Mrs Kemi Adeosun, Finance Minister, who participated as a panelist at the discussion, seized the opportunity to en-

President Muhammadu Buhari lighten the audience on the efforts of the government to turn the nation’s economic fortune around.

According to her, the government was not unconscious of the immediate challenges that the forex policy could engender, but added that the government was looking at the big picture of resetting the economy.

She explained, “We have to be careful when we talk about investors. What kind of investors are we talking about? It is only portfolio investors that will leave because the currency is not devalued. Those who are long-term investors will not leave because of what is happening. The concern of the current administration is to build for the long-term. That is why we are doing what we are doing. For now, we want to leave the foreign exchange policy as it is.”

Responding to the issue of resetting the economy, Adeosun said, “We have great

opportunities to reset the Nigerian economy and ensure that as we go forward, growth will be in a sustainable manner so that we won’t be vulnerable to oil price fluctuations.”

She added that “The compelling business case in Nigeria is that the fundamentals remain very strong; a teeming, young growing population, rich in resources and with a government determined to finally get it right.

“The great thing is that long term investors recognise this and understand the difference between short-term and long-term issues and the case for Nigeria persuades one to plan for the longer term opportunities.”

Speaking on efforts to boost revenue, she said, “there were enormous revenue realisable from taxation to keep the economy going on a sustainable level without bothering about oil revenue.”

According to her, “We are looking at

revenue from non-oil sector. We want to generate more from corporate taxes and duties. We also want to pay attention to other areas that we hitherto had not paid attention to because if we didn’t have oil these are the areas that we would be depending on.”

The minister, who explained that the government was concerned about efficiency in tax collection, said, “We are using technology to enhance collection, linking up databases from diverse government agencies, auto debits of VAT from corporate entities and government contractors and the rollout of Biometric Verification Number (BVN) across bank account holders. We have also ensured that FIRS staff receive increased incentive pay for delivery on targets.”

The minister, who was emphatic that the country’s economic future was not gloomy, said, “We have a framework for our economic future. This framework for the future will tackle our problems through three critical areas, namely fiscal discipline, targeted investment, diversification of the economy.”

According to her, the current economic crisis of the country provides an opportunity to embark on economic reforms that would reposition the country.

She noted that, “It is difficult to have financial discipline when oil price is above $100 because oil introduces fiscal indiscipline.”

She added that the government was determined to inculcate a culture of discipline in the country as a way of building a virile economy.

The minister said, “This administration has a strong focus on transparency and an increase in government openness. We will remain solid in our anti-corruption drive and continue in our commitment towards a streamlined administration.

“We will guard against wastage and leakages within the system, strengthening institutions weakened over the years through corruption, inefficiency and in some cases simple negligence.

“We lacked sufficient and adequate systems for monitoring how funds were being utilized nor did we embed the controls to arrest the leakages. Therefore, along with the transformative capital investment we are undertaking, we will concurrently develop the much needed systems and controls for monitoring, tracking and ultimately optimising the investments we intend to make,” she added.

Nigerian loan deal with China highlights need to diversify govt’s sources of revenue AMID President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to Beijing this week, Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama announced that China has offered Nigeria a $6 billion loan to pay for infrastructure projects. President Buhari aims to increase spending on public works projects as a means of kickstarting economic growth. Nigeria is facing its worst economic crisis in decades as low global oil prices continue to hit public finances in the crude-exporting country.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun said on April 9, that she is forecasting a budget deficit of N2.2 trillion ($11 billion) in 2016 and stressed the need for fiscal discipline. The forecast comes amid increasingly negative economic indicators. Inflation, as measured by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), rose

to 12.8 per cent in March, its highest level in almost four years, from 11.4 per cent in February. This is mainly as a result of higher food and gasoline prices coupled with restrictions on foreign currency movements. The NBS reported on March 22 that unemployment rose to 10.4 per cent in the final quarter of 2015, up from 9.9 per cent in the previous quarter.

Meanwhile, the IMF has lowered its 2016 growth forecast for Nigeria by almost one percentage point to 2.3 per cent.

A short term fix The loan deal will ease some pressure on Buhari in the short term by allowing him to announce the start of construction and other infrastructure projects. Loans from the Chinese government are likely

to command lower interest rates than those available from commercial lenders. Moreover, China is unlikely to demand the reforms and oversight that the World Bank or IMF typically impose as conditions for lending. The Chinese loan is likely to take the form of a credit line that can be accessed on a project by project basis.

Nonetheless, a devaluation of the naira versus the US dollar remains likely in 2016. The Chinese loan does not address the disparity between the official exchange rate of N197 to N199 to the dollar and the actual market rate of approximately N320 to the dollar. Financial markets remain convinced that the government will devalue the naira, and until it does investors will remain reluctant to commit money to Nigeria.

Difficulties sourcing foreign exchange, and in some cases shortages of industrial and other goods as a result of foreign exchange restrictions, will continue to adversely impact businesses with operations in Nigeria.

The loan amount is larger than expected, putting Nigeria at risk of struggling to repay if the oil price falls further. Buhari is aware of the need to diversify sources of government income, and wants to broaden Nigeria’s tax base and expand its portfolio of export goods. These measures are likely to take years to generate significant additional government revenue, and infrastructure projects are themselves unlikely to generate sufficient income to finance loan repayments in the near term.

Culled from Forbes

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Monday, 18 April, 2016

moneymarket

Nigerian Tribune

anchor Chima Nwokoji

m:08032637535 e:chimatitus@yahoo.com

weeklyreview

From left, Director, Afriland Properties Plc, Emmanuel Nnorom; Managing Director/CEO, Uzo Oshogwe; Chairman, Erelu Angela Adebayo and Director, Olayinka Ogunsulire, at the 3rd Annual General Meeting of the company, held in Lagos.

Skye Bank partners UK’s DFID, NGO on upgrade of poor schools

S

KYE Bank Plc has partnered with the United Kingdom’s international development agency, DFID nongovernmental organisation, ICLED, on an intervention programme to upgrade private schools in low income areas in Lagos The programme is aimed at offering a holistic approach to problems faced by low income private schools, which include capital, leadership skills, teacher-classroom strategies, team work, soft skills, among others.

Under the programme, private schools in low income areas in the state will be assisted to upgrade their facilities, including classrooms to make them suitable for teaching and learning.

According to a statement issued by Skye Bank, it described the programme as a welcome development in view of the fact that some private schools lack the basic facilities and capital to put in place necessary infrastructure which are promote scholarship.

The statement said such schools are located in Ajegunle, Makoko, Amukoko and other areas in the state where the poor reside.

Speaking at the first interactive and training session with the proprietors of the private schools in Lagos, Head, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Skye Bank Plc, Mrs Ayodele Olojede, stressed the importance of financial planning, good book keeping in the

success of any business endeavour.

Olojede said observing the basic rules of proper book keeping would help the proprietors know how to

manage their cash flow, cut off waste and spend their money judiciously.

As the financial partner in the intervention programme, Skye Bank is set

to spearhead the transformation of the schools in the poor areas so that they can compete with the others where the necessary facilities are available.

Flat rates expected on equal inflow, outflow of N167.5bn T-bills MONEY market rates are expected to remain unchanged at last week’s levels as a net Treasury-bills maturity of N167.5 billion is billed to be offset by a T-bills auction of the same net amount.

“There is a net T-bills maturity of N167.5 billion this week Thursday, the impact of this on liquidity levels is however expected to be offset by a T-bills auction of the same net amount.

“We expect money market rates to be dictated by liquidity dynamics as well as the provisioning and refunds for foreign exchange (FX) and Open Market Operation (OMO) mop-ups,” one dealer said.

Nigeria plans to raise N167.51 billion ($843.67 million) in treasury bills with maturities ranging between three-month and one-year on April 20, the central bank said.

The bank aims to raise N36.78 billion in the threemonth paper, N35 billion in the six-month note and N95.73 billion in the oneyear debt, using the Dutch auction system.

Nigeria issues short-dated debt to mop-up excess liquidity in the banking sys-

tem to curb rising inflation, finance a portion of the budget deficit and help commercial lenders manage their liquidity.

Dealers at an investment banking and research company, Afrinvest expect market activities to pick up from last week’s relatively calm levels as the week’s activity level was majorly influenced by investors anticipation of April’s Debt Management Office

(DMO) bonds auction.

“We expect yields across benchmark bonds to increase marginally this week,” Afrinvest said in a note to investors.

Meanwhile, Nigeria raised N170.18 billion in local currency bonds maturing in 2036, 2026 and 2020 at an auction, the DMO said on Thursday, paying higher returns than at the previous auction on March 16.

CBN’s policies will yield desired results — Emefiele THE tightened monetary policy moves of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) aimed at addressing the fundamental challenges of the economy, will soon bring about the desired results.

As such, the bank will not be discouraged by the many attacks on some of these policies, the governor of the bank, Mr Godwin Emefiele, has said.

Speaking over the weekend at the 40th anniversary and convocation lecture of the University of Maiduguri, Emefiele said in recent times, the bank was under attack because of some of the proactive

policy actions taken.

The attacks it said was from disparagers who may not genuinely have the interest of Nigeria at heart.”

Some of the measures mentioned by the governor are the further tightened monetary policy by increasing Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) and Cash Reserve Requirement (CRR); Reclassified items in Retail Dutch Action System (RDAS) window and moved to interbank; Review of operators’ Net Open Position; A 72-hour limit placed on FX utilisation; and closing of the highly-subsidized RDAS.

Money Market The financial system opened last week with liquidity at N288.4 billion. Open Buy Back (OBB) and Overnight (O/N) rates rose 0.2 per cent and 0.1 per cent to close 3.3 per cent and 3.8 per cent respectively on the first trading session of the week. Tuesday opened with liquidity levels at N796.3billion but this reduced considerably to N259.5 billion as Deposit Money Banks provisioned for the weekly foreign exchange (FX) intervention auction.

Consequently, dealers from Afrinvest West Africa Limited said OBB and O/N rates rose to 5.8per cent and 6.2per cent by the end of Tuesday’s trading session, settling at 4.3per cent and 4.8 per cent by midweek. However, on the back of an Open Market Operation (OMO) maturity of about N91.4 billion on Thursday, liquidity levels rose even as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) mopped up N53.9 billion in an OMO auction, OBB and ON rates declined to 3.8 per cent and 4.3 per cent respectively. Nevertheless, OBB and ON rates on Friday trended inversely to Thursday’s rates as liquidity levels dropped, owing to the debit for the successful bids at the midweek bonds auction hitting the system. As a result, OBB and ON rates closed the week at 4.0 per cent and 4.5 per cent up 0.9 per cent each Week on Week (W-O-W).

Activities in the Treasury Bills (T-bills) market was mixed last week. Average T-bills rate closed at 7.3 per cent on Monday but rose 0.2 per cent to 7.4 per cent on Tuesday as liquidity levels dropped on the back of Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) provisioning for FX auction, declining 6basis points (bps) by midweek to settle at 7.4 per cent.

There was an OMO auction on Thursday where the apex bank mopped up about N53.9 billion, average T-bills rate rose 4bps to 7.4 per cent by the end of Thursday’s trading session.

Foreign Exchange Review In agreement to analysts expectation from penultimate week, the foreign exchange market last week enjoyed similar stability to recent weeks. The CBN however is still unable to meet the dollar demands as seen in the amount returned by the CBN to the Deposit Money Banks for unfilled bids at the FX auction.

The official rate at the CBN remained at N197.00/ US$1 whilst Naira/Dollar rates at the Interbank stayed at N199.00/$1. Naira/Dollar was stable at the Bureau-dechange as it exchanged at N320.00/US$1 on all trading days of the week. The parallel market also remained stable this week, Naira/Dollar traded at N323.00/$1 on all trading day of last week except Monday when it appreciated

by N1.00 to N322.00/$1.

Current Gross foreign reserves level was at $27.47 billion as at Thursday, down about $70 million from Monday’s reserve level.

This week, dealers expect that the stability at all segments of the foreign exchange market will continue as speculative pressures remain passive.

Bond Market Review Activities in the bonds market was mixed last week. Average yield across benchmark bonds closed at 11.6 per cent at the end of the first trading session of the week, rising 5bps from the last trading session of the previous week. On Tuesday, average yield across benchmark bonds rose 0.3per cent as the market reacted to Market Inflation figures released. The Debt Management Office carried out a bonds auction on Wednesday with the re-issuance of N20 billion, N40 billion and N50 billion of the FGN FEB2020, FGN JAN2026 and FGN MAR2036 bonds at marginal rates of 12.0 per cent, 12.6 per cent and 13.1 per cent. Total amount allotted for the three instruments was N180.2 billionn including N70.2 billion of the JAN2026 instruments that was allotted on a non-competitive basis.

As opined in last week’s report, all bonds on offer were oversubscribed as the bonds market remains the most attractive to risk averse investors amidst current macroeconomic realities.

In the secondary market, average yield across benchmark bonds increased 0.2 per cent to 12.1 per cent by the end of Wednesday’s trading session.

25

Monday, 18 April, 2016

capitalmarket

anchor Kehinde Akinseinde-Jayeoba

m:08057336640 e:kehinde_07@yahoo.com

Counting gains as foreign investors exit

By Kehinde Akinseinde-Jayeoba - Lagos

R

ECENTLY, Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Frontier Markets Index announced the probability of kicking the Nigerian market from its index due to the stringent measures put in place by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to control currency. The Index provider has, thus seeks feedback from investors on the ease of access to the Nigerian equity market, a move that could lead to the exclusion of the latter from MSCI’s Frontier Markets index.

The MSCI Frontier Markets Index captures large and mid cap representation across 23 Frontier Markets countries, which includes 121 constituents, covering about 85 per cent of the free float adjusted market capitalisation in each country. Nigeria has the third-biggest weighting in the MSCI Frontier Markets Index after Kuwait and Argentina. Nigerian Breweries Plc, Nestle Nigeria Plc and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc are among the 15 stocks included from the country.

“Ease of capital inflows and outflows is one of the key criteria in the MSCI Market Classification Framework. Introduction of restrictive measures, such as capital or foreign exchange controls, which can lead to material deterioration of equity market accessibility, may result in the exclusion of such market from the MSCI Frontier Markets Indexes and a reclassification to Standalone Market status,” the statement said.

As the country awaits April 29, when MSCI will make its decision while seeking feedback from investors on the ease of access to the Nigerian equity market, the already depleted confidence of foreign investors in the Nigerian bourse further suffer another blow. In a similar move last year, bond index providers JP Morgan and Barclays both removed Nigeria from their emerging market local currency bond index, citing a lack of liquidity and currency restrictions.

The notice of a probable eviction of the Nigerian Bourse was met with apprehension, even as the stock market negatively reacted it, thus shedding N248 billion in the three days after the index provider said it could remove Nigeria from its frontier markets index.

It has been projected that Nigerian stand to lose $500 million equity investment, if the New York-based organisation decides to exclude Nigerian stocks. According to analyst at Renaissance Capital, the latest data shows that the asset-weighted aggregate MSCI Frontier Markets benchmarked fund is currently underweight Nigeria. “If they were to sell their entire remaining holdings in Nigeria, this would account for $410 million of foreign equity selling. Global frontier equity ETFs are still tiny, with just $570 million of passive money benchmarked to MSCI, of which only $70 million is in Nigeria.”

Despite the possible exit of foreign investors as a side effect of exiting Nigerian from global indexes due to currency restriction, volume of stocks on the Nigerian bourse as being on the rise due to the restriction.

According to reports by the world’s leading investment firm for frontier and illiquid markets, Exotix Partners LLP of London,

Mounir Gwarzo some foreign investors are now reinvesting their trapped Naira in the Nigerian equities market.

“A lot of our clients have trapped naira sitting in Nigeria; so, now, we see recycling of that Naira back into the equities market.

There is no point sitting in a foreign-currency line not knowing when you are going to get your FX. You may as well buy the stock that you like over the long-term and hold it,” Ali Khalpey, head of equities at Exotix said.

As being excluded from the MSCI indexes would create a higher hurdle to attract future investments, especially private sector investors, regulatory bodies of the Nigerian

The number of foreign portfolio managers that have invested in Nigeria because of MSCI might want to leave, which would have a negative effect on the market because of sell pressure.

capital market are on the move to salvage continuous exit of foreign investors. The Director-General of the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr Mounir Gwarzo, at the Post First Quarter Capital Market Committee (CMC) press briefing in Lagos assured that regulatory bodies are in talks with the MSCI Frontier Market so as to prevent the Nigerian Market Index eviction.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of First Registrars, Mr Bayo Olugbemi, was however confident that the New York Frontier Market will reconsider the Nigerian market in its index. In a chat with the Nigerian Tribune, he said if the MSCI Frontier Market Index eventually exits Nigerian Market, the equities market will only be affected temporarily, as in the long term, the country would benefit from the exit of foreign investors. “In the long run, nobody will help us develop the economy. Foreign investors will not develop the economy that is why efforts are made to encourage local investors. The country will be better if the equities market is built by local participation.”

Samuel Enechusue of Investment One Financial Services Limited, also believed that the negative effects of the exit of foreign investors will be temporary as the Nigerian market will pick up after initial decline, while noting that only investors with MSCI Frontier Market might exit.

“The number of foreign portfolio managers that have invested in Nigeria because of MSCI might want to leave, which would have a negative effect on the market because of sell pressure. There might be no strong negative effect if Nigeria exits the Index. After the announcement of possibly eviction, the market went down for like three days.

Nigerian Tribune

Last year, Nigeria was excluded from JP Morgan Index which also affected the equity market for a while. A very large portion of Foreign Direct Investments have already exited the market, but the market is still surviving odds. Their exit might not have a serious effect on the market anymore,” he said.

He explained that the stringent measures put in place by the CBN on currency were necessary, however, difficult things might be expected. “The situation we find ourselves is that our foreign reserve is very low, while our demand for foreign exchange is very high. If we continue to allocate foreign reserve to meet the demand, then we will get to a situation where Nigeria will become broke. To prevent such situation, that is why Nigeria starts rationing. The effect is what we are seeing now that the dollar is high in the black market material. These are the side effect which might not be permanent but temporary.”

For Dr Isaac Dada, the President/Chairman of Council, Portfolio Management Institute of Nigeria (Chartered), MSCI Frontier Market is just one among many, despite the strong restriction on currency; foreign investors who are interested in long term investment would be back in Nigerian. He observed that there is much hope for the Nigerian capital market as one of the robust in Africa, thus investors destination, which might be deterred a little but “they will surely come,” he said, adding that the present low state of the market is an opportunity for future investment.

Meanwhile, as the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Oscar Onyema had said that the Nigerian Bourse is deep, thus the encouragement of local participation in the market especially for long term investment, as foreign investors are liable to exit in the face of persistent fall in crude oil prices.

Samuel believed that there is the need to improve local participation, which might not be easy as those who bought into stock in 2008 to 2010 had bad experiences, which was largely due to poor education on investment. “A large number of local investors do not have proper enlightenment. They do not understand the market and they put in money with the expectation that within a short time, the money they have put in might double but they lost their money. A large number do not want to come back to the market. There is the need for enlightenment and proper understanding before they can come back,” he said.

He added that regulatory bodies should do more in investors’ education. “Local investors need to have a deeper understanding of how the market operates. They need to know that the market is basically structured for long term investing. They should be made to understand that although there might be short term gain but they need to structure long term fund before you invest in the market.”

Also Malam Garba Kurfi, the Managing Director, APT Securities and Funds Ltd, advised that market regulators and operators should collaborate on the best enlightenment to enhance local investors’ confidence, by embarking on campaign to bring back local investors to take advantage of the present market trend.

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Monday, 18 April, 2016

Nigerian Tribune

labour Terrorism making the world of work precarious —IndustriALL Global Union Stories By Soji-Eze Fagbemi- Abuja

T

HE Chairperson, IndustriALL Global Union, Sub Saharan Africa, Comrade Issa Aremu, has declared that increasingly global terrorism is making the world of work more precarious.

To this end, Comrade Aremu, who is also the General Secretary, Textile Union, has called on the International Labour Organization (ILO) to redouble efforts with all the international agencies to rid the world of terror.

Aremu, who spoke as the world commemorates the second year of the missing Chibok girls, noted that thousands of workers in Nigeria, France, Belgium, Syria, Iraq had also been brutally abducted and killed by terrorists who see defenseless workers as “soft targets.”

“ILO must therefore redouble efforts with all the international agencies to rid the world of terror.

“Social dialogue and negotiated settlements are tested ILO’s mechanisms for resolving social con-

flicts, not senseless violence in which innocent Chibok girls are victims.

Nothing justifies criminal abductions. Chibok girls are missing, but they are not forgotten until they are rescued,” Comrade Aremu said.

He pointed out that after two years, 219 of the Chibok girls still remain missing till date, adding that since then, hundreds have further been abducted.

“Whoever kidnaps a girl child kidnaps a future. 219 girls in captivity for 639 days is an assault on the future of humanity. Not less than 17 of their parents have reportedly lost their lives as a result of the trauma. Many are living in daily agony,” he lamented.

He commended the leadership of the BringBackOurGirls (BBOG) and the international labour movement for keeping the memory of the girls alive.

“An injury to these girls is certainly an injury to all of us. It is not over until these girls are liberated from the clutches of the criminal abductors.

“IndustriALL Africa calls on Nigerian government and indeed the United Na-

•Charges ILO, others to rid world of terror

tions to intensify the security measures to liberate the girls. We acknowledge the commendable efforts of President Buhari’s administration of Nigeria to smash the dens of the Boko Haram terrorists.

“Today no known territory of Nigeria is under the heel of the criminal gangs masquerading as religious cru-

saders.

“However the war against terror in Nigeria and anywhere should not be the war to reclaim territories but to regain and restore lives; in this case rescue the Chibok girls to return to their homes and schools.

“To us in the labour movement, 219 missing girls are future workers, mothers

not just statistics. Those who abduct 219 girls out of school have definitely criminally abducted communities of future workers, doctors, nurses and leaders. We must therefore join forces with the forces of progress and development world wide to join forces for the liberation of our beloved girls of Chibok,” he said.

Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige.

Buhari should extend anti-corruption war to varsities, others — NAAT THE National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to extend the fight against corruption to public universities and other tertiary institutions.

The union gave this position at the end of its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting, held at the Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki.

The meeting, which was presided over by the NAAT President, Comrade Sani Suleiman, deliberated on crucial issues affecting the union and state of the nation, such as the lingering fuel scarcity, security challenges, corruption and efforts toward eradicating it, 2009 NAAT/ Federal Government Agreement, Direct Teaching and Laboratory Cost (DTLC), earned allowances for NAAT members, electricity crisis, and the state of Nigeria highways.

In a communique issued after the meeting, the union

said as a stakeholder in the education sector, it was aware that there are high level corruptions at the tertiary institutions, which must be addressed.

“It is of great importance to NAAT that the fight against corruption be extended to all public tertiary

institutions. As a stakeholder in the system, the union knows that there are issues of corruption that need to be addressed,” the communique, signed by its General Secretary, Comrade Iyoyo Hamilton, said.

On the 2009 Federal Government and NAAT agree-

ment, the union called on both the Federal and State governments to fully implement the agreement, adding that the agreement is long overdue for renegotiation.

On the 2009 Federal Government and NAAT agreement, the union called on both the Federal and State

governments to fully implement the agreement, adding that the agreement is long overdue for renegotiation.

NAAT warned that the implementation of this agreement is very important, “if the current industrial harmony on the university campuses must be sustained.

TUC holds delegates conference, elects new officers THE Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) will hold its 10th Triennial Delegates Conference in Abuja, between Thursday 2nd and Friday 3rd of June, 2016 with the theme: “ Labour and National Re-orientation: The Change we want.”

According to the president of TUC, the conference will hold an extensive discussion on the state of the nation and the worsening plight of the masses occasioned by lack of electricity, massive loss of jobs, abject poverty, fuel scarcity, over-dependence on crude oil, abuse expatriate quota and other national issues.

During the conference, members of the congress from all its affiliate unions will also election new officers that would run the affairs of the union for the next three years.

The conference will have in attendance a former Foreign Minister of Nigeria and former Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the United Nations, Ambassador Ibrahim Gambari, as Chairman; the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Yakubu Dogara; the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Nwabueze Ngige; state governors; Constitutional, labour and human rights lawyer, Barrister Femi Falana (SAN) as Guest Speaker; His Royal Majesty, the First-Class Chief of Mambilla, Dr Shehu Audu Baju II and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr Muhammadu Bello as the chief host.

Saraki, ex-governors must refund illegal pension, salaries collected —NLC THE Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has called on the Federal Government to ensure that the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki and other former governors who are taking pension from their state, while still serving as public officials at the Senate or in other capacity to refund such fund already taken illegally.

NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba said the congress was saddened by the recent revelations that not less than 21 governors and deputy governors are Senators or Ministers and are drawing billions of Naira in

pension payment and salaries (at the same time) while millions of wage earners go without salaries for months on end.

Since State laws are subordinated to Federal laws and in a situation where there is a conflict the Federal laws take preeminence, the law by the state legislatures that allow the former governors and their deputies who are still serving and collecting salaries, in another public office should give way.

Wabba said: “Our revulsion stems from the fact that most, if not all of these ex-governors coerced or se-

duced their various Houses of Assembly into approving for them these bogus and illegitimate pension rates and property (as cars and houses) in contravention of the extant laws and regulations by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission.

“Similarly, they are mindlessly drawing these allowances (that they do not need) from our commonwealth when the states are in serious financial difficulty and poverty is rife in the land. They get paid regularly whether the state can afford it nor not.

“We hold the view that State laws are subordinated to Federal laws and when there is a conflict they should give way to the Federal laws.

“We similarly hold the view that it offends the principle of universal justice, equity and good conscience when laws are specifically or premeditatively made for or against an individual or a group of individuals in order to exact an undue advantage or revenge.

“In view of the above we demand that these offensive State laws be repealed forthwith, and the ex-gov-

ernors and their ex-deputies be made to refund what they have taken because it is illegal and immoral to collect double pay from the same public coffers.

“We demand that all citizens be treated equally in furtherance of their fundamental rights.

We also demand that the Federal Government in the spirit of its fight against corruption not only ensure these ill-gotten payments are refunded forthwith, it should ensure no governor ever create for themselves such criminal advantages.

Nobody is above the law.

27

Monday, 18 April, 2016 Editor: Kehinde Oyetimi featuresdesk@yahoo.com 081 118 450 48

features

Cyber crime

How big a threat in Nigeria?

Financial institutions, government agencies, private firms and even individuals have usually at one point or the other, been victims of cybercrime, either through never-ending scam mails, illegal taps into online banking details, hacking of websites, among other means. KEHINDE OYETIMI explores the many consequences of cyber-attacks, Nigeria’s seeming illiteracy regarding internet security, in spite of the millions with access and the preparedness of the country to fight cybercrime.

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couple of weeks ago, the news broke that between April 2015 and February 2016, Nigeria lost over N90 billion to cyber-attacks.

This was the submission of a cyber-security expert, Mr AbdulHakeem Ajijola, the lead consultant at Consultancy Support Services (CS2) Limited at a three-day cyber security awareness campaign and capacity building workshop organised by National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) in partnership with Malaysia Cybersecurity Agency.

Ajijola’s report showed Nigeria’s level of culpability to cybercrime, as according to him, websites attacked included: The Embassy of Nigeria in Saudi Arabia (attacked on January 9, 2016); Federal Court of Appeal (attacked on December 19, 2015) in protest of the deaths of Shiite members in Zaria during clash with Nigerian Army); Independent National Electoral Commission (attacked on July 11, 2014), Nigeria’s House of Representatives (attacked on October 1, 2014); Federal Ministry of Information (attacked on July 8, 2013) and the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which was attacked on October 28, 2011.

With the ever-increasing number of Ni-

gerians that access the internet on a daily basis, following the seeming ignorance of security measures, however basic, it is no wonder Nigeria ranks high on the list of countries with the largest exposure to cyber attacks.

Nigeria is said to have the third highest ranking in cybercrime incidents worldwide. Leading Africa in the spate of cyber attacks, Nigeria comes just after the United States of America and the United Kingdom,

The publicity surrounding Nigerian cybercrime is raising fears that the country may face a slowdown in international investment in the telecom as well as the financial sectors.

according to reports by the Internet Crime Complaint Center, which also named Nigeria, Africa’s largest telecom market by investment and subscription.

Security measures against cybercrime Cybercrime occurs in more ways than the average Nigerian is aware of. From ‘innocent’ emails and social media messages requesting for aid, many of which have been successfully carried out, to the hacking into websites and social media accounts of high profile individuals to defraud unsuspecting citizens, it is only necessary that government takes a major step towards discouraging cyber-related fraudulent activities.

The Nigerian government is said to have put in place effective security measures to counter cybercrime. One major step taken was the signing into law in May 2015 of the cybercrime Act, which provides for the prohibition, prevention, detection, response, investigation and prosecution of cybercrimes; and for other related matters.

The objectives of the Act are to provide an effective and unified legal, regulatory and institutional framework for the pro-

hibition, prevention, detection, prosecution and punishment of cybercrimes in Nigeria; ensure the protection of critical national information infrastructure, and promote cyber security and the protection of computer systems and networks, electronic communications, data and computer programs, intellectual property and privacy rights.

The bill, among other things, prescribes the death penalty for offences against a system or network that has been designated critical national infrastructure of Nigeria that results in the death of an individual (amongst other punishments for lesser crimes). The bill also prescribes various punishments and fines for hackers, internet fraudsters, identity thieves, child pornography offenders, cyber-stalkers and cyber-bullies, cyber-squatters, and racist and xenophobic material distributors.

The bill also frowns against violent and insulting statements to persons based on race, religion, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin, and prescribes mandatory record keeping by service providers of all traffic data and subscriber information. It also allows for the interception of electronic communication, by way of Continues on pg28

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Monday, 18 April, 2016 prehends and there must be penalty for the infraction of the law, which must be very high. There must be an institution to regulate and monitor the cyber space, to enforce the law so enacted, prosecute offenders, culprits and there must be jailing and punishment. There should be a specified government institution to do this, if not all these regulatory bodies will expect the other to do it and at the end of the day, the job does not get done.”

Continued from pg27

a court order by a judge, where there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the content of any electronic communication is reasonably required for the purposes of a criminal investigation or proceedings.

Merits and gaps in the Act After the cybercrime bill became an Act in 2015, reactions were reported across various media platforms. Stakeholders in the ICT industry commended the Act, noting that it would boost the business of e-platforms, especially if the provisions of the cybercrime act was fully implemented.

The Nigeria Cybercrimes Act 2015, in spite of the many provisions, according to stakeholders, will also provide excuses for cyber fraudsters and criminals to devise other means of perpetrating these offences.

The Chief Executive Officer of Mobile Software Solutions, Chris Uwaje, was said to have commended the bill, while also pointing out some gray areas which had not been adequately addressed by the Act. In his reaction, he pointed out the flaws embedded in the fact that the foundation for the ICT Legislation Architecture for Nigeria which is the “National Information Technology (IT) Bill” and its enabling Acts had not been laid.

Also noting the gaps in the Act, according to a media report, at a workshop, tagged ‘Technology Times Outlook Review of Nigeria Cybercrimes Act 2015,’ Mr Basil Udotai, the Managing Partner of Technology Advisors, said “the Cybercrimes Act, though long in coming and beset with certain challenging components, may be applied to effectively tackle Nigeria’s cybercrime and cyber security challenges. But deliberate efforts have to be made by the key players; Office of National Security Adviser and the Office of Accountant General of the Federation working with stakeholders to make this a reality.”

Mr Emmanuel Edet, Head, Legal Services and Board Matter Unit, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), and a member of the Technology Times Outlook Panel, was reported to have said that “one of the challenges we had when going through the law was definitions. There is a danger of confusion when we use specific definitions. For example, if we say someone commits a crime with an ATM machine and in the future we have another machine that is not called ATM to commit fraudulent act, that means, by definition, the person has not committed any offence or done anything wrong.’’

He also raised the issue of the Cyber Security Fund provided for in the new law saying that, “there is nothing that defines what those funds are used for.

Abubakar Malami, Justice Minister

Adebayo Shittu, Communications Minister

Solomon Arase, IGP

Nigeria is third in cyber crime rating globally —Study

There is need for the government to fully articulate all these issues and collaborate with the citizens to have a proper framework as to the workings of the Act.” In the same media report, the immediate past Chairman of Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Lagos Branch, Mr Alex Mouka, who examined what he described

I am sorry to say it is one of the irresponsible legal legislations I have ever reviewed.

It is structurally deficient

as the structural deficiency of the report, said: “It is surprising that the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) responsible for the Act through an Advisory Council is not itself a member of that Advisory Council. This is real funny. I also wonder who administers the alternative taxation foisted on Nigerians by the creation of the Cybersecurity Fund under this Act.”

The way forward Speaking on how security agencies can provide beneficial assistance to combating cyber crime, Internet Security Expert/Chairman, Education and Manpower Development Committee, Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), Mr Aderogba Adeoye, called for collaboration between IT experts, the judiciary, security personnel and institutions that may become victims of cybercrime.

Adeoye was reported to have called for proper prerequisite

knowledge on the part of all involved in prosecuting cyber criminals and ensuring that the proper structure is in place to develop those who will run issues relevant to the cybercrime Act. His words: “They should form a working group because everybody is now on e-service. In Nigeria, most of the services that has to do with financial transactions are being run on e-platform; etransaction, e-payment, e-book, e-money. When problems come on that line, what do we do? We should not be doing all these services and allow nonentities to take it over,” he said.

Chairman, Teledom Group, an indigenous ICT firm, Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, was also quoted to have urged proper implementation of the Act. According to him, “There should be a cyber security agency that handles the Cyber Crime Act so that when a crime is committed in the cyber space that agency ap-

‘The key is to secure all platforms’ Adeoye, who said the only prevention is continuous education, stated that “We have to continuously enlighten our people on the need to take some pre cautionary measures. We have to secure the platform we are running as government, private entities, and business organisations as well as individuals. Data privacy is a big issue, exposure of the junior ones to the Internet is a big issue but, the greatest of it all is identity management. Government must ensure the effectiveness of the institutions in charge of the cyber crime act. Some people will complain of funding but, funding is not the main issue, but harnessing technical expertise for effective performance of specified assignment.”

Ekuwen, who noted the destructive tendencies of cybercrime, reportedly stated the various ways hackers operate, stating that “Hackers can impersonate you by sending emails you are not aware of once they hack into your email password and you may never detect that someone is sniffing.

Cyber crime can also affect the medical report. If a hacker hacks into doctors’ report, the hacker that wants to kill a patient can prescribe what ought not to have been prescribed and sends the mail by impersonating within the cyber space of the doctor; the patient will be dead,” just as he observed that until Nigeria fully understands the dire economic, financial, social, health, academic and social implications, to mention a few, then we will sit up.

Hacking, cyber laundering, spamming, website cloning, among others are some of the cber-related criminal activities that threaten Nigeria. However, with cyber security, it is expected that Nigerians would become more safeguarded, especially if individuals and institutions can develop a positive attitude towards keeping themselves safe online. Proper education, appropriate dissemination of information, self-discipline, self-restraint, and asking the right questions from the right people are ways to prevent cyber criminals from having a field day. Nigeria has a lot to gain if more attention is provided to security on the internet. It will not only prevent the billions lost to cybercrime in past times, it will also drive revenue generation as it will encourage local and foreign investment.

29 news Army uncovers Boko Haram’s underground food storage, observation posts Monday, 18 April, 2016

•Recovers large cache of arms, ammunition •Residents of Buni Yadi, Buratai commend military for reopening Biu-Damaturu road Chris Agbambu and Ademola Adegbite -Abuja, with Agency Report

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ROOPS of 7 Division Strike Group Team B and 22 Task Force Brigade, on Saturday, discovered underground food storage facilities where Boko Haram members stocked large quantities of foodstuff, even as they uncovered wellconcealed observation posts constructed on trees at Biggoro, Warpaya and Aura, North of Kumshe in Bama Local Government Area of Borno State.

The army said the terrorists constructed the posts to give them early warning by the Nigerian troops movement or approach.

In addition, the troops found out that the observation posts, though on tree tops, were constructed in such a manner with chairs and ropes to pull up foods and other needs by the sentry without necessarily coming down the trees.

Making the disclosure through a statement, Colonel Sani Usman, Acting Director, Army Public Relations, said the troops killed two Boko Haram terrorists and also recovered three AK-47 rifles, magazines and ammunition.

He said they also recovered two motorcycles from them and, in addition, rescued two children from the terrorists.

He said: “Troops of 7 Division conducted a simultaneous dawn raid on suspected Boko Haram terrorists. The essence of the operation was to stop the reported criminal activities of remnants of Boko Haram terrorists hiding in the three villages.

“This became necessary as previous efforts were futile.

The suspected terrorists kept coming in search for food, water and shelter.”

In a related development, troops of Operation Lafiya Dole and some Civilian Joint Task Force (JTF), on a clearance patrol to BorgozoAlargano general area, discovered large cache of arms and ammunition concealed

by Boko Haram terrorists.

The patrol team also cleared remnants of Boko Haram terrorists that were dislodged from Alagarno forest hibernating at Kadari, Camp Abu Fatima and Gursum.

According to information obtained by the Nigerian Tribune on Sunday, the troops discovered large cache of arms and ammunition that included 36

boxes of .51mm calibre, five x 20 Lyra beefcake mixture of 7.62mm (NATO) ammunition, large quantity of 7.62mm (Special), ammunition and one 81mm mortar tube.

In addition, the troops recovered one Toyota Hilux, one generator and several motorcycles.

The Nigerian Army appealed to all Nigerians and in particular, the good people of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states to continue to provide useful information to troops in order to facilitate complete routing of the remnants of Boko Haram insurgents hiding in their localities.

Meanwhile, residents of Buni Yadi and Buratai have

expressed gratitude to the military authorities for reopening the 135-kilometre Biu-Damaturu road.

Some of the jubilant residents spoke in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Sunday.

They said the reopening of the road, three years after it was closed due to insurgency, would revive socio-economic activities among the communities living along the road.

One of the residents, Alhaji Abdullahi Yaro, who fled the area at the peak of the insurgency, expressed joy at the reopening of the road.

He said many residents of Buni Yadi, Buni Gari and adjoining communities in Gu-

jba Local Government Area of Yobe State would return, following the reopening of the road.

“We are happy with this development; we can now begin to return to our areas.

“I travelled all the way to Buni Yadi with some of my family members and friends to experience this historic event.

“Some of us will stay back and start cleaning our homes, so that we can go and bring back our wives and children,” Yaro told NAN. Also speaking, Mallam Ado Salisu commended the efforts of the military in displacing Boko Haram and restoring normalcy to the area.

He said he would revive

his transport business and bring back his family to Buni Yadi, after two years of living in IDP camp in Damaturu.

At Buratai town in Biu Local Government Area, Alhaji Abubakar, an auto mechanic and Hajiya Fatima Mohammed, food vendor, expressed delight over the reopening of the road.

Abubakar told NAN that the reopening of the road would revive his auto mechanic business.

He said for the first time in three years, customers were patronising his workshop situated at the Biu axis of the road to fix their faulty vehicles.

He, however, called on the authorities to provide adequate security and repair

UK to provide £32m humanitarian support for Nigeria Saliu Gbadamosi -Abuja THE United Kingdom (UK) will, over the next three years, be providing up to £32 million to help deliver basic, life-saving assistance and protection to some of the estimated seven million people in need of humanitarian assistance, due to insurgency in the NorthEastern part of Nigeria, in line with its increased humanitarian support for the country.

According to a statement made available in Abuja, to the Nigerian Tribune, at the weekend, by the British High Commission, the funds, which would be channelled through the United Nations (UN), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and other humanitarian organisations, would be used to provide support

for critical life-saving areas, including nutrition, food security, water and sanitation and protection of civilians affected by insurgency.

The statement added that technical expertise would also be made available to the Nigerian government to support the humanitarian response.

It quoted Mr Nick Hurd, the UK Minister for International Development, as saying that “the UK was committed to continuing to help Nigeria in providing humanitarian assistance, as well as protecting people affected by insurgency in the North-East.

“We welcome Nigeria’s efforts to support the affected population.We look forward to continuing to work with all partners to strengthen the humanitarian effort to reach the most vulnerable, many of whom are in areas that are difficult to access.”

Mr Hurd also noted that the humanitarian needs in the North-East were enormous and growing, adding that a sustained, large-scale government-led response was needed to meet people’s basic needs and to help them to rebuild their lives once security conditions allowed them to return to their places of origin.

This new funding, according to the statement, was in addition to more than £8.2 million provided by the UK since 2014 to help respond to the life-saving humanitarian needs of people affected by insurgency through violence, displacement and loss of livelihoods.

In addition, Hurd announced a substantial increase of £16.7 million the UK would give to Nigeria’s rapidly growing solar energy market. The additional funding, the statement added, was

in support of a UK-sponsored Solar Nigeria Programme that was approved in September 2013 with a budget of £37.1 million.

The solar programme has already supported access to household energy for more than 130,000 people since it was launched in 2014. It has also supported improved healthcare and education for about 185,000 people in Lagos, and earlier last week, it won the award for “Outstanding international development project - infrastructure,” at the 2016 British Expertise International Awards.

According to the statement, the purpose of the project was to strengthen the market for solar photovoltics (PV) generated in Nigeria and in doing so, improve the lives of poor Nigerians and reduce carbon emissions.

the bad portions of the road.

On her part, Hajiya Mohammed expressed hope that the peace that had necessitated the reopening of the road would be sustained.

She thanked the military authorities for their efforts in ensuring that the road was reopened.

The Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant.-General Tukur Buratai, had, at the opening of the road, assured motorists and residents of communities along the road of adequate security.

In another development, the Coalition for Women Advancement in Africa, on Sunday, said only Nigerian Army deserved commendation for winning war against Boko Haram, warning the Federal Government not to allow some foreign elements like the United Kingdom (UK) and United States (US) authorities to snatch the glory of the sacrifices of the Nigerian troops, who were waging war against the insurgents on a daily basis.

Addressing newsmen in Abuja, the Executive VicePresident of the group, Mrs Jummai Samuel Pukat, said the political will of President Muhammadu Buhari to end insurgency in Nigeria also deserved commendation, warning that government must not allow foreigners to claim the glory through advantage of the media.

It said the US should stop claiming responsibility for the feat achieved by the Nigerian troops, pointing out that Boko Haram commander, one after the other, got apprehended, even as the terrorists’ foot soldiers were surrendering to the Nigerian troops.

CAN to Buhari: Use recovered loot to improve economy Biola Azeez -Ilorin AGAINST the background of current fight against graft

by President Muhammadu Buhari, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has called for proper utilisation of funds recovered from corrupt leaders.

Speaking with journalists before the commencement of the 103rd annual convention of the Nigerian Baptist Convention, in Ilorin, at the weekend, the vice-president of the association, Reverend Samson Ayokunle, said such recovered funds should be channeled towards revamping the productive sector of the economy, in order to add value to life of the common man.

Reverend Ayokunle, who

doubles as the President of the Nigerian Baptist Convention, also commended efforts made so far by the Federal Government at recovering such amount of money in its fight against corruption.

Reverend Ayokunle also urged the Federal Government to frontally address epileptic power supply and distribution in the nation, saying “it has, of recent, become more erratic and we want this to be addressed as much as possible because power is very important for social and economic development.

“Equally, we thank the Federal Government for trying to address the scarcity of petrol. In the first instance, we should have nothing to do with scarcity of petrol in

this nation. If leadership had been forthright, we don’t need to import petrol from abroad; but refine in order to get jobs for people and make it plentifully available in the country.

Whatsoever can be done to make sure the few refineries we have are working should be done.

“Also, our roads are crying for rehabilitation and many lives are being lost because of our failure and not because God wants them to die. We want the government to rise up and rehabilitate our roads so that there can be smooth transportation of goods and services,” he said.

The Baptist president, who urged President Buhari to put machinery in motion to recover the over 200 Chibok girls abducted by

Boko Haram terrorists over two years ago in Borno State, blamed the immediate past administration for not doing enough to promptly rescue the school-girls.

“Government has not done enough, especially the former president, Dr Goodluck Jonathan-led administration in rescuing the over 200 Chibok girls. It took them quite some time to believe that the girls were abducted. This gave the abductors opportunity to carry them far into where it would be difficult to rescue them.

“The security people could not also pursue them wholeheartedly, because they were ill-equipped. Government should do more to locate these girls. In fact, none of those in government should

be able to sleep until they put machinery in motion to get the girls out of captivity.

“It could be anybody’s child. And to hear that the girls are still alive is a product of answered prayers.

Because the prayers of those people that know that there is a God that answers prayers, God has decided to give us a ray of hope that the girls are still alive.

“We appreciate government’s efforts in confronting the security challenges in the country, especially the Boko Haram palaver.

“We want the government to do more to bring back those innocent Chibok girls who trusted the government for their protection, but were forcefully taken away about two years ago.’’

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Monday, 18 April, 2016

Lagos NBA chiefs, others chide Fayose over letter to Chinese govt Sam Nwaoko, Banji Aluko Ado Ekiti

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ORE reactions have trailed Governor Ayodele Fayose’s letter to the Chinese government, asking it to refuse President Muhammadu Buhari’s request of $2 billion loan.

Chairmen of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Lagos State and other lawyers on Sunday con-

demned Fayose’s action, describing it as mere irritation and inconsequential.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that President Buhari had last week paid a state visit to the People’s Republic of China with some state governors, the Central Bank governor and some ministers.

The president had concluded negotiations for the loan and a currency swap deal with the Chi-

nese authorities as part of efforts to revive the Nigerian economy in the face of dwindling oil revenues.

On April 12, Fayose reportedly jetted out to China while Buhari was there, urging the Chinese authorities to refuse the facility being requested by the Nigerian Government.

This, he said, was on the grounds that servicing current debt burden already gulps over 25 per cent of the country’s annual budget.

Reacting to Fayose’s letter, a former Chairman of Ikeja Branch of NBA, Mr Onyekachi Ubani, described the letter as of no consequence, since negotiations had already been concluded.

“The letter by Fayose is similar to a situation of bringing a motion for a court injunction for a completed act.

“Although, it is very disheartening that such a letter is coming from one of

From right, wife of the Ondo State Chief Judge, Cecilia Kumuyi; wife of the state governor, Olukemi Mimiko; Governor Olusegun Mimiko and the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Dr Kola Ademujimi, at the monthly Divine Agenda Praise Night, at The Dome, Akure, at the weekend.

Ondo hits gold, set to begin bitumen exploration THE Ondo State government may have recorded a major breakthrough in its quest for economic stability as arrangements have begun for the exploitation of its bitumen, being one of the mineral resources the state has in commercial quantity.

Briefing newsmen on the development in Akure, on Sunday, the state’s Commissioner for Information, Kayode Akinmade, said the state government had secured the licence to exploit the commodity through Beecon Nigeria Limited, a concern where the government has near complete ownership.

He said government had, before now, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with an American company, Liquefied Resources and also expected to sign a Joint Operating Agreement with the same outfit for the immediate exploitation of bitumen which the state has in large deposit on locations that stretches across Ondo-Edo and Ondo-Ogun boundaries.

The commissioner informed that officials of the Liquefied Resources, led by its President, Thomas Cooley, were already in the country as they are expected to meet with the govern-

ment tomorrow and finalise all arrangements regarding the agreement.

As part of the visit, the officials would visit the proposed sites and also set a date for takeoff of the proposed bitumen extraction and upgrading of plant.

As part of the agreement, Liquefied Resources is expected to wholly fund the project, even as the commissioner insisted that there would be exploitation of bitumen in the state at

no cost to the government, adding that the Joint Operating Agreement will regulate profit sharing among the handling company and the government.

The government’s spokesperson described the operation as very expensive and more demanding than exploiting oil, but mentioned however that Liquefied Resources is capable of handling it, especially with the availability of new technology at its disposal.

Akinmade noted that the exploitation of the commodity would generate massive employment which he said would be a consolidation of sort on the jobs being provided for the youth in the state through agriculture.

Akinmade emphasised the capability of the government to solve youth unemployment challenge through the bitumen exploitation project as well as its ongoing job creation initiatives through agriculture.

Why Ooni is organising cleaning competition in Ife —Olagbaju Oluwole Ige - Osogbo THE Vice-President, Operations, Ife TourismMotherland Beckons, Mr Ojuolape Olagbaju, at the weekend, said the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, has concluded arrangements to organise a cleaning competition among various areas in Ile Ife. He said the need to ensure cleanliness of IleIfe and the promotion of healthy environment informed the resolve of the monarch to organise the competition.

Olagbaju made this disclosure at the inauguration of “Cleaning of Ile-Ife” competition, organised by Ogunwusi, ahead the anticipated influx of tourists into the town.

While explaining that the youth in the town would soon be educated on the historical facts of Ile-Ife and available tourist sites, he stated that they would also be trained to be effective tour guides to tourists, who may want to explore the tourism potentials of the ancient town.

According to Olagbaju, “Ooni is calling on Afri-

can descendants to come to Ife and visit the cradle of mankind but these people will not come back if Ife is dirty.

“We went to where Ori Olokun was removed in 1904 and we were shocked that the place has been turned to an illegal dump site. It is a shameful act and that is why Kabiyesi organised this cleaning competition and any area which is adjudged the cleanest in a month will receive N100,000. If an area comes first three months consecutively that area will receive N500,000.”

our governors, but I think it serves no purpose,” he told NAN. In the same vein, the Ikeja Branch Chairman of NBA, Mr Yinka Farobi, described the letter as “over stepping of one’s boundaries.”

“Fayose was elected as a state governor and not as the president of Nigeria,” he said.

Again, the Ikorodu NBA Branch Chairman, Mr Dotun Adetunji, described the letter as a show of rascality.

He noted that although “there is a provision for immunity for a sitting governor, there must also be a limit on the activities of a leader.”

Mr Spurgeon Ataene, a lawyer, said: “If the loan being sought by the Federal Government is for the purpose of revamping the battered economy, then we should not have a problem with that.

“The only thing we should demand from the government is that the loan should be used for the purpose for which it is obtained in the first place.

Meanwhile, Deputy National Chairman (South) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Segun Oni, has said well-meaning Nigerians should “be full of prayers for the governor of Ekiti State, Mr Ayodele Fayose,” saying he believes that Fayose also needs spiritual deliverance from emotional bondage.

Chief Oni, in a statement by his media aide, Ayo Akinyemi, said he was reacting to Governor Fayose’s condemnation of President Muhammadu Buhari’s official trip to China and “orchestrated opposition to intended $2billion loan for Nigeria.”

Fayose had, in a letter dated April 12, to President Xi Jinping of China, implored the Chinese government not to grant the loan to Nigeria.

He stated that: “The government of China should be mindful of the fact that Nigerians, irrespective of their political and religious affiliations, are totally opposed to increment of the country’s debt burden...”

Oni said: “Fayose’s seemingly strange behaviour is not strange to people like us, as he is only behaving to type.”

A former senatorial candidate of the APC in the Edo Central Senatorial district of Edo State, Francis Inegbeniki, has described as rebellious a letter written by Governor Fayose, asking the Chinese government not to grant Nigeria’s loan request of $2 billion.

Nigerian Tribune

Ogun free education for all —Commissioner OGUN State government’s free education policy is open to all irrespective of age, religion, ethnicity and gender.

The state Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Mrs Modupe Mujota, made the assertion at the graduation ceremony of students of non-formal education programmes, held at the Baptist College, Idi-Aba, Abeokuta.

Mrs Mujota, in a statement signed by the ministry’s spokesperson, Mr Elijah Udofia, described literacy as ability to read, write, calculate and communicate fluently within the society, adding that adult education is a component part of the free education policy of the government, calling on those yet to benefit from the programme to do so as there was no limitation.

She congratulated beneficiaries of the basic and vocational programme for completing their studies, charging them to contribute their quota to the socioeconomic development of the state.

Saki West LG boss pledges better life for citizens THE newly appointed caretaker chairman, Saki West Local Government Area, Honourable Kareem Adegoke, has promised new lease of life for the people of the area.

The caretaker chairman pledged to turnaround the council area during a chat at his office recently.

He disclosed that his priority would be provision of potable water, grading/expansion of feeder roads as well as provision of preventive medicine to the people and other social amenities.

He added that his administration would also ensure the upgrading of the maternity health centres, primary schools and empowerment of farmers, traders, youths and women.

Security and provision of other social infrastructures and staff welfare would not be left out while the traditional institution would, according to the local government boss, be accorded deserved respect.

Honourable Kareem thanked Governor Abiola Ajimobi for appointing him to serve the people of Saki West, pledging that the governor would not be disappointed.

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Ondo LG poll: Vote for PDP candidates, party leader urges electorate

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Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader in Ile Oluji/Okeigbo Local Government Area of Ondo State, Alhaji Nasiru Akinromade, has called on the electorate in his council area, and the state in general, to ensure the continuity of PDP government in the state.

He made the call ahead of the Saturday, April 23 local government election in the state.

According to Alhaji Akinromade, the PDP administration under Governor Olusegun Mimiko had performed wonderful well which required that such a type of government be brought to the local government level.

Oye LG boss promises adequate support to FUOYE VC

Akinromade, however, urged the electorate to ensure peace before, during and after the local government election, stressing that it is only in a peaceful

atmosphere that development and progress can thrive.

He described Governor Mimiko as the best governor so far in Nigeria who

has brought a lot of monumental achievements to his state.

He stressed further that all the PDP chairmanship and councillorships

candidates are men and women of unquestionable characters, highly intelligent and ready to serve the people of the state if voted in.

NBUN decries increase in prices of cows THE South-West Coordinator of the National Butcher’s Union of Nigeria (NBUN), Alhaji Biliamin Eleshin-meta, has decried incessant increase in the prices of cows.

NBUN coordinator urged the Federal Government to wade into the situation.

Eleshin-meta disclosed this at the zonal meeting of the union, held at the Union House, Olorunsogo area in Ona-Ara Local Government Area of Oyo State.

Eleshin-meta said that cow meat business is no more profitable as it was before.

He urged the Federal Government to find a lasting solution to the insecurity situation in the northern part of the country which was blamed for the increase in the price of cow.

Chief Kolawole is dead

From right, Manager, Skyrum Cocoa Production Industry, Ede, Mr Li zhi Feng; Assistant Manager, Ms Song Lim; Governor Rauf Aregbesola; his deputy, Mrs Titi Laoye-Tomori and others, watching production and packaging of cocoa product, during a facility tour of the newly resuscitated cocoa industry in Ede,last week.

By Gbenga Olumide

THE Chairman of Oye Local Government Area of Ekiti State, Mr Tayo Ogundare, has reiterated his support for the administration of newly appointed Vice Chancellor of the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti (Fuoye), Professor Kayode Soremekun.

Ogundare gave the assurance during his official visit to Professor Soremekun at his office, Oye-Ekiti, at the weekend.

The chairman pointed out that the support gave to the administration of former vice chancellor would be extended to the leadership of Professor Soremekun to ensure his successful stay in the institution.

While charging the vice chancellor to use his wealth of experience to increase the internal generating revenue, Ogundare promised to partner with the institution in the areas of environmental and security.

In his response, Professor Soremekun described the visit of the local government boss and his team as timely and called for understanding between the university community and the council authorities.

The vice chancellor said the school is planning to have the Faculty of Pharmacy in Oye Campus and called on Ekiti sons and daughters to come together to defeat underdevelopment.

Nigerian Tribune

Chief Registrar, High Court of Justice, Ibadan, Oyo State, Mrs Abimbola Olatunji-Daniel (right), presenting a gift to the retired Director of Finance and Account of the court, Mr Mark Ademola Adeyemi, while his wife, Ruth, watches, during the sendforth, held on the court premises, Ring Road, Ibadan, on Tuesday. PHOTO: ALOLADE GANIYU.

Ajimobi condoles with Oyo APC chairman over wife’s death OYO State governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, has described Madam Felicia Oke, the late wife of the state Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Akin Oke, as a dependable ally and staunch loyalist who stood by her husband and the party from the days of the struggle to wrestle power from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) till her demise.

The governor commiserated with the chairman, APC faithful across the state and the entire members of the Oke family on the sad occurrence.

A statement by the Special Adviser, Communication and Strategy, to the governor, Mr Yomi Layinka, on Sunday, said that the deceased would be sorely missed by all.

She died at the age of 72, in Ibadan, on Saturday, during an illness.

The governor recalled what he described as the immense contributions of the late matriarch of the Oke’s family to the success of the APC at the last general election at the state and federal levels.

The statement reads: “Standing stoutly beside her husband like the bibli-

cal Esther, she was ever so strong, loyal, loving and caring for him, for their family and for all who had the good fortune of an encounter with her.

“She contributed immensely to the struggle by the progressives to wrestle power from the PDP and had remained a strong pillar of the party till her demise.

“Not only was she a jewel of a wife, a doting mother to her children, a dutiful leader in her community, she was in fact a true believer in the imperative of building a new society in which the common good

prevails above the private gains of a few.

“She was indeed egalitarian. Thankfully, our very dear Mama lived a fulfilled life and left worthy legacies behind.”

Ajimobi prayed for the repose of the soul of the deceased, while beseeching the Almighty to give her immediate and extended families the fortitude to bear the loss.

The governor also prayed that God should comfort the bereaved APC chairman and give him the strength to carry on in the absence of his darling wife of many years.

A former Commissioner for Local Government Service Commission in Oyo State, Chief Ayoade Folorunso Kolawole, is dead.

Aged 85, Chief Kolawole died on March 26, 2016.

An accountant by training and Sobaloju of Eruwa until his death, he was administration manager at RT Briscoe in Lagos.

He was a board member, Oyo State Water Corporation between 1979 and 1981. Chief Kolawole was appointed Oyo State Commissioner for Local Government Service Commission between 1984 and 1989.

He was President, Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Scale Industries (NASSI) from 1989 to 1994.

His managerial acumen saw him appointed as a member of the board of Raw Materials Research and Development Council in 1992.

He also held various positions including being appointed chairman, small scale industrial programme of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE).

He was also a member of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru as well as his membership of the governing council of The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Eruwa Campus.

Chief Kolawole is survived by an aged wife, children and grandchildren. Burial arrangements will be announced later by the family.

Chief Ayoade Folorunso Kolawole

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Monday, 18 April, 2016

Falana cautions Dogara on amendment of CCT Act Ayomide Owonibi Oddekanyin-Lagos

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UMAN Rights activist and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, has called on the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, not to support the move to amend the Code of Conduct Bureau and Code of Conduct Tribunal Act. Falana added that the passing of such legislation would be illegal and unconstitutional.

Falana, in a letter to Dogara, said the fact that the National Assembly was commencing deliberation on amending the CCB and CCT Act at a time the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, was being prosecuted under the same statute, was improper.

“In view of the ongoing trial of the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, before the Code of Conduct Tribunal over his alleged failure to declare his assets, the hasty move to amend the Act is insensitive, suspicious, self serving and opportunistic. It is also illegal and unconstitutional in several respects,”

Mr Falana said.

The senior advocate also argued that Saraki’s decision to remove himself from presiding over the Senate whenever the body wanted to deliberate the amendment was not a sufficient excuse to make the process legal.

“Secondly, notwithstanding that the Senate President has decided not to preside over the plenary in the Senate whenever the bill is being debated, the whole exercise is a clear violation of paragraph 1 of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers enshrined

in Part 1 of the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution which stipulates that “A public officer shall not put himself in a position where his personal interest conflicts with his duties and responsibilities,” he said.

Falana said the amendment, if passed into law,

would be illegal because its objectives had already been addressed in the Constitution.

“Where the provision in the Act is within the legislative powers of the National Assembly but the Constitution is found to have already made the

Most foods served in joints, restaurants unsuitable for consumption —Tony Momoh Bola Badmus- Lagos

FORMER Minister of Information and Culture, Mr Tony Momoh, has called on government in all tiers to ensure proper monitoring and regulation of foods served in fast foods joints and restaurants across the country, saying most of them were not fit for consumption.

Momoh, who is the Executive Secretary, Consumer Rights Projects, said this in Lagos, at the weekend, while speaking on the occasion of the 2016 World Consumer Rights Day. Speaking at the event with the theme: “Antibiotic off the Menu;” organised by

Consumer Rights Projects, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Momoh pointed out that what had since been discovered was that some cattle, rams, chickens, among others, served to consumers as fast foods were not fit for consumption, as, according to him, the animals “are put on antibiotics without controlling it.”

The former minister, who was represented by Dr Taiwo Ayodeji, said it was a common knowledge that manufacturers and providers of products and services strive to fulfill the needs and wants of consumers with the intention to increase sales

and profits.

He said they might be tempted to engage in unfair practices like adulteration, defective and harmful products, false and misleading advertisement, among others, and therefore, the need for the government to protect consumers against such practices of sellers and service providers.

“The rights of consumers should be taken with utmost regard because it is a right that affects everybody irrespective of age or gender. Therefore, we must stand up against all market abuses and social injustices that undermine the right of consumers,” Momoh said.

Momoh, who said issues of health were taken seriously abroad, called for enforcement to be done by all tiers of governments in the country, from Federal down to states and local governments, through engagement of adequate manpower and structures as well as setting up data base.

“There must be proper and adequate monitoring.

There must be a data base, they don’t have data base.

They must have data base of these fast foods and restaurants and what have you. At least, there must be information about them, then their kitchens must be inspected, are they hygienic environments?”

APC to drag NASS to court over power of appropriation Kolawole Daniel-Abuja

THE National Vice Chairman (South South) of All Progressives Congress (APC), Prince Hilliard Eta, on Sunday, said that the party would soon approach the court of law to determine the power of the National Assembly on appropriation bill, in view of the current crisis trailing the 2016 Appropriation Bill awaiting the assent of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The party in the zone also expressed disappointment by the role played by the chairman of the Senate Appropriation Committee, Senator Danjuma Goje and his counterpart in the House of Representatives, Honourable Abdulmumin Jibrin, over the budget impasse.

In a statement issued in Abuja, Prince Eta said that, “we shall approach the

courts of the land for a clear interpretation of the role of the National Assembly in the passing of the National Budget as it is evident that it overstepped its bounds by unnecessarily tinkering with the budget when its constitutional duty is mainly supervisory.”

He equally stated that, “It is pertinent to at this point, conduct a re-examination of the powers of the legislature to establish if really, it has the power to doctor and alter projects or totally remove them from the budget even after the Minister under whose ministry the said projects fell under, had credibly defended them and justified their inclusion.”

According to him, “we are very upset that our representatives at the National Assembly would discard decorum and hinder progressive change by acting at

variance with the infrastructure development agenda of the APC led Federal Government.”

To this end, he said that, “The arbitrary removal of the Lagos – Calabar rail track by the National Assembly from the 2016 budget is a display of depraved indifference to the welfare of Nigerians.

“The deletion is not just arbitrary; it is a big disservice to the people of Nigeria, particularly the South South zone, which the proposed railway track would have traversed.”

Speaking further, he said, “the total rehabilitation of the collapsed and terrible Calabar – Odukpani –Itu – Ikot Ekpene federal high-

CCT amendment bill: SERAP drags Senate to UN over ‘legislative rascality’ SOCIO-ECONOMIC Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has petitioned Professor Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, asking him to “use your good offices and position to urgently request the National Assembly of Nigeria, specifically the Senate, to withdraw amendments

to the Code of Conduct Bureau and Code of Conduct Tribunal Act, which if passed into law would seriously weaken the act, undermine the fight against corruption in the country, exacerbate extreme poverty and violations of internationally recognised human rights.”

In the petition dated April 15, 2016 and signed

Buhari’s foreign trips beneficial —APC scribe ALHAJI Maimala Buni, the National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), on Sunday, said Nigeria’s economy would get a boost as a result of President Muhammadu Buhari’s foreign trips.

The APC‘s National Secretary said this in Damaturu, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

“Nigeria is in dire need of partners with technical expertise to develop its infrastructure.

“There is a deliberate effort by the President Buhari administration to build functional infrastructure, develop agriculture, create employment and diversify the economy; so, we need support from countries with the expertise.

“The president has to be there to demonstrate his commitment to wooing investors and assuring them of the enabling environment to invest in the country,” he said.

Buni said all the countries

way, which was allotted six billion naira by the Federal Government in the budget was doctored and almost five billion naira removed and reallocated to a nonexistent project in the constituency of the chairman of the House of Representatives Appropriation Committee, Abdulmumin Jibrin, in Kano State.

same or similar provision, then the new provision will be regarded as invalid for duplication and or inconsistency and therefore inoperative. The same fate will befall any provision of the Act which seeks to enlarge, curtail or alter any existing provision of the Constitution. The provision or provisions will be treated as unconstitutional and therefore null and void.

“In the light of the authoritative pronouncement of the Supreme Court on lack of legislative powers on the part of the National Assembly to enact laws which have similar provisions to those of the Constitution, section 3 of the Act has become a duplication of the relevant constitutional provision.

Consequently, its proposed amendment is illegal and unconstitutional. In other words, without amending the relevant provisions of the Constitution, the proposed amendment of the Act is an exercise in futility.

As the proposed amendment cannot alter, enlarge or curtail the relevant provisions of the Constitution the Senate ought not to continue to waste precious time and resources on the illegal exercise.

“Since the Constitution has prohibited the enactment of ex post facto laws in circumstances of this nature, the National Assembly ought to know that the ongoing moves to amend the Act cannot have any effect on the celebrated trial of the Senate President.”

visited by the President have developed agriculture, power supply and vibrant economy that can assist Nigeria to develop her economy.

“If you look at China for instance, it has the capacity to support Nigeria to build a functional rail transport, road network, build refineries to improve gas and energy and develop the manufacturing sector,” he said.

He urged Nigerians to support the Federal Government in its quest to

build functional and efficient infrastructure to impact positively on the lives of the people.

“It is noteworthy that President Buhari got favourable responses from these countries to partner with Nigeria in various sectors that will build the economy.

“This administration is committed to improving the lives of Nigerians and these foreign trips will fast track and enhance infrastructural development and the economy,” Buni added.

by SERAP executive director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, the organisation expressed “serious concern that the Senate of Nigeria will any moment from now pass amendments to Public Officers Protection Act; Administration of Criminal Justice Act; Code of Conduct Bureau Act and the Code of Conduct Tribunal Act with the political objective of securing a soft-landing for the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, who is facing corruption charges.”

The petition copied to Mr Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Conference of States Parties to the UN Convention against Corruption, reads in part: “SERAP considers these amendments to be in bad faith, patently an abuse of legislative powers, politically biased, and demonstrably unjustified in a democratic and representative society governed by the rule of law, and incompatible with the country’s international hu-

man rights obligations and commitments, particularly the UN Convention against Corruption, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which Nigeria has ratified.”

“SERAP also considers the amendments to amount to “legislative rascality,” as they are not legitimate exercise of legislative power, and if allowed can exacerbate extreme poverty and violations of the right to an adequate standard of living of Nigerians and other human rights.”

“The amendments also threaten the injunction that government must be accountable, responsive and open; that public institutions must not only be held to account but must also be governed by high standards of ethics, efficiency and must use public resources in an effective manner.”

33 news I didn’t donate N70m at Mrs Buhari’s book launch —Bello

Denies obtaining bank loan to fund state APC stakeholders call for Bello’s resignation Yinka Oladoyinbo-Lokoja

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OGI State governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, on Sunday, said he never donated N70 million during the book launch organised by wife of the president, Mrs Aishat Buhari, even as he denied the allegation that he had applied for a multimillion naira loan from one of the leading banks in the country.

The Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Kingsley Fanwo, in a statement said Bello is a “focused leader who cannot be cowed by the media war against him by opponents who are bent on subverting the state’s march to greatness.”

He added that “the governor is bigger and far more sophisticated than the pedestrian allegations against his person and the government of Kogi State.”

According to the CPS, the allegation against the governor that he donated N70 million at a book launch organised by the first lady, smacks of “laughable political desperation to brazenly slaughter truth.

“The book launch was organised by the nation’s first lady to garner support for the families of the abducted Chibok girls which was attended by Governor Yahaya Bello to lend support to the traumatised families of the girls.”

Fanwo also said the governor had not approached any bank for loan, saying the loan story was aimed at distracting the governor from his programmes in the state.

Governor Bello, who also spoke through his Special Adviser on Media and Strategy, Mallam Abdulkarim Abdulmalik, on the vote of no confidence passed on him by the state executive of the APC, said it was his constitutional responsibility to appoint his personal aides, provided the person meet up with the requirement as stipulated by the law of the land.

The governor said he was yet to be informed by the national secretariat of APC about the resolution, adding that he was running an allinclusive government.

He said the APC leadership was free to recommend anybody for any appointment, provided the person meet certain criteria for such position.

He said his government was working towards unity, saying his doors were always open to accommodate

everybody, irrespective of religion, ethnic and political differences.

Meanwhile, the crisis between the Kogi State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, continued on Sunday, as the stakeholders of the party demanded the resignation of the governor.

The people argued that since the platform on which Bello rode to become the governor had passed a vote of no confidence on him,the most honourable thing for him was to resign along with his deputy, Simon Achuba.

Speaking with newsmen in Lokoja, the state capital, Mr Ben Adaji accused the governor of rendering the party’s hierarchy useless in the scheme of things in the state, saying with the vote of no confidence coming from the party, Bello could not lead the state.

“What we are saying is that if the platform he claims he represents, the platform he claims brought him to power will go to the public glare to disown him and passed vote of no confidence on him, he has no justification for remaining on that seat as governor, he should resign, Alhaji Yahaya Bello should resign honourably and allow the party in Kogi State to function as it is in other states of the federation.

“It is evident that Yahaya Bello has nothing to give to the people of Kogi State.

His three months sojourn as governor has clearly exposed him that he is incompetent, he lacks the capability and the technical know-how to lead this state, we should not allow Kogi State to die, that is why as stakeholders in APC in Kogi State, we are calling on Yahaya Bello to resign honourably because the platform he claimed brought him to power has said that he is not capable of leading them, that means he is not capable of leading the people of Kogi State,” he said.

But reacting to the call for his resignation, Bello, who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Kingsley Fanwo, noted that since the allegations levelled against him that led to the purported passage of the vote were baseless and unsubstantiated, there was no point for him to resign.

He accused those behind the vote and the call for resignation as the same set of people that had always opposed the choice of Bello as the candidate of the party, after the death of the late Prince Abubakar Audu.

“There is no point for the governor to resign because the allegations that brought about the alleged vote of no confidence was baseless as there was also nothing like appointment of 45 people as being claimed by the SEC members.”

Assembly crisis: Constituency

threatens to recall lawmaker Yinka Oladoyinbo-Lokoja

THE lingering crisis in the Kogi State Assembly continued on Sunday, as the people of Kogi Local Government Area threatened to recall their representive at the assembly, Honourable Mohammed Zakari Osewu, over his roles in the crisis.

They vowed to recall the lawmaker over his continued allegiance to the faction being led by the embattled Speaker, Honourable Momoh Jimoh Lawal.

Zakari, who represents Kogi/Koton-Karfe state constituency in the assembly, was accused of working against the interest of the people that elected him.

Zakari and nine other members that are loyal to the embattled speaker, Lawal, were, on Tuesday, suspended by members loyal to the factional speaker, Umar Imam.

The people argued that they elected the legislator to represent them and protect their interest, adding that he had so far not lived up to their expectation.

The group, in a statement signed by the party chairman, Alhaji Yusuf Omoko and 12 others, expressed concern over Zakari’s suspension from the House, lamenting that the development was not in the best interest of the people of Kogi/Koton-Karfe.

The spokesman of the people, Honourable Shaban Ohinoyi, shortly after their meeting in Lokoja, also said: “We have unanimously agreed to withdraw our support in reaction to the suspension announcement in various media of Honourable Zakari Mohammed Osewu.

“The local government cannot afford to lose its chances because of the lingering crisis in the state House of Assembly.”

Monday, 18 April, 2016

Nigerian Tribune

34

news

Monday, 18 April, 2016

Fuel thieves surface in Benin over scarcity Banji Aluko-Benin City

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OLLOWING prolonged fuel crisis, a new wave of crime has surfaced in Benin City, Edo State, as some criminal elements now force open the tank covers of parked vehicles and scoop fuel from them.

This was coming at a time price per litre of fuel oscillates between N190 and N220 in many filling stations in the Edo State capital.

Findings showed that the trend of scooping fuel from parked vehicles, which is usually carried out at night on vehicles parked outside fenced compounds, was first reported about two weeks ago.

The act has, however, gained notoriety in the last few days as many people complained that fuel was scooped from their vehicles overnight.

The act was said to be rampant in areas such as

New Benin, Ekenwa Road, Silouko Road and Upper Sakponba Road, where houses were largely unfenced and vehicles parked outside.

Fuel hawkers, popularly referred to as black mar-

keters, were feared to be the brain behind the stealing of fuel from parked cars.

One of the victims of the act, 29-year-old taxi driver, Samson Ugiagbe, said 20 litres of fuel was siphoned

from his parked vehicle, threatening to invoke juju on the perpetrators of the act.

Another victim, Elder Francis Onoiribholo, said the tank cover of his Audi 80 was damaged and the

THE National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) has dissociated itself from the call for the scrapping of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) as recently called for by a team of people led by Ugochinyere Ikenga.

The caretaker committee of the council stated this in a press release issued and

Soji-Eze Fagbemi-Abuja

THE Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) said on Sunday that the amendment to the Act establishing the Code of Conduct Bureau and the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), at this time when the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, is undergoing trial under the Act, “is suspect and fraught with danger.”

A statement signed by the NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, wondered while it took the trial of the Senate President for the Senate to discover the flaws in the law(s), warning that the timing was suspect, contrary to

signed by its chairman and secretary; Comrade Ibukun Oluwole and Balarabe Rufai, respectively, a copy which was made available to the Nigerian Tribune.

The committee stated that the team was not a representation of the council, but noted that the team was led by a legislative aide to the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki.

According to the state-

Group faults call for sack of DSS boss Ademola Adegbite-Lafia

THE New Initiative for Credible Leadership (NICL), on Sunday, faulted the ultimatum issued to President Muhammadu Buhari by the Campaign for Democracy (CD) to sack the Director of Department of State Services (DSS), Lawal Musa Daura, saying the call was ill-timed and meant to prevent some suspects from facing the full wrath of the law.

In a statement issued and signed by the organisation’s Executive Secretary, Rev Steven Onwu, a copy of which was made available to the Nigerian Tribune in Abuja, therefore, described the call as laughable.

According to the statement, “it is laughable because it was issued in favour of a separatist group whose members had repeatedly stressed that they do not recognise Nigeria and the Federal Government in addition to persistently calling the nation a ‘zoo’ and its citizens ‘animals.’

sale of petrol in jerry cans by petrol stations.

It was, however, observed that the ban was of no effect as petrol stations continued to sell fuel in jerry cans unabated.

Saraki’s trial: CCT amendment fraught with danger —NLC the defence put up by the Deputy Senate President.

Comrade Wabba said: “In the past one week, the Senate initiated a process for the amendment of the Act establishing the Code of Conduct Bureau and the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT). It cited as reasons for the amendment, the need to give every public officer (appearing before the tribunal) a fair hearing, justice and equity (in line with the provisions of Section 36[2] [a] of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the need to remove from political control, the two bodies which now play a critical role in

the administration of criminal justice system.

“In furtherance of its objective, the Senate fasttracked the process of this amendment via two readings (first and second) within 48 hours. It has also set in motion the process for removing the jurisdictional powers of CCT on criminal matters via the amendment of the Administration of the Criminal Justice Act. In consideration of the fact that sometimes in most climes, corruption trials are triggered by reasons other than corruption, it makes a lot of sense to create legislations that guar-

NYCN dissociates self from call to scrap CCT

By Tunde Ogunesan

small fuel left in the car scooped.

Meanwhile, the state chairman of the Edo State Petroleum Monitoring Committee, Amen Osunde, at the weekend announced the ban of the

“One is, therefore, at a loss as to why CD or Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has any interest in what happens to the “animals in a zoo.” On a serious note, CD’s call for Daura’s sack was made to detract from the severity of the atrocities that the DSS uncovered in the forest in Abia State where the bodies of Nigerians killed were found in shallow graves and the circumstances surrounding the killings is yet to be explained.

“If those citizens were killed by kidnappers as claimed in CD’s statement, why were the federal law enforcement agencies not brought in to investigate?

IPOB members hurriedly burying the bodies without notifying the victims’ next of kin, police or other security agencies implies several things.

“The members of the IPOB know that the time of reckoning has come for them to stand trial for crimes against the state and humanity.

ment, “The Leadership of the National Youth Council of Nigeria hereby dissociates itself from the call for the scrapping of CCT. It is the genuine aspiration of Nigeria Youths to live in an incorruptible society, despite the lack of great sense of commitment by government to uplift and advance the interest of youths; our rights to partner appropriately with government to frontally combat corruption in Nigeria remain very germane.

“We want to give the Office of the Senate President the benefit of doubt that he

is being misled and misguided by those political jobbers with machinations to hijack the leadership of NYCN fraudulently.

“The genuine leadership of National Youth Council of Nigeria was shocked to note from the media, the gathering of persons of dubious characters in the office of the Senate President on April 13, 2016 where the call for the scrapping of the Code of Conduct Tribunal was stated by one Ugochinyere Ikenga, who is a legislative aide to the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki.

PROBATE PUBLIC NOTICE

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly Miss Okunoye Funmilayo and Mrs Alao Funmilayo now Mrs Ogunlola Funmilayo Alao. All former documents remain valid. GENERAL PUBLIC TAKE NOTE. And I formerly Alao Behold now Ogunlola Behold Alao. All former documents remain valid. General Public take note.

I, Johu Enworo C/O his Solicitor John Enworo Esq of John Enworo & CO, Divine Chamber, No 1, OkeOla, Apomu, Osun State of Nigeria have applied to the probate Registry of the customary court of Appeal Osogbo for letters of Administration to administer the Estate of late Arinze Christian Chimezie of OkeOla Area, Apomu, Osun State, who died intestate on the 17th day of July, 2014. Any objection to the application is to be forwarded to th e probate Registry of customary court of Appeal, Osogbo within 14days of this notice.

antee fair trial and justice for the accused. Secondly, legislative amendments are part of the constitutional functions or duties of the National Assembly.

“However, we at the Nigeria Labour Congress hold the view that the noble intention of the Senate notwithstanding, the timing is suspect and fraught with danger. It is quite intriguing that it took the trial of the Senate President for the Senate to discover these flaws in the law(s).

“Putting it bluntly, in spite of the spirited defences by the Deputy Senate President to the contrary, not a few believe that this legislative move is a desperate attempt to

CHANGE OF NAME

scuttle the trial of the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, at CCT. “On our part, we do not think the privileges of the Senate President extend to exemptions from civil or criminal trials. At the moment, only the President and his Vice, the Governor and his Deputy enjoy this rare privilege. Thus, what the Senate is trying to do is no more than a legislative ambush.

“We need not remind the Senate that we are all equal or ought to be equal before the law, in spite of our stations in life. We similarly believe that the fight against corruption should be total and not selective.”

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Monday, 18 April, 2016

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CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly Sonuga Muyiwa Olusesi now ADENIYI OLUSESI POROKU. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly Alesinloye Omoba Osuolale now SULAIMAN OSUOLALE ALESINLOYE. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly Miss Beggie Tounbra Cynthia now MRS AFEKORO TOUNBRA CYNTHIA EBIYE. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

I, formerly Miss Olatunbosun Basirat Olamide now MRS ERINOSHO BASIRAT OLAMIDE. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

I, formerly Miss Elizabeth Olubukola Akinloye now MRS ELIZABETH OLUBUKOLA ADIO. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly Adeyemi Modupe Margaret now OGUNBIYI MARGARET MODUPEOLA. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly Miss Solola Olufunmilola Bisi now MRS MORENIKEJI OLUFUNMILOLA BISI. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly Owoyemi Teslim now SAMUEL EMMANUEL OWOYEMI. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly Afolabi Damilola Sarah now AFOLABI DAMILOLA SARAH ABOSEDE. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly Mr. Adewunmi Adeleke Caleb Dabiri now MR CALEB IBUKUNOLUWA ADEWUNMI. All former documents remain valid.

LAUTECH Ogbomoso, University of Ibadan, British Deputy High Commission and general public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly Makinde Monsurat Morenikeji now MAKINDE MARIAM MOROMOKE. All former documents remain valid. Stanbic IBTC and general public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly Ottanwa Agbo Ambrose now OTTANWA GABRIEL ANEBI. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly Owolabi Aina now AKINOLA MODUPE CHRISTIANAH. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly Miss Dada Olubusayo Omobolanle now MRS ONI OLUBUSAYO OMOBOLANLE. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

My name, Ishima Sunday Ikpe was wrongly written as Ishimah Sunday Ipe. My correct name is ISHIMA SUNDAY IKPE. All documents remain valid. IBTC and general public take note.

I, formerly Adesokan Olametan Motilola now ASAOLU MOTILOLA OLAMETAN. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly Miss Aromremure Maria now MRS RUADJERE MARIA. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly Samson Ayapere Robinson now MOROCCO ROBINSON. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME

I, formerly Shittu Christiana Kabirat now KUSHIMO CHRISTIANA KABIRAT. All former documents remain valid.

FCMB Plc, Wema Bank Plc, Access Bank Plc and Fidelity Bank Plc and general public take note.

I, formerly Miss Oloruntobi Asiat Olaranti now MRS MUILI ASIAT OLARANTI. All former documents remain valid. FUTA and general public take note.

I, Kadiri Emmanuel Tunde am the same person as Tunde Abiodun Kadiri. Henceforth, I want to be known and addressed as TUNDE ABIODUN KADIRI. All documents bearing these names remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly Miss Olanipekun Khalimat Ronke now MRS OLADELE KHALIMAT RONKE. All former documents remain valid. Ibolo Microfinance Bank, GTBank Plc and general public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME

I, Oshilim Gabriel Ekene Marie am the same person as Oshilim Gabriel Ekene. Now, I wish to be known and addressed as OSHILIM GABRIEL EKENE MARIE. All documents bearing these names remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly Adeshina Kofoworola Busola now ADESINA KOFOWOROLA BUSOLA. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

I, formerly Oloyede Samson Kolapo now OLOYEDE SAMSON KOLADE. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

I, formerly Miss Uzosike Roseline Odinakachi and Dickson Boluwatife now MRS AJIKE ROSELINE ODINAKACHI. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME AND CORRECTION OF DATE OF BIRTH

I, formerly Afolabi Olufunmilayo Remilekun Bello now MRS AFOLABI BUSURATU ABEKE. My date of birth is 17/1/1957. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly Abondejo Musili Alari now MRS ODEYEMI MUSILI ALARI. All former documents remain valid.

Skye Bank Plc and general public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly Okoli Maria Efenji now EJIM MARIA EFENJI. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly Miss Adebimpe Bola Arike now MRS OLALEKAN BOLA ADEWUMI. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly Miss Animashaun Elizabeth Olukemi now MRS ALIMI ELIZABETH OLUKEMI. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly Araoye Boladayo Olusola now OYETOKI BOLADAYO OLUSOLA. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly Onifade Babatunde Micheal now ONIFADE BABATUNDE OLADEJI. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME

I, TELLA KAYODE SAMUEL am the same person as TELA KAYODE SAMUEL. Henceforth I wish to be known and addressed as TELLA KAYODE SAMUEL All documents bearing these names remain valid.

GTBank Plc and general public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME

I, Akinrefa Abosede Florence am the same person as Akinrefa Bose Florence. Henceforth, I wish to be known and addressed as AKINREFA ABOSEDE FLORENCE. All documents bearing these names remain valid. First Bank Plc, GTBank Plc and general public take note.

I, Owagbemi Tunde Ojo am the same person as Owagbemi Babatunde Oluwaseun. Now, I wish to be known and addressed as OWAGBEMI TUNDE OJO. All documents bearing these names remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly Owoku Ebis now OWOKU SIMEON EBIYAIPAMENE. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

I, formerly Miss Omolola Sandra Ogundairo now MRS OLUSOJI OMOLOLA SANDRA. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

I, Azeez Akeem Adewale am the same person as Akeem Adewale Azeez. Henceforth, I wish to be known and addressed as OBABI ADEWALE AKANDE. All documents bearing these names remain valid. General public take note.

I, formerly Miss Ibikunle Folakemi Florence now MRS ONABANJO FOLAKEMI FLORENCE. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly Miss Bigha Divine Ebikefe now MRS UGBEH DIVINE EBIKEFE. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly Joseph Ufuoma Ogheneochuko now JOSEPH UFUOMA JAKPA. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly Miss Nwachukwu Ifeyinwa now MRS. KAREEM-NWACHUKWU IFEYINWA. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

I, formerly Anuebunwa Lewis Ndeh now ANUEBUNWA LOUIS NDEH. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

I, formerly Miss Daramola Omolara Damilola now MRS. AJAYI OMOLARA DAMILOLA. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

I, formerly Olawole Sikiru Alade now OLAWOLE SAMUEL ALADE. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

I, formerly Miss Oladele Modupeola Temitope now MRS. ODELOLA MODUPEOLA TEMITOPE. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

I, write to confirm that I am the same person bearing these three names (1) Sulaimon A. Adeniyi (2) Sulaimon Adeniyi Atanda (3) Sulaimon Atanda Babatunde. All documents bearing these names refer to me and remain valid. UBA Plc., Diamond Bank Plc., and general public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly Miss Olohijei Ayishat Musa now MRS. OLOHIJEI ALOKHA. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CONFIRMATION OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly Miss Ajayi Blessing Oluwabukola now MRS. AJILEYE BLESSING OLUWABUKOLA. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly Sulaiman Akeem B. now SULAIMON HAKEEM BIODUN. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly Durodola Tajudeen now MR HAMZAT TAJUDEEN. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly Nndudiri Zibu Offor now OFFOR EUZEBIUS NDUDIRI. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly Abudullahi Abu Sodiq now ABUDULLAHI ABU. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly Miss Olayiwola Taiwo Temilade now MRS. ADEAGBO TAIWO TEMILADE. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly Obekwu Christopher now KEKPE CHRISTOPHER JOHNSON. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly Miss Aminat Julianah Oluwatoyin Alaka now MRS JULIANA OLUWATOYIN GUNSANU ADELEKE. All former documents remain valid. Skye Bank Plc, UBA Plc, Oyo State Sports Council and general public take note.

I, formerly Miss Ogundiya Ayokunnu Esther now MRS JAYEOLA AYOKUNNU ESTHER. All former documents remain valid.

GTBank Plc and general public take note.

I, formerly Sikirat Shade Raji now RAJI DHIKIRAT FOLASHADE. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

I, formerly Okunade-Igboho Tomi Doyin (Mrs) now OKUNADE TOMI DOYIN (MRS). All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

I, formerly Miss Eze Grace Nkiruka now MRS. EZEDINACHI GRACE NKIRUKA. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

I, formerly Miss Awodoyin Rachael Omotoyosi now MRS AFOLABI RACHAEL OMOTOYOSI. All former documents remain valid. GTBank Plc, Lead City University and general public take note.

I, formerly Adeleye Folasade Victoria now MRS. AKINYEMI FOLASADE VICTORIA. All former documents remain valid.

Emmanuel Alayande College of Education, Oyo, and general public take note.

I, formerly Ohilebo Serah Saviola now OHILEBO AANUOLUWAPO SERAH. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

I, formerly Akinwale Ifedolapo Tomisin now BALOGUN IFEDOLAPO TOMISIN HEPHZIBAH. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

I, formerly Mr Oriade Faith Adegbuyi now MR ORIADE CHRISTOPHER GBUYI. All former documents remain valid. Wema Bank Plc, Union Bank Plc and general public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME

I, Hassan Samuel am the same person as Oladunjoye Sikiru Kayode.

Henceforth, I want to be known and addressed as OLADUNJOYE SIKIRU KAYODE. All documents bearing these names remain valid. Sterling Bank Plc, Skye Bank Plc and general public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME AND DATE OF BIRTH

I, formerly Olubude Ireti Muyiwa now OLUBUDE IRETI SAMSON. My date of birth was wrongly written as 3rd September, 1985 instead of 3rd September, 1988.

All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly Miss Victoria Sunday Philip now MRS VICTORIA UWEM ETIM. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME I, Sanni Salamat am the same person as Yakubu Salamat. Henceforth, I wish to be known and addressed as SANNI SALAMAT. All documents bearing these names remain valid.

First Bank Plc, Wema Bank Plc and general public take note.

I, formerly Miss Alabi Omotolani Mariam now MRS TIJANI OMOTOLANI MARIAM. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly Miss Oladipupo Yemisi Mojisola now MRS AJAYI YEMISI MOJISOLA. All former documents remain valid. General public/ authorities concerned take note.

I, formerly Sarafa Olaiya now OLALEKAN SARAFA OYEOLORUN. My correct date of birth is 10th July, 1973 and not 10th July, 1873. All former documents remain valid. UBA Plc., Sterling Bank Plc., and general public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME

I, Chiawa Samson Ifeanyi am the same person bearing Josephat Samson Chiawa. Henceforth, I want to be known and addressed as CHIAWA SAMSON IFEANYI. My correct date of birth is 21st January, 1984 and not July 14th, 1984. All documents bearing these names refer to me and remain valid. First Bank Plc., and general public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME

I, Owoeye Adewale Adetoba am the same person bearing Owoeye Adewale David. Henceforth, I want to be known and addressed as OWOEYE ADEWALE ADETOBA. All documents bearing these names refer to me and remain valid.

Diamond Bank Plc., and general public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

CONFIRMATION OF NAME

I, Okewumi Sunday Oluwafemi am the same person bearing Okewumi Samuel Oluwafemi. Henceforth, I want to be known and addressed as OKEWUMI OLUWAFEMI SUNDAY SAMUEL. All documents bearing these names refer to me and remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CONFIRMATION OF NAME I, Asonibare Stephen Omoniyi and Shonibare Tunde now I want to be known, called and addressed as ASONIBARE STEPHEN OMONIYI. All documents bearing these names remain valid. Access Bank Plc and general public take note.

I, formerly Miss Bolaji Bukola Olanrewaju now MRS. AKINADE BUKOLA OLANREWAJU. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

I, formerly Miss Obadimeji Ayomide Yetunde now MRS OYELAMI AYOMIDE FAITH YETUNDE. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

I, formerly Taiwo Temitope Sadiat now ADEBAYO TEMITOPE SADIAT. All former documents remain valid. Sterling Bank Plc., FCMB Bank Plc., and general public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

news Fresh controversy rocks FCT council poll

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Monday, 18 April, 2016

•As APGA kicks, seeks official declaration of candidate as winner Christian Okeke -Abuja

T

HE last may not have been heard of recent area councils election in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), as the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), on Sunday, called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the FCT to officially declare its candidate for Gwagwalada Area Council, Honourable Adamu Mustapha Danze, winner of the poll.

The party said its candidate, having scored the highest number of lawful votes cast after the collation of results from various polling booths, with a total figure of 15,312, as against the All Proggressives Congress 14,546 and the Peoples Democratic Party’s 6,082, he should be declared winner.

It said according to a reliable source and information available to the party, there was pressure on INEC not to declare APGA the winner, as it would be a shame for APC candidate to be defeated in an election

by APGA candidate.

In a statement by its director of publicity, Ifeanacho Oguejiofor, APGA said the party was informed that pressures were allegedly mounted on INEC officials not to announce APGA as the winner of the election, only for the returning officer in the election to cancel

two wards’ results and declare the election inconclusive.

He said, however, that

APGA wished to caution INEC to be mindful of its actions and not to collude with unpatriotic politicians

and anti—democratic forces to deny it victory.

“INEC should allow the votes of the people to count

From left, Edo State Commissioner of Police, Mr Chris Ezike; Governor Adams Oshiomhole; a traditional ruler and the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Solomon Arase, during the inauguration of Mopol 90 Police Barracks, built by the state government, at the weekend.

el-Rufai shuts Government House clinic KADUNA State governor, Nasir el-Rufai, has ordered the closure of the Government House clinic in the state.

The governor also gave the directive that medical personnel of the clinic be redeployed to general hospitals, while asking the

Government House staff to be using public hospitals “like other citizens of the state.”

Samuel Aruwan, spokesman of the governor, who confirmed the development to journalists, said the decision was taken in order to boost healthcare

system in the state.

“There are not enough doctors in the public health system in Kaduna State, therefore, it is not prudent to assign doctors, nurses and other medical staff to serve Government House alone,” he said.

“It is clearly more benefi-

G-20 Kwara youth association kicks against Saraki’s trial at CCT IRKED by what it described as persecution of Kwara political leader, the G-20 Kwara Youth Association has berated the process of trial of the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).

In a statement signed by the co-ordinator of G-20 Kwara Youth Association, Mr M. J. Alli Baba, the whole process of trial, ranging from the witness and the conduct of the Justice Danladi-led crew, was a ruse and full of mischief.

Alli Baba said: “From all indications, the process was like a script acting; why was an asset declared as far back as 2003 now suddenly become an issue for litigation 13 years after? Why has the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) issued certificates of compliance to Dr Saraki on subsequent declarations in 2007, 2011 and 2015 when it knew of alledged infractions in the 2003 declarations?

Why is it that only Dr Saraki was singled out among the

without any manipulation from any quarter, especially from the electoral body,” he said.

2003 class of governors who equally declared their assets and got certified? All these put a question mark on the integrity of the process.

These are genuine questions that point to one thing, “the CCT trial is tainted by political vendetta.”

The G-20 co-ordinator queried that if another party chieftain was freed

and was never recalled under the same law, why the chase of shadow in the issue of Saraki?

He warned that the All Progressives Congressives (APC) should thread the path of caution as such may consume the party; more importantly, when the personality involved was one of those that

added value to the party during the campaign that brought APC to power.

Alli Baba declared that the nation was tottering on the precipice of economic crunch, adding that the three arms of the government must not be divided to collectively fashion out solutions to the prevailing circumstances.

Strengthen public accountability mechanism, don tells Buhari

By Remi Anifowose PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has been advised to strengthen public accountability mechanisms through the conduct of corruption risk assessment, in order to win the war against corruption.

The founder, Spiritual Head and Chief Imam of Shafaudeen in Islam Worldwide, Professor Sabit Ariyo Olagoke, said this at the first anniversary of the Straight Times Magazine, at the Press Centre, Iya-

ganku, Ibadan, last week.

Professor Olagoke suggested that for Nigeria to be able to survive as a nation, there was the need to improve legislature and policy framework for transparency and accountability, building capacity of civil society organisations (CSOs) for anti-corruption initiative, as well as empowering youths through dynamic and innovative platform.

He said further that all these would go a long way in the procurement and imple-

mentation of government policies, adding that CSOs would assist in the report of budget monitoring and performance.

The spiritual leader reiterated that for government and its people to be able to achieve the objectives of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there was the need for an enabling environment of prudence, zero tolerance for corruption and a high level of discipline and determination of purpose.

cial to the wider society if the services of these medical personnel were made available to the public in a general hospital.

“In addition, it is better that everyone working at the Government House uses the same health facilities as the general public,” he added.

Aruwan said the directive had been implemented, disclosing that drugs and equipment in the clinic had been moved to the Yusuf Dansotho Hospital in Tudun Wada area of Kaduna.

“All drugs and medical equipment at the Government House Clinic have also been evacuated and are being put to use at the Yusuf Dansotho Hospital,” he said.

“From now on, all Government House staff requiring medical services will proceed to the nearest public hospital to the Government House, like other citizens of the state.

“It is expected that the management of the public hospitals will make good use of the medical personnel, drugs and equipment donated to them,” Aruwan added.

According to Aruwan, Muhammad Bello Armaya’u, medical director of Yusuf Dansotho Hospital, confirmed the receipt of the drugs and equipment.

ASUU decries cut in allocations to federal universities THE Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Abuja zone, has expressed displeasure over cut in allocation for personnel expenditure to federal universities by the Federal Government.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the ASUU, Abuja zonal coordinator, Professor Suleiman Muhammed, who briefed newsmen on Sunday, in Abuja, said that the cut had adversely affected the union.

He said that ASUU, Abuja zone, comprised University of Abuja, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nasarawa State University, Keffi and Ibrahim Babangida University, Lapai .

He said that relevant authorities like the Federal Ministry of Finance and Budget Office, seemed not to understand how the university system worked.

“With deeply worrisome concerns, ASUU-Abuja zone wishes to bring to the notice of the general public the unilateral drastic cut by the Federal Government in the personnel expenditure allocations to federal universities across the country.

“This ugly phenomenon began in December 2015; one of the federal universities which received allocation of a little over N336 million in December 2015, has consistently received about N308 million for the months of January through March, 2016,’’ he said.

Senator tackles INEC over Imo senatorial rerun Ayodele Adesanmi - Abuja WINNER of Imo North senatorial district in the April 28, 2015 National Assembly election, Athanasius Nneji Achonu, has challenged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on why it has refused to conduct the rerun ordered by the Court of Appeal for the zone.

Achonu, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, had his victory set aside by the Court of Appeal sitting in Owerri, in its judgment of December 11, 2015 on the ground that INEC failed to include the logo of Accord Party on the ballot papers.

The appellate court, however, ordered INEC to conduct a fresh election within 90 days from the date of its judgment. The re-run scheduled for February 20, 2016, was aborted when hoodlums reportedly invaded INEC office in Owerri, on February 19.

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Monday, 18 April, 2016

foreig naffairs with seyi gesinde

08116954632 foreignnewseditor@gmail.com

233 killed in Ecuador’s biggest earthquake in decades

T

he death toll from Ecuador’s biggest earthquake in decades has risen to at least 233 as rescue teams raced to find survivors in shattered coastal towns.

The powerful 7.8-magnitude quake struck off the Pacific coast on Saturday and was felt around the country, flattening buildings and buckling roads in several western towns.

President Rafael Correa, who was rushing home from a trip to Italy, said the confirmed number of fatalities increased on Sunday to 233 - officials had previously put the toll at 77 dead and nearly 600 injured.

“The immediate priority is to rescue people in the rubble,” Correa said via Twitter.

More than 1,500 people were injured, authorities said.

The US Geological Survey said the shallow quake was centred 27km southsoutheast of Muisne, a

sparsely populated area of fishing ports that’s popular with tourists.

Coastal areas nearest the quake were worst affected, especially Pedernales, a tourist spot with beaches and palm trees. Information was scant from there due to poor communications and transport chaos.

“There are people trapped in various places and we are starting rescue operations,” Vice President Jorge Glas said on Sunday morning before boarding a plane to the area.

“There are villages totally devastated,” Pedernales’ mayor Gabriel Alcivar told local radio, adding that “dozens and dozens” had died in the rustic zone.

“What happened here in is catastrophic.”

A state of emergency was declared in six provinces.

In Guayaquil, the country’s most populous city, rubble lay in the streets and a bridge fell on top of a car.

“It was terrifying, we were all scared and we’re

Rescue workers at the scene of one of the areas affected by the earthquake in Ecuador. PHOTO: REUTERS still out in the streets because we’re worried about aftershocks,” Fernando Garcia, a Guayaquil security guard, told Reuters news agency.

Photos from the coastal city of Manta, where the airport was closed after the control tower collapsed, showed Red

Cross workers arriving, police hunting through debris, a smashed sculpture and badlydamaged buildings.

Ramon Solorzano, a 46-year-old local car parts merchant, said he was leaving with his family.

“Most people are out in the streets with backpacks on,

Brazilian president set for knife-edge impeachment vote A session has begun in Brazil’s lower house of Congress on whether to back impeachment against President Dilma Rousseff over charges of fiddling government accounts.

As it got under way, several pro-Rousseff MPs disrupted proceedings by shouting ‘There won’t be a coup’.

Security has been stepped up outside the building in Brasilia as several thousand rival protesters gathered.

Ms Rousseff has accused her political opponents of mounting a “coup”, BBC reported.

She has been lobbying MPs amid indications there may be enough

votes for the impeachment motion to carry.

A two-thirds majority - 342 out of 513 votes are needed to send the motion to the upper house, the Senate, where a simple majority would be enough to suspend Ms Rousseff from office for up to 180 days during an impeachment trial.

President Rousseff of Brazil

otherNEWS

AU mission apologises for Somali civilian deaths The African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM) has apologised for accidentally killing four civilians after soldiers mistook them for al-Shabab fighters when they failed to stop at a roadblock.

The apology came on Sunday, a day after the incident happened in the area of Buulo Mareer in

the Lower Shebelle region, 80kilometres south of the capital Mogadishu.

“A speeding vehicle approached the roadblock and failed to adhere to repeated warnings to stop.

Assuming the car to be a Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED), the troops opened fire resulting in the death of four occupants of the

vehicle,” said a statement issued by AMISOM. “AMISOM profoundly regrets the loss of civilian lives that occurred during the operation and presents its heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families,” said the statement.

The incident has been referred to the African Union commission and an AMISOM inquiry has

been opened to determine the circumstances of the shooting, the AFP news agency said.

Somali troops. PHOTO: EPA

Ethiopia accuses South Sudan gunmen of killing 140 Armed groups from South Sudan conducted a cross-border raid, killing more than 140 people and kidnapping many children, Ethiopia’s government said on Sunday.

Ethiopian officials blamed Friday’s attack near Gambella on ethnic Murle gunmen. They said women and children were

among those killed, and a number of children were abducted and taken back to South Sudan.

“The Ethiopian defense force is currently chasing after the perpetrators,” Ethiopia communication minister Getachew Reda told The Associated Press Sunday.

Reda said there is no

relation between the attackers and the South Sudanese government or the country’s rebels.

He said Ethiopian forces had killed “60 members of the attackers” so far, and may cross into South Sudan to continue to pursue the gunmen.

Ethiopia is host to thousands of South

Sudanese refugees — about 272,000 in the Gambella region, which borders South Sudan — who fled after war broke in their country in December 2013. Tens of thousands have been killed and more than 2 million people forced to flee their homes during the war.

heading for higher ground,” Solorzano told Reuters, speaking in a trembling voice on a WhatsApp phone call. “The streets are cracked. The power is out

and phones are down.”

Residents streamed into the streets of the capital Quito, hundreds of miles away, and other towns across the nation.

Obama’s immigration action goes before Supreme Court The United States Supreme Court will hear a case today (Monday) that tests the boundaries of presidential powers, confronting the question of whether President Barack Obama exceeded his authority with unilateral action to spare millions of people in the country illegally from deportation.

According to Reuters, the case, one of the most consequential of the court’s current term that ends in June, pits Obama against 26 states led by Texas that filed suit to block his 2014 immigration plan.

The high court is evenly divided with four

liberal justices and four conservatives following the February death of conservative Antonin Scalia. That raises the possibility of a 4-4 split that would leave in place a 2015 lower-court ruling that threw out the president’s executive action that bypassed the Republicanled Congress.

President Barack Obama

Francois Hollande set to sign new arms deal in Cairo French President Francois Hollande is meeting his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in Cairo on Sunday to boost military ties.

The leaders are set to sign an arms deal worth more than $1bn following months of negotiations.

As part of its deal with France, Egypt will receive fighter aircraft and navy vessels. In the past two years, the Egyptian government has spent billions of dollars on French weapons and other hardware as part of efforts to bolster its military.

“Sisi wants first from

France, international legitimacy,” Christian Makarian, a leading French journalist, told Al Jazeera.

“Secondly, he wants military help and France is in a very good position to supply aircraft and ships,” he said.

President Francois Hollande

38

communitynews

Monday, 18 April, 2016

Rehabilitation: Sango-Ijoko Road abandoned again tola adenubi-lagos

THE abandoned SangoIjoko Road rehabilitation in Sango, Ogun State, China South Construction Company, has once again been abandoned.

Community News observed recently that none of the caterpillars or tractors belonging to the company was working on the road.

They were seen locked up inside the contractor’s temporary workshop. Also, none of their personnel was seen on the road or around the workshop.

Further findings revealed that only one lane of the double lane Sango-Ijoko Expressway had been tarred.

The lane leading to Sango from Ijoko was abandoned after being graded.

This development has forced many motorists to make use of only the tarred lane of the road, the one leading to Ijoko from Sango.

With motorists concentrating on one section of the road, residents have expressed fear that the road might soon cave in under much pressure since it was not constructed to handle such volume of vehicular traffic.

“The contractor has stopped working. They did the same thing sometime ago in 2015 due to paucity of funds. We won’t be sur-

prised if they have stopped working again for the same reason.

“We just hope money is released quickly by the Ogun State government before the single lane being used by everybody caves in,” a lawyer, Mr. Oni told Community News.

It will be recalled that immediately after the general election last year, the contractor handling the project abandoned work on the site, only to resume a few months after the state government had released funds for the rehabilitation of the road.

Calls and text messages sent to the Ogun State Commissioner for Information, Mr Dayo Adeleye for his comments on the issue, were not responded to.

From left, the Oloojebu of Oke-Ijebu-Ekiti, Oba Ezekiel Idowu Awe; the Olootunja of Ootunja-Ekiti, Oba Adelola Fagbamila; representative of the Obaloke of Igbona-Ekiti, Oba Adeyemi Oladele and the Director of the Justice Development and Peace Initiative (JDPI) of the Catholic Diocese of Ekiti, Reverend Father Raphael Aborisade, at the 2016 World Water Day celebration and Ekiti North Water Summit organised by JDPI and WaterAid, held in Asin-Ekiti in Ikole Local Government Area of Ekiti State, recently. PHOTO: SAM NWAOKO.

At 2016 Water Summit, Ekiti communities demand potable water sam nwaoko-ado-ekiti

C

OMMUNITIES in Ekiti North district of Ekiti State have charged the Ekiti State government to take steps to fulfill its promise to provide water for the use of people in

rural communities, saying the time is now for something to be done.

The communities spoke at the 2016 Water Summit organised by the Justice Development and Peace Initiative (JDPI) of the Catholic Diocese of Ekiti and Water Aid

Nigeria, held to mark this year’s World Water Day, at Asin-Ekiti community in Ikole Local Government Area of state.

The traditional ruler of Oke-Ijebu community in Ikole Local Government Area, Oba Ezekiel Idowu Awe, in his speech on the

‘OPC can tackle Boko Haram insurgency, if...’ by gbenga olumide and tunde adegbola

THE Coordinator, Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) in Oyo State, Comrade Rotimi Olumo, has said that the issue of national security should be a source of concern to all Nigerians.

In view of this, Comrade Olumo said the Federal Government should enhance internal security by allowing vigilante groups and other unconventional security agencies to form an army because of their native intelligence.

He said the Boko Haram insurgency should be tackled through physical and spiritual means which the vigilante are known for.

He added that though the vigilantes in the region where insurgency is rampant are trying, but the government needs to encourage them the more.

Reacting to the bribery allegation against the national coordinator of the group, Chief Gani Adams and his purported removal from office, Olumo said the allegation was a mere blackmail from expelled members.

According to him: “The

allegation is false. Chief Gani Adams did not collect a dime from the former president.

“What happened was that the Federal Government gave OPC a contract for the protection of petroleum pipelines against the activities of vandals. But despite the successful execution of the project by OPC under Gani Adams, the Federal Government did not pay a dime. The expelled members are just using this to deceive members of the public. They want to incite the public against the leadership of Gani Adams that is why they are lying against him,” he added.

Olumo added that these calling for Chief Adams removal are not members of OPC, saying “these people were suspended a long time ago and they are not up to one per cent of thousands of members of OPC in Nigeria.”

Speaking about OPC relationship with other security agencies, particularly in Oyo State, Comrade Olumo said the relationship is cordial.

His words: “ We are collaborating with one another on the war against

crime in the state. We know our limits. We cannot usurp the roles of the police or State Security

Service (SSS). We are all partners in progress, in maintaining law and order in the state.”

We prefer development, not relocation—Mile 12 traders MILE 12 Traders Association, Lagos, has urged the Lagos State government to upgrade the market instead of relocating to Imota area of the state.

The traders made the plea at a news conference on Thursday, in Lagos.

The Secretary, Shukurah Yam Market, Mr Collins Obichukwu and the Chairman, Provision and Electronics Section, Chief Sunday Ossai, who spoke for the traders, said the traders were not consulted before the decision to relocate was made.

Obichukwu suggested that government should develop the market into a modern one with functional facilities like it did at Sura, Apongbon and Tejuosho markets with minimum hardship to the traders.

The trader said the proposed relocation of the market would be at variance with their position during

the meeting held with government when the market was shut.

He said that the traders had earlier agreed with government that issues bordering on relocation would be subjected to extensive consultation with stakeholders of the market.

“Government did not dialogue with us before making the declaration to relocate the market within six months.

“How will a government make unilateral declaration on a matter that affects our livelihood and the masses without due consultation with the people that will be directly affected, particularly in a democratic dispensation.

“Instead of relocating us, government should modernise our market; after all we also pay tax,’’ he said.

Ossai said that the report, which claimed that the traders had agreed to the relocation was false.

occasion, commended the JDPI and Water Aid for providing functional borehole for Ootunja community also in the council area and called for a similar gesture in his community.

Oba Awe said his community had no source of clean water and charged the state government to urgently do something about the development he described as “a source of concern to us in OkeIjebu.”

He said while the community was waiting for the state government to fulfill its promise to provide potable water, “we will appreciate it if JDPI and Water Aid Nigeria could do for our community what they have done in Ootunja and which they have been enjoying for years.”

Also calling for potable water for his community, the Obaloke of IgbonaEkiti, Oba Adeyemi Oladele, said the topography of his community had made efforts by the community to provide water through self-help futile.

Oba Oladele, however, thanked the JDPI and Water Aid Nigeria for their efforts at providing water for the communities and charged them not to relent in this effort.

Speaking on the community’s water projects, the Olootunja of Ootunja-Ekiti, Oba Adelola Fagbamila, noted that his community devised a

means to ensure proper maintenance of water projects, adding that “the JDPI and Water Aid Nigeria as well as other stakeholders have found the community to be cooperative thereby standing Ootunja out.”

Earlier, the Director of JDPI in Ekiti Catholic Diocese, Reverend Father Raphael Aborisade, noted that government was yet to fulfill its promise to provide water for the people and charged the communities to hold them accountable to their promises.

On the theme of this year’s celebration: “Water and Jobs,” Reverend Father Aborisade said: “water is such a vital component in the life of man that it can be found in almost all the things that we do. It is so vital that its provision to the people alone through various means has become a business in itself.”

Reverend Father Aborisade said the communities should invite JDPI when politicians come to them so that a means of making them accountable to their promises would be devised, so that people would have clean and safe water for their basic needs.

Director of Ekiti State RUWASSA, Mr. Isaac Abayomi, said the state government had begun the process of adding to the facilities already provided and charged the communities to own the projects to be able to monitor and maintain them.

39

Monday, 18 April, 2016

schoolsport

Anchor: Nurudeen Alimi oladimejialimi@yahoo.co.in 08111847089

Participants at the CCSF-ABU taekwando training workshop. Far right is three-time Olympian, Chika Chukwumerije, while far left is head coach, ABU taekwondo team, Alhaji Sani Lawal.

CCSF taekwondo training thrills ABU students

T

HE Chika Chukwumerije Sports Foundation has successfully completed the collaborative taekwondo exchange programme with the Ahmadu Bello University taekwondo team, which was held recently at the indoor sports gym of the ABU Zaria University Campus.

The three-day programme involved 11 CCSF taekwondo students, mostly from FCT government secondary schools, and 15 ABU taekwondo practitioners who are currently studying at the Ahmadu Bello University.

According to the head coach of the ABU Zaria taekwondo team, two-time national champion Alhaji Sani Lawal, the ABU-CCSF collaborative exchange programme was a complete training package for upcoming taekwondo athletes that ranged from physical training, technicaltactical training, competitive training, basic forms training, basic referee training to a full daedo electronic segment.”

For the successful university coach, who was a three-time NUGA gold medallist and an international certified coach from Kyung Hee University, South Korea, the importance of connecting the secondary schools to the university taekwondo students is a boost.

“This CCSF vision is a masterstroke and once again highlights the valuable impact the Foundation has been having on the taekwondo community.

Programmes like this not only help the sport, but encourage our sportspeople to seriously combine education with sports” Participants were stunned by the intensity, depth and quality of the programme.

For 20-year-old participant and ABU University taekwondo team

player, Miss Hadiza Selaboy, who is a 200-level student of International Relations and Political Science, participating in the training was a rewarding experience.

“It was very exciting to have CCSF train with us in an amazingly electrifying atmosphere.

Watching the younger players was very inspiring and our university taekwondo team is more motivated than ever.”

For 16-year-old Joy Ikpemeazu of Government Secondary School, Garki Abuja, who is also preparing to start her WAEC ex-

ams in a few days, “It was a very tiring programme, especially the resistance training. My whole body is sore but I am happy with what I learnt about refereeing rules and the daedo electronic system. I feel really firedup.”

For Akpah Adakole John who is studying for a Master’s degree in sports science and a military personnel from the Army School of Physical Training, it was a novel experience.

“I enjoyed today’s training because it was a kind of new training. I have never trained like

this before and I really enjoyed the training. I hope the government gives the organiser the necessary support to continue this kind of grassroots training, as it will help the development of the sport in Nigeria,” he said.

CCSF boss and three-time Olympian, Chika Chukwumerije was satisfied with the outcome of the programme.

“My administrative team is happy with the programme.

New friendships were formed, and ideas – both sporting and cultural – were exchanged. Ath-

letes, on both sides of the divide are inspired and enriched. We have a few programmes like this lined up this year so we are very excited about the endless possibilities,” Chukwumerije said.

The former African champion, who bagged the 2016 Education UK Alumni Award for “Social Impact” thanked the authorities of the Ahmadu Bello University and FCT Secondary Education Board and pledged that CCSF will continue working consistently as it had done since 2010 to add value to the lives of young people.

Orange House wins CTY inter-house meet ORANGE House with 395 points has emerged victorious at the seventh annual inter-house sports competition of the City International Nursery/Primary and Model College, Ibadan, held recently at the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium, Ibadan.

Speaking on the occasion, the administrator of the school, Alhaji Abdulmojeed Bayo Hamed, said that the competition was organised to discover talents

among the pupils in sporting activities.

He stated that the school management has always created an enabling environment for their pupils to effective combine academics with sports.

Also, the chairman of the event, Engineer Bashir Tiamiyu, commended the school management for encouraging their pupils to actively participate in sporting activities apart from their aca-

demic works.

Bashir also urged the school management to continue to encourage their pupils to develop mentally and physically in their bid to attain academic excellence.

He commended the teachers for the training given to the pupils and encouraged them to continue to impart the spirit of sportsmanship to the children.

“It is necessary to let these pupils be also involved in sport-

Pupils of Omolewa Nursery/Primary School, Yemetu, Ibadan, during their 48th annual inter-house sports competition held recently in Ibadan.

ing activities because it would help them to be well groomed.

They can also develop their talents in sports to become professional athletes that can represent the country in the near future,” Bashir noted.

Meanwhile, Yellow House finished second in the competition with 378 points as Green House came third with 356 points while Blue House placed fourth with 290 points.

SIDELINES

NO 16,481

MONDAY, 18 APRIL, 2016

in&out

I

T was on Monday, July 27, 2015 that I penned on this back page “Oliseh: A fish that won’t swim.”

In that writing, I simply told Mr. Amaju Pinnick, the President of our NFF – Nigerian Football Federation – what the Masters told me to tell him relating to Sunday Oliseh as Mr. Pinnick’s hired coach of our Super Eagles. In my usual time of spiritual exercise and contemplation, it was revealed to me that Sunday Oliseh was the wrong number for our senior football team – a “coach” who neither would swim nor fly with the Super Eagles, a “coach” with a lute that he would never put in tune. I told Mr. Pinnick what I needed to tell him without glossies at that time.

But the message was lustrous enough.

Did the NFF big man listen to me? No, a big NO is the answer. And that’s why we have the damning disgrace we have witnessed of late in the glass house of Nigerian football.

If Mr. Pinnick had listened to me, if he had not hired Sunday Oliseh, Nigeria would today still have been in serious contention for next year’s AFCON Championship holding in Gabon. More importantly, Mr. Chris Giwa and his fellow mind-sharers would not be in the position and frame of mind to be casting stones that have thrown our glass house of football into a panic. Of course, it rightly can be argued now that Mr. Pinnick and company were the first to cast stones in the glass house through the hiring of the grossly inexperienced “Coach” Oliseh who has caused us the misery of another AFCON miss. As at today the popularity of Mr. Pinnick and the NFF he leads is at a disappointingly low ebb. Mr. Giwa and his conspirators are cashing-in on the low-ebb popularity of Mr. Pinnick’s “rudderless NFF” to cast their stones into the glass house of our football.

But Mr. Giwa and his men are wrong, very and terribly wrong. No sweet tones of the instruments of music arising from their “court victory” can give them an open sesame to the glass house. So long as they are carrying on the way they

N150

Last month, Petroleum Minister (State), Ibe Kachikwu, told Nigerians that the fuel crisis would not end until May. Many called for his head, asking him to retract the ‘bombshell’. The guy did so, saying it would stop in early April. With the month of May approaching without a head way, Nigerians now know he was later speaking what they wanted to hear.

with Tony Afejuku 08055213059

Stone casters in the glass house of Nigerian football are doing, they and their supporters and guests will never dance to the glass house with exclamations of joy and pleasure. Mr. Giwa contested the NFF presidency against Mr. Pinnick and, rightly or wrongly, lost to his opponent now the unquestionable president of the NFF. Since his loss he has engaged in one ceremony of turbulence or of destabilisation or the other aimed at Mr. Pinnick’s presidency. Different peace efforts at the behest of genuine peacemakers and lovers of Nigerian football and stake-holders, including football administrators from different parts of the country, have been jettisoned, obviously, by Mr. Giwa and his conspirators. What really is the big deal being the supremo of the glass house?

And must a prospective supremo of the football glass house shatter the place to smithereens to prove his powers greatly heightened by his esteemed connections to judiciary personages in and around his beloved Jos? By the way, if Mr. Giwa was so certain of his case and of the immense powers he possesses, why did he not go to any court of law outside his Jos base?

Why did he not go to a court of law in Ibadan or Lagos or Abuja or Kaduna or Maiduguri or Jalingo or Bauchi or any place outside Jos where justice that is

Those who are in glass houses don’t cast stones; and those who cast stones avoid glass houses. justice will be dispensed to damsels as well as to eunuchs? In one sentence, Mr. Giwa’s actions, no matter the merits of his case, are disagreeable to all lovers of justice and to all lovers of Nigerian football.

Mr. Festus Keyamo, NFF’s attorney, has told us that Mr. Giwa and his fellow travellers have no case. In fact, even if they have a case, it must be a watery one indeed. I aver this strongly on the following grounds couched as questions: Did Mr. Giwa not know the rules of the game before he went into the NFF presidency contest? Did he not know that FIFA abhors external or third parties’ interferences in the internal

affairs of member-affiliates? And is the splendour of the questionable Jos court victory that Mr. Giwa and company are displaying before us not one of such interferences? Furthermore, has the highest judicial sport authority, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), not closed Giwa’s case as far back as 18 May, 2015 when it dismissed it? The rebel himself must answer the questions for us, yes he must, the rebel pursuing a poor cause.

Unless Mr. Giwa retraces his steps now, I can see the procedure of glossectomy being done in his football tongue. Then he will no more be in the position to command or persuade others, including Jos judges of law to cast stones in our football house. And as for Mr. Amaju Pinnick, he must learn to use properly henceforth his football glossolalia. He certainly has the gift of tongues in the realm of football. But henceforth, I say it again, he must learn to use this gift properly and wisely, if not far more crushing stones will be thrown in the glass house. Really significantly testy days are ahead of him and his NFF. I know how they will end. I know what I am saying. I know what I am seeing.

Those who are in glass houses don’t cast stones; and those who cast stones avoid glass houses.

I’ve picked my overage players for Rio Olympics — Siasia

Siasia

HEAD coach of the Nigeria U23 national team, Samson Siasia says he has made his choice on the three overage players to be included in his team for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The tactician who saw his team zoned against Sweden, Japan and Colombia in Group B insists he will announce their names at the appropriate time while expressing optimism over his side’s chances of progressing to the knock out phase. “ I already have in mind the three

overage players that I intend using at the Games,” Siasia said.

“But I will not disclose their names for now as I think it’s still too early to do so.

For me, there is no good or bad draw, for all the teams played qualifiers to get here,” the former Super Eagles coach admitted.

“Besides, the Group B that we are in has two continental champions alongside Nigeria, so I don’t expect it to be a stroll in the park for us, but with quality preparations I am sure we will

pick one of the tickets from this group.

“My target in Rio is to pick the gold medal having won the silver medal in Beijing in 2008, so when I get back to Nigeria, I will put heads together with my assistants to work out our preparations for the Games.

EPL RESULTS Bournemouth Leicester Arsenal

1 2 1

Liverpool 2 West Ham 2 C/Palace 1

Printed and Published by the African Newspapers of Nigeria PLC, Imalefalafia Street, Oke-Ado, Ibadan. Telephone: 08165728976; 08073598322. 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. 18/04/2016.